>Af;:) \ ^ 1'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~' I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ii I' i ~~~~~~~~'~ ~~~/;:.i~ m?.,'E "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~iii',n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A HISTORY OF THE WORLD, ON A erm gare l~qts matr Tlaun; FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE TREATY OF VIENNA. TO WHICH IS ADDED A SUMMARY OF LEADING EVENTS FROM THAT PERIOD TO THE YEAR 1821. BY H. WHITE, B.A. TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. WITH A CONTINUATION, GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THE VARIOUS REVOLUTIONS IN EUROPE AND AMERICA TO THE PRESENT TIME. PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY J. & J. L. GIHON, 98 CHESTNUT STREET. 1851. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by J. & J. L. GIUON, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE AMERICAN EDITION IN presenting to the American public this excellent compend of Universal History, the original work is given entire, without abridgement or alteration. It has been thought advisable, however, to add a few pages to that part of the history which relates to the discovery and settlement of North America. The portions thus added are distinguished from the rest of the book by being enclosed in brackets. Philadelphia, January, 1844 - I i PREFACE. THIS Volume contains a brief narrative of the principal events in the History of the World, from the earliest ages to the present time. With the view of facilitating the researches of the student, as well as of rendering the work more available for the purposes of tuition, the compiler has adopted the novel arrangement of a division into periods of centuries. This plan appeared to him likely to simplify the study of history, by its enabling the unpractised reader to synchronize facts, to group round one common centre the events occurring at the same time in various and sometimes widely distant countries, and to prevent that confusion of dates and occurrences so common with those who have read his. tory in detached portions. As an initiatory work, he trusts that it will be found valuable in promoting a knowledge of one of the most useful branches of learning; and it is accordingly presented to the Public, not without hope of indulgence and approbation. The writer lays no claim to originality: if he shall be pronounced fortunate in the choice and condensation of his materials, he will have attained the object of his wishes. He has consulted the best works in the English language, and acknowledges his great obligations to several of the more recent French and German writers. The references introduced into the body of the work serve to indicate the main sources from which his information has been derived; and it is hoped they will also be serviceable to the student, by directing the course of his further researches, as well as inducing him to continue them in a more extended field. As to the method to be pursued in using this manual for the purposes of tuition, the compiler deems it unnecessary to offer any lengthened directions; the experienced teacher will readily adopt that best suited to the capacities of those under his charge. The work may be used simply as a reading-book; but a certain portion should be given out for the attentive study of the pupil, after which he should be questioned closely, not only as to the more 1* (v) vi PREFACE. general facts, but also the most trivial circumstances recorded. With this view, he might be required occasionally to return written answers to a series of questions somewhat like the following, which are selected from a list the Compiler has drawn up for the ase of his own classes: - Origin of the Wars of the Roses, de. scribing also the principal events?-Attacks on the power of the English and Scotch aristocracy from 1450 to 1513?-Obstacles that Henry VII. encountered on ascending the throne? —Number of wars between Charles V. and Francis I., with their principal events?- Causes that led to and favoured Reformation in Germany?-Defects and good qualities of Elizabeth's administration! and similar subjects. In these exercises, the pupil will of course be aided by the explanations and directions of the teacher, with reference to the authorities to be consulted. The importance of combining geographical with historical information, will be readily appreciated, and the pupils should at all times be able to give at least a general description of the various countries and cities mentioned under each century. Those more advanced may from time to time be required to construct maps of —1. The world, immediately after the dispersion, indicating the parts settled by the sons of Noah and their descendants; 2. Empire of Alexander; 3. Roman Empire under Augustus; 4. Roman Empire at period of Barbarian Invasion; 5. World in time of Charlemagne; 6. Europe at Ottoman Invasion; 7. Europe at breaking out of French Revolution. They may also be advantageously employed in forming synoptical tables, as indicated in the body of the Work. These may be increased or diminished at the option of the teacher; but the design should ever be to make the scholar his own historian, and so to interest and exercise him in the study, as to impress the facts and dates perma. nently on his memory. JANUARY, 1843. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION, Page 11. PART FIRST.-ANCIENT HISTORY. FROM THE CREATION, 4004 B. C., TO THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE, A. D. 476. PAGE PAGE 41st CENTURY B.C. 15th CENTURY B. C. Creation of the World..........13 Sacred History...............25 Egypt.......................27 9th CENTURY B. C. Pheniciai Death of Abel-Posterity of Adam Greece...28 -Seth born..............14 14th CENTURY B. C. 24th CENTURY B. C. Judea.................. 29 Universal Deluge.............ib. Greece.......................ib. 23d CENTURY B. C. 13th CENTURY B. C. Sacred History................ 15 Juda....................... 30 China....................... 16 Greece......................b. Formation of Nations........... ib. 12th CENTURY B. C. 22d CENTURY B. C. Judaea.................... 31 Egypt - Beginning of Genuine Greece.................... 32 History..................17 11th CENTURY B. C. 20th CENTURY B.C. Judna.33 20th CENTURY B. C. Judwa.........................33 Sacred History............... 19 Greece.....................35 Grecian Colonies...............36 19th CENTURY B. C. Egypt.....................20 10th CENTURY B. C. Judea.......................37 18th CENTURY B. C. Greece.39 18th CENTURY B. C.. Greece........................ 39 Sacred History................21 Syria.......................40 Egypt........................ib. 9th CENTURY B. C. 17th CENTURY B. C. Judea....................... 41 Sacred History................22 Greece......... 43 Greece-Origin of the Greek Na- Carthage....................44 tions.................... b.. Macedonia....................45 16th CENTURY B. C. 8th CENTURY B. C. Sacred History................ 23 Judea.......................45 Greece.......................24 Greece.......................47 (vii) V1ii CONTENTS. PAGE PAGE Assyria................. 48 2d CENTURY B.C. Lydia....................... 51 Rome..................... 101 Rome - Origin of the Roman Judea and Syria.............. 110 People.................. 52 1 st CENTURY B.C. 7th CENTURY B. C. Rome................. 112 Judaea..................... 53 Second Literary Era........... 122 Assyria.......... 54 Judaea...................... ib. Media................. 55 Persia...................... 56 CHRISTIAN ERA. Egypt..................... 57 1st CENTURY A. D. Greece..................... 58 Rome.......................124 Rome.............. 60 Judaa...................... 128 History of the Church......... 131 6th CENTURY B. C. Britain................... 133 Judaea........... 61 Assyria....... 62 2d CENTURY A. D. Persia................ 64 Rome.......................134 Egypt...................... 66 The Church................137 Greece...................... 67 Rome....................... 69 China.. 70 Rome......................39 Palmyra..................... 143 5th CENTURY B.C. Persia..................... ib. Juda......... 71 Barbarian Invasions.......... 144 Greece........ib The Church................. ib. Persia...................... 77 4th CENTURY A. D. Rome......... 78 Rome....................... 147 Carthage.................... 81 Eastern Empire............... 151 Western Empire p........... 152 4th CENTURY B.C. Barbaric Migrations...........153 Greece...................... 82 The Church................. 154 Arts, Literature and Science among the Greeks..... 89 5th CENTURY A. D. Rome............. 91 Division of the Empire........ 158 Judea...................... 93 Eastern Empire.............. 159 Persia.................... 94 Western Empire........... 160 Venice...................... 165 3d CENTURY B. C. Gaul..................... ib. Rome...................... 95 Britain.............. 166 Greece and Macedon........... 98 The Church................. ib. Egypt.................... 99 Appendix to Part First-History Parthia......... 100 of Literature.1.......... 168 PART SECOND.-HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. FROM THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE, A.D. 476, TO THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION, AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 6th CENTURY A. D. France...................... 180 Greek Empire............. 174 Spain......................183 Persia............... 1.... 177 Britain................. 184 Italy................. 178 The Church................ 185 CONTENTS. ix PAGE PAGE 7th CENTURY A.D. Britain...................... 254 Greek Empire...............186 The Church.................49 Persia...................... 188 The Crusades............... 251 Arabia.................. 189 State of the World at the Epoch Italy................ 194 of the Crusades, from 1096 France...........195 to 1273.................254 Spain....................... 198A.D. ^^ "^"~"""~~~ ~~~~ """" ~ 12th CENTURY A.D. The Church.............. ib. Greek Empire.............. 255 8th CENTURY A.D. The East....................257 Greek Empire................ 199 Italy....................... b. Arabia............. 200 Germany....................258 Spain......................202 France......................260 Italy....................... 204 Spain.......................261 France......................205 Britain.....................ib. The World in the time of Charle- The Church................264 Tmagne. Churh.. 208 13th CENTURY A. D. The Church.................209 Appendix to Eighth Century- Greek Emp-i 266 Fine Arts, from the Fall of Ge ay.. 268 Rome to Charlemagne...................211....27 France......;..............275 9th CENTURY A. D. Britain..................... 278 Greek Empire....212 Spanish Peninsula.......... 279 anisThe East....................281 Arabia.................. 214 h 28 Sp ai n15 The Church................ 282 Spain....................... 215 28 France.~216 Crusades.......284 France......................216284 The Northmen.............. 218 14th CENTURY A. D. Germany.................... 219 It aly.................... Greek Empire................ 286 Italy............... 220 Greek E mast....................287 Britain...................... 287 Brit The Eain.................... E t8 The Church................ 224 Germany....................288 Italian Peninsula.............. 291 10th CENTURY A.D. France...................... 295 Greek Empire................225 Britain................ 299 Italy........ 226 Spanish Peninsula...........303 France.....................227 The Church.................304 Germany.....................229 Inventions, &c............. 306 Britain.....................231 Spitain. * 232 15th CENTURY A.D. Spain....................... 232. Arabian Empire..............233 Greek Empire.......... 307 The Church................234 Ottoman Empire and Turkey.. 308 The World at the End of the Germany.................311 Tenth Century.........235 France.....................315 Britain......................321 11th CENTURY A.D. Italian Peninsula............. 330 Greek Empire...............236 Spanish Peninsula............334 Italy........................ 238 Discoveries and Colonies....... 339 Germany....................239 The Church................341 France..................... 242 Appendix to Part Second-ComSpain...... 243 merce, the Progress of LearnArabian Empire.............. 244 ing, Discoveries, &c........343 x CCONTENTS. PART THIRD.-MODERN HISTORY. FROM THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION, AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. PAGE PAGE 16th CENTURY A. D. Spain....................... 449 Britain......................351 Portugal.....................452 Ireland......................361 Italian Peninsula..............453 France......................362 Germany.................... 455 Italian Peninsula............369 Holland.....................459 Spanish Peninsula........... 374 Denmark................... 461 The Netherlands.............376 Sweden.....................463 Germany....................378 Poland......................465 Hungary and Bohemia......... 383 Prussia....................468 Poland and Russia............ 384 Russia.............471 Denmark, Sweden and Norway.. 386 Turkey.....................474 Ottoman Empire and the East... 387 Persia.............. 476 Colonies and Discoveries.......391 India......................477 Discoveries and Settlements in United States...............481 North America...........392 Hayti.......................484 The Church................395 The Church................486 Letters, Arts and Sciences......398 Literature, Arts and Sciences. 487 17th CENTURY A. D. Great Britain................. 401 19th CENTURY A.D. France................... 407 Great Britain................491 Spain and Portugal..........410 France..................... 496 Italian Peninsula.............411 Spain................... 504 Germany...................412 Portugal...................506 Holland....................414 Italy...507 Denmark....................416 Germany................508 Sweden....................417 Holland...........509 Poland......................419 Denmark........... ib. Russia......................421 Sweden.....................510 Ottoman Empire..............422 Prussia..................... ib. The -East.. 423 Russia.511 The East.sia......................4 Ri 511 Colonies.................... 425 Turkey.....................512 Settlement of the United States. 426 British India................. 513 The Church.................430 United States................515 Literature, Arts and Sciences... ib. Brazil.................. 517 18th CENWRY A. D. Spanish Colonies............ ib. Great Britain.......... 433 Literature, Arts and Sciences... 518 France....................440 Conclusion..................520 INTRODUCTION. UNIVERSAL HISTORY is commonly divided into three portions:I. ANCIENT HISTORY, which, beginning with the creation of the world, 4004 B. c., terminates A. D. 476, in the destruction of the Roman empire. II. THE MIDDLE AGES, which extend from tle fall of Rome, A. D. 476, to the discovery of America, A. D. 1492. III. MODERN HISTORY, which commences at the latter epoch, and, if we do not distinguish it from Contemporaneous History, is continued to the present time. The events which mark the separation between the First and Second periods, are the Irruption of the Barbarians, the consequent fall of the Western Empire, and the foundation of the modern European states; between the Second and the Third are the extension of learning by the invention of printing, the taking of Constantinople, the maritime discoveries of Spain and Portugal, with the more extensive use of fire-arms. I. ANCIENT HISTORY may be subdivided into four periods:1. The Antediluvian, comprising the creation, the fall of man with its immediate train of consequences, and ending with the general deluge, 2348 B. c. 2. The Heroic, commencing with the establishment of the eat liest empires and most ancient cities, and including the fabulous ages of Greece. 3. The Historic, which begins with the first Olympiad, 776 B. c., nearly synchronous with the foundation of Rome, 753 B. C., and comprises the legislative eras of Lycurgus and Solon, the rise and fall of the Persian monarchy, and the earlier part of Rcman history to the end of the Punic wars. 4. The Roman, from the fall of Carthage, 146 B. c., to that of Rome, A. D. 476. II. THE MIDDLE AGES may be conveniently arranged in the following six periods:1. The foundation of the modern states of Western Europe, A. D. 476-622, when the Saxons invaded Britain, 449; the Visigoths settled in Spain, 507; the Ostrogoths in Italy, 489; and the Franks began the formation of the French monarchy, A. D. 481. (xi) Xii INTRODUCTION. 2. The second comprehends the age of Mohammed, with the propagation of his creed and the establishment of the states which embraced his religion, A. D. 622-800. 3. The third embraces the period when the empire of the West was partially restored in the Franko-Germanic dominions of Charlemagne, 800-936. 4. The fourth is the interesting period of the dark ages, 9361100, during which the monarchy of Charlemagne fell to ruin, the Capetian dynasty began to reign in France, Italy was parcelled out among a number of petty princes; while in Germany Otho commenced the long-continued struggle against feudalism. 5. The fifth is the romantic or heroic period of the Crusades, 1096-1273, in which the Roman legal code, the foundation of great part of modern jurisprudence, began to be studied. 6. The sixth beheld the revival of the Fine Arts in Italy, the taking of Constantinople and consequent diffusion of its learned men, the revival of letters, the discovery of America, 1492, and the passage round the Cape of Good Hope, 1497. III. MODERN HISTORY may be conveniently divided into six portions:1. The period of the Reformation, from its commencement by Luther in 1517, till the termination of the long series of Italian wars in 1559. 2. The period of the religious wars, particularly in France, from 1559 to the peace of Westphalia in 1648, which produced many important changes in Europe. 3. The period from 1648 to the death of Louis XIV. in 1715, during which Russia entered into the European commonwealth, and Great Britain began to assume preponderating influence on the Continent. 4. The fourth period terminates with the peace of Versailles, 1783, which established the independence of the United States, and during which Prussia became a first-rate power. 5. The French Revolution, from the meeting of the Statesgeneral in 1789, to the restoration of the Bourbons in 1815. 6. The period from the battle of Waterloo, 1815, to the present day. ELEMENTS OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY. PART FIRST. ANCIENT HISTORY. FROM THE CREATION 4004, B. C. TO THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE, 476 A. D. FORTY-FIRST CENTURY 4004, Creation of the World. CREATION, 4004 B. C.-" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," and by the power of his word, gave to a rude chaotic mass the admirable beauty and variety which nc x- everywhere salute the eye. Man was formed the last and best of his works, in the image of his Maker, upright and happy, with powers of understanding and will. With his companion Eve, miraculously framed out of his own substance, he dwelt in the garden of Eden, where, yielding to the suggestions of the Tempter, he transgressed the divine commands, and incurred all the penalties due to the violation of a positive law. Sin with its mournful train entered into the world; and though the Messiah was graciously promised, our first parents, being driven from Paradise, were condemned to a life of toil and to the forfeiture of immortality. Geologists assign a period to the earth far exceeding that given in the Mosaic records, and trace the various stages through which it is supposed to have passed from the time when the will of God called its rude germs into existence until the creation of man. Water first enveloped the nucleus of the earth; a few shell-fish and plants composed the animal and vegetable life. To these, after successive revolutions, were added the mollusca, fishes, and amphibious animals. These again made way for the sea-horses, whales, and others, whose huge carcasses were in their turn added to the solid matter of the globe, which was now beginning to produce vegetable substances adapted to the use and support of land-animals. The monsters of creation, such as the mammoth, were next called into existence, to disappear after an appointed period, when the present race of animals and man himself were to succeed. Such is the progress of creation as imagined by the persevering geologists of the last fifty years, which, far from contradicting the narrative of Moses, confirms our faith in its credibility by actual observation of the earth's surface. 2 (I3) ~-~ ~ ~ ~ ~^~_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 14 ANCIENT HISTORY. THIRTY-NINTH CENTURY. 875, Death of Abel-Posterity of Adam-Seth, born 3874. ABEL.-After his fall, Adam had two sons, Cain and Aoel; the ane a hushandman, the other a shepherd, and each as different from tile other in temper as in occupation. Filled with rage and jealousy at the acceptance of his brother's sacrifice, Cain put forth his hand and nurdered him, 3875. Thus our first parent beheld the fruits of his disobedience, not only in the presence of death, till then unknown, but in his first-born becoming the minister of vergeance. The descendants of his third son, Seth, were as distinguished for piety, as those of Cain for irreligion; the former were in consequence denominated the sons of God, the latter the sons of men. In the new world population rapidlyincreased; fields were cultivated, cattle bred, and their skins used for clothing; Jabal made the first tents; musical instruments were the invention of Jubal; and Tubal-Cain (supposed by some to be the Vulcan of Pagan mythology) discovered the art of working in metals. Already the strong began to assume authority over the weak. The offering of expiatory sacrifices and the sanctification of the sabbath originated in this early period. TWENTY-FOURTH CENTURY. 2348, Universal Deluge. DELUGE.-The death of Adam (3074,) the translation of Enoch (3017,) the feebleness of the other patriarchs, and the luxuriant abundance of the earth, filled man's heart with presumption and guilt. Impiety made rapid progress, and like a contagious pestilence infected all the mass of society. In the midst of the general depravity one individual alone found grace in the eyes of the Lord. In the year of the world 1656, the whole of the human race was destroyed by a deluge, the only survivors being Noah and his family, in all eight persons, who were preserved in an ark built in obedience to the divine command, 2348 B. C. On the subsiding of the waters, this vessel rested on Mount Ararat, in Armenia,* whence all the earth was again progressively peopled. The rainbow was then appointed as a covenant between God and man, that there should not be any moreflood to destroy the earth. One of the most remarkable effects of the Deluge was the rapid decrease of the duration of human life. The ten antediluvian patriarchs lived on an average 850 years each, while their immediate successors did not exceed 320. But under a favourable climate and with an increasing population, the arts soon reached a high state of perfection. The longevity of the postdiluvian patriarchs had the effect of maintaining the natural authority of the parent, while it also tended to repress the fickle passions of youth. When God's more immediate protection was removed, the span of life was contracted; and *This celebrated mountain is situated in 390 42' N. 440 18' E. nearly in the centre between the southern extremities of the Euxine and the Caspian seas, and is visible at the distance of 180 or 200 miles. Spreading its broad base along the plain of the Araxes, it rises in majestic grandeur 17,260 feet above the level of the sea, the whole of its upper region being covered with perpetual snow. It is regarded with the greatest veneration by the natives, who have many religious establishments in its vicinity. TWENTY-THIRD CENTURY B. C. 15 now its very brevity gives vigour to all the efforts of society, and the rapid change of actors inspires each with a hope of excelling in his own brief stage.* TWENTY-THIRD CENTURY. SACRED HISTORY.-Dispersion of Mankind-Formation of Nations-2247, Babel-Nimrod founds the Chaldean Monarchy, 2234. CHINA.-First dynasty: Fohi, 2207. Sacred History. THE DISPERSION.-The distribution of the world among the children of Noah was not made at random; for as early as the third generation after the Flood, it was arranged by the patriarch under the immediate direction of God. By this division Europe and Northern Asia fell to Japhet; Central Asia to Shem; and to Ham were assigned the distant regions of Africa. But violence was early used to derange this partition; Nimrod, the Belus of profane writers, expelled Ashur from the land of Shinar, and Canaan, the son of Ham, seized upon Palestine, which belonged to Shem. In the subsequent expulsion of the Canaanites by the Hebrews, we behold the certain though tardy retribution of the Almighty. BABEL, 2247.-The descendants of Cush, who had refused to follow the rest of the children of Ham into Africa, seized upon the fertile plains of Shinar, where under Nimrod they began to build the tower of Babel, and lay the foundation of a permanent monarchy. But, lest the progress of the infant society of the world should be crushed by an oppressive despotism, God confounded their language and scattered them over the face of the earth. Around that remarkable edificet the magnificent city of Babylon was afterwards raised (320 25' N. 44~ E.) ASSYRIA AND BABYLON. -Rejecting the narratives of the Greeks, which appear to have no better basis than a vague and popular tradition, we learn from the Scripture history that Ashur, being supplanted by Nimrod, retired towards the mountains, and built a city of defence on the left bank of the Tigris, which afterwards, under the appellation of Nineveh, became the seat of empire about the year 2234. Incessant *There is much difference of opinion as to the precise epoch of the Deluge. It is fixed by the learned authors of l'Art de verifier les Dates at 3308 B. c., by the Septuagint text at 3246, both of which nearly concur with the beginning of the Hindoo Kali Yug, 3101 B. c. The period assigned to the creation is equally unsettled; and more than 200 dates have been collected by Desvignoles, ranging from 6984 to 3483, B. c. t The remains of the Tower of Babel are supposed still to exist in the Birs NJVemroud on the western bank of the Euphrates, about six miles to the south-west of Hillah. Mr. Rich describes this venerable ruin as a prodigious mound, nearly half a mile in circumference and 198 feet in height; on its summit is a solid pile of brick, 37 feet high by 28 in breadth, shattered at the top, and rent by a large fissure. Around it lie immense fragments of brick-work, of no determinate figure, and converted into solid vitrified masses, as if they had undergone the action of the fiercest fire. Nebuchadnezzar, about 600 B. c formed it into that celebrated tower, which was reckoned among the wonders of the world. When Alexander the Great undertook to restore it to its former splendour, 10.000 men were occupied two months in clearing away the ruins caused by the devastations of Xerxes. The building was probably intended for a fire-tower, on which to offer sacri fices to the Sun (Bel or Baal). 16 ANCIENT HISTORY. hostility prevailed for centuries between the Babylonians and Assyrians, who had not all left the plains of Shinar (Mesopotamia.) The name of Babylon does not again occur in authentic history until the 8th century B. c., shortly before the time of Nebuchadnezzar, under whom it became the capital of an extensive monarchy. The Chasdim (descendants of Cush) who still remained, were known as the Chaldeans, probably a caste of priests, renowned for their scientific attainments. CHINA. FoHI.-Though it is difficult to assign a fixed epoch for the commencement of Chinese history, we must reject the exaggerated statements which give a duration to the empire of nearly 280,000 years. It is probable that the Eastern parts of Asia were visited early, and that the immediate posterity of Noah descended from the central mountains to those fertile plains which are traversed from west to east by the Hoang-Ho and the Kiang, and laid the foundations of a regular society under the celebrated Fohi, 2207. By him the people were divided into a hundred families, each having, as at present, a particular name; the sacred rites of marriage were enforced; the land was cultivated, cattle bred, and metals forged. He died in the 115th year of his reign. The existence of Fohi, and the chronological list of his successors given by Chinese writers down to the third century B. c., are questioned by the critics of modern days, who treat as fables every thing that is transmitted in the national annals before that period. Fohi is supposed by some to be only another name for Noah. Formation of Nations. All the various races that people the earth's surface spring from the three sons of Noah, and are divided into three corresponding branches. I. JAPHET may be regarded as the parent of the White or Caucasian branch, which spread over most part of Europe, S. Asia, and N. Africa. It admits of three subdivisions:a.-The Arameans, a race dwelling between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean, including the Arabs, Egyptians, and Abyssinians; b.-Indians, Pelasgians, and Germans, from whom are descended the inhabitants of India, and of great part of Europe; c.-Scythians and Tartars, or the people bordering on the Caspian Sea, among whom are the Turks, Hungarians, and Finns. II. SHEM is the parent stock of the tawny, olive, or Mongol race, which admits of six divisions:a.-The Mlantchoos in Central Asia; b.-The Chinese in China and Japan; c.-The Hyperboreans, who peopled the extreme north of Europe, Asia, and America, such as the Laplanders, Samoeids and Esquimaux. d.-The Malays in Malacca, and those islands comprehended in the term Malasia, the chief of which are Sumatra, Borneo, and Celebes. e.-The Oceanians, differing little from the preceding, inhabit the numerous small islands lying in a S. E. direction between Japan and the equator, with New Zealand, the Sandwich, and the Society Islands. f.-Americans, or copper coloured Indians, who composed the primitive population of the New World. III. HAM was the father of the black race, which may be subdivided into,a.-The Ethiopians in Central Africa; b. —The Caffres on the south-eastern coast, c. The Hottentots of the South of Africa. TWENTY-SECOND CENTURY B. C. 17 Both tradition and history point to the remote East as the storehouse of the human race. From the table-land in the vicinity of Balkh, in more recent times, issued the Huns, Avars, Magyars, Mongols, and Turks; and modern researches derive the Hindoos from the same locality. Traces of three primeval languages may also be found: -1. The Arabic or Chaldee, from which spring the dialects used by the Assyrians, Arabs, and Jews.-2. From the Sanscrit, radically different from the Arabic, spring the Greek, Latin, and Celtic dialects, the Persian, Armenian, and old Egyptian: -3. From the Slavonic or Tartarian, essentially different from the two preceding, are formed the various dialects of northern Asia and north-eastern Europe. The Hindoos preserve a tradition that there were originally eighteen languages. Modern naturalists, confining their view to the animal nature of man and taking no account of language or of the minor and superficial varieties in the exterior, admit at present offive races:-Caucasian, Negro, Tartar, American, Malay. Consult: Buffon's Natural History, vol. i. TWENTY-SECOND CENTURY. EGYPT.-2188, Menes-Beginning of Genuine History. Preliminary Observations. GREAT obscurity covers the early part of Egyptian history; the account given by Moses has reference merely to his own age; and the information derived from Herodotus, Manetho, and others, tends rather to confuse than enlighten us. The sacred island of Meroe, formed by the confluence of the Astaboras and the Astapus (the Tacazze and the Blue River) with the Nile, appears to have been the centre of commercial and religious resort. Thence the primitive civilizers of mankind, bearing with them the worship of Ammon and Osiris, the arts of life, the habits of trade, and, above all, the science and implements of agriculture, gradually spread their industrious colonies down the Nile. In some parts they found a rude race already settled (probably some pastoral Arab tribes who had come round by the way of the isthmus), and over whom they assumed the ascendant of superior civilisation, and formed a higher caste. At an early period the mountains which skirt the fertile plains of Thebes, were excavated into dwellings for themselves and their gods; whence, gradually spreading over the intervening plain, they laid the foundations of the " hundred-gated city." Sacerdotal colonies, forming separate nomes, gradually fixed themselves in all places suited for agriculture or traffic; the temple, college, and mart, became a new city, and perhaps a kingdom. Almost every ancient city bore the name of its god, as Diospolis (Thebes), Heliopolis (On), Hephaistopolis (Memphis), and many others. MENES.-Egyptian history, properly so called, begins with this sovereign, when the sacerdotal form of government was changed into the monarchical, or the reign of the gods gave way to that of men. This first mortal king has been identified by many chronologers, on insufficient grounds, with the Mizraim of the Scriptures. Others have supposed him to be the same as Osiris, Osymandyas, Uchoreus, and Mleris Of Menes or of his age we have only a few vague traditions. Herodotus ascribes to him the construction of a vast dam or mound, by which the course of the Nile was altered and confined and Memphis secured against inundation. Diodorus says that he taught the people to worship the gods and offer sacrifice, and that he introduced luxury and a sumptuous style of living. From Menes, to Mceris in the eighteenth dynasty, there _i _ _2 * ______ ______i__________ ] 18 ANCIENT HISTORY. is a wide chasm, feebly supplied by the scattered notices in the Pentateuch. The priests read to Herodotus a fabulous roll of 330 inglorious monarchs, eighteen of whom were Ethiopians, with one queen, named Nitocris. RELIGION.-The main doctrine of the Egyptian religion was the transmigrations of souls to an inferior or superior state of being, according as a man pursued vice or virtue during his life. The principal divinities of Egypt were Kneph, the creator of the universe, represented under the figure of a serpent; Phtha, the vivifying power of nature, whom, owing to his symbol, fire, the Greeks confounded with Vulcan; Osiris, or the Sun; and Isis, or the Moon. The heavenly bodies were regarded as the great causes of nutrition and generation. Terrestrial and mortal divinities were also worshipped, many ofwhonl had been kings, and were thus honoured as gods, for the benefits they conferred on their subjects during life. Baby or Typhon was detested as the murderer of Osiris and the scourge of his family and nation. Horus, Thoth, Serapis, and Anubis were other of their deities. The religious extravagance of the Egyptians accorded divine honours to many animals and vegetables. Cats were held especially sacred, and their death was mourned by shaving the eyebrows. The preservation of this animal during a conflagration was of more importance than that of a house; and for having killed one undesignedly, a soldier in the army of Antony was torn in pieces by the enraged multitude. The bull Apis was worshipped in a magnificent temple, and by the noblest priests. His death was considered a national calamity, and the installation of his successor at Memphis was a universal holiday. By their long residence in Egypt the Israelites had gradually acquired many of the religious notions peculiar to the country; hence the molten calf set up in the desert, and the golden calves worshipped at Bethel and Dan, under Jeroboam, were representations of the Egyptian Apis. GOVERNMENT.-The 30,000 years of the reign of the Sun, the 3984 of the twelve gods, and 217 of the demigods, are either an allegory or an astronomical problem converted into history. The earliest form of government of which we can speak with any certainty was sacerdotal, which was followed by the regal. The population was divided into castes, as in Hindostan at the present day; the priesthood were in the first rank, the soldiers in the second, then followed the husbandmen, traders, and artificers; sailors and shepherds formed the lowest. The country was originally divided into nomes or districts, each so distinguished from the others by various local usages and objects of worship, as to lead to the conjecture that they once formed permanent and independent states. The four principal dynasties were those of Tanis, Memphis, Thebes, and This. ARTS AND SCIENCES.-The Egyptians, at an early period, had made astonishing progress in certain sciences. The contention of the necromancers with Moses shows the great advances they had made in natural magic,-namely, physics and chemistry. Geometry was rendered necessary by the destruction of the landmarks in the annual inundation of the Nile. Architecture was carried to great perfection; the construction of the arch was not unknown, and Mr. (now Sir J. G.) Wilkinson places its introduction so far back as 1540 B. c., coeval with the eighteenth dynasty; and the stupendous pyramids, while they astonish the traveller by their magnitude, attest the astronomical skill of their builders. Each side ofthe base of the great pyramid, multiplied by 500, produces a geographical degree. Some writers are of opinion that these monuments were built before the Flood. It is not improbable that they were erected to gratify the pride, or satisfy the superstition of the Egyptian monarchs. The temples and palaces of Thebes are colossal, but ill proportioned; the ground is in many places strewed with massy obelisks formed of a single stone; and avenues of sphinxes still direct to the centre of religious worship. The walls and ceilings of public and private buildings are covered with paintings, as fresh as when first executed; but the four simple and unmixed colours which are used declare the infancy of the art. HIEROGLYPHICS.-The sanguine anticipations of the learned appear to be disappointed by the meagre resuits obtained from deciphering the Egyptian writings, whether on stone or papyrus. The hieroglyphs (sacred engraved characters) TWENTIETH CENTURY B.C. 19 are a kind of allegorical picture-writing, in which the signs borrowed from natural objects serve partly to represent sounds, and partly to express ideas. There are two other species of writing:-the hieratic, confined to the priests; and the demotic, used in common life-both apparently running hands derived from the hieroglyphic system. TWENTIETH CENTURY. SACRED HISTORY.-1921, Call of Abraham-Destruction of Sodom.1968, Ninus supposed to reign in Assyria. ABRAHAM, of the race of Shem, was born in Ur of the Chaldees. Although connected with the idolatrous fire-worship of his native country, he possessed some knowledge of the true God, for he obeyed the divine command without hesitation, and moved westward to Haran, that Charrae famous for the defeat and death of Crassus. Passing the Euphrates, he at last, after various wanderings, settled in the Promised Land. The kings of the Pentapolis having revolted against Chedorlaomer, king of Elam (Elymais,) that monarch was obliged to take up arms against them, in order to preserve the fidelity of the adjoining states He defeated the allied army and captured Lot, the nephew of Abraham, by whom he was shortly after rescued, 1913. Returning from his victory over the Elamites, he was met by Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the Most High, who blessed him and received in return a tithe of the spoil, as an offering to the God who had crowned the undertaking with success. But the piety of the patriarch was unable to avert the destruction of the Cities of the Plain, 1897. Jehovah rained down fire and brimstone from heaven, and the Dead Sea now covers the ruins of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim. On the birth of Isaac (1896,) the mother urged Abraham to drive out Hagar with the child Ishmael, which she had born him, lest he should share the paternal heritage. The two exiles retired to the desert, where the youth married an Egyptian woman, and his descendants are, to this day, a living witness to the truth of the prophecy of the angel,-he will be a wild man, his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him,Persians, Greeks and Romans, Mongols and Tartars, having vainly endeavoured to subdue them. The Hejazite kings of Arabia, to whose dynasty Mohammed belonged, reckon the son of Hagar among their ancestors. When Isaac was little more than twenty years of age, God demanded him as a burnt-sacrifice; but the faith of the patriarch prevented the consummation of the painful duty, and the covenant made before Abraham quitted Chaldea was renewed in stronger terms, 1872. This father of the faithful expired at the age of 175, B. C. 1821, leaving behind him a numerous family. Besides the Israelites and Ishmaelites, he was, by his second wife Keturah, the ancestor of the Midianites and several other Arab tribes. 20 ANCIENT HISTORY. Character of Abraham. In whatever light we view the patriarch, we remark traits of grandeur that place him beside the great heroes of antiquity. He was a despotic king over his descendants and slaves, without the inconvenient title and ceremonies Princes sought his alliance, as their equal; like a modern sheik, he made peace or war as he pleased. Possessing countless herds, the only riches of the age, he lived in abundance, rejecting all presents, lest any should boast that he had enriched himself by them. As a religious man, he had the most implicit confidence in the promises of God, and was always resigned to his commands, even to the sacrifice of his only son. As soon as the Almighty spoke, he believed against all appearances, hoped even against hope, and obeyed in spite of the strongest affections of our nature. He was a man of divine mould, the model as well as the father of all true believers. NINETEENTH CENTURY. EGYPT.-Invasion of the Shepherds. GREECE.-1856, Kingdom of Argos founded by Inachus. SHEPHERD KINGS.-The invasion of the Hyksos or Shephera Kings is an event of great importance in Egyptian history, but much uncertainty exists as to the period when it took place. We learn that, in the reign of Timaos (Thammuz), Egypt was invaded by a pastoral tribe, who, after subduing the lower country, extended their ravages to the Thebais, which, however, they could not reduce, mand where a native dynasty long continued to reign. They are said to have made Memphis their capital, and to have established a fortified camp at Abaris (Pelusiumn,) in the Saitic nome, where they stationed 240,000 men. These invaders are represented on the monuments with tattooed limbs and skin garments, and as preserving their wild habits and rudeness until their expulsion. This event took place under the first of the eighteenth dynasty of Thebes, 260 years after the inroad. Amosis, or Thoutmosis, raised the country from its prostrate state, and formed one compact kingdom with Thebes for its capital. This period of Egyptian history is greatly confused, as much from the want of information as from contradictory accounts. Heeren places the Shepherd dominion between 1800 and 1600 B. c. contemporary with Moses and the Exodus; he also supposes a number of successive invasions. Dr. Hales assigns 2159 B. c. for the epoch of the Pastoral Kings, and supposes them to have been expelled about 27 years before the commencement of Joseph's administration. The authors of the Universal History, following Josephus, give a duration of more than 500 years to this dynasty. Rollin places their between 2084 and 1825 B. c., and makes Abraham visit Egypt under one or these foreign kings. The Jewish annalist maintains that these exterminating invaders are merely the 70 peaceful members who formed the family of his ancestor Jacob. The red hair and blue eyes of the Hyksos seem to indicate a northern and probably a Scythian origin; they certainly have nothing of the Arabian character. z~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5,:,..~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..... ~~~~~~~~~~'~~~~~~~~~ / ".' "N~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~N'll^- ^ "'"^"""'' ^^'~ - ^1^'^. ^ ^"^-'^:to ~~'. ~~,,,''if'',.. ~~~~~~,4 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~, Dl~]]"'.t^r,]']8'" 1' ]! ~fO' BKJI S 41?'. (~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A <-4 DEFXJ1}W$OF])M EIGHTEENTH CENTURY B. C. 21 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. SACRED HISTORY.-1837, b. Esau and Jacob-1728, Joseph in Egypt... 1706, Israelites settled in Goshen. EGYPT.-Foreign Intercourse. Sacred History. TIlE life of Isaac was not eventful. He dwelt within the borders of the Promised Land, where he practised agriculture, and became so wealthy as to excite the jealousy of the neighbouring princes. By his prudence he averted the calamities of war, and renewed the treaty that had been concluded between his father and Abimelech. His two sons, Esau and Jacob, were men of different characters: the elder applied himself to the cultivation of the soil, and by the active pleasures of the chase acquired a hardy frame of body; Jacob, on account of his mild and peaceful manners, was the object of his mother's peculiar affection. The latter defrauded Esau of his father's benediction, and was obliged to flee from his just resentment. In his journey toward Mesopotamia, 1760, he was visited by God in his sleep, who promised him a numerous posterity, as well as the possession of the land of Canaan. On the death of Isaac, at the age of 180 years, the two brothers divided the inheritance; the younger remained in the land of Canaan, while the other returned to the country which had derived from him the name of Edoin (red.) His numerous posterity occupied that part of Idumea called.dmalekitis, from a descendant of Ham, or, according to some, from Amalek, the grandson of Esau. JOSEPL.-The twelve sons of Jacob did not all imitate the piety of their father. One of the number, Joseph, became the victim of their jealousy, and at the age of seventeen was sold by them to a caravan of Ishmaelites who were on their way to Egypt, 1728. Here he speedily rose to honour, became the minister of Thoutmosis, the reigning pharaoh, and by his foresight he preserved the country from famine during seven years of sterility. He strengthened the royal power, and secured the comforts of the people, by establishing a fixed land-tax or rent of onefifth of the produce instead of the previous arbitrary exactions. His own influence was confirmed by a marriage with the daughter of the priest of On; and the government, which had been theocratic and military, now became entirely sacerdotal. Jacob, with all his family, were soon after settled in the land of Goshen, 1706, which not only afforded excellent pasture, but was separated by its remoteness from the Egyptians, who had recently suffered too much from the Shepherd Kings to associate readily with those who followed the same occupation. By this means also the exposed frontier was confided to the protection of a hardy and warlike race. EGYPT. The state of Memphis, in which Joseph resided, comprised at this period Middle and Lower Egypt; and the Mosaic records prove that it contained a brilliant court, with its castes of priests and warriors. Thoutmosis reigned twenty-five years after the expulsion of the Shep 22 ANCIENT HISTORY. herd dynasty. Among his successors is reckoned Mceris, who is said to have excavated the great lake which bears his name. This century witnessed the first communication between the Hebrews, Greeks, and Egyptians. Joseph and the twelve patriarchs on the one side, a King of Thessaly and the Titans on the other, sought an asylum in Egypt. The Israelites were then a mere nomad tribe, like the Arabs at the present day; the Greeks were Scythians or Pelasgians; both were new people: while the Chaldeans, the Sidonians, and the Egyptians, were skilled in astronomy and navigation, and learned in theology, morals, politics, the art of war, and maritime commerce. During their stay in Egypt, the Greeks and Hebrews derived from a common source their first learning, subject to the various influences of the climate and superstitions of the countries to which they removed. Read: Russel's Ancient and Modern Egypt in the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, and Wilkinson's Manners of the Egyptians. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SACRED HISTORY.-1635, Death of Joseph. GREECE.-The Pelasgi-Sicyon. Sacred History. THE settlement of the Jewish people in Egypt tended in some degree to recall them from their nomad state. The patriarch Jacob lived only seventeen years to enjoy the presence of his son Joseph, and witness the happiness of his family. He died in 1689 B. c., at the age of 147, blessing his children, and foretelling the birth of the Messiah from the race of Judah. His favourite son survived fifty-four years, and saw his descendants in the fourth generation. He expired in 1635, regretted by all Egypt, and with him terminates the history of the book of Genesis, containing a period of 2369 years. In the division of the Promised Land, Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of this patriarch, ranked as heads of tribes, on an equality with the eleven sons of Jacob. GREECE. Origin of the Greek Nations. The first settlers of Greece were Ionians, a Pelasgic race, who derived their name from Javan (Heb. Ion,) son of Japhet. He is mentioned in Genesis as among those by whom the isles of the Gentiles were divided in their lands, and Greece is called Javan several times in the sacred Scriptures. The Hellenes, if not an offshoot of the Pelasgians, were also of eastern origin, and by these two were the different states of the Archipelago originally formed. There was also a continual influx of the wandering hordes of the north. Scythia then, as in latter times, supplied abundant streams of barbarians, who sought a milder climate and a more fertile soil than their own. These nomad tribes, like the Indians of America, subsisted on the produce of the chase or the wild fruits of the woods; but we are entirely ignorant of their history, manners, and religion. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY B.C. 23 The Pelasgians have left an imperishable record in the numerous I uildings that bear their name. In the ruins of the fortifications of Lycosura we see all that remains of the oldest Greek city. Their masonry was polygonal, each stone fitting into the other without cement. The Cyclopean walls, often confounded with the Pelasgic, are at least four or five centuries later. While these primitive tribes remained in a savage state of ignorance, the arts and sciences were advancing to perfection in the East. The troubles in Egypt, consequent upon the invasion of the shepherd races, compelled great numbers to seek peace and tranquillity beyond the sea, and by them settlements were formed in Peloponnesus and Northern Greece. Their knowledge was communicated by degrees to the inhabitants of the country, who at last were civilized. The first care of Inachus, who arrived in Argolis about 1856 B. c., was to raise a temple to Apollo on Mount Lycaon. Cecrops, from the nome of Sais, pursued a similar course in order to reclaim the uncivilized inhabitants of Attica, 1556.* Although many of the primitive Greeks had withdrawn into the mountains of Arcadia, as the ancient Britons retired into the fastnesses of Wales, yet they generally adopted the Egyptian laws and institutions, which they cherished and long preserved with devoted constancy. The paintings still seen on the Egyptian monuments (see Rosellini) form a complete illustration of the Works and Days of Hesiod. The Phcenicians were the next colonists, but with a different object. Their vessels infested the Grecian coasts, ravaging and plundering the adjacent towns, and carrying the inhabitants into slavery. Their very name, among the early Greeks, like the Punic faith of the Romans, was expressive of fraud, deceit, and treachery. Consult: Thirlwall's Hist. Greece, vol. i. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia. 1~I ~ SIXTEENTH CENTURY. SACRED HISTORY. —1581, Birth of Moses-Job. G.REECE.-1556, Cecrops-Deluge of Deucalion-Amphictyonic Council. Sacred History. MosEs. —After the death of Joseph in 1635, the Israelites increased so rapidly in numbers and in strength as to excite the fears of the reigning monarch. The ordinary modes of diminishing the population proving inefficient, the pharaoh commanded all the male children to be slain as soon as born. The affection of Jochebed preserved her son Moses for three months, when the fear of discovery at last compelled her to expose him on the banks of the Nile, 1571. Here he was providentially seen * The reign of Cecrops is the first epoch, 1581, in the Arundelian (or Parian) marbles. These are an Athenian chronicle, graven on marble in Greek capitals, found at the be. ginning of the 17th century in the island of Paros, one of the Cyclades, and transported to England by Thomas earl of Arundel, whose grandson presented them to the Univer. ity of Oxford. The chronicle, the authenticity of which now begins to be questioned. was engraved 264 B. c. It has been frequently printed. 24 ANCIENT HISTORY. and rescued by the king's daughter, Thermutis, who brought him up as her own child, and educated him in all the learning of her country Having slain an Egyptian who was maltreating a Hebrew, he was compelled to flee for refuge into the land of Midian, near the Red Sea, 1531 B. c., where he resided forty years. While tending the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law, in the desert, he received a summons from the Almighty to return into Egypt, and lead his chosen people from their land of bondage, 1491 B.C. JoB. —This patriarch, whose name has become a synonym with patience, was born and dwelt in the land of Idumea (Uz.) Reduced to extreme poverty, bereft of all his children in one day, his body covered with sores, and lying on a dunghill, he still put his confidence in God. Virtue so great could not fail to meet with its reward; hence his temporal blessings were restored tenfold, and he ended his life in peace and tranquillity. Following the Bible chronology, we have placed the epoch of Job, 1520 B. c., much later than the internal evidence seems to justify. Some make the Idumeans who plundered him to be the Hyksos on their way to Egypt. Dr. Hales, and Dr. Brinkley the late bishop of Cloyne, give the date of 2337 B. c. Ducoutant places him in 2136 B. c., while the learned authors of l'.lrt de verifier les Dates make him flourish between 1725 and 1685 B. c.; others bring him lower still, even to 894 B. c. Consult: Wemyss' Job and his Times and Russell's Connection of Sacred and Profane History, vols i. & iii. GREECE. While Argolis advanced in civilization under the family of Inachus, Phegae in Arcadia, Mycenae in Argolis, and Sparta, were founded by the chiefs whose names they bear. In the space of 313 years, four colonies were established in Thessaly and Arcadia, by three different princes known by the same apellation, Pelasgus. The first dynasty of the Shepherd Kings of Egypt becoming extinct in the person of their sixth monarch, the changes which ensued gave birth to many emigrations, among others to that of Ogyges, in whose reign over Attica and Bceotia, the lake Copais burst its banks and destroyed two cities which this monarch had founded near its shores. The remote period, however, at which this event took place, has caused all the traditions of the primilive ages of Greece to be distinguished by the term Ogygian. In the time of Sylla, a festival was still celebrated at Athens commemorative of the catastrophe. Somewhat later occurred the deluge of Deucalion, which appears to have been confined to Thessaly, and to have been caused by a convulsion of the earth which stopped up the course of the Peneus, as it flowed between Olympus and Ossa, 1529 B. c. The same flood drove the Hellenes from Phocis, whence passing into Thes- saly, they expelled the Pelasgi, and afterwards spread through all Greece. AMPHICTYON.-In 1521 B.C., Amphictyon, the son of Deucalion, established the celebrated council which bears his name,-an institution not unlike the modern German Diet,-by which the various Hellenic states of Greece were united in the bonds of a common alliance, for the FIFTEENTH CENTURY B. C. 25 purpose of protecting their general interests and guarding against foreign invasion. The several deputies bound themselves by oath never to overthrow any of the allied cities, nor to turn aside the running streams, either in peace or in war; and to oppose to the utmost any nation that oared to attempt such things. Their places of meeting were Thermopyla and Delphi. To Acrisius, sovereign of Argos, is ascribed the formation of its power and laws. The most celebrated exertion of authority on the part of the council respected the town of Crissa, against which it declared war. Hostilities were protracted for more than ten years, when, principally by the advice of Solon, the place was reduced, and the surrounding territory consecrated to the god of the Delphic temple, 595 B. c. FIFTEENTH CENTURY. SP CRED HISTORY.-1491, Exodus-1451, Entry into Canaan. EGYPT.-1473, Conquests of Sesostris. PHcENICIA.-Foreign Discovery and Trade. GREECE. -Theseus-Court of Areopagus.-1493, Thebes; 1490, Sparta; 1404, Corinth Founded. Sacred History. THE EXODUS.-Moses, after some hesitation to obey the divine commands, went with his brother Aaron to the court of Pharaoh, to deliver the solemn embassy of the Almighty. The monarch (Amenophis) in return, added to the sufferings of the Israelites; nor did he cease to afflict them until the ten plagues had wearied, though not convinced his haughty spirit. On the 15th Nisan, the Hebrew nation began their joyful march towards the Red Sea, 1491 B. c., each tribe in its proper station, advancing in battle-array. Scarcely had they begun their long journey, when the monarch repented his weakness, and hastily pursuing with a numerous army, overtook them in a narrow defile which opens upon the Arabian Gulf. In their extremity, with the sea before them and implacable enemies behind, the people began to murmur, saying, were there no grazes in Egypt, that thou hast taken us away to die in the wilderness? Bat Jehovah meditated a signal deliverance: the sea divided its waves before them; they passed through dryshod; while the returning waters buried Pharaoh's host, so that none remained to tell the dreadful tale. In the space of 215 years, God had so favoured the descendants of Abraham, that from about 70 persons, the family of Jacob had increased to 600,000 fighting men, or a gross population of more than two millions. THE WANDERING.-The whole period of forty years spent in the desert was signalized by miracles. A deficiency of bread was made up by the manna which lay on the ground covered with the morning dew,-the bitter waters were purified,-a flight of quails furnished the people with meat,-the hard rock, at the touch of Moses' rod, gave forth a clear and copious stream of water, the earth opened and swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, 1471,-fire from heaven destroyed part of the camp,-and a destructive pestilence carried off nearly 3 26 ANCIENT HISTORY. 15,000 of the murmurers. Three months after the departure from Egypt, the God of Jacob appeared on mount Sinai,* and, clothed in majesty, made known the law of the two tables, comprehending the ten commandments. Being unwilling to trust the report of the spies whom Moses had sent to view the Land of Promise, the- Israelites were all condemned to perish in the desert, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, and those who had not yet reached the age of twenty years. In vain did Moab and Midian unite against them,-in vain did the hostile nations seek the aid and purchase the imprecations of Balaam: his curses were converted into blessings. After forty years, their wanderings drew to an end. Moses assembled the tribes; committed the Book of the Law to the priests; and for the last time publicly addressed the people. When his exhortation was concluded, he went to the top of Mount Pisgah (ten miles north-east of the Dead Sea,) and there died in sight of the promised inheritance, 1451 B. c. Character of lIoses. Considered in a merely human light, Moses is not less celebrated as a poli. tician than as a historian and poet. Pagan antiquity, while denying his divine mission, has represented him as a man of profound learning, who rescued the Jews from debasement and slavery, and taught them the knowledge of the one true God. The five books of the Pentateuch are the most ancient writings in the world, and no history presents a stronger character of authenticity. His legislation was promulgated at a time when the word law was unknown to other nations. This code has been divided into five parts: namely, religion, morals, and civil, military, and political affairs. Its real wisdom is proved by its existing still at the end of forty centuries, while the more recent institutes of Minos, Lycurgus, Numa, and Solon have fallen into desuetude. It is worth while to observe what progress the arts had nade, even among the nomad Jews, while Greece was yet barbarous. In the description of the building of the Tabernacle we read of the founding and working of metals; of cutting and engraving precious stones; of the trades of the cabinet-maker, embroiderer, and perfumer. ENTRY INTO CANAAN,-1461 B. c.-Moses, as the civil and religious head of the Wandering Tribes, strictly speaking had no successor. Joshua was appointed military leader to subdue the Land of Canaan, and portion it out among the victors. On the 10th Nisan, he crossed the frontier river, the submissive waters of the Jordan yielding a passage to the Ark of the Covenant which led the way. The ramparts of Jericho miraculously fell before them,-a warning to the devoted nations, and an encouragement to the Israelites. Ai was taken by stratagem; the five allied kings of the Amorites were defeated, the sun itself stopping in its course to aid the chosen people, while a terrible storm of hailstones killed more than had fallen by the sword.t Joshua now divided the portion of the land which he had conquered, and renewed the Covenant with God. The tribe of Levi, which formed a literary and wealthy counterpoise to the aristocratic and democratic part of the state, was not included in this partition, but forty-eight cities were allotted them from * Ancient tradition and locality seem to identify Sinai with Mount Serbal (above 8000 feet high), the first peak of the chain to those coming from Suez. t The Chinese preserve a tradition, that in the time of the Emperor Yao, whom they make contemporary with Joshua, the sun did not set for ten days. The Egyptian priests:old Herodotus, that within the period of 341 generations about 11,000 years! the sun nad deviated four times from his usual course. XOatVV' acO aOvia-7vxIua aitE tiOr Z-2xoW.........::. a. -. ^.^.^.... _.i:-? i" (' i i:i [.ii:'.i'i.i: ~ [::?,..; ^ ^ i i~~~~~~~~~~. -. i.. -I fXXXX4apgd;::0: g:.. t:....,, — -.. _...... =-.W j.-0.M....................t -_::: ^-O dA~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~._A._.-..=A —.._0-,....._, -_...... FIFTEENTH CENTURY B.C. 27 the other tribes; a regulation, however, which circumstances prevented being carried into full effect. On Joshua's death, 1443 B.c., Caleb succeeded to the government; but the people soon after turned to the idols of the Canaanites, and drew down upon themselves the anger of God. The formation of the Jewish republic was the work of Moses in the desert. Its polity was evidently intended for a season only; its theology was the simplest of the age. The unity and individuality of the Deity were acknowledged, while the absence of all direct revelation of a future state was in some measure compensated by blending moral precepts with ritual observances, and the infliction of temporal punishments for personal or national disobedience. All possible means were exerted to isolate the Jews from the surrounding nations, by prohibiting commerce, emigration, and travelling. But their attachment to external circumstances was so strong, that in spite of the gorgeous ceremonies of their own ritual, they were soon found adopting the bloodstained idolatry of the Canaanites or the gross superstitions of Egypt. This would probably not have happened if the whole of the ancient inhabitants had been exterminated, according to the intention of Moses, as the worship of the true God would have been thereby rendered the sole religion of the country. EGYPT. SEsosTRIS.-Sesostris or Rhamses III. the Great, is the hero of early Egyptian history, the founder of a new dynasty (19th,) and the liberator of his country from the Hyksos, who had renewed their invasions in the reign of his father, Amenophis III. Great difference of opinion prevails as to the age of Sesostris, but it seems very probable that he flourished during the wandering of the Israelites in the desert. His conquests extended over Libya, Ethiopia, Media, Persia, Bactria, Scythia, and Asia Minor, from all which countries he levied tribute. The trophies of his victories, in the form of pillars, were found from the Danube to the Ganges, and southward to Ethiopia; and a hundred famous temples were raised from the spoils of his enemies. He divided the country into 36 nomes, at the head of which he placed officers to collect the taxes. He intersected the provinces with canals, and was the first Egyptian monarch who was powerful at sea. Becoming blind, he committed suicide in the 31d year of his reign. The traveller may yet see his names and titles, wars and triumphs, depicted on the walls of palaces and temples at Luxor, Karnac, Thebes, and Nubia. PH(ENICIA. The name Phoenicia is applied to that narrow strip of the Syrian coast (150 miles long, and 24 broad,) which extends from Tyre to Aradus. Sidon was its oldest city, built by the eldest son of Canaan. The inhabitants applied themselves at an early period to commerce, navigation, and manufactures; and first communicated to the people of the West the sciences of Asia. They visited and planted colonies on all the shores of the Mediterranean; ventured as far as the British Isles in search of tin, and navigated the Baltic to procure amber. They embarked at Elath to make the circumnavigation of Africa, and formed settlements eastward of the Persian Gulf. They seem to have discovered islands beyond the western shore of Africa. They excelled in the manufacture of glass, and the now forgotten art of dyeing purple 28 ANCIENT HISTORY. To this people is also attributed the invention of alphabetical characters, and their introduction into Europe. Our knowledge of their history is very slender, for Tyre fell before literature had taken root in the West, and its writers perished with it. This city is said to have been founded by Agenor, an African prince, about 1255 B. c., and its line of kings begins with Abical, the contemporary of David, about the year 1050. The prosperous period of their history extends from 1000 to 332 B. c. Phoenicia did not constitute one empire, but was formed of several indepdedent states, united as fear or interest prompted them; and hence arose the supremacy of Tyre, the most powerful of their number. Consult: Rollin's Ancient History. GREECE. ATHENS was founded by Cecrops in the 16th century, but Theseus formed the state by gathering together the twelve districts or boroughs, which had formerly been independent; by uniting their senates into one body, which met at the capital; and by establishing a common religious festival (Panathenea) in honour of Minerva. The court of.reopagus, although it has been attributed to Cecrops, was only now instituted; a body not more celebrated for its antiquity, than for the justice of its decisions. The number of its members, who were selected on account of their age, merit, and birth, appears to have varied from 31 to 51, and even to 500. THEBES was built by the Phcenician Cadmus, 1493 B. c. He introduced the fifteen letters of the Grecian alphabet, which go under his name; they were probably the same as those used in Syria. The oracle of Delphi was the work of his countrymen; and its temple, causing the neglect of the prophetic oak of Dodona, became a central point of union for the different tribes. History of the Greek Language. The ultimate root of the Greek language is Pelasgic, or a dialect closely allied to the Sanscrit, modified by time and the exigencies of society. The descendants of Hellen, the son of Deucalion, having made themselves masters of the country, introduced their language, which differed from the old tongue only by its inflections, and which became the common speech of Greece. This Hellenic dialect was probably a stronger, as it -9as also a later, mixture of the Japetic or Western, as the Pelasgic appears to be purer Semitic or Eastern. The inland inhabitants of Greece spoke the rough and broad old Doric, from which the language of the JEolians in Boeotia and Peloponnesus did not greatly differ. The progress of civilisation and commerce softened these dialects. The Doric was gradually refined into the beautiful language of Theocritus. The Ionians from Attica settled on the coast of Asia Minor, where, by a close intercourse with their Asiatic neighbours, their language was softened into the harmonious sweetness we admire in Herodotus. The Attic passed through many gradations until it became the polished and elegant medium of communication adopted by all literary men throughout Greece. The following genealogical table of languages will serve at once to assist the memory, and to explain the history which the Greeks themselves credited. Deucalion. I Ilellen. DoRTs. Xuthus. (EOLUS. AcrHUS. IoN. ACHIEUS. ION. FOURTEENTH CENTURY B.C. 29 Dialects. j (Old.-Thucydides; the Tragic poets.' Middle.-Aristophanes, Lycias, Piato, Xenophon. ~.New. —Eschines, Demosthenes, Isocrates, Menander.. Old.-Epicharmus, Sophron. o New.-Bion, Moschus, Callimachus, Pindar, Theocritus.. Old.-Homer, Hesiod.. New.-Anacreon, Herodotus, Hippocrates..Eolic.-Alcaeus, Sappho, Corinna. FOURTEENTH CENTURY. JUDEA.-1285, Deborah judges Israel-Sisera —1312, Ruth. GREECE.-Minos. JUD.EA. JUDGES, 1443.-After the death of Joshua, a council of judges (shophetim,) with nearly the same authority as the consuls at Rome, the kings at Sparta, and the Carthaginian sjffetes, was established to govern the people of Israel. Each city had its peculiar magistrates (shoterim) and ministers of justice, to the number of twenty-three. Their place of audience was at the gates of the cities, as being the most frequented spots. On Joshua's death the weak tribes became jealous of the stronger, and, as the high-priests had little political influence, the dread of foreign power alone kept them together. The history of Judwea, under its new government, presents a long catalogue of wars and captivities, brought on the nation by its wickedness and idolatry. Seven periods of servitude to the Philistines and others are recorded between the death of Joshua and the election of Saul, 1095 B. c. When Deborah judged Israel, dwelling under a palmtree on Mount Ephraim, Sisera, the Canaanitish general, was put to death by a woman in whose tent he had sought refuge, 1285 B.c. This signal deliverance from a powerful enemy called forth the fine specimen of lyric poetry which is inserted in the Book of Judges. RUTH, 1312.-To this period belongs the pastoral narrative of Ruth. A famine dbliged Elimelech to quit Bethlehem, with his wife Naomi; who, becoming a widow in the country of Moab, eagerly desired to return to her native land. Ruth. one of her daughters-in-law, who loved her most affectionately, followed her home; when want compelling her to glean in the fields of Boaz, he, attracted by the charms and modesty of the fair stranger, married her, and became the father of Obed, from whom descended Jesse, the father of David, the royal progenitor of the Messiah. GREECE. CRETE.-Minos, who, according to the Parian chronicle, began to reign 1431 B. c., about a century after Amphictyon, is regarded as the first legislator of the Cretans, and his laws are supposed to have been adopted by Lycurgus, in framing the Spartan constitution. All freemen 3* 30 ANCIENT HISTORY. were equal; the land was to be cultivated by slaves; and individual rights were merged in those of the community. Minos raised a powerful navy, and cleared the sea of pirates. The ancient mythology makes him and Rhadamanthus, also a native of Crete, judges in the Infernal Regions. The formation of this kingdom may be regarded as a real event; and the great similarity between its constitution and that of Judaea, may have arisen from the common intercourse of the respective people with Egypt, the source of most of the earlier civilisation of Europe. Both have the same leading principle for the preservation of internal tranquillity. As in Lacedemon, so also here, a people weie formed with military habits for defence rather than aggression; they kept themselves apart from other nations; their religious ordinances were founded on divine order; and the property in land was inalienable. Minos II., grandson of the first of that name, was the contemporary of Theseus, and in his reign the celebrated architect Dedalus constructed the labyrinth of Crete. This extraordinary work was used as a prison for the Athenian hostages, and for the Minotaur, a fabulous monster, half-man half-bull. This king, who is often confounded with his ancestor, the lawgiver, died in Sicily (1320 B. c.,) being suffocated in a bath. THIRTEENTH CENTURY. JUDHA.-1249, Gideon Judge. —235, Jotham's Parable. GREECE.-Pelopidae.-126? Argonauts-Theseus.-1230, Ninus founds the Assyrian Empire (Herodotus.) JUDAEA. THIS country was again under the iron rod of the oppressor, when Gideon, with a chosen band of 300 men, defeated a numerous army of Midianites by a most remarkable stratagem, 1245 B. c. During forty years he judged Israel, and at his death was succeeded by a natural son, Abimelech, who murdered his legitimate brothers, 1235. Jotham alone of seventy escaped, and he indignantly upbraided the ungrateful Shechemites by the beautiful apologue of the trees choosing a king-the most ancient parable extant. GREECE. PELoPIDnE.-Corinth is said to have been built by Sisyphus, " the most crafty of men," 1404 B. c., whose descendants were driven from the throne by the Pelopidae. These usurpers were the family of Pelops, son of Tantalus, who had quitted Asia, and settled in Southern Greece, which afterwards bore his name. His sons Atreus and Thyestes were noted for their cruelties and the misfortunes of their children. ARGONAUTS, 1263 B.c.-These were a company of knight-errants (for this was the age of Chivalry in Greece,) who, under the guidance of the Thessaiian Jason, braved the dangers of the Symplegades and the tempests of the inhospitable Euxine in search of the Golden Fleece. Castor, Pollux, Orpheus, Hercules, Peleus, and Laertes, were among the number of these daring adventurers. Divested of the fictitious TWELFTH CENTURY B.C. 3'. olouringr of the poets, this expedition was probably a commercial enterprise to the shores of Colchis for the purpose of turning the profits of its woollen trade to their native country.* The conquests of Hercules, and the travels of Theseus and Perseus, oelong to this period; whence also may be dated the close connexion in language, religion, manners and consanguinity, which appears to have existed betweeen the heroes engaged in the Trojan war, whether of Asiatic or of European descent. THESEUS was one of the greatest kings of the heroic age, and the national champion of Athens. With his reign the history of Attica begins to lose much of its mythic character. He was considered the founder of the Athenian constitution, and the introducer of the democratic form of government; but the satisfaction given by the measures which he pursued for establishing a popular constitution, was not very permanent. A strong party, headed by Menestheus, was formed against him on the pretext that he did not go far enough, when he was driven into exile by the fickle people, as were many of his successors, who became eminent for virtue or talent.t His policy was to destroy the magistrates and courts of justice of the separate Attic towns, and centralize them in the capital. Menestheus, of the royal race, proposed to take away the administration of justice from the nobles and to confer it on the populace, making it in their hands a stipendiary duty.-Theseus is said to have given shelter to the descendants of Hercules, who had been expelled from the Peloponnesus; and about the same period the crimes of (Edipus led to the celebrated war of the Seven Chiefs against Thebes, and also to that of the Epigoni, or Descendants, about 1225 B. c. Consult: Bulwer's Athens, book i. chap. iii. Plutarch's Life of Theseus. TWELFTH CENTURY. JvUDAA.-1188, Jephtha's Vow.-1117, Death of Samson. GREECE.-1184, Siege of Troy-Grecian Mythology-Greek Colonies. INVENTIONS, &c.-Mariner's Compass in China-Buodhism Introduced in India. JUD]EA. JEPHTHA.-Judaea, in 1188, B. c., was called to witness a remarkable sacrifice. Jephtha, who had been driven from Gilead by the violence * M. Rabaut de St. Etienne ingeniously endeavours to explain these heroic allegories by showing that they were intended to represent the motions of the heavenly bodies. Thus the Argonautic expedition exhibits the course of the constellation Aries through the sky. Jason is Serpentarius. Scarcely has the Ship Argo begun her ethereal voyage, when Hylas, Aquarius, disappears, and Hercules follows him. All the crew of Jason claim their share in this astronomical voyage. t Theseus died and was buried in the island of Scyros. At a later period his supposed remains were transported with great pomp to Athens, in the galley of Cimon, and welcomed " as if the living Theseus were come again." Games were instituted in honour of the event, 469, at which took place those poetical contests, in the first of which Sophocles carried off the prize from 2Eschylus. Mr. Fynes Clinton places the Argonautic expedition in 1225, sixteen years before the death of Hercules. This remarkable voyage has been sung by two Greek poets: Apollodorus of Rhodes, and another of uncertain name and age, who brings the heroes to the neighbourhood of the British Isles. I 1_ _.________ 32 ANCIENT HISTORY. of his relatives, and put himself at the head of a band of robbers, vowed that if he returned successful from a certain expedition against the Ammonites, he would offer up, as a burnt-sacrifice, the first livingo being that met him on his return. This was his daughter, his only child, who came out to congratulate her parent on his safety. After a short respite she resolutely yielden herself a victim to her father's rashness. This event occupies a prominent place in Grecian story. The resemblance between Iphigenia and Jephthagenia (Jephtha's daughter) is very striking. SAMSON.-During the period of the seventh servitude, which lasted forty years, a new deliverer appeared in the son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan. By the command of the angel who foretold his birth, he was specially consecrated to the Lord. As he grew in years, he increased in strength; and in various encounters he slew an immense number of Philistines, but fell at last by the artifices of Delilah. During his sleep, the locks on which his strength depended were shorn, and he awoke weak as another man. He again recovered vigour upon the growth of his hair, and proved his renewed powers by tearing down the two pillars which supported the roof of a temple, and burying 3000 Philisaines, with himself, in one undistinguished ruin, 1117 B.c. The accounts of Hercules, Rustam in Persia, and Antar in Arabia, seem based on that of Samson. Ancient traditions furnish us with many curious coincidences with the history of Samson's locks. Read: Milton's Samson Agonistes. GREECE. TROJAN WAR. — The history of Troy, a name rendered familiar to all i by the genius of Homer, is so intermingled with fable, and its heroes i are so confounded with gods and demigods, that it is not possible to arrive at historical truth. Mount Ida was the scene of the Judgment of Paris; the loves of Hero and Leander consecrated the promontories of Sestos and Abydos; the little streams of Simois and Scamander would have been unknown but for the combats of the Greeks. Teucer was the first king; he was succeeded by Dardanus, who brought the palladium from Samothrace. The last monarch was Priam, the richest and greatest potentate of Western Asia, his rule extending over several contiguous nations, as well as the coast of Thrace, and the confines of Thessaly. Prodigies attended the birth of his youngest son, Paris; his youth and manhood were equally eventful. During his travels he eloped with Helen, the most beautiful woman of the age. Her husband, Menelaus, roused all Greece in arms to avenge the violated rites of hospitality, and a fleet of 1200 ships set out for Troy. This town, seated on a gentle eminence at the foot of Ida, overlooking the Hellespont, resisted the efforts of the numerous besiegers during the long period of ten years. At length when the bravest warriors on both sides had fallen, and most of the Trojan allies had been reduced, the place was taken, according t( the poets, by the stratagem of a wooden horse.* It was plundered and burnt, and its inhabitants led away captive, 1184 B.c. A few doubtfu' ruins are now all that mark the site of this ancient and celebrated city. * Arrestan, in Syria, was taken by a similar stratagem. See below, Seventh Cen tury A. D. - - -|j u -a-r —-e~ By { B a n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,i ~""IE Eli=- - S~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~' D EAT H OF SAMSON. ELEVENTH CENTURY B.C. 33 RESULTS.-The ten years' war was not confined to unproductive battles Jefore the walls of Troy. The towns along the Hellespont were reduced by,jax; Achilles extended his conquests along the Euxine; and Menelaus subiected several states in Phcenicia, Syria, Egypt, and Cyprus. Thus the Greeks not only proved their superiority in arms, but brought back with them a better knowledge of countries which they had previously been made acquainted with by the reports of a few adventurers. On their return home, however, they found a new race grown up, some occupying the vacant thrones of the absent kings, others attempting to usurp them. In Attica, the children of Theseus and the faction of Menestheus were engaged in sanguinary hostilities. " The great part," says Plato, " of those who had escaped the sword of the enemy, perished either by the weapon of the assassin, or by the hardships of a distant exile." Menestheus died in the isle of Melos; Ulysses had scarcely reached home, after his ten years' wandering, when he fell in a riot; Agamemnon was murdered by his wife and her paramour, who were both put to death by the hand of his son Orestes. This triumph was of little political advantage to Greece; but its civilisation advanced greatly after the long residence of its warriors on the luxurious shore of Asia. The communication between the two countries became more frequent and easy; commerce was extended; and the colonies founded by Nestor, Teucer, Idomeneus, Diomede, and other Greek princes banished from their paternal homes, introduced intimate relations betweei these distant regions. ELEVENTH CENTURY. JUDJA.-1116, Samuel-Kings.-1095, Saul.-1055, David.-1015, Solomon. -1004, Dedication of the Temple. GREECE.-1104, Return of the Heraclidae-Death of Codrus- Archons. JU DEA. SAMUEL.-The Jewish republic was next governed by the high-priest Eli, whose successor, after an administration of twenty years, was Samuel, 1116 B.. He had, by his mother, been consecrated to God in his infancy, and while yet a child, was made the interpreter of the divine will. He is the first of the prophets properly so called, the chain being preserved in unbroken succession until the death of Malachi, 420 B. c. He was the last of the fifteen judges, and with him, according to some authors, terminates the Jewish theocracy. He died at the age of 98, B. C. 1057. KINGS.-It was the earnest desire of Moses that the government he established should be perpetual; but, like a wise legislator, he also made provisions in the event of any change to the regal form, by laying down the principles on which it should take place (Deut. xvii.). JEHOVAH was still to be the supreme monarch, the king merely his viceroy. Accordingly, when the Israelites grew tired of the ancient constitution, alleging the bad government of Samuel's sons as their pretext, they did not select a ruler for themselves, but applied directly to the prophet. Saul was appointed by lot to be the first king; David, the second, was selected by the Almighty; and in his son Solomon, the throne was declared hereditary in the family of Jesse. SAUL, 1095 B. c. The beginning of Saul's reign was marked by prudence and equity; he defeated the Amalekites, and was continually at war with the Philistines. But his pride and anger led him into sin; 34 ANCIENT HISTORY. he disobeyed the commands of God; and although his external penitence was great, he did not escape the judgments of the Almighty. He perished with his three sons in battle against the national enemy on Mount Gilboa, and David, the young shepherd of Bethlehem, was appointed to succeed him, 1055 B.c. Saul was little more than a military leader under the direction of Jehovah, having neither court nor fixed residence. His subjects were still only an agricultural and pastoral race, without wealth or luxury; but in his reign they gradually assumed a warlike character. DAVID, the son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, was anointed king by Samuel at an early age. He first signalized himself by his victory over Goliath, and the defeat of the Philistines, 1063. His renown excited the jealousy of Saul, and even endangered his life, but he fortunately escaped the javelin which the king threw at him. Nor did he succeed to the throne without opposition; for eleven tribes declared in favour of Ishbosheth, Saul's only surviving son, and Judah alone acknowledged David. Seven years of civil strife intervened before he was generally recognised as sovereign in 1048. He entirely freed Israel from the power of her ancient enemies, and extended the limits of the kingdom from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, and from Phoenicia to the Red Sea. By the conquest of Idumea, he became master of Elath and Eziongeber, on the shores of the Arabian Gulf, by means of which ports he extended his commerce into the Southern Ocean. But domestic guilt stained all his former glories; although he yielded with humility to the reproof of Nathan, he was destined to reap the bitter fruits of his crimes. Enemies from without began to harass the country; his own family rebelled against him; and at length, he died in the 40th year of his reign, and the 70th of his age, 1015 B. c. About twenty years before his death he defeated the kings of Mesopotamia and Syria, who had carried to Babylon a great number of colonists, whom he established near the Euphrates. To these captives the Psalmist makes frequent allusion, particularly in the 137th Psalm,-an elegy intended to arouse the Israelites to the recovery of their unfortunate brethren.* In this reign, the Jewish government and nation were completely formed. The worship of Jehovah became the exclusive religion of the people, and Jerusalem was made the chief sanctuary and the seat of power. David was probably the first who maintained a standing army, twelve corps of 24,000 men each being kept in their turn on monthly service. It is the opinion of many learned divines, that, in the various events of his life, this monarch was a type of the Messiah, and predicted his coming, in the Psalms, whose only object is Jesus Christ and his mysteries. Of the whole book which passes under his name, not more than seventy or eighty are supposed to be his composition, many being certainly of an earlier, others of a more recent date. These divine songs form a most perfect specimen of lyric poetry, and breathe all the sentiments which the tenderest piety can inspire. It should not be forgotten, that early in the eleventh century, before Homer sang, these religious strains were first heard in Palestine; and that they have ever since been used by the true church to express all the emotions which tile changing situations of life bring into action. * For this discovery of a Jewish captivity, anterior to that which took place under Nebuchadnezzar, we are indebted to the learned researches of M. Viguier, who, in his work entitled De la Distinction primitive des Psaumes, has fixed the principal epochs of the life of David. ELEVENTH CENTURY B.C. 35 SOLOMON succeeded his father in the year 1015. His reign began with favourable prospects, and by banishing all infidels; and in seven years and a half he built the celebrated temple, which attests the per-'ection of the arts and sciences at so remote a period, 1004 B. C. It is estimated to have been raised at an expense of not less than 230 millions of pounds sterling-a sum so enormous as to give rise to suspicion of incorrectness in the account transmitted to us. Unfortunately for himself, Solomon married the daughter of the king of Egypt, who did not abandon the worship of her countrymen. Before his death, he lapsed into idolatrous practices, and his last moments were embittered by the gloomy prospects which overhung his kingdom. He died in the 60th year of his age, and the 40th of his reign. This monarch was not insensible to the advantages of commerce; and under his direction, Tadmor in the Wilderness (Palmyra) was built, on the caravan route, in order to promote the trade with the East (340 24' N., 38~ 20' E.). Solomon inherited the poetical talents of his father. Ile is the author of three works still extant; and the loss of his writings on Natural History is a matter of' serious regret. The Book of Proverbs is a treasure of moral and political instruction; in Ecclesiastes (the Preacher), while he laments his own vices and errors, he gives the most earnest exhortation to his son Rehoboam, and after examining the various systems of happiness, declares that it can only be found in the love of God, and the observance of his commandments; the Song of Songs is a kind of Epithalamium, composed on the occasion of his marriage with the daughter of the king of Egypt, in which profound work, under the semblance of conjugal love, he represents the union of our Saviour with the Church. The first temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 588 B. c. It was rebuilt by Zenrbbabel, 515 B. c.; plundered and burnt by Antiochus, 167, and purified, 164 B. c. This temple was restored by Herod the Great, and finished 8 B. c.; it was burnt by Titus A. D. 70. GREECE. RETURN OF THE HERACLIDME.-The disasters which befell the Grecian princes on their return from Troy having loosened the bonds of the general confederation, which had been formed to carry on the war, the sons of Hercules thought the Peloponnesus fitted for the re-establishment of their power. They had taken refuge in Attica from the persecutions of Eurystheus of Argos; and, with the assistance of the Athenians, were restored, but only to retire again on the visitation of an avenging pestilence. Misled by an oracle, three unsuccessful attempts were afterwards made to return; but it was not till the third generation, 1104 B.. that, aided by the Dorians, AEtolians, and Locrians, they crossed the Corinthian Gulf and established themselves in Peloponnesus. The Eolians, at this time the most powerful tribe of Southern Greece, yielded to their irresistible progress. The Achaeans, on their expulsion, deprived in turn the Ionians of their lands. The barren soil of Attica offered few temptations to military adventurers; but it was an asylum for these unfortunate exiles, by whom the population was so much increased, that change of residence was resorted to as a necessary means of finding support. This was the remote cause of the Ionian emigration, the most celebrated and important of all which issued from Greece. Aristodemus, fifth in descent from Hercules, who died during the expedition, trans 36 ANCIENT HISTORY. mitted his light to the Spartan throne to his twin sons, Procles and Eurysthenes. CoDRUS.-Before the Dorian immigration, the government of Athens was monarchical; and Codrus, the son of a Messenian exile, namea Melanthus, was its last king. When the Dorians, jealous of his increasing power, had invaded his territories, an oracle promised them success, if they spared the sovereign's life. On hearing this, though he was far advanced in years, he resolved, with all the enthusiasm of youth, to sacrifice himself for his beloved country. Disguised as a wood-cutter, he entered the hostile camp, where, engaging in a quarrel, he fell by the hands of a private soldier, 1095. In the excess of their gratitude, the people would appoint no successor to the regal title, but elected certain responsible governors, named.Jrchons, of whom Medon, Codrus' son, was the first. The office was held for life; but by slow degrees the election became annual, and nine were ultimately chosen instead of one. This rapid succession of governors, the private interests upon which they acted, and the instability of the popular temper, were a cause of internal dissensions which lasted until the sixth century. On the death of Codrus, the kingly power was not immediately abolished; but the first step was taken towards it, by withdrawing the splendour of regal state and title from his successor. Then the sovereignty was diminished to ten years, 754, on the death of Alcmmeon; next, the archonship was made annual, 684, when the direct line of Codrus became extinct in Eryxias; it was then thrown open to the other houses, then to the rich Eupatridce, and finally to every wealthy free citizen. In a similar manner, in the other Greek cities, and afterwards in Rome, the superior power descended from the king upon prytanes, ephori or consuls of the family to which the sovereign had belonged. The office of archon was one of great influence, and when the Pisistratidce assumed it as a stay of their dominion, it included the right of presiding and propounding all measures in the senate. GRECIAN COLONIES. Before the invasion of the Dorians and the return of the Heraclidae, the colonization of Greece is inextricably involved in the fictions of mythology; but after that period it is more distinct, and its course, offering so many points of connexion with modern times, may be curious and profitable to follow. " Greek towns," says Seneca, "have risen in the bosom of the most barbarous countries, on the banks of the Indus and in Persia. Achaean cities rule along the coast of the Euxine Sea. Asia was filled with Athenian colonies. All the coast of Italy washed by the Tuscan Sea bore the name of Magna Grecia, and this people found their way even into Gaul." The first, or 2Eolian colonization, occurred about 1088 B. c., when the Heraclidae and their followers deprived the conquered Pelopidae and their subjects of their lands, and compelled them to seek an asylum in a foreign country. In consequence of the share which the Hellenic tribes took in this invasion, Greece shortly after assumed the general name of Hellas. The exiles, for the most part, crossed to Asia Minor, and built towns, which, from their favourable situation, soon acquired wealth and fame. The most celebrated were Smyrna and Mitylene. The great Ionian emigration, about 1068 B. c., was led by Neleus, and other sons of Codrus, the ranks of whose followers were swelled by all whom enterprise, affection for the leaders, or a love of novelty inspired. The Carians, Mygdonians, and Leleges, inhabiting the coast of Asia Minor, were driven to the mountains; wealthy and populous cities were soon raised, of which Miletus and Ephesus were the chief. These in turn gave birth to others, until their colonies extended over the southern parts of modern Russia, and even as far as Bactria. The Ionians maintained their independence against all the efforts oJIi I l TENTH CENTURY B.C. 37 the foul first kings of Lydia, of the race of the Mermnadae; but they weie at last subjugated by Crcesus,,the last prince of that family. They still, however, preserved their internal government, and enjoyed the same advantages under the dominion of the Persians.-The Dorian migration occurred a little later than the others, but its history is the same. To secure themselves against the barbarians that surrounded them, the Ionians entered into a federative union for their common defence; and the general congress of their Twelve Cities was held in the temple of the Heliconian Neptune, near the promontory of Mycale. These annual assemblies regulated all matters relative to the public interests, and passed such measures as the common benefit required. The colonies were independent down to the time of the Persian invasion, except perhaps in a religious subjection to the gods of the parent state. To these Greece owes a great portion of her glory and unperishing fame. Homer, Alcaeus, and Sappho adorned her with their muse; Archytas, Pythagoras, and Anaximenes improved her with their philosophy; and Pittacus and Thales strengthened her liberties by their legislative wisdom. TABLE OF GRECIAN COLONIES. EUROPE. Thracian Chersonese.-Sestos and Cardia.-Abdera, Amphipolis, Olynthus, &c., by Athenians and Corinthians.-On the Thracian Bosporus, Byzantium. -On the Propontis, Perinthus or Heraclea. Italy.-Tarentum (707) and Brundusium; Sybaris and Crotona (709); Rhegium, Curme, and Neapolis (Naples). Islands.-In Sicily, Messana and Syracuse, by Corinthians; Gela and Agrigentum, by Rhodians. In Sardinia, Caralis and Olbia;-In Corsica, Aleria, by Phoceans; Samos and Chios. Gaul.-Massilia (M7arseilles) by Phoceans. Spain.-Sagunturn by Zantiotes. ASIA. Asia Minor.-.JEolians built 12 cities, Cyme, Smyrna, Mitylene, &c. lonians founded Colophon, Ephesus, Miletus, &c. Dorians built Cnidus, Halicarnassus, &c. Black Sea, Hellewont, &c.-The principal colonies were Lampsacus, Cyzi. cus, Trapezus, andrhalcedon. AFRICA. Cyrene, one of the great African marts, founded by Thereans. N.B. Prepare a MAP of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, marking tne site o" all the colonies mentioned above. TENTH CENTURY. JtIAwEA.-975, Revolt of the Ten Tribes.-971, Shishak plunders JerusalemElijah and Elisha.-918, Ahab. GREECE.-Homer and Hesiod flourished. SYRIA.-940 Benhadad, king of Damascus. JUDYEA. REVOLT OF THE TEN TRIBES.-The expenses of Solomon's government required a very large revenue, which was raised by a regular system of taxation, imposed directly upon the produce of the cattle and of the land. The accession of Rehoboam (975) afforded some hopes of 4 38 ANCIENT HISTORY. ameliorating the condition of his subjects, instead of which, their burdens were increased: my father chastised you with whips, I will chastise you with scorpions. This insolent answer of the prince drove the nation to revolt. The kingdom was divided, ten tribes electing Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who had been recalled from Egypt; Judah and Benjamin alone remained faithful to the lineal heir. The former, together with the tributary nations eastward to the Euphrates, formed the kingdom of ISRAEL, of which the capital was Samaria; while the two remaining tribes, with Philistia and Edom, composed that of JUDAH, 975 B. C. From the epoch of the schism of the ten tribes, we shall find the Hebrew people continually suffering from foreign or intestine war. The two nations, during the short space of 387 years, were governed by 39 monarchs-20 in Judah; the rest in Israel. Although the latter kingdom was more extensive and populous, the former was richer and more important, as well from the possession of the capital and Temple, as from the ancient pre-eminence assigned to the tribe of Judah. But these reciprocal advantages served only to render their struggles more obstinate. In Israel the true religion was maintained under severe persecution; the number of the prophets increased in proportion as the necessity was felt in times of difficulty of recurring to the oracles of God; and the hope of a more fortunate era under a mighty king, the expectation of the Messiah and of his temporal reign on earth, became more consistent, as the recollection of the glorious reign of David was an object of continual and fresh regret to the whole nation. Unfortunately the influence of the true prophets, often opposed by the false, could never extinguish the dissensions which separated the two kingdoms. Prepare MAP of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. JUDAII.-In this kingdom the succession continued hereditary, with only two interruptions,-the usurpation of Athaliah and foreign conquest. Rehoboam governed well during three years, and the true religion was maintained by the priests and Levites; but he afterwards sank into idolatry when he was punished by the invasion of his kingdom and the plunder of his capital by Shishak, king of Egypt, 971 B. c.* Abijah succeeded (958), and perpetuated the evil ways.f his father. He gained a signal victory over Jeroboam, and recovered many of the towns of Judah which the Israelites had taken. Asa was a minor when he ascended the throne in 955; but under the able regency of Maachah, the country enjoyed a peace of ten years. This princess abused her authority by establishing the most abominable superstition of idolatry; but Asa, as soon as he was admitted to the exercise of power, restored the worship of the true God. He defeated Zerah the Ethiopian, who advanced against him at the head of a million of men, 941 B. c. His confidence in the Almighty was not equally firm on another occasion, when war was declared against him by Baasha, king of Israel; for he sought the aid of Benhadad king of Syria, and imprisoned the prophet Hanani for denouncing his want of faith. Jehoshaphat, 914, endeavoured to expel ignorance, and to change the idolatrous habits of his people; and with this view, judges were appointed according to the Mosaic regulations, and a long peace was the fruit of his zeal, wisdom, and * Some chronologers identify Shishak with Sesostris, but Dr. Hales thinks he is rather Cephrenes, brother of that Cheops by whom the great pyramid is said to have been built. A sculpture has been found at Karnac, in which the chiefs of thirty nations are led before the triumphant Sheshonk, among whom appears in legible characters, Joudah4.Mlek, the king of the Jews. TENTH CENTURY B.C. 39 piety. He made an unsuccessful attempt to revive the trade to Ophir from the ports of the Red Sea. He formed a league with the kingdom of Israel, and confirmed it by the marriage of his son Jehoram to Athaliah the daughter of Ahab, —a union fraught with mournful consequences. ISRAEL.-During his exile at the Egyptian court, Jeroboam had contracted many infidel ideas; and, on the separation of the kingdom, he erected two golden calves in opposite parts of his territory, to prevent his subjects from weakening their allegiance by going three times a-year to worship in Jerusalem, as the law required. Priests were selected from the lowest of the people, for none of the Levites were so hold or so bad as to assume the office. Shechem became the place of royal residence. Baasha seized upon the throne, 951, after having murdered Nadab, Jeroboam's son; and adopting the wicked policy of the sovereign now named, he erected a fortress at Ramah to intercept those who went to worship on Mount Sion. After his death, the right to the crown was contested in civil strife; but Omri, who had been elected by the army, 929, destroyed his rivals, and removed the seat of government from Tirzah to Samaria. He was succeeded by Ahab, his son, 918, who surpassed his ancestors in impiety and vice. His wife, Jezebel, put to death all the prophets of the true God whom she could find; Elijah and a hundred others were alone miraculously preserved. He twice defeated the armies of Benhadad, but fell at last at Ramoth-Gilead, 897. He was a brave prince, not wicked of himself, but from the ascendency which his impious queen had over his mind. This Sidonian woman, brought up in the worship of the Phcenician divinities, established the rites of Baal so firmly in Israel, that the successors of Ahab were never able to eradicate them. GREECE. HOMER and HESIOD flourished about this period. The former is the most ancient Greek poet whose writings have come down to us, and seven cities contended for the honour of his birth. The Iliad, an epic on the siege of Troy, composed about 150 years after that event, and the Odyssey, containing the adventures of Ulysses on his return, are the noblest of all poems. The lines of Homer were as familiar in the mouths of the people, as those of Tasso are said to have been to the Venetian gondoliers. Modern scepticism has thrown doubts upon his existence and personality, but there appears to be no reasonable ground for such incredulity. Lycurgus first brought his poems into Greece from Asia; and two centuries and a half later, Pisistratus is supposed to have given to them their present form. His son, Hipparchus, first caused portions of them to be recited at the Panathenean Games: but our modern editions are taken from the more complete one prepared by Aristotle for the use of his pupil Alexander. Ascra, in Baeotia, was the birthplace of Hesiod. He wrote the earliest didactic poem, The Works and Days, in which, with directions for cultivating the fields and watching the seasons, he has mingled sage counsels and moral reflections. Virgil frequently imitates him in his Georgics. The Theogony is a precious relic of the mythology of the ancients, treating of the origin of the world, and of its mortal and immortal inhabitants. His poems were committed to memory by the 40 ANCIENT HISTORY. young, and were engraved and hung up in the temple of the Muses.-. While some critics mention him as a contemporary with the author of the Iliad, others would rank him a century later. The Parian chronicle places Homer 907, and Hesiod 944 B. c. Consult: Coleridge, Introduction to Classic Poets.-Bulwer's Athens, Book I. ch. viii. GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY. The religion of the Greeks deified nature, and the poems of Homer and Hesiod embodied their faith. According to this ancient belief, an infinite power drew the universe out of chaos and created gods and men. The empire was disputed; Earth fought against Heaven; the Titans against the Gods. The race of immortals increased and multiplied. Saturn (Chronos), born of the Earth and Heaven, had three sons who divided the universe among them. Jupiter (Zeus) governed Heaven; Neptune (Poseidon) reigned over the Sea, and Pluto in the Lower Regions. By all the other gods were their orders executed. Vulcan (Hephaistos) presided over fire; Mars (Ares) led the warrior to battle; Venus (Aphrodite) and Love inspired the tender passions, or allured to pleasure; Minerva (Athene) gave wisdom; Mercury (Hermes) conducted the orator to the tribunal, and the shades to Tartarus; Themis held the balance of justice; Jupiter hurled his thunderbolts to frighten crime, and by his oracles announced the future; his court, the centre of eternal light, was the abode of happiness. Each river had its divinity; the Naiad refreshed the wearied traveller at her limpid fountain; and the Dryad cooled him with the shade of her groves. Bacchus (Dionysus) animated the festivity of the vintager; the Graces (Charites) spread their charms at once over the external form and the effusions of the mind; Apollo and the Muses inspired with talent; Vulcan forged the celestial arms of Jove; and Gayety was protected by Momus. Diana (Artemis) guided the dogs in the ardent chase, and by her rays dispelled the obscurity of the night; while, soothed by the poppies of Morpheus, wearied mortals forgot their labours, their fatigues, and all their pains, save those of remorse. Heaven had its festivals and banquets; youth, embodied in the charming Hebe, distributed ambrosia and poured out the nectar for the gods; and the Olympian vaults resounded with the lyre of Apollo. In the morning, the rosy-fingered Aurora (Eous) opened the gates of heaven, and spread over earth and air the double perfume of Flora, the goddess of flowers, and of Pomona, who presided over the fruits. Phoebus mounting the chariot of the sun, poured floods of light upon the earth; and when JEolus, the god of winds, had again collected the furious storms in their mountain cave and rocky isle, the brilliant messenger of Juno, light-footed Iris, by the traces of her many-coloured steps, announced to the world the return of a season of calm weather. Other deities were more immediately connected with man. Hymen guarded the sanctity of the marriage vows; Lucina presided over births, while Libitina had the charge of funerals. Death and the Fates (Parcae), one with his inexorable scythe, and the others, with their merciless scissors, cut the thread of his destiny. The bark of Charon bore him across the Styx, and placed him on the gloomy shores of Pluto; Minos, ZEacus, and Rhadamanthus, judged- him at their inflexible tribunal; and he was led away to the groves of Elysium or committed to the power of the avenging Nemesis; the black Furies lashed him with their scourges, tore him with their serpents, dragged him to the caverns of Avernus, and there delivered him to the most cruel torture. Consult: Keightley's Mythology; or Lempriere's Dictionary. SYRIA. This country, like Phoenicia, did not form a single state, but consisted of several cities, such as Damascus and Hamath, each possessing a separate territory, and having its own chief. Tne first of these was an NINTH CENTURY B.C. 41 important place in the time of Abraham; but it was Rehob, first king of Zobah, and contemporary of Saul, who laid the foundation of its great ness. His son Hadarezer, who endeavoured to subject the whole of Syria to his power, was fortunate in all his enterprises, till he turned his arms against David, when he was defeated in two battles and slain. The Hebrew monarch became master of the country as far as the Euphrates; but in the time of Solomon, Rezon, who had formerly been a slave, made himself independent, and united to his dominion the ancient monarchies of Hamath and Geshur. Its boundaries were afterwards increased at the expense of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Benhadad I. who was sovereign about 940, formed a league with Baasha, king of Israel, against the King of Judah; but Asa, by his numerous and valuable presents, was so fortunate as to detach him from the alliance, and to persuade him to attack his former confederate. In a short space of time, the Syrian monarch had overrun and reduced Dan, Abion, Abela, and all the country bordering on the Lake of Gennesareth. Hazael ascended the throne in 885, after the murder of his predecessor, Benhadad II. He ravaged Israel in retaliation of the attack which Jehoram had made on his territories, and shortly after captured Jerusalem, putting the inhabitants to the sword. By the cruelties he exercised on the people of God, he appears to have accomplished the mournful predictions of the prophets, who had announced him as the scourge of the Almighty. At his death he was decreed divine honours by his subjects. Under Rezin, in 740. c., the kingdom was overthrown by Tiglath-Pileser. NINTH CENTURY. JUD2EA.-889, Translation of Elijah. —884, Jehu-Athaliah- Jonah, Hosea, and Amos flourished. GREECE.-884, Lycurgus-Iphitus in Elis. MACEDONIA.-813, Caranus, First King. CARTHAGE.-890, Dido emigrates from Phoenicia. JUD2EA. JUDAH.-Towards the end of the reign of Jehoshaphat, his kingdom was invaded by an army of Moabites, Edomites, and Arabians from Mount Seir. They pitched their camp at Engaddi, about forty miles from Jerusalem. In this pressing danger the king ordered a public fast and solemn prayers. The vows he addressed to Heaven were heard: dissension spread among the hostile forces, and they turned their arms against each other, 895 B. c. The scene of this deliverance was afterwards known as the Valley of Blessing. Jehoshaphat, now become the terror of his enemies, enjoyed the profoundest peace until his death. Tehoram succeeded at the age of thirty-five, 889. During the four preceding years he had been associated with his father on the throne,- a circumstance by no means rare in the East, particularly in Persia. When a monarch went on any dangerous or distant expedition, he generally took the precaution of naming his successor, and giving him 4* 42 ANCIENT HISTORY. the title of king before his departure. He murdered his six brothers, and their fate was shared by many of the princes of Judah whom his predecessor had honoured. Being influenced by his wife Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, a princess as nearly allied to the infamous Jezebel in character as in blood, he imitated the impiety of the kings of Israel. To punish this apostasy, the Ammonites and Philistines invading his dominions plundered his capital; and he was struck with an incurable malady, which at last deprived him of life, after two years of most dreadful sufferings, 885 B. c. Idumea was entirely separated from Judah in this reign, and thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaac in favour of his eldest son:' when thou shalt have the dominion, thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.' Ahaziah perished by the hands of Jehu, in the first year of his reign; after which, his mother Athaliah put to death all the royal family, and seized upon the throne. Joash, who alone was saved from the carnage, was secretly educated in the temple; and when six years had expired, Jehoiada, the high-priest, bringing him before the people, he was placed upon the throne, the queen having been killed by the populace, 878 B. c. Joash, guided by the advice of his protector, was a model of piety and justice. He restored the worship of God; but when Jehoiada was dead, he listened to evil counsellors, persecuted the prophets, who denounced his abandonment of the true religion, and saw, in consequence, his capital twice besieged and plundered by the Syrians. He was slain in 838, and buried in the city of David, but not in the tomb of the kings. Nor was this the only occasion in which the honour of royal sepulture was refused to those monarchs who had shown themselves unworthy of that mark of posthumous respect. Amaziah put to death the murderers of his parent, and signalized the course of his reign by acts of piety and justice. He defeated the Idumeans and took Petra, but was not equally successful against Jehoash, king of Israel, by whom Jerusalem itself was sacked, 826 B. c. IsRAEL.-Ahaziah, 897, not less wicked than the impious Ahab, maintained the idolatrous worship of Baal and of the goddess Astarte, established by his mother,- but the divine vengeance soon overtook him: he was killed by falling from a window of his palace. Jehoram, the brother of Ahaziah, began his reign (896) by destroying the statues of Baal erected by his father; but his subsequent conduct belied this first act of fidelity. He was soon compelled to march against the King of Moab to enforce his tribute; and forming an alliance with Jehoshaphat and the sovereign of Idumea, he advanced into the desert, where, as the combined armies were nigh perishing with thirst, Elisha obtained a miraculous supply of water. The Moabites were defeated, their country laid waste, and the capital invested, when the despairing monarch brought his son on the walls, and, in sight of his enemies, offered him a living sacrifice to Moloch. Upon this the siege was broken up in horror. Jehoram's reign was signalized by the long blockade of Samaria by Benhadad, when severe famine drove mothers to devour their own children. The miraculous disappearance of the army soon afterwards verified Elisha's prophecy. Jehu ascended the throne, after murdering his predecessor, 884. He exterminated the family of Ahab and the priests of Baal, although he did not himself NINTH CENTURY B. C. 43 forsake idolatry; and by retaining the golden calves erected by Jeroboam, he showed that his former religious zeal was principally directed by selfish motives. This culpable toleration did not escape unpunished, for the lands beyond Jordan were wrested from his dominion by Hazael king of Syria. Jehoahaz, his son, who succeeded him in 856, could not be induced by the misfortunes which both he and his subjects experienced from the Syrians, to resign his foolish idolatry. Jehoash (839) imitated the impiety of his father; but being more successful against his enemies, he repaired, in great measure, the losses which his kingdom had suffered during the reign of his two immediate predecessors. The aged prophet Elisha, on his death-bed, promised the king three successive victories over Benhadad; he therefore declared war against him, defeated his forces in three battles, and retook several cities. He died 825 E. c., and was succeeded by his son Jeroboam II., a valiant prince, who restored the dominions of Israel to their ancient limits. The prophets Jonah, Hosea, and Amos, flourished in this reign. GREECE. LYCURGUS, 884 B. c.* —From the epoch of the Dorian migration, Sparta had been governed by two kings at one time. Lycurgus, who was regent during the minority of his nephew Charilaus, feeling the necessity of some code of legislation to regulate the disorders of the state, travelled to Crete, where he had family connexions, to study the laws of Minos. He next visited Lesser Asia and Egypt, when, being suddenly recalled after an absence of eighteen years, he entirely changed the government, and bound the nation by an oath to observe his regulations until he should return from his travels. He left with the intention of never visiting Sparta again. His institutions were not committed to writing until 130 years after his death, but conveyed in apophthegms, which were confirmed by the oracle at Delphi. It may be remarked, that a great part of the regulations which he comprised in his laws were not new, but derived from the usages of the Dorians, or Cretans who were themselves of Doric race. This great man had without doubt reflected deeply on the tragical fate of the royal lines sprung from Cadmus, Danaus, and Pelops, and on the calamities which, on several occasions, had ravaged their country. He wished to save the Heraclidae from a similar catastrophe, and to protect the fertile plains of Laconia from the inroads of some adventurous or warlike race. He ensured this twofold design, by confirming the hereditary honours of the kings, with a limited but acknowledged power; and by forming a nation of brave and incorruptible men, in whom patriotism and the warlike virtues should be the predominant passions. CONSTITUTION.-Lycurgus wrought no change in the religious system of Sparta, except that all the gods and goddesses were clad in armour. No splendid monument was raised over those who fell in battle; and all murmurs for their loss were forbidden. Two kings governed conjointly, while twenty-eight senators held the balance between them and the people. All the lands were divided into equal portions: 9000 shares * Mr. Fynes Clinton, the most laborious and profound of modern chronologers, makes Lycurgus contemporary with Homer, and places both after the Return of the Heraclida. 44 ANCIENT HISTORY. were assigned to the Spartans, 30,000 to the Laconians, the whole being cultivated by Helots. The only coins were of iron. The Spartans fed at a common table; the children were the property of the state; those who were born deformed were not permitted to live. The training of the boys was such as to excite in their hearts a taste for war, contempt of death, obedience, and the practice of the austerer virtues. They went barefooted, and throughout the year wore only a single garment. Theft was encouraged, that the youths might become fitted for the stratagems of war; and when detected, they were severely punished for their clumsiness. Their education, strictly so called, finished at the age of twenty; in literature, they committed to memory a few patriotic songs, and learned to express themselves laconically, that is, with brevity and precision. Read: Laws of Lycurgus, in Anacharsis, vol. iv. ch. 48. The great defect of all Dorian legislation was its tendency to maintain a warlike character-to oppress the slave population-and to render war a more natural state than peace. In Laconia there were three classes: Lords, or Spartans; Periceci, or Lacedemonians, inhabitants of the country, who paid tribute and gave military service; and Helots. The cultivation of the soil fell to the last alone. The Spartans of the capital were the ruling lords; the Periceci were probably the mingled offspring of Dorian marriages, or native Acheans. The third class were the inhabitants of Helos, reduced to slavery as a punishment for their continual insurrections. The chief authority was in the hands of the two kings, the five ephori, and the senate of twenty-eight; the popular assembly had no other privilege than that of electing the senators, who held their places for life. The government was therefore far from being a democracy. The power of the king was supreme in war, but inferior to that of the ephori in peace. These magistrates, originally created as a check alike upon the sovereign and the senate, gradually usurped excessive power. The dreadful massacre of their slaves (crypteia), and the dissolute manners arising from certain regulations concerning the intercourse of the sexes, are well known. The Spartan women were reckoned a disgrace to their sex, and Aristotle imputes the disorders which ruined the nation to their want of modesty. The Germans, with their habitual love of paradox, have lately started and as ably defended a theory that the Dorian states, including Sparta, were the first in arts, literature, and arms. But in this community there were no authors; the arts, which form the charm and ornament of life were unknown; and for all memorials of the virtue of the republic we are indebted to the Athenians. Consult: Mitford's History of Greece; Bulwer's Athens, Book I. ch. vi. 5, &c. CARTHAGE. DIDo, 890* B. c.-Carthage on the northern coast of Africa, was founded by Elisa or Dido, sister of Pygmalion king of Tyre, though others place its foundation so early as 1223 B. c. It would be wrong to take the account transmitted to us in its literal sense. It is probable that political commotions in the mother city induced a party of the disaffected to emigrate, who proceeded to Africa, along whose northern coast Utica and other Phoenician colonies had already been settled. After the decease of Dido there is a void in the history of more than three centuries. In the time of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius, the republic was formidable by land and sea (550-480). About the same period they defeated a fleet of the Phoceans, then the most powerful *Petav. Ration. Temp. 1. ii. c 13. EIGHTH CENTURY B.C. 45 maritime state. To the same epoch must be referred their great victories over their African neighbours, and the first treaty with Rome, 509 B. c. The constitution of Carthage was aristocratic, administered by two judges (suffees), a senate of 100 members, and an assembly of the people. The judges were annually chosen from the oldest and most opulent families; and the popular assembly was appealed to only when the opinions of the senate and the council of five (the assistants of the suffetes) were divided. Aristotle ranks this republic among those most esteemed by the ancients. The Carthaginian religion was of the mother-country: the heavenly bodies were wor shipped, and the blood-stained rites of Moloch held in great honour. In times of public distress, 300 noble youths were placed alive in his blazing arms. Carthage was pre-eminently a commercial city; all its power and consequence were derived from trade; its fleets covered the seas; and its colonies or factories were on every shore. The mines of Old Spain were worked, and with the gold thence procured, Spanish, Ligurian, and Italian soldiers were hired to form its armies. The Carthaginians held Sicily, Malta, the Balearic Isles, Sardinia, and Corsica; they frequented the west of Africa as far as the Guinea coast, and visited Britain; but the passage to the Canaries was forbidden. Their caravans travelled eastward to Egypt, and southward to Feraan, or even further. MACEDONIA. Towards the end of this century, a Hellenic colony from Argos, under Caranus(813,) settled in Emathia, and laid the feeble foundations of the Macedonian empire. Its early history, however, is obscure, and little moTe is known than that its princes gradually extended their territory by subjecting or expelling the neighbouring tribes. They were delivered from the Persian yoke, imposed in 510, by the victories of the Greeks; and their independence was restored by the battle of Plataea, 479, although it was not distinctly acknowledged by their former masters. It was scarcely considered a Grecian state until the reign of Philip, the father of Alexander. EIGHTH CENTURY. JUDEA.-721, Captivity of the Ten Tribes-Isaiah, Habakkuk, Nahumfl. GREECE.-776, First Olympiad.-743, First Messenian War. ASSYRIA.-759, Sardanapalus, d.-747, ZEra of Nabonassar.-714, Sennacherib. ROME.-753. Foundation of Rome —Senate. LYDIA.-727, Gyges. JUDJEA. JUDAH.- In 810 B. c., Amaziah was succeeded by!Uzziah, also called Azariah, who served the Lord so long as the prophet Zechariah lived, and all his enterprises therefore succeeded. The Arabians, Ammonites, and Philistines, became his tributaries; and having formed an alliance with Jeroboam II. of Israel, he overcame the Syrians, and recovered the cities of Hamath and Damascus. He retook Elath from the Idumeans, and re-established the ancient commerce of the Jews on the Red Sea; but intoxicated with success, he forgot what he owed to the God of 46 ANCIENT HISTORY. Jacob. On a day of solemn festival, he presumed, in defiance of the high-priest, to offer incense in the temple, when he was immediately struck with leprosy, of which he died 758 B. C. Jotham, who had been appointed regent during the life of his father, received the reward of his piety in great successes over his enemies; though from the portrait of this age left us by Isaiah, we learn that the manners of the people were very corrupted. Micah, who began to prophesy about this time, predicted the misfortunes of Samaria, the birth of the Messiah at Bethlehem, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the dispersion of the Jews. The righteous Jotham was succeeded by his son Ahaz, 742, who restored the worship of Badl, offered sacrifice to the idols of the neighbouring nations, and burnt incense on all the high places. The instruments chosen by the Almighty to punish this impiety were Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah king of Israel, whose united forces, after devastating the country, blockaded Ahaz in Jerusalem, with the design of exterminating the house of David and changing the order of succession. In this pressing danger the prophet Isaiah restored the waning confidence of the monarch; the siege was raised, and the two kings retired without any important conquest. Ahaz, far from being touched by so marked an interposition of Heaven, passed his own son through the fire to Moloch.* In the next year, being defeated by the King of Israel, he purchased the assistance of Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, with all the gold and silver found in the temple, or in the royal treasury, 740 B. C. Elath became the prize, of his ally, and the great commerce of the East was for ever taken away from Jerusalem. When Ahaz was threatened by the Assyrians, he indulged in the greatest excess of idolatry, in the hope of propitiating the divinities of his enemies, to whom he attributed all the misfortunes which had befallen him. Hezekiah, one of the most righteous kings that ever filled the throne of Judah, consecrated the beginning of his reign to the destruction of idols, and the restoration of the true worship, 726 B. c. He celebrated the Passover with great solemnity; repaired many of the losses which his people had suffered in preceding reigns; and even ventured to shake off the Assyrian yoke. Shalmaneser was diverted from attacking his kingdom, after the subjugation of Israel, by an anxiety to reduce the Phoenician states; but Sennacherib, his successor, renewing the claim, shortly after entered Judaea with a powerful army; nor did he retire until Hezekiah had submitted, and consented to pay an annual tribute of 300 talents of silver, and 30 of gold, 713 B. C. In an expedition destined against Egypt, the Assyrian monarch again appeared before * Moloch was a Phoenician god, whose statue and temple were in the valley of Elinnom, at the foot of Mount Sion. The place derived its name of Tophet from the musical instruments (tuph) used to drown the cries of the children who were sacrificed. Hence also the names of Tophet, Gehinnom or Ge-henna, given to the place of eternal torments. " Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears; Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud Their children's cries unheard, that passed through fire, To his grim idol."-MILTON. The high places mentioned above were those in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had sacrificed to the true God, and for which the people always preserved a great respect. Here they persisted in offering sacrifices in spite of the prohibition whic confined such religious service to the temple alone. EIGHTH CENTURY B. C. 4 Jerusalem, in which was the prophet Isaiah. But during the night a pestilence sent from heaven destroyed the principal officers of his army wvith 185,000 men, 710 B. c; upon which he returned in haste to Nineveh, where he was assassinated by his own sons. Shortly before, the King of Judah had been attacked with a mortal disease; but on his humble prayer, Isaiah was commanded to predict his recovery as well as the prolongation of his life; and to confirm this prophecy the shadow of the sun went back ten degrees upon the dial of Ahaz. Hezekiah passed the rest of his days in tranquillity; and having embellished Jerusalem, built aqueducts, and other public works, he died 698 B. c. ISRAEL.-A turbulent interregnum of twelve years followed the death of Jeroboam II.; and his son Zechariah, who was murdered in the first year of his reign, 772, was the last of the house of Jehu, which had given five kings to Israel. The regicide Shallum, after a reign of one month, was, in his turn, assassinated by Menahem, who governed ten years, to 761 B. c., and under him took place the first invasion of the Assyrians led by Pul. Little is recorded of Pekahiah who was slain by Pekah, one of his generals, and his successor (759.) This monarch, being joined by Rezin king of Damascus, invaded Judah, and carried away 200,000 prisoners, whom, in obedience to the remonstrances of the prophet Obed, he restored to their country. An interregnum of nine years followed his assassination (739,) during which period of confusion Tiglath-Pileser ravaged the districts beyond the Jordan. The cup of iniquity was now full, and God resolved to execute his judgments. By an alliance with the Egytian Sabacus or So, Hoshea endeavoured to shake off the Assyrian yoke; but Shalmaneser invaded his territories with an overwhelming force, conquered Samaria, and, in 721 B. c., put an end to the kingdom of Israel, 254 years after the defection from Judah. The inhabitants were transported into Media, to provinces which had lately been depopulated in consequence of the fall of the first Assyrian empire, and to Babylon. The Israelites were replaced by Medians and Assyrians, who forsook their idolatry, erected a temple on Mount Gerizim, and instituted ceremonies similar to those of Jerusalem. These new colonists were afterwards termed Samaritans, and differed from the Jews only in their schism. Prepare: Table of contemporaneous kings of Israel and Judah. GREECE. OLYMPIADS, 776 B. c.-With the establishment of Olympiads Grecian history begins to assume a less fabulous appearance. The name is derived from the Games, held every four years, near the city of Olympia, on the banks of the Alpheus, and their commencement is placed as high as 1354 B. c. They were re-established by Iphitus of Elis in conjune. tion with Lycurgus, and Cleosthenes of Pisa, about 884; but a century elapsed before the names of the victors were inscribed in the gymnasium The first year of the First Olympiad begins with July, 776 B. c.* *To reduce the Olympiads to the common era, multiply the Olympiad immediately preceding the one in question by 4, and add the number of years to the given Olympiad If B. c. subtract the amount fiom 777; if A. D. subtract 776 from the amount. Thus 146 01. 2. is 95 B. c. and S22 01 2. is 110 A. D. The Olympic year commenced with the new moon nearest to the summer solstice. 48 ANCIENT HISTORY. The four most celebrated of the public games of Greece were the Nemean held in Argolis; the Isthmian, in Corinth; the Pythian, at Delphi; and the Olympic; in which a simple wreath of laurel or of olive was given to the successful competitors. The value of the prize was enhanced by its being awarded in the presence of the whole Greek nation, and by the honours which his native city paid to the victor who had contributed to its glory. If an Athenian, he was entitled to a seat in the Prytaneum; if a Spartan, to the chief post in battle. The Eleans were the sole managers of the Olympic games, and during their celebration a kind of sacred truce was preserved. The first contentions were in the foot-race alone; afterwards were added wrestling, leaping, throwing the quoit and javelin, boxing, with horse and chariot racing. In the Pentathlon five gymnastic exercises were combined. At Olympia were read fragments of the history of Herodotus, and while listening to his enchanting legends, Thucydides caught that inspiration which led him not only to excel his master, but to attain a point of great excellence. Here also Lysias recited his harangue on the fall of the tyrant Dionysius. Such exhibitions had the effect of transforming social pleasures into intellectual enjoyments. ASSYRIA. The annals of the first Assyrian empire are involved in obscurity not less difficult to remove than that of Egypt; for the notices respecting the origin of the latter power as well as of Babylon, which are furnished in the Bible, are not sufficient to complete a continuous history. At the epoch of the Dispersion, Ashur was established in Shinar (Babylonia), but soon after, advancing northward, he founded the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen. About the same time, or perhaps a little earlier, Nimrod settled in Babylonia, from which he is supposed by many historians to have expelled Ashur. He converted the tower of Babel into a fortress, by surrounding it with strong walls, from whence he kept the neighbouring country in subjection. He next passed into Assyria, and confined Ashur within a narrower territory. In the rabbinical books Nimrod is represented as the inventor of fire-worships, and the first persecutor of the religion of the true God. After this conqueror we have no certain information of the government of the Assyrians; and the period intervening between him and Ninus is filled by some writers with a list of thirteen kings, divided into two dynasties. Of these, Evechous, the son and successor of Nimrod, is the first; Chomas-Bel, the next, is perhaps the same as Bel-chamas, the second of the Babylonian divinities; Por or Pong is considered to he Baal-Peor or Belphegor. The name of Chinzir, the seventh king, closes the first series. After a reign of forty-five years he was dethroned by the Arabs, and his monarchy being dismembered, was formed into the kingdoms of Shinar, Elam, Ellasar, and some others mentioned in the Book of Genesis, in connexion with the history of Abraham.-The second dynasty, composed of six Arabian kings, occupied the throne 215 years; and the last sovereign of this race was Nabonadius, dethroned by Belus, who had already governed part of Assyria during thirty years. He reigned twenty-five years longer over the united kingdom, and dying, was succeeded by his son Ninus, 1968 B. c. (I'.^rt de verifier lea Dates). The first conquests of Ninus were over the Babylonians, whose cities he easily reduced. After Media and Armenia had submitted to his arms, he experienced little opposition in' the rest of Asia, excen Ct.. EIGITH CENTURY B. C. 49 the Bactrians, who were at last subdued in consequence of the wise suggestions of his wife Semiramis. The history of the early life of this remarkable woman is mingled with fable; and her elevation to the imperial throne can only be compared to that of Catherine I. of Russia. She had no sooner succeeded her husband than she endeavoured to eclipse his glory; and as he had rebuilt in a very magnificent manner, the ancient city of Nineveh on the banks of the Tigris, she determined that Babylon should surpass it in splendour. In the execution of her great project, two millions of workmen were employed, and the city, finished in the space of two years, was ever after considered one of the wonders of the world. Nor did she limit her cares to this city alone; many others were built or improved on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. In all parts of her dominions she formed aqueducts, so valuable in hot countries, pierced or levelled mountains, filled up valleys, and opened highways in every direction. Even at the present day the communication between Bagdad and Hamadan is maintained through one of the roads constructed by this celebrated queen. After a reig., -f forty-two years, and at the age of sixty-two, Semiramis resigned the sceptre to her son Ninyas, who, it is said, spent his life in indolence and retirement,-a course imitated by all his successors till the reign of Sardanapalus. One circumstance alone breaks through the silence of this long interval. Tentamus, the twentieth successor of Ninyas, sent assistance to Priam; and Plato, from whom we learn this fact, adds that Troy was a dependency of Assyria. The conquests of Sesostris king of Egypt, occurred probably under the government of these descendants of Ninyas; he contented himself with levying heavy tributes, leaving the sovereign power as he found it. SARDANAPALUS, with whom the first Assyrian empire terminated, surpassed all his predecessors in luxury and voluptuousness. His excesses rendered him contemptible in the eyes of his subjects, and inspired thoughts of revolt in the mind of Belesis, a priest of Babylon, who associated with him in his plot Arbaces, the governor of Media. At the first news of the projected insurrection, the king concealed himself in the most retired chambers of his palace; but soon regaining courage, he collected an army of faithful soldiers, and defeated the insurgents in three desperate battles. He was at last compelled to return to Nineveh, which held out during two years; when the Tigris, swollen by unusual rains, overflowed its banks and destroyed great part of the walls. To prevent his falling into the hands of the enemy, and to efface the memory of a shameful life by a vainglorious death, he caused a vast pile to be raised, on which he burnt himself, together with his wives and treasures, 759 B. c. Three empires shared the vast dominions of the successors of Ninus: -1, The Assyrian monarchy of Babylon founded by Belesis, which, after lasting about 220 years, was conquered by Cyrus, 538 B. c.; —2, The ancient kingdom of the Ninevite Assyrians, perpetuated by Pul, and which, in little more than 130 years, was reunited to Babylon; — 3, The state of the Medes, indebted for its independence to Arbaces, and which, becoming monarchical under Deioces, continued about 220 years, and was at last united to the vast empire of Persia. 5 50 ANCIENT HISTORY. It has been thought, and not without sufficient reason, that the enterprise oi Belesis and Arbaces has been confounded with that of Nabopolassar and Cyaxares against Chynaladan king of Assyria, and which will be treated of in the seventh century. It is certain that the revolution which destroyed Sardanapalus, called also Empacmes or Eupalis, did not entirely destroy the Assyrian empire; and that it scarcely did more than cause the dismemberment of several provinces, the chief of which were Babylon and Media. It would be useless to endeavour to reconcile the contradictory accounts which the ancients have transmitted to us of the last days of Sardanapalus. It seems, however, to bo established by modern critics,* that there were two persons of that name; that Nineveh was not destroyed; and even that Sardanapalus, surviving his degradation, resigned the government to the hands of his son Pul, and passed the remainder of his days in luxurious retirement. SECOND EMPIRE OF NINEVEH.-Pul, the first king of the new empire of Assyria, was the son of Sardanapalus, and is known to have interfered in the civil dissensions of the kingdom of Israel. His successors were steady in his course of policy, which was destined at no distant period to open the road to Egypt. He has been thought to be the Belus cf profane history, and the founder of the Assyrian monarchy. TiglathPileser, his son and successor, 747 B. c., a warlike prince, endeavoured to repair the losses which his territories had suffered during the last revolution; and, with this view, he invaded Palestine, destroyed the kingdom of Damascus, and transported the unfortunate inhabitants of that city into his own states, 740. Ahaz also, king of Judah, was compelled to pay him tribute. He died after a reign of nineteen years, and was succeeded oy Shalmaneser (728) who surpassed the exploits of his father. Having completed the conquest of Israel, he led Hoshea into captivity, the.ast sovereign of that schismatical kingdom; and after reducing the various states of Phoenicia, he compelled their inhabitants to pay tribute. He died in 714, and was followed on the throne by his son Sennacherib, the Sargon of Isaiah. He began his reign by the invasion of Judea; but, while threatening Jerusalem, his army was smitter with pestilence or by the simoom (" the angel of death," as it is called by the Arabs), and 185,000 men perished in a single night. Rendered ferocious by his disgrace, he exercised the cruelest tyranny on his subjects. The Jews were particularly exposed to his anger. He daily massacred great numbers of them, and left their bodies in the fields without sepulture. Becoming odious to his family his two elder sons conspired and slew him, 707 B. c.; but fleeing into Armenia, they left the throne to the youngest, Esarhaddon. SECOND EMPIRE OF BABYLON.-Nothing is more obscure than the beginning of this empire, which, until the year 721, had no communication with the Jewish people. Belesis, generally considered as the first king of this new monarchy, was, according to Diodorus, merely governor of Babylon under Arbaces the Median. It is contended by many mo dern historians that he and his successor Nabonassar are one and the same person; an opinion which is scarcely tenable. The name of Belesis is not found in the list of Babylonian kings given by Ptolemy. Some writers believe that he formed the province into a sort of republic. with himself at its head, but dependent on the King of Nineveh. The actions of Nabonassar are entirely unknown, except that he is reported * See vol. xxi. of the.Memoires de l'cademie des Tnscriptions et Belles.Lettres. EIGHTH CENTURY B.C. 51.o have destroyed the monuments of his predecessors in the foolish hope of passing for the first king of the Babylonian nation. The epoch which bears his name, and which was adopted on the introduction of the Egyptian year, begins with 747 B. c.* Beyond their names we know but little of the next four kings, Nadius, Chinziru&, Porus, and Jugeus. These were succeeded in 721 by Merodach-Baladan, who formed an alliance with the king of Judah. After the disasters of Sennacherib, Merodach endeavoured to rescue his kingdom from its state of dependence on Assyria; but in this he was unsuccessful, if we may judge by the weakness and disorder of the monarchy during the reigns of his five successors in the short space of seventeen years. LYDIA. The Lydians were a Pelasgian race, originally called Maeonians, from their first monarch Maeon, the epoch of whose reign has been fixed at 1545 B.C. Three dynasties occupied in succession the throne of Lydia: the Atyades, the Heraclide, and the Mermnadae. The traditions of mythology had placed a portion of the adventures of Hercules in that country; and assigned it as the birthplace of Marsyas, Tantalus, Pelops, Niobe, Arachne, and Omphale. A branch of the Heraclidae succeeded the Atyades in 1232, and about 727 B. C. they were followed by the Mermnadte, of whom Gyges, grandson of Mermnas, was the first, who dethroned and murdered Candaules. The history of the kingdom now began to separate from fable, as it gradually increased in riches and importance; and after the expulsion of the Scythians, who in the 7th century had invaded and temporarily possessed it, Alyattes ruled over the greater part of Asia Minor. A war soon afterwards arose between Media and Lydia, during which Babylon remained neuter, and acted as mediator in the contest. A memorable battle between the two nations was interrupted by a total eclipse of the sun, 30th September 601 B. c. Croesus, before ascending the throne, had been associated with his father in the government. Wise but ambitious, he greatly extended the power of the kingdom, and reduced all the Greek colonies of Asia. Solon the philosopher, about 575, and the fabulist XEsop, were entertained at his court.t He declared war against the celebrated Cyrus, who had united the Median and Persian monarchies, 559 B. c.; but although assisted by Egypt and Babylon, he was unsuccessful; his capital, Sardis, was taken, and himself made prisoner, 546 B.C. The whole of the Lydian dominions fell into the hands of the conqueror, and the nation never recovered its independence. Tradition ascribes to the Lydians the invention of coined money, formed from the gold dust of the river Pactolus. They were celebrated for their purple garments, their skill in working metal, and their slave markets. * The reign of Nabonassar forms an important era in chronology. It was, according to Ptolemy, the beginning of the astronomical observations of the Chaldeans. Hence, it fixes the date of what is commonly called Ptolemy's Astronomical Canon. The method of reducing the years of this era to that employed by Christian nations, will be found in the Companion to the Almanac, 1830. The chronological objections to the celebrated interview between Crcesus and Solon may be removed, if we suppose with Mr. Fynes Clinston, that Creesus reigned jointly with his father Alyattes. See also Larcher's Note 73, lib. i. of his translation of Her dotus. I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ii 52 ANCIENT HISTORY. ROME. Origin of the Roman people. At the period when history begins to throw a few rays of light upon the con dition of Italy, we find it occupied by various tribes, speaking different languages, and in different degrees of civilisation. The Umbrians, who are supposed to have come from Illyria, had penetrated to the Tiber, and occupied both its banks at a very remote era. Between them and the mouth of the river, lay the Siculans; while in the Apennine chain, near Mount Velino, and at the Lake Fucino, dwelt a rude and barbarous people, known by the name of Casci or Aborigines (primitive inhabitants). To the east of these were the Sabines, whose original abode was the Abruzzi, on the summits of the Apen. nines. These people seized on the Umbrian territory, and, in lapse of time, extended their frontiers as far as Rome. At this epoch, long before the date of the fall of Troy, the Aborigines settled on the south of Umbria, and there built cities and towns. The Siculans and these mountaineers were continually at war; and after long and terrible combats, the Aborigines, assisted by some Pelasgian colonists under Evander, vanquished the Siculans, and compelled them to take refuge in Trinacria, which afterwards bore the name of Sicily. The Pelasgians received their share of the conquered lands; but were in their turn subdued and nearly exterminated about the middle of the 12th century B. c. The Aborigines remained sole masters of the country, and were the primitive source of the Latin people. They were called Latins, from their king Latinus. The poetical traditions relate that JEneas, who had escaped the flames of Troy, married Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, and founded Lavinium. His son Ascanius is said to have built Alba Longa. Twelve princes reigned after him: Procas was the last. His sons Numitor and Amulius made war upon each other, and the latter triumphed; but he was driven from the throne by the two grandsons of Numitor, Romulus and Remus, whom the Romans supposed to be the offspring of Mars and the vestal Rhea Sylvia.''he researches of Beaufort and Niebuhr have shaken the credibility of the early annals of Rome. But critical scepticism may be carried too far; for the science of history consists not only in the knowledge of truths, but in familiarity with all that has been related of the various nations which have fioured in the world. An acquaintance with what the Romans themselves believed of the origin of the city is necessary to enable us to form a correct estimate of their character. Consult: Arnold's History of Rome. ROMULUS, 753.-The founder of Rome had been a shepherd in his iouth. After having restored his grandfather Numitor to the throne, he settled, with some of his early companions, at a little distance from Alba, on the Palatine Hill, and probably on the ruins of a more ancient city. By making the new city an asylum for murderers and runaway slaves, the population increased. He established laws, divided the people into two classes-Patricians and Plebeians, and appointed a senate. At the close of a disastrous war with the Sabines, he was compelled to share his crown with Tatius, their king, though he soon became sole monarch again. After a reign of thirty-seven years he was murdered by the senators, who, fearful of the revenge of the populace, gave origin to the report that he had been carried up to heaven, and a temple was erected to him on the Quirinal hill. Romulus had the good sense to adopt many Sabine customs. The Romans always imitated this example with respect to the nations they conquered, and it was not the least cause of their renown. No people indeed ever rose to pre-eminent greatness with smaller pretensions to originality. They were indebted to the Greeks for every thing except their martial and republican spirit; whi. SEVENTH CENTURY B.C. 53 many of their laws, customs, and religious ceremonies, together with their system of notation, were borrowed from the Etruscans. NUMAA.-An interregnum of a year followed the death of Romulus, after which the senate, fearing to hold the supreme authority any longer, chose a Sabine, named Numa Pompilius, for their king. As the former had made his people warriors, the latter taught them the arts of peace, framed a code of laws modelled on that of Lycurgus, and regulated the ceremonies of religious worship. He died after a reign of forty-three years, 672 B. C. SEVENTH CENTURY. JUDHEA.-698, Manasseh.-641, Josiah.-611, Egyptian War.-606, The Cap tivity. ASSYRIA.-667, Nabuchodonosor.-656, Holofernes slain.-607, Nebuchadnezzar's Campaigns. MEDIA AND PERSIA.-733, Deioces.-655, Phraortes defeated at Ragau.648, Scythian Invasion. Zoroaster. EGYPT.-671, Dodecarchy.-656, Psammetichus.-617, Necho-Africa circumnavigated. GREECE.-685, Second Messenian War.-624, Draco-Ephori. ROM.E.-667, Horatii and Curiatii.-640, Ancus Martius.-616, Tarquin the Elder. LITERATURE.-Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel.-680, Tyrtaeus.-600, Archilochus, Alcieus, Sappho, Epimenides. JUD2EA. END OF THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH. —Manasseh (698), a youth of twelve years of age, subverted all the wise institutions of his father Hezekiah; he adored Baal and Moloch, and by his orders Isaiah was sawn asunder. During his long reign the Mosaic Law and the worship of Jehovah fell into contempt; and he thereby brought the heaviest misfortunes on himself and his people. Many prophets appeared, and vainly warned the nation of its impending ruin. Esarhaddon at length dragged him a prisoner to Babylon, 676, as Hoshea king of Israel, forty-five years before, had been led to Nineveh. After a captivity of one year (or of seven years, according to some critics), he was restored to his throne, to become the perfect model of a penitent king; for he purified the temple, destroyed all idols, and re-established the worship of the true God. In 656 Nebuchadnezzar I. gave Holofernes the command of a numerous army, destined to punish the Jews for refusing their assistance against the Medes. But his conquests were arrested by the hand of a woman; for while blockading the small hill-fortress of Bethulia, he was slain by the enthusiastic Judith. Amon, the wicked son of Manasseh, perished by assassination, 641, after a reign of two years, and was succeeded by Josiah at the age of eight. Even in childhood this monarch was an example of piety, and he had scarcely completed his sixteenth year, when he assumed the government which had been administered by his mother Idida. In his time the high-priest 5* 54 ANCIENT HISTORY. Hilkiah discovered the original manuscript of the Law, written by the hand of the great legislator himself. To fulfil the engagements he made with his people at the public reading of this book, he destroyed every vestige of idolatry both in Israel and Judah; and when he had thus purified his land, he celebrated the Passover with great solemnity, 6'23 B. C. The misfortunes of the country recommenced with the death of Josiah, who was killed in battle at Megiddo while opposing Necho king of Egypt, who being at war with the Assyrians, resolved to pass through Palestine. The prophet Jeremiah composed a funeral elegy on his death, which continued long afterwards to be sung by the choir in certain religious ceremonies. With this prince terminated the glory and happiness of the Jewish nation. The people raised Jehoahaz, one of his younger sons, to the throne; but he was deposed by the victorious Necho, and led prisoner into Egypt. Eliakim, who was appointed in his stead, under the name of Jehoiakim, 610, was a weak and irreligious ruler; his only virtue being the fidelity with which he paid a heavy tribute to the sovereign from whom he had received the crown. Deaf to the warnings of Jeremiah and Habakkuk, who announced to Judea the coming danger, he threw the prophecy of the former into the fire, and condemned both to die. They escaped his fury by taking refuge in a cavern. In 606 Nebuchadnezzar II. took Jerusalem for the first time, and imprisoned, but afterwards released, its monarch. He plundered the temple of great part of its sacred vessels, and among his captives we read the names of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. This tear, 606, is the first of the Seventy Years' Captivity announced by Jeremiah. ASSYRIA. SECOND EMPIRE OF NINEVEH.-Esarhaddon, the third son of Sennacherib, ascended the throne on the murder of his father, 707 B. c.; and he restored to the Assyrian monarchy the strength and glory which it had lost during the misfortunes of the previous reignS. Taking advantage of the civil troubles which divided the Babylonians, he reunited them to his empire in 680, and until 647 they were governed by Ninevite viceroys. He reduced Judea, and led Manasseh into captivity; but, as already mentioned, after twelve months he restored him to liberty and to a kingdom now nearly depopulated. After a reign of forty-two years, marked by glorious conquests over Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Ethiopia, he left the sceptre to his son Saosduchin, the Nebuchadnezzar or Nabuchodonosor of the book of Judith. In the twelfth year of his reign he was attacked by Phraortes, king of the Medes, whom he defeated and slew with his own hand, 655. He sent an army of 130,000 men into Judea, under the command of Holofernes, who, we have seen, perished by the hand of Judith. From this time Saosduchin experienced nothing but reverses, and the year preceding his death, he was besieged in Nineveh by Cyaxares. He died in the twenty-second year of his reign, leaving a tottering throne to his son and successor. The vices and cowardice of Saracus (Chynaladanus) produced greater trouble and confusion in his dominions. Nabopolassar made himself independent at Babylon, where he reigned twenty-one years, and to preserve his power he formed an alliance with the Medes. The united SEVENTH CENTURY B.C. 55 armies besieged Nineveh, and completely destroyed it, upon which Babylon became the sole capital of the Assyrian empire, 625 B. c. SECOND EMPIRE OF BABYLON.- On the death of Mesessi Mordacus, the last of the five obscure successors of Merodach Baladan, the metropolis was, for eight years, a prey to all the evils of anarchy. This opportunity was not neglected by the victorious Esarhaddon, and in 680 he reunited the Babylonian monarchy to that of Nineveh, which had now become the most formidable in all Asia. But this preponderance, founded on the humiliation of Babylon, was not of long duration; for thirty-three years after, Nabopolassar the Chaldean, aided by Cyaxares the Mede, vindicated the honour of his country on the smoking ruins of Nineveh, and his empire became in its turn the queen of the east. The conqueror (625), after the death of Saracus, reunited under his government all the provinces with most of the satrapies that had been dependent on Nineveh. Such prosperity excited the jealousy of Necho, who marched toward the Euphrates with the design of wresting from the Assyrian monarch all the country situated on the western bank of that river. He was particularly successful, and took the important city of Carchemish, with several other strong places. This encouraged the Syrians and the Jews in their attempts to throw off the Babylonian yoke; when Nabopolassar, too far advanced in years to take the field in person against the rebels, committed the important charge to his son Nebuchadnezzar the Great, whom he had already associated with him in the government. This young prince, who had received from nature all the qualities of a conqueror, justified the confidence of his father. Proceeding against the Egyptian king, he gained a complete victory, and recovered all that the other had reduced in the preceding years. While laying siege to Jerusalem, which he was destined to capture thrice in the course of his reign, he was informed of his parent's death. He returned to Babylon to assume the crown, carrying with him a numerous train of Jewish captives. MEDIA. DE1OCES, 733 B. c.-Media.is a fertile though mountainous country, lying between Persia, the Caspian Sea, Assyria, Parthia, and Armenia. Its capital was Ecbatana (now Hamadan). Powerful monarchies appear to have existed in those parts, but, owing to an inconsistent and arbitrary chronology, they can scarcely enter into general history. Bactria, by its geographical position, appears marked out for the great emporium of south-eastern Asia, and in proportion as we penetrate into ancient times, we become convinced that, like Babylon, it was one of the earliest seats of international commerce, and one of the cradles of civilisation. The term Media comprehended this country as it was applied generally to the nations between the Tigris and the Indus. From the earliest period the Medes had been subject to Assyria, when, in 759, under the command of Arbaces, they revolted against Sardanapalus, and recovered their independence. But their liberty degenerated into anarchy, until a sense of the necessity of public order induced them, in the year 733, to place Deioces on the throne. During his glorious reign of fifty-three years, he united the six tribes, of which the Magi were the chief, and founded an independent sovereignty. Phraortes 56 ANCIENT HISTORY. (probably the Arphaxad of the book of Judith), who succeeded him in 680, reduced Persia. and conquered all the country north of the Taurus as far as the river Halys. He was defeated and killed by Nebuchadnezzar I. (Saosduchin) in his war against Assyria, 655. Cyaxares I. undertook to avenge his father's death, and was on the point of capture ing Nineveh, when he was obliged to turn his arms against a more terrible enemy, the Scythians, who, having overrun Asia, had reached the borders of Egypt, 648. It took twenty-eight years to expel them, after which he declared war against the Lydian Alyattes, for having received and protected some of the chiefs who had escaped from the general massacre of their comrades. A battle fought on the banks of the Halys, was terminated by an eclipse of the sun, 601 B. c.* The Medes had now regained their importance, for, united with the Babylonian Nabopolassar, they had destroyed Nineveh, 625, and reduced the Persians to subjection. Cyaxares I. died in 595, in the sixty-first year of his reign, leaving to his son Astyages the greatest and most powerful monarchy in Asia. In his time the history of Media becomes confused with that of Persia and of Cyrus. We may here observe that the frequent revolutions in Asia, both of ancient and modern times, were never beneficial to the people. Governments often changed hands, but the form was always the same; and all except that effected by Alexander were the work of powerful nomad tribes. Impelled by fortuitous circumstances or by necessity, they quitted their wild abodes to subjugate the fertile plains of Southern Asia, until, enervated by the luxury and effeminacy of their new subjects, they were themselves conquered in the same manner. This consideration on the common origin of the great empires of the East, accounts for their vast extent, their rapid increase, and brief duration. The internal constitution of these states was everywhere the same: an unlimited despotism which, springing from the rights of conquest, was perpetuated, because the very extent of the empire required, for the interests of the prince at least, a similar government to preserve the unity of the state. PERSIA. PERSIA, called Elam in the Scriptures, received its name from the eldest son of Shem. Its history is a blank down to the reign of Chedorlaomer, who, about a century before the presumed time in which Ninus laid the foundations of Assyrian greatness, had already carried his victorious arms towards the Mediterranean, in the western provinces of Asia. The power of the Elamites yielded to that of Ninus and Semiramis, and the country became a province of the vast empire of Assyria. They aided the Medians and Babylonians in their attempts to overthrow the government of Sardanapalus, but were still dependent on the two newly-formed monarchies. The ten tribes of Israel were distributed among the Persians and Medes; and although the extensive dominion of Nebuchadnezzar II. embraced the former people within its limits, the bonds of subjection do not appear to have been very oppressive. Under the rule of the Medes the condition of Persia was very little changed. Eastern writers have endeavoured to fill up the void in * The period of this eclipse is by no means a settled point, and the compiler had to select from six different dates: 607; 603; 6i01, the date assigned by Usher; 597, very often given; 585, total over the whole Hellespont, and not improbably that mentioned by Herodotus' and 581 B.c. SEVENTH CENTURY B.C. 57 its early history; but their works, composed in the twelfth and thir. teenth centuries A. D., are little more than a web of fabulous traditions. Their testimony can have no weight in the balance of historical criticism, and in all their annals the only personage who appears to be really historical is Jemsheed or Giamschid, probably the Achaemenes whom the Greeks counted among the ancestors of Cyrus. At the epoch of their subjection to the Medes, the Persians were a mountain race, divided into ten castes or tribes. The mcst considerable were the Pasargada, the Maraphians, and Maspians, all composed of nobles and warriors; and the first, of whom the Achaemenidae were a branch, were always in possession of the government. Of the other tribes, three were composed of labourers and four of shepherds. Being descended from Shem, the Elamites preserved longer their ancient religion. They built no temples, but worshipped, in the open air and on the tops of mountains, the sun (Mithras) or fire, as an emblem of the Supreme Being. They also venerated the stars and planets. The adoration of the heavenly bodies (Sabaism) is supposed to have been a corruption of the Magian doctrines: both however appear to have been known to Job. The former is perpetuated in Asia by the Parsees and Ghebers. The Magian doctrine endeavoured to account for the existence of evil, by the notion (afterwards adopted by the Manichees) of two first causes, principles or gods, of Good and Evil. The name is derived from the Magi, a sacerdotal caste of the Medes, who introduced their peculiar opinions into Persia. This doctrine was reformed by Zoroaster or Zerdusht. Four persons of this name are mentioned in ancient authors; but the best known, and perhaps the only one who ever existed, was born in Media about the same time as Cyrus. Sent in early life to Judaea, he studied the books of Moses and Solomon, and became acquainted with the prophecies concerning Cyrus. Returning to his own country, he retired to a lonely cavern, in which he wrote the.vesta, or as it is generally called, the Zendavesta, from being written in the Zend language, the sacred dialect of the Parsees. In this work, which contains tenets of the highest wisdom and the purest morals, the Two Principles are reduced to the rank of subordinate angels, and the existence of ONE independent and self-existing deity is acknowledged, as also the salvation of man by faith from the power of Arimanes or Satan. These doctrines appear to have been adopted in Persia by the nobler tribes alone. The magi preserved the sacred fire which Zoroaster brought to Media, and which he is said to have received from heaven. His favourite maxim was, that evil followed good, as the shadow the substance. EGYPT. PSAMMETICHUS.-The period between the sixteenth and tenth centuries, although disturbed by anarchy, was the most prosperous in the history of this kingdom. In the Holy Scriptures we find a few scattered notices of Egyptian affairs, such as the marriage of Solomon with the king's daughter, and the invasion of Judaea by Shishak in 971, u. c. The tide of conquest now rolled down the Nile, the Ethiopians under Sabacus "ose to great power, 770, and a dynasty of three kings reigned iv succession on the united throne of Egypt and Ethiopia. Various 58 ANCIENT HISTORY. revolutions followed, until Psammetichus of Sais obtained the supreme power, about 656 B. c. He had been a member of the dodecarchy, or government of twelve sovereign princes, among whom the country had been divided, 671. Quarrels springing up among them, they expelled him, but he soon after returned, and, aided by Greek mercenaries, put his rivals to flight. In consideration of the fidelity and military services of the strangers who had helped him to his throne, he kept many of them about him as a standing army, and honoured them with his confi dence. At this the warrior-caste took umbrage, and, to the number of 200,000, retired into Ethiopia. In his reign commerce flourished, and strangers were allowed freely to visit the Egyptian ports. The accession of Psammetichus to the sole sovereignty of Egypt is an important epoch, and the termination of historical uncertainty. Greek writers now furnish us with a detailed history of the country, no longer founded on figurative inscriptions or allegorical traditions; and henceforward the Scriptures also give us the names and characters of the Egyptian princes, whom we easily recognise in the Greek narratives. In this reign the interpreters became a distinct class, alphabetical writing came into general use, and the science of hieroglyphics was gradually forgotten. Egypt now became and continued a single empire, with its seat of government at Memphis. Down to this time, no Egyptian king, with the exception of Sesostris, had appeared animated with a military spirit; but after Psammetichus, the various princes felt the necessity of becoming warriors and creating a maritime power. The enlightened administration of Psammetichus made Egypt flourish without overloading the people with taxes. He was partial to the Greeks, and formed an alliance with the Athenians. Although his subjects, blinded by prejudice, did not second his extended views, he is not the less one of the most estimable sovereigns that ever governed the nation. PHARAOH-NECHO, 617-601.-The son and successor of Psammetichus would have been an extraordinary ruler in any age. He formed extensive plans of conquest; subdued all Asia, as far as the Euphrates; took Catchemish (Circesium,) the key of Syria and Palestine, and placed in it a strong garrison (610.) His march through Judah was opposed by Josiah, who was slain in battle, and his kingdom treated as a subject country. He attempted to join the Nile to the Red Sea by a canal, ninety-six miles in length; in which unsuccessful labour 120,000 workmen are said to have perished.* At his command a Phcenician fleet sailed from the Arabian Gulf, circumnavigated Africa, and returned in three years by the Straits of Gibraltar, twenty-one centuries before Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope (1497 A.D.) In 606 Nebuchadnezzar II. defeated and pursued the Egyptian monarch, when all his conquests beyond the frontiers were lost. Necho died after a reign of sixteen years, leaving the throne to his son Psammis, 601 B. c GREECE. DRACO.-The example of Sparta, and their own internal dissensions inspired the Athenians with a desire for a regular constitution, the framing of which was committed to the hands of Draco, chief archon *This work was completed by the Persians, but turned out to be of little practical benefit. Many learned men have doubted the existence of a communication by water between the two seas; but the testimony of ancient writers is too positive against them. Attempts have been made, at various times, down to the present day, to clear out the bed of the canal, which is still visible. SEVENTH CENTURY B.C. 59 that year (624,) a man as rigidly severe as he was inflexibly just. The code he drew up was said to be written in blood, death being the penalty of the lowest as well as of the highest crimes. It naturally fell into contempt and desuetude, when at length the contests of the aristocratic parties, and the better regulation of the religious worship by the Cretan Epimenides, prepared the way for Solon. From the three classes, which existed in the time of Theseus, the nobles, labourers, and artizans, appear to have been derived the same number of political factions which now divided Athens. The mountaineers or Diacrians advocated an absolute democracy; the rich inhabitants of the plains, or Pedians, desired an aristocracy; while the Paralians, who dwelt along the shores, favoured a mixed government, in which the people had the right of suffrage, and the executive power was placed in the hands of a few individuals. The intolerable abuses of the magistracy, and the rapacity of their own creditors, drove the people at last into insurrection. They elected a chief, threw open the prisons, and with arms in their hands demanded a partition of the land, the abolition of all debts, and a new order of government. Civil war was on the point of breaking out, when Solon was chosen archon, and appointed supreme arbiter and legislator of the republic, 594 B. C. MESSENIAN WARS. —A trifling quarrel between the Spartans and Messenians, who had been long at variance with each other, gave rise in 743 to the First War of twenty years, which ended to the disadvantage of the latter. Messenia, lying in the south-west of the Peloponnesus, was a fertile country with great maritime advantages. The wise Nestor is supposed to have ruled in one of its cities; and his descendants were driven from the throne by the Dorian followers of the Heraclidae. The people were a simple, agricultural race, but not deficient in warlike virtues. In the year 773, an insult offered to a band of Spartan virgins by some Messenian youths, led to the first serious misunderstanding between the respective states. Hostilities did not break out until thirty years after, when Polychares, indignant that punishment had not been inflicted on the murderer of his son, in a wild spirit of retaliation killed several Lacedaemonians, 743. In the early part of the war, fortune was on the side of Messenia, Aristodemus having restored the fainting spirits of his countrymen by the sacrifice of his daughter. Shortly after the battle of Ithome, 730, he was elected to the vacant throne, and made frequent and destructive incursions into the Laconian territory. In 725, the Spartans prepared for a decisive struggle, but it was prolonged until 723, when Aristodemus had fallen by his own hand on the tomb of his immolated child. Ithom( was taken and rased to the ground; the Messenians were condemned to a yearly tribute of half their crops, and to be present in deep mourning at the interment of the Spartan kings. For thirty-nine years they remained in subjection, when the Second War broke out, 685, under the conduct of the famous Aristomenes, whose adventures are so romantic as to throw doubt upon the whole history of his campaigns. The Spartans, headed by the lame Athenian schoolmaster Tyrteeus, and cheered by his songs were eventually successful, after besieging the stronghold of Ira during eleven years; and the Messenians who did not abandon their country, made a numerous addition to the Helots or Laconian slaves. Aristomeres escaped, and died at Rhodes. He was the worthy precursor of _-_ 60 ANCIENT HISTORY. Epaminondas, and we can scarcely find in history two nobler and purer characters than these two great men. The Third Messenian war occurred in the fifth century B. c., and was terminated by the surrender of Ithome. Read: Bulwer's Athens, book I. chap. vi. ~ 16; and Travels of Anacharsis, ch. xi. The colony of Tarentum in Italy was founded shortly after the first Messenian war, by the Parthenic from Sparta, 707, a mixed race of Spartan and Lacedaemonian blood, who had revolted because their legal illegitimacy excluded them from citizenship. In Lacedaemon, during these wars, the Ephori had been created as vicegerents of the kings, and it is worthy of note, that while the sovereignties of Judah and Israel were falling into ruin, the states of Greece were gradually preparing for their glorious course of mental and physical greatness. At this time Massilia (Marseilles), Byzantium, and Cyrene, were founded; and the Gauls established themselves in Northern Italy. ROME. HORATII AND CURIATII, B. C. 667.-Numa'was succeeded by Tullus Hostilius (672), who sought to rival the military glory of Romulus. In a war against the Albans took place the celebrated combat between the champions of Rome and those of Alba, the three Horatii and the three Curiatii. The former were victorious, the city of Alba was laid waste, and the population transferred to Rome, which thus became the capital of the united nations. On the death of Hostilius, which was occasioned by lightning, Ancus Martius was elected king, 640 B. c. He was the grandson of Numa, whose religious institutions he attempted to revive; and although not unsuccessful in war, he derived the title of' the Good" from his works of peace. He raised temples, instituted the fetial law, fortified the city, enlarged its territorial possessions, dug quarries, formed salt-works, built the port of Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber, and laid the foundations of the Roman commerce and maritime power. TARQUIN THE ELDER, or Priscus, 616 B. c., was an Etrurian of Greek extraction; and his genius, education, and wealth, were the cause of his election to the throne of Ancus. He defeated the Latins and Sabines, the inveterate enemies of early Rome, and first assumed the regalfasces and purple robe. He also increased the number of the senate to 300. Among his public works are the vast sewers, which exist uninjured to the present day. He laid out the Circus and the Forum, and began to surround the city with a wall of massy stones. He died a violent death, 578 B. c. OBSERV&TION. — Although the personal existence of Romulus may be rejected, and the history of Numa doubted, there are some things in that of Tullus Hostilius which bear the mark of truth, however disguised by their legendary form. Alba was destroyed by the Latins, with whom the Romans, as living in the Latin territory, may have been allied. The tribe Luceres was added to the patrician body, as distinct from the plebeian estate. With Ancus, a new order of citizens, the Plebs, appears -a class of men personally independent, but not sharing in the government. SIXTH CENTURY B.C. 61 SIXTH CENTURY. JUDMEA.-536, End of the Captivity.-515, Second Temple built. ASSYRIA (604, Nebuchadnezzar.-570, Loses his Reason.-538, Belshazzarand End of the kingdom of Babylon. PERSIA. 561, Cyrus elected King.-559, Aids Cyaxares.-538, Babylon L taken.-529, Cambyses.-521, Darius. EGYPT.-594, Apries.-569, Amasis.-525, Psammenitus, last native king. GREECE.- 594, Solon, archon.- 560, Pisistratus.- 514, Harmodius and Aris. togiton. ROME.-578, Servius Tullius.-534, Tarquin II.-509, Consuls-Constitution of Rome. CHINA.-550, Confucius born. LITERATURE.-THE SEVEN WISE MEN; Mimnermus, Thespis,.Esop, Theognis, Pythagoras, Anacreon. DIScovERIES.-Geographical Maps; Terrestrial Globes, by Anaximander.560, Marble employed (at Athens) for Statues.-540, Ml'onochord, Terrestrial Revolution, by Pythagoras.-552, Corinthian Capital, by Callimachus.520, Sun-dials, by Anaximenes of Miletus. JUDZEA. IN 603, Jehoiakim, relying upon the support of the Egyptian monarch, revolted against Nebuchadnezzar, who immediately sent an army into Judaea. He followed in person in 599, when he killed the king as a rebel, and threw his body into the fields unburied; thus fulfilling the prediction of Jeremiah, xxii. 19. Jehoiachin was then placed on the throne, from which he was dragged at the end of three months, and led captive to Babylon, together with more than 10,000 companions in misfortune, the strength and the hope of the nation. Ezekiel was now a second time carried away into bondage; Jeremiah remained behind to console, but in vain, the remnant of the people. Zedekiah, the uncle of the deposed prince, was chosen to fill his place, but he proved more wicked than his predecessors. In 590, being the ninth year of his reign, he revolted against Nebuchadnezzar, and refused to pay the tribute imposed by this conqueror. His alliance with Pharaoh-Hophra proved of no avail: the Egyptian ruler retired before the Assyrian army, which immediately blockaded Jerusalem. The denunciations of Jeremiah, which had filled the city with consternation, could not ward off the impending fate; and after the city had endured the worst calamities of hunger, it was taken in a night-attack, and given up to fire and sword, 588 B. c. The degraded king, having seen his wives and children slain before his face, had his eyes put out, and in that miserable condition was sent to a foreign prison, to be a living testimony of the truth of prophecy. [Jerem. xxiv. 8; xxvii. 12. Ezekiel, xii. 13.] All the Jewish people were transported to Babylon, the poorest class alone being left to cultivate the land. During fifty-two years, the sacred metropolis remained in the state in which Nebuzar-adan had left it; that is, until it was rebuilt by the Jews, who were allowed to return under the decree of Cyrus, 536. 6 62 ANC1EENT HISTORY. SECOND TEMPLE.-In the first year of his reign, the Persian con queror allowed a colony of Jews, under Zerubbabel, of the family of David, to return to the land of their forefathers, 536 B. c. They did not exceed 50,000, the more wealthy portion preferring to remain in tran quillity and ease in Babylon, where they had become very numerous. The building of the temple, which occupied many years, was violently opposed by the Samaritans, to whom the colony was a source of expense. But it was completed in the reign of Darius Hystaspes, 515. The Babylonian captivity entirely cured the descendants of Jacob of their idolatrous propensities, and they never after swerved from the worship of the true God. From this period Hebrew ceased to be the spoken language of the Jews, having been displaced by the Chaldee, varying little from it, and in which part of the Book of Daniel is written. This gradually changed into the Syro-Chaldaic, the Jewish tongue mentioned in the New Testament. REMARKS.-In examining the conduct of God towards his chosen people, we shall find continually fresh subjects of admiration. After having renewed to Abraham the promise which he had made to our general father Adam; after having announced to the holy patriarch, as the recompenseof his faith and virtue, that from him and his son Isaac should one day be born that holy Being -the expectation of his posterity and the Saviour of the World; after having multiplied the race of Israel, God selected from the tribe of Judah the house of Jesse, the father of David, as that from which the Messiah was to spring. In spite of the deplorable revolution which separated the ten rebel tribes from that of Judah; in spite of the backslidings of most of the kings who succeeded Rehoboam; in spite of the calamities which God inflicted upon them, and which seemed to threaten the complete extinction of their house, the family of David still survived on the throne, while that of Israel was continually occupied by new families. A still more admirable sight is that alternation of glory and humiliation, of rewards and punishments, the almost invariable accompaniments of the good or bad conduct of the monarch and people of Judah. Thus the proceedings of that Providence which, often with profound and secret views, is hidden from our eyes, are made a continual proof of the watchfulness of God over his people, an ever-visible manifestation of his designs toward them and the surrounding nations, and the most striking demonstration of his sovereign power, wisdom, and justice. MORDECAI AND ESTHER.-Ahasuerus, king of Persia (either Xerxes or Artaxerxes Longimanus), divorced his wife Vashti, and supplied her place by the pious and amiable Esther, niece of Mordecai the Jew. As the fortune and credit of the uncle increased, that of Haman the favourite and chief minister declined. He therefore meditated the total destruction of the Jewish nation; and their happy deliverance, by the firmness of Esther, is still yearly commemorated by the feast of Purim. Haman fell into the snare he had laid for his enemies, and was hung on the gibbet which he had prepared for Mordecai. ASSYRIA. NEBUCHADNEZZAR, 604-561 B. c.-This monarch's reign comprehends the most brilliant period of the Chaldaeo-Babylonian empire. This golden head of the prophetic image conquered Palestine, Idumea, Ammon, and Moab, utterly destroyed the Syrian power, and subjugated Persia. He had already taken most of the Phoenician towns, when the Tyrians retired from their city on the mainland to the adjoining islet, on SIXTH CENTURY B.C. 63 which their more modern capital was built. Among other changes, this people altered their form of government, and appointed judges in the place of a king. Egypt suffered next at the hand of the conqueror; he spread fire and sword from Palestine to the borders of Ethiopia. Returning to Babylon, he patronised the arts, commerce, and industry; and completed those masterpieces of gigantic architecture, which may with greater probability be attributed to him than to any of his ancestors. During his reign, Daniel prophesied, and acquired great renown by the interpretation of the king's dream, which the Chaldean astrologers could not explain. In accordance with the prediction, for seven years he was afflicted with hypochondriacal madness (Iycanthropy); fancying himself transformed into an ox, he fed on grass in the manner of cattle. His reason returning to him, 563 B. c., he remounted the throne, when, for a short time, he became more powerful than ever; and dying after a reign of forty-three years, he was regarded by the Assyrians as one of the greatest of their kings. But Evil-Merodach, his son, who was weak and tyrannical, soon rendered himself odious by his cruelty and debauchery. While regent during his father's madness, he committed so many excesses, that the latter, on his recovery, was compelled to imprison him, although without any hope of his being corrected by such chastisement. He was not without some good qualities, and history records with pleasure one trait of humanity in him - he liberated Jehoiachin from the prison in which he had been confined thirty-seven years. Neriglissar ascended a throne which he had stained by the murder of his brother-in-law, 559. This warlike prince infused new vigour into the Assyrian monarchy. He subdued Hyrcania; carried his victorious arms into Syria and Arabia; and formed an alliance with Croesus against the rising power of Media. He fell in a battle which he waged with Cyrus, and was succeeded by his son, Laborasoarchad, 555, who was slain by his subjects after a reign of nine months. The royal line was restored in the person of Labynetus, known also as Nabonadius, Naboandel, and Belshazzar. While the king gave himself up to luxury and pleasure, his mother, the wise Nitocris, the true Semiramis, held the reins of government with a firm iiand. By her management, Babylon was fortified against the attacks of the Medes, and an alliance renewed with the king of Lydia against the menacing progress of the Persian prince. They collected an army of 420,000 men, which was defeated at Thymbra, 545. About five vears later, Babylon was invested by Cyrus, and taken by a remarkable stratagem, on that fatal night when the mysterious writing on the wall told that the "kingdom was divided and given to the Medes and Persians," fifty years after the destruction of Jerusalem. The history of the last of the Babylonian kings is not without difficulty. The name of Belshazzar not occurring in profane history, it has been applied to many different sovereigns. Evil-Merodach, and not Neriglissar, is said to have fallen in battle against the Medes; and Belshazzar was his immediate successor. Hales disputes the statement which makes Babylon to have been taken by the Medes and Persians on the same night that Belshazzar was slain, and considers that he fell in a conspiracy; and that, on the death of his son Laborasoarchad, nine months after, the dynasty became extinct, and Darius the Mede (Cyaxares) peaceably succeeded. Nabonadius had been appointed viceroy; he revolted against Cyrus, 551, who, otherwise occupied, deferred his attack on Babylon until 536, which he then took by a remarkable stratagem. 64 ANCIENT HISTORY. PERSIA. CYRUS THE GREAT.-After the taking of Babylon,* Cyaxares II. (Darius the Medet) divided his vast states into a hundred and twenty satrapies, and made them accountable to three ministers, of whom Daniel was one. The Persian and Median nobles, jealous of the elevation of a foreigner, endeavoured to destroy him by that plot which ended by his being thrown into the lions' den, and his miraculous deliverance from the fury of the hungry beasts. This striking testimony of Almighty power was followed by a decree, in which the monarch acknowledged the God of the prophet. This act was the precursor of the edict which his successor published in favour of the Jews, in the first year of his reign. Cyaxares died in 536, leaving all his dominions to his nephew Cyrus, who inherited about the same time the sceptre of his father Cambyses, king of Persia. The first year of his reign was marked by the termination of the Jewish captivity, when Zerubbabel, as prince of Judah, returned to Palestine, accompanied with about 50,000 of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. Cyrus reigned seven years over all Asia, and died 530 B. c. His military and political career began about 560, when he first quitted Persia with the command of an army.-Thus far the testimony of Scripture has been followed; the blanks remain to be filled up from the contradictory accounts of the Greek historians Astyages, the son and successor of Cyaxares I., king of the Medes, was an indolent, superstitious, and cruel prince. His grandson Cyrus, by his daughter Mandane, was ordered to be exposed, to prevent the fulfilment of an oracle; but the future monarch of Asia was, like another Paris or (Edipus, preserved by the humanity of a shepherd. Arrived at maturity, he threw off the Median yoke and defeated Crtesus, who had taken up arms in behalf of the dethroned prince. He afterwards made rapid conquests in Upper Asia, and took Babylon after a siege of two years, by turning the current of the river, and entering by its exhausted channel.: Previously to his marching against the Scythians, he nomi* [On that fatal night in which the mysterious writing appeared on the wall, Belshazzar was killed according to the general account, by Cyrus, who then succeeded by his famous stratagem in entering Babylon. There is, however, another account of the matter supported by the authority of Dr. Hales, and followed apparently by this author. According to this theory, Belshazzar, on that night, was slain in a domestic conspiracy, and was succeeded by his son. His son died after a reign of nine months, and with him the dynasty became extinct. Cyaxares I., or Darius the Mede, succeeded peaceably to the throne. He was succeeded by Astyages, and Astyages by Cyaxares II., also called Darius the Mede, under whose reign Daniel continued to flourish. This Cyaxares II., on his death, willed his dominions to his nephew Cyrus, but appointed a viceroy to administer affairs until Cyrus should himself take possession of the throne. The viceroy revolted, and it was in reducing him to subjection that Cyrus executed his famous stratagem for entering Babylon.-AM.. ED.] t Darius, in Hebrew, Darawesh, is not a proper name, but, like Pharaoh, a title of dignity. It is derived from Dara, which in Persian signifies a king. The walls of Babylon were 87 feet broad, 350 feet high, and 60 miles in circumfer ence. To reconcile the accounts of sacred and profane history of the foundation and improvement of this wonder of the world, we may suppose that it was founded by Nimrod and enlarged by Belus; that Semiramis improved and adorned it with beautiful buildings; and that Nebuchadnezzar the Great raised it to its latter state of astonishing magnificence. SIXTH CENTURY BC. 65 nated his son Cambyses to succeed him, and admitted him to a share of the regal power. After a few partial successes, he perished in battle, and his dead body was mutilated by order of the Scythian queen, Tomyris. Three Greek historians have furnished us with the particulars of the life of the Great Cyrus, namely, Herodotus, born about 484 B. c.; Ctesias, who was, during seventeen years, the chief physician of the mother of Artaxerxes Mnemon; and Xenophon, who fought at Cunaxa under Cyrus the younger. Next to the Scripture narration that of Herodotus has been preferred, from the impossibility of combining their several histories in one complete whole. For instance, Herodotus and Ctesias entirely omit the reign of Cyaxares II., son of Astyages, who is spoken of in Xenophon, and attested by Scripture; Ctesias makes no mention of the taking of Babylon, confirmed by Herodotus, Xenophon, and the Old Testament.'The biography by Xenophon is generally supposed to be a work of fiction, not unlike the modern historical romance, in which Cyrus is made the vehicle of the lessons of morality intended to be conveyed by the writer. The dominions of this remarkable king extended from the Mediterranean and Egypt to the Indian Ocean, and from Ethiopia to the Euxine and Caspian Seas. Brerewood estimates the wealth he acquired by his conquests at 126j millions sterling. The extraordinary prophecies concerning him contained in the holy Scriptures, and which were not unknown to him, may not unreasonably be supposed to have had a p6werful eflect on his mind; and Dr. Hales concludes, that he lived and died the death of the righteous. CAMBYSES (529), the eldest son of Cyrus, succeeded to his father's throne; Smerdis, the younger, became governor of Bactria. The former invaded and subjugated Egypt in the space of six months. He formed the project of subduing Carthage, conquering Ethiopia, and seizing upon the Temple of Jupiter Ammton; but his expeditions were unfortunate, and his armies perished in the sand of the deserts. These disasters irritated a character naturally impetuous; and hence, regardless of the feelings of the Egyptians, he killed with his own hand the bull Apis, scourged the priests, caused his brother to be assassinated, and inflicted a blow upon his sister, who was also his wife, which proved fatal. The end of his reign was menaced by a singular conspiracy. While on his return from Egypt, he heard that the Magi had elevated an impostor, Smerdis, to the throne, as the brother of Cambyses, who bore the same name. Leaping hastily upon his horse as the news was told him, the scabbard fell from his sword, whereby he received a wound in the thigh, of which he died, 521 B. c. The imposture was speedily discovered, the pretender was put to death, and an indiscriminate massacre of the Magi took place. We must be careful how we give credit to all that is related of Cambyses, since our information is derived chiefly from his enemies, the Egyptian priests. DARIUS I. HYSTASPES, 5l1.-When this member of the family of the Achemenides succeeded to the throne, his seven coadjutors, in the destruction of Smerdis, the usurping magian, received the most distinguished honours. They were allowed free access to the king; they wore distinctive caps, and had the priority of speeech in council. Darius, who was a prince of great political wisdom, inferior to Cyrus alone of all the Persian kings, favoured the Jews, and allowed the Tem ple to be completed, 515. Babylon, which had revolted, was recovered after a long siege by the devotion of Zopyrus. He broke up the Ionian confederation, established his sovereignty over Thrace and Macedonia, 6* 66 ANCIENT HISTORY. in Western India, and in Africa, but was defeated in his Scythian invasion, 513. In Greece, his troops were overthrown on the celebrated field of Marathon, 490. During this reign, the Persians forsook their nomad life, and continued the building of the Persepolitan palace, which was begun by Cyrus and completed by Xerxes. Although Darius weakened the empire by his foreign wars, he improved its internal organisation by dividing it into twenty satrapies, corresponding with the various tributary races, and by imposing a regular tax instead of the voluntary gifts which each province had hitherto contributed.* He expired 485 B. c., after nominating for his successor, Xerxes I., grandson of Cyrus, and son of his second wife, the celebrated Atossa. EGYPT. PSAMMIs, who had ascended the throne on the death of Necho (601), perished in the sixth year of his reign, immediately after an expedition into Ethiopia. His successor Apries, the Pharaoh-Hophra of Scripture, planned the conquest of Asia, besieged Sidon, fought a naval battle with the Tyrians, reduced nearly all Phoenicia and Palestine, but failed in his expedition against Cyrene. His subjects being averse to foreign wars carried on by mercenary troops, revolted against him, and offered the crown to Amasis, an officer alike popular with the people and the army. The king retired to Upper Egypt, where he long maintained his power, while the usurper was acknowledged by the rest of the country. Availing himself of this civil war, Nebuchadnezzar II. invaded and devastated Egypt, which did not recover from the effects of his ravages during the next forty years. Apries was at last defeated, and taken prisoner, when he was strangled by order of the conqueror. With him terminated the family of Psammetichus, 569 B. c. [See Ezekiel, xxix.] Amasis contrived by conciliating the priests to strengthen himself on the throne. He married a Greek woman, and permitted her countrymen to establish a factory at Naucratis, on the Canopic branch of the Nile. He contributed largely to the rebuilding of the Temple of Delphi, and was the only Egyptian king who subdued Cyprus. Pythagoras, Solon, and Thales, are supposed to have visited the banks of the Nile during this reign; and assuredly, that country was never more happy than under his government. He restored the division into nomes; revived many ancient regulations, which had fallen into neglect during the preceding troubles; and instituted a yearly census of all his subjects. He reigned forty-four years, and died just as Cambyses was preparing to invade his kingdom. Six months after Psammenitus had ascended the throne, 525, a Persian army invaded the districts on both sides of the Nile. A single battle before Pelusium decided the fate of Egypt, and the king shortly after falling into the hands of the conqueror, was put to death. With * The taxes paid in money, and collected by the satraps for the king's privy-purse, amounted to nearly three millions and a half of sterling money. Besides which, the pro. vinces had to pay the king's household, maintain the troops, and all the expenses of the government. The royal treasures were deposited in various cities, called Gazme; such were Persepolis, Susa, and Pasargada. The gold and silver amassed in the form of ingots, were coined as occasion required. The principal gold piece was the Daric from the name of the first king, Darius, who had caused it to be struck. SIXTH CENTURY B. C. 67 nmm perished the 26th royal race that had governed the country since Menes. It remained subject to Persia, with few exceptions, until the conquests of Alexander, on whose death a new monarchy arose, founded by Ptolemy, son of Lagus, 323 B. c., which subsisted until the death of Cleopatra, 30 B. c., when Egypt was made a Roman province. Thus was the prophecy of Ezekiel fulfilled-there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt. It has ever since been governed by foreign rulers, -Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks. GREECE. SOLON of Salamis, who was elected archon of Athens, 594 B. c., had the difficult task of reconciling opposing factions, and of restoring tranquillity to the state. He divided the people into four classes, according to their property, and laid the foundations of that democracy which was afterwards the cause of so much unmingled evil. The thetes, or lowest class, occupy a more conspicuous station in history than the higher ones, for the sovereignty of the state resided in their assemblies, and they filled nearly every office in the courts of justice. The checks on the mischief incidental to all popular meetings were the Senate of 400 (afterwards 500), and the court of Areopagus; the first consisting of aged, wealthy, and respectable citizens; the other forming the true aristocracy of Athens, whose degradation by Ephialtes, in the time of Pericles, was considered by Isocrates as the principal cause of all the demoralization which subsequently took place in the state. Solon began with the abolition of all debts, the reduction of the rate of interest to 12 per cent., and by enacting that the insolvent debtor should neither be reduced to slavery by his creditors, nor be compelled to sell his children, He next declared the sovereign power to reside in the assemblies of the people, which alone had the power of declaring war and making peace, of forming alliances, of electing generals and magistrates, and of controlling them in the execution of their respective duties. —The citizens were divided into four classes: the first comprehended those whose estates were of the yearly value of about ~500 (pentakosiomedimni); the second were the knights who possessed a yearly revenue of ~300; the zeugitc, who had a yoke of oxen, formed the third class; the fourth, and most numerous, comprised all of inferior property. The seventy-four cantons (demi) were still united into six tribes, and each tribe into three curie, to one of which every Athenian must belong. The population of Athens, though scarcely exceeding 60,000, contained nearly 10,000 strangers, who, like the citizens, were called upon for military service, and paid an annual tribute. The slaves were better treated in Attica than in any other part of Greece, in consequence of which, although their number exceeded 40,000, they never revolted, as in Sparta, to recover their liberty. The hatred which the lower classes of Greece and Rome bore to the rich, must, in a great measure, be attributed to the existence of slavery, which prevented these two extremes in the social scale from having common interests. The wealthy possessor of slaves could dispense with the labour of the poor, who derived no advantage from the fortune of their fellow-citizen. Together with the abolition of slavery, Christianity has extinguished the hatred between the different orders of society. Consult: Gillies's History of Greece;-Travels of Anacharsis;-Boeckh's Economy of Athens. PISISTRATUS. —When Solon returned to Athens, after an absence of twenty years, he found it still agitated by its former dissensions, which did not cease until Pisistratus, a descendant of Codrus, found himself 0618 ANCIENT HISTORY. able to seize upon the chief power, 560 l. c. He had previously distinguished himself at the taking of Salamis; and by his eloquence and affability he gained all hearts, in despite of the violent opposition of the lawgiver. He increased the body-guard which the confiding people had granted him, got possession of the citadel, and drove out his antagonists. After five or six years, this leader of the mountain-faction was expelled oy Lycurgus, the head of the wealthy nobles of the plains, in union with the exiled Alcmaeonidae. But he returned about 554 B. C., more powerful than before, having formed an alliance with Megacles, the chief of the moderate party on the coast. His second tyranny lasted scarcely a year, when he was again compelled to flee by the insulted family of his wife, 553; but making a second appearance about 542, he strengthened himself by alliances, money, and auxiliary troops. He was a good ruler, and Athens flourished under his government; hence Solon remarked of him, that he was the best of tyrants,* and without a vice, save ambition, He ended his days peaceably in the thirty-third year of his power, 527, after having patronised letters, founded a library for the use of the public, laid out tne gardens of the Lyceum, and pub. lished the scattered poems of Homer. Thespis first exhibited his rude tragedies in 535. HARMODIUS AND ARISTOGITON -Pisistratus left three sons, Hipparchus, Hippias, and Thessalus. The first was a virtuous ruler; he protected the arts, and entertained Anacreon and Simonides at his court. Private revenge stimulated the political feelings of Harmodius and Aristogiton; and Hipparchus, who, as Plato said, recalled the days of Saturn, fell beneath their daggers at a public festival, 514. Hippias, the second brother, now reigned by terror; and the Athenians, applying to the Spartans for assistance, succeeded in restoring the exiled Alcmaeonidae, 510. The tyrant was deposed, and fled to Persia, which event was the proximate cause of a war with that nation. REMARKS.-The Athenians paid the greatest honours to the memory of Harmodius and Aristogiton; they were revered as demigods; and at all public festivals, songs were sung in their honour. But religion and morality unite in condemning the exaggerated eulogiums which have been passed on these two "victims of tyranny and martyrs of liberty," as they have been called, for neither of these honourable titles belongs to them. A personal insult, an infamous jealousy, armed these two friends against Hipparchus; it was in the legitimate exercise of the right of self-defence that Harmodius was slain by the guards of the unfortunate Hipparchus; and it was as an avenger of his mur dered brother, and a vindicator of the laws that Aristogiton was put to death. If we descend to the details of this transaction, we shall see the sword of the assassin perfidiously concealed with wreaths of myrtle, and Aristogiton denouncing innocent persons. These are acts which we must in justice denominate crimes, in spite of the eloquent commendations of so many ancient and modern authors. Thucydides forms almost the only exception to this inconsiderate enthusiasm. Athens was now threatened with a fresh servitude from the ambition of Clisthenes and Isagoras. The former having prevailed, 508, the * The name of tyrant was applied by the ancient Greeks to those kings who had usurped the throne or the supreme power, to the prejudice of the legitimate heir, or contrary to the will of the people. In modern ages it is appropriated to cruel and unjust monarchs, and is become a term of the greatest ignominy and detestation. Richard Ill. of England was a tyrant in both the ancient and modern significations of the word. SIXTH CENTURY B. C. 69 state was laid at the mercy of an unprincipled populace, by dividing the original four tribes into ten, which were again subdivided into 100 (or 170) demes. The number of the Senate was also increased to 500; many new citizens were made; aliens were admitted; and slaves were freed. By Clisthenes, the vote by ostracism was introduced. Isagoras appealed to Sparta, but without success, and the Assembly remained triumphant,-a democracy, not composed of sober, simple-minded husbandmen, as Solon contemplated, but of uninstructed and desperate masses of men, ready at the beck of every seditious demagogue to indulge in violence and tumult. In the space of a few years, Athens, freed from the yoke of its tyrants, humbled the pride of Thebes, punished the insolence of the Chalcidians, contended not ingloriously with the people of _Egina, and braved the jealousy of Lacedaemon, at the same time that, enriched by the spoils of its enemies, the city was embellished with new monuments, and preserved in the northern parts of Greece the influence which the Pisistratidae had begun to enjoy there by means of the establishments on the Hellespont. The family of Miltiades reigned at Cardia, in the Thracian Chersonese, and taught the barbarians to respect the name of his country. Lacedaemon during this period was far from acting so great a part. The brave but unscrupulous Cleomenes, at the beginning of his reign, 515, conquered the Argives in a bloody battle, and set on fire a sacred wood in which the fugitives had taken refuge. The capital of Argos was saved by the skilful defence of Telesilla, not less celebrated for her courage than for her poetical talents. The different campaigns which Cleomenes conducted in Attica, at one time as the ally, at another as the enemy of the Pisistratida, are some years posterior to the disgraceful expedition against Argos. SEVEN WISE MEN.-Solon, the legislator, was one of the famous wise men of Greece. The rest were Thales of Miletus, 586; Bias of Priene, 586 Chilo of Lacedaemon, 586; Pittacus of Mitylene, 569; Cleobulus of Rhodes. 586; Periander of Corinth, 585. The last of these had no claim to that honourable title, except the merit of having patronised men of genius and virtue. The number is sometimes increased by the addition of the Scythian Anacharsis, and the Cretan Epimenides. Read: Bulwer's Athens, book I. ch. viii. ROME. SERVIUS TULLIUS (578 B. c.), an Etrurian captain of mercenaries, was successful in several battles against his native country. He was in many respects the most deserving of the kings, and placed Rome at the head of the Latin confederacy, confirming her position by common religious ceremonies. He extended and completed the stone walls of the city, divided the territory into districts, each with its proper magistrate, instituted the census, and arranged the people into five great classes, according to their wealth, which were again subdivided into centuries. The necessity of this measure demonstrates the increasing power of the citizens, and by it the frame-work of the republic was completed. He fell a victim to the ambition of his daughter, Tullia, and her husband. TARQUIN THE PROUD seized upon the kingdom without waiting for the approbation of the senate, 534 B. c. He enacted many oppressive 70 ANCIENT HISTORY. laws against' the plebeians, and, protected by a strong body-guard, tyrannized also over the patricians; he nevertheless upheld the dig.nty of the Roman state, and all Latium acknowledged its supremacy. He built a temple to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, on the summit of the Capitoline hill, in which were deposited the sacred treasures with the mysterious books of the Sibyl. The unbridled passions of his son Sextus caused the expulsion of the dynasty and the abolition of the kingly power, at about the same period in which the Pisistratidee were driven from Athens, 509 B. c. NOTE.-The history of the last Tarquin is by no means free from difficulty. The story of Lucretia's misfortune, and the consequent expulsion of the royal family, is not confirmed by other facts in history, and is in direct opposition to the account of the Treaty of the first Consuls with Carthage. The circumstances attending the change of government at Athens, on the death of Codrus, may throw some light on the present events. The list of Roman kings is evidently imperfect. It is not likely that seven kings, four of whom met with a violent death, should reign on an average more than thirty-four years. Romulus and Numa are probably mythical; the five others, the remnants of a longer list, presenting the most remarkable names. The stupendous sewers still existing in their pristine strength, " and the building of the Capitol, attest with unquestionable evidence, that the Rome of the later kings was the chief of a great state." Consult: Niebuhr's Roman History, vol. i. CONSTITUTION OF ROME. The municipal constitution of Rome was doubtless copied from the mother city. The senate was a deliberative body of 300, the heads of the ten gentes (houses) into which each of the thirty curice was divided. The patricians were a hereditary nobility, who alone had the privilege of administering the sacred affairs, and who formed a strong political party in opposition to the plebeians, not unlike the state offreemen and ordinary residents in a close city. Besides the original division into tribes and curice, another, according to property, was subsequently introduced, the classes and centuries, out of which arose the two assemblies (comitia) called acuriata and centuriata. The religious institutions were closely connected with the state, and few important undertakings were ever begun without first having the sanction of the gods. The discipline and subordination so remarkable in the Roman people, partly originated in the mutual relations of patron and client, a mitigated form of feudalism; in the regulations about marriage; and in the unlimited authority of the parent. To these things, and to the spirit which they generated, they were indebted for all the glories which they subsequently obtained. Consult: Heeren's Manual of Ancient History. CHINA. CONFUCIUS or CON-FU-TSEE was born about 550 B. c.; and from this celebrated man was descended the only hereditary Chinese nobility. He successively passed through all the ranks and honours of the state, and was not less celebrated as a reformer than as a philosopher. He supposed that men were naturally good and possessed of celestial reason, but that its place, when lost, was supplied by a worldly substitute. Pythagoras, Zoroaster, and Confucius, flourished at nearly the same period. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-J ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...,5'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- ~ —-~~ —-~~ — P- = _~l~~l THIE SETTING UP OF TEE TABERNlACLE IN TIIE WILDERtNESS. FIFTH CENTURY B. C 71 FIFTH CENTURY. JUDMEA.-457, Ezra.-445, Nehemiah.-420, Malachi, d. PERSIA.-499, Sardis burnt.-401, Retreat of the Ten Thousand. GREECE.-490, Marathon.-480, Salamis.-471, Themistocles exiled.-466 Victory at the Eurymedon.-449, Pericles.-440, Samian War; 431, Pelo. ponnesian War.-429, The Plague; Death of Pericles.-415, Sicilian Expedition.-405, Victory at ZEgos-Potamos.-404, Death of Alcibiades.403, Thrasybulus. ROME.-509, Consuls.-498, Dictator, Titus Lartius. —493, Tribunes of the People.-486, Agrarian Law.-452, Decemvirs-Laws of the Twelve Tables -Volscian and Veintine Wars. CARTHAGE.-509, Treaty with Rome.-480, Defeat at Himera.-410, Sicilian Wars. LITERATURE.-490, Pindar; 480, 2Eschylus and Sophocles; 444, Euripides, Herodotus; 429, Hippocrates, Lysias, Aristophanes, Thucydides, Socrates. DISCOVERIES.-479, lnemonics by Simonides; 441, Catapult, &c.; 437, Anatomy and Mledicine by Hippocrates. JUDA2A. EZRA.-The affairs of the Jews were still in a perplexed state. The rebuilding of the temple was completed under Darius Hystaspes, but the Samaritans and others persevered in their opposition to the restoration of the city walls, during the reigns of Xerxes and Artaxerxes. In the seventh year of the reign of the latter prince, 457, Ezra was sent to Jerusalem, with full civil and ecclesiastical powers, and in 445 Nehemiah was appointed governor. During his twelve years' administration, the walls were completed, and the feast of Tabernacles again celebrated. With Malachi, who died 420 B. c., closes the prophetic roll of the Old Testament, the canon of the history terminating with the death of Nehemiah. Bossuet says, that " God owed it to the majesty of his Son to silence the voices of the prophets during the next 400 years, that the nations might hold themselves in expectation of him who was to be the fullfilment of all oracles. Judaea was governed by a Persian satrap, but by slow degrees the high priests became the virtual rulers of the nation. GREECE. PERSIAN INVASION.-The revolt of the Ionian colonies under Histiaeus was supported by the Athenians, and the flames of Sardis (499) gave rise to the great war. Having subdued the rebellious colonists, Darius, at the instigation of the fugitive Hippias, sent into Greece a powerful army of 120,000 men. The invaders were met at MARATHON, a small town of Attica, immortalized by a battle in which the Athenians, almost unassisted, routed the Persian host, 29th September, 490 B. c. A long high barrow covers the remains of those who fell, and the peasant still fancies he hears their spectral cavalry sweeping by night across the plain. Miltiades, on whom his fellow-generals had conferred the 72 ANCIENT HISTORY. supreme command, was wounded, and Hippias is by some reported to have perished. By this victory the power of Miltiades was raised to its height. He directed the Athenian arms against Paros, having formed the design of rendering his country the mistress of the sea; and on the failure of his expedition, he was capitally impeached by Xantippus, the chief of the Alcmaeonid faction. His principal defence and answer were the names of lMarathon and Lemnos; but he was found guilty, and being unable to pay the fine of fifty talents, was thrown into prison, where he died. THERMOPYLE AND SALAMIS.-The history of Athens now becomes, in some measure, that of individuals. Themistocles and Aristides took the reins of government, and were the real authors of the power and glory of the Athenian republic. The former, connected with noble families, united in a remarkable degree all the most brilliant qualities of a statesman; the latter, of distinguished birth, was proverbial for integrity. During the administration of these two great men, a more formidable invasion was headed by Xerxes, the successor of Darius, in person. This monarch, with his numerous host, which had gradually swelled to two millions and a half of warriors, met with no check until he reached the celebrated pass of Thermopylae, where, about 12,000 men were collected under the Spartan king, Leonidas. After two days' successful fighting, patriotism was overcome by treason. A Greek named Ephialtes led the Persians across a mountain-path, by which they got to the rear of the opposing army. Dismissing the greater part of his troops, that they might not uselessly perish, he retained only 300 Spartans, 400 volunteer Thespians, 100 Thehans, and 80 warriors from Mycenae. These with the IHelots, as at Plataea, raised the number to about 2000. All this determined band, save the Thebans, were cut to pieces-non victi sed vincendofatigati-and the victor marched to Athens, which he plundered and burnt (B. c. 480), the inhabitants, by advice of Themistocles, having taken refuge in the adjoining islands. From the top of a lofty cliff, the Persian ruler had the mortification of beholding his numerous fleet of 1000 galleys, each carrying 230 men, defeated by the Greeks with only 380 sail, between the mainland and Salamis. Xerxes fled hastily, leaving Mardonius behind with an army of 300,000 men, which was routed the next year at Plataea, by the allied Greeks under Pausanias and Aristides. On the same day (20th October), the remnant of the Persian fleet was utterly destroyed off Mycale, in Asia Minor. The day of Thermopylae (4th August) had also been rendered doubly illustrious by a seafight with the same enemy, near Artemisium, a promontory of Eubcea. It is a pithy remark made by the historian Justin, that the troops of the eastern king wanted nothing but a leader. The victory of Salamis operated an entire change in the position of the Greeks, both abroad and at home. From being attacked, they became the assailants, and the liberation of their Asiatic compatriots was the motive or the pretext by which they justified the continuance of an advantageous war, in which Sparta preserved the administration. But the treason and fall of Pausanias, who died of famine in the temple to which he had fled for refuge, changed the situation of affairs. The supreme influence passed from the Spartans to the Athenians, who profited by it to form a kind of military confederation of the inferior states. From this epoch dates the jealousy of the two republics, previous to which the numerous petty governments were incessantly armed against each other. Separated thus by mistaken interests, they could perform FIFTH CENTURY IB.C. 73 nothing great, and external pressure was necessary to develop their forces in behalf of the common safety of Greece. The Persian wars laid the foundation of Grecian, and particularly of Athenian grandeur. While Athens was rising to an ascendancy over her neighbours, she was extending a silent but more certain and beneficial influence by her literary men. SEschylus fought at Salamis; Euripides was born on the very day of the battle, and Sophocles was seventeen years old. EXILE OF TIHEMISTOCLES.-Themistocles, vanquisher of the Persians at Salamis, used his influence to persuade the Athenians of the necessity of maintaining their superiority by means of a powerful navy. In spite of the jealous opposition of the Spartans, the walls of Athens were raised, the Piraus was built, and funds were voted for the yearly construction of new vessels. These services of the patriotic leader were badly requited. He was accused of participating in the conspiracy of Pausanias; and although nothing was proved against him, he was, by the popular ballot, condemned to exile, in 471. He took refuge at the court of Artaxerxes Longimanus, where he died, whether by poison or disease is uncertain. CIMON, the son of Miltiades, now became the prominent actor in the affairs of Greece. This great man was said to unite the courage of his father with the prudence of Themistocles and the integrity of Aristides. He had already acquired renown by his conquests in Thrace, and his successes over the Persians in Asia Minor. At the battles of the Eury medon, in 466, he utterly defeated the troops of Artaxerxes, both by land and sea; whereby he struck such a blow at the power of that sovereign, that a treaty was concluded, by which the freedom of the Ionian cities was guarantied, and no Persian horseman allowed to approach within a day's journey of the sea. In a subsequent expedition, Cimon recovered the Thracian Chersonese; and by the surrender of Thasos in 463, the Athenians obtained the gold-mines on the opposite coasts of Thrace. PERICLES, son of Xantippus, the conqueror at Mycale, now appeared on the stage of Athenian politics. He joined the popular faction in order to oppose Cimon, who was at the head of the aristocracy; and the third Messenian war, which led to the exile of that chief, left him without a rival, 461. Thebes and Argos, which, during the struggle with Persia, had deserted and betrayed the Greek party, became the cause of a severe contest between Athens and Sparta; the latter declaring for the Thebans, the former for the Argives. On the field of Tanagra, in Bceotia, victory favoured the Spartans (457), but the successes of Myronides shortly after turned the scale. Nearly all the states of Bceotia were revolutionized, and garrisons of friends everywhere established. Faction was not, however, quieted, and to preserve the state from ruin, Pericles himself solicited the recall of the banished Cimon, 456. By his intercession, the two republics were united in a common expedition against Persia, during which this pacificator died, though not until he had seen the conclusion of the war, 449 B. c. REVOLT OF THE HELOTS-THIRD MESSENIAN WAR.-While Athens was steadily pursuing her career of aggrandizement, Sparta was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake, unequalled in horrors, except by that of Lisbon in 1755 A. D. The earth opened into immense chasms, the tops of mountains were cleft, and enormous fragments rolled down 7 74 ANCIENT HISTORY. into the plains, destroying every thing in their course. In the city, five houses only were left standing, and 20,000 of its inhabitants perished in the ruins, 464 B. c. The Helots, taking advantage of this awful catastrophe, rose in rebellion, hoping to emancipate themselves and avenge their wrongs. The prudence of king Archidamus saved Lacedaemon; the Helots were gradually dispersed, and at last blockaded in Ithome, the capital of Messene, which they had fortified. From this circumstance the insurrection is known by the name of the third Messenian war. At the outbreak of the revolt, the assistance of Athens was solicited, and granted at the suggestion of Cimon, for which act he was afterwards banished. ADMINISTRATION OF PERICLES.-After the death of Cimon, Pericles became the leading man at Athens. Bold and artful, eloquent and rich, he managed the fickle populace at his will, and principally by flattering them that each individual knew something of the affairs of the state. Abroad he was everywhere triumphant, particularly in the Samian war, 440; and Athens became the Queen of the Sea. During forty years he governed with kingly power, and his reign was one of the most brilliant epochs in the history of civilisation. The arts and sciences, with commerce, made rapid advances; schools of philosophers and orators were formed; and to express one's thoughts with elegance and perspicuity became an enviable distinction. It is to the patronage of Pericles that Athens owes the glory of being the country of literature and the arts. How great the contrast offered by Lacedaemon, where grossness of manners and severe laws prevented all moral development!.qt Sparta, it was said, men learn to die for their country; at Athens, to live for it. War became inevitable between the rival states. PELOPONNESIAN WAR.