LANDMARKS
oT{ERAL HISSTOY
IN THE
CHRISTIAN  ERA.
BEv. C. S, DAWE, B.A.,
T, iMARK'S COLLEGE, LONDON.
NEW  YORK:
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS,
182 FIFTH AVENUE.








PREFACE.
THis little book, as its title implies, is designed to set
before the reader such a record of the great events in the
Christian era, as may guide him along the highway of
historic truth, enabling him to know the most memorable events, their sequence and connection, and to
become acquainted with the men who have played the
most prominent part in shaping the destiny of nations.
In carrying out this design, the author has endeavoured
to write a book that may be read with pleasure and
studied with profit. He has, accordingly, avoided anything approaching to that most hateful of all books in a
school library, "a synopsis of universal history;" and has
attempted to describe the chief events in a clear and
interesting style, omitting all minor details of a dry and
unattractive character, and giving to the narrative a
biographical complexion. Facts, related in general and
abstract terms, seldom enrich the mind or dwell in the
memory; but when grouped around some central human
figure, they generally command the attention of the
reader, and find a permanent place in his memory.
As a school-book, this little work is intended for pupils




4                      PREFACE.
who are already familiar with the outlines of English
history; and, therefore, events relating more particularly
to our own nation are purposely omitted.  It is hoped
that the student will find in the following pages a valuable introduction to the study of modern history, and a
store of such information, respecting  events in the
Christian era, as is indispensable for the due appreciation
of even the most ordinary works of literature.
C. S. D.
July, 1874.




CO NTENTS,
CHAPTER I.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER AUGUSTUS.
PAOA
Antony and Octavian-The First Emperor of RomeLiterature of the Period-Imperial Rome and its
People-Extent of the Roman Empire,.           9
CHAPTER II.
THE ROMAN EMPERORS FROM AUGUSTUS TO CONSTANTINE.
An Age of Tyranny-Golden Age of the Empire-Disastrous Condition of the Empire-Restoration of the
Empire-Table of Roman Emperors from Augustus
to Constantine,....          17
CHAPTER III.
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
Progress of the Christian Religion-Persecutions of the
Early Christians-Triumph of Christianity,.      3
CHAPTER IV.
CONSTANTINE AND HIS SUCCESSORS.
How Constantine became Emperor-Constantine as a
Christian-Foundation of Constantinople-Constan.
tine and his Sons-Julian the Apostate-Partition
of the Empire -Emperors from  Constantine to
Valentinian,....                44




6                      CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
DISSOLUTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.
PAGE
Migrations of the Goths-Reign of Theodosius-Alaric
the Goth-Attila the Hun-Genseric the VandalNew Kingdoms of the West,..                 54
CHAPTER VI.
THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN.
The Emperor and his Capital-Legislation of JustinianVictorious Career of Belisarius-End of the Ostrogoths-Last Exploits of Belisarius-The Lombards in
Italy,.......   66
CHAPTER VII.
CHRISTIANITY FROM CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY.
Monasticism   Conversion of the Barbarians - Founda
tion of the Papal Authority,..           76
CHAPTER VIII.
MOHAMMED AND THE SARACENS.
Mohammed and his Creed-Mohammed's Career as a
Prophet-Conquests of the Arabs or SaracensSaracen Empire under the Ommiades-Saracen Empire under the Abbassides,...   84
CHAPTER IX
CHARLEMAGNE AND THE FRANKS.
Charlemagne's Career of Conquest-Charlemagne as a
Civil Ruler-Charlemagne's Successors,..   97
CHAPTER X.
EUROPE IN THE TENTH CENTURY.
The Northmen or Normans-Rise of the Romano-German
Empire-Russia and the Byzantine Empire,..  106




CONTENTS.                      7
CHAPTER XI.
I.SE AND PROGRESS OF THE TURKS.
PAGO
Mahmoud-Togrul Beg-Alp Arslan-Malek Shah,.  114
CHAPTER XII.
THE CRUSADES.
The First Crusade (A.D. 1095-1099)-The Second Crusade
(A.D. 1147-1149)-The Third Crusade (A.D. 1189-1192)
-The Fourth and Fifth Crusades-The Sixth and
Seventh Crusades,,...  121
CHAPTER XIII
EUROPE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
Decline of the Papal Power-The Growth of LibertyThe Spirit of Patriotism-Progress of CivilizationProgress of Commerce,..  133
CHAPTER XIV.
MONGOLS, TURKS, AND MOORS.
Zingis Khan-The Ottoman Turks-Timour or Tamerlane
-Capture of Constantinople-The Moors in Spain,.  145
CHAPTER XV.
DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA.
Christopher Columbus-Conquest of Mexico-Conquest of
Peru,.....   156
CHAPTER XVI.
AGE OF THE REFORMATION.
Martin Luther-The Reign of Charles V.-Ignatius Loyola
and the Jesuits,....  168




8                       CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
RELIGIOUS WARS AND PERSECUTIONS.
PAGoU
The Inquisition-Rise of the Dutch Republic-The Huguenots-The Thirty Years' War,.  185
CHAPTER XVIII.
Louis XIV. OF FRANCE.
Le Grand Monarque and his Court-Foreign Affairs-Domestic Affairs-General Condition of the People,.  203
CHAPTER XIX
GREAT MONARCHS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Peter the Great-Charles XII.-Frederick the Great,.216
CHAPTER XX.
RISE OF THE UNITED STATES.
Colonization of North America-Revolt of the American
Colonies-American War-of Independence,.   231
CHAPTER XXI.
TH E FRENCH REVOLUTION.
The Reign of Louis XVI.-The Reign of Terror-Napoleon
Bonaparte,..         244
CHAPTER XXII.
CHIEF EVENTS SINCE 1815.
Revolutions in France-Union of Italy-Union of Germany-American War of Secession,,..  258




LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY
IN THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
CHAPTER I.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER AUGUSTUS.
JULIUS CESAR, the great Dictator of the Roman republic,
ended his career on the Ides of March, B.C. 44, in the
Senate-house at Rome, where he fell a victim  to the
daggers of Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators, in the
name of liberty.
The citizens at first knew not whether to applaud or
condemn the "patriots," who boldly paraded the streets
of Rome, holding up in proud defiance their blood-stained
weapons, and reiterating their cries of "Liberty!"  But
on the next day deep sympathy for the fallen Caesar
spread throughout all ranks on hearing the recital of his
will, by which he bequeathed to every Roman citizen
300 sesterces, a sum equal to more than ~2 of our money,
and directed his splendid gardens beyond the Tiber to be
thrown open as a public park. Devotion to the memory
of the Dictator, and hatred for his murderers, from this
moment visibly increased.
These feelings were wrought to their highest intensity
by the funeral oration pronounced by Mark Antony over
the mangled corpse of Caesar, as it lay in the Forum
upon its ivory bier. The orator recited the chief acts of
Caesar's life, recounted his deeds of bravery, generosity,




10        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
and patriotism, and then drew a vividly mournful picture
of his tragic fate. To render his speech still more effective, he displayed a waxen image marked with three-andtwenty ghastly wounds, and then spread before the eyes
of the excited spectators the very robe in which Caesar
had met his death, now rent and red with blood. The
infuriated crowd, after burning, according to ancient
custom, the corpse of their hero, rushed from the blazing
pyre with torches in their hands to the houses of the
assassins to avenge his death. But all the conspirators
had fled. Brutus and Cassius, a year or two afterwards,
sought death from the swords of their own friends, to
avoid falling into the hands of Mark Antony, after their
defeat at Philippi.
ANTONY AND OCTAVIAN.
The death of Caesar left Antony master of Rome. But
a rival soon appeared in the person of Octavius, Caesar's
nephew and heir. This youth was destined to reign as
the first emperor of Rome. He showed from the first a
prudence beyond his years. As Caesar's heir he demanded
from Antony the property bequeathed by Caesar's will,
but he could only obtain the shreds of his inheritance.
Octavius then sold all he had, and, having raised money
besides on his own credit, gained great popularity by
paying all the legacies of Caesar's will. Antony soon
discovered that in this beardless boy he had a formidable
competitor for the supreme power in the state.
After the defeat and death of Brutus and Cassius at
Philippi (B.C. 42), Mark Antony and his rival divided
the Roman world between them, Antony taking for his
share the eastern provinces, and Octavius (now called
Octavian) the western provinces.
Antony at once proceeded to make a tour through his
dominions. At Tarsus he received a visit which proved
his utter ruin. This was from Cleopatra, queen of Egypt,
who had so long exercised her sway over the heart of
Caesar. She now came to meet Antony at Tarsus, resolved




THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER AUGUSTUS.         11
to conquer by her beauty. The galley which carried her
up the Cydnus was of more than Oriental gorgeousness:
the sails of purple; oars of silver, moving to the sound of
music; the raised poop burnished with gold. She gracefully reclined upon a splendid couch, shaded by a spangled
canopy; her attire was that of Venus; around her flitted
attendant Cupids and Graces.  The queen invited the
Roman ruler to her ship, and he complied. From that
moment he was her slave, and lent his power to execute
all her caprices. Occasionally he broke the silken cord of
the enchantress, and took the field as a veteran warrior.
It is remarkable how this brave soldier, amid the hardships of war, could shake off his luxurious habits, and
how cheerfully he would share with the meanest soldier
all the toils and privations of the most disastrous campaign. At length he sunk into an indolent voluptuary,
and whiled away his time in silly amusements. He gave
the Romans great offence by stamping Cleopatra's head
with his own upon the coins he issued as the ruler of the
East. He disposed of kingdoms by his own arbitrary
will. Herod was made king of Judaea to the exclusion
of the rightful heir; and Polemo, his own illegitimate
son by Cleopatra, was seated on the throne of Armenia.
While Antony was rapidly losing the respect of the
Romans by his worthless, frivolous life, under the influence of Cleopatra's fascinating wit and manner, Octavian
was winning golden opinions by his patient industry and
resolute perseverance in the administration of his government. Before the close of B.C. 32, Octavian, with the
sanction of the senate, declared war nominally against
Cleopatra, but with the intention really of crushing his
rival. A sea-fight off Actium in the following autumn
left Antony a fugitive without a fleet and without an
army. He escaped to Alexandria with his enchantress,
who had fled at a critical part of the battle with a
squadron of sixty Egyptian ships. Octavian, secure of
his prey, followed at his convenience, and it was not
until August 1, B.C. 30, that the conqueror entered
Alexandria.




12        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Cleopatra then withdrew to her mausoleum with two
of her maidens, through whom she sent a message to
Antony that she was dead. Believing the information
to be true, he called upon a faithful attendant, named
Eros, to kill him. Eros drew his sword as if he designed
to obey his master; but suddenly turning about, he
plunged it into his own breast.  " This, Eros, was nobly
done," said Antony; "thy heart would not permit thee
to kill thy master, but thou hast taught him what to do
by thy example."  He then stabbed himself, and, while
dying, was taken at his request to Cleopatra's retreat,
where he ended his wasted life.
The queen then tried her arts and blandishments upon
Octavian; but she saw neither pity nor passion in the
icy looks he turned upon her. She perceived that his
fair words were only intended to disarm her suspicion,
and that his real intention was to conduct her to Rome
to grace his triumph, and to gratify the people with the
sight of that princess whose charms had subdued the
great Caesar, and enslaved his friend and avenger. She
soon resolved, at the cost of her life, to disappoint his
expectation. When his soldiers came to remove the
royal captive, they found her in queenly attire lying
dead upon her golden bed. The manner of her death is
uncertain; but the popular belief ascribed it to the bite
of an asp, brought by a peasant in a basket of figs.
THE FIRST EMPEROR OF ROME.
After the victory of Actium, the fate of the Roman
world depended on the will of Octavian, surnamed Caesar
by his uncle's adoption, and afterwards Augustus by the
flattery of the senate. The conqueror was at the head of
forty-four veteran legions devoted to the house of Caesar,
and ready to do the bidding of their chief. A century of
civil war had inclined the Romans to welcome peace at
any price. Since the tyrant Tarquinius, in B.c. 509, had
been deposed and expelled from Rome, the Romans had
adopted the republican form of government. Instead of




THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER AUGUSTUS.         13
a king ruling for life, two chief magistrates, called consuls,
were annually elected to govern the state. But now, on
the return of Octavian from Egypt, Rome again became
in all respects, except in name, a monarchy under the
sovereign rule of its chief citizen, Augustus.
Augustus dated his reign from the day of the battle of
Actium; but it was not until two years afterwards
(B.C. 29) that he established himself in Rome as emperor.
He inaugurated his reign by a magnificent triumph of
three days, and at the same time closed the temple of
Janus in sign of universal peace, being the first time
since the year B.C. 235. The Romans, sick of war and
civil discord, gladly submitted to the rule of the only
man that could maintain peace.  Augustus was too
prudent to assume the regal name and diadem, but he
exercised, by universal consent, an authority more than
regal.
The reign of Augustus was chiefly passed in works of
peace. The city was so vastly improved under his directing hand, that he could justly boast at the end of his
reign, that " he had found Rome of brick and left it of
marble."  The buildings at Rome were repeated on a
smaller scale in every large town and colony of the
empire. Wherever the Roman went he carried with
him his art of building: for roads, bridges, canals, aqueducts, and other engineering works of public utility, the
Romans have gained an imperishable name.
Whilst the most civilised nations of the globe were
united under the sceptre of the first Roman emperor, the
Redeemer of our race was born. This momentous event
happened three or four years before the time erroneously
fixed as the commencement of the Christian era. " The
fulness of the time" had come, for men had outgrown
their old superstitions, and the noblest among them were
longing for a purer faith.  The need of a revelation
from heaven was never greater; for beneath the veil of
outward decency, which Augustus had in part made
fashionable, the morals of the nation were utterly corrupt. Even the emperor's own daughter Julia, and her




14        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
daughter of the same name, became so notorious in Rome
for profligacy, that he was obliged to banish both of them
at different times to secluded islands off the Italian coast.
Augustus died in A.D. 14, after an illustrious reign of
forty-three years, a period remarkable for the splendour
of Latin literature and the arts of peaceful industry.
LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD.
Latin and Greek divided the Roman world between
them; the former prevailed in the west, and the latter in
the east. The Romans endeavoured to extend, with the
progress of their arms, the use of the Latin tongue. In
the western provinces they were successful, for the barbarians whom they subdued were ready to exchange their
own rude dialects for the more polished language of their
conquerors; but in the eastern provinces, Greek held its
ground as the popular language. Latin, however, was
universally employed in the administration of government and of justice.
The Greek literature formed the fountain head, whence
flowed the stream  of Latin poetry, philosophy, and
oratory.
The greatest of Roman orators was Cicero, who
flourished in the days of Julius Caesar, and soon after the
death of the Dictator fell a victim  to the wrath of
Antony, whom he had stung by those invective speeches,
known as Philippics.  By Antony's express desire, the
orator's head, and the hands which had written the
Philippics, were cut off, and brought to Rome, and nailed
to the Rostra in the Forum. Fulvia, the wife of Antony,
stuck her hair-pin through the silent tongue that had
denounced in burning words her husband's iniquities.
The greatest of the Roman poets were Virgil and
Horace, both of whom adorned the reign of Augustus.
The chief poems of Virgil are the Georgics and the.Eneid, the former being a picture of peaceful industry
and simple home happiness in the days of the ancient
Romans, and the latter an epic or heroic poem designed




THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER AUGUSTUS.          15
to magnify to the eyes of Romans the greatness of their
origin and destiny.  The gay Horace is chiefly famous
for his Odes and Satires, in which he holds up a mirror
reflecting the manners of the day, and endeavours by his
cheery wit to reform, whilst seeming to amuse. Contemporary with Virgil and Horace was the historian
Livy, who wrote a history of Rome from  the earliest
times.  He took the dry chronicles of his nation, and
clothed them in forms of heroic life and poetic beauty,
so that the great Romans of former ages lived again in
the hearts and minds of their countrymen. These three
writers have thrown a splendid lustre over the Augustan
age of literature.
IMPERIAL ROME AND ITS PEOPLE.
Rome, on the accession of Augustus, had become too
small for its population, and too mean for its imperial
position. Under this emperor and his immediate successors, it was almost rebuilt and greatly extended. In the
meantime, its narrow streets and winding alleys were
almost impassable; neither shops nor bazaars had as yet
become common, so that a vast amount of retail trading
was transacted by itinerant vendors in the streets, which
resounded with their multitudinous cries. Obstructions
were frequently caused by crowds of spectators, with
eyes intent upon conjurors, buffoons, and athletes while
they exhibited their tricks and feats. The passage of the
thoroughfares was so difficult that the Roman of quality
preferred his palanquin to his carriage.
The Romans in ancient times were simple and frugal
in their tastes and manners, but now they had become
luxurious and self-indulgent. The cold plunge in the
Tiber which had braced the sinews of the old Romans,
now made way for an elaborate system  of tepid and
vapour baths, in which the rich idler languidly spent his
vacant hours, listening to soft strains of music, or exchanging the small gossip of the day. At mid-day every
door was closed, and every citizen, at least in summer,




16        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
withdrew to his bed-chamber to enjoy his siesta. The
great meal of the day was the ccena or supper.'The
Romans no longer sat at table like their forefathers, but
reclined on couches arranged along the three sides of a
square. In the open space between, the slaves, moving
noiselessly about, anticipated every wish of their master
and his guests. They carved, and supplied each person's
plate with such fragmentary viands as he could raise to
his'mouth with his fingers only, and poured water upon
his hands at every remove.
In the days of imperial Rome, every household of any
pretension was managed by a host of slaves, who had
lost their freedom by capture in war, who had been born
in slavery, or who had been sold when children by their
parents. The first question asked respecting a person's
fortune was, Quot pascit servos, How many slaves does he
keep?  Slaves were employed not only to discharge
menial offices, but as musicians, secretaries, and physicians.
The Roman citizens must have had much leisure time;
and, accordingly, we find ample parks and gardens devoted to their recreation. The circus and amphitheatre,
however, supplied  the Romans with their favourite
amusements.  Chariot racing was the chief sport in the
circus.  Four chariots, each drawn by four fiery steeds,
with the reins passed round the bodies of the drivers,
started together on the fall of a white napkin from the
hand of the president.  Seven times they madly whirled
around the course amid clouds of dust and storms of
excited uproar.  Both in the circus and the amphitheatre
were exhibited vast crowds of wild beasts, which were
let loose in the arena to fight frantically with one another,
or to be transfixed with arrows and javelins from the'hands of condemned criminals or captives.  But the
most brutal of all Roman sports were the combats of the
gladiators in the amphitheatre. These men were slaves
trained to fight with adroitness and skill. On the appointed day of the exhibition, hundreds, or even thousands
would be marched into the arena, and matched in pairs.




THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER AUGUSTUS.        17
At first, there was generally a kind of sham fight with
wooden swords; but at the trumpet signal the real battle
began. The fate of each wounded gladiator depended on
the verdict of the spectators, who answered his appealing
looks for pity with down-turned thumbs, if they wished
to spare his life, or with up-turned thumbs if they sentenced him to die.
The first stone amphitheatre was built at the command
of Augustus.  In the reign of Vespasian arose that
stupendous edifice known as the Colosseum, the noblest
existing monument of all ancient architecture.  This
amphitheatre was capable of containing about 87,000
spectators.  Here the emperor Trajan, on his return
from the conquest of Dacia, exhibited 10,000 gladiators
at once.
EXTENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
The Roman empire, in the age of Augustus, extended
from the Euphrates on the east, to the Atlantic on the
west, from the Rhine and Danube on the north, to the
deserts of Arabia and Africa on the south, being in
breadth about 2000 miles, and in length above 3000
miles. The Roman empire, therefore, comprised mainly
those countries around the Mediterranean, having Rome
for its centre as well as its capital.
The Romans fondly thought their empire to be almost
co-extensive with the world, yet, in truth, there are at the
present day four empires (the British, the Russian, the
American, and the Chinese), each of which exceeds in
size the dominions of Rome at the period of their greatest
extension, and of which one only comprises a few square
miles of all the regions over which Augustus held sway.
The empire was enlarged after the death of Augustus by
Agricola's conquest of Britain, and a little later by the
addition of Dacia, a province between the Lower Danube
and the Dniester.
B




CHAPTER II.
THE ROMAN EMPERORS FROM AUGUSTUS
TO CONSTANTINE.
FROM the death of Augustus (A.D. 14) to the accession of
Constantine (A.D. S06), more than forty emperors ruled
over the Roman empire.  Their history, with a few
brilliant exceptions, is a dark register of crimes and follies.
The senate claimed the right of installing the new ruler
in his office, but the election was virtually in the hands
of the soldiery, especially the Praetorian or Imperial
Guard. Very frequently, however, the emperor nominated
his successor, and invested him  with a share of the
government during his own lifetime. A few only of the
emperors ended their days in peace: the sword of an
assassin, or a self-inflicted wound, most commonly opened
up a way for a new competitor for the perilous purple of
a Roman emperor.
The history of the three centuries intervening between
the reign of Augustus and that of Constantine will be
most conveniently treated in four periods.
I. AN AGE OF TYRANNY. (14-68).
Augustus was succeeded by four despots —Tiberius,
Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.  These four monarchs belonged to the house of Caesar, but they were all unworthy
to bear his name. The records of their reigns abound in
deeds of cruelty and bloodshed, and reveal a sad picture
of debauchery and profligacy. The empire, meanwhile,
was free from desolating wars, and, except in Rome,
suffered but slightly from the tyranny of these despots.




AUGUSTUS TO CONSTANTINE.              19
Tiberius (14-37) reigned at first with much ability
and industry.  Had he died at the end of ten years, he
would have left the reputation of being a good sovereign,
though sour and morose in disposition. During this time
he never quitted the din and dust of Rome.  He lived a
simple and frugal life, and endeavoured to reform the
luxurious and dissolute life of his subjects. He checked
the adulation of the senate, and declared that "a good
and useful prince should be the servant of his people."
Towards the middle of his reign he became insanely
moody and suspicious, fancying every moment that his
throne was tottering under him. This led at length to his
withdrawal from Rome.  For eleven years he lived in
retirement in the lone isle of Caprese, leaving his favourite,
Sejanus, at Rome to carry out his behests.
The name of this minister is infamous.  Sejanus had
set his heart on the imperial sceptre, and he was ready to
steep his hands in blood, however deep, so that he might
grasp it. HIe once risked his life to save his royal master's,
by throwing his Herculean frame, as an arch, over the
prostrate body of the emperor, to shield it from the falling
ruins of a roof that had suddenly collapsed. But he ended
his career as a traitor to his friend and sovereign. The
fallen minister saw the Romans exultingly pulling down
his statues, as he passed through the Forum on his way to
death.  His hated corpse was trampled under foot and
abandoned to beast and bird.
The discovery of his favourite's plot left the emperor no
peace of mind by day or night. At length he sought, in
a moment of madness, to drown his apprehensions in
bloodshed, and in one frightful massacre all perished,
without distinction of age, sex, or condition, who were
reckoned the friends or relatives of Sejanus.  Death came
to the relief of the nation A.D. 37.
Caligula (37-41), the youngest son of Germanicus,
received his nickname from the caligee or military boots
he wore, when a boy among his father's legions.  A
dangerous mutiny was once quelled by showing to the
troops their young pet and playfellow. The boy became




20        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
a favourite of Tiberius, and contrived by consummate
hypocrisy and servility to retain the tyrant's special favour
till his death.  His chief companion, when a youth, was
that Agrippa before whom St. Paul afterwards pleaded
his cause. One of the first acts of Caligula's reign was to
present Agrippa with a chain of gold equal in weight to
the iron fetters from which the death of Tiberius had
released him. The crown of Samaria was afterwards added
to this gift. From his Jewish friend, Caligula had learnt
the part of an oriental despot-a part he soon began to
play when installed emperor of Rome.
At first he dazzled the people by his magnificence, and
gratified them with splendid spectacles and exciting games
in the circus and amphitheatre. The flattery of his subjects turned his brain, and he fancied himself a god; at
least he claimed divine worship, and ordered his statue to
be placed in the temples.  It was only his premature
death that saved the Jews from the profane introduction
of the emperor's image into their temple at Jerusalem.
The records of his reign are full of the fantastic freaks
of a madman.  His lavish expenditure could only be
supported by cruel despotism. While fondling his wife's
neck, he said, "Fair as it is, how easily I could sever it."
This was no vain boast, as is obvious from the number of
wealthy citizens who on some frivolous pretext were deprived of life, that he might fill his coffers with their
gold. At times he delighted to enter his treasury, and
wade in the heaps of gold with bare feet, or throw himself
down and roll frantically among them.  As long as he
gained his gold by striking off the heads of the nobles,
the populace looked on unmoved; but when he proceeded
to wring new taxes out of the people, all Rome turned
against him as one man. It was then he expressed to his
headsman that diabolical wish-" Would that the people
of Rome had but one neck!"
The story of his pretended conquest of Britain is almost
incredible.  Having drawn up his troops on the northern
shores of Gaul, with the fleet ready for embarkation, he
suddenly ordered his soldiers to pile arms and fill their




AUGUSTUS TO CONSTANTINE.              21
helmets with shells; then with these spoils of the ocean
he returned in triumph to Rome as a conqueror.
This imperial madman was in the fourth year of his
notorious reign, when his career of blood and folly was
closed by the daggers of a band of conspirators.
Claudius (41-54), the uncle of Caligula, warned by the
fate of his predecessor, took Augustus for his model, and
endeavoured, though very imperfectly, to imitate his virtues.
The chief military exploit of his reign was the partial
conquest of Britain. Claudius himself passed over into
Britain, but the real work of this war fell to Vespasian,
the future emperor.  When the British chief, Caractacus,
was led in chains before Claudius, he was so struck with
his undaunted bearing that he generously spared his life.
Claudius married as his second wii, Agrippina, who
had by a former husband a son, known in history as
Nero. Claudius gave to his stepson his daughter Octavia
in marriage, and declared him his heir and successor. To
make sure of the speedy succession of her son, Agrippina
poisoned a dish of mushrooms, the favourite delicacy of
the emperor's supper table. The treacherous morsel was
swallowed, but as it only caused a fit of retching, the
royal physician, who was in the secret, under pretence of
aiding the sufferer to vomit thrust a poisoned feather down
his throat.
Nero (54-68) by his fiendish crimes has gained above
all other miscreants the pre-eminence in infamy.  "Evil,
be thou my good" seems to have been the maxim of his
life. For five years, however, whilst acting under the
direction of his tutor, Seneca, he ruled prudently and
prosperously.  In the meantime his vices were secretly
striking their roots deeper and spreading their branches
wider.
His first great crime was the murder of his rival Britannicus, the son of Claudius. The black deed was achieved
before the eyes of the tyrant at a banquet in the palace.
The warm wine-cup was tasted as usual by the attendant
and presented to the young prince.  He found it too hot,
and in the drop of cold water which was poured into it




22.       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
so deadly a poison had been infused, that the child, on
swallowing it, fell back lifeless. The murderer next
proceeded to rid himself of his mother, the notorious
Agrippina.  She was induced when at Baize to enter a
vessel so constructed as to fall to pieces on withdrawing
certain bolts.  The stratagem, however, failed, as his
mother was picked up by a boat and taken to her villa;
but she only escaped the waves to die by the swords of
assassins. The self-accuser was fain to fly from the scenes
which could not change their faces like the courtiers to
flatter him. But change of place left him unchanged.
The exile and murder of his wife Octavia, to make way
for Poppaea Sabina, the fairest woman of her time, formed
a natural sequel to these unnatural crimes.
The servile patience of the senate in the face of such
enormities, and the glowing reception from the populace
which the matricide received on his return to Rome,
clearly prove that the Romans of that time were not
deserving of a better master, than the sanguinary tyrant
who held the sceptre of death over them.
A great fire, lasting for six days, laid the greater part
of the city in ashes (A.D. 64). The emperor was supposed
to have been the author of the calamity, and so to clear
himself from the imputation he set on foot a fearful persecution against the Christians, as the cause of the disaster. In rebuilding the city, the emperor took care to
beautify and enlarge his palace, and that to such an extent as to give point to the saying, that "Rome was
reduced to a single house."
Whilst Nero was busy with his plans for building,
conspirators were planning his death. But the plot was
discovered and all concerned in it, including the philosopher
Seneca, and the poet Lucan, were condemned to die, but
allowed to open their own veins and bleed to death.
The hour of retribution was only postponed. Within
three years a general, named Galba, raised the standard
of revolt, and was saluted as emperor by the army. The
timid tyrant slunk away in disguise from his capital,
and tried to conceal himself from his pursuers; but on




AUGUSTUS TO CONSTANTINE.             23
hearing the tramp of horsemen at hand, he placed a weapon
to his breast, and the slave Epaphroditus drove it in
(A.D. 68).
In less than two years from Nero's ignoble end, three
generals-Galba, Otho, and Vitellius-successively wore
the purple and stained it with their blood. Meanwhile a
veteran general was at his post of duty in the East, to
whom all eyes now turned to save the empire from anarchy.
This was Vespasian, who had gained his first laurels in
Britain, and was now preparing to besiege Jerusalem.
His reign began in A.D. 69.
II. GOLDEN AGE OF THE EMPIRE. (69-180).
The period inaugurated by the accession of Vespasian
and closed by the death of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 180),
was distinguished by the prosperous administration of the
government, by the tranquil obedience of the people, and,
with a single exception, by the virtue and wisdom of the
rulers. This epoch embraces the reigns of eight monarchs,
of whom one only, Domitian, was a debauchee and a
tyrant. Gibbon, the great historian, says: "If a man were
called to fix the period in the history of the world, during
which the condition of the human race was most happy
and prosperous, he would without hesitation name that
which elapsed from the death of Domitian to that of M.
Aurelius.  The vast extent of the Roman empire was
governed by absolute power under the guidance of virtue
and wisdom."
Vespasian and his Sons.-Vespasian and his two sons,
Titus and Domitian, were successively appointed to rule
over the destinies of the great empire. The father was a
plain homely man, of frugal, industrious habits, sternly
bent on doing his duty. By his example and authority
the voluptuous luxury of the Romans was restrained, and
a simpler style of living made fashionable. The demolition
of Nero's "golden house," and the conversion of some of
his other palatial buildings into public baths for the people,
indicate that the good of the people rather than his own




24        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
aggrandisement was the highest aim of this emperor.
Vespasian also built the Colosseum, the most magnificent
of the Roman amphitheatres, within the limits of the vast
Neronian palace, and probably with the spoils of that
labyrinth of masonry. At the age of seventy, full of toils
and honours, he was called at last to his rest by mere
natural decay, after a reign of ten years.
The chief event of his reign is associated with the name
of Titus, his eldest son and successor. A rebellion of the
Jews had broken out in the reign of Nero, and it was
resolved, by the utter destruction of their capital, to put
an end to their existence as a nation. Jerusalem was
protected by three walls and two citadels.  The siege
began in April 70, and at that time the city contained at
least a million souls. On the approach of the Roman
legions a small band of Christians, mindful of our Lord's
prediction, withdrew to the little town of Pella.
Never was a city more obstinately defended. After
forcing the outer wall, the Romans thought it more prudent to blockade the city, so as to reduce it by famine.
Thousands who attempted to escape were captured, and
suspended on crosses round the walls, until there was no
wood left for the crosses, nor space on the walls to fix
them.  The famine in the city was so horrible, that a
mother was discovered with the mangled limbs of her own
infant in a dish before her. The siege had lasted four
months, when the impatient Romans stormed the temple.
On the evening before the day fixed for the final assault,
a soldier, climbing on a comrade's shoulders, flung a blaz.
ing torch through an open window. The flames shot up,
and soon devoured the doomed edifice in spite of the frantic
efforts of Titus to save it. The last stronghold was taken
in the sixth month of the siege, and when Titus had
finished his task, Jerusalem was a heap of smoking ruins.
Most of the inhabitants perished in the siege; the survivors
were sold as slaves, or treated as criminals.
Titus, on his return to Rome, was associated with his
father in the government, and succeeded him as emperor
(A.D. 79). He won golden opinions from both the nobles




AUGUSTUS TO CONSTANTINE.            25
and the populace, and was styled " Delight of the human
race." Nero, however, might have left as fair a name had
he reigned like Titus for only two years.
It was in this short reign that the slumbering fires of
Vesuvius awoke, and by their terrific energy sent forth
torrents of melted lava, and showers of burning cinders,
which overwhelmed in rapid ruin the towns of Pompeii
and Herculaneum, reposing in fancied security in the
plain below.  The elder Pliny, famed as a naturalist, in
approaching too near fell a victim to his scientific curiosity.
Titus was succeeded (A.D. 81) by Domitian, his cruel
and hateful brother. In this reign Agricola completed
the conquest of Britain. But the superior merit of this
general soon occasioned his recall to Rome, and when he
died (A.D. 93), the rumour spread that Domitian had
poisoned him. "Nevertheless the emperor assumed," says
Tacitus, "all the outward signs of grief; for it was easier
for Domitian to dissemble his joy over a dead enemy, than
his fear of a living one." From this time the best blood
of Rome, which had hitherto trickled, under his hand, in
a few intermittent drops only, like the first drops of a
thunder shower, now  poured forth in a copious and
unceasing stream until his own assassination (A.D. 96).
Domitian was cruel even in sport: in youth one of his
chief amusements was maiming and killing flies, and there
is a story told of him, when emperor, which illustrates
the wanton delight he took in causing pain. He invited a
select number of the highest nobilty to a banquet.  The
guests arrived at midnight, and were ushered into a
chamber hung with sable drapery, with ceiling and floor
jet-black. As each guest arrived he was conducted to a
funereal couch, and at its head he might see by the dim lamp
a column, like a tombstone, on which his own name was
graven. Presently there entered a troop of naked boys, with
blackened skin, who danced around with horrid movements.  The nobles, paralysed with fear, expected every
moment to be put to death; but the tyrant was in sportive
mood, and when he had sufficiently enjoyed the jest, the
guests were introduced into the banquet hall.




26        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Nerva and Trajan. —The senate elected, as Domitian's
successor, the mild and gentle Nerva (A.D. 96).  His
excessive leniency drew upon him a stinging rebuke from
a distinguished senator: "It is ill," he said, "to have a
prince under whom no one may do anything; but worse
to have one who lets every one do as he will." Nerva,
having discovered that his feeble age was unable to stem
the torrents of disorders, had the sagacity to choose, as his
colleague, Trajan, the resolute chief of the army on the
Rhine.  The death of Nerva a few months afterwards left
Trajan in the possession of the imperial sceptre.
The accession of Trajan (A.D. 98) was hailed with delight
by the soldiers. Confident of their fidelity and his own
integrity, he could boldly say, on handing to the prefect
of the Praetorians the poniard which was the symbol of
his office, "Use this for me, if I do well; if ill, against
me."  This virtuous and active prince had from  early
youth been trained as a hardy soldier, and had acquired
the skill of a noble general.  His first exploits were
against the Dacians, who dwelt between the Dniester and
the Lower Danube, and whose king, Decebalus, in the
reign of Domitian, had received tribute from the imperial
treasury as the price of peace. After a severe contest, lasting five years, Dacia became a province of the empire.
This success of Trajan's arms has been immortalised by the
erection of a splendid column, named after the conqueror,
which still stands in Rome in all its pristine majesty.
Trajan was a great builder: Rome grew larger and more
beautiful under his hand; and throughout the provinces
innumerable bridges, aqueducts, and temples, long served
as monuments of the splendour and vigour of his reign.
The last years of Trajan's reign were thrown away in
a useless war with Parthia, whose capital was Ctesiphon
on the Tigris. Though the emperor was everywhere victorious, and though he entered the Parthian capital in
triumph, the conquered province was too remote for permanent possession. The conqueror died on his way home
A.D. 117. His charred remains were placed in a golden
urn and deposited at the foot of his own triumphal column.




AUGUSTUS TO CONSTANTINE.             27
Hadrian and the two Antonines.-Hadrian, who wore:
the purple after Trajan, was the Beauclerc among the
emperors.  His memory was prodigious, his application
incredible. But though learned he was no mere dreaming
bookworm.  The greater part of his reign was passed in
incessant travelling throughout the length and breadth of
his vast empire; for the emperor was resolved to make
himself personally acquainted with the condition and needs
of his subjects. In A.D. 119 he crossed over into Britain,
and left an enduring monument of his visit in the great
rampart he constructed between the Tyne and the Solway.
Rome was not neglected in his care for the provinces: the
edifices, indeed, which arose in Rome at the command of
Hadrian, surpassed in magnificence the works of his
predecessors.
In this reign the Jews again rose in arms to assert their
national existence.  Under their leader, Barcochebas,
they fought with marvellous valour; but after a hopeless
struggle the remnants of the unhappy nation were firally
dispersed.
When Hadrian died of dropsy, in A.D. 138, he was
succeeded by his adopted son, Antoninus, surnamed Pius,
on account of his dutiful affection towards him. The new
emperor shared his power with his own adopted son,
Marcus Aurelius.  The two Antonines (as these two
princes are called) governed the Roman world forty-two
years with almost the same invariable spirit of wisdom
and virtue. Marcus revered the character of his elder
colleague, loved him as his parent, obeyed him  as his
sovereign, and, after he was no more, regulated his own
administration (with one important exception) by the
example and maxims of his predecessor.  Under the elder
Antonine the Christians enjoyed protection, but the
younger Antonine deemed it his duty to inflict heavy
punishments upon them for their neglect and contempt
of the national religion. Both of these princes detested
war as the disgrace and calamity of the human race. They
acted on the principle, "It is nobler to save a single
citizen than to slay a thousand enemies."  But they knew




28        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
as well how to draw the sword at the call of justice, as to
sheathe it at the plea for mercy. Each of these princes
was severe in judging himself, whilst indulgent to the
faults of others. Their united reigns are, by the common
consent of antiquity, the only period of Roman history
in which the happiness of the people was the sole object
of the government.
III. DISASTROUS CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE (180-268).
In an absolute monarchy, like the Roman empire, it is
in the power of the ruler to ruin the state, but it is not
always in the power of his successor to repair its shattered
fortunes; for it is easier to throw down than build up. It
was an evil day for Rome when Commodus, the unworthy
son of Marcus Aurelius, assumed the reins of government
(A.D. 180).  Commodus seems to have taken INero as his
model: he coveted, as his highest object of ambition, a
famous name as a gladiator; and he shed the blood of
the noblest in Rome to fill his coffers with their gold.
His cruelty at length recoiled on his own head, and he
expired in the arms of a wrestler hired to strangle him
(A.D. 192).
For eighty-six days the virtuous Pertinax, who was
now  proclaimed emperor, threw a transient gleam  of
happiness over the unhappy city.  But Rome was now
under the armed heel of the Prretorian guards, who
missed the licence of the former reign. They assassinated
the emperor, and shamelessly proclaimed that the Roman
world was to be disposed of to the best bidder by public
auction. Julianus, the purchaser, found himself on the
throne of the empire without a friend or a single adherent.
In sixty-six days his nominal reign ended in his execution
as a common criminal.
The avenger of Rome and the restorer of order to the
convulsed empire was Septimus Severus, the iron chief of
the legions in Pannonia, who began his successful reign
A.D. 193. Severus ruled as a military despot, but he used
his power for the general good, and as long as his arm




AUGUSTUS TO CONSTANTINE.             29
wielded the imperial sceptre, the soldiers were kept within
due bounds. Severus passed the last two years of his life
in Britain.  He had chastised the Caledonians for their
invasion of Southern Britain, and was preparing to lead
a larger army against them for their complete subjugation,
when death put an end to his project. Severus died at
York (A.D. 211).
The next half century brought the empire to the brink
of ruin. In that short period about a dozen princes were
set up to rule, by the choice of the army or the clamour of
the populace; and such was the deplorable condition of the
empire that not one of them ended his days in peace. The
Goths and other barbarians took advantage of the internal
disorders of the state. In A.D. 249 they crossed the
Dniester and overran Dacia, and two years later gained
a decisive victory over the Romans under the emperor
Decius, who perished in a morass in his attempt to
escape.
A still worse fate befell the emperor Valerian, who,
in a war with Persia, was taken prisoner by Sapor, the
Persian king (A.D. 260). We are told that Valerian, in
chains, but arrayed in imperial purple, was exposed to the
gaping crowds in the cities of the East, a constant spectacle
of fallen greatness; and that whenever the Persian monarch
mounted his horse, he placed his foot on the neck of the
captive emperor. When Valerian sunk under the weight
of shame and grief, his skin was stuffed with straw and
formed into the likeness of a human figure, and this was
preserved for ages in the most celebrated temple of Persia.
The unfortunate Valerian was the only emperor of Rome
that had ever fallen into the hands of the enemy.
The empire was passing through one of the blackest
epochs of her history. The night of shame and degradation
lasted for nearly twenty years, from the invasion of the
Goths in the reign of Decius. During that calamitous
period, every province of the Roman world was afflicted
by barbarous invaders and military tyrants. On the death
of Gallienus (A.D. 268), the shattered empire seemed on the
eve of dissolution.




30        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
IV. RESTORATION OF THE EMPIRE.
The ruined empire was saved from destruction by a
series of great princes, who derived their obscure origin
from  the martial province of Illyricum.  Within the
space of thirty years, Claudius, Aurelian, Probus, and
Diocletian, triumphed over the foreign and domestic
enemies of the state, re-established with the military
discipline the strength of the frontiers, and deserved the
glorious title of Restorers of the Roman world.
By Claudius the Goths were swept out of the empire,
but on the renewal of the invasion in the reign of his
successor, Aurelian, it was deemed prudent to relinquish
Dacia to their use. Aurelian, by his valour and discipline,
staunched the wounds of the bleeding state, and bound up
its dismembered limbs.  His last achievement was the
recovery of Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor out of the hands
of Zenobia, the celebrated queen of Palmyra and the East.
Zenobia was esteemed the most lovely as well as the
most heroic of her sex. She was of a dark complexion,
her teeth were of a pearly whiteness, and her large black
eyes sparkled with uncommon fire, tempered by the most
attractive sweetness. Her masculine understanding was
strenthened and adorned by study. She gave her hand to
Odenathus, who by the aid of her incomparable prudence
and fortitude raised himself to the sovereignty of the East.
After the assassination of Odenathus by his nephew,
Zenobia filled the vacant throne, and ruled in Palmyra over
the surrounding nations above five years. Palmyra or
Tadmor was a city on the borders of Syria and Arabia, in
the heart of a sandy desert. Its splendid ruins of temples
and palaces in the midst of a sea of sand are still the objects
of wondering curiosity to modern travellers.  Palymra
was the last stronghold of the heroic queen. After an
obstinate defence the city fell into the hands of Aurelian,
and Zenobia was taken to Rome to grace the triumph of
the conqueror (A.D. 274).
Since the foundation of Rome, no general had more
nobly deserved a triumph than Aurelian; nor was a




AUGUSTUS TO CONSTANTINE.            31
triumph ever celebrated with superior pomp and magnificence. The spectacle was opened by twenty elephants, four
royal tigers, and two hundred of the most curious animals
from  every climate.  They were followed by sixteen
hundred gladiators, meet companions for the fierce beasts
that preceded them. The spoils of the East were next
paraded in all the gorgeousness of oriental splendour. The
ambassadors of the most remote parts of the earth, all
arrayed in rich or singular dresses, displayed the fame and
power of the Roman emperor.  The presents he had
received, including a vast number of crowns of gold, were
likewise exposed to the public gaze. The victories of
Aurelian were attested by the long train of captives who
reluctantly attended his triumph.  But every eye, disregarding the crowd of captives, was fixed on Zenobia, who
preceded on foot the triumphal car of the conqueror. Her
beauteous figure was confined by fetters of gold, but a
slave was permitted to support the gold chain which
encircled her neck. The emperor's magnificent chariot was
drawn by four stags. The most illustrious of the senate,
the people, and the army, closed the procession. So long
and so various was the pomp of the triumph, that, although
it opened with early dawn, it was already dark when the
emperor returned to his palace.
Aurelian's career was brought to an untimely end
through the revengeful treachery of his secretary (A.D. 275).
The strength of Aurelian had crushed on every side the
enemies of Rome. After his death they seemed to revive
with  redoubled fury and force.   They were again
vanquished by the active vigour of Probus, whose short
reign of six years was almost the duplicate of Aurelian's.
It may here be observed that the authority of the senate,
which had long been rather nominal than real, expired
with the emperor Probus (A.D. 282).
The reign of Diocletian, who was invested with the
purple in A.D. 285, is remarkable for the partition of the
empire, and the abdication of the emperors after a brilliant
administration, lasting twenty years. In the year after
his accession, Diocletian raised Maximian to an equal




32        LAND3IARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
share of power and dignity with himself. These two
princes played the part of Jupiter and Hercules: Diocletian
with his wise head and clear foresight directed and planned,
whilst Maximian with his invincible arm was the ready
instrument to execute his will. Rome was no longer the
real centre of government.  Diocletian made Nicomedia
in Bithynia his royal seat, and Maximian held his court
at Milan. On the same day, in A.D. 305, the two emperors
abdicated the imperial throne, after appointing as their
successors Galerius and Constantius.
Diocletian passed the remainder of his days in honourable
repose and quiet contentment, employing his leisure hours
in simple rural labours. When solicited by Maximian
to reassume the reins of government, he observed, that if
his old colleague could see the fruit trees he had planted
with his own hands, he would no longer urge him to
exchange happiness for power.
Their abdication was succeeded by eighteen years of
civil discord, ending in the sole sovereignty of Constantine,
the famous son of the emperor Constantius (A.D. 323).




AUGUSTUS TO CONSTANTINE.               3 3
ROMAN EMPERORS FROM AUGUSTINE
TO CONSTANTINE.
I. AGE OF TYRANNY.
A.D.                          A.D.
TIBERIUS,.. 14-37   CLAUDIUS,.. 41-54
CALIGULA,.       37-41   NERO,..          54-68
Galba, Otho, Vitellius, 68-69
II. GOLDEN AGE OF THE EMPIRE.
VESPASIAN,.  69-79   TRAJAN,..  98-117
TITUS,... 79-81   HADRIAN,.. 117-138
DOMITIAN,.  81-96   ANTONINUS PIUS,'. 138-161
NERVA,... 96-98   M. AURELIUS,. 161-180
III. DISASTROUS CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE.
Commodus,.. 180-192   Maximin,.. 235-238
Pertinax,.. 193-193   Gordian,.. 238-244
Julian,..      193-193   Philip,... 244-249
Severus,.. 193-211   Decius,... 249-251
Caracalla,.. 211-217   Gallus,... 251-253
Macrinus,.. 217-218   Emilianus,.. 253-253
Elagabalus,.. 218-222   Valerian,.. 253-260
Alex. Severus,. 222-235   Gallienus,.. 260-268
IV. RESTORATION OF THE EMPIRE.
Claudius II... 268-270     Carinus,.. 283-285
Aurelian,.. 270-275       Numerian,.. 283-284
Tacitus,.. 275-276       Diocletian,.. 284-305
Probus,... 276-282 1  Maximian,.. 285-305
Carus,..        282-283       onstantius,. 305-306
Galerius,.     305-311
C




CHAPTER III.
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCI.
OUR LORD was born in the reign of Augustus, and suffered
death when Tiberius was emperor. His disciples in the
first century of the Christian era almost universally
enjoyed the protection of the Roman magistrate. In the
two centuries that followed, the Church passed through
many vicissitudes of fortune.  By some emperors the
Christians were left in the enjoyment of peace; by others
they were submitted to severe penalties. The sufferings
of the Christians were not always due to the cruelty of
tyrannical monarchs, but often to the mistaken policy of
some of the wisest and best rulers. In cloud and sunshine
the Christian Church gradually grew and spread.  At
length it embraced within its fold the emperor, Constantine
the Great, and under his auspices Christianity became the
national religion of the Roman empire (A.D. 324).
PROGRESS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
The conquests of Rome prepared and facilitated those
of Christianity.  Under the sceptre of Augustus the most
civilised provinces of Europe, Asia, and Africa were
united; and under his rule and that of his successors these
various nations gradually assimilated in laws, manners,
and language. The writings of the apostles, when translated
from Greek into Latin, were perfectly intelligible, in one
or the other of these languages, to nearly all the subjects
of Rome. The public highways, which had been made
for the use of the legions, opened an easy passage for the
Christian missionaries throughout the whole extent of the




THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH.           35
empire.  Nor had the first preachers of the gospel to
contend against the armed opposition of the Roman
government; for it was the recognised policy of the early
emperors to tolerate all religions, so long as they were
not subversive of social order, nor inimical to civil authority.
Thus the Christian religion rapidly spread, and long before
the reign of Constantine, the faith of Christ had taken
root in every province, and gained thousands of converts
in all the great cities of the empire. Probably by the end
of the third century the Christians formed about one-fifth
of the entire population, and in Syria and Asia Minor
the proportion was very much higher.
The chief centres of Christendom in this early period
were Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus, Corinth,
and Rome. After the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus
(A.D. 70), that city never regained the high position which
it had once held in the primitive church; whilst Rome,
from its importance as the seat of empire, gradually became
the chief centre of all Christendom. The Church of Rome
was believed to have been founded by the labours and
adorned by the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul; it
became strong in the number of its members, and was in
easy communication with all other Christian churches.
Hence it necessarily became pre-eminent, and its bishops
the most influential in the whole Church of Christ.
PERSECUTIONS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS.
Notwithstanding the purity of the Christian religion,
the excellence of its precepts, and the virtuous life of its
adherents, its dissemination was violently opposed by
many of the Roman emperors, from Nero downwards.
The first and chief cause of the persecution of the Christians
was owing to their efforts to proselytise. They could not
tolerate the idolatrous faith and worship of their fellowcitizens, nor omit any opportunity of subverting the false
religion prevailing around them. Hence there sprung up
an antagonism between the Christians and their pagan
countrymen in every city of the empire. The tongue of




36         LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
slander soon became busy, and the most incredible stories,
respecting the practices of the Christians, in their secret
religions assemblies, were maliciously invented, industriously circulated, and eagerly believed.  Eleven persecutions of greater or less severity and extent afflicted
the Christian Church before the end of the third century
of the Christian era.  We proceed to narrate the chief
events connected  with the more disastrous of these
persecutions.
Persecution under Nero.-The first persecution of the
Christians, which involved the sacrifice of many lives, took
place at Rome in the reign of Nero (A.D. 64).  It was
occasioned by the great fire that broke out in that city in
the tenth year of his reign. The voice of rumour accused
the emperor of being the incendiary of his own capital.
The tyrant, who had killed his own mother and his own
wife, was readily believed to have hired ruffians to set the
city on fire, that he might feast his eyes on the leaping
flames, and watch with fiendish delight their destructive
progress, as street after street fell a prey to their devouring fury, and family after family became homeless and
destitute. To avert suspicion from himself, and to satisfy
his thirst for blood, Nero laid the blame upon the Christians
of Rome, and inflicted on them the most exquisite tortures.
From the writings of Tacitus, a contemporary historian,
we learn how fearful was the persecution which they had
to endure.  They died in torments, and their torments
were embittered by insult and derision.   Many were
nailed on crosses and exposed to the jeers and scorn of the
cruel crowd; some were sewn up in the skins of wild
beasts, and then brought into the arena of the amphitheatre
to be worried to death by fierce dogs, for the amusement
of thousands of applauding spectators. The ingenuity of
the imperial tyrant was taxed to invent such modes of
death as might serve to gratify his cruel passions, and
impart a keener interest to the spectacles of the theatre
or circus.  The most fiendish of these modes of torture
was reserved for the royal gardens, where chariot races
were often held, in which the emperor himself sought




THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH.            37
applause from the assembled thousands by lashing his
horses furiously round the course in the dress and attitude
of a charioteer. The Christian victims were turned to
account by the inhuman monster to lend a horrid charm
to his favourite pastime. Smeared with pitch and other
highly inflammable substances, they were stationed at
intervals around the race-course, and destined to serve as
torches at the nightly sport of this imperial demon. This
persecution was probably confined to Rome, and its
intensity served to shorten its duration, as the infliction
of such tortures created a general feeling of pity.
Persecution under Domitian.-Thirty years later a
new persecution, wider in its reach, but of less severity,
was instituted by Domitian (A.D. 95).  The banishment
of St. John to Patmos, where he saw the visions of glory
and mystery recorded in the last book of Holy Scripture,
is supposed to have occurred in consequence of this persecution. Two grandsons of St. Jude, the "brother" of our
Lord, were brought before the emperor charged with
plotting against the Roman government. But on showing
their hands, rough and horny with labour, and giving such
answers as proved them to be simple peasants, they were
dismissed without punishment. The Christians were not
long subject at this time to cruel treatment. Domitian,
before his assassination (A.D. 96), had stayed the hand of
the executioner, and recalled the Christians who had been
banished.  Under the gentle rule of Nerva, his successor,
the Christians were restored to their rank and fortune,
and the Church was everywhere at rest.
Persecution under Trajan.-It was not only tyrants,
like Nero and Domitian, who persecuted the Christians,
but such great and virtuous princes as Trajan and Marcus
Aurelius could punish this unoffending class of their
subjects with imprisonment, exile, and  death.   The
persecution, however, in the reign of Trajan was probably
confined to a single province in Asia Minor, including
Bithynia and Pontus.
The governor of that province, Pliny the younger, was
uncertain how to act towards the Christians, who, he found,




38        LANDIMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
presistently refused to observe the national religion. In
his perplexity he writes to the emperor Trajan (A.D. 110),
and in his letter he affirms that the temples were almost
deserted, that the sacred victims scarcely found any
purchasers, and that the superstition (as he calls Christianity) had not only infected the cities, but had even
spread itself into the villages of his province. Suspecting
that the Christians in their private assemblies were guilty
of some immoral or illegal practices, he had put some of
them to the torture, but the only confession he could
extort was to this effect-that they were accustomed to
meet before dawn on certain days and sing alternately a
hymn to Christ as God; that they bound themselves by an
oath to abstain from crime, and that they partook in
common of a simple meal.  Trajan in his answer directs
the governor not to seek out the Christians, nor to admit
any anonymous information against them, but to punish
the offender if the "crime" is clearly proved, and the
accused refuses to recant.
Under Trajan took place the martyrdom of Ignatius,
a famous bishop of Antioch for nearly half a century.
When the emperor visited that city, the venerable bishop
was brought before him and by his orders carried to Rome
to be exposed to wild beasts.  In an epistle which Ignatius
addressed to the Christians at Rome after his condemnation, this aged servant of Christ expresses an eager desire
for the crown of martyrdom, and entreats that the Romans
will not through mistaken kindness attempt to prevent
his fate.  "Rather," he says, "do you provoke the beasts
that their bodies may become my tomb."
Hadrian, who succeeded Trajan (A.D. 117), was induced
to defend his Christian subjects from the hatred and
violence of the heathen populace; for it had become
common, in some cities of the empire, for the mob to raise
a clamour in the amphitheatre, and demand the sacrifice
of some eminent Christian living peaceably among them.
Hadrian accordingly  published  an  edict, forbidding
Christians to be arrested on mere rumour, or to satisfy a
popular cry, and ordering all false informers to be heavily




THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH.            39
punished.   This state of comparative security lasted
throughout the reign of Hadrian and his successor,
Antoninus Pius.
Persecution under Marcus Aurelius.-On the accession
of Marcus Aurelius, an emperor celebrated for his benevolence, justice, and wisdom in the general government of
his people, the persecution of the Christians was revived
with great severity (A.D. 161). His reign was a period of
great public disasters and calamities, which the superstitious people ascribed to the wrath of the gods on account
of the neglect of their worship by the Christians. Hence
it was thought necessary to sacrifice the "atheists," as
as they deemed the Christians, to propitiate their gods.
The most eminent martyr of this reign was Polycarp, a
disciple of St. John, by whom he was appointed to the see
of Smyrna.  In his old age he fell a victim to popular
clamour.  A low, muttering cry was one day heard in the
amphitheatre of his city, which soon grew into a universal yell, "Polycarp to the lions." The bishop prudently
retired to avoid the storm; but on being pursued and discovered, he calmly said, "The will of God be done." He
ordered food to be set before his captors, whilst he withdrew
to pray.  The venerable bishop on being offered his life,
if he would renounce his faith, firmly replied, "Fourscore
and six years have I served Christ, and he hath done me
nothing but good; how can I now blaspheme my Lord and
Saviourl"  Amidst the yells of the enraged spectators a
fire was kindled around this veteran of the cross; but the
flame, instead of devouring him, swept around him "like
the sail of a ship filled with wind." As the fire seemingly
refused to do its office, one of the executioners stabbed the
martyr with his sword.
Ten years later in the same reign many Christians of
Southern Gaul were put to the test, by fire and sword, by
torture and death. One of the first to suffer was Pothinus,
bishop of Lyons, an old man bending beneath the load of
ninety years. He was beaten, kicked, and pelted by the
crowd; after which he was thrown almost lifeless into a
dungeon, where he died within two days. Those Christians




40        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
who claimed the privilege of Roman citizens were generally
beheaded, whilst slaves were crucified, and all others
exposed to wild beasts. Among the Roman citizens who
were "faithful unto death" was a young man of Autun,
named Symphorian. As he was on the way to the block, he
heard the voice of his mother, saying, " My son, my son,
be strong and play the man; lift your eyes to Him who
dwells in heaven; the sword cannot cut off thy life, but
only raise it to a better." The friends of the victims were
seldom allowed the consolation of burying their bodies.
These were cast to the dogs, and the fragments left uneaten
were burnt to ashes, and then scattered upon the rapid
Rhone, in mockery of the doctrine of the resurrection.
Persecution under Severus.-This sternmonarch issued
an edict, forbidding any of his subjects to embrace Judaism
or Christianity (A.D. 202).  Under cover of this edict a
terrible persecution was carried on in Africa. Of the
African martyrs the most celebrated is a lady named
Perpetua. She was noble and wealthy, a young mother
with an infant at her breast. After her arrest she was
visited in prison by her heathen father, who urged her to
deny Christ, and to save her life for the sake of her infant
and himself.  She was deeply affected by his tears and by
the thought of her helpless babe, whose presence she said
" turned her prison into a palace;" but she remained firm
in her determination to die and to leave all for Christ's
sake.  When taken before the magistrate, her father
appeared below the dock with her infant in his arms, and
again implored her to recant. She said, " Can I call this
child other than mine own?" " No," he replied. "Neither,
then, can I call myself other than a Christian." When
condemned, she was brought into the arena with many of
her companions. The male victims were exposed to lions,
bears, and leopards; the women were tossed by a furious
cow, and afterwards stabbed with a sword.
But the laws which Severus had enacted expired with
their author; and the Christians, after this passing tempest,
enjoyed a calm of thirty-eight years (A.D. 211-249), only
interrupted by the brief reign of the savage Maximin, the




THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH.           41
Thracian giant.  Till this period they had usually held
their assemblies in private houses and sequestered places.
They were now permitted to erect and consecrate convenient
edifices for the purposes of religious worship, and to elect
their officers in a public manner. Many eminent Christians
were admitted into the palace, and held honourable offices
there.  This prosperity had a damaging effect upon the
spiritual well-being of the Church; but a fiery ordeal was
at hand to purge away the dross from the silver.
Persecutions under Decius and Valerian.-Decius is
memorable as the first emperor who attempted to extirpate
the Christian religion by a general persecution of its
professors (A.D. 249). His hostility was especially directed
against the bishops and clergy; and, accordingly, we find
the bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Jerusalem among the
victims. The chief object, however, was not the death of
the Christians, but their recantation. All could purchase
life and liberty by offering sacrifice to some heathen god,
and multitudes of Christians in every city proved ready
to fulfil this condition. Thus the Church was purged of
her unworthy members. The death of Decius in battle
(A.D. 251) put an end to these violent measures for a time.
But in the fourth year of Valerian (A.D. 257), the policy
of Decius was revived. An edict was issued in these
plain terms: "Let bishops, presbyters, and deacons, at
once be slain."  Thus it was hoped the Church would
receive its death-blow. But the death of the martyrs
became a source of life to the Church, and even those who
avoided martyrdom  by flight planted the seeds of the
gospel in other lands, and thus enlarged its boundaries.
The most distinguished victim  of this persecution was
Cyprian, bishop of Carthage. This eminent bishop heard
his doom with an expression of thankfulness to God. He
was surrounded by his loving people, many of whom
exclaimed, "Let us go and be beheaded with him." Cyprian
was without delay conducted to the scene of execution, a
level space surrounded by trees, the branches of which
were soon bowed down by members of his flock, who had
eagerly climbed up to witness their bishop's triumph over




42        LANDMAIRKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
death.  His blood, as it dripped from his severed neck,
was caught in hankerchiefs, and treasured up as a sacred
relic.
The capture of Valerian by the Persian monarch (A.D.
260) brought peace to the Christians, who from this time
enjoyed the free exercise of their religion for more than
forty years.
Persecution under Diocletian and Maximian.-This
was the last, and the most terrible, which the Christians
were called upon to endure.  It was ushered in by an
attack on the church of Nicomedia, situated near the palace
of Diocletian (A.D. 303). The church was ransacked, and the
sacred bocks were burnt. The consecrated edifice was then
given over to the soldiers, by whom it was soon demolished.
Next day an imperial edict directed that this example
should be followed throughout the empire.  No sooner had
the edict been posted, than it was torn down by a bold
Christian hand and trampled under foot. The intrepid
man was seized and roasted at a slow fire. Very soon fires
of destruction were burning over the whole empire, their
flames being fed by the sacred books and buildings of the
proscribed Christians.  But in many places the Holy
Scriptures were effectually concealed, and the churches
merely shut up or converted to secular uses. The fury of
the persecutors next fell upon the clergy, who were thrown
into the dungeons of the vilest criminals, and tortured in
every conceivable way to make them turn traitors.  The
rage of the persecutors waxed fiercer as they witnessed the
constancy of their victims, and another royal edict exposed
all Christians without exception to the most savage treatment.  The storm fell unequally in different parts of the
empire; but for two years it raged more or less throughout Christendom.  On the abdication of Diocletian and
Maximian (A.D. 305), there was a sudden lull of the storm
in the West, where the authority of Constantius prevailed;
but in the East, where Galerius ruled supreme, the cruel
work went on for four or five years longer.  During this
reign of terror the rack and the scourge, red-hot beds and
hooks of steel, blood-thirsty lions and tigers, the mutilation




THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH.           43
of limbs and the gouging out of eyes, were the means
adopted for stamping out the Christian religion.
TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY.
Before his death in the year 311, Galerius in view of the
grave tried to atone for his past errors and cruelties by
publishing an edict of toleration, in which he permitted
the Christians to worship God in the way they deemed
right. Two years later, when Constantine and Licinius
divided the Roman world between them, there appeared
the celebrated edict of Milan, which henceforth remained
a fundamental law of the empire.  It was enacted that
Christians should enjoy the same rights and privileges,
whether religious or civil, as their pagan countrymen; and
a free and absolute power was conceded to every man to
follow the religion which his own conscience might approve.
A still further triumph for Christianity was at hand.
In A.D. 324, when Constantine became sole emperor, he
immediately exhorted all his subjects to imitate without
delay the example of their sovereign, and to embrace the
divine truth of the Christian religion. Christianity may
be regarded henceforth, except in the short reign of
Julian the Apostate, as the established religion of the
state.




