\ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS OODObD4t3iati Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/worldinmiddleageOOkp T H jii ORLD IN THE MIDDLE AGES: AN lllSTORKJAL GEOGRAPHY, ACCOUNTS OF THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT, THE INSTITUTIONS AND LITERATUllE, THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE NATIONS IN EUROPE, WESTERN ASIA, AND NORTHERN AFRICA, FROM THE CLOSE OF THE FOURTH TO THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. By ADOLFHUS LOUIS KffiPPEN, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND GERMAN LITERATURE IN FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE, TENNSYLVAXIA. ACCOMPANIED BY COMPLETE HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL INDEXES, AND SIX COLORED MAPS FROM THE HISTORICAL ATLAS OF CHARLES SPRUNER, LL. D., CAPTAIN OF ENGINEERS IN THE KINGDOM OF BAVARIA. NEW-YORK: t. D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 3 4 6 & 3 4 8 BROADWAY. LONDON: 16 LITTLE BRITAIN. iM.DCCC.LIV. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. ' / ^ -T 1 cf TO GEOKGE TICKNOK, //'■" L THE AUTHOR OF THE "HISTORY OF SPANISH LITERATURE, THE NOBLEST TRIRUTE EVER PAID BY A NEW LITERATURE TO AN OLD, AND A WORK THAT DOES AS MUCH HONOR TO THE LITERATURE IT ENRICHES AS TO THAT WHOSE TIME-TRIED TRIUMPHS IT WORTHILY RECORDS, IS, BY PERMISSION, MOST RESPECTFULLY AND GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. PREFACE. IN introducing a new Work to the Public, it is expect- ed that some account should be given of its incep- tion, design, scope, and prosecution. Whilst delivering a course of lectures two years since in Providence, on Mediaeval History, I found no geographical work in English Literatm-e, illustrating that period to which I could refer. This want suggested the present work. The Geography of the Ancient World presents no such deficiency, having been elucidated since the seven- teenth century by the master-minds of Cellarius, Clu- verius, Danville, and still more recently by Ken- nel, Mannert, Heeren, Uckert, and others. Much light has also been thrown on the remote ages of civili- zation by the late philological discoveries in Egypt and Persia, and the excavations of Nineveh. Yet the no less important period of the Middle Ages, though so thoroughly investigated by the modern Historian, has stiU remained comparatively neglected by the Geographer. Mediaeval Atlases have been pubhshed by C. Kruse (translated into French by Felix Ansart) and by Charles Spruner ; but these being defective in letter-press, con- taining only scanty notes, and mere dry, historical tables, leave the student to depend on his own re- sources in the explanation of the maps. Thus no general comprehensive Geography, embra- cing the mediaeval times down to the close of the fifteenth century, has yet appeared to supply the want which must be felt by every student of Gibbon, Hal- lam, Sismondi, Guizot, and the other numerous writers treating of that era. It occurred to me, therefore, that my collectanea, made during my long residence in Italy and Greece, together with my notes of travel in the East — partly em- bodied in my Providence Lectures — might furnish me with ample materials for the composition of a work which would supply, at least in part, the wants of the student of Mediseval History. Having met with encouragement from my pubhsh- ers, the idea has been carried out, and I now offer to the public the " World in the Middle Ages." I have attempted to present an accurate geographi- cal description of the world during the different periods of time from the ultimate division of the Eoman Em- pire at the death of Theodosius the Great, a.d. 395, down to the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in the East, and the discovery of America in the West. That the dry details of Geography might not be- come tedious, I have occasionally introduced personal sketches, and notices of mediasval institutions, with side- glances at the rehgions, languages, and hteratures of the different nations. y I have endeavored likewise to give that prominence to the Scandinavians, the Sclavonians, Tartars, and other Eastern tribes which their important influence on history demands ; but which hitherto has been denied them. In the Geography of Ecclesiastical History, I have followed Kev. John E. Wiltsch. I have entered into more than usual detail on the Byzantine Empire, Greece, and the Eastern States, both with the hope of illustrating the brilliant pages of Gibbon and the Chroniclers of the Crusades ; and in view of the impor- tant part which these Countries are about to act in the present crisis that seems to threaten the entire political system of Europe. I am indebted for the selection of my maps, to Pro- fessor George W. Greene's translation of Dr. Spruner's great Historical Atlas. For my authorities, I refer the reader to the foot- notes, and the list of authors on the closing page of the Work. I have also carefully compiled Historical and Geographical Indices, referring to the number of the paragraph in every instance where the name occurs. I would ask the kind forbearance of the Public with regard to some occasional foreign expressions or turns of thought, which possibly may betray the author as a Dane. If this, my first attempt in the field of Historical Geography, should be favorably received by the Public, I might perhaps find myself emboldened to undertake the still more arduous task of preparing an Historical Geography of the Modern World, uniform with the pre- sent. This would embrace, not only the geographical changes and political revolutions of modern Europe during the last three centuries, but likewise the highly important Colonial Geography of Asia, Africa, and Ame- rica. Especial attention would then be devoted to the rise, progress, emancipation, and gigantic development of the Kepublic of the United States. The materials for such an undertaking are in part collected, the plan laid down, the maps selected, and I only await the encouragement of the Literary Eepubhc to carry my ideas into execution. The Author. Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., ^j)n7 Wth, 1854. CONTENTS. Paoe CHAPTER I. Introductory Remarks on Medieval Geography ; the Great Histo- rico-Geographioal Divisions of that era. General Remarks, § 1 . General division of Mediaeval Geography, CHAPTER IL !2 . I. The Roman Empire. Its Political Geography under Ar- oadius and Honorius, §§ 3-5. Limits and Ditision, §§ 3-5 I. The Eastern Empire, §§ 6-40 Limits, Capital, and Division, §§ i Prsefecture of the Orient §§ 9-31 Prsefecturfi of Illyria, §§ 32-40 iL The "Western Empire, §§41-73 Boundaries, Capitals, and Division, §§ 41-43 Prsefecture of Italy, §§ 44-62 Prsefecture of the Gauls, §§ 63-73 II. The World of the Barbarians at the Close of the Fourth Century ..... General Division, §74 I. Northern Countries, §§ 75-93 A. Germania, §§ 76-84 .... B. Scandinavia, §§ 85-86 .... C. Empire of the Huns. Sarmatia and Scythia, §§87-93 . . . . . II. Independent Countries in Asia, § 94, 96 in. Barbarian States in Africa, § 97 . . . CHAPTER in. Europe and the Adjacent Parts of Africa ; their Political Geography at the Accession of Justinian L, a. d. 527. General Division, § 98 I. Northern Europe, §§ 99-108 I. British Islands, §§ 99-104 n. Independent Germany, § 105 UL Scandinavia, § 106 IV. Slavia, § 107 . V. Kingdom of the Bulgarians, § 108 VI. Kingdom of the Uturgurian Huns, § 109 II. Central Europe, §§ 109-122 . viL Kingdoms of the Franks, § 109, Conquests of Clovis, a. d. 486, 511, §§ 110-112 Division of the Prankish Empire among the Me- rovingian Princes, §§ 113-118 viii. Kingdom of the Burgundians, § 119 IX. Kingdom of the Thuringians, § 120 X. Kingdom of the Longobards, § 121 XI. Kingdom of the Gepidae, § 122 . in. Southern Europe and the adjacent parts of Asia and Afiica, §§ 123-140 . . . . 9 13 14 14 14 17 20 20 20 20 23 24 25 26 26 27 27 28 29 29 29 29 30 30 30 31 32 32 32 32 33 XIL xin. XIV. XV. SVL Paob 33 33 33 35 35 Kingdom of the Visigoths, §§123-125 . Kingdom of the Suevi, § 126 Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, §§ 127-133 Kingdom of the Vandals, § 134 Eastern Roman Empire under Justinian I, §§ 135- 140 . CHAPTER IV. Europe ; its Politicai Geography after the Invasion of the Avars and Longobards in the Second Half Of the Sixth Century, § 141, 153 .... 36 I. Northern Europe, §§ 141-144 . . . . 36 British Islands, §§ 141-143 .... 36 Scandinavia, § 144 ..... 37 II. Central Europe, §§ 145-150 . . . .37 Kingdom of the Franks, §§145-148 ... 37 Empire of the Avars, §] 49 .... 38 Independent Germany, Finns, and Selavonians, § 150 . 38 HI. Southern Europe, §§ 151-153 .... 38 Spanish Peninsula, § 151 . . . . 38 Kingdom of the Lombards, § 152 ... 38 Byzantine Empire, § 153 ..... 39 CHAPTER V. Europe, Western and Central Asia and Northern Africa ; their Political Geography during the Reigns of Charlemagne, a. d. 768-814, and of the Haroun- ar-Rasohid, the Abbasid Caliph of Bagdad, a. d. 786-809. I. Empire of Charlemagne . . . . .30 I. Extent of the Prankish Kingdom on the death of Pepin-le-Bref, a. d. 768, §§ 154-156 . . 39 L Kingdom of Neustria, §§157-161 . . 40 u. Kingdom of Austrasia, §§ 162-166 . . 41 u. The Western Empire at the death of Charlemagne, A. D. 814, §§ 167-169 . . ? . 41 A. Provinces of the Empire, §§170-187 . . 43 B. Tributary Nations, §§ 188-189 ... 45 II. Independent European States about a. d. 800 . . 46 A. The Northmen, § 190 . . . . 46 B. Sclavonic and Turco-Tartar Nations in Eastern Europe, §§ 191-193 .... 47 IIL The Byzantine Empire, § 194 . . .47 Selavonian Settlements within its frontiers, §§ 195- 196 ...... 47 IV. The Mohammedan World in the Period of its Highest De- velopment UNDER Haroun-ar-Raschid, §§ 197-198 . 48 A. Caliphate of the Abbasids in Bagdad, §§ 199- 212 . . .... 48 Extent, Boundaries, and Division, §§ 197-198 . 49 B. Kingdom of the Aglabids in Kairouan, §213 . 51 C. Kingdom of the Edrisids in Morocco, § 214 . 52 D. Emirate of Cordova, §§215-216 . . .52 Independent Christian States in Spain about a. d. 800, §217 . 52 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa ; their Political ' GeOGKAPHT at the DE.iTH OF THE EjITEROR OtHO THE GrejVT, a. d. 973. General Remarks, § 218 . . . r. Northern Europe. I. Kingdom of Ireland, §219 u. Kingdom of Scotland, § 220 . iiL Kingdom of England, § 221 IV. Kingdom of Denmark, § 222 . V. Kingdom of Norway, §§ 232-224 VI. Kingdom of Sweden, § 225 vn. Grand Duchy of Russia, §§ 226-227 XL Central Europe. Dismemberment of the Carlovingian Empire, § 228 vni. Kingdomof France, §§229-245 IX. Kingdom of Burgundy, § 246 X. Romano-Germanic Empire, §§ 247-252 XI. Kingdom of the Hungarians, § 253 xn. Chanate of the Petcheneges, § 254 III. Southern Europe. xin. Kingdom of Leon, § 255 .... xiv. County of Castile, § 256 .... XV. Kingdom of Navarra, § 257 .... XVI. Caliphate of Cordova, § 258 . . . . XVII. Emirate of Sicily, Sardinia, and the smaller islands, §259 . xvm. Kingdom of Croatia, § 260 XIX Byzantine Empire, §§ 261-263 . • . . Extent, Imperial Capital, Court Administration and Division of the Provinces, §§ 261-263 A. Themes of the Byzantine Empire in Asia Minor, §§264-268 . . . . . B. Themes in Europe, §§ 269-270 . Duoatus Beneventi, § 271 Ducatus Venetiae, §§ 272-273 IV. The Mohammedan World in Asia and Africa; its Political Geography during the Tenth Century UNTIL the Foundation of the Empire of the Seldju- KiAN Turks, a. d. 809-1028. Dismemberment of the Arabian Empire, § 274 . A. Caliphate of the Abbasids in Bagdad, § 274 B. Mohammedan Dynasties in Central Asia, §§ 275-277 C. Mohammedan Dynasties in Syria, § 278 D. Sects of Mohammedan Heretics, §279 E. Mohammedan Dynasties in Africa, § 280 CHAPTER VII. Europe, AVesteen Asia, and Northern Africa ; their PoLrriCAL Geography and Ethnology during the Times of the CRUS.iDES, A. D. 1096, 1291. Condition of the Christian and Mohammedan World before the First Crusade. Division, § 281 . . . . . I. Northern Europe between 973 and 1096. Empire of Canute the Great, a. d. 1016-1035, §282 . I. Kingdom of Ireland, § 283 n. Kingdom of Scotland, §§ 284-286 in. Kingdom of England, §§ 287-291 IV. Kingdom of Denmark, §§ 292-294 V. Kingdom of Slavia, or Vendland, § 295 VL Kingdom of Norway, §§ 296-300 vu. Kingdom of Sweden, § 301 viiL Grand Duchy of Russia, §§ 302-305 . II. Central Europe between 973 and 1096. IX. Kingdom of France, §§ 306-808 X The Romano-Germanic Empire, §§ 309-311 XI. Kingdom of Poland, §§312-313 xn. Kingdom of Hungaiy, § 314 xiri. Clianate of ihe Uzi ninl Kumani, § 315 Page 53 53 53 54 54 55 57 57 58 59 61 62 66 67 67 68 68 68 69 69 70 69 72 73 75 75 III. Southern Europe between 973 and 1096. XIV. Kingdoms of Leon and Castile, §§ 316-317 XV. Kingdom of Aragon and Navarra, §§ 318-319 xvL State of Valencia, § 320 XVII. Norman Duchy of Apulia and Calabria, and the Grand County of Sicily, §§ 321-322 xvin. Italian Republics, § 323 . . . . xrs. Byzantiue Empire, §§ 324-325 The Mohammedan World during the Eleventh Century. IV. Western Asia. Conquests and States of the Turks, § 326 XX. Seldjukian Sultanate of Rum, § 327 XXL Sultanates of the Ortokids, § 328 xxn. Atabeks in Al-'Djesirah and Persia, § 329 xxnL Seldjukian Principalities in Syria, § 330 V. Northern Africa and Southern Spain. Principal States, § 331 . xxrv. Caliphate of the Fatimids in Egypt, § 332 XXV. Kingdom of Kalrouan, § 383 . . . xxvL Empire of the Almorvids in AI-Magreb and Spain, § 334 . CHAPTER VIII. The Orient ; its Political Geography and Ethnology during THE Times of the Crusades. A. Kingdoms and Princtpalities founded by the Crusaders, BETWEEN A. D. 1096 AND 1291 (1310). Historical Remarks and General Division, §§ 335-336, I. Kingdom of Jerusalem, §§ 337-344 n. County of Tripolis, § 345 ffl. Principality of Antioch, § 346 . IV. County of Edessa, §§ 347-348 . V. Kingdom of Armenia, § 349 VL Kingdom of Cyprus, § 350 vn. Latin Empire of Romania, §§ 351-353 TOL Kingdom of Saloniki (Macedonia), § 354 rs. Duchy of Athens and Boeotia, § 355 . X. Principality of Achaia and the Morea, §§ 356-358 XL Oriental Conquests of Venice, § 359 . Small Dynasties of the Ionian Islands, § 360 XII. Duchy of Naxos or of the Archipelago, § 361 xuL Possessions of the Military Order of the Hospital of Saint John, § 362 . . . B. Mohammedan and Slavo-Grecian States during the Cru- sades. General Remarks and Division, § 363 L State of the Assassins, § 364 .... IL Empire of the Euybids and the Mamluke Sultans, §§365-366 . . . . . HI. Wallacho-Bulgarian Kingdom, § 367 IV. Kingdom of Servia, §§368-869 V. Greek Empire of Nicaja and Constantinople, § 370 Republic of Genoa and her Colonies in the ^gean and the Black Sea, § 371 VL Despotate of Epirus, § 372 . . . vn. Duchy of Great Wallachia, § 373 vin. Grand Comnenian Empire of Trebizond, § 374 CHAPTER IX. Europe ; its Political Geography and Internal Condition dur- ing the Period of the Crusades, a. d. 1100-1800. Page 97 98 99 101 101 102 103 104 104 104 104 105 105 105 IIL IV. General Remarks, § 375 Kingdom of Denmark, §§376-378 Territories of the Teutonic Order in Prussia and Livonia, §§ 379-383 . . . • Grand-Duclijr of Lithuania, § 384 Empire of the Mongols, § 885 . . . • Kingdom of France under Philip August and Phi- lip le Bel, A. D. 1180-1310, §§ 386-390 106 106 110 110 111 112 112 113 114 114 115 117 118 118 118 119 119 119 120 121 121 121 121 121 122 122 123 125 126 127 127 CONTENTS. Ecclesiastical Division of France after the Crusades against the Eeformers in Aquitaine, §§ 390- 393 ..... . VI. Romano-Germanic Empire under the Dynasty of the Hohenstaufens, a. d. 1138-1268 . A. Germany, 1328-12'73, §§ 394, 404 . B. Italy, A. D. 1100-1300, §§405-420 . vn Supremacy of the Romish See under Pope Innocent III., §§ 421-422 .... vni. Anjou Dynasty in Naples, §§ 423-424 , CHAPTER X. Europe, Westekn Asia, and Noethekn Ajeica ; their Political GEOGRAPHTf FROM THE ClOSE OF THE ThIBTEENTH CeN- TURT TO THE MlDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH, A. D. 1300- 1453. General Remarks and Division, §§ 425-428 . I. Northern Europe between 1300 and 1453. L Kingdom of England and Ireland, §§429-434 n. Kingdom of Scotland, §§ 435-437 in. Calmarian Union of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, A. D. 1397-1523, §§438-545 . rv. Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, §§ 445^55 V. Grand Duchy of Moscow, §§ 456-460 . II. Central Europe between 1300 and 1453. VI. Kingdom of France during the wars with England, A. d. 1360-1453. Historical Remarks, §§461-462 . I. France at the time of the treaty of Bretig- ny, A. D. 1360, §§463-475 IL France at the death of Charles V., a. d, 1380, §§ 476-477 in. France at the arrival of Jeanne d'Arc to the siege of Orleans, a. d. 1429, §§478-486 .... ' IV. France after the expulsion of the English, A. D. 1453, § 487 Royal Domains in 1453, §§ 488-493 . Domains of the Great Feudatories, §§ 494-509 Ecclesiastical Division of France, § 510 Romano-Germanic Eoipire from the downfall of the Souabian Dynasty, a. d. 1252, to the close of the middle ages. Germany under the Luxemburgian, Bavarian, and Austrian Dynasties, §§ 511-512 Electorates, §§ 513-521 . Austrian Territories and the Duchies, §§ 522- 535 . . . . . Principalities, §§ 536-537 Counties, §§ 538-542 The Church, § 543 Free Imperial Cities. A. Souabian Confederacy, § 544 . B. Hanseatic League, §§ 545-546 German Constitution under Maximilian I., § 547 Helvetian Confederacy of the Thirteen Cantons, §§548-554 ..... Kingdom of Hungary. Dynasties and Constitution, § 555 A. Hungary Proper, §§ 556-562 . B. Dependencies of the Hungarian Empire in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, § 563 1. Kingdom of Galioia, § 563 n. Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia, § 563 in. Republic of Ragusa, § 564 IV. Kingdom of Rama (Bosnia), § 565 v. Kingdom of Rascia (Servia), § 566-567 TL Kingdom of Bulgaria, §§ 568-569 vn. Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, §570 . Ecclesiastical Division of Hungary, §§ 571-672 1. n. m. Page 128 128 129 134 140 141 141 143 146 148 151 154 156 157 160 160 163 163 164 168 168 169 172 176 177 177 177 178 179 179 182 185 185 165 186 186 186 187 188 189 Page 189 189 18t §§ 578- 191 191 192 193 193 HI. Southern Europe between 1300 and 1492. X. Kingdom of Portugal and Algarve Historical Remarks, §573 Moorish Possessions, §§ 574—577 Constitution and Internal Government, 579 . A. Kingdom of Portugal, §§580-581 B. Kingdom of Algarve, §§ 582-583 . Nobility, § 584 Ecclesiastical Division, §585 Portuguese Discoveries and Colonies in the Atlan- tic, §586 . . . XI. Kingdom of Castile and Leon. Conquests from the Moors and Internal Rela- tions, § 587 . . . . . Provinces, Court, and Government, * ► ^ CHAPTER I. GENEEAL EEMAEKS ON MEDIEVAL GEOGRAPHY ; THE GREAT HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS OF THAT PERIOD. 1. General Remarks. — The Middle Age is the period dur- ing which nearly all the states, at the present day figuring on the world's stage, had their origin and development. The study of the political geography of those times, is therefore of the highest importance to the student of universal history, in order that he may fully understand and bring before his mind's eye, as it were, the feudal institutions and divisions, the relations of the nations to one another, and the successive changes by revolutions and conquests which took place in every part of the old world. But the details of such an his- torical geography, in which we should attempt to follow up every temporary change, extension or diminution of territory, in the single states and nations, would not only be immense and difficult to combine, but we would often be in want of the necessary materials. From the chroniclers of those remote times, we obtain but scanty and very imperfect information ; they were themselves deficient in the most simple geographical knowledge ; the few data, which they furnish here and there, are often erroneous or uncertain, mostly full of wonders and superstitions from the hearsay repetitions of credulous travel- lers, pilgrims or crusaders. Sometimes their reports disagree with the physical geography of the countries, or are contra- dicted by the relations of other writers of the same time. We shall therefore limit our manual of medieval geogra- phy, to a general description of the political position of Eu- rope, and the adjacent parts of western Asia and northern Africa, during eight of the most important periods of universal history, between the fourth and the sixteenth centuries, which are illustrated by the annexed six general historical maps. 2. General Division op Medieval Geography. Period I. — The political geography of the Roman Em- pire, after its final division into eastern and western Rome, be- tween the emperors Arcadius and Honorius in a. d. 395. It exhibits, likewise, the geographical and ethnographical posi- tion of all the diiferent Barlarian nations of the north and east, towards the closeof the fourth century, immediately before the beginning of the great migration, the successive develop- ment of which forms, as it were, the separate periods of medie- val geography. Period II. — The political geography of Europe and the adjacent parts of Asia and Africa at the beginning of the sixth century, before the accession of Justinian I. in a. d. 527. It presents the results of the first period of the great migration of the northern nations, and their settlements in the provinces of the then no longer existing western Roman empire. Period III. — The political geography of Europe towards the close of the sixth century, after the conquest of central Europe by the Avars, and of Italy by the Lombards, forming the termination of the second period of the great migrations from the north and the east. Period IV. — The political geography of Europe, western and central Asia, and northern Africa, at the beginning of the ninth century during the reign of Charlemagne, and the highest development of the Saracenic Empire under the Abbasid Caliphs of Bagdad and the Ommiyad Emirs of Cordova. Period V. — The political geography of all the states in Europe, western Asia and northern Africa, at the death of the Emperor Otho the Great, about a. d. 973, at the time of the final constitution and consolidation of nearly all the great Eu- ropean states, which later take a prominent part in the politi- cal events of Europe. Period VI. — The political geography of the old world, during the times of the Crusades, from the close of the eleventh to the beginning of the fourteenth century. Pef>,iod VII. — The political geography of Europe and Asia towards the close of the fourteenth century, at the time of the feudal wars between the English and French Crowns, the progress of the Ottoman Turks, and the widest extent of the Mongol empire of Tamerlane. Period VIII. — The political geography of Europe and western Asia towards the close of the fifteenth century, after the destruction of the Byzantine Empire in a. d. 1453, the reorganization of the German Empire by Maximilian, the extinction of the Moorish Kingdom of Granada and the discovery of America in a. d. 1492. These eight general periods are delineated in the accom- panying Atlas of six historical maps. The 1st and 2d Pe- EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. riods are each represented iu their proper maps. The 3d Period embraces the second and the third maps. The 4th, 5th, and 6th Periods have each their own maps, while for the last two Periods, the 7th and 8th, one general map, illus- trating the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, was thought sufficient. In order to facilitate the general survey, and the compari- son of one map with another, we have carefully given the same color to all the leading nations in the different succeeding periods. Thus, for instance, the student will find crimson throughout all the maps for the Greek or Byzantine empire ; yellow for all the Germanic and Scandinavian nations ; violet as a general color for the Slavic or Sclavonian tribes ; cla7k green for the Chudish or Finnish races ; blue for the Saracens or Arabs ; sea green for the Huns ; orange for the Chazars, and minium red for their Tartar brothers, the Turks. Simi- lar modifications of color go through all the maps to indicate the subdivisions of Britons, Scots, Picts, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Swedes, and others. In the single maps will be found only those divisions, cities, battle-fields, &c., which belong to the period reviewed ; a few names have unhappily been left out, either by the inattention of the draughtsman, or the want of space, but they will be mentioned, and their position fixed in the text of our manual. Only the most important mountain chains, dividing the countries, have been given, because the complete detail of physical geography would have rendered the names less distinct on maps of so small a scale, and the stu- dent is therefore requested to compare our historical maps with some accurate maps of the common modern geography. Finally, we have been particularly careful to give the ancient Greek, Roman, Arabic or Barbaric names of countries, cities, mountains, rivers, exactly as they were used at the time, with their modern name, affixed, and to follow up the progressing changes faithfully, during every period of the middle ages, in order to accustom the attentive student to the gradual formation of so many names, the etymology of which, would otherwise be difficult to understand. For the same reason we have attempted to enliven our geographical survey by some few characteristic sketches of the different nationalities, Scandi- navian, Sclavonian, and others, and we have paid the most care- ful attention to the chronological accuracy of the dates given, that our essay on political geography might serve at the same time, the purposes of an historical Guide through the maze of the middle ages. CHAPTER II. THE ROMAN EMPIEE. ITS POLITICAL GEOGEAPHY UNDER AECADIUS AND SONOBIUS. THE WORLD OF THE BARBARIANS. ITS GEOGRAPHICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS BEFORE THE GREAT INVASION, A. D. 376. ' § I. THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 3. Limits. — "We present in this map the extent of the Ro- man empire in the course of the fourth century. At the death of Theodosius, in the year 395 of our era, it still had nearly the same frontiers as under Augustus, about 14 b. c. The con- quests of Trajan, between a. d. 103-11 6, extended the empire be- yond the Danube by the subjugation of Dacici (the present Tran- sylvania, M()li('pulelirein the grotto of the Nativity, during our visit to Bethlehem. Adspicis angiiistwii prcecisa in rupe sepulcrum ? ffonpiiimn Panlce eat, codcKti.a rec/na tenentis. Fratrein, cor/natos, liomani pcUriainque rdinqucHu Biviiias sobole.m Bethlehemitc conditnr antro. Hie prcexepe tuum, Ghriste, atque hie niystica Magi Mnncra pnrtantcs, hnminique Beoqrie dederc. '" Interesting details on the condition of .Jernsalem during the early Christian centuries are given in Pmf. Robinson's Biblical Researches in Palestine. Vol. TT., pace "-2*7. (now Famieh), in a strong position on a lake formed by the river Orontes. VIII. Syria Prijia or Consularis, on the northern slope of Mount Lebanon, possessed the largest and most populous city of the diocese, splendid Antioch (now Andakieh), on the Orontes, surrounded by gardens, vineyards and olive groves, the seat of all the delights and glitter of the East. It was the metropolis of the province, and the residence of the count ; and here were the arsenals and military depots of the em- pire. IX. Syria Euphratensis was situated west of the Eu- phrates, and contained the ancient Cyrrhestice and Commagene, with the metropolis Hierapolis, syr. Bambyce (now Mam- besch), at a short distance from the Euphrates (now Frat). 13. X. Osrhoene, east of the former, on the left bank of the Euphrates, and the outskirts of the Empire, was then the contested battle-field with the Persians. It had formed part of the ancient Mesopotamia, and was defended toward the Tigris by the two celebrated fortresses of Nisibis and Dara, which, however, alternately were conquered by the Persians, or re- taken by the Romans. Edessa, called CallirrJioe, from her pleasant springs (now Orfah), the metropolis, was likewise strongly fortified, and contained celebrated shield and armor factories, and the arsenals and depots for the armies on the Persian frontier. On the southeast of Edessa lay Theo- dosiojiolis, the ancient Resain, rebuilt by the emperor whose name it took, in a rich and well watered region. XL Mesopotamia, on the northeastern frontier, was form- ed of that small strip of the ancient province of Mesopotamia called SojjJiene, between the upper Euphrates and Tigris with the metropolis Amida (now Diabekir). 14. XII. Cilicia Secunda, the eastern part of the ancient Cilicia cam-joestris, the fertile and beautiful plain between the high mountain ranges of Amanus and Tavrus, with the metropolis Anazarbus (now Ak-Sarai), on the river Pyramus. XIII. Cilicia Prima formed the rest, or the western part of the ancient Cilicia cavq^estris, with the rich and commer- cial metropolis Tarsus on the Cydnus. XIV. IsAURiA, west of Cilicia Prima, comprised both the ancient Isauria and Cilicia Trachcza. The mountaineers of this rugged and barren country still retained their old roving habits, wherefore a Count at the head of two legions united here the military and civil command. The metropolis was Seleucia Trach/ea (now Selefkieh), situated on the coast op- posite to the island of Cyprus. XV. The island of Cyprus, separated from the mainland of Asia Minor by the Cilician Straits — Aidon Cilicius — was still populous and highly cultivated ; and its metropolis Sala- mis, on the eastern coast, had recently taken the name of one of the sons of Constantine, and was called Constantia (now Costanza). 15. Diocese of Egypt. — This diocese, the richest and most important of the empire, on account of its immense ex- port of grains for the provision of Constantinople, was governed by a Praefect with the title of Augustalis, and a rank immedi- ately following that of the Comes Orientis ; but as he could only be chosen from the order of the Roman Knights — Equitxs — the six provinces under his diocese — Libya superior, Libya inferior, Thebais, Egypt Proper, Arcadia, and Augustamnica — were not governed by Consulars, but the five first by Presi- dents, and the last by a Corrector. A military Count, with two Dukes and bodies of troops, was stationed in Egypt proper, for the defence of the frontiers of Libya superior and Thebais. 16. I. AuGUSTAJiNicA Or Aiigustanice, formed the north- eastern part of Lower Egypt, between the mouth of the Nile and the frontiers of Palestine and Arabia, with Pelusium (now Tineh) for its metropolis. EASTERxN ROMAN EMPIRE. 11 II. ^GYPTUS Propria, on the west of the foregoing, con- sisted of that part of the Delta lying west of the Nile toward Lybia. Alexandria, the metropolis, and residence of the Prcefectus Augustalis and the military Count, was still, by its splendor, wealth, science and commerce, one of the most im- portant cities of the civilized world. The circumference of its walls was twelve Roman miles, within which lived a bustling population of three hundred thousand souls, gathered from every part of the Roman empire. Two magnificent avenues crossed in right angles through the length and breadth of the city, dividing the ancient Brucldum from the Rkarotis. The principal of these thoroughfares — the Via Elensinia — was the Broadway of Alexandria ; it ran from the eastern or Canopian gate westward, between rows of marble columns, for forty stadia or five miles, to the western gate, that of the Necropolis. Magnificent public buildings adorned it on both sides ; the Stadium, the town-hall or Decasterium, the Gymnasium, the amphitheatre and the immense Soma, the mausoleum in which the body of Alexander the Great, the founder of the city, was deposited. At the Hcptajjylon, the second street struck the first, running from the Porta Solis on the lake of Mareotis, northward to the coast where at the Moon gate — Porta Lunce — the Hep)tastaclium., a magnificent dike or causeway, seven stadia in length, united the island of Pharus with the mainland. Here stood the celebrated beacon-tower — the Pharus — the wonder of ancient architecture, built by Sostratus of Cnidus ; its height was 360 feet, and its blazing fires were distinguished at a distance of forty miles on the sea. It looked down upon the ports — Portns Major on the east, the Eimostus on the west — smaller ports for the imperial fleets, and for the public granaries, were strongly fortified, and guarded with troops. In the Bruchium stood the Museum, with the precious library, and the Sebaste or Temple of Cassar, with two obelisks in front, which latter having during two thousand years seen the downfall of Egyptian superstition at Thebes, and then been removed to Alexandria in honor of Grecian polytheism, remained now to adorn a Christian church. In the same quarter stood — and stands to this day — the lofty column of Diocletian, with its equestrian statue on the top, raised to record the conquering Emperor's humanity, and the gratitude of the citizens of the world's emporium. On the out- side of the western gate was the Necropolis, whose memorials of the dead, both Pagan and Christian, lined the roadside and the sea-coast for more than two miles, and harmonized most truly with the faded glories of the empire. Near the Avestern gate also, but within the walls, stood the famed Temple of Serapis, second to no building in the world but the Roman Capitol, a glittering monument of the rise and fall of religions, once the very fortress of paganism, now the Patriarchal Cathedral of victorious Christendom. ' ' III. Arcadia, so called by Theodosius in honor of his younger son, Arcadius, was formed of central Egypt, the an- cient Heptanoniis, and extended from the point of the Delta to the border of the Thebals, in Upper Egypt. Its metropolis was Memphis (now Menf in its ruins), on the left bank of the Nile. IV. Thebais, south of Arcadia, was subdivided into the first and second Thebais, and comprehended all Upper Egypt. It was protected by eight legions, stationed on the frontiers. " Since the Arabian conquest, a. d. 640 (206), the population of Alexandria has diminislied so much that the whole modern city now stands on the widened Heptastadium, the causeway that joins to the mainland what was once the island of Pharus. Only the towering column of Diocletian — commonly called the pillar of Pompey — and the obelisk of the Sebaste (the needle of Cleopatra), still remain in their place, and serve as guides for the antiquary. — See the attempt of Sir Gardiner Wilkinson to describe the localities of ancient Alexandria in his excellent work on Egypt. Its metropolis, Antinoe, the ancient Besa, on the right bank of the river, had become a beautiful and flourishing city since the great repairs and embellishments which Hadrian under- took in commemoration of his favorite Antinoiis, who had per- ished in the Nile. Thebes, which gave name to the province, existed no longer as an inhabited place, but its immense tem- ple ruins still covered both the banks of the Nile. 17. V. Libya Inferior, the ancient Marmarica, extended westward along the Mediterranean ; its metropolis, Par^eto- NiuM (now Al-Baretun), was situated on the coast opposite to Rhodes. VI. Libya Superior, the celebrated ancient Greek colony of the five cities — the Pentapolis of Cyrenaica, was the most western province of the eastern empire. The metropolis, Cyrene, a large and flourishing city, in a wonderfully fertile and beautiful country, was situated four miles from the coast, on which lay its harbor, Sosuza, formeidy Apollonia (now Marza-Susa). 1 8. The Diocese of Asia. — DicEcesis Asiana — was formed of all the early conquests of the victorious Romans in Asia Minor. It was divided into two parts : the Diocese of Asia Proper, which was governed by a Vicar, and contained eight provinces, and of the Proconsulate of Asia, ruled by a Pro- consul, who was directly subordinate to the Prsetorial Prsefect of the Orient. It consisted of the three provinces contiguous to the Egean. The eight provinces of the diocese were the following: 1st, Pamphylia ; 2d, Lydia ; 3d, Caria ; 4th, Lycia ; 5i\\, Lycaonia ; 6th, Pisiclia ; 7th, Phrygia Paca- tiana ; 8th, Plirygia Salutaris. The two first provinces were governed by Consulars, and the eight latter by Presidents. The three maritime provinces depending on the Proconsulate of Asia were Asia proper, governed by the Proconsul him- self ; Hellespont having a Consular ; and the islands of the Egean with a President. 19. The Provinces of the Diocese, after their geographi- cal order, and proceeding from east to west, may be ranged in the following manner : I. Pamphy'lia, west of Isauria, extended along the coast. Its metropolis was Perge (now Kara-Hissar — Black Castle) at a short distance on the Pamphylian gulf. Other cities were the beautiful Attalia (now Adaliah), deeper in the gulf, sur- rounded by its orange-gardens, but of such melancholy memory from the Crusades ; and Aspendus (now Manavgat), on the Eurymedon, in the interior II. Lycaonia, north of the Taurus, extending through im- mense and dreary plains, with the metropolis Iconium (now Konieh), near a lake, on the high-road from Constantinople to Syria. III. PisiDiA, the rugged stronghold of the ancient robber- hordes, so well known from Xenophon's Anabasis, southwest of Lycaonia, with the metropolis Antiochia PisiDiiE (now Ak- Sher). 20. IV. Phrygia Salutaris, northwest of Lycaonia. The metropolis was Synnada (now Sidi-Ghazi), at that period so celebrated on account of the splendid marbles which the Ro- mans obtained from the neighboring mountains. V. Php>.ygia Pacatiana, which owed its by-name to one of its governors. The metropolis was the large and flourishing Laodicea (now Eski-Hissar — Old Castle), on the river Lycus, which joins the Mseander. VI. Lycia, with its high projecting mountain-chains form- ing a peninsula on the Mediterranean, had for its metropolis the ancient maritime town of Myra (now Makra). 21. VII. Caria, on the angle formed by the Karpathian Sea and the Egean, with Aphrodisias (now Gheira) for its capi- tal. This city was situated on the mountains in the interior, and had received its name from the worship of Aphrodite 12 EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. (Venus) ; it is unknown when it took the start of the old Dorian Halicamassus (now the ruinous Castle of Budrun) on the coast of the Ceramic gulf VIII. Lydia, north of Caria, embraced only the interior of the ancient province of that name, and had for its metropo- lis the celebrated Sardes (now the miserable hamlet Sart), at the base of mount Tmolus^ in the fertile plain of the river Hermvs. It had been the capital of the ancient Ljdiau Kings, and still possessed imperial manufactm-es of armor and offensive weapons. 22. The Provinces of the Proconsulate were — I. Asia Propria, northwest of Lydia, comprised some portion of the ancient kingdom of Pergamus, and the earlier Greek maritime colonies of Ionia and iEolia, with the metro- polis Ephesus (now Aia Soluk), the largest and most important city in the western part of Asia Minor. Pergamus (now Ber- gamo), on the Caicus, rivalled in rank and riches with Ephesus, and surpassed it by its magnificent Macedonian mon- uments from the times of its kings. II. Hellespontus, along the straits which gave it its name. Its metropolis was Cyzicus (now Zisik), on a small peninsula of the Propontis. Abydos (now Avido), on the narrowest part of the straits, near the present castles of the Dardanelles, was then one of the most flourishing towns of the province. III. The Province of the Isles consisted of all the islands in the Egeau, and those lying along the coast of Asia Minor, such as the Cydades and Sporades^ Lesbos, Chios, Sa- mos, Patmos, Cos, and Rhodes ; the beautiful city of the latter was the metropolis and residence of the governor during winter, while it was his duty in summer to visit all the islands in their turn. '- 23. Diocese of Pontus — DicBcesis Pojitica — embraced not only the ancient kingdom of Mithridates, but all the nor- thern coast- land of Asia Minor, from the Thracian Bosporus and the Propontis on the west, eastward to the frontiers of the empire on the mountains of Armenia. It was governed by a Vicar, and contained the following eleven provinces : 1 st, Ga- latia; 2d, BWiynia ; 3d, Honorias ; 4th, First Cappadocia ; 5th, Second Cappadocia ; 6th, Hellenopontus ; 7th, Pontus Polemoniacus ; 8th, First Armenia; 9th, Second Armenia; 10th, Galatia Salutaris ; llth, Paphlagonia. The two first were governed by Consulars, the eight following by Presidents, and the last by a Corrector. Let us review them in their geo- graphical order, beginning from the east. I. Pontus Polemoniacus consisted of the eastern part of the ancient province of Pontus, and had formed a kingdom under the first Emperors, which took its name from its mo- narchs, the Polemons. The metropolis was either Neoc^sa- rea (now Niksara), on the river Lycus, or perhaps Trapezus (now Tarabesan), the celebrated Peloponnesian colony on the shores of the Black Sea. Other cities, flourishing by fisheries and commerce, were Polemonium and Cerasus, with its forests of cherry-trees, and in the interior Coniana Pontica. II. Hellenopontus or Pontus of Helena, in honor of the mother of Constantino, consisted of the western part of an- cient Pontus, with the metropolis of Amasia (now Amasiah), on the Iris, the old capital of the Pontian kings. 25. III. Armenia Prima, on the south, was composed of the northern part of the ancient Armenia Minor. Its metro- polis was Sebaste (now Sivas), the ancient Cabira, on the river Halys. IV. Armenia Secunda, south of the former ; metropolis, Melitene (now Malethija), near the Euphrates, the ancient " The rest— Tenedos, Lemnos, Imbrus, Somothrace, Thasos, Sciathus, Scyros, Scopelos, Cythera and Crete, belonged to the Diocese of Mace- donia. capital of the small province of that name which formed the northeastern corner of Cappadocia. 26. V. Cappadocia Prima, westward of the two former provinces, had formed the central part of the ancient kingdom of Cappadocia. The metropolis was C.esarea ad Argeum (now Kaisarieh), at the base of the snow-capped Mount Ar- geus. It had been the residence of the Cappadocian kings, then called Mazaca, and was still a thriving town — important by its excellent fabrication of cuirasses. VI. Cappadocia Secunda had been separated from the former by the Emperor Valens. Tyana (now Nikdeh), the birthplace of the notorious cheat ApoUonius, became then the metropolis, an event which caused so violent a contest between St. Basile, the Archbishop of Caesarea, and the Bishop of Tyana, who, on account of this division, attempted to grasp at the metropolitan rights, that the Council of Cappadocia in 372, was obliged to augment the number of bishoprics, in order that the two warring prelates might each obtain their suffragan churches. 27. VII. Galatia Secunda or Salutaris, northwest of Cappadocia Secunda, had been formed by Theodosius from the southern part of the ancient Galatia. Metropolis, Pessinus (now Bosan), on the Sangarius. VIII. Galatia Prima, north of the former, consisted of the northern part of the ancient Galatia. Metropolis, Ancy- RA (now Angora). 28. IX. Paphlagonia, between Galatia Prima and the Black Sea, contained the entire ancient province of that name. Metropolis was Gangra (now Kiangari), the residence of King Dejotarus, the friend of Cicero. X. Honorias, west of Paj^hlagonia, on the coast, had formed the northeastern part of Bithynia, when Theodosius the Great formed a new province of it, in honor of his eldest son, Honorius. Metropolis, Claudiopolis (now Castomena), near the coast. Heraclea (Erakli), on the Pontus Euxi- nus, a thriving commercial place, was second in rank. XI. BiTHY'NiA, west of Honorias, embraced a part of the Propontis, but contained, as we mentioned, only the south- western part of the ancient kingdom of Bithynia. Valens had already divided it into Bithynia Prima, with Nicojiedia (now Nikmid) for metropolis. This city, the splendid capital of Diocletian, was situated on the gulf of Astacus ; it still preserved many interesting monuments of its better days, and lived from its important manufactures of armor and offensive weapons. Nicea (now Isnik), on the beautiful lake, was the metropolis of Bithynia Secunda. It became celebrated from the first general council held there in a. d. 325, then again during the Crusades, and is still a fine oriental town. Prusa (now Brusa), on a fertile plain at the foot of Mount Olympus, was the ancient residence of the Bithynian kings, and had the second rank after Nicaea. Diocese of Thrace. — It was governed by a Vicar, and was divided into six provinces : 1st, Europa ; 2d, Thrace Proper ; 3d, Haemimons ; 4th, Rhodope ; 5th, McBsia Secunda ; 6th, Scythia. The two first were governed by Consulars, and the following four by Presidents ; military Dukes with troops were moreover placed in Moesia and Scythia, for the defence of the frontiers on the Danube. 30. I. Europa was situated on the Thracian Bosporus and the Propontis, and preserved thus its primitive name, which afterwards was applied to the whole continent. As Constantinople had its own administration, Heraclea (now Erekli), the ancient Perinthus, on the Propontis, was the me- tropolis of the province. II. Rhodope, west of Europa, took its name from the mountain range which starts off westward from the central Scardus. Its metropolis was Trajanopolts (now Arachova), EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. 13 on the Hebrus^ one of the cities which Trajan had built in the interior of Thrace. Adder a (now Djenidje), was a considerable commercial port on the Egean. III. H.EMiMONs, or province of Mount Hsemus, north of Rhodope, owed its origin to Theodosius. Metropolis, Hadri- ANOPOLis (now Adrianople, Turkish JEdrene), a large and strongly fortified city, on the left bank of the Hebrus, with imperial manufactures of arms and military engines, be- came important at the period we describe, by the siege which it so gallantly sustained against the Visigoths, and by the ter- rible defeat and death of Valens, while attempting its relief, in August, 378. The battle-field was on the north of the city, near the village of S/adariofi, where the emperor was burnt in a cottage, on his flight. IV. Thracia Propria, west of Hfemimons, consisted only of the western extremity of that region, with the metropolis, Philippopolis (now Filibe), on the upper Hebrus. 31. V. McESiA Secunda or Liferior, north of Hasmimons, and of Thrace, beyond the ridge of Mount Hasmus, along the banks of the Danube. Metropolis, Marcianopolis (now Pra- wadi), where the Romans sufi"ered the first defeat against the Visigoths, in 377, after the admission of the latter into the Roman provinces, the preceding year, 376, to the number of more than a million of souls. VI. ScYTHiA Parva, northeast of Moesia Secunda, formed a narrow peninsula between the course of the lower Danube and the Black Sea. Metropolis, Tomi (now Baba Dagh), on the Pontus, well known from the exile of the poet Ovidius. Salices, or the village of the willows, of sorrowful memory, from another defeat which the Romans suffered there, during the Gothic war in 377. Prefecture of Illyria. 32. Extent and Divisions. — This prsefecture was often called Illyria Orientalis^ in order to distinguish it from an- other diocese of the Western Empire, which likewise had the name of Illyricum (45). It embraced most of the European possessions of the eastern Empire, and was divided into two dioceses ; that of Dacia on the north, and of Macedonia, which contained all ancient Hellas, on the south. The two dioceses consisted of eleven provinces. It was in this impor- tant praefecture that Alaric, the first king of the Visigoths, by force of arms and intrigue, obtained, in 398, the dignity of Master General of eastern Illyria, which he employed to the subjugation of the western Empire. 33. Diocese of Dacia. — The ancient province of Dacia lay on the north of the Danube, and extended on the north- east toward Sarmatia, from which it was separated by the river Tyras or Uanaster (now Dniester). North, it reached the Carpathian Mountains, and west, to the river Tibiscus (now ,' Theiss). The low, swampy plain between that river and the ' upper Danube, afterwards the residence of Attila and the Huns at Buda, and the conquest of the Avars and Magyars (Hungarians) in the 6th and 9th centuries — was never occu- pied by the Romans. Its inhabitants were the wild, nomading Jazyges of Sarmatian origin, whose descendants may still be distinguished among the many races of modern Hungary. Roman Dacia thus embraced thepresent Bessarabia, Moldavia, Wallachia, Transylvania, and part of Hungary ; its rivers were the Tibiscus and Mariscus (now Marosh). The ancient Daci had been vanquished by Trajan, during his campaigns in 103-6, when Dacia was reduced to a Roman province, and repeopled with numerous Roman colonies. The old Dacian town, Zarmizegethusa was then denominated TJljna Trajana, and several ruins in the neighborhood of the modern con- vent of Sarnitza, south of Weissenburgh, still attest the great exertions of the Romans to obtain a firm footing beyond the > Danube. Dacia became a flourishing province, and remained for 168 years (between a. d. 106, and 274), united to the Roman empire. But on the advance of the Goths toward the Black Sea and the lower Danube, and the invasion of the Alemanni on the Rhine, the Emperor Aurelian voluntarily evacuated Dacia in the year 274, and transported the Roman inhabitants back across the Danube to Mossia (the present Bulgaria and Servia), where he established them in a new province, Dacia Aureliani, which he formed on the Danube, in the centre of Moesia, between the rivers Utus (now Isker) on the east, and Margus (now Morava) on the west. Yet the greater part of the Roman population seems to have remained in ancient Dacia under the mild sway of the Visigoths, and even afterwards, during the invasions of the Avars and Hun- ) garians ; they have preserved their Latin language, though somewhat corrupted, down to the present day, and form now, under the name Wlachs or Rumani, one of the many hetero- geneous races of Transylvania. The diocese of Dacia, in the times of Theodosius, was governed by a Vicar, and was divided into flve provinces : 1st, Dacia Interior or Mediterranea ; 2d, Dacia Ripensis ; 3d, Mcesia Pritna ; 4th, Dardania ; 5th, Prcevalitana, with a part of Macedonia Salutaris. The first province was governed by a Consular, and the four others by Presidents. In Dacia Ripensis and Moesia Prima, both situated along the Danube, dukes and numerous garrisons were formerly stationed at the strong fortresses of Singidiinuvi, Viminacium, and Ratiaria,. to prohibit the passage of the river. But since the year 376, the immense swarms of Visi- goths, with their families and herds of cattle, had already been admitted, and temporarily settled in Moesia Secunda and Scythia Minor, on the Pontus, whence they soon spread war and devastation into the very heart of the sinking empire. We shall now describe these important provinces after their geographical position from, north to south. 34. I. Dacia Ripensis, along the Ister or Danube, opposite to the ancient Dacia, which was situated on the north beyond the river. Ratiaria (now Widdin), on the banks of the Danube, was the metropolis, and a fortified city, with manufactures of arms. II. Dacia Mediterranea or Interior, south of the former, extended to the northern base of Mount Hcemus, and had for its metropolis, Sardica or Triaditza (still the present name), so celebrated by the Ecclesiastical Council held there in the time of Constantine, and by the devastations of the Barbarians, who crossed the passes of Mount Hasmus south of the city. Maximin, the opponent of Licinius, was born in the environs of Sardica, and Constantine the great at Naissus (now Nissa). III. Mcesia Prima or Superior, west of Dacia Ripensis, after the dismemberment of the two Daciae, contained only the western part of the ancient province, and formed the frontier of the eastern Empire on the Savics and Drinus, which sepa- rated it from western Rome. Its metropolis was the strong fortress Viminacium or Biniinaciiim (now presenting only heaps of ruins in the neighborhood of the village Gradistie), on the Danube. Another bulwark of the Empire was Singi- diinnni (now the thrice celebrated Belgrade), westward on the confluence of the Savus and the Danube, where so many bloody battles have been fought. 35. IV. Dardania, south of Moesia Superior, preserved its name from one of the ancient provinces of the Macedonian kingdom, and it extended on both slopes of Mount Scardus. Its metropolis was Scupi, or Skupoi (now Uskup), southeast, on the upper Axius. Northeast of Scupi lay the small village Tauresion (now Giustendil), on the Strymon ; the birth- place of Justinus and Justinian, which afterwards was enlarged and favored in honor of the Emperor under the pompous name of TJlpiana or Jnslinianro Frinia. 14 EASTERN AND WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. V. Pr^evalitana, southwest of Dardania, was formed of a portion of ancient Illyria, and touched the Adriatic coast at the mouth of the river Barbana, which formed the western frontier of the Empire toward Dalmatia. It was afterwards called Prebalis and Aemathia in Upper Albania. Scodra (now Scutari), on the southern shore of the lake Labea- iis (now lake of Scutari or Scodra), at a short distance from the Adriatic gulf, was the metropolis. It contained likewise the northern part of another province called Macedonia Sahc- taris, which seems, from reasons unknown, to have been divided between the two dioceses of Dacia and Macedonia. 36. Diocese of Macedonia. — It embraced the ancient kingdom of Macedonia, Epirus and Greece, and was divided into six provinces, the most important of which, that of Achaia, containing central and southern G-reece, formed, on account of its importance and ancient glory, a proconsulate by itself, like that of Asia (18) independent of the Vicar, governing the dio- cese. The five other provinces, placed under his jurisdiction, were after their rank: 1st, Macedojiia Minor ; 2d, Crete; od, Thessaly ; 4th, Epirus ; 5th, Epirus Nova, with the southern part of Macedonia Salutaris. The two first were ruled by Consulars, and the four others by Presidents. We will de- scribe them in their geographical order descending from the north, south througii Greece. 37. I. Macedonia Minor, on the southeast of the dio- cese, formed the ancient Macedonia proper, that is, Edonia, Chalcidice, Mygdonia;Borda!a, Emathia, Pieria and Elymiotis, and was separated from Thrace by the river Nestus. Thes- SALONiCA (now Saloniki on the Thermaic gulf) was the metro- polis — Edessa and Bella, the ancient capitals of the kingdom, though woefully decayed since the times of Philip and Alex- ander, were still towns of some importance and movement. 38. II. Epirus Nova, on the west side of Mount Pindus, was formed by Theodosius into a separate province from the nor- thern part of ancient Epirus;and Dveraciiidm (now Durazzo), on a small bay of the Ionian Sea, was made its metropolis. The southwestern part of thedismembered province Macedonia Salutaris (35), was joined to New Epirus. It is supposed that Stobi or Stoboi (now Istib), situated in the depth of the Pela- gonian Mountains, continued after the dismemberment to remain the seat of a governor with the title of President. III. Epirus Vetus, or ant.iqua, south of Epirus Nova, consisted of the southern parts of ancient Epirus as its name indicates, the modern Albania. Metropolis was Nicopolis (now lying in ruins near Prevesa) on the Ambraciau gulf, where it had been built 31b. c. by Octavian Augustus, in commemo- ration of his naval victory at Actium over Antonius and Cleo- patra. 39. IV. Thessalia, on the east of Epirus, embraced the whole ancient province of that name. Metropolis Larissa, on the Peneus, at the foot of Mount Olympus. V. Greta (now Candia), south of the Egeau, the greatest island of Greece. Metropolis Gortyna on the fertile plain at the base of Mount Ida near the southern coast of the island. The ruins of Gortyna are situated near the village of Kainurion, where some travellers have taken the deep quarries in the neighbouring hills for the celebrated labyrinth of king Minos, though it was situated on the north of the island near Cnossi/s. This beautiful and fertile island had lost part of its population by dearth and pestilence, when Helena the mother of Constan- tine, on her return from Palestine in 326, landed on Crete, and ordered new settlers from Egypt and Syria, Cilicia and the neighboring islands to repair the loss. 40. The Proconsulate of Achaia had already, in the times of the Roman Republic, been declared a proconsular province by the Clodian law. It had since always preserved that dignity, and was thus by the rank of its governor exempt- ed from the jurisdiction of the vicar of the Macedonian dio- cese, and appealed directly to the praetorial prsefect of Illyria. CoRiNTHUs, with its strong fortress Acro-Cprinthus, on the Isthmus, connecting the Peloponnesus with the mainland of northern Greece, was still a thriving city and the metropolis of the proconsulate. Yet a few years later, at the time of the in- vasion of Alaric and his Visigoths in a. d. 396, both Corinth, Argos and Sparta were plundered, and the inhabitants slaugh- tered or led off in captivity. Eleusis, with its proud priest- hood and splendid temples, had already sufl'ered the same fate. Athens, Athence, alone escaped ; Alaric visited the city, feasted with the jovial Athenians and departed without com- mitting any depredations, nor did the magnificent monuments on the Acropolis suffer any wanton destruction from the wild Barbarians, or from the still fiercer swarms of Arian monks who followed their camp. II. WESTERN EMPIRE. 41. Boundaries. — The western empire extended from the rivers Drinus and Barbana, in Illyria, and from the great Syrtis, in Africa, to the Atlantic Ocean. The island of Bri- tain, as far north as the walls of Antonine, formed likewise a part of it. 42. Capitals. — Rome had neither lost its splendor nor its immense population, and it was still considered as the first capital of the Roman empire ; but even before Constantino it had ceased to be the only residence of the emperors. By the building of Constantinople it lost entirely that old privi- lege, nor did it get it back on the separation of the two states. Mediolanum, Milan, situated in the vast and fertile plain of Cisalpine Gaul, seemed the most convenient residence for the succeeding emperors, who, being there in the midst of their arm- aments and military resources, were better enabled to watch the movements of the warlike Germanic nations beyond the Danube. Constantine had already, in a. d. 313, made his re- sidence in Milan memorable by the proclamation of his cele- brated edict in favor of the Christians. Afterwards, when the invasion of the Visigoths under Alaric, 403, had forced the timid Honorius to flee from that city, he found a refuge at Ravenna, amidst the swamps of the Adriatic Sea. Thus this unhealthy and sequestered spot, surrounded by low meadows, morasses, and canals, like modern Venice, became now the capital and the asylum of the emperors. She enjoyed for a long time the pri- vilege of being an imperial residence, and was the last seat of Roman power in Italy. 43. Divisions. — The western empire was, like the east- ern, divided into two pr£efectures, that of Italy on the east, and that of the Gauls on the west. These praefectures were again subdivided into seven dioceses, and fifty-eight provinces, which we shall now describe in their order. Pryefecture of Italy.- 44. Extent and Division. — It embraced besides the vast Hesperian Peninsula, all the possessions of the western em- pire in Europe between the ridge of the Alps and the Danube, and east of the Adriatic, and moreover that part of Africa run- ning along the coast of the Mediterranean, from the Great Syr- tis to the river Malva, which formed the western boundary toward the Csesarean Mauritania. This prasfecture was subdi- vided into four dioceses, Rome, Italy, Africa, and lllyricwn^ which contained together thirty provinces. We shall describe them in their geographical order. 45. Diocese of Illyricum. — This diocese of Illyricum is distinguished from the pr£efecture of Illyria, belonging to the eastern empire by the special desig-nation, Illyricum Occi- WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. 15 dentale. It embraced all the eastern part of the praefecture of Italy, viz. : tlie regions east of the Adriatic, of the Julian Alps, and of the river CEnus (now Inn), which falls into the Danube. Thus it comprehended lUyricum Proper, together with Dalraatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and was divided into six provinces: 1st, Pannonia Secunda ; 2d, Savia ; 3d, Panno- nia Prima; 4th, Noricum Mediterraneum ; 5th Noricum Ri- pense ; 6th, Dalmatia. The first was governed by a Consular, the second by a Corrector,'^ and the four others by Presidents. All these provinces, except upper Noricum and Dalmatia, were defended by military dukes and their divisions of troops, who were stationed along the Danube. It seems that the pro- vinces of Savia and Pannonia had their military quarters in a particular region called Valee.ia, which extended from the hill country near Acincum (Buda) all along the Danube to its junction with the Drave, near Mursa (Essek), something simi- lar, perhaps, to the present Austrian military frontiers of Cro- atia, where the troops (frontier regiments) live in permanent camps. The Romans had likewise fortified the hilly country between the Danube and the Theiss, called the Baas, by an em- bankment with military stations, against the incursions of the roving Jazygian tribes of the plain. We shall now describe the provinces of the diocese of lUyricum, after their geographi- cal order, from southeast to northwest. 46. I. Dalmatia, on the coast of the Adriatic, retained its ancient name ; but it contained, besides, that northern part of ancient Illyria, known by the name of Libiirnia, which does not seem to have formed a separate province. Its metropolis was Salona, in a beautiful plain near the coast. It was the birthplace of the Emperor Diocletian, who, after his abdication, A. D. 304, retired to the splendid palace which he had built near Salona, where he spent the remainder of his active life in rm-al occupations. The village of Aspalathus^ and long afterwards the provincial town of Spalatro, have grown out of the ruins of the imperial asylum, which still, in spite of its ar- chitectural grandeur, exhibits the decline of arts in the third century. 47. II. Savia, north of Dalmatia, took its name from the river Savus (Save), which passed through it, and consisted of the southeastern part of the ancient Pannonia. Metro- polis, SisciA (now Sisseck), on an island in the river Colapis (now Kulpa), near its junction with the Save. It was here that Theodosius defeated Maximus in 388. Sirmium (now Sirmich), southeast in the province, on the Save, was one of the most considerable cities of the empire. It was the birth- place of several emperors : important councils were held there, until it was burnt down and destroyed by the Huns in the fifth century. Cibalis (now Svilei), northwest, was the battle- field where Constantino vanquished Licinius, in 314; and at Mursa, further northwest, on the banks of the Drave, Con- stantius defeated Magnentius, a. d. 351, in a tremendous bat- tle, which deprived the empire of 54,000 of its bravest warri- ors. AcincuTn or Aquincum, so called from its hot springs (now OldOfen, near Buda), on the Danube, was the principal city of the military district Valeria (45), and contained arse- nals and manufactures of arms, like Sirmium. III. Pannonia Secunda, or Inferior, west of Valeria, con- sisted only of the western part of the ancient Pannonia Infe- rior, the southern district of which had been dismembered, in order to form the province of Savia. It extended westward, to the great lake of Pelissa or Balaton (now Platten See). Bregetio (now Szony, near Comorn), on the Danube, where Valentinian I. died in 375, is supposed to have been the metropolis of the province. " In the western empire, the rank of the corrector (or co-rector) was superior to that of the president; the contrary was the case in the eastern empiro. IV. Pannonia Prima, or Sujjerior, west of the former, consisted mostly of the ancient province of that name. The metropolis was probably Sabaria (now lying in ruins near Sarvar, on the Raab). Pcetovium (now Pettau), southwest on the Drave, near the border of Noricum, is celebrated by the second great victory wliicli Theodosius gained over the fleeing troops of Maximus, three days after their first defeat at Sis- cia, in 388. Vindobona or Vindomina (now imperial Vienna), and CarnuntiiWv (now Presburg), both on the Danube, are often mentioned in the military history of the emperors. 48. V. Noricum Ripense, west of Pannonia Prima, from which it was separated by Mount Cetius (now Kalemberg, near Vienna), extended, as its name indicates, along the banks of the Danube. Metropolis Laureacum (now Lorch), on the river. A Roman squadron of galleys and armed barks were stationed here to observe the movements of the Barba- rians on the northern bank, and oppose their passage. This city had manufactures of bucklers. Boiodurum or Boitro (now Innstadt, opposite to Passau), on the border of Rhgetia, was likewise a town important on account of its military position. VI. Noricum Mediterraneum, south of the former, com- prised the southern part of the ancient province of Noricum. Its metropolis is supposed to have been Virunum (now in ruins near Klagenfurth), on the Drave. 49. Diocese of Italy. — This diocese, situated north of the country whose name it bore, did not extend much farther south than the limits of the ancient Cisalpine G-aul ; but it embraced besides, all the ancient Rhgetia and Vindelicia, be- tween the Alps and the Danube. It was governed by a Vicar, and divided into seven provinces : I st, Venetia, with Istria ; 2d, Emilia ; 3d, Liguria ; 4th, Flaminia, with Piceniun Anvonarium ; 5th, Alpes Cottier; 6th, Bhcetia Prima; and 7th, RhcEtia Secunda. The four first were governed by Consulars, and the five latter by Presidents. A military Duke was charged with the defence of the two Rliasti^e ; only Rhai- tia Secunda touched the frontier line on the Rhine. We fol- low their geographical order from the north, southward. 50. I. Rh.etia Secunda, on the north of the diocese, was formed of the ancient Vindelicia, whose metropolis, Augusta ViNDELicoRUM (now Augsburg) on the Picus (Lech), still preserved its pre-eminence in the new province. II. Rh.etia Prima, on the south of the former, consisted of the ancient Rhajtia Propria, which was separated from Italy by the Rhastian Alps — Alpes Rhcstice — metropolis CuEiA (now Chur in the Grrisons), at the base of Mount Splugen. 51. III. The Cottian Alps, Alpes Cottice, southwest of Rhgetia, in the midst of the most towering pinnacles of the Alps, partly lying in Italy, partly in Gaul, preserved its name from the time of Augustus, who had graciously permitted the petty king Cottius to rule in this small country. When Nero afterwards reduced it to a Roman province, it retained the name of its last king. Metropolis, Segusio (now Suza), at the base of Mount Cenis, one of the most important defiles, from Gaul into Italy. Charlemagne crossed Mount Cenis, and defeated the Lombards at Suza in 774. Hannibal had crossed over Mons Matrona, farther southwest, and descended toward the springs of the Padus. IV. Liguria, on the east of the Cottian Alps, was an ex- tensive, fertile, and beautiful province, which did not only consist of the narrow, rugged, coast land of ancient Liguria, hemmed in between the Alps and the sea, but it extended over the central part of Cisalpine Gaul (the present Lombardy and Piedmont). Mediolanum (now Milan), was then both the metropolis of tlie province, and the capital of the western IG WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. Empire, (42), and its arcliiepiscopal see was independent of the Patriarch of Rome. Asia (now Asti), on the Tanarus, a strongly fortified town, to which Honorius fled for safety when Alaric and his Visigoths invaded Italy, in 403. At a short distance west of Asta, on the Tanarus, lay Pollentia (now PoUenza), where the Vandal Stilicho, then Roman general, hurryino- to the succor of the besieged Emperor, defeated Alaric in a great battle, and drove him back over the Alps. 52. V. Venetia, on the east of Liguria, and separated from the diocese of Illyricum by the Julian Alps, Alfes Julia^ by which the Goths penetrated into Italy, had preserved its ancient name, and comprised, besides, the beautiful peninsula of Istria. Its metropolis was Aquileia, at the head of the Adriatic gulf, near the mouth of the Sontius (Isonzo). Being situated at the point where all the roads to Italy unite from east and northeast, this city obtained the highest importance, and was considered as the bulwark of Italy. Therefore were so many bloody battles fought beneath its walls. It was here that Constantine II. fell, in the war against bis brother Con- stance, in 340 ; Theodosius defeated here Maximus for the third time, in 388, and afterwards he gained here another vic- tory over Eugenius, in 394. Aquileia passed imscathed through all these storms, but at the invasion of Attila and his Huns in 452, it was taken by assault, after the most des- perate defence, and levelled to the ground, never to rise again ; its ruins are still seen, near G-rado. — Verona, on the south- west of the province, in a strong position on the Athesis (now Adige), beheld the second defeat and flight of Alaric and his myriads, by Stilicho, in 403, but on the irruption of the Huns it was ruthlessly destroyed, together with all the neighboring cities, Patavium (now Padua), Vicetio, (now Vicenza), Alti- nitm, Concordia, and others, but soon rebuilt. The fleeing inhabitants sought refuge in the midst of the lagunes of the Adriatic coast, where they laid the foundation of the proud Republic of Venice, in 452. 53. VI. JEmilia, southwest of Venetia, contained the greater part of the ancient Cisjmdane Gaul, and received its name from the Via JEmilia, the great military road, which passed through its territory, and led from Ariminium to Pla- CENTiA (now Piacenza), its metropolis, situated on the right bank of the river Padus (Po). VIII. Flaminia, southeast of iEmilia, extended along the coast of the Adriatic, and contained the southeastern part of Gallia Cispadaua, toward the mouth of the Po, the greater part of the ancient Umbria, and the coast land of the ancient Picenum, which at this period, on account of its exuberant fertility and high cultivation, was called Picenum Annona- rium. The province itself received its new name from the Flaminian high road, Via Flaminia, which, from the northern gate of Rome, ran across Mount Apennine to Ariminium, one of its larger citiiss. The metropolis was the celebrated Ravenna (42). 54. Diocese of Rome. — This diocese embraced all central and southern Italy, and all the islands, great and small, that lie off" the Italian coast. Though it bore the name of the cap- ital of the empire, and was, no doubt, the ordinary residence of the vicar who governed it, yet its administration was never- theless almost entirely independent of the Prsefect of the City of ^ome—prcefect.us urbis ; the few exceptions we men- tion below (55). The diocese had ten provinces, which, ac- cording to their rank, followed thus: 1st, Campania; 2d, Tuscia; 3d, Umbria; Ath, Sicilia ; 5i\i, Ajm Ha \i\i\\ Cala- bria ; 6th, Bruttium with Lucania ; 7th, Samnium ; 8th, Sardinia ; 9th, Corsica ; 10th, Valeria. The four first were governed by Consulars, the fifth and sixth by Correctors, and the four last by Presidents. We describe them in the order fi-oni nortli to soutli. 55. I. TusciA (Tuscany), on the northwest of the diocese, held its ancient name and territory. It was divided into Aiino- nary and Suburbicary ; but the limits of the two jurisdictions are unknown. Tuscia Suburbicaria, like Picenum of the same name, were considered as dependences of the city of Rome, and were subjected to her prsefect, whose jurisdiction seems to have extended for one hundred miles [ad centesimum lajndem) around the old mistress of the world. Flokentia (Florence), on the Arnus (Arno), was the metropolis. Fcesu- loe, (Fiesole), on Mount Apennine, near Florence, where, in the valley of Mucro (now Mugrone), Stilicho surrounded and anni- hilated the immense army of Radagaisus, in 406. It was at the border of this province, between the Saxa Rubra (Red Rocks) and the bridge Milvius, now the well known Ponte MoUe, over the Tiber, at 6 miles distance from Rome, where Max- entius was defeated and perished in battle against Constantine, in 312. II. Umbria, or Picenum Suburbicarium, between Tuseia on the west, and Picenum Annonarium on the east, was formed of that part of ancient Umbria which extended on the western slope of Moimt Apennine, and bordered on the ancient Sabini, in the neighborhood of Rome ; it formed afterwards, during the Middle Ages, the duchy of Spoletium, and was called Su- biirbicarium because it depended on the prsefect of the city. Spoletuji or Spoletium (now Spoleto), in a strong position on the Apennines, and commanding the fertile valley of the Tinia, seems to have been the metropolis. 56. III. Valeria, south of Picenum Suburbicarium, con- sisted of the ancient Sabini and part of Latium, and received its name from the Valerian military road. Via Valeria, which passed by Tibur and Alba Fucentia, to Corjinium, through the Sabini to the Peligni, and northward along the coast of Picenum. This Valeria must not be confounded with the other already mentioned as the military frontier of the diocese of Illyricum (45 and 47). Metropolis, Amiternuji (now Amiterno, near Aquila), southeast of Spoletium, in the highest range of the Apennines. The ancient Latium — La- tium Vetus — the cradle of Roman power, lay southwest of Valeria, and was not numbered among the provinces, being ad- ministered by the prefect of the city. IV. Samnium, east of Valeria, had preserved its ancient name, and extended to the coast of the Adriatic. Corfinium (now S. Pelino), near the Aternus, is supposed to have been its metropolis. 57. V. Camrania, south of Samnium, had likewise retained its ancient name, and its high reputation for fertility and enjoy- ment, though it sufi"ered terribly from the Gothic war in 410, and became then the grave of the Visigoths as it formerly had been of the Carthaginians under Hannibal.'^ Neapolis (Na- ples), on its splendid bay at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, was the most important city of the province, and, no doubt, its metro- polis. Beneventum, on the southeast of Naples, had pre- served both its rank and population. Since Vesuvius had become a burning volcano, Campania seemed to be more fertile than before ; the exuberant soil of Capua, Nola, and Neapolis, aflbrded some consolation for the loss of the cities that lay buried imder ashes and lava ; the inhabitants were wealthy ; the commerce flourishing, and the islands on the coast were adorned with palaces and pleasure houses. VI. Apulia, northeast of Campania, formed one province together with Calabria, southeast, along the shores of the " "The prostrate soiith to lier destroyer j-ields Her boasted titles and her golden fields ; With grim delight the brood of winter view A brighter daj-, and skies of azure liue, Scent the new fragrance of the opening rose, And qunff tlie pendant vintage .is it grows." WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. 17 Adriatic. Luceria (now Lucera), in the great Apulian plain, seems to have been the metropolis. Tarentum^ on the gulf of the same name, was the most flourishing city in Calabria. VII. Bruttium occupied the western peninsula of southern Italy, opposite to Sicily, and formed one province together with LucANiA, on the north, between Bruttium and Campania. Con- SENTiA (now Cosenza), in Bruttium, may have been the me- tropolis ; it was here that Alaric, after the pillage of Rome, died in the midst of his victories, and was buried, with his splendid spoils, in the bed of the small river Busentmus^ whose waters the Barbarians had led off, and afterwards re- stored to their natural channel, a. d. 410. P^stum (now a swamp, with magnificent temple ruins, near the village of Ca- paccio), on the Posidonian gulf, was the principal town of Lucania. 58. VIII. SiciLiA (Sicily), the most fertile and beautiful of the islands of Italy, formed a province which comprehended likewise the smaller islands situated on its coast. Syracus/e (Syracuse), on the eastern coast, though much reduced from its former splendor and circumscribed to the small island of Ortygia, was still the metropolis of the island. Lilyb^um (now Marsala), on the western promontory of that name (now Cape Boco), was early occupied by the Vandals from Africa. IX. Sardinia, on the northwest of Sicily, though almost of the same extent' and fertility as that island, was yet a pro- vince of little importance ; its metropolis was Cabalis (now Cagliari), on a gulf of the southern coast ; its maritime towns were flourishing, but the interior not cultivated. Corsica, north of Sardinia, was, after Valeria, the small- est province of the diocese. Aleria, a small town with a port, on the eastern coast, seems to have been the metropolis. The island was celebrated for honey and oysters. 59. Diocese of Africa. — This diocese, whose extent we have mentioned above (44), contained, like those of Asia and Macedonia (18 and 36), a proconsulate, consisting of Africa proper or Carthage, and, besides, five pi-ovinces : 1st, Byza- cena ; 2d, Numidia ; 3d, Tripolitana ; 4th, Mauritania Sitifensis ; 5th, Mauritania CcBsariensis. The two first were governed by Consulars, and the three following by Presi- dents. The military Count of Africa had two Dukes under his command, one in Tripolitana, and the other in Mauritania Csesariensis, to keep in cheek the roving mountaineers on Mount Atlas. We shall now describe the African provinces in their geographical order from east to west, beginning with the African Proconsulate. 60. Proconsulate of Africa Propria consisted of Car- thage and the ancient Zeugitana ; it was then the granary of Rome, as Egypt was that of Constantinople. It was governed by a proconsul, who did not stand under the jurisdiction of the vicar of Africa, but immediately under the prsetorial prsefect of Italy. Carthage, the metropolis, had risen from her ruins, and, though she might yield to the imperial prerogative of Constantinople, to the trade of Alexandria or to the splendor of Antioch, she still maintained the second rank in the west, as the Rome of the African world. She contained the manufac- tures, arms and treasures of six provinces and schools and gym- nasia of high repute ; her ports, public buildings and institu- tions were magnificent ; but the reputation of the Carthaginians was not equal to that of their country and the reproach of Punic faith still adhered to their subtle and faithless char- acter. Their luxury and licentious manners had corrupted their morals and extinguished their courage ; and in 439 that immense city yielded to the daring and headlong bravery of G-enseric and his Vandals, who soon founded a Barbaric king- dom on the ruins of the richest provinces of the western empire. Utica (now in ruins near Porto Farina), on the northern coast ; Hadrumetum (now Hamamet), on the eastern coast. 8 61. I. Tripolitana, the most eastern of the African dioceses, on the south and east of the great Syrtis, received its name from its three principal cities all situated on ther coast. Leptis Magna (now Lebida), its metropolis ; (Ea (now Tripo- lis), east of Leptis ; Sabrata (now Sabart or old Tripolis), west of (Ea. II. Byzacena, west of the lesser Syrtis, with the me- tropolis Byzacium, formerly Tacape (now Kabes), situated on the coast opposite to the large island of Meninx (now Gerbe). 62. IH. Numidia, west of Africa proper, had retained its ancient name, but only the eastern part of the old province. Constantina, formerly Cirta, the ancient capital of the Nu- midian kings, obtained her modern name from Constantine, and was the metropolis of the province. Hippone or Hippo Regius (now Bona), a strongly fortified city on the coast, was the archiepiscopal seat of St. Augustine, who died there during the siege of the city by the Vandals in 430. IV. Mauritania Sitifensis, west of Numidia, consisted of the western part of that ancient province and of a small part of Maui-itania. Its metropolis was ,Sifeti (now Setif), in the interior of the country. V. Mauritania C^sariensis, west of the former, compre- hended the greater part of the ancient province of Mauritania Orientalis, and took the name of its metropolis CjEsarea (now Vacur), on the cojist of the Mediterranean opposite to the Ba- learic islands. PRiEFECTURE OF THE GrAULS. 63. Extent and Divisions. — The prsefecture of the Gauls comprehended besides the Transalpine G-aul, 1st, Old Spain, with the Balearic islands, and Mauritania Tingitana in the northwest of Africa ; 2d, the southern portion of the island of Britain as far north as the Antoninian Wall. These three large countries formed three dioceses — Spain, the Gauls, and Bretain, which were subdivided in twenty-nine provinces, and eveij thirty, as we shall see below (69). 64. Diocese of Hispania. — It was governed by a Vicar, and contained seven provinces; 1st, BcBtica ; 2d, Lusitania ; 3d, Gallicia ; 4th, Tarraconensis ; 5th, Carthaginiensis ; 6th, Tingitana ; 7th, Baleares Insulcs. The three first were governed by Consulars, and the four others" by Presidents. We will describe them from south to north. 65. I. Tingitana or Mauritania Tingitana, separated on the east by the river Malva, from the Csesarean Mauritania of the Italian prsefecture, extended westward to the Atlantic Ocean, and owed its name to its metropolis Tingis (Tangier), on the western entrance of the Straits of Gades (now Gibraltar), which separated it from Spain. II. B^tica (afterwards in Arabic : Vandalos, Andalos, now Andalusia), consisting of the southernmost part of Spain, received its name from the river Bsetis (by the Arabs after- wards called Wady-al-Kebir, or Guadalquiver), which flowed through that fertile and beautiful ^jrovince. Hispilis (now Se- ville), on the left bank of the river, was the metropolis. Cor- duba (now Cordova) was the next city in rank. III. Lusitania, northwest of Boetica, along the coast of the Atlantic, had for metropolis Emerita Augusta (now Me- rida), on the river Anas (by the Arabs called Wady-Ana, now Guadiana). 66. IV. Carthaginiensis. northeast of Boetica, along the coast of the Mediterranean, obtained its name from Carthago Nova (now Carthagena). V. Tarraconensis, north of the former, with the metro- polis Tarraco (now Tarragona). This was the most impor- tant city in Spain during the dominion of the Romans, and no IS WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. doubt the residence of the Vicar and the military Count of the diocese. VI. G-ALLyT;ciA (now Galicia), on the northwest of the Penin- sula, received its name from the warlike people, the Galloeci or Grallaici, who so long had defended their independence against the Romans. Metropolis, Bracara Augusta (now Braga), north of the Durius (Duero). VII. Insula Baleares, situated opposite the eastern coast of Spain. Palma or Balearis Major (now Majorca), was per- haps the metropolis. Portus Magonis (now Port-Mahon) was the principal town in Balearis Minor (now Minorca). Spain was the most flourishing province of the empire in the fourth century. Many profound philosophers and poets of bold and lofty genius were natives of Spain ; and the mechanical arts flourished without degrading the high spirit of the nation. It furnished the empire with brave and hardy warriors, with brass, iron, gold, silver and noble steeds ; of wine and oil there was abundance ; in the less fertile parts of the country flax and spartum were cultivated.'^ 67. Diocese of the Gauls. — This diocese was governed by a Vicar, and embraced all Transalpine Gaul between the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean, the Alps, the Rhine, the British Ocean and the Atlantic ; it was divided into seventeen provinces after the notitia im2Jerii ; but the first of these provinces (69) was already subdivided into two others at the period of our map. These provinces were according to, their importance : 1st, FiewMe?2sz5, towards the close of the fourth century divided into prima and secunda ; 2d, Licgdunensis Prima ; 3d, Ger- 'inania Prima; 4th, Gerniania Secunda ; 5th, Belgica Prima ; 6th, Belgica Secunda ; 7th, Alpes Maritimce ; 8th, Alpes Pennince and Grajee; 9th, Maxifna Sequanorum ; 10th, Aqidtania Pritna ; 11th, Aquitania Secunda; \2i\\, Novem- popidana ; I3th, Nar bo nejisis Prima; 14th, Narhonensis Se- cunda; 15th, Lugdunensis Secunda; I6th, Lugduncnsis Tcrtia ; 17th, Lugdunensis Quarta or Senonia. Gerniania Prima, Belgica Secunda, and Maxima Sequano- rum, were occupied by Dukes with their troops for the defence of the frontiers ; another Duke had the inspection of the n»rth- western sea-coast against the pirates. The entire coast, from the Scaldis on the east, to Gobamm, Promontorium — the western cape — were divided into two naval districts : Ar- inoricanus et Nericanus Tractus. We shall now shortly de- scribe these seventeen provinces in their order from south- west to northeast. 68. I. Novempopulana, later Vasconia (now Gascogne), was situated at the base of the Pyrenees, and on the south- west of Gaul and Aquitania, whose third province it formed ; and owed its name to the nine Gallic tribes that occupied it. Metropolis, Elusa, in the centre of the province ; a title which it surrendered in the ninth century to the town Ausci (now Auch), on the southeast. II. Aquitania Secunda, north of the former, along the coast of the ocean, extended to the Liger (now Loire), with Burdigala (now Bordeaux), on the Garumna (Garonne) for its metropolis. III. Aquitania Prima, east of Secunda, with the metropolis Bituriges or Avariciom (Bourges), in the north of the province. 69. IV. Narbonensis Prima, south of Aquitania Prima, ran along the Gallic gulf from the Pyrenees to the RJwdam/s (Rhone). Narbonensis had formerly been a vast province, and given its name to the four following provinces. Its metropolis was Narbo Martius (Narbonne), on the coast. V. Viennensis or Narbonensis Tertia, east of the former, extended along the left bank of the Rhone from its mouth till its exit from Lake Leman. It became divided into two pro- '' A kind of hrnoin for making cables, (fee, vinces toward the close of the fourth centui-y, as we have men- tioned above (67). Viennensis Prima on the north, with the metropolis Vienna on the Rhone, and Viennensis Secunda in the south, with the metropolis Arelas or Arelate (Aries), a beautiful and populous city, the residence of the Prastorial Praefect for the Gauls. The poet Ausonius calls it the Gallic Rome — Gallula Roma Arelas. VI. Narbonensis Secunda, east of Viennensis, with the metropolis, Aqu/e Sexti/e (now Aix in Provence), which took its name from its celebrated hot springs. Massilia (now Mar- seilles) the ancient Greek colony, and flourishing commercial town. Forum lulii (now Frejus), on the southeast, served as a naval station for the imperial fleets. VII. Alpes Maritimce, east of the former, along the ridge of the Alpine chain. Metropolis Eburodunum (now Embrun), near the source of the P)7'tientia (Durance). VIII. Alpes Pennince et Graj^e, northeast of the former, were, together with the Alpes Maritimae, considered as one of the provinces of the Narbonensis. Metropolis Darantasia, (now Moutier in the valley of the Tarantaise), on the upper Isara, in the midst of the highest Alps. 70. IX. Lugdunensis Prima, north of Viennensis, so called from its metropolis Lugdunum (now Lyons), on the junc- tion of the Arar (Saone) and the Rhone, one of the largest and most important cities in Gaul. Matisco (now Macon), on the Arar, and Augustodunum (now Autun), more north- west, had imperial manufactures of armor and arrows. The whole of central Gaul had in the olden time been called Cel- tica, afterwards Lugdunensis was substituted, and comprehend- ed besides the Prima, the following three provinces : X. Lugdunensis Quarta, northwest of the Prima, more frequently called Senonia, from its metropolis Senones (now Sens), on the Icauna (now Yonne). Parish, earlier Lutetia Parisiorum (now Paris) on the SequoMa (Seine), began already to have great importance from the time of the residence of the Emperor Julian, the Apostate, in a. d. 355. Of the numerous Roman ruins of ancient Paris, only the relics of the palace of Julian and the catacombs are left. XI. Lugdunensis Tertia, west of the former, embraced all the peninsula of Armorica, whose warlike inhabitants during the distress of the empire threw off the yoke, and recovered their independence — Metropolis CyESARODUNun or Turones (now Tours), on the Loire. XII; Lugdunensis Secunda, northeast of the former. Metropolis Rotomagus (now Rouen), on the Seine. 71. XIII. Belgica Secunda, all along the Fretum Galli- ciim or the Channel. Metropolis Duro-Cortorum or Remi (now Rheims), with military depots and manufactures of arms. — (Swessicuzes (Soissons),, and Ambianum (Amiens), on the Somme, had likewise celebrated manufactures of defensive ar- mor and military engines. XIV. Belgica Prima, east of the former. Metropolis Trever,! (now Treves), with manufactures of arms and military engines, had been one of the richest and ' most considerable cities in Gaul, and the residence of the Prsetorial Prasfect of the diocese, before it had been transferred to Aries during the war with the Franks. XV. Maxima Sequanorum, southeast of Belgica Prima.. Metropolis Vesontio (Besancon), on the Dttbis (Dubs). XVI. Germania Prima or Superior, east of Belgica Pri- ma, along the banks of the Rhine. Magontiacum (Mayence), on the left bank of that river, was the metropolis. It was pro- tected by the long line of fortifications which Hadrian had drawn from the Mcenus (Mayn) across the present Franconia to Regidm (Ratisbon), on the Danube. Argenioratum (now Strasburgh), more south, likewise on the river, was the residence of a military count, with depots and arsenals. Near the city WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. 19 a great battle took place with the united kings of the Ale- manni in 357, in which Julian defeated them gallantly and drove them across the river. XVII. G-ERMANiA Secunda or Inferior, northwest of the former, extended along the left bank of the Rhine until its discharge in the German Sea. Metropolis Colonia Ageippina (Colog-ne), on the left bank of the river. — Asciburgiu')n (now Asburgh), Bonna (now Bonn). — Confluentes (now Coblentz), on the junction of the Moselle with the Rhine. — Borbetoma- gus or Vormacia (now Worms). All these cities on the Rhine, and those on the upper Danube, such as Ratisbon, Batava- Castra (Passau), and Vienna, had in their origin been Roman camps — castra-stativa — ^of the sixteen legions, that, for cen- turies, were stationed on the borders of Germany. The neigh- boring Gallic and German inhabitants had successively settled around these bulwarks, for their protection and commerce. Foreign merchants from distant countries had there opened their markets and fairs, and thus those wealthy and powerful cities arose, which later during the Middle Ages as free impe- rial towns — Freie Reichsstddte — were to form their armed confederacies and bear down on the spear-point the despotism of the proud nobility of the Germanic empire. During the civil wars between the wrangling sons of Constantino (340-355), the Roman garrisons had been recalled from the Rhine, and the flourishing provinces of Gaul were thus exposed to the incur- sions of the German barbarians beyond the river. Swarms of Franks and Alemanni {77) now crossed and spread devas- tation as far as the Loire. Forty-five populous cities, Tongres, Cologne, Treves, Worms, Spire, and Strasburgh, besides a far greater number of open towns and villages were pillaged and for the most part reduced to ashes. The Alemanni already began to establish themselves on the left bank of the Rhine, and the Franks occupied the island of the Batavians (now Holland) and Toxandria (Brabant), when Julian, the young emperor, appeared with his legions, and in the brilliant campaigns of 356-358, defeated the Alemanni at Strasburgh, driving them headlong across the Rhine, and making a treaty with the power- ful Franks, permitted them to settle down in the depopulated province of Germania Secunda (now Belgium), where they re- mained faithful allies of the Romans in the later wars with At- tila and the Huns (451), until they, under Clovis, burst forth in 486 to share the spoils of the perishing Empire of the West. 72. Diocese of Britain. — Roman Britain, which em- braced the whole of modern England, and the Lowlands of Scotland, as far as the wall of Agricola, between the Frith of Forth and the Clyde, formed a diocese governed by a Vicar, and was subdivided into five provinces, about whose position, borders, and cities, we have very imperfect information. These provinces were, 1st, Maximo. Cezsariensis ; 2d, Valentia ; 3d, Britannia Prima ; 4th, Britannia Secunda ; 5th, Flavia Ccesariensis. The two first were governed by Consu- lars, and the three others by Presidents. Two military con- suls and a duke were stationed in this far-off diocese, for its lefence against the warlike Caledonians in the unsubdued Highlands on the north of the island. We begin our descrip- tion with the south. 73. I. Flavia Ccesariensis,'" which received its imperial name from Flavins Constantius Chlorus, the father of the great Constantino, contained the eastern part of the island, the Mer- cia and East Anglia of the Anglo-Saxons in the 7th century. '" Great doubt exists with regard to the position of Flavia Cassari- cnsis, and Britannia Prima. We follow here Spruner, in the latest edi- tion of his Medi£e,val Atlas, and in his Atlas Antiquus. Professor An- sart, in his transLation of the Historical Atlas of Kruse (1834), and Dr. Wiltsch, in his excellent Ecclesiastical Atlas (1844), have both placed Flavia Ca?sariensis in the south, so that the two Britannia; lie east and west together. The Abus (Tyne), divided it from Maxima Cacsariensis on the north, the Sabrina (Severn), from Britannia Secunda on the west, and the Tamesis (Thames), from Britannia Prima on the south. The metropolis must have been either Londin- lUM (London), on the Tamesis, or Verulamium (St. Albans, in Hertfordshire), one of the earliest and most important colo- nies of the Romans. II. Britannia Prima embraced the south of the island, from the mouth of the Tamesis westward to the Sabrianum JEstua- Hum (the Bristol Channel). Metropolis Durovernuji (now Canterbury), on the southeast of the province. Vcnta Belga- rum (now Winchester) was a thriving colony of Belgians, set- tled in the island. Dubrce (Dover), on the cliffs of the Fre- tum Gallicum (British Channel), opposite to the Gallic har- bor Itius (now Calais), the nearest passage across. Britannia Secunda formed the western mou.ntainous por- tion of the island, between the Severn and the Irish Channel, the modern Wales. Metropolis may have been Isca Silurum (now Caerleon), on the mouth of the Severn, the ancient capi- tal of the Silures. IV. Maxima CiESARiENSis lay on the north of the Humber (Northumbria), as far as the wall of Hadrian on the Tyne. Metropolis Eboracum (now York), in the centre of the province, the seat of the vicar of Britain. It was a large, well fortified, and flourishing city, the centre of all the Roman military forces and arsenals in the island. Both Sep- timus Severus, and Constantius Chlorvis, made a long sojourn in York, and both died there. V. Valentia was the northernmost part of the British dio- cese, and comprehended the whole district inclosed between the southern wall of Hadrian, and the earlier outer wall of Agri- cola on the Forth, between Edinburgh and Glasgow ; thus it comprised the later county of Northumberland, and the Scot- tish Border and Lowlands. It was only a military line, with- out any regular Roman settlement.'''' The great Julius Agri- cola, after his brilliant victories against the Caledonians, at the base of the Grampians (the highlands of Perth), built the flrst fortiflcation across the narrow interval of forty miles, which he secured by a line of military stations. Yet it proved but an insecure protection, and Hadrian, therefore, in his enthusiasm for architecture, built in 132, the beautiful double wall, now in its ruins, called the Picts^ Wall, running for eighty Roman miles, from the mouth of the Eden river and the Frith of Solway, near Carlisle, north of the Tyne, to Newcastle. It was a magnificent work, with eighty-one strong castles, between which were located numerous smaller towers. Four gates can still be traced. Between the two ranges of walls ran a Roman military road of immense flag-stones, lined with extensive barracks, quarters for cavalry, and fortified store- houses and arsenals. Interesting inscriptions of the old legions have been found, for instance : Ala Prima Astorum, and Ala Saviniana, Ala Petriana (all three cavalry), Cohors Prima Batavorum, Cohors Prima Tiingrorum, Cohors Quarta Gallorum, Cohors Secunda Dalmatortom, Cohors Prima JElia Dacorum, which show how many different nationalities were gathered beneath the Roman eagles, and joined company together. During the happy reign of Antoninus Pius, the Romans advanced once more into Caledonia, and the earlier embankment of Agricola was now restored, by a turf rampart, erected on solid foundations of stone. It was considered as the limes imperii, and called Vallum Antonini. The dis- trict was, however, soon invaded by the barbarians from the " The masters of the fairest and most wealthy climates of tlie globe, turned with contempt from the gloomy hills, assailed by the winter tempest, from lakes concealed in a blue mist, and from cold and lonely heaths, over which the deer of the forest were chased by troops of naked barbarians. — Gibbon, chapter 1. 20 FIRST PERIOD.— THE WORLD OF THE BARBARIANS. sea-shore, and though Count Theodosius reconquered it, and gave it its name Valentia, in honor of the Emperor Valenti- nian, yet it was definitively lost for the empire in 395, when the legionaries could hardly defend themselves behind the still stronger walls of Hadrian ; and the daring Picts and Scots carried their depredations among the peaceful and dis- armed Britons on the Humber. Such was the state of the Roman Empire, in a. d. 395. ^ II. THE WORLD OF THE BARBARIANS, AT THE CLOSE OF THE FOURTH CENTUEY. 74. General Division. — The Barbarian or extra-Roman World, during the fourth century, immediately before, or during the great migration of the northern tribes across the Danube and the Rhine, between a. d. 376 and 410, can, with regard to the relations of those nations to the Roman Empire, be divided into three great parts. 1 st. The counti-ies situated in the centre and north of Europe and the northwest of Asia, which were inhabited by Celts, Germans, Scandinavians, Slavi, Finns, and Huns. 2d. The countries in Asia, south of Mount Caucasus, on the eastern frontiers of the empire, occupied by Chazars, Tartars, Armenians, Persians, and Sarazens. 3d. The regions of northern Africa, from Egypt to the Atlantic, and extending south of the empire, toward the great Libyan desert, with their wild Moorish tribes of Ama- zirghi, Kabyles, Berbers, and other mixed Ethiopian races. I. Northern Countries. 75. Regions and Principal Nations. — On the north and northeast of the lioman frontiers beyond the Rhine, the Danube, the Black Sea, and the chain of Mount Caucasus, vast plains extend to the shores of the ocean and its many gulfs, which em- brace tiie European Continent on the north. These plains are, on the east, bordered by the high range of Mount Oural, which only by a swelling hill country, forming the water -shed of nu- merous rivers, is connected on the southwest with the Carpa- thian and Bohemian Mountains of Central Europe. In the north and northwest these plains were then covered with dense and sombre forests. On the southeast, toward the Pontus and the Caspian, they formed open steppes, with fertile pasture grounds along the banks of the rivers, where from times im- memorial, Scythian and Sarmatian nations roamed as no- mades with their herds and flocks. All these countries were but little known to the ancients. The G-reeks and Romans were ignorant of their limits ; and they designated them con- fusedly under the vague denominations of Germania, Sarma- tia Etiropxa, Sarmatia Asiatica, and Scythia. During the first two centuries of our era, while the empire still subsisted in its full force, the Romans cared little about the revolu- tions of those distant regions, except only those of the Ger- mans, who were continually attacking the Roman garrisons on the frontier lines of the Rhine and the Danube. The conquest of Germany, and the extension of the Ro- man frontiers to the Baltic — Simis Codanus or Mare Sue- vicum — had been a favorite idea in the times of Augustus. But the terrible defeat of the Roman legions, under Varus, on the banks of the Luppia (Lippe), near Paderborn, in the year 9 a. c, and the little advantage of the lafer avenging expeditions of Drusus and Germanicus, made the empe- rors give up those fond hopes, and henceforth they cir- cumscribed themselves to the defence of the river lines and the Hadrian walls, between the Mayn and Danube beyond them. But the Germanic nations, who separately had been vanquish- ed and repelled by Roman discipline, began, during the third century, to form large confederacies of kindred tribes : the Franks on the lower, and the Alemanni (all men) on the upper Rhine ; the Quadi, Marcomanni, and Boioarii (Bavarians) on the Danube ; the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Gepidse on the Pontus. Like the waves of the tempestuous ocean, against the opposing dikes, they continued their attacks against the weakened and demoralized empire with various success, until, in the year 376, the Huns, from the Volga, sub- dued all the eastern Germanic and Sclavonic nations, and uniting with them, fell upon the more western tribes, and forced them, by a mighty, simultaneous effort, to cross the rivers, and to seek new settlements in the civilized provinces of the South. Thus the sudden appearance of the Huns in a. d. 375 is the signal for the general irruption of the Germans, and the dismemberment of the Roman Empire. We shall now attempt to describe the nations of indepen- dent Germany in their seats, immediately before that great event which changed the whole political position of Europe, and the empire of the Huns, under Balomir and Attila (376 — 451), at that time embracing the greater part of ancient Scythia and Sarmatia, from Mount Oural to the Danube, and to the very heart of Gei-many. A.— GERMANIA. 76. Its Extent. — Ancient Germany extended from the coasts of the Germanic Ocean and the Baltic, on the north, to the banks of the Danube on the south. On the west it bordered on the Rhine — though some Germanic tribes were early seated on the left bank of that river, and there mixed up with the Belgians. On the east, the Vistula and the Carpathians sepa- rated it nominally from Sarmatia. We say nominally, because so early as the third century the Gothic tribes from Scandinavia had already begun their migrations toward the Black Sea, and had, after the conquest of Sarmatia, formed those powerful Ger- manic Empires of the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Gepidas, which extended the German tongue from the Rhine to the Tlianais (Don).'* The Romans being almost entirely un- acquainted with the countries north of the Baltic, counted the large peninsula of Jutland — Chersonesus Cimbrica — the Danish Archipelago, and Scandinavia (Sweden and Nor- way), as part of Germany. Scandinavia they believed to be a dreary island, situated in the Northern Ocean — Oceanus Septentrionalis — and their poets frequently descant upon the horrors of the Ultima Thule. 77. Early Migrations. — Through the dim traditions of early ages we discover that different nations, descending from the table lands of Mount Caucasus, and the distant Himalaya, took a western direction toward Europe. They all con- cur to prove that that continent was originally peopled by four great streams of population from central Asia, which followed each other at intervals so distant and so distinct as to possess languages clearly separable from one another, though the com- mon root of all is found in the Sanscrit, the sacred language of the Hindoos. All these nations have, therefore, by modern Philologians, been called the Indo- Germanic Race. The earliest of these nations, the Pelasgi, we meet already in the eighteenth century, b. c, occupying the Hesperian and lUyrian Peninsulas, that is, Italy afld Greece, and the islands of the Egean. From the many Pelasgian tribes sprang the Greek, Illyrian, and Italian nationalities, and their langvxages. Greek and Latin stand as sisters in relation to the ancient Pelasgian mother tongue. The second migration, that of the Celts, and their kindred the Cimmerians (Cimbri), took a more Tiorthern direction, and settled in early times both in Spain, France '* This is the reason why some writers from the fourtli century say that Germany comprised the whole country westward of the Tlianais FIKST PERIOD.— GBRMANIA. 21 \ and in the British Islands, where the Welsh still preserve the name of Kymri ; other Cimbri seem to have taken possession of Jutland, whence they later migrated to Italy, and were de- stroyed by Marius (b. c. 101). The third race, the Germanic tribes, finding the south and west occupied by Pelasgians and Celts, settled in the centre and continued their conquests north against the Finns or Chudes, already from remote times in- habiting Scandinavia. In the east the Germans were, in sev- eral regions, mixed up with the Sarmatian or Sclavonic tribes, who form the fourth race, whose progress westward occurs in much later times, i. c, the fourth and fifth centuries, and con- ■ tinues until the 1 1th arid 12th, because the Sclavonians followed slowly in the track of the Germans, being themselves pushed on from the east by the Huns, and later by the Chazars and other fierce Turcoman tribes from beyond the Caspian. Numerous detached Sclavonic hordes settled in the abandoned lands between the Danube and the Baltic, and became the neighbors of the Germans on the Elbe and the Adriatic. It is from the branches of the German stem that, not only our immediate forefathers the Angles, Saxons and Danes, but also those of the other celebrated nations of modern Europe, unquestionably have descended. The German race was divided into two na- tionalities, the Scandinavian or Norman, and the Dutch (Deutch) or Gothic. To the first belong the Danes, Longo- bards (Lombards), Angles, Jutes, Swedes, Norwegians and Icelanders. To the main German stock the mighty people of the Goths, the Souabians, the Bojoars (Bavarians), the Mai-ko- manni in Bohemia, the Thuringians in central Germany, the Franks on the Rhine, the Vandals, Burgundians, Herules, Rugians — all on the Baltic, the Vistula and Oder, the Fris- ians on the German Sea, and the Saxons on the Elbe, the neighbors of the Angles, Jutes and Daaes, and partaking of their dialect, religion and manners. All these tribes of the Germanic race resembled each other in their general character, although each had its particular virtues or vices : thus to make a distinction, we say that the Goth was noble, honest, and sober ; the Vandal and Herule fierce and bloodthirsty rovers; the Aleman and Bavarian swaggering and intemperate ; the Frank lively, voluptuous and treacherous ; the Saxon sincere, daring, and always rough and ready. ' ' 78. Description of the Country. — The general aspect of Germany during this period, was very different from what it is at the present day. It was then almost entirely covered with impenetrable forests, interspersed with pathless morasses and swamps, which rendered the atmosphere damp and cold. The banks of the lower Rhine, the Weser, and the Elbe were marshy, and the entire western coast of Holland, Hanover and Holstein — which now after the exertions of fifty consecutive generations, by immense dikes and bulwarks, secure the rich pasture lands (marsk) against the waves of the Germanic Ocean, were, at that remote time, exposed to the continual inundations of the stormy element. The most celebrated of all the forests of Germany, which inspired the Romans with shuddering and dismay, was the Hercynian forest, Hercynius Salttcs, extend- " The language of the Germans formed two distinct dialects, the high Gevma.n—Hoch-detUch — and the low German— Plaf-deutch. Of the first we possess the celebrated Gothic translation of the Gospels by Bishop Ulphilas, a. d. 348—88, in the Mceso-Gothic mother tongue— the oldest monument of the German language, and two highly interest- ing collections of Heroic songs— the Book of the Heroes or Heldenbuch, and the song of the Niebelungen, both from an early period of the middle ages. In the low Saxon, we have the Epic poem of Reineke Fox, the Saxon Mirror {Sachsenspiegel) and other poems. In the 12th century the Saxon dialect began to yield to the more polished dialect of Souabia, and the chivalrous poetry of the niinnesangers (troubadours) which then rose to become the written language, while the old Saxon dwindled down to a vulgar dialect spoken in Hanover and Holstein. ing from the sources of the Danube northward, between the Rhine and Mayn — the present Odenwald and Spessart — and crossing this river eastward through the whole breadth of Ger- many, north of Bohemia, joining the Carpathian range, and then descending upon the plains of Dacia or Moldau. It em- braced thus all the central mountain-ranges ' of Germany, the Ertz, Fichtel and Riesen-Gebirge, though it appears that the Romans had likewise particular names for different parts of it.* Caesar describes it as an impenetrable and dreary region, through which the reindeer, the elk, and the wild urus ranged at liberty, or were chased by the still wilder Souabian. "With the change in the climate the former of these useful animals have now retired northward to the pole, and constitute the principal food and wealth of the Laplanders ; while the v,rus (our ox) is still met with in the woods of eastern Poland. " Who would leave the softer climate of Italy, Asia or Africa," says the terrified Roman, " or fix his abode in that country where nature ofi'ers nothing but scenes of deformity ; where the land presents a dreary region, without form or cul- ture, and if Ave except the affection of a native for his mother soil, without a single allurement to make life supportable!" Yet in open villages, on the outskirts of those green forests, on the banks of those majestic rivers, lived a handsome, healthy, noble race, whom the pigmy Romans in their arro- gance and envy called Barbarian Giants ; and whom modern classical pedants most injudiciously have compared with the savage Redskins of the American forests. No ! the German Barbarians were made of steel of another temper ! — a race endowed with brilliant qualities of mind and body, which excited the dread and admiration of the all-conquering Romans themselves ; nay, history records no people who pos sessed nobler capacities and qualifications, rule and order, a sublime patriotism, fidelity and chastity, in a greater proper tion than the Germans. " There," says Tacitus, " no one smiles at vice, for in the Germans good morals effect wiore, than elsewhere good laws." This moral worth of the Germans, which beams through all their rudeness, their love of arms and strife, had its true basis in the sanctity of marriage and do- mestic happiness ; for these two important features determined the morality of the ancient Germans, as they do now that of the modern Americans. The children of the Germans were to their parents the dearest pledges of love ; nor was a trace to be found in Germany of the tyrannical power of the cruel Roman father over his children. 79. Institutions. — In the institutions of the Germans we \ find already the origin of the Feudal System, which was en- tirely unknown among the Greeks and Romans of antiquity. The German lord — sedling — lives on his estate with his family, occupied with riding, hunting, feasting or fighting ; he despises all mechanical pursuits, and leaves the care of his farms to his licles or serfs, who are personally freemen and well treated, but furnish their lord with grain and cattle. They are only vas- sals, while prisoners of war or criminals become real slaves, at- tendant upon their masters like the servi of the Romans. All the German asdlings, with shield and lance, accompanied by their vassals, assembled on horseback at their national diet — mallum — ^where they chose their king [konig) from the most powerful family. The king wears long flowing hair as his particular distinction, but his power is very circumscribed ; and if unskilful or unfortunate in war, the nobles had the right to select another leader or herzog to lead them to battle. From these herzogs sprang afterwards the celebrated mayors of the palace — mayores domus~a.mong the Franks. At these malla, the young nobles received their arms and steeds, the ^° f c. Marciana Silva for the Black forest — the Schwartz-wald — between the tipper Rhine, and the sources of the Danube. 22 FIRST PERIOD.— GERMANIA. 4 early origin of the arming of the knight in later ages. Among the Germans the oldest son inherits the paternal estate, the younger brothers are provided only with shield, lance and war- horse, and then sent off to fight their fortune elsewhere. Here we have the origin of the armed retinue which surrounded the German nobles ; for the young warriors would take military service at the estate or court of a neighboring chief, and thus become his sworn liegemen and follow his banner. The chiefs of highest note received the sword of justice, as Counts or Graf en, in the regions or Gaue, into which the valleys of Germany were divided, and they were later, after the conquest of the Roman j)rovinces, rewarded with estates and territories which they held with military tenure, and thus the earliest form of feudal- ity is established. The different German tribes were in con- tinual hostility with one another, and their eternal feuds gave the greatest security to the Roman empire. Chieftains defeat- ed at home, fled to the Romans and received aid to return sword in hand. Large bands of outlaws flocked together ; the sword gave a support no less than the plough. Thus rose that celebrated class of warriors by the Germans called Recken or Wardgen (Varoegs,) and by the Danes Vceringer or armed refugees, who sought their fortune in foreign lands. All these homeless warriors formed the flower, the vanguard of those im- mense swarms of armed tribes of a hundred nations,— Ger- mans, Scandinavians, and Sclavonians, whom we meet at the great migration in a. d. 376. The Germans fought with shield and lance, without heavy armor, in deep columns in the form of wedges. Their horse was formidable and much feared by the Romans on account of the select bodies of young archers, who were exercised to keep pace with the cavalry by laying hold of the manes of the horses while charging at full career. Caesar owed his victory at Pharsalus to such a daring exploit of his auxiliary squadrons of Gei'man horse. 80. Nations of Germany. — The most celebrated tribes inhabiting that country immediately before their invasion of the Roman empire in the fifth century, were the fol- lowing : The Frisians — Frisii — Friesen — inhabited the north- western coasts, from the Mosa to the Eider, and higher north, to Jutland. The Frisian tribes had, no doubt, been driven toward the sea by the Saxons ; yet on the low, swampy coast and the adjacent islands (now Holland and Friesland), they found a refuge, and were left to themselves. The whole na- ture of that country has now changed by the irruption of the sea ; the lake Flevo formerly received the northern branch of the Rhine, but became transformed into the open gulf of Zui- der-Sea. The North or Strand Frisians inhabited the coast of Schleswig — the West-wold — with its rich pasture lands (the Marsk), and the celebrated island of Helgoland — Heiligland, or Sacred Isle — at the mouth of the Elbe. There those hardy pirates had their naval stations, the sanctuaries of their idols, and their hoarded wealth, which they for centuries de- fended at the lance's point, against Danes and Saxons. The Franks — Franci — southeast of the Frisons (in the Prussian Rhine Provinces, Hassia, Nassau, and Belgium), from the Scaldis (Scheldt), and the Mosella to the Visurgis (Weser), formed a powerful confederation of the western Ger- man tribes, the Chamavi, Sicambri, Bructeri, Catti, and others mentioned by Tacitus, in the 1st century. ''' The Franks were divided into the Riptiarii, who remained on the banks of the Rhine, and westward as far as the Mosa (Meuse), and the Salii or Salian Franks, who had advanced and occupied the lands " Prof. Henry Leo opposes tlie idea of a Frankic Confederacy. Ac- cording to his views the Franks were the masters, and the vanquished triV)es stood to them in the relation of siabjects, Ledjonen {iffnavi, or cowards), who had lost part of their personal liberty. — History of the Middle Ages, Halle, 18.30, p. 85. beyond the Scheldt between the Samara, (Somme) and Ijie Mosa,! which Julian the Apostate ceded to them at the treaty of 358. 81. The Alemanni, in the southwestern angle of Ger- many, on the Upper Rhine (in Baden, Wiirtemberg and Swit- zerland), were the ancient people of the Suevi, or Souabians, who, in the time of Caracalla (a. d. 211), had formed another confederacy with their neighbors the Turoni, Herman- duri, and other tribes, and, calling themselves Alemanni or All-men, invaded the territory behind the Hadrian Wall, where they afterwards obtained permanent seats. This was the most exposed part of the empire, between the upper Rhine and the springs of the Danube : it was called Sinus Imperii ; and indeed Rome nourished the serjoents in her bosom ! The Hermunduri, on the east, lived formerly on the up- per Mayn, toward the Danube (in Frauconia). They were a quiet people, who are more known from theiv brisk commerce with the Romans on the Danube, than by their military ex- ploits. After the invasion of the Bojoars, or Bavarians, they melt away, or mix with the Alemanni. The Burgundians — Burgundi or Burgundiones, — and the Vandals — Vandali — were at the time we speak of (395), the eastern neighbors of the Alemanni. They belong to the same race, and had formerly occupied the shores of the Baltic. The Burgundians have left their name in the small island. Bur giinder holm (Bornholm), in the Baltic. The Vandals, and their fierce companions, the Rngians, from the island of Riigen, and the Herules, being driven west by the Goths, fell upon the Suevi and Hermunduri, and carved out with their swords new and more pleasant settlements on the Mayn, where we find them preparing for the great expedition beyond the Rhine, in a. d. 406. ^The Herules and Rugians, however, re- mained on the Danube, where the country north of Vienna, to- ward Hungary, afterwards was called Rugiland. The Marcomans — Marcomanni — appear for the first time as the conquerors of the Bojoars — Boii — in their old seats in Boioheiiuni (Boheim or Bohemia). The vanquished people abandoned their native valley, and were by the Romans per- mitted to cross the Danube, and occupy parts of Rhsetia Se- cunda, which later received the name of Bojoaria, now Bava- ria. The Marcomans in Bohemia, and their allies, the Quadi, in Moravia, gave great trouble to the Romans on the Danube ; they even crossed the Alps, and appeared before Aquileja ; but Marcus Aurelius drove them back with so great a loss, that they afterwards disappear altogether, mingling up, no doubt, with Herules or Langobards. The Quadi were divided into two tribes, Ripuarii inhabit- ing the left bank of the Danube, and Transjiigitani beyond the mountains in Moravia and Silesia. The Varini or Varni inhabited the shores of the Baltic, west of the Rugians, in the present Pomerania, where they bordered on the Saxons and Langobards. 82. The Saxons — Saxones — formed a powerful confedera- tion of Low-German tribes between the Baltic and the Elbe (in the present Holstein and the territory of Hamburg). But when the Franks began to invade Gaul, and settle beyond the Rhine, the Saxons likewise crossed the Elbe and occupied the lands which they had left. The Saxons thus extended on the Weser, and as far as the lower Rhine, absorbing the smaller tribes, who yielded to their power; and they soon began, with their neighbors and cousins the Angles and Jutes, to prepare their fleets for their piratic expeditions on the coasts, which half a century later were to carry them across the German Ocean, to the shores of Britain. The Langobards or Longobards. — Longobardi, East of the Saxons, in the present Lauenburg and Brandenburg, were originally a Scandinavian people from the north of Jutland, FIRST PERIOD.— SCANDINAVIA. 23 beyond the Liimfiord (the province called Vendila). That their language was Danish is sufficiently proved by their historian Paul Warnefrid and their laws afterwards in Lombardy. They received their ■aame—'' Longbeards''^ — according to tradition, ^■from Odin, the All -father himself.^- They abandoned their ( dreary home during an inundation of the ocean, and remained for a length of time on the Elbe. In a subsequent period, after the first great migration, we find them again in northern Panno- nia (Hungary), where they form a powerful and warlike na- tion. 1 The Angles — Angli — north of the Saxons and Lango- /bards, beyond the river Eider (in the present Duchy of Schles- V wig, where a district is still called Angeln), were of Scandina- vian origin, like their neighbors the Jutes or Jotes — Jvtce — in the northern part of the ChersoJiesiis Cimbrica (Jutland). " Da7i and AnguV says the historian, Saxo the Grammarian, " were brothers,'''' a figurative statement of the fact that the Danish and English people are originally descended from the same ancestry. ^^^ They soon joined the Saxons in their mari- ^time expeditions, and migrated with them and some of the Jutes, to Britain toward the middle of the 5th century. The Jute and the Angle or Sleswiger have in the mass of the peo- ple the same general character and manners, except the greater elasticity which the Angle has acquired by his intercourse with the Germans. The Jutlanders are proud of their hardy and enterprising ancestors. Hengist and Horsa, who first set- tled in Britain, were Jutes. Ruric, who in 852 with his north- ern Vikings laid the foundation of the Russian empire, was likewise a Jute, and so was king Gorm the Old, who united all the small principalities of the Danish Islands, and formed the monarchy in a. d. 880. Yet the Jutes, sooner than their neighbors, settled down to the more quiet pursuits of agricul- ture and cattle breeding. They are still a brave but peaceful and slow-speaking people ; they are considered as cunning and close; the proverb is, " sharp as a Jute." Though patient and enduring, they can be roused to the highest enthusiasm, and are strongly attached to their king and country. The Jutes are middle sized, short, fair haired, of a gentle and agreeable ~^. physiognomy ; their women are lovely, with blue eyes, and rosy I cheeks, but as clumsy as their helpmates, clattering along on wooden shoes. Different is the character and deportment of the Saxon or Holsteiner. He is tall and handsome, with auburn hair. He is industrious, active, dexterous, ambitious, and quarrelsome ; he is arbitrary and imperious, witty, lively, but proud and overbearing towards his inferiors. He is full of talent and " Being sorely pressed by the surrounding Saxon and Sclavonian tribes, the Scandinavian emigrants addressed themselves to Frigga, the ■wife and sister of Odin, to intercede for them with All-father. The god- dess then told them, says the Saga, to unite in prayers early in the morning, with their wives spreading their long, fair hair over face and bosom, in order to attract the attention of Odin. The Jutes followed the advice ; and when Odin at dawn of day was looking down upon the world from Valhalla, and beheld the shaggy people below, he turned to Frigga, and said, " Who are those longbeards ?" The goddess quickly answered: "Thou hast given thy people a name; give them now vic- tory and lands ! " And Odin smiled, and said : " I bless their swords, and grant them success." ^^ The heathen Angles, Saxons, and Danes, had the same religion. Their common deities, Tyr, "Wodan (Odin), Thur (Tor), Frea (Freia), (fee, still survive, and are daily suggested to our memory in the appella- tions of the days of the week common to both Danes and Anglo-Saxons. Tlie same mystic beings: gud, god; alfar, aslfe, ylfe, elves; voetter, wihte, wights; dverger, dveorgs, dwarfs; jotnar, joetter, jotnas; troll, trolde, trolles ; hel, hell, &c., were worshipped or feared, by both na- tions, and occur not only in their ancient poetical remains, but also in the popular superstitions and ballads of their still flourishing posterity. Their gods and heroes have likewise the same names : "Woden, Odin ; Skiokl, Scyld ; Halfdan, Haelfdene ; Ubbe, Uffo, Offa ; Hrolfr, Rolf. capacity, but boastful, grandiloquent, and selfish. North of the Elbe, the country of the Saxons was on account of the forests, called Holz Sachsoi (Holsatia, Holstein), and was divided into three parts ; on the west Ditmars/c, with its free farmers the Ditmarskers ; on the south Stormarn, and east, on the Baltic Wcigria, which afterwards, when the greater part of the Saxons had crossed over to Britain, was occupied by roving tribes of Sclavonians, the Obotrites and Veudes. B.— SCANDINAVIA. 85. Scandinavia is formed by the Danish islands Sweden and Norway. Denmark has its name, not from Dan Mykilati (themagnifficent),one of its earliest traditional kings, but from Daner or Dansker, a tribe of the great people of the Goths, who in early times occupied the Lowlands or open lands — Danne-Mark, south of the mountains of Gothland, and east of the islands of the Baltic. This open country on the mainland of Sweden was known as Scandia (Skaane) to the Romans. The Danish islands were sailed Eye-Gothland, and the Pe- ninsula of Jutland Reit-Gothland, because the Danish Goths would pass through the whole length of it on horse- back.'^' " In the farthest north," says Jornandes, the Gothic his- torian, " a number of hostile tribes dwelt in the country of Scan- zia, Scandinavia. This region extends itself to the boundary of the habitable globe, where in the winter a gloomy light covers the earth with darkness during forty days ; and in the summer the sun remains above the horizon for an equal time. Nearest to the Goths dwell the Sueihones (no doubt the Swedes), who with swift horses chase the wild animals that inhabit their woods, and transmit their valuable skins through a hun- dred different nations to Italy. In the same regions dwell the gentle race of Finns, and in the adjoining country, the Danes — a nation of huge statui'e. From this region came the Goths, who, landing on the Rugian coast, defeated the wandering hordes of Vandals, and five generations later occupied the countries con- tiguous to the Euxine Sea." The homestead of the Danes, therefore, was Zealand, Fyen, the circumjacent smaller isl- ands, and the fertile plains of Skaane, the latter of which remained an integral part of Denmark even after the Middle Ages, until the disasters of the Thirty Years' War, in 1648, when it was ceded to Sweden. Sweden was called Svea Land or Svea Rike, the kingdom of the Svear or Svenskar, like- wise a Gothic tribe, inhabiting the lands north of their brethren the Danes or Dansker. Norway does not signify " the way to the north pole," but North realm, Nord-iige, contracted Norge. The Norse call themselves Nordm ancient province of Narbonensis on the shores of the Medi- -"yZ terranean, which earlier had been occupied by Theodoric,/ king of the Ostrogotlis. The country between the upper I „ Loire, the Rhone and the Alps, belonged to the Bui'gun- ^ dians, who, though vanquished, still remained nominally inde- " pendent of the Frankish despot. But Clovis had subdued i, the southwestern provinces of Germany, inhabited by the i" Alemanni, who after their defeat near Tolbiac in 496, had be- [ come subjects, or at least tributary allies of the Franks. We ' will now review the component parts of this first modern em- pire, in the order in which the different provinces were joined to the crown of Clovis. Conquests of Clovis, a. d. 486-511. 110. Provinces and Principal Cities. — The continual in- cursions of the Franks had already long ago depopulated the formerly so flourishing Belgian and Germanic provinces of the exjjiring Roman empire. Most of the cities lay in ruins; the villages were burnt, and the fields neglected, nor could the indo- lent Franks even by means of their Roman prisoners, now serfs and subjects, remove the evil they had brought over the country. CoLONiA (Cologne, Koln), on the Rhine, was the capital of the Ripuai'ian Franks. Tolbiac (Ziilpich), a few miles off, was the battle-field on which Clovis prostrated the Alemannic confederacy at a single blow, in 496. Suessiones (Soissons), the last city possessed by the Romans. The Roman Prjefect, Syagrius, was here routed by Clovis, and his fleeing legions gave Clovis an easy victory, by seeking refuge behind the Loire. Remi (Rheims), the archiepiscopal see of Bishop Re- migerus, beheld the ceremony of the conversion of Clovis and his Franks ; it was there at the baptism of the Barbarian in the river, that the prelate pronounced the well-known words which have rung through centuries : " MUis depone coUum, Si- camber, adora quod incendisti — incende quod adorasti.'''' " Bow down thy head, oh Sicambrian ! with humility — adore what thou hast burnt, burn what thou hast adored." Parish (Paris) became soon the capital of the Franks; Clovis re- sided there, and the ancient church of Saint Sulpice, where he was buried, is still standing. 111. Gallia Armorica recognized the supremacy of the Franks after the victory of Tolbiac. That province had then a wider extent than the ancient Roman Armorica i^ropria. The latter consisted only of the Brittanic peninsula, while the Ar- morican confederacy for mutual defence, had been formed by all the Gallic cities and states between the Seine and the Loire, who, having found themselves without protection by the Romans, had armed and united for the salvation of all. These gallant people had beaten back the Vandals and Suevi, in 406, and having been reinforced by fleeing Britons from the Island, who sought refuge against the Anglo-Saxons, the Peninsula was called Britannia Minor, to distinguish it from the invaded Britannia Major, Great Britain. We cannot, with certainty, determine the extent of this confederacy, but it seems to have embraced all the towns between the Loire and the Seine ; the following cities belonged to it : Rotdmagus (Rouen), on the Seine ; Bajoca (Bayeux) ; Abrinca (Avranches) ; Carnotis (Chartres); Redones (Rennes) ; and Andegavi (Anger) — all between and' westward of those rivers. Aurelianum (Orleans), a populous and strongly fortified city on the Loire, had been most heroically defended against Attila by its bishop, Saint Aignan, who commanded the citizens on the page "70.) Prof. Heni-y Leo supposes tlie river Neckar, in Alemannia, to have been the frontier; we have followed the map of Dr. Spruner. SECOND PERIOD.— KINGDOMS OF THE FRANKS. 31 walls. Turones (Tours), and NjVmnete (Nantes), on the same river, and Venedi Castrum (Vannes), on the coast of the ocean, were the most thriving cities in this part of Gaul, which hither- to had escaped the havoc of war. 112. AquiTANiA (Aquitaiue), the last and most important of the conquests of Clovis in Gaul, comprised all the beautiful and fertile territory between the Loire and the Pyrenees. It had, for one century, been the seat of the Visigoths, who had already arranged themselves quite comfortably in the country, with Toulouse for their capital, thus securing their possessions beyond the mountains in Spain. But the Visigoths, being Arian heretics, were hated by the clergy and the Roman popu- lation of Aquitania, and when their king, Alaric II., fell in the battle near Pictavis (Poitiers), 507, against Clovis, they lost the whole rich province, and remained only in the doubtful possession of Septimania, the narrow coastland between the Pyrenees and the Rhone. BiTuracvE (Bourges) and Ara^er- Nos — Ciartis Mons — (Clermont), on the Elavcr{A\lier) ; Bur- DiGALA (Bordeaux), and Tolosa (Toulouse), on the Garumna (Garonne) ; Elusa (Auch), in the south, — all these held the first rank among the Aquitanian cities. Division of the Frank Empire among the Merovingian Princes. 