-The assistance furnished by the Athenians to the Corcyreans, who were at war with Corinth the mother city, was the pretext of a war which lasted twenty-seven years. The real cause was the mutual dislike of the Athenian democracy and the Spartan aristocracy. Fortune alternately favoured each party; Athens, the mistress of the sea, was supported by tributary confederates, whom fear attached to her, while Sparta, as a land-power, and seconded by the greater part of Greece, seemed to represent the cause of liberty. Thus the whole nation was divided into two parties-the Lacedaemonian and Athenian, or the Doric and Ionian. On the Athenian side were- On the side of Sparta wereIsles-The Archipelago (except Thera, Ambracia Samos, and Medos) Anactorium Chios Bceotia (except Plataea) Corcyra Leucas, Isle Lesbos Locris Cephallenia Megara Zacynthus, with Peloponnesus Messenia Phocis Caria Thessaly, in part. Thrace, &c. The great events of this war are:-The devastation of ittica; the battl of Jrginusse; the defence of Plataa; the Sicilian expedition; the battle of XEgos-Potamos; the siege and taking (f Athens. FIFTH CENTURY B.C. 75 The remarkable persons are:On the side of ihens Pericles, Alcibiades, Cleon, Nicias, Conon, Lamachus. On the side of Sparta Callicratidas, Brasidas, Gylippus, Lysander, Mindarus. Consequence.-The defeat of the Athenians, and the supsmacy of Lacedaemon. PLAGUE OF ATHENS.-During the two first years of the contest, victory seemed to incline to the side of Sparta. Attica, a prey to the horrors of war, was devastated still more by the scourge of pestilence, which carried off many of the principal men. Pericles, who was considered the author of their evils, was deposed and fined; but he was soon besought by the common voice to resume the cares of government. He did not long enjoy his triumph; he caught the dreadful infection, of which he died, lamented alike by friends and enemies, 429. Read: Account of the Plague of Athens, in Anacharsis. SICILIAN EXPEDITION.-Cleon, a currier, succeeded the great Pericles, and an unregulated democracy was preparing the most lamentable consequences. Sparta, in her young and valorous general Brasidas, threatened a dangerous rivalry to Athens; but he perished too ear.y, before Amphipolis, a victim to his own courage, 422. A short time previous to this event, Lacedaemon had been the theatre of a terrible domestic tragedy. Under the pretence of enrolling the Helots among the troops destined for the Thracian expedition, 2000 of the flower of the slave population were selected, and while enjoying the festival of their newly gained liberty, with the garlands of freedom still encircling their heads, in the emphatic and significant language of the historian, they disappeared. A truce of fifty years was now concluded by the management of Nicias, but as it displeased all the allies, it could not last. Almost within a year the war was revived by the ambition of Alcibiades. This young man united the advantages of extreme beauty, wealth, and noble birth, with the most eminent talents. He was the pupil of Socrates, and the ward of Pericles, whom he endeavoured to imitate, but without his maturity of judgment. Embracing the popular side, by his welltimed flattery and florid descriptions, he persuaded his countrymen to undertake the fatal expedition to Sicily. Grecian colonies had long been settled in that island; the principal town, Syracuse, was built by Corinthians in the eighth century. The Carthaginians had endeavoured to obtain its mastery, but they were utterly defeated at Panormus on the day of the battle of Thermopylae. The oppressions exercised by Syracuse over the weaker towns compelled them to look abroad for aid; Egesta applied to Athens for help, which was readily granted, in despite of the warning voice of Nicias. A fleet was equipped, and intrusted to the command, of Alcibiades, with Lamachus and Nicias for his associates, 415 B. c. But scarcely had the armament sailed, when he was accused of sacrilege; and fearing to obey the orders of recall, he fled to Sparta, where he became the enemy of his country. During this time, the fleet and army of the Athenians were destroyed after the fatal siege of Syracuse, by the counsels and the aid furnished by Gylippus, 413 B. c. 76 ANCIENT HISTORY. This rash expedition was a blow to the power of Athens, from which it never recovered. Alcibiades was forthwith recalled, and the period of his second government was the most brilliant of the whole war (411-407). The repeated victories of his countrymen over the Spartans, commanded by Mindarus (who in his distrust of Tissaphernes, had formed an alliance with Pharnabazus, satrap of Northern Asia Minor), obliged the Lacedaemonians themselves to sue for a peace, which the haughty Athenians unhappily refused. Another great naval victory was gained at Arginusa, between Mitylene and Asia, in which Callicratidas, the admiral, was killed, 406. For not picking up the dead bodies in the stormy weather after the battle, six of the commanders were unjustly put to death, Socrates alone venturing to raise an opposing voice. VICTORY OF LYSANDER. —In the following year, Lysander detached Ephesus from the Athenian party, and made an alliance with Cyrus the younger, governor of Western Asia. Being reinforced by this prince, in 405, he destroyed the enemy's fleet at JEgos-Potamos, in the Thracian Chersonese, and killed 3000 men, Conon alone, with eight vessels and the sacred ship Paralus, escaping the general havoc. The fate of Athens was now sealed. Lysander proceeded with his victorious squadron to the Piraeus, when the city, closely pressed by land and sea, was compelled to surrender, 404. Peace was granted on the following hard conditions:-that the fortifications should be demolished; that all the menof-war, save twelve, should be given up; that the tributary cities should be emancipated; that the exiles should be recalled; and that no war should be carried on except under the orders of the Lacedsemonians. Athens, to complete its misfortunes, beheld its,government violently changed. The democracy was destroyed, and all authority placed in the hands of thirty archons, known as the TiIRTY TYRANTS. Thus ended the Peloponnesian war. "The victory of ZEgos-Potamos," says Muller, "destroyed only the dominion, not the greatness of Athens; an enlightened nation, which does not forget itself, secures a dignity which is independent of the vicissitudes of events." The consequences of the Peloponnesian war were more injurious to the morals than to the policy of the Greeks. A factious spirit usurped the name of patriotism, and each nation saw a rival or an enemy in the other. Athens lost her preponderance, and was replaced by Sparta; but the bond of unity was broken, and the despotism of the Thirty Tyrants was more burdensome to the tributary states than that of independent Athens. It was easy to foresee that Greece would fall a prey to the first foreign power that ventured to attack it. It is some feeble consolation, that during this dark and stormy period, Athens was laying the foundation of an empire which Sparta could not destroy, and which the lapse of years has rendered more powerful. Literature and the fine arts attained their highest eminence. AEschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, still delight and form our taste. The ruins of the Parthenon are yet an object of veneration, and from the mutilated sculptures of Phidias the best modern artists have drawn their inspiration. After the battle of AEgos-Potamos, Lysander placed a Lacedaemonian governor, with ten archons, in all the cities of Caria, Ionia, the Hellespont, and Thrace. He returned in triumph to Sparta with immense riches, the fruits or his conquests. His ambition was not satisfied with his success; he endeavoured to seize upon the crown, but on finding himself deserted by his partisans, he was compelled to abandon his pretensions. THRASYBULUS.-This illustrious Athenian, in company with other FIFTH CENTURY B.C. 77 exiles, had taken refuge at Thebes from the cruelty of the Thirty Tyrants. Putting himself at the head of 500 soldiers, raised at the expense of the orator Lysias, he succeeded in taking the Piraeus, and in defeating the Thirty, who had hastened thither with their troops, 403. Thus by the wisdom and moderation of a single man, Athens recovered liberty and peace, while the ancient form of government was renewed, in defiance of all the exertions of Lacedaemon. The despots had been replaced by a council of Ten members, not less absolute than their predecessors. By this body the aid of Lysander and his mercenary army was invoked, but the victory remained with king Pausanias, who had come to the support of Thrasybulus and his adherents. On the deposition of the Ten, the democratic government was restored, and a general amnesty proclaimed. Forms may be easily re-established, but the departed spirit of a nation can never be recalled. DEATH OF ALCIBIADES.-Alcibiades, accused by Thrasybulus of having ruined the Athenian commonwealth, was a second time deprived of the chief command. He at first retired to his Thracian estates, but was compelled to leave them to avoid the machinations of his enemies, and to seek an asylum in Bithynia. The people, in their distress, again turned their thoughts towards him, and agitated his recall; but the Thirty Tyrants counselled Lysander to demand him alive or dead, from the satrap, who was base enough to comply with their wishes; and he accordingly perished beneath the weapons of the barbarians, at the age of forty, 404 B. c. Read: Life of Alcibiades, in Anacharsis. OSTRACISM.-In this extraordinary proceeding, each citizen wrote upon a shell or piece of brJken ware, the name of the person he desired to banish. Whenever the number amounted to 6000, they were sorted, the man was exiled for ten years whose name was found on the majority, although no crime might have been alleged, and no defence was allowed. A similar custom existed at Argos, and also in Sicily, under the name of Petalism. Athens spared neither the lives nor fortunes of her heroes. Miltiades, the conqueror at Marathon, died in prison; Aristides the Just, and the benevolent Cimon, who fought at Eurymedon, were banished. Paches, the conqueror of Mitylene, committed suicide to avoid the results of an unjust accusation. Themistocles saved his life by fleeing to Persia; Herodotus the historian found an asylum in Southern Italy; Thucydides fled from the jealousy of the demagogue Cleon; the amiable Xenophon was driven into exile; Socrates was poisoned; Timotheus the son of Conon, who had rebuilt the walls of Athens, died of extreme want; Iphicrates and Chabrias withdrew to avoid a similar fate; Phocion was condemned to die at the advanced age of eighty-four; Demetrius of Phalerm sought refuge in Egypt; and even in more recent days, the father of the his torian Chalcondylas, met with no return for his services but ingratitude. N. B. Let the student give the particulars from Plutarch's Lives, Lempriere's Dictionary, or any other authentic source. PERSIA. XERXEs I., 485.-The last days of Darius were embittered by disputes between his sons about the succession; until at length Xerxes, orn to him by his second wife, Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, was declared heir. He marched against the Egyptian rebels, and placed the subject country under the severe treatment of his brother, the Satrap Achemnenes IIe is the Ahasuerus - a title, not a proper name - who 7* 78 ANCIENT HISTORY. confirmed the Jews in all the privileges granted by his father, and forced the Samaritans to contribute to the building of the temple. His cruelties and dissolute life were terminated by assassination; his murderers gave out that he fell by the hands of his son Darius, 465, who shortly afterwards perished in a similar manner. The results of the invasion of Greece have been mentioned in another place. ARTAXERXES I. Longimanus, on his accession, 465, found the provinces in rebellion. His brother Hystaspes, in Bactria, was subdued after two battles; and Egypt, whose submission was neither certain nor durable, was recovered, though not without difficulty, in 455. The Greeks, meanwhile, retaliated upon Persia the evils inflicted by Mardonius. The kindred cities of Ionia were re-established, and Cimon, having in one day destroyed both ships and army at the Eurymedon, 466, compelled the great king to accede to an inglorious peace. No Persian governor was to reside within three days' journey of the Mediterranean, and none of his war-vessels were to sail between Palestine and the Chersonese. RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND, 401.-Rapid and violent revolutions, with rebellions in the provinces, particularly in Egypt, 414, under Darius II. Nothus, led to the reign of Artaxerxes II. Mnemon, 405. He had scarcely ascended the throne when he was compelled to defend it against his brother Cyrus the younger, governor of Asia Minor, who claimed the throne from being the first born after his father's accession. His army of 100,000 barbarians under Ariaeus was reinforced by 13,000 Grecian volunteers, commanded by Clearchus. The hostile armies met at Cunaxa, about twenty leagues from Babylon, where Cyrus, engaging in battle with his brother, who had 120,000 men under his command, lost his life, 401. The Greeks maintained the reputation of their country not only in this fight, but in that memorable retreat, in which, at the end of fifteen months, after having overcome every obstacle of nature, and triumphed over all the attacks of the nations on their route, they again beheld their native shores. The.lnabasis of Xenophon, their general, has immortalized this unexampled march. Sketch a Map of the March to Cunaxa and of the Retreat. Read: Retreat of the Ten Thousand, in Rollin or in Anacharsis. ROME. THE CONSULS.-On the abolition of royalty, the power of the kings was transferred to two consuls, annually elected, of whom Brutus and Collatinus were the first, 509. A conspiracy was formed to restore the exiled sovereign, and among its members were two sons of Brutus; but the plot being discovered, the criminals were apprehended. The father himself presided on the trial, and condemned his children to the scourge and the axe. Such heartlessness and cruelty, not required by any state of society, is too frequently held out as an example worthy of imitation. Ambition and stoical pride could alone have excited a parent to pursue a line of conduct which would now meet with universal execration. Tarquin's only remaining resource was arms; and, assisted by the Etruscan Porsenna, he overran the country, defeated the Romans, compelled them to surrender a third part of their territory, and to give hos. FIFTH CENTURY B. C. 79 tages from their noblest families. The deposed dynasty was not, however, restored, and the king, after many adventures, and having outlived all his children, died at Cumae, B. c. 494. The most important monument of the authenticity of early Roman history is the first commercial treaty with Carthage, 509, in which Rome, although a free state, does not appear as the head of Latium. The first consuls were of the family of Tarquin, the name and not the power of the supreme ruler being changed. They were first called prators, the name of consul being given after the decemvirate. DICTATOR.-Scarcely had Rome been freed from the regal yoke, when the people began to suffer from patrician tyranny. The equitable constitution of Servius being laid aside, the office of dictator was created, 498, and Lartius was the first who filled this office. The law of appea. established by Valerius Poplicola was by this means evaded, and unlimited authority was exercised over the commonalty. The oppression of the nobles was principally manifested in withdrawing the election of the consuls from the centuries, and by reducing their unfortunate debtors to the rank of slaves (nexi). An accident drove the commons (plebs) into sedition; the legions deserted their generals and retired to the Sacred Mount, while the plebeians occupied the Aventine and Esquiline Hills. After long resistance, the Valerian laws were restored, and all debtors set at liberty. The fable of Menenius Agrippa (the belly and the members) refers to this period, 493 B. c. TRIBUNEs.-The sole purpose of these officers (who owe their creation to the preceding disturbances) was to uphold the Valerian laws and check the consular power. At first they were a plebeian, afterwards a national magistracy, and their number was increased from two to ten. CoRIOLANUS, who had distinguished himself against the Volsci, obstinately resisted the right they claimed of summoning patricians before the tribunal of the commons. Being driven into exile (475), he headed a band of Romans in a like situation with himself, and nearly endangered the existence of his native city. The tears of a mother availed more than the entreaties of the Senate. He concluded a glorious peace, and when he died, at an advanced age, among the Volscians, the Roman matrons mourned him during a whole year, and he was justly honoured as an upright patriot.-In acknowledgment of the service rendered by Veturia, a temple was erected at Rome to Female Fortune. AGRARIAN LAws.-These famous laws concerned the public lands alone, setting no limit to the landed property of any class or individual. When a hostile territory was subdued, one-third was appropriated for the benefit of the people generally; and the quantity to be held by each man was limited, the commons having generally five acres, subject to all assessments. The patricians managed to hold much larger portions, and as these lands were the only pay of the legionary soldiers, the conquerors were not unfrequently compelled to give up their booty to the public treasury. The dispute, in which the commonalty finally prevailed, was, whether they should have an equitable share, or the aristocracy possess the whole. Spurius Cassius, one of the wisest of Roman statesmen, in his third consulate proposed an Agrarian law, by which he hoped to attach the plebeians firmly to the state; but means were taken to evade the execution of this statute, and he himself suffered death as a 80 ANCIENT HISTORY. traitor, 484. The call for these laws, however, did not cease: the people refused to serve in the legions, and when drawn up in battle, allowed themselves to be defeated without a blow. At last, to settle the differences, ten men (decem-viri) were appointed to draw up a code, which should unite the commons and the patricians, by placing them on an equal footing: a supreme magistracy was also to be instituted in place of the consulate. The first decemvirs were worthy men, but their successors abandoned themselves to cruelty, avarice, and licentiousness; hence the support shown to them by the patriciate excited the indignation of the people. Among their victims was Sicinius Dentatus, whom Niebuhr styles the Roman Roland. The brutal outrage of Appius against Virginia caused the abolition of the decemvirate, and the restoration of the tribunes, B. c. 449.* Amid various disputes, and the alternation of tribunitial and consular power, the rights of the people were advancing; and freedom was secured by reviving old or framing new laws. The prohibition of intermarriages between the patricians and plebeians raised an insurmountable barrier between the two classes; but this regulation was repealed in 445. The struggle for the admission of the commons to the consulate continued eighty years. The jealousy of the privileged orders was provoked by the generosity of Spurius Meelius, who expended a large fortune in supporting the people during a period of famine. To avert the supposed danger, the well-known Cincinnatus was a second time chosen dictator; and in full assembly of the people, the benefactor of his miserable fellow-citizens was barbarously murdered (440 B. c.), a victim to a cruel and ruthless faction.t Rome, as the head of the Latin confederation, was engaged in continual wars with those states that felt or imagined themselves to be oppressed by her rule. Though insignificant feuds in themselves, they were the means by which Rome became a conquering nation, and which laid the foundation of the senatorial power. Among the most important was the last war against Veii, 404-395. VOLSCIAN AND VEIENTINE WARs.-The _Aquian war is included by Gellius in his list of memorable epochs. The /Equian and Volscian armies were composed of picked men, bound by awful oaths to fight till death. On the 18th June, they were attacked by the dictator Tubertus, and defeated after a bloody conflict. The Veientines, an Etrurian people, long maintained a powerful opposition against the Romans, and nearly took their city. But fortune changed; Veii was in its turn blockaded, and taken by Camillus, 396 B. c., after a protracted siege, though the manner of its capture is apocryphal. This war was signalized by the devotion of the Fabian family, who raised an intrenched camp on the Cremera, as the Spartans did at Deceleia, whence they ravaged the Veientine territory. They all, but one man, perished by stratagem, within sight of a Roman force. These wars first introduced the system of winter campaigns, and of paying the soldiers, thus gradually forming a standing army. * Appius and M. Claudius found imitators in the Duke of Fronsac and others of the same cast, in tile reign of Louis XV.. Niebuhr, vol. ii. FIFTH CENTURY B.C. 81 On the- laws of the Twelve Tables. The Grecian origin of these laws has been unreasonably questioned; ana although it is not probable that the haughty patriciate of Rome would coldescend to copy the Athenian democracy, still the pre-eminence of Athens under Pericles, might have justified an examination into her codes. The casual resemblances to be found in the legislative enactments of Solon and the Decemvirs may also be discovered in the first efforts of all people in the infancy of their civilisation. The Twelve Tables inculcated the soundest principles of government and morals; they were learnt by schoolboys, and were the favourite meditation of their fathers. They were soon overloaded by a multitude of new statutes, when Augustus conferred the legislative authority on the senate. The edicts of the Praetors furnished the salutary means of perpetually harmonizing the several codes with the spirit of the times. The Praetors were the true organs of the public mind; their regulations were framed according to the opinions of the great lawyers of the day. Laws were rarely enacted contrary to the provisions of the Twelve Tables, which, by certain fictions, existing alike in all nations, were brought into accordance with the necessities of the age. These variable edicts at length comprehended the whole of the Roman legislation, and became the basis of the jurisprudence contained in the digest of Justinian. CARTHAGE. The progress of this nation was slow, but at the close of the fifth century it was the first power in Africa, and possessed many extensive foreign settlements. The principal islands in the Mediterranean, and it is supposed the Canaries and Madeira, were occupied by her adventurous citizens. Mago, with his two sons and six grandsons, had the glory of extending the territory, and establishing the dominion of Carthage in Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa, 550-480. About the same period this republic became connected with the Persian monarchy,-had met and fought the Phocean navy,-extended its colonies along the shores of the Atlantic, 539,-and concluded its first treaty with Rome, 509. The great object of its policy was now the possession of the fertile island of Sicily; but the alliance with Xerxes in his attack upon Greece led to the dreadful rout and disgraceful peace of Himera, 480. This great battle was fought on the same day as that of Salamis, and one of the conditions of the treaty which followed it is highly honourable to the victor Gelo: he insisted on the cessation of human sacrifices at the shrines of the Punic divinities. For seventy years Carthage dreaded the arms of Greece, and her name is scarcely met with in history; but the accession of Dionysius I. renewed the war, 406 B. c., each party at the conclusion retaining its conquests. The second commercial treaty with Rome was formed about this period. The contest with Sicily continued until the breaking out of the Punic wars, which were the necessary consequence of the aggrandizing ambition of two powerful nations. Rome was the aggressor; yet her own safety was scarcely compatible with the dominion of her rivals in Sicily. Read: Heeren's African Nations. K/r82 ANCIENT HISTORY. FOURTH CENTURY. GREECE.-399, Death of Socrates.-394, Battle of Coronea. —387 Peace of Antalcidas.-371, Leuctra.-362, Mantinea.-338, Chaeronea.-331, Arbela. -323, Alexander, d.-312, iEra of the Seleucidte. ROME,-396, Veii taken.-390, Rome taken by the Gauls.-366, Plebeian consuls.-343, Samnite Wars.-321, Candine Forks. LITERATURE, &C.-401, Xenophon; Ctesias; Isocrates, b. 436; Plato; Demosthenes; Aristotle; Epicurus; Menander. DISCOVERIES.-360, Analysis, by Plato.-333, Encaustic Painting.-306, Sundial at Rome, by Paririus Cursor.-300, Colossus of Rhodes; Operation for Cataract, by Herophilus. GREECE. DEATH OF SOCRATES, 399.-This philosopher, one of the most celebrated of antiquity, was born at Athens. In his early days he pursued the trade of his father Sophroniscus, who was a sculptor, but abandoned this pursuit for the more enchanting study of mental science. He was a virtuous man, and one of his most characteristic qualities was a tranquillity of mind, which could not be shaken by any accident, by any reverse of fortune or insulting language. Even the violent temper of his wife Xantippe, a name become proverbial, never made him forget his patience. He effected a real revolution in Philosophy; he attacked the method of his contemporaries, by laying down self-knowledge as the basis of all inquiries. By this means he substituted the method of observation for that of rash hypothesis; he was in fact the creator of the science of Ethics, and founded his precepts on the conscience. His manner of teaching was novel and attractive; his was no regular method, but each auditor was skilfully conducted by a simple species of interrogation from one truth to another until he arrived at a just conelusion. This mode of reasoning still bears the name of the Socratic. His virtuous life, his principles of morality, his belief in the existence of a supreme ruler of the universe, and of the immortality of the soul, found as many enemies as disciples. Under the government of the Thirty Tyrants, Melitus, Anytus, and Lycon accused him before the council of Five Hundred, of corrupting the youth, of despising the gods, and of endeavouring to introduce new divinities. The real ground of this charge appears to have been the offence which his intimacy with Caitias and Alcibiades gave to the democratic party. The minds of the populace being easily inflamed by a misrepresentation of his doctrines, he was condemned to drink hemlock, and his death did not belie his principles. A short time afterwards, the Athenians repented of their injustice, and, by way of atonement, condemned Melitus to death, and the others to banishment. A bronze statue, by the celebrated Lysippus, was raised to his honour, and a temple was dedicated to his memory. His actions, conversations, and opinions have been transmitted to us by the two most distinguished of his disciples, Xenophon and Plato. Philosophic Sects. The Greeks recognised two principal schools of Philosophy; the Ionian and the Italian. These admit of many subdivisions, from the different principles of their founders. I~ FOURTH CENTURY B. C. 83 IONIAN SCHOOL This school, distinguished for its reason and good sense, was!ounued by Thales of Miletus, 548 B. c. He travelled extensively, learned Geometry in Egypt, and Astronomy in Phoenicia. With him commenced the study of Natural Philosophy. Anaxagoras, the tutor of Pericles (480-450), Socrates, and Plato, belonged to this school. Its chief sects wereThe Academicians, founded by Plato, one of the greatest geniuses of anti. quity. Dion, Aristotle, Isocrates, and Demosthenes, were among his followers. The Peripatetics, founded by Aristotle, the preceptor of Alexander the Great, the most voluminous and profound writer of all antiquity. The Cynics, founded by Antisthenes, who placed happiness in the practice of virtue, which he taught was the contempt of wealth, and of the enjoyments of life. Diogenes destroyed the reputation of this sect by the excess to which he carried its doctrines. The Stoics, a revival of the Cynics by Zeno, who taught the celebrated dogma, that pain is no evil, the only real evils being moral imperfections. He said that we should follow virtue instinctively, and practise benevolence from inclination. Epaminondas, Trajan, and Marcus Aurelius, professed the doctrines of the porch. ITALIAN SCHOOL. Pythagoras founded this school between 540 and 510 B. c. during the reign of Tarquin the Proud. He quitted Samos, his native country, and after travelling through the East, where he imbibed many of his peculiar doctrines, he settled at Crotona, in Southern Italy, and there effected a complete revolution of ideas and manners. He was a great mathematician and natural philosopher, and taught the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. The chief subdivisions of this school wereThe Sceptics, founded by Pyrrho, 336 B. c. who doubted of every thing. They asserted that no truth or positive knowledge existed which we could attain by our senses or reasoning. The supreme good was placed in ataraxy and apathy, in suspension of judgment and in calmness of soul. The Epicureans, whose founder was E.picurus, placed the supreme good in the practice of virtue, and in the pleasurable emotions excited by benevolence. His followers degraded these doctrines by assuming the pleasures of the senses to be the only happiness. Horace, Virgil, Atticus, and Maecenas, belonged to this sect. They appear to have admitted the existence of Good, but to have denied a Providence. The school of the Eleatics was founded by Xenophanes of Colophon, at Elaea in Western Italy, 538. To it belonged Parmenides, Zeno, and Heraclitus the Ephesian. Their main doctrine taught that God was all in all, and could be represented by no graven image. Consult: Enfield's History of Philosophy; Anacharsis. Synoptical Table. Names of 1 Philosophers. Birthplace. Time. Sect. ParticulaTs. AGESILAUS, king of Sparta, who was as insignificant in person, as he was noble in martial qualities, carried on a successful war against Persia (396-394), but was recalled in the midst of victory to contend agains the Athenians and their allies. The Persian court, despairing of safety 834 ANCIENT HISTORY. had adopted the prudent course of subsidizing the Grecian states, and exciting them to take arms against each other. The Athenians, having recovered from the ruinous government of the Thirty Tyrants, had rebuilt the walls of their city, and also, under the guidance of Conon, 395, thrown off the Spartan yoke. Agesilaus checked for a season this returning prosperity, by the disastrous battle of Coronea. The defeat of the Lacedemonians, in the sea-fight near Cnidus, by Conon, who served with the Persians (B. c. 394), led finally to the peace of Antalcidas, so called from the name of the Laconian negotiator. The reputation of Sparta suffered by this disgraceful treaty, which was dictated by the Eastern monarch: the Greek cities of Asia were declared subject to him, though the independence of their states in Europe was acknowledged. Sixty years before this, Cimon had dictated conditions to Artaxerxes Longimanus; but now the supreme state of Sparta was compelled to accept those of Artaxerxes Mnemon. The treaty was signed 8th August, 387 B. c., and by one of its clauses, Persia engaged to compel the ratification of the treaty by force of arms. Conon was accused of treason for endeavouring to oppose its ratification, and carried to Susa, where he was poisoned. Thrasybulus, the liberator of Athens, perished in a trifling squabble between his troops and some peasants; and Sparta lost her influence at the very period when the obscure Theban republic began to acquire a name. THEBAN WAR.-Thebes had hitherto been a blank in Grecian history; but the unjust occupation of the citadel of that town by the Lacedaemonians called forth the talents of Epaminondas and Pelopidas. The latter liberated the city from its foreign garrison; while the former asserted the independence of his country, and successfully maintained it on the field of Leuctra, where the flower of the Spartan youth perished, 371 B. c. The Lacedaemonians were now in their turn to suffer the horrors of invasion. Epamindos overran the country, and at Mantinea in Arcadia, the Thebans again triumphed, but at the expense of theii brave general's life, and with him ended their brief supremacy, 362 B. C. Both states were weakened and exhausted by the war, and there was no longer a predominating power in Greece. Even Athens had lost a great part of her influence, together with three of her most celebrated commanders. MACEDON.-The foundations of the Macedonian monarchy were laid in the eighth century B. c., by Caranus, a descendant of Hercules. His successors, and the people over whom they ruled, were long considered as barbarians by the more polished inhabitants of the South; and during 400 years they were under the protection of Sparta, Athens, or of Thebes. On the death of Amyntas II. (369), civil dissensions agitated the kingdom, which were not appeased until Pelopidas entered the country with a strong army. On his return to Thebes, he led with him numerous hostages, among which was Philip, the brother of King Perdiccas III., whom he succeeded under the title of Philip II. 359 B. c. To strengthen his usurped power, he improved the discipline of the troops, and formed the celebrated phalanx on the model of the Sacred Battalion of Thebes. He married Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemus, king of Epirus, and became the father of Alexander III. surnamed the Great (356). 1. SACRED WAR. B. C. 359.-The Phocians, who had been fined by ______________________________________ FOURTH CENTURY B.C. 85 the Amphictyonic council for having committed sacnlege by ploughing up some consecrated ground near the fane of Apollo, resistc4 payment, and seized on the treasures in the temple of Delphi, to support the expenses of the war. After ten years the struggle was brought to a satisfactory conclusion, principally by the intervention of Philip, who was rewarded by the seat in the Amphictyonic council, which had been forfeited by Phocis. A second war led to the disastrous battle of Chaeronea, 338 B. c., in which the Athenians and their allies were defeated by the Macedonian king, and the country laid prostrate at his feet. MWhile forming new projects for the conquest of Persia, at the head of the confederated army of Greece, he was assassinated by Pausanias, 336 B.C. Demosthenes the orator was at the head of an Athenian party, which, with greater foresight than their rivals, beheld the subjugation of their native land in the ambitious designs of Philip. But his eloquence was exerted in vain; and like Cassandra, he predicted coming woes only to see his cautions heedlessly rejected. While he was exciting the people to war, Phocion was proclaiming the necessity of peace. Still he did not less exert his military talents in defence of his country, and compelled the invader to raise the siege of Byzantium. Had he commanded at the battle of Cheeronea, the fortune of the day might have been changed. Consult: Leland's History of Philip of Macedon. ALEXANDER tdiE GREAT.-Alexander and his unfortunate antagonist Darius ascended the throne in the same year, 336 B. c. Taking courage from the youth of the new monarch, who was only twenty years old, the Illyrians, Triballians, and other barbarous tribes reduced by Philip, endeavoured to recover their independence; but with an impetuosity and speed which' dffled calculation, Alexander crushed his various antagonists with almost a single blow. A false report of his death having reached Thebes, the people rose and massacred the Macedonian garrison, and organized an extensive revolution. These plans were thwarted by the rapid movements of the king, who, before two weeks elapsed, reached Boeotia at the head of an army flushed with victory. The capital was taken by assault, and all the horrors that could be practised by an unrestrained soldiery befell the inhabitants. Every house was rased to the ground, the surviving women and children were sold into slavery, and its territory was allotted to the victorious allies; but the dwelling of Pindar, and of all connected by blood with the poet, were saved in the general ruin. There is reason to believe that the melancholy catastrophe of Thebes took place without the authority of Alexander, as general in chief of the Amphictyonic council. Athens and other states who had favoured her views, now sent embassies, and submitted to the conqueror. Having thus successfully defeated every opposition which had assailed his throne, he prepared to carry into effect the projects of his father, by the invasion of Asia. In the spring of 334, he began his march at the head of 30,000 infantry, and about 5000 cavalry. Antipater was left behind to watch over his interests in Greece, while Parmenio, one of Philip's experienced and valiant generals, was appointed his lieutenant in the field. After indulging his ardent imagination by a visit to 8 86 ANCIENT HISTORY. the scenes described in the Iliad, his favourite poem,* Alexander hastened to join his troops, which had crossed the straits to Abydos. At the passage of the Granicus the first struggle ensued, the king himself dashing into the river, at the head of the companion-cavalry. Disregarding all personal risk, with his own lance he killed the Persian leader, being himself twice saved by the activity of his friends. The example of the monarch was followed by all his troops, and the rout of the enemy soon became general. All Asia westward of Mount Taurus fell into his hands as he advanced. The rich provinces of Phrygia, Lydia, and Caria, the great cities of Ephesus, Sardis, and Miletus, were compelled to submit to his authority. Darius now appointed Memnon commander-in-chief both of the land and naval forces; but while this prudent soldier was carrying into execution a well-devised plan that would have been fatal to Alexander's progress, he was suddenly cut off by death. The battle of Issus, in which the Persian ruler commanded in person, soon followed; but fortune still proving adverse, he was compelled to flee, leaving his mother, wife, and children, in the power of the victor. Syria, with its capital Damascus, and Phoenicia, the cradle of Grecian literature and tradition, next invited his arms. Sidon readily threw off the Persian yoke, but Tyre, refusing to admit Alexander within her walls, was taken and sacked after a resistance of seven months. This city was no easy capture: it had baffled Shalmaneser, and compelled him to return, after a siege of five years; and during the lapse of thirteen resisted the attacks of Nebuchadnezzar. Egypt next surrendered without a blow; and not limiting his views in that country to ephemeral conquest or vain d:splay, he* laid the foundations of a new city, to be called after his own name, and which soon became the capital of the country, the depot of science, and the centre of the commerce of the Eastern world. While he was thus occupied in the south, Darius was preparing for a final and desperate struggle, in the very heart of his dominions. The Grecian army rapidly marched through Syria, crossed the Euphrates and Tigris, which had been left unguarded, and reached Gaugamela or the Camel's House, so called from the animal which bore Darius Hystaspes from his Scythian expedition. Here Alexander found himself in front of 600,000 men, of all tribes and nations, hastily collected from various provinces. So great a host being weak in proportion to its numbers, the confusion produced by the first charge of the Macedonians could not be recovered; and after a brief conflict, the great king once more became a fugitive, 331 B. c. From Arbela, by which name this victory is generally known, the conqueror proceeded to Babylon and Susa (Shusham of Scripture), when the accumulated treasures of a long race of monarchs fell into his hands. The march to Persepolis, the capital of Ancient Persia, was not effected without obstruction and danger; hut the city was at length reached in time to save the treasures from plunder by the retreating soldiers. The palace is said to have been afterwards reduced to ashes in mere wantonness, at the instigation of the beautiful Lais.t * Et, voyageur arme pour conquerir la terre, Alexandre en Asie emporta son Homere.-Lebrun. t Other accounts say that the destruction of the palace was an act of stern retalia. tion for the demolition of the Grecian temples by Xerxes. The Persian writers make FOURTH CENTURY B.C. 87 After his defeat, Darius had fled into Media, where he hoped to organize such resistance as might arrest the progress of the invader. In Greece, too, events were occurring which might have materially injured the cause of Alexander. Lacedaemon was at the head of the disaffected party, and Demosthenes was endeavouring to excite the Athenians to share in the intrigues. Antipater, however, was not wanting in vigour during this emergency, and in a battle which shortly after ensued, the hopes of Spartan supremacy were frustrated, their troops defeated, and King Agis slain, while fifty of her principal citizens were compelled to become hostages for her future conduct. Probably being informed of this unexpected change in the affairs of Greece, Darius fled from Ecbatana towards the Caucasus, accompanied with not more than 10,000 men. Actively pursued by Alexander, he was killed by the sword of one of his own officers before the conqueror could overtake him; and Bessus, the murderer, who had assumed the regal title, fell shortly after into the hands of the King of Macedon, by whom he was scourged and mutilated, 330 B. C. About this time the conqueror learnt that Philotas, the son of Parmenio, had entertained designs against his life; and the offender, with his father, suffered death, according to the decision of a tribunal of their countrymen. Clitus, who had saved his prince's life at the Granicus, and had been appointed to the companion-cavalry after the execution of Philotas, was, in a fit of ungoverned passion or of intoxication, stabbed by him to the heart. Nothing for a time could allay the bitter regret which Alexander felt, and at the moment he could scarcely be restrained from plunging the bloody weapon into his own bosom. In becoming the sovereign of Asia, the Macedonian aimed at permanency of dominion, and with this view assumed the Median dress, married Roxana, a Persian lady of high rank, and in his internal policy contemplated the prosperity of his new empire. But all his enemies were not yet subdued, and the victorious leader next carried his arms, with his wonted fortune, beyond the Indus, and was meditating an expedition as far as the Ganges. During his progress in India, he carried into execution his plans for promoting a communication between that country and Greece; and a fleet under Nearchus was fitted out to gain the desired information, by exploring-the coasts of the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. Returning from these distant scenes of conquest, he reached Susa once more, where Barcine or Statira, the beautiful daughter of Darius, became his wife. Proceeding thence to Ecbatana, he offered magnificent sacrifices, followed by festive games, in gratitude for his long-continued success. It was here that he lost his early and dearest friend, Hepheestion. He now returned to Babylon, no mention of this circumstance, or of the death of Beetis, Clitus, Callisthenes, and the other acts of debauchery, pride, and cruelty, with which the Greeks and their Latin copyists have loaded the memory of Alexander. These historians represent him, on the contrary, as a model of public and private virtues. This difference is supposed to arise from the protection afforded by the king to the vanquished against the exactions of the victors, who desired nothing better than to sit down and enjoy their conquests at their ease. Before they could divide the immense spoils, it was necessary to be freed from his presence, and his actions were calumniated that his death might be the less regretted. The Greeks were all king-haters, arrd the Macedonian sovereigns who had subjugated them were particularly the objects of their abhorrence. They listened witt an easy belief to all the scandalous tales which were brought from the East, and com mitted them to an imperishable memorial in their writings. 8ANCIENT HISTORY. regardless of the warnings said to have been given by the Chaldean seers, and of the various omens that had preceded his entry into that city. Here, while engaged in plans for improving his future capital, and for restoring to the ancient Assyrian empire its former supremacy in arms and commerce, he was attacked by a fatal disease, of which he died on the eleventh day of his illness, 323 B. c. He was cut off in the flower of his age, when much might have been expected from the maturer years of one whose youth had given such brilliant promise: he died in the midst of his grand designs, at the moment when a career of usefulness appeared to be opening before him. But although our minds cannot fathom the designs of Infinite Intelligence in thus removing him at the most important period of his life, we are not to conclude that all is the result of chance. In the words of the historian, we may add, that "not without especial purpose of the deity was such a man given to the world, to whom none has ever yet been equal." PARTITION OF THE EIPIRE. —The death of the illustrious conqueror became the signal of discord, and his vast empire a theatre of war and revolution: but from the multitude of candidates who aspired simultaneously to the supreme command, the history of this period is thrown into almost inextricable confusion.-Perdiccas by general consent was appointed regent, and the kingdom divided into thirty-three provinces, corresponding to the number of generals. This distinguished leader fell shortly after by the hand of an assassin, and Antipater succeeded to his office: disorder continued to reign among the numerous successors of Alexander, and each party was by turns victorious or defeated. LAMIAN WAR.-Taking advantage of these disturbances, the Athenians, excited by Demosthenes, in opposition to the counsels of Phocion, entered into a league to throw off the Macedonian yoke. Leosthenes, the generalissimo of the allies, gained two victories over Antipater, by which the Greeks were quite intoxicated; but at Cranon these advantages were lost, and Athens itself was with difficulty preserved. The orator was compelled to flee and take refuge in the temple of Neptune at Calauria, when, being reduced to the last extremity, he swallowed poison and died, 322 B. c. Another revolution placed the regency in the hands of Polysperchon, who, desirous of the support of the Greeks, re-established the government of their cities, 319 B. c. Athens made an unjust use of the restoration of her democracy, in the accusation of Phocion and his condemnation without being allowed the privilege of defence. He suffered like many of his illustrious predecessors; and even after death, the fury of the populace forbade the interment of his corpse. Probity was the characteristic of this great man; he was elected general forty-five times, was always victorious and always poor. Although compelled to perform the duties of domestic life, generally intrusted to the slaves, he refused a hundred talents which Alexander wished to force upon him. Demetrius Phalerius, a wise and learned person, whom Cassander some time after (318) appointed his lieutenant, met with a fate different from that of Phocion. Three hundred and sixty statues were erected in gratitude for his skilful administration; but they were, with true Athenian fickleness, as suddenly thrown down as they had been raised. He retired to Egypt, and consoled himself with literary pursuits at the court of Ptolcnm Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, who had delivered Athens FOURTH CENTURY BC. 89 and nearly all Greece (307), was appointed generalissimo in 302, and four years after driven into banishment. He gained the epithet of Poliorcetes, or vanquisher of cities, by his great success in the reduction of fortified places. Ambitious, and jealous of each other, the generals of Alexander had never ceased to contend for the spoils of his'ast empire. At last, after a long alternation of success and reverses, the united army of Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysimachus, and Seleucus, gained at Ipsus in Phrygia a decisive victory over Antigonus and his son Poliorcetes. The father perished on the field, while the other not without difficulty escaped to Greece with the fleet and a remnant of his army, 301 B. c. Th6 dominions of the son of Philip were now divided into four large king doms:* Macedon and Greece, and the western parts, under Cassander; Thrace, Bithynia, and the northern parts, under Lysimachus; Egypt, and the south, under Ptolemy, son of Lagus; and Syria, with the east, under Seleucus. With the establishment of this last king at Babylon commences the ERA OF THE SELEUCIDAEt (312 B. c.), which was in use until 65 B. C. Arts, Literature, and Science among the Greeks. The Greeks cultivated Letters and the Arts with a perfection that places them in the first rank of civilised nations, and the monuments the) have left in every branch have shed a glory upon their country that almost obscures their military fame. It is in the period beginning with Solon and terminating with Alexander, that most of the great men flourished who brought such renown on the Grecian name. ARCHITECTURE.-During the administration of Pericles, architecture sprang from rude forms to perfection. From the Greeks we derive three orders or styles,-the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian; from the Romans, the Tuscan and the Composite; from the Goths, the Gothic, in which most of our ancient cathedrals are constructed. The Tuscan order is the simplest and least ornamented. The essential character of the Doric is solidiy; of the Ionic, delicacy and elegance; of the Corinthian, nobility and grace. The Composite is, as its name indicates, a mixture of Ionic and Corinthian. The temple of Ceres and Proserpine at Eleusis was built in the Doric manner; that of Diana at Ephesus and of Apollo at Miletus, in the Ionic; the temple of the Olympian Jupiter at Athens, in the Corinthian; the column of Trajan at Rome, in the Tuscan; and the Pantheon in the Composite. SCULPTURE.-The ancient sculptors made use of wood, stone, marble, ivory, precious stones, as the agate, several metals, as gold, silver, copper, brass, and different other plastic substances, such as clay, plaster, and wax. The most celebrated statuaries were Phidias, Polycletus, Myro, Lysippus, and Praxiteles. The Elgin marbles in the British Museum are supposed to have been carved under the direction of Phidias, part being the work of his own hand; the famous horses of Venice are said to be the production of Lysippus. PAINTJNG.-We have no specimens to show that this elegant art was carried to so high a degree of perfection as sculpture. The Greeks made use of only four colours, black, white, red, and yellow. Down to the age of Nero, paintings were executed chiefly on wood: at this period canvass began to be employed, but it seems clearly demonstrated that the ancients were entirely unacquainted with oil-painting. They wrought in distemper and in fresco; the * This partition of the empire of Alexander remarkably fulfils the prophecy of Daniel (chap. viii.): "The great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones, coward the four winds of heaven." t Used in the East by Pagans, Jews, Christians, and Mahommedans,-called Era af Contracts by the Jews. 48 90 ANCIENT HISTORY. former, on wooden tablets, with colours mingled with gum-water; the latter, on walls covered with fresh and undried plaster. They practised also ptinting in various kinds of wax, in miniature, enamel, and mosaic. The most celebrated artists of antiquity were, Polygnotus, Apollodorus, Zeuxis, Parrhasius, Pamphilus, Timanthes, Apelles, Aristides, Protogenes, and Pausias, almost all fellow-countrymen and contemporaries of the sculptors named above. MusIc.-The object of music among the Greeks was to elevate the mind rather than charm the ear; it excited to courage in battle, softened the manners of the savage, and thus contributed to the progress of civilisation. Music having there a political end, was cultivated with great care, and formed in a certain measure part of their national education. In Sparta, every innovation in the art was strictly forbidden, and a musician was banished who had ventured to increase the number of the strings of the lyre. POETRY.-Thespis, of Attic birth, is the reputed inventor of the dramatic art, 595 B. c. Eschylus, who lived in the time of Xerxes, and shared with his brother Cynaegirus the dangers of the Persian wars, distinguished himself as an author in that department. The battle off Salamis, at which he was present, forms the subject of one of his tragedies. Sophocles surpassed him in purity and simplicity: of his numerous'compositions only seven remain. Euripides, the rival of Sophocles, carried, in the opinion of the eminent critic Aristotle, the pathetic power of tragedy to its greatest height. Susarion of Megara, a contemporary of Thespis, is said to have been the inventor of comedy; Aristophanes, unequalled for his wit and genius, both too frequently defiled by the grossness of his time, introduced the living manners on the stage. The political aims of his comedies can scarcely be accurately appreciated by the moderns. Menander, the predecessor of the Roman Terence, made ideal characters the vehicle of his sentiments and of his story. In lyric poetry we meet with the name of Simonides and of the unrivalled Pindar, who devoted their genius to the celebration of the victors at the Public Games, about 390 B. c. Anacreon confined his muse to Epicurean and comic strains; Alcaeus, Sappho, and Archilochus sang the pleasures and the pangs of love. WRITING.-In the first ages of the world, writing was confined to characters graven on stone or plates of metal. Palm-leaves came subsequently into use, and then the inner bark (liber) of certain trees; soon afterwards, canvass and tablets covered with wax were employed. Paper was introduced in the age of Alexander; it was fabricated from the papyrus, a plant still growing on the banks of the Nile and in Sicily. Eumenes, king of Pergamus, was the inventor of parchment, and gave it the name it bears. ELOQUENCE.-Eloquence could not fail to be in great esteem among the Greeks, with whom it was the principal instrument of polity and the mainspring of government. Pericles was the first who gained any lasting reputation by this popular talent; he was followed by Isocrates, Demades, -Eschines, Lysias, Aristides,-all of whom were greatly surpassed by Demosthenes. HISTORY.-History, according to the ideas of the ancients, had a close connexion with oratory. They were satisfied with the narrative, provided it con tained long speeches gratuitously put into the mouths of actual personages. Herodotus, surnamed the Father of History, is at the head of the list; Thucy. dides, the most perfect of all, was the model adopted by Tacitus: Xenophon was the author of the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, and of the Cyropmdia. Polybius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Diodorus Siculus appeared sub sequently. PHILosoPHY.-Greece gave birth to a great number of men, who, under the name of philosophers, were occupied chiefly with the first principles of civil polity and the duties of society. They were divided into a great number of sects, the chief of which have been enumerated above, page 83. FOURTH CENTURY B.C. 91 Remarks on the History of Alexander. With the death of Epaminondas at Mantinea (362), and of Agesilaus in his return from Egypt, terminates the history of the Greek commonwealths. Their era was completed; that of the Macedonians was beginning. All the republics united around three centres-Sparta, Thebes, Athens; but their energies were exhausted when Philip appeared on the scene. His son persevered in his father's course, though on a much larger theatre. Mind was marching to the conquest of matter; despotism was about to yield to liberty. Greece restored to the East the knowledge she had received fiom it. "'Thus," says Michelet, "this little imprisoned world declared eternal war against all the relics of natural life in the oriental tribes. This form, by which the Pelasgi had imitated Asia in Europe, was effaced by Athens and by Rome. In this contest were strongly characterized the three epochs of Greece; she attacked Asia in the Trojan War,-repelled her at Salamis,-subdued her under Alexander." We should not regard this hero as a mere warrior sighing for fresh worlds to conquer; he is to be admired rather for his sagacity and discrimination, evinced in the political regulations of the various states which were subjected to his authority. He was the messenger of the Almighty sent forth to work his predicted ends; to effect no transient conquests, but to open the path into the remote East; to introduce the Grecian language, the medium of civilisation and Christianity, into those countries; and to prepare secretly yet powerfully the way for that dispensation, which "in the fulness of time" was to enlighten the countries he traversed as a conqueror. " The fortune of Alexan. der was indeed the overruling providence of God." Measured by years, his life was short; long, if we reckon it by events. How great was his progress in a few months! He was no longer King of Macedon, but the conqueror of the world; at his death it remained without a master. His generals were brave, sagacious, enterprising, and successful, so long as they fought under his eye. When he was no more, disunion and dissension followed; and the capital of the world was removed to Rome. "She enclosed within her walls two cities and two races, Tuscan and Sabine; sacerdotal and military; eastern and western; patrician and plebeian; landed property and personal; stability and progression; nature and liberty. It was now her turn to rule." From these apparently discordant materials, we shall soon perceive how Rome became, even in consequence of them, the mistress of the world. Consult: Williams' Life of Alexander. Prepare: A Map of the World after the division of Alexander's Empire. ROME. Preliminary Observations on the Gauls. The Gauls or Celts now first appeared in history. They were a warlike people, who, about two centuries before this period, had crossed the Alps under the command of Bellovesus, and settled in the north of Italy, or Hither Gaul, having exterminated the whole population. Their chief pursuits were pasturage and war: the form of government was a hereditary monarchy: their religion, Druidical. The strength of their armies consisted in cavalry or in chariots; and the huge bodies wild features, and shaggy hair of the men, struck terror into their enemies. They were badly equipped; armour was rare, their shields were small, their swords long, thin, and brittle. They hung the heads of the slain to their horses' manes, and in many of their houses might be seen, nailed up as an heirloom, the skull of some person of rank who had fallen before them in battle. Their towns were few, their habitations mean and comfortless They betrayed an extreme passion for golden ornaments, which they ever wore in battle. Their cloaks shone with all the hues of the rainbow, like the picturesque dresses of the Highlanders. 92 ANCIENT HISTORY. CAPTURE OF ROME, 390 B. c.-Allured by the luxuries and climate of Italy, successive invaders pushed farther south, crossed the Apennines, and appeared before Clusium, where first they attracted the attention of Rome, and whither ambassadors were sent to ascertain who these foreigners were. The envoys having improperly taken part in a battle, the Gauls demanded that they should be given up. The senate consented, but the people refused; upon which the invading army, 70,000 strong, under Brennus, marched towards the city. They were met on the banks of the Allia by 40,000 men, who were defeated with terrible slaughter, and before nightfall the enemy were at the gates of Rome The town was deserted, but the Capitol was held by about 1000 despe. rate combatants. During several days the city was given up to plunder, and, with a few exceptions, all the houses were burned to the ground. Part of the conquering army now continued their advance, and the remainder almost succeeded in taking the Capitol, the defenders of which were reduced to the last extremities by famine. Brennus, after remaining seven months, was induced to accept a thousand pounds weight of gold as the price of quitting Rome and her territories, upon which he led his people home without encountering opposition. The story of their subsequent defeat by Camillus is a fiction of Roman vanity. It was now proposed that the seat of government should be removed to Veii, a town equal to Rome in magnitude and beauty, when the lucky omen of a word decided the question, and within a year a new city rose from the ashes of the former. Fresh wars ensued; Roman fortune again prevailed; the Sabines, Etrurians, Latins, 2Equi, and Volsci, were successively defeated, and the Gauls, who had attempted a second invasion, were routed with great slaughter. But Rome still suffered much from the former assault of that fierce people; though this, which elsewhere was a deathblow to liberty, raised the constitution nearly to a perfect state. The oppressive rate of interest, the power which the creditor still possessed, and not unfrequently exercised, of life and death over the debtor, had reduced the lower orders to desperation. Manlius, the preserver of the Capitol, took pity on the helpless people. On the retreat of the invaders, he had found himself neglected, while all civil and military honours were heaped upon his enemy Camillus. His first actions, which resulted from the pure feelings of humanity, led him to become the patron of the commonalty. The measures by which he proposed to alleviate the public distress excited the anger of the patricians, who charged him with aiming at despotic power, and committed him to prison, from which he was soon afterwards released. He was again accused by the tribunes, with the design of driving him into exile, but he was unanimously acquitted. Still thirsting for his blood, the public prosecutors) once more arraigned him; he was on this accusation condemned to death, and a slave treacherously pushed him down the fatal Tarpeian rock, 384 B. c. LICINIAN LAws.-The universal distress had now reached the highest pitch, and Rome was on the point of degenerating into a miserable oligarchy, when two men appeared who changed the fate of their country and that of the world. In the year 376 B. c., Licinius Stolo and L. Sextius were chosen tribunes. The celebrated rogations, which they brought forward, produced a violent opposition between the two parties of the state, which lasted six years. Though the country was fortu FOURTH CENTURY BC. 93 nately at peace, such a condition of affairs was unsafe; and at length, Camillus mediating between the patricians and the commonalty, the rogations passed the senate. By these, the consuls, one of whom was to be a plebeian, replaced the military tribunes; the laws of debtor and creditor were altered; an Agrarian law was enacted, limiting the shares of the public lands to 500 acres and the taxes to be raised upon them, and enjoining that free labourers should he employed in their cultivation. The consular power was however diminished by committing judicial affairs to a prator, and by the appointment of curule ediles, 366 B. c. L. Sextius Lateranus was the first plebeian consul; and the commons having once made good their claim to this high office, were not long before they participated in the others. They were admitted to the dictatorship, 359; the censorship, 351; the praetorship, 337; and the priesthood, 301 B. c. A second coimmercial treaty with Carthage (348) shows that the Roman navy was at this time far from contemptible; and though it appears to have been merely piratical, squadrons were equipped and sent from their ports before the close of the century. SAMNITE WARS, 343 B. c.-The Samnites inhabited the mountains towards the kingdom of Naples, and had spread still farther to the south, when the Campanians, with whom they were at war, applied to Rome for assistance, which was readily granted. The former made a long and vigorous resistance; but being at last routed by Decius, 30,000 of them were left dead on the field. The Roman arms were now turned against the Latins, who had long been their allies. A war, which differed little from a civil contest, broke out; and in a conflict at the foot of Vesuvius, the Latin and Samnite forces would have conquered, but for the patriotic sacrifice of Decius, who, clad in magnificent robes, rushed into the ranks of the enemy, where he fell under a thousand wounds. A cruel revenge was taken by the victors, and Latium was rendered for ever incapable of opposing their power, 338 B. c. A signal disgrace, it is true, was inflicted on their army at the Caudine Forks, 321 B. c.; but it was soon effaced, and Samnium reduced to submission, after a struggle of more than fifty years, 290 B. c. These wars opened a way to the subjugation of Italy, and laid the foundation of Roman greatness. A new species of tactics was learnt; the relations with neighbouring states were more firmly established; and the influence of Rome extended to the most distant parts of the Peninsula. The internal discords of the city were ended about this period in consequence of three laws introduced by Publilius Philo, the dictator: — 1st, The office of censor was made common to the two orders; 2d, The veto was taken away from the curiae; 3d, The plebiscita, or decrees of the people, were rendered binding on the whole state; the distinction between patricians and commons being now merely nominal. Thus was the constitution completed, and Rome rapidly advanced to universal empire, 286 B. c. JUDAEA. Judaea now became part of the Syrian prefecture, under the heads of the priesthood, subject to the civil and military control of the Persian satraps, 373 B. c. The meagre annals of this period record but one remarkable event, and that an atrocious crime, perpetrated by the high priest Jonathan, who, suspecting his brother Joshua of intriguing with 94 ANCIENT HISTORY. Bagoses the imperial governor, slew him within the precincts of the temple. Bagoses hastened to Jerusalem, forced his way into the holy edifice, and imposed a heavy tax on the sacrifices as a penalty for that outrage. Alexander passed under the walls of the city, which he was induced to spare by the timely submission of the people, while he bowed in adoration before the name of Jehovah, inscribed on the head-dress of the high priest Jaddua. He was shown the prophecies in which Daniel had foretold his conquest of the Persian empire, at which circumstance he was so much pleased, that he took the Jews into particular favour, 332 B. c. After his death and the division of his empire, Palestine was regarded as a valuable frontier province both by the Syrian and Egyptian kings. It fell at last into the hands of Ptolemy Soter, who took Jerusalem by treachery on the Sabbath, and led a great multitude of the inhabitants captive into Egypt, 312 B. c. Philadelphus, on his accession to the throne, released 120,000 of them, and caused the famous translation of the Hebrew Bible, called the Septuagint, to be prepared by seventy learned men. The fables concerning the isolation of these translators and the perfect coincidence of their versions, are utterly unworthy of credit. The high priest Simon the Just, the favourite hero of Jewish traditions, died in'292; an event that is said to have been announced by prodigies, and which the nation had cause to lament, while groaning under his unworthy successors. He completed the Canon of the Ancient Scriptures, which has never since been changed. About this time the sects of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, assumed their peculiar distinctions. PERSIA. The safe retreat of the Ten Thousand, and the subsequent victories of Agesilaus, revealed the weakness of this monarchy: but the union of the Athenian and Persian fleets under Conon, and the defeat of the Spartans near Cnidus, had neutralized those events, when the peace of Antalcidas again restored to Persia its supremacy over Asia, and inflicted on Sparta a deep disgrace. Artaxerxes II. failed in recovering Egypt (374), so little could his barbarian hosts achieve without Grecian troops and generals. The court was under the control of women; each satrap was at war with his neighbour; and disputes about the succession had nearly produced the downfal of the empire thirty years before the battle of Arbela. Ochus mounted the throne and assumed the name of his father, 358 B.c.; and though insurrections in Asia Minor and extensive rebellions in Phcenicia, Egypt, and Cyprus, disturbed his reign, he nevertheless, with the help of Greek mercenaries, reduced Egypt once more to a Persian province (350). Returning to his own capital, he resigned himself to luxury, as if desirous to allay the pangs of conscience; for he had scarcely assumed the regal tiara before he massacred one hundred and fifty of his relations, besides a great number of the nobility. He was himself poisoned by his favourite, Bagoas, who promoted the king's youngest son to the throne, 338, but soon after murdering him with all his family, he set up in his place the unfortunate Darius III. Codomannus, by whom the invasion of Alexander was ably opposed. After several bloody battles, the last of which was fought on the well-known field of Arbela (331 B. c.), the destiny of the empire was sealed, and Darius, whose virtues entitled him to a better fate, shortly afterwards perished by assassination. THIRD CENTURY B.C. 95 THIRD CENTURY. ROME.-280, Pyrrhus. —264, First Punic War.-256, Regulus in Afrtca.218, Second Punic War.-216, Canne.-202, Zama. GREECE.-280, Achaean League.-279, Gallic Invasion.-226, Cleomenes.206, Philopcemen. MACEDON.-294, Demetrius Poliorcetes.-286, Lysimachus.-221, Philip V. EGYPT.-283, Ptolemy Philadelphus.-270, Septuagint Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.-256, Parthia-Arsaces. INVENTIONS, &c.-269, First silver money coined at Rome.-264, The Parian Chronicle.-263, Parchment.-250, Clepsydra.-220, Burning-glasses. LITERATURE, &c.-Euclid, Archimedes, Theocritus, Manetho-Plautus, d. 183. ROME. PYRRHUS, 280-275 B. c.-After subjugating the Latins and Samnites, the Romans turned their arms against the Tarentines, who, unable to defend themselves, applied to the King of Epirus for assistance. Tarentum was a Lacedaemonian colony of the eighth century B. c., established at the same period with many other towns in the southern parts of the Italian peninsula, hence called Magna Graecia. These cities, which had made rapid advances in wealth and power, had also attained some eminence in science, literature, and philosophy. Crotona was immortalized by the presence and instructions of Pythagoras, to whom the real system of the universe was not unknown; while Herodotus and Lysias were among the founders of Thurium. The Eleatic school of philosophy, the parent of so much genius and virtue, was first formed in Magna Graecia, where history and poetry were cultivated with an ardour worthy of their birth. The celebrated laws of Zaleucus of Locris continued in force two centuries; but the progress of the Tarentines in luxury, which led to their ruin, was not less rapid than their advances in literature and refinement. Involved in a contest with the Romans, they demanded the aid of the military talents of Pyrrhus. He came to their assistance with 30,000 men, and success at first crowned his efforts on the fields of Heraclea and Asculum, but after six years he was compelled to yield to the ascendency of Rome. Leaving the Tarentines to their own resources, he returned to his native country, where he perished by an unworthy death, 272. The fall of their capital in the following year decided the fate of Southern Italy. PUNIC WARS, 264 B. c.-Seven years after the reduction of Magna Graecia, the First Punic War broke out, and Sicily became the theatre of the earliest struggle between Rome and Carthage. Syracuse, the capital of the island, was of Corinthian origin,-the most celebrated of all the cities that were founded by the Greeks. It had reached the height of political and literary renown about a century previous to the breaking out of the Punic Wars. The single name of Archimedes would have immortalized it. Epicharmus was the model of Plautus, and Theocritus, the first of pastoral poets, has been closely imitated by Virgil. So great, indeed, was the estimation in which learning was held, that even the tyrant Dionysius was its patron, and a competitor tor its envied honours. The First Punic War was begun in defence of 96 ANCIENT HISTORY. an act of flagrant injustice, and to protect a band of murderous savages The Mamertines, a mercenary body of Italian soldiers, after serving'n the armies of Agathocles, had taken forcible possession of the city of Messana, and put all the inhabitants to the sword, 280. The Syracusans and the Carthaginians united to punish them, upon which the terrified criminals applied to the Romans for support. The pretext for war was eagerly seized on, as, independently of the hatred existing between the rival republics, it was necessary to remove a powerful enemy from the neighbourhood of Southern Italy, which had been so recently conquered. Preliminary Observations. The defeat of Pyrrhus and the subjugation of Magna Grecia, with the definitive submission of Samnium and Etruria, had reduced beneath the Roman sway all Italy from the Arno to the Straits of Messina. The Roman name began to attract attention and to be treated with respect; the constitution was in its utmost vigour; and a chain of military colonies, the nurseries of hardy and experienced soldiers, held the conquered nations in awe from north to south. Such was the state of Rome: nor was that of Carthage in any respect inferior at the breaking out of these celebrated wars-called Punic, from the Paeni, or Phoenicians, from whom the Carthaginians were descended. They are three in number:First, 264-241 B. c., by which the Carthaginians were compelled to evacuate Sicily and the Italian Isles. They suffered still more by the total exhaustion of their finances, and a civil commotion of three years and a half (240-237), terminated only by the heroism of Hamilcar, who sought the aid of the democracy against the power of the senate. Second, 218-202 B. c. Signalised by the rivalry of Hannibal and Scipio. The Romans conquered Spain, and Carthage was deprived of all her possessions out of Africa. Third, 149-146 B. c. Scipio AEmilianus, surnamed Africanus II., took and destroyed Carthage. FIRST PUNIC WAR, 264-241 B.C.-The great obstacle to carrying on this war was the want of a fleet, which the ingenuity of the Romans soon supplied; and, strange to relate, in the first naval battle, the consul Duillius defeated a nation long the mistress of the seas, 260. Scipio expelled the Carthaginians from Corsica, while Regulus transferred the seat of war from Sicily to Africa, where he was defeated, and taken prisoner by the superior skill of Xantippus, a Lacedaemonian general. The torments inflicted on the captive are said to be imaginary, and were invented solely to extenuate the Roman cruelty towards their prisoners, and to make it appear an act of retaliation. After various successes, in one of which off Drepanum (Trapani) the Romans lost ninety galleys, and 28,000 men killed or made prisoners, the Carthaginians met with a signal defeat on the western coast of Sicily, which terminated the war, 241. The conditions of peace were the surrender of that island and the payment of 2200 talents. The temple of Janus was now shut for the first time since the reign of Numa, 235 B. c. SECOND PUNIC WAR, 218-202 B. c.-The issue of the preceding war, while it exalted the Roman state and extended its influence abroad, increased also the power of the senate. Little breathing time was allowed to this warlike people. Their powerful navy was next employed in destroying the Illyrian pirates under a queen called Teuta; and thus, while their maritime superiority was preserved, their first political relations with Greece were formed. A dreadful war of six years next TIIRD CENTURY B. C. 97 ensued with the Transalpine Gauls, to oppose whom was ler.-ed an army said to amount to the almost incredible number of 700,000 infantry and 70,000 cavalry. The invaders had entered Etruria and cut to pieces 50,000 men near Clusium, when the victory near Telamo (225) saved Rome. Northern Italy was soon after compelled to submit, and the conquest of Istria and Illyria, in 219, opened the way to Greece. This war had scarcely ceased when the Romans were called upon to defend their country against one of the most remarkable generals of ancient times. Hannibal was the sworn enemy of Rome, even from his youth. He succeeded in the command of the army in Spain, to his father, the great Hamilcar, and to Hasdrubal, Hamilcar's son-in-law. At the age of twenty-six, he captured the city of Saguntum in alliance with the Romans, and in a short time completed the conquest of the Peninsula. A second war between the two nations now broke out, in which Hannibal, adopting the policy of the enemy, carried the war into the heart of their country. By a rapid march he crossed the Pyrenees. the Rhone, and the Alps,* and with little more than 30,000 men, defeated the consul Scipio at the Ticinus. Again at the Trebia he vanquished Sempronius; at the lake Trasimenus he routed Flaminius; and so eagerly were the combatants engaged that a great earthquake, which overthrew many cities in Italy, was by them quite unperceived. At the great battle of Cannae, 216, he was again victorious, and left 70,000 of the enemy dead on the field. This triumph threw all the south of Italy into his hands; but Rome was too powerful to be overthrown even by such a terrible reverse. While the Carthaginian army was wintering in the luxurious Capua, the senate was occupied in raising new troops, conciliating allies, and carrying on a successful war in Sicily, Spain, Sardinia, and Greece. Marcellus inflicted two severe checks upon Hannibal near Nola, and the latter, shortly after, while menacing Rome, lost Capua and Tarentum, 209. His brother Hasdrubal, marching to his assistance with 60,000 men, was worsted and slain near the Metaurus; and after keeping possession of Italy fifteen years, during which neither money nor assistance reached him from home, he was recalled to oppose the armies of Scipio. The fate of Carthage was sealed at Zama, where Hannibal was defeated. Rigorous terms of peace were imposed on the vanquished city: all her foreign possessions were to be given up,-her munitions and ships of war to be surrendered,-a tribute of 10,000 talents to be paid in fifty years, and she was bound to engage in no war without the consent of Rome, 202 B. c. Hannibal, on his return, was placed as supreme magistrate at the head of the republic; and so great were the reforms he introduced into the finances, that ten years had scarcely elapsed before Carthage was enabled to furnish at once the whole of the tribute which she had engaged to pay by instalments. The Barcine faction to which he belonged was dominant; that of Hanno was powerless. Already he meditated a vast confederacy of the world against Rome, when he was demanded by her ambassadors. Compelled to flee from his native * Hannibal's march across the Alps has called forth nearly a hundred different accounts. The most probable routes are those of the Little St. Bernard, Mount Genevre, or Mount Cenis. The dissertation of Messrs. Cramer and Wickhatn appear to prove that the first must claim the honour of Hannibal's passage. The reader will smile at the account of the softening the rocks by the joint action of fire and vinegar, or esteem it an extra vagant metaphor, expressive of the ardour and impetuosity of the invading army. 9 98 ANCIENT HISTORY. country, he took refuge with Antiochus of Syria; he afterwards retired to Crete, and then to Bithynia, where, finding that Prusias the king was about to betray him to his enemies, he took poison, of which he died, 183 B. c., in the 65th year of his age. About the same period Scipio, his great rival, expired in retirement at Linternum. The conquest of Magna Grrecia, and the intercourse with Sicily, brought Rome into contact with the philosophy and literature of Greece at a period when they had reached their highest perfection. A rapid and almost unparalleled improvement was the consequence. An immediate change took place in the language; its barbarisms suddenly disappeared, and Latin became a comparatively polished tongue. The power of Rome was also greatly increased by the result of the Punic War. Her dominion extended over foreign countries, and the destruction of the Carthaginian navy left her without a rival on the sea. She had now become also a great military republic, and began henceforward t aspire to universal dominion,-an object rendered easier by the degeneracy of the people in foreign states. State of Europe and Asia at the end of the First Punic War. The Roman dominion and influence prevailed from the north to the south of Italy, in Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, and on all the northern coast of Africa, and began to be felt also in Greece and in the East. At this epoch there were only three powers capable of making a vigorous resistance against the conquerors of Carthage. These were1. Greece, in which these various nations still formed a strong barrier: The fierce.Etolians, the members of the Achcean League, and the Boeotians. 2. Macedonia, defended by its lofty mountains, and formidable on account of its courageous and active population. 3. Syria, the most powerful of the kingdoms which rose upon the ruins of Alexander's empire; but the kings posterior to Seleucus passed an effeminate life; the example spread from the court to the army, and even the Romans were tainted by it during their war with Antiochus. Prepare: Map of the Roman dominions. Trace: Rout of Hannibal and his campaigns from the siege of Saguntum till he quitted Italy. GREECE AND MACEDON. THE extensive ant rapid victories of Alexander terminated in the murder of all his family, and the usurpation of his throne. The battle of Ipsus in Phtygia decided the fate of the various competitors. Macedon feK to the share of Cassander, but he enjoyed his sovereignty only three years; and he was shortly after followed to the tomb by Philip, his successor. The two remaining sons disputed the throne, when Antipater murdered his own mother Thessalonice, for the partiality she manifested towards his younger brother. ^ Each now applied to foreigners for help: Antipater to his father-in-father law Lysimachus of Thrace, and Alexander to Demetrius Poliorcetes, by whom he was shortly afterwards put to death. The army proclaimed Demetrius king, and in his person the house of Antigonus ascended the throne of Macedonia. His seven years' government was a constant series of wars; and being dethroned by Pyrrhus, he died a prisoner in the hands of his son-in-law Seleucus, 283 B.c. Lysimachus of Thrace expelled the ruler of Epirus after a brief reign of one year; but he was soon involved in a war with Seleucus Nicator in which he lost his life, 281. The monarch of Asia now assumed the title of king of Macedonia; hut shortly after he had crossed over to his new dominions, he fell t y the THIRD CENTURY B. C. 99 aand of Ceraunus, brother of the Egyptian sovereign. The assassin:,ad scarcely secured the throne before he lost his life in battle against the invading Gauls, 279. Antigonus Gonatas, son of Poliorcetes, who now assumed the vacant throne, was deposed by Pyrrhus; but after his death, he recovered his dominions, which he and his family possessed until the Roman conquest. lie died in his eightieth year, and was succeeded by his son, Demetrius II., 243. Philip V. ascended the throne after the usurpation of Doson, 221. At the early age of sixteen he displayed many of the qualities that form a great prince; he participated in the war between the iEtolian and Achaean leagues; and ratified a treaty with Hannibal against the Romans. Many things concurred to prevent both parties from acting upon this agreement, and finally a general peace was concluded in 204. During this century the Gauls or Celts, who had established themselves in Pannonia 300 years before, threatened Greece with invasion. Two expeditions were unsuccessful, but the third, under Brennus II., overran Macedonia, and penetrated as far as Delphi, where a dreadful storm having thrown their army into-confusion, they were attacked and routed by the Greeks. Another party, continuing their march towards the East, supported the claims of Nicomedes to the throne of Bithynia, and settled in the province called from them Galatia, or Gallo-Graecia. ATHENS, on the death of Alexander, made some vain endeavours to recover her liberty, which ended in the imposition of a more grievous yoke. To regain their freedom the cities of Achaea revived the ancient confederacy, named the ACHJEAN LEAGUE, —a union of several small republics in Achaia, bound together on the footing of perfect equality. Their constitution was so renowned as to be adopted by several other Grecian cities. This coalition was dissolved in the commotions subsequent to the death of Alexander. In 280, it was partially revived, but did not become formidable till the accession of foreign states (243-229). Many great names appear in connexion with it; such as the virtuous Aratus, Philopcemen, and Lycortas. The Romans endeavoured to excite quarrels between the different members, with the view of checking their rising power; yet Philopcemen, the last of the Greeks, maintained their dignity, at the very time when the Romans presumed to speak as arbitrators. He was taken prisoner by the Messenians, and poisoned at the age of seventy; and the venal Callicrates who could hear unmoved " the very boys in the streets taunt him with treachery," became his successor. The conquest of Macedonia led- to the destruction of the Achaean League. Above 1000 of the most eminent members were summoned to Rome, 167, and kept in prison seventeen years without a hearing; and when at length they were allowed to return home, they excited a war against the common enemy. Their heroic efforts proved vain against dishonesty within and the powerful arms of Rome without. With the taking of Corinth vanished the last hopes of Grecian independencc, and under the title of Achaia the country lost even its name, 146 B. c. EGYPT. THE PTOLEMIES.-Ptolemy I., 323 B. c., the son of Lagus and supposed brother of Alexander, was governor of Egypt, which title he 100 ANCIENT HISTORY. changed for that of king after the battle of Ipsus, 301. He wished to form a state on the model of Greece, and with that design beautified. Alexandria, and laid the foundations of its celebrated library. His empire increased every day in wealth, learning, and civilisation. It is said of him that he never went to war without necessity, and that he was always successful. He was named Soter (Deliverer) by the Rhodians, whom he had protected against the attacks of Demetrius Poliorcetes, 304. His son, the second of the name, who had ascended the throne in 286 as joint-king, became sole monarch two years after. It was in irony that he was styled Philadelphus, having put one brother to death and banished another. In the patronage he bestowed upon learning, he excelled even his father: at his court were entertained the astronomer-poet Aratus; the grammarians Aristophanes and Aristarchus; Theocritus, and Lycophron the celebrated commentator; the historian Manetho; the mathematicians Conon, Euclid, and Hipparchus; Callimachus and Zenodotus, the latter famous for his notes on Homer. By his order the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures was prepared; the lighthouse of the Pharos erected; and the canal between the Nile and the Red Sea cleared out. Ptolemy III., 246, trod in the steps of his father and grandfather; his grateful subjects styled him Euergetes (the Benefactor). Before his death in 221, his government extended to Cyrene, as well as over Ccele-Syria, Phoenicia, Lycia, Caria, and Cyprus in the north. Egypt was singularly fortunate in having three great kings in succession. The change which ensued was produced in the natural course of events, for it was impossible that a prosperous court should remain untainted by luxury. Ptolemy IV. Philopator, a debauched and cruel monarch, was ruled by crafty favourites, who likewise endeavoured to maintain their power during the early part of the reign of the youthful Ptolemy V. surnamed Epiphanes; but the nation, to avoid the dangers impending from the attacks of the Macedonian and Syrian monarchs, intrusted the regency to the senate of Rome, 202. The internal government of Egypt appears latterly to have been in most respects similar to that of ancient times. The division into nomes continued; the regal power was limited; the priestly caste with their ancient forms of religion still existed. Under Ptolemy II. Egypt was inferior to Rome alone. Theocritus, probably with the exaggeration of a poet, speaks of its 33,000 cities; at all events, it was the greatest mercantile nation then existing. By its caravans and its fleet of merchant-ships, it collected in its warehouses the silks and spices of India, the purple of Phoenicia, the precious metals of Spain and Thrace, and the ivory of Ethiopia. The revenue, without including the corn-tax, which was paid in kind, amounted to 14,800 silver talents (aboLut four millions sterling). Consult: Sharpe's Egypt under the Ptolemies. PARTHIA LIES between Media and Aria, southward from Hyrcania. The tyranny of the Syrian viceroy, Agathocles, drove the inhabitants into rebellion. Arsaces, by his military talents, raised himself to power, and with him begins the numerous family of the Arsacidae, 256 B. c. The Euphrates, the Indus, and the Caspian Sea soon became the boundaries of the kingdom, remarkable in history for little more than its obstinate wars against the Romans, in one of which Crassus was defeated and killed, 53 B. c. His death was avenged some years after SECOND CENTURY B.C. 101 wards by the consul Ventidius; but Julian the Apostate, despising the lessons of experience, invaded the country and perished with a numerous army. The regal power was extinguished by the Sassanides, A. D. 226. This empire was divided into satrapies, and contained several small tributary kingdoms, with some Graco-Macedonian settlements. The constitution was monarchical and aristocratic. The supremacy of the Parthians, a people jealous of all strangers, interrupted the commerce between the East and West, until a new route was opened by Palmyra and Alexandria. SECOND CENTURY. RorME.-197, Battle of Cynoscephalae.-190, Defeat of Antiochus the Great. -168, Battle of Pydna.-146, Corinth and Carthage burnt.-133, Fall of Numantia.-133 and 121, Gracchi.-111, Jugurthine War.-102, Cimbric War. JUD.EA.-166, Judas Maccabaeus.-130, Independent.-106, Aristobulus. INVENTIONS, &C.-190, Pumps by Hero of Alexandria.-142, Precession of Equinoxes, Latitude and Longitude, Spherical Trigonometry, by Hipparchus. LITERATURE.-Polybius, Aristarchus, Bion and Moschus, Ennius, Terence. ROME. MACEDON REDUCED.-The fortunate conclusion of the Second Punic War had inspired the Romans with a desire of subjugating the world. Hostilities were declared against Philip in spite of the opposition of the tribunes, and the artful Quintius Flamininus was sent against him. Much political ingenuity was displayed by these two commanders, but at length Quintius succeeded in gaining over the Achaean League, assisted by whose cavalry he utterly routed his antagonist at the battle of Cynoscephalae, 197 B. c. The treaty which followed, besides confining the king to the boundaries of Macedon, imposed a tribute of 1000 talents, and stipulated for the surrender of his fleet, as well as for the reduction of his army to 500 men. Roman commissioners now filled the country; but the troops were not withdrawn from the states which had been declared free at the national festival of the Isthmian games. SYRIAN WAR.-Antiochus III. of Syria was the only remaining enemy in any degree formidable to the Romans. His dominions extended from the east of Persia to Asia Minor, and he was meditating the conquest of Egypt, when the Roman intervention was solicited in favour of Ptolemy V. Some time after, Antiochus undertook to reduce Caria and Lydia, and had crossed the Hellespont to seize on the Thracian Chersonese. At this time Hannibal, who had fled to him for refuge, offered, at the head of 10,000 men, to transfer the war to Italy. Had this proposal been adopted, the result of the contest might have been different. To avert the impending danger, Rome gained over to her interest Eumenes of Pergamus, whose fears had been excited by the power of Antiochus. The vanity of the Greeks was flattered more than ever; Philip of Macedon was easily won over; and the fidelity of the Bceotians and Acheeans was assured. The importance attached to this war 9* 102 ANCIENT HISTORY. was such, that the consul Cornelius forbade the senators to be absent from Rome more than one day at a time. Antiochus commanded his army in person. He had been led to expect that all Greece would rise at his approach, but he was joined by only two or three of the smaller tribes. At Thermopylae, Cato, by a bold movement, gained the passage defended by the Syrian army, which was utterly routed, Antiochus himself scarcely halting until he reached the Asiatic continent, 191. His rear was closely pressed by the Roman legions, under the command of L. Scipio, whose brother, Africanus, was then serving as his lieutenant. The defeat at Magnesia in 190, for ever broke the power of the Syrian empire, and the conditions of peace included the evacuation of Asia Minor, the surrender of Hannibal, and the payment of 15,000 talents. The king perished in attempting to plunder the temple of Elymais in Persia, 187 B. C. Syria remained a separate kingdom many years, and the throne was frequently an object of violent contention, until Pompey having defeated Mithridates and Tigranes, subdued Antiochus XI., and reduced the country to a Roman province, 65 B. c. PEPRsEus.-Fresh disputes arose with Macedon, but war did not break out until 172. The two sons of Philip were Demetrius and Perseus, the former of whom had been sent as a hostage to Rome. The policy of the senate succeeded in attaching this youth to the Roman interest, with the view of causing a disunion between the brothers. Hence Demetrius had hardly returned to Macedon before he was accused of endeavouring to assassinate Perseus. Philip, who had allowed himself to be prejudiced against his son, ordered him to be put to death, and died himself some time after under the tortures of a guilty conscience. To ascend the throne by the murder of a prince befriended by Rome, was almost equivalent to a declaration of war against the republic. But all the efforts of Roman policy were required to prevent the formation of a powerful confederacy in the East. A deceitful truce was resorted to for gaining time; and at first the war was favourable to Perseus. At length, wearied by the slow progress of hostilities, and contrary to their usual custom, the republicans sent an old general, Paulus JEmilius, against him. The bloody and decisive battle near Pydna, 168 B. C., showed how easily a kingdom may be overturned which has only an army for its support. Perseus, after being led in triumph, was starved in prison: Macedonia was now divided into four governments; and the inhabitants were forbidden to marry, or to purchase property out of their district, under pain of death. Their goldmines were no longer to be worked, all commerce with foreigners was prohibited, and as if to insult the unfortunate, they were declared free. An adventurer, Andriscus, pretending to be the son of Perseus, placed himself at the head of the disaffected; but he was overcome by Metellus, and the native country of Alexander submitted finally to the arms of Rome, 146 B. c. CONQUEST OF GREECE.-The Greeks perceived when too late the error they had committed in demanding Roman aid against Macedon. The members of the Achaean league still made head against the ambitious barbarians, but their utmost efforts and heroism proved vain. At Thermopylae, and again at the Isthmus, the fortune of Italy prevailed. Corinth was taken by Mummius, who, after countenancing the most SECOND CENTURY B.C. 103 revolting cruelties, burnt the city to the ground, 146. Greece now also became a tributary province under the name of Achaia. THIRD PUNIc WAR.-This war originated in domestic faction. Cato, envious of the great influence possessed by Scipio Nasica in the senate, was offended by the coldness with which he had been received as ambassador at Carthage; and the disputes with Masinissa were made the preesxt for hostilities, 149. The Romans, after claiming all their ships of war, ordered the Carthaginians to quit their city, and build another in the interior. So imperious a command was not obeyed; despair furnished them with arms; the women cut off their hair to weave cordage for the ships, and gave their ornaments as a contribution towards the defence of their country. During three years the devoted city held out; but-at length the younger Scipio JEmilianus obtained a footing within its walls. For six days more the inhabitants maintained an obstinate resistance,-every inch of ground was defended with desperation; and in the end, setting fire to the town, they perished in the ruins. Seventeen days the conflagration continued, and the conqueror, it is said, wept at the dreadful sight. Thus perished the mistress of the sea, the most formidable rival of Rome, 146 B. c. The city was more than twenty miles in circumference, contained 700,000 inhabitants, and its wealth may be estimated by the plunder collected by Scipio, amounting to ~1,500,000.* SPANISH WAR. —In Spain, also, the Roman arms had proved victorious. This region was originally possessed by Celts and Iberians, a brave and independent race, whose descendants still survive on the shores of Biscay. The rich mines of gold and silver excited the cupidity of the Romans, but so courageously was the country defended, that seventy years elapsed ere its conquest was effected. Carthage had never possessed more than the coast and Betica; the interior and the west were protected by the mountains so favourable to that species of warfare in which the Spaniards excel. The contest began with the revolt of the Seditani, 200 B. c. They were soon crushed; and after three years' tranquillity the senate was alarmed by the news of a general insurrection, and the defeat of the praetor Sempronius. Cato cruelly retaliated by destroying 400 towns in one day; but Paulus Emilius, afterwards so famous in Macedon, lost 6000 men, whose fate he revenged by the slaughter of 20,000 Spaniards in the following year. Successive battles under different generals took place, until Sempronius Gracchus, who was four times victorious, concluded a favourable treaty, 179. Other successes gained by Posthumius compelled the Lusitanians to lay down their arms. After a long peace, only interrupted by two revolts which were easily quelled, the Celtiberians, now weary of inaction, defeated Calpurnius Piso, routed A. Fulvius Nobilior, with the loss of 6000 men, and destroyed his army at Numantia, 153. Mummius, and the consul Marcellus, were scarcely more fortunate. Alarmed by such repeated misfortunes, the Romans regarded Spain as the tomb of their legions. The victories were dearly purchased; men refused to be enrolled for this interminable war; and the province would have been lost but for the courage of Scipio A;milianus, son of Paulus * It has been conjectured that the city of Timbuctoo may have been founded by Car thaginians who escaped from the conflagration of their city. 104 ANCIENT HISTORY. Emilius, and adopted grandchild of Scipio Africanus. Lucullus ana (alba were unsuccessful in all but their plans to enrich themselves the latter, by an atrocious massacre of 30,000 unarmed men, made the name of his country an object of execration throughout the Peninsula. A shepherd, named Viriathus, who had escaped from this slaughter, put himself at the head of a small body of partisans. The fame of his expl:oits having brought together a numerous army, he defeated the prietor sent against him, 149 B.c. Four generals were successively foiled by this skilful leader; but the temporizing tactics of the consul Fabius }Emilianus proVed a match for him. Metellus Macedonicus restored the reputation of the Roman arms in Celtiberia; still in Lusitania, Viriathus defeated a new proconsul, and afterwards the consul himself near Ituca. The exhaustion of both parties led to a peace, most humiliating on the part of Rome, which was only a snare, as the consul Capio took up arms as soon as he knew that the allies were separated and their troops disbanded. Viriathus still resisted, when the invader, unable to attain his ends by other means, corrupted two of the officers of that brave commander, who assassinated him in his tent, 141 B. C. With his death ended the war in Lusitania, only to break out more fiercely in Celtiberia; it was no longer confined to the mountains, for Numantia became the second terror of the Romans. The consul Mancinus was beaten in every encounter, and obliged to retreat in disgrace, after concluding an ignominious treaty, which the senate, ever unfaithful in such cases, refised to ratify. Scipio lEmilianus, who ten years before had destroyed Carthage, was nominated to conclude this war. He blockaded Numantia, and surrounded it with a double line of fortifications; the one to repel the sallies from the town, the other to oppose any attempts that might be made to raise the siege. At last, reduced by famine and disease to a very small number, the inhabitants set fire to their houses and perished in the flames, 133 B. c., upon which the Romans took possession of a desolate and ruined city.-The reader will not fail to remark the extraordinary perseverance with which the Spaniards, both in ancient and modern history, have defended their besieged cities. It is unnecessary to mention more than three names,Saguntum, Numantia, and Saragosa. In the army of Scipio were two men who soon after became very celebrated, Jugurtha, grandson of Masinissa, king of Numidia, who commanded a body of auxiliaries, and Marius who was destined to vanquish him. CONQUEST OF CISALPINE GAUL.-The wars between the Gauls and Romans were at once sudden and destructive; and the senate soon became convinced that they could not safely leave such intrepid enemies in Upper Italy. These barbarians, discovering the error into which they had fallen in not seconding the designs of Hannibal, seized on a favourable moment for reviving the war. In the year 200 B. c., when the general attention was directed to the Macedonian contest, Rome was alarmed by the report of a Gallic tumult, for that was the name peculiarly applied to such invasions. Hamilcar was at the head of the united tribes, who took the town and colony of Placentia, which he burnt to the ground. Cremona was threatened with a similar fate, when the assailants were attacked by the consular army, and routed with the loss of 35,000 men, including their general. Seventy stand n-ds, 200 war-chariots, and all the booty that had been collected 1, SECOND CENTURY B.C. 105 them, fell into the hands of the conquerors. The succeeding years, marked with the usual alternations of success and defeat, produced an excessive loss of life on both sides; the Romans, however, gained ground, owing to the greater regularity with which they pursued their plans. In 194 B.C., a more vigorous effort was made, but the two consuls were obliged to return unsuccessful. The population of Northern Italy, meanwhile, was gradually decreasing, when a number of the more influential families who bore the Gallic name, submitted to the consuls; one of whom, Q. Flamininus, desirous of pleasing a young friend who had accompanied him from Rome, smote to the ground and stabbed a noble Boian who had fled to him for safety. ight years elapsed before he was punished for this crime, under the rigorous censorship of Cato. Many generous efforts were still made by the Boians, although disunited; but in 191 they were defeated by the consul Scipio Nasica, and lost 20,000 men. Proud of his success, he committed the most horrible ravages, and dared to boast, when claiming the honours of a triumph, that he had left none alive of the Boian race except the old men and children. Unable any longer to contend against a cruel enemy, and too proud to live dependent in their native country, they crossed the Norican Alps to seek a refuge on the banks of the Danube, in the year 190 B.C. CONQUEST OF LIGURIA.-The Gallic and Ligurian insurrections were the great military schools of the Roman legions. Livy observes that after the destruction of the Boians, the Ligurians appeared reserved by Providence to maintain the discipline of the soldiers during the intervals between the more regular wars. Their resistance lasted thirty years, beginning with the massacre of the pretor's escort in 189. For several seasons the two consuls were sent into Liguria, one of whom, M. Popilius Laenas, in 173, besieged Carystum, which surrendered on favourable conditions. These were not, however, respected; the inhabitants were deprived of their arms, their city was destroyed, themselves sold as slaves, and their goods put up to auction. Even the senate was shocked at this atrocious conduct, and gave orders for the liberation of the people, and the restoration of their property. Popilius disobeyed the decree, and preserving his command as proconsul in the next year, provoked a universal rising of the Ligurian tribes. The indignation at Rome was at its height, and the tribunes of the people, with the concurrence of the senate, declared that if on the first of August there remained one Statiellian unliberated, the author of the crime should be sought out and punished. The new consuls replaced Popilius, and he was saved from the menaced judgment by intrigue and influence; yet he had massacred 20,000 innocent persons! The last struggle, which soon afterwards began, continued nearly four years. Each summer two armies and two consuls were required, in the words of Florus, "to break that stone on which the Roman people had for so long a time sharpened their swords," 163 B. C. Istria, which had been conquered in 221, recovered its liberty during the Second Punic War, but it was again reduced under the yoke of Rome a few years before the subjugation of Liguria. One circumstance alone in the campaign deserves mention, for all these wars against the;ndependent tribes of Gallic or German origin, are but a repetition of 106 ANCIENT HISTORY. similar atrocities. Alpulo and the principal Istrian chiefs had been dliven from place to place until they took refuge in the strong town of Nesactum. C. Claudius Pulcher immediately laid siege to it, and finding himself impeded in his operations by the river Arsia, which supplied the besieged with water, succeeded in turning it into a new channel. The barbarians, struck with terror at the drying up of the stream, without demanding terms of surrender, killed their wives and children on the ramparts in sight of the enemy, and flung them over into the ditches. In the midst of this frightful slaughter the Roman soldiers scaled the walls and penetrated into the city. The king killed himself with his own sword to avoid falling alive into the hands of the enemy; the survivors surrendered or were slain. The possession of Istria secured the dominion over the Adriatic; while the conquest of Sardinia and Corsica gave the Romans two important posts in the Mediterranean. The former island was reduced by Sempronius, the father of the Gracchi; and so great a number of captives was brought to Rome that Sardi venales (Sardinians for sale) became a proverb to designate any considerable quantity of articles for which it was difficult to find purchasers. Internal Condition of Rome. With the termination of those great wars, which may be said to have compromised the safety of Rome, began the internal dissensions which had been suspended in the presence of a foreign enemy; and that city, now become the mistress of the world, was doomed to be torn asunder by the strife of rival factions. After the fall of Carthage, the people, noble and plebeian, enriched by the spoil of empires, were desirous in their turn to taste the luxuries of the East; and hence an unrestrained voluptuousness suddenly appeared in the city, bringing with it the most frightful depravity. In many of the nobler minds this seduction commenced with the externals of Greek civilisation. Scipio Africanus, in particular, affected the Athenian manners, and thtus excited the indignation of his quaestor Cato. Flamininus, Metellus, A milius, Fabius, and other patricians, followed the example of Scipio; and to defend themselves against the assertors of the ancient manners, they united by adoptions and intermarriages, and thus began that faction which so long controlled the senate itself, and endeavoured to take away many of the popular privileges. Their pride and strength may be gathered from the defence made by Fabius in behalf of his son-in-law, who had been declared guilty of treason:-He is not guilty, for he married my daughter. Cato alone dared to resist, and attacked their chief, having instigated the tribunes to summon him to render an account of the various sums of money he had received. The result of this strugglejs unknown; but it appears certain that Africanus, after momentarily triumphing over the tribunitial power, was compelled to retire to Linternum, where he died. In 195 the Roman matrons, displeased with the severity of the Oppian law,* succeeded in procuring its abrogation in despite of the exertions of Cato. Ten years after, it became evident that the intercourse with Greece and the East had introduced into Rome many dangerous innovations. Numerous crimes, the work of unknown hands, had excited terror throughout the city, when the senate discovered that an obscure superstition, the orgies of Bacchus, had been mysteriously communicated, and that this worship, whose rites were prostitution and the murder of those who refused to submit to infamy, already counted numerous partisans. The greatest precautions were taken to convict the criminals, and many women, who had been initiated into these dlsgracefu; mysteries, were secretly put to death in their own houses. * By the Oppian law women were forbidden to wear more than half an ounce of gola to have party-coloured garments, or to be carried about in any city or town, except in the case of certain festivals. SECOND CENTURY B.C. 107 The last effort against the increasing depravity and corruption was the nomination of Cato to the censorship. While in this office he expelled several members of the senate, and among others the Q. Flamininus mentioned above. He established many sumptuary regulations; taxed private carriages, and numerous articles of dress; cut off all the private conduits which were fed by the public fountains; demolished the buildings which encroached on the public way; and by his financial changes greatly increased the revenues of the state. Luxury at home could only be supported by injustice abroad, and accordingly we find the provinces on all sides appealing to the senate against the exactions of their governors. The Sicilian deputies said they would rather be swallowed up in Etna than have Marcellus a second time to rule over them. Spain, from its containing silver mines, was made a scene of plunder by its numerous praetors. Greece met with no better fate; both its temples and private houses being pillaged. When Anicius pacified Epirus and Illyria, 150,000 of the natives were sold into slavery, and all their cities dismantled. A thirst of distinction appeared among the great, who disdained to be confounded in the crowd of their fellow-nobles. Victorious generals, assuming the names of the countries they had subdued, were called Africanus, Asiaticus, Macedonicus, and such like. Public offices were now become so lucrative, that the higher ranks sought them with avidity. The villian law, which fixed the age at which these could be filled; a law passed in 181 against the corrupt practices preceding an election; the consular law of 159 against bribery,-were nugatory. The Sabinian law of 139 provided for the purity of election. Four new tribunals, under the name of Quastiones Perpetue, were established to inquire into all cases of extortion, bribery, or peculation; but the judges participated in the disorders which it was their duty to punish, and shamelessly sold their decisions. Before the various public offices were opened to the plebeians, there had been a continual and frequently a bloody struggle between the patricians and the popular leaders; but the plebeian families, which became illustrious from the stations filled by their members, were at last confounded with the higher order, and formed with them an aristocracy so much the more dangerous as it comprehended many whose ancestors had long contended for popular privileges. The plebeians themselves were altered. Decimated by continual wars, the plebs, which now crowded the forum, was a confused medley of Italians and freedmen mingled with the ancient Romans, who had lost all traces of their former dignity by misery and association with those whose bodies were free, but whose minds yet retained the feelings of slaves. Such a populace was little respected or feared by the senate; still, so long as external enemies remained to be encountered, the people were relieved by the founding of numerous colonies. In 197, fifteen hundred families were settled in five towns of Campania and Etruria; three years later six new colonies were formed in Lucania and Bruttium; and thirteen others between 192 and 175. Gratuitous distributions of corn were made at Rome, and all usury was forbidden by the tribunes But the exertions of the senate were not the less directed to the depression of the plebeian influence in the government. In 176, the censors confined the populace to the four lowest tribes; and eight years afterwards one of these four was made to contain all whose landed possessions were not of the value of 30,000 sesterces, about ~240 sterling. By degrees the senators usurped the whole executive powers of the government; and the knights, whom they refused to consider as a new order, were their sole antagonists. The richest Romans formed this class, which was open to nobles and plebeians, provided they were possessed of the requisite pecuniary qualification. Placed between the senate and the people, the Equites or Knights meditated a separation from both, and the formation of a distinct order in the state. When almost too late the senate repented of their alienation from this powerful intermediate body. The disorders of the government were increased by the defective harvests of 144 and 143, and by the absence of all colonization during more than thirty years, beginning with 168 B. c. The only resource left to the impoverished multitude was to enter the service of the patricians or of the wealthy knights; but thtse classes preferred slave-labour, and besides, the example of Cato had 108 ANCIENT HISTORY. been extensively imitated; arable land was generally changed into pasturage as being more profitable. The poor were now reduced to the alternative ot death or of a revolution which might improve but certainly could not aggravate their condition. SERVILE WAR, 134-131.-The demands of the people were preceded by those of the bondmen. Slavery, that scourge of the East, had been extended over all Italy by the conquests of the Romans; for those who had subdued Greece and Carthage disdained the cultivation of the soil. Everywhere slave-labour had replaced that of the freeman; and the land was covered with an infinite number of those unfortunate wretches whom war had deprived of their liberty, or who had been kidnapped on the coasts of Thrace or Asia Minor. As has been ever the case, the severity and cruelty of the proprietors increased with the number of their victims. This led to a revolt, which broke out at Tauromenium, headed by the Syrian Eunus, a pretender to the gift of prophecy. Four praetors were successively defeated by these armed slaves, whose numbers soon increased to 200,000. At last, a consul was sent against them, and the success of Rupilius, aided by his prudent measures, terminated a revolt, which, if it had spread to Italy, might have compromised the safety of Rome. Had the slaves within the city acted in concert with those of Sicily, they easily would have crushed their masters, than whom they are said to have been ten times more numerous.* THE GRACCHI.-The revolt of the slaves menaced the existence of the state; while the revolution attempted by the Gracchi, nearly depriving the nobles of the power they had usurped, transferred it to the hands of the people. The horrible scenes enacted in the battle-field were now to be repeated in the streets of Rome; and we see the just retaliation upon the citizens of all the cruelties they had inflicted on the conquered nations. A warlike people are usually cruel, blood-thirsty, and ignorant of the value of human life. Tiberius Gracchus, grandson of Africanus, distinguished himself in Africa and in Spain, but the senate having refused to sanction his treaty with the Numantines, he placed himself at the head of the populace, and was elected to the tribunate. The deserted condition of Italy, which he had witnessed in his way to Spain, is said to have excited him to put an end toa state of things which threatened to deprive his country of her free inhabitants, and replace them by slaves. His project, previously entertained by Laelius the friend of Scipio, was to resume the public lands, leaving to the rich, who had usurped them, 500 acres for themselves individually, and 250 for each of their children; besides which, a compensation was to be made for the portion they were to surrender, that it might be *There is great difficulty in calculating the amount of the slave population in the R.man dominions. Mr. Blair, in his valuable treatise on " Slavery amongst the Romans," estimates that before the fall of Corinth, the proportion was one slave to every freeman, and from that period to Alexander Severus, as high as three to one. Many rich individuals counted their slaves by thousands. Scaurus possessed upwards of 8000; those of Crassus formed the bulk of his property. Their value affords a curious insight into Roman manners. The cook of Apicius was sold for ~772; a fool or jester for ~161:9:2; the slave actor, rendered famous by the pleading of Cicero, for ~1614: 11:8. He, as well as a good physician, a scribe, or a rhapsodist, was valuable for the emoluments le brought to his owner. Death was a frequent punishment; on one occasion upwards of 400 were executed because they had not prevented the murder of their maste Whips, thongs of bull's hide, iron collars, and such instruments, supplied the more colp mon punishments SECOND CENTURY B.C. 109 distributed in equal shares among the indigent citizens. Octavius the tribune put his veto upon this lenient measure of Gracchus, who immediately appealed to the people to procure the dismissal of the refractory magistrate. The agrarian laws were then carried, and proved, as might have been expected, not only a heavy blow to the senatorial party, but even fatal to the tranquillity of Rome. Tiberius was accused of aiming at the sovereignty, and was slain together with 300 of his partisans by Scipio Nasica and an armed body of the senators; but although others of his adherents were banished, his party did not cease to le formidable, as it comprised nearly the whole of the people. The partition of the lands was no longer opposed; and Scipio was compelled to leave the city, which he never again revisited. The conqueror of Carthage, surnamed IEmilianus, was chosen to carry the laws into execution, but he soon became unpopular, 129 B. c. CAIUS GRACCHUS, untaught by his brother's fate, pursued the same course of agitation. Not contented with reviving the laws of Tiberius, he wished to extend the freedom of the state to the Italian allies, and thus place the government at the control of any faction that could meet in sufficient numbers to keep possession of the place of assembly. He also attempted to fix a maximum price on corn, and to neutralize the senate by the addition of 600 members. Nor were his exertions confined to legislative changes: he re-established several colonies, built public granaries, and constructed broad, solid, and commodious roads throughout all Italy. His authority in the senate was almost monarchical; for being admitted to their deliberations, he was often consulted. His absence at Carthage, where a new city was erecting, furnished his enemies with the means of destroying his power. Compelled to take arms in self-defence, he with nearly 3000 followers perished in the streets, 121 B. c., leaving as a successor C. Marius, formed by birth and education to be the head of the Roman populace. REFLECTIONS. —The revolution attempted by the Gracchi was not overcome, it was merely retarded; and the violence with which the nobles opposed the measures of the reforming party was soon retaliated upon them. The consuls had stood aloof during the contest: the faction of the Great, as Sallust calls it, was superior even to the senate. The laws of the Gracchi were infringed; the gratuitous distribution of corn from the public granaries was much limited; and soon the agrarian laws themselves were repealed. The privileges of the knights were attacked by this all-powerful body, which between the years 121 and 107 B. c. proscribed all the new men, and allowed none to aspire to the consulate or the curule offices who did not belong to their ranks. Such violence provoked a reaction, and prepared the way for the cruelties of Marius, who had himself been a victim of the faction. He had been raised to the tribunate, by his patron Metellus, but finding himself unable to contend at the head of the people against the nobles, he sought elsewhere the credit and influence which he could not obtain at Rome. He was appointed the quaestor of Metellus in the Jugurthine War. JUGURTHINE WAR, 111 B. c.-Jugurtha the nephew of Masinissa, having seized the throne of Numidia and murdered his cousins, humanity, not less than policy, compelled the Romans to assist their ancient ally, and the usurper was declared a public enemy. His first efforts were successful, more by the influence of gold than the'force of arms; but Metellus first drove him out of his kingdom, and Marius, who ter10 110 ANCIENT HISTORY. minated the war, led him in triumph to a prison, where he was starved to death, 106 B. c. Consult: Sallust's Jugurthine War. CIMBRIC WAR, 102 B. c.-Scarcely had Marius returned from Numidia, when he was called to save Rome from the greatest perils she had encountered since the time of Hannibal. The Cimbri and the Teutones, issuing from the boundless forests of the North, menaced both Gaul and Italy with invasion. The Romans marched to the protection of their province, which already extended along the shores of the Gulf of Lyons from the Alps to the Pyrenees. Several consular armies were defeated, and ruin seemed impending over the capital when Marius was elected consul. This elevation, while it protected Rome from enemies without, served only to expose it to more imminent danger from within. His consulate was prolonged for three years, during which time he brought his army into the strictest discipline. Embracing a favourable opportunity, he met the Teutones at iquTa Sextia (Aix), and defeated them with terrible slaughter, 102. Hastily recrossing the Alps, he attacked the Cimbri at Vercelle, on the Sessites (Sesia), where victory declared in his favour, and 140,000 of the enemy lay dead on the plain, 101 B. c. The honours which Marius received for this triumph prove how great was the consternation at Rome. He was surnamed the Third Romulus; each citizen offered libations in his name; and he himself compared his exploits to those of Bacchus in his Indian campaigns. The conqueror signalized his first government by a very remarkable innovation. Down to this period the proletars, who constituted the lowest tribes, and were exempted on account of their poverty from all contributions to the state, had never been admitted into the Roman armies. Marius enrolled them; and these men, whose only means of support had too frequently been confined to the charity of the rich, now enjoyed a regular pay, and formed part of the military force of the nation. Having no ties to their country, they soon neglected Rome in favour of the chief who supplied them with booty, and from this moment the armies ceased to belong to the republic. JUDXEA AND SYRIA. THE MACCABEES. —Judaea successively acknowledged the supremacy of Egypt and Syria; and the battle of Ipsus, 301, in which Antigonus fell, threw it into the hands of Ptolemy Lagus, during whose reign the high priest Simon beautified Jerusalem and surrounded it with walls. It suffered severely in the wars of Antiochus the Great with the Egyptian monarchs. The Syrian king, surnamed Epiphanes, restrained by the Romans from pursuing his conquests in Egypt, revenged himself on Judaea, took the capital, slew 40,000 of its inhabitants, and led an equal number into captivity, 170 B. c. In 168, he issued a decree of extermination against the whole Jewish race, which was acted on by his willing minister Apollonius. The streets ran with blood, the city was plundered, and as the ceremonies of their religion were denounced, they could not be observed without danger. He next enjoined uniformity of worship, and the most dreadful penalties were inflicted upon those who did not profess the Grecian idolatry. Two mothers were thrown from the wall, with their infants at their necks, for having complied with the commands of the Mosaic Law; but the firmness inspired by true religion 1~ SECOND CENTURY B.C. 111 was never more strongly exemplified than during these persecutions. Seven brothers were brought out, and condemned to witness and to suffer in their mother's presence such tortures as the heart of man could scarcely devise: their tongues were cut out, their limbs mangled, the scalps torn from their heads, before they were consigned to the boiling caldron or the fire. The aged father himself, for Eleazar had passed his 90th year, went cheerfully to the torment, "to set an example to youth how to die for the honourable and holy laws." But when longer-forbearance would have been criminal, a race of heroes, the Maccabees,* arose, by whom the Syrians were driven from their country, 166. The enterprises of Judas Maccabaus were eminently successful: Apollonius, the governor of Samaria, was defeated and slain; as was also Seron, satrap of Cele-Syria. Antiochus hastily prepared to quell the insurrection, and a numerous army was accordingly marched into Judaea under the command of Nicanor, Gorgias, and Ptolemy Macron. Maccabaeus, unable to meet such an overwhelming force, kept his troops in the mountains, from which he continually harassed the enemy by desultory attacks. At last, seizing on a favourable opportunity, he utterly routed Nicanor, divided the rich spoils of his camp among the soldiers, and sold into captivity the slave-merchants, who, calculating on victory, had accompanied the invaders to purchase their prisoners. Two other victories freed Judaea from the Syrians, and the patriotic army entered their deserted capital. The holy places were repaired and purified, public worship was restored, and the feast of the dedication celebrated. Thus did Judas achieve the temporary independence of his country, and rescue his nation from apparently certain destruction. Antiochus, dying in 164, was succeeded by his son, surnamed Eupator, who, acting under the advice of Lysias, immediately prepared to make war on Judea. The Maccabees resisted bravely, but they were forced to a capitulation, the articles of which were instantly violated, and the walls of Jerusalem demolished. Demetrius, the rightful heir to the Syrian crown, now appeared and defeated his rival, who perished with his counsellor Lysias. A treacherous policy distinguished the proceedings of Demetrius towards the Jewish people, until Judas once more took up arms and expelled the tyrant. This gallant patriot, after twice defeating Nicanor, sought to strengthen himself by a Roman alliance; but before the treaty could be made known, the Syrian general Bacchides entered Palestine with so strong a force as to defy all opposition. Judas disdained to flee, and encountering the invaders, was overpowered by numbers, when he fell fighting with heroic valour, " and all Israel made great lamentation for him, and mourned many days, saying, How is the valiant man fallen who delivered Israel!" 161 B. c. Jonathan, his younger brother, still maintained the contest of independence, and was eventually successful, becoming master of the country almost without a blow. By a treaty with Demetrius, nominating him high priest, he united both the civil and religious authority, and * Mattathias, a rich inhabitant of the village of Modin, offered the first resistance to the tyranny of Antiochus; and when his age and infirm health were no longer able to support the harassing mountain warfare, he transferred the command to another of the Asmonean family, Judas. his third and bravest son. This hero bore on his standard the letters M. C. C. B. J. (Mi Camo-Ca Baalim Jehovah -Who among the gods is like'into thee, O Lord?), and hence he acquired the name of Maccabee.-See Cotton's Five Books of the Maccabees. 112 ANCIENT HISTORY. was the first of the Asmonean princes. After a pacific reign of several years, he was treacherously seized by the insurgent Tryphon, and cruelly murdered, 143 B. c. His funeral was conducted with great magnificence; and his sepulchre, on a lofty eminence, became a seamark to the mariners sailing along that coast. One of the first acts of Simon, who succeeded his brother Jonathan, was the reduction of the Syrian garrison on Mount Sion. He not only destroyed the citadel, but, according to Josephus, levelled the hill on which it stood, so that it no longer commanded the temple. Under his wise administration the country prospered, and the fields were cultivated in tranquillity. He was succeeded by his son John, surnamed Hyrcanus, in whose time Judaea was annexed to Syria, but on the death of Antiochus Sidetes, in 130, its independence was recovered, and its territories enlarged by the conquest of Samaria and Galilee. Aristobulus, on the death of his father, John Hyrcanus, in 106, assumed the crown and the title of king. During his short reign of one year, he starved his mother to death, committed three of his brothers to prison, and caused the fourth to be assass nated. FIRST CENTURY. ROME.- 88, Social War.- Mithridatic War.- Marius and Sylla.-73, Servile War.-63, Catiline's Conspiracy.-60, First Triumvirate.-48, Pharsalia.31, Actium.-30, Egypt a Roman province.-27, Augustus Emperor.-A. M. 4004,* BIRTH OF CHRIST. JUDEA.-68, Civil War between Hyrcanus II. and Aristobulus II. —63, Jerusalem taken by Pompey.-40, Herod, king of Judaea.-29, Murder of Mariamne. INVENTIONS, &c.-63, Shorthand, by Cicero. —60, Flux and Reflux of the Tides, by Posidonius, who endeavours to measure the circumference of the Earth.-45, Calendar reformed, by Caesar.-6, Lunar Cycle or Golden Number. LITERATURE, &c.-Lucretius, Catullus, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Cicero, Caesar, Sallust, Livy, Vitruvius, Nepos, Tibullus, Propertius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo. ROME. MARIUS AND SATURNINUS.-As the danger of barbaric invasion passed away, the gratitude of the people became less intense, and when Marius was a sixth time candidate for the supreme honours, he was warmly opposed by the senate and their favourite Metellus Numidicus. To remove this last, it was necessary that Saturninus, a seditious demagogue, should be chosen tribune; to effect which, a league was formed between him, Marius, and the praetor Glaucia, a man of depraved character. They resolved to obtain their ends by violence, should all other means fail; and finding the ballot was against them, and the ten tribunes already nominated, the partisans of Saturninus threw down the * The Christian era commences from that year of the world; but our Saviour wa. born four years before, or, more properly, in the fifth year before the common era. FIRST CENTURY B.C. 113 urns, drove away the tribunes, and killed Nonius, one of their number, ii1 whose place he was chosen on the morrow by an armed body, which filled the hall of election. In virtue of the first law enacted by the new tlibune, extensive lands in the north of Italy were distributed among the prolctars who had composed the legions of Marius. When the period of the consular elections arrived, Glaucia became a candidate, and, to ensure success, Saturninus caused Memmius, the rival of his friend, to be assassinated. Such a crime excited general indignation, and Marius was compelled to relinquish his former colleagues, who had taken refuge in the Capitol. Being soon reduced to surrender, they were cruelly massacred by the people; the laws of Saturninus were abolished; Metellus returned in triumph from his exile, 99, and Marius retired to Asia. The democracy had triumphed in the election of Marius, who was more formidable than the Gracchi, as he united the talents of a great general with the vices of a demagogue. By his elevation to the consulate the aristocracy was humbled, and the path to the highest honours henceforward lay open to the meanest of birth; but by his weakness and incapacity in political arrangements, he was unable to execute his furious plans against the nobles. The masses of the people were, however, supreme, and events showed that no man's life was safe who opposed their sovereign will. Livius Drusus, the same who had been employed to destroy the popularity of Caius Gracchus, endeavoured to conciliate all parties and interests. To gain over the people, he proposed the foundation of new colonies throughout Italy, fresh distributions of corn, an increase in the number of senators by adding to them 300 of the noblest equites, and the presentation of the civic freedom to the Italians. All these laws were accepted by the people, but met with a violent opposition from the consuls and the knights whose unconstitutional privileges were attacked. The tribune, who succeeded only by employing violence, was by his victory thrown into the greatest embarrassment. The allies, by whose assistance he had gained it, called upon him to fulfill his pledges, and to confer the right of citizenship. Finding him unwilling, or perhaps unable, to keep his promise, they formed a conspiracy for the murder of the hostile consuls, whom Drusus made acquainted with their danger. His antagonists were not equally generous, for a blow from an assassin cut short his projects, 91. The Italian towns did not feel inclined to relinquish their title to a participation in civic rights, and the haughty rejection of their petitions was followed by a general revolt. They formed the plan of a separate republic, similar in all respects to the Roman. Corfinium was to be the capital, with its senate, consuls, praetors, and other magistrates. Pompadius Silo was the chief of the league, in the first rank of which were the Marsians and Samnites. Army after army was defeated, and the war was characterized by the most barbarous cruelties. At length, when 300,000 lives had been sacrificed, and the resources of both parties were nearly exhausted, the Italians were admitted to all the privileges of Roman citizens, 88 B. c., an act which essentially changed the constitution, and promoted the views of the disaffected. MITHRIDATES, king of Pontus, was one of the most formidable enemies the Romans ever encountered. His dominions, situated on the southern shores of the Black Sea, had long been independent of the 10* 114 ANCIENT HISTORY. Persian throne; and having escaped the fate of other Asiatic princes, he became"by degrees the supreme ruler in that part of the continent. He was too powerful a neighbour to remain long unmolested. The social war was scarcely terminated, when it was announced that in one day 80,000 Romans had been massacred in his provinces, 88 B. c.; and that, driving their armies before him, he had succeeded in extending his authority to the shores of the AEgean Sea. The patrician Sylla, once the lieutenant, now the rival of Marius, was appointed to conduct the war; but the latter had the decree cancelled, and the command conferred on himself. Sylla, who was besieging Nola, immediately hastened to Rome, and compelled his rival to flee to Africa. He next marched against Mithridates, and after a short but successful campaign in Boeotia and Thessaly, a favourable peace was concluded, 84 B. c., by which the Asiatic monarch lost Greece, Macedonia, Ionia, and other provinces which he had seized, and also a great portion of his fleet. Sylla purchased the support of his legions by distributing them among the wealthy cities of Lesser Asia; besides which they received regular pay, with food and lodging. FIRST CIVIL WAR.-Cinna, one of the consuls, availed himself of the victorious general's absence to strengthen the powers of the Marian party, and even to recall the fugitive himself, who entered Rome almost without opposition, and soon began to glut his revenge. The principal senators were slain, the high priest of Jupiter was murdered at the altar, and the head of the orator Antonius was brought to Marius while he sat at supper. During five days and as many nights, the city was abandoned to the violence of the slaves, until at length Cinna and Sertorius, wearied with the excess of horrors, attacked these assassins in the night, while they were asleep in their camp, and slaughtered them all. Marius was not at ease in the midst of his triumph; the report of Sylla's victories had reached his ears. To blunt his senses against the thought of impending vengeance, he gave way to dissipation, which carried him off in his seventh consulate, and the seventieth year of his age, 86 B. c. The conqueror hurried towards Rome immediately on the conclusion of peace, and was joined by the majority of the army and all the wealthier orders; but even when he was at the gates, the Marian party attacked and massacred the senate in the Hostilian curia. The extent of his revenge far exceeded the provocation, for the senatehouse resounded with the shrieks of no fewer than 8000 of the opposite party, who were murdered in its vicinity after having surrendered; and the names of 5000 citizens are said to have been published on the pro scription lists. " Wives shut their doors against their husbands; children slew their own fathers: death was the only refuge from cruelty." If blood had flowed in the time of Marius, it now poured in torrents. In these dreadful commotions, 33 consulars, 70 praetors, 60 aediles, 200 senators, and 150,000 Roman citizens lost their lives, while thousands more were stripped of their property, and driven forth in beggary. Sylla at once assumed the dictatorship, and desirous of concentrating all power in the hands of the senate, deprived the people of many privileges, and cancelled the rights of citizenship given to the Italian cities. Twenty-three legions were quartered throughout the peninsula, and Etruria was almost entirely abandoned to his licentious troops. Nevertheless, he effected many reforms, created four new tribunals, raised the FIRST CENTURY B.C. 115 number of praetors to eight, repressed the exactions of the governors of provinces, and fixed the age and qualifications necessary for each magisterial office. In two years he voluntarily resigned his despotic authority, and retired to Cumae, where his death, the consequence of his vicious habits, soon followed, 78 B. c. Sylla's disdainful abandonment of the dictatorship, an office which he had renewed after the lapse of 120 years, seems less extraordinary when it is con sidered that he left the supreme authority in the hands of his own party, strengthened by the most extensive privileges, and by an army satiated with blood and plunder. But every thing was paving the way for a monarchy. The rivalry of the orders was followed by a contest for universal power, and this in turn for the dominion of Rome. The strife of parties preceded that of individuals. Marius and Sylla, Caesar and Pompey, fought in the names of the senate or the people-Antony and Octavianus for the sovereignty of the world. The Roman polity was already so endangered by abuses and the consequence of the Social War, that a military despotism alone could preserve it from anarchy. Sylla did not employ his influence wisely. By destroying the popular power, and by investing the patriciate with the whole authority-the judicial and elective franchise-he laid the foundation of Caesar's fortune, of that man in whom he saw many.l1ariuses. SERTORIAN WAR.-Although the democratic faction had lost their chiefs by proscription and murder, the party still survived with all its wrongs unsatisfied, and was even increased by the law which prevented the tribunes from filling any of the higher offices of the state. Lepidus, and Brutus the father of him who assassinated Cesar, put themselves at the head of the people, but all their exertions proved vain. Their partisans, and the remnants of the armies they had collected, served to increase the force of Sertorius. This old lieutenant of Marius had long been celebrated for his courage and skill. In a battle against the Cimbri, fought on the banks of the Rhone, and in which 80,000 Romans fell, he escaped almost alone with his sword and buckler. Other circumstances had established his reputation in Spain, when he was driven by the legions of the victorious Sylla into Africa, where he remained until invited by the Lusitanians to take the command of their troops. With an army of less than 10,000 men, Italians, Africans, and Spaniards, he maintained his ground against four Roman generals at the head of 120,000. Metellus aud Pompey, who were sent against him, sustained a severe defeat near Tarragona. Rome was at last freed from an enemy who had resisted her whole strength during several years, by the treachery of his lieutenant Perpenna, who slew him at a feast. The assassin, however, was punished in a manner worthy of his crime, in the year 72 B. c. SERVILE WAR.-While Rome was combating Sertorius in Spain, and Mithridates in Asia, a new war of a singular character broke out in Italy, 73. Some Thracian gladiators, discontented with their lot, ran away from their master and seized on a strong fort in the hills near Capua; Spartacus, a man of remarkable bodily strength and courage, being their leader. Their first successes soon increased the number of their little army; fugitive slaves, shepherds, and others, raised it to 70,000 men. All the troops sent against them were worsted until the command was conferred on Crassus. Spartacus was at this time encamped in the peninsula of Rhegium, where he was enclosed by a deep trench and wall fifteen leagues in length, drawn from sea to sea, II 116 ANCIENT HISTORY. and thus cut off from all assistance by land. The resolute gladiator broke through this line; but although he defeated several lieutenants of Crassus, he soon afterwards fell in a general action, in which his followers were completely routed, 71 B. c. Read: Plutarch's Life of Crassus. POMPEY.- Crassus had hastened the termination of the war from jealousy of Pompey, who was marching from Spain to his assistance. The latter general, nevertheless, reaped all the glory, for meeting 10,000 of the gladiators who had escaped in the last battle, he slew the greater part of them; and in announcing his good fortune to the senate, he wrote, that if Crassus had cut down the tree, he had torn up its roots. The two rivals united in claiming the consulate, but the very moment of their success was the beginning of a lasting dissension. The fortune of Pompey was remarkable. Raised to the rank of general at the age of twenty-three, he levied three legions and marched them to join Sylla. To him alone the terrible dictator was gentle, flattering his vanity by the titles of Magnus and lmperator; and on the death of that commander he became the champion of the aristocracy. His political conduct was not very decided; but by the people he was regarded with unqualified enthusiasm and admiration. Pompey was entirely gained by the applause universally lavished upon him, and in return, during his consulate, he procured the revocation of the tribunitial law of Sylla, and the re-establishment of the tribunes in their ancient rights. He, moreover, carried an important law, by which the judicial authority was transferred from the senators to the knights, thus effecting a great revolution, and giving to the latter a predominance in the state. This change was brought about by the trial of Verres, the unprincipled governor of Sicily. VERRES.-This man, whose whole life had been one scene of avarice, debauchery, and cruelty, was accused of crimes that were probably too frequent in the history of Roman proconsuls. Enormous taxes were imposed upon the cities; public money was embezzled; the navy was neglected; pirates were allowed to enter the port of Syracuse; commanders who were defeated owing to the want of soldiers were cruelly put to death; private houses and temples were pillaged of all their valuable works of art; and two vessels were yearly sent to Rome laden with plunder. When removed from his post, his accusers preceded him on his return to Rome; but he was without fear as to the issue of his trial, for he boasted of having amassed wealth enough to screen him from justice. Cicero was his accuser, and the result of the trial was a voluntary exile, after he had repaid to the Sicilians about one-third part only of what the illustrious orator had claimed. PIRATICAL WAR.-To reward Pompey for the favour conferred upon the knights, they gave him the command of the army in a war against the pirates. These were men of various countries, particularly Cilicia, who, taking advantage of the civil broils, and profiting by the lessons then taught, infested all the coasts of the empire. In many respects they resembled the Buccaneers of America, and so great was their audacity, that no place was safe from their attacks. Legions had been routed, magistrates arrested, and foreign commerce entirely stopped, when Pompey at length thoroughly defeated them, and cleared the seas FIRST CENTURY B.C. 117 in the short space of forty days. He repeopled many deserted cities by settling in them 20,000 prisoners whom he had taken, and restored a town which afterwards bore his name. MITHRIDATES had profited by the peace made with Sylla to recruit his army, and increase his kingdom by conquests on the Bosphorus and in Colchis. But the possession of these savage countries did not satisfy him; he still longed to add Cappadocia, the most fertile part of Asia Minor, to his dominions. Thinking the opportunity favourable, he equipped a numerous fleet, and collected an army of 160,000 men. Two consuls were sent against him, 74 i. c.; one of whom, Cotta, was defeated, and the Roman ships were entirely destroyed. But the other, Lucullus, who had derived his military knowledge from the eloquent pages of Xenophon and Thucydides, exhausted by his prudent manceuvres the strength of the enemy, and compelled their sovereign to take refuge with Tigranes king of Armenia. The success of the victor against these allied monarchs was less decisive owing to the insubordination of his troops. Two of his lieutenants being worsted, he was recalled, and Glabrio, who succeeded him, was so completely routed that the whole peninsula of Lesser Asia had nearly fallen into the hands of Mithridates. Pompey, who was next sent against him, overcame every obstacle by the rapidity of his marches; and in a night-attack the enemy's troops were almost entirely cut to pieces, the king himself escaping with only 800 horsemen. It was now that this daring prince, in his extremity, formed the design of transferring the war into the Roman territory, raising in his march the barbarous tribes which dwelt between the Tanais and the Alps. Treason cut short this extraordinary project; and being unwilling to survive the ingratitude of his beloved son Pharnaces, poison, administered by his own hand, terminated his eventful life, 63 B. c. During the space of twenty-six years he had sustained a war against the arms of Rome, conducted by her most celebrated generals. Pompey, on returning from his eastern campaign, was honoured with a splendid triumph, when he contributed to the treasury the sum of 20,000 talents. Pharnaces took advantage of the civil war, and endeavoured to recover Armenia and Cappadocia; but Caesar, marching against him from Egypt, defeated his projects. The brief despatch of the conqueror is familiar to all: "Veni, vidi, vici,"-I came, saw, and conquered. Pontus was declared a Roman province about 36 B. c. After the Crusades, the family of the Comneni established the monarchy of Trebizond (A. D. 1204), which was destroyed by Mohammed II. REFLECTIONS.-The republic had now reached its highest pitch; there was no longer any foreign enemy to excite her apprehensions; but the change in her constitution, and the re-establishment of the tribunitial power, endangered her existence, 70. This victory of the democracy led the way to an oppressive oligarchy, and that to the formation of a terrible conspiracy, which if successful would have placed the power in the hands of the ambitious, the profli gate, and the criminal. CATILINE'S CONSPIRACY.-L. Sergius Catilina was of patrician birth, and of a family distinguished for its services to the state, but his ruined fortunes and profligacy tempted him to form the dangerous project of overthrowing the government; to ensure which design, he became a candidate for the consulship. The first time he was rejected; two 118 ANCIENT HISTORY. years later, he was defeated by Cicero, in defiance of his violent partisans. He had no longer any hope of attaining the supreme power but by force; and with this intent an army was collected by Manlius in Etruria, while the traitors at Rome were plotting a general massacre and conflagration. Their designs were discovered: Catiline was boldly accused in the senate, and, to save his life, he fled to the troops which his accomplices had raised. Many of the conspirators who had been left in the city were led to prison and put to death; which proof of resolution so disconcerted the rebels, that they were defeated by the consul Antonius, and their leader fell as bravely as he had lived unworthily, 63 B. c. Cicero was honoured with the title of FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY; but he did not escape the odium whizh attends all extraordinary vigour in the execution of the laws during a time of public confusion. The tribune refused to administer the usual oath when the consul laid down his office; upon which the orator 1wore that he had saved the state, and the shout of the admiring people testified their approbation. He was shortly after driven into exile by Clodius, in virtue of a law recently enacted, which banished all who had put a citizen to death without trial. At his departure 20,000 of the knights, and part of the senate, wore mourning garments. He was recalled by the influence of Pompey in the subsequent year, 57 B. c. FIRST TRIUMVIRATE, 60 B. c.-At this period the leading men in Rome were Pompey, who had merited the surname of Great by his victories in Asia- Crassus, who had acquired immense wealth by the proscriptions of Sylla-and Julius Caesar, in whom were united the highest civil and military talents, and who, during his praetorship in Spain, besides recruiting his ruined fortunes, had ingratiated himself with the army. These three united their influence, and formed that celebrated compact known by the name of the Triumvirate. The powers of the senate were usurped by them, as well as the command of the legions. On the termination of his consulate, Caesar was re-appointed to the government of Gaul for five years. Crassus, led away by his avaricious spirit, took the command of Syria, famed for its luxury and wealth, but was shortly after defeated and put to death at Charrae, 53 B. c. Pompey still remained in Italy. At the epoch of the renewal of the first triumvirate the internal condition of Rome was very deplorable. Offices for the sale of votes were opened in the neighbourhood of the Campus Martius; and to such an extent was this traffic carried, that the rate of interest rose from four to eight per cent. On one occasion the two retiring candidates, Memmius and Gabinius, forged an edict of the senate and the people, which would have conferred their office on two candidates by whom they had been largely bribed. During six months the city remained without its supreme magistrates; and all eyes were turned towards Pompey, whose indecision prevented him from grasping the dictatorship. The forum became a scene of contention, M which the rivalry of Clodius and Milo created much confusion. To terminate the disorders which followed the death of the former of these partisans, the consulate was offered to Pompey alone. The senators were now secure in regard to one of the popular leaders; by several wholesome regulations order was re-established; the laws were impartially administered; and the public places were no longer stained with blood. The great object now was to get FIRST CENTURY B.C. 119 id of Caesar, to which measure Pompey was continually excited by the.anguage and insulting conduct of the senate. CAESAR'S GALLIC CAMPAIGN, 58 B. c.-Caesar was now beginning a long career of victory. Gaul opened a vast field for his ambition; it supplied him with the means of keeping a large and well-disciplined army always within a few days' march of Rome, the southern boundaries of his province being the Arno and the Rubicon. The brave people who inhabited this country were of Celtic origin, but their disunion proved their ruin. In eight campaigns Caesar entirely overran their territory: he reduced the Helveti; drove Ariovistus back into Germany; and, after frequent revolts, Gaul submitted to his arms. It was during a brief interval of peace that he visited Britain, 55 B. C., but the island was not subdued till the close of the first century after Christ. At the termination of the Gallic war the conduct of the victor underwent a great change. The last winter he passed beyond the Alps was spent in visiting the various cities. He exercised no violence, but left them entirely free in their internal government, requiring only a contribution of forty millions of sesterces as pay for his men. The best soldiers of the nation he enrolled in his army, and formed of them the renowned legion.lauda. His light troops were composed almost entirely of Gauls from either province. TIE SECOND CIVIL WAR, 49 B. C., had its origin in these circumstances:-The rapid victories of Caesar so roused the jealousy of Pompey, who had been appointed sole consul, that when the former demanded the prolongation of his government, and to be nominated though absent, he was ordered to disband his legions, to which unjust command he yielded with a slight exception. But the senate, with Pompey at their head, before they could receive his answer, commenced hostile proceedings against him. The tribunes fled disguised from Rome, and sought; refiuge in the camp of Caesar, who thus became tne head of the popular party. Nothing but war could now decide the differences of the rival generals. Julius had reached the banks of the Rubicon, a little stream, the boundary of his government, and which it was treason to cross in a hostile manner; an inscription to which purpose, devoting the transgressor to the infernal deities, may still be seen on the road between Rimini and Cesena. " On horseback, in the open air, Caesar all night long pondered the weighty question of submission or resistance. At daybreak his anxious soldiers found him still riding to and fro, deep sunk in thought. At length he cried, The die is cast! gave his horse the spur, and sprang across the stream, followed by his troops." All Italy received him with joy. The senate retired with their army into Greece; and in sixty days the submission of the whole peninsula showed the emptiness of Pompey's boast, that with a single stamp of his foot he could raise legions. Entering Rome, the governor of Gaul seized upon the treasury, and, leaving Antony and Lepidus as his lieutenants, he marched into Spain, where the hostile forces surrendered without a blow. Returning to Marseilles, which had shut her gates upon him, he punished the inhabitants with great severity. Without loss of time, he crossed the sea, and hastened to meet Pompey,* whe * Ocior et celi flammis et tigride feta: Dum se deesse Deis, et non Iibi Numina credit. ,20 ANCIENT HISTORY. nad already collected a numerous army, and most of the high-born youth of the day, who had been finishing their education at Athens, enrolled themselves among his troops. But the activity of Caesar deranged his plan of protracting the war; for after some trivial successes, he was utterly defeated at Pharsalia, 48 B. c., and was assassinated on the Egyptian shore, near the mouth of the Nile. Caesar followed up the scattered relics of the party, and reducing Egypt, bestowed it on Cleopatra. Cato the younger, who still dreamt of a republic, had assembled in Africa a small body of men of like sentiments with himself, but being vanquished and reduced to despair, he fell by his own hand. A second campaign in the Spanish peninsula completed the annihilation of Caesar's enemies, and the conqueror entered Rome in triumph, where he was made perpetual dictator, and saluted with the title of Father of his Country. Statues were erected in his honour, as to a god, and a festival with thanksgiving of forty days was decreed. Four times in the course of one month he appeared in triumphal processions representing his victories over Gaul, Egypt, Pontus, and Africa. Sixty thousand talents of silver and two thousand eight hundred and twenty-two crowns of gold formed part of the splendid show. Immense largesses in money and land were distributed to his faithful veterans, while public banquets and distributions of corn, meat, and oil, with a diminution of their rents, won the hearts of the people. Gladiatorial combats, theatrical representations, races, Trojan games, and military shows, were seen in all parts of the city. But amidst this general intoxication, Caesar did not forget more important cares. He aided in the reform of the Calendar, a work undertaken by Sosigenes; passed laws against treasonable attempts; increased the number of magistrates; colonized many parts of Italy, as well as Carthage and Corinth; and awarded the rights of citizenship to all professors of medicine and of the liberal arts. DEATH OF CJESAR.-The peaceful administration of one man, who had triumphed over the great parties in the state, and who by his examlle was advancing the cause of literature and the arts, seemed destined to heal the numerous wounds in the Roman dominions. But false ideas of patriotism, and visionary notions of republican virtue, which never could be realized again in Rome, armed some of the noblest and best of men against Caesar. At their head were Brutus and Cassius, whom he had generously pardoned. He fell under their daggers in the senatehouse, March 15, forty-four years before the Christian era. "The tyrant is dead, but tyranny still lives," said Tully. The murder of the dictator introduced a new period of anarchy and civil war, during which the whole world was trodden down and desolated by conflicting armies. The conspirators were unable to profit by the advantage which they had obtained. They trembled at the crime they had committed, and talked while they should have acted. Character of Ccesar. Lord Bacon thought Julius Caesar to be the most complete character of all antiquity. Nature seems incapable of such extraordinary combinations as composed his versatile capacity, which was the wonder even of the Romans themselves. The first general —[he fought 50 battles, in which 1,192,000 men fell] -the only triumphant politician —inferior to none in eloquence - comparable to any in the attainments of wisdom, in an age made up of the greatest commanders, statesmen, orators, and philosophers, that ever appeared in the FIRST CENTURY B. C. 121 world -an author who composed a perfect specimen of military annals in his travelling carriage - [he wrote as he fought, said Quinctilian] - at one time in a controversy with Cato, at another writing a treatise on punning, and collecting a set of good sayings-fighting and making love at the same moment, and wiling to abandon both his empire and his mistress for a sight of the fountains ot the Nile. Such did Julius Caesar appear to his contemporaries and to those of the subsequent ages who were the most inclined to deplore and execrate his fatal genius.-Childe Harold, Note to Canto IV. THIRD CIVIL WAR.- Meanwhile, Antony seized upon the contents of the treasury, between five and six millions sterling, and with this money bought many influential men, the veterans and the people. Cicero exhausted the stores of his eloquence in vain, for the other steadily pursued his ambitious course. The senate opposed to him the young Octavianus (afterwards called Augustus), who already possessed all the coolness, subtleness, and relentless determination of purpose which characterized the latter portion of his career.* A war now broke out, and in the course of it Antony had sufficient address to withdraw him from Cicero's party, and with Lepidus to form the SECOND TRIUMVIRATE, 43 B. c.-The horrors of the former triumvirate were far exceeded by this, for 300 senators, 2000 knights, the best and noblest of the citizens, were proscribed. Each sacrificed his own friends to the vengeance of his colleagues, and Cicero, who had long manifested a prophetic consciousness of his peril, was among the number. With him fell the liberties of Rome; but it was not so much patriotism that pointed the sword against his life, as the personal vindictiveness of Antony which demanded the victim. The orator had no longer any power to save or destroy the government, for the republic had passed away, and a monarchy alone could succeed. Brutus and Cassius were still at the head of a powerful army; but a doubtful battle at Philippi, followed by the death of the two generals, relieved the triumvirs of all cause of fear, 42 E. c. The unsuccessful expedition of Antony into Asia, with his licentious conduct in Egypt, afforded Octavianus an.xcuse for declaring him a public enemy. The wily triumvir, armed with the specious authority of the senate, went against his former associate, whom he met and defeated in a sea-fight near Actium, 31 B. c.t The defeat of Sextus Pompeius, the resignation of Lepidus, and the death of Antony, placed the whole government in the hands of Caesar Octavianus, now called Augustus, 27 B.c. To supply the want of money, Sylla had introduced the system of military colonies, which the new ruler extended to reward the services of his troops. The Shepherd of Virgil was not the only victim who, in the bitterness of his destitution, exclaimedNos patriae fines, et dulcia linquimus arva: Nos patriar fugimus. * A recent historian thus describes him:-He was a youth of eighteen, small and delicate, often sick, frequently halt of one leg, timid, and speaking with such difficulty, that later in life he used to write beforehand what he desired to say to his wife; so indistinct and feeble was his voice that he was obliged to employ another to speak for him before the people. He wanted not political boldness, for he must have had much to venture to Rome to claim the succession of Caesar, as his nephew and heir; other courage he had none; fearing the thunder, darkness, and the enemy, and implacable towards all who excited his fears. t This battle gave occasion to a new era, called the Actian, and used by the Egyptians. It began with the 29th August 30 B. c., the first day of their year. 11 122 ANCIENT HISTORY. AUGUSTUS, now emperor, subdued the revolted Spaniards, made peace with Ethiopia, compelled the Parthians to restore the standards they had taken from Crassus and Antony, and Germany was forced to acknowledge his power. The Roman empire at this period included the fairest portion of the world lying around the Mediterranean, enclosed by the Rhine, Danube, Euphrates, and the sandy deserts of Syria and Africa. Victorious by land and sea, its master the third time closed the temple of Janus; and it was in this moment of universal peace that JESUS CHRIST was born, four years before the common account called A. D. SECOND LITERARY ERA-THE AUGUSTAN. The history of Roman literature comprehends a space of seven centuries; from about the middle of the third century before Christ, till the taking of Rome by the Goths. The first period, from the end of the first Punic war, till the death of Sylla (241-78), saw the formation of the Latin language, and the imitation of the imperishable creations of Greek genius. The second period (78 B. c. to A.D. 14), forms the Augustan or Golden age, one of the most memorable epochs in the history of literature. The third period, or Silver age (A. D. 14-117), is remarkable not for the want of genius, but the decline of taste. The names of Tacitus, Quinctilian, the younger Pliny, and Q. Curtius adorn the annals of this century. The fourth period, or the Brazen age, extends till A. D. 410, when Rome was taken by the Goths. Eutropius, Aurelius Victor, and Jerome testify at once to the feebleness of the genius and the depraved taste of these three centuries. The genius of Pericles was revived in Augustus; a more impracticable language than the Greek was about to give fresh laws and fresh models to posterity. The emperor had the art to conciliate the literary men of his day, and in their lavish flatteries we almost lose sight of his real character. He was ably seconded by his prime minister, Maecenas, whose name has become a proverb. Among the distinguished writers in this age we may remark, in ELOQUENCE: Cicero, d. 43; Hortensius, Caesar. POETRY: Lucretius, d. 51; Virgil, d. 27; Tibullus, d. 20; Propertius, d. 16; and Horace, d. 8; of whom the last four lost their estates during the civil wars; Catullus, d. 49; Ovid, d. A. D. 17; Lucan, A. D. 65; Phaedrus, Petronius, d. 67. TRAGEDY: Seneca, d. A. D. 64. COMEDY: Plautus, 184 B. c. Terence, 159 B. C. SATIRE: Horace, Perseus, A. D. 62; Juvenal, A. D. 128. HISTORY: Caesar; C. Nepos, d. 30; Sallust, d. 34; Livy, d. A. D. 19; Cur. tius, Tacitus, A. D. 99; Valerius Maximus. PHILOSOPHY: Cicero, Seneca, Celsus, d. A. D. 20. In this sketch, the limits assigned to the Augustan era have been exceeded, but with the design of bringing together some of the most celebrated names in Roman history. There are others who wrote in Greek, but who are less worthy of mention, as their works had no direct influence on Latin Letters. They are Polybius (124 B. c.), who was with Scipio when Carthage fell; Diodorus Siculus and Dionysius of Halicarnassus; Strabo; Josephus; and Plutarch. Prepare: Map of the Roman Empire. JUD2EA. ALEXANDER JANN]EUS succeeded his brother Aristobulus 105 B. c, He was perpetually engaged in war, and by rashly provoking the king of Egypt, brought his country to the verge of ruin. His enmity to the Pharisees led to an open revolt, which, after various reverses, was quelled by the total defeat of the rebels, whom he punished with FIRST CENTURY B.C. ]23 remorseless cruelty. He died in 78, and the government was administered by his widow, Alexandra, who, following her husband's dying counsels, had become reconciled to the Pharisees. On her death in 69, this sect and the army severally put forward their favourites, Hyrcanus II. and Aristobulus II. A desultory war ensued, which was terminated by the interference of the Romans. Pompey decided in favour of Hyrcanus, and having captured Jerusalem in 63, sent Aristobulus with his family prisoners to Rome. The escape of the deposed monarch and his sons was the signal for another insurrection, which was soon repressed by the vigour of Crassus. Cesar, after defeating his rival Pompey, confirmed the authority of Hyrcanus, or rather of the crafty Idumaean Antipater under his name, who managed to procure the government of Galilee for his son Herod. After the battle of Philippi, Herod used the favour of Antony to strengthen his own power. But he had still to contend with enemies: Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, renewed the struggle for sovereignty, and compelled Herod to flee to Rome. Here he obtained from Antony and Octavianus the crown of Judaa, 40, and returning to his dominions, accomplished the prophecy of Jacob foretelling the appearance of the Messiah when the sceptre should depart from Judah. HEROD having overthrown his rival Antigonus, 37 B. c., became confirmed as king of Judaea, and by the friendship of Augustus he afterwards added to his dominions Samaria, Galilee, Peraea, Ituraea, and Trachonitis, with Idumaea. He received the title of Great from the magnificence with which he rebuilt the temple; but his reign was so tyrannical and barbarous that he was universally detested. He put to death his beloved wife Mariamne, whose image haunted him continually and brought on temporary derangement. Among his other victims were her mother, brother, grandfather, uncle, and two sons. OUR SAVIOUR was born in the last year of his reign. Five days before Herod died, his eldest son Antipater, for attempting to poison him, was put to death; to Archelaus he assigned Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea; and to Antipas the government of Galilee and Peraea. IOUSE OF HEROD. Antipater d. 43, B. c. Herod the Great, d. 3, B. c. m. 1. Doris. 2. Marianine, 3. Many othera. one of the Maccabees. Antipater Alexander Aristobulus Archelaus, Herod Antipas, Philip, d. 3B.C. d 6B C. d. 6 B.C. ethnarch, dep. A.D. 8. tetrarch,dep. A.D. 39. tetrarch, d.A. D. 34. m. Herodias. Herod Agrippa, d. A. D. 44. Herod II. Agrippa, d. A. D. 100 124 ANCIENT HISTORY. CHRISTIAN ERA. FIRST CENTURY. RoME.-9, Defeat of Varus.-TWELVE CESARS.-79, First Eruption [recordedlJ of Vesuvius. BRITAIN.-43, Claudius in Britain.-85, Agricola. JUD3EA.-8, Archelaus banished.-41, Herod Agrippa.-Roman Procurators. -70, Jerusalem destroyed. THE CHURCH.-30, Crucifixion of CHRIST.-40, Name of Christians-64, First'Persecution-66, Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul.-95, Second Perse cution. INVENTIONS, &c.-16, Introduction of Silk Dresses by Tiberius.-60, Load. stone discovered. LITERATURE, &c.-Phaedrus, Celsus, Q. Curtius, Persius, Plutarch, Epictetus. Lucan, Martial, Juvenal, Seneca, Quinctilian, Tacitus, Petronius, the two Plinys, Valerius Flaccus, Josephus, Dioscorides. ROME. AUGUSTUS. —The Roman empire peaceably submitted to the superior talents and craft of this fortunate soldier. Exhausted by the civil wars which continued nearly a whole century, repose was eagerly sought by all parties, and a population of 120 millions gladly yielded to the dominion of one man. The Roman frontiers, extending from the Atlantic to the Euphrates, and from the Rhine to the African deserts, were at peace, broken only by a brief war with the Germans, in which Varus and three legions were cut to pieces by Arminius, A. D. 9. Augustus never recovered his serenity of temper after that defeat. By the mildness of his government he acquired the love of the people, and by his affected submission to the senate he gained their constant support, although he had stript them of nearly all their power. Without either superior genius or extraordinary attainments, he was prudent enough to seize upon all opportunities of advancing his ambitious projects; and his principles improved when the possession of unlimited power rendered crime useless. He was still a hypocritical voluptuary; but the repose which he had procured to the empire, the flourishing state in which he left it, and the mild exercise of his authority, covered or excused his faults. His latter days were not happy. The profligacy of his daughter Julia, the ambition of his wife, and the loss of his adopted child, added poignancy to the stings of a guilty conscience. He died at Nola, A. D. 14, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and the forty-first of his reign. Read: Blackwell's Court of Augustus. After the battle of Actium and the death of Antony, Augustus was desirous of legitimatizing his power by concealing it under legal forms. To veil his usurpation, he assumed the titles of the principal offices, using his power as tensor to clear the senate of many personal enemies. All the acts of his triumvirate were annulled, as if he wished to show that he was now influenced FIRST CENTURY A.D. 125 by different motives; and his feigned proposal of abdication was earnestly combated by his friends, who persuaded him to prolong his power during ten more years. To prove his disinterestedness, he shared the administration of the empire with the senate, leaving to it the fair provinces of Italy and Sicily: while he, by his deputies, governed the remainder. He assumed no unusual power; and yet, by the simple means of uniting all offices in his own person, he became entirely autocratical. Corresponding changes in the administration of the state ensued; and although the senate still remained the supreme council, there was another and more important one, composed of his particular friends, such as Maecenas and Agrippa. Towards the end of his life, this body of men assumed the form of a modern cabinet (consistorium), being increased by the addition of fifteen senators, and one of each magisterial college. They were afterwards divided into three classes, having in their hands the entire government. The popular assemblies and elections still remained; but they were empty forms, the candidate nominated by the emperor never being rejected. Many salutary laws were enacted; the public edifices and roads were kept in good repair; a kind of police and night-watch were established; and communication between distant points was facilitated by the establishment of regular posts for the transmission of the imperial despatches. The finances remained nearly the sanle; there were, however, two treasuries, that of the prince (fiscus), the other of the senate (cerarium). Besides introducing a regular organisation into the army, Augustus divided and separated the twenty-five legions, paid them regularly, and compensated their toils by money instead of land. The term of service was also fixed, and the soldiers, instead of being turbulent and insolent, as in the civil wars, became docile and peaceable. The entire body was distributed along the frontiers in stationary camps; tranquillity was maintained in the interior by praetorian and urban cohorts. Two fleets, one at Ravenna, the other at Misenum, protected the commerce of the Mediterranean; forty vessels guarded the Euxine Sea, and armed boats secured the navigation of the Rhine and Danube. 3. TIBERIUS, A. D. 14-37.-The reion of Augustus appears in a more favourable light when contrasted with those of his nearest successors. Tiberius was fifty-six years old when he ascended the throne, professing great unwillingness to take upon him its important cares. The first victim of this despotic emperor was the young Agrippa Posthumus, in whom he feared a rival; and all restraint being now removed, the tyrant gave loose to his cruel and sensual passions. He soon afterwards retired from Rome to Campania, from whose luxurious retreats issued those blood-stained decrees which the senate was so ready to enregister; and we may read in Suetonius and Tacitus of the murders committed by this body, in compliance with the imperial edicts. Sejanus, commander of the praetorian guards, and favourite of the monarch, dared to raise his thoughts to the highest station; and, to clear his way to the throne, got rid of all those whose claims were nearer than his own. Germanicus, the son of Drusus, was poisoned; his widow, Agrippina, was exiled to Pandataria, an island noted as the place of Julia's banishment; his eldest son, Nero, committed suicide to avoid the torture; and Drusus, the second son, perished of hunger in prison. But Tiberius suddenly awoke to the treachery of his minister, and he who had filled all Rome with mourning was surrendered to the popular fury. From this period the emperor, exasperated by the dangers with which he had been threatened, indulged in fresh cruelties. The wealthy inhabitants of Gaul, Spain, and Greece, were condemned to death for the merest trifles, that their riches might augment the royal treasures. His latter years were passed in scenes of infamous debauchery at Capreae, and his death was hastened by the hands of a freedman, A. D. 37. 11* 126 ANCIENT HISTORY. During this odious reign, JESUS CHRIST accomplished on the cross his divine mission; and then arose from Calvary that new and pure gospel which was destined to regenerate the world. FOREIGN WARS.-Tiberius imitated the policy of Augustus by engaging in no wars unnecessarily. In Gaul, two revolts, the result of excessive taxation, were with difficulty subdued; while, in the East, the imperial ministers found safety in the troubles they excited among the tributary Persian states. Germany, however, in the days of Augustus, had been the scene of important military operations. The wife and infant son of Arminius (Hermann) had fallen into the hands of the Romans, to rescue whom all the neighbouring tribes rose in arms. Germanicus, eager to anticipate the terrible blow impending over his country, assumed the offensive, attacked and defeated several detached bodies of the enemy, and in the end had nearly gained a complete victory. A bloody campaign led to no decisive result; the Germans could make no permanent impression on the well-disciplined legions, and the Rorans were compelled to retire by sea, when a fearful tempest destroyed a great part of the fleet and army. Shortly after this, Arminius, who has been praised by Tacitus as the liberator of Germany from the dominion of Rome when in the height of her power, was assassinated at the age of thirty seven, eleven years after his triumph over Varus. 4. CALIGULA, A. D. 37-41, began to reign with mildness, but a severe malady at the end of the first year disordered his intellect, after which his cruelty knew no bounds. His excesses can only be excused by supposing his mind to have been affe ted. He fancied himself at one time a male, at another time a female, deity; raised his wife and his horse to the consulate; and fed his wild beasts with the bodies of citizens and captives. A violent death freed Rome from this frantic monster. 5. CLAUDIUS, A. D. 41-54.-The senate, immediately upon the demise of Caligula, began to deliberate on the choice of a successor; but the praetorians, amounting to 10,000 men, instituted as a body-guard by Augustus, and kept in various garrisons throughout Italy, now took advantage of their being collected in Rome, to proclaim the supremacy of the army. They elected Claudius, during whose impotent rule 35 senators and 300 knights fell by the hand of the executioner. He was quite a puppet under the management of his favourites Messalina and Agrippina, Pallas and Narcissus. In this reign, the conquest of South Britain was partly effected, A. D. 43. The first act of Claudius' government was to publish a general amnesty, from which the murderers of his predecessor were alone excepted. He repealed all Caligula's edicts, showing the greatest deference for the senate and magistrates. He himself presided daily at the tribunal of justice, enacted many wise laws, annulled the cruel statutes against high-treason, diminished the taxes, checked usury, and encouraged marriage. It is not one of his smallest claims to the title of benefactor of his people, that he abolished in Gaul the blood-stained religion of the Druids. The principal inhabitants of that province were selected to fill the vacant seats in the senate-house, the censorship was re-established, the circumference of Rome enlarged, and a new port constructed at Ostia, for the reception of the African and Egyptian corn-vessels. But FIRST CENTURY A.D. 127 the empire required the firm hand of a master, while Claudius was feeble and uxorious. His death by poison was effected by his second wife and an infamous sorceress Locusta, A. D. 54. 6. NERO, A. D. 54-68, reigned mildly five years, guided by the experience of Burrhus and Seneca, after which he was seized with a hereditary madness. He murdered his mother Agrippina, his brother, his tutor, and the poet Lucan. He set fire to Rome, and, while the city was burning, mounted a lofty tower, where, accompanying the words with the music of the harp, he sung his own poem on the fall of Troy. He appeared as a singer on the public stage, and contended as a herald or crier at Olympia. The people at last grew weary of his cruelty and debauchery; and he perished by the sword of his freedman. But his private vices were less dangerous to the state than his exactions in the provinces whence he drew the means of supporting his extravagance, and of keeping his subjects in a continual state of intoxication.* With him the Julian family became extinct; and in consequence of the disputed succession, four emperors arose in less than two years. 7. GALBA, A. D. 68, 69, was elected to the throne during Nero's life, but endeavouring to check the licentiousness of the army and praetorians who had raised him to so dangerous an eminence, he was murdered by the soldiers, after a reign of seven months. 8. OTHO, A. D. 69, who had plotted against the life of his predecessor, did not long enjoy the fruits of his treason. This companion of the early debaucheries of Nero had been sent, during that monarch's life, into the honourable banishment of the Spanish quetorship, in which office he gained over the army, by whom he was invested with the purple. But he was scarcely acknowledged at Rome before the legions of Germany elected a competitor. Supported only by the pretorians and an undisciplined crowd, he was defeated by Vitellius, his rival, and committed suicide, after reigning three months and five days. 9. VITELLIUS, A. D. 69, trod in the steps of his patron Caligula. Although he gave himself up entirely to the pleasures of the table, he was severe toward his enemies. He was put to death while preparing to meet Vespasian, who had been proclaimed emperor by the Syrian army. Thus in the space of a single year, Rome had seen three monarchs elected by the respective armies of Italy, the Rhine, and Spain, and who all met with violent deaths. 10. VESPASIAN was declared emperor by the soldiers whom he was leading against the Jews, A. D. 69. This people, excited by false pro phets and oppressed by the severity of their governors, broke out into open revolt. In other parts of the empire the peace was similarly disturbed; blood was shed in the streets of Rome in civil tumult; the splendid temple of Jupiter on the Capitol was consumed by fire; Gaul was in rebellion; the frontiers were threatened by the Germans on the Rhine, and by the Parthians on the Euphrates. Vespasian restored peace to the world, and during nine years used his extensive power with * It is a remarkable circumstance that Nero's memory was long cherished among the lower classes. During many years his tomb was decorated with flowers. His death was considered a fabrication, and no less than three false Neros appeared in the East. At the close of the third and fourth centuries, it was a popular belief that he would appear at the end of the world as Antichrist. 128 ANCIENT HISTORY. moderation. Under his orders the Jewish war was terminated; and his son Titus, whom he had left at the head of the army, utterly destroyed the people of Jerusalem after an obstinate resistance, and rased the city to the ground. A medal was struck commemorative of the event, bearing on one side a veiled female figure sitting under a palm-tree, with the inscription Judwa Capla. Vespasian died in the midst of many valuable reforms, and left the empire to the conqueror of the Jews. 11. TITUS, A. D. 79-81, called The Delight of Mankind, from his amiable and generous disposition, enjoyed a reign of only two years, which was marked by calamities. He was compelled to quit Berenice, a Jewish princess whom he tenderly loved; a great part of Rome was consumed by fire; this was followed by a raging pestilence; and' an eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the towns of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabiae beneath showers of ashes, August 24, A. D. 79. 12. DOMITIAN, A. D. 81-96, who succeeded his brother, manifested the disposition of Nero. He embellished the city with magnificent buildings, and engaged in useless and unsuccessful wars; South Britain was however subdued in his reign by Agricola, 85, whose death he is said to have occasioned. He banished literary men from Rome, degraded the senate, and persecuted all who were noble and good. He arrogated divine honours to himself, put to death many men of rank for the most trifling causes, and at last fell by an assassin's dagger, A. D. 96. Thus perished the last of the twelve Caesars, of whom only four deserve the respect of posterity: Julius, Augustus, Vespasian, and Titus. Gibbon thus characterizes the unworthy successors of Augustus: "Their unparalleled vices, and the splendid theatre on which they were acted, have saved them from oblivion. The dark, unrelenting Tiberius, the furious Caligula, the feeble Claudius, the profligate and cruel Nero, the beastly Vitellius, and the timid, inhuman Domitian, are condemned to everlasting infamy. During fourscore years (excepting only the short and doubtful respite of Vespasian's reign), Rome groaned beneath an unremitting tyranny, which exterminated the ancient families of the republic, and was fatal to almost every virtue and every talent that arose in that unhappy period." JUD.AA. ARCHELAUS succeeded to the throne on the death of his father Herod, 3 B. c., but his administration was so despotic and unpopular, that he was deposed and banished to Vienne in Gaul, A. D. 8, when Judaea became a Roman province, dependent on the prefecture of Syria, under the procurator Coponius. On one occasion this cruel monarch caused 3000 citizens to be massacred in the Temple. Pontius Pilate, who was governor from A. D. 26 to 36, was a man of stern and inflexible temper, utterly disregarding the religious feelings of the people. T'wice he nearly caused a revolt by introducing into the city tLe Roman ensigns, on which were the images of the emperor, and by the cons5ecration of the golden bucklers in the palace of Herod. The part slicih he took in the condemnation of our Lord is too well known to ilqlire comment. He was soon afterwards recalled, and banished to Vie_.ne, where he is said to have perished by his own hand, A. D. 38. OS?~ O~~GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE CJESARS. I. C. Julius Caesar, praetor, t 84. C. JULIUS CYESAR, dictator, t 44. Julia, t 52 = Accius Balbus. Julia t 52. m. Pompey. Accia t 42 = C. Octavius. Octavia, sen. = M. Marcellus. Octavia, jun. = C. OCTAVIUS (AUGUSTUS) =1. C. Marcellus. t 14 A. D. QC~~~~~~r~~ == 2. Pompey. = 3. M. Antony. II. Spre~~~~~~ CiESAR OCTAVIANUS AUGUSTUS t A. D. 14. 5^ ~ m. 1. Scribonia. 2. Livia, widow of Tiberius Claudius Nero. ~W~~~~~~~ I ~~TIBERIUS NERO t A. D. 37. Nero Claudius Drusus t 9. o^ ~ Julia t A. D. 17. m. 1. Vipsania. 2. Julia. m. Antonia, jun. m. 1. M. Cl. Marcellus. 2. Agrippa. 3. Tiberius. ~ ^ ^- ~ ~I Drusus Caesar Germanicus t A. D. 19. CLAUDIUS t A. D. 54. 2 2 2 2 2 tA.D. 25. m. Agrippina. m. 1. Messalina. C. Ctesar L. Caesar Agrippina t A. D. 35. Julia Agrippa 2. Agrippina. t A. D. 4. tA. D. 2. m. Germanicus. t A.D. 30. Posthumus I IA.D. 14. Nero Drusus CALIGULA Agrippina. Britannicus Octavia t A. D. 29. t A. D. 35. t A. D. 41. m. 1. Cn. Domitius. t A. D. 34. t A.D. 59. 2. Claudius. m. Nero. DOMITIUS NERO, + A. D. 68. n. 1. Octavia. 2. Popoaea Sabina. 130 ANCIENT HISTORY. HEROD AGRIPPA.-The Jewish kingdom was again reconstructed from its several tetrarchies by Claudius, and bestowed upon Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, A. D. 41. Educated at Rome, he was the friend of the Emperors Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius; and after many years, full of the most striking vicissitudes of fortune, he became one of the greatest princes of the East, and governed the Jews three years in such a manner as to become extremely popular. His death, which was sudden, may be ascribed to the immediate juagment of God for his impiety. On a day of festival, when he appeared in the theatre of Caesarea, the brilliant light of the sun glancing on nis silver robes struck the people with admiration. Fawning parasites addressed him as a god:" Be thou merciful unto us, for although we have hitherto received thee only as a man, yet henceforth we shall regard thee as superior to mortal nature." He neither rebuked nor rejected this impious flattery, when he was immediately smitten with violent pains in his bowels. Turning to his attendants, he cried, " Behold your god is now condemned to die!" Five days he lingered in the most excruciating tortures, when he expired, having attained only the fifty-fourth year of his age, and the seventh of his reign as tetrarch of Galilee. Under the frequent change of governors and prefects, the Jews experienced alternate changes of gentleness and severity. False Messiahs appeared on every side, and a ferocious sect arose, which, adopting the opinions of Judas the Gaulonite, put itself in open hostility to the Roman government. Under Claudius Felix, who trembled at the simple truths uttered by St. Paul, the country began to be filled with robbers and murderers. Gessius Florus, A. D. 64, the worst of the Roman governors, was tyrannical, cruel, and insatiably avaricious. He murdered 3000 people in Jerusalem, 20,000 at Caesarea, 2000 at Ptolemais, and 2500 at Ascalon' but when he carried his insolence so far as to attempt to enter the temple with his soldiers, the whole inhabitants rose in arms against him. The nation was unfortunately divided into two parties, one proposing submission, the other desirous to continue the revolt. The country now became a scene of bloodshed, and the flame of insurrection spread to Syria, Egypt, and the neighbouring states. Cestius Gallus, prefect of Syria, who endeavoured to recover the capital, was defeated with great loss. The Christians, remembering the prophecy of Christ, took advantage of the retreat of the Roman army, and withdrew to Pella, beyond the Jordan, where they lived in peace, free from the horrors of the war raging around the holy city. DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM, A. D. 70.-Ananus, or Annas, the high priest, was raised to the civil command of Jerusalem, and the historian Josephus was at the head of the armies of Galilee and Gamala. Vespasian was sent with 60,000 men to crush the rebellion, A. D. 67. After subduing the revolted provinces, he was spreading his toils around the devoted city, when, as already noticed, he was elected emperor, A. D. 69; and departing for Rome, left his son Titus to continue the campaign. The Jews had neglected to profit by this season of delay. The ravages of war without were far less fatal than the murderous rage of the factions within the walls. " The holy city had become the nest of all uncleanness, a horrid den of robbers, and a hateful cave of murderers." Eleazar, with a band of Zealots (a horde of robbers who had assumed the name without the principles of the sect), possessed the inner court —.~ ---- — I 1 _ —— - I ~-c —. F-t --- —-- —r- :-s-I —-- — —--;- —-' —= —-. — ---—;;;:,: c —-----' —-i-C-''IC —-is31~- Ii —C —--- ----— I - — --S_-_-;-T -_T--;i= —IC==_i —---- =Z —-:""""""F""CC` —II -- — —--i i-;E r-- —-- -. — -— ~ —= —-----— s=; —— =r; —-— r s=-T-----— ce _ 1. LI'~"""~`~""""``""`'-`~Rru —— - -EI —- —---— '"''1111!111\\\\\\LnURYYlldlt ; 1 d It 1\ i\X;B II \ =i —--— j-i --3"Si —Ye=F~~"~~""""" I — T=.;l-C ----- """""""""""": -*c. L-j 1= ~e IXn~I -- r -3 9~.; VIEW ON THE JOBDAN~ FIRST CENTURY A.D. 131 of the Temple; while John of Gischala, who had obstinately resisted.he Romans in Galilee, occupied the rest of the building, now converted into a fortress. When Titus advanced to the siege, Jerusalem was crowded with people from all quarters, who had come up to celebrate the passover; and they soon became a prey to the most horrible famine recorded in history, so that vermin, grass, and leather, were held a luxury, and sold at a high price. From the middle of April to the first of July, not fewer than 115,880 dead bodies were flung out at one gate of the city; the whole number thus disposed of is reckoned at 600,000; and after an unexampled siege of six months, the city was reduced, A. D. 70. " The destruction of Jerusalem exceeded all which God or man ever brought upon the world." Exclusive of those who perished in caves and woods, and in the vaults of Jerusalem, 1,364,000 are computed by Lipsius to have fallen in the war; 97,000 were taken prisoners; and 11,000 sullenly starved themselves to death. Titus, we are told, called God to witness that he was not the author of their calamities. In perusing the melancholy details of Josephus, it is impossible to resist the conviction, that in these awful transactions the hand of the Almighty was punishing a guilty people, and requiring from them the righteous blood of Christ, which they had invoked upon their heads, cryingr" His BLOOD BE ON US, AND ON OUR CHILDREN!" Read: Milman's History of the Jews; Huie's History of the Jews. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. THE MESSIAH.- During a season of profound peace, in the reign of Augustus, when there was a general expectation that some great personage was about to appear, the time arrived for the redemption of the human race,-promised at the fall of man, predicted by all the prophets, typified by all the ceremonies of the ancient law, and earnestly desired by all just men. In the "fulness of time" JESUS CHRIST was born at Bethlehem. He escaped from the murderous rage of Herod, and for nearly thirty years lived an obscure life at Nazareth. At length, entering on his public ministry, he began to teach, in the reign of Tiberius, throughout all Judea, confirming his divine mission by the purity of his life, the sublimity of his doctrines, and his miraculous powers. The Jews, who had looked for an earthly conqueror, refused to listen to the lowly Galilean, and procured his condemnation and execution as a criminal, 3d April, A. D. 30. After the resurrection and ascension of our Saviour, the Christian religion spread rapidly under the ministry of the apostles and their converts. They preached throughout all the Roman empire the sublime truths revealed to them by their divine Master, and established churches in three quarters of the world. The name of Christian was first used at Antioch, A. D. 40. The four gospels contain the history of the Redeemer's life and doctrines, and were written in the order in which they stand, between A. D. 37 and 98. CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. The first Christian societies or churches were formed, as far as circumstances would permit, on the model of the synagogue, were governed by deacons, and sometimes deacofesses, who were charged with the distribution of alms; elder 132 ANCIENT HISTORY. (presbyters or priests) exercised a right of censure over private individuals, bus their functions originally were not connected with religious instructions; and bishops (episcopi, overseers), the associates in the labours and the successors of the apostles. The bishop administered the sacraments and maintained the discipline of the church, superintended the daily increasing religious ceremonies, directed the funds, and arbitrated in the disputes of the faithful.* Persecution forced the different communities to unite each round the nearest centre, generally some populous and neighbouring town; such was the origin of a diocese. The same necessity compelled the bishops of the country towns to unite with the capital of the province, and thus a metropolis was formed. This institution confirmed a custom which dates from the end of the second century, that of synods or councils, provincial meetings held in spring and autumn. FIRST PERSECUTION, A. D. 64. -The progress of the new doctrines brought down upon their professors the rage of the Jews and the cruel torments of Nero. The year A. D. 64 was an eventful epoch in the Christian Church. The dreadful conflagration which threatened with ruin the Eternal City was considered as the judgment of offended deities, to appease whom the followers of the Christian religion were exposed to the severest tortures. " Some of them (says the pagan Tacitus) were covered over with the skins of wild beasts, that they might be torn to pieces by dogs; some were crucified, while others, having been daubed over with combustible materials, were set up for lights in the night-time, and thus burnt to death." The apostles Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom in this persecution, which appears to have been principally confined to the capital, where the latter of these faithful men became the victim of imperial rage.t SECOND PERSECUTION.-For nearly 30 years after the death of Nero, the Christians were allowed to live undisturbed; and their numbers had multiplied considerably, when the gloomy tyrant Domitian began the second persecution, A. D. 95. It is probable that the emperor acted through fear, since there is a singular story related of an edict issued by him fc the extermination of the whole family of David. Some descendants of our Lord's brethren still survived, and were brought before the tribunal of the procurator of Judaea, but, after examination, they were dismissed as too humble to be dangerous to the authority of Rome. The apprehensions of Domitian were aroused by the appearance of danger from a nearer quarter. One of his cousins-german, the consul Flavius Clemens, being suddenly accused of atheism and Jewish manners, the common charge against Christians, was put to death, and his wife, Domitilla, the emperor's niece, was banished. Tertullian relates that St, John was miraculously delivered unhurt from a vessel of flaming oil, into which he had been cast by the orders of the tyrant. He was afterwards banished to the isle of Patmos, on the western coast of Asia Minor, where he committed to writing his sublime Book of Revelation. * The apostolic succession of the bishops appears to be undeniable, but the extent and nature of their authority are altogether uncertain. It should, moreover, be observed that the term " successors of the apostles" can be applied to them in a very limited signification only. t Count Stolberg, a Romanist writer, brings Peter to Rome at the beginning of Nero's reign, but denies that the apostle founded the Christian church in that city. It is, however, more than questionable if St. Peter ever was at Rome. Lightfoot positively asserts that he lived and died in Chaldea. Milman endeavours to reconcile testimony and tradition by the theory of two churches, a Petrine and a Pauline, a Judaising and a Hel lenising community. FIRST CENTURY A. D. 33 Ten great persecutions of the early Christian church are recorded by nisto. rians; we shall treat of them as they occur, but it may be convenient to arrange their epochs together:3d PERSECUTION, A. D. 106, under Trajan. 4th PERSECUTION, A. D. 166, under Marcus Aurelius. 5th PERSECUTION, A. D. 202, under Severus. 6th PERSECUTION, A. D. 235, under Maximin. 7th PERSECUTION, A. D. 250, under Decius. 8th PERSECUTION, A. D. 258, under Valerian. 9th PERSECUTION, A. D. 272, under Aurelian. 10th PERSECUTION, A. D. 303, under Diocletian and Maximian. Read: Milman's Hist. of Christianity; Milner's Hist. of the Church of Christ TABLE OF THE PERSECUTIONS. No. of In what Name of Emperor, Principal Sufferers, and Perse- Year. Countries. &c. when. cution. BRITAIN. In the years 55 and 54 B. c., Julius Caesar invaded this island, but his two campaigns were indecisive, and the country maintained its independence until A. D. 43, when the Emperor Claudius in person, and afterwards the generals Plautius and Vespasian, compelled various tribes to acknowledge the majesty of Rome. The last of these commanders fought thirty battles before he could subdue the inhabitants, and Caractacus opposed Plautius during five years with varying success. This brave chief of the Silures being without allies, his army was at last defeated with great slaughter, and he himself taken prisoner and carried to Rome. Suetonius endeavoured to destroy the Druids who had taken refuge in the isle of Anglesey, and quelled a formidable insurrection headed by the celebrated Boadicea, A. D. 61, which cost the lives of 150,000 men. In the course of seven years, 78-85, the power of the empire was firmly established by Agricola: he subdued the natives as far north as the Forth, and also defeated Galgacus and his Caledonians at the foot of their native Grampians. Rutilius has said, with equal beauty and truth, that Rome embraced the whole world in her legislative triumphs, causing all to live under a common bond; that she blended discordant nations into one; and that, by offering to the conquered a full companionship in her privileges, she made the earth one united city. With these principles Agricola endeavoured to civilize the island, by inspiring the barbarians with a love of letters, and by the introduction of the Roman dress, language, and luxurious manners. Four legions were stationed in Britain, and as many great roads facilitated the communication between distant points. The most ancient inhabitants of the country appear to have been the Cymry, from whom the Welsh are descended; and these were followed 12 134 ANCIENT HISTORY. by colonies of Celts from Gaul, being themselves, like the first settlers, of Cimmerian origin. But not by rude emigrants alone was the island visited, for the Phoenicians, and after them the Carthaginians, frequented its south-western shores in search of tin. Numerous tribes, of which forty-five have been designated, were spread over its surface; and the Belge, a people of Gothic origin, occupied the south-eastern coast. They all lived in such a state of primitive simplicity as might be witnessed at present in the woods of North America, or in New Zealand. Their food was milk and flesh, skins their clothing, and to strike terror into their enemies in battle the exposed limbs were stained blue. Their houses were constructed of timber and reeds; their towns were situated in the depths of forests, the access to which was protected by ditches and barriers of trees. Money was little used, and was commonly rings of iron or copper of a certain weight. Their army was chiefly composed of infantry; but, like the heroes of the Trojan war, their chiefs fought from chariots armed with scythes. Their religion was that of the fierce and sanguinary Druids; a system which is said to have originated in Britain, whence it was introduced into Gaul. Its principal doctrines were the immortality and transmigration of souls; its chief maxims-to worship the gods, to do no evil, and to behave heroically. To appease, by cruel rites, their offended deities, huge images of wickerwork were filled with human victims, who were burned alive, and from their quivering limbs the priests predicted future events. The mistletoe, wherever it was found upon the oak, itself a sacred tree, was cut with great ceremony, and used as a charm to cause fecundity or to counteract poison. The Druidical order was divided into three classes: 1. The Druids, who were their dignitaries; 2. The Bards, poets or musicians; and, 3. The Ouates, the lowest rank of sacrificers and diviners. Of their monuments we have no remains, unless we consider as such the remarkable ruins of Stonehenge and Abury. Read: Turner's Anglo-Saxons, book i. chap. iv. SECOND CENTURY. ROME.-96, Nerva.-98, Trajan.-117, Adrian.-138-180, The Antonines.180, Commodus.-193, Didius Julianus. THE CHURCH.-Third and Fourth Persecutions. DIscovERIEs.-Astronomical System of Ptolemy. LITERATURE, &c.-Lucian; Ptolemy; Justin Martyr; Apuleius; Suetonius; Florus; Justin; Symmachus;-The Targum and Mlischnah.* ROME. THE FIVE GOOD EMPERORS.-NERVA, A.D. 96-98, began his short but happy reign by the diminution of taxes. He was of Cretan extraction, and elected by the senate at the age of sixty-five to support the * The Targum is a Chaldee paraphrase of the five books of Moses by Onkelos: its date is uncertain. The MJischnah is a compilation of traditional Jewish laws by Rabbi Jidah; its commentary, the Genarah, is divided into two parts, viz. 1st. The Talmud of Jerusalem, compiled in the third century; and 2d, The Talmud of Babylon, compiled in the SECOND CENTURY A.D. 135 state already inclining to its fall. Alarmed at the insurrections excited oy his reforms, he adopted the valiant TRAJAN, then commanding the armies of Lower Germany, a Spaniard by birth, though of Roman descent. The news of his elevation at once quieted all dissensions, and his soldiers, when he returned to Rome as emperor, after the death of Nerva, were never known to give cause for complaint by their insolence or irregularity. Trajan's palace was open to all, and with the studied modesty of Augustus he visited among his former friends like a private citizen. He introduced order and economy into the imperial household, constructed numerous public monuments, and also formed that great road which traversed the empire from Gaul to the Euxine Sea. These and other peaceful cares did not prevent him from watching the barbarous nations already hovering on the Roman frontiers. He attacked the Dacians, and notwithstanding the skilful tactics of their chief Decebalus, drove them by repeated defeats to their capital, the ruins of which may still be seen in Transylvania, and compelled them to purchase peace, A. D. 103. The war was next transferred to the Euphrates, and Trajan penetrated into Armenia, which he mastered, threatened Parthia, and advanced to the Tigris, always marching on foot at the head of his troops. In another expedition he reached the shores of the Indian Ocean, sighing that his age prevented him from imitating the exploits of Alexander. While he was thus engaged in distant expeditions, a horrible revolt broke out at home. In Cyrene, Cyprus, and Egypt, the Jews rose and mureered all the Romans they could discover, inflicting on them the most frightful tortures. Some were sawn asunder; others torn to pieces by heated pincers; and, if we may credit the historians, the murderers even devoured the flesh of their victims. In the midst of these events Trajan died, lamenting that his labours for the public good had proved so ineffectual. He was just and upright in his conduct both public and private, and his warlike reign, by exciting in the barbarous nations a sense of Roman vigour, was eminently useful to the empire. His persecution of the Christians is a great blot on his character. Though his life came to a close in Cilicia, his body was conveyed to Rome, and over his tomb was raised the lofty column which still bears his name. For nearly three centuries after his death it was usual to salute each new emperor with a prayer that he might be.more fortunate than Augustus, and more virtuous than Trajan. ADRIAN, A.D. 117-138, was in many respects unequal to his great predecessor. Relinquishing the conquests of Trajan, he wisely reduced the empire to the limits sanctioned by the wisdom of Augustus-to the barriers formed by the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the ocean. He travelled through all his dominions to investigate and remedy more promptly the disorders which prevailed. He settled a colony at Jerusalem, rebuilt the walls of that city, and called it.Elia Capitolina. Many useful reforms were introduced by him; the annual laws of the praetors were replaced by a perpetual edict, so that the principles of the administration of justice no longer varied with each year. The condififth century.-While speaking of eastern writings we may here observe, that the Sacontala (translated by Sir W. Jones with the title of the Fatal Ring), and various other Indian dramas and poems by Calidas, belong to this century. Of greater but uncertain antiquity are the U-Kingr of the Chinese; the Vedas or sacred books of the Hindoos; the Mahla-bhiarata, the great Hindoo epic; and the Sanscrit Puranas. 136 ANCIENT HISTORY. tion of the slaves was also greatly ameliorated; their masteis were no longer allowed to exercise an absolute power of life and death ovei them, and the private prisons were closed. An insurrection, which broke out under the impostor Barchochebas, who announced that he was the Messiah, was, after two years, extinguished in the blood of many thousand Jews, 135. The latter portion of Adrian's reign was darkened by the murder of persons suspected of conspiring against him, and he died of a lingering disease, repeating Plato's well-known lines on the nature of the soul. ANTONINUS Pius, A. D. 138-161, the second N.Lnza, the father of his country, was a rare combination of virtue and philosophy. His pacific government of twenty-three years is marked by no striking events, the storms and tempests of nature alone attracting the notice of the histor rian.* By one celebrated edict he declared all the free inhabitants of thre empire to be citizens of Rome,-a measure originating as much in political prudence as in a philosophic love of liberty, for they thereby became liable to taxes from which as provincials they were exempted. MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS, A. D. 161-180, surnamed the Philosopher, was prevented from treading in the tranquil steps of his predecessor by disturbances on the German and Syrian frontiers. The Parthians were driven back with great loss by his colleague Verus, 165; and he himself defeated the Sarmatians, the Quadi, and the Marcomanni, A. D. 174. Famine and the plague desolated several provinces during this reign. The Tiber rose above its banks and swept away all the public granaries situate near it, the loss of which caused the most melancholy sufferings. Britain and Belgium were in confusion; three legions were cut off in the East; the victorious army on its return from the Euphrates brought with it a pestilence which ravaged the whole empire to the shores of the Atlantic, and the city of Rome in particular, so that the dead bodies were carried out promiscuously in wagons. The want of food aggravated the previous miseries; fresh wars broke out simultaneously on all sides, to supply troops for which even the gladiators were enrolled in the legions. The attacks of the barbarians of the north upon the frontier, during this reign, were the first symptom of that great migration of the fierce tribes from the neighbourhood of the Caspian, who ultimately overran the fairest provinces of the empire. COMMODUS, at the death of his father Aurelius, was actively engaged on the banks of the Danube; but growing weary of a military life, he concluded a hasty peace with the barbarians, and returning to Rome, abandoned the reins of government to Perennis, the head of the pretorian guard, that he might better enjoy the luxuries of his station. His life was, however, soon endangered by the jealousy of his sister Lucilla. This plot was followed by another, in which the military chief endeavoured to dethrone his master, but was detected and executed. The freedman Cleander, a person of Thracian origin, being next promoted to the rank of favourite, carried his audacity almost to madness, inscribing newly manumitted slaves on the roll of the senate, and electing twentyfive consuls in a single year. He was put to death by the monarch to quiet a sedition of the populace. The mistrust and cruelty of Commo* Another reason for the historical silence may be the loss of the book of Dion Cassius which contained the history of his reign. SECOND CENTURY A.D. 137 dus gradually reached such an excess that he would put confidence in no one; and his chief delight was to descend armed into the public arena and contend with wild beasts, or with gladiators whose only protection was a sword of lead. The people were so changed, that while the emperor declared by his edicts that his reign was the age of gold, Rome itself assumed the name of Colonia Commodiana, and the senate that of Commodianus. At length he styled himself the son of Jupiter, the Roman Hercules, and on his coins assumed the name and attributes of this demigod. He perished by assassination, A.D. 193. DIDIUS JULIANUS, A.D. 193.-The praetorian bands, in their camp on the Quirinal Hill, now decided the fate of the world. After the death of Pertinax, who had succeeded Commodus in 193, and whose reign lasted scarcely three months, they exposed the empire to pubiic sale, and it was purchased by a wealthy senator, Didius, who promised a gratuity of more than ~200 to each soldier. The people were discontented, and the legions, regretting the loss of a commander who had often led them to victory, refused to ratify the ignominious transaction. The three armies of Britain, Syria, and Pannonia, elected respectively Albinus, Niger, and Severus. The last immediately marched into Italy, when the reigning sovereign, being deserted by the praetorians, was condemned and executed by order of the senate, A. D. 193, after a reign of sixty-six days. The misfortunes of Aurelius and the extravagant propensities of Commodus had begun to weaken the empire; still the traces of decay were not strikingly manifest, and in spite of them it maintained a contest with ruin during 200 years. The provinces were not as yet impoverished; the cities flourished, and foreign and internal commerce spread the luxuries of the East over the Roman dominions. But had the nation been possessed of moral virtue also, it never would have submitted to the tyranny of Commodus nor to the yoke of the legions. The military despotism of this period was most dangerous to those who relied upon it. It was only by large donatives that the fidelity of the praetorian guards could be purchased or maintained. Severus well knew their power by the maxim he left to his son-to enrich the soldiers, and hold the rest for nothing. THE CHURCH. Although the spread of the Christian religion was opposed by all the power of the idolatrous government, churches were early founded in Rome, Corinth, Crete, Antioch, Asia Minor, Britain, and Spain, and the number of converts daily increased. It was not to be expected that so remarkable a change should escape the notice of the emperors, who providentially, by their moderation and humanity, averted the arm of persecution. The vigorous mind of Trajan appears to have immediately comprehended the nature of the struggle between the gospel and paganism. THIRD PERSECUTION, A. D. 106.-From the younger Pliny, at that time governor of Bithynia, we have an interesting account of this persecution. His letter to Trajan, A. D. 107, shows that deaih was immediately inflicted upon every one who was convicted of belonging to the Christian sect. Women were tortured to elicit a confession; and their meeting at daybreak on the first day of the week, to praise God and to take the sacrament, was reckoned an evil practice. The new belief had already spread like a contagion in city and country, and the Ptmples 1.2* 138 ANCIENT HISTORY. began to be deserted. The emperor, in his reply to this epistle, ordered all those who persevered in their faith to be led to execution in obedience to the existing laws, meaning those only who should be brought judicially before the governor. No new edict was published, and informations against believers do not appear to have been countenanced. Adrian prohibited the Christian converts from being proceeded against by clamorous petitions. To the lions with the Christians! had been a populai cry in the time of public shows, till it was thus checked. Among the sufferers in this persecution was Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem. At the advanced age of 120 years, he supported the (fuel torment of the cross with unflinching courage. Ignatius of Antioch was questioned by Trajan himself, who condemned him to be exposed to wild beasts in the Roman amphitheatre, A. D. 110. The FOURTH PERSECUTION, A. D. 166, began at Smyrna. The defenders of the Gospel now boldly appealed to the government as well as to the public; and many apologies were published in its vindication. The most ancient of those which have reached our times is that of Justin Martyr, a philosopher converted at fhe age of thirty, and who afterwards sealed his testimony with his blood. Under the contemplative Marcus Aurelius, the persecutions were renewed with more rigour. The unshaken faithfulness of the sufferers excited the astonishment of the heathen; and even Epictetus, the moralist, was led to ask what were the motives that could change selfishness into charity, and overcome the natural desire of life. It is a remarkable circumstance in the early history of the Christian faith that the reign of the wisest and most humane of the heathen emperors was the most fatal to it: Marcus "polluted every year of a long reign with innocent blood." But it must be observed that the position of Christianity with regard to Paganism was much altered. It had spread into every quarter of the empire, and an intimate bond of union was maintained between all the churches, while polytheism was becoming more philosophical under the teaching of a superior class of writers. Believers were found in every rank of society, and in all occupations; slaves were admitted freely into the churches, and by that very act became manumitted. While viewing the rapid progress of the new religion, the Roman people dreaded that the fall of the ancient worship would involve that of their power; and the Christians, by their interpretations of the apocalypse, appeared to justify such an opinion. The doctrine of the millennium, implying the visible throne of Christ, was still generally entertained; and in the gloomy aspect of the times, the foreign and civil wars, inundations, earthquakes, famine, and pestilence, the affrighted citizens saw the anger of the avenging gods, to propitiate whom the Christians, their avowed enemies, once more became the victims. The principal of these were: -Polycarp of Smyrna, who had been the disciple of St. John, and was burnt alive at the age of 86; Justin Martyr, who was beheaded; and Pothinus of Lyons, who, on the verge of ninety years, died in prison from the ill usage he had received from the populace. One of the most distinguished of these sufferers was Blandina, a female slave, who, after undergoing the cruelest tortures, was transfixed by a spear. From these and other judicial murders the martyrdom of Vienne has oecome a memorable epoch in the history of the Church. Read: Milman's History of Christianity, book ii. c. 7. THIRD CENTURY A.D. 139 THIRD CENTURY. RoME.-193, Septimius Severus. —211, Caracalla.-218, Heliogabalus.-222, Alexander Severus.-235, Maximin.-The Thirty Tyrants.- 273, Aurelian defeats Zenobia.-284, Diocletian.-The Empire invaded by Goths, Franks, and Germans. PALMYRA.-Odenathus and Zenobia. PERSIA.-226, The Sassanides. —260, Sapor captures Valerian. THE CHURCH.-Persecutions. LITERATURE, &c.-Dion Cassius, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian, Longinus. ROME. SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, A. D. 193-211, who was a native of Africa, had risen steadily to the highest honours. In less than four years he vanquished his two competitors, Albinus and Niger, and defeated numerous armies, each of which was equal to his own. Although addicted to,raft and dissimulation, he did not neglect the interests of the people; I ut the calm of peace and prosperity was accompanied by an increased relaxation of military discipline. The praetorians were augmented fourfold, and relying upon the support of these devoted soldiers, Severus destroyed many of the senators and their families. Renewing the cruelties of Marius and Sylla, he put to death the wife and children of Albinus,-who had killed himself after an ineffectual struggle in Gaul, -and threw their bodies into the Tiber. He then immolated all who had embraced the party of his antagonist, confiscation of their property following in every case. Forty-one senatorial families, men, women, and children, fell by the hand of the executioner. The news of an irruption of the Caledonians into the British province hurried him again to the field, when a brief, yet not very successful campaign put an end to the war. He died at York, in the 65th year of his age, and the 18th of his reign, A. D. 211. CARACALLA, A. D. 211-217, had attempted to shorten his father's life, and to excite a mutiny among the troops; but the mercy shown to him by the emperor proved fatal to Rome. He commenced his reign by the murder of his brother and colleague Geta, who was slain in the arms of his mother. The stings of a guilty conscience urged him to acts of greater ferocity, and it is computed that 20,000 persons of both sexes perished because they were friends of that prince. Every province of the empire became the scene of his cruelty; the two Gauls especially were ruined in order to pay his troops and purchase a cessation of hos-tilities from the barbarians on the frontiers. Many thousands were massacred at Alexandria, by the orders and under the eyes of this "savage beast of Ausonia." But he continued a favourite with the army, professing to make the great Alexander his model. At length a centurion of the body-guard* named Martialis stabbed him during an expedition against the Parthians, A. D. 217. * The captain of the praetorian guards became, from the time of Severus, one of the most important officers in the state. To his military command he united the control of the finances and an extensive criminal jurisdiction. [40 ANCIENT HISTORY. The brief reign of MACRINUS prepared the throne for HELIOGABALUS, A. D. 218-222. This youth, whose character was stained by every kind of vice, had been a priest in the Temple of the Sun at Emesa in Syria. He brought with him to Rome all the luxury and effeminacy of Eastern monarchs; his wife had a place in the senate, and slaves and eunuchs became first ministers. His profligate conduct raised discontents even among a licentious soldiery; hence he perished in a sedition of the guards, and his body was thrown into the Tiber, A. D. 222. The corrupt lives of the emperors had already sunk the scale of morals to a low degree; but luxury and licentiousness reached their height under this Syrian ruler. ALEXANDER SEVERUS, A. D. 222-235, was raised by the praetorians to the throne at the age of 17; and under his wise and moderate administration the Roman world enjoyed an auspicious calm of thirteen years. Too young himself to rule, he left the public cares to the skill of his mother Mammaea, and of sixteen ancient senators, among whom was the famous lawyer Ulpian, to whose presence in the council we may attribute the greater regularity in the executive, the abolition of many vexatious laws, and the more legal conduct of the government. But this milder sway came too late; the attempt to enforce the laws, for three days filled Rome with civil strife, and devastated the city with fire. Alexander resisted the inroads of the Germans, who had been tempted by the decline of the empire; but was not equally successful against the Persians. His efforts to revive the military discipline of the republic were fatal to his life. The epithet of Severus, added to his name by the army, shows that the soldiers were not masters of the empire, as they had been under the two preceding monarchs. He proved a feeble support to the declining city; but the fierce barbarians of the North and East were more than a match for the Roman legionaries; in Persia his armies met only with partial success, and on the Rhine peace was procured by money rather than by the sword. In the meanwhile, the spread of a new religion was uprooting the foundations of polytheism and the state of society founded upon it. MAXIMIN, A. D. 235-238, a Thracian peasant, distinguished for his uncommon strength and valour, was elected by the army to the throne, left vacant by the murder of his predecessor. His mind was as uncultivated as his body was gigantic, for he could scarcely pronounce a few unconnected Latin words, while his dark and sanguinary career was not unworthy of his birth. Confiscation, exile, and death, were considered lenient punishments against those who excited his suspicions or his fears. Some were beaten to death with clubs, others were sewed up in the skins of animals and exposed to wild beasts. Magnus, a senator and 4000 of his supposed accomplices, were put to death in one day'he province of Africa having revolted, elected the two Gordians, and,he choice was approved by the senate, who at the same time declared Maximin and his son to be public enemies. The emperor's lieutenants were successful over his rivals, and the senators were already anticipating the execution of his horrible threat that he would slay them all and distribute their property among his soldiers, when they were relieved of their fears by his murder at the siege of Aquileia. The coalition of the opposing parties procured the elevation of an amiable youth, GORDIAN III., whose reign lasted six years, 238-244. He ascended the THIRD CENTURY A.D. 141 throne under favourable circumstances; beloved by all good men for his virtues; endeared to the senate by his illustrious birth, for he was the grandson of the elder Gordian, and to the army from his being their adopted child. Aided by the superior talents of his father-in-law Misitheus, he carried on a successful war against Sapor. PHILIP, the Arabian freebooter, was proclaimed emperor by the army, and the title of Augustus was conferred on him by the senate. He favoured the Christians, and granted them permission to raise temples and exercise their worship in public. He celebrated the secular games, A. D. 248 (April 21), when Rome had attained its thousandth year.DECIus, after a reign of two years and a half, lost his life in battle against the Goths, 251.