Wfti ,«
Presented to the LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
Ontario Legislative Library
MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY
AN OUTLINE OF ITS DEVELOPMENT
CHARLEMAGNE
MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY
AN OUTLINE OF ITS DEVELOPMENT
4 0
\p - ?
GEORGE BURTON ADAMS
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN YALE UNIVERSITY
WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Nefcr gorfe THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. , IQO/
All rights reserved
(or. mum, 1899, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped January, 1899. Reprinted July, September, 1899; July> 19°° > September, -901 ; April, 1902: March, 1903; April, 1904; May, 1905; October, 1906; February, 1907.
PREFACE
IN response to a considerable demand from those who wish a separate text-book of medieval and modern history, it has seemed advisable to publish that portion of my European History by itself. Advantage has been taken of this change of form to correct a few errors to which my attention has been called.
G. B. A.
FEBRUARY 10, 1900.
PREFACE TO THE COMPLETE WORK
IT is my hope that this book, while it may be used in any way, will be found of especial value by the teacher who has escaped from the bondage of set text-book recitations, as fortunately most teachers of history have now done.
In the preparation of the bibliographies and references I have had in mind both the needs of the teacher and of the pupil. Nothing adds so much to the interest of work in history as a more extensive knowledge of the subject on the teacher's part than the text-book gives, and an ability to fill it out and throw light upon it from various sources. The bibliographies give the names of many books not specifically referred to elsewhere. These are especially for the use of the teacher, and the intention has been to mention in each case the two or three best books. In the construction of the text also, while it has been my purpose to state as clearly as possible all the important facts, I have endeavored to make a text which would readily serve as the foundation for considerable expansion by both teacher and pupils. It will be noticed, possibly, that the stock historical anecdotes are lacking. These, if used at all, will have much more force and point coming from the teacher than if they stand in the text to be read and reread and repeated to the weari- ness of the bright pupil.
The specific references, while they may be of use to the teacher himself, are especially intended to be used with due judgment in the assignment of outside reading to the pupil and as the basis of reports to the class. At the close of each
vii
viii Preface
chapter two or three topics of especially assigned readings are given, but these are intended to serve as specimens rather than to furnish a complete list. The teacher can construct as many others as desired on the basis of the marginal topics and references. In the selection of the books, to which the specific references are made, I have been governed by the readiness with which the books can be procured. If a list of all those to which most frequent reference is made were drawn up, it would not exceed the limits of a good school library of European history. I believe that all the easily accessible sources in English have been referred to in most cases by specific references, and I have supplemented these by reference to two or three col- lections of sources in French and German which are readily obtainable and inexpensive.
In the preparation of the text I have endeavored to give especial emphasis to the different periods of history, and at the same time to make clear the continuous movement. If any fairly good conception can be gained from the study of history of the steady march of humanity up to its present level, one of its richest and most fruitful results has been secured, and it is a wish of mine, though one perhaps not easily realized, that the teacher should be able to make his class see in each lesson, or at least in each of the minor epochs of history, how the movement advances a stage in the given bit of time. I hope that the summaries prefixed to the different parts may be of service in this direction. It will be noticed also that the traditional divisions of gen- eral history have not been exactly followed, and that in a number of cases new names have been given to the divisions made. These names have been selected with a view to bringing out prominently the unity and continuous advance of history. The traditional divisions are, however, made clear enough in the text so that any one who prefers can make use of them.
Preface ix
I hope the book may also be found to serve a good pur- pose in colleges as the " backbone book " of a wider course of study or as a book of review on the completion of such a course.
I have received suggestions of value in the preparation of the book from a number of correspondents, but I am under especial obligation for such suggestions to Professors Lucy M. Salmon of Vassar College and Fred Morrow Fling of the University of Nebraska.
It is impossible that in a book of this kind errors both of the pen and of the press, and even graver ones, should not have escaped attention. I shall be very grateful to those who will call my attention to any of these which they
may notice.
GEORGE BURTON ADAMS.
DECEMBER 29, 1898.
CONTENTS
PACK
A BRIEF LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE OF VALUE TO THE
TEACHER . . . xxvii
PART I
THE ROMAN WORLD-STATE WITH ITS FALL AND ITS REVIVAL
Books for Reference — Summary ...... I
I. THE EMPIRE AND ITS DECLINE 5
Character of the Early Empire — Constitutional Forms
— Economic and Literary Character of the Age — Provin- cial Administration — Augustus and the Germans — The Period of the Julian House — From Tiberius to Nero — The Flavian Dynasty — Growth of the Imperial Constitu- tion — Plve Good Emperors — The Roman Law — Dis- orders of the Third Century — Reforms of Diocletian
— Constantine the Great.
II. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY .... 20 Books for Reference and Further Reading 2O
Christianity at the Death of Christ — Becomes a World Religion — Causes of Roman Persecution — Beginnings of Church Government — Christianity recognized by the State.
III. THE LAST AGE OF ROME 26
Character of the Fourth Century — Causes of the Fall of Rome — From Slavery to Serfdom — Attacks upon the Frontiers — Characteristics of the Germans — The Third
xii Contents
PAGE
and Fourth Centuries — The Goths cross the Danube — Theodosius the Great — Invasions of Alaric — Breaking of the Rhine Frontier — Rome's German Defender Sacrificed
— Invasion of the Huns — End of the Western Empire.
IV. THE FOUNDING OF THE GERMAN STATES 37
A Second Period of German Conquests — Founder of the Frankish Empire — Arian versus Catholic — Clovis adopted the Catholic Faith — The Last Years of Clovis' Reign — The Ostrogoths conquer Italy — The Character of Theodoric's Rule — Growth of the Frankish Power — Decay of the Merovingian House — The Roman Empire of the East — The Reign of Justinian — Justinian's Work for Civilization — The Invasion of the Lombards — The Saxons in Britain — The Saxon States — No Roman Ele- ments in the Saxon States.
V. THE FRANKS, THE ARABS, AND THE PAPACY ... 52
The Second Frankish Dynasty — The First Carolingians
— Their Power Established — The Government Strength- ened — Arabia before Mohammed — Mohammed and his Religion — A Religion of Conquest — Conquests of the First Century — The Revolution of 750 — Arabian Science
— Coming in of the Turks — The Frankish Empire Restored
— Lombards threaten the Pope's Independence — The Franks protect the Pope.
VI. THE EMPIRE REVIVED. CHARLEMAGNE .... 64 Books for Reference and Further Reading 64
The Way prepared for a Great Empire — Conquest of Italy — Of the Saxons — Charlemagne's Other Conquests
— Revival of the Roman Empire — The Missi Dominici — Charlemagne's Schools — Charlemagne's Place in History.
Contents xiii
PART II THE FORMATION OF THE NATIONS
PACK
Books for Reference — Summary 73
I. THE BREAKING UP OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE . . 75
Causes of Division — Economic Condition — Louis I. the Pious — The Treaty of Verdun — End of the United Em- pire — New Barbarian Invasions — The Northmen — Rollo in Normandy and the Danes in England — yElfred the Great — The Second Danish Invasion.
II. THE FEUDAL SYSTEM 85
The Conditions which gave rise to Feudalism — Forms of the Feudal System — The Feudal System in France — Feudal Rights and Obligations — The Serf Class — Gradual Improvement in the Condition of the Serf.
III. THE RISE OF THE NEW NATIONS 92
General Conditions — The Beginning in Germany — The Saxon Kings — The Empire revived by Otto I. — Effect of the Revival — The Beginning in France — Kings of Little Power — Norman Conquest of England.
IV. EMPIRE AND PAPACY 99
The Papacy during the Tenth Century — The Reforms of Cluny — Power of the Empire under Henry III. — The Beginning of the Conflict — Its Results — The Third Ger- man Dynasty, the Hohenstaufen — Danger to the Papacy — The Cities of Northern Italy — Guelf and Ghibelline — The Papacy at its Highest Point of Power.
V. THE CRUSADES 109
Books for Reference and Further Reading 109
Place of the Crusades in History — Motives of the Cru- saders — The Beginning of the First Crusade — Results of the First Crusade — The Second and Third Crusades — The Later Crusades.
xiv Contents
PACK
VI. THE CHANGES WHICH FOLLOWED THE CRUSADES . .117
The Direct Results of the Crusades — The Rise of the Third Estate— The Third Estate on the Side of Strong Government —Effect of the Increased Use of Money — Fall of the Feudal System — Changes affecting the Serf Class — Institutions of the Cities.
VII. THE FORMATION OF THE FRENCH NATION . . .124 General Conditions in France — Two Great Difficulties
— The Work of Louis VI. — France threatened by the Angevin Empire — The First Great Advance — The Growth of the King's Power — The Salic Law — The First Period of the Great Struggle with England — The King of Eng- land becomes King of France — Joan of Arc — The Final Triumph of France — Louis XI. and Charles the Bold.
VIII. ENGLAND I36
Books for Reference and Further Reading 136
General Character of English History — Period of the Norman Kings — Henry II. Abroad and at Home — Eng- land and Ireland — Henry's Two Sons — The Greatest of the Angevin Kings — The Hundred Years' War — The House of Lanr ster — The Wars of the Roses.
IX. THE OTHER , ,.ATES OF EUROPE 147
The Situation in Germany and Italy — The Foundation of Austria — A Period of Many Dynasties — The Hussite War — The Rise of Other German States — Italy — Spain
— The Rise of the Ottoman Empire.
PART III
RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION
Books for Reference — Summary . . . . , .157 I. THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING 159
A Transitional Epoch — The Meaning of Renaissance — The Place of the Middle Ages in History — Learning in the Middle Ages — Medieval Revivals— The Age of
Contents xv
PACK
Scholasticism — The Founding of the Universities — The Renaissance comes First in Italy — The Beginning in the Age of Petrarch — The Revival of Greek — Scientific Method Recovered — The Invention of Printing and its Results — The Renaissance South and North of the Alps
— Erasmus.
II. THE IMMEDIATE RESULTS OF THE REVIVAL . . .173
Advance in Knowledge — The Commercial Situation of the Fifteenth Century — Portuguese Discoveries — Colum- bus and his Discoveries — The Economic Results — The First Great Step in Physical Science — The End of the Renaissance — Art and Literature.
III. REVOLUTION ATTEMPTED IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE
CHURCH 183
The Papacy at Avignon — The Great Schism — The Demand for Reform — Wycliffe's Attempt at Reformation
— Huss and the Hussites — The Council of Constance — The Council fails to reform Government or Conduct.
IV. THE POLITICAL CHANGES OF THE AGE .... 190
Politics become International — T Condition of France — The Creation of Spain — ResuiiS of Ferdinand's Policy — England — Germany — Italy — France begins the Struggle — The First Invasion of Italy — A New French Claim on Italy — Rapid Changes in the Italian Situation — The Dominions of Charles V. — The Imperial Election and its Results — France still seeks Dominion in Italy.
V. THE REFORMATION OF LUTHER 203
Luther's Theological Beliefs — Indulgences — Luther posts his Theses — Luther gradually led to Open Rebel- lion— The Protestant Position in Regard to Authority — The Diet of Worms — Events in Italy — The Treaty of Madrid — Enforcement of the Edict Delayed — Peace between France and Charles V. — The " Protestants " and their Strength — The Great Peasant War — The First Attack of the Turks — The Diet and "Confession" of Augsburg — The Emperor's Plans again Postponed.
xvi Contents
PAGE
VI. THE LATER AGE OF THE REFORMATION. . . .217
The Reformation in the North of Europe — Henry VIII. takes the Place of the Pope — England becomes Protestant — Calvinism — The Reformation in France and Holland —The Counter Reformation — The Society of Jesus.
PART IV
THE STRUGGLE OF THE NATIONS FOR SUPREMACY
AND EXPANSION Summary 225
I. THE AGE OF RELIGIOUS WARS 228
The General Character of the Age — The Schmalkaldic War — Abdication of Charles V. — The Power and Char- acter of Philip II. — Philip and Mary of England — Eng- land again Protestant — The Netherlands under the Hapsburgs — The Beginning of Resistance to Philip — The Independence of the United Netherlands — England — Mary Queen of Scots — The Invincible Armada — Rise of the Puritan Party — Opposing Parties in France — Huguenot Civil Wars — The First of the Bourbons — Foreign Plans of Henry IV. — Beginning of the Thirty Years' War — The Bohemian Period of the War— The Danish Period — Sweden and France — Richelieu cen- tralizes France — Richelieu and the Thirty Years' War — Gustavus Adolphus in Germany — The Death of Gustavus and Wallenstein — The French Period of the War— The Peace of Westphalia — The Empire Destroyed — The Other States of Europe in the Peace — The Sufferings of Ger- many— A New Era in English History — The Stuarts and the Puritans — The Reign of James I. — Charles I. and Parliament — Civil War Begun — The Great Rebellion and the Commonwealth.
II. FRANCE TRIES TO DOMINATE EUROPE . . . .265
The Hapsburgs in 1660 — England and Holland — The Situation in France — Character of Louis XIV. — Colbert
Contents xvii
PACK
and the Finances — Colbert's Economic Measures — Pre- paring to annex Spain — Louis XIV.'s First War — Louis prepares to punish Holland — War against Holland — The Period of the " Reunions " — Revocation of the Edict of Nantes — Resources of France Declining — Charles II. in England — The Revolution of 1688 — The War of the League of Augsburg — The Question of the Spanish Suc- cession— The Partition Treaties — France annexes Spain — The War of the Spanish Succession — The War goes against Louis — The Peace of Utrecht — The Rise of Eng- land— The Beginning of L9uis XV.'s Reign — The End of the Stuart Dynasty.
III. THE RISE OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA ....
The Position of Sweden — The Early History of Russia
— Russia in the Seventeenth Century . — Peter the Great — Russia against Sweden — The Fall of Charles XII. — The First Promotion of the Hohenzollern — Chief Steps in the Making of Prussia — The Father of Frederick the Great
— The Pragmatic Sanction of Charles VI. — The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) — Maria Theresa determined to punish Frederick — France abandons her Hereditary Enmity — The Seven Years' War (1756-1763)
— Prussia a Great Power — Catherine II. of Russia (1762- I796) —The Condition of Poland — The First Partition of Poland — Further Russian Advance — The Rise of the Eastern Question — Poland at last Destroyed — A Revolu- tion in the Political Situation of Europe.
IV. THE STRUGGLE FOR COLONIAL EMPIRE .... 306 Becks for Reference and Further Reading 306
The Dawn of the Age of World Politics — The First Modern Colonial Powers — Spain's World Power Threat- ened— The Rise of the Dutch' kepublic — The Beginning of the English Empire — The First English Colonies — The Thirteen Colonies — Conflict between England and Holland — The Power of Holland broken by France — The Beginning of Rivalry with France — The Advantages
xviii Contents
PACK
of the English — Colonial Wars — The Situation in India
— King George's War — The Interval of Nominal Peace — The Great Colonial War (1756-1763) —Its Ultimate Con- sequences — The English Ministry determines to tax the Colonies — Compromise not Possible — The War of the Revolution — The English Empire apparently broken up
— The Revenge of France more Apparent than Real.
V. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON . . . 327
The Intellectual Leadership of France — The Deists — Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau — Abuses existing in France — Financial Condition of France — Attempts at Reform — The Danger of calling together the Estates General — The Struggle for One Chamber — The Struggle with the King — The King completely Overcome — Revo- lution Completed — The Rise of Opposing Parties — Finan- cial Difficulties still Continue — Paper Money based on Land — The Republic Proclaimed — The Beginning of a Long War — The First Step towards the Republic — The King Executed — WTar against all Europe — The Reign of Terror, followed by Reorganization and Success — The Work of the Convention — Bonaparte forces Austria to make Peace — Revolution within the Revolution — Bona- parte in Egypt — A Strong Government — Bonaparte turns the Tide of War — The Interval of Peace — The War Renewed — Napoleon stretches his Power too Far — The Beginning of the End — The First Restoration — The Charter of 1814 — The Congress of Vienna — The " Hun- dred Days" — The Second Restoration and the Congress of Vienna — Results of the Revolution in Europe at Large.
VI. EUROPE SINCE 1815 352
Books for Reference and Further Reading 352
The Nineteenth Century an Age of Transition — Three Lines of Great Political Changes — The Absolutist Reac- tion — Revolutionary Movements — The Monroe Doctrine — Further Reaction and a New Revolution in France — The Consequences of the Revolution in France — Prepara- tion for Another Revolution — The Revolution of 1848 — The Second Republic — Revolution in Austria and Italy
Contents xix
PACK
— Unsuccessful Attempts in Germany — The Suppression of the Revolution — The Second Empire established by Napoleon III. — Free Government indirectly Secured — The Congress of Vienna and the Idea of Nationality — The Independence of Greece — Attempts following the Two French Revolutions — The Spirit of Nationality grow- ing Stronger — The Policy of Cavour — United Italy — William I. and Bismarck — The Army made Ready — The New Prussia's First War — The Seven Weeks' War — The Results of the War for Germany — Results of the War for Austria — The Franco-Prussian War desired by Both Gov- ernments— The Pretext found for War — The Course of the War — The Empire of Germany — Alsace-Lorraine and Rome — The Third Republic in France — Results of the Period in Europe at Large — The Eastern Question — Rise of Egypt under Mehemet Ali — Preliminaries of the Crimean War — The Crimean War (1854-1856) — Russia again attacks Turkey, 1877 — The Treaty of Berlin, 1878
— Later History of the Balkan States — Later Phases of the Eastern Question — The Greek and Turkish War.
VII. ANGLO-SAXON EXPANSION AND THE GROWTH OF WORLD
POLITICS 387
Europe no longer the Stage of History — The Occupa- tion of the World — Australia the First Step — Its Early History — A New English Nation — England in the Wars of the French Revolution — Napoleon's Attempt at Colo- nial Empire— The Expansion of the United States — The English Empire in the Napoleonic Period — The Expan- sion of Canada — The Struggle for Self-government — Canada opens the Way — A Great Change in English Methods of Colonial Government — A Second Great An- nexation by the United States — Gold in California and Australia — A Theory of Imperial Dissolution — The Imperial Federation Movement — Expansion of English Dominion in India — Russian Expansion in Asia — The Results in Asia — The Occupation of Africa — The Eng- lish Occupation of Egypt — The Insurrection of the Mahdi — The Anglo-Saxon Race in the World.
xx Contents
PACK
VIII. THE GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH AND AMERICAN CON-
STITUTIONS 4IO
Books for Reference and Further Reading 410
Importance of the History of our Institutions — The Absolutism of the First Norman Kings — Our First Con- stitutional Document — The Beginning of our Judicial Institutions — The Magna Charta — The Right of Civil War — The Right of Insurrection Applied — The Idea of a Limited Monarchy — Origin of Representative Institutions
— The First Case of Town Representation — Progress in the Thirteenth Century — The King recognizes the Right of Parliament to control Taxation — Parliament takes a New Step — Another Most Important Right Gained — A Third Great Gain of Parliament's — The Exclusive Right to Legislate — Rise of the House of Commons — Summary of Results — First Dangerous Attack on the Constitution
— The Deposition of Edward II., 1327 — Right of Parlia- ment to control Succession — The Progress of the Four- teenth Century — The Yorkist Period — Peculiar Character of the Tudor Period — Constitutional Change in the Position of the Church — Character of the Stuart Period
— Reasons for the Attitude of the Kings — The Reli- gious Parties — Slow Advance towards War — The Second Great Constitutional Document — Period of Rule without Parliament — Concessions of King Charles — The King determines to Resist — The Constitutional Character of the Commonwealth — The Later Stuarts — The Revolution of 1688 — Results of the Revolution — Constitutional Ques- tions in the Colonies — Progress in the Eighteenth Century in England — The Constitution of the United States — Tendency towards Democracy — Anglo-Saxon Institutions in Other States — The Common Work of England and America.
IX. SCIENTIFIC AND ECONOMIC ADVANCE SINCE THE
RENAISSANCE 444
Books for Reference and Further Reading ..... 444
The Close of the Renaissance — The Great Age of English Literature — Of Scientiiic Work — The Law of
Contents xxi
PAGB
Gravitation — The Idea of the Reign of Law — The Eng- lish Deists — Leaders of French Thought in England — The Benevolent Despots — Character of Eighteenth Cen- tury Science — Advances in Science — A New Science — The Age of Machinery Begins — Its Effect on Manufactur- ing — On Labor — The Final Effect — Political Results — The Accumulation of Wealth — Nineteenth Century Sci- ence— Advances in Pure Science.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN REFERRING TO THE VARIOUS
AUTHORITIES QUOTED . 459
Each chapter is followed by a list of TOPICS— TOPICS FOR AS- SIGNED STUDIES — and frequently by a list of IMPORTANT DATES FOR REVIEW.
xxii Contents
LIST OF MAPS AND TABLES
PAGE
Roman Empire between 10-11
Europe about 525 43
Charlemagne's Empire between 68-69
Europe about 1200 " 126-127
The Crusades 112,113
Europe about 1560 between 234-235
The Baltic Lands at the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century . 287
Europe about 1740 between 292-293
Central Europe about 1812, showing Battle-fields from 1792
between 346-347
The Capetian Kings of France 135
The Kings of England, 1066-1485 146
The Genealogy of the Emperor Charles V 202
The Kings of England : Tudors, Stuarts, and Hanoverians . . 263
ILLUSTRATIONS
PACK
Charlemagne Frontispiece
A Street in Pompeii 5
Pretorian Guards 6
A Cameo — Portraits of Claudius, Agrippina the Younger, Livia,
and Tiberius 9
Arch of Trajan 12
Marcus Aurelius 14
Constantine the Great - . . .18
Christian Sarcophagus, with Labarum 23
German Bodyguard, Column of Marcus Aurelius .... 28
German Settlement, Time of Tacitus 30
German Weapons . . . 36
St. Sophia, Constantinople 47
Fragment from the Digest of Justinian 51
The Kaaba at Mecca 54
Tomb of the Caliphs at Cairo 59
Charlemagne 67
Signature of Charlemagne 70
The Cathedral at Worms . 79
Edinburgh Castle 87
Milan Cathedral 100
Harbor of Palermo 105
Papal Keys 107
Bird's-eye View of Rhodes 1 1 1
Knight Templar 115
Saracenic Arms 116
Grand Canal, Venice 119
A Hanseatic Ship 122
xxiii
xxiv Illustrations
PACK
Notre Dame, Paris .127
Canterbury Cathedral • . .130
Tower of London 141
The Great Seal of England 143
Carving from a Moslem Screen 153
St. John's College, Oxford 164
Dante Alighieri 166
Gutenberg's Press 168
Armor of Columbus 174
Columbus «... 176
Cortes 178
Lorenzo Magnifico 180
The Duomo, Florence ...*••••• 194
The Emperor Charles V 199
Luther 203
Bridge and Castle of S. Angelo, Rome 209
Ignatius Loyola .......... 222
Cannon of the Sixteenth Century 231
Philip II 232
William the Silent 237
Queen Elizabeth 239
Soldier of the Thirty Years' War 245
Gustavus Adolphus 248
Richelieu 250
Swedish Leather Cannon ........ 252
Holyrood Palace 256
Charles I. of England 259
Cromwell 260
Louis XIV 268
Louis de Bourbon, the Great Conde 272
Colbert 275
Gobelin Tapestry, Time of Louis XIV 279
A North View of Gibraltar 282
Peter the Great 289
Illustrations xxv
PAGE
Gigantic Grenadier of Frederick William I. • • • 294
Stone Bridge at Prague 296
Frederick the Great 3O1
The Mosque at Delhi 310
William Penn 311
Champlain 314
Dupleix 317
George Washington facing 320
The Declaration of Independence. Facsimile (reduced) of the
first lines of Jefferson's original draft 323
Versailles 329
Marie Antoinette 330
Taking of the Bastille 334
Facsimile of an Assignat (reduced) 337
Lazare Carnot 342
The Three Consuls 344
Napoleon 345
Lafayette 356
Pope Pius IX. 360
Count Cavour 366
Germania. Niderwald Monument 374
M. Thiers 377
Sebastopol 380
The Congress at Berlin 383
Bird's-eye View of Melbourne, Australia 389
Durban, Natal 394
Butter's Mill. Where gold was first discovered in California . 399
Khartum 406
Benjamin Franklin ....... facing 446
The Cotton Gin 452
A BRIEF LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE OF VALUE TO THE TEACHER
In French. — Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Generate du IV Sieclt a nos Jours. 12 vols. (144 francs.) Probably the best book of refer- ence and for obtaining more full knowledge than the ordinary text- book gives on Medieval and Modern history. Each epoch is treated by a specialist. — Rambaud, Histoire de la Civilisation Franc,aise. 2 vols. (Paris; Colin; 8 francs.) Deals chiefly with France from the beginning to the Revolution, but is of value for all Europe.