11 3.' The large empire which Clovis had founded was, at his _;^ death, in a. d. 511, divided between his four sons — Thierry, L>Chlodomir, Childebert, and Chlothaire — and it formed still i^our kingdoms in 527. Every one of the four kings possessed '■' a portion of his land lying between the Loire and the Rhine, — the first conquest of the Franks — and another part in Aqui- ; taine, the new acquisition from the Visigoths, where the Franks / had not yet obtained firm footing, but which they loved particu- / larly for its fertility, and the richness of its wines and other l,^ productions. 114. I. Kingdom of Suessiones (Soissons), on the north- west, extended from the capital in the south, northward to the sea, and eastward to the Mosa (Meuse) and the Rhine — with the cities Tornacum (Tournay), the residence of Childeric the father of Clovis; Taruenna (Therouanne) and Camaracum (Cam bray), the capitals of two Prankish petty kings whom Clovis had slaughtered ; Ambiani (Amiens), and Laudunum (Laon). In Aquitaine the king of Soissons possessed the central cities Limovicas (Limoges), and Petragoriui\i (Perigueus). 115. II. The kingdom of Parish (Paris), in the centre, extended from the river Somme westward beyond the Garonne, embracing the coast of Aquitaine. Parish was the capital, Meldunum (Mekm), Meld^ (Meaux), Rotomagus (Rouen), Ebroica (Evreux), Redones (Rennes), and Namnete (Nantes), the principal cities. In Aquitaine, the king held Pictavis (Poitiers), three leagues from which, on the banks of the CTi«nissian states, and the Greek service in their Church, are important facts which gave their peculiar character to the Russian people. The most intimate relations between the northern kings and the Russian grand- dukes continued for cen- turies. Young Danish or Norwegian princes were educated at the court iu Gardarike (Russia), and the northern pilgrims and warriors passed mostly through that friendly land on their route to the Mediterranean and the Holy Land. Under their warlike chiefs the Russians reached the shores of the Black Sea so early as 865. They armed expeditions against Con- stantinople herself in 904 and 941, and though they were de- feated and driven back, they profited by these visits. They returned more civilized; Greek churches and monasteries were built in every part of the country ; the Russian clergy obeyed the Patriarch of Constantinople, and thus the civilization which both church and commerce introduced into Russia had an oriental character. Many institutions, however, were still Norman ; the Russian state of&cers were called gosti. Wladimir admitted the nobles — Boyars — to his council, and the oppressive despotism which was introduced in later centuries, after the Mongol invasion, had not yet degraded and enslaved the frank and jovial character of the ancient Russians. At the time of the death of Otho the Great, 973, the great principality of Russia extended from the Lake of Ladoga, south toward the waterfalls of the Dnieper, the lower Don, and the Black Sea. The Grand Duke Swartoslav advanced victoriously to the foot of Mount Caucasus in 955-972, where he destroyed the empire of the Chazars, and subdued the Yassi and Kasachi, nomadic nations of Tui'kish origin, on the steppes of the Kuban. The Russians even conquered and occupied the city and principality of Tmutarakan — Motercha — on the Tau- rian Bosporus (as indicated iu the map), and entered into direct relations to the Greeks in the Crimea. Only some few relics of the defeated Chazars had saved themselves in the northeastern portion of that peninsula, and others had crossed the Volga, retreating eastward. The Finnic nations on the north- eastern frontier were likewise expelled into the dreary plains of BiARMELAND — Pcrmia — on the shores of the Gandawyk — the White Sea — or forced to recognize the Russian rule. A similar fate awaited the Lettic and Lithuanian races on the Baltic, and thus had that active people, in the space of one century (from 862 to 973), already formed the largest empire in Europe. Novgorod — Nemograd (New-town) — on the north- ern bank of the Lake Umcn, the first capital of Russia, was already a thriving commercial town. Kiew, south on the right I bank of the Dnieper, as the second capital of the grand dukes of Russia, became adorned with Byzantine churches and con- vents, and showed signs of its future greatness by its crowded population, and active commerce on the Black Sea and Con- stantinople. PoLOTZK, on the Dilna, was the capital of the tributary Slavic race of the Polotzchani. Zaslav (now in ruins near Wileika), on the Niemen, was the principal city of the Slovensi. — Smolensk, on the Dnieper. — Tchernigov, south- east of Kiew, became an independent principality. Pereya- SLAVE, near Kiew. — Murom, on the Oka, northeast, was the capital of the tributary Finnic race of the Muromens. Moskow herself was yet unborn. On the southern shores of the Baltic, or the Sea of the Warcsgs, as it then was called, were still independent the > savage BoRussiANS (Prussians), and the Vendes (in Pomerania), 4«<^ who were fighting hard with the Saxon emperors of Germany, / but had not yet succeeded in forming their large Vendic King-. do?n, which we shall describe in the period of the Crusades. / ^ IL— CENTRAL EUROPE. 228. Dismemberment of the Carlovingian Empire. — The mighty arm, which had ruled so many warlike nations of western Em"ope beneath its peaceful jui'isdiction, was now no more, and the pious, but indolent, Louis-le-Debonnair, who could not control his own wife. Queen Judith, was still less able to restrain his violent sons, and their ambitious and as- piring retainers — both prelates and warriors — nor the then awakening feelings of nationality, which, with a higher culti- vation, began to inspire Germans, French, and Italians. The Mussulmans in Spain; the Lombards in Italy: the Gallo-Ro- mans in Aquitaine ; the half-converted Saxons ; the heathen Sclavonians and Avars ; the proud Neustrian Franks ; the still prouder Austrian Germans, as the countrymen of Karl the Great himself ; all now fretted beneath the lax and vacil- lating government of the monkish Louis, and all aspired to a national independence, which only the penetrating glance and the armies of Charles had been able to restrain. Charles had victoriously repelled the gatherings of other barbaric tribes along the distant frontiers of his immense empire — but Danes, Sclavonians, Tartars, and Saracens, awaited only the death of the great emperor, to take back with usury the tributes which he had imposed upon their vanquished tribes. The Northmen immediately began to infest the coasts with their fleets — the Saracens pressed upon the Spanish marches; the Basques (Vasconi) resumed their liberty in the Pyrenees ; Brittany was in commotion ; the Obotrites and Sorabians crossed the Elbe ; the Bulgarians invaded Avaria. Within all was disorder; poor Louis gave away his domains to the church; he granted hereditary estates to his counts and envoys, and in his despair he divided his empire among his heartless and am- bitious sons. Soon the civil war broke out in all its fury ; the nations demanded their independence. Charles of France and Louis of Germany united against their brother Lothaire (Lu- ther) of Italy, the Emperor, and the bloody battle at Fonta- nctum (Fontenay) near Auxerre in Burgundy, in July, 841, decided the separation of the component parts of the Carlo- vingian empire. Lothaire was routed, and forced to relinquish his imperial title. In the treaty at Verdun, 843, France, Germany, and Italy became distinct kingdoms, but in order to make an equal division, the two allied brothers ceded to Lo- thaire the whole tract of country lying between the Rhone, Moselle, and Scheldt on the west, and the Rhine and Alps on the east, that country in which the nationalities were mixed French and German, and the possession of which has after- FIFTH PERIOD.— FEUDAL KINGDOM OF FRANCE. 59 ward been the cause of so many desolating wars down to our own day. This country, then called Middle France, now took the name of its sovereign, Lotheringhe-Rike, LotJiaringia, or Lorraine.^' So far, the independence of the diiFerent na- tionalities had been accomplished, yet the divisions between the quarrelsome descendants of Charlemagne did not stop there, and shortly afterward, at the death of Charles-le-Grros, A. D. 888, the three kingdoms split into nine states, separated by difference of race, language, or dialect. These were, 1, Germany ; 2, Lorraine; 3, France; 4, Bretagne (Brittany); 5, Italy ; 6, Transjurane Burgundy ; 7, Cisjurane Burgundy ; 8, Aquitainc ; and 9, the Sj^anish Border. At the time of Otho the Great, one century later, 951-973, Italy and Lor- raine had become united to Germany; Brittany and Aquitaine stood in loose feudal relations to France ; and only the two Burgundies, united into one kingdom, and the western Spanish March, or the kingdom of Navarre, had preserved their auto- nomy. After many extraordinary vicissitudes, the German branch of the Carlovingian house became extinct with Louis- the-Child in 912, and the French with Louis V., the Idler, in 987 ; in the former state followed first duke Conrad of Fran- conia, until 919, and then the powerful dukes of Saxony; in the latter, the most wealthy and intriguing of the Feudatories, Hugh Capet, Count of Paris. 7III. — The Kingdom of France. 229. Limits of France in 973. — The modern kingdom of France extended, at the period during which we describe the position of Europe, from the mouth of the Scheldt south to the city of Barcelona, whose count still recognized his allegiance to France.^" Eastward, France was separated by the rivers Scheldt and Moselle from Lotharingia, and by the Saone and Rhone from the kingdom of Burgundy. 230. Political Divisions. — Feudalism had been repressed by the strong hand of Charlemagne, who administered his vast empire by his counts, as his judicial officers ; they were however entirely dependent on the sovereign will of the Em- peror. But Louis-le-Debonnair and his successors gave away dignities, counties, domains and all ; and thus the eleva- tion of the third royal dynasty in France, that of the Capets, in 987, marks the epoch during which feudalism, in its full power, prevailed throughout that country, and the greater part of central and southern Europe. In France, feudalism seemed at the beginning of the 1 1th century, already upon the point of crushing the royal authority altogether; but many different con- curring causes — the strong central position of the Capetian do- mains, the prudence and longevity of these chiefs, the security of their hereditary succession, the protection and encouragement they gave to the cities and free communities, and lastty, the cru- sades, and tlie constant feuds among the nobles themselves — contributed to the slow yet progressive extension of the royal prerogative, which ultimately, in the beginning of the 14th century, gained the most signal victory. At the time of the downfall of the Carlovingian line, we make a distinction be- tween the royal domains and the fiefs. The former were the immediate possessions under the crown, and they were at that time reduced to a mere trifle, while a considerable number of fiefs, more or less important, still belonged to the king. Yet though he was considered the Suzerain, or paramount lord of "" The kingdom of Charles the Bald was then called Francia Nova — West or i\"«M Franken — the ancient Neu.stria and Aquitania, and that of Louis the German, east of the Rhine, Fraxcia Antiqua — Ost or Alt Franken — the ancient Austrasia ; an appellation which is still preserved in the Bavarian province of Frauconia. ■"> Borreli, the ninth count of Barcelona, declared himself indepen- dent shortly after the accession of Hugh Capet. them, they formed in reality so many small independent states, the owners of which, under the feudal titles of dukes, counts, viscounts, barons, or mere seigniors, had now become possess- ors of territories, which their fathers only held as removable Gau-grafen, or imperial stewards. At the breaking up of the organization of the counties {pagi or gauen), the counts becoming hereditary lords, began to exert their influence and power in uniting as many districts as possible under their dominion ; and while thus rounding off their territories, by mar- riage, or by the sword, large estates were founded that might have bid defiance to royalty itself. The Church had of course followed the example of the nobility, and the bishops and abbots, snugly seated in their cities and monasteries, be- came just as warlike, ambitious, and quarrelsome, as the dukes and counts themselves.^' 231. The Carlovingian Domains in 987, were reduced to the small Comitatus Laudunensis, whose capital, Laudunum (Laon), situated on a steep mountain, was the capital of Louis the Idler (le faineant). The town of Compendium (Com- piegne), on the Oise, was his second possession, where he was crowned and buried. 232. Feudal Territories. — We shall here make some his- torical remarks on the most important, and only give the name of the rest. They were sixty in number, on the accession of Hugh Capet.' 2 I. Comitatus Flandri^, which occupied the whole north- ern part of France. Brugce (Bruges), Ganda (Gand), and Arrebate (Arras), were the most important towns, though still in their infancy. II. Comitatus Guisn^ (Guines). III. C. Boloni^ (Bou- logne). IV. PoNTivus (Ponthieu), were all situated along the coast of the Channel. Abbatis Villa (Abbeville), was the capital of the latter ; it had formerly belonged to the i-ich Ab- bey of St. Richerii. Hugh Capet had taken possession of the town, and fortifying it as a strong bulwark against the Normans, he gave the command of it to his brother-in-law, the count of Ponthieu. 233. V. — Comitatus Vermandensis (Vermandois), south of Flanders, with the city of Augusta Vermanduorum (Saint Quentin), which gave its own name to the county, and took that of the saint who had died a martyr within its walls ; Ambiani (Amiens), on the Somme. ^ VI. C. — Suessiones (Soissons). VII. — C. Vadensis (Valois), with the capital, Crispium (Crepi), and the fortress, Vadum (Vez), the former residence of the counts. 234. VIII. — Comitatus Reitestinus (Rethel), east of Vermandois, contained the whole northern part of the present Champagne. IX. — C. Remensis (Rheims), and Roceji (Roucy), in the centre of Champagne. X. — C. Campania (Champagne). XI. — C. Senonensis (Sens), west of Cham- pagne. 235. XII. — Ducatus Francis (duche de France), com- prised the whole country between the Loire and the Seine, " The bishops had obtained the jurisdiction of the ancient counts, or Count Palatines, in the cities of the empire ; but as they were prelates, and could not themselves wield the sword of justice, they ruled by means of their military viscount, vice-comes, or bailiff. Tlius the poor citizens, in- stead of one master, had now got two, who were often quarrelling with one another, and disturbing the tranquillity of the town with their vio- lent feuds. "^ The scale of our map did not permit us to fix the names of all the counties, viscounties, and smaller seigniories, but the historical student will easily be able to follow us on any geographical map of modern France. We likewise give both the Latin name then in use, and the modern French, because we know, from our own experience, how im- portant the mediaeval denominations are, in order to understand not only the chronicles and documents of the time, but even the frequent Latin citations which we meet with on every page in modern works on FrencU history. 60 FIFTH PERIOD.— KINGDOM OF FRANCE. from the borders of Normandy and Brittany, to tliose of Bur- gundy. The duchy contained the above-mentioned counties of Champagne, and the following :— Comitatus Parish (Paris), the most important of all ; because the city of Paris, its capital, became on the accession of Hugh Capet, again the residence of the French king. AuRELiANUM (Orleans), on the Loire, formed likewise an important county, dependent on the duchy of France. Smaller feudal possessions following its banner, were Belvacum, (Beauvais), C. Carnutinus (Chartres), C. Turonensis (Tours), and others. XIII. — C. Corbolii (Corbeil), southeast of Paris. XIV.— C. Mellenti (Meulan), northeast of Paris. XV.— C. VucASSiNus (Vexin), with the capital, Pontesia (Pontoise), on the Oise. The count was the vassal of the archiepiscopal see of Saint Denis, and raised his own banner. 236. XVI. DucATUs NoRMANNiiE (Normandy) extended along the coast of the Channel, from the river Bresle on the northeast to the Couesnon on the southwest, and was divided from the county of. Vexin by the river Epte^ so celebrated by the treaty between Charles the Simple and Rolf Ganger, the Nor- man hero, in 911, at the town of Saint Clair-sur-Bpte, where- in the whole fertile province was ceded to the Normans. These fierce warriors had, during the latter part of the ninth century, continued their invasions on the coasts of France, burning and destroying the cities on the banks of the Seine, Loire, and twice besieging Paris itself. But their settlement in Nor- mandy in 912, was of immense consequence for the develop- ment, not only of the French kingdom as a power, but for that of the language and literature of France, and the introduction of those chivalrous ideas and manners by which the French, later, outshone all the nations of Europe. Those Danish and Norwegian Vikings were, by the effeminate Carlovingian Princes, considered as unwieldy barbarians ; but they appear, on the contrary, to have been a highly endowed race of men, who, by their intelligence, daring courage, activity, and perse- verance in every enterprise, were the true prototypes of their still more successful descendants, the Amei-icans. The Normans took up the plough as nimbly as the sword. The fertile lands of Normandy were divided by the line among the conquerors, who became the lords of towns and hamlets, and thus the native serfs changed masters ; but from a wilderness the country within twenty years baeame the garden of France. It suddenly rose to wealth and civilization, being peopled by thousands of Normans from Denmark and Norway, who con- tinued to pour in and settle on the coast-lands of Bay.eus and Coutances, where their language, the Danish tongue — Danske Tunge — predominated for centuries, and is still distinguished in many words of the Normanic dialect of the present day.'' ^ The wild, fantastic religion of Odin ; the adventurous life of the sea-rovers ; their sudden conversion to the Roman Catholic faith, with its pomp and solemnity — all combined, gave a cer- tain religious and romantic turn to their character, their ideas, and manners, which we discover in their chivalrous institutions, their literature, and arts. Every church built by the Normans in France or Italy bears evidence of their fanciful taste for dragons, monsters, and supernatural beings.''* The Norman knights marrying native Frenchwomen, soon forgot their native ■" The Normans are still the best mariners of France, and all tlieir most distinguished Admirals were of Norman descent. We discern, likewise, this Scandinavian influence in the naval expressions of the French language, such as, for instance : esguif, boulines, raalings, gard- inges, haler, sigler, sterman, and many others— all of Danish origin. '■■' The most curious Norman monument of those times is the immense tapestry in the Church of Bayeux, two hundred and fourteen English feet in length, which represents the expedition of William the Conqueror to England, the battle of Hastings, and other mihtary exploits, exhi- biting the armature and costumes of the eleventh century in a beautiful language, and not being crammed with the pedantic Latin of that period, they boldly took up the vulgar French dialect, which their bards, within a century, raised to the rank of a polished and poetical language. The Norman chroniclers and poets are the fathers of the present French — not of that soft and love-breathing tongue of the troubadours in south- ern France, beyond the Loire — the Provengal — which after a short brilliant sway during the age of the crusades, was stopped in its progress by the terrible religious wars against the Wal- denses, and soon yielded to the proud Castilian in the south- west, and the wonderfully developed and harmonious speech of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccace in Italy. It was the Norman poets — the trouveres — who, in the northern French dialect, wrote the cone|uest of England and Jerusalem, the deeds of King Arthur and his knights of the round table. They introduced the taste for the romances of chivalry, and the celebrated allegorical tales of Alexander the Great, which, with ingenuity aiid secret flattery, described the life and deeds of King Philip Augustus of France, and at last decided the character and structure of our modern French. Nor was their political and military influence less remarkable than that of their poetry and art; and it is mainly to the Normans that we must ascribe the brilliant success of the French arms in the great crusade in 1099. RoDOMAGus (Rouen), on the Seine, was the ducal capital. Altavilla (Hauteville), in the viscounty of Coutances on the coast, the patrimonial seat of the noble race of the Hauteville, from whom sprung the world-known Robert Guiscard, Roger, Drogo, Bohemund, and Tancred — the former, the conquerors and founders of the Norman kingdom of Naples and Sicily, and the two last, the heroes of the first crusade. XVII. Comi- tatus Droc^ (Dreux), southeast of Normandy, at the period we describe, occupied by Duke Richard I. XVIII. and XIX., C. Alencionis (Alencon), and C. Bellismum (Bellesme), south of Normandy, possessed by lords who followed the ducal banner of Normandy. 237. Comitatus Britannia (Bretagne) occupied the whole ancient peninsula of Armorica, whose count often appears as vassal of the Dukes of Normandy. Redones (Rennes) was the capital. The Bretons were of British origin ; they spoke their own Celtic language, and hated the French, as their brethren beyond the water their Anglo-Saxon oppressors. They were a brave and quarrelsome people, and gave the Dukes of Normandy continual trouble, until Duke William I. brought them to allegiance with the broadsword. XXI. Dominium Ful- GERi/E (Fougeres), northeast of Brittany. 238. XXII. Comitatus Cenomani^ (Maine), capital Maia- tum (le Mans). XXIII. C. Andegavensis (Anjou), capital Andegavi (Angers), on the Loire. XXIV. C. Vindocinen- sis (Vendome), at the time possessed by the Count of Anjou. XXV. C. Blesensis (Blois). XXVI. Vice-Comitatus BiTURRic^ (Bourges) consisted of the city of that name, the capital of Berry, with its territory and the Abbey of Sai7it Gondon-sur-Loire. XXVII. Dominium Bor.bonense, (Seign- iory of Bourbon) southeast of Berry, with the capital Bourbon, called Archambaud, after the lords who ruled this region for several centuries. 289. XXVIII. DucATUs Burgundi^, different from the kingdom of that name, or of Arelate, which latter lay south be- tween the Rhone and the Alps. The duchy bordered north on Champagne and France, east on Lorraine and the kingdom of Arelate, south on the Saone, and west beyond the Loire on Bourbonnois and Nivernois. Burgundy was held by Henry the Great as a fief of the French crown ; he obtained it afterwards in full property from his brother, Hugh Capet, when the latter workmanship. It was embroidered by the fair hands of Queen Blathilda and her^court ladies, and must have given the industrious women oceu- j)ation for years. FIFTH PERIOD.— FEUDAL FRANCE— BURGUNDY. 61 mounted the throne of France in 987. Diviona (Dijon), on the Ouche, was then the capital of the duchy ; but the princes generally resided in the castle of PouUi, on the Saone. Fon- tanetMm (Fontenay), west near the river Icauna (Yonne), where, on the 25th of June 841, was fought the bloody battle between the sons of Louis le Debonnair, which cost the empire thousands of brave warriors, and decided its final dismember- ment. Austunum, the ancient Augustodunum (Autun). Au- tissiodorum (Auxerre), with splendid ruins from the Roman times. The Palatinatus Burgundi.e (county of Burgundy, afterwards the Franche Comte) formed at this period part of the Arelate kingdom, and was divided among several counts, whose feudal territories cannot be given in detail. XXIX. CoMiTATUs Ternodorensis (Tonuerc), northwest of Burgundy. XXX. CoMiTATUs NivERNENSis (Ncvers), on the east of the duchy. XXXI. C. Cabilonensis (Chalons), southeast on the Sa6ne. XXXII. C. Matiscensis (Macon), south of the for- mer, on the- Saone, on the frontier of the Arelate kingdom. In the territory of this count, William the Pius, Count of Auvergne and Aquitaine, founded in a. d. 910 the celebrated monastery of Cluni — Cluniacense inonasterium — in a beauti- ful valley on the river Graona (Grone). As he dedicated it to the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the Abbey was placed under the immediate dependence of the Roman Pontiff. 240. XXXIII. ComitAtus Alverni^ (Auvergne), west of the Rhone, and south of Bourbonnois, in the higli moun- tains. Clarus Mo)is — the celebrated Gergovia of Julius Cae- sar (now Clermont), on a splendid site at the foot of Mount Puy de Dome, was the capital. XXXIV. V. C. Lemovicen- sis (Viscounty of Limoges), which embraced the Haut-Limo- sin on the north; and XXXV. V. C. Torenn^e (Turenne) on the south, both west of the Auvergnian Mountains. XXXVI. CoMiTATUS March^e (county of the Basse Marche, or the low- land county of Limosin) westward, with the capital Bellac on the Gartempe River. XXXVII. C. Varactensis (county of the Haute Marche or highland march), east of the former, on the western slope of the mountains, with Varactum (Gueret) for its capital. At the time we describe, this county was united to C. Petragoris (Perigord), with the capital Petrago- ra (Perigueux) on the Ilia (Isle). Lying on the southwest, toward the Garonne, Perigord was separated from the hill county by the Basse Marche. XXXVIII. C. Encolismensis (Angouleme) northwest of Perigord. XXXIX. C. Pictaven- sis (Poitiers), north of the Angoumois, was at that period pos- sessed by William II., Duke of Aquitaine. 241. XL. DucATUs Aquitani^ (Aquitaine or Guyenne), south of Perigord and Limosin, and to which belonged then, not only the county of Poitiers, the Comitatus Xantonensis (Saintonge), and Alnetensis (Aunix), on the coast of the At- lantic, but also the greater part of Limosin. Burdigala (Bordeaux), on the Garonne, was the largest and most flourish- ing city of Guyenne, but it belonged in 987, with its county, to the duchy of Gascogne. 242. XLI. Ducatus Guasconi/e (Gascogne), south of Guy- enne. — Elusa (Auch) the principal city, capital of XLIL, the Comitatus Annaniaci (Armagnac), in a central position, and the most important county of Gascogne. XLIII. Y. C. Aquensis (Albret), on the coast of the Gulf of Biscay, Avith the capital AqucB (Dax) on the river Aturis (Adour). XLIV. C. Fidentiaci (Fezenzac), east of Armagnac. XLV. V. C. Leo- mania (Lomagne), with F. C. Lectorce (Lectoure), northeast of Fezenzac, on the Garonne. XL VI. C. Astaraci (Astrac), with the capital Mirande. The count possessed likewise the neighboring Comitat. Pardiaci (Pardiac). XL VII. V. C. BENEARNiJi; (Viscounty of Beam), south at the base of the Pyrenees, with the capital Palum (Pau), on the river Gava (Gave). XLVIII. C. Bigorr/e (Bigorre), east of Beam, in the high valleys of the Pyrenean mountains, with the capital Tarbes on the Adour. XLIX. C. Conveni/e (Cominges), east of Bigorre, with the capital St. Bertrandi (Saint Bertrand). 243. L. Comitatus Tolosj3 (Toulouse), east of Guyenne, with which it held the first rank in southern France, compris- ing besides, 1, the Comitat. Caorcini (Quercy), north of the Garonne, with Caorcium (Cahors), on the river Oltus (Lot) : 2, V. C. Albingensis (Albigeois), with the capital Albigce. (Alby), on the Tarnus (Tarn) ; and 3, the Comitat. Sancti ^GiDii (Saint Gilles), at the mouth of the Rhone. This small county belonged properly to the county of Nemausus (Nimes), and had its name from the old Abbey of that name, situated on the banks of the Rhone. LI. Comitatus Rode- nensis (Rovergue), east of Quercy, belonged to the younger house of the counts of Toulouse. The capital was Bodes (Ro- dez), on the Aveyron. LII. Dobiinium Montis Pessulani (Seigniory of Montpellier). LIII. C. Melgorii (Mergueil), eastof Montpellier. LIV. V. C. Narbonensis (Narbonne). LV. C. Carcassessii (Carcassonne), west of the former, and then in possession of Comitatus Fuxi (Foix), south in the valleys of the Pyrenees. LVI. C. Rossillonensis (Rousillon), southeast of Carcassonne. The capital was Elna (Elne), and afterwards Perpinianum (Perpignan). 244. LVII. Comitatus BARcmoNyE (Barcelona), or the Spanish Border-County, which still belonged nominally to France, from the time of the conquest of Charlemagne (184), but soon declared itself independent. Later, it played a bril- liant part in history under the sway of its warlike counts, who in the year 1137, by the marriage of Count Raymond Beren- gario IV. united Barcelona with the kingdom of Aragon. L VIII. C. Ampuritanensis (Ampurias), in the passes of the Pyrenees. LIX. C. Ceredani/e (Cerdagne), and C. Bisuldensis (Bcza- lu), west of Ampurias, on the southern slope of the mountains, and LX. Comitatus Urgellensis (Urgel), in the deep valley of Andorra. 245. With the accession of the third race — the Capetians or Capetingians — in 987, the history of the Franks is at an end, and that of the French begins. The Germanic elements in the former have been entirely absorbed in the Romanic lan- guage, character, and habits of the latter. Yet the Aquita- nians, south of the Loire, and the Burgundians on the Rhone, still preserve their distinct nationalities. Burgundy had al- ready, a century ago (888), formed an independent kingdom — and the feudal bonds by which Aquitaine is still attached to France are so slight, that when Hugh Capet, in 990, with his feudal army advanced upon Tours on the Loire, then besieged by Count Aldebert of Perigueux, and sending his heralds, asked the Aquitanian, " Who made thee count ? " — he received the pi-oud answer : " Who made thee king ? " ''^ Thus we find France at the close of the 10th century ruled by sixty almost independent princes, and a still greater number of pow- erful prelates, who considered Duke Hugh Capet of Paris their chosen king, only as a primus inter pares.^ yet we shall soon, in our next historical picture, at the close of the subsequent century, discover with what prudence and perseverance the Capetian kings have employed their household power for the extension of their territory and the consolidation of their he- reditary dynasty on the throne of France. IX. — Kingdom of Burgundy (Arelate). 246. Origin, Extent, and Principal Cities. — During the disturbances which followed in France on the death of Louis the Stammerer (son of Charles the Bald), in 879, the " See the important work of Augustin Thierry: Lettres sur I'His- toire de France. Lettre XII., page 220, of the Bruxelles edition. 62 FIFTH PP]RIOD.— BURGUNDY— ROMANO-GERMANIC EMPIRE. intelligent and active Duke Boson, his brother-in-law and gov- ernor in Burgundy, was unanimously elected king by the Burgundian diet at Montaille, and took the crown at Lyons. The young kingdom — Regnuvi Burgundice, — comprised at that time a portion of the French duchy of Burgundy (Chalon and Macon), the Franche-Comte, Vienne and Lyons, the southeast part of Languedoc west of the Rhone and the Pro- vence. Arelate (Aries) became the capital, and gave it the name Regmim Arelate. Burgundy was recognized by King Charles the Simple of France as an independent state, but after the death of King Boson, in 887, Count Rudolphus, his gov- ernor of the provinces beyond Mount Jura, in High Burgundy (Switzerland), rebelled against his son and successor, Louis, and established another kingdom in Wallis and Savoy. Bur- gundy was thus split in two — Burgundia Transjurana and Cisjurana (219) — which, however, after different revolutions, were united again under Rudolphus II., in 933. But being at- tacked by France, Rudolphus III. transmitted the succession of his crown to the Emperor Henry II. of Germany ; the imperial forces took possession of the county in 1032, and then Bur- gundy remained in feudal relations to Germany for two and a half centuries. Charles IV. is the last emperor who was crowned king of Arelate in 1364, and proudly called Mar- seilles and Toulon his German ports. Yet the whole was a mere ceremony. Provence had long ago been united to Ara- gon (1166), and to France (1245), and the latter power succes- sively incorporated the small, almost independent states into which the Arelate kingdom, in the course of time, had become divided. The Burgundian kings were elective, and entirely dependent on the nobility and clergy ; their revenues were insignificant, and they could only secure their equivocal position by enrich- ing the church, and distributing their royal domains among counts and cavaliers. The kingdom of Bui'gundy extended from the Saone and the Rhone on the west, to the Alps on the east, and from Basle on the Rhine to the Mediterranean. It was divided into High Burgundy or Transjurane Burgundy — comprising Western Switzerland, the Aargau, Oeclitland, Vaiais, le Pays-de- Vaud and the county of Geneva, together Avith the Franche Comte, and part of the Duchy of Burgundy — and Arelate or Cis.iukane Burgundy, with Sapaiidia (Savoy), Comitatus Liigdunensis, and Provence. Lyons was ceded in 955 by King Louis IV., as a dower for his daughter, who married Conrad, third king of Burgundy, and was for some time his capital. Besanc^on, Geneva, Lausanne, Ch'e- noble, Valence, Avignon, Embrun, Forcalquier , Aix, and Marseille. Vienne (122), was the capital of a county under the allegiance of France. The origin of the celebrated house of Savoy is from this time. Their oldest possessions were on the lakes of Annecy and Geneva, and in the Lower Vaiais, from Saint Maurice to the castle of Chillon, situate on the lake. Afterward Count Odo married Adelaide, heiress of the mar- quisate of Iporedia (Ivrea). From these parents Amadeus inherited, together with Savoy, the valley of Aosta, the plain of PiE-m-MoNTE (Piedmont), and a number of fortresses reaching to the Mediterranean. X. The Romano-Germanic Empire. 247. Frontiers, Extent, Change of Dynasty and Constitution. — The entire eastern moiety of the Carlovingian empire, with Lotharingia, Bohemia, Moravia, the eastern marches on the Danube, the Sclavonian states east of the Elbe, the duchy of Poland, and the kingdom of Italy, was, during the memorable reign of Otho the Great (936-973), formed into the Romano-Germanic Empire, which, on account of the possession of Rome, the imperial capital of the west, received the proud name of the Sacred Poman Empire of the German Nation — [das heilige Roonische Reich Deutschen Volkes.) During the middle ages it preserved its preponderating influ- ence on the political relations of Europe ; and it was considered as the principal empire in the world, a rank which, however, was disputed by the Byzantine emperors of the east. It oc- cupied the whole central part of Europe, from the banks of the Scheldt, and the Meuse, and from the Alps and the Medi- terranean on the west, to the Vistula, and even far beyond that river, to the Bug, the Carpathian mountains, and the Adriatic on the east. On the north, Germany, extended from the Schley, near the Dannevirke (190), north of the Eider, to the Gulf of Tarentum and the Tuscan Sea in the south. After the battle of Fontenay and the treaty of Verdun, in 843 (162), the nations had broken the chains which linked them to the unwieldy Carlovingian Empire. The west Franks had become Frenchmen — Frangais; the east Franks, Germans — Deutsche; whose five leading tribes, the Saxons, Thuringians, Franko- nians, Suabians, and Bavarians, at once^ appear in their dis- tinct naiional development, and with the extinction of the German branch of the Carlovingian dynasty in 911, the his- tory of the German Nation begins. Charlemagne had con- centrated the whole government of the different German tribes under his powerful rule, by the abolition of the ducal dignity, and the strict dependency of his imperial officers, the counts of thejoao'i [gaugrafen], and the envoys, {'missi dominici),-wh.o controlled them (170). But after his death, the invasion of the frontiers was begun by Danes, Hungarians, Sclavi and Sara- cens ; his weak successors were unable, like the great emperor himself, to fly from one end of the empire to another, to repel the enemy ; they therefore placed border counts — margraves — with ducal powers, at the head of the armies : soon the ju- risdiction of the provinces passed into their hands too ; and during the reign of the last Carlovingians, towards the close of the ninth century, we find that these warriors reappear as dukes of Saxony, Thuringia, Franconia, Bavaria, Souabia, and Lorraine. They 'were not yet, it is true, regarded as lords of their people and lands, but as ministers and representatives of their king, in whose name they regulated, in peace the affairs of justice and order, and in war, led the army of their tribe to battle. But soon becoming large landed proprietors, and be- ing no longer under the surveillance of the royal envoys, the dukes took advantage of the weakness of the kings. By de- grees they arrogated to themselves an increase of power, and brought the lesser vassals under their dominion ; — nay, they even gradually made their dignity, granted them only as im- perial crown ofiicers, hereditary in their families, as well as the revenues of the crown lands, which they had only received as the reward for their service. Like the great dukes, the in- ferior imperial ofiicers, the counts, palatines, margraves, and others, established themselves more and more firmly in their dignities, and the estates attached to their jurisdictions. The whole ancient division of districts — gauen — and the principles on which they were founded, fell gradually into decay, and the lands became seigneurial territories. The spiritual lords, archbishops, bishops, and abbots, were like the temporal lords, members and vassals of the empire, and like them, they aug- mented their secular power and possessions by means of mili- tary tenures ; and thus all these dignitaries became in the course of the tenth century, from mere deputies of royal au- thority, independent princes of the German nation. The an- cient military organization of Charlemagne, was the arriere- ban — heer-han — the gathering of the freemen, who, with shield and lance followed the emperor on his expeditions for the short term of six months. But in the succeeding wars with the Hungarians and Poles, victory could only be secured FIFTH PEEIOD.— ROMANO-GERMANIC EMPIRE. 63 by a skilful and daring cavalry. Knights' service on horse- back, in full armor, was therefore required from the nobility and their vassals ; the chivalrous spirit of the age prompted the larger proprietor to take his estate as a fief of the nobility, ajid become their liegeman. Thus arose the Ritterschaft — the order of the knights — ^while the common freeman being exempted from his military duty in the arriere-ban, and for- bidden the use of sword and lance, was oppressed with contri- butions and taxes, and sunk back into the despised condition of the peasant and the serf In the wild times of the Jist laiv, the poorer class of freemen called lids — leute — gave them- selves up, both in body and possessions, to the guardianship of the church, or as tenants to the nobles, and thus they and their descendants became bound to the soil, and the property of their lord. The rude manners of the G-ermans were how- ever softened by the early dawn of chivalry. Arms, and the chase remained their favorite occuj)ations ; the sword and the falcon their best treasures. Tournaments and jousts were in- troduced by Henry the Fowler, to exercise his German knight- hood for the equestrian warfare against the Hungarians. The hunting fetes of the German nobility were superb, and in- cluded among the highest festivities of life. Ladies, from gorgeously ornamented tents, beheld the animated scenes of the chase. In the evening, they feasted imder tents in the forest, and the jovial company, with their suites, returned by torchlight, amidst the music of the hunting horns. Large tracts of land were left waste for the sake of the chase, and kings and nobles preferred on this account the residence in their castles, and despised the quiet dwelling in cities. We have spoken of the flourishing cities on the Rhine (71, 163) ; in the interior of Germany the rise of fortified towns com- menced during the Hungarian wars, in the beginning of the tenth century. In order to protect the open country against the desolating incursions of the Hungarian hordes, Henry the Fowler built a number of castles, or burghs, to serve as places of refuge for the inhabitants of the environs. Merse- burg, Meissen, Dresden, Nordhausen, Quedlingburg, and many other fortified cities and castles in Saxony and Thurin- gia, arose at this time. The citizens — burghers — were en- dowed with privileges ; they formed free municipalities, ex- empt from the jurisdiction of the bishops or secular nobility, and became the safeguards of social and political liberty in Germany. After the extinction of the German branch of the Carlovingian dynasty, with Louis the Child, in 911, Conrad, duke of Franconia, was chosen king. Though he found great opposition among the unruly dukes of the difl'erent German principalities, he bravely defended the country against the Hun- garians, secured the possession of Lorraine beyond the Rhine, and on his death, in 919, proposed Henry, duke of Saxony, as the most worthy chief to succeed him on the throne. The Saxon house then followed, from 919 to 1024, under Henry I. (the Fowler), the three Othos, and Henry II., one of the most brilliant periods in German histoi-y. 248. Divisions and PpaNciPAL Cities. — The Romano- Germanic empire, though apparently so vast in extent, was in reality not very powerful, because composed of many scat- tered nations — Germans, • Sclavonians, and Italians, who dif- ered from one another in origin, manners, language, and laws, and were governed by turbulent dukes and arrogant pre- lates, who were continually in arms against the emperors. We shall here give a short description of the nine great subdivi- sions of the empire during the reign of Otho the Great. I. The kingdom of Lotharingia or Lorraine, on the north- west, between the Scheldt, the Meuse, and the Rhine, formed a portion of Germany ; but its position on the frontiers of France made it easy for the nobles to maintain a state of al- most entire independence, which continued until the conquest of Otho the Great in 959. Lorraine was then divided into two dukedoms : Ducatus Lotheringi/e Inferioris — Ripuarice — or lower Lorraine, on the Meuse (Maas) and the sea-coast, and Ducatus Lotheringi.e Superioris — MosellancB — or upper Lorraine, on the Moselle, and extending eastward to the moun- tain range of the Yosges. The two duchies were divided by the celebrated forest of the Ardennes or Siha Ardtcenna ; and the political separation by Otho dissolved the alliance of their nobility, thus securing these important provinces to the empire. Aqu.e or Aixla- Chapelle, where Charlemagne died in 814, and Otho I. was crowned in 936 with great solem- nity, continued to be considered as the capital of the em- pire. Cologne, the archiepiscopal seat of Bruno, the emperor's brother. Leuva (Louvain), on the Tilia (Dyle), where the Normans, during their devastating incursions, had erected a fortified camp, but were totally defeated by the valiant King Arnulf in 889. Those invincible Danes, who never had been known to fly before an enemy, were here borne down by the edge of the sword ; their camp and fleet with immense booty were taken, and the joyful event spread like wildfire through- out all Germany. Mettis (Metz), on the Moselle, was the ca- pital of upper Lorraine. Tullum (Toul), Virodonum (Ver- dum), ConJIuentes (Coblentz), on the Rhine, and Treviris (Treves), on the Moselle, were flourishing cities. Lucelin- burg or Liizilinbiirch (Luxemburg), a strong fortress on the Alsuntia (Alzette), was ceded by the monks of Ti-eves to Count Sigfried, who was the first of the powerful Counts of Luxemburg, that later mounted the imperial throne of Ger- many. II. Ducatus Fresi^ (Holland and Friesland) extended from the north of the Weser along the shore to the Scheldt. The Counts of Holtlandia possessed the low coast-land of mo- dern Holland. TJltrajectum (Utrecht) and Daventre (Der- venter) were the principal towns. 249. III. Ducatus Saxoniye, on the east of Friesland, was, in the tenth century, the most powerful and important state of Germany. The unruly, heathen Saxons, whom Charlemagne had converted to Christianity and civilization by the sword, had in the course of the ninth century, be- come the bravest and most cultivated people in Germany, who, under the native chiefs. King Henry the Fowler, and his great son, Otho I. of Saxony, delivered Germany from the insupport- able yoke of the Hungarians, and united the imperial crown of Italy to that of the mother country. The duchy extended from Friesland to the Oder, and north from Schleswig to the Thu- ringian mountain ridge on the south. All the lands eastward of the Elbe were conquests from the Sclavonian tribes of the Viltzes, Sorabi, and Daleminzii, on the Limes Sorabicus, which now became the Ostmark or eastern frontier, strongly protect- ed by castles and border-settlers. Osnebrugge (Osnabruck), Padarabrunna (Paderborn), Milnster, Goslar, Hildesheim, all cities with cathedral churches. Magadeburg (Magdeburg), on the Elbe, became an archbishopric under Otho. Quidilin- gaburg (Quedlinburg), built by Henry I. The remains of the great king lie buried in the Church of Saint Peter. Memleben, where he died on the 2d of July, 936. Merseburg, where he gained the celebrated victory over the Hungarians, in whose camp thousands of German prisoners, women and children, were liberated from the most terrible fate, and Germany secured against the yearly invasions of those barbarians. This memorable battle took place in 933. Near Goslar, at the base of the Ilartes-Berg (Mount Hartz), the richest silver mines in Europe were disco- vered during the reign of Otho, and worked to the great prospe- rity of Saxony. Hammaburguni (Hamburg), on the Elbe, and Brema (Bremen), on the Weser, both archbishoprics, which sent their missionaries into the north for the conversion of the heathen Scandinavians. Marca Sliaswyh was the border dis- 64 FIFTH PERIOD.— ROMANO-GEHMANIC EMPIRE. trict beyond the Eider, wliich Henry I. established as a bul- wark against the incursions of the Danes from beyond their fortified lines— the Danevirke— between the frith of the Schlei and the North Eider (222 ). TnuraNGiA, in the south, was during this period united with the duchy of Saxony. IV. DucATUS FRANCoNiiE consisted of the ancient Prankish lands on the central Rhine, Hassia, the country west of the Thiirino'er-wald, and extended east to Bohemia ; it was divided into Francia Rhefiensis, on both sides of that river, and Francia Orientalis, at the foot of the Fichtel-gebirge, on the upper Mayn. In Franconia the ducal title appeared later, be- cause the country, as long as the kings continued of the Carlovingian family, was considered as king^s land ; it was, however, administered by powerful counts ; and the celebrated families of the Babenbergers in eastern Franconia, and the Con- radinians at Worms on the Rhine, divided the power, until they broke out into a deadly dispute and fight, in wliich the Babenbergers were completely defeated. Count Conrad soon afterwards in 911 mounted the throne as Conrad I., and pos- sessed the duchy with full ducal power ; and his brother and successor, Eberhard, obtained the ducal dignity from Henry I. of Saxony. Large ecclesiastic territories included in Fran- conia, were the following : The archbishopric of Mainz, the bishoprics of Wurtzburg, Bamberg, Worms, Spire, and the wealthy and powerful abbeys of Fulda and Lorch. Tribur, on the Rhine, celebrated for the frequent diets of the empire held there. Magontia — Mainz — (Mayence), on the junction of the Mayn and the Rhine. Franconovurt (Frankfort), on the Mayn. Wirciburg (Wurtzburg), on the upper Mayn. Ba- benberg (Bamberg), on the Regnitz. 250. V. DucATUs Alemanni^ (Souabia), south of Fran- conia, embraced the present Baden, Wurtemberg, and eastern Switzerland, the Aargau, Zuricgau, and Turgau. In Souabia, where the defence of the frontiers was not so necessary, the ducal dignity was but gradually acquired through the power of the imperial envoys {167 , 170), and developed itself later. Con- rad I. made the brave warrior, Burchard, Duke of Souabia. Augstburg (Augsburg), on the Lech. It was south of this city, on the Lech field, where Otho I., with his Germans divided into eight squadrons, surrounded and totally defeated the Hungarians, thousands of whom found their grave in the river, A. D. 955. VI. DucATus Bavari/e, southeast of Souabia, was bordered west by the rivers Lecli, and Ratenna (Regnitz), and east by the Bohmer-wald and the river Anisics (Ens) ; north it touched the Thuringian mountains, and south the high chain of the Alps. Bavaria was one of the oldest duchies of Germany, and we have already seen how her duke, Thassilon, of the ancient race of the Agitolfingi, by his alliance with the Avars, excited the anger of Charlemagne, and lost his duchy at the diet of Ingelheim in 788 (177). Bavaria became then, like the other Prankish countries, ruled by imperial counts. But her eastern frontiers were so much exposed to the incursions of the Sclavoni- ans from Bohemia, and the Hungarians from Pannonia, that the ducal dignity was restored as early as 90 1 , and her frontiers were even extended by placing the whole duchy of Ca-iiiitJiia (Kairnthen), and the Marca Orientalis (Osterichi or modern Austria), under the control and protection of the Duke of Ba- varia. Ratisbona — Reganesburg (now Regensburg), Pazza- wa (Passau), and Anisipurg (Ens), on the Danube. Salzburg, in the beautiful plain on the Salza, was, by Charlemagne, erected into an archbishopric over all Bavaria. VII. DucATus Bohemia, northeast of Bavaria, comprised the eastern frontier province of Moravia, and extended to the Carpathian mountains. The Bohemians were Sclavonians be- longing to the tribe of the Czekho- Slovaks (107), who, in the times of Charlemagne, voluntarily recognized the supremacy of the Pranks, and remained henceforth united to the Germanic Empire. German missionaries spread the light of Christianity among the Czekhs, and in the year 972 an arcbbishopric was erected in Prague, which exerted its beneficial influence over the eastern provinces of the empire. Praga (Prague), the cap- ital of Bohemia, on a magnificent site on the Moldau, became soon a populous and thriving city. Oloniuc (Olmiitz), in Mo- ravia, was the strong border fortress against the Hungarians. VIII. DucATUs PoLONiyE, uorth of Bohemia, stood only in more distant feudal relations to Germany. The LjoEchs or Po- lani (107), the present brave and cruelly down-trodden Poles, formed early a large number of small principalities on the extensive and fertile plains of the Vistula and the Oder. The B'lasuri, Wislanti, Wtelunzani, and other Ljcechish tribes, terminated their internal feuds in the year 842, and chose a virtuous freeholder by the name of Piast for their duke. During the reign of his descendants, the Fiasts, Christianity was introduced into Poland by Greek missionaries from Con- stantinople. Duke Mieczislav dismissed his seven heathen wives, was converted, baptized, and married the Bohemian princess, Dombrowka ; many nobles followed the example of their duke ; and the erection of the episcopal see of Posen in 970 soon gained the victory against the Greeks, and brought Poland back to the allegiance of the Roman Pontifi". At that time Otho I., at the head of his feudal army, appeared on the Vistula, and the timid Mieczislav did homage to the Emperor, paid yearly tribute, and followed the imperial banner with his Polish cavalry. Yet the Poles were too powerful and too warlike a people to remain under the yoke of the haughty Ger- man border-counts, and already the son of Mieczislav, Boles- lav the Brave (Chrobry), restored, in 1000, the independence of his country, and took the royal crown. The Poles were a handsome, active, sincere, and valiant people. The farmers — kmetons — served on foot with lance and shield ; the richer pro- prietors — szlachzie — appeared on horseback in full armor, and formed the strength of the feudal army of Poland — pospolite ricsce7iie. Otho and his German knights were astonished at the immense wealth and abundance they discovered all over the country ; and learned that the commerce between the Baltic and the Black Sea and Constantinople, at that time passed mostly on the commercial roads through Poland, who protected the merchants and contributed her own active part in the general traffic by her grains, furs, cattle, and excellent horses. The government was still patriarchal; and the life of kings and cavaliers divided between agricultural pursuits, the chase of the urus and bear, or equestrian forays against the Russians. LusAciA (Lausitz), on the Elbe, and the duchies of Silesia and PoMERANiA were provinces of Poland. Wraslaw (Bres- lau), on the Oder ; Ctakoio on the Vistula ; Posen, Plotzk, and Gniesno (Gnesen), were the principal cities. Otho III. established an archbishopric in the latter city in the year 1000. 251. IX. Regnum Italic. — Charlemagne was ci'owned Roman Emperor on Christmas Day, in St. Peter's, in the year 800, and he governed Italy, with his other vast states, forty years establishing the reign of the laws and a flourishing civili- zation. Eight kings of the Carlovingian dynasty ruled in Italy ; but when Charles-le-Gros was deposed in 888, Italian or Bur- gundian princes disputed for seventy years the crown of Italy and the imperial title. Powerful feudatories arose on the downfall of the royal authority. These were the dukes of Spoleto and Tuscany, the marquises (margraves) of Ivrea, Susa, and Friuli. The great Lombard duchy of Benevento, which had only rendered feudal homage to Charlemagne, and com- prised more than half the present kingdom of Naples, had now fallen into decay, and split into the small principalities of Ca- pua, Salerno, and Gaeta. Berengar, the marquis of Friuli, reigned for thirty-six years, but with continually disputed pre- FIFTH PERIOD.— LOMBARDY— ROME— SOUTHERN ITALY. 65 tensions. The calamities of Italy were then aggravated by foreign invasions. The Hungarians pouring in through the de- files of the Julian Alps, devastated Lombardy ; the Saracens, then masters of Sicily (from 826), infested the southern coasts and settled on Mount Gargano, at Lucera in the Apulian plain, and on the Grulf of Tarento. Plunged in an abyss from which her wrangling native princes could not save her, Italy sought her salvation in the sword of the Saxon Otho the Great. It is, a well-known fact that it was the tears of a beautiful woman, Adelheid of Burgundy, then besieged in the castle of Cauossa, on Mount Apennine, by the revengeful Berengar, which determined the chivalrous German king to cross the Alps in 951, to win his lovely bride and the imperial crown of Italy ; an event of the utmost importance, because it henceforth drew the almost entire attention of the German kings to the aifairs of Italy, and hindered them from consolidating their power in their native country. The German army found no opposition south of the Alps. Berengar II., the sovereign of Italy, submitted, and when he later attempted to raise the banner of independence again, Otho descended from the Alps a second time, deposed the Italian prince, and received the imperial crown at the hands of Pope John XII., in 961, in Rome, and the iron crown of Lombardy the following year in Milan. The greater part of Italy recognized the German su- premacy ; only the Greeks sustained themselves in the south. Otho sent the bishop Luitprand to Constantinople, to obtain the cession of the Greek territories from the Emperor Nicephorus ; and when the embassy proved unsuccessful, he entered in 969 the Greek j^rovinces sword in hand. But a revolution at the imperial court of Constantinople restored the friendly relations between the two empires. The Greek princess, Theophania, gave her hand to young Prince Otho, the successor of his father, Otho I., who died immediately after his return to Ger- many in 973. 252. Division and Cities of Italy in 973. — In the north, the marquisate of Milan, between the Alps, the upper Padus, the Apennines, and the lake of Garda, with the archi- episcopal see of Mediolanum, a large number of counties and flourishing cities, who began already, under the protection of the German king, to augment their privileges and immunities, and to give a republican form to their municipal government. On the west of Milan lay the marquisates of Ivrea, Susa, Montferrat.e and Savona ; and on the east, the county of Tridentum (Trent), in the Alps ; the march of Verona, and the county of Forum Julii (Friuli), with the Istrian peninsula. Ve- rona and Friuli were by the emperor united with the duchy of Bavaria, in order that the German feudatories might keep the passes of the Alps open for the passage of the imperial armies. In central Italy, we find the wealthy and powerful counts or marquises of Tuscia, or Tuscany, extending from the march of Verona, across the Padus by Ferrara and Modena, through Tuscany, to the frontiers of the Papal States. This vast and rich territory became, a century later, the celebrated patri- mony of Countess Matthildis, and the cause of the violent feuds between the Emperor and Pope. Florentia (Florence), the seat of a count, was yet a small town on the Arno. Fi&a, flourishing by her commerce ; Sena (Siena) ; Canossa, on the northern slope of Mount Apennine, the strong and celebrated fortress, where Adelheid, the Burgundian princess, sought re- fuge against king Berengar, and was rescued by Otho the Great. Garda, on the lake of the same name, another castle, where Berengar, with great cruelty, had kept the lovely woman a prisoner, until she most ingeniously, with the assistance of a clergyman, escaped in disguise, and threw herself into Canossa. The Patrimonium Sancti Petri, embraced besides the imme- diate environs of Rome (Latium, Sabini, and Campania,) Southern Tuscany, as far as the river Umbrone, the duchy of 9 Spoleto, Ferugia, and a part of the ancient Exarchate on the coast of the Adriatic. Rome had still preserved her munici- pal government, with all the august but idle titles of anti- quity. She extended at that time already beyond the Tiber, Pope Leo IV. having, in 849, built and fortified the Civitas Leonina, around the cathedral of Saint Peter on the Vatican Hill, in order to protect the sanctuary of the apostle against the piratical expeditions of the Saracens.*^ During the tenth century the august capital of the world became the prey to the most violent dissensions between the contending nobles of Spoleto and Tusculum. The papal chair was obtained by open bribery, by violence and assassination, and the meretricious in- fluence of the beautiful countess Theodora, and her still more dangerous daughter Mariuccia, who both swayed pope, pre- lates, church and all — gave rise to the singular tale about Vk female Fope — the Popess Joan X., about 930 ! Consul Crescentius, a noble patriot, attempted to restore the ancient Roman republic, but Otho III. descended into Italy, stormed the castle of Sant Angelo, and the Roman hero perished as a martyr for Italian independence, in 998. How forcibly do these remote events remind us of those of our present day ! Rome in her ruins was still the most beautiful city in the western world, and the young emperor, in his enthusiasm for southern civilization, resolved already to make her again the capital of his modern Roman empire, when he, in 1002, fell the victim of his attachment to Stephania, the injured widow of Crescentius. The sword of the German emperors did not reach into Southern Italy. The Greeks having united with the Saracens from Sicily, defeated Otho II. near Basentello, on the gulf of Tarento, in 981 ; the German army was cut to pieces, and the German emperor himself escaped only by half a miracle. In the course of time, the Greek cities of Naples, Amalji, and Goxta, succeeded in the same manner as Venice, in detach- ing themselves from the Byzantine empire, and in gradually enlarging their dominion. The principalities of Benevento, Gapua, and Salerno, were then the only remains of the king- dom of the Lombards. Apulia and Calabria, the last posses- sions of the Byzantine emperors in Italy, were governed by cata- pans, or vice-regents, who were continually engtged in hostili- ties with the Italian princes and republics, and the Saracenic emirs of Sicily, until the appearance of Robert Guiscard and his Norman warriors, in the beginning of the eleventh century, at once changed all the political relations of that terrestrial paradise. It is in the times of the Saxon emperors — 961-1024 — that we discover the first formation and early development of the celebrated Italian Republics, which later perform so brilliant a part in the History of the Middle Ages. The cities of Italy, like those of Germany (245, 216) sought security behind their walls, against the incursions of the Magyars and Saracens ; their power increased rapidly ; the oppressed from all parts found in them a refuge from their tyrants. These exiles carried with them their industry and their arms, to pro- tect the hospitable community that received them : thus every '" The many pilgrims from the west and north who visited the shrine of the Apostle, had already formed the large and populous suburb of the Vatican, and their various habitations were distinguished in tlie language of the times as the schohe or vici of the Lombards, Saxons, or Greeks. This open town was then inclosed within the fortifications of the Castle of Sant Angelo, and called in honor of tlie enterprising Pope, the Leonine city. Great ceremonies took place at the inauguration. "The walls were besprinkled with holy water ; the young community was placed under the guardian care of the Apostles and the Angelic hosts, that both the old and the new Rome might ever be preserved prosperous and impregnable." 66 FIFTH PERIOD.— ROMANO-aERMANIC EMPIRE— HUNGARY. village became a fortress, and vied with its neighbor in efforts to augment the means for its defence. The dukes, marquises, counts, and prelates, who considered these cities as their pro- perty, and the citizens as their vassals, soon perceived that they had already broken their chains. The nobles then left their residences in the towns, which had become disagreeable to them, and retired to their castles. But they became sensi- ble that to defend these castles they had need of men devoted to them; that notwithstanding the advantage which their heavy armor gave them when fighting on horseback, they were the minority, and they hastened to enfranchise the rural popu- lation, to give them arms, and to gain their affections, by granting them protection and lands. The effect of this change of system was rapid, and soon produced in Northern Italy a new state of society : the Lombard free towns, and the landed nobility, who, in pursuing tlieir opposite interests, sided, the former with the Italian pope, and the latter with the German emperor, and reappear two centuries later, in the protracted struggle of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. During the period of the Saxon and Franconian dynasties (973-1039) it became the custom for the German kings, at the head of their feudal armies, to undertake a visit or cam- ■puignmto Italy {de?- Romer-zug), to take the imperial crown at Rome, and call together the states of Lombardy at Roncaglia, on the banks of the Po, near Placentia. There the emperors re- ceived the homage from their Italian feudatories, had their laws for their Italian government promulgated, and their treasury filled with Italian gold pieces. But the diets or piacita of Ron- caglia became in the course of time a mere formality : after a stay of some months, occupied with tournaments and festivals, the Germans recrossed the mountains ; the Italian nobles retired to their castles, the prelates and magistrates to their cities. These acknowledging no authority superior to their own, and being left to themselves, must necessarily come into collision — a collision occasioning a continual petty warfare between the pre- lates, supported by the cities on the one side, and the nobles aided by their vassals on the other. Italy remained in this state until 1039, when Conrad the Salic put an end to these troubles by that constitution, which became the basis of the feudal law during the following century. By this the inheritance of the fiefs was protected from the caprices of the lords, and of the crown ; the heer-ban of the seven banners, who were to follow the emperor, was instituted on less oppressive conditions ; the remaining slaves of the land were set free ; and Italy began to enjoy a comparative tranquillity until it was involved in the great contest about the investitures between Gregory VII. and Henry IV. towards the close of the century. XL — Kingdom of the Hungarians. 253. Their Origin and Conquests. — The gi-eat empire of the Avars (149) had been dissolved partly by the defeats they suffered from the Franks under Charlemagne in 799-803, and partly by the invasion of the Bulgarians, who occu- pied their seats in Paunonia, when, about the year 855, another barbarous nation from the distant east, the Ugri, Him- gri, or, as they called themselves, Magyars, made their appear- ance on the Carpathian mountains. They were originally an eastern Finnish tribe, whose home was Ugria on Mount Oural.'^ During the great migration of the Tartaric Sclavo- nian nations in the fifth century, they followed their neighbors, the Bulgarians, on their march southward. For a length of time, ^ " Ufjria, in the Sclavonic language, signifies fallow land, untilled soil, steppe, or prairie; thus the nomadic inhabitants on Mouht Ouval were called Uhoi'i, Ugri, Ungri, or Hungri, and by the monkish writers of the time, Hungari, thn). io, nomades, or vagrants. they remained on the lower Volga and the Caspian Sea, but having been dislodged by the Petcheneges, and defeated by the Russians under Ruric, in their attempt to ascend that river, they were obliged to turn westward."* Their wild hordes of cavali'y, followed by trains of carts with their families, crossed the Dniester and Dniej^er, and spreading through the open plains of Dacia, they united there with the relics of the vanquished Avars. Thus strengthened in number, and led on by their new allies, they penetrated through the defiles of the Carpathian mountains, fell suddenly upon the newly settled Bulgarians, whom they forced quickly to recross the Danube, and advanced westward, occupying all the country between the mountains and the Theiss. There, on the plains between that river and the Maros, were seen the filthy camps of nearly a million of unknown barbarians. The ancient Magyars, like the Huns, whom they resembled in ferocity, were divided into divisions or swarms, each consisting of thirty thousand horse- men, commanded by Voivods, who had elected the brave and experienced Arpad as their great Chan or commander-in-chief. The Hungarians, though Finns by descent, were a hand- some race, possessed of excellent qualities ; but their first ap- pearance in Europe inspired a terror and disgust hardly less than that of the Huns themselves. They were a nomadic peo- ple ; they fed on horseflesh ; they were covered with skins of wild animals, though they wore heavy armor made of iron from the mines of Mount Oural. Like the Tartars, they adorned their long lances with streamers or flags of brilliant colors, which, when whirled in the air, and accompanied by their piercing yells, spread panic and dismay among the German cavalry who were daring enough to oppose their progress. Yet their most terrible weapons were bows and arrows. They fought only on horseback. Their rapidity, impetuosity, and cruelty, rendered them irresistible, and almost incredible were the devastation, bloodshed, and mis- ery which this nation for one entire century, from 855 to 955, brought over every part of central and southern Europe. The nobler qualities of the Magyar character have developed themselves later, after their conversion to Christianity in a. d. 1000. Yet even in their heathen darkness, they were not entire- ly devoid of principles of justice and faith in their plighted word. They possessed remarkable talents for mechanics, manufacturing, and arts ; agriculture soon began to flourish on the fertile plains of the Theiss and the Danube, and they distinguished themselves in different directions from all the other Turkish tribes of the east. The warlike disposition and natural ferocity of the Magyars never left them in after times, but they served most happily to imake that nation a bulwark for Germany and Europe on the walls of Belgrade against the Ottoman Turks. Suddenly arriving in Avaria — by themselves called Magyar Orszagj the present Hungary — they immediately subdued the Bulgarian and Sclavonian tribes. On the banks of the Theiss they made a halt, no doubt afraid of invading the civilized Carlovingian empire beyond that i-iver. Here, to their as- tonishment, embassies from the Greek emperor in Constanti- nople, requested their aid against the Bulgarians south of the Danube. Nay, envoys from the German emperor himself, and from his rebellious border-counts, the Moravian mar- graves, implored their assistance the one against the other. Terrible was the responsibility of the Carlovingian emperor Arnulf, in calling in the Hungarians ; they came ; they spread devastation, not only in Moravia, where they exterminated the inhabitants, but they hurried south through the defiles of the Alps, and defeated the Italian counts on the plains of Lombardy. Returning again through Bavaria, the burn- '^ Constantine Porpliyrogenitus gives some interesting details on the first settlement of the Hungarians in Avaria (Pannonia), but he knows them only by the name of Turks, and calls their country Turkey. — Be Administra.ndo Imperio, cap. .38. FIFTH PEKIOD.— HUNGARY— PATZINAKIA— LEON. 67 /'ing villages along the Rhine, and in the heart of Lorraine ' hcyond that river, proclaimed in flaming characters the degra- dation of Germany. It was not until the reigu of the brave \ Henry I. of Saxony, in 936, that the Magyars were checked \ in the terrible battle at Merseburg, and their army at last de- ifeated and destroyed in so thoroiigh a manner by the great jOtho, on the Lcch-field in 955, that the seven fugi- /tives who returned to Hungary to tell the woful tale, / caused the Magyars to relinquish their inhuman warfare, and ■ never again to invade Germany. The thousands of men, women, and children taken pi-isoners by them, contributed ^much to their civilization ; Christianity advanced it still farther; and here it was again a woman — the celebrated Hungarian Prin- ss Sarolta, who wielded her sword and mounted her steed as boldly as the best Magyar — that was converted and per- suaded her yielding husband. King Geisa, in 973, to be bap- tized in the Christian faith. King Stephen I. (997-1038) ef- fected — after great opposition however — the general introduc- tion of Christianity among those barbarians. Strigonium (Gran), on the Danube, became the archiepiscopal see for the ten dioceses which were established. The Latin language was adopted by the king and nobility, and a regular government soon effected a change in the manners and character of the Magyars. The kingdom became theii divided into seventy- tjvo coviitatus or counties, and the feudal system, with mili- ._ tery tenures, was introduced. The Magyars formed the army ; / the poor Sclavonian subjects were treated like serfs, and kept ^~in degrading subjection. The Magyars occupied the whole of modern Hungary ; o-n the north they bordered on Poland and Moravia, on the west their confines reached the Austrian ( marches ; on the south the Danube separated them from the ^, great Bulgarian kingdom, and on the east the Carpathian range { protected them against the still more terrible Petcheneges, ^ then in their most formidable power. The Magyars lived mostly in villages, and few cities were founded during this period. Buda-Pesth, the ancient Acincum (35, 179), on both banksof {the Danube, once the site of the camp of Attila and of the [ Avars, became the capital of the Arpadian dynasty of Hungary. On the plain east of the Danube, the Magyar nobility on horse- back in complete armor, assembled at their national diet, where the laws were sanctioned, and all political questions decided. This was the celebrated Field of Rakos. Wissegrad and CoMORN were strong fortresses on the Danube. Alba Realis (Weissenburg), on the southwest. Posony, Preciburg, Pres- burg, on the Austrian frontiers. The Carpathian defiles were protected by the Magyar tribe of the Szeklers, that is, border- wardens, who still, to this day, are the fiercest hussars in the world. XII. Chanate of the Petcheneges. 254. Their Territory, Conquests, and Destruction. — The Petcheneges — Patzinaks, Patzinakitoe, or Bitchenak, as the Byzantine historians call them, were a Tartaric tribe from the steppes between the Yaik and the Volga. Having been driven from their home by their eastern neighbors, the Kumani, they, about the middle of the ninth century, fell upon the Mag- yars, themselves the subjects of the Chazars, whom they vanquished, and forced to flee westward. The Petcheneges pursued them across the Dniester, Dnieper, and Pruth, to the foot of the Carpathian mountains. Here they stopped : other tribes joined the first, and for more than two centuries this disgusting- people occupied the whole immense territory from the Don and the Donetz all along the shores of the Black Sea, throughout the Walachian plains to the Aluta. This territory they divided among their eight numerous hordes, which were subdivided into forty smaller clans. Four of the Petchenege hordes occupied the pas- ture lands on the east of the Dnieper; theotherfouronthewest.'^' Their chiefs were hereditary chans, their nobles were called kangars. They extended on the north to the waterfalls of the Dniester, where they carried on a continual war with the Rus- sians ; on the south they crossed the Danube, and devastated every part of Macedonia and Thrace ; the Greeks were in despair ; they attempted to pay them off, but by their glittering Byzants excited their thirst for gold still more ; a civil war among the Barbarians saved Alexius ; Chan Kegen, a distinguished Petch- enege, fled the country, was converted, and, at the head of the Greek army in 1050, he defeated his countrymen, and settled part of them' at Moglena in Macedonia. Yet other hordes still continued their incursions, until in 1122 they were attack- ed at the same time by the Kumani and Uzi, their ancient ri- vals on the Volga, and by Kalo- Johannes, the great emperor. By well concerted manoeuvres, the monsters were entrapped at last ; there was HO help for them ; they were exterminated with the i edge of the sword, and never appear again in history. The/, Petcheneges are described as the most beastly and disgusting : wretches that ever lived ; they were faithless and perfidious ; their avarice was insatiable ; their passions brutish ; their favorite food the raw flesh of cats, rats, foxes, wolves ; they wore long hair and beards, and flowing garments, like the Tartars,/ whose language they spoke. The Petcheneges never quitted \ their steeds ; they formed myriads of cavalry, and were as rapid in their charges as the arrows they shot off; no spark of huma- nity, no ray of cultivation ever reached them ; their detested name appears on every page of the Byzantine historians from the eleventh century ; and the German monks, in their chroni- cles, never omit, when speaking of them, to add the epithets of pessiini and vilissiini. Their villages or hut-built towns, were called katai; they had some agriculture on the Danube, and a lively trade with Cherson, Theodosia, and other Greek cities on the Black Sea. They sold their cattle to the Russians, and bar- tered their plunder for all sorts of Eastern luxuries, such as purple vestments, silken dresses, precious furs, and aromatics. After the dispersion of their hordes, some Petchenege strag- glers were incorporated into the Greek armies of the Com- nenian emperors, in which they rendered good service ; and King Zultan of Hungary formed a colony of these monsters on his western frontiers, in order to frighten the Germans. § IIL SOUTHERN EUROPE. XIII. The Kingdom of Leon. 255. Extent and Principal Cities. — The kingdom of Leon was, in the tenth century, one of the four Christian states which had formed themselves in the north of the Spanish penin- sula. It occupied the northwestern angle of Spain, and extended along the Durius (Duero) eastward to the Piscorica (Pisuerga), a tributary of that river, and the eastern frontier toward Cas- tile. North of the Asturian ridge the border ran west of the Deba to the promontory San Prieto, on the Gulf of Biscay, Mare Cantabricum. The southern frontier was very unsettled, on account of the continual wars with the Saracens ; the banks of the Duero were protected by numerous castles, and the " Constantine Porphyrogenitus, in his livelj^ description of tlieir country, whicli lie calls Pa(zi7iakia, mentions the barbarous names of their tribes, such as Bulat-zospon, Giazi-cJiopon, SyrukalpeX, and Gi/la, bet^veen the Danube and the Don, and defines their frontiers as bor- dering westward on the Turks (Hungarians), north on the Slavic tribes of the Lenzenii, Derblenians (Drewliani), and Russians, and east on the Kumani and Uzi in Chazaria, beyond the Aiil (Volga), and on tJie Alans still residing in the plains on the Kuban north of Mount Cau- casus. 68 FIFTH PERIOD.— SPANISH KINGDOMS— CALIPHATE OF CORDOVA. Christian knights extended their conquests south to the Mon- dego, nay, they reached even the Tagus ; they occupied tem- porarily Lissabon, and descended the Djebal Scharrat (Gua- darama) to the plain of Medchellet (Magerita), now Madrid, then a small Arabian town ; but they could not get any firm footino-, and the uncertainty of the occupation caused this re- gion to be called extrema Durii, which is the origin of the present appellation of Estremadura. The descendants of Pelayo had transferred their capital from Gijon on the sea- coast to Oviedo (217). Their small territory extended with their victories, and under the valiant Ordono II., the four- teenth king of Gothia, Leon became, in 918, the royal resi- dence. During this period Gallicia, Asturia, Leon, and Old Castile became united ; but the danger of the approaching storm roused the Arabs to renewed activity. Al Manzor, the vizier of Caliph Hashem II. entered the mountains, in 990, with a numerous army ; the city of Leon and even the venerated shrine of Santiago de Compostela were burnt to the ground, and the Moors planted their crescent-banner on the Asturian coast. But this effort of the Mohammedans was the last ; they were totally routed in the chivalrous battles of Kula'at-Anosor in 998, and at Osma in 1001 ; and the subsequent union of the kingdom of Leon with the independent coimty of Castile in 1038, by the marriage of Don Fernando of Castile with Dona Sancha, the sister of King Bermudo III. of Leon, secured henceforth the frontier line of the Duero. Ovetum (Oviedo), the ancient capital, on a steep hill that rises in the midst of an undulating plain between the Nora and the Nalon. Ccmgas de Onis, on the Cella, stands at a short distance from the Abbey of our Lady of Cavadonga, which occupies the site where Pelayo in 712 first planted the standard of independence. Santiago de Cojnjjos- tela, with its magnificent cathedral, its saints, treasury, pilgri- mages, and superstition. Astiirica (Astorga). Braga. Zamora on the northern bank of the Duero, where, on the Campi Go- thici, north of the city, so many bloody battles were fought be- tween Christians and Moslems during the tenth century. Car7-io7i, on the river of the same name, where King Bermudo III. fell in battle against his brother-in-law, Don Fernando of Castile, in 1 037. The ancient Visigothic institutions were still preserved in their antiquated forms, although the frequent wars had given extension to the royal authority. The diets continued to be assembled in Oviedo ; the habits of the people were still austere and warlike, yet a chivalrous character was perceptible, which communicated itself to the Saracens on the frontiers, and produced the most romantic instances of bril- liairt valor, tender love, and religious fanaticism. XIV. County of Castile. 256. Origin, Extent, and Cities. — Castile is said to have been so called from the great number of castles — castillos — which were its means of defence against the Moors, and the residences of petty princes whom ambition armed against one another. Many Goths had retreated into the mountains north of the Tagus, where, in the beginning of the tenth century, the Counts of Burgos extended their power, and though they, for a while, acknowledged the supremacy of the neighboring Kings of Leon, they soon after their victories over the Moors, declared themselves independent. King Ordolio II. assassi- nated the haughty Count Nuno Fernandez of Castile, but this criminal act produced a revolution among the Castilians, who, in 933, maintained their independence. The wars with the Moors continued ; the Duero became the permanent frontier, and in 1038, Castile was united with Leon to the great advan- tage of both. Burgos, a dark, old-fashioned city, abounding in convents and sanctuaries ; the cathedral is one of the oldest and most elegant Gothic churches in Spain. Oxima (Osma) and Kula'at-Anosor, celebrated by victories which the Chris- tians here gained over the Moslems. XV. Kingdom of Navaf>.ra. 257. Origin, Extent, and Division. — The realm of Na- varra or Pampiluna, which comprised Biscaya (Viscaya), on the north, and Aragon on the east, extended along the Gulf of Biscay and the Pyrenees, somewhat south of the sources of the Ebro, to those of the river Aragon, a tributary of the former. Though the Arabs, at the time of their settlement in Spain, did not succeed in subduing the Visigoths in their northwestern strongholds of the Asturian mountains, they soon appeared on the Ebro, occupied Ccasaraugusta (Zaragoza), and forcing the northeastern defiles of the Pyrenees invaded France, and set- tled in Septimania (158). Yet the Saracen icalis or gover- nors, in their rebellions against the Ommiyad emirs of Cor- dova, called to their assistance the victorious arms of Pepin- le-Bref and Charlemagne, who, as we have seen (184), formed the border province of the Spanish marches south of the moun- tains. It consisted of the Marca Navarrensis, the Co?iii- tatus Jc.ccensis (Jaca), Ripaciircice (Ribagorza), and Barci- nonce (Barcelona), which did not extend south to the valley of the Ebro, still in the possession of the Arabs. During thts disorders which disturbed the Carlovingian empire in the ninth century, the border counts in the Pyrenees made themselves independent of the French crown. Garsias Arista took, about 850, the royal title; his successors ruled until the year 1000, and in successful wars against the Moors, they extended their territory over the greater part of Aragon. SanchoIII.,e/il'/ayo;-, an excellent chief, divided his kingdom between his four sons in 1033 ; and we find at that time the following provinces un- der the crown of Navarra: I. The kingdom of Pampiluna (Pamplona, with Canta- BRiA (Najara, Rioja), south, on the Ebro. Pamplona, on the Arga, was the capital. Logrono, on the Ebro. II. The county of Aragon on the east, with the strong city of Jaca commanding the plains. III. Sobrarbe, farther east, under the highest pinnacles of the Pyrenees. IV. Ribagorza, with the county of Pallars, which had been wrested from the French. V. Viscaya (Vascongadas), on the west of Navarra, divided into the three Basque provinces, Biscaya, Alava, and Ipuscoa, (Guipuzcoa). This was the rugged home of the old Cantabri^ who made such a gallant stand against the Romans, and pre- served their independence until the time of Augustus. Their descendants, the Basques, are still distinguished by their ac- tivity and bravery, and have found in their unfruitful soil the palladium of their liberty. Victoria (Vitoria), the capital, was the place where King Sancho defeated the Arabs ; it lies in a fertile plain surrounded by magnificent scenery. The Vascongadas and Rioja fell to Castile in 1200. The Counts of Barcelona in Catalonia (Gotholaunia) had become independent of France toward the close of the ninth century. The Catalonians were early distinguished by commerce and warlike adventures through the whole Mediter- ranean Sea ; their history is very interesting, and they became a powerful nation when their Count Raymond Berengar ob- tained by marriage the throne of Aragon, a. d. 1137. XVI. Caliphate of Cordova. 258. Extent, Division, and , Principal Cities. — Since the establishment of the emirate of Cordova by the Ommiyad, Abd-er-Raman, in 755, the Arabs had suffered many defeats by the Asturian heroes ; but they soon recovered the lost ter- FIFTH PERIOD.— CALIPHATE OF CORDOVA— SICILY— CROATIA. 69 ritory, aud during the whole of the ninth century, the Duero and the valley of the Ebro remained the contested frontier line between the two races. Nineteen caliphs of the Ommiyad dynasty ruled in Spain (Andalos) from 755 to 1038, when that family became extinct on the death of Hashem IV. It was the most brilliant period in the annals of the Arabian na- tion, and the Spanish cities were then adorned with those master works of Saracenic architecture, mosques, alcazars, aqueducts, baths, and other public buildings, the ruins of which are still the admiration of the present day. The reign of Abd- er-Rhaman III. (912-961) is the period of the highest devel- opment of Arabian civilization, literature, and art in Spain ; and the Caliph was as distinguished for his brilliant valor against the Gothic princes in the battles at Zamora on the Duero, as for the amiable qualities of his mind and heart. His worthy son, Al-Hakim II., followed (961-976) in the steps of his father; with him the enthusiasm for books, science, poetry, history, and natural philosophj', became a violent pas- sion. We read with astonishment in Conde of the seventy libraries, seventeen Mohammedan universities and high schools of learning ; of the six large and flourishing capitals of the Walis : Korthoba (Cordova), Elbira (Grenada), Ischbilia (Se- ville), Tholaithala (Toledo), Sarakostha (Zaragoza), and Djesh-Shukar (Valencia) ; of eighty cities of a second rank ; 0% the three hundred smaller towns, and the twelve thousand hamlets situated on the charming banks of the Guadalquiver alone. In Korthoba were six hundi-ed mosques, fifty hospitals for benevolent purposes, nine hundred public baths ; the yearly revenues of the caliphate amounted to twelve millions of gold pieces without the contributions of the alcabala and almojari- fazgo. Agriculture, irrigation, and gardening progressed equally with the literature and philosoj^hical cultivation of that period. The bravery, piety, and romantic amours of the Spanish knights excited the noblest emulation among the Moslem cavaliers, van- quished the prejudices of the Koran, and raised the Saracen woman to a standard of esteem and admiration which she never enjoyed in the East. It was during this period, when were called forth those warlike virtues which will ever glitter in its beautiful ballads and romances, that on the frontiers of the contending Christian and Mohammedan nations, two singular races of men arose — the Moslem Rabites and the Christian Almugavares. They were warriors (guerillas) or borderers, who lived by the sword as wardens of the frontiers, and, in their armature, tactics, and manners, formed the most curious contrast. During their alternate hostility and friendly inter- course with each other, those fantastical ideas of politics, reli- gion, and customs originated, which we, a century later, meet again on the shores of Palestine among the crusading Templars, the Syrian Pulani, and the Circassian Mamlooks. XVII. Emirate of Sicily and the Smaller. Islands. 259. The Aglabid Dynasty on the Islands. — At the beginning of the ninth century, most of the larger islands of the Mediterranean were occupied by Saracen corsairs — Crete, Cyprus, Rhodes, Sardinia, the Baleares, Corsica, fell into their power — ^yet none became so flourishing as Sikiliah (Sicily), which, in 826, was invaded by the Aglabid king, Ziade-tallah I., of Magrab, in northern Africa, and remained imder the sway of the Fatimid dynasty, which succeeded in 940, until the conquest of the island by Count Roger, the Norman, in 1069. Sicily had already for a long time been exposed to the piratical descents of the Arabs, before they were invited as auxiliaries of the Greek general, Empedocles, in the year 826, during his rebellion against the Emperor Michael the Stam- merer. The Arabs answered readily to the appeal. Hassan- Ben-el-Terath landed on the island, and a bloody war com- menced, which continued for many years, and terminated with the conquest of Palermo and Syracuse by the Aglabid war- riors of Tunis, who changed the whole splendid island into an Arabian emirate ;' " yet the inhabitants retained their old rights and privileges, and soon acquired an afl"ection for their Moslem conquerors on account of their just and creditable government and unusual liberal views in religious matters. Beneath the mild sway of the Agiabids and Fatimid chiefs (caliphs), a multitude of Arabic cities and castles rose in the island ; splendid manu- factures were established, and the rich soil was carefully culti- vated. The sugar-cane was transplanted from Egypt, manna from Persia, and cotton from Asia Minor. The olive-tree was sedulously tended, and propagated all over the island ; com- merce flourished ; numbers of merchant vessels daily arrived or departed from the difi"erent Sicilian ports laden with rich cargoes. The objects of magnificence and luxury which com- merce brought together, served in part to embellish the Sara- cenic castles, which were besides enriched with the treasures and precious booty carried home by the Arabic corsairs from their predatory excursions on all the Italian coasts. Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands were at the same time occupied by the Zeirites, who had formed another powerful empire — a. d. 960 — ruling the extensive coasts of Africa, after the concentration of the Fatimid caliphs in Cairo in Egypt. XVIII. Kingdom of Croatia. 260. Extent and Princifal Cities. — The Sclavonic na- tion of the Chrobats (Croa.ts) had occupied the coast lands of Dalmatia in 628 (196), where they, under their Zupanies or chiefs, recognized the sovereignty of Chaidemagne (187). But about the year 970, during the reign of the emperor Otho the Great, they suddenly appear as a powerful nation, under the sway of a Weliki Ziqxin or Grand Duke, who could muster 150,000 horse and foot in the field, and extended his conquests along the coast and the numerous isles of the Adriatic Gulf Every Croat was a born soldier. Christianity soon spread among them, and brought them into friendly relations with the island- ers. Yet the great Croatian kingdom did not maintain itself; the different Croatian tribes quarrelled among themselves. The sly and active Venetian republicans planted the banner of Saint Marc on the towers of Yadra (Zara), Sebenigo, and other cities ; they made Spalatro their commercial empo- rium, and when King Koloman appeared with his Hungarian cavalry in 1102, the Croatians were speedily brought to that ^^ Of the cajstiire of Syracuse we have an interesting account from an eye-witness (a. d. 880) : " Thcodosius, tlie monk, sends his salutation to Leo, the archdeacon. We have held out ten months, during which tim.5 we have fought often by day and many times by night, by water, by land, and under the ground. The grass which grows upon the roofs was our food, and we caused the bones of animals to be powdered, in order to use them for meat. At length children were eaten, and terri- ble diseases were the consequence of famine. Confiding in the secu- rity of our towers, we hoped to hold out until we received succor ; the strongest of our towers was overthrown, and we still resisted for three weeks. In an instant when, exhausted by heat, our Avarriors took re- spite, a general storm was made on a sudden oy the Maugrebin, and the town was taken. ~W"e fled into the chui'ch of St. Salvator ; the enemy followed us, and bathed his sword in the blood of our magistrates, priests, monks, old men, women, and children ; a thousand in number were put to death before the town ; the governor, Nicetas of Tarsus, was tortured ; the houses were burnt, the acropolis destroyed. On the day when they celebrated Abraham's sacrifice (Bairam), the monsters wished to burn us with the bishop; but an old emir of great authority saved us. This is written at Palermo, fourteen feet under ground, among innumerable captives — Jews, Africans, Lombards, Christian and unchristian people, whites and Moors." 70 FIFTH PERIOD.— THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. subjection under the Magyar rod, from which we have seen them make a desperate effort to deliver themselves, so late as 1848. The great Zupaiiatc of Ci:oatia com^jrised the regions situated between the coast of the Adriatic Gulf, the Drave, and the Danube, until its junction with the Save. Posega in Sclavonia, and Dresnec southwest, were the most important cities. Narenta, on the coast, was inhabited by a band of in- dependent corsairs, who, in the earlier period, made their name feared all along the coasts of the Adriatic. XIX. Byzantine Empire. 261. Extent, Imperial Court, and Administration. — The latter years of the reign of Otho the Great — 963-973 — present some of the most brilliant pages in the annals of the eastern Roman empire. The warlike Nicephorus Phocas had crossed Mount Taurus, and reconquered Antioch and northern Syria from the Arabs in 968, and his murderer and sviccessor, the crafty, but talented John Tzimisces, vanquished the Rus- sians, reduced the powerful kingdom of Bulgaria to a depend- ent province of the empire, and led his victorious army beyond the Euphrates, to the distant plains of Mesopotamia, while the helpless Caliph fled trembling to his sanctuaries in Bagdad. The greater part of these extensive conquests were soon lost after the return of the mighty warrior; but Antioch, with the cities of Cilicia and the isles of Cyprus and Crete, remained a permanent and important accession to the Roman Empire. We find its frontiers, a. d. 973, almost the same as in the second period, on the accession of Justinian in 527 : on the north the Euxine Sea, the Danube, the Save, and the Drinus ; on the west and south the Mediterranean ; and on the east the upper Euphrates, the Tigris, the Araxes and Mount Caucasus; thus embracing within the eastern Roman frontiers part of northern Syria, part of Mesopotamia, Great Armenia, Iberia, Lazica, and the coast lands of Mount Caucasus. Constantino- ple had passed through the most frightful vicissitudes since we left her toward the close of the sixth century. She had seen the immense armies of the Persian Chosroes encamped along the Bosphorus in 616-621 ; she had heroically repelled the Saracens from her walls in 668-675, and burnt their entire armada with her Greek fire in 7 16. Her sufferings had been increased by the internal disturbances between the fanatic image-ivorshijij^ers — dKovo^ov\oi — and image-breakers — eiKovoKAao-Tai, and by the loss of nearly all her European provinces through the continual invasions of the Sclavonian and Tartaric hordes from the Da- nube ; while the bigotry and arrogance of her hierarchy, the sloth or incapacity of several of her emperors, and the general luxury and degeneracy of her inhabitants at different periods, would, to a distant observer, have seemed to forebode a speedy catastrophe. Yet her splendid position and impregnable walls, the wonderful pliancy and vitality of the Greek race, and the many distinguished minds which successively appeared in the moment of danger, carried her victoriously through all these vicissitudes. Brighter days began to dawn on the venerable metropolis of the civ- ilized world, on the accession of Basilius the Macedonian, in 867. During the sway of the Macedonian dynasty — 867-1056 — active and enlightened monarchs, brave and daring generals, and intelligent statesmen, restored and strengthened the sinking empire. The ancient Roman ideas, language, and insti- tutions have now vanished ; the Byzantine-Greek period has begun, and a general amelioration, a greater activity in the administration, a stricter economy in the treasury, a better or- ganization of the army, and a more liberal diplomacy with foreign states, becomes distinctly perceptible. Friendly em- bassies are sent to Charlemagne and the great caliph Haroun- ar-Raschid in Bagdad. Byzantine princesses are given in marriage to foreign princes ; Theophauia, the daughter of the Emperor Roinanus II., marries Otho II. of Germany; and her sister Anna, as the wife of the Grand-Duke Wladimir, carries civilization to Russia. All the Sclavonian tribes, which, dur- ing the storms of the seventh and eighth centuries, had settled in Greece — in the peninsula of Peloponnesus (Morea), and in Northern Hellas — have been christianized, hellenized, and brought to the allegiance of the empire (198) ; and so have the Bulgarians in Macedonia, and the Servians in western Illyri- cum. Treaties of commerce are contracted with the flourish- ing cities in Italy ; the Sclavonic nations on the Danube carry the precious Byzantine silk and wool manufactures to the markets of Germany, while Cherson, on the Taurian penin- sula, becomes the great emporium for the exports of the south to Russia and the distant countries on the Baltic. 262. Constantinople was still the most magnificent city in Christendom ; she still possessed the civilization and wealth of the ancient Roman Empire, and was the great emporium of eastern commerce.^ ' The influence of the^ Greek Church, and of the Justinian legislation had, however, rendered the imperial government a perfect despotism. The emperor had the title of aijTOKpa.T(op ; the princes or co-regents were called Augusti, or ae/Saa-ToL The imperial costume was splendid — purple anjd gold ; the entire court officials were dressed in white. The se- nate had lost its prerogatives and power ; ot AoyaSe?, or the elect, formed a committee of its members, sometimes called together on pompous occasions. The imperial council, consis- torivm 'jjrincijjis, or in the corrupt Greek of that period, ro paviXiKov %eKp€Tov, was arbitrarily nominated by the emperor among his confidential friends and favorites. The strictest etiquette was observed among the courtiers and officials in their different subordinate ranks. The sons-in-law of the em- peror had the supervision of the numerous imperial palaces, as curopalatcs, or eTrtVpoTrot ; thirty silentiarii took care of the internal order, in which they were assisted by the loathsome eunuchs — ot Kapr^t/xaSes — who already had obtained so bane- ful an influence, that they ranked among the patricians — 01 TTaTp'.Kiot emov'xoi, and aspired to the highest dignities in the state ; nay, these wretches even entered the church, they became patriarchs, and the eunuch monks paraded as Trpu. ToxpakTai, or choristers, at the pompous religious festivals. The emperors were fettered down to the most ridiculous ceremo- nial, which necessarily must have crushed their noblest dispo- sitions and talents ; but it Avas only by thus shrouding them- selves from the mass of the people, and making a pompous show of their wealth and power to the foreign nations, that they still could be regarded as the legitimate rulers of the civ- ilized world.'- Charlemagne they recognized as Emperor of " Benjamin de Tudela, the celebrated Jewish traveller, who visited Constantinople in the twelfth century, bursts forth in rapture at the display of the Byzantine riches. "It is here," he says, " in the queen of cities, that the tributes of the Eastern Empire are annually dej)osite(3, and the lofty towei-s are filled with precious deposits of silk, purple, and gold. It is here that the sovereign every day receives twenty thousand gold pieces, which are levied on the stores, taverns, and bazaars, on the merchants of Persia and Egypt, of Russia and Hungary, of Italy and Spain, who frequent the brilliant capital by sea and land." ^^ The ceremony of the reception of foreign ambassadors, took place in the gorgeous hall of the Chryaotriclinium, forming part of the great Augusteum palace, between the Cathedral of Sancta Sophia and the Hippodrome. There, the emperor, on his golden throne, in liis snow-white tunic, purple mantle, and purple buskins, receives the fo- reign ambassadors, who, passing through endless files of body guards and household officers, all dressed in the most brilliant variety of armor and court-dresses, beneath colonnades, hung with trophies, embroidered drapery and waving banners, on a road covered with Persian carpets, or strown over with roses, myrtle, and oleander, at last enter the golden palace of the Empress and imperial princesses. Sweet perfumes breathe FIFTH PERIOD.— THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. 71 the West ; but Otho the Great they treated disdainfully, as a barbarian usurper, until the German sword swept away their possessions in Italy. The support of such a court required the most exorbitant taxation ; and, indeed, never was a gov- ernment known so ingeniously to oppress the poor toiling nation as the Byzantine, with its tolls, collections, gifts, duties, customs, house-taxes — to Ka-n-vtKov — income-assessments — TrepiacroirptxKTLa — stamp duties — ;^aprtaTiKo;/, and fifty others. Thegold byzants — vwepTrepa — byzantini — ruled the world then, as a century ago, the Spanish doubloons, and at the present day, the American eagles. The financial administration seems to have been the most complex and important branch of the pub- lic service. The emperors always reserved to themselves the immediate direction of this department ; but they did not omit to give their full attention to the army, as is proved by the in- teresting work of Leo VI. on that subject. Many reforms had been undertaken in the organization of the Greek armies, since the time of Belisarius and Narses under Justinian I. The most select bodies of trooj^s consisted of the imperial life-guards, the celebrated bands of the northern warriors : the Varanghi (226), to whose care the person of the emperor, and the guard of the palace and treasury were intrusted.^ ^ Then followed in rank the Pcrsarmenian, Cliazar, and Avar guards, all in their national costume and armor. The throne being thus protected by foreign swords, the Byzantine army itself was organized for the defence of the frontiers of the empire. The native troops raised in the provinces were formed into one hundred and thirty-two legions or themes — ^ijj.aTa — each of a thousand or fifteen hundred men. The most celebrated of the European themes were the Thracian, Macedonian, and Illyrian, whose ranks were filled with Sclavonian, Wallachian, Bulgarian, and Albanian mountaineers. The Greek cavalry which had adopted the armature of the Avars (149) was numerous, on account of the continual equestrian warfare with the Tar- tars on the Danube, and with the Saracens in the east. The Byzantine commanders and officers had pompous and barbarous titles ; generals, (TTpareyoL — colonels, iioipapy^ai, Spouyyaptot — ensigns, or dragon-bearers, SpaKovT€iO(f)6poL — clraconarii. The foot was marshalled m eight lines, the horse in four ; their flanks were covered with rear-guards — rrXayto^vXaKes ; squad- rons of light horse — vTrepKepdcrrai — were sent round to outflank the enemy ; skirmishers — Kovpcr6pe<;, and spies — a-KovXKaTope? — fragrance around ; and when the astonished barbarians ascend the last marble stairs of the audience hall, and at the signal of the master of ceremonies the curtains and hangings disappear on high, and they behold the handsome emperor and his beautiful queen, surrounded by a glit- tering court, they almost involuntarily kneel down in admiration. But a new surprise awaits them. The silver and golden lions, gigantic beasts, adorning the flanks of the throne, spring forward on their hind legs, and begin to roar furiously, while thousands of artifi- cial birds of various colors and plumage flit about on the branches of an immense golden palm-tree overshadowing the imperial throne, and min- gle their songs with the clangor of the trumpets and the roaring of the lions. The poor barbarians, Tartars, Sclavonians or Chazars, lie now pros- trate on their faces, and have entirely lost their wits. Even the bold German knights, who hitherto have despised all the pomp, begin to tremble, and what is worse, forget their speeches. How the merry em- press and her lively Greek court ladies enjoy the embarrassment and awkward superstition of those barbarians, who, if not kept at bay by the tricks, the ingenuity, and superior civilization of Constantinople, might arise in their might, and with one blow dash the whole fragile vessel of the empire into a thousand fragments. ^^ The Varanghians, who were tlie leading coi'ps of the imperial guards, suffered none but Scandinavians in their ranks; while the less favored corps were composed promiscuously, of Fi'anks, Russians, and other Sclavonians. It was not until after the battle of Hastings, in 1066, and the subjection of England under the iron rod of William the Con- queror, that numbers. of Anglo-Saxons, fleeing the oppression at home, emigrated to Constantlno]ile, where they, as bretliren of the Northmen, were permitted to enter the ranks of the Ynran ',lii, were scouring the environs of the camp. The baggage was called rouASov ; the pay, po'ya ; their exercises and manoeu- vres were superintended by the magjrus drungarius. Constan- tinople had excellent manufactures of arms, and the crusa- ders, two centuries later, were astonished at the pomp of the Byzantine armies ; but the weapons of the Greek warriors were of a better temper than their courage.'^ The high admiral of the fleet, the grand duke — 6 /xeyas Zov^ — commanded the numer- ous divisions of battle ships and galleys — aypdpta, and Spo/Aoves — which were distributed in the magnificent ports on the Eux- ine, the Bosphorus, and the islands of the Mediterranean.*' Yet the greatest art, ingenuity, and excellence did the Byzan- tine Greeks display in their fortifications, and the artillery or engines by which they were defended. It was the terrible Greek fire — to vypbv Trip — the invention of the Syrian engi- neer, Kallinikos, which in 668, and 718, had saved Constanti- nople, during the sieges of the fanatic Saracens. This naphtha, or liquid bitvunen, a light, tenacious, and inflammable oil, mingled with sulphur and pitch, they launched through iron tubes, from the Avails or ships, with the most destructive ef- fect, on the works or shipping of the terrified enemy. That invention has perished with the middle ages, but we still ad- mire at the present day tlie solid and magnificent walls, tow- ers, sally-gates and subterraneous passages, aqueducts, and cis- terns, reared on hundreds of columns, in Constantinople, An- tioch, and many other places. 263. Military Division of the Provinces and Fron- tiers OF the Empire. — The changes which the Byzantine government had undergone since the times of Justinian, ren- dered a new provincial division necessary ; and we find in the tenth century the empire divided into twenty-nine districts, themes — ©e/xara — with regard to administration and military defence. The exact period when the ancient Roman prasfec- tures and provinces were superseded hj the themes, is not known ; yet it appears certain that these existed in part already in the seventh century, during the reign of Heraelius (610- 641). The emperor Constantino VII., Porphyrogenitus (914- 959), an author like his father, Leo VI. Philosophus (886- 911), describes that institution as having already long existed, and undergone several changes, before his own times. Every theme was governed by a strategos, who held the civil govern- ment and the command of the troops in the district somewhat similar to that of an ancient Roman proconsul, though placed in a smaller province. He enjoyed the first rank in the seven classes of the Byzantine court-dignitaries, and was assisted in his functions by subordinate officers, such as the border-wardens — KXcuTovpapxo-t — the commanders of the cavalry — IXapxai — Tovpf^dpxo-L, and many others. Every theme contributed to the defence by a national guard, by contributions of horses, arms, and provisions for the imperial army. We shall now give a short description of the themes, in the order in which we find them mentioned by the emperor.*" ^^ In spite of all the show and glitter of tlieir armies, the Greeks enjoyed but little credit with the knights of western Europe. The envoy of Otho the Great, Bishop Luitprand, of Cremona, who has left us an interesting description of his embassy to the Court of Nicepho- rus Phoeas, says : " that tlie emperor was surrounded by dastard syco- phants and parasites ; that the whole city floated in voluptuousness ; that the strength of the imperial government rested on the battle- axes of the Northmen of the body-guard ; for I firmly believe," says the lively Bishop-Envoy, " that four hundred German knights, in the open field, would put the Avhole Greek army completely to flight." ^^ During the reign of Leo VI., the Byzantine fleet consisted of 60 dromones, each manned hj 230 rowers and "70 warriors. ^'^ Constantini Porphyrogeniti de thematibus et de admintstrando imperia liber, forms tlie 3d volume in the Bonn edition of the Byzan- tine historians. 1840. See interesting details by John W. Zinkeisen, in his excellent "Gesehichte Griechenlands," Leipzig, 1832, vol. i. p. '791- 803 — the best work liitherto published on Mediaeval Greece, though un- happily still uuf:iUo!;ed. 72 FIFTH PERIOD.— THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. A Themes of the Byzantine Empire in Asia Minor. 2G4. I. TiiEMA Anatolicum — ©e/xa 'AvttToAiKw — embraced a portion of the ancient Lycaonia, Phrjgia, Galatia, and Pisidia, north of Mount Taurus. Iconium was perhaps the metropolis ; other cities were the Phrygian Antiocit, Sijnnada, and Fcssinus.^^ II. Thema Armeniacum — ©e'/Att 'Ap/x€KtaKoV — north of the former, on the shores of the Pontus Euxinus, comprised part of the ancient Paphhxgonia, Grah\tia, and Pontus, with the cities Amasia, Neokaisareia, and SinojK. The emperors, in their vanity, gave this district 'the name of Armenian, at a time when the important border-province of the industri- ous and commercial Armenian Christians had been lost to the Saracens. III. Thema Thracesiorum — ©e/^a ©paKrjo-tW — west of Anatolikon, consisted of the interior parts of Caria, Lydia, and Phrygia, on the rivers Maiandros, Hermos, and Kaikos, with the well-known cities of Sajrleis, Phi/adc/jjhia, Aphradisias, Alabanda, Th-i/atira, Kolossai (Chonai), and irtOf^iZ-eia. This district received its name from the Thraciau legion quartered there. Thracian colonies were likewise settled in the interior. IV. Thema Obsequium — 0e'/>ia 'O^Cklov — north of the former, took its naiue from the household officers or satellites, who surrovmded the emperor. It extended from the Dasky- laion promontory on the Propontis, eastward to the Sangarios, and south to Mounts Diudymon and Ida, thus embracing por- tions of ancient Troy, Mysia, Phrygia, and Bithynia. It was one of the richest and best cultivated provinces of the east, with ten flourishing cities. Nikaia was the metropolis ; Dory- laion, Midaion, Apameia, Myrleia, Prusa, DragotJia, Kydis- sos, and Apollonia. After the defeat of the Bulgarians in 971, John Tzimisces transported large bodies of that people into Asia Minor, where they settled in the valley of Rhyndakos, near Kotyaion (Kutayah). 265. V. Thema Optimatum — ©e/xa 'O-n-TLfjiaTov — north of the former, is the ancient Bithynia, was governed by an officer called domcstikos, who commanded a select body of Palatine troops — LKavdroi. Nikomedia was the metropolis : Uelenopo- lis, Astakos, and Parthenojwlis. Justinian had built a mag- nificent bridge across the Sangarios. VI. Thema Bucellariorum — ©e/xa BovKeA,A.apiW — received its curious name from the sutlers — /SovKeXXdpLOi — of the Greek army, who furnished the soldiers with bread and provisions {/3ovKe\\oL) during their campaigns. It was formed of the northern part of Bithynia and the western portion of Gralatia, and extended to the river Halys. The metropolis was An- kyra; with Herakleia and Teo7t on the Pontus, Klatidio2)oHs and Krateia in the interior. VII. Thema Paphlagonum — ©c'/xa na(/)A.ayoFOJi/ — the an- cient province of that name^ along the shores of the Black Sea, between the rivers Billakos and Halys. The Paphlago- nians, like the Cappadocians and Cilicians, had a very bad reputation as scamps and charlatans. The metropolis was G-angra (Germanikopolis), on the mountains in the interior. Sora, Dalibra, Jonopolis, Pompeio'polis, and Amastra, Avere other cities on the sea-coast. 266. VIII. Thema CHALni.E— ®e/xa XaA.8tas — east of the Armenian thema, the ancient Pontus, all along the sea ; it ex- tended southeast to the upper valley of the Euphrates. Tra- PEZUS (Trebizond), was the metropolis ; the Greek colonies on the coast were still commercial and flourishing. Theodosiopo- Hs (Erzerum), on the western branch of the Euphrates, near the frontiers of Great Armenia. " We follow hero the Greek orthography. IX. Thema Mesopotami-e — ©e/xaMecroTrora/y.ias — the ancient Armenia Quarta, and the northwestern part of Sophene, lay south of Chaldia, and extended beyond the Euphrates. It was a small border province, which had been surrendered by the Ar- menian chief, Pangkratukas, and his brothers, together with their castles, to Leo VI., Philosophus. The emperor gave it the organization of a theme, and sent a strategos with troops for the defence of the defile — Kkucrovpa — on the headspring of the Tigris, leading into the Saracenic province of Mesopotamia. The cities were Kitharizon on the eastern Euphrates, Roma- no'polis, Asramosata, Mazara, and Kolchis. X. Thema Colonic — ©e/xa KoXcovetas — northwest of the former, on the table-lands of Armenia, took its name from the strong fortress Koloneia, situated on a precipitous rock on the up- per Lykos. Neokaisareia, on the lower Lykos, was the metropo- lis, and the birth-place of Gregorius, the great tJiaumatiirgos^ or miracle- worker. Tephrikc — Te<^pu' igton, in Galloway. 286. Cities, Castles, and Historical Sites. — Stirling, in the plain of Carse, ou the Forth, at the western extremity of a high precipitous rock, crowned by the celebrated Stirling Castle, became an important town from its central situation, its strong- fortress, and its commanding the passage over the Forth. The Scottish kings therefore often chose it for their residence, and it was the scene of several of the most thrilling events in the history of Scotland. The view from the battlements of Stir- ling Castle, is, in point of extent, variety, and magnificence, unequalled by any other in Britain. Edin or Edivynes- burgh"''' (Edinburgh) was still a small unimportant borough. The first parliament was held there by Alexander II., in 1215, and it did not become the permanent capital of the kingdom until 1456. JPert/t, on the Tay, was, like Stirling, the royal residence in the earlier times, and the seat of a considerable trade, which the burgesses carried on in their own vessels with Flanders, and the Hanse towns on the Baltic. Fanum Sancti Reguli — Sand. Andreas (St. Andrews) was built by Saint Bule, a Greek missionary from Patrae in Peloponnesus, on a lofty cliff on the coast of Fife, the archiepiscopal see for eastern Scotland, with magnificent churches and monasteries. Glascua, (Glasgow), on the Clyde, early a populous and flour- ishing city, was the archiepiscopal see for western Scotland. Its jurisdiction and revenues extended over the counties of Lanark, Renfrew, Dumbarton, Ayr, Dumfries, Galloivay, and the western Highlands. Melrose Abbey, on the Tweed, was founded by King David I. in 1136, and richly endowed with lands and privileges ; it became one of the most magnificent monasteries of Scotland, though much exposed to the border forays of the English, and burnt down by Edward II. in 1316. Its beautiful ruins, in the purest Gothic style of architecture, still attract the . traveller, not less than the neighboring Ab- botsford, the late residence of the great Scottish novelist. Berwyc (Berwick), on the Tweed, the bulwark of the border, often captured by the English and retaken by the Scots, was frequently the residence of the Scottish kings, in times of aan- ger. Celebrated border-castles and strongholds of the Scot- tish moss-troopers during this and the following period were : Roxburgh and Jedburgh, ou the Teviot ; Seafort, Fernihurst and Eggerst.aine castles on the Cheviot hills ; Branzholm and Buccleuch, in strong positions, in the upper Teviot-dale ; Langholm and Arkinkolm, protecting the Eskdale ; Hoddom Castle in Annandale, and Dumfries in Niddesdale, The manners of the Scots continued barbarous. They had few enjoyments of life. David I. collected the hitherto un- written laws into a regular code, called Regiam Majestatem, from the initial words of the text. Many regulations regard- ing marriage and the wehrgeld, or compensation for man- '"'^ This name appears for the first time in the Charter of Founda- tion by King David I., given to the Abbey of Holyi-ood House in 1128, in wliieh lie calls the city "Burgum meum de Edwinesburgh." slaughter (called cro in the ancient Scottish dialect), were sav- age. King David placed the cities under a particular law ; the royal officers, the morlairs, or mayors, had the rank and influence of the counts in the states of the continent ; they were called thanes, and held the hereditary jurisdiction in their thanedoms ; later, they adopted the English title of barons and viscounts. The ruling dynasty became extinct in 1288, with Alexander III. His only sou had died, and he nominated his niece, Margareth of Norway, Queen of Scotland with the con- sent of the States. Her death during the passage in 1291, brought on that contention about the succession between the many pretenders to the crown, which forwarded the ambitious views of King Edward I. of England, and the victorious reign of Robert Bruce in our next period. III. Kingdom of England. 287. The Danish Conquest. — Far more important are the political and social changes in England since our last visit to that island during the reign of King Edgar (221). The great j3Elfred had vanquished the Northumbrian Danes, and secured the tranquillity of the country; and the permanent set- tlement of the Northmen in Neustria (France) in 912, gave a happy respite of nearly a century to the Anglo-Saxons in Eng- land. That fertile country was then flourishing like a garden. Yet the Saxons, nobles and commoners, living retired on their estates and farms, neglected the military institutions of .iElfred, and gave themselves up to the peaceful occupations of agriculture, and the rearing of cattle on a larger scale ; and thus the Danes, on the renewal of their invasions toward the close of the tenth century, found no armed opposition ; but every where plenty of provisions, and herds of excellent steeds, with which those indefatigable warriors, as skilful horsemen upon the land, as daring sailors on the sea, rapidly organized their cavalry, and scoured the country in every direction. They took possession of Northumberland, Mercia, and East Anglia ; and so sadly had the military spirit sunk among the Anglo- Saxon kings, that, instead of gathering the strength of the na- tion for defence, they now raised the oppressive tribute called Dana-gelt, to satisfy the rapacity of the invaders. The Wat- linga street (221) became again the frontier-line between the two hostile nationalities. Yet the Danish sea-kings had left the coast with their fleets under the treaty with King -ffithelred II. the Unready, in 996 ; and only small bands of northern warriors were settled in the ceded districts on the east. Many of the Yarls lived there as guests on the estates of the English thanes, when suddenly, on the morning of Saint Brice's Day, the 13th of November, 1002, the whole Anglo-Saxon people rose in arms against their unsuspecting enemies. The dastard j3iithelred had plotted a general massacre of the Danes ; the most ruthless crimes were perpetrated all over the island by a nation professing Christian faith and integrity. Taken by sur- prise, the Danish Yarls and warriors, their families, merchants, young and old, men and women, were cowardly assaulted by the multitude of revengeful Saxons, and put to the sword, after the most heroical defence. No place of refuge proved then a sanctuary to the doomed Danes. Thousands perished; the Princess Gunhilde, sister to King Sweud Fork-Beard, was dragged into the square and beheaded, with her whole family. In the awful moment of the execution the courageous lady ex- claimed, in prophetic spirit, " that the slaughter of her chil- dren would cost the heart-blood of all England;" and her word proved true. The most terrible revenge was taken by her brother ; for fourteen years England was desolated by King Swend, and his moi-e celebrated son Kriud (Canute), who, at, last, in 1016, after the total defeat of the Saxons at Assington, made a treaty with the brave, but unhappy Prince Eadmund Ironside, according to which the kingdom was divi- u SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. ENGLAND. ded between them. Wessex, East Anglia, Essex, including London, remained to Eadmund, while King Knud obtained Blercia, and all the north. The sovereignty was preserved to the Saxon. But after the murder of King Eadmund by the traitor Eadric, Knud of Denmark was acknowledged supreme kino- of all England. The Danish dynasty ruled the island for twenty-six years ; and on the death of King Hardiknud, in 1042 Edward the Confessor occupied the throne of his fore- fathers. Knud divided England into four large provinces : Wessex he reserved for his own rule ; Mercia, East-Anglia, and Northumberland, were awarded to his chiefs. He was a man of great talent, benevolence, and justice, who speedily took the proper measures for healing the wounds of the bloody war. The people became soon reconciled to the new master, and felt more happy under the equitable and energetic rule of the Dane, than they had been under their native sovereigns. Knud undertook no change in the old Saxon constitution ; and his splendid army of regular household troops^the celebrated hicus-karle — brilliantly equipped in gilt armor, and mounted on magnificent _ steeds, somewhat in the style of imperial Vceringer, in Constantinople (227, 262), secured the tranquil- lity of the island. 288. Political Institutions of the Anglo-Saxons. — The old Anglo-Saxon kings had sprung from Woden, (Odin), and were originally only .the heretogas or army-leaders (79), who had conquered the island. They were elected by the nobles, but became hereditary cynings (kings), though the succes- sion sometimes passed to the brothers of the deceased king, to the exclusion of his sons. The powers of the German princes were limited ; yet they gradually gained authority, being strongly supported by the Roman clergy, who always secured the influence to their church through that of the mon- arch. The manners of the Saxon court were extremely plain ; the cyning was surrounded by his folgoth — gefolge — or train of military retainers. The bower thane (chamberlain) was at the same time hordere (royal treasurer). The next officer of rank was the disc-thegn, who presented the plates at the royal board, and the 'niund-skenk (cup-bearer), who filled the drink- ing-horn. The stallere or horse-thegn was often both marshal and banner-bearer. The aethlings or nobles (79) consisted of the descendants of the old sea-kings, among whom the lands had been distributed with military tenure. The provinces were governed by an earl or yarl, as in Denmark. The eal- dorman was the judge and count or military commander of the county. His office was not hereditary ; he received his horse and ai-mor from the king as his sworn officer, and they were sent back to the king on his death. The inferior nobles were the thanes or knights, who served in mail-armor on horse- back ; they were distinguished from the simple freeman, and possessed estates of from four to forty hides of land ; they were thus the predecessors of the Norman barons after the conquest in 1066. The squires, or half- freemen of the thanes were called drenge (boys) in Danish, but had in Anglo-Saxon the unpleas- ant, though still harmless name of knaves. These drenge or shield boys were bound to render military sei'vice to the pro- prietors of the chief manors ; they were much employed as border-wardens on the Welsh and Scottish frontiers. The sim- ple freeman was called ceorl (churl, villain), or frigman when living in the country ; and burghess when established as a me- chanic or tradesman in a town. The last class were the serfs, called thieves, whose forefathers had been British prisoners of war, or who themselves had lost their liberty as criminals. They were few, however, for we find not more than twenty-five thousand thieves in England at the time of the Norman con- quest. The poor serfs were better treated by the Anglo-Sax- ons, than the similar class, the tralle, in Denmark ; for they had their special ivehr-geld for their protection. The annual assembly of the " wise and wealthy men," or Witena-gemot, consisted of the great vassals from Wales and Cumberland, the numerous clergy, the earls, the kings' thanes possessing forty hides of land, and the chosen citizens from London called lith-men. The smaller thanes, the knaves and churls, and the whole mass of the nation, were not called to the diet — yet they crowded the doors and the lower end of the hall ; they filled the environs with their miiltitude ; and though they had no vote, they still expressed effectively the public ojnnion. Thej' too had their influence, and often was the crowned king, with his mitred prelates and high-capped earls, obliged to shape his counsel or conform his sentence according to the roaring shouts of applause or disapproval from the Anglo-Saxon masses out- side. Woman had in England as high a standing as in Den- mark, though the Saxon women did not appear with shield and lance like their sisters — the shield-maidens — from the Baltic (194). The petty kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, Essex, Surrey, Anglia, and the conquered Welsh and Cambrian districts, were early formed into scirs or shires (counties) and h.undreds, similar to the syssels and herreds of Denmark (222). Alfred reduced them to an equal portion in extent, mostly correspond- ing to the ecclesiastical division. The executive officer of the ealdorman and the count was the scir-gercfa or sheriff; he likewise levied taxes and contributions. The Saxon laws were mild ; the high administration of justice was lodged with the king and the Witena-gemot ; the former was continually jour- neying through the country to compose differences among the quarrelsome warriors and thanes. In the cities guilds were constituted for mutual protection. Several portions of Eng- land, such as Norfolk, Suffolk, and Ely, were beautifully cul- tivated.'"^ Anglo-Saxon commerce extended to France, Flan- ders, and the North ; the English vessels visited Iceland on account of the whale-fishing. Saxon merchants travelled to Italy ; the staple commodity of England was wool, which was exported to Flanders and Germany. The rich and happy farmer lived retired on his estate, surrounded by his gcbi/rs or peasants, his flocks and cattle, when the clangor of the Nor- man trumpets on the battle-field of Hastings, proclaimed the impending change in the political and social relations of England. 289. Interesting Cities and Historical Places. — Lun den wye (London) and SoiitJiwark extended already on the banks of the Thames, and were united by the famous old wooden bridge, the scene of so many a skirmish during the Danish war. The city was strongly fortified by walls and towers, erected on the ancient Roman founda»iions, and the Fleet-ditch filled the moat. Above the low-timbered houses of merchants and mechanics rose still, here and there, the huge remains of Roman aqueducts and temples, and the rude, spire less churches of St. Paul, Saint Martin-le-Grand, and many others. High-walled, gloomy monasteries and nunneries were located in evei'y ward of the town. The Toiver of Constan- tino, on the east, was still standing ; while another castle (now Temple-bar) protected the mouth of the Fleet-ditch on the west. The roofs of the dwellings were thatched and reeded; the windows had no glass panes, but were closed by linen blinds. The streets were unpaved and muddy. Large squares opened in the interior, planted with clusters of trees, and di- vided by low palisades, where the motley and picturesque crowds of skin-clad Scandinavians, turbaned and caftaned Sara- cens, Lombard bankers in silken gowns, tight-dressed Germans, mail-clad Normans, and eagle-eyed and eagle-beaked Jews in ™ Gardening occurs among the occupations of the Anglo-Saxons. Like the Danes, they called a garden ort-geard, in Danish urte-gaard or hei'b-court. that is, orchard. Vineyards were flourishing iu Glouces- tershire and other southern counties ; they were attached to every monastic establishment. SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. ENGLAND. 85 flowing oriental drapery — all jostling one another — all intent upon business and traffic, already began to foreshadow the fu- ture mart of the world's commerce. West of the city, on the Thames, rose the huge cathedral of Westminster, built in the Saxon style by Edward the Confessor ; beautiful vineyards covered Holborn hill and Smithfields ; and the monks were not only remarkably expert in woi'kiug their vine-gardens, but they even knew how to season their sour harvest with pigment, honey, and odoriferous spices, and they thus produced a very palatable beverage. The most interesting place in " Old Lun- nen " was the guild-hall, where the burgesses and the neigh- boring thanes and knights, under the presidence of their eal- dormen, formed their brotherhood — \he guild-brothers — who in those lawless times gave full security to the lives and property of that industrious and enterprising corporation. The London burgesses ruled there like sovereigns, and were exempted from the jurisdiction of the king's gerefas or palatine counts. The jolly guild-brothers, with their broadswords at the baldric, assembled in their hall to feast, to receive their foreign gxiests, to form their funeral processions, and to discuss the measures for the conservation of peace and order among the members.'"^ — Otford, in Kent, where King Eadmund Ironside vanquished Canute in a pitched battle, and might have destroyed the Danish army but for the treachery of Eadric, who by his wiles induced the victor to desist from the pursuit of the retiring enemy. — Sceorstane (Sherston), in Wiltshire, where, the year before the former battle, 1013, Eadric already by his treachery had occasioned the defeat of Edmund and the Anglo-Saxon army. In the heat of the struggle, when the Danes began to give way, the yarl struck off the head of one of his own men, who in features and complexion bore resemblance to King Ead- mund, and lifting it on his lance in sight of his warriors, called aloud that the king had fallen, and that they were to save their lives by speedy flight. — Assandiin (Assingdon), on the Sture, in Essex, was the battle-fleld of that last great conflict between Canute and Eadmund, where the Saxons stood their ground till sundown, and continued fighting even by moonlight, when they, at last, were surrounded by the Danes and dispersed in all directions. — Ohiey, a small island in the Severn, where the two kings met after the battle of Assingdon, in 1016, and divided the country between them ; — Shaftesbury, in Dorsetshire, where King Canute died, in 1035 ; and Wiitchcster, eastward, in Hampshire, whei-e his body was deposited in the burial-vault of the West-Saxon kings ; — Stamford-Bridge, on the Dervent, east of York, the place where Harold Godwinson, the last Saxon king, vanquished in battle his rebellious brother Tostig and King Harald Haardraade of Norway ; who both perished by the sword in 1066, eight days before the battle at Hastings; — Senlac, near Hastings, in Sussex, on the southern coast. There, on the hilly ridge of Battle, where in later times stood the Battle-Abbey, took place the most sanguinary and eventful struggle in British history, on the 16th October, 1066, in which Harold Godwinson and the flower of the Anglo-Saxon chiefs and warriors perished, and William the Conqueror and his Norman knights with one blow overthrew the Anglo-Saxon kingdom. 