- GALLUS, HOSTILIAN, VOLUSIAN, and JEMILIANUS, were succeeded by VALERIAN at the age of sixty years, 253, who associated Gallienus with him in the government. Marching to repel the aggressions of the Persian monarch, he was vanquished and made prisoner, A.D. 260; after which he suffered every indignity, till life sunk under the weight of shame.-GALLIENUS, A. D. 260-268, the luxurious son of Valerian, passed his time in the most ridiculous trifling. Pretenders started up in every province; hence this period is usually known as that of the Thirty Tyrants, although the names of nineteen only are recorded. Many of these shortlived monarchs were models of virtue, and possessed vigour and ability; but they were chiefly of obscure birth, and elevated on the field of battle. Not one died a natural death. The servile wars were renewed in Sicily; the streets of Alexandria were polluted with blood; while famine and pestilence, which lasted fifteen years, 250-265, ravaged every section of the Roman empire. Gallienus fell in a nocturnal tumult before the walls of Milan, in which he was besieging Aureolus, the most formidable of his rivals; and the dying wishes of the emperor raised CLAUDIUS, A. D. 268, to the throne. By the most signal victories he delivered Italy from the Goths; yet the same pestilence which had thinned the ranks of the barbarians, also carried off their conqueror. His short but glorious reign lasted only two years.-AURELIAN, A. D. 270-275, the son of a Pannonian peasant, originally an adventurer and common soldier, repelled the Gothic invaders, chastised the Germans who had entered Italy, recovered Gaul, Spain, and Britain, from the usurper Tetricus, and destroyed the monarchy which Queen Zenobia had erected in the East on the ruins of the empire, 273. He died by the hands of his officers-regretted by the army, detested by the senate, but universally acknowledged as a wise and fortunate prince.-TAcITUS, A. D. 275, owed his elevation to a friendly contest which had arisen between the army and the senate for the choice of an emperor; and he was elected by the latter from their own number, at the age of 75. He drove the bands of the Alani out of Asia with great slaughter, but sunk under the fatigues of his office, A. D. 276.-FLORIAN yielded to the better fortune of PROBUS, A. D. 276-282, who vanquished the Germans on the Rhine and the Danube, and restored peace and order to every province. To check the invasions of the barbarians, Probus built a stone wall nearly 200 miles in length, from the Danube to the Rhine; recruited the Roman armies from the German nations; settled foreign colonies in various parts of the empire, and taught them the science of agriculture. He perished in a mutiny of his troops. 142 ANCIENT HISTORY. With Maximin began the race of Barbarians who successively mounted the imperial throne: with Claudius II. commenced what has been called the military despotism. However glorious the reigns of this monarch and his successor Aurelian, they were far from healing the wounds of the state. Though great warriors, and men whom the circumstances of Rome required, they Tid little more than delay the fall of the empire. In the period between the Antonines and Diocletian, it was divided into two great parts, which were almost distinct worlds, the civil and the military. The people, the immense majority of the population, have no share in the history of these times; they paid their taxes, cultivated the soil, and passed their lives without troubling themselves about the occupations of the legions. So profound was this apathy, that not a single revolt took place among the numerous inhabitants of the capital. But in the army all was changed. T'he soldier-citizen of the republic was unknown; the ancient discipline was lost; the modern warrior had no home but his camp, and no respect for any authority but that of his officers. As they defended the empire, they claimed the right of nominating its chiefs, and of deposing them at will. Each army insisted upon electingf an emperor, whose authority was to be raintained by arms and civil strife. The successfil competitor was acknowledged by the senate, and saluted with the usual adulations. With the frequent alterations necessarily resulting from this military despotism, the face of the country varied little; and but for the excessive contributions raised in the provinces to support the troops, the internal condition of the empire would have been very flourishing. This state of affairs continued to the time of Diocletian, who introduced some modifications, and to the days of Constantine, who in his turn effected many great reforms. DIOCLETIAN, A. D. 284-305, who succeeded the shortlived monarchs, Carus, Carinus, and Numerian, was born in an obscure town of Dalmatia. On his elevation to the purple, a remarkable change took place in the form of government. Finding that the extent of frontier was too great to be defended by one person against the repeated attacks of daring and enterprising enemies, he selected a colleague in the person of Maximian, to whom he committed the charge of the West, while he retained the East. These two bore the title of Augustus, and each appointed a lieutenant with the title of Caesar. The seat of government was removed from Rome,- Maximian residing at Milan, Diocletian at Nicomedia,-an arrangement which contributed greatly to the support of the empire. Carausius, who had made himself independent in Britain, was defeated in 293; Gaul was delivered from the Germans; and the Persians were compelled to cede five provinces beyond the Tigris. After a glorious reign of twenty-one years, Diocletian abdicated the throne, A. D. 305, and Maximian resigned at Milan on the same day. The abdication of monarchs has always been matter of embarrassment to historians; and the fact of a prince voluntarily divesting himself of supreme power, without any apparent motive, is a phenomenon well worthy of exan:nation. Diocletian's relinquishment of the purple has been variously explained; some pretending that it was in fulfilment of an oath made with Maximian at his ascension; others, that he was grieved at his unsuccessful struggle against Christianity; others, that he feared the troubles which he saw impending; and many, that he entertained a supreme contempt for all human grandeur. The last two motives influenced beyond a doubt his resolution; but his fears, and the threats of Galerius his son-in-law, with his inability to resist him, were the principal causes. At the age of sixty years he retired into private life, and lived esteemed and happy at Salona. His latter days were saddened by the exile and persecution of his wife and daughter, and the ingratitude of those whom he had elevated. THIRD CENTURY A.D. 143 PALMYRA. QUEEN ZENOBIA was a Jewess by birth, the wife of Odenathus, prince of the Saracens of the Euphrates, who had raised himself to the dominion of the East, and by his victories over the Persian king avenged the injuries of the Romans and become their ally. On his death, having been cut off by domestic treason, his widow filled the vacant throne, and governed Syria with great wisdom. Palmyra (lat. 34~ 20' N., long. 38~ 30' E.), her capital, the Tadmor of Solomon, was situated in an oasis in the midst of a vast desert of sand, on one of the great caravan routes to the Euphrates, and its magnificent ruins still ornament that portion of the wilderness. Zenobia began her reign by throwing off the protection of the senate and conquering Egypt. Aurelian marched against her, took Antioch, and in a terrible battle in its vicinity routed her mail-clad cavalry and skilful archers. After experiencing a second defeat near Emesa, she sought refuge in her capital, which was besieged by the emperor, and reduced after a long resistance, A. D. 273. Two years afterwards, the unfortunate queen was led in triumph through the streets of Rome. Covered with diamonds, she walked alone before her victor's car, a slave holding the chain of gold which had been placed on her neck. The name and fate of the critic Longinus both honour her reign and reproach her weakness, if it be true that she exposed him to the vengeance of Aurelian to save her own life. PERSIA. SASSANIDES, A. D. 226.-We have seen that Arsaces founded the Parthian kingdom in the third century B. c., and that with him began the line of Arsacidan kings. His valour and genius gained the affections of his people; and his successes against the Romans often terrified the imperial city. The history of the several dynasties is obscure during 470 years, till we come to the reign of Artabanus, the last of the family just named, when this formidable power, which had spread from India to Syria, was subverted by ARTAXERXES (./rdeschir Babegan). He founded the family of the Sassanides, so called from his father Sassan, which governed Persia till the Arab invasion in 632. Artaxerxes was a distinguished soldier, driven to rebellion by royal ingratitude: three times he defeated the Parthians, and their monarch perished in the last battle. In the plain of Ormuz he was saluted by the army with the lofty title of King of Kings. He restored the ancient religion of the Magi, or Fire Worshippers, founded by Zoroaster in the seventh century B. c., re-established the royal authority, and began a successful war against the Romans, A. D. 230. His reign of fourteen years forms a memorable era in the history of the East and of Rome. He was succeeded by SAPOR, a man of gigantic form, inured from infancy to war, and who preserved the strictest discipline in his army, while he encouraged agriculture as a nursery for hardy soldiers. Eagerly desirous of founding a powerful monarchy, he attacked the Romans, and devastated both sides of the Euphrates, defeating the emperor Valerian, who had marched against him. He next overran Syria, Cilicia, and Cappadocia, but was compelled to retreat before Odenathus, prince of Palmyra, A. D. 261. 144 ANCIENT HISTORY. CHOSROES, sovereign of Armenia, who had resisted in his native mountains with invincible courage during thirty years, fell at last by the intrigues of the Persian court. The Armenian satraps immediately implored the help of Rome in favour of his son, the young Tiridates; but the imperial city being distant, Sapor soon incorporated this state with his vast dominions. TIRIDATES escaped from the assassins employed by the conqueror to murder him and his father, and was brought up among the Romans. After his country had borne a foreign yoke twenty-six years, he was invested with the monarchy of Armenia by Diocletian. His appearance on the frontier was welcomed with rapture; the nobles and people flew to his standard; but the Persians still maintained their ascendency, and it was not till A. D. 297 that the success of the Roman arms was confilmed by a treaty, which established him on the throne. BARBARIAN INVASIONS. During this century, the Northern Hive, as it was called, began to pour down its swarms upon the Roman empire. The GOTHS, A. D. 250, passed the Danube and invaded the Roman provinces during the reign of the Emperor Decius. This great nation was of Asiatic origin,-part of the Indo-Teutonic race which had spread irregularly towards the north of Europe. Their migration in that direction took place before the period of authentic history; and when they first attract our notice, they form part of the Suevian branch, settled along the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic. Their language forms the connecting link between the Sanscrit and the modern Teutonic dialects. Their religion, preserved in the sacred books of the Eddas, was barbarous and sanguinary. ODIN, "the Mohammed of the North," was at once their supreme deity and legislator. The daring invasions of these people met with various success, but as yet had produced no lasting effect. The province of Gaul was invaded by the FRANKS or Freemen, A. D. 256, a confederation of many German tribes on the Rhine and the Weser.* The former river proved an imperfect barrier to their enterprising spirit. At length they crossed the Pyrenees, and even in the fifth century the ruins of magnificent cities recorded their destructive hostilities. The ALLEMANNI, A. D. 259, were formed at the Tencteri and Usinetae (W~estphali). They were well trained to fight on horseback, and from their renown became a centre around which gathered a multitude of German tribes. This united people are supposed to be included under the different names of Suevi, AMarcomanni, and.Rllemanni. Having invaded Gaul and Italy, they displayed their banners within sight of Rome; but the vigour of the senate compelled them to retreat, though they returned to their own country laden with booty. THE CHURCH. So early as the end of the second century or the beginning of the third, the Christian faith had gradually spread to the middle and higher ranks,-when broke out the * The tribes were these: —. The Chauci; 2. The Sicambri; 3. The Attuari; 4. Bruc teri: 5. The Chamavii; 6. The Catti; 7. The Salii and Cherusci. THIRD CENTURY A.D. 145 FIFTH PERSECUTION, A. D. 202.-The Emperor Severus was at first not unfavourable to the believers; but probably considering them as much political enemies as religious schismatics, he published his sanguinary edicts against them, which forbade, in a particular manner, all assemblies, public or private. While thus occupied, he celebrated the secular games, which, like most other pagan festivals, were followed by violent explosions of fury against the Christians. In Alexandria especially the persecution raged; almost all the clergy in that city being massacred or compelled to flee. Origen, as yet quite young, was alone charged with the continuance of the sacred functions; nor was his office without trouble and danger, since he was more than once on the point of receiving the crown of martyrdom. At Carthage, Rome, and Lyons, the faithful were severely afflicted; though it should be observed that the traces of this persecution in the West are not distinct. SIXTH PERSECUTION, A. D. 235.-The church enjoyed a period of repose twenty-four years, but the accession of the brutal Maximin was the signal for new trials. A promiscuous massacre of the Christians, including every rank and both sexes, lasted during the whole of his reign. SEVENTH PERSECUTION, A. D. 250.-The most formidable enemies of the Church were the heretics, who in the second and third centuries were very numerous. The Marcionites, the Manicheans, and the Arians, raised those important questions which long divided the Christian world, and are in some respects perpetuated to our times. Philip, the Arabian, among some writers passed for a convert, but his successor Decius, alarmed by the miseries of the empire and his own precarious station, thought that the gods would strengthen his crown if he restored to their deserted altars the honours which had surrounded them in more prosperous days. For this purpose he began a bloody persecution, which extended over the whole empire. Christianity had already gained such strength, and its partisans were so numerous, that the struggle between it and paganism assumed almost the appearance of a civil war. The old creed had still on its side the majority of the population, the army, and the public authorities; but although many Christians apostatized, others were not wanting to seal their testimony with their blood, and fortify by their courage the trembling hearts of their brethren. Carthage and Alexandria, in particular, were the scene of much suffering; but Origen escaped, and, in the midst of cruel tortures prolonged during several days, gloried in the pains which proved his sincerity. EIGHTII PERSECUTION, A. D. 258.-Valerian's persecution was brief, for he had begun his reign by acts of clemency, and when holding the office of censor, expressed his opinion that Christianity exercised a favourable influence on public morals. His changed conduct must be attributed to the sorcerer Macrianus, who had a complete mastery over his mind. The first edict left the community in peace, but subjected all nonconforming bishops to the penalty of death, as also the confiscation of their churches and endowments. Among the victims were St. Lawrence, St. Stephen, and St. Cyprian of Carthage. NINTH PERSECUTION, A. D. 272.-Aurelian was arrested in his career -while in the act of signing an edict against the Christians-by the falling of a thunderbolt at his feet. But the end of his reign witnessed 13 146 ANCIENT HISTORY. many severities against the new sect in consequence of his orders, ana St. Denis of France was put to death. TENTH PERSECUTION, OR THE ERA OF MARTYRS, A. D. 285.-A final and vigorous effort was made to crush the new religion by Diocletian, whose wife and daughter are said to have been converted. The first edict against the Christians was published 24th February 303. By it the churches were ordered to be demolished, and the sacred books to be delivered up, under pain of death, and publicly burnt. All assemblies for religious worship were prohibited, the property of the church was confiscated, and its members were put beyond the protection of the law. In subsequent edicts he declared his intention of abolishing the name of Christian; but he contributed only to its further propagation. The Caesar Galerius was the instigator of these cruel measures, which were much increased by an accidental fire that broke out in the palace at Nicomedia. GALERIUS, the most implacable enemy of Christianity, having been raised to the throne of the East in consequence of the abdication of Diocletian, the persecution was continued with unmitigated severity. But the fervent spirit of religion was far from yielding to this violent shock. The believers still assembled regularly in private meetings; and though they were deprived of the most eminent of their body, their numbers preserved them from extermination. In the seventh year of his reign, Galerius was smitten with a loathsome disease, the lower region of his body being consumed by a fetid ulcer, or in the language of scripture, "he was eaten of worms," like Herod the Great, and, in later times, Philip II. of Spain. Physicians, oracles, and even the god of medicine himself, were applied to in vain; no remedy could diminish the virulence of a malady which had already reached the vitals. Harassed by the recollection of the tortures he had inflicted, he thought to allay the anguish of his body by recalling the edicts against Christianity, and by allowing the free and public exercise of its ceremonies; but the hand of death was upon him, and in a few days he expired, 311. The heathens themselves, it is said, were astonished at this signal interposition of the Almighty in favour of his worshippers. In the dominions of Maximin the persecution was still continued, nor did it stop until shortly before his decease, when his people had been diminished by famine and pestilence, and his power was threatened by Constantine. In the death of this monarch also the Christians of that age beheld the finger of God, for he expired in the most excruciating torments, his body being consumed by an internal fire, 313. It is impossible to calculate the number of victims who perished in this persecution: a whole legion, consisting of six thousand men, are said to have suffered in the valleys of the Alps. Diocletian's fiery sword Work'd busy as the lightning: then was Alban tried, England's first martyr. A multitude of the believers, who took refuge among the German tribes, were received with kindness; and the Goths were said to have been indebted to a young female captive for their first knowledge of the gospel. Read: Milman's History of Christianity, book ii. c. 9. FOURTH CENTURY A.D. 147 FOURTH CENTURY. ROME.-306, Constantine.-330, Constantinople.-361, Julian.-364, Division of the Empire between Valens and Valentinian.-378, Battle of Adrianoplo. -379, Theodosius the Great.-391, Eugenius, Emperor. THE CHURCH.-Establishment of Christianity.-318, Arian Heresy. —25, Nicene Council.-390, Theodosius prohibits Paganism. INVENTIONS. —385, Saddles.-398, Aerometers by Hypatia.-400, Gothic Architecture (?). LITERATURE, &c.- Eusebius, Chrysostom, -L. Lactantius, Augustin, - Claudian. ROME. CONSTANTINE, A. D. 306.-After the abdication of Diocletian, Constantius and Galerius ascended the vacated thrones; the former governing, under his new title of emperor, the provinces of Gaul, Spain, and Britain; the latter retaining those of the East. Two new Caesars were appointed, Maximin and Severus; and according to the arrangement of Diocletian, the latter should have recognised the authority of the Emperor of the West. But he was entirely devoted to Galerius, who, reserving for himself the countries lying between Italy and Syria, exerted an equal influence over him and Maximin, and by their means became master of nearly three-fourths of the empire. Constantine, the son of Constantius, was a Dacian by birth, and had attained eighteen years when his father was nominated Caesar. He did not immediately profit by this elevation, but followed Diocletian and signalized himself in the Egyptain wars, in which, besides rising to the station of tribune of the first order, he so far enjoyed the good will of the army as to excite the jealousy of Galerius. Proceeding to Britain, he rejoined his father, on whose death at York, in 306, he was proclaimed Augustus by the soldiers, which title however was not confirmed by the emperor, but that of Caesar substituted, with full authority over all the transalpine provinces. Shortly after the elevation of Constantine, an insurrection broke out in Rome on the imposition of additional taxes; when, encouraged by the connivance of the senate and the weakness of the civic guards, the populace elected Maxentius, the son of Maximian, in place of the absent Galerius, almost without opposition. This change drew the father from his retreat to aid Maxentius, by his counsels, and thereby to strengthen his party. Severus, who wished to assert the authority of Galerius, was besieged in Ravenna, and soon afterwards suffered death; and the latter was forthwith compelled to retire from.Italy, which he had unsuccessfully invaded. Licinius was now elevated to the rank of Augustus, with the government of Illyria, while Maximin, envious of those new- honours, assumed the same dignity in Africa, when was seen the strange circumstance of six emperors presiding at once over the Roman world.* Maximian was the first to lose the title, his son being unwilling to see the exercise of power controlled by his father. Galerius passed his time in useful improvements throughout his * Maximian, Maxentius, Maximin, Licinius, Galerius, and Constantine. 148 ANCIENT HISTORY. dominions, having wisely abandoned the design of uniting the empire in his own hands; but scarcely had he expired when the two emperors, whom he had invested with the purple, shared his territory; the provinces of Asia falling to Maximin, and those of Europe augmenting the government of Licinius. Maxentius, who had been raised to the purple by the zeal of the senate and people, soon forgot how he had obtained his crown, and conducted himself even in Rome, in a tyrannical manner. His cruelty was especially manifested after the fall of the usurper Alexander, who, having revolted in Africa, was speedily vanquished. That province was mercilessly ravaged in punishment for the insurrection, and at home the emperor's exactions and unjust con. demnations were greatly multiplied. Constantine freed Italy from this despot, whom he defeated at the gates of the capital, and who was drowned in the Tiber as he fled from the field of battle, 3192. The conqueror entered Rome amid the acclamations of the people and senate, who assigned him by decree the first place among the J.ugusti. Some time after. Licinius, his ally, added new provinces to those he already possessed. Having been attacked by Maximin during the winter of 313, the promptitude and superior skill of Licinius gave him the advantage; and his enemy, who was defeated, gained more celebrity by the swiftness of his flight than by his courage in the field. Twenty-four hours after his discomfiture, Maximin was seen pale and trembling, and stripped of his imperial ornaments, at Nicomedia, about one hundred and fifty miles from the scene of his ruin. Licinius did not imitate Constantine in the use he made of his victory, but stained it by putting to death men, women, and children, partisans of the vanquished prince. The Roman people now had but two masters; yet from the disposition of each it was not possible that there could be any rest until one should be destroyed. Constantine was young, active, and ambitious, and would not have waited for an opportunity to begin the war, even had not the other afforded one by engaging in a conspiracy against him. Two battles lost at Cibalae and Mardia compelled Licinius to yield five provinces, and to be satisfied with Thrace and the East, allowing Illyria to pass over to the victor, 314. Nine years after, he was entirely deprived of his power and banished to T'hessalonica, where he was put to death; and his rival who had publicly embraced Christianity ten years before, became sole master of the empire, 323. After his victory, the successful monarch had to contend against the Goths and Sarmatians, the former of whom were bound to furnish a body of 40,000 auxiliaries. But one of the most important results of this reign was the foundation of a new capital. A Christian court might seem to be misplaced in Pagan Rome, besides which the necessity of strengthening the frontiers against the Goths and Persians, while it made some change necessary, seemed to indicate the position of Constantinople. The latter part of the life of Constantine was unhappy: his son Clispus was put to death on the accusation of his step-mother Fausta, who was herself not long after convicted of adultery and suffocated in a * While Constantine was marching to Rome, previous to the decisive battle just mentioned, a cross is said to have appeared in the heavens at noon-day, on which was the inscription, In hoc signo vinces. In commemoration of this event, the cross or labarum became the sacred standard of the army. FOURTH CENTURY A.D. 149 bath. Two years before his demise the monarch divided the empire among his three sons, Constantine II., Constantius, and Constans. His two nephews Dalmatius and Annibalianus, received, the former the rank of Caesar, the latter a great part of Asia Minor, with the title of king. A short time afterwards, Sapor II., king of Persia, sent to demand of the emperor the provinces which Narses had ceded to Diocletian. The Roman sovereign replied that he would bear his own answer, and was in the midst of his preparations for war when he fell ill at Nicomedia, and died after receiving baptism by the hands of the Arian bishop Eusebius, 337. FAMILY OF CONSTANTINE. CONSTANTIUS I., CHLORUS, t 306. m. 1. Helena. 2. Theodora. CONSTANTINE I. THE GREAT, Constantia. Jul. Constantius. Annibalianus. t 337, m. 1. Minervina. 1 1 I --- ~~ 2. Faista. Val. LICINIUS, 1 I Dalmatius, Anniba-,-~ —----------- - Caesar, t324. Galla. Basilina. Caesar, lianus. 1 2 ----- I I 339. t 338. Crispus, CONSTANTINE, II., Fl. Val. Lici- Gallus, JULIAN, t 326. t 340. nius, t 326. t 354. t 363. CONSTANTIUS II.. t 3,1. CONSTANS, t 350. Imperial Administration. Constantine was the founder of a new order of things, which Diocletian had endoavoured, although imperfectly, to establish before him: for the previous military despotism he substituted that of the court and of a numerous hierarchy. Henceforward all ambition found a place around the sovereign; and the generals no longer saw ant open path by which any of them might advance to the imperial title. The former state of things, which had given rise to so many revolts, was altered: step by step each of the commanders might rise to the foot of the throne, but the power of an hereditary principle checked his farther progress. Besides the court, there was a sacred body of men everywhere present, guiding and influencing all minds. Since the year 313, Constantine had embraced the true faith; but as the church had long previously possessed its hierarchy, he did little more than consecrate and sanction its organization. In the regulation of the court the plan of Diocletian was closely followed. The sovereign was no longer visible to his subjects, and access to him was allowed only after a troublesome ceremonial. Below the seven domestics of the court, or rather the great officers of the state, were four classes of nobility, all exempt from the various taxes, except that imposed on land, which was paid by every one, even the emperor. Under the superior generals of the army were the counts and dukes; the legions were reduced from 6000 to 1500 men, and the whole army was classed in three divisions,-household troops, garrisons for the wealthy cities of the empire, and frontier guards, all of whom were more or less exempted from taxation. But these soldiers were now entirely mercenary; a law of Diocletian expressly forbidding the enlistment of any main possessed of twenty-five acres of land. FINANCES.-The taxes payable by Roman citizens were —a poll-tax, a property-tax or census, customs or duties on merchandise imported or exported, varying from one-eighth to one-fortieth ad-valorem, tithes on the farming of the public lands, a legacy-tax, and one-twentieth on all manumissions. The public revenues of the empire have been calculated at nearly forty millions of our money. This amount varied little till the time of Constantine, or rather Diocletian, who substituted a simple and direct tax, called the Indiction, in the stead of all preceding contributions.* All the lands of the state, including the *'This annual tax, if not Introduced, was at least entirely regulated under Constan. tine, and assessed according to a register of all the landed estates. As this register wab 13* 150 ANCIENT HISTORY. patrimony of the emperor, were subjected to this impost, and the least prevan cation in the account given in by each proprietor was punishable by death. The death of the emperor was the signal for internal disturbances, which were settled for a time by the division of his dominions among the three princes. Constantine, the eldest, obtained Gaul, Spain, and Britain; Constantius ruled over Thrace and the East; and Constans was the sovereign of Italy and Africa. CONSTANTIUS, 337, was soon called to the Persian war, where he soon found himself unable to resist the skill and valour of Sapor. It is true he succeeded in restoring Chosroes, son of Tiridates to his paternal throne, but this effeminate prince consented, as the price of peace, to pay a heavy tribute, and restore the excluded province of Atropatene. Scarcely three years had elapsed after the partition of the empire, before Constantine became dissatisfied with his share, and crossed the Alps to attack Constans, by whom he was defeated and killed: his possessions were added to those of his conqueror who himself ten years afterwards met with a violent death at the hands of some of the troops of Magnentius. After the demise of his two brothers, Constantius was involved, by the revolutions of the West, in a civil contest with the usurper just named, in which he was ultimately successful, and became sole emperor, 353. The two nephews of Constantine, Gallus and Julian, who, at the death of their uncle, had escaped from the ruin of their family, were long confined in prison, till the emergencies of the state invested the former with the title of Caesar, 351. His cruelty and imprudence, together with his mean submission to his blood-thirsty wife Constantina, were the cause of his disgrace and untimely end, 354. Julian now alone survived, and was passing his hours in studious retirement at Athens, when he was unwillingly declared Caesar, 355, and appointed to the provinces of Gaul. His retired and scholastic education had not disqualified him for more active pursuits. He defeated the Gauls and Franks; made three expeditions beyond the Rhine; and while his victories suspended the inroads of the barbarians, his civil administration alleviated the distresses of the people. Meantime Constantius was feebly making head against the irruptions of Sapor; and to quiet the seditious comparisons between himself and the Cae;ar, he ordered into the East four legions of the army of Gaul; but his commands were disobeyed, and the discontented soldiers proclaimed Julian emperor. No time was to be lost, and the new monarch, by a hasty march, with a small army of veteran soldiers, took possession of the capital a month after the death of Constantius, 361. JULIAN, surnamed the Apostate from having abandoned the Christian religion in which he was educated, had embraced the mythology of paganism, as subtilized by the New Platonic school; but while he wrote against Christianity, and endeavoured to establish a reformed polytheism in place of the gospels, it would be unjust to deny his tolerant principles. In the year 362, desirous of proving the fallacy of the prophecies, he determined to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem; but " horrible balls of fire breaking out near the foundations, rendered the place inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen." His chief reviewed every fifteen years, it gave rise to the Cycle of Indictions, which became t*e common era, beginning with the first September, A. D. 313.-To find the Indiction, ade 3 to the given year, because Christ was born in the year answering to the fourth of this cycle, and divide the sum by 15; the remainder will be the year of the Indiction. FOURTH CENTURY A.D. 151 political cares were the punishment of informers, who had been the scourge of the previous reign, and reforming the abuses of the court, in which were to be seen thousands of the most useless menials. He was thus enabled at once to reduce the taxes by one-fifth, and to indulge in greater magnificence in the state ceremonials. Superstitious to excess, he sacrificed on every occasion, and performed with scrupulous anxiety the functions of sovereign pontiff. He had been scarcely six months at Constantinople before he set out on his Persian expedition, in which he was at first successful; but, allowing himself to be misled by a deserter, he was surrounded by the army of Sapor, and fell mortally wounded, in the thirty-second year of his age, 363. With the accession of Julian paganism was restored throughout the whole extent of the Roman empire. He had been blinded by the prejudices of a mind too much preoccupied to perceive the luminous point to which the world was verging; he erred, and to be mistaken in such a manner, when the destinies of a kingdom depend upon the decision of its ruler, is the greatest of misfortunes. During a reign of eighteen months, part of which was taken up with his expedition against the Persians, he could not effect all the good or evil that has been attributed to him. He does not appear to have violently opposed Christianity, but, on the contrary, to have allowed its followers full liberty of assembling, and to have permitted entire freedom of conscience. The gravest infraction of religious tolerance that can be attributed to this emperor is the law of 362, forbidding Christians to teach the faculties of rhetoric and belleslettres.* JOVIAN, A. D. 363; a fervent Christian, succeeded Julian, and by accepting the conditions offered by Sapor, was allowed to withdraw the Roman army. All the conquests of Diocletian were restored, and Armenia was to be entirely abandoned. Eight months after, the new ruler was carried off by disease, and the army then assembled at Nicaea chose, as his successor, VALENTINIAN, who selected VALENS for his colleague, and the empire was divided between them. The latter governed the East, from the Danube to the Persian frontiers; the former reserving to himself the rest of the empire, from the extremity of Greece westward to the ocean. EASTERN EMPIRE. VALENS, A. D. 364.-The government of this prince was disturbed by the insurrection of Procopius, 365, though the next year witnessed the defeat and death of the rebel. The emperor now began a violent persecution of the orthodox Christians, and the martyrdom of the venerable Athanasius was one of his first acts. But Valens did not neglect the commercial interests of his subjects, and in the first year of his reign he reduced the taxes one-fourth. The Persian contest still continued; Sapor invaded Armenia, and the city of Artageras was taken after a siege of fourteen months, and a loss of nearly 17,000 lives by famine, 369. The conclusion of the Gothic war allowed the eastern emperor to spend several years at Antioch, disturbed only by religious dissensions. But in 375, Bishop Ulphilas, with other ambassadors from the Goths, solicited his assistance against the Huns,-an oriental people, Calmucks or Mongols, closely allied to the Finnish stock. * Abridged from the " Histoire de la Destruction du Paganisme," by Mr. Arthur Beug not, which contains a luminous criticism of the character of Julian, enhanced by a vigorous style and extensive learning. 152 ANCIENT HISTORY. BATTLE OF ADRIANOPLE, A. D. 378.-The Goths, to the number of nearly a million, were transported across the Danube, and settled on the southern bank of that river. Roman avarice and treachery drove them to revolt; but they were kept in check by the lieutenants of Valens, and their forces wasted by famine. The emperor hastened in person from the East, and on the 9th August 378, attacked the invaders near Adrianople, where he suffered a terrible defeat, losing two-thirds of an army of 300,000 men. He fled wounded from the field, and took refuge in a peasant's hut, to which the victors set fire, not knowing that the monarch lay concealed within. The inexperience of the Goths prevented them from taking advantage of their triumph otherwise than by ravaging Thrace, and carrying their predatory expeditions to the walls of Constantinople. When Gratian, the Western Emperor, received the news of these events, he called THEODOSIUS from his estate in Spain, to which he had retired on the death of his father, and raised him to the Eastern throne, as being the only man capable of bearing the heavy weight of power, 379. Nor were the general expectations disappointed, for, by his prudence, he delivered the Roman provinces from the Goths, and taking advantage of their dissensions, compelled them to capitulate, 382, so that, until his death, the empire did not lose a single province. His reign was not less devoted to religion than to politics; for, while he crushed the barbarians, he endeavoured also to eradicate the Arian heresy, even at the price of blood. During the civil wars of the West, he made two campaigns in Italy, where his success was equal to the justice of his cause. After the defeat and death of the usurper Eugenius, he became sole emperor of the world, a title which he enjoyed only a few months, as he died at Milan in 395. He was the last who ruled over the whole Roman empire, which, torn and distracted as it was, his two sons divided between them. Arcadias, as emperor of the East, reigned at Constantinople; and Honorius in the West preferred Ravenna to the ancient capital of the empire. By the moderation which characterized the victories of Theodosius, by the wisdom of his laws, and the success of his arms, he justly merited the title of Great. Friends and enemies, Pagans and Christians, have alike given their testimony to his talents and virtues. He preserved on the throne the simple manners of his early life, and the splendour of the diadem never made him forget that he was a father, husband, and friend. His good qualities were, however, tarnished by his momentary impetuosity and his occasional cruelty when under the influence of excited passion, as in those melancholy instances when the inhabitants of Antioch and of Thessalonica rose in revolt against him. WESTERN EMPIRE. VALENTINIAN, A. D. 364, preserved a strict impartiality and toleration during this age of religious contention, his mind being occupied by other subjects. The Alemanni invaded and ravaged Gaul, but the brave Jovinus, after a severe conflict, drove them across the Rhine, 366. In Britain the inroads of the Scots and Picts were repeatedly checked by the vigorous exertions of Theodosius, father of the emperor of that name. The same brave general afterwards recovered Africa, which had joined the rebellious standard of Firmus the Moor, 373. The Goths, despising the two obscure princes who were raised to the throne, passed the FOURTH CENTURY A.D. 153 Danube, to the number of 30,000 men; but after a sanguinary war of three years, they were glad to accept peace. The Quadi followed, with still worse success; and it was while receiving their ambassadors that Valentinian broke into a furious passion which caused his death, 375. GRATIAN ascended the throne on the death of his father. His first exploit in arms was the defeat of the Alemanni who had crossed the Rhine, in 378. Unable to resist alone the tempest of barbarians who threatened to burst over the provinces, he invested Theodosius with the empire of the East, 379. The preference he manifested for his Scythian body-guard naturally excited the discontent of the Roman troops. Maximus, who commanded in Britain, availed himself of these murmurs to assume the purple, and Gratian perished by the hand of an assassin, 383. Not satisfied with possessing the provinces westward of the Alps, the usurper invaded Italy, which was governed by VALENTINIAN II., a brother of the late monarch. Theodosius supported the Italian prince, and Maximus was defeated and killed at Aquileia, 388; but, notwithstanding, Valentinian perished by the hand of the Frank Arbogastes, before he had completed his twentieth year, 392. The rhetorician Eugenius, secretary of the barbarian general, was raised to the vacant throne, and for two years Theodosius durst not attack him, defended as he was by the skill of his master and the numerous Franks he had collected around him. The battle which, in 394, put an end to the reign and life of Eugenius, was fought by foreigners alone: the troops of Theodosius being Goths, under the command of their native chiefs, and their antagonists Franks and Allemanni. The history of the Western Empire now rapidly approaches its close. The luxury which pervaded the cities, and the relaxation of military discipline prepared its fall. Ministers, soldiers, and generals were chosen from the barbarous tributaries of Rome; and the incorporation of the Goths and other tribes was a fatal injury to the internal government of the state. The court was given up to idle pomp and ceremony; women and eunuchs directed the affairs of the world; corruption, injustice, and oppression, famine and pestilence, completed the gloomy picture. BARBARIC MIGRATIONS. The fourth century was marked by an incident of great importance,the appearance of the Huns in Europe; an event which led to the grea migrations that followed, and finally brought on the destruction of ti e Roman Empire in the West. The name of German comprehends all those tribes which, from th time of Julius Caesar, were established between 56~ N. latitude and the Danube, and between the Rhine and the Vistula. One of these nations, the Goths, being driven from the mouths of the latter river by others who dwelt farther to the east, sought refuge on the frontiers of Dacia where Caracalla found them in 213. Aurelian permitted them to settle along the Euxine Sea, when they became divided into Eastern or Ostrogoths-from the Don to the Dniester, and Western or Visigoths-from the Dniester to the Danube. About the year 374 the barbarous horde of the Hiong-nu, or Huns, appeared on the eastern bank of the Don, They were a nomad people who wandered over the mountains and pasture-grounds of Upper Asia, particularly in the countries lying between Siberia and India. The first historical notice of them is found in 154 ANCIENT HISTORY. Chinese documents of the age of Domitian. Their khan or talijou, Tchun Goei, had founded a powerful empire beyond the northern edge of the desert of Kobi, by whose successors the Manchoos or Eastern Tartars were subdued. The Chinese, who vainly opposed their great wall to check these incursions, were reduced by the Tanjous; but fortune changing, the Emperor Vou-ti expelled them from his country, and the Manchoos also threw off their yoke. A prey to dreadful famine and intestine wars, the Huns abandoned the steppes of Tartary, and in two great bodies marched to the westward. The white Huns, or Nepthalites, settled in Transoxiana, whence they annoyed the Persians; while the other tribes to the north of the Caucasus, and between the Volga and the Don, encountered the Alani, a people almost as savage as themselves. These they carried along with them in their course, and the two hordes, now confounded in one, arrived on the borders of the Ostrogoths. They did not force the vanquished inhabitants to quit their lands, but compelled them to supply a certain number of guides to lead them to the attack of the Visigoths. These latter tribes, at the approach of this terrible scourge, fled in multitudes towards the Danube, and supplicated Valens, 376, to receive and protect them on the right bank; promising that when they were once sheltered by this barrier, they would consecrate their services to the defence of the empire. How the declarations of this million of suppliants were kept, the reader will find detailed elsewhere. THE CHURCH. The Christian religion, although severely persecuted, resembled the herb that flourishes best when most trodden upon. The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church, and hence converts rapidly spread over the empire, and to the remotest parts of the world. Heresy and schism, no doubt, arose simultaneously with the propagation of the Gospel; nevertheless, within three centuries, Paganism was entirely abolished. But the Arian controversy threatened more serious danger than external persecution; the believers were for a long period disunited, and the bond of evangelical brotherhood was broken. With the death of Constantine began the two principal innovations which still divide the Catholic (or Universal) Church, and which have proved the source of all the corruptions that have degraded Christianity: by the one the doctrine was contaminated, and by the other the government of the independent Episcopal churches was destroyed. It ought to be remembered that every church was a society complete in itself, governed in all its branches by one episcopal head, who was liable to be deposed if he violated the faith,-even the patriarchs of the three royal cities, Antioch, Rome, and Alexandria, with those of Constantinople and Jerusalem, scarcely forming an exception to the general rule. Certain large ecclesiastical provinces, such as Persia, Armenia, and Abyssinia, which lay beyond the limits of the empire, had also their patriarchs or catholics. Lastly, there were in it a few provinces united with a metropolitan, who took the name of archbishop, as Canterbury in England, Vienne in Gaul, Seville in Spain, and Milan in Italy. As to the bishops or overseers (episcopi), their establishment dates from the FOURTH CENTURY A.D. 155 first ages of Christianity: elected by the people and clergy of their diocese, their spiritual authority was equal to that of the metropolitans and patriarchs, on whom, from the exigencies of the times, the church had conferred certain exterior privileges. Below the bishops were the elders (presbyters or priests), charged by them with the exercise of a spiritual authority over those members of their diocese whom they themselves could not reach. The deacons or servants were destined to perform the humbler functions of the ministry. The equality of this spiritual republic was, nevertheless, modified by its discipline; for the priest was inferior to the bishop, and both to the provincial council in which the metropolitan presided. The errors of Arius, 318, convulsed the church during three centuries. Rejecting the plain declaration of the Bible and the evidence of antiquity, he taught that Jesus Christ was essentially distinct from the Father, and only the first and noblest of created beings. These heretical tenets led to the summoning of the general councils of the bishops and doctors of the church,-at NICE, 325; CONSTANTINOPLE, 381; EPHESUS, 431; CIIALCEDON, 451,-by which the opinions of the primitive Christians were confirmed on the subject of the person of Christ, af the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Atonement.* But the savage inroads of the barbarians, the extinction of learning, and an almost universal mental abasement, prepared the way for the establishment of Popery and Mohammedanism-the rival enemies of pure religion in the West and East. The church of Rome began early to assume authority over the others, as well from the number and wealth of its converts as from its position in the capital city. Many circumstances, especially the Athanasian controversy and its results, concurred to augment the influence of its bishop, although his usurpation and ambition were for a time vigorously repelled. Irenaeus of France, in 195, reproved the presumption of Victor of Rome, who had excommunicated the Asiatic churches which did not observe Easter after his fashion. The Romish mandates were peremptorily rejected by the African church, 250; and Spain a few years afterwards refused to submit to the pontiff. The transference of the seat of power to Constantinople increased the authority of the western church, by conferring the chief magistracy on the bishop. To this must be added the sanction given by Gratian and Valentinian to the custom of appeals to Rome, the frequent pilgrimages to the tombs of St. Peter,t St. Paul, and other martyrs. * The Council of Constantinople was convoked by Theodosius the Great, and the patriarchs of Alexandria and Constantinople presided in succession. St. Gregory of Nazianzum was among the number. The symbol of the mass, afterwards received by the whole Romish church, was here proposed. The Council of Ephesus was convoked by Theodosius the younger. St. Cyril of Alexandria presided; the Nestorians and Pelagians were condemned. The Council of Chalcedon was convoked by the Emperor Marcian. One of the canons then enacted, by which Constantinople ought to enjoy the same advantages as Rome in the ecclesiastical order, was the germ of schism which afterwards separated the Greek from the Western church. t The most magnificent temple in the world was raised over the traditionary tomb of St. Peter; but whatever mav be the decisions of the critics as to his visit to Rome and martyrdom in that city, there can be no reasonable doubt that neither he nor St. Paui was the founder of the Christian church in that metropolis. 156 ANCIENT HISTORY. GENERAL TABLE OF COUNCILS. (ouncil. When. Where. By whom President. Why? Results. 1 325 Nice. Constantine. Osius. To settle Nicene Creed; rethe Arian cognition of condisputes. substantiality of the Son of God with God the Father. The teacher should furnish the pupil with the particulars from Milner, Mosheim, or any more authentic source. Remarks on the Establishment of Christianity by Constantine. It is uncertain whether faith or patriotic philanthropy induced the Roman emperor to distribute the ministers of Christ over his dominions, and to assign.hem a territorial revenue. Contemporaneously with this establishment was the progress of a great and general corruption which had arisen from other causes two centuries before. Superstition and ignorance had invested the ecclesiastics with a power which they exerted to their own aggrandizement, supplanting the authority of Scripture by a discipline and doctrine which blinded the souls of men. In this alone - which the establishment should have restrained and corrected -originated the despotism of priests, and by it they were enabled to rule at will over the consciences of their deluded votaries. In consequence of the new arrangement, the religion of Christ spread from the cities and towns over all the rural districts, and the Pagans (i. e. villagers, in a literal sense) were brought into the Christian fold. An unfailing succession of ministers was thus secured; a refuge during the dark and stormy ages, already impending over the empire, was prepared; virtue found a safe retreat; and learning was sheltered till brighter days arose. The religion of the Gospel could never have perished; but the sufferings consequent upon the barbarian invasions would have been increased tenfold, and all literature and science would have disappeared in the wreck of the governments. HERESIES.-The great heresies in the early Christian church may be traced to three sources:-1. Pagan Philosophy; 2. Opinions as to the Nature of Christ; and, 3. Doctrines in regard to the Human Will and Original Sin. I. PHILOSOPHY.-The Gnostics rejected the law of Moses, with some parts of the New Testament, and regarded Christ as an intermediate being between God and man, an emanation from the Pleroma, or fulness of the Godhead, sent into the world to deliver the human being from the empire of the genii, and to withdraw souls from the malignant influence of matter. Some abstained from marriage, and by fasting and maceration endeavoured to free the soul from the fleshly prison to which it was confined; others of the Gnostics indulged in every kind of vice, as they attached no idea of good or evil to any of the different modifications of matter. The llanichees derive their name and creed from the Persian Mani, whose belief was a mixture of Christianity and Sabaism, founded on the oriental tradition of two principles of Good and Evil. He rejected the Old Testament, and published a gospel of his own, meant by him to complete the imperfect revelation of Jesus. He identified the God of the Old Testament with the evil spirit; rejected all religious ceremonials; and taught the doctrine of the metempsychosis, with the triple division of human souls. He was put to death by order of Varanes I., after a dispute with the Magians, and his skin, stuffed with straw, was placed over the gate of the city of Shahpoor, 275. His doctrines spread even to Spain; they were adopted by Priscilian, bishop of Abyla, who suffered as a heretic-the first victim-at Treves, 385. FOURTH CENTURY A.D. 15? Carpocrates founded the sect which bears his name. He taught the preexistence of the soul, and that everything was a matter of indifference, except faith and charity. By this he appears to inculcate the contempt of all laws, and that, as our passions were given us by God, we should satisfy.hem at all risks He added to this licentious doctrine the principle, that excess in debauchery is a more certain, speedy, and, at the same time, a more agreeable method of destroying the burdensome body than the practice of self-mortificati.L-. His creed was partly Gnostic. Nicolas, deacon of Jerusalem, chief of the Nicolaitans, formed a sect which, by an unlimited extension of the community of goods, degraded men to brutes, and sapped the foundations of society. A physician, llontanus, desirous of perfecting the moral precepts of Christ, proscribed all pleasures, dress, the arts, and philosophy. Rigorous fasts were enjoined: marriage was tolerated as a necessary evil, but second nuptials were considered an inexpicable sin; and all religion was resolved into an inward emotion. The eloquent Tertullian was one of his proselytes. EIis followers were called Montanists.-The Valesians and Origenists went to still greater excesses. II. OPINIONS AS TO THE NATURE OF CHRIST.-The Mlacedonians, Sabellians, and Mllonarchists preceded Arius, who denied the proper divinity of the Saviour. This heresy was first taught at Alexandria, in a spirit of opposition to the patriarch; it gradually divided the church, and was formally condemned by the Council of ice, 325. The Nestorians imagined a useless and dangerous distinction between the human and divine nature of Christ. They were condemned by the Council of Ephesus, 431.-The Eutychians, called also Jacobites, fell into the opposite error, and were censured by the Council of Chalcedon, 451. III. DOCTRINES IN REGARD TO THE HUMAN WILL AND ORIGINAL SIN.Two monks, Pelagius, a Briton, and the Irish Celestius, wholly rejected the doctrine of original sin, and of the influence of divine grace, and asserted the entire freedom of the will. St. Augustin was the great champion of orthodoxy against these opinions. The Donatists and Iconoclasts belong to a different class. They did not object to the Nicene creed; their errors were not doctrinal; they were rather schismatics or rebels. The first sect arose out of the disputes concerning the succession to the bishopric of Carthage. The opinions of Donatus were condemned by the conference at Carthage, 411.-An account of the Iconoclasts is given in the history of the eighth century. The preceding brief list of heresies can give but a feeble and imperfect idea of the numberless and unmeasured aberrations into which the passion of dogmatizing and the seductions of an unsubstantial glory led away many proud spirits. Who can tell what sufferings these deep wounds inflicted on the church! The hand of God had supported it during the persecutions of the Pagans; it found in its own ministers men armed with prudence and courage to delend it from internal enemies. At first it opposed to its misled children the authority of the Holy Scriptures and pure tradition only; but when the princes of the earth had recognised the reign of Christ, the civil power lent its support to the laws of the church. The mere errors of conscience were assimilated to crimes. and often met with the same punishment. 14 158 ANCIENT HISTORY. FIFTH CENTURY. FOUNDATION OF MODERN STATES. rEastern Empire. -395, Alaric. -408, Theodosius II. -420, Persia War. —450, Marcian.-457, Leo the Great.-491, Anastasius. Ror. l WTester,. Empire.-408, Britain relinquished.-410, Visigoths at Romo -Vandals, Alani, and Suevi.-414, Franks, Burgundians, &c., in Gaul. 452, Attila.-476, FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE-. Odoacer and Theodoric. VENICE.-452, Commencement of the Republic. GAUL.-420, Pharamond.-428, Clodion.-448, Merovens. —46, Clovis. THE CHURCH.-Monachism-Conversion of the Barbarians. DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE. Each empire was now divided into two prefectures; these into two dioceses, and subdivided into provinces. The cities with their dependencies formed the lowest division in this political scale. Prefectures. Dioceses. Provinces. 3 Palestines, Phcenicia. "1. East. 2 Syrias, Cyprus, Arabia. 2 Cilicias, Mesopotamia. M4 2. Egypt Egy Proper, Thebais. a * gyPt ~2 Lybias, Augustamnica. _p^E ~ ~~ r'Pamphilia, Hellespont. I. 3. Asia. Lydia, Lycaonia, 2 Phrygias. H EAST..Lycia, Caria, the Isles. 2 Galatias, Bithynia, Pontus. Zt ~ 4. Pontus.. 2 Cappadocias, Paphlagonia. 2 Armenias, Helenopontus, Polemonium. H ^5. Th race Europe, Thrace, Rhodope. / 5' ^"race. HaHtemus, 2d Mcesia, Scythia. Achaa, Macedonia. II. 1. Macedonia. Crete, Thessaly. IL YRIA J Epirus (old and new). (Eastern).' 2. Dacia Dacia (Interior and Ripuarian). adate n. *' 1st Mcesia, Dardania, Proevalis. 1. Italy (sub- CVenice, Liguria, 2 Picentums. divided into Tuscany and Umbria, Campania. the Dioceses Sicily, Apulia, Calabria. of Italy andT Lucania and Bruttium, Cottian Alps. ITALY. Rome.) 2 Rhaetias, Samnium, Valeria, Sardinia, Cor. 1 I:4 u. C sica. S | 2. Illyria 2 Pannonias, Savia. Ii (Western). Dalmatia, Noricum. q Q \f'ic Tripolis, Byzacium. 3. Africa. Numidia, 2 Mauritanias. Z — Boetica, Lusitania, Galicia. Tarraconensis, Carthaginiensis. H II. (1. Spain..Balearic Isles, Tingitania (Africa). Q GAUL. I "Narbonnensis (2), Vienne, i' | Alps (1Maritime and Pennine). J2. Gaul. 3 Aquitaines, 5 Lyonnais,.Belgica (2), Germany (2). 2 Britains 3. Britain. Maximma and F Casariensis, Valentia. Prepare: Maps of the two empires with the preceding divisions. FIFTH CENTURY A.D. 159 EASTERN EMPIRE. INVASION OF ALARIC.-Arcadius, the eldest son of the great Theodosius, seemed to impress his own feebleness on that empire whose history oegins with his reign, A. D. 395. He ruled over Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Dacia, and Macedonia. The obscure but clever Gascon Rufinus, who owed his elevation to the father, preserved his influence over the son; but his fall and death were brought on by his cruelties in the East, and by the marriage of the sovereign. He was succeeded by Eutropius, who shortly after incurred a similar fate. Gainas, the leader of the barbarian auxiliaries, dissatisfied at the frequent changes in the state, and probably moved by ambition, meditated the destruction of the Greek monarchy, by delivering up its capital into the hands of his fellow-countrymen; but the plot being discovered, he was compelled to withdraw beyond the Danube, where he perished in battle against the Huns. The empire escaped from these dangers only to encounter still greater. The Visigoths, on the refusal of Arcadius to pay the annual tribute, poured their wild bands into Thrace and Pannonia, following the guidance of Alaric, a chief of the ancient Balti. From the Adriatic to the Bosphorus, everything was devastated; and the Goths penetrated as far as Athens, the Walls of which were vainly defended by the shade of Achilles and the powerful aegis of Minerva. They escaped from Stilicho, the minister of Honorius, who was sent against them, when the feeble counsels of Arcadius promoted the invader to the title of Prefect of Illyricum, 398. PULCHERIA.-The intrigues and conspiracies of the Eastern court are too numerons and too similar to deserve particular notice; but they contributed to the distress of the country by the consequent impossibility of employing the resources of the empire against the Barbarians. Pulcheria, scarcely fifteen years of age, was put at the head of affairs, and intrusted with the education of her young brother, THEODOSIUS II., 408. During this minority the empire enjoyed internal as well as foreign peace; and its frontiers were extended by the addition of part of Armenia in 441. Theodosius, celebrated for the oldest collection of the Roman law which has come down to our time, was succeeded by'MARCIAN, a soldier of great merit, who was invested with the purple when he received the hand of Pulcheria, 450. He braved the menaces of Attila, and by his firmness restored the peace of the church. With thle death of his wife, in the year 453, the family of Theodosius became extinct. The successor of Marcian was LEO the Great, A. D. 457. Proclaimed by the people, the army, and the senate, and crowned for the first time by the patriarch, this simple Thracian soldier appeared to revive the long-disused military elections of the empire. The Isaurian guard had for some time displaced the praetorians, whose privileges they now seemed desirous of assuming. On the death of Leo, they invested his son-in-law, their general ZENO, with the imperial dignity. A revolution placed BASILISCUS on the throne, who quitted his pleasures only to terminate by an edict of union the quarrels of the Orthodox and the Eutychians. On the death of Zeno, Ariadne, the mother of Leo II., married a heretic, ANASTASIUS the Silentiary, who attained the sceptre in 491. 160 ANCIENT HISTORY. His character may be learnt from the flattering shout which greeted his accession-Reign as you have lived! His excessive intolerance towards the orthodox was atoned for by the removal of many oppressive taxes, the abolition of the sale of offices, the prohibition of combats between men and animals, the banishment of the seditious Isaurians, and other beneficial measures. He built Dara in Armenia to cover the frontiers on the side of Persia, and erected a wall fifty-four miles in length from the Euxine to the Propontis, for the defence of Constantinople. His long reign was agitated by religious quarrels, which in one instance cost the lives of 100,000 inhabitants of the capital. He was succeeded by JUSTIN I., a Thracian peasant, 518, whose throne, nine years afterwards, was occupied by his celebrated nephew JUSTINIAN. WESTERN EMPIRE. BATTLE OF POLLENTIA.-Honorius was eleven years of age when he succeeded to the government of Italy, Africa, Gaul, Spain, Britain, Noricum, Pannonia, and Dalmatia, in 395. His minister, the intrepid and sagacious Stilicho, himself of Vandal origin, supported the dignity of the Roman name in the West. After the revolt in Africa was quelled, 398, he was sent against Alaric, at that time ravaging Greece; but he was soon called to defend the sacred soil of Italy itself against that daring barbarian, 402. The Visigoths, after insulting Milan, and being almost shut up in their camp at Pollentia, were defeated in two battles, and compelled to leave in the hands of their conquerors a great part of the booty which they had collected in Greece. Honorius enjoyed, in Rome, the triumphal honours due to his successful general; and afterwards transferred the imperial residence to Ravenna, trusting for safety rather to the waters of the Adriatic than to the arms of his soldiers. Alaric retired into Pannonia, but the season of calm, which the Western Empire enjoyed, was of brief duration. Italy was again overrun by Radagaisus, who had served under that adventurer, and Rome threatened; but the manceuvres of Stilicho shut him up in the mountains, near Faesule, where the united forces of the Goths and Huns were starved into surrender, and the leader himself beheaded, 406. Meantime Gaul was desolated by the Vandals from modern Lusatia, by the Suevi from between the Maine and the Neckar, and by the Alani from the banks of the Danube. It was defended by Constantine, who had usurped the imperial power, and whose lieutenant Constans administered the affairs of Spain. CAPTURE OF ROME. —Stilicho fell a victim to the intrigues of Olympius, an officer of the palace, who inspired the feeble Honorius with the determination of getting rid of a powerful minister, who was said to meditate the placing of his own son on the imperial throne. Thus the only general who was capable of defending Italy was put to death in 408. Alaric immediately resumed his projects against it, ostensibly to revenge the wrongs of his principal adversary; but neglecting Ravenna, he marched to Rome, which, since the time of Hannibal, more than six hundred years, had seen no enemy before its gates. A close blockade soon forced it to capitulate, on condition of paying 5000 pounds of gold, 30,000 of silver, 4000 silk dresses, 3000 pieces of fine scarlet cloth, and 3000 pounds of pepper, the last an FIFTH CENTURY A.D. 161 article held in the greatest esteem. The obstinacy and treachery of Honorius compelled Alaric to march a third time against the capital. At midnight a band of slaves in his interest opened the Salarian gate, and the inhabitants were roused from their slumbers by the sound of the Gothic trumpet in their streets. Eleven hundred and sixty-three years after its foundation, Rome, which had subdued the greatest part of the earth, was given up for six days to the fury of Scythians and Germans, 410. The piety of these recently converted barbarians respected the basilics of St. Peter and St. Paul. Marching to the south, devastating every thing upon which he set his foot, Alaric was surprised by death in the course of a few months at Consentia (Cosenza), while meditating an expedition to Africa.-He was succeeded by Ataulphus, with whom the emperor made peace by giving to him his sister Placidia in marriage. In return, he led his followers against the usurpers Constantine, Gerontius, Jovinus, and Sebastian, who were disputing the sovereignty of Gaul. The first was made prisoner at Aries and capitally punished; the second put himself to death; the other two were conquered by the Visigoths, and perished on the scaffold at Narbonne. Before the demise of Honorius in 424, several barbarian kingdoms had been established: the Burgundian in 413; the Suevian in Galicia, and the Visigoths in the south of France, 419. The main object of his government was the extirpation of heresy and paganism; he declared all noncomformers inadmissible to public offices, destroyed the temples with their idols, and endeavoured to abolish all gladiatorial shows. KINGDOM OF CARTHAGE, A. D. 439.-Honorius leaving no children, the inheritance reverted to Theodosius II., his nephew; but the union of the crowns of the East and West was no longer possible, and the emperor wisely transferred his rights to Valentinian III., the son of Placidia, 424. This princess defeated John the Secretary, who had usurped the Italian throne, and took the reins of state, while Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius, ruled in the east in the name of her brother. Under the new reign the dismemberment of the empire proceeded rapidly. Boniface, the governor of Africa, when on the point of falling a victim to the intrigues of the powerful minister, Etius, proposed to Genseric the Vandal, in return for his assistance, a partition of the wealthy province of Africa, and that Mauritania should be his share. The court of Ravenna exerted itself in support of the governor, but he was unable to defend his province, and in 435, Valentinian, that he might save Carthage, ceded all Roman Africa. Genseric, four years later, became master of this great and populous city, plundered the treasures of the Catholic churches, and being installed in his new capital, assumed the title of King of the Earth, of the Sea, and of the Islands. His formidable navy had reduced Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, the Balearic Isles, ravaged the northern coast of the Mediterranean, and threatened Constantinople. ATTILA.-The tribes of Huns established in the countries from whence they had expelled the Goths, between the Don, the Theiss, and the Volga, were united under this single chief, denominated the Scourge of God. The Byzantine court having refused the payment of the stipulated subsidy to his people, these barbarians crossed the frontiers, ravaged Thrace and Illyria, and forced Theodosius not only to pay the arrears, but to abandon the right bank of the Danube, 446. The emperor did 14 162 ANCIENT HISTORY. not long survive this humiliation. His successor Marcian opposed thJ pretensions of Attila with a firmness not unbecoming the Romans of an earlier age, and the barbarian was compelled to turn his views towards the West. In 451, he marched up the left bank of the Danube, and arrived at Basle, on the Rhine, with an army of 500,000 men. At the news of this irruption, lEtius endeavoured to preserve Gaul for his empire: but in vain did the Burgundians dispute the passage of the river. Attila descending its left bank as far as Mentz, plundered Treves and Metz; after which leading his troops into the heart of Gaul, he pitched his camp before Orleans. At the very moment that he was entering that city by one gate, through another was advancing the army of j Etius, with Theodoric and his Visigoths, and Meroveus with the Franks. The Huns were driven out and in the plains of Croisette, near Chalons on the Marne, a sanguinary battle was fought, in which 160,000 men were left dead upon the field, and the invadercompelled to return to Germany. The next year he marched on Italy, destroyed Aquileia, took Pavia and Milan, and ravaged the north-eastern parts of the peninsula. He entered Ravenna through a breach in the walls, which the people had beeen obliged to make in token of their submission to his will, and hither the venerable pontiff Leo brought presents to conciliate the ferocious conqueror. The wrath of the latter was assuaged, and he retired from Italy loaded with the plunder of an hundred unfortunate cities. His death, in 453, was not less extraordinary than his life. Having espoused, in addition to a multitude of wives, the beautiful Hildichunde, he perished in the night of his marriage-intoxicated, and slain in a drunken fray, according to one account; a sacrifice to female craft, according to Agnellus; but most probably of apoplexy. The custom of primogeniture being unknown, the estates of the conqueror were divided by lot among all his sons.* TAKING OF ROME BY GENSERIC, A. D. 455.-MAXIMUS having procured the murder of Valentinian III. and married his widow Eudoxia, had reigned three months, when the fleet of Genseric entered the port of Ostia to take vengeance on the guilty emperor, who was torn in pieces by the exasperated populace, while the injuries of ancient Carthage were avenged by its new citizens. Rome, which in forty-five years had recovered its magnificence and forgotten the depredations of Alaric, was given tip during fourteen days to the license of the invaders. On the abolition of paganism, the capitol had been abandoned, but the statues of the gods and heroes which adorned it were respected; all of which, with the celebrated roof of gilded bronze, fell into the hands of Genseric. The golden table and candlestick, brought from Jerusalem several centuries before, were transported to Carthage by a barbarian who drew his first breath on the shores of the Baltic. The Christian churches and the treasures of the imperial palace offered a rich booty; but the vessel loaded with the spoils of the capitol, the most precious objects of art, foundered * Attila was buried in a wide plain in a coffin enclosed in one of gold, another of silver, and a third of iron. With his body was interred an immense amount of booty, and that the spot might be for ever unknown, all those who had assisted at the burial were deprived of life. The Goths acted nearly in a similar manner on the death of Alaric in 410. They turned aside a small river in Calabria, and buried him in a grave formed in the midst of the channel. After restoring the streanm to its coarse, they put to death all those who had been concerned in the formation of so singular t Dlac- of se. pulture. I FIFTH CENTURY A. D. 163 on its passage. Thousands of Romans of both sexes whose charms or talents might contribute to the pleasures of their masters, were removed to Africa, where they furnished Deogratias, bishop of Carthage, with the opportunity of exercising his boundless charity. Eudoxia herself, who was plundered of her jewels while hastening to meet her liberator and ally, also followed the Vandal into a captivity which was shared by her daughters. Genseric during twenty years was the terror of the East and West. With his numerous fleet, which he always commanded in person, he desolated all the coasts of the Mediterranean. After his death, 477, the Vandal kingdom was incessantly agitated by religious persecutions or harassed by the Moors, until Belisarius reduced Africa once more under the Byzantine dominion, 534. END OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. -During the twenty years which elapsed from the death of Valentinian in 455, Italy had acknowledged the rule of nine successive emperors. Most of them were mere puppets, managed by Ricimer, the commander of the barbarian mercenaries in the pay of Rome, and who was too prudent to assume in his own person the title of Augustus. Of all these, MAJORIAN was the only one who merited title and station. He enacted many wise laws, reformed the imposition and collection of taxes, and endeavoured to preserve the monuments of the city from destruction at the hands of its own inhabitants. Nor while thus peacefully occupied, did he neglect the external relations of the state. The Vandals and Moors were defeated at the mouth of the Liris, and Genseric's brother-in-law was amongst the slain. With a brave and disciplined army, the active monarch crossed the Alps in the middle of winter, marching on foot at the head of his legions, sounding the depth of the snow and encouraging by his example, the barbarians, who complained of the severity of the cold. His intention was to pass through Gaul and Spain into Numidia, and to overthrow the Vandal domination. Gaul submitted to his arms, Spain again recognised the authority of the empire, and a fleet of three hundred galleys was constructed to menace the African shores. But Majorian saw all his prospects blighted; his ships were surprised and burnt in the port of Carthagena, and he himself perished by the hands of his own soldiers, 460. The murderers conferred the supreme dignity successively on three senators-SEvERUS III., ANTHEMIUS and OLYRRIUS, all equally undeserving of the throne. These were followed by GLYCERIUS and JULIUS NEPOS, who were deposed in their turn, and ended their career, -he one in the honours of a bishopric, the other in the retirement of Salona. The patrician Orestes, master-general of the army of Italy, after having been the minister of Attila, invested his son ROMULUS AUGUSTULUS with the purple which he had stripped from Nepos. But the barbarians in the service of the empire, under the name of fede* rates, not succeeding in their demand for one-third of the lands of Italy, revolted under the Herulean Odoacer. Orestes was defeated and killed at Pavia, and the youthful emperor was banished to Lucullanum in Campania, where he soon after died. ODOACER, A. D. 476, received from his troops the title of King of Italy; but fearful of exciting jealousy, he never assumed either the purple or diadem. His office was without power; for in case of attack he could not rely on the zeal of the population whom he had despoiled; 164 ANCIENT HISTORY. while his army, composed of men of every race and tribe, without any national tie, and enervated by a long sojourn in the luxurious peninsula, was unable to defend the country against invasion. Although professing the Arian doctrines, he tolerated orthodox believers; he strictly enforced the laws; caused ancient institutions to be respected; reestablished the consulate; and, by promoting agriculture, endeavoured to obviate those frequent famines which devastated the cities of Italy,a necessary consequence of their entire reliance on supplies from Africa and Egypt. After reigning fourteen years, he was attacked by Theodoric the Ostrogoth, and being three times defeated, was driven into Ravenna, where he was blockaded nearly three years. He was at last compelled to surrender, but his rival, not very scrupulous about his plighted word, caused him and his faithful companions to be massacred in the midst of a banquet, 493. REFLECTIONS.-With the banishment of Augustulus, A. D. 476, ended the Roman empire, 1228 years from its foundation. Its decline was the necessary consequence of its immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principles of decay, which were to be found in the licentiousness of the soldiery, the weakness of the government, and the irruptions of the barbarians. The Queen of Nations fell by the hands of-a tribe unknown, even by name, in the days of her pride. Her fall made no noise; it was the last sigh of a victim expiring under a tedious and incurable malady. Her monarchy was no more than a name. Britain was independent; in Gaul a few provinces only remained faithful; Goths and Suevi disputed Spain; the Vandals governed Africa; Italy was crowded with foreign legions; and Germany was daily sending forth her swarms to prey on the riches of the West. The history of the world took another form. Christianity became the dominant religion, threatened indeed for a time by the furious invasion of Islam. No mighty empire now threw its shadow over the whole world; the monarchies were limited in extent and power; feudalism gave rise to a new order of ideas and feelings; and the usurpations of ecclesiastical authority, while they promoted peace and encouraged the arts, stifled that freedom of thought which is the birthright of every reasonable being. Construct: Synoptical Table of Barbaric Invasions. InDatsb People. Chief. Origin. Conquests. Manners, c. Dateof Pe aLaws, &c. A. D. 365, Allemanni invade Gaul. 402, Goths invade Italy, under Alaric. 409, Suevi, Vandals, Alani, and other barbarians invade Spain. 419, Burgundians settled in Gaul. 449, Saxons invade Britain. 451, Huns, under Attila, invade Gaul and Italy. The prophet Daniel, about 550 B. c. foretold the destruction of the Roman empire, and its division into ten kingdoms. Machiavelli, a most unprejudiced authority, gives us the following list:-1. Huns (Hungary) A. D. 356.-2. Ostro goths (Mcesia, Italy) 377.-3. Visigoths (Pannonia) 378.-4. Franks (Gaul) 407., FIFTH CENTURY A.D. 165 -5. Vandals (Africa) 407.-6. Suevi (Spain) 407.-7. Burgundians (Burgundy) 407.-8. Heruli (Italy) 476.-9. Saxons (Britain) 476.-10. Longobards (Danube) 483; (in Lombardy) 526. VENICE. The destructive campaigns of Attila laid the foundation of one of the most commercial and enterprising cities of the Middle Ages. The inhabitants of the Roman province of Venetia, of which the principal cities were Aquileia and Padua, fled from the swords of the Huns, 452, and found an asylum in the midst of the Adriatic islands, on a point named Rialto. The danger over, many continued to inhabit the spot, which, for a long period, was ruled by consuls nominated at Padua. In 709, the Rialto and the adjoining isles began to be governed by their own magistrates; they became independent of the Paduan authorities, and considered themselves a republic. This is the epoch of their first doge, Anafesto, a tribune of the people elected by the citizens. Heraclea was the seat of this republic until the death of their third president. Consult: Daru's Venice.- Sketches of Venetian History, in the Family Library. GAUL. Gaul was inhabited in remote antiquity by two nations:-the Gauls from the north of Europe, who filled the country as far as the mountains of Auvergne; and the Aquitanians, from the south, by way of Spain, who lived between the Pyrenees and the Garonne. At a very early period the Ligurians from Spain occupied the district from the Pyrenees to the mouth of the Arno. A Grecian colony of Phoceeans settled near the mouths of the Rhone, and founded the city of Marseilles. About 600 B. c., the Cymri, driven by other tribes from the shores of the Black Sea, advanced along the Danube, crossed the Rhine, and forcibly established themselves in that part of Gaul which lies between the Loire and the Seine. This invasion was the cause of the irruption of the Gauls into Italy, where they established themselves in what was afterwards named Gallia Cisalpina. The great Julius formed the whole country into an integral part of the empire, from which period it shared the destinies of Rome. In the fifth century, with the rest of the Western Empire, Gaul suffered from the ravages of the Northern barbarians. In 406, the Suevi, Vandals, and Alani ravaged it; and in 412, after the death of Alaric, his successor Ataulphus led the Visigoths along the coast of the Mediterranean into Spain. Aquitaine and all the country between the Loire and the Pyrenees formed one kingdom, with Toulouse for its capital. Besides this people, at the end of the reign of Honorius we find two others firmly established in Gaul. The Burgundians, of Teutonic origin, from the banks of the Oder and the Vistula, were first settled near the head of the Maine; but about the year 414, they occupied Alsace and the western parts of Switzerland. Another Teutonic race, the Franks, had erhigrated from the Lower Rhine and the Weser, and in 358 were allowed by Julian to settle in Toxandria (Brabant), where for a time they became the guardians of the Rhine, and the defenders of Gaul. Pharamond, son of Marcomir, an unknown and perhaps fabulous prince, has no title to be regarded as the founder of the French monarchy. This honour belongs rather to Clodion, who crossed the Rhine and made incursions as far as the banks of the Somme, where he was defeated by XEtius.* On his decease, a prince of his family, * Clodion wore long hair, a mark of distinction introduced from Germany; hence the race of longhaired monarcls. Meroveus is said not to have been a son of Clodion.Thierry's Letters. 166 ANCIENT HISTORY. named Meroveus, was raised on the buckler by the Salian Franks in 448, and gave his name to the first or Merovingian line of kings. His son Childeric, at first expelled for his debauchery, was afterwards recalled by the warriors of his tribe, who, during his banishment, had recognised the authority of aEgidius, the Roman governor of Celtic Gaul. Childeric made war on the Visigoths on the banks of the Loire, while the Ripuarian Franks were forming settlements at Cologne. From his adulterous marriage with Basine, wife of the King of the Thuringians, was descended Chlodwig or Clovis, the real conqueror of Gaul. BRITAIN. SAXON INVASION.-The Caledonians, celebrated in the wars of Agricola, A. D. 85, disappear, and their place is supplied by the Picts and Scots. The former are supposed to be the Caledonians under a new name, and were of Scandinavian descent. The latter came from Ireland, then called Scotia, and appear to be a division of the Celtic Cotti, whose language, if it remain that of the Vaudois in the Cottian Alps, was related to the vernacular Irish and Scotch. The barriers which the Romans had built to check the incursions of these fierce tribes, proved unavailing in the feebleness of the empire; but when the Britons were left to themselves, 408, instead of sinking in unmanly despair, they took arms against their enemies, and drove the Picts from their cities. They had thrown off their foreign yoke and declared their independence, before Honorius sent letters to the respective states exhorting them to protect themselves. Britain was never after this subject to the power of the emperors. The whole southern part of the island during the Roman domination appears to have been divided into thirty-three districts, which were all continued after 410, although each city (civitas) claimed and exercised an independent jurisdiction. Vortigern, the pendragon-head-king-united some of these communities, and anxious to confirm his contested authority, called to his aid a band of predatory Saxons who had landed in the south of England, 449. Hengist was entirely successful in his battles against the Picts and Scots; but to complete his conquest it was necessary to have an armed force always ready to meet these barbarians. Such soldiers were easily found among his countrymen, who, at his invitation, came over in great numbers. A disagreement which ensued between them and their employers occasioned a long and sanguinary strife, which terminated in the foundation of the Saxon kingdom of Kent, 455. The strangers, each day reinforced by new adventurers, continued their hostile incursions; but so firmly were they opposed, that Ella could not establish himself as a ruler in Sussex before 491. The entire conquest of the southern part of the island was not completed until 586. Consult: Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons. THE CHURCH. The history of the Church during this century embraces two important subjects:-the commencement of Monastic Institutions and the Conversion of the Barbarians. I. MONAcHIsM originated in the East, the land of contemplation and indolence, where an absurd antagonism was raised between the soul and FIFTH CENTURY A.D. 167 the body; the mortification of the one being supposed to contribute to the purity of the other. The Jews had their Essenes and Therapeutle, who lived apart from other men, and aspired by the most rigorous practices to attain a superhuman perfection. They abstained from wine, flesh, and marriage, and renounced all business. Egypt, " the fruitful parent of superstition," afforded the earliest example of monastic life. Paul of Thebes, about A. D. 250, fleeing from the persecution of Decius, retired,to a cavern, in which he passed the greater portion of his life, supporting himself on dates, with palm-leaves for his only garment. Thirty years after him another Egyptian, St. Anthony, lived also in the desert; but around his hut were grouped, at a little distance, othel cabins, in which a number of ascetics dwelt in obedience to his authority. He thus became the father of the monastic life. This new passion for solitude was disregarded in the Western Churches until Athanasius went to Rome, in the year 340, to solicit the aid of the bishop in his contest with the Arians. The disciples of Anthony soon spread themselves over the Christian world, and before the end of the century a monastery in Flintshire contained above 2000 members. The same discipline was introduced into Syria by his immediate followers, and at a somewhat later period into the solitudes of Pontus, by St. Basil, while St. Martin was establishing in Gaul the first cenobitical community. The rule of the Egyptian monks was brought into Provence at the beginning of the fifth century, by St. Honoratus and St. Cassianus, who founded two establishments, one at Lerins, the other at Marseilles, whence issued many learned apostles of the faith and monastic life, among whom was St. Patrick, the founder of similar colonies in Ireland. These various communities of the West followed each its own rule until that of the Benedictines was received throughout the whole Latin church. The rapid progress of this system may perhaps be attributed to enthusiasm, sympathy, and ambition. Chrysostom presumed that none but monks could be saved, and to these terrors of the church were added those of the barbarians. The emperors, especially Valens, attempted to support the obligations of public and private duties, but such feeble barriers as they opposed were soon swept away by the torrent of superstition. Freedom of mind was destroyed by credulity and submission; and the monks, contracting the habits of slaves, followed the faith and passions of their ecclesiastical tyrants. Their dress, habitations, and manners were equally filthy and disgusting. Athanasius boasts of Anthony's deep horror at clean water, with which his feet never came in contact, except from dire necessity. Simeon, who died in 451, is immortalized by his penance of thirty years on the summit of a lofty column, whence he gained the name of Stylites. These monastic saints boasted of their miraculous powers; they pretended to cure inveterate diseases with a touch, to tame the beasts of the forest, to suspend the course of nature, and even to raise men from the dead. The discipline of the Greek Church, which consisted of four fundamental articles,-solitude, manual labour, fasting, and prayer, was formed by St. Basil. It was long before the follies of the haircloth and flagellation were introduced. II. THE CONVERSION OF THE BARBARIANS offers a more pleasing picture than that which we have just been contemplating. Ulphilas, the apostle of the Goths, translated the Scriptures into their native tongue, 168 ANCIENT HISTORY. about the year 360.* At the commencement of the fifth century Christianity was embraced by almost all the barbarians in the Roman empire. The Franks obtained Gaul by their submission to the example of Clovis, 496; and the Saxons were converted by Roman missionaries, although the gospel had been introduced into Britain in the second century. These proselytes displayed an ardent zeal in the propagation of the true faith, and England had the honour of producing the apostle of Germany. An immediate change was effected in the moral condition of these nations. The horrors of war were alleviated; the insolence of conquest was moderated; and the institutions of Rome, religious and political, were respected. Evangelical truth had been already preached to the Indians, and a bishop governed the Christians of St. Thomas on the spice-bearing shores of Malabar. A church was founded in Ceylon, and missionaries followed in the steps of the caravans even to China and the extremities of Asia. The Abyssinians, an Arabian colony, were drawn from their barbarism by similar means. Rapin observes, that in the fifth century Christianity was debased by a vast number of human inventions: the simplicity of its government and discipline was reduced to a system of clerical power; and its worship was polluted with ceremonies borrowed from the heathen. APPENDIX TO PART FIRST. History (f Literature. THE invasion of the South of Europe by the barbarians of the North, the great event which separates ancient and modern times, interrupted the downward course of Greek and Roman civilisation. In the East, the Byzantine emperors still protected their declining literature; in the West, its few relics were received and fostered in the bosom of the church. It is this decline and ruin of learning which composes the entire literary history of the fifth and three following centuries. I. ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL. —In despite of its numerous aberrations, this school rendered the most valuable services to learning, by preserving and explaining the masterpieces of ancient literature, and by endeavouring to reconcile the various systems of philosophy. Alexandria, situated at a point where Europe, Asia, and Africa unite, became the focus of all doctrines, and its academy the mental emporium of the world. Ammonius Saccas, originally a porter, about 220, founded the Eclectic school of the New Platonists, which united the different systems of the Socratic school, in order to ally them with the fantastic mysteries of the East,-a bold endeavour to terminate the disputes of the Greek philosophers. Plotinns of Lycopolis, d. 270, Jamblichus of Chalcis, and Porphyry of Tyre, about 300, added to the splendour of the reformed school; and as they announced their design of propping up the falling altars of polytheism, they naturally became the antagonists of the Christian fathers. When the Neo-Platonic school in Rome, as well as that of Alexandria, was shut up by order of Constantine in 324, secret societies were formed throughout the provinces, and, until 353, flourished principally in Asia Minor. Here * Ulphilas had been compelled to embrace Arianism in order to engage the favour of Valens. He is said to have invented the Gothic characters, and his precious MS. in letters of gold and silver is preserved, under the name of Codex Argenteus, in the library of Upsala. APPENDIX TO PART FIRST. 16' was continued the " golden chain of Platonism," of which Maximus of Epnesus, Chrysanthus of Lydia, and Eusebius of Myndus, were the brightest links. Under the patronage of Julian, 361, the school of Alexandria was re-opened, and a new one founded at Athens. Hypatia, the daughter of Theon, filled with honour the chair of Ammonius and Plotinus; but when she had fallen a victim to a furious mob, 415, and the pagan school of Alexandria had perished with her, Athens became the centre of this new philosophy. Proclus, who succeeded Syrianus in 450, was a man of varied learning. In his teaching he united the ideas of Plato with the forms of Aristotle; but the necessity of adapting his opinions to the popular taste compelled him to blend his philosophy with oriental myths, orphic revelations, supposed oracles, and mystic reveries. The school lingered a short time after his decease, until it was closed by an edict of Justinian I. in 529. The Neo-Platonists were tolerated, but their sect became extinct with the pagai. religion. They were succeeded by the peripatetics, whose opinions prevailed ill the church until the rise of the scholastic philosophy in the eighth century. II. SACRED LITERATURE.-The necessity of defending the Christian religion against its numerous enemies, and the desire of making proselytes among,the enlightened spirits of the times, induced the doctors of the church to study the religion they were so eager to propagate, the idolatry which they were sworn to destroy, and the pagan Philosophy, whose errors must either be exposed or rendered subservient to the doctrines of the gospel. Hence arose Ecclesiastical Literature. The Christian school of Alexandria did not become celebrated until the Stoic Pantaenus, a converted pagan, ascended the professorial chair, at the end of the second century. His successor Clement endeavoured tu systematize religion; maintaining, that as God had disseminated the elements of truth among the different philosophic sects, it was a Christian's duty to unite these scattered fragments, and thus strengthen piety by banishing falsehood. The genius and extensive learning of Origen, d. 254, were employed in defence of this system; but he defiled the purity of the faith he meant to defend, and introduced a dangerous method, whence afterwards arose that philosophical theology, which, under the name of the Scholastic, played so great a part in the middle ages. Justin Martyr, d. 166, and Tertullian, d. 220, rank as the chief defenders of Christianity. They published, the one in Greek and the other in Latin, eloquent and bold Apologies for the new religion. St. Irenaeus led the church back from the doctrines of literal and occult meanings, contending that the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures should always be conformable to tradition. The Old Testament had been early translated into the vulgar tongue; and from the second century we read of versions in Svriac, Coptic, Ethiopian, and Latin, the authors of which are unknown. From the third century we meet with works specially consecrated to the explanation of the Christian doctrines. The earliest of these is by St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, bishop of Neo-Ctesarea, who lived till 268. St. Cyril of Jerusalem followed him in the next century. While they explained and defended the faith against the attacks of heretics, they endeavoured to render it useful by founding on it a system of evangelical morality. Tertullian, and after him the learned Cyprian of Carthage, 250, first wrote on the connexion of morals with the religion of our Saviour. The fourth century-from Constantine to Theodosius-is the Golden Age of ecclesiastical literature. Athanasius, d. 371, Chrysostom, d. 407, Ambrose, d. 398, and Augustin, d. 430, preached the purest morality in the most eloquent language. Their genius alone rose superior to the fall of the empire, and they were the architects of that great religious edifice which was founded upon its ruins. Greek Fathers.-The name of Fathers of the Church has been given to those authors who, from the first ages of Christianity, devoted their talents to the defence and exposition of the faith. The East and the West alike produced men of genius who, uniting extensive learning to piety and courage, added new glory to the literature of Greece and Rome, while they imagined themselves performing the simple duties of Christians and ministers of the divine wort 15 170 ANCIENT HISTORY. The patronage of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, was less efficacious in behalf of his faith than the talents and indefatigable activity of Athanasius, who destroyed the heresy of Arius at the council of Nice. In the bishop's chair, as well as in exile, he was ever a zealous defender of the Trinitarian docl.ine and of religious unity. Eusebius, d. 340, the father of ecclesiastical history, although not strictly orthodox, was serviceable to religion by his Preparation and Evangelical Demonstration. His great work, describing the propagation of Christianity, the vicissitudes of the church, the struggles of its teachers, and the miracles of its martyrs, was translated into Latin by Rufinus, the adversary of Jerome. Basil was called from the deserts of the Thebais to fill the episcopal chair at Caesarea, 350. Theological disputes occupied the greater part of his life; his homilies are moral treatises, in which the tenderest sensibility is conveyed in a style sparkling with images and rich in allegory. His brother, Gregory of Nyssa, by his philosophy and his energy against heretics and schismatics, obtained from his contemporaries the title of Pater Patrum. Gregory of Nazianzum possessed a more elevated genius and more brilliant eloquence. When hatred, excited by his censures and by a domineering spirit, which he could not repress, had raised powerful enemies against him, he resigned his see without regret, but not without pain, and the farewell of the bishop was the masterpiece of the orator. Chrysostom of Antioch, d. 407, by his clear and easy eloquence, by his rich and bold imagery, by his power of reasoning joined to grandeur of ideas and tenderness of sentiment, may be coin pared with Demosthenes or Cicero. He is the chief of the orators of that primitive period. Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, whose intolerance was so fatal to the arts and philosophy, brought into the bosom of the church Synesius of Ptolemais, afterwards bishop of his native city, 430. The latter celebrated in prose and verse the great truths of Christianity, and the beauties of religious morals. Cyril of Jerusalem, d. 386, the most skilfill teacher of his age; Epiphanius of Salamis, who combated the sectarians with more zeal than learning; Cyril of Alexandria, d. 444, the first doctor of the East, with many others, shed honour on the age of the Theodosian emperors. John of Damascus, d. 750, who was the last in those parts, monopolized all the literary glory of the eighth century. By his application of the peripatetic forns of demonstration to the Christian doctrines, he became the founder of the Scholastic philosophy. Latin Fathers.-Arnobius, and Lactantius, " the Christian Cicero," flourished in the reign of Constantine; the one feebly defended his religion against the Pagans, the other acquired just renown by his Divine Institutions.-Hilary of Poitiers was the champion of Athanasius in Gaul. During his Phrygian exile, into which he was driven by an Arian prince, he published his twelve books On the Trinity, in which he combats all the heresies relating to the Son of God and the Holy Ghost.-Ambrose, d. 398, was praetor of Milan, when the universal acclamation raised him to the bishopric. He defended with inflexible courage the privilege of Catholic worship against the Arians, who were protected by Valentinian II. His virtuous tolerance forbade him to communicate in the Holy Sacrament with the fanatical bishops who had demanded the blood of Priscilian. He taught the chants, of whose use the Latin church had till then been ignorant; but the majestic hymn, Te Deum, which bears his name, is the work of a monk of the sixth century.-Jerome, d. 420, opened at Rome the first asylum frr misery and infirmity; but his virtues were no protection against calumny. In his retreat at Bethlehem he undertook the translation of the Holy Scriptures, a task for which he was well qualified by his profound study of Hebrew, and his vast knowledge of sacred archaeology. The church adopted his version, known as the Vulgate, and his Commentaries are an authority among divines. He translated and continued the Chronicle of Eusebius; wrote a Biography of ecclesiastical authors, and the Lives of the Fathers of the Desert.-Augustin, bishop of Hippo, d. 430, successively professor at Carthage, Rome, and Milan, was rescued from his errors by St. Ambrose. He raised himself to the first rank among the Latin Fathers by his City of God, an inlmense repertory of profane and theological erudition, in which the author, fte" having in some measure crushed paganism fragment by fragment, applies APPENDIX TO PART FIRST. 171 rimsel~ to re-establish by invincible proofs the truth of the Christian religion. In 411, he defended the doctrines of Original Sin and Divine Grace, against Pelagius.-At the court of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, Dionysius the Little, d. 536, created a new science of Chronology. He introduced the computation of time from the Incarnation, a mode which was slowly adopted by the whole Christian world. He also, by the publication of a code of Canons, laid the foundation of ecclesiastical jurisprudence. His book of Pontifical Decretals, or letters, was disfigured by the impostures of the forger Isidore of Seville, 636. The authentic decretals do not commence before the pontificate of Siricius, 38.-The age to which Boethius and Cassiodorus belong was worthily brought to a close by Pope Gregory, d. 604, and Bishop Fortunatus of Poitiers. III. PROFANE LEARNING in the West.-The ruin of learning in the Western Empire was more rapid and entire than in the Eastern, for the complete desolation of the former by barbarians destroyed both its language and literature. During the Theodosian period, while the poetic riches of the East consisted in miserable epigrams or inscriptions, the West produced Ausonius, 380, Prudentius, 400, Sidonius Apollinaris, d. 488, and others, none of whom was devoid of talent.-Claudian, 395, was the last bard of paganism, superior to all who had preceded him for two centuries, and equalled by none who came after him.-Priscian the grammarian, 380, translated or composed, at Constantinople, three didactic poems,-on Geography, on Weights and Measures, and on Astronomy.- Fortunatus was the poet laureate of the different Merovingian courts. Eleven works of miscellanies and a translation in hexameter verse of the Life of St. Martin, by Sulpicius Severus, place him at the head of the versifiers of his day. History.-Ammianus Marcellinus, 370, was far superior to the inflated compilers of the Augustan History, and was the last author in the West deserving the name of historian. The chroniclers who come next are the only writers of this period who merit special attention.-Gildas, a fugitive monk who sought refuge in the wilds of Armorica, wrote in a mournful strain, in which truth and fiction are almost inextricably confused, the particulars of the Anglo-Saxon invasion.-Another British monk, the venerable Bede, d. 735, composed the ecclesiastical history of England in Latin, and a long treatise on the Six Ages of the World.-Gregory of Tours, d. 595, completed the annals of the Franks down to 593. Philosophy.-The,ast and greatest philosopher of Latin antiquity was a follower of the Athenian Platonic school, Boethius, d. 526. He translated the Arithmetic of Nicomachus, the Geometry of Euclid, the Poetics of Aristotle, and various treatises by Archimedes and Plato. His great work, the Consolation of Philosophy, was the production of his captivity; it is a dialogue composed of mingled prose and verse. Philology.-While learning became more and more neglected, there were found a few men who devoted their time and abilities to the preservation of the remains of antiquity, to the explanation of its masterpieces, and to the teaching of a language which soon degenerated into a barbarous idiom. The Saturnalia of Macrobius, 395, in the style of the Attic Nights of Gellius, is a valuable work, although written without method or taste. He compiled a commentary of great value on the Dream of Scipio.-Servius, the most celebrated of the commentators on Virgil, lived at the beginning of the fifth century.Cassiodorus wrote on Orthography, and has left a treatise on the Seven Liberal Arts.-The most complete grammar of antiquity is the Eight Parts of Speech. by Priscian of Caesarea, 500. IV. PROFANE LEARNING in the East. Poetry.-Nonnus of Panopolis, 400, the restorer of hexameter verse, comn posed an epic poem, the Dionysiacs, on the exploits of Bacchus.-Quintus of Smyrna, surnamed Calaber, from the MS. found in Calabria, wrote a servile imitation of the Iliad, bringing it down to the taking of Troy.-The epigram alone was cultivated with success during the reigns of Justinian and Heraclius. Romance.-At the end of the fourth century, fictions similar to our modern romances appear, a kind of writing unknown to classical antiquity, and destined 172 ANCIENT HISTORY.'o become, in the middle ages and in modern times, the living picture of the manners of the day. The Golden Ass of Apuleius-the epithet is derived from the elegance of its style-was a successful attempt among the Latins. In 390, Heliodorus of Emesa composed the history of Theagenes and Chariclea, far superior to all contemporary works, except the Loves of Daphnis and Chloe, by Longus, the forerunner of Paul and Virginia. Achilles Tatius, 300, wrote the Loves of Clitophon and Leucippe. History.-The vast collection of the Byzantine historians contains few works meriting our esteem. Zosimus, 430, in his prejudiced History of the Coesars, endeavoured to trace the causes of the decline of the empire.-Procopius of Caisarea, 555, wrote a history of his own times in a manner at once clear and precise; but his elegance of style did not preclude bad taste. Geography.-As the Byzantines added nothing to the opinions of the ancients, so they rarely explained them. Stephanus, 500, wrote a kind of Geographical Dictionary, which has not come down to us. Philology.-The Greek language which had not yet fallen into decay, did not produce many grammarians. The Grammar of Dionysius of Thrace was the class-book of the teachers. At Alexandria, Hesychius published his Glossary about the end of the fourth century. Stobmeus is the author of a collection of extracts, compiled for the education of his son, and selected from more than 500 writers. A few commentaries were written upon the Latin laws of Byzantium, and the name of Tribonian, 545, occurs among the names of the jurisprudentialists. Mathematics.-The exact sciences were cultivated by the Platonists. All our knowledge of the mathematical acquirements of antiquity is due to the school of Alexandria. Hypatia, the learned daughter of Theon, applied the rigorous method of geometry to speculative knowledge. Diophantus first taught the calculation of indeterminate quantities, and thus created Algebra. Proclus wrote on astronomy and the sphere, and composed a commentary on Euclid and Ptolemy. IND OF PART I.-ANCIENT HISTORY. PART SECOND. THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. FROM THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE, A. D. 476, TO THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION, AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. THE Roman empire had recovered under Theodosius its unity and greatness; but after the death of this prince it began to decline, and finally disappeared in the fall of the capital of Italy. This crisis was brought on as much by accidental circumstances, as by the concurrence and reciprocal action of permanent causes. The despotism of the emperors, a natural consequence of political anarchy and military power, preserved the characters of its twofold origin, namely, corruption and violence. The Antonines had vainly endeavoured to restore national and political virtue; the populace having descended to the lowest degree of abasement, while the philosophy of Epicurus had fixed an indelible slain on the higher ranks. Christianity could alone arrest the almost general licentiousness; but the designs of Providence still exposed it to fiery trials, and its day of triumph had not yet arrived. Diocletian, by his divisions of the sovereignty, and Constantine, by the removal of the seat of empire to Byzantium, prepared the way for the two separate monarchies of the East and the West, and opened the road into Italy for the barbarians. The appearance of the Huns in the north of Europe drove the savage tribes of Germany across the Roman frontiers. These warlike nations braved the power of the emperors under the walls of Rome and Constantinople; imposed on them burdensome tributes; entered in whole tribes into the legions; and finally dismembering half of the empire, broke up the whole social state with its imperfect civilisatlon, to establish on its ruins the foundations of the existing political system. Of the ten centuries embraced in that period of history entitled the Middle Ages, five were occupied by the restless movements of the various barbarians, who were partially checked by the strong hand of Charlemagne. In the sixth age, that is, about A. D. 1000, repose and silence pervaded all Europe; the decay of literature and civilisation extended gradually; while institutions, laws, customs, and languages, began to assume their local peculiarities. Amidst the minute territorial divisions that took place, there was still found one bond of unity in the church, whose members kept up a communication with the remotest districts, all preaching the same doctrines, animating with the same spirit the almost innumerable societies throughout which they were scattered, and combining all nations in one common and holy enterprise. 15,173) 174 MIDDLE AGES. It was during the crusades that the representatives of every state in Europe, assembling round the tomb of our Saviour, recognised each other as brethren. After the Holy Wars the greater communities began to be remodelled, as their respective sovereigns issued victorious from their contention with feudalism. Then began the rancorous struggle between France and England, the rise of the Spanish monarchies, the destruction of the imperial authority in Germany, the brief splendour and fall of the Italian republics, the revolutions of the Sclavonic and Scandinavian states, and finally, the fall of Constantinople, A. D. 1453, which, by driving the learned Greeks into the centre and west of Europe, contributed in a remarkable degree to the Reformation. SIXTH CENTURY. GREEK EMPIRE.-527, Justinian.-532, Nika.-557, Earthquake in Syria.-565, Belisarius d. PERSIA. - 528, First War. -531, Nushirvan.-532, Perpetual Treaty. -540, Second War.-590, Varanes (Bahram).-591, Chosroes II. ITALY.-493, Theodoric.-552, End of Gothic Empire.-569, Lombards.-584, Autharis. FRANCE.-511, Clovis d.-Salic Law.-558, Clotaire I. SPAIN.-507, Visigoths enter Spain. BRITAIN.-542, King Arthur d.-586, Heptarchy.-596, Saxons converted. THE CHURCH.-514, Religious War in Constantinople.-519, Jewish Persecution.-578, Pelagius the infallible.-590, Gregory I. LITERATURE.-580, Latin ceases to be spoken.-Stobaus; Agathias; Cassio. dorus; Bcethius; Priscian; Journandes; Gregory of Tours. GREEK EMPIRE. BELISARIUS.-The Eastern Roman, or, as it was afterwards called, the Greek Empire, began to recover from its lethargy, and to extend its conquests under the celebrated Justinian I., in 527. Belisarius, a Thracian peasant, the Africanus of new Rome, after passing through the various grades of military service, was appointed general of the East, where Cabades had attacked the imperial workmen employed in building a frontier fortress. The defeated Persians next menaced Armenia and Syria, when the fortune of Belisarius again prevailed. The sudden death of the Persian monarch and the succession of Chosroes, whose throne was in danger from a disinherited brother, changed the politics of the court of Ctesiphon, and the war was suspended by a treaty of perpetual amity in 539, only to break out again eight years after, with results equally indecisive. Justinian, having, formed the design of reconquering the Roman provinces which had fallen into the hands of the barbarians, turned his views first on Africa, and Belisarius was intrusted with the supreme command of the expedition. The Vandals, taken by surprise, vainly strove to make head against his vigour and activity. Carthage surrendered without a blow; and in the space of three months, the whole of Northern Africa was subdued, Gelimer, the vanquished sovereign, gracing the captor's t'umph, 534. The SIXTH CENTURY A.D. 175 Gothic war of Italy was the next scene of his glory. After reducing Sicily, Belisarius landed without resistance on the southern shores of the Peninsula. Naples experienced all the horrors of war; and Rome was freed from the tyranny of sixty years without a blow, 536. The victor was in his turn shut up in the imperial city by an army of 150,000 men, under King Vitiges; who, although defeated in various bloody skirmishes, obstinately persevered in the blockade, until forced to retire before the advancing succours headed by Antonina, the warlike consort of the Byzantine general, 538. His victorious career was checked by the intrigues of the court; he was recalled, and owed his safety to the services of his wife. His second command in Italy, 544, was not equally successful with the first. He failed in throwing troops and provisions into Rome, then closely pressed by Totila, and which suffered the horrors of war to such an extent that a parent flung himself despairing into the Tiber in the presence of his five children. Treachery at last opened the gates to him, 546, when but for the firm remonstrances of Belisarius, the savage conqueror would have changed the city into a pasturage for cattle. By a daring act of valour he recovered the capital with only 1000 horse, and thrice repulsed the Goths in their endeavours to retake it. After several Fabian campaigns he was recalled, 548; nor were his services again required till Constantinople was threatened by the Bulgarians, who, in alliance with the Southern Sclavonian tribes, had crossed the Danube on the ice, led by the'ferocious Zeberkhan. Forty years of military service could not shelter Belisarius from false accusations of conspiracy against the emperor; and his patriotism and devotion were ill requited by the confiscation of his property eight months before his death. He was followed to the grave by his envious master before the close of the same year. 565.* Consult: Lord Mahon's Life of Belisarius. NARsEs.-This rival of the fame of Belisarius had been educated among the females of the palace; but his talents becoming known, he was made the colleague of that general, on whose death he was appointed to the sole command of the Gothic war. He hastened to meet Totila, and after an ineffectual conference, the two armies engaged at Taginae, near Rome, 552. The ardour of the barbarians was overcome by the decision and calmness of Narses; they fled, leaving their general with 6000 of his soldiers on the field. The victor had the honour of again sending the keys of Rome to Constantinople, which had been five times taken and recovered in one reign. The triumphal entry of the chamberlain after the conquest of the Franks and Allemanni, was the last which the imperial city was to witness, 554. His provincial government lasted fifteen years, when he was recalled by Justin II., in compliance vith the demand of the senate, to which body he had become odious on account of his cupidity, 568. FACTIONS OF THE CIRCUS.-The peaceful competitions of the circus, * The elegant French tale of Belisarius, aided by the well-known picture, has served to keep up the fictitious accounts of the last days of this renowned warrior. The loss of his eyes by the emperor's orders, and his being reduced to beg his daily bread, in the well-known phrase, Date obolum Belisario, are the inventions of comparatively modern writers, 176 MIDDLE AGES. an amusement and excitement to the ancient Romans, degenerated into a mere factious exhibition under the unworthy successors of Augustus; and the bloody contests in their streets were renewed with increased vigour in the Byzantine capital. In 501, the greens treacherously massacred 3000 of their blue* adversaries; and their dissensions were so violent over the whole country, as to threaten the stability of the empire. Neither churches nor private houses were free from their depredations; many victims perished nightly beneath the dagger of the assassin; and the bonds of society and virtue were universally relaxed. A sedition bearing the name of Nika, was with difficulty suppressed, after a five days' struggle that nearly involved the city in conflagration, and cost the lives of more than 30,000 individuals. To the evils of war, which under Justinian afflicted nearly every province, were added still greater calamities. Earthquakes in 526 and 557 occasioned dreadful havoc throughout the empire, and particularly in Syria. The plague devastated Europe and Asia; Constantinople lost more than 400,000 inhabitants; entire countries were depopulated, and left without culture; while famine was added to the severe scourges of war and contagion. The human race was thus considerably diminished. The empire, exhausted of men and of wealth, could not furnish Justinian, in his latter years, with more than 140,000 soldiers instead of 640,000. A new branch of industry commenced in this reign. Silk, which was in general use throughout the civilized world, had become exorbitantly dear, when two Persian monks succeeded in conveying from China to Europe some of the eggs of the silk-worm, which they had concealed in their hollow walking sticks. These they brought to Justinian who successfully established the manufacture of this article of luxury in his southern provinces. JUSTINIAN CoDE.-Justinian affected the title of a lover of the arts, and the church of St. Sophia, with about twenty-five others, decorated in a costly manner with marble and gold, were built in his reign; but the reformation of the Roman law, carried on by his orders, and under the superintendence of the questor Tribonian, is his noblest monument. The Roman emperors at various periods published their edicts and their rescripts; which huge mass of conflicting decisions was first arranged by the Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes, and both united in that of the younger Theodosius, 438. Fourteen months only were occupied by Tribonian and his nine associates in reducing the many thousands of volumes gradually accumulated during ten centuries into the twelve books or tables forming the JUSTINIAN CODE, 529. The PANDECTS or DIGEST, an employment of three more years, contained the spirit of the civil law, 533. It was a compilation in fifty books of the Gregorian, Hermogenian, and Theodosian Codes, as well as of two thousand treatises on jurisprudence. The INSTITUTES, forming a short elementary treatise on Roman law, divided into four parts, were published about the same time; these, with the NOVELS, a kind of supplement, constitute the whole body of Roman legislation. Justinian reigned thirty-eight years, and the perils of a disputed succession were avoided by the promptness with which his nephew Justir. II. assumed the purple, 565. He revived the title of consul in his own person, liquidated the debts of his predecessor, and gave signs of a benevolent administration; but the disgrace of the chamberlain Narses * These two colours represented the two great religious parties; the Arians wore green, while the blue party were the orthodox believers, and reckoned Justinian among their number. Thus religious fanaticism served to exasperate the quarr Is of the circus. SIXTH CENTURY A.D. 177 left both the Eastern and Western empires exposed to the restless barbarians. About the same period the Avars and Turks sent ambassadors to Constantinople: the alliance proposed by the first he haughtily refused, and formed a league with the Turkish khan against the Persians. By their friendship with this chief, the mighty Disabul, "sovereign of the seven climates of the earth," the Romans were enabled to trade throughout all Central Asia. The progress of Chosroes was not, however, arrested in Syria; and at the same time Africa was ravaged, while Italy was lost to the empire. Notwithstanding the purity of Justin's intentions, his reign was miserable and unfortunate, not so much from his vices as from a physical debility which confined him to the palace, and rendered him a stranger to the wishes and complaints of his people. In 574, he had the magnanimity to associate Tiberius with him in the empire, and after four years of peaceful obscurity he expired. His successor showed himself worthy of his station, and in him Constantinople saw another Trajan. While he was engaged in repelling the Avars in Dacia, his generals gained over the Persians the victories of Melitene and Constantine. Maurice was rewarded with the hand of the daughter of Tiberius, and shortly after ascended the throne of his father-in-law, who on his death-bed had selected him as worthiest of its honours and duties, 582. MAURICE, less fortunate as emperor than as general, was unable to maintain his Persian conquests The satrap Varanes (Bahram), after having conquered the Turks, was penetrating into Asia Minor, when he was defeated by the Grecian troops. Being disgraced in consequence, he revolted against his sovereign, Chosroes II., whom he compelled to seek an asylum in the empire. The generous Maurice restored his enemy, and obtained by treaty the restitution of Varanes' conquests, 591. He next meditated the destruction of the Avars, whom Priscus defeated in five battles; the victorious army, however, revolted, and proclaimed the centurion Phocas, while a faction drove Maurice from his capital, and opened its gates to the usurper, 602. PERSIA. This empire had been at peace nearly a century under the Sassanian monarchs, whose domination had succeded, in 226, that of the Parthian or Arsacidan. The vicinity of the Nephthalite Huns settled on the Oxus, was a source of uneasiness to the great kings, and the necessity of checking their incursions turned most of their forces in this direction. This people had assisted Cabades in the recovery of the crown, which had been usurped by one of his brothers; and not having the means of recompensing their services according to promise, he applied to the Emperor Anastasius for pecuniary aid. The request was insultingly refused, upon which war immediately broke out, and the Persians reduced both Armenia and Colchis. The peace which followed was interrupted by the proceedings of Justin I., who had accepted the submission of the Lazi, a people tributary to Pe'sia. Cabades was succeeded by Chosroes Nushirvan in 531. This great prince, who tranquillized his country, which had been a prey to anarchy and fanaticism, received from his subjects the name of the Just, in consequence of the manner in which he administered the laws. He encouraged agriculture, was a patron of letters, founded a school of medicine neat 178 MIDDLE AGES. Susa, and directed the annals of the monarchy to be drawn up. He sent a learned physician, named Bidpai, into India, who brought back with him the fables still current as those of Pilpay, and the game of chess. Nushirvan attracted to his court several of the philosophers of the West. The news of Justinian's victories, and the discovery of a correspondence by which that prince was exciting the barbarians of the Oxus to invade Persia, induced Chosroes to take up arms, which he carried successfully to the shores of the Levant. On his return, he built a city near Ctesiphon, in which the Syrian captives beheld the very image of one of their own towns; baths, a circus, and a body of musicians and charioteers, were added to complete its resemblance to a Grecian city. Chosroes transmitted his power to his son Hormisdas (Hormuz) 579, whose violent passions soon brought the empire to the verge of ruin. After a few years' reign, the tyrant had the effrontery to boast of having tortured to death no fewer than thirteen thousand victims. His government was weakened by the revolt of several provinces, when the Turks offered their perfidious aid. But a hero appeared to save the falling monarchy. Varanes, (Bahram), having collected a body of twelve thousand men, occupied a defile in Hyrcania, where he crushed the Turks. He next marched against the Romans, who were advancing in the direction of the Araxes, but was ruined by his own confidence and generosity. Hormisdas, jealous of his first successes, seized this opportunity of humbling him, and sent a distaff with a woman's dress. The soldiers felt not less indignation at this insult than their general, and openly revolted. Bindoes, of the Sassanian family, was brought froma the dungeon in which he had been confined by the tyrant's order, and putting the monarch in chains with his own hands, surrendered him to public judgment-a mode of preceding unknown in the annals of the East. His subjects unanimously condemned him; his eyes were burnt out with a red-hot iron, and his second son, in whose favour he had offered to abdicate, was torn in pieces. Chosroes II. (Khosru Purveez), the eldest prince, was placed on the throne, 590, and endeavoured to mitigate the condition of his father. Hormisdas was removed from his prison, but only to be exposed to the merciless bowstring of the implacable Bindoes. With the aid of the Emperor Maurice, Chosroes, who had fled to him for protection, was restored to his throne, and Varanes compelled to take refuge among the Turks, when sorrow and vexation hastened his death. Public rejoicings and executions marked the reestablishment of the lawful sovereign, who punished Bindoes, the assassin of his father. The Grecian emperor, was repaid by the cession of Martyropolis, Daria, and all Persarmenia. The Christians hoped that their religion would gain by this change; but Chosroes remained faithful to the worship of the magi. ITALY. THEODORIC.-This monarch, who laid the foundation of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, had been educated as a hostage at the court of Constantinople. Having formally received the government of Ita'y from Zeno, he crossed the Alps with a large Gothic army, in 489, and defeated Odoacer near the ruins of Aquileia. He followed up his advantage by attacking Ravenna, to which the latter had fled with 20,000 men; and after a siege of almost three years, became King of Italy on the assassi. SIXTH CENTURY A.D. 17u nation of his unfortunate rival, 493. Following the example of the latter Cesars, he abode at Ravenna, and had his claim to the regal title formally recognised by the emperor. Little is known of the reign of Theodoric, but that he preserved internal tranquillity, and was also honoured by the respect of foreign nations. Without quitting Italy, he added to his kingdom Illyria, Pannonia, Noricum, and Rhaetia. The Bavarians became tributary; and many German tribes sought to be admitted to the privilege of living under his laws. He increased his territories by his war with the Burgundians and the Franks. He rebuilt the walls of Rome, restored the ruined theatre of Pompey, cleared and repaired the aqueducts and public baths, built a cathedral at Ravenna, and palaces at Verona and Pavia. The Roman police, customs, and laws were maintained; and although himself an Arian, he in no instance oppressed the church which maintained the Nicene faith. The cruel deaths of Symmachus, 525, and Boethius, 526, have left a deep stain upon his character: and at length, after an active life, he sank, conscience-stricken, to the grave, 526, leaving the throne of Italy to Athalaric, under the regency of his mother Amalasontha. The empire of the Goths now fell to pieces; the Visigoths of Spain refusing to recognise the infant king, elected Amalaric, son of Alaric II., whose power was acknowledged as far as the mouths of the Rhone. TOTILA succeeded to the throne in the year 541, his predecessor Vitiges having been led captive to Constantinople. He successfully resisted the attacks of eleven hostile generals, and even captured Rome, 546. He fell in the battle of Taginee, and although Teias with his brother Aligern struggled manfully against their enemies, with him terminated the Gothic dominion in Italy, which now became a province of the empire, 552. The chamberlain Narses, by a prudent administration promoted, as we have seen, the wealth and tranquillity of the country; but a fierce nation was rising near the Danube, which in 568 overran the greater part of the peninsula. THE LOMBARDS.-This German tribe, originally dwelling on the banks of the Oder, had been settled in Pannonia by Justinian in 527, as a barrier against other warlike nations. At the invitation, it is said, of the disgraced Narses, the whole people marched for Italy, and crossed the Julian Alps without resistance, 568. ALBOIN soon reduced all the country, except Rome, the exarchate of Ravenna, and a part of the eastern coast. Pavia, which he afterwards made the capital of his dominions, resisted his arms during a three years' blockade. He did not live to reap the fruits of his successful enterprise, as he fell a victim to domestic treason. It was the custom of this savage people, on certain occasions, to quaff from the skulls of the enemies they had slain in battle. One day, when heated with liquor, he sent to his wife Rosamond the skull of her father filled with wine, requesting her to drink it. The insulted queen obeyed, but in a short time caused her husband to be assassinated, 573, and rewarded the murderer with her hand in marriage. After the violent death of Cleph, who had succeeded Alboin, the Lombard dukes allowed the throne to remain vacant, and substituted a federative government; but internal divisions and the necessity of union against the Greeks and Franks, brought them back to monarchical principles. Their kingdom, however, did not acquire stability until Autharis mounted the throne, 584, who, "touching with his spear a 180 MIDDLE AGES. column on the sea-shore of Rhegium, proclaimed that ancient land-mark to stand the immovable boundary of his kingdom:" but a premature death removed him, 590, before he had time or means to make rood this boast. In the reign of Agilulf, whom the widowed queen, Theolinda, had married, the nation enjoyed the sweets of peace for the first time; and the joint exertions of these two sovereigns, aided by Pope Gregory, propagated Christianity among the Lombards, encouraged agriculture, and commenced the civilisation of these savage people. FEUDALITY.-The system of feudal polity received its first regular establishment and legislative provisions from the Lombards of Italy. Alboin had intrusted the command of several conquered districts to thirty-six dukes, who within two years after his death, became so many confederate independent princes. Apprehensive for their safety, when attacked by the Greek emperor and the Franks, they agreed to pay to the king each the half of his revenue, and to provide a body of troops to be placed at his disposal; the duchies being liable to forfeiture for felony, and revertible to the crown if no male heir (a major) were left. FRANCE. CLOVIS, A. D. 481.-At the age of fifteen, Clovis (properly Chlodwig or Ludwig, i. e. Louis) inherited the little kingdom of Tournay, in right of his father Childeric, the son of Meroveus. The Franks at this period were divided into Ripuarians and Salians. The country lying between the two streams of the Rhine, from Coblentz to Wesel or Cleves, formed the kingdom of the Ripuarian section, whose chief resided at Cologne. The Salians (said by the learned Schoell to derive their name from the river Yssel) obeyed several chiefs, whose territories were respectively'rerouenne, Tournay, Cambray, and Mans. Beauvais, Soissons, Amiens, Troyes, and Rheims with their respective dependencies, were all that belonged to the Romans in Gaul. Syagrius acknowledged, in form only, the supremacy of the Byzantine emperors after Rome had fallen. Alsace and Lorraine belonged to the Allemanni, a Teutonic federation, which occupied also the country between the Rhine and the Moselle, with Swabia, Hesse, and a part of Franconia. Armorica, between the Mayenne and the sea, belonged to the Britons who had fled from their country at the approach of the Saxon invaders. The Burgundian establishments had increased, and in addition to Western Switzerland they occupied the valley of the Rhone as far as the Durance. The kingdom of the Visigoths lay on the left bank of the Loire. Clovis first directed his arms against Syagrius, and defeated him, 486, in a battle near Soissons, which city afterwards became the residence of the conqueror. The Roman general, who had sought refuge at the court of Toulouse, was given up by Alaric II. to the vengeance of the royal Frank. In 496, he repulsed the Alemanni with dreadful slaughter at Tolbiac (Zulpich, near Cologne), and compelled the cession of their territories between the Moselle and the Rhine, and on the right bank of the latter river, between the Maine and the Neckar. It was during this battle, when his soldiers were wavering, that he vowed to be baptized, if the God of his Christian wife Clotilda, niece of the Burgundian Gundebald, should grant him the victory. Policy also was a motive for his conversion, as he thus attached to him by firmer bonds his new Gallic subjects, who were all believers. He was baptized in the cathedral of rl^~ O~GENEBALOGY OF THE MEROVINGIAN LINE. 00 ~ ~ * * CLODIAN THE LONG-HAIRED, 428-448. MEROVEUS, 448 456 CHILDERIC I., 456-48 CLOVIS i., 481-511. Ostrasia. Orleans. Paris. Soissons. THIERRY I., 511-534. CLODOMIR. CHILDEBERT I., 511-558. CLOTAIRE I., 511 -561, A_________ ^ _________ ^ I I sole king in 558. ^ THEODEBERT I., 534-548. ~ ~^ ( ~ ^ ~ ^ --— ~Two sons murdered Two daughters. Theodebald, 548-555 with St. Cloud. childless. gParis. Orleans. Ostrasia. Soissons. CARIBERT I., 561-567 GONTRAN, 561-593. SIGEBERT I., 561-575. CHILPERIC I., 56L-584. CHILDEBERT II., 575-596, CLOTAIRE II., 584-628, King of Burgundy, 593. sole king in 613. Ostrasia. Burgundy. DAGOBERT, 628-638, CARIBERT, 628-631. THEODEBERT II., 596-612. THIERRY II., 596-613. sole king. Stock of the Dukes of Aquitaine. 182 MIDDLE AGES. Rheims, with his sister and 3000 of his warriors; at which time the celestial oil, still used in the coronation of the kings of France, was said to have been brought down from heaven by a snow-white dove. The title of Most Christian Majesty, borne by the French monarchs, was conferred by Pope Anastasius on Clovis, who compelled Gundebald and the Britons of Armorica to pay him tribute. He next crossed the Loire; and the battle of Vougle cost Alaric II. his life, 507. The Visigoths, however, recovered Septimania, which remained long united to the destinies of Spain; the Franks kept Aquitania, and the Burgundians resumed their ancient frontiers. Returning from this expedition, the conqueror fixed his residence at Paris, where he inhabited the palace built by Julian. Here envoys from the Emperor Anastasius brought him the purple mantle and the golden crown, emblems of the patriciate, a title revered by the Gauls, as legitimatizing their obedience. On the death of Clovis in 511, his kingdom, like a personal estate, was divided among his four sons. Childebert had Paris; Thierry, Metz; Clodomir, Orleans; and Clotaire, Soissons, with their respective territories. The history of these princes and their successors is a mournful tale of civil wars and assassinations, arising chiefly from the partition of the royal power at the death of each monarch. In 558, the supreme authority was re-united for a short period in the hands of Clotaire, whose dominions extended from the Pyrenees to the Bohemian mountains, and from the Zuyder Zee to the Mediterranean. NOTE.-The whole series of French monarchs has been divided into three races. The first or Merovingians began with Clovis, 481-750; the second or Carlovingians with Pepin, 751-987; the third or Capetians with Hugh Capet, 987, to which belongs the reigning family of Bourbon-Orleans. BRUNEHAUT AND FREDEGONDE.-Clotaire, at his death, 561, left four sons, Sigebert I. king of Ostrasia,* Chilperic I. king of Soissons, Caribert of Paris, and Gontran of Orleans and Burgundy. The elements of discord arising from this partition were increased by the death of Caribert, whose estates were dismembered by his three brothers. The inequality of the shares occasioned a brief civil war, which terminated in the reconciliation of the inimical princes, and the double marriage of Sigebert with Brunehaut, and Chilperic with Gualsinda daughter of the Visigoth Athanagild. But the King of Soissons having put his wife to death that he might be united to her domestic, the sanguinary Fredegonde, Brunehaut swore to avenge her sister, and to punish the woman who had usurped her place. These hostile feelings gave rise to an intestine war, which, during half a century, desolated France, and filled the royal house with crimes. The Ostrasians defeated the Neustrians at all points, and shut up Chilperic in Tournay. But an emissary of Fredegonde murdered Sigebert at the very moment he was proclaimed king of Neustria. The former prince regained his kingdom; Brunehaut was detained a prisoner, and her young son Childebert, removed from the vengeance of Fredegonde, was taken back to Ostrasia, when the leudes or nobles were seizing on the government, 575. * Ostrasia (commonly written Austrasia) or East France (Oster-reich), was a province adjacent to the Rhine; Neustria, or New France, containing the kingdoms of Paris, Soissons, and Orleans, extended from Ostrasia to the Loire. A third division, Lorraine, the kingdom of Lothaire (Lotharii regnum) lay between the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt. SIXTH CENTURY A.D. 1S3 Gontran, desirous of arresting the encroachments of Chilperic, adopted Childebert II., who forgot this kindness, and formed an alliance with the King of Soissons. Peace was, nevertheless, concluded; but Fredegonde, to reign without control, procured the murder of her husband in 584. and governed under the name of her infant son, Clotaire II. The usual disorders and wars ensued, when, to arrange their discordant interests, and to prevent fresh troubles, Gontran, Childebert, and Brunehaut, in concert with their chief officers, drew up the famous treaty of Andelot, by which the King of Burgundy was confirmed in his succession to the ruler of Ostrasia. Childebert did not long enjoy his uncle's inheritance; his two sons, Theodebert II. and Thierry II. 596, separated Ostrasia and Burgundy, so lately united. Frank Laws. The Salic laws are supposed to have been drawn up, about 421, by command of a monarch of the Salian Franks.* The Ripuarian Franks, dwelling on the bank (ripa) of the Rhine, had also their code; and the Burgundians their law of Gundebald, 502. By the first and most ancient of these laws, which may serve as a specimen of the rest, homicide was punished with fines varying from 50 to 600 pieces of gold. Questions of right and wrong were decided by judicial combats -a practice still subsisting in the modern duel. The conquered territory was equitably divided among the victors; not in perpetuity, but yearly, on the condition of bearing arms in the common cause. Thus arose the peculiarity by which females were prohibited from inheriting landed estates, and, by a forced interpretation of its clauses, the crown of France can never descend but to a male heir. The prisoners of war became slaves; the descendants of the haughty Romans were condemned to cultivate the fields and tend the cattle of their masters, who exercised over them a power of life and death, and made them a subject of traffic.t SPAIN. At the commencement of the fifth century, Spain had been invaded by the Suevi, Vandals, and Alans, who inflicted everywhere the most frightful ravages, so that we hear of the natives being compelled to feed on human flesh. The Suevi and Vandals occupied the ancient Galicia, comprising Old Castile and Leon; hence arose the kingdom of the Suevi under Hermanric, A. D. 409. The Alans were spread over Lusitania, while another Vandal tribe took possession of Betica; the Tarraconensis alone at this time belonging to the Romans. Ataulphus, after the settlement of the Visigoths in France in 412, crossed the Pyrenees two years later, and became the founder of the Gothic monarchy in Spain; but he was unable to subdue these various savage hordes, being stopped in his career by the hand of an assassin, 415. Wallia, having been proclaimed king, continued the plans of his predecessor, and forced the Alans to seek refuge among the Vandals. The Suevi were threatened in their turn, but obtained favourable conditions of peace, and were allowed to remain in the north-west of the peninsula. Wallia's services were rewarded by part of Aquitaine, with the city of Toulouse, which was during the greater part of a century the Visigoth capital. * The Salic code begins with the following elaborate eulogy on the people by whom It was formed: — " Gens Francorum inclyta, auctore Deo condita, fortis in armis, firma pacis fiedere, profunda in consilio, corpore nobilis et incolumis, candore et forma egregia, audax, velox, aspera," &c. t See Guizot, History Df French Civilisation, p. 333, &c. 184 MIDDLE AGES. Theodoric, the next monarch, was killed in battle against Attila at Chalons, 451. By Thorismond the frontiers of the kingdom were extended to the Loire, 456; while Euric, the murderer of his brother, expelled the Romans from Spain, and added to his possessions Berry and Auvergne, ceded to him by the Emperor Julius Nepos, and Provence, which he obtained from Odoacer, 477. Such was the power of this monarch, that he received ambassadors from the Franks and Burgundians, from the Ostrogoths encamped in Pannonia, from Odoacer king of Italy, and from the Persian monarch. Under his son and successor Alaric II. the Goths lost, by the defeat near Poitiers in 507, all Gaul with the exception of Septimania. Gesalic, his natural son, was deposed by Theodoric the Great, the father-in-law of Alaric, who declared himself guardian of his grandchild Amalaric. This monarch reigned from 526 to 531; and by his outrageous behaviour to his wife Clotilda, daughter of Clovis, drew upon himself the vengeance of the Franks. Under Recarede, 586, all the people with their sovereign entered the bosom of the Catholic church, and allowed such privileges and influence to the bishops that the national assemblies soon became little more than ecclesiastical synods. About 570, the Suevi also embraced the Christian faith. BRITAIN. HEPTARCHY.-The Jutes and Saxons, having once obtained a footing in Britain, were speedily followed by numerous tribes of adventurers; and in a short time England was divided into seven kingdoms, called the Saxon Heptarchy,* which frequently acknowledged the sovereignty of one ruler, called Bret-walda-sovereign of Britain. The ancient inhabitants did not yield without resistance. King Arthur, who died in 542, ruled over the Cornish Britons, and from his successful struggles against the invaders, became one of the favourite subjects of poetry and romance. The numerous colonies that emigrated to Armorica, to which they gave the name of Bretagne, spread his renown still more widely. But in spite of the services rendered to his countrymen, he was not without enemies among them; the title of king reducing him to the necessity of drawing his sword against the Britons almost as frequently as against the Saxon invaders. He fell mortally wounded in battle against his own nephew, and was buried at Glastonbury. As the circumstances of his death were not generally known, his re-appearance was long expected; and for several ages the credulous people in their distress looked for the interposition of their brave deliverer. SAINT AUGUSTINE.-About A. D. 560, the Anglo-Saxon occupation of a great part of Britain was completed, bringing with it the most terrible disasters to the native population. The ferocious conquerors extirpated the arts and religion of the inhabitants, and endeavoured by a promiscuous slaughter to depopulate the country. The language was entirely changed; civilisation perished; and the people were fast relapsing into their original barbarism, when Gregory I. was induced to send missionaries to convert the Saxons to Christianity, and to establish the supremacy of Rome, 596. St. Augustine failed in obtaining the sub* This term conveys an erroneous idea, as at no one period were there seven eistinct and independent kingdoms.-See Palgrave and Turner. SIXTH CENTURY A.D. 185 mission of the native clergy to his church, but succeeded in extending the faith throughout all the Saxon tribes. Ethelbert, king of Kent, was baptized, chiefly at the suggestion of his wife Bertha, who was a Christian, and the majority of the enslaved inhabitants professed the same belief. From the British islands issued, in the seventh and eighth centuries, those courageous preachers who perfected in Germany the work commenced by Saint Rupert, bishop of Salzburg. Columba, Kilian, Wilfrid, Willebrod, and Swibert, were the precursors of Winifrid (Boniface), the great apostle of Germany. Winifrid was born in Devonshire, and after extending the temporal as well as spiritual limits of the church, the good bishop, with fifty of the companions of his labour, was put to death at Dokkum, in Friesland, 755. THE CHURCH. Among the chief conquests of evangelical truth during this period must be reckoned the conversion of the Franks and Saxons. The particulars of the former event have been already given; and to understand fully the account of the latter it will be necessary to subjoin a few remarks. The Anglo-Saxon conquest did not entirely obliterate the Christian faith which had been planted in Britain in the time of Tertullian and Origen, and had seen Alban, its proto-martyr, perish in the persecution of Diocletian. At the council of Aries in 314, the Bishops of York and London were present; but war and the influx of barbarians had produced the usual result, which was corrected by the mission of St. Augustine. The Vandals in Spain, the Burgundians in Gaul, and the Lombards in Italy, abandoned Arianism; nevertheless heresy was still flourishing, particularly in the Eastern Empire, where the authority of the councils was exerted in vain. Three writings, known as the Three Chapters, had been published in the time of Nestorius in favour of his heretical opinions. Two of the authors had been present at the synod of Chalcedon; and the third being dead, they had united with their colleagues in condemning the doctrines of Eutyches. The Eutychians, in the hope of weakening the authority of that council, endeavoured to procure the condemnation of the three chapters; but, after numerous debates, another convocation was summoned at Constantinople, which censured all works really pernicious, and thus avoided any attack upon the assembly at Chalcedon. Its decisions were obeyed with the respect due to the learned men who drew them up, and by general consent the synod was regarded as the fifth general council. GREGORY I. TIlE GREAT.-This celebrated pope was sprung from a distinguished family; his grandfather Felix had filled St. Peter's chair before him, and saints were reckoned among the number of his female relatives. While nuncio at the Byzantine court, he boldly assumed a tone of independence, which his subsequent conduct did not belie. Being raised to the pontificate in 590, during more than fourteen years he assiduously watched over and advanced the interests of the church. Pelagius the Infallible had preceded him in 578; but Gregory, far from assuming any presumptuous title, even reproved the Greek patriarch (John the Faster) for calling himself the aecumenical or universal bishop, condemning it as devilish, humbly styling himself the servant of the servants of God. He revised the liturgy; arranged the various details of the reilogous ceremonies; and introduced the celebrated chant whicl 16* 186 MIDDLE AGES. bears his name. He established the ecclesiastical system by determin. ing in a fixed manner the proper ritual, the division of parishes, the calendar of festivals, the service and costume of the priests and deacons, and, finally, by arranging all the imposing orders of the Romish ceremonial. On the other hand, he burnt the Palatine library, and warred against the arts by destroying the temples and mutilating the statues which the Goths had spared. BENEDICTINES.-In A. D. 527, St. Benedict of Nursia, in the Apennines, founded twelve convents near Subiaco in the neighbourhood of Rome, and next year the celebrated monastery of Mount Cassino, in the territory of Naples. Before his time, each fraternity had its peculiar customs; he created the real statutes of the order. His simple and edifying rule, besides prescribing prayer, manual labour, study, and the instruction of youth, enjoined the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The administration and discipline of each community were intrusted to an abbot, chosen from the society by the free suffrages of the monks. In 595, Gregory accorded the apostolic sanction, permitting the inmates to possess an oratory, and to enjoy the spiritual labours of a priest taken from the bosom of their fraternity. In time, most of the cenobites entered the priesthood, without renouncing their condition. The Nicene council of 787 conferred on the abbots the right of admitting monks into the inferior orders of the clergy. The Benedictines were industrious and charitable men. In the midst of deserts they reared convents, the asylum of misfortune in an age of brutal violence and rapine. The active inhabitants tilled the earth, drained marches, cleared forests; hamlets, villages, and considerable towns sprang up around their walls; and in the convents were deposited the literary treasures of antiquity, which in many instances were indebted to them for preservation. SEVENTH CENTURY. GREEK EMPIRE.-602, Phocas.-610, Heraclius.-622, Chosroes defeated.672, Constantinople besieged by the Saracens.-685, Justinian II. PERSIA.-618, Chosroes, d. ARABIA.-570, Mohammed born.-622, HEGIRA.-Koran; Sonna.-634, Omar. -640, Alexandrian Library burnt.-660, OMMIADES. ITALY.-643, Lombard Code.-697, Venice-First sole Doge, Anafesto. FRANCE. —-613, Clotaire.-678, Pepin.-688, Sluggard Kings-Mayors of tho Palace. SPAIN.-600, Christian Religion introduced. THE CHURCH.-606, Papal Supremacy; CEcumenical-Image Worship. LITERATURE.-Fortunatus; Isidore of Seville; Gregory the Great. INVENTIONS.-Quills for writing.-Chess in India. GREEK EMPIRE. PHOCAS, A. D. 602, repulsive in person as well as in character, commenced his tyranny by the massacre of all the imperial family. Maurice was dragged from the sanctuary in which he had take-r efuge, and his SEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 187 five sons were murdered before his eyes; after which the heads of the deposed monarch and his children were exposed on the walls of Constantinople. The wife of the emperor was afterwards decapitated with her three daughters in the place which had witnessed the murder of her husband. Every province was ripe for rebellion, which was encouraged and headed by Priscus, Maurice's son-in-law, and by Heraclius, exarch of Africa. A fleet from Carthage boldly sailed up to Constantinople, and in a short time the cruel despot, by his death, paid the penalty of his crimes. HERACLIUS, the deliverer of the empire, was elected to the vacant throne, A. D. 610; and soon after was compelled to turn his attention to the Persian war. CIIOSROES II. had been forced by internal dissension to take refuge in Constantinople; but, aided by Narses, he defeated his rivals and recovered his crown, 591. At a later period, simulating disgust at the crimes of Phocas, he made war upon the Greeks, overran the country westward of the Euphrates, and conquered Syria, 611. Palestine was subdued in 614; and twenty-six thousand Jews, who followed his banners to attack Jerusalem, are said to have massacred ninety thousand Christians. The victorious career of the Persian monarch reduced Heraclius to great distress, which was increased by the devastations of the Avars, who nearly succeeded in taking his capital, 619; and in their retreat carried off 270,000 captives. A series of misfortunes had so depressed the spirit of Heraclius that he meditated the removal of the seat of government to Carthage; but the patriarch was opposed to the change, and the empire was saved by the liberality of the clergy. Peace was made with Chosroes on ignominious terms,-the annual payments of 1000 talents of gold, and the same amount of silver, silken robes, horses, and fair maidens. Fortune now deserted the Persian arms, when the emperor, in six adventurous campaigns, beginning in 622, retrieved his own honour and that of his country. Boldly carrying the war into the enemy's territories, he landed a numerous and enthusiastic army in Cilicia, and defeated Chosroes. The vanquished prince was compelled to recall his armies to defend their own country, and the rapid conquests of Heraclius may remind us of Hannibal or Napoleon. The battle of Nineveh, 627, fought on the ground once covered by that remarkable city, was followed next year by an honourable peace, concluded with Siroes, the successor of Chosroes who had been deposed by his subjects, and compelled to witness the murder of his eighteen sons. The return of the conqueror to Europe was one continued triumph. Ambassadors from the Franks and from India came to offer their congratulations; but the empire was exhausted by these victories; and in order to repay the sums advanced by the church, it was necessary to raise a second time from the devastated provinces the amount of taxes which had been already paid. Two hundred thousand soldiers had perished; and at the same time there appeared on the frontiers of Syria an enemy more terrible than any that had hitherto menaced the empire. Heraclius, attacked by the Mussulmans in 632, lost Syria and Egypt; and the emperor terminated his reign by a theological discussion and a religious war. His death, in 641, was hastened by intelligence of the capture of Alexandria, which event he survived only a few weeks. Seven rulers of the Heraclian family successively mounted the throne, 188 MIDDLE AGES. which they stained less by bloodshed than by personal vice. The first was Constantine III., whose hundred days of empire were terminated by poison, and Heracleonas succeeded, only to be deposed, before the year expired, in favour of Constans II., 641. Ascending the throne when scarcely twelve years of age, he thus addressed the senate:" By Divine Providence, Martina and her incestuous progeny have been driven out; and I exhort and beseech you to stand forth as the counsellors and judges of the common safety." But the murder of his brother Theodosius proved that these sentiments were not very deeply seated. The astonished people and army drove this second Cain into exile, when, odious to himself and mankind, he perished at Syracuse by the hand of a slave, 668. Constantine IV. (Progonatus) put out the eyes of his two brothers, and left the crown to Justinian II., a vicious and foolish boy, who dishonoured his name by his cruelties, and by the choice of the ministers of his pleasures. For ten years he filled the city and country with sounds of horror, when Leontius, who had been released from a tedious imprisonment, and raised to the government of Greece, headed a successful revolt. "Christians! to St. Sophia's!" was the cry; and there the patriarch delivered an inflammatory discourse on the text-" This is the day of the Lord!" Justinian was deposed, and, after mutilation, exiled to Chersonae, in the Crimea, 695, where he learnt that his successor had been dethroned in his turn, and Tiberius (.lpsimar) elevated in his stead, 698. He therefore renewed his claim to the empire; and, uniting with the Bulgarians, appeared before the capital with 15,000 horse, and was restored without striking a blow. His revenge was sweeping: the Chersonites, who had displeased him during his exile, were devoted to slaughter- "All are guilty, and all must equally perish," being his savage mandate. The nobles were executed at their own doors, drowned in sacks, or killed by pouring molten lead down their throats. Johannicius of Ravenna was permitted to write his will with his own blood: " Oh God! deliver us from the tyrant!" was all he wrote, before he dashed his brains out against the wall. The patience of his subjects became exhausted; the troops and provinces renounced their allegiance; Justinian fell by the stroke of an assassin; and with his son Tiberius, who had vainly taken refuge in a church, perished the family of Heraclius, 711. PERSIA. CHOSROES II.-Under the pretence of avenging Maurice, Chosroes invaded the Byzantine provinces of Asia, 603. Syria and Palestine yielded to his arms; Pelusium, the key of Egypt, capitulated; and the Persian trophies were fixed on the ruins of the Greek colony of Cyrene. Another army advanced to the Thracian Bosphorus; Chalcedon was taken after a long siege; and the Persian army encamped for more than ten years in sight of Constantinople. If Chosroes had possessed a fleet, it would have been difficult to assign bounds to the progress of his vie torious arms. Yet the difference of manners and language, the intoler ance of the magi and schismatic Christians who followed in his train; were an inseparable barrier between the conquered and the conquerors, and would soon have shattered to pieces the mightiest empire. He himself appeared to mistrust the stability of his power, by exhausting SEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 189 the tributary nations with heavy exactions, and transporting into Persia all the riches of the vanquished provinces. At the end of six years, Chosroes demanded a large sum as the condition of abandoning the siege of the Grecian capital; but the inhabitants, finding courage in their despair, resolved to employ their means in combating rather than in enriching their enemies. The victories of Heraclius have been already described, the results of which were the capture of the Persian treasures, the recovery of three hundred standards, and the delivery of a numerous body of prisoners in 627. The fugitive didnot think himself secure until he had placed the Tigris between him and the Romans. But his pride was not yet completely humbled: his obstinacy irritated the Persians; and Siroes, one of his sons, conspired with the discontented to seize the throne, to the prejudice of his younger brother, who had been appointed successor. Chosroes was deposed; and, as has been already stated, eighteen of his children were put to death before his eyes; and he himself died in prison at the end of five days, 628. With him ended the glory of the Sassanides. His unnatural son enjoyed the fruits of his crime only eight months; and eight competitors assumed the kingly title within four years. This anarchy continued eight years longer, until the country was subdued by the Arabs. To Chosroes belongs the distinction of restoring the ancient limits of the Persian monarchy from the Hellespont to the Nile, and thus contributing indirectly to the propagation of Mohammedanism. His magnificence rivalled that of Xerxes. Nine hundred and sixty elephants, with 20,000 camels, and 6000 horses, were maintained for the transport of his baggage, or for the pleasures of the chase. Eighteen thousand guards in succession were stationed within and around his palace. Forty thousand plated columns with a thousand golden globes supported the roof of his palace; and a hundred vaults were filled with gold, silver, precious stones, and all the subsidiaries of luxury and refinement. ARABIA. At the beginning of this century the Arabian peninsula became the scene of a remarkable revolution, the effects of which may still be traced over great part of two continents, and some of the fairest portions of Europe. Remote from the civilized world, that country was scarcely known but as the land of spices or of frankincense; and the inhabitants, with few brief exceptions, continued to preserve their independence. They were a hardy, hospitable people, nursed to habits of war by the discipline of a pastoral life. In their native deserts they are invincible; and the legions of Napoleon as well as those of Augustus found in them an untiring enemy. The various tribes are independent, but unite in periods of emergency under some popular sheik or chief. They, particularly the Bedouins, are robbers by profession; stranger and enemy being with them, as among the ancient Romans, synonymous terms. Their language is exceedingly copious; their poems, tales, and proverbs proclaim their wit and fancy. Sabaism, or the worship of the heavenly bodies, was the prevailing superstition; and the temple or Caaba* of Mecca was known even to the'Greek writers. * Arabian traditions relate that Ishmael took up his abode and built a temple on the spot where the angel showed the fountain to his wearied mother. This is the famous Caaba, the centre of Mussulman worship, the point to which every Mohammedan turns at his devotions, in what part soever of the world he may be. The well of Zem-zem near the temple, is said to be the well of Hagar; and there is still to be seen on a black stone what is called the imprint of Abraham's feet. Around the Caaba the town ot Mecca was formed by the children of Ishmael and the concourse of devotional strangers 190 MIDDLE AGES. Their altars were sometimes polluted by human sacrifices. The revolutions of surrounding nations had driven many peaceable men to seek the Arabian deserts, in search of that quiet which the Byzantine court was unable to afford them. Six hundred years before Mohammed, Jews had settled in that country; and the Himyarite kings of Yemen had embraced the Jewish religion at the commencement of the fourth century A. D. The Bible was already translated into Arabic, and the Christians successively retiring from persecution, carried with them and propagated their peculiar tenets. Thus was the way prepared for the daring impostures of the Prophet. O^the early history of Arabia little is known: Alexander the Great aspired to its sovereignty, and a Greek colony can yet be traced among the hills in the island of Socotra. The efforts of Augustus and Trajan to subdue it were in vain. About A. D. 50, Mareb, the chief town of the Sabaeans,-the ruins of which may still be seen,-was swept away by the bursting of an artificial lake formed in an elevated valley towards the north-west. In 529, the Negush of Abyssinia invaded and reduced the country, governing it by means of deputies. But Arabia soon recovered from its misfortunes, though their effect is still perceived in Europe. The conquerors introduced the smallpox, which subsequent intercourse propagated through the world. Its visitations at first were dreadful.nough rare; and nearly one hundred years elapsed before it reached Italy and Germany. MOHAMMED, A. D. 570, sprung from the tribe of Koreish and the family of Hashem, the hereditary guardians of the Caaba, was the only son of Abdallah and the Jewess Amina. In early life he was bereaved of his parents; and, after spending many years in the Syrian caravans, at the age of twenty-five he entered the service of the rich widow Cadijah, whom he afterwards married. His person was majestic; and, with a countenance that charmed all beholders, he possessed no common vein of eloquence. He was not less an enthusiast than an impostor; and from his early youth had been in the habit of retiring to solitary caverns for the purpose of meditation, where he formed that mighty scheme of fraud, which, under the name of Islamism, he at length proclaimed to the world, 609. His wife and one or two others of his family were his first converts; three years elapsed before he had increased their number to fourteen. Twelve years had passed before they were augmented to six score, when the hostility of the Koreish compelled him to leave Mecca. This flight" to Yatreb, under the name of the HEGIRA, became the memorable epoch of Mohammedan nations, dating from Friday, 16th July, A. D. 622.* Acclamations of loyalty and devotion hailed the entry of the prophet into the city, which afterwards received the name of Medina, or the City of the Prophet. Here he began to exercise at once the regal and sacerdotal authority. and to be worshipped as a superior being. " I have seen," said an astonished ambassador from Mecca, " Chosroes of Persia, and the Caesar of Rome, but never did I behold a king among his subjects like Mohammed among his companions." War was soon declared against all infidels, and the doctrine * To reduce the JMohammedan to the Christian era:- Multiply the years elapsed by 970,203; cut off 6 decimals; add 622.54, and the sum will be the year of the Cnristian era, and decimal of the day following, in old style. To reduce the Christian era to the Mohammedan:-Subtract 622 from the current year; multiply by 1.0307; cut off four decimals, and add.46: the sum will be the year and decimal of the day, old style. me jr ~lV,r -— N H ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~1~ X~~,yi;\~ SEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 191 proclaimed that the sins of every one who fell in battle would be forgiven. Blinded by prosperity, he had the audacity to summon the most powerful monarchs of the earth to embrace Islamism; and we are told that when a Roman magistrate in Syria put to death one of his ambassadors, he did not hesitate to fall upon an army of 30,000 men with a small body of undisciplined troops. With an inconsiderable force he attacked the Koreish, and defeated them in several battles, 625. Four years afterwards, Mecca submitted to his arms, and the whole peninsula shortly after yielded to the "apostle of God." Nor was the ambition of Mohammed confined to the narrow limits of Arabia, for he was on the point of entering on a new career, when a languishing disease recalled him from the Syrian frontiers. Perceiving the approach of death, he boldly submitted his past life to the scrutiny of his people, saying, "If there be any man whom I have unjustly scourged, I submit my own back to the lash." At the age of sixty-three, the great impostor was removed from the earth, in 632. The caliphs, as his successors were called, in less than one hundred years, spread their conquests and their creed, from India to the Atlantic Ocean,-over Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, and Spain. THE KORAN.-The religious doctrines of Mohammed are contained in the Koran. The Book, for such is its title, is filled with stories from the Old Testament and parables borrowed from the New. He asserted that it was brought in fragments from heaven by the angel Gabriel, and appealed to the pure classical style of the work as a proof of its divine origin. It comprises a mass of tales, visions, discourses, laws, precepts, and counsels, in which truth and falsehood, the sublime and the ridiculous, meet side by side. Each sura (chapter) bears the superscription-" In the name of the kind and merciful God." The first verse is always preceded by three mystical initial characters, whose meaning the Moslem theologians dare not penetrate. Mistaken in his opinions of the Trinitarian doctrine, and deluded by the image-worship of the Eastern Christians, the author declaims often against their polytheism and idolatry. " In what consists Islamism?" asked an angel in the guise of a Bedouin. " To profess," replied Mohammed, " that there is but One God, and that I am his prophet; to observe strictly the hours of prayer; to give alms; to fast in the month of Ramadan; and to make the pilgrimage to Mecca." "It is so in truth," said Gabriel, making himself known. Mohammed called his religion Islam (resignation to the will of God), and excluded all others under the pretence that its founder was the last and greatest prophet sent from God; by whom the law of Moses and of Jesus was perfected and accomplished;-and that as Christ abrogated the Jewish religion, so did the son of Abdallah the Christian. Five times in the twenty-four hours do the Mussulmans (the saved) repeat their prayers, turning their faces towards Mecca; and during the monthly fast of the Ramadan they abstain from eating and drinking while the sun is above the horizon. Friday is their day of public worship. The resurrection, the day of judgment, and fatalism are part of their creed. After the day of judgment, the good and bad have to cross a narrow and perilous bridge (al Sirat) over the abyss; the former being upheld by angels, the latter falling headlong into the first of the seven hells. The righteous, being admitted into the seventh heaven, near the throne of God, will recline on the softest couches, be fed with the most delicious food, clothed in the richest garments, and waited upon, each by seventy-two black-eyed houris of resplendent beauty, youth, and purity. The doctrine of predestination was skilfuilly employed by Mohammed to advance his designs, encouraging his fol lowers to combat without fear, on the assurance that no caution could avert their fate or prolong their lives one moment. Polygamy was authorized by the Koran, although it reduced within certain limits a custom prevailing in Asia many ages before his time. Besides allowing four legitimate wives, a less formal marriage was also permitted. 192 MIDDLE AGES. The Arab legislator inculcated tolerance towards the Christians, Jews, and Persian disciples of Zoroaster; but this was always purchased by a kind of capitation-tax. Consult: Preface to Sale's Koran; Gibbon's Decline and Fall. THE CALIPHS.-Four caliphs were successively elected to occupy the seat of Mohammed, by the suffrages of the leaders of Islamism Abubeker, chosen in 632, gave the signal for a holy war, in fulfilment of the vow of the prophet, who had summoned all true believers to the conversion of the infidels. Omar, the second caliph, 634, saw the three great countries bordering on Arabia submit to its yoke; in the caliphate of Othman, 644-655, these conquests were made permanent, and the power of the Arabs received a new lustre from their first naval victories. The virtuous Ali seemed destined to put the legislation of the prophet in harmony with the extent of the Mussulman dominion; but the five years of his reign were troubled by civil war, and, like his two predecessors, he fell beneath the blow of a fanatic, who thus unintentionally confirmed the triumph of the rebel Moawiyah, and the establishment of an hereditary dynasty, 660. CONQUEST OF SYRIA, A. D. 632.-Under the direction of Abubeker, two armies issued from the Arabian peninsula; one of them marched into Syria, the other, under the command of Khaled, surnamed the Sword of God, advanced towards the Euphrates. Abu Obeidah, at the head of the former, crossed the Jordan, and besieged Bostra with the fanatic cry of" Fight! fight! Paradise! paradise!" The town fell, and Damascus was attacked. Heraclitus, roused by a sense of danger, ordered an army of 70,000 men to hasten to the defence of this city But these succours were in vain; for, after an obstinate engagement at Aiznadin, the imperial forces were utterly routed, and Damascus was taken after a siege of seventy days, 634. Jerusalem, having been closely blockaded during four months, capitulated, 637, and the conquest of Syria was almost immediately achieved. TAKING OF ARRESTAN.-This city was reduced by Abu Obeidah, in a manner that will forcibly remind the classical student of the wooden horse by which Troy fell. He requested and obtained leave of the governor to deposit in the citadel some old lunber which impeded the rapidity of his march. Twenty large boxes were filled with men, and carried into the castle: the general then marched away, leaving only Khaled with some chosen troops in the neighbourhood to act in concert with the adventurers. While the Christians were returning thanks for the departure of their enemy, the soldiers removed the sliding bottoms of the chests, and made their way out. The sentries being overpowered, the great church was surprised and converted into a garrison. Khaled came to their assistance as soon as he heard the appointed signal; and the town was taken without further opposition.* REDUCTION OF EGYPT, A. D. 638-640.-Amrou, a man of mean birth, but of great ability, was commanded to invade Egypt. Having already distinguished himself in the Syrian campaign, he now boldly, at the head of only 4000 Arabs, took Pelusium and invested Memphis. The siege was protracted for seven months, when the city was taken by assault; and on its ruins, or rather on those of the suburb of Babylon * Ockley's History of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 185 SEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 193 on the eastern bank of the Nile, was built the modern city of Cairo, or the Victory. The submission of the Coptic Christians enabled the invaders to turn their arms against Alexandria, the reduction of which was the most important enterprise in the whole of the Arabian contests. After a siege of fourteen months, and the loss of 23,000 men, the crescent of Mohammed was raised above the Cross, 640. We are told that Amrrou found in the city 4000 palaces, 4000 baths, 400 theatres, with 40,000 tributary Jews. The lives of the inhabitants were spared; but in the destruction of the celebrated library, by the express command of Omar, we have to regret the "irreparable wreck of the learning, the arts, and the genius of antiquity." The possession of Egypt led to the conquest of Northern Africa; though sickness and want of provisions compelled the Mussulman forces to retreat after a successful expedition in Cyrenaica and Tripolitana. Cyprus, Rhodes,* and the Cyclades were conquered, 653; in the East the Mohammedans advanced to the Euphrates, the Tigris, and beyond these barriers even to the Oxus, thus completing the subjugation of Persia, 652. OMMIADES.-As soon as Ali was proclaimed caliph, A. D. 656, he resolved to subdue the Ommiades, whose ambition had given him umbrage, and displaced Moawiyah, the chief of the family, from the government of Syria. This prince refused obedience to the order, and assuming the title of Emir of the Believers, marched against the legitimate caliph. During one hundred and ten days, the two armies contended almost incessantly; and the victory was yet doubtful, when three fanatics swore to put an end to the civil war by assassinating Ali, Moawiyah, and Amrou. Ali alone perished, and by his death left the sceptre to his rival. His two sons Hassan and Hossein, bore the title of caliphs, and their descendants were regarded by the Mussulmans of Persia as the only legitimate successors of the prophet; but the Ommiades did not the less inherit the power. This revolution was followed by another; and the caliphate became hereditary instead of elective, 660. MOHAMMEDAN SEcTs.-The dissension between Ali, the prophet's son-inlaw, and the first three caliphs, gave birth to a schism which yet disturbs the unity of Islam. The one party are called Sonnites, because to the Koran they add the Sonna (tradition), another collection of laws and precepts which fell from the lips of Mohammed.t They respect the memory of Abubeker, Othman, Omar, aud Ali, but assign the lowest degree of sanctity to the last. The Turks belong to this sect. The other party are called Sheeahs (schismatics), recognising the authority of the Koran alone, and consider Ali as the vicar of God, not inferior to the prophet himself. The Arabians and Persians hold the opinions of this sect. MOAWIYAH transferred the seat of empire to Damascus, A. D. 661, and to gain some popularity to his dynasty, recommenced war against the infidels. The Africans had been already compelled to pay tribute to their conquerors; but when the emperor wished to impose another by * The ruins of the'celebrated Colossus, or statue of Apollo, after they had lain scat. tered on the ground eight centuries, were collected and sold by the Saracens. The weight of the metal is said to have laden 900 camels. t The Sonna or oral law was first committed to writing by the pious Al Bobhari, about A. D. 800. In Ockley's History of the Saracens, the reader will find many pathetic stories of the calamities of Ali and his sons. 17 194 MIDDLE AGES. way of fine, the assistance of the Arabs was implored against this tyranny. In 665, the Greeks were defeated and lost eighty thousand men. The Arabs had now begun to form a navy, and were eminently successful in their early maritime expeditions. Six times their fleets appeared before Constantinople, but were as often repelled by the terrible Greek fire. These armaments having exhausted the resources of the caliphate, Moawiyah solicited peace, which was granted on his consenting to pay a tribute of fifty horses, as many slaves, and three thousand purses of gold, 677. At his death, three years afterwards, a civil war broke out; but the unity of the empire was re-established by the devotion of the brave Hegiage, who destroyed successively all the enemies of the house of Ommiyah. Under Abdel Malek, India was con. quered; and during the government of his son Walid I. communications were opened with China,-a circumstance that should be kept in mind, since it is probable that from the latter country the Arabs derived part of their knowledge in science and manufactures. The writers of that nation are the first who make mention of a spirit extracted from rice, of tea, porcelain, and other Chinese commodities. AFRICA REDUCED.-The unsettled state of affairs interrupted the war in Africa twenty years; but in 692, Hassan, governor of Egypt, commenced a series of expeditions, which reduced the whole northern coast; and about the end of the century, the fearless Akbah spurred his horse into the waves of the Atlantic, sighing, like another Alexander, for new worlds to conquer. Carthage fell in 698, and Africa was irrecoverably lost to the Greek empire; but the wandering tribes of Barbary did not submit so easily to a new government which threatened their independence. Their Queen Kahina forced Hassan to retire; nor was it till the death of this heroine that any advantage was gained by the Arabian forces. Musa completed the conquest of this part of Africa; and by degrees the inhabitants, deserting Christianity, embraced the religion of a people who, by their similarity of manners, encouraged the belief of a common origin. ITALY. From A.D. 568, the peninsula was divided between the Lombard kingdom and the exarchate of Ravenna, which still acknowledged the authority of the Byzantine emperors.* The Lombard sovereigns were virtuous and able; peace and happiness adorned their government; and Italy began to recover from the devastations of the two preceding centuries. A brief period of discord led to the accession, in 636, of Rotharis, duke of Brescia, who signalized his reign by his conquests and his code of laws. The prudence of this. king was shown in his respect to religious affairs; the Arianism which he professed not making him unjust to his orthodox subjects. After his death in 652, the Lombard monarchy was agitated by ambitious dukes who coveted or usurped * The exarchate, properly so called, contained the cities of Ravenna, Bologna, Imola, Faenza, Ferrara, Adria, Commachio, and Forli. with the Pentapolis, or that territory which included Ancona, Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, and Sinigaglia. It was governed by an exarch invested with civil and military authority; under him various dukes ruled in Rome, Gaeta, Naples, Syracuse, and other great cities of the Peninsula, Dalmatia, and the Italian Islands. This state of affairs continued until the first half of the eighth century, when the quarrel between the iconoclasts and the ambition of Astolphus wrought important changes in the condition of Italy. SEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 195 the crown, and threatened by the Emperor Constans II., who wished to re-establish the seat of empire in Italy. DoGE OF VENICE.-About A. D. 697, the inhabitants of the Adriatic isles assembled at Heraclea, and elected Paulo Anafesto duke, with the insignia of royalty, without however rejecting the supremacy of Constantinople. By subsequent limitations, the power of the doge was reduced within very narrow bounds, and his office became a sort of ducal mayoralty for life. In authority he was merely a counsellor; in the city, a prisoner of state, and out of it, only a private person. The great council of 480 citizens was principally composed of men of high birth, and invested with the appointment of their head and all the inferior magistracies. The senate consisted of the sixty Pregadi, the forty judges, the college of Savii, the council of ten, and formed an intermediate body between the nobles and the executive. They imposed taxes, and declared war or concluded peace. The three state inquisitors were superior to all the citizens, not excepting even the doge. Criminal justice was administered by a tribunal of forty, annually chosen from the great assembly. By the laws of 1296 (the Serratura del Consiglio), 1298, and 1300, all those who had not been in the great council within the four preceding years, were for ever debarred from election to that assembly, thus establishing an exclusive hereditary aristocracy. Much discontent was manifested at these proceedings, and several insurrections took place with the object of framing a more popular form of government. Such is a meagre outline of an avowed aristocracy which governed larger territories and endured a longer period than any other upon record. Already at this early period Venice had its fleets, and these she placed at the service of the Exarch Eutychius, to aid in driving the Lombards from their more recent conquests, by which they became unwelcome neighbours both to the republic and to Rome. Read; Spalding's Italy and the Italian Islands, 3 vols., in the Edinburgh Cabinet Library. FRANCE. CLOTAIRE II., A. D. 613.-The disputed succession of Alsace led to a civil war between Thierry and Theodebert, in which the latter, after having been defeated at Tolbiac in 612, was decapitated by order of his brother, by whom he was followed to the grave in the subsequent year. Brunehaut, seconded by the patrician Protadius, vainly endeavoured to maintain one of the sons of Thierry on the throne; for Clotaire gained the ascendency, and won over the Ostrasian leudes, whom the queen had exasperated by her violent opposition to their claims. This aged female was surrendered to the mercy of the son of Fredegunde, and by him put to death with barbarous cruelty. In 613, Clotaire re-united the different members of the monarchy, and by an edict issued from the national assembly held at Paris, he reformed the kingdom, and gave securities for the public peace, which was not again broken during his reign. MAYORS OF TIIE PALACE.-The mayor of the palace (major domus) was originally what his title signified-the chief of the king's domestics. Under princes of unripe years or feeble character, he easily usurped al, the powers of the state. Warnachaire in Burgundy and Radon in 0% II 196 MIDDLE AGES. trasia had been declared immovable by Clotaire, with the consent of the nobles, who had long had a voice in the nomination of these ministers, and who appear finally to have had the exclusive power of election. It was not until after the time of Dagobert I. that the government passed entirely into the hands of the mayors. DAGOBERT.-Clotaire II. died in 628, and was succeeded by Dagobert, his son, who had been six years king of Ostrasia. He conferred Aquitaine on his brother Caribert, who reigned three years at Toulouse, and died not long afterwards, when his eldest son was recognised as king. Dagobert, however, caused him to be poisoned, and gave Aquitaine as an hereditary duchy, to another of his nephews, who became the founder of a long line of princes, which terminated, in 1503, in the person of Louis of Armagnac, duke of Nemours, killed at the battle of Cerignole. The reign of Dagobert offers no remarkable event, except the invasion of Ostrasia by a Sclavonic tribe, who had elected to the kingly station a Frank merchant named Samon. Some time after, Judicael, duke of Bretagne, whose subjects committed incessant ravages on Western France, came to Clichy soliciting the- alliance of the Frank monarch. Dagobert expired in 638, after a reign of some splendour, the honour of which belongs not so much to the sovereign as to the mayors Arnulph, Pepin of Landen, Ega, and to the goldsmith Saint Eloi, who administered the king's finances and presided over the magnificence of the court. SLUGGARD KINGS.*-With Siegbert II. and Clovis II., respectively monarchs of Ostrasia and Neustria, begins the list of Sluggard Kingsfor by that name were the ten feeble successors of Dagobert I. characterized. Forty years after, the right of succession called Thierry III. to the united throne of the triple kingdom, 678; when the Ostrasian nobles, indignant at the favour shown to their enemy, the mayor Ebroin, abolished the royal title, and chose their dukes in the persons of Pepin d'Heristal and Martin the grandson of Saint Arnulph. Hostilities ensued with the mayor of Thierry III., in which Martin perished. Pepin, thus left sole duke, became bolder in his designs, and attacking Neustria, ended the war in 687 by the victory of Testry, which placed the chief portion of Western France in his hands. Pepin d'Heristal, now become absolute master in the two kingdoms, strengthened his power by the defeat of the tributaries who had assumed independence during the Frank dissensions. Three times he disposed of the Nuestrian crown, and dying, bequeathed the mayoralty to his grandson Theodobald and his widow Plectrude, passing over his illegitimate son Charles, 715. * Michelet remarks of these latter Merovingian kings, that they appear to be a parti. cular race of men; they were all parents at fifteen, and old men at thirty. Few of them attained the latter age: Caribert II. died at the age of twenty-five years; Sigebert II. at twenty-six; Clovis II. at twenty-three; Childeric II. at twenty-four; Clotaire III. at eighteen; Dagobert II. at twenty-seven, &c,-Hist. de Francs tome i. p. 280. t^~ U~GENEALOGY OF THE MEROVINGIAN LINX. DAGOBERT, I., son of Clotaire, sole king, 628-638. Ostrasia, 638-656. Neustria and Burgundy, 638-656. SIGEBERT II. CLOVIS II. DAGOBERT II. CLOTAIRE III. CHILDERIC II., THIERRY III. 672-679. Neustria and Burgundy, Ostrasia, 656. In Neustria, 673-691. F Ostrasia, without a king. 656-670. sole king, 670-673. ZM~~~ ~' ~~~~~CHILPERIC II., CLOVIS III., CIIILDEBERT III., CLOTAIRE IV., sole king, 716-720. sole king, 691-695. sole king, 695-711. 717-719. H Mayors of the Palace. I z * * * * ~.~..~ ~ Saint Arnulf, t 640. CHILDERIC III., sole and last DAGOBERT III., alone, king, 742-752. 711-716. Ansegise, m. Begga, d. of Pepin, t 764. Thierry, THIERRY IV., alone, died in monastery. 720-737. Pepin of Heristal, t 714. Interregnum, 737-742. "-4 Charles Martel, t 741; &c. Pepin le Bref and Carloman. 198 MIDDLE AGES. SPAIN. The two successors of Recardede, Liuva II. and Vitteric, died by assassination. Gondemar gained a few advantages over the Greeks, who were driven out of Spain by Sisebert, 612-620. This prince, cele. brated for the composition of a not inelegant Latin poem on the eclipses of the sun and moon, conquered Tangier and Ceuta, as well as part of Mauritania. His son Recardede II. died shortly after his coronation; and his second son Suintilla, was nominated his successor by the bishops; but was overthrown by Sisenand, governor of Septimania, 631. Inder this ruler, the fourth council of Toledo declared that no one could ascend the throne without the consent of the prelates and the chief officers of state; that the king should take oath not to pronounce any judgment on capital matters without the advice of his court; that the bishops might summon to the councils, or exclude from them, any persons whatever; and that, finally, the ecclesiastics should be exempt from charges and taxation. Thus was Spain placed under the control of a sacerdotal aristocracy. Chintilla, A. D. 636, expelled the Jews from Spain, in obedience to the orders of the sixth council of Toledo, which further decreed that no election of a successor should take place during the life of the reigning king. Tulga, deposed by the nobles, left his crown to Chindasvind, who associated his son Recesvind with him on the throne. The latter still further augmented the power of the bishops, repelled an invasion of the Gascons, and defended Mauritania against the first attacks of the Arabians. His successor Wamba, 672, had to check the numerous revolts which broke out on every side, and was at length deposed after several successful campaigns against the Mussulmans. The noble Erwiga, instigated by the Archbishop of Toledo, mixed opium in his wine, cut off his hair during sleep, and took away the silver keys, the ensigns of royalty. On his awaking, the sovereign not unwillingly resigned a throne which he had accepted only on compulsion. The new king Erwiga was compelled to reward the services of the head of the Spanish church by new concessions, and by the privilege of nominating to the vacant sees. By this act the crown lost almost the only useful prerogative which remained, for the great civil and military dignities having become hereditary, the king had no other means of opposing the nobles than by filling the bishoprics with trusty men. Under Egiza, 687, the Jews formed secret relations with their African brethren, in the hope of receiving protection and aid from the Saracens. The plot having been discovered, the exercise of the Jewish worship was forbidden; children of seven years old and under were taken from their parents to be educated as Christians; and all who apostatized were deprived of their wealth and liberty. This reign was disturbed by the claims of the Archbishops of Toledo, who were desirous of conducting the affairs of the kingdom by a regency. Witizen beheld the increase of the factions, to which he himself became a victim, 710: being dethroned by Roderick, the son of a nobleman whose eyes he had ordered to be torn out. THE CHURCH. The true doctrines of Christianity were fast becoming ols,,ared in the East, from the ambition of the patriarchs and the subtle spirit of the EIGHTH CENTURY A.D. 199 people. Heraclius, who was said to have recovered the relics of the True Cross from the hands of the infidels,-a victory still celebrated in the Romish ritual,-did not confine himself to opposing the enemies of the empire, but mingled in theological discussions and controversies on the faith. The Eutychians had modified their opinions to give them new vigour, and the patriarch Sergius openly disseminated their heresy, which tended to confound the divine and human nature of Christ. The emperor published an edict in favour of the Eutychian dogmas, and Pope Honorius, deceived by a letter of Sergius, forbade all discussion of their errors. This disposition to temporize alarmed the orthodox, and Sophronius, bishop of Jerusalem, wrote to inform the Pope of the real state of affairs. John IV., who then occupied St. Peter's chair, condemned the error, and also the imperial decree which defended it. A short time before his death Heraclius disavowed his edict; but his grandson Constans II. again reasserted it, and deposed the venerable pontiff. Constantine Pogonatus, wishing to restore peace to the church, convoked the sixth general council at Constantinople, 680, at which the papal legate presided. The errors of the monothelites were condemned as well as all their followers, and this heresy became ever after confounded with that of the Eutychians. TRIPLE CROWN.-The emperor Anastasius having invested Clovis with the dignity of patrician and consul, sent him a crown of gold; the king of the Franks presented it to Pope Symmachus, 498, and it was the first of those which composed the papal diadem. The second was added by Boniface VIII., who ascended the spiritual throne in 1294; and the third by John XXII., 1316.-The title of pope, it should be observed, was not exclusively applied to those who held the see of Rome until Hildebrand issued a bull to that effect, towards the close of the 11th century. Before the time of Sabinianus, 604, they were simply styled bishops. EIGHTH CENTURY. G;REEK EMPIRE.-717, Leo III.-Saracens at Constantinople. —26, Iconoclast War.-797, Empress Irene. ARABIA.-711, Northern Africa and Spain subdued.-749, Abbassides.-786, Haroun al Raschid. SPAIN.-711, Arabians in Spain.-755, Independent Caliphate. ITALY..-715, Pope Gregory 1I.-774, End of Lombard Kingdom.-795, Leo III., first Bishop of the West.-728, Luitprand takes Ravenna.-749, Astolphus. FRANCE.-714, Charles Martel.-732, Victory of Tours.-752, Carloviingian Dynasty-Pepin.-768, Charlemagne. CHURCH..-720, Dionysian or Vulgar Era introduced.-769, Worship of Images. LITERATURE.-Bede, d. 735; Boniface, Apostle of the Germans, d. 754; Alcuin, d. 804. GREEK EMPIRE. ISAUR1AN DYNASTY. —A space of six years divided into three short reigns separated the fall of the Heraclian from the rise of the Isaurian Dynasty. Justinian II., put to death in 711, was succeeded by Philip 200 MrIDDLE AGES. picus Bardanes, a general raised to the throne by the voice of the soldiery; but this adventurer, after a reign of two years, was overthrown by his secretary Artemius, who governed in the name of Anasta sius II. The revolt of the fleet compelled the latter to take refuge among the Bulgarians; and a new emperor, Theodosius III., succeeded, only to abdicate the following year in favour of a popular officer, whon the army had already proclaimed. LEO, a native of Isauria, had gradually risen from the plebeian rank to the throne, which he had scarcely usurped before his capital was closely besieged by the Arabs. During thirteen months Constantinople was blockaded by land and sea, and was saved only by its lofty walls and the terrible Greek fire. He next quelled a revolt in Sicily, but compromised his success and the peace of the empire by theological disputes. In 726, he interdicted the worship of images, and, in spite of the discontent manifested by the people, broke all the statues in the churches. The inhabitants of the Cyclades, the Italian Greeks, and above all the Romans, refused to obey the imperial decrees; still Leo, unyielding in his faith and his decisions, enforced their execution at the risk of losing several valuable provinces. CONSTANTINE V., Copronymus, 741, a dissolute and sanguinary tyrant, showed scarcely less iconoclastic zeal than his father. His reign was celebrated, however, by the recovery of Armenia and Syria from the Arabians; by the defeat of the Bulgarians; by the redemption of many captives; and by his judicious measures for repeopling the almost deserted Thracian cities. Leo IV., 775, reigned only five years, and left the crown to Constantine VI., Porphyrogenitus, nnder the regency of his mother IRENE. The worship of images was restored in 787, by the resolutions of the second Nicene council, at which three hundred and seventy bishops condemned the impiety of the innovators. Irene, who was as adroit as she was ambitious, endeavoured to withdraw her son from public business; her schemes prospered until he reached his twentieth year, when she was condemned to exile in a palace on the shores of the Propontis. But here by her intrigues she contrived to seduce the affections of the army and the citizens, by whom he was dethroned and deprived of his eyes. The reign of the unnatural mother, now become sole empress, was not unaccompanied by external splendour; yet the public indignation being excited, she was dethroned by her treasurer NICEPHORUS I., 802. In her solitude at Mitylene she earned a scanty subsistence by the labours of her distaff. ARABIA. WALID, A. D. 704, and SOLIMAN I., endeavoured to-render themselves masters of Constantinople, but their armies were compelled to retreat with loss. Their want of success in the east of Europe was compensated by the conquest of Spain in the west, 711. Here again they found themselves too weak to contend with the warlike children of the north; for, after the dreadful battle of Tours, the Saracens were driven ignominiously across the Pyrenees, 732. Internal dissensions now began to prevail: the immense empire of the Caliphs of Damascus, composed of elements so various and so suddenly brought together, had not acquired consistency enough to preserve its unity. In other respects, too, the Omniades had failed to conciliate the affections of their subjects, EIGHTH CENTURY A.D. 201 and all eyes were turned upon the family of the prophet. Of these, the ABBASSIDES, who derive their name from the prophet's uncle Abbas, were the most numerous and active. A black banner was adopted as their peculiar badge, while their opponents were distinguished by a white one. The East was convulsed by the conflicts of these parties, till, on the banks of the Zab, victory deserted the reigning caliph, and MERVAN II., fleeing to Egypt, was pursued and put to death, 750. THE ABBASSIDES.-Abbas immediately set about confirming his power by destroying every one related to the deposed family. One royal youth with difficulty escaped from those who hunted after his life, and, reaching Spain, Abdalrahman established the throne of Cordova, whence during 275 years the family of the Omniades governed that peninsula. ALMANSOR, on his accession in 754, had to contend against his uncle Abdallah, who had been proclaimed at Damascus. He conquered his rival after a struggle of five months, and treacherously put him to death. The victor himself was also executed a short time afterwards under the eyes of the caliph, who feared his ambition and his talents. This general, it is said, had sacrificed more than 600,000 persons to the Abbassides. His death caused an insurrectiou in Khorassan; and the commander who put it down, being offended at the disproportionate share of booty taken by the caliph, revolted in his turn, seized on Ispahan, and was defeated in Azerbijan. To strengthen his throne Almansor was often cruel. The Omniades, with one exception, had been extirpated, but the descendants of Ali still survived. These he persecuted with atrocious violence: wishing to discover the hiding-place of Mohammed and Ibrahim, great-grandsons of Hossein, he shut up their father in a close prison; eleven others of the family expired in a dungeon; one of the Othmans perished under the scourge, and his head was carried into Khorassan and exhibited as that of Mohammed. One of the youths being driven to extremity, at last took up arms, but was defeated and killed with his brother, 762. MOHADI, A. D. 774, a prince as magnificent and prodigal as his father, revived the war against the Greeks, in which his son Haroun, afterwards called Al Raschid (the Just), traversed Bithynia and penetrated to the Bosphorus, whence he menaced Constantinople. By the death of his parent and brother, he was raised to the caliphate in 786, and began the most glorious reign of all the Abbasside dynasty. HAROUN AL RASCHID.-An insulting demand made by the Emperor Nicephorus led to a new war along the Byzantine frontier. Haroun entered Asia Minor, devastating the country with fire and sword as far as the walls of Heraclea, whence the approach of winter compelled him to retreat beyond the Taurus. He soon found it necessary to repass these mountains, though covered with snow, to meet his enemy, who was secretly advancing at the head of all his forces. At Crasus in Phrygia, the Greeks suffered a terrible defeat; and the emperor was reduced to purchase a cessation of hostilities by the payment of a very large sum of money. It was under the character of opponent to the Greek monarch and to the Caliph of Cordova, that Haroun sent an embassy to Charlemagne in 799. The glory of his reign was tarnished by the cruelty which he practised on the illustrious family of the Barmecides, two of whom, Yahia and his son Jaafar, had the entire enanage 202 MIDDLE AGES. ment of the affairs of his empire. Their popularity ex sited the jealousy of Haroun to such a degree, that he put them to death, and exterminated almost all their relations. The cultivation of Arabian letters, begun by Almansor, was continued under Haroun with increased brilliancy. The fanatic admirers of the prophet, the successors of the barbarians who had destroyed the library of Alexandria, applied themselves to the study of the Greek language and the translation of the treasures which it contained. By this means the Arabs acquired the elements of mathematics, medicine, astronomy, natural history, and philosophy. The pupils soon becoming instructors, gave to these sciences an extent and development previously unknown. They created, it might almost be said the natural sciences-astronomy, chemistry, medicine, the mathematics, algebra, the mechanical arts; and their progress in these pursuits was attested by the splendour of Bagdad, Ispahan, Kufa, Damascus, and Cordova. In the department of literature, the Arabs had their poets and historians, and as metaphysicians they made known the works of Aristotle to the Europeans. Wherever they settled, numerous schools arose,-even on the shores of Africa, the constant refuge of barbarism. Spain still preserves the memorials of their magnificence; and while the traveller gazes on the ruins of Moorish architecture, so iight and elegant, that everywhere cover her soil, he looks in vain for the 300,000 inhabitants of Seville, and the 200,000 of Toledo. Anciently Cordova was eight leagues in circumference, being only three less than Rome under the emperors, and contained 60,000 palaces, with 283,000 private houses. The diocese of Salamanca comprehended 125 cities or towns, where only thirteen are now to be found. In Seville might be counted 60,000 looms for silk alone, while, in 1742, entire Spain reckoned only 10,000 for silk and wool. SPAIN. ARAB CONQUEST, A. D. 710.-The Goths possessed along the African shore the town of Ceuta and the province of Tingitania, governed by Count Julian, whose treason introduced the Arabs into Spain. Tarik, the lieutenant of the Emir Musa, crossed the straits of Hercules, followed by a small army of 5000 men, with whom he took possession of the castle of Algesiras, and of the rock of Calp6 which afterwards bore his name, Gebel-al-Tarik or Gibraltar. Roderic the Gothic king, at the first news, hastened to repel the invaders, whom he found in the neighbourhood of Cadiz, increased indeed in numbers, but still vastly inferior to the opposing army. Three successive days were marked by bloody but indecisive skirmishes. On the fourth, however, 16,000 men lay dead on the field of Xeres, and Roderic fled from the battle to perish ignobly in the waters of the Guadalquivir, 712. The victor directed his march to Toledo, which soon fell; and from that centre, Spain, which had resisted the Roman arms two hundred years, was reduced by the Saracens in fifteen months. In the mountains of Asturias the flame of liberty still burnt, and thence in a later age rolled down that tide which ceased not till the soil of Spain was freed from her infidel invaders, 1492. The conquerors manifested great moderation: in all that related to themselves, the Christians were allowed to retain their own laws; they were also permitted to fill certain offices, to serve in the army, to intermarry with the Moslem- their only badge of servitude being a heavy impost. After the recall of Musa, and the tragical death of his son, Spain was governed by deputies, nominated by the viceroys of Africa. Numerous Asiatic colonies spread over the peninsula, advancing agriculture and EIGHTH CENTURY A.D. 203 commerce, while the natives profited by the advantages of conquest without suffering its disgrace. The Arabs repeatedly invaded France in maintenance of their claims to the province of Septimania, but they were finally checked by the memorable defeat near Tours, which saved France and Christendom from impending desolation, 732. When the house of the Ommiades was deposed by Abul-Abbas, one member of the family alone escaped destruction and fled to Africa. Here he carried on a correspondence with the principal Spanish sheiks, who prepared an insurrection in his favour, and after an exile of four years, Abdalrahman landed in the peninsula, defeated the Abbasside governor Youssef, and was proclaimed Prince of the Faithful at Cordova. Such was the beginning of the caliphate of the West, in 756. Abdalrahman skilfully triumphed over all the opposition raised by the partisans of his enemy, forced the governors of Barcelona and Saragossa to submission, and consolidated the throne by a victory over the Emir Magreb, who had landed in Spain to support the disaffected sheiks. The expedition of Charlemagne, originating in similar motives, terminated in the submission of the provinces between the Ebro and the Pyrenees. Internal cares prevented the Ommiadan prince from prosecuting the sacred war with any success. Hashem I. retaliated the Frank invasion by an irruption into Aquitaine, in which the whole country was devastated even to the suburbs of Narbonne, 793; and so great was the spoil that the caliph's share amounted to forty thousand gold purses. With this and the aid of his numerous prisoners he completed the great mosque at Cordova, begun by Abdalrahman, and one of the largest of existing edifices. Its length is 600 feet, nearly equal to that of St. Peter's at Rome, and its width 250, almost double that of the metropolitan church in Paris; 100 columns of marble or of jasper formed the interior enclosure of the cupola; by means of 993 others it was divided into nineteen naves, all closed by gates of bronze with sculptures in bas-relief, those of the great gate alone being in massive gold; 4700 lamps illuminated the interior during the night, and consumed annually 120,000 pounds weight of oil. Hashem also constructed canals and bridges, founded schools for the Arabic language, forbade the use of Latin, and obliged the Christian to relinquish his vernacular tongue. Learned men and poets were encouraged, and the Caliph of Cordova vied in magnificence with the great Haroun al Raschid. CHRISTIAN SPAIN.-The peninsula was not entirely conquered by the Arabs; there still remained a small number of Christians, who, preferring liberty to Servitude, had taken refuge in the mountains of Asturias. Here, if any credit is to be given to popular tradition in the absence of historical testimony, they elected Pelayo king, 718, from which period commenced, on the banks of the Douro, that series of crusades which terminated in the conquest of Granada. Pelayo reigned over the kingdom of Oviedo, a region extending to between thirty and forty leagues, and defended by encircling mountains. Alphonso the Catholic took Lugo, Leon, Astorga, and many other Castilian cities, with a large portion of Galicia, including Braga and Porto Calle. His son Fruela vigorously executed the ecclesiastical laws, and compelled the ministers of the church to live in celibacy. Continuing his father's career, he annihilated, as we are told, an army of 54,000 Saracens that had invaded Galicia, destroyed another in Castile, and with the spoils 204 MIDDLE AGES. built the city of Oviedo. But he was as cruel as he was brave, and punishing those with death who had refused to follow him, he stabbed one of his brothers with his own hand. He was himself assassinated soon afterwards. Alphonso, his son, having gained a brilliant victory over the Moors near Burgos, received the crown on the field of battle, 791. This monarch, surnamed the Chaste, again defeated the Arabs at Lugo, fortified Braga, and plundered Lisbon. He founded the celebrated church Compostella, in which the relics of St. James the Great were said to be preserved. The conquests in Spain of the Moors (so called from Mauritania, whence they embarked for the Peninsula) produced many salutary effects in Europe. The taste for letters rapidly spread from the banks of the Euphrates to the Tagus. The schools of Cordova, in which were cultivated many branches of science unknown to the rest of Europe, became the great resort of the learned Christians of the West. The celebrated Gerbert, afterwards Pope Sylvester II., was one of the first who studied in Spain. Agriculture, navigation, and manufactures are greatly indebted to the Arabs: their carpets, gold and silver embroideries, silks, steel-work, and leather, were brought at an early perioa to a high degree of perfection; and by their means the arithmetical numerals, cotton-paper, and gunpowder were introduced into Europe. ITALY. ORIGIN OF THE PONTIFICAL SOVEREIGNTY. —The earlier part of Luitprand's reign was occupied in reforming the abuses of the Lombard states, and checking the encroachments of the great vassals of the crown; the latter, and far more important part, from its influence on posterity, was passed in religious quarrels, which gave rise to the temporal power of the popes, and entirely destroyed the imperial supremacy in Italy. Rome, like the Greek cities in the peninsula, was governed by dukes subordinate to the Exarch of Ravenna; but the pontiffs, the spiritual masters of the ancient capital, moderated by the influence of their character the despotism of the imperial officers. An edict of Leo the Iconoclast changed this state of affairs, and disturbed the West, as it had already embroiled the East. Gregory II. protested against the decree, and all the Greeks in Italy, participating in his indignation, expelled their dukes. The inhabitants of Ravenna murdered the Exarch Paul and opened their gates to Luitprand, who seized on the Pentapolis. At the same time, Rome formed itself into a republic, and confided the supreme magistrative authority of the new state to its bishop, whose temporal power extended from Viterbo to Terracina, and from Narni to the mouth of the Tiber. Gregory II., vhose fears were excited by the Lombard possession of the exarchate, entered into a secret negotiation with the newly-formed commonwealth of Venice, which lent its fleet to Eutychius, who, after he had expelled the Lombards from his dominions, formed a treaty with them for the recovery of Rome, 729. Gregory III. ascended the papal chair, 731, without soliciting the permission of the emperor, and issued an anathema against the Iconoclasts. The irritated Leo sent a powerful fleet against him, but it was scattered and destroyed by a tempest in the Adriatic; after which event Rome had nothing more to fear from the Byzantine rulers. The elements of discord, which seemed preparing new misfortunes for Italy, disappeared with the death of the pope and of the eastern monarch, who both descended to the tomb in the same year, 741, whither Luitprand soon followed them. EIGHTH CENTURY A.D. 205 END OF THE LOMBARD KINGDOM.-The deposition of Hildebrand, the son of Luitprand, and the abdication of Ratchis who retired to Mount Cassino, raised to the throne Astolphus. He completed the conquest of the exarchate, 752, and summoned Rome to acknowledge him as her lawful sovereign. The citizens hesitated, temporized, and finally implored the assistance of the Franks, 754. Pepin, their king, after having employed his mediation in vain, raised an army and crossed the Alps. The Lombards were defeated, and the conquered exarchate was bestowed upon the pope,' Stephen III., Pepin being rewarded with the title of Patrician. For twenty years their kingdom continued sinking, while the prudence and craft of Adrian I., aided by the genius of CHARLEMAGNE, were preparing to overwhelm their expiring monarchy. Desiderius, the last of the Lombard sovereigns, was betrayed into the hands of the Franks, 774, and ended his life in the retirement of the cloister. Charles assumed the Iron Crown and the title of King of the Lombards. Paul W arnefrid, the chancellor of Desiderius, for his frequent conspiracies to restore the independence of his country, was condemned to lose his eyes and hands, when Charlemagne, imitating the generosity of Caesar, exclaimed, "Where shall we find hands able to write history as these have done!" The authority of the. Frank monarch extended as far as the Garigliano; while the country to the south acknowledged the sovereignty of the dukes of Benevento. FRANCE. BATTLE OF TOURS, A.D. 732.-CHARLES MARTEL (the Hammer), son of Pepin, was mayor of the palace in Ostrasia, having succeeded his father in 714. This great man restored and supported the dignity of the throne, successively crushed by his warlike activity the German and Gallic rebels, and saved Europe from the hands of the Saracens. These enthusiasts having conquered Africa, and crossed the Straits, had overrun Spain, and were already threatening the destruction of France, when they were opposed by Martel, between Tours and Poitiers, 732. The conflict is reported to have lasted seven days, and the Arabs fled, leaving 300,000 of their number dead on the field. "The victory of Charles," says Hallam, "has immortalized his name, and may justly be reckoned among those few battles of which a contrary event would have essentially varied the drama of the world in all its subsequent scenes-with Marathon, Arbela, the Metaurus, Chalons, and Leipsic." The victor endeavoured to complete his triumph by driving the Saracens beyond the Pyrenees, and was so far successful that they were able to retain only the towns of Narbonne, Agde, Maguelone, and Beziers. At the death of Thierry IV. in 737, the throne was left vacant, but Charles, under the title of Duke of the Franks, continued for the remainder of his life to exercise all the functions of sovereignty. CARLOVINGIANS.-On the death of Charles Martel in 741, the Frank dominions were divided amongst his sons. Pepin had Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence; Carloman received Ostrasia; while Grypho, the third son, obtaining only a trifling share in this partition, conspired with some of the turbulent dukes-to repress whom the title and authority of a king was found to be necessary. Childeric III. was placed on the throne in 742: Ostrasia, however, recognised no superior but Carloman, 18 206 MIDDLE AGES. who governed as an independent chief. It was this prince who sum.noned the council of Liptines in 743, when the Christian era was introduced into France. In 746, he retired into a monastery at Cassino, leaving to Pepin his portion of the paternal heritage. Grypho, again irritated at his exclusion, raised the German provinces in his behalf, but was defeated by his eldest brother, who remained sole master of the empire. When the suffrages of the nation, imperfectly represented by the acclamations of the Camp de Mars, had conferred the regal authority on Pepin, it was confirmed by the authority of the church, in the person of Pope Zachary, 752. A grand revolution was now completed, which reunited into one system all the fragments of the Germanic nation dispersed over the continent of Europe, and allied indissolubly the conquering race with the Roman population. The last descendant of Clovis, Childeric II, was deposed, and the Merovingian dynasty was brought to an end after existing 270 years.* PEPIN, the first king of the Carlovingian dynasty, A. D. 752, taught by experience and by the faults of his predecessors, had learnt the necessity of strengthening the kingly power, and of elevating by every means this safeguard of public tranquillity. He began by causing his person to be consecrated by Boniface of Mentz, and completed his designs by the entire conquest of Gaul. Septimania was reduced in 759, and Aquitaine in 768. The country now regaining tranquillity, the national assemblies were regularly held, and no endeavours were spared to remedy the grievances of the preceding reigns. Desirous of preserving the crown in his family, and procuring the favour of the church, he readily agreed to the prayer of Stephen III., and not only rescued him from his Lombard enemies, but added the conquered exarchate of Ravenna and )Pentapolis to the patrimony of St. Peter. CHARLEMAGNE, A. D. 768. —In a general assembly of the chiefs of the nation, the inheritance of Pepin was divided between his two sons: Charles had Neustria and Aquitaine; Carloman, Ostrasia and Burgundy. The two brothers, from the very first, regarded each other with jealousy; but the death of the latter in 771 prevented the consummation of a rivalry that would have weakened both kingdoms. The entire Frank monarchy was now seized upon by the survivor, to the prejudice of his nephews, who, with their widowed mother, took refuge at the court of Desiderius the Lombard, whose generous reception of Queen Geberge was one cause of the Italian war. "Charlemagne," says Sismondi, " claimed as a saint by the Church; by the French as their greatest king; by the Germans as a fellowcountryman; by the Italians as their emperor; is placed, in a measure, at the head of all modern histories." When the death of his brother had re-established the unity of the Franks, Charles found himself in possession of a power superior to that of any of his predecessors. He began a series of expeditions which had for their object the protection of his kingdom against the invasions of the German tribes on the north, and of the Saracens on the south. He subjugated the Lombard kingdom, 774, and next carried his victorious arms against the Saxons, who, * The family of Clovis descended to a private station, and it is conjectured that the posterity of the founder of the French monarchy is represented by the noble house of Montesquieu. IF EIGHTH CENTURY A.D. 207 often vanquished by the Franks but always restless under their yoke, had promised Pepin to receive missionaries into their country. The imprudent menaces of St. Libwin having irritated them against Christianity, they burnt the church of Deventer in Holland, which act of violence served as the pretext for hostilities that, with only some interruptions, endured thirty years. This war is divided into three periods, namely, from 772 to 777; from 778 to 785, terminated -by the peace of Horxheim; and from 792 to 803. The ascendency was at length achieved by means which shock every feeling of humanity.* At Verden, in 782, he caused 4500 prisoners to be massacred in cold blood. Witikind, the second Arminius of Germany, the chief of the warlike Saxons, embraced the gospel, and acknowledged the sovereignty of Charlemagne, after which his name disappears from history. While engaged in the Saxon war, Charles had promised to restore certain Spanish emirs whom the Caliph Abdalrahman had deposed from their governments. Crossing the Pyrenees, he received the doubtful submission of the people of Biscay and Navarre, destroyed Pampeluna, but suffered defeat before Saragossa. Returning into Gaul, a confederate army of Basques, Saracens, and Asturians attacked him in the valley of Roncesvalles, when his rear-guard was cut in pieces to a-man. In this fatal day the hero lost his most illustrious companions: Egghiard, his seneschal; Anselm, warden of the palace; and the famous Roland, warden of the frontier of Bretagne, whom the ties of glory even more than those of blood attached to the person of the monarch.t Charlemagne, having visited Rome in order to quell a tumult which had been excited against Pope Leo III. by the nephews of that pontiff's predecessor, was consecrated Emperor of the Romans by the grateful occupant of the papal chair, A. D. 800. His territorial possessions warranted him in claiming the additional title of Emperor of the West. All France, with the exception of Brittany, acknowledged his power; beyond the Pyrenees, the Spanish march, comprising Rousillon and Catalonia, Navarre and Aragon, was subject to his jurisdiction; while in Germany, a line drawn from the Elbe through Magdeburg and Passau would have marked his eastern frontier. Many other nations were his tributaries: indeed, all that part of Europe which lies between the Ebro and the Elbe, the frontiers of modern Naples and the Eyder, submitted to his sway. The ceremony, which conferred on Charlemagne the imperial title, raised him in the general opinion far above the kingly power, and invested him with absolute dominion. It broke the last and feeble links which still united Rome and Constantinople, and introduced new relations between the imperial courts. It has been supposed that Leo III. meditated the chimerical design of reuniting the two empires by the * Among the severities of Charlemagne was the institution of the Secret Tribunal of Westphalia. a sort of inquisition appointed to prevent the apostasy and rebellion of the Saxons. This terrible system of judicial administration lasted till 1650, when the great elector, Frederick William, shocked at its enormities, effected its formal abolition.-See Coxe's Letter on the Secret Tribunal of Westphalia. t The exploits of Roland, presented to the imagination of the warriors of the middlt ages by the military song that bears his name, and which led the Normans to victory at Hastings, were above all rendered popular by the romantic history of Charlemagne and Roland, ascribed to Turpin, archbishop of Rheims, A.D. 773; but which bears internal evidence of having been composed about the time of the First Crusade, in the cleventh century. 208 MIDDLE AGES. two churches by the marriage of Charles with the Empress Irene, who had just succeeded her son on the Byzantine throne. The Frank monarch expired in 814. Observations on the Life of Charlemagne. I. Political life.