CHAPTER IV.
CONSTANTINE AND HIS SUCCESSORS.
DIOCLETIAN had introduced a new system of government
into the empire. He not only shared his authority with
Maximian, a colleague of equal rank, and designated like
himself Augustus, but he also delegated to two subordinate rulers, each bearing the inferior title of Ccesar, a
substantial portion of sovereign power.  On the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian (A.D. 305), the two
Caesars, Galerius and Constantius, were promoted to the
rank of Augustus, and two others were raised to the
dignity of Csesar. Eighteen years of discord and confusion ensued, ending in the sole sovereignty of Constantine,
son of Constantius. But the policy of division, inaugurated by Diocletian, again prevailed on the death of
Constantine, and led to the final division of the Roman
world into the eastern and western empires (A.D. 364).
HOW CONSTANTINE BECAME EMPEROR.
Constantine the Great was born at Naissus, in Dacia.
His mother, named Helena, was the daughter of an innkeeper.  He was about eighteen years old when his
father, Constantius, was appointed as Ccesar over the
western provinces (A.D. 292). Instead of following his
father to the west, he remained in the service of Diocletian, and gained a great name as a warrior in the wars
with Egypt and Persia. The fame of Constantine preceded him to the west, so that on the death of Constantius
at York (A.D. 306), his son was hailed as his successor by
the acclamations of his legions. In the following year
he married Fausta, daughter of lMaximian, and-received
from the old emperor the title of Augustus.




CONSTANTINE AND HIS SUCCESSORS.         45
For six years the empire of Constantine was confined
to the territory west of the Alps and the Rhine; but in
the year 312 he carried his arms into Italy, where Maxentius, the profligate and incapable son of Maximian, was
playing the tyrant with the aid of his Praetorian guards.
The virtues of Constantine seemed more illustrious by
contrast with the vices of Maxentius. Whilst Italy had
been groaning under the dominion of an odious tyrant,
the Gallic provinces had been thriving under the government of a wise ruler. Constantine, with the resolution
of delivering Italy from tyranny, led his legions across
the Alps by way of Mont Cenis.  On reaching Susa, at
the foot of this mountain, his soldiers set fire to the gates
and ladders to the walls, and mounting to the assault
amid a shower of stones and arrows, they entered the
place sword in hand. In the plain of Turin a pitched
battle was next fought with the troops of Maxentius.
The skilful evolutions of Constantine completely baffled
and broke up the massive columns of mail-clad cavalry,
on which the Italian monarch mainly relied. Another
battle, fought by the light of the moon and stars, under
the walls of Verona, left the way to Rome quite clear.
A third victory at Saxa Rubra, nine miles from Rome,
opened the gates of that city to Constantine and his
victorious troops.  In that battle the brave Praetorians
fell where they had been posted by their general; the
other troops of the beaten army rushed by thousands into
the deep and rapid Tiber. There also Maxentius was
carried by the crowd of fugitives, as he was attempting
to cross the Milvian bridge, and there he sank down
under the weight of his armour into the muddy bed of
the river. The sight of his head on the following day
filled all Rome with joy.
Constantine was now (A.D. 312) the undisputed emperor
of the West, that is, of Italy and the provinces west of
that country, both in Europe and Africa. For ten years
Constantine ruled the Western Empire with wisdom, and
defended its frontiers with vigour.
In the tenth year he crossed the Danube, penetrated




46        LANDM'ARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
into the strongest recesses of Dacia, then occupied by the
Goths, took a full revenge for the havoc they had caused,
and gave peace to the suppliant barbarians on condition
that, whenever required, they would supply the Boman.
armies with 40,000 of their bravest men.
Constantine now thought that the time had come for
reuniting all the provinces of the empire under one
master. He accordingly declared war against Licinius,
who had become emperor of the East soon after the death
of Galerius. The plains of Hadrianople were soon filled
with the troops of the rival emperors.  In the great
battle that was here fought (A.D. 323), the military genius
of Constantine and his personal bravery won the day.
Licinius retired to Byzantium, but the destruction of his
fleet by the skill and prowess of Crispus, his rival's eldest
son, induced him to withdraw from that fortress, and to
try his fortune once more in the open field. A  final
defeat at Chrysopolis, now  Scutari, left Constantine
master of his empire, his liberty, and life. The fallen
emperor was promised his life, but some specious excuse
was soon invented for his execution.  By this victory of
Constantine (A.D. 324), the Roman world was again united
under the sway of one master.
CONSTANTINE AS A CHRISTIAN.
Constantine was the first Roman emperor, who professed Christianity.  He is said to have been converted
by a miraculous vision (A.D. 312) on his march against
Mlaxentius. Soon after mid-day, he saw in the sky a
luminous cross, and inscribed upon it in glittering letters,
"By this conquer."  While perplexed with the vision,
the emperor fell asleep; when he saw the Saviour with
the cross in his hands, and received from him the command to adopt it as his standard in war. Constantine's
army marched henceforth under the shadow of the labaum —a consecrated banner with the figure of the cross,
and the initial letters of the Redeemer's name blazoned on
it. The sight of this banner in battle animated the soldiers




CONSTANTINE AND HIS SUCCESSORS.          47
of Constantine, and paralysed their opponents with terror
and dismay.
Constantine, on becoming sole emperor (A.D. 324),
publicly declared in favour of Christianity. He delayed
his baptism, however, till his death, to obtain, as he
hoped, at the last moment of his life, remission of all his
sins. In the meantime, he proclaimed to the world that
neither his person nor image should again be seen within
the walls of a heathen temple.  He joined regularly in
public worship as a Christian, and listened, standing, to
the longest addresses of his bishops.
Under the powerful patronage of Constantine, the
ranks of the Christians became crowded with new converts; not only were thousands of Roman subjects ready
to follow the example of their emperor, but even the
barbarians on the frontiers learned to esteem a religion
which had been embraced by the greatest monarch, and
the most civilised nation of the globe.  In every city
Christian churches were repaired, and new ones built, at
the expense of the national treasury.  But whilst the
church gained in numbers, wealth, and dignity, it lost
much of its ancient purity and devotion; for many of its
new members were but spurious Christians, who had
joined the church in the hope of imperial favour.
Constantine, while fostering the Christian church, respected the religious freedom of his pagan subjects.  He
merely prohibited such heathen festivals and sacrifices as
had formerly been celebrated in the name of the state.
He also closed a few temples that were notorious for indecency, or that contained mecharical contrivances for
imposing on the credulity of the ignorant.
FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE,
On becoming sole emperor, Constantine proceeded to
lay the foundations of a city, destined to perpetuate the
name of the founder, and to rival, or even partially
eclipse, the glory of Rome.  Since Diocletian had made
Nicomedia his seat of government, the ancient capital
had lost much of its pristine splendour and importance.




48  -     LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
When Constantine entered Rome, after the aefeat of
Maxentius, the citizens hailed him as their patron and
deliverer; but their hopes were doomed to disappointment, for during his entire reign he passed no more than
two or three months in Rome, which he visited only twice
during the remainder of his life. Indeed, by disbanding
the Praetorian guards, which for three centuries had been
stationed at Rome, he dealt a fatal blow to the dignity
and power of the senate and people.
Constantine selected as the sight of his new capital, the
ancient Byzantium, situated on a tongue of land at the
south-western entrance of the Bosphorus.  An arm of
the Bosphorus here forms a splendid port, known in
ancient times as the Golden Horn, from the rich cargoes
which every wind wafted into it from distant shores. On
the day appointed for the foundation of the city, Constantine, on foot, with a lance in his hand, led the solemn
procession, and traced out the boundary of the destined
capital.  To his attendants, who observed with astonishment the growing circumference, he replied, "I shall
advance, till the invisible guide who marches before me
thinks right to halt."
The space thus marked out measured more than ten
miles round.  On this favoured spot the imperial city
soon appeared resplendent in white marble. The cities
of Greece and Asia were ransacked and robbed, that their
art treasures might adorn their upstart sister. Whatever
could beautify the city, or contribute to the well-being of
its inhabitants, was provided without stint from the imperial treasury. The city was dedicated (11th May, 330)
with the title of New Rome; but this name was soon
exchanged for Constantinople, in honour of its founder.
The site of Constantinople appears to have been formed
by nature for the centre of a great monarchy.  For
beauty, safety, commercial convenience, and political importance, the spot selected could not have been surpassed.
The imperial city, that crowned its seven hills, stood on
the highway from Europe to Asia, as a gate between the
two, where they approach within 600 yards of each other.




CONSTANTINE AND HIS SUCCESSORS.         49
It also commanded the passage between the Euxine and
the Propontis (Sea of Marmora), as the barbarians of the
Euxine speedily found when they attempted, as before, to
pour their piratical swarms into the heart of the Mediterranean. The climate was healthy, the soil fertile, the
larbour secure and capacious, and the approach on the
land side of small extent and easy defence. The new
capital could boast that it was the only city in the empire
not polluted by a heathen temple.  Within a century
after its foundation it contained fourteen magnificent
churches, and in population and wealth was unsurpassed
by Rome itself.
CONSTANTINE AND HIS SONS.
The emperor had been twice married. His first wife
had left him only one son, who was called Crispus. By
Fausta, he had three sons, named Constantine, Constantius,
and Constans.  At the age of seventeen, Crispus was
invested with the title of Caesar, and soon gained renown
for his prudence and valour in war. He became such a
favourite with the people and the army as to provoke the
jealousy of his father, by whose orders he was at length
executed on a charge of treason. On the death of Crispus
the three sons of Fausta received the title of Ceesar, but
the emperor retained the sole authority in his own hands.
And when, in 332, the Goths invaded his dominions, the
aged emperor took the field in person and gained a great
victory. Indeed, from the beginning to the end of his
reign, the same fortune invariably attended the arms of this
fortunate emperor. Constantine completed the thirtieth
year of his reign (A.D. 335); an event which none of his
predecessors, since Augustus, had been permitted to celebrate.  Two years later he ended his memorable life at a
palace in the suburbs of Nicomedia. According to his last
request his corpse was carried to Constantinople. Here
it was adorned with the purple and diadem, and laid on
a golden bed in an apartment splendidly furnished and
illuminated. Every day, at the usual hour, the various
officers of the court came to bend the knee before the
D




50        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
lifeless form, as if in mockery of the formal homage they
had long been wont to offer.
Constantine was succeeded by his three sons, but not
a page of their history can be read with pleasure or profit.
Constantius, the second son, outlived his brothers, and
reigned as sole emperor till his death in A.D. 361.  He
inherited the defects, without the abilities, of his father.
JULIAN THE APOSTATE.
Julian, who succeeded Constantius II., was the last
survivor of the imperial house of Constantine. Julian
had gained great distinction in the reign of his predecessor by his victories over the Franks and other barbarians,
who had devastated the fields and cities of Gaul.  Before
the throne was vacant, he had been hailed as Augustus by
the legions stationed at Paris. They came at midnight
to his palace, raised him aloft on a shield, and crowned
him  with a circlet formed on the spot of a standardbearer's chain. The death of Constantius in the following
year (A.D. 361) saved the empire from civil war.
Julian had hitherto professed the Christian religion, in
which he had been educated from early childhood.  On
assuming the imperial diadem he threw  off the mask
which he had so long worn, and declared himself a pagan,
and thus acquired the obnoxious surname of Apostate.
HIe was a great student of Grecian literature; whilst he
measured the worth of heathenism from the lives of its
heroes as they were represented in books, he estimated
Christianity by the imperfections of the actual men and
women around him.
The Apostate resolved to undo the work of Constantine
in favour of Christianity, and to restore paganism as the
religion of the state; but his brief reign, which lasted
only two years, defeated the hopes of his heathen subjects.
He had only time to begin the execution of his design.
His first care was for the temples, which had been levelled
in the dust by the zeal of the Christians in the last reigi..
The emperor decreed that those who had pulled down
should build up, and as the Christians mostly refused to




CONSTANTINE AND HIS SUCCESSORS.          51
obey, either from poverty or conscientious unwillingness,
they were subjected to tortures, imprisonment, and death.
The case of Mark, bishop of Arethusa, who is believed
to have saved Julian's life, when a child, is especially
noted.  The magistrates required the full value of a
temple which had been destroyed; but, as they were
satisfied of his poverty, they desired only to bend his
inflexible spirit to the promise of the slightest compensation. They apprehended the aged prelate, they inhumanly
scourged him, they tore his beard; and his naked body,
anointed with honey, was suspended in a net between
heaven and earth, and exposed to the stings of insects,
and the rays of a Syrian sun.  From this lofty station,
Mark still persisted to glory in his crime, and to insult
the impotent rage of his persecutors. He was at length
rescued from their hands by the emperor, in consideration,
perhaps, of the service he had rendered him in infancy.
Julian's attempt to revive the old religion was like
galvanising a corpse. The utter decay of the old religion
in Antioch, the Syrian capital, is an indication of the
senility which at this time was. creeping over the pagan
system of the Roman world.  The emperor himself tells
us that, on repairing to the temple of Daphne, near that
city, on the day of a great festival, he found, instead of
the splendid ceremonial and the crowd of worshippers
which he had expected, that only a single old priest was
in attendance, with no better sacrifices than a goose,
which the poor man had been obliged to provide at his
own cost.  But in some parts of the empire, the pagans
were cheered with the grateful prospect of flaming altars,
bleeding victims, the smoke of incense, and a solemn
train of priests and soothsayers. The sophist Libanius
tells us with glee, that " the sound of prayer and music
was again heard on the tops of the highest mountains;
and the same ox afforded a sacrifice for the gods, and a
supper for their joyous votaries."  This festive feature of
paganism was, probably, its chief attraction to most of
its adherents.
In a spirit of defiance to the Christian religion, the




LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
apostate emperor resolved on rebuilding the temple of
Jerusalem.  At the call of their great patron, the dispersed Jews assembled from all quarters to forward the
undertaking with their pious labour, and their hoarded
wealth. Spades and pickaxes of silver were not deemed
too precious for the work, and even women of high birth
thought it not degrading to remove the rubbish in their
mantles of silk and purple. The decree had gone forth
from a great monarch that the temple should be built, and
a whole people were eager to do his bidding; but, in
trying to set up what the Most High had cast down, they
soon found themselves fighting against God. It is related
by Marcellinus, a pagan and a contemporary, that "whilst
they urged with diligence and vigour the execution of the
work, horrible balls of fire, breaking out near the foundations from time to time, rendered the place inaccessible to
the scorched and blasted workmen, and so the undertaking
was abandoned."
Meanwhile, Julian was marshalling his forces for the
conquest of Persia. The greatness of the enterprise may
be imagined from the fact, that 1100 ships were launched
on the Euphrates laden with supplies for the Roman army.
It was found necessary to dig a canal, 500 miles in length,
to transport this vast fleet to the river Tigris. After this
had been accomplished at an immense expense of toil and
treasure, the emperor, acting according to the specious
counsel of a Persian nobleman who had come into his
camp as a deserter, in one night burnt his ships and
nearly all that they contained. He then set out on a
disastrous march into the heart of Persia, through an
extensive region of rich meadows and fields of ripe corn.
But on the approach of the Romans this fair prospect
was turned by its inhabitants into a black, smoking, and
naked desert.  Day after day the army toiled on, but
everywhere the same scene of desolation presented itself.
The desponding army at length received the tardy signal
of retreat. With provisions growing more scanty from
day to day, they had to fight their way back step by step.
In one of these encounters an arrow pierced the em



CONSTANTINE AND HIS SUCCESSORS.               53
peror's side, and at midnight he expired, after a remarkable reign, compressed into the small space of one year
and eight months (A.D. 363). The corpse of Julian was
conveyed to Tarsus, and there buried in a stately tomb.
It was an ancient custom, in the funerals, as well as in the
triumphs of the Romans, that the voice of praise should
be corrected by that of satire and ridicule. This custom
was practised at the funeral of Julian; whilst his heathen
admirers were gratified with an oration recounting his
virtues, his faults and follies were humorously depicted
with the applause of a Christian audience.
PARTITION OF THE EMPIRE.
Jovian, who was elevated to the vacant throne by the
army, reigned only eight months; but under that brief
reign Christianity obtained an easy and a lasting victory.
Valentinian, the next emperor, shared his authority
with his brother Valens; and soon afterwards the two
emperors executed the solemn and final division of the
Roman empire (A.D. 364). Valentinian reserved for himself Illyricum, Italy, and the other provinces of the West.
When this important business had been amicably settled,
the two brothers embraced for the last time. The emperor
of the West established his temporary residence at Milan,
and his brother Valens withdrew  to Constantinople to
assume the sovereignty of the East.
EMPERORS FROM CONSTANTINE TO VALENTINIAN.
A.D.                    A.D.
CONSTANTINE THE GREAT,... 306  Sole Emperor,....... 324
CONSTANTINE  II.,............... 337    Died,..................     340
CONSTANS,...............  337..,,.................. 350
CONSTANTIUS  II.,...............  337,,..................   361
JULIAN THE APOSTATE,....... 361,,.................. 363
JOVIAN,.................. 363,,.................  364
VALENTINIAN,....................  364,..................  375




CHAPTER V.
DISSOLUTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.
THE ruin of the Western Empire dates from the passage
of the Danube by the Goths (A.D. 376), on their obtaining
from the Emperor Valens permission to settle in Thrace.
The old iron empire, with an enemy in her midst, was
no longer able to withstand the repeated attacks of her
barbarian assailants.  The iron had become more and
more mixed with clay; the Romans had become enervated by luxury, corrupted by vice, and weakened by
disunion. The iron-clay fabric was, in consequence, shattered into fragments by the terrible blows of the fierce
invaders, that came from  the woods and morasses of
Germany, the steppes of Russia, and the wilds of Asia.
Exactly one hundred years after the Goths crossed the
Danube and found a home on Roman soil, Romulus
Augustulus, the last emperor of Rome, resigned his
sceptre into the hands of a Goth, named Odoacer (A.D. 476).
The old empire of the West had by the time of Odoacer's
accession shrunk within the confines of Italy, whilst new
kingdoms, full of wild vigour, were founded on the ruins
of the shattered empire, by her barbarian conquerors.
MIGRATIONS OF THE GOTHS.
Of all the barbarians who contributed to the fall of the
Western Empire, the most famous were the Goths. They
came originally from Scandinavia, where Gothland is still
a familiar name. In the second century we find them
settled on the shores of the Baltic, west of the Vistula,
in three divisions, Visigoths (West Goths), Ostrogoths
(East Goths), and Gepidce (Laggards).  It is said that




DISSOLUTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.         55
the first colony that crossed the Baltic came over in three
ships, and that the third being a heavy sailer lagged behind, and that, in consequence, the name of Laggards was
applied to them and their descendants. In the beginning
of the third century a second migration carried the Goths
from the Baltic to the Euxine.  Both in numbers and
spirit, these hardy warriors of the north were equal to
the most perilous adventures.  The use of round bucklers
and short swords made them formidable antagonists in
any close engagements, whilst the manly obedience they
paid to their hereditary chiefs gave decision to their
counsels and union to their strength.  The Goths accordingly fought their way without much difficulty to the
warm and fertile shores of the Euxine, and established
themselves between the Dneister and the Dneiper, on the
borders of the Roman Empire.  They were soon tempted
by the rich harvest fields of Dacia (between the Danube
and the Dneister), to turn their arms against the Romans.
The Emperor Decius was defeated and slain (A.D. 251).
Twenty years later the Romans withdrew  from  the
northern bank of the Danube, formed a new Dacia on
the southern side of that river, and left the old province
of that name in the hands of the Goths (A.D. 270). In the
course of the next century the Goths became, in a great
measure, civilised and converted to Christianity. At the
close of that period, when Valens was emperor of the
East, their territory was invaded byfierce hordes of savages,
named Hluns.
The Huns were a Scythian or Tartar race from Central
Asia.  These savages were remarkable for their ugliness;
their wide cheek-bones, small deep-seated black eyes, and
little flat noses looking like two breathing holes in the
middle of their dirty, swarthy, beardless faces, all gave a
most hideous aspect to these stunted, broad-shouldered,
bandy-legged savages. These hitherto unknown warriors
had been dwelling for some time on the eastern shores of
the Volga.  On crossing this river (A.D. 376), they seem
to have advanced with lightning speed over the sandy
steppes to the banks of the Tanais (Don). Joined by the




56        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Alans, whom they found in this region, they precipitated
themselves on the Goths.  The Goths fled in terror before
the irresistible rush of these pitiless, fearless, ugly savages,
In their extremity the Visigoths of Dacia appealed to the
pity of Valens, and implored him to give them an asylum.
Their petition was granted on condition of surrendering
their arms, and the children of their chief men into Roman
hands. They were willing to submit to any conditions.
There was no time to lose; the swift foe would soon be
upon them.  The Danube, for many days and nights, was
covered with a large fleet of boats and canoes, each sunk
to the water's edge by its crowded freight of fugitives.
Wives and children, arms and jewels, household goods
and gods were rowed by strong willing hands across the
broad stream, in that part of its course at least a mile
wide.  In this tumultuous passage many were swept
away and drowned, but all the rest got safely across
before the Huns and their allies, with their utmost speed,
could arrive to dispute the passage.
When the Goths ranged themselves under their respective chiefs on the Roman side of the Danube, they
numbered 200,000 warriors; and these with their wives,
children, and slaves, amounted to a million persons. The
greedy avarice of the Roman officers had allowed the
refugees to redeem their swords and spears with their gold
and silver. Thus the Romans had introduced into the
heart of their empire a nation of armed warriors destined
to sack Rome, and pave the way for the overthrow of the
Western Empire.
Two years later the emperor attempted to repair his
error in a great battle with the Goths near Hadrianople.
The Goths well knew that their existence as a nation
was at stake; and under their able leader, Fritigern, they
fought with the energy of desperation.  The Roman
cavalry fled, the infantry were surrounded and cut to
pieces. Valens, covered with wounds, sought refuge in a
cottage not far from the scene of battle. Here he perished
in the flames kindled by his pursuers. The conquerors
could now roam at will over the open country, and burn




DISSOLUTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.        57
and destroy without stint or stay; but the fortified towns
were safe from their unskilled attacks.
REIGN OF THEODOSIUS.
The further progress of the Gothic arms was checked
for a time by the great Theodosius, who succeeded Valens
as Emperor of the East. By prudence, rather than by
valour, he saved his empire from ruin. The opportune
death of Fritigern left his enemies without any effectual
bond of union, and conscious of this they willingly listened
to fair proposals of peace. Whilst Theodosius lived, the
Goths fairly observed the terms of the treaty, and used
their swords in defence of his empire; but on his death
there was no hand that could restrain them.
The reign of Theodosius is remarkable for the vigorous
measures he took for the abolition of paganism.    It is
our will and pleasure," decrees the emperor, "that none
of our subjects shall presume in any place to worship an
inanimate idol by the sacrifice of a guiltless victim." The
act of sacrificing was even declared an act of high treason,
and, as such, to be expiated by the death of the guilty.
Theodosius also shut up the pagan temples, or converted
them into Christian churches.  But the zeal of the
Christians outran the emperor's decree, and in many
places the temples were demolished. The destruction of
the celebrated temple and idol of Serapis, at Alexandria,
was accomplished by the express command of Theodosius.
The idol of Serapis was a colossal image adorned with
jewels and plates of gold and silver. There was a popular
belief that if it were injured by an impious hand, immediately heaven and earth would go to wreck; and even
Christians looked on with anxiety when a soldier, mounting a ladder, raised his axe against the figure. But when
it was seen that with impunity he first struck off a cheek,
and then cleft one of the knees, the spell was broken. Then
the head of the god was thrown down, and a swarm of
rats rushed forth from it, exciting the disgust and derision
of the crowd. On examining the temple, a discovery was
made of tricks by which the priests had imposed on the




58        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
credulity of the worshippers; and in consequence of this
exposure many became Christians.
The reign of this wise and pious prince was stained by
an act of cruelty, worthy of such miscreants as Nero and
Domitian.  A  popular outbreak in  Thessalonica had
occasioned the murder of Botheric, and several of that
unhappy general's chief officers.  Theodosius, being of a
hasty and choleric temper, on receiving intelligence of
this wanton cruelty, immediately resolved on an indiscriminate slaughter of the Thessalonians.  A  general
massacre accordingly took place in the amphitheatre of
their city, and at least 7000 persons were slain (A.D. 390).
Theodosius at this time resided at Milan, and there also
the famous Ambrose was living as archbishop.  When
the emperor went as usual to the great church of Milan,
he was stopped in the porch by the archbishop and requested to withdraw.  When Theodosius tried to excuse
himself by the example of David, the undaunted Ambrose
replied, " You have imitated David in his crime, imitate
then his repentance."  The emperor submitted and retired, and for eight months lived in penitential seclusion.
At the end of that time, on entering the church, he prostrated himself on the pavement, with every sign of the
deepest grief and humiliation.
The empire of the West was about this time thrown into
confusion by the murder of the emperor, Valentinian II.,
who had succeeded his father, Valentinian I., when a
mere infant (A.D. 375).  The young emperor had long
been a cipher in the hands of Arbogastes, the mastergeneral of his forces.  But on reaching manhood, he resolved to throw off his golden chains, and to dismiss
Arbogastes from his service. On reading the paper which
deprived him of his high office, Arbogastes remarked with
insulting coolness, in the presence of the emperor, " My
authority does not depend on the smile or the frown of a
monarch." A few days afterwards the unfortunate young
prince was found strangled in his palace (A.D. 392).
Theodosius resolved to avenge his death; but it was
not until the autumn of the year 394 that retribution




DISSOLUTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.        59
overtook the murderer.  Arbogastes, finding his cause
desperate, turned his sword against his own breast.  The
~whole Roman world now cheerfully acknowledged the
authority of Theodosius; but four months later he expired
(A.D. 395), leaving his sons, Arcadius and Honorius, to
reign over the East and West respectively.  As Honorius
was only a boy in the 11th year of his age, the real ruler
of his empire was Stilicho, the master-general of his
forces.
ALARIC THE GOTH.
The death of Theodosius was speedily followed by the
revolt of the Goths under Alaric, who by his military
genius and success in war, insensibly united the whole
nation under his victorious standard.  With the unanimous acclamations of the Gothic chieftains, Alaric was
elevated on a shield and proclaimed King of the Visigoths.
Late in the year 402, Alaric crossed the Alps, and appeared
under the walls of Milan. Honorius fled to the impregnable fortress of Ravenna, which became for some time
the seat of government in Italy.  Stilicho, a general
worthy of the best days of Rome, saved Italy from destruction.  By him the Goths were defeated at Pollentia,
and induced to withdraw from Italy.
After the retreat of the Goths, Honorius celebrated
a triumph at Rome, memorable as the last occasion on
which gladiators stained their swords with human blood
for the fiendish delight of Roman citizens. The abolition
of this horrid spectacle was due to Telemachus, a Christian monk, who leaped into the arena and endeavoured
to separate the combatants. The spectators, provoked at
his interference, overwhelmed him with stones; but he
was regarded as a martyr, and the inhuman practice was
never again permitted.
Alaric had retired from Italy, but he secretly aspired
to plant the Gothic standard on the walls of Rome, and
to enrich his army with the spoils of that famous city.
Stilicho alone stood between him and his fair prize; and
this obstacle was removed by the senseless and ungrate



60        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL H [STORY.
ful Honorius, who signed a warrant for his execution
(A.D. 408). Alaric soon appeared before the gates of
Rome, encompassed the walls, shut out all supplies of
food, so that in a few months bread was scarcer than
gold.  Ambassadors went out to Alaric offering to surrender the city on honourable terms, and declaring, that
unless they were granted, he must be prepared to give
battle to all the thousands of Rome. "The thicker the hay,
the easier it is mowed," was the barbarian's concise reply.
Hle then mentioned the ransom he would accept, as the
price of his retreat from Rome; but his demands were so
exorbitant, that the ambassadors in amazement exclaimed,
" If such, 0 king! are your demands, what do you intend
to leave us?   "Your lives," was the instant reply.
However, he ultimately agreed to retire from the city on
receiving most of the gold, silver, silk, and scarlet cloth
in Rome.
Through the weak obstinacy of I-onorius, the storm
thus averted fell two years later with redoubled fury on
the devoted city. On Alaric's return to Rome (A.D. 310),
the city was betrayed into his hands. At the hour of midnight the Salarian gate was silently opened by some slaves,
and the inhabitants were roused from sleep by the blast of
the Gothic trumpets. For six days the city was given up
to slaughter and pillage. On the sixth day the conquerors
withdrew from the scene of havoc, and, with the spoils of
the richest city in the world, proceeded along the Appian
way to the fertile fields and fair cities of the south. Fire
and famine marked the progress of the invaders.  The
extreme limit of Italy had been reached, when Alaric's
dreams of future conquests in Sicily and Africa were
rudely dispelled by that universal conqueror —death.
The river Basentius was diverted from its course, and a
sepulchre was constructed in the vacant bed. After the
funeral, the waters were restored to their accustomed
channel; and the captives, who had been employed in the
work, were inhumanly slain, that no one might know
where the conqueror of Rome was laid.
The Goths, or more precisely the Visigoths, under their




DISSOLUTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.        61
new king Adolphus, entered into the service of Honorius,
and turned their arms against his enemies. The alliance
was cemented by a marriage between the Gothic king
and Placidia, the daughter of the great Theodosius. The
Visigoths under Adolphus settled in the south of France,
and the successors of Alaric fixed their royal residence at
Toulouse.
ATTILA THE HUN.
In the reign of Attila (A.D. 440-453), the Huns again
became the terror of Europe. He ruled over all the barbarians from the Volga to the Rhine, and from the Baltic
to the Danube.  This terrible monarch used to boast that
a blade of grass never grew where his horse had trod.
He excelled even his own countrymen in the hideous
aspect of his countenance; and he had a habit of fiercely
rolling his eyes, as if he enjoyed the terror which he
inspired. This savage hero was commonly spoken of by
the Romans as the scourge of God. His capital was
situated in Hungary; but it was little better than a huge
village of wooden houses, built and adorned with rude magnificence. Attila himself in his dress, arms, and furniture
adhered to the simplicity of his Scythian ancestors. The
royal table was served in wooden cups and platters; the
royal palate was a stranger to any food but flesh, and
even bread was an untasted luxury. But his warriors
delighted in the display of their barbaric splendour; their
swords were studded with gold and gems, and their tables
were profusely spread with plates, goblets, and vases of
gold and silver.
We have a curious picture of the barbarian king in
his capital, from the account given by certain Roman
ambassadors who visited him there. As the king entered
the royal village with his guests, a numerous troop of
women came out to meet him, and marched in long files
before him, chanting hymns in his honour. As he passed
the door of one of his favourite soldiers, the wife of the
latter presented wine and meat for his refreshment.  He
did not dismount, but a silver table was raised for his




62        LAND3MARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
accommodation by his domestics, and then he continued
his march. The ambassadors were received by the queen
reclining on a soft couch, with her ladies round her working embroidery.  Afterwards they attended the king's
council, held according to Oriental custom in the gate of
the palace, a custom that is perpetuated to this day in the
title of the " Ottoman Porte."
Attila spent the first ten years of his reign in desolating
the Eastern Empire.  Such was the extent of his resourles, that he could bring half a million of warriors
into the field.  Constantinople itself was able to set him
at defiance, but more than seventy cities of the empire
were erased from the earth.
In 450, we find the king of the HIuns preparing to
invade Gaul. Theodoric, son of the great Alaric, was at
that time king of the Visigoths, in the south of Gaul.
The Gothic king threw in his lot with the IRomans.
The fate of the West was decided in the plain of
Chalons.  The battle fought here is one of the most
memorable in the history of the world. The victory was
won by the skill of Aetius, the Roman ambassador, and
by the valour of the Visigoths. Attila's host was only
saved by the approach of night from total defeat. Attila
sullenly withdrew from Gaul, and in the ensuing spring
(A.D. 452), appeared on the south of the Alps.  Rome
was saved by the generous boldness of Leo, its celebrated
bishop.  While the Hunnish king was on the road to
Rome, he was confronted by Leo, and overawed by his
majestic aspect.  On the offer of a large ransom, Attila
consented to withdraw from Italy.  Shortly afterwards
he died in his wooden palace beyond the Danube. His
gigantic empire immediately fell to pieces, and left no
lasting monument of its existence.
GENSERIC THE VANDAL.
Rome had been saved from the ravages of the Huns,
but it had only escapeds from one host of barbarians to
fall into the hands of another. The Vandals hastened




DISSOLUTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.       63
across from Africa to devour the prey that the Huns had
spared.
These rapacious barbarians in the beginning of the fifth
century, pressed on by the torrent of Huns from Asia,
had swept across Germany; and, after taking into their
ranks Burgundians and Suevians in their passage westward, had entered the defenceless provinces of Gaul
(A.D. 406). The Vandals and their allies speedily overran the whole country, drove before them a promiscuous
crowd of the mean and noble, and carried off the spoils
of hearth and altar. The Burgundians found a home in
the south-east of Gaul; whilst the Vandals and Suevians
crossed the Pyrenees and revelled in the riches of Spain.
The Suevians finally settled in the north-west corner of
the peninsula; but the fierce, restless Vandals, bequeathing their name to the province of Andalusia (formerly
Vandalos), sought their fortunes in Africa. Under their
king Genseric, the Vandals landed in Africa (A.D. 429)
and proceeded to pillage, burn, and massacre all that came
in their way. Ten years later Carthage was taken, and the
Roman province of Africa was a Vandal kingdom.
On the retreat of the Huns from Italy, Genseric resolved to try his fortune in that unhappy country. On
approaching Rome, the barbarian was surprised to see,
issuing from one of the gates of the city, an unarmed
and venerable procession of the Roman clergy, with Leo,
their bishop, at its head. The king of the Vandals promised to spare the lives of the citizens, but he proved
either unwilling or unable to redeem his promise. Aftei
a fortnight spent in stripping the city of all its wealth,
the robbers returned with a prosperous voyage to their
port of Carthage (A.D. 455), leaving the Goths to invest
with the imperial purple any puppet they chose. In the
course of the next twenty years, eight emperors were set
up and pulled down, and then the farce was played out.
Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of Rome, was
pensioned off; and a bold Goth, named Odoacer, who had
been for some time the virtual ruler, assumed the title of
King of Italy (A.D. 476).




64        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY,
NEW KINGDOMS OF THE WEST.
Whilst Honorius was reigning in security at Ravenna,
and Alaric was trampling down the corn fields and vineyards of Italy, the ties which had long bound the western
provinces to Rome began to slacken.
Britain, being the most remote of the provinces, was
the first left to take care of itself.  When Alaric entered
Rome (A.D. 410), Britain was an independent nation.
Forty years later the Saxons gained a footing in the
island, and after a hard struggle, lasting a century and a
half, established the seven kingdoms called the Heptarchy.
In the meantime, the Franks made themselves supreme
in Gaul. In the beginning of the fifth century, as we
have stated, the Burgundians settled in the valley of the
Rhone and Saone, whilst the Visigoths founded a kingdom in the south of France, which they afterwards extended northwards as far as the Loire. Ten years after
the extinction of the Western Empire (A.D. 486), Clovis,
king of the Franks-a tribe of Germans that had seated
themselves along the Belgic rivers-invaded Gaul, and
began at Soissons a career of victory, ending in the subjugation of the entire country, which henceforth took the
proud name of France.  Clovis is, therefore, the true
founder of the French kingdom, and his name, under the
softened form of Louis, has accordingly been borne by
many of her kings.  This prince was converted to Christianity by his wife, the fair Clotilda; he was followed to
the font in the cathedral of Rheims by 3000 of his warriors (A.D. 496). The last conquest of Clovis was that of
the Visigoths. At the battle of Poitiers (A.D. 507) their
king Alaric was slain by the hands of Clovis himself, and
their power in Gaul completely destroyed.  Clovis made
Paris his capital, and there he died (A.D. 511).
The Visigoths, resigning to Clovis most of their territory in Gaul, crossed the Pyrenees, and ruled in Spain
till the final overthrow of their monarchy by the Saracens at the beginning of the eighth century.
Meanwhile, the Ostrogoths became the dominant people




DISSOLUTION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE.        65:in Italy.  UTnder the long and peaceful reign of Theodoric
the Ostrogoth, Italy revived and flourished. Theodoric
succeeded Odoacer (A.D. 493), and ruled 33 years with
wisdom and justice.  Guided by his wise counsellor, the
learned Cassiodorus, he ruled over Goths and Italians to
their mutual advantage; to the former he assigned the
service of war, and to the latter the arts of industry.
Jinder the shadow of peace agriculture revived, and
Italy again became the land of purple grapes and golden
corn.  Such was the security of the country, that the
city gates were not shut either by day or night; and it
was commonly said, that a purse of gold might be left in
the fields without being lost to its owner. On the death
of Theodoric (A.D. 526), the transient happiness of his
reign vanished from Italy as a dream.
E




CHAPTER VL
THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN,
Justinian ascended the throne of the Eastern or Byzantine
Empire (A.D. 527), and reigned thirty-eight years. There
was nothing heroic in his character, but his reign was
rendered illustrious by the martial exploits of Belisarius
and Narses, and by the useful labours of the great lawyer,
Tribonian.
THE EMPEROR AND HIS CAPITAL.
The first act of Justinian was to share his throne with
a beautiful actress, named Theodora, whose influence over
the emperor remained paramount until her death, twentyone years after her marriage.  Throughout this reign,
Constantinople was often the scene of disastrous riots.
It is difficult to ascertain the cause that originally divided
the whole populace of the capital into two hostile factions,
distinguished by blue and green respectively. The hippodrome was the chief scene of their tumults, and here in
A.D. 532 commenced a most destructive riot, called Nika
(victory), from the watchword of the rioters. For five
days the city was in the hands of the mad mob; the
wealthy citizens withdrew to the Asiatic side of the
Bosphorus, and even the emperor would have deserted
his palace but for the courageous firmness of Theodora.
It is computed that 30,000 persons were slain before order
was restored.  The cathedral of St. Sophia, with many
other splendid edifices, became a black heap of smoking
ruins.  The cathedral was rebuilt by Justinian on a
magnificent scale, and still stands after thirteen centuries
a stately monument of his fame.  It is, however, no




THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN.             67
longer a Christian temple, but the principal Mohammedan
mosque.
Among many other memorable events which signalised
this reign, the introduction of silk-worms into Europe is
not the least important. Two Persian monks had gone
to China as Christian missionaries. Having contrived
to conceal a number of the eggs of the silk-worm in a
hollow tube, they eluded the vigilance of the Chinese
authorities, and returned in triumph with their treasure,
which they presented to Justinian.  Under their direction the eggs were hatched, and the first colony of silkworms established in Europe.
LEGISLATION OF JUSTINIAN.
The greatest glory of Justinian's reign was the simplification and orderly arrangement of the Roman laws.
These had become so numerous and contradictory, that
the most upright judges were often at variance in their
decisions. Justinian accordingly undertook, with the aid
of Trihonian, and other learned lawyers, to reduce the laws
toa simple and harmonious system.
The work was executed with incredible speed and diligence. First appeared the Code, containing in twelve
books a condensation of all systems extant. Under the
name of Institutes, was published a manual for the use of
law-students, in which the principles of Roman law were
clearly and briefly stated. Shortly afterwards appeared
the Pandects or Digest, comprising in a digested form the
decisions of the wisest judges in the law courts, and the
opinions of the ablest lawyers in their commentaries.
This abstract was published in fifty volumes, giving the
essence of twenty thousand treatises. To these three
parts of the Justinian system was afterwards added a
fourth, called the Novels, which comprised the new laws
made by Justinian himself.
VICTORIOUS CAREER OF BELISARIUS.
At the time of Justinian's accession to the Byzantine
empire, the Vandals ruled in Africa, with Carthage as




68        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
their capital, and Gelimer as their king.  Justinian
aspired to deliver the countries of the West from the
barbarians, and he resolved to begin with the re-conquest
of the Vandal kingdom.  The emperor sent Belisarius
with a powerful army into Africa (A.D. 533). Gelimer
awaited his approach at a place ten miles from Carthage,
and there his army was beaten and dispersed. The conqueror on the next day entered Carthage, which blazed
with torches of joyous welcome.  Gelimer, after losing
another battle, became a fugitive and then a captive. By
these disasters the power of the Vandals was effectually
broken. Belisarius, leaving a governor at Carthage with
the title of Exarch, returned to Constantinople, and enjoyed the honours of the first triumph ever celebrated in
that city. Instead of ascending a triumphal car drawn
by four horses or elephants, the modest conqueror marched
on foot at the head of his companions in arms. Gelimer
was clad in a purple robe, and still maintained the
majesty of a king in his fallen fortune.  Not a tear
escaped his eye, not a sigh his troubled breast; but, as he
slowly advanced, he repeatedly exclaimed —VANITY!
VANITY! ALL IS VANITY! Among the spoils displayed
were the holy vessels of the Jewish temple, which had
been carried by Titus to Rome, and from thence to Carthage by Genseric, the Vandal king.  They were soon
afterwards deposited in the Christian church of Jerusalem.
Justinian next turned his arms against the Ostrogoths,
who ruled in Italy.  Belisarius gained possession of
Sicily (A.D. 535), and in the following spring crossed the
Strait of MVessina, and advanced along the shores until he
reached Naples. This strong city was surprised in the
darkness of night by 400 soldiers, who found an entrance
into the city through the dry channel of an aqueduct. A
rope attached to an olive tree having enabled them to rise
into the garden of a solitary matron, they surprised the
sentinels, sounded their trumpets, and gave admittance to
their companions, who on all sides scaled the walls and
burst open the gates of the city. The humane general




THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN.               69
restrained the licence of his soldiers: "The gold and
silver," he repeatedly exclaimed, " are the just rewards of
your valour.  But spare the inhabitants, restore the
children to their parents, and the wives to their husbands."
The conqueror then advanced on Rome, before Vitiges,
the Gothic king, could muster sufficient force to oppose
him, or even to dispute his entrance into the city. Next
spring, however, Vitiges laid siege to Rome with 150,000
men (A.D. 537).
This siege is one of the most remarkable in history,
and has placed Belisarius in the foremost rank of the
world's great military captains.  In the first contest,
which took place outside the walls of Rome, the Goths
were nearly successful. The fate of Italy that day depended on the life of one man, who rode conspicuous on
a bay horse with a white face. " Aim at the bay horse,"
was the constant cry, many a bow was bent, many a
javelin was hurled, at that central figure; but the great
general, after beating back the enemy, retired in safety
behind the walls of Rome.  After many days of active
preparation, the Goths advanced with confidence to the
assault. Belisarius, standing on the ramparts, aimed an
arrow at the foremost barbarian and pierced his heart. A
second shaft from the same true hand was also a messenger
of death; and then followed a flight of arrows from a
thousand bows, which laid low the oxen that were drawing the siege-engines to the walls. The fierce contest
lasted from dawn to twilight, but the Goths were repulsed
on every side, with the loss of 30,000 killed and'as many
wounded.  This perilous day was the most glorious in
the life of Belisarius. So hard pressed were the defenders
at times throughout the day, that many a peerless statue
was torn from its lofty pedestal, broken into fragments,
and hurled on the heads of the assailants below. The
Goths lingered before the city in the hope of reducing it
by famine; but after one year and nine days they burnt
their tents, and hastened for shelter behind the fortifications of Ravenna.
The Goths offered to surrender this impregnable town




70        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
to Belisarius, if he would accept their services in his
army and rule as king of Italy.  But, as soon as his
standard was planted on the walls of Ravenna (A.D. 539),
he declined to wear the crown.
Thus both Italy and Africa were wrested out of the
hands of the barbarians, and added to the empire of the
East, in the short space of six years, by the valour, virtues, and genius of Belisarius. He was the idol of the
soldiers; and yet so strict was his discipline, that not an
apple was gathered from the trees, not a path could be
traced in the fields of corn, around his camp.  He was
daring without rashness, prudent without fear, hopeful in
misfortune, and modest in success.
END OF THE OSTROGOTHS.
Belisarius was recalled from Italy to the defence of the
East, which was endangered by the ambition of the
Persian king.  Taking advantage of his absence, the
Ostrogoths chose Totila as their king, and under his skilful command soon reduced the whole country to obedience
except Rome, Ravenna, and some other strongly fortified
towns.  Rome was taken and retaken; but in the year
549 it was betrayed to Totila, who, by that time, had
made himself master of nearly all Italy.  His kingdom,
however, was of short duration.
The eunuch Narses was sent by Justinian with a
numerous and gallant army to recover Italy. His body,
though feeble and diminutive, concealed the soul of a
statesman and a warrior. In his first battle with the
Goths he was victorious, and Totila was slain as he fled
from the field (A.D. 552). This victory was followed by
the capture of Rome and the recovery of Italy. The
Ostrogoths from this time ceased to be a nation: some of
them  evacuated the country, others mingled with the
Roman people. Narses was appointed viceroy of Italy,
with the title of Exarch, and ably ruled that kingdom
above 15 vears, with Rtavenna as his seat of government.




THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN.              71
LAST EXPLOITS OF BELISARIUS.
Belisarius had long reposed on his laurels, when he
was summoned from his retirement to save, by a last
crowning victory, the emperor and the capital from ruin
(A.D. 559).
At this time there ranged over Poland and the central
parts of modern Russia many savage tribes, known to the
old Romans as Sarmatians, but appearing in later history
as Sclaves or Sclavonians; whilst in the southern part
of Russia were the remains of the Huns, then called
Bulgarians, whose name is derived from the Volga, and
still lives in the word Bulgaria. The Bulgarians, true to
their Tartar origin, were bold and dexterous archers, who
drank the milk and feasted on the flesh of their fleet and
fiery horses, whose flocks and herds in their search for
pasture guided the movements of their roving camps.
The Sclavonians are the ancestors of the Russians and
Poles, and of the Bohemians, Croats, and other races of
Austria. In the sixth century they were still in a very
barbarous condition. They dwelt in rude wooden huts
collected in small villages in the depths of some forest,
on the bank of some river, or on the edge of some morass.
The fertility of the soil rather than the industry of the
natives supplied the rustic plenty of the Sclavonians.
Each tribe or village acknowledged no master but its
own chief. They fought on foot, and among their weapons
of offence was a long rope with a running noose. A river
or a lake often concealed a band of these warriors: they
would dive and remain under water, breathing through a
hollow cane, until their unsuspecting enemy came within
reach.
The Bulgarians and  Sclavonians sometimes united
their forces for the plunder of the rich provinces south of
the Danube.  In the thirty-second winter of Justinian's
reign, the Danube was deeply frozen (A.D. 559). The
Bulgarian cavalry, with a host of Sclavonians in their
rear, crossed the frozen highway and advanced to the
walls of Constantinople, which in many places had been




72        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
thrown down by a recent earthquake. Justinian trembled at their approach, and the unwarlike citizens were
bewildered at the danger. The eyes of prince and people
turned instinctively to one man, now a feeble veteran,
who had plucked Carthage out of the hands of the Vandal
and defended Rome against the Ostrogoth. The spirit of
old and young was roused by the name of Belisarius.
Ten thousand men went out of the gates of Constantinople to encounter the dreaded enemy. Belisarius that
day won his last victory, and saved his country from
anarchy. He received but cold thanks from an ungrateful monarch, and so harshly was the aged hero treated by
his envious master, that the fiction wears an air of truth,
which represents the veteran chief as deprived of his
eyesight, and reduced to beg his bread in suppliant tones,
"Give a penny to blind Belisarius the general."  The
same year (A.D. 565) ended the memorable reign of Justinian and the life of the renowned Belisarius.
THE LOMBARDS IN ITALY.
Narses was the only exarch that ruled over all Italy.
His government lasted until A.D. 568, and in that year a
new flood of barbarians, called Lombards, swept down
from the Alps, and reduced the exarchate to a narrow
province.
The Lombards were originally called Langobards, from
their long spears (bardi), and when first heard of by the
Romans were living along the shores of the Baltic between
the Elbe and the Oder. Thence they gradually descended
southward, and by the reign of Justinian had reached
the banks of the Danube. Here they came into contact
with the Gepidae, who, true to their name, had lagged
behind in the plains of Hungary, while their kinsmen,
the Visigoths and Ostrogoths, were seeking their fortunes
in Spain and Italy. The crafty Justinian fomented the
disputes that naturally arose between the Gepidae and the
Lombards, and dexterously contrived to protract the
struggle between them throughout his reign. In the
vear succeeding his death, the Lombards formed a union




THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN.             73
with the Avars, a fierce race of barbarians lately come
from Asia. The confederate forces under Alboin, the
Lombard king, fell upon the Gepidae and almost exterminated them. Alboin slew their King Cunimund with
his on hand, and, according to the savage custom of the
Lombards, fashioned his skull into a drinking-cup. In
the division of the spoils, the fair Rosamond, daughter
of Cunimund, fell to the share of Alboin, by whom she
was married. The lands of the Gepidoe, according to the
treaty between the allies, became the sole property of the
Avars.
The Lombards, therefore, under their victorious leader
resolved to seek a kingdom in Italy. Alboin crossed the
Julian Alps, and descended upon the fruitful plains ever
since called Lombardy (A.D. 568). Terror preceded his
march, and desolation followed in his rear. The pusillanimous Italians made no attempt to resist the invader,
but tried to hide themselves and some fragments of their
wealth in the less accessible parts of their country. One
city, however, namely Pavia, which had been strongly
fortified by the Goths, kept the angry monarch waiting
above three years before its gate. At length the conqueror entered the city with the avowed design of massacring all that the famine had spared; but as Alboin
entered the gate his horse stumbled, fell, and could not
be raised from the ground. This accident was regarded
as a sign of the wrath of heaven: the conqueror paused
and relented; he sheathed his sword, and proclaimed to
the trembling citizens that they should live and obey.
Pavia for some centuries was respected as the capital of
the Lombard kingdom.
Alboin's career of victory was brought to an end through
his own savage conduct and his wife's revengeful spirit.
In a palace near Verona, the king feasted the companions
of his arms. After draining many capacious bowls of
Falernian wine, the drunken monarch called for the skull
of Cunimund, his favourite wine-goblet.  The cup of
victory was handed round to the warriors, who drank
with horrid acclamations. "Fill it again! fill it to the




74       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
brim, and carry it to the queen." She recognised the
fearful vessel, and shuddered with grief and rage, as she
touched it with her lips. That night she vowed that the
blood of Alboin should atone for the insult. Rosamond
scoa found a favourable moment for the execution of
her vow. Helmichis, the king's armour-bearer, was the
secret minister of her revenge. While the king, who
had drunk to excess, was in a profound sleep, his faithless
consort unbolted the chamber-door and ushered in her
accomplice. On the first alarm the warrior started from
his couch, and attempted in vain to draw his sword, for
it had been fastened to its scabbard by the hand of his
wife. A small stool, his only weapon, could not long
protect him from the spear of his assassin (A.D. 573).
The queen became the wife of Helmichis, and the
guilty pair fled to the court of Ravenna. Captivated
with the prospect of marrying the exarch, Rosamond
presented a poisoned cup to her husband, as he issued
from the bath. Helmichis soon perceived that he was
poisoned, and resolved that his wife should not profit by
her crime, he pointed his dagger to her breast and compelled the murderess to drain the remainder of the cup.
Alboin had divided his dominion into many petty
states or dukedoms, and for ten years after his death,
Italy was oppressed by a ducal aristocracy of thirty
tyrants. But on the invasion of the Franks, the dukes
of Lombardy chose Autharis as their king, and not only
defended what they had won, but extended their conquests to the south of the peninsula. At Reggio, the
extreme point, Autharis rode his horse into the sea, and
with his spear struck a column which had been erected
there, exclaiming, " This is the boundary of the Lombard
kingdom." Upon the death of Autharis without children,
the Lombards desired his widow Theodolinda to choose
another husband as their king. She selected Agilulf,
Duke of Turin, who reigned over the Lombards for 25
years.  The memory of Theodolinda is dear to the
Catholic church, for by her influence Agilulf and many
of his subjects became good Catholics. Pope Gregory is




THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN.             75
said to have presented to her the celebrated Iron Crown
of the Lombards, so called from a circle of iron within
it, which was supposed to have been forged out of one of
the nails of the Cross.
None of the Lombard kings could ever establish the
claim of sovereignty over all Italy. During the next
two centuries the supremacy of the exarch of Ravenna
was acknowledged by Rome, Naples, and Venice; whilst
the rest of the country remained under the dominion of
the king and dukes of Lombardy, with Pavia as the royal
seat. The reign of the Lombard kings was often marked
with virtue and ability; and their Italian subjects enjoyed
on the whole a milder and more equitable government
than any of the other kingdoms which had been founded
on the ruins of the Western Empire.




CHAPTER VII.
CHRISTIANITY FROM CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY.
(A.D. 324-604.)
CONSTANTINE publicly declared in favour of Christianity
in the first year of his sole sovereignty (A.D. 324).  In
the following year the emperor summoned a general
council of the whole church, to be held at Niceea, in
Bithynia. The council drew up the Nicene Creed as the
orthodox standard of faith, and condemned Arius as a
heretic for denying that Christ was in all respects equal
with God.  The controversy, however, continued for
some centuries to disturb the peace of the church; for
the Arian doctrine found favour with many of Constantine's successors, and many of the barbarian nations first
received the gospel from  Arian teachers.  The great
champion of orthodoxy, as settled by the Nicene council,
was Athanasius, who, from the age of thirty to that of
seventy-six, held the see of Alexandria (A.D. 326-372).
His mantle fell on Ambrose, bishop of Milan (A.D. 374395), whose history illustrates the remarkable influence
which the church was beginning to exercise over the
mighty ones of the earth.  (Vide p. 58.)  The next
great light of the church was Augustine, who for fiveand-thirty years was bishop of Hippo, in Africa (A.D. 395430). His theological writings are still extant, and held
in high estimation by the majority of Christians. The
history of Christianity from the time of its recognition by
Constantine, as the national religion of his empire, to the
close of the sixth century, is marked by three important




CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY.             77
events-the institution of monasticism, the conversion of
the Teutonic barbarians, and the foundation of the papal
authority.
I. MONASTICISM.
In the beginning of the fourth century, Christians who
aspired to uncommon holiness began to withdraw from
the business of the world and its pleasures, and to lead a
life of seclusion and pious contemplation in some lonely
desert. These exiles from civil society assumed the name
of monks, of whom  there were two classes: anchorets,
who lived in an isolated cell; and ccenobites, who lived
together as members of a community.
The monks at first were anchorets, and the first of these
who gained a famous name, was an Egyptian hermit
named Antony.  After dwelling for some years among
the tombs and the ruins of a castle, he finally found a
sufficiently gloomy retreat in a wild desert near the Red
Sea (A.D. 305). Here Antony lived for half a century,
and long before his death a numerous colony of monks,
settling round him, studded the desert with their cells.
The hermit enjoyed the friendship of Athanasius, and he
had the satisfaction just before his death (A.D. 356) of
giving an asylum to that champion of the faith, when he
withdrew from Alexandria to avoid the fury of his Arian
foes.
The ccenobitic system originated with Pachomius, who
founded a society on an island of the Nile called Tabenne.
Before the founder's death (A.D. 348) it embraced eight
monasteries with 3000 inmates.  These monks were
under a vow of absolute poverty, so that no one was
allowed to speak of anything as his own, but like the
primitive Christians, they had all things in common.
They were also under a vow of absolute obedience to the
chief of the monastery, who received the name of abbot
(from a Syriac word meaning father). So blind an obedience was exercised, that a celebrated monk, on being
commanded by this abbot to water a dry stick twice a
day, for a whole year faithfully persisted in the work,




78        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
toiling, whether sick or well, to fetch the water from a
distance of two miles.  The sister of Pachomius was
the first woman who adopted the monastic life.  She
became the abbess of a large community of women styled
nuns.
The monastic spirit was not long in exhibiting itself in
extravagant forms, especially in Egypt and the East. A
numerous sect of anchorets in Mesopotamia received the
name of boscoi or graziers from their manner of life: they
dwelt in mountains or deserts, without a roof to shelter
them, and scarcely a rag to cover them, browsing on grass
and herbs until, both in mind and body, they lost the
likeness of human beings. And somewhat later appeared
the stylites or pillar-saints.  The most noted of these was
Simeon Stylites, who established his aerial residence on a
mountain about forty miles east of Antioch.  Within a
circle of stones to which he had confined himself by a
ponderous chain, he ascended a column, which was successively raised from the height of nine to that of sixty
feet above the ground.  In this last and lofty station
the ascetic hero resisted the heat of thirty summers, and
the cold of as many winters. In praying he continually
bent his meagre skeleton from the forehead to the feet; a
spectator once counted 1244 repetitions of this movement
and then lost his reckoning, and it is said that during the
last year of his life he supported himself on one leg.
Simeon's fame became world-wide.  Pilgrims came from
all quarters to crave his blessing, or in the hope of being
cured by his prayers.  Kings sent ambassadors and
consulted him  on  the most important concerns of
church and state, as if he possessed supernatural wisdom. After his death the smallest relic of this eccentric
hermit was supposed to be endowed with miraculous
power.
The monastic system, originating in Egypt, soon spread
throughout the East, and before the close of the fourth
century it had established itself in all parts of Christendom.  It was introduced into Rome by Athanasius
(A.D. 341), who in his visit to that city, was accompanied




CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY.             79
by some monks from the deserts of Thebais, in Egypt.
The monastic life was greatly forwarded in Italy by the
eloquence and reputation of Jerome, an austere monk,
and the most learned man of his day, who settled in
Rome A.D. 382; and it made great progress in the north
of Italy under the fostering care of Ambrose, bishop of
Milan. Meanwhile, monasteries were established in Gaul
by Martin of Tours, who on his death was followed to
the grave by 2000 of his disciples.  Monasticism arrived
in Britain before the Saxons, and after spreading throughout Ireland, was introduced into Scotland by Columba,
an Irish abbot of royal descent, who built (A.D. 566) on
the small island of Iona a monastery, long famous as a
seat of religion and learning, and as a centre of missionary
enterprise.  But the revival and extension of monasticism
in the West, after the desolating invasions of the barbarians, was principally due to the famous Benedict, who
founded a monastery on Monte Casino (A.D. 530), which
became the model for all kindred institutions in Western
Europe. These Benedictine monasteries, during the dark
centuries of the middle ages, were the schools, hospitals,
inns, alm-houses, and centres of civilization in the several
countries of the West.
IT. CONVERSION OF THE BARBARIANS.
The barbarian nations, that dissolved the fabric of the
Western Empire, had been to a certain extent converted
to Christianity before they settled on Roman territory.
As early as the year 300, the Christian religion had found
its way among the Goths and some of the German tribes
on the Rhine. The Visigoths were the first to embrace
the gospel as a nation. It was introduced among them
by captives, some of whom  were bishops, and others,
ladies of high rank and influential beauty.  Ulphilas,
the only missionary of the Goths whose name has come
down to s, was a Goth by birth, but was descended from
Cappadocian captives.  When the Visigoths were distressed by the Huns (A.D. 376), it was Ulphilas who




80        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
obtained permission for them to cross the Danube and
settle in Roman territory. The refugees gradually adopted
the religion of the Romans with whom they were then
brought in close and continual contact.
Before the close of the fifth century nearly all the
barbarians, whose kingdoms were founded on the ruins
of the Western Empire, had assumed the Christian
name. The Franks and Saxons were the last to disown
the heathen gods of their ancestors. Clovis, king of the
Franks, had married Clotilda, a Christian princess of
Burgundy, and chiefly through her influence was converted. He was baptised at Rheims (A.D. 496) with
3000 of his warriors; and their example was imitated by
the remainder of their countrymen, who now adored the
cross they had burnt, and burnt the idols they had previously adored. Clovis and his warlike Franks henceforth became the champions of the orthodox faith, and,
in the name of the Prince of Peace, turned their swords
against the barbarians who had embraced the Arian form
of Christianity.
The pagan darkness that overspread our own land,
when the Saxons conquered it, was gradually dispelled by
the light of Christianity.  Ethelbert, king of Kent,
married Bertha, a Christian princess of France; and she
was accustomed to worship with her foreign attendants
in the little chapel of St. Martin's at Canterbury. Thus
the way was prepared for the mission of Augustine, who
was sent by Gregory the Great with forty monks to convert the Saxons in England (A.D. 597). The Pope had
first conceived the desire to engage in this good work on
observing in the market-place, at Rome, three youths
having blue eyes, flaxen hair, and ruddy faces, exposed
for sale as slaves. On ascertaining that they were Angles,
he declared that, if they were converted to Christ, they
would not only be Angles but angels. Augustine and
the other missionaries were courteously received by Ethelbert. They slowly advanced towards his throne singing
psalms and litanies to some solemn Gregorian chant. The
fierce, warlike people stood around their monarch's throne




CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY.             81
in silent awe, as the sacred strains of music fell on their
ear.  They saw with mingled surprise and astonishment
the advancing procession, preceded by a crucifix and a
banner having a picture of Christ painted on it. In a
short time Augustine had the satisfaction of announcing
to the pope, that he had baptized the king and ten
thousand of his subjects.
III. FOUNDATION OF THE PAPAL AUTHORITY.
As the imperial power declined in the West, the papal
authority gained strength. When Rome ceased to be
the capital of the empire, it claimed to be the capital of
Christendom. After the withdrawal of the emperor from
Rome, the chief man in " the eternal city" was its bishop.
The papal authority was founded mainly by three bishops
of Rome-Innocent I., Leo I., and Gregory surnamed
the Great.
While Honorius was cowering in the palace of Ravenna
from the perils of the Gothic invasion under Alaric,
Innocent was at Rome, the chief stay and counsellor of
the citizens. The sack of Rome by Alaric was the extinction of pagan Rome; little had escaped but that
which found shelter under the Christian name. Innocent
was absent from the city, during its siege and capture, on
a mission to the emperor's court at Ravenna in behalf of
the beleaguered citizens.  On returning to Rome he
found it in ruins, but the ancient religion buried beneath
them  (A.D. 410).  Henceforth Rome was an entirely
Christian city, and the Pope of Rome its most influential
citizen.
The next great name in the list of popes is that of
Leo. I. (A.D. 440-461). During his pontificate, Leo was
the only great name in the empire. By his extraordinary
abilities, learning, and high character, Leo continued to
rise, until his death, in estimation and reverence, and consequently in authority. It has already been related how
he saved Rome from Attila, the fierce Hun, and how by
his influence over Genseric, he mitigated the horrors
F




82        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
attending the capture of the city by the Vandals. Leo'
raised the claims of the Roman bishop, as the representative of St. Peter, to a height before unknown. He
procured from Valentinian III. a very remarkable law
in favour of his pretensions, in which the emperor declares the bishop of Rome to be the rightful ruler of the
whole church, and orders all bishops in the empire to
submit to his authority.
The right of supremacy, which Innocent and Leo had
claimed and exercised under the declining years of the
senile empire, was finally established over all the new
kingdoms of the West by Gregory the Great. He was a
Roman of noble descent and ample wealth, with all the
talents and virtues his age most admired. Early in life he
distributed his wealth, and became a monk, devoting his
whole time to prayer and study. Gregory himself was on
his way to England as a missionary, when he was recalled
to Rome, and on the death of the pope declared his successor (A.D. 590). His modesty shrunk from the proffered
honour, and by the aid of some friendly merchants, who
conveyed him in a basket beyond the gates of Rome, he
concealed himself some days among the woods and mountains. As soon as the monk had become pope, he threw
off at once the quiet habits of the cloister, and assumed
the activity becoming a pastor and ruler of his people.
He had a threefold mission to fulfil, as virtual sovereign
of Rome, as primate of Italy, as apostle of the West.
In the latter capacity, he reconciled to the Catholic or
orthodox faith the Arians of Italy and Spain, and sent
Augustine to evangelise the Saxons in England.  As
bishop, he gave to the ritual of the church greater
solemnity and magnificence; he introduced a new mode
of chanting, which still bears his name, and employed
music as the handmaid of religion in his missionary
enterprises.  In the person of Gregory, the Pope of
Rome first became in all except the name a temporal
sovereign.  He was obliged, through the absence and
neglect of the emperor, to assume the government of
Rome, or leave the city and the people to anarchy.




CONSTANTINE TO GREGORY.             83
Owing to his influence and abilities, Rome was saved
from  the Lombards, who had overrun nearly all Italy,
and by his care alone the citizens were preserved from
famine.  " The merits of Gregory," says Gibbon, " were
treated by the Byzantine court with reproach and insult;
but in the attachment of a grateful people, he found the
purest reward of a citizen, and the best right of a sovereign."  Gregory died A.D. 604.




CHAPTER VIIL
MOHAMMED AND THE SARACENSo
THE Christian religion had scarcely supplanted paganism
within the limits of the old Roman empire, when a rival
religion was promulgated in the deserts of Arabia by a
remarkable man, named Mahomet or Mohammed, who
appeared in the early part of the seventh century, with
the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other, for
the conversion and subjugation of the human race.
The Arabs had for ages consisted of various independent
tribes, remarkable for their intrepid valour and their love
of freedom; but before Mohammed welded them into one
nation by the fire of religious enthusiasm, they were
seldom formidable to any other nation except when their
territory was invaded, and then all private feuds were
postponed until the common enemy had been vanquished
and expelled.  Prior to Mohammed the Arabs were
idolaters worshipping the sun, moon, and stars. All the
tribes from time immemorial regarded Mecca as a sacred
city, and Caaba, its temple, as peculiarly holy.  On
coming within sight of the sanctuary, pilgrims would
cast away their garments, and with hasty steps seven
times encircle the Caaba; and finally kiss a certain stone
within the temple, supposed by them to be a petrified
angel, once pure white, but in the course of ages blackened by the lips of sinners. The tribe of Koreish, from
which Mohammed sprung, had acquired, by fraud or
force, the custody of the Caaba and its wondrous relic.




MOHAMMED AND THE SARACENS.           85
MOHAMMED AND HIS CREED.
Mohammed, the son of Abdallah, was born at Mecca
(A.D. 569). Left an orphan in early childhood, he grew
up under the care of his uncle, Abu Taleb, and won all
hearts by the beauty of his countenance and the eloquence
of his tongue. At twenty-five he entered the service of
Cadijah, a rich and noble widow, and soon won her hand
and fortune. At the age of forty he proclaimed himself
a prophet, after spending much time in religious contemplation in the caves and deserts around Mecca. One
day, he says, while sunk in despondency, and on the
point of destroying himself, he suddenly beheld between
heaven and earth the angel Gabriel, who assured him
that he was the prophet of God. From that moment
Mohammed preached the religion called Islam (surrender),
because the duty of ready submission to God's will formed
one of its leading tenets.  His disciples assumed the
name of Moslems or Mussulmans.
The creed of Mohammed is embodied in the Koran,
a book containing the pretended revelations made by the
angel Gabriel to the prophet. The two chief articles of
his creed were these:-there is but one God, and Mohammed is His prophet. He acknowledged the authority of
Moses and our Lord, and asserted that he came to complete their work.  He inculcated four great religious
duties - pilgrimage, prayer, fasting, and alms-giving.
Every Moslem  is expected to make a pilgrimage to
Mecca at least once in his lifetime, but this may be done
by proxy.  The believer is encouraged to hope, that
prayer will carry him half-way to God, fasting will bring
him to the door of His palace, and alms will gain him
admittance.  Five times a day the devout Moslem is
directed to turn his face towards Mecca and pray, whereever he may be, or however he may be employed; and as
cleanliness is supposed to be " the key to prayer," sundry
ablutions are also enjoined as a suitable preparation
thereto. A rigid fast is to be observed from sunrise to




8LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
sunset during the month Rhamadan; pork and wine are
prohibited at all times. A tenth of one's income is stated
to be the true measure of charity.  The prophet also
revealed to his disciples the nature of rewards and punishments hereafter. Paradise is reserved for his own faithful
Moslems, and they can only reach the golden gates by
passing over the sharp and perilous bridge of the abyss,
into which the guilty fall as they attempt with tottering
steps to cross. Mohammed paints his paradise as a place
of sensual delights, where the meanest believer will dwell
in palaces of marble. clothed in robes of silk, and surrounded by every pleasure that can gratify the senses.
MOHAMMED'S CAREER AS A PROPHET.
When Mohammed had resolved upon assuming the
prophetic office he assembled forty of his kinsmen, and,
having explained to them the nature of his mission, he
exclaimed "Who among you will be my vizierl"  " 
prophet," replied the youthful Ali, " I am the man; whoever rises against thee I will dash out his teeth, tear out
his eyes, break his legs, and cleave his skull." These
words breathe the spirit that long distinguished the
disciples of the martial prophet. When Abu Taleb, Ali's
father, tried to prevail upon Mohammed to relinquish
his design, he replied-" If they should place the sun on
my right hand, and the moon on my left, they shall not
divert me from my course."
For ten years the new religion made slow and painful
progress within the walls of Mecca. A plot was then
formed against Mohammed's life, but flight saved the
prophet from an assassin's sword. At the dead of night,
accompanied by his friend Abu Beker, he silently escaped
from his house, leaving Ali reposing on his bed, with the
prophet's green vestment over him, to  deceive the
assassins watching at the door. Three days Mohammed
and his friend were concealed in the cave of Thor, about
a league from Mecca. His enemies, the Koreish, came
to the mouth of the cave; but a spider's web across the




MOHAMMED AND THE SARACENS.           87
entrance convinced them that the fugitive was not there.
Soon afterwards Mohammed escaped to Medina, where he
was received with faith and reverence (A.D. 622). This
flight is called the Ilegira, and forms the Mohammedan
era, from which Moslems have since reckoned the years.
At Medina the first mosque was built, and here began
the public worship of the Moslems. The worshippers
were summoned by a voice sounding from the minaret of
the mosque, "God is great! God is great! There is no
God but God. Mohammed is the apostle of God. Come
to prayers, come to prayers."  At early dawn it was
added, "Prayer is better than sleep." Mohammed reigned
supreme at Medina, but his kingdom was for some time
confined within the walls of that city. Ere long the
prophet became impatient of the slow progress made by
persuasion, and determined to try the sharp argument of
the sword. The prophet's white banner, hung over the
gates of Medina, allured from all sides bands of roving
Arabs, who readily embraced the new creed, and as
readily propagated it with the sword. "The sword,"
they were taught, "is the key of heaven and hell; whoever falls in battle in the holy cause has all his sins
instantly cancelled; and the loss of his limbs shall be
supplied with a seraph's wings."  The Arabs, who had
always despised death, now regarded it as an object of
hope and desire. No alternative was given to idolaters
but conversion or death; and in this way the new religion
rapidly spread. The death-blow was given to idolatry
in Arabia by the capture of Mecca, and the destruction
of the 360 idols of the Caaba.  The conquest of the
whole country soon followed, and before his death the
prophet's empire extended from the Euphrates to the
Red Sea.
Meanwhile, Mohammed was getting old. He had laid
all his sons in the grave; his daughter Fatima, married
to Ali, alone remained to him. At length, in the sixtythird year of his age, Mohammed gave permission, as he
tells us, to the angel of death to take his soul. He
tottered to the mosque, and for the last time preached




88        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Islam to the people: " Everything happens," he said, "by
the will of God, and has its appointed time, which is not
to be hastened or avoided." A few days after this there
was grief in every Arab tent. With faltering voice he
uttered the last broken, though articulate, words: "0
God! pardon my sins....  Yes,...  I
come,... among my fellow-citizens on high;" and
thus peaceably expired on a carpet spread upon the floor
of his house at Medina, where he was afterwards buried
(A.D. 632).
CONQUESTS OF THE ARABS OR SARACENS.
On the death of Mohammed the Saracen empire embraced little more than Arabia; but in a hundred years
after the Hegira, the caliphs, as the successors of
Mohammed were styled, ruled from the Indus to the
Pyrenees. Their empire included Arabia, Persia, Syria,
Egypt, Africa, and Spain.
When Mohammed died, four candidates aspired to
succeed him; Abu Beker, the father of Ayesha, the prophet's favourite wife; Omar, the father of another wife;
Othman, his secretary and son-in-law; and All, who had
married Fatima, his only surviving child. These four
ruled in succession; they ascended the throne in advanced
age, and conquered by their lieutenants. These early
caliphs were remarkable for their ascetic habits, being
more like Moslem monks than conquering kings.
The first caliph, Abu Beker, reigned only two years
(A.D. 632-634). He sent a circular letter to the Arab
tribes in these terms: "This is to acquaint you, that I
intend to send the true believers into Syria to take it out
of the hands of the infidels. And I would have you
know that the fighting for religion is an act of obedience
to God."  An army assembled with great alacrity, and
before setting out for the conquest of Syria, received this
charge from their venerable caliph: "VWhen you fight
the battles of the Lord, acquit you like men, without
turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained




MOHAMMED AND THE SARACENS.            89
with the blood of women or children.  Destroy neither
palm-trees nor fields of corn.  When you make any
covenant, stand to it, and be as good as your word." The
hero of the Syrian conquest was Khaled, the sword of
God, whose personal prowess and adventurous valour was
the theme of friend and foe. "Work to-day and rest
to-morrow," was his favourite maxim. When proposals
of peace were made to him in the name of Heraclius, the
Byzantine emperor, he scornfully replied-" Ye Christian
dogs, you know your option; the koran, the tribute, or
the sword. We are a people whose delight is in war
rather than in peace."  The army of Heraclius was destroyed, and Damascus was taken on the very day of Abu
Beker's death.
Omar, the second caliph, not only completed the conquest of Syria, but reduced Persia and Egypt to submission. Jerusalem fell after a siege of four months
(A.D. 637). The caliph went to Palestine to receive the
keys of the city with his own hand. More like a pilgrim
than a conqueror, he journeyed by slow stages, mounted
on a rusty-brown camel, his only baggage a bag of corn,
a bag of dates, a wooden dish, and a leathern bottle filled
with water. On entering the holy city, the caliph commanded the site of Solomon's temple to be prepared for
a mosque, and on this sacred spot arose the celebrated
mosque of Omar.
Before the conquest of Syria was completed, that of
Persia was begun.  The battle of Cadesia (A.D. 636)
lasted several days; it ended in the total overthrow of
the Persians, and the capture of the royal standard-a
leathern apron of a blacksmith, who in ancient times had
delivered his country. Three months after this victory,
Said, the lieutenant of Omar, walked triumphant in the
white palace of the Persian kings, at Ctesiphon, his
capital.  The sack of Ctesiphon was followed by its
desertion and gradual decay. To secure his conquests,
Omar founded two new cities: Bassora, on the united
streams of the Tigris and Euphrates, afterwards a great
emporium of commerce; and Cufa, on the western bank




90        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
of the Euphrates, for a time the capital of the caliphs.
The whole of Persia gradually succumbed to the Saracen
arms. After a noble defence, Harmozan, the prince or
satrap of Susa, was compelled to surrender his person and
province to the discretion of the caliph. In the presence
of Omar, who was clothed in a tattered garment of camel's
hair, the satrap was despoiled of his silken robes embroidered with gold, and of his tiara adorned with rubies
and emeralds. During the interview the Persian asked
for some water, but while drinking betrayed some fear of
being killed.  "Be of good courage," said the caliph,
" your life is safe till you have drunk this water." The
ready-witted Persian instantly dashed the vase against
the ground, and the caliph, true to the promise that had
unintentionally escaped from him, spared the satrap's life.
Indeed, the strict fidelity of the Saracens in keeping their
promises, was one of the secrets of their successful career
as conquerors.
From Palestine the Saracens, under Amru, proceeded
to the conquest of Egypt, whilst their brethren, under
Said, were extending the Moslem rule over Persia. Their
most arduous enterprise was the siege of Alexandria, at
that time the first trading city in the world. At length,
after a siege of fourteen months, and the loss of 23,000
men, the Saracens prevailed (A.D. 641). It is uncertain
whether the splendid library of Alexandria, consisting of
thousands of invaluable manuscripts, was burnt by the
Moslems, or before their invasion; but it is said, that
when Omar was consulted as to the fate of this library,
he replied: "If these writings agree with the Word of
God (Koran), they are useless and need not be preserved;
if they disagree, they are pernicious and ought to be
destroyed."
In the ten years of Omar's reign "the Saracens reduced to his obedience 36,000 cities or castles, destroyed
4000 churches or temples, and erected 1400 mosques."
The conqueror of Syria, Persia, and Egypt was stabbed
in the mosque at Medina by a Persian fire-worshipper,
and died a few days later (A.D. 644).




MOHAMMED AND THE SARACENS.             91
Under Othman, the third caliph, the Saracens entered
upon the conquest of Africa. They also built a fleet, and
swept the Levant with their victorious galleys, capturing
Cyprus, Rhodes, and the Cyclades. They carried off from
Rhodes the brazen fragments of the celebrated Colossus,
a gigantic statue of Apollo, erected at the entrance of the
harbour three centuries before the Christian era, but
thrown down by an earthquake after standing 56 years.
The aged caliph, after a reign of eleven years, was murdered in his palace at Medina; calmly seated, with the
Koran in his lap, he awaited the death-blow  of his
assassins.
Ali, the illustrious cousin and son-in-law of Mohammed,
was then elected caliph (A.D. 655); but he could never
command  the universal obedience of  his subjects.
Ayesha, the widow of the prophet, was his implacable
enemy, and joined the malcontents. She took her post,
amid the dangers of the field, in the first battle that
Moslems fought with men of their own creed.  Seventy
men who guarded her camel fell during the action; and
the cage or litter in which she sat was stuck with javelins and darts like the quills of a porcupine. Ali's most
formidable adversary was Moawiyah, the emir or Saracen
governor of Syria; and when Ali was assassinated in the
mosque of Cufa (A.D. 661), he became the first caliph of
the house of Ommiyah. The aspiring wishes of the new
caliph were finally crowned by the important change of
an elective to an hereditary monarchy.
SARACEN EMPIRE UNDER THE OMMIADES.
Fourteen caliphs of the house of Ommiyah ruled in
succession by hereditary right (A.D. 661-750). Under
the reign of Moawiyah, the first of this line, the victorious career of the Saracens met its first great check.
After laying siege to Constantinople for seven years,
they were compelled to retire. A second siege, forty-two
years later, proved equally fruitless. The success of the
Greeks, or Romans of the East, may be chiefly ascribed




92        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
to the terrible Greek fire, which had been recently invented. It was a mixture composed mainly of naphtha,
and was rightly termed by the Greeks maritime fire, for
the flame instead of being extinguished was nourished by
water. It was either poured from the ramparts in large
boilers, or discharged in red-hot balls of stone or iron,
or deposited in fireships sent before the wind among the
enemy's ships. The caliph Soliman, who undertook the
second siege of Constantinople, sent a huge fleet of 1800
small vessels into the harbour of that city; but the fireships of the Greeks were launched, and in a short time
the Saracen fleet was wrapped in unquenchable flames.
Meanwhile the Saracens were extending their dominion
along the northern coast of Africa. After expelling the
Greeks from Carthage and the other African cities, the
Saracens had to contend with the Moors or Berbers, the
native barbarians of the old Roman province of Africa.
They were at length completely subdued by Musa
(A.D. 709).  Thirty thousand of the barbarian youth
were enlisted in the Saracen army, and trained to obey
the precepts of the Koran.  The Moors, as a nation,
embraced the religion of their conquerors, and adopted
their language, manners, and even name; the two races
gradually intermingled and became one.
The Saracens were not long in finding congenial employment for their new allies. They had advanced to
the verge of the Atlantic, but looking across the strait,
between the pillars of Hercules, they could descry a new
land to conquer. Spain was at that time a kingdom of
the Visigoths. Five thousand Saracens, under the command of Tarik, landed (A.D. 711) at the foot of the rock
since called Gibraltar (Gebel al Tarik), the hill of Tarik.
A battle was fought at Xeres, near Cadiz, and the Saracens were victorious. Roderic, the Gothic king, mounted
one of his fleetest horses and escaped from the battlefield, but in attempting to cross the Guadalquivir he
perished in the waters. His diadem, his robes, and his
courser were found on the bank. The battle of Xeres
was followed by the rapid conquest of Spain.  Tarik




MOHAMMED AND THE SARACENS.             93
marched at once to the royal city of Toledo, which capitulated on fair terms. In a few months the conqueror
had passed through the length and breadth of the land.
When the news of this rapid success reached the ears of
Musa, he began to fear that Tarik, his lieutenant, would
leave him nothing to subdue. The Saracens treated the
conquered with remarkable lenity, and left both Jews
and Christians in the enjoyment of religious freedom, on
receiving the punctual payment of a moderate tribute.
Arabs settled in Spain in great numbers, and in a few
generations their language and manners prevailed in that
country.  Under their sway Spain became one of the
most prosperous countries in Europe, with Cordova, on
the Guadalquivir, as the centre of their power.
At the end of the first century of the Hegira, the
caliphs were the most potent and absolute monarchs of
the globe; but they had almost reached the summit of
their power, and the furthest limits of their empire. On
crossing the Pyrenees to conquer France, the Saracens
discovered to their dismay that their arms were not invincible. After their first reverse, however, the Saracens
under the famous Abderame, bore the flag of victory as
far as the Loire. Eudes, duke of Aquitaine, in attempting to stem the torrent of the invaders, sustained a defeat
so fatal to his soldiers that, according to the sad confession of the survivors, God alone could reckon the number
of the slain. The conquered provinces of the south of
France were despoiled of their wealth; the churches and
monasteries, in particular, were stripped of their ornaments and delivered to the flames. It seemed as if all
Christendom would soon lie at the mercy of the Mohammedan monarch, and as if the name of Christ was in
danger of extinction. From such calamities Christendom
was saved by the genius and fortune of one man. Charles,
surnamed lcartel (the Hammer) from his vigorous blows
in the battle-field, was at this time, under the title of
Mayor, the real ruler of the Franks; for the unworthy
successors of Clovis had for some time possessed the regal
title without the regal power. All Christian eyes now




94        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
turned to Charles; his army of Franks and Germans was
the hope of Christendom. The battle of Tours (A.D. 732)
decided whether the Bible or the Koran, Christ or Mohammed, should command the obedience of Europe. In
the first six days of desultory combat, the horsemen and
archers of the East proved their superiority; but in the
closer onset of the seventh day, the Orientals were van..
quished. The first onslaught of the Saracens was tremendous; but the stalwart forms of the Frank warriors, on their
powerful German horses, sustained the shock without
flinching, and the assailants, recoiling repeatedly as from
a wall of iron, encumbered the field with thousands of
their dead. After a bloody contest, in which Abderame
was slain, the Saracens on the approach of night fled to
their camp; and after a series of disasters, their broken
host was driven beyond the Pyrenees.
The Moslem empire was now on the eve of partition.
A revolution in the East ended in almost the total destruction of the royal house of Ommiyah (A.D. 750), and
the foundation of four kingdoms within the limits of the
Saracen empire. Abdalrahman, the only prince of the
Ommiades that escaped the sword, was received with the
acclamations of the Spaniards. He set up his throne at
Cordova, and became the father of a line of princes that
reigned over Spain above 250 years. Two independent
kingdoms were also established in Africa. Egypt and
the Moslem countries of Asia remained united, and constituted a powerful state under the government of the
Abbassides, the descendants of Abbas, Mohammed's uncle.
SARACEN EMPIRE UNDER THE ABBASSIDES,
The Abbassides retained the sceptre of the caliphs for
more than five centuries (A.D. 750-1258). Damascus had
been the seat of empire under the Ommiades; it was
removed by the succeeding family to their new city of
Bagdad, founded in 765 on the west bank of the Tigris.
The most renowned of the sovereigns who reigned in this
capital were Almansor, Haroun al Raschid (Aaron the




MOHAMMED AND THE SARACENS.             95
Just), and Almamon.  Their splendid palaces, their
numerous guards, their treasures of gold and silver, the
populousness and wealth of their cities, all formed a
striking contrast to the rudeness and poverty of the
western nations in the same age. In their court, learning, which the earlier caliphs had despised, was held in
honour.  The spirit of learning was first encouraged by
Almansor, who had applied himself with success to the
study of astronomy.  Under the patronage of his grandson, Almamon, the philosophical writings of Greece were
eagerly sought and translated, the stars were numbered,
and the course of the planets was measured. The age of
Arabian learning continued nearly 500 years. The world
owes much to the Arabs for their skill and industry in
the study of medicine and chemistry, also for their
numerical system of notation, and the comprehensive
language of algebra.
The most illustrious prince of the new dynasty was
Haroun al Raschid (A.D. 786-808), familiar to every child
as the hero of the Arabian tales. Haroun, five years
before he ascended the throne, advanced with an army of
95,000 men into Asia Minor, and imposed an annual
tribute on Irene, the Byzantine empress.  But when
Nicephorus became emperor at Constantinople, he resolved
to pay no more tribute. He accordingly wrote a letter
to the caliph couched in the language of the chess-board:
" The queen (Irene) considered you as a rook and herself
as a pawn, and so submitted to pay tribute. Restore
therefore the fruits of your injustice, or abide the determination of the sword." The imperial envoy at the same
time cast a bundle of swords at the caliph's feet. Haroun,
smiling, drew his scimitar and hacked the edges of the
ill-tempered weapons before him  without turning the
edge of his own blade. He then bade his secretary write
this brief reply: "In the name of the most merciful
God, Haroun al Raschid, commander of the faithful, to
Nicephorus, the Roman dog. I have read thy letter, O
thou son of an unbelieving mother.  Thou shalt not
hear, thou shalt behold my reply."  That reply was




96        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
written in characters of blood and fire on the plains of
Phrygia and Bithynia. Heraclea, in the latter province,
was laid in ruins, and it was stipulated that it should so
remain as a monument of Saracen power.
The court of this great caliph was adorned with luxury
and magnificence; but at the same time it was the centre
of genius and learning.  Haroun earned his title of the
Just by repeated visits to all the provinces of his empire,
that he might see with his own eyes the real state of his
subjects and redress their grievances.  Haroun in the
East rivalled the policy of Charlemagne, his illustrious
ally in the West. His reign ended A.D. 808.




CHAPTER IX.
CHARLEMAGNE AND THE FRANKS.
THE French are descended mainly from the Gauls, a people
of Celtic origin, but they derive their name from a tribe of
Germans called Franks. Towards the end of the fifth
century, the Franks, under their famous leader Clovis,
obtained a footing in France, and in a few years became
the ruling race in that country. Clovis, the founder of
the French monarchy, belonged to the Merovingian line
of kings.  The Merovingians continued to wear the
crown of France until the middle of the eighth century;
but during the last hundred years of their sovereignty
they were mere rois faineants or do-nothing kings, the
real power being in the hands of their mayors of the
palace. The mayors were in the first instance masters
of the royal household, but as the kings sunk into
nothingness, these officers rose to the supreme power.
The most noted of the mayors were Pepin of Heristal,
his son Charles Martel, and his grandson Pepin the
Short. The elder Pepin made the office of mayor hereditary in his own family; Charles Martel, by his success in
war, especially by his defeat of the Saracens at Tours,
deserved and gained the homage of his countrymen, with
the title of Duke of the French; Pepin the Short (King
Pippin of our nursery tales) put an end to the nominal
rule of the Merovingian kings, and founded a new
dynasty called the Carlovingian, from Charles his colebrated father.
Pepin, the first of the Carlovingian kings, obtained his
royal title through the influence of the pope. Pepin sent
ambassadors to Rome to propound to Pope Zachary this
G




98:       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
plain question: " Who ought to wear the crown; the
man with the royal power, or the man of royal birth "
The pope replied that the crown ought to rest on the
head that ruled.  Pepin was accordingly proclaimed
king (A.D. 752), and anointed by the illustrious AngloSaxon Winifrid, better known as St. Boniface, the apostle
of Germany. The imbecile Childeric, the nominal king,
was shorn of his royal locks, and shut up for the rest of
his days in a convent.
Pepin had scarcely reigned ten  years when Pope
Stephen fled across the Alps, and threw himself upon
his protection. Astolph, the Lombard king, was thundering at the gates of Rome, and the sole remaining hope
of the Romans was in France and her king. The pope
was willing, in return for the services he claimed, to
renew Pepin's coronation with his own hands.  In the
ensuing spring an army of Franks scaled the Alps, and
defeated the Lombards. Pepin not only delivered Rome
out of their hands, but transferred from them to the pope
the Exarchate of Ravenna and the March of Ancona,
thus laying the foundation of the temporal sovereignty of
the popes. As soon as Pepin returned to France, the
Lombards broke the treaty, and laid waste the country
up to the walls of Rome. Pepin again crossed the Alps,
and his second expedition was not less rapid and fortunate than the first: Rome was again saved, and Astolph
was taught the lessons of justice and sincerity by the
scourge of a foreign prince, who ruled, as he said, Dei
gratia, by the grace of God. Besides his conquests in
Italy, Pepin drove the Saracens finally beyond the Alps,
and annexed Aquitaine to his monarchy. On the eastern
border of his kingdom  he inflicted several defeats on
the Saxons, and reduced Bavaria to vassalage.
There is a story told of Pepin the Short which serves
to illustrate his character. Having one day overheard
some of his courtiers speak scornfully of him on account
of his diminutive stature, he caused a lion and a bull to
be turned into an arena, and asked which of his courtiers
would dare to attack them. When all had declined to




CHARLEMAGNE AND THE FRANKS.           99
risk their lives in the dangerous combat, Pepin leaped
into the arena, and slew them both. His courtiers never
afterwards ridiculed him because he was short. Pepin
died in 768, leaving his dominions to his two sons-the
southern part to Carloman, and the northern to Charles,
the famous Charlemagne, or Charles the Great.
CHARLEMAGNE'S CAREER OF CONQUEST.
By the death of Carloman, three years after his accession, Charlemagne became king of the entire Frankish
monarchy (A.D. 771). His long reign of forty-six years
marks an important epoch in European history. The
various Germanic tribes were united by this monarch
under one sceptre, and brought under the influence of
civilisation and Christianity. To achieve this result, he
found it necessary to undertake four great wars-against
the Lombards, the Saxons, the Saracens, and the Avars.
Charlemagne had no sooner become sole king than he
drew the sword against Didier, king of the Lombards,
who had invaded the papal territory, and threatened
Rome itself. Charlemagne crossed the Alps, swept the
Lombards before him, and after a long siege took Pavia,
their capital, and destroyed the monarchy of the Lombards
(A.D. 774). Didier, the last of their kings, died in a
monastery.  Charlemagne assumed the iron crown of
Lombardy, and the title of King of the Franks and the
Lombards, but he allowed his new subjects to retain their
old laws and customs.   During the seige of Pavia
Charlemagne had paid a visit to Rome.  " He went to
Rome," says his biographer, "to pray there;" but there
were political as well as devotional reasons for the pilgrimage. He was received by Pope Adrian and the whole
body of the clergy with great pomp in the church of St.
Peter's, all the people singing, "Blessed be he that
cometh in the name of the Lord."  During his stay at
Rome an alliance was cemented between himself and the
pope, which afterwards greatly aided him in building up
the mighty fabric of his empire.  The king confirmed to




100       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
the pope the splendid donation of his father Pepin, and
even added to it.
Charlemagne's reign was spent to a great extent in
war, but, owing to the marked superiority of his forces,
there was no memorable battle fought by this monarch.
His chief contest was with the Saxons, who at that time
occupied the greater part of Northern Germany, between
the Rhine and the Elbe. Both Franks and Saxons were
originally of the same stock; but, while the former had
adopted Christianity and the habits of civilised life, the
latter had clung obstinately to the idolatry and savage
customs of their ancestors. The struggle between the
two nations lasted, with intervals of peace, for thirtythree years. War in those days was carried on without
a settled plan or connected operations. There were neither
regular troops, nor funds for their subsistence. After a
campaign the troops were generally disbanded, and a new
army, if necessary, collected in the following spring.
Hence it was that the war against the Saxons, though
invariably successful, was protracted so long. In his
first campaign (A.D. 772), Charlemagne destroyed their
great national idol Irminsul, captured Ehresburg their
strongest fortress, and reduced them to submission. But
as soon as the conqueror withdrew from their land, the
brave Saxons attempted to recover what they had lost.
Witikind became the hero of the Saxons in their prolonged resistance; no reverse could cool his ardour, or
shake his resolution; after each defeat he retreated into
the forests and wilds of Scandinavia, from  which he
reappeared, after a few months, at the head of new
bands of warriors, to renew the hopeless conflict.
Charlemagne regarded his contest with the Saxons as
a holy war. One condition of peace always imposed was
submission to the rite of baptism, as a pledge of their
acceptance of the Christian religion. After every successful campaign thousands of Saxons were baptized by
the army of priests that followed in the wake of war.
Thus Charlemagne treated his conquered foe in the same
way as Mohammed, who gave his pagan enemies the




CIARLEMAGNE AND THE FRANKS.          101
choice between death and conversion. In the prosecution
of his holy war, this missionary monarch displayed a
spirit directly opposed to that of the Gospel. On one
occasion, at Verdun, on the Aller, he massacred 4500
brave warriors, who had surrendered, in cold blood. The
Saxons were now driven to desperation; the whole
nation flew to arms, and for three years the land was
deluged with blood. Wearied out at length with the
carnage, Charlemagne made conciliatory proposals to the
heroic Witikind. The king assured him of his royal
clemency if he would lay down his arms, forsake his
idols, and become a Christian. Witikind accepted the
conditions, and was baptized in the presence of the king
and his whole court (A.D. 785).  His example was
followed by numbers of his companions in arms; and the
Saxons did not renew the contest for the next eight
years. At last, after a war of thirty-three years, they
were completely subdued; many thousand families were
transplanted into Flanders and Brabant, and the most
resolute retired into Scandinavia, to reappear somewhat
later as the enemies of France in the ranks of the
Normans.
Charlemagne had in the meantime extended his
dominions beyond the Pyrenees as far as the Ebro,
and formed a barrier to the extension of the Saracen
Empire in Spain. On his return to France, while his
victorious troops were crossing the Pyrenees, his rearguard was assailed in the pass of Roncesvalles by an
avalanche of broken rocks, uprooted trees, and missiles of
all kinds from the wooded heights above. In the midst
of the panic that ensued the Gascons rushed from their
place of concealment, attacked the devoted band in front
and rear at once, and completely routed them. Among
the dead was the famous Count Roland, whose name is
embalmed in many a Norman romance. Charlemagne
never returned to Spain, but the district he had conquered remained, under the name of the Spanish March,
a part of his growing empire.
Charlemagne next turned his arms against Southern




102       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Germany.  Tassilo, duke of Bavaria, having rebelled
against his authority, was stripped of his dominions, and
sent to mourn over his fall in a monastery to the end of
his life. The Sclavonians of Bohemia, and the Avars or
Huns of Pannonia (the country of the Drave and Save),
next owned the sway of the great king. In all his wars
the newly-conquered nations were employed to subjugate
their neighbours, and thus the circle of conquest continually expanded, till it embraced all central and western
Europewithin the circumference of a circle passing through
the mouths of the Elbe, the Tiber, and the Ebro, and thus
including nearly all the provinces of the old Roman
Empire of the West. Nothing was wanting but the title
of emperor to crown his career of conquest, and that consummation of his glory was achieved before the end of
the century.
Pope Leo III. had been attacked in the streets of
Rome, and then thrown half dead into the prison of a
monastery. Charlemagne befriended the fallen pope, and
proceeded to Rome to mediate between him and the
angry citizens.  On Christmas-day, in the year 800,
Charlemagne attended mass in St. Peter's Church, and
while he was kneeling before the altar, the pope suddenly
turned round and placed the imperial crown on his head
amid the acclamations of the people, who shouted from
every quarter, " Life and victory to Charles Augustus,
Emperor of the Romans."  There was now once more
a Western Empire, embracing within its range all the
Christian countries of the west except the British Isles.
CHARLEMAGNE AS A CIVIL RULER.
After being elevated to the imperial throne, Charlemagne's military activity ceased, but he exercised to the
end of his days a sleepless vigilance in the government
of his empire. His fame rests mainly upon his consummate
ability as a civil ruler. He permitted the nations subdued by him to retain their ancient laws and customs so
far as they were consistent with the " capitularies" which




CHARLEMAGNE AND THE FRANKS.           103
he made, with the sanction of his nobles, for the empire
at large. All new laws proposed by the king were brought
before an annual diet or assembly of the great men of the
realm, both clerical and secular. The empire was divided
into counties, each under the authority of a count, whose
chief duty was to administer justice. But over these
were the counts of the palace, who formed the highest
tribunal in the realm for deciding all knotty cases of
appeal.
Charlemagne's reign is marked by the revival of letters
in Western Europe. The emperor was a munificent patron
of learning, and of all the arts of peace calculated to
civilise his subjects. Aix-la-Chapelle, his capital, was
the favourite resort of the learned men of the west;
Alcuin, an Anglo-Saxon monk, held the foremost place
among them. The palace became a college for the study
and advancement of learning; and the royal scholar,
knowing that "there is no royal road to learning," tried
in his hours of study to make his learned companions
forget that he was their sovereign. To put them at their
ease he assumed the name of David, Alcuin he named
Horace, another well versed in Greek was called Homer,
and a third who wrote poetry was known as Virgil. On
returning from the hunting-field or the council-chamber,
the great man would throw aside the pomp of royalty,
and sit as a learner at the feet of Alcuin or some other
scholar of the day. He could speak Latin fluently, and
understood Greek. He delighted also in the study of
astronomy. The art of writing, however, he never could
master, although he took the greatest pains to learn.
He always carried writing materials about with him, that
he might practise at every leisure moment; and he even
kept writing models near his pillow, that he might, when
sleepless, beguile the time by copying them: but he
began too late in life to learn the art properly. The
emperor, who prized learning himself, was anxious tc
communicate its blessings to others. By a circular lettei
he directed the bishops to found schools in their cathedral
cities, and the chief abbots to open schools in connectior




104        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
with their monasteries.  He also founded the university
of Paris, which claims to be the most ancient in Europe.
The renown of Charlemagne extended into Asia. The
famous Haroun al Raschid was his friend and ally.
Among the curious presents sent to the western monarch
by the great caliph were the keys of the Holy Sepulchre
and a water-clock that struck the hours, the first ever
seen in'the west.  The fame of the great emperor is
somewhat tarnished by his domestic life. He had no less
than nine wives, most of whom he divorced with little
ceremony. In his personal habits, however, he was exemplary in two respects: he was abstemious in diet, and
frugal of time. Three or four dishes formed his royal
repast; he was very fond of roast venison, newly killed,
and served up on the spit. While at table he listened to
books of theology or history, particularly the works of St.
Augustine and the history of Jerusalem.
Charlemagne died in the seventy-second year of his age
(A.D. 814), and was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle.  His
secretary, Eginhard, tells us that he was buried in his
imperial robes, with his sword by his side, his crown on
his head, and a golden shield and sceptre at his feet. His
Bible and pilgrim's purse were also placed in his tomb.
The single inscription " Carlo Magno" on the pavement
is all that now marks the spot where his remains were
deposited.  Considering the age in which he lived, it
must be owned that he was an extraordinary man.
" Perhaps his greatest eulogy," says Hallam, " is written
in the disgraces of succeeding times, and the miseries of
Europe.  He stands like a beacon upon a waste, or a
rock in the broad ocean. His sceptre was as the bow of
Ulysses, which could not be drawn by any weaker hand.
In the dark ages of European history, the reign of Charlemagne affords a solitary resting place between two long
periods of turbulence and ignominy."
CHARLEMAGNE'S SUCCESSORS.
Louis, surnamed Debonair or Good-natured, was unable
to prevent the disintegration of the mighty structure of




CHARLEMAGNE AND THE FRANKS.           105
his father's empire.  He was the model of a Christian
prince for a peaceful and loyal state, but totally unfitted
to wield the sceptre over a turbulent and war-loving
people. After a reign of three years, he associated his
sons in the government.  They abused his kindness by
constant rebellions, and on his death in 840, fought
between themselves for the supreme power. The treaty
of Verdun (A.D. 843) terminated their contention by
assigning France to Charles the Bald, Germany to Louis,
and Italy to Lothaire.  Henceforward France and Germany were separate states.
These three divisions of Charlemagne's empire experienced different fortunes, arising in great measure from
the different characters of their respective kings. France
and her superstitious monarchs fell under the sway of
ecclesiastics. Italy became a prey to the ambition of her
nobles, who, taking advantage of the weak character of
their sovereigns, rendered themselves independent princes.
Louis, surnamed the German, proved a just and able
ruler; and under his government the Germans became
industrious, prosperous, and contented. The Carlovingians ceased to rule in Germany in A.D. 911. And in
France they ceased to wear the crown in the latter part of
the same century.  These French kings were unworthy
of their great ancestors. The dregs of this dynasty are
branded with the nicknames "of the stammerer," "the
fat," "the simple," and "the lazy."  The last of these
died without issue, and then the crown passed from the
phantoms of royalty to men who could really rule. The
Archbishop of Rheims, on the death of the last Carlovingian king, urged the election of Hugh Capet, Count of
Paris, as a personage " illustrious alike by his deeds and
by his power, in whom the nation would find a valiant
defender."  Hugh Capet was accordingly crowned at
Rheims (A.D. 987); and thus was inaugurated a dynasty
destined to reign over France for a period of eight centuries, until overthrown by the "Great Revolution."
With the accession of Hugh Capet the history of the
Franks ends, and that of the French begins.