In German. — Leopold von Ranke, Weltgeschichte. 9 Parts. (158 marks.) Mainly political. — G. Weber, Lehrbuch der Weltgeschichte. 2 vols. (18 marks.) Will be found very useful by the teacher, as it takes up many sides of history.
In English. — George P. Fisher, Outlines of Universal History. (American Book Co.; $2.40.) A very full single volume history. Has some of the characteristics of Weber. This book and the same author's History of the Christian Church (Scribner's ; $3.50) will form a satisfactory reference library of the smallest size. — Arthur Hassall, Editor, Periods of European History. 8 vols. By different authors. (Macmillan ; $1.40 to $1.75.) A very useful series covering the whole field of Medieval and Modern history. — The Story of the Nations Series (Putnam's; $1.50) and the Epochs of History Series (Longmans or Scribner's ; $1.00) approach the character of general histories in monographs. Volumes in each series will be mentioned in connection with the different periods. — J. N. Larned, History for Ready Reference. 5 vols. (Subscription. Nichols, Springfield, Mass.; $25.00.) A general history on the dictionary plan. It is especially use- ful because of the large number of unusual names and terms which are explained. — The American Historical Review ($3.00) and the Eng- lish Historical Review (20 shil.) are the standard periodicals in Eng- lish. Teachers who can make use of French will probably find that the Revue Historique (Paris; Alcan; 33 francs) will keep them more nearly abreast of the new work in European history than any other sin- gle periodical. — Hassall, A Handbook of European History, 476—1871 (Macmillan; $2.25), and Ploetz, Epitome of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern History (Houghton; $3.00), are helpful manuals of chronology
xxvii
xxviii List of Books of Reference
with genealogical and other tables. — Lorenz, Gcncalogisches Handbuch der Europdischcn Staatengeschichte. (7 marks.) Very good and full
tables. George, Genealogical Tables. (Clarendon; $3.00.) The best
in English. In atlases, the teacher should have at hand something bet- ter than any English school historical atlas. — Droysen, Historischer Hand-atlas (Leipzig; 25 marks), and Schrader, Atlas de Geographic Historique (Paris; 35 francs), are both very good. — The Oxford His- torical Atlas, publishing in 30 parts (Clarendon ; #1.10 each) is still better, but more expensive.
MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY
AN OUTLINE OF ITS DEVELOPMENT
PART I
THE ROMAN WORLD-STATE WITH ITS FALL AND ITS REVIVAL
Books for Reference and Further Reading
Merivale, The Romans under the Empire. 7 vols. (Longmans; $15.00.) (6 vols. Appleton; $12.00.) From the death of Sulla to 1 80 A.D. Fills the interval between Mommsen and Gibbon.
Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Edited by Bury. 7 vols. (Macmillan; $14.00.) Edited by Milman. 6 vols. (Harper; $3.00.) Still of value, especially in Bury's edition. Goes to 1453.
Bury, The Later Roman Empire. 2 vols. (Macmillan; $6.00.) From 395-800. The history of the empire in the West briefly, in the East more in detail. Of great value.
Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders. 6 vols. (Clarendon Press; $32.00.) The most detailed and best account in English of the conquest by the Germans.
Kingsley, The Roman, and the Teuton. (Macmillan; $1.25.) Very interesting, but somewhat idealized history.
Mommsen, The Provinces of the Roman Empire from C&sar to Dio- cletian. 2 vols. (Scribner ; $6.00.) Organization, government, and condition.
Kaufmann, Deutsche Geschichte. 2 vols. (Leipzig; 15 M.) Prob- ably the best narrative history in German. From the earliest times to 814 A.D.
Schaff, History of the Christian Church. 6 vols. (Scribner; $24.00.) The most recent detailed history in English. Full bibliographies.
Alzog, Church History. 3 vols. (Robert Clark & Co.; $10.50.) The best in English from the standpoint of the Catholic church.
Fisher, History of the Christian Church. (Scribner; $3.50.) A valu- able one-volume history.
As the history advances into the medieval period, translations from the sources become less accessible.
The Empire and its Decline
SUMMARY
The history of the world had now been brought into one cur- rent by Rome. The period of the Roman Empire beheld the introduction into that current of two great streams of new in- fluence — Christianity and the Germans. With the end of the Republic the age of Roman conquest was finished. The work of the new age was not expansion, but it was to assimilate the pro- vincials, to make of all the West one great Latin nation — the East was already Greek — and to perfect the laws and institu- tions by which all the empire was ruled. This work went on under good and bad emperors alike, and at the end of three centuries was complete. During the first century of our era, Rome suffered much from the capricious tyranny of the em- perors, but the government of the provinces was greatly im- proved. The second century, the age of the " good emperors," was a time of apparent prosperity till near its close, but the em- pire was growing weaker, and the third century was filled with civil strife and attacks on the frontiers which were resisted with difficulty and not always with success. The constitution of the empire, which had been growing more and more monarchical, was completed by Diocletian and Constantine at the close of this period, and became that of a highly centralized despotism. In the meantime Christianity, which had been slowly spreading over the empire from its little beginning in Palestine in the reign of Tiberius, had become so strong that Constantine sought it as an ally in his struggle for the throne. Recognized by the state the progress of Christianity was now very rapid, and the church began to assume clearly the monarchical constitution towards which it was already tending. In the fourth century also the Germans finally entered the empire. The Visigoths, fleeing before the Huns, were allowed to cross the Danube, but they quickly arose and defeated and slew the emperor Valens. Theo- dosius was able to bring them to submission again, but it was only for his lifetime. On his death, under their young king Alaric they invaded both Greece and Italy. Soon after, the Rhine was crossed by a number of tribes who held Gaul and
Summary 3
Spain at their mercy, and Rome was sacked by Alaric. This was the first invasion, after which the authority of the Western Empire was never restored. It left southern Gaul and Spain in the possession of the Visigoths ; eastern Gaul under the Bur- gundians and northeastern under the Franks ; and Africa in the hands of the Vandals ; while a union of tribes ruled Italy under Odovakar. But a second invasion soon followed. The Franks under Clovis spread out from the Rhine valley in both direc- tions, gradually occupying all Gaul and central Germany. The Anglo-Saxons occupied Britain. The Ostrogoths under Theo- doric invaded Italy and made it the seat of a most promising kingdom. His successors were not able to maintain its strength, however, and when a revival of the Eastern Empire came under Justinian it fell, as did the kingdom of the Vandals in Africa. Justinian's best title to fame, however, is not derived from his conquests but from his codification of the Roman law. The law had been given a perfected form by the scientific lawyers of the second century, and it was now brought together into a systematized shape which made its preservation for the future easy. This new Roman occupation of Italy lasted but a few years. The Lombards, another German tribe, conquered the most of it, but left fragments here and there under the Roman governor. Upon this fact hinged the history of the future. One of these fragments was Rome and a little territory about it. Difficulty of communication with the governor, whose seat was at Ravenna, threw the political rule of this territory more and more into the hands of the pope. His power in the church had already become almost definitely monarchical, and now he be- came the sovereign of a little temporal state. The Lombards, however, could not give up the hope of possessing Rome, and were pressing towards its capture at every favorable moment. The popes could not hope for aid from the Eastern emperors, — they were more often than not quarrelling with them on some point of doctrine, — and they naturally turned to the most pow- erful German state of the West, the Franks. The period which followed Clovis had been one of decline. His descendants had soon lost physical strength and moral character, and in their weak hands the empire he had founded threatened to fall to
4 The Empire and its Decline
pieces. It was reestablished by the rise of a new family, the Carolingian, of great energy and political ability. The way for an alliance with the papacy had been opened at the conversion of Clovis when he adopted Catholic, or organized Christianity, in place of the Arian, or separatist form. Pippin the Short, now ready to assume the crown of the Franks, needed the aid of the pope, and the alliance was soon concluded. Pippin became king, and the advance of the Lombards was checked. This connection with Italy and the papacy was drawn still more close by Pippin's son, Charlemagne. Italy was an important link in his great empire, which included all western Europe except Spain, which the Arabs still ruled as a result of the wonderful impulse which had been given to their tribes by the new reli- gion of Mohammed. The union of all the West under Charle- magne and the strong centralization with which he ruled it, made the revival of the title emperor of Rome seem a natural step to all the world. On Christmas day boo Charlemagne was crowned in Rome by the pope.
A STREET IN POMPEII
CHAPTER I
THE EMPIRE AND ITS DECLINE
i. The Character of the Early Empire. — His victory at Actium made Octavius undisputed master of the Roman world. The form of government which he established, following the model made by Julius Caesar, was a new and peculiar type of monarchy in history. But it was a very natural form for a monarchy created by the slow and un- conscious transformation of a republic. For a generation or two longer, it might perhaps have been easy for a Roman to persuade himself that no great change had been made. The old magistrates continued to be elected as usual. The assemblies still met and made laws. The Senate still exer-
Octavius emperor. The
character of the Empire. The Monu- mentum Ancyranum, translated, Penn. V., No. I.
The Empire and its Decline
Capes, The Early Empire (Epochs) ; Bury, The Roman Empire, B.C. 27 to A.D. 180 (Student's Series, Harpers).
The constitu- tional position of the emperor. Merivale, Romans, Chap. XXXI.
" Emperor '
means
"general."
cised its functions of general direction and administration. The only difference, and this would not seem a striking
difference to the Roman who remembered the recent past, was that a citizen who held no formal office con- trolled everything as he chose. But this was a wise and beneficent control, as it seemed to the Romans. Civil war and the strife of parties came to an end. Life and property were se- cure, and such peace reigned within the Empire and on the frontiers as the oldest could not remember. It was a change which no one could regret, and yet it car- ried with it the destruction of the Republic, and the establishment of an absolute monarchy.
2. Constitutional Forms. — The constitutional forms of the early Empire were but little modified. Without hold- ing formally any of the offices, Octavius had the powers of each conferred upon himself, so that he was a kind of informal and supplementary consul, tribune, and censor. More important still was the fact that he was allowed to retain and exercise in the city the powers of the general in the field at the head of the army, the imperator. This was the office which in the end gave its name to the new mon- archy, and has come down to us as the monarchical title of highest dignity, emperor. The family name of Caesar also became a title for the monarch, and still exists in two of the greatest of modern states as Kaiser and Czar. To Octavius was given the title Augustus, by which he is generally known, and this passed also to the succeeding emperors.
PRETORIAN GUARDS
§ 3] Economic and Literary Character 7
3. Economic and Literary Character of the Age. — For The the city of Rome a great age opened with the accession of imProved
_. , . /• u j i -j condition of
Augustus. Peace and security were followed by a rapid the Empire, revival of prosperity in which Rome had a full share. Com- church, merce flourished and dealt in the goods of the most remote Pictures countries. Augustus gave much attention, not merely to the great roads leading from every part of the Empire to story the capital, but also to the adornment of the city. His (the Empire boast was not a vain one that he found a city of brick, and *° x® ° left one of marble. One of the new buildings was the in Rome Pantheon, in which were gathered all the gods of the Em- pire, something new in the world, but symbol of a still more important thing that was new — the community of nations studies, in a common system. This community of nations once estab- ^°-.9 ; lished by Rome has never ceased, though it has changed its N0.vii. form, and out of it grew the idea of the unity of all men — the brotherhood of men, as they began to call it in the early days of the Empire. This idea, of such immense value in the civilization of the world, and soon to be so strongly reinforced by the teachings of Christianity, first rose to con- sciousness in the minds of men as a result of the conquests and organized Empire of Rome.
The Stoic philosophy, which had been developed among The Stoic the Greeks, gave the Romans a scientific foundation for philosophy. such an idea as the brotherhood of man. to which their s^cism own history had led them, and furnished them also many (S. P.C.K.); other lofty moral ideas. The Stoic philosophy, with its anarticle:
. ' , J Roman
emphasis of the strong virtues, and of manly endurance stoicism,
and calmness under trials, was particularly attractive to the Westminster
Roman character, whose natural ideal was one of unyielding ^Z^g2.
courage. The early Empire produced some of the most Selections
famous of the Stoics, like Seneca and the emperor Marcus fr0™
,. Epictetus
AurellUS. (Putnam).
In literature the reign of Augustus is as remarkable as in Literature other directions. The names of Livy in history, and of Vergil, Horace, and Ovid in poetry give evidence of a wealth of production which has made the name Augustus
8
The Empire and its Decline
4,5
Changes in the govern- ment of the provinces. Arnold, Roman Provincial Administra- tion ; Merivale, Romans, Chap. XXXII.
End of the age of Roman conquests.
stand for an age of literary brilliancy in the history of later nations. Yet there are few great names in the history of Roman literature to add to these, and in total product it is far below the Greeks.
4. Provincial Administration. — The statesmanship of Augustus appears most clearly of all in his reorganization of the provincial government of the Empire. The provinces were divided into two classes, the senatorial and the impe- rial. The interior provinces, long conquered and well organized, were left under the administration of the Senate as originally, though their governors were held to a more real and strict responsibility. The more recent provinces and those on the frontiers, which were unsettled and ex- posed to attack, the emperor held in his own hands, that is, he governed them by officers appointed by himself and immediately responsible to him for their conduct. The change was one of great advantage to the provincials. The larger part of the old oppression and extortion came to an end, and though it might occasionally reappear in later times, the subjects of Rome from now on began to look upon the imperial government less as that of their con- querors, and more as a government in which they had a share, as in a sense their own. It was the beginning of a change which made the last step in the process of making all men Romans, members on an equal footing of a world- wide state, from which the people and city of Rome had disappeared as rulers, though they survived in the language, laws, and institutions, which had become universal.
5. Augustus and the Germans. — On the frontiers it was the object of Augustus to maintain peace, a policy which, followed by nearly all later emperors, brought the age of Roman conquests to an end. On one frontier Augustus could not carry out his policy of peace, that of Germany. This was due to the warlike and restless character of the German tribes, and the constant warfare of his reign along the Rhine and the Danube was only the opening of a cease- less conflict which runs through all the later history of the
§6]
The Period of the Julian House
Empire, until from increasing weakness Rome could no longer maintain her ground, and the Germans broke through and conquered the West.
The defeat a
One attempt to teach the Germans the danger of attack- Varus.
ing the Romans led to a great disaster. Varus with three
legions invaded Germany, as Julius Caesar had done, but iv. 268-276
Merivale, Romans,
A CAMEO
Claudius, Agrippina the Younger, Livia, and Tiberius
was killed and his army annihilated by the Germans under Arminius, or Hermann, in the battle of the Teutoberger Forest. This battle is regarded by the Germans as in a way the beginning of their national history, and Hermann as the first of their national heroes.
6. The Period of the Julian House. — The reign of Augustus, which is usually reckoned as beginning with
Dates of
Augustus'
reign.
10
The Empire and its Decline
[§7
The
successors of Augustus. S. Baring Gould, The Tragedy of the Cezsars, 2 vols. (Scribner) ; Tacitus, Annals, translation of Church and
Brodribb ; Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve CCBSOTS (Bohn) ;
The reign of Tiberius, 14-37 A.D. Caligula, 37-44-
Claudius, 41-54-
Tacitus,
Annals, XII. 46-47-
Nero, 54-68.
Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis (novel) ; Tacitus, Annals, XV. 38-41,
29 B.C., runs on to 14 A.D. and so includes the beginning of the Christian era and the birth of Christ, an event which was to have such momentous consequences both for the Roman Empire and for all mankind.
The adoptive and the lineal descendants of Augustus reigned for a little more than fifty years after his death. The story of the half century is one of almost unbroken tyranny and brutal debauchery, and the patience with which the Roman people endured it shows how soon they had completely reconciled themselves to the monarchy as the only possible government.
7. From Tiberius to Nero. — The immediate successor of Augustus was Tiberius, son of his wife Livia and adopted by the emperor after the death of his grandsons Cams and Lucius Caesar. He was past fifty years of age at his acces- sion, had distinguished himself in war and gave promise of a wise and happy reign. But he soon abandoned the power to his favorite Sejanus, who hoped to make his own way to the throne. The last years of Tiberius were filled with vio- lent deaths in the emperor's family and with suspicion and terror for all who came near him.
Caligula his successor made his favorite horse consul and wished the Roman people had a single neck to save the trouble of so many executions. Claudius, made emperor by the Pretorian guard after the murder of Caligula, gave the Empire at large a few years of better rule, but could not bring to an end the reign of intrigue and assassination in his own court. He was himself finally poisoned by his wife, Agrippina, to secure the throne to her son by another marriage.
Nero, the last of the family of Augustus, is the typical tyrant of the period. He murdered his mother, whose crimes had made him emperor, and a long series of others, among them his wife, his early tutor, the philosopher Seneca, and the poet Lucan ; he was suspected of having kindled the great fire which destroyed half the city during his reign as a fitting scene for the recitation of his great poem on the
§§ 8? 9] Growth of the Imperial Constitution 1 1
siege of Troy ; and to divert suspicion from himself he is said to have accused the Christians of the crime, and to have burnt many of them. In this persecution the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul are believed to have perished. At last the patience of the world was exhausted and the armies in several of the provinces rose almost at the same time. Nero killed himself to avoid a more cruel death, exclaiming : " How great an artist is about to die."
8. The Flavian Dynasty. — Three emperors, Galba, Vespasian Otho, and Vitellius, follow one another in rapid succession, *nd his sons» set up and deposed by their armies or by the Pretorian
guards. Finally the army in the eastern provinces made their commander Vespasian emperor and the founder of a new dynasty, the Flavian. He was succeeded by his son Titus, the conqueror of Jerusalem, in whose reign occurred The pia^an the great eruption of Vesuvius which destroyed the cities Casar, in of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Vespasian and Titus had ™ss*°r*cal been emperors of the best type. Titus was called the vol. n'.; " delight of mankind." But Domitian his brother was Buiwer, The another Nero, and after too long a reign filled with cruelties Lp^e^ * °^ was murdered by one of his own slaves. (novel).
9. Growth of the Imperial Constitution. — The end of The constitu- the Flavian dynasty, so near the end of the first century, tion more A.D., marks the close also of the first age in the history of monarchical- the Empire. The constitution had now become much more monarchical in form. Tiberius took away from the assem- blies the election of the magistrates and gave it to the Sen- ate, and the last lex was passed by the people in the reign immediately following Domitian's. The Senate ceased to
be an independent part of the government and became a great council of state for the emperors. The reign of terror under which the capital lived during almost the whole period did not extend to the provinces, and they enjoyed The prov- almost unbroken prosperity under governors whom the inces pros- provincials could impeach at Rome for misconduct with some chance of success and with provincial assemblies which had some influence on the conduct of local affairs.
12
The Empire and its Decline
[§9
The frontiers of the Rhine and Danube were made secure against the Germans, and the eastern frontier against the
ARCH OF TRAJAN
Parthians, the successors of the Persians. A great insur- rection of the Jews was put down after a desperate struggle by Vespasian and his son Titus, and one in Gaul under
§io]
The Five Good .Emperors
Civilis about the same time. The conquest of Britain, begun under Claudius, was completed by Agricola, the father-in-law of the historian Tacitus, under the Flavian emperors.
Still more important were the processes of Romanization and centralization which go on rapidly during this century. Claudius adopted the plan of admitting distinguished pro- vincials to the Senate, and this policy, followed by his suc- cessors, did much to form one nation of the Empire. The worship of the emperor's genius, as the guardian genius of the state, became during the century a universal religion, the one universal religion of the Empire, serving not merely to bind the Empire together, but to awaken a feeling of per- sonal devotion, akin to patriotism.
10. The Five Good Emperors. — The second century, A.D., is the age of the Antonines, the reigns of the five good emperors, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Mar- cus Aurelius, closed by the reign of Commodus who, though the son of one of the best sovereigns who ever ruled, Marcus Aurelius, was himself one of the worst. The period from 96 to 1 80, the date of Marcus Aurelius' death, is the golden age of the Roman Empire, — one of the happiest ages of history. The Empire was at peace and seemingly prosperous within and strongly defended without. Although almost the whole of the reign of Marcus Aurelius was a des- perate struggle with the Germans in which we can begin to detect the failing powers of the Empire, he succeeded in maintaining the frontiers.
Nerva's short reign brought the abuses of Domitian's to an end. Trajan, a Spaniard, that is, a provincial, and so a sign of the growing Romanization, was a soldier and added a province to the Empire — Dacia, north of the Danube. This was abandoned almost immediately after his death, but its present name of Roumania preserves the memory of the Roman occupation, and the colonies settled there by Trajan Romanized the language so thoroughly that the modern speech of the country is as truly a descendant of the Latin
Civilis. Tacitus, His- tory, Bk. IV.
Tacitus, Agricola, translation of Church and Brodribb.
Romaniza- tion of the world. Gibbon, Chap. II.; Fisher, Be- ginnings of Christianity, 47-73. See Claudius" speech in Tacitus, Annals, XI., 24-25.
The five good em- perors. Capes, The Age of the Antonines (Epochs) ; Gibbon, Chaps.I.-III.
Nerva and
Trajan,
96-117.
The origin of Roumania. Capes, Anto- nines, 36-38; Merivale, Romans, VII. 189-197,
The Empire and its Decline
[§n
as Italian. Hadrian and Antoninus Pius spent laborious lives in the faithful service of the state, and the Stoic phi- losopher Marcus Aurelius, even more famous for his little book entitled " Thoughts " — thoughts on living, on con- duct and character — • than as an emperor, spent an even harder life in desperate warfare on the Danube.
Roman law given scien- tific form. Extracts from Justinian's Institutes, Fling, Stu- dies, No. 10 ; the Institutes, translated by Moyle (Clarendon).
MARCUS AURELIUS
ii. The Roman Law. — The two processes which had characterized the first century went on steadily through the second, the Romanization of the Empire and the gradual transformation of the constitution into an undisguised monarchy. This age, however, saw a new process begin- ning which was of the utmost importance for the future history of the world. It was the reduction of the Roman law to definite and scientific form. We shall see later the deep and permanent influence which the Roman law has
§ n] The Roman Law 15
exercised on all the civilized nations of later times. It was in the second century that it began to be put into the shape that enabled it to exert this influence.
In its growth the Roman law was in many ways like our own Anglo-Saxon law. It had two chief sources, the written How the law or statute laws, made by the people in the days of the Repub- £^d been lie and by the emperors later, and the unwritten law, founded Hadley, on the customs and precedents established in the administra- introd. to tion of the law in the courts. The body of this law had naturally come to be after so many generations enormous in size and very confused and intricate.
Now begins the process of putting it into simple and The begin- scientific form. -It began in two ways. One was the act of the emperor, following a practice begun much earlier. The praetor, or judge, in taking possession of his province issued an edict which stated the principles by which he would be guided in his administration of the law. These edicts had now become very numerous and often contradictory, and the emperor Hadrian issued what was called " the perpetual edict " to take their place. This stated the principles which should be followed by the judges in the provincial courts uniformly throughout the Empire. It was a limited and partial codification, but it introduced a process which went on by degrees through four hundred years and finally resulted in the great codifica- tion of the emperor Justinian. The other process was the writing of scientific treatises on the law, or on special points The writings of it, by the great lawyers of the time. These writings came to have very great authority in later times, and tended to reduce the law to systematic form and to bring out clearly the scientific principles on which it rested. One influence was exerted on the teachings of the Roman law at this time, and mainly through the writings of these lawyers, which is very interesting. The Stoic philosophy The influ- was, as we have seen, very much cultivated at Rome under ence of the early Empire, and from it the writers on law took many maxims of ethics to prove the justice or to give brief and
i6
The Empire and its Decline [§§ 12, 13
Rapid de- cline of the Empire.
Gibbon, Chap. X.
The Illyrian
emperors.
Freeman,
Historical
Essays, Vol.
III.
Diocletian, 284-305. Gibbon, Chap. XIII.; Bury, Later Empire, Bk. I., Chap. IV.
pointed statement to the principles of the law. Several of these, on this account, because taken up into a system of law which was to be so permanent, have come down to our own time as maxims of legal or political ethics. The most interesting of these to us is the one used in several different ways in the documents of the American and French revolu- tions : All men are by nature free and equal.