-Independently of those conquests by which Charlemagne acquired two-thirds of the Roman empire, he is worthy of our notice as a great legislative reformer. Two national assemblies (placita) were held annually, to which all the clergy and laity repaired to enact such laws as the public weal required. His cares extended alike over the most distant as the nearest parts of his vast empire, and by his public acts he endeavoured to promote the happiness of his people. This led him to reform the coinage; to establish the legal divisions of money; to repair old and construct new roads; to found schools; to collect libraries; to build bridges; and to facilitate commerce by uniting the ocean with the Black Sea, by cutting a canal from the Rhine to the Danube. The Capitularies of Charlemagne, first collected in 827, prove that he was not unacquainted with the rights of property, and what was consistent with the liberty of the subject. All weighty matters concerning life or goods were tried before a kind of jury, with an appeal to the sovereign. Special judges (missi regii) were also appointed to hold assizes from place to place, to inquire into the administration of justice, enforce its execution, and expel those who misconducted themselves in their various judicial offices. II. His literarylife.- His acquirements were probably not very great, as, until the age of thirty-two, he was ignorant of the first elements of science. It is doubtful if he could write; and Mabillon says, " he had a mark to himself, like an honest, plain-dealing man." He spoke several languages, and daily received lessons from eminent teachers in the seven liberal arts.* He gathered about him the learned of every country; founded an academy in which he took the name of David, and the accomplished Englishman Alcuin, that of Horace. III. His private life exhibits the characteristics of a barbarian and a conqueror. He was addicted to the pleasures of the chase, and regardless of human life; but he was affable in conversation, temperate in his repasts, and simple in his dress. A hundred and twenty guards watched every night around his bed, each holding in the one hand a drawn sword, and in the other a burning torch. Mr. Hallam thus sums up his character: " He stands alone like a beacon upon a waste, or a rock in the broad ocean. His reign affords a solitary resting-place between two long periods of turbulence and ignominy, deriving the advantages of contrast both from those of the preceding dynasty, and of a posterity for whom he had formed an empire which they were unworthy and unequal to maintain." THE WORLD IN THE TIME OF CHARLEMAGNE. End of the Eighth Century. WESTERN EMPIRE. FRANCE.-Charlemagne possessed nearly all France, great part of Germany, the half of Italy, part of Spain, and was the arbiter of the remainder of the West. The language of the Franks was still Teutonic, and continued so until the middle of the ninth century. EASTERN EMPIRE. Irene, stained with the blood of her son, reigned at Constantinople, and administered justice from the Bosphorus to the Adriatic. Tottering on a throne * The sciences had long been divided into two parts, the trivium and quadrivium; the first comprehending grammar (i. e philology), logic, and rhetoric; the second, music, aritnmnetc, geometry, and astronomy. Few persons mastered the latter four, and to bp perfect in the three former was rare. EIGHTH CENTURY A.D. 209 never free from the violence of rebellion and fanaticism, pressed on the north by the Bulgarians, attacked in different quarters by the Mohammedans, this celebrated woman, an extraordinary mixture of great virtues and greater crimes, of talent and weakness still preserved the empire. EMPIRE OF THE CALIPHS. Haroiin al Raschid was master of great part of Asia and all the northern coast of Africa. He was obeyed from the Imaus to Mount Atlas. SECONDARY POWERS. DENMARK resisted the ambitious designs of Charlemagne; and Godfrey, while he closed the entrance to this peninsula against the troops of the Frank conqueror, sent forth from NORWAY those swarms of warriors which made successive descents upon the Western Empire. SWEDEN and RussIA were as yet insignificant powers; and POLAND, already become an elective monarchy, was of little importance. BOHEMIA was the prey of the barbarous Sclavonians, whom the thirst of plunder had attracted into Germany. The Huns, successors of the ferocious people who had devastated Europe, settled at last in Pannonia, from which country they attacked the frontiers of the Western Empire. Under the name of the Avars they carried terror to the gates of Constantinople. SPAIN presented a great battle-field for the Moors and Christians. The latter, though inferior to their enemies in number, riches, and knowledge, were more warlike and united; and, by unwearied courage and constancy, gradually enlarged their boundaries. The SOUTH OF ITALY was disputed by the Saracens and Greeks. ROME, apparently submissive to Charlemagne, favoured the popes, who constantly endeavoured to extend their influence, temporal and spiritual. VENICE, placed between two powerful empires, affected to recognise the sovereignty of the one which was too weak to be feared, and thus avoided the yoke of the other. ENGLAND was about to begin her glorious career. The numerous states into which the country was divided were gradually united to the kingdom of the West Saxons. Construct: A map of Europe, with the boundaries of the governments as they existed at the end of the eighth century, distinguishing the Mohammedan from the Christian states. THE CHURCH. The union between the Greek and Latin churches was threatened at the close of the seventh century by the controversy respecting the worship of images, which ended in the revolt of Italy, the temporal power of the popes, and the restoration of the Empire of the West. In rejecting the Pagan creed, many of the early Christians still clung to its superstitions; and the images of the gods and heroes of antiquity, under new names, were still regarded as objects of adoration in the churches. The reproaches of the Jews and Mohammedans, with the victories of the latter, awoke the more rational portion of the Greeks to a sense of their condition. LEO the Iconoclast proscribed the use of images and religious pictures, and the eastern churches were cleansed from idolatry in 726. In a general council held at Constantinople, 754, after six months' deliberation, it was unanimously agreed that all visible symbols of Christ, except the eucharist, were blasphemous; and that imageworship was not only a corruption of Christianity, but a renewal of Paganism. The imperial edicts founded on this decision were no leceived without frequent tumults; and the daring malecontents, header 18* 210 MIDDLE AGES. by some unscrupulous monks, endangered the emperor's person, ana even ventured to attack the city. The Bishop of Rome was far from approving of these measures; and Gregory II., in a letter to the Emperor Leo, had the boldness to maintain that the use of images had descended from the apostolic ages. Carrying his zeal or ambition still further, he excommunicated the Greek emperor, and proceeded to take possession of the exarchate. In the synod of Rome, 769, called the council of the Lateran, it was ordered that images should be honoured according to ancient tradition, and the Greek council of 754 was anathematized; but idolatry was not extirpated in the East. The Empress Irene called a seventh general council —the second of Nice- by which the worship of images was restored, 787, and its decisions were confirmed by Pope Adrian I. During the five succeeding reigns the contest was maintained between the two parties with undiminished vigour and varying success. It is honourable to the churches of the West-France, Germany, Spain, and England-that they took a middle course, at once reproving the fury of the Iconoclasts and the superstition of the Greeks. All the laws of Charlemagne were favourable to the clergy, at that time the sole depositaries and dispensers of learning; and, in a great number of mixed diets held by this prince, the bishops in concert with the sovereign were anxiously engaged in promoting the spiritual and temporal prosperity of the church. The decrees of the general council of 787, having been misunderstood by the Gallican clergy, were condemned by three hundred prelates at Frankfort, 794, who did not, however, adopt the errors of the Iconoclasts. In this latter council were abjured the heretical doctrines of Felix, bishop of Urgel, who, distinguishing two natures in Jesus Christ, maintained that, considered as a man, the son of Mary was the son of God by adoption only. The second general council, held at Constantinople in 381, had caused to be inserted in the Nicene creed the doctrine that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father; to which, in 653, the eighth council of Toledo added " and the Son" (filioque) —a clause not long after adopted intc the Gallican ritual. Pope Adrian I., alarmed at this innovation, submitted it for the examination of the synod of Aix-la-Chapelle, 809, by whom the addition was recognised, and, although rejected by the Greek church, received in a short time the papal approbation. The popes were not temporal sovereigns before the invasion of Italy by Pepin, although they doubtlessly exerted considerable political influence. They were the subjects of the Greek emperor, and their interference with the civil magistrate was confined to mere admonition. The most violent defenders of the papal encroachments have been compelled to acknowledge as fabulous the pretended donation made by Constantine to Sylvester I., 314. Those forgeries of Isidore, known by the name of the False Decretals, appeared about the end of this century.* But the ambition of the Frank monarchs led to far more dangerous con. sequences; and the appeal of Pepin to Pope Zachary was assumed as Saint Isidore, archbishop of'Seville, who died in 636, had made a collection of all tile canons of the Spanish churches which were most favourable to the papal assumptions. Riculf, archbishop of Mentz, brought them into France, and being seconded, it is supposed, by the monk Isidore Mercator or Peccator, disseminated them throughout the country, having previously interpolated several pretended letters of the earlier popes. EIGHTH CENTURY A.D. 211 a precedent for all the subsequent usurpations of the Vatican. The donation of the exarchate of Ravenna to the Bishop of Rome, and its confirmation by Charlemagne, had a natural tendency to elevate the papal power; and we shall soon be called upon to witness the unbounded ambition of the Roman pontiffs. In the pontificate of Zachary, the court of Germany decided that no metropolitan could enter upon his functions without having previously received the pallium from the pontiff.* This important decision was established by the eighth general council, 869, whereby the popes were gradually invested with the right of confirming or annulling the episcopal elections, and with the means of keeping foreign dignitaries in depend. ence on the Roman see. APPENDIX TO EIGHTH CENTURY. Fine Arts, from the Fall of Rome to Charlemagne. Christianity, which afterwards contributed to raise the arts to great perfection, began by inflicting the most grievous injuries. The ardent zeal of many bishops had already demolished temples to build churches, and broken those representations in stone or bronze so much abhorred by Christians, long before Theodosius had published his edict proscribing the pictures and statues of Paganism. Some fine temples had been preserved by appropriating them to the Christian worship. Thus Boniface VI. dedicated the Pantheon of Agrippa to All Saints; and the parthenon of Pericles, without a change of name, was consecrated to the Virgin. The successive invasions of the Germans, Persians, and Arabians caused the greatest injury to the achievements of genius; and among their ruins the productions of art were few and ephemeral. The triumphal arch of Constantine at Rome; the golden gate raised at Constantinople by Theodosius the Great; the column erected to his honour by the filial piety of Arcadius; a few remains at Ravenna and Terracina of the age of Theodoric; the bridge of Salaro over the Anio, rebuilt by Narses, are almost the only architectural monuments of these great men. Theodoric encouraged the arts, and appointed officers to protect the public buildings throughout Italy. The rotunda of Ravenna, whose cupola consists of a single stone cut in the quarries of Istria, belongs to his reign. The Gothic, or what is sometimes termed the " Pointed" style of architecture, begins to appear about this time. The ogive, not unknown under Constantine, is found combined with semicircular arcs in the aqueduct of Justinian. The last effort of ancient art was the temple of St. Sophia, the work of Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus. It is the model of churches built in the form of a Greek cross. Under Charlemagne the skill of the architects was so imperfect that, to raise the cathedral and palace of Aix-la-Chapelle, it was necessary to bring from Ravenna the columns and mosaics which had adorned the residence of the later Roman emperors. Painting declined; but we have still a few relics of miniature in the marginal drawings that explain and decorate the text of the ancient manuscripts, none of which are earlier than the sixth century. By a fatality without example, while the violence of invasion arid the conflagration of cities destroyed many copies of the Greek and Latin authors, it happened that in the West as well as in the East, the richest depositories of learning became the prey of the flames. At Constantinople, an accident destroyed the library of the Octagon, 476, founded by Constantine. The fana* The pallium was originally a mantle sent by the Byzantine emperors to the great prelates, for which a stole of white wool was afterwards substituted. Symmachus was the first pope who sent a pallium to St. Caesarius, bishop of Aries and perpetual vicar of the holy chair in Gaul, 513. From vicars and primates the honour passed to metropo. litans, to certain bishops, and even to abbots. 212 MIDDLE AGES. ticism of the Isaurian Leo completed the ruin of what the fire had spared, 730. The library of Alexandria underwent a more melancholy fate. Burnt once by Julius Caesar, condemned with other Pagan monuments by the decree of Theodosius, 390, it was finally destroyed by the fanatic Arabians in 640. One of the successors of Omar, the Caliph Yezid, commanded the destruction of the libraries of'Syria, already many times devastated by the ravages of the two Chosroes. In Africa the Cyrenais had become a vast ruin, when the Mussulmans added it to their provinces; but these barbarians overwhelmed the treasures of science under the ruins of Carthage, Hippona, and Tagaste. At Rome, the temple of Apollo Palatinus had preserved from the time of Augustus the masterpieces of classical literature; but a conflagration reduced them to ashes at the end of the sixth century. In the monastic schools, the relics of science found an asylum: there the seven liberal arts were cultivated, and the profane authors studied. Manuscripts were copied, and caligraphy became an art; but frequently ignorant or fanatical monks transcribed litanies or holy legends over the effaced episodes of Virgil or the periods of Cicero. NINTH CENTURY. GREEK EMPIRE. - 813, Leo the Armenian. -842, Michael III. -867, Macedonian Dynasty.-886, Leo VI. ARABIA.-800, The Aglabites.-813, Almamon.-841, Turkish Guard.-870, Motamed-Mohammedan heresies. SPAIN.-801, Barcelona captured by the Franks.-866, Alphonso the Great.Moorish literary Era. FRANCE.-800, Charlemagne, Emperor. -814, Louis the Debonnaire. -840, Charles the Bald.- 843, Treaty of Verdun. -887, Charles the Fat, dep. - 888, Eudes.-842-886, Norman Ravages. GERMANY.-817, Louis.-846-874, Sclavonian Incursions.-881, Charles the Fat.-888, Arnulph.-899, Louis IV, the Child. ITALY.- 817, Bernard d. -844, Louis II. -893, Berenger of Friuli. -896, Arnulph, Emperor. BRITAIN.-800, Egbert.-832, Danish Invasions.-872, Alfred the Great.871,878 Battles of Wilton and Edindon.-900, Death of Alfred.-AngloSaxon Constitution. CHURCH.-854, Pope Joan (Benedict II.).-861, Greek Schism-Saint Worship. -867, Adrian II. GREEK EMPIRE. WITH the reign of Nicephorus I. recommenced the reverses of the empire. His character was stained with the odious vices of avarice and hypocrisy; nor was his want of virtue redeemed by any superior talents. The Arabs destroyed Heraclea on the Euxine, took Cyprus, devastated Rhodes, and compelled the emperor to pay tribute, A. D. 807. About four years later, the Bulgarians utterly exterminated an imperial army, and slew Nicephorus who commanded in person. MICHAEL I. endeavoured to check these barbarians, but was vanquished at Adrianople, and deposed in favour of LEO V. the Armenian, 813, in whose reign also Thrace was ravaged, Adrianople reduced, and 50,000 prisoners transported beyond the Danube. On the death of the Bulgarian chief who had conducted thse invasions, Leo penetrated into the heart of hib ________________________________________________________________________ NINTH CENTURY A.D. 213 country, and compelled the new khan to conclude a peace for thirty years. This interval of repose, so honourably procured, was employed in restoring the ruined cities, and re-establishing order in the administration of the empire. Michael, afterwards emperor, who had assisted in investing Leo with the purple, being dissatisfied with the rewards that had been showered upon him, entered into various conspiracies, which were severally detected; and at last the ungrateful Phrygian was sentenced to be burned alive in the furnace of the baths. But a brief delay in the,execution of this cruel order, cost the emperor his life. On the m rning of Christmas-day, a body of conspirators, disguised as priests, with arms beneath their dresses, intruded themselves into his private chapel, and rushed upon him just as he began to chant the first psalm. He long and vigorously defended himself with a weighty cross he had grasped, till a well-aimed blow severed his right arm from his body. As he fell, his cry for pity was savagely answered, " This is the hour of vengeance, not of mercy!" 820.-MICHAEL II. the Stammerer was carried from his prison to the throne, which he disgraced by his vices. Thomas the Cappadocian disputed his title, and laid siege to the capital; but falling into the power of the monarch, he suffered the mutilation of his hands and feet. The Arabs, still continuing their incursions, circumscribed the Greek possessions in Italy to the city of Naples, 820: in 823 they conquered Crete, and Sicily in 827. THEOPHILUS the Unfortunate, a just and brave prince, punished the murderers of Leo V., embellished as well as fortified Constantinople, and patronised the arts and sciences. He several times attacked the Arabs, but eventually lost Ancyra, and his native town Amorium. MICHAEL III., 842, ascended the throne at the age of five years, under the regency of his prudent mother Theodora; but as he grew up he threw off her easy yoke, and imitating the vices of Nero and Heliogabalus, became as contemptible as he was odious. The factions of the circus were revived; the safety of the empire was neglected for the result of a horse-race; and the ceremonies of religion were profaned by his impiety. In this reign began the separation between the Greek and Latin churches, in the excommunication of Photius, whose election to the patriarchate had been disapproved by Nicholas I. The infatuated prince was murdered in an hour of intoxication, and the sceptre passed to the MACEDONIAN DYNASTY, A. D. 867.-BASIL I. was said to count among his ancestors the Persian Arsacides, the great Constantine, and the Macedonian Alexander. His youth had been spent among the Bulgarians; but, uniting with some fellow-captives, he boldly made his way to the Grecian capital. Here he gradually rose to the highest offices of state, not more by his great personal merits than by his compliance with the vices of the emperor; and under this founder of the new dynasty the empire began to revive from its decay. He passed the Euphrates, forced several emirs to acknowledge his power, protected Dalmatia and the rising city of Ragusa against the Aglabites, and re-established the throne of Lombardy by expelling the Arabs from Apulia and Calabria. His arms were formidable to the barbarians, while his prudent administration in financial matters replenished an exhausted treasury, and promoted the happiness of his people. He began the revisal of the Justinian code; and the Basilics, completed by his son, are an honour to his genius and 214 MIDDLE AGES. philanthropy. Accident put an end to his life in a stag-hunt, and he was succeeded by LEO VI. the Philosopher, 886, who trod in the steps of his father. He was not, however, equally successful in his foreign wars, being compelled to yield to the superior valour of the Arabs and Bulgarians. His marriage to a fourth wife, Zoe, caused a schism between him and the church. He died in 911. ARABIA. The political decline of the Arabian empire began in the reign of its greatest caliph, Haroun. In 756, Spain became independent; in 789, Fez was built, destined to be the capital of a petty kingdom; and at the end of the century the Aglabite dynasty was founded, which governed a territory extending from Tunis to the Egyptian frontier. It was in combating against a rebel chief in Khorassan that Haroun al Raschid met his death, 808. ALMAMON, A. n. 813, after several years of internal dissension, raised himself to the throne of his father. He continued the patronage which the other had accorded to literature, eagerly seeking and translating the philosophical writings of Greece. In his reign, a degree of the great circle of the earth was measured, determining the circumference of the globe at 24,000 miles. In the science of medicine, Rhazes and Avicenna rank with Hippocrates; and chemistry, though degraded by being connected with alchymy, owes its origin and improvement to the Arabians. AL MOTASSEM, who had succeeded Almamon, in 833, was recalled from quelling some civil commotions, to face the active Theophilus, 838. One dearly-purchased battle, followed by the obstinate siege of Amorium, which had fallen into the power of the Greeks, terminated a war in which 200,000 lives were sacrificed. ARAB SECTS. —Motassem was unable to take advantage of his successes; for, while the Greeks were pressing him in the north, he had to contend with formidable internal enemies. Heresies appeared in Islamism almost from its very commencement; in 659 the Karidjies took exception to the doctrines of fatalism, and it was one of this sect that assassinated Ali. In 737, new attacks were made upon several of the dogmas and practices of the Mohammedans. In 742, Djead Ibn Dirkhem impugned the Koran, denying its divine origin, and founded a considerable sect in the East. In 758, Achmet Ravendi preached the Indian tenet of metempsychosis, and pretended that the soul of Adam had been transmitted to the body of the Caliph Almonsor. Seventeen years later, Hakem with the golden mask revived this doctrine and added to its absurdities. When he was besieged in the city to which he had retired, and was on the point of falling into the hands of the orthodox Mussulmans, he set fire to his habitation and flung himself into the midst of the flames, exclaiming, " I depart for heaven; let him who desires to share in my felicity imitate my example." His wife, children, and partisans, all precipitated themselves into the burning mass. But of all those various heresies, the one which was checked with the greatest amount of human suffering was that of Babek Khourremmi. The Persians had long been regarded as the freest and most civilised people of the East; and, after the Arabs had destroyed their empire, being unable to struggle with their conquerors in the open field, they cunningly sapped the power and religious authority of the caliph by propagating doctrines in opposition to those of the Koran. Their most daring advocate was Babek, u ao proclaimed the indiffer ence of human actions, and a community of goods,-opinions that tended to dissolve all society, civil, political, or religious. So numerous were his followers NINTH CENTURY A.D. 215:har for twenty years he was able to contend against the Caliphs of Bagdad. The quelling of this revolt, which is said to have cost the lives of a million of men, failed to eradicate entirely the doctrines of Babek. Motassem, to support his tottering throne, introduced into his armies and palace a body of 50,000 Turks, a warlike Tartar race from beyond the Oxus, 841. These praetorian guards, despising the weakness of their employers, soon provoked the public indignation by their licentious behaviour. Motawakkel, the cruel son of Motassem, was murdered in his palace by these barbarians; and Montasser, stained with his father's blood, was placed on the throne in 862. The mercenary soldiers now assumed the right of choosing their sovereign, and the rapid succession of caliphs perplexes the historian. Every province began to shake off its allegiance; new principalities were formed in Syria and Mesopotamia; and the caliphate at last was confined to the city of Bagdad. The Emir of 1Egypt, formerly a Turkish slave, assumed the sovereign power in 869, and founded the dynasty of Thelonides. The Aglabites, as well as the Edrisites, had already made themselves independent in Africa; both of whom were subdued by the Fatimites in 912. Motamed, 870, had to contend not only against revolted chiefs but also against impious sectarians. In the twentieth year of his reign the doctrines of Babek were revived by Abdallah, but they were preached in secret, and only fully revealed to those who had undergone a course of six preparatory tests, and it was not until the seventh of the series that these opinions, subversive of all religion and morality, were clearly developed. One of Abdallah's missionaries, surnamed Karmath, did not imitate the prudence of his chief; but when he had gained over a certain number of partisans, raised the standard of revolt against the caliph, defeated several generals, and recruited his own army by his successes and the license granted to his soldiers. Mecca was taken by these insurgents, when thirty thousand Islamites perished in defence of the Caaba. A hundred battles were fought before the sect of the Karmathiana was exterminated. Read: Crichton's History of Arabia, 2 vols, in the Edinburgh Cabinet Library. SPAIN. THE CALIPHATE.-The reigns of Hashem I. and Hakem I., Abdalrahman's successors, were troubled by rivals to the throne, and by the Franks who took Lerida, plundered the environs of Huesca, and laid siege to Barcelona, which, after a lengthened blockade, fell into their hands in 801. To repel these invaders, the caliph, Hakem, established a regular military force, and equipped a numerous fleet, which ravaged the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean, but without making any permanent conquest. Four years before his death, a sedition which broke out in the suburbs of Cordova was severely repressed; three hundred of the rioters were impaled, and the remainder, to the number of fifteen thousand, transported to Africa. The attacks of the Christians of Oviedo, who advanced as far as the Tagus, and the revolts of the Arabian governors under Hakem's successors, brought premature decay on the caliphate. Still it was at this period that a troop of Spanish Moors became the terror of Italy and Provence. A small party of Saracens took the village of Fraxinet by surprise, and from this almost inaccessible positidn ravaged the neighbouring country, isolating thenmselves entirely from the rest of Provence on the landward side, while 216 MIDDLE AGES. the sea lay before them always exposed to their piratical expealtions. The destruction of Frejus opened the passes into Italy, of which they instantly took possession, whence they devastated Burgundy and even Swabia by sudden incursions. They long occupied the fortified monastery of St. Maurice in Transjurane Burgundy; and traces of their establishments may still be seen in Switzerland and Provence. CHRISTIAN SPAIN.-The Christians had met with almost uninterrupted success until about the middle of this century, when they were checked by internal disorder, and by the ravages of the Northmen on the coast of Biscay. Ordogno I. defeated these barbarians, vanquished the Emir of Saragossa, and extended the frontiers of the kingdom of Leon to the river Tormes. In 866, Alphonso the Great, who had been expelled from Oviedo by the governor of Galicia, returned after the rebel's death, and conquered the insurgent Count of Alava. He conducted thirty successful campaigns against the infidels, seized on the country between the Douro and the Minho, and forced the Moors to sue for a truce of six years. But domestic troubles put an end to his conquests; and as his subjects murmured at the heavy taxes imposed to fortify the frontier towns, he was compelled to abdicate in favour of his son, 910. He died the next year in battle against the Arabs, fighting as general of the army. FRANCE. ORIGIN OF MODERN FRANCE, A. D. 840. -Louis THE DEBONNAIRE succeeded his father, 814; but the mighty empire of Charlemagne had already begun to decay. It was the misfortune of Louis to mistake petty reforms for a salutary attention to the public good. His life was passed in a long struggle against three sons, who were supported by the clergy in their violation of all filial duties. Alternately victorious and vanquished, he was once actually deposed by Pope Gregory IV. At his death in 840, the kingdoms of Germany and France were for ever separated; the former being assigned to Louis, the latter to CHARLES THE BALD, while Lothaire inherited the rest of the imperial dominions. The last appears to have entertained a design of universal monarchy, but his schemes were frustrated by the battle of Fontenay, which, with the alliance of Strasburg, contributed to produce the celebrated treaty of Verdun, 843. Charles had to contend against the Northmen and Bretons on the banks of the Seine and of the Loire. The people of Aquitania took up arms successively in favour of Pepin II. and of Louis of Germany, in order to form an independent kingdom; but, in the end, they were incorporated with Neustrian France, which maintained over them a nominal supremacy. The deaths of Lothaire and his three sons were the cause of fresh divisions. The kings of Germany and France, by the treaty of Mersen, shared the dominions of Louis II., the emperor; but Charles soon boldly laid hands on the German portion and wrested Provence from his rival. The death of Louis II. having created a vacancy in the empire, the King of France hastened to Rome, where he received the diadem from the hands of Pope John VIII., to which was afterwards added the iron crown of Lombardy. After the demise of Charles the Bald, the imperial NINTH CENTURY A.D. 217 throne remained unoccupied until 881, during part of which time Louis the Stammerer ruled over France, which he exhausted by his prodigalities. His sons Louis III. and CARLOMuAN, who succeeded, abandoned French Lorraine to the King of Saxony, at the same time that Boson detached the Burgundian provinces from France. By the treaty of Ainiens, concluded in 880, the two brothers made a partition of their father's inheritance: Louis was declared king of Neustria, and Carloman obtained Aquitaine with a right of Burgundy. In the same year, the two French princes met in congress at Gondredille with the two kinfs of Germany, Louis the Saxon, and Charles of Swabia, all being alike interested in the defence of their dominions age;inst the Northmen, and of the Carlovingian legitimacy against a usurping aristocracy. But this royal league attained no better success than those which had preceded it. The wife of Boson held Vienne against the united efforts of three kings; and, though she at length yielded to one of Carloman's lieutenants, the crown of Provence nevertheless remained on the head of the usurper. A brilliant victory gained over the Northmen at Saucourt in Vimeux, covered the Neustrian sovereign with a renown that was long celebrated in the popular songs. But Louis III. did not live to realize the hopes that the nation entertained of him. His death, which happened in 882, reunited the two crowns of France on the head of Carloman, who descended to the tomb in 884. His heir was a posthumous brother, whom the Franks excluded from the throne on account of his youth, and elected CHARLES THE FAT in his place. This monarch, who had previously been crowned emperor, ruled over a territory not less extensive than that of Charlemagne, but his weakness was unable to support the heavy burden, and, under the pretext of his inability to defend the empire against the northern pirates, he was deposed by his vassals, 887. EUDES, A. D. 887.-On the deposition of Charles, there was not in France, among the many independent princes, one who was capable of seizing the crown and inspiring due respect for his power. Yet the remembrance of the exploits of Count Eudes, the defender of Paris, induced most of the bishops and nobles of Neustria to proclaim him king. There remained, however, one descendant of Charlemagne, Charles the Simple, who had been excluded on account of his youth from all the Carlovingian thrones to which he had any claim. Eudes had two other competitors, descended from the first emperor of the West by the.,female side: these were Guy, duke of Spoleto, and Arnulph, king of Germany. But their distance from the scene of action, and the necessity of directing their forces to another quarter, left the new king in undisturbed possession of the crown. The whole of France did not acknowledge this sovereign: the Count of Poitiers, duke of Aquitaine, was independent, and even bore the title of king; the Duke of Brittany assumed the royal authority; as did also the Dukes of Gascony and Burgundy, with the Counts of Flanders, Vermandois, and Anjou. Eudes justified anew the choice of his vassals by delivering Paris from another siege, and defeating in the terrible battle of Montfaucon the Northmen, who lost 19,000 men. Emboldened by this success, he compelled the discontented princes to acknowledge his authority, and when he died in 898, named Charles III. for his successor. The rmstory. 19 218 MIDDLE AGES. of the twelve succeeding years is entirely unknown, except that the ravages of the northern invaders were still continued with their usual ferocity.* CARLOVINGIAN DYNA S Y. * * * * st * * * * * 6. EUDES, k. 888, t 898. 1. CHARLES THE BALD, 5. CHARLES THE FAT, k. 840, t 879. k. 884, t 888. * * * * *, ---- --------- * * * * * * 8. ROBEET 1. k. 922, 2. Louis II., the Stammerer, 9. RODOLPH, k. 923, t 923. k. 877, t 879. t 936. 3. Louis III., k. 879, 4. CARLOMAN, k. 879, t 884. 7. CHARLES THE SIMPLE, t 882. k. 8'3, dep. 923. 10. Louis IV., Outremer, k. 936, t 954. 1. LOTHAIRE, k. 954 t 986. Charles, duke of Basse Lorraine ----------- ---- excluded from the throne. 12. Louis V., k. 986, t 987. THE NORTHMEN. The Northmen were originally from the countries now known as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. This people professed the warlike religion of Odin, who in times beyond the reach of credible history had quitted the banks of the Tanais, and conquered most of the regions on the Baltic. This warrior gave laws to his followers, and established a religious system, perfectly in harmony with their wants, which could only be satisfied by war. He was himself the principal divinity, adored as the father of carnage. His people, whose chief occupation appears to have been piracy, infested all the seas of the North until the beginning of the eleventh century, when Christianity had softened their manners, and attached these vagrant adventurers to their native soil. At this period the history of the Scandinavian states assumes an air of greater credibility, without, however, inspiring deeper interest. To know these ancient inhabitants of the north, it will be necessary to follow them beyond the boundaries of their own country. From the fourth century they carried desolation to Rome and even into Africa; and, though restrained by the vigilance of Charlemagne, they found all the passages open under his successors. Their rude barks,, impelled at once by sails and oars, and bearing each about 100 men, wasted the shores of western Europe, ascended the rivers, and pillaged all on which they could lay hands. In 843, they entered France by the Seine, and plundered Rouen; another fleet, sailing up the Loire, devastated Touraine. In the following year, they made simultaneous descents on England, France and Spain. They afterwards reached Paris, which they burnt in the face of Charles the Bald, who was intrenched at St. Denis. Between 845 and 861, the modern capital of France was thrice ravaged by these daring barbarians. In 886, they reappeared, but met with a vigorous resistance-Eudes, count of Paris, whose valour afterwards raised him to the throne, animating the citizens to repel the invasion by force. He was aided by the courageous Bishop Goslin, who every day, after having given his benediction to the people, placed himself in the breach, with a helmet on his head and a battle-axe in his hand, and planting his crosier on the ramparts, fought heroically in defence of the city. One of the pirate chiefs, Rollo, tired of his wandering life, and desirous of a permanent settlement, obtained the territory which extends from the rivers Andelle and * Charles the Bald, 840, is by many considered the first king of France, properly so called; others date the commencement of the French monarchy and nation from 888, when the people dwelling between the Meuse and the Loire became French; they consequently reckon Eudes as the first king. France long preserved the limits assigned by the treaty of Verdun, 843, all beyond being derived from the conquests of the fourteenth century. The Romance became the language of the court; and by gradual changes it formed the polished dialect of Louis XIV. Under the sons of Clovis, the name of France appears to have been first used. NINTH CENTURY A.D. 219 Aure to the Ooean. To this was afterwards added the country between the Andelle and Epte, with Brittany. In return, the Norman was baptized by the name of Robert, and entering the Christian communion, did homage by the title of Duke of Normandy, 912. His country afforded greater security than the rest of France: labourers returned, population increased, towns were rebuilt, monasteries and churches repaired, and laws enacted for the punishment of the evil-doer. Besides the Normans, the Saracens from Africa made frequent incursions into France, and established a colony at Fraxinet (now La Garde) in Provence, where they continued independent for many centuries. Read: Crichton's Scandinavia, Ancient and Modern, 2 vols, in the Edinburgh Cabinet Library. GERMANY. Louis THE GERMAN, son of Louis the Debonnaire who received Germany as his heritage, had not only to combat against the Normans, but all the Sclavonic tribes on the eastern frontiers of his dominions. To repel their ravages, it was necessary, in Germany as well as in France, to create officers (margraves) charged with the duty of guarding the frontiers against all invaders. From 846 to 874, the barbarians on the eastern borders were in a state of almost continual insurrection; in the latter year, however, most of the Sclavonic tribes swore fealty to Louis at the diet of Forcheim. These wars did not prevent the German monarch from observing what was passing in the other Carlovingian states. After the death of Lothaire and his son, to whom Lorraine had been allotted, he divided this province with Charles the Bald; thereby augmenting his kingdom by the cities of Basle, Strasburg, Metz, Cologne, Treves, Utrecht, and Aix-la-Chapelle. Louis II., another of Lothaire's children, who possessed Italy with the title of emperor, dying in 875, Louis the German, as the eldest survivor of the Carlovingian dynasty, was desirous to obtain his dominions; but in this he was anticipated by the activity of Charles the Bald. In the following year, Louis the German expired, leaving three sons to share his dominions. Carloman had Bavaria, with Carinthia, Austria, Moravia, and Bohemia; Louis the Young received Eastern France, Thuringia, Saxony, Frisia, and part of Lorraine; and Charles the Fat obtained Swabia, Alsace, and Switzerland. But this arrangement was soon disturbed, first by the death of Carloman, and next by the decease of Louis of Saxony. Charles the Fat, in consequence, reunited without much trouble all the Germanic states, to which he added Italy, with the dignity of the imperial throne. In his reign the Normans ravaged all the country south of the Rhine from the sea to Mentz; Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle with other cities were reduced to ashes; the palace of Charlemagne was converted into a stable, and for eight years remained in that degraded condition. To remove these formidable enemies, Charles raised a numerous army, and besieged them in their camp at Maestrich, but just as they were on the point of surrendering, he offered to give them 2400 pounds of silver to evacuate a position no longer tenable. In 884, his difficulties were increased by the death of Carloman and the offer of the throne of France. But hw could he protect his new kingdom, when he had proved himself unaole to maintain the honour of the five other crowns which had fallen to him? The Normans continued their incursions, and besieged Paris, which was nobly defended by Eudes. The imbecility of the emperor 220 MIDDLE AGES. becoming every day more evident, he was deposed at the diet of Tribur on the Rhine, 887. Arnulph was the newly-elected king of Germany. His policy was a continuation of the imperial system: he sought to bring back Italy and Burgundy to his obedience, to revive the homage of the French monarch, and to be crowned emperor. At the diet of Worms in 888, and also in 893, he received the fealty of the various competitors for the crown of France. He made a vigorous resistance to the Norman invaders, and in a battle fought near the Dyle routed them with great slaughter, two kings being killed and thirteen standards captured, 896. The Sclavonians also were reduced to seek peace by the decisive measures of the new sovereign. Of the fruit of his expeditions into Italy he retained little more than the imperial title; and not long after his return to Germany, he expired at Ratisbon, 899, where his tomb may still be seen. ITALY. On the death of Charlemagne, A. D. 814, BERNARD the son of Pepin obtained the kingdom of Italy; but rebelling against his uncle Louis, who inherited the empire, he was condemned to lose his eyes,- a punishment which was so cruelly inflicted as to cause his death, 817. The son and lieutenant of Lothaire, afterwards Louis II., who kept the Romans in obedience, compelled also the Dukes of Benevento to respect the imperial authority, and drove the Saracens from Apulia. In 844, his father resigned to him the Italian provinces. This peninsula was incessantly menaced by Sclavonian tribes in the direction of Friuli, by the Mohammedans on the southern shores, by the Normans, whose vessels approached even the coasts of Tuscany, and also by the Greeks, who were always ready to support the rebellious dukes of Benevento, Friuli, and Spoleto, the princes of Salerno, or the counts of Capua. The Aglabite Saracens of Africa had possessed Messina and Palermo since the year 832; from which ports they ravaged all maritime Italy, and threatened Rome, the suburbs of which they destroyed by fire. But Gregory IV. fortified against them the city of Ostia, and Leo IV., surrounding with walls the churches of the apostles Peter and Paul on the Vatican mount, formed a new quarter, called by the inhabitants the Leonine city, and which protected Rome on the Tuscan side. Some time afterwards, the people of Amalfi, Naples, and Gaeta, who were enacting on a smaller scale the part which Genoa and Venice performed somewhat later, entered into a league against the infidels, and, by the destruction of their fleet, checked their plundering expeditions for several years. But the Saracens re-appeared more formidable than ever; and when two competitors disputed the duchy of Benevento, Louis, hoping to terminate their differences, divided it between them, giving to one, Benevento with the eastern slope of the Apennines, to the other, Salerno with the western declivity. He thus weakened the only power that could have effectually guarded the shores of Southern Italy. Soon, in fact, all the cities and monasteries were pillaged by the Saracens, who advanced even to the convent of Mount Cassino, the abbot of which was forced to pay a ransom of three thousand gold pieces. In selfdefence Louis was compelled to make an appeal to all the military population of Italy; though an alliance with the Greek emperor, who CABRLOVINGIAN EMPERORS AND KINGS OF ITALY C\~ ___ ____________________ 1. CHARLEMAGNE, k. of the Franks, 768; of the Lombards, 774; crowned emp. at Rome, 800, t 814. 2. PEPIN, k. of Italy, 781, t 810. 4. Louis I. the Debonnaire, emp. 814, t 840. 3. BERNARD, Adelaide, ut alii, 5. LOTHAIRE I. partner 7. CHARLES It. the Bald, Louis the German, Gisela, m. Everhard, 867. k. of Italy, 810, t 817. m. Lambert. in emp. 817, t 855. k. of France, 840; emp. k. of Germany, 840, ~^ and k.'of Italy, 875, 876, 1877. t 876. 14. BERENGER ~. d. of Friuli, Pepin, head of the 10. GUY, d. of Spoleto, 6. Louis II. Lothaire II. Charles, k. 8. CARLOMAN, Louis II. the 9. CHARLES III. k. of Italy, 888; cts. of Vermandois. k. of Italy, 888; emp. partnerinemp. k.ofLorrainc, of Provence, k. of Bavaria, Young, k.of the Fat, emp. emp. 906, 1924. MN 891, t 894. 850, t 875. 855, t 869. t 863. 876; of Italy, Saxony, t 882. and k. of Italy, ---------- e- ~ ~ <~~-,-~ —--— ~ -- 877, t 880. 880, t 888. Giselanm. Adeltj^ ~~11. LAMBERT, Irmengarda, Bertha, ---------------- bert, marq. of u^~~ ~ emp. and k. of Italy, m. Boson, k. m. Theobald, 12. ARNULPH, k. of Germany, 887; Ivrea. 894, t 898. of Burgundy, ct. of Aries. emp. and k. of Italy, 896, t 899. gi4~~~~~~~ t887. _- ------- ~ —---—. -, i r- ~~^~*- - -- < ~ ^ ~ - Louis IV. the Child, Zwentibald, nat. son k. 18. BERENOER II. 13. Louis, k. of Cisjurane Burgundy, 887; 16. HuGUES, ct. of k. of Germany, 1 911. of Lorraine, 895, t 900. k. of Italy, 950; of Italy, 899; emp. ~01; expelled, 902, Provence, k. of dethroned by Otho I., t about 928. Italy, 926, 1 947. * *t** * 966. 17. LOTHAIRE II. partner 15. RODOLPH, k. of Burgundy, 9. ADELBERT, k. of in k. of Italy, 931, 1 950, elect. k. of Italy, against Berenger I. Italy, conjointly m Adelaide, d. of king 921; expelled 926, t 937.' with his father. - Rodolph. Adelaide, m 1. Lothaire, k. of Italy. 2. Otho the Great, k. of Germany, 222 MIDDLE AGES. sent him two hundred vessels, was more useful to him. Bari was recovered from the Saracens, and Otranto besieged; hut the treachery and rebellion of the Duke of Benevento neutralized this success; and when Louis died in 875, Southern Italy, divided between the Greeks, Saracens, and dukes of Benevento, who had transferred their allegiance to the Byzantine court, was entirely detached from the Frank monarchy. In the central portion of the peninsula, the pope, who had become a temporal prince in consequence of the donations of Pepin and Charle. magne, no longer sought from their successors the confirmation of his election before seating himself in St. Peter's chair. Lastly, in the northern section were several powerful feudal princes, whose ambition harassed those fine provinces for nearly a century. Louis the German, being the eldest surviving prince of the Carlovingian dynasty, claimed Italy; but was anticipated by Charles the Bald, who had passed the Alps with a numerous army, and hastened to Rome, where the pope and citizens appeared to be the sole persons invested with the right of conferring the imperial dignity. Subsequent events placed that country, with the rest of the Frank empire, in the hands of Charles the Fat, again to be divided on the deposition of this monarch in 888. Guy, duke of Spoleto, and Berenger, duke of Benevento, disputed the crown of Italy, the river Adige forming the boundary of their respective dominions. Guy, who was proclaimed king at the diet of Pavia, went to Rome and was crowned Emperor'and King of the Romans, having associated his son Lambert in the imperial dignity, 891. Arnulph of Germany did not look with indifference on the progress of affairs southward of the Alps, and to vindicate his claims to the titles usurped by Guy, crossed the mountains and advanced as far as Piacenza, without gaining the object of his expedition, 894. Two years later he proceeded to Rome, and was consecrated emperor by Pope Formosus. After the retreat of the German, Lambert effected a reconciliation with Berenger, who preserved the title of king, which had been conferred on him by the Lombard nobas. immediately after the death of Charles the Fat. BRITAIN. From the mission of Augustin to the accession of Egbert, king of Wessex, the history of Britain offers little worthy of the historian's notice, except the quarrels of the petty rulers, the erection of numerous convents, the frequent pilgrimages to Rome, and the levying of Peterpence, a tax of one penny on each family to be paid annually to the Roman see. EGBERT, A. D. 800, who had been elected king of Wessex, added the tributary states of Kent, Essex, Sussex, and East Anglia to his donmin-'ons, and compelled the independent sovereigns of Northumbria and Mercia to pay tribute. From this period England may be considered as forming a single kingdom,-a happy change to a nation which, by its insular position, seemed protected against foreign invasion. But that which might have been considered as an advantage became the primary cause of its ruin; and the Anglo-Saxon monarchy was doomed to support in succession the yoke of the Northmen of Denmark and of the Neustrian Normans. The descents of the Danes, begun in 793, were NINTH CENTURY A.D. 223 resumed in 832, but were checked by the victories of Egbert. These inroads became more terrible and more frequent when, after Ethelwolf's death in 857, the partition of his territory and the quarrels of the several princes exposed this island, like France, to those pirates. Here permanent settlements were founded by the Danes earlier than on the Continent; and, supported by the alliances of the Welsh and Scotch, they subjugated at first East Anglia, and finally the whole kingdom. ALFRED, A.D. 871.- One great man sufficed to check the conquests of the Danes for nearly a century. Alfred, the youngest of Ethelwolf's sons, carried to the throne all the virtues of a philosopher with the qualities of a hero. Seven years of misfortune taught him wisdom and moderation. After the disastrous result of the battle of Wilton, 871, everything appeared lost, when the victory of Edindon in Wiltshire restored to him the heritage of his brother, then in possession of the foreigner, 878. The Danes of East Anglia and Northumbria recognised his authority and embraced the Christian faith, to which course they were influenced by the example of Gothrun their ruler. The country being now at peace, Alfred turned his mind to the civilisation and security of his people. London, which he enlarged and fortified, became the capital and naval arsenal of the kingdom; and the ships constructed in its port served to protect the distant coasts and harbours, or were employed in promoting commerce. Prosperity began to reappear under this prince, who was equally capable of maintaining the national peace by his laws and by his sword. To facilitate the administration of justice, Alfred introduced or revived the division of the whole kingdom into counties, hundreds, and tithings; the laws of Ina, Offa, and Ethelbert were collected and remodelled; and the clergy, ashamed of their ignorance, applied to study, that they might gratify a monarch who founded schools and invited the most learned of all nations to his court But his great designs perished with him A.D. 901; and the rival of Charlemagne was not more fortunate than his model. Character of Alfred. Alfred is celebrated not only for the fifty-six battles which he fought in defence of his kingdom, but also for the efforts he made to civilize his subjects. In his court were seen Asser, the learned Welshman, Grimbald of Rheims, John Erigena (the Irishman), and Plegmund, archbishop of Canterbury. He left several compositions of his own in prose and verse, remarkable for their imagination and that pomp of figure peculiar to the ancient Germanic languages. He translated the Consolations of Philosophy by Boethius, and greatly enhanced the value of the original work by his commentaries; he also rendered intm Anglo-Saxon the fables of Esop, the Ecclesiastical History of the venerable Bede, the Geography of Orosius, to which he annexed much important matter on Germany, and on a voyage towards the Arctic Pole.* In addition to his other accomplishments he cultivated poetry with a success that places him on a level with any of the bards of his own time. His private character has been thus summed up;-" He was humble to all, affable in conversation, mild in transacting business, venerable in aspect, serene in countenance, moderate even ill his walk, sincere, upright, calm, temperate, and charitable," to which may be added the traditional epithet of " truth-teller." All his life Alfred was occupied in devising means for the happiness of his subjects, while his own was almost hourly interrupted by an excruciating pain, which did not quit him from his twentieth year to the day of his death. * The mission which Alfred sent to the Christians of India, is of itself a proof of the geographical knowledge of this prince. 224 MIDDLE AGED. Anglo-Saxon Constitution. In that form of government instituted by the Saxons may be found the germs of that constitution which has been characterized as the envy and the admiration of the world. This warlike people, jealous to an excess of their liberty, were governed by elective chiefs, who were generally selected from the same family; but their authority was precarious and controlled by the regulations of the national assembly called the Witenagemot-assembly of wise men. After the introduction of Christianity, the Bishops and abbots became members of these assemblies; but the vanquished Britons were never allowed to form part of them.'he thanes or lords were the highest class; the ceorls or free men constituted the second; while the third class or serfs was composed of the ancient inhabitants of the country, of the prisoners of war, and of those Saxons, who had from one cause or another been reduced to slavery. Every free male of twelve years of age was required to be enrolled in some tithing, the members of which were accountable for each other's conduct (frank-pledge).'The principal seat of justice was then the county court: the various members assembled twice a-year, under the presidency of a bishop and an alderman, charged with the civil and military administration. To these was added the sheriff, who relieved them of part of their duties. The judicial authority did not belong exclusively to these magistrates; for in certain cases justice was administered by twelve freeholders on oath. Crimes were atoned for by pecuniary penalties, at first given to the plaintiff, but afterwards divided between him and the government. This organization was still imperfect; nevertheless it existed, was recognized, and appealed to by those who violated or protected it. To this the Saxons owed the comparatively mild treatment they received from the Normans, who did not oppress them like the unfortunate Britons. THE CHURCH. While zealous missionaries were disseminating Christianity among the numerous barbarous tribes that still roamed in the wild forests of northern Europe, the clergy were corrupting its simplicity by their impiety and licentious lives. Few of the prelates who sat in St. Peter's chair were distinguished either for learning or virtue. Monastic institutions were then in high esteem, and men of all ranks deserted their proper sphere of duty to take shelter in the gloom and leisure of the cloister. But as such retreats were not free from irregularity, many councils were held to repress their disorders, and to establish the farfamed rule of St. Benedict. The study of the Holy Scriptures almost ceased in the Greek and Latin churches; while the veneration paid to the fictitious relics of the departed saints, and the multiplication of canonized individuals, proved the ignorance and depravity of the priesthood. GREEK SCHISM.-The son of Theodora, led into vicious habits by the example of his uncle Bardas, and irritated by the remonstrances of the patriarch Ignatius, threw this faithful minister into prison, and elevated in his stead the learned Photius, a captain of his guards. This change was approved of by a council, which did not however prevent Pope Nicholas I. from excommunicating the intruder, who in his defence made use of the same spiritual weapon. Soon afterwards, the tragical end of his two protectors left Photius without any support; and Basil, the new emperor, deposed him and restored Ignatius, a proceeding which was ratified by the eighth general council. The death of the latter in 877 restored to Photius the patriarchal dignity; and Pope John VIII. received him into communion, hoping by this means to recover the government of the Bulgarians, which, since its formation in 869, had TENTH CENTURY A.D. 225 been under the jurisdiction of Constantinople. His expectations, however, were disappointed; and from this period the division became still wider between the Roman pontiff and the Greek patriarchs, until the complete separation of the two churches in 1054. SAINT-WORSHIP. -One of the greatest corruptions grew out of the reverence paid to the memory of departed saints. " He whose heart," says Southey, " is not excited upon the spot which a martyr has sanctified by his sufferings, or at the grave of one who has largely benefited mankind, must be more inferior to the multitude in his moral, than he can possibly be raised above them in his intellectual nature." But the best things are the most easily abused. The prayer was at length offered to the martyr himself, and the remains of his body or the rags of garments, nay, even the instruments of his torture or death, became objects of veneration. In this century the dangerous doctrine was first established by Adrian II., "that the pope can release from the obligation of an oath!" Pope Nicholas, also, by his conduct in the divorce of Thietberga, wife of Lothaire II., king of Lorraine, and in the deposition of Rothad, bishop of Soissons, confirmed the principle on which reposes the supremacy of the apostolic chair, namely, that the decrees of the pontiff shall be reqeived as law throughout the church. TENTH CENTURY. GREEK EMPIRE.-912, Constantine VII.-919, Romanus I.-963, Nicephorus II.-969, John Zimisces. ITALY.-Papal Disorders.-962, Otho crowned Emperor.-990, Crescentius. FRANCE.-912, Normans established by Treaty.-915, Feudal Aristocracy complete.-987, HUGH CAPET. GERMANY.-911, Saxon Line.-919, Henry the Fowler.-936, Otho 1.-955, Battle of Augsburg. BRITAIN.-901, Edward the Elder.-925, Athelstan.-937, Dunstan. SPAIN.-912, Abdalrahman's Conquests-University of Cordova.-932, Madrid taken by the Christians. ARABIAN EMPIRE.-936, Mohammed, Emir al Omra.-Fatimites in Egypt. CHURCH.-999, Pope Sylvester II. (Gerbert)-Odo of Cluny-Penance. INVENTIONS.-Coats of Arms; 1000, Arabic Numerals; Watches. LEARNED MEN.-Suidas, philosopher. -Gerbert (Pope Sylvester II.)-Olympiodorus. GREEK EMPIRE. CONSTANTINE VII., Porphyrogenitus-born in the purple chamberascended the throne at the age of five years, A. D. 912, under the guardianship of his uncle Alexander, whose death, brought on by dissolute courses, saved the life of his ward. Zoe, who had been banished, was now recalled; but she and all other competitors for the regency were forced to yield to the daring ambition of Romanus, a low-born soldier, who soon threw aside his mask, and caused himself to be proclaimed, in 919, Caesar and Augustus, which titles he bore nearly twenty-five years 226 MIDDLE AGES. The lawful monarch escaped the usual fate of deposed princes in that age by his studious habits, mild character, and love of retirement. In 945, he was restored to his throne by means of the usurper's sons, who conspired against their father's life. His second reign lasted fifteen years; and when he died, in 959, the afflicted Greeks at once excused his vices and pitied his misfortunes. During the preceding fifty years, the empire was scarcely ever free from the attacks of the barbarians. The Bulgarians twice besieged Constantinople, in 913 and 916, defeated several of her generals, ravaged Macedonia and Thrace, took Adrianople, and even proclaimed their khan emperor in the suburbs of the Eastern capital, 922. The Russians also appeared before the imperial city with a thousand barks, and pillaged all the coasts of Asia Minor. Romanus II., a dissolute prince, appears to have adopted his father's example rather than to have obeyed his precepts. His death was caused by poison administered by his vicious wife Theophania, in 963. NICEPHORUS II. united, in the popular opinion, the characters of a hero and a saint. In the preceding reign, he had recovered Candia from the Arabs; and after his accession, which he owed to his marrying the late emperor's widow, he conquered Cyprus, Cilicia, and Antioch; from which last place he brought home as a trophy the sword of Mohammed. The Byzantine empire now began to recover, as that of the Saracens decayed; and under JOHN I. ZIMISCES, who had murdered his predecessor, even the cities beyond the Euphrates were added to his territory. He spent most of his time in the camp, and by his defeat of the Bulgarians and the Russians ensured the safety of the empire. This warlike ruler is said to have met with an untimely death by poison, prepared for him by those who dreaded the consequences of some meditated reforms, 976. BASIL II. was acknowledged sovereign of Constantinople; but the early years of his reign were disturbed by the revolt of two veteran generals, Phocas and Sclerus, who oppressed Asia Minor. These enemies being defeated, he made several successful campaigns against the Saracens; but his most important triumph was the reduction of Bulgaria to a Grecian province,* in 1018. He was greedy, ignorant, and superstitious; and, after a reign of nearly fifty years, died, neither loved nor respected, in 1025. ITALY. ADELAIDE.-After the death of Berenger I., the last duke of Friuli, his successors bore no other title than that of King of Italy. The young Lothaire II., who died childless, was succeeded in 950 by his guardian, Berenger II., marquis of Ivrea. This prince demanded for his son the hand of Lothaire's widow; but on Adelaide's refusal to accept a deformed husband, he plundered her of her possessions with brutal violence, and confined her in a tower on the Guarda lake: she afterwards escaped by the aid of her almoner, who had contrived to make a secret passage through the base of the building. Disguised in male attire; and accompanied by the priest, she was conveyed in a fishing-boat to a neighbour* In 1014, Basil gained a decisive victory over the Bulgarians, took fifteen thousand prisoners, who, after their eyes were plucked out, were sent back to their own country Such a terrible spectacle hastened the death of their aged khan. TENTI CENTURY A.D. 227 ing forest, where they subsisted some time on fish which was bestowed in charity. At length she found an asylum with a chieftain dependent on the Roman see; and, in 951, married Otho of Germany, who, after being called to her assistance in 948, had become a widower. In right of this union, the German sovereigns aspired to the royal and imperial dignities of Italy.* PAPAL DIsoRDERs.-The power of the popes was gradually confirmed, at the same time that their vicious lives were bringing the church into contempt. Two sisters of infamous character, Theodora and Marozia, with their mother the Margravine of Tuscia, disposed of the triple crown at their pleasure. John XII., placed in the pontifical chair when only eighteen years of age, was charged with the most revolting crimes. To consolidate his authority, he solicited the assistance of Otho I., whose services, in quelling the sanguinary feuds which harassed Rome, were repaid with the title of emperor, in 962. He then assumed the appellations of Cesar and Augustus, and received the oaths of fidelity tendered by the pope and the Roman nobles. While he was occupied in Upper Italy in the reduction of a few castles which still held out, he learnt that the pontiff, discontented with the feudal superior whom he had recognised, was labouring to restore the vanquished Berenger. The emperor, hastily returning to Rome, assembled a council to inquire into the state of the papacy; and, by the decision of forty bishops and seventeen cardinals, John was deposed for his scandalous life. He was succeeded by Leo VIII., who acknowledged Otho's claims to dispose of the crown of Italy as he pleased, to confirm the papal election, and to invest the prelates. Butt the country was never at peace, and the Romans lost no opportunity of endeavouring to throw off the barbarian yoke. CRESCENTIUS.-Circio, or Crescentius, on the demise of Otho I., headed an insurrection against the pope, whom he put to death in 974. With the title of consul he was master of Rome, and held the pontiff, whom he had himself appointed, in such subjection, that his holiness urgently solicited the German monarch to come to his relief.' Otho III. arrived in Rome in the year 996, when he received the imperial crown, and two years after caused the demagogue to be thrown from the battlements of St. Angelo. His own death is said to have been caused by poison administered by the widow of Crescentius. FRANCE. On.the death of Eudes in 898, the crown devolved on CHARLES TIIE SIMPLE, the legitimate sovereign, the history of the first twelve years of whose reign is entirely unknown, except that the ravages of the Normans and Saracens were continued. This feeble prince expected to find an auxiliary in the Norman Rollo against his rebel barons, but this hope failed him when the nobles were excited to revolt, and their suffrages had conferred the crown on Robert, brother of the late king, Eudes, who perished in battle, and Charles, having fallen into the hands of the Count * The kingdom of Italy comprised the Italian Alps (except Savoy), the plains of the Po (except Venice), Istria, Tuscany, States of the Church, and the Abruzzi. In the south were the independent principalities of Benevento, Salerno, and Capua; the dukes of Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi, suzerains of the Greek emperor; lastly, the territories of Bari, Otranto, and Calabria, under Grecian officers. The African Saracens held Sicily, except its eastern coast, with Malta, Corsica, and Sardinia. 228 MIDDLE AGES. of Vermandois, beheld another prince, not of the royal family, seated on the throne, 923. This new usurper was Raoul or RODOLPH, duke of Burgundy, who owed his elevation to the influence of his brother-in-law, Hugh the Great, count of Paris. The principal vassals of the South and the Norman dukes withheld their homage from Rodolph until 929, when Count Herbert of Vermandois had almost succeeded in restoring the deposed Charles. But the powerful support of Hugh maintained the interests of Rodolph; and the necessity of union to repel the Hungarians produced a reconciliation between the vassals and their superior, which led to a defensive treaty between the kings of France, Germany, and Burgundy, in 935. Hugh possessed almost regal power during the reign of the succeeding monarch, Louis IV., who was surnamed Outremer, from his having resided in England. When this king expired, the sovereignty, Which was not divided, was for the first time transmitted like the fiefs. Lothaire in 954, and Louis V. in 986, were the last of the Carlovingians who bore the title of King of France, already become to them an empty honour. HUGH CAPET.-In 956, Hugh, surnamed Capet, from the kind of hat which he wore, succeeded his father as Count of Paris, and in the power which his vast domains in Picardy and Champagne conferred upon him. While Louis V. was slowly expiring of a fatal disease, at the early age of twenty, Hugh assembled his forces, and, seizing on the throne, as soon as it became vacant, was crowned at Rheims in 987. His first act was to secure the succession in his family, by the coronation of his son Robert at Orleans by uniting to the royal domains the duchies and earldoms which he had hitherto possessed as a vassal; and by declaring those to be hereditary which were in the hands of other feudatories. Charles of Lorraine, as son of Louis IV., did not patiently submit to the usurpation of his rights; but his efforts were unavailing, and a brief struggle was terminated by his confinement in the castle of Orleans, where he died in 994. Those of the great vassals who had declared for the pretender now did homage to Hugh Capet, whose authority, however, was still obstinately resisted by many nobles south of the Loire, He died at Paris in 996. ROBERT, surnamed the Wise, ascended his father's throne without opposition, but experienced a less tranquil reign. He had married, in opposition to the canons of the church, Bertha of Burgundy, widow of the Count of Blois, and his cousin in the fourth degree, for one of whose children he had'also stood godfather. Pope Gregory V.,, a relation of the Emperor Otho III., excommunicated Robert, and laid the kingdom under an interdict. The French king obeyed the papal mandates with deep regret, but shortly after espoused Constance of Toulouse, a frivolous and wicked princess, who corrupted the court, domineered over her good-natured husband, and lighted the first fires against heretics. FEUDAL SYSTEM.-Gaul, after its invasion by the transrhenane tribes, relapsed into barbarism, and the inhabitants were long without holding any social relation one with another. About the eighth century, order began to appear in the formation of a number of isolated confederacies,-the commencement of feudality, or that system of government which divided society into two classes, lords and dependants The feudal system was the child of circumstances, and probably originated with the Lombards. Charles Martel, son of Pepin, con TENTH CENTURY A.D. 229 ferred benefices (fiefs), the holders of which were bound to fidelity and to military service. They were called vassals; but they had only temporary posses. sion of their fiefs as leudes or antrustions of their suzerain* or lord paramount. Charles the Bald made these benefices hereditary, 877, when they took the name of fiefs (fides, f). The feudal system now took a different form. The royal authority was prostrated, and the counts usurped their governments as sovereignties, their wives taking the appellation of countess. Feudality still formed a chain of obligations from the king, as lord paramount, down to the meanest of his subjects. The lands under this system were divided into three classes:1. The noble lands, i. e. the fiefs, which were divisible into two species; the simple fiefs, and the fiefs of dignity or the title lands, such as the duchies, earldoms or counties, and baronies. 2. The rotures, or lands enfranchised from the fiefs, possessed by roturiers, liable to feudality and subject to their seigneurs.t 3. The allodial lands, which every man possessed in his own right, without owing any rent or service to his superior. Each vassal held his fief on conditions of fidelity and homage to his suzerain. There were two classes of them:-1. The great vassals dependent immediately on the crown;-2. The small vassals subordinate to the great for the fiefs which they held by homage. Each was the liegeman of his superior, i. e. bound (ligatus) in indissoluble allegiance by the duties of his rank. These were,military service, the defence of his lord from the machinations and arms of his enemies, and attendance in the courts of justice. He was also to pay his lord's ransom if he were captured, and, in some cases, to be detained as hostage. The vassals were summoned to the field by the bann and arriere bann; the one was composed of gentlemen who mounted at the sound of the king's trumpet; the latter were the tenants, or coutumiers (serfs) of the barj. But after the establishment of corporations by Louis the Fat, in 1108, the condition of the commons was greatly meliorated. Philip Augustus, the tribune of the nobles, 1180, kept the vassals in due restraint by his large armies; and Louis IX., 1226, destroyed the judicial powers of the seigneurs by establishing regular tribunals of justice. Philip the Fair deprived the barons of their power of coining money; and thus they lost between 1108 and 1300 the four supports of feudality. Louis Hutin emancipated all the serfs on the royal domains, by a general edict in 1315; but the fiefs existed till the revolution of 1789; nor was praedial servitude actually abolished until that period, the peasants being attached to the soil and forbidden to leave it without their lords' consent. GERMANY. HOUSE OF SAXONY.-The connexion between France and Germany was broken by the death of Charles the Fat in 888. Arnulph was the first elected king of the latter country; and on the death of Louis IV. in 911, CONRAD, duke of Franconia, was chosen by the general assembly of the eight nations composing the Germanic confederation. His brief reign of eight years was exposed to external enemies, in fighting against whom he received a mortal wound, and, having no male heirs, the crown was bestowed on HENRY THE FOWLER, duke of Saxony, in whose family it remained till 1024. This able prince began by reducing to subjection his powerfil and turbulent vassals. He united Lorraine to the empire; protected the country against the inroads of the Hungarians; and besides fortifying many of his principal towns, added the march of Misnia to his original territory. To him Germany is farther indebted * The leudes and antrustions were men of rank, nobles attendant upon the court t Roiure has been compared with our soccage freehold. We have no word," says Hallam,' that conveys the full sense of the word roturier. How glorious is this deficiency in our political language, and how different are the ideas suggested by commoncrl" 20 230 MIDDLE AGES. for the establishment of its first municipal towns, which, together with the monasteries, was one of the chief means of civilizing the people. OTHO I., 936, justly named the Great, completed what his father had begun. He reconquered Italy, and gave a final blow to the Hungarian power by the victory of Merseburg. In 962, lie was crowned at Milan, with the iron crown of Lombardy, and at Rome by Pope John XII., with the golden crown of the empire. The discovery of the gold and silver mines of Goslar, and the settlement of the Saxon frontier, rendered that part of his territories the richest and most important under his rule. Otho had the skill to unite all the great governments in his family; but the necessity of resigning his duchy of Saxony, prevented the formation of solid monarchical power in Germany. Nevertheless, repaying the mistrust of his vassals by similar suspicion, he placed them under the inspection of the palatine counts, and also subjected the temporal power of the bishops to the control of certain imperial officers. By these means he checked the progress of feudalism, which, however, proceeded uninterruptedly after his death. OrHO II. THE BLOODY,* 973, was allied by marriage to the Byzantine court. His wars in France, and in Lower Italy against the Saracens, were not generally successful. OTHO III., 983, was scarcely six years of age when he ascended the throne of his father, under the guardianship of his mother Theophania, by whom jis education had been intrusted to the learned Gerbert, afterwardsP ope Sylvester II. The early portion of this reign was harassed by the continual wars of the great vassals against each other, and by the incursions of the Danes and Sclavonians. Like his predecessor, he took much interest in all that passed on the south side of the Alps; and to establish his authority in the Italian peninsula and at Rome, was almost the sole occupation of his reign after he was left to his own guidance. He died childless, and was succeeded by Henry duke of Bavaria, the last of the Saxon house, in 1002. SAXON LINE. The succession of German kings is reckoned from Louis the German. Otho, * * * * * * d. of Saxony, presumed descended from Witikind 7. CONRAD I. of Franconia m. Hedwige, d. of Emperor Arnulph. emp. 911, t 919. 8. HENRY I. the Fowler, king of Germany, 919, t936. 9. OTHO THE GREAT, Tancmar. Bruno, archbp. Three Henry, d. k. of Germany, 936; of Cologne, and daughters. of Bavaria, emp. 962; m. 1. Editha, archduke of m. Judith of sister of Athelstan. Lorraine. Bavaria, 955. 2..Adelaide, q. of Italy. 10. OTHO II. emp. Ludolph, d. Three William, nat. Henry, 995. 973, m. Theophania of Franconia. daughters. son of archbp. of Constantinople. t 957. of Mentz. 11. OTHO III. emp. 983, t 1002. Four daughters. 12. HENRY II. emp. 1002, t 1024. KNote.-A collateral branch continued in Saxony until IU11. * He derives this epithet from the perfidious massacre of the Roman senators whom he had invited to share his hospitality. TENTH CENTURY A.D. 231 BRITAIN. The successors of Alfred persevered in that monarch's career of conquest. EDWARD, surnamed the Elder, 901, deprived the Danes of the eastern coast fromn the mouth of the Thames to the Wash. This king must be ranked among the founders of the English monarchy, as besides securing his people from a Danish domination, he prepared the way for the overthrow of that power in England. Like his father, he paid great attention to education, and his sons received the best instruction that the age could afford, in order to qualify them for the station to which they were born. ATHELSTAN, A. D. 925, the grandson of Alfred, was the first monarch really entitled to the name of King of England. As he had attained the age of thirty before he was called to the exercise of royal power, he commenced his reign with the advantage of a matured judgment and extensive experience. Passing the Humber, he took the city of York, and routed at Brunanburgh in Northumbria a numerous army, in which were assembled the principal enemies of the Anglo-Saxon race. He was a prince of very great influence at home and abroad; and his reign, from his connexion with the Continent, is of more importance than those of any of his family. He ravaged Scotland with his troops, while his fleet spread dismay to the extremity of Caithness. The cause of this invasion was the refusal of Constantine, the Scottish King, to perform the conditions of an international treaty. England began now to lose its insular seclusion, and to take part in the transactions of foreign states. The sovereign of Brittany, when driven out by the Normans, had been hospitably received at Athelstan's court, and there, too, the queen of Charles the Simple, with her son Louis, found a refuge.* Hugh the Great, count of Paris, married Ethilda, one of Athelstan's sisters, and when Louis Outremer ascended the throne of France, a friendly treaty was made between the two countries, and the English monarch aided his ally with his fleet in 939. Two other sisters of Athelstan were married, one to Otho the Great, the other to a German prince in the emperor's court. Haco, the son of Harold Harfager of Norway, was educated here, and, by the aid of the king, was placed on his father's throne. Thus England began, and has ever continued, to be the asylum of the persecuted. Athelstan rebuilt several monastic edifices, and bestowed on them books, ornaments, or estates. He did not neglect the poor, and decreed, under a penalty, that each of his bailiffs should feed one pauper, and taxed his own farms to raise the necessary funds. A new invasion, attempted in 946, was repelled by EDRED, who succeeded his brother EDMUND, and all England, from the Tweed to the Land's End, was united into one political body. But this state of things was not of long duration. The Danes soon re-appeared in greater numbers, and again commenced their piracies in the reign of Ethelred II., an effeminate prince, who sought to free his kingdom of *The presents made to Athelstan afford a curious insight into the manners and civilisation of England and France. Hugh sent over some brilliant emeralds, many richly caparisoned horses, a beautifully carved and polished vase of onyx, the sword of Con stantine the Great, the spear of Charlemagne, a diadem of gold and jewels, and some venerable relics. At another time, the Norwegian Harold presented a magnificent ship with a golden beak and purple sails, surrounded with shields gilt on their inner surface. -Turner's.angle-Sazons. 232 MIDDLE AGES. ts invaders by large bribes rather than by courage and decision. The miseries of the Saxons were increased by several years of scarcity, )y a contagious disease among the cattle, and by a most fatal dysentery that carried off many thousands of the people. DUNSTAN.-The national tranquillity was interrupted during the middle of this century by the ambition of the monks, who, meddling with public affairs, were on the point of abolishing the secular clergy. Edwy, who succeeded his uncle Edred, 955, had married Elgiva, a princess within the degrees forbidden by the ecclesiastical laws. Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, in concert with several of the nobles, offered the most unwarrantable insult to the king on the very day of his coronation; but although the churchman was compelled to flee in order to avoid his sovereign's indignation, his party was too powerful to be resisted, and the queen was dragged from the palace by an armed troop, branded in the face with a red-hot iron, and banished to Ireland. Returning some time after, when her wounds were healed, Elgiva was discovered and cruelly murdered. SPAIN. MOORISH SPAIN.-The effeminacy of the Arabian monarchs of Cordova cost them part of their empire. Some successful rebels made themselves independent in the states of Toledo, Huesca, and Saragossa, and by their mutual contests endangered the Moorish dominion. Abdalrahman III., 912, reduced all these turbulent governors to submission, and under his wise rule agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, flourished. He extended his dominions by conquests in Africa, but these advantages were counteracted by the terrible defeat at Simancas, in 938, when 80,000 Mussalmans were left dead on the field,-a proof of the fury of the battle and the valour of their antagonists. These losses were, however, after a time skilfully repaired, and more than twenty times Abdalrahman advanced into the very heart of the Christian states. By this emir the first medical school was established in Europe, and its celebrity is attested by the cure of the king, Don Sancho, who had obtained permission to be attended by Arabian physicians. The glorious reign of this caliph, which terminated in 961, was closely followed by the decay of the Mohammedan power; yet it was maintained during half of the tenth century by the great vizier Almansor, who male fifty-four successful campaigns against the Christians, penetrating even to the sanctuary of Compostella. He was succeeded by his son, who worthily trod in his father's footsteps. CHRISTIAN SPAIN.-Meanwhile the Christians, pent up in the Biscayan mountains, were preparing to contend with their conquerors. Ramires II. took Madrid iq 932, threatened Toledo, and after the glori ous victory at Simancas, extended his dominions to the range of hills which separates New from Old Castile. In the year 960, about a cen tury after the foundation of Burgos, may be placed the formation of the kingdom of Castile under Ferdinand Gonzales, who severed it fron Leon. But between 982 and 990, the Christian sovereignties were menaced with the greatest peril. The vizier of Cordova drove Bermudes II. to seek refuge in the wilds of Asturias, and was only compelled to retire by the breaking out of a terrible pestilence among his troops, in TENTH CENTURY A.D. 233 997. The presence of the enemy at last reunited the discordant princes of Northern Spain; and the Count of Castile, being placed at the head of the troops of Leon, Navarre, and Castile, destroyed the army of Almansor, which had been hitherto victorious. ARABIAN EMPIRE. EMIR AL OMRA.-The decline of the Arabian dominion was rapid and certain; for the Turkish guard held the caliph almost a prisoner in his own palace, while the governors of the provinces threw off their allegiance, contenting themselves with merely acknowledging, in their daily prayers, the existence of their supreme lord, and by the payment of certain unimportant tributes. Al Radhi, 934, the twentieth of the Abbassides, was the last of his order that enjoyed the power and privileges as well as the splendour of royalty. Even in his reign, Mohammed, a Turk, was appointed to the new office of emir al omra-commander of commanders-which conferred on the possessors unlimited authority in the state, not unlike that of the mayors of the palace in France Violent and ambitious men were always ready to seize upon this office, which, in 944, became hereditary in the family of the Persian governor, and henceforth the caliphs were mere ecclesiastical regents. -In this decline of their power they were also condemned to witness the loss of part of their dominions. Between 963 and 975, the Byzantine armies had recovered Syria, crossed the Euphrates, and also subjected all the Ottoman dominions in Europe. FATIMITES.-Africa was entirely lost to the Abbassides, who had the mortification of beholding a new caliph establish a rival throne. In 908, Obeidallah, one of the Karmathians, all of whom were supposed to have been exterminated, was proclaimed ruler, as a descendant of Ismael, son of Djafar Sadik, the seventh visible Imam. He was soon sufficiently powerful to overthrow the Aglabite dynasty of Kairwan and the Edrisites of Fez. Mahadia, in Africa, which he founded, became the residence of the Fatimites, a name preferred by the new monarchs to that of Ali, as marking with greater clearness their descent from the prophet's daughter, Fatima. Sicily and the Arab dominions in Italy soon fell into the power of Obeidallah; and his fourth successor, Al Moez, completed in 960 the conquest of Sardinia and Egypt, in the latter of which he built Cairo, the metropolis of the African caliphate. By the reduction of Egypt the Fatimites soon lost their other possession's in Africa, in which independent principalities arose so soon as the seat of government was transferred to the banks of the Nile. The history of this dynasty presents the same vicissitudes as all others of Arabian origin; the sovereigns, who for the most part lived retired in their palaces, were elevated or dethroned according to the interests of ministers, or the caprice of the officers of the body-guard. THE GHAZNEVIDES.-While the caliphate of Bagdad was thus falling into ruin, a vast monarchy was rising in the East. The Suffarides, established in Khorassan, had been dethroned, after a reign of thirty years' duration, by the Samanides, a Turkish family, who maintained their power till the end of the century. But in 961, a slave named Alp Tegin, seized on the castle of Ghasna, and founded the dynasty of the Ghaznevides. Mahmoud, 997, who united the reputation of a sage with 20* 234 MIDDLE AGES. the glory of a conqueror, reduced Lahore, Moultan, and Guzerat, extending his conquests, and with them the Mussulman faith, far into the Indian peninsula. From these victories arose the Hindostanee, the modern language of India, which has taken the place of the Sanscrit, now become the exclusive idiom of the learned in that country. THE TURKs.-The Turks were a people of Tartar origin, condemned by their first conquerors, the Gevugen, to work in the mines of the Imaus, and to forge arms for their masters. But these victims soon quitted their mountains, overthrew their oppressors in 552, and founded a state which continued until 585. At this epoch they separated: those of the East were reduced by the Chinese in 744; those of the West exhausted their resources by intestine divisions, and by degrees ceased to exist as a formidable nation.* In the ninth century, numerous bands of the Western Turks entered into the service of the caliphs, and nct long after into that of the Ghanzevide sultans. The chief of the tribe Seljuk, who inhabited Bokhara, was able alone to arm 200,000 men. Mahmoud it is true distributed them among his cities on the banks of the Oxus; but when he died in 1028, they returned to their former pastoral life, supporting themselves chiefly by plunder. THE CHURCH. The tenth century is generally characterized as one of the darkest of the dark ages; and in the history of the church there is little to relieve the gloom that overhangs the secular annals of this period. The Christian religion had been propagated successfully in the East, beyond the Imaus, and among the barbarians in the north and east of Europe. About the year 720, the Nestorian patriarch appointed metropolitans in China and at Samarcand, while in India and Ceylon the gospel appears to have been received much earlier. The Normans were converted about 910, the Poles in 964, and the Russians and Hungarians at the end of the century. In Europe the purity of the doctrines of the church was obscured by the vicious lives of many of the clergy, and the strange opinions every day introduced. The pontiffs are described as monsters rather than men, and the see of Rome has been represented by its own historians as the spoil of profligate women who disposed of it at their pleasure. At the end of the century, the papal chair was ably filled by the learned Gerbert, Sylvester II. Notwithstanding the rapio succession of twenty-five popes, between 905 and 1003, the influence of the church gradually increased, partly by open violence, partly by fraudulent usurpation; and it was now for the first time maintained that " the authority of the bishops, though divine in its origin, was conveyed to them by St. Peter, the prince of the apostles." The invasions of the Normans were always disastrous to ecclesiastical edifices, which they pillaged and destroyed without mercy. Profound ignorance necessarily followed such havoc, since the cloisters were the sole asylum of learning; and the priests and monks, being suddenly deprived of their means of subsistence, were obliged to seek relief in occupations foreign to their profession. Hence arose negligence of their duties, which became the more palpable as the means of instruction and disciplined were withdrawn. Berno, at Cluny, in 910, commenced the reform of the monasteries in France, by introducing the Benedictines, TENTH CENTURY A.D. 235 the severity of whose regulations was increased by Odo in the convent of Fleury, whither the body of the founder had been transported from Mount Cassino. This discipline rapidly became popular, and was adopted generally within a very short period. During this century, a groundless panic, arising from a false interpretation of the twentieth chapter of the Revelation of St. John, seized all Europe. Temples and palaces were suffered to fall into decay, and language vainly attempts to describe the confusion and despair that torinented the minds of the ignorant multitude. The sacerdotal order did not scruple to profit by this delusion. Many charters begin with these words: " As the world is now drawing to its end;" and an army marching under Otho I. was so terrified by an eclipse of the sun, which was conceived to announce this consummation, as to disperse hastily on all sides. PENANCE.-St. Augustin gave some countenance to the Manichean ideas of Two Principles, Gooa and Evil, existing in each individual, and constantly at war as in the struggle between the flesh and the spirit. This doctrine exhibited at once the weakness and strength of human nature: at one time degrading it below the beasts, at another elevating it almost above humanity. Enthusiasts, in order to attain heaven, spent their lives in inflicting the greatest torture on themselves. They disfigured the body by neglect and filth, weakened it by fasting and watching, and tore it with stripes. Linen was proscribed among the monastic orders, and the use of the warm bath ceased, because cleanliness itself was a luxury, and therefore a positive sin. They bound chains round the body, which wore into the flesh; Arnulph of Villars in Brabant had an underwaistcoat of hedgehog skins; St. Dominic the Cuirassier was clothed in an iron dress, and scourged himself with both hands night and day; and the English saint, Simon Stock, obtained his name from passing many years in a hollow tree. THE WORLD AT THE END OF THE TENTH CENTURY. GREEK EMPIRE.-At the end of the eighth century the known world was under the control of three great monarchies,-the East, the West, and the Caliphate. Of these, one only now remained; and the Eastern Empire, lying between the Saracens and Franks, was obliged to have recourse to the assistance of the latter, and was often tributary to the former. It still however maintained considerable power, though but a shadow of what it had been, and was a continual prey to civil dissensions and external war. THE CALIPHATE was parcelled out into a number of petty states, leaving scarcely a trace of its existence except in the pomp which still surrounded the rulers as ministers of religion. THE FRANK KINGDOM, at one period the terror of the West, existed in several different sovereignties founded upon its ruins, of which the chief were the kingdoms of France and Germany. These two states at first sight present an equality of force which disappears on a closer examination. FRANCE was exhausted by anarchy and tyranny; each province had its independent sovereign, duke or count, one of whom (Hugh Capet) violently seized the crown. Thus we see a king of Burgundy, a duke of Paris or of France, dukes of Aquitaine, Normandy, and Brittany; counts of Champagne, Flanders, Toulouse, and Anjou,-all of whom reigned as independent princes in their own territories. Under this crowd of masters, mutually jealous of each other and continually at war, the people were always suffering and enslaved. They recognised a sort of hereditary chief, upon whom they conferred the title of king; but this ruler, without authority, money, or arms, was always at the mercy of his powerful vassals. GERMANY was as extensive as France, and its nobles were scarcely less numerous. The sovereignty was elective, but the electors, while they reserved 236 MIDDLE AGES. the honour of choosing the common master, had the good sense to surrender part of their privileges to give him more authority. Hence the king had fiefs at his disposal, officers at his command, and armies to execute his orders. SPAIN was but little changed. The North, occupied by the Christians, was perpetually at war with the Moors of the South. In both the states were numerous and feeble; but the former always gained ground, while the Saracens, equally brave and enlightened, were weakened by civil dissensions. ENGLAND was entirely changed. The seven, or rather eight little kingdoms were now united into a single monarchy; but its powers were still enfeebled by the divisions of the Danish and Saxon inhabitants, who made the island a theatre of revolution and bloodshed. ITALY, which presented the spectacle of cities overthrown, was oppressed by tyrants, and ruined by anarchy. Venice alone, separated from all others by its peculiar situation and policy, enjoyed a period of calmness and prosperity. ROME contained a rising and ambitious power, which threatened to overthrow the ascendency of the Germans. The papal territories were of small size, but no prince had a more extensive power than the pope: by his dominion over men's consciences he completed the great work of a spiritual monarchy. Prepare: A map of the world, and fill up two lateral columns with the ne cessary explanations of the changes that have taken place. ELEVENTH CENTURY. GREEK EMPIRE.-1028, Romanus III.-Bulgarian Invasion.-1057, COMNENI -1081, Anna Comnena-Varangian Guards. ITALY.-1046, Norman Kingdom.-1057, Robert Guiscard-Italian Republics. GERMANY.-1024, Conrad II.-Franconian House.-1073, Investitures-Saxon Wars. FRANCE.-1031, Henry 1.-1060, Philip 1.-1095, Synod of Clermont. SPAIN.-1080, New Castile recovered.-1081, Kingdom of Portugal.-The Cid. ARABIAN EMPIRE.-1038, Togrul-Beg-Seljukians.-1050, Invasion of Arme. nia.-1063, Alp Arslan.-1074, Malek-Shah-Gelalaean Era.-1076, Jerusa lem taken by the Turks. BRITAIN.-1002, Massacre of the Danes.-1017, Danish Dynasty.-1041, Edward the Confessor.-1066, Norman Conquest.-1080, Domesday Book.1087, William Rufus. CHURCH.-1027, Truce of God.-1038, Benedict IX. deposed.-1073, Gregory VII.-Investitures-Cistertians and Carthusians-The Holy Lance.-1096, FIRST CRUSADE. CELEBRATED MEN.-Ferdousi, d. 1020; Avicenna; Guido of Arezzo - GREEK EMPIRE. ZOE. —By the death of Basil, in 1025, CONSTANTINE VIII. remained sole master of the empire; but he occupied himself little with the government, which his daughters Zoe and Theodora managed, and continued to direct, even under his two successors. ROMENUS III., who had been compelled to repudiate his wife and marry Zoe, Constantine's eldest daughter, succeeded to the throne in 1028. He met with several disastrous reverses in his campaigns against the Saracens; and' by his injudicious attempt to replenish his exchequer, caused successive com. ELEVENTH CENTURY A. D. 237 motions, which were aggravated by a dreadful plague, followed by famine and an earthquake. He died of poison administered by his wife, who with criminal haste married MICHAEL IV., 1034. This prince, after defeating the Bulgarians, who had crossed the frontiers of the empire, and rolling back the tide of war into their own forests, divested himself of the purple, and finished his days in a monastery, 1041. MICHAEL V., who had been nominated Cesar during his uncle's reign, caused the empress to be imprisoned; but the people deploring her exile, a formidable tumult of three days terminated in her recall and in the deposition of the sovereign, after a reign of scarcely four months, in 1042. The third husband of Zoe, CONSTANTINE IX., was now declared emperor, the beginning of whose reign was disquieted by the revolt of ten of his best generals. They were scarcely defeated before Togrul Beg conquered Erzeroum, and 800,000 Bulgarians crossed the Danube on the ice; but, fortunately for the empire, they perished from the combined effects of war and disease. After the monarch's death in 1054, TIIEODORA reigned two years, and chose MICHAEL VI. for her successor; but he was dethroned by a conspiracy formed among his most distinguished commanders. THE COINENI, 1057, were a noble family from the shores of the Euxine, but of Italian origin. Manuel, the first of their line, distinguished himself in the East; while Isaac and John, for their great merits, had been promoted to the highest posts in the army. The soldiery had long viewed with disgust the succession of viciousand feeble emperors who had worn the purple, and on the plains of Phrygia unanimously raised ISAAC to the imperial dignity in 1057. After two years, his delicate health determined him to abdicate, and having vainly offered the throne to his brother John, he was succeeded by CONSTANTINE X., DUCAS, 1059. Selfish and short-sighted in his policy, this monarch endeavoured to aggrandize his family, while he left the frontiers unguarded against the inroads of the Turks, who invaded and occupied Iberia and Mesopotamia, as Thrace, Macedon, and Greece were by the Utzes. He was followed by his three sons, governing under the regency of their mother Etidocia, who married, in 1068, RoMANUS IV., DIOGENEs, by whom Alp Arslan was defeated while his hordes were ravaging Cilicia and Cappadocia. Romanus was taken prisoner in a second campaign, but restored to liberty on promise of a heavy ransom. In the interval, MICIAEL VII., PARAPINACES, was raised to the throne, by whom his predecessor was deprived of his eyes, previously to his being exiled. In 1074, Soliman conquered Romania (Roum), and chose Nice for his residence. The Greeks now possessed little more of Asia Minor than the seacoast and a few strong towns, while their feebleness was increased by losing those territories in Italy which were seized by the Normans. Wearied of a prince who had abandoned the cares of government to an infamous and incapable minister, the troops proclaimed as emperor their general NICEPHORUS III., and Michael, divested of his power, received the title of Archbishop of Ephesus. But ALEXIUS I., COMNENUS, in 1081, seized on Constantinople, and obliged Nicephorus to retire into a monastery. For the history of the life of this emperor, we are indebted to the fluent pen of his affectionate daughter Anna. In the disorder of the times, comprehending every calamity which can afflict a declining empire, Alexius '2li6 J~AIIDDLE AGES. steered the imperial vessel with courage and dexterity. His warlike demonstration alone sufficed to check the incursions of the Turks; but his Norman opponents under Robert Guiscard were more serious antagonists,* and he was only freed from them by the dissolution of the army on the death of their commander, 1085. Towards the.end of the century, the Turks again threatened Constantinople; and the supplicatory letters of Alexius to the several princes of Europe were the immediate cause of the crusades. We shall trace their history elsewhere, but it may here be remarked, that the crafty emperor trod in the footsteps of the victorious Franks, and secured to himself those fruits for which they were too impatient to wait. He died in 1118. ITALY. NORMANS.-'Some of the armed pilgrims of Normandy, while visiting the Italian shrines, were employed by a Lombard prince of Salerno against the Saracens, A. D. 1016. Their success led to fresh engagements, and attracted many of the restless spirits of the age to their victorious standard. By them a great part of Southern Italy and Sicily was torn from the grasp of the infidels; and to indemnify themselves for an unjust division of the spoil, they seized upon Apulia, under the first count, William of the. Iron Arm, one of the sons of Tancred de Hauteville, 1046. Leo IX., who did not regard these formidable and unscrupulous neighbours without anxiety, endeavoured by fraud and force to drive them from the peninsula. He did not, however, succeed, but fell into their hands, and the condition of his release was a present of Apulia and Calabria, as a fief of the holy see, 1053. Robert Guiscard, another of'the twelve sons of Tancred, was the most remarkable of the dukes of Apulia. His ambition led him to aim at the conquest of the Greek empire; and, in 1081, he besieged Dyrrachium (Durazzo) with a resolute army of somewhat less than 30,000 men. The Emperor Alexius marched against him in person, and suffered a disgraceful defeat. The dissensions of Italy recalled Robert; and while preparing a second armament, he engaged in three naval battles with various success against the combined fleet of Venice and Constantinople. An epidemic disease, which attacked him at Corfu, proved'fatal next year, and carried him off in the seventieth year of his age, 1085; but the conquest of Sicily was completed by his brother Roger. The latter island, then a prey to civil discord, was occupied by a number of emirs, who no longer recognised the authority of their sovereigns in Africa, and had divided the country into petty principalities. The chivalrous Norman crossed to Messina, and at the head of only sixty men attacked the Saracens. The spoils he acquired soon attracted others to his standard, and after.thirty years he became master of the island, 1090, with the title of grand count. His exploits during the earlier campaigns in Sicily are quite romantic. To strengthen his power, Roger behaved with mildness and toleration towards the vanquished, and the Mussulmans had no reason to complain of a change of masters. Not less skilful as a politician than valiant as * In the Greek armies were many English nobles, who, to avoid the oppression of the Norman William, and despairing of the fortunes of their country, had sought refuge at the court of Constantinople. These, under the name of Varangians, proved true and faithful supporters of the Byzantine empire till its fall. ELEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 239 a warrior, he had the address to turn to his own advantage all the pretensions of the pope; and, in order to preserve the right of conferring ecclesiastical benefices, he declared the Sicilian princes to be perpetual and hereditary legates of the holy see. ITALIAN REPUBLICS.-The origin of these republican states cannot now be precisely ascertained, but we may place them after A.D. 990. Of their history during this century little is known, except that they restored the Roman municipal government, which had never entirely ceased, and were engaged in continual hostilities. The rural nobility were soon brought into subjection, and their fortresses dismantled; the towns were wisely thrown open to all who chose to settle in them; and the military habits of the populace protected them against the violence of their enemies. But, from a desire of tyrannizing over their neighbours, they imitated the example of the ancient Greek republics, "with all its circumstances of inveterate hatred, unjust ambition, and atrocious retaliation, though with less consummate actors on the scene." VENICE had subdued the Istrian pirates, A. D. 939; and conquered Dalmatia, in 1000, before any rivals to her commercial power had arisen in the cities of Genoa and Pisa, or any other marts were formed for the merchandise of the East and West. The democracy naturally lost its predominance in the augmented riches of the state; but lest the supreme power of the doge should be abused, he was reduced to a mere cipher by the annual election of councillors to superintend his conduct, 1002. In the contests against Robert the Norman, the Venetians took part with the Greeks, but were defeated, 1081. The crusades which occurred shortly after paved the way to their subsequent riches, insolence, and power. GENOA AND PISA.-These two republics derive their origin from the anarchy that followed the deposition of Charles the Fat, in 888. To this year the Genoese assign the election of their first consuls, the creation of their senate, and the assemblies of the people, with all the ancient municipal forms recognised by Berenger II., in his charter of 958. Pisa adopted nearly the same institutions in the tenth century; and, like the other, directed all its energies to maritime commerce. The Saracens were the first enemies which these two cities had to contend with; Genoa was pillaged in 936, and Pisa in 1005. GERMANY. HENRY II. did not receive the crown of Germany in 1002, without opposition; but eventually his claims and authority were recognised in the whole of the duchies and by all the electors. The peace of the kingdom was, however, soon disturbed by the war in Franconia and on the eastern march. Italy was for a time estranged from Germany by the enemies of the Marquis of Ivrea; and the towns of Lombardy, divided between the partisans of Ardouin and Henry, were a prey to civil strife. In 1012, Henry's intervention was formally demanded; for the Romans, being formed into two parties in the election of a pontiff, each faction nominated its own candidate; one of whom, Benedict VIII., having been driven out of the city, came to Paderborn in great state, and entreated the assistance of the German monarch to establish him in his dignity. The urgent solicitations of the pope were seconded by 240 MIDDLE AGES. the complaints preferred by the Archbishop of Milan against Ardouin., In the campaign of 1014, Henry advanced to Rome, where he was crowned emperor. Returning across the Alps, and visiting Burgundy and Lorraine, he stopped at the monastery of Saint Vannes, near Verdun, where he was prevented from embracing a cloistered life only by the good sense and firmness of the superior. HIOUSE OF FRANCONIA.-CONRAD II., the Salic, descended from Otho the Great, was elected to fill the vacant throne, and with him began the line of Franconian emperors, A. D. 1024. To secure the crown in his family, he endeavoured to increase its influence by conferring various duchies and principalities on his relatives. His son, HENRY III., who succeeded him in 1039, was perhaps the most powerful and absolute of the German rulers. Having defeated the Hungarians, he obtained the cession of all the country between Kahlenberg and the Leitha; and when he had confirmed his power at home, he turned his attention to Italy, where three popes were urging'their claims to the triple crown. None of them met with the approbation of the German king, and the Bishop of Bamberg was elected, with the title of Clement II. He also nominated the three successors, who honoured the tiara by their virtues, and commenced the reform of the clergy. Uniting the fief of Franconia to the imperial domain, he bestowed the forfeited duchy on his wife, Agnes,- entirely laying aside the usual forms of popular concurrence which were deemed necessary to various acts of sovereignty. HENRY IV. was only six years old when his father died in 1056. The care of his minority was assigned to his mother, from whom it was wrested by the Archbishop of Cologne. Under his new guardian he was allowed to indulge in all kinds of excess, and the Saxons, among whom he resided, soon grew weary of the expenses of the licentious court, and its attacks on their liberties.* To keep this warlike people within their bounds, he constructed a great number of castles in Saxony and Thuringia, compelling the inhabitants to raise with their own hands those fortresses whose garrisons were to be maintained at their expense. His proceedings at last excited a general revolt among them, which he soon quelled, but at a great cost of human life, 1075. INVESTITURE.-Henry's adversary was the celebrated Gregory VII., who desired to free the church from the temporal authority of laymen; that is, to deprive all princes of the power of investing bishops with the ring and crosier, the symbols by which the pope himself conferred the spiritual authority. Gregory's first attack was violent. In a council held in the Lateran Palace, it was declared that no laics should confer ecclesiastical benefices, or clerks should receive them from a layman, under pain of excommunication. This decree was carried to Henry by four legates, charged with the removal of this annoyance throughout the German church. The-king, then occupied with the Saxon war, at first promised them his aid; but when the insurgents submitted, he forgot his pledge, of which the pope reminded him in a threatening manner. The irritated monarch assembled at Worms the great nobles and prelates of his kingdom, who pronounced Gregory's deposition, 1076. The reply * On the occasion of a quarrel between Henry, and Otho, duke of Bavaria, the latter was deposed, and the duchy conferred on Otho's son-in-law, ielf or Guelph, from whom descended the Brunswick line, now occupying the British throne. ELEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 241 of the Papal See was the excommunication oi the king, accorni anivm by an act depriving him of his regal dignity, and absolving his subjects from their oaths of allegiance. The German aristocracy, oppressed by Henry III., and the Saxons, vanquished by his son, ran to arms, as much to avenge their private injuries, as to enforce the papal encroachments. The rebel chiefs, at whose head were Rodolph of Swabia, and Guelph of Bavaria, met at Tribur, suspended the emperor from his functions, and threatened to depose him, if he did not procure the retractation of the Romish anathemas. Henry yielded to the storm, and visited Italy, where he became reconciled to the pope, on certain humiliating conditions, 1077. But he had submitted only to gain time, and being encouraged by the fidelity of his Lombard vassals, he broke the treaty to which he had given his assent, and marched against the rebellious Germans, who had already elected Rodolph of Swabia to the throne. The decisive victory of Wolksheim in Thuringia, 1080, was fatal to Rodolph, who perished by the lance of Godfrey of Bouillon, afterwards so distinguished in the First Crusade. In Italy, also, Henry was triumphant; and at the same time, the death of Pope Gregory in exile, 1085, relieved him from much disquietude. But he did not long enjoy the fruits of his victory, and his latter days were clouded with increasing misfortunes. First, he had to contend against a new competitor; afterwards against his own son Conrad; while the confessions of his wife Bertha added to his domestic afflictions. But he continued, in despite of all these miseries, to struggle with firmness, and by his courage effaced at least his earlier faults. When Conrad died, his brother Henry appeared in arms against their father, who was forced to flee before his rebellious child. So great was his distress, that he begged the humble post of reader in a church which he himself had founded, and was refused. Laying himself down on the steps, he died of hunger in 1106, and his body was left without sepulture, as being that of an excommunicated person.* FRANCONIAN DYNASTY. 13. CONRAD II., the Salic, duke of Franconia, elected emp. 1024, m. Gisela, granddaughter of Conrad d. of Bourges, herself of Swabian origin. 14. HENRY III., the Black, emp, 1039, Two daughters. m. 1. Gunegunda, d. of Canute the Great; 2. oignes of Poitou, afterwards regent. 15. HENRY IV. emp. 1056, JMatilda m. Rodolph, Sophia m. 1. Bertha of lvrea; d. of Swabia; elected m. 1. Solomon, k. of Hungary, 2. Adelaide of Russia. emp. and killed in 1080. 2. Ladislaus, k. of Poland. Conrad rebels 16. HENRY V., emp. 1106. Agnes A.qdelaide tm. Mlatilda of m. Matilda of England. m. Frederick of m. Boleslas III. Sicily. Hohenstaufen. k. of Poland. 17. LOTHAIRE II., son of Gcrhard of Supplinbourg, d. of Saxony, 1106, emp. 1125, tl 137; m. Richenza, heiress of Henry the Fat, d. of Saxony, and last descendant of Henry the Fowler. * Other accounts state that Henry died at Liege in extreme want. On one occasion he was compelled to sell his books to purchase bread; and shortly before his death he for warded his sword to his son with the brief message: " Si mihi plus dimisses, plus tibimisissem." 21 242 MIDDLE AGES. FRANCE. In 1022, ROBERT shared the regal power with Hugh, his eldest son, who was soon driven to revolt by the harshness of his mother Constance, who required from him, as king, the same implicit obedience which he had given when a child. Robert vanquished and pardoned the rebel. On the demise of Hugh, soon afterwards, the king elevated his third son Henry in his stead. Constance, however, preferred the youngest, named Robert, and, by her ungracious behaviour, drove Henry, as she had before compelled his brother, to revolt. But the youthful prince was far from seconding his mother's projects, and in fact united with his brothel against her tyranny. They returned to their duty'a short time before the death of their father, which took place at Melun, in the sixty-first year of his age, and the thirty-fifth of his government, 1031. During this reign the Church began to take measures against the heretics, who appeared in great numbers; some of whom pretended to change the doctrines, others to reform the manners, but all were persecuted alike. In a council assembled at Orleans, a multitude of these unfortunate persons were condemned to the flames. King Robert and his queen were present at their execution; when Constance remarking among the victims an ecclesiastic who had been her own confessor, thrust out one of his eyes with an iron rod. Robert's devotion and goodness, the chief qualities that can be praised in him, were not very elevated. His principal occupation was founding churches, chanting with the priests, and correcting the liturgies. Yet this piety, however erroneously directed, was accompanied by an ardent charity that should ever consecrate the memory of this king. The poor were his friends; every day he fed three hundred, sometimes a thousand; on Holy Thursday, kneeling and in sackcloth, he washed their feet, and served them. HENRY I., 1031, was scarcely seated on the throne before Robert, his brother, was urged to assert his claims to the crown; but the king being triumphant, the other was contented to accept the duchy of Burgundy, which his descendants possessed until 1361. Another, but far less successful war, occupied the remainder of his reign. The Duke of Normandy, Robert the Devil, by whose aid Henry had been maintained on the throne, having died in 1035, while returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, left William the Bastard, afterwards the conqueror of England, to succeed him. The French king took advantage of the minority of the young prince to weaken his power; but no sooner had William reached man's estate, than he attacked his enemy and defeated him in. three battles, 1054. PHILIP I. succeeded his father in 1060, and commenced the longest reign which occurs in the French annals. His personal acts must be carefully separated from those which so highly characterized the chivalry of France during this period. He distinguished himself in several wars, but in his private life indulged in vices that drew upon him the censures of the church and the contempt of his subjects. He trafficked in holy matters, selling to the highest bidder the vacant benefices and sees. Gregory VII. menaced him with an interdict, but the pontiff's severity was exhausted in his German quarrel. He was afterwards successively excommunicated by two popes, at the councils of Autun and Clermont, on account of his divorce, but was eventually restored by the council of ELEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 243 Paris, held in 1104. The latter years of Philip's reign were passed in all the excitement of the First Crusade. He died in 1108. CAPETIAN DYNASTY: PORTION ]. Conrad Welf. Robert the Strong, or the.Jngevin, Hugh the Abbot, d. of France d. of France, 861-866. 866-886. EUDES, ct. of Paris, d. of France, 886; ROBERT I., d. 889; k. 922, t 923 k., 888-t 898. Emma. wife of RODOLPH of Burgundy Hugh the Great, d. of France, &c., q. of France, 923-936. No issue. 923-956, mi. Hedwige, sister of Otho the Great. HUGH CAPET, d. 956; Otho, d. of Bourges, Henry, d. of Bourges, k. 987-996. 956-963. 965-1002. (Both without issue.) ROBERT II., k. 996-1031, m. 1. Bertha of Burgundy. 2. Constance of Toulouse. - -------- - HENRY 1., d. of Burgundy, 1015; Robert, d. of Burgundy, 1032, stock k. 1031-1060; m. J.nne of Russia. of the first hereditary dukes. PHILIP 1., k. 1060-1108. Hugh the Great, ct. of Vermandois m. I. Bertha of Holland. and Valois, in right of his wife 2. Bertrade of Montfort. Adelaide (Branch extinct in the sixth generation.) Louis VI., the Fat, k. 1108. SPAIN. THE ALMORAVIDES.-Moorish Spain presented in every quarter the appearance of anarchy and dismemberment, at the very period when its existence was threatened by two formidable enemies: on the one side by Alphonso V., who, after uniting Galicia to the kingdoms of Leon and Castile, took possession of Toledo, Madrid, and Guadalaxara; on the other, by African tribes bent on a war of extermination. About the middle of the eleventh century, there appeared in Africa, beyond Mount Atlas, in the deserts of ancient Gaetulia, two tribes of Arab origin, known by the appellations of Gudala and Lamtuna. When these were converted to Islamism, they assumed the name of'Murabitins or Almoravides-that is, men of God. Excited by the enthusiasm of their new faith, they crossed the mountains; when the Arabs of the desert, uniting with the new people, founded the city of Morocco. Yus. suf was its first emir, and being summoned by Mohammed, sovereign of Cordova, made three expeditions into Spain; and, on learning the feebleness of all the petty kings, resolved to subject them to his power. In 1094, he succeeded in putting an end to all the Mohammedan states in the peninsula; but soon felt himself incapable of appropriating their territories as he had intended. It is true, however, he gained a few advantages over the Christians, and ravaged Catalonia after a terrible battle, in which, it is said, 30,000 men were slain. CHRISTIAN SPAIN.-With the death of Bermudes III., in 1037, the dynasty of the Kings of Leon expired, and this ancient sovereignty was united to Castile in the person of Ferdinand of Navarre, son of that 244 MIDDLE AGES. Garcia III. who, notwithstanding his great valour, was surnamed the Trembler. This family possessed the four Christian thrones of Spain, which were reduced to three, in 1038, by the death of Gonzales of Sobrarva. At this timte the Moors still possessed Andalusia, Granada, Murcia, part of New Castile, and all the seacoast from Barcelona to the mouth of the Tagus. The war with the infidels was renewed by the new King of Leon and Castile, whose frontiers were even extended to the Mondego, and the Arab princes of Saragossa, Toledo, Cordova, and Seville, were compelled to pay him tribute. On Ferdinand's death in 1065, his kingdom was divided among his three sons: Sancho had Castile; Alphonso, Leon and the Asturias; Garcia, a part of Portugal with Galicia. Little variety characterizes the history of these states until 1081, when Henry of Burgundy, a soldier of fortune, received the hand of Theresa, Alphonso's natural daughter, and, as dowry, whatever he could wrest from the Moors in Portugal. Other French knights were found in the Spanish armies, and on one occasion an auxiliary force crossed the Pyrenees to aid Alphonso, with whose assistance the Moors were driven into Andalusia. TIIE CID.-Although Capmany, with an excess of critical scepticism, throws doubts upon the existence of this warrior, it is not the less necessary to be acquainted with his history. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, surnamed Campeador (the battler), and Cid (chief), illustrated the reign of Ferdinand I., founder of the Castilian monarchy. He was born of a noble and ancient family at Burgos, and aided Don Sancho to deprive the brothers and sisters of the latter of the heritage which Ferdinand had left to them; but Sancho having, in 1072, been killed at Zamora, his brothers recovered their estates. The Cid shortly after falling into disgrace, retired from court, not to an inactive life, for with his own followers alone he took Alcazar, and maintained himself on a rock near the Guadalaviar, which still bears the name of Pena de el Cid. One of his most remarkable exploits was the siege of Toledo, which lasted twelve months, and attracted many cavaliers from Italy and France. From the number of French families which settled in that town, their privileges derived the name of Franchise. The Cid next conquered Valencia, which he governed with the authority of an independent sovereign. He died in 1099. ARABIAN EMPIRE. TURKISH CONQUESTS.-In 1038, an unsuccessful battle terminated the Ghaznevide dynasty, and the choice of the victorious Turks fell on Togrul-beg, founder of the family which bears the name of Seljukian. In the space of sixteen years he conquered Balkh, Carmania, Taberistan, and obeying the summons of the caliph, he overthrew the Bowides, whc had long reigned at Ispahan. Togrul next assumed the title of Emir a! Omra: seated behind a black curtain and holding the sceptre of the prophet, the Abbasside invested him with seven robes, gave him seven captives born in the seven climates which obeyed the Arab dominion, presented him the mystic veil, placed two crowns on his head, and girt him with two swords, to show that he was master both of the East and the West. Dying without children, he was succeeded by his nephew ELEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 245 Alp Arslan, in the title and prerogatives of sultan, 1063. The Valiant Lion, for such is the meaning of his name, gallantly attacked the Greek empire, and the provinces of Armenia and Georgia fell in three years. Romanus Diogenes bravely opposed him, but after a few trivial successes, was defeated and made prisoner, 1071. The fairest part of Asia submitted to Arslan; his throne was surrounded by 1200 princes, and guarded by 200,000 hardy warriors. He died in 1073, and on his tomb might be read the following inscription: —" 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, the eldest son of Alp, was victorious over all his competitors for the sovereignty, and extended his dominions from the Chinese frontier to Arabia and the neighbourhood of Constantinople. Twelve times this active monarch is said to have travelled through his vast kingdom. He embellished the cities of Asia with public buildings; revived and honoured the pursuits of literature; and by his reformation of the calendar, approximated nearly to the accuracy of the Gregorian style. The era named Gelalean (i. e. glory of the faith), from one of Malek's titles, is fixed to the 15th of March A. H. 471, A. D. 1079. The shah's death, in 1092, was preceded by the murder of the vizir Nizam, the wise and virtuous minister of two sovereigns. Thirty years' faithful service could not screen him from the attacks of faction, and at the age of ninety-three he fell beneath the dagger of a fanatic -the first victim of Hassan Sebek, the celebrated founder of the Assassins. With the son of Alp Arslan disappeared the unity of the empire. Barkiarok succeeded in Persia; but already three separate dynasties reigned in Carmania, Syria, and Iconium, which, though they had obeyed Malek-shah, became nearly independent at his death. The most powerful of these petty kingdoms was Roum, which had been founded by a prince of theroyal family in 1084. Towards the end of the tenth century Jerusalem had fallen under the power of the Turks, but access to its holy places was still, allowed to the Christians. In 1076, it was taken by the Turks, who insulted and oppressed the citizens and pilgrims during the twenty years that their domination lasted. The Caliph of Egypt obtained possession of it in 1096, but three years afterwards it was captured by the crusaders. BRITAIN. DANISH LINE.-Ethelred II., in the hope of freeing himself and his subjects from the odious tribute of Danegelt, plotted the massacre of every Dane within his kingdom. At the appointed time, 13th November 1002, the treacherous design was executed, but failed, as it merited, in its results. Sweyn reappeared with a numerous force, and after some years of hostility, compelled the native sovereign to take refuge in Normandy, and was himself proclaimed king of England, 1014. Edmund Ironside, 1016, struggled manfully for his father's crown, and was several times victorious over Canute, Sweyn's successor;but his death established the foreigner on the throne in 1017. This prince, justly named the Great, was affable, wise, and virtuous. By his marriage with Emma, Ethelred's widow, he conciliated the vanquished, and disarmed the Duke of Normandy, while the powerful Earl Godwin was 21* 246 MIDDLE AGES. gained over by receiving the hand of his daughter. His reproof of the flatteries addressed to him by his courtiers is well known, and throws a favourable light on his character. Preserving the authority of the laws, he added to their efficiency by other good institutions of his own; and effectually checked the incursions of the Scotch on the northern frontier. He composed songs which were sung alike by Danes and Saxons; and patronized the literature of the monks not less than the wild poems of the scalds. In 1030, he visited Rome as a pilgrim; and after a reign of twenty years, he died with a reputation inferior to no monarch of his age. He was succeeded by his sons Harold, 1036, and Hardicanute, 1039; on the death of the latter the crown returned to the ancient family, in the person of EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, 1041. The accession of the Danish kings had produced little change in England, since most of their followers had embraced Christianity, and assimilated themselves gradually to the natives, whose laws and language were not unlike their own. The mildness of Edward's character endeared him to his subjects, in spite of his Norman favourites; but his reign was disturbed by the rebellion of Godwin, earl-or governor of Kent, which was soon quelled, and by occasional hostilities with the Welsh and Scotch. In 1054, Siward, earl of Northumberland, and Macduff, earl of Fife, led an army against Macbeth, whose usurpation of the northern throne has been immortalized by the pen of Shakspeare. Edward died in 1066, and was buried in the magnificent church of St. Peter at Westminster, which he had rebuilt from its foundation, his subjects bewailing his loss like that of an affectionate parent. Harold, the son of Godwin, immediately claimed the sceptre, and procuring his election by the witan, to the prejudice of Edgar Etheling, the legitimate heir, was crowned in 1066. Two rivals, the king of Norway, and his own brother Tostig, now appeared to endanger his kingdom, but they were soon defeated. William, duke of Normandy, proved a more formidable competitor, founding his claim to the crown on the purpose, if not the testament, of Edward, and on the oath which Harold himself had made to promote the duke's succession to it. The king's reply was, that the promise had been extorted by violence, and that as he had been elected by the people, he would endeavour to show himself worthy of their choice. Each party immediately prepared for war, but it was unfortunate for Harold, that he had meanwhile to march against the Norwegian king, who had landed in the north of England. The two armies met at Stamford Bridge; and the ranks of the hostile cavalry having been broken, their leader was slain, and his army almost annihilated. In the midst of the rejoicings which followed this victory, the news was announced that the Normans had landed on the coast of Sussex. No sooner had William received the answer of Harold, and heard of his coronation, than he began to make vigorous preparations for invading England. Ships were immediately constructed, supplies collected from all the adjacent parts of the Continent, and volunteers from eirery quarter crowded to his camp at the mouth of the Dive, eager to share in the danger and plunder of the campaign. Unfavourable winds, and the loss of several vessels, depressed for a time the spirit of the adventurers. At length the favourable moment arrived; and quitting St. Valery with seven hundred ships, he landed at Pevensey, 28th September 1066. thither Harold flew with all the forces he could muster, and at a place ELEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 247 called Senlac, about nine miles from Hastings, was fought the battle th& decided his fate. From an early hour until sunset the fight was continued with varying success, until the king fell pierced with an arrow and his soldiers fled panic-stricken from the field. It was ordained (says Turner), by the supreme Director of events, that England should no longer remain insulated from the rest of Europe; but should for its own benefit and the improvement of 9ankind, become connected with the affairs of the Continent. The Anglo-Saxon dynasty was therefore terminated; and a sovereign, with great continental possessions, was led to the English throne. By the consequences of this revolution, England acquired that interest, and established that influence in the transactions and fortunes of its neighbours, which have continued to the present day, with equal advantages to its inhabitants and to Europe." THE NORMAN CONQUEST, 1066.-WILLIAM I. did not even yet succeed to the crown without further struggle. Edgar, surnamed Etheling or the Illustrious, who had been nominated king on the death of Harold, was supported by the Londoners and others; but disunion and disaffection prevented them from taking advantage of William's delay in marching upon the capital. At length, when he appeared before the city, after devastating all the surrounding country, a deputation of the inhabitants waited upon him with an offer of the crown, which was accepted, and the festival of Christmas appointed for the coronation. The Saxon chiefs, Edwin and Morcar, whose fatal retreat into their northern provinces had led to the surrender of London, being now overawed by the additional power which the invader had acquired by his possession of the capital and his title of king, took the customary oaths of submission. Meanwhile the Normans were almost wholly engaged in dividing the riches of the conquered territory. Commissioners overran all the country that was in the power of their army, making inventories of every kind of property, public and private; inscribing and enregistering each article with the greatest care. Particular inquiries were made as to the names of the individuals who died in battle under Harold, of such as had survived, as well of those who had been prevented, by what cause soever, from joining his standard. All those persons or their heirs were deprived of their possessions; and the immense proceeds of this universal spoliation were the pay of the adventurers who had been enrolled in William's host. He himself retained for his own share all the treasures of the ancient kings, the church-plate, and the most precious of the articles found in the warehouses of the merchants. The barons and knights received vast domains, castles, villages, and even entire towns, while the vassals were rewarded by smaller portions. Towers and strong places arose in every direction; all the natives were disarmed, and compelled to swear obedience to their new sovereign. To overawe the city of London, the conqueror took up his abode in the Tower, which he enlarged and strengthened; here he raised his dreaded banner bearing the three lions, and similar ensigns floated over two new castles towards the west of the city. The name of Saxon became a term of reproach, and during a whole century not one individual of this race was elevated to any civil or ecclesiastical dignity. Even their language and alphabetical characters were rejected as barbarous; in the schools, French only was allowed to be taught; the Norman idiom was employed in all legal acts 248 MIDDLE AGES. until the reign of Edward III.; and some slight traces of it may be found at the present day. The victor having thus secured his conquest, returned to his dukedom to receive the felicitations of his Norman subjects; and during his absence, the Saxons, incensed by the arrogant government of his vice. roys, rose in arms. Their revolt however was of brief duration; for hastily returnirn he attacked Exeter, the stronghold of the insurgents, and took it after a siege of eighteen days. While all hopes of independence were thus gradually crushed in the West, the extensive provinces of the North offered an asylum to the friends of liberty. Edgar had early taken refuge with Malcolm Canmore, king of Scotland, by whom he was received as legitimate sovereign, and whose alliance was firmly assured by his marriage with Margaret, the youngest sister of the English prince. William did not wait for his antagonists to begin the campaign, but resolutely marching northwards, defeated all who opposed him, cruelly devastating the whole country, at the cost, it is said, of more than a hundred thousand lives. Malcolm was soon obliged to submit, and consent to hold certain portions of his kingdom as a vassal of the English crown, while Edgar, the last male descendant of Cerdic, was compelled to seek a reconciliation with the victor, 1072. The conqueror next turned his attention to the organization of his government, and as his power depended on the sword alone, all grants and fiefs were burdened with the condition of furnishing, whenever required, a certain number of horsemen completely armed; and by this regulation, called the knights' service, the king was enabled to raise in a brief space an army of 60,000 cavalry. The tenants of the crown exacted a similar and proportional service from their dependants. All the followers of William were noble, in right of their victory and foreign birth. After himself, in point of rank, stood the governor of the province, or count; next to him his lieutenant or viscount (vice-count); then came the different ranks of soldiers, namely, barons, knights, and esquires or sergeants. A general survey was made of England, the particulars of which were inserted in the DOMESDAY BOOK, or Book of Judgment. From this account and other equally credible sources, we learn that the daily revenue amounted to 1061 pounds weight of silver, or nearly one million and a quarter sterling per annum; an enormous sum, when we consider that the value of this metal was perhaps ten times as great as it is at present. Robert, William's eldest son, and the Norman lords, took advantage of the absence of their sovereign to revolt. From 1078 to 1084, the king conducted several expeditions into France, reduced Manceaux, and defeated the prince, 1079; but the latter again took up arms, on the pretence that the duchy of Normandy fell to him immediately upon his father becoming the sovereign of a foreign nation. He was supported by the king of France, who could not regard without uneasiness the exaltation of his vassal. This was the origin of a long series of wars between the two countries, during which, as the conqueror was march-. ing towards Paris, an accident caused his death, 1087. In the previous year, a total failure of the harvest in England, and a malignant disorder, carried off many thousands of the inhabitants. WILLIAM RUFUS, 1087, the second son, took possession of his father's ELEVENTH CENTURY A. D. 249 throne, not however without resistance, for revolts broke out in several parts of the country, which were put down by the aid of the Saxons, who flocked to the royal standard. Normandy was at this time in a troubled state, owing to the bad government of Robert, who, after two invasions from England, resigned the administration of his kingdom to his brother for ten thousand marks, with which sum he raised a body of troops and embarked for the CRUSADES. Rufus governed his subjects with a rod of iron; and his treasury, soon exhausted by his prodigality, was replenished by the most unscrupulous means. Taxes and fines were imposed on the liberty of hunting, while a transgression of many of the forest-laws was made punishable with death. It was this king, also, who established the " benefit of clergy," by virtue of which, all persons capitally convicted, saved their lives by proving that they could read-a most convincing proof of the rarity of such an accomplishment. William, who had now become odious to his people, was shot in the New Forest of Hampshire, whether acoidentally or by design, is uncertain, 2d August 1100. MALCOLM CANMORE. —In 1091, William entered Scotland to revenge an invasion by Malcolm, whom he compelled to do homage for the southern counties. The Scottish king and his eldest son perished in battle at the siege of Alnwick castle, 1093, when the throne was seized by Donald Bane, who in a few months was deposed by Duncan, an illegitimate son of Malcolm's; and he, in his turn, was cut off by Malpeder, Maormor or Earl of the Mearns. THE CHURCH. The Roman bishops had long been desirous of extending the Christian religion into the countries occupied by the Mohammedans; but the troubles of Europe prevented them from directing a full share of their attention to that object. A favourable opportunity, however, occurred at the end of this century, and Peter the Hermit preached a holy war throughout Christendom. The papal power and corruption had now nearly attained their height. Benedict IX. was so disorderly in his conduct, that even the Italians degraded him from his office in 1038, and again in 1044. Leo IX., a pope of a different character, was not the least deserving of those who obtained the name of saint. His regulations for correcting and punishing the enormous vices of the clergy may be held as some criterion of the corrupt state of the church. GREGORY VII., Hildebrand, who was the first pontiff elected by the college of cardinals, 1073, was a man in every way suited to maintain the cause of the Roman see, his chief object being the attainment of worldly gain and authority. While he disputed with the emperor for power, he contended with human reason in support of the doctrine of transubstantiation, and with the clergy for the enforcement of celibacy; a practice that had early been introduced into the Christian church from the Jewish Essenes, and the philosophical sect of the Gnostics. He lbegan by excommunicating some of the ministers of the Emperor Henry IV., on the pretence of simony, and then denied to the sovereign the right of investiture by the ring and crosier; maintaining that the estates of the bishops might be conferred by a layman, but that those emblems )f spiritual power could only be bestowed by the vicar of Christ. The 250 MIDDLE AGES. resistance of Henry led to the deposition of the pope by the council of Worms; when Gregory in his turn excommunicated the king, and released his subjects from their allegiance, 1076. His majesty obtained an absolution from this sentence by sitting at the pope's gate three days barefooted, and clad in coarse woollen. Retreading his steps, he not only subdued the German rebellion, but also -banished the refractory pontiff, and commanded himself to be crowned in Rome by the antipope Guibert (Clement III.), 1084. Gregory expired, the year following, at Salerno, saying, "I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore do I die in exile." Towards the beginning of this century the Hungarians were converted, and their king, Stephen, received the title of "Apostolic" from the pope. In France, Berenger, archdeacon of Angers, openly attacked the new opinions on the eucharist, for which he was twice threatened with excommunication: while at Constantinople, the patriarch Cerularius resisted the claims of the Bishop of Rome to the chief rank and authority among the faithful, 1053. TRANSUBSTANTIATION.-This most astonishing doctrine arose from taking a figure of speech in a literal sense. According to the Romish church, when the words of consecration have been pronounced by the priest, the bread, and every fragment into which it is again broken, become the actual body of flesh and blood in which our Redeemer suffered upon the cross,- remaining bread to the sight, touch, and taste, yet ceasing to be so. Of all the corruptions of pure Christianity, this last was the slowest in being adopted. It was first proposed in 831 by Radbert, afterwards abbot of Corbey; but it was not declared the doctrine of the church until 1215. When the question was first brought before Hildebrand, he not only inclined to the principle of Berenger, by whom it was opposed, 1079, but pretended to consult the Virgin Mary, who, he asserted, had pronounced against it. It was finally declared by Innocent III. to be a tenet necessary to salvation. LA CHARTREUSE. —In the midst of the troubles which at this time agitated the church, there arose a new order of solitaries, who, by holiness of life, mortification, and prayer, at once edified the people and honoured religion. St. Bruno, founder of the order of Chartreuse, was born at Cologne of distinguished parents; and soon became so skilful in theology, that he passed for one of the most learned doctors of the age. While filling a distinguished station in the cathedral of Rheims, he suddenly formed the resolution of withdrawing into solitude. With some of his friends, in whom he had inspired similar feelings, he retired into the desert of the Chartreuse, in the diocese of Grenoble, whither the report of their sanctity quickly attracted a number of imitators. St. Bruno himself was invited to Rome by Urban II.; but the disorders which he beheld there soon disgusted him, and he retired into Calabria, where he founded a monastery, in which he died. The regulations of the order are still preserved with the same strictness as when first drawn up. Each brother has a separate cell; they live upon the plainest food, and that in small quantities; and only the Sabbath is spent in each other's society. Their clothing is simple and coarse; sackcloth is worn next the skin; all gold and silver ornaments are expressly forbidden, even in their religious services, with the exception of a silver chalice used in the sacrament. They observe the strictest-silence, cornmunicating only by signs, and support themselves by the labour of their hands. TRUCE OF GOD.-In these ages, when a country was it peace with its neighbours, it was liable to be disturbed by private wars, individuals taking upon themselves the right of deciding their own quarrels. In consequence of the confusion which this caused, it was enacted by the council of Clermont, that from sunset on Wednesday to sunrise on Monday, in every week, the Truce of God should be observed on pain of excommunication. But the same council also published a canon, which has ever since produced the most disastrous ELEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 251 effects wherever Romanism is tolerated or established: namely, that "no bishop or priest shall promise upon oath liege obedience to any king or layman." TRADITION.-With the decay and corruption of the Latin language, the Latin version of the Holy Scriptures had become useless to the people; and the Roman see exerted its power in proscribing the use of such vernacular translations as existed. This was done in the consciousness that what was then taught as Christianity was not to be found in the written word of God.* Vague unwritten tradition, the artifice of the early heretics, was used instead, on the assumption that many things had been revealed which had not been committed to writing. Thus, like the Pharisees, the Romish clergy corrupted the ritual and faith of the Western Church. Gregory VII. issued the first of these prohibitions, refusing to the Bohemians the liberty of performing the service in Sclavonic. THE CRUSADES. PETER THE HERMIT.-During many centuries the devout Christians of all countries had gratified their curiosity or excited their piety by laborious pilgrimages to the Holy Land, the theatre of the mission and sufferings of our Blessed Lord. When at length Palestine fell under the dominion of the Saracens-and still later, when the Turkish hordes overran it,-these visits became more dangerous, and perhaps, on that very account, more numerous. The humble and defenceless palmers were treated with the greatest contumely; and, becoming victims of private rapine or public oppression, they often sank within sight of the object for which they had encountered innumerable perils. Their piteous tale of suffering excited the sympathy of Christendom, when the letters of Alexius and the eloquence of Peter the Hermit set fire " to that inflammable mass of enthusiasm that pervaded Europe." The zealous apostle of the Holy War had been himself an eyewitness of the sufferings of the natives and pilgrims of Palestine.t Sylvester II. and Gregory VII. had meditated a European armament against Asia; but the glory of the enterprise was reserved for Urban It. At the council of Clermont, 1095, the listening thousands shouted with one voice, " it is the will of God," and impressed on their garments the sign of the cross. Their numbers were increased by the offer of a plenary indulgence, extending to past as well as future crimes. Who would hesitate, when the crown of martyrdom was allotted to those who fell. The departure of the expedition had been fixed for the 15th August 1096; but b.efore that period arrived, a thoughtless crowd of both sexes issued from France with Peter at their head, and Walter the Penniless as his lieutenant; other bands of enthusiasts followed, one in particular being under the guidance of a goose and a goat.: Their earliest exploits * The practice of Rome has not changed with the times. In 1817, a papal brief, ad. dressed to the Polish primate, was issued against Bible Societies, describing them as a vaferrimum inventum, pestem quoadfieri potest delendam. t M. Pouqueville does not consider Peter as a mere enthusiast; he shows that he was employed by the Frank merchants settled in Palestine, to plead their cause at the court of the French monarch, and point out the danger to which their commerce was exposed from the ferocity of the Seljukian Turks, who had overthrown the Saracenic empire.Mem. de l'lnstitut. tom. x. t Mr. W. Billings, in his account of the Temple Church (London, 1838), thinks these to be allegorical Manichee or Gnostic standards. " The goose in Egyptian symbols meant Divine Son, or Son of God. The goat meant Typhon or the Devil. Thus we have the Manichee opposing principles of good and evil as standards, at the head of the ignorant mob of crusading invaders. Can any one doubt that a large portion of this host must have been infected with Manichee or Gnostic idolatry?"-P. 5. 252 MIDDLE AGES. were against the Jews, thousands of whom along the Rhine and the Moselle were pillaged and slain. The first party under Walter passed cafe through Hungary; but were attacked, and one-third of their number slain, in Bulgaria. Peter, who followed with 40,000 men, seeing on the walls of Semlin the clothes of sixteen crusaders who had been impaled, took a cruel revenge, massacring all the prisoners he could make. No sooner had they reached Constantinople, and recovered from their fatigues, than'their riotous behaviour compelled Alexius to hasten their passage across the strait. They soon fell an easy prey to Soliman on the plains of Nice; and 300,000 perished before one single place was rescued from the infidels. FIRST CRUSADE.-A disciplined army was now assembled under Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond of Toulouse, and Hugh the Great of Vermandois; and breaking up their encampment in 1096, they marched by three different routes for Constantinople, where they all met within nine months. Their numbers and discipline excited the fears of the emperor, who skilfully extricating himself from every difficulty, saw all of them at length across the Bosphorus. At a grand muster on the plains of Bithynia next year, 100,000 armed knights were counted, the flower of European chivalry; and the total number has been raised to 600,000, not including priests, women, and children. The city of Nice, after an obstinate assault, fell into their hands; and one fiercely contested battle at Dorylaeum decided the fate of Asia Minor. A fatiguing march under a burning sun, during which they suffered intolerable thirst, conducted those iron-clad warriors to Antioch. The siege being formed about the middle of October, the town yielded to treachery at the end of seven months: but the victors, in their turn, were attacked at once by the garrison in the citadel and by an innumerable army of Turks or Arabians. During twenty-five days, the Christians were on the verge of destruction; till, taking courage from despair, they sallied out and annihilated the besieging host, 1098. Famine and pestilence now made deep ravages among them: the Count of Flanders was reduced to beg a dinner, and Duke Geoffrey is said to have borrowed a horse. But the fainting spirits of the army were in due time revived by the cunning of a priest and the policy of the chiefs. St. Andrew had thrice appeared to Peter Bartholomew, for the purpose of revealing the place where the steel head of the lance that pierced the side of our Redeemer lay concealed. He was told to seek it and use it as a banner, and to assure the leaders of. the expedition that under that mystic weapon they could not fail to march to victory. The HOLY LANCE was discovered, and dazzled the eyes or the imagination of a fanatical multitude. After a delay of ten months, caused by intemperance and distress, the army, diminished to 40,000, began their march to Jerusalem, which was taken after a siege of six weeks, in 1099, about 460 years after its conquest by Omar. Three days were spent in promiscuous slaughter: 70,000 Moslems were put to the sword; the Jews were burnt in their synagogues; and a multitude of unfortunate captives still remained to gratify the avarice of the conquerors. "The holy sepulchre was now free; and the bloody victors prepared to accomplish their vow. Bareheaded and barefooted, with contrite hearts, and in an humble posture, they ascended the Hill of Calvary, amidst the loud anthems of the clergy; kissed the stone which had covered the Saviour of the world; and ELEVENTH CENTURY A.D. 253 oedewed with tears of joy and penitence the monument of their redemption." The unanimous voice of the army elected GODFREY king of Jerusalem, 1099, but he refused to accept the title, or to wear a crown of gold in that city in which hig Redeemer had been crowned with thorns. He was scarcely seated on the throne, with the title of Baron of the Holy Sepulchre, when he was summoned to the field by the approach of the Sultan of Erypt with an army of more than 300,000 men. The total rout of the Tatter on the field of Ascalon completely established the Latin kingdom in Syria, which, by the arms of Godfrey and the two Baldwins, soon equalled in extent the dominions of the ancient monarchs of Judah and Israel. The laws, language, and feudal jurisprudence of the Franks were introduced; the orders of the knights of the Hospital of St. John, and of the Temple of Solomon, were foundedthe firmest bulwarks of the Christian power. Read: Mill's History of the Crusades; or, Michaud. GENERAL TABLE OF THE CRUSADES. FIRST CRUSADE. Date. I KinPopes, Events Causes. Results. A. D. e to A. D. - Prepare: A similar table for each crusade. Particulars may be found in Gibbon, and the authors just named. CHIVALRY. The extravagances of chivalry long caused the institution itself to be regarded as an example of the caprice and absurdity of the human mind. The historian of the order traces its rise to the eleventh century, and to the aggrandizement of the French barons at the commencement of the third or Capetian race. Every noble in his castle emulated the pomp of his sovereign; in each district the ceremony of a court was maintained, which became a school of manners where the high-born youth received their education. At the age of twentyone, they were eligible to the honourable distinction of knighthood. Respect for the gentler sex, and the influence of the Christian religion, contributed to form the character of the young knight. He appears as a man actuated by a daring and martial spirit, seeking his reward in the approbation of the ladies, to one of whom, as to a superior being, the object of his early choice, he was bound to communicate every thought and action. The tournaments, mockfights between selected individuals, date from a very early period, but their latter form must be ascribed to the regulations of Geoffrey of Preuilli, 10f6. Here throngs of knights and barons bold In weeds of peace high triumph hold, With store of ladies, whose bright eyes Rain influence, and judge the prize Of wit or arms. MILTON. 22 254 MIDDLE AGES. The peacock, pheasant, and swan, were regarded as emblems of the parade and pride of chivalry, and reverenced with such religious veneration that the knight was sometimes bound by an oath made to his Creator, to the Virgin, to the ladies, and to one of these birds. But while the laws of chivalry breathed nothing but religion, virtue, honour, and humanity, the times were marked by profligacy, violence, and barbarism. It flourished during these centuries of returning order, having appeared when the worst period of barbarism had gone by, and society was beginning to assume a regular form. It gradually gave way to the chivalry of modern Europe, as mankind became capable of conducting themselves agreeably to reasonable principles of action. STATE OF THE WORLD AT THE EPOCH OF THE CRUSADES, FROM 1096 TO 1273. ROME and GERMANY were the dominant powers of the West: both assumed the right of creating kings, to which the former added that of deposing them. The quarrel of investitures, begun by Henry IV. and Gregory VII., set Europe in flames. The nobles took this opportunity of securing their independence; anarchy reigned in the cities; and the fields were ravaged by undisciplined bands of armed men. FRANCE began to assume a more tranquil position, the number of states being greatly diminished; but there still remained several powerful vassals. The Dukes of Normandy, become more formidable since the conquest of England, had subjected the sovereigns of Brittany; and the Dukes of Aqul. taine reigned over the vast territory lying between the Loire and the Pyrenees, the Cevennes and the Ocean. The greater part of Languedoc obeyed the Counts of Toulouse; those of Flanders added to their possession of that fertile country the submission of their neighbours; and the Counts of Champagne enjoyed that rich part of France which still bears the name. The Dukes of Burgundy, attached to the monarchy by the closest ties of blood, governed from the banks of the Loire to the Straits of Dover. In SPAIN two kings were the terror of the Moors: Sancho, who united Navarre to Aragon; and Alphonso of Castile, who gradually extended his southern frontier. Meanwhile, the new Count of Portugal planted the bannei of Christianity on the banks of the Tagus. ENGLAND, under the resolute conqueror William, was at once oppressed by his exactions and strengthened by his prudence. Bohemia, increased by the conquest of Poland, became a remarkable power, and sided with the Emperor, who had conferred the regal title on its chiefs. Hungary, in a weaker state, supported the interests of the pope, who had given its princes a crown. Poland was one wide scene of confusion, under dukes without talent and without authority. Sweden, Denmark, and Russia were still in obscurity. Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily, reunited under the warlike Normans, were respected in the West, being at once the terror of the Greek empire, and the protectors of Italy. THE GREEK EMPIRE, long tending towards its fall, and undermined by ali the evils which can destroy a state, was still preserved by the extreme prudence and sagacity of Alexius Comnenus. Venice and Genoa were the only maritime powers of the West; but, rivals in navigation and commerce, they began to view each other with jealousy, and to nourish in secret the seeds of those quarrels which eventually proved fatal to both. The Caliphs of Bagdad were deprived of all but their sacerdotal power; their empire was under the dominion of the TURKS. Five thrones in Asia were filled by these warriors:-1. Persia, whose sultan reigned supreme from Armenia to the Indus;-2. Antioch and Syria;-3. Damascus and Palestine;4. Cilicia and the adjacent provinces;-5. Nice, the seat of Soliman, governor of Bithynia. —The Caliphs of Cairo with difficulty maintained themselves upon the throne of Egypt; the ll~iramolins of Africa were subdued by the Kings of Morocco, who protected the Saracen power in Spain, and were the greatest obstacle to the Castilian monarchs. Construct: A map of the world at this period, with the necessary explanations in lateral columns. TWELFTH CENTURI A.D. 255 TWELFTI CENTURY. GREEK EMPIRE.-1118, Armenia recovered.-1143, Manuel I.-1185, House of Angelo.-Mourzoufle. THE EAST.-1117, Sangiar.-1118, Knights of St. John of Jerusalem-Knights Templars.-1127, Attabeks.-1171, SALADIN.-1187, Jerusalem taken by Saladin.-1191, Crusaders take Acre.-1191, Old Man of the Mountain. ITALY.-1144, Arnold of Brescia.-1158, Diet of Roncaglia.-Podesta.-1174, Battle of Legnano.-Guelfs and Ghibellines.-1183, Treaty of Constance. GERMANY.-1122, Concordat.-1138, Swabian Line-Guelfs and Ghibellines.1152, Barbarossa.-1194, Conquest of Naples. FRANCE..-1108, Rise of Civil Corporations.-1113, Wars with England begun. -1180, Philip Augustus-Parliament. SPAIN.-Alphonso VI. of Castile.-1139, Alphonso, first king of Portugal1150, Commoners in the Cortes, Aragon.-Military Orders. BRITAIN.-1100, Henry Beauclerc-First Charter.-1135, Stephen.-1138, Battle of the Standard.-1154, Plantagenets.-1164, Constitutions of Clarendon. -1172, Invasion of Ireland.-1189, Richard Cceur de Lion. CHURCH.-1154, Adrian IV.-Abbey of Fontevraud.-The Carmelites.-1147, Second Ciusade.-1189, Third Crusade. LITERATURE. - Anna Comnena. - Eustathius. - Chroniclers in England. - Abelard, d.-Bernard of Cldirvaux, d.-Peter the Lombard.-University of Cambridge. GREEK EMPIRE. MANUEL I.-JOHN COMNENUS, who had recovered Armenia from the Turks and driven back the Scythians to their deserts, perished by a poisoned arrow, while meditating the extension of his empire to the Euphrates, 1143. He was succeeded by MANUEL, whose adventures resemble a tale of knight errantry, and which have caused him to be ranked with the chivalrous Richard of England and Charles of Sweden. His lance and shield could scarcely be lifted by the strongest man. At one time he cut his way alone, without a wound, through a squadron of 500 Turks; and in a battle against the Hungarians he was the first who passed the bridge which separated him from the enemy. In one day he slew forty barbarians with his own hand, and returned to the camp dragging after him four gigantic Turks, fastened to his saddle-bow. B.ut he was wanting in sagacity to improve his victories, for though, like Alcibiades, he was in war a pattern of endurance to his soldiers, in peace he spent the time in luxury and licentious pleasure. Still he so far succeeded in maintaining the dignity of the empire as to reduce the Servians, while he supported the Crusaders in their expedition against Egypt. ANDRONICUS.-ALEXIUS II., a minor, who succeeded in 1180, held the sceptre only three years, under the regency of his mother. The state of the frontiers required a vigorous sovereign, and ANDRONICUS was raised to the purple by a successful revolt. This emperor had signalized himself in the Turkish war by his bravery and remarkable adventures, but the more interesting part of his life begins with his imprison 256 MIDDLE AGES. ment for a treasonable correspondence with the King of Hungary. Twelve years had passed, when accident discovered a long-forgotten recess into which he crept, when the guards supposed he had fled. His wife being suspected of aiding in his flight, was imprisoned in the same dungeon, and with her he shared his scanty provisions. At length, after one unsuccessful attempt, he escaped from the cell, and found an asylum in Russia. The exile was soon after pardoned and restored to his country, only to be removed to the more honourable banishment of the defence of the Cilician frontier; but, having offended Manuel, he was forced to flee, and finally settled among the Turks of Asia Minor. After a space, however, he obtained leave to throw himself at the feet of his sovereign, who was satisfied with this submission of a brave and haughty spirit. The youth and inexperience ofAlexius II., Manuel's successor, opened a fair field for his ambition; and he was loudly summoned by the public voice to end the civil war now violently raging ir the streets of the capital, 1183. No sooner was his power confirmed than he began to exhibit a singular contrast of vice and virtue. His personal enemies he persecuted without mercy, while in other respects he was the father of his people. A narrative of his horrid cruelties would be less characteristic of his reign, than the term " halcyon days" given to a week of peace and happiness. Some have supposed that his severities originated in a deep-laid plan for regenerating the empire, to effect which, it was necessary to exterminate the factious and dissolute nobles of Byzantium. However we may now excuse his tyranny on the plea of necessity, his subjects could make no such calculation; and wearied out by their calamities, they burst into sedition, placing ISAAC II. at their head. Andronicus struggled in vain against the infuriated mob; and soon falling into their hands, he was torn to pieces in 1185. His death was a fatal blow to the Greek empire. Isaac Angelus won golden opinions from his subjects by his lenity and moderation; but after being successful in some of his foreign expeditions, he had to defend his capital against one of his generals, Branas, who was defeated and killed by Conrad of Montferrat. The emperor next directing the whole strength of his army to oppose the march of Frederic Barbarossa, his treacherous conduct met with the fate it deserved, and he was obliged to make peace on dishonourable terms, 1189. While amusing himself with his buffoons, or engaged in the gross delights of the table, his brother, ALEXIUS III. was unanimously invested with the purple, 1195; but a change of masters did not bring a change of conduct, for the new monarch equalled his predecessor in dissoluteness of life. The son of Isaac had escaped into Italy, and persuaded the leaders of the fourth Crusade to aid in raising him to the' throne, engaging to unite the Greek and Roman churches, and to contribute funds for the war. Alexius resisted in vain; Constantinople fell into the hands of the crusaders; and the blind Isaac was recalled from a prison to a throne, 1203. But dissension soon re-appearing, the Greeks and Latins fought three days; and ALEXIUS V., Mourzoufle, having deposed the empero' and his son, shortly after murdered them. In this instance guilt overreached itself, for the crusaders avenged the cause of the late monarch, and Constantinople was given up to pillage in 1204. The misery of the Greeks on the ruin of their city cannot be described; the sanctity TWELFTH CENTURY A. D. 257 of the churches and graves was violated; the arts have to lament the destruction of the choicest sculptures in marble or in brass; and the scholar to regret the loss of some of the noblest remains of Greek learning. THE EAST. THE ATTABEKs.-The history of the Mohammedans in this century is almost that of the crusades.'he Seljukian dynasty had flourished and was now doomed to perish like its predecessors, for Sangiar was the last of his race, 1117. Meantime the mayors of the palace again appeared in the East; the Attabeks or father princes, who were governors of towns, made themselves independent in their respective provinces. Zenghi, 1127, fought thirty campaigns with various success; drove the Franks from beyond the Euphrates; and the martial but uncivilized mountain-tribes of Kurdistan were overawed by the governor of Aleppo and Mosul. Noureddin, his son,1145, reigned from the Tigris to the Nile; and the Latins were compelled to acknowledge the wisdom, courage, and frugality of this faithful servant of the Abbassides. " Noureddin," exclaimed an oppressed man, " where art thou now t Arise from the dead; arise, to pity and protect us!"-The reconquest of Egypt from the Fatimites was the work of time, as they were assisted by the Frank army of Jerusalem, 1163. Three sanguinary campaigns were shortly after followed by the deposition of the caliphs, and Egypt exchanged the green colour of Ali for the black banner of the Abbassides. The famous SALADIN was elected governor of Egypt by the universal acclamations of the army, 1171, and he soon contrived to make himself independent. Before his death he had extended his power beyond the valley of the Nile from Tripoli to the Tigris, and from the Armenian mountains to the Indian Ocean. In 1187, he invaded Palestine with an army of 80,000 men, gained the decisive victory of Tiberias, and took Jerusalem after a short siege. These events gave rise, in less than two years, to the THIRD CRUSADE, in which he contended so successfully against the valour of the lionhearted Richard and the craft of Philip, that he was enabled to negotiate for peace on favourable terms. The reign of this great leader was terminated by death, and his vast dominions were divided, in the reign of the Caliph Naser, 1193. ITALY. The events of the preceding century had gradually undermined the authority of the emperors in this peninsula, although their title had never ceased to be acknowledged. Frederick Barbarossa, the greatest military commander of the age, was ambitious of regaining all the power and privileges of the Iron Crown.* He appeared in Italy at the head of a well-appointed army to support his claims, and after a brief delay caused by the diet of Roncaglia, 1158, by the hostility of Pope Adrian IV., and by the punishment of a few small rebellious towns, he laid siege to Milan, which he captured and rased to the ground, 1162. * The iron crown of Lombardy is described by St. Marc as having the gold bordered with a rim of iron. It was, with two others, presented to the church of Monza, where the first Lombard prince had abjured Arianism, A. D. 591. 22* 258 MIDDLE AGES. The Lombard cities were now subjected to a podesta, always a strangers and who held his extensive powers during the pleasure of the emperor. But when fortune is at the lowest, it must change for the better: a secret league formed by those communities, encouraged by Alexander III., by Venice, and by the Greek court, overturned the fabric of absolute power, and Frederick fled in disguise from the decisive field of Legnano, 1174. A truce of six years followed, the terms of which were not unfavourable to the allies. On its expiration, the treaty of Constance,'1183, secured the peace and liberty of the Italian republics. Bit dissension and hatred soon began to appear among the confederated cities; and the factions of the Guelfs and Ghibellines again subjected them to the German sway. ARNOLD OF BRESCIA. —Arnold, the author of what was aptly named the heresy of politicians, after his return from France, where he had studied under the celebrated Abelard, preached at Brescia against the corruption and ambition of the clergy, 1139. Being condemned by the council of the Lateran, he was compelled to retire to Zurich, where he taught without restraint. At the end of five years, he returned triumphant to Rome, within the walls of which he lived protected by the senate, and applauded by the people. At last, to gratify the pontiff, he was delivered up by Frederick in 1155, and expiated at the stake the dangerous errors he had inculcated. VENICE.-The crusades, which gave such an impulse to all the restless spirits of the west of Europe, were not unfelt by the Venetians, who sent a fleet of 200 vessels to share in the first of these expeditions. The siege of Jaffa was raised through the dispersion of the Saracens by the Doge Micheli, who, after paying a visit to Jerusalem, distinguished his homeward voyage by the sack of Rhodes, and the temporary occupation of other isles of the Archipelago. MARRIAGE OF THE ADRIATIC.-When Frederick Barbarossa attempted to subject the rich communities of Lombardy, Pope Alexander took refuge in Venice. The emperor violently demanded that he should be given up, but received a severe defeat from Ziani, who destroyed fortyeight sail of the German fleet in 1177. The pontiff accompanied the triumphal procession which went forth to congratulate the victor. "Take this ring, Ziani," said the pope, "and present it to the sea as a testimony of your dominion over it. Let your successors annually perform the same ceremony, that posterity may know your valour purchased such a prerogative, and subjected this element to you,-as a bridegroom is husband and lord over the bride whom he has chosen." The donation of a consecrated rose is also said to have crowned these allegorical nuptials. GERMANY. HENRY V.-As soon as Henry mounted the paternal throne in 1106, he declared that he would never abandon the rights of investiture and homage; asserting his pretensions in still plainer terms than those which had led to his father's melancholy death. Paschal II. wished to decide the question by reducing the church to the poverty of apostolic ages, and by causing the clergy of all ranks to subsist on the alms of the faithful. Such a proposition was treated as heretical by the bishops, TWELFTH CENTURY A. D. 259 and the war recommenced. It was carried on during several years with various changes; but at last Henry, who was shaken by the terrors of excommunication, and the threatening attitude of the German princes, signed with the pope the famous concordat of Worms, 1122, in which the emperor renounced the investiture by the ring and crosier, the symbols of spiritual authority, and retained his right over the temporalities of the several dioceses. Henry expired three years after this transaction. GUELFS AND G HIBELLINES.-The Franconian line became extinct with Henry V., and as the Germans were exhausted by their efforts to establish an hereditary monarchy, they raised to the throne a friend of the church, Lothaire, duke of Saxony, 1125. The new emperor, submissive in all things to the clergy, renounced the prerogatives guaranteed by the diet of Worms. His successor was CONRAD, the first of the Swabian family, 1138; and in the disputes which raised him to the crown began the deadly feuds of the Guelfs and Ghibellines. The origin of these famous names is singular. A battle was fought in 1140 by the generals of Conrad against Welf, duke of Bavaria, whose name was the war-cry of his army; that of the imperialists was Wibelung, a town in Franconia, whence the emperors of that line are said to have sprung. Hence the corruption Ghibelline came in Germany to signify a partisan of the emperor, and Guelf, an adherent of the great vassals, or in Italy, of the pope. The reigning family of England is descended from this latter house, which traces its ancestry to the reign of Charlemagne, and even as far back as to the invasion of Attila. BARBAROSSA.-Frederick Barbarossa, 1152, who endeavoured to acquire a real authority in Italy, found two great obstacles-the pope, and the towns of the north which had revived the spirit and political feelings of the Greek republics. At the invitation of his holiness and of many of the smaller Lombard cities, he entered Italy, and punished the Milanese. After restoring Adrian IV., and putting into his hands Arnold of Brescia, who had recalled the shadow of Roman liberty, Frederick, twice master of the imperial city, was crowned emperor in the capitol. His warfare with the republics was carried on with varied success, till at length he made peace with the Lombards on terms most advantageous to them, although in the form of an edict, issued at the diet held at Constance, 1183. By this he granted to the towns the rights which they had exercised, and recognised the validity of all the usages prevailing among them. His career was closed at the head of 150,000 men whom he was leading to the Holy Land. Having conquered all the enemies he met, the way to Syria lay open before him, but when he arrived on the banks of the Selef (Calycadinus), impatient to cross the stream, the only narrow bridge over it being blocked up with soldiers, he plunged into the river on horseback. The impetuous torrent carried him away, and when his body was dragged to the shore, life was found extinct, 1190. Henry VI., who had administered the government during his father's absence in the crusade, conceived the design of declaring the empire hereditary, but was unable to accomplish his object from the violent opposition of the Saxons. His principal wars were against Sicily and Naples, which states he at last joined to the empire, 1194; the pope and the free cities of Northern Italy not perceiving that this dangerous union must destroy the political balance of the peninsula. Thus perished the 260 MIDDLE AGES. Norman race in Italy, a few years before the duchy of Normandy was annexed to the French crown. Frederick II., although elected king of the Romans, was too young to succeed his father, who died in 1197. Two candidates appeared before the electors, Philip, the late emperor's brother, and Otho of Brunswick, third son of Henry the Lion. Each was nominated by his own party, and hence arose that deplorable anarchy which desolated Germany until the reign of Maximilian. FRANCE. Louis THE FAr, 1108, had to contend at once against the power of IHenry I. of England and the lawlessness of the French nobles. With this reign began the protracted wars between the two nations, so glorious yet so unprofitable to the English. This monarch reigned over a territory which, comprising what is called the isle of' France and part of the Orleannais, contained only five out of the eighty-six modern departments. In his struggles against his powerful barons, he received the support of the clergy, so that before his death, in 1137, he had extended his influence to the Pyrenees. Louis VII., surnamed the Young, adopted the policy of his father, but rashly joined the crusaders, contrary to the prudent advice of his faithful minister, Suger. On his return, the conduct of his wife, Eleanor, heiress of the great duchy of Guienne, led to a divorce; and she immediately married Henry II. of England, who, already inheriting Anjou from his father, and Normandy from his mother, was sovereign of more than one-third of France. The accession of PHILIP AUGUSTUS, in 1180, entirely chanced the scene. His ambition and craft extended the authority of the monarchy, and concentrated its power by the subjection of the three great fiefs of Vermandois and Artois, and by the seizure of Normandy, Anjou, and Maine, under the pretext that King John, his vassal, refused to appear before him as his lord paramount. The battle of Bouvines was gained by Philip over the English, principally by the burgher-militia, which had obeyed the royal summons to repel invasion. In this reign the Jews were expelled from Paris, the king having previously released all Christians in his dominions from their debts to them, with the reserve of one-fifth part for himself. CORPORATIONS AND STATES-GENERAL, 1119. The forms of civil liberty, the offspring of Frank independence and the Roman municipal law, though never lost in England, were neglected at a very early period in France. Deliberative assemblies, or parliaments of the Champ de Mars, were known under the kings of the first and second race; and Charlemagne was aided in his legislation by the presence of the peers and bishops. The three brothers, Louis, Charles, and Lothaire, were reconciled in a national assembly; and by one, similarly convoked, Elldes was elected king, 888; and Hugh Capet about 100 years later. Yet so uncertain and irregular were these meetings, that only thirty-five have been counted between 613 and 1230. Louis the Fat took one of the most likely means that could be devised to elevate the people; and this was contemporary with the English character of Henry I. At his accession the monarchy was feeble and languishing; the aristocracy powerful and enterprising It was the good fortune of Louis to take advantage of a general movement of the people to forward his designs against the turbulent feudal barons. Then also the commons themselves first appear as a body in history, soon to take their station beside the nobles and the priesthood. He confirmed to each city the right of self-government by its mayors and other TWELFTH CENTURY A.D. 261 magistrates, from which arose those little republics known by the name of commons (corporations), that, in case of war, were to furnish, a stated number of soldiers for the king's army. The great barons soon followed the sovereign's example, and enfranchised their vassals also. Under Philip the Fair, 1285, the communes became so powerful as to send deputies to the states-gencral, who were called the third estate (tiers etat). The states-general, a representative body, composed of the three orders of the state, were first convened in 1302, to support his majesty in his quarrel with Boniface VIII. About the same period a great national impulse was felt in most European states. In Italy the communes, as we have seen, became republics; for a brief struggle enabled them to vanquish the few powerful nobles in their vicinity. In France, on the con trary, the power of the commons was soon absorbed by royalty. Under Louis VII., the Young., the great vassals assumed the title of peers, and composed the parliament, or judicial tribunal for the arrangement of the disputes of the nobles, and to which appeals for denials of justice were referred. Its seat was not fixed at Paris till 1302, when great changes were introduced by Philip the Fair; its sittings became regular, and the place of the nobility was gradually supplied by lawyers. It now became celebrated as the supreme judicial court, by which all the royal edicts were registered, and whose members, after 1468, were appointed for life, and by election. These rights it continued to exercise till 1788. SPAIN. ALPHONSO VI. of Castile, and ALPHONSO I. of Aragon, succeeded in all their undertakings against the Moors; and before the close of the century, the province of Aragon, with New Castile and Estremadura, was possessed by the Christians. Under ALPHONSO VII., the Castilian dominions were extended to the Sierra Morena, 1135; but the power of his kingdom was greatly diminished by its imprudent division into those of Castile and Leon, under his sons Ferdinand and Sancho. Frequent internal wars ensued, till the final coalition of the two branches of the Gothic monarchy in 1238, when Mohammed founded the kingdom of Granada, in the reign of Ferdinand III. PORTUGAL, which had hitherto been governed by Castilian lieutenants, was resigned by Alphonso VI., 1095, to his son-in-law Henry of Besancon, whose son ALPHONSO, after the glorious victory over the Moors at Ourique, was saluted king on the field of battle, 1139; but Castile did not willingly allow the assumption of the regal title until the pope had decided in favour of the new monarch. His territory lay between the Minho and the Douro. In 1147, he became master of Lisbon, and, dying in 1185, was succeeded by his son, Sancho I. The celebrated MILITARY ORDERS of Spain date from about this period. The most ancient is that of Alcantara, 1156, fixed at the town of that name, in 1219; and the decoration was a green lily-shaped cross. That of Calatrava began in 1158, and was confirmed in 1164 by Pope Alexander III.; it received a red cross, also, in the shape of a lily, as a distinctive mark. The order of St. James of Compostella (Santiago) was founded in 1161, and sanctioned by the pope in 1175; it was distinguished by a red cross in the form of a sword. That of Montesa, 1317, replaced the Templars in Aragon. To the three first orders may, in a great measure, be ascribed the rapid progress of the Christian arms in the subsequent centuries. BRITAIN. HENRY I., Beauclerc, took advantage of the absence of his brother Robert in the Holy Land, and seized the crown, 1100. By his marriage 262 MIDDLE AGES. with Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III., and niece of Edgar Atheling, he strengthened himself in the affections of his Saxon subjects. He was the first king who granted a general charter to the English people; he remitted all fines due to the exchequer; restored the ancient privileges of the church; removed many of the feudal burdens; gave London a municipal constitution; and declared his intention of restoring the laws of Edward the Confessor. Louis VI. of France, fearing so powerful a rival, continually harassed him, and cordially supported William Clinton (afterwards Count of Flanders), the son of Robert. The death of Henry's son, in 1120, struck him with incurable sorrow. He died in 1135, and was buried at Reading. The cruel treatment of his brother is not the only indelible stain on the character of this monarch: his cousin, the Earl of Moretoil, he imprisoned and deprived of sight; and he drove the hapless satirist Luke de Barr6 to the commission of suicide. The crown was left to his daughter Matilda; but STEPHEN of Blois, son of Henry's sister, who had already gained the pope and the nobility, secured the throne. Having long been popular in England, he now attached the people more firmly to him by the abolition of the Danegelt, and by the restoration of several immunities which had been withheld by his predecessors. Nearly twenty years were spent in civil struggles, with varied success, to the ruin of the people and the prejudice of the crown, when a compromise was made, leaving Stephen in possession of his title, but stipulating that Henry, the son of Matilda, should succeed him. Stephen's reign presents a condensation of the evils incident to the feudal system. "The nobles burnt all the towns:-thout mightest go a whole day's journey and not find a man sitting in a'toWn, nor an acre of land tilled. Wretched men starved of hunger: to till the ground was to plough the sands of the sea." HENRY II., Plantagenet,* mounted the throne in 1154. By inheritance and marriage he possessed a great part of France, viz. Normandy, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, Guienne, and Poitou, with Saintonge, Auvergne, Perigord, Limousin, and Angounmais. The life of this able king was spent in war both against temporal and spiritual powers. He repressed the boldness and rapacity of his nobles, who had taken advantage of the disturbances of the preceding reign; endeavoured to reduce the clergy to subordination, and to check their encroachments, or, as they called them, immunities and privileges. By the " Constitutions of Clarendon," 1164, it was declared that priests should be tried before the civil tribunals, without appeal to the pope; and that the consent of the monarch was necessary to the promulgation of any papal edict within the kingdom. The commons, who had profited by the submis sion of the nobles, obtained the re-establishment of trial by jury, and the exemption of their property from the debts of their lords. During the humiliation of the monarch, who had been excommunicated for his supposed share in the murder of the turbulent Becket, the people again profited by having a scutage, or military tax, substituted for personal service. The circuits of the judges were now first appointed. The subjection of South Wales, and the invasion of Ireland, 1172, were the principal events of this reign. The latter days of the king were imbit*So'called from the family device, a sprig bf broom (planta genista, plante a genet). TWELFTH CENTURY A.D. 263 tered by the rebellion of his sons, supported by the pope and the King of France. RICHARD I., Coeur de Lion, was not reconciled to his father when he was informed that the latter had died in Touraine, 1189. His first act before visiting England was to release his mother Eleanor from prison, and to appoint her regent. His coronation at Westminster was signalized by a cruel massacre of the Jews; their habitations were pillaged and set on fire, and in the city of York alone five hundred perished who had taken refuge in the castle. After raising large sums of money by the sale of employments, and other means, he set out for Syria, where his daring exploits, with the long captivity he suffered in Germany as he was returning, made his generous subjects forget his errors and his vices.* When he reached home in 1194, he found his kingdom a prey to the greatest troubles. The Bishop of Ely, whom he had left regent, was expelled by the barons, and Prince John had obtained supreme influence in the new administration. All the projects of the disaffected were now disconcerted, and the King of France, who had aided the prince, was immediately attacked. The most brilliant affair in the subsequent war, which financial difficulties prevented being carried on with any vigour, was the battle of Gisors, in Normandy, in which Philip Augustus narrowly escaped. A peacewas concluded in 1198, and the next year Richard died of a wound received before the castle of Chalus near Limoges. IRELAND was fondly supposed by its antiquarians to have been peopled by Phoenicians. But the songs of the minstrel are an imperfect substitute for genuine history, and sober truth must confess that the green island was little more than a battlefield for its uncivilised inhabitants even long after its invasion by the English. The doctrines of Christianity are said to have been first proclaimed in it by Palladius in 430, and by St. Patrick in 450; but perpetual intestine war among the various chieftains, and the incursions of the Danes, soon checked its progress towards civilisation. About the middle of the twelfth century, the country was divided into the five hostile kingdoms of Leinster, Munster, Ulster, Meath, and Connaught, besides several inferior principalities. One monarch was chosen to preside over a kind of deliberative assembly held at undetermined periods, and which possessed little power. The deposition of the King of Leinster and his flight to England, led to one of the most fortunate events in the history of Ireland. After the successful expedition of Earl Strongbow, who restored Dermod with an inconsiderable troop of knights and archers, Henry himself landed in 1172, and effectually established the English pale.Druids existed in Ireland so late as the year 1166. SCOTLAND had long and effectually resisted the Roman arms, and spread terror over the adjacent countries of England and Ireland; but her history is obscure and greatly mingled with fable till the tenth century. The names of Duncan, d. 1039, and Macbeth, d. 1056, will ever attract the attention of the student from their connexion with one of the noblest specimens of dlamnatic art. Malcolm III., d. 1093, kindly received many hundreds of Saxons who had fled from the tyranny of the first William, and settled them in the Lowlands. These brought with them the civilisation of their homes, and improved the character of the native inhabitants. David I. was defeated at Cutton Moor, near Northallerton, in the Battle of the Standard, 1138, but, superior to the monarchs of the * A chronicle written in England, in 1455, relates that the place of Richard's confinement was discovered by Blondel, a French minstrel, who, being near a castle, played an air well known to the king, and heard it repeated by the royal captive. This is probably nothing more than a romantic fiction. The emperor Henry VI. purchased Richard from Duke Leopold of Austria for sixty thousand pounds, speculating on the probability of htaining a larger ransom. 264 MIDDLE AGES. age, he endeavoured to soften the manners of his people by the establishment of numerous churches and monasteries, among others, Holyrood in 1128, and Melrose in 1136. William the bion, who had supported the sons of Henry II. of England in their rebellion against their father, was taken prisoner, 1174 and regained his liberty only on the condition of becoming the liegeman of Henry for his territories, which feudal superiority was restored by Richard I. on the payment of 10,000 marks. THE CHURCH. ROMISH USURPATIONS.-Though the papal power now began to assert its supremacy over all temporalities, the Emperor Henry V. succeeded in the dispute with Paschal II. about investitures, in 1111. Next year, however, Henry was excommunicated; but the pontiff was finally compelled to yield by the persevering emperor, whose claims were confirmed by the diet of Worms, in 1122. During several years two popes contested the chair of St. Peter, and the city of Rome was agitated by a restless party who desired to restore to the senate its former privileges, and to reduce the power as well as the revenues of the pope. Adrian IV., 1154, the only Englishman that ever sat in the papal chair, declared his intention of preserving the majesty of the church, as well as the authority of the clergy. He. compelled the Emperor Barbarossa to hold his stirrup; and by his granting Ireland to Henry II. of England, he seemed to claim all islands as the property of St. Peter. Another pontiff, Alexander III., is said to have trodden on the neck of the emperor, as he knelt and kissed his foot, 1177. It was this haughty bishop who refused to sanction the wise Constitutions of Clarendon, and absolved Becket from the promise he had made to observe them. INNOCENT III., who ascended the papal throne in 1198, soon acquired such an independence and supremacy as his predecessors could never have contemplated. He ordained that the doctrine of transubstantiation should be embraced by the church; established the formidable tribunal of the inquisition; the mendicant order of friars was taken under his protection; and auricular confession was enjoined. He even exercised a dispensing power which set at defiance the claims of morality (qui, secundum plenitudinem potestatis, jure possumus supra jus dispensare). SECOND CRUSADE, A.D. 1147.-The example and success of the First Crusade led the Christian soldiery of Western Europe again to unite under Conrad III. and Louis VII. This second expedition had been preached by St. Bernard for the delivery of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem from its Mussulman invaders. The immediate cause of this crusade was the capture of Edessa by Zenghi, in 1145: this city had been taken in a foolish expedition led by Baldwin, brother of Godfrey, at the beginning of the First Crusade. The armies of the king and the emperor amounted each to 70,000 knights, and their train was increased to the number of 300,000. The Germans marched through Hungary, and after various distresses, augmented by the treachery of the Emperor Manuel, they reached Constantinople, whence they were rapidly carried across the adjoining straits. Louis did not arrive till some time after; and he perceived with regret that the Christians in the eastern parts of Europe were less trustworthy than the infidels. Conrad meanwhile, misled by his Greek guides, advanced through the heart of the Turkish dominions, suffering the extremities of hunger and thirst. Everywhere TWELFTH CENTURY A. D. 26t exposed to the incessant attacks of the enemy, only one-tenth part, with their commanders, survived, and reached the French army, encamped at Nice in Bithynia. Louis, with his forces, was soon left to pursue his march alone, and narrowly escaped destruction at the fords of the Maeander, in the mountains between Phrygia and Pisidia, 1148. He proceeded from Attalia to Antioch by sea, leaving, under Thierry, count of Flanders, the pilgrims and the sick, not one of whom reached the h( ly city. From Antioch he marched to Jerusalem, where he met Conrad and his exhausted army. Abandoning the original purpose of the expedition, they proceeded to the relief of Damascus, which had been under the Moslem yoke nearly five centuries. The white crosses of St. John, and the red crosses of the Templars, were ever foremost in the numerous skirmishes that took place; but all their exertions terminated in defeat, and the two Christian monarchs returned to Europe, oppressed with the deepest sorrow, in 1149. THIRD CRUSADE, A.D. 1189.-The Latin kingdom of Jerusalem was overthrown by Saladin in 1187, but its internal condition had long prepared it for ruin. The city, as Gibbon remarks, was abandoned to the protection of a leper, Baldwin IV.,-a woman, his sister Sybilla,-a child, her son Baldwin V.,-a coward, Guy of Lusignan,-arnd a traitor, Raymond count of Tripoli. The rapid conquests of the Saracen spread grief and consternation through all Christendom; and, by the orders of Clement III., a new crusade was everywhere preached. RICHARD C(EUR DE LION, Frederick Barbarossa, and Philip Augustus, assumed the cross in 1188. The maritime states on the Mediterranean, and a numerous band of pilgrims from the north of Europe, had already preceded them, and for two years the city of Acre held out against 30,000 Franks. Nine battles were fought beneath its walls, the sultan being eager to raise the siege; but the arrival of the English and French fleets in the bay was followed by the surrender of the city. Disunion was soon apparent in the councils of the invaders, Philip and Richard incessantly interrupting the campaign by their mutual jealousies. The former returned to France; after which, Richard, who continued the war, was uniformly victorious. But the romantic exploits of this chivalrous monarch failed to produce any permanent effect. Before he quitted Palestine to meet an unjust captivity and early death, he concluded a treaty, in 1192, by which the holy sepulchre should be open to all pilgrims, and the seacoast from Jaffa to Tyre be held by the Latins. Thus ended the Third Crusade, and though five others at various intervals disturbed the peace of Europe, Palestine was never again the scene of action. A parallel has been drawn between these enterprises and the Trojan war; and there are not wanting many points of resemblance in the character of the respective heroes and in the results of their labours. Poetry also has assisted to increase the likeness; and the religious wars found a Homer in Tasso. This is, however, the weakest part of the similitude, for the tinsel of the Italian can bear no comparison with the pure gold of the great bard of antiquity. ASSASSINS. —The society which bore this name proved one of the * The word assassin is of doubtfil etymology. Some think it derived from the name of the founder; others from haschischim, an intoxicating preparation of henbane and hemp, which, when smoked or otherwise inhaled, excites a violent delirium or a pleas. ing trance. 23 266 MIDDLE AGES. most dreadful scourges of the East. It was founded about the year 1090, among the hillslsouthward of the Caspian sea, by Hassan Sebek, the son of Ali. This prince of the Ismaelites, by uniting the doctrines of the Koran with the visions of some pretended prophets, established a politico-religious system, whose motto was, "to the faithful nothing is forbidden." The Old Man of the Mountain, for by that name he and his successors were generally known, resided first at Damghan, whence he removed to the fortress of Alamout, in the Persian territory, not far from Teheran. The daggers of his subjects were felt in the East and the West; and by them perished Conrad, marquis of Montferrat, while walking in the streets of Tyre, 1192. In Syria, where they amounted to 60,000, their capital was Massiat, a day's journey westward of Hamah, and from that place they possessed a line of seven other fortresses, extending to the Mediterranean, near Tripoli The sect, which lasted 172 years, was finally destroyed by the Mongols.* The Druses, who are said to have sprung from the Assassins, chose for their prophet, Haker, an Egyptian caliph, notorious at once for cruelty and vice. When his licentiousness and murders had excited disgust among a portion of his subjects, he answered their remonstrances, not by denying his crimes, but by asserting that they formed a sublime allegory, full of inst action to true believers. THIRTEENTH CENTURY. GREEK EMPIRE.-1204, Latin Princes.-1259, Second Greek Empire-Michael Palaeologus.-1274, Union of the Churches. GERMANY.- 1212, Frederick II.- Papal Disputes- Crusade. -1241, Hanse Towns.-1273, RODOLPH of Hapsburg. ITALY.-Italian Republics-The Visconti.-1258, 1293, Venetian Wars.-1282, SICILIAN VESPERS. FRANCE.-1214, Battle of Bouvines.-1226, Louis IX.-Parliament begun.1268, Pragmatic Sanction.-1285, Philip le Bel.-1302, States-GeneralALBIGENSES.-1302, Rout of Courtray. BRITAIN.-1199, John.-1215, THE GREAT CHARTER.-1265, First Parliament. 1283, Conquest of Wales.-1297, WALLACE. SPAIN.-1212, Battle of Tolosa.-1252, Alphonso X.-Siete Partidas. THE EAST.-1205, Affghan Dynasty, India-'Mamelukes. -1206, GENGHIS KHAN.-1279, Conquest of China, by Kublai Khan.-1300, Ottomans in Bithynia. CHURCH.-Mendicant Friars.-1209, The Inquisition-The Albigenses. INVENTIONS. —1270, Glass Mirrors. -1253, Linen first made in England. — 1299, Spectacles at Pisa. CSLEBRATED MEN.-Aquinas-R. Bacon-Saadi-Duns Scotus-Marco Polo. GREEK EMPIRE. THE LATINS.-The warriors engaged in the Fourth Crusade, 1202, were diverted from the more immediate object of their expedition by the * Some families of the Assassins are reported still to exist in Lebanon; but the last inhabitants of Massiat were put to the sword in the year 1809, by a hostile tribe in that neighbourhood. THIRTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 267 solicitations of the young Alexius Angelus, who inplored their intercession in behalf of his father Isaac, whom another Alexius of the same family had dethroned and imprisoned. The usurper was soon defeated; but the non-fulfilment of the terms of agreement and the daring usurpation of Ducas Mourzoufle, armed the Christian warriors anew against Constantinople. The French knights and the Venetian fleet, by a simultaneous attack, carried by assault the Greek capital, which had been hitherto deemed impregnable, and gave it up to pillage. The Latin princes next agreed to choose a sovereign from their own body, and Baldwin, count of Flanders, was saluted emperor with the applause of the whole army in 1204. The territory was afterwards divided among the French and Venetians; the latter long preserved the title of Lords of the Roman Empire. The Greeks did not patiently submit, and Theodore Lascaris, ruler of Nice, twice threatened the eastern metropolis. Trebizond, also, whither the wife of Manuel had fled with her infant sons from the relentless enmity of Isaac Angelus, was the seat of another rival to the Latin monarch. By her means, the Greeks of that region gradually formed, on the banks of the Phasis, a sovereignty which the distracted government of the Angeli was unable to suppress. On the capture of Constanti'ople by the crusaders, Alexius was joined by many fugitives from that city. He had always retained the title of Caesar and King, and now fixed the seat of empire at Trebizond, without, however, abandoning his claim to the Byzantine throne. A more formidable opponent to the divided Latins was the revolted chief of the Bulgarians in 1205; for, being invited by the Greeks, his approach was marked by a general massacre of those spread over the face of the country. The gallantry of Baldwin led him to take the field with an inferior army; but, being defeated and made prisoner, his captivity was closed by an agonizing death. While the throne was filled in succession by various celebrated warriors, the restoration of the Greek family was at hand. Theodore Lascaris, during a reign of eighteen years, had extended his principality of Nice to the greatness of an empire. John Ducas Vataces, 1222, encouraged agriculture and commerce, preserved friendly relations with the Turks, and reigned supreme from their frontiers to the Adriatic sea. Theodore Lascaris II., 1255, thrice invaded Bulgaria; but the honourable task of recovering Constantinople was reserved for MICHAEL PALJEOLOGUS, the most illustrious of the Greek nobles. NEW GREEK EMPIRE.-With the aid of the Genoese, Palaeologus made himself master of the capital, 25th July, 1260. Some time previously, he had caused himself to be crowned emperor, and two years after put out the eyes of his ward, John III., in order to reign alone. Fearful of being attacked by Charles of Anjou, king of Naples, he sent to the council of Lyons two Greek bishops, who formed a treaty of union between the two churches, but which did not continue longer than the reign of Michael. The empire, indeed, was no sooner re-established than the priests were embroiled in quarrels, occasioned by discussions on obscure dogmas of the church. The controversy on the question whether the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Son, or by the Son, together with the disputes on the election of the patriarchs, was long the sole occupation of the sovereigns and their ministers. Palaeologus was succeeded in 1283 by his son ANDRONICUS THE ELDER, who being 268 MIDDLE AGES. constantly assailed by temporal and spiritual enemies, had little time to promote his own views or his people's happiness. He recovered many isles in the Archipelago from the Franks, but on his eastern frontier M ds unable to make head against the Ottomans. Though reputed the most learned prince of the age, he was the slave of degrading superstitions GERMANY. Henry VI., who died of poison in 1197, left his son Frederick under the guardianship of Innocent III. This rival of Gregory VII. raised up antagonists to PHILIP of Swabia, the brother and successor of Henry, procured the election of OTHO IV. of Brunswick in his stead, and afterwards excommunicated him for refusing to restore the fiefs of the Countess Matilda. The pope now brought forward FREDERICK II., at the age of eighteen years, who was acknowledged by the greater part of the German princes, 1212. After various contests, and the defeat or death of all his competitors, he received the imperial crown at Aix-la-Chapelle, 1215. The greater part of his reign was spent in Italy and Sicily. His unwillingness to enter upon the crusades led to his excommunication by Gregory IX., which hefetaliated by boldly ordering the ecclesiastics to continue the performance of their sacred functions, and by proceeding to Jerusalem, which surrendered at the terror of his name. The interval from 1230 to 1238 was occupied in the re-establishment of order in Germany, disturbed by the unruly vassals, by the ecclesiastics, and by a rebellious son. In the subsequent disputes with the papal see, originating in charges of irreligion, Frederick appears to have caught some glimpses of pure Christianity. From a war of manifestoes the contending powers had recourse to arms; and those of the emperor were successful in every quarter. But his excommunication in 1239, the crusade published against him in the following year, and his solemn deposition by the council of Lyons, 1245, changed his fortunes. City after city revolted; and this great antagonist of the papacy expired in the castle of Fiorentino, near Lucera, in 1250. INTERREGNUM.-With the death of Frederick began the great interregnum, from 1250 to 1272, during which Germany was in effect without any ruler; for, although there were several, none exercised any real authority. In 1250, two princes bore the title of King of the Romans,-Count William of Holland, the priests' king, as he was denominated, and Conrad IV., son of Frederick II. On the news of his father's death, Conrad, abandoning Germany, where the scantiness of his resources reduced him to an inglorious station, passed into Italy to receive the fairest portion of the paternal inheritance-the kingdom of the Two Sicilies; but his death, in 1254, which has been attributed to Manfred, prevented his return into Germany at the head of a numerous and well-appointed army. The demise of William of Holland happened shortly after. The title of emperor was next conferred on Richard, earl of Cornwall, brother to Henry III. of England, and, on his mother's side. nephew of Henry the Lion. Richard, whose wealth was his chief recommendation, had promised to the Archbishop of Mentz 8000 silver marks, 12,000 to the archbishop of Cologne, and 18,000 to the Count Palatine; but the choice of the other electors fell on Alphonso X., king of Castile, who offered 20,000 marks for each vote. This double electior THIRTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 269 was the first in which the grand dignitaries of the crown alone took a part, to the exclusion of all the other great vassals; or, in other words, it is the first time that we see appear the seven princely electors. Alphonso never visited Germany; but his competitor undertook several journeys, in each of which he distributed enormous sums of money among the electors. Although greatly occupied with the internal affairs of his native country, Richard, in 1269, passed an important decree, by which the estates, assembled in diet at Worms, bound themselves mutually by oath to punish all who should exact illegal toll, trouble the security of commerce on the high-road, or who should in any way disturb the public tranquillity. In another of his visits he gave the investiture of Austria and Styria to Ottocar, king of Bohemia. In his last journey, he espoused the daughter of a baron named Falkenstein, and, returning to England, died in 1272. In the midst of these petty wars between weak princes, the power and influence of the great commercial cities were slowly increasing; and from their alliances for mutual defence arose three sorts of confederaUton: —lst, The Teutonic or Hanseatic league, 1241; 2d, The confederation of the cities of the Rhine (Burgfrieden), about 1255; and, 3d, The Ganerbinates, (Gan-Erbschaften), or treaties of succession and mutual defence. The long-continued anarchy at length wearied all parties, and it was determined to elect an emperor. The choice fell upon RODOLPH of Hapsburg in Switzerland, a prince whose scanty resources and limited influence seemed to give no cause for fear. HouSE OF HAPSBURG, 1273.-Rodolph, the founder of the house of Austria, was a brave and just monarch, wisely devoting his attention to the internal affairs of Germany. The rebellion and defeat of Ottocar, king of Bohemia, enabled him to confer the dukedom of the Austrian provinces upon his son Albert, 1283. But he was not less a peacemaker than a conqueror. He visited all parts of his dominions with incredible activity, re-established the security of the highways, and destroyed a number of castles which were little else than retreats for brigands. His death in 1291 was followed by an interregnum of ten months,-for, in order to avoid the appearance of hereditary right to the imperial crown, the electors refused to appoint Albert, and their choice fell upon ADOI.PHUS of Nassau, 1292. In a contest which ensued, Albert destroyed his rival in 1298, maintaining till 1308 his imperial dignity, notwithstanding the irregularity of his election, and the determined hostility of Boniface VIII. HANSE TowNs.-These were a commercial league (hansn) formed o the most flourishing cities in the north and west of Europe. In 1241, Lubeck associated with some neighbouring places for mutual protection against the pirates of the Baltic; and by degrees it was joined by all the trading towns between the Rhine and the Vistula. Depots were established at London, 1250, Bruges, 1252, Novgorod, 1272, and Bergen, 1278. The administration of the league was intrusted to the four cities of Lubeck, Cologne, Brunswick, and Dantzic. During three centuries they maintained a degree of prosperity then unexampled, and by their navies commanded the narrow seas; but the discovery of the Indies was a fatal blow to their commerce. The town of Ghent dared 23* 270 MIDDLE AGES. to beard Charles V. in the very height of his glory, by putting one of his officers to the torture for having concealed the record which contained the ratification of the concessions they had extorted from former sove. reigns. By the power of the league the King of Sweden was dethroned, and his crown bestowed on Albrecht of Mecklenburg. Such was the wealth of these merchants that at a great ball at Bruges, the Queen of France retired in chagrin, because six hundred of the wives of the citizens were more splendidly dressed than herself. HOUSE OF HOHENSTAUFEN OR SWABIA. This family, issuing from the castle of Wibelung, was ennobled in Frederick Hohenstaufen, who, for his eminent services, was rewarded with the hand of one of the daughters of the Emperor Henry IV. Frederick, Count of Hohenstaufen, and created Duke of Swabia, by Henry IV., in 1080, t 1105, m. sAgnes, daughter of Henry IV. 18. CONRAD IIL. Frederick, d. of Swahia, Albert, Henry, Leopold, emp. 1138, t 1152. m. Judith, d. of Henry the Black, successively d. of Austria t 1126. 19. FREDERICK I., Barbarossa, emp. 1152, t 1190- Beatrice, heiress of Burgundy. 20. HENRY VI. emp. 1190, 21. PHILIP, emp. 1197, Three other sons. m. Constance, heiress of Sicily. m. Irene Angela. 23. Frederick II. k. of Sicily, 1197; emp. 1212, t 1250. 24. CONRAD IV. emp. 1250, t 1254. Manfred, nat. son k. of Sicily, t 1266. Conradin, d. of Swabia, behead. 1268. Constance = Peter III. k. of Aragon. * * * * * * * * * * * * 25. WILLIAM of Holland, emp. 1247, t 1256. 26. RICHARD of Cornwall, emp. 1257, t 1271. HOUSE OF GUELF OR D'ESTE. This ancient and noble family descended, according to Muratori, from Adalbert I. marquis of Tuscany (847-875). It received new lustre from the marriage of Albert Azon II. with Cunegonda of Altorf. Albert died in 1097, leaving behind him Welf I. created d. of Bavaria, 1071,. Foulques, t 1101. Founder of the House of Modena. Henry the Black, d. of Bavaria, - 1126, Welf II. of Este = JMatilda, countess m. Wilfrida, daughter of d. of Saxony of Este, heiress of Tuscany, t 1129. and heiress of Luneburg. Henry the Proud, d. of Bavaria, t 1139 = Gertrude, d. of Emp. Lothaire II. heiress of Saxony and Brunswick. Henry the Lion, d. of Bavaria and Saxony, Welf III. d. of Tuscany. dep. 1180, t 1195. 22. OTHO IV. emp. 1208. William of Luneburg, 1st d. of Brunswick, t 1213: from him descends the reigning * * * * ** monarch of England.'26. ALPHONSO X. emp. 1257. ITALY. ITALIAN REPUBLICS.- The republics of Northern Italy refused to acknowledge Frederick II. as their sovereign, and their rebellious spirit was fomented by the popes. But the struggle that followed was not one of principle, but of faction, - Guelf against Ghibelline, the church against the empire. These states may be divided into four THIRTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 271 great clusters:- 1. Central Lombardy, containing Milan, Cremona, Parma, Mantua, Lodi, and other towns. 2. The March of Verona, between the Adige and the German frontiers. 3. Romagna, containing Bologna, Modena, and Ferrara. 4. Tuscany. The first and third were principally Guelfs; the second, Ghibellines; while the fourth was balanced between the two parties. The misfortunes which oppressed Frederick pursued all his family. A kind of fatality seemed to impend over his race; and it appeared as if the heroic house of Hohenstaufen was destined to astonish the world as much by its miseries as by its glory. His son Enzio died a prisoner at Bologna, after twenty years of captivity; his natural son Manfred was deprived of the kingdom of Naples by Charles of Anjou, and perished in battle; lastly, his grandson Conradin, who endeavoured to recover his heritage by arms, was defeated, taken prisoner and judicially murdered. LOMBARD LEAGUES.-The first Lombard league, 1167, against the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, succeeded in obtaining the objects for which it was formed. The alarming demonstrations of Frederick II. against the pope and the independence of the Italian cities aroused the fears of the Guelf party in that peninsula. The Milanese began the resistance by an appeal to the Lombard communities, fourteen of which adhered to the confederation. The departure of the emperor for the holy war was improved to the advantage of the revolted states; and although, on his return, he published a law on the public peace, which was supported by the eloquence of the preacher John of Vicenza, the suspension of hostilities was not of long duration. Frederick suddenly reappeared in Italy, in obedience to the call of Ezzelino, podesta of Verona and chief of the Ghibellines in Lombardy. After the victory of Corte Nuova, on the Oglio, in 1237, nearly all the towns made submission; but they were again driven to arms by the intrigues of the pope, who had conciliated the alliance of Venice and Genoa. After the death of Frederick II. the contentions still survived, although their objects were changed, the struggle being now between the nobles and the people. Ezzelino III., with his brother Alberic, podesta of Treviso, was at first victorious over the Guelf party; but Pope Alexander IV. having preached a crusade against them in 1255, most of the cities united under the command of the Marquis of Este. To punish the citizens of Padua, who had received the crusaders, Ezzelino put to death eleven thousand of those enrolled among his troops. This atrocious cruelty having withdrawn from him his most powerful allies, he was defeated and mortally wounded at Cassano, 1259. In the following year, Alberic and all his children were massacred; and the spoils of the family divided among several of his principal antagonists. FLORENCE.-In this city, whose history previous to this period is obscure and unimportant, the chief offices were held by the Guelf families of Buondelmonti and Donati, and the Ghibellines of Amidei and Uberti. In 1250, about two months before the death of Frederick II., the former, supported by Pope Innocent IV., deposed the imperial governor, and framed a democratic government under a captain of the people and a Milanese podesta. Lucca, Pistoia, Sienna, and other towns, followed the example of Florence, and the Ghibellines were enabled to preserve the superiority in Pisa alone. After several years 272 MIDDLE AGES. of exile, the proscribed faction, with the aid of Manfred of Sicily, oeing victorious in the battle of Monte Aperto, returned to Florence, whence they were again expelled in 1267, and the Guelfs re-established by Charles of Anjou, then signor of the republic. VENICE.-The crusades were the commencement of the power and greatness of this commercial state. Mercantile advantages alone induced the people to embark in the holy wars, which opened to them all the Syrian harbours, and gave them greater security than they could expect from the infidels. They had already factories, officers, and a particular jurisdiction in the principal marts of Asia, when the Emperor Alexius Comnenus granted them the freedom of unlimited commerce in all his ports, with the exception of those in Cyprus and Candia. In the Fourth Crusade they acquired a universal monopoly in the Greek empire, and even a partial sovereignty in 1204. Corfu, Candia, ant most of the.Egean islands, fell under their power, and half of Con stantinople was thrown open to them. Henceforward Venice long pos sessed the exclusive commerce of the Black Sea, and established he; principal factories on its shores. The Venetians disputed the possession of Illyria with the Hungari ans, but their most formidable antagonists were the Genoese, with whom commercial rivalry had brought them into contact in 1264. They then lost their influence at Constantinople; and two naval defeats, in 1293 and 1298, forced the Doge Gradenigo, to sign a treaty, forbidding the vessels of the republic to navigate the Black Sea. This epoch, so disastrous to their commercial prosperity, was equally ruinous to their. ancient constitution. The sovereign power was placed, at this period, in the great council, which, in 1172, had deprived the general assembly of their voices in the election of the chief officer of the state, as well as the nomination of the tribunes, who each year were charged with the renewal of the council by the choice of fresh members. Gradenigo made a greater progress towards aristocracy by confining the qualification to the families of the senators then in office (il serrar del consialio, 1298); and, finally, under the Doge John Soranzo, the great council being made hereditary, in 1319, the Golden Book received the names of the houses retaining this new nobility. In the interval between these changes the spirit of the democracy was manifested by the conspiracy of Marino Bocconio, 1299, and that of Bohemond Tiepolio, 1310. These popular movements served only to strengthen the nobles, who placed themselves under the mysterious guardianship of the council of ten. GENOA.-This commercial city entered the Lombard confederation in 1238, previous to which period it had been considered part of the kingdom of Italy. Its earliest government was by consuls; but in 1190 it exchanged them for podestas, and these made way for the captains of the people, 1257, who again were succeeded by doges in 1339. These changes do not seem to have injuriously affected its mercantile interests In the latter half of the thirteenth century, the Genoese contributed their efforts to restore Constantinople to its legitimate monarchs, and the privileges which were granted in return for their services enablee them to dictate to Pisa and Venice. They disputed the possession of Candia with the Venetians, and took Corsica from the Pisans, whom they compelled to renounce all maritime operations, 1290. THIRTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 273 PIsA.-This city took no part in the internal agitations of Italy, but always remained faithful to the German emperors; while the island of Sardinia, one of her most valuable acquisitions, formed also the most extensive portion of her territory. It did not definitely acknowledge the republic until 1117, when it was divided into four provinces, Cagliari, Logodore, Gallura, and Arborea. Corsica, for which Pisa and Genoa had long contended, gave rise to implacable hatred between the disputants. The battle of Meloria, gained by Uberto Doria over the Podesth Morosini, secured the island to the Genoese; and by the ruin which it inflicted on their enemies' marine, left them without rivals in the adjoining waters, 1284. The republic, exhausted by so great a reverse, and deprived of the protection of the Swabian family, fell under the influence of the Guelfs; but their chief, Ugolino, being accused of planning the surrender of the city to the Florentines, expiated his traitorous intention by the most cruel tortures, 1287. Intestine divisions served only to aggravate the misfortunes of Pisa, which was compelled to sirn a treaty with Genoa, the articles of which stipulated that its port should be filled up, 1290. This act hastened the decay of the republic. The internal prosperity of the chief Italian cities may be inferred from the solid magnificence of their architecture. No part of Europe could show such commodious private houses, flagged streets, noble public buildings, and majestic bridges. These cities were fortified with massive walls, and defended by an intrepid body of buighers. Their administration was under the management of annual consuls, aided by a popularly elected assembly: but a nominal sovereignty was still reserved to the people. Dissension, however, soon intruded upon this fair scene; and civil strife proved more dreadful than any foreign war. Before the end of the century, the Lombard cities had fallen under the yoke of tyrants; Ferrara acknowledged the Lords of Este; the savage Ezzelino ruled over the cities beyond the Adige; the Torriani and Visconti at Milan; the Scaligers at Verona; the Gonzagas at Mantua; and at Padua, the Carraras. NAPLES AND SICILY.-The authority of the emperors in Italy was almost entirely lost at the death of Frederick II., in 1250. Pope Inno cent IV. planned the reunion of Naples to the States of the Church; and, with this view, wrote to the clergy and nobles, exhorting them to take up arms, and declaring their kingdom henceforward irrevocably united to the holy see. But the intentions of the pontiff were frustrated for the present by the decision of Conrad and Manfred, the two sons of Frederick. The decease of the former in 1254 left the Neapolitan inheritance to Conradin, then a child two years old. Innocent took advantage of these circumstances, and was pursuing a victorious career, not, however, without a severe check from Manfred, when death terptinated his ambitious designs in December of the same year. Alexander IV. was unable to maintain his predecessor's conquests: in two years Manfred recovered the kingdom, and on a vague report of Conradin's death, was proclaimed king. Urban IV., who filled St. Peter's chair in 1261, resumed the designs of Innocent, and offered the crown to Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX. All Upper Italy declared for this prince, and Philip della Torre, signor of Milan, went so far as to receive a Pro. venial podesta in his city. Manfred was, meantime, preparing a vigorous resistance. The Sicilian galleys, united with the Pisan fleet, 274 MIDDLE AGES. were to close the seas against the Angevins, while two armies sent into Tuscany and the March of Ancona, defended the approaches to the kingdom. Neither of these precautionary measures succeeded. The two rivals met on the banks of the Calore, in the plain of Benevento, 1266. Treachery deprived Manfred of the victory, and, unwilling to survive defeat, he rushed into the ranks of the enemy, and fell, mortally wounded. The decisive victory of Benevento threw all the country into Charles' hands; Messina declared in his favour, and thus was Sicily laid at his feet. The capture of Manfredonia completed the subjugation of the kingdom, and placed at the mercy of the victor all the family of Manfred, with the exception of one daughter, married to the King of Aragon. The exactions and violent proceedings of Charles were ill calculated to ensure the tranquillity of his government. The Ghibelline party sent to Conradin, then sixteen years old, the most flattering representations of the state of Italy; the deputies of Sienna and Pisa brought with them 100,000 florins, and the chief barons of Germany joined his army. Moved by their arguments, he advanced into Italy with the young Duke of Austria, Frederick, who was himself deprived of his hereditary estates. He entered Pisa, Sienna, and even Rome; Charles had lost many cavaliers in Tuscany; his fleet had been destroyed before Messina, by that of Pisa; all Sicily, except Palermo, Syracuse, and Messina, raised the Swabian flag; and his affairs seemed on the verge of ruin. The rival armies met at Tagliacozzo, near the Lake of Celeano, when a stratagem gave the victory to the usurper. Conradin was taken prisoner, and shortly after beheaded, with Frederick of Austria and the chief Ghibelline captives, 1268. Thus ended the two houses of Hohenstaufen and Bamberg. After putting to death the illustrious individuals just named, Charles did not hesitate to sacrifice to his vengeance a crowd of the obscure partisans of Conradin. All the provinces were filled with executions. In Rome he cut off the legs of those who had declared against him; and then, fearing the pity that would be excited by the view of their sufferings, he enclosed them in a wooden house to which he set fire. In Sicily the inhabitants of a whole city perished on the scaffold, not excluding the traitors who had opened the gates to the French. Being now master of the Two Sicilies and head of the Guelf party, he became the arbiter of Italy. In 1269, in the diet of Cremona, he was declared signor of most of the Guelf cities of Lombardy, including even Milan. He would not have limited his success to this important station, had he not been drawn by his brother into the second crusade of St. Louis, in which, after making Tunis tributary to his crown, he turned his views towards Constantinople. Pope Gregory X., and his successor Nicholas III., impeded his designs; but a more formidable obstacle appeared in the person who, having been the companion in arms of Frederick II. and Manfred, burned with the desire of avenging their cause, and liberating his country. John of Procida, a banished Neapolitan, travel led through Sicily in disguise, exciting the people to revolt, and animating them with a hope of deliverance. The insurrection, which took vlace in 1282, has been named the Sicilian Vespers from the occasion on which it occurred. The inhabitants were excited by an outrage THIRTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 275 which was perpetrated on a young woman, under the pretence of searching for arms, as she was going with other citizens of Palermo on Easter Monday to the customary service at a church without the city. The Sicilians rose upon their oppressors: 4000 persons were massacred In one night,-victims to the popular indignation; and before the end of April, the island was entirely evacuated by the French troops.