290. Acquisitions of the Saxon and Danish Kings, from Eadgar to William of Normandy. — King Eadgar (959-975) had already armed large fleets, with which he reduced the Danish sea-kings in Ireland by the conquest of Dublin (219). The Britons were driven out of Cumberland and Strath- Clyde, and both provinces became Scottish principalities under English suzerainty (103). Eadgar granted King Kenneth of '"* London had then likewise a chief municipal tribunal from the times of King Canute, which was called with a Danish name, huus-thing, or jury-assembly of sworn citizens ; from this is derived our modern hustings. Scotland the enfeofl'ment of Lothian, which afterwards led to the permanent incorporation of the Scoto-Saxon Lowlands with the Scoto-Gaelic kingdom. Edin (Edinburgh) had already been evacuated by the Saxons, and fallen into the possession of the Scottish king Ingulf. Canute not only received the hom- age of the Welsh princes, but he undertook in his old age a successful campaign into Scotland, and brought speedily King Malcolm and the petty dynasts, Mselbathe (Macbeth) and Jeh- marc, under his sovereign authority. Edward the Confessor maintained his dignity in the north by the heavy sword of Earl Siward of Northumberland; and Harold Godwinson gained his knightly spurs in his brilliant battles against the Welsh invaders of the Saxon plains. In 1063 he subdued North Wales ; Griffith, the native prince, fell, and every Welshman who appeared in arms on the east border of Offah Trench was to be punished with the loss of his sword-hand. William of Normandy left the Scottish king in possession of Cumberland, but he built the strong fortress of Carlisle, on the Eden, as a testimony of his supremacy. The Welsh had, however, during the Norman war thrown off the yoke, and remained armed and independent behind the bulwark of their mountains. 291. The Norman Conquest, and Political Reform. — While the other Germanic nations of continental Europe ad- vanced with giant steps toward a higher civilization, the Anglo-Saxon people had remained stationary. England, with her weak, priest-ridden kings, her indolent and wrangling wit- tan-gemote, her mass-singing monks and bluff-faced aethlings, had abolished the military institutions of Canute the Dane, without substituting any national defence, even against the light-footed mountaineers of Wales, who, in spite of the heroic exertions of Harold Godwinson, from their western strongholds, ravaged the cultivated fields of the Saxons. A peaceful, reli- gious king and a cattle-breeding nation, without army, fleets, or fortresses, were for thirty years witnessing the astounding activ- ity of their warlike neighbors, the Normans, beyond the Chan- nel. Edward the Confessor died in 1042, leaving the contested succession to the brave and talented Harold Godwinson ; who, however, was unable to stem the torrent of events. The battle of Hastings decided the downfall of the old Saxon kingdom, by the destruction of thousands and the misery of millions of good-natured Saxons beneath the sword of the foreign invader. For their time had passed, and a new era, of Norman superi- ority in politics, ideas, arms, and civilization had sprung up. Young nations, brilliant with vigor and enterprise, are always irresistible. So were in antiquity the Greeks, so the Romans — so is in our own day the young American republic; though the influence of religion and civilization always will decide the character and the means by which the sweeping dominion is exerted. — The Normans had long ago burnt their piratical dragon-ships (236) ; they had mounted their war-steeds, and, for the first time, they now brandished the lance of chivalry. That institution had sprung from the spirit of the age ; it was hailed with enthusiasm by all the Germanic races of Europe. But it was still juvenile and inexperienced — it had not yet gained its golden spurs ; — it was on the gory battle-field of Hastings, among heaps of slaughtered thanes and aethlings, knaves and churls, who with the ponderous battle-axe of bar- barism made the vain attempt to stay the rush of time — it was there that chivalry was dubbed, strengthened, and consolidated, by the foundation of feudality in its severest forms in conquered England. The fall of King Harold, the dispersion of the dismayed Anglo-Saxons, and the surrender of London, at once secured the conquest of England. William of Normandy was the man for so great an undertaking ; he was as prudent a statesman as he was a bold and successful warrior. Though he flattered the English, he riveted their chains by the introduction of the feu- SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. ENGLAND— DENMARK. dal military system of Normandy. He undertook no change in the internal division of the country ; the sldres and their hundreds, the dioceses of the church, and the general adminis- tration of the cities, remained Anglo-Saxon, as they had been under the Danish and Saxon kings. But he distributed do- mains, castles, villages, and even entire towns to his Norman bar- ons and knights, Avhile their vassals were again rewarded with smaller portions. Towers and fortified castles arose in every direction. To overawe the city of London, the conqueror took up his abode in the Tower, which he enlarged and strength- ened. Here he raised his dreaded banner, bearing the three lions ; and similar menacing ensigns floated over several new castles on the west of the capital In the organization of his gov- ernment, and, as his power depended on the sword alone, all grants and fiefs awarded to laymen and ecclesiastics were burdened with the condition of furnishing, whenever required, a certain number of horsemen, completely armed ; and by this regula- tion, called KnigJds^ service, the king was enabled to raise, in a brief space, an army of sixty thousand cavalry. The tenants of the crown exacted a similar and proportional service from their dependents, and thus the feudal chain was linked, and held the whole system together. The count or governor of the province stood next in rank to the king ; then followed the vis- count, the baron, the knight, the squire, and the sergeant-at- arms, — all considered as nobles, and each one of them by his feudal estate dependent on his immediate liege-lord, whose ban- ner or summons he followed. A general survey, terrier^ or rent-roll, was made of all territory in England, as far north as the province of York, the particulars of which were inserted in the great roll of Winchester, by the Saxons called the book of the last judgment — the celebrated Doomsday- Book — per- haf)S because it contained their irrevocable sentence of ex-pro- priation. From this minute document we learn that seven hundred large estates were awarded to the leaders of the Nor- man army, the Barons ; their estates were again subdivided into sixtj? thousand two hundred and fifteen mesne-Jiefs, held by their valvasors (vavasors) with military tenure ; of these, no less than twenty-eight thousand and fifteen belonged to the church. The smaller and less important estates were, by spe- cial favor, left in the possession of the Saxons ; and few were those who continued to be free proprietors, or tenants-in-cldef, ranging directly under the crown. All the rest of the dis- persed Saxons were found only in the lowest rank. Some names of Anglo-Saxon extraction belonged to farmers settled on the domains of Norman barons, knights, or servants-at- arms.'"'^ Thus William the Conqueror commanded the service ""^ By this cruel acid arbitrary decree, the entire body of the Nor- man conquerors, though scattered and distributed over the vast territo- ry of the vanquished Saxons, remained still united by the link of duty and military discipline, and, as it were, marshalled in the same battle- array as on the field of Hastings. The subaltern warrior owed faith and service to his military superior ; and the knight who held lands from the Ijaron was bound to vault into the saddle at his summons. But this singular division did not stop here ; the kuight himself gave a por- tion of his tenure to his squires, and these again to their servants-at- avms (sergeants), the lowest order of horsemen ; nay, even to their valets, or grooms, who attended to the baggage, or served on foot as light infantry and bowmen. The rank of the king's vassals, in the lan^uao-e of the times, ran : duke, count, viscount, baron, chevalier, esquire, ser- geant and valet. "William the Conqueror himself stood as Duke of Nor- mandy immediately under the crown of France, but in England he was a sovereign prince by the sword. During a period of war and spolia- tion, the most extraordinary fluctuations would necessarily take place in rank and fortune. Talents and bravery, or the chances of war, would carry the warrior rapidly from the lowest grade to the highest. Many a poor adventui'er, who crossed the channel in his quilted cassock, with a bow in his hand, would afterwards appear to his countrymen, who came over after hire, mounted on his war-steed, and brandishing the knightly lance. Nay, this system of obedience served even to control the haughty bearing of the churchmen themselves, because they likewise held their of a large feudal army at its own expense ; but he, like Charle- magne, knew the advantage of having bodies of household troops of his own (167), in whom he might put greater trust, and of whose services he could permanently dispose. By the al- lurement of high pay, William therefore gathered adventurous warriors from every part of France, Flanders, and Brittany, even from Germany and Spain, under his lion-banner ; and he quartered them upon the poor suffering Saxons, according to the proportion of their possessions. With an army so com- pletely organized, William was enabled to crush every attempt at insurrection among the down-trodden English, and he could even venture to punish any encroachment of his own arrogant chiefs from Normandy. Many of the latter, supposing them- selves ill-rewarded for their services, fled to Scotland, where we have seen them well received, and afterwards forming together with the English exiles, the body of the vigilant Scottish moss- troopers, or border wardens (284). The spoliation and taxation inflicted on the towns and bor- oughs was as great as that put upon the Saxon thanes, and other landed proprietors ; and it is only in the next period, during the crusades, that we can discover the slow development and final emancipation of the cities. A large tract of country, extending for thirty miles, between Salisbury in Wiltshire and the sea, was laid waste, and converted into wood by the con- queror. This was the nova forcsta, or new forest, which did not only serve as a royal chase, but had the special object of insuring the Norman recruits a safe place of disembarkation on their arrival on the coast of England from the continent, where no Saxon enemy could molest them. William secured his northern frontiers by fortifying the cities of Newcastle and Carlisle ; but he was too much occupied in England and Nor- mandy to molest the Welsh behind their mountains. Having thus laid the sound foundation of his dominion in England, Wil- liam died in 1087, and his successors, William Rufus, Henry I., and Stephen of Blois, ruled England and Normandy until the year 1154, when the Plantagenet dynasty (1 154-1272) mount- ed the throne with Henry II. No' remarkable geographical changes took place during this period, until the marriage of Eleanor of Poitiers with Henry the Second at once transferred the finest provinces of France to the crown of England, and gave rise to those pretensions which for three centuries kept the two rival nations in almost continual hostility towards each other. IV. Kingdom of Denmark. 292. Dynasties, Constitution and Manners. — We are now approaching the most brilliant period in the medieval his- tory of Denmark. The union of the mainland of Jutland, the islands, and Skaane (222) under the sceptre of King Gorm the Old, in 883, and the introduction of Christianity under his son, Harald Bluetooth, were auspicious events, which, during the reign of King Knud the Great, caused a remarkable change in the ideas, manners, and institutions of the warlike Danish nation. Knud, while occupied in conquering England and Norway, gave his most zealous encouragement to the pro- pagation of the Christian faith at home, and it soon supplanted the ancient superstition. One half of the nation had still ad- hered to the worshij) of Odin, but churches and monasteries were then erected, and filled with English and German priests and monks. Knud himself went to Rome in 1027, and was magnificently received both by the German Emperor and the Pope. Piracy had ceased with the more regular expeditions to England ; the Northmen began to turn their attention to agriculture and the arts of peace. Knud introduced a certain splendor into his court and army, and the comforts of civilized estates with military tenure, which would be forfeited if they refused to send their vassals to the army. SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. DENMARK. 87 life penetrated from the south into the north, among the still rude Scandinavians. The Danes excelled in shipbuilding; their war-ships, or dragons, brilliantly painted and gilded, an- swered the double purpose of swift-sailing vessels and tower- ing fortresses. For the purpose of organizing the naval force of the kingdom, all the coasts of the islands were divided into districts, each of which furnished a certain number of ships, that were manned by maritime conscription. Yet the conquests of that period were of no lasting advantage to Denmark ; the extensive dominions of Knud the Great were, on his death, in 1035, partitioned among his sons. The crown of Norway was soon lost to the brave Magnus the Good, the son of Saint Olaf England, after the short reigns of his sons Harald Harefod (light-footed), and Horda-Knud, fell back to Edward the Confessor, of the old Saxon dynasty of iEthelred, while the national diet in Denmark elected Svend Estridson, son of a sister of Knud, whose dynasty, under many vicissitudes and civil wars, occupied the Danish throne from 1035 to 1412. The ancient sea-kings and rovers had now become Jarls, or governors, and Hlrdmcend, or royal court-officers, who, although without any hereditary rights, began to form an aspiring aris- tocracy. The clergy, too, exerted that powerful influence, which later developed itself in a truly hierarchical despotism. They supported the royal authority under the unstable and quarrelling sons of Svend Estridson, whose powers were yet very limited. All public transactions were decided at the gen- eral or provincial diets — Rigsnwder or Landsthing — held in different parts of the kingdom. These numerous assemblies consisted of the clergy, the Hirdmjend, and the free landhold- ers, or Bonder (222) — a fine, independent class of men, who, with shield and broadsword, or battle-axe, surrounded the throne. The king presided, and the mass of the free popula- tion, by acclamation, resolved on peace or war, on taxes, and other leading questions of legislation and executive power. Thus we distinctly perceive that the German and Norman- French feudal system, with its crested barons, prancing on their barbed coursers, and disdainfully looking down on the Bonder, whom they had reduced to villains and serfs, that pernicious change in the institutions of Central Europe, did not extend to Denmark before the middle of the twelfth centu- ry, after the feudal chains had been riveted for more than a century over every other part of Western Europe ; nor did it ever advance farther north than Sweden, and it never got a firm footmg on the rock-bound coast of Norway (223). The first written laws of Denmark were the celebrated Vitlierlags-Ret, by Knud, given to the Huuskarle of his regular army. The old laws and obseiwances of Skaane were collected and published in the beginning of the thirteenth century ; those of Sealand and Jutland appeared under King Waldemar II. ; the latter on the diet of Vordingborg in 1244. Several parts of Denmark, such as Skaane, Sealand, and Fyen, were highly cultivated. Mechanics and artists were called in from Germany ; young- Danes already visited the newly established universities of Italy and France. The Guild, or Brotherhood of Roesliilde, secured the coasts against the Vendish pirates ; that of Schles- wig served as a model for those later granted to the rising cities of Jutland and the islands. Commerce was flourishing in the earlier period ; but during the civil wars of King Niels and his successors, the neglect of the naval establishments permitted the Vendish pirates to annihilate the commerce of Denmark, and to desolate its coasts. Yet the chivalrous race of the Waldemars (1157-1243) soon stimulated the nation to the greatest exertions ; and, carrying the banner of the Cross — the Banebrog — victoriously to Vendland, raised the Danish nation to the highest pitch of conquest and prosperity."-"' '"'' During this period the Danish kings began to exact toll of the foreign ships which passed through OEresund, or the Sound, into the 293. Extent, Provinces, and Cities. — In the middle of the twelfth century, Denmark extended from the frontiers of Smaa- land, in Sweden, across the islands to the river Eider, which sep- arated it from Germany. It embraced a surface of nearly eight thousand square miles, and was inhabited by a more scattered population than at the present day, for it did not amount to a million of souls. I. Skaane, Avith Halland and Bleldnge (222), was separated from Sweden by lakes, and gloomy forests of pine and fir, where roamed the bear and the wolf, and the still fiercer robbers and outlaws, who, having found a refuge in the wilderness, waged a continual border -war similar to that of the moss-riders, on the moors of Scotland (284, 286), or the Spaniards and Saracens on the banks of the Duero (258), though not softened by the romantic and chivalrous manners of the South. Skaane was as distinguished by its splendid beecb-woods, fertile soil, and high cultivation, as by its warlike and industrious inhabitants, the Skaaningers, who, however, from their love of liberty, were always ready to rise in arms, and involve the kingdom in dangerous rebellions. The spirit of the times, the age of church-dominion and crusades, had at last pervaded the North ; more than three hundred church- es, monasteries, and chapels, adorned the hills and valleys of Skaane ; and in Lundegaard, the northern Vatican, close to the magnificent cathedral of Sancti Laurentii, in the city of Lund, sat the proud Archbishop of Denmark, who styled him- self, " by grace of God the prinias and legate of Saint Peter over Denmark and Sweden.''^ Surrounded by his steel-clad vassals and numerous clergy, he vied in splendor and power with royalty itself. Catholic enthtisiasm had at once super- seded the wild fanaticism for Odin and the joys of Valhalla. New towns and villages arose around the sanctuaries of piety and peace. The white-cloaked Cistercians, and the black- hooded Benedictines, built their monasteries on the banks of the lakes ; they opened their schools ; they protected the peas- antry that crowded around them, for the stafi" of the Bishop had now become a more powerful protection than the sword of the Yarl ; nay, the impulse of religion even sought refuge in the depth of the forests, where the solitary bell of the her- mitage assembled the wild hunters, whalers, and fishermen, to the worship of the Virgin. Fodevig, on the western coast, became the celebrated battle-field during the civil wars in 1034, where King Niels was defeated, and his treacherous son Prince Magnus perished, together with sixty-five bishops and prelates, who were found in full armor among the heaps of the slain. II. Sealand (222), with Bornhohn, Laaland, Falster, Mden, and the smaller islands, was then the centre of the kingdom. Roeskilde, the populous and open capital of Denmark, extend- ed through gardens, fields, and hedges, along the shores of the Issefjord. The interior was occupied by the royal castle — Kongsgaard — fortified with moats and towers, and the splen- did cathedral of Sancti Lucii, built in 1084 by Anglo-Saxon architects, in the earlier Gothic style of architecture. In or- der to defend the city against the expeditions of the Vendish pi- rates, it was surrounded by walls and moats in 1151, and pro- tected by the Castle of Haralclsborg, on a promontory in the frith. In the neighboring forest of Haraldsskov, Prince Magnus of Denmark assassinated the noble-minded Knud Lavard, the father of Waldemar I., and first Duke of Schleswig, in 1131 ; and in the royal hall took place the terrific scene of the mur- der of the innocent King Knud V. by his rival, Svend Grathe, which caused the union of all Denmark under the sceptre of Baltic. The origin of this impost is unknown, but it seems that it be- gan to be levied as early as the twelfth century, when the Danes, being masters of both shores, swept the Baltic with their cnisading fleets, and. pi'obably chose this way to declare their pre-eminence. In the fifteenth century their exaction was already considered to rest upon a very an- cient custom. See the Geography of Maltebrun, Book 149. 88 SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1 09G. DENMARK— VENDL AND. the great \yaldeniar I. iu 1157. Sealaud had already seve- ral thriving commercial cities : Krogen, (Elsinore), on the Souud, Kallundborg, Sl.jelsljdr, Wbrdingborg, Ringsted (190), Nestved. Axelhuus, a strong fortress on the Sound, was built in 1168 by Archbishop Axel Absalon, for the protection of the merchants' ships in the Baltic. A small town having rapidly grown up around the fortress, it was called K.TOBMANS Havn, or MercJocmV s Haven, from which, by contraction, Kiobcnhavn (Copenhagen), the later capital of Denmark. Sealand had more than two hundred church- es ; and its wealthy monasteries, Esrom, on the banks of a beautiful lake in the north of the island, Anverskov and Soroe, in the interior, were as celebrated for the elegance of their architecture, as for the learning and piety of the monks. III. Fyen, with Langeland, Taasinge, and its group of smaller islands, was called the garden of the North ; on the sun- ny shores of Svendborg, the monks contrived to rear the vine ; hops and fruit-trees covered the valleys ; splendid forests of beech and oak, the hills ; the Fyenboer were fiery and sensual, like the Italians. The neighboring islands became dreadfully exposed to the incursions of the Vendes, during the civil feuds, and many Sclavonic names on the islands of Falster and Sea- land, such ^s.Korselitze, Kramitze, Herritzc, Kuditze, seem to indicate their permanent settlement there. Odense (222), a handsome, populous city, with the cathedral of Saint Al- ianus. It was here that King Knud IV., while equipping an expedition, in 1086, against William the Conqueror, for the recovery of England, was assailed by the discontented multi- tude, and killed by a stone thrown into the church. By the influence of the clergy, the cruel, but devout king became canon- ized as martyr and saint, and the miracles performed at Saint Knud's shrine raised him to the rank of patron-saint of Denmark. 294. IV. NoRRE Jylland — North Jutland — the home of the Longobards and the Jutes (80, 222), was a dreary region, covered with heath and swamps in the interior ; its western coast was sandy, and its navigation dangerous because, of reefs and shoals ; but the deep friths on the east were smiling in beauty and fertility, and thickly inhabited, while the more open coast on the Kattegat and the Baltic remained deserted from fear of the Vendish pirates. Splendid cathedrals were built at Vibo?g, Aarhzius, Ribe and Borgland, the four dioceses of Jutland, and many a monastery, such as VitcB Schola and Oxholm on the Liimfjord, Asmild and Clara Insida, in the interior, transformed the dreary wilderness into an oasis of cultivation and wealth. V. Syd-Jylland — Sotitli-J'utland, or Duchy of Sleswig (Schleswig). —Z)Mca(!?. inclosures and ditches. Their religion was a kind of Saba- • ism, mixed up with superstitions from the north. They adored the sun, but their principal deity was the horrible monster , Svantevit (188), with four heads turned toward the four quar- V ters , of the world, like the Hindoo Brama. Their priesthood constituted a separate order, of great political influence, and they maintained a splendid worship in the great temple of Arcona. Their peculiar rage was directed against the Danish churches and monasteries, which they every where, during their piratical expeditions, devoted to the flames, ravaging the coasts, and carrying the wretched inhabitants away into slavery. The Vendes themselves excited that enthusiastic crusading spirit among the Danes in the 12th century, which at once swept idolatry and barbarism from the shores of the Baltic. Lu- BECCA (Lubeck) was their capital, which afterwards became an Episcopal see, and a flourishing commercial city. Arcona, on the beautiful island of Rugen, was the central sanctuary of Svantevit, with its priestly palaces, and immense treasures, which were carried in triumph to Denmark. The whole island remained afterward annexed to the Episcopal see of Roeskilde. WoUin (Julin), on the large island Jom (WoUinische Wer- der), at the mouth of the Ode?-, was another large city of the Vendes. On the south-eastern promontory of the island, the Danish Viking Palnatoke,"*' so celebrated in the traditions of the north, had established in 960 the singular Republic of JoMSBORG. Palnatoke built his robber's nest upon the severest model of ancient Spartan discipline ; the virtues of valor and contempt of death were exalted above all other qualities — above the very laws of nature. The endearing ties of love, and the society of woman, were sternly forbidden. Corsairs from every part of the north hurried to Jomsborg to enlist among its in- domitable Vikings. Thus the bravest warriors and the fleetest and best-armed galleys obeyed the command of the pitiless chieftain, and this bold creation of the 10th century con- tinued to flourish, to strengthen itself, and remain the scourge of all the neighboring coasts until the close of the 1 2th century, when it was finally extirpated by King Waldemar I. and his Danish chivalry in the year 1 170."" VI. Kingdom of Norway. 296. Vicissitudes and Constitution. — The most tumultu- ™ Palnatolie is one of the fiercest characters of the heathen Vikings standing on the verge of time when. Christianity began to throw its light into the north. His liistory forms an exact counterpart of that of William Tell in Switzerland. According to Saxo Grammaticus, Palna- toke was ordered, by King Harald Bluetooth, to shoot an apple off liis son's head. The daring archer succeeded under circumstances similar to those of TeU, and afterwards took revenge by shooting King Hai-ald, A. D. 991, while crossing a dense forest in Sealand. Saxo wrote in 1204, and Tell appeared in Helvetia 1307 — a century later; botli events may be true. The Danish story is the subject of CEhlensehteger's magnifi- cent tragedy of Palnatoke. "° The spirit of the times had exerted their influence even on the . Vikings of Jomsborg, which at the period of its final demolition had become a celebrated commercial mart, frequented by the different traders of the Baltic. Its spacious harbor was filled with the ships of every nation in Europe. Danes, Swedes, Saxons, Vendes and Russians had their separate quarters for residence and business. Yet the naval power of the masked pirates was still too dangerous to Denmark, and King Waldemar therefore determined to extirpate this nest of heathen freebooters. On the arrival of the formidable armament, the Joms- borgera became so terrified that they abandoned their capital in despair. Its ramparts and other fortifications were levelled, the greater part of its edifices were laid in ashes ; and from this calamity it never recov- ered, but gradually sunk into the obscure and inconsiderable town of WoUin. 12 ous period of Norway is that from the accession of King Magnus the Good, the son of St. Olaf, in 1035, to the death of Hakon Hakonson and the conquest of Iceland in 1263, — an epoch rich in extraordinary events, which are beautifully recorded in the Heimskringla of Snorro Sturleson, the Icelandic historian, and by his continuators. St. Olaf had in the battle of Stickle- stad in 1030 sealed his faith with his blood (223). His son Magnus the Good succeeded in the final introduction of Chris- tianity, and the Norse soon became as zealous worshippers of the true God as they formerly had been of the false. They likewise took an enthusiastic part in the crusades, both in Spain and Palestine, and their heroical king, Harald Haar- draade, as prince or general of the Scandinavian Varanghians at Constantinople (226, 262), filled the sagas and songs of his time with his renown."' Harald the Stern perished in the battle of Stamford- Bridge, against Harald Godwinson of England, in 1066. His son, Olaf Kyrre (the Pacific), attended to the cultivation and com- fort of the wild mountaineers. He introduced chimneys and glass-windows ; he established a commercial emporium at Bergen, and founded several gtiilds or fraternities of arts and trades, which ultimately, ripened into municipal corporations. He also promulgated laws to facilitate the emancipation of the wretched tralle or serfs, and Q-vGYjfylke or district was obliged to set free annually a certain number of bondsmen. Yet the irregular election of the Norwegian princes, sup- ported by their parties, kindled the most destructive civil wars, which stained the soil with blood, and produced a general demoralization and ferocity of manners at the close of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries, when we remark with satisfaction in other countries a more steady pro- gress toward the higher civilization and humanity of our modern era. The history of the daring and intelligent King Sverre, the natural son of King Sigurd II. (1 136-1 155), who, at the head of the warrior faction of the Birkebener,^^'' after the most astonishing alternations of victory and defeat, was raised to the throne (1186-1202), is in the highest degree ex- citing and romantic. Sverre, with all his cruelty and craft, is well worthy to figure with his illustrious- contemporaries, Fre- derik Barbarossa and Waldemar the Great, and had he acted upon the larger theatres of France, Germany or England, he might have become one of the most renowned monarchs of the middle ages. The wild band who with their swords opened his path to the throne, consisted of the outcasts of the nation ; but by their daring and valor, and the terrible vicissitudes of suf- fering and war, they became ennobled, and transformed into a body of chivalrous and high-minded warriors, well deserving of the love and veneration of the Norwegian nation ; and having thus thrown off the ignominy of the robber, their heroical deeds were immortalized in the songs of the Skjalds.''* Sverre strenuously opposed the encroachments of the Romish Pontiff in his supreme power, even at the risk of a general excommuni- cation: the prelates possessed extravagant privileges; they coin- ed money, and rode surrounded by numerous bodies of men-at- arms. The royal council was composed of the chancellor and treasurer — both prelates, together with the constable, staller, the seneschal, mundskicenk^ who were lay-nobles, and other gran "' See the Saga of King Harald Haardi'aade, by Laing, and the tragedy of CEhlenschlceger : Vceringeme i Myklegard. "^ These fierce warrioi-s were called Birkebener from the hircli hark which they, destitute and miserable as they were, swathed ai'ound their legs. Their opponents, the Baglers, got their nick-nam.e from their heavy clubs, bagle, baculum, "^ See the highly interesting King Sverrers Saga, written by Karl Jansen, abbot of Thingore monastery in Iceland, who visited Norway in 1185, and collected his materials from communications of King Sverrer himself 3d Vol. of Jacob Aal's ti'anslation of Suuno Sturle- son. Christiania, 1839-40.. 90 SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. NORWAY. dees of the kingdom. The old national aristocracy of the Jark and Hacrsers gradually sank into oblivion, and gave place to the feudal titles of dukes, barons, and knights. The Norwegian kings and their liirdmcend in complete armor, " glittering like ice " attempted to imitate the chivalrous manners of southern Europe • the officials in their various ranks obtained fiefs with military tenure, but without any hereditary rights. The stout Norse yeomanry, the Odds- Bonder (223), maintained their entire independence long after it had been lost by their breth- ren in Denmark, and they, together with the clergy and chiefs, took part in all the political transactions of the national chiefs. Every man who possessed six marcs and a bear-skin cloak was required to appear in arms at the military gatherings; the booty was equitably divided, and the king himself received only his portion, according to his skill and bravery. 297. Divisions and Remarkable Cities. — Norway had become divided into four larger provinces, each of which pos- sessed its own laws and jurisdictions. I. Trondhjem, in the north with its Frostathing. II. Bergen, on the western coast, with its Gidathing. III. Viken, on the east, with its own Vikenske- Lov : and, IV. Agde, south, with its Handsiva- Lov. From these codes Magnus Lagaboeter (Law-mender) compiled a general body of civil and criminal jurisprudence for the entire realm in 1274 — the Hirdskraa. A Law-Thing was annually held at Bergen and the other chief cities of the kingdom, at which the appointed number of jurors were sum- moned to attend. Trial by battle and other appeals " to the judgment of God," had already been abolished. The succes- sion had become hereditary, and many useful regulations for the maritime defence were re-established. The proud Arch- bishop of Nidaros (223) I'uled the church with ecclesiastic despotism. Scientific cultivation was still very circumscribed in Norway, even among the clergy. One of the few literary monuments of this period is the King's Mirror — Kongespei- let — written with excellent spirit, luminous reasoning, and a noble aim, by King Sverre himself, to combat the encroach- ments of the hierarchy. Trondhjem, Bergen and Tonsberg were the most thriving commercial cities of Norway, and the great emporiums of its export of salt fish for southern Europe. The active trade was entirely in the hands of the German con- federative Republic of the Hanseatic towns, which enjoyed the most extensive privileges, exemption from customs and tolls, and kept the whole kingdom, during the fourteenth century, un- der the most tyrannical mercantile subjection, by their power- ful fleets and fortified factories in Bergen and other cities on the coast. Eidskog and the Sevo mountains, on the frontiers of Sweden, Gaidaros near Trondhjem, the King's Path, the valley of Sverre, and the environs of Bergeii and Tonsberg, are celebrated scenes of the valor of King Sverre, and his hardy and faithful Birkebener. 298. Iceland, having been inhabited in 874, during the reign of Harald the Fairhaired (224), by Norse exiles, formed since 928 an independent republic. The whole island was divided into wards, each with three meeting places or tribunals, a heathen temple and its priests, godar. The turbulent war- riors of Norway formed the aristocracy of the island, while the Inter emigrants, J&anes, Swedes, and even many Scots and Irish, entered into subordinate relations as tenants or serfs to the ricli Odels Bonder, here the yeomanry or gentry, who had divided the lands on the first discovery. The natural conse- quence of such a progressive colonization, under feudal tenure, would be frequent contentions and feuds between the old Nor- wegian settlers and the new comers. To obviate the dangers of a civil war, a chief. Lagman, was named, under whose guid- ance the national diet, Althing, assembled every year on the Law-rock, Lovfjeldet. Thirteen other provincial tribunals, with presidents and jurymen, assembled in the different dis- tricts of the island. The introduction of Christianity into Norway was a work of the greatest difficulty, for there every valley, every rock was dedicated to its spirit or god, and idolatry was thus deeply rooted in the localities of the coun- try and in the traditions of the people. Not so in Iceland ; the emigrants had left Odin and Trigga behind them on the fells of Norway, and they did not recognize the voice of Thor in the thunders of Hecla. Irish and Scottish missionaries found, therefore, a fertile soil, and Christianity was unani-. mously received as the Althing in a. d. 1000, though the violent priest Thaugbrand, whom Olaf Tryggveson had sent the yea.r before, by his cruelty and arrogance had been forced to flee for his life, and return to Norway. This happy state of liberty, though occasionally interrupted by civil feuds, of which the life of the great Icelandic historian, Snorro Sturle- son, gives us a highly remarkable instance, continued in Iceland for nearly four hundred years. During this period not only commerce, flshery and colonization in Greenland and Viinland (America), but general education, literature, and the refine- ments of poetical fancy flourished among the active and spirited Icelanders, and nearly all the most beautiful sagas, or tales, and epics of the middle ages, were penned and sung by the Icelanders, before their decline in the fourteenth century. After the murder of Snorro in 1242, the civil war flashed up fiercer than ever, when, in 1262, Hakon IV. with his Nor- wegian fleet forced the wrangling Icelanders to swear allegiance to the Norse kings ; yet it was not until the island had been laid waste by a dreadful eruption of Mount Hecla, in the year 1300, that the rough republicans submitted to do homage to Hakon VII. of Norway, as their feudal sovereign. Their ancient institutions, however, remained untouched ; their cele- brated Law-book, the graygoose — graa-gaasen — was still in use, but the muse of history fled southward to Spain and Italy, and seldom returned for a short visit among the volcanoes of Iceland. 299. Division and Settlements. — Iceland was by nature herself divided into four wards or jjordungar, separated by snow-capped mountains and deep friths. I. Austfirdinga or East-friths ; II. Sunnlendinga, or Ranga (Southland) ; III. NoRDLENDiNGA, Or Eijofjord (Northland) ; and, IV. Vest- FiRDiNGA, or Brddfjord, the deeply indented and more thickly inhabited coast on the west. In the southern ward lay TliingveHir, where the general assembly — Althing — was held until the year 1800, when it was abolished by the king of Denmark."^ Holuni, in the north, and Skalholt in the south, were Episcopal sees. Reikiavik, Bessestadir, Melastadir, and Stiklesholm, were emporia and commercial towns on the western coast. Hram, in the westward, where the great historian Snorro Sturleson was born in 1178. Rcikjaholt^ the castle of Snorro, ia a beautiful region at a short distance from Mount Hecla. Here he was assassinated by his dissat- isfied relatives on the 22d Sept. 1241. In the neighborhood are still seen the hot baths of Snorro — Snorralaug — cut out in the living rock, an interesting monument of his taste and wealth, and of the skilful workmanship of those times. 300. During this period the kings of Norway possessed Greenland, the F^roeer, the Orkneys, the Shetland islands, the Hebrides, the island of Man and Anglesea. Greenland, like the other tributary possessions, belonged to the Royal domains, and foreign traffic was prohibited ; thus the naviga- tion between Norway and the other northern nations deci-eased gradually, until it at last stopped entirely, in the year 1481, when the last Norsemen, who were acquainted with the navi- gation to Greenland, were assassinated in Bergen by foreign '" The Althing has been restored by King Frederick VII. in 1848, when Denmark became a constitutional kingdom. SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. SWEDEN— RUSSIA. 91 merehants."" The Hebi'ides and the island of Man were, by Kiug Magnus Lagaboeter, ceded to Scotland in 1266, for t!ie sum of four thousaud marcs sterling. The Orkneys and Shet'.a..d islands were mortgaged to Scotland by King Chris- tian I. for the dower of his daughter Margaret, who married King James III. Stuart, in 1468. VII. Kingdom of Sweden. 301. Extent and Conquests in Finnland. — Sweden, still divided between the two races of Goflus and Sviars, or Swedes, was the most insignificant of the Scandinavian nations, and exerted no influence on the politics of Europe. " The Swedes," says the celebrated Adam, Bishop of Bremen, " are a sober and modest people, addicted to no vice except that of having each three ivives ; the rich and great have even more, all the chil- dren being regarded as legitimate. They are distinguished above all the Northmen for their hospitality; and the Christian missionaries are received and cherished by them with affection. The bishops assist at the popular assemblies, or Thing. The Swedes are a numerous people, brave and warlike, abounding in cavalry and ships. At home they are all equal, but in military expeditions they yield obedience to their king and leaders." "« The succession of the Folkungar to the throne (1250-1389), marks a new period in Swedish history (22.5). King Walde- mar I. Birgerson, was an energetic ruler, who did much to secure the prosperity of his country. He built and fortified Stockholm, the capital ; he gave new privileges to the Swedish cities, and revised the Lands Las, or the code containina; the old statutes of the kingdom. No change had taken place in the internal division of the Swedish provinces. More inter- esting aj-e the crusades of Saint Eric against the Finns and Quains. He carried Swedish colonies across the Bothnian Gulf, and flourishing settlements soon arose on the western and southern shores of Finnland in 1 156-1293. Tavaste-Hus, on the lakes in the interior, was built by Jarl Birger, in 1249, and the eastern regions, Kyrialand (Karelia), were occupied. The Kyriales possessed all the countries on the north of the lakes Ladoga and Onega, from the Finnic Gulf to the White Sea. The Finns were a simple and rude people who seldom cultiva- ted their fields, and subsisted by hunting, fishing, and rearing cattle. The heads of families exercised a despotic authority, and the women were treated as slaves. They had some me- chanical arts; among others, that of working metals; and the most ancient mines in Scandinavia were discovered by the Finns. Their mythology was wild and fanciful. Finnland was believed to be the country of giants, gnome-like spirits, and supernatural beings that haunted the deserts, murmured in the waterfall, raged in the tempest, and allured the traveller and the hunter by a thousand fantastic forms. Magic was con- nected with the worship and manners of the people, and cun- ningly fostered by the deceitful priests and wizards. Music, too, was a powerful instrument in the old superstition. The divine minstrel, seized by the power of his magic, fell into ecstasies, and his audience partook of his raptures. The Finnic language is the most sonorous, and best adapted for poetry, of any in Europe. It has affinity with the Hungarian. The three leading tribes were the Quains, in the north, border- ing on Lapland ; the Ymes (Jemes), in the lake district of Finnland Proper ; and the Kyriales, in the east. The old Finnlanders offered an obstinate resistance to the crusading ^" See the Ancient Geography of the Arctic Lands of America, from the writings of the Northmen, by Prof. Charles Chr. Rafn. Co- penhagen, 1845. "= Adam Bremensis. De Situ Danise. cap. CCVIII-CCXX. and CCXXIX. Swedes, and the war lasted from 1 156 to 1293. The inhabit- ants in after times still retained the grave, intrepid, and inde- pendent character of their forefathers. They were capable of enduring the severest privations; but their perseverance was little removed from obstinacy, and their attachment to their national name, customs, and language, rendered them incapa- ble of appreciating the blessings of civilization, which the Swedes were anxious to difi'use among them. The principal Swedish colonies on the coast of Finnland were Korsholm, Bjorneborg, Nystad, Aabo, the Episcopal see, Witioig and Kexholm on the Lake Ladoga. The Swedish nobility had obtained an all-powerful influ- ence ; the Scneshal and the Drost divided the place of the Jarl of the Realm (225). Chivalrous institutions were introduced into Sweden : service on horseback and military tenures with exemption from taxes. Every jirovince, Ostgothland, West- gothland, Sodermannaland, Westmannaland, Helsingaland, and Dalarne, had their particular laws and customs. King Birger attempted, in 1295, to introduce the Uplandic Law into all the States of the realm. Slavery continued until the 14th cen- tury. The centre of Swedish commerce was the flourishing city of Wisby, on the western coast of the island of Gothland; it was a German colony, and formed at a later time a part of the great Hauseatic Confederacy of Maritime Republics.'" VIII. Grand Duchy of Russia. 302. Extent and Divisions in the Eleventh Century. — The dominions of Russia (226) were by the victories of the Grand-Duke Wladimir the Great (98-1015), extended west- ward along the shores of the Baltic into LitJmavia and Po- land ; southward along the shores of the Euxine, so as to in- clude part of the Crimea and of the Bulgarian territories, whilst on the east they reached to the Oka, the Don, and the Volga. Wladimir resided in Kiew ; he encouraged the build- ing of new cities, and peopled the waste districts of his im- mense empire with prisoners whom he had taken in the wars. He not only conducted himself as a sovereign who consulted the welfare of his dominions, but displayed many benevolent and amiable qualities, that highly endeared him to his sub- jects. Yet the establishment of the Greek Church through- out the Russian dominions forms the most prominent feature in his reign, and gives that truly worthy monarch a juster claim to the title of Great than his numerous victories. The improvement which Russia owed to this prince was great and permanent. With the Christian religion he introduced the arts and language of Constantinople, which began to flourish in the Russian monasteries. But the ill-judged division of his empire among his sons in 1015 caused a series of the most bloody civil wars between his successors. Yaroslaf at last obtained possession of his father's dominions, but followed most indiscreetly his example by a new division of his territo- ries among his sons in 1054, which remained standing for centuries. Russia embraced then the following six territories : I. The Grand Duchy of Kijow (Kiew), with the sovereign title, and the beautiful and populous capital of that name on the Dnieper (226). The province extended northward, and comprised the Duchy or Republic of Novgorod and the princi- palities of Pskov and Widtka, and in the south all the terri-. tory from the eastern Carpathians to the waterfalls of the Dnieper, where it touched the frontier of the wild Polovtzi or Kumani. II. The Principality of Tchernigov contained the east- ern part of Russia from the Dnieper to the Don and the Oka, the latter of which separated it from the roving Finnic tribes "' See, for important details, Geijer's History of the Swedes, in the English translation. Vol. I. 92 SIXTH PEKIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. RUSSIA. of the Blordivins and Muromens (226.) The southern princi- pality of TiaittaralMH, which the Grand-Duke Swartoslav in 972 had united to the empire, belonged likewise to this prin- cipality, but it was lost in 1050, on the advance of the Kuma- nic hordes towards the Euxine. III. The PnrNciPALiTY- of Perejaslavl extended south- ward from the frontiers of Tchernigov, along the Dnieper and the Donjetz to the steppes of the Petcheneges (254.) On the east it touched the civilized and pacific Kamic Bulgarians^ on the Volg-a, and the Kliasma, where the concentrated power of Russia later arose on the downfall of Kiew. IV. The Principality of Smolensk, on the northwest, be- tween Pskov and Tchernigov, was continually exposed to the invasions of the Poles. V. The Principality of Polotzk, was situated between the Duena, Niemen and Dnieper. Its princes obtained the sovereignty over the Lethic and Finnic tribes on the shores of the Baltic, but in spite of all their exertions they were re- pelled by the Prussians ,(227.) That nation, the fiercest of all the Sclavonian tribes of the north, maintained their inde- pendence until the beginning of the thirteenth century, when they yielded to the sword of the Teutonic knights and German civilization, in the building of Riga, and other cities on the coast. VI. The southern Principality of Wlodomirz, in the present Volhynia, extended south toward the upper Vistula and the Principality of Halitch (Gallicia). 303. During the twelfth century, several princes of the Russian dynasty formed a powerful state in the southwestern parts of the Grand Duchy of Kiew, which, a. d. 1158, became almost entirely independent; it was Halitch or Gallida, in Malo-Russia, on the northern slope of the Carpathian range, the home of Russinians or Ruthenians (Russniaks), whose prince Roman vanquished the southern Kumani, and rendered them tributary. There were in Russia during this period not fewer than seventeen smaller principalities, though they at length became absorbed into seven, viz. : those of Kietv, Nov- gorod, Smolensk, Wladimir, Tver, Halitch, and Moskou. Novgorod and Kiew maintained a certain superiority over the others until toward the beginning of the thirteenth century, immediately before the Mongol invasion, the northeastern principality of Siisdal or Wladimir took the lead with the two last mentioned states.' '* 304. Novgorod, on the banks of the Ilmen-Lake, was the glory of Russia during the middle ages, with its strong walls, its 250 churches and convents glittering with gilt cupolas, and its 300,000 active citizens, who soon threw off the yoke of the wrangling Russian princes, and constituted themselves into the celebrated republic. Later (after 1240), it entered the confede- racy of the Hanseatic cities, and became the great emporium of Indian commerce for the north of Europe. At the head of its executive government stood the Maire, 2^osadnik, with exten- sive power, but changing every year. He had a lieutenant, tysaskoi, and a council of senators, boyars, consisting of the wealthy patricians. The merchants, storekeepers, mechanics, and common people formed the popular assembly, that gathered in the large market-place at the deep sound of the clock, the witscli.nei-kolokol. All the citizens were splendidly armed, and marshalled under the city banners, according to the five quar- ters of the town, and the five districts of the territory. The grand duke possessed a palace in the city, but his bailifi" or count was obliged to show the citizens the most flattering politeness, and he had no real power. The city had its own "' In the supremacy of these principalities can be traced the divi- sion of Russia into Great. Russia (the duchy of Novgorod), Litde Rus- sia (South Russia), as far as the Crimea, White Russia (Wladimir), on the east, and Red Russia (Halitch), on the southwest. laws and courts of justice; the manners were still barbarous — revenge for bloodshed, ordeal by fire, awful servitude, and burning of witches. Russia had yet no coined money ; com- merce was conducted by barter, and skins of squirrels and foxes were used instead of silver and copper money. Thou- sands of boats were plying on the lake Ilmen, and shipping the rich products of the east on the Wolkof River to the Ladoga, where the vessels from the Baltic embarked their cargoes. The produce of the north, on the contrary, was conducted by armed citizens over the low hills to the river beds of the Don, Dneister or Volga, and thence through the whole continent to the Caspian Sea, the Euxine, and Constantinople. During winter thousands of adorned sleighs and sledges were seen sliding rapidly over the hard and level surface of boundless snows and frozen lakes. Novgorod with its free democratic institutions, its active and warlike population, its commercial wealth — then the centre of the world's traffic — was the New-York or New Orleans of the middle ages, and made good the proverb : " Who can resist God and the great Novgorod ?" Such was the state of this remarkable city from the 11th to the close of the 15th century. Novgorod was the terminus of the pilgrims as well as Jerusalem ; it was the rendezvous of the fashionable traveller and the covetous trader. Artists and jugglers, Danes and Dutch, Portuguese Jews and Chinese mandarins, Tar- tars and Moors, were thronging its glittering bazaars, each of which belonged to a separate nation — with its national tri- bunals, its churches or mosques, its stoi-e-houses and armed guardians. Here all the enjoyments of the east and west con- centrated — nay, the ideas of the luxury and hospitality of the Novgorodian citizens, the splendor of the Russian princes and boyars, and the wealth to be earned there, were quite extravagant. Art and science, literature and poetry, always follow in the wake of liberty and commerce ; ' we may, therefore, readily believe the Russian historians, in their descriptions of the magnificent buildings of Novgorod and Kiew, built in the Byzantine and Gothic style by Greek and German architects, and of the church paintings and decorations in Mosaic by Saint Olympius, a highly talented monk, a native Russian, Avhose brilliant cre- ations are still admired at the present day. Learning, too, had been introduced from Constantinople, and found an encourag- ing asylum in the numerous monasteries, where Russian friars were engaged in copying and adorning those elegant manu- scripts of tlie Scriptures and the fathers which remain a testimony of their skill and industry. Russian ecclesiastics, in the seclusion of the convent or hermitage, devoted themselves to astronomy and chemistry; others, returning from their pilgrimages to Jerusalem, imparted their knowledge of the East, and the vener- able Nestor, from the depth of his cavern at Kiew, collected the early traditions of the nation, for his annals of the Russian empire ; while many other monks wrote the lives of the saints, and the chronicles of their convents, in the native Russian dialect."' Moskow, on the Moskwa, a tributary of the Oka, "^ The Russians, like all the Sclavonian tribes, delighted in social assemblies, in music, dancing and national songs. Some few of their i ancient ballads have survived tlie storms of time, and give vis a favorable / opinion of the poetical genius of Boian, and other early bards ; hut the greater part have perished in the general destruction of cities and con- vents during the Mongolian, invasion. Only a single larger poem, of ex- quisite beautj', on the deeds and the death of Igor the Brave, has been preserved as an interesting monument of the ancient Russian language. In 'glowing verses it describes the military expeditions of Igor, the prince of the Seversky, against the Polovtzi barbarians; he attacks their camp on the banks of the Don, but after a brilliant action, the Russians are surrounded by thousands of enemies. "The steppe of Stribog is all stained with gore, and strown over with the dying and the dead- Po- lovtzi and Russians engage in fierce embrace. On the third aurora our banners sink into the dust before the shouting myriads of savage foes ; for there is not a drop of blood left to be shed. Bold Igor and his generous Russians have perished on the battle-field; they have SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D.— 973-1096. KUSSIA— FEANCE. 93 was a small summer residence of the princes of Snsdal, when Ynry (George) Dolgoruki of Susdal, in 1147, laid the founda- tions of a large city, which soon became the capital of the grand duchy of Wladimir, and the centre from which the Russian czars afterwards extended their conquests. "> During the intestine broils which attended the dismember- ment of the Russian monarchy, the neighboring nations, Polovtzi, Hungarians and Poles, availed themselves of the weakness of those small principalities, and the party spirit of their chiefs, to take side with the one against the other, or to ravage the country, to burn down the cities, and carry off thousands of captives into slavery. At last, in 1223, when the three sovereigns of Wladimir, Kiew, and Halitch had formed a confederacy and driven back the Poles and Magyars; when Novgorod was extending her commerce, and consolidating her republican institutions, the innumerable swarms of Mongol and Tartar horsemen from the upper table lands of central Asia, under G-inghis-Chan marched westward, and pouring in through the defile of Dervend on the Caspian (96), inundated all the lands of the Kuban, and drove the Polovtzi or Kumani in the wildest flight against the Russian frontiers. All the princes now armed ; but the terrible battle on the banks of the Kalka, on the 31st of May, 1224, decided the fate of the Rus- sian nation. Batu-Ohan defeated them totally; myriads perished in the river ; Kiew, Moskow and other cities were laid in ashes, and the greater part of Russia for more than two centui-ies and a half — 1224-1487 — remained subjected to the degrading yoke of the great Chans of the Mongolian empire. 305. The Chudish, Lettic and Lithuanian tribes, on the eastern and southern shores of the Baltic, were still wild heathens and barbarians. The Eisths and the Lives were Chudish or Finnic tribes ; they inhabited the present Esthland and Livonia (Livland) on the Finnic or Rigaic Gulf, and ex- tended eastward to the lake of Peipus and the Dilna. West and south of these lived the LotAvani, Letti, Kouri or Korsi (Kourshani), in the present Kourland ; the Semgalli, Samo- gitians, Syamaiti^ Lithuanians and Prussians, all kindred to the Sclavonian nation. These tribes resembled one another in their institutions, dialects, arms and manners. They had the same sanctuaries, where they met to offer sacri- fices to their gods ; at Romove in Natanga (near Konigsberg), was the seat of their pontiff and chief judge — the Kriwe \- — dif- ferent classes of priests were subordinate to him. Many and horrible were their idols ; they had human sacrifices, and con- secrated woods, lakes and springs. They lived entirely inde- pendent, occupied with cattle-breeding, hunting and fishing : their agriculture was insignificant; they fed on meat, and drank mares' milk and mead ; their weapons were clubs and maces, which they launched with deadly aim at a great dis- tance ; they were abhorred by the Germans, and ruthlessly put down with the sword, or kept in the most cruel bondage. Merchants from Bremen, who were driven on their inhospitable coast in 1158, founded the first commercial emporium at Riga, and attempted to introduce Christianity among the Lives ; but the Pagans burnt the wooden chapels, slaughtered or expelled the priests, and it was only the sword of the Danish crusaders in Esthland, and that of the knights of Christ, or Sioord- hr others, in Livonia, who at last succeeded, after many battles, in building castles and converting the natives. The Lithuanians, extending from the Meniel to the Dilna, were too powerful a nation, and too strongly situated in the interior, yielded their last breath for the salvation of their native eountiy. holy Russia, remember thy sons ! " — See interestiug details on the man- ners and institutions of the ancient Russians in N. M. Karamsin's His- tory of the Russian Umpire. French translation. Vols. I. and II., in many places. to yield to the missionary attempts of the German knights. Their native chiefs recognized the supremacy of the Russian grand-dukes, but, taking advantage of the partitions and in- ternal feuds among the princes of that nation, they soon threw off their allegiance, and conquered, in several campaigns, from 1082-1221, the principality of Polotzk, east of the Diina, New- Grodek and all Severia, as far south as the swampy region of the Prypec and the Dnieper. This vast territory was divided among many chieftains; in 1235, however, the brave Ringold united all the small Lithuanian states, and took the title of grand prince, veliki-knaz. He maintained himself with bril- liant success against Russians and Mongols, defeated the Ger- man Knights Sword-bearers (the successors of the Sword-bro- thers) in Livonia, and though still a heathen, made himself respected by all the Christian nations on his frontiers. II. Central Europe between 973 and 1096. IX. Kingdom of France. 306. Condition OF Fr,ance; Domains, Feudal Sovereign- ties and Free Communes. — France had, during the eleventh century, preserved nearly the same limits which it had at the time of the extinction of the Carlovingian Dynasty (229). The Royal domains, however, had been enlarged by the accession of the most powerful feudatory, Hugh Capet, Duke of France (987-996), and by the slow, though prudent and persevering efforts of his successors"" in the extension of their household power, their domains, and the enlargement of their royal pre- ■ rogative. Several feudal territories had been united with the crown: 1. the county of Sens (234. XL); 2. the county of Yexin (235. XV.) ; and 3. the viscounty of Boiirges (238 XXVI). King Robert I., gave in 1031 the duchy of Bicr- gundy (239. XXVIII.) to his youngest son Robert, who be- came the ancestor to the elder dynasty of Burgundy and to the kings of Portugal. These acquisitions before the crusades were insignificant, while, on the other hand, the number of the independent feudal seignories was increased by the erection of several baronies into hereditary sovereignties. These were, 1. The barony of Coucy, in Champagne;'"' 2. The barony of MoNTFORT L'Amaury, in the duchy of Isle de France, south- west of Paris ; 3. The county of Eu ; 4. The county of Evreux, both in Normandy; and 5. The county of Foix (243), in Gas- cogne. This important duchy, which had been united to Guyenne and the county of Rover gue (243. LI.), was possessed by the still more independent Count of Tmtlovse. In general, the countries lying between the Loire and the Pyrenees, although they recognized nominally the sovereignty of the French mon- arch, were in strictness as alien from him as the kingdoms of Burgundy and Aries, or the duchy of Lorraine, which held of the German Emperor (246, 248). Thus, then, the real sove- reign power of the Capetian kings extended only over the Isle of France and a part of OrUanais, and yet, small as this dis- trict was — in breadth ninety miles from east to west, and in length one hundred and twenty miles from north to south — it was far from being wholly subject to the crown, for even so late as the twelfth century Loui,s-le-Gros was arduously en- gaged during the greater part of his reign in reducing to obedience the petty counts of Chaumont, and of Clermont, the lords of Montlhery , Montfort V Amaury, Coucy, Mont- '^° These Capetian monarchs were : Robert I., 996-1031. Henry I., 1060. Philip I., 1108. Louis-le-Groa (VI.), 1136. Louis-le-Jeune (VII.) 1180. Under Philip August (1180-1223) the French nation at last stands forth in its full development, consolidated into a mighty raonai-ohy. '^^ The gigantic towers of the Chateau of Coucy present still some of the finest medissval ruins in modern France. They had the proud inscription, " Nor king, noi- duke, nor prince, nor count am 1, I am tlie lord of Coucy." 94 SIXTH PERIOD A. D.— 973-1096. FRANCE— GERMANY. morcncy, Fuisct, and numerous other barons, who, within the precincts of the duchy of France and the royal demesnes — ray, in the very environs of Paris, the capital and residence of the king, refused all obedience to him !"- In the very heart of his domains the Capetian was supported only by the Church and by the rising and aspiring bourgeoisie — the cities ; — all the rest, both strength and glory, belonged to the proud and wrang- ling feudatories. 307. Enfranchisement of the Communes or Republican Cities in France. The oppression of the nobility had become insupportable to the poor downtrodden people ; insurrection among the peasantry broke out in different places ; yet a few mail-clad knights, with their lances in rest, scoured the county, rode down and dispersed the disorderly bands of the villains^ cut off their hands and feet, and the matter was forgotten. The peasantry had too little communication or union in the differ- ent provinces, so that all their joxqueries or turbulent risings failed during the middle ages ; they were too degraded by slavery, and if they had been successful, they would have used their victory with brutish wildness and ferocity. It was in the populous burghs and towns which had risen round the castles, and particularly round the churches, and in the an- cient Roman municipal cities, that the ideas of liberty long glimmering at last burst forth in the brightest flames (245, 250, 270). Population had been encouraged in the burghs by grants of land from their lay or ecclesiastical lords, who were anxious to increase their strength and the number of their vassals. The nobles would encourage the industry of the townspeople ; they would allure skilful artisans, weavers, butchers, smiths, armorers, and concede them some privileges to keep them within their territory. Liberty, thus, had its be- ginning in the central towns of France — tJie free communes — which began by receiving some concessions, and terminated by extorting their franchises and immunities sword in hand. The greater part of these towns were under the jurisdiction of bishops or abbots, who wielded the sword of justice by their viscounts. Such were the episcopal cities of JBecmvais, JYoyon, Lao?i, and St. Riqider ; in others the counts and the prelates divided the authority, and in their reciprocal rivalry sought to gain the assistance of the citizens against their antagonists by liberal concessions, as was the case in Soissons and Amiens ; while in St. Quentin and Abbeville the counts alone exercised an absolute power. Le Mans is the earliest of the free communes (1070). Cumbrai followed the example in 1076. Louis-le- Gros called the citizens to arms in his feud against the dukes of Normandy ; they flocked to his feudal army under the ban- ners of their respective parishes in 1119, and their demands rose with their military success. Church and nobility then vied with one another to sell the franchises to the citizens, who with hard labor found means to purchase them ; to form their consular governments, to fortify their towns, and at once to display the activity and development of a high-minded de- mocracy.'-' This revolution took place all over the kingdom under a thousand different forms, and with more or less dis- turbance ; terrible was the struggle of the cities in Flanders "° The king of France could not ride from Paris to his city of Orleans, being interrupted by the frowning towers of Montlhery. When, therefore, the fierce lord of the castle, who had been defeated aiul humbled in the ernsade, consented to give his daughter in marriage to the king's son, with his castle as her dowrj-, Philip said to his son, Louis-le-Gros : "Now, my son, keep heedful watch over this tower, the trouble caused me by which, has made my hairs gray with grief, and through whose craft and wickedness I have never known peace and quiet." "What a picture of the times ! "' It has been wrongly said that the crusades were the primitive cause of the enfranchisement of the cities, for we distinctly see that Le Mann, Cambrai, and others, obtained their charters long before the commencement of that movement, though the readiness of the Cru- and Belgium, where Bruges, with its thirty thousand armed citizens defeated counts and kings on the battle-fleld, and laid the solid foundations of the republican and commercial gran- deur of the Low Countries in the following centuries. 308. In the mean time, the rumor spread throughout France and Europe that thousands of Christian pilgrims, princes, bishops, and abbesses, had been surrounded and ruth- lessly slaughtered at Ramla, on the coast of Palestine, by the Turkish hordes, and that their sultan, Ortok, had taken pos- session of Jerusalem and of the Holy Sepulchre. Peter the Hermit then appeared in France ; his eloquence contributed powerfully to heighten the general enthusiasm for the sacred war, and the masses began to move. At the Council in Cler- mont, in November 1095, Pope Urban II. preached the cru- sade, and the following spring large bodies of pilgrims, men and women, young and old, led on by Peter the Hermit and Gaultler — Sans-avoir — Walter the Penniless — crossed the Rhine on their march for Constantinople and Syria. In August of the same year the unwieldy armies of princes, bar- ons, and knights, put themselves slowly in motion. No king, however, took part in the first crusade, but many feudatories more powerful than the kings. Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine, departed at the head of ten thousand knights and seventy thousand foot, Lorrainers, Germans, and French, taking his route through Germany and Hungary. Another large crusading army was commanded by Hugh of Verman- dois, the brother of King Philip of France, the wealthy Count Stephen of Blois, Robert Curt-Hose,, duke of Nor- mandy, and Count Robert of Flanders — all equals, none chief; they quarrelled on the road, and did but little honor to the crusade. A third army was formed by the enthusiastic French of the South, the Aquitanians, Gascons, Auvergnacs, and Pro- vencals, under the banner of the old Raymond of St. Gilles, Count of Toulouse, who traversed the Albanian Mountains under endless hardships and dangers, and met the other cru- sading companions at Constantinople in the spring of 1097. The Normans of Italy, with Count Bohemond of Tarant, and the handsome and noble-minded Tancred at their head, forced their way, sword in hand, through Epirus and Macedonia. Such was the march of the first crusading armies. X. The Romano-Germanic EjirmE. 309. Extent, Change in the Constitution, Contest v^'ith Rome about the Investitures. Great changes had taken place in Germany since the times of Otho the Great, in 973. Conrad II. obtained possession of the kingdom of Burgundy (244), which at that time comprised the beautiful districts of the southeast of France, afterwards called Provence, -Bau- fhiny, FrancJhc Comte and Lyons, together with Savoy, and a portion of Switzerland. Germany was thus placed in con- nection with the Mediterranean by means of the important seaports of Toulon and Marseilles ; an acquisition of great import, which, however, afterwards, in the times of intestine disturbances, became neglected, and fell into the power of the watchful and grasping kings of France. Nor did Germany take better care of her other frontier provinces. The margraviate of Schlesivig was ceded to Denmark, and thus the Eider saders to sell their estates and rights afterwards, served powerfully' to promote the release of the cities. Koi- was King Louis-le-Gros tlie founder of them, but rather the reverse; for it was tlie brave citizens of the towns who established the king; without them he would not liave beaten off the Noimans, and these conquerors of England would probably have conquered France too. See, for highly entertaining de- tails on the history of the communes of France, the admirable nafra- tives of Augustin Thierry, in his Lettres sicr I'histoire de France. Lettres XIII-XXV. ; compare Guizot, Michelet, Sismondi, and Henry Leo. SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. GERMAN EMPIRE— POLAND. became again, in 1027, the frontier of the two nations (294). The Vendes in Skvia (295), on the shores of the Baltic, threw oiF their allegiance to the German Empire, and formed an independent state ; so did King Boleslav Chrobry, of Po- land, who, after the rapid conquest of all Silesia and Bo- hemia, at last made peace with the emperor Henry II. at Bautzen, in 1018, in which he retained possession of Mora- via and Lusatia, and even obliged the emperor to support him with German auxiliary troops in his wars against the Rus- sians. The Germans fared worse in Italy, because Robert Guiscard and his Norman adventurers conquered all lower Italy and Sicily, while northern Italy became more and more republican, and the papal see attained the height of its power on the accession of Pope Gregory VII. Conrad II. gave, in 1037, his celebrated constitution of the Jiefs, according to which the lower vassals, who followed the banner of the empire, obtained the full right of property and the hereditary succession of their estates. They thus be- came the faithful supporters of the emperor against the dukes, whom Conrad sought to brine back to their old condition of mere imperial functionaries. He assigned to hie son Henry the duchies of Souabia, Bavaria, and Franconia, and, if intel- ligent successors had been able to carry through his deep-laid plans, Germany would have become what France ultimately be- came, an undivided, powerful empire. But the Salic dynasty was stayed in its mid-career, partly by the faults of Henry IV., and partly by the rapid rising of the papal chair, whose author- ity developed itself with astonishing energy under the great Pope Gregory VII. The violent contest between these two stubborn characters shook the world, strewed Germany and Italy with corpses and ruins, and was at last only terminated with the concordate of Worms, in 1 122, between Henry V. and Pope Calixtus II. ; according to which the emperor consented to the free election of bishops and abbots, renouncing the invest- iture of the mitre and the cross, or the ecclesiastical investi- ture. This was reserved to the pope, who, on his side, gave up to the emperor the investiture by the sceptre of the ecclesias- tical domains that were subject to feudal tenure. The politi- cal unity of Christendom was thus broken for ever. 310. Cities, Castles, and Historical Places. Ham- burg, on the Elbe, was taken and burnt by the Vendes in 1069, and the archbishop forced to remove his see to Bremen. — G-rorie, a fine castle near Gottingen, in Saxony, where Henry II. died, in 1024. — Bothfeld, near Blakenburg, in the Hartz. Here died (1056) the active and severe Henry III. in the flower of his age, amidst the lofty plans he had formed for the future organization of Germany. — Kaiserswerth, on the Rhine, where his little son, Henry IV., being carried off on board a ship by the intriguing Archbishop Hanno, of Cologne, threw himself into the river, and was saved with difficulty. — - Goslar, in Saxony, the residence of Henry IV., whence he commenced building castles in the mountains of the Hartz and Thuringia to curb the freeborn spirit of the Saxons. — Hartz- hirg the splendid castle of Henry IV., near Goslar, which the Saxons stormed and demolished at the beginning of their rebellion, in 1073. Henry fled in disguise to the forests, and narrowly escaped the pursuit of the enraged nation. — Holien- berg, on the river Unstrut, in Thuringia, the battle-field on which the Saxons were defeated by Henry IV., and treated with heartless cruelty. — Hohenstaicfen, a conical mountain near Bnren, on the Rems, in Souabia, on the pinnacle of which Frederick of Buren built the splendid castle from which the mighty dynasty of the Hohenstaufen had their origin in i be twelfth century. — Gera, on the Elster, in Thuringia. In the neighborhood occurred the great battle, in which Ru- de! phus, of Souabia, the rival emperor, perished by the hand of young Godfrey of Bouillon; and the unhappy Henry IV. was reinstated on the throne of Germany in 1080. — Wc/fcs- holz, a forest near Hofstedt, in Saxony, where Henry V. suf- fered a fearful defeat from the Saxons, in 1115. In a chapel, erected on the battle-field, the victors placed a statue in full armor, with helmet, shield, and mace, whom the peasantry in after times called Saint Jodut. 311. In Italia, the flourishing cities of Lombard^/ and Romagna were republics in reality, though they still made a show of their allegiance to the German emperors on their de- scent into Italy, to take the imperial crown in Rome. They defeated Heni-y II. in Pavia ; they drove Henry III. out of Rome ; but they took the part of Henry IV. against Pope Gregory VII. The pope was, however, powerfully supported by the Countess Mathildis, of Tuscany (250). This remark- able woman had inherited the immense possessions of her father. Margrave Bonifacius, in 1052; she governed her states with the spirit of a politician ; she appeared in full armor at the head of her vassals, and devoted her whole active life to aid in elevating the power of the Church. Slander falsely reported her to be in love with Gregory, who took- refuge in her castle of Canossa ; but her life was as virtuous as her principles were austere. On her death, in 1115, she bequeathed all her states to the Church, though many of them were ancient fiefs of the empire. Another great controversy therefore arose between the pope and emperor, until, after much fighting, the feud at last terminated in a division of her lauds, of which the Cliurch knew how to secure the better half to herself From this time until the appearance of Barbarossa in Italy, in 1 152, the Italian cities enjoyed the most perfect liberty; they became wealthy and powerful. Their citizens formed battalions under the banners of the different wards of the town, with their consuls and gonfaloniere at their head. Ravenna, Verona, Padoua, Parma, obtained important privileges. Milan, in spite of her archbishop, adopted a republican government, and waged continual wars with her rivals and neighbors, Lodi, Como and Pavia. — Canossa, a strong castle, belonging to Countess Ma- thildis, on the Apennine, near Reggio. Here the excommu- nicated Henry IV. was invited by the countess to meet with the terrible pope. The German king was treated with the most inhuman cruelty, being left in the outer court of the cas- tle, barefoot, in a hair garment, exposed to cold, hunger, and thirst, for three days during Januar}^, 1077. Half dead with humiliation and misery, the guilty monarch was at last admit- ted into the presence of the proud pontifi", who, however, lost the best fruits of his victory by thus outstepping all bounds of moderation and christian charity. Patrimonium Santi Petri, or the then almost independent State of the Church, extended, as indicated on the map by the violet color, throughout the greater part of central Italy, while the feudal homage rendered to the pope by the Nor- man Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, secured the Church from the south. It embraced the duchy of Spoleto, the Mark of AncoJia and Romandiola (Romagna). Rome herself had sufi"ered the most .terrible devastation in 1085. The pope, being besieged by Henry IV. in the castle of St. Angelo, called the Normans to his aid. Robert Guis- card came with his invincible knights ; the Germans fled ; Gregory VII. was delivered ; but the entire southern part of the city, lying between the Lateran and the Coliseum, was destroyed with fire and sword by the Normans, and it has re- mained a desert to the present day. XI. Kingdom of Poland. 312. Extent, Provinces, and Cities. Poland, under its warlike king, Boleslav the Great, embraced, in a, d, 1025, the 96 SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. POLAND— HUNGARY. following provinces : I. Polonia Propria^ bordering east, on the Bug; south, on the Carpathian Mountains; west, on the Oder; and north, on the Netze, which separated the kingdom from Pomerania. It was subdivided into 1, Mazo- via, east of the Vistula ; 2, Ciijavia ; 3, Cuhna ; 4, Cazu- bia ; 5, Kustryn ; 6, Barnim ; 7, Licbus ; 8, Duchy of Sile- sia ; 9, Skisk ; 10, Cracow; II, Sajidojjiirz ; 12, Sieradz; 13, Lenczyc ; and the conquered frontier provinces, which a few years later were lost, Pomerayiia, Lusatia (Lausitz), Milzieni, Moravia, Chrobatia, or North Hungary, as far as the Danube, the principality of Halitch and Czerviensk east- ward as far as the Bug. — Cracow (Krakou), in a splendid and strong position on the upper Vistula, was the capital. There the ancient kings were crowned and interred. The cathedral is remarkable for its numerous mausoleums. The tomb of Saint Stanislaus is erected in the middle of the church, where lamps burn by day and night, and masses are continually said over his ashes. . The adjacent country is remarkable for its picturesque beauty — -Vislica ; Sandomirz. The duchy of Silesia was one of the finest provinces of the Polish empire, and remained united with it until 1327, when it was ceded to John of Bohemia. — Breslau, on the Oder, the ancient capi- tal, was burnt by the Mongols in 1241. Leignitz, where they defeated Duke Henry of Silesia, and the Polish and German chivalry, yet with so great a loss, that they immediately re- treated to Hungary. Warsaw, on the Vistula, was still a small town. — Fosen — Gnesen, the see of the archbishop — -Kalish. 313. King Boleslav the Great, Chrobry (250), accom- plished the difficult task of uniting into one monarchy the different hostile tribes of the Ljdchs. Mazovians, Krakovi- ans, Silesians, and Moravians, esteemed and loved him as highly as the Poles themselves ; he was as generous as he was humane, brave, and just.'-* He organized the brilliant cavalry of his feudal army — pospolite ruscenie ; he regulated the taxes — poradine — and divided his mighty realm into districts — poviaty ziemie — in which populous boroughs — j^^saAa — arose, and agriculture, trade and industry, became flourishing. Cas- tles — grod — were built along the frontiers, which were guarded by the armed peasantry, under the command of the border counts. High-roads traversed Poland in all directions. Car- avans from the east crossed peaceably the country on their route for the great markets — tncssen — of Germany. Tlie chase was the great delight of the Poles ; they hunted the elk, buffalo, urus, bear, and wild _boar, on horseback, with lance and bow ; from the German knights, they adopted the more fashionable falconry. Convents and schools were built; and, after a reign of extraordinary activity, the great ruler died, crowned with glory, in 102-5. His successors, Boleslav II. and III., ex- tended their conquests to the island of Riigen, on the Baltic, — beyond the Vistula, against the Russians; south into Hungary; but the division of Poland, in 1139, among the sons of Boles- lav III., caused, in the course of time, a rapid succession of civil feuds, the formation of a powerful aristocracy, and the oppression of the mass of the people to the degrading state of hopeless serfdom. XII. Kingdom of Hungary. 314. Conquests, Constitution, and Divisions. The king- dom of the Hungarians, or Magyar-Orszag, or they them- '^ Boleslav had the curious custom of inviting tlie noble ci-iminal to dinner. Tlie culprit received, however, first, the private admonition of the king ; he was then led into an apartment, where he received a terri- ble flogging ; from which the penitent was carried into the bath, dressed for the court, and admitted to the royal table — all performed in good ^tyle — and no doubt, the noble sinner sat down there with the best appe- cite, nfter such preparative corporeal exercise. selves called it, had been definitively constituted toward the year 1000 (253).. The Magyar kings of the Arpadian dynasty, at the head of their warlike nation, made extensive conquests ; their territory embraced not only all Transylvania (Hungaria Nigra), Marmarosh, on the north, along the southern base of the Carpathian Mountains, and the principalities of Wallachia and Halitch beyond them, but they passed the Danube, cap- tured Sirmium and Singedunum, or Alba Bidgarice (Bel- grade) — on the junction of the Saave and the Danube, the ancient bulwark of the Roman Empire (34), in 1079, subdued the Croatian Zupanate in 1088, and did not stop until they had crossed swords with the Venetians on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic. Here their light cavalry was beaten back^ and all the islands and several cities on the mainland, Zara, Trcni, Spalatro, Narenia, and others, remained in the posses- sion of Saint Marc. The Hungarian king nevertheless took the title of King of Croatia and Dalmatia, under the sovereignty of the pa.pal see of Rome. The Catholic clergy exercised a great influence, and nearly all the political forms of the Prankish constitution were introduced. The king fprmed his council of the prelates and nobles ; even deputies from the nation were admitted. At the head of the jurisdiction stood the conies pcdatinus — -Nddor Ispan — of Hungary. The employments at court and in the administration were the same as in Germany. Every one of the seventy-two comitatus — Gespannschaften — into which Hungary had been divided, was governed by a comes par ochianus, who held the judicial and military com- mand of the district, and was chosen by the king. The na- tive population consisted of, 1, bondsmen, who could be sold; 2, serfs, or adscrijoti glebce, who were bound to the soil; 3, common freemen ; the latter were divided into tens and hundreds, and obeyed their officers, called decani and ccnte- narii. The nobility of the nation consisted of, I, the vassals, who obtained feudal estates from the royal domains, and ren- dered service at court and in the army ; 2, the barons, the majority of the Magyars, who had conquered the country, and among whom the districts had been divided at the time of the occupation. The barons still preserved their division into Asiatic tribes or clans. Each family or branch possessed ter- ritories, descending by inheritance among its members. All these noble estates were entirely free of taxes or tributes. The diets were held on horseback, in the plain of Rakos (253), where a royal herald proclaimed the resolutions taken. The heathen population, even the Magyars who refused baptism, and criminals, lost their personal liberty and were treated as slaves ; those Sclavonians who received baptism, were placed under the protection of the Church as conditionarii. The laws for the security of property were austere. King Ladislav gave, in 1078, the most severe laws to protect the cattle on the open pasture-lands between the Theiss and the Danube, which were exposed to the forays of the proud and rapacious Magyar nobles. Neither rank, nor wealth, nor family influ- ence, could save the robber-baron from the axe or the gallows. The Latin language had been introduced together with the Christian religion ; soon the court and the tribunals spoke that tongue, and the Magyar dialect was thus stopped in its devel- opment, and banished among the lower classes. Civilization made very slow progress in Hungary, and the breeding of cat- tle and horses remained for centuries the principal occupation of the Magyars. At the time of the crusades, we find Hun- gary a well organized kingdom, under the small and misshapen, but high-minded King Kalmany (Coloman), who offered the first crusaders a free passage through Hungary. Yet the dis- orderly bands of Peter the Hermit burnt Semlin on -the Da- nube, and their rear-guard, under the priest Gottshalk, was therefore surrounded and cut to pieces by the Hungarians. With Godfrey and the Princes, Kalmany had an interview at SIXTH PEKIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. RUMANIA— SPAIN. 97 Tollenburg, ou the Leitha, the frontier river, where a treaty was sigued for the passage of the army. King Andreas II., with a large Hungarian army, passed into the East in 1217, and landed at Acre, but returned without having assisted the crusaders, or gained glory for himself. XIII. The Uzi and Kumani. 315. Theik, Territoey, Conquests, and Manners. — To- ward the middle of the eleventh century, appear suddenly the numerous hordes of the Uzi and Kumani, on the steppes west of the Volga. They were wild barbarians, of Tartaric blood, and made themselves feared by their neighbors, the Russians, who called them Polovtzi}°° They pressed hard upon the Petcheneges, whom they subdued and mixed up with ; and they settled as far westward as the river Aluta. Uniting their dif- ferent hordes, they crossed the Danube in 106.5, and began a desolating invasion into the Greek empire ; yet they were soon compelled to return by pestilence and hunger. Their wars with the Russians continued without interruption on the bor- der, which lay north of the waterfalls of the Dnieper. Alexius Komnenus sent them splendid presents, but it tended only to make them more desirous of plundering the beautiful countries from which they came. Anna Komnena, in her Alexiad, de- scribes the despair of her father, attacked at the same time by the Normans, on the western coasts of Epirus, by the Seldjukian Turks in Asia Minor, and by the Uzi and Kumani in Thrace, where they besieged Adrianople, and spread devastation to the gates of Constantinople. Nor did they stop at the Carpathian Mountains ; they entered Transylvania, but were at last sur- rounded and defeated by King Ladislav, in 1089 — who per- mitted part of them to colonize the Jazygian plains, between the Theiss and the Danube — the later province of Kumania. Thus, this terrible nation extended from the Caspian Sea and Mount Caucasus, along the shores of the Euxine to the mouth of the Danube ; and the whole of Southern Russia is in the annals of the eleventh and twelfth centuries called Kumania. On the approach of the Mongols from the defiles of Dervend, in 1222, the Kumani got frightened ; they fell back on the '^Volga, and demanded aid from the grand dukes of Kiew, Wadimir, and Halitch. The Russian princes were suspicious of treachery, but when they learned the reality of the danger, they came on in full force to the support of their old enemies. Yet the bloody day on the river Kalka, in May, 1224, decided the fate both of the Kumani and of the Russians. All bowed beneath the yoke of the Mongols — the Kumani were never to rise again ; only the tribes in Hungary survived, and their de- scendants still inhabit the plains of Great and Little Kuma- nia. Both the Uzi and the Kumani resembled in ugliness, squalidness, and bestiality, the Petcheneges, to whom they no doubt were related. Their language was spoken in Hun- gary a century ago ; the last man who understood it died in 1770; it is said to have contained many Tartaric words. The names of the Polovtzian clans, which appear in the Russian chronicles, are still found among the Tscherkassians of Mount Caucasus, and it is supposed that this powerful people may have vanquished the Kumani, and given them their native princes as leaders. The Kumani were as perfidious as they were loathsome. When concluding treaties with the Russians, they used to cut open their veins, and filling a goblet with their blood, they mixed it with that of the Russian envoys, and drank reciprocally, in order to become of one blood and faith. '^* The Hungarians had many wars with the Kumani, and called them Chuni; the Germans gave them the name Valands, Waives, or Falones, from which is derived the German word Valand, a wild and desperate adventurer or swordsman. 13 Horses were sacrificed on the sepulchres of their chiefs, whose faithful squires stabbed themselves, to die with their masters. They remained pagans, though they came in constant relations to Constantinople and Kiew ; they were uomades, and lived under felt-tents even in Hungary ; they were excellent horse- men, and had herds of camels ; they shaved off their hair like the Turks, but wore long beards; they were voracious, and ate rats and mice. The Europeans considered them as monsters in human shape, and many a story was told of their devouring human flesh, and carrying pickled children in the saddle-bags along with them on their military expeditions. III. SOUTHERN EUROPE BETWEEN 973 & 1096. XIV. Kingdoms of Leon and Castile. 316. • Temporary Union and Conquests; Origin of Portugal. The fall of the Ommiyad caliphs of Cordova, and the dismemberment of their empire into a vast number of petty principalities in 1031, afforded an opportunity for the neighboi'ing Christian princes, by successive attacks, du- ring nearly two centuries, to circumscribe the Arab domin- ion in the Spanish peninsula within the narrow limits of the kingdom of Grenada. This conquest would even have been accomplished in a much shorter time, if the feuds and rivalries between the Christians themselves had not retarded the victo- rious progress of their arms, and the African dynasties of the Almoravides in 1094, and of the Almohades in 1147, had not temporarily restored the Saracen power. The country south of the Duero, though occupied by the Christians, remained for a long time an insecure possession, frequently overrun by the Arabs. Thus, Coimbra, Viseu, and Laniego, which had been reduced by Alfonso I. and his immediate successors, were re- taken by the great Mohammedan general Al-Mauzor, on his victorious invasion of G-alicia (255). Alfonso V., of Leon, fell before Viseu in 1027 ; but his son-in-law, Fernando I., of Cas- tile, who, after the defeat and death of Bermudo III., in the battle of Carrion, in 1037, ascended the throne of Leon, re- covered both Viseu and Lamego in 1057, and the important Coimbra opened its gates to the Christian knights in 1058. Leon, Castile, the Asttirias, Galicia, and the county oi Portu- Cale (Portugal), remained united during the greater part of the eleventh century, under the enterprising monai'chs Ferdi- nando L and Alfonso VI.— 1037-1109. After a siege of three years, Toledo, the ancient capital of the Visigoths, sur- rendered in May, 1085, and Alfonso advanced rapidly on both banks of the Tagus, occupying the fortresses of Madrid, Ma- qiieda, and Guadalajara ; nay, he approached boldly toward the Guadiana, when he was attacked by the innumerable hordes of the African Almoravids, under their great general, Yussef- Ben-Taxfin — al-naza.r-ed-din — (defender of the faith), in the plain of Zalaca, and totally defeated, with the loss of 24,000 of his bravest warriors, in 1087. This check put a stop to the progress of the Castilian king ; and as the western conquests were continually exposed to the irruptions of the enthusiastic Almoravids, Alfonso conferred the government of Portugal from the Mino to the Tagus, and the right of conquering as far as the Guadiana on the young hero, Henry of Besangon, a Burgundian prince, who, in 1072, had married his daughter Teresa, and to whose valor he had been indebted for many of his victories. Numbers of Burgundian nobles having joined the banner of Count Henry, he beat back the Almoravids, who, in 1107, made a desperate attack on Coimbra, and laid the foundation of the chivalrous Monarchy of Portugal,^^" be- ^-° See the interesting investigations about the origin of the Portu- guese monarchy, in the modem Portuguese Historian, Ippolito Hero.u- iano. Lisbon, 1846. Vol. T. 98 SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. SPAIN. fore his death, in 1112. The disgraceful civil war between Queen Urraca and her husband Alfonso — el Batallaclor — of Aragon, brought desolation and misery over Castile. Her son, Alfonso VII., Ramundez of G-alicia, united the kingdoms a^ain, 1126-1157, and extended his conquests to La Manclia and the Sierra Morena in 1138-1141. The important for- tress of Calatrava, on the Guadiana, was taken, and became later the seat of the military order of that name. The king penetrated even into Andalucia, but died in the village of Fres7iada, near the steep pass of Mitradal, in the Sierra Mo- rena, on his return from the expedition in 1 157. Leon and Castile were now separated for the last time. Fernando II. became king of Leon, and Sancho III., of Castile. This un- toward division is indicated in our accompanying map : Cas- tile, green ; Leon, violet ; and Portugal (already a kingdom since 1139), yellow. The final union'of Castile and Leon took place in 1230, t\nder Fernando III. el Santo. 317. Cities and Historical Places. — Leon, on the Ben- esga, a fine ancient Roman city, remained the capital until the conquest of Toledo, in 1085; and later again, after the divi- sion in 1 157. Its cathedral church, which, for the elegance and lightness of its Gothic style, is considered the finest in Spain, was begun during this period, but not finished until the fourteenth century. Burgos, in Castella Vetus, the residence of the Castilian counts, became later the capital alternately with Toledo, in Castella Nova. Zamoi-a, on the Duero (255), so celebrated in the Spanish chronicles and romances, as the scene of the siege sustained by Dona Urraca, against her brother, Don Sancho, and the feats of the Cid Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar. Uclis, in the province of Toledo, where Don Sancho, the son of Alfonzo VI., fell in battle against the Almoravids. Alcan- tara, on the southern bank of the Tagus, near the frontiers of Portugal, the celebrated castle of the knights of the order of that name. Two cavaliers of Salamanca, Don Suero and Don Gomez, riding along the banks of the Coales, in search of some strong position, which they intended to fortify on the border, to arrest the forays of the Moors, met with a hermit, who re- commended the hermitage of Saint Julian as an excellent site for a fortress. Being supported by the Bishop of Salamanca, they erected a castle around the hermitage, where they were joined by many other nobles and adventurers, all eager to ac- quire fame and wealth in this life, and glory in the next. Hence the foundation of the order of St. Jiilian of Alcantara, which rendered signal service to the king and church. In an era of religious enthusiasm, the knights, anxious to imitate the Templars in a life of monastical austerity and military disci- pline, obtained the rule of Saint Benedict. A third military order, instituted somewhat later, in 1 161, was that of Santiago, which followed the rule of Saint Augustine. It originated with some notorious bandits of Leon, who, touched with contrition for their past enormities, resolved to make reparation for them, by defending the pilgrims journeying to the sanctuary of San- tiago de Compostela (255), whom they themselves formerly so often had robbed. King Fernando II. favored this pious fra- ternity, who chose the bloody sword of their patron Santiago as their professional badge. The three powerful orders of Calatrava, Alcantara, and Santiago, carried the crusading spirit to its height in Spain, and being richly endowed by the succes- sive kings of Leon and Castile, their possessions, like those of the Templars and Hospitallers, extended over evei-y part of Spain. Life and manners in that country were still simple and austere ; they presented a wonderful mixture of heroical bravery, religious fanaticism, and romantic love and poetry. XV. Kingdom of Aragon and Navarra. 318. Sancho III., el-Maijor, of Navarra— 1000-1035— was the most powerful prince of his ago in Spain (257). Be- sides Navarra and Sobrarbe, he held the county of Ara- gon, then confined within the narrow limits of the valleys north of the Bbro. By the marriage of his son Fernando to the heiress of Leon, he extended his influence over the west- ern states of the peninsula, while his army conquered the lord- ships of Ribagorza, and pressed hard upon the French fron- tier line of the Pyrenees. Yet by dividing his dominions, in 1033, among his four sons, he impeded the develop- ment of his people; and it was not until 1076, that Navarra, Aragon, Sobrarbe, Viscaya, Alava, and Rioja, were again united under Don Sancho Ramirez (1076-1094), and formed into a kingdom, whose capital was Pamplona, or Jaca. During the reigns of Don Pedro I. (1094-1104), and the brilliant Alfonso I. el Batallador (1104-1134), it was transferred to Zaragoza. Aragon acquired in 1065 the city of i?ar5as^;-o ; in 1083, Grados ; in 1085, Monzon ; in 1096, the important Huesca, which opened the fertile plain of the Ebro to the Christian arms ; and in 1114. the equally considerable Tudela. Zaragoza fell in 1114, and the fleeing tribes were, in 1119-1 121, driven from Cala- tayud, Daroca, and Cotanda, south of the mountains, toward Valencia. Alfonso, the battle-fighter, perished before Fraga, in 1 134; and after the short reign of the Monk Ramiro II., the warlike and intelligent Raymond Berengar (Berenguer V. (IV.), Count of Barcelona, was called to the throne of Aragon (257).'-' Thus Catalonia remained, henceforth, united to Aragon, and the brilliant and highly instructive history of this well-organized and powerful kingdom begins in 1137, and continues uninterrupted for three centuries, until the final con- solidation of the Spanish monarchy, in 1 479, by the marriage of Fernando V. of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. On the death of Alfonso el-Batallador, the Navarrese, rejected the election of Ramiro the monk in Aragon, declared themselves independent, and chose for their king Don Garcias VI. Ra- mirez, a scion of their old royal dynasty. Both states re- mained henceforth separate. Rioja and Biscaya fell to the crown of Castile (257). It was not only the union with the county of Barcelona, which strengthened the kingdom of Ara- gon ; it obtained likewise the extensive and important posses- sions which the Counts of Barcelona had acquired by pur- chase, inheritance, or marriage, beyond the Pyrenees, in southern France. Count Raymond Berengar I. (II.) cl- Viejo, the most distinguished prince and cavalier of his day, had bought, in 1 070, from the Countess of Carcassonne, all her rights over the viscounties and lordships of Coinininges, Confians, and Razez^"^^ on the slope of the mountains, and of B'lincrvc (Menerbce), Beziers, Agadez, and Carcassonne, farther north on the coast ; and he had victoriously supported his new ac- quisitions with the sword against the Counts of Toulouse. The lordships of Bezalu and Cerdana, south of the Pyrenees, re- verted to Raymond III. (IV.), in 1 11 1-1 117, and in 1112, he married Dolce, the only daughter and heiress of Count Gil- bert of Provence. This magnificent country, which nominally belonged to the German Empire, but, by the neglect of the emperors, had become alienated, remained now under the sway '■^^ Raymond Berengar IV. was a perfect knight, brave, generous, active, and intelligent, like his forefathers. He owed, however, his election to the seneschal of Cat-alonia, Guillen de Moncada, who, though unjustly exiled, stood forward in the Aragonian Assembly, and spoke so warmly in favor of the chivalrous Count of Barcelona, that he was elected by acclamation. Yet the prudent Aragonesc, ever jealous of their national honor, stipulated that the name of Aragon sliould, in the public documents, precede that of Barcelona; that Ray- mond should be stj'led, not king, but Prince of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, and that his banner, wlien he advanced to battle, should bo intrusted to a knight of their own nation. "^ See the classical work of Dr. Ernest Alexander Schmidt. Ge- schichU Aracfoniens im Mittelalter. Leipzig. 1828, page 10,'^, et seq. SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. SPAIN— NAPLES. 99 of the Aragonian kings, until the year 1245, when Beatrix, the daughter of the Last Berengar, brought it as a dower to her husband Charles of Anjou, the brother of Saint Louis of France. Thus strengthened by the rich provinces of south- ern France, and the active and warlike jDopulation of Catalonia, Aragon, toward the middle of the twelfth century, rose at once to a powerful kingdom, and its distinguished monarchs were now enabled to turn their full attention to the war against the Arabs. Raymond immediately invested the strongly-fortified Tortosa, and carried the city at the point of the sword, by the fanatic bravery of the Knights Templars ; Almeria surrendered ; Lerida and Fraga, on the Ebro, which had withstood all the assaults of Alfonso el-Batallador, yielded to Prince Raymond, who finally, iu 1 1 53, had the glory to deliver all Catalonia and Aragon from the dominion of the Mohammedans. 319. Constitution AND Cultivation. The old Visigothic laws (123) had hitherto governed Catalonia; they were abol- ished by Raymond Berengar II., who substituted the usages of Catalonia — usatica — and gave a thorough organization to the different classes of the nobility and knighthood. Commerce was flourishing ; Barcelona and the cities of Provence rose in wealth and comfort, while the nobility enriched themselves with the spoils of the Moslemin. The Counts of Barcelona were celebrated for their love of the fine arts and literature. Pro- vence became, under their mild sway, the home of the roman- tic poetry of the Troubadours. Those enlightened princes surrounded themselves with minstrels, artists, and philoso- phers. The taste of the nobles soon spread through all classes ; the Provengal knights no longer considered it beneath their dignity to express their sentiments in songs, and to extol in glowing verses the beauty and virtue of the ladies, whom they defended with their swords. Then arose those tribunals of love — les cours cfamour — in which the fair ones were the judges, and awarded the prize of excellence, whether a suit of armor, or a battle-steed, or only a rose from their bosom, no less to the inspired troubadour of the gay science, than to the chivalrous victor of the tournament. The amiable manners of Provence found their way across the Pyrenees, among the proud and taciturn Aragonese and quarrelsome Catalonians, and imparted a rapid development to their language, and a soaring flight to their nascent literature. XVI. State of Valencia. 320. Origin and Extent. This small kingdom or prin- cipality, which is supposed to have extended from the Ebro along the eastern coast of Spain to Orihuela, was conquered from the Moors by the celebrated Roderigo Diaz de Bivar el Seid (the Cid), 1094-1099. Having been exiled from Castile by King Alfonso, the Cid, with his band of hardy warriors, began his forays on the Moorish dynasty of Al-Hud in Zara- goza, and the Almerids iu Valencia. He took Alcozer, and making that place his stronghold, he gathered around him bands of patriots or freebooters, with whom he defeated the Arabs in many skirmishes, and penetrating by Tiruel, in southern Aragon, he established himself in the strong castle called la Pena del Cid, the Rock of the Cid, on the northern slope of the mountains of Segura. At Burriana, he met Don Pedro I., of Aragon, with whom he concluded an alliance of friendship and support ; and learning the murder of Yaliya Al-Kadir, qf Valencia, he suddenly marched against that populous Moorish city, which he captured after a long siege. Thus strengthened and supported by Don Pedro I., and an army of thirty thousand Aragonese, el Cid could meet the powerful Almoravids hurrying to the rescue of Valencia. The great battle took place near Xativa, south of the city, where the heroical valor of the Cid and the enthusiasm of his Christian warriors, gained the most brilliant victory over the myriads of African Moors. The glorious career of the Cid el Campeador was closed with the conquest of Murbiher, — Mur- viedro, the ancient Saguntum, and the coastland, as far as Ori- huela. All attacks of the Arab chiefs were beaten off, and the hero held Valencia until his death, in 1099. His conquered territory seems to have embraced Castalona, Mi/rbi/ier, Xelves, Xativa, Denia, and Xucar. Valencia del Cid, the beautiful city in its fertile and highly-cultivated plain — la Huerta, or the garden, on the banks of the Guadalaviar, was one of the most important possessions of the Arabs in Spain. Nor did it long remain in the hands of the Christians. After the death of el Cid, it was immediately re-occupied by the Almo- ravids ; and after their downfall, by the Almohads, until King Jayme of Aragon, at last, after the greatest exertions in 1232- 1238, expelled the Moors. Great doubts have been raised by modern- historians about this early conquest of Valencia, and the kingdom of Roderigo Diaz, the Cid, and even about the existence of that chivalrous character himself; yet we can, with confidence, believe both in the Christian hero and in his conquests, though these exercised but little influence on the geography of the middle ages, on account of their short du- ration.'''' XVII. The Norman Duchy of Apulia and Calabria, AND the Grand County of Sicily. 321. Origin, Development, and Extent. We have de- scribed the condition of Lower Italy at the beginning of the eleventh century (250, 270-72). Naples, Amalfi, and Gaeta, were, like Venice, independent maritime republics ; the Lom- bard princes of Benevento, Capua, and Salerno, recognized nominally the sovereignty of the Byzantine emperors, who still possessed the Italian provinces of Apulia and Calabria. Henry II. attempted to restore the German influence; in 1021, he marched into Lower Italy, drove the Greeks easily back to the most extreme points of their possessions, conquered Benevento, Salerno, and Naples, and was during the passage every where greeted as sovereign. But this was the last expedition of the Germans. On their retreat beyond the Alps, the Byzantine catapans or governors reoccupied the lost provinces, and began to attack the Arab emirs in Sicily, while Saracen pirates de- vastated the coasts of Italy. A few years earlier, in 1016, a band of forty Norman pilgrims, returning from the Holy Land, had offered their services to the Prince Guaimar, of Salerno, and had bravely defeated a numerous host of Saracens, who were then beleaguering his city. The Normans returned to their country ; but when an Italian embassy later arrived in Nor- mandy, and made them brilliant offers on the part of the Salernian prince, a band of youthful warriors accepted the invitation, passed into Italy, and took service in his army. Their number soon increased to several thousands; and being disgusted with the mercenary warfare at the small intriguing court of Salerno, they concluded an alliance with a distinguished Greek chief Melo, an exile from Bari, in Apulia, whom they assisted in his feud against the Byzantine Em- pire."" But the Normans, being attacked by the superior '" See the (lo^^bts in Dunham's critical history of Spain. New- York, 1852, vol. ii., pages 159, and 272-284; and the historical evi- dence in Der Cid nach den Qiiellen, von Johannes von Miiller (1805); and the above- cited History of Aragon, by Dr. Ernest A. Schmidt, pages 49-55. "" A new light has of late been thrown on the early conquests of the Normans in Italy, by the discovery of the highly interesting chron icle of a contemporary Benedictine monk. Father Aime, from the con- vent of Monte Casino, first published by M. Champollion-Figeac in Paris, 1835. See our article in Ihe New-York American Review, for June, 1848, " On the adventures and conquests of the Normans in Italy, during the middle ages, from the Danish of M. Frederick Schiern, profes- sor at the University in Copenhagen. 100 SIXTH PERIOD A. D.— 973-1096. NAPLES— SICILY. forces of the Greek catapan, were defeated with heavy loss ; they effected, however, their retreat, and fortifying themselves iu Anversa la Normmma, between Naples and Capua, they awaited the arrival of fresh bands of their countrymen from Normandy. There they were soon joined by William, Hum- frey, and Drogo, the sons of Tancred of Hauteville ;"' and having surprised the strong city of Melphia, commanding the Apulian plain, they, in 1041, began the open war against the Greeks. They had now already a firm footing in Italy ; for it was not only the most daring valor and persevering forti- tude, but the shrewdest calculations, the cunning and eagle-eye of a Hannibal or Caesar, which distinguished the Normans above all warriors at this period of their glory. In Melphia, they were met, in 1047, by Robert and Tancred, and somewhat later by the younger brothers, Roger, Malger, and Godfrey, of the noble Hauteville family, whose heavy swords soon drove the Greeks out of Italy, and extended their dominion over the whole of Apulia and Calabria. The victorious Normans then divided the territories among themselves, and fortified every height and defile with impregnable castles, from whose towers the blood-red banner of the North waved in proud defiance of Greek emperors and Romish popes. Robert Guiscard,''- however, was the soul of that great enterprise ; he was the hero of the age, the strongest warrior among the strong, who, in his heavy panoply, sprung up from his fallen steed, and wielded with equal dexterity his broadsword in his right hand and his lance in the left. He carried his arms and his glory across the Ionian Sea to Greece, where his fair enemy, Anna Comnena, the purple-clad princess and historian, in spite of her anger and terror, expressed the admiration with which Robert Guiscard inspired her.''' The Normans had become the terror of all Italy. Pope Leo IX., with a large army, marched against them ; but found himself suddenly surround- ed at Civitella. The key-soldiers of Saint Peter were totally routed; the pope was taken prisoner, but honorably treated by Robert Guiscard, who received the broad and beautiful lands of southern Italy as a fief of the Holy See of Rome, and became afterwards the staunchest defender of the popes against the German emperors. Robert, as Duke of Apulia, then sent his younger brother Roger with a chosen body of Norman knights across the Straits of Messina, to Sicily, and after the most astonishing feats of valor, the two gigantic brothers had, in 1091, driven every Saracen from the island, every Greek "' The ruins of the castle of Hauteville are still seen in the neigh- borhood of Coiitences, in Nonnandy. There lived, in the beginning of the eleventh cemury, among the flower of the K"orthmen the brave old Baron Tancred, the friend and companion of Duke Richard the Good, of Normandy. Having spent many j^ears honorably in the service of his liege lord, Tancred returned to his paternal estate, where, with his first wife Muriella, he had five sons, William, Brogo, Humfrey, God- frey, and Serlon. After her death, he took another wife, Fredesenda, who bore him seven sons, Robert Guiscard, Malger, Alfred, William, Humbert, Tancred, and Roger, afterwards the celebrated Count of Sicily., All the sons of Tancred were distinguished knights. Serlon fought under William the Conqueror at Hastings, and Alfred inherited the paternal estate. The mother, Fredesenda, with her three daugh- ters, after the death of the old baron, joined her heroical sons in Italy. "" Guiscard, or Wiscard, is the Icelandic viske, the now obsolete English wiseacre. Robert was called the cunning count. Cognomen Viscardus crat quia calliditatis ; tion Cicero tanta fuit nee versutus Ulysses, says William of Apulia, in his chronicle, page 260. '" Though Anna Comnena bitterly complains of his cruelty and thirst of conquest, yet she owns that he was "an Achilles in combat and an Ulysses in cunning ; that he with firmness executed his designs, and, above all, aspired to independence and glory:" nay, the image of his manly beauty had made such an impression on the imagination of the Greek princess, that when celebrating the noble appearance of a hero, she calls him handsome like a knight from Normandy." Anna Comn. Ed. Bonnaj, i. 50. from the mainland, and they then began to prepare their fleets for the conquest of the Byzantine Empire.' 322. Division and Cities. A. The duchy of Apulia and Calabe.ia (270-71) embraced the whole southern part of the Italian peninsula as far north as Terracina on the west, and the river Tronto on the east, which separated it from Marca Ancona; it was divided into twelve larger provinces: 1. The principality of Capua — Terra Laboris — with the counties of Aquinum Fundi., Capua., Sora, and Anversa] or Aversa (Atella), called la Normanna, the first stronghold of the Northmen, near Capua. 2. Duchy of Naples, with Sorrento, Naples, and Amalji. These brilliant republics (270) opened their gates to the Norman duke, who treated them well, and let them enjoy their commerce and industry ; later, however, when they renounced their allegiance to Robert, they were recap- tured, and their prosperity destroyed for ever. Salerno was the last Lombard city which surrendered to the Normans, in 1077. It still possessed the celebrated Arabic school for medi- cine, physic, and chemistry. Crowds of students, and patients of the highest rank, and from every country in the world, vis- ited the city. An African Christian, Constantine by name, had then returned from Bagdad, and being an oriental scholar, he lectured on the practice of the Arabian Avicenna, and the improvements of the medical science in the East. Robert Guiscard protected the useful institute, and Salerno preserved its reputation for Arabian learning and literature during the whole period of the Souabian rule in Southern Italy. 3. The marquisate of Teate. 4. The county of Bojano, with Venafro, San Germano, and the magnificent and wealthy convent of Monte Casino. 5. The county of Molissio, northeast from Civitella and Ferlorium, where Robert Guiscard, in 1051, de- feated and captured Pope Leo IX. 6. The province of Capi- tanata with the counties of St. Angeli, on Mount Gargano, Ascuhom, Venosa, Lavellum, Canna, Trani, Minerbimi7n, Andria, Compsa, on Mount Apennine, and the strong and fine city of Melphia (Melfi), the key to the Apulian plain, on the Ofanto, which Rainulf, the first Norman leader, took by strat- agem in 1041. 7. The principality of Bari, on the Adriatic was the last city occupied by the Greeks. In the cathedral are seen the sarcophagi of Robert Guiscard and his son Bohe- mund, prince of Antioch. 8. The principality of Taranto, the inheritance of Bohemund. 9. Province of Basilicata, with the counties of Acerenza, Monspilosus, Gravina, Matera, Potenza. 10. Province of Frincipato, with Avellum, Acerra, and Frequento. 1 1. Val Gratis, in Calabria, with Folycastro, Consentia, and Fussanum. 12. Terra Fordana, the south- ernmost point of Calabria, opposite to Sicily, with Melitu, Reggio, and Squillacc. B. Grand County of Sicily. Falermo — el-Khalassa^ the favorite city of the Arabs, was stormed and captured by Robert and Roger on the 10th of May, 1072. Traina and Faterna, at the base of Mount Etna, where Roger, with a few hundred Norman knights, victoriously defended himself against thousands of Moslemin. Castro- Giovanni (Enna), in the in- terior, the battle-field where Ali-Ben-Na'amh and the Arabic army was totally routed by the Normans. Abuthur (Butera), and Natis (Noto), were the last possessions of the Arabs in Sicily, which, however, they kept so late as 1090, when they were forced by Roger to re-cross to Africa, after having inhab- ited that beautiful island for two hundred and sixty-five years — 826-1091. Roger followed up his victories ; he conquered the island of Melita (Malta), which then became inseparably annexed to the crown of Sicily. His son. King Roger, landed in Africa, took Mahadia, the capital of the Zeirids, Tunis, Safax, Cajjsia, Bona, the islands of Karlcis and Gerbes, and a long tract of the once so celebrated sea-coast of ancient Car- thage ; yet, after the first enthusiasm of conquest had passed SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. ITALIAN REPUBLICS— BYZANTIUM. 101 away, the Sicilian Normans neglected those transmarine pos- sessions, and they were successively evacuated and lost under the troubled reign of King William the Bad, in the twelfth century. XVIII. The Italian Republics. 323. Their CoiAiMERCiAL Activity and Conquests. Mi- lan, Pavia, Lodi, Como, and the other populous and wealthy cities of Lombardy, had already begun, in 1056, to constitute themselves as independent republics, with their consular gov- ernments, city banners, and militia. Pisa and Genoa, long i-ivals in commercial enterprise and military prowess, succeeded in driving the Saracens from Sardinia, in 1009. They di- vided the island between their republics, and governed it by judges. The Sardinian judicatures were : 1, Gallura. in the northeast ; 2, Turres, northwest ; 3, Arborea, southwest ; and, 4, Calaris (Cagliari), southeast. But soon dissensions and violent feuds breaking out between their feudatories, the Pisans gained the upper hand, and expelled the Genoese from the greater part of the island ; the latter could only sustain them- selves in the southern Cagliari, and in San Bonifazio on the island of Corsica. This island the Pisans likewise obtained in 1092, as a fief of the papal see of Rome. Both these strong and flourishing democracies took thenceforth the most active and lucrative part in the earlier crusades, until, in the twelfth century, their mercantile envy and bitter hatred produced that maritime war, which, after the naval battle near Melloria, oif the' coast of Leghorn, in 1282, terminated with the destruction of the Pisan fleet and commerce, and the downfall of that re- public. — Venice had, in the mean time, extended her conquests along the Istrian and Dalmatian coasts (272). She occupied the strong cities of Zara, Sebeinco, Traib, and Spalatro, to- gether with the islands Opsara, Pttgo, Cherso, Grossa, Arbe, Brazza, Lissa, Lesina, and Curzola. At home the rivalry of the proud families, Morosini and Caloprini, retarded the de- velopment of the republic during the greater part of the elev- enth centuiy. Venice, fearing the ambitious plans of Robert Guiscard against the Byzantine empire, formed alliance with Alexius Comnenus, and defeated the Norman fleet ofi" Corfu ; thus preparing herself for the important part she was to occupy in the crusading expeditions which, in the thirteenth century, brought her to the height of her influence and power. XIX. The Byzantine Empire. 324. Frontiers and Extent. At the close of the elev- enth century, and immediately before the great crusade, the northern frontiers of the Greek Empire were nominally the same as at the time of Otho the Great, in 973. They ran along the southern banks of the Danube and the Save, west- ward, as far as the river TJnna, a tributary of the latter, and then south to Mount Scardus and the lake of Scodra, still em- bracing the southern part of the Dyrrhachian theme (270). Bulgaria and Servia were thus considered as provinces of the empire. Subdued by Nicephorus Phocas and John Tzimisces, the Bulgarians recognized the sovereignty of the emperors, but they attempted repeatedly to break their chains, under their intelligent chief, Simeon, until they were totally defeated and prostrated by the heavy sword of Basil II., — BovXyapoKTovos. or, the Bulgar-slaiigliterer — in 1017-1 8. "■* Yet we learn, "* Basil made the immense booty of ten thousand pounds weight of gold, or two millions of dollars, at the capture of the Bulgarian capital, Achris, on the lake Lychnidus. Having surrounded and cut off the Bulgarian army, he inflicted a most atrocious punishment on ih& fifteen thousand captives, who had been taken with arms in their hands for the defence of their country. Basil ordered them to be deprived of from the disastrous passage of Peter the Hermit, and the first crusaders, in 1096, that armed Bulgarian bands occupied the forest lands — Silva Bulgarorum — from the Danube, along the Morava to Natssus and Sternitza^ or Triaditza (now Sofia), at the base of Mount Hasmus, where thousands of pil- grims perished by the arrows of that fierce people. It was only at the latter place that ambassadors of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus appeared, who led the perishing crusaders safely through the mountain passes toward Adrianople and the capital. Servia (Serblia), too, had thrown off the yoke under Stephan Boistlaf, in 1040 (196), and expelled the Byzantine governors. That spirited people maintained their indepen- dence, and extended their kingdom beyond the Morava on the east, and to the shores of the Adriatic on the west, with Scodra for their capital.''' Epirus began already to be called Albania, and Thessaly Blachia. All the Italian provinces had been conquered by the Normans in 1072, and though Alexius with courage and skill beat off the attacks of Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemund, on Epii'us, yet King Roger of Sicily in- flicted, in 1146, by the desolation of Greece, a mortal wound on the prosperity of the country. When we turn our regard to the lately flourishing provinces of Asia Minor, the prospect becomes still more gloomy. There, the Seldjukiaft sultan, Alp Arslan, had, in 1071, defeated and captured the emperor, Ro- manus Diogenes, at Malazkerd, in Armenia, and both Suleiman and his son Kilidj Arslan (Lion with the sword) had, during the following years, extended the Turkish conquests through- out the finest themes of Asia Minor, and fixed their capital at Nicfea, almost in sight of Constantinople herself. Of all the Asiatic themes, only Chaldia and Paphlagonon, on the Pon- tus, parts of Optimaton and Opsikion, and those of Thrake- sion, Cypros, and Samos, and the smaller islands, still re- mained to the empire on tlifi accession of Alexius Comnenus to the throne, in 1081. 325. His task was a most diflicult one ; the eastern empire had become weakened by the incapacity of Constantino, the rebellion of Bardas Phokas, the extravagancies of the Em- press Zoe and her lover, Michael the Paphlagonian, and the internal feuds between the generals Bryennius and Botoniates, after the defeat of the Emperor Romanus. All was disorder and misery. The monstrous Petcheneges crossed the Danube, and swarmed, burning and destroying to the gates of the capital. The Normans attacked the unprotected coasts of Greece, while the Turkish cavalry swept the plains of Natolia, and planted their banners on the battlements of Niceea and Nikomedia. It seemed; in 1081, as if the last hour of Byzantium had struck. Yet Alexius Comnenus was a prince of extraordi- nary talents ; active, prudent, courageous, cunning and inven- tive, he found the arms and the intellect even among the un- warlike, monkish Greeks of the eleventh century, to repel hia perfidious enemies, and restore the integrity of the state. Nor can we wonder that the emperor cherished the brightest hopes from the armaments of chivalrous Europe, and that he sight ; but to one of each hundred a single eye was left, that he might conduct his blind company to the presence of their king. Simeon, oppressed with grief and horror, fell down dead at the awful spectacle The Bulgarians were swept away to the north of Mount Haemus, theii old province, where they brooded vengeance until the later terribl* outbreak, in 1186. , "^ The Servian kral (king) recognized the supremacy of the pope, like the Duke of Apulia, and divided his kingdom into fifteen bishop rics, which, however, later, returned to the Greek Church. The condi tion of the Servians (Raitzi) was rude ; the kral lived like a farm© among his cattle; the chase of the bear and the wild boar was his onlj. enjoyment; his queen sat with the distafi^; and his subjects, in theii plundering propensity, would not spare the flocks and herds of the kra himself. 102 SIXTtI PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. GREEKS— TURKS. sent ambassadors and presents to France to hasten the march of the crusaders. But how great must have been his disap- pointment, on beholding the ragged, emaciated bands of pilgrims the companions of Peter the Hermit, and later his doubts and anxiety at the sight of the camps of half a million of mail-clad semi-barbarians, extending along the unprotected shores of the Bosphorus.'^* There, among the proud chieftains, Alexius beheld his mortal enemy Bohemund, the Norman, who, as a mere boy with his daring chevaliers, had cut his way into the heart of the empire, and with the lance on his thigh, had gal- loped through the whole length of it, despising the feeble attempts of the Greeks to resist his invasion. Nor was there any crowned head to control the wild passions of so many in- dependent leaders, whose coarse manners and rude accoutre- ments excited the disdain of the polished and elegant Byzan- tines. The Franks and Greeks were, in conditions of society, too dissimilar for them to associate familiarly and friendly together. Political order and civil law were, in the opinion of the Greeks, the true bonds of society ; the right of the in- dividual to redress his own wrongs with his sword, was among the Franks the most valuable privilege of existence. The authority of the central government, in the well-organized ad- ministration of the Byzantine Empire, reduced the greatest nobles to the rank of abject slaves in the opinion of the feudal barons, while the right of every private knight to decide ques- tions of law by an appeal to his sword, was a monstrous absurdity in the eyes of the Greeks, and seemed to render society among the western nations little better than an assemblage of ban- dits. The conduct of the Latin clergy did nothing to pro- mote Christian charity. The contempt of the learned eastern prelates for the ignorance of their Latin brethren was even changed into abhorrence, when they beheld men calling them- selves bishops, prancing about the streets of Constantinople in coats of mail. The Latin priesthood, on the other hand, despised both the pastors and the flocks, when they saw men hoping by scholastic phrases to influence the conduct of war- riors ; and they condemned the Christianity which suffered its priests to submit to the authority of the civil magistrate in the servile spirit of the Greek clergy.'" Thus the nations could not understand each other. Both accused their rivals of falsehood and treachery, and scenes of fearful disorder were the consequence. The Greeks attempted to surprise the camp '^'* We must not present to ourselves the crusading armies in that pomp and glittering array, in which, two centuries later, we meet the French, English, and Spanish chivalry on the battle-fields of Crecy, Poitiers, or las Navas de Tolosa. "We are yet in the early age of that institution ; we have before us the heroes of Homer, in their rude and simple grandeur, not the brilliant Athenians at IMarathon, nor Alexan- der at the head of his Macedonian phalanx. The early crusaders are not yet the plumed and crested cavaliers, on their barbed and caparisoned steeds, cased in gilt or burnished plate armor, as described by Froissard and Comines. Godfrey of Bouillon, Tanored, and the other pilgrims of rank still wear the clumsy hauberk, or coat of chain-mail, covering the head like the monk's cowl, with sleeves, and their mittens, instead of gauntlets, and falling down to their knees like a cartman's blouse. The liose and pointed shoes of mail, with long iron spurs without rowels, and the low, flat steel cap placed over the mail-hood, without a visor or beaver, completed the ungraceful costume of the first crusaders. Only tlie triangular shield or scutcheon, hanging down over the breast, is pninted in brilliant colors, and the emblazoned surcoat, lined with ermine-vair, is thrown over the hauberk. The war-horses are yet totally defenceless, and we obseiwe with astonishment how they sink by tliousands before the arrows of the skirmishing Turks, until the Christians afterwards adopted the Saracenic fashion of barbing their steeds with a complete cover of horse armoi'. Such is the appearance of the 100,000 mounted knights and squires, who with 400,000 light-armed foot soldiers, of both sexes, says the Archbishop of Tyre, prepare to cross the Straits and conquer the Holy ]jaud. "' See this interesting passage in Colonel Finlay's Media3val Greece (page 86), from which we have borrowed it. of Godfrey, and were punished by the conflagration' of the beautiful suburbs, palaces, and country-seats on the Bos phorus. We must not be unjust to Alexius, His position was difiicult in the extreme. He sent rich presents to the chiefs, and persuaded them by fealty to swear allegiance to the empire for the lands they were going to conquer in the East.'''