12. The Disorders of the Third Century. — After the close of the second century the Roman Empire went on rapidly to its fall. The third century was filled with dis- order and anarchy. Emperors of the worst type, like Caracalla or Elagabalus ; disputed successions in which several emperors at once, set-up by their armies in the provinces, fight with one another for the throne, — at the middle of the century was a period called that of the thirty tyrants from the number of pretending emperors ; — and incursions of barbarian tribes who could no longer be kept out by the weakening frontier guards ; all these at once indicate the decline of Rome and show us what helped to produce it. The Alemanni broke through the Rhine frontier and even invaded northern Italy ; the Goths crossed the Danube, defeated and killed the emperor Decius, ravaged the shores of the Bosphorus, and escaped without adequate punishment. The Persians invaded Syria and captured the emperor Valerian. It might almost seem as if the Empire would be broken up at once. But in the last quarter of the century came a succession of emperors, who checked for a time the rapidity of the decline. Aurelian (270-275) beat back the barbarians, restored the frontiers, and subdued Gaul and Palmyra.
13. The Reforms of Diocletian. — With Diocletian a great statesman became emperor, and great changes were made, intended to restore the strength of the Empire. He thought, very wisely, that there were two necessities to be supplied, one that there should be an able man in supreme command on every frontier to maintain it unbroken, and the other that the order of succession should be so clearly
§ 14] Constantine the Great 17
marked out that the danger of civil war would be avoided. To accomplish these results he decided that there should be Division of two emperors, one looking after the East and one the *^™plre> West, and that each of these should appoint an assistant Roman Pro- who should take the title of Caesar, be responsible for the vinciai Ad- government of a part of the provinces, and succeed to the throne in regular order. Besides these changes Diocletian made many others. The provinces were reorganized, their number almost doubled, and all were made imperial provinces. The military were entirely separated from the civil offices, and the latter were given a very strict organization from the highest to the lowest. In the court, Oriental etiquette was introduced, and the government became in external appear- ance as in reality, a true despotism.
14. Constantine the Great. — The system of Diocletian Renewed was very well planned, but it did not take into account the civil war-
/ , Gibbon,
strength of ambition. When he abdicated in 305, civil Chap Xiv. war almost immediately broke out among the rivals for supreme power, and lasted for nearly twenty years. In the end Constantine, whose father had been Caesar in Britain and Gaul, by his genius, and by his readiness without scruple to make use of any means, gained the victory over all the others, and became sole emperor (323). Constantine, the Constantine, equal of Diocletian in statesmanship, maintained the strength ^^fon of the Empire to the close of his reign, and, though he chaps, xvn. dropped Diocletian's plan of emperors and Caesars, he kept andxvni. up and perfected his system of internal organization. Two things especially mark his reign as a great turning-point in history. The first is his recognition of Christianity as a legal religion to be protected by the state. This was done by Constantine, as nearly as we can judge, not from any conviction of the truth of the religion, but from motives of policy. The other was his change of the capital of the Em- pire from Rome to Constantinople on the Bosphorus. The Constanti-
situation of Rome was very favorable in the early ages of its nople the . .. . *,« •»• i. capital of the
history when its task was the conquest of the Mediterranean Empire.
lands, but now when its northern and eastern frontiers de- Bury, Later
i8
The Empire and its Decline
[§14
Empire, Bk. manded the constant watchfulness of the government, it was I., Chap. v. ; far to one side. Even before the time of Constantine, Rome ^m- na(^ practically ceased to be the residence of the emperors,
pire (Na- and afterwards, when the West had an emperor of its own, tunis), Chap. he preferre(i to reside at Milan, nearer to the threatened
CONSTANTINE THE GREAT
(From a Colossal Statue in the Vatican)
frontiers, or in Ravenna made still more secure by the swamps which surrounded it. On the other hand, the situ- ation of Constantinople was most admirable both for rule and for defence. It commanded both Europe and Asia in days before men had begun to make highways of the oceans, and so profound an impression did its strategic advantages make upon history that even now, in totally changed conditions, men cannot get rid of it.
Topics 19
Topics
Describe the position which Augustus held as ruler, as the Romans would look at it. Can you mention anything of a similar kind in mod- ern politics? What changes for the better were made by the establish- ment of the Empire? How were the provinces governed? Put to- gether the facts showing the relation between Rome and the Germans during this period. Character of the emperors of Augustus' family, especially of Nero. The Flavian dynasty. What is meant by the Romanization of the Empire, and what were its permanent conse- quences? The age of the good emperors. Growth and systemizing of the Roman law. The character of the third century. The changes made by Diocletian. Those made by Constantine.
Topics for Assigned Studies
Nero. Tacitus, Annals, XV. 13-16. Merivale, Romans, Chap. LV.
Capes, Early Empire (Epochs), Chap. V. Marcus Aurelius. His Thoughts, translation of Long or of Jeremy
Collier. Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism, I. 344-379.
Capes, Antonines (Epochs), Chap. V.
CHAPTER II
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY
Books for Reference and Further Heading
Fisher, The Beginnings of Christianity. (Scribner;. $2.50.) Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire. (London, Hodder;
Putnam; #3.00.) Uhlhorn, The Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism. (Scribner;
Hatch, Organization of the Early Christian Churches. (Longmans;
#1-750
Allen, Christian Institutions. (Scribner; $2.50.) Renan, Influence of Rome on Christianity. (Scribner; $1.50.) Burckhardt, Die Zeit Constantins des Grossen. (Leipzig; 6 marks.)
Nearly all the original Christian literature of this period is to be found in translation in the Ante-Nicene Library, or in Bohn.
A few work- men and women.
15. Christianity at the Death of Christ. — The recogni- tion which Christianity received from Constantine was due to its strength in numbers and organization. When we remember the situation of this new religion at the death of its founder, it seems a most remarkable fact that it had reached this position of influence in the Empire in less than three hundred years. At that date it had not been preached outside of Judea, one of the most insignificant divisions of the Empire. Its adherents were a mere handful of workmen and women, who up to that time do not seem to have understood the mission of their teacher. His death, however, wrought a great change. The disciples became leaders and apostles, and the number of converts among the Jews rapidly increased.
§ i?] Why the Romans persecuted Christianity 21
1 6. Christianity becomes a World Religion. — The first Preached to great step in advance was taken when the wall of Jewish the Gentiles.
J Fisher, Be-
exclusiveness was broken down and the gospel was pro- ginningSt
claimed on equal terms to all men. From the New Testa- Chap, xv.;
ment we learn that this was begun by St. Peter, to be x^n^xT'
carried out most logically and completely by St. Paul. Our and Gala- "
records of the early progress of Christianity are incomplete, *ians> ChaP but we know that churches were established in many of the chief cities of the Empire within thirty years of the crucifixion.
Especially interesting is the church at Rome, because The church
this first came into serious collision with the government of Fa^°™^, A
the state. With this church we know from the New Testa- ness a^d ment that St. Paul labored for a time, and tradition asserts that St. Peter did also, a tradition to which history lends
some slight support. Here as elsewhere the adherents of gimtings,
Christianity were drawn mainly from the poor, slaves, and 520-533;
the lower classes, who were especially attracted by its No x message of hope and comfort. The higher classes of Rome would know but little of Christianity in its early days, and if it was persecuted by Nero it was not with the deliberate and thoroughgoing intention of the later emperors.
17. Why the Romans persecuted Christianity. —This The state condition of things began to change in the second century. no^the In some parts of the Empire the number of the Christians Christians, increased so largely as to draw the attention of the state. Pliny s letters
° J on the Chris- There were among them now also many more persons of tianSi FIingi
rank and education than formerly. When the Roman gov- studies, No.
ernment began to be conscious of this and to understand No^Penn
the character of the Christian church, it began to be hostile iv., No. i ;
to it. in general,.
Rome had been very tolerant of the religions of all the studies II
peoples it had conquered, but it could not be tolerant of No. i. '
Christianity. This was because Christianity differed from Rome intol-
all the other religions in its exclusive character. It denied erant of
the gods of Rome, and refused to allow them to be wor- aione. a" y
shipped. To the earnest Roman citizen or officer this seemed Fisher,
22
The Establishment of Christianity [§
Beginnings,
539-542 ; Capes, Anto- nines, Chap. VI. ; Church, To the Lions (novel).
The best emperors persecute. Matthew Ar- nold, Essays in Criticism,
I-359-363; Penn. IV., No. i ; Uhl- horn, Con- flict, 282-297 ; Gregg, The Decian Per- secution (Black- wood) ; Newman, Callista (novel). Carr, The Church and the Roman Empire (Epochs, Ch. Hist.), Chap. II.
The earliest organization simple. Causes of change.
to be treason. The Romans believed that the safety and prosperity of the state depended on the favor of the national gods, which was to be won only by paying them their due worship. To refuse to worship them was to invite public calamities. When the state was merged in the emperor, his guardian genius became the especial guardian genius of the Empire. To refuse a simple act of worship before the emperor's statue, which was the test often demanded of the Christians, seemed to the Roman a more open act of treason than it would to us if a man should refuse to promise allegiance and fidelity to the state.
This explains why we find an extended persecution of the Christians under Marcus Aurelius, who was one of the best sovereigns of history, and why as a rule it is the best emperors, those who are endeavoring to restore the strength and simplicity of early times and remove the causes of cor- ruption and weakness which have come in, who persecute the church the most severely. The last of these great per- secutions was under Diocletian, whose efforts to reform the state we have seen. It was a most determined and system- atic persecution, carefully planned to destroy the leaders and the Christian writings and to bring the common people back to the national religion. It ended, however, in failure, and the state had abandoned the attempt before the vic- tories of Constantine changed the attitude of the gov- ernment.
1 8. The Beginnings of Church Government. — During all the third century Christianity was spreading rapidly. The persecutions rather aided than hindered its growth. As the membership of the church increased, it gave itself a stronger and more complex organization. The New Testament does not allow us to say beyond the possibility of dispute what was the exact organization of the earliest churches, but the best scholars of all present churches unite in holding that it was much simpler than it came to be when numbers and wealth had so increased that a more definite constitution was possible. The hostile attitude of the Roman state was
§ 1 8] The Beginnings of Church Government 23
favorable also to a close organization. Then again the dissensions which early began to arise in the church con- cerning various points of doctrinal belief, and which gave rise to the great heretical parties, had the effect to draw together those who held the orthodox belief into a united body against their opponents.
The government of the Roman Empire was followed somewhat closely by that of the church as it developed, for schaff, it was the only form of political organization with which the Church His-
CHRISTIAN SARCOPHAGUS, WITH LABARUM, ETC.
men of the time were familiar. The bishop naturally took tory, ll- up his residence in the local capital of the provincial sub- ^^' l V> ' division, the archbishop, or metropolitan, in that of the church His- larger province ; and some of the greater cities, like Anti- *°*y> l- 389- och and Alexandria, became the seats of still higher officers, 4I5' the patriarchs. It was the beginning of a monarchical con- stitution, but at the end of the third century it was still only a beginning. Progress enough had been made, however, to give the church a compact organization and to make it a power within the state. This Diocletian had discovered in
24
The Establishment 'of Christianity [§ *9
The begin- ning of monasticism.
Constantine, the first Christian emperor. Cutts, Con- stantine (S. P.C.K.).
his persecution, and Constantine was shrewd enough to see it at the outset of his career, and to take advantage of it by allying himself with the Christians.
By this time, also, another of the most characteristic features of medieval Christian life, the monastic system, had begun to assume its later form. Monasticism had its origin in the Eastern Empire, in the effort of individuals to escape from sin by withdrawing into the wilderness, where they hoped to avoid temptation by escaping all contact with men and society. These were the original hermits, and the practice was at first without system or any rule of life. But as the number of such recluses increased rapidly they began to form communities and to take on something of an organization. It was in the Western Empire, however, rather than in the Eastern, and at a later time, that the great monastic orders arose.
19., Christianity recognized by the State. — Whether Constantine was moved to his acts in favor of Christianity by a conviction of its truth or not has long been a subject of dispute. He was probably more strongly influenced by motives of policy, as has already been said, and it was cer- tainly a wise step from policy alone, for, aside from its strong organization, the Christian society now contained the most vigorous and energetic elements of the population. It must not be supposed, however, that Constantine made Christianity the religion of the state. The most that he did was to make it a legal religion, under the protection of the state and on the same footing as paganism, and to allow the influence of the court to be exerted in its favor. In 324 he advised, by edict, his subjects to become Christians. In 325 he presided over the great council of Nicaea, in which representatives of the whole Christian world met to discuss the question of the divinity of Christ, denied by the fol- lowers of Arius. He thus made Christianity the religion of the court, and in some sense put himself at the head of the church, but Paganism was still legal and still the formal reli- gion of the law.
§ 19] Christianity recognized by the State 2$
The effect of Constantine's step was, however, enormously Effect upon to the advantage of the church. Christianity became popu- the church. lar, and even fashionable. The numbers and influence of the Christians increased rapidly. The government of the church took on more and more the monarchical form to which it had been tending, and became constantly more powerful as the Roman state was growing weaker. Before the end of the fourth century paganism was made illegal, and the triumph of Christianity was complete.
Topics
Christianity at the death of Christ. Its first advance. The church it Rome. Why did the good emperors persecute the Christians? What causes led to the growth of a governmental organization in the church? Why would the Empire naturally be taken as a model? How did monasticism originate ? What motives of policy would lead Constantine to recognize Christianity? What was the effect upon the church?
Topics for Assigned Studies
Constantine's recognition of Christianity and its results. Carr, Church and Roman Empire (Epochs, Ch. Hist.), Chap. IV. Uhlhorn, Conflict, 420-444. Schaff, Church History, III. 11-37. Alzog, Church History, I. 463-473.
The primitive church organization. Schaff, Church History, I., Chap. X. Alzog, Church History, I. 195-206. Hatch, Organization, Lect. II. Allen, Institutions, Chaps. II. and III. A very valuable statement of the position of the best scholars of the Catholic church is to be found in an article in the Revue des Questions Historiques, Vol. XLIV. 329-384, by the Jesuit Father De Smedt, president of the Bollandists.
Monasticism. Kingsley, The Hermits. (Macmillan.) On early monasticism, containing translations from the original lives of its founders. See also story of St. Columban, Milman, Latin Chris- tianity, II. 237-247, and translation of his life by Jonas in Penn. II., No. VII. The rule of St. Benedict, in Henderson, 274-314, and of St. Francis, 344-349. See Daily Life in a Medieval Monastery, in Jessopp, Coming of the Friars (Putnam), and in Nineteenth Century, Jan., 1884; and Allen, Christian In- stitutions, 137-178. Also Fling, Studies, II., No. 6.
CHAPTER III
A fair degree of prosperity and security.
Julian "the apostate." Gardner, Julian (Heroes); King, Julian the Empe- ror's Works (Bohn) ; Julian and the Germans, Zeller. I.
Disease within and attack from without.
THE LAST AGE OF ROME
20. Character of the Fourth Century. — The reforms of Diocletian and of Constantine began the last age of pros- perity of the Roman Empire. The frontiers during three- quarters of the fourth century were preserved from any permanent break, and within the Empire there was a fair degree of security. Civil Wars for the possession of the throne did not cease. Constantine showed during his reign a very cruel disposition, and this nature descended to his sons. To secure their possession of power they murdered all their relatives, their cousin Julian escaping only because of his youth. But the brothers quarrelled among themselves and had usurpers to resist, and after some years but one survived, Constantius, sole emperor for a time.
In 360 Julian was proclaimed emperor by his soldiers in Gaul, against his will, and by the speedy death of his cousin obtained the whole Empire. His reign of three years is famous for his attempt to restore paganism to the suprem- acy which it had lost. Direct persecution was not pos- sible, but he tried to exclude the Christians from the means of education and to throw contempt upon the religion in every way possible. The attempt proved a failure and was never renewed. Julian was the last of the family of Constan- tine to reign, and after him emperors chosen by the armies were engaged in a constant struggle, rapidly becoming hope- less, to protect the frontiers.
21. Causes of the Fall of Rome. — During these cen- turies since Augustus, despite all reforms and every tempo-
26
§ 21] Causes of the Fall of Rome 27
rary restoration of strength, the double progress of disease within and attack from without was steadily going on, and became increasingly difficult to resist. Of these two dangers the one which was fatal in the end was that from internal disease, for Rome fell not so much because the attack from without was stronger, as because she could no longer resist it with her earlier strength.
It is not possible to explain briefly this decay of Roman Chiefly strength. Its causes were mainly economic. The univer- sal use of slaves, which is a very wasteful means of produc- tion, wasting both men and capital, and one that makes free labor degrading ; heavy taxes which were so collected that the burden of them rested with killing weight on the middle class ; a debased currency, giving a very unsteady standard of value ; a practice, begun in the last days of the Republic, of feeding a part of the city population at the expense of the state, making an idle and dangerous mob and constantly tempting the middle class to give up the hopeless struggle with taxes, slave competition, uncertain prices, and declin- ing production, and take life easy at the public cost ; official corruption, which, in spite of all the efforts of the emperors and of temporary reforms, continued to look upon public trusts as sources of private wealth ; a general decay of the earlier Roman manhood and moral strength, which greatly weakened the army and the resisting power of the whole Empire ; and a decline of the population, which no effort of the state seemed able to check.
Causes like these exhausted the resources of Rome in The Empire men and capital. Thousands of Germans had been colo- riized in the Empire before the conquest. The army was falu largely barbarian. The soldiers spoke German and fought in the German style. Comparatively little was left on the eve of the conquest that really belonged to Rome, except — her best gifts to the world — her language, law, and insti- tutions, and the idea of her universal and eternal empire, which Christian and German believed as implicitly as did the pagan Roman of Vergil's day.
28
The Last Age of Rome
[§22
The origin of serfdom.
Arnold, Roman Pro- vincial Ad- ministration, 161-164 ; Bury, Later Empire, I. 28-29 ; 11.418-421.
22. From Slavery to Serfdom. — The economic condi- tion of the Empire during the age of its decline led to some changes which had most permanent and beneficial consequences. They made the beginning of the transform- ation of the class of manual laborers from slaves into serfs. These changes were made under quite a variety of different forms and for several different reasons, but we may say that the most prevailing reason was the growing scarcity of labor- ers and the difficulty of keeping the lands of the Empire in cultivation. To secure this result the right of the master to
7
GERMAN BODYGUARD, COLUMN OF M. AURELIUS
sell his slaves was in certain cases taken away, and the slaves were fixed by law to little pieces of land which they were required to cultivate. The state did not do this in order to improve the condition of the slave. Its only object was to keep up the supply of food. But in doing so it gave to the slave, who had before had no rights at all, a certain very limited number of rights which the master could not take away. Looked at from the side of slavery this was a great step in advance, and in the history of the laboring class serf- dom is the stage through which it passes in advancing from slavery to freedom.
The Attacks upon the Frontiers
29
23. The Attacks upon the Frontiers. — While political and economic disease within was thus steadily sapping the strength of the Empire, attacks almost without a pause on every frontier revealed the presence of dangers which it would have required the resources of the best days of Rome to overcome. The resistance had been long and obstinate, fairly successful for four hundred years, but we have now reached the point when it breaks down, because the re- sources of the Empire would no longer sustain it, and new races take possession of the provinces. • On the eastern frontier the struggle was with a renewed and powerful Persian empire under the Sassanid dynasty. This family had arisen early in the third century, and from that time had waged many and fierce wars to push their dominions towards the West over Roman territories. Jovian, the successor of Julian, was obliged at last to yield them five provinces, and their gains might have continued if they had not been involved, as the Empire was, in the great danger that swept down from the north of Asia on all the south, the invasion of the Huns.
On the western frontier Rome's enemies were the Ger- mans, and it was their attack which was finally fatal to the Empire. Ever since the day when Julius Caesar had turned back the invasion of Ariovistus, the German king, this conflict had been going on. For the first century and a half the trials of strength came only at considerable intervals, and the Romans were sometimes at least the attacking party, trying to teach the Teutonic tribes respect for their arms by a raid into Germany. With the reign of Marcus Aurelius the attack of the Germans became more determined and more like an organized invasion, and the defence of the Romans more desperate.
As the decline of population in the Empire became seri- ous, and the difficulty of keeping up the army greater, large numbers of Germans and of other barbarians were enlisted as soldiers in the service of the emperors, and even whole tribes, or portions of tribes, were in some instances settled
Resistance no longer possible.
A new Per- sian empire. Gibbon, Chap. VIII.
The German
attack is the fatal one. Gibbon, Chap. IX.
Germans also defend the Empire,,
The Last Age of Rome
[§24
In an early
stage of
civilization.
Tacitus,
Germania,
translation
of Church and
Brodribb ; also in In- diana, No. 9: Fling, Studies, II., No. 2.
in lands which had become vacant within the borders. It was a dangerous expedient, but they proved, on the whole, faithful to their engagements so long as there was anything left to which they could be faithful.
24. The Characteristics of the Germans. — These Ger- mans were still a primitive people, in a stage of develop- ment corresponding to that of the earliest days of Greek and Roman history. Their governments were tribal. Some of the tribes had kings of the Homeric type, exercising a
GERMAN SETTLEMENT, TIME OF TACITUS
limited authority, with councils of elders and nobles and a public assembly of the people. Other tribes, like our own Saxon forefathers, had not advanced even as far as this, and scarcely had a common political organization. In habits of life and manners and customs, both in war and peace, they were in many ways like the more advanced North American Indians. Their agriculture was simple. War was a favorite occupation of the men, and in peace they spent much of their time in the chase and in drinking and gambling. On the other hand, in many of their political and ethical ideas, they were much above the ordinary barbarian. They had a
§§ 25, 26]
The Goths cross the Danube
simple religion of nature gods, with some darker supersti- tions. Their regard for woman and their standard of morals were high. Their criminal law was crude, but based upon sound and just principles, and their method of trying the accused, though attaching great importance to the fol- lowing of certain fixed forms, really provided for a decision of the important points of the case by the public opinion of the community. In political questions, also, like war and peace, or the choice of magistrates, the public opinion of the tribe had the final decision.
25. The Third and Fourth Centuries. — The middle and last part of the third century was the most terrible age of this conflict, at least until the final ruin came. The Ale- manni burst through the barriers in the West, and appearing in northern Italy threatened Milan. The Goths crossed the Danube and invaded the Eastern Empire, killed the emperor Decius, even crossed the Bosphorus, and, finally, carried off great plunder. The Illyrian emperors restored the frontiers, but only with great difficulty. In the first part of the fourth century the German attack lessened in severity, but only to be renewed again after a couple of generations of compara- tive security. Julian had another fierce conflict with the Alemanni, and overcame them only with an army so largely made up of Germans that, when they proclaimed him em- peror they put him up on their shields after the German fashion.
26. The Goths cross the Danube. — The final breaking down of the frontier defences was the result of the attempt of the Germans to escape from a still fiercer race of war- riors which had attacked them from the East. These were the Huns, a Tartar tribe from northern Asia, who fell first upon the kingdom of the Goths which occupied at that time a considerable portion of European Russia. When they could not resist further, the two divisions of the Goths fol- lowed different counsels. The Ostrogoths, or East Goths, submitted to the Huns and became their subjects ; the Visigoths, or West Goths, fell back before their advance,
Extracts from the law of the Salic Franks, Henderson, 176-189. Forms of trial, Penn. II., No. IV., and Hender- son, 314.
The frontiers often broken and restored with diffi- culty. Freytag, Ingo; Dahn, Felicitas (novels).
The attack of the Huns. Hodgkin, Italy, Vol. II., Chap. I.; Gibbon, Chap. XXVI.
The Last Age of Rome
[§§ 27, 28
Hodgkin,
Italy,
I. 250-256.
The battle of
Hadrian-
ople, 378.
Oman,
Byzantine
Empire
(Nations),
Chap. III.;
Hodgkin,
Italy,
I. 271-275.
The last great em- peror of the united Em- pire, 379-395. Hodgkin, Dynasty of Theodosius (Clarendon), Lect. IV.
Alaric, king of the Visigoths. Bury, Em- pire, Bk. II., Chap. IV. ; Hodgkin, Dynasty of Theodosius, Lect. V. ; Gibbon, Chap*- *XX and XXXI.
and coming to the Danube besought the Romans to take them within the frontier. This the Romans agreed to, the Goths surrendering their arms and giving hostages for their good conduct.
It is likely that the Goths would have kept the peace but for the injustice of the Roman officers who had charge of the arrangements. They were trying to make all the money they could out of the business, and they finally allowed the Goths to buy back the arms they had surrendered. Then they rose and marched towards Constantinople. The em- peror Valens foolishly risked battle without waiting for reinforcements, and was totally defeated and slain.