* The Sicilians, terrified at their own boldness, sent deputies to implore the pardon of Martin IV. and his intercession with their king; but the only reply that was given bade them think of self-defence, if such were possible. To prepare themselves against the vengeance of Charles, they called the King of Aragon to their aid. All the efforts of their enraged enemy were unsuccessful before the walls of Messina, and his fleet was burnt by Loria, who also had the good fortune to make his son prisoner, 1284. In the following year the invader died, the victim of disappointed ambition. Charles II. was restored to liberty by a treaty which he did not observe; and the King of Aragon, attacked by France, Castile, and Rome, was constrained to abandon Sicily. In 1303, his brother Frederick, who was soon elected to fill his place, by his talents confirmed the independence of the people, and the pope was compelled to acknowledge him as sovereign. FRANCE. BATTLE OF BOUVINES, 1214.-When John succeeded to the English throne in 1199, Philip supported a pretender in the person of Arthur of Brittany, grandson of Henry II. This prince fell into the hands of his uncle, and was murdered; upon which Philip Augustus summoned John to appear and answer the charges made against him, as vassal of the crown of France. On his refusal, Philip confiscated his fiefs, seized on Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and Poitou, leaving him Guienne alone. John was compelled to submit in silence, but, soon finding a favourable opportunity, he united with the French barons, the Earl of Flanders, Otho IV., and the Earl of Boulogne, in a formidable league against the French king. All had just cause of complaint, and all were ready to assert their rights by force of arms. Not fewer than 200,000 men combined against Philip, while 70,000 were the whole he could bring into the field under the Bishops of Senlis and Beauvais. But, nevertheless, he was victorious; and thus the safety of John's continental possessions was endangered, and the French monarchy more respected. The last years of Philip's reign were spent in tranquillity, though disturbances prevailed all around him. Louis VIII., 1223, was diverted from the wars against the English in France to prosecute his crusade against the Albigenses. For a long period the southern provinces had been insulated from the northern, and the Count of Toulouse, the most powerful baron in those parts, was also one of the richest princes in Europe; but his wealth and the premature civilisation which was the consequence, had drawn the people away *The Frenchl were long taught to remember this bloody lesson. " If I am provoked," said Henry IV., " I will breakfast at Milan, and dine at Naples."-" Your majesty," replied the Spanish ambassador, " may perhaps arrive in Sicily for vespers." To the credit of the Sicilian character, it should not be forgotten that the single Frenchman (William Porcelet) who had not disregarded the laws of justice and humanity, was, together with his family, safely conveyed to Italy. 276 MIDDLE AGES. from the church of Rome. The reformers spread over Languedoc had already refused to recognise the spiritual authority of the pope, who, denouncing them as schismatics, lighted up a terrible war, which desolald one of the fairest portions of Europe. " Innocent III.," says the President H6nault, " was the soul of this war, Dominic was its apostle, the Count of Toulouse the victim, and Simon, earl of Montfort, the chief." Louis VIII. marched against these opponents of the Romish church, with 200,000 men. After some resistance he took Avignon, which, strengthened with 300 houses fortified with towers, had been considered almost impregnable. Many cities in Languedoc opened their gates to him; but a contagious disease spread among his troops, and he himself being seized with the disorder, withdrew to Montpensier in Auvergne, where he died, 1226. Louis IX., surnamed the Saint, being only eleven years old at the death of his father, his minority was spent under the regency of his mother, the excellent Blanche of Castile. Though the first fifteen years of his reign was one continued struggle against his refractory barons, his moderation and virtue, nevertheless, increased the influence of the monarchy. A series of destructive campaigns was avoided by his surrender of Guienne to Henry III. of England; and the security of his people was maintained by his " Establishments," a code of feudal customs, the first monument of legislation raised by the Capetian family. But Louis was superstitious, and this led to his two unfortunate crusades, in the last of which, 1270, he met his death at the siege of Tunis. St. Louis united several provinces to his crown without the cost of one drop of blood. The alliances of his brothers, Alphonso and Charles, prepared for the union of Languedoc and Provence; Blois and Chartres were purchased from the Count of Champagne, 1247; Nismes and Carcassone were gained by renouncing the feudal sovereignty of Barcelona, 1258; and the treaty of Abbeville with the English in 1259 consolidated the conquests made during the reign of Philip Augustus. From his impartiality, St. Louis was frequently chosen as mediator in the quarrels of his time: he endeavoured to reconcile the Duke of Brittany with the King of Navarre-the latter with the King of EnglandHenry III. with his barons-and Gregory IX. with the Emperor Frederick II. In all his transactions with the court of Rome, he firmly but respectfully defended the rights of his crown, and by his Pragmatic Sanction,* 1268, established the liberties of the Gallican church. Louis IX. prudently continued the work begun under the auspices of Philip Augustus, of increasing the royal power by controlling his vassals, not, however, without due respect to such rights as were consecrated by age, although originally usurped by violence. For the first time deputies of the citizens were admitted into certal' public assemblies. The administration of justice was reformed by wise institutions and by the influence of the "Establishments;" the limits of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction were clearly determined by the orders of 1235; and the traders' companies regulated by useful decrees. Miiller, speaking of St. Louis, observes, that the empire of the Franks was founded by arms; but royalty in France was consolidated by the virtues of this monarch. PHILIP III. the Bold, considerably increased the royal domain by the addition of Poitou and Auvergne, 1271; while circumstances, arising * This regulation in matters of religion is commonly, but perhaps without foundation, attributed to Louis IX. A similar usage in episcopal elections was established by the famous pragmatic sanction of Charles VII., drawn up in an assembly of the Frenclh church held at Bourges, 1438, which contains certain regulations for ecclesiastical dis, cipline in conformity with the canons of the council of Basle. This rule, which was intended by the Gallician church as a barrier against the encroachments of the papa' court, was revoked by the concordat of Bologna in 1516, between Francis I. and Leo X. THIRTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 277 out of the death of Theobald II. on his return from Tunis, eventually gase Champagne and Navarre to the French crown. By these acquisitions, and that of the earldom of Toulouse, the king became on a sudden very powerful in the south. But he was not successful in the war in Sicily, undertaken to defend his uncle Charles of Anjou against Aragon. Having marched an army into Spain, he died on his return to France, at Perpignan, 1285. CAPETIAN DYNASTY: PORTION II. - Louis VI. the Fat, k. 1108. 6. Louis VII. the Young, 1137, Robert the Great, Peter (7th son), m. 1. Eleanor of Guienne. stock of the families of m. Isabella, d. and 2. Constance of Castile. Dreux and Brittany. heiress of Reginald 3. Alice of Champagne. of Courtenay.ct. of I~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~Auxerre. 7. PHILIP II. Augustus, 1180, JMargaret, Peter, m. 1. Isabella, heiress of m. Henry, son of emp. of Constantinople, Artois. 2. Agnes de Henry II. of England. 1216. JMeranie. I 8. Louis VIII. 1223, Philip, Robert, m. Blanche of Castile. ct. of Boulogne. emp. of Constantinople, 1221. 9. Louis IX. 1226, Robert I. Alphonso, Charles, ct. of Anjou, m..Margaret of stock of House ct. of Poitiers, m. Beatrice of Provence; Provence. of Artois, extinct m. Joan, heiress stock of Sicilian kings. in 1472. of Toulouse, t 1271. _ —... _ 10. PHILIP III. the Bold, 1270, Robert, Peter, Blanche, m. 1. Isabella of Aragon. ct, of Clermont; ct. of Alencon. m. Ferdinand of 2. Mary of Brabant. stock of branches Lacerda. of Bourbon, Vend6me, and Mont. pensier. 11. PHILIP IV. the Fair, 1285, Charles, Louis, Margaret, m. Joanna, heiress of Navarre stock of Houses stock of House m. Edward I. and Champagne. of Valois and of Evreux-Na- of England. l~I Alencon. varre. 12. Louis X. Hutin, 1314, 13. PHILIP V. 14. CHARLES IV. Isabella, m. 2. Clemence of Hungary. the Long, 1316, the Fair, k. 1322, m. Edward II. m. Joan of t 1328, last of the of England. Burgundy. first branch. JOHN I. 1315, Joanna, Joanna, Edward III. of lived hlt eight heiress of heiress of Bur- England, pretender days, and is Navarre; gundy, and Ar- to the French not reckoned m. Philip tois; m. Eudes IV. throne. among kings of Evreux. d. of Burgundy. of France. PHILIP IV. the Fair, was bent upon the aggrandizement of the monarchy by the reduction of the five great fiefs, Champagne, Guienne, Flanders, Burgundy, and Brittany. The first he obtained by marriage; the second he got possession of by stratagem, but was compelled to restore in 1303; his attempt on the third was defeated by the terrible rout of Courtray, 1302, in which the Flemings took 4000 pair of gilt spurs, worn only by knights. The various difficulties in which this king was involved, by the depreciation of the coinage and his disputes with the clergy, led to the convention of the states-general, 1302. Profiting by a quarrel between some Norman and English sailors, he comn 24 278 MIDDLE AGES. menced a war with England, and took, with little resistance, all the strong places of Guienne and Gascony. Edward' I. was then too much engaged with the Scottish war to defend his continental possessions, but he menaced France with a formidable league in the north. The defeat of the Flemings suspended the contest; and, by the treaty of Montreuil sur Mer, Edward espoused, in 1299, Philip's sister, Margaret. BRITAIN. MAGNA CHARTA.-JOHN, 1199, the murderer of his nephew Arthur, fell under the ban of the pope, and provoked his subjects to revolt. All the exactions usual to Norman kings were not only redoubled, but mingled with outrages still more intolerable by this prince, who was not less contemptible for his folly than his cowardice. It was a fortunate circumstance that England was not at this period parcelled out like France into numerous petty states, separated from each other by laws, manners, and privileges. When the country rose as one man against his tyranny, John was isolated; there was no province on which he could depend for support by concessions and privileges detrimental to the rest. He was therefore compelled to relax the severity of the forest laws, and to sign the GREAT CHARTER, 1215, the,keystone of English liberty. "All that has since been obtained," says Hallam, "is little more than as confirmation or commentary; and if every subsequent law were to be swept away, there would still remain the bold features that distinguish a free from a despotic monarchy." Sir J. Mackintosh observes, that "to have produced the Great Charter, to have preserved it, to have matured it, constitute the immortal claim of England on the esteem of mankind." This is what some rash men were about to exchange for the dominion of France in 1213. The attempt of John to annul the charter was happily frustrated by his death; but he had already suffered the continental possessions of England to be diminished by surrendering to the French monarch, without a struggle, Normandy, Anjou, Touraine, and Maine, 1205. A quarrel with Innocent III. caused the kingdom to be laid under an interdict. The churches were closed, the sacraments withheld from all but children and dying persons; and the dead were buried without prayers in unhallowed ground. John was at length compelled to yield, promising to do homage for his dominions, and to pay an annual tribute of 1000 marks. His character may be summed up in the words of Juvenal,-" Monstrum nulla virtute redemptum a vitiis." Remarks on the Great Charter. On the English nation the charter has contributed to combine stability with improvement. It set the first example of the progress of a great people in blending popular pretensions and the power of the nobles with a vaguely limited monarchy, so as at length to form, from these discordant materials, the only kind of free government which experience has shown to be reconcileable with widely extended dominion. Prepare: A sketch of Magna Charta, with the names of its chief promoters. HENRY III., 1216, succeeded his father at the age of ten years. His minority was passed in peace and without any important event, under the successive guardianship of the Earl of Pembroke and Hubert de Burgh As soon as he attained his majority, he showed himself as THIRTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 279 unworthy the confidence of his subjects as did his father. Always guided by favourites, he was easily managed by De Burgh, on whom he lavished numerous offices. He oppressed his people with all kinds of exactions, and fell into a serious disagreement with his brother Richard, earl of Cornwall, afterwards King of the Romans. He twice interfered in the civil wars of the regency in France, and was on both occasions unsuccessful. In 1245, he opposed the preaching of the crusade within his dominions, partly from mistrust of Louis IX., and partly from his being engaged in disputes with Llewellyn, the last native prince of Wales. England during nearly the whole of this reign was a prey to internal dissensions, excited by Henry's prodigality, favouritism, exactions, and continual violation of his people's rights. These grievances led to a revolt of the barons, who placed at their head Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, who had married Henry's sister. They compelled the king to agree to the provisions of the parliament of Oxford, reforming most of the abuses; but, in 1261, he recalled his assent, and procured Pope Alexander IV.'s dispensation from his oaths. St. Louis was umpire in the subsequent disputes; but the barons being dissatisfied with his decision, recourse was had to arms, when the battle of Lewes, 1264, threw the king and his brother Richard into their hands. The commons were now, according to some historians, summoned for the first time to the national assembly or parliament.* Affairs, however, soon changed appearances. Edward, the presumptive heir to the crown, defeated the insurgents at Evesham, in 1265, when Leicester perished, and the king was delivered from his captivity. Peace being established, the prince joined in the crusade of St. Louis, and two years after was recalled to England on the death of his father. EDWARD I., 1272, the conqueror of Wales and the Justinian of England, proved equally wise and patriotic. Warlike and sagacious, he corrected the many abuses which had crept into the administration of the laws, and reduced the Welsh to subjection, 1283. A disputed succession to the sovereignty of Scotland led to his interference in the affairs of that country. By his arbitration as lord paramount, Baliol was seated on the throne, 1292; but four years afterwards, on a frivolous pretext, Edward invaded and overran the whole country, carrying the king prisoner to London. The Scots, however, soon re-asserted their independence, and next year, under the brave WALLACE, cleared the country of the invaders. The name of this heroic soldier is worthily ranked among the foremost of patriots-with Gustavus Vasa, the two Williams of Orange, with Kosciusko, and with'Washington. The battle of Falkirk, in 1298, proved fatal to Scotland; and it was while marching against the noble BRUCE, who had assumed the royal title, that this enterprising monarch breathed his last, 1307. SPANISH PENINSULA. CASTILE AND LEON.-In the beginning of the thirteenth century, an army of 80,000 Moorish cavalry, accompanied by a corresponding body *This parliament, held in London, 22d January 1265, was composed of the clergy and barons, with two knights from each county, and two burgesses from every borough. The division into separate houses was effected between 1339 and 1343. 280 MIDDLE AGES. of infantry, invaded Spain, spreading terror throughout Christendom. At the summons of Innocent III., 60,000 crusaders from France and Germany crossed the Pyrenees, and took Malagon and Calatrava. Disappointed in their expectations of the pillage of these two cities, they returned to France, leaving only a small part of their forces under the Archbishop of Narbonne and Theobald of Blacon. With these the Sierra Morena was passed, and the battle of Tolosa fought, 1112, in which, if we may credit the historians, not fewer than 200,000 Mussulmans perished. Alphonso IX. of Castile died shortly after, leaving the crown to his infant son HENRY, under the regency of Don Alvaro, chief of the house of Lara. The unimportant reign of this monarch was followed by that of FERDINAND III., son of Alphonso IX. of Leon. On the death of his father, in 1230, who expired on a pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella, he united Castile to the kingdom of Leon. The situation of Christian Spain was extremely flourishing at this period; two formidable invasions had been repelled, and the Moors possessed little beyond Murcia, Valencia, with part of Andalusia and Granada. The order of St. James, founded about the middle of the twelfth century, having acquired eighty commanderies and two hundred priories, was capable of bringing a thousand knights into the field. Next followed the orders of Calatrava and Alcantara, which filled the ranks of the Christian army with their bravest warriors. Thus success followed upon success; and Alphonso, the brother of Ferdinand, crossing the Guadiana, defeated the Moors. The king in person took Ubeda, and Cordova fell before an army of adventurers, 1236. The sovereigns of Murcia and Granada submitted to pay tribute; Seville was attacked and taken after a two years' siege; and Ferdinand was projecting the capture of Ceuta when he died in 1252. ALPHONSO X. of Castile and Leon, 1252, received on his accession to the throne the oaths of fidelity from the sovereigns of Granada and Niebla. The latter city he conquered in 1259, and four years after defeated the rulers of Murcia and Granada, notwithstanding the aid they had received from Morocco: he further united great part of Murcia to Castile, forcing the King of Granada to acknowledge his dependence by payment of a tribute. But the glories of the earlier years of this reign were tarnished by the disturbances which clouded its close. The depreciation of the coinage and the establishment of a maximum led to extreme misery and discontent among all classes. The invasion by the King of Fez in 1275, reconciled for a time the monarch and his subjects; yet Sancho the Brave, his second son, who had the greatest share in the defeat of the Moors, renewed the troubles by aspiring to the crown, which by right should have fallen to his elder brother, Ferdinand of Lacerda. Alphonso was forced to submit to his rebellious son, who was acknowledged heir. The first act of SANCHO IV., 1284, was to deprive his brother, Don Juan, of Seville and Badajoz, which had been left to him by his father. Resuming the war against the Moors, his fleet, united with the Genoese, several times defeated the infidels, and the King of Morocco fled in dismay from the siege of Xeres, 1285. The course of his victories was suspended by the quarrels of the rival houses of Haro and Lara; but on the settlement of their disputes he was enabled to return against the Moors, from whom he took the fortress of Tarifa. He died in 1295, leaving his son FERDINAND IV. under the regency of his mother, Mary, THIRTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 281 ivhl was fortunate enough to satisfy the ambition of Don Juan, her late husband's brother, and to reconcile the two hostile families. Henry, third son of Ferdinand III., having reappeared in Spain after an absence of twenty-five years, seized on the regency; but was soon environed with enemies, whose want of unity was fatal to their success. The death of the usurping regent, which happened shortly after, threw the thief power into the hands of Don Juan and the house of Lara, who persuaded the king to deprive his mother of her authority. On obtaining his majority, Ferdinand re-established concord for a time, by giving a suitable appanage to the eldest son of Alphonso of Lacerda, and by ceding the north of Murcia to Aragon. Ir. Ferdinand's reign the important fortress of Gibraltar was taken from the Moors. ARAGON.-PETER II., who ascended the throne in 1196, after contributing to the victory of Tolosa, perished at Muret, fighting on the side of the Count of Toulouse against Simon of Montfort. His successor, JAMES I., surnamed the Conqueror, 1213, undertook an expedition to the Balearic Isles, attacked Majorca, defeated the Moors, marched towards their capital, and himself mounting first to the assault, took possession of the place, which, with the whole island, he united to Aragon, an important conquest for the maritime commerce of the Catalonians. When two Moorish princes were prosecuting their claims to the throne of Valencia, James, proceeding to the succour of one of them, penetrated to the capital, which he captured. The submission of Valencia gave fresh importance to Aragon; but his successors, wishing to unite the crown of Sicily to those which they already wore, the occupation of that island diverted them from the Moorish wars to mingle in the quarrels then agitating Italy. PETER III., 1276, who had married the daughter of Manfred, king of Sicily added that island to the possessions of the house of Barcelona. It was in vain that Pope Martin IV. declared his deposition, and conferred the crown on Charles of Valois, second son of Philip the Bold, for the Admiral Roger de Loria maintained everywhere the superiority of the Aragonese flag, and thereby entirely neutralized the invasion of Catalonia by the French monarch. At Peter's death, in 1285, the crown of Sicily was left to his second son James, and that of Aragon to ALPHONSO III., the Beneficent, who took Minorca from the infidels. At the news of Alphonso's death, in 1291, James, abandoning Sicily to his brother Frederick, returned to assume the crown of his native land. To terminate the war with France, he espoused Blanche, daughter of Charles of Naples, and promised to restore Sicily to that prince; but Frederick found means to prevent the execution of this promise. THE EAST. MAMELUKES.-On the death of Saladin, in 1193, his empire was divided among the princes of his family; Egypt still maintaining its pre-eminence. But the sons of that great leader were dethroned by his brother Malek-el-Adel, who began, in 1200, the dynasty of the Ayoubite sultans; and in the reign of his last descendant, St. Louis undertook the crusade in which he and his army were made prisoners, 1250. In the sanie year the Mamelukes broke out into open rebellion, and having murdered their new sovereign, they established a dynasty of their own. 24* 282 MIDDLE AGES. This class of men were principally Circassian or Georgian slaves whom the Egyptian sultans had purchased to fill the ranks of their army; and being trained as a body-guard, they proved very brave though sometimes turbulent soldiers. After this period, few of their sovereigns died a natural death; the only variety in their fate was the means employed — the sword, poison, or the bowstring. The Mamelukes oppressed the unfortunate Egyptians, and filled the country with scenes of violence, until their dynasty was ended in the Sultan Selim, 1517. GENGIIIS KHAN.-Another terrible scourge now appeared in Asia. On the banks of the Selinga was born, in 1164, Temugin, better known as Genghis Khan.* This leader of the Mongols issued from the distant regions of Chinese Tartary at the head of a fierce and uncivilised race, whose course was everywhere marked by desolation, 1206. His career was one splendid victory. Invading China, he seized on seven of the northern provinces; conquered Corea and Thibet; defeated 400,000 men under Mohammed, the sultan of Kharism; and routed the Czar of Russia. All Asia, from the sea of China to the Euxine, yielded to his power; and though he died in 1226, his conquests were continued by his successors. One of them, Baatu, made a rapid incursion into Europe, 1236, the broadest rivers proving no obstacle to his savage followers. Having conquered Russia, they invaded Poland, and destroyed the cities of Lublin and Cracow. The monarchs of Europe trembled on their thrones, when this second Attila was recalled by the death of the Great Khan Octai in 1245. The caliphate of Bagdad was terminated by the Mongols, under Hulaku, in 1258, A. H. 656. During forty days the city was given up to plunder, and 200,000 persons were slain. The conquest of China was completed in 1279, by Kublai Khan, who had raised the power of his nation to the summit of grandeur. He died in 1294, when the empire was divided into Iran (Persia), Zagatai (S. E. Asia); Kaptschak (Russia); and China. Read: Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. lxiv. THE CHURCH. TIlE MENDICANT ORDERs.-The reform called for by the corrupt lives of the clergy demanded a stronger spirit of enthusiasm in their defence. Francisco, the son of a rich merchant of Assisi, was actuated in his youth by a delirious piety; in his riper years he became either a madman or an impostor. With the pope's consent he instituted in 1210 a class of Friars Minorite, better known as Franciscans, from the name of their founder, in honour of whom they modestly call themselves the Seraphic order; having installed him above the seraphim upon the throne from which Satan fell. They were bound to observe the severest rule of life: they went barefooted, and trusted to alms for their daily bread. They increased with great rapidity; so that in the eighteenth century, when the Reformation must have diminished their number by one-third, * Genghis Khan, or the greatest khan, had been raised to the command of his nation by the help of another whose name has been mixed up with numerous fables. Temugin had married the daughter of Ouang, the great khan of the Keraites, who, from the story of having been converted by some Christian monks and baptized, is known in Europe as Prester John. THIRTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 283 there were found 28,000 Franciscan nuns in 900 nunneries, and 115,000 friars in 7000 convents. The rival order of Dominicans, which was instituted on the same principles, and about the same period, became noted for performing the sanguinary tasks of the Inquisition, extirpating heretics with fire and sword. By the council of Lyons, 1274, the number of the mendicant orders was confined to four: -Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, and Austin friars,-all of whom proving the ever-acting agents of the holy see, received in consequence great privileges from the popes. The monks could confess, absolve, and preach in all churches; and thither ran the people to listen to these men, coarsely clad and attenuated by austerity, rather than to the delicate and sumptuous prelates, who glittered in purple garments and gold. These orders, by undermining the influence of the superior clergy, restored to Christianity the democratic character which it bore in the primitive church, and which was manifested with such terrible energy during the religious wars. Read: Southey's Book of the Church. THE INQUISITION.-The establishment of the Inquisition by Dominic, in 1204, enabled the papal court to direct all its efforts to the extirpation of heresy. The leading features of this odious tribunal were the impenetrable secrecy of its proceedings, the insidious mode of accusation, the use of torture, and heavy penalties. This weapon of the church was first successfully employed against the Albigenses, but was afterwards suppressed in France. Introduced into Germany in 1231, it was abolished after the lapse of three years on account of the violence of the inquisitor, and never again restored. In Italy it succeeded in crushing the Reformation; but it was successfully resisted by the Neapolitans, who were alarmed at the cruelty with which it was administered in Spain. In that country it possessed a formidable power, and there an auto-da-fe was solemnized so lately as 1783. Read: M'Crie's Reformation in Italy.-Llorente's Inquisition. ALBIGENSES.-This sect, which derived its name from the town of Albi, was probably a union of all who differed from the Romish church, collected round the simple Waldenses-so called from Valdo of Lyons -whom Providence had kept untainted by the papal corruptions. The suspicious death of Pietro de Castelnau, while crossing the Rhone in 1208, called forth a bull from Innocent III. against all schismatics, and particularly against Raymond VI. count of Toulouse, absolving his subjects from their allegiance, and informing them that faith was not to be kept with heretics. Simon, count of Montfort, was appointed leader of this Western Crusade. It began with the storming of Beziers, where 15,000 Albigenses were slain. It is said that when some of the inhabitants would have escaped, a Cistertian monk led on the crusaders with the cry of "kill them all! God will know his own." At last Raymond VII., in 1229, was forced to capitulate, and the Inquisition was established in Toulouse. The Albigenses were dispersed, but not destroyed, by a determined system of persecution. During two centuries they supplied victims for the Spanish inquisition; in Bohemia they had a dreadful season of vengeance under Zisca and Procopius; in Germany they prepared the way for Luther; and in Britain they sowed that seed of which, by the blessing of God, we now enjoy the abundant harvest. 284 MIDDLE AGES. CRUSADES. FOURTH CRUSADE, A.D. 1202.-A new holy war was preached by Fulques of Neuilly, and Baldwin, count of Flanders, was made leader. The crusaders were diverted from the object of their expedition by the prayers of the young Alexius, who implored their protection in behalf of his father. Aided by Dandolo of Venice, they took the Byzantine capital, and elected Baldwin emperor. Other chiefs shared in the spoils; Boniface of Montferrat had the title of King of Thessaly; Ville Hardouin was made Duke of Thrace; Athens was converted into a duchy; Achaia into a principality; and Corinth into a lordship Thus began the Latin empire in 1204, which lasted till 1261. CRUSADE OF CHILDREN.-As the crusading spirit of the times hao seduced Louis IX., so even children were possessed by it. In 1212. nearly 90,000 youths of different countries left their parents and schoolmasters in order to betake themselves to the Holy Land. They proceeded in great troops to Marseilles and Genoa, although their numbers were diminished by cold, hunger, and disease. As two merchants of the former city offered to transport them across the sea, seven vessels quitted the port, by which they were carried to Alexandria, and there sold as slaves. Most of those who reached Genoa, in the hope of finding the bed of the sea dried up, were reduced to bondage by the inhabitants of the country. Consult: Michaud's History of the Crusades, vol. iii. FIFTH CRUSADE, 1217.-This expedition was undertaken by the king of Hungary, Andrew II., who was aided by John of Brienne, king of Jerusalem; Hugh, king of Cyprus; and Leopold III., duke of Austria. The crusaders first landed at Acre, but their ill success in Palestine, and the departure of the Hungarians, induced them to turn their arms to another quarter. As Egypt was the great resource of the Mussulmans in the Holy Land, it was resolved to conquer Jerusalem by depriving it of its usual supplies. Accordingly Damietta was stormed, and the sultan offered to give up the Holy City with the true cross, when the pope's legate thought fit to reject his proposals and continue the war. This resolution was fatal; for, surrounded by the waters of the Nile, attacked on all sides by the Saracens, and wasted by a contagious malady, the Christians were forced to submit to humiliating conditions of peace, in 1221. SIXTH CRUSADE, 1228.-The failure of the fifth crusade incited the ope to press the fulfilment of the vow which the Emperor Frederick I. had made to assume the cross; but it was not until he had incurred the penalty of excommunication through his various delays, that the emperor set out for the Holy Land. Here, by a convention signed the following year, the Sultan of Egypt ceded Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Rama, and all the country between Acre, Tyre, Sidon, and Jerusalem. But the Christians did not long preserve their acquisitions. Weakened by civil wars, some forming alliances with the Sultan of Damascus, others with the ruler of Egypt, they lost Jerusalem in 1244; and although they recovered it again, and held possession of it for a brief period, they were finally driven out by the Kharismians, who massacred or reduced to slavery all the population of Palestine, and destroyed the sacred sepulchre. '-~~ ~ zj.... it,,111ii,,,~....:i:,~111!iiiii!~iiii~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~~~~i - iiii _;;l)i- A ".':!!:i~iii~i.......... i ~.!i':::i::: i, + ~ ~~~~~ 1* THIRTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 285 SEVENTH CRUSADE, 1248.-Cardinal Eudes of Chateauroux was the eans of giving birth to this war, in which Louis IX. sailed for Egypt with an army of nearly 60,000 men. That country was looked upon as the key of Palestine, and Louis made the city of Damietta the centre of his movements. Natural obstacles, the resolute opposition of the Turks, and the loss of many brave knights, including his brother the Count of Artois, compelled him to retreat when almost within sight of Cairo. Pestilence and famine aggravated the distresses of his soldiers; and the king himself became a captive, when his army was almost annihilated. His ransom was obtained by the payment of 400,000 livres. At Acre, he lingered four years, ashamed to return inglorious to France and unable to visit the holy sepulchre. EIGHTH CRUSADE, 1270.-A chimerical hope of converting the King of Tunis led Louis to the African coast. His army, 30,000 foot, and 6000 horse, was composed of men of all nations; for English, Scots, Catalonians, Portuguese, and Castilians, fought under the same banners with the French chivalry. The plague, however, soon appeared in the camp, which cut him off at the age of fifty-five, 1270. RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES. Des Michaels, examining the influences of the Crusades, classifies them under the following heads:I. Immediate Effect.-Europe was saved from Turkish invasion at a period when she would have been ill able to resist it, although she purchased this benefit and short repose at a great price of blood and treasure. II. Effect on the Church.-The popes augmented their spiritual and temporal power. They brought under their supremacy the patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem, and strengthened the links of the hierarchy. III. Political Effect. -This was shown, 1st, Among the princes, who all, with the exception of the emperors, found means of enlarging their domains, and increasing their authority; 2d, Among the nobility, who suffered in power and riches, but were gainers in honorary distinctions. The orders of knighthood established in the East reflected their splendour over Europe and were imitated in all Christian states. Tournaments, a recent introduction, charmed the West by representing the exploits of the Holy War; the combatants from beyond the seas came to display, in the various courts, the magnificence of the East; while coats of arms became necessary as distinctive marks, and family names were adopted and transmitted from sire to son. IV. Effect on Commerce and Industry.-The art of navigation made important progress, owing to the frequent voyages, to the great profits derived from them, and to the practices borrowed from the pilots of the Levant. By opening a wider field to speculation, and by facilitating exchange, commerce derived the same advantages as nautical science. Productions of nature and art, hitherto unknown in the West, brought new enjoyments, and called forth fresh industry. The maritime cities that engrossed the commerce of the East, attracted to them most of the wealth of Europe, and several of them became powerful republics. Hence the prosperity of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, of Barcelona and Marseilles. Hence, too, the wealth and activity of the Flemish towns, which served as the medium of exchange between the North and South, between the ports of the Mediterranean and the towns of the Hanseatic league. Agriculture was also greatly benefited by the introduction of the mulberry, Turkey-wheat, the sugar-cane, and other plants. V. Effect on Knowledge.-General civilisation was advanced by new international relations, and the progress of science and literature. Ideas of honour and courtesy spread from chivalry into society generally, softening the public 286 MIDDLE AGES. manners, and ennobling, in some respect, the enfranchised serfs, who were indebted for most of their wealth and liberty to the crusades. New and sublime subjects were laid open to poetic genius, which, however, rarely employed them with advantage. Still talent was honoured, and the warriors, not satisfied with encouraging the versifiers who celebrated their exploits, became their own bards. A peculiar character was impressed on oetry, and thus arose the romance of chivalry and the songs of the troubadours. Hence was breathed the first harmony into the various dialects of modern Europe. The advances made by the sciences of geography, history, and medicine, were important in giving a new impulse to geographical research and adventure. FOURTEENTH CENTURY. GREEK EMPIRE.-1341, Cantacuzene.-1355, Great Earthquake.-1391, Manuel II. THE EAST.-1310, Knights of St. John at Rhodes.-1326, Rise of the Ottoman Power -Janizaries. -1370, Tamerlane.- 1389, Bajazet. -1402, Battle of Angora. GERMANY.-1315, Battle of Morgarten.-1338, Union of Rense.-1347, Charles IV. - 1356, Golden Bull. - 1378, Wenceslaus, Emperor. - 1386, Battle of Sempach. ITALIAN PENINSULA.-The Visconti. —1320, Castruccio Castracani. —1342, Joan I.-1347, Rienzi.-1355, Faliero expelled.-1378, War of Chioggia. FRANCE.-1302, Defeat at Courtray-Papal Quarrels.-1307, Templars abol. ished - Salic Law. - 1346, Battle of Cressy; 1356, of Poitiers. -1358, The Jacquerie.-1364, Charles V. BRITAIN. - 1314, Battle of Bannockburn. - 1346, The Black Prince. - 1371, The Stuarts.-1381, Wat Tyler.-1399, HOUSE OF LANCASTER-Henry V. SPANISH PENINSULA.- 1340, Battle of Tarifa: Cannons first used.- 1350, Peter the Cruel.-1368, Henry of Trastamare.-1385, John of Portugal. CHURCH.-1360, John Wickliffe.-1378, Great Schism of the West-Lollards -Bianchi. INVENTIONS.-1306, The Mariner's Compass-Linen Paper-Cannons.-1330, Notes of Music.-1360, Metal-drawing; Pins.-1380, Playing Cards-Gunpowder used. LITERATURE, &C. -1300, Cimabue; 1336, Ghiotto, Painter. -1321, Dante, Poet; 1343, Occam, Theologian; 1374, Petrarch, Poet; 1375, Boccacio, Novelist; Hafiz, Persian Poet; 1400, Chaucer, Poet; 1402, Gower, Poet, Froissart, Historian. GREEK EMPIRE. A nation so degraded as the Greeks was unable to defend itself against the Turks, to repel whose attacks ANDRONICUS II. hired 7000 Catalonians, whom the reconciliation of the houses of Anjou and Aragon had left without employment; but these mercenaries, uniting with the Turks, pillaged Thrace and Thessaly, and seized on the duchy of Athens, 1312. Further, the knights of St. John wrested Cos, Rhodes, and several adjacent islands, from the Byzantine emperor. Internal dissen FOURTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 287 sions led to the dethronement of the sovereign by his grandson, Andronicus the Younger, 1328, under whom the abuses of the government increased. Bithynia was conquered by the Turks; and his reign of thirteen years was imbittered by a declining popularity and a premature old age, the consequence of youthful excess. John Palaologus, 1341, was left in his ninth year under the guardianship of the regent CANTACUZENE, who had the merit of restoring Lesbos and iEtolia to the empire. The intrigues of jealous courtiers led him to assume the imperial title. During six years the flames of civil discord burned with various success; and while internal factions weakered the state, the barbarians were breaking through the whole line of the frontiers. The regent finally triumphed, but his reign was disturbed by faction; and he descenqed from the throne to a cloister, 1355, when John resumed the purple. In this year a terrible earthquake shook most of the cities in South Roumelia,-an event of which the Turks took advantage to seize on them, and to fortify Gallipoli and Zympe. Opposed on all sides by Christians and infidels alike, the emperor besought the protection of the pope, and endeavoured to effect a-union between the two churches. But this was unavailing against the victories of Amurath, to whom he became almost a tributary vassal, and the Greek empire was confined to a corner of Thrace between the Sea of Marmora and the Euxine, scarcely 1500 miles square-Philadelphia, the last city held by the Greeks in Asia Minor, having been wrested from them in 1390.-MANUEL II., 1391, who had served under Bajazet, preserved his military reputation by a lengthened struggle with his rival John of Selymbria. The threatening power and haughty summons of Bajazet led to an ignominious truce of ten years, in virtue of which the religion of Mohammed was tolerated in the Christian capital. THE EAST. OTTOMAN EMPIRE.-Profiting by the weakness of the Seljukians of Iconium, many Turkish families had retired into the mountains of Asia Minor, where they formed several petty states, and preserved their warlike habits by continual inroads into the Greek territories. Among these was OTHMAN, who, fixing his residence at Karahissar, extended his power into Bithynia; and his son Orcan, who succeeded him, 1326, having assumed the title of sultan, rapidly enlarged his dominions. Invited into Europe by one of the factions of the capital, the barbarians established themselves in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, whence they subdued the whole province from the Hellespont to Mount Hamus, 1360. AMURATII I. at length reduced the Greek emperor to the ignominy of sending his four sons as hostages to the Ottoman camp. To him, or to his predecessor Orcan, the celebrated Janizaries owe their origin. Aware of the real superiority of the Europeans in warlike matters, he selected the stoutest of the Christian prisoners, and educated them in habits of martial discipline. This new militia was consecrated by a renowned dervise, who said, "Let them be called Janizaries-new soldiers; may their hands be ever victorious, and their swords keen." BAJAZET I., surnamed Ilderim, 1389, reigned fourteen years; and his rapid movements soon reduced to obedience all the country between the Euphrates and the Danube. At the battle of Nicopolis, 1396, he defeated Sigismond the king of Hungary, and the bravest knights of France and 288 MIDDLE AGES. Germany, who had marched to the support of Europe and the church. It was the insolent boast of this proud army of 100,000 Christians, that if the sky should fall they could uphold it on their lances. The impetuousity of the French caused the loss of the day, and the lives of many of the most gallant soldiers. With savage cruelty Bajazet led out the prisoners, amounting to no fewer than 10,000, to be slaughtered in cold blood. The Duke of Burgundy was compelled to be a spectator of this inhuman massacre, which lasted from early morn till four o'clock, p. M.; and then was only stopped by the intercession of some of the Mohammedan leaders. The siege of Constantinople was next meditated, but the sultan was compelled to defend himself against the formidable T'merlane. The two armies met at Angora, 1402: Bajazet was defeated and. made captive, and carried about in triumph, as some say, in an iron cage. TAMERLANE.-Under the successors of Genghis Kdan in the fourteenth century, the vices common to all Asiatic monarchies appeared. The provincial governors asserted their independence in 1355, and the dynasty of the Ilkhanians at Bagdad extended their authority to the Caspian Sea. At the same time, the khan's officers deprived him of his power, and governed the empire in his name. Lastly, the inroads of the Turkomans, and of the Mongol Khan of the Kaptschak, who several times entered Persia, but particularly those of Tamerlane, put an end to their dominion. This famous warrior was not distinguished in arms until the ace of twenty-seven; his youth having been passed in tending the flocks and herds of the family. At nineteen he became religious, and made a vow never to injure any living thing. His first adventures were the struggles upon which he entered to restore to independence his country, that had been invaded by the Calmucks. He ascended the throne of Zagatai, 1370; but before his death the crown of that kingdom was only one of fourteen that encircled his brows, Turkestan was subdued in 1383; Persia in 1393; and Eastern Tartary was invaded with a mighty army, whose front covered thirteen miles. Hindostan was assailed by 92,000 horsemen; and 10,000 prisoners, whom they took on their march, were all massacred. Delhi was captured and delivered up to an undisciplined soldiery; and after a campaign of one year, Tamerlane returned home. His designs of conquest were probably changed by the news he received of the ambitious projects of Bajazet. Quitting the banks of the Ganges, he marched against his rival; Sebaste, on the borders of Anatolia was taken, and the garrison, consisting of 4000 Armenians, buried alive. His incursions into Syria and Persia during the next two years enabled Bajazet to collect forces; and after various delays, the two armies met in the heart of the Ottoman empire. The result of the battle of Angora, 1402, did not disgrace the thirty years' experience of Tamerlane. Almost the whole of Asia was now in his hands, but while meditating a new design of vast extent, the reduction of Egypt and Africa, and the entrance into Europe by Gibraltar, death put a term to his conquests in 1405. With his life the glory of his empire faded, and, before the end of the fifteenth century, Transoxiana and Persia were trampled upon by their Turkoman neighbours. GERMANY. After the death of his rival Adolphus in 1298, Albert of Austria FOURTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 289 seceived the imperial crown at Aix-la-Chapelle, notwithstanding tne determined opposition of Boniface VIII., who, nevertheless, becoming reconciled, assisted him in placing on the throne of Hungary their common friend, Carobert of Naples, 1308. The emperor next disposed of the Bohemian territory in favour of two of his sons, Rodolph and Frederick. But the states had already conferred the sovereignty on Henry of Carinthia, brother-in-law of the preceding king, Wenceslaus V. Albert, after making several vain efforts to support the rights of his own family, turned all the fury of his anger against the Swiss. HELVETIC CONFEDERACY.-The Swiss towns did not rise into importance before the twelfth century, nor did their country bear its present name. Part belonged to the duchy of Swabia; part to the kingdom of Arles; part to Burgundy; and though all as a body were dependent on the empire, certain fiefs appertained to the house of Austria. At the end of the thirteenth century, the politic and enterprising Rodolph, with his son Albert, had obtained a great ascendency among them. The latter, however, was viewed with distrust, and his conduct in sending some imperial bailiffs as administrators of criminal justice, excited a brave and simple-minded people to insurrection. Stauffacher, Furst, and Melchthal united in the cause of liberty, and the cantons of Schweitz, Uri, and Unterwalden, which they represented, unanimously rose and expelled their oppressors in 1308. Tell, the son-in-law of Furst, having offended the bailiff Gessler by refusing to bow to a hat planted on a pole, was seized, and in violation of the privileges of his canton, placed in a boat to be carried across the lake. A storm having arisen, he was loosed from his fetters to navigate the vessel, when he found an opportunity of effecting his escape. He shortly after met his enemy and shot him in a hollow way in 1307.* Leopold, duke of Austria, led a considerable force to reduce the peasants who had rebelled against his father; but the battle of Morgarten, the Marathon of Switzerland, confirmed the independence of the three cantons, 1315. In this conflict a display of patriotic firmness occurred, not unworthy the best days of ancient Rome. Fifty men, who had been banished from Schweitz, solicited permission to fight in defence of their native homes; the magistrates declined the offer, being unwilling to allow the approach of danger to relax the ordinances of the state. But the exiles, though thus rejected, posted themselves on an eminence beyond the frontier of the canton, where they contributed to the victory of those by whom their services had been refused. They obtained from the gratitude of their country, what they had vainly sought from its fears, and were all restored. The battle of Sempach, in 1386, was the last in which Austria endeavoured to subdue those independent mountaineers. It was rendered illustrious by an heroic act, deserving to be ever remembered among the instances of generous self-devotion. When the confederates had been defeated in every attempt to break the line of the enemy, another Codrus, Arnold Struthan, knight of Unterwalden, cried to his countrymen that he would open a passage, desiring them to provide for his wife and * The authenticity of the romantic story of Tell and his son is very doubtful. Saxo Grammaticiis, the Swedish historian, relates a precisely similar event, which happened to the Danish Toko, under Harold the Blue, king of Denmark, in the 10th century. 25 290 MIDDLE AGES. children, and to honour his race. Then throwing himself on the opposing pikes, he grasped as many of them as he could, buried them in his oosom, and bore them to the ground, leaving a space open for the advance of his companions. Before the middle of the century, the confederacy had been strengthened by the addition of Lucerne, Zurich, Berne, Zug, and Glaris, composing the eight ancient cantons. Friburg, Appenzel, Soleure, Basle, and Schaffhausen, afterwards became part of the body; and its independence was declared by the treaty of Basle in 1500. Seven months elapsed between the murder of Albert and the election of Henry VII. of Luxemburg, 1308. In order to divert the attention of the princes of the empire, he endeavoured to re-establish the imperial power in Italy, which during sixty-four years had recognised no foreign authority. The factions of the Guelphs and Ghibellines still distracted the country, though their objects were no longer the same,-the one contending for the emperor, the other for the pope. When Henry appeared in Italy, escorted by 2000 cavalry, all the signors presented themselves before him, but they were compelled to resign into his hands the sovereignty which they had abdicated. After having assumed at Monza the crown of Lombardy, he received deputies and oaths of fidelity from all the cities. He died of poison administered in the consecrated wafer, 1313. During this period Germany was at peace, but in the year preceding Henry's death it was ravaged by a pestilence that carried off 13,000 persons at Strasburg, 14,000 at Basle, and as many at Colmar. In some towns and cities not one man escaped. After an interregnum of fourteen months, two emperors were chosen: Frederick of Austria, the son of Albert, was crowned at Cologne, and Louis of Bavaria at Aix-la-Chapelle. The civil war which broke out between the two competitors, was terminated in 1322 by the victory at Muhldorf, which left Louis sole emperor. In 1328, he caused himself to be crowned king at Rome, not by the pope, who was always opposed to him, but by the prefect Sciarra Colonna and two excommunicated bishops; after which he solemnly proclaimed the deposition of John XXII. and proceeded to the election of another pope. The degraded pontiff with his successors Benedict XII. and Clement VI., from their place of exile at Avignon, did not cease to pursue his majesty with their anathemas. Wearied by such continued persecutions, Louis offered to resign his crown, but the electors opposed this resolution, and united at Rense for the preservation of the German independence against his holiness, and replied to the anathemas of Benedict XII. by the pragmatic sanction of Frankfort, 1338. By this act of firmness the papal court was only the more offended; and Clement VI. persuaded the ecclesiastical electors and the Duke of Saxony to choose a new emperor. Their choice fell on Charles of Luxemburg, margrave of Moravia, and eldest son of King John the Blind of Bohemia. The sudden death of Louis IV., in 1347, gave the imperial crown to CHARLES IV. without a struggle. GOLDEN BULL.-The emperor just named, like Louis XI. of France, showed how a monarch may rule without possessing any respectable qualities. His residence at Prague led to the embellishment of the city with public buildings, and his bull of 1355 terminated the disputes between the electors. It was surnamed the golden, from the seal attached to it. Bartholus, the celebrated lawyer, drew up this charter, hy which FOURTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 291.he prerogatives of the electoral college were finally ascertained. Their number was confined to seven; the imperial elections were to be held at Frankfort, and the coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle, the Archbishop of Cologne performing the ceremony. The electors were declared equal to kings, and conspiracy against them was made high treason. Charles twice visited Italy, where he sacrificed most of his imperial prerogatives, as he had already done in Germany. He was always King of Bohemia, and showed great wisdom in the government of his hereditary states. His reign is further remarkable for the foundation of the universities of Prague and Vienna, and for a persecution of the Jews, so atrocious as to require the interference of the pope to stop it. He was succeeded by his son WENCESLAUS in 1378. The reign of Charles, it has been said, was an age of gold compared with that of his son. In Swabia and Franconia private hostilities were frequent; and the cities, from the necessity of preserving the public peace, formed various associations to protect themselves against the leagues of the nobles. An open war ensued between the two parties, and the corporations were defeated at the battles of Weil and WMorms, 1388. The emperor paid dearly for the secret influence which he had used in favour of the free cities: and in order to destroy him, his vicious pursuits, exaggerated beyond all probability, were everywhere made known. He had not a less difficult task in governing his Bohemian subjects; for he had undertaken to Germanize these ancient Sclavonians, and impose on them new laws and a new language. At length his people imprisoned him, 1393, and he was deposed in 1400. ITALIAN PENINSULA. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were a brilliant period, in which poetry, the letters, the arts, and internal improvement raised the Cisalpine nations to an intellectual superiority, which has rarely been equalled; while the political history of the same space presents little more than a labyrinth of petty facts, not less obscure than unimportant. Milan, Florence, Genoa, and Naples, rose to eminence; the pope consolidated his territorial sovereignty; but the kingdom of Naples was a prey to the factions of Anjou and Aragon. By the end of the thirteenth century, the Ghibelline faction was everywhere proscribed; and Charles of Anjou was constituted vicar-general of Tuscany. Robert, the third of the Angevin kings of Naples, aspired to the sovereignty of all Italy, and before 1318 his ambitious measures were generally successful. His death restored the republics to their former condition, but only to accept new masters; for the Visconti of Milan gradually absorbed the rule of all the northern provinces. The marriage of Valentina with the Duke of Orleans, 1389, led to protracted calamities in Italy at the beginning of the sixteenth century. During this period, their relations with the empire, though interrupted, were never entirely suspended. The decree of Rodolph, 1278, by which he resigned the imperial supremacy over all the dominions already granted to the Roman see, was a leading epoch in the civil history of the papacy. The power of the bishops was not generally acquiesced in by the citizens. whose bosoms were animated with the recollection of ancient glories. Arnold of Brescia, a political heretic, had preached against the temporal juris i 292 MIDDLE AGES. diction of the hierarchy, in 1140. By his exhortations the republic was restored; but his life was sacrificed to cement the union between the Emperor Barbarossa and Pope Adrian, 1155. The government of the senate lasted nearly fifty years; when Brancaleone, a senator of Bologna, was elected to the supreme magistracy, 1253. His rigour and inflexible justice were repaid by the ingratitude of an unworthy people. The translation of the holy see to Avignon, 1305, left Rome a prey to the factions of her nobles. In every street was erected some stronghold; each mansion became a castle; an l the feuds of the Orsini and Colonna families were more fatal to the capital than the inroads of the barbarians. RIENI. -Nicholas Rienzi, born of humble parents, was carefully educated, and from the study of the ancient classics had imbibed a deep veneration for the past glories of Rome. In 1342, he was named colleague of Petrarch in a deputation sent to solicit the return of Clement VI. Shortly after, he was appointed apostolic notary; and, in 1347, lie began the revolution he had long meditated.* He suspended in the public places various pictures emblematical of the misery and degradation of the city, which he explained in the most animated manner. Favoured by the absence of Stephen Colonna,t he at length proclaimed that all should assemble on the eve of Whitsunday, in the church of St. Angelo, to provide for The Good State, the watchword of his party. There he assisted during the night at the masses of the Holy Spirit, that he might appear to act by inspiration of Heaven; and then sallied forth bareheaded, attended by a hundred armed men. He was invested by acclamation with the necessary power for carrying his proposed regulations into execution, but contented himself with the title of tribune. The intemperance of prosperity soon betrayed the vices of his character, and precipitated his ruin, even in despite of the salutary influence of his government. Resolving to assume the order of knighthood, the unusual:eremonies he employed, such as bathing in the porphyry vase used at the baptism of Constantine, offended the superstition of the people. His victory over the nobles, who had united in defence of their lives and property, was the crisis of his fate, by the distress it caused to the inhabitants of Rome. A small force advanced to the capitol, in which he held his sumptuous residence, and forced him to leave the city after a government of seven months. He returned in a short time, invested with legitimate authority by the pope; but his administration of scarcely four months was terminated by assassination, in 1354. GENOA dates her commercial prosperity from the recovery of Conetantinople, 1261. Owing to her convenient station at Galata, she long monopolized the commerce of the Euxine, and contested the dominion of the Mediterranean with Venice. In a dispute with the Tartars it became necessary to blockade the Sea of Azoph, a proceeding which gave umbrage to the Venetians, and led to a war, in which Genoa was eventually successful, under the Admiral Paganino Doria. In 1378, * The author of Corinne has drawn with a single stroke the character of Rienzi, Crescentius, and Arnold of Brescia, qui ont pris les souvenirs pour les esperances. The subsequent affairs of Rome are obscure; the people appear to have continued the republican institutions till 1362, when the legate of Innocent VI. was allowed to assume the govern. ment. t Like Brutes, Rienzi acted the buffoon, and the Colonnas used to invite him to their palace to furnish them with amusement, considering him as a mere fool, and of no inportance. FOURTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 293 the occupation of Tenedos by the Venetians, and the conquest of Cyprus by the Genoese, led to the war of Chioggia. The latter, defeated near the ruins of Antium, and victors before Pola, seized upon Chioggia; where Peter Doria rejected with contempt the submission of the Doge Contarini. But the tide of fortune turned, and the peace of Turin, in 1381, which reconciled the two powers, was advantageous to neither. From this period Genoa was in continual revolution; between 1390 and 1394, the doge was changed ten times; and the city was finally placed under the protection of a French garrison, 1401. VENICE.-While this republic was extending her sway abroad by arms and commerce, she was limiting the power of the doge at home, and establishing an hereditary aristocracy that enabled the state to rise to the highest greatness. In 1339, she increased her territory on the Continent, by the conquest of the city of Treviso, and in 1355 executed Faliero for his attempts on the constitution. This doge had been raised to the ducal throne, 1354, at the age of 76. Jealous of the attractions of his young and beautiful wife, he was filled with unappeasable indignation at a scurrilous couplet written on his throne by a young nobleman, Michael Steno, and which reflected on the purity of his lady. He wished to make it a state crime, but the council sentenced the offender to a short imprisonment only. This drove the doge to extremities, and uniting with several discontented plebeians, he engaged in a conspiracy to massacre the whole of the oligarchy. The plot was discovered; Faliero avowed his guilt, and was condemned to die. He was privately beheaded on the great staircase of the ducal palace, and the bloody sword was shown to the populace, with the proclamation, that justice had been executed on a great criminal. The honour of Venice was connected with the reign of the Latins at Constantinople, and the supremacy there of the Roman church; while Genoa, emulous of her fame, concluded an alliance with the Greeks, and assisted them materially in the recovery of their metropolis. Religious disputes, as well as commercial and national prejudices, imbittered the contest between the two republics. The war of 1378 threatened Venice with great misfortunes. The capital was blockaded by the possession of Chioggia, and the Genoese swore that a curb should be placed in the mouth of her wild horses. Necessity compelled the release of the Admiral Pisani from his prison. The canals were defended by floating batteries; private coffers were emptied; gold and silver plate was melted down; and a promise was made that thirty families should be ennobled for their exertions in this momentous crisis. Although the besiegers were in their turn besieged, the senate seriously thought of transporting themselves to Candia. Things were in this state when Carlo Zeno arrived laden with treasure from the Ligurian shores. But after some further struggles, the fortunes of Genoa sunk for ever, and the rivalry of 130 years was terminated by the superiority of Venice. The latter seized on Durazzo and Corfu in 1386, and the Polesina of Rovigo in 1395; and from that moment she did not cease to direct her ambition and arms towards the continent of Italy. TUSCANY. —This rich country was still divided into nearly as many republics as cities, and the disputes of the Guelfs and Ghibellines raged with their wonted animosity. The latter would not have been able to maintain themselves much longer, but for the genius of Castruccio Cas* 25 294 MIDDLE AGES. tracani, who was elected signor of Lucca in 1320. Uniting with Gale* azzo Visconti of Milan, he invaded the territory of the Florentines, and defeated their troops at the battle of Alto Pascio in 1325. But for the premature death of this warrior, the liberty of the Tuscan republics would have been endangered. Of all the Italian cities Florence was perhaps most distracted by rival factions, which, in turn victorious, unfeelingly proscribed their antagonists. Thus was the great poet Dante expelled at the beginning of the fourteenth century by the Guelfs, and condemned to wander, until his death, through the towns of Tuscany and Romagna. The Blacks and the Whites-for by this name did the Guelfs and Ghibellines distinguish themselves - promoted in no small degree the cause of the democracy. The former, guided by the Donati and controlled by the kings of Naples, were nearly always predominant, and the administration was consequently of a popular form. Sometimes the power fell into the hands of the nobles; but the tyranny of Walter of Brienne in 1342 induced the state to adopt the democratic form of government. Its situation became then more critical than ever. Depopulated by pestilence in 1348, and afterwards besieged by the troops of John Visconti, it found safety in the devotion of the Guelf corporations of Sienna, Avizzo, Volterra, and Perugia. By such means the Florentines employed their power to maintain the union between these republics, and to withdraw them from the control of the French, and particularly of the pontifical legates. But they were themselves divided by the rivalry of the Greater and the Less Jrts,* as well as by the aristocratic and p:pular factions, who renewed within the walls the bloody tragedies of the PBacks and the Whites, at the same time that Tuscany was ravaged by " the free company," which the legate, Robert of Geneva, had brought to protect him, 1376. About two years later, democracy prevailed at Florence, through the influence of the gonfalier Sylvester de Medici. LOMBARDY.-The grandson of Mastino della Scala, who had raised a durable power on the ruins of the house of Romano at Verona, obtained from the Emperor Henry VII., in 1312, the title of imperial vicar in the march of Treviso, as well as the signory of Vicenza. The republicans of Padua contested the government of that city; but they themselves fell under the hereditary yoke of James Carrara in 1318. Mastino II., pursuing the ambitious designs of his father, extended his influence into Tuscany by the acquisition of Lucca, and menaced the independence of Florence, which was indebted for its safety to the Venetians. He aspired to the sovereignty of Italy; in this, however, he was opposed by the hostility of the Visconti and the policy of Venice. His family, after his death in 1351, gradually declined, and Antony, the last heir, was deprived of all his possessions by Galeazzo Visconti, who also took Padua from Francisco Carrara in 1388. This city, as well as Verona, fell into the hands of the Venetians in 1404. The Torriani succeeded in driving the Visconti from Milan in 1302; but they soon returned, and their leader, Matthew, engaged the former *The citizens exercising commerce were divided into twelve companies or arts. The seven, called the greater, were those of lawyers and notaries, wholesale dealers in foreign cloth, bankers or money-changers, woollen-drapers, physicians and druggists, dealers in silk, and furriers: the inferior arts, which were gradually increased to fourteen, were the retailers of cloth, butchers, smiths, shoemakers, and builders. FOURTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 295 n a sedition in which the greater part of them perished, 1311. It was about the same period that Henry VII. conferred the title of Imperial Vicar of Lombardy on this chief, who contrived to make the office of signor hereditary in his family. His successors extended their power in Upper Italy by policy as much as by vigour of arms. John Galeazzo Visconti ruined the fortunes of the Scaligers, and united to his paternal estates all Lombard Italy from the Brenta to the Ticino: Verona, Vicenza, Padua, Bergamo, Brescia, Lodi, Cremona, Alexandria, Parma, Piacenza, Bologna, and Pisa, all flourishing cities, received under different titles the laws of the signor of Milan. The kings of France courted his alliance, and in 1395, the Emperor Wenceslaus, for 100,000 florins, conferred on him the dignity of duke. SICILY AND NAPLES.-Frederick of Aragon merited by his prudent administration the gratitude of his Sicilian subjects. Useful institutions, the encouragement of manufactures, an alliance with Henry VII., and afterwards with Louis IV., both enemies of the house of Anjou, distinguished his reign of forty-one years, which terminated peaceably in 1337, in spite of several excommunications by the holy see. His son, Peter II., filled the throne only five years. Under his successor Louis, peace was at length signed with Naples, and Joan I. renounced Sicily, Louis paying a tribute to the pope, 1347. But the domestic troubles which followed drove 10,000 inhabitants from the island, and forced the King of Naples to renew hostilities. Frederick III. succeeded in expelling the Neapolitans a second time, and the peace of 1372 left to their monarchs little more than the titular sovereignty of Sicily. During this time, Naples had been the theatre of bloody revolutions. Charles of Anjou was succeeded by Charles the Lame in 1285, who was followed by Robert the Good, 1309, by whom Sicily was unsuccessfully attacked. He was more fortunate on the mainland, being nominated senator of Rome by the pope, and received by the Genoese as their signor. It was he who crowned Petrarch in the capitol in 1341. His daughter Joan, wife of Andrew the Hungarian, succeeded to the throne in 1343, commencing her disgraceful reign by the assassination of her husband, and then marrying Prince Louis of Tarentum. But the King of Hungary, Louis the Great, led an army to avenge his brother, and the country was devastated by war during several years, until the invader was recalled to his own states. Henceforward the court of Naples gave way to the grossest immoralities, though Joan finally expiated her crimes by a cruel death, being strangled by Charles of Durazzo. She left behind her the seeds of war by adopting Louis I. of Anjou in opposition to the lineal heir. From this period began those struggles between the second Angevin family and the royal branch of Durazzo, which brought the French into Italy, and were the cause of a lasting enmity between the houses of France and Austria. Louis I. in 1383, and his son in 1390, invaded the kingdom, but were compelled to retire. FRANCE. FLEMISH WAR. —The peace of Montreuil allowed Philip IV. to resume his aggressions against Flanders. The count of that province was already his prisoner, and two of Philip's officers so oppressed the Flemings with unjust exactions, that they revolted, and having mur 296 MIDDLE AGES. dered the French residents, advanced to meet the royal army. At Courtray a most sanguinary engagement took place, in which the flower of the French chivalry perished, 1302. Two years after, Philip repaired this disaster by the victory of Mons-en-Puelle, while the Genoese in his service, under the command of Grimaldi and Philip of Rieti, destroyed the Flemish fleet at Zierikzee. These successes, however, were followed by no advantage, as his majesty was compelled to recognise the independence of the Flemings, 1305. PAPAL QUARRELS.-Boniface VIII. was scarcely seated in the pontifical chair, before he resolved to extend the authority of the tiara; though he found in the King of France an adversary by no means inclined to give up any of his prerogatives. At first the intentions of the pope appeared favourable towards him; but his holiness, wishing to interfere as mediator between France and England, employed language which highly incensed the French monarch, who, some time after, imposed a new tax on all his subjects, from which not even the priests were exempted. This measure did not create a breach; yet when the king had imprisoned Bernard Saisset, a turbulent bishop who pretended to have no superior except the pope, Boniface published that celebrated bull duscullafili, ordered by the other to be publicly burnt, and which was the cause of the first meeting of the three estates of the kingdom, 1302. This assembly protested energetically against the superiority assumed by the holy see over the crown of France. In another assembly of barons and church dignitaries, Philip appealed to a future council against the anathemas of the pope; and William of Nogaret, his chancellor, accusing Boniface of heresy and simony, procured a sentence of imprisonment, to avoid which the pontiff fled to Rome, where he died, in 1303. His successor Benedict XI., enjoying his exaltation only a few months, was followed by Clement V. who transferred the seat of the pontificate to Avignon, 1305. TEMPLARS ABOLISHED.-This distinguished order, which was established in 1118 by the patriarch of Jerusalem, consisted originally of eight or nine poor knights who dwelt in community near the site of the ancient temple. They voluntarily took on themselves the obligation of guarding the roads in the neighbourhood of the city, and of protecting the pilgrims from the infidels. Gradually their numbers and wealth augmented; their military services excited the gratitude of Christendonm; and in every nation legacies and lands successively increased the possessions of the brotherhood. After being expelled from the Holy Land, they indulged in indolence and luxury, and were charged with the grossest crimes. Philip, having repeatedly denounced them to Clement V., at last ordered every member within his dominions to be arrested. Fifty-nine of the noblest were burnt at Paris in 1309; and numbers in other parts of France also became victims.* The result of the trials, which lasted three years, acquits the order, however it may condemn a few individuals. A bull was published by the council of Vienne, 1312, transferring their property to the knights hospitallers of St. John, who had just achieved the conquest of Rhodes. * In Castile the templars were imprisoned only; in Aragon they existed some time longer; in Portugal they were incorporated with the order of Christ; in Germany they were acquitted of all charges; while in England and Ireland they were kept in honour. able but safe custody. FOURTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 297 SALIC LAW. -Philip IV., dying in 1314, left three sons-Louis Hutin, Philip the Long, and Charles the Fair-who successively reigned. Louis survived his father less than two years, leaving one daughter, and his queen on the point of giving birth to another child. In his reign there was a violent reaction against the royal despotism. Louis was obliged to accord to the barons of the north and centre of France the rights of local sovereignty to which they had laid claim; and further confirmed the privileges enjoyed by many municipal cities. He also permitted the return of the Jews, who had been expelled by his predecessor, and, declaring that all Frenchmen should be free, allowed the serfs of the royal domains to purchase their liberty. PHILIP now assumed the regency, and availing himself of the peculiar state of affairs, procured the ratification of the Salic law by the assembly of Paris, 1317, and seized the royal sceptre. French writers assert that he ascended the throne "of right"-the exclusion of females being a fundamental maxim of their government; but the text of the Salic law sanctions no such opinion, and it is only from this period that the usurpation carries with it the air of legal authority. Philip left four daughters, and CHARLES IV. ascended the throne in 1322; his daughters also being excluded by PHILIP of Valois, 1328. Edward III. of England now advanced a claim to the French crown, which gave rise to a struggle of one hundred and twenty years-the evils of which were increased in both countries by domestic disturbances in the intervals of the war. Edward maintained that, although females were excluded from the succession, their male issue might succeed, and hence that his mbther Isabella might transfer her title to him. France at this neriod was an extensive and compact monarchy, and deemed so powerful that Pope Benedict XII. wrote an urgent letter, dissuading the English monarch from taking the style and arms of that kingdom, and showing the impossibility of his ever succeeding in establishing his claim. But in the course of twenty years, courage and military skill compelled that nation to submit to an ignominious peace, and to cede several provinces. The battles of Cressy, 1346, Poitiers, 1356, and Agincourt, 1415, in spite of the great disparity of forces, manifested the high martial qualities that distinguish the English soldiery. The cruelties of the Count of Flanders having created fresh discontent among his subjects, a sedition broke out at Ghent which rapidly spread over the whole province. James Von Artaveldt, a brewer, was the leader of the revolt, and proposed to Edward III. to assume the title of king of France, in order that the Flemings might join his ranks without violating the feudal laws. War between the two monarchs now became inevitable; the earlier operations were not very favourable to Edward, who, notwithstanding the defeat of the French fleet, was unable to take Tournay. The hostilities, which were suspended by a year's truce, were once more resumed in 1341. John III., duke of Brittany, left the duchy to his niece, who had married Charles, count of Blois, and nephew of Philip of Valois; though the Earl of Montfort, brother of the last duke, was the popular candidate. Philip sent an army to instal the new prince, and Montfort, who had been made prisoner at Nantes, was unable to profit by the succour which Robert of Artois brought to him from England. Shortly after wards his competitor also was captured, and the struggle continued 298 MIDDLE AGES. twenty years longer, until the treaty of Guerande assigned the dukedom to the house of Montfort. CREssY.-The French and English did not long confine themselves to opposing each other in the duchy; the execution of Oliver de Clisson, and several other Breton nobles devoted to the court of Edward, led to a rupture of the truce. This prince suddenly landed in Normandy, advanced to Paris, and burnt St. Cloud, spreading everywhere terror and desolation. The approach, however, of an army of 100,000 men forced him to retreat towards Flanders, when he was opposed at Cressy, 26th August, 1346, and compelled to fight a battle, in which 30,000 French, besides one king, eleven princes, and 1200 knights, were left dead on the field. Next year Calais surrendered to the English monarch. Pope Clement VI., grieved at the misery of the inhabitants, whom the war, with its frequent attendants famine and pestilence, was afflicting, interposed between the belligerents, and procured a truce which lasted until 1355. Philip, who died in 1350, had enlarged his dominions by the addition of Montpellier, purchased from the King of Majorca at the price of 200,000 crowns, and of Dauphiny, ceded by Humbert II. Henceforward the eldest son of the French monarch bore the title of dauphin, from this province. The prerogatives of the throne had so greatly increased that the sovereign no longer thought it necessary to rid himself of his enemies by judiciary processes. Thus JOHN II., who succeeded in 1350, put to death the Constable d'Eu, whom he suspected of corresponding with Edward III., and somewhat later he beheaded Count Harcourt, and imprisoned the King of Navarre. In former reigns the whole of the nobility would have risen in arms; but the great barons, now almost extinct, were replaced by poor nobles, most of whom received the royal pay. The necessity of keeping up a large army, and of maintaining the knights who followed the king's banner, had so deranged the finances, principally through the ill-judged means devised for raising money, that it was found necessary to summon the states-general of the langue d'oil to meet in Paris for the purpose of levying a subsidy. The deputies of the three orders voted a sum of 5,000,000 of livres, and 30,000 men at arms. The necessary funds were raised by the gabelle and a tax upon the sale of merchandise. In return for these sacrifices, the representatives required a fixed standard of coinage and the reform of many abuses, 1355. While the estates were endeavouring to secure their political rights, Edward III. ravaged Picardy, and his son, the Black Prince, devastated the provinces beyond the Loire. Against the latter, King John marched with an army of 60,000 men, and came up with him at Maupertuis, near Poitiers, 19th September, 1356. Regarding the small band of 8000 islanders as already his prisoners, he charged them with thoughtless impetuosity, and the result was a frightful carnage of his own troops. The dauphin was one of the first to flee, leaving in the midst of the enemy his father, who was valiantly defended by his fourth son Philip, a youth scarcely fifteen years of age. He was, however, taken and carried to England, where he shared the captivity of the Scottish monarch, David II. THE JACQUERIE. - During John's detention, France was a prey to FOURTEENTH CENTURY A. D 299 every calamity. The ruler of Navarre had taken the field against his sovereign, the capital was in sedition, pestilence was consummating the work of hunger and the sword, and to crown all, the Jacquerie broke out in 1358. The peasantry (Jacques bon homme, the cant phrase applied to them) furious at the ill treatment received from their superiors, flew to arms, and laid waste the whole country, murdering every person who refused to join them. Two hundred castles were burnt and their inhabitants massacred; but the nobles soon retaliating, the cruelties of the free companies deluged France with blood. Subdued by these heavy misfortunes, the regent, afterwards Charles V., concluded a peace in 1360;* by which Guienne, Gascony, Poitou, Saintonge, the Limousin, and Angoumois, with Ponthieu and Calais were ceded in full sovereignty to the English, who were also to receive for the king's ransom three millions of gold crowns. In 1364, CHARLES V. succeeded his tather, whose death occurred in London, whither he had returned to supply the place of one of the royal hostages who had escaped to Paris. The war was resumed in 1368 by Charles, on the ground that treaties found unfavourable to the public service ought not to be kept! French historians give a specious account, which tends to throw the blame of the rupture on the English king; but however ambitious Edward may have been, his reputation is unblemished by bad faith. He and his son being in declining health, were unable to contend against the valour of Du Guesclin. Hence in a few campaigns they lost the whole of their conquests; yet the war was always popular in England, although that country, scarcely to a less degree than France, was weakened by internal discord. Charles continued his victorious career; and while the French fleet was ravaging the English coasts, all that remained of Edward's acquisitions were Bordeaux, Bayonne, Rochelle, Brest, and Calais. The monarch dying in 1380, the fruits of this temporary success were lost by France in the succeeding reign; and during the forty-two years that Charles VI. was on the throne, his kingdom was reduced to a state nore deplorable than in the time of John's captivity. The Maillotins -the rabble using clubs armed with lead —treated Paris as a place taken by storm: dreadful executions succeeded, and many persons were put in sacks and thrown by night into the Seine. The insanity of the king, in 1393, placed the government in the hands of the Duke of Burgundy, not without opposition from the Duke of Orleans, who at last succeeded in obtaining the entire management of affairs. But his dissolute conduct, and the excessive taxes he imposed, rendered him quite odious. BRITAIN. EDWARD II., 1307, at once effeminate and timid, and entirely governed by favourites, was unable to carry out the warlike projects of his father. The companion of his youth was Piers de Gaveston, a brave and handsome cavalier, who was celebrated for his feats in the tournament. He was created Earl of Cornwall, appointed a lord of the bedchamber, and married to one of the king's nieces. Indignant at the favours lavished * Edward was induced to consent to the treaty of Bretigny, by the impression which a tremendous storm, deemed by him a special admonition from heaven, had made upon his mind. 300 MIDDLE AGES. upon this minion, the English nobles insisted on his banishment. Having retired to Ireland, he soon after returned, and it was not unti the parliament in 1310 made his exile the condition of certain subsidies, that he again left the island. But shortly after he revisited England, apon which the barons flew to arms, attacked his place of refuge, and, making him prisoner, beheaded him at Warwick castle. The mediation of France now became necessary to restore harmony, which was effected, at least in appearance, between Edward and his people. The unfortunate Gaveston was succeeded by Hugh Despenser, whose earliest object was to bring Pembroke to the scaffold, as being the cause of his predecessor's ruin. While these events were occurring in the south, King ROBERT BRUCE was steadily gaining ground in Scotland. The principal cities had fallen into his hands; and the strong fortress of Stirling was closely invested, when Edward II. marched to its relief with 100,000 men. To oppose him, Bruce collected a force of 30,000, and the complete rout which the English sustained in the battle of Bannockburn, 24th June 1314, secured the independence of his country. Edward Bruce, brother of the renowned warrior, crossed to Ireland, with the view of delivering that island from the English yoke; but after various successes, and receiving the title of king, he was defeated and slain, 1318. Meantime, famine was desolating England, and the popularity of the king diminished as that of his nephew, the Earl of Lancaster, increased. Indeed, so disgusted were the people with the vices of their ruler, that they universally revolted; and Edward could only appease them by granting all their demands. In a subsequent rising, the royal lieutenants were able to withstand the rebels; and their leader, Lancaster, was taken and beheaded, along with a number of his partisans, in 1322. This year was further remarkable for the inroads of King Robert Bruce into Yorkshire, and a successful battle he fought at Boroughbridge. A more imminent danger, however, menaced Edward from the Pembroke party, which grew so formidable as to make open war upon him; when the two Despensers, father and son, were captured and put to an ignominious death. The chief instrument in this revolution was the queen, Isabella, a princess remarkable for her beauty, but inheriting her father's cruel disposition. When she found the two favourites monopolizing all influence with the king, she crossed the sea to Flanders, and raised an army, with which she returned, and deposed Edward, who was imprisoned in Berkeley Castle, where he was put to death in the most barbarous manner in 1327. EDWARD III. inherited the active and warlike spirit of his grandfather. In 1331, he caused the queen-mother and her paramour, Mortimer, earl of March, to be arrested; the latter was executed, and Isabella ended her days in prison. The chief complaints against Mortimner, were the conclusion of peace with Scotland, and giving the king's sister in marriage to its monarch, David Bruce. The claims of Edward Baliol to the Scottish crown led to a war, in which the English army gained a victory at Halidon Hill in 1333. BATTLE OF SLUYS, 1340.-Edward, in returning from England to Flanders, was intercepted by a numerous fleet which Philip had moored in four lines across the mouth of the harbour at Sluys. These ships were provided with turrets filled with stones on their mast-heads, and IS.Iv I 0: <: T $w a aa&$ va:':.. V *::? i? av $?Fv V;; -......................................................... V:' V' -.2:2,::.:.2!',5, Zi$.,:s?4::...::::.:::..:.....:.:.:F d lt..............:::::V::::.:::::::;Britoil~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~::~:~~,...;:.:..... ~~~ ~~ i*>kjj.~~~.:: ~i::-:: * Aa: *~ ~ ~~~~~~~~.~~: A.: r~a ii ~:-.:; ~ —;::Aj: A~i:i:::3 ~ ~ ~ - " I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I FIFTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 323 by persecuting the Wickliffites; and in securing that of the nation by making important concessions to the House of Commons. His son, HENRY V., 1413, reaped the fruits of his father's prudence, and was, as we have seen, enabled to take advantage of the troubled state of France. After showing from the first days of his reign a moderation that was not to be expected in one whose youth had been so disorderly, he summoned the French king to fulfil the treaty of Bretigny. On his refusal, the young monarch called a parliament at Leicester, 1415, to which he declared his intention of recovering his inheritance by force. On the 14th August, he landed near Harfleur with 6000 men at arms, and 24,000 archers. The town and garrison were soon compelled to surrender; but dysentery attacked his troops, which were in consequence forced to retire upon Calais, through the hostile provinces of Normandy, Picardy, and Artois. When they had arrived near Agincourt, a body of 100,000 men was discovered ready to oppose them. A dark and rainy night depressed the spirits of the English soldiers, who were already much enfeebled by disease and want of food; but brighter hopes revived with the dawn, and the confidence of their leader was shared by the whole army. "The fewer we are," exclaimed Henry, "the less will be the loss to our country if we fall, and the greater our honour if we gain the victory." The battle was begun by the archers, who soon threw the French into inextricable confision, and then their lines were successively defeated. The loss on the side of the conquerors amounted to 1600 men, with the Duke of York and the Earl of Suffolk. Of the enemy, there perished 8000 knights and esquires, more than 100 bannerets, seven counts, and the dukes of Bar, Alencon, and Brabant. The number of prisoners exceeded that of the whole army which took them, among whom were the Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, and the Counts of Eu, Vend6me, and Richemont. This finished the campaign, and when Henry returned, he was conducted from Dover to London in one continued triumph. In the succeeding spring, he resumed operations in France. Cherbourg opened its gates to him after a siege of six months; Rouen made a desperate resistance for a period nearly equal, during which the inhabitants were compelled to eat the most disgusting food. The capitulation of this city in 1419 spread consternation throughout France. A treaty was soon after concluded at Troyes, 1420, by the terms of which Henry received the hand of the Princess Catherine, was appointed regent of the kingdom during the life of Charles, and was to succeed to the French crown at his death. But he did not long enjoy the advantages of this treaty; an inveterate disease carried him off on the 31st August, 1422, in the same year with his father-in-law. Henry was equally celebrated as a statesman and a warrior,- as able to take advantage of a victory as to achieve it. The ordinary crown-revenue in his time amounted to about ~56,000, and the usual outlay to ~53,000. HENRY VI., who was only nine months old at the death of his father, was immediately proclaimed in London and Paris; while the government was carried on in France by the Duke of Bedford, and at home by the Duke of Gloucester. The flames of war were soon rekindled on the Continent, and at Crevant, on the banks of the Yonne, the united French and Scots were defeated, and their respective commanders taken prisoners. Shortly after the breaking up of the confederacy between ===^===============^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 324 MIDDLE AGES. Charles and his allies, and the restoration of King James I. of Scotland to liberty, the battle of Verneuil was fought, 1424, in which the English were again successful. But the affairs of Henry in France now took an unfavourable turn. Gloucester, by marrying Jacqueline of Bavaria, forfeited the alliance of the Duke of Burgundy, and the Duke of Brittany was compelled to abandon the English party. At length, the Earl of Salisbury crossed the Loire and laid siege to Orleans, during the protracted blockade of which, Sir John Falstaff, at the head of 1500 men, routed a body of 5000 cavalry, under the Earl of Clermont, who attacked him at Rouvrai. The garrison was driven to despair, and on the point of surrendering, when the extraordinary appearance of Joan of Arc completely changed the scene. She performed prodigies of valour; but, falling eventually into the hands of her enemies, was burnt at the stake in the city of Rouen, 1431. Michelet observes, that while this proceeding was disgraceful to the English, it was still more so to the French clergy, who, becoming the creatures of the foreigner, showed the most ferocious dislike to the heroine who had rescued her country from bondage. In 1435, the congress of Arras reconciled the great vassals of France with their sovereign, and before the close of the same year the Duke of Bedford died. His successor, the Duke of York, showed neither the same talents nor activity; and the quarrels which broke out between Gloucester and the Cardinal of Winchester, prevented England from adopting vigorous measures. In each successive campaign, the English were expelled from some town of France by Dunois or Richemont. The victor of Agincourt was ill replaced by the youthful Henry, whose gentleness rendered him the more unsuited to the turbulent period in which he lived. While the annual revenue of the crown had fallen to nearly ~5000, several families had acquired princely fortunes by marriages and inheritance. The Earl of Warwick, the last and most illustrious example of feudal hospitality, supported regularly on his estates about thirty thousand individuals; while his immense fortune was maintained by all the talents which the head of a party required. His intrepidity was a stranger to the chivalrous point of honour; for although he had not hesitated to attack a fleet double the strength of his own, he often fled when he saw his troops waver before the enemy. It was observed, too, that although severe toward the nobles, he spared the lives of his men in battle. The court, too weak to withstand such men as Warwick, seemed to take a pleasure in aggravating the discontents of the people. As early as 1430, a law had been passed, depriving of the elective franchise all freeholders below forty shillings; and, in 1445, Henry's marriage with the Princess Margaret, together with the cession of Maine and Anjou, rendered him still more unpopular. Scarcely two years after this event, the good Duke of Gloucester was found dead in his bed; and, in 1451, Calais was the only town in France which the English were able to retain. The favourite, Suffolk, lost his life at the hands of the offended people, for the supposed share he had in these reverses. At the same time, a formidable rising took place in Kent, under the management of Cade, and London itself fell into the power of the insurgents, though in a few days they all returned to their homes. The rebel displayed his banner a second time, but not with the same good fortune; he was pursued and slain at Lewes. FIFTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 325 WARS OF TIHE ROSES.-In 1452, Richard, duke of York, openly proclaimed his designs on the throne, and appeared in arms to enforce them, though each side hesitated to strike the first blow. However, in 1454, when Henry VI. was attacked by a mental disease which rendered him incapable of governing, Richard, being recalled to the council, was named Protector; but on the king's recovery, he was again compelled to quit the court. He then put himself at the head of 3000 men in the marshes of Wales, being aided by the Duke of Norfolk and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick. The king advanced against him, and a battle took place at St. Albans, in which the royalists were defeated. Henry was wounded, and fell into the hands of the conqueror, who treated him with respect, but seized anew on all his authority, under the former title of Protector. In 1460, Queen Margaret undertook to defend a second time the rights of the crown, but she was vanquished by Warwick at Northampton, and her husband again became a prisoner. Richard now laid before the peers his claims to the throne, which they recognised as legitimate, declaring, that as Henry had already wielded the sceptre thirty-eight years, he should preserve it until his death, and that in the mean while the Duke of York, being acknowledged heir, should administer the government of the country. Margaret, in behalf of the Prince of Wales, refused to ratify this act, supporting her refusal with an army of 20,000 men. Richard, with only 5000 followers, imprudently hazarded a battle, in which he was defeated and killed at Wakefield, 1460. After this important victory, the queen divided her forces, and sent part under the Earl of Pembroke against Edward, earl of March, the eldest son of York. This young prince triumphed over his adversaries at Mortimer's Cross, killing about 4000 of their troops. Owen Tudor, Pembroke's father, and who had married Catherine, widow of Henry V., was taken prisoner, and, with seven other chiefs, beheaded at Hereford. This barbarous practice, which became customary on both sides, consecrated private revenge under the name of just retaliation. The struggle was now almost at an end, and although Margaret was victorious at St. Albans, she was compelled to retire towards the north, while York was proclaimed king at London, under the title of EDWARD IV., 4th March 1461.* Edward was scarcely seated on the throne before he was compelled to march arainst the Lancastrians, whom he defeated near Towton, with immense loss, quarters being refused on both sides. As soon as these pressing dangers were removed, the king in council announced his private marriage with Elizabeth, the widow of Sir John Grey, a beautiful woman, daughter of Jacquetta of Luxemburg, duchess of Bedford, by her second marriage with Sir Richard Woodville. The queen's relations and friends soon obtained the principal offices about the court, and Warwick, who had been the chief means of placing Edward on the * It has been observed that usually the weakening of the regal power and great political troubles in a state are accompanied with financial difficulties. This remark applies especially to the reign of Henry VI. The hereditary revenues of the crown had long been decreasing; but tinder this monarch they diminished still more rapidly, owing to the enormous expenses of the French wars and the personal extravagance of the king. In 1429, the money absorbed annually by the war exceeded the revenue by nearly ~14,000; and, four years later, there was an annual deficiency of ~35,000 sterling, which, with the debts of the crown, exceeded ~140,000. Despite of the measures adopted to remedy this state of affairs, the evil still augmented; and the deficit vas nearly tripled before the end of Henry's reign. 28 326 MIDDLE AGES. throne, fell into disgrace. He retired to France, where he strengthened his party by giving his daughter Isabella to the Duke of Clarence, the king's brother. Both soon afterwards returned to England, which they found in a state of insurrection, and battles, truces, and negotiations followed in succession. At length, in 1470, Warwick, surnamed the King-naker, expelled the monarch whom he had created, and brought Henry VI. from his prison to be reseated on his throne by the unanimous voice of parliament,-a body, however, which at this time seldom failed to respond to the wishes of the strongest party. This restoration was the consequence of an agreement made byWarwick at the court of Louis XI. with Queen Margaret, whose son had been married to one of the earl's daughters. The conditions were, that if the Prince of Wales died without issue, Clarence should succeed; Warwick thus securing the crown in his own family. But he was disappointed in his schemes; for Edward, who had taken refuge in the Low Countries, returned, and soon found himself at the head of 60,000 men, by whose aid he was victorious at Barnet, where Warwick and all the Lancastrian chiefs, except Somerset and Oxford, were killed, 1471. On the very day of this disastrous battle, Margaret and her son landed at Weymouth with a small body of French troops. The king defeated them at Tewkesbury, and the young prince, who was made prisoner, was stabbed in his presence. Henry VI. shortly after perished in the Tower, and the Duke of Exeter was secretly put to death, his body being found floating between Dover and Calais. Some years afterwards, Edward procured a decree of the parliament,* condemning his brother Clarence to death for high treason. A report was circulated that he had been drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. After such turbulent scenes, Edward relapsed into his former voluptuous life, from which he was aroused, for a moment, by the prospect of a great conquest. In 1475, he united with the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany against Louis XI.; but his efforts soon terminated in the treaty of Pecquigny, by which the French king agreed to pay 75,000 crowns, with an annuity of 50,000 more, while he ransomed Margaret with a noble generosity. In 1483, Edward IV. expired, leaving behind him the character of an accomplished gentleman, but of a revengeful and suspicious king. EDWARD V., then in his twelfth year, succeeded to the throne, the Duke of Gloucester being made protector. The queen-mother, who saw in this proceeding the ruin of her family, took refuge in the sanctuary of Westminster. By persuasion and menace, Gloucester succeeded in lodging the two young princes in the Tower, as a place of greater security. It appears also to have been customary for the sovereigns to take up their residence in that fortress some time before their coronation. The ambitious duke had already procured the execution or disgrace of *The independence of parliament was in abeyance during the civil wars: the absolute spirit of military discipline had passed into the government, with which terror seemed to be the mainspring of action. The Lords and the Commons always appeared ready to second Edward's despotic measures; and no statute was passed during his reign for the redressing of grievances or the maintenance of the national privileges. In the preceding reign, the manner of elections had mundergone some modifications. Henry IV., to win popularity, had so greatly increased the number of voters, that the elections were become a source of danger and disturbance. Henry VI., or rather the Duke of Gloucester, who governed in his name, confined the elective franchise, in counties, to the 40s. freeholders, a sum not less than X~45 of our money. FIFTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 327 those whom he feared, and now, by the most unwarrantable means, endeavoured to induce the citizens of London to name him king. Although they did not respond to his wishes so readily as he might have expected, he nevertheless assumed the crown, and put an end to the brief reign of Edward V. RICHARD III. ascended the throne June 26, 1483, sealing his usurpation by the murder of his nephews, whose liberation their friends in London were already meditating.* The news of this crime spread horror among all parties, and the adherents of the young princes fixed their attention on Henry, Earl of Richmond, heir to the house of Lancaster. An ill-timed insurrection in his behalf drew down all the wrath of the usurper; but the latter was gradually deserted by most of his supporters, Catesby and others of a similar class alone remaining faithful. At length, Richmond landed with an army of 3000 Normans, and being generally aided by the English, he was successful at the battle of Bosworth, in which the tyrant fell, after a reign of two years, marked by a succession of cruel executions. TUDOR LINE. —IENRY VII., 1485, in order to put an end to the civil contest that for more than half a century had deluged England with blood, married the Princess Elizabeth, heiress of the house of York. Nor was such a measure unnecessary, for he had to contend against the impostures of Lambert Simnel, whom, after some trouble, he defeated at Stoke in Nottinghamshire, 16th June 1487.t The king took advantage of this revolt to abolish the dangerous and illegal practice of " maintenance," that is, the association of individuals under a chief, whose livery they wore, and whose cause they swore to defend. Such Iagues gave the nobles means of expeditiously raising troops, and of favouring insurrection or usurpation. The preceding parliament had ordered all the lords to swear to renounce this usage, and to receive no longer into their service men publicly known as vagabonds, murderers, felons, or outlaws; and in that held in 1487, it was further enacted that the chancellor, the treasurer, the keeper of the privy seal, with one temporal and one spiritual peer, and the judges of King's Bench and Common Pleas, should have authority to call before them persons accused of violating this law, and to inflict punishment on them. Their place of meeting was a chamber decorated with stars, and hence the tribunal acquired the appellation of the Star-chamber. About this time Henry's attention was drawn to France, where Charles VIII., at the age of fourteen, had succeeded his father Louis XI. in 1483; and although the affairs of Brittany were settled without the aid of England, he nevertheless landed at Calais with an army of 25,000 men and 1600 horse. He marched to Boulogne, which heinvested; but the war was soon terminated by the French monarch agreeing to pay ~149,000 sterling to the invader, as an equivalent for his claims on Brittany. The * In July 1674, in consequence of an order to clear the White Tower from the adjoining buildings, as the workmen were digging down the stairs which led from the king's apartment to the chapel, they found the bones of two boyi, apparently of the age of the two princes, viz. thirteen and eleven years; which were consequently deposited in the chapel of Henry VII. at Westminster. Lord Lovell escaped from this battle, and was never seen afterwards. About the end of the 17th century, there was found in a subterraneous chamber at Lovell Castle, Oxfordshire, the skeleton of a man sitting in a chair. It has been supposed that his'ordship had concealed himself there, and perished for want of food GENEALOGY OF THE HOUSES OF YORK AND LANCASTER. Matilda, d. of Henry I., decl. heiress to throne 1127, t 1167, = Geoffrey Plantagenet, ct. of Anjou. 5. HENRY II. k. 1154, t 1189, - Eleanor of Guienne. Henry, t 1183. 6. RICHARD I., k. 1189, t 1199. Geoffrey, t 1186, = Constance of Brittany. 7. JOHN, 1199, t 1216, Isabella of Angouleme..Jrthur, murd. 1203., 8. HENRY III., k. 1216, t 1272, = Eleanor of Provence, and two other children. 9. EDWARD I., k. 1272, t 1307, Edmund, the Humpbacked, e. of Lancaster,.lMargaret, Alexander III. of Scotland. - m. 1. Eleanor of Castile; pretended eldest son, t 1296. 2.,Margaret of France. 10. EDWARD It., k. 1307, t 1327, Henry, e. of Lancaster, t 1345. m. Isabella of France. I 11. EDWARD III., k. 1327, t 1377, = Philippa of Hainault. Henry Grismond, t 1361. m,. _. __ _ --- -- -- -J Edward, Lionel, d. of Clar- John of Gaunt, m. Blanche Edmond, d. of Blanche, 1st heiress of rights of Lancaster, RED ROSE. Black Pr., t 1376. ence, t 1368. of Lancaster. York, t 1402. m. John of Gaunt. 12. RICHARD 11., Philippa of Clar- 13. HENRY IV., John Beau- Richard, e. of Cambridge, t 1415, ==. nne Mortiecr of Clarence. k. 1377, dep. 1399. ence, m. Edmond k. 1399, t 1413. fort, t 1447. Mortimer., _ { _, o. - --—' _ -- m'' — Roger JMortimer, decl. heir, 14. HENRY V., k. 1413, John Beaufort, Richard, d. of York, protector, 1454, t 1460. 1385, t 1399. t 1422, m. Catherine d. of Somerset, - ~ jI ~ ~of France. t 1444. 16. EDWARD IV., k. 1461 & 1472, 18. RICHARD III., k. 1483.' —-------'^ ~ ~ - t,~. ~ 1483. t 1485..Jnne Mortimer, Bedford, Gloucester, 15. HENRY, JMargaret, t 1509, --- ~- - Richard of York. t 1435. t 1406. VI., k. 1422. 2d heiress of Lan- 17. EDWARD V., k. 1483, murd. 1483. Elizabeth, 2d heiress of ClarWHITE ROSE. t 1471. caster, = Edmond ence, m. HENRY VII., Tudor, head of k. 1485. TUDOR LINE. FIFTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 329 king's repose was soon after troubled by the intrigues of the Duchess of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV., and whose court was the asylum of all the disaffected. Spreading the report that Richard of York had not perished with his brother in the Tower, she put forward Perkin Warbeck, the son of a converted Jew, who had resided many years in England. The vulgar were easily deceived by the polished manners of this adventurer, and by the elegance of his language. He was well received in Ireland,* and protected by the kings of France and Scotland; but several partial insurrections terminated his designs, and, after imprisonment, he perished on the scaffold, 1499. In the same year, another insurrection in Warwickshire broke out, when, in order to crush entirely the hopes of the malcontents, the Earl of Warwick, the last legitimate descendant of the Plantagenets, was executed by Henry's order. Let the pupil draw up: A genealogical table of the houses of York and Lancaster. SCOTLAND.-This country enjoyed few intervals of repose from that anarchy to which it had been very long subjected. This evil originated in the excessive power of the nobles, sovereigns on their own estates, and almost always at war with one another or with the king, who, having but a scanty revenue and no permanent forces, exercised at the best a very precarious authority. Such disorder was most prevalent on the English Border and in the Highlands, two great divisions of Scotland which were yet in a state of barbarism. The inhabitants of the mountains were distinguished from the rest of the nation by their manners, dress, and language. They spoke, as many still speak to this day, a Celtic dialect, the Gaelic, unintelligible to the Lowlanders, whose language differed little from the English. They were divided into tribes or clans, each denominated after some ancient chief whom his followers considered as their common ancestor. For example, the MacDonalds and the MacGregors were esteemed the sons of Donald and of Gregor. Besides their almost incessant struggles one with another, these mountaineers were in perpetual hostility with the dwellers in the plains, whom they hated as Saxons and usurpers of the country that had belonged to their forefathers. Many Highland chiefs assumed the privileges of independent monarchs. The most powerful of these was the Earl of Ross, lord of the Isles, who was considered the absolute sovereign of the Hebrides. The Borderers were no less turbulent than the mountaineers, to whom, in their manners, they bore a great resemblance. They were divided into clans under particular chiefs, lived on the booty plundered from England or the central counties of Scotland, and trampled under foot the respect due to the laws and regal government. Under the Stuarts, in despite of the wise laws enacted by parliamentt to destroy or diminish the evil, the ambition of the Douglas family, dissensions in the court, and numerous minorities of the crown, perpetuated this unsettled condition. JAMES III. of Scotland, 1460, was not less zealous than his two immediate predecessors in his endeavours to diminish the power of the aristocracy; but instead of keeping these chiefs around him, and repressing their violence by firmness of character, he drove them from his presence, and passed his time in comparative seclusion at Stirling, sur*On the occasion of these attempts of Perkin, Sir Edward Poynings, sent into Ireland to repress the troubles, assembled a parliament in Dublin, which enacted the famous statute known as Poynings' Act, and which forms an epoch in the history of Ireland, with reference to the English dominion. This act declared, that all the statutes of the English parliament should be law in Ireland, and that the Irish parliament should not meet without the permission of the King of England, and after assigning the motives of such convocation.' In the Scotch parliament, the nobles, prelates, and commons sat in one chamber. and voted as members of the same body. 28 * 330 MIDDLE AGES. rounded by men of low extraction, with whom he occupied himself in the study of architecture, music, and other arts. The nobles, indignant at the choice of his favourites, plotted against him; but the treason was discovered: John, earl of Mar, brother of the king, was assassinated; Alexander, duke of Albany, another brother, escaped from Edinburgh castle, and took refuge in England. In consequence of the intrigues of this fugitive with Edward IV., in which Albany assumed the title of King of Scotland, and bound himself, if the English monarch would furnish him with the means of establishing his claim, to do homage to him, the Duke of Gloucester marched northwards at the head of a numerous army, which compelled James to implore the aid of his barons. These readily assembled in arms, less with the intention of repelling foreign invasion than of obtaining satisfaction for their own injuries. They resolved on the death of the king's favourites, and executed their design in the camp near Lauder, with all the promptitude and vigour of military men. James, unable to rely on an army so turbulent, disbanded it, and taking refuge in Edinburgh castle, soon became reconciled with the Duke of Albany. But his majesty had not learnt wisdom from the late transactions; and a decree forbidding the wearing of arms within the royal palace, together with the formation of a permanent body-guard, drove the nobles to revolt, who placed at their head the Duke of Rothesay, the eldest of his children. This imminent danger drew the monarch from his retirement: He marched against the rebels, and, being defeated at Sauchieburn, a few miles from Stirling, was assassinated in a miller's cottage, 1488. The general indignation excited by this atrocious murder compelled the conspirators to use their victory with moderation. JAMES IV. succeeded to the throne; and in his reign, the enmity which had frequently displayed itself between the sovereign and the nobility was almost forgotten. Far from dreading the power of the aristocracy, he considered it the best support of the throne; and by his confidence gained their aid in all his enterprises. ITALIAN PENINSULA. NAPLES.-In the twelfth century, the kingdom of Naples passed in succession to the Normans, and to the German Hohenstaufens; and in the thirteenth, to the house of Anjou. This dynasty governed until 1382, when Joan I. adopted the younger brother of Charles V. of France, Louis I. of Anjou, who was, however, deprived of the crown by Charles, duke of Durazzo, the direct heir. Thus began those wars between the second house of Anjou and the family of Durazzo, which led to the invasion of Italy and the long struggle between France and the Empire. Louis I., in 1383, and next Louis II., in 1390, invaded the kingdom, but without success. A second Joan, sister of Ladislaus who succeed ed Charles of Durazzo, revived this war, when its embers were nearly extinct, by adopting in turn Alphonso V., king of Aragon and Sicily, and Louis III. of Anjou. When Joan and Louis died in 1435, Ren6 of Anjou, duke of Lorraine and count of Provence, opposed Alphonso V., and was for a brief period master of Naples; but, in 1442, he was driven out by the latter sovereign, who received the investiture of his new kingdom from the pope. Alphonso died in 1458, leaving to his natural son Ferdinand the kingdom of Naples, and to his brother John FIFTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 331 II. (the usurper of Navarre) Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia, with the Balearic Isles, Sardinia, and Sicily. Alphonso V., surnamed the Magnanimous, was not only a skilful and fortunate warrior, but the protector of letters. In his liberality originated the chief defects of his government; for perpetually embarrassed in consequence of his profuse generosity, he was obliged either to oppress his subjects with taxes, or sell his patronage contrary to the good administration of his kingdom. Lavishly conferring new titles, he extended the prerogatives of the nobles, so as to aggravate the evils of vassalage, and weaken the authority of the crown; but in spite of these faults, he deserves to be considered one of the greatest and most worthy monarchs that adorned the fifteenth century. At the summons of the Neapolitan barons, John of Anjou, son of Ren6, in 1459, opposed himself to Ferdinand, who, being defeated in the battle of Sarno, 1460, was only saved from destruction by Francis Sforza and Scanderbeg, the latter of whom Alphonso had often aided against the Turks, and who now repaid to the son the assistance he had received from the father. The victory of Troja in Apulia, however. seated Ferdinand securely on the throne. The conqueror now began tc oppress the supporters of his rival; and the hatred excited by his cruel. ties was increased during his long reign by numerous acts of treachery and violence. In 1485, the nobles revolted against him; but he disarmed them by an insidious peace, and arresting the most dangerous. caused them to be secretly put to death. Those who escaped his ven geance by flight spread throughout Italy the odium of his name. FLORENCE.-Towards the end of the fourteenth century, the triumph of the Albizzi faction deprived the Medici of all influence. John of that name restored his family in 1420, having acquired immense riches, and become chief magistrate. In 1426, when the nobles had formed the design of usurping all the power of the state, he alone refused to second their project, and thereby raised his popularity to the greatest height. Cosmo I. inherited the talents of his father, but neglecting his sage counsels, was banished in 1433. Being recalled the following year, the Albizzi were all proscribed, and he preserved the supreme authority until his death'in 1464. His fellow-citizens conferred on him the title of" Father of his Country,"-a distinction worthy of his zeal to maintain peace at home as well as abroad, and of the noble uses to which he applied his wealth, in building palaces, founding monasteries and hospitals, forming libraries, and extending to letters and the arts that protection which became hereditary in his family. This distinguished merchant was at the head of one hundred and twenty-eight commercial houses in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Pietro de Medici had neither the experience nor the talent required to accomplish the objects contemplated by his predecessor; but when Soderini, the gonfalonier of justice, had sought the alliance of the Duke of Modena to dethrone Pietro, the latter gave such proofs of firmness as disconcerted his enemies, and enabled him to proscribe the most illustrious families. Lorenzo and Julian, though young, were recognised as their father's successors; and, during seven years, Florence enjoyed peace under their government. Among the chief persons of the city the Pazzi held the first rank, and these Cosmo had desired to attach to his party by bonds of marriage. Lorenzo, surnamed "the Magnificent," pursuing a different line of conduct, spared no exertions to ruin their 332 MIDDLE AGES. fortunes; and hence a conspiracy to murder the Medici and change the government was eagerly entered into by these persecuted men.* The brothers were attacked in the cathedral church: Julian was killed, but Lorenzo escaped to take a bloody revenge on the assassins, 1478. The war which sprung out of this conspiracy lasted nearly three years. Lorenzo died in 1492, beloved by his subjects, respected abroad, and deeply lamented on account of the skill with which he had held the balance among the other powers of Italy. His taste for the arts and literature procured him the title of "Father of the Muses;" but his luxury, together with the bad management of his commercial transactions, entirely absorbed the immense fortune of the Medici. During many years, the public revenues contributed to cover their losses; and, at last, to prevent their bankruptcy, the state itself became insolvent, 1490. The interest of the debt, then fixed at three per cent., was reduced to one and a half; a number of charitable foundations were suppressed; and the coin in circulation was received in payment of taxes at one-fifth below its nominal value, and reissued at its full amount. THE ROMAN STATE.-The abdication of the antipope, Clement VIII., in 1429, terminated the great schism of fifty-one years. Martin V. alone retained the tiara, by whom the council of Basle was convoked in 1431. His successor, Eugenius IV., alarmed at the attacks made by this body upon his prerogative, convened in succession the synods of Ferrara and Florence, a proceeding which gave rise to another separation,-the fathers of Basle deposing him, and electing Amadeus of Savoy as Felix V. In 1438, the French adopted several decrees of the council of Basle, by the famous pragmatic sanction which Charles VII. drew up at Bourges; and their example was imitated by the Germans, who accepted the same decrees at the diet of Mentz, 1439, since which time the popes had used every exertion to obtain their revocation. Nicholas V., who succeeded Eugenius in 1447, substituted the Germanic concordat for that of Mentz; but the joy this event caused was clouded by the conspiracy of Stephano Porcari, and by the fall of Constantinople. Several attempts were made by Calixtus III., Pius II., and Paul II., to excite the Christians to another Crusade, but they all completely failed. The Cardinal Francis de la Rovera, exalted to the pontificate under the title of Sixtus IV., was more occupied in the aggrandizement of his family than in promoting the interests of the church. Innocent VIII. succeeded in 1484,-a prelate of easy life and manners, entirely governed by favourites, and who made every thing a matter of money. After him the infamous Borgia, Alexander VI., for eleven years disgraced St. Peter's chair. His simoniacal election, 1492, and the knowledge of his character, spread general consternation. VENICE.-The taking of Constantinople by the Turks threatened the destruction of the Venetian colonies in the East. At first the republic was allowed to have an ambassador in that capital; but in 1463, her leaders began a war, which, after sixteen years, was terminated by an unfavourable treaty. It was during these hostilities that Venice obtained * Conspiracy at this period seemed to be the constitutional mode of reforming a bad government. In three years, historians reckon one at Ferrara, two at Genoa, one as Milan and one at Florence. FIFTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 333 possession of Cyprus. This isle had been given by Richard Cceur de Lion to Guy of Lusignan, whose descendants occupied the throne 266 years. The last of these, John III., died in 1458, leaving an only daughter, Charlotte, who succeeded, and whose husband, Louis of Savoy, brother of Duke Amadeus IX., shared the honours of the crown. James, a natural son of John III., supported by the Sultan of Egypt, Malek-Ella, to whom the kings of Cyprus were tributary, dethroned them both in 1460. The usurper, threatened by the knights of St. John and the Genoese, sought the aid of Venice by marrying Catherine Cornaro, niece of Andrew Cornaro, a patrician, whose family had extensive estates in the island, 1471. The senate, to honour this union, adopted Catherine, declaring her " daughter of St. Mark," that is, of the republic. James died two years after, and the queen, owing to her foreign extraction, being unpopular among the Cypriots, the Venetians, in her name, reduced the island under their power in 1474, leaving to her little beyond the pomp of royalty. Their hold on this conquest was confirmed by Catherine's abdication in 1489 and the investiture given them by the Sultan of Egypt. While the republicans were thus extending their sway over Cyprus, aggrandizement in Italy was not neglected by them. They acquired by wars and treaties Gallipoli and Policastro, Polesina and the territory of Rovigo; for at this period their armies were scarcely less powerful on land than their fleets at sea. The population was numerous, the finances well administered; and this was the first state that, by government loans, had attached the rich to the commonwealth by the great bond of the public funds. Her manufactures in gold, silver, and silk, were much esteemed; but the time of her fall drew near, when the commerce of Asia, turned from its ancient course, went to enrich the nations of the West. MILAN AND GENOA. — A labourer of Cotignola, named Attendolo, becoming a soldier at the beginning of the fifteenth century, passed rapidly through all the degrees of military rank, and became the most famous captain of the age. With 7000 volunteers who followed his banner, he delivered Joan II. of Naples from the hands of Alphonso of Aragon, for which he was made constable of the kingdom and gonfalonier of the Roman church. A premature death by drowning terminated his honourable career. He had changed his name to Sforza, which he transmitted to his natural son Francis, inheritor of his talents and courage, who had married Bianca, natural daughter of Philip-Maria, last of the Visconti dukes of Milan. On his father-in-law's death, 1447, he claimed the inheritance in opposition to the Duke of Savoy, the King of Naples, the republic of Venice, and Charles of Orleans. The Milanese abolished the ducal power, and established a republic, nominating their own magistrates, and appointing Sforza commander of their troops. In this post he succeeded in restoring the title of duke, and reigned until the year 1466. The greatest princes sought his alliance; his daughter Hippolyta married Alphonso of Naples, and Louis XI. ceded to him the city of Genoa. His son and successor Galeazzo, by his pride and despotism, excited an insurrection in which he perished, 1476. Under his infant heir John Galeazzo, two uncles disturbed the public tranquillity; they were, however, eventually banished. About this time the Genoese revolted and recovered their liberty; but Prospero Adorno, the mover of the revolution, having abused his victory by putting some of his oppo 334 MIDDLE AGES. nents to death, fled from the city, and Battista Fregosa was proclaimed doge. In 1479, one of the uncles of the Duke Galeazzo, known as Ludovico the Moor, made himself master of Tortona. Having been called to Milan to act as counterpoise to the favourite minister Simoneta, he soon put that officer to death, declaring that his nephew, a child of twelve years, had attained his majority; from which time Ludovico in reality governed in the name of his ward. In 1488, Genoa again became a Milanese dependency, although Sforza had the prudence to hold it as a fief of the French crown, the investiture of which he received two years after. The other states of Italy do not require to be mentioned in detail: it will be sufficient merely to note their existence. The Counts of Savoy were attached to France. Duke Philip II. was of great use to Charles VIII. in his Italian expedition, for which he was created high-chamberlain and grand-master of the palace. The marquisates of Montferrat and Saluzzo were not yet united to Savoy; while Parma and Piacenza formed a portion of the Milanese territory. The house of Este reigned in Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio; the Gonzagas at Mantua; the Picos at Mirandola; the Malatestas at Rimini; the Malaspinas at Massa and Carrara; the Grimaldis at Monaco; and the Montfeltros at Urbino: all of which states, with the small republics of Lucca and Sienna, were dragged into the common vortex of political commotion. Never had Italy been happier or more flourishing than at the epoch of the French invasion in 1494. Ruled by native-born princes, independent of all foreign influence, exempt from internal troubles, she had carried the sciences, letters, and the arts to the highest degree of perfection. Enriched by agriculture and commerce, she possessed the most brilliant courts, the most magnificent cities; and her pleasures, the natural reselt of long prosperity, had attained a degree of delicacy and refinemeir unknown to the rest of Europe. But this deceitful exterior concealed those vices which usually indicate the decline of nations,effeminacy, perfidy, cowardice, and corruption. She carried in her bosom the seeds of ruin, which the concord maintained by the ascendency of two wise rulers, Pope Innocent VIII. and Lorenzo de Medici, alone prevented for a time from bursting forth. But- these two monarchs expiring about the same period, in 1492, the equilibrium was destroyed, and Italy doomed to experience the horrors of internal discord and foreign invasion. SPANISH PENINSULA. NAVARRE.-In 1419, JOHN II., second son of Ferdinand the Just, king of Aragon, had married Blanche, daughter and heiress of Charles III., king of Navarre, of the house of Evreux. When the latter monarch died, in 1435, the crown passed to the family of John, who had one son, Don Carlos, prince of Viana, and two daughters, Blanche married to Henry IV. of Castile, and Leonora the wife of Gaston IV., count of Foix. On the death of his mother in 1441, Carlos ought to have inherited the crown of Navarre, but as this would have compelled his father to descend from his high station, he not less wisely than affectionately left the supreme power in his hands. The king having taken a second wife, Joanna Henriquez, daughter of the Admiral of Castile, had a son, who is known in history as Ferdinand the Catholic. At the FIFTEENTH CENTFRY A.D. 335 instigation of his consort, John endeavoured to secure the succession to his younger son, and for this purpose deprived Carlos of all share in public business. After enduring the most unworthy treatment, this victim of an ambitious stepmother took up arms, but was defeated in battle near Aibar, 1452. Being taken prisoner, he was shut up in a strong castle, whence he was delivered only at the earnest intercession of the Navarrese states. In 1456, the queen, who had sworn the destruction of the prince, aided her husband in forming an alliance with his son-in-law, the Count of Foix, against him, by which it was agreed that John should possess the crown of Navarre during his life, and that it should afterwards pass to the Count and Countess of Foix, to the prejudice of Don Carlos, and Blanche, queen of Castile. This injustice drove him a second time to arms; but the fortune of war turning once more against him, he went to Paris and Naples, to solicit the mediation of Charles VII. and Alphonso V. During his absence, his supporters again proclaimed him king, though bloodshed was avoided by the interposition of the latter monarch, whose death unfortunately removed all chance of reconciliation. Other reverses followed, but eventually the injustice of John augmented so greatly the number of his son's supporters, that, at Barcelona, the latter was proclaimed heir, and intrusted with the perpetual lieutenancy of Catalonia. He did not live to enjoy this elevation; and his death, in 1461, has been attributed to various causes,-to poison administered by Joanna, or to grief at being the continued object of paternal hatred. His sister, Blanche, whom he had named his successor, was not long after imprisoned by her father and deprived of life. The Catalonians becoming alarmed for their liberties, never spoke but with abhorrence of the homicidal monarch, and with enthusiasm of their governor, that noble victim of unnatural ambition, or, as he was already esteemed, that " holy martyr," to whom the superstitious attributed numerous miracles. It was in order to raise money for punishing these insurgents, that the king sold the provinces of Roussillon and Cerdagne to Louis XI. for 300,000 gold crowns. John II. died in 1479, and was succeeded by his daughter Eleonora, who occupied the throne less than a year, after which it passed to the house of Foix, in the person of Francis Phoebus, her grandson. ARAGON.-With the death of Martin in 1410 ended the house of Barcelona, which had filled the throne 273 years. Five claimants to the sovereignty now appeared; but, in 1412, the estates decided in favour of Ferdinand of Castile, whose son Alphonso the Magnanimous conquered Naples in 1442. At the death of Alphonso in 1458, his natural son Ferdinand succeeded to the throne of Naples, and Aragon devolved on his brother John II. The son of the last monarch, Ferdinand the Catholic, by his marriage with Isabella of Castile, united the two king. doms in 1479. CAsTILE.-Henry III., while projecting a war against the King of Granada, died in 1406, leaving behind him an infant son of only fourteen months. In such circumstances Ferdinand, the king's brother, was solicited by the estates to assume the crown, but he refused, and caused his nephew to be proclaimed as JOHN II. The uncle, however, held the regency till 1412, when he was called to the throne of Aragon to succeed Martin, who had left no children. His place as regent was supplied by Alvarez de Luna, who, in a short time, excited disaffection by the 336 MIDDLE AGES. severity of his government. Aided by Henry, infant of Aragon, who resided in Castile, the powerful nobles took Toledo by surprise, urged the Prince of Asturias to revolt, and at last constrained John to make concessions. But Don Juan Pachecho engaged the prince to support the cause of his father John II., who was soon at the head of an army which defeated the rebels in the battle of Olmedo, where Henry of Aragon fell, 1444. The prince, displeased at seeing Alvarez restored to favour, again revolted, when the latter was banished from the court and put to death. Henry IV. succeeded his father in 1454, and his reign presented similar vicissitudes. He invaded Granada with an army of 50,000 men; but no conquests were made of sufficient importance to defray the expenses of the war. Returning from this expedition, Henry, who had repudiated his first wife, Blanche of Navarre, espoused Joanna of Portugal. In the Castilian court the greatest corruption prevailed; the king indulged in every kind of license, and the new queen followed the contagious example. By this means the affections of his subjects were alienated, and a storm was gathering which could not fail eventually to burst on the two sovereigns. A few trifling though fortunate expeditions against the Moors retarded the catastrophe; but, in 1465, the nobles, with the Archbishop of Toledo at their head, proclaimed Alphonso, the king's brother, their new sovereign. The cowardly monarch, Henry, entered into an accommodation with the rebels, by which he sacrificed his daughter, the Princess Joanna (whose parentage appeared somewhat doubtful), and adopted Alphonso as his heir. New dissensions followed this arrangement, until 1465, when a civil war broke out; but its cruelties were in a measure softened by the interposition of the pope, and it was terminated by the death of Alphonso in 1468. The factious nobles after this proclaimed Henry's sister Isabella; but she refused to accept a title that did not belong to her while her brother lived. In 1469, this princess, whose hand had been sought by the King of Portugal and the Duke of Guienne, secretly married Ferdinand of Aragon. Henry immediately annulled the union by a solemn decree, to which no one paid any respect, and the country was once more plunged into all the horrors of a civil strife, which continued until his death in 1474. In the preceding year, he endeavoured to remedy some of the abuses that had accumulated during his unfortunate reign. The revenues of the crown being extremely diminished, he revoked all the donations made during the last ten years,-an arrangement that became ineffectual from the number and strength of the interested parties. He also dissolved various brotherhoods or congregations, established with dangerous views; confirming those only which were founded for the security of the kingdom against the bands of robbers that everywhere devastated it. Finally, he suppressed all tolls and other tributes of that kind, arbitrarily established by the nobles in their domains, and which gave rise to innumerable vexations. Joanna was left heiress to the crown, and her cause was warmly espoused by her uncle, Alphonso V. of Portugal. She was supported in Castile, chiefly by the malcontents who had formerly contested her legitimacy, but who now dreaded the firmness of Isabella. The victory of Toro, in 1476, gave the throne to the latter, and Joanna, deserte byy her partisans, retired to a convent in Coimbra, 1479. FIFTEENTH CENTURY A. D 33? In the same year expired John II., king of Aragon, whost,tates, comprising Aragon Proper, Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia, the Balearic Isles, Sardinia, and Sicily, descended to Ferdinand, by whom they were united to Castile. ARAGON AND CASTILE. The moment that Ferdinand and Isabella assumed the reins of government, the state of their dominions was changed. Crime, even in the highest ranks, ceased to be unpunished, and the execution of robbers and assassins showed the people that violence would be replaced by order and justice. The organization of the "Holy Brotherhood" (Santa Hermandad), destined for the repression of murder and theft, was perfected. In Galicia, where the nobles exercised the greatest tyranny, forty-six strongholds were demolished, and the property stolen from the royal domains, the churches, monasteries, and private persons, was restored. After having thus destroyed faction and strengthened their own power, the Catholic sovereigns, for by that title were they known, began to carry into execution their long-meditated plan of expelling the Moors from Spain. Muley Ali Abulhassan, who at this time occupied the Moorish throne, began the war with the surprise of Zahara, 1481, which was immediately retaliated by the capture of Alhama. The successes were for a long time balanced, until one imprudent step drove the infidel to ruin. Captivated by the charms of a Christian slave, he repudiated his wife Ayesha, who belonged to one of the chief tribes, and had borne him several sons, all of whom he ordered to be destroyed for the purpose of securing the succession to the issue of his second marriage. One only escaped, the celebrated Boabdil (Abu-Abdallah), who was shortly after proclaimed king by a party of discontented nobles, and Abulhassan was driven from his capital. A cruel civil war forthwith commenced, and while the Moors were thus weakening their own resources, Ferdinand pursued a victorious career. Ten years were spent in a sanguinary contest before the Christians were enabled to besiege Granada, which they invested with a chosen army of 50,000 men, when a blockade of nine months compelled the inhabitants to surrender, and in January, 1492, Isabella and Ferdinand made their triumphal entry into a city whose capture almost compensated for the previous loss of Constantinople. To Gonzalvo de Cordova, a distinguished leader of the Christian host, was intrusted the adjustment of the articles of capitulation, which were highly honourable to both parties. They provided that the vanquished should be governed by their own laws, preserve their customs, judges, and liberty of worship; that they should hold their property in Spain free from molestation, or be allowed to sell it and withdraw wheresoever they pleased; and that Boabdil should be permitted to retire to an estate in the Alpuxarras. The Saracens were, however, finally expelled from Spain in the reign of Philip III., 1610. The Jews had been included in the Moorish treaty; but with them the conditions were not kept. Besides having amassed considerable riches by trade, they had also acquired nearly all the wealth of the kingdom by usury. An intolerant zeal, excited by absurd reports, impelled the government to order every individual of that persecuted race to quit the country. Four months only were allowed for the settlement of their affairs, and they were forbidden, under pain of death, to carry with them either silver, gold, or precious stones. Half a million, or according to ~29 338 MIDDLE AGES. certain authors 800,000, are said to have departed, some proceeding to Africa, others to France, and the majority into Portugal, where they were in a short time treated with no less severity. These oppressed individuals carried away all the commerce of the Peninsula, and the Spanish government, far from enriching itself, lost a great portion of its annual revenue. In the same year which saw Granada wrested from the Moors, America was discovered by Columbus, who thus "for Castile and Leon found a New World." The restoration of Roussillon and Cerdagne by Charles VIII., before his expedition into Italy in 1494, added to this prosperity;and in 1496, a double marriage united the houses of Spain and Austria. Mary of Burgundy, wife of the Archduke Maximilian, bore her husband two children; namely Philip, who married Joanna second infanta of Spain, and Margaret, who became the wife of John the infanta's brother. This latter prince dying the same year, Isabella, married to Emmanuel of Portugal, was declared heiress of Castile and Aragon by the estates assembled at Toledo and Saragossa. But she died in giving birth to a son, who did not long survive his parent. PORTUGAL.-The race of Henry of Burgundy became extinct in 1383, in the person of Don Ferdinand, who, at his death, left a natural child Beatrice, married to John I. of Castile. The aversion entertained by the Portuguese to a Castilian sovereign enabled Don Juan, brother of the late king, to ascend the throne as JOHN I. of Portugal. Being supported by the English, he defeated the Spaniards and their French allies at Aljubarotta, 1385, and thereby secured the throne, though the war was not terminated until the commencement of the fifteenth century This sovereign died in 1433, after a popular and glorious reign of fortyeight years, during which the Cortes were twenty-five times convoked. EDWARD, his eldest son, succeeded, but was soon carried off by a pestilence which ravaged the country, 1438; and in an expedition against the African Moors, he was so unfortunate as to leave his brother to perish in captivity. ALPHONSO V., a monarch of warlike and chivalrous spirit, conducted three expeditions against the infidels. In 1474, on the death of Henry IV. of Castile, he espoused Joanna, daughter of that.nonarch, assumed the title of sovereign, and even disputed the possession of the kingdom with Ferdinand the Catholic. Being unsuccessful, he visited France to seek the assistance of Louis XI.; and here the failure of his negotiations so disgusted him with the regal power, that he formed the resolution of abdicating and retiring to the Holy Land. He died in 1481, as he was about to enter the monastic life. JOHN II. strengthened the royal authority in Portugal by diminishing the power of the barons: in the diet of Evora, 1482, he revoked the concessions made by his predecessors to the prejudice of the crown, and suppressed the power of life and death exercised by many nobles. Such innovations were not tamely endured, but the vigour of the king eventually compelled submission. John has been styled a perfect prince, and the tutor of kings in the art of government; and in truth he deserved the esteem of his subjects, by the indefatigable cares of his administration, by his just regulations, and by his anxiety in promoting maritime discovery. But, by humbling the nobles, he laid the foundation of future despotism, as they gradually became instruments of absolute power. lie died in 1495. FIFTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 339 DISCOVERIES AND COLONIES. At the close of the fifteenth century, two events of incalculable importance to mankind,-the discovery of the New World, and the route to the Indies by the Cape of Good Hope,-produced an entire revolution in the commerce, manners, industry, and government of every nation. PORTUGUESE COLONIES.-John I., who about the end of the fourteenth century had founded a new dynasty in Portugal, undertook an expedition against Barbary in 1412, with the intention of occupying the restless minds of his subjects. His third son, Henry, who accompanied him, manifested thenceforward a very eager desire for foreign adventure. Two ships, equipped by his orders, advanced five degrees beyond Cape Nun, hitherto considered impassable owing to the burning heat of the torrid zone; but they did not venture to pass Cape Bojador, lying three degrees north of the tropic. In 1419, accident led to the discovery of Madeira; the extraordinary fertility of which island is attributed to the burning of the forests to clear the face of the country, which is said to have continued seven years. The sugar-cane was imported from Sicily and Cyprus; the vine was brought from the Morea; and in a few years sugar and wine became considerable articles of commerce. The Canary islands, early taken possession of by the Spaniards, were during several years a subject of dispute between Spain and Portugal; but they eventually remained in the power of the former. Prince Henry, now directing all his attention to the discovery of a passage to India by sea, obtained from Pope Martin V., as sovereign of the universe, a right to the conquests he should make between Cape Bojador and the Indies. As soon as the necessary bull was granted, the expedition sailed; and in 1440, Cape Blanco was reached. Two years after, the exchange of some prisoners for gold-dust and negroes gave rise to the odious slave-trade. In 1484, the adventurers proceeded more than 1500 miles, crossing the equator and entering the river Congo. In their farther progress south, the land was found to decline towards the east, which gave them hopes of arriving at India, and appeared to confirm the narratives of the circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenicians. The solution of the great problem fell to the lot of Bartholomew Diaz, who discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1486. Vasco de Gama, the hero of the Lusiad, sailed from Portugal in 1497, and doubling, for the first time, that celebrated promontory, discovered Madagascar. From this island he proceeded until he reached Calicut, thirteen months after his departure from Lisbon. Hindostan was at this period divided among the kings of Cambay, Delhi, Bisnagar, Narsinga, and Calicut, who had many sovereigns among their tributaries. The port of Calicut, from a Mohammedan superstition connected with it, became the most celebrated in the whole peninsula. Here Gama was at first hospitably received, but he afterwards experienced considerable opposition from the Moors of Africa, who traded to that city. On his return home in 1499, the king named him admiral of the Indies, and loaded him with honours. AMERICA.-About the end of tne tenth century, the Scandinavians, inl some of their maritime expeditions, had reached Iceland and Greenland. from which latter country they appear to have advanced to Vinland, l l 340 MIDDLE AGES. probably Labrador. In Greenland some unimportant settlements eere made, and the communication with the transatlantic continent was maintained until the beginning of the 15th century, when the fate of these colonies was covered as with a cloud; and although various attempts have since been made for their discovery, no traces of their existence have been obtained. In Southern Europe these expeditions were entirely unknown, and therefore the undiminished glory was left to Columbus of proving the existence of the Western World. This celebrated navigator was of Genoese origin; though his character had been formed and his skill acquired in the service of Portugal. His active mind readily foresaw the length and difficulties of a voyage to the Indies by sailing to the eastward, even if the route should be discovered; and it appeared to him that by sailing directly west he would more readily attain his object. Many circumstances, the importance of which is best known to mariners, supported his theories; but those to whom he applied for protection and support did not acknowledge their force. The Genoese senate regarded him as a madman; in Portugal his confidence was most treacherously abused; and in England his brother Bartholomew obtained the consent of Henry VII. only when too late. After many obstacles, arising from the ignorance and religious scruples of those to whom his project was submitted, Columbus sailed with three small vessels from Palos in Andalusia, 3d August, 1492. On the night of the 11th October, land was seen after a tedious voyage, during which the commander had to contend against the cowardly and rebellious spirit of his crew. San Salvador or Guanahani, one of the Bahama chain stretching between Florida and St. Domingo, was the island first discovered. Cuba and Hayti were reached soon after. Columbus, now directing his course homeward, returned to the harbour of Palos, seven months and eleven days after his departure. He was received with great kindness by Ferdinand and Isabella, who ennobled his family, and ratified all the privileges of the treaty of Santa F6.* While Europe was still re-echoing with the news of this voyage, the navigator had again sailed towards the west with seventeen vessels, having on board numerous settlers eager to reap the golden harvest which the descriptions of travellers had placed in the Indies. Isabella in the island of Cuba was the first city founded in the New World. In his third voyage, 1498, Columbus reached the continent of America, near the mouth of the Orinoco. It does not fall within the scope of this work to do more than notice the leading points of transatlantic discovery; the history of the early settlers will be found in volumes especially devoted to that purpose. It will here suffice to say, that Columbus died in 1506, after being treated by the Spanish court with the greatest ingratitude. His body was pompously interred in the cathedral of Seville; and over it was erected a monument, with the simple inscription that Columbus had given a new world to Castile and Leon. His remains were afterwards transported to the island of Hayti,-and buried in the cathedral of St. Domingo in 1536, whence, two hundred and sixty years afterwards, they were transferred to Havana. * By the articles of this treaty, drawn up before Columbus sailed, he was created highadmiral, with hereditary right in the seas he should discover; viceroy also, with hereditary possession of the lands; he was to receive a tithe of the profits of commercial undertakings; and be supreme judge in all mercantile-disputes in the newly.discovered countries. ________________________________________________________________.~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~i FIFTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 341 In 1499, Alonzo de Ojeda sailed to the new continent, accompanied by a Florentine merchant named Amerigo Vespucci, under whose direction the enterprise was chiefly conducted. Returning to Europe, he published an account of his adventures, and claimed the hohour of being the first to discover the mainland of the new world.* In 1500, the mouth of the great river Amazon was entered; while the Portuguese had already landed in Brazil. Consult: Robertson's History of America; Irving's Life of Columbus. THE CHURCH. COUNCILS OF CONSTANCE AND BASLE, 1414 AND 1431. — Several attempts were made to terminate the great schism in the Catholic church; and for that purpose, in the double pontificate of Benedict XIII. and Gregory XII., a council was held at Pisa in 1409, whose election of Alexander V. added a third pope to the two who disputed the possession of the tiara. It was not until the council of Constance deposed all the three, and elected Martin V. in their stead, followed, in 1429, by the resignation of -Clement VIII., that these divisions in the church were entirely extinguished. Martin, in contempt of his promises, published only seven unimportant decrees, by which he pretended to satisfy the complaints and demands of the council. In 1418, he dissolved it, and named Pavia for the next place of meeting, but the assembly was eventually held at Basle under Eugenius IV. Independently of the correction of abuses, this body had to deliberate on a reunion with the Greek church and other schismatic communions. The first object was attained by decreeing the abolition of "annates, reserves, and expectatives." The pope, alarmed at these bold measures, wished to dissolve the council; but the members asserting their supremacy by force, accused Eugenius of heresy, and deposed him. The reforms effected at Constance and Basle had not all the happy results that were expected; nevertheless, they were adopted in France by the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, 1438; and the diet of Aschaffenburg accepted the German concordat, drawn up in terms exceedingly favourable to the holy see, 1448. The Emperor Frederick III., who desired to be crowned in the Roman capital, withheld no sacrifice; and his coronation in 1452 was accompanied by a total renunciation of the rights of the empire over that ancient city. Since this period, the authority of the popes has been supreme in Rome; and the conspiracy of the tribune Porcari in 1453 was the last struggle for republican liberty. The chief resolutions of the assembly at Basle were those of the fourth and fifth sessions: one declaring the supremacy of general councils, as having received by divine right an authority to which every rank, even the papal, must submit in matters of faith, and in the reformation of the church; the other declares liable to punishment every person, not excepting the pope himself, that shall refuse to obey any council lawfully assembled. These decrees, the great boast of the moderate papists, are not of direct practical importance; but they served to check the usurpations of the see of Rome, by the acknowledgment * The imposture of Vespucci has long been known, and his dishonest narrative has in no degree injured the glory of Columbus. As to the honour of first reaching the shores of the new continent, it probably belongs to the English mariners, who, under Cabot, a Bristol seaman of Venetian parents, sailed along the coasts of North America from Labrador to Florida, 1498. 29* 342 MIDDLE AGES. of a superior authority. The same assembly further enacted that another general council should be held in five years; a second at the end of seven more; and at intervals of every ten years afterwards. Their proposition on the faith to be kept with heretics will be noticed below. This synod further took away the cup from the laity, ordering that "the Lord's supper should be received by them only in one kind, i. e. the bread." HUSSITES.-Since the cruel extirpation of the Albigenses, the pope and church, who assumed to be sole interpreters of Scripture, had reigned without obstacle; but the imprudent obstinacy of John XXII., in 1324, excited complaints and accusations against the holy see, which proved the forerunners of the Reformation. The Franciscans, whom the pope violently persecuted, furnished in thirty-four years no fewer than two thousand victims to the pontifical executioners. The publications describing the disorders of the court of Avignon were followed up in England with an effect still more fatal to the supremacy of Rome. John Wickliffe, by his translation of the New Testament into the English tongue, inflicted a severe blow on the authority of the clergy.* His doctrines spread rapidly beyond this country; and in the university of Prague arose the great predecessor of Luther. John Huss began by preaching against the disorderly lives of churchmen, and soon adopted the principles of Wickliffe, with which he became familiar, by means of the books his friend Jerome had brought from Oxford. Some time afterwards, Boniface IX. sent monks into Bohemia charged with the sale of indulgences: this scandalous traffic was forbidden by Sigismond; and Huss seized the opportunity of declaiming against the power of the pope to grant them. When the reformer's exertions in defence of the privileges of the university had promoted him to the rectorship, he spoke more freely, and even attacked the papal supremacy. Alexander V. interfered energetically to crush the rising heresy; but although in 1412 he excommunicated Huss and laid Prague under an interdict, the rector continued to disseminate his doctrines. For this conduct he was cited before the council of Constance, the states-general of Christendom, as it has been called, 1414. Under a safe-conduct from Sigismond, Huss reached the place of meeting, where he was soon thrown into prison, and detained half a year before his first interrogation, 5th June 1415. About a month afterwards, judgment was pronounced on a series of thirty-nine articles professed to be taken from his works, his books were condemned to be burnt, and himself given over to the secular power. He perished at the stake, protesting his orthodoxy to the last.t In 1416, his disciple, Jerome of Prague, underwent a similar fate. * The translation and reading of the Bible, after the Vulgate had ceased to be intelligible, was by no means interdicted, although the Legends of Saints were more admired The New Testament was rendered into German by two different parties in the ninth century, and detached books had been translated into French before the twelfth. When the spread of heretical opinions began to disturb the orthodox believer, it was thought necessary to provide against lawless interpretation; and, accordingly, the council of Toulouse, in 1229, prohibited the laity from possessing the Scriptures. t Hallam remarks, that" the scandalous breach of faith-the violation of the safeconduct-which the council induced Sigismond to commit on that occasion, is notorious. But perhaps it is not equally so, that it recognised by a solemn decree the flagitious principle, that no faith or promise ought to be kept with Huss, by natural, divine, or human law, to the prejudice of the Catholic religion. No breach of faith, he continues, can be excused by our opinion of ill-desert in the party, or by a narrow interpretation of our own engagements. Every capitulation ought to be construed favourably for the weaker side. APPENDIX TO PART SECOND. 343 The news of these executions excited general indignation throughout Bohemia, where the doctrine of communion in both kinds and evangelical self-denial had made great progress. All the churches of Prague re-echoed the panegyrics of Huss; medals were struck in his honour; and at length a solemn festival was appointed to commemorate his martyrdom. Angry feelings both against Germans and Romans now announced a speedy outbreak; and in John of Trocznow, surnamed Zisca, was found a leader in the war against the church. His partisans soon amounted to the number of 40,000; and to provide a stronghold for them, he caused lines to be drawn around the summit of a mountain, which he called Tabor-the Bohemian word for a camp or tentwhence his followers derived their appellation of Taborites. The Hussites gave full scope to their fury, so that they destroyed 550 monasteries before the end of the year. This violence brought Sigismond into Moravia; and by means of the crusade then preached, he united 140,000 men under his banner. This numerous host was defeated by the Bohemians armed with iron flails, and nearly all the Moravian nobility perished on the field of battle. Zisca having died in 1424 of the plague, the Taborites separated into two bodies, which continued to devastate Bavaria, Misnia, and Lusatia. Their ravages were terminated by the concessions of the council of Basle. COUNCIL OF FLORENCE, 1439.-Under Pope Eugenius IV. a council was held at Florence, whither it had been transferred from Ferrara, for the purpose of terminating the Greek schism. The Emperor John Palaeologus, after a brief discussion, acceded to the Roman confession of faith, recognising especially the doctrines that the " Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son," and that the Bishop of Rome was the head of the universal church. The wound now seemed healed; but when the emperor returned to Constantinople, he met with such an opposition to the re-union of the two churches, that he dared not persevere. In the subsequent overthrow of the Greek kingdom, Pope Nicholas V. saw the judgment of an offended Deity. In 1492, the papal crown was disgraced by Alexander VI. (Roderic Borgia), whose profligate career, scarcely possible to be exaggerated, was ended by his drinking the poison he had mingled for another. APPENDIX TO PART SECOND. Commerce, the Progress of Learning, Discoveries, #c. Commerce.-The commerce of Western Europe was almost entirely interrupted between the fall of Rome and the accession of Charlemagne, at which latter period the cities of Italy began to form a connexion with the ports of the Greek empire. While Constantinople flourished, the treasures of the East were brought thither by caravans from India, through Candahar and Persia; by the northern routes along the Caspian and Euxine seas; by the Euphrates and thence overland to the Syrian ports; or lastly, by way of the Red Sea and Egypt. Amalfi, in the tenth century; Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, in the eleventh, became in turn the chief marts of foreign trade. The persecuted Jews were at this time active agents in the mercantile system; and by the decrees of the church against usury, the trade in money was, until the thirteenth 344 MIDDLE AGES. century, thrown almost entirely into their hands. The Crusades formed a grand epoch in the history of commerce, by the introduction of silk and sugar into the west of Europe. Five hundred years before, in 551, silk-worms had been brought from China into Greece, and were successfully reared in the Morea. In the fourteenth century, the Genoese traded with India through the Black Sea; as did the Venetians through Egypt and Syria. The circumnavigation of Africa proved as fatal to the commerce of Venice as did the fall of Constantinople to her great rival. So long as the Mediterranean was the medium of commercial intercourse, Venice, situated nearly in the centre of the civilised world, possessed the whole trade of the East; and such were her resources derived from the traffic, that five millions of gold crowns were expended in opposing the memorable league of Cambray, 1508. The maritime communication opened by the Portuguese with India in 1497, deprived the republic of the wealth of the East; while the discovery of America directed the attention of Western Europe to a wider field of mercantile and naval enterprise. Another extraordinary event again changed the course of commerce: an inundation of the sea formed a connexion between the ocean and a lake since called the Zuyder Zee, and thus Amsterdam became a maritime port in the fifteenth century. The Hanseatic league, which, in 1241, facilitated the progress of the interior trade of Europe, began to decline from 1370. The grand commercial route was the Rhine, the Danube, and the various passages of the Alps, particularly across the Tyrol and by the St. Gothard. The second line proceeded from Greece to Russia, passing by Vienna and Ratisbon. A third road extended from the coasts of the Mediterranean, by Marseilles, to the Atlantic. The merchandise brought by these channels was distributed at the several fairs of Aix-la-Chapelle, where all goods were exempt from toll, and of Champagne, where might be seen merchants from the most distant parts of the known world. Spain furnished arms, silk, and Cordovan leather; while Germany, in return for the wines of France and spices of the East, exported beer, cloth, and metals. In England the charter of John, 1215, declared a uniformity of weights and measures; and in 1331, Edward III. endeavoured to bring from the Low Countries a number of the discontented weavers. In the thirty-seventh year of his reign, it was enacted that every merchant or artificer worth ~500 in goods and chattels might dress like a squire of ~100 a-year, and so on in a rising scale. In 1348, Spanish horses of Arabian breed were exchanged for sheep; a barter which created new sources of wealth in both countries. Agriculture especially flourished in England; and it is to this triple combinatior of commerce, manufactures, and rural economy that she is indebted for her splendour and power. Woollen Trade. —The introduction into England of the important manufacture of woollen cloth was the work of Edward III. Flanders had previously been the great centre of the trade, whence, by the institution of yearly fairs, 960, all continental Europe was supplied. English wool had long been exported to the Netherlands, but principally by German and Italian merchants. Henry I. had endeavoured to establish manufactures of fine wool in 1111, by a settlement of Flemings at Ross in Pembrokeshire. The abuses of monopoly, and the tumults to which they gave rise, drove many workmen from Holland and Flanders into this kingdom, 1331, where they obtained such privileges as encouraged them to resume their occupations. The serges of Ireland were much esteemed in Italy in the fourteenth century, before which period the woollen trade of Catalonia had been firmly established. Fisheries.-The earliest authentic account of the herring-fishery on the coast of Norway extends as far back as to 978. At the beginning of the fifteenth century the Netherlands rivalled the Hanse Towns, not only in their woollen manufactures, but in their method of pickling herrings, a superiority which they attained about the time of the removal of the great shoal from the southern shores of the Baltic, first to those of Denmark and Norway, and, irn 1394, to that of Britain. Naval Code.-The first maritime code was that of Rhodes, wnich was revived APPENDIX TO PART SECOND. 345 in that of Amalfi. Richard I. of England is supposed to have drawn up the laws of Oleron, 1194; but the code of Barcelona, 1255, became the fundamental law of commerce. Some such regulations were necessary to prevent piracy and the barbarous custom of reprisals. Banks, Ccc.-The silver mines of Misnia, discovered in 698, afforded a more convenient means of trading than by barter. The modern funding system dates front 1175, when a forced loan was raised at Venice. General letters of credit are mentioned about 1200; bills of exchange were known in 1255; and the first bank of exchange and deposit was established at Barcelona, 1401. In 1236, an attempt was made in China to introduce a paper currency for the relief of the government, but it failed from the want of public confidence. Gunpowder.-The manufacture of gunpowder was known to the Chinese about A. D. 85; but no traces of it are discoverable in Europe before the middle of the thirteenth century, when it is said to have been used by the Spanish Moors in defence of the city of Niebla, 1249. Cannon appear to have been first employed by the King of Granada, when he besieged Baza in 1312; and by Edward III. at Cressy, 1346. Muskets were introduced about 1411, and bombs in 1450. Printing.-The art of printing with moveable types was invented about the middle of the fifteenth century; but its origin is involved in much uncertainty, no less than fifteen cities and a greater number of individuals laying claim to the honour. The taking of impressions from engraved blocks or plates is very ancient, and was known to the Babylonians and Romans. The Chinese are supposed to have made much progress in this art before the tenth century. Guttenburg of Strasburg, Faust, and Scheffer, however their pretensions may be confused, consummated this valuable discovery. The first printed book was a Latin Bible, 1450-1455, known as the " Mazarin Bible," from a copy having been discovered at Paris in the library of the Cardinal Mazarin. The first work printed in England was executed at Oxford, 1468, three years before Caxton began to print in Westminster Abbey. The Great Plague.-An extraordinary continuance of heavy rain-storms in the winter of 1345 and the following spring, by causing the almost entire failure of the harvests in Europe, produced a severe famine, which rendered the population very susceptible of contagion. The great plague raged in every country of Europe, carrying off nearly three-fifths of the inhabitants. It began in the Levant about 1346, and thence extended to Sicily, Pisa, and Genoa: the sufferings of Florence gave occasion to the Decameron of Boccaccio. In 1348, it spread over France and Spain, reaching Britain the next year. In 1350, it coasted Germany and other northern states, continuing generally about five months in each country. Gipsies.-In the year 1417, the gipsies first appeared in Moldavia, Wallachia, and Hungary. It is extremely probable that the terror spread by Tamerlane's invasion of India, 1408, drove out many of the inhabitants, and that these are the Zingari (Wanderers), known as Bohemians in France, and'Gipsies (i. e. Egyptians) in England. Revival of the Arts and Learning.-The revival of the fine arts illumined the close of the Middle Ages. The church of St. Mark at Venice was completed in 1071; Notre Dame in Paris was founded 1163, and occupied 100 years in building; Westminster Chapel was rebuilt by Henry III. in 1220; the dome or cathedral of Pisa was the first model of the Tuscan order; Cimabue, born at Florence 1240, was the restorer of oil-painting; while his pupil Giotto intro duced rules and added dignity to the art. The gardens of Lorenzo de Medici, filled with the precious remains of antiquity, were the nursery of men of genius, and particularly of Michael Angelo, who attained the highest eminence in painting, sculpture, and architecture. Finiguerra, in 1460, or rather Baldini, invented the art of engraving;* and by 1600, the sublime and graceful productions of Raphael were accurately transferred to paper. *This is doubtful, as plates are to be found in the different cabinets of Europe of at early a date as 1440. Wood-engraving made great progress in Germany about the 346 MIDDLE AGES. From the fall of Rome to the time of Charlemagne there was i long period of violence and ignorance; during which the islands of Britain and Ireland claim the honour of sheltering the exiled learning of Europe. Situated beyond the limits of the barbarian ravages, they afforded an asylum, from which the students were again expelled by the maritime ravages of the Danes and Northmren, to diffuse their knowledge over the Empire of the West.'he conventual schools, established by Charlemagne, became the means of arresting the utter decay of learning. The dialects of France, Italy, and Portugal, are derived from one common source; for "Rome imposed not only her yoke but her language upon conquered nations." The progressive corruption of the Latin language by the adoption of foreign words, and by the loss of many works of standard authority, conduced to the formation and peculiarities of its several derivatives. Still it did not cease to be spoken in France until the eighth century; but in 813, we find the Romance tongue completely established. In Italy, the change appears to have taken place earlier. With the disuse of Latin all the learned pursuits were abandoned, and the establishment of Christianity alone preserved the remains of ancient literature, which found refuge in the monastic institutions. The first great step towards a revival of letters appeared in the foundation of universities. Paris, in 1100, became famous by the teaching of William of Champeaux, and of his rival Abelard. Oxford was a flourishing school about 1200, and Cambridge was incorporated in 1231. Bologna claims a higher antiquity. These seats of the muses owed their reputation to the "scholastic philosouhy"-an intricate web of logical and metaphysical subtleties, founded on she dialetics of Aristotle. In the twelfth century the Romance language separated into the Langue d' Oc and the Langue d' Oil, Provenral and Northern French. The celebrated Troubadours now appeared; and the Floral games of Toulouse and the Courts of Love attracted the chivalry of Europe. French, properly so called, began to be spoken prior to 1100, and England was the earliest school of its literature, and the resort of the Norman trouveurs. The English language was formed at a later period than either of the abovementioned dialects; the earliest tolerable writer was the author of Piers Plowman's Vision. Wickliffe first displayed the copiousness and energy of the language; and Geoffrey Chaucer, born in 1328, is justly esteemed the father of English poetry. The oldest Italian poet is not earlier than the year 1193. Dante, the first great one of modern Italy, was born 1265; his noble poem, the Divine Comedy, was written in exile. He died in the year 1321. Petrarch followed at an interval of eighty-three years, 1304, and gave a polish to the language which the other had formed. He was among the first to urge the study of Greek literature, and was successful in recovering many of the treasures of the ancient classics. Boccaccio, born 1313, kindled his poetic ardour at the tomb of Virgil; but he is more justly famous as the father of Italian prose composition. About this period the French commenced turning their old metrical romances into prose-an evidence that the prosaic genius of their dialect began to be felt. The language and poetry of Spain were not developed before the sixteenth century. The arrival of Barlaan, a Calabrian monk, at Avignon was an epoch in literary history. He read Plato and Homer with Petrarch, whose example attracted the attention of Italy. Cosmo de Medici established an academy at Florence about 1450, solely for the study of Plato: Nicholas V., on the con trary, favoured the philosophy of Aristotle. The progress of learning was facilitated by the invention of linen paper in the thirteenth century, and public libraries were soon afterwards formed. To Poggio we are indebted for the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries under Albert Durer and his masters. APPENDIX TO PART SECOND. 347 discovery of Quintilian, Lucretius, twelve comedies of Plautus, and other works. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 contributed greatly to the spread of Greek literature in the West, by the dispersion of its learned men. A professorship of Greek was established at Oxford under Henry VII., and another at Paris in 1458. The cause of learning was supported by Laurentius Valla, Leonardo Aretino, Politian, and the learned printer Manutius Aldus. Domestic Mlainners, 4c. The increasing wealth and foreign commerce of Europe naturally led to greater refinements in domestic life. When other and more direct testimony is wanting, we may, in certain respects, judge of the progress of society by the sumptuary laws, the chief part of which, extending both to the table and the wardrobe, were enacted in the fourteenth century. In France these provisions were continued down to 1700. The history of civil architecture gives a striking insight into the advancement of social comforts. The high gloomy keeps, with their narrow loopholes, gradually yielded to the castle and the palace, in which the large arched windows are evidences at once of internal quiet and magnificence. The houses of the gentry were usually built of wood or of stones rough from the quarry. Brick buildings first appear in the fourteenth century. The ordinary mansion-houses were small and inconvenient; a passage extended through the house, with a hall and parlour on one side, and on the other the kitchen and offices, with one or two chambers above. In France, traces of fortified castles (chateaux) remain; while in Italy, although in several towns the houses were covered with thatch, there was a greater degree of elegance in the buildings. Chimneys did not come into general ne before the middle of the fourteenth century; and in France, not before the middle of the seventeenth. They were not introduced into the Cheshire farm-houses until the early part of Elizabeth's reign, the fire being in the middle of the house against a hob of clay, and the oxen lived under the same roof with the family. N either in France nor in England was windowglass introduced before the fourteenth century, and during the middle ages glazed windows appear to have been an article of moveable furniture. Beds were extremely rare; the walls of the rooms were naked; there were no libraries or pictures; silver cups and spoons were almost the only articles of plate. Chairs and looking-glasses were scarcely known; window-shutters and curtains were great luxuries even in 1539. The condition of agriculture in England had been gradually improving since,he Norman conquest. During the long reign of the Plantagenets, woods were cleared, marshes drained, and parochial enclosures made, so that, under Edward III., there was a great extent of land cultivated; the northern and western parts, however, being the most backward. The culture of the arable soil was very imperfect, nine or ten bushels of wheat being a fair average crop to an acre. Such land was rented at about sixpence an acre, though meadowground was double or triple that sum. To augment their revenues, the landlords procured a repeal of the act forbidding the exportation of corn, 15th Henry VI., so long as wheat did not exceed 6s. 8d. a-quarter, and barley 3s. Under Edward IV. the usual price of land was ten years' purchase. But to form precise notions on this subject, we must be acquainted with the relative value of money. Before the debasement of the coin in 1301, the ordinary price of a quarter of wheat was about 4s., that of barley and oats being in proportion. A sheep was dear at one shilling, and an ox at ten or twelve. By a comparative table of English money, drawn up by Sir F. Eden, it appears that the value of a pound sterling of our present coinage was worth at the Conquest ~2, 18s. ld., whence it gradually decreased until it reached 4s. 7Vd. in 1551; but the next year it rose to ~1, Os. 6Qd. With few variations, until the 43d of Elizabeth, it continued as at present. Sir John Fortescue speaks of ~5 a year as " a fair living for a yeoman;" in 1514, the expense of a scholar at the university was but ~5 a-year, or about ~60 of our money; and earlier, in 1476, we find fourpence (our five shillings) given as a fee to a barrister for his dinner. Here we must consider the change in manners and the usual mode of living. Ittle wine was drunk; there were no foreign luxuries; male servants were kept chiefly for husbandry; and landed estates were nearly exempt froir 348 MIDDLE AGES. taxation. The condition of the labouring classes, in the reign of Edward III. or Henry VI., was better than at present. In the fourteenth century a harvestman had fourpence a-day, thus enabling him in a week to buy a coom of wheat, which, at the average of the last twenty years, would now cost about 28s. In 1350, reapers' wages were fixed by law at threepence a-day, without food, equal to 5s. at present; in 1424, at fivepence, equal to 6s. 8d.; those of ordinary workmen being somewhat less. In 1444, a head-shepherd had ~1, 4s. a year, equivalent to about ~20, and in their ordinary diet labourers used a good deal of animal food. Consult: Hallam, Middle Ages, ch. ix. pp. 1 and 2; and Millar's Lectures on the Philosophy of History, vol. iv. lect. 38-40. END OF PART II.-MIDDLE ABES. PART THIRD. MODERN HISTORY FROM THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION, AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. THE great historical and political events which characterize this last period of Universal History were brought about by many concurrent circumstances, sufficiently united in respect of date to form a marked difference between the middle ages and the events of modern times. The introduction of the mariner's compass was followed, though at a long interval, by the discovery of America and by the circumnavigation of Africa; while the invention of printing prepared the way for the intellectual and religious changes effected by Luther in the sixteenth century. In considering the actual state of Europe, we must not forget the influence of race and language. The nations of the South, with their Roman habits and dialects, were in almost constant opposition to those of the North, whose language and manners were of Germanic origin. In the West, civilisation was rapidly developed, and carried to the most distant countries, whereas in the East, the people, chiefly of Sclavonic lineage, were too much engaged in opposing the barbarians to make any great progress in the arts of peace. Similar causes will also account for the backwardness of the Scandinavian tribes, who were so far removed from the influence of refinement. In all the nations of Gothic descent, which alone were strictly under the feudal law, a powerful middle class arose by degrees, and supported the kings against the barons. But the struggle was long and severe ere the people triumphed. In the middle of the fifteenth century, feudalism was dominant in the Empire; it had humbled the Castilian monarchs, and preserved its supremacy in Portugal, England, and Naples; in Scotland it was attacked by the sovereigns; while in France, Charles VIII., successful in recovering those provinces conquered by the English, paved the way for its abolition; and, before the end of the century, Ferdinand of Spain, Henry VII. of England, and Louis XI. of France, had established the royal power on its ruins. Sweden, which had been united to Denmnark during sixty years, broke the union of Calmar; Russia emancipated herself from the Tartar yoke; and the Teutonic order of knights became the vassals of Poland. During the time the emperor was busied in founding the greatness of his house, and Germany in repairing the evils inflicted by her political and religious wars, all the Eastern states were menaced by the Turks, whom the Hungarians at length arrested in their victorious career. By the middle of the sixteenth century, the Reformed doctrines were already spread 30 (349) 350 MODERN HISTORY. throughout Europe, particularly in France, England, Scotland, and the Low Countries. Spain alone remained closed against them, and became their most determined adversary. The Eastern and Northern states did not long remain strangers to the European republics. During the rivalry of Francis I. and Charles VI., Turkey was identified with the European system; and at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Sweden interfered in a resolute manner in the affairs of her southern neighbours. It was now that France assumed a high position; and Louis XIV. dictated to Europe so long as his an tagonists were composed of the divided Empire, Holland, and Spain, then almost ruined; but his influence and power were eclipsed so soon as William III., in 1688, ascended the British throne, and was enabled to wield the extensive resources of his new kingdom. In concert with Holland, the English destroyed the pretensions of France to the dominion of the sea, and, in union with Austria, confined her within her proper limits, though they could not prevent the establishment of a Bourbon on the Spanish throne. Sweden was the principal northern power: twice she effected considerable conquests, but was too feeble to maintain a lasting supremacy. Her career, too, was checked by Russia, which eventually attained the superiority she has ever since preserved. The beginning of the eighteenth century was marked by the formation of the kingdoms of Prussia and Sardinia. The colonial wars, one of the characteristics of this period, firnished England with an opportunity of destroying the navies of France and Spain, and of asserting her power over the neutral states. The revolution of her American dependencies threatened her influence, and terminated in the loss of these important settlements; but, presenting a determined front to her enemies, she founded in the East an empire of vast wealth and extent. At the close of the eighteenth century, war raged throughout the greater part of Europe; and the very foundations of society were shaken by the most terrible revolution on record. The political whirlwind spread from France over Europe, leaving in all directions the deepest marks of its progress. But as storms and tempests serve to purify the atmosphere, so good has, in the political world, sprung out of what appeared to be unmingled evil. Constitutional monarchies are everywhere established, or the way is rapidly preparing for them; and the influence of the middle class is more directly felt in the governments both of England and France. SIXTEENTH CENTURY. BRITAIN AND IRELAND.-1509, Henry VIII.-1513, Battle of Flodden; James V.- 1514, Wolsey.- 1527, Anne Boleyn.- 1536, First Suppression of Monasteries.-1542, Mary, Queen of Scotland.-1547, Edward VI.-1553, Mary.-1558, Elizabeth.-1587, Queen of Scotland beheaded.-1588, Spanish Armada defeated.-1598, Irish Revolt. FRANCE.-1508, League of Cambray against Venice.-1512, Battle of Ravenna. -1515, Francis I.- 1520, Field of Cloth of Gold. -1544, Battle of Cerri. soles; Boulogne taken by the English. - 1545, Massacre of the Vaudois.1558, Calais recovered.-1560, Charles IX.-1572, Massacre of St. Bartho. SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 351 lomew.-1574, Henry III.-1588, States of Blois.-1589, Henry IV.-1598, Edict of Nantes. ITALIAN PENINSULA.~-1501, Naples conquered by French.-1503, Battle of Cerignola; 1525, of Pavia.-1537, Cosmo de Medici.-1547, Fieschi's Conspiracy.-1580, Charles Emanuel of Savoy.-1585, Pope Sixtus V. SPANISH PENINSULA.- 1500, Charles V. born; Ximenes.- 1539, Last Casti. lian Cortes.-1555, Philip II.-1557, Sebastian of Portugal.-1578, Henry I. of Portugal.-1596, Cadiz taken by the English. UNITED PROVINCES.-1568, Death of Counts Egmont and Horn.-1579, Union of Utrecht.-1584, Prince of Orange murdered.-1597, Victory of Turnhout. GERMANY.-1501, Aulic Council.-1517, Luther.-1519, Charles V. Emperor, -1530, Diet of Augsburg.-1535, Anabaptist War.-1545, Council of Trent. -1552, Treaty of Passau.-1556, Ferdinand 1.; 1564, Maximilian II.; 1576, Rudolph II. HUNGARY AND BOHEMIA.-1490, Ladislaus.-1516, Louis II.-1526, Battle of Mohaz; John Zapoli and Ferdinand.-1541, John Sigismund.-1548, Hereditary Succession of Bohemia.-1566, Turkish Invasion. POLAND AND RUSSIA.-1506, Sigismund I. king of Poland.-1519, Polish War against Teutonic Order.-1533, Ivan IV.-1550, New Code.-1573, Henry of Valois.-1581, Conquest of Siberia.-1598, End of Rurik Dynasty. DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY. —1448, Christian II.-1523, Gustavus Vasa. - 1534, Christian III. - 1560, Eric of Sweden. - 1592, Sigismund of Poland. THE EAST.-1501, Ismael Sophi, King of Persia.-1512, Selim 1.-1515, Mogul Empire in the East Indies.-1521, Belgrade taken.-1522, Siege of Rhodes. -1548, War with Persia.,1553, Roxalana.-1571, Battle of Lepanto.1574, Amurath III.-1585, Shah Abbas. COLONIES.-1500, Brazil discovered.-1503, Portuguese first established in India.-1508, West Indies.-1513, Discovery of the South Sea.-1526, Pizarro in Peru.-1584, Virginia, the First English Colony.-1586, Davis' Straits. THE CHURCH.-1517, Luther.-1525, Capuchin Order.-1530, Confession of Augsburg.-1533, Calvinists.-1534, English Reformation.-1540, Jesuits. -1545, Council of Trent.-1546, Socinians.- 1552, St. Francis Xavier.1568, Bull in Cana' Domini, -1572, Massacre of St. Bartholomew. -1580, Chinese Mission. INVENTIONS, &c.-1517, Gun-locks.-1538, Lotteries.-1548, Balance Wheel. - 1582, Reformed Calendar; Oil-Painting. -1593, Telescope and Thermometer. BRITAIN. ENGLAND.-In 1501 and 1502 were concluded two marriages which led to important results in after-times. Arthur, prince of Wales, son of Henry VII., having espoused Catherine of Aragon, fourth daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, and dying six months afterwards, his brother, afterwards Henry VIII., accepted the hand of the widow; while Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII., married James IV. of Scotland, thereby transmitting rights to her descendants which at length placed the Stuart family on the English throne. 352 MODERN HISTORY. HENRY VIII. succeeded his father in the year 1509, at the age of eighteen. His accession to the throne excited transports of joy in the nation, which had been dissatisfied with the parsimonious habits of his predecessor. The treasures amassed by the latter furnished the young king with immense resources; the chief potentates of the Continent sought his alliance; the treaties with France were made perpetual; and nothing was thought wanting to his happiness. The celebrated Wolsey now first appealed on the theatre of politics; and, soon after his introduction to Henry, became the most influential member of the privycouncil, and was considered prime-minister. Although older than his majesty, he made it his study to flatter and subserve the natural disposition of his master for luxury and every kind of pleasure. Henry speedily dissipated in tournaments and banquets the wealth left by his parent; and turned his attention to political intrigues and active warfare. Pope Julius II., eager to expel the French, whom, in virtue of the league of Cambray, he had introduced into Italy, spared no means to gain his support. He succeeded so far as to interrupt the friendly relations with Louis XII., and the English king in person led an army into Flanders, where he took Terouenne, and routed the enemy at Guinegate, in the Battle of the Spurs. In Scotland, the arms of Henry were not less successful; and James IV., the Scottish monarch, was entirely defeated and slain at Flodden in 1513. But finding at length that he had been the dupe of the Pope, he concluded a treaty with Louis XII., giving him in marriage his sister Mary, 1514. Francis I. renewed the treaties of his predecessors, and Wolsey seized on this opportunity of making himself agreeable to the French ruler, whose influence he required at Rome to obtain a cardinal's hat, the object of his ambition. The crafty churchman, however, took advantage of the success gained by his patron at Marignano to alarm Henry as to the effect of the victories of the young and warlike sovereign. The long rivalry between Francis I. and Charles V., consequent on the elevation of the latter to the imperial dignity, for which Henry had himself been a candidate, brought the English monarch into the quarrel, in the first instance, as the ally of the emperor. Discussions of a very different character soon engrossed the attention of the English monarch. Henry, who piqued himself greatly on his theological abilities, was indignant at the contempt with which Luther had treated Thomas Aquinas. In support of his favourite author, he composed " A Treatise in Defence of the Seven Sacraments," which was presented to the Pope, who, besides comparing it to the writings of Jerome and Augustin, gratified the king with the title of " Defender of the Faith," 1521. In return, the royal author, who was not inaccessible to the voice of praise, entered readily into the league against the King of France. The English invaded Picardy, and advanced to within eleven leagues of Paris, when the defeat and capture of Francis at Pavia in 1525, altered the policy of their sovereign. His intercession between the captive and Charles led to new conventions between England and France, whereby Henry gave up all pretensions to the crown of the latter country, which his predecessors had claimed since the reign of Edward III. In 1527, Henry was seized with a passion for Anne Boleyn, one of SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 353 the queen's maids of honour; and he seems to have early formed the design of getting rid of Catherine, and making this new favourite his wite. The quarrel between Pope Clement VII. and Charles V. appeared to Henry a favourable moment for accomplishing his purpose. Proposals to annul the marriage had been ineffectually made to the Pope several months before Anne appeared at court, when the king's determination assumed all the violence natural to his character. Affecting to have scruples as to the lawfulness of his union with Catherine, and adopting the express language of the Book of Leviticus, he forwarded a theological treatise on the subject to Clement, who, pressed on the one side by a prince whom he was desirous of conciliating, and on the other by the emperor whom he feared, promised and temporized, in the hope that the passion of the former would cool. But this delay only irritated Henry's impatient temper, and, after a disgraceful scene before the two legates, he banished the unfortunate Catherine from court, 1529. Meanwhile the Pope had become reconciled with Charles V., at whose instigation the case was transferred to Rome. For this change the king held Wolsey responsible, who, overwhelmed with sudden disgrace, was stripped of his immense riches, and died of a broken heart, 1530. His place was soon supplied by Cranmer, under whose advice Henry consulted the principal universities of Europe, the majority of which were favourable to his wishes; and to annoy and weaken the clergy, he included them in the charge previously brought against the cardinal, of violating the statute of " preemunire."* A convocation was immediately summoned, and ~100,000 were offered for a full pardon, which Henry, who had now resolved on entirely subverting the papal authority, refused unless he were acknowledged " Supreme Head of the Church in England." Having attained his object, he secretly married Anne Boleyn, 1533; and after publicly acknowledging his new wife, had her crowned with great ceremony so soon as Cranmer, now raised to the see of Canterburr, could pronounce the sentence of divorce against Catherine. The parliament ratified the marriage with Anne, and declared Mary, the issue of the previous union, illegitimate. It also formally annulled the pontifical authority, and conferred on the king the title of " Supreme Head of the Anglican Church," with most of the spiritual prerogatives previously exercised by the Pope. In separating from the Romish communion, Henry pretended still to be orthodox. Believing himself absolute master. of the minds of his subjects as well as of their bodies, he changed the discipline of the church, but retained its doctrines. In his eyes it was equally criminal to believe in the Pope or in Luther; and those of either party who were unable to disguise their sentiments, were punished alike. In 1535, two illustrious victims, Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More, perished on the scaffold for refusing to take the oath of supremacy; and at the same time, Protestants were dragged to the stake for speaking against the sacraments of the Roman church. The monks, whose credit had fallen with the power of the pontiff, detested the sacrilege which they conceived * This law, which is still in force, was passed during the disputes of Richard II. with the papacy, and enacts, that if any man shall seek or obtain, in the court of Rome or elsewhere, any translations of bishops from their present sees to other sees out of the kingdom; any excommunications, bulls, or other instruments agairst the king's crown and dignity; that his goods and chattels, lands and tenements, shall be forfeited to the crown, and his body imprisoned. 30* 354 MODERN HISTORY. the king to have committed; and, on the other hand, Henry regarded them as his principal enemies, whom it was necessary to destroy. For this purpose, Cromwell, his secretary, was appointed "royal vicegerent and vicar-general," with orders to visit by his commissioners the convents of both sexes throughout the kingdom. Though time had introduced abuses and disorders into these institutions, the visiters published an exaggerated relation of them.* The parliament immediately made a first step towards the entire destruction of the religious orders, by suppressing all monasteries whose yearly income did not exceed'200 sterling. By this measure, 380 communities were abolished, whose total revenue amounted to a32,000, besides plate and jewels to the value of 1rSo0,000. Soon after these arbitrary proceedings, the queen was suddenly arrested and conveyed to the Tower, being accused of.adultery and high treason. Seventeen days saw Anne Boleyn pass from the throne to the scaffold. There is no doubt that her vivacity and freedom of manner had given rise to suspicion; but the best exculpation of her character is to be found in Henry's marriage with Jane Seymour, one of her maids of honour, on the day succeeding Anne's execution, 1536. During these transactions, the violent religious changes had excited great discontent, particularly in the north of England, where several revolts broke out. Thirty thousand of the malcontents marched towards London; but they were dispersed, and the principal leaders executed. These commotions increased the king's dislike to the monks, whom he not unjustly accused of being the secret agents of the insurrection. To crush them entirely, he determined to destroy all the remaining religious communities. The parliament readily passed the necessary measures; and the annual revenue of the crown was augmented by an addition of ~160,000. In the midst of his hostility to the Romish church, Henry never failed in his zeal to uphold its dogmas. The parliament, becoming daily more servile, approved of his intolerance by the famous bill of the Six Articles, called the Bloody Statute,-a law which asserted the real presence and communion of one kind, forbade the marriage of priests, admitted vows of chastity, and declared the utility of private masses, with the necessity of auricular confession. Any violation of the first article was punishable with death; and for the others, the penalties were confiscation of property and imprisonment during the royal pleasure. To crown all, the same parliament gave to the king's proclamations the force of statute law. In 1540, Henry, left a widower by the death of his queen, Jane Seymour, who died in 1537, twelve days after giving birth to a son, subse. quently Edward VI., contracted a new marriage with Anne, daughter of the Duke of Cleves. His union with this princess, whose personal appearance did not correspond with Cromwell's flattering description, led to the destruction of that favourite, whose sudden exaltation and tyrannical conduct had caused him to be generally hated. The king gave him over to his enemies, by whom he was accused of heresy and high treason; the very parliament which condemned him to death hav* The substance of these charges has never been impeached; and their existence is in a measure confirmed by similar imputations attached to monastic institutions even of these later days in Italy and Spain. as may be seen in the life of Scipio Ricci, bishop of Pistoia. SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 355 tng, but a few days before, declared him worthy to be the " vicar-general of the universe." The disgrace of this high officer was followed by the divorce of the queen; and in less than a month Henry married a niece of the Duke of Norfolk, Lady Catherine Howard, who was decapitated eighteen months afterwards on a charge of incontinence before and after marriage. The king next espoused Catherine Parr, widow of Lord Latimer. A revolt in Ireland, hostilities and negotiations with Scotland, and a war with France, occupied the latter years of his reign. As Henry was descended from the Welsh Tudors, he naturally directed hlis attention to the country of his ancestors, which was a prey to all the disorders of feudal anarchy, and where his proclamations were without force. In 1536, it was enacted that the whole of Wales should be incorporated with England, being made subject to the same laws, and authorized to send to parliament a member for every county. In Ireland, the religious innovations countenanced by the government had excited so profound a sensation as to unite in one common cause the natives and the settlers, hitherto apparently irreconcilable enemies. But O'Neill, the head of the insurgents, having been defeated, the other chiefs submitted to the royal authority. In 1542, that country was raised from a lordship to a kingdom, and several of the mQst powerful leaders created earls, among whom O'Neil received the title of Tyrone. Lastly, some regulations for the administration of justice completed its pacification, and the power of the English had never appeared more firmly established since the invasion of Henry II. The king, finding his authority confirmed in England and Ireland, wished to extend his influence into Scotland, and oblige his nephew, James V., to adopt his religious opinions and declare war against France. An invasion by an English army produced no other effect than the burning of a few villages; and the death of the Scottish sovereign, in 1542, led to a cessation of hostilities. Henry was now at leisure to turn his attention to France, whither he sent a numerous army, which took Boulogne. After the defection of Charles V. from his alliance, the war continued two years longer, but was not marked by any memorable event. In virtue of the treaty of 1546, Henry retained his conquests until certain sums of money owing by the enemy were paid. The end of this extraordinary monarch now rapidly approached; and his death, on the 28th of January 1547, saved the life of the Duke of Norfolk, who had been condemned to be executed the following morning. Hallam thus describes Henry's rule and character:-A government administered with so frequent violations not only of the chartered privileges of Englishmen, but of those still more sacred rights which national law has established, must have been regarded, one would imagine, with just abhorrence and earnest longings for a change. Yet contemporary authorities by no means answer to this expectation, some mentioning Henry after his death in language of eulogy. I do not indeed believe that he had really conciliated his people's affection; for that perfect fear which attended him must have cast out love. But he had a few qualities that deserve esteem, and several which a nation is pleased to behold in a sovereign. He was without dissimulation; his manners were affable, and his temper generous. Though his schemes of foreign policy were not very sagacious, and his wars productive of no material advantage, yet'hey were uniformly successful, and retrieved the honour of the English name. But the main cause of the reverence with which our forefathers cherished this king's memory. was the share he had taken in the Reformation. They saw 356 MODERN HISTORY. in hire not indeed the proselyte of their faith, but the subverter of their enemies power-the avenging minister of Heaven, by whose giant arm the chain of superstition had been broken, and the prison burst asunder.-Constitutional History of England, ch. i. Read: Tytler's Life of King Henry VIII. in Edinburgh Cabinet Library. EDWARD VI. had not reached his tenth year when he ascended the throne in 1547. Henry had fixed his majority at eighteen, and appointed sixteen executors, assisted by twelve counsellors, to carry on the government in the meanwhile. But the young king's uncle, the ambitious Earl of Hertford, by securing a majority of the curators, was appointed protector of the realm, and created Duke of Somerset. This nobleman, being a zealous partisan of the new religious doctrines, educated Edward in Protestant principles, and concerted with Cranmer a plan of general reform. Yet it was necessary to proceed with caution; and the duke suspended for a time the episcopal authority, appointing commissioners to visit the dioceses. Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, opposed these proceedings with all his influence; and to silence so powerful an adversary, he was thrown into prison. During this time Scotland was more than ever agitated. The murder of Cardinal Beaton lighted up the flames of civil war. The queendowager, Mary of Lorraine, asked succour from France, and the Protestant party had recourse to England. Somerset, who crossed the Tweed at the head of 20,000 men, proposed to unite the two kingdoms by the marriage of the young queen with Edward, and offered peace as the condition. The battle of inkey, 1547, in which more than 10,000 Scots were left on the field, followed the refusal. Instead of taking advantage of this success, the victor returned to London, where cabals were forming against him by his brother Lord Seymour, and Dudley, earl of Warwick. To secure his popularity, he summoned a parliament, which repealed the most hateful laws of Henry VIII., including the statute of the Six Articles. Further, private masses were forbidden, and the holy communion ordered to be administered in bread and wine, while the nomination of bishops became one of the prerogatives of royalty. In the following year, the parliament enacted that the mass should be celebrated in English, adopted the reformed liturgy, and permitted the marriage of priests. Public attention was now directed to the struggles of the protector against his brother Lord Seymour, who was one of his greatest enemies. The ambition of the latter had been nourished by his marriage with Catherine Parr, widow of Henry VIII., on whose death he had aspired to the hand of the Princess Elizabeth. He had numerous partisans; but being charged with plotting to carry off the king and change the government, he was executed on the 20th March 1549. This, however, did not terminate the protector's embarrassments; for Catholic priests had stirred up the peasants of Devonshire and Norfolk, and when these insurrections were suppressed, he had to contend against the allied Scotch and French army. Failing in obtaining foreign aid, and being opposed by the powerful Warwick faction, Somerset fell rapidly from his lofty station. He was accused of high crimes and misdemeanours, and committed to the Tower; but his execution in 1552, and the title of Duke of Northumberland conferred on Warwick, did not satisfy the lat. ter nobleman, whc aspired to the supreme authority, founding his ambi SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 357 tious views on the delicate health of the king. He first persuaded Edward to change the order of succession, representing that Mary and Elizabeth, having been declared illegitimate by the parliament, could not ascend the throne; that the religion and birth of the Scottish queen disqualified her; and that, consequently, the nearest heir was his cousin the Marchioness of Dorset, eldest daughter of Mary, sister of Henry VIII., by her second husband the duke of Suffolk, and after her, Lady Jane Grey, the grand-granddaughter of Henry VII. While the council were deliberating on this momentous question, Northumberland effected the union of his fourth son, Guildford Dudley, with Lady Jane, and Edward VI. expired not long after, in the sixteenth year of his age, July 6, 1553. Immediately on Edward's decease, Northumberland proceeded to proclaim Lady Jane Grey; but Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII. by his first queen, Catherine of Aragon, collected an army, asserted her claims, and prevailed over her rival. The unfortunate Jane reigned only ten days,-to her a period of sorrow and distress. The duke was beheaded in 1553, and Lady Jane and her husband in the following year. MARY had determined to re-establish the Roman Catholic worship, but she proceeded cautiously, at first liberating Gardiner and other bishops from prison, and restoring them to the sees of which they had been deprived; while of the reformed clergy great numbers were ejected. Cranmer, doubly hateful to. her for the share he had taken in the divorce of her mother, and in the establishment of Protestantism, was accused of favouring the party of Lady Jane Grey, and condemned for high treason; but his execution did not take place till three years after. Parliament readily abolished the statutes of Edward VI. which were in anywise favourable to the new doctrines, and restored affairs to the state in which they were left by the death of Henry VIII., Mary retaining the spiritual power and the title of the head of the church only until she could restore both into the hands of the Pope. In order more surely to accomplish her designs, she contracted a marriage with Philip, son of the Emperor Charles V., in 1554. After a sojourn of fourteen months in England, the prince returned to Flanders, and soon after inheriting the crown of Spain, he thought no more of his queen. Thus waS fortunately defeated a deep-laid plot to transfer the kingdom under a foreign yoke, and to crush the Protestant religion along with the national independence. In the new parliament, which assembled in November 1554, the entire re-establishment of the Roman Catholic religion was agreed to, and Cardinal Pole was sent from Rome to reconcile England to the holy see. Worldly interest entered deeply into this religious change; for those who had enriched themselves by the spoils of the church in the two preceding reigns, exacted a confirmation of the abbey lands to their new proprietors. Under the fanatical Gardiner, it was not to be expected that heresy would pass unpunished. The number of persons who suffered death by fire in Mary's reign has been computed at 300, among whom were Archbishop Cranmer, Bishops Latiner, Hooper, and Ridley. The Princess Elizabeth was confined in the Tower, on account of her extensive influence among the Protestant party. The murmurs of the people, the rapid progress of the Reformed doctrines, the indifference of her husband, the loss of Calais, and the failure of an expedition to Brest, 358 MODERN HISTORY. all preyed upon the queen's spirits, and hastened her death. She expired in 1558, leaving the kingdom to her sister. Hallam sums up the character and reign of Mary in the following expressive terms: -" Her reign was inglorious, her capacity narrow, and her temper sanguinary; although conscientious in some respects, she was as capable of dissimulation as her sister, and of breach of faith as her husband; she obstinately and wilfully sacrificed her subjects' affections and interest to a misplaced and discreditable attachment; and the words with which Carte has concluded the character of this unlamented sovereign are perfectly just:-'Having reduced the nation to the brink of ruin, she left it, by her seasonable decease, to be restored by her successor to its ancient prosperity and glory.' "-Const. sist. England. ELIZABETH had been brought up in the religion of her mother, Anne Boleyn, and had with difficulty escaped from the trials of the preceding reign. Misfortune served only to call forth the strength of her character. In her long retirement, occupied in the study of ancient and modern languages, and in the pursuits of literature, she prepared herself for the great task which Providence had reserved for her. Although the divorce of Catherine of Aragon, and Henry's marriage with Anne Boleyn, had been ratified by parliament, yet as these acts were not acknowledged by the Pope, the zealous Catholics disputed Elizabeth's right of succession, and turned their eyes to Mary Stuart, who inherited the claims of Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII. This princess, married to the dauphin of France, accordingly assumed the title of Queen of England, and quartered the English arms with those of Scotland and France. Elizabeth now decided upon establishing Protestantism, as the safeguard of her throne; but her first steps were marked by her characteristic caution and prudence. She published an edict maintaining, until further orders, the services of religion in the same form as at the death of Mary, and permitted the prayers and offices to be read only in English. She was even consecrated by the Roman Catholic bishop of Carlisle, 15th January 1559; but the parliament which assembled ten days after abolished the papal supremacy, ordered the Book of Common Prayer to be exclusively used, and that all clergymen should swear to the new order of things. The bishops, with one exception (Landaff), refused to take the required oath; but among the inferior clergy, spread over nearly ten thousand parishes, there were not found two hundred to follow their example. The Protestant Church of England was thus established in its present form. As Elizabeth's greatest difficulties were to be expected from the opposition of the Catholics, she endeavoured to promote Protestant principles in those states that were most in connexion with her own. In Scotland the reformers had made great progress, animated by the zeal and eloquence of Knox; and the dissensions between the two parties in that kingdom were encouraged by Secretary Cecil, in order to weaken the power of the queen, and destroy the influence of the French king, her husband. The measures pursued were so successful, that when Mary returned to Scotland in 1561, she was obliged to renounce all claims to the English throne. Elizabeth now turned her views to the internal improvement of her own dominions, and the success which accompanied her labours excited the admiration of all Europe. In 1563, a law was passed commanding all members of the House of Commons, teachers, lawyers, and clerks, to take the oath of supremacy; SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 359 not long after which the Puritans separated from the estaoD~shed church. An ecclesiastical convocation was summoned to compose the national creed, and the Thirty-nine Articles were drawn up, as they exist at the present day. The progress of affairs in Scotland was so adverse to Mary Stuart, that she was compelled to flee from her own subjects into England, where she was immediately imprisoned on the plea of certain crimes with which she was charged. The conferences at York and Hampton Court, as to her participation in her husband's murder, were far from disproving her guilt; while the extensive combination in 1569, to marry her to the Ddke of Norfolk, gave great disquietude to the cabinet. The intrigues of this weak and ambitious nobleman were terminated by his death on the scaffold in 1572. The Pope, Pius V., did not remain an idle spectator of these transactions. He issued a bull, which, after enumerating Elizabeth's crimes, declared her guilty of heresy, and announced that her subjects were absolved from their allegiance. This edict, founded on the assumed right vested in the supreme pontiff to depose kings for heinous crimes against the church, was far more injurious in its consequences to those whom it was intended to serve than to the sovereign. It elicited two statutes for her security, punishing with severity any intercourse with Rome, and all who ventured to deny her title. The House of Commons even called for the trial of " the pretended Scottish queen." Elizabeth now began to enjoy tranquillity, her authority being firmly established in England, and Scotland governed by her creature Morton. Although herself a Protestant, she had not hitherto, from the unsettled state of her affairs, interfered directly in the insurrection of the Low Countries or the civil war in France. But in 1579, she beheld dangers closing around her on every side. The first blow was the disgrace of Morton, and the subsequent loss of her influence in Scotland. In 1578, she had concluded a treaty with the states-general of Holland, professing at the same time a desire to preserve friendly relations with Philip II., notwithstanding that Drake, with a privateering squadron, was ravaging the Spanish colonies of America. His majesty, to retaliate these indirect hostilities of the English queen, sent a body of troops into Ireland, 1579. Her quiet was farther menaced by the plots of the Catholics, to counteract which the Protestants formed a solemn association for her defence against all enemies, foreign or domestic. Parliament banished the Jesuits as well as the priests of the Romish communion, and forbade their return under the penalties of high treason. The alarm, whether real or feigned is uncertain, which Elizabeth felt on account of Queen Mary, caused an increase of severity towards that unfortunate princess. Her friends in England were consequently more earnest in her cause, and plotted the assassination of their own sovereign. A young man, named Babington, managed to open a correspondence with the royal prisoner, which however did not long escape the vigilance of Secretary Walsingham. Means were now found to implicate Mary with the conspirators, and she was tried and condemned to death by a special commission, 25th October, 1586. On the 8th of February, in the following year, the sentence was carried into effect at Fotheringay castle. Elizabeth affected grief and anger, put on mourning, and punished her secretary, Davison, for having allowed the execution to take place without her orders. 360 MODERN HISTORY. When the King of Scotland was informed of the death of his motner, he testified the most violent indignation; but policy soon prevailed over filial tenderness, and the prospect of one day succeeding Elizabeth in duced him to suppress his resentment. Philip II. had resolved on punishing the English queen for the aid she had given to the Low Countries, and the eyes of all Europe were fixed on his armaments; but before the preparations were completed, Drake, at the head of a gallant squadron, burnt a great number of Spanish ships in sight of Lisbon and Cadiz, captured the galleons which were on their voyage from America, laden with riches, and returned home with an immense booty, 1587. At the same time, Walsingham succeeded in getting the Spanish bills dishonoured at Genoa, thereby depriving Philip of the resources he expected. This manceuvre, and the terror inspired by Drake, compelled the expedition to be deferred until the following year, thus giving Elizabeth time to prepare for the defence of her kingdom. The " invincible armada," as it was called, consisted of 132 vessels, most of them being of unusual magnitude, and mounted 3165 guns. It was navigated by 8766 seamen, and carried nearly 22,000 soldiers; a force which was to be augmented by 30,000 men assembled in the neighbourhood of Dunkirk. England now appeared animated with -one sentiment. Exclusive of the levies furnished by the city of London, 132,000 men were speedily collected where the prospect of invasion was most imminent. The queen appeared on horseback in the camp at Tilbury, and haranguing the army, exhorted the soldiers to remember their duties to their country and their religion. " I am ready," she said, " to pour out my blood for God, my kingdom, and my people. I will fight at your head; and although I have but the arm of a woman, I have the soul of a king; and what is more, of a king of England." By such conduct and language she filled the people with enthusiasm. Her fleet, which consisted of only twenty-eight ships, was by the zeal of her people soon increased to a hundred and seventeen, having on board 11,120 men, placed under the orders of the High-admiral Lord Howard of Effingham, who was aided by Drake, Hawkins, Lord Henry Seymour, and Frobisher. The spirit of the Scotch was not inferior to that of the English; they raised troops for the defence of both kingdoms, and formed an association, whose object was to maintain their religion and government against all enemies, at home or abroad. On the 29th of May, 1588, the Spanish armada, under the Duke of Medina, sailed from Lisbon; but a furious tempest next morning drove it back into harbour, and it did not reach the Channel before the 19th of July. Here it was attacked by the English squadron, which proved victorious in five successive engagements. The duke, finding he could not form a junction with the troops at Dunkirk, meditated a return to Spain, when a storm arose, which destroyed the greater part of his fleet on the shores of Orkney and Ireland, so that only 53 ships reached home, and these in a shattered condition. The event was celebrated in England with great rejoicings, and a medal struck in commemoration, bearing the inscription, Deus aflavit et dissipantur. The destruction of the armada was a fatal blow to Spain; English cruisers covere, all the seas, ravaged her coasts, and plundered her colonies. Henceforward the reign of Elizabeth was less disturbed. The death of Mary Stuart, and the Protestant sentiments of her son, had entirely SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 361 ruined the hopes of the Catholics; while the cause of the Reformation was supported in Holland by British auxiliaries. Philip, in revenge, stirred up the Irish Catholics to revolt. On a given day there was a general massacre of the English, —a detestable treachery, that only served to call down upon their country the wrath of the queen. The Earl of Essex was sent over at the head of a large army, and with unlimited power, but this favourite was recalled to perish on the scaffold, 1601. The death of Elizabeth followed not long after, having been accelerated, if we may believe the common rumour, by her regret at the untimely fate of the earl. At the age of seventy years, and after a glorious reign of nearly half a century, she expired on the 24th March 1603, leaving the sceptre to James VI. of Scotland. SCOTLAND. -This country had suffered greatly from its wars with England, against which the alliance of France proved but an uncertain protection. The chivalrous temper of JAMES IV. led him to seek the chief support of his crown in the great feudatories; but he prematurely perished in the disastrous battle of Flodden, 1513. During the minority of JAMES V., his mother, Margaret of England, disputed the regency with the Duke of Albany. But this contest was of little importance, compared with the great change operating by the introduction of the Reformed doctrines, about 1530. James V., who had married a French princess, Mary of Lorraine, died in 1542, leaving an only child, MARY, afterwards united to the dauphin. Under the regency of the queenmother, the Reformation rapidly proceeded; and Cardinal Beaton, who virtually administered the government, attempting to check it by violence, perished by assassination. Excited by the enthusiastic eloquence of John Knox, the people rose in insurrection, stripped the Catholic churches of their ornaments, and in many places totally destroyed them. An army was immediately collected to punish these disorders, when the Protestants united themselves still more closely by a treaty or covenant, at the head of which was James Stewart, a natural son of James V., and sought the assistance of Elizabeth. Taking advantage of the absence of their queen in France, the people, who had subdued the Catholic party, gave their new church a regular form of government. Professing the doctrines of the Reformers of Geneva, they abolished Episcopacy, and established an ecclesiastical republic, or Presbyterianism. The return of Queen Mary to Scotland, 1561, was the beginning of the misfortunes of that unhappy princess. Her education in the court of France made the cold and rough manners of her new subjects intolerable, while her adherance to the Roman Catholic religion was far from conciliating their affections. The sudden and violent death of her husband, Darnley, and her subsequent marriage with Bothwell, drove the people into revolt. Her forces were defeated at Carberry Hill, and she was confined in Lochleven castle; having escaped, she was again defeated at Langside, and compelled to take refuge in England, 1568, leaving the kingdom in the hands of the Earl of Moray, as regent for her infant son, JAMES VI. IRELAND.