* In return, he furnished those disorderly mul- titudes with provisions and vessels for their passage into Asia; he aided them by the superior skill of the Greek engi- neers, dm-ing the siege of Nicsea ; and we cannot wonder that he shrewdly planted his imperial banner on the walls to secure that important city from desolation, and the Turkish prisoners from slaughter. Alexius profited by the great crusade. Niccea, Nicomedia, Dorylceon, the greater part of Asia Minor, as far as the plains of IkoniusQ and all the coast-lands returned once more under the imperial sceptre. By his brilliant vic- tory over the Petchenegian hordes, he intimidated both Bul- garians and Servians, and the Byzantine eagle banner once more floated from the fortresses on the Danube. The discipline of the Byzantine armies, which had relaxed during the internal feuds, was revived, and a new generation of chiefs and war- riors was created, with whom his excellent successors, Calo- johannes and Manuel were enabled to protect the empire dur- ing still more threatening dangers. In his long reign of thirty-seven years, Constantinople enjoyed order and tran- quillity ; the strength of the Basilian laws was restored ; arts, literature, and science were cultivated, and the emperor in his old age enjoyed the happiness of seeing an eloquent and im- perishable monument of his reign produced by his lovely daughter Anna Comnena. IV. THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD IN AVESTERN ASIA AND NORTHERN AFRICA DURING THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. States of the Seldjukian and Ortokid Turks. 326. Orighsi, Development, and Conquests of the Turks. Wo have visited the Mohammedan dynasties of the Ghaznavids, Ghorids, and Khowaresmids, on the banks of the Oxus, through Khorasan, on the Indus, and m Hindostan (275-76). The scimitar of the Arabs had never entirely sub dued the nomadic tribes of the ancient Massageta, or Scy- thians,"' who, with their herds of horses and cattle, roamed over the extensive plains of Sogdiana, the Maimr-al-Nahr of the Arabs (212), between the Oxus and Jaxartes, and northeast of the latter river toward the frontiers of China. From their chan Oghus, they early took the name of Oghu- "" It was in the splendid palace of Blachernce, now a desolate ruin, where, in the presence of the glittering court, Godfrey of Bouillon bent his knee to the emperor, and was adopted his son. The oath of alle- giance was repeated by all the crusading chieftains, except by the old Count Raymond of Toulouse, though he afterwards showed himself more faithful towards Alexius than the others. See the lively scene in Walter Scott's last novel, Count Robert of Paris. "9 X. o-raphic picture of the ancient Turkish tribes, and the accurate description of the Caspian Sea is given already by Herodotus. "The Caspian," says the father of history, " is a separate sea of itself, being in length a fifteen days' voyage for a rowing-boat ; and in breadth,, where it is widest, an eight days' voyage. On the western shore of this sea, stretches the Caucasus, which is in extent the largest, and in height the loftiest of all mountains ; it contains within itself many and vari- ous nations, who, for the most part, live upon the produce of wild fruit-trees. This mountain then bounds the western side of the Cas- pian ; and on the east, toward the rising sun, succeeds a plain in extent unbounded in the prospect. A great portion of it is inhabited by the Massagetw, against whom Cyrus, the Persian King, resolved to make war," &c.— Clio. 204—215. SIXTH PEEIOD A. D. 973-1096. TURKISH DYNASTIES IN ASIA. 103 sioMS ; and when they, in the tenth century, were converted to Islam, they called themselves Tttrkmanieh^ Turkmans, or faithful (devout) horsemen. Their different tribes had a mili- tary organization, and they were divided into the three arrmvs of the left iving, and the three breakers of tlie right. The three latter tribes were situated on the west, toward the Cas- pian Sea, and to them belonged the celebrated Seldjukian Turks. They did not from the beginning form a race by that name ; they were, on the contrary, young adventurers from all the tribes of the right wing, who had gathered around the bold and enterprising Emir Seldjuk, and won fame and wealth in successful expeditions against the contending Arabian dynas- ties south of the river Oxus. Soon, the victorious bands of Seldjuk were swelled by thousands of Turkman cavaliers. The effeminate Arabs offered the brilliant young warriors pay and booty for the service of their arm and bow ; and thus, we at once see them form themselves into well-organized squadrons of mer- cenaries, who may be compared to the Varanghians of Constan- tinople (226, 262), the Catalonians and Almugavars of the thirteenth century, and the still more celebrated Italian Con- dottieri of the fourteenth and fifteenth. The service of these Turkish hirelings, ever ready for fighting, was eagerly sought by the' petty dynasties in Khorasan and Zabulistan, in their wars the one against the other ; gradually, the Turks became so formidable, that the nephew of Seldjuk, Toghrul-Bei was proclaimed sultan by his warriors in 1037. Fortune smiled on his heiraks}^'^ He overthrew the Ghasnavid dynasty in Kho- rasan (275), and extended his conquests throughout Persia, from the Oxus to the Tigris. The Abassid Caliph, Abdal- lah V. Kaim-Beamrillah, a captive in the hands of his pow- erful emirs, the Buids (277), called Toghrul-Bei and his Turks to Bagdad, and made him emir-al-omrah, in 1063. The new dignity, the impetuous bravery, and excellent tactics of the Turkish sultans, made them irresistible. Alp-Arslan and his son Malek Shah, Djelal-ed-Din and Djelal-ed-Daula (the Grlory of Faith and Power), followed up the victories of their great ancestor ; all the lands west of the Euphrates, Ar- menia, Syria, and Asia Minor, bowed beneath the sabre of the Seldjuks. But, after the death of the great Malek-Shah, in 1062, the immense empire of the Turks fell to pieces, and formed already a number of independent Sultanates on the first appearance of the crusaders in Asia in 1097. XX. Seldjukian Sultanate of Rum. 327. Extent and Cities. — The Sultanate of Rum (Rum- ili), or leonium, consisted of provinces which were conquered from the Romans (Greeks) by Sultan Suleiman, the nephew of Malek-Shah, in 1074. It was the most extensive and pow- erful of the Seldjukid Sultanates, and embraced the fertile lands between Armenia, the upper Euphrates, the Taurus, Ci- licia, Cappadocia, Isauria, Phrygia, the southern parts of Pon- tus and Paphlagonia, Galatia, Pamphylia, Lycia, with the cities of Nicfea and Dorylseum, in Bithynia. Ico7tiicm (Koniah), in the open Lycaonian plain, was the early capital of the sultans. They soon, however, removed their residence to Nic/Ea, on the Askanian lake, which became the scene of the first great event of the crusades. That strongly fortified city was closely besieged by 500,000 crusaders from May 5th to June 20th, 1097, when, after the defeat of Sultan Kilidj Arslan before its gates, it surrendered to Alexius Comnenus, and became a sec- ond time the bulwark of the Asiatic possessions of the Byzan- tine empire. Xerigordon, a small town, twelve miles from "" The Turkish banner — beirak — consisted formerly of a silver cres- cent and a horse-tail — tooghi — fixed on the point of a lance. The pres- ent Tui'kish army have purple standards with the lialf moon. Nicaja, where the crusading bands of Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless suffered a dreadful defeat by the Turk- ish emir, El-Canes, in 1096. Of twenty-fivo thousand pil- grims, only three thousand, with Kuku-Peter escaped to the coast of Kibotus, whence they were shipp'ed back to Constanti- nople. The Turks afterwards used the bones of the slain to fence their vineyards in the environs. DorylcEum — Aopu'Xaioi/ — in the beautiful valley of Gorgoni, at the base of Mount Dagostenon. in Phi-ygia, on the river Thymbres, a tributary of the Sangarios (264), became the battle-field of the greatest cavalry combat of modern history. Sultan Kilidj Arslan, of Iconium, more provoked than dismayed by the loss of his cap- ital Nica3a, had assembled a still larger army, and was hover- ing on the flanks of the advancing crusaders ; and when he learned that they had separated into two bodies, while crossing the hills of Dagostenon, he immediately resolved to strike a blow, and advanced rapidly with 150,000 horsemen, without a single foot-soldier, on the 1st of July. 1097. It was still in the gray of the morning, when the Norman scouts, outside the camp of Bohemund, at Dorylseum, were startled by a rocking of the ground, like an earthquake ; and soon the trampling, the neighing, and clattering of advancing horse, announced the ap- proach of the Moslemin. Bohemund immediately ordered all the carriages to drive up in square, on the banks of the Thym- bres, as a protection for the women and sick pilgrims, while Robert Curthose of Normandy, formed on the left wing, Tan- cred on the right, and Bohemund himself, with the Italo- Norman chivalry, covered the rear. Yet, before these dispo- sitions were executed, the Turkish masses already threw themselves across the river, and the terrific battle began. The Christian knights, in their heavy panoply, and unacquainted with eastern warfare, charged full gallop, with couched lances, into the midst of the Turkmans, who turned bridle to allure them on, while other squadrons advanced to attack them in the flanks. Thus, Tancred, having lost his steed, was sur- rounded on all sides, and in imminent danger, until Bohemund burst forward and saved him ; yet, overpowered by numbers, and having lost their horses by the arrows of the infidels, the Christians were forced back across the river with severe loss. This was the first great struggle of the crusades; here, at Dorylaeum, the Christians were taught to change their con- tempt for the unwarlike nations of Asia into admiration at the higher tactics and the impetuous valor of the Mussulmans. Rapidly extending their deeply ranged squadrons in the form of an immense semicircle, the Turks instantly outflanked the crusaders, and, sending in volley after volley of arrows, they brought them down by hundreds. The Normans, in their rage, attempted to spur forward, but the Turks wheeled around them under continual discharges. The forces of the Chris tians became exhausted ; horse and foot mingled in frightful disorder, and began to seek refuge among the carriages ; their total defeat seemed already at hand, when Godfrey of Bouillon and Raymond of Toulouse appeared on the southern hills at the head of 50,000 horse. Godfrey, entirely unacquainted with the danger of the Normans, had continued his march south, toward the Phrygian city of Antioch, when some Nor- man knights, spurring after him, announced the danger of Bohemund. Godfrey, immediately ordering his infantry to encamp, hurried back with the French and German chivalry. On his appearance, the Turkish trumpets and kettle-drums sounded the retreat, and their wild masses recrossed the river, but formed again on the brow of Mount Dagostenon. With incredible enthusiasm, the Normans now advanced on the right; the fine old Raymond of Toulouse took the centre with his Provengals ; Godfrey and his brothers, Baldwin and Eustache, the left, with the Germans; and thus closely massed, 80,000 Christian knights, with waving banners, couched lances. 104 SIXTH PERIOD.— A. D. 973-1096. ARMENIA— PERSIA— SYRIA. and the cheering shoxit, " God willeth it"—" Dieu le veuV— rushed thundering along to the decisive charge. The Turks, ou their panting and jaded horses, with empty quivers, still resolve to regain the victory with the edge of the scimetar. But, at the first onset of the crusaders, they are borne down and thrown into irrecoverable confusion; and when, at last, the brave Bishop Ademar of Puy, with the rear-guard, by a circuitous route, suddenly falls on their flanks, they are sur- rounded and totally defeated. The pursuit now became ter- rific ; for six miles the Christian sword and lance raged among their broken and flying horse ; the Moslemin spurred away for their lives, dispersing over the Phrygian plains, and disappear- ing, at last, behind the mountains of Angora. Four thousand emirs and sheiks, and twenty thousand Turkman troopers, covered the field ; their camp, their herds of horses and cam- els, and an immense booty, fell into the hands of the victorious crusaders. Asia Minor was won at one blow ; the road to Syria lay open ; and the Christian sword had humbled the pride of the proudest prince of Islam. — Philomelion (Aksher), in the Pisidian plain, on the road to Iconium, where the Dan- ish prince Swend, with his bride Fiorina of Burgundy, and two thousand Danish and Norwegian knights, were surrounded by the Turkish sultan of Iconium, and after the most heroical defence, cut down to a man, in October, 1097, during the siege of Antioch, by the main army of the crusaders."' Tarsus (266), on the Cydnus, in Cilicia, a thriving city at that time, mostly inhabited by Christians, G-reeks, and Armenians, occupied with commerce and agriculture. Here the retainers of Tancred, the Norman, and of Baldwin, the haughty brother of Godfrey of Bouillon, began an open war about the possession of the city, in which many lives were lost, and the dispute not settled without some difiiculty. Cilicia formed afterwards a small in- dependent Armenian kingdom under its own dynasty of kings, who resided in Adana. XXI. The Sultanates of the Ortokids. 328. Besides the Seldjuks, other Turkish hordes had in- vaded the Caliphate, among whom the Ortokids were the most distinguished. The founder of their dynasties was Ortok-Bei, who settled with his band in Armenia, in 1082, when the Seld- juks allowed him to occupy Jerusalem. This Turkman tribe was more savage than the Seldjuks ; they augmented the op- pression of the Christian pilgrims, whom they insulted and tortured in the most awful manner, until, at last, the Fatimid caliph of Egypt sent an army into Palestine, in 1096, which drove the Ortokids out of the city ; they sustained themselves, nevertheless, in Mardin, Diarbekir, and in Armenia (Khelat), during continual feuds with the crusaders, until they were de- feated and extirpated by the Ejubids and the sultans of Ico- nium, toward the close of the twelfth, or the beginning of the thirteenth century. XXII. The Atabeks in Al-Djesirah and Persfa. 329. Extent and Cities. The Sultanate of Iran (Per- sia), the second in power after that of Iconium, and the prin- cipal seat of the Seldjukian princes, extended eastward to the "' See the beautiful episode in Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered," in which the great poet describes the nocturnal battle, the heroism and f;dl of tlie Danes. "Sveno del re dei Dani unico iiglio, Gloria e soste^^no alia cadente etade Esser tra quel bramb ch"l pio eonsiglio Seguendo han cinto per Gesu le spade;" etc. CanloYlW. Slanze C-4-?. Indus and Mount Muztag, on the frontiers of China. Bag- dad, on the Tigris, was still the residence of the caliph, who, at that time, had lost his political power, and being entirely dependent on the Great Sultan, was reduced to the mere per- formance of preaching, and other religious functions in the mosque. Ispalian soon became the splendid capital of the Turks and New Persians, and the seat of their literature and choicest architecture. Vishabour, the capital of Khorasan, with gorgeous monuments of the Gasnavid princes. The Seld- jukid sultans did not learn prudence from the example of the caliphs ; they likewise intrusted their slaves or ofiicers, and principally their teachers and guardians — the Atabeks, or fathers of the princes — with extensive powers, and the govern- ment of entire provinces. Thus, several dynasties arose in Laristan^ Farsistan, and Irak, which contributed to the total dissolution of the Seldjukian empire ; civil war raged through- out the country ; the fields were desolated ; famine and mis- ery prevailed ; the cities became abandoned by their inhabit- ants, who took up arms, or fled to the mountains for protection, while the wild beasts roamed through the land in search of prey. Djelal-ed-Din Mankberni put an end to this state of things in 1225. XXIII. Seldjukid Principalities in Syria. 330. The sons of Ortok-Bei had maintained themselves in Syria : Rodwan in Halep, and Dokak in Damascus, about 1095. Yet a few years later, Emahed-Din, Zenghi (1121- 1145), the atabek of Mossul, made himself independent, and extended his influence by important conquests from the Orto- kids and the crusaders. Zenghi was a distinguished man ; he showed himself indefatigable in his administration, and the exe- cution of the laws ; he bridled the avarice and arrogance of his emirs and cadis, to whom he gave an example of moderation him- self; he kept the strictest discipline among his troops ; and he shrewdly discovered that the religious enthusiasm of the Frank crusaders could only be vanquished by his exciting a similar fanaticism among the Moslemin. After the conquest of Edessa, in 1144, he was stabbed by a domestic slave, and his dynasty was then divided into difi'erent lines. The most important arose in Halep (Aleppo). There Zenghi was succeeded by the great atabek Mohammed Nour-ed-Din (1 145-1 174), whose praise filled the East, and still re-echoes in the chronicles of the crusaders. Nour-ed-Din was long considered as the beau ideal of oriental princes; terrible in his continual wars against the Christians, just and humane in the tribunal, moderate and virtuous in his habits, and in an eminent degree combining the great qualities of the statesman, the general, and the high-priest ; he repelled all the attacks of the Christians, captured several of their most re- nowned heroes, and laid, by his expedition to Egypt at the re- quest of the caliph, Mohammed Moktasi Beamrillah, in Bag- dad, the foundation of a large empire, when death suddenly called him oif, in 1174."'^ His^ general, Shirkuh, the Kurd, and the cousin of Nour-ed-Din, Salah-ed-Din (Saladin), over- turned the Fatimid dynasty, and the latter, after the conquest of Egypt, dispossessed the sons of Nour-ed-Din, and founded, in 1181, the powerful Ejubid dynasty, which proved so fatal to the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem. The other smaller lines of Nour-ed-Din, in Mesopotamia (1 149), remained in obscurity, and perished beneath the sword of the Mongols. "^ The tyrbc or sepulchre of Kour-ed-Din stands in the great bazaar at Damascus. Pilgrinis still flock to his sanctuary, which is surrounded by elegant arcades, having a tank in the centre shaded by funeral cypresses. The entrance is shut by chains, and as Christians we could not obtain permission to visit the interior during our visit to Damascus, in 1844. — See the Article "An Excursio7i to Damascus and Bdalhek^' in the New- York Review for August and September, 1848, p. 165. SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. 105 V. NORTHERN AFRICA AND SOUTHERN SPAIN DURING THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 331. Principal States. The Arabian dynasties in North- ern Africa, who had more or less influence on the crusades, can be reduced to three : these states were in their order from east to west. XXIV. The Caliphate of the Fatimids in Egypt. 332. At the time when the Christian army advanced upon Palestine, Jerusalem was held by Mosta Abulkasem, of Cairo, who had, in 1096, expelled the Ortokid princes and defended the Holy City against Godfrey of Bouillon and the first cru- saders with an army of thirty thousand troops, under the command of the brave old Iftikhar-ed-Daulah. The relations between the caliphs and the kings of Jerusalem remained alter- nately hostile or friendly until the final overthrow of the last Fatimid, Ahded-Ledin-Illah, in 1171, by Salah-ed-Din (331). XXV. The Kingdom of KAiROUAN or Mahadia. 333. Moer-Ledin-IUah (213, 280) had left Yusuf-Ben- Zeiri as governor in Kairouan, when he marched to Egypt. This dignity passed to the descendants of the latter, who did not tarry to declare themselves independent of the Fatimid court at Cairo. They maintained their position, and foiled the languid attacks of the Egyptians ; but when, in 1 070, the enterprising Normans expelled their emirs from Sicily and in- vaded Africa, the Zeirids were defeated and lost. The last chief, Hasan, was dethroned by King Roger I. ; Mahadia, Kairouan, and Tripolis, were captured, and the Zeirid posses- sions, in the interior of Africa, were soon occupied by the rov- ing Berbers and the Almoravids of Morocco. Only a lateral line, the Hammadids, in Budja, south of Algiers, were able to make a stand for some years longer. XXVI. The Empire of the Almoravids in Al-Magreb AND Spain. 334. Their Origin, Progress, and Settlement in Spain. — Beyond Mount Atlas, in the deserts of ancient Getulia, dwelt several Arabian tribes, who, from their habit of covering their faces, were called the Veiled — Molathemin. Among them arose a fanatic reformer of Islam, Dshaubar, who preached the holy war. The whole tribe became frantic with piety, and were called MarahUes, Morabeths (Al-Moravids), or Zealots. They chose Abu-Bekr for their Emir-el- Moslemin^ in 1056, who, with his followers, crossed Mount Atlas, and conquered Moi'oeeo with the sword. His great successor, Yusuf-Ben- Taxfin, formed a mighty empire in Magreb-al-Aksa (214), and, following the call of the petty kings of Andalos (Spain), who had risen on the downfall of the Ommiyad caliphs, he ap- peared beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, in 1086, with an irre- sistible army of fanatics, and defeated King Alfonso VI. in the great battle near Zalaca^ where thousands of corpses covered the battle-field, and the Castilian king only escaped destruc- tion by the valor of his knights (316). Yusuf is the revered hero of the Arab historians, who describe his person and char- acter in the most favorable colors. AH the petty princes, the Abadids of Sevilla, the Beni-Alaftas, in Badajoz, and the others in Cuenza, Xativa, Murcia, Almeria, Denia, Lerida, Tortosa, Huesca, and Tuclela yielded to the new Marabut devotees. Only the Family Al-Hud, in Zaragoza, maintained their seat until 1146. The Almoravids turned their arms against the hero of Valencia, but all their furious attacks were 14 repelled by Ruy Diaz de Bivar, el Campeador, and only after his death, in 1099, did they obtain temporary possession of that small kingdom. 'Their sway in Spain lasted only some fifty years, and in 1180, they were dispossessed by the brilliant Ahnohads — Al-Muahedim — the Arabic Unitarians from ]\Io- rocco. The Almoravids were men of capacity ; Spain became a flourishing country during their rule. In Europe, they soon adopted the chivalrous manners of their antagonists, the Christians ; but in Africa they remained nomades, and lived like Bedouins. There were many celebrated colleges and schools in Africa. The greatest Arabic philosopher, Ibn Roshd (Averrhoes, from Cordova, who died in 1198), was the first translator of Aristotle, and taught in the high-school at Morocco. Poetry was cultivated in Fez, where poetical com- bats were instituted, with rewards for the victorious poet. But the uncertainty of property by the continual revolutions, re- tarded all moral progress ; the manners were sensual and cor- rupt, and the mass of the nation were, by their rulers, held in a degrading bondage. Such was the state of the world at the beginning of the crusading wars, toward the close of the eleventh century. CHAPTER VIII. THE ORIENT, ITS POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ETHNOGRAPHY DURmG THE TIMES OF THE CRUSADERS. A. Kingdoms and PRiNciPALiTrES founded by the Cru- saders between a. d. 1096 and 1291 (1310). 335. Historical Remarks. — The bloody victory at Do- rylasum (328), in 1097, had secured the advance of the great crusading army through Asia Minor. After sufi'ering dread- fully in the desert plains of Lycaonia, they crossed Mount Taurus, and soon encamped in the rich valleys of Cilicia and Merash. From thence Baldwin of Boulogne, the brother of Godfrey of Bouillon, with a band of knights, undertook the conquest of Edessa, beyond the Euphrates, while the main body of the Christian army, descending to the banks of the Orontes, laid siege to Antioch in October of the same year. The strength of this still magnificent city, the valor of its com- mander, Baghi-Sejan and his numerous garrison, the want of provisions, sickness and misery, prolonged the investment and decimated the Christian army in the most fearful manner ; many thousands sank into their graves ; and when the sur- vivors at last, in July 1098, by a secret understanding with Armenian residents, succeeded in capturing the city and tak- ing an awful revenge on the Turks, they immediately found themselves besieged in their new conquest by the immense army of Korboga, the Sultan of Mossul, on the Tigris. Yet, despair fired the courage of the Christians, and sallying forth in the highest enthusiasm with Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert of Flanders, Robert of Normandy, Bohemund, and Tancred, at their head, they brilliantly defeated the Turkish masses on the 28th of July, 1098, and driving them across the Euphrates, made an immense booty, and returned in triumph. Thus miraculously securing their conquests of Edessa, Antioch, and occupying many castles in Mount Leba- non, they prepared for the toilsome march to Jerusalem. The prudent and generous Godfrey of Bouillon was the soul of the enterprise, and uniting the warring and quarrelling chiefs of 106 SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. the different corps of the diminished Christian army, at last moved rapidly along the Syrian coast, supported by the Pisan, Genoese, and Venetian fleets. Thus then, at length, in May, 1099, tiie wearied feet of the staunch crusaders, after so many privations and dangers, trod the cherished soil of that hal- lowed land, and on the 6th of July, they beheld from the western range of Mount Ephraim the object of their ardent hopes and desires — Jerusalem ! One universal shout of joy filled the air, vibrating in undying echoes from hill to hill, while tears of rapture burst from every eye. On they moved, and their noble leader could scarcely prevent them from rush- ing forward at once, in their wild enthusiasm, to storm the walls of the holy city. But Godfrey soon perceived that the conquest of the city was not so easy, and could not be effected by an onset with sword and lance alone — especially as the Egyptian garrison (233), was much stronger in numbers than the crusaders, of whom, out of 600,000 only 40,000 were now encamped before the walls. At length, every preparation being made, and battering-engines, wooden towers, and storming- ladders provided, in spite of every existing difficulty, by the effective support of the Genoese engineers and mariners, the first general assault was attempted on the 1 4th of July ; but as the besieged defended themselves with dauntless bravery, the Christians were driven back with heavy loss. On the fol- lowing day, however, the whole army renewed the attack from the north and west. The tower of Godfrey approached the battlements, the drawbridge was flung down, and that hero was himself one of the first who reached the walls of the conquered Jerusalem. Tancred, the Norman, scaled the northwestern towers at the same time ; the Gate of Saint Ste- phen was thrown open, and in rushed the Christian host. The Saracens, abandoning the walls, sought now their refuge within the sacred enclosure of the Mosque of Omar, on Mount Mo- riah — but a dreadful scene of massacre began, and even the generous' Tancred was not able to save the prisoners who had surrendered to him. Only old Raymond of Toulouse, who had early occupied the Tower of David — the ancient Hippi- cus — succeeded in securing the life of the Emir Ifhkhar-ed- Daulah and some thousands of the most distinguished Egyp- tians, who, under French escort, were sent off to Ascalon the day after the conquests. Honor to the humane and unpreju- diced Frenchman ! Sixty thousand Saracen corpses strewed the streets and dwellings of the city, while the triumphant war- riors, throwing aside their blood-stained armor, proceeded bare-headed and bare-footed to the Holy Sepulchre, where Peter the Hermit headed the immense procession, and was with rapture received by the monks and Christian inhabitants of Jerusalem, to whom he four years before had promised the armed deliverance of that sacred spot. Thus the city, whicli just before had resounded in every part with the wild shrieks of the slaughtered, was now filled with prayers and hymns to the honor and glory of God. Godfrey of Bouillon was soon afterwards elected king of Jerusalem, and the brilliant battle near Ascalon, against 140,000 Egyptians and Moors from the Arabian and African coasts, at once secured the Syrian conquest to the Christian arms. The greater part of the crusaders, however, returned to Europe, and the death of King Godfrey, in the midst of his organizations, in August, 1100, was an irreparable "loss to the new kingdom, though his able brother, Baldwin, Count of Edessa, soon grasped the reins of govern- ment with a strong and steady hand. 336. The principal kingdoms, feudal principalities, and settlements Avhich, during the first crusade and in the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were formed by the Franks in Syria, Cilicia, Greece, on Cyprus, Crete, Rhodes, and the islands of the ^geaii, were thirteen in number. I. Til'- Kingdom of Jcrusnhm. with its feudal dependencies; II. The Principality of Antioch ; III. The County of Tripo- lis ; and IV. that of Edessa ; V. The Kingdom of Ai'menia ; VI. The Kingdom of Cyprus ; VII. The Latin empire of Romania (Constantinople) ; VIII. The Kingdom of Saloni/ci; IX. The Duchy of Athens and Bosotia ; X. The Principality of the Morea ( Achaia) ; XI. The Conquests of the Venetians ; XII. The Duchy of the Archipelago (Naxos) ; and XIII. The Military Republic of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem ; We shall here give a short description of these ephemeral, but, in an historical view, highly interesting states, the materials for which were mostly gathered during our residence in the East ; and we shall likewise give an account of the most im- portant historical monuments of that age, many of which still exist."^ I. The Kingdom of Jerusalem. 337. Limits, Feudal Division, Cities and Castles. — The suzerainty of the king of Jerusalem, as lord-paramount, was recognized by the three great feudatories of Syria, yet these princes enjoyed an almost entire independence in their states of Edessa, Antioch, and Tripolis. The frontiers of the Latin settlements in Syria extended, at the death of King Bald- win II., the time of their highest prosperity in 1131, from Malatia (Melitene), in Armenia on the north, southward to Ailah, on the shores of the Red Sea and the great Arabian desert — a distance of five hundred and fifty miles, while the breadth west from Tarsus, in Cilicia, eastward to the castle of Senerak, near Diarbekr, in Mesopotamia, was three hundred and forty miles. Yet more south the frontier did not extend farther than the ridge of the Anti-Lebanon, a distance of only thirty-five miles from the shores of the Mediterranean. The en- tire coast from Tarsus to the borders of Egypt, had been occu- pied by the crusaders after the reduction of the maritime cities of Laodicea, Tripolis, Tyre, Acre, and Ascalon. In this ardu- ous undertaking the pilgrims were powerfully supported by the fleets of Venice, Pisa, and Genoa, and even by the.-;' of Flemish and Scandinavian crusaders. Yet, so long and narrow a strip of land was very difficult to defend, because the Sara- cens were still lodged in several impregnable strongholds within the frontiers, and the terrible Assassin fanatics (361) soon succeeded in fixing themselves permanently on Mount Lebanon, and even on the rocky coast of the Mediterranean, in the very heart of the Christian territory. Farther in the interior, the States of Halep, Mamah, and Damascus re- mained in the hands of the Mohammedans, who, at any time, might burst forth from their sure retreat on the outskirts of the desert, and with their myriads assault any exposed point of the weakened Christian kingdom. But most fortunately were the many petty dynasties that had sprung up among the Seldjukian Turks and their allies after the death of Sultan Malek-Shah still fighting against one another, and they thus gave the Christians the respite of a few years of comparative peace and prosperity. 338. I. The Kingdom op Jerusalem Proper extended from the frontiers of Egypt on the south, northward to the '" In our fifth map, which presents the state of the world at the time of the crusades, the minium, or red-lead color, indicates the far- thest extent of the Seldjukian conquests in Asia Minor, and of tlie sub- sequent empire of Salah-ed-Din, the Ejubide. The territories of the crusaders, on the contrary, are colored yellow ; but we have not given that color to Constantinople, because it was reconquered from the Franks by the Greeks (1261), before the close of the crusades. Cyprus has its own brown color, forming an independent kingdom. Several important places in Syria and Palestine could not be given on the map, on account of the narrow space ; the historical student will, however, find them all on the maps accompanying Prof, Robinson's Biblical Re- searches in Palestine. Vols. IF. and UI. SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. 107 Dog-River— iVa/t?--e^-7ire^6— near Beirut, and embraced the prin- cipality of Galilee togetiier with a number of viscounties, baro- nies, and smaller seigniories, whose feudal owners, when gathered under the royal banner of Jerusalem, with their vassals and the contingents of the maritime cities, formed an efficient army of 10,000 horse and foot. The city of Jerusalem — el-Kuds (the Holy), or, Beit cl-Mukkadas (the Sanctuary) — was the capital of the new Christian kingdom. In its high and strong position, protected on the east by the deep valley of Jehoshaphat, on the south by that of Ben-Hinnom^ and on the west by the somewhat more shallow valley of Gihon, and the castle of David, ^'^'^ it could only be attacked with success from the more level approach on the north. There, throughout the olive-grove, the Christians had pitched their camps of diverse nations, Normans, Lorrainers, and G-ermans, who extended all westward round the city to the castle of David and Mount Zion, on which Count Raymond of Toulouse and his French had raised their towers, and whence they directed their attack. Godfrey of Bouillon stormed and gained the northeastern corner tower of the city wall, over- hanging the valley of Jehoshaphat, and the Christians then penetrated by the neighboring gate of Saint Stephen. After the conquest, and the establishment of the new kingdom, in 1099, Jerusalem remained the seat and centre of the Latin government, under eight kings, who followed Godfrey of Bouil- lon on the throne of that pigmy state, "^ during eighty-eight years, until October, 1187, when the city was again wrested from the hands of the Christians by Salah-ed-Din, the great Sultan of Damascus and Egypt. Five years later, during the third crusade of Philip August and Richard Coeur-de-Lion, in 1192, when Jerusalem was threatened with another siege by the victorious king of England, the Sultan made the greatest exertions in strengthening its fortifications by massy walls and bulwarks, and deep trenches cut out in the living rock on the northeast side, where they can still be seen at the present day.'" The Lion-Heart, however, did not come ; he returned to Europe in 1192, and Salah-ed-Din died shortly afterwards in Damascus. The gigantic fortifications of Jerusalem were again demolished by Sultan Melek of Damascus, in 1219. Yet, the Christians, having unexpectedly obtained the restitu- tion of the Holy City and the greater part of Palestine, in 1228 — not by the prowess of their arms, but by the friendship '" The castle of David, which during the middle ages is mentioned under the name of the Castle of the Pinans, is the ancient tower of Herodes the Great, of Roman construction and great strength. For its accurate description, see Prof. E. Hohmson's BiblicalHesearches in Pal- estine, Vol. I., pages 453-58. The mediaeval walls and gates of Jerusa- lem are described, Vol. I, pages 384-88 and 467-78; the Temple area, pages 415-52; and interesting details on the history of the city during the age of the crusades, are found in Vol. II., pages 43-62. '" The successors of Godfrey were : Baldwin I. of Edessa, his bi-o- ther, 1100-1118; Baldwin II., of Burgh, his cousin, 1118-1131; Fidco, of Anjou (and Melissenda), 1131-1142; Baldwin III., their son, 1142- 1162; Amalric {Am&urj), 1162-1173; Baldwin IV., 1173-1183; Bald- win v., the Child, 1183-1186; Guy (Guide), of Lusignan, (and Sibylla), 1186-1192, when the kings, after the loss of Jerusalem in 1187, resided in Acre, or in the island of Cyprus. "" The Turkish engineers and sappers from Mossoul labored fur six months in constructing defences and raising new lines of Avalb. Several thousand Christian prisoners of war were forced to toil alono- with them. Immense bastions were built on the weaker side of the city, toward the gate of Abraham, the present Yafa, or Pilgrims' gate. The active sultan rode about, carrying stones on his saddle-bow ; and his valiant brother, Malek-Adel, the emirs, the cadis, and even the sofis and priests themselve", vied in enthusiasm, handling the spade and the pick-axe, in order to encourage the tliousands of Moslemin who hurried from the Euphrates to fortify and defend the tliird great Sanctuary of their faith. Richard would have had a hard work if he had come on ! The Arab geographer, Mejr-ed-Din (by Von Hammer) gives some curi- ous details. Fandgruhen des Orients, Wien, 1812, Vol. II. pages 118-142. of Sultan Khamil for his gossip the German emperor — they joyfully began anew to build up the walls and to strengthen the more exposed parts of the city. Frederic II. could not consolidate the tottering throne of Jerusalem ; he was sud- denly recalled to Europe by the hostile aggression of the Pope ; the dissensions between the Teutonic knights, then the guard- ians of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Knights Templars and Hospitallers, brought all into confusion again ; and thus the Saracen Emir, Nassir-Daud of Kerak, succeeded, by a sudden attack, in surprising the city. Jerusalem was now, for the third time, taken by the Moslems ; the defending knights were cut to pieces ; and walls, towers, and monuments levelled to the ground. The Christian affairs in Syria were in great disorder, when, in 1243, a new and more terrible storm ap- proached from the East : the irruption of the Khowaresmians (276). The Ejubid sultan, As-Saleh-Nedjmed, of Egypt, him- self made a treaty with the Christians and offered them the sacred city for the common defence, and as a bulwark for Egypt. Monks and knights, merchants and mariners, then hurried from Acre to Jerusalem, to fortify it in haste, and make a stand — but all in vain — the wild Khowaresmian hordes, after their defeat by the Mongols, and maddened to despair, had already crossed the Euphrates ; they burst upon Jerusa- lem, where, in 1244, Christians and Saracens alike perished beneath their swords in a general massacre ; the Holy Sepul- chre was sacked and burnt ; and, though those fanatics after- wards dispersed and disappeared, Jerusalem has remained ever since in the power of the infidels. 339. The great mosque — Ktiibet-es-Sukhrali, (Dome of the Rock) — built by the caliph Omar, in 638, on the site of the ancient Jewish temple, was converted by the crusaders into a magnificent Christian church in 1099, and richly endowed with chapters of canons, territories, and all the immunities of the cathedrals in Western Europe. Farther south, on the Temple area, stood the large and beautiful Church of Saint Mary, erected by the Emperor Justinian I. in the sixth century, which by the Saracens had been converted into the highly re- vered mosque al-Aksa {i. e., the distant from Mecca). During the Christian rule these buildings were occupied by the kings of Jerusalem, and called the Royal Palace, or the Temple of Solomon. Baldwin II. assigned the part of it lying toward the city as a convent for the new order of religious knights, who, at that time, by their extraordinary bravery, began to excite the admiration of the world. It was from this building that these monk-warriors took their name, Fratres militice Templi, or Knights Templars. There, on the great platform of Mount Moriah, the modest brethren in Christ established their convent, their armory, and stables for a thousand horses; and from thence they sallied forth to gain not only laurels or martyrdom from the infidels, but that political and material influence which, in a few years, raised the Knights of the Tem- ple to one of the most powerful and wealthy orders in Europe. Yet, after their defeat at Kuran el-HaUin, and the surrender of Jerusalem in 1 187, the Sultan and his Mamlukes re-entered the Saram, or sacred inclosure, with pomp and rejoicings, purified the sanctuaries with precious rose-water from Damas- cus, raised with triumph the crescent and emblems of the Mo- hammedan faith, and destroyed the Christian palaces and con- vents so eifectually, that nothing at the present day appears on the extensive area of the Temple save the ancient Saracenic mosques and chapels with their porticos, tanks, and surround- ing orange and cypress groves. This, too, was the fate of nearly every church and convent built in the city or in the environs by the crusaders — most of them have disappeared without leaving a trace to indicate their site. Among the few monu- ments partially preserved is the Holy Sepulchre itself, which was erected by them in the form of a stately church in thg* 108 SEVENTH PEEIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. Gothic style, inclosing the whole of the sacred precincts of Calvary and Golgotha. The fticade fronting the south was ornamented with marble pillars, and flanked by high tow- ers, which later have been broken off by the Saracens. Inside of the portals stood the sepulchres of Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin I. with their plain inscriptions.'" Opposite to the Church of the Resurrection are seen the ruins of another important establishment of mediaeval Jerusa- lem, Hosjntiitm Sancti lolianni, or the convent of the Knights Hospitallers, who, in piety and bravery vied with the Templars themselves. Hospitals for sick and disabled pil- grims, under the care of devoted monks, had existed in Pales- tine and Egypt centuries before the crusades. The merchants of Amalfi (270) had established a convent of Benedictines of Santa Maria Latina, opposite the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusa- lem, to which was, later, joined a nunnery of Mary Magdalen and a hospital of St. John, the almoner of Alexandria. There sick pilgrims of all nations and creeds were received, and, being healed, most liberally dismissed ; and this truly Christian establishment had ah-eady acquired so great reputation, that Godfrey of Bouillon, after the conquest in 1099, endowed the Hospital of Saint John with lands and regular revenues. Yet it was not until twelve years after the foundation of the mili- tary order of the Templars, that the Monks Hospitallers, changing their patron of Alexandria for the Baptist, resolved to imitate the example of the Knights of the Bed Cross, and to arm in defence of tlie faith. It was the valor, devotion, and even the noble emulation of the two military orders (to which, dtiring the third crusade was joined a third, that of the Teutonic or German Knights of Saint Mary), which mainly con- tributed to maintain and extend the Latin conquests in the Levant, while they likewise laid the foundation of all the nu- merous orders of chivalry in Spain (318), France, England, Germany, and Denmark, which sprung up and flourished in a subsequent period. The massive buildings of the hospital now lie in ruins. The spacious court is occupied by a Moham- medan tannery — el-debaghah. From the upper platform the pilgrim still looks down into the vaulted refectory, hall, and church, of tbe once so powerful Hospitallers. The roof has become a kitchen-garden, from which the view over Jerusalem, the Haram with its mosques, and the distant Mount of Olives, is of surpassing beauty. The Teutonic order possessed like- wise a convent in the city called das Deutsche Haus, but no trace of it is left. It was principally during the crusade of the emperor Frederic II. in 1228 and 1229, that the German knights, formerly so disdainfully treated by the other orders, obtained some influence in the affairs of Palestine. The interior of Jerusalem with its bazaars, vaulted streets, tanks, baths, and gloomy, castellated dwellings, had then no "' The tombs of the two great crusaders were broken open and their ashes dispersed by the Khowaresmians in 1244. The inscription on that of Baldwin runs thus : Eex BaMuinus, Judas alter Machabasiis, .> Spes patrise, vigor ecclesia;, virtus utrlusque, Quem formidabant, cui dona et tributa ferebant, Cedar et Aegyptus, Dan ac homicida Damascus, Pro dolor, in modico hoc olauditui' tumulo ! The other Latin inscriptions had ah-eady become illegible toward the close of the sixteenth century; they were afterwards daubed over with plaster by the Greek monks, in order to conceal every historical proof of the pretensions of the Latins. The contest betAveen Greeks and Latins about the supremacy of the Holy Sepulchre is still pending, and has again become the great political question of the day. In the Latin sacristy of the sepulchre the author of this work saw, in 1844, the sword and spurs of Godfrey of Bouillon, which are exhibited to the travellers and pilgrims by the monks. The heavy broadsword may be genuine, but the long, brazen spurs, with rowels, seem to be from a later iieriod, perhaps from the fourteenth or fifteenth century. doubt the same general appearance as now, and even the streets have preserved the same direction."* 340. The environs of Jerusalem present likewise some me- morials of the crusaders. At Bethania, on the eastern slope of Mount Olivet, a massy old tower near the sepulchral vault of Saint Lazarus seems to have belonged to the convent of Black Nuns of Saint Benedict, built a. d. 1 132 by King Fulco at the request of his queen, Melissenda, for her sister, the princess Iveta, and of which the latter became abbess. At el-Bireh, north of Jerusalem, on the road to Nabulus, stand the ruins of a fine Latin church that belonged to the Knights Templars, At Kolomieh, on the route to Yafa and the sea- coast is a well preserved Christian church, now used as a stable for the horses of the robber-chief Abu-Gosh, who there ransoms the passing pilgrims. Lydda (Diospolis), on the plain of Sharon, with the gigantic ruins of the Church of Saint George, which was destroyed by Salah-ed-Din, in a. tj. 1191, on the ap- proach of King Kichard the Lion-Hearted and the crusading- army. On the east of Jerusalem, the tower at Jericho in the valley of Jordan, called by the pilgrims the house of ZacchcBUs, is a structure of that time, having been erected for the pro- tection of the rich fields, palm-groves, and gardens, which were iiTigated by the plentiful spring of Elisha — Aiii-es- Sultan — near Jericho. The valley of the Jordan, like the environs of Tyre and Tripolis, were in the times of the crusaders planted with the sugar-cane ; and near the ruins of Jericho are still seen extensive aqueducts and porticos with pointed arches, supposed to have been sugar-mills of the Saracens. The many magnificent convents mentioned by early pilgrims as having been situated on the banks of the Jordan, present now nothing but ruins and heaps of rubbish. East of Bethlehem lies the high, conical hill, called the Mount of the Franks (the ancient Herodion), where, according to tradition, the Christian knights still defended themselves several years after the loss of Acre, and at last succeeded in cutting their way with the sword to the coast. 341. The frontiers being exposed to the continual incur- sions of the Saracen light-horse, the crusaders took care to erect strong castles at convenient places on the border, which were garrisoned by the bravest knights of the two military orders ; thus, the southwestern frontier toward Egypt and the great desert Bt-Tih, was protected by the castle of Gaza, the border-town which was held by the Knights Templars in 1 152-1 187, when it fell, after the bravest defence. Later, the Christians united to the Egyptian Saracens, lost here the great battle in 1244 against the Khowaresmian fanatics, which caused the prostration of the Frank dominions and the ulti- mate loss and desolation of Jerusalem. Gibelin (Beit-Gibrin), northeast of the former, the almost impregnable fortress of the Knights Hospitallers, was built in 1134 to control the roving Mohammedan bands from the still unconquered city of Asca- lon. Blanchegarde or Alba Specula (Tell Safieh), northeast of Ascalon, was the scene of some of the romantic feats of Rich- ard the Lion-Hearted, on his daring excursions in quest of "^ The principal street — la me de David — ran then, as it does now, from the. tower of David near the Yafa gate, on the west, eastward through the lower city to the Temple area. La rue au Patriarche, started off northward to the Patriarchate and the Holy Sepulchre ; far ther east ran, in the same northern direction, parallel with the former, the Rua Palmariorum. (the present Bazaar-street), where palm-branches were sold to the returning pilgrims. There were la rue du Sepulchre, de Mont Zion, des Herbes, du Temple, de Saint Mienne, la rue couverte le Masquimat, la rue aux Alemans, de Jeliosaphat, de I'Arc Judas, and others, some of which can still be recognized. The Latin gold and silver smiths, the butchers, and every profession, had their own street and bazaar. See the mediajval description of the city, cited by Consul Sohultz, in his Lecture on Jerusalem, Berlin, 1846, pages 107-120. SEVENTH PERIOD A. D. 1096-1300. KINGDOM OP JERUSALEM. 109 adventures among the Saracen swarms. Ascalon itself, in a strong position on the coast, was one of the most important bulwarks Qf the kingdom from the time of its conquest by King Baldwin III. in 1153, until its retaking by Malek-Adel in 1 187, and its total destruction by Salah-ed-Din in 1191. It was a splendid city with immense fortifications and an active and happy population, who were ruined by the crusading warfare ; and even to this day the ruins and dreary solitude of Ascalon present the most mournful* spectacle imagination can conceive. It was beneath the walls of Ascalon that Godfrey of Bouillon and the twenty thousand heroes of the first crusade, after the capture of Jerusalem, defeated with lance and sword the caliph of Egypt and his hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Moors, on the 12th of August, 1099, and thus secured their glorious conquest. 342. On the east the Arabian border was defended by the castle of Allah (202), on the gulf of the Red Sea, by Mons Regalis (Schobek), north of Mount Hor and Petra in AVady Mousa, and the still stronger Kerak (Krak), on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, commanding the great caravan route from Damascus to Mecca in Arabia. The roving expeditions of the faithless Reynald, Lord of Kerak, against the Moham- medan pilgrims— 7iaf/;'^es — during the truce, in 1186, gave a pretext to Salah-ed-Din, to invade Palestine and reconquer Jerusalem the following year.''" Yafa (Joppe), on the coast west of Jerusalem, surrounded by magnificent orange-gardens, was the landing-place and emporium of the crusaders and their Italian auxiliaries, the Venetians, Genoese, and Pisans. The seigniories of Mirabel and Ibclin, and the castles of Blaen, Habakuk, and Plain du Temple^ all situate on hills in the plain of Sharon, secured the passage of the thousands of pilgrims, male and female, who then continually wandered to the Holy Sepulchre or back to the coast. Ar&uf {K\%\xx), on the rivulet of that name, north of Yafa, was the battle-field on which Richard of England, with the flower of the chivalry of England and France, on the 7th September, 1191, in one of the most tremendous battles on record, routed and defeated his great antagonist, Salah-ed-Din and his Mamlukes. Ajalon^ on Mount Ephraim, in the interior, from which Richard mourn- fully contemplated the distant Jerusalem, which the talent and power of Salah-ed-Din and the treachery of his French auxilia- ries did not permit him to approach. It was then that he con- cluded the treaty with the Sultan, and returned to Europe in 1 192. County and city of Neapolis — Napulus, Naplus (the ancient Sichem), north of Jerusalem, in a beautiful valley, covered with olive plantations and orange gardens, between Mounts Garizim and Ebal, was the seat of several councils and feudal assemblies of the feudatories during this period. Magnificent ruins of the cathedral of Saint Peter are still standing. The barony of Caesarea, the seigniories of Baron and Chaipha^ at the foot of Mount Carmel, were important possessions on the coast. Atlith, or the Castle of the Pil- grims, south of Mount Carmel, was the last refuge of the Chi'istians in Palestine, from which they in May 1291 departed for Cyprus. The viscounty of Ftolemais, Accon, or Saint Jean d'Acre, with the beautiful and strong city on the large bay north of Mount Carmel, became, during the years 1189-1191 the grand theatre for all the astounding events of the third crusade. After the surrender of the city to Richard it became the capital of the kingdom and the emporium of eastern traffic. With its triple range of impregnable walls, its deep and broad moats, fortified barbicans and drawbridges, its inner and outer "' An interesting description of Kerak is found in Lieutenant Lyncb's Exploring Expedition on the Dead Sea. The glittering white walls of Kerak can be plainly distinguished across the sea from the western heights of Bethlehem, at a distance of more than fifty miles. harbor secured by battlcmcnted moles and the celebrated Fly- toiver, Acre was the last stronghold of Christianity and Euro- pean civilization in the East. Stately cathedrals and convents, royal palaces, and commercial bazaars, all glittering with the luxuries and riches of the Levant, filled the interior. The de- voted Knights Templars had on the coast their fortified Teni- pie and palace, the Knights of Saint John their magnificent Hospital, still to this day. among heaps of ruins, the best pre- served building of the city. Every quarter (barrio) was forti- fied by ranges of walls ; Venetians, Pisans, Genoese, Lombards, French, English, and Germans, possessed their own wards, tribunals, and storehouses. The luxury and ostentation of the court, chivalry, clergy, and commercial republicans almost passed belief. Silken curtains and canopies were on cords drawn across the bazaars and streets to protect the grand pre- lates, the Venetian merchants, and Frank cavaliers from the scorching rays of the sun, while marble fountains, rich gardens, and shady groves scented with orange-blossoms and adorned with beautiful flowers and shrubbery, were distributed in vari- ous parts of the city to compensate the citizens for the delight- ful environs of Mount Carmel, which were rendered insecure by the continual incursions of the Mamlukes. To preserve this important city had become the great jjolitical aim of the European nations during the latter half of the thirteenth cen- tury. Yet the Mamluke sultans of Egypt, then ruling through- out the East, had resolved its destruction, and, in spite of the immense exertions of Saint Louis in his Egyptian expedition, and all the enthusiasm and devotion of the Orders of the Tem- ple and Hospital, Sultan Ashraf Khalil and his myriads car- ried the city on the 20th of May, 1291, and by the massacre of thousands of Christians and the total destruction of Acre put an end to the crusades in the East. 343. The Principality of Galilee, or of Tiberias, had been granted by Godfrey of Bouillon to the faithful and generous Tancred, the Norman. That fertile province extended from Mount Carmel through the plain of Esdrcelon — Jezrael-^ — east- ward to the Jordan and the lake of Genezareth. The access from the Jordan was protected by the barony of Beisan (Scythopolis) with the large castle of Belvoir — Belvedere — (Kaukab), belonging to the Knights Hospitallers, who de- fended it for many years with their wonted bravery. Other places of strength were the castles of Samir and Gcnin, in strong positions in the defiles of the mountains of Samaria. Fulah (Faba), Forbelet, Bteria, and the large fortress on the summit of Mount Tabor, were all castles of the Knights Tem- plars protecting the plain of Esdraglon and the caravan road from Jerusalem to Damascus by the bridge of Jacob. Naza- reth, the small industrious Christian city in its beautiful val- ley, was, on the 1st of May, 1187, an eye-witness to the terri- ble combat near the barn-floor of Mahel, where a small body of Knights Templars and Hospitallers, led on by their Grand- Masters, with heroical fortitude withstood the thousands of Mamlukes swarming around them ; they all perished, over- whelmed, but not vanquished. This chivalrous battle was only the prelude to the still more tragical events which followed. Sepplioris (Sefurieh), on a copious spring in the delightful valley el-Buttauf, six miles north of Nazareth, where, a month later, the whole feudal strength of the kingdom, twelve hundred mail-clad knights and fifteen thousand sergeants and archers, assembled. But King Guy of Lusignan, and the Grand-Master of the Temple, Thierry of Ridderford, disregarding the pru- dent advice of Count Raymond of Tiberias, to await the Sul- tan in that advantageous position, ordered the march across the barren ridge of Tell-Hattin, where, next day, they were sur- rounded by the hundred thousands of Salahrcd-Din. The battle was fought near Allubiah (Lubieh), between the peaks of Hattiu (Kurun-el-Hattiu), two miles west of the city of Tiberias. no SEVENTH PBEIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. TRIPOLIS— ANTIOCH. There, on the 9th of June, Salah-ed-Din totally destroyed or captured the forces of the Christian kingdom. Nearly all the knights of the military orders perished either on the battle- field or were slaughtered in cold blood before the tent of the Sul- tan ; the same fate awaited the perfidious Raynald of Chatillon, the lord of Kerak. The captivity of King Guy of Lusignan and thousands of his feudatories and vassals ; the rapid inva- sion of unprotected Palestine, where burning towns and con- vents and mouldering corpses marked the advance of tlie Mam- lukes; the surrender of Acre, Jerusalem, Ascalon, Gaza, and nearly all the cities on the coast and the castles in the interior, proclaimed the downfall of the Christian power in the East, which even the efforts of Barbarossa and Richard the Lion- Hearted were unable to restore. 344. The northern frontiers were likewise defended by numerous fortresses confided to the knights of the two military orders. Safecl, on the high range of mountains northwest of the lake of Tiberias, was then a splendid castle in the possession of the Knights Templars. They defended it heroically against all the forces of the Sultan after the disastrous battle of Bl- Hattin and the surrender of Shobek and Kerak in 1 188. But it was demolished by Sultan Melek of Damascus in 1220, like the walls of Jerusalem, Banias, and Tibnin, for fear of the announced crusade of the Emperor Frederic II. at the head of all Christendom. Though rebuilt by the Templars and gallantly defended, it was stormed and taken in 1266 by Sul- tan Bibars of Egypt, and its two thousand warriors were, after the surrender, butchered in cold blood. Other castles cele- brated in the crusades were those on the JacolPs ford of the Jordan and of Banias (Paneas, Csesarea Philippi), at the head springs of Jordan, defending the valley and the defiles of Mount Hermon against Damascus. Toron (Tibnin), west of Banias, protected Tyre and the sea-coast, and Beaufort, Bel- fort (es-Shukif), high on Mount Lebanon, overhanging the river Litany (Leontes), the defile of Coele-Syria, and Ba'aibek. The latter fortress is of Roman origin. After the defeat of the crusaders at Banias in 1179, the Christian ai-my found refuge in the castle of Belfort. Salali-ed-Din besieged it in 1189, and could only reduce it after immense exertions and sacrifices. The seigniories of Montfort, Baffa and Scandc- lion, were situated north of Acre, protecting with their castles and garrisons the mountain defiles along the coast, the Tijrian Ladder, or Bas el-Abiad (Leucum promontorium), and Tyre, then a large, wealthy and commercial city, strongly fortified and inhabited by thousands of Italian, French, and Flemish merchants and mariners. The sugar-cane was cultivated in the plain of Tyre, as it was at Jericho, on the Jordan. The barony of Saisette (Sidon), with the maritime port and empo- rium of Sidon ; the strong fortress of Franche- Garde, built by Saint Louis after his defeat and surrender in Egypt in 1248, and Beirut, in its charming position at the base of Mount Lebanon, took all an important part in the stirring events of the crusades, and are mentioned on every page of the chronicles of the time. 345. II. The County of Tripolis, the sovereignty of the brave old Raymond of Toulouse, ran along Mount Lebanon to the Nahr-Ioba on the north, and embraced the charming Buka'a, or the valley of Ba'albek, which, however, the Chris- tians did not cultivate with care on account of the perpetual inroads of the Saracen horsemen from Damascus, who carried off the cattle and inhabitants. This exposed territory was de- fended by several celebrated castles, such as Hissr ol Akrad (the Koord-Castle), Mons Ferrandus, Mons Pelegrinum, Hissr Saiidshil, and many others. Tripolis (Tarabolos), Tor- tosa, Botrion and Byblus (Gibail), were maritime towns with an active commerce and export of the rich products of Syria. The southern parts of the county, from the Nahr-el-Kelb to the Nahr-el-Kebir, were already at that time inhabited by the Chris- tian sect of the Maronites, so called from theia- patron saint. Mar Maron, of the sixth century. They retained the opinions of the early Monothelite heretics, with some modifications, un- til the twelfth century, when, abandoning the doctrines of the one will in Christ, they were admitted to the communion of the Roman church in 1 1 82, and remained faithful adherents of the Pope down to the present day. Their language was Syriac ; they dwelt in open villages on Mount Lebanon, where the great convent Kanobin, in the valley behind Tripolis, was the see of their patriarch. In their numerous monasteries and hermit- ages, on the rocky eminences of the mountain, they most rigidly observed the discipline of Saint Anthony. Their priests were formerly allowed to marry, and all lived peacefully in the bosoms of their virtuous families under a rustic roof, where the pilgi-im met with a hearty and hospitable reception.'*" The last count of Tripolis was Raymond III., who escaped from the defeat at el-Hattin, but died of grief immediately after his return in 1 187. Kelawun, the sultan of the Baharite Mamlukes of Egypt, conquered the county and expelled the crusaders in 1288. 346. III. The Principality of Antioch, the second Latin settlement in Syria, had been founded by Bohemund, the Nor- man prince of Taranto, the son of Robert Guiscard, immedi- ately after the siege and conquest of the city of Antioch, in 1098. It extended from the Nahr-el-Melk on the south to the Syrian defiles of Mount Amanus cu the North, and bordered eastward on the county of Edessa and the Euphrates at Mamb- edsli. Numerous castles defended the eastern frontier toward the Mohammedan states of Halep and Damascus; these were Bira, Al-Sared (Sarepta), Artasia, Harem (Hareng), Mesrin, Rugia, Albara, Marra, Chabarda, Apamea, Cafartab, and Shaizar (Larissa). Antioch was separated from the county of Tripolis by the castles and strongholds of the fanatic Mo- hammedan sect of the Ismaelites or Assassins, who, under the sway of the mysterious chief, the Old Man of the Mountain, extended from Lamsir on the shores of Caspian, across the Koordistan Mountains by Diarbekr and Mardin to the north- ern slope of Mount Lebanon and the Mediterranean between Nahr-el-Melk 5,nd Nahr-el-Ioba. The river Orontes has its origin in the upper valley of Ba'albek, and running north turns suddenly west ; it then receives the water of the beautiful lake of Ofrenus, and discharges itself ten miles west of Antioch in the Mediterranean, beneath the projecting promontory of Mount Orontes. There is still a small port or fishing village on the site of the formerly so opulent city of Seleucia. '^^ Other Christian sects on Mount Lebanon were the Suriani or Syrians, the ancient inhabitants, or rather a mixture of Romans, Greeks, and Saracens ; they had still retained many Mohammedan rites in their Greek liturgy. The Ncstorians believed in two natures in Christ, and had only three sacraments ; their priests were married. The Jacobites venerated Mary and the saints, but they believed only in one nature in Christ ; tliey circumcised the children of both sexes, and gave them a fire-baptism. Among the heretical Mohammedan sects of Mount Leba- non were the Ismaelites (2'(9, 361) and the Druses, the most remarkable. The latter appeared in the eleventh century, seventy years before the crusades, as followers of Hakim Beamrillah, the Fatimid caliph of Egypt, who proclaimed himself to be an incarnation of the Divinity, and established the sacred lodge or hall of wisdom in Cairo (280). They believe in the transmigration of souls, and in a ridiculous mixture of Christian and Mohammedan traditions ; they are likewise accused of licentious orgies in their secret meetings. They are a handsome people, aud they observe a strict outward decorum. The Druses are hardly mentioned by the historians of the crusades. The tradition about their origin from Count Drusus (Dreux), who was said to have occupied the Frank Mountain, and settled afterwards on Mount Lebanon with a col- ony of criisaders, is decidedly fabulous. SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. ANTIOCII— EDESSA. Ill Antioch, once greater and i-icher than Rome and Constan- tinople themselves (12), was still a magnificent city with a large and industrious population. On the approach of the crusading army in 1097, the city was held by Bagi-Sejan, the lieutenant of Sultan Borkeiarok, with 37,000 troops, but thousands of Christian citizens had been ordered to leave their homes. The valley of the routes is bounded on the north by the fertile range of Cara Dagh^ or Black Mountains — entirely covered with vineyards and olive-groves — and south by the precipitous rocks of Mount Cassius, the last spur of Mount Lebanon on the north. It rises to a height of more than one thousand feet, and is divided by a deep dell, from which a wild torrent, foaming and chafing, traverses the city in its breadth, and flows into the Orontes. The view from this summit is magnificent ; on it lies the impregnable citadel, which is only approachable by a narrow path beneath the walls running up the flanks of its western side. The wall crowning the summit of these high peaks is the gigantic work of Justinian (262), though it is based on still larger constructions of the ancient Romans. These double ranges of fortifications were sixty feet high, and inclosed the entire city ; on the north they were washed by the Orontes. A fortified stone bridge crossed the river, on which the hardest battles between Christians and Saracens were fought. The former built the castle Maregard on the east, the Bridge Castle on the north, and the Tancredh Castle on the west, to cut-ofi" the communication with Damascus and Halep. By the treachery of Emir Feir (Phirous), an Armenian cuirass- maker, a tower called the Sisters, on the west side, was surren- dered to Bohemund, who, with his daring Normans scaled the walls on the night of June 1st, 1098, and thus saved the army of the crusaders. The great battle with Korboga of Mossoul was fought twenty days later on the plain north of the city, and terminated with the total defeat of the Moslemiu. The principality of Antioch was successively ruled by nine princes of the family of Bohemund; it was temporarily in the hands of the Greek emperors, but was captured after a sanguinary siege, in 1268, by the Maniluke Sultan, Bibars I. Bendocdar, who drove the Christians down to the sea-coast, and circumscribed their dominion to Acre, Tyre, Beirut, and Tripolis. The fierce Mamluke did not stop with the slaughter or captivity of one hundred thousand Christians ; he ordered the demolition of Antioch, which was executed with wanton cruelty. Thus, the huge masses of ruined walls crowning the mountain tops, debris of churches and palaces here and there looking out from the vineyards and olive-groves, and a miserable Turkish village on the Orontes, are the only relics of the once celebrated x\n- tioch.'" Seleucia (Sowaida), at the mouth of the Orontes, and Scanderoon (Alexandretta), northward on the coast, and sepa- rated from Antioch by the celebrated defile, Beilan Boghas, were considered as the ports of the capital. Laodiccea (Lata- kieh) and Gabala (Gibel), south, on the coast ; the former was for a length of time occupied by the Greeks. Doluk, Aintab, Ravendel, and Doivair, were fortified towns in the interior. 347. IV. The County of Edessa (13), in the ancient Mesopotamia — AlDjezirah of the Arabs (205), was the first state in Asia formed by the crusaders in 1097. The Christian inhabitants of Edessa did homage to Count Baldwin of Bou- '" It would be difficult to describe the melancholy impression which is excited iu the bosom of the traveller at the sight of the desolate ruins of Antioch ! Damascus, with its immense population and its splendid bazaars; Jerusalem, with its churches, convents, and pilgrims; even Sidon, Beirut, Tripolis, and Tarsus, with their commercial life and activity, their ports and shipping, present still moving pictures of ori- ental manners and prosperity, while the squalid misery of the villagers of the present Andakieh stands in mournful contrast to the unrivalled beauty of the natural scenery around them. logneon his approach. Several Turkish chiefs in the neighbor- hood sold their territories to him ; others were conquered ; and thus this active and daring prince succeeded in extending his principality, with the important cities of Malatia (Meli- iene),Samosata and Kart-Birt in the north; Severak, Hamlin and Harran in the east, and Mamhcdsh and Shabactun in the south. Edessa (Roha, Orfah), in a strong position with immense walls and an industrious population, was the capital of the county and the bulwark of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Warriors so able and powerful as the first Count Baldwin of Boulogne and his successor, Baldwin of Burg, defended the county most brilliantly against the efi"orts of the disunited Turkish sultans of Mossoul and Halep. But when those chiefs had successively been called to the throne of Jerusalem ; when the vigilant Count Joscelin of Courtenay had died in 1131, and his .dissipated son, Joscelin II., dallied away his time in Tell Basher with wine and women, new dangers began to threaten this exposed border province. Zenghi, the celebrated attabek of Mossoul (331) appeared suddenly with a large army before Edessa in 1144, during the absence of the count, captured the city by treachery, and drove the Franks from all their posses- sions on the left bank of the Euphrates. With the greatest exertions they were only able to defend Germanica, Rumkala, the important Tell Basher (Turbassel), Nezib, and some other castles on the west of that river. The untoward news of these disgraceful events in Europe caused the French king and Ger- man emperor to undertalce the unsuccessful second great cru- sade in the years 1147-48. 348. Constitution of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In the assembly of the great feudatories held by King Godfrey at Jerusalem, in January, 1 100, the constitution of the new king- dom was laid down in the code, or as it was called, the Assize of Jerusalem, one of the most precious documents of the feudal legislation of the middle ages. The knights and other crusa- ders who had taken possession of Syria, were natives of the most difi"erent countries of Europe: — of France, Italy, England, and Lorraine. None of them could claim his native laws as the groundwork for the new constitution of the conquered lands : it was therefore to be established according to the gen- eral leading principles of the feudal system in Europe and to the urgent necessity of the moment. Thus, the component political bodies in Jerusalem consisted of the feudal nobility, the hierarchy, and the corporations of the free burgesses, not yet recognized in Europe as a third estate. The first two were then engaged in a fierce contest of life and death, while the latter had just sprung into existence at the expense of the former during their struggle. From the combination of these heterogeneous elements then, arose the kingdom of Jerusalem, that ideal mediaeval state, the very caricature of a political organization of the eleventh century, in which we find on the one hand the most suspicious restriction of royal power, and on the other all the abuses of feudal independence. Jerusa- lem, according to the Assize, was an indivisible kingdom, hered- itary in the male and female lines. When extinct, the election of the successor to the crown belonged to the high clergy and the barons. The king was crowned by the Patriarch of Jeru- salem, and was obliged to swear to the constitution. The crown lands formed only a single barony for the support of the king, who was thus doomed to remain the poorest monarch in Chris- tendom. The great principalities of Edessa, Antioch, and later of Tripolis likewise, were considered as baronies, and their princely owners formed the first secular estate of the kingdom, their vassals the second, and their rear-vassals oi- valvasours the third. Yet not only the three princes, but all the barons and the prelates enjoyed the regalia: the right of coinage, and of feudal warfare : they presided in their own feudal courts over their vassals, in the same manner as the king in his ^supreme 112 SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. ARMENIA— CYPRUS. court over the barons ; like the king, they had their own viscount as judge of the municipal courts in the cities. The fiefs were hereditarj', and minute regulations were laid down respecting succession, cessions, guardianships, and the like. Different again from the baronies were the knights' fiefs of the crown lands, which the king distributed as a baron to brave war- riors with military tenure ; they ranked only with the rear- vassals of the princes, and depended solely on the crown. There was a high court — haute coiir — in which the king sat as president over the great vassals, and another for the burges- ses — cour des barges. The members of the first were knights — and the jurymen of the latter respectable citizens. For the native Syrians there existed a Syrian tribunal, and the cities enjoyed extensive privileges ; but they remained mostly in the possession of the republics of Pisa, Araalfi, Genoa, and Venice, who obtained entire quarters in the maritime town, where they built towers and fortified bazaars under their proper laws and euardians. All these mail-clad merchants often thwarted or fought with one another, and constantly confounded piracy and commerce. The feudal militai-y service under the crown was rendered by six hundred and sixty-six knights and two hundred knights under the banner of Tripolis and Antioch. Each knight was attended by four mounted squires in light armature, thus forming an array of three thousand five hun- dred lances. The cities and churches supplied five thousand sergeants or archers on foot ; the commercial corporations of Pisa, Genoa, and Venice some five hundred more ; and in this manner the regular militia of Palestine amounted to ten thou- sand troops ; though this number could be doubled in cases of great danger. After having repressed the arrogance of the priesthood, Godfrey soon regulated the ecclesiastical affairs. The canonic law was introduced, and the entire conquei-ed ter- ritory divided into dioceses with suffragan churches, numerous monasteries, convents, and pious institutes, all dependent on the Patriarch of Jerusalem. , The crusaders in Palestine attempted to engraft their own fantastical system on a soil where it never could grow ; nay, they carried it to the highest pitch of exaggeration by the in- stitution of religious orders of military monks ; but they failed, and. enlightened by the experience of two centuries, their de- scendants gave up at last the vain contest, and brought more correct and enlightened views and ideas back to Europe, where a new period of political and religious emancipation began to dawn. The first conquest and colonization of Syria by the Latins had a brilliant appearance ; but in spite of an extraor- dinary display of religious enthusiasm and military bravery, the new kingdom did not prosper ; it suffered from an innate debility — a gangrene — at its very birth. That long and nar- row strip of coast, with barren mountains interspersed with arid deserts or fertile plains, then almost entirely devastated and depopulated by war and famine, had become occupied by a number of proud, ignorant warriors, whose whole attention was drawn off to the defence of the castles Avhich they built for the security of their conquest ; they were all equals ; they de- fied obedience, and could only be reduced by the sword ; the prelates were as warlike, and often more haughty and quarrel- some than the knights themselves ; they peopled monasteries and convents with thousands of monks and nuns. While thus secular and ecclesiastical bigots formed the ruling classes, the native Syrians and Greeks were oppressed ; their lands were occupied by the chivalrous aristocrats, and they were stripped of their commercial profit by the Venetian and Genoese repub- licans. What wonder, then, that they soon became hostile to their Latin masters and renewed their relations to the Greek emperors, and even to the Mohammedans themselves. But the young and rising generation, sprung forth from the union of the old crusaders with the native women of Syria — would not they contribute to the prosperity of their mother country ? Oh no ! Instead of inheriting the manly virtues of their fathers, they only combined the vices of the West with the cunning, the luxury, and selfishness of the East. They were the most con- temptible race on the face of the earth. They were with scorn called Poulani (young mules), and they themselves, by their arrogance, treachery, and cowardice, were the main cause of the early decline and ultimate downfall of the Christian settle- ments in Palestine, by their thwarting all the noble and gene- rous efforts of the succeeding crusaders, who in vain shed their blood for the salvation of Jerusalem. V. The Kingdom of Armenia. 349. Extent, Dynasty, and Cities. The territory of Ar- menia Minor (25), which later formed the Byzantine themes of Lykandos and Seleukeia, and part of that of Kappadokia (266), between the river Halys, the Pontian Mountains, the Euphrates, Commagena, and the Issian Gulf, became, toward the close of the eleventh century, an independent state, whose kings, by the passage of the crusading armies and by their friendly re- lations to the princes of Antioch and Edessa, were enabled to beat back the attacks of Greeks and Turks. Leo II. took, in 1099, the royal title. The principal strength of the state was concentred in Cilicia ; yet it seems that it extended northward to the Black Sea at certain periods. About the middle of the thirteenth century the Armenian kings did homage to the Turkish sultan of Rum, and joined his banner with three hun- dred knights. They enjoyed the protection of the Mongols, but the last king, Leo VI., was captured by the Baharid Mani- lukes of Egypt, who occupied the country until it in the fifteenth century came under the dominion of the Ottoman Turks. The Armenians were a laborious and religious people, but unwmr- like and intemperate ; they possessed great ability in arts and mechanics ; their embroidery and silk weaving were celebrated ; they recognized the supremacy of the Roman pope in the synod at Sis in 1307, though many of the ceremonies in the Arme- nian church were considered as heretical by the Romans. Their patriarch was called Catliolicus, and wielded a mighty influence. The Armenian priests were married, and distin- guished for their learning. Their literature is rich, though still unprinted. By the relations between the Armenians and the crusadei'S, the former soon adopted many European insti- tutions. The court of the Armenian kings introduced Prankish costumes and titles, and a seneschal [connetable) commanded the army ; the nobles were called barons, and every hill of Ar- menia was crowned with a castle. Yet commerce was their principal occupation, and their ports were constantly visited by the mercantile squadrons of Venice and Genoa. Mamistra (Mopsvestia), on the river Fyramus, was the capital. Anazarbus (Anavarza), higher up on the same river. — Aclana and Tarsus, in the beautiful jjlain of Cilicia,. The rapid and deep Calycadnus (Seleph) formed the frontier to- ward the Turkish provinces. The Emperor Frederick Barba- rossa was drowned while swimming his horse through that river on his march to Syria, in 1191. Ajas, by the Italians called Giazza, was the principal harbor of export. Sis, on Mount Amanus, the later capital, strongly fortified, was the patri- archal see. There the synod was held in 1307. VI. The Kingdom of Cyprus. 350. Origin, Constitution, and Cities. Richard the Lion- Hearted conquered the island from the tyrant Isaac Comne- nus, in 1191, and surrendered it to the Knights Templars. But the order being unable to overcome the hatred of the SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. CYPRUS— CONSTANTINOPLE. 118 Greeks and their continual conspiracies, gave it back to Guy of Lusignan, whose descendants ruled the island for two cen- turies \vl en Catherina Cornara brought it to Venice in 1486. Cyprus took an important part in the crusades ; it served as a refuge for the Syrian Christians on the loss of Acre in 1291 ; and became afterwards the great naval station for Templars and Hospitallers, whence they directed all their expeditions to the Syrian coast. The constitution of the kingdom was an imitation of the assize of Jerusalem (346) ; the number of the barons was one hundred and twenty-seven ; they formed the high council ; the whole island was divided into twelve dis- tricts {contade). The kings established a particular order of knighthood of the Sword. The court language was French ; the army consisted of the feudal chivalry and some bodies of light Albanian mercenaries. The native inhabitants are a fine race of men ; the women are beautiful, and by the vivacity of their large dark eyes, seem to declare how faithful they still are to the worship of Venus. At the time of the crusades, the Cypriots were either, 1, Freemen or Eleutheri {IXevSipoi), who paid half the income of their fields, and Perperii {TnpiripLOL), who paid fifteen Perpers (gold Byzants) ; and, 2, serfs or Pa- riks (TrapoLKoi), who belonged as property to their masters. Agriculture and commerce were flourishing, but the latter mostly in the hands of the rapacious Genoese, who, from their fortified port, Famagusta, on the eastern coast, tyrannized both over the king and the people. The island produced the finest fruits, timber, wool, silk, cotton, oil, wine, sugar, grains, madder, honey, wax, corals, all sorts of minerals, copper, and excellent salt. Hyacinths, anemones, ranunculuses, and the single and double narcissus, grow here without cultivation; they deck the mountains, and give the country the appearance of an immense flower-garden. Nicosia (Leucosia), north of Mount Olympus, in the centre of the island, on a magnificent site, was the capital and the seat of government ; many ruins still attest its former splen- dor. Constantia (267), now in ruins. Famagusta and Larnaca were ports possessed by the Genoese. Limisso or Limasol (Amathus), on the southern coast, with the strong castle Colosso, belonged to the Order of the Hospital. On the western coast in a romantic scenery lay Baffo (Paphos), with the ruins of the temple of Venus and the castle Dieio d'' Amour. VII. Latin Empire of Romania. 351. The Fourth Crusade, Conquest of Byzantium. During the brilliant reign of Calo-Johannes and Manuel Com- neni (1118-1 180) the frontiers of the Greek Empire had again been extended to Mount Taurus and the plains of Cappadocia, the Turks in Asia Minor and the Petcheneges (254) on the Danube had been defeated, the Sicilian Normans beaten back from Greece, and the Empire strengthened. But the heart- less adventurer, Andronious Comnenus, who, after the most wonderful vicissitudes of fortune had swung himself from the prison on the throne, caused terrible revolutions in the inte- rior, while the Bulgarians and Servians broke their chains and constituted independent kingdoms. The monster himself fell a victim to the popular fury in 1 195. The family of the Angeli was raised to the throne, but Isaac was soon dethroned by his brother Alexius, while his son, another Alexius, fled to Europe and called to his aid the French and Venetian crusa- ding army, then preparing in Venice for a new expedition to the East.'^^ "" A. D. 1203. Arrival of the crusaders at Constantinople, They take possession of Galata and encamp at Saint Cosmas, opposite the palace of Blachernse. A. n. 1204. Revolutions in the cit}^ Flight of Alexius. Restarn^ 15 By the conquest of Constantinople the absolute Greek monarchy had been transformed into the feudal Empire of Romania. After the coronation of Baldwin of Flanders, the chiefs of the crusading army began to carry into execution the act of partition as arranged by the joint consent of the Franks and Venetians. But their ignorance of geography, and the re- sistance ofi'ered by the Greeks in Asia Minor, and by the Wal- lachians and Albanians in Europe, threw innumerable diflicul- ties in the way of the proposed distribution of the fiefs. The emperor received for his portion only the city of Constanti- nojole. with Thrace in Europe, the opposite coast in Asia, and a few of the islands, Lemnos, Samothrace., Thasos, Imbros, Tenedos, and Lesbos, while the Venetian republic and the bar- ons of France were to share the rest under the suzerainty of the Empire. Every feudatory had himself to find the means of conquering the Grecian territory assigned to him. Thus, the treaty dould only be executed in part, as many barons were unable to put themselves in possession of their portion. The powerful and crafty Venetians, however, began immediately to occupy the islands and to purchase entire provinces at the cheap- est cost. From the Marquis Boniface of Montferrat they pur- chased the island of Crete ; they abandoned the maxims of their suspicious government, and permitted their nobles to fit out expeditions and make conquests among the Greek islands, with the single obligation of rendering homage to Saint Mark. Thus, within a few years, Venice formed a chain of factories, and castles on the islands along the coast from Dalmatia to the Hellespont and Bosphorus. But the Greek nation, though betrayed by their princes and borne down by the impetuous bravery of the fierce crusading adventurers of the West, soon recovered from their dismay. Theodore Lascaris maintained himself at Brusa in Bithynia, and fixed the residence of his Greek empire at JVicesa. Alexis and David Comneni held Paphlago/iia and Ponttis, where they established the small but vigorous state of Trebizond ; while Michael Angelos lifted his banner in Arta as Greek Despot or Ruler of Epirus and Etolia. Thus, surrounded by enemies and weakened by the insubordination and open feuds of its haughty feudatories, the Empire of Romania, without union, talent, or vitality, became the very caricature of feudality ; like that of Jerusalem, suffering from its origin an infirmity and wretchedness which caused its early destruction. The geographical division of the Empire, however, becomes an important fact in the history of the middle ages on account of the many independent states which formed themselves in Greece and on the islands, of the rapid development of eastern commerce and colonization by the Venetian and Genoese republics, and the formation of the Comnenian Empire of Trebizond, which, under the most ex- traordinary vicissitudes maintained its independence, though bordering on Mongols and Turks, for two centuries, and out- lived even Constantinople herself. 352. The Empire of Romania and its Feudal Depend- encies. T. The Crownlands embraced Thrace as far north as tion of Isaac. Conspu'acy of Mursuphlos. Division of the Empire among the crusaders. 12th April. General assault. The city stormed and taken from the galleys in the Golden Horn. Old Henry Dandolo on the walls. Twenty thousand Latin adventurers overpower a population of five hundred thousand Greeks, Conflagration and spoliation of the imperial city. New division of the Empire. Count Baldwin of Flanders chosen Emperor. A. D. 1205. — 15th April. Battle of Adrianople. Baldwin defeated and captured by the Bulgarians. See for these extraordinary events, Gibbon, chap. LX. LXI, and Raumer's Oescliichte (lef Hoheiistavfen rmd Hirer Zeif, Yo], JII. pages 40-98, 114 SEVENTH PERIOD A. D.— 1096-1300. SALONIKI— ATHENS. Adriaiiople and Agathopolis on the coast of the Bhxck Sea, and west as far as the river Strymon. North of this line the Bulgarians were in open rebellion, having called John Asan or Johanitza to the throne of the New Bulgarian kingdom. In the East the Latin Empire extended along the coast of the Hellespont, through part of Bithynia to the river Sangarios, together with the islands Prokonnesos, Lesbos, Chios, Lem- nos, Sk3'ros, and several smaller islands in the JEgean. 353. CoNSTANTiNOPLK had suffered dreadfully during the siege. The crusaders having set fire to some houses,' the con- flagration spread with rapidity, traversed the whole breadth of the city from the port of the Golden Horn (7) to the Pro- pontis, and laid every building in ashes for the distance of a mile and a half. The wealthiest quarter, including the richest warehouses and the most splendid palaces of the Byzantine nobility, filled with works of art, oriental manufactures, and classic manuscripts, was destroyed. During the assault, the Venetians, to protect their advance into the city, laid waste the whole quarter extending from the hill of Blachernae to the monastery of the Evergetes and the quarter of Devteron. The cathedral of Santa Sophia, the noblest church in Christendom, narrowly excaped the flames, but was stripped of all its rich ornaments by the sacrilegious hands of the crusaders.'" The Latin clergy, of course, eagerly joined in plundering relics from the altars, and they made as little scruple in desecrating Byzantine churches and monasteries as the most licentious among the warriors. The handsomer palaces were taken pos- session of by the chiefs ; the emperor himself occupied the magnificent church and convent of the Pantokrator, and the Venetians fortified themselves permanently in G-alata, on the north of the port. So miserable a government as that of the six Latin emperors of Constantinople could not last. On the 25th of July, 1261, Alexius Strategopulos, the general of Michael Palaeologus, the emperor of Nicaea, was secretly in- troduced into the city through a subterranean passage ; the Golden Gate was then opened, and when the trumpets sounded the alarm, the Greek inhabitants flew to arms, expelled the Latin emperor Baldwin II. with his patriarch, prelates, and knights, and restored the city and the imperial crown to their native prince. Adrianople, on the Hebrus (Maritza), where Baldwin I. was defeated and captured by the Bulgarians in 1205. Tzurulum, Byzia, Tyniotikon^ Ainon, Philippopolis, Mosynopolis, and Rhodostos, were the most remarkable cities in Thrace during this period. VIII. Kingdom of Saloniki. 354. II. The province of Thessalonica (Saloniki) had, together with Greece, been awarded to the warlike Marquis Boniface of Montferrat, with the royal title. It comprised the greater part of ancient Macedonia, and Boniface carried his victorious arms into Greece, where he every where divided the conquered territories among his knights ; but having per- ished in a skirmish with the Bulgarians, in 1207, his kingdom was invaded by the Greek despot, Theodore of Epirus, who was received with open arms by the Greeks, and crowned em- peror at Thessalonica in 1282, This feudal state bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction. The Lombard war- riors, by whom it was founded, were less able than the subtle "^ Nicetas, the Byzantine historian, recounts with grief and indig- pation the desecration of the sanctuary, so venerable in the eyes of the Greeks, by the orgies of the northern warriors and their female com- panions, and how "one of these priestesses of Satan" seated herself on the patriarchal throne, sang ribald songs through her nose, in imitation of the Greek sacred music, and then danced iip apd down before the high altar. This gives us an idea of the sufferings and humiliations of the wretched Greeks, Venetians in securing their conquests. They remained stran- gers in the country, garrisoning the fortresses and living on the industry of the Greeks, taking no measures to occupy and cultivate the soil. They were, therefore, easily expelled. IX. The Duchy of Athens, 1205-1456. 855. III. Extent, Dynasty, and Manners. — Attica and Bceotia were for ever separated from the Byzantine Empire; they fell to the share of the Burgundian nobleman, Otho de la Boche, who accompanied the Marquis of Montferrat on his expedition to Greece. The family de la Roche ^^* held likewise Corinth and Argos as tenures of the principality of the Morea. Otho had the title of Grand Sire — Meyas Kt'ptos — and his successor Guy de la Roche obtained from Saint Louis of France the ducal dignity in 1254. In this period, towards the close of the thirteenth century,' the Chronicles give us lively and interesting details of the flourishing condi- tion of Athens and almost every part of Greece. The Latin Archbishop of Athens ruled over fifteen suifragans, among whom were the Bishops of Thebes, Thermojiylcz, and the islands of Euboea, Aegina, Keos, and SJcyros. Latin churches and convents arose, the ruins and inscriptions of which are still extant. The Counts of Soula (Salona) in Phocis, of Boclonitza in Locris, and the Lords of Euboea, together with a thousand French barons and their vassals, followed the ducal banner, while the Greek levies formed the light-armed infantry or archery of the time. The dukes resided either at Athens or in the strong and beautiful castle of Saint Omer (Santo- meri) at Thebes.'*^ Their court vied in splendor vrith those of Western Europe. At the magnificent tournaments which the dukes frequently held in the plain of Athens or at Thebes, princes, knights and minstrels met from the most distant countries. Both the prelates and the respectable classes of the Greeks appeared at these festivals, and all were the guests of the liberal dukes. Blany brave but indigent knights who came to Athens to make their fortune, were hospitably received and their service rewarded with military commands, estates, and the fair hand of some noble lady ; nay, the Duke Guy II. himself condescended to receive the accolade from Sir Boniface of Verona, a brave Italian knight at a tournament near Thebes. Even the humble squires, minstrels and jong- leurs were not forgotten, and it is curious to observe in the old records the gifts and largesses distributed among " Ics 7nenestreux et jongleurs " of the ducal court at Athens. Nu- merous towers and castles rose all over the country ; many of them are still seen, and some even in so good a state of preser- vation that they served the Greeks as strongholds in the late war of independence against the Ottomans. Such are, for instance, the castles of Eriinokastro, Koroneia, Livadia, Bodo- nitza, Patrachik, Lamia, and the larger fortresses of Orfios, ''■' Otho de la Roche, Grand Sire, 1205-1225. Guy I. de Eay, Duku of Athens, 1225-1264. John, son of Guy, 1264-1275. William, brother of John, 1275-1290. Guy 11., son of William, 1290-1308. The duchy then passed to a cousin of Guy II., Walter de Brienne, who soon after (1311) fell in the battle on the Cephissus against the Grand Company of the Catalans. "^'^ The high Gothic tower on the western ascent of the Acropolis at Athens was erected by Otho, or by his successor Guy de la Roche ;. the ducal palace extended along the Propyloea eastward to the Erech- theion, where its vaulted prisons still can be seen. The late lamented J. A. Buchon discovered in 1841 the sepulchral vault of the dukes in the ruinous convent of Baphni, at a distance of six miles from Athens, on the Sacred Road to Eleusis. Two sarcophagi were found in the sepulchral chamber of the interior narthex of the church, the one of wliich by its sculptured escutcheon, the cross with the fleur-de-lis in the upper corners of the cross, was proved to have been that of Duke Guy de la Roche. SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. ATHENS— ACHAIA. 115 Chalkis, Destos, and Karystos in Euboea. The proud French barons chose their brides among the high-born maidens of France ; and the Catalonian chronicler, Ramon Muntaner, who visited Athens at that time, says, " that the French barons formed the noblest chivalry in the world, and that the French tongue was spoken at Athens with as much grace and elegance as at Paris itself." The cities of Greece were large and wealthy— the country thickly covered with villages, of which the ruins may still be traced in spots affording no indications of ancient Hellenic sites. Aqueducts and cisterns then gave fertility to land unproductive at the present day ; olive, almond, and fig trees, intermingled with vineyards and orchards, covered ground now reduced, by want of irrigation, to yield only scanty pasturage to flocks of nomade Wallachians. The Valonia oak, the cotton, the silk and leather of Attica, then supplied native manufactories, and the surplus commanded high prices in the European markets. The trade of Athens was considerable, and the condition of the Greek subjects of the dukes less op- pressed than at subsequent periods. Civilization had there penetrated deeper into the social relations than in other parts of Europe. Otho de la Roche secured to the Greeks of Athens all the pi'ivileges which they had enjoyed under the Byzantine government, with much greater freedom from financial oppres- sion. The feudal conquerors of Greece soon perceived that it was greatly for their interest to respect the terms of the capitulations concluded with their Greek subjects, and to gain their good will. The grand feudatories found in the Greeks useful allies in opposing the exorbitant pretensions of their own immediate vassals and military followers, and in restrain- ing the avarice of the Latin clergy, the ambition of the pope, and the pretensions of the Emperor of Romania. The peculiar condition of the Greek landed proprietors taught their princes the necessity of alleviating the natural severity of the feudal system and modifying the contempt it inculcated for the indus- trious and unwarlike classes of society. The high value of some of the productions of Greece, before the discovery of America and the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope, placed the landed proprietors of Attica and Boeotia in receipt of considerable money-revenues. They were enabled, to pay their dukes an amount of taxation which many monarchs in Western Europe were unable to extract from numerous cities and burghs, whose trade depended on slow and expensive land- communications, and from cultivators without capital, who raised little but grain and cattle. An alliance of interest was thus formed between the Prankish princes and their Greek subjects ; the taxes paid by the latter supplied their sovereign with the means of hiring more obedient military followers than the array of the vassals of the fiefs. It became consequently an object of importance to the Prankish barons in Greece to protect the natives as allodial proprietors, or, at least, as hold- ing thgir lands directly from the prince, on payment of a money-rent corresponding to the amount of taxation they had previously paid to the Byzantine Empire, instead of distributing the land among the invaders as military fiefs. Interest, there- fore, preserved to the Greek proprietors the richest portions of the conquered territory in the immediate vicinity of the towns ; while the crusaders generally received the territorial domains, for which they were bound to pay personal military service, in the more distant valleys and retired districts — a fact which is still proved by the existing divisions of property and by the ruins of the feudal strongholds on the frontiers. Out of this state of things there can be no doubt that a constant struggle arose between the dukes, who desired to extend their authority and increase their revenues — the Prankish military vassals, who demanded the complete division of the whole conquered country, in order to increase the numbers and power of their own class — and the Greeks, who labored and intrigued to defend their possessions and maintain the capitulations. To the existence of this struggle for a long period, without any party venturing openly to disregard the principles of justice and the force of public opinion, we must in a great measure attribute the prosperous state of Athens and Thebes, under the government of the house of de la Roche and the long duration of the Prankish domination in Attica."' X. Principality of Achaia and the Morea. 356. IV. Conquest and Constitution. The peninsula of Peloponnesus or the Morea had, in the general partition of the empire (349), been assigned to Robert de Champlitte, Count of Dijon in Burgundy, who, with the assistance of Geoffrey de Vil- lehardoin and a large body of knights and men-at-arms, soon took possession of the greater part of the open coitntry. Five thousand Greeks, consisting of the armed citizens of the towns of Lacedas- mon, Veligosti, and Nikli, and the Sclavonian mountaineers, the Melingi, on Mount Taygetus (196), attempted to make a stand near the olive-grove of Koicndoura^ in the Messenian plain, but they were immediately ridden down and dispersed ; the cities of Patrae, Andravida, Koron, Kalainata, and Ar- kadia, surrendered, and the Burgundian conqueror was pro- claimed. Prince of the Morea in the subjected districts. The conquest became the more easy since the Byzantine nobles, the archous and the priests crowded around the crusaders in order to obtain terms for themselves and preserve their estates and churches, thus abandoning the mixed Grecian and Scla- vonian population to their fate. William de Champlitte held in 1205 a general diet at Andravida in Elis, where a highly remarkable constitution was drawn up, similar to the Dooms- day book of William the Conqueror in England (291), and the feudal code or assize of Jerusalem (346) adopted as the fun- damental law of the principality. According to this charter of Andravida, the entire Peloponnesus (though hardly one- third part of the peninsula had yet been conquered) was divided into twelve great baronies, seven bishoprics, and three com- manderies of the military orders of the Temple, of Saint John and of Saint Mary (the Teutonic knights), which were assigned to the chiefs, prelates, and knights of the expedition, with rich allotments for churches and convents. Each barony and bishopric was subdivided into a certain number of knights' fiefs, m all 138. The barons, the military orders, and the church, held their possessions by feudal tenure, and were bound to keep their rear-vassals armed in the field for the prosecution of the conquest. A large number of single knights' fiefs and sergeants' lands were likewise distributed among the troops, who were all bound to personal service. Domains were assigned to the Prince, and Andravida, situated in the Elian plain, and protected by the strong fortresses of Glao-enza, Castro- Tor- nese, a,nd Belvoir, became the new capital of the Franks. The Greek archons seem to have been admitted at the diets as representatives of the city population, to secure the observance of the capitulations and watch over the interests of the conquered nation. But they gradually lost both in pos- sessions and influence, and were thus punished for their want of patriotism and bravery, while the Greek clergy were now to witness, with horror, the introduction of the Latin rites and worship, the canonical law and the sovereign dominion of the Pope of Rome,'" The conduct of the Latin clergy was '^'' See Colonel Finlaj^'s Mediseval Greece (from wliicli these inter- esting detail are taken), Edinburgh, 1851, pages 153-169. '" This was indeed an astonishing victory of the proud, heartless Innocent III., over the Greek Church. By this unjust and sacrilegious conquest of Constantinople and Greece, the Pope extended the Eoman Catholic sway over thirty-two archiepiscopal provinces, with more limn one hundred and twenty n^yf bishoprics and numberless monasteries and missions. But the triumph of arrogant Rome was not of long durnlion. 116 SEVENTH PEEIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. PELOPONNESUS uncharitable and rapacious. The Pope himself was obliged to interfere to save the poor Greek bishops from being expelled from their episcopal sees; nay, the violent conduct of the ecclesiastical fortune-hunters who flocked to Greece, compelled the barons to become the defenders of their Greek subjects, and the enemies of clerical abuses. Only the western portion of the peninsula had been sub- dued by Count Robert de Champlitte. On his return to France soon after the diet of Andravida, his bailiff, the brave and intelligent Geoffrey Villehardoin, extended the Prankish dominion over all Arcadia and Laconia, and succeeded, by his popularity and valor, no less than by his duplicity and fraud, in obtaining the hereditary sovereignty of the entire principality of the Morea.'"'* His able successors, with the assistance of Venetian fleets, occupied the strong Byzantine fortresses of Argos, Nauplion, Gorinth, and Moiiembasia on the coast, and they thus found themselves, in 1250, in quiet possession of that magnificent country. 357. Feudal Division of the Principality. I. Baro- nies. — The twelve great Barons (Bannerets) were those of Kalamdta, AJcova, Karitena, Patras, Vostitza, Chalandritza, Kaldvrita, NiJdi, Veligosti, GrUzena, Gerald and Passava, in all containing ninety-four knights' fiefs. II. The Ecclesi- astical Possessions belonged to the Archbishop of Patras as primate of the principality, and his six suffragans, the bishops of Olenos or Andravida^ Modon, Coron, Veligosti, NiJdi and Lacedcemon, containing thirty-two knights' fiefs; and III., the three Commanderies of the military orders of the Hospital of Saint John, in Jerusalem, the Temple, and St. Mary, with twelve knights' fiefs. 358. Cities, Castles, and Historical Sites. Andravida, in the fertile plain of the Peneios, in Elis, was the capital of the Princes of the Morea, where they held their diets and high courts of justice. It is now a large, populous village, with well furnished markets ; above the low houses rise the lofty columns of the Gothic Churches of Santa Sophia, and St. Stephen. The third ruinous church of this period is that of Saint James, which belonged to the Knights Templars, and contained the sepulchral vaults of the Villehardoin dy- nasty. Glarenza, on the coast, was the port of Andravida, as Kyllene, in the same situation, had been of the ancient Hellenic city of Elis. Castro Torne&e, or Chlomutzi, a strong fortress on the promontory of Chelonatas, where the princes had established their mint and treasury. Some of the most important baronial castles of the Prankish feudatories, were early built in strong and commanding positions, whence they could control the Greek and Sclavonian population in the valleys around. Such were Akova, called Mate- Chifon, or Stop-Greek, on a precipitous ridge, south of the river Ladon. Akova still presents some beautiful ruins, with walls and tow- ers, near the village Vytitza. On the east the access was guarded by another castle, Galata. The barony of Akova, the first in rank and importance, embraced the valleys of the Ladon and the Alpheus, and kept in check the Sclavonians of Skorta (Gortys), in the high ranges of the Arkadian Moun- tains. The barony became celebrated during the reign of '■'" The djna-ity of Villehardoin possessed the principality of Aeliaia and Morea for longer than a century. "William de Channilitte, 1205- 1210. Geoffrey I., Villehardoin, 1210-1218. Geoffrey II., 1218-1246. William Villehardoin (Kalamatis, younger son of Geoffrey 1), 1246- 1277. Isabella, 1277-1311. Maud of Hainault, 1311-1317. The fraud by which Geoffrey I. obtained the sovereignty of the Morea is pleasantly told in the modem Greek poem on the conquests of the Franks in the Morea, published in Greek and French by Buehon. Paris, 1840. See likewise Buclion's Hietoire des Conquetes et de V etahlissement des Fran- fais dans Ics Hals de I'anciemie Gr'cce sous les Villehardoin, Paris, ] 846, Vol. 1. pages 179-184; and our third article on Sparta and the Dorians ill the Xow-York Qimrterly, Vol. III., No. 1, for October, 1854. William of Villehardoin, by a lawsuit, in which that prince, in 1270, before the high feudal court at Andravida, defrauded the orphan maiden, Margaret of Neuilly, of the inheritance of her uncle, Walter de Rossieres, baron of Akova. Kari- tena, on a high precipitous mountain, commanding the upper valley of the Alpheus, and the plain of Megalopolis, in Arka- dia, the seat of one of the bravest and most turbulent knights. The walls of the castle and towers are still standing, and the view from the battlements is magnificent. Karitena was the birthplace of the late Kolokotronis.*°' Veligosti, on the site of the present Leondari, protected the roads from Messenia and Sparta to Megalopolis and Tegea. Gratzina, Androussa, and Kalamata, secured the fertile plains of Messenia. The latter fortress, situated at the foot of Mount Taygetus, near the Messenian gulf, was the hereditary fief of the Villehar- doins ; William, called Kalamatas, the third Prince of Morea, was born and died there in 1277. The strong castle of Pas- sava, on the Laconic gulf, was an advanced post, established in the heart of Maina (Mani), to tame the Greek mountaineers (196) of the wild and barren range that runs out into the sea, to the south of the highest summits of Taygetus. This im- portant border-castle was intrusted to the Baron of Passava, the hereditary marshal of Achaia, who held it occupied by a permanent body of troops. Leftrd (Leuctron), on the Messe- nian gulf, and Mani, near the Tsenarian promontory, were castles built in 1248, by William Villehardoin, to complete the subjection of the Maniotes. Thus cut off from all com- munication with their brethren, the Tzakonians, on the east- ern range of Mount Malea, and with the Sclavonian Melingi and Ezeritae of the Laconian valley, by the garrisons of the three fortresses, and by the galleys of the Prince, and exposed to starvation on their barren rocks, the Maniotes submitted to the Prankish dominion ; they offered to pay tribute and to furnish a contingent of light-armed troops ; but they demand- ed and obtained exemption from the feudal service, and it was stipulated that no Prankish barony should be established within their limits. The crusaders, on their first advance into Laconia in 1210, had met with serious resistance at Lacedamon, the populous and strongly fortified Byzantine city, situate near the Eurotas, on the site of the ancient Doric Sparta. After the most vio- lent assaults during five days, the French knights at last broke into the city, sword in hand, and the humane Geoifrey of Villehardoin, the bailiff of the principality had some diflS- culty in putting a stop to the slaughter of the brave and un- happy citizens. Struck with the beauty of the scenery and the strength of the position. William of Villehardoin, the third Prince of Mo- rea, some years later (1248), after the complete subjugation of the peninsula, chose his residence in the neighborhood of Sparta, on a high rock in the most picturesque situajiion, at the base of Mount Taygetus. There he built a large and strong castle, with all the gothic magnificence of turretted walls, extensive courts, and a high central fortress donjon (keep), where he took up his permanent habitation. It was called Misithra, or Mistras, by the Greeks, who, following the example of their sovereign, removed from the low hills of old Sparta, and built their new central city around the protect- ing castle of Mistras. From the precipices and deep chasms of Mount Taygetus, several copious springs descend toward ^^^ On apperfoit do loin I'Alphee et le chateau de Caritena, fief du chevaleresque baron de Caritena, assis sur la montagne comme une cou- ronne de comte, avec ses creneaux pour fleurons. Ce chateau a un as- pect fier et feodal ; il a conserve jusqu'a ces derniers temps la renom- me de sa force ; car Ibrahim-Pasha n'a pas ose entreprendi-e d'y atta- quer Colocotroni qui s'y etait refugie. Buehon : Grece Continentale et la Mor'ee ; Paris, 1844 ; pages 476, 477. SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. MOREA— VENICE. m the plain, where they irrigate the orange and lemon gardens, the olive and mulberry groves, for miles, extending through the valley of the Eurotas, and render fhe holloiu Laconia one of the most beautiful and fertile regions in Greece."^" Mo- don (Methone), in southern Messenia, belonged to Venice, ac- cording to the treaty of Constantinople, and William of Ville- hardoin ceded Coroii, on the Messenian gulf, to those grasp- ing republicans, on their furnishing him with four war- galleys to support the siege of Nauplion and Monembasia, the only maritime cities still in the hands of the G-reeks. Their surrender, and the submission of the mountaineers, completed the final conquest of all Peloponnesus by the Franks, in 1248. At that period, William of Villehardoin was the most re- spected and powerful prince in the East. He not only pos- sessed with sovereign sway the Peninsula, but on the north, the Duke of Athens, by the cession of Argos, Nauplia and Corinth, acknowledged himself his liegeman, while the Count of Bodonitza at Thermopylre, and the feudatories of Euboea, followed his banner, and the Duke of Naxos, with his fleet, protected the ^gean and the coasts of Morea from the piracies of the Turks. Order and tranquillity reigned in the interioV of his fertile and beautiful dominions. The Greeks were busily occupied with their commerce and agriculture ; the Sclavonians of Skorta and Sclavochori were pacified and taken into pay by government. The French barons and knights, comfortably established in their castles beneath the beautiful sky of Greece, soon found there a new and pleasant home, which made them even so far forget the old that they called themselves after the Greek names of their estates ; thus, for instance, Hugh de Brienne became Lord of Caritena ; Robert de Tremouille, Lord of Chalandritza ; Ralph, Lord of Kalavryta ; John, Lord of Passava, and so others. Geoffrey II. married Agnes, the daughter of the Latin Emperor, Peter of Courtenay, and the barons imitating the example of their sovereign, sent to France for their brides, sisters and families, and soon old Peloponnesus became so changed that it was called " la jeune France.'''' Not only the French crusaders found a new field for activity in the East ; even the Greeks themselves began to take up chivalrous habits; they became familiar with French minstrelsy, they tuned their harps to the songs of daring deeds, and lady-love, and their chroniclers sang in artless but spirited verses the wars of the crusaders in the Morea. The prosperous state of the French principality in the Peninsula was, however, of short duration. The feudal system, and the warlike manners of western Europe, could not strike deep roots in the East. Without the slightest know- ledge of the classical antiquity of Greece, or any sympathy for its modern Greco-Sclavonian population, the Latin barons considered the country as a conquest, which could only be maintained by dint of the sword ; while the Greeks, op- pressed by the continual civil feuds of their masters, soon discovered the real weakness of the foreign government, and turned their hopes towards the rising Empire of Nic^a. Some few Romanic elements had penetrated the mixed population of Morea, and the Moreotes had taken a tincture of the civili- "*" After the defeat aud capture of William Villehardoin, at Per- lepi, in Macedonia, in 1259, and the surrender of Laconia to Michael Palaeologus, Mistras became the seat of the renewed Greek govern- ment in the Morea, and several beautiful Byzantine churches and con- vents, built at that time, attest to the tasteful architecture of the Greeks, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the wealth and im- portance of Mistras, the residence of the Palaeologian princes, or Des- pots of the Morea. In ISSY, while some repairs were undertaken in the French castle, a complete suit of armor, with iron greaves, and a knight's helmet, was discovered, which was presented by the modern Spartans to King Otho, during a subsequent visit of the Koyal Couple to the city. zation of the Franks ; but it soon disappeared during the storms of the Turkish wars, and thus the ruinous castles, the popular traditions, and a few chronicles and dialectical forms in the modeim Greek language, are at present the only relics that have survived the conquests of the crusaders in Greece. William of Villehardoin imprudently joined the Despot of Epirus, Michael IL, in his war against the Greek Emperor of Nicaea. With his whole feudal force he entered the high- lands of Macedonia, where, abandoned by the Epirote and his light-footed Albanians, the French chivalry was surrounded by the Greek army of Michael VIII. Palaeologus and his allies the Kumans, and suffered a total defeat in the defiles of Ferlepi (Prilapon). The Prince of Morea fled in disguise, but being captured at Castoria, was carried in triumph to Nicaea, and could only obtain his release by surrendering three of the most important fortresses of his principality — Monembasia, Misithra, and Maina — into the hands of the Emperor Michael, who, in the mean time, had reconquered Constantinople, and put an end to the Prankish Empire of Romania. As soon as the Imperial standard appeared on the coast of Morea, the Greeks arose against their foreign masters, and though the knights defended every inch of ground with the most exalted valor, and often routed the disorderly bands of the Greeks, they could not defend their isolated castles in so mountainous a region, and were driven into the western and northern parts of the Peninsula. There, in the plain of Elis, and in the strongholds of Achaia and Argolis, they still maintained themselves under the suzerainty of the Kings of Naples during the fourteenth century, until the Osmanli Turks, in the fifteenth, put an end to their do- minion in the Morea.'" XL Oriental Conquests of Venice. 359. Extent and Organization of her Colonjes. Towards the middle of the thirteenth century the Venetian Republic (272-323) had extended her conquests in the Archi- pelago, and possessed the following colonies and territories : — • I. A fortified quarter in the city of Constantinople, with the suburbs of Pera and Galata on the northern shore of the Golden Horn."^'^ II. The Duchy of Kallipolis, comprising the Thracian Chersonese, with the cities of Kallipolis, Rho- doatos, Herakleia^ and several ports on the opposite coast of Asia Minor. III. The southwestern district of the Pelo- ponnesus, with the strongly-fortified cities of Karon and Modon. IV. The Duchy of Crete (Candia), with the cities of Canea, Rettuno, Candia, Sfa/cia, and Mirabella on the coast, and San Bonifazio in the interior. This splendid isl- and had been purchased of the Marquis of Montferrat, and became an important settlement for the Venetian nobility. The rich lands were divided into one hundred and thirty-two knights' fiefs, and four hundred and eight sergeants' tenures, all held with military tenure. The Venetian Nobili formed the High Council, at the head of which stood the Captain- General of the army. V. The County of Negroponte (island of Euboea), with the strong fortress of Chalkis on the strait of Euripos — opposite to BcEotia, and the cities of Oreos, '" History of the Morea during the Middle Ages, by Prof. Falmerayer, Vol. IL, and the admirable sketch of the Prankish dominion in the Peninsula, by Prof. Ernst Curtius, in his Peloponnesos, Vol. I., Go ha, 185L Important hints and topographical descriptions are likewise found in Dr. Louis Ross's Reiseiiund Reiserouten im Peloponnes, Berlin, 184L '"" This important central emporium for their commerce the Vene- tians lost, when, in 1261, Michael Palaeologus, with the aid of the Genoese, expelled the Pi-anks from Constantinople, and granted to that hated I'ival of Venice the ports and privileges which she formerly had possessed in Greece. m SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. NAXOS— RHODES. Astura and Karystos. Under the government of Negroponte ranged the smaller islands Skyros, Skiathos, Skopelos, Cheli- dromi, Keos (Zia), on the southern coast of Attica, together with jEgina and Salamis in the Sarouic Gulf, and Cerigo (Cy there) under the frowning promontory of Cape Malea, in the Morea."'= At the time of the Latin conquest of Constantinople, the Venetian Republic was not populous and strong enough to take possession of the numerous islands which had been as- signed to it in the'*' partition of the Greek Empire. The Senate, therefore, permitted the Venetian nobles to fit ovit expeditions for the occupation of the islands, reserving only the sovereignty to the mother state. In consequence of this permission many maritime expeditions took place ; thus Stampalia was occupied by the Quirini ; Andros, by Marino Dandolo ; Tinos, MyJwni, Skyros, Lejnnos, Chios and Samos. by the Ghisi ; Keos, by Giustiniani ; but the most brilliant conquest was that of the Cycladian Islands, by the distin- guished nobleman Mark Sanudo, in 1207, who, as Duke of the Archipelago, soon became independent of the Republic of Saint Mark. 360. The Ionian Islands belonged during this period to small dynasties of Frankish nobles, who had sprung up during the crusades, and claimed the protection either of the Kings of Naples or the Despots of Epirus. Za7ite (the ancient Zakynthos), Ceplialonia, Itaka, and Santa Maura (Leu- kadia), were, during the fourteenth century, held by the Beneventine family of Tocco, which, by marriage into the Greek dynasty of Arta, had inherited Akarnania, ^tolia, and part of southern Epirus, and called themselves Dukes of Leu- kadia and Desjiots of Arta. Charles Tocco was the last des- pot ; the Turks drove him from loannina and ^tolia in 1431, and his son, Leonardo II., lost Leukadia and Cephalonia in 1469. Corfu (Corcyra), the most important of the Ionian Is- lands, both on account of its fertility and position at the mouth of the Adriatic Gulf, remained long under the supremacy of the Kings of Naples, until it, in 1386, was conquered by the Venetians. XII. Duchy of Naxos or of the Archipelago, 120.7-1566. 361. Extent, Constitution and Dynasties. The easy con- quest of Naxos by Mark Sanudo and his Venetian adventurers in 1207 was followed by that of the other Cycladian islands. Faros, Antiparos, Amorgos, Siplinos, Kimolos, Milos, Polikan- dros, Nio, Santorini (Thera), and Anaphi recognized his sway and were distributed as fiefs among his knights. Naxos, the gem of the Grecian islands, became the ducal residence ; the opposite Pares, with its excellent harbors of Santa Maria and of Farecchid, was the naval station for his galley fleet. In Naxos the active and intelligent Mark Sanudo built a magni- ficent castle, with twelve strong towers, on the high hill above the Greek metropolis on the northwestern coast. The natives obtained favorable terms from their conqueror ; he guaranteed them the possession of their property and lands, and they con- tinued to enjoy their privileges and the exercise of the Grecian rites of their Church. Sanudo received the ducal title from the Latin Emperor of Constantinople, which he left, together with his consolidated and beautiful duchy, to his successors, in 1220.'" '" The smaller isles Poros (Kalauria), Idra (Hydrea), and Spetsa (Typavenos), under the coast of Avgolis, seem not to have been per- manently occupied by the Venetians. They served as a refuge to the Albanians (Avnauts), when their country, after the death of George Castriotis, was invaded by Mohammed 11., in 1470. See the Memoir on Hydra, by Antonios Miaulis, Munich, 1834 (in modern Greek). "* Six dukes of the family Sanudo followed until 1307. The family It would appear strange that the reviving Greek Empire of the Palaeologi, who reconquered the greater part of Greece from the Franks and Asia Minor from the Turks, should have permitted 'the Dukes of Naxos to sit quietly on their usurped throne of the iEgean islands ; yet we can discover the cause of this remarkable longevity of the Frankish principality, not only in the great talents and native valor of the dukes of the fami- lies of Sanudo and Dalle Carceri, but likewise in the powerful protection awarded them by the Pope, and the Venetian Re- public, who with her fleets sustained the monopoly of her eastern commerce for two centuries victoriously against Genoese, Greeks, and Turks."^ XIII. Possessions of the Military Order of the Hos- pital OF Saint John, 1310-1522. 362. Conquests. The Mamlukes of Egypt having obtained possession of the kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291, the Knights of Saint John sought a refuge in Cyprus, where the Knights Templars already had large estates and castles; and King Henry II. of Lusiguan now likewise invested the former v/ith the town and castle of Limisso (348). Yet the enterprising warriors, less corrupted than the Templars, who at that time returned to Europe only to meet destruction, sought a new sphere of activity by the conquest of Rhodes in 1310. That delightful island had remained in the possession of the Genoese family of Gavala during the thirteenth century, and then de- volved on the Greek Emperors of Constantinople. But dur- ing the weak and turbulent reign of Andronicus the Youngei-, Turkish and Arab corsairs from the coasts of Asia Minor and Syria had established themselves on the island, united with the Greek inhabitants, and extended their piratical expeditions over the adjacent islands of the JEgean. Thus the Knights Hospitallers found it easy, with the support of the Pope, to assemble a large crusading army of German and Italian war- riors at Brindisi, whom they transported to the East on a Neapolitan fleet. The Crusaders united with the Knights of Saint John, and, defeating the Saracens on the sea, landed suddenly at Rhodes. They then stormed gallantly its strongly fortified capital under the command of the Grand Master Fulco de Villaret, and carried it, sword in hand, on the day of the A^irgin — August 15th, 1310. Lindos and the other cities in the island surrendered ; but it was not until after an obstinate warfare of four years, that the order could ex- tend its dominion over the surrounding Archipeiago of smaller isles, Syme, Clialkis, Lero, Nisyros, Kulymnos, Kos, and the fortress of Budriiu (Halicarnassus) on the mainland of Caria. The kniglits of Rhodes held likewise the fortress Ak-Liman and the island of Daran on the coast of Isauria, and their castles in Cyprus, Avhich they furnished with garrisons, and defended gloriously against the attacks of the Ottoman Turks, for more than two centuries remaining the bulwark of Christen- dom in the Levant."'" These were the States of Latin Organization which arose Dalle Career! from Negroponte then inherited the duchy by marriage. But the third duke, IS'icoolo Dalle Carceri, lost the duchy and his life in revenge of a terrible crime he had committed on an innocent Greek maiden. The Greek Arehons, led on by the intriguing nobleman Fran- cesco Crispo, surprised and stabbed the duke at his hunting castle, Paratrecho, in 1381, and the third dynasty of the Crispi maintained their independence until the Turkish conquest in 1566. "=* Colonel Finlay's Mediceval Greece and Trehizond, pp. 320-50. 1"" See the description of all those islands in Prof. Louis Ross's /aseZreisw, Ttibingen, 1840-50, Vol. l.-V. (we quote from memory); and for the conquest of Rhodes our articles, A day on Rhodes, in the New-York Knickerbocker, October and November, 184(3. SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. lOJG-lSOO. ASSASSINS— MAMLUKES. 119 in the East during the period of the crusades. The Latin empire of Romania, the kingdoms of Thessalonica and Jeru- salem, and the principalities of Antioch, Edessa and Tripolis, were short-lived, and perished during the thirteenth century. Of the rest, the kingdom of Armenia and the principality of Achaia (Morea) became extinct in the following century, and only the states under Venetian protection and the duchy of Athens survived the destruction of the Byzantine empire in 1453. B. MOHAMMEDAN AND SLAVO-GRECIAN STATES DURING THE CRUSADES. 363. GrENERAL REMARKS. We shall here give a glance at the Mohammedan, Grecian, and Slavonian States which rose in the East during the Crusades and on the expulsion of the Latins from their short-lived conquest. These were seven, viz. : I. The State of the Assassins. II. The Empire of the Eyubids and the Baharid Mamlukes in Syria and Egypt. III. The Kingdom of Bulgaria. IV. The Kingdom of Servia. V. The renewed Byzantine Empire of Niccea and Constantinople. VI. The Despotat of Epirus. VII. Duchy of Wallachia. VIII. The Comnenian Empire of Trebizond. I. State of the Assassins. 