CHAPTER X.
EUROPE IN THE TENTH CENTURY.
THERE is no great personage in this century to form the
central figure of European history. Important changes,
however, took place in the map of Europe, which deserve
our attention, as they were for the most part of a permanent
character. The men who played the most prominent
part in effecting these changes were the bold pirates of
Scandinavia, whose hardy children were still in quest of
their fortunes.
THE NORTHMEN OR NORMANS.
As early as the reign of Charlemagne daring pirates
from the northern shores of Europe, calling themselves
vikings or sea-kings, infested the coasts of England and
France. They were known by the name of Danes in
England, and Normans in France. The Danes wrested
from King Alfred a half of his fair kingdom, renewed
their invasions in the reign of Ethelred the Unready, and,
having driven him from the throne, seated their king
Canute in his place. When peaceably settled on English
soil, they became Christians and adopted the language
and civilization of their Anglo-Saxon neighbours, who
were originally from the same stock as themselves. In
the early part of the tenth century the Normans gained
a home in France. But a whole century was passed in
piratical incursions before this settlement was effected.
From the shores of the Baltic and the islands of Scandinavia, the fleets of the Northmen sailed on, wherever
the tide or the tempest might drive them. " They seemed
to be able to defy, in their ill-formed barks, the wildest




EUROPE IN THE TENTH CENTURY.         107
weather; to be able to land on the most inaccessible
shores, to find their way up the narrowest creeks and the
shallowest rivers; nothing was secure, not even in the
heart of the country, from the sudden appearance of these
relentless ravagers." These northmen adopted a uniform
plan of warfare both in France and England: they sailed
up the rivers in their small vessels, and having fortified
the islands, which they occasionally found, they made
these strongholds an asylum for their women and children,
a repository for their plunder, and a place of retreat for
themselves. Ethelred the Unready, in attempting to purchase the goodwill of these plunderers in England, was
making use of the same foolish expedient, which had been
tried a century earlier by the Carlovingians in France.
Of course, the silver paid by these weak princes only
whetted the thirst of the invaders for more.
At length, in 911, Charles the Simple was prevailed
upon to do a wise thing-to offer to Rollo, the Norman
chief, a dukedom in the north of France, since called
Normandy, on condition that he would become a Christian
and live in peace with France.  Rollo agreed and took
the oath of fealty to the king. On being told that to
complete the ceremony he must kneel and kiss the monarch's foot, the haughty chief appointed one of his officers
to act as his deputy. The soldier lifted the king's foot so
awkwardly, that Charles fell backwards from his seat.
The duke and most of his companions were soon afterwards baptized, and the ruined churches in Normandy
were rebuilt and occupied by the recent converts. The
barbarian Northmen adopted with marvellous facility the
language and manners of the nation among whom they
had settled; and before the end of the century Normandy
had become celebrated for its advancement in the arts of
industry, commerce, and civilization.
These northern corsairs did not confine their depredations to England and France. Their dark sails were seen
by Charlemagne on the blue waters of the Mediterranean,
and it is said that the great monarch, foreseeing the ruin
they would bring upon his empire, wept at the sight. They




108       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
gradually extended their voyages in search of plunder,
until even the Adriatic was not free from their ravages.
One adventurous band had heard some vague rumours of
Rome and her vast wealth. They sailed for the Tiber, but
entered the Magra by mistake, and landed near Luna.
The bishop and his clergy were celebrating mass on
Christmas-day when they heard of these unknown strangers, whom  they received with courteous hospitality.
Hasting, their famous leader, was baptized. Ere long
the Norman camp resounded with shrieks of sorrowHasting was dead. Some nights after the great captain
was borne amid his weeping followers to the grave. As
they were about to lower the bier, up sprang the supposed
corpse, and cut the bishop, who was reading the burial
service, to the earth. The priests were massacred, the
city plundered, and all the youths and maidens swept on
board the fleet. This is mentioned as a specimen of the
Northmen's ferocious barbarity, and of the horrors to
which the towns on the coasts and on the banks of the
great rivers were exposed in the ninth and tenth centuries
throughout Western Europe. No settlement was made
by the Normans in Italy until the eleventh century. In
1060 Robert Guiscard, a Norman chief, was created by
the pope Duke of Apulia and Calabria. No sooner had
the Northmen from wandering pirates become occupiers of
the soil they had conquered, whether in England, France, or
Italy, than they threw off their old pagan customs, and
embraced with warmth the Christian religion; forgot the
language of their ancestors, and learned that of the
natives with whom they lived.
Meanwhile their kinsmen in their old northern home
were not left in the darkness of paganism.  Intrepid
missionaries sought the Northmen among their own dark
pine forests, their blue fiords, and their icy lakes. The
first and greatest of these pioneers of the gospel was
Anschar, a monk of noble French descent. It is related
that his thoughts were turned to missionary life by a
remarkable vision. Once he thought he had died suddenly, and that he was taken to the gate of heaven, whose




EUROPE IN THE TENTH CENTURY.          109
inhabitants and their glory he was permitted to behold;
and a voice of the most exquisite sweetness, but so clear
that it seemed to fill the world, spoke to him out of the
unapproachable light, " Go, and return hither crowned
with martyrdom." Anschar began his missionary labours
in Denmark in the first half of the ninth century; but it
was not till the reign of Canute that the final conversion
of the Northmen was accomplished.
RISE OF THE ROMANO-GERMAN EMPIRE.
The German branch of the Carlovingian line became
extinct in A.D. 911.  The Germans thereupon wisely
determined to choose a sovereign from among themselves.
They were at this time divided into five nations-Saxons,
Thuringians, Franconians, Suabians, and Bavarians; the
choice of these nations fell upon Conrad, duke of Franconia. Conrad dying without issue (A.D. 919), the great
German dukes elected Henry the Fowler, so called because
he was catching birds when the ambassadors came to offer
him the crown. Under the wise government of Henry
and the three Othos, his successors, Germany rose to the
rank of the first power in the west.
Henry the Fowler had to defend Germany against a
new and terrible foe, called Magyars, or Hungarians,
who had come from Ugria, in the northern part of the
Ural Mountains. They were a nomadic race; their tents
of leather, their garments of fur; they shaved their hair,
and scarified their faces; they rarely asked for mercy, and
never bestowed it. These savage warriors became the
terror of Europe. In many Christian churches resounded
the fearful litany-" Oh! save and deliver us from the
arrows of the Hungarians."  They invaded Italy, and
recrossed the Alps with ten bushels of silver, which had
been poured out in their tents as a peace-offering. The
Byzantine emperor beheld the merciless savages at the
gates of Constantinople. One of their boldest warriors
presumed to strike a battle-axe into the golden gate; the
city, however, was saved from assault by a heavy ransom.
The deliverance of Germany and Christendom was achieved




110       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
by the German princes, Henry the Fowler and his son,
Otho the Great, in two memorable battles (A.D. 934 and
955). The Hungarians, after their last defeat, at Lechfeld, near Augsburg, settled down peaceably within the
limits of modern Hungary, and by the year 1000 became
Christians. After his great victory over the Hungarians
at Lechfeld, Otho formed a military province on the
frontier exposed to their inroads, which was called the
Oster or East March, a name since changed into
Austria.
Otho was now justly regarded as the most illustrious
sovereign of the west, and as entitled to wear the imperial
crown. With this end in view, Otho in 961 appeared in
Italy at the head of an army. At Milan he received the
iron crown of Lombardy, and a month or two later
he was crowned emperor at Rome by Pope John XII.
From this time it was generally understood that the
prince who was elected in the German diet acquired
from that moment the subject kingdom of Italy, and a
right to the imperial title. And thus was founded by
Otho the Great the Romano-German empire.   The
German emperor, however, could not legally assume the
imperial title until he had been crowned by the pope; so
on the other hand, the pope could not legally be consecrated until the emperor had given his consent. In the
papal schisms which not unfrequently rent the church,
when two or more rival popes were set up by their
partisans, the German emperor by his decision generally
put an end to the contest; and in a synod of bishops he
also presumed to judge and condemn a guilty pontiff
Otho had soon occasion to exercise his great authority.
The political troubles of Italy during the last hundred
years had produced a fearful demoralization, which pervaded all classes of the people, but more especially the
nobility and higher clergy. In this iron age, as it has
been called, the popes were sometimes pre-eminent by
their vices. John XII., who placed the imperial crown
on Otho's head, has earned the title of the Infamous.
Being detected in some plots against the emperor, he




EUROPE IN THE TENTH CENTURY.         111
was deposed, and Leo VIII. elected in his stead. About
this time Otho began to give large domains to the Italian
bishops, who thus succeeded the lawless nobles in the
government of many of the towns. Under their milder
and juster rule liberty began to revive, and the foundations were laid of those Italian republics which became
famous at a later period of the middle ages. Rome itself
continued throughout this century a prey to anarchy,
and an object of ambition. In 997 we find Otho III.,
grandson of Otho the Great, taking a terrible revenge for
the disorders in that city. An Italian nobleman named
Crescentius had set up a rival pope, John XVI., and bid
defiance to the emperor.  Otho entered Rome with a
large army, bent on vengeance; the usurper of the Papal
See lost his eyes and his ears, and was then paraded
through the streets of Rome on an ass with his face to
the tail, and with a wine-bladder on his head.  Crescentius was captured with the Castle of Angelo, and
beheaded with twelve of his leading partisans; their
headless bodies were then hung round the battlements of
the castle. Such was the fearful state of society at the
close of the tenth century in the metropolis of Western
Christendom.
RUSSIA AND THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.
The Byzantine or Greek Emperor could truthfully
assert, that of all the monarchs in Christendom he possessed the greatest city, the most ample revenue, the most
flourishing and populous state. Constantinople in the
tenth century was at the summit of her magnificence; her
stately palaces and churches were the objects of wonder
and admiration to every traveller from the west.  " It is
here," says a Jewish traveller, " in the Queen of Cities,
that the tributes of the Greek empire are annually
deposited, and the lofty towers are filled with magazines
of silk, purple, and gold."  The trade and manufactures
of the empire were the source of their wealth and prosperity. At this time the Greeks were the only Europeans
that understood the art of producing and manufacturing




112       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
silk. Their fabrics of silk, wool, and linen were prized
all over the Continent.
The government of the Byzantine monarch was an
absolute despotism. The lives and fortunes of millions
hung on his arbitrary will; and hence he was treated as
a god among men.  When Liutprand, ambassador of
Otho the Great, approached the throne of the Eastern
sovereign, he was compelled to fall prostrate and touch
the ground thrice with his forehead. Overshadowing the
throne was a golden tree, which sheltered in its artificial
leaves and branches a multitude of birds warbling their
imitative notes, whilst at the foot of the throne two lions
of massy gold looked and roared like their brethren of
the forest.  Before the amazed ambassador could recover
the use of his tongue, the imperial throne was hoisted by
an engine from the floor to the ceiling. Whenever the
great man designed to pay a visit to some church, or to
some distinguished personage in the city, a herald proclaimed his devout or gracious intention. The streets
were cleared and cleaned, flowers were strewn on the
pavement, the tumult of the populace was hushed. The
applause of the monarch was not left to the rude and
spontaneous voices of the crowd, but rendered in melodious accents by well-trained bands stationed at intervals
along the royal route.
The most renowned of the Greek emperors in the tenth
century was John Zimisces, who, during his reign of six
years (A.D. 969-975), achieved some military exploits in
Asia against the Saracens, and in Europe against the
Russians.  The Russians had only lately come before the
world. The origin of their name is uncertain, but the
bulk of the nation consisted of Sclavonic tribes, that had
been reduced to order and obedience by the valour of
bands of adventurers from Scandinavia. These Northmen
formed the aristocracy of the new Russian nation; and
one of their chiefs, named Ruric, became the father of a
dynasty which reigned in Russia above 700 years. The
two chief Russian towns, at this early period of their
history, were Novogorod on lake Ilmen, and Kiev on the




EUROPE IN TIIE TENTH CENTURY.         113
river Dnieper, both of them forming the centres of a
thriving trade.  From the neighbourhood of Novogorod
the Russians descended the streams that fall into the
Dnieper; their canoes, scooped out of the long stem of a
beach, or willow, were laden with slaves and furs, with
the spoil of their bee-hives, and the hides of their cattle;
these cargoes were deposited in the warehouses at Kiev.
From this town the merchants departed in June, in more
capacious boats, and followed the windings of the river to
the Black Sea. Sailing along near the coast they entered
the harbour of Constantinople, from whence they returned
with rich cargoes of corn, wine, and oil, the manufactures
of Greece, and the spices of India. The merchants, on
reaching their northern homes, inflamed their barbarian
countrymen with the desire of possessing the wealth of
the golden city. Before the end of the tenth century the
Russians made three attempts by sea, and one by land, to
rifle the treasures of Constantinople. The Russian fleet
on the third occasion, was almost annihilated by the
terrible Greek fire.  By land the Russians were less
formidable than by sea. The emperor, John Zimisces,
defeated them in several battles, and compelled their
great duke Swatoslaus to evacuate his empire.  The
conversion of the Russians to Christianity dates from the
baptism of Olga, the mother of Swatoslaus (A.D. 955).
Poland was now a flourishing country held by a powerful
Sclavonic tribe, with Cracow as the capital.  It was
raised to the dignity of a kingdom in A.D. 1025.
Iceland also appears in history about this time. Its
first inhabitants are said to have been fugitives from
Norway, who arrived there in 874.  Notwithstanding
the barrenness of the soil, and the severity of the climate,
the people prospered, and, about the year 1000, professed themselves Christians.  In the north of Spain
were now formed the Christian kingdoms which gradually
pressed the Mohammedans southward, and ultimately
expelled them. In the tenth century there were three of
these kingdoms-Leon, Castile, and Navarre.
H




CHAPTER XIT
RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE TURKS.
IN every age the immense plains of Central Asia have
been inhabited by nomadic tribes of hunters and shepherds,
who were anciently called Scythians, and in modern times
Tartars. They are divided into four races, of which the
most widely extended is the Turkish race. The Turks
first appeared west of the Jaxartes, in the beginning of
the seventh century, and settled in the country situated
between that river and the Oxus. A century later we
find them zealous Mussulmans, and the flower of their
race enrolled as guards to the caliph in his palace at
Bagdad. Motassem, a son of the celebrated Haroun al
Raschid, had as many as 50,000 of these troops in his
capital. By the year 1000 we find a Turkish prince on
the throne of Eastern Persia.
MAHMOUD.
Mahmoud, the first to assume the title of sultan, was
one of the greatest of the Turkish princes. He ascended
the throne of'Eastern Persia in 997, and before his death
in 1028 extended his kingdom from the shores of the
Caspian to the mouth of the Indus.  Never was this
conquering prince dismayed by the inclemency of the
seasons, the height of the mountains, the breadth of the
rivers, the barrenness of the desert, the multitudes of the
enemy, or the formidable array of their elephants of war.
This heroic Mussulman waged "a holy war" against the
heathens of Hindostan; many hundred temples, or
pagodas, were levelled to the ground, and many thousand
idols were demolished. The spoils of the temples and




RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE TURKS.         115
idols rewarded the zeal of his soldiers. His richest prize
was the great temple of Sunnat, on the promontory of
Guzerat.  In the centre of the temple stood the idol,
made of stone, and five feet high. The conqueror raised
his mace, and struck off the idol's nose. The trembling
Brahmins are said to have offered ten millions sterling
for its ransom.  The Sultan's officers counselled him to
accept the offer; but he replied, "Never in the eyes of
posterity shall Mlahmoud appear as a merchant of idols."
He then repeated his blows, until the image fell in pieces
and disclosed a treasure of pearls, rubies, and diamonds,
which had been concealed within it.
Mahmoud's name is still revered in the East for his
virtue and magnanimity. On one occasion, when he suspected that one of his sons was guilty of a capital crime,
he took steps to keep himself in ignorance of the name
and quality of the guilty person brought before him, until
he had sentenced him to death. " I had reason," he says,
"to suspect that none except one of my own sons could
dare to perpetrate such an outrage; and I ordered the
lights to be extinguished, that my justice might be blind
and inexorable."  When the lights were rekindled, the
sultan fell postrate in thankful prayer, on discovering
that the criminal whom he had condemned was not his
son. Such was the reputation he had gained as a magnanimous sovereign, that, when he contemplated a war
with Western Persia, he received a letter from the mother
of the reigning prince in these terms: "The late king's
sceptre has passed to a woman and a child, and you dare
not attack their infancy and weakness." She had rightly
estimated his character, and the dominions of her son
remained safe from attack until he became a man. His
behaviour in the last days of his life evinces the vanity
of worldly wealth and human greatness.  Two days
before his death, he feasted his eyes upon his dazzling
hoard, and burst into tears. The next day he reviewed
his army of 100,000 foot, of 55,000 horse, and 1300
elephants of war; and again he wept at the thought of
his transient power.  He was succeeded by his son




116       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY,
Massoud, whose throne and dynasty were overthrown by
the Turkmans, a Turkish tribe that dwelt on the eastern
side of the Caspian Sea (A.D. 1038).
TOGRUL BEG.
The victorious Turkmans elected a sultan by lot. A
number of arrows were inscribed with the names of the
candidates, and a child was appointed to draw one of
them  from the bundle. The prize fell to Togrul Beg,
grandson of Seljuk, whose name was applied to the new
dynasty. The Turks under the Seljukian princes came
for the first time into hostile contact with Christendom,
and in the reign of Togrul began that terrible war against
the Cross, which lasted 500 years. There were three
great sultans of the race of Seljuk, by whom the conquest
of Western Asia was begun and completed; their names
are Togrul Beg, Alp Arslan, and Malek Shah. They
were all zealous Mussulmans, and used their power to
propagate their religion. Each day they repeated the
five prayers prescribed for the disciples of Islam; each
week they gave two days to fasting; in every city they
made their own it was their first care to build a mosque.
Togrul Beg proved equal to his splendid fortune, and
by his valour and abilities greatly extended his dominions.
Having made himself master of Persia and Media, he
offered his services to the Caliph of Bagdad, and was
accepted as his champion. During the past century the
Caliph of Bagdad had been only a venerable phantom,
the real sovereignty had been exercised by one of his
most powerful nobles under the title of Emir-alOmra, that is, commander of commanders. Togrul soon
reduced the caliph's rebellious subjects to obedience, and
became Emir-al-Omra.  He then turned his arms against
Armenia and Asia Minor, and 130,000 Christians fell
beneath the sabres, or pierced with the arrows, of his
terrible squadrons. The real conquest of these provinces
was not, however, achieved by Togrul Beg.
On the sultan's victorious return, he was formally
recognised by the caliph as his temporal vicegerent.




RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE TURKS.         117
The conqueror entered Bagdad on horseback, but at the
palace gate he dismounted, and entered the caliph's presence as his humble subject.  The caliph was seated
behind his black veil with the staff of Mohammed in his
hands. Togrul kissed the floor, and waited modestly till
requested to seat himself.  Two crowns were then set
upon his head, and two scimitars girded on his side, in
token of his double reign over east and west, whilst a
herald proclaimed him vicegerent of the prophet's successor.  The Caliph of Bagdad, a sort of Mohammedan
pope, was still regarded by the Moslems of Asia as their
spiritual head, whilst the sultan was generally accepted
as their temporal sovereign. On Togrul's death, without
children, his power passed to his nephew, Alp Arslan
(A.D. 1063).
ALP ARSLAN.
The name of this second sultan of the line of Seljuk
signifies in Turkish " the valiant lion," and it must be
admitted that he displayed the fierceness and generosity
of the royal animal. He marched against Armenia and
Georgia, and annexed these provinces to his dominions.
Romanus Diogenes, the Greek or Byzantine emperor,
attempted to recover these provinces, but he was defeated
and captured.  After the battle the captive Emperor
of New Rome was brought before the victor in a peasant's
dress; he made him kiss the ground beneath his feet,
and put his foot upon his neck. Then, raising him up,
he struck or patted him three times with his hand, and
gave him his life, and, on the promise of a large ransom,
his liberty.
Alp Arslan now resolved on the conquest of Turkestan,
on the further side of the Oxus, the original seat of the
house of Seljuk, and now  occupied by new  Turkish
tribes, that refused to acknowledge the great sultan as
their sovereign. The invader had not advanced far into
the country when he met his death from the hand of a
captive. A Carismian chief had withstood his progress,
and being taken, was condemned to a lingering death.




118       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
On hearing that he was to be fastened to four stakes and
left to perish, the desperate victim, drawing a dagger,
rushed headlong towards the throne; and the sultan,
disdaining to let his guards interfere, bent his bow, but
his foot slipped, the arrow glanced aside, and he received
in his breast the dagger of his prisoner, who was immediately cut to pieces. The monarch, mortally wounded,
had time to bequeath this dying admonition: " In my
youth," he said, " I was advised by a sage to humble
myself before God; to distrust my own strength; and
never to despise the most contemptible foe..  I have
neglected these lessons, and my neglect has been deservedly punished.  Yesterday, as from  an eminence, I
beheld the numbers, the discipline, and the spirit of my
armies; the earth seemed to tremble under my feet; and
I said in my heart surely thou art the king of the world,
the greatest and most invincible of warriors.  These
armies are no longer mine, and in the confidence of my
personal strength I now fall by the hand of an assassin."
On his tomb was engraven an inscription conceived in a
similar spirit: " O! ye who have seen the glory of Alp
Arslan exalted to the heavens, repair to Maru, and you
will behold it buried in the dust!"
MALEK SHAH.
Maalek Shah, the eldest son of Alp Arslan, was, by his
personal merit and the extent of his dominions, the
greatest prince of his age (A.D. 1072-1092).  He had
first to contend against his younger brother, who claimed
an equal share in the government.  On the eve of the
battle, whilst Malek, like a good Mussulman, was engaged
in his devotions, he besought " the Lord of Hosts to take
from him his life and crown if his brother was more
worthy than himself to reign over the Moslems." Having
seated himself firmly on the throne, he completed the
conquest of Turkestan, which his father had entered upon,
and then proceeded to annex Asia Minor and Palestine to
his dominions.
The conquest of Asia Minor was undertaken at the




RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE TURKS.        119
instance of the caliph. A prince of the royal line of
Seljuk had fallen in battle against Alp Arslan, and his
five sons were now eager for revenge. They accordingly
made war against the young sultan; but when the two
armies expected the signal for battle, the caliph interposed
with these words, "Instead of shedding the blood of your
brethren, both in descent and faith, unite your forces in
a holy war against the Greeks, the enemies of God and
his apostle." The sultan and his kinsmen were reconciled,
and Soliman, the eldest of the five brothers, was promised
the hereditary command of the Greek provinces he should
succeed in conquering. The valiant Soliman crossed the
Euphrates, and his flying cavalry soon scoured the open
country of Asia Minor. Two Greek competitors for the
Byzantine throne sought the assistance of their common
foe. Soliman formed an alliance with one of them, helped
to set him on the throne of Constantinople, and then
rewarded himself by taking possession of the Greek
provinces of Asia. By the choice of the sultan, Nice, in
Bithynia, was prepared for his palace and fortress. On
the hard conditions of tribute and servitude, the Greek
Christians might retain the exercise of their religion; but
their churches were profaned, their priests insulted, and
every means adopted to stamp the profession of Christianity with the marks of ignominy. Soliman, by his
Mohammedan zeal, earned the name of Gaci, the holy
champion.
After the annexation of Asia Minor, the Turks directed
their arms against the Holy Land, at that time in the
hands of Saracen emirs, appointed by the Caliph of
Egypt. The fierce Turks proved irresistible, and in
1076 Jerusalem  fell into their savage hands.  Under
the caliphs, the Christians of Jerusalem had been permitted to meet for religious worship. Crowds of pilgrims,
even from remote parts of Europe, had been accustomed
to visit the holy sepulchre and other places sacred to
Christians. But now they were abandoned to the cruel
treatment of a host of barbarian Turkmans. The Patriarch, or Archbishop of Jerusalem, was dragged by the




120       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
hair along the pavement, and cast into a dungeon, to
extort a ransom from his Christian flock. Outrages such
as these were of frequent occurrence, and provoked that
spirt of religious fervour which burst forth into the flame
of those holy wars known as the Crusades.
As long as Malek lived, the greatness and unity of the
Turkish empire were preserved, but on his death (A.D.
1092), after a series of civil wars, it was divided into
four states-Persia, Syria, Roum, or Lesser Asia, and
Kerman, an extensive dominion on the shores of the
Indian Ocean. Three years before the Crusaders reached
Jerusalem, the Turks in that city were overthrown by
the Saracens of Egypt (A.D. 1096), and then the Caliph
of Cairo resumed the sovereignty of the Holy Land.




CHAPTER  XII.
THE CRUSADES.
TOWARDS the close of the eleventh century many of the
noblest hearts in Europe began to burn with the desire of
taking up arms for the deliverance of the Holy Land from
the Turks and Saracens. The fire of Christian enthusiasm for this holy war was first kindled by Peter the
Hermit, a native of Amiens, who had been on a pilgrimage
to Jerusalem, and had there witnessed the insults and
cruelties heaped upon the Christian pilgrims by the
Turkish infidels that had possession of the city. On his
return, the hermit traversed Italy and France, riding on
an ass, with his feet bare, his head uncovered, clothed in
a coarse garment bound with a cord, and bearing a
crucifix in his hand. He preached to innumerable crowds
in the churches, the streets, and the highways: the
hermit entered with equal confidence the palace and the
cottage; and the people were impetuously moved to
repentance and arms.
Peter's eloquent appeal was well supported by the
pope, Urban II., who summoned two great councils to
promote his great design. The first council, assembled at
Placentia (A.D. 1095), was attended by ambassadors of
the Greek emperor, Alexius Comnenus, who pleaded the
distress of their sovereign, and the danger of Constantinop]e, which was divided by only a narrow strait from
the victorious Turks. The council was easily persuaded
that Europe was in danger of invasion from these enemies
of the Cross, and that the proposed war might be the
means of hurling them back upon the East. The second
council was held in the autumn of the same year at




122       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Clermont in France. Meanwhile, the clergy had preached
in every diocese the merit and glory of the deliverance of
the Holy Land. When the pope ascended a lofty scaffold
in the market-place of Clermont, he addressed an audience
already inflamed with the desire of taking up arms against
the infidels. Only a few burning words had fallen from
his lips, when thousands with one voice exclaimed aloud,
"God wills it, God wills it!" "It is indeed the will of
God," replied the pope. He then bade them wear a red
cross on their left shoulder, as a token of their engagement to serve as champions of Christ. The proposal was
joyfully accepted. Those who enrolled themselves in the
army of the Crusaders were taught to believe that their
sins would all be pardoned, and that if they perished in
the Holy War they would receive the crown of martyrdom.
The hostilities thus undertaken against the Turks and
Saracens extended over two centuries, and include seven
distinct wars, known as the Seven Crusades. Though the
Crusaders failed in their object-the permanent deliverance of the Holy Land from the Moslem power; yet, by
crippling the might of the Seljuk Turks on the plains of
Palestine, they saved Europe for three centuries from
Turkish invasion.
THE FIRST CRUSADE (A.D. 1095-1099).
An unruly rabble of at least 300,000 men, women, and
children, set out under Peter the Hermit and his lieutenant, Walter the Penniless, before the real warriors under
competent leaders were ready to march. This disorderly
crowd never reached the Holy Land: they were overwhelmed by the Turkish arrows in the plain of Nice, and
a pyramid of bones informed their better diciplined companions who followed them, of the place of their defeat.
None of the sovereigns of Europe took a part in the
first crusade. The chief leaders were Godfrey of Bouillon
or Boulogne; Hugh, count of Vermandois, a brother of
the King of France; Robert, duke of Normandy, the
eldest son of William the Conqueror; Raymond, count
of Toulouse; and Bohemond, brother of Robert Guiscard,




THE CRUSADES.                 123
who was accompanied by his cousin Tancred.  These
leaders conducted the troops by different routes to Constantinople, from whence they were shipped by the Greek
emperor across the Bosphorus. The principal force of the
Crusaders consisted in their cavalry; and when that force
was mustered on the plains of Bithynia, the knights
and their martial attendants on horseback amounted to
100,000 fighting men, completely armed with lance, helmet,
and coat of mail.  On the rear of the cavalry hung a
promiscuous crowd on foot, including priests and monks,
women and children; few of whom ever returned with a
branch of palm from the Holy Land. As France supplied
the largest number of fighting men, the name of Franks
is sometimes applied to the whole army of Crusaders, and
sometimes they are spoken of under the more general
appellation of Latins.
The Crusaders commenced their war against the infidels
by laying siege to lNice, the Turkish capital of Roum.
The Sultan of Roum at this time was Kilidge-Arslan, the
son of the great Soliman. Nice being situated on lake
Ascanius, it could not be taken until invested by water
as well as land. Alexius, the Greek emperor, having
caused a vast number of boats to be transported on
sledges from the sea to the lake, Nice was encompassed,
and the Turks compelled to surrender. The Crusaders
then resumed their march towards Palestine, but a few
miles before they reached Dorylseum in Phrygia, they were
attacked by Kilidge-Arslan. The cavalry on either side
performed prodigies of valour: on this side the couched
lance and the weighty broadsword, on that side the brandished javelin and the curved sabre; on this side the
cumbrous armour and the deadly cross-bow, on that side
the thin flowing robes and the long Tartar bow. As long
as the horses were fresh and the quivers full the Sultan
had the advantage, but in the evening swiftness yielded
to strength and the Turks were defeated. Kilidge-Arslan
evacuated his kingdom of Roum, and hastened to implore
the aid of his Moslem brethren in Persia and the East.
Whilst the main body marched on to Syria, Baldwin,




124       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
brother of Godfrey, crossed the Euphrates with a small
force, and founded a Latin kingdom, with Edessa as its
capital.
Meanwhile, the Crusaders laid siege to Antioch; and
here they drained to the lees the cup of misery. At the
end of seven months they were still encamped outside the
walls; 300,000 commenced the siege in the autumn of
1097, and in the following spring only one-sixth part
remained to take the city. In the conduct of the siege
whatever strength and valour could perform was achieved
by the soldiers of the Cross. Among other feats we are
told that the sword of Godfrey cleft a Turk in two halves
so deftly, that while one fell to the ground, the other was
carried on by his horse to the city gate. Antioch was at
length taken by a night attack; but the Crusaders were
in turn besieged by an army of Turks and Saracens under
Ierboga, prince of Mosul.  Five and twenty days the
Christians spent on the verge of destruction; in their
extremity they collected the fragments of their forces,
sallied from the town, and in a single memorable day
(June 28, 1098) annihilated or dispersed the Moslem
host.
The next ten months were spent in discord and disorder. It was not until June, 1099, that the relics of the
Crusaders appeared before Jerusalem. After a siege of
forty days, Godfrey of Bouillon stood victorious on the
walls of the holy city. A frightful massacre of 70,000
Moslems sullied the glory of the conquerors; but in the
mistaken view of the Christian warriors, the holy city by
this sacrifice was purged from defilement. The victors
now prepared to visit the holy sepulchre: bareheaded and
barefoot they ascended the hill of Calvary, along the way
our Saviour carried His cross, and with tears of joy and
penitence kissed the stone that had concealed the world's
Redeemer.
The Crusaders now took steps to secure their dearbought prize. By the unanimous voice of the army, Godfrey, the worthiest of the Christian champions, was chosen
to reign as King of Jerusalem. But in a city where his




THE CRUSADES.                 125
Saviour had been crowned with thorns, the devout soldier
refused to wear a royal diadem.  Within a fortnight the
new king sealed his right to reign by the battle of Ascalon,
in which he utterly defeated the Sultan of Egypt. After
this victory, which is the closing act of the first crusade,
most of the Crusaders returned home.
The permanent defence of the holy city devolved chiefly
on two orders of knights, who combined the double character of a monk and a soldier. These military monks
were called Hospitallers and Templars, because the former
were originally attached to the hospital of St. John at
Jerusalem, and the latter resided at first near the site of
Solomon's temple. The flower of the nobility of Europe
aspired to wear the badge, and to profess the vows, of these
famous orders. To these was afterwards added a third
society of knights, known as the Teutonic order.
By the arms of Godfrey and the two Baldwins, his
brother and cousin, who succeeded him, the kingdom of
Jerusalem  gradually embraced the whole of Palestine.
The emperor Alexius may be compared to the jackal, that
is said to follow the steps, and to devour the leavings of
the lion. He took possession of Nice, the Crusaders' first
conquest; and, while the Turks were fully occupied with
their strange enemy from  the West, he made himself
master of the entire circuit of the coast of Asia Minor, and
the whole of that country west of the Meander.  The
Seljuk Turks still retained their hold on the rest of Asia
Minor, with Iconium as their capital; whilst Syria was
partly in the hands of their Moslem brethren, and partly
in the power of the Latins. As the enemies of the Cross
had been stunned, not destroyed, by the vigorous blows
of the Crusaders, they were soon on the alert, both in
Egypt and Syria, to regain the ground they had lost.
THE SECOND CRUSADE (A.D. 1147-1149).
The dangers of the Latins in Asia and the loss of Edessa,
the most advanced outpost of Christendom, led to the second
crusade. The smouldering fires of enthusiasm in Western
Europe blazed out anew at the preaching of St. Bernard.




126       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
This remarkable man was abbot of Clairvaux in Champagne.  He had become famous by the austerity and
sanctity of his life, by his genius and eloquence, and by
his genuine contempt for all worldly honour and distinction.
The more he withdrew from the gaze of the world, the
more was he courted by the great ones of the earth, who
esteemed his wisdom and implored his blessing. So frequently, indeed, was St. Bernard consulted by prince and
peasant, that he might be called the oracle of Western
Europe. At the command of Pope Eugenius III., this
great abbot became the apostle of the second crusade.
At Vezelai in Burgundy, in the presence of Louis VII.
and his queen Eleanora, St. Bernard addressed an immense
concourse of people, assembled on the hill-side outside
the town; and before he had concluded his impassioned
speech, his voice was drowned in resounding cries of " the
Cross! the Cross!" The king and queen, deeply moved,
knelt at the abbot's feet and received the cross from his
hand; and such was the eager rush for the sacred emblem
that, after distributing a vast number of crosses prepared
beforehand, St. Bernard and his assistant monks were
obliged to tear up their garments to supply the demand.
The abbot of Clairvaux then proceeded to preach the
crusade in Germany, and to enlist the emperor, Conrad
III., in the holy war. The Germans, though ignorant of
his language, were won over by the pathetic vehemence
of his tone and gestures. The emperor was not so easily
affected; but at length he also fell a captive to his
extraordinary eloquence and personal influence. At the
conclusion of his address, the emperor, moved even to
tears, exclaimed, "I acknowledge the gifts of the divine
mercy, and I will no longer remain ungrateful for them;
I am ready for the service to which God hath called me."
At these words a universal shout of joy burst from the
assembly.  Bernard then took from the altar the consecrated banner, and delivered it to the emperor, by whom
it was to be carried at the head of the Crusaders.
It appears, from contemporary records, that one great
difficulty which Bernard had to encounter in preaching the




THE CRUSADES.                127
crusade, originated in the religious societies for the building of churches and cathedrals, then the great object of
popular devotion. These sacred building societies were
formed of persons of both sexes, and of all ranks. No
one was admitted to the honour of labouring in them,
until he had given clear evidence of the sincerity of his
faith, and had taken a vow of obedience to the superior of
the association. It is said that lords and ladies might be
seen in those days, attached to heavy burdens, like beasts
of draught, to assist in the building of some sacred edifice.
Bernard found it difficult to persuade men, who had thus
consecrated their lives to God's glory in their native land,
to desert the sacred work in which they were engaged, for
a perilous object of dubious attainment; yet even this
obstacle was surmounted by his fervid eloquence.
The armies of the second crusade were equal in dimensions to those of the first; it is affirmed that nearly a
million persons of both sexes and all ages responded to the
summons of the great preacher.  This crusade, however,
proved a gigantic failure. The Greek emperor, under the
mask of friendship, laboured in every way to ruin the
enterprise.  Every promise of assistance was readily
made, and then treacherously violated. In every step of
their march they were stopped or misled; the governors
had private orders to fortify the passes and break down
the bridges against them; the stragglers were pillaged
and murdered; the soldiers and horses were pierced in
the woods by arrows from invisible hands; the sick were
burned in their beds; and the dead bodies were hung in
gibbets along the highways. The emperor Conrad, and
Louis of France, with a few thousand troops, entered
Jerusalem, but the main body perished before reaching
Palestine. A fruitless siege of Damascus was the final
effort of the second crusade.
THE THIRD CRUSADE (A.D. 1189-1192).
Notwithstanding the failure of the second crusade, the
kingdom  of Jerusalem  contrived to exist forty years
longer, in consequence of the discord of the Turks and




128       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Saracens.  At length all the Moslem forces of Egypt,
Syria, and Arabia, were united under the heroic Saladin.
This famous prince, after becoming Sultan of Egypt,
began a career of conquest that extended his empire from
the African Tripoli to the Tigris, and from the Indian
Ocean to the mountians of Armenia. Saladin was brave
and generous, temperate and chaste, just and charitable.
Though a rigid Mussulman, his virtues commanded the
esteem of his Christian enemies. Having united Saracen
and Turk under his standard, he invaded Palestine at the
head of 80,000 horse and foot (A.D. 1187). A  great
victory at Tiberias opened up the way to Jerusalem, which,
after a siege of fourteen days, fell into his hands. The
lives of the Christians were spared, but it was stipulated
that the Latins should evacuate the Holy Land and return
to Europe. The fall of Jerusalem was followed by the
capitulation of nearly all the other towns held by the
Christians; Tyre alone successfully resisted the conqueror,
and became the rendezvous of the Christians in the early
part of the third crusade.
When the news spread throughout Europe that Jerusalem was again in the hands of the infidels, it needed
neither hermit nor abbot to awaken a fiery zeal against
the enemies of our faith. The Italians were the first to
embark in the ships of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice.  Upon
their arrival, the Latins were numerous enough to leave
the walls of Tyre and encamp before Acre.  Meanwhile,
the sovereigns of the West-Frederick Barbarossa of
Germany, Philip Augustus of France, and Richard Coeur
de Lion of England, were marshalling their forces.
The siege of Acre lasted two years, and cost the lives
of a countless host. Never did the flame of enthusiasm
burn with fiercer and more destructive rage. Saladin, in
the beginning of the siege, had assembled his troops, and
pitched his camp a few miles from Acre, so that the
besiegers had to cope with an enemy outside the city as
well as one within the walls. Nine battles were fought in
the neighbourhood of Mount Carmel, with such vicissitude
of fortune, that in one attack the sultan forced his way




THE CRUSADES.                 129
into the city, and in another the Christians penetrated
into the sultan's tent.
Meanwhile, a small remnant of the emperor's forces had
reached Acre, but Frederick himself had been drowned
one summer day while bathing in the river Selef in
Cilicia. It was not until the spring of the second year of
the siege that the fleets of France and England sailed into
the bay of Acre (A.D. 1191). The arrival of Philip and
~Richard inspired the besiegers with new life and hope.
The king of England soon distinguished himself as the
first warrior of the day. In a short time the town was
taken, and the road to Jerusalem was unbarred.  But
now the hopes of the Crusaders were foiled by disunion
between their leaders. Philip, being jealous of Richard's
fame, returned to France.
The Crusaders, now under Richard's sole command,
marched along the sea-coast to Ascalon. This march of
100 miles was a great and perpetual battle of eleven days.
In every fight the king was foremost, cutting down his
opponents with his terrible battle-axe. Such was the
terror of his name that a pilgrim, who visited the Iloly
Land sixty years later, informs us that his name was used
by the women to silence their children, and that when a
horse started, his rider was wont to exclaim, " Dost thou
think that King Richard is in that bush V" But with all
his exertions Richard could only get within sight of Jerusalem. The retreat of the Crusaders, just when the prize
was within their grasp, is quite inexplicable, and in the
eyes of the trembling Moslems it was miraculous. Cceur
de Lion, ascending a hill to catch a glimpse of the city,
veiled his face, and with an indignant voice exclaimed,
" Those who are unwilling to rescue, are unworthy to
view the sepulchre of Christ 1" The third crusade was terminated by a truce of three years and three months; and
it was agreed that the Christian pilgrims should visit
Jerusalem  and the holy sepulchre without tribute or
hindrance, and that the towns on the sea-coast, from Jaffa
to Tyre, should remain in Christian hands.  Richard
embarked for Europe to find a long captivity in Germany,
I




130       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
and a premature grave in France. A short time after
this the renowned Saladin died at Damascus, and by his
death his empire was dissolved. It is memorable that,
before he expired, he ordered his winding-sheet to be
carried as a standard through every street of the city;
while a herald went before and loudly exclaimed, " This
is all that remains to the mighty Saladin, the conqueror
of the East."
THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CRUSADES.
Palestine was never the scene of another crusade,
although four others were undertaken with Palestine
as the ultimate object in view. No sooner did Innocent
III. become pope than he proclaimed the obligation of
a new crusade. His appeal was responded to by the
Count of Flanders and many of the most powerful barons
of France (A.D. 1203). But their forces were diverted to
the siege of Constantinople, and their vows were forgotten
in the capture of the city.
Another armament in 1218, conducted by the King of
Hungary, was wasted in fruitless attempts upon Egypt.
A host of men were landed at the eastern mouth of the
Nile in the hope of breaking the Moslem power in Palestine by the conquest of Egypt, at that time the chief seat
of their power; but the enterprise completely failed. Ten
years later, however, Frederick II. of Germany, profiting
by the discord of the Mohammedans, made an advantageous treaty without bloodshed. He obtained from the
sultan the restitution of Jerusalem, Nazareth, and other
towns, almost the only stipulation being that the Mosque
of Omar should remain open to Moslem worshippers.
THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH CRUSADES.
The two last crusades were undertaken by Louis IX.,
one of the few sovereigns who have been justly honoured
with the title of saint. In 1244, Jerusalem had been
taken and sacked with savage cruelty by the Carismians,
a barbarous horde from the shores of the Caspian. Not
long afterwards the Carismians were expelled from Syria




THE CRUSADES.                131
by the Saracens of Egypt, and the Holy Land fell once
more under the rule of the Egyptian sultan. Little now
remained to the Latins in the East but the fortresses of
Acre and Tyre, together with Tripoli and Antioch.
Louis embarked in June, 1248, while his mariners
sung in chorus the Veni Creator, and set sail for Egypt,
which he regarded as the key of the Holy Land. Damietta fell an easy prey to his arms, but this was his
first and last conquest. An epidemic spread among his
broops at Damietta, and when he advanced inland his
progress was stopped by an impassable canal. He took
possession of the strongest position he could find and
encamped.  The Turks surrounded him, and with their
Greek fire destroyed his machines of war. Too late the
king began a retreat. Such calamities now fell upon his
devoted army, from famine, pestilence, and the sword, as
have scarce ever been surpassed. Louis himself might
have escaped if he would have deserted his soldiers: he
was made prisoner with the greatest part of his nobles;
all who could not redeem  their lives were inhumanly
massacred, and the walls of Cairo were decorated with a
circle of Christian heads. The king was at first loaded
with chains, but the sultan sent him a robe of honour,
and permitted him to embark with the relics of his army
on the restitution of Damietta, and the promised payment
of 400,000 pieces of gold.
The memory of his early vow excited Louis, after
twenty years spent in the wise and peaceful government
of his country, to undertake the seventh and last crusade
(A.D. 1270).  The Cross was also assumed by Prince
Edward, son of Henry III. of England, and by a great
number of English knights. Instead of sailing direct toPalestine, the French fleet made for Tunis, in the wild
hope of planting Christianity in that Moslem stronghold.
The French landed near ancient Carthage, and began the
siege of Tunis. The plague broke out in the camp of the
besiegers, and the soldiers died by thousands on the
burning sands. Louis himself was seized with it, and
finding himself on the brink of death, he desired to be




132       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
laid upon a bed of ashes, and there he soon expired, with
the words of the Psalmist on his lips: " I will enter into
Thy house, O Lord: I will worship in Thy holy temple."
His son and successor soon afterwards returned to France.
Prince Edward, however, would not abandon the enterprise.  At the head of 1000 soldiers he delivered Acre
from a siege, and by his personal valour emulated the
fame of Cceur de Lion; but he effected no substantial
good.
The conquests of the Crusaders were finally extinguished
by the Mameluke sultans of Egypt. The Mamelukes were
of Tartar origin, and had been introduced into Egypt as
slaves. Being employed as mercenary troops, they gained
great distinction by their valour, and at length raised
their chief captain to the supreme power, after assassinating the sultan. Antioch had been taken by these terrible
Mamelukes two years before the death of St. Louis: they
had massacred 17,000 of the inhabitants, and sold 100,000
into slavery.  The other Latin towns successively fell
before their arms; and in A.D. 1291 Acre, the last stronghold of the Christians, and the most dissolute city in the
world, passed into the hands of the Mamelukes. Death
or slavery was the lot of 60,000 captives, and most of
the fugitives were drowned before they could reach the
friendly shores of Cyprus.




CHAPTER XIII.
EUROPE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
BEFORE the age of the crusades had wholly passed away,
Europe was beginning to emerge from the darkness of
the Middle Ages. The period thus designated embraced
a thousand years, reckoning from the extinction of the
Western Empire in the fifth century; it was characterised
by gross ignorance and superstition, by the tyranny of
the strong, and the servitude of the weak. The century
which followed the last crusade saw the dawn of a brighter
day; it was marked by the decline of the excessive power
of the pope, by the growth of liberty and patriotism, and
by the progress of civilization and commerce.
DECLINE OF THE PAPAL POWER.
The marked change in the position and power of the
pope, wrought by the silent change of public opinion
during the period of the crusades, cannot be more forcibly
apprehended than by contrasting the struggle between
Pope Gregory VII. and Henry IV. of Germany in the
eleventh century, with the contest between Pope Boniface VIII. and Philip of France in thefourteenth century.
Gregory VII., commonly known as Iiildebrand, raised
the papal power to a dizzy height, and made crowned
heads bow submissively before his throne.  In those
superstitious days the clergy exercised a marvellous sway
over the minds of the laity; for men feared that a curse
pronounced on them by a priest would consign their souls
to eternal perdition. By a sentence of excommunication,
as this curse was termed, a person was declared to belong
no more to Christ but to the devil, and every one who




134      LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
befriended him  was supposed to incur his guilt and
punishment. If sentence of excommunication was pronounced against a king without bringing him on his
knees before the pope for absolution, there were still two
other thunderbolts which could be hurled against the
impenitent monarch; his country could be laid under an
interdict (as was England in the reign of King John),
and his subjects could be released from their oath of
allegiance, by which he was virtually deposed.
Without entering into the causes of dispute between
Hildebrand and Henry, it will suffice for our purpose to
show the marvellous ascendency of the pope over the
emperor, in consequence of the prevailing spirit of the age
in which they lived.
When Hildebrand threatened to excommunicate the
emperor, if he failed to appear before his tribunal to
answer the charges brought against him, he was resolved
to set the pope at defiance. Having held a synod of
German bishops at Mentz, Henry wrote a letter to Pope
Gregory concluding in these terms-"I, Henry, by the
grace of God king, with all the bishops of my realm, say
unto thee, DOWN! DOWN!" But the emperor's bold wordA
recoiled on his own head. The pope replied by excommunicating him. Henry's defiant words were as the
harmless thunder, but Hildebrand's sentence was as the
destructive thunderbolt. Henry's friends deserted him,
and in a few months he was under the necessity of seeking absolution from the pope to save his tottering throne
from falling. Not a day was to be lost. It was midwinter; but the Alps, white with snow and slippery with
ice, must be crossed without delay. The emperor, on his
descent from the Alps, repaired to Canosa, in the strong
fortress of which the pope was at that time residing.
"On a dreary winter morning," says Dean Milman, "with
the ground deep in snow, the king, the heir of a long line
of emperors, was permitted to enter within the two outer
of the three walls which girded the castle of Canosa. He
had laid aside every mark of royalty; he was clad only
in the thin white linen dress of the penitent, and there,




EUROPE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.    135
fasting, he awaited in humble patience the pleasure of
the pope.  But the gates did not unclose. A second day
he stood, cold, hungry, and mocked by vain hope. And
yet a third day dragged on from morning to evening over
the unsheltered head of the humbled monarch. Gregory
at length yielded an ungracious permission for the king
to approach his presence. With bare feet, still in the
garb of penitence, stood the king, a man of singularly
tall and noble person, accustomed to flash command and
terror upon his adversaries, before the pope, a grey-haired
man, bowed with years, of small unimposing stature."
Thus was successfully asserted in the face of Europe,
the right of the pope to be the judge of kings. Such was
the power of the pope just before the first crusade; and
we know, from  English history, how well the extraordinary claims of the papacy were enforced by Innocent
III., in the reign of King John, at the beginning of the
thirteenth century. But before the end of that century
the power of the papacy had passed its zenith.
In 1294, when Edward I. was king of England, and
Philip the Fair reigned in France, the papal throne was
occupied by Boniface VIII., who, by overstraining his
assumed authority over these monarchs, brought ruin
upon his own head, and humiliation on his successors.
The quarrel between Boniface VIII. and Philip the
Fair, is one of the great epochs in the papal history, the
turning point after which, for a time at least, the papacy
sank with a swift and precipitate descent, never to rise
again to the same commanding height as before.  To
the pope's claim to superiority over the secular power,
the king's ambassador, Peter Flotte, replied —"Your
power in temporal affairs is a power in word, that of the
king, my master, in deed." The claims of the pope were
thus summarised in all their nakedness in a document,
called the little bull, which was circulated in France
(A.D. 1302) with the pope's forged signature appended to
it. "Boniface, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to
Philip, king of the Franks. Fear God and keep his commandments. We desire you to know that you are subject




136       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
to us in temporal as well as spiritual affairs; and that, if
you have bestowed any benefice, the appointment is null.
All who believe not this are guilty of heresy." Though
this document was not genuine, it not unfairly summed
up the claims which the pope had advanced in a recent
bull.  The king drew up a reply to "the little bull,"
couched in corresponding terms, which he sent around
his dominions: "Philip, by the grace of God, king of the
French, to Boniface, who assumes to be the chief pontiff,
little or no greeting. Be it known to your stupidity that
in temporals we are subject to none; and that we will
support with all our might those on whom we have
bestowed or shall bestow benefices. All who believe not
this we hold for fools and idiots."  This strange address
was received with satisfaction by the majority of the
nation.  And when the king, still further, caused the
pope's bull to be burned in Paris in his presence, the
astonished citizens, instead of trembling at the consequences, viewed the king's defiance of the pope with
approbation.
Boniface, in great wrath, declares that he could depose
the king as easily as he could discharge a groom. And
in another bull he says, "We pronounce that it is necessary to salvation to believe that every human being is
subject to the pontiff of Rome." The pope was, at length,
determined to launch a terrible curse upon the head of
the contumacious king.  But the day before that appointed for shooting this last shaft from the papal quiver,
Boniface was a prisoner in the hands of Philip's emissaries.  He was treated with cruel indignity by his
captors, who set him on a vicious horse, with his face to
the tail, and so led him through the street to his place of
imprisonment. In his hour of adversity he played a
noble part.  "If I am betrayed like Christ," he said, "I
am ready to die like Christ." He was rescued from his
persecutors, but in a few days died of a fever, brought on
by fatigue, vexation, and anxiety (A.D. 1303).
The papacy was still further humbled by the same unscrupulous monarch. Philip contrived to secure the elec



EUROPE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.    137
tion of Clement V., and to induce him to fix his residence
at Avignon, in Provence.  Here for seventy years the
popes resided under the influence of the French king.
This period, which has been aptly called the Babylonish
captivity of the popedom, was terminated by the death
of Gregory XI. in 1378. The papacy, however, was still
further weakened by the great schism which followed.
Two rival popes were set up, who hurled anathemas
against each other, and divided all western Christendom
into two hostile sects. The patience of the Christian
world was at length exhausted by the adverse claims of
the rival pontiffs; and when a third competitor was added,
it was generally agreed that the schism should be healed
by a general council. The council met at Constance (A.D.
1414-18), and the three popes were compelled to resign,
or were deposed. The elevation of Martin V. to the
papal chair restored peace and unity to the Western
Church.
THE GROWTH OF LIBERTY.
When the crusades were first preached, the feudal
system prevailed throughout the West.  There were but
two classes of society, the nobles and their dependants,
many of whom were in a state of slavery or serfdom.
The inhabitants of the town were as much serfs and
vassals to their feudal superiors as the peasantry; they
were composed for the most part of poor mechanics, who
worked for the profit of the feudal lord, within whose
domain they lived.  Some fiefs contained many towns;
all of them were in the hands of some great baron, who
had absolute power over the lives and property of the
inhabitants. The barons often used their power cruelly,
and drove the citizens at length to form associations for
mutual defence.
The maritime cities of Italy, and the towns of Lombardy, were the first to throw off the yoke of their
tyrants. In 1167, the League of Lombardy was formed,
when twenty-three Italian cities united to claim t1ae right
of electing their own magistrates and making their own




138       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
laws.  By the decisive victory of Legnano (A.D. 1176)
over Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, the chief cities
of Italy established the right of forming themselves into
Republics.
In France, Louis the Fat (A.D. 1108-37) became the
patron of the busy artisan and the thriving tradesman.
He granted charters, on the condition of receiving some
fixed payment, to many of the towns on the royal domains,
by which they acquired the right of electing their own
magistrates, and of forming a militia for their own
defence.  His example was followed by most of the
French nobles, and in a very short time there were but
few French cities that did not enjoy municipal freedom.
Meanwhile, similar changes were taking place in England
and Germany.
Thus, throughout the West, in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, there arose a middle class of society of such importance, that in England, as early as 1266, deputies from
the boroughs were invited by Simon de Montfort to share
in the national councils, and in France the same policy
was adopted by Philip the Fair. Indeed, this monarch,
throughout his reign (A.D. 1285-1314), systematically
repressed the power of the nobility, and promoted the
elevation of the bourgoisie or middle class. The emancipation of the serfs soon followed the rise of this new
class of free citizens. The chartered cities granted protection to all who sought shelter within their walls; the
clergy exercised their great influence in favour of manumission; and in the reign of Louis X. of France
(A.D. 1314-16), we find the serfs not only permitted, but
compelled, by that monarch, to purchase their freedom.
The enjoyment of liberty, and the possession of property, created a new spirit in the breasts of the humbler
classes.  MIen learned to love their country, to rejoice in
their freedom, and to value their privileges; and hence
the virtue of patriotism began to play an important part
in human affairs..