-This country, the origin of whose inhabitants is somewhat obscure, had been governed by native princes until 1172, when Henry II. Plantagenet, taking advantage of its intestine troubles, seized upon the kingdom, and conferred the government upon his son John, by whom it was united to England in 1210. But successive revolutions 31 362 MODERN HISTORY. disturbed the country, and it was not entirely subdued before the end of the sixteenth century. Henry VIII. ruled it with a stern and systematic despotism, and almost entirely destroyed the ancient family of the Geraldines. Laws were now enacted to establish the English dress and language, and to prevent the colonists from holding intercourse with the natives. The royal authority, after being in abeyance about two hundred years, was recognised in Ulster and Connaught. The accession of Elizabeth was a crisis in Irish history: in her reign the Protestant church was established, and all subjects were bouud to attend its public services. The violent manner in which these laws were attempted to be enforced aggravated the rebellious spirit of the Irish and drove them to insurrection. The insurgents were with difficulty put down; and their crime was punished with so much severity, that the counties of Cork and Kerry, the patrimony of the Earl of Desmond, were reduced to a barren waste. At an early period in the history of Ireland, the chieftainships were subject to the law of tanistry, i. e. that the lands and dignity descended to the eldest and most worthy of the same blood, the claims of seniority being controlled by a due regard to desert. The landowners, not of noble rank, held their possessions by the tenure of gavel-kind, which was not an equal partition, as in England, but the chief of the sept to which the deceased belonged was entitled to divide the patrimony as he pleased, allotting to the lineal heirs a portion with the rest of the tribe. Justice was administered in each sept by judges called bretons, selected from certain families. The government of Ireland was entirely aristocratic, the condition of the common people being little different from slavery. FRANCE. Louis XII., 1498, ascended the throne of France at the age of thirtysix. He added to his regal titles those of Duke of Milan, and King of the Two Sicilies and of Jerusalem,-thus declaring his intention of following in the steps of Charles VIII. His claims to the duchy were derived from his paternal grandmother, Valentina Visconti, a descendant of the ducal family of that name. Trained in the school of misfortune, this prince had learnt to be just; and, by his generous and beneficent character, deservedly bore the title of Father of his People. His chief minister was Amboise, archbishop of Rouen, the early period of whose government was employed in useful reforms, and in diminishing an oppressive taxation, although the country was engaged in war. The troops were subjected to regular discipline, fixed garrisons appointed, and a stated subsistence provided for them. He moreover improved the administration of justice by shortening the usual law-processes and their expenses. Almost the first act of Louis' reign was to dissolve his marriage with Joan of France, whom he had been compelled to espouse by Louis XI. He wedded his second wife, Anne of Brittany, the widow of Charles VIII., as much from policy as inclination, since the alienation of the duchy was thereby prevented. On her death he married Mary, sister of Henry VIII. of England, which was the means of obtaining peace after the defeat at Guinegate, better known as the Battle of the Spurs, from the knights making greater use of these in their flight than of their dances in the attack. SIXTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 363 Claude de Seyssel, bishop of Marseilles, in a work on the Monarchy of France, has left us a valuable picture of the constitution of that country during this reign. The royal authority was limited by the states-general and the parliaments. The former, meeting only for important cases, and not being regularly convoked according to a fixed law, possessed little real influence. The parliaments, composed of permanent magistrates, registered the edicts, and could remonstrate against them: so that these two bodies, although imperfectly constituted for successful opposition, could in some measure restrain the abuse of authority. The Court of Accompts verified the public expenditure, and had the power of retrenching whatever appeared unnecessary. It also watched over the preservation of the royal domain, which provided for the personal expenses of the sovereign. These several guarantees against despotism, although far inferior to those afforded by the representative system, characterize the monarchy of this period as more constitutional than is generally supposed. The different orders in society, although distinct and unequal, were not so hostile as may be imagined. The clergy had rich benefices and great privileges, but their ranks were open to all classes. The nobility were exempt from taxes of every denomination; but in war they served the state gratuitously, and were forbidden to engage in any mechanical or secular profession. The upper burghers or commons possessed the judicial and financial offices, which gave them great influence in society. These were not interdicted to the nobles, but they generally preferred a military career. Fortune and talent were the means of raising the merchants and lawyers to the higher class; as this last might be ennobled by the king in reward of meritorious service. ITALIAN WARS.-Before commencing his first Italian campaign, the French monarch endeavoured to strengthen his cause by numerous alliances. Pope Alexander VI. became his friend, as did his illegitimate son, Caesar Borgia, upon whom was conferred the duchy of Valentinois; and the kings of England and Spain, with the republic of Venice, formed treaties of alliance with him. Sforza, better known as Ludovico the Moor, was without a friend; but Bajazet II., the grand sultan, indirectly afforded him assistance by attacking the Venetians, against whom he had declared war. At the close of July, 1499, the French army, composed of 1600 lances, and 13,000 infantry, including 5000 Swiss, crossed the Alps under the command of Marshal Trivulzio. All the strong places opened their gates. Milan itself deserted the tyrant Ludovico, who was obliged to seek an asylum with the Emperor Maximilian at Innsbruck. The conquest of the duchy was completed in twenty days. Louis XII., who made a triumphal entry into the capital, exercised his rights of sovereignty by diminishing the taxes and regulating the courts of justice. Trivulzio was appointed governor; but his violence prepared the way for the return of Sforza, whose re-appearance in the Milanese at the head of 10,000 Swiss was the signal for a general revolt. The duke re-entered his capital in February 1500, amid the shouts of those who had driven him into exile a few months before. The French returned soon after his restoration, when the Swiss, who had fought under his banner, deserted in a body. He sought safety in flight; but was made prisoner, and kept in close confinement at the castle of Loches, in Berri, until his death in 1510. Louis, now thinking himself firmly established in the Milanese, turned his thoughts to Naples. Frederick, too weak to dispute the kingdom, offered advantageous conditions, which were rejected; and finding that the French still advanced towards Naples, he surrendered 364 MODERN HISTORY. to the invader, who sent him to Tours, where he died in 1504. The French and Spaniards now began to quarrel about the division of the spoil; but after two campaigns, the latter remained in possession of the kingdom of Naples. Three armies and two fleets were soon prepared by Louis to avenge his honour, but they all failed in their object. The succession of Julius II. to the papal throne led to the treaty of Cambray in 1508, by which Louis, the Emperor Maximilian, Ferdinand of Spain, and the Pope united against Venice. By the battle of Agnadello, gained by the French, the Venetians were driven from the continent and confined to their isles. The allies took possession of the deserted cities, but did not occupy them long; for, in 1510, Julius II. became reconciled with the republic, and in the next year succeeded in drawing Ferdinand, Henry VIII., and Maximilian to his side. France bravely made head against her enemies. Gaston de Foix, at the age of twenty-two, repelled a body of 16,000 troops engaged in invading the Milanese, raised the siege of Bologna, defeated the Venetians, recovered Brescia from them, and gained the battle of Ravenna, in which he fell, pierced by sixteen wounds, 1512. After Gaston's death, Louis experienced several reverses in Italy; and the Sforzas were established at Milan, and the Medici at Florence. The war had now no longer any object. Louis therefore concluded a treaty with Ferdinand of Spain, and abjured the council of Pisa, which had authorized his opposition to the head of the church. He died in 1515. FRANCIS I., immediately on his accession, invaded Lombardy with a powerful army. The Swiss valiantly opposed his troops at Marignano; for two days the victory was obstinately contested, and at last the mountaineers, though defeated, retired in good order. The alliance now formed with Pope Leo X. and with the Venetians seemed to open the way to Naples. Charles of Austria, who had succeeded his grandfather Ferdinand on the Spanish throne, was desirous of peace, that he might consolidate his vast inheritance. Francis hesitated to profit by his victory; and the treaty of Noyon, in 1516, gave a temporary repose to Europe. The elevation of Charles to the imperial dignity gave rise to a long period of rivalry between that prince and the King of France, 1519. Taking advantage of the departure of the emperor for Germany, Francis, on pretext of recovering Navarre for John d'Albret, sent an army into Spain; where, however, it was defeated, and compelled to recross the Pyrenees. The war was now prosecuted in the Low Countries, France, and Italy, with varied success. In the latter country, the troops of the empire were commanded by the Constable Bourbon, a prince of the blood-royal of France, who, in consequence of the injuries inflicted on him by the queen-mother, had deserted his native country. The French under Bonnivet were defeated at Rebec, where the celebrated Chevalier Bayard fell, 1524; and in the subsequent year the king, who commanded in person at the battle of Pavia, was made prisoner. The captive was taken to Madrid, and there kept under a strict guard. In January 1526, a treaty was signed by which he agreed to renounce all his claims on Italy and the sovereignty of Flanders and Artois, restore Burgundy, give his two eldest sons as hostages, and marry Eleanor, the emperor's sister. These hard conditions, extorted by force, were not strictly executed. An assembly of notables, convened at Cognac, declared against SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 365 the treaty, and their decision was confirmed by a similar body, which met in Paris. At the same time, his majesty concluded an alliance with Clement VII., Venice, the Duke of Milan, and Henry VIII. The war was terminated in 1529 by the treaty of Cambray; Charles gave up his hostages, and Eleanor was married to the French monarch. In 1536, Francis invaded Savoy and Piedmont; but Charles, hastening to meet the French troops, drove them across the Alps, and entered Provence at the head of 50,000 men. While he was detained by the siege of Marseilles, another army ravaged Champagne and Picardy. Marshal Montmorency saved Provence and Dauphiny by devastating the country through which the imperialists would have to advance. In 1538, a truce for ten years was concluded at Nice by the intervention of Pope Paul III. An interview between the two sovereigns appeared to give promise of a lasting peace, and these hopes were increased by the circumstance of the emperor being permitted to pass through France, to quell a revolt at Ghent. Scarcely four years of tranquillity, however, were allowed to elapse before hostilities recommenced. To the astonishment of Christendom, an Ottoman fleet, united with a French squadron, undertook the siege of Nice. But Andrew Doria, the celebrated Genoese admiral, then in the service of Austria, repelled both, and defeated the Turks in several engagements. The victory of Cerrisoles, near Carignano, gained by Francis, was more glorious than advantageous. An alliance of Henry VIII. with Charles V. exposed Paris to the greatest risk; for the latter had become master of Epernay and Chateau-Thierry. It was fortunate for France that the religious disturbances in Germany demanded the undivided attention of the emperor; and the peace of Crespy in Valois terminated the contests between the two great rivals, 1544. The French monarch expired in 1547. BATTLE OF ST. QUENTIN.-HENRY II., who, in 1547, succeeded his father at the age of twenty-nine, recovered Boulogne from the English, and compelled Charles V. to raise the siege of Metz. The war with Spain and England began in 1557, in which one of the armies of Philip II., commanded by the Duke of Savoy, blockaded St. Quentin. The Constable Montmorency advanced to throw troops and provisions into the place, when his army suffered a'dreadful reverse, and the town was shortly after taken by assault. The Duke of Guise, who had been recalled from Italy, retook Calais, stormed Guines, and by his successes hastened the conclusion of peace. In a tournament given on the occasion of the marriage of Henry's sister Margaret with the Duke of Savoy, and of his daughter Elizabeth with Philip II., the king was accidentally wounded in the eye by the lance of the Count de Montgomery, a captain of the Scottish guard, and died eleven days afterwards, 1559. THE FACTIONS.-FRANCIS II., the husband of Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland, who was about sixteen when he ascended the throne, proved a passive instrument in the hands of faction. On the one side were the Bourbons or princes of the blood-royal, Anthony, king of Navarre, and Prince Louis of Conde; on the other was the family of the Guises, consisting of six brothers,-whose leaders were the Duke Francis, who had gained a high military reputation in the last campaigns, and Charles, cardinal of Lorraine, whose vast erudition and fiery zeal against the Huguenots had placed him at the head of the French clergy. The 31 366 MODERN HISTORY. Constah.e Montmorency and his nephews, the two Colignis, formed L third party, which expected to hold the balance between the other two. The Guises, at this time all-powerful, held the king in tutelage, the nation was enslaved, and the princes of the blood were banished. It was not to be expected that they could maintain their power unassailed; and we find, accordingly, that Cond6 formed a very extensive conspiracy, the object of which was to seize them and the king. The plot was discovered through the indiscretion of one of the leaders, and several of the conspirators were arrested and suffered death. This event, known in history as the conspiracy of Amboise, contributed to increase their influence; and under the title of lieutenant-general of the kingdom, the duke possessed nearly equal power with the ancient mayors of the palace. This he employed to destroy Conde, who, in defiance of numerous warnings, imprudently went to Orleans, at the invitation of his majesty. He was immediately arrested; the conspiracy just noticed, and other charges, were alleged against him, and by an extraordinary tribunal he was condemned to death; but, in consequence of the demise of Francis, 1560, the sentence was not carried into effect. CHARLES IX., at the age of ten years, succeeded his brother;' and Catherine of Medici held the reins of government, without, however, assuming the title of regent. Louis of Conde was restored to liberty; the Constable Montmorency was received into favour; while the queenmother, on her side, endeavoured to create a third party. At a meeting of the states-general in Orleans, the clergy fulminated against the Huguenots; while the tiers etat demanded a reform of the clergy, whose vices, they alleged, were the cause of all the troubles. The nobles besides insisted on freedom of worship for the Huguenots,* who at this epoch were calculated to amount to a sixth or a fourth of the population. Many of them had taken up arms in different parts of France in defence of the reformed religion; and their numbers compelled the Catholic party to treat them with moderation, until the decision of a national council should be known. A conference was appointed to take place at Poissy; and although no formula of faith could be adopted likely to unite all parties, an edict was issued in 1562, by which the Protestants were allowed to preach outside the towns. Soon afterwards a body of Huguenots, who had met to worship in a barn at Vassy in Champagne, were attacked by the retinue of the Duke of Guise, sixty rf their number murdered, and more than 200 wounded. This atrocity was the signal for a general rising, and the prelude to the first civil war. FIRST CIVIL WAR, 1562.-The parties in this conflict were the Guises in amity with Montmorency, who was master of the king's person; and Louis of Conde, with Coligni and d'Andelot. The court faction had the ascendency in Paris, and in the provinces of Picardy, Champagne, Brittany, Burgundy, and Guienne. The Protestants were superior in the west and south, especially in Rouen, Orleans, Blois, Tours, Angers, Le Mans, Poitiers, Bourges, Angouleme, La Rochelle, Montauban, and Lyons. But being thus isolated, they could not co-operate with their brethren in Germany and the Low Countries. * The derivation of this word is much disputed. It is probably another form of Eignot (from the German, eignossen), a name given to the Germans who entered into alliance with the Swiss cantons to maintain their liberties against Savoy. ;j;~~~.;!.~ ~*** ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~rv~~~~~~~i:ig >%ji'l.:~r ~ ~ > ~.:i: ~ ~ ~ ~ 4 SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 367 The first pitched battle was fought at Dreux in Normandy, 1562, where the royal army was commanded by Montmorency, who was taken prisoner at the first onset. Guise, however, won the field and captured the Prince of Cond6; and Admiral Coligni, who succeeded to the command of the Huguenot host, was compelled to retreat. The death of Guise at the siege of Orleans restored Catherine's authority, which was consolidated by the convention of Amboise, 1563, allowing the Protestants the free exercise of their religion. SECOND CIVIL WAR, 1567.-The pacification just mentioned was scarcely concluded, before its terms were modified by the court; the Huguenot party still demanding securities, which their opponents delayed to give. A journey of the king and his mother into the southern provinces, and the interview of the latter with the Duke of Alva at Bayonne, when plans were concerted for the extirpation of the new opinions, were soon followed by another war. Rochelle now became the rallying point of the reformed party. Since the reign of Charles V. this city had exercised the right of coining money; its mayors and principal authorities were reputed noble; besides which, with many other privileges, it enjoyed an extensive commerce, and possessed great influence in Aunis, Saintonge, and Angoumois. At Jarnac, on the banks of the Charente, the insurgents were defeated by superior numbers, 1569; and their brave leader, the Prince of Cond6, who had been made prisoner, was assassinated after the battle by a captain of the Duke of Anjou's guards. Coligni once more saved the relics of the conquered army. The widowed Queen of Navarre, Joan of Albret, carried her son Henry, prince of Bearn, to the camp, and presented him to the troops, by whom he was recognised as head of the Protestant party. They were, however, again defeated at Moncontour, in Poitou, where the royal youth fought by the side of the admiral. MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW, 1572.-A peace was concluded in 1570 at St. Germain. Catherine accorded favourable conditions to the Huguenots; but she had long been meditating a blow more deadly than all the preceding defeats. Henry, now king of Navarre, received in 1572 the hand of Margaret of France, the youngest of her daughters; and to add to the splendour of this marriage, the leading members of the Protestant party were invited to Paris. On the 22d August, as Coligni was returning home from a conference with the king at the Louvre, his life was attempted by an assassin at the instigation of the queen-mother, Jy whom Charles was easily brought to consent to a general massacre of his Protestant subjects. The night of the 23d August, St. Bartholomew's eve, was the time fixed for the perpetration of a deed which has covered with infamy the memory of every one engaged in it. The admiral was one of the first victims: after being murdered, his head was cut off, carried to the queen as a trophy, and, being embalmed, was subsequently transmitted to Rome. During three days the massacre was continued in the streets and in private houses; even in the royal palace some of the retainers of the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde were assassinated before their masters' eyes. Henry and the young prince were spared only on condition of abjuring their religion within three days. Neither rank nor age was exempted: in the capital there suffered 500 gentlemen, with 10,000 persons of inferior station; while not fewer than 70,000 individuals fell throughout the entire kingdom. 368 MODERN HISTORY. Public thanksgivings were offered up at Rome and Madrid for the success of a crime which Thuanus, himself a Roman Catholic, stigmatizes as " a ferocious cruelty, without a parallel in all antiquity."* Charles IX. died in 1574, in great agony of body and mind. TIE LEAGUE. —HENRY III., the conqueror at Jarnac and Moncontour, who had been elected King of Poland, returned hastily to France on the news of his brother's death. The new monarch, who endeavoured to play the parties against each other, gave favourable terms to the reformers, now headed by his brother the Duke of Anjou and the young King of Navarre. To the former he ceded Anjou, Touraine, and Berri; religious toleration was permitted everywhere, except in Paris; Protestants were to form half of each parliament; and the cities of Angouleme, Niort, La Charit6, Courges, Saumur, and Mezieres, were to be held by Huguenot garrisons. The Catholic party, directed by the Duke of Guise, were far from being satisfied with this arrangement. They formed the celebrated compact known as the Catholic League, 1577; and the king, with the view of controlling it, declared himself its head. The ostensible object of this association was to promote the ascendency of the Romish faith; but it also secretly contemplated the deposition of the dynasties of Valois and Bourbon, in Virtue of an anathema by Pope Stephen II. in 752 against the usurper Hugh Capet, and the placing of Guise on the throne, on condition that he should engage to suppress the liberties of the Gallican church. In 1584, died Francis duke of Anjou, on his return from an expedition into the Low Countries; and by his decease the King of Navarre became the presumptive heir to the crown. It was about this time that a popular society was formed among the leaguers, more violent in its principles, and which was called the Sixteen, from the number of its directing committee, each of whom became a religious agitator in so many quarters of Paris. THE BARRICADES.-Henry III. gave himself up to the debauchery of his capital; and, although he practised every external act of devotion, became the object of public contempt, and was daily exposed to some new attack on the part of the Sixteen. Guise, who had been forbidden to enter Paris, openly defied the royal prohibition, and on his arrival a general rising was organized. The League took up arms; barricades were erected; and chains stretched across the streets. The king's troops were gradually driven back to the Louvre; and he himself made a narrow escape to Chartres, 1588. From this place he negotiated with Guise, nominated him generalissimo of his armies, and promised to convoke the states-general at Blois, to deliberate on the articles proposed by the League. This assembly met on the 4th October 1588; but its first measures disappointed the monarch's expectations. The spirit of Rome appeared to animate the deputies; and Henry soon discovered that * Protestant writers endeavour to prove-and their arguments are very powerfulthat the massacre of St. Bartholomew had been premeditated for nearly two years, if not longer; ant that the nuptials of Henry of earn and Margaret of Valois were only a pretext for drawing the chief Htuguenots to Paris. But whether it was premeditated or not for so long a period; whether the king and his mother were the sole contrivers whether a greater or less number of victims fell than above stated,-are questions of little importance: it was planned. organized, and executed, facts which admit of no palliation, and must eternally brand the memory of Charles, Catherine, and their counsellors. SIXTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 369 his enemies would prove successful, unless he anticipated them by some bold measure. He therefore determined to assassinate the duke; and, accordingly, on the morning of the 23d December, he was killed when entering the royal chamber. His brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, was murdered the next day while the king was at mass. On the news of these events many towns rose in revolt. The sovereign was regarded as the assassin: the pope excommunicated him; the Sorbonne declared the throne vacant, and his subjects were released from their fidelity; while the faction of the Sixteen flung into the Bastile those members of the parliament who still showed any attachment to the monarchy. Henry ultimately sought the alliance of the King of Navarre, whom he had long treated as an enemy, and at the head of the united forces, Catholic and Huguenot, he advanced to besiege Paris; but at the moment his affairs were taking a favourable turn, his career was checked by the dagger of Jacques Clement, August'2, 1589, and in him the house of Valois became extinct. THE BOURBONS. -Davila regards the transactions which led to the advancement of HENRY IV. to the throne, " as one of the most surprising arrangements of the providential government of the world." Even the manner of his predecessor's death determined many of the Catholic party to attach themselves to this prince, rather than to the League, which had countenanced so unjustifiable a deed. Deserted by the royal army, the new king retired into Normandy, followed by the Duke of Mayenne at the head of the troops of the League, who had already proclaimed his uncle, the Cardinal Charles of Bourbon. Having received an aid of money and reinforcements from England, he was however enabled to keep the field; and his troops, though inferior in number, being superior in valour to those of the duke, he defeated him at Arques in 1589, and next year gained the decisive battle of Ivry. After some delay, he laid siege to Paris, and when so employed received notice that death had removed his rival, and that a solemn decree of the Sorbonne had declared him incapable, as a heretic, of mounting the throne of France. Already 30,000 victims had fallen, when the generous enemy relaxed his rigour, and allowed all but the military to retire. Peace was at length restored to the country, and he became the king of a united people by his abjuration of Protestantism, 1593. He entered the metropolis on the 22d March 1594. The parliament was immediately re-established; all its decisions since 1588 were cancelled, and the decrees of the last assembly held at Paris annulled. In 1598, a memorable ordonnance terminated the religious quarrels which had distracted France during thirtysix years. The edict of Nantes granted to the Protestants the public exercise of their worship, the enjoyment of the rights of citizenship, and free admission to all employments and judicial offices; while, in other respects, they preserved their importance as a political party. Having secured peace to his country by a treaty with Spain, the young sovereign, aided by his wise and virtuous minister, Sully, devoted the remainder of his reign to the restoration of order and general improvement. ITALIAN PENINSULA. NAPLES AND MILAN.-Throughout the first half of the sixteenth century, the Italian peninsula was the scene of almost incessant contests. 370 MODERN HISTORY. arising out of the claims of the French monarchs to the possession of these two states. Charles VIII. of France having taken possession of Naples in 1494, a general league of the Italian powers was formed against him, his troops were driven from the country, and Ferdinand I1. ascended the throne. He was succeeded by his uncle Frederick, who, being threatened by Louis XII., applied for assistance to his relative, Ferdinand of Spain. This last sent Gonsalvo de Cordova, his captaingeneral in Sicily, into Naples; but, instead of rendering the aid demanded, a secret treaty was entered into with Louis for the partition of the kingdom. This nefarious transaction accordingly took place, 1496; but Louis granted to the dethroned monarch the duchy of Anjou, with a pension. The plunderers soon quarrelled about the division of the spoil, which was decided by the battle of Creignola, 1503, where Gonsalvo gained a complete victory, and drove the French from the country. Naples thenceforth continued an appanage of the Spanish crown, governed by viceroys. Louis XII. began his wars in 1499, by a treaty with Venice for the partition of the Milanese, when Ludovico Sforza was left without an ally-the Turks alone making a diversion in his favour. He was shortly after betrayed into the hands of the French king, by whom he was imprisoned till his death, ten years later. Various alternations of success followed; and the territory was occasionally in the hands of the French and of the Sforzas, until after the battle of Pavia in 1525, when it fell into the possession of Charles V. Ten years subsequently, the male line of the Sforzas having become extinct, the emperor, who still retained possession, granted the duchy to his son Philip, as a vice-royalty of Spain. The wars consequent on these arrangements are detailed under the respective heads of FRANCE and GERMANY. The French invasion in 1494 appears to have been courted by most of the powers of Italy:-Ludovico and John Galeazzo hoped to profit by the arrival of Charles VIII.; the Florentines were eager to throw off the yoke of the Medici; Pope Alexander VI. was jealous of the authority of Ferdinand of Spain; the Venetians desired the humiliation of the house of Aragon, and the numerous enemies of this family in the kingdom of Naples sought revenge for a long period of oppression. In Florence two parties divided the state. Jerome Savonarola, a native of Ferrara, a man of ardent imagination, and who had early embraced a religious life, thought himself commissioned by Heaven to reform Christendom. He began by preaching on the Apocalypse at Florence in 1489, where he continued his exhortations during eight years, mingling politics with religion. An enthusiast in the pulpit and a demagogue in the public places, he gradually became the idol of the people and the leader of the anti-Medician party. At the approach of Charles, he declared that monarch to be the envoy of Heaven, the predestined instrument of reform. Peter de Medici, intimidated by the sensation produced by his harangues, and unable to contend at once against internal tumult and foreign aggression, submitted to Charles VIII.; for which the enraged populace drove him into banishment, and the government of Florence became an aristocracy. The Medici were restored in 1532 by Charles V. after the treaty of Cambray. Savonarola, having been excommunicated by the Pope, was tried for sedition and blasphemy, and being condemned to death, was burnt in 1498. At this epoch there was a great and important difference between the French and Italian armies. The former were chiefly composed of gentlemen, animated by the desire of glory; and, being paid by the king, they were always well equipped and complete. The latter were, on the contrary, a crowd of adventurers and peasants, hired by the chiefs named Condottieri, who had neither SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 371 love of fame nor attachment to the prince who paid them. Solely bent on gain,.hese captains passed with their troops from one side to the other under the most trivial pretexts; and in battle their chief aim was to make prisoners for the sake of ransom. The Italian cannons were of iron, and difficult to manage, while those of France were of bronze. In such circumstances Charles might, with ordinary prudence, have obtained a permanent footing in Italy; but the arrogance and injustice of the French alienated all parties, and finally led to their expulsion from the country. " During the whole period of the French wars the wretchedness inflicted on Italy by the foreign soldiery, and especially by those mutinous robbers who composed the armies of the Empire and of Spain, was such as had not been exceeded in any age of her eventful history. Cities were plundered and burnt, rural districts were converted into wastes, families were despoiled and dishonoured, individuals were imprisoned, tortured, and put to death. And yet, over this blood-stained arena, on which a nation, summoning up its expiring strength, fought unwisely though not ingloriously its last battle for independence -over this wild and troubled scene, where danger stalked without and treason lurked within-genius diffused a radiant light, that died away after peace had revived, hand in hand with bondage. Almost all the greatest of those names that make the modern Italians proud of the sixteenth century, presented themselves in groups which disappeared before the age had proceeded halfway towards its close."-Italy, Edinburgh Cabinet Library, vol. ii. p. 263. SAVOY AND PIEDMONT.-The house of Savoy was founded in the beginning of the eleventh century, when Berold possessed its lands, as an ancient province of the kingdom of Burgundy. By intermarriages, by taking advantage of the civil dissensions of the country, and particularly by those in France, its territories were gradually extended; but, when Duke Charles If1. died in 1553, a great part of his dominions was seized by the French and Spaniards. The troubles which soon after broke out induced Charles IX. to restore to Savoy the strong places which he still occupied in Piedmont. Emanuel Philibert, as well as his son Charles Emanuel, who succeeded in 1580, had nothing to apprehend from France, then distracted by the religious wars. Charles even went so far as to invade Provence and Dauphiny, in 1590, and disputed the possession of these provinces with his powerful neighbour. GENOA.-The aristocratic constitution which Andrew Doria had given the Genoese, did not satisfy many of the turbulent and factious republicans. In January 1547, a conspiracy was headed by John Louis Fieschi; all the more important posts were seized; Gianettino, the nephew of Andrew, upon whom the government had devolved, was stabbed in the streets; his aged relative escaped with difficulty, and every thing had succeeded beyond expectation, when the leader himself perished. His partisans submitted to their rivals, who punished the most guilty by banishment or death. After suppressing this conspiracy, Doria continued to exercise the supreme authority in Genoa, until his death in 1560, at the age of ninety-four. During the remainder of the century, this state, disturbed by its revolted subjects without, did not enjoy internal repose, in consequence of the differences between the old and new nobility. These dissensions ran so high as to give Don John of Austria a hope of mastering the city, when he lay in its port with the fleet that afterwards gained the battle of Lepanto, 1571. The disputes between the factions were referred to the arbitration of the Pope, the Emperor, and the King of Spain, by whom the constitution was modified, and the privileges of the nobles augmented, 1576. Tranquillity was thus re-established, and the Genoese enjoyed peace during the succeeding fifty years. 372 MODERN HISTORY. VENICE.-The league of Cambray, 1508, armed the half of Europe against this single state. Venice, long confining her power to the sea, had, as early as 1274, forbidden her citizens to acquire any possessions on the mainland; but, gradually departing from her ancient maxims, she had made large acquisitions at the expense of her neighbours. To enforce the abandonment of these conquests, Louis, Maximilian, the Pope, and Ferdinand of Spain, formed a coalition; but the glory as well as the charges of this impolitic war devolved upon France. The battle of Agnadello, in 1509, destroyed the continental power of Venice; after which, his Holiness seized upon Rimini, Faenza, and Ravenna; the troops of Maximilian, advancing through Friuli, captured Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and Trieste; the Spaniards retook the cities of Trani, Brindisi, and Taranto; while Brescia, Bergamo, and Cremona, fell to Louis. The Venetians, although driven to the shelter of their lagunes, did not despair; and, taking advantage of a trivial success, entered upon negotiations with the pontiff, who formed a treaty with them, 24th February 1510. After exhausting her strength in resisting the league of Cambray, Venice sunk into comparative obscurity. Two unsuccessful wars with the Turks deprived her of the islands in the Archipelago, and of Cyprus, her most valuable colony, 1570. The fear of the Ottomans induced the government to form an alliance with Austria; and, during the remainder of the sixteenth century, her history contains little worthy of attention. TuscANY.-After the treaty of Cambray, the Florentines continuing hostile to the Medici, the city was besieged by an imperial army, and forced to surrender in 1530. A new constitution, published by the emperor two years afterwards, declared Alexander de Medici chief of the city, with the hereditary title of duke; but he did not long enjoy his new dignities, being assassinated in 1537 by one of his near relatives. He was succeeded by the morose and heartless Cosmo de Medici, the first grand-duke, who was very active in the administration of affairs, endeavouring to reform the public manners, especially those of the clergy, and to revive agriculture and commerce. He extended his protection to letters, re-established the universities of Florence and Pisa, and founded the Academy in the former city. In 1562, his palace was the theatre of some tragical events. His second son, Giovanni, having been assassinated by the third son, Garcia, Cosmo stabbed the fratricide in the arms of his mother, who died of grief shortly after, and the duke himself retired from public life, assigning the administration of the government to Francis, his heir. Cosmo died in 1574, and his successor, after a reign marked by assassinations and crimes of every kind, was poisoned, 1587, together with his paramour, who had become his wife, at a banquet given by his brother, the Cardinal Ferdinand. The latter ascended the throne, and endeavoured to raise the people from the degradation to which they had been subjected sixty years. Under this prince, agriculture and commerce flourished; he extended his patronage to the fine arts, and rendered the court of Tuscany the best musical school in Europe. THE ROMAN STATES.-Romagna was, during many years, the theatre of a contest excited by the ambition of Caesar Borgia. At this time the States of the Church were the worst administered and least peaceful of SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 373 all Italy, the territories immediately encircling Rome having passed entirely under the control of the Colonnas and the Orsini. The former being Ghibellines, the latter Guelfs, the nobility were divided between these two powerful families, whose quarrels often stained the streets of the capital with blood. Alexander VI., 1492, resolved to profit by these dissensions for the aggrandizement of his son, at the expense of the church patrimony. Caesar Borgia, with the aid of French troops, gradually reduced the petty lords of Romagna; and this prince, whom Louis XII. protected, extended his conquests by taking the isles of Piombino and Elba, with several towns on the mainland. Alexander VI., who died in 1503, was succeeded by Pius III., and the latter by Julius II., in the same year. The last-named pontiff, a thorough Italian in heart, entertained a like hatred to Spaniards, Germans, and French, as having been in turn the conquerors and oppressors of his country. After the death of Caesar Borgia, he reduced part of Romagna, and prosecuted his design of expelling all foreign enemies from the Italian soil. Julius, dying at the very moment that his schemes appeared likely to be realized, was succeeded by John de Medici, as Leo X., who at first trod in the steps of his predecessors, but whose conciliatory character inclined to peace. He continued the magnificent basilic of St. Peter, which the other had begun; and, in order to raise the necessary funds, had recourse to the sale of indulgences,-the proximate cause of the Reformation. Clement VII., 1523, also one of the Medici, and a patron of letters, but of an austere life, published a bull for the reformation of manners at Rome and throughout Italy. He was succeeded in 1534 by Alexander Farnese, who assumed the name of Paul III. It was by his intervention that Francis I. and Charles V. were induced to conclude the treaty of Nice in 1538; and the council of Trent, which was summoned at his suggestion, was by him transferred to Bologna. Paul IV., 1555, was the first who drew up and published an Index expurgatorius, to prevent the dissemination of heretical doctrines; he also invested the Inquisition with more ample powers. Gregory XIII. aided the Venetians in their wars with the Turks; and it was this pontiff who reformed the Roman calendar, adopting the system of Louis Lilio, a Calabrian astronomer, and commanding its immediate use.* He was distinguished for liberality, having expended in charitable and pious works not less than 200,000 crowns. Sixtus V., his successor, 1585, who was the son of a peasant in the March of Ancona, honoured the pontificate by the vigour of his character. He cleared the country of robbers, favoured agriculture, and encouraged manufactures. Under him Rome was greatly improved and extended; he built magnificent aqueducts, worthy of the ancient capital of the world; raised the Egyptian Obelisk before the church of St. Peter; and completed its gorgeous cupola. He died in 1590. His decision, and the numerous public buildings which he constructed, conferred honour on his name; but his extreme rigour caused his death to be hailed with joy by the Romans, *This method, which consisted simply in throwing out ten days from the common reckoning of time at that period, and introducingzproper regulations of the bissextiles, was ordered to take place in October 1582. It has been received by all the nations of Europe, except the Russians and Greeks. The new style was not adopted in Great Britain before 1752. 32 374 MODERN HISTORY. who overthrow the statues that had been raised to him in the Capitol. After him, Urban VII., Gregory XIV., and Innocent IX., successively reigned only a few months; they were followed by Clement VIII. in 1592, who reunited Ferrara to the Holy See, and expired in 1605. PARMA AND PIACENZA.-Pope Paul III., who passionately desired the aggrandizement of his family, had obtained, in 1545, the consent of the Sacred College to confer on his illegitimate son, Peter Louis Farnese, the states of Parma and Piacenza, with the title of duke, feudatory to the holy see. But the new ruler was assassinated in 1547 by the nobles, to whom his debauchery, cruelty, and, above all, his various efforts to limit their privileges, had rendered him odious. Ferdinand de Gonzago, governor of Milan for the emperor, who had taken some share in this conspiracy, seized on the duchy in the name of his master. Octavius, the duke's son, claimed Parma, which the Pope had resumed, and applied to Henry II. of France for assistance, by whose intervention it was recovered, in 1552, to which Piacenza was added by Philip II., in 1556. The long reign of this prince, of nearly forty years, contributed greatly to strengthen the ducal throne. He was succeeded by his son Alexander, who commanded the Spanish troops in Flanders, and died at Arras in 1592. His successor, Ranuzio I., exercised the most frightful tyranny. SPANISH PENINSULA. The death of their only son, and other family bereavements, induced Ferdinand and Isabella to centre all their hopes on the Princess Joanna and her posterity. In 1504, on the demise of Isabella, the infanta and her husband the archduke succeeded to the crown of Castile, their son Charles becoming prince of the Asturias: two years afterwards, Philip's reign was terminated by death. This event entirely unhinged the mind of his consort, and Ferdinand, her father, became regent of the kingdom. He expelled John d'Albret from the throne of Navarre, thus extending the limits of the Spanish monarchy to the Pyrenees, 1512. This prince, who has been reproached for his insatiable avarice and crafty policy, died in 1516, leaving the throne to Charles, afterwards Emperor of Germany. Ferdinand, of whom it was said by Philip II. that royalty in Spain was indebted to him for every thing, rescued the country from feudal anarchy. Under various pretexts-by violence or judicial sentence-he deprived the nobles of the lands they had acquired from the prodigality or weakness of his predecessors, and diminished the power of the religious military orders.. By these and similar innovations, he firmly established the royal authority; but at the same time laid the foundation of a political and religious despotism, which attained its full development in the following reign. CHARLES I. was successively recognised king of Castile and Aragon, principally through the influence of his able minister, Cardinal Ximenes. The partiality of the monarch for his Flemish favourites had the effect of greatly alienating the affections of the Spanish people; when, in the midst of the discontents thus occasioned, his grandfather Maximilian died, and he succeeded to the imperial crown by the title of Charles V., 1519. His departure to Germany was immediately followed by a formidable insurrection, in which even the clergy took part, one of the most active leaders being the Bishop of Zamora; it was, however, SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 375 quelled after a short, but ill-concerted struggle. The history of Spain during this reign is henceforth almost inseparably connected with that of the empire. The incessant wars in which Charles was involved, compelled him to make frequent applications, particularly to his Spanish subjects, for the necessary funds. In 1539, the cortes being assembled at Toledo, he proposed to relieve the wants of his government by a general impost upon all kinds of merchandise. The violent opposition of the several orders, especially of the nobles and clergy, to the imposition of this tax, led to an important change in the constitution of the cortes. Finding it impossible to overcome their resistance, the emperor indignantly dissolved the assembly, remarking that those who did not contribute had no right to deliberate. Thenceforth, neither nobles nor prelates were summoned to take part in the discussion of any fiscal question, the states being composed merely of the representatives of cities, who, to the number of thirty-six, formed an assembly entirely subservient to the will of the court. PHILIP II. was called to the throne, in 1555, by the abdication of his father, and signalized the commencement of his reign by stringent measures for the extirpation of Lutheranism. The regulations of the Council of Trent were rendered imperative throughout the whole extent of the Spanish monarchy; and, with the view of compelling the Moors to embrace Christianity, it was ordered, in 1568, that they should renounce their language, names, and all distinctive usages. This blind tyranny provoked a general insurrection, which was headed by Mohammed-Aben-Humeya, a descendant of the former sovereigns of Granada. Don John of Austria being sent against them, they were defeated in several engagements, and compelled to submit to conditions which involved their removal from their former residence, and their dispersion through the old Christian provinces, 1576. Revolutions in Portugal were preparing the way for the temporary union of that kingdom with Spain. The absolute government which had prevailed in the former country under John II. and Emanuel, increased greatly under John III. In the reign of this monarch, which lasted thirty-six years, the cortes were only three times convoked; while the establishment of the Inquisition, and the introduction of the Jesuits, contributed greatly to the consolidation of despotism. The disastrous reign of Sebastian, grandson of John III., began in 1557, when the king was a minor three years of age. Educated in a manner well calculated to excite a naturally romantic character, and full of religious and knightly ardour, he, in 1578, undertook an expedition against the Moors in Africa, where he was defeated and slain. The Cardinal Henry now succeeded,* the only important event of whose short rule was the meeting of the estates at Lisbon to decide between the claims of the six pretenders to the throne on his decease, among whom was Philip II. of Spain. The priest-king, as Henry was called, died in 1580; and Philip, having gained over a part of the Portuguese nobles, ordered 30,000 men into Portugal, who, in three weeks, obtained possession of the country * Henry is seen to much greater advantage as a prelate than as a king. He reformed the too relaxed manners of the ecclesiastics, established schools and hospitals for the poor, protected letters, founded the university of Evora, and colleges at Coimbra and Lisbon. He employed the Jesuit Maffei in writing the history of the Portuguese in the Indies, encouraged the useful labours of many learned men, and himself composed several works. 376 MODERN HISTORY. The Spanish arms were at this period in the height of their success in Flanders under Alexander Farnese. Seized with the emulation of subjugating France and England, and at the same time irritated by the assistance which the latter country had afforded to the Flemish revolt, Philip, in 1588, fitted out the famous armament known as the invincible armada, which was signally defeated. Spain now gradually became of less importance in the politics of Europe; her naval power and commerce declined; and the king, at his death in 1598, bequeathed a debt of 140 millions of ducats to a nation whose resources were already exhausted.* THE NETHERLANDS. Philip the Hardy, youngest son of John of France, having been created Duke of Burgundy in 1363, married Margaret, daughter and heiress of Louis III., last count of Flanders. With the hand of this princess, he obtained, in addition to the county now named, Artois, Franche-Comte, Nevers, Rethel, Mechlin, and Antwerp. The fortune of the family rapidly increased with the lapse of years, and the dukes of Burgundy were soon more powerful than several of the kings of Europe. On the death of Charles the Bold, Louis XI. seized on the dukedom, while all the other provinces passed to the house of Austria by the marriage of Mary of Burgundy with the Archduke Maximilian, 1477, whose grandson Charles V. increased his domains by the lordships of Utrecht and Overyssel, with the territory of Groningen. He then formed the plan of uniting the seventeen provincest with Spain. Under this monarch the United Provinces greatly flourished; but his son, Philip II., desirous of eradicating Protestantism, introduced the Inquisition, which ultimately drove the inhabitants into rebellion. In the Counts Egmont and Horn, and in William of Nassau, prince of Orange, the people had leaders worthy of their cause. Their representations to the sovereign having failed, they attacked the churches and monasteries, and after destroying the altars and images, violently introduced the Protestant form of worship. Philip, in 1567, sent the Duke of Alva into the Low Countries with an army of 20,000 men, at whose approach 100,000 Flemings abandoned their country, carrying their treasures and industry into France, Germany, and England, A tribunal of twelve judges established by Alva to examine into the excesses, and discover those who favoured Protestant doctrines, caused no fewer than 18,000 persons to perish by the hand of the executioner. The most illustrious of these victims were the Counts of Egmont and Horn, who suffered death at Brussels, June 5, 1568. The news of this cruelty was the signal for a fresh revolt and civil commotion. The Prince of Orange, at the head of a large but undisciplined army of Germans, French, Italians, and Flemings, invaded *At his accession, Philip possessed, in Europe, the united kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, and Navarre, with Naples, Sicily, Milan, Franche-Comt6, and the Netherlands; in Africa, Tunis, Oran, the Cape Verde and Canary Islands; in America, Peru, Mexico, New Spain, and Chili, besides Cuba, Hispaniola, &c. The mines of Mexico, Chili, and Potosi were alone a source of greater wealth than almost all the other princes of Europe together were possessed of.-Watson's Philip I., vol. i. p. 17 t These provinces were the duchies of Brabant, Limburg, Luxemburg, and Gueldres; the seven earldoms of Flanders, Hainault, Artois, Holland, Zealand, Namur, and Zutphen; the marquisate of Antwerp, and the five lordships of Mechlin, Friesland, Utrecht, Groniigen, and Ovcrryssel. SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 377 Luxemburg. His first efforts being unsuccessful, he and his brother Louis were compelled to return to Germany. Though defeated on land. the prince and Count William de la Marck encouraged a maritime war against the Spaniards; and in 1572, a small body captured the town of Briel, an event which laid the foundation of the republic of the United Provinces. A revolution broke out in Zealand; and all the cities, except Middleburg, opened their gates to the insurgents, an example followed by many towns in Holland. At Dort, William was declared stadt. holder, and the public exercise of the Reformed religion in the Calvinistic form openly introduced. Alva was recalled and disgraced; his successor, Louis de Requesens, and Don John of Austria, continued the war with varied success. The Spanish fleet having attempted to secure Middleburg, was defeated by the Prince of Orange; While Count Louis of Nassau and his brother Henry were killed at the battle of Mookerheide. One of the most remarkable events of the war was the siege of Leyden, 1574, which was defended by the Dutch with heroic resolution. The dikes of the Yssel and Maes were broken down; the fields occupied by the besieging army inundated; and the invaders were eventually forced to retire. In the following year, the states of Holland founded the university of Leyden, which long held an elevated rank among the great seminaries of Europe. The Spanish soldiery now committed the greatest excesses, plundering many cities, and ravaging the open country. In this extremity, a common danger united the Protestants and Catholics. The states-general, assembled at Brussels, proposed negotiating with the Prince of Orange and the confederates of Dort. Their overtures were favourably received; and a treaty of general union was concluded, under the title of the " Pacification of Ghent," between the provinces of the north and south, guaranteeing mutual support against the Spaniards, and solemnly pledging the contracting parties not to lay down their arms until their enemies were finally expelled from the country, 1576. On the death of Requesens, Don John of Austria was appointed governor. The confederates were now masters of Antwerp, Bergen-opZoom, Breda, and other important places. With an army of 20,000 men, the new governor was at first successful; but was eventually defeated on the banks of the Diemar, and dying in 1578, was succeeded by the Prince of Parma, who, like his predecessors, failed to make any impression on the northern provinces. He was so far successful, however, in sowing dissension between the states of the north and south, that the Prince of Orange, who had long regretted the insecure nature of the connexion subsisting between them, was led to form the design of isolating the northern provinces from the rest of the Low countries, and establishing a republic of which he should be the head. The act which realized this design was signed at Utrecht, January 25, 1579, between the provinces of Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Gueldres, and Groningen. Friesland and Overyssel acceded to it in June following; and several cities of Belgium, including Ghent, Antwerp, and Breda, joined it somewhat later. William of Orange was elected stadtholder, with all the attributes of royalty. While the Seven United Provinces braved with their own resources the power and vengeance of Spain, the ten others had elected the Duke 32* 378 MODERN HISTORY. of Anjou, brother of Henry III., to the sovereignty of the Low Coun. tries; but that prince, having foolishly attempted to tamper with the constitution of his new dominions, was driven back to France in 1584. In the same year, William was assassinated at Delft, at the instigation of Philip, by Balthasar Gerard; and, in the absence of the prince's eldest son, who was a prisoner in Spain, Maurice, his second son, was raised to his father's dignities, and notwithstanding his youth, became a formidable rival to the Duke of Parma. The loss of William, however, was a severe blow to the confederation; the Spaniards recovered several cities, and reduced the states to such extremity, that they offered, as the price of succours, to resign the country either to England or France. Elizabeth afforded only a trifling assistance; but her aid, by involving Philip in those hostilities with England which led to the destruction of the armada, had an important though indirect influence on the welfare of the United Provinces. The scale was finally turned in their favour by the death of the Prince of Parma, in 1592; and the battle of Turnhout, in which his successor was totally routed by the allied English and Dutch forces, 1597, may be regarded as the virtual conclusion of the contest. The result of the protracted struggle between the sovereign of so many states and the small republic of the Seven Provinces appears almost a miracle. Many circumstances, however, contributed to thwart the King of Spain and to favour the Dutch. They would have been inevitably crushed, if Philip II. had brought all his power to bear upon them; but his ambition, which compelled him to divide his forces, was a protection to his enemies. That ruinous policy which kept traitors in every court of Europe in his pay, the support he gave to the League in France, the insurrection of the Moors of Granada, the conquest of Portugal, and the construction of the magnificent palace of the Escurial, dissi. pated treasures which seemed almost inexhaustible; while his armament against England swallowed up the entire revenues of both Indies, and proved the destruction of the veteran Spanish soldiery. The situation of the insurgents was different. They found auxiliaries in all those who, to escape the Duke of Alva, had quitted the southern provinces; in all whom the Huguenot wars had driven from France; and in all whom religious intolerance had banished from other parts of Europe. The enthusiasm inspired by new doctrines, the desire of vengeance, and other motives, attracted to their standards the adventurers of all countries. Thus the Dutch army was complete without the necessity of withdrawing men from the cultivation of the fields, from commerce, or from their extensive fisheries, which, in 1604, contributed five millions of florins to the revenue. At the epoch when the new country was struggling for existence, it extended its dominion beyond the seas, and laid the foundations of its power in the East Indies. -Schiller's Revolt of the Netherlands. GERMANY. The reign of Maximilian was an important one both to Germany and his hereditary dominions. He reformed the public law of the empire, and was the first to establish a standing army, with infantry, cavalry, and artillery, divided into regiments and companies. In 1501, he insti. tuted the Aulic Council, which gradually acquired extensive jurisdiction, in some respects superior to that of the Imperial Chamber. The diet of Treves, besides confirming the power of the council, completed the subdivision of the empire into circles, by adding four others to the six instituted in 1500. He also secured the reversion of Hungary and Bohemia to his posterity, by the double marriage of the Archduchess SIXTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 379 Mary, his granddaughter, with Louis, only son of Ladislaus, king of Bohemia and Hungary, and of Anne, sister of Louis, with his grandson, the Archduke Ferdinand. CHARLES V.-The death of the emperor, 1519, led to some of the most important events in modern history. Three candidates aspired to the imperial honours- Charles I. of Spain, Francis I. of France, and Henry VIII. of England; the last, however, speedily withdrew. The electors, distrustful of the known ambition of Francis, and influenced, moreover, by the consideration that the dominions of Charles in Austria would render him the most likely defender of the empire against the Turks, then under the warlike Selim I., decided in favour of the Spanish monarch, who was solemnly inaugurated at Aix-la-Chapelle, by the title of Charles V., 1520. The dissatisfaction of Francis with this decision, conjoined with his claims on Italy, led to a series of disastrous wars between him and the Empire. The French monarch, having invaded and taken possession of Navarre, advanced into Spain, where he was defeated, compelled to evacuate his conquest, and driven back into his own country. At the same time, the Milanese, disgusted with the exactions and insolence of his troops, rose in arms, putting themselves under Francis Sforza, brother of their late duke; while Pope Leo X., the Emperor, and the King of England, formed a league for their assistance. The French forces were everywhere defeated, and forced to abandon nearly the whole of their possessions in Italy. Joy at these successes having proved fatal to the reigning pontiff, 1522, he was succeeded by Adrian VI., who, with the Florentines and other Italian states, joined in league against Francis, now left without an ally, 1523. The emperor and Henry VIII. invaded France on the north, south, and east; but their forces were repelled; and Francis, encouraged by this partial success, again essayed the recovery of the Milanese. In 1525, entering Italy at the head of a large force, he was at first very successful, and finally sat down before Pavia, a town strongly garrisoned, and commanded by Leyva, an able officer. Every exertion was now made by the imperial generals to collect an army; while the French, exhausted by fatigue and the rigour of the season, and weakened by a large detachment sent against Naples, remained in their intrenchments. On the 2d February, they were attacked by the imperialists and totally routed; and their king, after beholding the flower of his nobility perish by his side, was taken prisoner and carried in triumph to Madrid. The result of these signal reverses was a treaty by which Francis agreed to surrender Burgundy to the emperor, and delivered up his two sons as hostages for its performance, 1526. The English sovereign now became alarmed by the growing power of the empire; the states of Burgundy protested against the surrender of their province; and Pope Clement VII. absolved the king from the obligations of the treaty of Madrid. In these circumstances, an alliance, called the Holy League, was formed between France, England, the Swiss, Florentines, Milanese, and the Pope, to oblige Charles to give up the sons of the French monarch, and to restore the duchy of Milan, of which he still retained possession, to Sforza. Charles, the ruler of so vast an empire, possessed a very limited revenue; and the wants of his exchequer opposed a greater obstacle to his ambition than the coalition of all the princes of Europe. The forces of the empire 380 MODERN HISTORY. were commanded by the Constable Bourbon, who had been arbitrarily deprived of his estates at home, and had joined the cause of the enemy. The confederates took the field in Italy; but not being sufficiently reinforced by Francis, the Constable overran the Milanese, and his troops beginning to mutiny for want of pay, he led them to Rome, then one of the richest cities in Europe. In the assault on the city, he himself was slain; but Rome was taken, and experienced from the troops of the Catholic monarch calamities surpassing those inflicted by the barbarians of former times, 1527. On receiving the news of the captivity of the pope, Charles ordered prayers to be offered up in the churches for his deliverance, saying that his quarrel was with the temporal sovereign of Rome, but not the spiritual head of the church. The treaty of Cambray, 1529, restored peace between the rival monarchs; Francis abandoning his claims upon Italy and Flanders. In the same year, Charles and Pope Clement were also reconciled; and, in March 1530, the Spanish king was crowned by the pope at Bologna as Emperor and King of Lombardy. In the mean time, the doctrines of the Reformation had made rapid progress in the empire. Martin Luther, a man of elevated mind and inflexible resolution, had boldly declaimed against the corruptions of the papacy, 1517; and the opinions he promulgated were readily embraced by the thoughtful and speculative people of Germany. The policy of the northern princes strongly encouraged this natural direction of the minds of their subjects, as the best guarantee against the almost irresistible power of Charles. From the year 1525, John the Constant, who had succeeded his brother Frederick the Wise in the electorate of Saxony; Philip, landgrave of Hesse; George, marquis of Brandenburg; Ernest, duke of Luneburg; and Wolfgang, prince of Anhalt, with most cf the free cities of the empire, made a public profession of Lutheranism. Albert, margrave of Brandenburg. grandmaster of the Teutonic knights, desirous of sharing in the political advantages of the Reformation, renounced his vow of chastity, secularized the duchy of Prussia, which he placed under the protection of Poland, and thus laid the foundations of a monarchy which, two centuries later, became one of the most powerful in Christendom. Thoroughly alarmed at the progress of the new opinions, Charles, soon after his coronation, set out for Germany, where he immediately assembled the diet at Augsburg, June 1530. The Reformers, who had now received the name of Protestants, here solemnly presented to the emperor the first public confession of their faith, drawn up by Luther, and subscribed by the various princes who had embraced the reformed doctrines. Charles, whose disposition was not naturally intolerant, found himself compelled to adopt a temporizing policy towards this portion of his subjects. The Turks were now menacing Hungary; and satisfied that he could not refuse them the free exercise of their religion without a war of extermination, he referred the whole matter to a general council, which he urged the pope to convoke, but which did not meet until 1545. The emperor now began to despair of universal monarchy, and finding himself unable alone to support the burden of affairs, he associated his brother Ferdinand with him in the government, and conferred on him the title of king of the Romans, 1531. This prince, who administered the hereditary estates of Austria, had acquired by marriage the kingdom SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 381 of Bohemia, and the sovereignty of Hungary had fallen to him on the death of Louis II. Thus already wielding three sceptres, and uniting under his authority all the south of Germany, he was one of the most powerful princes in Europe when he was nominated to the imperial succession. Charles having repelled a formidable inroad of the Turks in Hungary, 1532, returned to Spain, whence he sailed with a large army for Tunis, where Barbarossa, the dread of the Christians in the Mediterranean, had fortified himself, 1535. During his absence, the Anabaptists, a fanatical sect which had arisen in Germany amid the agitation of Reformed doctrines, seized on the city of Munster, and defended it courageously against the troops of the bishop; they were, however, overcome, and their leaders executed with great cruelty. On the return of the emperor from Africa, where he had been completely successful, he was again compelled to take up arms against Francis, who once more revived his Italian claims, 1536. Having expelled the French from Italy, Charles invaded their territory, with the determination of reducing it to a province of his empire; but after fruitlessly investing Aries and Marseilles, and laying waste Provence, he was compelled to recross the Alps with the loss of half his army. Mohammed, the sultan's lieutenant, having at the same time invaded Hungary, while Barbarossa was ravaging the coasts of Southern Italy, he gladly accepted the mediation of Paul III., and a truce of ten years was concluded with Francis, 1538. The conquest of Algiers had long been a favourite object with Charles. Having suppressed a revolt in Ghent, his native place, he, in 1541, collected a large armament, with which he sailed for Africa, contrary to the advice of his admiral, Andrew Doria. Having landed and commenced operations against the city, a furious storm scattered his fleet and destroyed his soldiers, and he was forced to reimbark with the loss of the greater part of his force. Meanwhile, the murder at Milan of two French emissaries on their way to Constantinople, and the refusal of Charles to call the perpetrators to account, put an end to the truce between him and Francis, 1542. The latter was allied with the kings of Denmark and Sweden, and had renewed a treaty he formerly made with the sultan. During two years, war raged in France, Spain, Italy, and the Low Countries; but the only important engagement took place at Cerrisoles, in which 10,000 imperialists were slain, and their opponents gained a signal victory, 1544. This was followed by a peace signed at Crespy, in which each party agreed to restore its conquests, unite against the Turks, and suppress reform in their respective dominions. The prime motive with Charles in the peace now mentioned was his desire to humble the Protestant princes. The diet of Worms, in 1545, passed various resolutions against them, in consequence of which they rose in arms under Frederick of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse. The emperor concluded a dishonourable peace with Soliman, formed an alliance with the Pope, who sent him 13,000 men under his illegitimate son, Alexander Farnese, and having collected an army, made a victorious march towards Upper Germany, levying contributions in the disaffected districts..In a decisive battle at Mulhausen, 1547, the confede rates were completely defeated, and the two princes taken prisoners. The electorate of Saxony was conferred on Maurice, a kinsmen of Frederick, who had treacherously aided the emperor against the ccnfederaev 382 MODERN HISTORY. of which he had at one time been a member. All opposition seemed now at an end; his great rival Francis had recently expired; and Charles, thinking himself secure in his designs on the liberties of Germany, and desirous of ending dictatorially the disputes on religion, presented a formula to the diet of Augsburg, 1548, drawn up by his own order, the articles of which were to serve as a rule of faith until the final decision of a general council. To this most of the Protestant states were compelled to submit. But such an order of things was not destined to continue, for the Lutherans, though humbled, were not subdued; the princes were fully alive to the ambitious designs of Charles; and even Maurice cl Saxony saw the necessity of opposing them. That prince, having been appointed general of an imperial army, retained the troops in his pay under various pretences; formed a treaty with Henry II. of France; and, secure of the adhesion of the Danish king and most of the northern potentates, at length threw off the mask. At the head of a force of 20,000 foot and 2000 horse, he took the field, with the avowed purpose of defending the Protestant religion and maintaining the liberties of Germany; and marched towards the south, everywhere restoring the Lutheran clergy and magistrates. At the same time the French invaded Lorraine, their monarch styling himself " Protector of the liberties of Germany and its captive princes." The emperor in vain sought to negotiate: Maurice advanced with all speed to Innsbruck, where he was then residing, and was so near surprising him, that he escaped with difficulty during the night. Augsburg had been taken, the Protestants laid siege to Frankfort on the Maine, and the haughty spirit of Charles was at length forced to submit. The treaty of Passau terminated the internal disputes of the empire, and placed the reformed religion on a secure basis, 1552. This was unquestionably the most disastrous period in the reign of that great ruler. The war continued with the Turks in Hungary on the one side, and the French on the other; and on both the imperialists were almost uniformly unsuccessful. Italy was in commotion from north to south; Sienna openly revolted; and the coast of Naples was ravaged by the Turkish fleet, 1555. Wearied with the cares of-government, and hopeless of realizing his dreams of universal dominion, Charles at length determined on resigning all his dignities. For this purpose he summoned his son Philip to Brussels, where the latter was solemnly invested with the government of -the Low Countries, and a few weeks after with that of Spain and the Indies. In the following year, 1556, he gave up the imperial crown to his brother Ferdinand; and, after astonishing the world by this abdication, retired to the convent of St. Just, in Estre madura, where, at the end of two years, he expired in the 69th year of his age. Consult, for particulars, Robertson's History of Charles V. The first exertions of FERDINAND I., on being invested with the supreme authority, were directed towards the establishment of civil and religious concord. He opposed the pretensions of the pope, who claimed the right of conferring the imperial title, and vindicated the independence of the empire from the encroachments of the holy see, 1557. Having re-assembled the council of Trent, which had been broken up by the disturbances of the last feign, an attempt at reconciliation between the SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 383 Catholic and Protestant parties was made by the emperor; but this proving ineffectual, this last of general councils was dissolved, 1563. MAXIMILIAN II. pursued with greater success the same course as his father, 1564. The reformers had now begun to retaliate the Catholic persecu ions, and even to disagree among themselves; but by his ability anc moderation, he was enabled to hold the balance between the contending parties, and preserve the tranquillity of the empire. A Turkish invasion of Hungary was repelled, and a truce concluded with the sultan; while a convention with John Sigismund secured to him the crown of Hungary. RUDOLPH II succeeded to the imperial crown in 1576, but followed a very different course. Abandoned to the direction of favourites, and naturally intolerant, he suppressed the Protestant worship in Austria, and attempted to deprive the Hungarians and Bohemians of all their immunities. The country was everywhere embroiled in insurrections; the Lutherans were led to form a confederation, and to ally themselves with Holland and Henry IV. of France; while the Catholics, on the other hand, united for mutual defence. The empire was saved from open war by the assassination of Henry IV., 1610, just as he was about to pour his troops into Germany; and Rudolph himself died in 1612. In the midst of these troubles, however, science flourished; and the celebrated Rudolphine Tables, calculated by Kepler and Tycho Brah6, have rendered this reign an era in the annals of astronomy. HUNGARY AND BOHEMIA. Hungary first attained the rank of a kingdom in the eleventh century, the reigning prince, whose father, Duke Geysa, had previously embraced Christianity, assuming the title of STEPHEN I., 1000. Under succeeding monarchs, the country rose rapidly in importance; its limits were extended; and it long formed the chief barrier of Christendom against the Turks. The sovereignty was elective: in 1437, it had fallen to ALBERT, archduke of Austria, who perished in a campaign against the Turks, and was succeeded by his posthumous son, LADISLAUS, 1440. Under this monarch and his successor, the kingdom was saved from destruction by the valiant regent, John Huniades, whose son, MATTHIAS I., ascended the throne in 1458. The neighbouring country of Bohemia became known as a kingdom about the end of the twelfth century, though still remaining feudatory to the German emperors, from whom its kings received their investiture; they, in turn, enjoying one of the seven electoral votes. The crown, like that of Hungary, was elective, passing, however, in ordinary cases, to the nearest heir. The power of the monarch was limited by the coronation oath, by a permanent senate, and by frequent convocations of the national diet, composed of the armed nobility. An important era in the history of Bohemia dates from the appearance of the celebrated John Huss, and his pupil, Jerome of Prague, the former of whom had translated the works of Wickliffe, and openly taught his doctrines to his countrymen, 1400. Both fell victims to the persecuting spirit of the age; but their preaching and example had made a deep impression, and led the way to an important change in the national faith, preceded, however, by great internal disorders. On the death of Matthias I. of Hungary, in 1490, LADISLAUS, king of Bohemia, was invested with the crown, thereby uniting the two countries. This able prince was succeeded by his son, Louis II., a child ten years of age, 1516, during whose long minority the country was torn by factions, and the national revenue wasted. In 1526, the Sultan invaded Hungary with an army of 300,000 men; and, in the fatal battle of Mohacz, Louis perished with the flower of his nobility, 384 MODERN HISTORY. great part of his territory becoming a prey to the conqueror. FERDINAND I. of Austria, having married the sister of Louis, succeeded to the throne of Bohemia; but the Hungarians, refusing to acknowledge his claim, gave the crown to John Zapoli, palatine of Transylvania, and at his death to his son, John Sigismund. This led to a long and bloody war, which, as the Turks took part in it, lasted during the whole life of Ferdinand,-the result, in a great measure, of the unpopularity of the house of Austria, whose religious intolerance and despotic habits were offensive to the Hungarian nobles. MAXIMILIAN 1II., 1563, suc ceeded his father in the dignities of Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia; not, however, without opposition from John Sigismund, who was aided by Soliman II. RUDOLPH, who ascended the throne in 1572, in order to get rid of the enormous expense of maintaining the strongholds of Croatia, gave them, as a fief of the empire, to Charles, duke of Styria, who partitioned the whole into a number of smaller fiefs, which he bestowed on foreigners of all nations, of whom he formed a military colony. This establishment, which gradually extended along the frontiers of Sclavonia and Croatia, effectually repelled the Turkish inroads, and supplied those redoubtable troops, who, under the names of Croats and Pandoors, became the strength of the Austrian armies. The bigoted spirit of this prince alienated the affections of his subjects, particularly of the Protestants, who rose in rebellion, and gave the thrones of both countries, during his lifetime, to his brother Matthias. POLAND AND RUSSIA. POLAND.-The Poles, who belonged to the Sclavonian branch of the European family, were at first divided into several petty states, constantly at war with each other; but the early history of the country is involved in much obscurity. In 965, the people were converted to Christianity, and united under the government of Duke MIECZESLAUS, who became, however, a vassal of the empire; and his successor, BOLESLAUS, received the royal crown from the hands of the Emperor Otho III., 1000. During three hundred years the country presents the usual disorders incident to a rude and warlike people. LADISLAUS II., 1306, an able prince, exerted himself to compose the disturbances of the king. dom, and firmly established his authority. His son, CASIMIR the Great, followed in the steps of his father: he freed the nation from its dependence on the empire, invited the settlement of foreigners, built towns and fortresses, encouraged industry and commerce, and promulgated an excellent system of laws. At his death, 1370, the crown became elective with certain limitations, and was conferred on his nephew Louis, king of Hungary. This monarch secured the succession to his daughter, who ascended the throne in 1382, and married JAGELLON, duke of Lithuania, that prince with his people agreeing to embrace the Christian faith. This important augmentation of national strength vas followed by long and violent contests with the Teutonic Knights, who possessed Prussia and the neighbouring provinces; these were not terminated till 1466, when, after immense bloodshed, the knights submitted to do homage.* The union with Lithuania did not prevent violent contentions and animosities between the two countries; they were afterwards repeatedly separated and again united, and their thorough incorporation was not effected till 1569. The kings of Poland were engaged in almost incessant wars with the Ottomans, as well as with the Tartars and Muscovites. In 1501, * This order of military monks was founded in Asia during the Crusades, whence they removed to Germany on the relinquishment of all hopes of recovering Palestine. Here they subdued the pagan inhabitants of Prussia, and shortly after acquired Livonia and Esthonia, 1273. SIXTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 385 ALEXANDEHP grandduke of Lithuania, was elected to the Polish crown, during whose government the royal power was much weakened by the encroachments of the nobles. His successor, SIGISMUND I., 1506, found the country in great disorder; and his reign forms one uninterrupted series of successful exertions for its security and improvement. The same wise course of administration was followed by his son, SIGISMUND II., 1548-1572. During this interval the Reformed doctrines made great progress in Poland, especially among the higher classes; and this country is distinguished as being the first to adopt a complete system of toleration. By an enactment of the diet, known as the Confederation of 1573, all sects were left at liberty to follow the dictates of conscience, and allowed equal rights and privileges.* The death of Sigismund II. terminated the main line of Jagellon, and the throne of Poland became open to the ambition of various competitors. HENRY of Anjou was first chosen, but he clandestinely retired to France, to the crown of which he succeeded as Henry III. BATTORI, prince of Transylvania, was next elected, and proved an able and vigorous monarch: he was a terror to the enemies of his people, and greatly promoted their internal prosperity. SIGISMUND III., crown-prince of Sweden, 1587, reigned forty-five years. His bigoted attachment to the Papal church caused the loss of his hereditary dominions, and gave rise to a rebellion in Poland, which was suppressed with difficulty. RUSSIA.-In the ninth century, the vast territory now known by this name was peopled by various Scythian and Tartar tribes, and divided into numerous independent states, the two principal of which were Kiew and Novgorod. In 850, a Scandinavian chief, named RURIK, became master of the latter country, and is considered the first of the Russian sovereigns. Under VLADIMIR the Great, 980-1015, the people embraced Christianity according to the forms of the Greek church, the arts of civilisation were introduced, and some degree of stability was given to the government. After his death, the country was partitioned among his sons, and became for nearly a century a prey to civil wars and Polish invasions. In 1223, the whole region was overrun by the Tartars, under a son of Genghis-khan; the towns were destroyed, and the inhabitants massacred; and during the space of'two hundred years, the Russian princes became vassals of the conquerors. In 1462, IVAN III. restored the independence of his country, reunited the several divisions of the territory, and already aspired to the possession of the Byzantine throne. In this reign the influence of Russia first began to be recognised in the politics of Europe. VAsILI IV., the successor of Ivan, 1505, continued to prosecute the schemes of aggrandisement formed by his father. His son, IVAN IV., 1533, was the first Russian prince who assumed the title of Czar, and contributed more than any of his predecessors to the power of the government. In the early years of his reign, he repressed the incursions of the Tartars, instituted the Strelitzes, a regular body of infantry, and published a code of laws. The voluntary adhesion of the Don Cossacks secured to him the services of these warlike auxiliaries, 1549; while the conquest of Siberia, 1581, more than doubled the original territories of the empire. During this reign, the discovery of the passage to the White Sea by some English merchants, opened a commercial intercourse between Great Britain and Russia. The ferocious character * The Arians and Socinians were at this time numerous in Poland - the latter sect, persecuted everywhere else, here found an asylum. Their chief establishment was at Racau. 33 386 MODERN HISTORY. of Ivan procured for him the surname of the Terrible and the execrations of his subjects, but was probably inseparable from the energy necessary for the government of a savage people. His successor,THEODORE, 1584, pros ed an imbecile prince; and the government was actually conducted by his minister, BORIS, who succeeded him in 1598. Boris prosecuted the designs of Ivan: he signalized the commencement of his reign by raising the condition of the serfs, invited artists from foreign countries, promoted commerce, and improved the military defences of the empire DENMARK, SWEDEN, AND NORWAY. Denmark and the Scandinavian peninsula were early occupied by the Goths, who subdued the original Finnish tribes. The ninth century is generally assumed as the beginning of the connected history of Denmark, when GORMON, by reducing the separate provinces, established his sovereignty over the whole territory, 863-900. His son, IAROLD II., introduced Christianity about A. D. 970; and, at the beginning of the eleventh century, SWEYNE I., his grandson, subjugated a portion of Norway and the greater part of England. CANUTE the Great, 1016, possessed himself of the whole of England and part of Scotland, and in 1030 completed' the conquest of Norway.* The reign of this warlike and enlightened prince was devoted not merely to his own aggrandisement but to the establishment of law and internal organisation, and to the general diffusion of Christianity throughout his dominions. Under his imbecile successors, the history of Denmark exhibits an almost uninterrupted series of disasters, terminating with the death of SWEYNE III., 1157. The ascendency of the feudal system, introduced by Canute, had rendered the sovereign dependent upon the voice of the nobles and superior clergy, the peasants were degraded to the condition of serfs, agriculture could hardly be said to exist, and nearly the entire commerce of the country fell into the possession of the Hanse Towns. VALDEMAR III. began the restoration of his kingdom, 1333; and after a vigorous reign, was succeeded by OLAUS III., a child five years of age, 1376. His mother, MARGARET, distinguished by the title of the Semiramis of the North, was appointed regent; and in 1387, on the death of Olaus, she herself ascended the throne. Having acquired Norway by inheritance, and conquered Sweden by force of arms, the grand object of her ambition was attained by the Union of Calmar, which united the three northern kingdoms into one monarchy, 1397. By this means the great mercantile confederacy of the Hanse Towns was humbled; but the Swedes, to whom the union had always been displeasing, after a long series of contests, renounced it in 1523. The proximate cause of Swedish independence is found in the tyranny of CHRISTIAN II., surnamed the Wicked. Having vanquished the patriotic party by treachery and force, he was crowned at Stockholm; and, with the view of striking terror into the nation, he seized the opportunity to perpetrate a public massacre of ninety-four nobles, 1521. GUSTAVUS VASA, son of one of the murdered chiefs, having escaped from the prison in which he had been immured, roused the miners of Dalecarlia to assume arms in defence of their native land. His first attempts proving successful, the whole people gradually rose against the tyrant; the Danes were driven from the country, and Gustavus, by * The Norwegians were first known in Europe as pirates, frequently visiting and laying waste the countries bordering on the North Sea. Their first regular king was Harold Haarfager, who subdued and united the small principalities into which the country was divided. His reign was distinguished by the numerous migrations of his subjects: some settled on the distant shores of Iceland; others seized on the Scottish isles; Rollo, exiled in 896, established himself in France, 911. Norway Was united with Denmark under Sweyne and Canlte; but the countries were again separated till 1387, when they were conjoined under Margaret. SIXTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 387 universal consent, ascended the throne, 1523. Christian, who was equally hated by his Danish subjects, was in the same year superseded in the crowns of Denmark and Norway by his uncle FREDERICK I., duke of Sleswick and Holstein. In 1528, the Swedish government introduced the Lutheran Reformation; while the usurpations and violence of the clergy during the ten years' interregnum which followed the death of Frederick I., and their attempts to set aside his son CHRISTIAN III., on account of his religious principles, led to the same event in Denmark in 1536. During the reign of Christian, a code of laws, entitled the Recess (f Colding, was promulgated, Sleswick and Holstein were united to the Danish crown, and the improvement and stability of the country promoted. The harmony between Sweden and Denmark was disturbed by a furious war which continued seven years, 1563, and again in 1611; both of which tended to a more precise adjustment of the relations of the two rival monarchies. The long reign of Gustavus, an interval of tranquillity, allowed full time for the consolidation of Swedish independence. In 1560, he was succeeded by his son ERIK, a fickle and violent prince, during whose time a war was prosecuted with Russia; the Livonian contest followed, 1561; that with the Hanse Towns, 1562; and with Denmark, 1563,which were almost uniformly unfortunate. The internal administration of Erik was stained with sanguinary cruelties, which eventually led to his deposition, his brother JOHN, duke of Finland, who had married a daughter of Sigismund of Poland, being raised to the throne. After some successful operations, the new king concluded an advantageous peace with Denmark, 1570, the quarrel with Russia still continuing. In 1592, Sweden was united to Poland in the person of his son SIGISMUND. The vehement efforts of this prince to change the established worship, led to a rebellion headed by his uncle Charles. He was finally deposed by a resolution of the states, on the ground that he had " broken the coronation oath, violated the constitution, disregarded the laws, and endangered the Protestant religion;" and CIIARLES, endeared to the people by his services, and as the last surviving son of the great Gustavus, was immediately elevated to the throne, 1600. OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND THE EAST. A peace concluded with Venice in 1503, and which was observed until 1537, left the Ottoman empire in tranquillity with its neighbours during the remainder of the reign of Bajazet. But it was not equally free from internal disturbances: two younger sons of the sultan rebelled in their respective provinces, and were immediately strangled by their father's order; of the remaining three, two were feeble and unwarlike, the third, SELIM, after compelling Bajazet to abdicate, caused him to be poisoned, 1512. He commenced his reign by the murder of his brothers and nephews, and the massacre of 40,000 Sheeahs, or dissenters fromn orthodox Mohammedanism. Two of Achmets's sons, however, having escaped to Persia, Selim sent to demand them; and Shah Ismail, the founder of the Sophi dynasty in that country, refusing to give them up, he took up arms against him, and defeated the Persians near Tauris, but with a loss of 40,000 men. He acquired Koordistan and Mesopotamia either by force or negotiation, and declared war against the Mameluke sultan of Egypt. as an ally of Ismail, whom he overthrew in a __________________________ __ 388 MODERN HISTORY. sanguinary engagement near Aleppo, 1516,-all Syria falling into the hands of the victor. Selim now entered Egypt, gained another battle near Cairo, which city was taken, 50,000 of its inhabitants barbarously massacred, the brave sultan, Toomaun Beg, hanged at one of the gates of his capital, and the country reduced to a Turkish province. The last caliph of the house of Abhas having submitted, and dying on his way to CQnstantinople, the sultan assumed the sacred title, which has ever since been borne by his successors. SOLIMAN I., the Magnificent, and the greatest of the Ottoman sovereigns, succeeded his father in 1520. In the first year of his reign, profiting by the troubles of the West, he captured Belgrade and other fortresses from the Hungarians. Satisfied with having thus secured the key to Eastern Christendom, he next resolved upon the conquest of Rhodes, which had been upwards of two hundred years the chief station of the Knights of St. John, then commanded by the illustrious grandmaster Villiers de l'Ile Adam. In 1522, the vizier appeared off the island with a fleet of 400 sail, containing an army of 200,000 men; to oppose which there were only 600 knights and 5000 soldiers. The place was defended with unexampled resolution, the Christian warriors performing prodigies of valour: Soliman himself arrived to encourage his troops; but 80,000 Turks had perished by the sword and by disease, the fortifications were reduced to a heap of yuins, almost every one of the defenders had been wounded, and their ammunition and provisions were exhausted, ere the heroic grandmaster would condescend to capitulate. The sultan granted honourable terms to the survivors, who evacuated their stronghold on Christmas-day: they were afterwards settled in Malta by Charles V., 1530. Long peace being incompatible with the habits of the Turkish soldiers, who had already broken out into several serious revolts, Soliman again invaded Hungary; the king of which lost a battle and his life on the plains of Mohacz, his capital was plundered, and the whole country overrun, 1526. Three years after the sultan laid siege to Vienna, but was compelled to retire. A wai with Persia next followed, by which Soliman gained possession of Bagdad. About this time the famous Khair Eddin Barbarossa entered the ser -ice of the sultan. His brother, originally a pirate, had by force and eachery attained the sovereignty of Algiers, whence he swept the coasts of the Mediterranean with his galleys, and carried the terror of his name even into the centre of Africa. On his death in 1518, the Turks in that province immediately proclaimed Khair Eddin, who has been called Barbarossa II. He placed himself under the protection of the grand seignior, repelled the attacks of the Christians, captured Tunis, and was appointed to the command of the fleet, 1530,-a dignity which he held till his death, 1546. Tunis was however again wrested from him by Charles V., who restored it to the former sovereign, Muley Hassan The Turkish arms were victorious on all hands, and the friendship of Soliman was even courted by Francis I., who formed with him the first alliance between the Porte and any Christian power, 1536. Repeated wars with Austria and Hungary followed, greatly to the advantage of Soliman, who eventually succeeded in making Transylvania a province of his empire, 1552. A renewed invasion of Persia, in which Erivan was taken, led to a peace with the shah in 1554, which became the SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 389 basis of all subsequent treaties between the rival powers. The great naval victory at Djerbeh, on the coast of Africa, over the combined Christian fleets, 1560, secured the Turkish ascendency in the Mediterranean; while a truce with the empire confirmed their Hungarian con quests, 1562. These brilliant martial triumphs were, however, imbittered by domestic dissensions. Soliman's eldist son, Mustapha, had been put to death in 1553 by the intrigues of his stepmother Roxalana, who wished to secure the succession for one of her own children; the jealousies of the two surviving princes, Seiim and Bajazet, ended in the revolt of the latter, who was defeated and executed, 1561. An unsuccessful expedition against Malta, 1565, was followed next year by a campaign in Hungary, in which he headed his armies in person for the last time. He expired before the walls of Zigeth, the day before the capture of the place, at the age of seventy-two, and was succeeded by his only surviving son, SELIM II., 1566. The empire now began to decline rapidly, the conquest of Cyprus being more than neutralized by the destruction of the Turkish fleet at Lepanto, 1571. Under AMURATH III., 1574, the turbulent janissaries revolted ten times; and on one occasion set fire to Constantinople, when 15,000 houses were destroyed, with the loss of 50,000,000 gold crowns. PERSIA.-During this century a dynasty was formed in Persia on the basis of religion. Sheikh Eidar, a descendant of Ali, having gained a number of adherents by a reputation for sanctity and the austerity of his life, assumed the title of Sophi, and declared himself commissioned by Heaven to work a religious reformation. He perished, however, in the attempt; but his son ISMAIL, protected by his disciples, was removed to the province of Ghilan, and strictly educated in his principles. In 1501, at the head of a numerous body of partisans, he revived the claims of his father, whose doctrines he propagated; and, gradually overcoming all opposition, he at length became the founder of an extensive empire, comprehending Persia Proper, Media, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Armenia Ulterior. In 1514, in the war with Selim, his capital, Tauris, was taken and plundered, though with immense loss on the part of the Turks, who were obliged to retreat for want of supplies. He afterwards subdued Georgia, and was succeeded by his son TAMASP, 1523; and though, during his reign, the Turks several times invaded Persia, they were unable'to maintain their conquests. The succession was disputed by his sons, the eldest of whom was proclaimed by the title of MOHAMMED IIRZA, 1576. This prince was deposed by the Sultan of Khorassan, who placed Mirza's youngest son, ABBAS, on the throne, 1585, by far the most illustrious of the Sophi dynasty. He recovered from the Turks and Tartars several provinces they had taken from his father, recaptured from the Portuguese the island and town of Ormuz, destroyed the janissaries, and legislated wisely for his people. He gave way, however, to the natural cruelty of his character, causing his eldest son to be murdered, and depriving both the others of sight, on suspicion of their designs upon the throne. During this reign Isphahan btcame the capital of Persia, where the shah erected the royal palace, the great mosque, and othei celebrated buildings. A quarter of the city was set 33* 390 MODERN HISTORY. apart for the Armenians, and the resort of Christians encouraged. He died in 1628. INDIA.-The early history of this fertile and extensive country, which seems to have been among the first inhabited parts of the globe, is necessarily involved in great obscurity. The invariable traditions of the Hindoos point to the northern provinces of the peninsula as the primeval residence of their race, and of the Brahminical faith; and powerful empires existed in Hindostan many centuries anterior to the Christian era. About A. D. 1000, the celebrated Sultan Mohammed, a Tartar sovereign of Ghizni, turned his arms against Lahore, the key of Northern Hindostan. Twelve times he penetrated into the very centre of the peninsula, overthrowing the temples of Brahma, and by his murderous ravages changing fertile countries and populous cities into dreary solitudes. At his death in 1030, his kingdom extended from the Caspian Sea to the mouth of the Indus, and from the Tigris to the Ganges. His successors, despoiled by the Seljukian Turks of nearly all the provinces they possessed beyond the Indus, still preserved the empire founded by Mohammed westward of that river until the year 1182, at which epoch the Ghorian dynasty was founded, and reigned at Delhi till the end of the thirteenth century. Subsequent monarchs extended their dominion over the Punjaub, Bengal, and Malwa, and contributed to the greater civilisation of their subjects by a generous patronage of literature. Ip later years, the Mongols made frequeht irruptions into India; and on two occasions placed the capital in imminent danger. The invasion of Tamerlane inflicted a terrible blow on the empire of Delhi; but it gradually revived, without however being able to regain its ancient frontiers. Mussulman and Hindoo princes, while owning a nominal subjection to the emperor, founded independent states in Oude, Bengal, Malwa, and Gujerat. The Decan also formed a kingdom, which remained long divided between the Mohammedans and Hindoos. The utmost confusion continued to prevail throughout India, till at length BABER, a descendant of Tamerlane, became master of Delhi, and put an end to the Afghan dynasty, 1525. He was the founder of the Tartar or Mogul power, and his dominion extended fromn the Indus to the Ganges. In 1556, the celebrated AKBAR ascended the throne, and firmly established the Mogul empire. This prince was honourably distinguished by his toleration and love of justice; under his reign the Hindoos enjoyed greater prosperity than they had experienced since the Mohammedan invasion; and the memory of his virtues is even yet cherished by all classes of the people. He divided his empire into soubahs or provinces, and caused the land to be regularly assessed. Towards the end of his life, he appears to have favoured the religious opinions of the Hindoos and Parsees; he encouraged literature, and by his order the Vedas were translated from Sanscrit into Persian. He died in 1605. During this reign the Europeans first obtained a footing in India. CHINA.-The annals of this vast country extend over a period of upwards of 4000 years, from an era coeval with the rise of the Egyptian and Assyrian monarchies, and exhibit an empire ascending from the rudiments of the social state to a high pitch of civilisation and refinement. What may be called the modern history of China begins with the great dynasty of Han, which existed about four centuries and a half. It was overthrown A. D. 266; and, amid the disturbances that ensued, arose those ephemeral races which have been designated by the Chinese historians as the six petty dynasties, 265-608. During this period, the empire, desolated and enfeebled by civil wars and revolutions, lost the ascendency which it had formerly maintained over great part of Asia. These troubles were at length terminated by the elevation of the royal house of Tang, 618-907, under whom the nation SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 891 attained a high degree of power and opulence. The most illustrious prince of this family was Tai-tsong, in whose reign the frontiers, or at least the influence of China, were extended far into Western Asia, and even to Persia; the sovereign of the latter country having solicited the aid of his soldiers to repel the Mohammedan Arabs. The Tang was followed by no fewer than five successive lines of monarchs, which lasted only fifty-three years, under whom the empire was again split among a number of independent chiefs. In 960, the Song dynasty was founded, and lasted 319 years, presenting during that long period a succession of able and virtuous monarchs. The last sovereign of the race, however, was compelled to become tributary to the Tartars; and, in 1279, China fell under the Mongol yoke. Kublai-Khan, a grandson of Genghis, was the founder of this new line of monarchs, and extended his authority from the Frozen Ocean to the Straits of Malacca. He possessed also Pegu, Thibet, Tartary, andTurkestan: Siam, Cochin-China, Tonquin, and Corea paid him tribute; and he was regarded by the other chiefs of the family as the head of their'ace. Several of the princes after Kublai seem to have been able and even enlightened rulers; but under their degenerate successors the ruin of the dynasty was consummated. The Chinese took advantage of the dissensions of their conquerors, and about the middle of the fourteenth century revolts everywhere broke out. The last Mongol emperor retired in 1368 into Tartary, abandoning his throne to the founder of the glorious dynasty of Ming, 1368-1644. The new sovereign immediately attacked the princes of the fugitive race, when Thibet and other Tartar dependencies were subdued by his arms. COLONIES AND DISCOVERIES. The fifteenth century had closed with the discovery of a new world and a new route to India. Between 1508 and 1510, the Spaniards settled in Hayti, Cuba, and Jamaica; but the revenue they drew from the West Indies was at first inconsiderable. MEXICO. —In 1517, Mexico was discovered by Francisco Cordova; and, two years later, the celebrated Hernan Cortez landed with an armament for the conquest and settlement of the country. The invaders found the empire at this period governed by Montezuma, a powerful prince, whose subjects were considerably advanced in civilisation and in the knowledge of the mechanical arts. The cruelties that disgraced the'conquest of Mexico can scarcely be imagined. A great number of the people were branded in the forehead and sent to work in the mines; and the successor of the vanquished monarch was burnt to death over a slow fire by the orders of Cortez. The Spaniards, however, derived immense riches from this acquisition. PFRU.-This country was invaded by Francis Pizarro, once a shepherd of Estremadura, in 1526. Intestine dissensions facilitated his success; and, after putting the sovereign to a violent death, the principal provinces were divided among the conquerors. Peru, at the epoch of its discovery, was under the theocratic government of the Incas or " children of the sun," the object of religious worship. The great mass of.he people were enslaved; and, although they had constructed roads and built cities, they were but little advanced in the arts; for they had no iron, no coined money, nor any beast of burden except the liama. BRAZIL was approached by the Portuguese in the last year of the fifteenth century, but was not settled till about 1530. Its history was not remarkable until it passed into the hands of the Spaniards in 1580; and the revolution which placed the family of Braganza on the throne, terminated their dominion in 1640. 392 MODERN HISTORY. NORTH AMERICA.-The English, before 1588, had advanced little farther towards their maritime and colonial dominion than by making repeated attacks, not avowed by government, on the rich home-bound cargoes, of Spain. Between 1576 and 1610, vain attempts were made by Frobisher, Davis, Hudson, and others, to discover a northeast or a northwest passage to India. The unfortunate Sir Walter Raleigh founded a colony in Southern Virginia, 1584: but the affairs of North America remained in the hands of a company until the reign of James I. France made a few unsuccessful attempts at colonisation, important chiefly for their consequences. Cartier, a mariner of St. Malo, took possession of the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1534. [DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH AMERICA. [The honour of discovering the continent of North America belongs to John Cabot, a Venetian merchant resident at Bristol, and his son, Sebastian Cabot, a native of the latter place. The brilliant success of Columbus had awakened a zeal for discovery throughout Europe. Under the influence of this feeling, Henry VII. of England, in 1495, readily granted to Cabot and his sons a commission to make a voyage of discovery, and to take possession of the regions discovered in the name of the king of England. Their first voyage commenced in 1496. Its object was to find a northwest passage to China, and it resulted in the discovery of the north coast of Labrador, in June 1497. The fame of this expedition led to the immediate fitting out of a second for commercial purposes by the merchants of Bristol, in which the king himself became an interested partner. This second expedition, which was under the command of Sebastian, sailed early in 1498, and after reaching Newfoundland, proceeded in a southerly direction along the coast as far as Albemarle Sound. Sebastian Cabot, afterwards known in England as the Great Seaman, lived to an extreme old age, and was much distinguished for his naval skill and enterprise. [Florida was discovered in 1512 by Ponce de Leon, a gallant soldier, and one of the companions of Columbus. This noble-minded Spaniard attempted in 1521 to settle the country which he had discovered; but his little colony was expelled by the natives, and.he himself died of a wound received from one of their poisoned arrows. [The French were the first to derive any commercial advantage from the discoveries of the Cabots. As early as 1504, the hardy mariners of Brittany and Normandy were found engaged in the fisheries off Newfoundland. In 1524, Francis I. employed John Verrazzani, an adventurous Florentine, to explore the new regions. Sailing westerly from the coast of Spain, in a single small vessel, Verrazzani reached the coast of North Carolina, near where Wilmington now is, a portion of the continent never before seen by any European. From this point he sailed north along the coast as far as latitude 50, trafficking with the natives and exploring the regions, particularly the New Jersey shore, New York harbour, New Port, New England, and Nova Scotia. [In the following year, 1525, Stephen Gomez, a Spanish navigator, sailed northward along the coast of North America for the purpose of discovering a northwest passage to China, which Cabot had attempted. Hence New England and the Middle States are marked in old Spanish SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 393 maps os the land of Gomez. The expedition of Gomez, however, was without any practical result. [The continued success of the French fishermen led Francis I. in 1534, to fit out another exploring expedition for the New World, undei the command of James Cartier, a mariner of St. Malo in France. Cartier, in this voyage, sailed around Newfoundland, entered the bays of Chaleurs and Gaspe, and explored the bay and river of St. Lawrence. In the following year, 1535, Cartier led a second expedition, whose object was to colonize the newly-discovered regions. He followed the same route as in the previous year, sailed some distance up the St. Lawrence, gave name to Montreal, learned from the natives something of Vermont and New York, and having wintered in the country, returned in the spring to France, leaving no settlement behind him. A third hut unsuccessful attempt was made by Cartier in 1541, in conjunction with Roberval, a nobleman of Picardy. Some other attempts to settle Canada were made by the French during the present century, but without success. [Ferdinand de Soto, a companion of Pizarro in the conquest of Mexico, became dazzled with the accounts which he had received of the wealth' and magnificence of Florida. Accordingly, under the auspices of Charles V., he set on foot an expedition similar in its design to those conducted by Cortez in Mexico and Pizarro in Peru. De Soto reached the bay of Spiritu Santo in Florida in 1539; and dismissing his ships, commenced his march into the interior. His followers, six hundred in number, were mostly men of wealth and distinction; some of them were nobles, and the very flower of Spanish chivalry. De Soto continued for three years to traverse in various directions the States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico; and after encountering almost incredible hardships, he died on the banks of the Mississippi in 1542, and lies beneath the river which he discovered. He crossed a continent in search of gold, and found nothing so remarkable as his burial-place. His followers attempted to penetrate the country westward to Mexico; but failing in this, returned to the Mississippi, and passed downward through its mouth into the Gulf of Mexico. [In 1562, a colony of French Huguenots, under command of John Ribault, made several discoveries along the coast of Florida and the Carolinas, and effected a settlement. The infant colony struggled on with various success for three years, when it was exterminated by a general massacre, conducted with remorseless cruelty by Melendez and a body of Spaniards from St. Augustine. [To the bigoted Melendez belongs the honour of establishing the first permanent settlement in the United States. The foundations of St. Augustine were laid by him in September 1565; and houses in it are yet standing, which are said to have been built many years before the colonization of Virginia. [English mariners appear very early to have been attracted to the fisheries off Newfoundland. No formal expedition however was made into these regions after the time of the Cabots until 1576, when Martin Frobisher renewed the design of accomplishing a northwest passage to China. In three successive voyages, undertaken by the authority and partly at the expense of queen Elizabeth, and for the double purpose of colonization and discovery, Frobisher made no settlement, and penetrated 394 MODERN HISTORY. Hudson's Straits only to see regions visited by Cabot seventy years before. [Sir Francis Drake, an English navigator, who had acquired great notoriety and immense treasures, as a freebooter in the Spanish harbours on the Pacific, sailed in 1579 northward along the coast of California as far as the 43d degree of latitude, or about one degree north of the southern boundary of the Oregon territory. This whole coast however had been previously explored by an expedition of Spaniards in 1542, who traced the continent as far as the 44th degree of latitude, or within about two and a half degrees of the mouth of the Columbia river. [In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a member of the English parliament, and step-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, under a liberal charter from queen Elizabeth, made a vigorous but unsuccessful attempt to establish a colony on the coast of the United States. Gilbert himself and a large part of the colonists perished on the voyage. [Nothing daunted by the melancholy fate of his step-brother, Raleigh in 1584 obtained a new patent from Elizabeth, and sent out another expedition, consisting of two ships well laden with men and provisions. The colonists visited the islands in Ocracock inlet, explored Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, and trafficked with the natives; but wanting the courage to make a settlement, they returned to England, where they gave a glowing account of the regions, which in honour of the Virgin Queen were named Virginia. [Raleigh, however, pursued his plan for colonizing the New World, and in 1585 set on foot a second expedition, composed of seven vessels, and carrying out 108 colonists. Among these were Lane, Grenville, Cavendish and Hariot, all men of distinction. Lane, the governor of the colony, proved to be not equal to his station. After remaining on the island of Roanoke little more than a year, and making a few inconsiderable excursions into the interior, he returned with his whole colony to England in the fleet of Sir Francis Drake, which had stopped to visit the colonists on a homeward voyage from the West Indies. [Raleigh was not dismayed by ill success. In 1587 he sent out at his own expense a third company of emigrants, with their wives and children, 108 in all. The poor colonists of Roanoke were however forgotten in the panic of the Invincible Armada;and when, after its signal discomfiture, vessels were sent to inquire after and supply their wants, no traces of them could be found. Whether they perished of hunger, or were massacred by the savages, is a matter of conjecture. [Thus ended for the present all attempts to settle this country. North America, at the end of the sixteenth century, had many English graves but no English towns. Raleigh himself, the illustrious author of colonization in the United States, after expending more than fifty thousand pounds upon his favourite project, lived to see it apparently entirely abandoned; and he was himself reduced to beggary by the English government, and finally beheaded by order of James I.] COLONIAL SYSTEM.-The conquered kingdoms of America became colonies of Spain, under a constitution framed by Charles V., 1542. All the external apparatus of Christianity was carried across the Atiantic; there were archbishops, bishops, vicars, and monks, dependent entirely on the king; nor was the Inquisition forgotten, 1570. The political affairs were managed by the Council of the Indies in Spain, and in America by two viceroys, aided by boards and SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 395 municipalities. By this imitation of European forms, the national spirit of the natives was extinguished. The trade was rendered a complete monopoly. Vera Cruz, Portobello, and Carthagena, in America; Seville, and afterwards Cadiz, in Europe, were the only ports which were allowed to be used by colonial ships. Little advantage was derived from these extensive acquisitions beyond the supply of precious metals, the mining operation connected with which gave rise to the African slave-trade, the aboriginal population being found unable to undergo the exhausting labour demanded by their taskmasters. During the sixteenth century, the Portuguese dominion, strengthened by the genius of its governors, Almeida and Albuquerque, extended in the East from the African coast to the peninsula of Malacca and the Spice Islands. Everywhere they established factories or marts; but although their commerce was not restricted to a company, as in England and Holland, it could not be carried on without permission of the government. A connexion was formed with China, 1517; and Xavier, the apostle of the Indians, was the means of establishing a regular communication with Japan. In Brazil also, the Portuguese possessions were widely extended; and the sugar-cane, transplanted from Madeira, was largely cultivated. A dispute between this nation and Spain about the possession of the Moluccas, was the cause of the voyage of Magellan, whose fleet first circumnavigated the globe, 1520. The ruin of the Portuguese dominion in the East was accelerated by the decline of morality among the higher class of colonists, and more especially by their avarice. The tyranny of the Inquisition at Goa has never been equalled. Spain, between 1560 and 1620, considerably augmented her commerce and maritime power by acquiring the. East Indian colonies of Portugal and the possession of the Philippines. England and Holland entered into rivalry with her; and the latter, while combating for the liberty of Europe, became mistress of the commerce of the world. The first charter of the Dutch East India Company was granted in 1602, making it a political as well as a mercantile body, governed by a board of directors at home and a governor-general in India. Establishments were made at Amboyna, Ternate, and other places, 1607; an intercourse was opened with Japan, 1611; and Batavia was founded in 1619. England in the reign of Elizabeth extended her views to all parts of the world. After having penetrated into Persia and even to India by the Caspian Sea, she founded her great agricultural colonies in North America. The principal branches of foreign commerce were conferred on chartered companies; that of the East Indies was organized in 1600, but its traffic was long very inconsiderable.* THE CHURCH. THE REFORMATION.-Many circumstances, widely separated in respect of time, seem to have contributed to the great ecclesiastical revolution which distinguished this century. The introduction of image worship had been strenuously resisted; and many of the principles of Protestantism can be recognised so far back as the end of the eleventh century. The Waldenses or Vaudois had ever maintained a strong opposition to the grosser corruptions of Rome; but the isolated position which long ensured them an immunity from persecution was ill suited for the birthplace of wide religious changes. In 990, Gerbert declared the Pope to be antichrist; and Berenger of Tours, in the next age, attacked the great doctrine of transubstantiation. In the Greek church, the liturgy was read in the vernacular tongue of each country which received its tenets, and the communion dispensed to the laity in both kinds. Wickliffe, in 1360, had preached against the corruptions of Rome; and his opinions, spreading over the Continent, were eagerly embraced by Huss and Jerome of Prague. Interior causes of decay were also undermining the colossal fabric of popery. The tiara had been contested by two or three pontiffs at a time; and the attachment of the secular clergy to the court of Rome was weakened by its partiality for the mendicant orders, its usurpation of the rights of ecclesias* For the substance of this and the subsequent sketches of colonial history, the reader is referred to Heeren's work on that subject. 396 MODERN HISTORY. tical patronage, and its oppressive pecuniary exactions. The temporalities of the papacy brought forward base and unworthy men, eager to gratify an intriguing ambition; and in the latter part of the fifteenth century, the triple crown was dishonoured by the extreme profligacy of the popes, especially of the notorious Alexander VI. The necessity of a reformation, in discipline at least, was generally felt even by those best disposed to the church of Rome; while the spirit of inquiry awakened by the invention of printing was ominous of more important doctrinal changes. LUTHER. —The immediate cause of the Reformation was the gross abuse of indulgences. Mitigations of the penalties of the church had been introduced as early as the third century, but they were not employed as an engine of power until the time of the Crusades. The indulgences then granted to the opposers of the infidels were afterwards extended to those who aided in the suppression of heresy: they were also transformed into remissions of the pains of purgatory. Leo X., who had been elected in 1513, discovered that his finances were inadequate to his great expenditure, and to complete the magnificent church of St. Peter. Accordingly, in 1517, a sale of indulgences was proclaimed, as the most effectual means of replenishing his exhausted treasury, their disposal being intrusted to the monks of the order of St. Dominic. By these, absolution was given for future sins, as well as for the past; and they were converted into licenses for violating the most sacred moral obligations. This daring infringement of the law of God roused the indignation of Luther, and he resolutely determined to oppose it. As confessor, he had enjoined penance for some atrocious crimes, and refused to accord absolution until his directions were complied with, although the party had pleaded a remission in the form of a plenary indulgence. His firmness was threatened with the terrors of the Inquisition and the stake; but he determined to appeal to the reason of his countrymen, and, on the 31st October 1517, he began the Reformation by submitting ninety-five propositions to be discussed before the university of Wittenberg, in which he was professor of divinity. Adopting the opinions of St. Augustine on predestination and grace, and denying the efficacy of indulgences and the intercession of the saints, he proceeded to contest the doctrines of auricular confession, purgatory, celibacy of the priesthood, transubstantiation, and, finally, the supreme authority of the pope. Erasmus, who ridiculed the monastic orders, and even the court of Rome itself, by his writings materially assisted the efforts of Luther. His translation of the New Testament appeared in 1516; but he was too timid to enter into the views of his great contemporary, hoping that the advancing reform in literature would gradually effect a corresponding change in religion. Leo X. was little qualified to combat the energy of Luther; and he did not proceed to condemn the new tenets until the year 1520, yielding at length to the importunity of his ministers. Charles V., having need of the Pope's services, declared against the reformer, who, with his followers, was proscribed by the edict of Worms, 1521. He was not, however, dismayed: in the castle of Wartenburg, to which he had been conveyed, he continued to write in defence of his principles; and, in 1522, executed a German translation of the New Testament. The new doctrines spread rapidly through all paJts of the empire, particularly Hesse and Saxony. A diet was held at Spires in 1529, where, as the Lutherans protested against the decree that would have crushed the new opinions, they acquired their name of PROTESTANTS. The diet of Augs SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 397 Durg, in 1530, which elicited a confession of their faith, proved that all hope of reconciling the two parties was futile. In 1532, the emperor for the first time agreed to conclude a religious peace at Nuremberg; hut, not long after, his opponents were so much reduced, as to submit to accept a re-establishment of nearly all the abuses they had renounced, 1548. This was the crisis of the German reformation. A peculiar combination of circumstances induced Maurice of Saxony to declare for the Protestant cause; and, in 1555, Charles was compelled to grant, in the diet of Augsburg, a complete toleration of the Lutheran doctrines. The Helvetic reformation, commenced by Zuingle in 1518, was completed by Calvin in 1541. A separation from those who adopted the articles of Augsburg grew out of a difference of opinion respecting the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The tenets of the reformers began to make way in France in 1519. They were condemned by the Sorbonne in 1521, but still found advocates in every class of society, particularly among the members of the learned professions. The views of Calvin, as proclaimed by his celebrated Institutes, 1536, were generally adopted. The progress of ecclesiastical reform in England and Scotland has been described elsewhere. In'Poland, the freedom of the government allowed the adversaries of the Trinitarian doctrine to form a church, which has received its name from Socinus. In Spain and Italy the Reformation was crushed with the most unrelenting severity. THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.-The Protestants, on their condemnation by the bull of Pope Leo X., had appealed to a general council, which was prevented from assembling by the troubled state of Europe. At length Paul III. convoked the long-wished-for assembly, which met at Trent in 1545, and did not close till 1563, in the pontificate of Pius IV. As might have been anticipated, the decisions of this convocation were far from allaying the religious differences. Doctrines depending on the credit of tradition alone were there sanctioned and defined; and ceremonies, venerable only from their antiquity, werd pronounced essential parts of worship. Among the articles decreed by this council to be implicitly believed, are:-The celibacy of the clergy; the equal authority of Scripture and tradition, including the apocryphal and canonical books; confession and absolution; communion in one kind only; the continuance of miracles; the worship of images and relics; the intercession of saints; the adoration and immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary; purgatory, or the intermediate state of punishment between death and judgment, from which the souls of men can be delivered by the prayers, alms, or penance of the faithful; and transubstantiation, or a belie; that the consecrated wafer (or host) is absolutely changed, in the Lord's Supper, into the real and substantial body and blood of Christ. THE JESUITS.-The rapid dissemination of Protestantism throughout Europe gave rise to a great increase of zeal among the adherents of the ancient worship. Several monastic orders were established at this period, solely to combat the spirit of innovation; and of these the most celebrated arose in Spain. By the chivalrous enthusiasm of Ignatius Loyola, a Biscayan gentleman, the society of Jesuits was founded in 1534, and sanctioned by Rome in 1540. At his death in 1556, the order hd diffused itself over most of the Catholic countries of Western 34 398 MODERN HISTQRY. Europe, and its missionaries were scattered throughout India, Ethiopia, and Brazil. The object of this association was the control of public opinion, by which power they hoped to oppose the new doctrines and the freedom of the intellect, supporting at the same time the highest assumptions of the papacy. Their principles were diffused by means of missions, confessionals, and the instruction of youth in seminaries under the control of the order. The good done by them in the propagation of religion, and in various branches of science, is not to be depreciated; but the political historian has not much to say in their favour. The order was suppressed in 1773 by a papal bull, and revived by another in 1814. LETTERS, ARTS, AND SCIENCES. The invention of printing, in the preceding century was followed almost as a consequence by the Protestant Reformation in the present; and these two great events comnunicated an incalculable impulse to the cause of literature and science. The study of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue by the mass of the people, and by scholars in the original Hebrew and Greek, was the initiatory step to various other departments of knowledge, and led to investigations in history, laws, geography, and antiquities, not less than in theology. Amid the intellectual excitement thus occasioned, principles were evolved destined to change the face of society, to lead science forward to the great discoveries of modern times, and to impart to literature a degree of vigour and originality rivalling the models of classic genius, as well as an influence on the progress of society hitherto unexampled. ENGLAND. -During the first half of the sixteenth century, England could only boast of two distinguished poets,-Thomas Wyatt (d. 1541),* who composed sonnets in the style of Petrarch; and the unfortunate Surrey, 1547, the first English writer who made use of blank verse. Under Elizabeth flourished that accomplished soldier and patron of letters, Sir Philip Sydney, 1586, the author of the Arcadia; Raleigh, 1618, at once historian and statesman, poet and navigator; Dorset, whose political cares did not render him averse to the Muses, and who, in 1561, caused Gordubuc to be played, the first piece in verse that had been represented in London; Daniel, 1619, an historian and the poet of the Wars of the Roses; Southwell, 1595, whose verses are quoted for their elegance and noble sentiment; Davies, 1626, whose poem on the Immortality of the Soul was the type of the Essay on Man; Drayton, 1631, whose elegiac, historical, and religious essays have been a great storehouse for succeeding writers; Spenser, 1599, whose Faery Queen has placed him in the foremost rank of English literature; and a greater genius still, the "honeytongued" Shakspeare, 1616; with Gascoigne and Marlow, 1577 and 1593, his predecessors; Beaumont and Fletcher, 1616 and 1625, Massinger, 1640, and Ben Jonson, 1637, his contemporaries, rivals, and sometimes his equals. The Ecclesiastical Polity of Hooker, 1600, has been justly famed; and the celebrated Institutes of Coke, 1634, are still the standard authority on English law. The first document in the form of a newspaper is believed to have been published by Elizabeth's order, 23d July 1588. FRANCE.-The age of Francis I. is the first of the three literary eras of his country. The Italian expeditions had increased his taste for the fine arts, and he invited to his court Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, and Rosso. Lascaris, a learned Greek, was employed to form the king's library at Fontainebleau, and to introduce professors of his language into the university of Paris. At the solicitation of the learned Budaeus, 1540, the king established the College of France for the study of the sciences and of those recently cultivated languages which had no professor in the university. Literature was also *The year of decease will be always given, as serving to mark more exactly the period at which the individual may be supposed to have'flourished. SIXTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 399 adorned by the names of Marot, 1544, the inventor of the rondeau; Rabelais, 1553, the witty but impure author of the adventures of Pantagruel and Gargantua; Ronsard, 1585, an elegant poet and sonnetteer, especially distinguished by Francis I.; Montaigne, 1592, the garrulous but sceptical essayist; and Malherbe, 1628, some of whose poems are the most touching in the whole range of French literature. Philology was honoured by the printers and critics, Robert and Henry Stephens, 1559 and 1598; by the learned Scaliger, 1609; and by Casaubon, 1614. The names of Calvin, 1564, and the correct Beza, 1605, have distinguished the theology of France. ITALY —This century was the famous Medician era of Italian literature. In it flourished the poets Ariosto, 1533, author of Orlando Furioso; Vida, 1566, who wrote the Christzed in Latin verse; Tasso, 1595, celebrated for the epic of Jerusalem Delivered; Guarini, 1612, the author of the Pastor Fido; and Tassoni, 1635, the witty writer of the Rape of the Bucket. History was adorned by the acute Machiavelli, 1527, whose name has passed into a proverb; by Guicciardini, 1540; by the Latin history of Venice by Bembo, 1547, who occasionally strayed into the field of poetry; and by Sarpi, 1623, better known as Father Paul, the historian of the Council of Trent. Scholars and critics still respect the names of the printer Manutius Aldus, 1516, whose editions of the classics are highly prized; of Sannazarius, 1530, whose poem De Partu Virginis, is said to have occupied him twenty years; and of the learned Joseph Scaliger, 1609. The unequalled paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, 1520; of Raphael, 1520; of Corregio, 1534; of Titian, 1576; and of the two Caracci, 1609 and 1618, adorn the churches of Italy and the galleries of Europe; while Michael Angelo, 1564, courted with equal success the rival muses of painting, sculpture, and architecture. Cardan, 1576, facilitated the operations of algebra, by his method for the solution of equations of the third degree. SPAIN.-The great exploits of Spain were celebrated by various eminent writers. The Jesuit Mariana, 1624, wrote a general history of that country; Herrera, 1625, was the chronicler of the reign of Philip II. and of the Castilian conquests in the Western World; Garcilasso, 1536, revived the lyric poetry of the nation; Ercilla, 1596, the most celebrated epic poet of the peninsula, composed, in 1590, the Araucana, in which he describes the wars he had shared in the New World. John de la Cueva, Christoval de Virues, Father Ojeda, and Zorate, each wrote an epic poem. Lope de Vega, the greatest poet of this era, 1635, also composed an epic on the conquest of Jerusalem; but it was in the drama that he unfolded the full resources of his genius. Calderon, 1687, who, with the poet just mentioned, scarcely belongs to this century, ranks in the very first class of tragic writers. The romance of Don Quixoto, by Cervantes, 1616, has become part of the standard literature of every civilized nation. Mendoza, Boscan, Louis de Leon, and Quevedo, have attained a European celebrity. PORTUGAL. -The first Portuguese writer of merit was Ribeyro, 1521. Camoens, at once the glory and shame of his native land, died a year before Portugal was subjected to the Spanish crown, 1579. His great poem, the Lusiad, was written during his exile at Macao: it is a description of the discoveries and exploits of his countrymen in the East. GERMANY AND HOLLAND.-Albert Durer, 1528, the father of the German school of painting and engraving, after studying the Italian models, formed his style in the school of Bruges. Luke of Leyden, 1533, founded the Dutch school. Erasmus of Rotterdam, 1536, prepared, by the freedom of his popular writings, for a considerable change in the opinions of Europe. In poetry, the Minnesingers, the popular troubadours of Germany, were distinguished. Luther himself was no contemptible poet, and one of the chief writers of the day, 1546; and Zuingle the Swiss, 1531, and Melancthon, 1560, also adorned theology. Paracelsus alone, 1541, was conspicuous in natural philosophy, and Mercator, 1594, in geography; Lipsius, 1606, and Buxtorf, 1629, were celebrated for their learning and philological studies. Almost all that was pro duced in this century, of whatever is elevated and precious, arose from the inspiratiou of Germany. Copernicus of Thorn in Poland, 1543, by comparing 400 MODERN HISTORY. he ancient notions of astronomy, hypothetically discovered that system of the planets which was afterwards demonstrated by Newton. Tycho Brahe, 1601, even when rejecting the suppositions of Copernicus, contributed to the advancement of astronomical science by the improvement of his optical instruments and his accurate observations, 1546-1601. Kepler, 1630, united the speculations of Copernicus with the method of Brahe, and, by his immortal labours, established the foundations of modern astronomy. In Switzerland, the physician Gesner introduced the study of the natural sciences, 1516-1565. TABLE to be filled up by the pupil with notes on any personage the tutor may select. Name. Born and Died. Where. Performancs. Critical Opinion or Remarks. N. B.-The other literary periods may be studied according to this model. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. GREAT BRITAIN.-1603, THE STUARTS: James 1.-1605, Gunpowder Plot.1621 Whigs and Tories.-1625, Charles 1.-1638, Solemn Covenant; Long Parliament.- 1641, Irish Rebellion.- 1643, Episcopacy abolished.- CIvIL WAR.-1649, The Commonwealth.-1653, Cromwell Protector.-1660, The Restoration: Charles II.- 1665, 1666, Plague and Fire of London.- 1679, Habeas Corpus Act. - 1688, Revolution: House of Orange.- 1694, Triennial Act. FRANCE.- 1610, Louis XIII.-Richelieu and Mazarin.-1643, Louis XIV.1659, Peace of Pyrenees.- 1668, Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.- 1685, Edict of Nantes revoked.-1697, Peace of Ryswick. SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.-1610, Moors expelled.-1621, Philip IV.-Decline of Spain.-1640, Revolution of Portugal.-Braganza Dynasty.-1668, Independence of Portugal. ITALY.-1647, Massaniello.-1645, Candian War. GERMANY. - 1618, Thirty Years' War. -1648, Treaty of Westphalia.-1682, Insurrection of Tekeli.- 1683, Siege of Vienna by the Turks. —1687, Hungary becomes hereditary in the Austrian Family. HOLLAND.-1609, Truce with Spain.-1618, Synod of Dort.-1648 Treaty of Munster.-1678, Treaty of Nimeguen.-1689, William III. of Holland be comes King of England. DENMARI. —1588, Christian IV.-1611, Swedish War.-1648, Frederick II1 SWEDEN. -1611, Gustavus Adolphus. -1632, Battle of Lutzen; Christiana* Abdicates in 1654.-1697, Charles XII. POLAND.-1632, Ladislaus IV.-1647, Cossack War.-1674, John Sobiesky; Raises the Siege of Vienna, 1683.-1686, Treaty ot Leopol. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 401 RUSSIA.-1613, ROMANOF DYNASTY: Michael.-1645, Alexis.-1667, Revolt of the Cossacks.-1689, Peter the Great; Turkish War. OTTOMAN EMPIRE. - 1645, Candian War. - 1669, Conquest of Candia; Mohammed IV.-1699, Treaty of Carlowitz. THE EAsT.-Shah Abbas.-1694, Hussein Mirza.-1644, Tartar Dynasty in China.- 1611, Dutch Trade with Japan. -1659, Aurengzebe; The Mahrattas. COLONIES.-1600, East India Company.-1623, Dutch Cruelties at Amboyna. -1648, Factories at Madras and Hoogly; 1699, Fort-William at Calcutta. -1674, Colonies on Guinea Coast.-1625, Barbadoes and St. Kitt's.-1641, Sugar-cane planted in West Indies. - 1655, Conquest of Jamaica. - 1627, Boston founded.-1630, Rhode Island.- 1632, Maryland.- 1680, Carolina. 1682, Pennsylvania.-1664, French West India Company; Buccaneers.1650, Dutch settle at Cape of Good Hope.-1656, Ceylon. CHURCH.-1638, Jansenism.-1709, Port Royal suppressed.-1650, Quakers. INVENTIONS, &c. - 1602, Decimal Arithmetic.- 1610, Thermometer; Satellites of Jupiter.- 1614, Logarithms.- 1625, Barometer.-1628, Circulation of Blood demonstrated; Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, and Sugar introduced.1658, Pocket Watches.-1686, Newtonian Philosophy. GREAT BRITAIN. THE STUARTS, 1603.-The death of Elizabeth terminated the main line of the Tudors, who had now filled the throne of England one hundred and eighteen years. The popular voice declared James VI. of Scotland heir to the crown, notwithstanding the claims of other competitors; and the new sovereign accordingly removed from Edinburgh to London, and quietly assumed the sceptre by the title of JAMES I. England and Scotland were thus at length united under one sovereign; and, at the suggestion of the king, who wished to obliterate all distinction between them, the two countries henceforth received the common designation of Great Britain. The character of James was in many respects singular. To great capacity for learning, and abilities by no means contemptible, he united a degree of meanness, pusillanimity, and vanity, which accorded but ill with his lofty ideas of the divine rights and authority of sovereigns. He was equally disposed with his predecessor to govern despotically; but he was signally deficient in the vigour and tact which enabled Elizabeth to rule in the hearts as much as over the persons of her subjects. At the same time, the discontents of the Catholics, the fears of the church party, and the energy of the popular spirit, manifested particularly in the acts of the Puritans, rendered the position of the monarch by no means an easy one. The latter party desired to make great alterations in the government and worship of the church; and, in the strictness of their manners and the fervour of their devotions, bore a striking resemblance to the Scottish Presbyterians. While, therefore, the nation was making rapid advances in wealth and intelligence, and trade and maritime enterprise flourished, causes were at work which threatened the stability of regal government, and led to the great national convulsions in the next reign. GUNPOWDER PLOT.-Soon after the accession of James, a plot had been discovered to place Arabella Stuart, lineally descended from Ienry 34* 402 MODERN HISTORY. VII., upon the throne; but the conspirators, who were in correspondence with the Pope and Spain, were arrested and executed. In 1605, some disappointed Roman Catholics, at the head of whom were Robert Catesby and Thomas Percy, formed a conspiracy to destroy by gunpowder the king and assembled Parliament; and sixty-four barrels of powder had been actually deposited in the cellars beneath the house. This atrocious scheme was happily discovered, and the principals were severely punished. The famous Oath of.llegiance, 1606, was drawn up in consequence of this attempt; it asserted the supremacy of the sovereign relative to ecclesiastical matters, denying the Pope's right to depose him or absolve his subjects from their allegiance. The timidity of the monarch's temper, however, prevented him from taking further advantage of this circumstance to increase the persecution of the Catholic party. The most laudable act of James' reign was the settlement and plantation of the north of Ireland. Previously, the legislative authority of England had been circumscribed within a small district called "the Pale,"-the rest of the country being abandoned to the sway of lawless native chiefs. The kino extended the Enolish law over the whole country, passed an act of indemnity for former offences, and procured the settlement in Ulster of thousands of English, Scotch, and welldisposed Irish, who contributed greatly to the pacification of the country, 1609. While in Scotland, James had been governed by favourites, and he did not change his habits in England. He raised a Scotchman of the name of Carr from obscurity to the earldom of Rochester; but he was subsequently neglected for the handsome George Villiers, who rapidly passed through every grade of nobility, and became Duke of Buckingham, invested with many of the principal offices of the kingdom. In 1621, the king summoned a parliament, in which already were seen the two parties known as Whigs and Tories,-the former for the people, the latter for the king. His last moments were disturbed by war. The Princess Elizabeth had been married in 1613 to Frederick, Elector Palatine; this prince had afterwards the misfortune to lose his dominions, in consequence of his having acceptedthe sovereigntyof Bohemia,* notwithstanding the aid of his father-in-law, who took part in his favoul against Austria and Spain. King James died in 1625. One of the first acts of CHARLES I. was to marry the Princess Henri. etta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. of France, and a Catholic. The wai with Spain still continuing, the king applied to parliament for aid; but was there met with so keen a spirit of liberty, and so many complaints as to his government, that he was led to revive a practice of former sovereigns of levying taxes called benevolences and ship-money, by his own authority. These acts, coupled with his arrogant assertion of the arbitrary principles held by his father, excited a universal spirit of discontent throughout the nation. In 1628, the Commons presented to him an act called a Petition of Right, limiting the powers of the crown, which not without difficulty he was prevailed on to sanction; but the disputes with Parliament soon after ran to such a height, that he dis*Sophia, youngest daughter of this dethroned pair, having married the Duke ot Brunswick, was the ancestress of the family which now reigns in Britain. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 403 solved it in a fit of indignation, resolving never again to call another. About this time the Duke of Buckingham was assassinated; and Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, together with the Earl of Strafford, became the chief advisers of the king. The Petition of Right was now altogether disregarded, great numbers of persons weie dragged before an arbitrary court, called the Star-chamber, and frequently subjected,by its sentence to the greatest indignities and tortures for the most trifling offences. In 1637, the attempts of Charles to introduce into Scotland the Episcopalian form of worship, as more favourable to royalty than Presbyterianism, drove the Scots to rebellion. In 1638, they framed the celebrated Covenant to maintain their ecclesiastical liberties, and took up arms against the king. A dreadful rebellion about the same time broke out in Ireland, in which thousands of Protestants were barbarously massacred. Under these circumstances the Long Parliament assembled, and declared its sittings permanent until the popular grievances were redressed. This act, which deprived the king of one of his highest prerogatives, was fatal to the monarchy. The ministers, Strafford and Laud, were impeached and beheaded, the one in 1641, the other in 1644. The Presbyterians, who were a majority in the Commons, procured the exclusion of the bishops from the Upper House, 1641; an act which was followed up in 1643 by the entire abolition of Episcopacy. CIVIL WAR. —The differences between the king and parliament had now come to a crisis. The former was generally supported by the nobility and landed gentry, the Catholics, and the high church party; while the latter found its chief strength in the mercantile and middle classes, and the lower orders of the great towns. Both parties resolved on an appeal to arms. In August 1642, the royal standard was raised at Nottingham; and for three years numerous engagements took place between the forces of the king and the parliament, the latter aided by the Scottish army. At length his majesty received a final overthrow at Naseby, 1645; and, unable longer to keep the field, he threw himself upon the protection of the Scots, then encamped at Newark, by whom he was soon after surrendered to the English parliamentary leaders, 1647. The whole power of the state had now fallen into the hands of the Independents, a fanatical sect, who declared for democratic government both in church and state. At the head of this party was OLIVER CROMWELL, general of the army, a man of great talent and address, and who seems now to have formed the design of obtaining supreme power. Having forcibly succeeded in excluding from parliament about two hundred Inembers of the Presbyterian party who were supposed favourable to royalty, Cromwell and his associates resolved on the death of the king, 1648. He was accordingly brought to trial, condemned, and executed, 1649; an act which struck Europe with amazement, and has been generally condemned as alike illegal, sanguinary, and impolitic. THE COMMONWEALTH.-The parliament, known by the appellation of the Rump, now administered the affairs of the country; but all real power lay in the hands of Cromwell and the army. During the progress of the civil war, an attempt had been made in Scotland to produce a diversion in the king's favour by the chivalrous Marquis of Montrose, who gained several victories, but was eventually defeated and forced to quit the kingdom. The royalists were still in considerable force in 404 MODERN HISTORY. Ireland under the Duke of Ormond, and a large body of Catholic insurgents were not indisposed to join them; but, before any such union could be effected, Cromwell repaired thither with an army, defeated all his opponents, and rapidly overran the whole country, 1649. In the following year, the Scots having proclaimed Charles II., he crossed the Twe4l and gained a signal victory at Dunbar; and, though the young prince afterwards led a Scottish army into England, he was defeated at Worcester, and compelled to take refuge in France, 1651. The victorious general now dissolved the Long Parliament, and governed by his own authority under the title of Lord Protector. The struggle for popular rights had therefore ended in a military despotism, distinguished, however, for great vigour and ability. On the seas, the fleets of Cromwell were successful against the Dutch, whom he compelled to strike their flag to the English, 1653. Uniting with France against Spain, 1655, he took the valuable island of Jamaica; and, in 1658, the port of Dunkirk was delivered to him. Under the Protector, England became both respected and feared throughout Europe; but his power at home was crumbling to pieces, and he eventually sank under the anxieties of his position, in September 1658. THE RESTORATION.-Cromwell was succeeded by his son Richard in his dignity of Protector; but, finding himself incapable of resisting the intrigues of the various parties and the cabals of the army, he quietly abdicated, and retired into private life. The dissensions that followed were terminated by General Monk, commander of the forces in Scotland, who marched with his army to London, and assembled a free parliament, which unanimously invited King Charles to return to the throne of his ancestors. Accordingly, on the 29th May 1660, the anniversary of his thirtieth birthday, the monarch entered London. CHARLES II., at the beginning of his reign, used every method to conciliate his subjects, forming his council indiscriminately of men of all parties. A general amnesty which had been promised was confirmed, those only being excepted who were considered as the promoters of the late king's death, ten of whom suffered capital punishment.* Charles then disbanded the army of Cromwell, restored the Episcopal clergy to their benefices, and rewarded those who had contributed to his return. In 1663, he married Catherine of Portugal, an unhappy union, contracted with interested views. In personal character the king was licentious, indolent, and careless of religion; and he spent his time almost exclusively in the indulgence of the basest appetites. The liberal civil list afforded him by parliament proved altogether insufficient for his, expenditure; and he basely accepted ~40,000 from Louis XIV., as the price of the surrender of Dunkirk, and even condescended to receive a secret pension from that prince. With the view of obtaining parliamentary subsidies, he also engaged in a naval war with Holland, which, though generally favourable to the British, had, in 1667, nearly led to the destruction of London by the Dutch fleet. PLAGUE AND FIRE OF LONDON.-In the summer of 1665, London was visited by a dreadful pestilence, which swept off about 100,000 people, and abated little till the approach of winter. Houses were rendered * The most illustrious victim was the Marquis of Argyle in Scotland, who had placed the crown on the king's head at Scone in 1651. ........'10'I.,'.ii%,....,.:,~illi~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~:"~I~~i:'>" AI............... ~I~~~~~~~~~ill/! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ X:aln ig.' Ig.p: 4Vbi. ii..:~ ~'!! 4.::~::c~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:\ 4 i::;~~.~ ~:c~;,\:-:~.r:: -:* X a~~~~~~~~ K":~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~; 6ii ~: "!,. LIM i-iIXks~s;II i~i~i~/ ~i:~'B................ ~-:;D N~i iiii'i'ii'iiiiiili ii iiii. i u.............:iii ~.ii "::' —:'::::::,:i~Xi~i~i~i~i~~t:I~l~i~ ijii~ j~iii...................": ---- ------ - ---- - --- ---------— iij:C'i iiiiiiii~ 3~~ ~~,Ni v;~ 1, L D, I N T~ SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 405 tenantless, grass grew in the streets, and the whole city presented one wide scene of misery and desolation. This was succeeded in the following autumn by a conflagration, which raged a whole week, destroying 13,200 houses and eighty-nine churches. The night was as clear as day to the distance of ten miles round; and even on the Scottish border its strange effect upon the sky was perceptible. In the end, however, this latter calamity was advantageous to London; the city has never since been visited by pestilence; and the widening of the streets, improved drainage, and stricter police regulations, now render it one of the healthiest capitals in the world. PERSECUTION IN SCOTLAND —POPISH PLOT.-The great object of Charles was the re-establishment of Popery and arbitrary power; and though still himself professing adherence to the Reformed doctrines, his brother James, duke of York, openly affiliated with the Jesuits. An iniquitous attempt had been made to force Episcopacy upon the people of Scotland, and upwards of 300 Presbyterian ministers were expelled from their livings. The people then began to hold conventicles in the fields, where they attended the services of their expelled pastors; but the execrable barbarities employed to overcome their opposition to the new arrangements at length drove them to insurrection, which was suppressed by a war of extermination.* The prejudices and fears of the English people began now to be effectually aroused. In 1673, the Test Jct was passed, imposing a religious oath upon all who entered the public service. This was followed in 1678 by a panic equally foolish and deplorable. The infamous Titus Oates succeeded in propagating a general belief in a pretended Popish Plot for the massacre of the Protestants; and, in the midst of the ferment thus occasioned, many innocent Catholics were judicially massacred. The Parliament now became more and more intractable: they passed the celebrated Habeus Corpus act; and the Commons even prepared a bill for the exclusion of the Duke of York from the succession. This latter measure seems to have produced a temporary reaction in the king's favour, who dissolved the houses, and reigned by his own arbitrary authority, 1681. A plan was now formed by the late majority to raise simultaneous insurrections in London, the west of England, and Scotland. This was discovered; and the leaders, Russel, Sydney, and others, becoming implicated also in the Rye-house Plot for murdering the king, perished on the scaffold, 1683. Charles II. died in 1685. THE REVOLUTION, 1688.-The commencement of the reign of JAMES II. was sufficiently favourable: the Commons voted him an ample revenue; the university of Oxford and the Scottish Parliament recognised his "sacred, supreme, and absolute authority." The character of the new king was much more respectable than that of his brother; but he was deficient in those popular and showy qualities by which Charles, notwithstanding his tyranny and vices, had succeeded in making himself agreeable to his subjects. James had all along been an avowed Catholic; and, though he began his reign by professing an intention to govern according to the laws, it soon became apparent that he had set *On a rrmnimental stone in the Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh, may be seen an inscription, which states that, between 1661 and 1688, 18,000 persons are computed to have suffered death for their faith. 406 MODERN HISTORY. his heart on overthrowing the established religion. An unfortunate expedition of the Duke of Monmouth, natural son of the late king, to effect a rising in the west of England, and of the Duke of Argyle in Scotland, which ended in the execution of both, gave him additional confidence in the prosecution of his design. He proceeded to dispense with the Test Act, by proclaiming a general toleration in favour of the Catholics; and six bishops who opposed his proceedings were imprisoned, but subsequently liberated on trial. The Romanists were now openly admitted to the royal councils, chapels being everywhere erected; and he even held a correspondence with the pope for the purpose of placing England once more under the dominion of the holy see. The fears of the people were excited to the highest pitch by the birth of a Prince of Wales; and all ranks uniting with the clergy and nobility, WILLIAM, prince of Orange, who had married the Princess MARY, was invited to England to defend the Protestant cause. On the 5th of November, the prince landed at Torbay with an armament; soon after which, the chief persons in the kingdom flocked to his standard, and the troops of James went over to him. His majesty himself, deserted on all hands, made his escape to France, leaving the crown, without a struggle, in the hands of his son-in-law. GENEALOGY OF THE HOUSES OF ORANGE AND BRUNSWICK. 24. JAMES I., b. 1566; k. Gr. B. 1603; d. 1625. t Elizabeth, b. 1596. 25 CHARLES I. k. 1625; beh. 1649. 26. CHARLES II., JMlary, m. William 27. JAMES II., k. 1685; Henrietta JMaria. k. 1660, d. 1685. II. of Orange, dep. 1689: m. 1. Anne 1641, d. 1661. Hyde; 2. JMary of I J.Modena.,____ -. —— _ - 28. WILLIAM III., p. of Orange, b. 1650 = 28. MARY, 29. ANNE, James E.dward, q. 1689. 1702. the Pretender. t Elizabeth, m. Frederick V., elect. pal., 1613, d. 1661. Sophia, dec. heiress to throne, 1700, mn. Ernest.Qugustus, el. of Hanover, 1658, d. 1714. HOUSE OF HANOVER. 30. GFORGE I., k. 1714. HoUvsE oF ORANGE.-The bloodless revolution of 1688 established the great principle, that " when a government, by its aggravated abuses, has ceased to command the support of the people and to be an instrument of good, it is no longer entitled to obedience." The accession of William terminated the persecution in Scotland; the Presbyterian church was established by law; and, excepting among the Highland clans, who made some resistance under Viscount Dundee, the new government was at first very popular. On the other hand, the Catholics in Ireland made common cause with the deposed monarch, who landed in that country in the spring of 1689, and soon found himself at the head of a large but undisciplined army. He was defeated by his antagonist at the battle of the Boyne, and immediately returned to France; while his adherents acceded to the new order of things by the treaty of Limerick, signed soon after. William's great operations against Louis XIV. prevented him, had he been so disposed, from impeding the liberal measures of Parliament, and the Triennial. ct was accordingly SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 407 passed, 1694. In 1691, for a merely legal offence, an atrocious massacre was perpetrated in the Highlands on the clan of Macdonald of Glencoe, from which the sovereign was never able altogether to clear himself; and the affections of the Scottish people were further alienated by the obstacles thrown in the way of their commerce at the instigation of the English merchants, particularly in regard to an expedition fitted out to colonize the isthmus of Darien, in which many hundred persons lost their lives, and a large capital was irrecoverably lost, 1699. The Jacobite party consequently became strong in Scotland, while not a little dissatisfaction prevailed in the south; and, though the peace of Ryswick, 1697, enabled the king to spend the remainder of his days in peace, he was subjected to much domestic inquietude. FRANCE. On the death of Henry IV. in 1610, the crown of France descended to his son Louis XIII., a minor, under the regency of the queen, Mary of Medici. In October 1614, the prince was declared to be of age; and in the year following, he married Anne, daughter of Philip III. of Spain. Sully haying retired, an Italian named Concini, a creature of the queenmother, possessed the direction of affairs. The nobility, disgusted by his insolence, began a civil war, headed by the Prince of CondO, but were appeased by concessions, 1615. The king himself, become impatient of the rule of his parent and the favourite, by the advice of a young courtier named Luines, procured his assassination; his wife was condemned to death on a charge of magic; aid the queen-dowager was sent to Blois under arrest, 1617. Louis, who, during the whole of his reign, was altogether incapable of conducting affairs, now became a passive instrument in the hands of Luines, who was raised to the highest rank and offices in the state. RICHELIEU.- Some years after, Mary escaped from Blois, and being supported by the Duke of Epernon and other nobles, a civil war broke out; but it was composed by the mediation of Armand du Plessis, bishop of Luqon, known afterwards as Cardinal Richelieu, who effected a reconciliation between Louis and his mother. In 1620, an attempt having been made to invade the liberties of the Protestants, they flew to arms; and in the hostilities that followed, Luines, now Constable, lost his life, when a peace was concluded, confirmring the edict of Nantes, 1622. The haughty Richelieu now became prime-minister, and soon displayed the possession of abilities of the highest order, with an unscrupulous perseverance in the prosecution of his designs. There were three parties whom he resolved to humble; -the nobility, the Huguenots, and the house of Austria. With these views, he concluded a marriage between Charles, prince of Wales, and the king's sister, Henrietta, and effected an alliance between the two monarchs and Holland. A war with Spain was the consequence, 1625, which, however, led to no important results. The Protestants having rebelled, he laid siege to Rochelle, their great stronghold, which was forced to surrender, 1628; and they were eventually compelled to yield all their fortified towns. The French dissenters were now effectually subdued, and the whole kingdom brought under the supreme authority of the crown. Richelieu 408 MODERN HISTORY. ruled the country with a rod of iron; he negotiated with the King of Sweden, and aided the German Protestants against Austria; attacked the latter power in Italy; and assisted in re-establishing the independence of Portugal. But his ambition was of an exalted kind: to him France was indebted for the establishment of the academy; he liberally encouraged literature and the arts, and promoted the revival of national commerce, ruined by two centuries of domestic war. In spite of all enemies, the cardinal retained the administration of affairs till his death, 1642, at the very time when the combined forces of Sweden and France had utterly humbled the pride of the house of Austria. Louis XIII. died a few months after. MAZARIN AND THE FRONDE.-The subtle policy of the Italian Mazarin succeeded the energetic rule of Richelieu, and was continued during the minority of the young king, Louis XIV., 1643. The new minister had the satisfaction of concluding the treaty of Westphalia, which terminated the thirty years' war, France gaining thereby several important acquisitions, 1648. The early part of this reign was however disturbed by the troubles of the Fronde, as they were called, headed by the Cardinal de Retz. A war was begun against the minister, while the rebels proclaimed their unbroken attachment to the crown. These disorders, which served only to embroil the nation, without leading to any decisive result, were terminated by the king's majority, 1653; and during the nine succeeding years, Mazarin's attention to the finances prepared the way for great military exertions. The Spaniards, in the war terminating 1648, had been severely defeated at Rocroi by the Duke d'Enghien, and near Gibraltar by the French fleet under the Duke de Breze; besides which they lost many strong places. But they did not accede to the treaty of Westphalia, and the war still continued in the Low Countries, Turenne commanding the French troops, while the Prince of Cond6, who had been exiled during the late troubles, fought on the side of the Spaniards. At Arras and Valenciennes, the talents of the rivals were alike conspicuous, 1656. Mazarin now formed an alliance with Cromwell, and Turenne gained the famous victory of Dunes, 1658. This led to a pacification in the ensuing year, known as the treaty of the Pyrenees, by which France gained Artois, Roussillon, part of Flanders, Hainault, and Luxembourg; Louis at the same time married the Infanta Maria Theresa, and agreed to pardon Conde. In 1667, six years after the death of Mazarin, began those aggressions which alarmed all Europe. In 1657, that minister had made an unsuccessful attempt to get Louis elected emperor, which led to a long and bitter animosity between Leopold and the French king. The minister, Colbert, had largely multiplied the resources of the country, and the war department was systematized and brought to a high state of efficiency by Louvois. On the death of Philip IV. of Spain, Louis laid claim to the duchy of Brabant in right of his wife, and entered Flanders with 40,000 men. His success led to a triple alliance between Britain, Sweden, and Holland, which compelled him to accede to the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1668; but havingL resolved to revenge himself on Holland, he succeeded in breaking up the confederacy, by securing the alliance of Charles II. Under the most frivolous pretences, both monarchs declared war against the United Provinces, 1672; a combined SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 409 fleet of L )re than one hundred sail put to sea, while the French king invaded the frontiers with an army of 120,000 men. The Dutch determined to make a vigorous resistance: the Prince of Orange was placed at the head of the land forces, and the gallant De Ruyter commanded 130 ships. The hostile fleets came in sight of each other in Southwold Bay, where a desperate engagement was fought, with no decisive advantage to either party. The French army, however, commanded under Louis by Turenne, Conde, and Luxembourg, was more successful. Having passed the Rhine, Nimeguen and Utrecht opened their gates, and all the provinces, except Holland and Zealand, were forced to submit. The former broke down the sluices and laid the country under water; the Prince of Orange was declared stadtholder; and all idea of submission was abandoned. The prospects of the Dutch now began to brighten. The combined fleets were driven from the coast of Holland by violent storms, and three naval actions, vigorously contested, terminated rather in favour of De Ruyter and Van Tromp. In the mean time, the troops of the empire having united with the Prince of Orange, the electorate of Cologne was conquered; and the communication between France and Holland being thus cut off, Louis was forced to recall his army and abandon his conquests, 1673. The King of Spain now declared war against France, and Charles II., unable to get supplies from his parliament, made peace with the United Provinces. Five bloody but indecisive campaigns followed; the preponderance of success by land, however, lay on the side of the French, while the Dutch and Spanish fleets were defeated in the Mediterranean. The peace of Nimeguen put an end to the contest, Louis obtaining Franche-Comte and sixteen fortresses in the Low Countries, 1678. REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES, 1685. —The character of the French monarch was essentially absolute. His favourite expression was, "I am the state;" and, on this principle, having determined that nothing should oppose his supreme authority, he stript the parliament of their privileges, and regarded the body of the nation as the mere instruments of his ambition. He hated the Protestants from religious bigotry, but still more because he regarded them as rebellious subjects. Influenced by these motives, and instigated by Louvois, Madame de Maintenon, whom he had privately married, and the Jesuits, he resolved on the wicked and disastrous measure of revoking the Edict of Nantes. This act, by proscribing Protestantism in France, deprived that country of thousands of its most industrious and enterprising subjects, and produced general alarm throughout Europe. Children at the age of seven years, by apostatizing, were declared independent of their parents; military executions were employed to enforce uniformity of worship; voluntary exile was prohibited; and the declaration of the illegality of Protestant marriages rendered the issue illegitimate. CONSEQUENCES.-The terrible effects of this measure are not easily described, and they are such as France has never recovered. Before the revocation, from 14,000 to 15,000 persons had removed to the commercial cities of Hamburg and Amsterdam, most of whom were wealthy and respectable, and engaged in commerce. But the number of refugees was alarmingly increased by the recall of the edict. Within a few years, nearly one million of individuals went into exile; in one season, the Prince of Orange raised three regiments and manned 35 410 MODERN HISTORY. three ships of war with French Protestants. Not less than twenty millions sterling of property left the country; and, in the loss of her active and enter prising population, France suffered the worst consequences of civil war. In the course of five years, the inhabitants of Tours had dwindled away from eighty to thirty thousand. The silk manufacturers, so hospitably received in England, laid the foundation of the great works of Spitalfields; and Picardy Place in Edinburgh still marks the site of the factories there established. Louis was at this time the most powerful prince in Europe, and the necessity of restraining his encroachments was felt by every surrounding state. The Grand Alliance of 1689, the result of the elevation of William of Orange to the English throne, included the Emperor, Holland, Spain, the northern powers, and Savoy. The French king sent two large armies into Flanders; a third was opposed to the Spaniards in Catalonia; reinforcements were given to James II. in Ireland; while his troops in Germany perpetrated one of the most barbarous deeds on record, in the wanton destruction of the Palatinate. In 1691, his fleet defeated the combined English and Dutch off Beachy-head; but the conquerors in their turn were vanquished near La Hogue in the following year. The forces of the allies, commanded by the King of England, were worsted by Luxembourg at Landen, lb93; while Catinat overthrew the Duke of Savoy near the river Cisola. Meanwhile, the resources of France were becoming exhausted; agriculture and commerce languished; and the two following campaigns were indecisive. All parties being now tired of hostilities, the treaty of Ryswick was at length concluded, Louis acknowledging the title of William III., and restoring his principal conquests, 1697. SPAIN AND PORTUGAL SPAIN.-PHILIP III., 1598, was not destitute of amiable qualities, but he was excessively indolent, and fully equalled his father in intolerance. The chief circumstances of his reign were the virtual recognition of the independence of the United Provinces by a truce of twelve years, 1609, and the expulsion of the Moors from Spain. The former event was brought about not less by the heroic resistance of the Netherlanders, than by the absolute exhaustion of his resources. As if desirous of consummating the ruin of his kingdom, he yielded so far to the Inquisition and the advice of his feeble and bigoted minister, tie Duke of Lerma, as to issue an edict commanding all his Mohammedan subjects to leave it within thirty days, 1610. The Moors, in despair, flew to arms; they were subdued, and a million of industrious subjects driven into exile. PHILIP IV., 1621, possessed even less energy than his predecessor, and was entirely controlled by his minister Olivarez, a man of some ability, but conceited and ambitious. While the resources of the country were daily declining, and agriculture and trade suffered from excessive imposts, this politician resolved upon plunging into war, notwithstanding the discontent of all classes of the people. His intrigues were among the causes which led to the sanguinary contests in Germany terminated by the treaty of Westphalia, and to the struggle with France till the peace of the Pyrenees, ten years later. All his measures were eminently disastrous. The English took Jamaica and Dunkirk; while the French signally defeated his forces on the plains of Rocroi. A dangerous insurrection in Catalonia was followed in 1640 by the revolt of SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 411 Portugal. In consequence of this vicious administration, the country became so poor that the government was compelled to have recourse to copper money, to which a value was attached equal to that of silver. To complete the humiliation of Philip, the independence of Holland was fully acknowledged, 1643. PORTUGAL.-The revolution which restored the independence of Portugal was brought about mainly by the weakness of Spain. The people had long been exasperated by the despotism of their foreign rulers; the want of troops had compelled Olivarez to withdraw great part of the garrison from Lisbon; and the country at large was occupied by a very small force. When the revolt took place in Catalonia, orders came from Madrid for the Portuguese nobility to take arms for its suppression. But a plot which had long existed now broke out. The conspirators, headed by the Archbishop of Lisbon, met in secret, and resolved on the elevation of their legitimate prince, the duke of Braganza, to the throne. He was accordingly proclaimed king by the title of JOHN IV., 1640, the whole nation at once eagerly acknowledging him. A similar revolution was accomplished with equal facility in all the colonies in India and Africa. The treaty of the Pyrenees, 1659, left Spain free to attempt the recovery of Portugal, which was obliged to form a defensive alliance with England. ALPIONSO VI. had succeeded his father in 1656, and strengthened his position by marrying his sister, the Infanta Catherine, to Charles the Second. France also felt it to be her interest to support the cause of the Portuguese against Spain. In the course of the war, which was vigorously conducted on both sides, Alphonso was forced to abdicate in favour of his brother, PETER II., who immediately concluded a peace with the Spanish monarch, by which the independence of his own country was acknowledged, 1668. Philip IV. of Spain was succeeded by his infant son, CHARLES II., in 1665, the queen-mother being appointed regent. During this reign, the same vicious administration prevailed which had already been so disastrous to the nation; its internal affairs were reduced to the most miserable condition, and its arms abroad were exposed to continual reverses. Three successive wars with France ended severally in the treaties of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1668; Nimegnen, 1678; and Ryswick, 1697, at each of which Spain was compelled to resign some portion of her territories in Flanders to her powerful and ambitious neighbour. ITALIAN PENINSULA. The Reformation entirely destroyed the political importance of Italy. Yhe Pope was no longer a sovereign whose alliance could turn the fate qf a campaign; and Spain, mistress of the Two Sicilies and of the Miianese, dictated to the other petty states of the peninsula. In 1647, Naples was the scene of a remarkable event. It was governed by deputies appointed by the court of Madrid, whose cruelties and extortions at length drove the people to insurrection. A fisherman, named Massaniello, who put himself at their head, was raised to the supreme power; but, intoxicated or maddened by his elevation, he indulged in such excesses as led to his speedy abandonment by his own partisans, and he was assassinated by the viceroy's orders. The Neapolitans then placed 412 MODERN HISTORY. themselves under the protection of the Duke of Guise, who was not expelled without difficulty. Similar causes led to a rebellion at Messina in 1674, the citizens proclaiming Louis XIV. king of Sicily. A naval war followed in the Mediterranean; but, by the treaty of Nimeguen, 1678, the Messenese were abandoned to the mercy of their former masters. VENICE.-In 1624, a law was passed in this republic, bestowing the exclusive jurisdiction over patricians. in criminal matters, on the Council of Ten. The senate made a vigorous resistance to the claims of Paul V., by forbidding the erection of additional monasteries, or the alienation of property for spiritual purposes without the consent of government; they also successfully vindicated their sovereignty over the Adriatic, which, with the connivance of Austria, had been infested by Dalmatian pirates. In the latter half of this century, the republic carried on two wars with Turkey. The first, in Candia, was protracted twenty-five years, and closed in 1669 by the capitulation of the chief city, after a heroic resistance, and the loss of the island. In the second contest, however, commencing in 1684, the commonwealth reconquered the Morea; and in 1699, that province, with the isles of Egina and Santa Maura, and several fortresses in Dalmatia, were secured to her by the peace of Carlowitz. But the resources of Venice were exhausted, and the affections of the Greeks alienated by an unseasonable zeal against the Eastern church. The Turks took advantage of the dissatisfaction thus created; and a war commenced in 1715, ending with the peace of Passarowitz, 1718, whereby Greece once more returned to its Mohammedan masters. GERMANY. Rudolph II. was succeeded, in 1612, by his brother MATTHIAS, who had already obtained the sovereignty of Hungary and Bohemia. This prince had hitherto favoured the Lutherans; but the liberal spirit generated by their principles being opposed to the despotic maxims of the house of Austria, he now resolved to curb them; and, with this view, a family compact was formed with Spain, while his cousin Ferdinand, Duke of Styria, was chosen successor to the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia. The subjects of the latter were soon in open insurrection, in consequence of the intolerant proceedings of the Bishop of Prague, who had demolished several Protestant places of worship; and a general feeling of distrust was excited throughout Germany. This was the commencement of a sanguinary and protracted conflict. THIRTY YEARS' WAR.-FERDINAND II. succeeded Matthias in the imperial dignity, 1619. The Bohemians, however, having been refused satisfaction for the outrages committed on their churches, declared their crodvn vacant, and offered it to Frederick V., elector-palatine, who, contrary to the advice of his father-in-law, James I. of England, agreed to accept it. He was supported by most of the Protestant princes of the empire, by a body of British and Dutch auxiliaries, and by Bethlehem Gabor, prince of Transylvania; while the Catholic electors and the King of Spain were ranged on the side of Ferdinand. Spinola, then commanding the Spanish forces in the Low Countries, led 24,000 men into the palatinate; and Frederick himself was defeated at the White Mountain, near Prague, by the Duke of Bavaria, 1620. He and his adherents SEVENTEENTH CENTtTRY A.D. 413 were put to the ban of the empire; and his dominions having been entirely over-un by Count Tilly, the Bavarian prince received the dignity of elector. Another Protestant confederacy, 1625, at the head of which was Christian IV. of Denmark, having in view the restoration of the palatinate, was equally unfortunate. In two successive campaigns, the imperial troops, led by Tilly and Wallenstein, were everywhere triumphant; Christian was driven into his hereditary dominions, and forced to sue for peace, 1629. The emperor, flushed with success, now conceived that he had found a favourable opportunity for reducing the German princes to the condition of nobles in other countries; but he resolved to begin with the Protestants. He accordingly abolished the exercise of their religion in Bohemia, exiled or put to death their leaders, confiscating their property; seven hundred noble families were proscribed, while the common people were forced to conform to the Romish worship. In Germany, however, he proceeded more cautiously. He began by excluding the Calvinists from the benefits of the general toleration formerly granted, and passed an edict commanding the restoration of the church lands seized by the Protestant princes subsequently to the treaty of Passau. Even the Catholic electors opposed the execution of this edict, having themselves also obtained no small amount of ecclesiastical property; and the diet held at Ratisbon insisted that the emperor should reduce his army and dismiss his commander Wallenstein, who had become hateful by his arrogance and the disorders of his troops. Meanwhile, the Protestants had formed a secret alliance with Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, who resolved to take up arms in defence of religious toleration, 1630. Cardinal Richelieu engaged to furnish him with an annual subsidy of 1,200,000 livres; he was joined by 6000 men under the Marquis of Hamilton; and numerous'volunteers from Britain repaired to his standard. On the first appearance of Gustavus in Pomerania, the Protestant princes hesitated to join hin; but the energy and success of his operations speedily secured their adherence. In the course of eight months, he had taken eighty fortified places; and, being joined by the troops of Saxony, he advanced towards Leipsic, and prepared to encounter the imperialists under Tilly. The hostile armies met on the 7th December 1631; the battle was long and obstinately contested; but at length the skill of the Swedish monarch and the valour of his soldiers gained a complete victory. The whole country was now rapidly overrun: Tilly, disputing the passage of the Lech, was killed, 1632; and Gustavus entered Munich in triumph. Wallenstein was again put at the head of the imperial forces; he succeeded in recovering several places taken by the enemy, and eventually engaged Gustavus at Lutzen, where the Swedes gained another victory, too dearly bought with the life of their heroic sovereign, 1632. Notwithstanding the dismay occasioned by the death of Gustavus, the contest continued to be prosecuted with vigour till 1634, when the severe defeat of the Swedes at Nordlingen revived the hopes of Austria. The German princes now made a separate treaty with Ferdinand, in which he departed from his former demands as to the church property; and the weight of the war fell upon the Swedes and French. FERDINAND III. succeeded his father in 1637; and, though naturally a wise and temperate prince, he felt himself under the necessity of pursuing the same 35* 414 MODERN HISTORY. policy. In the four following campaigns, the fortune of war was decidedly against the imperialists; and in 1641, the Swedish general, Banier, had nearly taken the emperor prisoner while holding a diet at Ratisbon. Ferdinand's armies were defeated one after another; his family were forced to flee from Vienna; and at length the victory of Zummerhausen, gained by Turenne and Vrangel, compelled him to think seriously of terminating the contest. This was finally brought about by the peace of Westphalia, 1648, which secured some important advantages to France and Sweden. By this celebrated treaty, the Lutherans and Catholics were placed on a footing of equality; six Protestants were to be admitted into the Aulic Council, and equal numbers of each party were to be summoned to the diet and to have seats in the Imperial Chamber. The remainder of the reign of Ferdinand was spent in tranquillity; his death took place in 1657. His son, LEOPOLD I., had been proclaimed King of Hungary in 1655; of Bohemia in 1657; and notwithstanding the rivalry of Louis XIV., was chosen emperor in 1659. The Turks, having made an inroad into the former country, were defeated, and a truce of twenty years concluded. But the intolerance of the Austrian court constantly furnished matter of irritation to the Hungarians; and, in 1682, the malcontents broke out into open insurrection, under Count Tekeli, whose father had previously been executed for a conspiracy, along with some other noblemen. The rebel was immediately acknowledged by the Porte as Prince of Hungary, tributary to the sultan; and, regardless of the truce, the vizier joined him with an army of 150,000 men.* The confederates, having defeated the imperial troops near Raab, advanced to Vienna, which was invested on the 15th July 1683; a long and desperate siege was nearly terminated by its loss, when at length the Poles, under John Sobieski, appeared for its deliverance. On the 12th September, the Turks were defeated under the walls of the city; two or three well-fought campaigns drove them out of Hungary; and, with the view of humbling the nobility of that country, the crown was declared no longer elective, but hereditary in the house of Austria, Joseph, Leopold's son, being ordained king, 1687. The Turkish contest was at length concluded, after a complete victory gained by Prince Eugene near Zenta, by the peace of Carlowitz, 1697. During this century Leopold took part in two wars against Louis XIV., which have already been noticed under the head FRANCE. The last of these, disgraced by the most atrocious cruelty on the part of the French generals, was ended by the peace of Ryswick, 1697. The reign of this emperor was signalized by the establishment of a ninth electorate in favour of Ernest Augustus, duke of Brunswick and Luneburg, who became the first Elector of Hanover, 1692; and by'the assumption of the regal title by Frederick, elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, in 1701. A permanent diet was also established, attended not by the electors in person but by their representatives. HOLLAND. After the battle of Turnhout, Philip II., who had begun to suspect the hopelessness of the contest, transferred the sovereignty of the Low * It came to be known afterwards that Louis XIV., imitating his predecessor, Francis'as the chief instigator of this Turkish invasion of Austria. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 415 Countries to his daughter Isabella, and her husband the Archduke Albert; but, as the northern states refused to acknowledge these new rulers, the war continued to be prosecuted with vigour both by sea and land. Great part of the Portuguese East India trade fell into the hands of the Dutch, who had become at least the second maritime state in Europe. Prince Maurice of Orange, acknowledged to be the first captain of his day, defeated the forces of the archduke near Ostend, 1600; and the siege of that city, four years after, cost the Spaniards nearly 70,000 men. Spinola, now made commander-in-chief, after two fruitless campaigns, at length gave it as his opinion that the conquest of the United Provinces was impracticable; and Philip III. agreed to sign a truce of twelve years, 1609. SYNOD OF DORT, 1618.-The republic had hardly secured external peace, ere it began to be troubled with domestic dissensions; religion being, as elsewhere in this age, the ostensible matter of dispute. The disagreements in question arose out of a difference of opinion between two professors of divinity at Leyden, Francis Gomar and James Arminius; the former of whom maintained the tenets of Calvin in their most rigorous form, while the latter advocated a milder system. But this religious schism was not unconnected with political motives. The Prince of Orange, with the established church and the majority of the people, were Gomarists; the Arminian party was chiefly supported by the Grand Pensioner Barneveldt and the higher classes, who suspected the ambitious designs of Maurice; and both parties sought, under colour of these polemical contests, to forward their respective views. Riots and disorders broke out in various places, and the Gomarists loudly clamoured for a national synod to settle the differences; which accord. ingly met at Dort in November 1618. This body, as might be expected, secured the triumph of the prince and his party: the Arminian preachers were banished; the patriotic Barneveldt, at the age of seventy-two, was brought to the block, Grotius and others were thrown into prison, and their followers were in general treated with great cruelty and injustice. The decisions of this assembly excited the utmost horror and disgust throughout Protestant Europe; and the reaction in Holland itself might have proved fatal to the ascendency of Maurice, had not the resumption of hostilities with Spain rendered his military services indispensable to the safety of the republic, 1621. The prince was opposed to his old rival, Spinola, and conducted the warlike operations with great skill till his death in 1625. FREDERICK HENRY succeeded to all his brother's titles and employments, and commenced his career by exercising various acts of clemency in favour of the persecuted Arminians, while he nobly sustained in the field the high military reputation of his family. His son, WILLIAM II., became stadtholder in 1647; and, in the following year, this long contest was brought to a termination. By a treaty signed at Munster, Spain fully recognised the independence of the United Provinces, and abandoned all the places she possessed in Brabant and Flanders. Ever regardful of commercial interests, the Dutch insisted upon closing the Scheldt, by which Antwerp was ruined and the commerce of the remaining Spanish provinces excluded fiom the sea. After a brief and inglorious rule, distinguished merely by an abortive attempt to render his power absolute, William II. died in 1650, leaving the state without a stadtholder and the army without a chief. The birth -=== == ===== == = 416 MODERN HISTORY. of a son by the widowed princess, a week after, did not prevent a resumption of most of the sovereign prerogatives by the people; and the direction of the military force now devolved on the states-general. About this time the English parliament passed the celebrated Navigation Act, which, though expressed' in general terms, was specially directed against the commerce of Holland, and gave rise to a sanguinary naval war between the two republics, in which Van Tromp and De Ruyter were compelled to yield to Blake, Dean, and Monk, 1652, 1654. In the pacification which followed, the Dutch, besides consenting to strike their flag to the English, were compelled to promise that neither the infant Prince of Orange nor any of his family should ever be elevated to the dignity of stadtholder. In 1661, after the restoration of Charles II., the national jealousy of Holland, and the cupidity of the monarch, again plunged the two countries into war. The Pensioner De Witt, who now directed the affairs of the republic, foreseeing the designs of England, had formed an alliance with France; several desperate sea-fights took place, with varied success; in 1665, Admiral Opdam was totally defeated by the Duke of York, while, in 1667, a Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames, and burned several ships of war at Chathan. The treaty of Breda, concluded the same year, at length terminated this absurd and fruitless war. The general alarm excited by the invasion of Louis XIV. in 1672, effected an immediate revolution in Holland. In a paroxysm of popular phrensy, the great and good De Witt and his brother were torn to pieces, and WILLIAM III., now twenty-two years of age, and conspicuous for the abilities which had distinguished his race, was raised to his father's dignities, with even greater powers. The heroic defence conducted by the young prince has already been noticed under the head of FRANCE. Peace was restored by the treaty of Nimeguen, 1678; and, in 1689, William, who was nephew of James II., and the husband of his daughter Mary, became King of England, and brought the great resources of his new sovereignty to restrain the renewed encroachments of the French monarch. DENMARK. CHRISTIAN IV., 1588, reigned several years in profound tranquillity; but his warlike disposition displayed itself in a contest with Sweden about the right to the barren soil of Lapland, 1611-1613. For some time after the conclusion of peace, the king applied his talents to promote the commercial interests of his country; but, in 1625, he was induced to put himself at the head of the Protestant league for the reinstatement of the elector-palatine. After some temporary successes, the fortune of war turned so decidedly against him, that he was obliged to sign a humiliating peace, 1629. During the course of hostilities in Germany, terminated by the treaty of Westphalia, certain unfriendly demonstrations on the part of this king led to a contest with Sweden. In a naval engagement near the Isle of Laaland, the combined Swedish and Dutch fleets defeated his armament with great loss, 1644; and next year, after some farther operations by land, a peace was concluded, exempting Sweden from the payment of the Sound dues, and securing other important advantages to that country. FREDERICK III., 1648. engaged in a contest with Sweden, whose __. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 417 sovereign, Charles Gustavus, invaded and overran his dominions; and he was at length forced, by the treaty of Copenhagen, 1660, to cede several important districts. He was consoled for these reverses by an act of the three estates of the realm, who, in the same year, proclaimed him and his successors absolute sovereigns of Denmark, and established the fundamental law of settlement which still prevails. CHRISTIAN V. succeeded his father in 1670, and shortly after joined in a league against the Swedes, which led to a sanguinary war, the rival princes frequently heading their troops in person. The treaty of Fontainebleau, 1679, led to the re-establishment of peace; and, in 1689, the convention of Altona settled a long-pending dispute between Denmark and the Duke of Holstein. During this reign, a West India Company was established, and settlements made in the West Indies and Tranquebar in Hindostan, while the attention of the monarch to manufactures and commerce, and the improvement effected by him in the condition of the humbler classes, contributed even more than his military talents to render him the idol of his people. FREDERICK IV., 1699, renewed hostilities with Sweden, which were brought to a successful close by the peace of Stockholm, 1720,-the claim of Denmark to the sovereignty of Sleswick being fully recognised, and the right of exemption from the Sound dues abandoned by the others. SWEDEN. Charles IX. expired in 1611, leaving the sceptre to his son, GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS, then only seventeen years of age. A war with Denmark, in which his father had been engaged, was terminated by the young prince in 1613 at Knaerod, to the satisfaction of both parties. Meanwhile, he restored the exhausted finances, filled his ports with ships, disciplined the army, and already gave promise of the highest political and military genius. The deposed monarch, Sigismund of Poland, had not ventured, during the lifetime of his uncle, to disturb the settlement in Sweden; but the inexperience of the youthful ruler encouraged him to renew his claims on the crown. He accordingly invaded the country in behalf of his son Ladislaus, then a minor; but this war only served to develop the great talents of Gustavus and the bravery and attachment of his people. He defeated the Czar of Russia, who had taken up arms as the ally of his rival, and also Sigismund himself; and at length, by the mediation of England and Holland, a peace was concluded in 1629, by which the right of the young monarch was secured, and the important town of Riga, with great part of Livonia, annexed to his territory. The high character acquired by Gustavus in these operations now fixed the attention of Europe; and the persecuted Protestants of Germany looked to him eagerly for support and protection. He had a rational attachment for the reformed doctrine, and regarded with horror the atrocious cruelties inflicted on its professors in Bohemia; while the arrogant ambition of Ferdinand, who did not conceal his intention of subjugating Scandinavia itself, added the motive of personal interest to his dislike to the house of Austria. He accordingly put himself at the head of the Lutherans, 1630, and began that career of victory which has been noticed under GERMANY, terminated by the battle of Lutzen, 1632, where he fell at the very moment when the army of the empire recoiled before the valour of his troops. 418 MODERN HISTORY. The crown now devolved on his daughter CHRISTIANA, a child five years of age. During her minority, the government was administered by a regency, at the head of which was the Chancellor Oxenstiern, an experienced and enlightened statesman, by whom the war in Germany was carried on sixteen years longer. The queen took affairs into her own hands in 1644, when she speedily brought the hostilities with Denmark to a successful termination, and, though contrary to the wishes of her minister and others, pressed on a peace with the emperor. She eventually became a chief party in the treaty of Westphalia, 1648, by which, in consequence of the victories of her troops, she received several millions of dollars, the cession of Pomerania, Bremen, Verden, and Wismar, and three votes in the Germanic diet. The character of this princess is one of the most extraordinary on record: she possessed but little of the gentler qualities of her sex, affecting the society of scholars and learned men, and displaying almost a mania for the collection of books, medals, and philosophical instruments. Grotius, Descartes, the forerunner of the modern philosophy, as also D'Herbelot and Bochart, distinguished for their oriental studies, experienced her protection. In her twenty-eighth year, with the wish, apparently, of indulging her tastes or caprices at perfect liberty, she formed the singular resolution of resigning her crown and retiring into private life; and this event took place with great solemnity in May 1654, her cousin Charles Gustavus becoming her successor by the title of CHARLES X. The Swedes were now gradually losing much of their warlike character, and, with the view of sustaining the military reputation of his kingdom, the new monarch, after putting the finances in a better condition, resolved on a war with Poland, the sovereign of which had offended him by a reassertion of his right to the Swedish throne. At the head of the veteran bands of Adolphus, he rapidly overran that country, the terrified Casimir being compelled to take flight; but the Poles, aided by Russia, speedily rallied in defence of their national independence. Frederick III. of Denmark having at the same time taken up arms against him, Charles effected a retreat through Pomerania, invaded Holstein, and speedily subdued the whole peninsula of Jutland. The Dane was forced to conclude a humiliating peace at Roskilde, 1658; but Charles, who seems to have been bent on the entire subjugation of that country, again invaded it in the following year. In the midst of these ambitious schemes, however, he was suddenly cut off, 1660, leaving the throne to his son CHARLES XI., then a minor. Peace was now concluded on all hands: that of Oliva terminated the feud between the Catholic and Protestant branches of the house of Vassa; the negotiation of Kardis put an end to the war with Russia; while the contest with Denmark was closed by the treaty of Copenhagen, which mainly confirmed the previous conditions of 1658. On attaining majority, Charles became a member of the triple alliance for restraining the encroachments of Louis XIV.; but being speedily detached from it by the intrigues of the latter monarch, he found himself again involved in a war with Den mark and with Holland, which was terminated in 1679, by the compact at Fontainebleau, the Swedish monarch receiving in marriage the Danish Princess Ulrica Eleanora. Charles now applied himself to the internal affairs of his government, reforming the abuses which had crept into the administration, and adjusting the imposts and burdens to SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 419 which so long a period of military conflict had subjected the people. Some of these measures gave great offence to the nobility, andthey attempted to remonstrate against them; but their opposition only tended to hasten the downfall of the aristocratic order, an act being passed by the states in 1693 declaring the king absolute.* The remainder of this monarch's life was passed in the praiseworthy endeavour to establish peace in Europe, the congress of Ryswick being brought about in a great degree by his mediation. He was succeeded in 1697, by his son CHARLES XII., the extraordinary events of whose career, however, belong to the next century. POLAND. The reign of Sigismund III. was a uniform succession of errors, resulting from the intense religious bigotry which he carried into all his transactions. Taking advantage of troubles in Russia, his general Zolkiewski invaded that country, and succeeded in having his son Ladislaus proclaimed czar, 1610; but the Polish monarch having refused to ratify the liberal conditions then granted, the Muscovites flew to arms and expelled the invaders, allowing them, however, to retain Smolensk and other provinces, 1618. When the Bohemian insurrection broke out, which paved the way for the thirty years' war, he naturally sided with Austria, sending a force into Hungary against the Prince of Transylvania; but this interference involved Poland in hostilities with Turkey, in which General Zolkiewski was slain, 1620. In a peace concluded the following year, Moldavia was ceded to the Moslem; while the war with Sweden, carried on with little interruption since 1618, was terminated by the cession of Livonia to that country, 1629. The reign of this sovereign sowed the seeds of future calamities for Poland: the free spirit of the Reformation was stifled by his intrigues; the adherents of the Greek church, numerous in the south-eastern provinces, were exposed to much persecution; and the best interests of the country sacrificed to the endeavour, in which he was sufficiently successful, of establishing the absolute ascendency of Popery. LADISLAUS IV., 1632, was elected without opposition. Immediately after his coronation, he took arms against the Muscovites, who had invaded his frontiers, defeated them in battle, and reduced several towns. These successes led to a treaty in 1634, by which the terms of the truce in 1618 were confirmed; peace was also concluded with the Turks, and the suspension of hostilities with Sweden prolonged for twenty-six years. The country, therefore, enjoyed tranquillity during the remainder of his reign, while his virtuous and enlightened character, and aversion to religious intolerance, seemed to promise, a settlement of intestine disorders. But the Jesuits had become too firmly established during the long administration of his father, to enable him to put a stop to their persecution of the followers of the Eastern church; and the results of this unhappy circumstance were soon apparent in an insurrection which broke * It is a striking fact, that both in Sweden and Denmark the legal establishment of despotism was brought about by the deliberate suffrages of the people stimulated by a hatred of the aristocracy. In each country the tyranny of this class seems to have been carried to the highest pitch, the burghers and peasants being little better than slaves; and there can be no doubt that these changes, though different from the course pursued in constitutional states, really contributed to the improvement and happiness of the people at large. 420 MODERN HISTORY. out among the Cossacks of the Ukraine a short time before his death, 1648.* Under his brother and successor, JOHN CASIMIR, this rebellion raged with increased fury, the Cossacks, aided by the Tartars of the Crimea, committing great ravages in his dominions; and in 1654 Alexis of Muscovy sent a numerous army to their assistance. In the midst of these troubles the king had been so foolish as to protest at Stockholm against the right of Charles Gustavus to the Swedish crown; and that prince, who only wanted a pretext for invading Poland, and being moreover encouraged by some discontented noblemen, speedily made himself master of the distracted country, the king being forced to take refuge in Silesia. This acquisition might have been permanent, but for the arrogance of Charles, who, affecting to hold the territory by right of conquest, refused to convoke the diet for his election. In consequence, the people exerted themselves vigorously for the restoration of their monarch; and the Czar of Muscovy having concluded a truce with them, the Swedes were compelled to evacuate the country. The Elector of Brandenburg, who had at first aided this invasion, now made terms with John, and turned his arms against his former allies; in return for which he was declared independent of the Polish crown, 1657. Peace was at length confirmed in 1660, by which the king resigned his claims on Sweden, and matters otherwise were placed on the same footing as before the war. Meanwhile, the Cossacks had returned to their duty on receiving ample guarantees for their religious and political liberties; and the hostilities with Muscovy, renewed in 1658, were terminated in 1667 by a treaty which deprived Poland of the acquisitions she had made during the reign of Sigismund. This was one of the most unfortunate epochs in the history of that country: incessant war and pestilence depopulated the land, and thousands were driven into exile by a fanatical persecution. John Casimir having abdicated in 1668, was succeeded by MICHAEL, prince Wisniowietzki, who was reluctantly compelled to accept the crown, and whose reign was constantly disturbed by faction.t The Turks at this time invaded Poland with an immense army; and, notwithstanding prodigies of valour and military skill performed by the heroic John Sobieski, they succeeded in obtaining possession of the Ukraine, with the promise, besides, of an annual tribute of 22,000 ducats, 1672. The diet were indignant at these humiliating conditions; the war still continued; and, in 1673, Sobieski gained a brilliant victory at Choczim. Michael died the following year, and the gallant leader, who had stept in for the salvation of the country, was unanimously elected his successor, by the title of JOHN III. This truly great man now set * This people were of Scythian origin, and dwelt on both sides of the Dnieper, below Kiev, where, distributed into military companies under a hetmann or commander-inchief, they had served Poland as a frontier guard against the Turks and Tartars. t The throne of Poland was indeed no very desirable possession: the turbulent and factious character of the nobles, the almost independent jurisdiction they possessed in their respective estates, and the rivalry of the different orders, rendered the royal authority little better than nominal, while the great mass of the people were exposed to all the evils of feudal oppression and anarchy. At each recurring vacancy of the throne, the electoral diets became more ungovernable: the nobles assembled, armed and on horseback, in the order of their palatinates, and each king was compelled to grant new immunities to the privileged classes; and thus, with a show of liberty, the country actually suffered under evils more intolerable than could have been inflicted by the worst neretitary despotism. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 421 himself to complete the work he had begun; by extraordinary exertions, he contrived to augment the military force, and, in a series of brilliant achievements, succeeded in reconquering two-thirds of the Ukraine, 1676. In 1683, he riveted the attention of all Europe by the total defeat given to the enemies of Christendom under the walls of Vienna,-a blow from which the Ottomans never altogether recovered. But these efforts served but to throw a temporary splendour over the waning destinies of Poland. All the exertions made by him for the internal improvement of his kingdom were frustrated by the turbulent nobility, by means of the veto which each possessed, and whereby the most useful measures could be opposed by the dissent of a single chief. The treaty of Leopol, 1686, by which the aid of Russia was secured against the Turks and Tartars, was only purchased by considerable cessions of territory; and at the close of a stormy diet in 1688, he confessed with tears in his eyes his inability to save his country from the ruin which he foresaw was but too surely overtaking her. He died in 1696, and with him the greatness of his native land may be said to have ended. RUSSIA. During the preceding centuries, this hitherto barbarous empire had acted a very unimportant part in European politics. In 1605, during the reign of Boris, an individual assuming to be the late king's brother Demetrius, who had been assassinated, as was supposed, by the connivance of the existing monarch, succeeded in seating himself on the throne. But he was himself slain in a popular tumult a year after, when various pretenders and impostors aspired to the sovereignty; the Swedes and Poles simultaneously invaded the country, and the latter actually succeeded in placing the crown on the head of their young prince Ladislaus, 1610. But the bigotry of the Polish ruler, who refused to confirm the conditions by which his son had gained this elevation, and the dread that their territories would be seized, roused the national spirit of the Russians; the invaders were expelled from Moscow, after a sanguinary conflict, 1613; and, in the year following, MICHAEL ROMANOF, a descendant by the female line from the house of Rurik, was placed on the throne by the unanimous consent of the whole people. The accession of this dynasty was the true commencement of the European greatness of Russia, which henceforth began to assume a growing importance among the monarchies of Christendom. Michael, however, was obliged to purchase peace from Sweden by the cession of the whole of the Baltic coast, Archangel on the White Sea being now his only port; while Smolensk was delivered to Poland as the price of a fourteen years' truce, 1618, and which was again ceded in 1634, after a fruitless effort to recover it by force of arms. But the prudent administration of this prince more than compensated for these serious losses: he erected fortresses, invited foreign officers to enter his service, formed his army upon the European model, and gave a new impulse to trade by concluding advantageous treaties with France and England. The early years of his son and successor, ALEXIS, 1645, were disturbed by an insurrection of the nobles, in consequence of the unpopularity of the regent; but these disorders were composed when the prince attained majority, 1648. In 1654, he aided the Ukraine Cossacks in their revolt against 36 422 MODERN HISTORY. Poland; and, by the truce of Wilna, 1656, succeeded in recovering Smolensk from that country; while a renewal of the contest ended by securing to him additional advantages, 1686. Meanwhile the internal peace of his dominions was disturbed by seditions arising from various causes; and in 1667, a revolt of the Don Cossacks, under a chief named Razin, threatened the dismemberment of the empire. Having proclaimed liberty to the serfs, immense numbers flocked to the rebel standard, and their leader, seizing on Astracan, assumed the style of an independent sovereign; but he was at length defeated and put to death, along with many of his followers. The remainder of the reign of Alexis was devoted to improving the condition of his subjects. He promulgated a revised code of laws, established manufactories of linen, silk, and iron, and endeavoured to open a communication with China. He was succeeded by his eldest son THEODORE, 1676, whose short reign is chiefly remarkable for the first war between Russia and the Ottomans, which terminated in 1682 by the final cession of the Ukraine to the former. In 1689, PETER, surnamed the Great, a younger son of Alexis, and then seventeen years of age, became sole monarch, his brother Ivan, who had been proclaimed along with him, being set aside from incapacity. The first exertions of this prince were directed to the disciplining of the army and the improvement of his resources; and in 1694, he took Azof from the Turks, aided by a flotilla on. the Don, which was the first Russian navy. Three years after, he quitted his dominions, and travelled through Holland, England, and other countries, with the view of gaining a knowledge of shipbuilding and mechanical science, and engaging artisans to aid him in the great designs he had already begun to form. OTTOMAN EMPIRE. The Turkish power, though manifestly declining, was still very formidable. The janissaries were at once the cause of its strength and its weakness, for this irregular but warlike militia usurped over the throne an authority equalling that possessed in Rome by the praetorian guards. Five successive sultans reigned during the first half of this century, and with two exceptions, Osman and Murad, were sunk, during their short periods of authority, in pleasure and sensual indulgence. Achmet, 1603, was succeeded by Mustapha in 1617; and he being next year deposed by the janissaries, gave place to Osman, who, when defeated by the Poles in 1621, was strangled a year after by his merciless troops. Mustapha was again restored, only to suffer the same fate in 1623; and his successor Murad, a warlike prince, who conquered Bagdad from the Persians, 1638, was sacrificed soon afterwards. The next sovereign, Ibrahim, was equally unfortunate, being in turn strangled in 1648. Three years before this event, a rich Turkish vessel, that had put into a Candian port, was captured by Maltese cruisers; and Ibrahim consequently commenced hostilities against Venice, which were continued by his abler and more fortunate successor, MOHAMMED IV, Twenty-three languid campaigns, however, elapsed before the contest was brought to a consummation by the siege of the capital of Candia, 1667. On its capitulation, two years after, only 2500 survived of the original garrison of 30,000 men, while the loss to the besiegers amounted to 118,000. This conquest was mainly due to the famous vizier, Achmet Kouprili. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 423 The reign of Mohammed presents little else than one unvaried series of wars, of which that in Hungary proved in the end most disastrous to the Ottomans. In 1672, -he accepted the sovereignty of the Cossacks, and maintained it against Poland, but was forced to resign it to Russia in 1682. A powerful league formed between Austria, Poland, Russia, and Venice; followed upon the defeat of the Turkish forces under the walls of Vienna by John Sobieski; and in 1687, they were again vanquished at Mohacz, and finally driven out of Hungary with immense loss, while great part of Southern Greece became the possession of Venice. Mohammed having been deposed in 1687, was succeeded by SOLIMAN III., by whom the war was continued, the fortress of Belgrade twice changing masters, but remaining finally in the hands of the Turks. Under ACHMET II., 1691, the fortress of Great Waradein surrendered to the Austrians: and his successor, MUSTAPHA II., 1695, after being forced to yield the town of Azof to Russia, sustained a final overthrow from Prince Eugene of Savoy at Zenta, 1697. The treaty of Carlowitz, 1699, at length terminated this disastrous war, and completed the humiliation of the Porte; Transylvania, Sclavonia, and Hungary, were preserved to the emperor; Podolia, with part of the Ukraine, remained in the possession of Poland; Russia retained her conquests on the Black Sea; and the Morea was ceded to Venice. THE EAST. PERSIA. —The great Shah Abbas was succeeded by his grandson SAFFI, a sanguinary tyrant, who reigned from 1627 to 1641,under whom Persia lost the acquisitions gained from Turkey by his predecessor. The rule of the two next monarchs, ABBAS II., 1641, and SAFFI II., 1666, was uniformly peaceful, and the arts and commerce flourished; but the court was enervated by luxury, and the martial spirit of the people suffered from inaction. In 1694, HUSSEIN MIRZA, a weak and bigoted prince, ascended the throne. After reigning nearly twenty years in peace, his kingdom was invaded and taken from him by the Afghans (i. e. destroyers), a warlike people on the confines of India, he himself being forced to place the royal diadem on the head of their chief Mahmoud, 1722. CHINA. -The Mongols, who had been expelled from China by the founder of the Ming dynasty, took refuge among the Tartars of the northeast; and this union eventually gave rise to the Mantchoos, who were destined. at length to expel the native line of princes, and establish a permanent dominion. The ability of the earlier monarchs long averted this catastrophe, and the seat of government was transferred to Pekin, apparently with the view of restraining their encroachments; but the usual degeneracy seems to have overtaken their successors, and the country becoming involved in great disorders, these warlike enemies, first called in to assist in the settlement of internal differences, succeeded in seizing the throne for themselves, 1644. Happily for the country, however, CHUN-TCHI, the new Tartar emperor, guided by experienced counsellors, showed himself a generous and enlightened monarch, abstaining from all interference with the prejudices of his subjects, and exerting himself vigorously for their improvement. His son and successor, KANG-HI, 1661, was one of the most illustrious sovereigns that 424 MODERN HISTORY. ever ruled in China, having been conspicuous for almost every virtue Jhat can adorn a throne; and to his exertions are mainly owing the peace and unity which the empire has ever since enjoyed. During this reign, the Jesuit missionaries made some progress, being employed by him to reform the calendar; but he was afterwards induced to discourage them, and is said to have particularly derided the spiritual supremacy claimed by their leaders for the Pope. JAPAN.-The islands of Japan were probably settled by the Chinese; their rulers, until about 660 B. c., being, so far as the imperfect accounts are to be credited, the same as those of that empire. Afterwards, the country seems to have been governed by chiefs called Dairis, who united in their persons both the spiritual and temporal authority. But all offices, public or private, being hereditary, the military commander gradually obtained so much influence, that, in 1585, he was able to seize on the entire power, leaving to the other merely the control of ecclesiastical affairs. Thus Japan has since had two sovereigns, the former residing at Jeddo, the latter at Miaco, under whom the country appears to have enjoyed a large amount of prosperity and peace. During this century, the Roman Catholic religion was introduced by the Portuguese, whose intercourse dates from 1541: at first it made great progress, but was eventually rooted out by cruel persecutions, and entirely forbidden. The Dutch succeeded in establishing a trade with the natives in 1611; and they are now the only Europeans allowed to enter their ports. INDIA.