364. Origin, Organization and Extent. The enthu- siasm of the crusaders was met in the East by a similar ex- • citement, which gave birth to societies formed in the spirit of Mohammedanism, and springing directly from the desire of sustaining the cause of Allah and his prophet by the extreme of religious fanaticism. Hassan-Ben-Sahab is the mysterious reformer — dai — of Islam. He appeared on Mount Lebanon after the middle of the eleventh century, preaching the re- form with extraordinary eloquence ; but his fiery ambition urged him forward beyond the bounds of his mission. As the Imam of Mohammed, he proclaimed the second advent of the Pro- phet ; he enraptured the masses with his vehement exhortations of the austerest observances of Islamism ; he formed a body- guard of Fcdavirs or initiated in the mysteries of the advent, and occupied Alamut, in the mountains of Dilem. Urged on by his ambition, he boldly changed the creed, and proclaimed that " There ivas no God but God, and that Hassan ivas the Pro- phet of God,''^ and at the head of thousands of fanatical follow- ers built up his empire extending from the frontiers of Persia to the coast of the Mediterranean. Yet it was not a state with a united territory. It was only an order of fanatics called Hatshesliim, or as the crusaders pronounced it. Assassins, who from their numerous strongholds all along the mountains, obey- ed the commands of the terrible Prophet, the Sheik al Djebal, the Ancient of the Mountain, and kept the people in the most fearful subjection to his invisible power. Hassan, in his snow- white caftan and turban, the emblem of purity, was the grand master of his order of Saracen Knights or Fedavies, who, under their three Dais al-Kebir,^'^'' or grand priors, were trained to the most extraordinary obedience and self-sacrifice. Fearful, ''" Malek-Shah, the Sultan of Mossoul, astonished at this far-spreading heresy, marched his army against Hassan and sent his envoy to the cas- tle of Alamut to enforce submission. The old Slieik of the Mountains, surrounded by his Assassins, received the Turk, and beckoning one of his followers said: "Stab thyself," — and to another: " Throw thyself down from the battlements" — and before the words were pronounced his disciples had obeyed him and lay expiring — the one at the feet of the Turk — the other, lacerated at the bottom of the precipice ! not only as willing but as joyful martyrs to their faith. The terrible old man then turned to the trembling envoy : " Go tell thy master what thou hast seen, and add, that seventy thousand heroes like these obey my nod." The Sultan still advanced, but on seeing, the next morning, a mysterious dagger sticking in his pillow, in the most retired part of his tent, he be- came so frightened that he ordered the retreat of his army, and left the old monster of the mountain to himself. almost incredible, were the secret murders of the devoted As- sassins. The ministers, the viziers in Bagdad, in Cairo, the chieftains in the mountains, the Kaliphs, the Sultans .sur- rounded by their courtiers and life-guards,- — Count Raymond II. of Toulouse before Tripolis in 1151 — the Marquis Con- rad of Montferrat in Acre in 1 192, several kings, distinguished prelates, and knights — not only in Palestine, but even in Europe — fell beneath the dagger or by the poison of the invis- ible Old Man of the Mountain. The terror was so great that every demand of the mysterious chief was immediately complied with, for the secret members of this Mohammedan Temple were every where. Their principal castles were Alamut or Vulture's Nest, situated to the north of Casbin on the frontier mountains of Dilem, the seat of the Old. Man. Rudbar on the west, and Lamsir and Kirdkuh on the northeast of Ala- mut, were impregnable fortresses, held by the fanatics. Tab- sin (Tubbus), Tun and Kanain, Assassin castles of Kuhis- tan in Persia, secured his influence in the east, while the for- tresses of Shadeir (Schadiz). near Ispahan, Dirkul and Kal- endshan, farther south, extended his authority toward the west. Thus a chain of strongholds brought the Sheik in com- munication with his most important possessions, those of the district of the Ismaelites (279) on Mount Lebanon between the principality of Antioch and the county of Tripolis. Here -the treacherous Assassins or Ismaelites possessed the castles of ilfas- yad, Kehef, Kadmus and Szafita, in the highest range of the mountain, and the still more important Balanea, Banias (Va- lenia) on the sea-coast, which in its strong position among pre- cipitous rocks cut off the communication between the Chi'istian States. At Alamut and Masyad were the luxuriant gardens concealed by high walls, where the young fedavies, intoxicated with hashish,'^^^ were carried to taste the joys of paradise (as they were made to believe), and were thus rendered willing to en- counter death in order to secure a permanent seat in that abode of bliss. Under the Sheik stood, \st, the thvee Dais al-Kebir (grand priors of the order) ; 2d, the Dais or initiated masters ; 3d, the Refeeks, or companions ; 4th, the Fedavies, or devo- ted ; 5th, the Laseeks, aspirants or novices, and lastly the mul- titude of the profane people. The fundamental maxim of the creed, which separated the secret doctrines of the initiated As- sassins from the austere public tenets of the mass of the com- mon people, was most carefully preserved, and the people were held to the strictest injunctions of the Koran. The East did not detect the motive power of the Assassins' Chief; the trem- blino- multitudes only saw the poniard strike those who had of- fended the Envoy of the invisible Imam himself, the forerun- ner of the Great Prophet, who was expected to arrive in power and glory to assert his dominion on earth. The eastern branch of the Assassins was destroyed by the Mongols during the invasion of Hulagu in 1258. In Syria they continued to alarm the crusaders for fourteen years longer, until their strongholds, Masyad and Banias, were besieged and taken by Bibars, the Mamluke Sultan of Egypt, and the rest of the As- sassins fled into the higher ranges of the mountain, where they still possess a mystical religion and live under the name of the Ismailiyeh. II. Empire of the Eyubids and Mamluke Sultans. 365. Extent and Dynasties. — The great Salah-ed-Din, the son of Eyub (1137-1192), laid in 1174 the foundation of the vast empire of the Eyubids, on the ruins of the Latin king- dom of Jerusalem. The pious and generous Sultan discover- ed that the Christian fanaticism could only be vanquished by a similar enthusiasm among the Mohammedans. But his chiv- alrous heart despised the dagger of the Assassins, and he joy- '""Hashish was nn intoxicating beverage distilled from linseed. 120 SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. EaYPT— BULGARIA. fully brandished the scimetar of the Mamluke. Both Turks and Arabs had become degenerated ; they could no longer re- sist the flower of European chivalry. It was the hardy sons of Mount Caucasus and of Koordistan, who, by a particular drill, were to form the strength of his army. Carried away from their home in tender age by Syrian merchants, the young Circassians were trained to arms under the proud name of Mcunlnkc. Without relatives or a native country they form ed the body-guard of their chief, with the brightest hopes of rank and advancement ; they mounted the fleetest steeds of Arabia ; the finest armor, the best tempered weapons adorn- ed their handsome persons, and beneath their yellow standards the Mamlukes became the most formidable cavalry of Eastern warfare. At the head of these troops Salah-ed-Din extended his empire from the frontiers of Armenia along the Euphrates to Arabia, Egypt and westward along the sea-coast to Barka, on the outskirts of the Libyan desert. Damascus was his capital, and there he died in 1 192.'"' His vast dominions were again divided, and underwent many revolutions, until the revolt of the Baharid Mamlukes against the last Eyubid Sultan, in 1250, brought the power into the hands of these wild and homeless warriors. Sultan Bibars reconquered Antioch, Tripolis, and the greater part of Syria, in 1260- 1277, and Sultan Chalil (1290-1294) expelled the Christians from their last possessions in Acre, Beirut and Tyre. Thus began in the East the long, barbarous, and lawless rule of the Caucasian adventurers ; Syria and Palestine were totally devastated, the Christian monuments burned and destroyed, and misery brought over the decimated population, while Egypt became prosperous by her manufactures and commerce. Sultan Kelawun concluded treaties of commerce with Aragon and Venice in 1289. The G-enoese had their consuls and em- porium in Alexandria. Egyptian industry consisted princi- pally in paper, carpets, and excellent linen. Agriculture was flourishing and occupied three hundred thousand /e//a/;s (peas- ants). The Mamlukes did not degenerate ; new bands of gallant youths from Mount Caucasus replenished their numbers every year ; they formed a. military aristocracy, whose chiefs were the counsellors of the Sultan and his vizier ; the great Kadi administered justice, assisted by the kadis of the principal sects, who all united in electing the Sultan. The revolutions of the throne were frequent ; seldom did a son follow his fa- ther, generally the handsomest or the bravest of the Mamluke cavaliers ; their life was entirely military ; they lived merrily on the fat of the land, without any foreign war until the storm of the Mongol invasion of Tamerlane in 1 400, and the reduc- tion of Egypt, by Sultan Selim and his Osmanli Turks, in 1517. 366. Divisions, Cities, and Historical Places. Egypt — Missr — performed an important part during the crusades. The Kings of Jerusalem were alternately enemies or allies of the Fatimid Kaliphs against the Turks; and it was in the luxury and voluptuousness of Cairo, that the Templars, during the cam- paign of King Amalric, for the first time laid aside the auster- ity of their deportment, and contracted those eastern vices which later, fostered within their convent walls, caused the accusation and destruction of their order. By the general igno- rance of geography in that time, the most exaggerated ac- counts of the wealth and splendor of the Great Soldan of Babylon (the Kaliph of Cairo), and the fertility of Babylonia '°°The sepulchral monument of Salah-ed-Din, forms a large irregular building of white and black marble, with many cupolas and lofty arched windows covered with gilt inscriptions. It stands in the Berwisk street, on the caravan route to Jerusalem and Mecca ; but though it is still devoutly visited by the Moslem pilgrims it is rapidly falling in ruins, See our articles",^?) Excursion to Damascus and Baalbek," in the Atnericaii Review foi' August and Sc]itembcr, 1848. or Egypt, were circulated throughout Europe, and gave rise to those ill-planned expeditions of the Hungarians in 1218, and of Saint Louis in 1248, which terminated in the de- struction of thousands of brave but ignorant Christian war- riors. Egypt was then divided into, I. Missr. Dakhiliat, Inner or Upper Egypt, with the cities, Kosus, Ashmuni, Den- dera, Esnek^ Assuan, and Koseir, on the coast of the Red Sea; II. Rif, or Middle Egypt, with Kahira- — the Victorious — Cairo, or Dabyhn, on the eastern bank of the Nile, the capi- tal of the Kaliphs and Eyubid Sultans; Men/ (Memphis), Bulak, Bclbeis, and Ain-Shames (Ueliopolis), where the crusaders, as auxiliaries of the Kaliph, in a brisk battle, for the first time crossed swords with the brilliant young Salah-ed-Din and the Koordish warriors, the Mamlukes; III. Dschuf — Garbieh, the Delta, or Lower Egypt, surrounded by the three branches of the Nile and the Mediterranean. On the coast were situated the thriving cities, Sca/nderoon (Alexan- dria), Rashid (Rosetta), and Damanhur, on the Alexandrian canal. Eastward, on the Fatimetichva.vi(ih of the Nile, and the BaJir Tenis (Lake of Menzaleh), lay the celebrated Damiat (Damietta), the bulwark of Egypt, a mile from tlie sea-coast. The city was then the great emporium of Eastern traffic, with splendid mosques, rich bazaars, and a numerous popula- tion. It was surrounded by triple walls, and towers of great strength. Other towers in the river defended the approach from the Nile. Yet the valor and enthusiasm of the Chris- tians vanquished all these obstacles, and the desperate resist- ance of the Saracens. Damietta was taken, after a siege of seventeen months, in 1219, and an immense booty made; but it was soon lost again by the arrogance of the Cardinal Pela- gius and the superior tactics of Sultan Melik Khamel, who totally destroyed or captured the Christian army among the swamps of Mansourah, and forced them to purchase their re- lease by the surr-ender of Damietta and the evacuation of Egypt. The same fate awaited Saint Louis, of France, and his brilliant army, in 1248; and the unhappy city, after so many vicissitudes, was finally razed by the Mamlukes for fear of a third invasion, in 1250.'^" III. WaLLACHO-BuLGARIAN KiNGDOJt. 367. Extent, Constitution, and Cities. During the re- volutions of the Byzantine Empire, under the Angeli, the Bul- garians threw ofi' the yoke in 1186, and sustained their inde- pendence for two centuries, until they, together with their neighbors the Servians, were defeated by Sultan Murad at Kossowa, in 1389, and became incorporated in the Turkish empire in 1392. The Wallacho-Bulgarian kingdom ex- tended along the Danube, from the shores of the Black Sea westward to the river Timok, and was on the south bordered by Mount Haemus. The principal cities were : Ternowa (sit- uated on a hill, surrounded by gardens, on the banks of the river Jantra, the residence of the Bulgarian kings, and the see of the primate of the Latin church), Nicopolis, Bidin (Wid- din), Dristra (Silistria), on the Danube, Varna and Salata on the Pontus, and Triaditza (Sofia), beneath the celebrated defile, Claustira Sancti Basilii, on Mount Hasmus. The Bulgarians extended their sway south of that mountain, along the river Ilebrus, but without permanent possession. The Khans obtained the royal title from the Pope, yet their power was restricted by the council of the Boyars or nobles. Diets, comitia, were held ; the country was divided into thirty Sta- rosties, each defended by fortresses and castles. While the '■"' The modern city lies sevevcal miles in the interior. For these events, see the graphic description of the sieges in Michaud's Histoire dcs Croliades, livres XII. and XIII., and Mills, pages 197-218, in the Philadelphia edition. SEVENTH PERIOD A. D. 1096-1300. SLAVO-GRECIAN STATES. 121 Bulgarians followed the Greek Church they had a patriarch and ten bishops ; later, when they passed over to the Latin ritual, their Primas resided in Ttrnotva, and their prelates re- ceived the pallium in Rome. Among the many heretical sects were the Bogomiles^ the Beloved of God, whose doc- trines spread through the West, where they were called Btil- stari (Bougres). The laws of the Bulgarians were cruel, and their manners barbarous, though Christianity exerted its influ- ence, and their kings, by frequent marriages with Byzantine princesses, became more polished and kept a brilliant court. The Bulgarians fought mostly on horseback (195), with bows and arrows, sabre and lance. Their banners were horse-tails fixed on spears, until the Pope gave them the Christian stan- dard of the cross- They wore the flowing Eastern garments, and large turbans, and their general gatherings, headed by their Boyars, made a brilliant show. King Assan II. built a fleet on the Danube, which placed him in direct communication with the Russians. The Bulgarian merchants enjoyed pecu- liar privileges in Constantinople, where they had their own bazaars and depots. Some of their princes were men of learning. Alexander (1330-1353) published a Slavic trans- lation of the Byzantine historian, Constantine Manasses, with elegant paintings ; but the Boyars, with all their pomp and luxury, remained uninstructed, and the clergy only made much progress in learning. IV. Kingdom of Servia. 368. The Great Yjitpan of Servia had received the royal crown from the Pope in 1222 (325), and ruled his spirited and handsome people, the Servians and Rascians (Raitzi), as an independent king or ^ra^. Servia contained, \, Branizowa, on the Danube ; 2, Sliupa, on the east, in the valley of the Morava; 3, Kossoiva, on the south, in the upper valley of Mount Scardus: 4, Rascia, northwest, on the frontiers of Bosnia (Rama) ; and 5, Ze7it.a, the coast-land on the Adriatic, from the Drinus and the Lake of Skodra, northward to the Republic of Ragusa. The brilliant period of the Servian nation, their conquests, political influence, laws, and poetry, was the middle of the fourteenth century, under their great king, Stephen Douschan (1333-1356). Rassa (Novi Bazar), at the foot of the Dinarian Alpes, was the residence of the Krai, 369. Ragusa (139) in its advantageous position had be- come a thriving commercial republic, which iinder a strong aristocratic government already rivalled Venice in trade and manufactures ; it possessed the Dalmatian and Bosnian mines, and its citizens were active, wealthy and chivalrous. Ragusa produced poets, engineers, painters and historians, and merited the title of the Slavo-lllyrian Athens. V. The Greek Empire of Niczea and Constantinople. 370. Limits, Restoration of the Capital and Con- quests. — Theodore Lascaris had saved the Greek Empire by hoisting his banner in Prusa as a rallying point for all the faithful. A victorious reign of eighteen years expanded his principality to the magnitude of an empire. Lascaris recon- quered and united . again Bitltynia, Mysia, Lydia, Ionia, parts of Phrygia, Caria and Paphlagonia, together with the islands, Lemnos, Imbros, Tenedos, Lesbos, Chios, and Samos, from which he expelled the Ghisi, and other Venetian nobles. His successor, the admirable John Dukas Vatatzes (1222 — 1255), drove back the Turks and pressed hard upon the Latin Knights in Constantinople. That city fell at last in 1261, and Michael VIII. Palaeologus reunited, toward the close of the century, Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, and the southeastern parts of the Morea with the reviving Byzantine Empire. 371. Genoa, on the Ligurian coast, had in her rivalry with Venice given as strenous an aid to the Greek Emperor of Nicaea, as Venice had done to the Latin conquerors of Constantinople. Genoa therefore was rewarded by the Greek emperor with important privileges, exemption from duties, and the cession of the suburbs of Pera and Galata, which were for- tified by double lines of wall, and that high central tower which still forms so conspicuous an object in the scenery of Constan- tinople at the present day. Nay, the Genoese even took posses- sion of every promontory on the Bosphorus, and thus sought to exclude their competitors from the commerce on the Black Sea. They occupied the eastern coast of the Crimea, where they fortified Gafa, Chercz, Cher son, Bosphorus, and Cembalo, and established their commercial depots in Azow at the mouth of the Don. Having by extraordinary exertions become the domineering nation on the Poutus, they began to arm for that tremendous maritime struggle with Venice, which from the year 1252 continued almost without interruption to 1382, and terminated only with the debilitation and decline of both. In the following century Genoa put herself into the posses- sion of great part of the Asiatic islands of the iEgean, such as Samos, Nicaria, Chios, Psara, Metellino (Lesbos), Stali- mene (Lemnos), Imbros, Tenedos, Samothrace, Thasos, and the smaller groups. VI. Despotat of Epirus. 372. Extent and Princes. — The portions cf the By- zantine Empire situated to the west of the range of Pindus, all Epirus, Acarnania and MioYidi,, as well as Lower Macedonia and Thessaly (Megali-Vlachia), were saved from the feudal dominion by Greek princes, who there maintained themselves against the French Crusaders: Epirus was, immediately after the conquest of Constantinople in 1204, occupied by the intel- ligent Michael Angelos, who, boldly assuming the direction of the government of the whole country from DyiTachium to Naupactus, on the Corinthian gulf, and gathering a large military force, secured the mountainous frontier against the Franks, and established his residence at Joannina or Arta. The civil government of the Despot of Epirus was a continuation of the Byzantine forms. Michael ruled as of right inheriting the province; it was a mere change in the name of the govern- ment, not a revolution in the condition of the people. It was modified, however, by the military character of the wild Al- banian Highlanders, who were taken in pay by the Despots, and now for the first time make their appearance on the world's stage as mercenary soldiers. The Despots extended their con- quest to Thessalonica, where they easily defeated the Lombard feudatories of the Marquis of Montferrat, and obtained even the imperial title. This however was, later, given back to the great Vatatzes of Nicasa and the short-lived empire of Thes- salonica ceased to exist in the year 1234. Epirus was divided in 1308 ; the greater part fell to the share of Thomas Tocco, Count Palatine of Cephalonia, and in 1358 King Stephen of Servia (364) succeeded in conquering all Epirus, Macedonia and part of Thessaly. VII. Duchy of Great Wallachia. 373. Origin and Extent. The Duchy of Great Walla- chia — MeyaAij BA.a;(ta — or Nco-Patras, consisted of all Thes- saly, Phthiotis, Doris, and part of Phocis. Its capital was Hypata — Neai-Patrni (Patraehik), in a strong- position on tin- IG 122 SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. TliEBIZOND. Sperchius. Zeitimi (Lamia), on a spur of the Othrys, with a fortress still standing, though in ruins, protected the defile oiAfi- dinitza into Thessaly. Annyros, Demetrias (269) and T'b/o, ■were cities on the coast of the Pagasetic gulf; Thaumaka, Bel- estina, Fersala (Pharsalus), Larissa, and Triklce, all situated in the fertile plain of the interior, ilfe^sow, on Mount Pindus, protected the passage into Epirus, and Tlualasona that into Ma- cedonia. This small duchy was founded by John Dukas, who proved a traitor to his own brother, Michael II. of Epirus, and the Prankish Prince of the Morea, in the battle of Perlepi, 1259. At the head of his roving Wallachians this daring chief obtained full possession of Thessalj^ ; he claimed entire inde- pendence, and stood at the time of his death, 1290, on equal terms both with the Grreek Emperor and the French Princes in Greece. The Catalan Freebooters conquered the valley of Sperchius, which they united to the duchy of Athens ; but Thessaly reverted to the Byzantine Empire, and was govern- ed by imperial lieutenants, who afterwards were, by the em- peror, honored with the title of Despots. VIII. COMNENIAN EMPmE OF Trebizond, 1204-1461. 374. Origin, Limits, Constitution, and Cities. — At the time of the downfall of the Comnenian family in Byzantium, in 1 185, Thamar, a daughter of the tyrant Andronicus (349), saved two of his nephews, Alexius and David Comneni, and fled with the children to the coast of Colchis, in Pontus, on the Black Sea. There the young princes were hospitably received by the Greeks, and when, in 1204, the Byzantine Empire sank before the sword of the crusaders, Alexius Comnenus, then a hand- some and spirited youth, at the head of his Colchiau Greeks, conquered Trebizond, Sinope, and all the coast-lands of Paph- lagonia, as far west as the Sangarius, and laid the foundation of the Comnenian Empire of Trebizond. This prosperity, however, did not last; Sinope was soon lost to the Sultan of Iconium, and the more distant conquests on the Sangarius, Amastris, Tios, and Herakleia, were reoccupied by the Palaeologi of Constantinople. The small Trebizontine State thus became circumscribed to the ancient Themes, of Chaldia, Koloneia, and part of that of Armenia (264-266). Trebizond (Trapezus), on the coast, was the capital. In a magnificent situation, with a fertile country around, it wanted only a secure port to make it one of the greatest empo- riums of eastei-n trafiic.'" Its exports consisted in the rich products and manufactures of Asia Minor, the copper of Tokat, the brilliant dye-stuffs of Caesarea, variegated car- pets, cloth of hair and wool, which in the ships of the Ita- lian Republics wei-e conveyed to Alexandria, Marseilles, and Spain ; and along the Danube, and to the Tauric Chersonesus, from whence they were transported by different routes through Russia and Germany to the north of Europe. The city of Trebizond, with its extensive suburbs, was strongly fortified by several impregnable castles, separated by deep ravines. The interior of the town was filled with palaces, public ba- zaars, the magnificent churches and convents St. Eugenios, the Panaglda Cliriso KepUalos^ and the great cathedral of Santa Soplda., in a delightful site on the sea-shore. A numerous population inhabited the city and the environs all along the coast, where Genoese, Pisans and Venetians had their magazines and commercial depots. On the eastern coast were situated the flourishing cities Rhizaion, Athenai, Pyxites, and Sotiropolis, at the foot of the Mingrelian mountains. The "' The city has its name fi-om the trapezoid, or tabular forna of the rocky coast on which the fir.%t settlers had established themselves. "The southern shores of the Black Sea offer every advantage for main- taijiing a numerous population, and tlie physical configuration of the counti-y supplies them with excellent natural harriers to defend them unruly Lazi, on the river Phasis, were subjects of the Com- nenian Emperors, though they often rose in open rebellion. On the west lay the cities of Kerasos (23-226), Tripolis, Ze- 'phyrioji, Oinaioii, and Amisos. In the interior the realm ex- tended over the rich plains of Side, Themiskyre, and Meso- chaldioji, southward to Zigana, Pylai, and the important pass of Ba/iburd, where the high mountain range of Paryades separated it from the territories of the Seldjukian Turks of Iconium. The Emirs of the Turkmans, the warlike tribes on Mount Caucasus, and the Greek Emperor, at Nicsea, were thus the natural enemies of the young Comnenian Dynasty, while, on the contrary, the crusading barons of Constantinople became its allies in their simultaneous efi'orts against Nicjea. The approaching invasion of the Mongols brought new dan- gers, yet, though both Andronicus I. and Johannes I. (1222-1238) were obliged alternately to seek the friendship of the Turkish Sultans or Mongol Great Khans, and even to pay tribute and render military service to the latter, yet, by their prudence, they escaped invasion, and being considered more as active chiefs of a mercantile establishment, than pur pie-born Princes of an Empire, they were enabled for nearlj' two centuries to maintain their independence, and to contri- bute their part to the peaceful extension of the world's com- merce, and the civilization and happiness of their subjects, and the numerous Greek emigrants, who, driven from their Eu- ropean home by the advance of the Ottoman Turks, found a hospitable reception on the beautiful shores of Trebizond. Such was the state of the Eastern World during the times of the crusades, when at the middle of the four- teenth century, the appearance of the Ottoman hordes in Eu- rope brought on new geographical divisions of territory, and a change in the political relations of all the lands that came within the reach of their swords. CHAPTER IX. .EUROPE, ITS POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND INTERNAL CONDITION DURING THE PERIOD OF THE CRUSADES, A. D. 1100-1300. 375. General Remarks. — Great changes, not only in the geographical limits but in the institutions, manners, ideas, and religious views, had taken place in almost every State of Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, while the energies of its most prominent nations were directed to those conquests and settlements in the East which we have recorded in the preceding chapter. Several states, however, took no direct part in that movement. Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, and Bnissia were almost entirely occupied with those internal organizations, domestic feuds, and wars with their neighbors, to which allusion has already been made; whilst the revolutions among the states of the Spanish on every side. There are few spots on earth richer in picturesque beauty, or abounding in more luxuriant vegetation than the south- eastern coast of tlie Euxine. The magnificent country that extends from the mouth of the Halys to the snowy range of Mount Caucasus is formed of a singular union of rich plains, verdant hills, bold rocks, wooded mountains, primeval forests, and rapid streams. In this fertile and majestic region Trebizond has been for more than six centuries the noblest and finest city." See the detailed History of the Trebizontine Emperom in Prof. Fallmerayer, and the later work of Col. Finlav, page 354-498. The modern citv has fifty thousand inhabitants. SEVENTH PEEIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. DENMARK. 123 Peninsula remained without political influence on the nations beyond the Pyrenees. Our synopsis of the struggle be- tween Islamism and Christianity there, and the triumph of the latter, may properly be reserved for the closing chapter. In consequence, we shall, in the present, draw the atten- tion of the student only to those revolutions which promoted the extension of religion, civilization and commerce among the leading nations of Europe, as the direct consequences of their religious wars and the threatened invasion of the Mongols. The principal events which will occupy us in Europe, while the crusades were still continuing with unabated fury in the Levant, were the following : — I. The introduction of the feudal system into the North, and the crusades of the Saxon dukes and Danish kings on the coast of the Baltic. II. The conversion and conquest of Prussia by the Teutonic order. III. The formation and extension of the Glrand Duchy of Lithuania. IV. The subjugation of Kussia by the Mon- gols. V. The feudal relations and contests between France and England., and the crusades against the Reforming Sec- tarians of Southern France. VI. The struggle between the German Emperors and the Lombard Republics ; and VII. The conquest of Naples by the House of Anjou. I. The Kingdom of Denmark, 1157-1375. 376. Limits and Political Condition. — The spirit of feudalism, chivalry, and crusading wars moved slowly towards the North, where it produced a total change in the political and social relations of Denmark toward the middle of the twelfth century. The influence of the clergy rose with that of the king and nobility, and the old public assemblies — Thinge — where all the freemen, high and low, used to meet for consultation, became now transformed into diets — Herredage — in which only the clergy and the feudal nobility appeared to decide the legislative and political questions of the day. From an elective kingdom, Denmark in course of time became an hereditary monarchy. The king being still too powerless to keep standing armies, formed an efficient cavalry, in iiuitation of the G-ermans, by granting estates to barons and knights for feudal service on horseback — Rosstjeneste. The larger pro- prietors, desirous of partaking the rank and honors of belted knights, began to take their allodial possessions as fiefs of the crown, while the smaller landholders sank back into a condition of poverty and subjection little differing from the serfdom of Germany. But this change was gradually introduced, and during the brilliant reign of the first kings of the Walde- marian dynasty (1 157-1227), the naval expeditions and cru- sades of the Danes on the southern coasts of the Baltic still sustained the warlike and independent genius of the nation. At that time of victory and conquest, the Danish monarchy rapidly extended from the frontiers of Sweden to the Lower Elbe and the Vistula, embracing the whole of Holstein., Vendland., Pomera7iia, the Prussian coast-lands, Estlila/nd., and the important islands of Rugen and Oesel. The dismem- berment of the duchy of Saxony, by Frederic Barbarossa, and the subsequent struggle between the AVelfs and the Ho- henstaufens in Germany, facilitated these invasions ; yet a small nation, like the Danes, could not permanently support these vast and distant expeditions, from which they received no material benefit, since they were not able to engraft their nationality on the Sclavonian tribes in the same manner as the Germans did — by civilization and numerous colonies. The treacherous capture of King Waldemar II., at Lyoe, in 1223, and the defeats of the Danes at MoUn and Bornhoved, soon turned the political scale, and the downfall of Denmark was then more rapid than her rise. 377. Danish Conquests on the Elbe and the Baltic. I. The County of Nordalbingia or Holstein, reached from the Eider, on the border of the duchy of South Jutland (Schleswig), to the Elbe, and included the free imperial cities of Liibeck and Hamburg. The county was then divided into I. Vagria, on the Baltic, inhabited by the Sclavonian tribes of the Obotrites and Vagrians, who had been subdued by Knud Lavard, the first duke of Schleswig (294). II. Stormaria, south of Vagria, on the Elbe ; and III. Thetmarsia— Ditmarsken — the low marshy coast-lands on the west, whose inhabitants, the hardy and brave Ditmarskers, founded a small republic under the protection of the archiepiscopal see of Bremen. Holstein had belonged to the old duchy of Saxony, and was erected into a county by the emperor Lothaire II. who gave it to the Counts of Schauenburg on the Weser, a family alike distinguished by the great statesmen and warriors who descended from it. Yet the Danish arms prevailed and Holstein remained during thirty years united with the king- dom. — Hamburg^ on the Elbe. (174), and Liibeck (225) on the Trave, were already commercial cities of great activity. The latter was occupied by Henry the Lion as a stronghold against the Sclavonians; but it had a greater destiny to fulfil than that of becoming a Danish fortress. Its much-lauded constitution, or Law of Liibeck — Liihsche Recht — was adopted by a number of Low German cities ; and it was after having expelled the Danish bailiff and garrison by a stratagem, in 1225, that Liibeck founded the celebrated Confederacy of the Hanse towns in 1241.''-' — Reinholdsburg (Bendsborg) castle on an island in the Eider, where Waldemar the Victorious built a bridge to facilitate and secure the march of his armies into Germany. — Chiliana, Kyi (now Kiel), situated on a beau- tiful bay of the eastern coast, was the most ancient city in Holstein, and became, later, a member of the Hanseatic League. Segeberg, with a castle on a high chalk-rock, was one of the strongest positions of the Danes in Holstein, and the fortress served them as a state prison for their unruly feudatories. Bornhoved, a small borough on the out- skirts of the Kamp or dreary heath-covered plain eight miles nortli of Segeberg, was the battle-field on which the fate of Denmark was decided on July 22, 1227. Hamburg and Liibeck, the Counts of Holstein and Schwerin, prelates and feudatories, were here marshalled under the German banner against King Waldemar the Victorious. After a stoutly con- tested field, when victory again seemed to favor the Danish arms, their rear-guard, consisting of Ditmarskers, turned treacherously upon them, and they were defeated with fearful slaughter. Four thousand Danes covered the plain ; the old King Waldemar, thrown down with his steed, and badly wounded was saved by an unknown German knight, who carried him safely to Kiel. From that day the downfall of Denmark followed with fearful rapidity. II. The Duchy of Pomerania comprehended all the fer- tile lands on the Lower Elbe, eastward to the Vistula, with the counties of Ratzeburg, Lauenburg., on the Elbe, Schiverin, Miklinburg (Mecklenburg), the principalities of Rugen., Werle, and the lordships of Rostock and Parclmn. The strong Castle of Schiverin., on the lake, was the residence of the Counts. There Count Henry, after the surprise and capture of King Wal- demar II. at Lyoe, kept his liege-lord in the most dismal trien- nial prison, 1223-1226, in spite of all the exhortations of em- peror and pope to procure his release. At Molln, west of the former. Count Albert of Orlamiinde, at the head of the Danish ''■- Au old ehi'oiiicler says about Liibeck, that Denmark caressed the hen which laid it a golden egg without foreboding that a basilisk woidd be hatched from it." — The name of Hanse — atn See — signifying commercial alliance among maritime towns, is older than the league. It appears in privileges granted by John Lackland of England to the Hamburgers in the twelfth century. 124 SEVENTH PEKIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. DANISH CONQUESTS. feudal army, was totally defeated by the CoiTnt of Holstein, and carried a prisoner to his unhappy king in the dungeon of Schwerin. Jomsborg, on the coast of Wollin, at the mouth of the Oder, the celebrated stronghold of the Joms-vikinger (295), was reduced and dismantled by King Waldemar I. in the year 1170. The principality of the beautiful island of KuGEN, with its numerous creeks and bays, deep narrow gulfs, high picturesque mountains, boldly projecting promontories, and forest-clad valleys, became an important and permanent conquest of the Danish arms. Waldemar I. stormed Arcona, and destroyed the monstrous idol of Swantevit. Churches and schools were built, and the Bishop of Rugen was made suffra- gan of Roeskilde, in Sealand. All the Vendic coast-lands soon made a remarkable progress toward civilization by the introduction of Christianity, and the thousands of German colonists, who, by Henry the Lion, were settled on the fertile plains of Pomerania. The German nationality gradually got the upper hand; the Slavic tribes became Germanized, and, after a century and a half, disappeared altogether. Yet, though the Danes made frequent descents on the Prussian coast, to the east of the Vistula, and took a firm footing in Courland and Livonia, they did not penetrate into the interior, but left the conversion of the fierce Prussians to the sword and the cross of the celebrated military order of the Teutonic knights (339), who, after their departure from the coast of Syria, in 1229, made their appearance on the Vistula, where they continued the great work of conversion during the greater part of the thir- teenth century. III. The province of Esthoni.i (Esthland) extended along the Finnic gulf — Kyriala-Bottu — eastward to the Lake of Peipus, and was divided into the districts of Harrien, Rotala, Virland, Jerven, Nurmegiind, and Ungannia, with the islands of Oesel and Dagoe. The Esthonians belonged to the Finnic or Chudish race. They were strong and active, cheerful and patient ; and they fought for their heathen god, Tharapilla, and their independence, with undaunted bravery. King Waldemar II. first occupied the islands in 1210. and carried the banner of the cross to the coast of Reval, in 1219. Merchants and priests from Bremen, had already begun to settle at JJxkitU^ on the river Duna, where they attempted to convert the savage Livonians, and built the strongly-fortified city of Riga in 1 168. But they found great opposition. Mein- hard, the first bishop of Livonia, therefore gathered a body of German knights — die Sdiwertritter — who extended the Chris- tian religion by their conquests, when King Waldemar II., with a fleet of 1400 vessels, in 1219, landed on the coast of Harrien, in Esthonia, and built the castles of Reval and Narva. In the neighborhood of Reval, at Lyndinissa, the Danish camp was surprised, on a dark night, July 15, 1219, by myriads of furious heathens, who penetrated, with fearful slaughter, to the royal tent. Overwhelmed by numbers, the Danes began to retreat ; but the courage of King Waldemar soon restored the battle, which terminated with the defeat and subjection of the Esthonians.'" Reval, the capital, became a flourishing city, and a member of the Hanseatic League. Habsul derived its name from the great Absalon, the Arch- bishop of Lund, who erected there the first cathedral, in the diocese of Oesel, the ruins of which are still seen. At War- bola, in Harrien, massive granite walls of one of the ancient '"It was at the battle of Lj'udinissa (Wolmar), the legend tells us, that a red banner with a white cross, the Danebroge, dropped down from the sky to encourage the retreating Danes. The fact seems to be, that the Pope, Innocent III., had sent King Waldemar a consecrated banner to be used in the holy war. The Order of the Knights of the Danebrog was instituted after the conquest of Esthonia; but .the sacred standard was lost three centuries later, at the defeat of the Danes in Ditmarsken, in a. d. 1500. castles, in which the Esthonians defended themselves against the Danes and the Teutonic knights, still remain. Esthland was an important acquisition. Its ecclesiastical province ranged under the see of Lund; but during the civil wars in Denmark, which followed on this glorious period, the country, in 1346, was mortgaged to the Teutonic Order, and lost for ever. 378. Of all the acquisitions southof the Eider, only the island of Riigen, the cities of Stralsund, Tribsees, Earth, Gnoyen, Sidtz, and Marlow, in Veudland, remained in the possession of the Danish crown. Waldemar II., though now old and van- quished, was an active prince ; he turned his attention to the internal organization of his realm, and caused a general survey of the kingdom to be taken, not unlike the Doomsday Book of William the Conqueror, and containing a complete account of the royal domains and feudal revenues of the crown. This curious statistical document — Librum census DanicB — throws much light on the internal economy of Den- mark during the thirteenth century. The whole kingdom was divided into small maritime districts, called Styresliaviu, which furnished each one or more vessels, and a certain pro- portion of men for the defence of the coasts, and the equipment of expeditions against the Vendish pirates or other public enemies. Nortlb Jutland thus furnished 450 ships. Sch/csivig supplied an equal number; Fyen and the smaller adjacent islands, Laaland and Langeland, were rated at 100 sail ; Sealand, Moen, Falster, and Rugen, under the see of Roes- kilde, contributed 120 manned vessels ; and Skaane, Hal- land, and Blekinge, subject to the Archbishop of Lund, sent 150 ships. This excellent institution went to decay during the civil wars between kings, clergy, and nobility, which en- sued, and the coasts were again at the mercy of the pirates, or the still more dangerous encroachments of the powerful league of the Hanse towns. " For at the death of Walde- mar Seier (Victory)," says the Chronicle of King Eric, "per- ished Denmark's crown of glory. From that time, wasted by intestine wars and mutual dissensions, she became the scorn of surrounding nations. Her sons not only lost the lands their forefathers had nobly won with sword and lance, but in- flicted deadly wounds upon their poor, distracted counti-y, miserably embroiled in the quarrels of six contending princes." The duchy of Schleswig became now the subject of contest between the royal brothers Eric and Abel, the sons of King Waldemar II. Abel, Duke of Schleswig, cap tured his brother in Schleswig, during a visit, and ordered him to be beheaded on a boat in the River Schley, and the body sunk. The treacherous Abel fell in battle against the free fishermen of the western coast, the Strand-Frisons, in 1252, and thus one scene of violence followed another, until the reign of the weak King Christopher II., when Denmark became divided among foreign feudatories ; Count Geert (Gerhard), of Holstein, obtained Schleswig as a Danish fief, and all Jutland as a mortgage, while Coiint John of Itzehoe, occupied the isl- ands, and Sweden claimed the provinces on her frontiers. Gerhard, the Great Holsteiner, marched a German army into Jutland, in 1340, with the intention of forming a German mo- narchy on the ruins of Denmark, but he fell beneath the sword of a Jutish nobleman, Sir Niels Ebbeson of Norreriis. This event, so celebrated in the Danish annals, took place at Randers, where Sir Niels, with sixty-five trusty followers, during night, entering the castle, slew the hated tyrant, and, escaping in full gallop through the midst of the Germans, called the Jutes to ai-ms. They flocked to the banner of their deliverer, and, though he fell in the battle of Skanderborg, against Iron-Henry, the son of Count Geert, the Danes suc- ceeded in driving the invaders out of the country. The ex- iled Prince Waldemar, then returning to his native country, SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. PRUSSIA. 125 ascended the throne of his forefathers, which, after a glorious reign of forty years, — 1334-1375, — he left strengthened, and consolidated to his great daughter, Queen Margaret, the Semi- ramis of the North. II. TERPaXORlES OF THE TEUTONIC OllDER IN PllUSSIA AND Livonia. / 379. Limits and Tribes. — Ancient Prussia extended from the frontiers of Pomerania, west of the Vistula, east- ward to the Niemen; and bordered south on the kingdom , of Poland and the Upper Vistula. The soil of Western Prussia is sandy; heaths are succeeded by marshes, and the coast on the Baltic is terminated by downs which, on the outskirts of immense pine forests, unite with those in Pome- rania. But the country between the Vistula and Memel, on the east, is more fertile — it is wood-clad, or studded with lakes ; the highest hill is only 506 feet above the level of the Baltic. Very remarkable are the large estuaries, the Frisic Haf^ and the Curie Haf, which by narrow strips of land are separated from the Baltic, with which they, however, stand in communication by shallow sti-aits. That low and dreary region is inhabited by fishermen, who still call them- selves Cures. The climate is tempestuous, and the frail cot- tages of this suifering race are often buried under heaps of sand. The ancient Borussi, Fruczi, or Prussians (91, 227), were of the Lettic tribe, fierce, warlike, but hospitable and honest ; they were clad in furs and coarse linen garments ; horse flesh and mare's milk were their food ; they loved strong liquors, and fought with javelins and lances. In their sacred groves they worshipped the sun, the moon, and the stars, with horrible rites ; their priests were all-powerful, and their wo- men, serfs, arms, and horses, were generally burned on the same pile with the deceased chief. None of the Chudish or Lettic tribes made so obstinate a resistance against the Christian in- vaders as the Prussians. Supported by the Livonians, they defeated the. Knights Sword Bearers in 1224, and destroyed mo- nasteries and monks; they invaded Poland, and Duke Conrad of Mazovia then invited the Order of the Teutonic knights to occupy the frontier province of Culm,- on the Vistula, against the heathens. The active Grrand Master Herman von Salza sent Herman von Balk, with a division of one hundred knights and squires, to Poland, where these military monks commenced the subjugation of Prussia with a degree of courage that was only equalled by their cruelty. They fortified Culm ; built Thorn in 1230, and after the most ruthless war and wonderful vicissi- tudes of victory and defeat, the military genius of their leaders, during fifty-three years, — 1228-1281,— completed this astonish- ing conquest of a few thousand knights over the entire Prus- sian nation, that for four centuries had resisted the arms of Poland. In 1238, the Teutonic Order united with the Sword Knights of Livonia, and in 1309, the Grand Master Siegfried von Feuchtwangen transferred the seat of the order from Venice to Marienburgh, on the Nogat. Strong castles were built in every subdued district, and the poor vanquished barbarians were compelled to furnish the workmen. Churches monasteries, and schools were likewise erected, and the Ger- man language was introduced; thousands of heathens were converted ; while others fled for protection into Lithuania. The Prussian chiefs were admitted to the order of nobility, while the people exchanged their state of licentious freedom for the most rigid serfdom. Numerous German colonies were set- tled by the order ; they built flourishing towns, to which al- most republican privileges were granted. Thus were gradu- ally formed the three orders of the provincial states, of which the diets were composed, the sovereignty remaining in the hands of the Teutonic Knights. 380. Division of the TErauTORiES, Constitution, and Government. — A. Prussia consisted of I. Fomerellen, or Western Prussia, between the left bank of the Vistula, the sea and the frontiers of Pomerania ; II. Culm on the south ; III. Pomesania, on the right bank of the river ; IV. Poge- sania; V. Galindia ; VI. Ermeland ; VII. Natangen; VIII. Samland ; IX. Nadrauen ; X. Sdialaucii ; XL Bartia, and XII. Sudauen — all the latter in Eastern Prussia. B. Sza- maitia, on the east, was conquered from the Lithuanians, after a bloody war, in 1382. C. Courland, a fertile and beautiful country, northeast on the Baltic. D. Livonia, in the interior, with I. Semgallia, II. the archiepiscopal see of Riga, ex- tending far into the interior with the suflragan bishoprics of Dorpat, Oesel, Reval, and Courland ; III. the territory of the Knights Sword Bearers — Schtoert-ritter — in Central Livo- nia. After the union of this order with that of the Teutonic Knights, A. D. 1236, the province of Livonia was governed by their own general — Heer7neister — who ranged under the Grand Master of the United Order in Marienburg. E. EsTHONiA (Esthland), the old Danish conquest, (376) sold by King Waldeinar IV. to the order in 1 346. Dagbe was likewise ceded to the knights, but the larger island of Oesel remained with Denmark. F; The island of Gothland, on the eastern coast of Sweden, with the commercial city of Wishij, which the order obtained in 1398 from the light-headed Albrecht of Mecklen- burg after his defeat and imprisonment of Queen Margaret. G. The Neumark, a part of Brandenburg, east of the Oder, mortgaged to the order by the penniless emperor Si- gismond in 1402. 381. All these territories were divided into thirty Com- manderies — Comthure — several of which were so large that they again became subdivided into Convents of Knights. The permanent settlement of the whole order in Prussia by the Grand Master Siegfried von Feuchtwangen — tl312 — imparted vigor and consistency to this singular religious and military society. The general chapter of the order possessed the higliest legislative power. The Grand Commanders,— Grosscornthure, — the Priors and other ofiicials ranged imme- diately under the Grand Master. The commanders held the sway in the principal castles of the commanderies. The Knights of the Order formed the first state, the native landed nobility the second, and the citizens — Bilrger — of the towns the third. The German colonists, who during the fourteenth century flocked to Prussia, Poland and Hungary in the same manner as in the present nineteenth to America and Australia, introduced their agriculture and industry; the Prussians themselves were a cattle-breeding people; peace and pros- perity prevailed for long periods throughout the land; and, under the severe and vigorous administration of able grand masters, it soon presented the appearance of a beautiful garden interspersed with hamlets, castles and the delightful coun- try-seats of the knights. Prussia alone numbered, about a. d. 1400 (ten years before the fatal defeat of the order at Tannenberg), four bishops, four great commanders, twenty- eight commanders, forty-six ^Yiovs—Hauscomthure — thirty- eight convents of knights ; a vast host of subordinate officials, canons and priests, three thousand one hundred and sixty-two knights — Dcut.schrittcr — and six thousand two hundred squires, sergeants — armigeri — light horsemen and valets. The number of fortified cities was fifty-five, of castles forty-eight, of boroughs and hamlets eighteen thousand three hundred and sixty-eight. The regular and permanent revenues from the province were eight hundred thousand Rhenish guilders, with- out counting the more irregular receipts from the fisheries, the regalia of the amber, the custom- duties and the perquisites and fees of the tribunals. The flourishing commercial cities were mostly situated on the Baltic and the banks of the Vistula. 126 SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. PRUSSIA— LITHUANIA. 382. Cities and Castles.— Grfa?zsA-— Danzig, an old Dan- ish colony at the mouth of the river, surrounded by immense fortifications that have supported many a siege, was enlarged and strengthened by the knights, who granted its industrious inhabitants important privileges and immunities. But be- comiuo- wealthy and possessing the exclusive navigation of the Vistula and the maritime commerce of Poland, the Danzigers would not submit tamely to the exactions of the haughty order; they revolted in 1454 and put themselves under the protection of the King of Poland. Marienburg, on the Nogat, a branch of the Vistula, A?as the capital and seat of the order from 1309 to 1466. The magnificent ruins of the Palace — das Deutsche Hans — with its porticoes, halls, chapels, armories and refectory, in the noblest style of the Gothic architecture of the age, remains in its ruins as a monument of the wealth and luxury of the order. Other fortified cities were Elbing, Thorn, Culm, Marienwerder, Konigsberg, built in 1255, and Memel, which being in pos- session of the herring fisheries on the Finnic Gulf, became rich and populous, and, like Danzig, important members of the Hanseatic League. Cities in Livonia and Esthonia were Liebau, Pilten, Reval, Dorpat, Narva, and Riga on the Diina, the archiepiscopal see of the Provincia Rigensis. 383. Such was the organization of the mighty Stale of the Warrior-Monks of Saint Mary at the time (1309) when their unhappy brethren, the Knights Templars were groaning in the dungeons or expiring on the piles as heretics and sons of Belial — and the Hospitallers, still residing in the East, fought the battles of Christ against Mamlukes and Turks. Yet the quiet prosperity of the Teutonic Order be- came soon the chief cause of the pride, depravity and licen- tiousness of its members ; indeed, the same vices characterize all societies of the same sort, composed only of the nobles of every nation, for the most part united by religious fanati- cism or love of war and dominion. The order became insolent and corrupt — in the beginning the disorders were, of course, covered with the broad cloak of hypocrisy. The knights revelled and caroused within their castles, and made a show of their demure priestly mien and piety without, — and there remained of the pilgrim and the monk nothing but the cross and cowl. They forgot their vows — and, retired on their beautiful estates, they began to dream of domestic happiness ; they contracted secret alliances of the heart, which gave rise to scandal against the order and undermined its influence. This forgetfulness of duty created accusations and feuds with- in the order itself; then quarrels with the secular prelates in the cities, and complaints of the young turbulent republics, who chafed and fretted beneath the iron rod of the military priesthood. The tyranny of the grand masters became so insupportable that both the native Prussians and German colonists chose rather to submit to the government of the frank and generous Poles. This warlike nation had in 1382 formed a political union with the Lithuanians by the mar- riage of their princess Hedevig with the Lithuanian Grand Duke, Jagellon. And when the order, foreseeing the storm, broke the peace in 1414, it was totally defeated in the terrible battle near Tannenberg (Grunwald) in southern Prussia, whore the Grand Master Ulrich of Jungingen perished with the greater part of the knights and thirty thousand of their vassals and mercenaries."^ From that day began the rapid decline of the Deutschritters. Jagellon with his victorious "■• The luxury and extravagance of the knights prepared their ruia The Grand Master Wallenrode had assembled a large arni3^ on the banks of the Niemen in 1394 for the conquest of Lithuania. There he invited the knights to a magnificent entertainment. Waiting-brothers held canopies of cloth of gold above every knight at the table ; thirty Poles advanced toward the seashore ; one province after the other surrendered ; Marienburg, the impregnable capital, fell; Danzig, Elbing, and Thorn, broke their chains in 1440; western Prussia revolted in 1454, and placed itself under the protection of king Casimir IV.. and when peace was concluded in 1466 all western Prussia became incorporated into Poland, and the Teutonic Order, deprived of their finest provinces and their wealth, became themselves vassals of the Polish crown. III. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania. 384. Origin, Development and Conquests of the Lithu- anians. — On the downfall of the Russian power by the inva- sion of the Mongols in the first half of the thirteenth century, the Lithuanian tribes between the Niemen and the Diina at once entered upon the world's battle-field as a conquering nation. Their history is very remarkable, and presents a most extraordinary instance of a nation which, after having remained for centuries in a state of utter insignificance (226, 305), at- tained by its conquests and wise policy, in a comparatively short time (1235-1386), a station which rendered it for about a century the most formidable power in the north, while Rus- sia herself was at the mercy of hex Tartar oppressors. The home of this Slavic nation was the flat and marshy territory between the Wi/ja and the Sivieta, tributaries of the Niemen, where they had recognized the supremacy of the Russian grand dukes, and paid a tribute answering to the rudeness and poverty of the people. But their chiefs soon took advantage of the internal dissensions among the Russian princes (302) ; they extended their conquests (1082-1221), to Novogrodek Polotzk, and Severia (305), and assisted their neighbors, the Livonians and Prussians, in repelling the Knights Sword Bearers, the warrior-monks, who were converting them to Christianity with the broadsword. Yet Lithuania was still cut up into many small principalities, until the brave Ryngold, having united under his dominion all the conquered terri- tories, assumed the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania in a. d. 1235. His son Mindag, under the pretence of becoming a Christian, received from Pope Innocent IV. the royal diadem, and was crowned at Novogrodek, the capital of Lithuania (now a small village south of the Niemen), by the Archbishop of Riga.'" A new dynasty of Lithuanian grand dukes ascended the throne a. d. 1283, with Witenes, whose descendants, all talented princes, ruled with eminent success until the union of Lithuania with Poland, under Jagellon, in 1386.''" Ghedymin, the son of courses of the choicest dainties were served in dishes of gold and silver; all the goblets were likewise of gold, and each guest was per- mitted to carry away his cup and plate after the feast. This glittering army was totally routed by the Lithuanians, and forced in a few months afterwards to cross the Niemen, like that of Napoleon in 1812. in the most deplorable condition ; while an epidemic disease soon cut off all those who had escaped the lance of the enemy. See, for the complete history of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, the excellent works of John Voigt. Geschichte Preussens, Konigsberg, 1828, Vol. L-IV. and GeschicMe der Stadt Marienburg, Konigsberg, 1824. "■^The Lithuanians were obstinate Pagans; they abhorred the priest-knights and their blood}' baptism, and woe to the sword-monks wlio fell into their hands ! Thej- remained idolaters till the end of the fourteenth century. Tlieir chief deity was Perkunai, the god of thun- der, besides some other divinities presiding over seasons, elements, and particular occupations. Tliey possessed sacred groves and fountains, and worshipped the fire and sacred serpents. The Lithuanian language was divided into two principal dialects, the Lithuanian Proper and the Lettiac or Livonian. The former was the old Prussian language, which the Knights of the Teutonic Order tried all means to extirpate, though it was still spoken in tlie time of the Reformation. It is said to bear a stronger resemblance to the Sanscrit of India than any other known language. • "" Witenes, Grand Duke or King of Litliuania, 1283-1315 ; Ghedymin, SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. i). 109G-1300. GOLDEN HORDE— FRANCE. 127 Witenes, was a great prince. He made extensive conquests in southwestern Russia, and consolidated his power by insuring perfect protection to the religion, language and property of the Christia 1 inhabitants of the conquered lands, though himself a worshipper of Perkunas, and his sacred snakes ! His mild sway was preferred to that of the Mongols, whom he defeated ; and the Greek Russians and Latin Russinians alike blessed his reign. Ghedymin built Wilna, which then became the capi- tal, and fell in battle against the Teutonic knights in 1328. His son Olgerd extended his conquests to the Black Sea, sub- dued the Tartars of the Crimea, and presented himself thrice in triumph before the gates of Moscow in 1368, 1370 and '73. With the reign of his son, Jagellon, begins a new period in the history of Lithuania. At the time of the union with Poland, the grand duchy consisted of the following principalities : L WiLNO (Wilna), on the Wilja, with the new capital of that name; II. Polotcz, and III. Psicow, formerly independent States; IV. Witepsk ; V. Druecz ; VI. Mscislaw; VII. Severia, with the large city Novogorod-Sevcrsky, on the Desma ; VIII. Kiew (Kijof), with the celebrated city of that name on the Dnieper, then much sunk from its former splen- dor (302) by the devastations in the wars of the Mongols; IX. Braclau, southeast of Kiew ; X. Podolia. or Camje- NiEc, on the frontier of the independent duchy of Halitch (303); XI. Wlodomirez, on the Bug; XII. Wolhynia, or Luck ; XIII. Czernigow (303.) ; XIV. Turow ; XV. Pinsk; XVL Sluck; XVIL Minsk; XVIIL Novogro- DEK ; XIX. Grodno (Troki); XX. Berzesk, and XXI. Sam- OGiTiA, in the north, the contested territory on the borders of Prussia and Livonia, exposed to the continual forays of the Teutonic knights and the swarms of crusading adventurers from Germany who fought vinder their banners. These provinces appear later under the more familiar names of Black, White, and Red Russia (303), Samogitia, Volhynia, Podulia, Pod- lesia, and Ukraine. Lithuania is generally a fiat and low coun- try, the northwestern part (Samogitia) is very fertile, and so are the banks of the Niemen, which, moreover, present a beautiful scenery. But the greater part of the interior is covered with sand, marshes and fens, of terrible memory, from the campaigns of Charles XII. in 1709, and of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812. The principal rivers are the Niemen, Dnieper, Berezina, Wilja, Bug, and many smaller tributaries. IV. Empire of the Mongols. 38r). Extent of their Conquests. — At Karakorum, on the southern slope of Mount Altai, in Mongolistan, arose, in A. D. 1216, the wild and gigantic conqueror Dshingis-Chan (Chimkhis-Chan), who, within eleven years, carried the arms of the Mongols from the frontiers of China, over the ruins of numberless cities and nations, westward through Tangut, Tshagatai (Tibet), and Iran (Persia), to the foot of Mount Caucasus, and the shores of the Mediterranean. Not a spark of noble fire was perceptible in the deeds of the savage and brutal Mongols, the descendants of the ancient Huns (89) ; desolation, bloodshed, and sensuality were their only delight ; whole nations they swept from the face of the earth by their mere passage ; Samarkand, Bokhara, Otrar, Balkh, Nichapur, the Mohammedan seats of com- merce, literature and art, were destroyed. Djelah-ed-Din, the brave Khowaresmian Prince attempted resistance, but being overwhelmed, was forced to flee westward (276). Thus the torrent came on. Batu-Chan, the nephew of Dshingis-Chan, 1315-1841; OZgrm/, 1841-1.37'? ; Jagellon, Uin-UZi:. He man-ies Fe- devig, of Poland, 1386, unites the two crowns, and defeats the Oi'der of the Teutonic Knights at Tannenberg, 1410. after the defeat of the Russian princes on the river Kalka in , 1224 (304), overrun that unhappy country as far as the sources of the Volga and the Dnieper. Kiciv, Resan, Moscou, Smolensk, and many other flourishing cities, were laid in ashes, the Russians enslaved, and the Mongol Chanate of the Golden Horde, of Kaptdiak, founded by BatuChan in 1230. This empire extended westward to Lublin and Crakau on the upper Vistula, in Poland, along the Carpathian range to the Black Sea and the Crimea, and eastward across Mount Oural, along the Caspian and Aral Seas, toward the Siberian lakes and Mount Muztag, on the borders of Tshagatai. The citizens of Novogorod beheld, trembling, the approach of the ruthless hordes towards the banks of the Twertza ; but on a sudden the Tartars wheeled westward, crossed the Vistula and the Oder, and vanquished the Poles and the Knights of the Teutonic Order, at Liegnitz, in Silesia, in 1241. Batu-Chan, after desolating Hungary with fire and sword, and defeating the Hungarians on the plain of Mohi, returned victorious, and gorged with spoils, to organize his conquests in Russia. Novogorod was saved ; she became the asylum of prince and serf; she joined the great Hanseatic Confederacy of the Baltic cities, and was soon placed in so excellent a state of de- fence that she alone remained flourishing, while the rest of Russia smarted under the iron rod of the Tartar for more than two centuries — from 1224-1487. While these barbarians occu- pied all the forest-lands toward Mount Oural, and fortified them- selves permanently in Kasan, the Poles and Lithuanians in- vaded and conquered Smolensk and the southwestern provin- ces. Batu-Chan was alike great as a statesman and as an enter- prising conqueror. But neither the Mongols nor their faithful companions, the steeds of the steppe, could enjoy or live in th ! cold and dreary regions of Moscou, on the Upper Volga. Ths Chan therefore retired, with all his army, to the smiling bankii of the Caspian Sea and the Yaik; there he built his immense; camp-town of Sarai ; and his Golden Tent gave the name ts the ruling Horde of the Kaptchnk. The trade on the Caspiai^ was restored, and the Mongols even became a commercia\ people. Batu-Chan left the Russian serfs their shadows of tributary princes, and the cunning Tartar fomented their pettj jealousies and internal feuds : he ordered them down to tht golden tent of Sarai, where he sat to decide their suits as t sovereign judge, and to punish every attempt at insurrection with the string or the scimitar. V. The Kingdom of France uj.emona, lately the bitter enemy of Milan, Bergamo, Brescia, Mantua, Ferrara, Bologna, Parma, Piacenza, Modena, and many others, signed the Lom- bard League against the German tyrant, sent off their mili- tia to Milan, recalled its dispersed inhabitants, and began with true Italian enthusiasm its restoration. Soon the walls and towers of the new city rose more formidable than ever ; and from that time it withstood all the attacks of its enemies '" Milan has at present the aspect of a modern cit3^ ; only eighteen weather-beaten marble columns in front of the church Sanct. Ambrogio, seem to have befn spared, and remind us of the ancient capital of the Ilonian emperon* in the filth century. 136 SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. ITALIAN REPUBLICS. Tritium (Trezzo), and Vaprio, on the Adda, were cele- brated castles. Rosiate, Binascwm, and Mekgtianum, were boroughs in the south. Ligna?iicm (Legnano), northwest of Milan, in the plain on which was fought. May 29, 1176, the decisive battle of Italian liberty. Frederic Barbarossa was there defeated by the citizens of Milan and their confederates. The brilliant squadrons of the Milanese youths — Icschiere della morte — spurred against the German chivalry with such resist- less fury that the whole hostile army was routed with tremen- dous slaughter. Old Barbarossa falling beneath his wounded steed, lay hidden among the slain, like Marshal Bliicher at Ligny, 1815, and Avas with difficulty brought away by his faithful squires during the darkness of the night. While the joyful Italians were revelling after their victory, the van- quished emperor, in the disguise of a shepherd, passed their lines, and through by-paths succeeded in gaining Pavia, where his empress, Beatrix of Burgundy, and the court, were mourn- ing his death. The whole German camp was taken ; and the Italian prisoners and immense booty were recovered by the united Lombards, who by this blow terminated the long and bloody struggle in the peace of Constance, in 1183. 409. II. Bergonium (Bergamo), in a magnificent position, on a steep hill, in front of the Alps, and between the rivers Brem- ba and Serio, was one of the most active members of the Lom- bard confederacy. Puntido, west of Bergamo, was the con- vent where the treaty was signed by the Rectors or envoys of the cities, on the 7th of April, 1167. III. Brexia (Brescia), east of Bergamo, still more cele- brated by its heroic resistance during the siege by Frederic II. in 1252. The citizens defeated the Ghibelines in every sor- tie, and forced the emperor, with dishonor and loss, to raise the siege. IV. Cremona, situated in a beautiful plain, and encom- passed with ditches, walls, and towers, was earlier a Ghibe- line city, which had faithfully adhered to the imperial party ; but the haughty bearing and cruelty of its German Podestd so exasperated the hot-blooded Cremonese that they joined their arms to their brethren in the Lombard League in 1 167. Soon, however, the old jealousies prevailed again, and the fickle Cremona ranged under the Ghibeline banner of Henry VI. against the Guelfic Republics, in 1195. Curtis Nova (Cortenuova), northeast of Cremona, where Frederic II., by skilful manoeuvres, totally defeated the army of the Lombard League in 1237. The banner-carriage of the cities was lost, together with thousands of prisoners ; and the Hohenstaufen star might again have arisen if the arrogance of Frederic, and his subsequent defeat before Brescia, had not clouded all the prospects of that incorrigible family. 410. V. BoNONiA (Bologna), the queen of the Romandiola (Romagna), south of the Po, was, after Milan, the strongest and most tttrbulent of the Italian Republics. Its fertile ter- ritory, watered by the Po and its tributaries, the Rheno, Sar- vana and Silaro, embraced the counties, Casalecchio, Pdnico. Loglano^ Medicina, and Arge.lata, on the lower Po ; and the warlike republic extended its dominion over all the smaller cities of Romagna (398). Bologna was, during the middle ages, a splendid city. Situated at the northern base of Mount Apennine, it com- manded a most delightful prospect towards the plain and the mountains. It was strongly fortified, and divided into four wards, the militia of which were led on by their respective banner-chiefs — Gonfalonieri. Frowning towers rose proudly above the palaces and churches in the interior Many of these strongholds have since been broken ; but the Asinelli Toiver, 380 feet high, and the somewhat lower Garisefida, both inclining several feet from their base, like the celebrated hanging tower of Pisa, to this day remind us of the republican times of old. Nor was Bologna less celebrated for its flour- ishing university, the first of modern Europe, where many thousands of students from north and west gathered to listen to the lectures of the great professors Irnerius, Bulgarus, Martinus de Gosi, Jacobus de Porta Ravennate, and Hugh Alberici, the able expounders of the Roman Law, which, after the discovery of the Justinian Pandects in 1137, began to be studied with renewed enthusiasm throughout all Italy. Bo- logna had already obtained its municipal independence by a charter from the emperor Henry V. in 1112, which granted it the privilege of coining money, and other important regalian rights. The citizens assembled in general comitia ; they ap- pointed their consuls and other magistrates. The nobles, who held feudal castles in the environs, were obliged to apply for citizenship in the town, and take up their residence among the burghers. These fierce republicans strenuously supported the Lombard League. They defeated King Enzio, the son of Frederic II., in the battle at Fossalta, in 1246, and kept the unhappy prince in captivity until his death, in 1272. The factions of the Guelfs and Ghibelines proved the ruin of the prosperity and independence of Bologna. Ambitious and rival families sided under either banner. A private crime of the proud Lambertazzi, the head of the Ghibeline party, brought on the most frightful disasters."^ The offended Ge- remei, the chief family of the Guelfs, drove the former, at the sword's point, out of the city, in 1274, with fifteen thousand of their partisans and defendants, who, finding support among the nobles in the mountains, led on by Guido da Montefeltro, Lord of Urbino, renewed the war, until Pope Nicholas III. procured the recall of the exiles. 411. VI.-XII. Venice, Vicenza, Padua, Trevizi, MoDENA, Parma, and Piacenza, took all a more or less act- ive part in the Lombard League. At Venice, on the square of Saint Marc, the humbled Barbarossa bowed down before the Pope Alexander III., and concluded the armistice with the Republics in 1177, which was followed by their indepen- dence at the peace of Constance in 1183. On the plain of Ron- caglia, east of Piacenza, the diets of the German kings and emperors were held in the presence of the feudatories and the deputies from the Italian cities. There laws were promul- gated, and the feudal armies of Germany and Italy passed in review before the imperial tent. The splendid camps of so many thousands of princes and barons, adorned with shields, banners, and all the pomp of chivalry, extended for miles along the banks of the Nura and the Po. Religious processions al- '^^Imilda de' Lambertazzi loved the young Boniface Geremei, whose family had long been separated by the most inveterate enmity from her own. During a secret interview, the lovers were suiprised by the Lambertazzi, the brothers of the young lady. Imilda escaped, but the lover was stabbed to the lieart by the poisoned daggers of the Lambertazzi. In her despair, Imilda returned; she found his body stiU warm, and a faint hope suggested the remedy of sucking the venom from his wounds. But it only communicated itself to her veins ; and the two unhappy lovers were found by her attendants stretched lifeless by each other's side. So cruel an outrage wrought the Geremei to madness : they formed an alliance with the democratic party in the city, and with some neighboring re])ublies : the Lambertazzi took the same measures among the nobility, and after the most frightful battle in the streets of Bologna of forty days' duration, wherein palaces and towers were stormed, and part of the city destroyed, all the Ghibe- lines were driven out, their houses razed, and their estates confiscated. [See the entertaining account of the revolution of Bologna, in Simonde de Sismondi's History of the Italian Republics. Tome III., pp. 442 et seq.] SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. P. 1096-1300. GHIBELINE PRINCIPALITIES. 137 ternated with tournaments and banquets. From the Roncag- lian plain the emperors generally went to Monza, near Milan, to take the iron crown of Lombardy, and disbanding the feu- dal armies they then returned to Germany. Such had been the custom for centuries, during the reign of the Saxon, Sa- lian, Franconian, and Souabian dynasties, until the time of Frederic I., when the victory of the Lombard Republics occa- • sioned a total change in the relations between Italy and the Germanic empire. Guelfic cities in the west were Cairium (Chieri), Asta (Asti), and Taurinum (Turin), which defended themselves against the imperial feudatories, the Marquises of Montferrat and Malaspina, and the Counts of Savoy and Sa- luzzo. They were therefore attacked by Frederic Barbarossa in 1154, and either demolished or given to the Marquis of Montferrat. 412. XIII. Terdona (Tortona), on the Scrivia, south of the Po, the faithful ally of Milan, was considered as the bul- wark of the Guelfic cities. Situated on a steep height and strongly fortified, the heroic Tortonese withstood all the at- tacks of 100,000 Germans, and set a glorious example to the Lombard cities in their struggle for independence. Without relief from her allies, however, Tortona fell at last, in April, 1 155, and was ruthlessly destroyed by Barbarossa ; the proud ruins of the upper town still commemorate the fortitude and perseverance of the Italian Republicans of the twelfth cen- tury. XIV. Alessandria deHa paglia (the straw-thatched Alexandria) was built by the united efforts of the League, during the war, as a protection for Milan against the Ghibe- line princes of Piedmont. That strong fortress is situated in an excellent military position at the junction of the Tanaro and Bormida ; it received its name in honor of the Pope Al- exander III. the head of the League, and in spite of the dis- dainful nickname of della paglia, it was speedily garrisoned by fifteen thousand combatants, who gallantly frustrated all the efforts of Frederic I. to destroy the rising city. XV. Como, and XVI. Lodi, though old enemies of Milan, were forced by their position to join the League : so were XVII. the fickle Vercelli, and XVIII. Novara, though they afterwards changed sides according to the interest of the moment. The League was soon strengthened by new members, viz. Mantua, important by its central position on the Adige, Ravenna, Rimini, Reggio, and Bobbio. All re-established their consu- lar governments, and a kind of federal diet was assembled at Modena, composed of envoys from the various cities, who were styled Rectors of the League. But this appearance of a real federal union lasted only as long as the contest with Frederic Barbarossa, and dissolved itself quickly after the general peace of Constance in 1183. 413. III. Ghibeline Cities and Principalities in North- ern Italy. — Pavia, the ancient capital of the Lombard kings (152), was the only one among the imperial or Ghibeline cities which remained the faithful ally of the Hohenstaufens, and even she was afterwards forced, by the preponderating influence of Milan, to side with the rest. Como, Lodi, Cremona, Vercelli, and Novara had the same fate ; and only Parma, by its strength and position, was enabled more effectually to support the imperial cause, until she too, in 1248, by her rebellion, gave the sinking power of Frederic II. the last blow, from which it never rose again. The following principalities were Ghibeline : I. The mar- quisate of Montferrat, in an important position between Asti and Pavia, rose from a small beginning, in the course of the tenth century, by donations of the emperors, to become one of the most distinguished families in the twelfth.'*' II. The '*" Conrad of Montferrat was the fellow-crusader of Kinj Lion- 18 margravate of Malaspina, south of the former, along Mount Apennine, embraced the important Bobiiim (Bobbio), on the upper valley of the Trebia, the defile of Pontremoli, and the Litnisiana, on the frontiers of Tuscany. By thus pos- sessing the keys to the Yal d^Arno, the Margraves of Ma- laspina held in their hands the balance of power between the Ghibeline chiefs in the north, and the rich Florentine Guelfs in the south ; and they knew cleverly how to play the dice. III. The county of Savoy, in the Alps. The history of the house of Savoy is one of the most interesting among the royal dynasties of Europe. By the eminent talents of the chiefs, and the unclouded success which attended their arms, they formed in the course of centuries that magnificent kingdom on both sides of the Alps and the shores of the Mediterranean, from which we in future hope and expect the deliverance and regeneration of Italy. The ancient Counts of Mauriana received from Henry V. of Germany the investiture of all Savoy as an imperial county. The counts successively extended their sway over parts of Burgundy and Piedmont, and possessed in the time of the Souabian dynasty the follow- ing provinces; A. North of the Alps; 1, the county of Sa- vnja, with the city of Cliianibery ; 2, the county of Taran- tasia (Tarantaise), commanding the defile over the Montem Maledictum (Lesser Saint Bernard), into the valley of Aosta; 3, the county of Mauriana (Maurienne), on the south, lead- ing to the defile of Mount Cenis (155); 4-6, the baronies of Bugey, Jays, and Aile ; 7, the county of ■FFaac?i,(Vaud) with parts of Lesser Burgundy, such as Mouldon, Morat, Lau- sanne, Vivis (Vevay), and the castle of Chillon, on the beau- tiful lake Leman; and 8, the duchy of Chiablesa (Chablais), on the southern banks of that lake.''-"* B. South of the Alps ; 9, the duchy of Avosta (Aosta), in the fertile valley of the Dora Baltea, with the city of Castillione and the castle of Bardone defending the descent to the plain of Piedmont; 10, the principality of Intramonti (Piedmont); and 11, the marquisate of Susa, at the foot of the Graian Alps, Such a union of provinces, commanding the defiles of the western Alps, placed the Counts of Savoy in hostile relations to their neighbors ; but they defended their position with remarkable bravery and success. Count Amadous III., the crusader, founded the splendid abbey of Raiitecombe, on the Lake of Annecy, in Savoy. His son, Humbert III., the saint, com- pelled the Marquis of Saluzzo to acknowledge himself his vassal. He followed the banner of Frederic Barbarossa as feudatory of Burgundy, but when the scale of battle turned against the emperor, he kept aloof, and was punished with the loss of part of his dominions, and the destruction of Susa by the Germans in 1174, where the archives of the house of Savoy are said to have perished in the flames. His succes- sors acted with admirable tact during the long struggle of the Guelf and Ghibeline parties; and though the dynasty of Savoy became split into two lines in 1285, the one in Savoy Heart of England ; a successor of that daring chief, Boniface of Mont- ferrat, conquered the kingdom of Thessalonika in 1205 (354); and the unfortunate William of Montferrat, who died in 1292, was father-in-law to the Greek emperor, Andronicus Palaeologus. •3" The sliores of the lake were inherited by Count Peter of Savoy (1203-1268), a wise and chivalrous prince. He had long resided at the court of Henry III. of England, who, admiring his excellent qualities, made him Earl of Richmond, and gave him for his residence the palace called Savoy House, on the banks of the Thames. It was to the friendship of Richard of Cornwall, who was elected King of Germany, that Count Peter owed those extensive grants in Burgundy (Switzerland). Peter died at his favorite residence, the romantic castle of Chillon, in 1268, and lies- buried in the abbey of Hautecombe. See interesting details in Johannes von Miiller's History of the Svnss Cantons. Book I., chap. 16. 138 SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. ITALIAN REPUBLICS. and the other in Piedmont, both were fortunately united again in 1363."' 414. IV. The Second Lombard League and the Ghibe- LINE Principality of the Marca Trevisana, a. d. 1224- 1268. — After the glorious peace of Constance, in 1183, Lom- bardy soon fell back into anarchy and civil feuds. The league was dissolved ; the old animosities of the fiery republicans of so many contending cities broke forth with renewed fury. Milan again took the lead in the movement. Yet this time she suffered in her own bosom from intestine factions. Who could quell the hydra of civil discord, if not a distinguished foreign warrior, honest, impartial, unambitious ? Such a chief, who, indifferent to the parties, would stand between them, and keep all alike down with the sword, the short-sighted Mil- anese believed they had found in Uberto Visconti, of Piacenza, whom they not only, in 1186, called to take the command of the republic, but even gave the formerly so odious name of Podesta — a name and office that had caused such gene- ral detestation throughout Italy during the reign of Frederic Barbarossa. The republic had scornfully rejected the good- natured and bluff German captains — now they chose the most reckless and unsparing of Italian tyrants. What a singular debility in human nature, and how often repeated in history ! The Italians themselves call in their future oppressors, and give them the ominous name of Podesta ! Milan, however, was at the height of her power ; the number of her citizens was 200,000; she counted 13,000 private houses; her war- like nobility alone dwelt in sixty streets, all bristling with towers and battlemented palaces. The province of Milan itself furnished 240,000 combatants, and was defended by 150 castles, with adjoining boroughs. It was then that Milan, not content with the privileges obtained at the peace of Con- stance, and impelled by her hatred toward the family of the Hohenstaufens, placed herself at the head of a second league against Frederic II. All the cities of Central Lombardy, be- tween the Sesia and the Adige, the Alps and the Ligurian Mountains — Pavia and Lodi, the subjects of Milan, Brescia, Bergamo, Piacenza, Mantua, Alessandria, and others, took up arms. Only Cremona and Parma remained still defenders of the empire. But the old spirit of independence no longer in- spii-ed the confederates ; it was only a party struggle, fomented by violent Popes. The cities were defeated, and but for the rebellion of Parma in 1248, and the death of Frederic in 1250, the scale might yet have turned in favor of the Ghibeline arms. The cities of the March of Verona — Marca Trevisana — between the Adige, the Alps and the Adriatic — Verona, Bassano, Vicenza, Trident, Padua, and Treviso suffered a Rtill greater defeat by the terrible Eccelino of Romano, the devoted Ghibeline feudatory of the Souabian dynasty. By ex- traordinary bravery, and unparalleled cruelty, he subdued the cities and put down the Guelfic party by the edge of the sword and the axe; and it was not until the year 1259 that a crusade preached by the pope put an end to the life and the tyranny of the monster, and liberated the shaken republics of northern Italy. Yet the free constitutions could not be restored. Milan had already passed through another revolution, which placed '" A detailed history of Savoy would be highly interesting. Under continual wars with the nobles of Dauphin^, the Swis-, and the liou.se of Visconti, the Counts of Savoy nevertheless made the most important acquisitions: Faucigny, in 1233; Beauge and Bresse, 1285; Ivrea, in 1350. Nizza, and many othei- Italian cities, surrendered voluntarily to the distinguished Aniadeus VII. Geneva placed herself under ihe protec- tion of the powerful counts in 1401, and the Emperor Sigismond raised them to the ranks of Dukeg of Savoy in 1410. A good history of Savoy is yet to ba written. the mechanics and lower classes, who formed an armed confra- ternity under the name of Credenza di Sant^ Ambrogio, in opposition to the wealthy citizens — La Motta — and the nobles. Neither the podesta nor the consuls could restore order among the infuriated parties. A foreign prince, with his mercenary condottieri, was therefore called in, and the political power — la signoria — was intrusted to him for several years. These sig- nori thus sprung up in every part of Lombardy and Romagna; surrounded by their men-at-arms — lancie, barbnte — and a nu- merous infantry, they took possession of the castles, and ob- taining the imperial vicariate from the German king for ready money, or the enfeoffment of the pope, they crushed the par- ties, together with the constitutions, and rendered themselves absolute sovereigns of the deluded commonwealths. Thus arose in the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the principalities of the Visconti in Milan, the Langoschi in Pavia, the Gonzaga in Mantua, the Este in Ferrara, the Delia Scala in Verona, the Carrara in Padua, the Rusconi in Co- mo, the Pichi in Mirandola, the Pii in Carpi, the Polenta in Ravenna, the Malatesta in Rimini, the Ordelaffi in Forli, the Manfredi in Faenza, the Alidosi in Imola, the Varani in Ca- merino, the Montefeltri in Urbino, and others. The courts of these petty tyrants were the seats of learning, art, and ele- gance, on the one hand ; and the most awful crimes and cor- ruption on the other ; the highest enjoyments of civilization alternating with the most violent catastrophes. The condot- tieri, with their hired bands of mail-clad men-at-arms, were as perfidious as the princes who had taken them into service, and they sometimes succeeded in mounting the throne themselves, as Francesco Sforza that of Milan in 1460. Only a few states, such as Venice, Florence, Genoa, and some smaller ones, de- fended the republican institutions, at least in the form, though they were not more fortunate than the others, and still more tyrannized by the fearful despotism of the nobili, as in Venice, by the anarchy among the civic classes in Florence, or the ambition and continual feuds of the aristocratical families in Genoa. 415. GuELFic AND Ghibeline States of Tuscany. — The great contest between the Emperors and the Popes about the inheritance of the Countess Mathildis (312), had remaintd unsettled. The duchy of Spoleto, and the marches of Ancona, reverted to the church, but Tuscany, as an ancient fief of the empire, continued for a long time to be ruled by a marquis as imperial vicar, though the flourishing cities of that province organized themselves, in the spirit of the time, as independent republics. In these exertions they were encouraged by Pope Innocent III., who succeeded in forming a Guelfic Cotifeder- acy in Tuscany for the support of the Roman see, in imita- tion of that of Lombardy. The Tuscan republics were more attached to the Pope than the Lombards, and their league was expressly established for the honor and aggrandizement of the apostolic see. These cities were, Florence, Pistoja, Luc- ca, Siena, Volte^-ra, and Arezzo, while Pisa remained strongly attached to the empire, and was considered as the head of the Ghibeline party in Tuscany. The feudatories and nobles who, by their opposition to the cities, appeared as zealous Ghibelines, were the count-palatines of Tuscia, on the southwestern co^ast of Massa and Carrara, the Gherardeschi and the lldebrandeschi, on the coast, the TJberti and the Paz- zi, in the upper Val d'Arno, the JJbaldini in the Mugello, the powerful Guidi in the Casentino, the Tarlati in the Val di Chiana, and many other noble families residing in their cas- tles on both slopes of Mount Apennine. 416. I. The Republic of Florentia (Firenze), toward tha beginning of the fourteenth century, was, by Mount Apennine, SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. ITALIAN REPUBLICS. 139 separated ou the north frora the territory of Bologua, and on the east from Romagna ; yet it possessed the counties of Mu- tilgnano and Mangona on its eastern slope. On the south it touched the republics of Arezzo and Siena, and on the west those of Pisa and Lucca. Its natural divisions were, on the east the valleys of the Mugello and Casentino, on the south the valdi Chiana towards Arezzo, on the west the ■va/c/'ii/sa, on the north the fiercely contested val di Nievole towards Lucca, and in the centre the fertile and beautiful valleys of the Arno, the Greba, and the Pesa. From the time of the death of the Countess Mathildis, in 1 1 15, Florence and the other cities of Tuscany began to govern themselves as inde- pendent commonwealths, under the mighty protection of the popes. Florence had then a very limited territory — Contado — extending only a few miles round its walls ; but the indus- try and speculative spirit of its citizens wonderfully enriched them. They had already commercial establishments in the Levant, in France, and in Flanders ; they were money-lenders, jewellers, and goldsmiths. After having put an end to their rivalry with Fiesole on Mount Apennine by the destruction of that ancient city, the Florentines enlarged the circuit of their city in 1078 ; they defeated the imperial vicar and his knights at Monte Cascioli^ in 1113, during the lifetime of the old count- ess, and soon appeared at the head of the Guelfic cities against the Ghibeline feudatories of Mount Apennine. This brilliant development of a community of merchants and mechanics, forced the nobles to seek their alliance, to sue for the citizen- ship, and to take up their residence within the walls of the town. Yet this otherwise invigorating union led to new inter- nal disturbances, raised first in 1177 by the powerful family of the Tiber ti, and in 1215 by the Buondehnonti and Dn- nati, which, after much bloodshed, and the destruction of the numerous towers and castles of these proud families in the city, terminated with the banishment of the whole Grhibeline party."'* All the attempts of the Ghibelines to return sword in hand were foiled, and the Florentines gradually became a stout, warlike people, who, not content with ruling over their com- munity, marched boldly against Pistoja, Pisa, and Lucca. They likewise attacked the Grhibeline feudatories, the Ubaldini, and the Guidi, in the Apennines ; in 1254, they took Volterra, and extended their commerce and industry with the success of their armies. Florence, however, in imitation of the Lom- bard republics, not secure under her consuls and anziani, placed a stranger as a condottiere, with his mercenary soldiery, at the head of her government. Another stranger, generally a neighboring nobleman, took the command of the civic compa- nies of the sestieri, or wards. The victories of the brave King Manfred of Naples, in 1260, enlivened the hopes of the Ghi- belines ; they gathered their strength under the experienced Farinata degli Uberti, and defeated the Florentine army at Monte Aperto, with so tremendous a loss, that they victoriously took possession of Florence herself The ascendency of the Florentine Ghibelines was, however, of short duration. They stood and fell with the Hohenstaufens, in Germany and Na- ples; the defeat and death of King Manfred, in 1266, and the still more tragical fate of the young and hopeful Conradino, in 1268, decided their overthrow and expulsion. The Guelfs, supported by King Charles of Anjou and Naples, now ruled the republic ; but tranquillity was not restored, for the victors '■'- A nobleman of the family of the Buondelmouti had been be- trothed to a young lady of the Uberti, whom he abandoned to marry another of the family of the Donati. The Uberti, resenting the insult, formed a conspiracy, and Mosca Lamberti exclaiming, cosa fatta capo hA, they assaulted and stabbed Buondelmonti on the bridge of Arno, and caused all Florence to rise in arms, supporting the one or the other party. See Storii Fiorentine, by Niccolo Machiavelli, Libro II., and Sis- mondi's Italian Republics, chap. XIII. themselves divided into two hostile parties — the White and the Black — i Biandn ed i Neri. The first, who formed the moderates, who desired a compromise with the unhappy Ghi- belines, were in their turn expelled. Among them was the great statesman and greater poet Dante Alighieri, who, like most of the banished Whites, turned all his hope toward the generous German Emperor, Henry VII. of Luxemburg, and became a stout Ghibeline. In spite of all these commo- tions, Florence continued a populous and wealthy republic, more and more firmly consolidating its admirable democratic government. The city itself, situated on the beautiful banks of the Arno, became, during this interesting period, adorned with magnificent public buildings, the huge cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, of white and black marbles, the embattled Palazzo Vecchio, with its mighty tower, on the great square (1298), and other masterpieces of architecture, by Arnolfo di Lapo and Filippo Brunelleschi. Thus art and science went hand in hand with commerce and industry."^ But the military honor of the Florentines suffered terribly by the numeroua defeats which they sustained by the indifference or treachery of their condottieri or by the bustling indiscipline of their citizen-soldiers, who so often were prostrated by the lances of the Pisan chivalry. > 417. II. The republic of Pisa extended from the Val di Nievole, along the lower Arno, to the coast of the Tuscan Sea. Its territory reached north to the river Macra, embracing, at times, the valley of Lujiigiana and the wild region of Gar- fagnana on Mount Apennine, and south along the Maretnme to the promontory of Piombino. Off the coast it possessed the smaller islands: Melloria, Gorgona, Capraja, Flanusa, Elba, Giglio, and Giamcli, together with the southwestern part of Sardi7tia, and the eastern coast of Corsica. Pisa was situated on the banks of the lower Arno, four miles from Porto Pisano at the mouth of that river. The town was divided by the Arno into two nearly equal parts, connected by three bridges ; the magnificent quays along the banks were lined with palaces, and in the interior the pilgrim of the middle ages admired a number of wonderfully beautiful buildings in the early Gothic architecture — the cathedral, baptistery, belfry and the Campo Santo — of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. More than 150,000 daring and active citizens, under their annual consuls and their bishops, hoisted their flag on every coast of the Mediterranean. About the year 1070 began her wars with the Genoese, which continued with various interruptions for more than two centuries, and ended with the downfall of noble and faithful Pisa. So strong were the Pisans at the time, that they sent an armament of three hundred ships of various sizes, having on board thirty-five thousand men and nine hundre^ horses, to the Balearic islands, which they conquered from the Arabs in conjunction with Count Ray- mondo IV. of Barcelona in 1117. Pisa took a glorious part in all the crusades on the coast of Syria, where she possessed factories and fortified bazaars. She remained the staunch ally of the Frederics during their good and evil fortune, but in 1282 she lost the great naval battle against the Genoese off the island of Melloria, in which, after the most desperate struggle, three thousand of her bravest warriors perished and thirteen thousand were carried prisoners to Genoa. Shortly after Corrado Doria attacked the Porto Pisano, at the mouth of the Arno, destroyed its towers, docks and naval establish- es j),ji.jfig this brilliant period of Florentine history they iirst coined their golden florins of twenty-four carats, and the weight of a drachm, bearing the impression of John the Baptist, the patron of the city, and a lily, the device of Florence. The florin was then considered the finest coin in all Europe, and the Florentine merchants were flaf^ tered by princes and nations, enjoying every where extensive privileges and the highest reputation for integrity. 140 SEVENTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. TUSCANY— ROME. inents, captured its galleys, and sunk wrecks filled with stones at the entrance. From this blow unhappy Pisa never recov- ered. She lost her rank as a maritime power, after a glorious career of four centuries ; Venice and Genoa were left alone to dispute for the naval supremacy of the Mediterranean, and after another century of the most astonishing display of faith and valor, brilliant victories and ci'ushing defeats, Pisa bowed beneath the impending fate and opened her gates in 1405 to her mortal enemies — the Florentines. 418. III. The republic of Siena was bounded by Florence on the north, Pisa and the palatinate of Tuscia on the west, Arezzo on the east, and the papal states on the south. The city of Sena (Siena) on its hills in the centre of Tuscany, was one of the most picturesque towns of mediaeval Italy. What traveller can without admiration and delight visit her vener- able cathedral and other splendid churches, her Piazza del Campo, the forum of the ancient republic, with its huge city hall, and the Mangia tower, from the battlements of which he still discovers scores of embattled palaces and towers rising proudly above the mass of houses and streets below. The Sienese were likewise staunch Ghibelines. Siena extended her dominion over the Maremnie, occupying the Tuscan palatinate, but she never Became a naval power like Pisa. Her republi- can career was stormy, and after the fall of the house of Souabia in 1268, she soon fell under theGuelfic influence of Charles of Anjou at Naples. 419. IV. The republics of Arezzo and Lucca took like- wise an active part in the wars and revolutions of the thir- teenth century. The former as the retreat and asylum of the exiles from Florence ; the latter, under its great citizen and chief Castruccio Casti-acani (1313-1328), renewing the droop- ing courage of tlie imperial party. 420. Other Cities, Castles, and Historical Sites in Tuscany. — Vallombrosa, the celebrated convent, was situated in a magnificent.pine forest on the height of Mount Apennine, overlooking the upper valley of the Arno. The order of Val- lombrosa was founded about the year 1039 by Giovanni Gual- berto a young nobleman from Val di Pisa. The monasteries of Camaldoli, San Romualdo and Paradisino^ were estab- lished by Saint Romuald, the founder of that order in 1012, among woody dells on the eastern slope of the mountain. Cam- paldino in the Casentino, where in the year 1289 the great l)at- tle was fought between the Guelfs of Florence and the Ghibeline exiles — sbanditi. Young Dante Alighieri, then still a Guelf, fought in the van of the cavalry and decided the victory for the Florentines. B'lonte Aperto, on the Arbia, east of Siena, where the Florentine democrats suffered the great defeat from the exiled Ghibelines and the German cavaliers of King Manfred, in 1265, with the loss of the carroccio, 10,000 slain and 30,000 prisoners. Pistoja, a beautiful city at the foot of the Apennine, where in 1296-1300 arose the feud between the Bianchi and Neri (White and Black), which spread to Florence and caused the exile of Dante and thousands of patriots. AUo-Pascio, a castle on the lake Fucecchio, where the Seign- ior of Lucca, Castruccio Castracani, by a shrewd stratagem, defeated the Florentine army in 1325. Poggibo?izi, on the road to Siena, where, at the neighboring Buonconvento, the chivalrous and honest Emperor Henry VII. of Luxem- burg was poisoned in the sacrament by a monk, a. d. 1313. Monte- Varchi, in the Val di Chiana, Monte-Murlo, near Pis- toja, Serravalle, Monte Catini and Monte Sumano, the latter in the beautiful Val di Nievole, were all strong castles and fortified boroughs, of melancholy memory to the Florentines, who there suffered the most disgraceful defeats from the Ghibelines of Pisa, or from their own exiled nobility. Par- tus Liburni (Livorno, Leghorn), on the coast opposite to ths isle of Melloria, was then a small and insignificant harbor. VII. Supremacy of the Roman See under Pope Innocent III. 421. Extent and Acquisitions. — The Sovereignty of the Church, for which Gregory VII. labored and died, was at last attained by Innocent III. at the beginning of the thirteenth century. This young and ambitious pope (1198-1216) re- newed all the arrogant pretensions of the Roman See to the pretended donations of Constantino, Pepin and Charlemagne. The circumstances of the time were favorable, during the mi- nority of Frederic II. The duchy of Sjwleto, the March of Ayi- cona, and the greater part of Romagna, as allodial possessions of Countess Mathildis, were occupied by the pope, who not being strong enough to keep such extensive territories under the Keys of Saint Peter, granted them as fiefs to the Marquis of Este. Thus the temporal sovereignty of the Bishop of Rome at last extended over the greater part of Central Italy, entirely independent of the German empire. 422. Provinces and Cities. — I. Patrimonium Sancti Petri (311) consisting of, A. The city of Rome with its environs; B. Txt&cia Romana, north of the Tiber; C. Sabijia; D. Campania (the valley of Ferentino and Anagnia) ; E. Mari- tima, the Pontine Swamps and the coast of Ostia, with the counties of Savelli and Frangipani. Astura^ a city on the sea- shore, where the unhappy young Conradino of Souabia, after his defeat at Tagliacozzo in 1268, on his flight was betrayed and captured by the perfidious Giovanni Frangipani of Astura. II. The duchy of Spoleto with the cities of Spoleto^ Perugia and Assissi, with the sepulchre of the fanatic Saint Francis, the founder of the Franciscan order of Mendicant Monks in 1210. Near Bibbiena, in the high i-ange of the Apennines, stands the famous Convent of Laverna, still inhabited by a host of his Capuccin disciples. III. The March of Ancona, on the east of the Apennines, with the counties of Montefel- tro, Brancaledne^ Fabriano, and Yarani. Ancona was then a powerful commercial city, with a republican form of gov- ernment and the most friendly relations to the Emperors of Constantinople. Being a stronghold of the Guelfs and a dangerous rival of Venice, Ancona was in 1174 blockaded by the Venetian fleet, and at the same time closely besieged by the imperial army of Frederic Barbarossa, commanded by the jolly Archbishop Christian of Maintz. But the citizens defended themselves with heroical fortitude, and though suf- fering from the continual assaults of the drunken Germans, and from the most fearful famine in the city, yet they alike victoriously repelled the foes without and within, and on the ap- proach of the army of the Lombard League, the bragging prelate raised the siege and made a speedy retreat."'' IV. The prov- ince RoMANDioLA (Roiuagua), north of the March of Ancona, ■" The Archbishop of Maintz is an interesting specimen of a prelate of the twelfth century. His holiness read the mass with great dignity; he spoke eloquently the German, French, Dutch, Greek, Lombard, and Chaldaic languages. He mounted his war-steed like the boldest knight; wore a purple garment over his mail-armor, a golden helmet on his head, and brandished a heavy battle mace with iron spikes in his hand. He had slain nine enemies in battle, and as a severe judge had himself knocked out the teeth of numerous malefactors in the tribunal. The ecclesiastics and women of his camp were so well drilled in sieges that they had stormed and taken several almost impregnable castles; nay, it was even said tliat fair ladies and fleet horses were more expen- sive to the jolly archbishop than the whole imperial court to Frederic Barbarossa. See for curious details, Raumer's Hohcnstaufen, Vol. II page 237. SEVENTH PEEIOD.— A. D. 1096-1300. NAPLES. 141 with the counties of Traversaria, Argenta, Bas.nacavallo^ Barbiano, Britonoro, and Malatesta^ and the small quiet Republic of San B'larino, still existing to the present day. Cities were Rimini, Ravenna, Sarsina, Favcnza, and Imo- la. The bold unruly character of the Romagnoles gave the popes more trouble than pleasure at the acquisition of that distant province. V. The city and territory of Bencvento in the kingdom of Naples. VIIT. THE ANJOU DYNASTY IN NAPLES. 423. Conquest of Naples' and Downfall of the Sotja- BiAN House. — Neither the talents of Frederic II. nor the chiv- alrous bravery of King Manfred, his son, nor the youthful enthu- siasm of his nephew, Conradino, were able to save the doomed house of Hohenstaufen. It was crushed by the inveterate hatred of four successive popes ; and the invasion of Naples by Charles of Anjou, the brother of St. Louis, brought the fickle Neapolitan people under a French dynasty, that for nearly two centuries — 1266-1442 — contributed more to its corruption and misery, than to its civilization and prosperity. The Sicilians, however, soon rid themselves of the French ad- venturers by the massacre at Palermo, in 1282, where thou- sands of Frenchmen perished under the daggers of the insult- ed and oppressed islanders. Every town in Sicily (except Sperlenga) followed the bloody example of the capital ; the tyranny of Charles the Butcher was overthrown, and the Sicil- ians, calling to their assistance Don Pedro III. of Aragon, transferred the crown of Sicily to him as the heir of the un- happy house of Hohenstaufen. '^^ The kingdom of Naples never enjoyed so tranquil and prosperous a reign as that of Frederic II. The active and enlightened emperor resided mostly in his hereditary kingdom, which he governed with all the aifection and devotedness of a native prince. Art and science, agriculture and commerce, administration and army — attracted alike his attention and solicitude ; but the institutions which his genius erected for the welfare of his beloved Naples remained undeveloped in consequence of the convulsions during the latter part of his reign, and were almost entirely destroyed by the subsequent invasion of the French. 424. Cities and Historical Sites. — Naples, then alrea- dy the immense and populous capital of the kingdom, was em bellished and strengthened by Frederic, who built the cele- brated Castello del Uovo, now used as a state prison for Italian patriots by the despicable King Bomba. In 1224, he founded a university on the plan of that of Bologna, and improved and enlarged the medical college at Salerno. At both places, Frederic, in a time of superstition and ignorance, formed museums of art and antiquities, collections of coins and manuscripts, which, unfortunately, during the tumults of the French dominion, were eventually dispersed and lost. On the market-place of Naples — Mercato del Carrnine — took place the 25th October, 1268, the unjust execution of the young Conradino of Souabia, with his illustrious companions in arms — Grerman princes, Grhibeline nobles and citizens of Pisa, in the presence of Charles of Anjou and his French court. On the spot stands now the Church del Carmine, built by the sorrowing duchess Elizabeth, in memory of her son.*'^' Nocera de' Pagani, south of Mount Vesuvius, Luce- "' Interesting details on the history of Sicily are found in Michele Amari's eloquent Guerra del Vespro Siciliano, lately published in Florence. "° In the subterranean vault of the church, the traveller still be- holds a marble slab on the wall, with a black-letter inscription, indi- cating the sepulchre of Conradino and his faithful friend and fellow- Bufferer, Count Frederic of Anspach. ria, and Foggia, in the Apulian plain, were Saracen colonies, inhabited by fifty thousand brave Arab horsemen and archers, who rendered the emperor and his son, Manfred, important service during their continual wars with the popes. At the neighboring Castello Ferentino Frederic II., weary of misfor- tune and of life, died in the arms of his beloved Bianca and his son Manfred, on the 13th of December, 1250. He lies buried in the cathedral of Palermo, and his body was still in perfect preservation when the sarcophagus was opened in 1783. On the plains of Grandella, near Benevento, Charles of Anjou gained the battle and the kingdom, on the 26th of February, 1266, against King Manfred, who there fell amongst heaps of slain Frenchmen. Between Tagliacozzo and Alba^ on the plain of Scurcola, in the Abruzzi, was fought the last battle of the Hohenstaufens, on the 23d of August, 1268, in which Conradino and his Souabian chivalry were routed by King Charles of Anjou, by a stratagem of the old French \ crusader, Alard de Saint-Valery, and the bravery of William of Villehardoin, the Prince of Morea (358), who had followed the banner of the French usurper with all his vassals. A ruinous chapel of Santa Maria della Viitoria stillstands on the banks of the rivulet Salto, the scene of the defeat. Conradino, sepa- rated from his friends, fled in disguise across the mountains to Astura, on the sea-shore, where he was betrayed by the Roman noble Frangipani, and delivered into the hands of Charles. Thus terminated the German dominion in Italy, and when the Lombard and Tuscan republics began to feel the weight of the French yoke, the Sicilian massacre, the capture of the French fleet oif Messina by the Catalan Ad miral Roger de Loria, and the subsequent death of Charles of Anjou, in 1284, restored the equilibrium, and left the Italians for two centuries in the enjoyment of their national liberty. CHAPTER X. EUROPE, WESTERN ASIA, AND NORTHERN AFRICA. THEIR POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY FROM THE CLOSE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY TO THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH. A. D. 1300-1453. 425. General Remarks. — The religious fanaticism of the crusades had cost Europe more than five millions of men, and a vast number of its noblest families. Yet the consequen- ces of those bloody wars in the Bast and on the Baltic were nevertheless of high importance for the future development and progress of the European society. In the north the Dan- ish and Teutonic priests and knights extended the Christian religion among the heathen Sclavonians, Letts, and Finns, and flourishing cities arose on the banks of the Vistula and on the shores of the Baltic. In the East, though the crusaders, vanquished by the scimitar of the Mamhckes, were driven from all their conquests, they brought home with them multi- farious knowledge, enlightened views and liberal opinions, gained by their intercourse with the Saracens, which were cherished in the commercial cities of Italy, and the newly established universities of France and Germany, whence they spread through all classes of society and began to prepare those reforms in Church and State which later marked the new era of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At the conmiencemeut of the crusades toward the close of the eleventh century, the 142 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. ENGLAND. mass of the people of Europe were either vassals or serfs : the incessant barbarous warfare between the feudal lords was particularly oppressive to the poor cultivators of the soil. Their huts were pillaged and their cattle driven away ; their fields ravao-ed and themselves massacred from one end of Christian Europe to the other. A contemporaneous historian therefore says with justice, " that the treuga Dei — a truce of God then often proclaimed — did not produce so beneficial a calm as followed the departure of the thousands of crusaders — for then the whole earth seemed to be tranquillized at once." It was during that period of migrations that the free cities began to rise. Italy led on the van with her brilliant repub- lics ; France soon followed with her Communes, and Ger- many closed the rear with her freie Reichstddte or free impe- rial cities, and her Hanseatic League. So many feudal lords being withdrawn to the Levant, some cities disengaged them- selves from their vassalage to the nobles ; others following the example, arose against their bishops (307) ; they obtained char- ters from royal authority, conferring the guaranty of personal liberty on the citizens — the right of acquiring and disposing of property — the freedom from arbitrary taxation — the right of municipal administration, and the power of raising their own military force for the defence of their city and its pre- cincts. Thus rose the third estate — le tiers etat, or popular representation, by which the kings obtained a balance against the power of the feudal lords, and which mainly contributed to the dissolution of the feudal system toward the close of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries. The nobles in some countries, such as France, became subjects. The cities in the Low Countries and Germany advanced in in- dustry and commerce ; their wealth and power inspired them with sentiments of independence and liberty, and fostered that enthusiasm for science, art, mechanics and manufactures, which completed the emancipation of Europe. 426. During the era of the Crusades all nations had trav- elled and mixed ; they had united together on the same battle- field under the banner of the Cross. In the following period, on the contrary, they became again occupied with their inter- nal organizations at home, or in quarrelling with their neigh- bors ; and no universal movement characterized the fourteenth or fifteenth century. The history of the world appears now under quite another aspect. The dark ages are at length passed — they lie behind us — we recognize the dawn of our own modern day in the ideas, language, manners, and wants of the nations ; it is the era of renaissance, revival ! The sources of history now send forth abundant streams ; and we are able to trace out the events, and delineate the leading characters of the times. Germany separates herself from Italy ; and during the rivalry between the Austrian and Lux- emburg dynasties, her princes and prelates assert their terri- torial independence on the decline of the imperial power, whilst the cities, by their armed confederacies, control the in- fluence of both princes and emperors. In France, on the contrary, the kings of the Valois family aspire boldly to a monarchical sovereignty, by the support of their parliaments, their Etats generaux, and by the redemption of the large fiefs, which now revert to the crown, and consolidate the household power of the kings. 427. In England, the Magna Charta libertatum, and the Houses of Lords and Commons subsequently established, cir- cumscribe the despotic tendencies of the Plantagenet kings, while the glorious exertions of the Norman knighthood, and the Saxon yeomanry on the battle-fields of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, cement the fraternity and union of those noble races, and the bloody wars of the Roses restore the equilibrium between kings, aristocracy, and commoners. In the North, the Scandinavian nations stop their dissensions and attempt to join hands in the Calmarian Union. The Lechian and Lithuanian races do the same, and Poland becomes a mighty, conquering kingdom. Russia awakens from her long lethargy, and throws off the degrading yoke of her Mongol tyrants. Portugal, driving the Moors back to Africa, extends her dominion on that continent, and discovers unknown islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Spain, uniting her Christian kingdoms, conquers the Mohammedan Granada, and a New World beyond the seas, and prepares for the great part she is to perform under Charles V. The Popes of Rome, urged by the enlightened spirit of the times, secure that influ- ence, by the alliance of the Italian States at home, which they have lost by the ecclesiastical councils of Constance and Basle, beyond the Alps. Hungary generously fights the battles of life and death on the Danube against the Ottoman Turks, whilst the Byzantine empire sinks beneath her des- tiny ; yet the fugitive Greeks carry her language and litera- ture to Italy, France, and Germany, where the era of learning and research begins. Thus all the nations of the West have, more or less, directly profited by the crusades. Only those of the East, after their temporary victory, sank back into the sloth, mental ignorance, and moral degradation of Islamism, and crouched beneath the despotic dominion of Circassian Mamlukes, of Tartar- Mongol conquerors, and of Turkish Sultans. 428. Toward tlie middle of the fifteenth century, we find the following twenty-six independent states, or groups of states, in Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa, with whose description we shall close our essay on the Historical Geography of the Middle Ages. Five states are situated in the north of Europe : I. The kingdom of England and Ire- land ; II. The kingdom of Scotland ; III. The three north- ern powers of the Calmarian Union ; IV. The kingdom of Pola?id and Lithuania ; V. The grand duchy of Moskoic. Four states in Central Europe ; VI. The kingdom of France ; VII. The Romano- Germanic empire ; VIII. The confede- racy of the Swiss cantons ; IX. The kingdom of Hungary. Eleven states in Southern Europe ; X. The kingdom of Por- tugal ; XL That of Cffs^i/e ,• XIL That of ^rao-o?z ; XIIL That of Navarra ; XIV. The Mohammedan kingdom of Granada; XV. The Italian principalities and republics; XVI. The Papal State ; XVII. The kingdom of N'aples ; XVIII. The Frankish principalities in Greece ; XIX. The expiring Byzantine empire ; XX. The Porte of the Ottoman Turks, extending through Asia Minor. In Western Asia, three states ; XXI. The Grand Comnenian empire of Trehi- zond ; XXII. The empire of the Mongols ; and XXIII. The Sultanate of the Circassian Mamlukes in Syria and Egypt ; and finally, three states in Northern Africa; XXIV. The kingdom of Tmiis ; XXV. That of Tlemesen ; and XXVI. That of Fez and Morocco}'" "" Compare the accompanying map, No. 6. We have been obliged, on account of the narrow space allotted to us, to confine the VIL and Vni. periods, announced in our introductory chapter (2), to a more lim- ited geographical description of Europe during the fifteenth century than wc had intended. For more complete historical details on the progress of the constitutions and organizations of the times, we must refer the student to the works of Gibbon, Hallam, Lingard, Leo, Schlosser, Rehm, Riihs, Michelet, Sismondi, and others. EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. IRELAND. 143 I. NORTHERN EUROPE. I. The Kingdom of England and Ireland. 429. Acquisitions of the Plantagenet Dynasty : I. Ireland. — The conquest of the southeastern coast of Ireland by Henry II., in 1172, did not promote the civilization and happiness of the Irish nation (283). The seeds of discord, violence, and misery had been sown only more profusely in that beautiful but unhappy island. They seem to have par- taken of the natural productiveness of the soil, and to have borne abundant harvests. From the departure of Henry II. from Ireland, in 1173, to the wars of the Roses in 1460, a period of nearly three hundred years, the history of that country presents only a long train of afflictions, of tyranny, suffering, and awful crimes. No history of any other of the mediaeval nations of Europe affords a parallel to it! The island was entirely neglected by the English kings. The English delegates with royal powers whom they sent over were either too arrogant and violent in their administration, and too much disposed to enforce obedience, or too incompetent to effect the tranquillity of the country, from want of means. The proud English barons despised the native chiefs; and instead of gaining their respect and good will, they only in- spired them with feelings of mortal hatred. In the whole northwest and south, the unsubdued Irish clans continued their vindictive wars, which were often fomented by the dis- contented English barons themselves, who, renouncing the alle- giance to their native kings, joined the Irish, and adopted their manners, dress, and habits ; thus the Celts, the ancient settlers, and the new comers, jvere enveloped in eternal con- tentions, violence and crime. '®^ Whilst the Roman Church grasped at the lands, and enriched its fat prelates by dona- tions and exactions, the necessities of the English kings com- pelled them to demand exorbitant supplies, which were spent in the wars on the Continent of France. The feudal laws of England a,nd the customs of the native Irish were in con- tinual conflict, and, consequently, the administration of jus- tice was generally nothing else than the power of the strongest. The English territory, instead of extending into the interior, and embracing the whole island, receded towards the eastern coast ; and the English province of Pale, which, during the tw'elfth century, had still included Carrick- fergus, Belfast, Armagh, and Carlingford, left these places abandoned and in ruins beyond its boundaries toward the middle of the fifteenth. Nay, the position of the English had become entirely defensive, and it was only by the erection of strong castles in the counties of Louth, Meath, and Kil- dare, that the English border-wardens were enabled to check the incursions of the native Erins. Dundalk in the county of Louth was then the farthest fortress toward the north. The boundary line to the south of Dublin city, beyond which the king's writ was a dead letter, was fixed as far as Tallaght by the stream of the Dodder, a rivulet within three miles of Dublin, and thence by a trench with redoubts to Neiocastle on the borders of Kildare ; all the district to the south of this line, except a narrow band along the sea-coast to Bray, being in the undisputed possession of the Irish, two families of whom, the O'Birnes and the O'Tooles, asserted and main- tained the rank of independent princes throughout the southern part of Dublin county and the mountainous district of Winchiligo since designated as the county of Wicklow. So powerful were the Irish chiefs during this period that their cumrick or protection was anxiously sought for by the Eng- ''^ See the melancholy proofs in Thomas Moore's History of Ireland Philadelphia, 1848. on every page. lish settlers within the borders of Pale, and secured by the payment of an annual tribute called Black-rent. Nor did the condition of Ireland become more tolerable after the close of the civil wars in England in 1485. Perkin Warbeck, the impostor, found a wide field for his extravagancies in Ireland, and it was not until after the most sanguinary defeat of the Irish at Knnc-tuadh, near Galway, in 1504, where they lost nine thousand slain against the Earl of Kildare and the Eng- lish Barons, that beholding all their exertions of throwing off the yoke failing, their spirit of rebellion and self-reliance began to decline and the silence of the grave-yard for a length of time succeeded to the fierce yells of the battle-field."' 430. The most powerful English families in Ireland were the Lacys in the county of Meath, the Fitzgeralds in Kildare, the Howards of Caterlagh, the Hastings, Valences and Grays in Wexford, the fierce BiUlers of Tipperary often siding with the Irish chiefs against the royal government; the Talbots of Waterford and the Fitz- Stephens of Cork in the south. In the north and west of the island, were the seats of the native princes, the O'' Needs, the Tyr- Conells and the Tyr-Orns in Ulster; the still more turbulent O Conner s with their followers, the Clan Donells, the CKelleys, the B'PDermots, the O^Mayles, and the CFlairts in Connaught, who being in the English interest followed the royal banner against the M^Burghs and the OBrians in Munster and the C Carrots in Louth. Yet the complications became the more inexitricable, because the fiercest Canjinnies were residing on the borders of the English j^rovince or even within its pre- cincts ; these were the O' Tooles in the mountains, south of Dublin, and the CMoores on the borders of the county of Kilkenny. The virulence of civil discord was still further aug- mented by religious controversy, and Henry VIII. attempted in vain to diminish the Papal power in Ireland as he had done successfully in England. 431. II. The counties of Cumberland and Westmore- land. These provinces not mentioned in the Doomsday-book of William the Conqueror, were long English fiefs held by the crown of Scotland (103,284), until they were given back by King William the Lion, in 1 175, after his defeat and cap- ture at Alnwick in Northumberland. Cumberland was in 1237 finally annexed to the crown of England by Henry III.; Westmoreland passed to the Cliffords. Rut the feuds between the hostile neighbors, English and Scots, continuing for centuries, both counties, as well as Northumberland, were constantly the scene of contention, rapine and bloodshed. Agriculture became neglected and the cattle were the chief 139 What a frightful picture does Thomas Moore give of the state of Ireland in the years of the Reformation 1516-1517. "The Lord Deputy Gerald, son and successor of the Earl of Kildare, — says the historian, — lost no time in following the example of his father. He attacked the country of Hugh O'Reilly, stormed and razed the castle of Cavan, and having slain O'Reilly himself, and many of his followers, chased the rest into their inaccessible fastnesses, and burned and ravaged their country. He then made an inroad into Imaly where he slew Shane O'Toole, a chieftaia of the mountainous district, and sent his head to the mayor in Dublin, (a. d. 1516.) Then advancing his stan- dard into Ely 0' Carrol, he took and demolished the castle of Limevan, surprised Clonmel and returned loaded with trophies and spoil ! He then (a. d. 1517) marched into Lecale, took by storm the castle of Dundrwn, defeated Phelim MacGenis, putting to death a number of his followers. From thence the Lord Deputy continuing his course into Tyrone, took and burnt the castle of Dunyannon, and spread the horrors of fire and war throughout the whole of that territory. If such was the condition of the districts on the Eastern co.ast, within the limits of the Pale or English territory of Ireland, what must have been the feuds and horrors of the Northern and Western counties among the savage Irish clans themselves. — History of Ireland, page 899. 144 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. ENGLAND. property of the people ; castles and towers were erected in every strong position. The borderers acted mostly as light cavalry, called j^rickers. They rode small but nimble and well-trained horses, and were accompanied by warriors on foot who used the long-bow. This unsettled state along the borders prevailed through the whole period of the middle ages and down to later times. III. The island of Man (224, 300), the Hebrides, and other western islands, had, in 1266, been ceded by the Nor- wegian King Magnus Lagabseter to Scotland. Baiiol surren- dered them in 1334 to Edward III., together with the city and county of Berwick, the bulwark of Scotland, which had rendered such capital service for centuries ; yet the brave Scots soon after took it back again. 432. IV. Wales had in part maintained its independence from the times of William the Conqueror to Edward I. — 1276- 1283. Its mountainous and rugged territory was divided into several principalities, the most important of which were Aberfraiv (Gwyned) in the north, and Powys (now Montgom- eryshire) in the centre. Only the southeastern more open parts of the peninsula had earlier been occupied by Norman barons, who secured their possessions by numerous border castles towards the mountains. The Welsh, in their rude independence were divided into three classes: 1, the king — Brenin — and royal family ; 2, the freemen — Breyr — and the unfree — Bilain or Taeawg. The king was surrounded by his of&eers — Disdain — among whom were the chaplain and the favorite bards. Wales was divided into Cantrefs and Cyminwd, answering to the natural limits of the narrow valleys, sepa- rated by ridges of the mountains. Edward I., at the head of a brilliant feudal army, soon forced the Welsh prince, Llewel- lyn, whom he had chased from one stronghold to another, to surrender and pay homage to the English crown. Yet the arrogant behavior of the British barons who were placed as governors in the pacified provinces, drove the fierce Welsh to despair. They rushed to arms, stormed the castle of Hawardeii, near Chester, on the river Dee, and cut down the garrison to a man. The revenge of Edward was terrible. Llewellyn fell heroically fighting in battle ; his brother David was tried before the peers of England, and most unjustly condemned to death. All the Welsh nobility then submitted to the conqueror ; the laws and administration of England, with sheriifs and other officers of justice, were established in the principality, which, in spite of the mortal hate of the Welsh people, was divided into shires and baronies, and granted to the Clares, Pembrokes, Spencers, Bohuns, Grays, and other chivalrous nobles. V. Scotland. — Edinburg, Stirling, Perth, the Low- lands and Border counties were temporarily occupied by the English during the dispute between John Baiiol of Galloway and Robert Bruce of Annandale — 1289-1307 — about the suc- cession to the Scottish throne. But the brilliant victory of Robert Bruce at Bannockburn, June 24th, 1314, against Edward II. and the English chivalry, secured the indepen- dence of Scotland, and of all the conquests that had cost so much blood and treasure, nothing remained except the border fortress Berwick-upon-Tweed. VI. Anjou, Touraine, Maine, Normandy, Poitou, and Aquitaine, with Auvergne and Gascogne, were, during the reign of Henry II., united with the English crown, partly by inheritance of the Plantagenet dynasty, partly by the mar- riage of that prince with Eleanor of Poitou. Yet we have al- ready seen the fate of these ephemeral acquisitions (386, 387). The later conquests in France by Edward IH. and Henry V., glorious as were the victories gained on French battle-fields, brought England no real advantage ; and of all her territories beyond the Channel, there remained, in the year 1453, only the county of Calais, on the coast of Artois, with the im- portant city of Calais, the borough of Oye, and the castles of Guisnes and Ardres. 433. Internal Condition during the War of the Roses. — The changes which took place in the political and constitutional history of England, from the times of William the Conqueror to those of Henry VIII., are far more im- portant than those of her historical geography. The counties and their subdivisions remained the same ; yet they were augmented by the thirteen shires of Wales. The ecclesias- tical division of England was in two archbishoprics : — I., Provincia Eboracensis, with the archiepiscopal see of Ebor- acum (York), and the suffragans of Durham and Carlisle; and II., Provincia Cantuariensis, with the see Cantvaria (Dorovernum) or Canterbury, and the suffragans : Lincoln, Northwicum, Ely, Londinum, Ciceslria (Chichester), Vin- tonia (Winchester), Sarum (Salisbury), Bathonia (Bath) and Welles (Wells), Exo7iia (Exeter), Wigorn (Worcester), Hereforde, Licidfeld (Lichfield) ; and in Wales Llandaff, Menevia (Saint Davids), Bangor, and Saint Asaph. The cathedrals of York, Winchester, Salisbury, Liclifield, and many others, stand as the noblest monuments of Norman architecture, which was carried to its perfection during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Celebrated convents and monasteries were Tornesse and Carthmell in Westmore- land; Lindisfarne and St. Cuthbert, in Northumberland; Cm- land, Edmv.ndsbury , and Bardenea, in East Anglia,' St. Al- bans, Westminster, and Readinga, near London ; Bangor, Winloch, and Caermardon, in Wales. Agriculture, navigation, commerce, and mechanics, were much neglected in Old England ; the island suffered often from famine. The products for export were lead, tin, butter, skins, and principally wool. A company formed itself in 1296 in the wool trade, the merchant adventurers, who attempted to deprive foreigners, and principally the Hanse towns, on the Baltic, of their exclusive privileges. The greatest mer- chants in England were foreigners ; those of Lombardy lived in a very luxurious manner, and brought- popular vengeance upon themselves by their heartless usury ; such as the Cau- risini of Rome, who charged sixty per cent, interest. The commerce with Germany was often interrupted b}' piracies, which the English during the civil wars considered as quite a lucrative and regular profession. Edward III. called Flemish weavers into the island, prohibited the use of foreign manu- factures, and expelled with cruelty the Jews in 1290. But all these arbitrary measures were fatal to the prosperity of the country ; the English nation was too much averted from the ai-ts of peace by the wars on the continent ; civil dissen- sions, religious persecution against the Lollards, the followers of Wicliffe, and the rancor of faction among the nobles at home, produced the same baneful effect. The pei-iod from the year 1399 to 1453 is eventful in foreign wars, brilliant victories, civil discord, and national calamities. The doubtful title of Henry IV. of Lancaster gave rise to that struggle which only terminated with the battle of Bosworth. In these contests the wealth of England was wasted, and her nobles slain. Eighty princes of the royal blood, and thousands of her barons and knights, perished either on the battlefields or on the block during the war of the Roses. The most aetonishing changes took place in the territorial possessions of the great families ; many became extinct, and their estates passed into other hands. The Yorks, the Howards, EiaHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. ENGLAND. 