EUROPE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.    139
THE SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM.
The patriotic spirit that glowed in the breasts of the
citizens and free peasantry, on their escape from the
tyranny of their feudal lords, is very apparent, in the
valorous deeds of the English yeoman at Crecy and
Poitiers, in the glorious victory of the Scots under Bruce
at Bannockburn, in the stout resistance made by the
burghers of Flanders to their French masters, and still
more in the successful stand made by the Swiss mountaineers against the encroachments of the Imperial House of
Hapsburg. Omitting the two former instances as already
familiar to the reader, we will confine our attention to
the patriotic endeavours of the Flemish artisans and the
Swiss shepherds.
At Courtrai, 1302, the Flemish burghers humbled the
pride of the haughty French knights in the dust, and
taught them, for the first time, that "a nation of shopkeepers" could fight bravely for their country.  "Contempt for smiths and weavers," says the author of the
Eighteen Christian Centuries, "blinded the fiery nobles.
They rushed forward with loose bridles, and as they had
disdained to reconnoitre the scene of the display, they
fell headlong, one after another, horse and plume, sword
and spur, into one enormous ditch which lay between
them and their enemies.  On they came an avalanche of
steel and horseflesh, and floundered into the muddy hole.
Hundreds, thousands, unable to check their steeds, or
afraid to appear irresolute, or goggling in vain through
the deep holes left for their eyes, fell, struggled, writhed,
and choked, till the ditch was filled with trampled knights
and tumbling horses, and the burghers on the opposite
bank beat in the helmets of those who tried to climb up
with jagged clubs, or hacked their naked heads. And
when the whole army was annihilated, and the spoils
were gathered, it was found there were princes and lords
in incredible numbers, and four thousand golden spurs
to mark the extent of the knightly slaughter."
The spirit of patriotism, displayed at this period by the




]40       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
free-born sons of industry, is still more conspicuous in the
splendid story of the Swiss War of Independence.
It must be at once confessed that the story of the Swiss
hero, William Tell, is fabulous; but it is instructive as
setting forth, with great vividness, the tyranny of the
bailiffs appointed by Albert, Duke of Austria, and the
brave patriotic spirit that kindled the hearts of the Swiss
mountaineers.
The romantic story is thus told: Gessler, an Austrian
bailiff, ordered the Swiss to make obeisance as they came
within sight of the ducal hat of Austria, which he had
set upon a pole in the market-place of Altorf.  Tell,
chancing to arrive the next morning at this town, was
surprised to see the people of Altorf bowing in respectful
silence, as they passed near the pole. The governor's
spies, having observed a stranger standing erect before
the symbol of authority, brought him before Gessler, who
doomed him to die unless he could shoot an arrow so as
to pierce an apple placed on his son's head. The son,
encouraging his father to try his skill, stood motionless
with an apple on his head. The father, in an agony of
fear, drew his bow, and the arrow cleft the apple to the
core. Before the shouts of applause had died away in
that old market-place, the voice of the governor was
heard demanding, in tones of anger, " Why hast thou that
second arrow in thy girdle " "That second shaft," replied
Tell, "was to pierce thy heart, tyrant, if I had chanced to
harm my son." Leaving the pleasant fields of fiction, we
will resume our march along the highway of historic truth.
Albert of Austria having threatened the liberty of the
Swiss, there stood forth as the deliverers of their country,
Stauffacher of Schwitz, Furst of Uri, and Melchthal of
Underwald, under whose leadership  their respective
cantons unanimously took up arms and expelled their
oppressors (A.D. 1308).
In 1315 Leopold of Austria determined to punish the
confederate cantons that had rebelled against his father.
The Swiss posted their small army at Morgarten, in the
Canton of Schwitz. The duke is said to have ostentatiously




EUROPE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.    141
displayed, on his march to the field of battle, an extensive
supply of rope wherewith to hang the chiefs of the rebels.
Early on a November morning, some thousands of ironclad Austrian knights slowly ascended the hill on which
the Swiss were stationed. Wrapt in a thick mist, and
sheltered by huge rocks, a band of desperate Schwitzers
posted themselves just above the road by which the
Austrians must pass; and, at the right moment, precipitated vast fragments of rocks from the overhanging cliffs,
and threw the close-packed ranks into wild disorder.
Down from the neighbouring heights rushed the mountaineers, and with halbert and iron-headed club, spread dismay and death through the crowded ranks of their foes,
who, jammed in between the rocks, could neither fight nor
flee. Leopold himself contrived to escape, but the flower
of his chivalry perished on the rugged heights of Morgarten. The men of Schwitz, from the conspicuous part
they played in this action, had the honour of giving the
name of their canton to the whole country, known in
ancient times as Helvetia. By the victory of Morgarten
was laid the foundation of Swiss independence.
But many a victory had to be gained before their task
was done, and right nobly it was achieved at last. The
steadiness of the Swiss in the field of battle is almost
without a parallel. It was even established as a law,
that whoever returned from battle after a defeat should
forfeit his life by the hands of the executioner. At the
famous battle of Sempach (A.D. 1385),the Swiss sealed their
right to independence as a nation. On that day 1400
mountain shepherds went out to meet 9000 Austrian menat-arms, who stood in close array with levelled spears.
The Swiss were falling fast before the bristling wall of
steel, when Arnold of Winkelried, commending his wife
and children to his countrymen, threw himself with open
arms upon the Austrian spears, and, collecting as many
as he could grasp, buried them in his prostrate body.
Through the breach thus made his companions leaped,
and ere long the victory was theirs, and Switzerland
was free.




142       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION.
Crossing the Alps from  Switzerland, the home of
liberty, we come into Italy, renowned at this period as
the birthplace of modern learning.  In 1300, Dante
began his famous poem, the Divine Comedy, a vision of
the invisible world; and by its publication, a few years
later, gave a fresh impulse to literature. As Dante is
the father of Italian poetry, so is Chaucer, who flourished
half a century later, the father of English poetry. Meanwhile, a revival of classical learning was taking place in
Italy, which gradually extended to the countries of the
West.  The merit of this revival is due principally to
two Italians, named Boccaccio and  Petrarch.  Their
chief care was devoted to the preservation and collection
of ancient manuscripts; for as printing had not yet been
invented, the stores of classical learning were in danger
of perishing from neglect and the ravages of time. Their
next care was to multiply these manuscripts so as to
bring them within reach of the student.  Under their
fostering hand the copying of manuscripts grew into a
flourishing branch of trade.
Several inventions, or perhaps importations from the
remote East, accelerated the progress of Europeans in
learning and the arts about this time. The art of making
paper from linen rags was introduced into Europe about
the middle of the fourteenth century; the first great
factory of linen-paper of which we have any certain
account was established  at Nuremberg  (A.D. 1390).
Before the manufacture of paper, manuscripts had to
be copied on parchment, a material incomparably scarcer
and dearer.
This invention was but the prelude to one still more
important, that of printing from movable types.  Solid
blocks of wood, graven with pictures and legends, were
used in China from a remote period.  They were first
used in Europe for the manufacture of playing cards.
The card manufacturers in the fourteenth century began
to publish woodcuts of remarkable persons, accompanied




EUROPE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY,    143
with brief descriptions graven on the block. The great
improvement of having movable types is probably due
to John Gutenberg of Mentz (A.D. 1436), who is said to
have established at Strasburg the first printing press
known in Europe.
Scarcely less powerful in its influence upon the destinies
of the human race was the invention of gunpowder. Roger
Bacon, in the thirteenth century, described the composition of gunpowder; but it was not employed in warfare
until the next century, being first used by the Moors at
the siege of Baza, in Spain (A.D. 1312). Gunpowder was
at first used for heavy cannons; it was not until late in
the fifteenth century that portable guns began to be used
by soldiers.
Another great invention, the mariner's compass, became
generally known to Europeans in the fourteenth century,
but there is no distinct proof of its employment in navigation till A.D. 1403. The polarity of the magnet was,
indeed, known to the Chinese many centuries before the
Christian era, but it is uncertain when they first used the
magnetic needle as a guide to sailors.
PROGRESS OF COMMERCE.
The crusades gave a great impulse to commerce, which
the maritime cities of Italy were the first to profit by.
The ships of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa transported the
Crusaders to Palestine, and supplied them with provisions
and munitions of war. The vessels returned home laden
with spices and other articles of Oriental luxury, and thus
a profitable trade sprung up between the nations of the
East and West. At the conclusion of the crusades, Genoa
was left in sole command of the trade of the Black Sea,
whilst Venice, by her alliance with the Sultan of Egypt,
enjoyed the monopoly of the trade with India and other
Asiatic countries, and thus Venice became the great
emporium of silks, spices, and jewels. Italian merchants,
commonly called Lombards, carried these goods to the
northern and western kingdoms of Europe; and the
wealth they thus acquired enabled them to become the




144       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
chief bankers and money-lenders in Europe, and to this
day the pawnbrokers exhibit the arms of Lombardy,
consisting of three balls, as their sign.
In the fourteenth century the Flemish cities and the
Hanse towns of Germany became the seats of commercial
activity. The free cities of Germany formed a confederacy, called the Hanseatic league, for the protection of
their trade from pirates and robbers, and to guard the
privileges to which they were entitled by their charters.
The chief centre of the confederacy was Lubeck.  The
league had four principal factories or trading-stations in
foreign parts, at Bruges, London, Bergen, and Novogorod.
Through the Flemings the Hanse towns were brought
into connection with the commercial cities of Italy; the
merchants met in the markets and fairs of Bruges, and
there the homely but useful produce of the Baltic was
exchanged for the costly merchandise of India.  This
opening of a northern market powerfully accelerated the
growth of our own commercial activity, especially after
the woollen manufacture had begun to thrive under the
wise policy of Edward III., who encouraged the Flemish
weavers to settle in England, and teach his subjects their
art.  The merchants of London and Bristol were soon
able to vie in luxury and wealth with the richest nobles
of the land, and to lend large sums of money to the king
when the national treasury was exhausted.




CHAPTER XIV.
MONGOLS, TURKS, AND MOORS.
TN this chapter we propose to pass in review the victorious career of the Mongols in Asia; the success of the
Turkish arms in Europe, culminating in the capture of
Constantinople; and the expulsion of the Moors from
Spain. The history of the Mongols centres round two
conquerors of renown, named Zingis Khan and Tamerlane.
ZINGIS KHAN.
The Mongols, who still occupy the territory northward
of the great wall of China, are, like the Turks, a race of
Tartars.  Early in the 13th century a MIongol, who
acquired the title of Zingis, the most great, united all the
Tartar tribes of Central Asia under his sceptre. This
result was only achieved by a series of great victories and
still greater cruelties. After his first victory, over the
hordes who had owned his father's sway but refused
obedience to himself, he ordered seventy caldrons to be
placed on the fire, and seventy of the foremost rebels to
be cast headlong into the boiling water.  Having become
the despot of all the Tartar hordes that pitched their
tents between the Caspian Sea and the wall of China, he
led his forces against the civilised countries of Asia. His
victorious army entered the royal city of Pekin, and five
Chinese provinces were annexed to his empire. The rich
and populous countries between the Caspian and the
Indus were next overrun by his destructive hordes. It
is thought that they committed more ravages in four
years than were repaired in the next four centuries. If
Attila the Hun was the scourge of God in Europe, Zingis
K




146       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
the Mongol is equally deserving of the same title in Asia.
Zingis died in 1227, with his last breath exhorting his
sons to complete the conquest of China.
After another half century has elapsed, we find his
grandson, Cublai, has accomplished the dread conqueror's
dying injunction. Meanwhile, another grandson, named
Holagou, extinguished the rule of the caliphs of Bagdad.
That city was stormed and sacked by the Mongols; and
their savage commander pronounced the death of Mostasem, the last of the temporal successors of Mohammed
(A.D. 1258). He also so shook the throne of the Sultan
of Iconium that the Seljukian dynasty did not long survive
his violent treatment. Under another grandson of Zingis,
named Batou, the Mongols overran Russia, and established
their dominion in that country. They even advanced as
far as the Baltic, and, in the battle of Lignitz, defeated the
dukes of Silesia and the princes of Poland, filling nine
sacks with the right ears of the slain.
The decline of the Mongol empire was as rapid as its
rise; 140 years after the death of Zingis his degenerate
race was expelled by the native Chinese, and the Mongol
emperors were lost in the oblivion of the desert. This
rapid decadence of the Mongol power gave free scope to
the growth of the Ottoman empire.
THE OTTOMAN TURKS.
The Ottomans, who still reign at Constantinople, derive
their name from Othman, whose father was a soldier and
subject of Aladin, one of the Seljuk sultans of Iconium.
In the year 1299, Othman invaded the Greek territory of
Asia Minor, but the progress of his arms was slow. His
son Orchan, however, profiting by the civil wars of the
Greek claimants to the throne of Constantinople, achieved,
almost without resistance, the conquest of Bithynia as far
as the shores of the Bosphorus and the Hellespont (A.D.
1339). Soon afterwards his aid was implored by Cantacuzene, regent of the Greek empire. Orchan married a
daughter of the regent, placed his father-in-law on the
throne of Constantinople, and transported into Europe




MONGOLS, TURKS, AND MOORS.            147
10,000 horse, under his son Soliman, for the service of
the new emperor.  The Turks having obtained a footing
in Europe never again withdrew; but a century had
yet to elapse before they could enter Constantinople as
conquerors.
The chief instrument in the hands of the Turks for
their conquests in Europe was derived from the Europeans themselves.  The Turks, respecting at first the
territory of their ally, the Greek emperor, made war on
all the Sclavonian nations between the Danube and the
Adriatic, and selected the stoutest and handsomest of the
captive youth for service in their own army.  Many
thousand were educated in the religion and arms of their
Turkish masters; and the new militia was consecrated by
a venerable dervish (a kind of Mohammedan monk).
Standing in front of their ranks, he stretched the sleeve
of his gown over the head of the foremost soldier, and his
llessing was delivered in these words: "Let them  be
called Janizaries (or new soldiers); may their countenance be ever bright! their hand victorious! their sword
keen! may their spear always hang over the head of their
enemies; and wheresoever they go may they return with
a whiteface," i.e., with honour unsullied.  Such was the
origin of those haughty troops, the terror of Europe, and
sometimes of the sultans themselves. Their ranks were
replenished year after year by the capture of Christian
youths. At the time of their institution they possessed
a decisive superiority in war, since a standing body of
infantry, in constant exercise and regular pay, was not
maintained by any of the princes of Christendom.
The Turks did not long regard the Greek territory as
exempt from their arms; by the end of the fourteenth
century little remained to the Greek emperor but his
capital.  The first prince of the Ottoman dynasty to
assume the title of sultan was Bajazet, and his reign
(A.D. 1389-1403) brought the Greek empire to the verge
of ruin. The character of Bajazet is strongly expressed
in his surname of Ilderim, or the lightning.  He had to
contend against a combination of European princes. In




148      LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORYo
the battle of Nicopolis (A.D. 1396), Bajazet defeated a
confederate army of 100,000 Christians, under the standard of Sigismund, king of Hungary. In the confidence
of their strength and the justice of their cause, they had
declared that if the sky should fall they could uphold it
with their lances. They suffered, however, a total defeat,
the far greater part being slain or driven into the Danube.
The victorious sultan now set his heart on Constantinople, the queen of the East, and he would certainly have
crowned his conquests by its capture had he not been
overthrown by an Asiatic conqueror stronger than himself.  By the victory of Timour, or Tamerlane, over
Bajazet, the fall of Constantinople was delayed about
fifty years.
TIMOUR OR TAMERLANE.
The glory of the Mongol name was revived by the
great Timour, who, although a Turk by birth, claimed to
be the representative of the Mongol Khans.  Timour
was born forty miles to the south of Samarcand, in
Transoxiana (i.e., the country across the Oxus). Wihen
Transoxiana was invaded by the Khan of Cashgar with
an army of Calmucks, Timour stood forth as the deliverer
of his country; and at length was invested with imperial
command (A.D. 1370). Timour now aspired to the sovereignty of the world, and before his death he extended
his dominion over the greater part of Asia.  His most
important conquest was that of Hindostan, undertaken
in A.D. 1398. Timour crossed the Indus and successively
traversed, in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, the
Punjctb, or five rivers that fall into the master stream; and
stood in arms before the gates of the great city of Delhi,
which had flourished for three centuries under Mohammedan rule. The sultan Mahmoud, despising the apparently meagre forces of his enemy, left the protection of
the walls of Delhi, and drew out his army for battle.
Timour gained an easy victory, and made his triumphal
entry into the city. He then carried his victorious arms
as far as the Ganges; but left the conquest of the entire




MONGOLS, TURKS, AND MOORS.            149
peninsula to his successors.  Baber and the "Great
Moguls," who succeeded him, established their throne at
Delhi, which became under them the capital of all India.
Recrossing the Indus and returning to Samarcand, his
capital, Timour organised an army for the conquest of
Western Asia, and for the humiliation of his rival,
Bajazet. Timour defeated the Mamelukes in Syria, took
Aleppo and Damascus, which he reduced to ashes, and on
the ruins of Bagdad erected a pyramid of 90,000 human
heads; for this sanguinary monster was accustomed to
have the bleeding heads of his victims curiously piled in
columns and pyramids, as monuments of his power. Then
with a prodigious army he marched against the Ottoman
sultan, who was advancing to meet his antagonist with
400,000 men. Timour, intent on encountering the sultan
in the heart of the Ottoman kingdom, avoided his camp,
traversed the salt desert and the river Halys, and invested
Angora; whilst Ilderim, ignorant of the movements of
his enemy, compared the Tartar swiftness to the crawling
of a snail. On hearing of the siege of Angora, Bajazet
returned on the wings of indignation to the relief of that
town. A  memorable battle was fought (A.D. 1402) in
the plains of Angora, which has immortalised the fame
of Timour and the misfortunes of Bajazet. Bajazet, on
the irretrievable defeat of his troops, fled from the field
on the fleetest of his horses.  But he afterwards fell into
the hands of his conqueror, who is said to have confined
him in an iron cage, and to have exposed him  in his
passage from city to city to the mockery of the inhabitants.
This great victory gave Timour possession of Western
Asia.  Europe was saved from his arms by the narrow
sea that rolls between it and Asia. The two passages of
this sea, the one at Constantinople, the other at Gallipoli,
were in the hands of the Greeks and Turks respectively.
In the presence of their common foe, they forgot their
own enmity, and neither the threats nor the promises of
the great conqueror could prevail upon either of them to
lend him a single vessel.




150       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Foiled in his design upon Europe, Timour resolved on
the conquest of China, and he returned to Samarcand to
make preparations for that great enterprise. Neither
age nor the severity of the winter could retard the impatience of Timour; he mounted on horseback, passed
the Sihoon or Jaxartes on the ice, marched 300 miles
from his capital, and was then overtaken by the messenger
of death. Fatigue, and the indiscreet use of iced water,
accelerated the progress of his fever, and the conqueror
of Asia expired in the seventieth year of his age. On his
death his armies were disbanded, and his empire dissolved.
CAPTURE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
The fall of Constantinople was only deferred by the
defeat of Bajazet. After the death of Timour the Ottoman monarchy began to flourish with fresh vigour, whilst
the Byzantine empire continued to decline, from the folly
and religious discord of the Greeks. The only hope of
escaping destruction lay in the union of the Greeks and
Latins; but every attempt made to bind in one communion
the Christians of the East and West ended in failure.
Meanwhile, the Turks were being welded into one compact nation by the virtues and wisdom of their sultans.
To Amurath II., who reigned for thirty years (A.D. 142151) just previous to the taking of Constantinople, the
Turks are especially indebted for their ultimate success.
The Greeks, however, in their distress were not wholly
abandoned by the Christian nations. In 1444, the Pope
Eugenius IV. called upon the Latins to take up arms in
defence of their brethren in the East. The Hungarians
and Poles readily responded to the call of the pontiff, but
his appeal was coldly received by the great nations of
the West. The crowns of Hungary and Poland were at
that time united on the head of Ladislaus, a young and
ambitious soldier, who acted under the guidance of a
celebrated warrior named Huniades. Many brave knights
of France and Germany enlisted under the banner of
Ladislaus. The cause of the Greeks was also espoused




MONGOLS, TURKS, AND MOORS.            151
by Philip of Burgundy, who sent a gallant fleet from the
coast of Flanders to the Hellespont, where it was joined
by the fleets of Venice and Genoa.
It was hoped that Ladislaus would successfully attack
the Turks on land, whilst the allied fleets cut off all intercourse with their friends in Asia.  The Turks were defeated in two great battles by the valour and conduct of
Huniades.  But when the victorious army advanced
along the shores of the Black Sea, in the expectation of
finding a confederate fleet to second their operations, they
were alarmed by the approach of Amurath himself, who
had contrived to transport his forces from Asia through
the mercenary treachery of the Genoese. A disastrous
battle ensued, near Varna, which is memorable for the
defeat and death of the brave Ladislaus.  The king,
having resolved to conquer or die, rushed forward till
his career was stopped by the impenetrable phalanx of the
Janizaries.  His horse was pierced by the javelin oJ
Amurath; he fell among the spears of the infantry; and
a Turkish soldier proclaimed with a loud voice, " Hun.
garians, behold the head of your king!"  One half oJ
the army fell around him; and the Turkish ranks were
so thinned, that Amurath confessed that a second anc
similar victory would be his ruin.
Before the Hungarian invasion, Amurath had resigned
his sceptre to his young son; but the public danger drem
him from his retirement, and placed him again on th(
throne.  After the victory of Varna he again resigned
the crown, but the rebellious spirit of the Janizaries
again drew the reluctant sultan from his place of repose
Several princes have voluntarily descended the steps o
the throne, but Amurath alone has repeated the choice
of a private life. After twice divesting himself of the
royal robes, he was constrained from a patriotic motivi
to wear them  till his death (A.D. 1451); and by tha
time his son, Mohammed II., was old enough to wiel(
his sceptre.  The last emperor of Constantinople wa
now on the throne, bearing the name of the founder o
the city.




152       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
On the succession of Mohammed, Constantine's ambassadors were assured of the sultan's goodwill towards
their master; but while peace was on his lips, war was
in his heart, and he had secretly sworn to obtain possession of Constantinople. In the spring of 1453, the siege
began.  The Turks assembled a large army for the work;
Constantinople in her decay numbered only 100,000 inhabitants, and could only muster 7000 soldiers for her
defence.  Yet such was the strength of the fortifications
and the natural situation of the place, that the reduction
of the city appeared to be hopeless, unless a double attack
could be made upon it-from the harbour as well as from
the land. As the mouth of the harbour was inaccessible,
Mohammed transported by land a large fleet of small
vessels, and launched them in the higher part of the
harbour, where the water was too shallow for the larger
vessels of the Greeks to sail.
After a siege of forty days the fate of Constantinople
could no longer be averted. The diminutive garrison
was exhausted by the double attack. The fortifications
which had so often resisted an enemy with success, were
dismantled on all sides by the cannons, which had now
become formidable engines of war.  Mohammed, after
consulting his astrologers, fixed on the 29th of May as
the fortunate and fatal day for the assault. For two
hours the Greeks kept the Turks at bay, and then the
Janizaries arose fresh, vigorous, and invincible. Constantine cast away the purple, and amid the tumult that
followed, he fell by an unknown hand, and his body was
buried under a mountain of the slain.
On the same day the conqueror entered the city in
triumph. At the principal door of St. Sophia he alighted
from his horse and entered the dome. By his command
this magnificent cathedral was turned into a mosque, and
on the ensuing Friday the muezin, or crier, ascended the
most lofty turret and invited "the faithful" to prayer.
The other churches were shared between the two religions; and for the next sixty years the Greeks enjoyed
the benefit of this equal partition.




MONGOLS, TURKS, AND MOORS.           153
THE MOORS IN SPAIN.
Whilst the Turks and their religion were taking root
in the east of Europe, a very different fortune awaited
the Mohammedans in the west. Whilst the Turks were
founding a Moslem kingdom on the ruins of the Greek
empire, the Moors (as the Mohammedans of Spain were
termed) were fast losing every acre of ground they held
in Europe. The triumph of the Crescent in the East was
succeeded by that of the Cross in the West. The loss of
Constantinople was in a great measure counterbalanced
by the capture of Granada, the Moorish capital, by the
Spaniards about forty years later.
When the Moors conquered Spain, in the eighth century, there was one little district in the north-west among
the mountains of Asturias that remained free. In that
remote corner of Spain a little Christian kingdom was
founded, which was destined to grow and multiply, and
gradually to elbow the Moors into a confined territory
around Granada, and finally to expel them  altogether
from the peninsula. In the eleventh century we find
four Christian kingdoms in Spain-Leon, Castile, Navarre,
and Aragon.  These kingdoms, originally small and
weak, gradually extended themselves, till, in the middle
of the eleventh century, a line drawn from the mouth of
the Ebro to that of the Douro, would divide Christian
Spain in the north from Moslem Spain in the south. In
the twelfth century another Christian kingdom  was
established in the peninsula. Originally Portugal was a
province of Castile; it dates as an independent state
from  the year 1139, when Alfonso, the governor of
Portugal, gained a glorious victory over the Moors, and
thereby much extended his territory. His soldiers proclaimed him king on the battle-field.
In 1236, the Moorish king was obliged to surrender
Cordova, the ancient capital, and to retire within much
narrower limits, with Granada as the seat of government.
Twelve years later he was obliged to acknowledge himself a vassal of the king of Castile. A long series of




154        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
battles and sieges, extending over the next two centuries,
left Moors and Christians in the same relative position.
At length, by the union of the crowns of Castile and
Aragon, the Spaniards became strong enough to overthrow the Moorish kingdom.  The two crowns were
united in 1479, when Ferdinand, who had previously
married Isabella, Queen of Castile, ascended the throne
of Aragon.  Nearly all Spain was now under the united
sway of these two able sovereigns.  Their first great
design was to annex the kingdom of Granada to their
dominions.
" The city of Granada," says Washington Irving, "lay
in the centre of the (Moorish) kingdom, sheltered, as it
were, in the lap of Sierra Nevada, or chain of snowy
mountains.  It covered two lofty hills, and a deep valley
that divides them.  One of these hills was crowned by
the royal palace and fortress of the Alhambra, capable of
containing 40,000 men within its walls and towers.
Never was there an edifice accomplished in a superior
style of barbaric magnificence; and the stranger who,
even at the present day, wanders among its silent and
deserted courts and ruined halls, gazes with astonishment
at its gilded and fretted domes and luxurious decorations,
still retaining their brilliancy and beauty in defiance of
the ravages of time." The glory of the city, however,
was its vega or plain, forming a vast garden of delight,
refreshed by the silver windings of the Xenil and its
thousand rills.  "In a word, so beautiful was the earth,
so pure the air, and so serene the sky of this delicious
region, that the Moors imagined the Paradise of their
prophet to be situate in that part of the heaven which
overhung the kingdom of Granada."
When Ferdinand and Isabel came to the throne, they
sent to demand the arrears of tribute due by Muley
Hassan, King of Granada, to the Castilian crown. "Tell
your sovereigns," was the haughty reply, " that the kings
of Granada who used to pay tribute in money to the
Castilian monarch are dead. Our mint at present coins
nothing but blades of scimitars and heads of lances."




MONGOLS, TURKS, AND MOORS.            155
"I will pick out," said Ferdinand, "the seeds of their
pomegranate one by one" (Granada being the Spanish
for pomegranate).  The strong and wealthy town of
Alhama, situated within a few leagues of the capital,
was the first seed picked out. Town after town was
taken, and victory after victory was won by the Spaniards.
The old Moorish towers and castles, that for ages had
frowned defiance to the battering-rams and catapults of
the ancients, were toppled down by the modern artillery
of the Spanish engineers.
At length, the time had come for picking out the last
seed of the pomegranate.  Abda]lah, the last Moorish
King of Spain, was obliged to surrender his capital on
honourable terms after sustaining a siege of eight months
(A.D. 1491).  On the same day that the Spanish sovereigns entered Granada, the fallen monarch quitted it.
On reaching the crest of the hill from which the last
glimpse of the city could be obtained, the heart of
Abdallah melted into tears.  "Allah Achbar!" (God is
great!) he could say no more for grief.  His mother reproached him for his weakness: "You do well," said she,
" to weep like a woman for what you failed to defend like
a man."  The unhappy monarch could only reply, " Allah
Achbar!"  The rocky height from which the Moorish
king took his sad farewell of the princely abodes of his
youth, is commemorated by the poetic title of El ultimo
sospiro del Moro, " The last sigh of the Moor." Abdallah
soon afterwards passed over into Africa, and fell in battle
in the service of an African prince, his kinsman.




CHAPTER XV.
DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA.
To the Portuguese belongs the glory of leading the way
in the discovery of new lands. It was their success on
the coast of Africa that kindled the spirit of curiosity
and enterprise, which led to the discovery of the New
World.
John I., who became King of Portugal in 1411, sent
out a fleet which proceeded 160 miles beyond Cape Non,
so called from the idea that it was the utmost limit of
navigation. The Portuguese sailors in successive voyages
gradually grew bolder, and ventured farther and farther
from the coast. The Madeira islands were their first
important acquisition; in a short time the sugar and wine
of Madeira were a source of wealth to the merchants of
Portugal. Before the middle of the fifteenth century the
Portuguese had reached Cape Verde, and seen men with
skins as black as ebony. Some of the sailors began to
fear that if they advanced still further south, the heat of
the torrid zone would scorch their skin and make it equally
black. On venturing at length to sail still nearer the
equator, to their astonishment they found a region, not
only habitable, but populous and fertile. The coast of
Guinea they found rich in ivory, gold, and rich gems.
By this discovery commerce was enlarged, and by the
prospect of gain an eager spirit of adventure was kindledc
John II., who was now King of Portugal (A.D. 1481),
encouraged his subjects to settle on the "Gold Coast,"
and aided them materially in pursuing still farther the
path of discovery. It occurred to his sagacious mind
that India could be reached by following the coast of




DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA.    157
Africa.  He accordingly fitted out a squadron of ships
with this design, and intrusted the command to Bartholomew Diaz,  Diaz advanced 1000 miles farther south
than any former navigator, and at last descried the lofty
promontory which forms the southern extremity of Africa
(A.D. 1483). But the violence of the winds, and the
mutinous spirit of the sailors, compelled him to turn his
crazy vessels homeward. Diaz had called the promontory
which terminated his voyage the Stormy Cape; but the
king, who believed that the long-desired route to India
was now found, named it the Cape of Good Hope. Fifteen
years had yet to elapse ere Vasco de Gama, having
rounded that cape, reached India, and anchored in the
harbour of Calicut (A.D. 1498). In the meantime, the
New World had been discovered by
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.
This extraordinary man was born at Genoa, about the
year 1436. When at school he acquired some knowledge
of the mathematical sciences, in which he afterwards
excelled. In the early years of his manhood he was a
bold adventurous mariner, spending his leisure hours in
drawing charts and maps. He became convinced that,
as the world was round, India might be reached by sailing westward across the Atlantic. Many years of anxiety
and bitter disappointment passed away, before he could
prevail upon any prince to give him the means of making
this grand experiment. At length, in the winter of 1491,
he was summoned to the court of Ferdinand and Isabella,
who were at that time superintending the siege of Granada.
Columbus arrived in time to witness the memorable surrender of that city to the king and queen, who now felt
themselves at liberty to forward his great design. By
their aid, Columbus was enabled to equip three small
vessels, named Santa Maria, Pinta, and Nina. Columbus,
with the title of admiral, hoisted his flag on board the
Santa Maria, and set sail from the little port of Palos, a
little before sunrise, in presence of a vast crowd of spectators (Aug. 3, 1492).




1 58       LANDIARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Columbus steered direct for the Canary Islands, and
there he refitted his crazy and ill-appointed vessels, and
thence set sail on his voyage of discovery (Sept. 6). On
the second day he lost sight of the Canaries, and then
commenced his troubles, chiefly arising from the dismay
and terror of his sailors on seeing nothing but the sea
around them.  By steering steadily westward he came
within the sphere of the trade-wind, which blows invariably from east to west within the tropics. He advanced
before this steady gale with such rapidity, that it was
seldom necessary to shift a sail. But the greater the
progress of the ships, the greater the alarm of the sailors.
On the Ist of October, after they had been three weeks
at sea, they were 770 leagues to the west of the Canaries,
and still no land was visible. The terrified sailors began
to murmur audibly, and some of the more daring proposed to their comrades to throw the admiral overboard
and return to Spain.  But still their undaunted chief
held on his course. At length, when more than thirty
days had passed, and still nothing could be seen but the
sea and the sky, Columbus was obliged to promise his
men that, if in three days longer land was not discovered,
he would tack about and return to Europe.  Many signs
of approaching land, soon after this, gave even the most
despondent fresh hope.  On the evening of the 11th of
October, after public prayers for success, Columbus, being
convinced that land was near, ordered the sails to be
furled and strict watch to be kept, lest they should be
driven ashore before morning.  During that night of
expectation all kept on deck with eyes intently gazing
westward.  A  little after midnight, the joyful cry of
"land! land!" was heard from  the Pinta.  Agonising
was the suspense, until the morning light revealed an
island, with verdant meadows interspersed with trees.
The voices of the sailors singing the Tee Deum, as a hymn
of thanksgiving to God, now swept across the still waters
to the silent shore. The sailors then threw themselves
at the feet of Columbus, imploring his pardon and extolling his greatness.




DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA.    159
As soon as the sun rose all the boats were manned
and armed. The men soon reached the shore, which they
found crowded with wondering spectators.  Columbus,
dressed in gay scarlet, leapt ashore with the banner of
Spain in one hand, and a naked sword in the other. In
a few moments a crucifix was erected, and every Spaniard,
falling prostrate before it, returned thanks to God for
their prosperous voyage. The simple natives gazed with
admiration upon the strangers, whom they regarded as a
superior order of beings, descended from the sun. Their
bodies were naked, and their skin of a dusky copper
colour. They were shy at first through fear, but soon
became familiar with the Spaniards; and with transports
of joy received from them hawk's bells, glass beads, and
other baubles. Columbus was not aware that he had
found a new continent, but supposed he had come upon
the eastern extremity of Asia, and probably upon some
islands lying off India. He had really landed upon one
of the Bahama Islands. In consequence of this mistake
the islands he had discovered were called the Indies, and
the natives were spoken of as Indians. Cruising among
the islands, which have ever since retained the name of
the West Indies, the Spaniards discovered Cuba and
HIayti, or Hispaniola.  Columbus was in ecstasy on
beholding the beautiful scenery of Hayti. " Tongue," he
says, " cannot express the whole truth, nor pen describe
it; and I have been so overwhelmed with the sight of so
much beauty, that I have not known how to describe it."
A great misfortune soon afterwards befell Columbus.
Whilst he was asleep, his ship struck a rock and soon
became a wreck. He had for some time lost sight of the
Pinta, and as the Nina was not large enough to take all
back to Spain, he resolved to build a fortress on the
island of Hayti, and leave some of his men there. Before setting sail for Spain he contrived to get a considerable
quantity of gold from the natives in exchange for hawk's
bells and other trinkets, and also took on board some of
the natives and specimens of the productions of the
islands.




160       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
After a perilous voyage, Columbus reached Palos on
the 15th of March, 1493, about seven months after his
departure from it; and to complete the joy of the inhabitants in the evening of the same day, the missing;
Pinta entered the harbour.  The strange news soon
travelled all over Spain, and from every steeple a joyous
peal was sent forth in honour of the glorious event.
Columbus hastened to Barcelona to present himself before
his royal patrons. The king and queen, encircled by a
brilliant court, awaited his arrival on the appointed day.
On his approach they rose from their seats, and bestowed
on him the rare honour of a seat in their presence. When
the great discoverer had finished the recital of his adventures, the whole assembly fell on their knees in gratitude
to God, whilst the solemn strains of the Te Deum from
the choir of the Chapel Royal resounded through the
hall.
Columbus after this made three voyages to the New
WVorld, but his subsequent career was marked by misfortune and disappointment. The Spaniards who accompanied hini as colonists to the West Indies, were for the
most part mere lawless adventurers in quest of gold; and
as their golden dreams were only partially realised, they
charged the great navigator with deceiving them, and by
their cruelty towards the natives brought on a sanguinary war. Ferdinand, on receiving complaints respecting
his viceroy, sent out Bovadilla, as commissioner, to investigate his conduct. This officer, on his arrival, put
Columbus in irons and sent him back to Spain. Bovadilla alone seems responsible for this outrage, for when it
was known in Spain, the whole nation, including the
king and queen, kindled with indignation at this act of
injustice and ingratitude. These irons Columbus afterwards preserved as relics, and ordered them to be buried
in his grave.
After making a fourth and last voyage of discovery,
Columbus sank into obscurity and neglect, and ended his
days in poverty at Valladolid (A.D. 1506).  The real
character of the discovery made by Columbus was not




DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA.    161
known until years after his death. When at length it
was discovered to be a new continent, having no connection with Asia, instead of being called after Columbus, it
derived its name from Amerigo Vespuccio, a Florentine
gentleman, who visited the southern part, and gave his
name to the countries that he depicted on his map.
CONQUEST OF MEXICO.
Columbus had opened the door of a New World to the
Spaniards, and left them on the threshold. They continued to make such progress in exploring its unknown
regions, that, at the end of twelve years from his death,
they had sailed along the eastern coast of America from
Florida to the Rio de la Plata. They had also crossed
the isthmus of Panama, and stood on the shores of the
great Southern Ocean.  Meanwhile, the English had
sailed along the coast of North America from Labrador
to Florida.
The natives of America were for the most part in a
state of primeval simplicity; there were only two nations,
namely, Mexico and Peru, that had emerged from the
rude ignorance of barbarism. These two nations, fortunately for themselves, remained unknown to Europeans
twenty-six years from the discovery of America. Mexico
was the first to fall a prey to the bold unscrupulous
Spaniards, who had crossed the Atlantic in quest of fame
and fortune.
In April, 1518, Velasquez, the governor of Cuba,
planned an expedition for the conquest of Mexico, and
placed it under the command of Hernando Cortes, a
Spanish hidalgo, or gentleman, residing in the island.
The desire of planting the cross in heathen lands, and
the lust of gold, seem to have been the two chief motives
which prompted the Spaniards to all their enterprises in
the New World.  Cortes under this double influence
succeeded in attracting about 400 adventurers to his
standard. " Nothing was now to be seen, or spoken of,
but selling lands to purchase arms and horses, quilting
coats of mail, making biscuits, and salting pork for seaL




162       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
store."  Cortes, being in danger of losing his command
through the jealousy of Velasquez, set sail with all speed,
his own ship carrying at the mast-head a standard of gold
and velvet, on which were embroidered the royal arms of
Spain, and a cross with a Latin motto bearing this mean
ing, "Brothers, follow this holy cross with true faith, for
under it we shall conquer."  Nothing is more surprising
in the history of the world than the deeds of blood and
cruelty, committed under the cloak of religion, and in
the name of the Prince of Peace.  According to the
notions of the age, it seemed right to Cortes and his
freebooters to take by any means, fair or foul, the property and lands of the heathen.  But, in truth, they
were entering upon a most unjust and merciless war of
aggression, in which Might was the only measure of Bight.
Cortes landed with his troops near the site of the
modern Vera Cruz (April 1519), and astonished the
natives with the sight of his horses and the sound of his
guns, both of which were equally new and terrible to
them.  Cortes had an interview  with the Mexican
governor of the district, and required him to inform
Montezuma, the king, that the white men who had landed
on his coast desired to come and see him in his capital.
Though the capital was 180 miles distant, yet in a few
days magnificent presents arrived from the king; cotton
stuffs of delicate texture, pictures of natural objects
formed with feathers of different colours, and two large
circular plates, one of massive gold representing the sun,
the other of silver, an emblem of the moon. As Cortes
could not obtain the royal permission he sought, he determined to advance without it. But before setting out
from his camp he laid the foundations of the town of
Vera Cruz, where he left a sufficient force as a garrison to secure a place of retreat in case he needed it. And
finding that a conspiracy had been formed by some of his
soldiers and sailors to sieze a vessel and return to Cuba,
he prevailed upon the majority of his men to render such
a design for ever afterwards impracticable by the destruction of his fleet.  With almost universal consent, the




DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA.    163
ships were drawn ashore, and, after being stripped of
everything that might be of use, broken in pieces.  By
this resolute and almost unparalleled step, 500 men were
shut up in a hostile country, filled with powerful and
unknown nations, with no resource but their own valour
and power of endurance.
Four months after disembarking, Cortes set out on his
march inland. His army consisted of 400 Spaniards on
foot, and 15 horse, accompanied by 1300 warriors of a
friendly tribe of natives. A few days' march brought
the invaders to the small mountain and province of Tlascala, situated about half-way between the sea coast and
the capital. The Tlascalans were a warlike race, but
after three battles they had not succeeded in killing a
single Spaniard.  Arrows and spears, headed with flint
or fish-bone, stakes hardened in the fire, and wooden
swords, though destructive weapons among native Indians,
could hardly penetrate the quilted jackets which the
Spaniards wore.  Before beginning the combat, on their
first encounter, the Tlascalans sent to the camp of their
enemies a large supply of poultry and maize, desiring
them to eat plentifully, " because they scorned to attack
an enemy enfeebled by hunger; and it would be an affront
to their gods to offer them famished victims, as well as
disagreeable to themselves to feed on men in such emaciated condition." On finding their enemies invincible,
they agreed to assist them in their war with Montezuma.
Resuming their march towards the capital, and descending from the mountains, they beheld the lovely plain of
Mexico spread out like some gay and gorgeous panorama
before them. In the centre they sawwith rapturous delight
a large lake, whose banks were studded with towns and
hamlets, and upon an island near the middle the fair city
of Mexico, with her white towers and pyramidal temples.
As they approached the city their amazement increased.
One of the strangest sights that attracted their attention
was the chinampas, or floating gardens-little islands
consisting of mould laid on rafts, planted with flowers,
shrubs, and fruit trees, and containing a small cottage in




164       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
the centre, occupied by the proprietor, who, by means of
a long pole, could shift his little domain along the margin
of the lake. The islet on which Mexico was built was
connected with the mainland by three distinct causeways
of stone, intersected at intervals by drawbridges.
As Cortes approached, ambassadors from  the king
invited him to enter his capital, and on arriving at the
gate of the city he was met by the monarch himself,
seated on a palanquin, blazing with burnished gold, under
a canopy of gaudy feather-work, powdered with jewels, and
fringed with silver. The Mexican monarch resembled an
Oriental despot, and in the eyes of his subjects was almost
a divine being. His nobles entered his apartment barefooted, their eyes fixed on the ground, and making three
bows on approaching his seat, they addressed him as,
" Lord, my lord, great lord."
The Spaniards were conducted to their quarters, in the
middle of the city, adjoining the temple of the great
war-god.  This temple was afterwards visited by Cortes
and his companions: arrived at the summit of the tower,
they shuddered at the sight of a block of jasper, on which,
they were told, human victims were laid when the priests
tore out their hearts, as an offering to the gods. And
before the idol of the war-god they saw a pan of incense,
with five human hearts burning.  "The priests," we are
told, "were dressed in long black mantles, like sheets
with hoods.  Their long hair was matted together with
clotted blood; their ears were slit, and they smelt horribly,
as it were of sulphur and putrid flesh."
The further fortunes of the Spaniards must be told in
few  words.  Montezuma was seized, and kept as a
prisoner in the Spanish quarters.  Through him Cortes
ruled for some months in tho kingdom of Mexico.  In
June, 1520, the usurper received a strong reinforcement
from Cuba, raising his army to 1300 men. The Aztecs,
or Mexicans, driven to despair, rose in arms against the
stranger in their midst, and fought with increasing energy,
day after day, for a whole week. The Spaniards, fearing
total destruction, attempted to leave the city under cover




DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA.    165
of the night, but as the Aztecs had taken the precaution
to break down all the drawbridges, only 500 contrived
to escape, with the loss of artillery, fire-arms, and
ammunition.
Five months after their expulsion from Mexico, the
Spaniards were again on the march towards it.  In Mav,
1521, the siege commenced, and by the aid of famine the
city was taken at the end of three months. The surviving inhabitants soon disappeared from the city, which
was now in ruins, like some vast cemetery with the
corpses disinterred, and the tombstones scattered about.
The whole country was now lying helpless under the
heel of the conqueror.
CONQUEST OF PERU.
Three years after the conquest of Mexico, a single ship,
under the command of Francisco Pizarro, set sail from
Panama, on a voyage of discovery along the west coast
of South America.  After a long series of disasters,
Pizarro had the good fortune to discover the wealthy
country of Peru (A.D. 1526).  Having collected a band
of ruffianly fellows, he invaded the shores of the unwarlike Peruvians, and found everywhere gold and silver in
abundance, forming not merely the ornaments of the
people, but in the houses of the affluent common utensils
for domestic uses.
At the time of the Spanish invasion, the inca, or emperor, ruled over a territoryextending 1500 miles along the
Pacific Ocean. The incas were not only obeyed as monarchs, but almost revered as divinities. Their seat of
government was Cuzco, founded, according to tradition,
in the eleventh century, by Manco Capac, the first of
the incas.
When Pizarro first landed, a civil strife was raging
between two brothers for the crown, which enabled him
to gain an easy footing in the country. The contest had
just been decided in favour of Atahualpa, when Pizarro
directed his march to Caxamarca, near which the inca
was encamped with his victorious troops. Pizarro's force




166       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
consisted of 62 horsemen, and 102 foot soldiers. BEfore
he had proceeded far, an ambassador from the inca met
him, with valuable presents and assurances of a friendly
reception at Caxamarca. On entering the city, Pizarro
took possession of a large court, on one side of which was
the inca's palace, and on the other a temple of the sun,
the whole surrounded with a strong rampart of earth.
Pizarro resolved to adopt the policy of Cortes, and to
seize the unsuspecting inca, when he came, according to
promise, to pay the strangers a visit at Caxamarca.
The next day the monarch arrived in great state to
welcome his unbidden guests to his kingdom.  First
appeared 400 men, as an advanced guard, in a uniform
dress.  The inca, sitting on a gorgeous throne, was
carried on the shoulders of his principal attendants.
And the whole plain was covered with troops amounting
to 10,000 men. As Atahualpa drew near the Spanish
quarters, a monk advanced with a crucifix in one hand,
and a breviary in the other, and after explaining to the
inca some of the doctrines of Christianity, he proceeded
to inform him that the pope had granted all the regions
of the New World to the King of Spain. The monk
then graciously promised the astonished monarch, that if
he would instantly become a Christian, he should rule in
the name of the Spanish king. Atahualpa observed, that
he did not understand how the pope could give away
what did not belong to him, and that he had no intention
of changing his religion. On desiring to know where the
priest learned things so extraordinary, he was referred to
the breviary. The inca opened it eagerly, and turning
over the leaves, lifted it to his ear; "This," said he, "is
silent; it tells me nothing;" and threw it with disdain to
the ground. The enraged monk, turning to his countrymen, cried out, "To arms!"  At once the martial music
struck up, the cannon and muskets began to fire, the
horse sallied out fiercely to the charge, the infantry rushed
on sword in hand. The Peruvians, astonished and dismayed, fled on every side, except a small knot of nobles
that gathered round their king, and sacrificed their lives




DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA.         167
in his defence. Pizarro forced his way to the royal seat,
and seizing the inca by his arm, dragged him off as a
prisoner to his quarters.  The fate of the monarch increased the consternation of the fugitives, who were ruthlessly cut down by the pursuing Spaniards.
The royal captive, who was confined in an apartment
22 feet in length and 16 feet in breadth, offered as the
price of his liberty to fill it with vessels of gold, as high
as he could reach. Pizarro closed eagerly with this marvellous proposal, and a line was drawn upon the walls of
the room, to mark the stipulated height to which the
treasure was to rise. The king sent messengers throughout his dominions, and golden vessels continued to arrive
day after day; but before the entire amount could be
obtained the soldiers demanded their share of the booty,
and so all, except some pieces of curious workmanship,
were melted down and apportioned.  The perfidious
Spaniards, instead of releasing their captive, thought it
more expedient to execute him, and to proclaim one of
his sons as his successor.
Pizarro, having been joined by fresh forces, marched
on to Cuzco, the capital.  After many fierce encounters,
the Spaniards forced their way into the city, and found
there still greater treasures than they had already received as Atahualpa's ransom.  By the capture of the
capital the conquest of Peru was virtually achieved (A.D.
1533). Pizarro, not approving of Cuzco as the seat of
government, laid the foundations of a new city on the
river Rimac, which, under the name of Limnc, is still the
capital of Peru. So great was the discord that now arose
between Pizarro and the other Spanish chiefs, that the
Peruvians had the satisfaction of seeing them turn their
swords against one another.  At length (A.D. 1541),
Pizarro was slain by conspirators, who burst into his
palace during the siesta, at mid-day, crying out, "Long
live the king, but let the tyrant die!!"




CHAPTER XVI.
AGE OF THE REFORMATION.
THE same age that saw men eagerly bent on the discovery of new lands in America, found them also equally
intent on the discovery of lost truth in religion. As the
invention of the mariner's compass enabled men to search
successfully for new lands, so the Bible by the invention
of printing enabled men to seek out old truths, and to
effect that great revolution in religious faith and discipline
which is universally known as the Reformation. By
that great event, as much as by all others combined, the
history of European nations in the sixteenth century was
shaped and its course determined.
During the Middle Ages the general ignorance that
prevailed kept men's minds enslaved to a superstitious
creed, and made them the easy victims of a system of
spiritual tyranny, whose head and centre was the Pope
of Rome.  A few noble hearts had already rebelled
against that system of domination, and had tried to break
the fetters of superstition, long before such efforts were
crowned with success.
In the fourteenth century Wickliffe appears in England,
and appeals from the pope to the written Word, which he
translated into his mother tongue, and thereby laid the
first stone of the Reformation in England. In the time
of Wickliffe a Bohemian princess became the wife of the
English king, Richard II., and a considerable intercourse
arose between the two countries. In this way, perhaps,
the doctrines of Wickliffe appeared shortly after his
death in Bohemia, where John Huss held up the lamp of
truth. This brave reformer was brought to the council




AGE OF THE REFORMATION.             169
of Constance (A.D. 1415), and sentenced to be burnt as
an obstinate heretic.  Savonarola, much later in the
same century, was an eloquent preacher of evangelic
truth at Florence. Torture and the flame silenced also
his tongue, that had so often attacked with keen-edged
words the abuses of the Church (A.D. 1498).
But of all the men who prepared Christendom  for a
reformation, the first place, but not the chief merit, is
due to Erasmus of Rotterdam. As a critic, he caused
Scripture to be better known to scholars, by publishing
(A.D. 1516) the first printed edition of the Greek Testament; and as a commentator, he caused it to be better
understood. He also did good service in the cause of
religion by his keen satires, in which he lashed the abuses
of the Church, especially as seen in the monks and friars,
as with a rod of nettles. But his name as a reformer is
not entitled to much respect: "When the tug of war
came, he showed that he had only been for a reformation
on paper; he would detect abuses, but not correct them;
he was desirous of the end, but afraid of the means; he
was for the excision of the pound of flesh, but then it
must be done without shedding one drop of blood."
Erasmus had the light of truth, and knew how to expose
error, but he lacked that fire of love, which makes a man
willing to risk all for the truth's sake.  Erasmus, however, served as a bridge over which many passed, when
the true reformer appeared.
MARTIN LUTHER.
Martin Luther, the son of a working miner, was born
at Eisleben, in Saxony (A.D. 1483). In his early manhood he took on himself the vows of an Augustan monk,
and spent three years within the cloisters of Erfurt.
Here he passed through a period of mental agony,
bordering on despair.  But by the fatherly counsel of
Staupitz, the Vicar-general, and the prayerful study of the
Bible, he gained peace of mind, and beheld the dayspring
arising in his soul.  In 1507, Luther was ordained
priest, and in the next year was appointed by Frederick




170       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
of Saxony to a chair in the University of Wittemberg,
and here his lectures in divinity attracted pupils from
distant parts.  He gained still greater celebrity by his
fervid eloquence as a preacher. The little wooden chapel
in the convent of Wittemberg, with its little old pulpit
of rough fir, soon became too small for the crowd of eager
listeners.  He was then invited by the council of Wittemberg to be the preacher for the city.
In 1512, Luther went to Rome on some monastic
business, and while there, was shocked to find that religion was a subject of mockery with many of the priests,
and that the " Eternal City" was the scene of folly, vice,
and hypocrisy. The scales were gradually falling from
his eyes during his abode in Rome.  One day, when he
was climbing up Pilate's Stair on his bare knees, as an
act of penance, he was suddenly arrested by an inward
voice, saying, "The just shall live by faith."  When
Luther left Rome, his faith in the pope and the papal
system had received a rude shock, five years later it was
ready to perish, and in three years more it had ceased to
exist.
Pope Leo X., wishing to raise money for St. Peter's
church, then in course of erection at Rome, commissioned
Tetzel, a Dominican monk, to open a market in Germany
for the sale of indulgences. The pope in his bull declares
that those who truly obtain his indulgences are released
from the total or partial punishment due to sin, whether
in this world or in purgatory. Tetzel and others, charged
with the sale of these indulgences, went far beyond the
pope's instructions, and magnified their virtue in the
most extravagant and blasphemous terms. "At the very
instant," said Tetzel to the crowds that came out to buy
his wares, "that the money clinks at the bottom of the
strong box, the soul of your departed friend comes out of
purgatory, and flies upward into heaven." There was no
sin, however monstrous, which the shameless monk had
not both the will and the power to remit for money. It
was in vain for the German pastors to insist on penance;
here was the pope's agent at hand ready to absolve from




AGE OF THE REFORMATION.             171
all pains and penalties for gold and silver.  When news
of these shameful proceedings came to Luther's ears,
he exclaimed, "Please God, I'll make a hole in his
drum."
Tetzel in due course came with his unholy traffic into
the neighbourhood of Wittemberg.  Luther from his
pulpit denounced the iniquity of the sale, and then proceeded to draw up ninety-five theses, or propositions,
against the doctrine of indulgences, which he nailed up
on the gates of the church of Wittemberg.  In tLese
theses, Luther maintained that, unless there was real
contrition on the part of the sinner, the indulgences were
utterly worthless except to the seller-" nets which fish
for money and delude the simple."  Luther at this time
had no notion that he was declaring war against the pope,
but thought that he was fighting the pope's battle against
the flagrant excesses of his emissaries. Scarcely had the
sound of the hammer, that nailed the theses to the church
door, died away, than a sound as of many waters passed
over the whole of Germany, and ere a month had elapsed
the muttering of the storm was heard in the papal palace.
But its significance at first was not understood by the
pope.  "Brother Martin," quoth he, "is a man of fine
genius;" and he was inclined to regard the whole matter
as a battle of kites and crows.  He was soon undeceived,
and became alarmed on hearing of the marvellous effect
produced in Germany by the bold words of truth pronounced by the courageous monk.
Luther had the good fortune to win the support of
Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, who had long
been vexed at the vast sums drained from his subjects
for the papal treasury. Frederick wrote to His Holiness,
to palliate Luther's conduct, and to induce him to deal
leniently wit' the offender.  Leo was willing to try persuasion before having recourse to violent measures, and
accordingly appointed Cardinal Cajetan to prevail upon
Luther to retract.  But in this he was unsuccessful.
Luther's position was now critical.  He was in the position of Huss and other reformers, who had been burnt




172       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
as heretics.  He had none to protect him but the elector
of Saxony, who was wise and powerful indeed, but not
earnest enough in the cause of truth to draw the sword
to maintain it. Leo, unwilling to offend the elector,
allowed nearly three years to pass without hurling against
the daring reformer the papal thunderbolt.
Meanwhile, the tide of thought in Luther's mind was
carrying him farther from Rome. All discussions and
debates only widened the breach. The most noted of
these debates took place at Leipsic, between Luther and
the learned Dr. Eck. Ranke thus describes Luther's
person and character at this time:-" He was of the
middle size, and so thin as to be mere skin and bone.
He possessed neither the thundering voice, nor the ready
memory, nor the skill and dexterity of his distinguished
antagonist. But. he stood in the prime of manhood and
in the fulness of his strength. His voice was melodious
and clear, he was perfectly versed in the Bible, and its
aptest sentences presented themselves unbidden to his
mind; above all, he inspired an irresistible conviction
that he sought the truth. He was always cheerful at
home, and a joyous, jocose companion at table; even on
this grave occasion, he ascended the platform with a
nosegay in his hand; but, when there, he displayed intrepid and self-forgetting earnestness, arising from the
depth of a conviction until now unfathomed, even by
himself."  The chief fruit of this disputation in the
Reformer's mind was the clear perception of this important
principle  that the Scriptures are the only ultimate
grounds of authority in religion.
The patience of the pope was, at length, exhausted.
On the 15th June, 1520, he issued his damnatory bull
excommunicating Luther, delivering him over to Satan,
requiring the secular princes to apprehend him, and condemning his books to be burned.  Luther, nothing dismayed, on the 11th December of the same year, returns
measure for measure, and raising a huge pile of wood
without the walls of Wittemberg commits the bull to the
flames. Time was when this would have been frenzy, it




AGE OF THE REFORMATION.            173
was still perilous; but public opinion was with the Reformer.  The anathema was torn in pieces at Erfurt, and
was ill received everywhere.
Charles V., the young Emperor of Germany, a few
months later summoned Luther to a great diet of the
empire, convened at Worms (A.D. 1521).  Luther did
not hesitate one moment about yielding obedience, and
set out for Worms, attended by the herald who had
brought the emperor's letter and safe conduct. While
on his journey many of his friends, remembering the fate
of Huss under similar circumstances, entreated him not
to rush into the midst of danger. But Luther, superior
to such terrors, silenced them with this reply, "I am
lawfully called to appear in that city, and thither will I
go in the name of the Lord, though as many devils as
there are tiles on the houses were there combined against
me."  The reception he met with at Worms proved to
the world that he was the idol of the people.  Such
crowds collected to see him, that it was impossible for him
to reach the city hall, except by going across the gardens
and back ways. Before the diet he behaved with modesty
and firmness.  He refused, however, to retract, unless
his opinions were proved to be false by the rule of God's
Word; "otherwise," said he, "I neither can nor will
retract anything, for it is unsafe for a Christian to say
anything against his conscience."  Then steadily contemplating the assembly, which held his life in their
hands, he added: " Here I stand, I can do no otherwise.
God help me. Amen."  He was allowed to depart unharmed, but a severe edict against him was soon issued
in the emperor's name.
As Luther was returning home, a band of horsemen
in masks rushed suddenly out of a wood, and, acting
under the instructions of his friend the elector, carried
him to the strong castle of Wartburg, to be out of harm's
way.  In this Patmos, as he called it, he remained nine
months, until the fury of the storm had abated. He
availed himself of his forced leisure and retirement for
the manufacture of his weapons. He translated the New