27. Theodosius the Great. — The new emperor, who shortly was given the throne in the East, Theodosius, a man of great ability, succeeded in settling the Goths in territories south of the Danube, which they agreed to defend. During his reign of about twenty years they remained faithful to the Empire.
Theodosius united for some years the whole Empire under his rule, but this was for the last time in history. On his death, in 395, it was divided between his two sons, Honorius becoming emperor in the West, and Arcadius in the East, and the Empire was never again united except in mere form.
28. The Invasions of Alaric. — Theodosius' death was the signal also for the Visigoths to attempt new conquests, or this may have been because the young and ambitious Alaric came to their throne at about the same time. They marched into Greece plundering and destroying, passed Athens, and went on into the Peloponnesus. Here their course was checked by an army from the West under Stilicho, a Vandal, who was the commander of the forces of Honorius. Alaric escaped from Stilicho with his army, and crossed into Epirus, but was persuaded to settle down in Illyricum as Roman commander in that province. Here he could make preparations for an attack on either half of the Empire as circumstances might invite.
§§ 29, 3°] Rome's German Defender sacrificed 33
In 402 he set his army in motion again and this time attacked the West. Descending into the valley of the Po, he threatened Milan, and began the siege of Asti where the emperor had taken refuge. Again Stilicho saved the Empire, and drove him back, but he only retired to the head of the Adriatic and waited for another opportunity.
29. The Breaking of the Rhine Frontier. — Meantime TheGer- events had taken place in Germany which led to the speedy collapse of the Roman power. The Huns had pushed their Huns. conquests towards the West, and many of the Germans, representing several tribes, falling back before their advance, had collected on the east side of the upper Rhine, waiting an opportunity to pass over into Gaul. From these a large force of various tribes under Radagaisus turned south and invaded Italy. Stilicho met them in the neighborhood of Florence, surrounded them with his army, and starved them into submission. Rome was relieved of this danger, but it was her last success in Italy.
On the last day of the year 406 the Germans who had The °ccu-
not joined the expedition of Radagaisus forced the passage (
of the Rhine and entered Gaul. The most important of Zeiier, I. these tribes were three, the Suevi, the Vandals, and the Bur- gundians. The Burgundians settled in the country about the upper Rhine which still bears their name, and soon were able to make a treaty with the Romans by which their occupation received the sanction of the emperors and they were recognized as a Roman army of occupation. The Suevi and Vandals, after spending some time in plundering Gaul, passed through the Pyrenees and took possession of Spain, which they made into kingdoms for themselves. Rome never recovered any real control of Gaul.
30. Rome's German Defender sacrificed. — Shortly after The death oi this breaking of the Rhine frontier, Stilicho was put to death Stilicho the
, , r - TTT- i i • Vandal, 408.
as the result of a conspiracy of his enemies. With his great Hodgkin, enemy out of the way Alaric knew that his opportunity had Italy, I., come, and he came down into Italy once more. This time ^P .XVI.; there was no one to turn him back. In 410 Rome was
34
The Last Age of Rome
[§3i
The Vandals
occupy
Africa, 429.
Curteis,
Roman
Empire,
Chap. VII.;
Hodgkin,
Dynasty of
Theodosius.
Lect. VII.
Attila in- vades Gaul,
45i-
Hodgkin, Dynasty of Theodosius, Lect. VI. ; Curteis, Roman Empire, Chap. VIII. Zeller, I.
He invades Italy, 452. Carr, Church and Roman Empire, Chap.XXIII.
taken and sacked. But Italy was not to belong to the Visigoth. Alaric died in the south soon after the capture of Rome, and the new king led the nation into southern Gaul. There they settled down to live under an arrange- ment with the emperor, whose sister was married to their king, and from there they extended their rule over Spain, gradually conquering the Suevi and Vandals who had occu- pied that country earlier.
A few years later an opportunity came to the Vandals to cross over into Africa, a province which up to that time had not been plundered by the Germans. The story goes that they were invited to make the invasion by the Roman officer in command. At any rate there was civil war among the Romans in the province, and the Vandals easily conquered it, and made Carthage the capital of a new kingdom which soon became, like the old Carthage, a great naval power in the Mediterranean. In 455 in one of their raids they stormed the city of Rome and carried off a great booty.
31. The Invasions of the Huns. — Just before this hap- pened, however, the smitten Empire had made its last desperate attempt at self-defence. Attila, the young king of the Huns, at the head of a great army composed of his own people and of the German tribes who had submitted to their rule, invaded Gaul, and threatened to sweep all before him. By a heroic effort the Roman commander, Aetius, " the last of the Romans," succeeded in getting together an army strong enough to oppose him. It was made up, how- ever, largely of Germans. The army of the Visigoths was there, led by their king, and Franks also aided in the de- fence of the Empire. The great battle at Chalons-sur- Marne, called sometimes the battle of the nations, was desperately fought and not decisive, but Attila's loss was so heavy that he decided to give up the attempt. The next year he entered Italy with another army. Aetius was this time unable to meet him, but we are told that the pope, Leo I., came to the help of the Empire and persuaded the
§ 32] The End of the Western Empire 35
Hun to turn back. The story is very possibly true. At any rate, for some reason Attila did abandon the attack, and Italy was saved. In the following year he died, and his empire fell apart, the Huns remaining in the Danube valley and the German tribes becoming independent.
32. The End of the Western Empire. — Already the Nominal
Saxon settlements had begun in Britain, and now not a emP^ors
0 and German
province of the Western Empire was really Roman. Italy ruiers. kept up the pretence of being so for some years yet, and the throne was occupied by some one who called himself by the title of emperor, but the army was German and its Ger- man commander was the real ruler of the country. Finally this army revolted, made a German, Odovakar, king in the German fashion, deposed the emperor Romulus Augustulus, and sent to Constantinople the imperial insignia, saying that one emperor for the whole Empire was sufficient. This meant, of course, though they might express it differently, that Italy had now become a German kingdom like the other provinces of the West.
The date of this event, 476, is usually taken as the date The close of
to separate "ancient" from "medieval" history, and it "ancient
.c . '. . . history/476 serves as well for the purpose as any date, if such a division
is to be made, for it does mark in a somewhat striking way the great fact which makes a real separation — the fall of the Roman power and the coming in of the Germans. But it must not be thought that this event seemed especially significant to the people who were living at the time or that they were at all conscious of any passage from one age of history to another. It was to them an incident like a great many others which were happening on all hands, and they were able easily to persuade themselves that Rome con- tinued, for was there not an emperor of Rome reigning all the time at Constantinople. To after ages, which realized more clearly that the West had ceased to be Roman, this dramatic surrender of the title seemed to mark the close of a great period in history.
36 The Last Age of Rome
Topics
The last age of prosperity. The attempt of Julian against Chris- tianity. The economic diseases of the Roman Empire. What was the real reason why Rome could no longer resist the Germans? How does a serf differ from a slave? What frontiers were especially subject to attack? The Germans on the side of Rome. The civilization of the Germans. The events which led to the battle of Hadrianople. The final division of the Empire. Alaric and Stilicho. The name and place of settlement of each of the German tribes occupying the Western Empire. The history of Attila. What happened in the year 476, and the meaning of the event?
Topics for Assigned Studies
The causes of the fall of Rome. Hodgkin, Italy, Vol. II., Chap. IX., and an article in the Contemporary Review, Jan., 1898. Seeley, Roman Imperialism, Lecture II. Bury, Later Roman Empire, Book I., Chap. III. Adams, Civilization during the Middle Ages, 76-87.
A glimpse of Hun life. Bury, Later Empire, Book II., Chap. XI., a translation.
The end of the Western Empire in 476. Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, Chap. III. Hodgkin, Italy, II., Chap. VIII. Bury, Later Em- pire, Book III., Chap. V.
GERMAN WEAPONS
CHAPTER IV
THE FOUNDING OF THE GERMAN STATES
33. A Second Period of German Conquests. — With all their appearance of success these first German states were
not destined to be permanent. Another series of conquests The first con-
followed these earlier ones, made by tribes which were not quests not
directly impelled by the attack of the Huns, and theirs were P the states which grew into the modern nations.
The Franks were the first to begin the new movement. The Franks.
A part of their race had been allowed by the Romans to Sergeant,
occupy lands along the western bank of the Rhine long (Nations! *
before that frontier was finally broken. They were not Freeman, '
always peaceable allies of the Empire, but they continued Tke Franks
to hold these lands ; their numbers were increased after cauls, in
the invasion of 406 ; and when they began their career Historical
of conquest they were occupying the territory on both sides f^cmii'
of the middle and lower Rhine. Their conquests differed ian) ; Zeiier,
from those of all the other German tribes in the important n- fact that they were an expansion, the Franks spreading out in all directions while they still retained possession of their original home as the centre of their dominion.
34. The Founder of the Frankish Empire. — Clovis was Clovis, 481- the founder of the greatness of his race. He was the king, 5"-
at the beginning of his career, of a small subdivision or clan y^ of the Franks on the Roman side of the river, with Tournai Gibbon, as his capital, for at this time the Franks were in a somewhat backward stage of political development and had no com- mon or national government, but several kings of tribal subdivisions. This gives us the double task in which Clovis
37
38 The Founding of the German States [§ 35
His first conquest,
486.
The
Alemanni
overcome.
The question of the divinity of Christ. Gwatkin, The Arian Controversy (Epochs, Ch. Hist.) ; Penn. IV., No. II.
was to be successful, the conquest of new territory and the consolidation of his own race.
To the west of Clovis, in north central Gaul, lay a terri- tory which had not as yet been occupied by any German tribe. A Roman officer, Syagrius, commanded here, but he was of course really independent, and he is called by the historian of the Franks, Gregory of Tours, the king of the Romans. This was an opportunity for Clovis, and with a small army he marched against Syagrius and completely de- feated him in 486. In territory and resources this was a great increase of Clovis' power, and is the first event in the history of the empire which was to succeed the Roman.
Ten years later the second step was taken. Clovis led the Franks against their enemies the Alemanni, who held the lands to the southeast. The decisive battle was hotly contested, and we are told that in the midst of it Clovis cried out that if the God of his Christian wife, Clotilda, would give him the victory he would become his follower. The victory was gained. The Alemanni were conquered and their land made subject to the Franks, and Clovis kept his promise.
35. Arian versus Catholic. — The conversion of Clovis brings us to a fact of great importance in the history of the Christian church as well as in the political history of Europe. Early in the fourth century a theological controversy had arisen in Alexandria on the question of the divinity of Christ. Arius and his followers, called Arians, maintained that Christ was not God. To get an authoritative decision of the matter Constant! ne called the first great council of the church, the council of Nicaea, in 325. Its decision was in favor of the doctrine of Christ's divinity, but this did not finally settle the controversy, and for a considerable portion of the fourth century the government of the Eastern Empire favored the Arian belief.
The West, on the other hand, when left to itself, steadily favored the orthodox view. The German conquest of the fifth century, however, threatened the church of the West
§ 36] Clovis adopted the Catholic Faith
39
with a serious danger arising from this question. For these Germans had been converted before the crossing of the Danube by missionaries from Constantinople who were Arians. The most famous of these missionaries, Ulfilas, translated nearly all the Bible into Gothic, and the fragments which have come down to us of this translation are our earliest written specimens of the Teutonic languages.
When the Arian German became the ruler of the provinces of the West, the difference of religious belief gave rise to constant suspicion between himself and his Romanized sub- jects. The Arian was nearly always liberal and did not try to force his views upon others, but he could not avoid know- ing that the Catholic looked upon him as a heretic, and the suspicion was natural that the rule of the orthodox emperor was preferred to his own, and that conspiracies to establish it might be constantly expected. Still more important was the fact that the Arian did not acknowledge the supremacy of the bishop of Rome, even in the undeveloped form of the fifth century. The permanence of this faith, therefore, in the West would mean a very loose organization for the church there, and very possibly no organization at all but independence and separation, which in turn would mean a far more slowly developing civilization.
36. Clovis adopted the Catholic Faith. — The Burgundi- ans like the rest were Arians at the time of their settlement, but a portion of the race had been converted to Catholicism, and Clovis' wife was of this party. Whether he was led by this reason or by the obvious advantage which he might ex- pect to gain if he were a Catholic in extending his con- quests over his Arian neighbors, Clovis at his conversion adopted the Catholic belief. As in the case of Constantine, Clovis' conversion made no apparent change in hi? charac- ter or conduct, and the real importance of the act is to be found in its political consequences, especially in the fact that he thus prepared the way for a close union in interest and policy between the papacy and the Prankish nation, which was of the greatest value to them both.
The Roman West
Catholic, the German Arian.
A source of discord be- tween rulers and ruled.
Clovis' con- version not unlike Con- stantine's. Sergeant, Franks, Chap. IX.
4O The Founding of the German States [§§ 37,38
The Bur-
gundians conquered. Sergeant, Chap. X.
The Visi- goths also, 5°7-
The Franks made a nation.
Results of the reign.
37. The Last Years of Clovis' Reign. — Not long after his conquest of the Alemanni, Clovis attacked the Burgun- dians, skilfully fomenting a division in the state. At first he was entirely successful and reduced the country to the condition of a tributary state, but later the Burgundians re- covered something of their independence, and were not incorporated in the Frankish dominions until after the death of Clovis. Next came the turn of the Visigoths, whose territories south of the Loire Clovis naturally coveted, and who could be attacked as Arians. Again Clovis gained a decisive victory and would have annexed all the. territory to the Pyrenees but for the intervention of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric from Italy. He saved Septimania to the Goths, the land along the coast of the Mediterranean, and so kept open a line of communication between the two Gothic states.
In the last years of Clovis' life the process of consolidat- ing the Franks into a nation was carried to completion. The way was prepared for it by a series of treasons and murders which are evidence enough that his conversion had had no influence on the character or conduct of the Frank- ish king.
Clovis died in 511, after the accomplishment of a great work. If we consider with how small a power he began, and what a really great dominion he had brought together, the solid foundation of the empire which was to be the source of institutions and law for the Middle Ages, we can- not refuse to Clovis, savage though he was, the title of one of the great men of history.
38. The Ostrogoths conquer Italy. — During the years of Clovis' life another German kingdom had been founded which deserved a better fate than awaited it, by a man as great or even greater than Clovis. After the death of Attila, the Ostrogoths, now independent, had crossed the Danube and settled on its southern side, where they made an arrangement with the emperor in the East. About the same time that Clovis became the king of the Franks, the
39] The Character of Theodoric s Rule
41
young Theodoric became their king. Like Alaric and Attila under similar circumstances, he was probably moved by ambition to attempt new conquests.
Italy was the province which he finally selected as the seat of his kingdom. Here Odovakar was still in power, and Theodoric did not find it an easy task to conquer him. He only succeeded in the end by murdering Odovakar with his own hand after a nominal peace had been made between them.
39. The Character of Theodoric' s Rule. — This act, however, was not followed by others like it. Theodoric's
,,.,,„ . 1-1
reign was wise and liberal. He seems to have desired to lead the two races, German and Roman, to live in harmony and to rule as the king of all his people. Though he was an Arian, he respected the religion of his Catholic subjects and did not persecute them. In the later years of his life, when perhaps his mind had been darkened by family and public misfortunes, he showed more of the disposition of a tyrant, and put to death several of the leading Romans on suspicion of conspiracies to restore the rule of the emperor. Among these was the philosopher Boethius, whose books were in such common use during the Middle Ages. Out- side his own kingdom, Theodoric's influence was very great over all the Germans of the West. He was connected with almost all the states by marriage alliances or other ties, and came as near to exercising a universal rule as was possible at the time. For twelve years during the minority of their king he acted as king of the Visigoths, and the two parts of the race were united again as they had been before the attack of the Huns. In government, Theodoric, though he was him- self a German king, retained much of the machinery of the Roman state, and there promised to be made among the Ostrogoths a thorough and early union of the two sides of future civilization, German and Roman.
But it was the Franks who were in the end destined to make this union of German and Roman, and not the Goths. No king like Theodoric came after him, and in not many
Theodoric the Great-
The conquest
The wisest andbestof
the early Ger-
man kings. Bryce, Holy
His influence international.
The Ostro-
Short-Hved, 493-555.
42 The Founding of the German States [§§ 4°> 41
Divisions,
New conquests.
The " do- nothing" kings.
Zeller, II.
years the kingdom of the Ostrogoths was overthrown and the race annihilated.
40. The Growth of the Frankish Power. — The dominion of the Franks, on the other hand, continued to grow. Clovis' kingdom was divided on his death between his four sons, and divisions of the kingdom continue to be frequent in Frankish history, but these do not split the race or the empire into permanent fragments. Towards the west, in the lands which had a large Roman population, the Franks themselves were slowly becoming Romanized, and as those to the east remained German there was beginning in this way a division in the race which was to be permanent and to have most important consequences in history. It was, however, many generations before these consequences be- gan to appear.
In the meantime new conquests were made. The Bur- gundians were annexed and received a Frankish king. The Visigothic territories in southern Gaul were more com- pletely incorporated. In central Germany the Thuringians were conquered. Finally, southeastern Germany was in- cluded, and about the beginning of the seventh century the Frankish dominions reached their widest extent for this period, covering all Gaul, the valley of the Rhone, and cen- tral and southern Germany.
41. The Decay of the Merovingian House. — At this same date the Merovingian house, the family of Clovis, en- tered upon a period of rapid decay and exhaustion, the period of the faineant or do-nothing kings. The savage passions of Clovis descended in his family. Its history is full of treachery, murder, and crimes of all kinds. In the last half of the sixth century two famous queens, Frede- gonda and Brunhilda, strove for supremacy and triumph over one another, in a most barbarous and brutal conflict from which begins the corruption of the strength of the line. Dagobert, who was king from 628 to 638, was the last of the Merovingians who really ruled. After him the con- trol of the state passed into the hands of the great officers
§ 41] The Decay of the Merovingian House 43
who were called the mayors of the palace, and the kings were reduced to mere shadows, with no voice in the con- duct of affairs.
One characteristic of the Prankish constitution made the dissolution of government comparatively easy. The ma- count.
0 100 200 300 400
Bormay 1 0».,«,J.
chinery of the state was very simple. The chief adminis- trative officer was the count, or graf, an officer of the primitive Germans whose duties had been enlarged under Roman influence. The territory of the state was divided into districts called counties/ each of which was adminis-
44 The Founding of the German States [§§ 42> 43
Changes in Italy.
Character of the Empire in the East.
Justinian,
527-56S- Bury,
Empire, Bk. IV., Chap. II.; Oman, Byzantine Empire (Nations), Chaps. VI. and VII.
tered by a count. In his hands were concentrated all the various functions of the state. He collected the taxes, ad- ministered and enforced the laws, presided in the courts of justice, was the military head of his county, and repre- sented the interests of the state in all directions. So much power in the hands of an individual, who was often, to begin with, one of the great landholders of his county, made it very easy for the count, especially when the central govern- ment was weak, as in the age of the " do-nothing " Merovin- gians, to throw off his dependence upon the government, and become practically the independent ruler of a little principality.
42. The Roman Empire in the East. — In the meantime, the Ostrogothic kingdom established and made so powerful had come to an end, and Italy had been taken possession of by another German race. This change was due to a sudden revival of strength in the eastern half of the Em- pire and to a desire of the emperor to rule the West once more.
Since the death of Theodosius and the final division of the Empire the East had taken but little interest in the af- fairs of the West. Its own difficulties were enough for all its strength. To be- sure it was not exposed to the full fury of the German attack, but the Huns were long a threaten- ing danger, and the new Persian Empire was constantly trying to push towards the West, while civil and religious strife was frequent within the borders. On the whole, how- ever, the Empire in the East was well maintained through the stormy times of the fifth century.
43. The Reign of Justinian. — Early in the sixth cen- tury, an Illyrian peasant, Justin, a brave soldier, obtained the throne, and prepared the way for his nephew, Justinian, whose reign is the last great period in what may be called Roman history in any true sense. The cherished purpose of Justinian was to restore the old Roman Empire by the recovery of the provinces of the West from their German conquerors. Fortune favored him in this purpose, for it
§ 44] Justinian s Work for Civilization 45
gave him in Belisarius a general of great ability, and in the weakness and dissensions of the German states a compara- tively easy task.
The kingdom of the Vandals in Africa was first attacked. The Vandals They had never got on well with their subjects, largely be- con<luered- cause as Arians they were inclined to persecute the Catho- lics, and the provincials stood ready to welcome the conquest of Justinian., The king and his army made a brave defence, but it was unskilful, and the task of Belisarius was not dif- ficult. The province of Africa remained under the Em- pire of the East until its conquest by the Arabs a century later.
Belisarius was next sent against Italy. There he found a The fall of task which required all his powers. The Ostrogothic race the Ostr°- was not as strong as it had once been, but its resistance was 1^' long and heroic. Once when everything seemed at an end Empire, Bk. they recovered possession of nearly all they had lost. If {^od'ktn V'' they had had the leadership which they deserved they Theodoric might have been successful, but they were not fortunate (Heroes), in their kings and the protracted conflict undermined their strength. Finally they were entirely overcome and the race was practically annihilated, for the few survivors passed into Spain where they were absorbed in the Visigoths.
In Spain a civil war among the Visigoths enabled Justinian A part of to obtain possession of some territory in the southeastern Spam
recovered.
quarter, but there his successes were limited. He had not reestablished the old Empire of Rome, but he had taken vengeance on the first conquerors of the West, and he had added new strength to the name and idea of the Empire.
44. Justinian's Work for Civilization. — The greatness Building, of Justinian's reign is not measured by his wars alone. He was a great builder both of fortresses for defence and of beautiful buildings like the church of St. Sophia in Constan- tinople, and the revived interest in architecture in his reign long influenced the art of building even in the West.
But his greatest title to fame of all is his codification of the Roman law. In this work the great body of the Roman
46 The Founding of the German States [§ 45
The codifica- tion of the Roman law. Extracts from the Institutes, Fling, Studies, No. 10.
Justinian's code in the West.
The Lom- bards enter Italy, 568.
Character of the Lombard Conquest.
law, which had been growing for so many centuries, was put into systematic and easily accessible form. The work com- prised three parts : the Code proper, containing the laws made by the emperors ; the Digest, based upon the writings of the great Roman lawyers the jurisconsults ; and the Institutes, treating of the fundamental principles of the law, as an introductory text-book for the law student.
This system of law Justinian's conquest introduced into Italy, where it remained in use, and whence it spread, some centuries later in the Middle Ages, to the other countries of the West, becoming at length powerfully influential in the formation of the national law of all the continental states, as well as in the development of the royal power at the expense of the feudal system. Probably there is no text- book of law in such extensive use to-day as the Institutes of Justinian.
45. The Invasion of the Lombards. — The possession of Italy by the Eastern Empire was not of long duration. The conquest by Justinian had merely opened the way for another German tribe. The Lombards had followed the Ostrogoths across the Danube, and now they followed them into Italy. Justinian had been dead but three years when they descended into the valley of the Po and took posses- sion of that part of Italy almost as easily as if it were a vacant land, only a very few of the cities making any resist- ance. Of the rest of the country, however, their conquest was very slow and never complete.
The Lombards were very rude and uncivilized, in a backward stage of political development, and not yet thoroughly accustomed to a national government. For some years after the conquest they lived without a king, ruled in little states by dukes, while others were trying to make new states for themselves in the unconquered parts of the country. These later conquests were made without much order or system, wherever it pleased the leader of the band to settle. Thus it happened that the eastern Romans retained many fragments of territory scattered about in the
48 The Founding of the German States [§§ 46, 47
The Eastern Empire re- tained parts of Italy.
The attack began before the Romans withdrew.
Church, The Count of the Saxon Shore (novel).
The first
settlement,
449-
The develop- ment of government.
peninsula, and separated from one another by the Lombard lands.
This fact had very important consequences in later history. Southern Italy remained a part of the Eastern Empire for almost five hundred years. Rome and Naples, Genoa, Venice, and Ravenna escaped the Lombard occupation, and though the exarch of Ravenna was in form the representa- tive of the emperor, he could exercise no very effective control over the cities which were separated from his by Lombard territory. This meant local independence, and in the case of Rome it meant the beginning from which grew the pope's temporal sovereignty.
46. The Saxons in Britain. — One German settlement remains to be described, and one in which we are especially interested, the Saxon. They had begun to make plunder- ing raids along the coasts of Britain, exactly after the fashion of their later relatives the Northmen, long before the Roman troops withdrew from the island. After this had occurred, about the year 407, the abandoned provincials suffered severely and were not able to protect themselves, either from the Saxons or from the uncivilized Celts of the north and west.