145 the Hastings, the Beauchanips, the Beauforts, the Somersets, the Surreys were swept away. The powerful Percys of Northumberland, the first and the last on the battle-fields, succeeded in weathering the storm. The Stanleys, Chandos, Danturys and Willoughbys rose in the sunshine of tlie Tudor favors. The population was much reduced ; the total number of inhabitants in England, in 1485, was not more than three millions ; it was distributed in a very different way from what it is at present ; Lancashire and Cumberland were thinly peopled, while London and Westminster did not contain more than sixty or seventy thousand souls. Many towns had been changed into villages, others were levelled to the ground ; large tracts of country were laid waste, yet it would be incorrect to imagine that nothing was gained from those fierce contentions. They were the precursors of the rapid improvements of the new era which dawned on England at the accession of Henry of Tudor, in 1485.-°" 434. Remarkable Cities and Historical Sites. — London, in the county of Middlesex, was, towards the close of the fifteenth century, still a city of no great extent and population. It continued to be inclosed within its old walls and moats, and reached from Tower-hill, on the east, to the tower of Montfichet, on the Fleet-ditch, west, where it bor- dered on the large suburb of Farringdon. Eight gates""" opened upon the Moorfields and the scattered villages of M.ary-le-bone^ St. Giles, Islington, Clerkenwell, SJtoreditch, BetJi.lehem, Radcliff and Blackivell, in the environs. Old London Bridge was the only communication between the city and Southioark, likewise a small town on the Lambeth moor. London had yet few public buildings besides its numerous churches, convents, hospitals, and other religious houses. The Temple, formerly belonging to the knights templars, the palaces of Savoy (413), Durham and Scotland, White Hall and Westminster, lay all on the Strand, along the Thames, at a distance of nearly four miles from the city gate. The streets were narrow, dark, muddy, and full of pits and sloughs. The houses consisted of plaster and timber, covered with thatched roofs, having each story overhanging that imme- diately beneatL Only the nobility had some large gloomy residences, where they displayed their extravagant magnifi- cence in a half-barbarous style. The Plantagenet kings re- sided usually at Westminster, and Saint Peter's Abbey was the place of their coronation. The large hall (Westminster Hall) built by William Rufus, was pulled down and rebuilt by Richard II., such as we see it at present. The old West- minster Abbey of Edward the Confessor having been burned in 1087, was rebuilt during the reign of Henry III., but not finished until long after his death. Henry VII. built the extensive and beautiful chapel that bears his name, the last important addition made in the abbey before the Reformation. Staines, on the Thames, southeast of Windsor. There, on the Runimede, John Lackland (Sanstei're) in the Easter- week, 1215, met the discontented barons and prelates, and signed, June 19, the celebrated great charter, which laid the foundation of the constitution of England. Barnet, in Hert- ford county, north of London : on G-ladsmore Heath, north of that town, was fought, on April 14, 1471, the decisive battle between Edward IV. of York and Neville Earl of Warwick — the Kingmaker — at the head of the Lanca,^erians, in which the latter, with many of the nobility, perished on the field. -""See interesting statistical details for this period in Malte Brun's Geography, Vol. III., page 1197, 4to. edition, and in Lingard's History of England. "^'^ These gates were from west to east : ] , Ludgate ; 2, Newgate ; 3, Aldersgate ; 4, Cripplegate ; 5, Moorgate ; 6, Bishopsgate ; 7, Aldgate, iiud 8, Billingsgate, on the Thames. 19 An obelisk, erected on the spot in 1740, commemorates the event. St. Albans, northwest of Barnet, and thirty miles from London : here the first battle in the War of the Roses was fought May 22, 1454, in which the Duke of Northumber- land, and the earls of Somerset and Stafi"ord fell ; King Henry VI. was captured by the Duke of York, and the Lancasterian army cut to pieces. In a second battle, on the same field, February 7, 1461, Queen Margaret of Anjou defeated the Earl of Warwick, and delivered her husband from the hands of the Yorkists. Clarendon, near Salisbury, in Wiltshire, on the outskirts of the New Forest, where Henry II., in 1164, in a general council of the nobility and prelates, gave the constitution of Clarendon, which defined the limits be- tween the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, with a view to stop the arrogance and increasing usurpations of the Pope and clergy. Seven Oaks, in Kent, southeast of London, where John Cade, the rebel, with his twenty thousand fol- lowers, on June 23, 1450, defeated and slew Sir Humphrey Stafford, King Henry's general, and, after the rout, marched to London, and encamped on Blackheath, while the king fled to Kenilworth. Lysine, on the sea-coast of Lincoln county : there King John attempting to cross the washes, to Lincoln, by high water, lost, in the sudden inundation, part of his mercenaries, all his carriages, treasures, and baggage, and arrived, sick and in despair, at the neighboring Newark, where he died October 17, 1216. Lewes, in Sussex: here the Earl of Leicester, May 14, 1264, routed the army of Henry III., in spite of the bravery of Prince Edward, and forced the king to surrender himself prisoner. Kenilworth Castle, in Warwick county, where Prince Edward surprised and defeated Simon de Montford, son of Leicester, in 1265. Evesham, in Worcester county, where, after the battle of Kenilworth, Prince Edward, on the 4th of August, by strat- agem, surrounded, defeated, and slew .the haughty Earl of Lancaster, and delivered his father, Henry III., from his captivity. In the neighborhood lies Teiokesbury, Mortimer''s Cross, Bloreheath ; and north, Wakefield and Loivton, in York county, Hexham-on-the-Tyne in Northumberland, and Northampto7%, east of Warwick, — all well-known cities from the bloody battles fought in their vicinity during the wars of the Roses (1452-1485). The castle of Pomfrct (Pontefract), east of Wakefield, county of York, the prison of the unhappy Richard II., who was here ruthlessly slaughtered by Sir Piers Exton and his satellites in 1399. Berkeley Castle, on the gulf of Severn, in Gloucester county, where, on Sept. 21, 1327, Edward II. was treacherously and cruelly murdered with a hot iron by Gournay and Ogle, the creatures of Queen Isabel and her paramour Mortimer. Famous historical places on the borders of Scotland during this period are : — Neville^s Cross, near Durham, in Northumberland, where the spirited Queen Philippa, in the absence of Edward III. in France, with 12,000 men, totally defeated the Scottish army, and took King David Bruce prisoner, with his noblest barons, October 17, 1346. North Allerton, in Richmond county, north of York, Alnwick, Otterburn, Homildon-Hill, and Halydon- Hill, north of Berwick, — all battle-fields, on which the Scots were routed and cut to pieces by the chivalry of England. At Alnwick, King William the Lion was taken prisoner, in 1175, and forced to surrender his English fiefs (430). Bormigh Bridge, near Burton-upon-Trent, in York county, where Thomas Earl of Lancaster was defeated and taken prisoner, March 16, 1322, by Sir Andrew Harclay, and executed as a rebel. By the king's order the same cruel punishment was inflicted on the earl which he had formerly imposed on the king's favorite, Gaveston. Shrewsbury, a fine old city, on the banks of the Severn, was often visited by the English kings, on account of the military importance of its situation on the 146 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1450. SCOTLAND. Welsh marches. Here was fought one of the most chivalrous battles of England, on July 21, 1402, between Henry Percy — the Hotspur — and Henry IV., in which Hotspur fell. Douglas was taken prisoner, and the King of England gained a complete victory ; two thousand three hundred barons and knights, and more than six thousand private warriors perished on the field. Bosivorih, on the Ashby canal, in Leicester county, was a small market town. Here was fought the last battle of the Roses, on the 2'2d August, 1485, in which the tyrant Richard III. fell, and Henry Tudor-Lancaster was raised to the English throne. II. The Kingdom of Scotland. 435. Scotland under the Bruges and the Stuarts. — On the death of the Maiden of Norway in 1291, begins the contest about the throne of Scotland and the bloody wars with the kings of England, which, after the battle of Bannock- burn, in 1314, and the expulsion of the English, are mostly changed into mere border-forays. Later, however, when Scot- land unites in alliance with France and attacks England, while she is actually engaged on the continent, those fierce and indecisive wars are renewed, and continue with greater fury until the reign of Henry VIII., when they terminate with the death of James IV. on Flodden Field in 1515. Among the number of the pretenders to the crown, John Baliol of Galloway and Robert Bruce of Annandale were the nearest akin to the defunct Malcolm dynasty. ^"'-^ Edward I., having been chosen umpire in the question of the succesa^ion in the as- sembly at the castle of Norhani, on the Tweed, in June 1291, declared for Baliol, who closed the disgraceful scene by doing homage to Edward as Lord Paramount of Scotland. This haughty and ambitious sovereign soon put his creature aside altogether, occupied all the castles and strongholds of Scot- land with his English knights and garrisons, and treated the brave Scottish nation with heartless cruelty. The insurrec- tion of Sir William Wallace was put down with the sword, and that noble-minded chief, betrayed by the traitor John of Monteith, was dragged to London and executed in 1304. But his spirit survived in the young Robert Bruce, who was crowned King of Scotland at Scone (220) in 1306, and under the most romantic adventures in the Highlands and on the Western Islands, succeeded in driving out the English and securing the independence of his kingdom by the brilliant victory over Edward II. at Bannockburn in 1314. His son David II., after new defeats and a long captivity in England, died childless in 1370, and the crown then passed to the m GENEALOGY OF THE SCOTTISH KINGS. David I., 1124—1153. ■ Henry ^ Prince of Scotland. Malcolm IV. 1153-1165. William. 1165—1214. David, Count of Huntingdon. Alexa.nder II. 1214—1249. Alexander III. 1249—1285. Margaret, married to Alan, Lord of Gallowav. IsaheX, married to Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale. Devorgild, manned to John Baliol, Margaret, 1 1284, .John Baliol, married to Iving Eric Lord of Galloway, Priest-Hater of Norway, 1291—1296. M\rgap.f.t. Udmund Baliol, the Maiden of Norway, heiress of Scotland, dies on the passage, 1399. Marjory, married to John Comyn of Badenoch, stabbed 1306. Robert Bruce. EOBEET I. + 1329. David II. 1329—1871, * m.arried to Joan of England. Marjory, married to Walter Stuart, ancestor of the Stuart dynasty. Robert III. 1390—1406. David, Duke of Kotlisav, 1 1404. .Tames I., married to .loan of Somer.set, 1406— 143T, Robert, Duke of Albany, + 1420, talented but most unhappy house of the Stuarts. This family long ruled in Scotland ; they mounted the throne of Eng- land in 1606, but under terrible disasters were expelled in the revolution of 1688, and perished in exile and misery. Their mediczval history in Scotland presents a fearful suc- cession of border-forays, internal feuds between Highlands and Lowlands, between the nobles themselves, or against their kings, two of whom, James I. and III., were murdered, whilst James II. perished by the bursting of a bombard, and James IV. fell in the battle of Flodden. Yet, in spite of all these disorders and crimes, we discover the steady though slow progress of the Scottish nation. A constitutional government developed itself during tTie contest of the Baliols and Bruces, and the first parliament, consisting of clergy, nobility, and deputies from the cities, was assembled by Robert Bruce in 1326. The misfortune of Scotland lay in the unruly spirit of the great ; the barons of the Lowlands at the head of their vassals and the Highland lairds with their clans, regarded the kings as their equals, and refused all obedience to the laws. The Lords of the Isles (287) often carried open war into the heart of the country ; the Highland clans of the M'Dougalls of Lorn, the Campbells, the Rosses, the Crawfords, and principally the border family of the Douglases of Lid- desdale, Galloway and Annandale, became so dangerous to the royal authority, that the mild James II. could only free him- self by the assassination of Archibald, Earl of Douglas, the expulsion of the whole race, and the confiscation of their castles and immense estates. Nor were the prelates less war- like and quarrelsome than the nobles. The Bishop of St. An- drews did not obtain the archiepiscopal dignity before 1468 ; even then the clergy refused him their recognition, and the Parliament, in 1471, repelled energetically the encroachments of the Pope. From the times of David II. the estates met by delegates, called the Lords of Articles, who consulted about the laws ; King and Parliament formed the legislative power, and a vast number of excellent decrees and police regulations were promulgated, which in other countries did not appear until centuries later. In the year 1457 the general exercise in arms was ordained, and often renewed. Every Scot from his twelfth to his sixteenth year had regularly to be drilled in ar- chery. The Lords of Session formed, since James II., the High Court of Justice. The Scottish youths studied in the Univer- sities of the continent. High schools or Colleges, were estab- lished at St. Andrews in 1411, at Glasgow in 1453, and at Aberdeen in 1493. The commerce of the Scots was insignificant, and they were often in open feud with the Hanseatic Confeder- acy. Cattle breeding was thriving, but agriculture neglected, nor did the fisheries on the coast prosper like those of the nations on the Baltic. Wool was manufactured, but Scottish industry was still far inferior even to that of England. The people were poor and barbarous, and fond of the wild life on the border (284), that curious mixture of chivalry and brigan- dage, while the domestic virtues, conjugal tenderness, chastity, paternal affection, honesty and heroic devotion and bravery, proved the true Scandinavian stem from which the noble Pictish race had sprung. 436. Cities, Castles and Historical Sites. — Edinburgh was still a small town, only important on account of its almost impregnable caslle, which, however, was taken by stratagem and surprise, by the daring Randolph in 1312. — Stirling and Perth were the habitual residences of the Stuarts. In the latter city the awful murder of James I. by Sir Robert Graham and the Earl of Athole was pei'petrated February 20th, 1437. — Near Kingsltorn, on the coast of Fife, rises the precipice from which the good old Alexander III. was thrown down, with his steed, a«d perished on the rocks EIGHTH PEEiOi).— A. D. 1300-1500. SCOTLAND. 147 below, still called the King^s Crag. — Ellerslie^ now Pais- ley, in Renfrew county, was the birthplace of William Wallace, the Protector of Scotland.— jPa/^i/Vi:, in Stirling- county, where William Wallace and the Scots on the 22d of July, 1298, lost a great battle against King Edward I., in con- sequence of which all Scotland was occupied by the English. — Roslyn^ in Edinburgh county, south of that city, a strong castle overhanging the deep glen; there John Comyn of Badenoch, after the battle of Falkirk, defeated three English divisions in one day, and raised the sunken spirits of the nation. — Robioyst.on, near Grlasgow, the hiding-place of Wallace, where he was betrayed by Sir John Monteith and delivered up to the English. — Dumfries, in the Nithsdale, on the Solway bay, where in the church of the Minorites Robert Bruce stabbed Sir John Comyn, the Red. in February, 1306, and raised his banner against the English. — Metliven, northwest of Perth, where Robert Bruce, immediately after his corona- tion at the Abbey of Scone, was met by the English Earl of Pembroke on the 19th of June, 1306, and suffered a complete defeat. JDalric in the county of Argyle, in a romantic site on Loch- Awe. In a narrow defile there, overhanging the lake and commanded by precipitous mountains, Robert Bruce, on his flight to the Western Islands, forced a passage for his army by heroical bravery against the treacherous M'Dougalls of Lorn. The king only lost his mantle, and the brooch which thus fell into the possession of John M'Dougall of Lorn is still preserved in that ancient famil}' as a precious memorial of the feudal times. Kildrumniie Castle, on the Don, west of Aberdeen, the refuge of Robert Bruce's wife and family, held long against the English, but surrendered at the fall of Nigel Bruce, the youngest brother of the king. Douglas Castle, on the river of the same name, in the upper county of Lanark, the paternal seat of that brave but turbulent family, became celebrated in the English wars under the name of Castle Dangerous by the various stratagems of good Lord James of Douglas who retook it from the English. Ban- nockburn, on the Bannock, five miles east of Stirling Cas- tle, the well-known village, in the swamps of which Edward II. lost his chivalry and his supremacy over Scotland, on the 24th of June, 1314. Robert Bruce, Edward, his brother, the Lords Randolph and Douglas, and the Scottish spearmen, showed here an extraordinary bravery, and gained the finest victory that ever smiled on Scotland. Abercorn Castle, east of Bannockburn, on the shores of the Frith of Forth, where the arrogant Earl of Douglas met his sovereign in arms, in 1458, but during his idle bravado, was abandoned by his vas- sals, and obliged to fly to Douglas Dale. Other famous castles on the Border (286) were the Hermitage, in the mo- rasses of Liddesdale, and Arkenholme, in Eskdale, where the elder Douglases, in their rebellion against King James II., suffered a severe defeat, and were forced, in consequence of it, to seek refuge in England in 1438, whence the Earl of Douglas returned, twenty years later, to die a monk in the Abbey of Lindores, on the Frith of Tay, in Fife county. Lauder, southeast of Abercorn, in Lauderdale ; there Archi- bald Douglas, called Bell-the- Cat, at the head of the dissa- tisfied lords, arrested and hanged the mean counsellors and favorites of young James III., on Lauder Bridge, in 1482. South of Lauder, at Holdoun or Halidon Hill, near the Abbey of Melrose (286) Sir Walter Scott, the Lord of Buccleuch at- tempted, on the 25th of July, 1526, to deliver young King James V. from the tyrannical government of the Douglases, but was defeated with gi'eat loss by the Border clans of the Homes and Kers, who suddenly fell upon his rear, and forced his border riders to flight. Sauchee, a small hamlet, a mile southeast of Bannockburn, saw, on the 18th June, 1488, the disgraceful scene of the defeat of James III., in his war with his insurgent nobility, and the awful murder of the fleeing king in the Beatonh Mill, on the Stirling road. Dupplin. on the Earn, west of Perth, where Edmund Baliol, 12th of August, 1332, defeated the Earl of Mar, Regent of Scotland, by a nightly surprise, and was raised to a tottering throne, which he lost as quickly, when he fled to England on an un- saddled horse. Yet King Edward III. came to his assistance, and the bloody defeat of the Scots at Halidon Hill, near Berwick, on the 19th of July, 1333, seemed again to turn the scale of victory in favor of the English by the surrender of that fortress and the southern counties. But the heroical defence of Loch Leven Castle by the gallant Alan Vipont, and of Dunbar by Black Agnes, Countess of March, steeled the courage of the Scots. Their ardent love of independence, and hatred of foreign tyranny, induced them to regain, by persevering and stubborn exertions, by stratagems and the boldest deeds, the strongholds they had lost. Thus Edin- burgh Castle and Perth were retaken; and when, in 1341, the young David Bruce,- on his return from France, landed at hiver-Bervy, on the coast of Kincardine, the Scots flocked to his banner; and Baliol, fleeing again to England, left the contested throne to the son of Robert Bruce. 437. The Hebrides, Shetland, and Orkney Islands, on the west and north of Scotland, were, during this period, united with the crown. The Syderoer, or Hebrides, had been conquered and colonized by the Northmen (224), and when they, during the reign of King Alexander III., were attacked by the Lords of Ross and other Scottish chiefs. King Hakon IV. of Norway — 1207-1263 — armed a powerful fleet and army, with which he occupied the islands of Arran and Bute, plun- dered the Scottish coast, and attempted a landing at Largs, in Renfrew county. But a sudden storm arising, the Nor- wegian fleet drove out to sea, while the Norwegian troops on shore were totally defeated and routed by the superior number of Scots whom Alexander Stuart, the grandfather of the first monarch of that name, led against them. Hakon, in his despair, retired to the Orkney Islands, to refit his fleet ; but he died at Kirkwall in 1263. Magnus Lagabseter, his son and successor, immediately set on foot a negotiation with the Scots, which terminated in 1266 in a treaty of peace, wherein he renounced his pretensions to the Hebrides and all the other islands, including Man (224, 431), but excepting the Orkneys and Shetlands; a sum of money (4,000 marks) was paid by King Alexander III., and his daughter Margaret married the Norwegian crown-prince Eric. The more northern islands were, from the earliest times (101, 106), inhabited by the Northmen ; and their laws, language, usages and manners, were there more firmly established than in the Hebrides and in Man. About the year 1380, during the reign of Robert II. Stuart, Henry Sinclair, Count of Caithness, on the Scottish coast, opposite the Orkneys, obtained the earldom of those islands, which included the Shetlands, from King Hakon VI. and Queen Margaret of Norway and Denmark, and this pos- session continued in his family for a century under the sov- ereignty of Norway. In the year 1469 James III. of Scot- land married Margaret, daughter of Christian I. of Denmark and Norway, and with her he was to get a dowry of 60,000 florins ; but the father-in-law, having no money, he arbitrarily mortgaged the Orkney and Shetland islands, and, as the Oldenburg kings of Denmark never redeemed their mortgage, the two groups of important islands remained, since that time, attached to the kingdom of Scotland. The Norse laws and usages, however, continued in full force in Shetland, and still differ in many parts from those of Scotland. The free property of lands was known by the term Udal — Odel — as in Norway (223), the proprietors being called Udallers — 148 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1500. CALMAEIAN UNION. Odehbdndcr — aud descended in the udaller's family. The chief judge was called Great Foad — Foged — or Law-man — Laugmand — and under him different oflGicers attended to the good morals, police, and general administration of those indus- trious, kind-hearted, and hospitable islanders. III. The Calmauian Union of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, a.d. 1397-1523. 438. Constitution and Gov^ernment. — A new period in Scandinavian history commences with the union of the three crowns under Queen Margaret, the daughter of King Wal- demar III. (378), a princess whose extraordinary talents and address have rendered her name illustrious as the Semiramis of the North. Yet happy circumstances facilitated the suc- cessful execution of her great designs. There were no promi- nent pretenders in Denmark and Norway, and the arrogant and heedless Albrecht of Mecklenburg, then King of Sweden, had alienated the good will and respect of the Swedish nation by his promoting worthless German knights to the most im- portant offices in court and army, and thus gave Margaret an easy victory. Albrecht and his German chivalry, while cross- ing a frozen lake near Falkbping, in order to attack the Danish army, met the fate of the English at Bannockburn, and the French at Poitiers — the ice gave way, and the German knights, on their barbed war-steeds, ingulfed in the morass, were slaughtered or captured by the nimble yeomanry of Denmark. Albrecht was taken, imprisoned, and not given freedom until he, seven years later, had renounced all preten- sions to the northern crowns.""' Margaret then called together commissioners from the diets of the three nations, who as- sembled at Calmar, on July 12, 1397. There the articles of the great Union were discussed and settled, and tbe kingdoms accepted young Prince Eric of Pomerania, the nephew of Margaret, for her successor. He was crowned with solemnity by the Archbishops of Lund and Upsala. By this deed the three northern sister nations were to form one permanent confederacy, and to be governed by the same monarch. The states were to choose the successor among the princes of the reigning king ; and, in the event of there being no royal progeny, the vacant throne was to be filled by the consent and with the concurrence of the Union in the new election. The affairs of each kingdom were to be administered by its own laws and usages ; biit treaties with foreign powers were not to be concluded without common consent. An attack, how- ever, upon any one of the confederated states was to be con- sidered as an aggression upon all, and to be repelled by their joint forces. The Act of Calmar was a mere sketch, which left the widest field for able and intelligent monarchs to build up a magnificent empire in the north. The daughter of Waldemar ruled the immense territories from the Icy Ocean to the Eider, — a country destined by nature herself to unity, ""'The manuers in Scandinavia were still very coarse during the fourteenth century. Albei't of Mecklenburg itsed to call Margaret the Breechless Queen — Dronninc/ Buxelijs — and he sent her a whetstone, three feet in length, with the intimation to lay aside her sword and attend to sharpening her needles. This ungracious compliment the Danish Queen answered by sending him in return a chemise of hers attached to a flagstaff for his colors, when marching his army against her. Nor did this epigrammatic war terminate with the defeat of Albert at Falkriping, for Margaret ordered her indiscreet prisoner to her presence, and clapped a fool's cap, with a tail nineteen yards long, on his head, for a mock crown, and sent him, thus exposed to the scoff- ings of the populace, to the dreary prison vaults of Lindenholm Castle, in Skaane. Among the many curious historical relics, still deposited in the .sacristy of the splendid cathedral of Upsala, the traveller will be- hold the enormous whetstone, the smock banner, and the lengthy fool's cap of Prince Albert. inhabited by a spirited and brave people, of the same race, language, and manners, who, if now united by constitution and government, might have formed one of the most important elements in the civilization and development of the political system of Europe ; it might have flourished by commerce, navi- gation and fisheries, possessing all the coasts and islands of the Baltic and the Northern Ocean. The kindred dialects of Danish and Swedish would then have melted into one, and the full strength of the three numerous warlike tribes, if directed toward the protection and aggrandizement of the LTnion, would have been able, by so easily defensible coasts, to decide the su- premacy in the North. The great mind of Margaret, no doubt, had a presentiment of the important results which might be obtained for the welfare of her people by this combination, and she flattered herself with the bright hope of having already gained her point by the unanimous election of a successor ; but the prudent queen could hardly have chosen a more un- worthy prince than Eric of- Pomerania, who, immediately on her death, in 1412,^°* by his vain, cowardly, and unjust coii duct, produced a reviving animosity and hatred between Danes and Swedes, which soon became the cause of civil dissensions and feuds that caused the Union to remain a phantom until it vanished at the Stockholm massacre by Christian the Tyrant, in 1523. Eric treated the Swedes with scorn as a conquered nation. Denmark considered herself as the prin- cipal state, the royal seat of the Union kings ; she sent her nobles to govern Sweden with an iron rod ; the Swedes felt indignant at this partiality, and were ever ready to rise in defence of their nationality ; while the cities of the Hanseatic Lea.gue, who by the most arrogant measures had appropriated to themselves the entire northern traffic, sought to counteract every union of the Scandinavian nations, and to maintain their hostility and internal weakness by all possible means. Thus the breach widened more and more. The Swedes raised Charles Knudson to the throne in 1448 ; and, though the Swedish clergy and part of the nobility sided with Den- mark and called King Christian I. to the throne in 1471, the defeat of the Danish army near Stockholm, October 10, again dispelled all hope of a renewed union. During this long series of dissensions the constitutions of Denmark and Sweden had taken a different development. In Denmark, the nobility had fettered down the kings by capitulations, which brought almost the entire executive power into the hands of the state council — Rigsraad — composed of the most powerful nobles, while the free landholders — the Bonder — successively were de prived even of their personal liberty, and became the serfs — tenants in soccage — on the immense estates of the counts and barons. All the burdens of the State, save that of its defence, were thrown off the shoulders of the privileged classes, and heaped on the citizens and peasantry. Civilized Denmark sank, while barbarous Sweden rose. In the latter country, the nation was likewise represented by the state council ; but the mass of the Swedish people had better preserved their in- dependence" than in Denmark ; in the mountain regions there existed no nobility ; there the free and proud highlander stalked about with the mien of a nobleman ; only the armor =" SOVEREIGNS OF THE CALMARIAN UNION, 1397-1523. KINGS OF DEXMAKK. ADMINISTRATORS OK SWEDEN. Margaret . . .a.d. 1412 Charles Knudsoti iism-ps Uric, deposed . . " 1439 the thiione . . .a. d. 144-8 Christopher III. ■ ■ " 1448 Charles Knud^07i expeUed, Christian Z, of Oldenburg 1481 but finally restored,- Rans (John) . . " 1513 and dies ..." 1470 Christian II. deposed . " 1522 Stc7i Sfure, the Elder . " 1503 Flees to Germany . " 1523 Svante Sture . . " 1512 Captured and imprisoned 1532 Sten Sture, the Younger " 1520 Dies in misery . • " 1559 Gustavus Vasa {kmg, Vol^) 1560 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1500. SWEDEN. 149 made the knight ; every tenant who appeared mounted on his war-horse in steel armor, brandishing his lance at the military gatherings, enjoyed the privileges of the aristocracy itself, and this feeling of equality between yeoman and nobleman has been the palladium of the Swedish constitution down to the present day. However violent the parties of the church and the aristocracy became in their aspiration to power, they needed the support of the people, who universally decided the question against Denmark. And then the Knudsous, the Engelbrechtsons, and the Stures were decidedly statesmen and warriors of greater talents than the crowned Erics, Christo- phers, and Christians — all of them G-ermans by birth, who, in the distress of the times, were called to fill the Danish throne, and fought their battles, not with the sons of the land, but with bands of German mercenaries and poor adventurers, who flocked to Denmark to be defeated by the spears and halberds of the Dalecarlians in Sweden and the Ditmarskers in Hol- stein. The untoward relations of Sleswig, between Denmark and Holstein, maimed the strength of the former, and Sweden eluded her grasp. Different was the position of Norway ; the turbulent princes of the dynasty of old Harald Haarfager had died off. Norway had no nobility; her Odehbonder (223, 296) were freemen, living on their own estates ; they wished for tranquillity, and were occupied with their fishing, agricul- ture, and bear-hunting, under the mild sway of the Danish kings, who seldom visited that distant country, though it must be owned tliat Norway made little or no progress ; it had no national representation of its own, and took no part in the diets — Rigsdage — of Denmark; it had no university, and continued for nearly four centuries to send its youths for edu- cation to the colleges of Copenhagen. Thus Norway vanishes from history towards the close of the middle ages, after having performed so wild, but brilliant a part in the times of the Norman conquests and the crusades. 439. Divisions of Provinces, Cities, and Historical Sites. — As Sweden now enters boldly upon the great theatre of history, on which she is to perform so important a part in the following centuries, we shall give a more detailed account of her geography in the fifteenth century, and only indicate some few changes in Denmark and Norway. I, The Kingdom of Sweden. — Before the union of the Suithian and Gothic tribes, Sweden had beeii divided into the two distinct kingdoms of Suithiod and Gothland (225). On the accession of the dynasty of the Folkungar, and the erection of the archiepiscopal see of Upsala (about a. d. 1250), a more regular government was established by Mag- nus I., Ladulaas (Barn-door Lock), who, in 1278, took the title of Kmg of the Swedes and the Goths. In the four- teenth century the kingdom was divided into four regions con- taining twenty provinces : — I. Southern Region, — Goth- land, Gothaland (Gothia), with the provinces, 1, East Goth- land, 2, West Gothland, 3, Smaaland, and A:,Dalsland, which bordered east on the Baltic, south on Denmark, west on Nor- way, and north on the province of Sweden. The large lakes Wenern and Wettern, surrounded by forest-clad hills, occu- pied the centre ; on the south, a fertile plain extended to the more dreary table-land of Smaaland, whose soil gave only a scanty produce of oats and barley. Falkoping, on a small lake in West Gothland, where King Albrecht was totally defeated and captured by the Danish General Ivar Lykke, Feb. 24, 1389. Caltnar,,on the west of Smaaland, opposite the island of Oeland. In its old castle, formerly esteemed one of the keys of the kingdom, was held the congress of the northern nations in 1397, which acceded to the celebrated treaty of the Calmarian Union. Bogesimd, south of Fal- koping, on the lake Aasund. Here, on the frozen lake, was fought the bloody battle in which Otto Krumpen, with the Danish army, defeated the Swedes, January 19, 1520. The Administrator of Sweden, Sten Sture, fell in the action, and Stockholm opened her gates to Christian the Tyrant, who soon was to deluge her streets with the blood of her noblest and most generous citizens. 440. II. Central Region. — Svealand, or Sweden, with the provinces, 5, Sbdernianland, 6, JJ'pland, 7, Westman- land, %, Nbrike, 9,Wa}rmela7id, 10, Dalarne, 11, Gcstrik- land, and 12, Helsingeland, bordering east on the Bothnian Gulf, south on Gothland, west and north on Norway (Herje- dalen) and Norrland. The lake Mdlarn, -^iih. its hundreds of islands, presents every where romantic views ; the soil is good in many parts ; horses, cattle, and sheep are numerous ; yet the nlost interesting scenery of Svea is the mountain range of the Copper Mines — Dalarne — on the frontiers of Norway. Stockholm (225) was early the capital of the Swedish kings. Northwest of the city, on the steep eminence BrunJceberg, was fought the obstinate battle of the 10th October, 1471, in which King Christian I. and the Danish army were totally defeated by the Swedish yeomanry and the garrison of Stock- holm. The king was wounded by an arrow ; thousands of Danes perished in their disorderly retreat to the fleet ; and camp, banners and kingdom were lost. On the great square in Stockholm, Christian II., the Tyrant, ordered ninety-four ec- clesiastics, senators, knights, and burgomasters, the most distm- guished and virtuous men in Sweden, to be beheaded, as guilty of heresy and schism, on the Stli of November, 1520. Loaded cannon were planted on the avenues ; the troops occupied the streets, and the deathlike silence in the terrified city was only broken by the toll of the castle bell during this horrible scene, which cost the bigoted despot three crowns and a life of exile and misery.^"^ Strengnds, south, on the Malarn. Here Gustav Vasa, after the expulsion of the Danes, assembled a diet, where he was unanimously called to the throne, on June 6, 1523. Nykoping, in Sildermanland, on the coast of the Baltic, with a strong castle, in which King Birger of Sweden, in 1318, imprisoned his brothers Waldemar and Eric ; and, throwing the keys of the prison into the sea, left the unhappy princes to perish by hunger. JJpsala, the ancient seat of Paganism (106), had become that of learning by the erection of the celebrated university by Sten Sture, in 1477. Falun, situated in a deep valley, between lakes, near the Dal-elf, is the centre of the mining district — the an- cient Jernbceraland (225), and the home of the brave and honest Dalecarlians, who, on the appearance of Gustav Yasa in the valley, rose in their might, defeated the mercenaries of King Christian II. in every battle, and carried the young hero in triumph to Stockholm in 1523. 441. III. Northern Region. — Norrland consisted of the provinces of 13, Wester- Boitn, 14, Medelpad, 15, Anger- manland, and 16, the Eastern Lapmark, on the frontiers of Finnland. The large central regions, Jemteland and Herje- dalen, belonged to Norway, and were not ceded to Sweden until the treaty of Bromsebro in the year 1645. Hernosand, Lideaa, Piteaa and Umeaa, are the only towns on these wild and dreary coasts. Northern Sweden was inhabited by Lap- landers and Swedes ; the former were either mountaineers, inhabitants of the forests, fishermen, or vagabonds, who hired themselves out to the Swedish farmers. The rigor of the cii ™''More than six hundred men of liigli standing and influence were beheaded or hung in dift'ei'eut parts of the realm, before the 3'oung Gustav Vasa, at the head of his mountaineers, drove the Danish tyfant out of the country. 150 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1500. DENMARK AND NORWAY. mate, want and misery, and, in consequence, the barrenness of the Lapland women, prevented the increase of their popula- tion. 442. IV. Eastern Region. — Finnland, with the pro- vinces, 17, Nyla7id or Finnland Proper, 18, Tavastland, 19, Oest.er-Bottn, and 20, Savolax or Kyrialand, on the frontiers of Permia, in Russia. Finnland is the Region of Great Lakes. That extensive country was inhabited by Queans, or Quains (225), Tavastians, Karelians, Suomi, Finns, and Tchudes, who all lived in eternal fetfds with one another, until the cross banner of King Eric of Sweden ap- peared on the coast. After a most bloody war, which lasted for more than one century and a half — 1156 — the Finnish tribes were subdued and converted to Christianity. The Swedes built on the western coast the castles of Korshobn, Bjorneborg, Nystad, and Aaho, while the Russian armies invaded the eastern regions on the Ladoga. But after the defeat of the Russians on the Kalka, by the Mongols, in 1224 (304), they disappeared in the north, and the Swedes, under Birger Jurl, the founder of Stockholm (225), penetrated victoriously into the interior, and built the strong Tavasthus. The jMarshal Jorkel Knudson conquered Kyriala, or Carelia, and founded Viborg, on the Finnic Grulf, and advancing boldly upon the Neva, built Landscrona, on the site of the present Saint Petersburg. But there the Swedes, for the first time, came in hostile contact with the Russians. The rich republi- cans of Novgorod could not suffer the mail-clad warriors of the north in so close a neighborhood. Swarms of Russians invaded Finnland, burning and destroying; several of the young Swedish colonies were laid in ashes, the settlers slaughtered, and their families carrried off. In 1318, the Russians besieged Aabo, and spread devastation through the lake districts ; but the interest of both parties demanded peace, and the first treaty between Russia and Sweden was signed in 1323, at Noteborg, on the Lake Ladoga, according to which the Swedes had to retire thirty-six versts west of the Neva, the mouth of which thus remained in the possession of the merchants of G-reat Novgorod, and the Syster back (Sister Brook) became thenceforth the frontier between the two hos- tile nations. The border forays, nevertheless, continued ; the Swedish crusading spirit lasted longer than that of the southern nations ; but it was not until the year 1462, when Ivan I., after his victories over the Mongols, had restored the Moscovite or Russian empire, that the war on the Baltic took a serious cha- racter. Finnland had become a highly flourishing country, and the strong fortresses of the Swedes repelled all the attacks of their barbarous neighbors. 443. II. The Kingdom of Norway had been divided into four provinces, or Stifter : 1, Aggershuus, 2. Christian- sand, 3, Bergen, and 4, Trondhiem. It enjoyed a perfect tranquillity, and the national antipathy between Norwegians and Swedes had not yet taken the violent character which it afterwards assumed. Christiania, in Aggershuus, had become the capital. Bergen, the first city for commerce and wealth, had suffered much from the attacks of the Hanseatic League (403) until it entered the confederacy and became the great emporium for their northern commerce. Ojjslo, the an- cient capital, near Christiania, became in 1508, the scene of the only rebellion which the Norwegians ever attempted against the Kings of Denmark. Herulf Hydefad, the leader, together with some other noblemen, bishops, and their parti- sans, were surrounded by Prince Christian, taken prisoners, and executed. It was, perhaps, the successful massacre in Opslo which, twelve years later, prompted him, as Danish king, to renew it on a larger scale in Stockholm. 444. III. The Kingdom OF Denmark seemed to have been placed at the head of the LTnion, yet this honor cost her im- mensely dear — her liberty at home, and her treasures, armies, and reputation, abi'oad : weakened and crest-fallen, she relin- quished her bloody grasp. Of all her German conquests there remained nothing but the islands of Riigen and Oesel. Wal- demar III. had conquered the large and fertile island of Gothland (Gulland), in 1360, where he made a rich booty in the city of Wisby, the seat of the Hanseatic commerce, and the stronghold of the Baltic pirates. Copenhagen (293) be- came the permanent residence of the kings of Denmark in 1440, and a university was erected in 1479, which ever since has maintained its rank among the most distinguished in Europe. It was principally the downfall of Wisby which drew commerce to Copenhagen. Jealous of this new rival, the Hanseatic League sent, in 1428, a large fleet and 12,000 German troops against it; yet Queen Philippa, the daughter of Henry IV. of England, at the head of the citizens, defended it so heroically, that she defeated the Liibeckers in several successful sorties, and forced them to raise the siege. But instead of praise and affection, the admirable princess only received the grossest insult from her husband. King Eric, which caused her death. An important change had taken place in the geography of mediaeval Denmark with regard to the duchy of Schleswig and its relations to the Counts of Hol- stein. On the extinction of the male line of King Abel's de- scendants, in 1375, the duchy of Schleswig (South Jutland) had reverted to the crown of Denmark. Yet Queen Margaret, desiring the aid of the Counts of Holstein against the over- bearing Hanseatic Confederacy, bestowed the duchy upon Count Gerhard, of Rendsborg, as a Danish banner fief for the usual military service to the crown. Eric, her successor, proud of his power, demanded back the duchy, but the war- like Counts of Holstein were neither daunted by the arms of the three northern kingdoms, nor by the sentence and threats of the German Emperor Sigismond, who adjudged the whole of Schleswig to Denmark, in 1424. Henry of Holstein had de- feated a Danish army of sixty thousand troops, at Immervad, before the Liibeckers besieged Copenhagen. Eric was deposed, and the first act of his successor, Christopher III., the Bavarian, was the recognition of the hereditary rights of the house of Schauenburg (377) to the duchy of Schleswig. At the diet in Colding, in 1439, Duke Adolph, the successor of Henry, who fell before Flensborg, in 1427, kneeling down before his liege lord, took the oath of allegiance, and received from the hand of the king the banner of investiture. Yet Denmark, who had gained nothing by her doubtful union with Sweden, felt most deeply this loss of her finest and most fertile pro- vince, and all her efforts now tended towards its recovery. The Danish nobility, in compliance with this feeling, after the death of King Christopher, in 1448, sent a deputation to Duke Adolph of Scldesivig- Holstein, to offer him the crown of Den- mark. The Holsteiner refused the honor, but directed the at- tention of the Danes to his young sister's son. Count Christian of Oldenborg, who accepted the crown, and became the founder of the present dynasty of Denmark, in the year 1448. On the subsequent death of Duke Adolph (1459), Christian inher- ited both Holstein and Schleswig, the latter of which ought then, as an escheated fief, to have been incorporated with the kingdom, or, at least, its relation to Denmark to have been plainly defined by a new investiture to the king, as Count of Holstein. But this important act was not called into exist- ence on account of another difiiculty. Duke Adolpb of Hol- stein, moved, perhaps, by his old rancor toward Denmark, against whom he had spent his youth in hard fighting, and still more by his natural desire to preserve the close union of his two beautiful states, Schleswig and Holstein, had per- EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. POLAND AND LITHUANIA. 151 suaded his young nephew, Christian of Oldenborg, at the time when the Danish crown was oifered to him, to renounce his right to Schleswig as King of Denmark, and to promise that the duchy of Schleswig and the kingdom never should be united again under the same sceptre, and that the duchy of Schleswig-Holstein should remain for ever undivided — ewich tosammende ungedelt}"^ But the wary Christian, who wanted to stand well both with Danes and Grermans, did not dare to claim his hereditary right in Holstein, and give Schleswig back to Denmark. He simply offered himself as a candidate for the free election of the Schleswig and the Holstein nobil- ity. This he obtained ; he then paid oflF the many claims of the collateral lines, such as the Counts of Schauenborg Pinne- berg, persuaded the German Emperor Frederic III. to give Holstein the rank of a duchy, and left the feiidal question about Schleswig undecided.'-" 445. The nobles of the Danish council, at that time, no doubt, considered this election of a Holstein prince to the throne of Denmark, as a masterly coup d^etat, which thus peace- fully brought both the duchies under the crown. Yet the inhab- itants of the small district of Ditmarsken refused their homage. They formed a free commonwealth, which was governed by bailiffs and aldermen, and, united by the love of independence, they maintained themselves in this situation against all aggres- sion. When, therefore, King Hans (John), in the year 1500, at the head of a large army of feudal chivalry and German lance- knechts attempted to invade their marches, the brave Ditmarsk- ers defeated him on the dikes between ilieWo?y and Hemming- sted, on the 13th of February, with so terrible a slaughter that three hundred and sixty nobles and iifteen thousand soldiers perished on the battle-field. The king himself escaped with difficulty, having lost his banner, the celebrated old Danebroge (377), his camp and baggage, and was forced, through the mediation of the Hanseatic cities, to recognize the indepen- dence of the victors. Thus, then, does the middle age of Denmark close with a most disastrous defeat, and its modern era opens ominously enough with the massacres of Opslo and Stockholm, and the dissolution of the Calinarian Union. lY. Thi5 Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania. 446. Extent and Flourishing State of Poland under THE Jagellons. — A glauce at the map of the fourteenth century will at once show the urgent political necessity of the fierce wars of the Polish kings against the Order of the Teu- '"" The cm-ious Low-O-erman document of Count Christian of Olden- borg, containing this illegal promise, is dated June 28th, 1448, more than a year before his coronation at Copenhagen, as King of Denmark, October 28th, 1449. It had, of course, no validity, because Count Christian could not give away any territory or rights of the kingdom of Denmark, whose crown he did not yet wear ; nay, he could not even do so after he was a crowned king, except with the consent of the states in a general diet or Danehof. This renunciation of the young candidate may, therefore, be considered null and void. Yet it has for centuries been the cause of much trouble to Denmark, and it was mainly on account of this antiquated and absurd document, that all the innocent blood was spilt during the late Schleswig war in 1848- 1850 — until at last the heavy sword of the victors at Ban, Dyppel, Fredericia, Idsted, and Frederikstad, has cut it to atoms, and proved that the duchy of Schleswig or South Jutland, is an integral part — the very flesh and bone of old Denmark. ^^ Our space does not permit us to give here the later history of the Schleswig-Holstein question, which belongs more properly to the Historical Geography of Modern Europe. See our first article in the New-York American Review: Wars between the Banes and Germans for the possession of Schleswig. Vol. II., No. 5, new series (September) 1848. The following articles describing the late events in Denmark, have not \et been published. tonic knights. By the cession of Samogitia (380) to the Order by Duke Witowd of Lithuania, in 1394, Poland had become entirely excluded from the Baltic coast; and the narrow-minded politics of the Teutonic knights did not fail to throw still greater impediments in the way of the exports of Poland and its com- munication with the Hanseatic cities on the Lower Vistula. Yet the important step for the final humiliation of the military hierarchy had already been taken, in a. d. 1386, by the marriage of Princess Hedwig, the younger daughter of King Louis of Anjou, with Jagellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and the al- liance of the two powerful nations, the Poles and Lithuanians. But great difficulties — the ambition of the Lithuanian princes and the vanity and pride of the nations themselves — still pro- tracted the permanent union and brotherhood of the Lith- uanian and Polish nationalities. This auspicious event took place at last at Lnblin, in 1568. The male line of the old Piast dynasty (250, 312) became extinct with Kasimir the Great in 1370.™ The Jagellons followed from 1386 to 1572; yet Poland had already become an elective aristocratic repub- lic since the celebrated diet of Chenciny, in 1331. During this period there were in Poland four distinct classes of in- habitants. First, the Voivods and Starosts, or earls, the high commanders of the provinces, who, together with the bishops, formed the council of the king. The second class formed the Zonanie, or landholders, great and small — some with thousands of acres and thousands of tenants, others with small farms, themselves tilling their fields — yet all were nobles, with emblazoned shields, fighting on horseback, and forming the Polish feudal army — PospoHte Rusccnis — of a hundred thousand cavalry. The third class were the tenants — the Kmetons or Wiesniacy — that is, people living in vil- lages, the peasantry ; they were a free and independent people, but they were mostly tenants doing service in soccage on the estates of the wealthier nobles ; their public duty was to guard the castles — Grod — in time of war, and all those who volunteered to fight the battles of the country in the open field, on horseback, were ranked with the nobles or knights — SzlacJizikcs. The fourth class of people were the prisoners of war and their descendants ; these were considered as slaves of the voivods or nobles who made them prisoners ; their condition, however, was not worse than that of the English villains (284) and tenants at will. All the serfs were emanci- pated at once, and declared freemen, like the peasants, by the great national assembly held in the city of Wizlica, in 1347. -"'Poland owes to Kasimir, the Peasant King, her constitution, con- solidation, and greatness; he united the duchy of Halitch (302-312) with the kingdom in 1340; lightened the burdens of the Kmetons — peasants — and brought an admirable order in the administration of the kingdom. His nephew, Louis of Anjou, King of Hungaria, fol- lowed him on the throne until 1381. Tlie beautiful Hedwig, youngest daughter of Louis, was then elected queen, and that virtuous princess, silencing the voice of her heart, gave generously her hand to the elderly heathen Duke Jagellon, on the 17th February, 1386, and se- cured thus the union of thirty millions, the wide extent and pros- perity of glorious Poland. The Jagellon dynasty is the following : — Jagellon (Jagal, Jagiel), after liis baptism, 14 Februarj', 1386, called Wladislaw II., 1386-1434; Wladislaw III., his son, perishes in the battle at Varna, against the Ottomans, 1434-1444: Kasimir IV., Grand Duke of Lithuania his brother, 1444-1492; John I. Albert, 1492-1501; Alexander, loOl-loOQ ; Sigismund I, 1506-1548; Sigis- mund II., 1548-1572. This was the period of the farthest extent and highest bloom of Poland. It reached from Pomerania, on the Baltic, all along the frontiers of Silesia, Hungary, and Moldavia, to the shores of the Black Sea; embraced all Prussia, Samogitia, Courland, Livonia, and Esthland as feudal principalities, and ran eastward along the Diina, by Smolensk and Novgorod Seversky, through the Ukraine, to the mouth of the Dnieper. On the west, this immense frontier stood firm for centuries; but on the east began already (a. d. 1586) the fear- ful wars with the powerful Czars of Moscow. It was the term of the grandeur of Poland, and how terrible was her decline and fall ' 152 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. POLAND AND LITHUANIA. This diet also limited the power of the kings, and extended the earlier constitution of Chenciny in loSl.-"' 447. The citAes in Poland were not numerous ; but they enjoyed nearly all the privileges of the G-erman free towns ; they were exempted from the feudal regulations, and Krakau, the beautiful capital of ancient Poland, on the Vistula, was a prominent member of the Hanseatic Confederacy. Yet com- merce and industry could not flourish in Poland ; the long exclusion from the Baltic, the oppressive rule of the nobility, the badness of the roads, and, most of all, the pernicious influence of the hundred thousands of Jews settled in the country — like a cloud of locusts — smothered already in the bud every generous attempt at national industry and commer- cial development. "Master Jew" — Pan-Zyd — was the mighty man, who ruled both kings and diets, and held the fate of the national credit and the treasury in his hands. 448. The Poles are the most spirited and handsome of all the Sclavonian nations. They are open, generous, and hos- pitable. Their bravery in war, and fortitude in adversity, are as unrivalled as their social and domestic virtues at home. The fair sex are celebrated in the north for their beauty and patriotism ; they surpass the Russian women in symmetry of form, and the Germans in the delicacy of their complexion. The Polish ladies have an excellent education, and are more animated and agreeable in their manners than the women of Russia. After the alliance with Lithuania, and the victory at Tannenberg over the Teutonic knights, Poland enjoyed for more than a century a very happy position : the resources of the country increased by commerce, agriculture, and mining, after the road of the Vistula had become opened to the Baltic. The victorious arms of the Jagellon princes secured the dis- tant frontiers ; and, at home, the lively Polaks lived in plenty and pleasure. The nobles, and even the Jews, wore splendid dresses of velvet and silk, richly lined with sables and pre- cious furs. In war, they disdained the heavy suits of plate- armor then in use, and preferred the light and graceful costume of the Hulans. Nor did they neglect literary polish and ac- quirements ; their language and literature began to flourish, and the newly-established University of Krakau — 1369 — be- came crowded with learned professors and studious youths.''" 449. Division into Provinces and Voivodats ; Cities AND Historical Sites.— A. The Kingdom of Poland (250, 312) comprehended : I. Polonia Magna, Great Foland, with the duchies of Mazovia and Cujavia. The former a most important province, situated on the Vistula, the Bitg, and the Narev, had, since 1220, its own ducal dynasty, and was not united to the kingdom before 1463-76, and the western parts only in 1526; it contained the principalities of Flock, Warsawa, and Czersk, with the cities Pultusk and Praga on the eastern bank of the Vistula, opposite to Wasaiva '""^ Poland succeeded in reforming her people by militaiy merit and education ; in the course of a single century about one-eighth of her population became nobles, and in 1500, when her population did not exceed ^/Keoi millions, she boasted of four hundred and eighty thousand votei-s ; while France, in 1847, after so many bloody i-evolutions, with a population of thirty-Jive millions, numbered only one hundred and eighty thousand voters, — three hundred thousand less than Poland numbered three centuries ago with her fifteen millions. The nobility of Poland sprang from among the people, and were the creation of an adopted reform of the nation : while the feudal nobility of the rest of Europe originated in the ascendency of a conquering race over the original inhabitants. "'" See, for interesting details on this latter period of the medieval liistory of Poland, the admirable work of Prof Joachim Lelewel, in the German translation, GescMchte Po^eras, (Leipzig, 1847), with an Atlas, pp. 96, 100, 116-12.5. (Warsaw), then a small city. Cujavia, likewise long separated, and ruled by its own princes, fell back to the mother country in 1401. It was the border region toward Prussia, and con- tinually exposed to the wars with the Teutonic Order. Its voivodats were Dobryn, Wlaslaw, Dobrzyn, and Brzesc, with the commercial cities of Bromberg, Lobaii, Coronoro (Polish Crown), colonized with Germans. Voivodats, \,Posen, on the frontier of Brandenburg ; 2, Kalisch, east of Silesia ; 3, Wielun, brought back to the crown in 1401; 4, Sieradz ; 5, Lenczyc, on the Warthe ; 6, Ratua, and 7, the principality Lotvicz. II. Pomerellia, or Polish Prussia, which was ceded to Poland by the Teutonic Order, in the disastrous treaty of 1466, with the thriving G\iie& Danzig (382), Oliva, Elbing, Stargard, Graudenz, Culm, the first conquest and colony of the knights in 1228; Marieniverder and Marienbiirg, with magnificent monuments of the order ; Thprn, on the Vis- tula, the birthplace of the celebrated Pole, Nicholas Copernik (Copernicus), who, " diving through the mists of error, ren- dered venerable by time, discovered the true system of the world, and established for himself a name that will live while sun and moon endure." The first printed copy of his masterly work he received dying, on the 23d of May, 1543, and sur- vived the joy only a few hours.' Ermeland, inclosed in Prussia, with the city of Braunsberg, on the coast of the Frische-Haff ; Seeburg, Wartcnstein, and- Altenstein, were strong castles of the knights. III. Podlachia, east of Ma- zovia, with Augustowo, Bielsk, and the extensive possessions of the Radzivil family. 450. II. Polonia Minor. — Lesser Poland — south of the former, bounded on the west by Silesia, south by the Carpa- thian range, separating it from Hungary, and east by Ha- litch. The principal voivodats were Krakau, Sandomirz, LiMin, and Bocli.nia. The principalities Zator and Zijos, in the Carpathians, were acquisitions from Hungary. Krakau, on a high and picturesque site on the Vistula, was the ancient metropolis, where the kings were crowned and interred. Among the numerous mausoleums is that of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop of Krakau, whom King Boleslaus the Bold killed be- fore the altar. Near Krakau lie the celebrated mines of fossil salt of Bochnia and Wieliczka, which Avere discovered, as is said, by Saint Cunegunda, a Hungarian princess, the wife of King Boleslaus V., in the year 1351, though the mines were neglected, and the works on a large scale did not begin regu- larly before 1442, under King Wladislaw III.-" Chenciny, north of Krakau, where, in the first general diet of Poland, Wladislaw II. Loketek, in the year 1331, laid the foundation of the constitution of the kingdom, and the rank and privileges of the Szlaclizikes, or nobles, were defined. Wislica, south- east of the former : here Kasimir the Great, the son of Wladis- law II., in another important diet held 1347, published new modifications of the earlier constitution, and the final union of Polonia Magna and Minor in one kingdom. All these funda- mental laws were written in the Latin language. Sandomirz and Lublin were strong fortresses. (3 12). 451. IV. Halitch (Halicz), or Red Russia, east of Lesser Poland, came to the crown in 1392. The city of Ha- litch, the earlier capital, on the Dniester, yielded later to Lemberg, which took its rank. At Horodloie an important diet was held in 1413, in which the Lithuanians were declared liable to the same taxes, and subject to the same laws, as the Poles. There, too, the arms of the two nations (the white eagle for Poland, the armed knight for Lithuania) were united, ^" The entire city of Wieliczka i-=5 undermined ; the works extend on every side some thousand feet, and the depth beneath the lowest part of the valley is about eight hundred feet, EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. POLAND AND LITHUANIA. and the grand dukes of the latter country were appointed by the Kings of Poland. Principalities were Ckelm and Belz ; cities, Sambor and Busk. V. Wolhynia, east of Haliteh, and VI., Podolia, south of the former, old Li- thuanian conquests, were, in 1392, likewise united to the Polish crown, to make Jagellon popular among his new subjects. Principalities were Czartorisky, Korecz, Czaslaiv, and others. Cities, Krzemieniec and Wladimir. VII. The vast principality of Kioav (Kijow), on the Dnieper, with Bielograd and Perejaslaw. It extended southward below the waterfalls of that river ; the whole southern region was inhabit- ed by the Saporogian Cossacks, who appear for the first time about the year 1320. The origin of their military republic has been ascribed to the terror excited among the southern Sclavonians by the victories of the Lithuanian prince, Gedhe- myn, on his desolating march to Kiow. Swarms of fugitives left their country, assembled at the mouth of the Dnieper, and formed a number of warlike colonies, which were compelled, in order to resist the aggressions both of Lithuanians and Mongols, to live on horseback, under a military government, and submit to the lance-law. Such a life has its own charms ; thousands of new settlers — Cossacks, in the Tartar language signifying light-armed horsemen — arrived from the north ; they built towns and villages, where they resided with their families during winter, but in summer they mounted their steeds, and galloped off to the eastern steppes, making con- tinual inroads upon the Tartars. The unmarried young men were selected as an advanced guard against the enemy, and occupied the more exposed regions on the Dnieper and the shores of the Euxine. These warlike youths were the Sapo- rogues, who drilled in this excellent military school, became the most esteemed and feared of the different Cossack hordes of the seventeenth century. Their country, between the Bug, Dnieper and Don, was also called Malo-Russia, or Lesser Rus- sia, and the lower steppes Ukraine, which had an important part to perform in modern history.'^''^ 452. B. G-rand duchy of Lithuania. I. Lithuania Proper, between the Njemen and the Duna with the voivodats, Wil- na, Troki, Keydany, Olszany, Braclaw, and the cities Wil- NA and Wileika, on the Wilja — Grodno and Knowno, on the Njemen. Lithuania proper is a very level country ; the great- er part of it is covered with sand, intersected with fens and marshes. The humid climate there is subject to oppressive heat, and to extreme cold. Three or four weeks of a Lithua- nian winter proved fatal to the veterans of Napoleon, in 1812. The country is covered with immense forests, where bears, wolves, wild boars, and beavers are found in thousands. The inhabitants resemble the Poles and Russians, though they are even less advanced in civilization than these ; struggling against poverty, oppressed by slavery, their appearance indi- cates their degraded condition. There are still several wealthy families of the ancient Polish nobility, among others the Rad- ziwils, the Sapiehas, and the Oginski, but their gorgeous pa- ^'^ The Saporogian Cossacks belong to the Russniaks or Ruihenians, also called Russinians and Malo- Russians. This Scla^onian tribe, who are distinguished from the eastern Russians by their finer fea- tures, dark or hazel eyes, loftier stature, and more harmonious lan- guage, have a more generous and confiding character ; the Malo-Rus- sian never thinks of to-morrow ; he enjoys his mild climate, and labors only when compelled by necessity. The free and fierce Cossacks show the Malo-Russian character in its opposition to that of the slavish, crouching Weliko, or Great Russians, who have become accustomed to the yoke by the lapse of ages. All the inhabitants of Southern Poland, Galicia, Ludomiria or Red Russia (Haliteh), the Bukovina, also of the northeastern part of Hungary, and many scattered over Wallachia and Moldavia belong to this Russniak race. Yet the Cossacks of the Don are more mixed with pure Russians. The whole number of that race is given at thirteen millions. 20 laces are surrounded by wretched cottages. II. Samogitia (Szamaithen), extending from the Njemen along the coast of the Baltic, toward Livonia, was conquered by the Teutonic Order, as an important province for the communication with the State of their brothers, the Knights Swordbearers of Livonia ; but after the most furious attacks of the Lithuani- ans, the knights found themselves obliged to give up the new, formidable castles which they had built on the Njemen, such. as Jurborg and Christmcmel, and retire from the country in 1409. The soil of Szamaithen is better than in other parts; the plains are well wooded, and large herds of the elk and urus wandered formerly in the forests. The Samogitians are a simple and superstitious, but brave people, who contended long against the Teutonic Knights, and adopted Christianity with great reluctance. Miedniki and Rosienna are the only towns which deserve such a name. III. White Russia, east of Lithuania proper, on the rivers Berezina, Drucz, and Dnieper, extended eastward to the principality of Smolensk, and south to Black Russia. It was divided into the Voivodats, Witepsk, Mzcislaio, Lukoml, Mohilew, and Minsk, with the cities Bo- rissoiu on the Berezina, Mohileio, Bobry, and Czasniki. The family of Radziwil had large territories in the west. IV. Black Russia, south of Lithuania proper and White Russia, belonged in part to the great families Sapieha, Radziwil, and Olelko. NowoGRODEK was the principal city on the Njemen, which had witnessed many a hard fought battle of the Lith- uanians with the Teutonic Knights. V. Pgdi.f.sia, south of the former, is the marshy region of the numerous tributaries of the Pripjet, the Berezina, and the Dnieper ; it is almost covered with swamps, on the outskirts of which lay the cities Biala, Brzesc, Rosanna, Kamieniec, Slonim, Slucz, Bobruisk, and Rogatschew, the latter forming a separate principality. On the east of these Lithuanian provinces lay VI., the principality of PsKow (Pleskow), VII., that of Smolensk, and farther southeast, VIII., the extensive Severian Lands, bordering on the Tcherkassian Cossacks, on the Don. Those immense tracts formed the border toward the grand duchy of Russia during the period of the Mongol Empire, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, yet after the restoration of the Mosko- wite power, under Czar Iwan the Great, about 1470, they were successively reconquered by the Russians; Severia in 1494- 1526, and Smolensk in 1500. 453. C. Prussia. — The great battle at Tannenberg, in 1410, had already decided the fate of the Teutonic Order (383). The few fleeing knights that reached Marienburg were there besieged by Jagellon, and all the provinces, discon- tented with the military hierarchy of the steel-clad monks, hastened to submit to the victor. Lezkau, the burgomaster of Danzig, saved the knights from destruction, by closing the gates of that important maritime city against the Poles. But those suspicious tyrants, fearing the power and influence of that high-minded man, had the baseness and madness to assassinate him with their own daggers. This unheard-of crime at once opened the eyes of the Prussian people ; Dan- zig, Elbing, Thorn, and other cities, as well as the nobility and secular clergy of the maritime provinces, entered into a league against the order in the year 1 440. The whole of western Prussia revolted in 1454, and placed itself under the protec- tion of King Kasimir IV. of Poland, who confirmed the priv- ileges of the inhabitants, and guaranteed the Prussians their separate independent diets. Yet the knights made the most desperate resistance, supported by adventurers from Germany. The disastrous war which was the consequence of this revolt, lasted twelve years ; and, in the course of it, the eastern part of Prussia, which had remained under the authority of the knights, was laid waste by the Poles ; two thousand churches 154 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. RUSSIAls^ EMPIRE. were destroyed; and out of twenty-one thousand villages, eighteen thousand were reduced to ashes. The peace con- cluded at Thorn confirmed the Poles in the possession of Western Prussia, the territories of Culm, Michelow, and Pomerelleii (380), together with the cities of Marienburg, Stulivi, Elbing, and Christburg, and the bishopric Ermeland, ■whose bishop had recognized the supremacy of Poland. Na- tangen, Samland, and the other eastern districts (380), the knio-hts were permitted to retain by acknowledging themselves vassals of Poland. Yet the haughty warrior-monks could not long bear such a humiliation ; they grasped the sword again in 1520, against King Sigisniund I. of Poland. But the times of crusades, chivalry and monachism were passing away. The artillery of the Poles demolished without dif- ficulty their strongest castles, and the light arquebusiers brought down the stoutest knights, who in vain filled Ger- many with their lamentations. The Reformation bad thrown its light on the world, and now nobody cared for the monks in Prussia. In their despair, the knights chose for their grand master the young Prince Albert of Brandenburg, who, by the most remarkable artifice, secured his sovereignty through the destruction of the order. Albert visited Luther and Melancthon in Wittemberg, and learned from the great re- formers the invalidity of the vows of monks and knights. Having thus become a Protestant, the Prince married Dor- othea, Princess of Denmark, and invited his knights to follow his excellent example. No doubt the greater part of them preferred marriage to celibacy ; they adopted the reform, re- nounced Rome and the Pope, and, from a rank equal to that of priestly sovereigns, the Teutonic knights now gladly de- scended to the condition of secular nobles. The closing scene took place in Krakau, April 8, 1525. On the square before the palace the royal throne had been erected, adorned with the united escutcheons of the White Eagle for Poland and the Mounted Knight for Lithuania. There Margrave Albert of Brandenburg, the grand master, with his Teutonic knights, knelt down before the Polish King Sigismund, and, surren- dering the banner of the order, swore allegiance to his sover- eign for the Pi-ussian territories ; Sigismund then in return embraced him as Duke of Prussia, and handed him the banner of his new dignity. Thus the order was expelled from the Baltic. A few stubborn old knights transferred their chapter to Mergentheim, in Wiirtemberg, where their order was sup- pressed by the Emperor Napoleon in 1809, and their estates sold and dispersed. Yet it appears that the skeletons of the order have recently been called forth from their sepulchres, and that their shadows still stalk about in Germany, with an Austrian archduke for their ghostly grand master — Beutch- meister. 454. D. Livonia, EsTHONiA and Courland had a some- what different fate from that of Prussia. On the dissolution of the Teutonic Order in the latter county, the Ueermeister of the Knights Swordbearers (380) proclaimed his independence, under the protection of the German Emperor Charles V. The knights therefore continued to occupy those coast-lands until the fearful advance of the Russians under the Czar Ivan Wasiljewitch II. ; the sword-knights were defeated, and their castles stormed. Esthonia, with the capital, Reval, called in the Swedes, and surrendered to King Eric XIV. by capitula- tion. Denmark occupied the bishoiirics Oesel, on the island, and Pilten, on the mainland, while Livonia hurried to do homage to King Sigismund II, of Poland, who, at the diet held in Wilna, November 28, 1561, united this country with Litliuania, but granted the two western provinces, Courland and Semigallia, as a secular hereditary duchy to the last grand master Gotthard Kottler, 455. E. Silesia, an important possession of the Polish crown, was ceded by the pacific King Kasimir to John of Bo- hemia, at the celebrated congress of Wischerad, in 1335, and lost for ever. That rich province had been awarded to princes of the royal family of the Piasts, and these appanages soon became separate states, which were again subdivided into a great number of small principalities. Weakened by the imprudence of its princes, Silesia excited the ambition of the chivalrous Luxemburger, John II., King of Boheinia, who, entering the country at the head of his knights, forced some fourteen Sile- sian dukes of the Piastian dynasty to submit to his arms and acknowledge themseves his vassals, in 1325. Only the Dukes of Schweidnitz and Jauer maintained their independence, and their resistance was facilitated by the mountainous position of their territory on the Sudetian range. But they were unsupported by Kasimir the Great ; and when Poland thus wantonly renounced by solemn treaties its ancient and just claims to the sovereignty of that beautiful and important country, Charles IV., the son of John, and Emperor of Ger- many, was enabled to add all Silesia to the Bohemian crown, by an act of the empire in 1355; from that period the Scla- vonic Silesians became Germanized by thousands of colonists,, and continued thenceforth the allies, if not the vassals, of the empire. V. Grand Duchy op Moscow. 456. Consolidation of the Russian Empire. — The vic- tory of the Mongols, on the Kalka, had decided the fate of Russia (385). For more than two centuries and a half, from 1224 to 1480, that unhappy nation continued to be held in abject vassalage by the Mongols of Kaptchak, whose wild hordes overspread the eastern and southern provinces, and the plains between the Caspian and the Volga, on the banks of which river the Golden Horde, or imperial camp of the chans of the race of Batu, the nephew of Dshingis-Chan, was estab- lished. The farthest extent of the Mongol devastations is de- lineated in our map, running north, between Moscow and Novgorod, and westward into the heart of Lithuania. It ap- pears, however, that the Lithuanian Dukes soon threw off the yoke ; they took possession of Smolensk, the Severian Lands on the Desna, and Kioto on the Dnieper, and the Grand Duke Olgerd drove the horde beyond that river and the Doniec, in 1377. But other tribes of Tartars occupied parts of the Crimea, where they gave great trouble to the Genoese in their commercial colonies on the coast. At the extinction of the line of Batu-Chan, in 1361, disputes began to arise among the Mongol princes for the succession, and the fierce civil wars which ensued encouraged the Russians to resistance. In con- sequence of these disturbances, the Golden Horde became split into the Chanate of Astrakan, or Sarai, on the Volga, that of the Cyimea, that of Kasan, on the western slope of Mount Oural, and that of Turmi, or Ssibir, beyond the chain, on the east, in Siberia. Such an opportune division of power enabled Dimitri IV., Donskoi, in 1380, to defeat Mamai-Chan in the celebrated battle on the Don, in Rjaesan, from which the Russian hero took his name. Yet it was the invasion of the mighty Timur-Chan (Tamerlane), in 1389 and 1395, into the Kaptchak, that gave the fatal blow to the Mongol domin- ion. The Russians had now risen, and fearful battles were fought between those savage nations. Once more the Tartar sword prostrated Moscow in 1441, but Iwan III. the Great, inspired by his admirable wife, Sophia of Constantinople, at last succeeded in shaking off the still remaining vestiges of dependence on the Golden Horde, which was finally dissolved in 1480. Iwan then directed his arms against Kasan, which was made tributary, and thus strengthened, reduced the EIGHTH PERIOD —A. D. 1300-1450. RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 155 principalities of Twer, Wereja, Rostow, and Jaroslaw — the Republic of Viatka, Obdoria, and Ugria did homage be- tween 1480 and 1499. The Lithuanian princes of Severia, and the cities of Wiasma, Mstislaw, Smolensk, and many others, followed the example, and thus toward the close of the fifteenth century, the unity of the Russian monarchy was fully established. Iwan Wasiljewitch restored Russia to independ- ence, but he laid the foundation of that boundless despotism which ever since has been the scoui'ge of Russia. He extin- guished every spark of democratic fire in the commercial re- publics of Pleskoio and Novgorod, every trace of their popu- lar institutions ; life, honor, fortune, all depended on the whim of the autocrat ; the former princes and their descend- ants now became the subjects of the Czai' of all the Russias, as Iwan styled himself Those princes, together with thirty Boyards of the high council, formed thenceforth an hereditary nobility, enjoying many privileges ; they attended at court, and supplied the numerous oSicers around the throne ; all the noble families were carefully inscribed in the Radoilovnie.- Knigi. The citizens, even the wealthiest bankers of Novgo- rod, were considered as the serfs of the Czar ; while the pea- sants sank back into the most abject slavery, and the lot of the thousands of Tartar prisoners of war was still worse. The penal code of Iwan distinguished itself by bloody austerity and by its ingenuity in devising the most excruciating tor- ments ; diificult cases were decided by combat ; in civil law the decision depended entirely, on the will of the judge, and the Czar was the sole dispenser of life and death. The mili- tary system of the Russians was as barbarous as their man- ners ; they attacked their neighbors by surprise or stratagem, without any declaration of war ; the mass of the male popula- tion were driven to the camp ; the Russians fought on horse- back, they rushed to battle with furious yells, following the red horse-tail banners of their chiefs. Long time after other nations, Poles, Swedes, and even Tartars were using fire-arms, the Russians only wielded their sabres and long Cossack-lances, until toward the middle of the sixteenth century the Czars of Moscow at last took into their service some thousand foreign mercenaries, drilled to handle the arquebuss and to serve the cannon. The Russians mustered by hundreds of thousands, as they served without pay or provision ; they lived on the plun- der they gathered from the nations exposed to their continual invasions. The Czar wielded the knout, or knotty Russian whip, with vigor on the shoulders of his priests and Boyards — he ate with his servants from the same dish ; the food was coarse ; cookery almost unknown ; the early attempts at literature (304) had long been abandoned, and no spark of mental cul- tivation could now be discovered among the Russians ; tlieir clergy could not read, and they learned their praj^ers from hearsay. Their manners were gross, and, like the Tartars, their bridal festivals were attended with ceremonies of revolt- ing indecency — finally, we plainly discover the deteriorating influence which the ages of bondage had left on the manners and institutions of the otherwise intelligent and good-natured Russian people, whose middle ages do not terminate until the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the present dynasty of the Romanoffs mounted the Moscowite throne. 457. Divisions of the Empire, Cities, and Historical Sites. — Moscovia, or the Empire of the Czars, consisted, in the year 1500, of the following principalities and teiTitories : I. the Grand Duchy of Moscow, bordering north on the territory of Novgorod, east on the chanate of Kasan, south on the grand duchy of Rjcesan, and west on the Lithuanian principalities of White and Black Russia (452). It was di- vided into a great number of principalities, which, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, had become united under the sceptre of the Czars of Moscow. In the ancient principality of that name, the cradle of the Russian empire, lies the im- mense city of MoscoAV, on the banks of the river Mo&kwa. The earlier capitals, Siisdal and Wladimir, had sunk into decay during the intestine feuds, when Yourg I. — Dolgoruki — (George Long-hand), in 1 156, built his new city around the villa of the Boyar Kutschko, with whose beautiful wife the Czar had fallen in love. Moscow increased rapidly, and was fortified with wooden walls and towers ; but it could not withstand the invasions of the Tartars, and was, in 1293 and 1439, burnt and levelled to the ground. Yet it soon recov- ered, and rose with greater splendor. Iwan I. — Kalita — (the Pourse, or the Generous), erected the first stone-built cathedrals in Russia, and the celebrated Kreml, — Kremlin or Castle— which became the imperial palace of the Czars. This immense mass of buildings was encompassed with high and thick walls, protected by battlements, and flanked with gi- gantic towers, and became the scene of many of the frightful catastrophes that shook the Russian throne, until the times of Czar Peter the Great, who removed his court to the marshy banks of the Neva."^ 458. We give here the names of the smaller principalities, with the year of their annexation to the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In the north: Wolok, 1410; Dmitroto, 1472; Pcres/flw/, 1302; Uglitch, 1401; .Ros^ozy, 1389-1425 ; Ja- roslaiv, \i&Z\ TJstjusna, \i25~\i^\ \ Kubina, 1425-1481; Bjelosersk, 1340-1435, and Saoserje, 1425-1481. These latter four territories had formerly belonged to the republic of Great Novgorod, and were given as appanages to princes of the Grand Ducal family before they became annexed to the crown, as the double number of years will indicate. East of Moscow lay: Galitsch, 1340-1450; Kostroma, 146','; the large principality of Susdal, with the ancient capital of that name, 1392; Gorodez, 1392, and the important Nischni-Nov- GOROD, 1392, on the Wolga; Wladimir, 1363-1389; Mescht- svhera and Murom, 1392, both on the banks of the Oka. South of Moscow lay : Tarusa, with the celebrated cities Tula and Kaluga, 1392; Kolomna, 1367; Kasimoio, 1380; and Jelez, 1450. West of Moscow were situated the following: Wereja, 1485, with the city Malo Jaroslaivez, where Napo- leon Bonaparte suffered his first defeat, on the 24th October, 1812, and resolved upon his disastrous retreat; Moshaisk, 1303-1472; and iSs/ieM;, 1410-1503. 459. II. Principality and Republic of Novgorod, ex- tending north of Moscow to the Finnic Gulf, the White Sea, the Icy Ocean, and Mount Oural. It embraced on the north and northeast the extensive provinces of Savwolstcld and Udoria — the ancient Biarmeland of the Northmen (226) — Z^na,thehomeof theUgrians (Hungarians) in the valleys of the Ouralian range, and the small independent republic Bielo- sersk, on the White Lake. On the west lay, on the lake Ilmen, the celebrated Great Novgorod, the commercial republic (304), which, having victoriously escaped all the invasions of the Tartaro-Mongolian hordes, fell at last, in 1471, under the despotic sceptre of Iwan Wasiliwitch, after an attempt to throw oft the yoke in 1478; the glorious city was treated *'^ Moscow lias been rebuilt with great elegance since the confla- gra.tion in 1812. It is at present the most extensive city in Europe, after Constantinople, though the number of its inhabitants is only 350,000. The Kremlin, which Napoleon in his ire attemjsted to blow up in vain, and the four hundred and fifty churches, monasteries, and nunneries of Moscow, all towering above the maze of houses and bazaars, with their gilt oriental cupolas, present a most magnificeni view, when beheld glittering in the morning sun from the high towpi of Czar Iwan, 156 EIGHTH PEEIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. RUSSIA— FEANCE. with the utmost barbarity by the Czar, who not only removed its treasures of gold, silver, and jewelry on three hundred carriages, but transported its most distinguished mercantile families to remote parts of his domains, and substituted for them more humble subjects from other places. By this ty- rannical proceeding, the flourishing commerce of Weliki-Nov- gorod received a shock ft-om which it never rose again. Sta- raja-Russa, an interesting old town, on the southern bank of the lake of Ilmen, with the monastery Iwerskoi, is considered as the early capital of Old Ruric and his Danish Varangians, on their first arrival in Gardarike (Russia) in 852 (226). 460. III. The principality and Republic Pskow (Ples- kow), west of Novgorod, and bordering on Esthland, on the lake of Peipus, a small but enterprising city, which de- served the name of the Younger Sister of Novgorod, concil- iated the despotic Czar, and maintained her popular govern- ment until the year 1510. IV. The Republic of Wi^tka, southeast of Novgorod; and V., that of Per,mia, at the base of Mount Oural, were both conquered by Iwan in 1472-1489 ; the latter was treated with the same cruelty as Novgorod, and sunk back into insignificance. VI. The Grand Duchy of Twer, northwest of Moscow, with the smaller states of Chohn and Bjeshezk, and the important city of Twer, on the Upper Volga, had, under its prudent duke, Michael Borissowitsch, maintained its independence by alliance with the Poles. But Michael was, in 1485, betrayed by his own boyars, and es- caped the pursuing Russians only by the swiftness of his horse ; his duchy and treasures were then captured by the Czar, who united the former with the crown lands. VII. The Principality of Rj^san, south of Moscow, retained its princes until 1517, when it was incorporated into the Czar's domin- ions, together with the extensive Severian lands (452), Smo- lensk, and other conquests from Lithuania. VIII. The Mongol Chanate of Kasan embraced the ter- ritories of the Tchermessians and Mordwins (226, 303), on the rivers Volga and Kama, toward Mount Oural. After the separation of the Kasauian Tartars from the Golden Horde of Sarai, they became exposed to the attacks of the Russia'ns, and though their chans kept up a show of independence by paying tribute to the Czars of Moscow, they were, neverthe- less, unable to withstand the invasions of Iwan II. Wasilii- witch, who, springing mines below the walls, entered the city of Kasan, sword in hand, in 1552, and reduced the country as far as Siberia beyond the mountains. Kasan (Kozan, Oson), a handsome oriental city, situated on picturesque hills above the Volga, was the great emporium of Siberian commerce, and has maintained a shadow of its former importance by its university and other literary institutions. South of Kasan lie, on the Volga, the interesting ruins of Bolgari (Bolghar), the ancient capital of Great Bulgaria, the home of the wan- dering Bulgarians (195, 303). Arabic and Armenian inscrip- tions, Cufic coins (222), and many other remains of mediaeval splendor are excavated in the environs, and excite the curi- osity of the Russian antiquarians. The native inhabitants of Kasan. the Tchermessians, a mixture of Finns and Calmucks, are generally considered as the true descendants of the Huns (89) ; they are as deformed and savage as their forefathers ; their religion is a curious mixture of Scandinavian (Odinian) and Oriental idolatry, and the Russian knout has not yet been able to whip them into civilization. Such was the condition of the Russian Empire toward the beginning of the modern era, when, during the sixteenth cen- tury, the terrible Czars, with their hundred thousands of horse- men, inundated the lands on the Lower Wolga, Astrakhan (1554), Kabarda, on the Kuban, the steppes of the Cossacks, on the Don, as far as the Crimea, in 1577, and the chanate of Turan (Sibir), beyond Mount Oural, which opened to their ambition all the broad lands to the distant frontiers of China. Even the ocean put no stop to those conquests ; for the bold Russians, crossing Behring's Straits, subdued a considerable part of the western coast of North America. IL CENTRAL EUROPE. VI. The Kingdom of France, DURING THE WAES WITH ENGLAND, A.D. 1360-1453. 461. Origin of the Contest. — We have already re- viewed the first period of the rivalry of France and England (386-388). The second phase of that protracted struggle, known as The Hundred Years'' War, begins, with the accession of Edward III. in England, a. d. 1327, and that of the family of Valois in France, in 1328, and extends through an alternation of frightful reverses and brilliant victories to the middle of the fifteenth century. The . contest of this pe- riod becomes more general than the former, and is carried on with all the forces of both the rival nations. It is no longer a mere question about cities and provinces, or feudal homage to be rendered; the entire nationality of France is now at stake, and the proud King of England aims at nothing less than the conquest of the throne of France. Edward III., a youth fifteen years of age, who had been proclaimed King of England during the captivity of his unhappy father, Edward II., in 1327, laid claim at once to the inheritance of Charles IV., the last king of the Capetian dynasty, by right of his mother, Isabel of France.'^''* Thus, then, all that brilliant family of princes, who had sat near their father, Philip the Handsome, at the Council of Vienna was extinct ! In the popular belief the curses of Pope Boniface and of the murdered knights templars had taken an awful efi'ect. Yet four daughters and Charles of Navarre, the son of Jane, still survived. How, then, can the historian hesitate in" condemning the injustice of King Edward's pretensions? Whether the Salique Lata -were or were not valid, no advantage could be gained by Edward ; there stood in his way not only the express decision of the entire French nation, but, as our genealogical table shows, Jane of France daughter of Louis Hutin, then the three daughters of Philip le Lon^, and one daughter of the last King, Charles le-Bel. Aware of this, Edward set up a distinction, that though females were excluded from succession, the same rule did not apply to their male issue ; and thus the British king philosopher pretended that though his mother Isabel could not herself become queen of France, she might transmit a title to him ! But this was not only contrary to the com- monest rules of inheritance, but Jane of France herself had a son, afterwards the famous Charles of Navarre, who stood one degree nearer to the crown than Edward. 462. Divisions. — Thus the most bloody and devastating war of kingly ambition and national antipathy broke out in 1339, and became the cause of great disasters and dismem- berments of provinces, which completely modified and changed, at diiferent returns, the whole political geography of France. 21J derivation of the pretensions of EDWARD III. S C3 Philip III., Capei King of France. , Charles, Count of Valois, Philip VI., of Valois. Philip IV., le Bel, Louis X., Hutin. Philip V., le Long. Jane of France, three I daughters. Charles le Mauvais, King of Navarre. Charles IV., le Mel. one daughter. Isabel, married to Edioard IL, of England. Edwasd III. EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. FRANCE. 157 The astonishing vicissitudes of alternate defeats and victories, which characterized this long and obstinate contest were the cause of the modifications. They may be reduced to four distinct periods, viz. : I. From the beginning of the war, in 1339, to the Treaty of Bretigmj, in the year 1360 ; II. from 1360 to the death of King Charles V., in 1380; III. from 1380, and the renewal of the war, to the appearance of Joan of Arc at the siege of Orleans, in 1429 ; and, finally, IV. from the defeat of the English before that city to their ulti- mate expulsion fi-om France, in 1453. Our circumscri'bed space will not permit us here to give any historical relation of events, moreover so well known ; we shall therefore confine ourselves to some geographical details on the political geog- raphy of France during the first period, and then only indicate briefly the most important changes which that kingdom under- went during the three others. ^ I. France, at the TIME OF THE A. D. 1360. Treaty of Bretigny, 463. Historical Remarks. — The period between the battles of Crecy and Poitiers, down to the treaty of Bretigny, is the most disastrous and melancholy in the annals of France. The misfortunes which overwhelmed that unhappy country, in consequence of the shameful defeat at Maupertuis, near Poitiers, in 1356, and the capture of its king, reduced the French nation to the dire necessity of giving adhesion to the humiliating treaty, which, by raising up an entire independent sovereignty within her bosom, for the advantage of an odious rival, became at once the source of still greater calamities, the terrible effects of which continued to be felt long after the time when the original cause had ceased to exist. We shall here give an account of the provinces and other possessions assigned to the kings of France and England according to that treaty. In continuation of our earlier paragraphs (229- 232), we shall make a distinction between those provinces of France which directly belonged to the Royal Domain and the others, which were possessed by the great feudatories, many of whom made common cause with the English. Finally, we shall give a short description of the cities, castles, and battle-fields with which the most interesting events of this period are connected. I. Possessions of the King of France. 464. The Royal Domains. — The provinces which formed the Royal household power immediately after the treaty of Bretigny, in 1360, were the following, in the succession from north to south. 1. Picardy, except the county of Fonthicu (232, IV.), situated at the mouth of the Somme, and which be- longed to England. On the northeast of Amiens, the capital of the province, lies the small town of Crecy, so celebrated on account of the brilliant victory which Edward III. gained there, on the 26th of August, 1346, over Philip VI., by the bravery of his young son, the Black Prince, and the skill of the English archers. II. The Isle of France, south of Picardy, with the capital Paris, on the Seine. It had already become a large city, and the regular residence of the Capetian kings (235). Two strong fortresses — Le Grand and Le Petit Chdtelet — on the north and south banks of the river, defended the island of Notre-Dame. All the suburbs were inclosed by walls, and incorporated with the city. Under Philip August, a new wall, with numerous towers, was built, comprehending a more extensive inclosure than those of former times, and the larger streets and thoroughfares were paved. Outside the walls, on the northeast, lay the splendid castle Le Temple, an immense irregular pile, the seat of the Knights Templars, which, after the destruction of that Order, by Philip IV., in 1307, became the royal residence of the French monarchs. Other kings resided at the Chateau de Vincennes, east of Paris. On Montmartre stood an abbey, and all the environs were covered with vineyards. Paris possessed, at that time, two national colleges and three hospitals ,• several large market-places opened from the centre ; aqueducts led into the city, and some fine fountains were erected. The space inclosed by the walls of Philip August was in many parts, particularly south of the Seine, unoccupied or covered with gardens and vine- yards ; but the vacancies soon became filled up with the huge monasteries, churches, and schools founded by Saint Louis, his grandson, and numerous palaces erected by succeeding princes; so that, in the reign of John II. (a. d. 1350-1356), Paris had outgrown its limits, and many edifices had been erected without the walls. In apprehension of an attack from the English after the battle of Poitiers, new walls were raised all along the north side of the river, comprehending a yet larger space than those of Philip August. _ The population of Paris at that time was about 150,000 souls. The state of morals was extremely bad ; and the clergy, the monks, and nuns shared in the general corruption. The police was wretched ; nor did there exist a regular municipal govern- ment. The provost of the traders — L.e prevot des mar- chands — was a person of considerable importance. All the merchants formed a brotherhood — Confrerie — which was called la Hanse Parisieiine ; it enjoyed several privileges and a limited judicial authority, but came gradually to occupy the place of a municipal body. Such was still the condition of Paris when it fell into the power of the English, in 1420. III. The Orleanais, south of the Isle of France. The capital was Of^leans, a strongly fortified city on the Loire. Bretigny, a village six miles southeast of Chartres, where, on the 1st of May, 1360, Edward and the Dauphin signed the notorious treaty, which at once put England in the full pos- session of some of the finest provinces of France : Aquitaine, Calais, with the counties of Ponthieu, Guines, and the vis- county of Montreuil, and obliged the prisoner King besides to pay the enormous sum of three millions of gold crowns for his ransom ! 465. IV. The duchy of Normandy (236, XVI.) had been given by King John as an appanage to his eldest prince, who himself became king in 1364, under the name of Charles V. Three years before, Normandy had been reunited to the crown by an edict of King John. V. Maine, and VI. Anjou (238, XXII., XXIIL), had both, like Normandy, been united to the royal domains on the accession of John, in 1350. But he gave them, in 1356, in appanage to his second son, together with the barony of Chateaudu-Loir, on the frontier of Maine and ■'■Touraine, and the seigneury Chantoceaux, on that of Anjou and of Brittany. VII. Touraine, east of Anjou ; capital. Tours, the old city on the Loire. At the very time of the ratification of the treaty of Bretigny, it was given as appanage, with the title of duchy, to the fourth son of John. Philip the Bold, from whom the king took it back in 1363, when he gave him in exchange the duchy of Burgundy (239, 388). VIII. Berri, east of Touraine, with the capital Bourges, between the Loire and the Cher, was given in appanage by King John to his third son, called John, like himself, with the title of duchy. IX. Dauphine, on the left bank of the Rhone, was already united to the crown since 1343, by the cession of Humbert II., the last Dauphin of Vienne, to Philip of Orleans, the younger son of Philip of Valois (386). The Emperor Charles IV., on whom Dauphine depended as a fief of the Germai! 158 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. FRANCE. empire, confirmed this transaction in 1357. Vienne, on the Rhone, and Grenoble on the Isere, were then the principal cities of Dauphine— and, finally, X. The seigneury of Mont- PELUER (243, LII.) which had been sold to the King of France, in 1349, by King Jayme II. of Mayorca. 466. Provinces Possessed by the Great Feudatories. — These provinces, several of which King John united to the crown, in compensation for the loss that France had sustained in the treaty of Bretigny, were the following : 467. I. The county of Flanders (232, 1.), north of France. This industrious and closely inhabited county presented the spectacle of a continuous city. But the inhabitants, mostly manufacturers and mechanics, were proud of their wealth and industry; they spurned all obedience to their counts, and when the French took possession of the country, they rose in bloody rebellion against Philip le Bel, in 1302-1305, and united with Edward III., in 1338, under their leader, the brewer Jacques van Artevelde, of Ghent. Brugge (Bruges), in a fertile and highly cultivated country, intersected with canals, was the populous capital of the province. There " the prodigious ant-hills and formidable wasp-nests of Flanders" were put in motion on the 21st of March, 1302. The burgesses, mechanics, monks, and women, rushed upon the French, who were ruthlessly slaughtered ; the massacre con- tinued for three days, and 1200 knights and 200 sergeants and archers fell victims to the popular fui-y. Kortryck (Cour- tray), south of Brugge, where the tumultuous army of Flem- ish republicans, with their gutentags (heavy stakes, shod with iron), defeated the feudal army of France, on the 11th of July, 1302. Thousands of French nobles found their death in the ditches, and this glorious feat of the Flemings was called the battle of the spurs, because the victors found more than four thousand gilded spvirs upon the field. All the envi- rons of Courtray are famous in history for the great number of battles fought there. At Mans en Puelle, Philip le Bel took revenge on the Flemings, defeating them with great loss, in 1304. Cassel, west of Mons, where the Flemings were again routed in 1328. Another severe defeat they suffered by Charles VI. of France, at Rosbecqve, west of Cassel, in 1382. Sluys, on the sea-coast, north of Brugge. In the harbor of this town the war between the English and French was opened in 1340, by abloody naval battle, in which the latter lost their entire fleet of a hundred vessels, and thirty thousand men. The moral effect of this naval disaster was fatal to the French : they lost all heart at sea, and the straits remained open to the English for centuries. At Bovines, east of Cassel, the French chivalry of Philip August gave, in 1216, a distin- guished proof of their superiority over the Germans, in one of the most brilliant battles of the middle ages, defeating the Emperor Otho IV., the Welf, and pursuing the Germans back into Lorraine. Ghent (Gand), on the Scheldt, the ancient capital of Flan- ders, which, in the time of Charles V., surpassed Paris in ex- tent. The small islands between the rivers Scheldt, Lys, Moere, and Lieve, on which the city is built, were united by more than three hundred bridges. Its magnificent cathedrals and public buildings are still speaking monuments of its wealth and importance during the days of independence in the middle ages. Ghent was the native city of the brewer Arte- velde, who swayed all Flanders with the power of a sovereign. The Count of Flanders possessed besides, in France, with the title of ^azV, the counties of Rethel (234, VIII.) and Ne- VERS (239, XXX.), with the barony of Donzi. The county of Hainaut, east of Flanders, with the capital of Valenciennes. The county of Cambrai. south of Hainaut, belonged to the Bishop of Cambrai, to whom it had been given by King Henry II., in the year 1007. 468. II. The duchy of Burgundy (239, XXVIII.) compre- hended, besides the counties of Boulogne (232, III.) and Ar- tois, on the north of Picardy — that of Auverg?7e (240, XXXIIL), southwest of Burgundy. On the battle-field of Poitiers, John the Good, surrovmded by enemies, had been bravely defended by bis youngest son, Philip the Bold. From tenderness for this son, he gave him Burgundy, and when Philip afterwards married Margaret of Flanders, he united all the Bur- gundian lands. This powerful state, under the ambitious and warlike dukes of the Second Burgundian dynasty, brought the greatest disasters on France by their alliance with the kings of England. Dijon, on the Ouche and the Siizon, which unite in the city, stands in the middle of a delightful and highly cultivated plain, terminated with verdant hills, all covered with the famous vineyards of Burgundy. The ancient palace of the dukes adorns the great square, and the ramparts that surround the city are shaded by lofty trees. The cathe- dral, St. Michael, and other churches, are built in the boldest Gothic architecture. Dijon is one of those fine old cities that carry the traveller at once among the monuments and scenery of the middle ages. Clermont, at the base of the Puy de Dome, was the capital of Auvergne, and the lively, manufac- turing Arras that of Artois. The eastern part of Old Bur- gundy, beyond the Saone, was called the Free County (Franche Comte), with Besattgoit, on the river Doubs, for its capital. It belonged to the Germanic empire, together with Lorraine, Alsace, on the Rhine, and Bresse and Bugey, on the Saone and Rhone — the latter of these was already held by the counts of Savoy (413). III. The counties of Champaign (234, X.) and of IV. Bkie (west on the Seine), were united with the crown lands at the same time as the duchy of Burgundy. Troyes was the capi- tal, where the marrirge between Henry V. of England, and Catherine of France, the daughter af Charles VI., was cele- brated on 21st May, 1420. Rheims, so rich in ancient buildings and historical recollections, was, in vain, besieged by Edward III. in 1359, who intended there to be crowned King of France. 469. V. The Bourbonnais, the ancient lordship of the Bourbon family (238, XXVII.), was erected into a dukedom and peerage by Charles le Bel, in 1327. The Duke Louis the Good, who owned it at the time we speak of, possessed besides the county of Clermont, in Beauvaisis, which, in 1358, was enlarged by the liberality of the Dauphin Charles, then regent of the kingdom, in order to compensate the old duke for the fearful ravages which the English bands com- mitted throughout the country. Moulins, on the river AUier, became at that time the capital of the Dukes of Bom^bon. VI. The county of La Marche, southwest of Bourbon- nais, was erected into a peerage by Philip le Long, in 1316, and became later, in 1342, the inheritance of the younger branch of the Bourbon family. The county of Ponthieu, which Philip IV. of Valois had confiscated on the English and given to the Duke of Bourbon, was, at the treaty of Bretigny, restored to England. VII. The county of Lyonnais and of Forez, southeast of Bourbonnais, and separated from Auvergne by the high range of the Cevennes. Capital cities were Lyons, on the union of the Saone and Rhone, and Montbrison southwest, in the upper valley of the Loire. J^yon^ formed an archbishopric EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. FRANCE. 159 which depended on the German Empire. Frederic Barba- rossa gave that prelate the vicariate of the empire, with all the regalian rights over the city. Yet the industrious and wealthy citizens of Lyons soon got into difficulties with their ecclesiastical prince ; they called in the French king, who, after many troubles with Pope Boniface VIII. cut the matter short by occupying Lyons and its territory with his army, in 1311. Germany, as usual, did not stir, and lost thus one of her most important possessions. The Count of Lyonnais perished, in 1361, together with the Constable Jacob of Bour- bon, in the sanguinary battle they fought against the robber hordes ft-om the English war, who called themselves the Grand Company of Sluggards — les Tard-venus. The battle took place at Brignais, some miles southwest of Lyons. 470. VIII. The county of Todlouse (243) embraced at that period all Languedoc^ from the banks of the Garonne, eastward, to the Rhone. The capital was the splendid Tou- louse, on the Garonne. This province, which had belonged to France since the year 1224, was not united to the Crown lands until 1361, together with Burgundy and Champaign. IX. The duchy of Bretagne (Brittany, 237, XX.), east of Maine and Anjou, became, during the period we are de- lineating, the scene of one of the most interesting episodes of the English wars. On the death of John III., Duke of Brittany, in 1341, John of Montfort and Charles of Blois both claimed the succession to the duchy.^'' Charles de Blois claimed in right of his wife, Joan of Penthievre, the lawful heiress, and was supported by France. John of Montfort, however, took possession of the duchy, and sought protection from King Edward III. of England ; thus the singular case occurred, that the latter, who claimed the crown of France through a/ewTa/e, supported Montfort against a female claim; while Philip VI. of France, whose right rested upon the ex- clusion of females from the succession, aided a female in her claim to the ducal coronet of Brittany. The Breton war from 1341-1365 presents a series of remarkable events. Brittany became the Troy of the fourteenth century ; kings, barons, and knights-errant flocked to the country; the names of Beau- manoir, of Clisson, of Duguesclln, threw a brilliancy over the chivalrous deeds performed there ; nor were the women less distinguished than the men, and the three heroines, Joan of Montfort, Joan of Penthievre, and the widow of Clisson, by their courage, fortitude, and conjugal affection, excited the highest admiration in an age of poetry and romance. The treaty of Gu^rande, in 1365, secured the duchy of Brittany to the house of Montfort. Nantes, on the right bank of the Loire, was the capital of Brittany. It was invested, in 1341, by the army of Charles of Blois, who, launching into the city the heads of thirty Breton knights of the Montfort party, so terrified the townsmen that they surrendered the city and John of Montfort, who was carried a prisoner to Paris. Hennebon, on the river Blavet, was heroically defended by the Countess of Montfort against all the forces of Charles of Blois, until the arrival of the English fleet."^ Vannes, '215 Arlhur 11, Duke of Brittany, tl312. First wife, Mary, heiress of the Viscount of Limoges. Second wife, Tolnide of Dreux, heiress of Montfort. J.ihn TIT. Duke of Brittanv. t ISil. Ouy de Penthievre, JoAJi, lawful heiress of Brittany, married to Charlen of Chatillon and Blois, killed at Auray, VMi. John IV. of Montfort, the Pretender, 1 1845, married with the celebrated Joan of Flanders, Countess of Montfort. John V. tl399. John of Brittany, Count of Penthievre. "'' Froissart tells us that when the brave old Sir Walter Manny, near the western gulf of Morbihan, was the ancient capital of Armorica (70, XL), R.ennes, on the Vilaine, in the in- terior, the residence of the Dukes of Brittany, while their tombs were deposited in the sepulchral vaults of Ploermcl, in the west. The oak of the Tliirty stands in the plain be- tween Ploermel and Josselin, where, on the 27th March, 1351, thirty Breton knights and squires fought in a deadly tourna- ment with a similar number of English. After extraordinary feats of bravery, the Bretons gained the day, by one of their knights breaking, on horseback, the ranks of the English, the greater part of whom were killed. All Brittany rejoiced. La Roche-Derien, north, near Treguier, where, in 1347, Charles of Blois was surprised and taken prisoner by the widow of Clisson, at the head of a small body of English knights. His wife, Joan of Penthievre, sustained his cause with a valor equal to that of the Countess of Montfort, and the hatred of the Bretons for the" English induced many of them to embrace her party. Auray, southeast of Hennebon, on the coast of Morbihan, where, in 1364, the decisive battle was fought, in which the young Count of Montfort and Olivier of Clisson overtlirew the army of Charles de Blois, who him- self fell in the struggle. Guesclin, near Saint Malo, on the northern coast, the paternal castle of the celebrated knight and general, Bertrand du Guesclin, who so quickly drove the English out of their French conquests. II. Possessions of the King of England. 471. Provinces and Towns avhich they Contained. — The duchy of Aquitaine was, in the treaty of Bretigny, erected into an independent sovereignty in favor of the King of England. This duchy consisted of Guye7ine and Gas- cogne, which the predecessors of Edward III. had held as fiefs of the French crown, and of which Bordeaux and Aiidt were the capitals. To this sovereignty were annexed the following provinces : 472. The town, castle, and county of Poitiers (240, XXXIX.) and of all Poitou, together with the fiefs of Thoiiars and the district of Belleville, in the same province. The refusal of King John the Good to surrender the latter to the English gave cause to prolonged contestations. The woody ridge of Maupertuis, east of Poitiers, was the battle- field, where, on the 19th September, 1356, the English archers, almost without opposition, destroyed the brilliant chivalry of France, and King John surrendered himself a prisoner to the Black Prince. The city and castle of Xainctes (Saintes) and all Saint- ONGE (241), together with Aunix, and the important maritime city of Rochelle, its port and fortress. The city and castle of Angolesme (Angouleme), on the Charente, and the county of Angolesmois (Angoumois) (240, XXXVIIL), on the east of Saintonge. The city and castle of Limoges, on the Vienne, and the whole of LiMosiN, on the southeast of Angoumois. 473. The city, castle, and county of Pierregort (le Peri- gord) (240, XXXVIL), southeast of Limosin, and the entire province of Pierreguys (Perigueux), on the river Isle. The city and castle of Caours (Cahors), on the river Lot, and the district of Caoukcin (Querci, 243), on the southeast of Perigord. after the defeat of the besiegers, entered the gate of Hennebon, the noble Countess descended from the castle to welcome her deliverers, "she kissed Sir AV alter and all his companions, one after the other, two or three times, and one might well say that she was a valiant and splendid lady." 160 EIUHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. FRANCE. The city and ca&tle of Rodeis (Rliodez), near the Avey- ron, and the district of Rovergue (243, LI.), southeast of Querci. The city and castle of Agen, on the Garonne, and the dis- trict of Agenois, in tlie centre of Guycnne. The county of G-aure, a dismembered part of the south- eastern Armagnac, on the River Gers, with the small town of Florence for its capital. The city, castle, and district of Tarbes, on the Adour, and the coimty of Bigorre (242, XL VIII.), in which this town is situated. The county extends into the valleys of the Pyrenees. All those possessions belonged to the French crown, and could be surrendered to the English king as allodial property, while the many noblemen, whose domains lay within the limits fixed by the treaty, could only be ordered to do homage to the King of England ; these were, besides the Viscount of Limoges, and the Count of Ferigord, I. The Count of Ar- magnac, a branch of whom held the county of Gaure ; II., the Count of Isle Jourdain, east of Armagnac ; III., the Count of Foix. These lords were mentioned in the treaty, because they were almost entirely independent of the French crown, and remained sword in hand, defending their liberty against the English kings. The viscounty of Bearn and the county of Comminges' (242, XL VII., XLIX.) are not men- tioned in the treaty, but they belonged to the surrendered pro- vinces since they formed part of Gascogne. 474. Besides these provinces, situated on the southwest of France, the King of England obtained, likewise, on the coast of the British Channel and the Straits of Calais, two dis- tricts of no great extent, but in a high degree important, on account of their position opposite the shores of England. They were : I. The duchy of Ponthieu (232, IV.), together with Mon- treuil and its territory, at the mouth of the rivers Sonime, Authie., and Canche, where the French used to fit out their fleets for their intended naval expeditions against England. II. The small district of Calais, with the seigneury of Sangatte, and the city and castle of Calais, lately so cele- brated by its protracted siege and the patriotic devotion of Eustache de Saint Pierre, in 1347, who brought the keys of the city to the haughty conqueror. Farther : the towns and castles of Coulogne, Hames, Wale (Valdun), Merch (Marc), northeast of Coulogne, and Oye — and the city, castle, and county of Guines (232, II.), south of Calais. The county of Ponthieu was separated from the district of Calais by the county of Boulogne. The treaty of Bretigny conferred more- over on the English, the islands lying off the coast of the ceded provinces, viz., NoirmoutAer and Dieu belonging to Poitou ; Re to Aunis, and Oleron to Saintonge. 475. The victorious English army had in the year 1360, possession of nearly all the central provinces of France ; of Champaign, Brie, Nivernais, Auxerrois, Bourgogne, Or- leanais, Isle de France, Ferche, le Fays Chartrain, Drouais (county of Dreux), Berry, Bourhonnais, the counties of Macon and Lyon, Aiivergnc, Touraine, Normandy, Anjou, and Maine! — eighty-two cities and fortresses were occupied by them ; but on the faithful execution of the treaty, they began to march oif, and all the provinces were successively given back to King John. ^ II. France at the Death of Charles V., a. d. 1380. 476. English Possessions in France. — The Gascon Lords were too proud to do homage to the Prince of Wales. They all conspired against the English, and the Counts of Armag- nac, Ferigord, and Coinminges, the Lord of Albret, and many other feudatories of JJpper Gascogne, were the first to draw the sword So did the clergy; and sixty towns, burghs or castles, expelled the English. Popular preachers advo- cated the cause of the pious Charles V. from their pulpits, and all the cities which opened their gates to their native king, ob- tained confirmation and increase of their privileges. The war had already broken out in Fonthieu,m 1368, where Abbe- ville joyfully received the French army ; in a week they re- conquered the whole province. Quercy (473) revolted in 1369 ; Angoumois and Saintonge (472) were taken with steel gauntlets by Du Guesclin, in 1372. Limosin, Rovergue, and Aunis followed the example, and La Rochelle obtained impor- tant privileges. Thouars surrendered, and the signal defeat of the English at Chizey, southeast of Niort, caused the joy- ful submission of all Foitou. Brittany was still in their pos- session ; but the old Du Guesclin, in 1373, drove them into Brest, and a few other places of retreat on the coast. Still they besieged Nantes, which was bravely defended by the Breton Barons. In 1374 the English raised the siege, and left the province, whose duke then submitted to the King of France. After a truce of two years, signed at Bruges, ui Flanders, 1375, the war broke out again, and continued dur- ing the lifetime of Charles V. ; the French took some towns and castles in the north, and blockaded the English garrisons in Guines and Ccdais, the only places that remained to them in that part of France. 477. Yet the English still occupied in the west, the strong maritime cities of Cherburg, Brest, Mortagne, and Bor- deaux, on the Gironde, together with Bayonne, at the mouth of the Adour, and some castles in Guyenne and Gascogne. ^ III. France at the Arrival of Jeanne d'Arc, to the Siege of Orleans, a. d. 1429. 478. Historical Remarks. — The insanity of King Charles VI., the dissatisfaction and revolts excited in the provinces by the hateful conduct of the king's uncles ; the civil feuds be- tween Burgundians and Armagnacs, and the foul murders of the Dukes of Orleans and of Burgundy, had left France split into parties, and without protection against the ambitious plans of the young King Henry V. of England, Taking ad- vantage of the miserable condition of France, he boldly de- manded the restitution of all the provinces ceded to England by the treaty of Bretigny. Soon after, in 1415, his fleet enter- ed the mouth of the Seine, and disembarked a powerful army on the shore of Harjleur. That wealthy and commercial city of Normandy surrendered five weeks afterwards, while the royal government in Paris did nothing to save it. Yet sick- ness spread among the English troops, thousands were carried ofi" ; the country around remained hostile : the aspect of afl'airs thus changing, Henry resolved, by rapid marches, to gain Ca- lais. The French had, in the mean time, gathered their strength. The nobility, full of enthusiasm, appeared in the field, and the Constable of France, with sixty thousand bril- liant troops, mostly steel-clad cavalry, pursued the ten thou- sand English on their hurried retreat through Picardy. After a most distressing march. King Henry succeeded in crossing the river Somme, at Bethencourt, at a short distance above Feronne, but while pressing on northward to Calais, he meets the whole French army at Agincourt, cutting ofi" his retreat ; only a battle can save the English, and they boldly prepare for the struggle. This astonishing battle, or rather slaughter, takes place on the 24th of October, 1415, on a swampy ground between forests, and terminates with the total defeat and rout EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. FRANCE. 161 of the French army. More than ten thousand French, almost all of generous blood, covered the battle-field. Among the prisoners made were the Dukes of Orleans and of Bourbon, the Counts of Eu, Vendome, Richmont, the Marshal of Bou- cicaut, and hundreds of Barons — an entire French colony transported into England. This shameful defeat, and the atrocious murder of the Duke of Burgundy on the bridge of Montereau, four years afterwards, became a source of the frightful disasters which overwhelmed that unhappy country during the following years. Henry enters Paris triumphantly, marries Catherine of Valois, is declared heir to the kingdom, while the Dauphin, driven south across the Loire, is scornfully called the King of Bourges. Yet we shall now see that he was not yet brought to such a point of despair as to deserve that title. I. Provinces Obeying the Authority of the Dauphin as King Charles VII. 479. Their Name and Situation. — At the moment when the devoted virgin, Joan of Arc, by her sudden appearance and words of hope, began to revive the courage and confidence of the French, in 1428, King Charles VII. possessed still the greater part of the provinces situated south of the Loire, viz. : TouRAiNE, which he had obtained as appanage during the life- time of his father, when he was still only Count of Ponthieu. Chinon, a fine castle, southeast of Tours, the old capital of the province, on the river Vienne, was then the residence of the fugitive monarch, and there, surrounded by his court, he received Joan of Arc. Loches, southeast of the river Indre, was the birth-place of the beautiful Agnes Sorel. Orleanais (464), north of the Loire, was then invaded by the English — who were actively engaged in the siege of the city of Orleans, when Joan of Arc arrived for its relief Ru- vray Saint Denis, north of Orleans, where the French suf- fered the severe defeat by Sir John Falstaff, called the Bat- tle of the Herrings}^'' Patay, a few miles northwest of the former, where Talbot and Falstafi" were borne down at the lance's point of the French chevaliers, and the former made prisoner ; the bodies of two thousand English strewed the plain. The maid of Orleans shed tears at the sight. 480. Berri (465), south of Orleanais, had been given to Charles VII., together with Poitou, when he, in 1417, inherited the title of Dauphin. Bourges, his capital, was scoffingly called that of the pigmy kingdom of Charles VII. Poitou, west of Berri, belonged, as we said, to the appa- nage which Charles VII. had received as Dauphin ; he united it with the crown, from which it was never separated after- wards. This province had remained like the preceding, ex- empted from the misfortunes of the war ; such was likewise the case with La Marche, Limosin, Aunis, and Saintonge. The powerful Count of Foix, who had united Bearn and BiGORRE to his own inheritance, demanded, in 1424, as the prize of his allegiance to King Charles VII., the government of Languedoc. The Count of La Marche, James of Bour- bon, held possession of that province, but was found willing "'The battle was fought during Lent, 1429, and took its name from the great transport of wagons, with provisions, particularly barrels with herrings — an indispensable provision for lent — which the brave Falstaff carried along with his army to reinforce the English before Orleans. Yet on the road he was attacked by the impetuous La Hire, the Scotch auxiliaries, and the army of the Count of Clermont. Afier a brilliant defence behind the herring barrels, the English charged and defeated the French, but the barrels having burst open by the shots and knocks, the field seemed strewed with herrings rather than corpses, and the French, satirical as usual, called the fight la joiirnee il':i harengs. 21 to resign it the next year, reserving for himself only the county of Castres. The viscounty of Narbonne likewise passed into the house of Foix in 1447, having been bought by Count Gaston IV. 48 1 . Guienne, with the exception of Bordeaux and its en- virons — the Bordelais — which were occupied by the English, was, like Gascogne, governed by the same Count of Foix and by his brother, the Count of Comminges, with an almost absolute independence ; both brothers kept up a kind of neutrality to- wards their neighbors, the English. The Counts of Armagnac possessed the greater part of Gascogne, with almost perfect independence, and arrogantly styled themselves " by grace of God,'''' yet thBy still recog- nized the authority of the king. Their lands lay together in two gi-oups, in Rovergue, on the Cevennes, and in Gascogne, on the Pyrenees. There, too, the Count of Astarac (242, XLVI.), the chief of an ancient family on the east of the Ar- magnac .territories, had always shown himself as a faithful vassal of the French kings. This was likewise the case with the Lord of Albret (242, XLIII.), who, besides his viscounty in the Landes (Heathes) of Gascogne, possessed the viscounty of Tartas and the county of Dreux, in Normandy, then occu- pied by the English ; as a compensation he received the county of Gaure, a dismembered portion of Fezenzac."^ 482. Bourbonnais, Auvergne, Beaujolais, and Lyon- NAis, all appertaining to the Duke of Bourbon, the prisoner of the English at the battle of Agincourt, were governed by his son, the Count of Clermont, who, though he kept up a show of neutrality between the contending parties, had yet fought in the ranks of the French at the battle of Herrings (479). 483. Dauphine, between the Rhone and the Alps. It was to this quiet and happy region that Charles and Agnes Sorel intended to flee, in order to escape the bloody scenes of the war in which the Dauphin was then engaged with the English. Yet the enthusiastic reception of Joan of Arc, and her first brilliant victory, soon brought the French prince back to his duty. II. Provinces Conquered by the English. 484. These Provinces extended from the Somme to the Loire, and were the following : I. Isle de France, on both the banks of the Seine. Pa- ris, its capital, fell into the power of the English in 1420, and was then in such a state of decay, in consequence of the ter- rible civil war of the Armagnac and Burgundian parties, that twenty thousand buildings were ruined and abandoned. The English government and army kept Paris for sixteen years, and it was not until 1 436, after the separation of Bur- gundy from the alliance with England, that the last bodies of men-at-arms of that country left the Bastile and the Chatelets, and under the hootings and maddening cries of the Parisian people, left the city and retired to the north, Montcrcau, south of Paris. Here was perpetrated one of the most awful crimes during the civil wars of unhappy France : the massacre of the Duke of Burgundy, John the Dauntless, during his in- terview with the Dauphin on the bridge over the river Aube. on the lOth September, 1419 — Meaux, on the Marne, was the refuge of the Duchesses of Orleans and Normandy and num bers of noble ladies, demoiselles and children, during the rebel lion of the peasantry — the Jacquerie — ^who had risen against '*''' Roussillon had belonged to the crown of Aragon since 1172, and is, therefore, not mentioned here. IG2 EIGHTH PEKIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. FRANCE. the nobles and were demolishing the castles in 1358. In the market-place of Meaux, the poor ladies were besieged by the infuriated peasants, in imminent danger of suffering outrage and murder — when most unexpectedly the Count of Foix and the Captal of Buch, with a band of knights threw themselves headlong among the boors, and after a terrific slaughter drove them into the river and saved the honor and the life of the fair ones. Meaux was a brave and faithful city ; it sent its bailiff at the head of its civic bands to the battle-field of Agincourt, where they were scornfully abandoned by the chivalry and perished miserably by the arrows and battle-axes of the English yeomanry. Senlis, north of Paris, Saint Qiientin in Vermandois, and Caen in Normandy, sent like- wise their bailiffs and national guards to Agincourt and shared the fate of the rest. Saint Denis, the sanctuary of French Royalty, witnessed in 1422 the funeral pomp of Charles VI. and the proclamation and ceremonious inauguration of Henry VI. as King of France and England. II. Normandy was totally conquered and occupied by the English after the battle of Agincourt. Rouen was captured by Henry V. in 1419 after a fearful siege, during which fifty thousand helpless citizens, old men, women and children, per- ished miserably in the fosse between the English camp and the walls of the city, from which they had been expelled as unable to bear arms. On the market-place of Rouen the innocent Maid of Orleans, the victim of the bigotry and ha- tred of the English prelates, suffered a cruel death on 30th of May, 1431.