174       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Testament into German, and published several treatises
in defence of his doctrines.
Luther's success in his German translation of the Greek
Testament was in great measure due to Philip Melancthon,
who in 1518 had been appointed Greek Professor in the
University of Wittemberg.  Between these two men an
undying friendship grew up; and by their united efforts
the Reformation was mainly effected. They were naturally fitted to be a mutual help in fighting the great battle
of their day; Luther, by his intrepidity and ardour for
doing battle against falsehood and its patrons; Melancthon by his gentleness, suavity, and tranquil earnestness
for allaying men's passions, and inspiring them with a
love of truth.
While Luther was carrying on his peaceful labours in
his retreat, Carlstadt and other extreme reformers were
at Wittemberg, smashing images, tearing down pictures,
and by their extravagant conduct bringing Luther's work
into discredit. At the risk of his life, the great Reformer
appeared at Wittemberg, and soon obliged Carlstadt
to withdraw  to Strasburg, where he renewed his excesses.
While the Reformation in Germany, under the directing hand of Luther, was advancing gradually, it was proceeding at a ruinous pace in Switzerland. The chief of
the Swiss reformers was Ulric Zwingle. In the Whitsuntide of 1524, the Council of Zurich, in concert with
him, destroyed all the images, burned all the crosses, and
silenced every organ in the churches of their canton. An
attempt was made in 1529 to compose the differences
between the German and Swiss reformers.  The two
chiefs met at Marburg, but their opinions respecting the
Lord's Supper proved irreconcilable. Moreover, while
the Swiss reformer rejected all rites and ceremonies not
expressly enjoined in the Bible, the Saxon reformer insisted on retaining all that was not forbidden.  Two
years later, in a war between the Roman Catholic and
the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, Zwingle, who had
taken the sword, perished with the sword. His fate was




AGE OF THE REFORMATION.           175
followed for a time by the triumph of the unreformed
religion in Switzerland.
Zwingle's work was taken up by John Calvin, who
settled in Geneva in the summer of 1536, a year after he
had published the first outline of his chief work-The
Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin was so greatly
esteemed as a reformer, that Geneva became a great
centre of the Reformation, and the name of Calvinists
supplanted that of Zwinglians, as the designation of the
Swiss Protestants.
Meanwhile, the Reformed Faith, by the joint labours of
Luther and Melancthon made steady progress in Germany;
and before the death of the great Reformer (A.D. 1546),
the Lutheran doctrines were generally received in one
half of the German States, and in the northern countries
of Europe; whilst in Switzerland, Holland, and Scotland,
the tenets of Calvin were gaining ground, and taking
root in the hearts and minds of the people. The doctrines
of the Reformation were not allowed to spread and find
a home in these countries without strong opposition from
the Pope, the Emperor of Germany, and other Roman
Catholic princes. As the progress of the Reformation
was so intimately blended with the political fortunes of
the German empire, it may be traced out most conveniently by following the course of events in
THE REIGN OF CHARLES V.
Charles V. was the most powerful monarch of Christendom in the age of the Reformation. The magnitude of
his dominions was due to his birth, but his commanding
influence in great measure to his genius. Iis grandfather,
Maximilian (Duke of Austria and Emperor of Germany),
had married Mary of Burgundy, daughter and heiress of
Charles the Bold, and in her right obtained possession of
the fertile and wealthy provinces of the Netherlands.
Their son, Philip the Handsome, was united to Joanna,
daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. She became the mother of two sons, Charles and Ferdinand.
The elder of these sons, afterwards Charles V. of Ger



176       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
many, was born in 1500.  At the age of fifteen, on
the death of his grandmother, Mary of Burgundy, he
assumed the government of Flanders.  A  year later,
on the demise of Ferdinand of Spain, he inherited the
crown of Spain with its golden dependencies in the New
World.  By the death of Maximilian, in 1519, he came
into possession of the Austrian dominions; and the
electors of Germany shortly afterwards chose him as
their emperor.
The Empire of Germany, it should be explained, was
a confederation of various States, each under the immediate sovereignty of its own ruler, whilst the whole
was combined under the supreme direction of the emperor,
who presided over the imperial diet (composed of all the
princes of the States), with the right of vetoing any law
that assembly might pass. The privilege of decreeing
who should wear the imperial crown, belonged to the
seven most powerful princes, bearing the title of electors.
Charles V., though the greatest monarch of his day,
had a formidable rival in Francis I. of France. Many
years of his reign were spent in severe contests with this
powerful prince. Henry VIII. of England used to boast
that he held the balance of power between these rivals,
and that his sword was sufficient to carry victory to the
side he espoused. It would be tedious to relate in detail
the varying fortune which attended the arms of the two
rivals. Italy was the grand theatre of war. Francis I.,
at the battle of Pavia (A.D. 1525), was taken prisoner
after his horse had been killed under him. Ten thousand
of his troops, including many of his nobles, lay dead before
the walls of Pavia, and in two weeks not a Frenchman
remained in Italy.  Thus as he wrote to his mother,
"All is lost save honour." After he had been in prison
a year, Charles agreed to release him, on receiving certain
promises which were never kept. The contest was soon
renewed, and is memorable for the capture of Pope Clement, who had joined the "Holy League," formed by
Francis against the emperor.  Rome was sacked by the
imperial troops, and the pope, who had shut himself up in




AGE OF TIlE REFORMATION.           177
the castle of Angelo, was compelled, by famine, to yield
himself a prisoner (A.D. 1527). The treaty of Cambray,
signed the same year, restored liberty to the pope, and
peace to Western Europe.
The dissensions between the pope and the emperor
proved extremely favourable to the progress of the Reformation.  Charles had little inclination, and still less
leisure, to take any measures for suppressing the new
opinion in Germany, until they had struck their roots
too deep to be eradicated. The emperor's own example,
during the heat of his resentment against Clement, emboldened the Germans to treat the papal authority with
little reverence. In a diet of the empire held at Spires
(A.D. 1529), after he had settled his disputes with the
pope, a decree was passed prohibiting any further innovations in religion before the meeting of a general council.
The elector of Saxony and a few other princes entered a
solemn protest against this decree as unjust. This protest acquired for them the name of Protestants, a name
since applied to all who favour the doctrines of the
Reformation.
Next year the emperor himself presided at a diet at
Augsburg (A.D. 1530).  His presence seems to have
communicated to all parties an unusual spirit of moderation and a desire for peace. The articles of the Protestant faith, known as the Confession of Augsburg, were
drawn up by Melancthon, and read publicly in the diet.
The Romanist party had the ascendency in the diet, and
the confession was condemned, all persons being forbidden
to hold or teach the doctrines therein set forth. Charles,
however, contented himself with barking without actually
biting. Nevertheless the Protestant princes assembled,
first at Smalcalde, and afterwards at Frankfort, and
entered into an alliance for mutual defence.
The Turks now appear on the scene as the political
enemy of Germany, and the unintentional friend of Protestantism.  Their sultan, Solyman the Magnificent,
invaded Hungary at the head of 300,000 men (A.D. 1532).
To meet this formidable force at the head of a loyal
M




178       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
army, Charles annulled the decree against the Protestants,
and succeeded in raising an effectual barrier against any
further aggression of the Turks.  His wars against the
Moslem invader, and his old enemy, the French monarch,
gave him full employment for several years to come.
The most remarkable event in these wars was the
emperor's successful expedition against the celebrated
corsair, Barbarossa, to whom  Solyman had given the
command of the Ottoman fleet, and who had made himself King of Tunis. The Mediterranean had for a long
time been infested by Turkish and Moorish pirates, who
not only plundered the vessels of Christian nations, but
sold their crews as slaves. In 1535, Charles's fleet, consisting of 500 vessels, and having on board 30,000 men,
entered the harbour of Goletta, near Tunis, and captured
the royal pirate's fleet.  The great fort of the town,
bristling with 500 cannon, was taken by storm. The
victorious troops then marched upon the capital, and
utterly routed an army drawn up to protect it. Meanwhile, 10,000 Christian slaves, in the horrid dungeons of
Tunis, knocked off each other's irons, and having seized
the citadel, turned the guns upon their captors. As
Charles approached the city, they went out to meet him,
and falling on their knees, as he entered the gate of the
city, thanked and blessed him as their deliverer.
Whilst Charles was thus engaged, great excesses were
committed in Germany by a new sect of enthusiasts,
called Anabaptists-a name derived from their practice
of baptizing anew all that joined their community. Their
chief prophets were Matthias, a baker, and Boccold, a
tailor. Acting under the direction of these fanatics, the
Anabaptists assembled at Munster, which they called
Mount Zion, and there prepared for making war upon
" the ungodly nations " round about. After the death of
Matthias, Boccold was elected " King of Zion."  He
wore a crown of gold, carried a Bible in one hand, and a
naked sword in the other.  He declared that " whatever
was highest should be made low, and whatever was lowest
should be exalted." Accordingly, the churches of Munster,




AGE OF THE REFORMATION.            179
as the most lofty buildings, were levelled with the ground;
and one of the chief men of the city was degraded to the
office of common hangman.  For fifteen months this
fanatic ruled in Munster, and set an example of polygamy, which the Mormons have since followed. The
city being taken after a long blockade, the tailor king
was captured, carried in chains throughout the cities of
Germany, and finally put to death with lingering tortures
at Munster, the scene of his royalty and his crimes
(A.D. 1535).
The war between Charles and Francis was brought to
an end by the treaty of Crespy (A.D. 1544); and shortly
afterwards the emperor concluded a truce with Solyman.
Charles, being now free to turn his attention to the
internal state of his empire, resolved to root out the
Reformed Faith by force of arms.  The Elector of
Saxony, the head of the Protestant League, was mado
prisoner at the battle of Muhlberg, in 1547. Luther and
Francis had died some months previously.  Thus the
triumph of the emperor seemed complete. The sword of
his great rival was rusting in the grave, the voice of the
great reformer was hushed in death, and the chief Protestant prince was now a prisoner in his hands. But a
new enemy arose from a most unexpected quarter.
Charles had made Prince Maurice Elector of Saxony, as
a reward for his distinguished services in the late war
with the Protestant princes. Maurice, at heart a Protestant, had betrayed the Protestant cause to gain the
crown of Saxony; he was now resolved to betray the
emperor to secure religious liberty.  Having entered into
a secret alliance with the French king, Henry II., he
suddenly took the field against the emperor, who was
lying ill of the gout at Innspruck.  Castles and cities
surrendered as he advanced, and so rapid was his progress,
that the emperor barely escaped falling into his hands.
Charles was obliged to fly in the middle of a stormy
night, and to travel on a litter by torchlight across the
Alps.  He had scarcely left Innspruck, when Maurice
entered it, to find the prize had just escaped him. A




180       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL IHISTORY.
vigorous war followed this daring attempt; but the Protestants maintained their advantage; and Charles, in
dread of a French war, concluded the peace of Passau
(A.D. 1552), which secured freedom of religion to the
Protestants of his empire.
Of all the memorable events of this reign, the last is
by no means the least interesting.  At the age of fiftysix, Charles, grown weary of the cares of government,
descended from the throne, and spent the last two years
of his life in the monastery of St. Justus, near Placentia,
in Spain.  His son Philip succeeded him  as King of
Spain and the Netherlands, and his brother Ferdinand as
Emperor of Germany.  Charles had previously resigned
to his brother the archduchy of Austria, and he by marriage with Anne of Hungary, had also become king of
that State. Ferdinand became the founder of a line of
German emperors which ended with Charles VI. in 1740;
and from  Charles descended a line of Spanish kings,
which became extinct in 1700. These two branches of
the Austrian family, the German and the Spanish, long
acted in concert to promote their own aggrandisement,
and to check the growing spirit of civil and religious
liberty.  As devoted Romanists, they were ever bent on
the suppression of Protestantism.
Charles spent the first year of his retreat, either in
innocent amusements to divert his mind from  sad
thoughts, or in devout exercises to prepare his soul for
another world.  Gardening and framing models of machines were his favourite occupations. He was particularly curious with regard to the construction of clocks
and watches; and having found, after repeated trials,
that he could not bring any two of them to go exactly
alike, he reflected, it is said, with a mixture of surprise
and regret, on his own folly, in having bestowed so much
time and labour on the still more hopeless attempt of
bringing mankind to a precise uniformity of opinion on
religious truths. About six months before his death the
gout returned with great violence, and enfeebled his
mind as much as his body.  Feeling himself near death,




AGE OF THE REFORMATION.             181
he resolved to celebrate his own funeral service.  His
domestics marched to the chapel of the monastery with
black tapers in their hands.  He himself followed in his
shroud, and before the service for the dead was chanted,
he was laid in his coffin with much solemnity. After all
the servants had withdrawn on the conclusion of the
service, Charles rose out of his coffin, and the next day
he was seized with a fever, which terminated fatally
(A.D. 1558).
The age of Charles V. was illumined by a galaxy of
painters, who flourished in Italy: Leonardo da Vinci,
celebrated for his painting of "The Last Supper;"
Raphael, famous for his Madonnas; Corregio, whose
"Ecce Homo" is particularly well known; Titian, remarkable for the beauty of his colouring; Paul Veronese,
an eminent master of ornamental painting; and surpassing them all, Michael Angelo, the chief architect of St.
Peter's at Rome, and equally eminent in sculpture and
painting.
IGNATIUS LOYOLA AND THE JESUITS.
Whilst the fabric of the Roman Catholic Church was
falling to pieces from the attacks of Luther and other
reformers, there arose a firm pillar of that Church in the
person of Ignatius Loyola, and the Society of Jesus which
he founded. The Jesuits, as the members of this society
are called, were the most faithful, intrepid, and successful
soldiers that ever enlisted under the banners of papal
Rome.  The early Jesuits were men of earnest piety, of
extraordinary zeal in the papal cause, and of entire devotion to the interests of their order; and by their selfdenying efforts arrested the fall of the papacy in the
countries of Southern and Western Europe.
Ignatius Loyola was a gentleman of Biscay; he
entered the army of Ferdinand of Spain, and had his leg
broken at the siege of Pampeluna (A.D. 1521). While
confined to his bed he read the Lives of the Saints.  His
enthusiastic mind was kindled with the desire of emulating their deeds. He declared himself a knight of the




182       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY,
Virgin Mary, and attached to himself Francis Xavier
and four others, who formed the nucleus of his society.
On the top of Montmartre these six men, one starry night,
devoted themselves by a solemn oath to the cause of the
tottering Church. And, in 1540, the order of Jesuits was
formally instituted by the pope, after they had taken an
oath of implicit obedience to His Holiness, promising to go
wherever he might send them, and to execute his bidding
whatever it might be, without condition or reward.
Loyola was appointed the first general of the order, with
absolute power over its members.  Under his direction
they were to be mere passive instruments, like clay in
the hands of the potter, yielding to his commands an
unquestioning obedience without regard to their own will
or conscience.  They undertook, in short, to observe the
orders of their general, as if they emanated immediately
from Christ himself.
The Jesuits increased with marvellous rapidity.  The
most zealous and devoted sons of the Romanist Church
everywhere joined their ranks.  From  Portugal, their
first headquarters, they spread into all lands.  They
wormed themselves, as confessors, into the confidence of
princes; acquired deserved influence as the educators of
youth; earned a reputation as eloquent preachers; and
gained great renown by their boldness, activity, and
success as missionaries. Mr. Lord, the author of "Modern
Europe," thus sums up their extraordinary achievements
in the lifetime of the founder: "Before he died (A.D. 1556),
his spiritual sons had planted their missionary stations
amid Peruvian mines, among the marts of the African
slave trade, in the islands of the Indian Ocean, and in
the cities of Japan. Nay, his followers had secured the
most important chairs in the universities of Europe, had
made themselves confessors to the most powerful monarchs,
teachers in the best schools of Christendom, and preachers
in its principal pulpits. More than all this, the order
had become an organization, instinct with life, endued
with energy and will, and forming a body which could
outwatch Argus with his hundred eyes, and outwork




AGE OF THE REFORMATION.             183
Briareus with his hundred arms.  It had forty thousand
eyes open upon every cabinet and private family in
Europe, and forty thousand arms extended over the necks
of both sovereigns and people. It had become a mighty
power in the world, inseparably connected with the education and the religion of the age; it was the prime
mover of all political affairs, the grand prop of absolute
monarchies, the last hope of the papal hierarchy."
As missionaries, the  Jesuits gained  great credit.
Francis Xavier, "the apostle of the Indies," not only
planted the Gospel in India, but even in remote Japan.
Two fierce persecutions, however, have left no trace of
his labours in Japan, except a bitter hatred of the very
name of Christianity.  A  similar result attended the
Jesuit missions in China.  In America they were more
successful, especially in Paraguay, then inhabited by
savage hordes of Indians.  The Jesuits settled among
the natives, and taught them  the useful arts of life, as
well as the things relating to their eternal interests.
It was as teachers, however, that the Jesuits gained
their greatest triumphs. Since the revival of learning,
no body of men has played so prominent a part in education as the Jesuits.  With characteristic sagacity and
energy, they soon seized on education as a stepping-stone
to power and influence; and with their talent for organization, they framed a system of schools which drove most
competitors from the field, and made Jesuits the instructors of Roman Catholic, and even, to some extent, of
Protestant Europe.  For more than a century the fore
most men in Europe received their learning from the
Jesuits, and for life regarded their old masters with
reverence and affection.  " Gratis receive, gratis give,"
was the society's rule, so that their schools were accessible
to rich and poor alike.
The Jesuits in the early days of their society were
undoubtedly the benefactors of humanity, but as time
went on their false principles gradually developed. Their
unquestioning obedience to the general of their order,
removed the sense of personal responsibility, and made




184      LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
them ready to execute any criminal act required of them.
They have been notorious for attempting the lives of
Protestant prinrces, to advance, as they believed, the
interests of true religion. Their ruling maxim too often
was, "Let us do evil that good may come."  In the
course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the
order was expelled from most European countries, and in
1775 it was suppressed by the pope. Our own age, unhappily, has witnessed its revival.




CHAPTER XVII.
RELIGIOUS WARS AND  PERSECUTIONS.
PHILIP II., son of Charles V., became King of Spain and
the Netherlands in 1556. Two years previously he had
married Mary, Queen of England.  He was the gloomiest
bigot that ever disgraced a throne; and as Spain, during
his reign, was the foremost state in Europe, he possessed
considerable power of working misery, ruin, and death
on men and nations, whose religious creed differed from
his own. For almost a hundred years from his accession,
Europe, rent by religious dissensions, was the unhappy
theatre of wars and persecutions carried on in the name
of religion.
THE INQUISITION.
The tribunal called the Inquisition, one of the most
fiendish courts ever established, had for its object the ex.
tirpation of heresy. The Inquisition of Spain has gained
a most unenviable notoriety for its atrocities. The record of its proceedings reads like an account of the transactions of an infernal court presided over by demons.
It may be briefly described as a bench of monks, having
its spies in every house, to dive into the secrets of every
breast, and to worm out a man's opinions on matters of
religion. It arrested its victim on bare suspicion, tortured him till he confessed himself a heretic, and finally
burned him  for heresy. Two witnesses, and these to
separate facts, were sufficient to consign the highest
noble in the land to a dismal dungeon; and there he was
left to himself till hunger and misery should break his
spirit.  When that time was supposed to have arrived,




186       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
he was examined; but no witness was ever confronted
with him. That accuser might be his own son or father,
wife or daughter; for all were enjoined under penalty of
death to inform the inquisitors of every suspicious word
which might fall from even their nearest relatives.
The torture took place most frequently at midnight in
a gloomy dungeon, dimly lighted by torches. The victim
was stripped nearly naked, and stretched upon a machine
called a rack. The executioner, enveloped in a black
robe from head to foot, with his eyes glaring through
slits in the sash-hood that muffled his face, applied successively all the ingenious contrivances that malicious
cruelty had devised; water, weights, fires, pulleys, screws,
all the apparatus by which the sinews could be strained
without snapping, and the bones bruised without breaking. The poor victim  was tortured again and again,
until he was ready to confess anything; so that the stake
or the scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack.
The last scene in this dismal tragedy was the auto dc
fe, " or act of faith," when the condemned prisoners, who
had been allowed to accumulate for some time, were
publicly handed over to the secular arm to be punished.
When the appointed morning arrived, the victim was
attired in a yellow robe without sleeves, embroidered with
a scarlet cross, and well garnished with figures of devils
and flames of fires. On his head was placed a large conical
paper mitre, on which was the picture of a human being,
in the midst of flames, and environed by imps.  His
tongue was then painfully gagged, so that he could neither
open nor close his mouth. Attired in this horrible and
ludicrous manner, each prisoner was led into the public
square, and a procession was then formed with great
pomp to the place of execution. It was headed by little
school children, and they were immediately followed by
the band of heretics. Then came the magistrates and
other great men of the city, and after them the inquisitors with their officers, all on horseback, with the bloodred flag of their " sacred office" waving above them. An
excited rabble came behind. On arriving at the appointed




RELIGIOUS WARS AND PERSECUTIONS.        187
place, a sermon was preached, and the fifty-first psalm
chanted.  The condemned were now obliged to mount a
scaffold, where the executioner stood ready to conduct
them to the fire. The inquisitors then delivered them
into his hands, with an ironical request that he would
deal with them tenderly. Those who remained steadfast
to the last were then burned at the stake; any who, in
the last extremity, confessed their errors were considerately strangled before being thrown into the flames.
Prior to the Reformation, the fires of the Inquisition
in Spain were lighted almost exclusively for the Jews
and the Moors, who were suspected of having a secret
leaning to the religion of their ancestors. So many
victims were sentenced to be burned in the very first
year of the Inquisition (A.D. 1481), that the prefect of
Seville was forced to construct a stone scaffold for the
executions, which may still be seen near that city. On
this platform of death were erected four statues of plaster,
called the four prophets, to which the condemned were
fastened.  We find in the records of Seville that, in the
course of eight years, 2592 of these unhappy persons were
burned in that city alone.
When the doctrines of Luther found their way into
Spain, the inquisitors no longer confined their attention
to Jews and infidels; "Lutheran heretics" were sought
out and led to the stake. With the accession of Philip
the fires of persecution burned still more fiercely. In 1559,
an auto da fe was celebrated at Seville, in which twentyone Protestants were burned, some of whom were ladies
of the highest rank. During the next ten years of Philip's
reign at least one auto da fe was celebrated annually in
Spain.' An attempt made by this monarch to establish an
ecclesiastical court in the Netherlands, similar to the
Inquisition in Spain, aroused the spirit of his Dutch and
Flemish subjects, who shuddered at the thought that this
chamber of horrors should ever become one of the institutions of their free land, and threw them into a state of
rebellion, ending in the independence of the northern




188       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
provinces and their union into one state, under the name
of Holland, or the Dutch Republic.
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC.
The Netherlands, at the time of Philip's accession,
comprised seventeen provinces.  In the maritime provinces, of which Holland and Zealand were the two
chief, the people were mostly Protestants, and in them
accordingly was shown the most determined spirit of
resistance to the tyrannical measures of their despotic
and bigoted sovereign.  The inhabitants of the southern
provinces were, for the most part, attached to the Roman
Catholic religion, and consequently their opposition to
Philip's tyranny was less vigorous and enthusiastic. But
as the struggle between Philip and his subjects in the
Netherlands had for its object civil freedom as well as
religious liberty, both Protestants and Romanists regarded their sovereign as their common enemy.  All
the offices of State were filled by Spaniards, and in all
the towns Spanish soldiers held the garrisons, so that
they were virtually under the rule of a foreign prince.
In 1566 the crisis came.  The king was resolved that
the Inquisition should extinguish "heresy" in the Netherlands; "I would rather be no king at all," he said,"
"than have heretics for my subjects."  His Protestant
subjects were equally resolved that the authority of the
king should be extinguished before their religious principles, which he called heresy. During the last half
century they had endured much from persecution; the
roll of Protestant martyrs was already a long one.  But
now the popular fury burst forth in a disastrous flame.
Stately cathedrals and churches were defaced or demolished, the painted windows shattered, the images
pulled down, the pictures torn in shreds, and the organs
broken in pieces.
The Duke of Alva, a man of execrable cruelty, was
sent with an army of 15,000 men to take vengeance for
these outrages. Blood was shed like water, the prisons




RELIGIOUS WARS AND PERSECUTIONS.       189
were crammed with the accused, the scaffolds crowded
with the condemned. The Inquisition, meanwhile, carried
on their sanguinary labours. Eighteen thousand persons
perished at the scaffold or the stake by Alva's orders;
and thousands more fled from their ill-fated country,
many of them finding an asylum in England, and enriching that kingdom by their industry and skill in manufactures.  Even William the Silent, Prince of Orange,
the future deliverer of the Dutch, thought it prudent to
retire to his family estates of Nassau, in Germany. Here
he entered into communication with Elizabeth of England
and other Protestant princes, and from most of them received supplies of men or money. The issue of his first
attempt was unfortunate. Indeed, it was not until Alva
and the Inquisition had carried on the work of blood for
four years longer, that the first gleam of good fortune
shone upon him.
William had stationed a fleet of cruisers along the
coasts of Holland and Zealand, to damage the Spanish
shipping, and to occupy any advantageous position along
the shore. Great was the havoc which the " waterbeggars," as they called themselves, worked among the
Spanish merchantmen.  Emboldened by famine, a few
hundred of these water-beggars made a descent on the
island of Voorn, and took the town of Brille, which was
reckoned one of the keys of the Netherlands. Alva was
at Brussels on the point of hanging eighteen of the leading tradesmen of that city, when the news from Brille
snatched him away from this congenial employment. It
appears that the tyrant had imposed such heavy taxes
upon the sale of provisions, that the tradesmen refused
to do any business. The brewers refused to brew, and
the bakers to bake. To correct this ruinous state of
things, he had made up his mind to hang eighteen of the
principal tradesmen of the city in front of their own shops.
Eighteen gibbets had been erected, a ladder twelve feet
in length stood beside each gibbet, and the very nooses
had been made on the ends of the ropes, when the news
came that the rebels had seized Brille.




190       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
By the capture of that quaint old town, the first stone
of the Dutch Republic was laid (A.D. 1572).
Alva, fully aware of the importance of the news, did
not stay to hang the refractory brewers and bakers of
Brussels, but despatched with all speed a body of troops,
under Count de Bossut, to retake the place. Bossut laid
siege to Brille, and was in a fair way of winning it with
his artillery, when a patriotic carpenter, belonging to the
city, plunged into the water with his axe in his hand, and
swimming to a sluice which the Spaniards had overlooked,
hacked it open. A deluge of water poured in, swamped
the artillery, drowned a number of the Spaniards, and
forced the rest to take to their ships.  This victory
kindled a bold resolute spirit among the men of Holland and Zealand.  In a short time all the towns of
these two provinces, except Amsterdam and Middelburg,
had expelled their garrisons; and in three other provinces
of the north similar risings took place, till sixty or seventy
towns in all had thrown off the yoke of the Spaniard.
And now Alva began a series of sieges to recover the
lost towns. He proclaimed the extermination of man,
woman, and child in every city which should oppose his
authority; but the hearts of the Hollanders were rather
steeled to resistance than awed to submission by such
terrible threats.  Many a town maintained a gallant defence; Hcaarlem, in particular, gained an imperishable
name by the desperate bravery with which, for seven
months, it stood out against a large army under Alva's
son.  On the first attempt to take the town by storm,
the Spaniards were encountered by the whole population.
Swords and muskets could not be found for all the willing hands that swarmed to the walls at the first signal of
alarm.  Heavy stones, boiling oil, molten lead, and live
coals were thrown on the heads of the besiegers; hoops
smeared with pitch and set on fire were dexterously flung
around their necks.  "These citizens do as much as the
best soldiers in the world could do," wrote Don Frederick
to Alva, his father. And before the end of the siege,
Alva, in a letter to his sovereign, informs him that




RELIGIOUS WARS AND PERSECUTIONS.       191
"never was a place defended with such skill and bravery
as Haarlem."  According to some accounts the siege cost
the Spaniards 10,000 men.  When at last the famished
citizens opened their gates, the leading men were butchered
in cold blood; and when the executioners were tired of
their bloody task, they tied their remaining victims in
pairs, back to back, and flung them into the lake of
Haarlem.
The brutal Alva was now recalled, and Requesens, a
more humane man, was appointed to succeed him (A.D.
1573). Affairs about the same time took a favourable
turn for the Hollanders.  The Prince of Orange took
Middelburg, after his fleet had gained a great victory off
Bergen.  The contest now centred in Leyden, around
which Valdez, the Spanish general, drew a circle of sixty
forts. The two leading spirits within the walls were
Van der Dousa and Van der Werf. After a close siege
of two months, gaunt famine began to stalk through the
streets; but there was no talk of surrender. " When we
have nothing else left," said Dousa, in reply to a message
from Valdez, "we will eat our left hands, keeping the
right to fight with." But at length danger seemed on
the point of prevailing over patriotism.  A  crowd of
famished wretches, assembling with  hoarse clamours
around Van der Werf, their burgomaster, as his tall haggard figure was passing through the streets, demanded
that he should give them food, or else surrender.  "I
have no food to give you," was his reply, "and I have
sworn that I will not surrender to the Spaniards; here
is my sword, plunge it into my breast, and let the
hungriest of you eat my flesh."  There was no more
talk of surrender.  From the ramparts they hurled renewed defiance at the enemy. " Ye call us rat-eaters and
dog-eaters," they cried, " and it is true. So long, then,
as ye hear dog bark or cat mew within the walls, ye may
know that the city holds out."
Meanwhile, William the Silent had collected a large
supply of provisions; but with all his exertions he could
not succeed in bringing them to the relief of the destitute




192       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
city. As a last resource he ordered the dykes to be
broken through to admit the ocean and restore to the
waves their former territory around Leyden, in the hope
of washing the Spaniards out of their forts.  " Better a
drowned land than a lost land," said the patriots; so
hatchets, hammers, spades, and pickaxes were set to work,
and by the labour of a single night the labour of ages was
undone. The orchards, farms, and cornfields around the
besieged city became an expanse of water. Across this
inland sea a flotilla of 200 boats, piled up with fish and
bread, made their way to the wall of the famished city.
The Spaniards retreated before the rising waters, and
Leyden was saved (A.D. 1574). The University of Leyden was established in the following year, as a memorial
of this gallant defence, and its prosperous issue.
The heroic stand made by the men of Leyden was the
death-blow to the tyranny of Spain in the Protestant provinces. William alsotried to break the yoke of the foreigner
in the southern states; but in this, after alternations of victory and defeat, he was ultimately unsuccessful. The provinces in the north, however, gained their independence, and
became a new European state. The foundation of this state
was laid by a treaty of union between the northern provinces, signed at Utrecht (A.D. 1579). Two years later
Philip was formally deposed as a tyrant, and William,
Prince of Orange, was elected, with the title of Stadtholder, hereditary chief of " The Seven United Provinces,"
which subsequently received the name of Holland, or the
Dutch Republic.
About this time the Spanish tyrant offered a reward
of 25,000 golden crowns, with a patent of nobility, for
the murder of the stadtholder.  In consequence of this
diabolical offer his life was hourly in danger. The first
attempt on his life was made at Antwerp (A.D. 1582),
where he was shot at by a half-crazed fanatic.  Two
years afterwards his body was pierced with three balls
from a horse-pistol.  Mortally wounded he fell, exclaiming, "God have mercy on me, and on this poor people."
Prince Maurice, the next stadtholder, was able to re



RELIGIOUS WARS AND PERSECUTIONS.        193
tain what his father had won, though he had to contend
against the Duke of Parma, the first general of the age,
who at that time held the chief command of the Spanish
armies in the Netherlands.  Queen Elizabeth, indeed,
sent 4000 men under the Earl of Leicester to his aid;
but through the incapacity of their commander the English were of little service to their allies. It was in the
course of this campaign, in a skirmish near Zutphen,
that Sir Philip Sydney was killed.  Prince Maurice,
though he derived but little material support from the
English, contrived to maintain the independence of the
Republic; and before his death Holland was virtually
recognised by Spain as an independent state.
The young republic flourished with all the vigour of
youth.  The Dutch not only held their ground at home,
but acquired vast possessions abroad. A girdle of Dutch
colonies encompassed the globe.  The Dutch seamen
fought manfully with the English sailors for the supremacy of the seas. Their merchantmen were on every
coast, and the merchandise of the whole world in the
warehouses of their capital.
THE HUGUENOTS.
The Protestants of France were called Huguenots, a
name derived from a German word signifying confederates. They have rightly received this distinctive title;
for they were nob simply Protestants, but confederates,
banded together on political grounds, as well as from
religious motives.  The most earnest Huguenots were
doubtless sincere in their attachment to the Reformed
Faith, but the majority of them were probably more influenced by political than religious considerations. Hence
the history of the Huguenots is the history of a civil and
religious war, in which the great principles of the Reformation were overshadowed by state policy, forgotten in the
tumult of arms, and dishonoured by the spirit of revenge.
The Huguenots were the great enemies of despotism in
every form; and so for nearly a century, except during
the beneficent reign of Henry IV., they were arrayed
N




194       LANDMARKS  OF GENERAL HISTORY,
against the arbitrary rule of the French Court, till their
political power was destroyed by Cardinal Richelieu, the
greatest statesman of his day.
About the middle of the sixteenth century, the Reformation began to make considerable progress in some parts
of France. In 1558, we are assured there were no less
than 2000 places dedicated to the reformed worship,
and attended by 400,000 people. At this time also the
Protestant leaders were men of high rank; such as
Antoine de Bourbon, first prince of the blood royal, and,
through his wife, King of Navarre; also Louis, Prince of
Cond6, his younger brother; and the veteran Admiral
Coligny.  Through their influence mainly, an edict was
published at St. Germains, in 1562, by which permission
was granted to the Huguenots to hold meetings for religious worship outside the walls of towns. The zealous
Romanists of France bitterly resented this edict, and
in less than two months from  its proclamation their
resentment broke out in a murderous assault upon the
Huguenots at Vassy. The Duke of Guise happened to be
passing through this little town with a retinue of 200
well-armed men, when the Protestants were assembled for
divine worship. On the duke's attendants interrupting
the service, they were assailed by stones, and the duke
himself was struck in the face. The enraged soldiers
now fired upon the unarmed people, killing 60 outright,
and wounding 200 more. Such was the first act of the
great civil and religious war that desolated France for
many long years to come.
The war was carried on with great spirit and varied
fortune till 1570, when by a treaty, signed at St. Germains, the Huguenots obtained the free exercise of their
religion.  Still further, as if to heal the wounds inflicted
by the civil war, and to cement the union of the rival
parties, the king, Charles IX., offered the hand of his
sister, Marguerite, to the young prince, Henry of Navarre,
son of Antoine de Bourbon, and at that time head of
the Huguenot party.  But this proposal, though carried
into effect, was only the prelude of a dark plot, which the




RELIGIOUS WARS AND PERSECUTIONS.       195
king's mother (the infamous Catherine de Medici) and
the Duke of Guise had invented for the total destruction
of the Huguenots.
The marriage of Henry with Marguerite, which was
celebrated at Paris on the 18th August, 1572, attracted
to the capital Coligny, Cond6, and the leading Huguenots. They were only lured there to be murdered. On
the festival of St. Bartholomew, within a week of the
royal wedding, was perpetrated one of the blackest crimes
on record  Two hours after midnight the bells sounded
an alarm from all the steeples of Paris. Assassins armed
to the teeth, and distinguished by white crosses in their
hats, simultaneously emerged from every dark corner of
the city, and broke into the Huguenots' houses, which
had been previously marked. Among the first victims
was the illustrious Coligny. The Duke of Guise went in
person to his house, and remained in the court below.
while one of his myrmidons ascended to the old warrior's
chamber, burst open the door, and plunged his sword
into his heart. The bleeding corpse of the admiral was
then flung down from the window at the feet of his
exultant enemy. The work of blood went on throughout the night. Thousands of the unhappy Huguenots
perished before dawn.  Many of them fled half-naked
from their houses, but only to be butchered in the streets.
The queen-mother and her attendants were spectators of
the appalling scene from the windows of the Louvre, and
Charles himself is said to have repeatedly fired his arquebus upon the miserable fugitives, as they slunk along the
quays of the Seine, or attempted to swim across the river.
It is supposed that 5000 persons were slain in Paris
before the bloody work was done; nor would Henry of
Navarre and the Prince of Conde have been spared, if
they had not promised to change their religion.
The massacre was not confined to Paris; orders were
also sent into the provinces to put the Huguenots to the
sword. In many places these orders were obeyed with
alacrity, but not in all. The governor of Bayonne, in
answer to the king's mandate, wrote as follows: " Your




196       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
majesty has many faithful servants in Bayonne, but not
one executioner."
At Rome, the news of this great blow for the extermination of heretics was received with extravagant joy; the
pope and cardinals went in state to St. Peter's, to return
thanks to Heaven for this pious achievement; and even
medals, bearing the pope's effigy on one side, were struck
in commemoration of this French mode of celebrating an
auto dafe. It is satisfactory to know that the king's
mind was constantly haunted by the recollections of this
terrible tragedy, and that on his death-bed he suffered
fearfully in looking back on the atrocities which had disgraced his reign. He died in 1574, and was succeeded
by his brother, Henry III.
The Huguenots soon raised their heads again.  Henry
of Navarre, on escaping from the clutches of the queenmother, again put himself at their head, and within
four years from the massacre of their brethren, the full
and public exercise of their religion was authorised by
King Henry throughout France. Rochelle and seven
other towns were placed in their hands as a pledge of
his sincerity. This compact was highly displeasing to
the more devoted Romanists of France, who formed a
confederacy, called the "Holy League," with the Duke
of Guise at its head, for depriving the Huguenots of their
religious rights. The authority of the duke, especially
at Paris, overshadowed that of the crown so completely,
that Henry caused him to be assassinated. Then descending; to the apartments of his mother, the infamous
Catherine de Medici, the royal murderer exclaimed,
"Madam, congratulate me; I am  once more King of
France, for this morning I have put to death the King
of Paris." Catherine's death occurred a few days afterwards, and in the same year (A.D. 1589), the king himself
fell a victim to the assassin's knife.
The heir to the throne was the leader of the Huguenots, Prince of Navarre.  The Romanists refusing to
recognise him as their sovereign, a civil war ensued,
which lasted five years. To save his country from ruin,




RELIGIOUS WARS AND PERSECUTIONS.        197
Henry consented to change his religion, and was crowned
with the title of Henry IV.  Though he had turned
Rlomanist himself, yet by the edict of Nantes (A.D. 1598),
he secured to the Huguenots religious freedom, and all
the rights of free citizens. Before this no Protestants
could be magistrates, or hold any office of trust in the
state, except in their own towns; but now they were
admissible to all places of honour and dignity in the.kingdom. The reign of Henry IV. was not only a blessing to the Huguenots, but it brought peace and prosperity
to the whole nation. The peasantry, in particular, found
a friend in their king, who was often heard to say that
he should never feel content till "every peasant in the
kingdom should be able to have a fowl in the pot on
Sundays."  In all his plans for the welfare of his people
he was aided by the sagacity and wisdom of his chief
minister, the Duke of Sully; under the auspices of the
king and his minister, silk and other manufactures began
to flourish, and a new spirit of frugality and economy
presided over the national treasury. By their combined
efforts peace and plenty began to smile over the land.
The reign of this illustrious prince was unhappily brought
to an end by the dagger of a madman, named Ravaillac,
who, mounting upon the wheel of the royal carriage,
stabbed the king to the heart (A.D. 1610).
His son, Louis XIII., ascended the throne when only
nine years old. The country fell into a state of anarchy,
which continued until 1624, when the celebrated Cardinal
Richelieu cameintopower as prime minister. For eighteen
years, until his death, this haughty minister and clever
statesman held his place at the helm of state. Whilst
scheming for his own ambitious ends, he freed his country
from anarchy; whilst working for his own personal good,
he advanced also his country's greatness. It is true, he
exalted himself above the king, but he took care that
every one else in the realm should humbly submit to the
royal authority.  " He made his master the second mal
in France, but the first in Europe."
One of the main objects of Richelieu's domestic policy




198       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY,
was the humiliation of the Huguenots, who were remarkl
able for their love of freedom, civil as well as religious.
As the cardinal was bent on establishing a despotic
government in France, he regarded the Huguenots as a
barrier across the path that he had marked out for himself,
and he resolved to break that barrier down. He therefore laid siege to Rochelle, their great stronghold (A.D.
1627). It was so strongly fortified, both by sea and
land, that it could only be taken by cutting off from it
all supplies of provisions. As England, the mistress of
the seas, was a friend of the Huguenots, it seemed at
first beyond the power of the cardinal to starve them
into surrender. Besides, there were 30,000 resolute men
within the city, under the command of Guiton, a man
of iron will and courage, who threatened to poniard the
first citizen that should venture to speak of opening the
gates. The cardinal undertook the direction of the siege
himself. Finding that all his efforts to take the city by
land were useless, whilst the sea was open to the besieged,
he resolved on cutting off their communication with the
sea by constructing a mole at the mouth of the harbour,
at a sufficient distance from the town to be beyond the
range of its cannon. At first the besieged laughed as
the stones were tumbled into the sea, and seemed lost in
its deep waters. But the work went steadily on, and to
the dismay of the famine-threatened Huguenots a line of
stone, half a mile long, appeared above the waves. And
when, at length, ships laden with provisions arrived from
England, their commanders were baffled, and obliged to
retreat without relieving the famished city. The fate of
Rochelle was now sealed, but the defence was protracted
until half the population had perished from hunger. By the
capture of Rochelle (A.D. 1628), the political power of the
Huguenots was broken beyond recovery; and in less than
a twelvemonth the final ruin of their cause was achieved.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR.
The famous Thirty Years' War, which began in 1618,
and was carried on in Central Europe, may be regarded




RELIGIOUS WARS AND PERSECUTIONS.        199
as the sequel of the Reformation in Germany. It was
waged by the Emperor of Germany against the Protestant
princes of the empire and the Protestant kings of Northern
Europe. The dimensions of the war varied considerably
at different times, sometimes a few states being involved,
and sometimes many. The war had its political as well
as its religious aspect. As both the Emperor of Germany
and the King of Spain belonged to the House of Austria,
and as they generally acted in concert for their mutual
advantage, it was the aim of Richelieu and other astute
statesmen of the day to reduce the power of that house.
By the treaty of Passau (A.D. 1552), Charles V. had
granted religious toleration to his Protestant subjects,
and had recognised their claim to all the civil rights
enjoyed by the Romanists.  Charles's immediate successors respected the terms of this treaty, and for fifty
years Germany was tolerably tranquil.  But early in the
seventeenth century the old hostile spirit between the
two great religious parties again broke out. In 1608,
the Protestant princes of the empire entered into a confederacy, called the Evangelical Union, and this association was opposed by another, called the Catholic League.
Open war, however, did not break out till ten years later.
It began on a small scale in Bohemia (A.D. 1618), when
Matthias was emperor.  He had, by his harsh treatment
of the Bohemian Protestants, provoked them to throw off
his authority. Before he could punish his rebellious subjects, death intervened. He was succeeded in the empire
by his cousin, Ferdinand II., who was an inveterate
enemy to the Protestant cause. The Bohemians would
not acknowledge him as their sovereign, and chose for
their king Frederick, Elector Palatine of the Rhine.
This prince had married Elizabeth, daughter of James I.
of England; but he derived nothing from his pedantic
and unwarlike father-in-law, "save a liberal supply of
peaceable advice and scholastic quotations instead of
money and legions."  The fate of Bohemia and of the
king of their choice was decided in a single battle, fought
at the White Mountain, about two miles from Prague




200       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
(A.D. 1620). Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, fighting on
the side of the emperor, at the head of 50,000 troops,
gained a complete victory.  The Bohemian nobles who
had rebelled lost their estates, the Protestant clergy were
banished, and all the Protestant laity forfeited their religious freedom. The unfortunate Frederick, instead of
gaining a kingdom, in the end lost his palatinate, a part
of which, with the title of elector, was bestowed by
Ferdinand upon the Duke of Bavaria.
Frederick, however, was not allowed to fall without a
struggle. For nine years the strife raged before Frederick
and his Protestant allies laid down.their hopeless arms.
A  remarkable feature of this war was the conspicuous
part played in it by two Bohemian solders of fortune.
Count Mansfeldt fighting on Frederick's side, and Count
Wallenstein on the other. Each of these famous men
raised a large army, and, by pillaging the cities and states
in which they encamped, made the war support itself.
Neither of them was much better than the licensed chief
of an army of freebooters. As their troops subsisted by
plunder, they soon became as obnoxious to their friends
as their foes; and, consequently, when Wallenstein had
crushed every head that dared to lift itself against the
emperor, all Germany demanded the dismissal of the
brigand chief (A.D. 1530). Ferdinand reluctantly cancelled his commission; and though at the head of 100,000
victorious troops, devoted to their leader, he promptly
obeyed the imperial mandate, and retired to his estates
in Bohemia, confidently expecting the time when his
services would again be indispensable to the emperor.
It is interesting to catch a glimpse of this remarkable
man in the silent recesses of his palace at this epoch of
his life.  He is described as a tall, thin man, of a sallow
complexion, with short red hair, and small sparkling eyes.
He had a peculiar dislike to noise; when residing at
Prague, chains were drawn across the streets leading to
his palace, that the sound of wheels might not reach his
ear.  All within the palace was wrapped in gloomy
silence; six barons and as many knights were in constant




RELIGIOUS WARS AND PERSECUTIONS.        201
attendance on his person, sixty pages were at hand to do
his bidding, and fifty guards occupied his antechamber,
and yet the silence of death reigned over all. Within sat
the silent, smileless chief, like some dark bird of prey,
croaking out at intervals his imperious orders, or writing
his despatches with lightning speed, or trying to read his
future destiny by the aid of astrology.
The emperor at the time of Wallenstein's retirement
was the undisputed master of Germany. Having the
Protestants of Germany at his feet, he was determined to
use his power for their ruin. But just when their cause
seemed hopeless a new champion arose in the person of
Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden.  Gustavus could
bring but a small army into the field, but that army was
devoted to their leader, and that leader was the greatest
general of the age. He maintained a rigorous discipline
in his army, punishing with severity all theft and disorders. He was as careful of the religion and morals of
his soldiers as of their military efficiency; whether on
a campaign or in barracks every regiment was ordered
to form round its chaplain for morning and evening
prayers.  The hardships of war he shared with the
meanest soldier, and its perils with the bravest captain.
Such was the martial king that now stood forward as the
champion of the Protestants of Germany.
In a diet held at Stockholm (20th May, 1630), the
king, taking in his arms his daughter Christina, then only
four years old, presented her to the States of the realm as
the future sovereign, in case he should never more return.
The whole assembly was dissolved in tears, whilst the king
delivered his farewell address. "Not lightly or wantonly,"
said he, "am I about to involve myself and you in this
dangerous war.  God is my witness that I do not fight
to gratify my own ambition. But the emperor has supported my enemies, persecuted my friends and brethren,
trampled my religion in the dust, and even stretched his
revengeful arm against my crown. The oppressed states
of Germany call loudly for aid, and, by God's help, we
will give it to them.  I commend you to the protection




202       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
of heaven. Be just, be conscientious, and act uprightly,
and we shall meet again in heaven. I bid you all a sincere-it may be-an eternal farewell."
A  month later Gustavus landed on the island of
Rugen, in Pomerania, with 15,000 men; and kneeling on
the shore, returned thanks to God for the safe arrival of
his fleet and army (24th June, 1630).
Ferdinand at first made merry at the thought of such
a handful of men coming to invade his mighty empire.
The wits of his court called Gustavus the Snow King,
who would melt as he advanced into the warm regions of
the south. The emperor, however, took care to send an
able general, Count Tilly, to oppose the invaders. Tilly
had long commanded the Bavarian armies without ever
losing a decisive battle. A strange and terrific aspect
bespoke the character of this man: of diminutive size,
with hollow cheeks, a long nose, a broad and wrinkled
forehead, large whiskers, and a pointed chin; he was
generally attired in a doublet of green satin, with slashed
sleeves, and on his head he wore a small high peaked
hat, surmounted by a long red feather which hung down
his back. He was the first to point out to the emperor
the formidable character of Gustavus as an antagonist.
" This is a player," said the old marshal, " from whom we
gain much, if we lose nothing." Ferdinand found that
his enemy was indeed a Snow King, that could carry on
a campaign amid the snows of winter, and keep the field
through the year.
Steadily did the Snow King work his way southward,
and instead of melting away, his army increased in bulklike
a rolled snow-ball. But before he could reach Magdeburg,
that Protestant stronghold had been stormed, sacked, and
burnt by Tilly's brutal soldiery (10th May, 1631.)  "For
four days," says Schiller, "the scene of carnage here was
such as history has no language, art no pencil, to portray. Neither the innocence of childhood, nor the helplessness of old age-neither youth, sex, rank, nor beauty
-could disarm  the fury of the conquerors."  Nothing
remained of the town but the cathedral, a church, and a




RELIGIOUS WARS AND PERSECUTIONS.        203
few houses round about them; nothing remained of the
inhabitants beyond a thousand who had taken refuge in
the cathedral.
Gustavus, being now joined by the Elector of Saxony,
marched upon Leipsic, which had opened its gates to the
imperial troops under Tilly. On the event of the battle
now to be fought hung the fate of the Protestants of
Germany. The two armies were about equal; and the
two generals were among the greatest of the day. The
king chose for his battle-cry, " God with us;" whilst that
of the imperialists was " Jesu, Marie." Tilly's usual
clearness and calmness forsook him on this eventful day;
the dark shade of Magdeburg seemed to hover over him.
With his right wing, however, he soon routed the Saxons
opposed to him; but meanwhile, his left wing was utterly
defeated by the Swedes.  The victorious Swedes then
attacked the troops of Tilly that had broken the Saxon
line, and, gaining the heights on which the enemy's
artillery was planted, turned upon them the full fire of
their own cannon.  The imperial army was soon a complete wreck, and their general a wounded fugitive. Amid
the dead and wounded the grateful king threw himself
upon his knees, and thanked God for his victory (7th
September, 1631).
Gustavus Adolphus now  carried the war into the
territory of Maximilian, the Elector of Bavaria, the
emperor's most powerful ally. As the king marched
southward towards Bavaria, the keys of towns and
fortresses were delivered to him by the inhabitants as
to their native sovereign. Tilly, burning to avenge his
defeat at Leipsic, posted his forces along the river Lech,
the western frontier of Bavaria, and defied his antagonist
to cross. Gustavus not only passed the river in spite of
all Tilly's endeavours to prevent him, but gave the old
marshal a most signal defeat (3rd April, 1632). Here
ended the career of the beaten general. Struck in one
of his legs by a cannon shot, he was carried off the field
shortly before the rout of his army, and died a few days
afterwards.




204.     LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
All Europe was astonished at the career of the Snow
King, and some of the nations began to fear that he would
come down upon them like an avalanche, when he had
overrun Germany. Soon after the victory of the Lech,
the Swedes entered Munich in triumph; whilst the
Saxons made themselves masters of Prague, Ferdinand
was not only humbled, but threatened with absolute
ruin.
The hour had now come for which Wallenstein had
panted. No sooner did he raise his standard at the emperor's command, than it was resorted to by the needy
and rapacious adventurers from all quarters of the empire.
His army soon outnumbered that of Gustavus. After a
good deal of manceuvring, the two generals met on the
plain of Lutzen, twelve miles from Leipsic (6th Nov.,
1632). At dawn the two armies were ready for action,
but a thick fog delayed the attack till noon. Three times
was the battle lost and won that day. Night put an
end to the fight before the fury of the combatants was
exhausted.  Each party on withdrawing from the field
claimed the victory; but as the Swedes, on the following
morning, were permitted to take possession of all the
Austrian cannon and baggage, the victory was really
theirs. But it was a victory without joy, for it was
bought with the life of their beloved king.
After the battle of Lutzen we almost lose sight of
Wallenstein, who two years later was assassinated.
When the helm of war dropped from the hands of Gustavus, it was taken up by his prime minister, Oxenstiern,
who was perfectly acquainted with his deceased master's
designs, and abler than any one else to carry them out
with success. Within three years from the death of their
great champion, the Protestants of Germany made peace
with the emperor on satisfactory terms.
Thirteen years of this desolating war still remained.
It was now solely political in character. Richelieu, who
had long secretly favoured the Swedes, formed an open
alliance with them. After an endless series of skirmishes,
sieges, and battles, the famous Thirty Years' War was




RELIGIOUS WARS AND PERSECUTIONS.          205
terminated by the treaty of Westphalia (A.D. 1048). The
chief terms of this important treaty were these: (1) That
Sweden should obtain the larger part of the duchy of
Pomerania, and be paid five millions of thalers; (2),
that Alsace should be annexed to France, together with
the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun; (3), that Holland and Switzerland should be recognised as independent
states; (4), that Charles Louis, son of the unfortunate
Elector Palatine, should share with  the Elector  of
Bavaria the dominions of his father; (5), that the city
and district of Magdeburg and Minden should be given
to Prussia; (6), that the Protestants should enjoy the
free exercise of their religious worship. The authority
of the emperor was, from this time, much diminished;
and he became little more than the nominal head of a
confederacy of sovereign states.
The horrors of this terrible war can hardly be realised
in our day.  The thousands slain in actual battle form
but a small proportion of the entire number that died
from famine, pestilence, and the sword. It is thought
that at least one half of the whole population perished.' After thirty years of battles, burnings, murders, and
diseases, Germany no longer looked like itself.  The
proud nation was changed into a miserable mob of beggars and thieves. Famishing peasants, cowardly citizens,
lewd soldiers, rancorous priests, and effeminate nobles,
were the miserable remains of the great race which had
perished." The prosperity of the country was for a long
period destroyed.  The fields were allowed to run to
waste, and the workshops to lie in ashes. The spirit of
industry had fled, and vice, with her twin-sister ignorance, long threw their baleful shadow over the wretched
land.