By the middle of the century the German invaders had begun to make Little settlements along the coasts. The first of these was probably made in the isle of Thanet, at the southeastern corner of England, by the Jutes — invited to assist in keeping off the wilder Celts. They did not long remain satisfied, however, with Thanet, but spread over the neighboring territory by conquest, and established the first of the German kingdoms, that of Kent.
47. The Saxon States. — Other settlements followed during the next hundred years, the Saxons occupying the southern coasts and the Angles the eastern. The Saxons had at this time no idea of a national government, and those who remained in the original home on the continent did not have even at the time of their conquest by the Franks more than two centuries later. The new conditions, however,
§ 48] No Roman Elements in Saxon States 49
which arose from their making a conquest and occupying a conquered land, led the Saxons in England to transform their leaders into kings and to a steady increase of the royal power.
Of the earliest states we know almost nothing. They The so-called seem, however, to have been very small, and to have tended Q^Jrchy" early to coalesce, by conquest or voluntary union, into larger English states. From this stage of their history there emerge seven People, larger kingdoms of which we have some definite knowledge. L' Ghap* IL They are the kingdom of the Jutes in Kent ; three Saxon kingdoms, Sussex and Wessex on the south coast and Essex on the north side of the lower Thames ; and three states of the Angles : East Anglia, now the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk, Northumberland, stretching finally as far north as Edinburgh, and Mercia, the last to be settled, a kingdom of the interior lying to the west of East Anglia. These are the kingdoms known sometimes as the Heptarchy, a term which must be understood to mean merely that there were seven states, not that they were united in any kind of union which could be called by this name as a government.
48. No Roman Elements in the Saxon States. — In one Pure Ger- very important respect this Saxon conquest differs from ^sovTrn" those made by the other Germans. Whatever may have jaw> been their treatment of the Romanized provincials, whether Green, they drove them entirely out of the land which they occu- Makin£°f
. , . - England,
pied or made subjects of them, and we are not quite sure 131-152; which they did, they underwent themselves no Romaniza- Church, tion. Their strictly legal and political institutions show no ^f^in traces of Roman influence. No union of German and Ro- (Nations), man was made in these states, but the development was purely Teutonic. In institutions of a more economic char- acter, especially in those relating to the holding of estates of land and the management of their cultivation, there may have been a more direct Roman influence.
One line of connection with ancient civilization was, how- The conver* ever, established not long after the conquest in the conver- sionofthe sion of the Saxons to Christianity. The new faith had been
50 The Founding of the German States [§ 48
Translation of Bede in Bohn, 34-40 ; Letters of Pope
Gregory to Augustine ; Gee and Hardy, 2-10.
664.
introduced into the island under the Romans, and still endured among the unconquered Celts of the west and north, an earlier and less developed form of Christianity than that which now prevailed upon the continent. After the introduction of Roman Christianity by the mission of St. Augustine to the Saxons in 597, these two types of faith and practice became rivals for the adherence of the new German rulers. In the Synod of Whitby the decision was made in favor of the Roman forms, a decision which brought the Saxons into contact at once with the best remaining chan- nel of influence from ancient civilization, with the growing unity of all the Christian West under the papacy, and with the contemporary life of the continent.
Topics
How did the Prankish conquest differ from that of the other Ger- mans? What conquests were made by Clovis? What was Arianism? What difference did it make whether Clovis became an Arian or a Catholic? State all the changes which took place among the Franks under Clovis. The character of Theodoric's government in Italy. Divisions in the Frankish state. Territories of the Franks at their widest extent. What is meant by the "do-nothing" kings? The duties of the count. The conquests of Justinian. The fall of the Ostrogoths. The codification of the Roman law. The geographical character of the Lombard conquest. How did the Saxons get their first footing in Britain? What effect had the conquest on their govern- ment? Was there anything like this in Frankish history? What is meant by the Heptarchy? What states composed it? Roman in- fluence on the Saxons.
Topics for Assigned Studies
The character of Theodoric's rule. Gibbon, Chap. XXXIX. Bradley, Goths, Chap. XVII. Hodgkin, Theodoric the Goth (Heroes), Oman, Periods, 20-32. Hodgkin, 7"he Letters of Cassiodorus (Frowde), gives in translation a large number of the letters of Theodoric's minister, which illustrate the character of his govern- ment and the Roman elements in his state.
Compare or contrast Theodoric and Clovia
Topics for Assigned Studies 51
The codification of the Roman law. Bury, Empire, Book IV. , Chap. III. Gibbon, Chap. XLIV. Hadley, Introduction to Roman Law (Appleton), Lectures I. and II. Sheldon Amos, Roman Civil Law (London, Kegan Paul), Part I., Chap. IV.; Part III., Chaps. I. and II.
The first Saxon settlement. Green, Making of England (Harper), 13-54. Green, History of the English People (Macmillan), I. 22-27. Social England (Putnam), I. 116-121. Church, Early Britain (Nations). Translation of Bede in Bohn's Library, 23-26. There is also a translation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in Bonn.
IT li' Cfi?
Ul* S TX14 1 IX'
FRAGMENT FROM THE DIGEST OF JUSTINIAN
CHAPTER V
The Caro-
lingian family. Sergeant, The Franks (Nations), Chap. XIV.; Hodgkin, Charles the Great
(Macmillan), Chap. II.; Zeller, II.
Sources of their power.
The mayor of the palace. Sergeant, The Franks, 194-200.
Pippin, Grimoald, and Arnulf.
THE FRANKS, THE ARABS, AND THE PAPACY
49. The Second Frankish Dynasty. — The conditions which have been described as existing in the Frankish state under the later successors of Clovis — turbulence, civil war, and weak kings — were very favorable to the rise of some strong man into power alongside the king to exercise the authority which the kings failed to exercise. This is the way in which the second dynasty of Frankish history, the great family of the Carolingians, obtained its power.
Aside from the opportunity which the general condition of things gave them, the new family was assisted in its rise by two important facts. One was their own great wealth and resources, especially when in the third generation the possessions of two of the richest families of the Rhine valley were united in their hands. The second was that they early obtained a practically hereditary hold upon the office of mayor of the palace in Austrasia, the eastern kingdom. This office seems to have been that of a kind of steward of the royal estates, from which the Frankish king's revenue was chiefly derived. It therefore gave its holder some control over the disposition to be made of the lands and of the revenues, and so put into his hands a means of influence, of favoring his friends, and of punishing his enemies, of great value to a growing power.
50. The First Carolingians. — The first of this line was Pippin of Land en, who was mayor of the palace under Dagobert I. His son Grimoald, under weaker kings, exer- cised almost royal authority for nearly twenty years. At last he made a premature attempt to transfer the crown to
52
§§5J>52] The Government Strengthened 53
his son, and was killed by the other nobles, who were not willing to allow a strong king to take the place of a weak one, and who were not yet used to seeing the royal author- ity in the hands of any family but the Merovingian. Grimo- ald's sister carried on the line through her marriage with the son of Arnulf of Metz, who had been a most influential man in the days of the first Pippin. Their son was the sec- ond Pippin, of Heristal, and he recovered the power of his grandfather and uncle.
51. Their Power established. — In the meantime, in the Differences
west Frankish kingdom, Neustria, a similar course had been between
. Neustria and run, except that no really hereditary power had been created Austrasia.
by the mayors of the palace who ruled for the kings. The difference between the Romanized Frank of the West and the pure German of Austrasia had, however, been increasing, and many wars had been fought between the two states. Perhaps one result of the difference was that Neustria, after the Roman model, was a more centralized state than Aus- trasia, and the nobles were less independent there. In 687 the two states and the two differing systems came to a deci- sive conflict in the battle of Testry. Here Pippin and the The battle of east Franks gained a complete victory. This battle gave to Testry' Pippin the control of both kingdoms and of all the Franks, which he retained to the end of his life and passed on to Hodgkin, his descendants. But its results were more than this. It Charles the gave ascendency again to the German element in the nation, 33-39. and it checked for a time the development of an absolute monarchy.
52. The Government strengthened. — Pippin had won Centraiiza- his victory as the representative of a loose organization and tlon of tne of an independent aristocracy. But when he was once in possession of the supreme power he naturally strove to make
it as great as possible. The next stage of Frankish history then is filled with a new conflict between the central power in the hands of Pippin, and after him of his son Charles Martel, and the aristocracy. It is a conflict in which the central authority was finally successful, and Charles Martel
54 The Franks, the Arabs, and the Papacy [§ 52
passed on to his son, the third Pippin, a strong government in which, however, he still ruled in the name of the king, not having ventured to try again the experiment of transferring to himself the crown in which the line had once so disas- trously failed.
THE KAABA AT MECCA
Under Charles Martel a new line of influence of the great- est importance enters the history of Europe, having had its rise in the Orient some time before. This was Mohamme- danism.
§§ 53> 54] Mohammed and his Religion 55
53. Arabia before Mohammed. — Up to the time of No unity of
Mohammed Arabia had had no part in the history of the national life - . . . , , , . or of religion,
world. The most of its territory was occupied by wandering Bury-s tribes, and only along the shores of the Red Sea was there a Gibbon, commercial and agricultural population with some develop- v- 3«-333- ment of city life. The Arabs had no national government, nor anything which could be called a national culture or religion. Mecca was the centre of what national feeling existed, and there was the Kaaba, a temple full of idols from many sources, under the charge of the priestly family of the Koreishites. Idolatry prevailed in general through- out the country, and in some parts the worship of the stars.
54. Mohammed and his Religion. — Mohammed was Moham- born in 571. Left an orphan while a mere child, he spent med's early a youth of poverty, and finally obtained employment as
a driver in a caravan. His employer, a widow named Khadijah, was attracted by his high character, fidelity, and gentle disposition, and married him. This was the turning- point in his career, for her wealth gave him the influence in the community which he had lacked before, and the leisure necessary for his work. He could now give play to the strongly religious and mystical tendency of his nature. He began to have visions and to receive revelations. His wife The encouraged him to believe in them, and to obey the injunc- character of tions which he received to teach to Arabia the true character M°J1>am'
med s
of God and a new religion. religion.
So far as the religion itself is concerned, which Mohammed Muir« The
taught, it was a distinct advance upon anything in Arabia composition
before his time. In its conception of God and of responsi- and Teaching
bility in the future life for conduct in this life, in its influence (s- P-C-K-) ;
all important
upon the position of woman, and upon many lines of con- passages duct, it reveals the fact that Mohammed had studied some translated, at least of the results of the best religious and ethical think- See also the
0 common
ing of mankind up to his times. His religion reveals also translation
its human origin in the appeals which it allows to the lower by Sale; and
side of human nature, and in the fact that progress under studies
its influence seems possible only up to a certain point; but n., No. 3.
56 The Franks y the Arabs, and the Papacy [§ 55
The Hegira, 622.
Conversion by the sword.
Reasons for the rapid expansion of Moham- medanism. Freeman, History and Conquests of the Saracens (Macmillan).
certainly to more than one race in the lower stages of advancement conversion to Mohammedanism has been fol- lowed by rapid progress in civilization. This was its origi- nal effect upon the Arabians.
At first his converts were confined to his own relatives. Mecca, and especially the priestly family of the Koreishites, who feared the loss of their influence, could not be per- suaded. In 622 Mohammed fled from persecution in Mecca and found refuge in the rival city of Medina. This event in Mohammedan history is called the Hegira, and is the date from which the Mohammedan chronology begins to reckon. It seems to have produced a change also in the character of Mohammed, and in that of the revelations which he received. The idea began now to be cherished that men may, for their own good, be forced to accept the truth even against their will, and this idea was carried out in Mohammed's lifetime in the conquest of Arabia. After the death of Mohammed the central and eastern portions of Arabia revolted and the unity of the nation was reestab- lished only after a violent civil war.
55. A Religion of Conquest. — In the meantime con- quest outside Arabia, which Mohammed had foreshadowed, had already begun. In an incredibly short time the Ara- bians created the largest empire of civilized history, the largest at least before the nineteenth century. Provinces indifferent to a change of masters or states weak and de- cayed offered no adequate resistance to the tremendous enthusiasm of the new nation. The religion also was dis- tinctly that of a conquering race. With its doctrine of fate — that the moment of every man's death is absolutely fixed — and with its promise that the soul of the martyr dying in battle should be admitted at once into the joys of paradise, it tore down the ordinary barriers of prudence and gave enthusiasm unchecked sway. From the heretical Christian sects along the borders of Arabia, who had descended from Arianism, Mohammed had learned also to put the enormous emphasis which he did upon the doctrine that " God is one God."
§ 561 The Conquests of the First Century 57
This teaching, together with the tolerant character of the early Mohammedanism, made its victory not unwelcome to the oppressed sectaries of the Eastern Empire.
56. The Conquests of the First Century. — Syria and In Asia,
Persia were conquered within ten years of the death of Africa- and
Mohammed, Egypt in about five more. By the close of Bury'^Gib-
the century their empire had practically reached the Atlan- bon, v.
tic, the limits of the Roman Empire, on the west, and on 397~48 • the east and northeast in Asia those of Alexander the Great
Ten years later the turn of Europe came. The Arabs Spain,
crossed the straits of Gibraltar and easily overthrew the ^^ey'
great Visigothic kingdom of Spain, which was now weak (Nations);
and full of civil strife. Only a little land remained Christian ChaP- behind the mountains in the northwestern corner.
During this time repeated and fierce attempts were made Attacks on
to get possession of Constantinople, which the Saracens ^^"o^n
seem to have thought indispensable to their empire, like Byzantine the Russians of modern history. We are told that the city was saved by the mysterious Greek fire, but the Empire
evidently had some reserve of strength and was able even to andxiv.;
dispute the possession of Asia Minor with the Arabs. Oman, Art
With Spain in their hands, it was natural that the Saracens 545-543'.
should try to make further conquests in Europe. But north Greek fire,
of the Pyrenees they came in conflict with a new kind of ^ury 'fm~
J J , , ptre, II. 319;
enemy, a race as young and powerful as themselves, the Franks. The struggle between them for the rule of southern medan ~x_ ' Gaul lasted for twenty years, and for twenty years longer the pansion Saracens held a little portion of the southeastern corner. The ^ Franks' great battle of the time, sometimes called one of the greatest battles of history, is that which we name the battle of Tours, The battle of though it was fought nearer the city of Poictiers, not far south of the Loire. Here Charles Martel, the son and suc- cessor of Pippin of Heristal as mayor of the palace and ruler of the Franks, totally defeated and drove back the greatest invasion of the period. He had much fighting afterward to recover the lands along the Rhone which the Mohammedans had occupied, as did his son the third Pippin, but this great
58 The Franks, the Am&s, and the Papacy [§ 57
End of the age of con- quest.
The Caliphs. Muir, The Caliphate (Lond. Rel. Tract Soc.).
The rise of the Abbas- sides. Muir, Caliphate, 422-429.
The empire divided. Lane, Ara- bian Society in the Middle Ages.
The most important service of Mohamme- danism to civilization.
victory and his vigorous defence of Gaul strengthened the hold of his house on the government of the Frankish nation. 57. The Revolution of 750. — The age of conquest in Mohammedan history goes to about the year 750. Then occurs a dynastic revolution which is followed by a division in the empire, and a change in the character of the Saracen civilization.
Mohammed made no arrangement for the government after his death. The first caliphs, or " successors," whose reigns were mostly short, were chosen from the companions of Mohammed. During this period the constitution of the empire was gradually taking shape. In 66 1 the caliph Ali, the nephew of Mohammed, was murdered and the heredi- tary dynasty of the Ommiads seized the throne and made Damascus the capital of the empire. They ruled the united empire during the whole age of conquest.
A little before 750 leaders who claimed a descent from Abbas, another uncle of Mohammed's, raised an insurrec- tion to avenge the wrongs of Ali. Their insurrection was successful. The Ommiads were overthrown and cruelly punished, and the dynasty of the Abbassides took their place. One prince of the Ommiads escaped and later appeared in Spain, which recognized him as caliph and made itself independent. From this time on the Saracen empire was divided into two, an eastern and a western, as the Roman had been. Not long afterwards another dynasty, claiming descent from Ali himself and Fatima the daughter of Mohammed, established the independence of Egypt. The Abbassides changed the capital from Damascus to Bagdad on the Tigris, and this city became speedily the centre of a rich and brilliant civilization which has left us an extremely interesting picture of itself in the Arabian Nights.
58. Arabian Science. — In its influence upon the larger history of the world, the most important feature of this civilization was its scientific character. For work of this kind the early Mohammedan people seem to have had as
58]
Arabian Science
59
great a liking as the Greeks. From every ancient civiliza- tion with which they came in contact, they absorbed what could be learned, — Greek science, Persian philosophy, Hin- doo mathematics, — and these they wrought into a single body of scientific teaching. To what they had borrowed they made some additions of their own, especially in astronomy, chem-
TOMB OF THE CALIPHS AT CAIRO
istry, and mathematics, though their work in advancing Thefounda- science was less important than in transmitting it. For this tion of the world owes them a great debt of gratitude. The service scjence> which the church and the Franks performed in handing on Roman institutions and law, the Mohammedans rendered to
60 The Franks, the Arabs, and the Papacy [§ 59
Decay of the Abbassides.
The Seljuk Turks.
The early Merovingian conquests recovered.
Greek and Oriental science, preserving it through the dark ages as the foundation of modern science when the revival of learning finally came.
59. The Coming in of the Turks. — The decline of this brilliant Mohammedan civilization was as rapid as its rise. In the East the Abbassid family fell into speedy decay like the Frankish Merovingians, whom they rivalled in cruelty and corruption. In the days of their greatness they had begun the introduction of Turkish slaves to form a royal bodyguard, and when the age of decline came on these sol- diers and their officers were able to usurp the real rule as the Carolingians did among the Franks, restricting the caliphs to a religious headship. In the eleventh century the Seljuk Turkish dynasty established itself in the political power, and it was with them that the first crusaders fought for the possession of the Holy Land. When the Turks came into power civilization speedily died in the eastern caliphate, as it has everywhere under the Turk. In the West the Spanish caliphate had a long and varying history, at times weak through dissension and civil war, at other times reinforced by a revival of enthusiasm in the Moham- medan world of Spain or Africa. Its history is closely con- nected with the growth of the Christian states of Spain, which will be followed later.
60. The Frankish Empire restored. — In the Christian world of the West, the eighth century is one of steady recovery in the Frankish state under the princes of the Carolingian house. The reconstruction of the authority of the central government has been already noticed. At the same time is carried on the reestablishment of the rule of the Franks over the early Merovingian conquests, which as in the case of the Bavarians, for example, had tended to become independent during the age of weakness in the state. The work of recovery in this direction was not com- pleted by the first two Carolingian princes, but goes on through the time of the third, Pippin the Short. Charle- magne, the son of Pippin, began his reign over no more
§ 61] The Pope's Independence Threatened 6 1
territory than the Franks had ruled in the days of Dago- bert I.
But some new things had been done by Pippin the Pippin made Short. About the middle of the century he came to believe JjjjJ^J** that the experiment of Grimoald could be safely tried again, Hodgkin, *' and that he might be king in name as well as in fact. But Charles the he felt obliged to proceed with great caution. Something of divinity might still attach in the popular feeling to the old house. The change must carry with it a religious sanction which all would recognize. So application was made to the pope to lend the weight of his approval to the assumption of the crown. This was quickly granted, and in addition the new king was consecrated with holy oil by a religious ceremony which was an imitation of that by which in Old Testament times David had been anointed king in the place of Saul.
This reference of the question to the pope shows us The influ- clearly .the position which the pope had come to hold in the ence of the West at this time. Pippin could as easily have obtained ^^ Church the sanction he desired from the assembled bishops of his and the own realm. It is manifestly Pippin's judgment, however, that the opinion of the pope will have more authority and xxiv. carry more weight than that of the church of Gaul.
61. The Lombards threaten the Pope's Independence. — The origin of But the pope at this time had as great need of Pippin as the PaPal Pippin had of him. We have seen how at first the Lombard Oman, conquest of Italy had not been complete. Rome and some Periods, little territory about it had remained as before. Nominally it was under the rule of the exarch of Ravenna as the rep- resentative of the emperor at Constantinople. But he could not easily exercise any practical control in Rome, cut off as he was from any quick or safe communication with it. As a result the conduct of political affairs drifted steadily into the hands of the pope, as the only one to whom it 590-604. seemed naturally to belong. Gregory I., the great pope of Barnaby, the end of the sixth century, assumed the direction of politi- J^fat^ cal affairs, and exercised almost all the functions of a tern- (S. P. c. K,).
62 The Franks , the Arabs, and the Papacy [§ 62
The Lom- bard ad- vance. Oman, Periods, Chap. XVI.
The appeal to the Franks.
The donation of Pippin.
poral sovereign in his little state. This sovereignty, assumed by the popes because it was necessary for them to do so without any thought of what it might grow into, became in the course of time the sovereignty of a little state in central Italy, of which they were the kings, though they did not bear the title, a position which lasted until the Franco- Prussian War in 1870, and which is known in history as the "temporal power" of the pope.
After almost a century of this partial occupation of Italy, the Lombards now began to press forward to obtain the rest. Dissensions which had sprung up between the popes and the emperors over the use of images in the churches, which the emperors called idolatry and wished to prohibit, had also divided Roman Italy into parties, and gave some prospect of success to the Lombard attempt. For the pope, to be brought under the rule of a king of Italy, near at hand and constantly under temptation to interfere, would threaten very seriously the position which he had now come to oc- cupy in the West. The danger must be avoided if it could be in any possible way.
62. The Franks protect the Pope. — The emperor would not or could not protect the pope. The Franks were the only other power capable of checking the Lombard advance. The first .invitation to interfere in Italy was sent to Charles Martel, but he was still too busily occupied in the work of reconstruction at home to suspend it in any foreign interest. In 753, Pope Stephen II. went in person to Gaul to induce Pippin to come to his aid. His mission was successful. Pippin returned with him at the head of his army, and forced the king of the Lombards to restore all that he had taken of the lands which the pope claimed. After the re- turn of the Franks, however, the Lombard king forgot his promises and even laid siege to Rome. Pippin at once came to the rescue of the pope, and with complete success. This time he made sure of the surrender of his conquests by the Lombard king. These included the exarchate of Ra- venna on the eastern side of Italy, in which the pope had
§ 62] The Franks protect the Pope 63
never exercised any authority, but instead of restoring these lands to the emperor, Pippin made a formal gift of them to the pope. By this gift the state over which the pope exercised temporal sovereignty was carried over to the Adri- atic and assumed the geographical outlines which it retained through almost the whole of history.
So far as concerned the Franks this was no immediate extension of their empire, but it prepared the way for Char- lemagne's invasion of Italy and annexation of the Lombard kingdom to his own.
Topics
What things aided the rise of the second Prankish dynasty? The office of mayor of the palace. What mistake was made in the second generation of the new family? Why was it a mistake? Points of difference between Neustria and Austrasia. Results of the battle of Testry. The events of Mohammed's life. What changes did he make in Arabia? Mohammedanism as a religion. The Hegira. The ex- tent of the Mohammedan conquests at the year 750. What changes occurred with the accession of the Abbassides? The services of the Arabs to science. The beginning of Turkish rule. How was the crown changed from the Merovingians to the Carolingians ? What does this show of the position of the pope? How had the popes obtained a political authority in Italy? In what way was this threatened by the Lombards? What bearing had these facts on Frankish history?
Topics for Assigned Studies
Study carefully the opening paragraph of the story of the Forty Thieves in the Arabian Nights, and notice what it implies as to facts re- garding Arabian life, the position of woman, and certain points of law.
Mohammed. Muir, Mahomet. (London, Rel. Tract Soc.) Gibbon, Chap. L. Bury, Empire, Book V., Chap. VI.
The appeal of the Popes to the Franks. Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, 34-41. Sergeant, Franks, 207-212. Bury, Empire, II. 499.
' Oman, Periods, 286, 327-332.
CHAPTER VI
The begin-
reign, 768. Zeller, in.
Bavaria in- corporated
ish state.
THE EMPIRE REVIVED. CHARLEMAGNE
Books for Reference and Further Reading
Einhard, Life of Charlemagne. Contemporary. Translation by Turnei in Harper's Half Hour Series (15 cents), and by Glaister (Bell).
Hodgkin, Charles the Great. (Macmillan; 75 cents.)
Mombert, Charles the Great. (Appleton; $5.00.)