-" III. Champagne, with La Brie, east of the Isle de France, had long been bravely defended by La Hire, until he was compelled to evacuate them in 1424. In Troves, the capital of this province, the treaty between Henry V. and the imbe- cile Charles VI. had been signed in 1420, by which the Dau- phin was declared unworthy of the crown, and France deliv- ered over to the King of England. IV. PicARDY was partly possessed by the Duke of Bur- gundy and partly by the English ; the latter held the coun- ties of PoNTHiEu and Boulogne with the Calesis. Com- piegne, on the Oise, into which the Maid of Orleans had thrown herself for its defence, and where, during a sortie on the 23d May, 1430, she was dastardly abandoned by the French knights, captured by the Burgundian traitors and sold to her mortal enemies the English. V. Bordelais, or the city of Bordeaux, with its envi- rons, had remained in the possession of the English ever since "" When Jeanne d'Arc set foot on the top of the pile and she beheld the great city below, the motionless, silent crowd of the thousands fill- ing the square and every roof around, she could not refrain from ex- claiming " Ah Rouen, Rouen, much do I fear you will suffer from my death I" She, who had saved the people and whom both king and peo- ple now deserted, gave voice to no other sentiment, when dying, than that of compassion for them. Meanwhile the flames rose. . . . When they first seized her the unhappy maiden shrieked for holy water — but soon recovering, she called only on God, on her angels and her saints. " Yes, my voices were from Ood, my vision has not deceived me." In the midst of the flames she called on her Saviour ... at last her head sunk on her bosom, the smoke enveloped her, and when it disappeared her blackened body was seen hanging over the chain with which she was fastened to the stake. Lamentations and cries re-echoed through the square ; only the English men-at-arms, on horseback, surrounding the pile laughed, or attempted to laugh, at the torments of the witch. Some, however, had better feelings, and one of the English chancellors present said aloud on returning from the dismal scene, " We are lost : we have burnt a saint— the retribution will be fearful ! " and that Eng- lishman spoke a true word. the first conquest ; they held likewise a number of castles and strongholds in Guyenne and Gascogne. III. Provinces in Alliance with the English. 485. These consisted principally in the extensive states of the Duke Philip-le-Bon, of Burgundy, who in order to take revenge on the murderers of his father had thrown himself into the English alliance. The possessions of this powerful feudatory embraced the two Burgundies, the duchy and the free county (Franche Comte), the latter a fief of the German Empire. The county of Macon (239, XXXIL), included within the duchy, had, like Paris and so many other cities, sent its bravest citizens with their bailiff and town-banner to the battle at Agincourt, where they all perished miserably with the other foot-soldiers. The counties of Flanders and Artois, and the Marqui- sate of Namur on the east. The counties of Rethel (consisting of the northern part of Champagne), Etampes, Nevers with the barony of DoNsa, likewise situated in Nivernais, belonged since the division made in 1401 by Philip the Bold and his wife Margaret to the younger branch of the Burgundian dynasty. The duke had, moreover, since 1427, pretensions to the counties of Mainaut, Holland, Zealand, and Fricsland, on the coasts of the North Sea. IV. Neutral Provinces. 486. Several feudatories attempted to escape the devasta- tion of the war, by observing a strict neutrality between France and England during the contest. These provinces were the following. Brittany (Bretagne), whose Duke John V. (470) although a friend and ally of the English, remained neutral while the war was raging throughout France. Anjou, Maine, Provence and the Barrois, or Duchy of Bar, which latter consisted of the western portion of Lorraine. All the eastern parts of that country belonged still to the Ger- manic Empire ; but Bar soon fell to the all-powerful house of Anjou, already in possession of the three first mentioned provinces. The beautiful woodlands on the frontiers of Lorraine had not been exempted from partial excursions of English and Burgundian bands. Bar-le Due, on the Onain, was the capital. On the banks of the Mouse lay the small village of Domroni belonging to the Diocese of Toid, in which the brave and beautiful Jeanne d'Arc was born in the year 1409, the third daughter of a laborer, Jacques d'Arc and of Isabella Roniee. The fountain where Joan watered her sheep, and the oak tree beneath which she meditated the de- livery of France, were long in the remembrance of the villa- gers.'^-" Vaucouleur, a few miles from Domremi, on the Up- per Meuse, and the outskirts of the Argonne forest, had for- merly belonged to the celebrated crusading family of Join- ville, whose territories were lying in the neighborhood ; but Philip VI. had obliged the Joinvilles to cede this frontier town to him in 1335. There Joan met the generous knight Beaudricourt, who furnished her with armor, horses and knights, to accomplish her important mission across the hostile country to the distant residence of the French Court at Chinou, on the south of the Loire. ^™ There may still be seen at this day, above the door of the hut where Jeanne d'Arc lived, three escutcheons carved on stone — that of Louis XL who beautified the cottage — that which was undoubtedly given to one of her brothers, along with the surname of Du Lis ; — and a third, charged with a star and three ploughshares to image the mis- sion of the Pucelle and the humble condition of her parents. The tal- ented daughter of King Louis Philippe, the late Princess of Wiirtem- berg, placed some years ago her fine marble statue of the maiden of Lorraine on the market-place of the village. EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. FRANCE. 163 We shall here make no mention of Alsace, which at that time still formed an integral part of the Germanic Empire, and was, at the period we describe, held by the Elector- Palatine Louis the Bearded, with the rank of an imperial vicar or Land- vogt. & IV. The Period of the Expulsion of the English, A. D. 1453. 487. Historical Remarks. — The twenty-four years from the victories of the Maid of Orleans in 1429 to the termina- tion of the war in 1453, were a period of the most terrible calamities for poor France. The northern provinces of that beautiful country had become a desert. In the centre, the Beauce was so covered with copse-wood that armies sought and could not find one another. Hundreds of villages lay in ruins, entirely abandoned, the inhabitants had fled to perish from want in the cities. Misery and famine had converted Paris herself into a focus of disgusting diseases, which by a common name were called the plague. Charles VII. had a glimpse of the fearful sight of his capital, and fled from it. The English made no attempt to return to it. Both parties kept at a distance, as if in concert.-'-' Yet Charles, from a wanton Dauphin in the school of adversity, became a wise and active monarch ; under his energetic administration, France was cured — while England, overstraining herself in her continental excursions, fell sick, and during her lethargy and internal convulsions, the French recovered their courage and patriotism ; Burgundy gave up her unnatural alliance in the treaty of Arras; the English were driven away from one province after the other. Master Bureau, the great engineer, brought his heavy artillery to play upon English knights and archers ; in spite of all their pi-owess they sunk by thousands — last of all old Talbot, on the Dordogne, where the total prostration of the English, in 1453, opened the gates of Bor- deaux to the persevering King Charles. Thus, of all their brilliant conquests, nothing remained except the city of Calais and the neighboring castles of Gicines and Hames on the channel. The same year witnessed the downfall of the East- ern Roman Empire, the Turks stand victorious in Europe, and the middle ages are at an end. Let us take a parting glance at France in her general division between her king and the great feudatories of the crown. I. The Royal Domains in 1453. 488. Designation of the Provinces. — The provinces composing the Royal domains at the accession of Louis XI. and before the battle of Montlhery, were the following. The county of Paris (235), the primitive domain of the reigning dynasty, reconquered from the English in 1429, to- gether with the whole of Isle de France. The fii'st attempt of Charles Vll. to reconquer Paris in 1429 was unsuccessful. During the headlong assault on the walls, the Maid of Or- leans, who led on the troops, was wounded, and the attack re- pelled, but in 1436 the French monarch held his triumphal entry among ruins and skeletons. The counties of Etampes (483), Mantes, Montfort and Vertus, were held by the Dukes of Brittany. The Barony of Montmorency, north of Paris, belonged to one of the most ancient and distinguished families in France, which, a century later — 1554 — obtained likewise the county of Dam- martin, northeast of the capital. ""■^ The wolves alone came prowling to Paris, entering at night in search of corpses. In September, 1438, they devoured fourteen persons between Monimartre and the Porte Sahit A nfoine. The bands of rob- bers or marauding soldiers that scoured the country were still more dangerous ; they put a stop to all travel and commerce, and there was no refuge for the inhabitants, sa.ve in the castles of the nobility. Southern Picardy, or the portion of that province lying south of the river Somme, belonged likewise to the crown. The district north of the Somme, with the cities on its banks, had been given to the Duke of Burgundy (483). The extent of Picardy toward the south was, at the time before us, greater than at a later period. It embraced then the county of Va- Lois, with the capital Crept, the county and lordship of Couci in the ancient Vermandois (233), and other estates, all belong- ing to the younger branch of the royal family of France, the Vahis- Orleans ; they were not united with the crown until the accession of Louis XII. of Orleans in 1498. The county of SoissoNS (233, VI.), east of this province, belonged to Joan of Bar, the wife of Louis of Luxemburg, who was count of Saint Pol in Artois, of Brienne in Champagne, and of Ligny in the Barrois, one of the most powerful and illustrious feudatories of France. The county of Clermont (469), in Beauvaisis, formed part of the domains of the house of Bourbon (497). 489. The counties of Champagne and Brie. Rheiins, on the small river Vesle, the venerable metropolitan of the realm, saw, in 1429, the day of joy and enthusiasm, when Charles VII., accompanied by the Maid of Orleans and her victorious army, was crowned King of France, and Troyes, Chalons, Laon, Soissons, Chateau- Thierry, Provins, and all the surrounding cities surrendered to the oriflamme. The county of Rethel, on the north of Champagne, was then like- wise in the possession of a branch of the house of Burgundy (483). — Another alienation was that of the principality of Sedan, east of Rethel, which, together with the duchy of Bouillon, formed part of the large possessions of the counts of La Marck, Dukes of Cleves on the Rhine. The county of Joigny, southwest of Champagne, belonged at this period to Louis de la Tremoille, who enjoyed the title of Siguier Doyen of the seven count-peers of Champagne."^ The lord- ship of JoiNviLLE belonged to the counts of Vaudemont, on the frontiers of Lorraine. 490. Normandy (236) was reconquered from the English in a single campaign by the brave Dunois — 1449, 1450 — with the enthusiastic assistance, however, of the Norman population; the cities of Pont-de-V Arche, Pont-Audemer, Lisieuz, Gour- nay, Verneuil, Evreux, Louviers, and Alengon, vied with one another to throw open their gates. Rouen was long defended by the iron arm of Talbot. Charles VII. entered with pomp on the 20th November, 1449, nine years after the awful sacri- fice of that devoted Maid to whom he owed his crown and France its independence. Harfleur, the great military d6pot of the English, surrendered a month later. Honfleur, on the opposite bank, at the mouth of the Seine, followed the exam- ple, and the brilliant victory of the French at Formigny, west of Bayeux, on the shores of the channel, opened them Lower Normandy, viz. Vire, Bayeux, Avranches, and Caen, the capi- tal of this province, which was besieged by King Charles VI. himself. Falaise, Domfront, and the strong Cherburg, though protected in vain by the sea and numerous garrisons, all fell successively into the power of the French. The King did not possess the southern part of Lower Normandy ; it formed the large duchy of Alenqon, since 1404 united to the counties of Perche and Beaumont : the Duke of Alencon having been taken prisoner by the English in the battle of Verneuil, in 1424, sold the more distant barony of Fougeres to the Duke of Brittany to pay off his ransom. The counties of Aumale, on the frontiers of Normandy and Picardy, of Harcourt, south of Rouen, and of Mortain, southwest of Normandy, =^* Tliese seven nobles were the Counts of Joigny, Rethel, Brienne, Portien Orandpre, Rouci and Braine- Valeon. 164 EiaHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. FRANCE. were, at the time we describe, united under the sway of the widowed countess of Vauclemont, who transmitted them to her nephew, Rene II. Duke of Lorraine, in 1476. The county of Eu, southwest of Aumale, was held by Charles of Artois, for whose benefit Charles VII. erected it into a peerage in 1458. The county of Evreux, had, in 1404, fallen back to the crown. 491. Orleanais (464, III.) was reconquered from the English immediately after the great victory of the Maid of Or- leans and the generals of Charles VII. at Patay. The faithful city of Orleans herself, owed her rescue to the young heroine, who by her mere advance at the head of her knights and meu- at-arms, so frightened the superstitious islanders that they raised the siege, and fled in disorder before a woman on the 29th April, 1429. The duchy of Orleans was in 1392 given in appanage by Charles VI., to his brother Louis I. of Or- leans- Valois. It became afterwards, like Valois (486), unit- ed to the crown on the accession of Louis XII. The county of Chartres (235) on the southwest of this province, the viscounty of Chateaudun and the county of Blois (238 XXV.) had passed since the year 1234 from the suzerainty of the Counts of Champagne to that of the King of France. The county of Dreux (236 XVII.), on the northwest of Chartres, had of late been joined to the possessions of the house of Or- leans. This county had been given in 1382 by King Charles VI. to his son Charles VII., who in 1441 granted it as a compensation to the faithful and distinguished house of Al- bret (470), from whom it then devolved on the Orleans. Berri (478), whose political position had not undergone any change since the last period, was, in the year 1453, given in appanage by the king to his second son Charles. The latter, however, ceded it to his brother Louis XI. in 1463, for Normandy. The county of Sancerre, on the southeast of Berri, had already in 1334 become a fief of the crown, and was then held by Count John IV. one of the bravest generals of France, whom the king had made high admiral of the kingdom. 492. Touraine (465) belonged to the Duke of Anjou since the year 1424, but King Charles VII. had reserved for himself the regalian rights and the town and castle of Chi- non, on the Vienne, his favorite residence. PoiTou, La Marche, Limosin, Aunis and Saintonge (476), remained all in the same political condition as they were during the preceding period. The viscounty of Li- moges belonged to John of Blois, who likewise held the coun- ties of Penthievre (in the north of Brittany) and of Peri- GORD, consisting of the northern portion of G-uienne. Charles of Orleans had sold it to the Count of Penthievre in 1437. The viscounty of Turenne, south of Lower Limosin, had passed in 1444, by marriage, into a branch of the house of La Tour d'Auvergne. The county of Angouleme (472), situated between these provinces, belonged to the domains of the pow- erful house of Orleans. 493. GruiENNE and Gtascogne (479), which in 1 452 were reconquered by the brave Dunois at the lance's point, had again recognized the royal authority. Bayonne, on the Adour, was the only city which defended itself with obstinacy. Bordeaux, Fronsac and Dax opened their gates with joy. Many castles in the interior, commanded by English knights, held bravely out for a time, and received succor from England in October, 1452; but they were successfully reduced in the following year. The last battle in the war was fought at Chatillon de Perigord, on the Dordogne, where the old Talbot perished on the 17th July, 1453, before the batteries of the great French engineer. Master Jean Bureau.-'^* Bearn, and the counties of Foix and Langtjedoc, were in the same political condition. The latter had five seneschal courts — Senechausees, — Toulouse, Carcassonne, Narbonne, Beziers, Beaucaire, and besides the seigniory of Montpellier, and the counties of Alby, Lodeve, Ninies, Uzes, and several others. Dauphine (481) finally with the counties of Valentinois and Diois. Valence, the capital of the former, in a charming- site, on the left bank of the Rhone. Die, the capital of the latter, more southeast, formed the appanage of the Dauphin from the time of Louis XI. II. Domains of the Great Feudatories, a. d. 1453. 494. Their Extent. — The Royal Provinces we have de- scribed and inclosed — among which we have mentioned many feudal domains not belonging to the crown — did not yet em- brace half the territory of France. All the rest was still divided among the vassals, the most distinguished of whom we shall here give an account of. Five were the leading- houses ; the first four of whom were allied to the reigning- dy- nasty of Valois. I. The House of Valois-Orleans. The first family of that name sprung from Louis, second surviving son of Charles v., the earliest prince who bore the title of Duke of Orleans, and who, as we have mentioned, was assassinated at Paris, in 1407, by his cousin and rival, Jean Sans-Peur, Duke of Bur- gundy. The results of this crime were the conflicts of the two factions of Burgundians and Armagnacs, and the easy conquest of France by Henry V. The history of the flrst Duke of Orleans is also memorable for his marriage with Va- lentina Visconti, daughter of Jean Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, which eventually gave the house of Orleans preten- sions to that duchy, and produced the Italian wars of Louis XII. and his successors for its possession.--^ Domains. 1. The duchy of Orleans (491), with which Charles VI. invested his brother in 1392. 2. The county of Valois (488), in Champagne, given to Louis, at his birth in 1372, by his father, Charles V. 3. The counties of Blois (491) and Du?wis^ with the viscounty of ChdXeaicdun^ and many seigneuries in the environs, all bought by Louis, in 1391, from Guy of Chatillon, for 200,000 livres in gold. 4. The Lm-dship of Couci (488), which was one of the most beauti- '" How much did it cost those stubborn haughty knights who would not understand that a new world had begun to supersede the old ! Lord Talbot seeing the French digging in their lines, and throwing up fences like mole-hills, mounted his little pony, exclaiming, " May I never hear 7nass, if I don't rick them over." The fiery old man left mass, chap- lain, and all, to bear down the French beneath the hoofs of his chiv- alry — on they came in their glittering array — yet a flash from the culverins, and down go the paladins of the middle age, — Talbot, archers, banners, and all. The French sally forth, and the rout of the Euglisli is complete — it was the last. "^ GENEALOGY OF THE FIRST HOUSE OF ORLEANS. Charles V., le Sage, f 1380. ( Charles VI. 1 1422. A LO01S, Duke of Orleans, 1 1407. A Charles F/Z 1 1461. A Chaklks, Dnke of Orleans, i 1465. A John, Count of Angouleme, 1 1467. Louis XI. 1 1483. A 1 A Charles VIIL 1 1498. 1 \ Lotns XII. 1 1515. A r 1 Charles, Count of Angouleme, t 1493. A Claudk married to Francis I. Fkanois I. 1 1547. EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. BURGUNDY. 165 ful and powerful baronies of the kingdom, possessing one hun- dred and fifty boroughs or villages, besides a great number of estates and castles, when Duke Louis of Orleans, bought it, in the year 1400, for 400,000 livres ; but a few years later after tlie assassination of the duke, nearly half of this rich seigniory was transferred to the ducal house of Bar, and, in 1431, together with that duchy, to the house of Anjou. 5. The counties Longxicville, Dreux^ Mortain, Soissons, Beau- mont, and the barony Gouniay — all in the north, and 6, the counties of Parthenay and Angoumois,''-^ in Poitou, and 7, the important territory of Asti, in Italy. The vast domains of the house of Orleans were united with the crown, in 1498, at the accession of Louis XII., the heir of that family. 495. II. The House of Burgundy (Bourgogne). — The dukes of the younger Burgundian dynasty had,^^'' by inherit- ance, marriage, purchase, and conquest, brought together one of the most powerful, civilized, and wealthy states of medi- seval Europe ; they ranged both under the Emperor of Ger- many and the King of France, as great feudatories, though almost entirely independent of either, and nothing seemed wanting to crown their hopes of ambition and glory, but the royal title which the last duke, Charles the Rash, was on the point of obtaining from the Emperor Frederic III., at the in- terview of Treves, in 1473, when his feud with the wary Louis XI. of France, and his imprudent invasion of Switzerland, in 1476, brought on his terrible defeats at Granson and Morat, his death at Nancy ^ and the dispersion of his vast territories in 1477. 496. Burgundian Lands. — I. The duchy of Burgundy, given in the year 1363, by King John the Good, to his fourth son, Philip the Bold, the ancestor of the second Burgundian dynasty, with the title of '■'■first jjeer of France^'' (385, 458, 473). II. The county of Upper Burgundy (Hoch Burgund), or Francke. Comte, between the Saone, Mount Jura, and the Rhine, with the capital BESAN90N, the counties Mumpelgard and Neuchatel, and the Lordship of Salin. III. The county of Flanders, with Ghent, Brugge, Dunkerk, and Ostend. IV. The county of Artois, with the city of Arras. V. The county of Boulogne. YI. The counties of Ponthieu (482), Amiens, and Vermandois, held by the Dukes of Burgundy as mortgages of the French crown. Corbie, Abbeville, with the whole district of Picardy on the right bank of the Somme, and the towns of Roye and Montclidier, in Santerre, were united to Flanders by the celebrated treaty of Arras, in 1435. VII. The county of Nevers, and VIIL, that of Rethel (473) on the Meuse. These counties, together with Artois and Flanders, had been inherited by Margaret, the wife of Philip the Bold, in 1384, and by her transmitted with the same title to her son John the Fearless, in 1405. IX. The marquisate of Namur on the Meuse, bought in 1421, for the sum of ] 32,000 gold crowns, by Philip the Good, from the last Marquis Jean Thierry, who, however, reserved for himself the iisusfructus of his possessions until his death, in 1429. All these territories the Dukes of Burgundy held as fiefs of the French crown, with the exception of Franche Comte, that be- longed to Germany. 497. The prudent and active Philip the Good had by di- ""The county oiAngownois (Angouleme) passed, in the year 1407, to the younger branch of the house, the Valois-Angouleme, and returned to the crown when Francis I. of Angouleme mounted tlie French throne in 1515. '""Series of the Dukes : Philip the Bold, 1363-1404. John the Fearless, 1404-1419. Philip the Good, 1419-1467. Charles the Rash, 1467-147';. vers means, by money, intrigues, and the sword, still in- creased the number of his extensive states, with X., the im- portant duchy of Brabant (530), north of Namur, with the cities Bruxelles, Louvain (Lowen), Malines (Mecheln), Bre- da, and Nivelles. XL The duchy of Limburg, east of the Meuse, and separated from Brabant by the Archbishopric of Liege (Liittich). XII. The marquisate of Anvers (Ant- werp), with the important commercial city of that name on the Scheldt. XIII. The county of Hainaut (Hennegau), on the frontiers of France, between Flanders and Brabant, with the cities of Mons, Valenciennes, Ath, Conde, Quesno2/, Avesne, and Chimay.™ XIV. The counties of Holland and Zealand, in the opulent and industrious Netherlands, with the duchy of Guelder s (Geldern) (516), West Friesland, and the flourish- ing cities of Amsterdam, Hardewyke, Arnhem, Alkmaar, Harlem,' Ley den. Delft, Rotterdam, Dortrecht, Ysselmonde, Duiveland, Holswaerd, and Leuwarden, in Friesland.''^' XV. East Flanders, on the right bank of the Scheldt, with the cities Dendremonde, Bevern, Alost, Rilpelmonde, and Aude- narde. XVI. The duchy of Luxemburg (Liizelburg), between the Meuse and the Moselle, with the cities Liizelburg, Mont- medy, Thionville, and the counties Rochefort and Salm, in the forest of the Ardennes. The heiress, Elizabeth, of Lux- emburg-Gorlitz, surrendered her full inheritance of the duchy, and her right to the county of Chiny (on the southwest), in 1443, to Philip, who, on the resistance of the inhabitants, marched an army into the duchy, took the capital by as- sault, and occupied the vicariate — Vavouerie — of Alsace (474), in 1444, under the title of mambour, or governor, but he did not assume sovereign power in these provinces until after the death of the Princess Elizabeth, in 1451. The Netherlands, East Flanders, Luxemburg, and Alsace, being fiefs of the Germanic Empire, the Duke of Burgundy rendered nominal homage to the emperor, though he was far more powerful and independent than the penniless Austrian, Frederic III., in "' These rich countries had, on the death of Count William IV. of Holland, in 1345, as imperial fiefs of the Germanic Empire, been given by the Emperor Louis, of Bavaria, to his wife, the sister of Count Wil- liam IV. The Empress granted them to her son, Albrecht, Duiie of Bavaria, and on his death, in the year 1404, his niece, the beautiful but extravagant Jacqueline (Jacobea), of Hainaut, became the heiress. She married Jean, Duke of Brabant, and brought him her rich inherit- ance. But the married couple could not agree ; mutual wrongs pro- duced a separation and then a divorce. Jacqueline fled to England, where she married the Duke of Gloucestei-, and returned to the Nether- lands with an army of five thousand English troops. The Avar now broke out between her and her former husband, the Duke of Brabant, who was powerfully supported by his cousin, Philip the Good, of Bur- gundy. Gloucester and his English knights were defeated in 1424. Jacqueline the termagant, getting in trouble with her English husband, fled, disguised in full armor, with closed visor, and accompanied by some faithful knights (Ornold Spieringk and Vos van Delfk), to Holland, where she was well received by her subjects. Afterwards, on the death of Duke Jean, of Brabant, and the Duke of Gloucester having divorced her, she put her dominions under the administration of the Duke of Burgundy, to whom, upon her death, in 1436, the whole descended in full possession. Philip le Bon became thus one of tlie most powerful princes of Western Europe. "" In the year 1225, Frisia (Friesland) became separated from Hol- land by an inundation of the ocean, which formed the Zuyder Zee (Southern Sea). This disaster was repeated twice during the period we describe: first, in 1421, when the lake^ies Bosch, between Brabant and Holland, was produced by the rupture of the dykes of the Mosa; seventy-two villages were submerged, and one hundred thousand in- habitants perished ; by the second eruption, fifty years later, the sea of Harlem was formed, covering a territory of more than thirty-six miles of land. Friesland suffered a similar calamity in 1277, when the sea broke through on its eastern coast and formed the deep bay of Dollarf, whose waters submerged thirty-three villages. Friesland, though nei- ther fertile nor pleasant, was the object of contention between the Emperors of Germany and the Counts of Holland ; yet the Prisons re- cognized neither, and lived in a state of almost entire liberty. 166 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. FRENCH FEUDATORIES. spite of all his empty German titles. Philippe !e Bon pos- sessed, besides, the following French fiefs : XVII., the county of Macon, on the Saone, and XVIII., that of Auxerre, on the Yonne, with Chalons, Aussone, and the Castellany of Bar-sur-Scina, all which were granted to Burgundy by the treaty of Arras. Such was the splendid assembly of states, ■which, by the conquest of Lorraine by Charles le Temeraire, in 1474, might have been moulded into a renewed Burgun- dian Empire : yet the inconsiderate and foolhardy enterprises of that quixotic knight errant, overturned the wisest plans of the old duke, Philip the Good, his father, and caused him to perish beneath the halberts of the Swiss cowherds, in the frozen swamps of Nancy, in 1477. The immense inheritance, descending to his only daughter, fair Mary of Burgundy, be- came then the object of the fiercest contests between Germany and France, at the beginning of the modern era. 498. The Netherlands surpassed at that time, all other European countries, except Italy, in industry, population and riches ; in Louvain there were a hundred and fifty thousand mechanics. Liberty was the main cause of this prosperity. The duke raised only direct and moderate taxes ; he visited the cities, consulted the burghers, and changed the customs and duties, according to the convenience of commerce. With the spirit of commerce and enterprise, the Dutch combined that of arms and rebellion ; violent feuds between dyers and fullers often stained the streets of Ghent with the blood of her citizens ; Ghent destroyed the factories of Tenremonde. The Burgundian power never rose higher than during the sway of Philip the Good ; he formed his administration on the happiness of his people and good order. By his popular man- ners he gained the affection of the Republican citizens; he dazzled princes and nobility by the splendor of his court, tournaments and fetes, where he sat surrounded by merchants and mechanics, who were invited to his board. His fame spread over Europe, and in the distant East, Turks and Sara- cens called him the great Lord of the West. German arts in painting and sculpture developed their most beautiful fruits under the fostering care of the old duke, nor did he neglect the sciences ; and he collected a rich and magnificent library; his standing army were the best drilled troops in Europe, and consisted of 20,000 men ; his hoarded treasures were immense, and his plate, of massive silver and gold, alone weighed 72,000 ounces. The Burgundian period, with its pompous tournaments, banquets, "its vows of the heron," and institu- tions of new orders of knighthood, such as that of the toison (Tor, is an era of almost incredible extravagance, tasteless pageantry, stiff pedantry, the very quixotism of chivalry, which since the battle day at Hastings, and the brilliant career of four centtiries in the east and west, had outlived itself, become degenerate, and forced to yield to the new inventions and higher intellect of the times. To what disasters did the in- corrigible nobility not expose itself before it gave up the vain contest for supremacy against kings and commoners ! De- feats in Flanders, in Souabia against the citizens, in Swit- zerland against the mountaineers; captivity and disgrace at Nicopolis and Varna, by the superior tactics of the Ottoman Turks, and, at last, the loss of its sovereignty and extravagant privileges, by the insidious politics of a Louis XL =*' 499. III. The House of Bourbon. The ancestor of the Bourbon branch of the royal family of France, was Robert, "» See the graphic and accurate description of the Burgundian Court, manners and politics, in the admirable History of the jDxikes of Burgundy, by the French Historian Mons. de Barante. the youngest son of Saint Louis. ^^^ He invested his son, in 1269, with the county of Clermont in Beauvaisis (486), and Robert, by marrying Beatrice of Burgundy, obtained with her the lordships of Bourbon V Archambaud in the north, of Bourbonnais, CharoUais, and Saint Just. The ancient castle of Bourbon I'Archambaud (238, XXVII.) was his residence, and from it he took his title. In the time of Rob- ert's son Louis, the Bourbonnais was created a ducal peer- age — diiche pairee''^^ — the owner of which therefore assumed the title of Duke of Bourbon and the arms of France in 1 327. Louis obtained the county of LaMarche (469, 480) from King Charles le Bel, and his two sons Jacques and Pierre became the chiefs of the two branches of the Bourbon family, which flourished at the period we are now describing. 500. Bourbon Territories. — I. The county of Cler- mont ; and II. the duchy of Bourbon, original domain of the family. III. The county of Forez, southeast of Bourbon- nais ; and IV. The barony of Roannais, northeast of Forez, inheritance of Anne, the wife of Louis le Bon, in 1452. V. The barony of Combrailles, south of Bourbonnais, between La Marche and Avvergne, to which it formerly belonged, was bought by Duke Louis le Bon in 1400. VI. The seigniory of Beaujolais, south of Maconnais, on the right bank of the Saone, and VII. that of Dombes, on the opposite eastern bank, together with the castles of Trevoux, Chattlard and Amberieux, more east in the Bugey (406), VIII. the duchy of AuvERGNE (471), and IX. the county of Montpenster, hi the same province northeast of Clermont, both brought as dower to Louis le Bon in 1400. 501. It was at the death of Duke Jean I. the son of Louis le Bon in 1434, that the branch of Bourbon Montpen- sier separated from that of the Dukes of Bourbon, which kept all the other seigniories of this family. The Montpensier branch had added the following acquisitions to the county that bore its name : I. The Dauphine d'Auvergne, on the south, beneath the highest mountains, with the city Vodable near the Allier, and II. the county of Sancerre (491) on the northeast of Berri, which Count Jean inherited of his wife Jeanne, daughter of the last Count-Dauphin of Auvergne. Besides the duchy and the Dauphine d'Auvergne, there existed likewise a county of Auvergne, which Mary of Auvergne, the heiress of the county of Boulogne, brought into the noble family of La Tour in 1424. The seigniors of La Tour intermarried with the Bourbon family. The county lay east of the Allier. Fzt-/e- Co?«^e, a beau- tiful small city on that river, was the residence of the Counts of La Tour d'Auvergne, whose patrimonial estates lay west of the high peaks of Mount d'Or. Moulin, north on the Allier, ) THE GENEALOGY OF THE BOUEBON HOUSE. Saint Louis. Hodert, his sixth son, Coimt of Clermont. Louis I., !e Bon, Dulie of Bourbon. Jacques db Bourbon, Count of la Marehe. John, Count of la Marche, married to Catherine of Vendome. Jacques II., Count of te Marche. Peter I., Duke of Bourbon, became extinct in the Con- stable Cliarles de Bourbon, in 1527. Louis of Boukbom, Count of Vendome, ancestor of the Counts Vendome, afterwards Dukes of Bourbon, the Kings of Navarra, and of the Royal Bourbon family. ''' This title denoted at that time a high power and dignity, be- cause there were then in France only the Dukes of Burgundy, Aquitaine and Brittany, and the title of pair was not bestowed except on the children of the king, the princes of the blood and the seigniors of the most important fiefa. EIGHTH PERIOD.— xi. D. 1300-1453. FRENCH FEUDATORIES. 167 was built in the fourteenth century, by the Dukes of Bourbon, and their ixsual residence. Their fine Gothic castle is still standing, and the city of Moulin has quite a mediaeval appear- ance, the houses being fantastically built of black and red stones. Mont.brison became, in 1441, the capital of the county of Forez. 502. IV. The house of Anjou. The French King, Louis VIII., bequeathed, in 1226, the county of Anjou to his fourth son, Charles, who commenced the French house of Anjou, and raised it by his conquest of Naples, in 1266 (423), to a height of gi-andeur and renown, no longer proportioned to the small pro- vince from which it derived its title. The following were the Anjou territories in France : I. The counties of Provence (486) and of Forcalquier, the inheritance of the Beatrix of Provence (daughter of Raymond Berengario IV., the last count of those territories), and from 1240, the wife of Charles of Anjou. II. The duchy of Anjou. III. The county of Maine. IV. The duchy of Touraine (492) with the seign- iories Laudun and Mirebalais. These states descended from one generation to another in the same family, with the excep- tion of the county of Vcnaissin, in Provence, which, in 1274, was given to the Roman See, with the only reservation of Avignon, on the junction of the Rhone and the Durance. Pope Clement VI., however, bought this city, during the re- sidence of the Popes in France, for the sum of 80,000 gold florins of the light-headed Queen Joan I. of Naples, in the year of the plague, 1348. 503. On the death of Louis III., in 1434, his estates had been divided between his two brothers, and they were so still at the peiiod we treat of. Rene (Rinatus), the oldest of the two, who lost Naples by the sword of Alfonso V., of Aragon, and Anjou and Provence by the intrigues of the perfidious Louis XI. of France, had, however, the good fortune to inhe- rit the duchy of Bar (486) in 1430, and to share the ducal crown of Lorraine with his wife, Isabel, the heiress of that duchy. But after her death he resigned, and ceded Lorraine to John II., Duke of Calabria, his eldest son, who entered Nancy, his capital, on the 22d of May, 1453, the same year, during which we describe the political condition of France. Metz, on the Meuse, more populous and industrious than Nancy herself, had, in imitation of the free towns of Germany, obtained her independence of the duchy a few years earlier. Toul and Verdun remained, likewise, in immediate dependence on the Germanic Empire. Rene, — le ban Roi Rene — as he was called, devoted himself to poetry, literature, and the fine arts. He was himself author of a work on tournaments and knightly exercises, and spent his latter days in tranquillity at Aix, in Provence. On his death, in 1480, Provence fell back to the French crown. Lorraine, which had passed to his grandson, Rene II., was conquered by Charles the Rash, of Burgundy, in 1473, but the Duke, assisted by the Swiss, de- feated Charles, first at Morat, in 1476, and the year after at Nancy, where that turbulent warrior perished. Rene of Lor- raine, distinguished himself in the wars of Italy, and obtained from Charles VIII., the restitution of the duchy of Bar, which had been seized by Louis XI. 504. The house of Brittany (Bretagne). The family of Montfort still ruled the duchy, which had been enlarged by the barony of Fougeres. The Duke likewise possessed the county of Montfort L'Amaury on the southwest of Paris, and the estate of Neaufle, northwest of Montfort. Brittany was the last of the great fiefs that became united with the crown by the marriage of Charles VIII. and Anne of Bretagne, in 1491. 505. Territories of the other less powerful Vas- sals. — ^Besides the five great dynasties, we here notice several others who were not without some importance. Among those we have already mentioned were : that of Montmorenci (488), Foix (480), Armagnac (481), Astarac (481), Albret (481), Luxemburg, or the Counts of Saint-Pol (488), Ahn<;on (490), Blois, or Penthievre, (491). We may add the following : 506. The house of Chalons, possessing, 1st, the barony of Arlay, in the free county, FrancJie Comte. 2d. The princi- pality of Orange, inclosed within the comtat, or county of Vcnaissin, and which owed its name to its ancient capital, Arausium — Orange — on the Rhone. 3d. The right of suze- rainty over the county of Neuchatel, in Switzerland. The county of Tonnerre, northwest of Burgundy, belonged for a length of time to a branch of this house. 507. The house of Laval, held in the Lower Maine, the seigniory of that name, with one hundred and fifty villages and estates. Charles VII. erected it into a county on the day of his coronation at Rheims, 17th July, 1429, on account of the antiquity of that family, and of their unshaken fidelity to the crown. Laval, the capital, was situated west of Mans. Dame Anne de Laval defended it heroically at the head of the citizens, against the English, in March, 1428; it was taken at last, but threw off the yoke in September, 1429. 508. Such was the territorial division of France on the accession of Louis XL, in 14^1. The prudent Charles VII. had consolidated the royal authority by the reunion of so many alienated provinces with the crown lands, by the organi- zation of a standing army of fifteen hundred lances, or nine thousand horsemen — les compagnies des ordonnanoes"^"- — and by his shrewd management of the parliaments and municipali- ties of the cities, who sought their refuge in the king against the encroachments of the still powerful feudal nobility. To crush the aristocracy and grasp at the absolute royalty was the great aim of his treacherous, but sagacious and success- fully persevering son. The Italian princes of the fifteenth century were the inventors of that insidious, cunning, and per- fidious policy, of which Louis XI. was the most eminent im- prover, and to which France, during this important period, owed the unity of her monarchy. Yet at one time, the crown was on the point of sinking before a combination, which, in a. d. 1461. might have ended in the dismemberment of France. This was the League denominated of Public Weal — du bienpublic — in which all the princes and great vassals of the French crown were in arms against the king: the Dukes of Brit- tany, Burgundy, Alen§on, Bourbon, the Count of Dunois, the families of Foix and Armagnac, and at the head of all, Charles, Duke of Berry, the king's brother and presumptive heir. This great armament for the Public Weal was the last struggle of the aristocracy to preserve their independence. Yet the faithful adherence of Paris, then already the soul and heart's blood of France, and the blunders of the allies after the indecisive battle at Montlhery, restored Louis to power and ■^ Charles VII. had ali'eady in October, 1439, obtained the grant of a ground tax — taille — to the amount of 1,200,000 livres annually, for the erection of a standing army of fifteen companies, each of one hundred steel-clad men-at-arms — gens d'armes, — every lanee accompa- nied by five horsemen, a sword-man — coutellier — two mounted archers, a squire and a groom — gros valet. Another organization was that of the Francs-Archers, in 1445 — which, in spite of the ridicule that attached itself to the foot soldiers at that period of expiring chivalry, became, nevertheless, the ancestors of the celebrated infantry to which France owed her strength and glory in more modern times. 168 EIGHTH PERIOD.— 1300-1453. FEANCE— GERMANY. to revenge. That crafty politician in the treaty of Conflans, lull- 1 view between Charles the Rash and the old Emperor Fre- ed his enemies into sleep by his liberal concessions, by his ap panages, and life rents : — whole provinces, with commands of troops, were dealt out among his covetous and short-sighted opponents. Thus all Normandy, the most important province of France, was apparently given away to the Duke of Berry ; other concessions were made to Charles of Burgundy and the rest. But Louis waited his time — and he crushed them all with a vigor that at once discloses the reckless fortitude of his mind ; the duchy of Alengon was confiscated, the Count of Armagnac assassinated ; the Duke of Nemours, and the intriguing Constable of St. Pol, perished on the scaffold. Charles of Berry was poisoned, in Guienne, in 1472, by the contrivance of King Louis. The headstrong Charles of Bur- gundy was shrewdly baited on the Swiss, and immediately after his fall, at Nancy, in 1477, Louis seized on the duchy and county of Burgundy, on the cities on the Somme, in Picardy, and only the sharp lance of the chivalrous Maximi- lian of Austria, the bridegroom of Mary of Burgundy, could save the Low Countries, in 1478. The sword, the axe, the rope, and the poison, of Louis XL had proved successful ; on his death-bed, at the gloomy castle of Plessis-les-Tours, on the Loire, in 1483, surrounded by all the furies of a conscience loaded with crimes, the old sinner bequeathed to his son, Charles VIII. , a united France, an improved administration and army, an obsequious parliament, a humbled and trembling nobility, a faithful and prosperous bourgoisie, and the preten- sions of the crown to an absolute monarchy, under which France at once enters on the stage of modern history. 509. Cities, Castles, and Historical Sites. — Montlkery (306), a superb Gothic castle, two leagues southwest of Paris, on the west of the Seine, between Rambouillet and Etampes, where was fought the singular battle on the 16th July, 1465, between King Louis XL and Charles the Rash, then Count of Charolais (497), and the other chiefs of the League, for the Public Weal. Louis routed the left wing of the hostile army under the Count of Saint Pol, whilst the impetuous Charles bore down the French centre and left wing, under the cow- ardly Duke of Maine, but was himself wounded in the throat, and in imminent danger of being unhorsed and captured. Charles announced his vain triumph by sound of trumpets and chivalrous show — but the prudent Louis obtained all the fruits of victory by occupying Paris, and shrewdly flattering the fickle Parisians into fidelity and enthusiasm for his cause. Conflans, near the Vincennes, south of Paris, on the eastern bank of the Seine. Here, on the 29th October, 1465, the treacherous peace between Louis XL and the confederates was concluded, which apparently placed the finest provinces into their hands. Peronne-la-Pucelle — the Virgin Castle '^' — a strong fortress on the right bank of the Somme, in Picardy, where, on the 9th of October, 1468, Louis XL, while playing his double game against Charles of Burgundy, was made the prisoner of the latter, and placed in that awkward position so admirably delineated in the Quentin Durward of Sir Walter Scott. It was on the return of Louis to Paris, from his dis- graceful capture at Peronne, that he was received by the sa- lute of Peronne ! Peronne ! by hundreds of prattling magpies and parrots, whom the witty and sarcastic Parisians had taught this taunting welcome to their outwitted monarch. Treves, on the Moselle, the scene of the pompous inter- -'' The citizens of Peronne were proud of the maiden name of their town. It withstood victoriously every siege, and repelled the numer- ous and warlike troops of Henry of Nassau, in 1563. But it lost its pucellage in June, 1815, to the Duke of Wellington, when he took the fortress on the general consternation produced by the battle of Wa- terloo. deric III. of Germany, September 19th, 1473, during which all the preparations for the coronation of Charles as King of Burgundy, were made, when the wary Emperor silently stole away with his Germans, and crossed the Rhine as a fugi- tive. Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, in vain besieged by Charles during winter, 1477. At Vireley, near Nancy, was, on January 7, 1477, fought the battle against the Duke Rene of Lorraine, and the Swiss, which Charles the Rash lost by the treachery of the Neapolitan Count Campobasso. While fleeing from the battle field, the duke sank with his barbed horse into the frozen morass, and was cut down by the pursu- ing enemies. His disfigured body was discovered and recog- nized several days after the battle, and buried in Nancy by the Duke Rene. Guinegate, west of Terouenne, in Flanders, where the young brilliant Maximilian of Austria, immediately after his marriage with Mary of Burgundy, met the French army of Louis XL, on the 7th of August, 1479. The French were ridden down by the German and Dutch knights ; they fled on the spur, and that action took the significant name of the battle of the spurs — the last, in which the French spurred out of the middle ages ! 510. The Ecclesiastical Division of France in 1322. — In consequence of the crusades against the Waldenses and Albigenses in southern France during the thirteenth century, some important changes in the Church government of the southern provinces were undertaken by Pope John XXII., — 1316-1334, — which afterwards remained unchanged until the great revolution of 1789. Alby (391, VI. 3,) became separated from Bourges, and raised to a metropolitan see, to which were added the suffragan churches of Cahors, Rhodez, and Mende. Castres and Vabres were erected into bishoprics, and likewise placed under Alby. Toulouse was formed into an archbishopric ; and the episcopal churches of Montauban, Lombez, Rieux, Saint Pepoul, Pa,micrs, and Mirejjoix, were assigned as its suffragans, while the ancient see of Narbonne (392, X.), received as indemnification the newly established bishoprics of Aleth and Saint Pons. In the west, the too extensive diocese of Poitiers (391, IV., 1,) became divided into three, and that of Age^i (391, IV. 5,) into two bishoprics, by the erection of the suffragan churches of Maillezais, Luzon, Sarlat, and Condom, in 1317, by a bull of John XXII. , in which all four were placed under the See of Bor- deaux. VII. Romano-Germanic Empire FROM THE DOWNFALL OF THE TO THE CLOSE OF SOUABIAN DYNASTY, A. D. THE MIDDLE AGES. 1252, 511. Germany, under the Luxewburgian, Bavarian, AND Austrian Dynasties. — In France monarchy had become consolidated. In Germany, the imperial power was lost with Frederic II. ; and though the shadow of an empire was still kept up, yet Germany consisted in reality of nearly two hun- dred independent rulers, princes ecclesiastical and secular, nobles of different ranks, and free cities of the empire. Fre- deric II. had spent his life in Italy in feuds against the Popes and the Lombard Republics. He neglected Germany, and was careless of those imperial prerogatives, which it seemed hardly worth an efi"ort to preserve for an Italian prince. He therefore sanctioned the independence of the princes, recog- nized the privileges and armed confederacies of the cities, and laid thus the foundation of a total change in the constitution of Germany in the fourteenth century. The succession to the crown had always been elective ; but the election itself, which formerly had belonged to the different tribes in their division of duchies, became now, after the dissolution of the duchies EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. GERMANY. 169 of Saxony, Franconia, and Souabia, circumscribed to the three German archbishops of Maintz, Treves, and Cologne, and four secular princes, the Duke of Saxony on the Upper Elbe — Kur-Sachsen — the Count-Palatine of the Rhine, the King of Bohemia, and the Margrave of Brandenburg.-'* The anxiety of the princes to maintain their independence was already shown in 1273, when they elected the honest and prudent, but powerless, Rudolph, Count of Habsburg, King of Germany. Rudolph, without attempting to obtain the imperial crown of Rome by intermeddling with the affairs of Italy, turned all his attention to the internal pacification of the fatherland, and to the consolidation of his family estates by the acquisition of the archduchy of Austria with Carinthia and Styria for his son Albert. This sudden increase of im- perial power frightened the princes. On the death of Ru- dolph, in 1293, they chose the penniless Adolph of Nassau for his successor, and it was only by the lance-thrust with which Albert of Austria killed his opponent at GcUheim, that he could usurp a dignity which at once made him for- midable to the liberties of Germany. Albert's plans were rast, and his ambition boundless ; but he fell by assassination, in 1308, while marching against the Swiss, and the electors now hurried to raise the chivalrous Henry VII. of Ltizelburg (Luxemburg), to the German throne. The attempts of Henry to extend the influence of bis family were more suc- cessful than those of the Habsburgers Bohemia became a fief of his house, by the marriage of his son John of Lux- emburg with the heiress of that kingdom. Yet the warlike spirit of Henry VII. carried him to Italy, where, at the head of the Ghibeline party, he took the imperial crown in Rome, and would have restored the German supremacy there if he bad not been poisoned by a monk at Buonconvento, in Tus- cany, in 1313. The two great parties in Germany, the Lux- emburgers and the Habsburgers, began immediately the civil war. The former elected the distinguished Louis of Bavaria; the latter, Frederic the Handsome, of Austria. Louis, to strengthen his party, scattered with a lavish hand, privileges and immunities to princes and cities, and defeated and cap- tured the Austrian in the chivalrous battle at Muhldorf, in Bavaria, September 22, 1322. The star of Austria seemed to set. Leopold, the brother of Frederic, had been defeated by the Swiss, in the terrible massacre at Morgarten, in 1315 ; nor did an Austrian prince obtain the imperial crown until a century later, after the reigns of the three Luxemburgo- Bohemian kings, Charles IV., 1347-1378, Wenceslaus, 1387- 1410, and Sigismund, 1410-1437. With Albert IL of Austria, 1347-1349, and his successor and cousin, Frederic [II. of Austi'ia-Styria, 1440-1493, began the steady progress of the Habsburg House, which thenceforth kept possession of the imperial throne of Germany. 512. Frontiers and Foreign Relations of Germany ABOUT A. D. 1453. — The frontiers of the empire had under- gone some changes since the last period ; yet they still pre- served nearly the same extent. If, by the encroachment of the French kings, Daujihine, and Provence had been lost on the west, Pomerania, the Neumai-Jc, Lausitz and Silesia had been annexed on the east. In the north, the county of Holstein had, as a German fief, been united with the Danish crown, shortly after the accession of Count Christian of 01- denborg to the throne of that kingdom, in 1448, and was some years afterwards, in 1474, erected into a duchy (436). "^''See, for details on the political history of this period, Hallam's Middle Ageg, pages 232-249, New-York edition, 1839. ; Kohlrausch's History of Germany, chapters XII.-XV,, and for tlie rise of tlie House of Habsbxu'g, Coxe's accurate and interesting; History of Austria, In the south, the powerful Dukes of Savoy, already extending their possessions into Italy, still recognized their dependence on the empire ; but the Swiss mountaineers had, by their victories at Morgarten, in 1315, at Sempach, 1386, and Nafels, 1388, thrown off the Austrian yoke, conquered and occupied all the hereditary lands of the Habsburg family in the Aar- gau and Thurgau, and constituted their glorious confedera- tion of the eight old cantons. The relations to Italy had been temporarily renewed during the campaigns of Henry VII. and Louis of Bavaria. Charles IV. took the imperial crown in Rome, a. d. 1355 ; but this was only pageantry, void of any real political influence, and Italy was, in 1453, almost entirely independent of the German empire. 51 3. The Electors of the Empire and their Digni- ties.— The Golden Bull,'''' published by Charles IV., in 1356, sanctioned all the rights and privileges which the great vas- sals had usurped. The electors were seven, ranking in the following order : I. the Archbishop of Mainz (Mayence), as Arch- Chancellor of Germany. He possessed, as sovereign prince, the territories of Maiiiz, on the Rhine and Mayn ; Ashaffmburg, with a large tract on the Upper Mayn, in Franconia; besides Marburg, Erfurth, EicJisfeld, Frizlar, and some fiefs on the R,hine and in Lorraine. II. the Arch- bishop of Treves, as Arch- Chancellor of Burgundy, with an extensive territory on the Moselle. III. the Archbishop of Cologne, as Arch-Chancellor of Italy, with the duchy of Westphalia. IV. the King of Bohemia, as Arch-Seneschal. V. The Count-Palatine of the Rhine, as Arch-Sewer. VI. The Duke of Saxe- Wittenberg, as Arch- Marshal (with the exclusion of the ducal line of Saxe-Lauenburg) ; and, finally, VII. The Margrave of Brandenburg. The votes of the seven electors were for ever united to their territories, which were considered as inalienable feudal possessions of the empire. 514. I. Division of the States and Free Cities of the Empire. — The kingdom of Bohemia, with the Lausitz, Silesia, and Moravia, the two latter not belonging directly to the empire. The Bohemians, in their hate against the grasping house of Austria, which asserted a claim upon the kingdom, gave, in 1311, the heiress of the throne, Elizabeth, the granddaughter of King Ottocar, in marriage to the chivalrous John of Luxemburg, son of Henry VII. By this nearer connection with Germany, the manners and language of the Czechs underwent great changes, and even the laws of Bohemia became written in the German tongue. Its bril- liant era was enjoyed by that beautiful country under the active and, for his own hereditary kingdom, higlily beneficent Charles IV., the son of John of Luxemburg — 1346-1378. Prague (399) became then the capital of Germany. Charles embel- lished his favorite city with magnificent churches and palaces, and founded, in 1371, its celebrated university. His son and successor, Wenceslaus, despised and deposed in Germany, -^° This celebrated statute received that name from the Golden Seal affixed to it. It exempted the electoral domains from the imperial jn- I'isdiction ; gave the electors regalian rights over the mines, coins, and taxation, and insured their pre-eminence, over all the other princes. It gave likewise some regulations concerning the general peace — Land friede — and decreed that after a proclamation made three days pre viousljf, the right of warfare among the princes of the empire should be declared and enforced. Yet the Golden Bull did not define more minutely the relations of the emperor to the states, nor those of the lower nobility and the cities to the electors, and became, therefore, by its indefiniteness, the cause of all the subsequent feuds of the nobility against the princes, and those large confederacies of barons and repub- lican cities, which, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, ^9-aged jin almost continual war with one another. 170 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. BOHEMIA— SILESIA. reformed the laws of Bohemia, and substituted the national h\uguage in the different courts of justice. John Huss and Jerome of Prague flourished during his reign ; but the mass of the inhabitants were too ignorant to appreciate their vir- tues talents, and noble disinterestedness, nor their wise and enlio-htened views concerning religious reform. It was not until after their awful execution at Constance, in 1413-14, that their partisans, the Hussites, under the command of that astonishino- warrior, John of Trocznow, now called Zisca — the One-eyed — demanded the reform, sword in hand, and began those bloody and devastating Hussite wars, which, from 1414 to 1434, spread death and destruction over all the neighbor- inw countries. Under the admirable governor, and afterwards king, George Podiebrad, who was elected regent during the minority of the young Wladislaw, son of King Albert of G-ermany, but who himself mounted the throne in 1458, by the vote of the people ; Bohemia quickly recovered from the wounds of the religious war. Her cities were rebuilt ; her ao-riculture, commerce, and industry became flourishing, and her Protestant population, then forming the great majority of the nation, enjoyed quietly their liberties and privileges, so stoutly defended, until they afterwards, during an eventful period in modern history, were undermined and annihilated by treacherous Austria. 515. Cities and Historical Sites in Bohemia. — Prague (Praha, Praga, Prag), the ancient and beautiful capital of Bo- hemia, is situated on the river Moldau, which traverses the city and divides it into four quarters : Hradschin, or Upper Town, and Kleinseite^ or Small Side, on the left, and Alt-stadt and Neu-siadt, on the right bank. A magnificent stone bridge, supported by sixteen arches, and adorned with twenty-eight colossal statues of saints, was built by the Emperor Charles IV., in the year 1338, across the river. It unites the Hrad- schin with the Old Town, and the access to it is fortified with high and picturesque towers. On the commanding heights of the Hradschin stand the superb Gothic cathedral and the im- mense castle and palace of the Bohemian kings, and on the market-place, in the Old City, the Carolinian university, with its rich library of Bohemian manuscripts, and the Gothic town- hall of that period. The infuriated Hussites stormed that building in July, 1419, and threw down from the windows the hostile senators, who were caught on the lance points of the multitude below. The old King Wenceslaus, beholding this horrible scene from his balcony, fell dead in a fit of anguish and despair. Mount Zisca (Wissehrad), south of Prague, where that blind and maimed Chief of the Hussites formed his impregnable camp, and defeated King Sigismund and his chivalry of Germany on the 14th of July, 1420. Hnssinecz, a small town on the frontiers of Bavaria, was the birthplace of John Huss. Mount Hradistic, in the province oi Bechinsko, on a branch of the river Wultava, became the gathering place and the stronghold of the Hussites, who called their fortress Mount Tabor, and took themselves the name of Taborites. Trocznow, south of Mount Tabor, was the paternal castle of the terrible Zisca. Kuttenberg, east on the Upper Order, lay in a mountainous region, whose rich silver mines were disco- vered toward the beginning of the fourteenth century. Charles IV. drew from them the most abundant revenues of his king- dom. Carhtein, a magnificent castle on the Moldau, south- west of Prague, built by Charles IV., where the Bohemian crown jewels were kept. Carlsbad, on the Tepel, northwest of Pragu ■, in a beautiful valley, surrounded by high wood- clad mountains, became famous from the time of Charles IV., by the accidental discovery of the hot springs in 1458, while the king was enjoying a stag-hunting near the boiling pool. Brix. Aussig, Saats, Deut.-ch-Brod, Mies and Tauss were cities celebrated by the astounding victories of the Hussites, who there, witli tlieir iron-shod flails, mowed down the proudest knights of Germany, and frustrated all the attempts of the German princes to quell their insurrection, until the fanatic Taborites, after the death of Zisca, before Przybi.slaw, in 1 424, fell into feuds among themselves. Thus weakened, they were at last surrounded and totally routed at Boliniisck-Brod by the Catholic party, at Prague, in 1434. Their able generals, the two Procopii, fell, and, after another defeat at Lomnicza, they were forced to surrender Mount Tabor and their other strongholds, and do homage to King Sigis.nund, in 1436. 516. Attached to the royal crown of Bohemia were the three provinces of Moravia, Silesia, and the Lausitz. I. The Margravate of Moravia (Msehren), was so called from the river Morava (March), which fiows through its plains, and discharges into the Danube. Moravia formed, at the time of the dismemberment of the Cai-lovingian empire, a powerful state under the able Prince Swatopluk. It extended through Avaria to Belgrade on the Danube. But it was soon de- stroyed by the invasions of the Hungarians and the unpolitic divisions among the sons of Swatopluk. It became later, under the Bohemian kings, a margravate, or border county, against the Poles and Hungarians, and was dreadfully devas- tated by the incursions of the Hussites. The mass of its inhabitants belonged to the Sclavonian race, though many German colonies had early been settled in the country. The Sclavonians themselves were divided into several branches. The Hannacks, Straniacks, Sloivacks or Chraivats, Horacks, and Wallacks, who all could be distinguished from one another by their dialects, customs, and dress. The Stran- iacks inhabited the frontier districts of Hungary. The Wallacks early migrated from the Carpathians ; they spoke the Bohemian dialect, and wore the Hungarian costume ; they lived mostly in the immense forests of the mountain region, and carried on a lucrative trade in wood and tinder. The Hannacks were occupied with cattle-breeding. The language of the Moravo-Sclavonians, though a corrupt dialect of the Bohemo-Polish, has its own literature, and is described as excelling the other Slavic dialects in harmony and soft- ness. Cities were : Br'no (Brunn), the capital of the border counts, Holomucz (Olmutz), the archiepiscopal see for Mo- ravia. Iglau, situated in a wild and mountainous region, was the place where the Emperor Sigismund, in 1434, made peace with the Hussites, and was recognized as King of Bo- hemia. Kremsier, Znaym, and Hradiscli, were likewise cities of some note. II. Silesia, extending all along the eastern frontiers of Moravia and Bohemia, had become united to the Bohemian crown in 1435-1455 (446). This fertile and beautiful province, which, during the period we describe, was the El-dorado of German emigration, in the same manner as the United States, California and New Holland are at the present day, became soon Germanized, industrious and wealthy. Its mines were worked, and its natural products found ready markets in Germany, Poland, and Russia. Breslau, the ancient ducal capital, on the Oder, Glogau, Liegnitz, Brieg, Neisse, Oppeln, and Teschen, were flourishing commercial cities. The estates ob- tained from King Wladislaw, in 1498, extensive territorial privileges — Landesfreiheiten — which circumscribed the juris- diction of the king and the feudal military service which the vassals were bound to render annually. All the German traffic with Poland passed through Breslaw. Its active cit- izens bought with ready money the enfranchisement of their town, and enjoyed an almost republican form of government. III. The principality of Lausitz, on the north of Bohemia, was likewise a precious acquisition from Poland, both on ao- EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. BRANDENBURG— SAXONY. 171 count of its fertility and its advantageous position, thus uniting Bohemia, on the north, with Brandenburg^ another of the immense territories which the covetous and gras2)ing dynasty of Luxemburg, temporarily at least, succeeded in bringing under its sceptre. 517. V. The margraviate of Brandenburg was bordered on the north by Mecklenburg and Wolgast, on the east by Poland, south by the Lausitz and Saxony-Wittenberg, and cast by the episcoioal see of Magdeburg and the duchy of Luueburg. Its political division was into Altmark-, Priegnitz, TJkci-tnark, Mittelmar/c, Neumark, and the three smaller districts of Lebus, west of the Oder, Sternberg, on the oppo- site shore, and Cottbus, a territory inclosed within the pro- vince of Lausitz. During the fierce wars against the Sclavonians, Count Albert of Ascherslebot (Ascania), called the Bear, conquered, in 1 133, the town of Brannibor (Brandenburg) from the Wilzes and Welatabes (188, 389, II.), and received, in 1150, from the Emperor Conrad III., the title of elector and mai'grave. The whole JVordmark, as the county was then called, was still covered with marshes, heaths, and forests. Albert undertook to clear the land ; he built towns, which he peopled with nu- merous colonies of Germans, who had settled in Holland, but were obliged, in consequence of the inundation of the sea, to quit that country (497). Christianity was spread among the Slavi, and established in the Nordmark during his reign. He erected churches and monasteries, endowed schools, and labored to civilize and enlighten his barbarous subjects. He was the true founder of the margraviate of Brandenburg, for before his time the different border counts were only appointed during life by the emperor, and Albert was the first for whom it was erected into an imperial fief. His successors promoted the cultivation of the country, which they extended by conquests ; Neiunark., on the east of the Elbe, was wrested from Poland (380) ; the Ukermark, from Pomerania, in 1256; and Otto III. of Brandenburg, obtained by marriage the JJjJper Lausitz from Bohemia. When, at last, the As- canian line of Anhalt became extinct, in 1 320, the neighboring princes were immediately at hand, ready to divide the rich spoils ; yet the active conqueror, Louis of Bavaria, perceiving the favorable opportunity to augment the influence of his house, declared at the diet of Niirnberg, in 1323, Branden- burg to be an escheated fief of the empire, and gave it to his son Louis. This sudden extension of the Bavarian dy- nasty in the north of Germany became a thorn in the eyes of all the neighboring Low-German princes. Their hate and envy broke out into open hostility, when Margrave Louis of Brandenburg, in 1335, married Margaret Maultasch, the heiress of the county of Tyrol, in the Alps. Yet Louis stood his ground ; with the support of Denmark he defeated all his adversaries; and it was not until, in the year 1365, that Charles IV. of Bohemia, partly by force and partly by money, obtained the cession of Mark Brandenburg from Otho, the brother and successor of Louis. During so many feuds and troubles, the country had suffered dreadfully ; the people had become oppressed with taxes and debts ; vast tracts of land lay entirely waste. Here a new field opened for so active and organizing a mind as that of the Luxemburger. With laudable zeal and prudence he attended to the improvement and prosperity of his Brandenburg dominions. The whole territory combined, at that period, three provinces : I. Maf.- cHiA Transalberana, Or the Altmark, west of the Elbe, with the ancient capital Salzioedel. II. MARCiirA Media, the Mittelmark, the country between the Elbe and the Oder, comprising Priegnitz and Ukcrmark, on the north, with the cities Brandenburg, Havelberg, Berlin, Colin, Bcrnau, and Prenzlau ; and III. Makchia Teansoderna, or the Ncu- mark, on the frontiers of Poland, with the cities Wedel, Soldin, Bernstedt, and Friedland. King Wenceslaus gave Brandenburg to his brother Sigismund, who, already King of Hungary, was elected emperor by the interest and good ofiices of Frederic, Count of Hohenzollern and Burgrave of Nurn- berg. But the emperor, being lavish of his treasures, and always in difiiculties for want of money, ceded to the Count of Hohenzollern, in 1415, the state of Brandenburg as a hereditary fief, with the privileges of the electoral dignity, for the comparatively paltry sum of 150,000 gold fiorins. With this remarkable financial operation, the prudent Fre- deric I., now Elector of Brandenburg, laid the foundation of the mighty Prussian monarchy, which his descendants, the IlohenzoUerns, possess to the present day. Frederic II., who followed his father from 1440 to 1470, directed his whole attention to the future development of the country ; and his long reign was highly beneficial to its commerce, industry, and ao'ricidture ; nor did he neglect to encourage the education and chivalrous virtues of the higher classes. He instituted, in 1443, the order of the Sxvan-knights, chain-bearers of the fair ladies ; and he recovered the Neumai-k from the Teutonic Order in Prussia, to whom Sigismund had mortgaged it, in 1402 (380). Thus Brandenburg appears in a very prosperous state at the close of the middle ages; and its importance in the political balance of the European powers became fully secured in the sixteenth century by the marriage of the Duchess Anna of Prussia with the Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg. Its cities, however, were not of great mo- ment in this early period (398). Salzwedel was the an- cient capital of the Ascanian princes. Brannibor (Branden- burg), on the Havel, a Sclavonian fortress, gave its name to the principality. Postdeprimi (Postzein), on an island formed by the confluence of the Ruth and the Havel, an ancient set- tlement of the Wiltzes, became afterwards the magnificent Potsdam of the great Frederic II. of Prussia. Berlin, in a sandy desert, on the Spree, opposite to Colin, was founded by Count Albert, in 1163, and rose slowly to its present im- portance. Bernau, in the Mittelmark, withstood gallantly the attack of the Hussites ; it owed its industry and wealth to the fugitive French Huguenots, who found there a refuge during the religious wars of the sixteenth century. 518. VI. The Electorate and Duchy of Saxe- Witten- berg — Kur Saelisen — comprised the lands on the Upper Elbe, Misnia, and Thuringia (398) ; to it was attached the electoral dignity and the office of hereditary marshal of the empire. On the extinction of the Ascanian house (396, III.), in 1423, Frederic the Warlike, Margrave of Misnia, was in- vested with the duchy. It was then at the height of the Hus- site war, and the countries on the Elbe were continually ex- posed ^0 the invasions of the Bohemian fanatics ; yet Frederic opposed them victoriously, and obtaining new enfeoffments from the emperor, he became, by the strength of his rich principalities, the splendor of his dignity united to his great personal qualities, one of the most powerful princes in Germany. He was succeeded in his electoral dominions by his son, Frederic the Mild — 1428-1464 — who, disputing with his brother Wil- liam, the inheritance of Thuringia, caused the outbreak of that bloody war, the Brothers'' feud, which, for five years, brought desolation over the most fertile civilized regions of Germany. llis sons, Albert and Ernest, joined in 1482, the Thuringian possessions of their uncle William to Saxony and Misnia, and became the founders of the Albertine and Ernestine dynasties of modern Saxony.-'" '^"' The Albertine line still reigns in the present small kingdom of Saxony; while the Ernestine branch has become subdivided into llio HZ EIGHTPI PEKIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. SAXONY— PALATINATE. The electoral dignity was iulicritcd by Ernest, who possess- ed the eastern portion of the county, on the Elbe and part of southwestern Thuringia — this was then called Electoral Saxony, or Kur Sachsen. Ho was succeeded by his son, Frederic the Wise, who founded, in 1502, the university of Wittenberg, Avhere the great theologians, Luther and Melancthon, com- menced the Reformation of the Church in 1517. 519. Cities and Historical Sites. — Wittenberg, on the right bank of the Elbe, was the capital of the Ascanian Dukes. From this city the duchy took its name of Saxe- Wittenberg. Dresden, south of Wittenberg, on the Elbe (247), became the residence of the Albertine Princes, while Weimar, on the Ilm, was chosen as capital by the Ernestini- ans. Wartbv.rg, the celebrated castle near Eisenach, was the earlier residence of the Landgraves of Thuringia. It Was from the towers of this fortress that Margaret of Hohenstau- fen, the daughter of Frederic II., descended in disguise to es- cape from the dagger of her adulterous husband. Margrave Al- bert the Wicked, in 1271. While giving her children the part- ing embrace, the unhappy lady, in her frantic despair, bit her little son, Frederic, in the cheek, and that chivalrous prince was afterwards called Frederic with the Bitten Cheek — Frie- derich niit der gebisseueii Wange. Liicau (Lucka), southwest of Leipzic, where this Frederic and his brother, Diezmann, in 1298, totally defeated the usurper Adolph, of Nassau, who had purchased Thuringia, their inheritance, from their unna- tural father, Albert the Wicked. Leipzig, on the Elster, was then already a thriving commercial city Here Diezmann, the younger brother of Frederic, was assassinated before the al- tar, in January, 1308, by Philip of Nassau, the imperial com- mander of Albert of Austria. The university of Leipzig was founded in 1409, and becaiiie flourishing on the outbreak of the Hussite troubles in Bohemia, when thousands of German students with their professors, abandoned the high school of Prague, and took their residence in Leipzig. Borna, south of Leipzig, where Frederic the Bitten destroyed the Austrian bands of King Albert I., in a chivalrous battle, January, 1308, and unhorsed and slew with his own hand, the per- fidious Philip of Nassau, the murderer of his brother. AUen- burg, a beautiful castle, south of Borna, where the Knight Kunz of Kaufungen, during the Brothers^ feud, in 1453, at- tempted to kidnap Albert and Ernest, the two young Saxon princes. The boys were hurried ofl" into the Thuringer forest, but there rescued by a stout coal-heaver, to whom they made themselves known. Kunz, the robber, was beheaded in Alten- burg. Wetiin, on the Saale, the residence of the earlier Sax- on princes. JEisleben, in the county of Mansfeld, was the birthplace of the great Reformer, Martin Luther, November 10th, 1483. Freiberg, Schneeberg, and Annabcrg, on the northern slope of the Erz- Gebirgc, were mining towns, whose rich silver ores, discovered toward the middle of the fifteenth century, furnished large revenues to the Dukes of Saxony, yet the civil feuds and the extravagance of the times, swallowed up all their treasure, and the people were not the less op- pressed by onerous tributes and taxes, the invention of that age. 520. VII. Electorate and Palatinate of the Rhine — Rhein-Pfalz — formed part of the ancient duchy of Franconia, which, like Souabia, was dismembered on the downfall of the Hohcnstaufens (399). It embraced two difi"erent provinces, which were separated from each other by many secular and ecclesiastic states in Central Franconia. I., the Palatinate ON the Rhine, or Lower Palatinate—iyafo am Rhein— four .sovereign liousos of Saxe-Altenbvrg, Ooburg-Gotha, iVeininf/en, and Weimar. was situated on both sides of that river, and bounded by Wiirtemberg, Baden, Alsace, LoiTaine, Treves, and Hesse. II., the Upper Palatinate, or Ober-Ffcdz, on the cast, was surrounded by Bohemia, Bavaria, and Niirnberg. The Counts Palatine had obtained, as far back as the eleventh century (399, IX.), the hereditary sovereignty and its dependent prin- cipalities, which they augmented with the county of Ziveibr'it- ckcn and the city of Heidelberg. Frederic II. gave the Pala- tinate to Louis of Bavaria, and it remained undivided with Bavaria until 1329, when the Emperor Louis IV. of Bavaria, in the treaty of Pavia, conferred it on the sons and relatives of his brother. The electoral dignity was attached to the Rhein Pfalz, whose Count was invested with the judiciary power of the empire in case of absence of the Emperor. Though divided into four lines, the Palatinate was considered as a united state. These lines were, I., the Electorate on THE Rhine — Kur-Rliein. II., Sulzbach, or JJpper Palati- nate, established by Count John, whose son, Christopher, be- came King of the Calmarian Union, 1439-1448 (438, 444), when his lands fell back to the Electorate. III., Sijimern, with the counties Vcldenz and Spanheim, on the Rhine, north of the Electorate. Mossbach, on the Neckar, in Soua- bia, became extinct with Count Otho II., and reverted in 1499 to .the Electorate.-" 521. Cities and Battle-fields in the Rhine-Province. — Heidelberg, in a magnificent site on the Neckar, was the capital of the Electors. Germerslieim, on the Rhine, where King Rudolph of Habsburg expired, 30th Sept., 1291. At Gellheim, west of Worms, was fought the fierce equestrian battle, July 2, 1293, in which Albert I. of Austria, with his lance, unhorsed and slew his rival, Adolph of Nassau, and thus conquered the German crown. In the Upper Palatinate — Sulzbach, Leucldenberg, and Amberg. Trausnitz, a gloomy castle, where Frederic the Handsome of Austria was kept as a prisoner of war after the great battle at Amfingen, in Sept., 1322; here, too, the noble-minded victor, Louis of Bavaria, visited and embraced his fallen enemy, and ofi"ered him to share the imperial dignity. Hiltersried, southeast of Traus- nitz, at the foot of the Bohmer-Wald, the battle-field on which the Count Palatine John, in 1433, gained thej^/'s/! victory over the Hussite fanatics of Bohemia. The Palatinate was one of the most fertile and best cultivated regions of Germany, not- withstanding the ravages of war it suiTered at diflerent times. Such was the condition of the seven Electorates about 1453 : we shall now proceed to describe the Duchies. 522. The German Empire comprised also one archduchy, that of Austria, and eighteen duchies : 1, Styria ; 2, Car- niola; 3, Carinthia ; 4, Bavaria; 5, Wiirtemberg, 6, Lor- raine ; 7, Luxemburg ; 8, Limburg ; 9, Brabant ; 10, Guelders ; 11, Cleves ; 12, Jidick ; 13, Berg; I i, B runs- vie- Lilnebicrg ; 15, Holstein, with Stormarn ; 16, Saxe- Lauenbiirg ; 17, Mecldenburg ; and 18, Fomerania. 523. VIII. Austria, under the Habsburg Dynasty. — Frederic Barbarossa had raised the Marca-Orientalis — Oes- terrich — into an Archduchy (399, VIII.), which remained in the possession of the house of Babenberg (396, IX.) until its extinction in 1246. During the disorders of the interregnum -" The remaining Simmern ]ine became united with Kur-Rhein tin- der the unhappy Elector-Palatine Frederic V., in 1620, wlio, having been induced by the Protestant party, then in arms against Austria, to accept the crown of Bohemia, was defeated by General Tilly, on the WhiteMount, near Prague, and expelled from his dominions. These, with the electoral dignity, were then, by Emperor Ferdinand II., awarded to Bavaria, with wliom all the Upper Palatinate and part of the Pfcheiiish province, remain at the present day. EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. AUSTRIA. which followed on the death of Frederic II. of Hohenstaufen, King Ottocar Przemysl of Bohemia occupied Austria, Cariu- thia, Cavniola and Styria, but in his struggle to maintain his conquest against the newly-elected Emperor of Germany, Ru- dolph of Habsburg, he lost his crown and his life in the battle at Stillfried in 1278, and Rudolph invested his sons Albert and Rudolph with the sovereignty of the conquered territories, which thenceforth remained the very centre and strength of the Habsburg dominions."^' The eminent services rendered by Rudolph I. for the in- ternal tranquillity and reorganization of the empire had gained him the confidence and esteem of princes and people, and the German States did not object to his laying the foundation of a vast hereditary power. Yet the fear of Austi-ian supremacy soon became universal, and the Habsburg family was for more than a century — 1 308-1438 — excluded from the succession, in spite of their strenuous exertions to recover their lost soYier- cignty. The Luxemburg (248, 39G) and Wittelsbach (398, VI.) families occupied the imperial throne, and extended their dominion temporarily even over Bohemia, Hungary, and Bran- denburg ; yet Austrian politics, intrigues, and skilful marriage combinations prevailed at last, and with the active reign of Emperor Maximilian I. Austria obtained a permanent in- fluence, not only on the affairs of Germany, but on the entire political system of modern Europe, by the wonderful union of Germany, Burgundy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy, under the sceptre of the Habsburger Charles V.'^' Frederic III. reigned during an age of extraordinary events — when the European world was verging toward a tran- scendant change in social, intellectual, and commercial rela- tions. Yet, though he dared not draw his sword against the Ottoman power and save Constantinople, and he himself was so poor and penniless as scarcely to be able to protect himself against his own seditious Austrian subjects, he nevertheless laid the profoundest plans for the future grandeur of his house, ^'•"' Rudolph of Habsburg, the ancestor of the Austrian dynasty (1218-1291), held that title from the castle and county of Habsburg — Habichtsburff, or Hawks Castle — on the Aar, in the Aar-Gau of the ancient duchy of Souabia. In 1264 he succeeded to the inheritance of his maternal uncle, the Count of Kyhurg, which included the greater part of the Aar-Gau and portions of the upper lands in Burgundia Minor (Switzerland), Kyhurg, Baden, Lenzhurg, Zofingen, Gruningen, Freiburg, and Luzerne, the two latter of which afterwards became free Cantons under the Swiss Confederacy. Eudolph obtained besides the advocacy or protectorship of the Wald&Uldte, or Forest Cantons on the lake of Lucerne, which, together with the Ziihriugen estates and rights in Alsace, formed a considerable territory, though by no means equal to that of the great electoral princes of Germany. All the lands in Soua- bia and Burgundy were afterwards lost to the Habsburgers on the rise of the free-born mountaineei's against their tyrannical exactions. 239 GENEALOGY OF THE HABSBURG DYNASTY. Albert the Wise, Court of Habsburg 1 1260. EirDOLPH, C. of H., Landgrave of Alsace, King (Emperor) of Germany. 12T3— 1291. Albert I., Emperor, 1298-180S. i'VerZerie the Handsome, ira/)oM the Flower of Knighthood, Albert the Contracted, defeated at Amliugen, 1322. defeated at Morgarten. 1315. 1 1358. viZSeri with the Cue, Archduke of Austria, + 1395. Albert, 1 1404. Albert II., King of Hungary, 1437, and of Bohemia, 1438, EnJperor, 143S-1439. Leopold the Brave, Duke of Souabia, slain at Sempach, 1386. Frederic, tl439. Sigismnnd, Count of Tyrol, 1 1496 Waldislaw, King of Hungary and Bohemia, tl45T. Wolfgang Ernest, Iron-heart, 1 1424. f KEnERio III., with the Empty Pocket, Emperor, 1440-1493. Maximilian I. Chakles V. whose second founder he may be called, since he left their for" tunes incomparably more prosperous than they had been at his accession.-^" 524. The archduchy was then, as now, divided into, 1. Aus- tria above the Ens on the West, and II. Austria below the Ens on the East. Vienna (Wien), the capital, though still small in extent, was already a beautiful city, surrounded by admirable fortifications, and considered as the bulwark of Eastern Germany. Many splendid Gothic buildings adorned the inner city. The gigantic cathedral of Saint Stephen, one of the largest and loftiest churches of German architecture in the world, was erected in 1114, a standing memorial of the excellent taste, skilful workmanship, and wealth of the Aus- trian nation. It was then situated without the range of the city walls ; but Vienna increased rapidly, from the mercantile advantages of its situation on the Danube, and the liberal municipal laws and regulations granted to the citizens by Duke Albert with the Cue. A flourishing University was estab- lished there in 1365, and the lively and luxurious Viennese began early to adopt foreign fashions and habits, by the fre- qent intermarriages of their princes with French princesses, who soon transformed Vienna into the most jovial, sociable, and sensual city in Germany. The great Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, taking revenge on Frederic III. for his breach of faith, attacked and took Vienna in 1485, and re- sided there quite comfortably until his death in 1490, when the city was restored to Austria. At Stillfried, a village on the Marchfield, north of the Danube, the decisive battle was fought between Rudolph of Habsburg and King Ottocar Prze- mysl of Bohemia, August 26, 1278, in whioh the latter was defeated and killed, and Rudolph secured the possession of the Austrian lands. Guttenstein, a beautiful castle in the Wieiter Wald, southwest of Vienna, was the retreat of the unhappy Frederic the Handsome, who died there in 1330. Neuburg, Tidn, Molk, with a magnificent Benedictine convent, and Linz, were populous and commercial cities on the Danube; in the latter died Frederic III, in 1493, 525. To Austria belonged the duchies of Styria (Steyer- mark), Carinthia (Karnthen), Carniola (Krain), and the Counties of Tyrol (Terioli) andGoRZ (Gorizia). The former duchies had, according to the custom of the times, been given to the younger lines of the Habsburg House ; but they reverted to the Archducal crown during the fifteenth century. The county of Tyrol, situated among the highest Alps, on the fron- tiers of Lombardy, was inhabited by a poor but brave and in- dustrious people of hunters and herdsmen, who through the storms of the middle ages had preserved their national inde- pendence, and forced the nobles possessing castles on the mountains to grant them their votes in the public assemblies and a liberal administration of justice.-" Inspruck (Bridge on the Inn), then a small village, belonged, together with other settlements in the valley of the Inn, to the Counts of Andechs (396, XL) Those of Meran, on the junction of the Adige ^■i" It was the timid and almost invisible Frederic III. who adopted the proud device of Austria, A. E. 0. I. U., on his plate, books, and buildings, and left it to his sagacious successors to interpret the running vowels into : A^istria T? St T mperare f) rbi TT niverso lies ^ rdreiclh -*- sJ ^ esterreicli ^ nterthan That is : Austria is to rule the whole world ! "A bold assimiption," says Hallam, " for a man who was not safe in an inch of his do- minions ! " ^■^ The Tyrolians served as a model for the most civilized nations iu Europe by their bravery, the purity of their morals, their honesty an England and France. n EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. THE HANSE— HELVETIA. 179 the Hamburgers, who always held closely together. The fish- ing colonies were fenced in with palisades, and every trade had its proper place assigned for its stores and barracks ; churches were built, and the crowded markets were filled with the choicest products of the north and south. In every fishing locality the city bailiif and his men-at-arms strutted about with halbert and broadsword, to watch over the public peace, and settle disputes on the spot. The Danish commanders of the neighboring castles of Skanoer and Fuhterboe held juris- diction in criminal cases ; yet the influence of the Hanse towns was already so preponderating, that they obtained their own courts, until the resolute Queen Margaret compelled the grasping traders back within their proper limits, and, some years later, liberated Denmark from the yoke of her mercan- tile oppressors. Sweden and Norway fared still worse. The Hanse deposed King Hakon, in Stockholm, 1363, and gave his crown to their own gossip, Albert of Mecklenburg (438). 546. The prosperity of the Hauseatic League continued during the whole of the fifteenth century, while Germany was cut up into political parties, and the wars between England and France threw the northern commerce into their hands. But the great reform, which was introduced in the constitution of the Germanic Empire by Maximilian I., toward the close of that era, and the extended powers which the sovereign princes thereby obtained in their states, soon worked in op- position to the democratic institutions of the confederate Hanse Towns. The maritime cities had already ceased to be the masters of the Baltic ;-°' the German princes brought those of the interior under their immediate control, in order to secure their own part in the profit from their commerce. Charles V. separated the rich cities of his Netherlands from the League ; and, finally, the discovery of America, and the sea-passage around the Cape of Good Hope to Hindostan, produced a total revolution in the commercial relations, by bringing other nations, Spaniards and Portuguese, on the world's scene. All these causes combined contributed to the gradual decline and final dissolution of the Hanseatic League, yet its shadow still flitted on through the sixteenth century, until the confederation was dissolved at last in the ultimate diet, held at Lubeck, a. d. 1630. 547. Such was the geographical position of Germany at the death of the Emperor Frederic III., in 1493. The im- portant changes in the constitution, introduced by his son and successor, Maximilian I., in the celebrated Diet of Wor?ns, in 1495, the subsequent institution of a High Tribunal of the Empire — Reichs-Kammer- Gericht — and the general division of all the German States into eleven Circles — Kreise — com- manded by imperial colonels — Kreis- Obersten — belong to the modern era, and would form the introduction to a Historical Geography of the last three centuries, if we should be en- couraged to undertake a continuation of our present essay. VIII. — The Helvetian Confederacy of the Thirteen Cantons, a. d. 1500. 548. Historical Remarks. — The history of the Swiss as an independent nation, begins with their revolt against the Habsburg dynasty, in 1308. Helvetia — Die Schweitz — belonged earlier to the kingdom of Lesser Burgundy (182, 231 Pierce clissensions could not fail to break out occasionally among those covetous republics themselves ; thus, while Liibeck and the Ven- dish towns blockaded the ports of Norway (403), Bremen would secretly send provisions to the suffering countrj', which were paid with enormous prices. Bremen was then declared in the ban — she became vcrhnnsed — and was not reinstated in the League until the yeai- 1358. 246, 389, 396), only the northern parts, Basle on the west, and the Thurgan on the east, formed portions of the Duchy of Alemannia, or Sovabia (250). Many noble families, such as the Counts of Kybvrg^ Toggenburg, Werdenberg, Attivg- kausen, Lenzburg^ Savoy, and Habsburg, possessed castles and territories in that fertile and picturesque country. The Helvetians ranged themselves directly under the empire, and the vicariate — Schirm- Vogtei — over Burgundia Minor, was for nearly a century — 1 127-1208 — wielded by the ducal house of Zahringen (396, VIII). Geneva (Janua), Lausanne (Lausonio), Solotliurn (Salo- durum), Windisch (Vindonissa), Zurich (Statio Turicensis), and Basle (Basilia), were ancient cities. Freyburg, Berne, and others, were built in the twelfth century by the Zah- ringers, and they rose quickly in wealth and population. Many Swiss nobles left for the crusades, and their lands came into the hands of the smaller proprietors or the cities. Thus Zurich, Berne, Basle, Solothurn, and the districts of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden, on the Lake of Lucerne, gradually acquired the seignorial rights from the German emperors, and assumed the names of imperial cities or districts. Their commerce began already to extend across the Alps, and the gold and silk manufactures of the Lombards and the Eastern nations were with success imitated by the Swiss. The refine- ment which traflic and arts introduced among the Helvetian citizens, contrasted in a remarkable manner with the rude simplicity of the herdsmen of the Alpine Highlands, and the warlike and quarrelsome habits of the nobility in the Low- lands. With the extinction of the Zahringers, in 1218, the imperial vicariate of Burgundy passed to the Counts of Savoy and Habsburg. Count Rudolph, having inherited the estates of the Counts of Kyburg and many of the Alsatian possessions of the Zahringers, became the most powerful feudatory in the country. As Emperor of Germany, he often held his court among his beloved Schweitzers, whose privileges he respected and enlarged. But his son, Albert of Austria, who, on his accession to the imperial dignity, in 1298, was anxious to extend the power of his house over all Switzerland and Souabia, and thus, by the union of Western and Eastern Ger- many under the Austrian banner, overawe the independent princes of the centre, proposed to the free-born mountaineers that they should renounce their connection with the empire, and placing themselves as subjects under the wings of the Austrian Eagle, for ever become vassals of the House of Habsburg. On the refusal of the prudent Swiss, the emperor treated them with scorn, and the despotic rule of his bailifFs — Vogte — Hermann Gessler of Bruneck, and Beringer of Lan- denberg, with their mei'cenary bands, gave rise to that insur- rection in the forest-cantons — dieWaldstddte — of Uri, Schwyz, and LTnterwalden, in 1308, which is too well known to be here recorded in our geographical survey, Albert himself found his death by private vengeance, while marching his troops against the insurgents. Nor were his sons and nephews more successful. The glorious battles at Morgarten, Sempach, and Ndfels, prostrated the Austrian power in Switzerland. The Habsburgian possessions were conquered with the halbert, and the Swiss of the different valleys and regions of old Burgundy united themselves successively into that brilliant alliance — FAdgenossenschaft — which, with astonishing perseverance and valor, maintained its independence against France, Burgundy, and Germany, during the fifteenth century, and stands con- solidated, terrible and feared, with its thirteen sovereign re- publics (cantons), in the midst of the most powerful and cov- etous monarchs at the beginning of the modern era. 549. I. -III. The Helvetian Cantons and their Con- stitutions. — Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden, on the east 180 EIGHTH PERIOD.— 1300-1453. HELVETIAN CONFEDERACY. south, and west, bordering on the beautiful lake of Lucerne, or of the four forest cantons — VierivakhtdcUer-See — were the cradle of Helvetian liberty. The Walstadter, descended from a tribe of Suethans or Goths (85), who during the earlier migrations of the Northmen, had settled at the base of the Ali)S, where they for centuries formed free communi- ties and under the command of their Landamman, as supreme governor or judge, recognized the supremacy of the German empire. They constituted themselves free Republics in 1308, and maintained their independence in the battle of Morgarten, 1315. IV. Lucerne, on the northern shore of the Lake of the four Cantons, belonged formerly to the house of Habsburg ; but throwing off the yoke, the Lucerners in 1332 joined the Wald- stadter as the fourth forest Canton of the Confederation. V. ZuERicH, in a romantic site on the largest lake in Switz- erland, became the great emporium and market for Italian products and industry. The imperial bailiffs kept the roads over Saint Gothard free from robbers; and, by the frequent communication with Italy, ideas of political and religious liberty followed in the track of commerce. Zurich received and protected the first great reformer, Arnold of Brescia, in 1140-1144 (405), and having modified her aristocratical government under her able mayor, Rudolph Brun, she de- feated the Austrian dukes, and joined the Helvetian Confed- eracy in 1351. VI. Glarus (Glaris), in the deep valley of the Lint, east of Schwyz and Uri, lies surrounded hj the high chain of the Thur-Alps. No enemy ever invaded this secluded region ; its frugal and industrious inhabitants — the Glarners — were governed by the Abbess of the rich nunnery of Seckingen, under the vicariate of the Counts of Habsburg ; but slaying their despotic bailiff, Stadion, they joined the Swiss league together with Zurich in 1351, and secured their independence by the terrible defeat of the Austrians at Nafels in 1338 "'■' VII. ZuG, situated on the lake of that name, north of Lucerne and Schwyz, was the smallest republic of Switzerland, embracing a territory of only fifteen square leagues. It be- longed to the patrimonial estates of the Counts of Lenzburg and Kybiirg, and passed with their other possessions to the house of Habsburg. But the city of Zug being besieged in 1352, by the victorious Swiss, the Zugers threw open their gates, and joined the confederacy, as the seventh Canton. Their government was democratic. VIII. Berne, west of Lucerne and Unterwalden, and ex- tending south to the highest range of the Berner Alps, was with its territory of 476 leagues the largest Canton in Switz- erland.''''^ Its beautiful capital, situated on a peninsula formed by the river Aar, as it descends rapidly from the Lake of Thicn, was built in the year 11 90 by Cuno of Bubenberg, as a stronghold of the free mountaineers against the encroach- ments of the neighboring nobility. Crowds of dissatisfied knights and citizens from every part of Switzerland and Soua- bia settled in Berne, and gave strength to the young republic. After the signal defeat of the nobles at Laupeii, in 1339, the ^'^ Glarus differs from the other cities in Switzerland ; the Ghirners have entirely preserved the manners and fashions of the middle ages. Their wooden houses with high front gables are adorned with paintings in brilliant colors, representing the events of the times. Many inscrip- tions on the public buildings from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are of historical interest. The narrow and crooked streets are so much obscured by the lofty mountains, overhanging the city on every side, that the sun is visible in winter only four hours in the day. "^ It is a common tradition, that the city received its name from a bear having been killed in the vicinity, by Duke Berthold IV. of Ziihr- ingen. The figure of the bear forms the city arms, and a number of tho?e ugly animals are still kept in tlie dry moats of the city at the present day. warlike Berners joined the Helvetian League in 1353 as the eighth and last of the ancient Cantons, and succeeded by the sword or by purchase in extending their dominion throughout the Aargau and the distant valleys of Mount Jura. They were a proud and haughty people, and carried on many bitter and bloody feuds against the neighboring Ereyburg. The Swiss had thus become formidable; all the eflbrts of Austria to stem the torrent were frustrated on the battle- field of Sempach, and the alliance of the Cantons with the Soua- bian cities (544), soon carried their victorious arms into the heart of Germany. Seven of the Cantons had a democratical form of government ; Berne alone was ruled by an aristocracy, which often stood aloof, showing little sympathy with the other Cantons ; but when the Alpine horns sounded the gathering against the Austrian or Burgundian despots, then all the stout- hearted Swiss fought and bled together, and shared with brotherly concord the spoils of victory. 550. IX. Ereyburg, and X. Solothurn (Soleure), were not admitted into the league until after the Burgundian war, 1481. The former Canton was situated west of Berne ; it ex- tended south to Waadt — le Pays de Vai(d — then possessed by the Counts of Savoy, and west to the lake of Neuchatel. The city of Freyburg Yi3u& built by the Duke Berthold, of Zahrin- gen, in 1 1 78, on the precipitous banks of the Sa'ane, as a bul- wark against the Bishop of Lausanne and the unruly Counts of Neuchatel : Ereyburg rose slowly, under continual feuds between her French and Germanic population, or against her neighbor Berne. She remained Catholic at the time of the Reformation, and under the pernicious influence of the Jesuits, until the late disturbances in 1847. Her splendid cathedral has one of the highest towers in the world, from which the view is of a beauty impossible to describe. Solothurn, like- wise in a most charming situation on the Aar, was strongly- fortified with its ancient walls and towers of Roman construc- tion. The Solothurners were celebrated for their fidelity and industry ; they remained the faithful allies of Berne, and de- feated the Habsburgers, no less by generosity in 1318 than by the sword in 1382. Their most dangerous enemy was their own Bishop of Saint Ursus. XI. Basle (Basel, Bale), bordering on the Eranche-Comte and Baden, formed a bishopric, which possessed many lands on Mount Jura. The city, situated in a highly romantic site on the Rhine, became the largest and best-governed Canton in Switzerland, its council being composed of knights, wealthy citizens, and members of the guilds, under the presidentship of the bishop. In Basle assembled in 1431-1443, the great ecclesiastical council, which after the pacification of the Huss- ite troubles in Bohemia, attempted in vain to restrict the power of the Pope, and reform the manifold abuses of the Romish church ; the time was not yet ripe : what thousands of prelates and law-doctors during twelve years of violent de- bates and discussions were unable to perform, was, seventy-four years later, accomplished by the learning and eloquence of the Augustine monk of Wittenberg. XII. ScHAFHAusEN, northcast on the Rhine, formed earlier the county of Nellenburg in Souabia. Its capital, °" near the celebrated waterfall of the Rhine, was small, its constitution aristo-democratic, and it was united with the Helvetic league in the year 1501, together with Basle. XIII. Appenzel (Abbatis Cella), on the east, belonged to the bishopric of Saint Gall ; yet, after many bloody feuds with their haughty bishops, the brave Appenzelers broke their "* It was originally called Schiff hausen, signifying a shelter for ves- sels, from its position above the cataracts of the Rhine; its port was frequented by river boats as early as the eighth centur}'. EiaHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. HELVETIAN CONFEDERACY. 181 chains, and uniting with the Swiss, in 1513, completed the number of the thirteen cantons composing the Helvetian League as it existed until the time of the French Revolution in 1789. 551. The territories which the Swiss had conquered from the House of Habsburg, the Aargau, Thurgau, and others, were governed in community by the cantons as subject pro- vinces. Their Allies at the beginning of the sixteenth century were : — I. The cities of Muehlhausen, in Franche-Comte, RoTHWYL, in Souabia, Biel and Neuchatel, on Mount Jura. II. The League of the GrPasoNS. This confederacy of the inhabitants of the upper valley of the Rhine (the Engaddin) and others on the northern slope of the Lepontine and Rhd- tiari, Alps, dated its origin from the beginning of the fifteenth century, when the poor but high-minded villagers, weary of the exactions and oppressions of their feudal lords, assembled in arms at Trons in the valley of the Rhine, and forced the Abbot of Disentis and the Counts of We/denberg, Sax, and others to give their adhesion to the solemn Gray League — Graue Bund — which was sworn beneath the maple tree in 1424. CoiRE (Chur) in Loiver R]i,(Ktia followed the example and formed a second league, called Gtottes Hause — Casa Dei. A third alliance was entered into by the Eastern Rhae- tians in the valleys of Davos. Lugnez, Savia, and the Lower Engaddin., in the year 1436, called the union of the Ten, Jurisdictions, and all three, fighting nobly against the armies of the Emperor Maximilian I., in 1499, joined the Swiss confederacy, but were not constituted as a canton (G-raubiin- den) until 1815. III. The seven districts of Upper Wallis — Haul Fa/«is— generous and brave, took arms against their tyrants, the Counts of Raron and Gcstelenburg ; they de- molished their castles, vanquished the Bishop of Sio7i (Sitten), and placed themselves under the protection of Berne. Only the Lower Wallis — Le Bas Valais — with the bishopric of Martigny (Octodunum), on the Rhone, obeyed the Counts of Savoy, who likewise held the province of Waadt — le Fays de Yaud — with Lausanne, Chillon, Moudon, Yverdun, and the populous and thriving Geneve, as fiefs of the Germanic Empire (403). 552. Cities, Castles, Battle-fields, and oti-ier His- torical Sites. — Rutli, a small elevated plain, overhanging the western shore of the Lake of Lucerne, where, on the night of November 8th, 1307, the three brave Waldstadters, Werner Stauffacher, of Schwyz, Walter Furst, of Uri, and Arnold von Melohthal, of Unterwalden, each with ten friends, met and took, with drawn swords, the solemn oath of delivering their • country from the tyranny of the Habsburgian bailiffs. At Brunnen, on the eastern shore of the lake opposite to Riitli, the federal pact between the Forest Cantons was ratified in November, 1315, after the battle of Morgarten. TelTs Plate, a flat rock on the eastern shore of the Lake of Lucerne, nearly opposite to Riitli. Here Wilhelm Tell sprang ashore from the boat of Gessler, during the storm, and escaped through the mountains.'-^^ At Altdorf, on the Reuss, south of the lake, are still seen the ruins of the Castle of Gessler, by him haughtily called the Zivinghurg, or Castle of Intimi- dation ; a beautiful chapel, richly adorned with paintings and '°^ After the expulsion of the Habsburgers, tlie mountaineers of the Forest Cantons began to perform pilgrimages to this romantic spot on the lake, and in the year 1388 — eighty-one years after the event, the Canton of TJri caused the tasteful chapel — the Tells Capelle — to be erected on the rock, where Tell leaped ashore. More than one hun- dred individuals, who had been personally acquainted with the hero, were present at the ceremony. See .Johannes von Mtiller's History of the Swiss Confederacy, Vol. I. inscriptions, commemorates the spot where the father shot the apple from the head of his son in July, 1307."" Tell was born in the neighboring villaga of Burglcn. At Kussnacltt, east of Lucerne, beneath Mount Rhigi, the traveller beholds the moss-grown towers and ruins of another castle of Gessler, the bailifl', and at a short distance toward the lake is the deep woody glen — Hohle Gasse — where the unerring arrow of Tell struck down the tyrant. There, too, a chapel, adorned with paintings, portraits, and verses, records the event. Morgarten, on the southeastern shore of the small Lake of Aegeri, on the frontiers of the Cantons of Schwyz and Zug, forms a defile between the Mount Sattel and the lake. There seven hundred men from the forest towns, commanded by the old Rudolph Reding, of Biberegg, defeated Duke Leopold of Austria and his helpless chivalry on the 16th November, 1315. Nearly the whole Austrian army perished beneath the halberts and clubs of the mountaineers, and only the Duke, pale and trem- bling, was saved, by a flight across the hills to the plain of W inter thur. Einsideln, in the canton of Schwyz, at a short distance from Morgarten, was the celebrated abbey of Bene- dictines, whose sacred fountain and miraculous image of the Virgin Mary, gathered thousands of pilgrims from Switzerland, Germany, and France. Their gifts enriched the monks, and when the abbots of the convent, in their pride, attempted to drive the herdsmen of Schwyz from their pastures on the mountains, they caused the interference of the Habsburgers, all the bloodshed that followed, and thus indirectly the inde- pendence of the cantons. 553. Sempach, a village on the eastern shore of the small lake of that name, in the canton of Lucerne, became, on the 9th of July, 1386, the battle-field on which Leopold II., Duke of Austria, with the flower of his chivalry, was defeated and slain by a small body of Swiss. It was here that Arnold of Winkelried opened the path of victory, by grasping the Aus- trian lances and burying them in his bosom. In the glade of the forest stands a beautiful chapel, with pictures representing the battle. Stanz, south of Sempach, the capital of Unter- walden, was the birthplace of Arnold of Winkelried, whose marble statue adorns the square of that pretty little town. Here, too, the pious hermit, Claus von der Flue, assembled the quarrelling republicans in a congress, 1481, and persuading them, by his earnest exhortations, to put a stop to their feuds, caused Solothurn and Freyburg to be admitted into the league (551). Windisch, at the confluence of the rivers Reuss, Limmat, and Aar, in the ancient county of Habsburg (the present can- ton of Aargau), near the Roman ruins of Vindonissa. There, on the banks of the Aar, in sight of his hereditary castle of Habsburg (523), the Emperor Albert I. was ruthlessly slaugh- tered by his nephew, John of Souabia, and his companions, Rudolphus of Balm, and Walter of Eschenbach, on the 1st of May, 1308. Queen Agnes of Hungary, the sister of the vic- tim, built on the spot the nunnery of Konigsfelden, where she lived in retirement, and was buried."' Lenzburg, a few miles south of Habsburg ; Kyburg, in the ancient county of that name, in Souabia (the present canton of Thurgau), Toggen- burg, east, on the river Thur (in the canton of Saint Gall) ; '''^^ Compare our § 295, p. 89 note 109. ''^■' That loving sister Agnes showed her Christian sympathy in an extraordinary manner. In her pious fury she caused more than a thousand innocent beings, knights, vassals, citizens, men, women, and children, from the castles and estates of the guilty noblemen, to be tor- tui-ed, quartered, hanged or beheaded, with fiendish cruelty, and from their bloody spoils, she built the convent for her nuns. This sainted Agnes was the daughter of King Rudolphus of Habsburg — the first Austrian ! 182 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. HELVETIA— HUNGARY. Rapperstvyl, on the eastern shore of the Zurich, Werdenberg, the seat of the powerful Coiuits of that name, in the upper valley of the Rhine (Canton of St. Gall), were all splendid castles of the Swiss nobility during the Burgundian times, ■whose ruins are still visited with pleasure by the modern tra- veller. There, too, in the Canton af Glarus, lies the pretty, small town of Ndfels, with the bridge over the Linth, where, on the 9th of April, 1388, the Glarners destroyed the third Austrian army. While the infantry, surrounded and broken, perished miserably in the narrow valley, the knights spurred away to the Lake of Wallenstadt ; but, on their crowding the long wooden bridge, it broke, and they, with their heavy armor and horses, sank, never to rise again. This memorable day is still a national festival among the Glarners. Laupen, a small town on the Sci'ane, west of Berne, be- came, on the 21st of June, 1338, the Marathon of the Berners. On that glorious field the young and aspiring re- public was rescued by her experienced leader. Count Rudolph of Erlach, like Athens of yore, by her Miltiades, from the un- just aggression of the neighboring nobility and their numerous vassals. " All the landmarks between Oberwyl and Wyden were covered with heaps of slain warriors and horses, with weapons and armor ; eight crowned helmets and twenty-seven baronial standards were carried in triumph to the victorious city." Yet the most remarkable scene of Helvetian bravery, and of the indomitable character of that people at the height of its virtue, was Sahit Jacobs, on the river Birs, a few miles south of Basle. There, sixteen hundred Swiss, with halberts and huge broadswords, withstood an entire army of 30,000 French and English adventurers, led on by the Dauphin (after- wards Louis XI.) and the most renowned generals of France. Ten thousand Frenchmen were slain around the inclosure of the churchyard of Saint Jacobs, before the artillery of the invaders succeeded in prostrating those devoted mountaineers who perished to a man. This terrific battle, at the modern Thermopylas of Helvetia, was fought on the 26th of August, 1444; it quenched the desire of the French cavaliers to pene- trate into the highly cultivated and happy valleys of the freemen ; their wild mercenary bands dispersed — and Switz- erland was saved.'"' At Granson, on the western shore of the Lake of Neucha- tel, and at Moral (Murten), on the small lake of that name, the united confederates prostrated the armies of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, in 1476 — and finally at Dornach, southwest of Basle, and in the defiles of Tyrolean frontiers they gained their last laurels against the forces of Maximilian I. and the Empire, in 1499, and the Swiss remained thence- forth undisturbed in their mountains. 554. The Swiss of the middle ages, like the Greeks of an- tiquity, knew not only how gloriously to defend their country, but conspicuously to preserve the memory of their forefathers' deeds, by those graceful monuments which every where con- secrate their battle-fields, and by the brilliant trophies which adorn their arsenals, and command the admiration and delight of the modern traveller."^ Yet the success of the Swiss in "*The French knights were amazed at tlie almost superhuman prowess and strength of the Swiss; they said, " Qu'en leur temps, Us n'avaient vu ni trouve aucunes gens de si grand defense, ni tant outrageux et temeraires pour ahandunner leurs vies." It was on the battle-field of the Birs that tlie calculating Louis XI. took up the idea of gaining over the Swiss to that alliance with France, which, during the following century, placed those terrible warriors at her disposal whenever she had money to purchase them. "*' Almost evei'y city in Switzei'Iand, Lucerne, Berne, Morat, Basic, ha3 preserved in its arsenals numerous trophies from its meJiffival vic- tories over Austrians and Burgundians. Yet, in none do these antiqui- ties present so picturesque and impressive a show as in the Senate these wars, and the immense booty they carried home from them, did not fail to produce a gradual change in their po- litics and morals. The simplicity of their manners, and their justice and moderation, gave way to luxury, corruption, and thirst for conquest. The period of the wild life — das folic Lehen — in Switzerland began among its wealthy and intox- icated warriors. Feuds arose between the different cantons, devastating incursions were undertaken across the Alps, where the valley of Bellinzona and the beautiful regions on the Lake of Lugano, were, by the Swiss, wrested from the Duke of Milan, until at last the severe check they sufl'ered at Marig- • nano, in 1515, by Francis I., forced them to return behind the bulwark of their Alps. Their severe discipline and admirable tactics, however, had already produced a complete change in the military system of those times. The firm squares of the Swiss infantry, bristling with halberts and spears, repelled every charge of the chivalry, and moved with rapidity and irresistible force against the slowly served batteries and ill disciplined foot soldiers of their opponents. The Emperor Maximilian I. imitated the Swiss, in the formation of his reg- ular regiments of Lanzknechte, or pikemen, and Charles V., according to Machiavelli, brought the military system of the Swiss to perfection in his Spanish armies. France, Milan, and Germany, now vied with one another in taking Swiss mer- cenaries into their service ; and those hardy mountaineers, who were so proud of their well-earned liberty at home, shed their blood hereafter for the warring despots abroad ; nay, it has been asserted, that more than a million, of Sweitzers have, during the last three centuries, sold their lives to France for a miserable pittance. IX. Kingdom of Hungahy. 555. Dynasties and Constitution. — The kingdom of the Magyars (314) attained its highest development toward the middle of the fourteenth century, when its great King, Louis of Anjou, uniting the crowns of Hungary and Poland, ruled as a sovereign over all the lands between the Adriatic and the Euxine, and extended the dominion of the Hungarian nation to its natural boundaries, the Carpathian range on the north, and Mount Balkan (Hasmus) on the south. During the reign of the ancient dynasty of Arpad, civilization had made but little progress among the wild and warlike Hungarians, partly on account of the roving habits of the Magyar nobles and the animosity of the native population against the foreign colonists, Kumani (315), Germans, and Wallaehians, to whom the kings had assigned lands within the kingdom, — and partly, too, on account of the indefiniteness of the royal prerogative and the troubles which had their origin in the disputed succession to the crown among various claimants. Order was at last re- stored in 1222, when Andreas II. — 1205-1235 — in his Golden Bull — Bulla Aurea — laid the foundation of the later Hun- garian constitution. Yearly diets of the states met at Stuhl- weissenburg, where in the presence of the King or the Count Palatine (314), they consulted about all the important aifairs House of Solothurn. In a Gothic hall, richly decorated with banners and weapons of every description, is seen a group of thirteen figures in complete suits of armor, in a sitting posture, around the council table. The glittering steelmen represent the envoys of the thirteen Cantons ; while the mailclad presideut, attended by his pages, is standing at the head of the board, reading the decree of the confederates of 1511, for their marching into Italy, in succor of the Duke of Milan. The charnel house, near Morat, with its heaps of human bones from the defeat of Charles the Bold, was destroyed by the French revolu- tionarj' arm3', in 1798, but a graceful column has lately been erected on the spot, and the vaults of the city hall of Morat are si ill filled with an entire arsenal of Burgundian armor and artillery, from the battles of Granson, Morat, and Nancy. EIGHTH PEIUOD.— A. 1). 1300-1453. HUNGARY. 183 of the kingdom. The hereditary succession of the fiefs was proclaimed ; the revenues of the crowu were restricted to the royal domains ; no foreigners were to obtain office or landed estate ; the nobility rendered knights' service only within the boundaries of the realm. The clergy lost part of their extra- vagant immunities, and slavery was abolished ; yet the re- markable clause was added to the compact, by which the nobil- ity and clergy were entitled to the right of armed resistance against the king if he should transgress the fundamental laws of the kingdom.""" Tranqiiillity being thus restored, and the at- tention of an active people directed to the fertility and advan- tageous situation of their country, Hungary became flourishing in the reign of KingBela IV., when the sudden invasion of the Mongol hordes (385), the defeat of the Hungarians at Mohi in 1241, and the flight of the king into Austria, caused the desolation of the whole northern and eastern parts of the kingdom, as far as the Danube and the hilly regions of Tran- sylvania. Fearful were the cruelties of the Asiatic barbarians, who left nothing behind them but ruined cities and mouldering corpses, and it is only with shuddering that we read the Hun- garian chronicles of those times. Yet, on the hasty retreat of Batu Chan toward the Volga, Hungary began to recover from her wounds, and her decimated population became in part re- stored by the numerous colonies of Italians, Flemings, Saxons and other Germans, who, following the invitation of King Bela, were settled in the valleys of the Carpathian mountains and the plains of Transylvania. The Arpad dynasty became extinct in A. D. 1301, and was succeeded by the Neapolitan branch of the House of Anjou,™' the most brilliant period in Hungarian history. The Angevin princes of Hungary dis- tinguished themselves favorably above those of Naples by their superior capacity and restless activity ; they maintained the royal dignity against the magnates and clergy, and were power- fully supported by the Romish Pope, their Rumanian auxil- iaries, and the many foreigners of talent and learning, whom "'° Tliis right of the Hungarians of taking up arms against their king, whicli has lately been so much discussed and commented upon by Louis Kossuth in this countrj', forms the closing lines of King An- dreas' concessions in the Golden Bull, with these words : Quod si vero iVbs vel aliquis successnrum nostrorwm aliguo unquatii tempore, huic dis- positioni noatrcB contra-ire voluerit ; liberam haheant harum auctoriiate,sine iiota alicnjus infideli.tatis tarn episcopi quarn. alii Jobbngiones (the noble castcllaiis and court ofRoers) ac nobiles regni, universi ei singuli, prm- scntes et futari ponlerique resistendi et contradicendi Hos et nostris svcces- suribus in perpchiam facuUatem ! All the subsequent wars in Hungary and the insurrections against Austrian oppression in more modern time3 of the patriotic Rakoozy, Tekelj', and Kossuth, have sprung from this privilege of resisting the perversion of the constitution, sword in hand. 8(ii THE ANJOU DYNASTY IN HUNGARY. Charles Martel, the Pretender, 1 1305, married to Clementia of Habsburg, 1 1295. Charles Robert, King of Hungary, 1305-1342, married to Catherine of Poland, + 1881. Louis the Great, Kins <'<" Hunsary, Naples, and Poland, 1842-1382, married to Elizabeth of Bosnia, 1 13S6. I Andreas, King of Naples, smothered by his wife, Queen Giovanna, at Anversa, 1345. Makt, heiress of Hungary, 1 1392, married to Sigismund of Luxemburg, Emperor of Germany, 1 143T. Elizabeth, 1 144T, married first to Albert II. f 1489, snd secondly to Ladislaw V., 1 1444. Hedwig, heiress of Poland, 1 1 married to Jagellon, of Lithuania. Ladislaw V., King of Hungary and Poland, perished at Varna, 1444, (married to Elizabeth of Hungary.) Elizabeth, tl505, married to Oa-simir of Poland, 1 1492. 'Lasisi.a-w. VII., King of Hun£8ry and Bohemia, 1490-1518. Ladislaw VI., (son of Albert,) King of Huntrary, 1 1457. (Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary. 1458-1490.) Anna, Queen of Hungary, tl54T, married to Fe^kdinand I. of Habsburg, Emperor of Germany, who united Hungary witli Austria, 1 1561, Louis II., PontJiumus, King of Hingary, 1516-1526, perished at Mobacz. they placed in important ofiices around the throne. The wars with the Venetian Republic in Dalniatia, and the intimate re- lations of Hungary with Naples and France, produced great changes in the ideas, manaers, and social habits of the Magyars. French and Italian became the language spoken at court and among the nobility, who now began to abandon their Tartar usages. High schools were opened in Funf kirchen (Pecs) in 1367, and King Sigismund erected the first university in Buda-Pesth, 1388."^ The produce of the mines in the Carpa- thian Mountains and Transylvania enriched the treasury ; the Court of Wissegrad vied with those of Paris and Naples in splendor and enjoyments, while the victorious armies extend- ed the frontiers of the kingdom. Louis the Great was worthy of his name ; he ruled his vast empire for forty years with extraordinary energy and justice, and succeeded in uniting Magyars and Poles into a powerful nation, the bulwark of Europe in the East. We shall here take a review of the geography of Hungary and its dependencies towards the close of the fourteenth century, immediately before the advance of the Ottoman Turks on the Danube, and the decline of the Magyaric empire. 556. Limits and Division. — A. The Kingdom of Hun- gary was bounded on the north and east by the Carpathian range — Krapak — on the south by the Danube, and its trilu- tary, the Save, and on the west by the mountains of Oeden- burg, and the rivers Lafnitz, Leitha, Danube, and Manh, which separated it from Austria and Moravia. It embraced the two principal provinces of the Magyar empire : — I. jMag- yar-Orszag — Hungaria Propria — with the provinces of Sclavonia and Synnia ; and II. Erdely-Orszag — Sieben- burgen — the Seven Castles — or Transylvania, 557. Hungary Proper, the home of the Magyar race, had its natural division in I., Western (Lower) Hnngary, by the Danube, subdivided into the Cis-Danubian and Trans- Danubian circles, and in II., Eastern (tapper) Hungary, which the river Theiss separated into the Cis-Tibiscon ai.d Trans- Tibiscatt circles. These four circles contained fifty- three comitats — gespan?tschaften (253, 314), the names of which are already familiar to the historiQal student from the melancholy events of the late insurrection in 1848, 1849. On the east and north of the Danube lay the counties of Festli., Zolth, Bacs, Bodrogh, Neograd, Hontli, Sohl, Gran. Bars, Thurocz, Lipto, Arva, Trentcsin, Neithra, Komorn, and Po- sony (Pressburg). On the south and west of that river, the counties of Pilis (between Gran and Buda), Raab, Mosony (Wieselburg), Soprony (Oedenburg), Vasvar (Eisenburg), west of the dense and dreary forest of Bakovy, which extended south to Szalad^ on the lake of Balaton, and east to Ves- prim ; farther, Szekes-Feijervar (Stuhlweissenburg), Somog- yvar (Siimegh), Tolna and Baranyvar, in the swampy delta, between the Danube and the Drave. 558. The comitats in the Tibiscan circles were : on the east ''"^ A number of conventual and parochial schools liad already been established in Hungary during the eleventh century. In the twelfth many j'ouths, devoting themselves to the church, received their educa- tion in the university of Paris. The first attempt at a college — Studium Generate — in Hungary, was made in 1320, by King Ladislaw HI. at Vesprim, where the free arts, theology and jurisprudence were taught to a numerous assembly of students from every part of the kingdom. The Latin language had already supplanted the rough native tongue of the Magyars, yet many precious specimens of the popular dialect of this period have been preserved, in national ballads, war-songs, Mag- yar translations of the Golden Bull of King Andrew II., and in transla- tions of the sacred Scriptures, made as early as 1382. The development of the Magyar literature itself does not, however, begin before the six- teenth century. 184 EIGHTH PEEIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. HUNGARY. u of the Theiss : Marmaros, the border-country on the Eastern Carpathians, througli the defiles of which the Mongol swarms had invaded Hungary in 1241 ; Ugosz, Szathmar, Szabolcz, the two large coniitats of the Outer and Middle Szohiok, ex- tendino- through the immense plains between the Theiss and the highlands of Transylvania; Bibar, Kraszna, Bekes. Za- rand, on the river Koros ; Gsanard and Ara,d, on the Maros ; Torontal^ Temes, and Krassova, south on the Danube, in the Banat of Temesvar. On the west of the Theiss were situated the comitats of Unghvar, Beregh, Ze7)iplm, in the island be- tween the Theiss and the Bodrog, where the sunny hills of Tokay were cultivated with vines in the times of King Louis of Anjou ; Aba- Ujvar, Saros, Borsod, Torna, Zips, Gd7ndr, and Heves. 559. The Sclavonian and Syrmian provinces — HorvatJi and Toth-Orszag — between the rivers Save, Brave, and Da- nube, formed the southwestern frontier counties of Hungary. They were divided into the comitats : Wdraxdin, on the Drave, Zagord, belonging to the powerful Counts of Cilly (526), Zagrab, Koros, Verocze, Poschega, Valko, and the Syr- mian peninsula, between the Save and the Danube, with the important fortress of Semlin, opposite to Belgrade, in Servia. Syrmia was held by the distinguished family of the Hunyads. II. Transylvania (33, 314), the beautiful and fertile pro- vince, east of Hungary Proper, surrounded by mountains, and watered by the Szamos, Maros, and Aluta, became later an independent principality, under the sway of the Zapolyas, in opposition to Austria It was divided into the comitats, Bis- triz and the Saxon Nb&lerland, protecting the northeastern frontiers of Mount Krapak, toward the Bukowina, and, there- fore, granted to the warlike family of the Hunyads ; in the in- terior, Doboha and Inner- Szolnok, on the Szamos ; Kolos, Tliorda, Kiikidlo, Feijervar (Weissenburg), Hazseg, and Hunyad, on the southwest, protecting the celebrated defiles of Volkan, on the Schyl, and of Vasag or the Iron-Gate, open- ing on the plains of Temesvar. The upper valley of the Ma- ros and the eastern frontiers were inhabited by the warlike Turco-Magyar tribe of the Szeklers (253), and divided into the districts of Maros, Udvarhely, and Harom. Southern Transylvania, or the Saxon Country, was colonized by Germans, and contained the districts of the Weinland, the hill-country between the Maros and Aluta, Fagaras and the Burzenland, southeast on the Wallachian frontiers, which earlier had been intrusted to the protection of the Teutonic Knights. 560. In no part of Europe do we find, during the middle ages, and even at the present day, so many nations of different origin, language, and manners, living together under the same 'government, as in Hungary. Of the ten or twelve millions inhabiting the highlands and plains between the Carpathian Mountains and the Danube, four millions only were Magyars (253), the conquering and ruling nation which held the sway, but occupied only some parts of that vast territory. Tlieir settlements lay mostly on the Danube, Theiss, and Maros, and in the counties bordering on Germany. Different Sclavo- nian tribes, the Slowaks, Ruthenians or Malo-Russians, and others, inhabited the mountainous regions of Stibor, 7Aps, and Marmaros, along the southern slope of the Carpathians where they became blended with Rhenish and other German colonists, who, as industrious and intelligent miners, explored the rich ores of the mining districts of Schemnitz, Kemnitz, and Neu-Sohl. On the sandy plain between the Theiss and Danube, were seen the straggling tents of forty thousand Ku- MANic families, whom King Bela IV. had established there. contrary to the desire of his Magyar subjects.''"^ Their dis- trict was divided into Nagy-Kunszag — Great Kumania — on the east of the Theiss, and Kis-Kukszag- — Lesser Kuma- nia, westward, between that river and the Danube. South of the Kumani, in the Bacs Country, on the Lower Danube, dwelt the nomadic Jazyges (33, 45, 90), who served as mounted archers in the Hungarian armies, while the country north was occupied by the Haydukes, or Freebooters, a Bul- garo-Servian tribe, well known in modern military history as the best light infantry of the Austrian armies in the eighteenth century. Hokvaths (Croats), Bulgars and Raitzi (Servians), the fiercest of the Danubian SclaA'i, inhabited the provinces on the Save, and rendered, during the fifteenth cen- tury, important services to the kingdom in the wars with the Ottoman Turks. 