CHAPTER XVIII.
LOUIS XIV. OF FRANCE.
Louis XIV. was for about half a century the central
figure, not merely of France, but of Europe. In the eyes
of his vain-glorious people, who were dazzled by the splen
dour of his court and the magnitude of his ambitious
projects, he was for many years Le Grand Monarque.
But if a great prince is one who by his wisdom and virtue
promotes, in an unusual degree, the power and prosperity
of his country, Louis has no claim to that title; by the
lavish expenditure of his country's wealth, and by sacrificing the best blood of her sons in needless wars, he
brought his kingdom to the verge of ruin.
LE GRAND MONARQUE AND HIS COURT.
The reign of Louis XIV. is remarkable among other
things for its extraordinary duration. He became king
in 1643, when only four years of age, and wore the crown
until he was an old man of seventy-six. Thus he began
his reign when Charles I. was king of England, and ended
it after the accession of George I. During his minority,
France was governed by his mother and Cardinal Mazarin,
who was appointed chief minister on the death, and by
the recommendation, of Richelieu. This crafty and subtle
Italian completed the work of establishing a thorough
despotism that Richelieu had begun; and at his death
(AD. 1661) left his royal master the most absolute monarch
that ever reigned in France. " There was now in France
but one master." Louis, who was at that time twentythree years of age, resolved to be his own prime minister.
Having mastered the intricate duties of that high office,




LOUIS XIV. OF FRANCE.            207
he dismissed the ministers whom Mazarin had recommended, and made Colbert his financial minister and chief
adviser.
The key to his whole policy is found in his well-known
reply to some one who spoke to him of the state: " L'etat!
c'est moi."  He wished to be considered the author of
every great enterprise in his kingdom, and his own glory
to be kept in view as the one great universal object. He
regarded the people as existing for the king rather than
the king for the people. He was a perfect egotist; vanity,
selfishness, and ambition were the ruling motives of his
life. But he was by no means a worthless king. Throughout his long reign he applied himself to the business of
his high office with marvellous punctuality and assiduity.
Everything at his Court and in his Cabinet was done with
the regularity of clock-work.
The pomp and splendour of his Court, and the punctilious etiquette that the king practised and exacted
were the theme of admiration throughout Europe. " The
Court," says his great panegyrist, "became the centre of
pleasure and the model of all other courts. It seems as
if nature at that time took a pleasure in producing in
France the greatest men in all the arts, and in assembling
at the Court whatever was beautiful in women and noble
in men. The king surpassed all his courtiers in the
elegance of his person and the majestic beauty of his
countenance. The sound of his voice gained the hearts
which his presence intimidated. He had a gait which
became him and his rank, but which would have been
ridiculous in any other."
There was no palace in the kingdom deemed worthy to
receive this great monarch, until he built the palace of
Versailles on a scale of grandeur before unknown in
France. The chief feature is its monotonous and formal
magnificence. The extensive gardens planted around it
are distinguished by the same formal beauty. Everything in them is stamped with mathematical precision;
even the very trees stand like ranks of well-drilled soldiers,
and grow exactly in the same shape, bough for bough.




208       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
In this magnificent abode, L;e Grand Monarque lived as
a god, the object of constant adulation, the inimitable
model of grace and dignity, the fountain of all favours
and honours. The goddess of this Court was not the
Queen of France, Maria Theresa, the discreet and virtuous
daughter of Philip IV. of Spain, but a haughty and imperious beauty, the Marchioness de Mlontespan. Whoever
would gain a favour from the king paid court to his
mistress. When her power over the royal egotist at
length declined with her beauty, Madame de Maintenon
became the favourite at Court. By her fascinating conversation and ready wit, she gained such ascendency over
the king, that on the death of the queen she became his
wife, being married to him in private (A.D. 1685.) But
it was a dear-bought honour. Her duty was to keep the
king amused, and this she found no easy task. In a
letter to a friend, she complains of " the torment of having
to amuse an unamusable king."
Louis seems never to have enjoyed the immunities of
private life. He appears to have been in public from
morning to night.  Being regarded as a model by'the
fashionable world, his mode of life is worth our knowing,
as we shall thereby gain an insight into the manners and
customs of the age.  At eight o'clock precisely every
morning his valet called him, and then his old nurse
ushered into his apartment the first physician and surgeon
of the Court to feel his pulse and inspect his tongue.
The grand chamberlain, with a crowd of courtiers at his
heels, was then admitted to attend his levee. The first
ceremony was to hand the king his powdered peruke;
and this was always presented before his curtains were
undrawn at the end of a long cane, for his majesty thought
it undignified to be seen in his own natural locks. Truly
an artificial age, void of one touch of nature. The attendant
nobles coveted the honour of assisting the king at his
toilette; one handed him his shirt with cambric sleeves
and ruffles, another put on his silk stockings, a third
stood ready with his knee-breeches of satin; this one held
his looking-glass, that one was privileged to offer him his




LOUIS XIV. OF FRANCE.             209
embroidered waistcoat, whilst another claimed the honour
of putting on his red-heeled shoes with silver buckles.
When the ceremonies of the levee were at length over,
the king occupied himself in transacting business with
his ministers till dinner-time. He dined in public, with
nobles posted behind his chair to anticipate his every
wish; whilst a throng of admiring courtiers, standing in
groups, enjoyed the high privilege of seeing their monarch
eat.  His vast palace was crowded with titled servants
and their suites of attendants. They prepared and took
part in the constant fetes, balls, and carousals, which were
the unfailing amusements of the Court, even in times of
the direst distress.  Thus the king lived in the midst of
pomp and splendour.  But as time went on, the spirit
which had found satisfaction in them fled.  The pomp
and ceremonies of the Court in the king's old age have
been compared to "wedding-dresses upon corpses"-all
was weariness and disgust, icy splendour and frigid
formality.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Louis's ambition led him into many wars, by which
his territory was somewhat enlarged, but at an enormous
expenditure of blood and treasure. " War," says a French
historian, "at the end of a few years, renders the conqueror almost as wretched as the conquered. It is a gulf
in which all the streams of wealth are lost."
In 1665, Louis laid claim to the Spanish Netherlands,
on the pretence that they belonged to him in right of his
wife, Maria Theresa of Spain.  Flanders was overrun
with ease and rapidity; but so formidable a league was
formed against the aggressor, embracing England, Sweden,
and Holland, that, in 1668, he agreed to make peace.
Louis had signed the treaty only to gain time. He
soon afterwards entered into a secret treaty with Charles
II. of England, who, for a pension of ~200,000 a-year,
promised to assist the French king in subjugating Holland.
Having also secured the neutrality of Sweden and Germany, Louis marched an army of 120,000 soldiers-many
o




210       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
of whom were armed with that new and terrible weapon,
the bayonet - into the Dutch territory (A.D. 1672).
William, Prince of Orange, afterwards William III. of
England, by his military ability and patriotism, saved his
country from the tyranny of the French, as his ancestor,
William the Silent, had rescued it from the Spaniards.
Now, as then, the sluices were opened, and the country
around Amsterdam ceded to the waves. Notwithstanding the splendid efforts of the great French generals,
Turenne and Prince Cond6, the Dutch, though defeated,
would not be conquered.  They resolved "to die," if
necessary, "in disputing the last ditch." After six years
spent in unavailing attempts to break the spirit of the
Dutch, Louis made peace with Holland at Nimeguen
(A.D. 1678). Spain, having fought on the side of the
Dutch, had to pay to France, as the price of peace, eleven
towns on the frontiers of Flanders, and the whole of
Franche-Comt6, which formed a part of the old province
of Burgundy, on the confines of Switzerland.
During the late war, the French fleet had won almost
its first laurels. Three times in a single year the French
admiral, Duquesne, defeated the Dutch fleet. In the
second fight the celebrated De Ruyter, who commanded
the Dutch, was slain. These successes were the more
remarkable, because when Louis assumed the government, the navy of France was miserably small and in
wretched condition. Even her commerce was carried on
mainly by means of Dutch and English vessels. In a
few years, however, Louis, aided by Colbert, contrived
to throw new life and vigour into the French marine.
Dockyards and arsensals were established at Brest,
Rochefort, Toulon, Dunkerque, and Havre; and strenuous efforts were made to construct a navy that should be
worthy of France. The creation of a powerful navy was
certainly one of the true glories of this reign.
The treaty of Nimeguen was followed by eleven years
of comparative peace. In 1689, Louis, in the face of
a stronger combination than ever, renewed the war.
William, Prince of Orange, had in the meantime become




LOUIS XIV. OF FRANCE.           211
King of England, so that his power was now very formidable. Louis sent troops to Ireland to support the cause
of James II., but the hopes of that monarch vanished
with his defeat on the banks of the Boyne (A.D. 1690).
In every other quarter the French were at first successfill, especially at sea. On the day before the battle of
the Boyne, the French admiral, Tourville, beat the combined fleets of England and Holland off Beachy Head.
Tourville sustained, however, a complete defeat from
Admiral Russel, in 1692, off Cape La Hougue; and thus
England was freed from all dangers of invasion from the
French army that had been assembled for that purpose
at Cherbourg, under King James.  For nine years the
provinces on the Rhine were deluged with blood. The
ordinary streams of industry were dried up; the commerce of the world was paralysed, so that the horrors
of famine and disease greatly aggravated the common
miseries of war. The peace of Ryswick (A.D. 1697)
-arrested the work of destruction for a time. Louis, by
this treaty, obtained Strasburg, one of the chief keys of
the Rhine, on which his celebrated engineer, Vauban,
exhausted all the resources of his art.
The last war in which Louis engaged was still more
disastrous to France. It is known as the "War of the
Spanish Succession." Charles II. of Spain, dying in
1700, left the crown by his will to Philip, Duke of
Anjou, the second son of the dauphin, and Louis was
resolved to maintain the claims of his grandson by force
of arms. The emperor, who claimed the Spanish crown
for his second son, declared war against France; and
William III., who was always ready to aim a blow at
his old antagonist, entered into an alliance with the emperor. The reader of English history is familiar with
the series of brilliant victories gained by the allies under
the command of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, beginning at Blenheim (A.D. 1704), and ending at Malplaquet
(A.D. 1709). In Spain, however, the arms of Louis were
crowned with victory. The treaty of Utrecht (A.D. 1713)
left his grandson, Philip V., on the throne of Spain, on




212       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
the express understanding that the crowns of France and
Spain should be for ever separate.
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.
When Louis began to govern by himself, he evidently
desired, as Voltaire says, "to reform his kingdom, to
embellish his court, and to bring the arts to perfection."
He wisely made choice of Colbert as his chief minister.
By the wise policy of this minister and his royal master,
commerce and manufactures were vastly extended and
improved. The Gulf of Lyons and the Bay of Biscay
were united by the canal of Languedoc, a gigantic work
which had been projected in the time of the Romans, and
again contemplated in the reign of Charlemagne. It employed 12,000 men under the direction of the most able
engineers for seventeen years. Meanwhile, considerable
progress was made in manufactures.  Colbert, who was
desirous that the French should excel all other people in
handicrafts, invited over from Italy and the Netherlands
some of the best workmen in steel, iron, plate-glass, etc.
He also established the celebrated manufacture called
Gobelin's tapestry, and introduced stocking-weaving from
England. The French lace and silks became famous.
France had become rich and powerful, when Louis's
ambition imperilled the welfare of his country, as we
have shown, by drawing the sword to extend its boundaries. A still more fatal mistake was his persecution of
the Huguenots, which had the effect of driving from
France thousands of skilful artisans. Many took refuge
in England, where they made great improvements in
several of the arts, particularly in silk and ribbon weaving, the construction of clocks and watches, the making
of surgical instruments and cutlery of all kinds. Instead
of encouraging the industrious Protestants to remain in
France by securing to them their religious liberty, Louis
threatened with the severest penalties all who attempted
to leave the kingdom; and, as a last act of folly, revoked
the famous edict of Nantes (A.D. 1685), which, under




LOUIS XIV. OF FRANCE.            213'
certain restrictions, had put their religion under the protection of the law.
The reign of Louis XIV. is the golden age of French
literature. Molihre wrote many clever comedies; Corneille
and Racine produced some great tragedies; Bossuet,
Bourdaloue, and Massillon were eloquent preachers;
Boileau and La Fontaine distinguished themselves as
poets; Des Cartes was an eminent mathematician; Pascal
is celebrated for his Pensees; and Fenelon is well known
as the author of a poetic romance entitled Telemaque.
Louis was the patron of all these eminent men except La
Fontaine, whose extreme simplicity had no charm for Le
Grand Monarque. For the encouragement of science and
art the king instituted the academy of sciences, of belleslettres, of painting, of sculpture, and of architecture; he
also built an observatory. He gave pensions and rewards
to men of genius, both French and foreign, and induced
some of the latter to leave their own country and reside in
France. The age of Louis is remarkable for the progress
made in natural philosophy, especially in England. " It
is," says Voltaire, "especially in philosophy that the
English have been the masters of other nations."  Bacon
taught the right method of studying nature; and Newton,
"the glory of the human race," was the first to discover
and demonstrate the universal law of nature that holds
the planets in their course.
GENERAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.
The reign of Louis, though in many respects brilliant,
was by no means conducive to the general happiness of
the nation. The vain monarch sacrificed the prosperity
and well-being of his subjects in the attempt to raise
France to the first place among the nations, and himself
to the highest pinnacle of glory among the crowned heads
of the world.
Whilst the king was building his gorgeous palaces, and
laying out his beautiful gardens, and feting his gay nobles,
his poor subjects were burdenedwith excessive taxes to pay
for all this grandeur. Whilst the king was making war




214       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
to satisfy his ambition, his impoverished people often
knew not where to turn for bread to satisfy their hunger.
Not only were the taxes enormous, but they were
unjustly distributed. Thus the land-tax was paid only
by a third of those who held land; the nobles, the clergy,
and those in the service of the government were exempt.
Take the following as a picture of the times. The taxcollectors of a certain district meet at a tavern to distribute the tax imposed on their district among the inhabitants who are liable. They go their rounds in a body foi
mutual protection, raising in their passage along the
streets a multitude of cries and curses. On arriving at
the end of their journey, they have pocketed nothing
but insults. Bailiffs and constables are then sent; the
wretched people try to gain time by bribing and treating
these officials. At length, the day of final reckoning is
come; the cattle are seized and sold; the miserable furniture is put up to auction; even the doors and window
shutters are unhinged; nay, the cabin itself is demolished
for the bricks and timber, if no other means are found of
raising the amount required. But of all the imposts the
most detested was the gabelle or salt-tax. The govern,
ment monopolised the trade in salt, and accordingly it pu,
on this necessary article any price it pleased. Every
householder was compelled to purchase a certain quantity,
fixed for him by the authorities, whether he had need of
it or not. Further, the quantity differed in the several
provinces, and there were provinces that were entirely
free from the gabelle.
Such arbitrary and unequal measures as these were the
seeds of the Great Revolution. Such monarchs as Louis
XIV. sowed the wind, their descendants reaped the whirlwind.  Signs of the coming storm  were visible before
Louis ended his gilded reign. Fenelon thus wrote to his
majesty: "Your people die of hunger. The culture of
the fields is almost abandoned; the towns and villages
are depopulated; all the trades languish.  Instead of
drawing money from  this poor people, one ought to
supply them  with the  means of subsistence.  The




LOUIS XIV. OF FRANCE.            215
whole of France is as a great hospital without resources.
Popular tumults are becoming common; you are reduced
to the deplorable extremity of allowing sedition to go
unpunished, or of killing people who are driven to
despair, and whose ranks are daily thinned by famine
and disease."
Such was the wretched state of France in the latter
part of this reign. Louis had the unhappiness of outliving his fame, his friends, his children, and his hopes.
He died in 1715, leaving the crown to his great-grandson,
Louis XV., then a boy of five years.




CHAPTER XIX.
GREAT MONARCHS OF THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY.
GREAT wars formed a marked feature of the eighteenth
century. In every European state of any importance a
large standing army was now kept. It was still considered
the great business of a king to lead his armies in battle.
That king was reckoned the greatest who most excelled
in the art of war. Among the most renowned generals
of the age were Charles XII. of Sweden, and Frederick
II. of Prussia. But a greater prince than either of these,
when judged by the beneficial results of his reign, was
Peter the Great of Russia.  It is the design of this
chapter to give the character and chief exploits of these
three famous monarchs. As the reign of Charles XII. is
intimately connected with that of Peter the Great, it will
be most convenient to interweave the history of these
two rivals, after giving an account of
THE CZAR'S TRAVELS AND REFORMS.
Peter the Great ascended the throne of Muscovy, or
Russia, in 1682, when a boy ten years of age. His sister,
Sophia, who was regent, thought to keep the sovereignty
in her own hands, by letting the boy grow up in ignorance and vice. But he soon became aware of his own
ignorance, and evinced the most ardent thirst for knowledge. At the age of seventeen he assumed the reins of
government, and being an absolute monarch, he soon
showed his resolution to effect a thorough reform in the
manners of his subjects, and to raise his country to a high
place among the nations of Europe.




M1ONARCHS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.   217
When Peter began to reign, Russia was but a poor
half-civilized country, without political influence, without
manufactures, without a navy, and with only Archangel
for a seaport. The Russians are of the Sclavonic race,
and at that time retained the long flowing robes and
customs of the Asiatics. They had nominally embraced
Christianity in the tenth century, but the truth of the
Gospel was still, to a great extent, hidden amid the darkness of ignorance and superstition.
As the first step in working out his plans, Peter began
to form an army, drilled and accoutred like the best
European regiments. In this task he was greatly aided
by Lefort, a Swiss, and Patrick Gordon, a Scotchman.
The Czar, being determined to learn the military art
thoroughly, entered his first regiment as a drummer, and
gained promotion from one step to another, as he became
proficient. Meanwhile, he studied the art of shipbuilding,
and began to construct a navy.
Having spent seven years in laying the foundation of
his country's future greatness, he resolved on visiting
foreign countries, to gain the knowledge indispensable
for carrying on the work he had begun.  At the same
time he sent several young Russians to Italy, Germany,
and Holland, to acquire information of various kinds,
especially that relating to naval and military matters.
In the same spirit that he had entered the army as a
drummer, he engaged himself to a shipbuilder, at Saardam, in Holland; and here he might have been seen in red
woollen shirt and duck trousers, plying his adze as a ship
carpenter. For seven weeks he lived in a little shingle
cottage, rose early, made his bed, and cooked his breakfast. He passed nine months in Holland, and during
that time mastered the Dutch language, acquired a clear
insight into the construction of a ship, and examined
carefully all the factories and institutions of Amsterdam.
From Holland he passed over to England, where he
was received with great honour by William III. Peter's
main object was to examine the dockyards of England,
and for that purpose he occupied a house at Deptford,




218       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
after he had seen the chief places of interest in London.
He spent most of the day, when not in the dockyard, in
sailing or rowing on the Thames; he became as expert in
managing vessels as an able seaman, and quite as fond as
a sailor, when the day's work was over, of retiring to a
tavern for grog and tobacco. Peter was so much delighted
with the British navy, that he was wont to declare, that
if he were not Czar of Russia, he would like to be Admiral
of England. Towards the end of the year (A.D. 1698),
on taking leave of King William, Peter presented him
with a ruby of the value of ~10,000, which he drew
from his waistcoat pocket, wrapped up in a bit of brown
paper.
From England the Czar went to Vienna, to see the
soldiers of the emperor, whose dress and discipline were
then accounted the model for Europe. His stay at the
Austrian capital was cut short by alarming news from
Moscow. The Strelitz, the old body-guard, had rebelled.
On Peter's arrival, he found that General Gordon had
put an end to the mutiny. The rebels were brought to
trial, and for weeks the cord, the axe, and the wheel were
furnished with numerous victims daily.
The great Czar now turned himself in good earnest to
the work of social reform. He made war against the
long dresses and long beards of the men; he stationed
tailors and barbers at the gates of Moscow, to clip the
beard and whiskers of every man who passed in or out,
and "to cut his petticoats all round about."  Such was
the outcry raised, that the autocrat had to be satisfied
with imposing a tax on long beards and robes, leaving
the change to the gradual work of time and the influence
of his own example. Hitherto the women of rank had,
according to the oriental custom, been kept in seclusion;
but now they were encouraged to mix in the society of
gentlemen, and to take part in the conversation at table,
and in the amusements of the evening. Peter, also, had
the Bible translated into the Russian tongue, set up printing-presses, founded hospitals and almshouses, erected
linen and paper factories, introduced flocks of Saxony




MIONARCHS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.   219
sheep, and encouraged skilful mechanics, of all nations
and trades, to settle in his empire.
PETER THE GREAT AND CHARLES XII.
At the time of Peter's accession, Russia was so hemmed
in by neighbouring states, that it had no access to the
great ocean highway for its commerce except through
Archangel, whose port, the greater part of the year, was
blocked up with ice. The Black Sea was commanded by
the Turks and the Baltic by the Swedes, at that time two
of the most powerful nations of Europe. The Czar was
convinced that his country could never be great and
prosperous till seaports were wrested from them. Before
leaving Russia on his tour in the west, he had seized
Azov, and thus opened up a communication with the
Black Sea. And now on his return he entered into a
war with Sweden in the hope of gaining a footing on the
coast of the Baltic; for the Swedes were not only masters
of Finland, but also of the provinces between the Gulf of
Finland and the Gulf of Riga.  By the treaty of Westphalia, it should also be remembered, the Swedes had
acquired a large part of the Baltic coast now belonging
to Prussia. Accordingly, Peter entered into an alliance
with the kings of Denmark and Poland (A.D. 1700); and
invading Ingria, a province on the north of the Gulf of
Finland, with 60,000 men, laid siege to Narva.
Sweden, assailed on three sides by her triple foe,
seemed in a perilous condition, especially when it was
considered that her ruler, Charles XII., was only a gay,
inexperienced youth.  This untried  prince, however,
turned out a military genius.  "I am  resolved," said
the spirited king, "to attack the first that shall declare
war against me in such a way as to strike terror into the
rest;" and well he kept his word. Henceforth Charles
devoted himself to war, which became his sole delight and
all-absorbing passion. Whilst Peter regarded war as the
necessary means to the great end he had in view, his
rival revelled in it as the only employment worthy of
a king.  Charles loved war for its own sake; Peter




220       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
delighted in war only so far as it promoted his designs
for the elevation of his people.
In a campaign of six weeks, Charles brought Denmark
to his feet. He then fought his way to Narva, which
was hard pressed by the Russians. -With his gallant
force of only 9000 men, Charles stormed the entrenchments of the besiegers, whilst favoured by a snow storm
that drove its flakes into the eyes of the enemy. In
three hours the camp was won, and 30,000 Russians
were made prisoners of war. When the Czar, who was
absent, was informed of this ignominious defeat, he
replied, "I know very well that the Swedes will have
the advantage over us for some time; but they will teach
us at length to beat them." Charles now turned his arms
against Frederick Augustus, King of Poland and Elector
of Saxony; and thus gave his rival time to recruit his
forces for the renewal of the contest.
The notes of military preparation resounded throughout Russia. The Czar strained every nerve to create an
effective army; he even melted down the church bells of
Moscow to found cannon.  Yet amid all this military
activity, Peter steadily carried on those peaceful projects
by which he hoped to regenerate the nation. Whilst the
Swedish king was engaged in Poland, Peter was slowly
but steadily ousting the Swedes from the banks of the
Neva, and thus acquiring a site for a great commercial
city.  On New Year's Day, 1702, the Russian troops
gained a decisive victory. " We have at last," said Peter,
"beaten the Swedes when two to one against them; we
shall, by and bye, be able to face them man to man."
The same year he built the fortress of St. Petersburg on
an island near the mouth of the Neva; and still lower
down the river the impregnable fortress of Cronstadt,
which commands its entrance. The country around the
citadel of St. Petersburg was a morass.  Here, however,
the Czar resolved to build a new city. In the course of
a twelvemonth the city of St. Petersburg arose as if by
magic. Peter being an autocrat, he could not only collect
thousands upon thousands of workmen to drain and build,




MONARCHS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.  221
but he could compel them to persevere with their labours,
though they perished by thousands from toil, privation,
and the pestilential air of the marshes.  Under the
marvellous energies of the founder, St. Petersburg soon
became a fine city, and a place of great commercial
importance. Peter made it his capital, and its subsequent growth and prosperity have justified his choice.
Charles XII. looked with careless indifference upon the
gigantic labours of his rival, and merely remarked, " that
the Czar might amuse himself in setting up his wooden
houses, but they would serve only as firewood in the
hands of his soldiers."  Meanwhile, Peter was gradually
gaining ground, and in 1704 the province of Ingria was
annexed to his empire. The government of this new
province was entrusted to Prince Menzikoff, a man of
extraordinary abilities, who in his boyhood sold cakes
and patties in the streets of Moscow. A still greater
elevation of rank and fortune awaited an orphan maiden,
named Catharine, who was taken captive at Marienburg,
and received into the service of Prince Menzikoff:  While
handing round fruits and wines to the Prince's guests, she
attracted the Czar's attention, who was so pleased with
her beauty, intelligence, and character, that he made her
his wife. This poor stranger, who had been discovered
amidst the ruins of a plundered town, not only became
the wife of the Czar, but on his death the absolute sovereign of his empire.
It was not until 1707 that Charles had finished his
war with Frederick Augustus of Saxony and Poland.
Having wrested from him the crown of Poland, Charles
might have placed it upon his own head; but this singular
monarch was fonder of winning crowns than of wearing
them. Having nominated a prince for the vacant throne
of Poland, Charles invaded Russia with his veteran troops
(A.D. 1708). " Nowhere," said the great warrior, "will I
treat with Peter but at Moscow." On this Peter remarked,
" My brother Charles wishes to act the part of Alexander,
but he shall not find a Darius in me." The Czar with
his army retreated slowly before the advancing enemy,




222        LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
thus drawing them on step by step into the heart of a
barren country, where they were overtaken by the snows
of winter. After the loss of thousands of his men from
cold, hunger, and disease, the king entered the Ukraine,
and with 20,000 frost-bitten, ill-clad, ill-fed soldiers,
besieged the small but strongly fortified town of Pultowa.
The day was now fast approaching when the two rivals
were, for the first and last time, to measure their strength,
and to fight a great decisive battle. Peter appeared before
Pultowa with an army of 60,000 men (15th June, 1709).
The two monarchs headed their respective forces. Charles,
who had been previously wounded in the foot, was carried
on a litter from rank to rank.  The litter was shattered
in pieces by a cannon ball, but the king was not struck.
Peter narrowly escaped, his hat being shot through.
After two hours of incessant fighting, the Swedes gave
way and fell into confusion.  The rout now became
general and the slaughter dreadful. More than a half of
the Swedish army remained bleeding or dead upon the
battle-field. Charles escaped to Turkey with the fragments of his forces, and prevailed upon the sultan to
declare war against Russia.
Peter, crossing the Pruth to attack his enemies in their
own country, was surrounded by a Turkish army 200,000
strong. For three days the Russians kept their foes at
bay, but as their ammunition was now expended, they
could resist no longer. At the suggestion of Catharine,
who had accompanied her husband to the seat of war, a
present of her jewels was sent to the Turkish vizier with
a proposal of peace. A treaty was signed and the Russian
army was saved (A.D. 1711).
Charles had taken up his abode at Benaer, 60 miles
from the spot where his rival was entrapped by the
Turkish army. On hearing of the treaty, and the return
of the:Russians to their own country, his fury knew no
bounds. Indeed, since the battle of Pultowa he had
behaved like a madman. Instead of returning to Sweden
he lingered on at Bender. Whilst the truant king was




MONARCHS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.    223
playing the part of a lunatic in Turkey, his enemies were
stripping the Swedes of all their conquests; Frederick
Augustus recovered the crown of Poland; Peter made
himself master of the provinces on both sides of the Gulf
of Finland; the kings of Prussia and Denmark laid
violent hands on the Swedish dominions south of the
Baltic.  At length the Turks, being heartily tired of
their troublesome guest, sent a body of troops to remove
him. The heroic madman armed his servants, barricaded
his house, and killed, it is said, twenty of the assailants
with his own hand before hurling his sword into the air.
Early on a November morning in 1714, Charles in disguise reached Stralsund, almost the only town his enemies
had left him in Pomerania.
The return of Charles made no change in the fortune
of war.  Even Stralsund was compelled to surrender
before the close of the year 1717. Charles had previously
contrived to make his escape in a small boat at midnight.
He reached a Swedish vessel that carried him  to his
ruined country, both prince and people being broken in
fortune but not in spirit.  His last mad exploit was an
attempt to snatch Norway out of the grasp of the Danes,
by climbing the snow-clad mountains of that rugged
country with an army of 25,000 men in winter.  So
inured was he to cold, that he slept in the open air on a
bed of straw, covered only with his cloak, whilst his
sentinels were often frozen to death at their posts. Whilst
besieging Fredericshall, he was killed by a ball from the
fortress (A.D. 1718).
The king that had dazzled all Europe with his prowess
passed away without leaving a token of his greatness.
His career was like that of a bright meteor that flashes
through the sky and is lost in darkness. The death of
Charles was the signal for peace. Sweden was shorn of
most of her former conquests. She has never regained
the proud position she occupied before the reign of her
great warrior.
Peter the Great gained a large portion of what Charles
had lost. Two years before the death of his rival, the




224       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Czar, feeling that his empire had nothing to fear from
Sweden, undertook a second tour through Europe3 accompanied by Catharine.  On his arrival at the gay city of
Paris, the king wished to lodge him in splendid style at
the Louvre; but Peter preferred to stay at a small hotel,
where he could live in his own simple frugal way.  " I
am a soldier," he said; "a little bread and beer satisfy
me; I prefer few friends to many, and small rooms to
large ones." He made a point of seeing, while at Paris,
all that was remarkable for magnificence, ingenuity, or
utility.  He visited the splendid tomb of Cardinal
Richelieu; and after looking attentively at his image, he
exclaimed, "Great man! I would have given thee one
half of my dominions to learn of thee how to govern the
other half."
Peter spent the remaining years of his life in useful reforms and patriotic labours. In 1724, Peter, being
now at peace with all the world, celebrated by a grand
naval review the creation of the Russian navy, which
now comprised 41 ships of the line, carrying 2106 cannons, and manned by 14,960 seamen.  The little skiff,
in which he had paddled when a boy, was exhibited on
this occasion, under the name of the Little Grandsire, as
the ancestor of the Russian fleet. The great Czar died
of fever (A.D. 1725), caught by wading up to his knees
in water to aid in rescuing a boat, full of soldiers and
sailors, that had struck upon a rock. Peter found Russia
a semi-barbarous country, convulsed by disorders, and
weak from disunion; without a ship, with hardly a seaport; he left it one of the great powers of Europe, freed
in great measure from its barbarous customs; he created
a new capital on the shores of the Baltic, and a powerful
fleet to protect its commerce; in a word, he laid the
foundation of Russian prosperity and grandeur. He was
succeeded by his beloved consort Catharine.
FREDERICK THE GREAT.
Prussia is now one of the most powerful states in the
world; its greatness, however, is of recent date. This




MONARCHS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.    225
important kingdom originated in the little state of Brandenburg, which, four centuries ago, was bestowed by the
Emperor Sigismund upon the noble house of Hohenzollern.
In the seventeenth century the Elector of Brandenburg
obtained from the king of Poland the investiture of the
duchy of Prussia, a province in the north-east corner of
the present kingdom of Prussia. Frederick William, the
" Great Elector," acquired for Prussia, by the treaty of
Westphalia, the rich city and district of Magdeburg, and
other valuable possessions; and he left to his son Frederick
a principality as considerable as any not called a kingdom.
Frederick preferred to be a little king rather than a great
elector like his father, and in the year 1700 assumed the
royal title. His successor, named Frederick William after
the great elector, made it the great object of his life to
form  an army that should surpass the best troops of
Europe.  Macaulay observes that " his feeling about his
troops resembled a miser's feeling about his money." He
loved to collect them, to count them, to review them, but
they were too precious in his eyes to be thrown away
upon the battle-field. He was very fond of sham fights,
but took care to avoid all real warfare. The great military
machine, however, which he had brought to rare perfection, was destined to accomplish great results in the hands
of his famous son.
Frederick II., surnamed the Great, was born a prince,
but was treated worse than a beggar's son. Kicked and
cuffed about by his tyrannical father, often fed upon
coarse bread and water, snubbed by the king whenever
he betrayed a desire to learn anything not bearing directly
upon a soldier's profession, the boy grew up with an
aversion to his father, and at length tried to escape from
his ill treatment. The fugitive was discovered, brought
back, and condemned to death as a deserter from  the
army, and only saved from the scaffold by the intercession
of half the crowned heads of Europe. The prince was
fortunately for himself kept in prison for a long time. Ho
could now read his favourite authors without being kicked,
and play on the lute without having it broken upon his head.
P




226       LANDM5ARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Frederick succeeded his unamiable father in 1740. A
few months later Charles VI. of Germany died, leaving
his dominions to his daughter, Maria Theresa, according
to a law of succession called the " Pragmatic Sanction,"
which had been promulgated nearly thirty years before,
and solemnly guaranteed by all the European powers.
Foremost among the princes that, in spite of treaties,
took arms against Maria Theresa was Frederick of
Prussia.  His own words are: "Ambition, interest, the
desire of making people talk about me, carried the day;
and I decided for war." He poured his troops into Silesia
in the depth of winter. No enemy ventured to encounter
him in the field, and before January 1741, he returned
to Berlin with the keys of most of the Silesian towns and
fortresses at his command.
This successful robbery tempted other princes to draw
the sword, and carve out, if possible, a slice of the
Austrian territory for themselves. Two French armies
invaded Germany; and the Elector of Bavaria, who
claimed the imperial crown, marched within eight miles
of Vienna. The queen fled to Hungary, and threw herself on the devotion of her subjects in that part of her
dominions. At the first sitting of the Diet she appeared
clad in mourning for her father, with the crown of St.
Stephen on her head, and implored her people to redress
her wrongs.  The nobles and deputies sprang to their
feet, half drew their sabres, and vowed to stand by her
with life and fortune. And when she held up before
them her little infant son, the old hall rang with the cry,
"Let us die for our sovereign, Maria Theresa."  The
echoes of that war-cry resounded throughout Europe.
Frederick, the royal robber, was now ready to betray
the queen's enemies with whom he had been in league.
His policy was simply this: first, to rob the queen of
Hungary; secondly, to permit no one else to rob her.
Accordingly, he made peace with Maria upon her recognition of his claim to Silesia (A.D. 1742).
The queen was soon everywhere triumphant. The
retreat of the French army from Bohemia, in the depth




MONARCHS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.   227
of a severe winter, could be traced by the corpses of
thousands who died of cold, hunger, and fatigue. Bavaria
was overrun, and the elector, driven from his dominions,
was hurried by shame and remorse to an untimely end.
An English army appeared in the heart of Germany and
defeated the French at Dettingen. The French, however,
took their revenge for this defeat, at Fontenoy, two years
later. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (A.D. 1748) restored
peace to Europe.  Of all the powers that had taken part
in the war, the only gainer was the perfidious king of
Prussia.
The combatants separated, and spent the next eight
years in sharpening their swords for a deadlier struggle.
This breathing time was spent by Frederick to the good
of his country.  He was not content with being, like
Louis XIV., his own prime minister; he would be his
own sole minister. The highest officers under his government were mere clerks. Macaulay gives an interesting
account of the life of this active ruler and statesman at
this period: "At Potsdam, his ordinary residence, he
rose at three in summer and four in winter.  A page
soon appeared, with a large basket full of all the letters
which had arrived for the king by the last courier,
despatches from  ambassadors, reports from  officers of
revenue, plans of buildings, proposals for draining
marshes, complaints from persons who thought themselves aggrieved, applications from persons who wanted
titles, military commissions, and civil situations.  He
examined the seals with a keen eye; for he was never
for a moment free from the suspicion that some fraud
might be practised on him. Then he read the letters,
divided them  into several packets, and signified his
pleasure, generally by a mark, often by two or three
words, now and then by some cutting epigram.  By
eight he had generally finished this part of his task.
The adjutant-general was then in attendance, and received instructions for the day as to all the military
arrangements of the kingdom.  Then the king went to
review his guards, not as kings ordinarily review their




22-8      LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
guards, but with the minute attention and severity of an
old drill-sergeant.  In the meantime the four cabinet
secretaries had been employed in answering the letters
on which the king had that morning signified his will.
The king, always on his guard against treachery, took
from the heap a handful of letters at random, and looked
into them to see whether his instructions had been exactly
followed. Frederick then signed the replies, and all were
sent off the same evening."
The national revenue was spent chiefly on the army
and on buildings. In all other respects the king was
parsimonious. His wardrobe consisted of one gala dress
that lasted all his life; of two or three old thread-bare
coats; of yellow waistcoats soiled with snuff, and of huge
boots embrowned by time. He governed as an absolute
monarch. His people, however, enjoyed the blessings of
order, security, and speedy justice. All religions were
tolerated; but little praise is due to Frederick on this
account, as his apparent liberality of spirit was due to his
religious indifference.
The empress-queen, as Maria Theresa may be styled,
had never for a moment forgiven the wrong which she
had received from  Frederick.  To recover Silesia, to
humble the King of Prussia to the dust, was the darling
object of her life; at last she succeeded in securing the
co-operation of Russia, France, Sweden, and Saxony.
England, as usual, took the side opposed to France, and
allied herself with Prussia. The gigantic war that began
in 1756 is known as The Seven Years' War.  It raged in
almost every quarter of the globe. England and France
measured their strength chiefly in America and India.
Their quarrel involved the natives of these lands; black
men fought on the coast of Coromandel, and red men
scalped each other on the shores of the Great American
Lakes.
To the astonishment of Europe, the king of Prussia
proved a match for all the forces arrayed against him.
As often as his cause seemed desperate, by some marvellous victory he repaired his fortune. The heroism of this




MONARCHS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.   229
king never shone so brightly as in the darkest hour of
his misfortunes.  At the beginning of 1757, the net
seemed to have closed completely around him.  The
Russians were spreading devastation through the eastern
provinces; Silesia was overrun by the Austrians; a great
French army, after defeating the English and Hanoverians, was advancing from the west; and Berlin was
in the hands of the Croatians.  But in thirty days
the whole face of the war was changed. At Rosbach,
Frederick defeated the French, though they were two to
one (Nov. 5). Victorious in the west, the king turned
his arms towards Silesia, where everything seemed lost.
Here he defeated the Austrians in the great battle of
Leuthen (Dec. 5).  "That battle," said Napoleon, "was
a masterpiece. Of itself, it is sufficient to entitle Frederick to a place in the first rank among generals."  But
it was not sufficient to put an end to the war. Many a
hard-fought battle was lost and won before the peace of
Hubertsburg was signed (A.D. 1763). Frederick ceded
nothing. The whole Continent in arms had proved unable
to tear Silesia from his iron grasp.
Prussia was still further enlarged in the reign of this
monarch by the annexation of a part of Poland.  The
Poles had, in the previous century, laid Europe under an
obligation by the bold front they presented to the Turks.
A Mohammedan army of 200,000 men was on the eve
of taking Vienna, when John Sobieski, King of Poland,
at the head of an allied army of Austrians, Bavarians,
Saxons, and Poles, came to the rescue, and gained one of
the most signal victories in the history of war (A.D. 1683).
But the bravery of the Poles could not long avert the
ruin of their nation.  That unhappy kingdom, on the
death of Sobieski, fell into incurable disorders, and by
her own divisions fell an easy prey to her powerful
neighbours, Prussia, Russia, and Austria.  The first
partition of Poland between these three powers was
carried into effect in 1772, and this was succeeded in
1794 by a final partition. Thus perished the eldest born
of the European family of nations, just after Prussia, the




230       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
youngest of the same family, had taken its place among
the foremost nations of the Continent. The high position
assumed by Prussia was due mainly to the genius, brave
perseverance, and unscrupulous ambition of the monarch,
whom her sons, in grateful admiration, call Frederick the
Great.  After a reign of nearly forty-seven years, gout
and asthma, ending in dropsy, brought Frederick to his
deathl-bed (AD. 1786).




CHAPTER XX.
RISE OF THE UNITED STATES.
AMERICA was discovered in 1492.  But more than K
hundred years elapsed before the English began to make
those settlements on the coast of the Atlantic which afterwards became the United States.  In the meantime,
various nations of Europe, particularly Spain, England,
and France, took part in exploring the coasts of North
America.
COLONIZATION OF NORTH AMERICA.
The Spaniards, under Cortes and others, planted their
flag in the southern part of the continent. The wealthy
empire of Mexico, with its rich gold mines, became a
province of Spain in 1521, and so remained for three
centuries. Florida was occupied by the Spaniards in
1565, and St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United
States, was then founded. This province passed into the
hands of the British, by the treaty of Paris, in 1763.
The French were first drawn to the coasts of North
America by the fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland.
Champlain and other Frenchmen explored the neighbouring coasts.  About the beginning of the seventeenth
century, the French had effected settlements at Quebec
in Canada, and at Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia).
The principal French explorers were Jesuit missionaries;
in 1634 these zealous men had established missions as far
westward as Lake Huron. The French also sailed down
the Mississippi, and took possession of the country near
its mouth, which they called Louisiana in honour of
Louis XIV.




232       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Meanwhile, the English settled in much larger numbers
along the coasts of the Atlantic, between Canada and
Florida. At the outbreak of the War of Independence,
thirteen colonies had been established in these regions; and
from them the Republic of the United States was formed.
The first permanent English  settlement in North
America was that of Jamestown, founded on the shores
of Chesapeake Bay in the reign of King James (A.D. 1607).
The whole country was then a wilderness in which the
Indians roamed in pursuit of wild animals for the sake
of their flesh and fur. It was believed to be rich in precious metals. The first company of immigrants, accordingly, did not intend to settle in the country; but hoped
soon to grow rich, by successful mining or a lucrative
trade with the Indians, and then return home. After
suffering grievous disappointment in their search for gold,
and famine and disease by their neglect to plough and
sow, the adventurers, driven by necessity, became settlers,
and began to plant and build.  Other immigrants continued to arrive, and the colony of Virginia, with Jamestown as its capital, became a flourishing settlement. But
in 1622 the Indians fell suddenly upon all the outlying
settlements, and murdered 360 persons.  This led to a
bloody struggle, in which the red savages were taught to
respect the prowess of the white man, and the terrible
weapon at his command.  Indian warfare, however,
became a disagreeable feature of colonial life in America.
These savages resisted all attempts made to civilise them:
they acquired the vices of the settlers with facility, but in
other respects learnt from them but little. They receded
farther and farther from the settlements of the whites,
and their numbers gradually dwindled away. As the
natives could not be made to work for the colonists, negro
slaves were purchased on the coasts of Africa, and being
found useful as labourers on the tobacco plantations, this
abominable traffic rapidly increased, and slavery became
a legal institution in our English colonies of America.
The first cargo of slaves was brought into James river by
a Dutch trading vessel in 1620.




RISE OF THE UNITED STATES.         233
Whilst Virginia was growing into importance, a new
set of colonies, called New England, sprung up farther
north. The settlers here were for the most part Puritans,
who had expatriated themselves for the sake of enjoying
that freedom, religious and civil, which was denied to
them at home. In 1620, the Mayflower, with 101 passengers, known as the Pilgrim Fathers, set sail from
Plymouth in Devonshire, and landed on the coast of
Massachusetts, at a place since called Plymouth. The
summer of 1630 brought to Massachusetts a fleet of
thirteen vessels, having on board nearly 1500 Puritan
settlers. The new-comers founded the city of Boston.
It is worthy of remark, that the Puritans who had sailed
to the New World, to enjoy full liberty of conscience,
would tolerate no difference of religion within the borders
of their province. Four Quakers, who had been banished
on account of their religion, were put to death for daring
to return.
New York, now the first of all the States in wealth and
population, was settled by the Dutch. In 1623, a company of Dutch emigrants landed on the island of Manhattan and founded New Amsterdam.  This was the
beginning of the great city of New York. In 1660, the
Dutch colony could show a population of ten thousand.
The English had all this time regarded the Dutch as
interlopers, and when Charles II. became king, he resolved
to make good his claim to the land they occupied. Accordingly, Charles granted their province to his brother the
Duke of York, who sent out a sufficient force to take
possession (A.D. 1664).  New Amsterdam  henceforth
received the name of New York.
Pennsylvania was intended as an asylum  for the
persecuted English Quakers, a religious society, calling
themselves Friends, which arose in England about the
year 1650. This colony was founded by the celebrated
William Penn, who was a member of this sect. The
English government owed Penn's father, who had been an
admiral in the English navy, a large sum of money. Penn,
in payment, took a grant of some large unoccupied lands




234       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
west of the river Delaware (A.D. 1681). It was Penn's
devout wish to reconcile the Indians to his settlement in
the territory granted to him by his sovereign. " I desire,"
he says to them, " to enjoy it with your love and consent,
that we may always live together as neighbours and
friends."  He then offered to purchase of the Indians
his right to live among them. The Indian chiefs pledged
themselves " to live in love with William Penn and his
children, as long as sun and moon should endure." The
bargain thus struck was the only compact between savages
and Christians that was never broken. As long as the
Quaker tcontrol of the colony lasted, which was seventy
years, there was unbroken harmony between the whites
and the red men. Appropriately was the new capital
called, by Penn its founder, Philadelphia (brotherly love).
Unlike the Pilgrim  Fathers, this noble Quaker secured
to every person in his province the right "to worship
God in such a way as each one shall in conscience believe
is most acceptable to God."
Maryland was colonised by Roman Catholics from England in the reign of Charles I., and so called in honour of
the Queen, Henrietta Maria.
In 1663, Charles II. gave Lord Clarendon and others
a grant of all the land between Virginia and Florida.
This territory received the name of Carolina, the Latin
form of the king's name being Carolus.  It was afterwards divided into North and South Carolina.  Charlestown, the capital of South Carolina, also received its
name from  Charles II.  This southern State became a
famous rice-growing country, and so many slaves were
employed on the rice plantations, that at the end of forty
years they outnumbered the whites in this colony as five
to one.
Thirteen colonies were founded by the English within
the territory of the United States before the outbreak of
the war between them and the mother country. Georgia
was the last of these colonies. It was founded by a company of benevolent gentlemen, as a refuge for the destitute,
in the reign of George II., from whom it derived its




RISE OF THE UNITED STATES.           235
name.  Large bands of thrifty and intelligent Scots,
Swiss, and Germans, were attracted by the liberal grants
of land offered to the poor and industrious.
REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES.
The attachment of the American Colonies to the mother
country was never stronger than at the close of the French
War in 1763, when, by the treaty of Paris, Canada, Cape
Breton, and Florida, were ceded to England.  The
colonists were proud of their descent from British ancestors, and gloried in belonging to a nation so renowned for
its achievements. The Americans loved the land of their
forefathers, and still spoke of England as "home," though
they had never by the payment of taxes enriched the
English treasury, yet by the quantity of British manufactures which they imported, they brought much wealth
to our nation.  But the bond which united the two
great parts of the English race was about to be broken
for ever.
The triumphs gained by the English in the Seven Year's
War with the French (A.D. 1756-1763), was attended
by a great increase of the national debt. As the war
had been undertaken partly in defence of the colonies, it
was thought not unreasonable to call upon the colonists
to bear part of the expense that had been incurred.
Accordingly, in 1765, it was proposed to levy a tax on
them; and an Act of Parliament, called the Stamp Act,
was passed, by which all legal contracts were to be drawn
up on stamped paper. The Americans were resolved not
to pay any tax imposed by the British Parliament: they
contended that, according to the constitution of this
realm, Englishmen could not be taxed except by their
representatives, and that as the colonists were not represented in Parliament, they could not be taxed by that
assembly.
When the Act of Parliament imposing the stamp duty
was taken to America, it was reprinted with a skull and
crossbones in place of the royal arms, and then carried
on a pole through the streets of New York, with a scroll




236       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
bearing this inscription, " England's Folly and America's
Ruin."  The Act itself was publicly and ignonimously
burnt. The stamps on arriving were stowed away as
waste paper.  Some of those who had been appointed
agents for selling them were hanged in effigy, and all of
them  publicly renounced the perilous office. The day
when the Act was to come into operation was ushered in
with portentous solemnities. At Boston the vessels in
the harbour hoisted their colours half-mast high, the
muffled bells of the churches tolled out a death-knell, and
there was a grand ctuto-da-fe, in which the promoters of
the Act were paraded and burnt in effigy. When news
of this bold conduct reached England, the nation began
to awake to the vast importance of this question of colonial
taxation. It was at length decided to repeal the obnoxious
measure, but to accompany this concession with a declaration of the right of Great Britain to impose taxes on her
colonies. Most of the colonists were still loyal to the old
country, and the news of the repeal was received by them
with great joy and satisfaction, for they regarded the
accompanying declaration only as a salve for the injured
honour of the government.
Two years afterwards, however, the Parliament acted
upon their assumed right to tax the colonies, by laying a
duty upon tea, glass, paper, and painter's colours, imported
into the American provinces. It was thought that the
colonists could not object to taxation in this shape, but
the new burdens were met with the same spirited opposition as before.  The Puritan State of Massachusetts
continued to be the focus of what the ministerialists
termed sedition.  Even the loyal Virginians, who had
descended in great measure from the old Cavaliers, were
found in the van of the opposition. The merchants of
the principal cities agreed to import no more goods from
Great Britain till the duties were removed. Families
denied themselves the use of all foreign luxuries, and the
trade with England was almost entirely stopped.
The English cabinet deemed it prudent to repeal all
the taxes lately imposed, except that on tea, which was




RISE OF THE UNITED STATES.         237
retained by way of asserting the right of the British
Legislature to tax the colonies. It was hoped, that as
the tax was only threepence on the pound of tea, that
the colonists would quietly submit. As the people of
America were contending for principles of liberty, not
mere pecuniary interests, this tea tax left the dispute still
open, and chilled the feeling of gratitude, which the
entire repeal would have inspired. Accordingly, this
small duty on tea met with a more determined resistance
than ever. Rather than pay the tax, man, woman, and
child, would abstain wholly from tea-drinking. No less
than seventeen million pounds of tea lay hoarded up in
the London warehouses of the East India Company. The
British merchants, finding their trade with America thus
interrupted, induced the government to make an arrangement, by which they could sell the taxed tea as cheap as
they had formerly sold the untaxed tea. It was now
confidently expected that the stubborn colonists would
at last buy tea and drink it with every friendly feeling
towards the old country. Many vessels freighted with
tea, accordingly, were soon sailing across the Atlantic.
The approach of these vessels excited the Americans
in a manner wholly unlooked for in England. At New
York and Philadelphia, the ships were not permitted to
unload.  At Charleston the cargoes were landed, and
stowed away in damp, musty cellars. The head of the
revolt, however, was at Boston. This old Puritan town
set itself in an attitude of defiance. The ships anchored
in the harbour. The captains were ordered by the Bostonians to take their taxed tea back to England again.
They would gladly have obeyed, but they could not
obtain a passport from the governor to clear the fort. At
length the citizens could not endure the sight of these
hated vessels any longer in the harbour. Under cover
of the darkness of a December evening, a number of
armed men, disguised as Mohawks, boarded the ships,
hoisted out 340 chests, knocked out their ends, and
discharged their contents into the sea. This was not the
rash act of a thoughtless mob, but the well considered,




238       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL IISTORY.
though resolute act of sober, respectable citizens.  These
"Sons of Liberty" returned quietly and grimly to their
homes that night, with the consciousness that they would
have to give account for their deeds that day upon the
battle-field.
AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.
When the tea was tossed into the sea at Boston, war
was virtually declared against England. The wrath of
the government was concentrated on Boston, and a bill
was passed to close the port. All the colonies except
Georgia banded themselves together to resist the British
government in any attempt to carry this bill into effect.
Twelve colonies sent delegates to a General Congress,
held at Philadelphia (A.D. 1744).  Virginia sent two of
the foremost men of the day, Patrick Henry, a celebrated
orator, and George Washington, destined to lead the
armies of America to victory, and to shape her destinies
with wise and disinterested patriotism. A deep earnestness pervaded the assembly; the session each morning
was opened by divine service. They drew up "a declaration of colonial rights," stating their grievances as
colonists, and their rights as Englishmen. They also
agreed to suspend all trade with the mother country till
the justice of their demands was acknowledged; and to
prepare a loyal address to his majesty. The state papers
issued by Congress, in conformity with these resolutions,
called forth the admiration of the Earl of Chatham:
"When your lordships," said he in'the House of Lords,
"consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot but respect their cause, and wish to make it your
own."  In vain did Chatham, Burke, and Fox, three of
the greatest statesmen and orators of the day, warn their
countrymen of the danger of persisting in their aggressive
policy towards the colonies; the nation was bent on reducing the colonists to submission by force of arms.
Henceforth, every proposal from  America was treated
with proud silence on the part of the British monarch
and his advisers.




RISE OF THE UNITED STATES.          239
Blood first flowed at Lexington, near Concord (A.D.
1775). The British soldiers having fought their way
into Concord, destroyed many barrels of flour, sowed the
bed of the river with bullets, and spiked the cannons.
Having thus rendered useless a part of the stores which
the Americans had been collecting in anticipation of war,
the soldiers, though jaded with their night march and
their morning's toil, prepared to return without delay to
Boston. The way back led through woody defiles, or
along roads skirted with fences and stone walls, where
men, long accustomed to the hunter's rifle, could in safety
to themselves take a deadly aim  upon the retreating
enemy.  The ranks of the unfortunate soldiers were
thinned continually as they hastened back, leaving behind them a long trail of the dead and dying. Thus the
sword was drawn, and the scabbard thrown away, and
the American War of Independence begun.
A second Congress now assembled at Philadelphia. A
federal union was here formed of the thirteen colonies,
leaving to each colony the right of regulating its own
internal affairs, but vesting in Congress the power of
legislating on all matters affecting the whole community.
They wisely appointed George Washington as their commander-in-chief. To his justice, prudence, perseverance,
ability, and disinterestedness, the Americans are chiefly
indebted for the success which finally crowned their
arms.
The war now began in earnest around Boston.  The
British troops in this city were hemmed in by what they
contemptuously termed " a rustic rout with calico frocks
and fowling-pieces."  The patriotic army was indeed
composed mainly of hasty levies of yeomanry, many of
whom had seized their rifles and hurried to the scene of
action in their homespun dress. They knew but little of
military discipline and tactics, but they were familiar
with the use of fire-arms in hunting or in " bush-fighting"
with the Indians.  The first regular engagement was
fought at Bunker's Hill, near Boston, which the Americans had seized and fortified under the cover of night.