-On the death of Akbar in 1605, the Mogul empire descended to his son SELIM, who assumed the pompous title of " conqueror of the world." This designation was certainly anything but appropriate; for during his reign the Persians took Candahar, the Usbecks obtained possession of Cabul, the Afghans in the north revolted, the Rajpoot princes began a struggle for independence, and even his own heir, Shah Jehan, rebelled against him. He appears, however, to have been a weak rather than a bad ruler, protecting the Hindoos in the exercise of their religion, and encouraging literature and the arts. The British East India Company, having sent an embassy to his court, obtained from him many advantageous grants. His successor, JEHAN, 1627, was doomed to experience a severe requital for the ingratitude he had displayed to him, being dethroned in 1659 by his own son AURENGZEBE, who detained him in prison till his death. This prince was the last powerful Mogul sovereign, having conquered the cities of Golconda, Hydrabad, and Bejapore, and extended his rule almost to the limits of the Carnatic. His reign, as it had been begun, continued to be distinguished by great cruelty; he endeavoured to establish Mohammedanism throughout his dominions, by destroying the Hindoo temples and imposing a poll-tax on every individual not professing Islamism. The Mahrattas now began to assume importance in India, having succeeded in conquering great part of the Deccan; and though frequently defeated in the low country by the troops of A'urengzebe, he was unable to make any permanent impression on their mountain territory. Sevajee, the founder of the Mahratta sovereignty, was succeeded by his son Sambajee in 1682, who was taken prisoner by the Mogul emperor, 1689, and subjected to a cruel death. This monarch was undoubtedly one of the most powerful of his day, his revenue being computed by Major Rennel at more than SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 425 thirty-two millions sterlingo, in a country where productions are a fourth less in value than in England; but, after his demise in 1707, the wealth and influence of the Moguls rapidly declined. COLONIES. ENGLISH.mIn 1600, Queen Elizabeth granted a charter of exclusive commerce with the East Indies to a company of London merchants, who made several profitable voyages, and, in 1611, received permission from the government of Delhi to establish factories at Surat, Carinoay, and other places, though their attempts to obtain a share of the spice trade by a settlement at Amboyna were resisted by the Dutch, who even put some settlers to death, 1623. In 1624, the company received extensive judicial authority, being permitted to try their servants when abroad either by civil or martial law; and, though exposed to considerable opposition from the rivalry of other mercantile associations, who at various times acquired permission to infringe the original monopoly, they continued steadily to advance, and eventually thwarted all competitors. Their first settlement at Madras was formed about 1648, and they obtained another valuable position on the western coast by the gift of the island of Bombay, which formed part of the marriage portion received by Charles II. with the Princess Catherine of Portugal, 1668. Seven years previously, by a new charter, the company, besides a confirmation of all their former privileges, received the further authority to make peace or war with any people not being Christians, and to seize all unlicensed persons who should be found within their limits, and send them to England. In 1664, they first came into hostile collision with a native power, having repelled an attack upon Surat by Sevajee, the founder of the Mahratta empire; on which occasion the Mogul expressed his thanks for their conduct, and considerably extended their trading privileges. Fort William at Calcutta was erected in 1699. Many African companies were successively incorporated; but none succeeded in obtaining exclusive privileges. About 1674, the English founded on the Guinea Coast the ports of St. James and Sierra Leone Their colonies in the West Indies began to flourish in the early part of the century. Private merchants established factories in Barbadoes and St. Kitt's in 1625; but little importance was attached to these places until the sugar-cane, transplanted from Brazil in 1641, began to be successfully cultivated. The conquest of Jamaica, 1655, opened a new and abundant source of wealth to British commerce in those regions. On the North American continent, in 1620, the state of Massachusetts owed its first settlement to a small body of Presbyterians, who had resolved to seek freedom of worship on those distant shores, where, six years later, they founded the city of Boston. The increasing persecutions of the Puritans and Catholics, and the internal convulsions of England, drove great numbers across the Atlantic. Rhode Island was colonized by the former in 1630; and Maryland, in 1632, by the latter. About 1662, Charles II. granted to a body of noblemen the lordship of the country now known as Carolina; but the first permanent settlement was not made till 1680, on the site of Charleston. The shores of Chesapeake Bay were first occupied by the Swedes; their colony subsequently fell into the hands of the Dutch, who finally ceded it to England in 1664 36* 426 MODERN HISTORY. In 1681, the country was granted to the celebrated William Penn, who in the following year founded the city of Philadelphia. By the treaty of Utrecht, 1713, Great Britain acquired Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, with the entire commerce of Hudson's Bay and the Straits. FRENCH.-The minister Colbert, whose attention was much directed to commerce and maritime speculations, established East and West India Companies in 1664; and between 1685 and 1690, a French settlement formed at Pondicherry obtained considerable importance. Their first permanent occupation of Canada took place in 1608, on the spot now covered by the city of Quebec, where a valuable trade in fish and peltries was established. SPANISH.-The immense empire founded by Spain in the New World had now become consolidated, and the wealth derived from the rich mines of gold and silver excited the envy of all Europe. During the wars of this century, the plate fleets, as they were called, laden with the annual tribute of those regions, frequently fell into the hands of the Dutch, French, or English cruisers; and the colonies also suffered much from the predatory attacks of the Buccaneers, a body of lawless adventurers who established themselves in a small island in the West Indies, whence they long continued to be the terror of the Spanish Main. The Jesuit missionaries succeeded in acquiring immense influence in South America, and made great efforts for the benefit of the natives; but, in general, the condition of the aboriginal population continued to be the most miserable that could possibly be conceived. PORTUGUESE. -After her separation from Spain, Portugal retained little of her East Indian possessions besides Goa and Diu. Her valuable settlement of Brazil had previously to that period been exposed to various attacks, particularly from the Dutch, who, between 1620 and 1640, under prince John Maurice of Nassau, obtained possession of nearly the whole colony; but by the peace of 1660 they subsequently resigned all claim to it. About the year 1700, the accidental discovery of the rich mines of Villa Rica gave increased importance to this possession. DUTCH.-In 1650, the Dutch seized on the Cape of Good Hope, where they founded the capital Cape Town; and in 1656, they drove the Portuguese out of Colombo, a valuable settlement in Ceylon, depriving them of the principal seat of the pearl-fishery. In 1605, they had wrested from the same people the possession of the Moluccas or Spice [slands, and continued to maintain them against all competitors; and their colony of Surinam in South America, founded about 1590, became highly flourishing SETTLEMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. [The oldest town in the United States is St. Augustine, in Florida, having been settled by the Spaniards in 1565, as was related in the history of the sixteenth century. [Gosnold in 1602, Pring in 1603, and Weymouth in 1605, explored the whole New England coast, but failed to'make any settlement. The first permanent settlement made by the English was that of Jamestown, in Virginia, in 1607. The first settlers, 105 in number, were chiefly SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 427 commercial adventurers. They experienced all the hardships incident to their situation, and were several times on the brink of destruction; but were repeatedly rescued by the genius and daring of Captain John Smith, one of the most remarkable men in American annals, and justly called the father of Virginia. [The same year that Jamestown was founded, the Plymouth company sent out a hundred emigrants for the purpose of establishing a settlement in New England. They effected a landing near Kennebec, in Maine, where they remained nearly all winter; but, discouraged by the hardships which they had to endure, they abandoned their settlement the following year, and returned to England. The Plymouth company were unsuccessful in their subsequent efforts to plant a colony under the charter they had received, until at length a congregation of English Puritans, whom oppression had driven to Holland, formed the resolution of seeking the civil and religious liberty which they wished by removing in a body to the New World. Having returned to England to make the necessary arrangements for their departure, they finally sailed from Plymouth for the river Hudson, on which they intended to settle; but being carried further north, they landed near Cape Cod, December 1620, at a place to which, in honour of the port from which they sailed, they gave the name of New Plymouth. These emigrants, 101 in number, are known in history as the PILGRIM FATHERS. They were soon followed by others, who, with them, laid the foundation of all the New England States. [Roger Conant, one of the pilgrims from New Plymouth, with only three companions, in 1626 made choice of Salem as the most convenient place of refuge for their persecuted brethren in England; and they boldly resolved on establishing themselves there as the sentinels of Puritanism. They were not long left alone. Endicott joined them in 1628 with a company of one hundred Puritans from England; seven of whom, with characteristic enterprise, detached themselves from the rest, and immediately commenced a new settlement at Charlestown. A company of two hundred men, among them Francis Higginson, went over in 1629. In the same year the friends of the cause succeeded in getting a new and more liberal charter, and, what was more important, in getting the corporation itself, which had hitherto existed in England, transferred to the colony, the members of the corporation becoming the actual colonists. The effect of these movements was to direct the attention of the whole body of English Puritans to the subject of emigration; and in the following year, 1630, no less than seventeen ships, containing fifteen hundred emigrants, with John Winthrop at their head, landed at Salem. Such was the origin of Massachusetts. The Puritans who settled it were men of a superior character to any that had yet come as colonists io the shores of America; a large portion of them gentlemen of fortune and education, who sought the New World, not in the spirit of commercial adventure, but to found a free commonwealth for themselves and their posterity. [The names of Sir Ferdinand Gorges and Captain John Mason are inseparably connected with the history of New Hampshire. Under the patent obtained by them, a settlement was commenced on the Piscataqua river in the year 1623. The oldest towns built were Portsmouth and Dover. The colony was replenished partly by settlers from England 428 MODERN HISTORY. under grants from Mason and Gorges, and partly by emigrants from Massachusetts; and suffelred probably more than any other, both from Indian hostilities, and from disputes about conflicting titles to the land. [On the coast of Maine attempts at a settlement were made very early by both the French and English, but without success until 1628, when, under the influence of Gorges, a few trading-houses were planted near the Penobscot. A charter, with ample proprietary powers, was granted to Gorges in 1635, and a general court was held at Saco in 1640. This colony, like that of New Hampshire, was early taken under the protection of Massachusetts, and suffered greatly from the claims of conflicting jurisdictions. [Roger Williams, a Puritan divine, illustrious for his political wisdom as well as his benevolence, proclaimed opinions respecting freedom of conscience in matters of religion of the most liberal and comprehensive character, and, consequently, far in advance of the age in which he lived. Being exiled on this account from the colony of Massachusetts, in 1636 he retired alone into the recesses of the forest to a place which he called Providence, where he was soon after joined by others, and became the founder of Rhode Island. [Connecticut was settled chiefly by emigrants from the older colonies. The people of New Plymouth built a trading-house at Windsor in 1633, and settlements were commenced sodn after at Hartford and Wethersfield by pioneers from Massachusetts. In 1636 a large company from the same colony, led by Hooker and Haynes, emigrated to the banks of the Connecticut. This emigration was made under authority of a grant obtained from the proprietaries by the younger Winthrop; a man so highly esteemed in England, that he was enabled afterwards to obtain for Connecticut the wisest and most liberal of all the charters granted by the Stuarts. He may justly be considered the'founder of Connecticut, as his father was the father of Massachusetts. [In 1609, the great navigator Henry Hudson, sailing on a voyage of discovery in the service of the Dutch, entered New York harbour, and the noble river which bears his name. Having explored the river as far as Albany, he published such an account of these regions, which had never before been seen by any European, as led in the following year to a voyage for the purpose of traffic with the natives. In 1614, the first rude fort was erected on the southern point of Manhattan Island, and in 1615 the first permanent settlement at Albany began. The object of the Dutch was commerce rather than colonization. Political dissensions at home, however, soon caused the emigration of a large number of settlers from Holland. The New Netherlands, under its brave governors Wouter Van Twiller, William Kieft and Peter Stuyvesant, continued for half a century to be a thriving and important colony of the Dutch West India Company. In 1664, however, it passed into the hands of the English, and has since been known by its present name of New York. [The first settlement in Delaware appears to have been made by the Dutch. Certain wealthy proprietors in Holland, who had purchased of the natives the title to the lands around the mouth of the Delaware river in 1630 set on foot an expedition for the purpose of taking possession of their new territories. De Vries, the conductor of the expedition, reached. Delaware bay and planted a colony of thirty souls at Lewistown in 1631. Gustavus Adolphus, the illustrious king of Sweden, in 1627 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 429 proiected a plan for colonizing these regions by his own subjects; and the commencement of their colony has been generally assigned to that year. No actual emigration, however, took place till 1638, when a small company of Swedes and Finns entered Delaware bay, and having purchased from the natives all the land from its mouth to the falls of Trenton, built a fort and commenced a settlement on Christiana creek. Emigratns multiplied, and Swedish settlements were formed along the Delaware as far as Tinicum Island, within a few miles of Philadelphia. They were, however, conquered by the Dutch in 1655, and, with the rest of the Dutch possessions in North America, passed into the hands of the English in 1664. [William Clayborne, an English surveyor, under license of Charles I., formed a trading establishment on Kent Island, in Maryland, as early as 1632. The same year Sir George Calvert, Baron of Baltimore, obtained a royal charter, which, in consequence of his death before the patent had passed the great seal, was made out in the name of his son Cecil, granting to him and his heirs proprietary rights to the soil of Maryland. [his charter, which was written by the elder Lord Baltimore, was conceived in a spirit of moderation and of civil and religious toleration much in advance of the age. Under its wise and liberal provisions, a large body of English Catholics, gentlemen of birth and quality, embarked in the enterprise of colonizing Maryland. The first town founded by them was St. Mary's, 1634, where their first legislative assembly was held the following year. They experienced bitter opposition from Clayborne, whose establishment was broken up, but continued with various success under the proprietary government until the Revolution. [In the year 1663, some of the independent planters of Virginia established themselves on Albemarle Sound, and a few hardy sons of New England began an infant colony on the banks of Cape Fear River. These were the first beginnings of the permanent settlement of the Carolinas. The same year Lord Clarendon obtained for himself and some others a charter constituting themselves proprietors of the soil. The celebrated Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, and John Locke the philosopher, afterwards, in 1669, prepared for this province a constitution and frame of government, which, however, never went fully into operation. [On the surrender of the New Netherlands in 1664, the territory between the Hudson and the Delaware was granted, under the name of New Jersey, to Lord Berkley and Sir George Carteret, as proprietors. Settlements had already been commenced by detached bodies of Swedes, Dutch and English. As early as 1664, a few families of Dutch were found about Burlington, and of Quakers on Raritan Bay; and in the following year a considerable number of New England Puritans were settled at Elizabethtown, and plantations were begun at Middletown and Shrewsbury. Just ten years later, West Jersey was purchased by a company of English Quakers, who immediately made settlements at Salem, Burlington, and other places on the Delaware. East and West Jersey continued divided until 1702, when they were again united into one province. [Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, who obtained a royal charter for the purpose in 1681. Small settlements had already been made by the Swedes and Finns. Markham was sent over, therefore, by 430 MODERN HISTORY. the proprietary to take possession of the province, and make preparations for settling it on a more extended scale. Penn himself came over in 1682 with about two thousand settlers, mostly Friends. Having first agreed upon a constitution at Chester for the government of his colony, including the previous settlements of the Swedes and Finns, having concluded his famous treaty with the Indians at Shackamaxon, now called Kensington, and having purchased of the Swedes the ground occupied by them near the mouths of the Delaware and Schuylkill, Penn proceeded to lay out and build the city of Philadelphia according to a plan designed by himself before leaving England. Penn's charter contained the same features of civil and religious liberty which characterized that of Lord Baltimore; and Penn himself was distinguished by a liberality of opinions, a moderation of conduct, and a wise political forecast, which have placed him in the first rank of human legislators. [Georgia was founded in the following century, 1732, by a company of settlers under the direction of General James Oglethorpe.] THE CHURCH. THE JANSENISTS.-This sect, which sprung up in the Romish church about the middle of the century, owed its origin to Jansenius, a bishop of Ypres, who died in 1638, leaving behind him a work entitled lugustinus, in which he had treated of the opinions of St. Augustine concerning predestination and grace. Several years after his death some Jesuit theologians discovered in his volume five propositions embodying principles closely resembling Calvin's doctrine of predestination, and which they denounced as heretical. After much discussion, Pope Innocent X. condemned the same tenets as blasphemous, 1653; but various learned men, who disliked the Jesuits, undertook to prove that they did not, in fact, exist in the work, at least in the sense attributed to them. Three years after, however, the book itself was condemned by'Alexander VII.; while Arnauld, Pascal, and others, from their retreat at Port Royal, near Paris, continuing to maintain the orthodoxy of the author, received the name of Jansenists. A formula having been afterwards drawn up, which all ecclesiastical persons in France were required to sign, many refused; and a schism consequently arose in the Gallican church, the followers of Arnauld pointing out various corruptions in discipline and morality, and accusing the Jesuits as the cause of them. Much controversy arose from these differences; and the influence of the latter body in European affairs gave even a political importance to their antagonists. The excitement subsequently died away; and the monastery of Port Royal was suppressed by Louis XIV. in 1709. An immense number of different bodies arose among the Reformers, which it would be tedious even to enumerate. In England, about 1650, first appeared the Quakers, at that time regarded as a sect of visionary fanatics, and owing their origin to George Fox, a shoemaker. Barclay, their great apologist, and William Penn, are, however, to be considered the real founders of the society. LITERATURE, ARTS, AND SCIENCES. ENGLAND.-The literature of England during this century presents a galaxy of great and imperishable names. Bacon, 1626, laid down the principles of the SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 431 modern or inductive philosophy in his Novum Organon, and thus led the way to the great discoveries of Newton and Davy. In the struggles of these times, Algernon Sydney, 1683, Hobbes, 1679, and Milton, 1674, are celebrated as the defenders of popular principles. The Essay on the Human Understanding by John Locke, 1704, still retains the highest rank among metaphysical productions. Poetry was illustrated by the names of Waller, 1687, Denham, 1668, Butler, 1680, Otway, 1685, and Dryden, 1700, to whom the perfection of English versification has been ascribed. Milton, the greatest poet of his time, composed his Comus before the Civil War; his Allegro and Penseroso were written in the midst of its contentions; and, when withdrawn from the political world, and even deprived of sight, he produced that imperishable monument of his fame, Paradise Lost. Lord Shaftesbury, 1713, and Atterbury, 1732, were celebrated as elegant prose-writers, and Lord Clarendon, 1674, as an historian. In 1645, a number of learned men in London, agreeing to meet at stated times and communicate their discoveries in science, laid the foundation of the Royal Society. Harvey, 1657, first demonstrated the circulation of the blood; and the practice of medicine owed a signal improvement to Sydenham, 1689. The steam-engine was invented by the Marquis of Worcester, 1667, and applied to practical purposes by Savary, 1696. Drebbel, a Dutch peasant, constructed the thermometer, 1634; and the reflecting telescope owes its origin to James Gregory, a native of Scotland, 1675. Mathematical science received a valuable contribution in the invention of Logarithms, by Baron Napier of Merchiston, 1617. FRANCE.-At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the French language was yet unformed. Malherbe, 1628, had just shown how far it was capable of strength and elevation in poetry; and the affected Balzac, 1654, had done the same thing for its prose. Both species of composition were brought to maturity in the reign of Louis XIV. Corneille, 1684, was the first who elevated the literary genius of France by creating its theatre; Racine, 1699, exalted the drama to its highest degree of elegance and dignified expression, though it still remained a feeble copy of the Grecian stage. Fenelon, 1715, author of Telemachus, gave to French prose its utmost degree of refinement. Moliere, 1673, is still admired in his own peculiar branch of comedy; as is Lafontaine, 1695, for the exquisite simplicity and sly humour of his fables. The pulpit was adorned by the eloquence of Bourdaloue, 1704, of Bossuet, 1704, and Massillon, 1742. Philosophy was successfully cultivated by Des Cartes, 1650, Pascal, 1662, and Malebranche, 1715. Among the philologers of the day are found the names of Bochart, 1667, Anne Dacier, 1720, and Huet, 1721. Boileau, 1711. was celebrated as a critic and satirist; and Bayle, 1706, the father of free discussion in modern times, was conspicuous in the same walk. The French school of painting was upheld by the judicious Le Sueur, 1655, and by the correct designs of Charles Le Brun, 1690. Sallo, 1669, conducted the first literary journal established in Europe; and Gallois, 1707, assisted in projecting the Journal des Savans. The Academie Franfaise owed its origin to Richelieu in 1635. ITALY.-During this century Italian literature and science began to share in the degeneracy of the nation, although in the first part of it their painters were still the most celebrated in Europe. We recognise the name of one original prose-writer, Caracciolus, marquis of Vico, 1744; and the historians Sarpi. 1623; Davila, 1631; and Bentivoglio, 1644. Poetry was much disfigured by euphuism and affectation in Marini, 1625; and Tassoni, 1635. Painting was illustrated by the delicate and beautiful pencil of Guido, 1642; Albano, 1660, celebrated for the grace of his figures; Domenichino, 1641, whose correct and lively designs have been much admired; and Salvator Rosa, 1673, conspicuous for the wild and gloomy magnificence infused into his conceptions. Modern astronomy and physics owe a debt of gratitude to the celebrated Galileo, 1642, who demonstrated the truth of the Copernican philosophy, by discovering the motions of the planets, and he is also known as the inventor of the pendulum; *he barometer owes its invention to his pupil Torricelli, 1647; and Cassini, 1712, was renowned for his astronomical discoveries. 132 MODERN HISTORY. SPAIN.-The literature of Spain presents no celebrated names beyond those mentioned in the last century; Lope de Vega, Cervantes, and Calderon, being still its chief writers. Murillo, 1682, and Alfaro, 1680, were conspicuous as painters. GERMANY.-Notwithstanding the appearance of several eminent writers, Germany as yet showed few indications of the high literary and scientific renown which she has since attained. In philosophy and politics, there were Conring, 1681; Puffendorf, 1694; and Leibnitz, 1716: in poetry, Opitz, 1639; Balde, 1668; Canitz, 1699. Bauer, 1640, was celebrated as a painter and engraver; Sandrart, 1688, was favourably known for historical pieces; Lely, 1680, and Kneller, 1723, both of whom died in London, were eminent portrait painters. In addition to the valuable contributions to science of Kepler and Tycho Brahe, mentioned in the last century, may be noticed the important invention of the air-pump by Otto Guerike, 1686; and Glauber, 1668, famed for his chemical investigations, and in particular for the discovery of the salt which bears his name. HOLLAND.-In this century, Holland gave birth to Spinosa, 1677, a celebrated sceptic, and to Grotius, 1645, who gave a scientific form to morals, and demonstrated their application alike to social and individual man. The department of philology was illustrated by a number of eminent writers, among whom may be mentioned Voss, 1649; Heinsius, 1655; Schrevelius, 1667; and Golius, 1667. In Flanders was formed that celebrated school of painting from which emanated the masterly productions of Rubens, 1640; Vandyck, 1641; Rembrandt, 1674; and the two Teniers, 1649 and 1694. Mathematical science was cultivated by Ludolph of Cologne, 1610; physiology by Wale, 1640, and Sylvius, 1672; and Huygens, 1695, is eminent for his improvements on the telescope, and for the invention of the pendulum clock. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. GREAT BRITAIN.- 1700, Act of Succession.- 1702, Anne.- 1707, Scottish Union. - 1704, Victory of Blenheim; Gibraltar taken. - 1706, Ramillies; 1708, Oudenarde; 1709, Malplaquet.-1714, House of Brunswick; George I.-1715, 1745, Scottish Rebellions.-1716, Septennial Act.-1718, Quadruple Alliance.- 1720, South Sea Bubble; Walpole.- 1743, Victory at Dettingen. -1748, Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. -1759, Conquest of Canada.1763, John Wilkes; American War; ended 1783; Fox and Pitt. -Naval Victories of Howe, 1794; Duncan and Jervis, 1797; Nelson, 1798. -1798, Irish Rebellion. FRANCE.-1700, War of Spanish Succession.-1715, The Regency of Orleans. -1718, Mississippi Scheme.-1733, War of Polish Succession.-1740, War of Austrian Succession. - 1756, Seven Years' War. - 1764, Jesuits suppressed. —1774, Louis XVI. —1789, States-General. - REVOLUTION: 1793, King beheaded.-1794, The Directory.-1798, Egyptian Expedition.-1799, Consulate; Bonaparte. SPAIN.-1700, Philip V. of Anjou; Cardinal Alberoni.-1746, Ferdinand IV. -1761, Family Compact. —1788,'Charles IV. PORTUGAL.-1703, Methuen Treaty.-1706, John V.-1714, Portuguese Aca. demy.-1750, Joseph I.; Marquis of Pombal.-1755, Earthquake at Lisbon. -1758, Jesuits expelled. ITALY. -Victor Amadeus II. of Sardinia.- 1737, Francis of Lorraine, grand duke of Tuscany.-1767, Jesuits expelled from Sicily. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 433 GERMANY.-1705, Joseph 1.-1711, Charles VI.-1724, Pragmatic Sanction.1740, MARIA THERESA; War of the Austrian Succession.-1748, Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.- 1763, Treaty of Paris.-1777, Bavarian Succession; 1779, Peace of Teschen.-1780, Joseph II. —1792, Francis II. —1797, Treaty of Campo Formio. HOLLAND. - 1713, Peace of Utrecht.-1747, William IV.-1751, Regency.1787, Revolution; William V.-1795, Batavian Republic. DENMARK.-Frederick IV.-1720, Peace of Stockholm.-1746, Frqderick V.; Bernstorf. - 1766, Christian VII.; Afiranchisement of Serfs. - Struensee beheaded, 1772. SWEDEN. - 1700, Charles XII.-1709.-Defeat at Pultowa.-1738, Factions of Hats and Caps.-1771, Gustavus III.-1792, Gustavus IV. POLAND.- 1697, Augustus II. -1763, Stanislaus Poniatowski. — Religious Quarrels.-Partitions, 1772, 1793, 1795. PRUSSIA.-1701, Frederick 1.-1740, Frederick II. —1756, Seven Years' War. -1786, Frederick William III.; War with France. RussIA. - Peter the Great.- 1700, Defeat of Narva. - 1725, Catherine I. - 1762, Catherine II.; Turkish War. TURKEY.-1715, War with Venice.-1718, Treaty of Passarowitz.-1730, Revolution; Mahmoud I.-Treaties of Kainardge, 1774; of Jassy, 1792. PERSIA. - 1727, Nadir Shah.- 1738, Invasion of Hindostan; Kingdoms of Cabul and Candahar.-1797, Futteh Ali. INDIA. - 1707, Sikh -Wars. - 1756, Black Hole of Calcutta. - 1757, Battle of Plassey.-1766, Hyder Ali; Warren Hastings.-1799, Tippoo Saib killed. UNITED STATES. - 1773, Disturbances at Boston; War of Independence. — 1777, Burgoyne capitulates.-1783, Independence recognised by England.1787, Federal Constitution. HAYTI.-1794, Rebellion of Slaves; Toussaint l'Ouverture. CHuRcHr.-1773, Suppression. of Jesuits.-1793, Abolition of Religious Worship in France.-1740, Methodists in England. DISCOVERIES, &c.-1720, Fahrenheit's Thermometer; Reaumur, 1731.-1713, Ruins of Herculaneum.-1750, Ruins of Pompeii.-1759, Eddystone Lighthouse built; Lewenhoek's Microscope.-1781, Planet Herschel.-1783, Air Balloon by Montgolfier; Lightning Conductors. —1791, Galvanism; Galvanic Battery.-1794-1798, Vaccination. GREAT BRITAIN. ACT OF SUCCESSION.-William and his sister-in-law Anne being both childless, parliament in 1700 passed the famous Act of Succession, by which the crown, failing them, was settled upon the next Protestant heir, Sophia, duchess of Hanover, daughter of Elizabeth, eldest daughter of James I. About this time the causes of a new war arose out of certain disputes as to the inheritance of the crown of Spain, which had been left by the will of the last monarch to the grandson of Louis XIV.; and England, Holland, and the Empire, accordingly became parties to a Grand'.lliance, as it was called, having in view the preservation of the balance of power in Europe, supposed to be endangered by this arrangement. In 1701, James II. died in France, leaving his pretensions 37 434 MODERN HISTORY. to his son of the same name;* and Louis, in spite of the treaty of Rys wick, immediately recognised this young prince as King of Great Britain, thereby adding materially to the hostile feelings which animated William and his people. War was accordingly in preparation when the latter sovereign died in 1702, in consequence of a fall from his horse. His reign is remarkable for the commencement of the national debt, and for the first legal support of a standing army. Banks for the deposit of money and the issue of a paper currency were also first established in his time; -the Bank of England having been incorporated in 1694, and that of Scotland in the following year. QUEEN ANNE, 1702.-This princess, who was the second daughter of James II., had married Prince George of Denmark in 1683, by whom she had several children, though none of them lived to maturity. On her accession to the crown, she found it necessary to maintain her place in the Grand Alliance; and the Duke of Marlborough was sent to the Continent with a large army to prosecute the designs of the confederates. In Germany and Flanders, under this able commander, the British army achieved some signal successes, particularly at Blenheim, 1704, and Ramillies, 1706; while a smaller force in Spain, under the chivalrous Earl of Peterborough, performed important services, the strong fortress of Gibraltar, the key of the Mediterranean, also falling into the hands of Britain, 1704. The war, however, was one in which the country had little real interest, and the Tory party, in 1706, attempted to bring it to an end; but Marlborough, who found his account in its continuance, succeeded in averting a treaty for some years. TREATY OF UNION, 1707.-The Scottish nation had been deeply incensed by the fate of their Darien expedition, and being now intent on a fair participation of trade, their parliament passed, in 1703, an Act of Security, by which it was declared that the successor of her majesty in Scotland should not be the same as in England, unless a free commercial intercourse was permitted between the two countries; while a measure was at the same time adopted for arming the people. In these circumstances the English ministry, fearful that the northern crown might fall into the hands of the Pretender, resolved upon effecting an incorporating union; and for this purpose a treaty was drawn up by commissioners chosen from each country, for the purpose of joining the two legislatures; the Scots to send forty-five members to the Commons and sixteen to the Upper House, and to retain their judicial and ecclesiastical establishments. These terms, though regarded by the Scottish people as miserably inadequate, were nevertheless carried through their parliament, May 1, 1707; and thenceforth England and Scotland formed one state, under the title of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Meanwhile the continental war continued, the victory of Oudenarde, 1708, being accompanied in the same year by the surrender of the islands of Majorca and Minorca to the British, and followed by the triumph at Malplaquet, 1709. But the Whigs, under whose auspices this contest had been protracted, were now becoming unpopular, and the influence of the Tory party began to be felt in the queen's councils. Their entire * James became henceforth known by the appellation of the Pretender, a term having its rise from an assertion made at his birth, that he was a supposititious child. Subse. quent writers, having no doubt that he was the real son of James II., have employed it simply to designate his pretensions to the British throne. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 435 ascendency was at length achieved by the trial of Henry Sacheverell, a divine of inferior note, who had preached an inflammatory sermon, calling upon the people to take arms in defence of the church, which he pronounced to be in danger from the principles of toleration acted on by the ministry. This person, though subjected merely to a nominal punishment, was regarded as a martyr; and the queen being herself deeply imbued with High Church principles, Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, and St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, obtained the seals of office at the head of a decidedly Tory government, 1710. These statesmen speedily exerted themselves to bring about a peace, which, after much negotiation, was signed at Utrecht, 1713, Britain gaining little by her exertions except the retention of her conquests of Gibraltar and Minorca. Anne died suddenly in the following year. HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK, 1714.-The late queen and her ministers were supposed not unwilling to have set aside the Act of Succession, and thereby reinstate the direct Stuart line; but her sudden death prevented any steps being taken for that purpose, and the Elector of Hanover, son of the Duchess Sophia, was accordingly proclaimed under the title of GEORGE I. The new king, knowing well to which party his elevation was owing, immediately raised the Whigs to power, while he treated their opponents with great harshness, and even suffered articles of impeachment to be drawn up against the heads of the late administration. The Tories, however, still succeeded in fomenting popular disturbances in favour of High Church principles, which were met by an enactment called the Riot Act, permitting a military force to be used in dispersing a crowd after the act itself shall have been read by a magistrate in their hearing. Thrust out from all hope of office and power, and deeply resenting the treatment of their leaders, the same party now resolved to bring in the Pretender, otherwise called the Chevalier St. George, by force of arms; and accordingly the Earl of Mar, secretary of state in the late government, put himself at the head of 10,000 Highlanders, while a simultaneous rising took place in the north of England under the Earl of Derwentwater, September 1715. The movement, however, was but slenderly supported by the nation, while all hope of aid from France was disappointed by the death of Louis XIV.; so that, before the prince could arrive to encourage his partisans, his Scottish adherents had been defeated by the Duke of Argyle at Sheriffmuir, while the southern insurgents were forced to surrender themselves prisoners at the town of Preston in Lancashire. The Highland army now rapidly dispersed, the chevalier and Mar making their escape into France, while Derwentwater and about twenty other prisoners suffered by the hands of the executioner. The successful suppression of this rebellion tended greatly to the stability of the Hanoverian dynasty; and the ministers took advantage of the disturbed state of the country to extend the duration of parliament from three to seven years, 1716. In 1718, Britain became a party in a Quadruple Alliance, along with Holland, France, and Germany, for the purpose of repressing an attempt on the part of Spain to regain her Italian possessions. Admiral Byng was despatched with a squadron to the Mediterranean, where he defeated the Spanish fleet near Sicily; while the failure of an expedition fitted out to invade England in favour of the Pretender, compelled the Catholic monarch to accede to the terms of the allies, 1719. 436 MODERN HISTORY. SOUTH SEA BUBBLE, 1720.-A Scotsman of the name of Law, after almost ruining France by the famous Mississippi scheme, was the means of inspiring the British people with a similar visionary project. It originated in a proposal of the ministry to reduce the interest of the national debt, amounting to upwards of fifty millions, from six to five per cent., when Sir John Blount, one of the directors of a company professedly formed for trading to the Pacific, projected the purchase and management of all the government liabilities. The company was accordingly empowered to raise funds by means of shares, which, by various tricks and manceuvres, unintelligible unless explained in detail, were rapidly enhanced to ten times their original value. During this seeming prosperity, many realized large fortunes by selling their shares to others at enormous premiums; but in a short time the unsoundness of the whole scheme was discovered, the price fell, and thousands were utterly ruined. A committee of the Commons, with great difficulty and by an extremely complicated adjustment, succeeded in restoring credit by equalizing as far as possible the state of gain and loss among the innocent sufferers; and Sir Robert Walpole, who had been mainly instrumental in effecting this arrangement, became prime-minister, 1721. Consult: Lord Mahon's Hist. England, ch. ix. GEORGE II., 1727.-George I. was succeeded by his son of the same name, a prince of respectable character and moderate abilities, under whom Walpole continued at the head of affairs. The love of peace being the distinctive feature of this minister's policy, he exerted his influence in developing the commercial resources and arranging the finances of the country; but his parliamentary career was marked by an extensive system of bribery, alike disgraceful to the members and to himself. At length the Spaniards, with the view of putting a stop to the illicit traffic which had sprung up with their American colonies, began to insist on a right of searching all vessels sailing in the South Sea; and this indignity being offensive to the country, Walpole was forced to declare war against that people, 1739. Hostilities, however, were languidly conducted, the chief exploit being the taking of Portobello at the outset of the war, which was more than balanced by an unsuccessful attack on the town of Carthagena in the following year, involving a loss of 20,000 men. The war between France and the Queen of Hungary had now broken out, and the English king, alarmed for the safety of his German dominions, resolved upon taking up arms in behalf of that princess, 1742. The premier, who was strongly opposed to this measure, retired from office, which was given to the chief of his parliamentary opponents; and his majesty himself, with the Earl of Stair, led an army to the Continent, where he gained a victory over the French at Dettingen, 1743. In a subsequent campaign the British forces, under the young Duke of Cumberland, were less successful, being subjected to a severe repulse at Fontenoy, and forced to retreat, 1745. REBELLION OF 1745.-Meanwhile the court of Louis, with the view of effecting a diversion in favour of their army in the Netherlands, had fitted out an expedition in support of the exiled Stuart family. Their fleet, however, having been driven back by a storm, Charles Edward, eldest son of the Pretender, resolved on prosecuting the enterprise unaided, trusting solely to the attachment of his friends in Britain; and he accordingly landed in Inverness-shire in July 1745. A number of the Highland clans speedily repaired to his standard, and the prince having descended with his tumultuary followers into the Lowlands, took possessioin of Edinburgh, and defeated the royal forces at Prestonpans. He EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 437 shortly after entered England, where he penetrated as far as Delby, but was then compelled to retire towards the north; and being now opposed by the Duke of Cumberland with large reinforcements, at length experienced a total overthrow at Culloden, 1746. Charles, after a variety of adventures, reached France in safety, while numbers of his unfortunate adherents perished on the scaffold or by military execution. Measures were then taken to prevent similar attempts, by suppressing the hereditary jurisdictions in the Highlands, and the tartan dress was prohibited; the army and other public employments were opened to the gentry, and the Scottish people at large treated in a milder spirit. During the remainder of the war in which the confederates were engaged with France, the forces of the latter were generally successful by land, while the British fleets were triumphant at sea; but all parties willingly listen d to overtures of peace, which terminated in the treaty of Aix-laChapelle, 1748, leaving matters in precisely the same condition in which they stood before the commencement of hostilities. SEVEN YEARS' WAR.-The British colonial empire had now attained an unexampled pitch of prosperity both in India and America; and their lucrative commerce provoked the cupidity of the French, who commenced a series of encroachments, particularly in the latter continent, which eventually led to hostilities, 1756. The King of Prussia, being at the same time involved in a war with Louis and other continental sovereigns, received the support of an English army and large subsidies. On the accession to office of Mr. Pitt (afterwards Earl of Chatham), 1757, the war was carried on with great vigour, all Canada submitting to the British, though at the expense of the life of the brave General Wolfe, while their arms in India were signally triumphant under Colonel Clive. At sea, the naval victories of Sir E. Hawke, 1759, and Captain Elliot, 1760, rendered the British maritime supremacy indisputable. These triumphs, however, were somewhat counterbalanced by the French invasion of Hanover, in the course of which a body of 40,000 men, under the Duke of Cumberland, were compelled to lay down their arms, 1757, leaving that country for a time in the hands of the victors. GEORGE III., 1760.-In the midst of these contests the king died, and was succeeded by his grandson, then in his twenty-third year, by the title of George III., who at that time began one of the longest and most remarkable reigns in English history. Mr. Pitt soon retired from office, with a peerage and a pension, and was succeeded by the Earl of Bute, a man of peaceful dispositions, under whom, however, the war continued to be prosecuted. The French power in India was nearly destroyed, and a rupture again occurring with Spain, in consequence of the signature of the family compact with France, Havannah and Manilla were taken, 1762. At length, by the peace of Paris, tranquillity was reestablished in a manner highly favourable to Great Britain; the Spaniards ceding Florida and Minorca, while France gave up Louisiana, Canada, and various islands in the West Indies, 1763. But the national debt had now increased to ~140,000,000. The signal success which had so generally attended this war, renderea it highly popular with the people; and the Earl of Bute, who had all along been odious from his Scotch extraction and Tory principles, was assailed with the most violent abuse for the treaty now concluded, and 37* 438 MODERN HISTORY. speedily forced to retire from office. One of the most virulent of his opponents was Mr. John Wilkes, member for Ailesbury, and editor of a paper entitled the North Briton. Mr. Grenville, successor of Bute, instituted a prosecution against this personage for a libel contained in the forty-fifth number of his paper, in which he had directly accused the king of falsehood. He was apprehended on a general warrant issued by the secretary of state, and committed to the Tower, but was released again in a few days, as being a member of the House of Commons. Though expelled from parliament, and his paper ordered to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman, Wilkes commenced an action against the secretary for illegal imprisonment, which terminated in a verdict of damages, and a declaration by Chief-Justice Pratt, that general warrants were inconsistent with the laws of England.* The celebrated Letters of Junius belong to this period. AMERICAN WAR. -The war in which Britain had recently been engaged, having been undertaken in a great measure for the defence of the North American colonies, the ministry now resolved upon taxing those provinces, as a means of relieving the burdens of the parent state. Mr. Grenville accordingly procured the enactment of the celebrated Stamp.Jct, 1765, which was strongly resisted by the Americans, on the plea that they were not represented in the Imperial Parliament, and that their charters and privileges secured to them the sole right of taxing themselves. In consequence of the strenuous opposition thus excited, the government consented to repeal the obnoxious statute, though still asserting a right to impose taxes on the colonies, which was acted on in 1767 by a duty on tea, glass, and paints; but, in 1770, during the ministry of Lord North, all these imposts were abandoned except that on tea, which it was determined to retain, as an assertion of the right of parliament to tax their dependencies. The unavailing remonstrances of the inhabitants at length led to the struggle detailed under the head UNITED STATES, and which, aided by France and Spain, terminated in the treaty of Versailes, 1783, when those colonies were finally acknowledged by England as " free, sovereign, and independent." At the same time, the Irish volunteers, a large body of armed men assembled for the defence of that country, procured the recognition of the independence of their parliament, and the extension to the people of the right of habeas corpus. The national debt now amounted to nearly 267 millions sterling. This formed altogether a most tremendous epoch in the history of the British empire. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the gradual development of her vast commercial and military resources had excited the wonder and jealousy of surrounding states; and France, in particular, could not easily forget the triumphant peace she had dictated in 1763. That power was therefore readily induced to promote the independence of the British colonies, and to send a force for their assistance, 1778; Spain, conceiving the period for her humilia. tion had at length arrived, declared war against her in the following year; in * Mr. Wilkes at this time found it prudent to retire to the Continent, whence he subsequently returned during the ministry of the Duke of Grafton, and was elected member for the county of Middlesex, 1768. The Commons formally expelled him from the house, but he was again returned a second and a third time, and as often rejected. The cry of "Wilkes and Liberty" now became general; forty-eight peers, including all the great Whig chiefs, publicly protested against the injury supposed to be done to the cause of popular representation; and from the agitations thus produced may be dated the long struggle for Parliamentary reform in England EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 436!780, Holland was added to the number of her enemies; while Russia, Sweden, and Denmark formed an armed neutrality indirectly hostile to her cause. In 1779, 300,000 men, 300 armed ships, and twenty millions sterling annually, were found no more than enough to meet the enormous force brought to bear against her; and even these unexampled exertions were insufficient to prevent the unwonted spectacle of a hostile fleet riding unopposed in the Channel. These fearful difficulties from without were aggravated by internal disorders of an alarming nature. In 1778, in consequence of the repeal of certain severe penal statutes against the Ellglish Catholics, formidable riots took place in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other cities; and, in 1780, a mob assembled by Lord George Gordon retained uncontrolled possession of the metropolis during five days, setting fire to the city in various quarters, and pillaging and demolishing in every direction. But the inherent strength of the empire was found fully equal to the crisis. The internal disorders were speedily composed; Gibraltar, besieged four years, proved invulnerable to the attacks of France and Spain, 1779-1783; Rodney vanquished the Spanish fleet in 1780, and that of France near Dominica in 1782; and though the peace of Versailles terminated in the dismemberment of the empire, and was followed by some colonial concessions to her European enemies, Britain afterwards attained, partly by this very dismemberment, an unexampled height of commercial prosperity, and her navies annihilated the maritime resistance of the world. The ministry of Lord North had been succeeded by one under the Marquis of Rockingham in 1782; and, on the death of this nobleman shortly afterwards, the seals of office were transferred to the Earl of Shelburne, by whom the peace of Versailles was signed in the following year. The celebrated Charles James Fox, and William Pitt, son of the Earl of Chatham, now appeared on the theatre of parliament; and in 1783, the Coalition Ministry was formed, Mr. Fox and Lord North becoming joint-secretaries of state. These associates having attempted to obtain the entire patronage of India by means of a measure called the India Bill, the king, sanctioned by the voice of the nation, raised Mr. Pitt to the office of prime-minister, who remained at the head of affairs till the end of the century. The new premier, who had hitherto professed liberal principles, signalized his entrance into office by a motion for reform in parliament, which was rejected by a large majority, 1785, and by the promulgation of the well-known scheme of a sinking fund for reducing the national debt, 1786. At the same time commenced the trial of Mr. Warren Hastings for alleged cruelty and robbery in India, which extended over several years, but ended in his acquittal. In 1788, the king first began to display symptoms of insanity; and the question of a regency gave rise to animated discussions in parliament between Fox and Pitt, which were terminated by his majesty's recovery, 1789. Meanwhile, the course of events on the continent of Europe was preparing for England a contest of unexampled severity and duration. The French revolution began in 1789, and rapidly advanced to a consummnation in the execution of Louis XVI., 1793. At this period, a great number of democratical societies existed in Britain, for the purpose of obtaining a reform in parliament; and there can be little doubt that the apprehension of scenes at home similar to those which had so fearfully distinguished the neighbouring country, rendered the ministry not averse to a war in defence of ancient institutions. The French envoy was accordingly ordered to quit England, which was immediately followed by a declaration of hostilities on the part of the convention; while Pitt formed alliances with the powers who had already declared against the republicans. The first military operations on the Continent were unfa 440 MODERN HISTORY. vourable to England and her allies; but France lost all her colonial possessions; her fleets were defeated by Howe, 1794, and by Nelson, 1798; three expeditions to Ireland failed; Jervis vanquished a Spanish squadron off Cape St. Vincent, and the Dutch navy was annihilated by Duncan at Camperdown, 1797. The Cape of Good Hope was taken from Holland, and Trinidad from Spain. A mutiny of the Channel fleet, 1797, was fortunately composed without loss to the nation; while a rebellion in Ireland, 1798, was speedily suppressed, and a body of French troops sent to aid the insurgents taken prisoners. At the same time, with the view of attaching Ireland still more closely to the British crown, an incorporating union, similar to that formed with Scotland a century before, was effected, 1801, by which that country became an integral part of the empire, and George III. assumed the title of sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. "Nine years of peace had enabled Great Britain to recover, in a great degree, the losses and exhaustion of the American war. If she had lost one empire in the Western, she had gained another in the Eastern world: the wealth of India began to pour into her bosom; and a little island in the west of Europe already exercised a sway over realms more extensive than the arms of Rome had reduced to subjection. A vast revenue, amounting to ~7,000,000, was already derived from her Indian possessions; and although nearly the whole of this great sum was absorbed in their costly establishment, yet her rulers already looked forward with confident hope to the period, now never likely to be realized, when the empire of Hindostan, instead of being as heretofore a burden, should be a source of revenue to the ruling state, and the wealth of India really become that mine of gold to Britain which it had long proved to numbers of her children. Her national debt, amounting to ~244,000,000, and occasioning an annual charge of ~9,317,000, was indeed a severe burden upon the industry of the people; and the taxes, though light in comparison of what have been imposed in later times, were still felt as oppressive; but, nevertheless, the resources of the state had augmented to an extraordinary degree during the repose which had prevailed since the conclusion of the former contest. Commerce, agriculture, and manufactures, had rapidly increased; the trade with the independent states of North America had been found to exceed what had been enjoyed with them when in a state of colonial dependence; and the incessant exertions of every individual to better his condition, had produced a surprising effect upon the accumulation of capital and the state of public credit. The three per cents., from 57 at the close of the war, had risen to 99; and the overflowing wealth of the capital was already finding its way into the most circuitous foreign trades and hazardous distant investments. The national revenue amounted to ~16,000,000, and the army included 32,000 soldiers in the British isles, besides an equal force in the East and West Indies, and thirty-six regiments of yeomanry; but these forces were rapidly augmented after the commencetnent of the war, and, before 1796, the regular army of Britain amounted to 206,000 men, including 42,000 militia. More than half of this force was required for the service of the colonies; and experience has proved that Britain can never collect above 40,000 men upon any one point on the continent of Europe. The real strength of England consisted in her inexhaustible wealth, in the public spirit and energy of her people, in the moral influence of centuries of glory, and in a fleet of 141 ships of the line, which gave her the undisputed command of the seas."-Alison's History of the French Revolution, vol. i. p. 516-518. FRANCE. WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCEsSIoN.-Scarcely had the treaty of Ryswick given peace to Europe, and promised a period of repose to the exhausted resources of the French empire, ere the elements of a new EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 441 struggle arose, destined to destroy the long supremacy of her ambitious sovereign, and to cloud his declining days with ruin and disaster, Charles II., king of Spain, was now on the brink of the grave, without any immediate successors, and the nearest heirs to the throne were the Emperor Leopold, on behalf of his second son the Archduke Charles; Philip, duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis; and the Prince of Bavaria, also a relative of the Emperor. It was at first agreed, with the consent of the English monarch, to partition the Spanish territory among the contending claimants; but this arrangement was at once set aside when it was found that Charles II. had bequeathed the entire succession to the French prince, 1700. The new monarch, supported by his grandfather, was immediately acknowledged by the people as Philip V.; while on the other hand, Germany, England, and Holland, formed an offensive alliance, which was afterwards joined by Prussia, Portugal, and Savoy, 1701. War now broke out in all quarters; the imperialists, under Prince Eugene, invaded Italy, where the French were signally defeated; while the celebrated Duke of Marlborough was appointed to lead the armies of the allies in the Netherlands, where he compelled Boufflers, the French general, to retreat, and captured Venlo, Ruremonde, and Liege. The treasury of Louis was exhausted, and, to add to his distresses, a formidable insurrection of the Protestants took place in the Cevennes, 1702: while in the same year his fleet was utterly destroyed at Vigo by the English and Dutch. The signal defeat at Blenheim, 1704, was next year followed by the almost complete conquest of Spain by the Archduke Charles and the Earl of Peterborough; and though these conquerors were in 1707 defeated at Almanza by the forces of Philip V., under the Duke of Berwick, a natural son of James II., Louis had still to regret the disaster at Ramillies, which placed the entire Netherlands at the feet of his enemies, and the decisive battle of Turin, gained by Prince Eugene, which almost annihilated his Italian army, 1706. An abortive attempt to invade Scotland in behalf of the Stuarts, and the defeat of Oudenarde, 1708, which appeared to open the way to Paris, now forced the French monarch to sue for peace; but the demands of the allies were so exorbitant, that he resolved to hazard another campaign, in which he was signally discomfited by Marlborough at Malplaquet, 1709. Again he solicited an accommodation, offering yet more favourable conditions, which were still haughtily rejected; and the total ruin of this once powerful prince seemed impending, when the accession of the Tories to office in England, in 1711, deprived Marlborough of his command, while the Archduke Charles in the same year became Emperor of Germany, and thus entirely changed the aspect of affairs. The European powers were even more unwilling to see Spain in the hands of Austria than in those of the Bourbons, and the cause of Philip V. having now gained a decided preponderance in that country, peace was at length signed at Utrecht with England and the other allies, 1713, and in the following year with the emperor at Rastadt. By these treaties the right of Philip to the Spanish crown was recognised, but with the stipulation that Spain and France should never be united under one sovereign; while England received large territories in America; Naples, Milan, and the Spanish Netherlands, fell to Austria; and the Duke of Savoy obtained the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Louis him self died in 1715. 442 MODERN HISTORY. Louis XIV. was a great but a bad sovereign, and his reign proved a source of incalculable evils to France and to Europe. His most valuable qualitiespower of application to business, quickness in discovering and applying the abilities of others, and skill in attaching them to his service; even the sentiment of religion which he seems to have possessed-became with him the mere instruments of ambition and intolerance. In his long reign of seventy-two years, he reared the fabric of absolute monarchy in France; and the ruling principles of his government, uniformity and centralization, survived even the storms of the revolution. With him began the great military system of Europe; and his immense standing armies, clothed in uniform, and armed with the bayonet, set a fatal example to surrounding states. From 1672 he maintained a force of 180,000 regulars; and afterwards, including the marine, there were in arms not fewer than 450,000 men. The revenues of his kingdom were at the same time raised to the enormous sum of thirty millions sterling; and at his death he bequeathed a debt of more than two thousand millions of livres. Unhappily, his abilities, by no means extraordinary, were nevertheless of that theatrical and showy cast, so likely to create admiration in an excitable people; and to the passion for false glory engendered during his reign may be traced that course of events which, in the next century, after unparalleled bloodshed, placed France once more prostrate beneath a military despotism. TIIE REGENCY, 1715.-Louis XV., great-grandson of the former sovereign, and nephew to Philip V. of Spain, was a feeble infant on his accession to the throne, and the regency in consequence devolved on Philip, duke of Orleans, who had been nominated to that office by the will of the late king. The regent, though regarded as a man of unprincipled character, began with several salutary measures. He reformed many of the most glaring abuses of the late reign, liberated a number of individuals who had for years been immured in the prison of the Bastile; while he at the same time reduced the army, enforced economy, and endeavoured to maintain peace in Europe. This was partially disturbed by the ambitious projects of Cardinal Alberoni, prime-minister of Spain, who wished to displace the regent, and recover the Italian territories given up at the peace of Utrecht; but Philip was speedily forced to dismiss the priestly statesman and accede to the Grand Alliance, 1720. MISSISSIPPI SCHEME, 1718.-Meanwhile, the disorder in which he had found the finances, and the grievous deficiency in the revenue, induced the duke to listen to a wild project propounded by the celebrated John Law, which eventually involved the nation in wide-spread bankruptcy and ruin. This plan con sisted in the establishment of a bank of issue, the shares of which were offered to the national creditors in exchange for their stock; while, with the view of inducing the public to purchase these shares, the bank was conjoined with. company having a monopoly of trade with the Mississippi territory and Canada to the former of which great numbers of planters and artisans were removed for the cultivation of tobacco and other produce, 1718. In the following year, the East India and Senegal Companies were incorporated with the Mississippi Company; and the prospect of the advantages thus held out was so great, that its stock speedily rose 1200 per cent. The corporation had now obtained the farming of the entire public revenues and an exclusive privilege of coining, and had actually advanced large sums to government in payment of the national debt. In 1720, its stock rose to the enormous height of 2050 per cent.; but this was the climax of the delusion: the hopes of profit were found to be erroneous, and, in the course of a few weeks, the bank suspended payment of its notes. By this step thousands of wealthy persons were reduced to indigence, and Law retired in disgrace to Venice, where he died in poverty. The same period was conspicuous for a calamity of a different kind, the plague at Mar. seilles, by which fully half of the inhabitants were swept away; an event EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 443 illustrated by the heroic labours of the " good bishop," Belzunce, who exerted nimself day and night to relieve the distress of the inhabitants. The regent died in 1723, at which period the young king came of age; and, by the advice of the Duke of Bourbon, now become prime-minister, he was induced to marry the Princess Maria, daughter of Stanislaus, ex-king of Poland, who had taken refuge in France, 1725. The duke was dismissed in 1726, to make way for the Cardinal Fleury, a man of pacific disposition, and possessing great influence over the mind of the king. The cardinal made every exertion to restore order in the finances, and promote the revival of credit and commerce, endeavouring with this view to maintain peace in Europe. Nevertheless, a war broke out in 1733 against Russia and Austria on behalf of Stanislaus; but the real strength of France was directed towards Italy and the Rhine, at the latter of which the Austrians under Prince Eugene were opposed by the Duke of Berwick, who fell while taking the town of Philipsburg, 1734. In Italy, also, the French arms were successful under Marshal Villars, who united his forces with those of the King of Sardinia, and reduced Milan with various other strong places; while Naples was overrun and conquered by a Spanish army under Don Carlos. A treaty was at length concluded at Vienna, 1735, by which the duchy of Lorraine was given to the exiled Polish monarch, to revert to France on his death, ana Naples and Sicily were ceded to Don Carlos, thereby establishing a third Bourbon dynasty in Europe. By the peace just concluded, France had become a party to the famous Pragmatic Sanction, guaranteeing the Austrian succession to the Princess Maria Theresa, daughter of the Emperor Charles VI. But on the death of that sovereign in 1740, Louis, in utter disregard of these obligations, and against the advice of Fleury, agreed to assist the Elector of Bavaria in his claims to her inheritance, and thereby involved. himself in a war with Britain. The enthusiasm of the Hungarians and Austrians in favour of their youthful queen frustrated all the designs of her enemies; the French and Bavarians were expelled from Bohemia, and they were also defeated at Dettingen by the English under George II., 1743. The death of the cardinal in the same year freed the king from the restraints which his wise and virtuous character imposed; and he declared he would henceforth govern without a minister. The conquest of the Austrian Netherlands now became the chief object with Louis, where his forces under Marshal Saxe defeated at Fontenoy, with great slaughter, the allied army of England, Austria, and Holland, led by the Duke of Cumberland, 1745. Two subsequent campaigns were equally favourable to France; but her arms were unfortunate in Italy, her fleets had been annihilated, and Britain threatened her colonies in India and America. In these circumstances, a treaty was at length concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748, all parties agreeing to a mutual restitution of conquests. France now enjoyed the blessings of peace nearly seven years, disturbed, however, by factions among the clergy; and the king abandoned himself to the control of his mistress, the Marchioness of Pompadour, a vulgar and ambitious woman. But, in 1755, in consequence of certain disputes as to the boundary between Canada and the British settlements, a contest, known as the Seven Years' War, broke out between France and England, in which, entirely reversing the previous 444 MODERN HISTORY. state of paities, the former united with Austria, while the latter allied herself with Frederick of Prussia. The events which followed are noticed under ENGLAND and PRUSSIA; and it may suffice to repeat, that at the peace of Paris, 1763, France, utterly prostrated, surrendered the whole of her American and African territories, besides various islands in the West Indies. Her finances, too, were in a state of deplorable confusion; while the monarch, abandoned to the most shameless profligacy, formed a harem after the fashion of Eastern sultans, on which he squandered vast sums. The Duke of Choiseul, his last able minister, by whose advice the Jesuits had been expelled from France in 1764, attempting to bring him to a sense of his degradation, was banished from the court, 1770; while the remonstrances of the provincial parliaments were stifled by the strong hand of arbitrary authority. The king died in 1774, having previously lost his eldest son, the dauphin, in 1765, who left three sons, afterwards known as Louis XVI., Louis XVIII., and Charles X. The reign of Louis XV., one of the most contemptible and odious characters in French history, formed an ominous and fatal sequel to that of his predecessor. The wasteful extravagance and boundless ambition of the former monarch were at least gilded by the lustre of his early victories; but, under his successor, the nation was destined not merely to see its laurels fade before the ascendency of England, but to lament the perversion of the revenues, drawn from an exhausted and famishing people, to maintain the unveiled debaucheries of the court. The nobility and higher clergy, exempted from taxation and possessed of exclusive privileges, trampled on the inferior orders, and, while following the example of corruption thus held out, lent a greedy ear to the sensual philosophy now become fashionable with all classes. These causes, added to an empty exchequer, a debt of four thousand millions of livres, impolitic restrictions even on internal trade, general poverty, national humiliation, and universal discontent, prepared the way for the fearful explosion which took place under his unfortunate successor. Louis XVI., 1774.-The new sovereign was about twenty years of age when he succeeded to the throne, having married, in 1770, the Archduchess Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria. The natural disposition of the king, which was amiable and virtuous, led him to put a stop to the scandalous depravity of the court, and he was sincerely anxious to promote the happiness of his people; but, though possessed of considerable industry and application, his mind was weak and irresolute. One of his first acts was to restore the Parliament of Paris, exiled in the previous reign; and the management of the finances was intrusted to Turgot, an enlightened minister, who proposed many salutary reforms. But his measures being opposed by the nobility, and even by the parliaments, who feared that their importance would be lessened by them, the timid monarch was induced to dismiss him in 1776, and transfer the office to Necker, a Swiss Protestant, also an able and well-intentioned man.* Notwithstanding financial embar* From the dictates of his own natural disposition, however, Louis effected much partial good. He granted liberty of trade in corn between one province and another, made reforms in the administration, abolished various feudal exactions and the practice of torture, established some degree of economy and order, and set a conspicuous example of it in the management of his own household. He also extended freedom of worship to the Protestants; and demonstrated on the whole, that if he could have followed the bent of his own heart and understanding, France might have had cause to rejoice in the blesings rather than to lament the calamities of his reign. DESTRUCTION OF THtE BASTILE. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 44b rassments, the French marine had been brought, by extraordinary exertions, nearly to an equality with that of England; and when the Ame. rican colonies of the latter country began their struggle for independence, the people, burning to wipe out the disgraces of the former contest, eagerly clamoured for war, to which the king reluctantly consented. A treaty of commerce and alliance was accordingly signed between France and the United States, 1778; hostilities were declared, and a body of auxiliaries, under the Marquis La Fayette, sent out to aid the colonists. The chief events of this struggle have already been noticed; and it may suffice to state, that its consequences to France, besides a great aggravation of financial difficulties, were conspicuous in the general diffusion of those republican principles which had been imbibed by the army during their service in America. THE REVOLUTION.-Meanwhile M. Necker had been doomed to share the fate of his predecessor, from nearly the same causes, 1781; and in 1783, Calonne, supposed to be a more pliant personage, was appointed to succeed him. After various unsuccessful efforts to meet the difficulties of his position, the minister at length, 1787, resolved upon assembling the Notables, a number of influential persons nominated by the king, to whom he proposed a measure for taxing the whole landed property in the nation, including that of the nobles and clergy. But this body, being entirely composed of territorial proprietors, at once rejected the proposal; Calonne resigned; and Louis, after vainly employing several successive advisers, at length recalled Necker, 1788. This statesman now declared that the only resource left was to assemble the states-general, a body consisting of the three orders, clergy, nobility, and commons or third estate, which had not met since 1614; and they were accordingly convoked in May 1789 at Versailles. The king had previously agreed that the deputies of the third estate should equal in number those of the other two orders; and immediately after their meeting, the commons made a proposal that the three estates should assemble and deliberate together. This being at first refused by the nobles and clergy, the commons declared themselves The National dssembly, and at length succeeded in forcing the others to join them in one common hall. A fearful excitement now prevailed in Paris and throughout the country, which was greatly aggravated by the imprudence of his majesty in dismissing Necker, July I1, the only individual near him who continued to retain public confidence. The nobles of the court, headed by the king's brother, the Count d'Artois, were occupied in collecting troops from all quarters around Versailles and the capital; while the Parisians, joined by a portion of the regular army, whose pay was greatly in arrear, formed themselves into a body called the national guard. On the 14th July, this newly organized force, accompanied by a vast concourse of the lowest people, stormed the Bastile, and massacred the governor and his lieutenant; simultaneous insurrections against the mansions of the wealthy occurred in the provinces; and the princes of the blood and many of the nobility, thoroughly alarmed, hastened to leave the country. The perplexed monarch again recalled Necker; but the enthusiasm of the populace was shared by the assembly, which now proceeded in its task of legislation with an absurd and fatal rapidity. On the night of the 4th of August, every incorporate and vested right in the kingdom 38 446 MODERN HISTORY. was cancelled by a single vote; and on the 20th September Louis was compelled to sanction a decree by which the entire royal authority was swept away, and France virtually created a republic, with an hereditary magistrate having the regal title. The excitement in Paris still increased, fomented by various demagogues and the miseries of a famine; and on the 6th of October, a mob from that city attacked the palace of Versailles, massacred the guards, and compelled the king and his family, at the peril of their lives, to remove to Paris, whither the National Assembly also repaired. On the very same day the famous Club of the Jacobins began its sittings. During the year 1790, the royal family remained in the Tuileries, in a condition no way different from that of prisoners, constantly disturbed by alarms of insurrection and rumours of foreign war; while the assembly continued their labours for the new organisation of the country. On the 16th June, they abolished hereditary titles and every distinction of rank; and, in November following, passed a decree ejecting from their benefices all those of the clergy who refused to swear to the new order of things. Necker had now resigned and departed from the country, an example which had already been set by most of the nobility and higher classes; and the unfortunate monarch, left alone to contend with a storm of democracy which he had neither courage to allay nor genius to direct, also attempted to escape, June 1791. He was, however, stopped and brought back to Paris; and, in September following, the assembly presented to him the new constitution in a complete form, which he swore faithfully to observe. That body now dissolved itself, declaring at the same time that its members should not be eligible for re-election to the ensuing Legislative assembly, which commenced its sittings on the 1st October. This new body was almost wholly made up of persons holding republican principles; the majority being connected with the Jacobin Club, while the more moderate party, led by Brissot and other deputies from the Gironde, were found in the end altogether destitute of influence. They began by confiscating the property of the emigrants and banishing the nonjuring priests; and at the same time, the king was treated with marked disrespect, and even forced to dismiss a number of his guards. At this period, the Austrian and Prussian monarchs, alarmed by the progress of democracy in France, assembled a large force on the frontiers; the assembly declared war against them in April 1792; and in July, the Duke of Brunswick, commander of the combined armies, issued a violent manifesto, declaring his intention to reinstate the royal authority, to treat the authors of the late changes as rebels, and even to subject the capital to military execution. This arrogant declaration excited general resentment, and drove the populace of Paris to absolute phrensy. On the 10th August, they attacked the Tuileries, massacred the Swiss guards, and compelled the king and his family to take refuge in the hall of the assembly, whence they were immediately after transferred as prisoners to the old palace of the Temple. The gaols of Paris now contained large numbers of recusant priests and others; and, on the advance of the allies into France, bands of furious ruffians burst into these places of confinement, and massacred their unfortunate inmates in cold blood, 2d Sept.; similar scenes were also enacted in the chief cities of the provinces. TIE REPUBLIC.-The Legislative Assembly now gave place to a new EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 447 body termed the National Convention, which, on the first day of its sitting, abrogated the constitution, and declared France a republic; shortly after, they invited the people of all nations to overturn their existing governments, and offered them protection. The Jacobin or Mountain party,* led by Danton and Robespierre, were now the ruling power; and the fate} of the unfortunate prisoners in the Temple was not long in being decided. On the 21st January 1793, after a mock trial by the convention, the king was led out to execution; an act of gratuitous atrocity, which at once arrayed against France the moral sympathies of mankind, and provoked a coalition among all the powers of Europe.t By this time, however, the revolutionary authorities had assembled numerous and well-appointed armies; and, in 1792, General Dumouriez, who had been opposed to the Duke of Brunswick, after compelling that leader to retreat from France, gained a victory at Jernappes, which gave him possession of all the Austrian Netherlands. In the beginning of 1793, war was declared against England, Spain, and Holland; which last country was immediately invaded by Dumouriez, who, however, soon after deserted to the allies; but, at the end of the year, the French had still the ascendency in Flanders, and their armies on the Rhine were equally successful. The city of Lyons, having revolted, was taken by the republican troops after a siege of two months, and became the scene of horrible atrocities; the people of La Vend/e, who had risen in behalf of royalty, after being entirely overcome in the field, were massacred in thousands; while the seaport of Toulon, which had been taken by the English, was recovered, chiefly through the skill of a young officer of artillery, NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, a native of Corsica. The ruling spirits of this extraordinary epoch, known as the REIGN OF TERROR, and characterized equally by intense vigour and wild ferocity, were Robespierre and Carnot, the heads of the Committee of Public Safety. To the latter was intrusted the chief control of military operations; while the former directe(l the confiscations and massacres perpetrated by those sanguinary courts which had been established in the capital and principal cities for the trial of persons accused of disaffection. As if to demonstrate the close alliance between crime and irreligion, the convention, in October 1793, passed a decree prohibiting the worship of God; busts were erected in the public places to various infidels; while a great festival, equally absurd and impious, was celebrated in honour of the apotheosis of the Goddess of Reason. In little more than a year, the revolutionary tribunal of Paris had sent 1108 persons to the guillotine, including nearly the whole moderate part of the convention; while, by July 1794, Robespierre had procured the execution of a great number of his former associates, besides nearly a thousand other victims. At length the remaining mem bers of the convention, each fearful of being the next sacrifice, united against the dictator, who was himself executed on the 28th July 1794.t ~ So called from occupying the most elevated benches in the convention. f On the 14th October of the same year, the queen was brought to the guillotine; lth king's sister, Princess Elizabeth, suffered the same fate on the 10th May following; his young son, the dauphin, (lied in prison in 1795. Of this ill-fated family, the princess royal alone survived, being given up to the Austrians in exchange for some French prisoners, 1795. The republican writer, Prudhomme, gives a list of upwards of one million persons who suffered during this period, including 1S,603 persons of both sexes who were guillo tined: 937,000 perished in La Vendee; 32,000 at Nantes, exclusive of the massacres at Versailles, Lyons, and various other places. 448 MODERN HISTORY. THE DIRECTORY.-The fall of Robespierre placed the lirection of affairs in the hands of more moderate men; but Carnot still had the control of the military operations, which were prosecuted with the same energy and success. The republican fleet, indeed, had been destroyed by Lord Howe, June 1794, and their possessions in the West Indies taken by the British; but, by the beginning of 1795, Holland was entirely overrun and incorporated with France; their victories in Germany forced Prussia to a humiliating peace; corresponding triumphs in Spain led to the same result with that country, followed next year by an alliance offensive and defensive. In October, the convention terminated its extraordinary career, and was succeeded by an executive government of five directors, Barras, Carnot, Reubell, Reveillere-Lepaux, and Letourneur, and two legislative bodies; the one, composed of 250 members, was denominated the Council of Ancients, the other was called the Council of Five Hundrea. The emigrants were forthwith invited to return, and the clergy to celebrate the worship of that divine Being whom France had at length consented to recognise as supreme. Austria and England, and some of the Italian states, were now the only powers who continued the contest; and in the spring of 1796, the directory sent three great armies into the field,-that of the Sambre and Meuse, under Jourdan; of the Rhine and Moselle, under Moreau; while the command of the army destined for Italy was intrusted to Bonaparte, who, some time before, had rendered an important service to the directory by suppressing a revolt of the sections in Paris. The first and second of these armies, opposed by the Archduke Charles, one of the ablest generals of his time, maintained the campaign in Germany with various fortune; but the success of that under Napoleon was little less than miraculous. After defeating the Austrians in various successive engagements, and plundering the states of Northern Italy, he succeeded, February 1797, in capturing the strong city of Mantua, whence he instantly crossed the Alps and marched at once upon Vienna. The danger of his capital now forced the emperor to negotiate; in October the peace of Campo Formio was concluded, by which the Austrian Netherlands were ceded to France, and Milan, Mantua, Modena, Bologna, and Ferrara formed into a mere dependency called the Cisalpine Republic. The conversion of Genoa into the Ligurian Republic speedily followed; in 1798, Rome was taken possession of, and the pope deposed; while an unprovoked invasion of Switzerland terminated, after a brief but desperate struggle, in the imposition upon that country of a constitution on the model of that established at Paris. England was now the only enemy of France; and the design of attacking her vast empire in India became a chief object with the directory. Apparently with this view, and possibly also to get rid of a general whose talents and towering ambition began to excite alarm, Bonaparte, in 1798, was despatched from Toulon to Egypt at the head of 40,000 men. On his way thither, he obtained possession of Malta; successfully eluded an English squadron under Nelson, which had been sent to watch his proceedings; and, on the 5th July, landing at Alexandria, he took that city by storm, while the fleet remained at anchor in Aboukir Bay. On the 1st of August, the English Admiral hove in sight, and on the same evening began an engagement which utterly annihilated the French squadron, and shut up their army within the EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 449 limits of Egypt. Nevertheless, Napoleon soon made himself master of the entire country, and marched into Palestine, where he laid siege to the town of Acre; but the pasha having intrusted the command to Sir Sidney Smith, an officer in the British navy, the place was so obstinately defended, that he was forced to raise the siege. He then retreated into Egypt, where, encountering a Turkish army which had been sent from Constantinople, he utterly destroyed it at Aboukir, July 1799. But he had no intention of remaining in this distant country, isolated from the great events then transacting in Europe. The Austrians, encouraged by Nelson's victory at Aboukir, had again taken the field, and, aided by a Russian army under Suwarrow, recovered possession of the whole of Italy. Bonaparte accordingly returned to France, leaving his army under the command of General Ileber; and, on the 10th of November, after various intrigues, succeeded in overturning the directory, and obtaining the supreme power by the title of First Consul. The downfal of the directory and the final triumph of its ablest military chief, terminated the great drama of the revolution, by far the most remarkable and important event in modern history. In England it tended unquestionably to retard the progress of constitutional liberty, by furnishing its antagonists with the strongest arguments against concession to the popular voice. Still, numerous obstacles, perhaps otherwise insurmountable, were removed, and the face of Europe gradually prepared for important though less violent changes, by which the wealthy middle and commercial classes have succeeded to the power and influence of a prejudiced aristocracy. The most immediate consequences in France were - 1. The abolition of feudal rights and the privileges of primogeniture; 2. Equality in the eye of the law; 3. The establishment of independent tribunals for the administration of justice; 4. National representation with taxation; 5. Liberty of the press, and religious toleration; 6. The abolition of torture; 7. The division of provinces into departments. The following institutions also appeared amidst the storms of this period:- The National Guard, the Institute, the Jury; but this last, adopted from England, does not succeed in a land even yet imperfectly prepared for constitutional liberty. SPAIN. The will of Charles II. in favour of the young Duke of Anjou, though mainly obtained through the successful intrigues of his grandfather Louis XIV., seems to have been cheerfully acquiesced in by the majority of the Spaniards; and the Bourbon prince was at once proclaimed as PHILIP V. throughout the European and transatlantic possessions of the monarchy, 1700. In the long war which followed with Austria and England, the people, aided by a body of French troops under the Duke of Berwick, remained steadfast to their sovereign; until at length that general totally routed the rival claimant at Almanza, 1707, and placed Philip in undisturbed possession of the greater part of the Peninsula, Catalonia alone remaining in the hands of the enemy. The contest, however, of which a notice has already been given under FRANCE, continued six years longer, the seat of war being chiefly Italy and the Netherlands; and Spain of course shared in the signal humiliation which it entailed on the French king. The treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt, 1713, 1714, stripped her of all her European dependencies, and secured to England the strong fortress of Gibraltar, an acquisition which that country has ever since retained. This struggle was also fatal in a great measure to the liberties of the people; for Philip, who had been educa' 38 * 450 MODERN HISTORY. ted in the despotic principles of his grandfather, and was long ruled by French counsellors, succeeded in abrogating the free constitutions enjoyed by the various provinces, and the country became more than ever united into one uniform and absolute monarchy. The death of the queen, Maria Louisa, in 1714, terminated the French influence in Spain. Alberoni, an Italian Jesuit, and a person of bold and unscrupulous character, had been appointed envoy from Parma to the court of Madrid, and succeeded in bringing about a marriage between Elizabeth Farnese and Philip. This princess speedily showed her determination to command both her consort and his kingdom; she ignominiously turned off the Princess Orsini, the chief favourite of the late queen and also of his majesty himself; while Alberoni, the agent of her elevation, was successively made prime-minister, a cardinal, and a grandee of Spain. The influence of these two ambitious individuals soon became apparent in numerous cabals to set aside the treaty of Utrecht, and thereby secure to Philip the reversion of the French crown and the recovery of his lost dominions in Italy. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the internal administration of the cardinal was characterized by a wisdom and vigour long unknown to the Spaniards; his endeavours to promote general improvement and increase the advantages derived from the colonies, did much for the restoration of the country; and it may even be doubted whether he would not have persevered in this judicious course, had not the imperious character of the queen precipitated hostilities. These at length broke out on the death of Louis XIV., 1715: a conspiracy was formed in France for the overthrow of Orleans and the appointment of the Spanish sovereign to the regency of that kingdom; an armament was despatched against Sardinia, which was conquered in three months; and an expedition was even fitted out to invade England on behalf of the Stuarts. But the formation of the Quadruple Alliance, 1718, rendered all these designs abortive; and Alberoni, who had thus drawn on himself the deep resentment of France and England, was deprived of all his offices, and compelled to take his departure. However, in the peace which followed, 1720, the reversion of the duchies of Parma and Tuscany was secured to the queen and her heirs. In 1724, Philip abdicated his crown in favour of his son Louis; but this prince having died a few months after of the smallpox, he again resumed the government. The real motive for this singular step seems to have been the hope of thereby succeeding Louis XV., whose health was very precarious, on the throne of France, an attempt which would not have been permitted while he remained king of Spain. The ambition of the queen was therefore again directed towards Italy; and, on the breaking out of the Polish succession war in 1733, hostilities were declared against Austria, and an army under her son, Don Carlos, was sent thither. He speedily made himself master of Naples and Sicily, acquisitions which were ultimately secured to him by the peace of 1736, though at the expense of her majesty's patrimonial territories, the duchies of Parma and Piacenza, which were surrendered to the emperor. In 1739, war broke out with England in conisequence of some disputes as to the contraband trade with America; and in the following year Spain took part in the attacks on Maria Theresa of Austria; neither of which contests was conducted with much spirit. Philip, who had long laboured under a hypochondriacal malady, died in 1746. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 451 FERDINAND VI. had married in 1729 the Princess Barbara of Portugal; and he had the good fortune to recover, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748, the duchy of Parma and other territories in Italy, as a principality for his half-brother Philip. The remainder of his reign was happily barren of what are called great events, exhibiting little beyond a contest between the English and French agents in support of the policy of their respective courts. In following the bent of his natural disposition, he preserved a strict neutrality, and, aided by his excellent minister, the Marquis of Ensefiada, originally a peasant, devoted himself to heal the wounds inflicted by war, alleviate the burdens of the people, encourage agriculture, and re-establish order in the finances. The revenues, which under Charles II. had scarcely amounted to thirty millions of reals, exceeded in 1750 thirty millions of dollars, although many taxes had been reduced or abolished. At his death, in 1759, he left about three millions sterling in the royal treasury, and a navy augmented to fifty ships of war. Don Carlos, king of Naples, succeeded his brother Ferdinand by the title of CHARLES 11I. At this time France and England were engaged in the celebrated seven years' war, from which Spain for a time kept aloof, but was at length drawn into it by signing the treaty with the ormer country, known as the Family Compact, 1761. An immediate rupture with England was the consequence; and Portugal, refusing to sacrifice her alliance with that power, was unsuccessfully invaded by a Spanish army. The English fleet captured Havannah, with a numerous squadron and great booty; the Philippine Islands also fell into their hands. After the conclusion of peace in 1763, by which Florida was ceded to Great Britain, Charles occupied himself with the interior improvement of his kingdom, and societies for the promotion of the arts and agriculture sprung up over all the Peninsula. The roads, which had previously been so bad that no public carriage was in existence, were greatly improved; the canal of Aragon, begun by the Emperor Charles V., was continued; and the revived manufactures of cloth and glass became equally celebrated and valuable. In 1766, some popular tumults occurred in Madrid and other places, which with very little appearance of probability were ascribed to the instigation of the Jesuits; and that order was in consequence summarily banished in the following year. Various other measures were adopted to limit the influence of the church and the power of the Inquisition; while military schools were founded, and great exertions nmade to restore the navy, which had suffered severely by the disastrous contest of 1761; so that the Spanish fleets became important auxiliaries to those of France during the American war, 1779. Charles died in 1788, sincerely regretted by his subjects, whose happiness and prosperity had been greatly promoted throughout his whole reign, both by his own exertions and by those of his enlightened ministers, Aranda, Campomanes, and Floridablanca. CHARLES IV. was forty years of age when he ascended the throne. The commencement of his government, which coincides with the epoch of the French revolution, seemed to promise a continuance of the wise policy of his father; but Godoy, a favourite of the queen, having succeeded Floridablarca in power, soon involved the country in a new career of misfortune. In 1793, the convention declared war against him, on the ground that he had improperly interfered in the internal 452 MODERN HISTORY. concerns of France; and there is no doubt that he joined with zeal in the crusade against that country. A contribution of fully three millions sterling being voted towards the expenses of the war, Roussillon was invaded by the united armies of Spain and Portugal; but in 1794 the French entered Catalonia, and compelled Godoy to conclude an ignominious peace. The next step of the favourite, who had obtained the singular title of Prince of the Peace, was to conclude an offensive and defensive alliance with the revolutionary leaders, by which it was stipulated that each state should, in case of war, receive from the other the aid of fifteen ships of the line and 24,000 troops. The necessary result of this measure was an immediate rupture with England, in which the Spanish fleets were destroyed, the islands of Trinidad and Minorca wrested from her, and her colonial and foreign trade nearly ruined. The dominions of Charles now became little better than a French dependency; Portugal, having refused to submit to a similar degradation, was invaded by an army of 40,000 men, commanded by Godoy in person, compelled to cede the fortress of Olivenza, and to close her ports against England, 1801. GENEALOGY OF THE SPANISH BOURBON FAMILY. 1. PHILIP V., s. of Louis (dauphin), b. 1683, k. 1700, abd. 15th January, rest. 6th [~~~~~~~~~I ~~September 1724, d. 1746. 2. Lovis I., b. 1707, 3. FERDINAND VI., b. 1711, 4. CHARLES III., b. 1716 k. 1724, d. 1724. k. 1746. k. 1759. 5. CHARLES IV., b. 1748 k. 1788, abd. 1808. 6. FERDINAND VII., b. 1784 = Maria Antoinette, d. of Ferdinand IV. of Sicily, 1802, k. 1808. 7. MARIA ISABELLA It. (minor), 1833, q. PORTUGAL. The reign of Peter II., of nearly forty years' duration, enabled Portugal in some measure to recover from the wounds inflicted by foreign domination and the hostilities by which it was terminated; but the country could hardly have attained its former eminence, even though the government had been more wisely administered than it actually was. From this time may be dated her commercial relations and alliance with England. In 1703, a treaty was concluded by the British ambassador, Mr. Methuen, which secured important advantages to both countries, and the Portuguese were induced to take part in the war of the Spanish succession. Peter was succeeded in 1706 by his eldest son JOHN V., a prince of moderate abilities, under whom, nevertheless, some vigour was displayed in relation to foreign affairs, and various attempts were made for the promotion of internal welfare, by restricting the enormous powers of the Inquisition, and promoting trade and manufactures. That body, however, were much too formidable to allow the object to be effectually attained; and although the national revenues were considerably improved, yet immense sums were squandered on the sumptuous monastery of Mafra, and in obtaining permission from the Pope to institute a patriarch of Lisbon. John V. also patronised literature; in 1714 he founded the Portuguese Academy, and in 1720 that oC History. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 453 JOSEPH I. succeeded his father in 1750, and chose for his minister the bold and enterprising Don Carvalho, afterwards Marquis of Pombal. The spirit of reform and improvement which had been developing itself in Spain now also became active in Portugal; and this statesman, emulating Aranda and Floridablanca, was indefatigable in his efforts to restore its ancient prosperity. Industry of all kinds, commerce, and education, received his attention and support; absurd sumptuary laws were abolished, piracy was checked, the frontiers were fortified, and the army regularly paid. The Jesuits and the nobility, who had exercised a dangerous influence under the preceding reign, were vigorously attack ed, sometimes with a degree of violence not altogether prudent. Several of his measures, too, were regulated by the narrow views of political economy prevalent at the time; the monopoly of the Oporto Wine Company, intended to deprive England of some of the benefits she derived from the Methuen treaty, being equally detrimental to the native growers. In the midst of his various plans, a terrible earthquake (November 1755) occurred at Lisbon, by which nearly the entire city was thrown down, and about 15,000 persons perished in the ruins. For some years, the attention of Pombal was mainly occupied with endeavours to repair the ravages of this frightful event; but, in 1758, he renewed his hostility to the Jesuits, resolving even on their expulsion from the kingdom. Some trifling colonial disputes with Spain had revealed the immense influence acquired by these fathers among the Indians of South America, and a plot for the assassination of the king having about this time been discovered, was charged without a shadow of evidence to their instigation. The order was accordingly proscribed and banished, with circumstances of hardship and cruelty which affix an indelible stigma upon the memory of this minister. After the signing of the family compact between Spain and France, 1761, Portugal, still adhering to the English alliance, was exposed to invasion; but the war terminated honourably for the country, through the able measures of the British general, 1763. The accession of Maria, 1777, terminated the ministry of Pombal, who had raised up to himself many enemies among the nobility, and given great offence to the queen by an attempt to impede her succession. Her majesty inherited all the bigotry of the house of Braganza; the ignorant nobles and the equally ignorant and still more ambitious clergy soon regained much of their former influence; and he was consequently condemned to perpetual exile from the court. Her first measures, however, were sufficiently popular: a number of persons were released from prison, while a defensive alliance with Spain secured the peace of the Peninsula and terminated the colonial disputes between the countries. in 1786, she lost her husband Pedro, which induced a state of melancholy that rendered her nearly incapable of public business; the government, of course, fell into great disorder, and faction disputed the authority of the state. She at length became entirely insane; and, in 1799, her eldest son, John, prince of Brazil, was declared regent, with full regal powers. ITALIAN PENINSULA. SAVOY, PIEDMONT, AND SARDINIA.-VICTOR AMADEUS II., duke oY Savoy, had by the treaty of Utrecht reunited Montferrat to Piedmont and the crown of Sicily to his paternal coronet. To take possess-, r of 454 MODERN HISTORY. his new kingdom, he passed into Sicily with all his court, where he engaged in hostilities with the Pope, in defence of the royal prerogatives against the pretensions of the holy see. In 1718, the Spanish invasion of this island and the Quadruple Alliance compelled him to exchange Sicily for Sardinia, which was raised to the rank of a kingdom. After having long attracted the attention of Europe by his enterprising and successful ambition, he resigned the crown to his son, CHARLES EMANUEL III., 1730, and retired to the villa of Moncalieri, where he died two years afterwards. The new sovereign was, like his father, a skilful warrior and politician, and equally true to his own interest. By the contests of the Polish and Austrian successions, he obtained considerable augmentations of territory. From the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle to his death in 1773, his reign exhibits no remarkable event; the place of battles and victories being occupied by useful reforms, and other endeavours to promote the welfare of his subjects. Unfortunately, this state of affairs changed considerably under VICTOR AMADEUS III., a prince fond of show and parade; and Sardinia, until the end of the eighteenth century, groaned beneath the despotism of its viceroys and the continually augmenting weight of abuses engendered by a corrupt administration. TUscANY.-CCosmo III. grandduke from 1670 to 1723, left his territory in a miserable condition, loaded with debt and oppressed with abuses. His son, John Gaston, endeavoured to compensate by the pleasures of royalty for the constrained life he had previously been compelled to lead; but, in consequence of his ruinous prodigality, his demise in 1737 was esteemed a fortunate event for his people. As he died without heirs, the duchy was conferred by the great powers of Europe on Francis, duke of Lorraine, husband of Maria Theresa, who, becoming Emperor of Germany some time afterwards, allowed the interests of Tuscany to fall into neglect. On the death of the emperor, his second son, Peter Leopold, succeeded him as grandduke, 1765, under whose wise and paternal government the prosperity of the country began gradually to revive. THE Two SICILIES.-After the war of the Spanish succession, the kingdom of the Two Sicilies was divided, by the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt, between the Emperor Charles VI., who took the continental portion, and the Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus, who obtained Sicily. In 1733, these territories were reunited under Austrian masters; but, in 1734, the Infant Don Carlos began the reconquest of them, which he completed in the following year. He was immediately crowned king as Charles VII., and legitimatized his title by a wise and beneficent administration. His successor in 1759 was Ferdinand IV., a minor eight years of age, under the regency of the able Tanucci. The completion of his majority, 1767, was celebrated by the expulsion of the Jesuits from his dominions. Ten years after, Tanucci was disgraced, having possessed power nearly half a century. An Englishman named Acton succeeded to his duties, but became odious to the people by adopting what were thought too stringent measures for the reorganisation of the military force. VENICE, under Francis Morosini, had been signally victorious over the Turks at the end of the seventeenth century. She was sensible EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 455 of her real feebleness and decline, and, during the war of the Spanish succession, almost alone remained neutral. In 1714, the Ottomans recovered the Morea; and, in 1715, the republic confined its exertions to save the island of Corfu, the key on that side to Italy and the Adriatic. Aided by the emperor, the recovery of their lost territories might have been effected; but the Austrian forces being required elsewhere, the treaty of Passarowitz was hastily concluded at the expense of Venice, 1718. The policy of this state was to maintain an entire neutrality, which did not, however, preserve it from being ravaged by the contending forces of 1733. In like manner, during the war between the Turks and Russians in 1768, it sided with neither party, confining its exertions to a few ill-directed.efforts against the pirates, whose tributary it eventually became. STATES OF THE CHURCII.-CLEMENT XI., 1700, issued the celebrated hull Unigenitus, which, during half a century, caused so many ridiculous disputes and odious persecutions. A tribunal established in Sicily by a manifesto of URBAN II. led to serious differences with the king of that island, 1713; but they were terminated in a short time. BENEDICT XIII., 1724, a model of all Christian virtues, weakly abandoned the government to the Cardinal Benevento, who unworthily abused his confidence, causing an annual deficiency of 120,000 Roman crowns. The very day of this pontiff's death was signalized by a rising of the populace to punish the minister and his agents. BENEDICT XIV., 1741, esteemed for his moderation, terminated the Jansenist dispute, and settle the differences of his predecessors with the courts of Spain, Portugal, Sicily, and Sardinia. In the war of the Austrian succession, the neutrality of his territories was violated, for which he received a trifling compensation after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. CLEMENT XIII., 1748, got into trouble with all the princes of the Bourbon family by an interdict he had published against the Duke of Parma: France seized upon Avignon, the King of Naples took Benevento, and Spain threatened to appropriate the church revenues. His troubles were further increased by the antisacerdotal spirit of the times, manifested principally by the expulsion of the Tesuits from the various states of Europe. CLEMENT XIV. (Ganganelli), 1769, one of the wisest men of the age, yielding finally to necessity, published a bull abolishing the order of Jesuits,-a condescension which was repaid by the restitution of Benevento and Avignon. The early part of the long reign of his successor, Pius VI., 1774, was occupied with acts of charity or useful labours; in founding asylums for indigent young females and hospitals for the friars charged with the education of the people, clearing out the port of Ancona, and draining the Pontine marshes. Consult: Sismondi's Italian Republics. GERMANY. JOSEPH I., son of Leopold, having been elected king of the Romans in 1690, at once succeeded to the imperial honours on his father's death in 1705. The long war of the Spanish succession, already noticed under FRANCE, was then at its height, and formed of course the most prominent event of his reign, internally distinguished by a wise, tolerant, and humane administration. His brother, the competitor for the throne of 456 MODERN HISTORY. Spain, succeeded him in 1711 as CHARLES VI., and thus led to the termi nation of a contest which had well-nigh ruined France, and exposed many parts of Europe to bloodshed and devastation. The treaty of Utrecht, 1713, the actual conclusion of the war. was confirmed by him at Rastadt the next year; by it he obtained the Spanish Netherlands, except the Dutch barrier towns, with Milan, Naples, and Sardinia; this last being afterwards exchanged for Sicily. The conquest of the Morea, achieved in 1715 by Achmet III., led the emperor to form an alliance with Venice against the Turks, in which Prince Eugene gained fresh laurels. He signally defeated them at Peterwaradin, and afterwards captured Belgrade and a great part of Servia, which with other places were formally ceded by the Porte to Austria, 1718; while the attempt on the part of Spain to take advantage of this contest to recover her lost territories in Italy was frustrated by the Quadruple Alliance. But the main concern of the emperor was directed to the choice of a successor in his hereditary dominions. With this view, he issued in 1721 the famous Pragmatic Sanction, or fundamental law regulating the order of succession in the Austrian family; by which, in default of male issue, Charles' eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, and her descendants after her, were called to that vast inheritance. This regulation was guaranteed by all the German princes and several of the European powers;- and various intrigues and alliances were set on foot for the purpose of having it generally recognised, —that with his old enemy, Philip V. of Spain, 1725, being not the least extraordinary. But this temporary alliance, it is well known, was speedily dissolved, and Charles returned to the party of the maritime states. The latter years of his reign were greatly agitated by these causes, by disputes respecting Parma and Piacenza, and by the war which arose out of the Polish election, 1733. He afterwards engaged with Russia in hostilities against Turkey, 1738; but his army met only with reverses, and the peace of Belgrade, signed in the following year, deprived Austria of all the acquisitions she had obtained in 1718. This humiliation accelerated the death of the emperor, which took place in 1740. He was a patron of letters and science, founded a public library, and began a cabinet of medals. In the hereditary states he formed new and improved roads, and endeavoured to stimulate manufactures and commerce. By great exertions, Charles VI. had procured for the Pragmatic Sanction the guarantee of all the chief European states; and therefore, as well as by right of blood, MARIA THERESA was the undoubted sovereign of the Austrian dominions.* But she soon experienced the inefficacy of treaties when opposed to the presumed interests of rulers. She had hardly taken possession of the inheritance when her right was disputed -by Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria, on a will of the Emperor Ferdinand; by Augustus III. of Poland, elector of Saxony, in right of his wife Maria, eldest daughter of the Emperor Joseph, Charles' eldest brother; and by the King of Spain, on a most recondite genealogy; while Frederick of Prussia put forth a groundless claim to the province of Silesia, and the Sardinian monarch demanded the duchy of Milan. * This princess had married, in 1736, Francis, duke of Lorraine, afterwards granddlke of Tuscany, where she and her husband were residing at her father's death. The territories bequeathed to her by that event were Hungary, Bohemia, Upper and Lower Austria, Silesia, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Bureau, Brisgau, the Tyrol, Friuli, Milan, Parma, Piacenza, the Netherlands, and part of Swabia. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 457 Only England and Holland remained faithful to their engagements. Frederick at once took the initiative in the contest by invading the province he had claimed; while he offered Maria Theresa his friendship on condition of receiving its unconditional surrender,-a proposal which she magnaniniously rejected. The elector of Bavaria, on his part, assisted by French auxiliaries, invaded Austria and Bohemia, and, pushing his troops to the very gates of Vienna, forced the queen to flee from her capital. Repairing to Hungary, she convoked the diet at Presburg, and appeared in the midst of the assembly with her infant son in her arms. By an eloquent and heart-stirring address, she awakened the enthusiasm of that chivalrous nation; the barons, drawing their swords, swore to defend their sovereign to the last; and the whole military force of Hungary was speedily marshalled around her. Under Prince Charles of Lorraine, her brother-in-law, and General Kevenhuller, these brave troops speedily drove the French and Bavarians out of the hereditary states, with the exception of Bohemia, which still remained in the hands of the enemy; -but they were unable to prevent the election of Charles Albert to the imperial crown, which was conferred on him by the diet of Frankfort, 1742, under the title of CHARLES VII. Maria Theresa was now compelled to purchase peace with the Prus. sian monarch by the surrender of Silesia. She was able, at the same time, to conclude a treaty of alliance with Sardinia against the French and Spaniards, who were thereby kept in check on the side of Italy; while the former, under Broglio and Belleisle, blockaded in Prague, offered to surrender their conquests in Bohemia for permission to retire, and were at length forced to a disastrous retreat. Nevertheless, in 1744, Frederick again took the field against the queen, demanding additional territories; but the elector of Saxony, who had made an alliance with her, sent reinforcements, which obliged the Prussians to evacuate Bohemia with the loss of 20,000 men. In 1745, Charles VII. died; and the queen, whose fortunes were now decidedly in the ascendant, notwithstanding the victory achieved by France over her English allies at Fontenoy, gained the highest point of her ambition in the elevation of her husband as FRANCIS I. to the imperial honours. In Italy, the Austrian and Piedmontese troops obtained great advantages; in 1746, they won the battle of Piacenza against the French and Spaniards, and occupied Genoa, which, however, was afterwards lost through a popular insurrection. Another bloody campaign took place in Italy and Flanders, with no decisive result; and next year, 1748, the war was terminated by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, securing to the empress-queen the peaceful possession of her dominions, except Silesia alone, which remained in the hands of Frederick. Maria Theresa employed this interval of repose in various useful and important measures of internal reformation, thereby securing still more firmly the attachment of her various subjects. The revenues were much increased, and the army reorganized by Count Daun, the great military rival of Frederick of Prussia, while the chief direction of the government was intrusted to Prince Kaunitz. The principal aim of this minister's policy was the humiliation of Prussia, now one of the most formidable powers in Europe. With this view, a league was entered into with Russia, Saxony, and France; while England, then at war with the last-mentioned country, promised her aid to Frederick, 1756. A fearful 39 458 MODERN HISTORY. struggle, known as the Seven Years' War, was the consequence, in which the Prussian monarch had to contend almost alone against these formidable opponents. It ended in 1763, both Austria and Prussia remaining with the same boundaries as before. Two years later, the Emperor Francis I. died, leaving the dignity to his son, who had shortly before been elected King of the Romans. JOSEPH II., though nominally emperor, remained altogether destitute of real power during the lifetime of his mother, and was indebted to the Austrian armies alone for the security of his position. Hence he may be said rather to have acquiesced in than effected the infamous partition of Poland, 1773, between Prussia, Russia, and Maria Theresa, who herself seems to have been forced reluctantly to agree to it. At all events, Austria gained thereby a large accession of territory,-a circumstance which did not prevent her from claiming, on the extinction of the electoral house of Bavaria by the death of Maximilian Joseph, 1777, nearly all the possessions of that family. With the view of enforcing this demand, and regardless of the rights of the undoubted heir, Charles Theodore, elector-palatine, an Austrian army at once occupied the whole electorate. France, Russia, and Prussia, however, remonstrated against this appropriation; and Frederick quickly poured an immense force into Bohemia, which wasted the country even to the walls of Prague. These prompt measures led to a peace at Teschen, 1779, by which the electorpalatine obtained his inheritance, though a small portion of his spoils was secured to the emperor. In 1780, died Maria Theresa, the best and greatest sovereign of her race, after a reign of forty years, devoted to the promotion of the happiness of her people. Maria Theresa made many important improvements for the benefit of her wide doininions. In 1776 she abolished the torture in the hereditary states, and put an end to the rural and personal services which the Bohemian peasants rendered to their feudal lords; and from 1774 to 1778 her attention was occupied with the establishment of a general system of popular education. Various salutary regulations were enforced touching the temporalities of the clergy; and in Italy the arbitrary power of the Inquisition was circumscribed within narrow limits. Lombardy, after the long misrule of its Spanish governors, experienced an era of reviving prosperity under her minister Count Firmian, who reformed the financial arrangements, and protected the peasants from the oppressions of the great. Joseph II., who aimed at the reputation of a reformer, now undisputed master of the Austrian territories, imagined himself at length able to indulge his ambition abroad, as well as to enter on his long-meditated changes at home. Various schemes of aggrandisement were formed at the expense of Holland, Turkey, aud the smaller Germanic states, especially the exchange of the Netherlands for Bavaria; but the interposition of France and the King of Prussia, who succeeded in effecting a defensive league among the several princes, effectually kept him in check. The innovations of the emperor, embracing the entire abolition of feudalism, religious equality, uniformity of government and taxation, regular dispensation of justice to all classes, and the establishment of the German as a universal language throughout his dominions, were in themselves of the most salutary description; but they were carried into effect with an arbitrary and restless haste which gave great offence to nations differing widely from each other, and most of them but imperfectly prepared for such sweeping changes. In the Catholic Nether EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 459 lands, in particular, these inroads on their ancient usages were viewed with detestation, while the alteration of their native language produced great excitement in Hungary and Bohemia. In 1788, under pretext of an alliance with the Empress Catherine II., then at war with Turkey, he raised a large army for the invasion of that country. He conducted one division of it in person, with little credit; but another, under General Laudon, succeeded in capturing Belgrade and other fortresses, 1789. The disturbances in Hungary and the Low Countries, however, which had been carried the length of open revolt, and the intervention of Prussia and the maritime powers, arrested the progress of the Austrian arms, and probably accelerated the death of the emperor, which took place in 1790. Joseph was succeeded by his brother LEOPOLD II., grandduke of Tuscany, in the hereditary states, and shortly after also in the imperial honours. This prince had gained a high character in his Italian principality, and soon displayed a laudable prudence and moderation in governing his extensive empire. He at once abolished the more odious innovations of his brother, thereby, in some measure, securing internal tranquillity; placed himself on a footing of amity with Prussia and England; and concluded an advantageous peace with the Porte. The most important event of his reign, which embraced little more than twelve months, was an alliance with Prussia, 1792, to arrest the progress of French republicanism, which became the precursor of consequences most disastrous to his country. He was succeeded in the same year by his son FRANCIS II., at a time when the discontent produced by the rash innovations of Joseph had not subsided, and war with France appeared inevitable. It broke out in April by a declaration on the part of the Legislative Assembly, and was carried on for some years on the Rhine with varied success: but the brilliant victories of Bonaparte forced on the peace of 1797. However, in 1799, a new coalition was formed between Austria, Russia, and England, and the allied armies were eminently triumphant both in Italy and on the Rhine, when a misunderstanding between the Austrian and Russian commanders led to the defeat of the latter in Switzerland and his subsequent withdrawal, 1800. GENEALOGY OF THE IOUSE OF HAPSBURG-LORRAINE. 52. FRANCIS I., b. 1708, emp. 1745, d. 1765 = Maria Theresa, q. of Hungary and I Bohemia. 53. JOSEPH II., b. 1741, emp. 1765, 54. LEOPOLD II., h. 1747, emp. 1790, d. 1790. d 1792. 55. FRANCIS II., b. 1768, emp. 1792, 1st of Austria, 1804. 56. FERDINAND CHARLES, emp. 1835. Maria Louisa, b. 1791 = Napoleon, 1810. HOLLAND. William III., on his accession to the throne of England in 1689, offered to the world the singular spectacle of a monarchy and a republic governed at the same time by the same individual; and in both capacities he was occupied with one absorbing motive, that of determined opposition to the power of Louis XIV. Hardly, therefore, was he seated in his newly acquired sovereignty, ere he appeared on the Continent at the head of a confederacy embracing Germany, Spain, Great 460 MODERN HISTORY. Britain, and Holland. Various bloody but undecisive campaigns were fought; and though unable to command that success which his military talents deserved, he had the rare fortune of appearing always as formidable after defeat as he had been before action. This contest conferred a high reputation on the naval and military force of Holland; but she had at the same time to lament an increase of public debt and the diminution of trade; while the peace of Ryswick, 1697, by which it was terminated, secured to her no advantages. Nevertheless, the states readily became parties to the Grand Alliance, 1701; and William was once more preparing to lead the armies of Europe against the French, when his death in the same year left his plans to be carried out by more fortunate leaders. Holland, however, did not neglect this opportunity of recurring to the old government of 1650: no new stadtholder was appointed; the supreme authority was retained by the states-general, and Heinsius, the grand-pensioner, was intrusted with the active direction of affairs. This great man amply justified the confidence reposed in him; he ably cooperated with Marlborough and Prince Eugene in the long contest which followed; and to his assistance and counsels were owing in no small degree those masterly combinations which resulted in the splendid triumphs of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet. The peace of Utrecht, 1713, which secured to Holland a strong barrier of frontier fortresses, also saw the republic raised to her highest point of influence and greatness. Her powerful enemy had been humbled to the dust; her commerce had revived amidst the struggle; her finances were placed on a satisfactory footing; and surrounding states regarded her with envy or respect. For a period of thirty years after this treaty, the United Provinces enjoyed the unwonted blessing of peace, during which the states devoted their entire energies to internal reforms. They received into their protection the persecuted sectaries of France, Germany, and Hungary; and though the principle of toleration might seem to be violated in the expulsion of the Jesuits, 1731, a Protestant country cannot well be blamed for a measure afterwards universally imitated even by Catholic states. In 1732, the whole nation was overwhelmed with alarm, by the discovery that the beams and other wood-work employed in the construction of their dikes had been eaten through by some unknown species of marine grub; but the providential occurrence of a hard frost, by destroying these formidable insects, freed the country from a danger greater even than another war. The elements of a fresh contest were already in existence. In 1729, the states had been induced to guarantee the Pragmatic Sanction, and on the death of Charles VI., 1740, they at once joined England in aid of his daughter, Maria Theresa, with a reinforcement of 20,000 men and a large subsidy. These allies gained the battle of Dettingen, 1743; but Holland was once more exposed to invasion after the severe repulse at Fontenoy, 1744. In these circumstances, she again had recourse to the old expedient of elevating the house of Orange; and, accordingly, the representative of that illustrious family, WILLIAM IV., who had married a daughter of George II., was appointed stadt. holder, and the right of hereditary succession vested in the male ana female line, 1747. The contest was concluded by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 461 without loss to the country; but, three years afterwards, amid her reviving prosperity, Holland had to lament the death of her young chief. His son, WILLIAM V., then an infant, succeeded under the guardianship of his mother; and, during his minority, the nation was able to remain neutral amid the storms of the seven years' war. This prince assumed the government in 1766; two years later, he married the Princess of Prussia, niece of Frederick the Great. But the anti-Orange faction had in the mean time again attained the ascendency, and a rankling jealousy of England sprung up in the national mind. This feeling led the Dutch to give an underhand aid to the revolted colonies in America, as also to join the armed neutrality of the northern powers; and the British, in return, declared war against them in 1780. In the four years' struggle that followed, Holland suffered severely in her commerce, and lost many valuable colonies, which were retained by Britain at the peace of 1784; while the emperor also took the opportunity to dismantle the barrier towns, 1781. The national discontent thus awakened, and the new theories set afloat during the contest, gave increased activity to the republican party; and, in 1787, the states actually deprived William of all his appointments, while his consort, who had endeavoured to reconcile the hostile parties, was unjustifiably arrested and treated as a prisoner. The King of Prussia, in his sister's name, demanded an ample satisfaction; on the refusal of which, a Prussian army of 20,000 men, under the Duke of Brunswick, marched into Holland. Amsterdam was besieged and forced to capitulate, when all the resolutions that had been taken against the stadtholder were annulled, and he was reinstated in his former authority. -But this period of recovered power was of short duration; an alliance with Prussia and England in 1788 being the ostensible cause of a declaration of war on the part of France in 1793. At the head of an army of 100,000 men, the republican general, Pichegru, soon gained possession of the chief places in Flanders, 1794; and, taking advantage of an unusually severe winter, which froze the canals and arms of the sea, drove the Duke of York and his army from point to point, and speedily became master of the whole country. The Prince of Orange presented himself to the states-general at the Hague, into whose hands he resigned his dignities and retired to England; and the United Provinces now changed their long-cherished form of government, and even their name, receiving, at the command of their Gallican masters, the novel designation of the Batavian Republic, 1795. DENMARK. The treaty of Stockholm, 1720, having secured to Frederick IV. all he could reasonably desire, the remainder of his life was passed in unmolested repose, during which he was enabled by economy and wise financial measures to reduce somewhat the extraordinary burdens which the war had rendered necessary. The most striking events that followed were the closing of the trade with Hamburg in 1726, and the occurrence of a fire in Copenhagen, which consumed about sixteen hundred and forty houses, thereby nearly destroying that capital, 1728. Frederick died in 1730, in the sixtieth year of his age, having the character of a wise and biave prince, fond of enterprise, but strongly disposed to promote the welfare of his subjects. His son and successor, CHRISTIAN 39* 462 MODERN HISTORY. VI., one of the most popular and patriotic sovereigns of Denmark, im, mediately abolished various monopolies in the sale of wine, brandy, salt, and tobacco, which had pressed heavily on the people; and with the view of still further stimulating commerce, he established the Asiatic Company in 1732, and four years after re-opened the trade with Hamburg. At the same time, he renewed treaties of amity with Sweden and England, for the mutual protection of their dominions; with the view of promoting arts and manufactures, workmen were brought from various countries to instruct the people; and the establishment of a royal bank proved of great advantage to the mercantile classes in the kingdom. Notwithstanding the repeal of various oppressive taxes, Christian contrived to maintain his fleet and army ori a respectable footing, as well as to restore the militia, which had been abolished; and, although devoted to a pacific policy, he was thus enabled to assume a vigorous warlike attitude, when events rendered it necessary. This prince also established regulations for the better celebration of religious service, and enjoined upon the great landed proprietors the obligation of founding a school in every village. The magnificent palace of Christiansburg, and the docks of Christianshaven, are among the chief monuments of his reign. FREDERICK V., 1746, succeeded to the virtues as well as the crown of his father; and his internal management of affairs forms a brilliant sequel to the measures of that excellent prince, in which he was ably seconded by his minister, the great Bernstorf. Commerce and manufactures accordingly prospered more rapidly than ever, the national shipping being fully doubled in this reign; intellectual culture became widely diffused; economy and judicious regulations placed the finances in a highly satisfactory condition; while various legislative measures provided for the more prompt and regular administration of justice. In 1743, the king espoused Louisa, daughter of George II. of England, an estimable personage; and, in 1749, the birth of a prince-royal diffused universal joy throughout the nation. On the death of the queen in 1751, another marriage was concluded with Juliana Maria of BrunswickWolfenbuttel, a lady greatly inferior in every respect to her predecessor, and whose intrigues became afterwards the source of much evil in the reign of her step-son. In the wars which desolated the rest of Europe, Frederick took no part; and though certain claims put forth to the duchy of Sleswick by the Czar Peter III. led to military demonstrations in 1762, the dispute was amicably settled with Catherine II. in the same year. The rest of his life was spent in encouraging the arts and sciences; and to him the Danish theatre is indebted for its origin. CHRISTIAN VII., 1766, succeeded his father at the age of seventeen, and, though inheriting little either of his talents or virtues, signalized the commencement of his reign by a measure for the gradual abolition of vassalage throughout the kingdom. Immediately on his accession, he espoused Caroline Matilda, sister of George III. of England, an amiable and accomplished princess, whom he nevertheless treated with great harshness; and, in 1768, leaving her behind him, he set out on a tour of pleasure through Europe, in the course of which he received into his favour the celebrated Struensee, a physician of Ancona. On his return, this individual was raised to the dignity of a count, and to the office of piime-minister, in which capacity he displayed considerable EIGHITEENTH CENTURY A.D. 463 administrative ability. His influence over Christian enabled him to reconcile that fickle prince to his consort; and, with her approbation, he afterwards introduced many reforms, beneficial in themselves, but which from their precipitancy irritated both the clergy and nobles. In these circumstances, the queen-dowager and her son Frederick plotted his ruin; several injurious, and it would seem false accusations, were set afloat against both him and her majesty; and in 1772, the king was prevailed on to sign an order for the arrest of Caroline and her accomplices. Struensee was thrown into prison and soon after beheaded, and the queen died in banishment at Zell in Hanover, 1775. For some years the queen-dowager and her faction possessed the entire control of affairs, Christian himself having fallen into a state of imbecility; but, in 1784, his son Frederick, then only sixteen years old, succeeded in obtaining the regency, and raised Count Bernstorf, nephew of the former minister of that name, to the chief direction of affairs. The young prince exercised his authority with great moderation, firmness, and equity; a number of abuses which had crept into the government were reformed; and neutrality was maintained in the wars of 1788 and 1793. In 1808, he succeeded his father by the title of FREDERICK VI. SWEDEN. CHARLES XII., 1697, was only fifteen years old when he ascended the throne; and his extreme youth tempted three powerful neighbours to conspire in order to effect the dismemberment of his states, or at least the recovery of territories wrested from them by the valour of his predecessors. These aggressors were Frederick IV. of Denmark, Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, and Peter I. of Russia; and, in the year 1700, they simultaneously invaded the Swedish dominions at three different points. The young monarch renewed an alliance with England and Holland, from whom he received reinforcements, and putting himself at the head of his army, resolved on a vigorous defence of the kingdom. He immediately sailed with his troops for Copenhagen, attacked that city, and in a few weeks obliged the King of Denmark to sign the peace of Travendahl. He next turned his attention to the Russians, who were besieging Narva, a town in Ingria; and on the 30th November, having under him only 8000 soldiers, totally routed them, though ten times that number. Augustus, who had fruitlessly invested Riga, now only remained: the Swedes passed the Dwina in spite of all opposition, and, in an incredibly short space of time, became masters of the whole of Courland. The youthful conqueror now openly declared his intention of dethroning the King of Poland, and conferring the sovereignty of that country upon Stanislaus Leezinski, palatine of Posnania; a design in which he was seconded by several discontented noblemen, and which Augustus in vain endeavoured to avert by negotiation. In 1702, that ruler was defeated, after a severe contest, at Clissau, and at Pultusk in the following year; the Polish diet proclaimed Stanislaus in 1704; and at the beginning of 1707, the other was compelled to make a formal resignation of his crown, with permission merely to retain his Saxon dominions. The eyes of all Europe were now directed towards the camp of Charles as Lerlsio, where, at the head of 50,000 veterans, he received ambassa 464 MODERN HISTORY. dors from the principal powers, and even dictated to the emperor conditions by which the Protestants in Silesia were secured in the free exercise of their religion. But he felt little interest in the politics of central Europe, his views being turned towards the north, where his great object was the dethronement of his rival, Peter of Russia. He accordingly set out for Muscovy in September 1707, defeated the czar in the following May on the banks of the Berezina, and, by the end of September, penetrated as far as Smolensk. The approaching rigours of the season, however, compelled him to abandon his design of marching upon Moscow, and to retreat towards the Ukraine, where Mazeppa, hetmann of the Cossacks, had promised to join him. Here Charles passed the winter, during which, besides the loss of his artillery and wagons, he had to lament the interception of a reinforcement of 15,000 men, and the entire dispersion of his expected allies. In the spring of' 1709, with an army greatly reduced in number, he was compelled to give battle to 70,000 Russians led by Peter in person, under the walls of Pultowa, which ended in the total defeat of his brave followers, 9000 of whom perished on the field of battle. This decisive event annihilated the ascendency of Sweden: the vanquished monarch took refuge in Turkey; Denmark and Poland annulled the treaties they had made; Augustus returned to Warsaw; and the conqueror kept possession of' Livonia. Instead of immediately returning to defend his dominions, Charles unaccountably persisted in remaining five years in his Turkish asylum, spending the time in fruitless intrigues to foment a war between that country and Russia, while his inveterate enemies in the north were ravaging his continental provinces, and destroying his best troops. At length, in October 1714, he left Turkey, and crossing Hungary and Germany, arrived at Stralsand, where he immediately took the field against Prussia, Denmark, Saxony, and Russia. After various military operations, he succeeded, through the exertions of his minister, Baron de Gortz, in forming an alliance with Peter; but he still pursued the war against the Danes, and in 1718 sat down before Frederickshall in the middle of winter, where his adventurous career was terminated by a shot from one of the enemy's batteries. This event produced an immediate revolution in the aspect of affairs. The senate, accusing Gortz as the author of the calamities afflicting the nation, had that minister tried and executed; while the late king's sister, ULRICA ELEANORA, was raised to the throne, but compelled to renounce its absolute prerogatives as well as the hereditary right of succession. Treaties of peace were at the same time set on foot: in 1719 the duchies of Bremen and Verden were ceded to Hanover, in consideration of one million of rix-dollars; a similar payment of two millions secured Pomerania-Anterior to Prussia, 1720; Denmark agreed to restore some of her conquests on receiving a pecuniary compensation, and retaining her right to the Sound dues, Augustus was acknowledged the legitimate sovereign of Poland, to the exclusion of Stanislaus; while Russia, after some renewed military operations extremely disastrous to Sweden, signed a peace at Nystadt, 1721, by which she obtained Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, Viborg, and part of Carelia, but agreed to resign Finland, and pay two millions of rix-dollars. Previously to the conclusion of these pacific measures, the queen haa resolved on having her husband, FREDERICK of Hesse-Cassel, associated EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 465 with her in the sovereignty; and in May 1720 the royal authority, greatly limited, was intrusted to him with consent of the diet. The king, nevertheless, was able to exert himself successfully for the reestablishment of order and prosperity; abuses were investigated, commerce restored, mines and manufactures encouraged, the treasury was replenished, the country placed anew in a competent state of defence, and in 1731 a trading company to the East Indies was established. But the seeds of disunion had been sown in the very liberal constitution lately formed; and on the meeting of the diet in 1738, two factions appearea, known by the fantastic appellations of the Hats and Caps, who mutually attacked each other with great bitterness. The latter party were favourable to peace on any terms, and to the new order of things; while the former, preferring the old system of government, exclaimed against the late treaty with Russia; and these last, having gained a considerable majority, succeeded in provoking a rupture with the court of St. Petersburg, 1741. The event soon proved the folly of this new contest: various bloody engagements took place in Finland; in almost every one of.which the enemy proved victorious; and in 1743, it was terminated by the peace of Abo, the Swedes consenting to nominate Adolphus Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp, a relative of the Russian empress, as the successor of their sovereign. The prince just named distinguished his accession to the throne by various useful measures, 1751; but he was much disturbed by the dis. putes of the rival Hat and Cap factions. In 1757, he was led to take part against Prussia in the seven years' war, a contest in which the Swedes were exposed to many reverses, and which.ended little to their advantage. He was succeeded in 1771 by his son GUSTAVUS III., who at length, gaining the attachment of the citizens, peasantry, and clergy, succeeded in overawing the imperious council of state by means of the military force; and in 1772, a new constitution was introduced, vesting the legislative power in the states, but limited to such measures only as originated with the crown. This revolution, however, was far from settling the disputes of the nation, or firmly establishing the royal authority; so that, in 1788, on the king engaging in hostilities against Russia, the officers of his army refised to act, on the plea that he was not authorized to declare offensive war. This question having been settled in 1789, by a resolution of the diet investing the sovereign with discretionary power in this respect, the contest continued to be prosecuted; and in 1790, his fleet gained a splendid victory over the Russians near Svenkasund, forty-two ships being either taken or destroyed, an event which led to a peace in the same year. Gustavus afterwards became a party to the views of the convention of Pilnitz, 1791, intending to lead a northern army into France, when his career was cut short by a conspiracy of the discontented nobles, who procured his assassination at a masked ball, 1792. He was succeeded by his son GUSTAVUS IV., under the regency of the Duke of Sudermania. POLAND. On the death of John Sobieski, the Polish crown became an object of contention among various candidates; but bribery and force at length decided the election in favour of AUGUSTUS II., elector of Saxony, 1697, ]I466 MODERN HISTORY. who, by the peace of Carlowitz, two years after, gained some valuable territorial cessions from the Turks. In 1700, he joined Russia and Denmark in a league against Charles XII.; but the war which followed, already noticed under SWEDEN, instead of securing his ambitious designs, exposed his kingdom to invasion, and he was himself forced to abdicate in favour of STANISLAUS LECZINSKI, 1707. The battle of Pultowa, hoWever, and the overthrow of the Swedish power, 1709, enabled him to displace Stanislaus and recover his position; but the country had, as usual, suffered severely in these struggles, and its miseries were greatly aggravated by his repeated efforts to obtain absolute authority, and the unsparing persecution which he directed against the dissenters from the Catholic faith. On his death in 1733, the electorate of Saxony fell to his son AUGUSTUS III., who on this ground had also strong pretensions to the crown of Poland; and though the people in general declared for Stanislaus, who was supported by France, the armies of Russia enabled him to make good his claims, which were finally recognised by the diet in 1736. Instigated by his minister, Count Bruhl, the king took part in the various contests then agitating Germany, sometimes siding with one party and sometimes with another; while the nation, gradually falling under Russian influence, lost the respect of surrounding states, and became a prey to all the evils of internal anarchy. On the death of Augustus in 1763, the diet, assembled at Warsaw to choose a successor, exhibited a disgraceful scene of contention; Catherine, on pretence of preserving the peace, sent a body of troops into the country; and next year Stanislaus Poniatowski, the candidate whom she favoured, was of course elected. At this time, chiefly through the efforts of two brothers, the Princes Czartoriski, who desired a more stable government, the executive power of the monarch was somewhat strengthened, while the excessive privileges of the nobles were restricted; but Catherine, who had no intention of aiding in the improvement of Poland, soon exerted herself to nullify the effect of these measures. Animosities broke out between the Catholic party and that of the dissidents, who demanded an equality of rights; the latter received the support of the czarina and the King of Prussia; and in the diet of 1768, in addition to the equitable law of replacing all christian sects upon an equal footing, various regulations were adopted tending to weaken the government, while the acceptance of a Russian guarantee declared that state of things immutable. These proceedings, and disgust at the foreign domination under which the country had fallen, led to a confederation of the Catholic party, headed by the Bishop of Kamienetz; and a civil war, combined with one against the Russian intruders, agitated the unhappy country. The confederation, ill supported, and without regular troops, struggled hopelessly some years against the foreign armies; while the Ottomans, who had taken the field in favour of Poland, after in vain representing to the cabinets of Europe the dangers of Russian predominance in that country, were defeated in several battles. THE THREE PARTITIONS.-The time had now arrived for the execution of a project first conceived by Frederick of Prussia,-the tranquillizing of Poland by its dismemberment. Accordingly, in 1772, a scheme of partition was agreed on between him, Catherine, and Maria Theresa; some ridiculous old claims were revived; the king and people, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 467 overawed by irresistible force, in vain appealed to justice, for the remain ing powers of Europe were not in a condition to interfere. By this measure, a third part of the country was divided among these imperial robbers: Austria obtained Galicia and Lodomiria; Russia, the territories between the Dwina, the Dnieper, and the Drutsch; and Frederick, the whole of Polish Prussia, except Dantzic and Thorn, together with the district of the Netze. A diet was called to sanction the final disruption of their country; and, coerced by foreign armies and bribed by foreign gold, a majority of voices was found to sanction this achievement of fraud and violence. This great calamity had some effect in arousing the nation, which now sought to compensate its heavy loss by internal improvements. The king, though left with little beyond the mere shadow of authority, seconded by several distinguished individuals, earnestly strove to ameliorate the condition of the country: an excellent system of education was introduced, literature received encouragement, and industry revived. The diet, having assembled in 1788, declared itself permanent, and continued till 1791, when it proclaimed a newconstitution, which abolished the veto, made the crown hereditary in the Saxon family on the decease of the reigning monarch, and introduced some useful regulations. But a fatal error was committed in neglecting to organize a national force capable of protecting the new arrangements; and Russia, which had guaranteed the former state of things, gave her aid to a confederation of factious nobles at Targovitza, in order to restore them. A civil war followed, in which the king himself at length deserted to the enemy; while the Prussian monarch, though he had encouraged the patriots to frame the new constitution, joined the Russians in an invasion of the country. The consequence was a second partition of the Polish territory, 1793, by which Russia gained 85,000 square miles, and Prussia 21,000, together with the towns of Dantzic and Thorn. The wretched remnant of Poland, amounting to only 85,000 square miles, now became a mere Russian dependency. The confederates of Targovitza, to whose treason this second dismemberment was owing, encouraged by the presence of Russian troops, persecuted the patriots in every possible manner, and many of the chief persons among them were driven into exile. But these adverse circumstances had not yet quelled the national spirit; insurrections broke out in many places, and an extensive conspiracy was finally organized. In 1794, Kosciusko, who had gone abroad at the time of the first partition, returned, and placing himself at the head of a body of peasants rudely armed, took possession of Cracow, and soon after put to flight a superior number of enemies; the people of Warsaw, then occupied by a strong Russian force, expelled their oppressors, after a bloody contest; and their example was followed by the inhabitants of Wilna. The hopes of the patriots were not a little animated by the King of Prussia's failure before the capital; but their preservation was connected with one man, and his destiny decided theirs. Kosciusko was defeated, wounded, and taken prisoner by the Russians; Praga, a principal suburb, was stormed by Suwarrow, and all the inhabitants put to the sword. Finally, Warsaw itself capitulated; and, in 1795, the remainder of the ill-fated country was divided by Russia, Prussia, and Austria; while the king, deprived of the regal title, subsisted at St. Petersburg upon a pension. Thus, while protest. l l 468 MODERN HISTORY. Ing against the horrors of the French revolution, these royal spoilers perpetrated the most barefaced act of injustice recorded in modern history, after having by the vilest intrigues fomented, if they did not actually produce, those very disorders which were made the pretext for their aggressions. PRUSSIA. The original nucleus of this great and prosperous country was the province of Brandenburg, a district first inhabited by the Suevi, and subsequently, on the southern migrations of that tribe; by a race of Sclavonic or Vandal origin. Under Charlemagne and his successors, the provinces on the outskirts of the empire, called marks or marches, were administered by governors, who were at the same time supreme judges or grafs, whence they derived their title of margrave (march-graf); and these dignities, at first held for life only, ultimately became hereditary fiefs. Between 1230 and 1283, the district of Prussia Proper was conquered by the Teutonic Knights, an order of military monks resembling that of Malta; various adjacent territories subsequently fell under their sway; but in the end, after a long series of contests, they became feudally subject to Poland. Brandenburg, meanwhile, under successive rulers, made some figure among the smaller German principalities; till at length Frederick, burgrave of Nuremberg and count of Hohenzollern, obtained from the Emperor Sigismund the dignity of hereditary elector, 1411, and gave rise to a race of princes to whose talents and wisdom the country owes the high rank it has since attained among European sovereignties. In 1525, under the Elector Albert, who was also grandmaster of the Teutonic knights, the lands of the order were secularized, and the Lutheran faith introduced; when Prussia became a hereditary ducal fief in his family, dependent on the Polish crown. The true foundations of Prussian greatness, however, were laid by FrederickWilliam, the great elector, 1640, whose energetic, just, and patriotic administration, and the ability with which he conducted himself in the northern wars of the period, enabled him to strengthen and consolidate his dominions, and eventually, in 1660, to become an independent prince. By the revocation of the edict of Nantes and other religious persecutions of the period, he received a large accession of intelligent and industrious subjects; and at his death in 1688, he left the country greatly augmented in wealth, power, and extent. The son of Frederick-William continued some years to administer the government by the simple title of elector; but, in 1701, on condition of assisting the Emperor Leopold in the war of the Spanish succession, he obtained formal permission to assume the regal crown as FREDERICK I. On this occasion he founded the order of the Black Eagle; and his armies were subsequently greatly distinguished at the battles of Turin and Blenheim. He was succeeded in 1713 by his son, FREDERICKWILLIAM I., who, by the peace of Utrecht, signed the same year, gained Spanish Guelderland, and the Swiss canton of Neuchatel. His attention was chiefly directed to financial reforms, as well as to the increase and discipline of the military force; and, continuing to facilitate the settlement of industrious foreigners, he erected various public buildings and charitable institutions. In 1715, after the return of Charles XII. from Turkey, he was compelled by the arrogance of that monarch to join the northern league against Sweden; and though the warlike operations presented no event of importance, Prussia again secured a considerable accession of territory by the peace of 1720. At his death in the year 1740, Frederick-William left 9,000,000 of dollars in the treasury, a regular army of 70,000 men, and a territory costaining about 46,000 square miles, with a population of 2,240,000. FREDERICK II., surnamed the Great, and one of the most remarkable EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 469 men of his time, had received a military education in his father's court, which was one large camp, and imbibed from his tutor, M. Duhan, a high relish for philosophical speculations. He ascended the throne at the age of twenty-eight, shortly before the accession of Maria Theresa to the Austrian dominions; and this event at once afforded him an opportunity of displaying his ambition and great talents for war. The contest itself, known as that of the Austrian succession, has been noticed under GERMANY; it may therefore suffice to state, that during it the king and his armies acquired a high degree of martial renown, and its termination, so far as Prussia was concerned, by the peace of Dresden, 1745, left him in possession of the valuable province of Silesia. A short time previously, his territories had been augmented by the district of East Friesland, which fell to him on the death of the last count in 1743. For eleven years after this period, Frederick employed himself with great activity in the administration of internal' affairs, the organisation of his forces, and literary pursuits. Aided by his chancellor, Cocceii, he framed a valuable body of laws for his dominions, known as the "Code of Frederick;" and, though engaged in various other works, he found leisure to visit most parts of the country, endeavouring to stimulate agriculture, arts, and manufactures. By great improvements in the revenues, he was able to maintain 160,000 soldiers; while large sums were expended on his palaces at Berlin and Potsdam, and in erecting many splendid edifices in these two cities. SEVEN YEARS' WAR, 1756.-The king was soon summoned from these peaceful pursuits to defend himself in a struggle threatening the very existence of Prussia as an independent state. On the breaking out of the colonial war between England and France, he was induced to enter into a treaty with the former for the security of Hanover; while the intrigues of Louis and the jealousy of the emperor led to a secret alliance between these powers, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony, having in view nothing short of the partition of his dominions. This scheme speedily came to the knowledge of Frederick, who at once entered the last named country and made himself master of Dresden; and his progress to Bohemia being opposed by the elector, he defeated him, and compelled the beaten soldiers to enlist into his own army. In 1757, he advanced into Bohemia, where he gained a signal victory near Prague over the Austrians under Prince Charles of Lorraine and Count Brown; that city was immediately invested; but a fresh army under Marshal Daun defeated the Prussians in their turn at Kolin, and compelled them to retreat. Meanwhile, the French obliged the Duke of Cumberland to abandon Hanover, the Russians and Swedes invaded Prussia from the north, and a combined French and German army marched into Saxony. The Prussian monarch immediately attacked this latter force, twice as numerous as his own, at the village of Rosbach, and subjected it to a complete and most disgracefil overthrow; the Austrians, who had defeated the Prince of Bevern and taken Breslau, were vanquished at Lissa, and their conquest recovered; the Russians were forced to retreat for want of supplies; the Swedes were driven under the walls of Stralsund; while the Hanoverians rose against the French, and assembled a large force under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick to aid the king. These successes, and a British subsidy of ~670,000, granted annually, would have placed the affairs of Frederick in a favourable position, but 40 470 MODERN HISTORY. for the inveterate enmity of the Empress Elizabeth. In 1758, hde prin cipal event was the sanguinary battle at Zorndorf, in which the Russians were defeated, but with immense loss on both sides. Next year, Prince Ferdinand repulsed the French at Minden, and saved Hanover; the king himself, resolving to stop the progress of the combined Austrian and Russian armies, attacked them at Kunersdorf, where he was defeated after a horrible carnage; but, by great military skill, he almost immediately after forced them to act on the defensive. However, in 1760, the enemy was able to enter Brandenburg and occupy Berlin, which was only saved from plunder by paying a heavy contribution; but that city being soon evacuated, Frederick again entered Saxony, and defeated the Austrians under Daun at Torgau. Still, notwithstanding these successes, his resources were melting away; and, in 1761, he was able to do little more than watch the movements of the enemy from an intrenched camp in Siles; i. In these circumstances, the death of Elizabeth, in the beginning of 1762, relieved him from his apparently desperate situation. Her successor, Peter III., who admired the heroic character of Frederick, formed an alliance with him, which was subsequently confirmed by Catherine; and he was thereby enabled to maintain himself successfully against Austria, while Prince Ferdinand in Westphalia, and the English fleets at sea, completely prostrated the power of France. Peace was finally concluded in 1763: that between Prussia and Austria was signed at Hubertsburg, and left matters in the same condition as before. The result of this sanguinary struggle, while it afforded an unavailing lesson on the wickedness and impolicy of such conflicts, secured to Prussia a decisive influence in European affairs; and the monarch now seriously strove to repair the evils which the war had inflicted on his dominions. The chief events of his foreign policy have been noticed under GERMANY and POLAND, the part taken in the first partition of the latter country being the least defensible of his acts; but it is at all events gratifying to know that his internal administration secured for all his subjects a rapid increase of prosperity. At his death in 1786, he left his kingdom nearly doubled in extent, upwards of 10,000,000 sterling in the treasury, and an army of 200,000 men. Frederick was an avowed unbeliever in revelation, and made little secret during his life of the contempt in which he held religious institutions. He entertained a high admiration for Voltaire, with whom he maintained a close intimacy; and his own works, which are voluminous and respectable, were composed in the French language, and deeply imbued with the sceptical philosophy of which that writer is the great apostle. Being thus destitute of fixed principles of action, his political and moral conduct was of course directed by the expediency of the moment, his own pleasure and interest appearing to be the ruling motives. Essentially a despot, but an intelligent and far-sighted one, he defended his dominions with valour, because he felt he was fighting for himself; and his successful efforts for their internal improvement seem to have sprung in a great measure from a similar impulse. Nevertheless, he has been regarded in Germany with admiration, nor can his own subjects be blamed for the enthusiasm which associates with his memory the title of " the Great." FREDERICK-WILLIAM II. succeeded his uncle under very favourable circumstances, and proved himself on the whole a respectable sovereign. His chief public act, in addition to the share taken by him in the infamous partitions of Poland, was the crusade against the French republi EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 471 cans, 1792, when fifty thousand men under the Duke of Brunswick were sent to the frontiers of France; but the failure of this expedition led t6 a peace in 1795. During this reign, the Margrave of Anspach and Baireuth resigned his territories to Prussia for an annuity of 500,000 florins. This prince was succeeded in 1797 by his son, FREDERICK-WILLIAM III., who at the commencement of his reign endeavoured to maintain peace and encourage industry and the arts. RUSSIA. The return of Peter from his foreign travels was hastened by an in surrection of the Strelitzes in Moscow, fomented by his sister Sophia;* but it was suppressed before his arrival by a body of faithful troops under General Gordon, and that turbulent corps was abolished by the czar, who caused numbers of them to be executed. The most important transaction in the reign of this monarch was the war undertaken with Poland and Denmark against Sweden, which he began in 1700 by the siege of Narva. Here the military inferiority of the Russians was conspicuously shown, 80,000 of them being totally defeated by 8000 Swedes; but this overthrow only stimulated the genius of their sovereign, who immediately set about repairing the disaster, observing that the Swedes would yet teach his soldiers to vanquish them. While Charles XII. was occupied in Poland and Saxony, he made himself master of Ingria and Carelia; in 1702, he took the town of Marienburg; and in the following year laid the foundations of St. Petersburg, which eventually became the seat of the imperial government.- In the ensuing years he overran Livonia and Esthonia; and at length, in 1709, the Swedish king, having rashly marched into the Ukraine, sustained a total overthrow at Pultowa, from an army led by Peter in person, and was forced to seek an asylum in Turkey. In 1696, the czar divorced his first wife, who had borne him one son, Alexis; in 1711, he married his mistress, Catherine Alexina, a native of Livonia, who had risen by a series of extraordinary adventures from the very lowest rank. By this time the intrigues of Charles XII. had procured a declaration of war against Russia on the part of the Porte; and Peter led an army into Moldavia, which, encamping on the banks of the Pruth, was surrounded by the enemy, and exposed to imminent danger. From this perilous position he was relieved by the address of his empress, who succeeded, unknown to him, in bribing the grand vizier to agree to a negotiation, which was at once concluded by the surrender of Azof to the Turks. Hostilities with Sweden now continued to be prosecuted with great success, so that, by the end of 1713, that country had been stripped of every position which could prove annoying to the new metropolis of Russia. Subsequently, in the hope of obtain*This princess, who seems to have been of an ambitious disposition, had already caused much annoyance to Peter, by attempting to obtain a share of the government through her brother Ivan: she was now condemned to permanent seclusion. t In 1713 the senate was removed from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and the czar's summer and winter palaces were completed two years after. At one period no fewer thain 40,000 men were employed in constructing dockyards, building ships, wharfs, and fortifi. cations; every means was employed to direct trade into this new channel; and, under these favourable circumstances, the swampy banks of the Neva were speedily crowned with the edifices of a great city, which has become an emporium of vast commerce and wealtn. 472 MODERN HISTORY. ing Mecklenburg, he dissolved the Northern League, and formed an alliance with Sweden; but the contest being again renewed, was at length terminated by the peace of Nystadt, 1721, which secured to him the undisputed possession of all his conquests. The senate at this time proclaimed Peter I. " Emperor of all the Russias," and conferred on him the merited title of the Great. The monarch now turned his undivided attention to the arts of peace. He encouraged the manufacture of woollen and linen cloth, erected mills, projected navigable canals, instituted hospitals, established uniformity of weights and measures, and made every exertion to civilize the manners of his subjects. These praiseworthy exertions were only partially interrupted by an expedition conducted in person against Persia in 1723, by which, in a single campaign, he acquired the provinces of Ghilan, Mazanderan, and Astrabad. In the same year, he founded the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, caused Catherine to be crowned, and married his eldest daughter to the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. His death took place on the 28th January 1725. The character of Peter the Great, though displaying many inconsistencies, was strongly marked with sound sense and clear judgment. That he sometimes suffered himself to be swayed by passion and prejudice, and exhibited many of the failings common to the possessors of irresponsible power, cannot be doubted; but the former fault may be fairly attributed to his very defective education, the latter was of course the result of his position. As to the signal benefits he conferred on his hitherto barbarous empire, there can be but one opinion. "He gave a polish," says Voltaire, " to his people, and was himself barbarous; he taught them the art of war, which he himself had never learnt; from the sight of a small boat on the river Moskva, he created a powerful fleet, and became an active shipwright, sailor, pilot, and commander; he reformed the manners, customs, and laws of the Russians, and lives in their memory as the Father of his country." The prince Alexis had given great disquietude to his father by his rebellious and dissolute conduct, and at length died in prison in 1718. Prince Menzikof, who had risen from obscurity to be governor of St. Petersburg, accordingly took the opportunity to proclaim CATHERINE as the successor of her husband; and during her reign he possessed unlimited authority. The empress, however, survived little more than two years, and in 1727 was succeeded by PETER II., son of Alexis. The short reign of this prince presents nothing remarkable, save the downfall of Menzikof, who was arrested and sent to Siberia, where he died in poverty, 1729. Next year, ANNE, daughter of Ivan, the elder brother of Peter the Great, was called to the throne, by the influence of a faction among the nobles, headed by the Dolgoruki family, on signing an agreement limiting the imperial authority; but this document was immediately cancelled by the advice of Chancellor Ostermann, the Dolgorukis were exiled to Siberia, and the empress ruled with absolute power. In this reign the Persian conquests of Peter were relinquished; but the election to the Polish crown was decided, in 1733, by the interference of a Russian army, and a war against the Porte, in alliance with Austria, amply avenged the convention of the Pruth, Azof being recovered 1739. Anne died in the following year, leaving the throne to her grandnephew Ivan, a child two months old; but this arrangement was speedily set aside by the Russians, who proclaimed ELIZABETH, daughter of Peter I by Catherine, 1740. At the end of three years, this princess acquired EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 473 part of Finland from Sweden; in 1747, she sent an army of 36,000 auxiliaries to the aid of Maria Theresa; her interference in the seven years' war has already been noticed. She died in 1762, regretted by her subjects, to whom she was endeared by the mildness of her domestic rule, and was succeeded by her nephew, PETER III., duke of Holstein Gottorp. This prince had his choice of the crowns of Sweden and Russia; he unfortunately preferred the latter, where several well-meant but hasty innovations led to a conspiracy, fomented by his own consort Catherine, by which he was deposed at the end of six months. He died in prison a few days afterwards, as is believed by poison; when his widow was called to the throne by the unanimous voice of the army and the people. The accession of this able and unscrupulous princess at once impressed on the policy of her empire the aggressive character which it has ever since retained. She immediately began a course of secret intrigue and open interference in the affairs of Poland, which finally led to the partition of that country; while a war with the Porte, consequent on these measures, 1768, secured some signal triumphs to her arms. A Russian fleet now appeared for the first time in the Mediterranean, and defeated the Turkish navy at Tchesme; the land forces, under Galliczin and Romanzow, subdued Crim-Tartary, Moldavia, and Wallachia; and at length, by a peace in 1774, she procured large acquisitions, and compelled her opponents to acknowledge the independence of the CrimTartars. About this time the administration was placed on a new footing, by the division of the empire into forty-three governments, with separate jurisdictions, and by the gradual promulgation of a new code of laws; the vast tracts of the interior were colonized, and about 200 towns built by Potemkin, who became supreme minister in 1770. In 1780, Catherine organized the famous Armed Neutrality of the northern powers, to resist the right of search claimed by Great Britain; the refusal of that country to sanction the project of founding a new Greek empire at Constantinople, on the ruins of Turkey, having, as is supposed, provoked her indignation. At all events, she speedily renewed her encroachments towards the east, Crim-Tartary being seized and incorporated with her dominions in 1784; and this appropriation, though unopposed at the time, led eventually to a fresh contest, 1789, memorable for the sanguinary triumphs of Potemkin and Suwarrow, the Emperor Joseph also taking part in it. Choczim, Oczakow, Bender, and Ismail, were successively taken, with fearful slaughter; the peace of Jassy, 1792, established the Dniester as the boundary of the two states; while a short war with Gustavus of Sweden, who endeavoured to produce a diversion in favour of the Porte, had been terminated two years before without any territorial change. During these contests, the attention of the empress was always steadily directed towards Poland, of which she had seized a portion in 1772; and now, freed from other enemies, she effected the second partition, 1793. The breaking out of the French Revolution produced a change in her sentiments toward the cabinet of London, with which she formed a commercial treaty; but the contests of Western Europe had no effect in retarding the grand aim of her policy, the final extinction of Polish nationality, which was at length effected in 1795. She died in the following year 40* 474 MODERN HISTORY. PAUL 1., 1796, after two years spent in various whimsical innovations, joined zealously in the second grand coalition against France; and the Russian forces, under Suwarrow and Korsakow, obtained a series of brilliant triumphs in Italy and Switzerland during the campaign of 1799. His capricious disposition, however, soon induced him to abandon the cause of the allies, and coLclude a peace with Bonaparte; and, in 1800, he became head of a union which revived the Armed Neutrality of the North, as before, in avowed hostility to England. TURKEY. The humiliating peace of Carlowitz, 1699, the conclusion of a long train of disasters, proved fatal to the authority of Mustapha II., who was deposed by an insurrection of the janissaries, and his brother, ACIMET III., succeeded to the unenviable dignity, 1702. His reign presents no event of importance till 1709, when he gave an asylum to Charles XII., after the defeat at Pultowa; and subsequently, in a brief campaign against Peter the Great, recovered Azof by the peace of the Pruth, 1711. But a period of repose was at no time very desirable for the Turkish sultans, who found in their own mutinous soldiers the most formidable enemies of the throne. Accordingly, though no advantage had been taken of Austria in the Spanish succession war, the first opportunity was seized for a rupture with Venice, whose possession of the Morea galled the pride of the Ottomans and, in 1715, that republic was stripped of all the fortresses she held in the peninsula. This conquest provoked the interference of the Emperor Charles VI., as guarantee of the treaty of Carlowitz, and precipitated another Hungarian war. In 1716, the army of the sultan was defeated by Prince Eugene at Peterwaradin, and Temeswar reduced; and in the following campaign, another bloody overthrow before Belgrade was followed by the loss of that important fortress. Alarmed at these reverses, the sultan sued for peace, which was signed at Passarowitz, 1718; and by the terms then agreed on, he was forced to confirm the conquests of Austria, but succeeded in retaining the Morea. Achmet now turned his eyes towards Persia, then agitated by the troubles consequent on the Afghan usurpa tion; and in 1727 he seized the districts of Georgia and Armenia Some time after, however, Nadir, having defeated the Turkish forces in several encounters, the unhappy prince shared the fate of so many of his predecessors, being deposed and imprisoned in 1730. MAHMOUD I., nephew of the preceding ruler, was at first greatly harassed by the leaders of the late insurrection, who, however, were eventually ensnared by his policy, and punished with death. The war with Persia was prosecuted for some time with considerable success; but the death of his commander, Osman, at length turned the tide in favour of the shah, who restored the original boundaries of the two countries 1736. This peace had been accelerated by the threatening attitude ot Russia, which speedily commenced hostilities by an irruption into the Crimea; while the emperor, who at first offered his mediation, actuated by a selfish policy, began an invasion on his own account. This perfidious conduct was justly punished by several disastrous defeats, Belgrade was taken, and the Danube and Saave became once more the boundary of the two countries; while the Russians, though generally EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 475 successful, consented to surrender their conquests, demolish the fortress of Azof, and relinquish all claim to navigate th'e Black Sea, 1739. After a reign prosperous on the whole, Mahmoud died in 1745, and was succeeded by his brother, OSMAN III., whose history is chiefly remarkable for an attempt to poison his nephews, sons of the late sultan: two of these princes fell victims to his jealousy; Mustapha and Abdul-hamid escaped only by the death of their uncle. MUSTAPHA III., 1757, aided by his able and enlightened vizier, Mohammed Raghib, devoted the first ten years of his reign to the restoration of order and energy in his domestic government. But the continued encroachments of Catherine II., who paid no attention to the treaty of 1739, and her dangerous ascendency in Poland, at length compelled the sultan to declare for war, and led to the disastrous contest of 1768. In 1774, ABDUL-IIAMID succeeded to the throne, and immediately afterwards signed the peace of Kainardge, the most humiliating ever yet submitted to by Turkey; and, though the independence of the Crimea had been guaranteed by this treaty, he was unable to prevent the appropriation of that district by his ambitious neighbour, 1784. But continued insults on the part of Catherine, who with the Emperor Joseph had formed the design of dividing between them the Ottoman dominions, as they had already partitioned those of Poland, again drove the sultan, in despair, to take up arms, 1787. The Austrians, who assaulted Belgrade without even the formality of a declaration of war, were repulsed on all sides, and the vizier, entering the Bannat, spread consternation to the very gates of Vienna. The Russians, however, were more successful; the Ottoman fleet was destroyed in the Dnieper, while Potemkin reduced the fortress of Oczakow, and barbarously massacred the garrison and inhabitants, 1788. Next year, Abdul-hamid was succeeded by his nephew, SELIM III., who, regardless of the hazardous position of his empire, began his reign by a career of the most thoughtless folly and dissolute extravagance. The Austrian and Russian armies, under Cobourg and Suwarrow, having effected a junction, met the Turkish forces on the plains of Rimnik, and defeated them with great slaughter and the loss of their artillery and baggage. The Austrians then diverged into Wallachia, and captured Bucharest, while Suwarrow, having received the submission of Bender, laid siege to the strong town of Ismail. In December 1790, the place was carried by storm, and the garrison of 40,000 men put to the sword; while the fortress of Belgrade shortly nfter surrendered to Marshal Laudon, thus leaving Nissa as the only barrier of the Turkish capital. At this juncture, when the Ottoman power in Europe seemed on the point of being annihilated, the insurrections in Hungary and the Low Countries, and the jealousy of the other powers, alone saved it from utter ruin. By the mediation of England, Holland, and Prussia, the emperor was compelled to sign a separate treaty with the Porte, resigning all his conquests, 1791; while Catherine, after another sanguinary campaign, yielding to the same solicitations, confirmed by the peace of Jassy the former treaty of 1774, retaining merely the fortress of Oczakow. This dangerous war, though terminated with little territorial loss, had shaken the internal organisation ofthe empire to its centre. The janissaries, at one time the most efficient troops in the world, had long been retrograding, and were now little better than a disorderly crowd; and while these disturbed the 476 MODERN HISTORY. capital with tumults and insurrections, the provinces set at nought the authority of the sultan. Ali Bey had assumed in Egypt the rank of an independent sovereign, and his example was followed by Ali Pacha of Janina; Paswan Oglou had raised the standard of rebellion at Widin; the Servians were in arms; and Arabia was possessed by the fanatical sect of the Wahabees. In these alarming circumstances, the sultan at length, shaking off his early vices, displayed the possession of considerable talents, joined with great prudence and humanity. Keeping aloof from the struggles of Europe consequent on the French revolution, he endeavoured to introduce some degree of order into his government, and raised a force disciplined on the modern plan, preparatory to an entire remodelling of the army. These troops were afterwards greatly distinguished in the defence of Acre, during the unjustifiable invasion of Egypt under Napoleon; an event which compelled the Porte to unite with England and Russia against France, 1798. PERSIA. The reign of the Afghan usurper, MAHMOUD, was at first distinguished by an ability and moderation commendable in a conqueror; but he subsequently disgraced himself by ferocious cruelty, and died insane in 1725. His position was far from being an easy one; for, while Prince TAMASP, son of Hussein, held out in Armenia, Russia and the Porte had formed the design of seizing the provinces adjoining their frontiers; and hence, in 1723, he actually ceded the Caspian provinces to Russia, in return for a promise of aid which was never fulfilled. His successor, ASHRAFF, in order to get himself recognised sovereign of Persia by the Porte, permitted Achmet to seize on various provinces, 1727; but Tamasp was now supported by NADIR KOULI, who from a Turkoman shepherd had, by the force of his character, risen to power and importance. In spite of desperate efforts in the field, and frightful massacres of the disaffected citizens, the fortune of war turned against the Afghan monarch, who was finally slain, and his adherents driven out of the country, in 1730. All real power, however, lay in the hands of Nadir, who received from the shah the government of the four finest provinces of the empire. He turned his arms successfully against the Turks; but, while he was absent in Khorassan, Tamasp imprudently encountered them, was defeated, and forced to conclude an ignominious peace. Nadir, inveighing against this national disgrace, dethroned the unhappy prince, elevating his infant son, Abbas III., in whose name he governed as regent, 1732; and, after expelling the Turks from their conquests, concluded a treaty in 1736, re-establishing the ancient frontiers' of Persia, while the districts ceded to Russia were recovered by negotiation. The infant prince died the same year, whereupon Nadir formally declared the Sophi dynasty at an end, and himself assumed the diadem by the title of Nadir Shah. This extraordinary man, by the sheer force of natural ability, raised Persia for some time to a higher degree of influence than she had pos. sessed even in the reign of Abbas. Great part of Afghanistan yielded to his arms; and, in 1739, offended at a breach of friendship by the Mogul, he led an immense army into India. One great victory near Delhi, 1739, laid the power of the descendant of Timour at his feet; that city was taken, and upwards of &30,000,000 sterling of booty, with the annexation of all the territory west of the Indus, rewarded the enterprise of Nadir, who is said to have committed fewer crimes on this occasion EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 477 than almost any other Asiatic invader. He next year reduced the Us. beck princes of Khiva and Bokhara; while a second war with the Porte, 1743, after several signal victories, terminated to the advantage of Persia. But his native ferocity, having no longer foreign enemies on whom it might exercise itself, now broke out uncontrolled, and for the remainder of his life he perpetrated the most frightful tyranny; he blinded his brave son, Riza Kouli, massacred his subjects by thousands, and was at length assassinated by his own officers, 1747. The death of Nadir became the signal for a scene of anarchy and confusion: the Usbecks threw off the yoke, and Afghanistan became an independent and powerful kingdom; while the crown of Persia itself was disputed by various rival chiefs. At length all other claimants were forced to yield to the ability and merit of KEREEM KHAN, head of the native family of Zend, who, in 1759, assumed the government by the title of administrator, refusing the insignia of royalty. The rule of this excellent man, who occupied the throne twenty-six years, was characterized by a high degree of justice, clemency, and moderation; he repressed the depredations of the Turkoman tribes, which in the time of Nadir had overspread Persia, and concluded advantageously a short war with the Porte. But his death, in 1779, gave rise to new troubles; and during ten years six different chiefs, his brothers and nephews, ascended or claimed the throne, while Russia took advantage of the turmoil to encroach on the northern frontier. At length, in 1789, the supreme power remained in the hands of LOOTF ALI KHAN, a brave though cruel prince, who maintained his position till 1795, when he was overpowered and put to death by his rival, AGA MOHAMMED KHAN, chief of the Kajirs, a Turkish tribe settled in Mazanderan by Abbas the Great. By a vigorous though sanguinary administration, this monarch succeeded in consolidating his authority; and having fixed his capital in Teheran, he reduced the revolted Georgians with the most ruthless severity. His cruelties, however, speedily provoked his own attendants to assassinate him, and he was succeeded by his nephew, Shah FUTTEH ALI, 1797, the early part of whose reign was chiefly distinguished by the rival intrigues of France and England in reference to India. INDIA. FALL OF THE MOGUL EMPIRE.-The temporary impulse which the vigorous administration of Aurengzebe had communicated to the empire of Delhi, ceased at once on his death; and during the reign of his son, SHAH AULUM, 1707, enemies arose on every side. The Mahrattas widely extended their conquests; the Rajpoot princes, who had never been effectually subdued, again asserted their independence; while the provinces of Delhi and Lahore, the very centre of his power, were convulsed by contests with the warlike sect of the Sikhs, who, by declaring the abolition of castes, had rapidly increased in importance. At his demise in 1712, each of his four sons contended for the succession, which, after a short but sanguinary struggle, at length fell to the eldest, who became emperor by the title of JEHANDAR SHAH. This prince, abandoning himself to a career of low profligacy, was found altogether incapable of ruling; while among the nobles bold spirits were not wanting, ready to avail themselves of the opportunity of advancement thus afforded. Two 478 MODERN HISTORY. brothers, in particular, Abdoola and Hussein, who boasted the high rank of Syeds or descendants of the Prophet, had the address to procure his dethronement in the course of a few months; and for seven years they actually administered the government, setting up during that period no less than four successive emperors. The last of these, MOHAMMED SHAH, a gandson of Shah Aulum, was raised to the throne in 1720, and succeeded in ridding himself of these dictators by means of assassination; but he was no sooner in uncontrolled possession of the sovereign authority, than he displayed that incapacity which seemed now to have become inherent in the Mogul race. In consequence, the Deccan became virtually independent under the viceroyalty of Nizam-ul-Mulk, while a considerable portion of the northern provinces was seized by the Rohillas, an Afghan people, who established themselves in part of the district afterwards known as Rohilcund. But the greatest misfortune of this reign, and which in fact consummated the downfal of the empire, was the invasion of Nadir Shah. That powerful prince, having sent an embassy to demand the surrender of several Persian fugitives, the envoy and his suite were murdered by the inhabitants of Jellalabad; and Mohammed, by the advice of his arrogant courtiers, refused to grant satisfaction for the outrage. Nadir, then victorious in Afghanistan, immediately turned his arms against Delhi, 1739; the Mogul forces were defeated, and the wealth of centuries, to the amount of more than 230,000,000 sterling, besides the provinces west of the Indus, became the prey of the victor. Satisfied with the booty and acquisitions he had obtained, the Persian monarch reinstated Mohammed on the throne; and in 1747 that prince was succeeded by his son AIIMED SHAH. During his reign, which lasted six years, the dissolution of the empire may be said to have taken place. The northern and north-western provinces were seized by the Afghans and the Sikhs, and the Rajpoots extended their territory as far as Ajmere. Ghazee-ud-dien, grandson to Nizam-ul-Mulk, having now become vizier, deposed Ahmed in 1753, and raised AULUMGIRE, a son of Jehandar Shah, to the now merely nominal dignity of emperor. A period of unparalleled intrigue and disorder now took place, during which Delhi was exposed to an assault by the Afghans, surpassing in its horrors that under Nadir; und in 1759, Ghazee caused Aulumgire to be assassinated, and attempted, but unsuccessfully, to set up some new pageant of royalty. Meantime, the restless Mahrattas extended their conquests on every side, drove the Afghans from Moultan and Lahore, and threatened to subjugate all India. On the one hand, the Mohammedan powers united to arrest their progress, and were joined by Ahmed Abdalla Shah, who had become Sultan of Afghanistan on the death of Nadir; while, on the other, the Hindoo states and Ghazee made common cause with the Mahrattas. This great contest was at length decided on the plains of Panniput, northward of Delhi. The Mahrattas were routed with great slaughter; but the victorious Afghans, contenting themselves with the provinces west of the Indus already in their possession, bestowed the Mogul sovereignty on Shah AULUM II., 1761, who, after many vicissitudes of fortune, became a pensioner of the East India Company. RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE BRITISH POWER.-At the close of the seventeenth century, the three chief maritime nations of Europe, Eng EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 479 land, France, and Holland, had obtained possession of various trading settlements in India, and the wars of the west were now to be extended to that distant region. The last of these countries, however, content with their insular possessions, never obtained much territorial power on'he Asiatic continent; and the contest for supremacy was waged from the beginning between the two others. These great rivals came into collision on the breaking out of the succession war, when Labourdonnais, the French governor of Mauritius, led a squadron against the settlement of Madras, and forced it to surrender, 1746; but it was again restored, two years after, by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle.* At this time, Dupleix, who commanded at Pondicherry, having seen the real weakness of the native powers, formed a grand plan for aggrandizing the French East India Company. Accordingly, on the death of Nizamul-Mulk, the powerful viceroy of the Deccan, 1748, he declared in favour of one of the rival candidates, and succeeded, by his intrigues and the aid of a strong body of troops, in raising his favourite, Mirzapha Jung, to that dignity. The nabobship of the Carnatic, a subordinate government in the same province, was obtained for his ally, Chunda Sahib, 1750; while his own countrymen were rewarded for their assistance with large grants of territory, and indeed with the actual government of these districts. Mohammed Ali, however, son of the late nabob, still held the fortress of Trichinopoly, imploring the assistance of the English, who gave him some reinforcements; but the fortune of war still continued against him, till at length the celebrated Clive, having obtained a captain's commission, undertook to make a diversion by an attack from Madras upon Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic. With a small force he captured that city, and though Chunda Sahib besieged it with a large army, repelled the assailants with amazing talent and courage. Reinforced by Colonel Kirkpatrick, he pursued and defeated the enemy on the plains of Arni; the Rajah of Tanjore and other princes declared for Mohammed Ali; and Chunda and his allies were several times discomfited. In 1754, Dupleix was recalled to Europe, and a provisional treaty concluded between the English and French, who mutually agreed to withdraw from all interference with the native princes: Salabat Jung, the successor of Mirzapha, was left in possession of the Deccan, while Mohammed Ali remained nabob of the Carnatic. Both nations, however, now possessed a commanding position in Southern India, and had contrived to secure considerable territorial advantages. Meanwhile, the English factory at Calcutta, although subordinate to Madras, had continued to make surprising advances in wealth and influence, and thereby provoked the jealousy of the native princes. Surajah Dowlah, the subahdar of Bengal, a sanguinary tyrant, offended at some supposed abuse by the English of their privileges, and more especially by the protection of a nabob who had fled from his vengeance, suddenly marched with 50,000 men against Calcutta, 1756. After an ineffectual resistance, the governor and all but 200 of the garrison escaped on shipboard; and these unfortunate persons, along with Mr. Holwell, who had taken the command, were speedily made prisoners, and immured, by order of the subahdar, in a room not twenty feet * The French were the first to train sepoys, or natives disciplined after the European manner. 480 MODERN HISTORY. square, during an intensely hot night in June. From this dreadful dungeon, long after known as the Black Hole, only twenty-four were taken out alive in the morning. The affairs of the English in Bengal seemed entirely ruined; but the position of the Company in Coromandel was now so much improved, that they were able to send Clive with a body of troops to Calcutta. That town was immediately recovered, Hoogly reduced, and Surajah obliged to grant peace on favourable terms. It has been seen that the contests of the French and English in India were carried on with little intermission even when the two kingdoms were at peace in Europe; but the struggle of the seven years' war had now broken out, and gave new bitterness to their rivalry. The latter, therefore, in 1757, reduced Chandernagore, the principal settlement of their antagonists in Bengal; while Clive aimed at further humbling the subahdar, who, besides being backward in fulfilling the treaty, had set on foot negotiations with the enemy. With this view, a secret agreement was made with Meer Jaffier and others of his ministers, for his dethronement, ard for raising that chief himself to the musnud.; while the English colonel advanced at the head of a body of troops to seize the important post of Plassey. The enemy, however, had already occupied it with a force of nearly 70,000 men, while those of Clive amounted only to 1000 Europeans and 2000 sepoys; yet he ventured to give battle, and gained a complete victory. Jaffier was acknowledged subahdar; Surajah was taken and put to death with the connivance of his successor, who agreed to enlarge the territory of his allies, and pay them a sum of nearly three millions sterling. The war was now vigorously prosecuted between the two European powers in the Carnatic, where Count Lally, the French commander, being considerably reinforced from home, reduced Cuddalore and Fort St. David, 1758. Next year he failed in an attack on Madras; while the British, taking the field in earnest, gained several successes over him, especially at Wandewash under Sir Eyre Coote. Finally, in the beginning of 1761, the power of the French was utterly destroyed by the reduction of Pondicherry; and, though this and other settlements were restored by the treaty of Paris, 1763, their influence in India may now be said to have ended. Meanwhile Meer Jaffier, being unable to satisfy the demands of the English, had been deposed, and his son-inlaw, Cossim Ali Khan, elevated in his room, 1760. This prince was found still more intractable than his predecessor, and soon incurred the displeasure of his allies by attempting to limit their privileges as traders. Recourse was speedily had to arms; the nabob was defeated and set aside, and Jaffier anew placed on the throne, 1763. Sujah Dowlah, subahdar of Oude, and the titular Mogul emperor, Aulum II., having assisted Cossim, were next attacked and defeated by Major Munro at Buxar, 1764, several fortresses at the same time falling into the hands of the conquerors. The nabob was glad to purchase peace by defraying the charges of the war; and, Jaffier having died, the emperor conferred on the victors the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, as also a confirmation of the several districts conquered by them within the nominal bounds of his empire. From this date, 1765, commences the recognised sovereignty of the British in Hindostan. In the south, besides holding the actual power throughout the Carnatic, they had received the Northern Circars in grant from the Nizam, on condition of giving him their pro. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A. D. 481 tection; but this alliance involved them in contests with Hyder Ali, a skilful soldier, who had risen from obscurity to be sultan of Mysore. The political importance acquired by the East India Company induced the cabinet to claim a share in the government of their territories; and in 1773, it was determined in parliament that a supreme court of judicature should be sent from England; that the three presidencies, Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, should be subject to a governor-general and council, the former to be approved by the king; and that all civil and military correspondence should be submitted to the ministry. Mr. Hastings, the first who held this new authority in the East, found the affairs of India greatly embarrassed, and a general confederation against his countrymen in progress among the native powers. Notwithstanding violent opposition in his council, he conducted affairs with great success. The French, taking advantage of the breaking out of the American war, had formed an alliance with the Mahrattas, the Nizam, and Hyder Ali. They lost, however, their settlements of Chandernagore, Masulipatam, and Pondicherry, 1778. Skilful negotiations weakened the enemy; but in 1780, Hyder burst into the Carnatic, ravaging everything before him. While besieging Arcot, he defeated two armies within six miles of each other, but was afterwards routed in a desperate battle by Sir Eyre Coote at the head of 7000 men. In less than a month afterwards he experienced another defeat, and had the misfortune to learn that his fleet had been destroyed by Sir E. Hughes. After the death of his father in 1782, Tippoo Saib continued the war with various success until the peace of 1784. Warren Hastings, over whose head a public impeachment now hung, was succeeded by Lord Cornwallis, 1786. A dispute between Tippoo Saib and the Rajah of Travancore, an ally of the English, soon rekindled the flames of war, 1790. After some slight reverses, the strong fortress of Bangalore was taken, and Seringapatam threatened with a siege. To preserve his capital, the sultan agreed to resign half his dominions to the English, the Nizam, and the Mahrattas; to pay three millions and a half sterling for the expenses of the contest; and to surrender his two sons as hostages. The pacific policy of Sir John Shore caused much dissatisfaction, and converted the Nizam, an old and faithful ally of the English, into an exasperated enemy. Tippoo did not fail to take advantage of this unexpected course of events, and negotiated with the French directory for succours, while he strengthened his position by alliances with the native chiefs. Lord Mornington, afterwards Marquis of Wellesley, who succeeded Shore, commenced hostilities, which were rapidly terminated by the fall of Seringapatam and the death of the sultan, whose immense treasures became a prey to the victors; and the British dominion was established more firmly than ever in India, 1799. A considerable portion of the territory was restored to a descendant of its ancient princes; the remainder became the possession of the British and their allies. UNITED STATES. It has been seen that, during the course of the seventeenth century, the richest and most fertile portions of North America were extensively colonized by English settlers, who sought on those distant shores a larger amount of civil 41 482 MODERN HISTORY. and religious liberty than could be found in Europe. These settlements,.there fore, owed their establishment rather to private enterprise than to any active interference on the part of government, charters of trade and occupancy being obtained by various associations and individuals; and the states thus founded, which at length amounted to thirteen in number, were in a great measure inde pendent of each other. The administration of the home government, however, was gradually substituted for that of the various proprietaries under whom they had been originally planted; the power of appointing governors being vested in the crown, while the colonists possessed the right of electing their representative legislatures. These liberal institutions, as well as the spirit of the people, fostered the development of a strong disposition towards civil liberty; while the natural advantages of the country, and the gradual subjugation of the Dutch and French settlements, secured a rapid increase of wealth and population. Their principal value to the mother country consisted in the right of exclusive commerce, which was willingly accorded by the colonists so long as her protection was found necessary to shield them from external enemies; but no sooner had they outgrown this necessity, than the restrictions which it imposed began to excite their opposition, while the government itself, instead of prudently relaxing the strictness of its rule, decided rather upon an extension of authority, and thereby gave rise to a contest which eventually led to the dis memberment of the empire. Under the head of BRITAIN have already been noticed the various attempts made by parliament to impose taxes on the colonists, and the strong opposition which these excited on the other side of the Atlantic. At length, in 1773, all these plans were abandoned, with the exception of a merely nominal duty on tea, which could not be said to affect the price; and as it was never doubted that this impost would be tolerated, large shipments of that article were made from the English ports. But the Americans saw that the right of taxation still lurked under this concession; and the approach of the vessels excited their resentment in a manner altogether unlooked for. At New York and Philadelphia, the cargoes were not allowed to be landed; at Charleston, they were put into stores and prohibited from being sold; while at Boston a shipload was seized by the mob and thrown into the sea. This act of violence gave great offence, and led to the passing of an act in parliament closing that port, and another abolishing the legislative assembly of Massachusetts. In reference to this latter measure, a congress of representatives from all the states met at Philadelphia in September 1774, when they expressed their sympathy with the disfranchised state, and, in a petition to the king, asserted that the exclusive power, in all cases of taxation and internal policy, lay of right with the provincial assemblies. The same body also denounced other grievances, especially an act for trying in England Americans accused of treasonable practices; and while still professing a desire for reconciliation, framed a covenant of non-intercourse, by which the whole advantage of the colonies to the home country, in a commercial point of view, was at once destroyed. Their petition was not received; the king and parliament resolved on strong measures; and a civil war was the consequence. The contest began at Lexington in the spring of 1775, by a a skirmish between the British troops and the armed provincials for the possession of certain magazines. At the same time, the deputies assembled at Philadelphia, assuming the title of " Congress of the United Colonies of North America," resolved upon raising an army for the defence of the country, and issued a paper currency for its payment. The first 4ttle was fought at Bunker's Hill, near Boston, on the 17th June; and EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 483 though neither side could boast any decisive success, the royal troops suffered severely, and the real advantage remained with their antagonists. George Washington, a gentleman of fortune in Virginia, who had acquired considerable military reputation in the late colonial war with France, now received from congress the command in chief of the insurgent forces; and though an expedition under General Montgomery failed to make any impression on Canada, which remained faithfil to Britain, the government had the mortification to find, by the end of the year, that no progress had been made in reducing the Americans. They still continued to beleaguer the town of Boston, which the English, under General Howe, to the number of 7000, were at length compelled to evacuate and embark for Halifax, leaving a quantity of artillery and stores behind them; and, in March 1776, Washington entered the place in triumph. The congress now resolved on the decisive step of a declaration of independence, which was issued on the 4th July of that year; and they at the same time established a federative union among the belligerent colonies, assuming the title of "The United States of America." But the slender forces of the new republic were for some time hardly able anywhere to face the numerous and well-appointed armies of Britain; and nothing but the indomitable spirit of the people, and the courage and ability of their leaders, could have compensated for the odds. They lost New York and New Jersey, and congress was compelled to take refuge in Maryland; while Howe defeated Washington, with a loss of 1200 men, near the Brandywine Creek, and took possession of Philadelphia, 1777. A signal success, on their part, however, made up for these disasters. Lieutenant-general Burgoyne had been sent from Canada with ten thousand men, for the purpose of making an attack on the northen states; and, advancing to join General Howe, for some time drove the Americans before him, and captured Ticonderoga. But at length lie encountered such difficulties, and was so vigorously opposed by Gates and Arnold, that, in October, after two severe actions, his whole force was compelled to surrender at Saratoga. This decisive event determined the French cabinet, who had long been watching the contest, to form an alliance with the States, 1778; while numbers of their officers, including the celebrated La Fayette, entered the insurgent aimy. General Clinton, now chief in command of the royal troops, forthwith abandoned Philadelphia, and retired to New York; but an attempt on Rhode Island, by the American general Sullivan and the French admiral D'Estaing, proved a failure. At this period commissioners were sent from England for the purpose of effecting a reconciliation; but as the congress refused to treat on any other terms than a recognition of independence, nothing could be effected. In the year 1779, various naval engagements took place between the British and French fleets, the latter now aided by that of Spain, which proved very harassing to the ministry, and greatly distressed the trade of the mother country. However, in 1780, the states of North and South Carolina, which contained a large proportion of persons favourable to royalty, submitted to a British army under General Clinton, and Gates sustained a severe check at Camden from Lord Cornwallis.* * In this campaign occurred the defection of the American General Arnold, and the detection and execution of the British Major Andre, by whom it was negotiated, as a spy. 484 MODERN HISTORY. Next year, the greater part of the army in these southern states was conducted northward by the latter, in the hope of making further conquests; but General Greene, after greatly harassing the royal troops, regained both the Carolinas, while his lordship took up a position at Yorktown in Virginia. At this time Washington was threatening a force under Clinton at New York, and the latter tamely suffered him to retire to the southward, and prepare to attack Cornwallis. In September, Yorktown was invested by this and other corps of Americans and French; and in three weeks, the British batteries being completely silenced, the whole army was compelled to surrender. With this decisive event, hostilities may be said to have terminated. In England, the hopelessness of the contest had now become so apparent, that early in 1782 a motion was carried in parliament for its discontinuance. Provisional articles of peace were accordingly signed at Paris in the month of November; and in the ensuing February, a treaty was concluded, by which the United States were acknowledged as " free, sovereign, and independent." All the European powers subsequently adhered to this arrangement; while Washington, to whose unshaken constancy and patriotism the success of the struggle had mainly been owing, resigned his authority into the hands of congress, and retired into private life. The American leaders now set themselves vigorously to perfect and consolidate the independence which had been so gloriously achieved. Great distress prevailed throughout the country, in consequence of the long neglect of agriculture and commerce; a heavy debt lay on the hands of government; and no small amount of discontent existed. These difficulties were met by various salutary regulations; and in 1787, a general convention met at Philadelphia, of which Washington was chosen president, with the view of framing a constitution for the republic. That body established the form of government which has since prevailed in the country: the different states were united for the purpose of mutual protection; the general legislative powers were confided to a congress, consisting of a chamber of representatives chosen biennially, and a senate elected every six years; the executive was intrusted to a president and vice-president chosen every four years; while each state, possessing a corresponding form of government, retained the management of its own internal affairs. In 1789, Washington was inaugurated first president of the United States, an honour which again devolved on him in 1793; and he displayed throughout his term of office the same talent and disinterestedness which had marked his military career. He wisely abstained from all interference in the contests of the French revolution, formed treaties of amity and commerce with Britain, Spain, and other nations, and anxiously aided every scheme of internal improvement, so that the country made extraordinary advances in wealth and population. He finally resigned all public employment in 1796, and was succeeded by Mr. Adams, one of his coadjutors in the war of independence. HAYTI. This island, the second in size and first in fertility of the West India group, was discovered by Columbus in 1495, and received from him the name of His paniola; it was subsequently settled by the Spaniards, who founded the towns of Isabella and St. Domingo. The aboriginal inhabitants are believed to have then amounted to nearly 1,000,000; but in consequence of the frightful cruelties COM.MIT TEE PRESENTING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE TO CONGRESS. ~i(~fri_ _, _._ _.t SURRENDER OF COR(N WALLIS AT YORKTOWVN. I~~~~~L ~URITENDIL OF (OKNWALLI A'_P YRKTOTVN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 485 inflicted on them by their European masters, they were almost annihilated in the course of twenty years, and during the next century their place was sup plied by vast importations of egro slaves. In 1665, the French obtained a footing on the western coast, and in 1697 became possessors of nearly half the island; and this colony, being regarded as the most valuable of their foreign settlements, was cultivated with great care and success, so that its agricultural produce, consisting principally of sugar, coffee, and cotton, was valued in 1789 at fully 8,000,000 sterling. The whole of this immense wealth, however, as in the other West India Islands, was raised by the compulsory labour of the unhappy Africans, who, after enduring the horrors of transportation to the island, were forced there to lead a life of cheerless labour and suffering for the benefit of their taskmasters. The barbarities of the slave-trade had long excited the ineffectual indignation of the humane in Western Europe; and in Denmark, France, and England, societies were formed for the protection of the negroes. In the last of these countries, so early as 1754, the Quaker body had universally protested against the traffic; while, in 1785, public sympathy was strongly awakened on the subject by the writings of the celebrated Clarkson. The philanthropists of France took a more decided course. The Societe des.mis des Noirs, 1788, advocated the immediate abolition of slavery itself; and by a decree of the Constituent Assembly, 1791, the privileges of equality were conferred indiscriminately on all persons of colour born of free parents. Unfortunately, no precautions were taken to ensure that this great measure should be carried into effect in a peaceful and orderly manner; the whites of the colony were generally opposed to it; and the consequence was, that so soon as the news arrived, the mulattoes and negroes flew to arms, and massacred large numbers of their former masters. The cruelties exercised on both sides during this disastrous contest exceed anything recorded in history. The Constituent Assembly, at once astonished and alarmed, in vain endeavoured to retrace their steps: their delegates, backed by three thousand men, fruitlessly strove to reconcile the discordant inhabitants of the colony. The insurrection at last became universal; while the Legislative Assembly, and after them the Convention, proclaimed the unlimited freedom of the blacks, 1793. The furious civil war which next ensued between the negroes and mulattoes, placed Toussaint L'Ouverture at the head of affairs, 1800. In the next year an assembly of the leading chiefs, convened at Cape Town, drew up a constitution, conferring on him unlimited authority, under the title of president and governor for life. These proceedings excited the jealousy of Napoleon, who sent out an armament to recover the island. After an obstinate resistance, Toussaint fell into the hands of the French, by whom he was conveyed to Europe, where he was shamefilly put to death. The blacks, however, rallied under John James Dessalines, who expelled the invaders, and erected the western portion of the island, to which he gave the name of Hayti, into an empire, assuming the government by the title of James I. His despotism and cruelty having rendered him universally detested, he was slain in an insurrection in 1806; and the country divided into two states, the northern coast being formed into a negro community under Christophe, who, in 1811, was proclaimed king, while the southern plains became a mulatto republic under Petion. Continual war was carried on between these two chiefs. After the death of the latter in 1818, he was succeeded as president of the commonwealth by Boyer; 41 * 486 MODERN HISTORY. and Christophe having killed himself on the breaking out of an insurrection in 1820, the whole was united under his authority, which was also extended over the Spanish portion of fe island two years later. In 1825, an ordonnance was published by the King of France, in which he formally recognised the independence of the island. Hayti has almost ceased to be an exporting country; but the population has nevertheless rapidly increased, and exertions are made by the government to encourage the settlement of whites and promote education. Though called a republic, and ruled by a president, the government is properly a despotism, the chief authority residing in the army. THE CHURCH. The impiety which characterized the eighteenth century first challenged public attention under the regency of the Duke of Orleans, whose palace became the resort of the freethinking wits of the day. In 1751, De Prades, a priest, maintained at the Sorbonne a thesis which was regarded as the first public effort of the sceptical philosophy. In the same year were issued the first two volumes of the Dictionnaire Encyclopedique, an immense compilation, which, according to the prospectus, was to be a complete storehouse of human knowledge, instead of what it really is, a magazine of irreligion. Voltaire was then in the full strength of his varied genius, and by his sparkling yet natural style charmed all readers, while he scattered the seeds of incredulity. The sophisms and idle theories of Rousseau on education attracted the more serious; while Diderot, D'Alembert, and other equally zealous disciples, supported these chiefs of the philosophic school. Impiety became the fashion; it pervaded the drawing-room and the theatre, and was above all predominant in the upper classes of society all over the Continent. The suppression of the Jesuits, in what light soever we may view the principles and practice of their society, is the first link in the great chain of misfortunes that befell the Roman Catholic church during this century. Clement XIV. long hesitated, and sought a thousand pretexts for saving a religious body that counted 20,000 members, all devoted to the supremacy of their spiritual head. This act, which was only adopted at last (1773) as a means of reconciling the Roman Church with the heads of the various Catholic states, became a signal for discord and insurrection against the authority of the holy see. In Germany especially were the innovators most numerous, and the opinions of Febronius (Von Hontheim), the apologist of the bishops against the Pope, rapidly gained ground. Joseph II. substituted the normal for the ecclesiastical schools, and, instead of the ancient chairs of theology, esta blished seminaries independent of the bishops. A number of religious houses were suppressed, and the others released from all obedience to their superiors-general. It was, moreover, declared that the prelates were no longer subject to the Pope. In Italy, also, Ricci, bishop of Pistoia, adopted all the German innovations. The death of Joseph restored peace between Germany and the Pope; but the new irreligious doctrines were elsewhere destined to work out their natural results. The men who had adopted them, and laboured in their propagation, were raised to power in France, and the political his tory of the Revolution has shown how far men will go in folly and EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 487 clime, when unchecked by conscience and religious feeling. All the established forms of worship were swept away, although, by a decree of the representative body, the existence of a Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul were finally acknowledged. The goddess of Reason, under the form of a woman, was placed on the altars of the living God, and received the homage of the insensate populace. THE METHODISTS.-This sect, which derives its name from the regularity and strict method of its followers, was founded in Oxford by John Wesley. It rapidly increased in numbers; but its existence was shaken in 1741 by the difference arising from the Arminianism of its author and the Calvinism of Whitefield. About ten years after, the opposition between the Methodist preachers and the Anglican clergy led to a separation from the Establishment, though in 1788 the society was still eager to proclaim its unity with the church in doctrine, and its reluctant difference on matters of discipline. Apart from the rash speculations of one class, and the enthusiasm of both, there is much real piety and devotion, which have greatly contributed to excite the exertions of the regular clergy. We may imagine we see the visible hand of the Almighty raising up this society as a new barrier against infidelity, when unbelief was most abundant. Consult: Lord Mahon's History of England, chap. xix. LITERATURE, ARTS, AND SCIENCES. GREAT BRITAIN.-The literature of the British islands during this century is of great value and importance, and presents a vast number of successful aspirants in every walk of inquiry or imagination. In poetry appear the names of Prior, 1721, conspicuous for the graceful ease and vivacity of his productions; Young, 1765, author of the Night Thoughts, a work remarkable for the impressive solemnity of its reflections; and Pope, 1744, who carried to the highest perfection correctness of versification and splendour of diction, and whose voluminous works are a treasury of keen wit and elegant satire. Thomson, 1748, is admired for the pastoral beauty of his Seasons; Collins, 1756, for his odes, particularly that on the Passions; and Gray, 1771, for the exquisite harmony of his elegies. The most natural poets of the period, howeveri were Cowper, 1800, author of The Task, and Robert Burns, 1796, whose songs are unrivalled for simplicity and real pathos. Steele, 1729, and Addison, 1719, contributed to the drama; but their fame depends mainly on those remarkable essays on men and manners published in the Tatler and Spectator, —a species of writing of which they may be considered the founders. Vanbrugh, 1726, and Congreve, 1728, cultivated comedy; Defoe, 1731, an extensive miscellaneous writer, wrote the favourite tale of Robinson Crusoe; and Sterne, 1768, is admired for the pathetic touches of his Sentimental Journey. As novelwriters appear the distinguished names of Swift, 1745, Fielding, 1754, Richardson, 1761, and Smollett, 1771; while Goldsmith, 1774, whose Vicar of Wakefield ranks him in the same walk, was also known as a poet and miscellaneous writer. Philology received its most valuable contribution in the Dictionary of the renowned Samuel Johnson, 1784, whose Lives of the Poets has procured him a distinguished reputation in criticism and biography; in history appeared the great standard works of Hume, 1776, Robertson, 1793, and Gibbon, 1794; Isaac Newton, 1719, perhaps the greatest man of his age, will ever be remem bered in connexion with the theory of the planetary motions which bears his name; and Halley, 1742, has been justly celebrated in the same walk of science. Butler, 1752, Sherlock, 1761, Warburton, 1779, Wesley, 1791, an(. Paley, 1805, were conspicuous in theology; and Blackstone, 1780, is well known to constitutional writers by his valuable Commentaries on the Laws of Engiand. The science of political economy owes its origin to Adam Smith, 488 MODERN HISTORY. 