561. Still more divided among heterogeneous tribes was the Hill-Country. Numerous Saxon and Dutch colonies had, since the thirteenth century, transformed the woodland val- leys of the Maros, Kockel, and Ahita, into a flourish- ing garden, where, embosomed among vineyards and or- chards, arose the German cities of Hermanstadt (Szeben), Miihlenbach and KronstadtJ'^'^ The latter city, situated at the northern base of the Wallachian Mountains, in the Burzenland (559), was granted to the Knights of the Teutonic Order, on their return from Palestine. But their arrogant bearing and ambitious pretensions caused King ™^ On the approach of the Mongols, the King was forced to impri- son tlieir chief, Kutlieu-Chan, together with liis nobles, and when the blaze of burning villages and towns announced the rapid march of the Tartars upon Pestli, the frightened multitude stormed the loyal palace and slaughtered the Kuman hostages, unjustly suspecting them of hay- ing betrayed the mountain passes to the invaders. The enraged horde then, in all earnest, went over to the Mongols, and committed such atrocious cruelties on the Hungarian families which fell into their hands, that the Magyar nation never afterwards would forgive their descendants, though they remained in the country, protected by the Anjou Kings, and forming their faithful body guard. ''"The peaceful existence of a German State in the midst of Sclavo- nic, Wallachian, and Hungarian countries, is an interesting historical phenomenon. Herman, a German chief, is said to have founded these colonies, and built Hermanstadt, about a. d. 1000. More certain, how- ever, is, that King Geisa II., in 1143, invited a number of German fam- ilies from Franconia, Westphalia, and Thuringia, then suffering from the violent feuds of the Welfs andWalblingers (397), to settle down in the incult woodlands of Black Hungary, or Transylvania (314), and with their German broadswords defend their new home from the Tar- tar cavalry hovering on the eastern frontiers. The Magyars called the new-comers Szaszoks (Hospites Teutonici), and the Arpadian Kings granted them certain immunities and privileges, by which that quiet, laborious people was enabled to form their own municipal and eccle- siastical government. They cleared the forest, and, assisted by the straggling Petchenegues and Wallachians, who, as herdsmen, tended their cattle and sheep, they soon became comfortable and wealthy. No feudal burdens called them away from the plough ; nor did they suffer any hereditary nobility to spring up among them ; thus, those in- telligent backwoodsmen have preserved their democratic liberty to the present day. In their mountain-girt and secluded valleys they en- joyed the blessings of civil and religious liberty, still more strength- ened by the austerest morals and brotherly union ; yet often disturb- ed by the sweeping incursions of the Turkish cavalry, who scoui'ed the open plains of Hungary, and planted their crescent-banners in the suburbs of Vienna. But the Spahis found the stout Germans prepared for defence. The Saxon ploughed his field with the sword at his belt. The churchyard of his village was a turretted fortress, from which the watchman sounded the alarm, and the first glimpse of the. turban on the distant mountain tops, was the signal for the frighted famihes, with their cattle and provisions, to hurry toward the House of God — Gottes- haus — which the brave Germans had often defended with success. Yet, the misery inflicted by the Turks in later times, by their union with the insurgent Zapolyan Princes of Transylvania, is lemembered to the pre- sent day, and the Hungarian mother still hushes her restless child with the threat of "The Tartar is coming" — Thon jiinnek a Tartdrok ! EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. HUNGAEY. 185 Andrew II. to expel them, sword in hand, in 1224. Only the Knights Hospitallers of Saint John in Jerusalem (340), succeeded in obtaining a firm footing in Hungary, where those gallant monk-warriors contributed powerfully to the defence of the Danube lines against the Ottoman Turks. Another tribe, difi'ering from the rest, were the Szeklers, about whom we have spoken above (559). The adjacent valleys were occupied by the Wallachian shepherds — the Rumani — descendants of the Roman or Daco-Latin population of ancient Dacia (33), who still speak a corrupt dialect of the Latin language.-"' Among the many nationalities of mediaeval Hungary, we meet with the Gypsies — Zingani or Zigeuner, that roaming Hindoo tribe, which made its first appearance on the Carpathian Mountains about the middle of the fifteenth century. Having been driven from then- home on the banks of the Indus, in Scinde and Guzzerate, by the irruption of the Mongols, they fled westward, and numerous bands of them settled down in Hungary, as smiths or horse-dealers, and rendered themselves useful in Transylvania, by washing and digging for gold in the beds of the rivers. More obnoxious than the Gypsies became the Jews, who, having obtained some privileges by King Bela II., in the course of time contrived to bring the commerce and currency of the country within their control, and the greatest monarch of Hungary, Louis of Anjou, found it therefore expedient to expel them from the kingdom in 1352. The proud Magyars, occupied witli military exercises, feuds, and intrigues, treated the foreign settlers with arrogance and contempt, but the prudent Angevin kings cherished their industry, lightened their burdens, and thus preserved the existence of those rival nationalities, which have aiforded the Austrian princes the means to control and bridle the Hungarians, and counteract all their strenuous efforts to restore the independence of the crown of Saint Stephen. 562. Cities and Historical Sites in Hungary. — "Wisse- GRAD — Castncin Alburn^ or Blendenburg, on its elevated and romantic site, overhanging the Danube, north of Buda, became the residence of the Kings of the Arpadian and Angevin dynasties. There the awful tragedy took place, on April 17, 1330, in which the old nobleman, Felician of Zaach, attempted to revenge on the royal family the mortal injury which his beautiful and innocent daughter Clara had suffered from the wild passions of King Casimir of Poland.""" There too the young King Sigismund was kept a prisoner by the Hungarian people until he had guaranteed them the enjoyment of their charter and liberties. Buda, with Pesth, on the opposite eastern bank of the Danube, was the later capital and largest city in Hungary. On the square of Saint George, the weak and worthless King Ladislaw V., instigated by the treacherous counts of Cilly, ordered the execution of the eldest son of John Hunyad in 1456, which caused his own destruction, and raised the younger brother Matthias Corvinus to the Hunga- rian throne. In Feijervar (Stuhlweissenburg), southwest of Buda, with its splendid cathedral, the Hungarian kings were , crowned and buried. On the plain of Mohi, in the comitat / of Torna, near the junction of the river Hernad and the --V Theiss, was fought the great battle between Batu-Chan, the yj Mongol (385), and the Hungarians, in which the latter, out- k^ flanked and overwhelmed by the Mongol myriads, suffered a ^^' See interesting details on the manners and language of the Eu- mani of Wallachia, by Rev. Dr. "Walsh, in his travels through the Prin- cipalities. London, 1830. (We quote from memory.) ^^^ See the account of this event in John Paget's Hungary and Transylvania, vol. i., page 199. The ruins of the old castle preserve still to this day the popular appellation of Wissegrddi-Cldra, in com- memoration of the unhappy maiden. 24 total defeat in 1241. At Rozgoriy, on the river Tarcza, in the Zips, Charles Robert, by the gallantry of the Knights Hospitallers, on the 15th June, 1312, vanquished and slew the Count of Trentcsin, and, forcing his rebellious faction to submission, secured the Hungarian crown to the Anjou dynasty. Ung- Var, in the Carpathian ridge, was the first city conquered by the Magyars, in 855, and from which they are supposed to have been called Hungarians (Ungars). Mohacs, on the western bank of the Danube, south of Buda, became the fatal battle-field on which the last King of Hun- gary, Louis II. Posthumus, perished with his small but devoted army, against Sultan Suleyman II., on the 29th of August, 1526, and Hungary ceased to be an independent empire. . Miinkacs, Komorn, Whrasdin, Temesvar, and Se?7iHn, in Syrmia, were for centuries the bulwarks of the kingdom. Kolasvar (Klausenburg), on the Szamos, in Tran- sylvania, was the birthplace of Matthias Corvinus. Karls- burg, on the Maros, south of the former, the residence of the great John Hunyad. In the Cathedral of Saint Michael, the tombs of the Hunyad family are still revered by the unhappy Magyar people, so sensitive to its former gloi'y.^" Vasag (the Iron-gate), on the border of the Banat, Volkan, Veres- Torony (Red Tower), Torzburg, and, Oitosch, were defiles in the Carpathian Mountains, opening on the plains of Walla- chia and Moldavia, which were fortified by towers, and intrust- ed to the vigilance of the Szekler Borderers. Influential families among the Magyar magnates were the Counts of Trentcsin, in the north, the Bathory, Nadasd, Erdody, Bereny,Hedervar, Kanisa, Battyan, Orszag, and Szilagyi, Kapoly, on the Lake of Balatan, and the Palff'y, in the comitat of Bacs. None, however, became so distinguished as the powerful Hunyadi, possessing immense estates in Tran- sylvania, the Banat of Temesvar, and Syrmia. In the west we meet with the Counts of Zapolya and the Styrian Counts of Cilly (526, 559), who exercised the most pernicious influence on Hungarian politics, and by their hate against the Hunyadi caused endless disorders in the kingdom. 563. B. Dependencies of the Hungarian Empire in THE 14th AND 15th Centuries. — I. The Kingdom of Galicia, (now Lodomeria and Bukovina), north and northeast of the Carpathian range, was early conquered by the Arpadian kings — 1185-1220 — but the Magyar dominion beyond the moun- tains could only be maintained by force of arms, and the nominal pretensions were therefore ceded to Poland, in 1423. The country was divided into the three principalities of Belz, Przemysl, and Halicz. The inhabitants were Ruthe- nians or Russniaks (303, 451), a rough but industrious race, who professed the Greek religion, and occupied the Carpathian valleys far into Hungary. Their principal cities were Przein- ysl and Jaroslaio. Leopolis (Lemberg) was the residence of the princes of Halicz. Seventy Greek churches and con- vents denoted the piety of the citizens. Many Greek mer- chants were settled there, and the unhappy fugitives from Constantinople, in 1453, found a hospitable reception among their kind-hearted co-religionists in Galicia. II. The kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia, south of the Save, and extending along the shores of the Adriatic to the Gulf of Cattaro, was conquered by King Kalmany in 1102 (260). The Hungarians pursued their success; all "'" The full figures of the ancient heroes, though much injured by time or the wanton insults of the Austrians, still decorate the covers of the sarcophagi. The marble statue of John of Hunyad is represented as clothed in a flowing mantle, beneath which is seen the tight Hunga- rian costume of the time. Other figures are dressed in armor, "but with their waists more ridiculously pinched in," says Paget, " than even a Paris milliner would venture on." 1S6 EiaHTH PEKIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. EAGUSA— BOSNIA. Dalmatia — with the exception of the islands oiF the coast, early occupied by the Venetians,— the kingdoms of Rama, Bosnia, and Western Servia, were subdued between the years 1127 and 1138. The sly Venetians, however, profiting by the internal feuds among the Arpadian Princes, recovered the sea-coast, but were finally expelled during the brilliant campaigns of Louis the Great, in 1356-1357, and thenceforth Croatia was permanently united with the Hungarian crown. The possession of the Dalmatian coast proved troublesome to the Hungarian kings, because they neglected the ports and naval establishments, though they continued in such intimate relations to Naples ; and the native Dalmatians, as a sea- faring people, preferred the Venetian Republicans to the Hungarian Hussars. The revolution broke out in 1419 ; the Magyars were driven out of the country, and the banner of Saint Mark floated again along the sunny coast. A republican constitution was then introduced into the cities, under the protection of a Venetian provveditore ; but the .warlike Dalmatians of Poglizza, the Morlachs or Sea- Wallachs of the Litorale, or coast-district, and the roving Haidukes (Robber-captains) on the table-lands of the Dina- rian Alps, maintained their independence. They were always in arms, and lived by depredations on sea and land. The Hungarian kings, in order to flatter and conciliate the Croats, ennobled their chiefs, and formed numerous counties, such as those of Zengh, Corbavia, Lika, GrodniscJi, Zriny, nay, the entire district of Turopolia, on the beautiful plain of Turoj consisting of thirty-three villages, was ennobled by King Belo IV. All the inhabitants ranked with the Magyar aristocracy and sent special deputies to the Hungarian diets. Belograd or Zara- Vecchia was the ancient residence of the Croatian kings. Sebenico, with a splendid cathedral, profited by its excellent harbor to become a thriving commercial city. Zara (Jadera), on the coast, the most unruly of cities, became the eye-sore of Venice on account of the repeated rebellions of its citizens, and the immense sacrifices of men and money which its reduction cost the Republic. The Dalmatians were a handsome and intelligent people, whose principal in- dustry consisted in ship-building; they plied the Adriatic as far as the Archipelago and Constantinople with hundreds of caravels and quick sailing barks ; Dalmatia itself is one of the most fertile and picturesque regions on the shores of the Mediterranean.'"'' 564. III. The Republic of Ragusa (139, 369) having placed itself under the protection of Hungary, — 1358-1526 — may be ranked among the Selavonian States, during this period dependent on the Magyar empire. This small but highly intelligent people deserve the more our attention, because it was the only one of all the Slavic States that had adopted a republican form of government, which it succeeded in maintaining by bravery and shrewd policy between powerful neighbors until it was swept away by the storms of the Na- poleonic wars.-''' Its territory extended over a surface of 102 square miles, and consisted of a narrow and rocky tract on the coast, running out into the projecting peninsula of Sabbion- ccHo, and of the small islands Meleda, Cazza, and Lagosta, with a population of 70,000 inhabitants, of a mixed Slavo- Italian origin. Ragusa soon became a flourishing and ^"^ For a description of Dalmatia and Monte Negro with many his- torical details, see the eloquent work of Sir Gardener Wilkinson. London, 1846. Vols. I, II. "'" The French General Lauriston took possession of the neutral Eepublic in ] 806. Ragusa was besieged and taken by the Austrians in 1814, and forms at present a circle in the government of Dalmatia. Of all the Italian Republics of the Middle Ages, only the small San Mari'no, on Mount Apennine, has survived. important city ; its government was directed by a Senate and two Councils, at the head of which a Rettore, or president, held the executive power. Treacherous Venice attempted repeatedly to subvert the independence of her rival, but prudent Ragusa placed itself under the protection first of the Byzantine empire, and, on its decline, under that of King Louis of Hungary, while its brave mariners, beating off the Venetians, hoisted their flag in every port of the Mediter- ranean. 565. IV. The Kingdom of Rama (Bosnia) was bounded by the Save on the north, on the west the Unna separated it from Croatia, and on the east the Drin from Servia. Southward it fol- lowed the course of the Dinarian Alps, but touched the Adriatic coast on the river Narenta. This mountainous region was well watered by the rapid rivers Bosna, Verbas, Pliva, Sanniza, and Rama ; its valleys were fertile, and the scenery of sur- passing beauty. Its rich gold and iron mines in the Alps were worked by the ancient Romans, but neglected by the indolent Bosniaks (Bosnians), the most barbarous of all the Sclavonians on the Danube. Rama"° was early divided into the provinces : Ussora, Sala, Varosch, Krakova, Orach (Suitowa), and Podrima, with the principalities of Czitrna- gora (Montenero) and Zenta, on the frontiers of Albania, and the two duchies of Rama, in the Alps, and San Saba, or Herzegowina, west of the mountains on the Narenta and the rocky coast of the Adriatic. The principal cities were : Jaicza (the Oval City) and Banjaluka, both on the Verbas, and ancient capitals of the Kings of Rama. Traivnick and Sarajevo, on the Bosna, strong and populous cities in the mountains. Mostar and Livno impregnable fortresses in the passes of the Herzegowina. Rama formed earlier a part of the kingdom of Servia, and was governed by Voivods, until Twartko threw off the yoke in 1375, and calling in the Hun- garians, obtained the royal title from King Louis, as a reward for his duplicity. The influence in Bosnia of so active a monarch as Louis of Anjou, became soon all-powerful, princi- pally on account of the violent religious disturbances in that country, and the crusade preached by the Pope against the Bosnian heretics— the Paterins ^" — whose conversion by fire and sword was intrusted to the King of Hungary. Swarms of Franciscan and Dominican Monks accompanied the invading army in 1352, and exerted themselves with an excessive zeal in the conversion of the heretics, but with no success ; they only served the political views of the Magyar Kings, whose yoke under Sigismund became so insupportable that the Bos- nians, in 1415, called the Ottoman Sultan to their relief. The victorious arms of the great Matthias Corvinus once more reconquered Bosnia, in 1 472, and placed a vassal king on the throne; but the Osmanlis under Suleyman II., prostrated the Hungarians at Mohacs, in 1526, and took permanent posses- sion of all the lands south of the Danube. 566. V. The Kingdom of Rascia (Servia), the ancient Moesia Superior (34, 368), extended along the southern bank "" Bosnia obtained its earlier name of Rama from a mountain torrent of that name discharging itself into the Narenta, and that of Bosnia from the principal river Bosna, originating in the Dinarian Alps, and running northward into the Save. "' These Paterini — Kathars or Ketzers — seem to have followed the Unitarian doctrines of the unhappy Paulicians, whom the Greek Em- peror John Tziniisces had transported from Armenia to Mount Hsemus, in Thrace (266). They formed a numerous sect in Bosnia, whose inhabitants belonged to the Greek Church, and tliey were by the Latins called Bogomiles, because they were accustomed frequently to invoke the divine mercy in the Selavonian tongue. Bog, in that Ian- guage, signifies God, and milvi is equivalent to the Greek imperative f\4i](Tov, show mercy ! Therefore Bog-milvi or Bogomiles. EIGHTH PBEIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. SERVIA— BULGARIA. 187 of the Save and the Danube, from the Drin, on the west, to the Timok on the east. The high range of Mount Scardus (Schavdagh) formed its natural boundary on the south. Lower chains stretch northward, through the country which is watered by the broad and rapid Morava and its tributaries, the Ibar, Topllcza, and others. Servia, or Serblia, was divided into the Banat of Machou [Longomeria), on the Danube, conquered by King Stephen II. of Hungary in 1 128 ; the principality of Branitzowa; and eight voivodats : 1, Ressawa ; 2, Temnitz ; 3, Czernagora ; 4, Starhvla ; 5, Metoja ; 6, Kossoiua ; 7, Schupa ; and 8, Nissawa. The counties of Zenta on the lake of Scutari, and Podrima, in Rascia Proper, were afterwards wrested from Serbia by the Krals of Bosnia. Kruschevacz (Turk. Aladja Hissar), on the western Morava, was after Scodra (35) the residence of the Servian kings. Their sepulchral vaults were situated in Procupia (Kralowa, or royal town), southwest of the former. Branitzowa, a fortress on the Danube, which gallantly with- stood the Byzantine Greeks. Still more celebrated was Belgrade Belograd, Alba Grceca, near the ruins of the ancient Singedunum (34), on the southern bank of the Da- nube, opposite to Sernlin, in Syrmia. This strongly fortified city became the bulwark, not only of Hungary, but of all Christendom, against the terrible invasions of the Ottomans during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. King Salomon of Hungary had conquered it from the Byzantines in 1073, during the troubles of Constantinople preceding the accession of Alexius Comnenus (324), who re-took it from the Hun- garians. Belgrade was then alternately in the possession of the Bulgarians and Servians, and from the latter, Sigismund brought it back to Hungary. John Hunyad defended the city victoriously against the Turks in 1442, and when Mo- hammed II., after the capture of Constantinople, appeared before Belgrade with 200,000 Turks, the Magyar hero and the brave Franciscan monk Capistran defeated them in three pitched battles beneath the walls — July 14, 21, 22, 1456 — and forced the furious Sultan to raise the siege with a loss of more than 60,000 men. Nor did the Ottomans obtain possession of the city until the great invasion of Suleyman II. in 1521.^'- Smederoioo (Semendria),on the junction of the Morava with the Danube, was a city likewise illustrious by brilliant sieges and battles during the Turkish wars. At Kossowa, on the banks of the Schitnitoza, was fought the bloody battle between Servians and Turks on the 15th of June, 1389, which ter- minated in the total defeat of the former, and the downfall of their kingdom. Their last King Lazar Brankowitch was "^ Belgrade became stronger after every siege. The city consisted of four different parts : 1, the Acropolis, or fortress, situated on a towei'ing rock, in the centre of the whole, commanding the Danube from its high walls and massy towers. Its triple moats were filled with water, immense outworks defended the approach ; the interior of the fortress, with its bomb-proof casemates, deep cisterns, and subter- raneous passages, was the residence of the commander-in-chief of the Danubian frontiers, and later of the Turkish Pasha of Servia. A broad esplanade separates the castle from 2, the Water Town, the finest quarter of the city, likewise carefully fortified toward the Danube ; and 3, the city of the Rascians westward, on the Save, protected by palisades and batteries. The extensive suburb Palanka, with its bazaars, on the south and east of the fortress, formed the fourth quarter of Belgrade, the number of whose inhabitants was then larger than at the present day — 30,000 souls. Several small islands lie before Belgi-ade, the larger of which, that of the Gypsies, was fortified, and belonged to the defensive system of the town. The flames, bombardments, and other havoc of war have left little of the medioeval city of Belgrade. All the fortifications were lately in a dilapidated state ; the edifices of the castle were fast mouldering away, and nothing met the eye of the tra- veller but filth and Turkish squalidness and misery. At the present moment, however, great repairs no doubt are going on, and Belgrade may yet become the palladium of Ottoman heroism, as it formerly had been Ihat of the Magyars. captured bythe'Turks; but Sultan Murad I., while crossing the battle-field, was cut down by a noble Servian, Milosch Kobilawitch, who rose suddenly among the slain. The infuriated Ottomans then slaughtered the Servian king and prisoners, and spread bloodshed and devastation all over the country.-" Half a century later — in 1448 — John Hunyad and Murad II. met in arms on the same field, and the Chris- tians, in spite of the heroic bravery of the Hungarians, were again outflanked and defeated, after a fearful slaughter of three days — October 18-20. Hunyad escaped from the field, but fell into the hands of the treacherous Krai of Servia. 567. Stephen Boistlaw had, in 1040, thrown off the Byzan- tine yoke' (324). Able and active chiefs succeeded him on the throne, the most celebrated of whom was Stephen Duschan — 1336-1356. Stephen not only repelled all the attacks of the Byzantines, but carried his arms into the heart of Epirus, to Joannina, and took the title of Czar ; nay, he granted his people one of the most humane and enlightened codes of the Middle Ages, breathing a noble and benevolent spirit, and securing the peace and prosperity of his beautiful but unhappy country. The Servian statutes — Zalcon y TJstaw — bridled the arrogance of the nobles — Knceses — and protected the peas- antry and settlers — posadni/cs. Clergy, voivods, and nobles, sat in the diets and took part in the legislation. A body of German troops strengthened the national army, which was formed by the nobles, as vassals of the crown. Even a mili- tary order of Saint Stephen was established, and the kingdom divided into eight voivodats, which were assigned to the most powerful of the Boyards. This proved a dangerous practice ; the turbulent chieftains aspired at independence, and thus prepared the dissolution of the Servian State. Louis the Great, in several successful campaigns, in 1359-1361, brought Servia under the supremacy of Hungary, and Lazar Brankowitch was obliged to renounce the royal title of Krai and as k7ices or vassal render homage to the Hungarian king. While the successors of Stephen Duschan were engaged in civil feuds with their rebellious voivods, the Ottomans crossed the mountains. After the fall of Lazar Brankowitch, at Kossowa, in 1389, the whole southern province fell into the possession of the Sultans ; only in the north the Brankowitch family, by their vacillating and treacherous policy between Hungary and the Sultan, still maintained their dominion, until the year 1459, when Mohammed made all Servia a Turkish province, under the name of Serf-Eyaleti. We have already touched on the spirited character of the Servian nation (196, 324, 368); the brilliant period of their history still lives in the hearts of their descendants, and is the theme of a thousand legends and songs, which paint the events and characters of the times with truth and fancy in a highly poetical and beautiful language.'^* 568. VI. The Kingdom of Bulgaria, eastward of Ser- via, followed the southern bank of the Danube from the Timok ^''^ The extensive heath on which this important battle was fought was called the Plain of Merles, in Sclavonian Kossowo-polje, and in Magyar Rigo-mazew. "West of the city stands the Mausoleum erected there by the Turks to the memory of their Sultan. Lamps are burn- ing day and night within the tyrbe, or sepulchral chamber, and a num- ber of Derwishes perform their religious service. Yet the Christian martyr has likewise his monument, a large stone being placed on the grave of Milosch, and his counti-ymen still invoke there the retribution of the Almighty. -'* The popular poetry of the Servians has attracted the attention of the learned in Europe, and many successful translations have been published by Dr. Bowring, Emanuel Geibel, the German poet, and others. See the delightful work of Talvi : Historical View of the Language and Literature of the Slavic Nations, edited by Professor Edward Robinson. New-York, 1850. 8vo. 188 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. BULGARO-WALLACHIAN LANDS. to the Black Sea, and Mount Hasraus separated it on the south from the Byzantine province of Thrace. The flowery plains and wood-clad hills of Bulgaria, and the opposite provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia, were, during the Middle Ages, just as at this present day, the high-road and battle-field of all the barbarians who migrated from Central Asia into Europe. There the light Sarmatian cavalry fought against the heavy Roman legions, and the Huns pursued the scat- tered Goths (89). The Avars, Kiimani, and Petcheneges, estab- lished their ephemeral empires on the northei-n banks of the river ; the Bulgarians alone retained their possessions on the south, after the most sanguinary wars with the Byzantine emperors. There the Ottoman Turks displayed their victorious crescent, and the white eagle of Poland fled before them. But for the last century the Moliammedan victors have been threatened by powerful Russia, whose armies at this very moment are advancing on the banks of the Danube, and fighting the battle of life and death with the Turks. The issue is yet doubtful, but it may result in the permanent oc- cupation of the principalities, and the final destruction of the Turkish dominion in Europe. Bulgaria is a fertile, plain country, highly favored by nature ; its climate is milder than that of the more mountainous Servia, its bottom-lands on the Danube less marshy than those of "W allachia, and its rich pas- tures in the plains and on the slopes of Mount Hsemus are covered with flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and those small but strong and lively Bulgarian horses, which are so much appreciated in Turkey. The ancient Bulgarian king- dom had been destroyed by the Emperor Basil II. in 1018 (324) ; but the Bulgarians chafed under the iron rod of By- zantium, and they broke forth into open rebellion, under their Wallachian leaders, Peter and Asan, in 1186. Aided by the Kumanic hordes, their King Johanitza vanquished and captured King Baldwin of Constantinople and his crusaders in 1207, and, uniting with the Greek Emperor of Nicea, in Asia Minor, the Bulgarians formed a powerful kingdom north of Mount Hsemus. Yet the nation remained savage ; their princes followed one another on the throne by continual revolutions. Vanquished and decimated by the Mongols, the Bulgarians were easily overpowered by the Hungarians, and King Louis, taking Widdin in 1365, main- tained his supremacy, until the invasion of the Ottomans, and the battle of Kossoiva, in 1389, carried the victorious Sultan to the banks of the Danube. Bulgaria fell an easy prey to the conqueror ; all the later attempts of the Emperor Sigis- mund in 1396, and the Polacco-Hungarian King Ladislaw VI., in 1444, to recover tha,t important country, were frustrated by the invincible prowess of the Janissaries, and Bulgaria became a Turkish province, under the name of Bulgar-Ili. 569. Cities and Historical Sites in Bulgaria. — Ter- NOWA (367), on the Jantra, the ancient capital of the Bulga- rian kings. Silistria (Dristra), Matchin, Tuldsha. and Kos- tendgJie, on the banks of the Danube, and in the narrow pe- ninsula — the Dobrud&lie — formed by that river and the Black Sea. Nicopolis, westward on the Danube, became, on the 26th September, 1396, the battle-field wJiere the Emperor Sigismund and his splendid crusading army, by the foolhardiness of the French and Burgundian knights, were vanquished by Sultan Bajazet Ilderim, (Thunderbolt) and hundreds of noble Chris- tian prisoners slaughtered in cold blood by the Turks, after the conflict was over.'^" Kunobitza, on the south of Sofia, in the ^" It was at Nicopolis that Sultan Bajazet, having ordered the cap- tive princes and knights to pass before him ia review, after the bat- tle, was struck with the dark and scowling look of the young Count of Ncvers (496), the son of the Duke of Burgundy, and, after gazing stead- fastly on him, turned to his Pashas and said: "Here is one whom we defiles of Mount Hasmus, where, on the 24th December, 1443. the great John Hunyad, after one of the most brilliant cam- paigns in the annals of Hungary, defeated the Turkish army of Kara Bet, and reoccupied the Danubian provinces, north of the mountains. Varna, in a strong position on the Black Sea, at the mouth of the lake of Devna, became, next year, in 1444, the bulwark of the Turkish empire, and the sepulchre of the last crusading army of the west. In the environs of the citj-, on the swampy banks of the lake, was fought, on November 10th, that terrific battle between King Ladislaw VI. and the old Sultan Murad (Amurad) II., which, by the treachery of Prince George of Servia, terminated with the death of the Hungarian King, and the total prostration of the Christian army. Only John Hunyad and his Hungarian light horse succeeded in cutting their passage through the Turkish masses, but all the contested provinces on the Danube Avere lost, and the formidable Mohammed II. was thus , enabled, nine years later, by the conquest of Constantinople, to consolidate the Ottoman empire in Europe, and render it the terror of all Christendom. 570. VII. The Principalities of Wallachia and Mol- davia, north of the Danube, and west of the Carpathian Mountains, had, in the fom-teenth century, a more extensive frontier than at the present day. Moldavia, embracing the hilly province of Boukowina, on the north, ran all along the western bank of the Dniester, thus inclosing the present Bes- sarabia and the northern branch of the Danubian Delta. The Pruth, the Berlad, and the Sereth, joining the Moldawa and Bistrizta, descend from the Carpathian valleys, and fertilize the rich plains through which they flow. The Sereth formed the frontier line between Moldavia and Wallachia. The latter principality, which is situated on the Danube and the south- western bend of the Carpathians, receives the Aluta from Transylvania and a great number of smaller rivers, which all discharge into the Danube. The original inhabitants of these magnificent countries were Daco-Romans, mixed with Goths and other German tribes, who, though subdued by Huns, Avars, Petcheneges, Kumans, and other Tartar tribes, preserved most wonderfully their language and nationality, and, throwing off the yoke of their conquerors, formed an independent state under Radul the Black, toward the close of the thirteenth century. The Wallachian Princes were called Voivods ; the nobles, Boyards ; the constitution was Sclavonic ; the power of the Prince, despotic ; and Prince Dragosh, a monster of iniquity, obtained the appellation of Drakul — the Butcher — on account of his unheard-of cruelty and bloodthirstiness. The crimes and disorders they occa- sioned facilitated the conquest of Wallachia by the Hun- garian kings. Yet the wise and generous Stephen, Voivod of Moldavia — 1458-1504 — maintained his independence, both against the Turks and Magyars, and it was not until the final overthrow of the latter, in the battle of Mohacs (562), in 1526, that the Sultans definitively obtained possession of the two principalities, which they thenceforth governed by HosjDodars, chosen among the servile Constantinopolitan Princes — the Phanariots — who crowded around the throne of their Osmanlis tyrants. The principal cities of Wallachia were : Bukuresoht (Bukarest), the capital and residence of the Hospodar, Tergowischt, Rimnik, on the Aluta, Krajewo, and Saint George (Gjurgewo) and Breyla, on the "Danube. In Moldavia, which enjoyed a greater independence under Turkey, was Jaschy — Jazsky — (Yassy) — the capital, near the river Pruth. Chozim, north on the Dniester, became a strong must send home, for if he yets back to his own country, he loill be the means of causing great troubles there, and keep the Giaours busy among themselves." A true prognostication of Sultan Thunderbolt ! EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. HUNGARY— PORTUGAL. border fortress against the Poles, while Akjerman, at the mouth of that river, protected the coast lands against the ad- vancing Russians. The slopes of the Carpathian ridge were then highly cultivated by industrious Saxon and Armenian colonists. Picturesque churches and convents arose on every hill, and populous villages, embosomed among vineyards and groves of fruit-trees, embellished the .valleys. But the ruth- less scimitar of the Turks, the despotic government of the petty Greek Princes, their continual change by the suspicious Sultans, have, for centuries, rendered abortive the exuberant bounties of nature, and the exertions of the good-natured and industrious people of the Wallachs}''^ 571. Ecclesiastical Division of Hungary. — With the extension of Christianity in the eleventh century, a new eccle- siastical division of the Hungarian territories became neces- sary, and thus we find the kingdom of Hungary proper, tow- ard the middle of the thirteenth century — 1256 — divided into two provinces : I., Pkovincia Strigoniknsis, with the archi- episcopal see at Gran, on the Danube (253), and the Suf- fi-agan bishoprics of Agria (Erlau), Nitria (Neitra), Quinque EcdesicR (Pecs or Fiinfkirchen), Jaurium (Raab), Vesprim and Vacen (Waczow or Waitzen), thus embracing all the north- ern, central, and western comitats, between the Carpathians, the Theiss, the Drave, and the Austrian frontiers, — and II., Ppovincia Colocensis, with the archiepiscopal see at Coloc- ZA, on the Lower Danube, and the suffragan bishoprics of Magnum Yaraclium (Bellarad or Great Wardein), Morisena (Modrusch or Czanad), on the Lower Maros, Alba Transyl- vanice (Karlsburg), and Agrmn (Zagrab), in the Sclavonian province of Croatia, comprising Transylvania, Kumania, the Banat, the Bacs, the country between the Save and Drave, and extending its influence far into Bosnia, where we find the mention of a Latin episcopacy at Varch Bos7ia, on the river of that name. The archbishop of Gran, as the primate of the Church, enjoyed the title of Cardinalis Legatus Aj)ostolicus, and immense revenues. The convents were numerous, princi- pally in the northern and western counties, and along the Da- nube. Several councils were held at Gran, Ofen, Posony, and Udward, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Dalmatia was divided into the four small archiepiscopal pro- vinces of Ragusa, Spalatro, Jadera (Zara), and Antibaris (Antivari), on the coast of Albania, with a number of suffra- gan churches too insignificant to be mentioned here. Servia and Bulgaria, belonging to the Greek church of Constanti- nople, had patriarchal sees at Ipek, on the Drinus, and at Ternowa, while the principalities of Wallachia — Ungaro- vlachia — and Moldavia — MoldovlacMa — ranged under the Latin province of Leopolis (Lemberg), or under the Greek patriarchate of Halicz. 572. Such was the extent of the Hungarian Empire during the vigorous reign of Louis the Great ; the Magyars advanced rapidly in the career of civilization ; the arms of John Hunyad repelled the Ottomans, and his still more suc- *" " I never saw," says John Paget, " two countries of their extent ("Wallachia and Moldavia) so rich in productions, so fruitful in re- sources ; the land is of the richest quality ; the greater part of it, an alluvial plain, with a climate the most favorable for production. Yet, with all these advantages, I never saw a country so thinly popu- lated, nor a population so excessively poor and miserable ! Years of monopoly, oppression, and insecurity, have completed the ruin of the Wallachs." — Travels in Hungary and Transylvania. London, 1839, vol. II., page 407. ^" See for farther details, the Ecclesiastical Geography, by Reve- rend John Elieser Wiltsch, Berlin, 1846, vol. II., page 265, and the ac- companying Atlas Sacer, a valuable guide for the thorough study of the Church History of the middle ages. cessful son, Matthias Corvinus, who, by the vote of the whole nation, had been raised to the throne in 1467, carried Hun- gary to the height of her power and prosperity. He was, both in peace and war, the most active and enlightened monarch of his age. Turks, Austrians, and Poles were defeated ; he maintained his sovereignty over Bohemia, made Vienna his capital, and turned his attention as well to the commercial and industrial development of his empire as to its intellectual progress. By the extension of the university in Buda, and the magnificent library, the largest in Europe, which he there opened for the benefit of the public, he conferred upon his nation its first claims to literary distinction. He brought order into the administration of the realm ; his fertile mind cre- ated new resources for the prosecution of his vast projects ; he enforced the vigorous execution of the tribunals, and repressed with a strong hand the arrogance of the magnates and the intrigues of the hierarchy, by his vigilance and his high sense of justice, supported by the warm affection of the whole Mag- ' yar nation. His father had instituted a general conscription of the twentieth man — the Hussars — who later formed a stand- ing division of the Hungarian army. Matthias organized a for- '\ midable artillery, and the Slack Legion of Bohemian cuiras- ^ siers, which became a match for the janissaries and the most , redoubtable body of troops in Europe. Yet all the bright \ creations of his genius went to ruin, through the incapacity of his successors ; and, though Hungary stood one of the most aspiring powers at the close of the middle ages, she was the first state of the modern era that suddenly sank, through civil dissensions and foreign aggression, and pre- sented a warning example of the instability of monarchies, which, however well they may be organized, are dependent on the chance-talent of a single family. III. SOUTHERN EUROPE, BETWEEN 1300 AND 1492. X. Kingdom of Portugal and Algarve. 573. Historical Remarks. — No European nation pos- sesses a more brilliant history than the Portuguese during the latter period of the middle ages, from the beginning of the thirteenth century to the middle of the sixteenth. From- their small devastated territory, betweep the rivers Minho and Douro, the Portuguese, under a succession of warlike and active kings, intelligent statesmen, and daring navigators, not only drove the Moors from the western shores of the Penin- sula so early as a. d. 1250, and beating back the attacks of their proud Castilian neighbors, formed their independent / and powerful monarchy ; but they soon followed up their / victorious career against the Arabs, by the successful inva- sion of the opposite shores of Africa. To the possession of Ceuta, Tangier, and a number of cities and fortresses on the i African continent — Algarh claquem do mar — they boldly \ steered their course through the waves of the unknown At- i— lantic, and discovering and colonizing the beautiful islands / ' of Madeira, the Azores, Porto Santo, and those of Cape | Verd, they doubled the promontory of Good Hope, and, by the "^ conquest of the East Indian coasts and islands, laid the ' ^ foundation of that astonishing colonial empire which raisedV Portugal, within half a century, to the highest pitch of wealth, | prosperity, and glory, — the wonder and admiration of Europe. all ■J 574. Moorish Possessions in the Western Hispanic Peninsula, a.d. 1139.— While the Almoravid Princes of Spain (334) were still repelling the fanatic Almohad here- tics in Morocco, and uniting all their forces against the Cas- tilian and Aragonese kings in the north-, they neglected their western provinces on th6 Douro and Tajo. Count 190 EiaHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. PORTUGAL. Henry (Henrique) of Portugal (316), had made Guimaraes, near the Douro, his capital, and, crossing that river, had oc- cupied Coitnbra, Soure, and Miranda, on the Mondego. His son, the brilliant Alfonso Henriquez—1 128-1185— se- cured the advance of the Portuguese on the Tajo by the con- quest of Ourem, Ahnoural, and the erection of the strong castles of Leyria and Thomar, when a revolution of the Spanish Moors in the southern provinces against the Lamtu- nite or Almoravid Emirs from Africa (334) facilitated the invasions of the Christian knights. The vast extent of terri- tory south of the Tejo (Tagus), which at the present day is divided into the two provinces of Alem-Tejo and Algarve, formed, at the close of the eleventh century, the states of the powerful Beni Alaftas, emirs of Badajoz (334), who likewise ruled over parts of the Spanish Estremadura and Sevilla. The whole region was, on account of its position, called Al- garb, or the Country towards Evening. On the conquest of the wild Chiefs of Lam tuna (the Almoravids, from Africa), about 1110, this populous and flourishing region was divided into three provinces, governed by African Walis.''" 575. I. Al Faghar, in the south, bordered by the At- lantic Ocean, the Sierra de Monchique, and the river Guadi- ana, or the present province, Algarve, with the cities and castles : Ibn Rasin (Santa Maria de Faro), Mirthola (Mertola), on the Guadiana, Chelb (Silves), on the river Silves, in the inte- rior, Oksonoba (Estoi), at its mouth, on the seashore, Tabira (Tavira), Hisn-el-Kassr (Villa Real), on the Guadiana, and Keriisa-el- Gorab, on the Cape of Saint Vincent. The north- ern slope of the ridge of Monchique was called Chenchir, with the celebrated city of Orik (Auriquium, Ourique), on the Corbes River, the scene of the great victory of Alfonso Henriquez, in 1139. 576. II. Al Kass'r-Ibn-Abu-Danis, north of the former, embracing the present Alemtejo, with the important cities and fortresses Al-Kassh- (Alcacer do Sal), on the east of Setu- val, Kanthara-el-Seyf (Alcantara), on the Tejo, Taborah (Evora), Marida (Merida), Kasseres (Caceres), Zalaca (316), Curia (Coria), Belch (Yelves, Elvas), Badsha (Beja), Batli- alius (Badajoz, the strong city of the Beui-Alaftai'S, on the Guadiana), and Chericha (Xeres de los Caballeros), south of Badajoz. 577. III. Belatha, north of the Tejo, with the populous and commercial Ashbuna (Lixbona, Lisboa, Lissabon), at the mouth of that river, Kantarim or Chantareyn (Santa- rem), in an almost impregnable position on the Upper Tagus, and Zintiras or Chintra (Cintra), in the beautiful Sierra de Cintra, north of Lisbon, all three considered as the bulwarks of the Saracen dominions in Portugal. The border districts, north of the Tejo, remained long a dreary wilderness and the battle-ground between the hostile nations, until they were, later, granted to the Knights' Templars, who, by their inde- fatigable exertions, soon peopled and cultivated that fertile region, under the protection of their castles of Soure, Leyria, and Thomar. These Moorish provinces had attained a high degree of prosperity by agriculture and commerce, when Count Alfonso Henriquez, at the head of his crusading army, boldly crossing the Tagus, in 1 1 39, under frightful devasta- tions, penetrated into Al-Kass'r, and, by his talents and heroic bravery, on the 25th of July, gained the brilliant battle, on the plains of Ourique, against the countless host of Africans, which secured the development and extension of the Portuguese monarchy. The victorious and enthusiastic '"'See the interesting details in the Histotia de Portugal por Ip- pol'Uo Eerculano. Lisboa, 1846, Vol. I. army hailed their chief. King — Rei de Portugal — on the battle-field, and the national assembly, or Cortes, of Lamego, in 1143, not only confirmed the constitution of the new king- dom, but declared nobles — Fidalgos — all the warriors who had couched their lances on the field of Ourique."" San- tarem (the Scalabis of the Romans, the sanctuary of Santa Irene), fell, by a nightly surprise, in 1145. Lisbon — the Buckler of Islam — had the same fate, in 1147, after an ob- stinate defence of five months ; nor could Alfonso Henriquez have attempted so great an undertaking with the scanty means of Portugal, if he had not been powerfully assisted by a fleet of Flemish and Scandinavian crusaders, who had landed on the coast, while sailing to the Mediterranean and the Holy Land. Another northern crusading army stormed and took the important Alcaser do Sal, in 1 158; Beja (Civitas Pace, Begia) -was surprised four years later, and Evora, the capital of Alemtejo, in its strong and magnificent position on the mountains, was captured, in 1166, by an ingenious strata- gem of the outlawed robber captain, Gerardo Giraldes, called Sem-Favor (the Fearless), who was pardoned, and rewarded by the generous Alfonso with the defence of this important fortress. Thus, on the wings of victory, the Portuguese drove their implacable enemies toward the southern extremi- ties of the Peninsula ; King Sancho II. conquered Moura, Serpa, and Juritmenlia, on the eastern bank of the Guadiana, in 1229, and, gallantly supported by the knights of the other orders, he successively took Mertola, in 1239. and Ayamonte and Tavira, m Algarve, in 1244; yet the glory of having entirely delivered the soil of Portugal from the Moslem invaders belonged to his brother, Alfonso III., who, in 1249-52, completed the conquest of Algarve, by the surren- der of Faro, Silves, Louie, Aliac~ur, and Porches, and main- tained successfully his acquisitions on the Guadiana against the pretensions of the Kings of Castile. ''" "°Tlie early Portuguese chronicles are full of wonders, which have taken a strong hold on the imagination of that romantic and supersti- tious people. Alfonso, they relate, wearied with exertion, fell asleep, and beheld, in a dream, a venerable old man. In the morning, a hermit, like the form he had seen in the night, came to the Christian camp, and entreated the Count to visit him, on the following evening, in his cell. While the Count repaired thither, he beheld a shining figure, which appeared in the east, approached, and eclipsed the splen- dor of the starry heavens. "I am the Lord Jesus," said the apparition, "thy arms, Alfonso, are blessed. I set thee as a king over thy people. For sixteen generations my favor shall not depart from thy house ; and, even further than this it shall descend." Alfonso, inflamed by the power of his imagination, infused his own confidence among his war- riors, and rode boldly into the battle. From the death, or flight, of the five Moorish Kings (Emirs), Portugal placed the five azui-e shields on her escutcheon. Aqui pinta no branco escudo ufano. Que agora esla victoria certifica, Cinco escudos azues esdarecidos, Em signal destes cinco Reis vencidos. See the splendid verses of Luis de Camoens, in his Lusiad, describ- ing the battle of Ourique, Canto III., Estancias 42-54. The hermitage built near the spot was transformed into a church by King Sebastian. """ Alfonso X. el Sabio, King of Castile, claimed the sovereignty over Algarve and the border castles of the Guadiana, and required the Portuguese King both to pay a tribute and furnish fifty Portuguese knights — langas — to join the Castilian banner. But, when Alfonso III. of Portugal, had married his daughter Britis (Beatrix), and the young Portuguese Infante Diniz, in 1267, went to his grandfather's court at Sevilla to be dubbed knight, the old Castilian King became so pleased with the talents and amiable qualities of his grandson, that he, in spite of the opposition of the proud Castilian nobility, resigned the full sovereignty of Algarve to his son-in-law, Alfonso III, who, in that year, took the title of King of Portugal and Algarve, and added the seven golden castles of Algarve to the five azure shields of Portugal in the royal escutcheon of that kingdom. See Henry Schafer's History of Portugal, Hamburg, 1836, Vol. L, pp. 216-16, and Durham, Vol. III., page 166. EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. PORTUGAL. 191 578. Constitution and Internal Governbient. — The northern provinces of Portugal had rapidly improved under the fostering care of Dom Sancho I. — O Poplador — and, after the expulsion of the Moors, peace and prosperity were extended to the still more fertile, but dreadfully devastated, region of Alemtejo and Algarve, under the active monarchs Dom Alfonso III. — O Kestaurador — and his great son, Dom Diniz (Diony- sius) — O Juste — who, by his solicitude for the happiness of his people, earned the noble cognomen of father of his country^ O Pai da Patria. Diniz opposed with a strong hand the encroachments of the clergy, who, under his predecessors, so often had disturbed the public peace by the arrogant inter- cessions and excommunications of the Romish popes. His prudent policy had the most beneficent influence on Portu- guese manufactures, commerce, agriculture, and navigation. Numberless towns and boroughs were built, and favored with privileges — -foraes, — which placed their citizens by the side of the feudal nobility and the clergy, as the third estate of the realm. Diniz was indefatigable ; he visited himself every district — comarca — of the country, and sat as judge in the tribunals. He founded the University of Lisbon, which af- terwards was removed to Coimbra. He reopened, in 1290, the long neglected gold mines of Adiqa, near Almada ; pro- tected the merchants by commercial laws in 1293, and built the first Portuguese fleet in the wharfs of Lisboa, the com- mand of which was given to Manoel Pezagno, and other dis- tinguished Genoese mariners. Splendid cathedrals and mon- asteries already rose in every part of the young kingdom, and the ancient warlike manners of the Portuguese began to wear ofi'. The Hicos Homens formed the first class of the old nobility, the Lifanqoes the next ; the third was composed of the Cavalleiros and Escudeiros-Fidalgos, knights and squires, who all rendered military service as the vassals of the king. Different from these, and not enjoying the rank of nobles, were the Cavalleiros villdes — Caballarii Vilani — or mounted and light-armed landholders, while the poorer far- mers, peasants, and the mechanics of the cities — Pedes — formed the infantry. Every borough — villa — was fortified or protected by a neighboring tower, and when the wardens — Atalayas — gave the signal, " Moii.ros na terra : moradores as armas ! " all the inhabitants, nobles and commoners, hur- ried from the fields to form their well-organized bands for the protection of their homes ; nay, they were obliged to attend the gatherings — appellidos — forays — -fossados— and even more dis- tant expeditions with the king, for every Portuguese was a war- rior during the infancy of the kingdom. The large and fortified manors — Solarcs — -of the high nobility, and the feudal estates of the knights — Coiitas and Hour as — were exempted from all taxes and tributes, and enjoyed, like the vast possessions of the clergy, their own feudal jurisdiction. The king's lands — paiz da coroa — were therefore very circumscribed, principally in the northern provinces, which, during the first conquest, had been mostly distributed among the military companions of the Counts of Portugal. The royal governor — O Alvasir — resided in the government buildings — Palacio — opposite to which stood the city hall — Concilium or Foral — the centre of the popular assemblies and the court of jus- tice ; the officers of the palace were appointed by the king ; those of the community and the tribunals were chosen by the commons themselves. From the times of Dom Pedro I. an improved system of administration was introduced ; the powers of the royal officers — Gorregidores and Ouvidores — and of the ecclesiastical judges wore restricted, while those of the town judges — Jicizes ordenheiros — and the municipal officials — Almotaccls — were enlarged, and a regular police attended to public order and the security of the roads. 579. Immense tracts in the southern provinces be- longed likewise to the five militaTy orders of Portugal, the Knights' Templars, their rivals the Knights' Hospitallers, and those of Aviz, Santiago, and the Wing of Saint Michael. The noble-minded Dom Diniz protected the unhappy Tem- plars during the persecution which, in the years 1307-1314, destroyed their order in the other parts of Europe. The Portuguese king, convinced of the innocence of the calum- niated knights, reorganized their order, under the name of that of Christ, and restored to them their confiscated estates. They held the castles of Pomhal, -E'^«, Redinha, Cardiga, Thomar, Soure, Nabdo, Idanha- Velha, Monsanto^ and Ze- zerc, and had splendid order houses in Lisbon, Evora, and Santarem. ■ The Order of Christ, like that of Santiago, elected their own Portuguese grandmaster, and the latter became thus released from their subjection to the order in Spain. The Hospitallers had their seat in Lega, near Porto, and possessed many estates and churches in the north. -The castle of Aviz (Avys), in Alemtejo, was the residence of the order of that name, to whose care the fortresses on the Spanish border were intrusted. The Knights of Aviz obtained great celebrity for their valor ; they followed the rule of the Cistercian monks, but were permitted to marry once, and to change their vow of chastity into that of conjugal fidelity. The extravagant concessions and privileges awarded to the nobility, clergy, and military orders caused continual disputes with the crown ; yet all the attempts of the kings of the Burgundian dynasty to restrain the turbulence of the feudatories, and to reclaim the squandered estates, proved unsuccessful until Dom Joao I.,-*' after the battle of Aljubarrota, mounted the throne, in 1385, and, strong by the affection of the nation and by his brilliant conquests in Africa, restored the royal dignity. Dom Joao II., a prince alike prudent and courageous, ordered all who had received grants, whether of possessions or digni- ties, from his predecessors, to produce the necessary instru- ments, for the purpose of showing the tenure by which they were held, and wherever the title was defective the claim was at once dismissed. He subjected the feudal to the royal tri- bunals, and thus transferred his people from the jurisdiction of local tyrants to the magistrates dependent on the crown. This death-blow dealt at the independence of the nobility, caused that order to conspire against the throne, and to enter into treacherous connections with Castile. But the execution of the powerful Duke of Braganqa, on the scafTold, at Evora, in 1483, the death of the Duke of Viseu by the hand of Joao himself, and the exile of the rest, secured the internal tran- quillity of Portugal ; its aristocracy was broken for ever ; the state of the commons rose, and the wealth streaming in from the East Indian commerce inspired the nation with that love of freedom and glory which carried its banner victoriously to its conquests and colonies in the four quarters of the world. 580. Provinces, Cities, and Historical Sites, about A. D. 1450. — A. Reino de Portugal was divided into five provinces : I. Entre-Douro-e-Minho, with the cities Gicimardcs, the ancient capital, Porto (Oporto) on the Minho, Viana, Braga, and Barcellos. II. Tras-os-Montes, east of the former, with Braganca, the principal seat of the dukes of that name. It was within its walls that Dom Pedro, the son of Dom Alfonso IV., in 1325, secretly married the beau- tiful Ignez de Castro. Chaves^ on the Tamega, was already 2*'The Illegitimate Burgundian Dynasty of Portugal, 1385-1580. — Dom Joao I., Grandmaster of Aviz, son of Dom Pedro I. and The- resa Lourengo, King of Portugal, 1385-1433. Duarte L, 1433-U3S. Alfonso V. 1438-1481. Joao II., 1481-1496. Manoel the Great, 1495- 1521, /oao //Z, 1521-1557. Sebastian, \5b1-lo19<. Henrique, 157 S- 1580. EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. PORTUGAL. 192 ___^ celebrated for its mineral waters. Miranda do Bouro and Monforte were fortresses against Galicia; while Castello- Rodrigo, Pinhel, and Almeida, in the district of Riba do Coa, protected the eastern provinces. III. Beira, extending from the Douro to the Mondego on the west, but reached, on the southeast, to the banks of the Tejo. Viseu and Lamego were ancient cities ; in the latter assembled the Cortes in 1 143 and 1181. Montenior, on the Mondego, was frequently the resi- dence of the kings. Coimbra, upon a magnificent site on that river, became, in 1308, the seat of the only university in Portuo'al. It was there, in the convent of Santa Clara, where, in 1354, the innocent Ignez de Castro, by order of Dom Al- fonso IV., was torn from the arms of her children, and fell beneath the daggers of the Marshal Alvaro Gonzales, Pedro Coelho, and other nobles, during the absence of her husband, Dom Pedro, who afterwards, as King of Portugal, inflicted the most horrible punishment on the murderers, which they had so well deserved.-*^ 581. IV. EsTREMADURA, extending along the sea coast from the Mondego, in the north, southward to the bay of Odemira, on the borders of Algarve. This was the most im- portant and populous province of the realm. Lisboa had a Mohammedan population long after the conquest of Alfonso Henriquez, in 1147. In its delightful position at the mouth of the Tejo, it became the centre of Portuguese industry and commerce, and the permanent residence of the Court in the reign of King Fernando, o Gentil. In the royal palace Dom Joao, the grand-master of Aviz, stabbed the Count of Ourem, the unworthy favorite of Queen Leonor, in 1383, and opened his path to the throne. Historically important places in the environs of Lisbon were Santarem, on the Upper Tejo, an earlier residence of the Kings, Abnada, opposite to Lis- bon, Torres Vedras and Torres Novas, strong castles on the Serra Estrelha, protecting Lisbon and the valley of the Tejo, on the north. Restello (afterwards Bethlehem or Belem), at the mouth of that river, with a magnificent cathedral of our Saviour, whence Vasco do Gama departed, July 8th, 1597, to discover the sea passage to the East Indies.'-^ Alenquer, Oeiras, Cintra, and Mafra, were celebrated for their splendid monasteries, palaces, and the romantic scenery of Serra da Cintra. Leyria, on the Lis, one of the oldest and strongest, cities in Portugal, around whose walls the Moorish wars had raged for centuries. At the hamlet of Aljuharrote, southwest of Leyria, was fought the important battle, on July 29th, 1385, in which 2,500 Portuguese heroes, led on by Dom Joao, the grand-master of Aviz and the constable Nunho Alvares Pereira totally routed and defeated King Juan II. and his 30,000 Castilians. In commemoration of the battle, the most glorious in the annals of Portugal, Joao I. built the Domin- ican convent of Batalha, a noble Normano-Gothic pile, as a burial place for himself and his successors. At another splendid monastery, the Cistercian abbey of Alcohac^a, west of Batalha, were the tombs of the princes of the earlier Burgun- ■^'-TLe charming banks of the Mondego were for years the scene of the domestic happiness of Ignez and Dom Pedro, who, in this quiet retreat, far away from the turmoil and intrigues of the court, lived only for their affection and their children, so beautifully described in those noble verses of Camoens, which we cannot omit here to recall to the memory of the reader : "Estavas, liiula Ignez, postaem socego, De teus annos colhendo doce fruto; Naquelle engano da a^ma, ledo, e cego, Que a fortuna, nao deixa diirar muto," &e. — LusiADAS, Can. iv. 283 " Partimo-nos assi do sancto Toinpio Qae nas praias do mar esta assentado Que o norae torn a terra, para exemplo Donde Deos foi em carne ao mundo dado." — LusrARAS, Can. iv., 87. dian dynasty. There, in the subterranean sepulchral vault, stood the sarcophagus of Dom Pedro I. and his fair and fond Ignez de Castro, who could not even find repose in the grave.-^^ Alverca, on the rivulet Alfarroheira, near Lisbon, was the scene of the disgraceful battle. May 20th, ] 449, in which the faithful bands of the Infante Dom Pedro, the victim of slander and envy, were attacked by King Alfonso V., and the inno- cent infante routed and slain with all his knights. South of the Tejo lay Setuval, on the coast, already a commercial town, and Sinis, the birthplace of Vasco de Gama. V. Entre Tejo-e-Guadiana, or Alem-Tejo, between Estremadura and the Spanish frontiers, was on the north, bounded by the Tejo, and south by the high ridge of Monchique, which separated it from Algarve. The principal cities were the above-mentioned Alcacer do Sal, Evora, Bcja, Oiiriqiie, and Crato, of melan- choly memory from the civil war of 1440, Important border castles were, Albuquerque, Alegrete, Yelves, and on the east of the Guadiana, Olivenza, Mello, Maurdo and Serpa^ often bravely defended by the Portuguese. 582. B, Reino do Algarve comprised not only the southern province of that name, but the entire conquered ter- ritory in Africa, beyond the strait of Gibraltar, and was, therefore, divided into I., Algarve d'alem mar, or this side of the Sea, and II., Algarve aquebi mar, or beyond the Sea. In the former lay the cities Lagos, Silves, Tavira, Faro, and Louie, the last possessions of the Moors in Portugal. Alcou- tim, Castro-Marim, and Villa-Real, were border castles on the Guadiana, which there formed the frontier line toward Andalusia, in Spain. Sagres, on Cape Saint Vincent (the ancient Promontorium Sacrion), became the residence of the Infante Dom Henrique — O Navegador — where, in full view of the boundless Atlantic, that learned and enterprising prince built his villa, Terqa-Nabal (or Tereena-Naval, afterwards called Villa do Infante'), and directed all the maritime expe- ditions of the Portuguese for the exploration of the coast of Africa, and the colonization of the western islands of Porto Santo, Madeira and the Azores, which, by his exertions were then discovered In the ocean. Algarve, in its sunny position, between the Serra de Monchique and the sea, was the most fertile and beautiful province of the realm : its climate and productions were African ; its ports crowded with ships, and its cities with nobles and youthful warriors, who there mustered and prepared for the crusading expeditions to the African coast. The inhabitants were long a mixture of Christians, Moors, and Jews, living peaceably together, until the ruthless hand of the inquisition, in the sixteenth century, transformed that happy region into a wilderness Algarve beyond the Sea ox- tended from the cape of Ceuta (the ancient Abyla), on the east, westward to that of Espartel, and ran along the shores of the Atlantic for the distance of twenty-five Spanish leagues, or one degree of longitude, to the large Moorish city, Alcazar-al- Kebir, which, however, remained in the possession of the Moors. In the interior, the Portuguese territory crossed the western ridge of Djebal Habat (Atlas Minor), embracing the Moorish provinces of Habat and Azgar^ with the cities and castles of Ceuta, Ahnina, Alcazar-es-Seghir, Tangier, and Arzilla:-^' -"* The marauding French soldiery, which, in 1811, burned the con- vent, dragged her body from its resting-place, and so skilfully had it been embalmed, that the beautiful face of the Queen, to the astonish- ment of the robbers, was still in perfect preservation ; naj', her hair had even grown remarkablj' since her interment. ''^^In the mediceval maps of Kruse and Anzart too great an exten- sion has been given to the Portuguese conquests in Africa toward the close of the fifteenth century. They never possessed Tetuan and Tcrga, east of Ceuta, and it was not until the beginning of the sixteenth cen- EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. PORTUGAL— CASTILE. 193 583. The African conquests of the Portuguese began in 1415 (the year of the battle of Agincourt), with the surprise and capture of Ceuta, and they terminated, after a long period of heroism and glory, with the death of King Sebastian, and the total defeat of his Portuguese army, on the battle field of Alcazar-el- Kebir, in 1578. Ceuta (123, 214), on its low, sandy promontory, was, at the time of the conquest, a well built, populous, and wealthy city, under the sway of the Emir Zala Ben Zala, a tributary of the King of Morocco. It was the great emporium of Mauritanian commerce, with splendid bazaars and manufactures of iron, silk, and leather, in active commu- nication not only with the Moors of Granada, but with the Italian ports and the Mamluke Sultans of Egypt. In the pos- session of the Portuguese, it became the stronghold and great military depot of their armies during the following centuries, and its garrison repelled gallantly all the attacks of the Kings of Morocco and Fez. Before Tangier (65, 123) the Portuguese suffered the melancholy defeat of 1438, in which the pious Infante Dom Ferdinando — O Principe Consta.nte — was surrendered as hostage to the Moors for the restitution of Ceuta. This city, however, was not restored, and the prince died in captivity. Alcazar-es-Segliir fell in 1460, and when Dom Alfonso V., — O Africano — in 1471, after the bloody con- quest of Arzilla and Tangier, occupied the whole northern ter- ritory, he took the proud title of Rei de Portugal e dos Al- garves daqueni e d''alem mar en Africa. 584. Nobility. — The most powerful feudatories in Portugal Avere the Dukes of Braganca and Coimbra ; the former family possessed the greater part of the northern provinces, with Braganca Viseu, Villa- Vigosa in Alemtejo, Odemira in Es- tremadura, and Taro in Algarve ; fifty cities and castles, with their territories, forests and pastures, obeyed the proud dukes, who rode to war at the head of 3000 lances and 10,000 archers.^^* Other influential families north of the Tejo were the Menczes of Viana, Barcellos, Tarouca, and Villa-Real on the Douro, the county of Ericeira in Estremadura, and Louie in Algarve ; the Castros from Castile, brothers of Ignez de Castro, who held large possessions in Tras-os-Montes, the counties of Monsanto, Arayolos, and Cascaes, on the promon- tory, near Lisbon ; the Pereiras on the Minho and in Alem- tejo ; the Silvns, Couthihos, Sousas, Acunhas, Mellos, N'oronhos, Ata^des, Vasconcellos, Almaydas, Azevedos, and others, mostly situated north of the Tejo. 585. The Ecclesiastical Division of Portugal. — I. Provincia Olysiponensis, with the Archiepiscopal See in Lisbon, erected in 1390 or 1409, and the suffragans of Guarda and Portalegre. To the Patriarchate of Lisbon belonged Leyria and Laniego, Ceuta in Africa, Angra of Terceira, and Funchal of Madeira. II. Provincia Braccharensis, with the See in Bracara (Braga), and the suffragans of Porto Miranda, Viseu, and Coimbra, and III. Provincia Eborensis, with the See in Evora, and the suffragan bishoprics of Elvas and Faro (the earlier ones of Beja, Lagos, and Silves having been sup- pressed). tury that tliey occupied Anafa, Azamor, Mazayan, Asafi, Azadir, and some other straggling cities on the southern coast, which, therefore, belong to the maps of modern Historical Geography. ^^ The ancestor of this distinguished family was Alfonso, the son of Dom Joao I. and Doiia Ignez Pires, who having been declared legiti- mate in 1401, obtained the Dachy of Braganca, and the highest rank among the Portuguese nobles. After the most astonishing vicissitudes, the Dukes of Braganca mounted the throne of Portugal in 1640, and the late queen, Doiia Maria da Gloria, was a direct descendant of that dynasty. 27 586. Portuguese Discoveries and Colonies in the Atlantic. — The brilliant career of the Portuguese in naviga- tion and commerce began with the accidental discovery of Porto Santo, in 1418, by the Cavaliers Gonsalez Zarco, and Tristao Vaz Texeira, whom a storm had driven off the African coast. Madeira was colonized in 1 420 by Perestrello, who built Funchal, and the extraordinary fertility of that beautiful island, where Don Henrique cultivated the sugar- cane from Sicily and the vine from Cyprus, encouraged the Prince to new undertakings. While the Spaniards occupied the Canaries, the Portuguese held the Co^je Verde Islands, in 1446, and the Azores in 1451. They settled on the coast of Gimiea in 1463, ten years later in Congo, and the bold Bartholomeo Dias discovered the southern promontory, Cabo Tormentoso, for which name Dom Joao II., full of hope, substituted that of Boa Esperanqa. Yet it was not until 1497, after the discovery of the Western Continent by Colum- bus, that the great Vasco de Gama boldly steered his course through the Indian Ocean to the shores of Malabar, and thus opened the path for that Portuguese heroism and glory in the East which form one of the most astonishing pages in Modern History. XL — Kingdom of Castile and Leon. 587. Conquests from the Moors and Internal Rela- tions. — The long period of Spanish history from a. d. 1200 to 1 479, embraces the almost incessant wars on the Peninsula, between the Christian and Mohammedan kingdoms, or the civil feuds within these states themselves. The supremacy of the Christian arms was decided in 1212, in the plains of Tolosa; there the Almohad dynasty was defeated and lost its fairest provinces. Castile and Leon, having become united for the last time under the sceptre of Don Fernando III., El Santo, in 1230 (316), rose in power and extent. One conquest followed another. TJbeda fell in 1234 ; the populous Cordova, with its glittering mosques and Saracen magnificence, in 1236 ; Murcia bowed to the Christian sway in 1243, and the war- like Aragonese princes were thus cut off from farther exten- sion on the Peninsula. Arjona, Jaen, Carmona, and the important Sevilla, opened their gates to the sainted Fernando, whose son, Alfonso X., El SaMo, reduced Huelva, X&res de la Front era, Cadiz, Medina- Sidonia, and Niebla at the mouth of the Guadalquiver. This was the last possession of the Almohad princes; they fled to Africa in 1256, and the greater part of Andalusia became incorporated in the Castilian Kingdom. Only Granada, protected by its natural position, and strengthened by the myriads of fleeing Saracens, who from every conquered province sought refuge within its moun- tains, still withstood the shock and maintained its independ- ence, under the energetic and enlightened government of the Alhamarid dynasty for more than two centuries, until its final overthrow in 1 492. Alfonso X. did not prosecute the war ; he turned his attention to the internal affairs of the realm. Spain was still far behind the other European countries in civilization ; her institutions developed themselves but slowly under the clash of arms ; nay, they were even stopped by the fierce civil dissensions which at that period broke out between the kings and their proud nobility, who, being in part allied to the royal family, continued to increase in influence and preten- sions. These disturbances were principally produced by the Princes of La, Cerda, who being excluded from the throne, found support in Aragon and among the nobles of the north, and returned sword in hand. Yet still more desolating was the civil war between Don Pedro El Cruel and his brother Don Henrique of Trastamara, about the middle of the four- 194 EIGHTH PERIOD.— 1300-1453. CASTILE AND LEON. teenth century, because it brought armies of French and English adventurers into the heart of Castile. Nor did brighter days begin to dawn on the accession of the Trasta- mara dynasty in 1368. The royal authority was undermined by the frequent regencies during the minority of the Kings, and by the pernicious influence of worthless favorites, when they at last came of age.^*' The reigns of Juan II. and Henrique IV. were turbulent, and it was only the auspicious union of Fernando and Isabella, in 1469, which saved Castile from anarchy, and restored the Spanish monarchy. ^^' 588. Division of Provinces; Court, and Gtovernment. — The kingdoms of Castile and Leon were, according to the decree of the Cortes held at Alcal4 de Henares in 1349, divided into — I. The Kingdom of Leon, with Galicia and the capital cities of Leo7i, Toro, Zamora, and Salamanca. The western Sierra de Gruadarrama and the river Pisuerga formed the border line. II. The Kingdom of Castile — Castilla la Vieja — with the principality of the Asturias, the duchies of Viscaya, Guipuscoa, Alava, and the province of Rioja, on the Ebro, running along the Tajo and the Sierra de Guadarrama, and embracing Sigitcnza aud the county of Medina de la Ccrda, on the frontiers of Aragon. The principal cities were Btirgos, Soria, Segovia, Avila, and Valladolid. III. The Kingdom of Toledo — afterwards Casilla Nueva — extending south of the Tajo to the Sierra Morena, and embracing the southern part of Estremadura, La Mancha, and the county of Molina, on the frontiers of Aragon, with the capitals, Toledo, Madrid, Guadalajara, Alcald de Henares, Cuenza, Badajoz, and Merida. IV. The Kingdom of Andalusia — Andalucia — south of the Sierra Morena, extending to the Straits of Gibraltar and the Sierra de Granada, comprised the kingdoms of Sevilla, Cor- dova, Jaen. and Murcia, with the duchies of Medina Sidonia and Arjona, the counties of Niebla, Osuna, Baena and Arcos^ and the marquisates of Cadiz and Ayamonte. 589. Burgos and Toledo were the usual residences of the Castilian Kings so long as Leon formed a separate state. After the final consolidation of the two kingdoms, the capital of the monarchy was Sevilla ; though Toledo, Madrid, Valla- dolid, and other places, were frequently honored by the abode of royalty. The Castilian Court — curia or cohorte — preserv- ed long the simplicity of Visigoth manners. Its chief officer was still the major domus (118); the armiger, or shield- bearer, held the next rank ; then followed the oiconomicus, or steward, the capellani, or chaplains ; the notarii, or secreta- ries, the cid)icidarii, or chamberlains, and the cellaril, or vic- tuallers. The courtiers were the cotnites — condes — to whom the government of the provinces was assigned. Within their respective jurisdictions the counts were termed ilu&trissimos ; they held courts like their liege lord, the king ; they appoint- ed magistrates in the subordinate towns, and in war they com- manded the troops, raised in their province. After the con- quest of Andalusia, the governors of the provinces were term- '" From A. D. 11.58 to 14C6, six regencies held the reins of govern- ment, which n)ainly contributed to strengthen the influence of the leading families; the nobility obtained dangerous privileges; not only the exemption from all taxes and contributions, but the nobles arrogated to themselves the right of renouncing their allegiance to the King — de» naluralizarse — and of calling another to the throne. The insecurity of the open country, continually exposed to the incursions of the Arabs, forced the cultivators to place themselves under the protection of the barons, and thus arose the Behctrias or townships under patronage, which suffered severely from the encroachments of their patrons until this institution was abolished ia 1454. '•"'^ See the interesting introduction to Prescott's History of Fcrdi- iinnd and Isabella. ed adelantados, while those of the cities were known as alcal- des, those of the fortresses as castellanos, and those of the bo- roughs as villicos. The alferez 'mayor bore the high sword of justice, and led on the troops during the absence of the King. Don Juan I. created the condestabile, or constable, as general in chief of the army, while the almir antes, or admi- rals, having their residence in Sevilla, held the command of the fleet and the naval establishments. The great body of the nobles was divided into two classes : to the first belonged the ricos hombres, or proceres, who held seignorial jurisdictions or high offices, and from the time of Don Juan II., were called grandes, or grandees of Castile, — and the condes, or counts, likewise great feudatories of the crown, who exercised a local jurisdiction. During the fourteenth century, the honorary titles of marquis and duke were introduced, such as the Marquis of Cadiz, and the Duke of Infantado. The second class consist- ed of the caballeros, or knights, military vassals of noble birth, who served on horseback, while the minor proprietors — peche- ros — were not considered as nobles, and formed the mass of the infantry, like the cavalleiros villdos in Portugal (578). The warfare with the Moors required light-armed troops, and we find them in the Spanish ginetes, or light-horse, who rode in short stirrups in the Saracen manner, and the almugavdres, or border wardens (258), an efficient light infantry, fighting with spear, cutlass, and mace, in the incessant forays — ahnu- gc^verias — on the Moorish frontiers. The commanders and guides of these troops, called cdmocadenes andadalides, enjoy- ed distinction on account of their important service ; they were always officers of trust, as the safety of the Castilian army de- pended on their vigilance and integrity. 590. National Diets and Distinguished Families. — In the national assemblies — cortes — the third estate, or the com- mons, formed a constituent part, as early as 1169. They ex- ercised an important influence ; their assent was indispensable to taxation, and they had a controlling power over the expen- diture. At the convocation of the states at Burgos, in 1188, deputies were present from the following forty-three places : — Tohdo, Cuenza, Huete, Guadalajara, Coca, Cuellar, Por- tillo, Fedraza, Hita, Salainanca, Uzeda, Buitrago, Madrid, Escalo7ia, Maqueda, Talavera, Plasencia, Trvjillo, Avila, Segovia, Arevalo, Sahagnn, Cea, FuenteDuena, Sepulve- da, Ayllon, Maderuelo, San Estevan, Osma, Corcena, Ati- enza, Siguenza, Medina del Campo, Ohncdo, Falencia, Logrono, Calahorra, Arnedo, Tordesillas, Simancas, Torre- lobaton, Montalegre^ Fuente-Segura, Medinaceli, Berlanga, Almazan, Soria, and Valladolid — some of which were simple boroughs or villages, while several towns, and even large cities, were omitted. During the disorders of the civil wars, in 1315, one hundred cities associated in a Holy Brotherhood — Santa Hermandad — for mutual protection. They increased in strength and wealth ; their privileges — -fueros — were enlarged by Don Henrique of Trastamara, and they attained the height of municipal liberty and glory toward the close of tlie four- teenth century. But Castile had no general and di'fiiiitive constitution ; no regularity in the representation of the cit r's, which, moreover, like the republics of Italy, were distracted by rivalry and petty contentions. Their influence soon began to decline. In the cortes of Ocana, held in 1422, tivelve cities only were represented, and later, the privilege of being sum- moned to send deputies to the cortes was confined to the fol- lowing eighteen towns: Bivrgos, Toledo, Leon, Sevilla, Cor- dova, Murcia, Jaen, Zamora, Segovia, Avila, Salamanca, Cuenza, Toro, Valladolid, Soria, Madrid, GTiadalajara, and Granada.'^^'^ '''° See the dissertation on the mediaeval laws and institutions of tlie Spanish states, and the history of the progress and decline of the Cas- EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. CASTILE AND LEON. 195 The most influential families during this period were the Castros, in Gralicia ; the Haros, powerful and turbulent feuda- tories, in Viscaya ; the Zunigas, Osorios, Almanzas^ and Pi- meiiteles, in Leon ; the Enriqucces^Toledos, Pach,ecos de Acicna, Velascos, Mendozas, and principally the Laras, in Old Castile ; the Albuquerques de la Cueva. Portocarreros, and Silvas, in New Castile ; the valiant Guzmanes,{l;itev Dukes of Medina- Sidonia), and their rivals, the Ponces de Ij;on, in the kingdoai of Sevilla ; the Aquilares, in Cordova ; and the Fajardos in Murcia. Of these the Laras, possessing the whole territory between the Asturian mountains and the Sierra de Oca, near Burgos, were frequently in arms against their sovereign, while the Castros sought every opportunity to renounce their allegi- ance, and unite their arms with the Moorish Kings of Granada. 591. Cities AND Historical Sites. — In Andalusia : Cor- dova, the capital of the Caliphs, the terror and admiration of Europe from 755 to 1234, when it was conquered by Don Fernando the Saint, and its 300,000 inhabitants dispersed. Its splendid libraries, bazaars, and mosques were destroyed by the crusading Christians, and of all the Asiatic grandeur of that civilized empire, there was only left the great mosque of Abderraman, the masterwork of Saracenic architecture. Yet even this incomparable monument was partly defaced by its transformation into a Christian cathedral, when hundreds of its elegant columns were broken down, in order to give place to some chapels of saints. Cordova was then also cele- brated for its manufactures of cordoban, or cordwain leather, which, since the expulsion of the Arabs, has constituted one of their principal export articles from Morocco. Sevilla [His- palis, Arabic, IshbiliaJ, in its fertile plain on the banks of the Guadalquivir, was then a magnificent capital, adorned with all the charms of nature, and the embellishments of Saracenic ar- chitecture, and became later the frequent residence of the Cas- •tilian Kings. In its Moorish palace — alcazar — took place, in 1358, the awful assassination of Don Fadrique, the grand master of Calatrava, by order of his unnatural brother, Don Pedro the Cruel, of Castile. In Xeres de la Frontera, on the Guadalete, the tyrant imprisoned his lovely and innocent queen, Blanche of Bourbon ; and, abandoned there to the brutal governor, Juan Perez de Robledo, the unhappy princess perished by poison or steel in 1361 ; — one of the most horrible events in Spanish history ! Scdvatierra, Xeres de Badajoz, and Aracena were important fortresses on the west- ern frontiers, towards the Guadiaua. Palos, a small port in the principality of Niebla, became celebrated as the point of de- parture of Christopher Columbus, August 3d, 1492, for the discovery of the New World. At Alacab, on the plains north of Tolosa — las navas de Tolosa — on the southern slope of the Sierra Morena, was fought the most sanguinary battle of me- diaeval Spain, July 16th, 1212, in which Mohammed Abn Abdallah, of Morocco, was defeated by Alfonso IX. of Cas- tile, and Pedro II. of Aragon, with the slaughter of 160,000 Arabs, who perished on the battle-field. Yet the final conquest of Western Andalusia was not secured until 1340, when Al- fonso XL of Castile, and Alfonso IV. of Portugal, with their united armies, vanquished the King of Granada, and his myri- ads of African auxiliaries, on the river Salado (Wady-Celito), west of Tarifa, and after the important conquest of Algeziras, in 1342, confined the Mohammedans within the narrow bound- aries of the kingdom of Granada. Algeziras (Al-Dshesira, that is, the Island),, situated on a hill, in a strong and advan- tageous position, on the coast of the Strait, was then one of the most important cities of the Moors ; but it sufi"ered terribly tilian cities, in Dunham's History of Spain and Portugal, Vol. IV., pages 48-152, of the New-York edition. during its prolonged siege, and the plough passed over its splendid streets. ''" Tarifa, on the southernmost cape of Spain, and tlie still stronger Djebal-Tarik (Gibraltar) became cele- brated by the heroical defence of the Guzmans. 592. In the two Castiles, Palencia was the earliest seat of learning; its university, established by Fernando el Santo, in 1239, was, in 1404, removed to Salamanca. Valladolid, the frequent residence of the Castilian Kings, received anoth- er university, richly endowed by Alfonso XL, in 1346. Du- enas, on the Pisuerga, south of Palencia, was the usual resi- dence of Queen Isabella, who was born at Madrigal, April 22d, 1451. Burgos, the gloomy old capital of the Counts of Castile (256), became, in 1361, the scene of the revolting cruel- ties of Don Pedro I., and of the execution of the ambitious Alvaro de Luna, in 1453. On the plain between Nojera and Navarrete, in the Rioja, near the Bbro, was fought the bloody battle between the hostile brothers, in which Don Enrique de Trastamara and his French cavaliers were routed by the su- perior tactics of the Black Prince, and the impetuous valor of Don Pedro the Cruel, on the 3d of April, 1366. The whole Castilian army was cut to pieces, Bertrand du Guesclin and his Frenchmen were made prisoners, and Don Pedro return- ed triumphantly at the head of his English auxiliaries. But his atrocious cruelties soon prepared his fall. At Montiel, a strong fortress on the northern slope of Sierra Morena, over- looking the dreary plains of La Mancha, the great contest be- tween the brothers was decided, in 1368. So astonishing was the course of events, that the fate of the Castilian kingdom was here intrusted to Moorish and French auxiliaries. Don Pedro, with his 36,000 Arabs, was defeated by Enrique de Trastamara and his 600 French lances. The tyrant fled to the fortress of Montiel, but, attempting secretly to escape dur- ing night, he was taken prisoner, and fell beneath the dagger of his brother, in the tent of Bertrand de Guesclin. This fra- tricide raised the Trastamara dynasty on the Castilian throne. Toro, Tordesillas, and Zamora, on the Duero, Ataquines, Baltanas, Olniedo, Los Toros de Guisando, Algorrabilas, on the Tajo, and Albuera and Valverde, on the Guadiana, were all places of historical interest during the intestine trou- bles of the fifteenth century, and the early reign of Fernando and Isabella. 593. The Ecclesiastical Division of Leon ■ and Cas- tile. — The Castilian Church was divided into five provinces, which pertained to the Archbishop of Toledo, as the Primate of Spain.''" I. Provincia Toletana, extending from the northern shores of the Biscay Sea, south, through the centre of Spain, to the Mediterranean. The see of the primate was ^"' At the siege of Algeziran, the Arabs from Morocco employed gunpowder and cannon, which their historians call naphta and thun- der tubes, and they describe with exaggeration the effect of the balls. The earliest appearance of artillery in Europe was at the siege of Ali- cante, in 1331, where, according to the Aragonian chronicler, Zurita, the Saracens terrified the Christian garrison of the city by the pelotas de hierro que se lanzaban con fuego. Annates de la corona de Aragon — Lib. VII., cap. 15. Edward III. brought up four small cannon at the battle of Crecy, in 1346, which spread fright and disorder among the French cavalry. ^^'The primateship of the see of Toledo over all the provinces of the Spanish Peninsula was confirmed by the Pope Honorius III. in his three celebrated letters, from 1216-122'7, though the Bishop of Bracai'a ; in Portugal, those of Coinpostela and Burgos, and, later, that of Sevilla, obstinately refused to recognize the supremacy, and caused great troubles in the church. Yet, at the Council of Peiiafiel, in 1302, the Toletan Archbishop for the first time appears as the Primas Hispani- arum ac Regni Castellce Cancellarius, a dignity which was confirmed in the later councils of 1324, 1355, and 1478. See WUtsch, Vol. II., page 185. 196 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. ARAGON. in ancient Toledo, on the Tajo, and the suffragan bishoprics were: Cordova, Jaen, Murcia, Concha (Cuemza), Segovia, Siguenza (Segontia), Osjna (Oxsima), VaUadolid (Valle Oletum), Leon, and Oviedo. II. Provincia Compostellana, embracing Galicia and Estremadura, on the frontiers of Por- tugal, had its patriarchial see in Sancti Jacobi de Compos- TELLA (255, 377), and the suffragans Mondonedo, Lugo, Tuy, Orense, Astorga, Zaniora, Salamanca, Ciiidad Rodrigo, Avila, Flacencia, Coria, Badajoz, and Idanha- Velha, in the kingdom of Portugal III. Provincia Burgensis, com- prised the ancient county of Burgos (256), the Asturian coastlands, the Vascongadas, and the Kingdom of Navarra. Burgos, on a branch of the Pisuei-ga, was the metropolitan see, under which ranged the suffragans of Palencia, Sancti Andrece (Santander), Calahorra for Biscaya and Rioja, and Pampiluna for Navarra. IV. Provincia Sevillana was established by Fernando el Santo, after his brilliant conquest of Andalucia. Sevilla was already an archiepiscopal see, in 1267, and received, later, the bishoprics of Cadiz, Algeziras, and Malaga.; and, lastly, V. Provincia Granadensis, erect- ed by Fernando and Isabella, in 1 492, after the final expulsion of the Moors, with Illiberi (Granada) for its see, and the an- nexed bishoprics of Giiadix and Almeria. XII. Kingdom of Aragon. 594. Conquests and Other Acquisitions. — Aragon and Catalonia had, by their union in 1150, become a powerful kingdom (318), which, though of narrow limits, when com- pared with Castile, distinguished itself among all the contem- poraneous states of Europe by its well-balanced constitution, by the energy and prudent moderation of its kings, and the dauntless bravery and commercial activity of its citizens, who vied with the maritime republics of Italy in the traffic and navigation of the Mediterranean. The crown of Aragon had obtained the counties of RoussiUon and Pallars (479), in 1172, and Don Jayme I. conquered the Balearic islands and the kingdom of Vale^icia, from the Moors, in 1229-45. Yet the feudal possessions of Aragon in France (318) became alienated during this period of constant warfare against the Mohammedans in the south, and Jayme renounced, in the treaty of Corbeil, in 1258, his pretensions to Razez, Carcas- sonne, and some smaller territories north of the Pyrenees, in lieu of the entire independence of the Catalonian provinces from the feudal supremacy of France (184, 229). Roussillon, Omelas, Carlat, and Montpellier, remained, however, still attached to Aragon."'^ The political relations to Castile rendered it likewise necessary, in the treaty of Campillo, 1305, to cede to that power the conquests of Northern Murcia, Alicante, Orihuela, and Elche ; yet Aragon had already been brilliantly indemnified by the acquisition of the kingdom of Sicihj, in 1282 (423), the conquest of the isles of Gerhes and Karclds, on the eastern coast of Tunis, and the still more important islands of Sardinia and Corsica, which, after many hard-fought naval battles, were wrested from the re- publics of Pisa and Genoa, in the . course of the fourteenth century. Even the duchy of Athens, in Greece, became, in 1311, an appanage of the House of Aragon, whose kings thenceforth retained the title of Dukes of Athens and Neo- patras.^'' To this long series of conquests was added that of ^'"' See tlie adjoined Map, No. 5, Europe during the Crmades, and for details, Sismondi's History of the French, Bruxelles edition, 1836, Vol. v., page 235. ^^Tbe army of Catalan and Aragonese adventurers in the Levant having defeated and slaiu Walter de Brienne, the Duke of Athens, in the battle on the Cephissus, in Bojotia (355), occupied the country, and offered their allegiance to their native sovereign, the King of Aragon. Athens remained for nearly a century— 1311-1386— under the dominion the kingdom of Naples, by Don Alonso V., in 1442, and, last of all, the union with Castile, in 1479. 595. Constitution and Government. — The political in- stitutions of Aragon, though beai'ing a general resemblance to those of the other states in the Spanish Peninsula, differed, however, in many essential points, having developed them- selves under peculiar circumstances, which gave them an original character. In the Asturian mountains of Leon and Oviedo, the Christians had never entirely lost their indepen- dence (255, 256), and the ancient Visigothic constitution remained there, as well as later in Castile, the basis for the internal organization of the slowly extending Christian king- doms ; while, on the contrary, in the eastern regions of the Pyrenees, the last remnant of the Visigothic sway had disap- peared during the invasion of the Arabs across those moun- tains into the heart of France, and a new order of things had later begun with the Prankish dominion of Charlemagne (184, 229). The mountaineers of Aragon and Catalonia, on throw- ing off their allegiance to the sinking Carlovingian empire, found themselves attacked by the powerful Mohammedan dynasties of Zaragoza and Valencia, and it was only by the most faithful union of the nobility and commons, and the most austere observance of feudal allegiance, that those small and weak states, under able and liberal princes could reconquer their territories, and, by incessant warfare, build up the Ara- gonian empire, which, among all the states of the middle ages, was the only one realizing the idea of a well organized realm.^"* The royal power was, in all important matters of administra- tion and politics, circumscribed by the Cortes of the realm, in their four chambers — brazos — consisting of the clergy, the high nobility — los ricos hombres — the knights — losinfanzoncs and caballeros — and the cities and communes — las tiniversi- dacles. Catalonia and Valencia had government and laws dis- tinct from Aragon, and their Cortes consisted only of three estates — prelates, nobles, and commons, — all no less tenacious of their privileges than those of Aragon. The cities, fortified in strong positions, and defended by an industrious and war- like population, rose earlier to independence and municipal government than in Germany or France, on account of their importance as bulwarks against the Arabs. Their extensive immunities were more clearly defined and better protected than in Castile, and they enjoyed a higher consideration from their kings.-"^ The number of deputies sent to the Cortes from the cities is not exactly known : Zaragoza, the capital, was sometimes represented by fifteen members, and the Cortes assembled at Lerida, in 1214, were attended by ten deputies from every principal city and borough in the realm, such as Huesca, Jaca, Calatayud, Daroca, Tarrazona, on the Cas- tilian frontiers, and others. of Aragonese princes or tlieir bailiffs. See the eloquent and interesting work, Espedicion de los Catalanes y Aragoneses contra Griegos y Turcos, por Don Juan de Moncada, Barcelona, 1620, cap. LXX. '"■'See the full exposition of this interesting subject in the History of Aragon during the Middle Ages, by Dr. Ernst A. Smith, Leipzig, 1828, pages 379-453. The sources for the constitutional history of Aragon fioAV more abundantly than those of Castile or Portugal. Smith numbers more than sixty original works on Aragon during this period. '"'' Alonso IV. having granted estates to foreign cavaliers after his marriage with Eleanor of Castile, and otherwise infringed the privileges of the estates, the citizens of Valencia rose in arms against him, in 1332, and besieged the palace. And ■when their leader, Guillen de Vi- natea, at the head of the magistrates and jurados, spoke in a menacing tone to the king and queen, in the presence of the court, Eleanor in her rage exclaimed: "My brother, the King of Castile, instead of yielding, would have cut off the head of every one of those rebels who dared to speak thus." But Alonso answered her with dignity: "Queen, you have to learn that our people is free, and not subject like tliat of Castile ; our vassals esteem us as their lord, and vre them as loyal EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. ARAGON. 197 596. An important officer of state was the great justiciar — el justicia — whose authority was supreme in judicial matters, and who pronounced on the validity of all royal edicts and ordinances. Suits against the crown and the officials of government were likewise brought before his tribunal. The jitsticia placed in this delicate position, keeping the king in constant surveillance, was uniformly supported by the states, and was thus enabled to carry the original design of that institution into effect — to check the usurpations of the throne, as well as to control the arrogance of the nobles, and the turbulence of the people. Under a constitution so admirably adapted to the stern aud practical sense of the nation, Aragon became a flourishing kingdom ; it excelled in various manufac- tures; a brisk navigation was carried on upon the Ebro, and the export of woollen and cotton stuffs enriched the abstemious Aragonese, while the bold and enterprising Catalan traded in Syria, Egypt, Greece, Barbary, France, and England. The Catalan fleets swept the Mediterranean, and the inventive genius and daring valor of a Roger dc Loria and other admirals inspired the nation with a heroism which secured them their vast maritime possessions.-"^ All the Aragonese kings distinguished themselves by chiv- alrous acquirements and military talents — some by their poet- ical genius, and others by the liberal support and encourage- ment they awarded to the Limosin and Catalan troubadours and other literary characters, who flocked to their court. Peter Rogiers, Mosen Jordi, Jayme Roig, Febrer, and Ausias March sang in praise of the dai'k-eyed ladies of Aragon and the gallant deeds of the Catalans on sea and land ; nay, the accomplished and unhappy Prince Carlos de Viana wrote valuable chronicles of his times. Thus poetry and literature softened the warlike manners of the nobles, while the splendor of the royal court and the influence and wealth of the Barce- lonese citizens presented a pleasant picture of the mediteval prosperity of the Aragonese empire. 597. Provinces, Cities, and Historical Sites. — I. The kingdom of Aragon, with the duchies of Albarracin (a fief of the powerful Laras in Castile), the county of Ribagorza in the Pyrenees, and the baronies of Castro, Ayerbe, Urrea, Luna, Hijar, and others. Zaragoza, on the Ebro, the loyal city whose citizens enjoyed the rank of Hidalgos, was the residence of the court. Jaca, Huesca, and Albarracin, retained long a mixed population of Saracens and Christians, who vied with one another in manufactures and industrious enterprises. Teniel, Daroca, Monreal, Torellas, and Salva- tierra, as strong and well-guarded fortresses, protected the borders towards Castile and Navarra. At Monzon, on the river Cinca, Fraga, and Calatayud, were held important diets, securing the liberties of the land, and extending the power of the justiciary of the realm. Near Epila, west of Zaragoza, was fought the battle between Don Pedro IV. and the confederate nobles in 1348, in which the latter were routed and obliged to renounce the dangerous privilege of armed opposition to the crown. liegemeu and companions." In the Limosin dialect: — " JEl nostre pople es f ranch e no es axi subjugat com es lo poble de Castilla. Car els tenen a nos com a senyor, e nos a els <:om a bons vassals e companyonsP ^^^ When the Count of Foix, in 1285, endeavored to persuade the Catalan admiral, Roger de Loria, to consent to a truce, and attempted to intimidate him by saying, "that France could arm three hundred galleys :" "Let her do it," exclaimed Loria; "I will sweep the sea with my hundred, and no ship without leave from the King of Aragon shall pass ; no, nor shall a fish dare to raise its head above the water, unless I can see that it bears the arms of Aragon on its tail ! "' The Catalans had Consuls in Alexandria, Tunis, Constantinople, and Damascus, so early as the thirteenth century, and they supplied the Low Countries aud the North with the rich products of the Levant. II. The principality of Cathalunya (CataluTia), with the duchy of Girona, the counties of TJrgel, Pallars, Besalu, Ampurdan, Barcelona, Llery, the viscounties of Car dona and Castelbo, and the baronies of Moncada, Trades, Ayfoiia, Osona, and others. Barcelona, in its picturesque and strong- position on the sea, and defended by its towering castle of Monjuich, became the centre of the Catalonian trade and industry, and the first among the commercial cities of the Mediterranean, which obtained a written code of maritime laws — cl consulado del mar — that formed the basis for the mercantile jurisprudence of Europe during the Middle Ages. The precipitous Monserrat (the peaked or serrated mountain), with its splendid Benedictine Convent, was early the peaceful abode of numerous hermits. Tortosa, on the Ebro, became celebrated by the heroical defence of its women, who, arming and relieving their exhausted husbands, repelled the Moorish invaders in 1149. At Lerida, on the Segre, Don Juan II. . treacherously imprisoned his son, the innocent Carlos de Viana, who in 1461 perished, the victim of a malignant step- mother. El Col de Fanizars, Girona, Ostalrich, and Figti- eras, in the Pyrenees, became in 1285 the scene of the heroical resistance of Don Pedro III. and his Almugavares against the immense invading army of Philippe III. of France, while Roger de Loria, with his Catalan galleys, on the promontory of Rosas, captured and destroyed his proud armada. 598. III. The kingdom of Valencia, extending along the sea coast, and embracing part of Murcia, contained the duchies of Exerica (Jerica), Segorbe, and Gandia, with the flourishing cities of Valencia, Castellan, Denia, Alicante, Alcobillas, Elche, and Orihuela, all celebrated battle-fields in the Moorish wars. Nuestra Senora de Montesa, west, on the frontiers of Murcia, became in 1317 the endowment of a new order of military monks, which rose in Aragon on the ruins of that of the Knights Templars, after their condemnation at the council in Vienna, and desperate but vain resist- ance in their castles in Aragon. The commanders and brothers of the Castilian Order of Calatrava obtained all their rich estates, and became thenceforth the border-wardens against the Moors of Granada. IV. The kingdom of Mallorca (Mayorca), comprising the Balearic islands, the counties of Roussillon, Cerdana, Calibre, and Conflans, in the Pyrenees, together with the lordships of Valespir and Moyitpellier , formed during the thirteenth century a separate state, under a lateral line of the Aragonian dynasty.-'' At the diet of Barcelona, August 21, 1262, Don Jayme I. gave the Balearic islands and the French fiefs in Lauguedoc and Provence to his younger son, Don Jayme, whose successors, after a reign of fifty-two years, were expelled by Don Pedro IV. of Aragon, in 1344. Jayme II., the last king of Mallorca, attempting in vain the defence of Roussillon, fled to Avignon, where he sold to Philippe VI. his only remaining possessions in Provence, Montpellier , and Lattes, for 120,000 dollars. Having gathered an army in 1349, he lauded on Mallorca, but he fell in battle against the Aragonese, and the islands remained united with the crown of Aragon. Falma, the capital became the principal mart for the Eastern commerce of the Catalans. In its beautiful cathedral is still seen the sepul- chral monument of Don Jayme I. of Mallorca. Cities on the 297 Don Jayme I., el Conquistador, King of Aragon 1 1276. Don Pedro III., King of Aragon, 12T6-12S5. Married to Constance, of Hohenstaufen. Jayme I., King of Mallorca, 1262-1302. Sancho, King 1302-1325. Jay'mk II. 1325-1849. Married to Constance of Ar-igon. 198 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. AEAGON— NAVARRA. smaller island of Minorca were Ciucladela and Mahon (Mago), with one of the finest ports on the Mediterranean. 599. V. The kiiig'dom of Sicily or Trinacria. — The Si- cilians had throv/n off the yoke of Charles of Anjou and Na- ples on the Sicilian Vespers (423). They gave the crown of Trinacria, for they resumed the ancient name of the island, to the able and successful Don Fadrique II., who maintained his independence of Naples.'"' After the most devastating wars with the Angevin Kings of Naples, and civil feuds between the Catalan and Chiaramontese (Sicilian) parties, the island was united with the Aragonese crown in 1412. During this period it became divided into I. Val di Demona^ east, with the mar- graviate of Randazzo, the counties of Adrani, Ay done, Mis- tretta, Minco (the latter four belonging to noble Catalan fami- lies), Monforte, Gerace, Augusta, and others, with the cities of Catatiia, Syracusa, Messina, Patti, Naso, Zampullo, and Ccfalu, all celebrated by the military events of those times. II. Val di Mazzara, west, with the counties of Palizzi and Ciacomo (of the Chiaramontesi), and the cities Palermo, the capital, Castellaniare, Trapani, Mazzara, Salemi, and Sci- acca. III. Val d'Agrigento southwest, with the counties of Camarata, Calatabellota, and Siculiana, and the cities of Agrigento siaA Castro-ja?ini ; and IV., Fa^ (fi iVo^o southeast, embracing the possessions of the turbulent Chiaramontesi, and the principality of Butera, belonging to the Catalan nobles of Alagona, with the towns Noto, Modica, and Alicata. To the kingdom of Trinacria belonged the islands of Malta, Gozzo, and Pantalaria. On the eastern coast of Tunis, the Catalans had occupied the important islands of Carchis (Kerkeri) and Gerbes (Zerbi), with the castles of Zadaica, Cantara, and Ao-irra. and the fortresses of Alcoll and Temolum, on the mainland of Africa, which were bravely defended by Aragon- ese garrisons, and were useful depots for the commerce on the shores of Barbary, and ports of refuge for the Catalan fleets. But, during the internal disturbances in Sicily, and those in Valencia, against Alonso IV., the Saracen inhabit- ants of Gerbes rebelled ; they obtained aid from the Tunese and the Neapolitans, and, driving off the Sicilians, Carchis and the other possessions were lost in 1336. VI. The island of Sardinia, divided into its four jurisdic- tions (323), the judges of which sometimes would take the royal title, was a bone of contention between the rival re- publics, Genoa and Pisa. The noble house of Oria, and the Margraves of Malaspina, held with Genoa, while the judge of Arhorea, and the Counts of Bas and Donoratico, raised the banner of Pisa. The prudent Don Jayme I. gained the good will of all parties, and, landing with a powerful fleet, in 1323, the Aragonese were received with open arms. Nobles and com- moners pressed around the old hero of thirty battles ; the Pi- sans were defeated near Cagliari, and after the surrender of its strong fortress, that fertile and beautiful island was, by the treaty of 1326, united to the Aragonese empire. 600. Ecclesiastical Division of Aragon. — I., Provincia Tarraconensis, with the archiepiscopal see in Tarragona, the suffragan churches of Barcinona, Gcrunda (Girona), Bi- sulduniim (Besalu), Atisona, TJrgellis, Solsona, and Ilerda (Lerida). II. Provincia C^esaraugustana was erected by Pope John XXII., in 1318, from the western portion of the province of Tarragona ; it had the see in Zaragoza, on the '°^ Trinacrian Kings until the permanent union with Aragon : Pe- dro lU. of Aragon, 1282-]285. Jayme II., 1285-1291. Fadrique (Frederic) II., 1291-1S37. Pedro II., 133'7-1342. Louis, 1342-1355. Fadrique III, el Tonto, 1355-1377. Martin the Younger, 1377-1409. Martin the Elder (succeeds his son), 1409-1410. Fernando I. of Aragon and Sicily, 1412-1416. Sicily remains thenceforth united with tlie Sp.inish monarchj' until the general peace of Utrecht, in 1713. Ebro, with gorgeous cathedral and convents, and embraced six sufl'ragans, those of Jaca, Osca (Huesca), Balastro, Tirazo- na. Albarracin, and Tcruel. III., Provincia Valentina, comprising the southern part of Valencia, and the Balearic islands. Valencia was the archiepiscopal throne, with three suffragans, Segorbe, Orihiiela, and Pahna, on Mayorca. Aragon had four universities : those of Lerida (from 1245), Huesca (1354), Barcelona (1430), and Valencia (1410), which latter had six chairs for the Latin, and two for the Greek language and literature.^™ XIII. Kingdom of Navarra. 601. Extent and Government. — This small and histori- cally unimportant state embraced the upper valleys of the western Pyrenees, and bordered north on France, west on Biscay ; on the south, the Ebro separated it from Castile, and the river Aragon from the kingdom of that name on the east. The royal dynasty of Don Garcias VI., Ramirez (318), be- came extinct with Sancho VI., in 1234, and the Count Thie- bault I. of Champagne, inherited the throne. On the decease of Henry I., the last scion of this house, in 1274, the queen married her daughter, Juanna, to King Philipp le Bel, and Navarra became thus united to France during fifty-five years. But Philipp VI. of Valois, in 1 328, was anxious to rid him- self of one of his most dangerous competitors for the throno of France, by surrendering the kingdom of Navarra to Philipp, Count of Evreux (306, 393), married to Jeanne, daughter of Louis X. This separation from France was hailed with joy by the Navarrese, and those wild mountaineers celebrated the festival of their independence with the horrible slaughter of ten thousand Jews, who were settled among them, and had enjoyed the protection of the French kings, whose bankers they were.^"" Charles the Bad took a pernicious part in the struggles of France, without any benefit to Navarra. There, the hos- tile factions of the Beaumonts and Agramonts involved the country in the fiercest civil wars, which only terminated with the destruction of the unhappy Prince Carlos de Viana, in 1462. Navarra was always- exposed to the conflicting influ- ences of France and Aragon, and could never gather its strength. Its states enjoyed great privileges which were pre- served by the frequent changes of the dynasties. The Kings of Navarra were surrounded by a council of twelve members, chosen from the high nobility. The Cortes were composed of the three estates : nobility, clergy, and the deputies of twenty-five cities, which had early obtained their different sta- tutes — -foros. The Navarrese had a high school in Tudela, on the Ebro, but most of their youths went to finish their studies either in Lerida, Toulouse, or Montpellier ; and general edu- cation made only slow progress in a country where commerce and industry were neglected. 602. Division, Cities, and Historical Places — The small state was divided into six provinces — merindades — '''•" Garcias, the ambassador of King Alonso V., a native Catalan, de- livered so elegant an oration in the Latin language, before Pope Sixtus IV., that the Italian pedants present looked at one another in astonish- ment, and the celebrated Pomponius Lsetus exclaimed, full of admira- tion : " Who is the Barbarian that speaks with such eloquence ? " A Na- varrese Prince translated some of the works of Aristotle, from the Latin into Spanish. '"^ Kings of the Evereux dynasty were : Philipp, 1328-1343. Charles L, le Mauvais, 1343-1387. Charles IL, le Genereux, 1387-1425. Juan II. of Aragon, 1425-1479. The unhappy Blanche of Aragon was forced to renounce the throne, and perished, poisoned by her sister, Eleanor of Foix, who inherited Navarra, but died three weeks after her father, Juan 11, in 1479. Francis the Handsome (Phobus), of Beam, 1479-1483. Jean d'Albret, 1483-1516, last King of Navarra: the country was then conquered by Fernando, d Catolico, and united with Spain. EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. GRANADA. 199 five of which lay in the south of the Pyrenees, and one on the north, called Mermdad de tdtra puertos. Pamplona, on the Arga, was the capital. Ayhar and Sanguesa, on the river Aragon, Estrella, Olite, and the gloomy castle of Orthez, in the Beam, were all the scenes of melancholy events in the history of Carlos de Viana and his no less unhappy sister Blanche de Navarra.^" Navarra formed the bishopric of Pam- piluna, belonging to the ecclesiastical province of Burgos (593). XIV. The Mohammedan Kingdom of Granada. 603. Extent, Government, and Civil Feuds. — After the defeat of the African Moors at Tolosa (587), and the sub- sequent downfall of the Almohad dynasty in Spain, the pro- vince of Granada became the centre of a limited, but powerful kingdom. The active and generous Wali Mohammed Ebn Alhamar was raised to the throne in 1232, and secured the tranquillity in the interior by the encouragement he awarded to commerce, industry, and agriculture, and peace abroad by rendering nominal homage to the King of Castile. Thougli Granada, in the subsequent century, lost all the fertile lands on the Lower Guadalquivir, Xeres, Tarifa, Algeziras^Tind. Gib- raltar^ it still contained within the circuit of one hundred and eighty leagues, all the physical resources of a strong em- pire, which, by the valor of its Alhamarid monarchs, the en- thusiasm of its dense population, and the strength of its rock- bound frontiers, for more than two centuries — 1232-1492 — resisted the united forces of the Spanish monarchies. The influx of Saracen exiles from the provinces lately conquered by the Christian arms, rapidly increased the number of its de- fenders, while the internal disturbances in Castile during the reign of Don Pedro el Cruel and the weak kings of the Tras- tamara dynasty, left the Granadians periods of comparative tranquillity for the development of a higher civilization in commerce, science and arts. Agriculture, too, was held in re- spect, and carried to a high degree of excellence. ^"^ Their manufactures of woollen cloths, cotton, and flax, were impor- tant objects of export, and the sword blades, armor, and dyed leather (cordwain), of Granada, were, during that period, the best in Europe. Their commerce extended to Egypt and India. Thus an immense wealth and all the enjoyments and comforts of life were concentred in this delightful region, so bountifully blessed by nature. Refined manners, a chivalrous affection for the fair sex, and, in consequence, an honorable position of woman in society, brilliant valor, love for poetry, music, and rural occupations, blended with the wildest pas- sions of part}!- spirit, revenge, and deadly feuds, characterized the hot-blooded and generous Granadian cavaliers. Supported by their African allies, the Alhamarids attempted to throw off the forced allegiance to the Castilian Kings. Within Granada itself contending parties arose among the nobles, whose influence decided the succession of the throne, and the direction of the government. One king armed against the other, fearful revolutions shook the throne ; *" nay, the hostile parties called the Castilian enemy to their support. Yet, *°'See Presoott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. I., cap. 2, and for the ultimate catastrophe of Navai-ra, in 1516, vol. III., cap. 23. ^"'^ Christian Spain was indebted to the Moslem Granadians for the introduction of her most exquisite fruits and horticultural products, for the sugar cane, cotton, silk, the skilful cultui-e of the mulberry tree, and the ingenious mode of irrigation, and thus, by the distribution of the waters transforming the desert into a Paradise. "'^From the accession of Mohammed I. Ebn Alhamar, in 1232, to the last King, Abdallah el Zaguir, by the Spaniards called Boabdeli, or el Bey Chico (the Pigmy King), in 1492, twenty-three kings had oc- cupied the glittering throne of the Alhambra, and tasted the bitter cup of human gveatnes.';. while the wars raged on the frontiers, and one border castle fell into the power of the Christians after the other, the Gra- nadians still continued to shed their blood in civil contests, and it was at last, the rebellion of Abdallah el Zaquir (the Drunkard) against his uncle, Abdallah el Zagal (the Daunt- less) — which, after the most determined resistance of the Gra- nadians, opened the gates of the splendid capital to the armies of Ferdinand and Isabella, on the 2d of January, 1492, and put an end to the Mohammedan dominion in the Peninsula. 604. Division — Cities and Historical Sites. — After the loss of Algeziras and Gibraltar in 1344, the western frontier of the kingdom ran through the deep valley of Wady-Ara, along the northern declivity of the Sierra de Antequera, and was protected by the strongly-situated cities of Ronda, Loja, Antequera, Alhama, and the numerous border-castles, crown- ing every hill in the northern districts of Kalaat Jahasseb, El Fandak^ and Bordshila-el-Baljul, opposite to the Castilian provinces of Cordova and Jaen. On the northeast, the fertile region of Kastaluna was defended by the towering Djebal Samantan (now Monte Cazorta), which separated Granada from Murcia, while the eastern declivity of Sierra Nevada presented a formidable frontier line of deep, rocky defiles, and the mountain-forts of Yalad-al-Alhiad (Velez-el- Blanco), Valad-al- Alimar (Velez-el-Rubio), and Bur^hana ; and Almeria on the sea-coast. The city of Granada (Arabic, Garnatha, or Garb-Naath), the capital of the empire, was situated on the northern declivity of Djehul Kais (Sierra Nevada), in the plain of the river Xenil, sufllciently protected on the east by the fortresses of Wady-Asch (Guadix) and Basatha (Baza), on the south by the snow-capped range of the mountains, and on the west by Alhdtna and the other above-mentioned cities. Only in the north the valley of the Xenil opened on the plain of the Guadalquivir, and the city was therefore often exposed to the sudden incursions of the Castilian chivalry ; there, too, Isabella fixed her camp, and built her threatening town of Santa-Fe. It was to the Almo- had and Alhamarid dynasties that Granada owed the Alhambra with its wonders, the splendid mosques — aljamas — caravan- serais, bazaars, aqueducts, bridges, hospitals, public baths, and all the other liberal institutions of Mohammedan piety. What Cordova had been in the ninth century, Granada became in the fifteenth. It contained then four hundred thousand inhabitants, and occupied a circumference of three leagues, which was defended by ranges of walls with more than a thousand towers. Yet the Moorish capital was as celebrated for the industry of its citizens, the learning of its Aliinans and Alchatibs, as for the magnificence of its royalty and the valor of its knights, — and it is with a feeling of sorrow and regret that we read in Don Hurtado de Mendoza, the misery and ruin which the narrow-minded politics of the Spanish monarchs, and the terrors of the Inquisition, brought on this happy country, when the cross was planted on the Alhambra, and Granada sank with the nation that preferred exile and death to despotism and bigotry,^"^ Al-Jiamam (Alhama), situated in the upper range of the mountains of Antequera, eight leagues southwest of Granada was the frequent retreat of the Moorish kings, who in those elevated regions enjoyed the delicious thermal springs, that gave the town its Arabic name. Being surrounded by fearful precipices and walls con- sidered impregnable, Alhama became the principal depot of the royal revenues. But in 1481 it was surprised and taken '" Only one branch of the ancient Granadian industry, that of the Albaycin cloth manufactures by Moorish refugees from Baeza, is still carried on, but it stands in the same proportion to those of old as the gloomy convents and unfinished churches and palaces of Cliarles V. do to the fairy h.alls of the .\lhambra. 200 EIGHTH PERIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. SPAIN— ITALY. by Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon and a band of daring knights, ■who held it gloriously in spite of all the desperate attempts of the old king, Muley Abul Hassan, to recover it. Southwest, on the coast, lay the splendid city Malakka (Malaga), and more inland, the strong Balesh (Velez-Malaga), which were both taken by King Fernando in 1487, after the bravest defence of their high-minded and wealthy citizens. Al-Mankeb (Almuuecar), east of Malaga, on the rocky coast, was the strong castle in which the Moorish kings used to imprison their rebellious relatives and hoard their treasures. At Loja, west, on the Wady-al-Jora, and in the defiles of Alxarquia, south of Antequera, the Spaniards suifered severe defeats in 1483. Almeria, on the coast, and the border castles T^ahara, Madrono^ Moclin, Alcoy, Orez, Albox, and many others, became celebrated during the border warfare of the times. Padul, the summit of Mount Alpujarras, south of Granada, was the spot (still called El ultimo sosjnro del Mow), where the unha,ppy Abdallah (Boabdil) took the last look at Jjiis capital, on his departure after the surrender in 1 492, and his mother, the masculine Ayxa, upbraided him his tears with saying, " Well doest thou to weep like a woman for a city thou wouldst not defend like a man ! " 605. Such was the state of the Hispanic Peninsula about the middle of the fifteenth century. Granada, in civilization and arts, wealth and comfort, stood high above the Christian states. Portugal had opened its brilliant career on the Atlantic Ocean ; Aragon, strong by its excellent constitution and its maritime possessions, extended its influence over Italy; Navarra, with its outward tincture of French gayety and glitter, remained savage and poor, while Castile, passing through the alembic of her civil wars, recovered her strength ajid her virtue in the energetic reign of Fernando and Isabel.^"' ^"^ A very Tinfavorable, but no doubt faithful, description of the desolate and demoralized condition of Castile, during the civil war in 1466, written by intelligent contemporaneous travellers, was last year published in Germany. Tliis curious book, in the quaint old German of the fifteenth century, carries the reader through Germany, Bur- gundy (the Netherlands), England, France, Spain, Italy, and Hungary. The authors were Schassek and Tetzel, the former a Bohemian, the latter a Nurnberger Doctor, both acting as secretaries to several Bohe- mian (Hussite) noblemen, who in that year — 1466 — undertook a grand tour through Europe. From England the travellers arrived in Castile, which is described as an uncultivated country, a di'eary wilderness covered with box and rosemary, where the travellers were continually exposed to the attacks of prowling robbers or pilfering gypsies. The Castilian people appeared to them as a proud, irascible, jealous, inhos- pitable, shabby, and cruel race, reckless alike of the lives of others and their own, ever and anon insulting the foreign cavaliers, and throwing stones at them. In every town they beheld permanent gibbet-trees hanging full of ghastly fruits ; they saw culprits chained to iron bars between lighted piles of wood, by which their flesh was roasted alive, and nothing but charred skeletons left. The' Spanish prelates they de- scribe as turbulent and luxurious; the priests as ignorant and venal. The knights were dressed in the flowing drapery of the East, in imita- tion of the Arabs, and galloping along on light jeneis or barbs, they considered them unable to withstand the shock of the French or English chivalry. The Spanish ladies, too, wore Oriental dresses; they covered their faces with veils, and smeared their eye-brows and chins with black and purple ointments. " In a word," saj's the honest Tet- zel, the secretary, " the Spanish people are so mixed up with Jews and Saracens, as to be worse than either, and more Heathen than Chris- tian 1 " The whole Peninsula was toi'n by party feuds, every one hating his neighbor, and thinking only of selfish interests. Though Aragon was in a much better condition tlian Castile, yet it was oulv after a hundred hairbreadth escapes from the kidnapping land-rats (Almugavars) of Aragon and the water-rats (pirates) of Catalonia, that our jaded travellers could escape across the Tuscan sea to Italy. (See London Quarterly Review for April, 1852.) XV. The Italian Principalities and Republics, a. d. 1450. 606. Historical Remarks. — During the two centuries which followed the Lombard League — 1250-1450 — the political and geographical aspect of Northern Italy has undergone a total change. The warlike and tumultuous republican cities, and the principalities of the powerful families which succeeded them, have nearly all disappeared. .Venice has occupied the cities and districts situated in the eastern moiety of Northern Italy, between the Adda, the Oglio, and the Adriatic Gulf; she has dispossessed all the petty princes of their territories, and confined the Patriarch of Aqidleja to some insignificant tracts on the coast. Next in power stands Milan, which, under the sway of the families of Delia Torre and the Visconti (414), has become an inde- pendent sovereignty, only nominally recognizing the supre- macy of the German emperor. In the west. Savoy (413, III.) has extended its dominion north of the Alps into Lesser Bur- gundy, and subjugated the smaller territories between the mountains and the Gulf of Genoa. The principality of Astj (411) belongs to the Princes of Orleans in France. The Marquis of Montferrat is an independent sovereign. Man- tua is hereditary in the family of Gonzaga. Carpi, Cor- REGGio, and Mirandola, south of the Po, form small princi- palities. The house of Este, descending from the Italian Guelfs, has enlarged its dominion by Papal fiefs. Tuscany is now divided between the two republics, Florence and Siena ; only Lucca has preserved its doubtful independence in the corner of Mount Apennine. The German kings had made frequent but unsuccessful attempts to restore the influence of the ancient empire in Italy; Henry VII., honest and brave, fell by poison ; Louis of Bavaria, alike treacherous to friend and foe — to Ghibelline and Guelf — fled, detested by both. King John of Bohemia came and went like a Quixotic knight- errant. His son, Charles IV., appeared as a trim but penni- less courtier, a harmless candidate for the Roman crown, without army or treasure, and selling the last remaining imperial fiefs to the highest bidder, in order to pay his passage back to Germany. Thus, in the fifteenth century, we find fair Italy left entirely to herself, and if it was not to her a period of peace and unclouded serenity, the cause lay in her political position, and in the character of her inhabitants. Yet she had at least expelled her foreign masters, and if her own princes, into whose arms she had thrown herself, still quar- relled and fought, they were now moved by their own Italian ambition and politics. The German and English mercenaries, the Werners and Hawkwoods. had perished, and Italy beheld with a certain national pride, a new school of warriors, the ofi"spring of her soil, the Carmagnolas, the Braccios, and the Sforzas, who, by a higher and more humane organization of their armies, fought out the disputes of the Italian States among themselves ; and while these native condotticri tilted with their lances and ransomed their prisoners in all polite- ness and etiquette, the larger republics and principalities, Venice, Florence, Milan, and Naples, formed confederacies for a political balance of power, which secured a certain tran- quillity and independence to all. The Pope himself was, about a. d. 1450, at the head of such an Italian Alliance, and later, the admirable Lorenzo de Medici placed Italy beyond the hazard of foreign invasion. It was not until after the death of that great statesman, in 1492, at the close of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the Modern Era, that the gathering storms broke loose at once over that prosperous country. Italy stood then at the head of European civilization, in commerce, science, and art; the fourteenth century was the era of Genius — of Dante, Pe- trarch, and Boccace; the fifteenth that of classical learning EIGHTH PEKIOD.— A. D. 1300-1453. ITALY. 201 and research. This general burst of mental activity ennobled the sentiments of the Italian nation ; their extensive com- merce and multifarious industry refined the manners, and thus we discover, amidst petty wars of envy and ambition, an extraordinary progress towards a higher development in Italy during the period between Dante, the stern Ghibeline partisan, and Lorenzo, the princely preserver of peace. 607. States of Northern Italy. — I. The Republic of Saint Mark. — The great event which formed a period in the history of the Venetian constitution and politics was the noise- less victory of the wealthy aristocratical families, which, by the closing of the grand council — la serratura del maggior consig- lio — in 1297, brought the entire government into their hands. Venice thus became a close and selfish oligarchy; she strait- ened her constitution in 1311 by the creation of the Council of the Ten Signers of the Black Robe — i neri — who, with the Doge as their president, gave a new direction to her government — a fearful despotism at home and continental conquests abroad. In 1450, the dominion of the Republic of Saint Mark embraced the territories of Bergamo^ Br-escia, Verona^ and Vicenza, conquered from the family of Delia Scala; Feltre, Roveredo, Bdluno, Cadore, Friuli, Treviso, and Padua^ the latter two treacherously wrested from the unhappy princes of Carrara in 1406. Within the territory of the Duchy of Milan, Venice possessed the city of Crema, and south of the Po she had conquered the important Kavemia and Bagno-cavallo in 1441 ; nay, she extended her grasping hand as far as the coasts of Naples, where she at a later period held the ports of Tra7ii, Bri?tdisi, Gallipoli, Fugliano^ and Otranto. During this period of her highest power, her Eastern Empire consisted of — 1, the Istrian Peninsula, with the duchies Zara and Sebenico^ on the mainland, and the Dal- matian Islands ; 2, Scutari and Durazzo in Upper Albania ; 3, the Ionian Islands, with Buthrinto, Parga, Prevesa, and Arta, in Epirus, Vostizza and Anatolico in Acarnania, and Naupactus (Lepanto) in ^tolia ; 4, in the Morea, Patrasso, Chiarenza (Glarenza, 358), Modon, Corofi, Monembasia, part of Lacedcsmonia and Argos ; and 5, the Grecian Islands (359), with Negroponte, Candia, and, in 1473, the fertile and beautiful Cyprus?"^ 608. Venice had become a splendid city, and the finest monuments of the celebrated Place of Saint Mark date from this era of conquest, wealth, and prosperity. Yet her most gigantic undertaking was the Long Walls — i murazzi — running for twenty-five miles from Torcello, on the north, along the narrow eastern coast southward by Malamocco and Palestrina to Chiozza, to protect the lagoons and the proud Bride of Saint Mark herself from the irruption of the Adriatic. The Murazzi became, in 1379-81, the scene of the fearful attack of the victorious Genoese, which brought Venice to the brink of destruction ; but by the timely arrival of Carlo Zeno and the Levantine fleet, terminated with the celebrated siege of Chiozza, on the south of the Lagoons, the battle of Brondolo, and the defeat and surrender of the entire fleet and army of the Genoese on the 21st of June, 1381. On the shores of the lake of Garda took place, in 1439, that highly remarkable campaign between Francesco Sforza, the general of the united republics of Venice and Florence, and Piccinino, the lieutenant of the Duke of Milan, the two greatest condottieri of the age, during which the Venetians, with extraordinary exertions, transported an entire fleet of '"^ The narrow space left us does not permit us to go into any detail. 26 galleys and armed barks across the rugged mountains of Bas- sano into the lake, and defeating Piccinino at Tenna and