240       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
The colonists twice repulsed the British before being
driven out of their rude earthworks.  It was a dear
bought victory; for the loss of the victors was about
double that of the vanquished. The Americans were
justly proud of such a defeat; for they had proved
to themselves and the world at large, that their contest with regular troops was far from being a hopeless
one.
Washington joined the troops before Boston, soon after
their defeat at Bunker's Hill.  He strained every nerve
to form his raw levies into a well-disciplined army. His
difficulties were gigantic. The men mistook insubordination for independence, and those from one colony refused
to serve under officers from another. There was also for
some time a great dearth of powder in the American camp.
Washington's situation, from the want of military supplies, was such that "I was often obliged," he writes to
a friend, "to conceal it from  my own officers."  For
several months the siege of Boston went on without any
decisive step on either side. Washington's inaction caused
great dissatisfaction among his countrymen; but he could
not justify himself, as he afterwards explained, without
exposing the weakness of his army to the enemy, by
declaring his lamentable deficiency of ammunition and
military accoutrements. At length, after eight months
spent in shaping and equipping his army, Washington
secretly, by night, occupied and fortified the Dorchester
Heights commanding the city. The British commander,
General Howe, found it necessary to evacuate Boston as
soon as possible, and take to his ships (March, 1776).
Thus by the eminent services of Washington, and his
admirable management, an undisciplined band of husbandmen in a few months became soldiers, and were
enabled to invest, for nearly a year, and finally to expel
a brave army of veterans, commanded by the most experienced generals.
The Americans now resolved formally to separate from
the mother country, and to form an independent republic.
A formal document was drawn up, called a Declaration




RISE OF THE UNITED STATES.          241
of Independence, in which {he thirteen colonies were
declared to be free and independent states. In this celebrated document it is maintained as indisputable: " That
all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to
secure these rights, governments are instituted among
men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed; that whenever any government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to
alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government,
laying its foundation on such principles, and organising
its power in such form as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed,
will dictate that governments long established should not
be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more
disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed.  But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a
design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is
their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient suffering of these colonies; and
such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter
their former system of government." The solemn document was adopted by the American Congress, July 4,
1776, and promulgated to an expectant world. When
the news reached New York, the leaden statue of George
III. was pulled down amid the shouts of an excited
crowd, and broken up to be melted into bullets, "to be
used in the cause of independence."
The first great success that rewarded the patriotism of
the Americans, after their declaration of independence,
was the surrender of General Burgoyne's army of 6000
men at Saratoga (Dec. 1777).  Within their earthen
entrenchments at this place the English soldiers resisted
the pangs of hunger and the overwhelming masses of the
0




242       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
enemy for five days, in the hope of relief from General
Clinton. The spirit of the troops was manly and noble
to the last; but as all the provisions were exhausted,
it became absolutely necessary to surrender.  By this
surrender the Americans gained 42 pieces of brass
artillery, 4600 muskets, and an immense quantity of
military stores.  It had also the effect of filling up
Washington's thin ranks by reviving the hopes of the
Americans.
The campaigns of 1778 and the two following years
were not marked by any decisive battle.  The tide of
victory ebbed and flowed, but the war consisted for the
most part of skirmishes, sieges, marches, and countermarches, each general trying to outwit his opponent. At
length, Lord Cornwallis, an English general of high reputation, became hemmed in by a force twice as numerous
as his own, at Yorktown.  Washington brought 100
pieces of artillery to bear upon the British works. Cornwallis, however, stood the siege for three weeks, his men
presenting a gallant front to hunger, disease, and cannonshot. Finding his situation hopeless, he surrendered to
Washington with all his military stores and his 7000
famished soldiers (A.D. 1781). This event virtually closed
the war.
Early in 1782, the House of Commons decided in favour
of peace; and in the following year a treaty was signed
acknowledging the independence of the United States.
The war by which this great result was attained had not
been one of daring achievements and brilliant exploits;
it was a cool, cautious, defensive war, in which patience
and steady perseverance were the qualities most essential.
Before the end of the year 1783, the last red coat had
disappeared from the United States, and the American
army disbanded.
The Americans had now to devise a federal form of
government, that should give the states the strength of
a united nation, without trenching on the independent
action of each state in its own internal affairs. In 1787,
deputies from the states met at Philadelphia and drew up




RISE OF THE UNITED STATES.           243
a new constitution, according to which the legislative
power was vested in a Congress of the United States,
consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives;
whilst the executive power was intrusted to a President,
who should hold his office for a term  of four years.
Washington was unanimously elected the first President
(A.D. 1789).




CHAPTER XXI.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
FRANCE has in the course of the last hundred years passed
through many revolutions, and made trial of many different forms of government. This instability has arisen
from the mighty shock given to the whole fabric of society
in France by the great revolution of 1789. This great
catastrophe was the result of an unjust code of laws, of
an oppressive system of taxation, and of a corrupt court,
the evils of which had been accumulating for centuries,
and had at length attained such fearful dimensions, that
nothing short of a thorough revolution seemed capable
of securing to the nation the conditions of liberty and
prosperity.
Some of the evils under which the French people
groaned, have been already depicted in the history of the
reign of Louis XIV. After his death, France sunk deeper
and deeper into the mire of misery, under the increasing
weight of taxation, whilst the Court revelled in every
form of costly luxury and shameful debauchery, under
the presidency of Madame de Pompadour, and of Madame
du Barry, her successor. The extravagant expenditure
of the Court was supported chiefly by taxes wrung from
the peasantry, who, it is calculated, had to pay two-thirds
of their earnings in one form or another into the royal
treasury, whilst the nobility and the clergy-the great
landholders of the nation-were altogether exempt from
taxation. The old voluptuary, Louis XV., foresaw that
some fearful catastrophe would, after his death, befall
France; Apres nous le deluge was his oft-repeated
saying.




tHE FRENCH REVOLUTION.           245
THE REIGN OF LOUIS XVI.
Louis XVI. succeeded his grandfather, Louis XV., in
1774. Though only twenty years of age, he had married
four years previously Marie Antoinette, the beautiful
daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa. At the moment
when they became king and queen, they sank upon their
knees, and exclaimed with streaming eyes, "O God! guide
us, protect us; we are too young to reign." The new
sovereign was an amiable man, of good intentions, and
pure morality; but wanting that grasp of intellect, and
firmness of temper, which the circumstances of his reign
demanded.
Revolution could only be averted by a just distribution
of the national burdens over all classes of the community.
The attempt was made by Turgot in the beginning of
this reign, but the opposition of the privileged classes
was too strong, and the support of the king too weak,
for him to effect any real reform. Necker, who succeeded
him as financial minister, then tried to ward off national
bankruptcy by prudent management and economy. All
his efforts, however, were rendered fruitless by the unwise
intervention of France in the quarrel between Great
Britain and her American colonies. At the end of this
expensive war with England, Necker gave up the national
purse to Calonne, who tried to meet the increased demands
upon it by the common expedient among spendthrifts of
borrowing without a thought as to the means of repayment. When the nation was on the very verge of bankruptcy, Necker was reinstated (A.D. 1788). His recall
gave so much satisfaction to the populace of Paris, that
they shouted all day and all night, "Vive le Roi!"
"Vive Necker!"  But it was not in his power to fill the
empty coffers with gold, nor the exhausted granaries with
corn. In this extremity the king convoked the StatesGenera —an assembly similar to our English Parliament,
which had not met since the time Richelieu took the helm
of state in 1614.
The despotism established by this minister was now




246       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
about to be overthrown by a down-trodden people, clamour.
ing for bread, and thinking it might be found if only
liberty, equality, and fraternity could be established. The
poor famished people of France, in their ignorance, naturally thought that an escape from all the calamities they
had so long endured, could best be effected by an entire
subversion of the ancient regime.
The States-General met at Versailles (5th May, 1789).
The assembly consisted of 1145 members, belonging to
three different orders-the nobility, the clergy, and the
commons or deputies of the people. The latter, called
the Tiers Etat, outnumbered the other two combined.
In ancient times these three orders had assembled in
different chambers and voted separately; but now the
Tiers Etat was resolved to override the privileged orders,
by insisting on the three orders forming one assembly
and voting as one body. Many of the clergy assented to
this proposal and joined the commons, but the nobles
stood aloof. After some weeks had been spent in inaction, the commons assumed the title of the National
Assembly, and proceeded to legislate for the nation without regard to the king or the nobility, like the Long
Parliament of Charles I.  Louis sent his grand-master
of the ceremonies to order the deputies to adjourn.
Mirabeau, the most prominent among the deputies by his
great abilities and commanding influence, rose and said,
"l Return and tell your master, that we are here by the
power of the people, and that nothing short of bayonets
shall drive us out."  The king was too timid and too
irresolute to employ such vigorous measures against the
usurpation of the third estate; he merely tried to keep
it in check by requesting the nobles and clergy to join
that body.
Whilst noisy debates resounded through the hall in
which the Assembly met, all Paris was in a ferment on
account of the military preparations made by the king to
overawe the capital. The shopkeepers, the artisans, and
citizens of all ranks enrolled themselves, under the title
of the National GCuard to resist the royal troops.  Every




THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.            247
place was ransacked for fire-arms, and in two days 50,000
pikes were manufactured by willing hands and distributed
among the ranks of the citizen-soldiers. A fierce mob
then attacked the Bastile, a strongly fortified prison, in
the dungeons of which many an innocent man had been
consigned in the previous reign, by a royal warrant,
called une lettre de cachet. After a conflict of five hours,
the Bastile fell before the cannon and hatchets of the
rioters (July 14), whilst the royal troops looked on with
folded arms. Louis now became aware that he had only
his Swiss body-guard to depend upon; and never did a
body of men prove their fidelity more nobly than these
men, in their endeavour to shield the king from the
dangers which were thronging around him.
The fall of the Bastile was the signal for riots throughout France; everywhere the spirit of lawlessness broke
loose, and madly ranged throughout the land.  The
chateaux of the nobles were pillaged and burnt to the
ground. The royal standard, emblazoned with the Jleur
de Lis on a white ground, was trampled in the dust, and
the tricolour, as the emblem of liberty, equality, and
fraternity, was uplifted in its place.
In the autumn a mad mob, headed by a band of frantic
women, shrieking out "Bread! give bread!" proceeded
to Versailles to make their wants known to the king and
the National Assembly. That night they encamped by
the side of large fires in the open streets. Before daylight a party of rioters gained access to the royal palace,
and. penetrated with horrid menaces to the door of the
queen's apartment.  The palace soon became the scene
of indescribable tumult and bloodshed. The resolute
stand made by the faithful body-guard, and the timely
arrival of La Fayette at the head of the national guard,
saved the royal family; but Louis was obliged to accompany the rabble to Paris, and take up his residence at
the Tuilleries (Oct. 6th). Here the king found himself
in a prison rather than a palace, and in the position of a
criminal rather than a king.
The National Assembly also transferred its sittings to




248      LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
the capital, and remodelled the constitution. On the
anniversary of the fall of the Bastile (14th July, 1790),
the celebrated National Federation took place, when a
countless host assembled in the Champs de Mars to
witness the king, his ministers, the deputies, and the
public functionaries, take the oath to the new constitution. The people, finding that the new constitution did
not at once relieve them from the miseries of famine and
destitution, thought they had not yet found the true
remedy for their woes, and became as lawless as ever.
The bull had been unloosed, and he still persisted in
rushing madly about and using his horns. By the end
of the year many of the nobles had emigrated, and a few
months later the king tried to make his escape, but he
was discovered and brought back. Louis was treated as
a deserter; he was suspended from his kingly functions,
and a guard placed over his person.
THE REIGN OF TERROR.
The sovereigns of Austria and Prussia now resolved to
interfere on behalf of the unfortunate king. But the
efforts they made to avert the fate that threatened him
only served to hasten his execution. The presence of a
foreign army on the frontiers of France raised the spirit
of the revolutionists throughout the land to the highest
pitch of enthusiasm; and placed the chief power in the
hands of the most violent demagogues. At Paris the
supreme direction of affairs fell into the hands of the Red
Republicans or Jacobins, under whose auspices the Reign
of Terror was inaugurated.  It was their belief that
France could only be cured by copious bleeding; that at
least 260,000 heads must fall before freedom could be
assured, and above all that the king's head must be sacrificed to the cause of "liberty, equality, and fraternity."
The Reign of Terror commenced on the 10th of August,
1792, when a savage mob attacked the Tuilleries, whose
halls and corridors were soon strewed with the bleeding
bodies of the brave Swiss guards.  The king and his
family had placed themselves under the regis of the




TIIE FRENCH REVOLUTION.           249
Assembly. Louis was now deposed, and sent with the
queen and the royal children as prisoners to the gloomy
palace of the Temple. The sanguinary work of the 10th
of August was surpassed by that of the 2nd of September,
when an indiscriminate slaughter took place of at least
2000 persons, who had been thrown into the prisons of
Paris on suspicion of being unfavourable to the revolution. Before the end of the year the king was brought
to trial, and on the 23rd of January, 1793, he was led to
the scaffold where the guillotine stood ready for its
royal victim. The fallen monarch attempted to address
the surging crowd, but his faltering voice was drowned
by an incessant rattle of drums, and in a few momente
more his tongue was silent in death.
This murder sent a thrill of indignation and horroi
throughout Europe. The regicides gloried in their bloody
work, and offered to do for any other land, that wished
to "recover its freedom," what they had already done for
their own country. No other nation, however, seemed
anxious to share in the blessings of a revolution which
only produced irreligion and anarchy, making life and
property equally insecure. On the contrary, all Europe
regarded the French as their common enemy, and formed
a coalition against them.
To meet the new dangers that threatened France,
a Committee of Safety was appointed, with Danton,
Robespierre, and Marat as its leading members. This
committee was empowered to take whatever measures
might appear necessary to the welfare of the republic.
The guillotine was the great national safeguard in the
eyes of these men. The executions became one of the
public amusements. About fifty victims were brought
to the guillotine daily in Paris. Bands of heartless
women seated themselves round the scaffold, and whiled
away the time between the acts of the tragedy in knitting. Marie Antoinette was among the victims. She
died with the calm heroism of a martyr on the spot
where her husband was executed nine months before.
Not only the friends of the late king forfeited their lives,




250       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
but even some of those who had been most instrumental
in bringing on the revolution, because they were in favour
of a limited monarchy. The guillotine, which could not
kill above one a minute, was found in some places to be
too slow an engine of destruction. Couthon, at Lyons,
destroyed whole crowds of unhappy royalists by the shot
of cannon; and the not less infamous Carrier, at Nantes,
packed large boats with men, women, and children, and
had them towed out into the deep water of the Loire,
where they were scuttled, and left to sink with all their
shrieking freight.
The more moderate republicans began to recoil from
the bloody work. Even Danton, one of the three ruling
Jacobines in the Committee of Safety, tried to check the
bloodytorrent; but he onlylost his own head for his humanity. Marat, another member of the notorious triumvirate,
had already yielded his life to the sure hand of Charlotte
Corday, who had come from Caen to plunge a knife into
the breast of the miscreant. When brought for trial
before the Revolutionary Tribunal, she boldly avowed,
"It is I that killed Marat." By whose instigationS "By
no one's "  What tempted you then? "His crimes."
"I killed one man," added she, "to save a hundred
thousand; a villain to save the innocent; a savage wild
beast to give repose to my country." The doom is death
as a murderess.  On the same evening, therefore, the
fatal cart brings its fair burden to the black scaffold. By
the death of Danton and Marat, Robespierre was left
sole dictator of France. When he had "purged society"
by killing all the royalists of note, he hoped to purify it
still more by the destruction of the leaders of the moderate
republicans; at length, "he felt as if, to get things to his
mind, the whole human race except himself would require
to be annihilated." Having sent to the guillotine many
of his associates, he was himself dragged to the place of
execution, and there tasted the bitterness of death amid
the yells and curses of the savage spectators, who had
until that moment applauded his extraordinary method
of regenerating society by means of the guillotine. With




THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,            251
the death of Robespierre ended the Reign of Terror
(29th July, 1794).
During this dark period of intestine struggle, the armies
of the republic maintained their ground against the
European coalition with a gallantry, skill, and persevering resolution, which created universal astonishment.
They not only held France against all comers, but even
annexed Belgium. And soon it became evident that a
great military genius had arisen among them. This was
Napoleon Bonaparte, who had already gained distinction,
at the siege of Toulon, as an artillery officer.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Corsica in 1769. He
married Josephine, widow of Count Beauharnais. Twelve
days after his marriage he set out from Paris to take the
command of the French army in Italy (A.D. 1796). At
Lodi and at Rivoli he defeated the Austrians, who,
in consequence, ceded to the French, by the treaty of
Campo Formio, both Lombardy and the Netherlands
(A.D. 1797). Such was the result of the first Austrian
war with France. The republic of Venice, the Queen of
the Adriatic, was in the same year extinguished, and its
territory occupied by the French.
An army was now assembled at Boulogne for the invasion of England; but, owing to the shattered condition
of the French navy, the project was abandoned.  By the
advice of Napoleon, it was resolved, instead, to deal England an indirect blow by the conquest of Egypt, as the
first step towards the invasion of British India, and the
most effectual way of crippling her commerce with that
distant dependency. The battle of the Pyramids, fought
near Cairo, gave Bonaparte immediate possession of that
city, and virtually decided the conquest of Egypt. Ten
days later, by the destruction of the French fleet in the
Bay of Aboukir, the victorious army was cut off from
France. The executive power, in France, had soon after
the fall of Robespierre been vested in a Directory consisting of five members. Their manifest incompetency




252       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
tempted Napoleon suddenly to withdraw from the army
in Egypt and return to Paris. His military renown had
gained for him such popularity, that he was able with
the applause of the entire nation to transfer the supreme
power from the Directory to himself, with the title of the
First Consul. Napoleon now resided at the Tuilleries, and
was soon surrounded by a court formed very much upon
the ancient regal pattern (A.D. 1800).
During Napoleon's absence in Egypt, Austria, in
alliance with Russia, had renewed the war with France,
and redeemed the greater part of Italy. But his return
changed everything.  His army climbed the Alps, and
by a famous victory at Marengo regained Italy. A few
months later, Moreau, by the equally great victory of
Hohenlinden, opened to the French the way to Vienna.
The treaty of Luneville (A.D. 1801) closed the second
Austrian war.
There was now a lull in this great European war.
Bonaparte was desirous of peace to consolidate his power.
The treaty of peace with England, signed at Amiens, was
in reality a truce, giving a breathing-time to the combatants. This time was well spent by the First Consul in
devising measures for redeeming France from the state of
anarchy and chaos into which it had been cast by the
violent throes of the revolution. French industry and
trade revived in consequence of his wise and sagacious
policy. The cathedrals and churches which had been
shut up during the mad days of the revolution were reopened, and a suitable maintenance was provided for the
clergy. The Code 7Napoleon, a systematic digest of French
laws, is a lasting monument of his wisdom and zeal, as
chief ruler of the French nation. After the morning
inspection of his troops, he would preside over a council,
formed of his ablest lawyers, and there he would sit from
mid-day till five in the afternoon, never inattentive, never
weary, marking out clearly, without passion and without
prejudice, the best foundation on which property, commerce, marriage, in short all the complicated relations of
life, were thereafter to repose. As a warrior, this great




THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.             253
man became, from his inordinate ambition, the curse of
France and the scourge of Europe; but as a legislator he
was the benefactor of his countrymen. The French, in
grateful recognition of his services, declared him Consul
for life; and two years later (A.D. 1804) he was proclaimed Emperor of the French, with the right of transmitting the crown to his heir. The emperor and his wife,
Josephine, were crowned by the Pope in the cathedral of
Notre Dame. He was also crowned King of Italy at
Milan, the celebrated iron crown of the ancient Lombard
princes being used on the occasion.
A coalition between England, Russia, and Austria was
now formed against the emperor. His navy was annihilated by Nelson at Trafalgar (A.D. 1805), and all his
hopes of invading England perished. On the Continent,
however, he was everywhere successful.  On the day
before the battle of Trafalgar, the Austrian general,
Mack, capitulated with 30,000 men at Ulm. A month
more sufficed to bring his legions to the gates of Vienna,
which he entered in triumph. The campaign was brought
to a successful close at Austerlitz (2nd Dec., 1805), where,
by marvellous strategy, he gained a most splendid victory
over the combined forces of Austria and Russia. The
allied emperors, who had watched from a neighbouring
height the destruction of their armies, only saved themselves by a hasty flight. The treaty of Presburg closed
this third war with Austria.
The great conqueror now began to give kingdoms to
his brothers. To his brother Joseph he gave the crown
of Naples; and to his brother Louis the crown of Holland.
He now turned his arms against Prussia, and by the
decisive battle of Jena (A.D. 1806), deprived that country
of her army, her capital, and her fortresses. The victor
made a triumphal entry into Berlin, and issued against
England the famous Berlin decree, in which all the nations
of Europe were ordered to shut their ports against British
merchandise. Russia was the only great power on the
Continent that dared to oppose his will. Against that
country the conqueror next advanced, and, after a drawn




254       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
battle at Eylau, gave the Russian army at Friedland a
total overthrow. Alexander, the Russian emperor, met
the victor at Tilsit, on a raft moored in the middle of the
river Niemen, and arranged terms of peace (A.D. 1807).
The amazing successes of Napoleon caused him to
dream of Europe as an empire, with Napoleon as its
emperor, and Paris as its capital.  He now expelled
the royal family from Portugal, and having induced the
imbecile King of Spain to abdicate his throne, obliged
his brother Joseph to exchange the crown of Naples for
that of Spain. The story of the Peninsular War, which
followed this act of aggression, belongs to English history,
and is here omitted. Though Napoleon's generals were
often defeated at the hands of Wellington in the Peninsula, the emperor himself still pursued his career of victory
elsewhere, until his fatal retreat from Moscow.
In 1809, Austria, for thefourth time, entered the lists
against France. In an incredibly short time the French
army was filing through the streets of Vienna. But the
chief fighting had yet to be done. The decisive battle of
Wagram compelled Austria to sheathe her reluctant sword.
The treaty of peace was sealed by marriage. The empress
Josephine, having brought no children to the emperor,
was divorced; and Maria Louisa, daughter of the Austrian
emperor, became the wife of the imperial parvenu, who
hoped by this alliance with the ancient house of Hapsburg to found a new dynasty in France, which would
command the respect of Europe. A son was born as the
fruit of his marriage, but he was not destined to reign.
The astonishing series of victories gained by Napoleon
had raised him to the highest pinnacle of power ever
attained by man, but such was the dizzy height to
which he had climbed that he became giddy and fell. In
defiance of the advice of his old and sage counsellors, he
resolved on the invasion of Russia, as the Czar Alexander
had dared to disregard his Berlin decree, and open his
ports to British goods. "My destiny," he presumptuously said, " is not yet accomplished-my present situation
is but a sketch of a picture which I must finish." It




THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.           255
was, however, not finished in the way that he anticipated.
The Russian campaign of 1812 is the most disastrous in
the annals of history. The army of invasion amounted
to 400,000 men, drawn partly from France and partly
from all the European states that lay at the feet of the
conqueror. The Russians retreated before the invaders,
whose goal was Moscow. At Borodino, 70 miles from
Moscow, the Russians made a stand, and there was
fought one of the most sanguinary battles on record.
After their dear-bought victory, the French were able to
resume their march to Moscow.
On the 14th of September, Napoleon entered the ancient
capital of Russia in the expectation of dictating terms of
peace to Alexander; but to his chagrin and astonishment
he found the streets silent and deserted, and only the
dregs of the population left. He had, at any rate, as he
supposed, found comfortable winter quarters for his army.
But in this he was doomed to disappointment. In six
days the city was in ashes, Russian incendiaries having
contrived to set fire to the city in several places at once,
with the determination of rendering the invaders homeless, and of compelling them to retreat in the midst of
winter. That retreat was the saddest tragedy ever acted
in real life. Early in November that year a most severe
winter set in with heavy snow-storms, and unrelenting
frosts. Thousands dropped down and found a grave in
the snow. The Russians hung upon the rear of the retreating army, and cut off thousands that had survived
both cold and hunger. The most appalling scene was
presented at the passage of the Beresina. One of the two
wooden bridges, constructed by the French, broke down
under the excessive weight; the other was blown up on
the approach of the Russians, leaving an untold number
at the mercy of the enemy. When the ice was dissolved
in the following spring, 12,000 dead bodies were found
upon the shore. The Niemen was reached on the 12th
of December by the fragments of the "Grand Army;"
out of 400,000 men in the prime of health and strength
that had crossed the Niemen six months before, not more




256       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
than 25,000 famished and frost-bitten fugitives now recrossed it on their way home again. Of the main army
nearly a third had perished in battle; about a third had
died of cold, hunger, and fatigue; and the remainder had
been made prisoners.
Napoleon reached Paris before the news of the terrible
fate of his army was publicly known. He immediately
gave orders for a new army of 300,000 men; and such
was the amazing hold which he had upon the heart of
France, that in four months he was at the head of 350,000
soldiers ready to risk life and limb in his service. He
was now like a lion at bay, conscious that he was being
encircled by his enemies and in danger of being encaged
for life. The eventful year, 1813, brought the English
and their Peninsular allies to the south of France, while
the Russians and their German allies advanced to the
eastern frontiers of that unhappy country.  Many a
sanguinary battle was fought before the chain was drawn
around the bleeding sides of France. Napoleon made his
last stand at Leipsic; for two days he held his ground
against the allied armies, but on the third day he began
to fall back upon the Rhine with a dispirited and disordered force. He crossed the Rhine with only 75,000
men, and arrived in Paris one evening in November,
still haughty and defiant. The allies crossed the frontier
of France, and slowly forced their way to Paris, which
they entered and occupied, until a treaty of peace was
signed (4th April, 1814). By this treaty France was
stripped of all the territory she had gained; and Napoleon,
instead of becoming Emperor of Europe, was obliged to
accept the little isle of Elba for his empire.
Whilst Napoleon retired to Elba to brood over his
fallen fortunes and dream of a brighter day, representatives from the European powers concerned in the late
war met at Vienna to draw up a new map of Europe.
The Bourbon dynasty was now restored in the person of
Louis XVIII., brother of the unfortunate Louis XVI.
The new king soon showed that he "had learnt nothing
and forgotten nothing."  He thought to rule France as




THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.             257
his ancestors had ruled before the Revolution. Frenchmen began to talk of the violets of next spring, and a
certain Corporal Violet was often mentioned as likely to
return when the winter had passed. Ladies who longed
for his coming wore the innocent little flower in their
bonnets. The veteran troops of the emperor, who had
returned to their homes, could not forget the victories
they had won under his command. It was evident that
the fallen emperor was still the idol of the French nation.
In March, 1815, all Europe was startled with the intelligence that the lion encaged at Elba had contrived to
escape, and was now at large in France. He was received
by his countrymen with open arms, and by the 1st of
June was ready to take the field with a large army. At
Waterloo, Napoleon and Wellington met in battle for
the first and last time (18th June). During the whole
of that summer day the French made heroic but unsuccessful efforts to break through the British lines. At
four o'clock in the afternoon, the boom  of distant
cannon announced the approach of a Prussian army under
Blucher. Napoleon, knowing that the time had now
come for one grand final attack, ordered the "Old Guard,"
which had been kept in reserve, to advance under the
command of Marshal Ney, "the bravest of the brave."
The British Guards met them with a murderous volley at
fifty yards, and then with a ringing cheer burst down
the slope to encounter the "Invincibles" of France.
" They are hopelessly mixed," cried the fallen Bonaparte,
as he rode away to the rear.  "Let the whole line advance," was Wellington's final order. The whole French
army broke up like a frozen river under the influence of
a sudden thaw; its fragments, some jammed together, and
some loosely scattered, went rushing on in one headlong
stream back to their own country.
Napoleon now ceased to be the central figure in the
civilised world. He was banished to the island of St.
Helena in the South Atlantic, and there he died in 1821.
R




CHAPTER XXII.
CHIEF EVENTS SINCE 1815.
THE Congress of Vienna, in 1815, rearranged the map of
Europe, which had undergone many alterations since the
French Revolution, and restored the dethroned princes
to their respective states. Peace of unusual duration was
the happy result of the fall of Napoleon. There was no
war between the Great Powers of Europe until 1854,
when England and France took up arms against Russia
in defence of Turkey. The intervening period of peace
was one of extraordinary progress in science, and in the
arts and conveniences of life. Hardly a year passed
without the invention of many useful and wonderful
machines. Steam has been applied to purposes of locomotion both on land and water.  The wires of the
electric telegraph have almost brought the ends of the
world within speaking distance. While the lightning
has been converted into a messenger almost as swift as
thought, the sun has been turned to account as an artist,
in producing sun-pictures or photographs. The gas in
our streets has almost turned night into day, whilst
the lucifer-match enables us at any moment to call
light out of darkness.  The nineteenth century will
probably be long remembered as the great period of
scientific progress and invention.
REVOLUTIONS IN FRANCE.
The period of this long international peace, thus distinguished by ingenious inventions and marvellous dis



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.             259
coveries, was not free from civil wars and revolutions.
France, more particularly, has been the scene of civil
strife. After the fall of Napoleon I., the Bourbons were
restored to the throne of France. Louis XVIII., and
his brother Charles X., reigned in succession; but their
government was by no means popular. In 1830, the
people of Paris rose against King Charles; and his
cousin, Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, was made king
in his place.  In 1848, the French compelled Louis
Philippe to sign his abdication, and established a republic
with Louis Napoleon, a nephew of Napoleon the Great,
as president. The president and the National Assembly
did not work harmoniously together. At length it became
evident that one of the two must fall, as the government
had come to a dead lock. When the Parisians awoke on
the morning of December 2, 1851, they found the'walls
placarded with an "Appeal to the People," and signed
"Louis Napoleon Bonaparte."  The news soon spread
that the obnoxious members of the Assembly had been
seized by the President's orders during the night, and
were now in prison. Such was the celebrated coup d'etat
by which the reins of government were secured by
Napoleon. The French nation, voting by ballot, responded to the President's appeal by registering an overwhelming majority in his favour; and before the end of
another year, by the same means, showed their willingness to accept him as emperor.
When Louis Napoleon became emperor, he declared
that the empire was the guarantee of peace in Europe
— "The empire is peace;" but however much he may
have personally desired peace, Europe has often since
been the theatre of great wars. The two most important
results of these recent wars are a united and free Italy,
and a consolidated German empire, with the King of
Prussia as emperor. France, under Louis Napoleon has,
directly or indirectly, been greatly instrumental in producing these results.




260       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
UNION OF ITALY.
In 1859, Napoleon landed with an army in the north
of Italy to assist Victor Emmanuel, King of Sardinia,
in driving the Austrians out of Italy. At that time Italy
was but a geographical term. The country so called consisted of a number of states under a variety of rulers, the
chief of whom were the Austrian Emperor and the Pope,
the King of Sardinia and the King of the Two Sicilies.
Freedom was unknown throughout the Peninsula, except
in Piedmont, which was under the government of Victor
Emmanuel, who, by steadily keeping his word to all
parties, had won for himself the honourable nickname of
the honest king. Though he had won the confidence of
the Italians, there was no hope that they would ever be
able to unite under his rule, unless some foreign power
would help them to rise from under the iron heel of
Austria.  The Austrian emperor not only ruled his
Italian provinces of Lombardy and Venetia as an absolute
monarch, but encouraged the other rulers of Italy to
govern in the same spirit. A brighter day dawned for
this unhappy nation, when Napoleon took the field in
Northern Italy as the champion of the oppressed. Having
gained the battles of Magenta and Solferino, and driven
the Austrians across the Mincio, Napoleon entered into
a treaty with Francis Joseph of Austria, at Villafranca
(A.D. 1859), by which Lombardy was added to the
dominions of Victor Emmanuel. Four of the smaller
states in the centre of Italy were also by their own desire
annexed to his kingdom.
Napoleon had thus, in a short campaign, accomplished
much for Italy; but the work was only half done.
To the astonishment of Europe that work was almost
completed in the course of the following year (A.D. 1860),
by the sublime daring and enthusiasm of Garibaldi. This
patriot set sail from Genoa (May 5), with 2000 volunteers, to give freedom to Naples and Sicily, that had long
groaned under the tyranny of Ferdinand II., who, from
bombarding his own cities to terrify his subjects, had




THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.             261
won for himself the nickname of King Bomba. His son,
Francis II., had just begun his reign, when Garibaldi
landed his troops in Sicily, and found all the people ripe
for revolt. The royal troops were everywhere defeated.
Francis fled from his capital (Sep. 7), and on the next
day Garibaldi entered it. In February, 1861, the first
Italian Parliament was held at Turin, in a wooden building erected for the purpose, and there Victor Emmanuel
was declared King of Italy.
Still Venetia was subject to the Austrian emperor and
Rome to the pope. But events were fast hastening on,
by which these blots were removed from the new page
of Italian history. In 1866, a war broke out between
Austria and Prussia. Victor Emmanuel entered into an
alliance with Frederick William of Prussia, and attacked
the Austrians in Italy, but without success. Austria,
however, was completely humbled by Prussia in a great
battle at Sadowa. By the treaty which terminated this
Seven Weeks' War, Venetia was ceded to the King of
Italy, whilst Hanover became a part of Prussia.
Italy was now a kingdom without a capital. Rome
was still in the hands of the pope, Pius the Ninth; and
it could not be wrested from him, as it was occupied by
French troops. At length, in 1870, that impediment was
removed by the exigencies of France in the great war
with Prussia. The Prussians crossed the French frontier
in July, and in the following month the last French
soldier left Rome for the defence of his own country.
The troops of the Italian king soon afterwards marched
into Rome, and on the last day of the year the king himself entered his new capital.
UNION OF GERMANY.
Meanwhile, a series of memorable victories, gained by
the Prussians and their German allies in France, were
fast binding in one brotherhood all the German states
under the headship of Prussia. On the 2nd of September
Napoleon surrendered with his army at Sedan. Marshal




262       LANDMARKS OF GENERAL HISTORY.
Bazaine, who had taken refuge in the strong fortress of
Metz, also capitulated with a large army.  Strasburg,
after a gallant defence, was compelled to open its gates.
Paris sustained for some months all the miseries of
famine, but her fate was sealed after her devoted sons
had made in vain two desperate attempts to break
through the lines of the besiegers.
While the siege was going on, King William of Prussia,
being in the grand hall of the Grand Monarque at Versailles, received the title of German Emperor from the
kings and princes of the states of Germany. Paris was
soon afterwards obliged to admit the conqueror. As all
further resistance on the part of France would have been
madness, a treaty was signed, by which France agreed to
pay an enormous sum of money, besides giving up nearly
all Alsace, together with that part of Lorraine where German is spoken. Thus all Germany, except the German
dominions of the House of Austria, has become consolidated into one empire-all the German states, except the
Austrian, forming one confederation, with a common
constitution, under the presidency of the King of Prussia,
as Emperor of Germany.
AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION.
Before Italy and Germany were thus united, the
republic of the United States successfully passed though
a civil war which at that time threatened its dismemberment. The Wacr of Secession, as it is called, began in
1861 between the Northern and Southern States. The
men of all these states are of the same language and
descent; but the chief bond by which nations are united
is not identity of race and speech, but community of
interest.  A large party in the Southern States contended that they would enjoy greater prosperity if they
seceded from their brethren in the Northern States; whilst
the former drew their wealth chiefly from their cotton,
sugar, and tobacco plantations, by the aid of slave labour,
the latter derived theirs chiefly from their manufactures




AMERICAN WAR OF SECESSION.          263
in which free men only were employed. The war of
secession ended in the complete triumph of the unionists
(A.D. 1865). One important result of the war has been
the suppression of slavery throughout North America;
and there is reason to hope from the efforts now being
made in Africa and elsewhere, that the time is not far
distant when slavery will be abolished throughout the
world.








INDEX.
ABBASSIDES, 94.                          BALDWINS, The, 124.
Abdattah, 155.                           Bannockburn, battle of, 139.
Adolphus (the successor of Alaric), his  Bajazet (the Turk), his contention in
alliance with Rome, 61.                  Europe, 147.
Agrippa, 20.                             Barbarians, The, their conquest and
Agrippina, murdered by Nero, her             conversion, 60-81.
son, 22.                             Bartholomew, St., massacre of, 195.
Alaric (the Goth), his march against  Bastile, The, 247.
Rome, 59; his impost on the city,  Belisarius conquers Carthage, Sicily,
his death, 60.                           Naples, 68; his contest with the
Alboin, his career in Italy, 73; his         Goths, 69; his valour, character,
end, 74.                                 conquests, 70; his last exploits,
Abu Beker, his career, 88.                   and death, 72.
Alhama, 155.                             Benedict, his vast influence, 79.
Ali, 91.                                 Bernard, St., his remarkable influence
Alp Arslan, 117.                             on the Crusades, 125, 13U.
America, its discovery and conquest,  Blucher, 257.
156; the natives, 159; slavery made  Boniface VIII., Pope, his treatment by
legal, 232; New England, 233; its        Philip the Fair, 136.
colonization, 233; settlement of the  Britain, partly conquered by Claudius,
English, 233; the War of Inde-           21; conquered by Agricola, 25;
pendence, 238; the American Con-         releases itself from Rome, 64; emgress, 243; the War of Secession,        braces Christianity, 80; the inva262; slavery abolished, 263.             sion of the Scandinavians, 106;
Amphitheatre (of Rome), 16, 17,               the approach  of  liberty, 138;
Amurath, 151.                                 patriotism, 139; progress of civiliAnabaptists, The, 178.                        zation and literature- Chaucer,
Antonines, The, their co-operation and        142.
aims, 27.                            Britannicus murdered by Nero, 21.
Antoninus (surnamed Pius), succeeds  Brutus and Cassius, 10.
Hadrian, 27.                         Byzantine monarchy, The, 111.
Antony (Mark), 9; master of Rome, 10;
his death, 12.                       CAESAR, Julius, assassinated, his will,
Arabs, The, 89; the obligation  of           feelings of the citizens, his work, 9.
Europe to, 95.                       Caligula, his character, incident of his
Arcadius and Honorius, 59.                   boyhood, his profanation, his preArnold of Winkleried, 141.                   tended conquest of Britain, his
Arts and manufactures, the revival of,       death, 20.
in Europe, 138; introduction of  Caledonians, The, chastised by Severus,
paper, 142; printing, 142; the in-       29.
vention of gunpowder, 143; the  Caliphs, The, their  conquests  and
compass, 143; printing first edi-        dominion, 63; their constitution
tion  of Greek  Testament, 169;          and empire, 91.
progress under Louis XIV., 212;  Calvin, John, 175.
progress under Peter the Great,  Carthage conquered by the Vandals,
218.                                     63; regained by Rome, 68.
Attila (the Hun), his character, habits,  Catherine de Medici, 196.
defeat by the Goths, and death,  Catherine of Russia, 221, 224.
61, 62.                              Charlemagne, his parentage, 97; his
Augustine, his influence on early theo-       accession to power, career, and
logy, 76.                                conquest, 99; his treatment of the
Augustus Caesar, 13.                          conquered Saxons, 100; the nature
Aurelian, his part in the restoration of      and operation of his system, 101;
Rome, his victories and triumph,         his ability as a ruler, 102; illustra59.                                      tions of his influence on arts and




266                               INDEX.
learning, 103; the foundation of        dom, his defeat of Alaric the Goth,
the University of Paris, 104; his       his career, 64.
character, work, death, and suc-  Commerce, progress of, 143.
cession, 97-105.                    Colosseum, The, 17; built by VespaCharles XII. of Sweden, 218; his mili-      sian, 24.
tary genius, 221; his campaigns  Columbus, his story, 157; the discovery
and death, 222.                         of America, 158; his career and
Charles V. of Germany, his career and        death, 160.
importance, 175-179.                Commodus, 28.
Chaucer, 142.                           Constantine, The man, 34; his recogChrist, the advent of, 13.                  nition of Christianity, 43; the
Christendom, its ascendancy, 113; the       story of his ascent to the throne,
hostility of the Turks, 116; the        44; the wisdom of his administraCrusades, 121; the deliverance of       tion, 45; his absolute sovereignty,
Jerusalem, 124; the Turks, 146;         the legend of his conversion, the
their progress, 149; the Moors, 154;    consecrated banner, 46; disband
Ferdinand, 155; the influence of        ment of the Preetorian  guards,
Charles V. in extending the Refor-      his death, 48; the Nicene creed, 76.
mation, 176.                        Constantinople, its foundation, 47;
Christian Church, The Early, its pro-       characteristics, 48; its decline, the
gress, vicissitudes, and achieve-       cathedral of St. Sophia, 66; the
ments, 34.                              centre of Greek commerce, 111;
Christianity the national religion of       the Turks, 114, 145; Timour, 148;
the Roman empire, 34; the influ-        capture of Constantinople, 148.
ence of Roman warfare, its chief  Constantius, 50.
centres, 35; the edict of Milan   Corday (Charlotte), 250.
-triumph! 43; progress under  Cortes, Hernando, 161.
Constantine, 44; Jtlian the Apos-  Crispus executed by Constantine his
tate, 50; the assistance of Theo-       father, 49.
dosius, 57; the Nicene creed, 76;  Crusades, The, first, 122; second, 125;
Augustine, 76; institutions after       third, 126; fourth and fifth, 130;
Constantine, 77; introduction of        sixth and seventh, 131; the accesmonasticism, 78; Jerome, Bene-          sion of the Mameluke Sultans, 132;
diet, 79; the conversion of the Bar-    their influence on commerce, 143.
barians, 79; Franks and Saxons,  Crusaders, The, 121; their energy,
80; the opposition of Moham-            activity, and conquest, 129; Jerumedanism, 84; Mohammed's suc-           salem  delivered, 124; Richard
cessors, the Caliphs, 88; march         Coeur de Lion  128; Philip  of
of Mohammedanism, 93; Charle-           France, 124, 129.
magne, 93; his missionary zeal;  Cyprian, martyred under Valerian, 41.
101; the Normans, 107; the Hungarian hordes, 109; conversion of  DACIA made a province of Roman
Russians to, 113; the exactions of      Empire by Trajan, 26.
the Turks, 119; attack on Jeru-  Danes, 106-109.
salem, 131; the Reformation, 168;  Danton, 250.
its heroes, 169-175; the Jesuits,  Decius, defeated by the Goths, 29; at181; the Inquisition, 185.              tempts the extirpation  of the
Christians, The early, 22; their perse-      church, 41.
cution by Nero, 36; burned out of  Delhi, 148.
Jerusalem, 24; the persecution of  Diocletian, his influence on Rome, 31;
Marcus Aurelius, 39; persecution        his abdication, 32; his persecutions
by Domitian and Trojan, 37.             of the early Christians, 42.
Church of Rome, when founded, 35.       Domitian, his character, and incidents
Cicero, 14.                                  of his youth and government, 25.
Civilization, progress of, 142.         Dutch republic, rise of the, 188; its
Claudius, his character and aims, 21;       power, 191-193; war with France,
partial conquest of Britain, 21; his    210.
part in the drama of Rome, 30.      Dutch, settlement of, in the United
Cleopatra, her visit to Antony, her          States, 233.
career and influence on Rome, her
death, 11.                          ELBA, 256.
Clovis, founder of the French king-  England, its achievement in wealth




INDEX.                                  267
and manufacture, 144; its position   Gregory the Great, his work, characin the Reformation, 176; theseven         ter, and power, 81-83.
years' war, 228; the English in   Gregory VII., Hildebrand, 133.
America, colonial taxation, 232;  Gustavus Adolphus, 201.
Puritanism, 233; peace declared
with America, 242.                    HADRIAN succeeds Trajan, his ability
Erasmus, 169.                                 and energy, his visit to Britain,
Europe, chief events in early part of          his death, 27.
19th century, 258.                    Haroun  al Raschid  (the Just), his
policy, 95, 96.
FERDINAND, II., 199.                      Hastings, 108.
France, the progress of liberty, 137;  Hegira, 87-93.
war (Swiss) of independence, 139;  Henry III. of France, 196.
religious contest during the Refor-  Henry IV., Prince of Navarre, his
mation, 177; the Huguenots, Car-          career, 197.
dinal Richelieu, 193; civil war,  Herculaneum overwhelmed, 25.
massacre of the Huguenots, 195;  Hernando Cortes, 161.
their overthrow, Louis XIV., 208;  Holy War, The, 121-123.
the golden age of French litera-  Honorius, his government and failure,
ture, 213; the first great revolu-        58-60.
tion, 244; after the seven years'  Horace, 14, 15.
war, 245; the national assembly,  Huguenots, The, 193; civil war, 194;
246; Napoleon  Bonaparte, 251;            their ruin, 198.
under Napoleon I., 254-258.           Huns, The, their characteristics, 55;
Franks, The, their conversion, 80;            mode of warfare, etc., 56; their
their decline after Charlemagne,          final defeat and ruin, 62.
105; their force in the Crusades,  Huss, John, 168.
122.
Frederick the Great, 224; his father,  IGNATIUS, Martyrdom  of, Bishop of
himself, his imprisonment, 225;           Antioch, 38.
his policy, his success, his trick,  Ignatius Loyola, 181; founder of the
his day-work, Macaulay's descrip-         Society of Jesus, 181.
tion, 226; his marvellous and   Independence, The American war of,
questionable supremacy, 229.              238; Swiss war of, 139.
Frederick William of Prussia, 261-263.  Innocent I., his authority  in  the
Fritigern, 56.                                 Papacy, 81.
Inquisition, The, its purpose, atrocity,
GAUL, the Franks, supremacy of, 64.            and scope, 185, 187.
Garibaldi, 260.                           Italy, its first king, 63; Theodoric's
Genseric (the Vandal) his possession of       reign and death, 65; the revival
Carthage, 62-64.                          of learning and commerce in, 142;
Germans, The, Romans, German Em-              Victor Emmanuel, 260; Union of
pire, Otho, 109.                          Italy, 260.
Germany in the 14th century, 144; the
thirty  years' war, 198; Martin  JEROME, 79.
Luther, 173; Melancthon, 174;  Jerusalem  destroyed  by  Titus, 24;
Calvin, 175; Charles V., 175.             Julian's  edict to  rebuild  the
Gladiatorial combats, The, abolished          temple, 51; deliverance of, 127.
by a Christian monk, 59.              Jesuits, The, their origin and extraGodfrey, King of Jerusalem, 124; de-           ordinary influence, 181-183.
feat of the Sultan of Egypt, 125.    Jews, their rising under the reign of
Golden age of the empire, The, its             Hadrian, 27.
extent, etc., 23.                     John, St., banished to Patmos, 37.
Goths, victories over the Romans, 29;  John II. of Portugal, 156.
their migration towards Rome and   Jovian, 53.
warfare, contest with Huns, 54-56;  Julian, the apostate, 50; his accession
checked by Theodosius, 57.                to the throne, 50; his apostacy
Granada, 154.                                 and its result, 51; his attempted
Greeks, The, their attainments in arts         conquest of Persia, 52; his death
and manufactures, 111; contem-            and burial, 53.
porary  effort, 113; their decay,  Julianus, his purchase of the empire,
147; the fall of Constantinople, 153.     his reign and execution, 28.




268                               INDEX.
Justinian, characteristics of his age,  Mohammedanism, its march in Gaul,
his revision of Roman law, 66, 67;      93; its retrogression, 113; the Otohis crusade against the Ostrogotjhs,    man Turks, 146; the Moors, 153.
69; his death, 72.                  Monasticism, its foundation, process,
and spread, 77; Simeon Stylites,
LATIN, the legal language of the             78.
Roman empire, 14.                   Morgarten, battle of. 140.
Latins, The, in Jerusalem, 127; their  Mongols, The, 145; their rise and deexpulsion, 132.                         dine, 146; Timour, 148.
Leo I., his influence on Rome, his  Monks, their institution, etc., 77.
character and attainments, 81;  Montezuma, 164.
the enactment of Papal authority,  Moors, The, 153; their career, 154;
81.                                      " The last sigh" in Spain, 155.
Literature of the Augustan period, 14;
Dante, Chaucer, Petrarch, Bocac-  NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, 251; his apcio, 142.                               pearance and part on the stage of
Lombards, The, their establishment           Europe, 252; consul and emperor,
in  Italy, 72; Alboin, 73; their         253; his overrun of Europe, 256;
failure, 75; defeated by the Franks,    his magnificent career, 257; his
99.                                     defeat and end, 257.
Louis VII., 126.                        Napoleon III., his accession, 259; his
Louis XIV. of France, 206; his policy        achievement, 260; Sedan, 261.
and government, his court, 207;  Necker, 245.
his arms in Europe defeated, 211;  Nelson, 253.
his influence on home affairs, 212;  Nero, his character, etc., 18; Britcondition of his people, 213; "sow-     annicus, 21; Seneca's influence,
ing the wind," 214.                     21; his death, 23.
Louis XV., 244.                         Nerva elected Domitian's successor,
Louis XVI., 245; the policy of his           characteristics of his reign, 26.
ministers, 245; his feebleness, 246;  Nicene creed, 76.
his execution  and its effect on   Normans, The, 106; their advance and
Europe, 249.                            stratagem in warfare, 107.
Louis XVIII., 254-259.                  Nuns, 78
Luther, his life-work and adventurous
career, 169-174.                    OCTAIA, 22
MAHMOUD, his accession in Eastern   Octavian declares war on Cleopatra, 11;
Persia, 114; the first sultan, 114;     Augustus, 13.
his achievement, instances of his  Octavius, 10.
magnanimity, his death, 115.        Omar, his career, 89; the destruction
m atalek  Shah, 118.  d h            of the Alexandrian Library, 90.
Walek Shah, 118.
Marsat, uius his administration   Otho, The Great, 109; indications of
and character, 27.                      his work, 110-112.
Maria Theresa, 226-228.                 Ostrogoths, 60-70.
Marie Antoinette, 245; her execution,
249.                                PAPACY, The, 77; foundation of its
Mark (Bishop of Arethusa), his story,        authority, 81; its supremacy51.                                     Honorius, 81; the accession of
Martyrdom of Polycarp, Pothinus, and        Gregory, 82; its position during
Symphorian, 39, 40.                     the Crusades, 127; its power in
Melancthon (Philip), 174.                   Europe, 134; its decline, 132; GreMenzikoff, 221.                             gory VII., 133; Boniface VIII.,
Mexico, the conquest of, 161; Hernando      135; England under Pope Innocent
Cortes, 161-163.                        III., 136; Philip the Fair, 135;
Mirabeau, 246.                              the  rival  popes, 137; Martin
Mohammed, his birth and parentage,          Luther-the traffic  in  "indul84; creed and pretension, 85; his       gences," 170; the Jesuits, 181; the
career, 86; instances of his teach-     thirty years war in Germany, 201.
ing, 87; the extent of his influence  Paris, the seat of the first Frank king,
and empire, 87; his death and sac-      64.
cession, 88.                        Paul, St., 20.




INDEX.                                269
Penn, William, 233.                     Richelieu, Cardinal, 197; estimate of
Perpetua, her martyrdom, account of         Peter the Great, 224.
same, 40.                           Robespierre, his career and death,
Persecution of the early Christians, 34;    249, 250.
its influence in  extending  the  Rollo, 107.
Church, 36; the modes of torture  Roman empire, 18; its disastrous condiof the Christians described, 36; the    tion in (A.D. 180), 28; its condition
policy of Decius and Valerian, 41.      after death of Severus, 29; its dePersia, 114.                                dine and degradation, its restoraPertinax  succeeds  Commodus, his           tion, 30; the policy of Diocletian
assassination, 28.                      in dividing the empire, 43; its
Peru, its conquest, Pizzaro, the Peru-      partition   by  Valentinian  and
vians, 166.                             Valens, 53; dissolution  of the
Peter the Hermit, his work in the de-       western half, 54; migration of the
liverance of the Holy Land, 121.        Goths, 55; its devastation by the
Peter the Great, his beginning, 216;         Huns, 59; its decline into the
his visit to England, 217; Peter        Papacy, 82; Charlemange, 102; the
and Charles XII. of Sweden, 219;        rise of the Germans, 109.
their hostility, 219; foundation of  Rome, First Emperor  of, 12; its
St. Petersburg, 220; his romantic       thoroughfare, etc., habits of the
marriage with Catherine, 221; his       people, 16; burned by Nero, 22;
victory over Charles, 222; his visit    the throne exposed at public aucto  France, 223; his death, his         tion, 28; environed by the Goths'work, 224.                              under Alaric and conquered, 60.
Philip II., 185.                        Romulus Augustulus the last emperor,
Pizarro (Francisco), conquest of Peru,  Ruric, 112.
his career, 165-167.                Russia, 111.
Pliny (the elder), 25; (the younger),  Russians, The, their origin, Ruric,
his account of the Christian super-     112; conversion of, to Christianity,
stition, 38.                            113.
Poles, The, their effort and ruin, 229.
Polycarp, account of his martyrdom,  SADOWA, 261.
39.                                 Saladin, his career and death. 128-130.
Pompadour, Madam de, 244.               Saracens, their conquest, their check,
Pompeii overwhelmed, 25.                    their power, Tarik, their relation
Portuguese, The, their enterprise, 156.     to Spanish distinction, 87-93; their
Praetorian guards assassinate Pertinax,     opposition by French valour, the
28.                                     division  of  their empire, the
Pragmatic sanction, The, 226.               Abbassides, 93-98; the overthrow
Printing, its invention, John Guten-        of the Turks in Palestine, 120.
berg, 143.                          Saxons, their conversion, 80.
Probus, his participation in the re-  Scandinavians, their invasion of Engstoration of Rome, his reign, 30,       land, 100-106.
31.                                 Sclavonians, The, 71, 72.
Protestantism,  its  progress,  174;  Sejanus, his ministry, his character,
opposition  of the Jesuits, 182;        and death. 19.
persecution under Philip II., 188;  Sempach, battle of, 141.
the career of William of Orange,  Senate, The Roman, its elective right,
189; the Huguenots, 193; increase       18.
of France, 195; the thirty years'  Seneca, his death, 22.
war and its results, 203-205.       Septimus Severus (A.D.) 193, Emperor,
his discipline, energy, his adminiREFORMATION, The age of the, 168;           stration, dies in Britain (A.D. 211),
Erasmus, Luther,  Melancthon,           29.
169,170; Ulric Zwingle, 174; John   Serapis, The temple and idol of, deCalvin, 175; Luther's excommuni-        stroyed by Theodosius, its result,
cation, 172; its effects on the         57, 58.
public opinion, 173.                Seven years' war, The, 228-229.
Revolution, The first French, 244; its  Severus utters an edict against Christihistory, 258.                           anity, 40.
Richard Coeur de Lion, his conquests  Simeon Stylites, anchorite, his hisand history, 128-130.                   tory, 78.




270                               INDEX.
Spanish succession, War of the, 211.    Uttrecht, treaty of, 211.
Swiss, The, War of Independence, 139;
the legend of William Tell, 140;  VALENTINIAN, joint Emperor  with
Arnold of Winkleried, 141.              Valens, 53-55.
Valentinian I. and II., 58.
TELL, William, 140.                     Valens, joint Emperor with  ValenTErL, Theig f, 248-251.          tinian, 53; his defeat by the Goths,
Terror, The reign of, 248-251.                 a t, 
Theodoric defeats the Huns, 62.         Vladolid, 60.
Theodosius, emperor of the east, his  Vandals  62; their attack  on  the
attitudsetowards paganism' 57;  Vandals, 62; their attack  on  the
attitude towards paganism, 57;
his work; massacre of the Thes-         Roman Emire, 63; their oversalonians, his repentance, 57, 58.      throw, 68.
Thirty year' war, The, 198.             Valerian taken prisoner by the PerTiberius, his character, etc., incidents    sians, his ignominious fate, 29.
of his reign and death, 18, 19      Varna, battle of, 151.
Tilly, 202.                             Vespasian, Emperor, besieges JeruTimour (or Tamerlane), his conquest         salem, his influence on Rome, his
in Asia, his atrocity and death,        character and habits, 23.
Traj, his character, and conquest of  Victor Emmanuel, Garibaldi, 2, 2    261.
Dacia, improvements under his  WALLENSEIN, 200-204.
reign, his death, 26.               WaLigENST, N,  200.204.
Turks, The, their rise and progress   Washington, 238; his position and
their leaders, 114-119; the final       achievement, 239; his situation
division of their empire, 120 their     with England, 239; the mode of
aid to Protestantism, 177; their        his  acquisition, 240; the  first
opposition  to Peter the Great,         president, 243.
their defeat, 222.                  Waterloo, 257.
Wellington, 257.
Wickliffe, 168.
ULRIC Zwingle, the Swiss reformer,  William (Prince of Orange), his career
Calvin, 175.                            and death, 189-192; King of EngUnited States, The rise of, 231; religi-    land. 211.
ous sects, Puritanism, 233, 234;  Worms, The Diet of, 173.
New York, 233; Pennsylvania, 233;
the Declaration of Independpeence,  ZMI, 112.
242;  ing the triumph of the Unionists,  Zingis, the Mongol, 146.
263.                                Zwingle, 174.
WILLIAM  COLLINS &  COMPANY, PRINTERS, GLASGOW.