Cutts, Charlemagne. (S. P. C. K. ; E. & J. B. Young; $1.25.)
Mullinger, Schools of Charles the Great. (Longmans.)
West, Alcuin. (Scribner; $1.00.)
Abel and Simson, Jahrbiicher des frankischen Reichs unter Karl dem Grossen. 2 Bde. (Leipzig.)
63. The Way prepared for a Great Empire. — Charle-
magne succeeded his father as king of the Franks at the age °f twenty-five. The last two generations of his house had prepared the way for a great reign. The government of the king was once more strong and well obeyed, though con- stant watchfulness was necessary against the perpetual tend- ency to independence on the part of the local aristocracy and of the counts who acted for the government. The old conquests, also, of the early Merovingians had been practi- cally recovered, so that the kingdom existed once more as in the days of its greatest extent under Dagobert I. Every- thing was ready for a new age in the history of the Franks, an age of expansion, and this is the character of the reign of Charlemagne.
One bit of work in the way of reconstruction remained to ^ done, the complete incorporation of the Bavarians of southeastern Germany in the Frankish kingdom. This Charlemagne accomplished without much effort, and more
§§ 64, 65] The Conquest of the Saxons 65
thoroughly than it had ever been done before. Their native dynasty was deposed, and disappeared from history, and they submitted entirely to the rule of the Franks, though they retained their identity of race.
64. The Conquest of Italy. — In four directions Charle- The Lom- magne added to the territory of the Franks. In Italy his ^?sa™** father had prepared the way. The Lombards were no On Rome, match for the Franks, but they had not yet learned how thoroughly in earnest their new enemies were in protecting
the pope, or perhaps in controlling Italy. Soon after the accessions of Charlemagne, the Lombard King Desiderius marched against Rome. The pope was probably not sorry to have an opportunity to call upon the Franks once more, so much was to be gained from them, and he sent at once to Charlemagne to ask his aid.
As soon as other interests would permit, the king came Charlemagne down into Italy with a great army, and though Desiderius invades Italy, made a brave resistance he was forced to yield. Charle- chap, v.'; magne sent him into a cloister, and had himself crowned Mombert, king of the Lombards. He made but few changes in gov- 86~IO°- ernment or in the Lombard laws, and the people were so 774. well satisfied with his rule that they made no effort to re- cover their independence. To the pope Charlemagne con- firmed the donation of his father.
The papacy was now relieved from this danger. It was Results of some centuries before another power arose in Italy strong thls concluest< enough to threaten the independence of the little state which the pope ruled as a temporal sovereign. For Charle- magne the greatest gain from this conquest was in the fact that it brought into his kingdom the city of Rome with all that Rome still stood for in the minds of men.
65. The Conquest of the Saxons. — Before his expedi- A long tion into Italy, Charlemagne had begun another conquest struggle, which was to occupy three-quarters of his reign, that of the 772~ ' Saxons of North Germany. This proved about as difficult
a conquest as ever was made. The obstinacy of the Saxons in refusing to see that they were conquered, apparently a
66 The Empire Revived. Charlemagne [§ 66
The charac- ter of the war.
The Saxons at last sub- mit.
In Spain. Hodgkin, Chap. VIII.
In the East. Avars. Zeller, III.
hereditary trait of the race, was only equalled by Charle magne's patience in doing the work over again year after year until it was finally completed.
Charlemagne would enter the country early in the sum- mer with a great army, easily overcome the resistance of the Saxons in the field, establish Frankish garrisons and colonies of monks and priests, force the people, in so far as he could get hold of them, to accept Christianity in form, and return home at the end of the summer, leaving the land apparently subdued. But after he was gone, the Saxons rose, massacred his priests and garrisons, and threw off every mark of subjection, including Christianity, and all the work had to be repeated.
Gradually the intervals between the insurrections became longer, and at last the Saxons submitted, overcome, it would seem, not so much by the military force of the Franks as by conviction, by the influence which the real teachings of the Christian religion were beginning to have over them, and by the realization of the fact that the gov- ernment of the Franks was in every way better for them than their own. The Saxons of a later time looked upon Charlemagne with gratitude, as the great apostle to their race and the founder of its civilization.
66. Charlemagne's other Conquests. — The other con- quests of Charlemagne were less important and occupied but little of his own attention. By invitation of one of the factions of Mohammedan Spain, he crossed the Pyrenees and marched through the northern part of the country. Little was gained in this expedition, but afterwards the Frankish dominion was slowly pushed over a small triangle of territory in northeastern Spain, including the city of Barcelona.
Against the Tartar Avars in the Danube valley, who could not abandon their old habit of making plundering inroads on German territory, Charlemagne conducted one great and successful campaign and then left the conquest to be com- pleted by others. In wars with the emperor at Constant!-
CHARLEMAGNE
68
The Empire Revived. Charlemagne [§ 67
The belief that the Em- pire still existed.
The pope crowns Charlemagne emperor, 800.
nople he also gained lands east of the Adriatic, and thus joined his territories in Italy with those of Germany, and carried his boundaries nearly to those which had marked the Western Roman Empire on the east. Many of the Slavic tribes that joined the Germans on the east acknow- ledged his supremacy, and the Danes were taught to respect his power.
67. The Revival of the Roman Empire. — The territories of Charlemagne were, by the year 800, practically those of the old Roman Empire in the West. All the lands of the continent, which were still Christian and which had ever been Roman, were now in his hands, and Germany besides. To all men who thought about it, it would seem that the Western Empire had been reconstructed. The theory of the eternal dominion of Rome had not been forgotten, es- pecially not in Italy. In a vague way, sometimes in a real way in the case of the pope, the supremacy of the emperor at Constantinople had been recognized, and even after the quarrel about the worship of images, the rights of the emperor were not denied, only those of the wicked em- peror who refused to follow the true Christian faith. No one who knew anything of the past realized that the Empire of Rome had come to an end.
Now the time had come when the West could have its own emperor again. On Christmas day, 800, as Charle- magne was worshipping in St. Peter's church, the pope crowned him emperor of Rome. In this way was begun a new succession of emperors of Rome in the West, which continued through medieval and modern history to the be- ginning of the nineteenth century. This title must be care- fully distinguished from that of king in all history which follows the crowning of Charlemagne. There could be, as men thought, only one emperor, the emperor of Rome. There was no emperor of Germany nor of Austria until Napoleon changed the fashion of things by making himself emperor of the French. Since then emperor has meant but little more than king, but before, it had been the highest
§§ 68, 69] Charlemagne s Schools 69
of all temporal titles, and in medieval times, when men be- lieved in what they called the Holy Roman Empire, the emperor was thought to have the same sort of headship of the temporal world that the pope had of the religious.
68. The Missi Dominici. — This title added but little to A new
Charlemagne's real power, though much to his position in mstitution °* . ,5 f government.
the minds of men. But the power which he actually exer- Hodgkin, cised was growing as his territory grew. As great a states- man as he was a warrior, Charlemagne devised a new political institution to overcome the constant tendency to during local independence, and to hold the counts under a close Middle Ages, responsibility to the government. This institution was the I59~I 2* office of the missi dominici, or king's messengers.
The counties of the Empire were grouped together into To hold the circuits. To each of these circuits were sent every year counts to a two officers from the court. In each of the counties sponsibliity. assigned them they were to hold an assembly of the free- Edict con- men, or they held a great assembly for the whole circuit, earning the and in these assemblies the counts must make a report of ^^derson the way in which they had administered their office, com- 189-201. See plaints were heard against them, and all abuses were in- aisoZeller, quired into. On their return the missi made Charlemagne IIIp familiar with the condition of things throughout the whole Empire.
It was an institution admirably adapted to keep a great This institu- empire closely centralized and under control, to overcome, tion has that is, the tendency to local independence which we have to USt noticed in the case of the counts, and it was destined to a long life. In the age that followed Charlemagne it lost something of its efficiency, but it passed from the Franks to the Normans, and, revived in England still later to serve something like its original purpose, it finally grew into the Anglo-Saxon circuit court system.
69. Charlemagne's Schools. — Charlemagne was also A kind of greatly interested in education. He called from England public school Alcuin, who passed for the most learned man of the time, and other teachers from Italy, and tried to organize a gen-
70 The Empire Revived. Charlemagne [§ 7°
A turning point in history. Bryce, Holy Roman Empire,
63-75- Hodgkin, Chap. XIII.
eral system of schools throughout the Empire. In the school of the palace his own children were taught, with others from various parts of the Empire, who were especially promising ; the monasteries and cathedral churches were expected to maintain good schools, and even the parish priests to give elementary instruction. As an organized system Charle- magne's reforms were not permanent, but the impulse which he gave tc learning lasted. Some of the individual schools
SIGNATURE OF CHARLEMAGNE
survived, men knew more of books, and wrote better Latin than they had done before, and those who wished to learn found it easier to do so.
70. Charlemagne's Place in History. — Charlemagne's reign fills but a short time in the long period of the Middle Ages, but it binds the whole together. In him is completed the process which runs through the first half, the Germani- zation of the Roman Empire. There was a Roman Empire again uniting Christian Europe together, but it was, as it
Topics 71
called itself later, " The Roman Empire of the German Na- tion." The ruling race was German and the emperor was a Frank. From the end of his reign, also, begins the process which runs through the second half, the formation of the modern nations, independent members of an international system, which we call now, not the Roman Empire, but Christendom. All the forces of union and of civilization were strengthened by his reign, and though his empire was not permanent, its influence never ceased.
Topics
How had the way been prepared for what Charlemagne was to do? How did the position which he took in Italy differ from his father's? The character and results of the Saxon War. Why were not the Span- ish conquests carried further? State the territories finally embraced in Charlemagne's empire. In what points was this like the Western Roman Empire? Why, in your opinion, was the title Emperor of Rome revived in 800? How did "emperor" differ from "king" in meaning before Napoleon? The duties of the missi dominici. Char- lemagne's school system. His place in history.
Topics for Assigned Studies
The Saxon wars. Einhard, Chaps. VII. and VIII. Hodgkin, Chap.
VI. Mombert, 101-153. The revival of the Empire. Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, 44-61.
(Three original accounts translated.) Hodgkin, Chap. XI.
Mombert, 357-368. Sergeant, The Franks, 243-247. The school system. Mullinger, Schools, 68-108. Einhard, Chaps
XXIV. and XXV. Mombert, 241-270. Hodgkin, 235-238. Charlemagne as a landlord. The capitulary de mills. Penn., III.,
No. II. Zeller, III.
Topics for Review
Compare Nero's reasons for persecuting the Christians with those of
Marcus Aurelius.
Compare the conversion of Clovis with that of Constantine. Trace the passage of the Visigoths from their entrance into the empire
until their final settlement.
72 The Empire Revived. Charlemagne
Trace the history of the Roman law through the whole of this period.
What historical events in succession were witnessed by " Father Rhine " during this period?
Of each province of the Western Empire, state what German or other conquerors occupied it in succession, and by whom it was per- manently held.
Important Dates
A.D. 14 .... Death of Augustus.
1 80 . . Death of Marcus Aurelius*
250 .... An invasion of the Goths.
284 .... Diocletian emperor.
323 .... Constantine emperor.
325 .... The council of Nicsea.
378 .... The battle of Hadrianople
379 „ . . . Theodosius emperor.
410 .... Capture of Rome by Alaric.
449 .... First German settlement in Britain.
476 .... Romulus Augustulus deposed.
THE TEUTONIC NATIONS
486. Clovis" first victory. 493. Theodoric, king in
Italy. 553. End of Ostrogothic
kingdom.
638. Dagobertl.d. The last strong Mero- vingian king.
687. Battle of Testry.
751. Pippin, king of the Franks.
768. Charlemagne, king of the Franks.
800. Charlemagne, em- peror.
814. Death of Charle- magne.
590.
597-
738.
756.
THE CHURCH
Gregory I., the Great, pope.
Augustine's mis- sion to England.
Lombards attack Rome.
The donation of Pippin.
THE EAST
527. Justinian, emperor.
622. The Hegira.
661. The Ommiad ca- liphs.
750. The Abbassid ca- liphs.
PART II
THE FORMATION OF THE NATIONS
Books for Reference and Further Reading
Gregorovius, History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages. (Bell, Macmillan; $ 12.00.) 5 vols. now translated, to beginning of the XIV. century. A history of the papacy and of the Middle Ages as related to Rome.
Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire. 8th edition. (Macmillan; $1.00.)
Jenks, Law and Politics in the Middle Ages. (Holt ; $2.75.) Insti- tutional history.
Lavisse, General View of the Political History of Europe. (Long- mans; $1.25.) Suggestive outline sketch.
Luchaire, Manuel des Institutions Francises sous les Cap'etiens directs. (Paris; 15 francs.)
Schroder, Lehrbuch der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte. (Berlin.) Both very valuable on all points of institutional history.
Green, History of the English People. 4 vols. (Harper; $10.00.)
Traill, editor, Social England. 6 vols. (Putnam; $3.50 per vol.)
Kitchin, History of France. 3 vols. (Clarendon Press; $2.60 per vol.)
Henderson, History of Germany in the Middle Ages. (Bell, Mac- millan; $2.60.)
Reber, Medieval Art. (Harper; $5.00.)
Tout, Empire and Papacy. "Periods" series, 918-1273. (Mac- millan; $1.75.)
Emerton, Medieval Europe. 814-1300. (Ginn ; $1.65.) Gives ref- erences to the chief collections of sources.
Adams, Civilization during the Middle Ages. (Scribner; $2.50.} The connection and significance of historical events.
Bonn's Libraries (Macmillan) contain many translations of medieval sources, especially of English chronicles. These are specifically referred to in the course of this part. 73
74 Breaking up of Charlemagne's Empire
SUMMARY
The strong union of Christian Europe which Charlemagne had formed did not long survive him. The forces of disunion were many and powerful, and his descendants were not able to deal with them. The Empire was broken up after a time into many states, but its first real successor was the feudal system which had begun to assume its final form even under Charle- magne— a system which allowed great independence, both economic and political, to the fragments of the state while main- taining in form the general government. The anarchy of the time and the need of local protection were greatly increased by the inroads of the Northmen and of the Hungarians. The North- men established permanent colonies in northern France and in England, and in the latter country postponed for some time the union of all the Anglo-Saxon states into one which had been rapidly advancing under the West Saxons. On the extinction of the family of Charlemagne in Germany a native dynasty was elected, and under the first kings of the Saxon family there was great promise of the formation of a strong nation. In France somewhat later a native dynasty also obtained the throne in the family of the Capetians, but here the kings remained very weak for several generations. In England still later real national existence began, first under the Danish king Cnut, and then under William the Conqueror. The German kingdom was so strong under Otto I. that a revival of the Roman Empire of Charlemagne seemed a natural thing, but this step fatally weak- ened the government at home, and it brought the new Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, into a long rivalry and conflict with the other great medieval world power, the papacy. The govern- ment of the Church was now beginning to assume its modern form under the influence of the ideas of Cluny, carried out by the great statesman Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII. The first period of the conflict between these ideas and the Empire under the Fran- conian emperors ended in a compromise in the Concordat of Worms, but it was really a victory for the papacy, which was never again subject to the control of the Empire. The second period of the strife under the Hohenstaufen emperors saw not merely the destruction of the imperial power, which could never afterward be reconstructed, but also the dissolution of the Ger- man nation into a host of independent and even hostile frag- ments ; and Italy experienced a similar fate. At the close of this conflict the age of the crusades was also closing. Europe had
§ 7i] Causes of Division 75
thrown itself upon the Saracen world to recover the Holy Land with immense enthusiasm, but without definite system or good leadership, and after establishing the kingdom of Jerusalem had ended by losing all. But the economic and indirect political results of the crusades constituted a revolution in history. Com- merce increased rapidly, great cities multiplied and accumulated wealth and through wealth power, money circulated in larger quan- tities, the condition of the serf was improved, the third estate rose to political influence, the state by taxation and a paid army was made independent of the feudal system, and in alliance with the new conditions overthrew that system. It was the time when medieval economic and political conditions passed away and modern began. France and England were the two states in condition to profit the most from these changes, and their later medieval history is that of one long struggle, on the part of France to secure possession of all her territory and to organize a strong state, and on the part of England to retain her French possessions. For a century France gained nothing. Then Philip Augustus conquered northwestern France from John, and his son and grandson secured southeastern through the troubles of the Albigenses. After an interval came the long struggle of the Hundred Years' War, in which twice the English nearly conquered France and an English king was crowned in Paris but in the end the French nation, under the lead of Joan of Arc expelled their enemies and reestablished their independence. In the meantime in government the French kings had been able to create an absolutism, and the English barons and commons a limited and constitutional monarchy. Germany had never recovered either the imperial power or national unity, nor were national governments possible in Italy or Spain.
CHAPTER I
THE BREAKING UP OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE
71. Causes of Division. — The unity of Christian Europe Numerous which Charlemagne had established did not last. The time had been too short to weld the different peoples together into a single nation, and the causes of separation were too many and too powerful to be overcome. Local patriotism
76 Breaking up of Charlemagne s Empire [§ 72
Communi- cation from place to place very slow and difficult.
The locality becomes the economic and political unit.
or tribal feeling, — we may very soon begin to speak of this as national feeling, — the constant tendency of the counts and barons to make themselves independent, the working of the Prankish idea that the king's territories must be divided among his heirs, combined with the fact that the genius of the Carolingian house comes to an end with Charlemagne, were too strong for the still feeble idea of the Empire and even for the more real world monarchy of the Church.
72. Economic Condition. — One great difficulty in the way of ruling so large a state as Charlemagne's underlay all the others, and made it almost impossible for a united govern- ment to be maintained. This was the difficulty of commu- nication from one place to another in those days. Roads and bridges had fallen rapidly out of repair when the Roman supervision had come to an end, and the means of convey- ance were now very primitive and slow. It was a time when there was very little commerce carried on between one part of the country and another, and even very little money in circulation. Each little portion of the country depended very largely on itself to supply its own needs. Now we may be very sure that if the difficulties in the way of commerce were so great that men gave up such a universal practice as trying to make money by conveying goods from one place to another, the government would find it very difficult to keep up communication, to know what was going on in dis- tant parts of the state, and to maintain its authority in widely separate places. Charlemagne's institution of the missi dominici had been very wisely planned to meet this difficulty by carrying the authority of the king down into each locality, but this office rapidly lost its efficiency under his successors, and even went out of general use.
The result was that each little locality was thrown upon its own resources to supply not merely what it needed in the way of goods, but also what it needed in the way of govern- ment and protection. This meant at last the local indepen- dence of the count or baron against which the Carolingians had so long struggled. In other words, this meant the final
§§ 73> 74] The Treaty of Verdun 77
establishment of the feudal system, and this is the age when feudalism becomes the prevailing form of political organiza- tion for Europe, and its growth is one of the forms of the dissolution of the Empire.
73. Lewis I. the Pious. — The Empire of Charlemagne Lewis I., passed to the next generation undivided, for only one of his 8l4~84°- sons survived him. He was called Lewis the Pious, because
of his devotion to the Church, and in his case this meant a degree of submission which seems to us superstitious in a sovereign. He has also been called Lewis the Debonnaire, which means the Good-natured, and in such times to be a king who seemed to everybody good-natured was to be a weak king. This was the character of Lewis. He was a weak king. He could not keep control of things as his father had done. In the last years of his reign he had many quarrels with his three sons, who were anxious to enter into the inheritance, but were never satisfied with the divisions of it which were made. At his death, Lothair, the eldest, became emperor, and kingdoms were given to the other two, — Lewis and Charles.
74. The Treaty of Verdun. — The brothers quarrelled at The " Oath once, and in just a year after the death of their father, the of Styas- great battle of Fontenay was fought, the two younger being Oman, united against Lothair. The two brothers won the victory, Periods, and the next spring cemented their alliance by the " Oath ^"^ton of Strasburg," which has come down to us and is the earliest Europe, ' specimen we have of the languages which have grown into 25~28. modern French and German. Lothair was forced to accept
their terms, and in the following year the great treaty of Ver- 843. dun was made — the most permanent in its influence on the map of Europe of any treaty ever made. The way in which 410-412; these three brothers divided their father's empire should be Emerton, carefully fixed in mind because it helps us to understand Br*J^?'' 2 ' many things that have happened in history even down to the Empire, present time, and it explains some of the peculiar features 76-78. of the map of Europe as it now exists.
Lothair was recognized as emperor. In all the divisions
78 Breaking up of Charlemagne s Empire [§ 75
The division made by the treaty of Verdun.
The place of the little states of Europe.
of these times the Empire is never divided. Every one believed that to be one and indivisible. The territory of the Empire might be cut up into kingdoms, but there was only one emperor. To Lothair was given a very peculiar terri- tory, and in this lies the significance of the division for later history. He was given Italy of course, because that con- tained Rome, and starting from Italy a long narrow strip of land following first the course of the Rhone and then that of the Rhine to the North Sea. As Charles' kingdom after- wards became France, and Lewis' Germany, the effect of this arrangement was to put between these two states a very important strip of territory to which at the beginning neither had a valid claim. When some time later the title of em- peror became attached to the kingdom of Germany, this fact seemed to give that country the best right in the inter- mediate land, and for a time at least Germany did acquire the larger share of it, but after a time the French language began to make inroads into these regions, and following it the French government obtained possession of many pieces of the territory. Some of these Germany has recently re- covered, and very possibly the question to whom they shall finally belong is not yet settled.
It was in this territory of Lothair also that small states had an opportunity to form themselves. Five of these have had some important place in history, and three of them, Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland, still exist. Just south of Switzerland was the county of Savoy, which grew into the duchy of Savoy, and then into the kingdom of Sardinia, and finally into the present kingdom of Italy. As near Switz- erland on the other side was the county of Burgundy, which became attached later to the French duchy of Burgundy and promised with it at one time to grow into a rich and powerful state and to include nearly all the northern part of Lothair' s land.
75. The End of the United Empire. — In the period which followed this treaty many subdivisions were made, and the power of the general government, that is of the
§75]
The End of the United Empire
79
Empire, was constantly growing less. For a little time The last Charles the Fat, son of Lewis of Germany, became king of c'harhT all the larger kingdoms as well as emperor, but he could not magne's
THE CATHEDRAL AT WORMS
master the difficulties which confronted him, and was finally whole
deposed. This may serve as well as any event of the time *^™'
to mark the dissolution of Charlemagne's united empire, periods,
and the point at which the organization of the modern 440-443-
8o Breaking up of Charlemagne's Empire [§ 76
887.
Saracens, Hungarians, and North- men. Oman, Periods, Chap. XXIV.
The last of the German migrations. Keary,
Vikings in
Western Christendom (Putnam) ; Johnson, The Normans in Europe (Epochs).
The extent of the incur- sions of the Northmen. Johnson, Normans, Chap. II.
In America, Am. Hist. Leaf. No. 3-, Old South,
3i; Fiske,
Discovery of America, I. 151-226.
nations begins. It is some time yet before they have a defi- nite existence, but their formation is the most important fact of the period which follows.
76. The New Barbarian Invasions. — The difficulties which general government had to contend with in this age were greatly complicated, and the insecurity which made easy the growth of little local powers was everywhere greatly increased by incursions of barbarians from almost all direc- tions. The Saracens troubled the southern frontiers. The Hungarians were beginning the invasions from the east which lasted a long time and finally gave rise to modern Hungary. But most harassing of all were the attacks of the Northmen, which affected every coast and which were so unexpected and swift that general defence was almost impos- sible and each locality had to do the best it could for itself.
The invasions of the Northmen were the last of the Ger- man invasions. They were the only German people left who had not already taken part in this movement. That they made their attacks by sea was due to their situation, and in this fact and in all details of method their invasion is exactly like the earlier Saxon conquest of Britain. Danes and Norwegians composed most of the bands which went to the west, and the Swedes those going east, where in the neighborhood of the Baltic a kingdom was established under the dynasty of Ruric, which in after times expanded into the empire of Russia.
77. The Northmen. — All the coasts of the world which were within reach were visited by these adventurous rovers : all the British islands, the Atlantic coasts of Europe and Africa down to the desert, the whole Mediterranean, and to the west Iceland, Greenland, and some part of eastern North America. Wherever they found anything which they wanted they took it, and all Europe was in fear of them for a hundred years. They made people everywhere extremely concerned about the means of defending themselves, and this led to a great age of building walls around towns, and of strong castles which might protect the country districts,
§ 78] Rollo in Normandy 8 1
Such a time sifted out also the skilful leaders of defence from the poor ones, and some of the later great families of Europe got their start in this way.