1790, autnor of the Wealth of Nations; Hartley, 1757, and Reid, 1796, successfully cultivated metaphysics; Franklin, 1790, is highly esteemed as a writer on economics, and for his electrical discoveries; Priestley, 1804, attracted great attention by his chemical investigations, and his writings on controversial theology. In the fine arts may be selected the names of Hogarth, 1764, who has been called "the painter of comedy;" Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1792, felicitous in portraits, while his historical pieces are regarded as among the finest productions of the English school; and Gainsborough, 1788, the beauty of whose landscapes has been generally admired. The manufacturing prosperity of Britain received a signal impetus from the improvements effected in the steamengine by Watt, 1819, and the successive invention of the spinning-jenny, spinning-frame, and power-loom, by Hargreaves, Arkwright, and Crompton. FRANcE.-The eighteenth century in France, which the writers of the period complacently regarded as the age of Philosophy, exhibits many striking features. The character of this so-called philosophy was cold and heartless; and its aim, while affecting to attack vulgar prejudices merely, seemed to be to cast ridicule on the sublimest truths of religion, and by depriving man of all lofty hopes and aspirations, to fix the sum of happiness in merely sensual indulgence. The great personification and exponent of this era is Voltaire, 1778, a man eminent in every walk of literature, and whose numerous works, notwithstanding their sceptical character, still received a large tribute of admiration. The same tendencies were in a nearly equal degree promoted by Rousseau, 1778, whose celebrated work, Du Contrat Social, is believed to have hastened the revolution. This philosophy was embodied in a systematic form in the celebrated Encyclopaedia, published in 1751, of which the chief editors were Diderot, 1784, and D'Alembert, 1783, the latter also highly distinguished for his contributions to mathematics and natural philosophy. Previously to these writers appeared Le Sage, 1747, whose amusing novel of Gil Bias has been translated into every European language. Marmontel, 1799, in the early chapters of Belisarius, reminds us of Fenelon; in the Moral Tales he is more exposed to censure. The period was strikingly deficient in poetical merit. A high place among metaphysical writers is due to Condillac, 1780; and Montesquieu, 1755, author of the Esprit des Lois, has the merit of making political science a favourite study. Rollin, 1741, is celebrated for his Ancient History; De Guignes, 1800, for a history of the Huns. Reaumur, 1757, an ingenious philosophical naturalist, has associated his name with an important improvement in the thermometer; Buffon, 1788, occupies the highest rank as a writer on natural history; Bonnet, 1793, and D'Aubenton, 1799, are well known in the same path of research. The pneumatic system of chemistry owes its foundation tb Lavoisier, 1794; while mathematical and astronomical science present the conspicuous names of Lalande, 1807, and La Grange, 1813. Among the most eminent painters are enumerated Vernet, 1786, successful in marine subjects; Vien, 1810, the restorer of the French school, and model of the great masters by whom it is now illustrated; and Grenze, 1805, an elegant and tasteful artist. ITALY. —Italian literature during this century assumed a higher degree of vigour than it had displayed in the previous epoch. The comedies of Goldoni, 1772, effected a revolution in the stage; Metastasio, 1782, imparted poetical vigour to the opera; and tragedy owes its creation to Alfieri, 1803. The national historian, Muratori, 1750; Giannone, 1748, author of a history of Naples; and Tiraboschi, 1794, who wrote the annals of Italian literature, infused new vigour into their peculiar line of research. Political economy was cultivated with success by Filangieri, 1798, and other able writers. Morgagni, 1771, is highly distinguished for his anatomical investigations; astronomy presents the celebrated names of Cassini, 1756, and Boscovich, 1787. The investigations of natural history were successfully prosecuted by Spallanzani 1799; while the important discoveries of Galvani, 1798, and Volta, 1827, raised electricity to the rank of a science. Italy, so long the nurse of the fine arts, presented no longer that unquestionable ascendency she had formerly maintained; but she still produced many respectable artists, among whom the most distinguished were Lutti, 1724, and Battoni, 1786. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY A.D. 489 SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. -With the accession of the Bourbon family, the literature of the peninsula began to be formed upon the model of that of France. Ignacio de Luzan, 1754, may be regarded as the founder of this new school, his Art of Poetry having produced an important revolution; the Portuguese writer, Xavier de Meneses, 1743, author of the Henriqueide, was also an esteemed poet. A number of respectable historians appeared, among whom may be mentioned, Ferreras, 1735, author of a history of Spain; Velasques, 1772, who wrote the annals of Castilian poetry; and Munos, 1795 (?), celebrated for his. unfinished History of Spanish America. Feyjoo, 1765, who has been called the Spanish Addison, is well known as a writer on ethics and criticism; Ulloa, 1795, cultivated mathematics and various subjects of scientific investigation. The natural history of the colonies attracted much attention at this period; their zoology was attentively investigated by Felix d'Azara, also distinguished as a traveller; and tuiz and Pavon published valuable researches into the floral productions of Peru. GERMANY.-During this century Germany exhibited an extraordinary development of literary talent, offering a host of great men which it would be impossible even to enumerate. In imaginative writing appear the names of J. E. Schlegel, 1759; Klopstock, 1803, the immortal author of the Messiah; Zimmerman, 1795, whose work on Solitude has been extensively perused; and Wieland, 1813, successful alike in romance and poetry. G6the, 1832, has been regarded as a sort of divinity, and he is unquestionably the founder of modern German literature; hardly less admiration has been accorded to his illustrious contemporary, Schiller, 1805, whose dramatic and historical works possess a constantly increasing reputation. The profound metaphysical views of Kant, 1804, have created a wonderful sensation in Europe. Fabricius, 1736, was renowned for his classical attainments; history has produced Struve, 1738; Mosheim, 1755; and Schlozer, 1809. Gesner, 1761, and Ernesti, 1781, are famed for their philological studies. Chemistry was cultivated by Stahl, 1734; medicine by Hoffman, 1742, as also by the celebrated Swiss poet and physician, Haller, 1777. The name of Fahrenheit, 1743, is well known in connexion with the thermometer. Euler, 1783, rendered important services to mathematical science; Werner, 1817, has acquired a European reputation in reference to the comparatively new study of geology; and Lavater, 1801, attracted considerable attention by his fanciful work on physiognomy. The German school of painting was illustrated by the splendid historical productions of Mengs, 1779; it also presents many eminent landscape artists, among whom may be mentioned Dietrich, 1774, and Gesner, 1788. The science of music is perhaps mainly indebted to the composers of Germany. During this century, she furnished the great names of Handel, 1759, Mozart, 1791, Haydn, 1809, Beethoven, 1807, and Weber, 1826. HOLLAND AND THE NORTH.-Many eminent literary and scientific characters at this time appeared in Holland, though her imaginative writers have attracted less attention. Gronovius, 1716, celebrated for his classical attainments, wrote an admired work on Greek Antiquities. A new theory of medicine was founded by the illustrious Boerhaave, 1738, and further improved by Gaubius, 1780; Van Swieten, 1772, prosecuted the same science. Among various distinguished philologists may be mentioned Schultens, 1750; Hoogeveen, 1794; and Valckenaer, 1820. In Sweden appeared Dalin, 1763, an eminent historian and poet; the renowned Linneus, 1778, whose sexual system of botany has been generally adopted throughout Europe; and Wallerius, 1785, known as an industrious chemist and mineralogist. Denmark produced Holberg, 1754, whose versatile talents were alternately turned to the drama, satire, and history; Ewald, 1781, the greatest and most admired of modern northern poets; Suhm, 1798, author of a valuable history of Denmark; and Pontoppidan, 1764, celebrated for his natural history of Norway. Pallas, 1811, a native of Prussia, is connected with Russian literature by his travels in the southern portions of that empire, and his valuable contributions to its natural history. 490 MODERN HISTORY. NINETEENTH CENTURY. GREAT BRITAIN.-1801, Irish Union.-1802, Peace of Amiens.-1805, Victory of Trafalgar.-1808, Peninsular War.-1810, Regency.-1812, War with the United States.-1814, Battle of Toulouse. —1815, Waterloo. -1820, George IV. FRANCE.-1800, Marengo and Hohenlinden.-1802, Peace of Amiens.-1804, Napoleon Emperor.-1805, Austerlitz.-1806, Jena.-Berlin Decrees.1807, Eylau.-Treaty of Tilsit.-Occupation of Portugal; Usurpation in Spain.-1809, Wagram.-1810, Napoleon marries Maria Louisa.-1812, Russian Campaign.-1813, Leipsic.-1814, First Treaty of Paris.-1815, The Hundred Days; Waterloo.-Louis XVIII.; the Charter. SPAIN.-1807, Treaty of Fontainebleau.-1808, Charles IV. abdicated.-Joseph Bonaparte; Siege of Saragossa.-1813, Battle of Vittoria.-Ferdinand VII. PORTUGAL.-1807, French Invasion.-1808, Convention of Cintra.-1810, John VI.-1821, Popular Constitution. ITALY.-1799, Parthenopean Republic.-1806, Joseph Bonaparte King of Naples.-Battle of Maida.-1808, Murat King.-1812, Sicilian Constitution. -1815, New federal Compact of Zurich. GERMANY.-1805, Confederation of the Rhine.-1809, Battle of Aspern.Tyrolese War.-1815, Germanic League. HOLLAND.-1806, Louis Bonaparte King.-1810, Incorporation with France. 1815, William Frederick I. King of United Netherlands. DENMARK.-1801, Battle of the Baltic.-1807, Bombardment of Copenhagen. 1814, Cession of Norway to Sweden. SWEDEN.-1809, Gustavus IV. deposed; Charles XIII.-1810, Bernadotte Crown Prince.-1818, Charles XIV. PRUSSIA.-1797, Frederick III.-1806, Defeat at Jena.-1813, War with France; Landsturm; Blucher.-Lutzen and Bautzen; Leipsic.-1814, Restoration of Territories. RUSSIA.-1801, Paul I. assassinated; Alexander I.-1807, Friedland; Treaty of Tilsit.-1809-1812, Turkish War.-1812, French Invasion; Burning of Moscow.-1815, Kingdom of Poland. TURKEY.-1806, Insurrection of Janissaries; Mustapha IV.-Mahmoud II.1812, Peace of Bucharest. BRITISH INDIA.-1803, Mahratta War; Battle of Assaye.-1813, Marquis of Hastings; Pindaree War.-1818, British paramount throughout India. UNITED STATES. —1801, Mr. Jefferson President.-1803, Purchase of Louisiana. 1812, War with Britain.-1814, Treaty of Ghent.-1817, Acquisition of Florida. BRAZIL.-1822, Declaration of Independence; Don Pedro Emperor.-1824. Constitution. SPANISH COLONIES.-1810, Revolution in Caraccas.-1816, Buenos Ayres... 1818, Chili.-1821, Mexico, Peru, and Guatemala.-1824, Victory of Aya cucho; Final Expulsion of Spaniards. NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D. 491 GREAT BRITAIN. The legislative union with Ireland, effected on the first day of the present century, secured to that country most of the commercial privileges which the people had long demanded: twenty-eight temporal and four spiritual peers, with one hundred commoners, were admitted to the British, now called the Imperial Parliament; while their proportion of the public burdens was fixed by an equitable adjustment.* On the Continent, the events of the campaign of 1800 were most unfavourable to Austria; so that, in the beginning of next year, the emperor was compelled to sign a peace at Luneville, by which the French became masters of all Europe west of the Rhine and south of the Adige. The Czar, also, who had become a warm friend of Napoleon, seized upon all the British vessels in his ports; while Denmark and Sweden appeared to be on the point of joining him in a confederacy against England. In these circumstances, Sir Hyde Parker was despatched with an armament to the Baltic, under whom Nelson proved so successful against the Danish fleet, as to reduce that country to a state of neutrality. Further operations in that quarter were interrupted by the death of the Emperor Paul: his son and successor, Alexander, immediately disclaiming all hostile intentions, formed an amicable convention with Great Britain. About this time, an army which had been sent to drive the French out of Egypt, succeeded in effecting its purpose, though with the loss of its brave commander, Sir Ralph Abercromby, who was mortally wounded at the battle of Alexandria, March 21. Nevertheless, the signal triumphs of France on the Continent, joined to the sufferings of a famine which at this time bore hard on the great body of the people, produced a general desire for peace; and in order to facilitate such an arrangement, a new ministry had been formed under Mr. Addington in the beginning of the year. A negotiation was accordingly opened, which terminated in a definitive treaty signed at Amiens, March 27, 1802; England retaining several of her colonial conquests, while her opponent remained unquestioned mistress of the Continent. The public joy at this event was however destined to be of short duration. Bonaparte, who had now, as First Consul, concentrated the whole government of France in his hands, took advantage of several unsettled points in the treaty, and showed a disposition so evidently unfriendly, as to provoke the British to retaliate by retaining Malta, of which they had obtained possession in 1800, and the war was accordingly recommenced in May 1803. The latter immediately laid an embargo on the French shipping in their ports, and employed a naval force to occupy such of the West India Islands as still belonged to the enemy; while Napoleon, seizing upon great numbers of English visiters then in France, confined them as prisoners of war. He was able also to overrun Hanover, and exclude British commerce from Hamburg; and while an immense flotilla was collected at Boulogne, for the avowed purpose of *Notwithstanding the general fairness of this measure, however, the Irish viewed with great discontent the abolition of their national legislature; and their feelings in this respect led to a conspiracy in 1803, under Emmett and Russell, for seizing the seat of government. After some tumults in the streets of Dublin, in which several persons lost their lives, the mob was dispersed by the military, and their leaders, being seized, were tried and executed. 492 MODERN HISTORY. invading England. In April 1804, Mr. Pitt was again called to tho head of affairs; and next year that able statesman succeeded in organ-:zing a new coalition, consisting of Russia, Sweden, Austria, and Naples, to oppose the ambition of the French ruler. He, on the other hand having become absolute master of Holland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, made every exertion to contest the empire of the sea. A combined fleet of thirty-three sail, partly French and partly Spanish, met a British squadron of twenty-seven under Nelson, off Cape Trafalgar, October 25, and was totally defeated, though at the expense of the life of the British commander. The exertions of the allies, however, could oppose no barrier to the extraordinary fortune of Napoleon in continental Europe, where the decisive victory of Austerlitz once more prostrated the power of Austria, and enabled him to dictate a humiliating peace to her monarch before the end of the year. This event produced much gloom in the British councils, and proved a deathblow to Mr. Pitt, who expired on the 23d January 1806. A new ministry was forthwith formed under his great political rival, Mr. Fox; but that statesman dying on the 13th September following, it was in the next year succeeded by another, of which Mr. Perceval was the recognised leader. One of the first acts of the new cabinet was the despatch of an armament to Copenhagen, tc seize and carry off the Danish navy, which was expected to be immediately employed in subserviency to France. The object of the expedidition was easily accomplished; but this attack on a neutral power was very unfavourably regarded by foreign states, and the Emperor of Russia, in particular, having made peace with France, seized the opportunity to recall his ambassador from London. Various expeditions had about the same time been sent to the Dardanelles, to Egypt, and against the Spanish settlements on the River Plate in South America, none of which were attended with any advantage. In 1808, nearly the whole of the Continent might be considered as arrayed in hostility to England. The Austrians had been compelled to yield a large portion of their territory to Napoleon; by the battles of Jena and Auerstadt, he had annihilated the power of Prussia; Italy, Spain, and Portugal were in his hands; Russia had made peace with him; and by his famous Berlin decrees, declaring Great Britain in a state of blockade, he shut the ports of Europe against her merchandise. But this signal elevation, and the tyranny which it produced, began to awaken against the French emperor a spirit he had not hitherto encountered. Down to this period, the contest had been one more of governments than of people, and the triumphs of his arms were viewed with no small degree of sympathy by many even in the subjugated countries; but now he began to be regarded as the common enemy of mankind, whose boundless ambition it was every one's duty to repress. The first symptoms of this reaction were manifested in Spain, where the inhabitants, exasperated by the usurpations of the French, roused themselves to insurrection, and implored assistance from Britain. An expedition of about ten thousand men was accordingly fitted out, under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley, which, after some communication with the Spanish leaders, was directed in the first instance to Portugal. This force, having landed in Mondego Bay, soon afterwards defeated the French under Junot at Vimieiro, August 21; upon which, a convention was entered into with Sir Hew Dalrymple, who had subsequently taken NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D, 493 the command, for the evacuation of the kingdom by the enemy's troops The direction of military affairs was next conferred on Sir John Moore, who arrived in the month of November with large reinforcements; and that general immediately led the British army into Spain, where, however, he soon found himself unable to withstand the immense force brought against him by Napoleon. He was therefore compelled to commence a retreat towards the port of Corunna, whither he was closely pursued by Marshal Soult, during which, though suffering no material check, the troops were exposed to great hardships. In a battle fought at this place for the purpose of protecting the embarkation, Sir John was killed, January 16, 1809; but the French general being repulsed, the British gained their ships in safety. Sir Arthur Wellesley was again called to lead an army to the Peninsula, and in April he landed in Portugal with a considerable force. He obliged his opponents to abandon Oporto, and then made a bold march upon Madrid. On the 28th July, he repulsed a formidable army under Victor at Talavera; and though compelled shortly after to fall back upon Portugal, this partial success greatly elevated the hopes of the British nation, and the general himself was raised to the peerage. About this time, also, a formidable expedition was sent to the island of Walcheren under Lord Chatham, which the unhealthiness of the climate and the inexperience of the commander, combined to bring to a disastrous issue. Austria, too, which had again been overpowered, was compelled to seal a peace by the marriage of Maria Louisa, daughter of the emperor, to Napoleon. In 1810, the French ruler largely reinforced his armies in Spain, and gave orders to Massena to drive the British out of the Peninsula. Lord Wellington posted his troops, eighty thousand in number, on the heights of Busaco; and was there attacked, on the 27th September, by an equal number of enemies. The combined British and Portuguese army behaved with great b-avery, and the assailants were repulsed with immense loss; but the victJr nevertheless resolved on retiring to the lines of Torres Vedras, where he remained on the defensive. The intellect of George III., which had already displayed several temporary aberrations, gave way entirely at the close of this year, and rendered the appointment of a regent indispensable. The Prince of Wales was accordingly invested with that dignity; and though he had hitherto seemed to side with the Whig party, whose proposal of Catholic emancipation he was understood to favour, the same ministry was continued in office, and no material change took place in the mode of conducting affairs. In 1811, much hard fighting occurred in Spain, where the French under Massena were again defeated at Fuentes d'Onoro, May 5. The town of Almeida subsequently fell into the hands of the British, a body of whom, commanded by General Beresford, gained the bloody battle of Albuera over Soult; while another detachment under General Graham was victorious at Barossa. Wellington, however, was forced to abandon the siege of Badajos; and at the close of the campaign he retired once more to his lines in Portugal. This year proved a period of unprecedented distress to the English people. The decrees of Napoleon against their commerce had provoked certain retaliatory orders in council, which, however harassing to the French, only increased the evil at home by interposing 42 494 MODERN HISTORY. new obstacles to the trade with neutral powers; and much discontent consequently prevailed among the manufacturing and mercantile classes. On the 11th of May 1812, Mr. Perceval, the premier, was shot in the lobby of the House of Commons by a man named Bellingham, who had become insane in consequence of private misfortunes; and Lords Liverpool and Castlereagh, with several others, were called to the direction of affairs. At this time the United States of America, now a powerful nation, provoked by the orders in council, and by the right assumed by the British to search for and impress English seamen on board their commercial shipping, declared war against Britain. The events of this contest were of little interest in comparison with that waged on the continent of Europe, consisting chiefly of encounters between single ships, and some detached operations on the Canadian frontier and other parts of America; and it ended in 1814 without settling any of the points in dispute. Meanwhile, the tide of success in Europe was beginning to change. The fatal expedition to Moscow had annihilated the grand army of Napoleon; and early in 1813, the Emperor Alexander, now aided by the King of Prussia and various minor princes, took the field against him in Northern Germany, where they were speedily joined by the Emperor of Austria. In the Peninsula, too, in the course of the year 1812, Lord Wellington had gained the brilliant victory of Salamanca, and taken possession of Madrid; and though again compelled to retreat into Portugal, he had succeeded in inspiring his army with the highest degree of confidence and enthusiasm, and was appointed by the Spanish cortes generalissimo of their forces. Taking the field in May 1813, he soon after totally defeated the French under King Joseph and Marshal Jourdan, at Vittoria, June 21; and, driving the fugitives across the Pyrenees, entered France on the 7th October. In the spring of 1814, this gallant army crossed the Adour, aided by a naval squadron under Admiral Penrose, and advancing to Bordeaux, were welcomed as deliverers; and finally, in a severe engagement at Toulouse, fought on the 10th of April, totally defeated the army commanded by Marshal Soult. The allies also, who had steadily advanced through Germany, crossed the Rhine early in 1814; and having gained a victory before Paris on the 30th of March, took possession of that city the following day. Shortly after, a treaty was ratified with Napoleon, by which he agreed to resign the government and content himself for the future with the sovereignty of Elba, a small island in the Mediterranean. On the 30th May, peace was formally concluded with France, by which that country was reduced nearly to the limits she had possessed in 1792, but received back her colonies with a few exceptions; England also retaining Malta, the Cape of Good Hope, and the island of Heligoland. The Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia visited London soon after, and were received with great rejoicings; while Wellington, now created a duke, was presented by the House of Commons with a grant of ~400,000, in addition to ~100,000 previously awarded. A congress of representatives from the various powers met at Vienna on the 2d October, and proceeded to settle the limits of the different countries, disturbed by the casualties of war. Throughout the whole arrangements, Great Britain acted with the utmost disinterestedness; a course of conduct which could hardly have been looked for, after the extraordinary sufferings and expenses she had borne during the contest. NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 495 Early in 1815, these proceedings were interrupted by the news that Napoleon had landed in France, where he was joyfully received by the soldiery. To oppose him, the Prussian and British armies, of 100,000 and 80,000 men respectively, were quickly collected in the Netherlands, while larger bodies of Austrians and Russians were approaching. After various detached operations, and some severe fighting, in the course of which Napoleon laboured to prevent that concert which was desirable between the confederated generals, the force under his own immediate command, amounting to about 80,000 men, was, on the 18th June, directed against Wellington alone, who, with 72,000 troops, of whom about 60,000 might be reckoned effective, had taken a position across the road to Brussels, near a village called Waterloo. The battle, one of the most obstinately contested that history records, consisted throughout the day of a constant succession of attacks by the French upon the British lines, attended with immense bloodshed, but in every case repelled with the utmost fortitude. About seven in the evening, Napoleon brought up his reserve, the flower of his infantry, in the hope of breaking the British centre; but the English guards, not waiting the charge, rushed to meet them, and the enemy fled in confusion. At the same time, the Prussians under Blucher came up, attacked the enemy on the right flank, and decided the fate of the day. The baffled and broken host fled in all directions, their disappointed commander taking the route to Paris. Finding it impossible to restore the confidence of his counsellors, he made a fruitless abdication in favour of his son, and repaired to Rochefort, with the view of embarking for America; but, perceiving that he could not escape the vigilance of the British cruisers, he surrendered himself to Captain Maitland of the Bellerophon, and was soon after condemned by the triumphant allies to perpetual confinement on the island of St. Helena, where he died in 1821. Thus terminated this long and sanguinary contest, which had involved every nation in Europe, and occasioned an amount of bloodshed and devastation unparalleled in the annals of modern times. The shores of Britain were happily protected from its ravages; but her national debt was augmented to the enormous sum of ~860,000,000, and she may be said to have gained little besides the renown accruing from her great achievements. Nevertheless, Europe was freed from the ambition of an insolent and unprincipled dictator, whom nothing short of universal empire would have satisfied; and the nations at large received the important lesson, which it may be hoped will not speedily be forgotten, that an empire founded on injustice and aggression can never attain a permanent existence; and that a course of peaceful improvement, as it is the only means of securing the prosperity of the people, should ever be regarded as the chief aim and highest glory of their rulers. George III. died on the 29th January 1820, and was succeeded by the Prince Regent as GEORGE IV. Throughout the period from 1800, notwithstanding the immense burdens of the war, the country on the whole presented the appearance of prosperity, being able to preserve her commerce in consequence of the superiority of her naval force, while great improvements were made in machinery and agriculture. A remarkable event was the application of steam to navigation, which was originally attempted in Scotland in 1788; in 1807, Fulton launched the first steam-boat on the Hudson River in the United States; and five years later, a similar vessel was tried at Helensburgh on the Clyde. Great exertions were made for the instruction of children by means of Sunday 496 MODERN HISTORY. schools; and the educational improvements of Dr. Bell and of Mr, Joseph Lancaster were widely introduced. Various societies also arose, whose object it was to circulate the Scriptures, and carry the blessings of the gospel, by means of missionaries, to heathen countries. On the 11th June 1806, chiefly through the persevering efforts of Mr. Wilberforce, the African slave-trade was abolished by the legislature; and great exertions continued to be made for the extinction of slavery in the colonies, which has since been happily accomplished. Numerous expeditions were also fitted out for the purpose of geographical discovery; while expeditious travelling by stage-coaches, and rapid transmission of intelligence, became general throughout the kingdom. FRANCE. The important revolution which Bonaparte had the address to effect in the government of France, actually vested in himself the sole authority, legislative and executive; and the " new constitution," as it was called, was solemnly proclaimed on the 24th December 1799. Latterly, so little confidence had been felt in the directory, and so much confusion existed in consequence of the weakness and vacillation of its members, that this triumph of despotism was hailed with general satisfaction; public credit was instantly restored, and even the disturbed districts of La Vend6e adhered to the new order of things. The first consul now made overtures of peace to England and Austria; but these being rejected from a suspicion of his insincerity, he immediately turned his attention to the war against the latter country. Moreau, who had received the command of the army of the Rhine, successfully prosecuted the contest in Germany; while Napoleon himself, at the head of that of Italy, crossed the Great St. Bernard from Switzerland,-an achievement hitherto deemed impracticable. On the 2d of June 1800, he entered Milan without opposition; and soon after met the Austrians on the plain of Marengo. Here, on the 14th, he was attacked by General Melas, who had at first so much the advantage, that Bonaparte at one period wavered; but the battle was restored by the gallantry of General Desaix, who was killed in the act of leading on a decisive charge of cavalry. A signal victory was the consequence; after which the Austrian general obtained an armistice, withdrawing his troops to the line of Mantua and the Mincio, while the French retained the greater part of Lombardy. The victor shortly after returned to Paris, having established provisional governments in Milan, Turin, and Genoa; and negotiations for peace took place between Austria and France. These being broken off in consequence of the non-adherence of England, the war recommenced, and the Austrians under the Archduke John were defeated by Moreau at Hohenlinden, December 3. Another armistice followed; and at length, on the 9th February 1801, the emperor signed a separate treaty at Luneburg, by which he recognised the independence of the Batavian, Swiss, Cisalpine, and Ligurian republics, and the Rhine was declared the boundary between the French and Austrian dominions. The King of Naples soon after obtained peace; and even the new Pope, Pius VII., was acknowledged by Bonaparte, who left him in possession of the greater part of the church patrimony. Malta having surrendered to the British, and the war in Egypt being at an end by the capitulation of Menou, who had succeeded Kleber in the command, the chief obstacles to a pacific arrangement with that country were now removed. Preliminaries were NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D. 497 accordingly signed at London on the 1st October, and in the following March tranquillity was restored by the definitive treaty of Amiens. Napoleon seems at this time to have been sincerely anxious for peace, in order to consolidate his position, and carry into effect several great designs which he had formed. The extreme sections of the republicans and royalists were still hostile to his dictatorship; and on the 24th September 1800, he had nearly fallen a victim to a conspiracy of the latter, a wagon containing several barrels of gunpowder having been exploded in a narrow street as he was passing in his carriage to the opera. Special tribunals were after this established to try persons accused of treason; while a secret police was skilfully organized by Fouche, having informers of all classes in his pay. A general amnesty, with some exceptions, was nevertheless granted, in April 1801, to all emigrants who chose to return to France and take the oath of fidelity to the present government. By a concordat with the Pope, published at Paris in 1802, the Romish religion was re-established, though shorn of much of the importance it had formerly possessed; the sales of ecclesiastical property which had taken place being sanctioned, and the Protestants not only receiving full liberty of worship, but even the support of a public endowment. A new order of knighthood was also established on the 19th May, under the dwsignation of the Legion of Honour. In January 1802, Bonaparte assumed the title of President of the Cisalpine Republic, and in the following August a decree of the senate conferred on him the dignity of first consul for life. The independence and neutrality of Switzerland were recognised, but the cantons were required to maintain a body of 16,000 men in the service of France. The first consul also turned his attention to the various branches of public instruction, though the institutions which he framed for this purpose were entirely military in their character, and contributed in a great measure to consolidate his despotism. His most valuable gift to France was perhaps the promulgation at this time of the celebrated civil code which bears his name, drawn up by a commission of lawyers under the presidency of Cambaceres, at whose meetings Napoleon himself frequently attended. It soon became evident that the peace of Amiens would not be permanent. In October 1802, Parma was seized and incorporated with France, and a similar appropriation of Piedmont took place a month afterwards; while the English, who had agreed to restore Malta to the Knights of St. John, resolved on retaining that island. Hostilities were recommenced in May 1803, by the issue of letters of marque by the Cabinet of London, and an embargo on all French vessels in their ports. In retaliation for this, a decree was promulgated, ordering that all natives of Britain, of whatever condition, then in the territories of France and Holland, should be detained as prisoners of war. At the same time, the French armies entered Hanover, and took possession of it with little resistance; while an immense force was collected at Boulogne, under the designation of "the army of England," for the invasion of that country-an enterprise, however, which Napoleon never found it convenient to attempt. In February 1804, an extensive conspiracy was discovered at Paris against the government, in which Generals Pichegru and Moreau, and Georges Cadoudal, a Chouan chief, were implicated. Affecting to helieve that the young Duke of Enghien, then living in the grand-dlue.v of 42* 498 MODERN HISTORY. Baden, was concerned in this plot, the first consul sent a body of gendarmes across the frontier to arrest him. The duke was accordingly seized and brought to the castle of Vincennes near Paris, where, after a mock trial, he was shot on the 21st March,-an act which affixes an indelible stain on the memory of Napoleon, not the slightest evidence of the charge having ever been produced. Pichegru was shortly after found dead in prison, Moreau was banished from France, and Georges was executed. Meantime a motion had been carried in the tribunate, and subsequently passed the senate, creating Bonaparte' Emperor of the French," and reinvesting him in that capacity with the government of the republic. He accordingly assumed this new dignity on the 24th May; and on the 2d December he was solemnly crowned by the Pope, who had been induced to come to Paris for that purpose. To complete his elevation, the ancient iron diadem of the Longobard kings was offered him by his obsequious creatures in Italy; and on the 26th May he was formally anointed sovereign of that country, Genoa being Lc.lted to his empire a few days afterwards. These and other usurpations of the French ruler at length induced Russia and Austria to listen to the solicitations of England; and in the summer of 1805 a new coalition was formed. With his usual pron.ptitude, Napoleon in October burst into Germany, where he was joined by the Duke of Wurtemburg and the Elector of Bavaria, who were rewarded by his conferring on each the title of king. General Mack, allowing himself to be surrounded at Ulm, was compelled to surrender his whole force of 20,000 men on the 24th; and the other scattered corps of Austrians, being unable to offer any effectual resistance, the French entered Vienna on the 13th November. On the 27th was fought the great battle of Austerlitz, which ended in the total overthrow of the combined Russian and Austrian armies, and enabled the victor to dictate peace on his own terms. By the treaty of Presburg, signed on the 26th December, he was recognised in his dignities of French emperor and king of Italy, as were also the titles of the newly made kings of Bavaria and Wurtemberg. Venice was ceded to France, and the Tyrol to Bavaria; the Emperor of Russia withdrew his troops into his own territories; and the King of Prussia received Hanover as a reward for his neutrality, and perhaps also with the view of provoking a rupture between him and George III. Britain now alone remained in opposition to Napoleon; and the decisive naval victory achieved by her fleet at Trafalgar dissipated all his hopes of invading that country. However, in February 1806, he sent an army to take possession of Naples, because the king had allowed a Russian and English force to land in his dominions; and in the following March the crown of that country was conferred on his brother Joseph. Louis Bonaparte was soon after made sovereign of Holland; various districts in Italy and Germany were erected into duke doms, and bestowed on his principal marshals; while fourteen princes in the south and west of Germany were induced to form what was called the Confederation of the Rhine, and place themselves under the protection of France. Notwithstanding the bribe of Hanover, this perpetual aggression on the part of the French ruler had been viewed by Prussia with the utmost alarm; and though afraid to break her neutrality during the late camuaign in Germany, she at length entered into a league with Russia, and NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D. 499 leclared war against him. Bonaparte instantly put his troops in morion. On the 14th October he gained the double victory of Auerstadt and Jena, which at once laid the whole kingdom at his feet; and in a few days he entered the capital. Here, on the 21st November, he issued his celebrated Berlin decrees against British commerce, preposterously declaring the whole of Great Britain in a state of blockade, and ordering English property wherever found to be seized as lawful prize. He soon afterwards marched into Poland against the Russians, who were advancing to the Vistula; but received a severe check at Pultusk on the 28th December. The sanguinary but undecisive conflict of Eylau followed on the 8th of February 1807; and at length, on the 14th June, the Russians were worsted at Friedland, and driven beyond the Aller. The emperor Alexander then entered into negotiations, and a peace was concluded at Tilsit, July 7. By the terms of this treaty, Alexander agreed to aid Napoleon in his designs against British commerce, and the King of Prussia received back about half of his dominions: of the other half, one portion was given to the Elector of Saxony, now honoured with the title of royalty; the rest went to aggrandize the new kingdom of Westphalia, erected out of the dominions of Brunswick and HesseCassel, which was given to Jerome Bonaparte. The French emperor had now attained such a pitch of elevation, that he fancied he might dispose of the sovereignties of the continent at his pleasure. In the month of October, the Moniteur contained the arrogant announcement, that " the house of Braganza had ceased to reign in Europe." Marshal Junot was immediately sent through Spain with an army to invade Portugal; the prince regent, feeling resistance to be vain, quietly embarked for Brazil; and on the 30tt November, the French took possession of Lisbon. In the following year, the King of Spain himself was compelled to resign his crown to the disposal of Napoleon, who removed his brother Joseph from Naples to the throne of that country, and raised his favourite general Murat to the vacant dignity. Both Charles IV. and his son Ferdinand were brought to France, and retained as state prisoners. The memorable events which resulted from these nefarious transactions are noticed under SPAIN and GREAT BRITAIN; it may therefore be sufficient to allude to the persevering resistance of the Spanish nation as the first indication of that popular awakening which eventually proved fatal to the dynasty of Bonaparte. Meantime, a new war with Austria was on the point of breaking out. That country, though humbled, was not subdued: the emperor felt impatient under his past losses, and eager to redeem them, while the warlike pride of his subjects writhed under the consciousness of defeat. By great exertions their armies had been augmented to nearly half a million of men; and in the spring of 1809 the Tyrolese threw off the Bavarian yoke. The Archduke Charles commanded in Germany, the Archduke John in Italy. The French monarch quickly assembled his forces beyond the Rhine, advanced to Augsburg, and, by one of his most skilful maneuvres, broke the line of his antagonists, gained the successive victories of Echmuhl and Essling, and once more took possession of Vienna, May 12, 1809. The archduke now collected his army on the left bank of the Danube; Napoleon crossed over to attack him; and though worsted in the obstinate battle of Aspern, May 21, he speedily reinforced his army, and on the 6th of July gained the 500 MODERN HISTORY. famous triumph of Wagram. He then dictated a peace, styled the treaty of Schonbrunn, which was ratified on the 14th October. This extraordinary man now resolved to complete his elevation by a matrimonial alliance with the most illustrious house in Europe. He divorced the Empress Josephine, to whom he is believed to have been always sincerely attached, and received the hand of the Archduchess Maria Louisa of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Francis. The marriage ceremony, in which the Archduke Charles acted as Napoleon's proxy, was performed at Vienna on the 11th March 1810; and the new empress shortly after set out for Paris, where in the following year she gave birth to a son, who was declared King of Rome. The entire continent was now to all appearance prostrate at the feet of the French autocrat, who in fact controlled the destinies of eighty millions of people. The brave Tyrolese had been abandoned to their fate. The Pope, long dissatisfied, having at length excommunicated him, had been arrested on the 5th July 1809, and carried prisoner, first to Savona, and afterwards to Fontainebleau. Bernadotte, one of his generals, was elected successor to the throne of Sweden; and Louis, king of Holland, having connived at a clandestine intercourse with England, was dispossessed of his crown, and the Dutch territories were incorporated with France in December 1810. Bonaparte had now attained the crisis of his destiny, and the period was at hand when the slumbering energies of the continental nations were to be effectually roused. The commercial interests of all Europe were fearfully injured by the effect of the measures taken to destroy the trade of England, and every scheme was tried to evade them. The Emperor of Russia, though he had hitherto adhered to the treaty of Tilsit, repented a policy which was daily aggrandizing his overbearing rival; and in the end of 1810, braving his resentment, he renewed his intercourse with the court of London, and began to prepare for war. Napoleon, on his part, made vast exertions for the approaching struggle. In the spring of 1812, an immense host, numbering nearly half a million )f combatants, was assembled on the banks of the Niemen, the frontier )f Russia, where, on the 22d June, he formally declared hostilities. Crossing the river on the 24th, he soon after took possession of Wilna, ~nd arrived at Witebsk about the end of July. On the 16th August, the two armies met under the walls of Smolensk; but that city, after a vigorous contest, was abandoned by the Russian general, who continued to retreat upon Moscow. At length, on the 7th September, a great battle was fought at Borodino, a village near the banks of the river Moskva, where, after fearful slaughter on both sides, the French had the advantage. Kutusoff, the Russian commander, now resolved to abandon Moscow to its fate, rather than weaken his army by another conflict; and the invader accordingly entered that capital on the 14th September. Here, however, was the limit of his advance, and from this moment may be dated the destruction of that mighty host which he believed to be invincible. The city was found to be deserted by all but a few of the lowest class of people, and soon after the entrance of the French it was observed to be on fire in various quarters. The soldiers, flushed with success, were too intent on plunder to take any effectual steps to arrest the flames, which, fanned by a high wind, raged on the night of the 15th with fearful fury. On the third day the army was ::: "'''''.'....'':".,,.::'',:..............,'' "E:';d...... I;::..:::::":::.:'::."'''~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~::.:::::::::j:, ~~~~~~~~~.,,' SQ.. -::::d.''_:~~: j. o'....' ".'::ljc'.0S; R. At ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..:s::.:':..: —:::::::,::::....::: A:%::',-::::;;.:..:j..........::',::'.:': I:.:~:':':':, ~' *':.::',''','.,''ii''',.:': ~ ~ ~ I.:::.i"': i:::. NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D. 501 compelled to evacuate the city, which it could not re-enter until the 21st. Napoleon then took up his residence in the Kremlin; and it was found that a sufficient number of houses had escaped the conflagration to afford quarters for his men. Here, however, destitute of all other supplies, they were compelled to subsist upon the flesh of their horses; and Napoleon, despairing of his position, was compelled to sue for peace. Kutusoff, to whom the proposal was made, nobly answered, that no terms could be entered into while an enemy remained on the soil of Russia; and at length, all hope of an accommodation being at an end, the French army, though in the face of a northern winter, received orders to retreat. The main body quitted Moscow on the 19th October, followed by a long train of carriages laden with spoil, and closely pursued by the Russian forces. In a severe encounter at Malo Jaroslavetz, the French had the advantage on the whole; but they were soon to bear the assault of an enemy against which skill and valour were of no avail,-the snows of winter began to fall on the 6th of November. From this period the history of the retreat presents an unbroken series of calamities unparalleled in the annals of human suffering. Of 120,000 fighting men who had left Moscow, hardly 12,000 reached the banks of the Beresina; 40,000 horses had dwindled away to 3000. Here, joined by 50,000 of the reserve under Victor and Oudinot, Napoleon prepared to cross the river; and in this enterprise, being opposed by the enemy, he lost onehalf of the army thus reinforced. Soon after, leaving the miserable remnant in charge of Murat, he set out in a sledge for Paris, where he arrived at midnight on the 18th of December, and where the news of these awful reverses, which fell on the French nation like a clap of thunder, had but shortly before preceded him.* Napoleon made prodigious exertions to organize a new army; and though fresh levies could but poorly replace the veterans lost in Russia, he contrived, by the spring of 1813, to collect a force of 350,000 men. The King of Prussia had now allied himself to Alexander, who was also joined by Sweden; and the confederates advanced as far as the Elbe. Nevertheless, the French emperor, still undismayed, repaired to Germany, and on the 2d of May gained a victory at Lutzen, followed a fortnight after by that of Bautzen. These battles, however, were not decisive; and, on the mediation of Austria, an armistice was agreed to, July 4, and a congress met at Prague to consider terms of peace. Bonaparte, still confident in his fortune, would listen to nothing calculated to limit his power; the armistice expired on the 10th August; and Austria immediately joined the allies. After various desultory engagements fought in the neighbourhood of Dresden and in Bohemia, during which his enemies were constantly gaining strength, Napoleon retreated upon Leipsic, where he determined to make a final stand. On the 16th September a sanguinary conflict took place, with no decisive result; but on the 18th the French were signally defeated, and began a retrograde movement towards the Rhine. At Hanau, the army, completely disorganised, was forced to fight its way through the troops of Bavaria, which had now joined their enemies; and on the 7th November, the emperor * Of the immense force which crossed the Niemen at the outset of the campaign, it has been calcilated that 125,000 perished in battle, 132,000 died of fatigue, hunger, and cold, and 193 00, were taken prisoners, including 48 generals and 3000 inferior officers. 502 MODERN HISTORY. re-entered France with a remnant of only 70,000 men. About 80,000, left to garrison the Prussian fortresses, now surrendered to the allies; while Holland threw off the yoke, and recalled the Prince of Orange. Nevertheless, the authority of the emperor, which was still great with the French people, enabled him to procure a new levy of 300,000 men, and he prepared with the utmost ardour for another campaign. Prince Schwartzenberg, commander-in-chief of the Austrians, along with the Russian generals Barclay de Tolli and Wittgenstein, were advancing on the Swiss frontier with 150,000 men; Blucher, the Prussian leader, was approaching with 130,000 from Frankfort; Bernadotte,with 100,000. converged towards the Netherlands; and the English, under Welling ton, were near Bayonne. The confederates crossed the Rhine at the beginrning of the year. In these circumstances, Napoleon had only one chance of preserving his crown and empire. In January 1814, conferences were held at Chatillon, when it was proposed to fix the limits of France as they were in 1792; but to this he would not listen, and therefore lost all. At the end of the month he began a campaign, which has always been regarded as the most striking proof of his extraordinary military genius. The body of the French nation, exhausted by their previous sacrifices, had at length become dissatisfied with the headlong proceedings of their ruler, and both taxes and conscription were but partially collected. Nevertheless, with a force vastly inferior in number, he kept at bay the various hostile armies during two months, gained several brilliant successes, and electrified all Europe by the rapidity and skill of his movements. But the odds were too great; and while, by a bold stroke, he threw himself in the rear of the invaders, they at once marched to Paris, and on the 30th of March, after a severe contest, took possession of the line of defence which protected that city. The following day Paris capitulated; and on the 2d of April the senate decreed that "Napoleon Bonaparte had forfeited the crown, that the hereditary right in his family was abolished, and the people and army released from their oaths of fidelity." On the Gth of the same month, Louis XVIII. was solemnly proclaimed; while the deposed emperor, finding that his generals would not join him in a last desperate attack on Paris, signed at Fontainebleau, on the 11th, an act of unconditional abdication, and shortly after set out for his new principality of Elba, where he was to enjoy a pension of six million francs, and retain the imperial title. Louis XVIII. made his public entry into Paris on the 3d of May, having previously given his assent in general terms to a constitutional charter drawn up by the senate. On the 30th, he concluded a formal peace with the allies, by which the continental dominions of France were restricted to what they had been in 1792; but England restored al. her colonial conquests, except the West India islands of St. Lucia and Tobago, and the isle of Mauritius. France thus obtained much better terms than could have been expected, after the intolerable evils she had so long inflicted upon Europe; and indeed, throughout all the arrangements, every care seems to have been taken by the conquerors to spare the feelings and honour of the nation. On the 4th of June, the king presented to the legislature a constitutional charter, on the basis of that formerly drawn up by the senate, which was unanimously accepted, and became the fundamental law of the kingdom. Notwithstanding tils, NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 503 tne boastings of the returned emigrants and various other circumstances, soon gave rise to a suspicion, which seems, however, to have been without foundation, that the court nourished the design of reverting to the despotic principles of the old monarchy. The faction of Bonaparte, still strong, and embracing the great mass of the soldiery, besides the inmense number of veterans recently released from foreign prisons, loudly fomented the discontent; and at length a wide-spread conspiracy was organized for the recall of their banished leader. He, on his part, gladly responding to the invitation, left Elba towards the end of February 1815, and on the 1st March landed at the small town of Cannes, with about 1000 men of his old guards. Advancing to Grenoble, he was there joined by Colonel Labedoyere and the 7th regiment of the line; soon after, Marshal Ney, who had been sent to stop his progress, went over to him; and by the time he reached Fontainebleau, nearly the whole military force was once more under his standard. On the evening of the 20th March he re-entered the Tuileries, Louis XVIII. having left the capita early in the morning, whence he fled to Ostend, and afterwards to Ghent With the exception of Augereau, Marmont, Macdonald, and a few others nearly all the officials, civil and military, readily embraced the imperia cause, and Napoleon once more seated himself on the throne, by one of the most rapid transitions recorded in history. After a futile attempt to negotiate with the allies, he made gigantic exertions to maintain his recovered dignity by force of arms. He endeavoured also to strengthen his popularity, by engaging to govern as a constitutional sovereign; but as his chief resource lay in the army, it was clear that, should he be able to maintain his position, matters would soon revert to their former condition. The allies, on their side, having declared the usurper out of the pale of national law, prepared actively to oppose him; and an army was speedily assembled in the Netherlands under Blucher and Wellington. Bonaparte, desirous of fighting them before their forces could be united, hurried across the frontier at the head of about 125,000 select troops, June 15. On the 16th, Blucher, after a bold resistance at Ligny, retreated to Wavre, while on the same day Marshal Ney attacked the English at Quatre Bras.* Preparations were then made for concentrating the allied forces at Waterloo, and on the ever-memorable 18th of June, Napoleon found himself face to face with a soldier whose fame only yielded to his own. This great battle has been already noticed under GREAT BRITAIN; at the close of the day, the hero of Marengo, abandoning his army, escaped with difficulty to Paris, the herald of his own discomfiture. The capital of France was once more occupied by foreign troops; Bonaparte abdicated a second time; and after vainly attempting to escape to America, surrendered to the English, and was sent by the allies to the island of St. Helena, where he died on the 5th May 1821. The eloquent Channing thus writes concerning this remarkable man; and his opinion, as being a native of a country that never was engaged in war with France, may be considered an impartial one:-" Bonaparte was brought up in a military school; his first political association was with the Jacobins; his first command he secured by turning his arms on the people. His campaigns in Italy compel us to bestow the admiration due to a superior power. But mili* The Duke of Brunswick, son of him who had commanded the Prussians at the outset of the Revolution, was killed in this battle. 504 MODERN HISTORY. tary talent is one of the lower forms of genius; the office of a great general not widely differing from that of a great mechanician, whose business it is to frame new combinations of physical forces, to adapt them to new circumstances, and to remove new obstructions.-Bonaparte's intellect was distinguished by rapidity of thought. IHe understood war as a science; but his mind was too bold to be enslaved by the technics of his profession. His unforeseen and impetuous assaults astonished and paralysed his enemies, and breathed into his own soldiers the enthusiasm of ruder ages. The signal success of his new mode of warfare had no small agency in fixing his character, and determining for a period the fate of empires. To astonish as well as to sway by his energies, became the great aim of his life. Power was his supreme object, —a power to be gazed at as well as felt. In peace he delighted to hurry through his dominions; to project in an instant works that a life could not accomplish, and to leave behind the impression of a superhuman energy. His history shows a spirit of self-exaggeration unrivalled in enlightened ages. He had no sympathies with his race, and this was the chief source of his crimes. T'reaties only bound his enemies: no nation had any rights but his own France. His original propensities, released from restraint and pampered by indulgence, grew up into a spirit of despotism as stern and absolute as ever usurped the human heart. Beyond the camp lie showed no talent superior to that of other eminent men. With regard to the scruples expressed as to the right of banishing him to St. Helena, there are great solemn rights of nature which precede laws, and on which law is founded; there are awful periods in the history of our race, which do not belong to its ordinary state, and which are not to be judged by ordinary rules. Such was that when Bonaparte, by the infraction of solemn engagements, had thrown himself into France and convulsed all Europe; and they are wrong who confound this with the ordinary events of history, and see in Napoleon an ordinary foe to the peace and independence of nations. Our sympathies are not for the inconveniences and privations which he endured at St. Helena, but for the other and more terrible sufferings of which he was the cause. We have no tears to spare for a fallen greatness, founded on crime and reared by force and perfidy." Louis XVIII. once more returned to his capital on the 8th of July; and on the 20th of November a second treaty of Paris was concluded, nearly on the basis of that contracted a year before, but with some resumptions of territory by the allies on the boundaries of the Netherlands, Germany, and Savoy. The French frontiers were to be occupied during three years by an allied force of 150,000 men, and 700 millions of francs were to be paid as an indemnification for the last contest. The monuments of art, which successive armies had torn from all parts of Europe, were now restored; and the bridge of Jena in Paris, when already undermined by the enraged Prussians, was only saved fr'om destruction by the interference of Wellington. Louis XVIII., in reascending the throne, conferred upon his subjects the most valuable of gifts,-a free constitution. As embodied in the Charter, it had much in common with its English original a king with plenary executive power, and who was the source of legislation; responsible ministers; a chamber of peers; and a house of representatives or deputies. SPAIN. The government of Spain continued till the close of 1807 to be administered by the contemptible favourite Godoy, whose folly and ambition made him a passive instrument in the hands of Napoleon The resources of the country were placed almost entirely at the disposal of the latter, internal improvement was neglected, and the disastrous NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 505 contest with England which this line of policy induced, annihilated the foreign and colonial trade, and exposed the navy to signal reverses,the severe blow at Trafalgar, in 1805, being one from which her marine has never recovered. In 1807, a secret treaty for the partition of Portugal was concluded between France and Spain at Fontainebleau, by which, among other stipulations, the provinces of Alentejo and Algarve were to be erected into a principality for the favourite, in return for aid to the French invasion of that country. But no sooner had the army tnder Junot established itself in Lisbon, than the emperor refused to latify the conditions of the treaty, and immediately began to foment the dissensions already existing in the royal family. Ferdinand, prince of Asturias, had refused to marry a relative of Godoy's, and addressed a letter to his father, King Charles, exposing the abuses of the governmnent, and requesting to be allowed to share in it. The favourite immediately took advantage of this circumstance to persuade the king that his son had formed a conspiracy against his life; and on the 29th October, the latter was apprehended on this charge, and kept a close prisoner. But the nation at large were not so easily deceived, and the junta convened for his trial unanimously acquitted him. Meanwhile, the French had been allowed to place garrisons in several of the principal fortresses of the kingdom, and a strong division entered Madrid under Murat, without experiencing any opposition from the king or the minister. But the people of that city, driven to desperation, flocked to Aranjuez, where the court then resided, and burned the palace of the obnoxious functionary; while the king himself, terrified at the position in which he had allowed the country to be placed, publicly abdicated in favour of Ferdinand, March 20, 1808. This latter arrangement, however, by no means suited the views of the French emperor. The country being now virtually in his hands, he prevailed on the new sovereign to meet him at Bayonne, 15th April; where he immediately threw off all disguise, treated the young king as a prisoner, and insisted upon a formal cession of the Spanish crown. Charles IV., his queen, and Godoy, shortly after arrived; and Charles, who declared that his abdication had been extorted by popular violence, was easily induced to make the required surrender (May 5), an act to which Ferdinand was after a brief space compelled to accede. In the following June, Napoleon nominated his brother Joseph sovereign of Spain, at a time when the spirit of the nation, exasperated by the insolence of the French troops, had become thoroughly roused. An insurrection in the capital, on the 2d of May, was the signal for a general rising all over the country; Ferdinand VII. was proclaimed king; juntas were everywhere established to act against the invaders; and though the usurper Joseph was able, by the aid of French soldiers, to enter Madrid on the 20th July, his power never extended beyond the outposts of the armies by which he was maintained in his position. The people, though nearly undisciplined and rudely armed, performed prodigies of valour: a French squadron was compelled to surrender in the harbour of Cadiz; Dupont was forced to capitulate with 14,000 men at Baylen; and the citizens of Saragossa, after sustaining a siege of sixty-three days, drove the troops of the new king from the walls, while in a second siege, in 1809, the city was only reduced after immense bloodshed. 43 506 MODERN HISTORY. Aided by Britain, the people continued to maintain the contest till 1813, when the triumph of Wellington at Vittoria finally freed the Peninsula from its invaders. In that year Ferdinand VII. was set at liberty by Napoleon, and immediately returned to his dominions, where he was received with enthusiastic demonstrations of joy. The expectations which had previously been formed of his character, however, were soon disappointed. A meeting of the cortes, convoked at Cadiz by the central junta at the close of 1810, had formed a liberal constitution for the country, abolished the inquisition, and decreed various ecclesiastical reforms. The restored monarch refused to take the oath to observe this new constitution, dissolved the cortes, which he declared to have been illegally assembled, and resumed the powers of absolute government. The inquisition was of course re-established, and the liberty of the press abolished; and the nation became once more subjected to the same vicious system of administration from which it had already suffered such manifold evils. PORTUGAL. The pacification of Amiens, 1802, allowed Portugal to resume her commercial intercourse with England; but on the breaking out of hostilities in the following year, Bonaparte required, through his ambassador, that the ports should again be closed. After various attempts to elude this ruinous demand, the prince-regent was compelled to purchase exemption from it by the payment of ~40,000 sterling monthly to France during the continuance of the contest. The neutrality thus disgracefully obtained was permitted to exist until 1807; when Bonaparte, determined that all Europe should acquiesce in his continental system, not only insisted on the cessation of the trade with Britain, but on the confiscation of all English property in the country. To this demand Prince John could not be brought to consent; and Napoleon, declaring the dynasty of Braganza at an end, sent Junot with an army to invade the country. A British fleet in the Tagus was provided to convey the royal family to Brazil; and as no measures whatever had been taken for the national defence, the French general obtained possession of Portugal without difficulty, treating it in all respects as a conquered province. This state of affairs greatly exasperated the people. In the northern provinces, numerous bodies took up arms in defence of national independence; a junta was established at Oporto to conduct the government; and on the 21st August 1808, the British auxiliary army under Sir Arthur Wellesley defeated the troops of Junot, and prepared the way for the celebrated convention of Cintra, and the evacuation of the country by the invaders. The Portuguese were afterwards greatly distinguished throughout the whole of the Peninsular war. In 1810, on the death of Maria Isabella, the regent was called to the throne as JOHN VI.; but he still continued to reside in Brazil. The peace of Paris, in 1814, gave little satisfaction to the Portuguese, who were obliged to restore some portion of French Guiana, which they had conquered during the war, while several harassing disputes with Spain also arose. The king, after an absence of nearly fourteen years, returned to his native country in 1821, having previously to his landing confirmed a constitution demanded by the people. NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D. 507 ITALY. NAPLES.-The kingdom of Naples did not escape the contagion of the French revolution. After an ineffectual endeavour to oppose the progress of the invading armies, the king was compelled to make peace with Napoleon in 1796, and close his ports against the enemies of France. A popular insurrection, 1799, ended in the temporary establishment of the Parthenopean Republic; but it was soon after replaced by the old government. Ferdinand IV. joined in the coalition of 1800 against France; but his aid was of little value, and his continental territories were speedily occupied by hostile armies. In 1805, when these were withdrawn to operate against Austria, a combined Russian and British force landed at Naples, but speedily retired; a circumstance which Napoleon made the pretext for sending a new army into the country, and conferring the crown on his brother Joseph, March 1806. It was in Calabria that the revived system of attacking in column, so admirably suited for raw levies, and which had hitherto led to victory, was found unavailing against a line of British soldiers, Sir J. Stuart with a small force defeating Regnier at Maida, 4th July. On the transference of Joseph Bonaparte to Spain, Murat became king of Naples, 1808, all whose attempts to reduce Sicily were frustrated by General Stuart and Admiral Martin. In 1812, Lord W. Bentinck was instrumental in forming a new and liberal constitution for that island. Murat, who had negotiated both with the allied sovereigns and the French emperor during the hundred days, ultimately sided with the latter, and invaded the Papal territories, threatening also Northern Italy. The rout at Waterloo decided his fate: exiled from his throne, he perished in a rash descent on Calabria, 1815; Ferdinand IV. having shortly before been reinstated in his dominions. UPPER ITALY.-During the contests of the Republic and the Empire this portion of the peninsula became the theatre of great events, which together with the changes undergone by its various states, have alread3 been incidentally noticed under FRANCE. The congress of Vienna 1815, again re-established the preponderance of Austria, and erecte, northern Italy into the following six governments:- 1. The kingdom. of Sardinia, under Victor Emmanuel, who regained the whole of his continental territories except Savoy, together with the duchy of Genoa; 2. The Venetian provinces, with Mantua and Milan, were erected into the kingdom of Lombardy and Venice, and given to Austria; 3. The house of Austro-Este was replaced in the sovereignty of Modena; 4. The sovereign duchy of Parma became a principality for the ex-empress, Maria Louisa; 5. The Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was reinstated as grandduke of Tuscany; and, 6. Lucca became a sovereign state for the ex-queen of Etruria. Sardinia was afterwards increased by the addition of Savoy, taken from France at the second peace of Paris. SWITZERLAND. —This country underwent the same vicissitudes as it; neighbours, Italy and France. At last, after several petty revolutions general tranquillity was restored, and a new federal compact formed ai Zurich, 1815. The cantons were increased from nineteen to twenty-two by the addition of Geneva, Neuchatel, and Vallais, all recovered from France. 508 MODERN HISTORY. GERMANY. FRANCIS II. succeeded to the dominions of Austria and the imperial title at the period of the first war of the revolution, 1792, in which he struggled long, and at last successfully, against a most formidable enemy. By the battle of Marengo, 1800, and of Austerlitz, 1805, Germany was twice laid prostrate at the feet of Napoleon. The main result of the latter defeat was the establishment of the Confederation of the Rhine, under the protectorate of the French ruler; and as this event put an end to the old German or Roman empire, after a duration of a thousand years, Francis assumed the title of Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary and Bohemia. He now availed himself of an interval of peace to repair the ravages which war had made in his dominions, and felt bound to maintain neutrality in Bonaparte's contest with Prussia, while he made every exertion to augment his own financial and military resources. The French monarch, on his part, effected various changes in the constitution of the confederacy, conferring new titles on several of the princes, while his own general, Murat, was created Grandduke of Berg; and in order to complete the humiliation of the country, various counts and princes were medialized, that is, deprived of all immediate government in their respective states, and their sovereign rights given over to contiguous princes. The embarrassments of the French in Spain in 1809, again induced the Austrian government to make an effort for the independence of Germany. The war which then took place differed in character from former contests, inasmuch as the people generally took part against the French, who were annoyed on all sides by vigorous and enterprising corps of partisans under various leaders. The Archduke Charles defeated Bonaparte in person at Aspern; and though fortune again changed sides at Wagram, the Austrians retired in good order to Bohemia, where an armistice was concluded, followed by the peace of Schonbrunn. Shortly after, Maria Louisa, daughter of the emperor, was married to the Emperor of France. By the treaty of Presburg, 1805, the mountainous district of the Tyrol had been ceded to Bavaria; but early in 1809, the inhabitants commenced an insurrection under a native chief named Hofer, aided by the Austrians. A murderous conflict was sustained against the Bavarians and French with varying success, until the end of November, its ulti mate issue depending on the greater contest decided in the two dreadful days of Wagram. The cruel execution of Hofer and others of his heroic associates, after an amnesty had been proclaimed, added another stain to the reputation of Napoleon. After the battle of Waterloo, the restoration of the Austrian monarchy was effected at the congress of Vienna by means of the dissolved kingdom of Italy, of the reconquered Illyrian provinces, and by the recovery of the cessions formerly made to Bavaria. The battle of Leipsic and the subsequent disasters of the French in 1813 dissolved the Confederation of the Rhine; and the congress of Vienna, after indemnifying Prussia and other powers at the expense of those princes who had most eagerly supported the invader, by an act dated 9th June 1815, formed the German states, including portions of the dominions of Austria, Prussia, and the Netherlands, with the free NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 509 cities, into a new federal relation called the Germanic League. This union, which was left without any acknowledged head, has in view the preservation of the security of Germany, and the independence of the respective states; the members of the confederation have equal rights, and meet in diet at Frankfort-on-the-Maine. HOLLAND. From 1795 this country continued in a state of hopeless dependency on France, losing her commerce and colonies in constrained hostilities with Britain. In 1806, the Batavian Republic was converted:nto the kingdom of Holland, and Louis Bonaparte placed upon the throne. This prince was of an amiable character, and really exerted tile little power reposed in him for the benefit of his subjects. In particular, he readily connived at the evasion of the decrees of his imperious brother, prohibiting intercourse with England; but this policy, so consonant with the true interests of his people, soon exposed him to such a series of reproaches as to render his position insupportable. In 1810, he abdicated in favour of his eldest son; but this change not meeting with the approbation of the head of the family, Holland was without ceremony incorporated with France. At length the people, whose dreams of liberty had been fearfully dispelled by the painful realities of despotism, in the shape of the conscription and the most grinding exactions, rose against the oppressor; the popular cry, " Up with the house of Orange!" once more resounded over the land; and a provisional government being formed at Amsterdam, William Frederick of Nassau arrived from England, and was proclaimed sovereign of the United Netherlands in December 1813. In October 1814, a treaty of peace was concluded with Great Britain, by which that country was allowed to retain the Cape of Good Hope, Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, but restored Batavia, the Moluccas, Surinam, and all other places taken from Holland during the war. The congress of Vienna, by an act dated 31st May 1815, reunited the ten provinces of the Low Countries, formerly subject to the Dukes of Burgundy (now the kingdom of Belgium), under the authority of William Frederick, who thereupon assumed the title of King of the United Netherlands. The government was declared a limited hereditary monarchy, with a representative legislature. DENMARK. During the French wars, Denmark twice suffered from the arms of Britain: her fleet engaged in the defence of Copenhagen was sunk, burnt, or captured by Nelson, 1801; and after the bombardment of the capital by an armament under Admiral Gambier and Lord Cathcart, all her ships of war were surrendered, 1807. On the fall of Napoleon, she was compelled to cede Norway to Sweden, in exchange for Swedish Pomerania and the Isle of Rugen; but by the treaty of Vienna, June 1815, these districts were transferred to Prussia, the Danish king receiving the duchy of Lauenburg as a trifling compensation. 43 * 510 MODERN HISTORY. SWEDEN. Gustavus IV. attained his majority in 1796; but his conduct showing that he laboured under mental derangenmnt, he was deposed in 1809, and his uncle, CHARLES XIII., proclaimed king. The aristocracy took this opportunity to effect several modifications in the constitution, tending to diminish the power of the crown; the general outline remaining as settled in 1772. Charles now concluded the war which had broken out with Russia and Denmark in the preceding year, ceding to the former power the whole of Finland, with East Bothnia and Aaland; an arrangement which stripped the country of one-fourth of its territory and onethird of its inhabitants. After this heavy blow, he joined the continental system of Napoleon, 1810, receiving back, as a reward for his adherence, the district of Pomerania, which had been wrested by the French from his predecessor. In the same year, on the sudden death of Prince Christian, who had been nominated to succeed Charles, the diet elected Bernadotte, prince of Ponte-Corvo, one of the ablest of Bonaparte's marshals, as successor to the throne, under the title of Charles John. The crown-prince saw too clearly the real interests of his country to allow it to remain long in the state of subserviency to France to which it had been brought; and he was easily induced to abandon the continental system on the first favourable opportunity. In 1812, the Swedish ports were again thrown open to all nations; and early in 1813, he formed an alliance with England, and soon after openly entered the field against his former commander. In return for the important aid thus afforded to the allies, he was gratified by obtaining the valuable territory of Norway at the peace of Kiel with Denmark in 1814, the natives being permitted to retain their own constitution. The people, who were much attached to their Danish rulers, made some opposition to this arrangement, and set up Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark as their king; but they were speedily compelled to yield. Bernadotte attained the crown of the united kingdoms, as CHARLES XIV., in 1818. PRUSSIA. FREDERICK III. succeeded his father in 1797, prudently announcing his design to maintain the peace with France. He applied his attention to the re-establishment of the finances, by introducing a wise economy into all parts of the administration, hoping thereby in a few years to pay the debts left by his father, and even part of those of Poland, with which he had been charged by the last partition. After a long neutrality, the country was rashly hurried into a war with Napoleon, when the double defeat at Jena and Auerstadt, 1806, placed it at the mercy of an unspar ing conqueror. By the peace of Tilsit, 1807, Prussia lost half her terri tories: Westphalia was given to Jerome Bonaparte; Warsaw, erected into a grand-duchy, was placed under the protection of the king of Saxony; Dantzic was declared a free town; and the other remaining ports were closed against the commerce of England. This last stipulation was but the prelude to the most oppressive pecuniary exactions, and every species of insult and degradation. In no one of the subjugated European states was the insolence of the French domination carried NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D. 511 to a greater height, and in none did it produce so bitter a feeling of exasperation. Accordingly, in the beginning of 1813, the whole population rose en masse at the call of their sovereign, resolving, in the emphatic terms used at the time, that this new contest should end either " in an honourable peace or a glorious destruction." The newly armed levies, or landsturm, as they were called, filled with patriotic enthusiasm, defeated at the point of the bayonet 30,000 French under Eugene Beauharnois, at Mockern. The battles of Lutzen and Bautzen led to an armistice on the 4th of June, during which a foul attempt was made by Arrighi, a countryman of Napoleon's, to cut off Lutzow's free corps near Leipsic, where Korner, the patriotic poet, was severely wounded. On the resumption of hostilities, August 17, the Prussian arms attained a series of brilliant successes. The renowned Blucher, whom his soldiers afterwards styled Marshal Forwards, defeated Macdonald on the Katzbach, and drove him from Silesia; Vandamme was taken prisoner, and his army annihilated near Culm; and Ney, to whom the crown of Prussia had been promised, was totally defeated at Dennevitz, September 6, and pursued to the Elbe. These triumphs, together with the storming of General Bertrand's fortified camp by Blucher, October 3, enabled the allies to unite before Leipsic, and to contend for three days against the emperor in person (16th, 18th, and 19th October), who never recovered from the terrible blow here inflicted on him. France was now in her turn condemned to be trodden down by invading armies, and the war was prosecuted with varying but hardly doubtful success. Napoleon's forces were indeed increased, and from acting on an internal line, were easily concentrated in overwhelming numbers on any point. The valour of Blucher, however, at the battle of Laon, 9th March 1814, decided the campaign, and Paris was soon after entered by the allies. Much of this success must be attributed to the patriotic exertions of Baron Stein, prime-minister in 1808, and to a secret patriotic association formed at that time, called the Tugendbund (or bond of virtue), which led to the formation of voluntary corps, as well as to the promise of political institutions in accordance with the spirit of the age. By the congress of Vienna, 1814, Prussia recovered what it had resigned at Tilsit, and in exchange for sacrifices in Poland, received half of Saxony, and a considerable accession of provinces on the left bank of the Rhine. RUSSIA. The odious tyranny of the Emperor Paul, which seemed to verge on insanity, became at length insupportable to his subjects; and in March 1801, he met the fate of many other despotic princes, being murdered in his palace by a band of conspirators. ALEXANDER I., his son and successor, began his reign by various judicious and patriotic measures; while, by agreeing to an amicable convention, he put a stop to the impending hostilities with England, consequent on his predecessor's scheme of armed neutrality. The peace of Amiens, 1802, was the almost immediate consequence; but the young monarch refused to acknowledge the title of the French emperor, and, joining the Austrian coalition against him, was present in person at the great defeat of Austerlitz. In 1806, he endeavoured to continue the war in alliance with Prussia; but the rapid overthrow of that power, and the severe losses of his own troops 512 MODERN HISTORY. at Eylau and Friedland, led to an armistice in June 1807, during which the two emperors met personally on a raft placed in the middle of the Niemen. The result of this interview was an apparently warm friendship between Alexander and Napoleon, and the celebrated treaty of Tilsit, July 7, by which the former joined the continental system, and soon after declared war against England and Sweden, the latter of which countries was forced to cede, in 1809, all Finland, East Bothnia, and Aaland. Three years previously to this period, an alliance between Turkey and France had been used as a pretext for declaring war with the former state; but the hostilities were languidly conducted till 1809, when they were resumed with fresh vigour. The Russians easily passed the fortified line of the Danube; but the Turks, being strongly encamped at Shumla in Bulgaria, were assailed without success, and the grand-vizier routed one-half of the invaders, 1810. These last were then driven bad across the Danube, when the vizier, having imprudently crossed in pursuit, was surprised and defeated by Kutusoff, he himself escaping with difficulty. Peace was soon after concluded at Bucharest, through the mediation of England, when Turkey relinquished all claims on the left bank of the Pruth, 1812. Meanwhile, the effects of the continental system had become conspicuous in the ruin of the national commerce, and excited a universal feeling of discontent throughout Russia. At the end of 1811, a dispute arose with the court of Paris in consequence of the seizure of the territories of the Duke of Oldenburg by Napoleon; and it speedily became evident that a rupture was impending. Accordingly, on the 19th March 1812, having previously formed an alliance with Sweden, Alexander declared war against the French emperor, who on his part announced his intention to drive back the Russian monarchy to Asia. The tremendous contest that followed, so important for the independence of Europe, has already been detailed under FRANCE. The steady valour and heroic sacrifices of the Russian people saved their country and preserved the liberties of mankind; and an unprincipled and insatiable ambition received its most awful lesson amid the horrors which attended the retreat from Moscow. After this period they experienced an almost uninterrupted triumph, till, on the 31st March 1814, their victorious troops, in conjunction with those of the other allies, took possession of the French capital. Their sovereign obtained a considerable share of the fruits of these signal successes. By the congress of Vienna, in 1815, the city of Warsaw, with a large adjacent territory, was erected into the kingdom of Poland, and annexed to his empire; several provinces bordering on Persia had previously (1813) been ceded to him by the peace of Goolistan; whilst the important acquisition of Finland, obtained from Sweden in 1809, proved a source of great benefit and security to his nortiern dominions. The remainder of his reign was passed in various useful measures of internal improvement. TURKEY. The unprovoked invasion of Egypt by the French, and theil subsequent successes, compelled Sultan Selim to form a defensive alliance with Russia and England in 1798, and the great exertions of the latter NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D. 513 power at length restored that important province to the dominions of the Porte. Meanwhile, the introduction of modern tactics into the army, and the favour shown to the new corps disciplined after this manner, which were known by the designation of the Nizam Djedit, had excited the deadly hostility of the janissaries, who foresaw in the advancement of this body a presage of their own downfal. In the midst of these discontents, the intrigues of France so far prevailed in the Ottoman councils as to precipitate a war with their late allies, England and Russia, 1806. The latter power immediately occupied the provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia; while an English fleet, under Admiral Duckworth, passed the Dardanelles and approached the capital, but was speedily compelled to retreat. A strong force being now sent under the vizier to the Russian frontiers, the janissaries seized the opportunity to give vent to their long-cherished resentment, and with loud cries demanded the deposition of the sultan. MUSTAPHA IV., his nephew, was accordingly raised to the throne, the whole authority, at the same time, passing into the hands of the leaders of the insurrection, who conducted themselves with the utmost insolence. This state of things, however, was speedily put an end to by Bairactar, pasha of Rustchuk, who hastened to the capital at the head of 40,000 Alhanians; and though too late to prevent the assassination of his former master Selim, whom he desired to reinstate, he pulled the usurper from the throne, to which he immediately elevated AIAHMOUD II. By way of avenging the death of the late sultan, the usual barbarous executions, or rather massacres, now took place; but the janissaries still retained so much influence as to procure, some time after, the death of Bairactar himself. In 1812, the war with Russia was brought to a close by the peace of Bucharest; and the sultan, now at liberty to devote himself to the internal affairs of his empire, began to display those qualities of energy, courage, and political talent, which marked him as one of the ablest potentates of his time. lie resolutely prepared to reduce his rebellious viceroys in the provinces, abolished the hereditary pashaliks, and at length entirely suppressed the insolent janissaries, who had so long held the capital in thraldom. The reduction of the Wahabees in Arabia was intrusted to Mehemet Ali, viceroy of Egypt, who had some time before made himself absolute master of chat important province by a barbarous massacre of the Mamelukes; and, after two years of dangerous warfare, his son Ibrahim entirely subdued the enthusiastic sectarians, and took their chief prisoner. In 1820, a struggle arose in the Morea, which, after ten years of warfare, terminated in the independence of Greece,-in the first instance as a republic under the presidency of Count Capodistria, and eventually, in 1833, as a limited monarchy under Prince Otho of Bavaria. BRITISH INDIA. The progress of the British power in Hindostan during the preedino century, so marvellous in every point of view, is particularly strikingr from the fact that it took place against the direct wishes of the government at home; and that almost every successive war and negotiation terminated, as it seemed inevitably, in that very extension of territory which had been so anx;ously deprecated. Hardly, therefore, had the conquest of Mysore freed the Company from a powerful enemy, and 514 MODERN HISTORY. promised an opportunity of peacefully pursuing those commercial objects which were always deemed paramount in importance, ere another career of conquest was opened up. This event arose from the jealousy of their late allies, the Mahrattas, now the most formidable native power in Hindostan, both on account of the personal qualities of the chiefs who ruled the confederacy, and from having French officers employed in their armies. Scindia, one of these princes, had pushed his conquests so successfully in the north, as to obtain possession of the provinces of Delhi and Agra; and eventually, by the reduction of the city of the former name in 1788, the person of the Mogul himself fell into his hands, the conquered territories being placed under the government of General Perron, a French officer in his service. The powerful chief, having taken offence at a treaty formed by the British with the Peishwa of Poonah, declared war against them in 1803,.in which he was joined by the Rajah of Berar. General Lake immediately took the field in the north, where he was opposed by Perron; but having soon after captured the important fort of Allighur, he succeeded in inducing that officer to quit the service of Scindia, rapidly overran the northern provinces, and took possession of Delhi and of the person of the Mogul. In the south, where the operations were conducted by Major-general Wellesley (afterwards Duke of Wellington), the success was if possible still more decisive.. At the great battle of Assaye, fought: on the 23d September, with a force of 5000 men, he totally defeated 60,000 under Scindia and the rajah in person, gaining one of the most complete victories recorded even in the annals of Indian warfare. A peace was the immediate consequence, by which the victors obtained extensive territories in central Hindostan, including Delhi and Agra, with the custody of the Mogul emperor, who henceforth subsisted on a British pension till his death in 1807. This treaty was scarcely concluded, ere a new contest broke out with Holkar, another powerful Mahratta sovereign, 1804. He made a rapid incursion into the Doab, and attempted to seize Delhi by stratagem, but was gallantly repulsed; his infantry were defeated by Major-general Fraser at Dieg, while Lord Lake, having pursued the cavalry to Furruckabad, took them by surprise, and routed them with great slaughter. His territories were now speedily occupied by the British troops; but in 1805, in consequence of a change of policy on the part of the victors and the removal of Lord Wellesley from the post of governor-general nearly the whole were restored to him. The pacific policy of Sir George Barlow and Lord Minto, the lattei of whom devoted himself chiefly to the conquest of the French possessions in the eastern seas, began to produce its invariable effects upon the native chiefs, who increased in insolence in exact proportion to the supineness of the British. Accordingly, the Marquis of Hastinos, who arrived as governor-general in 1813, felt the necessity for a display of vigour in order to repress their encroachments. His first operations were directed against the Gorkhas, a warlike people who had established themselves in the alpine regions of the Himmalehs, whence they were continually making encroachments on the Company's frontier; and in two active campaigns their territory was entirely subdued, and a large mountain-tract permanently retained, 1816. The depredations of the Pindarees, an association of freebooters, who were secretly aided by the I NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D..515 Mahratta chiefs, were next punished by several successive defeats, and the utter dispersion of their hordes. The Peishwa of Poonah, Holkar, and the Rajah of Nagpore, having taken part in this contest, were all finally subdued, and their territories occupied,; so that in 1818, the power of the British was extended over the entire peninsula, leaving only some small states, too weak even if hostile to make any formidable resistance. Hindostan, or India within the Ganges, contains 1,280,000 square miles, with a population of 134 millions; the immediate territories of the Company amounting to 512,900 square miles, with about eighty-five millions of inhabitants. This numerous people, besides various national distinctions, is divided into two great religious classes, Mohammedans and Hindoos, in the proportion of one to seven. The supreme deity of the Elindoos is the ineffable Brahm, who is worshipped in the triple form of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; the two last being believed to have undergone a number of avatars or incarnations, and each successive avatar furnishing a new object of religious homage. Boodh or Buddha is the ninth avatar, but he is worshipped in a different manner from Brahma. Besides these deities, every object in nature has its presiding divinity, and nothing is believed to take place without the intervention of some superior power. The direct odijects of Buddhist worship are a sort of heroes or demigods-men of saintly lite, who have been translated to a state of supreme bliss. The people are divided into four castes or tribes: the Brahmins, teachers and ministers of religion; Khetries, magistrates or warriors; Bice, merchants and husbandmen; and Soodras, artisans and servants of every class. There is also a race of Pariahs, outcasts from their original rank, and who are in the lowest state of degradation. The government of British Hindostan is very peculiar, being under the direction of the East India Company and the ministers in England. Twenty-four directors manage all the Indian correspondence and confer all the patronage; the former being, however, subject to tile Board of Control, nominated by the sovereign, and the latter requiring the royal approbation of the selected governors and commanders-in-chief. Each of the three presidencies has a governor and council, the governor-general residing in Calcutta. All the officers, civil and military, except in the lower ranks, are Europeans, who go out in early youth, and are frequently appointed to the most important charges, in proportion to their merit, while others of the same age at home have scarcely left the school or university. The united army amounts to upwards of 200,000 men, partly Europeans, and partly natives called sepoys, under British officers. The laws are Mohammedan, varying in each locality; but the English system of jurisprudence is established in certain districts. The revenues are estimated at fourteen millions sterling. UNITED STATES. During the scenes of violence and bloodshed which desolated Europe at the beginning of this century, the United States, remote from the scenes of warfare, and guided by the cautious policy of their rulers, preserved a strict neutrality, and continued to advance steadily in the career of commercial and agricultural prosperity. With the exception of several unimportant civic disputes and contests between the two great national parties known as republicans and federalists, which were carried on, however, with considerable warmth, no event occurred to disturb the internal tranquillity of the republic. In 1801, Mr. Adams was succeeded in the office of president by Mr. Thomas Jefferson, celebrated as the author of the Declaration of Independence; and in 1803, this statesman concluded a treaty with France, by which the immense territory of Louisiana was ceded to the republic for a payment of fifteen 516 3IODERN HISTORY. millions of dollars. The number of states was also increased from seventeen to twenty-four, by the elevation of various western territories to that rank; and by a census taken about this time, it was found that the population had increased to five and a half millions, or nearly double what it was at the period of the revolt from England, while the exports, imports, and revenue presented a still more gratifying result. In 1803, a naval expedition was fitted out against the piratical state of Tripoli, which had greatly annoyed the American commerce in the Mediterranean; and after several vigorous operations, the bashaw was compelled to sign a favourable peace. Unfortunately for both nations, causes of difference with Great Britairn now began to arise. That country claimed a right of searching the vessels of neutral powers, with the view of ascertaining whether they were not employed in carrying military stores for the assistance of her enemies; and she also subjected American ships to, a rigorous scrutiny, in order to recover British seamen liable to impressnent. These claims, and the abuses to which they almost inevitably gave rise, were very unwillingly acquiesced in by the republicans; and their feelings of exasperation were excited to the highest pitch, when the decrees of Napoleon and the British orders in council virtually put an end to their commerce both with England and tie continent of Europe. At length, in 1809, Mr. Madison being president, an act was passed by the federal government, prohibiting all intercourse as well with France as with Britain for one year, or until either country should recall her edicts. This measure produced the desired effect with France before the close of 1810, but England still adhered to her orders in council; and finally, after various unsatisfactory negotiations, and some hostile encounters between ships of the two countries, war was declared against Great Britain in June 1812. Brigadier Hull was immediately despatched with an army to invade Canada; but he was repulsed, pursued, and compelled to surrender his whole force to Major-general Brock at Fort Detroit. A second expedition for the same purpose met with no better fortune; but at sea the Americans were generally triumphant. In consequence of the superiority of their frigates in number of men and weight of metal, they succeeded, when singly opposed to British vessels of the same class, in effecting several captures; while their opponents could only boast one instance of naval victory, which was gained after a sanguinary encounter between the ships Shannon and Chesapeake. The following year was chiefly spent in conflicts on the Lakes and their vicinity, the preponderance of success being there also in favour of the republicans; but in 1814, a detachment of British troops was sent to America under Majorgeneral Ross, who, co-operating with Admiral Cockburn, took the city of Washington and destroyed its public buildings. At the close of the season, however, another army of nearly 14,000 men, under Sir Edward Packenham, which made an attack on the city of New Orleans, was repulsed with great loss by an inferior force under General Jackson. A few days previous to this event, a treaty had been concluded at Ghent between the two powers, December 24, which, though it left the matters in dispute undecided, was highly desirable for both parties. In 1817, Mr. Madison was succeeded as president by Mr. James Monroe, who shortly after obtained the cession of East and West Florida from the Spanish government; which important districts were formally NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D. 517 taken possession of in 1821. The territories of the states now extended from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific; their progress in wealth and population continued to be very great, while their commerce spread over every sea. BRAZIL. When the French invaded Portugal in 1807, the royal family of Braganza removed, under British protection, to their transatlantic capital, Rio Janeiro, where they remained until 1821, at which period John the Sixth was recalled to Europe by the cortes. During his residence in Brazil, that prince raised the colony to the rank of a kingdom; while the ports were thrown open to all nations, and other efforts made to improve the condition of the country. It soon became evident that a territory larger in extent than Russia in Europe, and far more richly endowed by nature, could not long remain in dependence on so feeble a power as Portugal, after the departure of the sovereign. John had left behind him his eldest son, Don Pedro, to administer affairs in the quality of regent, having shortly before his retirement agreed to a constitution similar to that established in the mother country. But the cortes having signified an intention to recur to the old system of monopolizing the Brazilian trade, the colonists took the alarm; and on the 12th October 1822, they adopted the decisive step of a declaration of independence, while the prince-regent, who had the sagacity to yield to the course of events, was elevated to the dignity of emperor. He succeeded without difficulty in compelling the Portuguese troops to embark for Europe; and this important revolution was accomplished with no other bloodshed than a slight skirmish at the town of Bahia. By a constitution finally agreed to in 1824, Brazil was declared an hereditary monarchy, with two legislative bodies, a senate and chamber of deputies, the one appointed by the emperor, the other chosen by the people. The Roman Catholic faith was established as the religion of the state; but all other Christian sects are tolerated. SPANISH COLONIES. From the period of their first settlement till the end of the eighteenth century, the colonists of Spain remained in a state of quiet submission to the government of Madrid, which was carried to a pitch of despotism almost beyond belief. From the viceroys to the lowest clerks, every official situation was filled with persons sent from Europe, by whom justice was unblushingly bought and sold, while, in other respects, the utmost venalty everywhere prevailed. Commerce of all kinds was made a complete monopoly for the benefit of the home country, which compelled the colonists to take its commodities in exchange for bullion; and, in order to put an effectual stop to all improvement, intercourse of every kind with other nations was strictly prohibited. After the suppression of the Jesuits, the ranks of the priesthood were recruited by monks of the lowest description from the Spanish monasteries, who, by maintaining superstition and ignorance, formed the strongest props of the degrading policy adopted by the ruling faction. As a matter of course, printing and liberty of discussion were altogether unknown. 44 518 MODERN HISTORY. But notwithstanding all this machinery of tyranny, the new principles evolved by the American and French revolutions began to gain ground even in those darkened regions; and, so early as 1806, Miranda, a Mexican officer who.had served under Dumouriez, attempted with a small force to create an insurrection in Caraccas. This effort, which seems to have been premature and ill-considered, failed but the disposition to shake off the tyranny of Spain continued to increase in strength, till at length, in 1810, the liberals deposed the captain-general and assembled a congress to organize an independent government for the state of Venezuela. This conduct was soon after imitated at Bogota, the capital of New Grenada. In the contests which now took place with the European troops, the most frightful atrocities were committed on both sides; but the eminent abilities of Simon Bolivar, who commanded the liberating armies, eventually achieved the task of independence. Buenos Ayres threw off the Spanish yoke in 1816; and in 1818 its example was followed by the patriots of Chili. Mexico, Peru, and Guatemala were not declared independent till 1821. At length, in December 1824, the united forces of the patriots, under Generals Sucre and Miller, totally routed the Spaniards in the great battle of Ayacucho, and placed the freedom of the colonies beyond further opposition from that quarter. It is much to be regretted that tranquillity is even yet far from being established in these new republics. Throughout the contest, the difficulties of the leading chiefs were greatly increased by disunion and want of confidence, the great Bolivar himself being frequently exposed to the most injurious suspicions; and since that time, they have shown themselves signally deficient in that political talent and moral worth which are so necessary to secure the prosperity of states under every form of government. NINETEENTH CENTURY. GREAT BRITAIN.-1821, Trial of the Queen.-1826, Speculations and Bankruptcies.-1829, Catholic Relief Bill.-1830, William IV.-1831, Reform Bill. -1837, Victoria; Separation of Hanover.-1838, The Chartists.-1840, War with China.-1843, Trial of O'Connel. -1846, Oregon Treaty.-1847-1848, Famine in Ireland.-1849, England supports the Sultan against Russia. FRANCE.-1818, Riots; France a party to the Quadruple Alliance.-1821, Distractions of the Government.-1823, War with Spain.-1824, Charles X.1829, Ministry of Polignac.-1830, The Revolution; Three days' battle; Expulsion of Charles; Louis Philippe.-1831, Riots and Conspiracies.-1832, The Cholera.-1839, The Thiers Ministry; Imprisonment of Louis Napoleon.1840, Guizot's Peace Policy.-1842-1847, Movements of the Clubs.-1848, The Revolution; Expulsion of the King; Proclamation of a Republic; the June Insurrection; Louis Napoleon, President.-1849, Siege of Rome; Riots in Lyons. SPAIN.-1815-1821, Tyranny of Ferdinand.-1820-1825, Revolt of the American Colonies.-1823, War with France.-1824-1829, Losses on the American Continent.-1833, Death of Ferdinand; Regency.-1840-1850, Maladministration of the Queen. PORTUGAL.-1822, The New Constitution.-1823, Plot for its overthrow.1824, Don Miguel seizes the Government.-1825, The King's death.-1826-1828, Intrigues of Miguel.-1830, His cruelty.-1831, War with France and Britain. -1834, Expulsion of Don Miguel.-1836, Riot in Lisbon.-1844, Insurrection at Torres Novas. ITALY.-1815, Division of the Country.-1820, The Carbonari.-1825, Tyranny of Austria.-1823, Leo XII.-1831, Gregory XVI.-1831, Efforts of MODERN HISTORY. 519 the Italians for liberty.-1846, Pius IX.-1847, The Pope's Concessions to the People.-1848, Expulsion of Pius; the Roman Republic.-1849, Siege of Rome. GERMANY and PRUSSIA.-1815, The Germanic League.-1831, Censorship of the Press.-1840, Ronge, and the German Catholic Church.-1848, Coinmotions and Revolutions.-1849, The Prussian King declines the Imperial Crown. THE NETIIERLANDS.-1816-1820, Discontent of the Constituent States.1821, Troubles in the East Indies.-1829, Restrictions of the Press.-1830, Revolution in Brussels; Bombardment of Antwerp.-1831, The Kingdom of Belgiurn.-1839, Holland acknowledges the Independence of Belgium. AUSTRIA.-1819, Austrian Oppressions of the smaller European States.1820, Domestic Policy of the Emperor.-1835, Ferdinand 1.-1846, Annexation of Cracow.-1847, Seizure of Ferrara.-1848, Expulsion of Ferdinand; War in Hungary.-1849, Austrian Cruelty. RUssIA.-1825, Nicholas.-1826, War with Persia.-1828, War with Turkey.-1829, Treaty of Adrianople.-1840, War with Circassia.-1848, Suppression of the Hungarian movement. SWEDEN.-1823, Constitutional Reforms.-1830, Internal Improvements.1844, Oscar I. TIRKEY. —1817, Seizure of Moldavia and Wallachia.-1826, Riot in Constantinople.-1825, War with Greece.-1828, War with Russia.-1832, War with Mehemed Ali. —1839, Battle of Nezib; Death of the Sultan.-184.0-1845, Attempts at Reform.-1846, War with Greece.-1848, The Hungarian Refugees. GREECE.-1821, The Revolution; Atrocities in Cyprus, Smyrna, Tripolizza, and Cassandra.-1822, Desolation of Scio.-1823, Greek Successes in Morea; Bozzaris.-1825, Siege of Missolonghi.-1826, Interference of the Great Powers. -1829, Greece Independent.-1830, Otho, King of Greece.-1844, The Constitution. TIE UNITED STATES. —1825, Visit of Lafayette. —1826, Death of Adams and Jefferson.-1828, The Tariff Bill.-1832-1833, Nullification Movement.1833, War against the Bank.-1835, Florida War; Dade massacred.-1836, Texas.-1837, National Distress; the Border Difficulties.-1839, The Whigs in power.-1842, The Ashburton Treaty.-1845, Annexation of Texas.-1846, War with Mexico; Matamoras and Monterey taken.-1847, Battle of Buena Vista; Fall of Vera Cruz and Mexico.-1848, Treaty with Mexico; Accession of California and New Mexico. MEXICO.-1S21, Iturbide, Emperor; his Banishment.-1828, Civil War.1831-1833,. Movements of Santa Anna.-1835-1836, Texan Revolution.1838, War with France.-1846, War with the United States. CENTRAL ANERICA.-1822, Separation from Mexico.-1824-1829, Civil War. -1842. Death of Carrera. COLUMBIA.-1821-1824, Successes against Spain.-1825, Revolt of Paez.1827-1830, Intrigues of Bolivar. PERU and BOLIVIA.-1822-1836, Struggles of Factions.-1838, War with Bolivia.-1839, Santa Cruz. BRAZIL.-1822, Brazil independent.-1824, New Constitution.-1831, Don Pedro II. LA PLATA and CHILI.-1822, Independence of La Plata-1825, War with Brazil. CHILI.-1828, The Constitution.-1837, War with Peru; Administration of Prieto. 520 MODERN HISTORY. GREAT BRITAIN. The peace of 1815 found the poorer classes, especially those of the manufacturing districts, in a state of destitution. Extensive failures in the crops (1816-17) increased the misery to such an extent that in June, 1819, serious riots occurred throughout a large extent of country. These led to mass meetings, in which radical measures of reform were proposed and urged by popular speakers. Government interposed. At Manchester, a large mob was dispersed and many persons killed. The excitement increased. Parliament forbade the keeping of fire-arms by the people; private military exercises; the unauthorized assembling of mass meetings; the publication of inflammatory or irreligious writings; and other popular acts. The death of George III. (January 1820) caused little change in the social condition of the nation; nor was it until the return of agricultural prosperity, the improvement in manufactures caused by the increased foreign demand, and the renewal of specie payments, that discontent subsided. A subsequent conspiracy to assassinate the ministers, of which Arthur Thistlewood was the ringleader, was detected, and Thistlewood executed. The shameful trial of the queen, dishonourable to all concerned, tended to exasperate all classes and parties. But the malice of her enemies was arrested by her death (August 7, 1821) and the king, George IV. regained a portion of his former popularity by a tour through the country. But while one class of evil diminished another increased. By increasing the value of money, Parliament had decreased the value of every thing else. Hence rents rose; and thousands of the peasantry, especially in Ireland, were unable to pay their landlords. That unhappy country, already torn by social and religious animosities, became a prey to riots, secret murders, and every species of violence; nor has its condition to the present time been materially improved. During the Greek struggle for independence, Great Britain allowed her subjects to aid the patriots. In 1825 she acknowledged the nationality of the new American republics; and during the same year the king prohibited the former privilege of assisting the Greek patriots. The year 1826 was signalized by gigantic schemes of speculation, followed by a sudden collapse, and ruinous bankruptcies. Bank after bank broke, the currency became disordered, and distress followed, to an extent that called for the immediate interposition of government. This was promptly afforded, and the evil in a great measure averted. In 1826, England united with Russia to induce or compel Turkey to acknowledge the freedom of Greece, and next year the treaty of London, for the settlement of that question, was concluded between Great Britain, Russia and France. In April, 1829, the Catholic Relief Bill was passed, which to a great degree removed civil disabilities from the Roman Catholics. In June, 1830, George IV. died; and was succeeded by his brother William IV. In 1831, after the Whigs had come into power, the Reform Bill regulating the Parliamentary representation was passed. The first session of the reformed Parliament met January, 1833. Among its most important acts were two, regulating the juries, and the clergy of Ireland, together with the "Irish coercion act," which imposed stringent regulations upon the inhabitants of that country. The act for the abolition of slavery in the West India colonies NINETEENTH CENTURY A.D. 52. was also passed-twenty millions of pounds being granted to the proprietors as indemnification. The second session under the Reform Bill was occupied with the affairs of Ireland, where much disorder continued to prevail. The king, being opposed to the changes introduced by the Whigs, dismissed his ministry, and employed Sir Robert Peel to form another. But the Whigs kept the favour of the nation, and a majority in Parliament; so that the duration of this new ministry was but short. Among the other important acts passed during the remainder of William's reign were-one reforming the municipal corporations; the marriage act, which permitted marriage by any ceremony that the parties preferred, or merely before a magistrate, an act for the registering of births, deaths and marriages, and regulations respecting Canada and Ireland. On the 20th of June, 1837, the king died. William was succeeded by his niece, Alexandrina Victoria, under the title, Victoria I. She was in her nineteenth year. The immediate consequence of the accession was the separation of Hanover from England, and its retrocession to the male line of the family. The young queen found Canada in revolt; Ireland in agitation; England discontented, parties exasperated; and every other cause of disorder aggravated by the gigantic movements of the Repeal Associations organized and conducted by O'Connel. Lord Durham was appointed governor-general of Canada, and clothed with almost dictatorial powers. Bills for the relief of Ireland were also passed. But discontent was not suppressed. In 1838 a large portion of the population banded themselves together under the name of Chartists, claiming the adoption, as fundamental law, of a Charter which would grant universal suffrage, vote by ballot, annual parliaments, the abolition of property qualifications in members of the House, and their remuneration by money. This year the Anti-Corn-Law League was also formed, the members of which strenuously advocated the doctrines of free trade. The influence of these two associations has been felt seriously in England to the present day. On the 10th of February, 1840, Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, to whom Parliament voted thirty thousand pounds. Soon after, occurred the difficulties with the United States, with the Afghans, and with China. The latter occurred in consequence of the efforts by the Chinese to suppress the illicit introduction of opium into their empire, by British vessels. Collisions between the natives and the English sailors followed, after which, all provisions were refused to the foreigners. An attack of some junks upon the English vessels near Canton was repulsed; and about the same time the British government declared war against China. Canton was blockaded, and a squadron under Admiral Elliot arrived before Pekin. A truce was agreed upon; but as the Chinese evinced a disposition to temporize, hostilities recommenced. The British occupied Canton; and their army under Sir Hugh Gough defeated a host of fifty thousand Chinese. The victors pressed toward Pekin; but the Chinese again effected a temporary treaty. As they failed to observe it, the English marched directly for the interior, capturing the towns in their route, and defeating masses of the enemy. At the junction of the Woosing with the Yang-tre-kiang, a large army of Chinese, possessing more than two hundred cannon, were defeated; and one week 44* 522 MODERN HISTORY. later, after a bloody contest, the city of Ching-k'ang-foo was taken. On the 6th of August, the English appeared before Nanking, and the Chinese, trembling for tie second city of the empire, concluded a definitive peace, August 2G, 1842. Great Britain received twenty-one million dollars, the island of Hong-Kong, and admission into several Chinese ports. In the same year the difficulties with the United States and with Afghanistan were settled by treaty. In 1843, the Free Church of Scotland was instituted, by about four hundred clergymen, who would no longer submit to civil intervention in religious affairs. In Ireland, affairs had reached a crisis, and O'Connel with many other repealers was arrested. At the subsequent trial, O'Connel was sentenced to a year's imprisonment, a fine of two thousand pounds, and sureties in the sum of ten thousand pounds, to keep the peace for seven years. In 1844 this decision was reversed, by the House of Lords. In December, 1845, the Peel ministry was dissolved; but that statesman was immediately after restored to power. In 1846, the Oregon treaty was concluded with the United States, and the British Corn Laws were repealed. The most important events of the year 1847 were the distress and commotions in Ireland, the war in India, the efforts to repress the disorders in Canada, and the tendency of the masses toward the causes which developed the convulsions of the following year. For many years, Ireland had been a prey to agitation and destitution of the most appalling kind. These evils reached their climax in 1847 and 1848. Famine and pestilence desolated the country, and produced scenes which have had few parallels in the history of Europe. Thousands died daily. The paucity of provisions on the continent preventeo, to a great degree, the arrival of help from that quarter; but large quantities of provisions were sent from the United States. Government also took means to alleviate the distress; but this has, to the present time, been only partially effected. In India, disputesoccurred with the native chiefs, which resulted in a war with the Sikhs. After sustaining a humiliating defeat, the English totally routed their opponents and annexed the Punjaub territory to British India. Great Britain protested against the suppression of the Cracow republic. She strove to restore order and domestic supremacy in Spain. By vigorous measures, she suppressed the repeal agitation in Ireland, the chartist effort in London and other parts of England, and the serious riots in Scotland. She speedily brought to a close the war in- China, which had recommenced. After Louis Philippe had been driven from France, he was received by the British government in a manner that did honour to both parties; but the new republic on the continent was nevertheless recognised as such. Great Britain took no part in the Hungarian insurrection of 1848, in the German commotions, or in the affairs of Italy; but she discountenanced the atrocities committed by Austria upon the Hungarian and Polish patriots. Her prompt support of the Sultan, in his refusal to surrender the Hungarian refugees to Russia, united with a similar interference on the part of France, baffled the arbitrary designs of the autocrat and probably prevented war between Russia and Turkey. NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 523 FRANCE. The Bourbons were not well received by the mass of the nation. Foreign arms had restored them; they were strangers to the new ideas which the Revolution had generated; they brought with them a nobility behind the age, and incapable of sympathizing with the spirit or the feelings of the people. France had not yet recovered from the intoxicating draughts of glory administered to her by Napoleon. The evils and consequent distress entailed by long wars, and the presence of European armies, became glarirgly visible, soon as the treaty of Vienna had cleared away the smoke of battle. Lyons and Grenoble were distracted by riots; and conspiracies were detected in almost every quarter. In 1818 the foreign troops left France; then followed the payment of the consequent expenses; and, at the Congress at Aix la Chapelle, France was admitted as a party to the Quadruple Alliance. Meanwhile the ministry was divided into factions, and involved in dissensions with the king. To these, were added disputes between the nobility, the chambers, and the people, infringements upon the liberty of the press, and derangements in the admistration of justice. The royalists strove to give stability to the government by increasing the power of the king; the liberal party struggled to diminish his power. The murder of the Duke of Berri increased party rage to madness; and violent commotions occurred in the chamber. Laws authorizing the arrest of persons merely suspected of treason, the censorship of journals, and great infringement of the election laws, were passed. The consequence was, that at the next session, it was confidently announced that continual conspiracy existed in France. In 1821, further restrictions of the press were proposed; but the opposition was so great that the ministry resigned. In that year and the following, several attempts at insurrection occurred, and a conspiracy was detected, having for its object the promotion of young Napoleon. In 1823, one hundred thousand men were sent into Spain to arrest the progress of democracy in that country, and reconcile its government to the rest of Europe. The war terminated favourably, a circumstance which the French king improved, in order to gain some popularity with the army and the nation. Though lasting but six months, it cost more than two hundred millions of francs. The liberal party declaimed against this enormous expense; but they were silenced by insult and menace. In September, 1824, Louis XVIIT. died. His brother Charles X. became king. His coronation took place at Rheims, May, 1826. The independence of Hayti was acknowledged, commercial intercourse established with the Spanish American republics, a treaty of commerce concluded with Great Britain, and another with Brazil. In 1827, the opposition gained a great triumph, in the defeat of the bill for further restricting the press. The ministry violently dissolved the chamber, hoping thereby to secure a large majority at the next election. But the liberal party triumphed, and Paris was filled with rejoicing. In 1828, France interfered between Turkey and Greece, and sent a force to the assistance of the latter country. In the organization of a new ministry in 1829, Prince Polignac, a most unpopular ultra-royalist was intrusted with the portfolio of foreign affairs. This hastened the crisis 524 MIODERN HISTORY. which had become inevitable. The Bourbon dynasty had alienated the nation; and though France was at that time prosperous, yet the people were in constant irritation at beholding their dearest privileges trampled under foot. At the opening of the session of 1830, the speech from the throne announced the declaration of war against Algiers, and the determination of the king to maintain his policy, if needful, by force of arms. The deputies replied, by a respectful though firm declaration, that concurrence between the government and the nation no longer existed. Charles, still obstinate, prorogued the chambers. The journals declaimed; the people were irritated. Societies were formed to establish printing-offices where there were none; and every measure was resorted to, in order to fan the flame of discontent. Government retaliated; and the weak Polignac contrived to aid the liberal party more by his blunders than its orators could by their addresses. The new election returned a strong majority against the ministry. Meanwhile news arrived of successes in Algiers; but it seems to have produced little effect on the popular mind. The king ordered Te Deum to be sung in the churches, appointed festivals, and illuminated the capital. But instead of seizing the occasion to make concessions to the people, the ministry declared that having subdued the foreign enemies, it would be necessary to humble those at home. As a preliminary step, they presented to the king a report against the journals, accompanied by three ordinances-one dissolving the chamber; one suspending the liberty of the press; a third prescribing a new election law. When this measure was made public, several of the liberal journals refused to obey. Government resolved to seize them. An attempt to do so, on the morning of Tuesday, July 27, brought on the revolution. Some men attacked the gendarmes, and were fired upon. Through the day, skirmishes occurred at several parts of Paris. Next morning, the population was in arms, the national guard in its old uniform, the tri-coloured flag hanging from the windows. The battle began round the Hotel deVille. That palace was taken and lost several times, but finally remained with the people. By evening, the populace were organized. During the night, (July 27,) barricades had been erected, pavements torn up, arms and missiles collected. Early on the 29th, General Lafayette was appointed commander-in-chief of the national guards. He was received with enthusiasm. By one o'clock, the Louvre and the Luxembourg had fallen, and the Swiss guards had been driven from the Tuileries. Upwards of five thousand men were killed and wounded. Polignac refused to yield; but the deputies declared a state of civil war to exist, invited Louis Philippe of Orleans to become lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and appointed provisional commissaries. On the 31st, the king fled; and on the 2d of August he abdicated in favour of the Duke of Bordeaux. Next day the chambers met; on the 6th they declared the throne vacant; and on the 7th invited Louis Philippe to fill it. He consented; many alterations, favourable to popular rights, were made in the constitution; and these Louis Philippe swore to maintain. The first event of much importance, under the new reign, was the trial of the late king's ministers for high treason. It continued a week, during which the court-house was besieged by tens of thousands, the NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 525 city was in uproar, and every thing menaced a new revolution. On the 21st, the prisoners were privately removed to Vincennes. They were found guilty of treason. Polignac was sentenced to imprisonment for life, and similar sentences were passed upon the others. The year 1831 opened with conspiracies and rumours of conspiracies. In February, alarming riots occurred in Paris, in consequence of an attempt to celebrate the anniversary of the assassination of the Duke of Berri. These were succeeded by a change of ministers. In April fresh riots occurred, apparently without any cause; and when, a few weeks later, the king made a tour through his dominions, he found them in a condition bordering upon anarchy. In June, war was declared against Portugal, but it was not of long duration. In the same month, alarming commotions happened in Paris, because a watchmaker attacked a young ballad-singer, who was chanting " Napoleon in the Hundred Days." Corps of municipal and national guards were called out, served with ball cartridge, and kept under arms all night. This caused the rioters to disperse. At Lyons and other places, similar disturbances occurred about this time. Amid such scenes the anniversary of the Three Days occurred. The ceremonies were splendid; and during their continuance the people forgot their former animosity, and associated cordially with the soldiers, and with each other. In August fifty thousand men were sent to Belgium, to assist that country in its struggle with the Dutch. The government continued to be threatened by riots, until the middle of September, when news arrived of the fall of Warsaw This gave a new direction to public excitement. Mobs attacked the hotels of the ministers, shouting, " War against Russia." " Long live the brave Poles." The military were called out in great force; but throughout Sunday and Monday, (the 19th and 20th,) the crowds continued to increase, crying, " Long live the Poles," and " Down with the king." Happily for Louis Philippe the army and the ministry continued loyal; so that by timely concessions, the danger was averted. Among the important acts of the assembly during the session, were, the abolition of the hereditary peerage, the appropriation of a large sum for the relief of the working classes, and the perpetual banishment of the Bourbon and the Napoleon families. On the 21st of November, the workmen of Lyons struck for wages, attacked and defeated bodies of the national guards. Considerable bloodshed and destruction of property occurred, and for a time the city was in the hands of the rioters. The insurrection was suppressed by the Duke of Orleans and Marshal Soult, at the head of a strong body of police. At the same time, measures were taken to relieve the distress of the workmen, then out of employment. Early in 1832, the difficulty with the United States, concerning French spoilation under Napoleon, was amicably adjusted. In March, the Asiatic cholera appeared, spreading so rapidly that the Chambers were obliged to adjourn, while the prime minister was attacked and died. The terror and distress occasioned by the ravages of this disease, could not suspend the action of the rioting spirit, which exerted itself afresh, on the 5th of of June, during the funeral of General Lamarque. The disturbances lasted several days. and Paris was declared in a state of siege. They were suppressed, but not without bloodshed. The success of the expedition to Belgium and of the war in Algiers, ren 526 MODERN HISTORY. dered the government popular for a time, with all classes of citizens, and tended in some degree to the restoration of peace. In November an attempt was made to assassinate the king, by some unknown person, who escaped in the crowd. In 1834, France became a party to the Quadruple Alliance between herself, Great Britain, Portugal, and Spain, for the purpose of settling the affairs of the two latter countries. But Louis Philippe, though he stationed an army near the Pyrenees, appears to have been but little disposed to observe his part of the treaty; a fact which became speedily known, and led to numerous changes in the ministry. On the 28th of July, 1835, another attempt was made upon the life of the king, through the explosion of an " infernal machine," which killed or wounded more than forty persons. The assassin, a Corsican named Fieschi, was seized, and subsequently condemned to death. This circumstance was improved by the chambers, to procure the passage of three laws-one restricting the press; one requiring but a majority of jurors to convict, instead of two-thirds; a third appointing courts of assize, for proceeding immediately against accused persons, and prescribing the course to be adopted by the tribunals. On the 25th of June, 1836, a third attempt was made upon the king's life as he was leaving the Tuileries in his carriage, accompanied by the- queen and his sister. Aliband the assassin was arrested and guillotined. In 1832 the ex-ministers of Charles X. were released. In October of the same year, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of the emperor, attempted to excite insurrection at Strasburg, but was seized and sent to America. In December, 1836, the king was again fired at. Next year, Louis Napoleon returned from America, and took refuge in Switzerland. The French government demanded his expulsion, and to enforce the demand stationed an army on the frontier. The Swiss, refusing to yield, war seemed inevitable, when the prince voluntarily abandoned the country. This year, war was declared against Mexico, of which an account will be found in the article on that country. The beginning of the year 1839 found the king involved in vexatious disputes with his ministers, and Paris on the brink of anarchy. This state-of things continued until the following year, when the appointmenthof Thiers, as the head of a new cabinet, restored order to some degree. Until July, the attention of this minister was directed to the East, where the Pacha of Egypt was at war with the Sultan. But so shuffling was the policy of France, that the great powers, England, Austria, Prussia, Russia, concluded a treaty at London, (July 15,) by which the Eastern dispute was.settled without the agency or knowledge, of France. News of the proceeding was received at Paris with a burst of indignation. Ministry and populace cried for war, and Louis Philippe was forced to consent to the augmentation of the army to six hundred thousand men. Amid these active warlike preparations, Louis Napoleon with a few followers arrived at Boulogne, (August 6th,) assumed the title of Napoleon II. and endeavoured to excite insurrection. He was arrested, tried, and condemned to imprisonment for life in the castle of Ham. Two months after, a musket charged with six balls was fired at the king by one Darnies, who was, afterwards guillotined. The king escaped injury. At the meeting of Chambers, Thiers endeavoured to procure a denunciation of the treaty of the preceding July; but failing, he resigned NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 527 His associates in power followed his example; and a new ministry, of which the most influential member was Guizot, came into power. From that time may be dated the commencement of the systematic policy for the preservation of the peace of Europe which was pursued by Louis Philippe until his dethronement. The condition of the finances and of the working classes was speedily bettered; and the arrival of news that a treaty had been concluded with Buenos Ayres, diffused joy and confidence. On the 15th of December, the remains of the late emperor, which had been brought from St. Helena, were deposited in the dome of the Invalides-a ceremony, which, unexpectedly to all, terminated without a single riot. The year 1842 was signalized by two disasters-the death of the Duke of Orleans, heir-apparent of the crown, who was thrown from his carriage while riding; and an accident on the railroad between Paris and Versailles, which cost the lives of two hundred persons. The first of these events brought before the Chambers the question of a regency, in the probable event of the king dying before his grandson, the young Count of Paris. The law pointed to the Duke of Nemours, he being next one in order of succession, and over twenty-one years of age. The education and wardship of the count were intrusted to his mother. For three or four years after the settlement of this question, France remained comparatively caln, the Guizot ministry continuing to strengthen itself, to maintain peace with the rest of Europe, and to develope the resources of the nation. The interchange of visits between the king and Queen Victoria may be mentioned as somewhat anomalous in French history. After a short season of calm, the factions resumed their disputes and, aided by various clubs, and. an ultra-democratic press, they kept the populace of Paris in almost constant excitement. On the other hand, the king, either from necessity, or from a desire to appropriate to himself as much power as he could, receded further and further from the political principles he had recognised in 1830. These were the two principal causes of the revolution. It was hastened by the institution of reform banquets, in which leading men of the socialist and communist ranks discussed every measure of government. A' monster banquet, appointed for February, 1848, was forbidden by the ministry. The opposition deputies protested against the prohibition. The ministers partially yielded, permitting the banquet to take place under certain restrictions. At the same time, the troops in Paris were increased to one hundred thousand, and every measure taken to prevent an outbreak. On the day appointed for the banquet, (February 22,) crowds collected in the principal streets, defying the soldiers, and attempting to erect barricades. At the same time, Odilon Barrot, on behalf of fifty-three deputies, laid before the Chambers a proposition for impeaching the ministers. The excitement increasing throughout the next day, Guizot and his colleagues resigned, and a new ministry was formed under Count Mole. The municipal guard joined the populace. By sunset, order had been, to a great degree, restored; but during the night, the populace, after pelting and firing upon the soldiers, was, in turn, fired upon. A collision between the soldiers and the people was what the democratic leaders had, during two days, been plotting to effect. By a skilful parading and exhibition of the dead bodies, they roused the excited mobs to fury, and turned that fury against the king. Barricades were 528 MODERN HISTORY. thrown up, houses and public edifices stormed or destroyed, and armrls seized in every quarter. The troops deserted their king, and joined in denouncing him. The Tuileries was taken and plundered. Louis Philippe, after abdicating in favour of his grandson, the Count of Paris, fled toward England. All the royal furniture was burned or demolished. Meanwhile, the Duchess of Orleans, mother to the Count of Paris, appeared in the Chamber of Deputies. Her title as regent, and that of her son were neglected; while a few of the deputies proclaimed a republic and organized themselves into a provisional government. They were Dupont de l'Eure, Lamartine, Arago, Ledru Rollin, and Garnier Pages. Retiring to the steps of the Hotel de Ville, they announced the republic to the people. The majority received it with enthusiasm: the minority-a formidable one-with mistrust and indignation. Laws were passed abolishing the penalty of death for political offences, for emancipating every slave on French soil, for determining the qualifications of citizenship. By the 1st of March, order was in a great measure restored, and the new government had gone into operation. The Red Republicans manifested much turbulence during the elections in April, which resulted in the triumph of Lamartine. An executive committee of five members-Arago, Pages, Marie, Lamartine, and Rollin, took the place of the provisional government. Riots continued to disturb the country, until May 15, when the Assembly was invaded by a crowd of fifty thousand persons, who declared the government at an end. Happily for the deputies, the army remained true to them, and the mob were dispersed. On the 23d of June, an insurrection occurred more terrible than any that France had seen since the Reign of Terror. It was instigated by clubs of workmen, discharged from the public workshops of Paris. In a few hours, a strong system of barricades was thrown up, in and around Paris, and two hundred thousand insurgents were in arms. At first, little impression was made upon them, and the country was declared in danger. The appointment of General Cavaignac as commander-in chief of the French army saved France from another revolution. After a four days' battle, this officer succeeded in driving the insurgents from their strongholds, and restoring peace. More than thirty thousand persons were killed. The loss of the military was especially severe, many distinguished officers being among the slain. The subsequent appointment of Cavaignac as president of the council, completed the restoration of order. On the 12th of November, a constitution was given to France; and the general election, held the same month, resulted in the choice of Louis Napoleon, nephew of the deceased emperor, for President. France, now determined to interfere in the affairs of Italy, and sent an army under General Oudinot to that country. An account of the siege of Rome is given under the head of Italy. This affair was the pretext for numerous riots throughout France. One of these, at Lyons, (May, 1849,) drove the municipal authorities from the city, and resulted in the temporary formation of a Red Republican government. Nearly one thousand persons were killed or wounded, before order could be restored. At the same time a conspiracy is said to have been discovered to overthrow the government, and establish upon its ruins the democratic and social republic. The most important events toward the close of the year 1849 were the dissolution of the ministry NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 529 by President Bonaparte, and the apparent desire of that individual to strengthen his position to a degree not permitted by the constitu. tion. SPAIN. DURING the six years after his restoration, Ferdinand VII. pursued a career of absolute despotism. The officers and supporters of Joseph Bonaparte were driven from the country or thrown into prison; the Inquisition was re-established; monkish tyranny resumed its sway, and every form of justice or of popular right was openly violated. This headlong course of blind bigotry plunged the nation into commotions. The army became dissatisfied; bands of guerillas ravaged different quarters; and various conspiracies were formed, either for the purpose of petty revenge, or to overthrow the government. While weakened at home, the government was rendering itself contemptible abroad. In 1820, Florida was ceded to the United States for five millions of dollars. The ministry was changed twenty-five times in five years. During this period, the American colonies revolted; and an attempt to send an army against them was attended by the defection of four battalions, who chose their own leaders, proclaimed the constitution of 1812, and took possession of La Caracca. The attempts made to dislodge them failed; and advancing through the country, they excited everywhere the spirit of revolt, and called upon their countrymen to re-establish the constitution. They were joined by the royal troops; so that Ferdinand, as contemptible for his weakness as he was odious for his tyranny, declared himself willing to summon the Cortes of 1812, and submit to the constitution of that year. A new ministry was appointed, the Inquisition abolished, and an entire change effected in the offices of government. But the country, being torn by factions, these popular victories failed to restore peace; and, in March, 1821, the Cortes declared the whole country in danger. In September, an extraordinary Cortes was summoned; and about the same time news was received that Mexico had declared herself independent, that Lima was occupied by the Chilians, and that other losses had occurred in the West Indies. The danger abroad quieted in some measure the dissensions at home. The king sanctioned a few vigorous measures passed by the Cortes; but they did not render the Spanish arms successful in America, nor give popularity to Ferdinand. Military riots occurred, even in the royal palace; and an attempt to restore despotism, by overthrowing the constitution, was defeated by the national guards. A new ministry, favourable to liberal principles, was appointed, and the king, whose authority was now a mere shadow, made every concession demanded of him. Not long after, the apostolical party, favourable to despotism and monkish rule, was defeated, and its leaders driven from the country. The other European powers now interfered; and the French ambassador at Madrid demanded the restoration of Ferdinand to sovereign power, preparatory to his effecting permanent arrangements with the people. The ministers of Prussia, Austria and Russia, made similar demands; while England advised the Cortes to yield, offering her mediation. The Spanish government answered in a note, repelling indignantly the foreign interference. The 45 530 MODERN HISTORY. French, now stationed one hundred thousand men near the Pyrenees, whence they marched toward Madrid, proclaiming that they came to deliver the country from the evils of civil war. Ferdinand, who had entailed wretchedness upon the nation, was now passive. The French declared the sovereignty of the king, and nullified all the acts of the Cortes. Ferdinand having declared war, prosecuted it with his usual weakness, vacillation, and blindness; so that in a very short time his army of one hundred and twenty thousand men was beaten, and the greater part of his country in French hands. A guerilla warfare succeeded, which was conducted with all the circumstances of wo and crime that invariably attend a desultory warfare. In June, the theatre of war was transferred to the southern provinces. On the 15th of July, the heights of Corunna were carried by General Bourck, after a sanguinary action of five hours' length. Desultory skirmishes, some of which resulted in serious loss, occurred from time to time, until October 1st, when Ferdinand, under the protection of the French, returned to the capital. His first act was to declare the proceedings of the provisional Cortes void. In November, the war terminated; fortyfive thousand French soldiers remained in Spain, until the national army could be organized; and with the withdrawal of the others, commenced the imprisonment and execution of the defeated republicans. But the re-establishment of the Inquisition was successfully resisted. As the king was suspected of showing favour to the constitutionalists, a plot was formed by some adherents of despotism, to displace him, and raise Don Carlos to the throne. Its members assumed the name of Carlists. They excited many disturbances during that and the three following years, and, with the frequent changes of ministers and imbecile conduct of the king, caused much distress. In 1825, Spain lost the castle St. Juan de Ulloa, and early in the following year, Callao, near Lima-her last possession on the American continent. In 1829, the army in Mexico surrendered to the patriots under Santa Anna. The revolution in France, which drove Charles X. from the throne, had little effect upon the Spanish people. There was, in truth, no liberal party in the country; the only struggle being carried on by the advocates of absolute despotism against the king. This year was signalized by the birth of a royal princess, on which occasion the Cortes declared the crown hereditary in the female lines. But two years after, the minister Calomarde, during a violent attack of sickness upon Ferdinand, induced the weak monarch to revoke the decree, and transfer the right of succession to Don Carlos. Unexpectedly the king recovered his faculties: Calomarde was dismissed; the right of succession restored to the Infanta Maria Isabella; and her mother appointed regent of the kingdom. Ferdinand died in 1833. This was the signal for civil war, which w.s commenced by Don Carlos, who claimed the throne, and continued with variable success until 1839. Through the energy of the queen's generalissimo, Don Baldomero Espartero, it terminated in her favour. Meanwhile the court was in a distracted condition:-ministers resigned almost as soon as they were installed; the regency, the Carlists, and the queen's adherents struggled for mastery. The constitution of 1812, being adopted under a modified form in 1837, revived the old constitution * party, which was again divided by the secession of the extreme NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 531 liberals. In 1840, the queen regent resigned, and her office devolved upon the new minister, Espartero. He displayed the same energy as had distinguished him on the battle-field. Imputations of cruelty, while suppressing the insurrectionists, were soon brought against him, to an extent that affected his popularity. Quarrels with the Cortes and the ministry followed, and in 1843 he was driven from the country. A new and more aristocratic constitution was adopted, and a new ministry was formed under General Narvaez, the great opponent of Espartero. Since that time, the intrigues of this ministe,'the petty struggles of rivals to arrive at power or to keep it, the quarrels of factions, and the childish squabbles between Isabella and her royal consort, have rendered Spanish politics contemptible in the sight of all Europe. PORTUGAL. ON arriving in his kingdom, after his long exile in Brazil, the Portuguese monarch swore to maintain the new constitution. This secured freedom of person and property, the liberty of the press, legal equality, the abolition of privileges, the admission of all citizens to any office, and national sovereignty. Some attempts at insurrection were suppressed, and in 1823 the different departments of government were reorganized. Meanwhile, Brazil had separated from the parent country; and, instigated in a measure by foreign powers, the queen and several of the nobility formed a plot to overthrow the government. Dom Miguel, with a party of nobles and officers, declared against the Cortes, and General Sepulveda attempted to carry off the king. The army joining these defenders of despotism, the king was compelled to name a new ministry, and to nullify the constitution of 1822. The king was then requested to resume absolute power-the promotion of which was declared to be the object of the counter-revolution. He refused. Proposals were made for drafting a new constitution, but these were opposed by the queen, assisted by French influence. At the same time, violent persecutions were carried on against the members of the liberal party. As the king still adhered to the system of moderation, the queen's party determined to annihilate it at a single blow. On the 30th of April, 1824, Dom Miguel placed himself at the head of the army, and declared his intention to complete what he had begun the year before. On the same day, more than one hundred ministers and officers were arrested, and no person was allowed access to the king. The foreign ambassadors protested against this violence; but Dom Miguel declared that he had taken these steps to frustrate a conspiracy, which aimed at the lives of the king and the queen. The king ordered the troops to retire, and that the imprisoned persons should be released. But the Infant continued to issue orders on his own authority, and the king was kept in a condition little better than imprisonment. The foreign ambassadors now interfered; John, with his two daughters and the diplomatic corps, was secretly conveyed on board an English ship of the line, where he summoned the Infant to his presence. The prince obeyed, confessed that he had been deceived, and was pardoned. Five days after, the king returned ashore, and resumed his former liberal policy; but his designs were baffled by the I - 532 MODERN HISTORY. intrigues of Spain, which revived the opposition of the queen and of the bigated patriarch of Lisbon. New conspiracies were contrived and detected, and several changes of ministers occurred. On the 15th of November, 1825, the independence of Brazil was acknowledged, and four months after, the king died. In April, 1826, a new constitution was granted, by which the Cortes was divided into two chambers. In May, Dom Pedro offered the throne to his daughter, Donna Maria, on condition of her marrying her uncle Miguel. But a party had already been formed, by assistance of Spain, to overthrow the new constitution, and proclaim Doml Miguel king. The old offender, Amarante, and the Marquis of Abrantes, headed the insurgents, while a Spanish army assembled on the frontier. Portugal appealed for assistance to England; fifteen thousand British troops landed at Lisbon, and in a short time the insurrection was suppressed. Next year, Dom Miguel was appointed regent. His arrival from Vienna, in 1828, occasioned another insurrection, the object of which was to place him upon the throne. Crowds surrounded him in the streets, shouting " Down with the constitution!" " Long live the absolute king!" At the same time the officers of the garrisons favourable to the liberal policy were removed, and a project adopted for sending Dom Miguel to Villa Vicosa, where, under protection of Amarante's troops, he might be proclaimed absolute king. This scheme was frustrated by an energetic act of Mr. Lamb, the British minister. He not only counteracted the order for the departure of the English troops, but also prevented the payment of the loan made to Dom Miguel under the guarantee of the British government. Subsequently, however, when the troops were withdrawn, the prince succeeded in crushing the constitutional party. This terminated the influence of England in Portugal, so that Miguel could now direct all his efforts toward the consolidation of his own power. The only means he employed was cruelty. The prisons were filled by his late opponents; fugitives, flying from their home and their country, crowded the roads. The Cortes, being cleared of all but his own adherents, unanimously declared him the lawful king of Portugal. In 1830, the number of prisoners confined for political causes had swelled to forty thousand; five thousand more were hidden in different parts of the country, and the other countries of Europe were swelled with Portuguese refugees. By his arbitrary acts, the king drew upon himself the opposition of Great Britain, which sent a fleet to the Tagus, in 1831, and forced from him some humiliating concessions. Two months after, a French fleet appeared in that river, to demand redress for injuries committed by Portuguese authority on French subjects. The French demanded, among other things, the dismissal of some of the Portuguese officers, the reversal of all sentences passed against Frenchmen for political opinions, and indemnification for the expenses of the expedition. Portugal yielded. Soon after an insurrection occurred, which was not suppressed without bloodshed. Meanwhile, Dom Pedro was preparing an expedition whose object was the expulsion of his brother, and the promotion of his own daughter, Donna Maria da Gloria, to the throne. On the 8th of July, 1832, he landed at Oporto, and seizing that city, maintained himself against all efforts of the opposite faction. In July, 1833, the fleet of IDom Miguel was totally defeated near Cape St. Vincent, by NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 533 Sir Charles Napier, and in the same month his army was routed by the Count da Villaflor. Lisbon was speedily reduced, and Dom Pedro arriving from Oporto, assumed the government in the name of his daughter. But the Miguel faction was still in arms. Its forces, led by General Bourmont, a Frenchman, made a desperate attempt to carry the city of Oporto. Being repulsed, they retired to two strong fortresses, where they would probably have protracted the war, but for the union of a Spanish army with the queen's troops. In May, 1834, Dom Miguel signed a capitulation, by virtue of which he abandoned Portugal. The constitution of 1826 was re-established, the regency confirmed, convents were suppressed, and order in some measure was restored, when Dom Pedro suddenly died. Dissensions between the queen and her faithful ministers ensued, in consequence of which Marshal Saldanha, leader of the democratical party, became prime minister. This step was taken to gain popularity with the masses; but this it failed to effect. Saldanha lost his former influence, and factions became more violent than ever. In March, 1835, the queen's husband died. In April, 1836, she married Duke Ferdinand, of SaxeCoburg-Cohary. He was disliked both by the Cortes and the people, and this circumstance gave rise to new troubles. Five months after her second marriage an insurrection broke out, the troops joined the insurgents, and the queen was compelled to dismiss her ministers. The constitution of 1822 was again proclaimed. Lisbon was now ruled by the national guard, and the clubs, which supressed all counter-revolutionary efforts. Meanwhile the extraordinary Cortes were engaged in the discussion of a new constitution. The deliberations were conducted with unusual moderation; and the new instrument, while granting to the queen an unqualified veto on all acts of legislation, partook largely of democratic principles. Soon after, difficulties occurred with England, about the rate of duties on certain imported articles; and with Spain, concerning the navigation of the river Douro. These occasioned a dissolution of the Cortes, and the organization of another, which speedily came to terms with the British government. In 1841, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and the pope, acknowledged Donna Maria's title-a circumstance which contributed in a considerable degree to give stability to her throne. Yet, early in 1842, the friends of the deceased Dom Pedro, aided by the troops at Lisbon, effected an overthrow of ministers, and restored the guardians of the queen, who had been appointed by the regent on his death-bed. These were the Duke of Terceira, and Costa Cabral. They concluded a new treaty with England, reduced the public expenditure, levied additional taxes, and lessened the numbers of the Cortes. Some of these measures were found oppressive by the people, who, by plots and insurrections strove to prevent their execution. The most formidable of these occurred in February, 1844, at Torres Novas. The insurgents, composed mostly of members of the army, seized the fortress of Almeida. This was besieged by the government troops, and, in April, captured, after an obstinate resistance. At present Portugal is cursed with civil war, and with the dominion of rulers whose wisest acts evince profound ignorance of the elements of government. 45* 534 MODERN HISTORY. ITALY. Under Napoleon, Italy had enjoyed a prosperity unknown to het for ages. With a restoration of the old state of things, returned misery and anarchy. According to the regulations of the Congress of Vienna, the King of Sardina was reinstated, and received as additional territory the duchy of Genoa. The new Lombardo-Venetian kingdom was given to Austria; the Po was constituted the boundary between Parma and the Popedom; Ferdinand of Austria became Grand-duke of Tuscany; Ferdinand IV. was recognised as King of the Two Sicilies, and the minor states were allotted principally to Austria. Thus Italy was little more than a province of that empire. But the spirit of liberty awakened among the inhabitants had led to the formation of various clubs and secret political societies, of which the principal were the famous Carbonari. Their object was, the deliverance of Italy from foreign interference, and the establishment of a democratic government for the whole peninsula. The leaders of these institutions were men of talents, influential with the people, and controlling, in a great measure, the popular press. From the year 1820, until the expulsion of the Pope in 1848, these men laboured incessantly to accomplish their great object, frequently at the expense of serious riots in Naples, Sicily, and Piedmont, and in defiance of the Inquisition, expatriation, and death. In the month of March, 1820, more than six hundred thousand members were added to the Carbonari. In the following year they attempted to revolutionize Naples and Piedmont. The effort was suppressed by an Austrian army, and, at the great Congresses of Layback and Verona, the sovereigns of Europe decided upon armed intervention to suppress the revolutionary spirit. Yet, in 1825, a conspiracy was detected at Rome, having for its object the overthrow of Austrian supremacy, and the establishment of a consolidated government. Afterwards, all secret societies were prohibited, tribunals supported by columns of troops were appointed, to punish the authors of revolutions; proscription, banishment, executions, ensued. The press, schools, and universities were closely watched; and the education of youth was intrusted to the Jesuits. But disturbances continued, giving no little trouble to both the Austrian and the separate Italian governments. Meanwhile, some changes had taken place in the Papal States. Their policy was, in general, more liberal than that of Austria. In 1823, Pope Pius VII. died. He was succeeded by Cardinal Annibal della Genga, under the title of Leo XII. His death, in 1829, elevated to the pontifical chair Cardinal Castiglione, who died in 1830. Early next year, Gregory XVI. became pope. The French revolution of 1830 caused many commotions in Italy Fearful of the consequences, the Austrian government adopted measures at once prompt and energetic. In the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, troops were collected in sufficient numbers to crush any insurrection in that quarter, or to march, if necessary, into the other parts of Italy. Outbreaks occurred at Bologna and Modena, but they were suppressed, and followed by, at least, external tranquillity. When Ferdinand I. ascended the throne of Austria, (1835,) he liberated the imprisoned Italians, and granted an amnesty for political offences. NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 535 The country remained, however, in a disturbed state until 1846, when Gregory XVI. died. He was succeeded by Pius IX. whose accession was the signal for the simultaneous movement of many of the elements that ended in the stormy events of 1848. In that year, Pius gave a new constitution to the people, reformed many abuses, and resisted the arbitrary intervention of Austria in Italian affairs. Yet the people of the Papal States were still oppressed to such an extent that, in the latter part of the year, they rose against the government, drove Pius from his dominions, abolished the college of cardinals, and proclaimed a republic. A Provisional Government was established, and a new constitution framed. This strange event excited the astonishment of all Christendom; but while every eye was intent to observe the result of the movement, a French army under General Oudinot landed at Civita Vecchia, and marched for the gates of Rome. On the 26th of April, the Constituent Assembly declared itself in permanence, and protested against the approach of the French army. A Triumvirate of distinguished individuals constituted the executive portion of the new government. The siege began on the 30th. The Roman people were filled with the greatest enthusiasm, displaying a heroism not unworthy the descendants of the ancient republicans. They were commanded by Garibaldi, Mazzena, and other distinguished chieftains. The French were repulsed in three successive attacks. On the 13th of May, General Oudinot attempted to cross into Rome by a bridge: the bridge was blown up and the French repulsed. A blockade ensued, and lasted until June, when the besiegers, after hard fighting, gained possession of several important points. On the 15th, the city was stormed, but after an obstinate struggle the French retired. Toward the close of this month, the Romans had suffered so severely from constant watching and fighting, that the Triumvirate opened negotiations with General Oudinot. These resulted in a capitulation; and on the 3d of July the French army entered Rome. The Provisional Government and the republican leaders fled. A temporary municipality was established; the cardinals were restored to power, and the pope invited to return. From causes at present unknown, he has not yet complied with the request. Vigorous measures were taken for the suppression of liberal opinions, among which may be mentioned the re-establishment of the Inquisition. These appear to have succeeded, and another calm, the lethargic sleep of a nation's mind, has fallen over the seat of the Papacy. GERMANY AND PRUSSIA. In 1815, the states composing the old German Empire were formed into the Germanic League. The principal objects of this confederacy, the capital of which is Frankfort-on-the-Maine, are the independence of the constituent states; prevention of hostilities between one state and another; the security of each state against civil war; the establishment of representative constitutions; legal equality of religious sects; the exercise of a common civil law, by which the citizen of one state may enjoy civil and religious privileges in another. A league of states so loosely united cannot be tranquil in peace nor formidable in war. Accordingly, from 1816 to the present time, Germany has 536 MODERN HISTORY. been distracted by factions of all kinds, a prey to every evil influence of the surrounding countries, and, with respect to the control of events in Europe, politically dead. In addition to the defects in the constitution, the relation of the people to their rulers must be regarded as antagonistic. The former sigh for liberty and their ancient European dignity; the latter adhere to the principles of the Holy Alliance. The political events of Germany, apart from the powerful states, Austria and Prussia, have not been of much importance since 1820. The commotion caused by the changes of 1830, by the war in Belgium, and the revolution in Poland, soon subsided, when the policy of Louis Philippe was discovered to be favourable to peace. In 1831, the Diet prohibited all interference of the subjects with the affairs of government, either by petition or otherwise. At the same time a censorship of the press was recommended. In 1831, authors of liberal pamphlets were forbidden to publish their productions. In 1840, the people united with the government in preparations for war with France, in consequence of the attitude assumed by that country, concerning the Eastern question. Neither before nor since has the League displayed such promptness and cordiality. The storm having passed away, excitement subsided, and Germany resumed her condition of inefficiency. In 1840, the preaching of John Ronge, a Catholic priest, against an exhibition of the so-called Holy Coat, at Treves, caused commotions throughout Germany similar to those of the sixteenth century, and resulted in the secession of large numbers from the Catholic communion, and their subsequent organization into a new religious body, called the German Catholic church. Both Germany proper and Prussia were powerfully affected by the spirit of liberty developed in i 1848. During some months, every part of this ancient land was i agitated by insurrections, riots, and revolutions. The King of Bavaria was forced to abdicate; other rulers were driven into exile; a violent outbreak in Prussia compelled the king to disband a large portion of his forces, to grant a new constitution, and to assume, in appearance at least, the leading part in reform. Exciting debates concerning a union of all Central and Northern Germany were held in the Diet at Frankfort. The imperial crown of Germany was voted to the King of Prussia, but he declined its acceptance. The country is still in a distracted state; but its division into petty states, destitute of cohesion or international sympathy, prevents it from taking that position among the European sovereignties to which it is justly entitled. The principal events in which Prussia has been engaged, since the treaty of Vienna, have been noticed in the articles upon the other countries. THE NETHERLANDS. The union of the states which constitute the Netherlands was not productive of social harmony. The animosity of religions, and the old feelings of national hatred, produced on the one hand stringent measures of government against the French Catholic missionaries, who had occasioned much disturbance; and on the other, an excommunication from the pope against some distinguished ecclesiastics, who had taken the oath of allegiance to the king. Attempts to regu-.ate the finances by a new law were met by disturbance and insurrec NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 537 tion, which were suppressed only by force. Amid these discouragements, government found time to establish pauper colonies for the relief of the poor, to build canals, and organize agricultural societies. Troubles arose with the natives of the East Indies, especially the Javanese, but they terminated advantageously to the Netherlands. Trade revived; and a joint-stock company, for the promotion of various branches of industry, was founded by the king, under flattering auspices. This company has established trading ports in China, Sumatra, and India. The Netherlands rendered effectual aid to Great Britain, in the suppression of the slave trade. By a treaty with that power, in 1824, the Netherlands received full possession of the English portion of Sumatra, in exchange for the Dutch territories on the main land of India. In the same year, Admiral Wolterbee compelled the Dey of Algiers to desist from his encroachments upon European vessels. But the country was still distracted by religious and political animosities; and in 1829 they had become so alarming that government resolved on changing its policy from concession to firm resistance. The Belgian petitions for redress were disregarded, and laws passed against the liberty of the press. De Potter, an editor, was tried for treason, and with some accomplices banished. Amid the uproar caused by this measure, news of the French revolution arrived. All Brussels rushed to arms. The troops fired on the mob; they were driven back, and the people forced the arsenal. On the 27th of August the royal arms were torn down, and the mob elected new municipal officers. The revolution spread through southern Netherlands. An address was presented to the king, asking for a complete change in the administration. The king refused, and sent an army toward Brussels, under command of his sons, Prince Frederic and the Prince of Orange. The latter entered Brussels without his troops, and, after a consultation with the deputations from the city and from Liege, became convinced that a separation between Holland and Belgium was indispensable. The prince retired to the Hlague, and laid the subject before the king. Petitions from other cities, for and against the separation, were also presented. The king declared his determination to refer every thing to the States-General. The people again resorted to arms, so that when the States-General met, (September 23,) they had no alternative between utter anarchy and the vote for separation. On the 29th they declared, by a large majority, the legislative and administrative separation of Belgium and Holland. When this vote was reported at Brussels, another outbreak ensued, which resulted in the ascendancy of the people, and the choice of popular officers. The burghers appealed for aid to the king, and Prince Frederick, after issuing a proclamation, advanced upon the city. The insurgents, headed by political clubs and factious Frenchmen, barricaded the streets, and prepared for resistance. The battle began on the 23d. Boiling oil, rockets, stones, and every variety of missiles were directed against the troops; part of the city was reduced to ashes; women armed themselves and fought behind the barricades, and, after a four days' struggle, the prince was driven off with the loss of four thousand men. After this victory, the insurrection spread throughout the country, and the provisional government declared that the provinces separated from Holland should form an independent state. Three par 538 MODERN HISTORY. ties appeared. One favourable to an alliance with Frane; one desir. ing a regency under the Prince of Orange; one headed by De Potter, anxious for a democracy, with the Catholic religion as the religion of state. The country was in a condition of anarchy, licentiousness and brutal violence being everywhere paramount. Some Belgian troops irritated Lieutenant-general Chasse, commandant of the citadel of Antwerp. He bombarded the city for seven hours with three hundred cannon, destroying property and merchandise to an immense amount. Shameful outrages were perpetrated upon Dutch fugitives, while men of wealth hastened to leave the country. On the 3d of February, 1831, the new Congress elected the Duke of Nemours, son of Louis Philippe, King of Belgium; but the French monarch declined the crown for his son. A regency was then appointed, and the new government went into operation. Rioting continued, and at length Prince Leopold was elected king. War with Holland ensued, and, but for the intervention of France, would have terminated in the otal conquest of Belgium. In 1832, the leading powers of Europe acknowledged the independence of Belgium, and recommended to the King of Holland a suspension of hostilities. But the dissatisfaction of that country continued, and both governments prepared for war. Tired of this protracted contest, France and England agreed, in convention, that Belgium should surrender Venloo, and Holland Antwerp, by the 2d of November; and that, in case of the refusal of the latter country, England should blockade her ports, while a French army marched against Antwerp. Both these events took place. Marshal Gerard, with a French army, gained possession of Antwerp at the close of the year 1832, after which hostilities were suspended. Yet it was not before 1839 that, through the mediation of the five great powers, Holland acknowledged the Belgic nationality. King William of Holland abdicated the next year, in favour of his son, William II. Belgium and Holland partook extensively of the revolutionary spirit of 1848, but the ensuing calm left both countries in nearly the same condition as they had formerly been. The hostilities between Holland, Prussia, and Denmark, seem to have been productive of no satisfactory result. AUSTRIA. Since the peace of Vienna, and especially after the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, the influence of Austria over the other countries of Europe has been increasing. Its domestic policy is cruel and despotic. In 1819, a censorship of all literary institutions was established, with a law suppressing liberal opinions, liberal writings, and secret societies. In the same year, a Congress at Vienna adopted a constitution, which was subsequently acknowledged as law, by the whole Germanic body. Austria acted as the first power in the Congresses of Trappau, Laybach, and Verona, which decided the political condition of Italy, Spain, and Greece. In these the principles of legitimacy, and the law of armed interference with the small states were established as rules of conduct by the Holy Alliance. Austria was opposed to the recognition of Greek independence, and bore a full share in promoting the troubles of Portugal and Spain. She mediated between Turkey NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 539 and Russia, during the war between those powers. Meanwhile liberal opinions among the people were steadily suppressed. The subjects were forbidden to speak of the government, even in praise; most books were prohibited, and learning of all kinds discouraged. In 1820, while the Emperor Francis was at Laybach, he remarked to the professor, that he wanted no learned men, but good, loyal citizens, with no higher education than that afforded by the common schools. Even the clergy were forbidden to appeal to the pope, in matters ecclesiastical. The emperor showed, however, a laudable desire for public improvements, especially in roads. Several fine ones were established by him, which greatly facilitate intercourse between different parts of the empire. The military force of the country successfully resisted all attempt at revolt, consequent to the French revolution of 1830. On the 2d of March, 1835, Francis II. died, and was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand I. This event produced no perceptible change in Austrian policy. In November, 1846, Austria united with Russia and Prussia, in suppressing the nationality of Cracow, the last relic of the old Polish kingdom. By this transaction, which caused much sensation in Europe, the territory around Cracow was annexed to Austria. This event seems to have increased the dissatisfaction and spirit of insurrection which had long existed in the central provinces, especially Hungary and Bohemia. At the same time the attention of Europe was directed toward Russia, which was concentrating masses of troops upon the Austrian and Turkish frontiers. That the object was not hostility to Austria, became apparent immediately after the accession of Pius IX. to the papal chair. For when the new pope was suspected of favouring liberal measures, the Emperor Ferdinand, instead of watching Russia, poured his best troops, by large detachments, into Italy. In the summer of 1847, an Austrian army seized Ferrara. Another army appeared on the borders of Sardinia. All the northern provinces were in like manner watched or occupied. The plot for assassinating the pope was believed to be the result of Austrian intrigue. But the commotions in Vienna still continuing, the designs of Austria upon Italy were to a great measure checked. The success of the populace became so decided, that Prince Metternich fled from the country, the Emperor Ferdinand abdicated in favour of his son, Joseph, and a constitution of a liberal character was given to the people. Meanwhile, the Diet of Hungary adopted measures for securing to the people of that province their ancient privileges. In May, 1848, the pope declared war against Austria. During this short war, several skirmishes took place, in which the enthusiasm of the Italians in the cause of liberty was creditably displayed. A more serious struggle was at hand. The dissensions in Hungary had increased to civil war, so that the government was compelled to send a large army into that province. But the Hungarians, led by Kossuth, Bem, Dembinski, and other patriots, displayed a heroism that astonished Christendom; and the Austrians, though commanded by able officers, were everywhere beaten. At this crisis, the Russian emperor declared his determination to assist his ally. A force numbering one hundred and twenty thousand men joined the Austrians. Against such odds the Hungarians still struggled, with considerable success, until late in 1849, when Gorgey, one of their generals, surrendered a 540 MODERN HISTORY. force of thirty thousand men to the Austro-Russian army. This opened to, the latter the key of the Hungarian position, and virtually terminated the insurrection. The patriot army was disbanded, its leaders fled, and the country restored to the Austrian authority. Kossuth, with his fellow officers, fled to Turkey. The demand of the autocrat, for their surrender to Russia, has already been noticed. The barbarities since inflicted upon the unfortunate Hungarians, by the Austrian authorities, have filled the greater part of Europe and America with indignation, similar to that manifested eighteen years ago, at the suppression of Polish liberty. RUSSIA. The termination of the European struggle in which Napoleon fell, found Russia a power of pre-eminent importance. The peace of Vienna enabled Alexander to direct his attention to the development of the resources of his country, which he did with perseverance and success. While his military power was a source of terror to the neighbouring nations, his domestic affairs were conducted in such a manner as to reorganize the various branches of government and of society. At his death, (December 1, 1825,) his brother Nicholas ascended the throne. As the elder brother, Constantine Caesarowitsch, renounced his right, a revolt occurred in the army, during which a conspiracy of the old Russian nobility, which had existed for years, was detected. The disturbance was quelled, and some of the conspirators executed. War with Persia, concerning the Persian succession, began next year. The Russians conducted it with vigour, and by treaty, in 1827, gained a large accession of territory, and payment of all expenses. Early in 1828, war was declared with Turkey, an act generated by the relations of Russia with the Greeks. One hundred and fifteen thousand men entered Turkey, and speedily made themselves masters of the Upper Danube. The mountain fortresses of Choumla and Varna, where the flower of the sultan's army was concentrated, were next attacked. Choumla was taken after two months' siege; but an early winter and the prevalence of disease exposed the Russian army to great losses. Meanwhile, another division of troops had marched through Caucasus into Asiatic Turkey, seized several strongholds, and destroyed a flotilla on the Black Sea. Winter terminated the campaign. Various negotiations between the European powers, respecting Turkey, succeeded. They proved fruitless, and, in the middle of winter, hostilities recommenced. The Turks lost several fortresses, and a portion of their fleet, in Europe. In Asia, the contest was more serious. Twenty thousand Turks besieged Akhelzieh; they were obliged to retreat. A strong Turkish camp, in the mountains, was stormed and taken. Fifty thousand men were defeated by the Russian General, Paskewitsch. The Seraskier of Erzerum, Governor of Asiatic Turkey, and commanderin-chief of the whole Turkish army, four pashas, and one hundred and fifty cannon were captured. Twelve thousand Turks, after thirty-two hours' successive fighting, were driven from the fortress of Bajasid. which they attempted to capture. In Europe, after three severe battles, the fortress of Silistria was taken. Ten thousand men, two hundred and twenty cannon, eighty standards, and the Turkish flotilla fell into NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 541 the hands of the Russians. In August, 1829, the great city of Slivno was taken. One week later, Adrianople fell. On the 14th of September, a treaty of peace was signed, by which, among other stipulations, the boundaries of Turkey were adjusted, and an indemnity made to Russia for all expenses. These wars were followed by the revolution in Poland, an event which crushed the hope of freedom for that country. Since the peace of Adrianople, Russia has neglected no opportunity to extend her influence over Turkey; nor can it be doubted, that she is restrained from taking possession of the sultan's dominions, only by the jealousy of the other powers. She has also made repeated attacks upon Persia. In Caucasus, her efforts have not been crowned with success. For many years, the war waged with the hardy mountaineers of that country has been accompanied with defeat and humiliation to Russia. Meanwhile, the emperor has displayed a laudable zeal for public improvements, and for the cause of education in his dominions. Railroads, vessels for war and commerce, and lines of telegraph have met with his special encouragement, while artisans and mechanics, from Great Britain and the United States, have been invited to reside permanently in Russia, and become instructors of his own labourers. In the events of Europe during the year 1848, this great power took a decisive part on the side of legitimacy. Nicholas was unfavourable to the revolution in France; he frowned upon the struggle for freedom in Italy and Germany; he assisted Austria to crush Hungary; he declared his intention, before and after that event, to resist with the strength of his empire, any similar movement favourable to republicanism. When the Hungarian leaders fled to Turkey, he demanded of the sultan their surrender, intimating that war would be the consequence of a refusal; and probably the interference of France and England alone prevented him from making good his intention. SWEDEN. The union between Sweden and Norway is rather a mere political relation than an amalgamation of habits, feelings, or interests between the people. The predominating feature in Swedish society is aristocracy; in Norwegian, democracy. Under a bigoted and unenlightened monarch, these differences might have been productive of serious results, both politically and socially; but Charles XIV. appeared peculiarly fitted for the office of reconciliation. Possessing the confidence of the army and of a majority of the nation, he pursued a policy marked with moderation and wisdom. In 1823, some conspiracies were detected, for restoring to the throne the exiled house of Wasa; but they were frustrated by the vigilance of the public officers, and their repetition prevented by an amicable arrangement with the crown. The judicial power was separated from the executive, and various reforms took place with regard to commerce, agriculture, and the administration of justice. These were strengthened by treaties with Great Britain, the United States, and other countries. In 1824, the King of Norway endeavoured to prevail upon the Storthing or Congress of the nation, to give him an absolute veto and the appointment of the president of the Storthing, to create a hereditary nobility, and other acts 46 542 MODERN HISTORY. The proposals were unanimously rejected. Personally, however, the king was popular, being always greeted abroad with marks of respect and devotion. The commotions of central Europe, in 1830, had little or no influence upon the Scandinavian peninsula. The attention of the government was at that time occupied with works of internal improvement, mostly canals, of which several important ones were constructed. In 1834, the proceedings of the four chambers, constituting the national Diet, were opened to the public. In 1840, a law was passed, by which the Diet meets every three years, instead of every five. Charles XIV. died March 8, 1844, aged 80, and was succeeded by his son, Oscar I. When the territory around Cracow was incorporated with Austria, Sweden protested against that act; but in the commotions of 1848-9, she took little or no share. TURKEY. By the treaty of Bucharest, in 1812, Turkey had ceded to Russia a large portion of Moldavia. This treaty was violated by Mahmoud VI., in 1817, who seized Moldavia and Wallachia, under pretence that Russia favoured the discontent of the Greeks. The moderation of the Emperor Alexander, joined with the mediation of Austria and England, prevented an immediate outbreak. When the Emperor Nicholas succeeded his brother, he demanded and obtained satisfaction. The harsh measures pursued by the sultan, in exterminating the janizaries, (1826,) caused an insurrection in Constantinople, during which six thousand houses were burned. Military despotism was now established, and Mahmoud conducted himself with equal ferocity against his own subjects and the rebel Greeks. [See GREECE.] At the same time, he reorganized his army after the European manner, adopted the European dress, and promoted many similar reforms. These rendered him unpopular with the people, to such an extent that he was obliged to suspend them. The war with Russia, which began in 1828, is described in the article on that country. By the treaty of Adrianople, Turkey surrendered Wallachia and Moldavia, acknowledged the independence of Greece, and lost a district of Asiatic Turkey. Mahmoud now resumed his projects of civil and military reform; but these caused insurrections, which it required two years to suppress. The rupture with Mehemed Ali, Pasha of Egypt, followed. That officer had refused to pay tribute, in virtue of the assistance he had rendered to the sultan during the Turkish war; and when irritated by the high tone of the Turkish court, he sent his son, Ibrahim Pasha, with an army into Syria. Ibrahim reduced Acre, routed twenty-five thousand Turks, and advanced against the main body. In December, 1832, the sultan's army was totally defeated at Ionieh. Russia now assisted Turkey by a squadron and military force; but Mahmoud was obliged to surrender Syria to the pasha. Hostilities being renewed in 1839, the Turks were routed at Nezib, near Aleppo, (June 23). Mahmoud expired before the news reached him. His eldest son, Abdul Medgid, a youth of sixteen, succeeded. Two weeks after, the Turkish fleet, under the Capudan pasha, went over to the enemy. The war was terminated on the 15th of July, 1840. By a treaty formed at London between Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, Syria was restored to NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 543 Turkey, and the pasha obliged to content himself with Egypt. These terms were enforced by a British and Austrian fleet, which appeared on the east coast of the Mediterranean, and co-operated with the efforts of the Syrio-Turkish army. After the settlement of this difficulty, the sultan directed his attention to the introduction of European customs; but he experienced no better success than his father,-his designs being everywhere opposed, the people excited to hatred, and the more active to sedition. During a period of five years, some of the provinces were in almost uninterrupted revolt; executions on an extensive scale occurred daily; and the utmost efforts of the sultan to restore order and reorganize the political and social systems were attended with mortifying results. In 1846, war occurred with Greece. It was conducted with the usual amount of barbarity and devastation. In the following year, the sultan was alarmed by the appearance of a large Russian force upon the frontier. In 1848, a portion of this force marched through the northern provinces, and Turkey narrowly escaped a rupture with the czar. In the subsequent struggle between Hungary and Austria, Turkey took no part; but te sultan refused to deliver the refugee patriots to Russia. Sustained, by France and England, he braved the threats of Nicholas, and appointed Kossuth and his companions a place of residence within his dominions. In this state of affairs, a declaration of war on the part of Russia would, there can be little doubt, produce a general European war. GREECE. The great event of this country, since the Congress of Vienna, is the revolution, by which its people shook off the Turkish yoke, and established their nationality. The first important attempt was made in 1821; but the patriots being deceived in their expectation of help from Russia, were suppressed; when the Greek men, women, and children were treated with revolting barbarity. Immediately after, the inhabitants of Morea revolted. Some skirmishes ensued, followed by massacre and devastation. In Cyprus, where there had been no insurrection, a Turkish force murdered most of the inhabitants, and burned sixty-two villages. Similar atrocities were committed at Rhodes, Pergamos, and Smyrna. The Greek fleets blockaded all the ports of the AEgean Sea. A Greek force took Tripolizza by storm, and massacred eight thousand Turks. The Turks slaughtered three thousand persons in the peninsula of Cassandra, and desolated the province. In January, 1822, deputies from various parts of Greece formed themselves into a provisional government, and proclaimed a constitution. A Turkish fleet and army appeared before Scio, and after converting it into a desert and dyeing the soil with blood, sold forty-one thousand of the people as slaves. Forty Greeks, from Ipsara, devoting themselves to death, fired a portion of the Turkish fleet, by which more than two thousand men perished. Five thousand Christian families were murdered in Cara-Veria. Severe skirmishing took place in the Morea, until August, 1823, when the Greek patriots uniting their forces, routed twenty thousand Turks, with immense slaughter, near Napoli. Seventeen Turkish vessels were destroyed by tempests, and by the Greek fire. This year the sultan resolved on a war of extermi 544 MODERN HISTORY. nation. A second Turkish army entered Greece. Part of it was defeated at Thermopyla, by the Greek leader Ulyssus, and another detachment routed by the same leader, at Cheronea. On the 20th of August, Marco Bozzaris, in a night attack, defeated twenty thousand Turks at Agrapha. Bozzaris crowned the victory with his death. The attack of the Turks upon Ipsara, which for obstinacy and slaughter was not surpassed during the war, resulted in their defeat. The patriots were equally successful on the main land. The third siege of Missolonghi, (April, 1825,) resulted in the defeat of the Turks, with the loss of nine thousand men. It lasted until October. A fourth attack, by the enemy, was attended with a similar result. It was finally taken in 1826.'he sufferings endured by the patriots on this occasion roused the slumbering sympathy of Europe. Societies were everywhere formed to relieve the Greeks, and the three Great Powers united in their favour. Meanwhile, the Egyptian allies of the sultan over-ran the Morea, and the Greeks were reduced to extremity. Turkey rejected the intervention of the three powers; but an English, a French, and a Russian fleet enteredrthe bay of Navarino and annihilated the Turkish-Egyptian fleet, of one hundred and ten vessels. The sultan demanded satisfaction for this loss; but in 1828 he became involved in war with Russia. The French sent a body of troops into Greece; and the Egyptian pasha, through the influence of France and England, withdrew his troops from the Morea. This province, the Turks were speedily compelled to evacuate. The war continued until next year, when the sultan signed the articles acknowledging the independence of Greece, which were submitted to him by the three sovereignties. Some unimportant skirmishes were fought after this; but Greek independence was secured by the treaty of Adrianople, in September. Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was chosen by the allied powers as King of Greece. He declined accepting it, and Otho of Bavaria became first King of Greece. He found the country in a state of anarchy. This continued with occasional seasons of tranquillity, until the revolution of 1843, which compelled the king to call a national assembly for the purpose of forming a new constitution. This instrument, completed in 1844, is monarchical in its features. Up to the present time, the intrigues of European powers and the war of factions have prevented this unhappy country from realizing the hopes which the friends of Greek independence had conceived in 1829. In 1849, another war occurred with Turkey; but the accounts hitherto received of it are meagre and confused. THE UNITED STATES. James Monroe, fifth president of the United States, was inaugurated March 4, 1821. In 1824, Russia, by treaty, abandoned that part of Oregon south of 54~ 40'. In the same year, a treaty was concluded with England for the suppression of the slave-trade. In 1825, Lafayette visited the land he had helped to defend, and was received with enthusiasm. Public officers and associations of all kinds accompanied his triumphal progress through different parts of the Union. Under the new president, Mr. Adams, several important treaties were made with different Indian tribes, by which portions of Georgia, Arkansas, and NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 545 Missouri were ceded to the United States; with the republic of Colombia; with Denmark; and with Central America. Two ex-presidents, Jefferson and Adams, died July 4, 1826. A new tariff bill passed in 1828, caused violent commotions in the Southern States, which tended in a great measure to embitter the feelings of parties. In the same year, General Jackson was elected President by a large majority. The tariff question still continued to agitate the country, and during the sessions of Congress, from 1829-32, was the principal subject of debate. A new bill was passed in 1832, lowering considerably the rate of duties. The South, still dissatisfied, demanded its repeal. The State of South Carolina, assembled in convention, declared both tariff acts null and void, and that, should the national government endeavour to enforce them, the Union would be dissolved. The advocates of these measures were called Nullifiers. The President issued a proclamation, declaring his resolution to maintain the integrity of the Union. The nullifiers not being disposed to yield, civil war seemed inevitable, when Henry Clay proposed his Compromise Act, which met with the support of the Southern members. This danger was scarcely passed, when a new source of contention arose through the opposition of the President to the United States Bank. By vetoing a bill for its re-charter, he virtually abolished the institution, a measure that produced derangement and distress throughout the mercantile world. This period may be regarded as the commencement of that system of speculation which, subsequently, resulted in almost universal bankruptcy. The large cities were hostile to the President's measures; and Congress was besieged with petitioners from the great trading and moneyed interests, praying for a restoration of the bank's charter. The President maintained his opposition to the institution, removed its charter, and wound up its concerns. The warlike attitude of the President toward France, resulting from the question of indemnity for losses sustained under the Berlin and Milan decrees, was modified by the firmness of the Senate, and the opposition of the Representatives; and the mediation of Great Britain adjusted the difficulty. An outrage of some whites upon five Indians in Florida caused the Seminole war. The massacre of Colonel Dade, with two companies, in December, 1835, was the most disastrous event of this unsatisfactory contest. The abolition of the national bank resulted in the chartering of a vast number of state banks, which resulted in wild speculations, and the production of paper currency to an enormous amount. Amid political and social embarrassment, President Jackson's second term expired. He was succeeded by Martin Van Buren, a strenuous advocate of the Jackson policy. The Indian war continued, its chief events being night murders by scalping parties, and the flight of families. When pursued by a military fiorce, the Seminoles retired to the everglades, baffling all effort to dislodge them. Another Indian war, conducted by Black Hawk, in the west, had been terminated in 1833, by the capture of that chief. In the same year the country was visited by cholera. The government acknowledged the independence of Texas, and a number of volunteers joined the forces of the new republic, in opposition to the army of Mexico. The battle of San Jacinto having driven the enemy from Texas, Santa Anna, the captured Mexican president, was conducted to Washington, where he 46* 546 MODERN HISTORY. signed a treaty acknowledging Texan independence. The year of President Van Buren's inauguration witnessed the bursting of the storm which had hung over every department of industry since the suppression of the national bank. Nearly all the banks in the country either broke or suspended specie payments. The public works were suspended; merchants, brokers, men of property were ruined; business of almost every kind was brought to a stand; mechanics, artisans and labourers were reduced to extreme distress. Meanwhile the Florida war continued, and the Indian chief Osceola was captured. Various petitions from all parts of the Union were laid before the President, praying for a change of policy, and the convening of an extra session of Congress; but these were disregarded. At the regular session, in December, little, was done towards ameliorating the public distress, the attention of that body being largely engrossed with the situation of affairs on the Canadian border. Canada having revolted, parties of Americans crossed the boundary, to assist the insurgents. This the President forbade, in a special message; and General Scott, with a portion of the New York troops, was ordered to the border. On the night of December 28, the steamboat Caroline was burned by a party of British militia, and sent over the Niagara falls. This affair led to an angry correspondence with the British minister, but was finally dropped. In 1838, the banks resumed specie payments. Another difficulty occurred with Great Britain on the Maine boundary question, during the continuance of which both countries anticipated war. Incursions for predatory purposes were undertaken by the citizens of each country upon the territories of the other. Public feeling ran hard against Great Britain; and measures were adopted for placing the country in a state of defence. In 1839, the banks again suspended. Next year the Whig party elected General Harrison to the Presidency, by a large majority. A thorough change of policy was the consequence. A special Congress was called to meet in May; and it was understood by the people that the cardinal principles of the Whig party-a national bank, a protective tariff, the distribution of the prices of the public lands, would be the basis of the new administration. General Harrison died one month after his inauguration, and was succeeded by Vice-President Tyler. In May, Congress met. Its first great national measure was a bill for the establishment of a United States Bank. This the President vetoed. A second bill shared the same fate. A rupture between the President and his party followed, and his entire cabinet, with the exception of Mr. Webster, resigned. A new Fi tariff bill was passed, the effect of which was soon perceived in the revival of credit and of business. In 1842, the long disputed question of boundary between Maine and New Brunswick was happily settled by a treaty between Mr. Webster and Lord Ashburton. In 1844, the Democratic party elected Mr. Polk to the Presidential chair. Next year Florida and Iowa were admitted into the union, and the treaty annexing Texas was signed by the President, and became a law. In 1846, the Oregon treaty was concluded with Great Britain, by which 490 was recognised as the northern boundary of the territory. Congress also passed a bill reducing the tariff, a warehouse bill, and the sub-treasury act. Meanwhile Mexico had protested against the annexation of Texas, ............~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ —1.. ii:::::::::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~::;akl: ij~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ x I.I.........3:-. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~::::: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i~ ~ ~~~~~~~ r-:1 ~ ~.........::~~.-::.:.::::::::;I:-:.::-:):i::'-i::~~~~~~~~~~~:: ~ ~ ~...............:i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~: 4 — i ii t iladit:::s':-st~: Ir~-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I i: t~~~~~~~~:~~~~ —::~~~~~~~~::~.Hati. qf~~~: W.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...:,,::I c:~ ~";::i:x~~ ~~~~~~~~':'i' 11 A N D I N O F'T it I." A M K I t I A T 11 O O P A T V I.'. It A f..' R, U~ Z NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 547 whose independence she had never acknowledged. Her minister declared it a cause of war. President Polk ordered Colonel Taylor into Texas, with a corps of observation. In March, 1846, further orders directed him to take a position on the Rio Grande, the disputed boundary line between Mexico and Texas. The colonel built Fort Brown, opposite Mataroras, an act against which the Mexicans protested. The enemy finally crossed the river, and attacked the American main force, on the road leading from Fort Brown. They were defeated in a two days' battle, (May 8 and 9,) and driven with much slaughter across the river. At the same time a bombardment of Fort Brown was successfully resisted. Matamoras was taken on the 18th, and soon after war was declared by the United States against Mexico. Colonel Taylor was raised to the rank of major-general, and received large accessions of troops. During the summer, Mier, Reynosa, and Camargowere taken; and on the 19th of September the American army, numbering seven thousand men, mostly volunteers, arrived before Monterey. This place, strong by nature and art, was defended by twelve thousand men under General Ampudia. Two separate attacks were conducted against, it-one under General Taylor, having for its object the city proper; another under General Worth, against some strong outer works on the adjoining heights. After a four days' battle the city capitulated. Saltillo, Parras, and Victoria were next taken. On the 22d of February, while encamped with five thousand men near the strong mountain pass of Angostura, near Buena Vista, General Taylor was attacked by twenty thousand Mexicans under Santa Anna. He declined a summons to surrender, and early on the 23d the battle began. The Americans relied principally upon their artillery, which did severe execution upon the crowded, Mexican cavalry, embarrassed by the nature of the ground. The action was perhaps the most obstinate ever sustained by a Mexican army; and though, several times, victory fluctuated, from one side to the other, night found the combatants on the sane ground: they had occupied in the morning. During the night Santa Anna, whose army was in a starving condition, retreated; so that the advantages of victory remained with the Americans. Their loss was rather more than seven hundred; that of the Mexicans was two thousand. Want of military stores compelled General Taylor to retire to. Monterey, where he remained till the close of the war. Meanwhile General Kearny and Colonels Fremont, Price, and Doniphan had conducted expeditions against New Mexico and California. Several battles of considerable magnitude were fought, and the largest towns were rapidly occupied by the Americans. The march of Colonel Doniphan through the enemy's country with but a handful of men, with his subsequent, successful return, is justly celebrated as a daring feat of military resolution. During this expedition he defeated four thousand men with nine hundred, at Sacramento (February 28, 1847.) In March, 1847, General Scott, commander-in-chief of the American army, landed at Vera Cruz with eleven thousand men. On the 22d his batteries opened upon the city, and the adjoining fortress of St. Juan de Ulloa. The bombardment was attended with such destruction of life and property, that on the 27th both places surrendered. Alvarado and Hacotalpam were captured immediately after. Early in 548 MODERN HISTORY. April, General Scott marched for the enemy's capital. On the 17th he reached the mountain pass of Cerro Gordo, where Santa Anna was entrenched with eleven thousand men. Next day the Americans, numbering seven thousand, stormed the works, routed the Mexicans, and pressed towards Jalapa. That city, together with Perote and Puebla, was captured without resistance. Six thousand prisoners were taken, with a large quantity of military stores. After a harassing march, the Americans reached San Augustin, near Mexico, on the 18th of August. During the 19th and 20th the fortress of Contreras was stormed and taken. San Antonia fell next; and Churubusco, after an obstinate struggle. In these battles, fifteen thousand Mexicans fought behind works regarded as impregnable, while the entire American force, only part of which was engaged, numbered but seven thousand. An armistice was then concluded between the two armies, which lasted until September 6. On the 8th, General Worth stormed the strong buildings of Molinos del Rey, forming part of the immediate defence of the capital. After sustaining a heavy loss, he carried the works, which were afterwards destroyed. On the 12th, the batteries opened upon Chapultepec, one of the strongest fortresses in Mexico. Next day it was carried by two storming parties under Generals Pillow and Quitman. At the same time the assault on the city commenced, General Twiggs bombarding the southern wall, General Worth sweeping the works on San Cosine road, and General Quitman, (after the fall cf Chapultepec,) those on the Tacubaya road. By night, both columns had fought their way into the city. Before morning, Santa Anna, with his shattered army, fled, and on the 14th the Americans entered in triumph. The war was not yet closed. On the 25th, Santa Anna appeared before Puebla, which he bombarded until the first of October. A portion of his army continued before the city a few days longer. It was defended by Colonel Childs. On the 9th, General Lane won the battle of Huamantla, and ten days after, he captured Atlixco. These were the last important events of this war. Early in 1848, the long-continued negotiations for peace had resulted in the framing of a treaty. It was ratified by both nations in May. The Rio Grande was acknowledged as the boundary of Texas, and the rich territories of California and New Mexico were ceded to the United States. In November of the same year, the Whigs elected General Taylor to the presidency of the Union. The discovery of immense mineral wealth in the newly-acquired territories has caused a tide of emigration to flow into those distant regions from all parts of the world; so that cities and states are arising on the hitherto unknown shores of the Pacific. In 1849, the cholera visited the country, sweeping away, among its thousand victims, many who had filled important national offices. Among these were Generals Gaines and Worth, and Ex-president Polk. The internal peace, both national and domestic, enjoyed by this nation, during the years 1848-9, present a strange and edifying contrast lo the condition of every country in Europe, during the same period. MEXICO. During a period of seven years, from 1813, various Mexican chiefs had struggled for the independence of their country. In 1821, Itur NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 549 bide and other chiefs united against the Spanish army. Next year Iturbide assumed the title of Emperor Augustin I. After a reign of ten months he was driven from the country, and a federal republic established. Vittoria became president, but the violence of party spirit baffled all attempts at a restoration of peace. The two principal factions came to open war with each other in 1828, each advocating the claims of a candidate to the presidency, and terminating the dispute with an appeal to the sword. An attempt of Spain to regain her authority, was frustrated by General Santa Anna. Civil war followed, during which the usurper, Guerrero, was deposed, and General Bustamente elected vice-president by the army. Under him order was in some measure restored, and several branches of business revived. In 1831, President Pedraza returned from France. Bustamente ordered him to leave the country. Santa Anna revolted in Vera Cruz. Another revolt occurred at Tampico. Santa Anna became president in 1833. Congress, in the following year, abolished convents and abrogated the authority of the Pope. This increased the dissatisfaction already existing. Insurrections occurred of a nature so serious that Congress adjourned, and Santa Anna became stronger than ever. Texas and several other states declared themselves independent; but with the exception of the first, they were soon reduced. A Mexican army marched into that province, and after several petty victories and defeats, was joined by Santa Anna with six thousand men. He was routed and taken prisoner at San Jacinto, (April 21, 1836,)-an event which virtually secured the independence of Texas. Bustamente regained power, and by his miserable system of policy involved his country in war with France. A French squadron, under Rear-Admiral Baudin, reduced St. Juan de Ulloa, November 27, 1838. Santa Anna displayed some energy in defending Vera Cruz; but through the mediation of the British minister, Mr. Packingham, the dispute was adjusted. At the expiration of Bustamente's term he was succeeded by Santa Anna. Since that time Mexico has been involved in civil broils, the events of which are unimportant, and their leading men despicable. The war with the United States is detailed in the notice of that country. The perseverance of the Mexicans, through two years of uninterrupted disasters, appears the more remarkable, when we reflect that her resources are so limited as to render it impossible for her to attempt the subjugation of the revolted province of Yucatan. CENTRAL AMERICA. This country, the old Guatemala, declared itself independent of Spain, in 1821. Under Iturbide it was united to Mexico; but since his fall it has been a separate government. On the 22d of November, 1824, the constituent congress completed the organization of the government, by the adoption of a federal constitution, similar to that of the United States. Arce was elected first president. His administration was signalized by the rancorous disputes of factions, by civil war and social misery of every kind. The inhabitants of St. Salvador marched against those of Guatemala, but were defeated by Arce; who committed the greatest enormities. In 1829, General Morazon, of St. Salvador, captured the city of Guatemala, an event which secured 550 MODERN HISTORY. his election to the presidency. He applied himself to the restoration of order, and the development of domestic resources. In 1838, a dangerous insurrection occurred, under the leadership of Carrera, a halfIndian. To political animosities, he added the hatred of one race to another. In 1842, Morazon was taken and shot; and since that time the country has been a prey to internal dissensions. The war between the United States and Mexico had no effect upon Guatemala; but since that event the southern portion of the country has been made a principal thoroughfare for adventurers, on their way to the gold mines of California. Foreign industry will probably, in a short time, develop the resources of Central America. Under a good government it might become one of the greatest commercial marts of the world. COLUMBIA. This republic comprises three provinces, Venezuela, Quito, and New Grenada. The first general congress met March, 1821, and decided upon the adoption of a popular representative government, divided into legislative, judicial, and executive branches. In June,. the Spanish army was totally routed at Carabobo. Next year, Bolivar captured Panama, and defeated Murgeon at Curiaco. One month after, Sucre gained the battle of Pichincha, after which the Spanish authorities capitulated. In 1824, Bolivar, with ten thousand men, marched toaid the patriots of Peru. During his absence, the government was administered by Vice-president Santander. Delivered from the Spanish yoke, the country was rapidly advancing in prosperity and importance, when the revolt of Paez occurred. This officer refused to obey the authorities, and kept all the northern provinces in turmoil, until the return of Bolivar in 1827. A grand convention for amending the constitution and redressing grievances was summoned to meet at Ocaiia, in March, 1828. It did nothing. Bolivar then assumed supreme authority, abolished the constitution, and appointed a series of officers. This brought upon him the hostility of the republican party, some of whom attempted to assassinate him.'Ihe attempt failing, the conspirators were executed or banished. Bolivar likewise endeavoured to make himself perpetual president of Peru, which caused a war between Columbia and that country. Paez was still powerful in Venezuela, and organized a society for the alleged purpose of promoting commerce and the arts. Through his influence, Venezuela declared herself independent; a step which caused the resignation of Bolivar, after he had formally denied all intention of aiming at kingly dignity. In the same year, Quito declared her independence. The remainder of Columbia was formed into the republic of New Granada. The three states subsequently entered into amicable relations with each other concerning trade and national policy. But like most of the South American States, their history during the last twenty years has been little more than a series of domestic quarrels, a description of which would both fatigue and disgust the reader. NINETEENTH CENTURY A. D. 551 PERU AND BOLIVIA. Peru declared its independence in 1821. General San Martin was appointed dictator, and in 1822, a congress met at Lima. The constitution adopted by this body caused much dissatisfaction, on account of its monarchical features. In 1823, the republican troops were defeated by the Spanish troops under La Serna; but dissensions among the royalist leaders prevented them from improving the victory. Peru was now assisted by Columbia, which sent Generals Bolivar and Sucre to the aid of her ally. The Peruvian council and army were divided by factions; so that the weakness of the enemy again saved the country. Bolivar became dictator. In December, 1824, Sucre gained the great battle of Ayacucho, by which the independence not only of Peru but of South America was secured. Peruvian politics then assumed a most perplexing aspect. It suffices for us to remark, that Bolivar attempted to impose a monarchical constitution on the country; that his design was opposed; and that he subsequently instigated the war with Columbia. After a sufficient tide of ill success, peace was concluded in September, 1829. Gamarra became president; but his intrigues with Santa Cruz, president of Bolivia, (1836,) led to his overthrow. Santa Cruz seized the government, but he too was forced to abdicate, in consequence of the war with Chili. War was then declared against Bolivia, and lasted until 1842, when the mediation of Chili restored peace. Since that time various military chieftains have been elevated and deposed, and the country has been a prey to faction and domestic poverty. BoLIVIA.-After the failure of Bolivar's attempt to impose a constitution upon the people of this province, it remained in an unsettled state until 1829, when the election of Santa Cruz, as chief magistrate, effected the restoration of order. During two years, prosperity attended his policy; but yielding to the weakness of all the South American patriots-a thirst for power, he involved his country in a war with Peru. After conquering that republic, he endeavoured to effect its union with Bolivia; but the intervention of Chili caused his overthrow. Since the second war with Peru, in 1842, already noticed, the country has remained in an unsettled condition. BRAZIL. Brazil had been made a monarchy in 1815. In 1820, it obtained a constitution similar to the one established, at that time, in Portugal. But the example of surrounding countries had generated a republican spirit, which was not long in developing itself. Alarming riots occurred at Rio Janeiro. In May, 1822, the prince regent assumed the title of Perpetual Defender of Brazil, and convened a national assembly to frame a constitution. This the cortes at Lisbon pronounced null, and ordered the prince-regent home. The national assembly then declared the separation of Brazil from Portugal, and named Don Pedro constitutional emperor, (October, 1822.) The situation of the new emperor was unenviable. Portugal was opposed to him; the republicans daily gained strength; and little hope could be entertained that 552 MODERN HISTORY. his title would be recognised by the European powers. The first acts of Don Pedro were well calculated to augment these difficulties. Secret societies were abolished, and the suspected republicans imprisoned. In November, 1823, the assembly were driven from their hall by armed force. A new constitution, based on principles of hereditary and constitutional monarchy, was given to the people in 1824. The emperor and the general assembly mutually restricted each other's powers. The press was free, and other religions, beside the Catholic tolerated. Pernambuco opposed this constitution, but was taken by assault, after an obstinate resistance. In November, 1825, Portugal acknowledged the independence of Brazil; and the example was followed by other European powers. The short war with La Plata, for the possession of the Banda Orienta, resulted in the independence of that province. The disputes between the emperor and the assembly still continued, and increased to such an extent that, on the 7th of April, 1831, the latter abdicated in favour of his son, Don Pedro II. This prince was then only nine years old; but, until his death, within a few years, he maintained his authority, amid the contentions of factions, which rendered the condition of society little better than anarchical. LA PLATA AND CHILI. In 1819, the united provinces of La Plata adopted a constitution, modelled after that of the United States. The country remained in a disturbed state until May, 1822, when a general congress met, and by a series of conciliatory acts, restored confidence and public tranquillity. Commerce and trade revived rapidly, and the country seems to have been, in a great measure, free from the spirit of faction which prevailed in the other South American states. In 1822, the United States recognised the independence of La Plata; and Great Britain concluded a treaty with her in 1825. In December of that year, war occurred with Brazil, which resulted in the formation of a new republic from the Banda Oriental province. In 1829, the country was desolated by civil war; which continued until 1835, when General Rosas was unanimously called to the presidency. He assumed dictatorial powers; and, since that time, faction and civil war have prevailed, suspended only during the short periods of hostilities with other powers. Chili obtained its independence in 1817; but the new government was sadly deficient in the abilities necessary for establishing order. Congresses for framing a constitution assembled in 1823, in 1824, and 1826; but they failed to accomplish their object. Meanwhile the country was agitated by disputes between the advocates of a central government and those of a federal constitution. In 1828, the long devised instrument was adopted, under the administration of General Pinto. Pinto's successor, Prieto, restored order, and effected the passage of many useful laws. In 1837, Chili declared war against Peru. and maintained it with success until 1839, when General Santa Cruz, president of Peru and Bolivia, was expelled. At present, Chili is perhaps the most tranquil and flourishing of all the South American republics. THE END.