The Northmen founded a number of colonies ; for ex- ample, in Iceland, northern Scotland, and northeastern Ireland. But we are especially interested in two of their colonies, because they had so much to do with our own his- tory, — that of Normandy in northern France, and that of England itself.
78. Rollo in Normandy and the Danes in England. — The leader Early in the tenth century a great force of the Northmen of the North- . „ i I i j • j -r» i men becomes
was in northern France, where they had seized Rouen and duke of were threatening the rest of the kingdom, when the Caro- Normandy, lingian king, Charles the Simple, proposed to their leader, Freeman
3 Gorman Con-
Rollo, that he should settle down with his men in perma- guest, i. 107- nent possession of the country and become his vassal for it. I2o; This Rollo consented to do, and so was created in the course of time the great duchy of Normandy, which came up the 34-41. Seine almost to Paris, and embraced the whole north cen- tral coast of France. Here more and more Northmen set- tled. They became Christians and were quickly civilized, dropping their own language and customs and adopting those of their new home. The dukes of Normandy were in general faithful vassals of the French kings, but they were very independent and were for a long time as powerful as their sovereigns.
In England the colonization affected a larger portion of The North- trie country, and the whole of it was at one time a Danish men were
.... /. i . i i , i /> i-i called Dan
kingdom. The conquest of the island by the Saxons had in Eng]and. founded, as we have seen, seven independent kingdoms. Green, Con The next stage in the history of England was the formation of a single kingdom by the union of all the seven. But it vikings, took a long time to decide which one of the kingdoms was Chap. XII. to unite the others under its rule. For a while Northum- berland and Mercia strove with one another for the su- premacy. Then just after the close of Charlemagne's reign, Wessex rose to be the ruling state under King Ecg-
82 Breaking up of Charlemagne V Empire [§ 79
Alfred the Great, 871- 901.
Stubbs, 62 ; Powell, Alfred and the Danes (Contem- poraries).
A united England forming.
A Scandina- vian empire. Green, Con- quest, Chap. VIII.; Freeman, Norman Con- quest, L, Chap. V.
berht. But in the next generation, and before the union was completed, the attacks of the Danes became very fre- quent. Soon after the middle of the century they began to make permanent homes in England and speedily overran the country north of the Thames. Here they made one of their leaders king, and at once advanced to the conquest of Wessex.
79. Alfred the Great. — This was the condition of things when Alfred became king. He was a brave and skilful warrior, but at first the enemy was too strong for him, and he was forced to abandon the field and even to conceal himself in the swamps and among the peasantry. Finally he collected new forces and gained a great and decisive vic- tory at the battle of Ethandun. After this the Danes were willing to make peace, to recognize Alfred as the lord of their king, whose kingdom was bounded by the Thames, to become Christians, and to settle down peacefully in the land. y-Elfred reigned for nearly twenty-five years after this treaty, and ruled in his little kingdom as wisely as Charle- magne in his great empire. He did a great deal for learn- ing, translated many books himself, reorganized the army and the navy, improved the laws, and left to his people the memory of a noble character.
80. The Second Danish Invasion. — The successors of Alfred undertook the work of recovering northern Eng- land from the Danes, and pushed it steadily though slowly forward until by a little past the middle of the tenth cen- tury they had carried their rule as far as Edinburgh. A united English nation was rapidly forming throughout the territory occupied by the Teutonic settlers, Saxons, Angles, and Danes, when at the end of the tenth century there came a new Danish attack. This differed from the earlier one in the fact that its object was less to find a new land for the Danes to dwell in than to conquer England and annex it to a great Scandinavian monarchy ruling the whole north of Europe.
Two Saxon kings strove to defend England against these
§ 8o] The Second Danish Invasion 83
invasions, ^Ethelred the Unready, or the king without coun- sel,— so called because he never seemed to know what to do, — with very little success, and his son, Eadmund Iron- side, with greater skill and vigor. Eadmund died, however, within a few months of his father, and then the Danish king, Cnut, of whom so many stories are told us, became The reign undisputed king of all England. Cnut was really a great ofCnut- man, and he ruled a great kingdom, uniting England, Den- stubbs 73. mark, and Norway, and other lands about the Baltic. Eng- land he strove to rule not as a conqueror, but as a native king, as indeed he was to a large portion of the people, and in his reign the union of all the various elements into a nation went rapidly forward. Cnut's kingdoms separated on his death ; and though two of his sons succeeded in turn in England, their reigns were short, and on the death of the last the English were glad to restore the old West Saxon 1043. line in the person of Eadward, the brother of Eadmund Ironside.
Topics
Why was not the united government created by Charlemagne main- tained? What was the condition of commerce? Why? The effect on government? What would be the effect on our civilization of a re- turn to the last century's methods of travel and transportation? The character of Lewis I. Give the boundaries of the divisions made by the treaty of Verdun, and state the influence of this division on the later map of Europe. How long after Charlemagne's death did his empire remain united in name? What parts of the Empire were attacked by the barbarians? The character of the attack of the Northmen. What parts of the world did they visit? Their per- manent settlements in France and England. Reign and character of Alfred. Character of the second Danish invasion of England. The empire of Cnut. By which one of the original Saxon states was the united kingdom of England formed?
Topics for Assigned Studies
Lewis the Pious. Oman, Periods, Chap. XXIII. Henderson, Germany, Chap. VI. Emerton, Europe, 13-25. Adams, Civilization, 170- 173. Zeller, III. The Division of 817. Henderson, 201.
84 Breaking up of Charlemagne s Empire
Alfred the Great. Hughes, Alfred the Great. (Macmillan.) Pauli, Alfred the Great (Bohn), contains translation from Alfred. Green, Conquest of England (Harper), Chap. IV. English People, I. 75-82. Freeman, Norman Conquest, I. 33-35. Keary, Vikings, 384-404.
Cnut. Green, Conquest, Chap. IX. English People^ I. 99-102. Free- man, Norman Conquest, I., Chap. VI.
CHAPTER II
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
81. The Conditions which gave Rise to Feudalism. — Partly po-
While the older Empire was falling to pieces and the new litica1' Partl> . , , . . , . , . ~ ^ f economic,
independent monarchies were taking on their first forms, a
great system, half political and half economic in character, was coming into existence, — a system which has had a most profound influence on all later history. This was feudalism. The double character of this institution, partly political and partly economic, shows that two distinct sets of causes were at work to produce it. Underlying both was probably one prevailing condition of things which favored the action of these causes. This was the difficulty of in- tercommunication which followed the destruction of the Roman system of roads and bridges, and the substitution t)f more primitive methods in both government and com- merce for the highly organized Roman civilization.
As government proved by degrees in the age of decline The inde- unable to do its work throughout the wide extent of the pendenceof Empire, the localities were more and more thrown on them- hootTingov- selves to provide for their own necessities in the way of eminent and protection and order and the enforcement of law. So also commerce- economically, with the decline of commerce and the -in- creasing scarcity of money, each locality was in the same way thrown on its own resources to supply its own needs. Again, it was inevitable that in a time of little commerce the chief form of wealth should be land; and on one side that, in a time of a very scanty currency, the rich man, who would get an income from his wealth, should be obliged to
8*
86
The Feudal System
[§82
The im- portance of land.
Taine, An- , dent Regime (Holt),S-9.
Their origin Roman.
The feudal theory of the state. Emerton, Europe,
494-507 ;
Adams,
Civilization,
217-222.
rent his land for services, and on the other, the man who had only his personal services with which to earn his sup- port should be obliged to sell them for the use of land. Both these causes tended to the same result. The state was broken into fragments becoming more and more in- dependento The rich and strong man who could furnish protection to a smaller or larger territory became its ruler. The duties and rights usually belonging to the government passed into his hands. The military force and the local fortification, which kept off the enemy, — that is, the castle, — belonged to him. The court which enforced the law was his court. He was able to obtain and pay his little army by renting his lands to the fighting class, who paid him in military service. He and they furnished support to the laboring class by renting these same lands to the men who cultivated them and so paid for them by their work in ploughing and harvesting, thus forming the serf class at the bottom of this system.
82. The Forms of the Feudal System. — The institutions which regulated these relations and formed the foundation of the feudal law go far back for their origin into Roman times, when the imperial government began to decline and to be unable to protect the provinces, but by the ninth century they had been so transformed by the operation of these new causes as to be quite different from their originals. Some idea must be obtained of the forms into which they grew, because of their permanent influence on social organi- zation and on some departments of law.
The theory of the feudal system which has come down to us represents it as a much more orderly and regular or- ganization than it was in reality at the time of its height in the tenth and eleventh centuries. This is because the theory was put into shape by lawyers, who drew up law books based upon the feudal law at a time when the system itself was falling into decay, and who naturally systematized the law as far as possible. This is, however, of less impor- tance for our present purpose, because it was very largely
§ 82] The Forms of the Feudal System 87
through their work that permanent influence was given to feudal institutions. In this theory the king was the lord, or suzerain, of the whole kingdom. Next to him were the great barons, or peers of the realm, who held large portions of the kingdom as his vassals. Their territories in turn were
EDINBURGH CASTLE
divided among their vassals, who were thus the rear vassals of the king, and so on down to the smallest piece of land which would give a man income enough from its cultivation by serfs to enable him to make fighting his whole business. The name " vassal " must not be supposed to have carried with it any reproach or dishonor in feudal days. Quite the
88
The Feudal System
[§§ 83, 84
France the most feudal of countries. Tout,
Periods, 82- 93, with map.
Relief, hom- age, and in- vestiture. Hallam, Middle Ages, I. 170-181 ; Emerton, Europe, 488-
contrary. The vassal was a noble, and throughout the feudal ranks all were at the same time vassals, except the highest, and suzerains, except the lowest ; indeed, so strong was the idea that all land must be held of some one, that it was sometimes said that the king was God's vassal for his kingdom.
83. The Feudal System in France. — It was in France that the facts most nearly corresponded to this theory, but the correspondence was by no means complete even there. The kingdom was divided up into a number of great feudal baronies. In the north was the duchy of France, which belonged to the Capetian family, the duchy of Normandy, which was held by the descendants of Rollo the Northman ; the county of Brittany at the western corner, and that of Flanders at the eastern ; while nearer to the duchy of France lay on the west the county of Anjou, and on the east the county of Champagne. In the centre on the eastern side was the duchy of Burgundy, sometimes held by the Cape- tians ; and in the south was the great duchy of Aquitaine and the county of Toulouse. But these great baronies were not all held of the king, nor were they equal in rank, while by no means all the lords of the smaller baronies held their lands of the great barons. Some of them were the king's immediate vassals. It was only when the feudal system was overthrown as a political institution and the feudal baron was transformed into the modern noble, that the grades of rank and title became regular and fixed. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, customs and practices — and these were what made law then — differed very widely in the different localities, and the real feudal system is characterized by a great deal of what seems to us confusion.
84. The Feudal Rights and Obligations. — When a vas- sal died his heir had no legal right to succeed to the fief because it was land which his father had held merely as a tenant. He must obtain the lord's permission, and pay a large sum for it, called the " relief," though the lord was re- quired by custom to grant this permission unless he had
§ 85] The Serf Class 89
some very good reason for not doing so. Before succeed- 494; Duruy, ing, the vassal must perform the ceremony of " homage," and take an oath to be faithful to his lord, and sometimes, Perm, iv. also, an oath of fealty or political allegiance. He then re- No-3; ceived " investiture " of the fief, and this completed his legal s^j-es> right to the holding. When certain circumstances arose No. 4. affecting the lord or his family, the vassal was required to pay an "aid." There were usually only three of these: The three when the lord was taken prisoner and had to be ransomed ; when his eldest son was knighted ; and when his eldest daughter was married. In certain other circumstances, affecting the vassal, the lord had a right to a payment or to the fief itself. One of these was the relief just spoken of. Another was the right of wardship when the vassal was a minor. This gave the lord all the income of the fief as long as the minority lasted. A third was the right of marriage, or the right of the lord to select a husband for the heiress of a fief, on the ground that he must be sure that the new holder of the land would be acceptable to himself and fully able to perform the duties by which the fief was held. Very often the lord simply sold to the heiress the right to make her own selection. Escheat occurred when the vassal left no heirs, and then the fief fell back entirely into the posses- sion of the lord.
85. The Serf Class. — These regulations, and indeed The cuiti- the whole body of the feudal law, affected the vassals only, vators of the or the fighting class. But these lands had also to be culti- Emerton, vated to keep people alive. This was done by the serf, or Europe, laboring class, and the same lands which were held by the s^o-S20;
' . Duruy, Mtd
vassals under the feudal regulations, or as the expression die Ages, was, by " noble " tenures, were also held by serfs under dif- 208-213. ferent regulations, or by servile tenures. Each lord, instead of granting out to vassals who paid military service the whole of the fief which he held, kept in his own hands a part of it, which was called the " domain " lands of the fief. This he granted to serfs, who paid him in labor or by giving him a part of the crops which they raised, and these payments of
90
The Feudal System
[§86
The origin of the serf class (seep. 28).
The serf is the slave on the way to freedom. Adams, Growth of French Nation, 66- 68.
the serfs formed the main support of the lord and his
family.
We have seen how the serf class began to be formed in the last days of the Roman Empire, on account of the grow- ing scarcity of laborers. To keep the soil in cultivation, the state gave to the slave a little piece of land, and took away the master's right to remove him from it. It was not a very large amount of legal right which the slave secured in this way, but it was a beginning, and it led in time to the change of the whole slave class into serfs. By the end of the tenth century the slavery of Christian men by Christian men had almost entirely disappeared from Europe, and it never returned. In the history of labor, serfdom represents an intermediate stage between slavery and free labor. It is the condition through which the slave passes in being transformed into the freeman.
86. The Condition of the Serf slowly Improving. — Looked at in this way the serf is one who has a part but not all of the rights of a freeman. As time goes on he is securing more and more of these, until at last he cannot be distinguished from a freeman. This is exactly the history of medieval serfdom. The general condition which had led to the change at first, the scarcity of cultivators, con- tinued throughout the whole period, and kept securing to the serf better and better terms for his labor. The prog- ress was very slow during the first half of the Middle Ages, because until the cities began to fill up and manufactures to increase there was almost no place to which the serf could go to better his condition. If he left the piece of land which he held, he ran great risk of starving to death. But there was much new land brought into use during these centuries by clearing and draining, and this made now and then a strong demand for labor from which the serf always gained something. In the last half of the Middle Ages we shall see new causes coming into operation which carried on this advancement much faster.
As serfdom represents a transition stage in the history of
§ 86] Condition of the Serf slowly Improving 91
labor, we should expect to find the individual serfs on a Numerous domain standing in different grades of that transition. And gradati°ns
. , of serfdom, this is the usual condition of things, borne serfs of the Hallam,
manor at the bottom are hardly to be distinguished from Middle Ages, slaves. Their rights are very few, and the lord's arbitrary \^^^n power over them is very great. Others have made more ush Constitu- advancement and are protected in a larger number of tionai His- rights, while at the top may be a class hardly to be distin- g^ion 817. guished from freemen.
In picturing to ourselves the organization of society in Vassals were feudal times, we should be careful to distinguish between r the vassal and the serf. They were two entirely distinct classes, subject to different kinds of law, and very sharply separated from one another in the days when the feudal system was at its height.
Topics
What economic conditions assisted in the rise of feudalism? What political? Why was the land so important in the feudal system? Why was protection, which we obtain so easily, so difficult to get in those days? How far back in time do the forms of the feudal system go? What was the feudal theory of the state? Where most nearly realized? How nearly there? Explain the most important feudal rights and obligations. Explain the terms " suzerain " and " vassal." State fully the difference between vassal and serf. What was the place of the serf in the feudal system? How did the serf class originate? How did the general feudal conditions improve the position of the serf ?
Topics for Assigned Studies
The origin of the feudal system. Adams, articles in Andover Review, Vol. VII., and Civilization, 194-217. Emerton, Introduction to the Middle Ages, Chap. XV. Penn. IV., No. 3.
The manor and its working population. Penn. III., No. 5. Andrews, The Old English Manor. (Johns Hopkins Press.)
CHAPTER III
Three states assume their modern form.
No real
national unity yet possible.
Tribal disunion.
THE RISE OF THE NEW NATIONS
87. General Conditions. — While the Danes were attack- ing and conquering England, great changes were also taking place on the continent of Europe. The dynasty of the Carolingians disappeared from history in all its branches, and the great states which were emerging from the empire of Charlemagne began to assume the appear- ance and to organize the governments which they were to retain until almost the present time. These were the states of Germany, France, and Italy.
One fact, it must be remembered, characterizes all these countries alike during this period ; that is, separation into fragments, the lack of any real national unity. We saw in the age that followed Charlemagne the causes which were at work to make it impossible to maintain unity. In the tenth century these causes were still at work, and it was still impossible to overcome them entirely. With this century we come to a time when something like modern national feeling begins, and aids very possibly in the establishment of new dynasties, but it is not strong enough to unify the nation, or even to assist in the establishment of a strong government. We have to notice how in these various countries the new dynasties take the place of the old, how they attack the difficulties of government, with what degree of success or failure, and to what extent these states are coming to be like the modem ones of the same name.
88. The Beginning in Germany. — In Germany the ordinary causes of separation were reinforced by the old
92
§ 89] The Saxon Kings 93
tribal differences which had not yet died out and which in one way strengthened themselves in this period. Saxons, Franks, Bavarians, and Alemanni or Suabians, each retained a local patriotism, and in the weakness of the state tended to rally around some one of the local families which by getting possession of the office of duke strove to found a local dynasty. The state was weakened also by the plun- dering raids or more serious attempts at conquest of the Hungarians, a Tartar race that had followed the Huns and the Avars into the Danube valley, and who were now trying to force their way up the river into central Germany, as the Turks did later.
On the deposition of Charles the Fat the Germans chose Arnulf, as king Arnulf, a German Carolingian who strove with much 888-899.
Oman, energy and success to maintain a strong government ; but perioaSt
his line died out in a few years, and they were obliged to Chap.
make a new choice. Disregarding the French Carolingians ^^011
the other side of the Rhine, they selected Conrad of Fran- Europe, '
conia. Like Arnulf he struggled manfully to maintain the 90-100. authority of the crown, but with less success. The power
of the dukes was greater than it had been, and Conrad Conra(J L»
911—910.
came at last to recognize the fact that the king must Oman,
depend for the power to rule the state on the resources of Periods, 475;
his own family. With remarkable patriotism, before his £™^°n'IOO
death he advised the Germans to transfer the crown to the Henderson,
strongest of the dukes, Henry of Saxony. Germany,
89. The Saxon Kings. — Both Henry and his son Otto I.
were very able men. They beat off the Hungarians, and gI8-936. '
forced the great nobles who were striving for independence Otto i., the into submission. They attempted also to bring about a T^
permanent reduction of the power of the dukes by with- Tout,
drawing from their control all the lands belonging to the Periods,
king within their territories, and by granting to the bishops Emerton
the same political powers over their lands that were pos- Europe,
sessed by the counts and the dukes. These measures were I03-"4.
- . /• i i i i 11- /- Henderson,
for a time successful, and by the year 950 the king of Germany,
Germany was really master of the state, and the German 119-128;
94
The Rise of the New Nations [§§ 90, 9'
Scheffel,
Ekkehard
(novel).
Map,
Putzger,
No. 15.
No national
government
had taken
form in Italy.
Henderson,
Germany,
128-141 ;
Emerton,
Europe,
115-129.
962. Bryce,
Empire, 80-88.
The title of emperor attached to that of king of Germany. Bryce, Empire, 122-145.
Otto III.,
983-1002. The emperor of Rome loses power as king of Germany. Bryce, Empire, 145-149 ; Tout, Periods,
40-47 ;
Emerton,
Europe,
149-161.
nation was in a fair way to be formed. Then occurred an event which had the most momentous consequences both for Germany and for the world. Otto was invited to go down into Italy.
90. The Empire revived by Otto I. — Italy, like all the states at this time, was broken into fragments. It differed from, the others, however, in the fact that no one of the local dynasties was strong enough to establish even the form of a national government which could have any permanence, and begin the construction of a nation. They were in per- petual conflict with one another for supremacy, and out of this conflict came the invitation to Otto. In 95 1 he made a first expedition, in which he contented himself with forcing several of the local princes to recognize him as their lord. Ten years later he responded to another invitation, and this time he was crowned king of Lombardy and emperor of Rome.
Since Arnulf, no king of Germany had been crowned emperor of Rome, but the act of Otto united the two crowns in such a way that from his time the chosen king of Germany was supposed to have a right to the imperial crown if he would go to Rome to receive it. This was the founding of " the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation," which lasted in form at least to the opening of the nineteenth century. It was destined to have most disas- trous consequences both for Germany and for Italy, and these began to show themselves at once.
91 . The Effect of the Revival of the Empire. — The short reign of Otto II., filled with strife and a third of it spent in Italy, was followed by a long minority, and then Otto III. became king and emperor. He was of a highly imaginative mind, and because he was descended through his mother from one of the Greek dynasties which had held the Empire at Constantinople, he believed that he represented in a peculiar way the ancient emperors. Germany seemed to him of little account, and all his life was centred in Italy and Rome. In the reigns of these two Ottos the power of the
§ 92] The Beginning in France 95
German king which the first two Saxons had built up with such difficulty went rapidly to pieces. The last sovereign of the family, Henry II., was a good man, but not a strong king, and he could only begin the recovery of what had been lost.
On the death of Henry II. the Saxon family became ex- The second tinct, and the Germans went back to Franconia and elected German another Conrad, probably of the same family as Conrad I. R^very He proved to be a vigorous and determined king and under the rapidly reconstructed the royal power. The kingdom of !Lrst
I> , , JT . . , . -, Francomans
Burgundy was annexed to the Empire in his reign, and Conrad n., though he sought the imperial crown in Italy, he did not 1024-1039. allow his interests there to interfere with his power in Ger- °ut' ,
Periods,
many. Since the time of the first Conrad the feudal system 47-6o;
had been introduced into Germany, and one of the ways by Emerton,
which Conrad II. strengthened his power was by encouraging -&™-&t.
the independence of the smaller nobles and protecting their Henderson,
interests against the dukes and great barons. At his death Germany> Conrad left the royal power far stronger than it had ever *73'
been before, and Germany more thoroughly centralized poiicyofthe
under a single government. The reign of his son Henry III. Franconians. opens a new age in the history of the Empire.
92. The Beginning in France. — By this time also a The origin of
new dynasty had firmly established itself in France. In the j!^enCape"
troublous times which followed the first attack of the North- Adams,
men, a family of unknown origin had come into possession French.
of Paris, because they furnished the most skilful and vigor- Nahon> 54- ous leadership to be had against the invaders. From this point their lands grew into a little feudal state including Orleans and commanding the two great rivers of northern
France. Two families
On the deposition of Charles the Fat, the head of this rivals for the
family, Eudes, son of Robert the Strong, was made king of Kitchen
France. But this was not a permanent change of dynasty. France,
He was succeeded by Charles the Simple, a Carolingian, L l69-i78; who gave Normandy to Rollo, and for a hundred years the
crown was transferred back and forth from one family to the Chap. iv0j
The Rise of the New Nations [§§ 93' 94
Emerton,
Europe, 400-420 ; Zeller, IV.
The first four
Capetians,
987-1108.
Kitchen,
France,
I. 185-189;
Adams,
French
Nation,
Chap. VI.
The last Saxon king, Edward the Confessor, 1042-1066. Green, English People, I. 103-107 ; Stubbs, 76.
other. Hugh the Great, who was the head of the new family during the middle years of the tenth century, might have made himself king if he had chosen, but he preferred to sustain the Carolingians. On the death of Louis V. in 987, Hugh Capet was made king, and from his reign on the Capetians have held the throne of France in unbroken suc- cession as long as kings have reigned there at all.
93. Kings of Little Power. — In truth, during all this time and for another century still the king had only nominal power. The feudal system was at its height in France, and the great barons who divided its territory among themselves were really independent sovereigns, each in his own land, and they would allow to the king no control over their subjects. The early Capetians had a strong position in northern France and ruled as their own one of the most powerful of these feudal states, the duchy of France, and they were very faithfully supported by the Church. These two things were the source of what power they had as kings, but the next three kings after Hugh Capet, — Robert, Henry, and Philip, — whose reigns fill the whole eleventh century, could do no more than make a beginning. They kept se- cure possession of the crown and prepared the way for better things, and that was success enough in such an age as theirs.
94. The Norman Conquest of England. — In England as well as in these other states the old dynasty comes to an end and a new one takes its place. After the two sons of Cnut the English made Eadward the Confessor king, brother of Eadmund Ironside, but a very different man. He had passed his youth during the time of the Danish kings in Normandy, which was his mother's home, and he had be- come more Norman than Saxon. He liked to follow Nor- man ways, and to have Normans about him at the court. Besides, he was a man of rather weak character, likely to be under the influence of some one else. As a result much of his reign was occupied with the struggle of Saxon and Nor- man parties which prepared the way for the Norman con- quest after his death.
§ 94] The Norman Conquest of England
97
Eadward left no children, and the English elected Harold, son of the great Earl Godwin who had been the leader of the Saxon party ; but William, duke of Normandy, insisted that the throne had been promised to him by Eadward, and that Harold had taken an oath to support his claims. He immediately collected a great army and soon landed on the southern coast of England not far from the town of Has- tings. Harold, who had only just beaten an invading army under the king of Norway in the north of England, made a brave fight for his crown in the battle of Hastings, but was defeated and slain. William then marched through the country, turning a great circle to the north side of London, which then surrendered and accepted him as king. There was some resistance in other parts of the kingdom and some rebellion against the Norman king, but William subdued all opposition with vigor and often with great severity, and finally the whole land was brought into obedience.
Topics
What three states of the continent began to assume a modern form after the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire? How near was this to national unity in each case? What difficulties were there to be over- come in Germany? What was done by the Germans on the extinction of their branch of the Carolingian house? The two great kings of the first German dynasty. Their measures to strengthen the royal power. Why were these interrupted? The situation in Italy. The effect on Germany of the revival of the Empire. On Italy. What was the relation of the two titles, " Emperor of Rome " and " King of Ger- many" ? How does the reign of Otto III. show the effect of the re- vival of the Empire? Policy followed by the second German dynasty to strengthen the royal power. The origin of the Capetians. Com- pare the substitution of a local dynasty in France for the Carolingians with that in Germany. The power of the crown under the first four Capetians. The character of the last Saxon king. What did the Eng- lish do on the extinction of the Saxon line ? Had William any right to the English throne? How did he get the throne?
Harold king
Freeman,
William the
Conqueror
(Macmillan)p
51-62 ;
Tennyson,
Harold,
(drama) ;
Bulwer,
Harold
(novel).
The battle of
Hastings,
1066.
Freeman,
William the
Conqueror,
82-99 ; Social
England,
I. 231-244;
Sources,
Stubbs,
79-91; Gee
and Hardy,
54-59; Penn,
III., No. 2;
Henderson,
7 ; Kingsley,
Hereward
(novel).
98 The Rise of the New Nations
Topics for Assigned Studies
The Holy Roman Empire. Dante's De Monarchia ; translated in Church, Dante. (Macmillan.) Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, Chap. VII. Freeman, essay in Historical Essays, I.
The battle of Hastings. Freeman, Norman Conquest, III. 301-339. Original accounts, all in Bohn : Orderic, I. 480-488. William of Malmesbury, 274-281. Henry of Huntingdon, 209-212. Mat- thew of Westminster, I. 559-564. See the controversy on the battle in the volumes of the English Historical Review.
CHAPTER IV
EMPIRE AND PAPACY
95. The Papacy during the Tenth Century. — During Great decline
the age when the feudal system was at its height, the of papal in-
papacy had suffered in common with all general govern- ^o^'
ments a great decline. At the middle of the tenth century, Church His-
its authority in Europe was almost nothing, and in Italy *"?• IL
IT-. • i i /- i i ,- • • i • 298 1 Schafr,
and Rome it was used as the tool of local factions in their church HIS-
conflicts with one another. From this condition it was tory, iv. 279-
rescued for a time by the Ottos, who appointed a series of ^.7:...A(JfmS|
3 Civilization,
reforming popes and brought the papacy under the control 227-238.
of the Empire as it had been in the days of Charlemagne.
These reforms were followed by a speedy relapse, as soon
as the hand of the Emperor was less felt, in the reigns of
Henry II. and Conrad II. Soon after the death of Conrad Three rival
we find three popes at once, each claiming the papacy and P°Pes-
each refusing to recognize the rights of the others. It was
a situation which called for the intervention of the emperor
as loudly as in the time of Otto I.
In the meantime there had been forming and growing A clear
stronger and stronger in the Church a theory of the absolute theory of
power of the pope, as the especial representative of God in p^macy"
his moral government, which was much clearer and more "Dictate"
logical than any that had been taught before. It may be yj^re^
put briefly in this way: The Spirit of God dwells in His derson, 366;
Church, guiding it in the right path on all important occa- also in
sions. The pope as the centre and representative of the Mathews- whole Church is especially under this divine influence, and will not be allowed to make any serious mistake in deciding
99
100
Empire and Papacy
[§96
Three great
reforms.
Adams,
disputed questions. Therefore all parts of the Church should yield him implicit obedience.
96. The Reforms of Cluny. — These ideas had been embodied in the law books which were now current in the
MILAN CATHEDRAL
Civilization, 239-244 ; Emerton, Europe, 194-200.
Church, and they had been taken up and made still more definite by the leaders of a strong reform movement which had started from the monastery of Cluny in eastern France. These reformers saw more clearly than had ever been seen before that if the ideal papacy was to be realized in fact, the Church and the pope must be entirely independent of
97] Power of the Empire under Henry III 101
the State. The special reforms which they demanded were all directed to this end. In the first place, the pope must be chosen by the Church. The emperors must have no longer any power of appointment. In the second place, the bishops and great officers of the Church, also, in the different countries must be freely elected by the Church without dictation from the State, nor could the State even be allowed to grant to the prelate investiture of the lands which formed the endowment of his office. These lands in the feudal age were looked upon as a fief, and the bishop was considered a baron, so that the State had really some right to claim a voice in his appointment. It was the demanding of this reform which gave rise to the great investiture conflict with the Empire. Finally the rule which had been of long standing in the Church, that priests should not be married, was to be rigorously enforced, and all the clergy separated entirely from the world and its interests.
To carry out these reforms would demand very great changes, and it hardly seemed possible that they could be realized in an age of so general corruption. But the time proved more favorable than could have been anticipated, and the century which followed saw an enormous increase in the independence of the Church and in the power of the pope.
97. The Power of the Empire under Henry III. — The result of the policy which Conrad II. had followed in Ger- many had been to make the king very strong again. His son, Henry III., is the most powerful German king of history, and Germany in his reign had the strongest govern- ment and was the nearest to a united nation in the modern sense of any of the states of Europe. The strength and the union depended, however, far more on the character and vigor of the monarch than in a modern state, and the government was likely to go to pieces very quickly if any- thing went wrong with the king. But for the time being the State was so strong that Henry III. could safely give much attention to affairs in Italy.
Circum- stances favoi the Church.
Henry III.,
1039-1056.
Tout,
Periods,
96-103. Map,
Putzger,
No. 15.
102
Empire and Papacy
[§98
The emperor gives the papacy to the reformers. Stephens, Hildebrand, (Epochs Ch. Hist.), 20-22 ; Fisher, Church His- tory, 173.
The minority of Henry IV.
Stephens, Hildebrand, Chap. VI.
The car- dinals. Alzog, Church His- tory, II.
344-348 ;
Fisher, essay in Discussions (Scribner) ; the decree in Mathews.
The investi- ture strife. Alzog, Church His- tory, II. 481-511; Emerton, Europe, Chap. VIII.; Tout, Periods, Chap. VI.
The three popes whom he found in Rome were all
deposed, and another was appointed in their place. He was a German, and in succession Henry appointed four popes, all Germans and probably all reformers. Certainly with the third of these popes, Leo IX., the party of the Cluny reformation came into possession of the papacy, and, if not under Leo, at least soon after, the man who is especially identified with this great age of papal history began to direct the policy of the Church. This was Hil- debrand, who afterward himself became pope as Greg- ory VII.
98. The Beginning of the Conflict. — If Henry III. had lived longer, he would probably have continued to control the popes, and the Church would have been unable to secure its independence so early as it did. But his early death was the opportunity of the papacy. Henry's son was then but six years old, and a long minority followed during which Germany was divided between hostile factions, and no continuous or determined intervention in Italy was possible. By a decree of 1059 the papacy declared its independence of the emperor in the choice of the pope, which was to be henceforth made by the college of cardi- nals.
In Germany the strifes of the long minority had greatly weakened the government, and when Henry IV. himself began to rule, his character did not make it easy for him to recover the power of his father. A great rebellion of the Saxons was hardly subdued, when he found himself involved in open and desperate conflict with Gregory VII., who had just been made pope. This conflict fills the whole of his reign and almost the whole of his son's. It was upon the special question of the appointment of bishops, and is known as the investiture strife, because of the great interest of both Church and State in this ceremony in the feudal age. In reality it was a struggle for the indepen- dence of the papacy from the Empire, and for a position of equality with it as a great European power.
§ IOQ] Third German Dynasty, the Hohenstaufen 103
99. The Conflict and its Results. — At first things went The scene at decidedly in favor of the pope. All the elements of oppo- Canossa. sition to Henry in Germany joined the party of the pope, I077' and the emperor's friends even stood aloof, for his life was such that many believed the excommunication was deserved. The isolation of Henry forced him to that famous scene of humiliation at Canossa, where he met Gregory, humbly con- fessed his sins as a penitent, and received the absolution of the pope. There could be no reconciliation between the Empire and the papacy at this time, but Henry succeeded in dividing for the moment his enemies and in gaining an opportunity to form the party of his friends. When he was excommunicated a second time, it was easier to see the political motive of the act than in the first case ; and only at the end of his life, when his son turned against him, did his fortunes again reach the lowest point.
Henry V., though he had joined the party of the Church against his father, was obliged to take up his father's cause as soon as he became emperor himself. The strife was only settled in 1122 by the Concordat of Worms, which was a Worms. fair compromise, giving to the Church the choice of the Henderson, bishop, but allowing the State to reject the candidate if it MathewsY" did not approve of him. In the larger question of the in- in England, dependence and power of the pope, the conflict closed with Gee and
Hardy, 63 ;
a great victory for the papacy, which never again came un- Emerton, der the control of the emperors, as it had once been, and Europe, 269; which was from this time on one of the greatest powers of the world. 246.
loo. The Third German Dynasty, the Hohenstaufen. — Theempe- Henry V. was the last of the Franconian dynasty. After ™rs aban<Jon
, . J Germany for
the interval of a single, reign, a new dynasty obtained the itaiy. crown of Germany and of the Empire, the Hohenstaufen, Adams, one of the most brilliant families of all history. But Ger- many was now greatly changed from the times of Henry III. Baizani, The The power which had been lost in two generations of civil p°Pes and the war could not be recovered. The great emperors of this (Epochs new age, Frederick I., Henry VI., and' Frederick II., seek to Ch. Hist.).
104
Empire and Papacy [§§ 100, 102
Absorption in an Italian state.
The Norman
kingdom of
Sicily.
Tout,
Periods,
103-109 ;
Emerton,
Europe,
223-229 ;
Johnson,
Normans
(Epochs),
75-8 1 ',
Gibbon,
Chap. LVL
form in Italy rather than in Germany the basis of the im- perial power. Frederick I. does not actually abandon Ger- many. It still remains, nominally at least, his residence; but he makes many and long visits to Italy, and freely spends all the resources he can draw from Germany in the attempt to conquer his enemies there. Henry VI. and Frederick II. hardly visit Germany at all, and plainly regard it as second in importance and interest to Italy.
1 01. The Danger to the Papacy. — The policy of the Hohenstaufen emperors to form a strong government in Italy brought them at once into conflict with two deter- mined and powerful enemies. The one was the pope. If Italy were formed into a single state, the independence of the popes would be destroyed, as they believed, and the great power which they had now attained in Europe and even their headship of the Church would be threatened. It was the same danger over again which had menaced the papacy in the advance of the Lombards in the eighth cen- tury. It is very probable that these fears would have been realized in the Middle Ages, though when the temporal sovereignty of the popes was at last destroyed by the pres- ent Italian kingdom, these consequences did not follow.
This danger became a very immediate one when the mar- riage of Henry VI. with the heiress of the Norman kingdom of Sicily brought that rich and military state into the hands of the emperor. Some Norman adventurers had established themselves in southern Italy early in the eleventh century, and begun a little state which grew rapidly and soon be- came formidable. After some wars with the popes, the Norman rulers formed an alliance with them, and were accepted as the vassals of the papacy by Nicholas II. This alliance had proved of great assistance to the popes in their conflict with the Franconian emperors, but now the Norman kingdom was on the side of their enemies, and was to be made the very foundation of their power.
102. The Cities of Northern Italy. — The other enemy of the Hohenstaufen, and the one which finally prevented
§ 102]
The Cities of Northern Italy
105
the accomplishment of their plans, was the great cities of northern Italy. These had been growing rapidly rich and strong during the Franconian period through the develop- ment of commerce, and had made themselves as indepen- dent as were the feudal princes of Germany. That indepen- dence was of course as much threatened by the plans of the
Frederick I., 1152-1190. Bryce, Em- pire, Chap. XL; Free- man, in His- torical Essays, L;
HARBOR OF PALERMO
Hohenstaufen as was that of the popes, and the cities were resolved to protect it to the utmost. They allied themselves with the popes, and formed with one another the Lombard League, that they might use their united strength. Frederick I. found some allies among the cities, and was at first suc- cessful. At one time the city of Milan, which was the lead- ing city of the League, was totally destroyed. The ancient
Emerton,
Europe,
282-312;
Tout,
Periods,
Chap. XL;
Henderson,
410-430.
io6
Empire and Papacy
[§§ 103, 104
fhe Lom- bard League. Duffy, Tus- can Republics (Nations), Chaps. VII. and IX.-XI.
The battle of Legnano, 1176. Peace of Venice. Henderson, 425, and Mathews. Peace of Constance, Mathews.
The Gueiphs, the German rivals of the Hohen- staufen.
Their power broken by Frederick I. Tout, Periods, 264-269.
Innocent III.,
1198-1216. Alzog, Church His- tory, II. 574-586;
Roman law, which had begun to be actively studied in these cities with the growth of commercial interests, Frederick tried to some extent to use to assist his plans, because it was the law of a strong monarchy and because he was in name the emperor of Rome. Finally, in the great battle of Legnano, Frederick's army was destroyed, and he was forced in the treaty of Constance to recognize the virtual independence of the cities.
103. Guelf and Ghibelline. — Frederick might perhaps have succeeded in this battle if it had not been for the oppo- sition in Germany of the great rival house, that of the Guelfs. They had been rivals of the Hohenstaufen for the crown to succeed the Franconian dynasty, and had never become rec- onciled to their defeat. As the most conspicuous leaders of the opposition to the emperor, their name was taken as that of the party of the pope and the cities in Italy, while those who favored the emperor were called Ghibellines. These names continued in use for the political parties in the Italian cities, and become of especial interest to us again in con- nection with the life of Dante. After the battle of Legnano, Frederick turned his whole strength against Henry the Lion, who was the head of the Guelfs, drove him into exile, and confiscated his lands. The Guelfs never recovered their power in Germany, though the son of Henry the Lion, Otto IV., became emperor for a few years after the death of Henry VI., — and as emperor was forced to be a Ghibelline against the pope. They recovered part of their lands, and some of these, Hanover and Brunswick, they retained into the nineteenth century.
104. The Papacy at its Highest Point of Power. — Henry VI. was a very able diplomatist, and he came near accom- plishing by negotiation what his father had failed to do by force. But as his plans seemed on the point of being real- ized he suddenly died, leaving his son, the future Frederick II., a mere infant. The long minority which followed is filled with the reign of the most powerful pope of history, Inno- cent III. Circumstances favored him throughout all Europe,
§ 104] The Papacy at its Highest Point
107
and he exercised a power which was really above kings, and came near to being that imperial power which the theory of the Holy Roman Empire would have given to the emperors. He humbled the kings of England, France, and Germany ; directed a great crusade ; and destroyed the first great heresy which had arisen in the west, that of the Albigenses. Frederick II. owed the possession of the throne of Germany and of the Empire to the support of Innocent III. against the Guelf emperor, Otto IV., but he was soon involved in the old conflict with the papacy and the cities. In this strife he depended mainly on the resources which he could draw from Sicily, and though this kingdom was rich, it proved unable to sustain the long strain of this war. Frederick gained some great victories, but in the end he failed as his grandfather had done. The city states of Italy secured their local independence. In Germany, also, left so long to itself, the cause of local independence strengthened itself, and both these great states pass at this time into that condition of hopeless division into fragments from which they have been rescued only in recent times. The papacy gained even more from the conflict than had the little states of Italy and Germany, and is henceforward one of the great powers of Christendom, not in military strength, but in influence and moral power, while the Empire, which had behind it such a great past, sinks now to be a mere title and a theory.
Emerton,
Europe,
3H-344; Tout, Periods, Chap. XIV.
Frederick I U 1215-1250. Alzog, Church His- tory, II. 586-600; Freeman, essay in historical Essays, I.
The first
result of the
conflict.
Adams,
Civilization,
247-248,
256-257.
PAPAL KEYS
io8 Empire and Papacy
Topics
Position of the papacy during the tenth century. The idea of the reformers in regard to the position of the pope. The three great re- forms demanded by Cluny. What circumstances favored the reform party? The power of Henry III. and his relation to the papacy. Ef- fect of the death of Henry III. What was the " investiture " question? Begun by what pope ? What led Henry IV. to go to Canossa ? How was the question finally settled ? What was the policy of the third German dynasty in regard to the Empire ? Why was this especially dangerous to the papacy ? Why opposed by the Italian cities ? The origin of the Kingdom of Sicily. Its relation to the papacy. How did the Hohenstaufen family obtain it ? Its bearing on their plans ? What was the Lombard League ? The result of the Italian plans of Frederick I. The original and the later meaning of the names Guelf and Ghibelline ? The power of Innocent III. The result of the reign of Frederick II. What change had taken place in this period in the positions of the Empire and the papacy ?
Topics for Assigned Studies
Henry IV. at Canossa. Stephens, Hildebrand (Epochs, Ch. Hist.).
125-134. Tout, Periods, 129-132. Emerton, Europe, 251-255.
Henderson, 385. Guelf and Ghibelline. Browning, Guelphs and Ghibellines (London ;
Methuen). Machiavelli, History of Florence (Bohn), Book L,
Chap. V. Duffy, Tuscan Xefublics (Nations), Chap. X. Tout,
Ptriods, Chaps. X., XI.
CHAPTER V
THE CRUSADES
Books for Reference and Further Reading
Kugler, Geschichte der Kreuzziige. (Berlin; II marks.) The best manual of the external facts of the age.
Prutz, Kulturgeschichte der Kreuzziige. (Berlin; 14 marks.) Very full on all sides of the life of the age.
Von Sybel, Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzugs. 2d edition. (Leipzig; 10 marks.) Detailed and critical. A translation of the first edition is antiquated.
Archer and Kingsford, Kingdom of Jerusalem. (Nations.)
Cox, The Crusades. (Epochs.)
Chronicles of the Crusades. (Bohn; $1.50.) Translations of chronides of crusades of Richard I. and Louis IX.
Pears, The Fall of Constantinople. Fourth crusade. (Harper; $2.50.)
Gray, 7'he Children's Crusade. (Houghton; $1.50.)
Oman, Art of War in the Middle Ages. (Putnam.) Military criti- cism of the crusades, pp. 229-350.
105. Place of the Crusades in History. — Almost at the same time with the beginning of the conflict between the Empire and the papacy, there begins another great Euro- pean movement, which is as thoroughly characteristic of the Middle Ages, but which also forms the turning-point towards modern history, — the crusades. In the causes and motives which brought them about, the crusades are typically medieval ; in the results which followed from them they began the transformation of the medieval into the modern.
106. Motives of the Crusaders. — The crusaders them- selves were personally influenced by two very strong motives. One was the religious — the belief that pilgrim- ages, especially to such holy places as those in Palestine,
109
The turning- point toward modern history.
Religious and worldly motives together.
IIO
The Crusades
[§ 107
Adams,
Civilization, 259-268 ; Archer, Jerusalem, 1-17; Cox,
Crusades, Chap. I.
The advance of the Turks. Archer, Jerusalem, 17-25.
Council of Clermont. Cox, Crusades, Chap. II.; Archer, Jerusalem, 28-34; Penn. I., No. 2. The march of the first crusade, 1096. Archer, Jerusalem, Chap. III.; Scott, Count Robert of
would be the best penance for their sins. The other was the love of adventure and the enjoyment of personal combat, which is a little later so prominent a feature of the age of chivalry. Mingled with these motives were, even from the beginning, more selfish ones — the desire of the leaders to secure principalities for themselves from the conquests made, and motives of commercial gain, which become especially active in the later crusades.
107. The Beginning of the First Crusade. — The special occasion of the first crusade was the advance of the Seljuk Turks. We have already seen their rise into power in the caliphate of Bagdad, and they continued to push steadily to the west. About twenty years before the first crusade they captured the city of Jerusalem from the Fatimite caliphs of Egypt, and the pilgrims from the west began at once to suffer grievously from their more barbarous disposi- tion. At the same time their progress in Asia Minor alarmed the Greek emperors at Constantinople, who began to fear the total destruction of their empire. Their call upon the West for help came just at the time when the West was beginning to be aroused by the stories of the returning pilgrims, and when the rapidly increasing power of the popes gave them an interest in heading a great Euro- pean religious movement of the sort.
Pope Urban II. proclaimed the crusade and preached it at the council of Clermont in southern France, where his sermon aroused great enthusiasm. " God wills it," cried the great audience, and this became the watchword of the crusaders. The first crusade was composed almost wholly of Frenchmen or Normans. It marched in four divisions to Constantinople, one from the region of Lorraine, west of the Rhine, one from the north, and one from the south of France, and one led by the Normans of southern Italy. The year before their march a great crowd of un- armed peasants and rabble of the lower orders had been led in advance by Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penni- less, expecting to take possession of the Holy Land by
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF RHODES, TIME OF THE CRUSADES
112
The Crusades
[§108
Paris miracle, but perishing miserably of hunger and by the
(novel). sword of the Turks in Asia Minor.
The conquest io8. The Results of the First Crusade. — The real cru-
of the Holy sa(je ha(j mucn trouble at Constantinople in arranging
•HE
CRUSADES
SCALE OF MILES
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 g
Date of Crusades . 1090-99, First Crusade
— 1U7-49, Second Crusade
(Ham, a,fir,t to G-jnitfmlinopk)
f1189-91, Third Crusade
5 West
Sal,
SICILY
Tripoli,
10 Longitude East
Land. Cox,
6^!^; * Archer,
matters with the emperor, who had not expected quite so much help, and feared the crusaders almost as much as tne Turks, and after getting free from Constantinople, the crusaders met with great suffering and loss in their march tnrough Asia Minor. At the northern end of Palestine the great fortress of Antioch had to be taken. This was
§ io8] The Results of the First Crusade 113
accomplished only after a long siege and very heavy losses, Penn. I. and the crusaders had no sooner obtained it than they were No- * besieged in turn by a great army of Turks which was advancing to occupy the Holy Land. The Turks finally
om Greemvich HO
retired, however, alter inflicting still further losses on the Christians, and the way was at last open to Jerusalem. That city had been recovered by the Saracens of Egypt, and from them the crusaders took it by storm in the middle of the summer of 1099, three years after their departure from Europe.
The Crusades
[§ 109
The kingdom of Jerusalem. Archer, Jerusalem, Chap. VII.
The second
crusade,
1147.
Archer,
'Jerusalem,
Chap. XIV.
Cox,
Crusades,
Chap. V.
The third
crusade,
Saladin and
Richard I.,
Coeur-de-
Lion,
1189-1192.
Scott, The
Talisman
(novel).
The army of the crusaders was now reduced to less than one-tenth the number with which they were said to have left Europe, and nearly all of these returned home on the capture of Jerusalem. The garrison left in the Holy Land would hardly have been able to hold it but for the divisions and civil war which existed among their enemies, and the reinforcement constantly received from small bodies of knights who came every year to make individual crusades of their own. The conquests of the first crusade were organized at its close as the kingdom of Jerusalem, but as the only political system with which the crusaders were familiar was the feudal, the king, Godfrey of Bouillon, the ablest and least selfish of the leaders, had no real power. The great barons of the kingdom were as independent as those in France at the same time.
109. The Second and Third Crusades. — Europe was aroused to the second crusade, about fifty years after the first, by the capture of Eclessa by the Turks. This was a fortress to the east of the Euphrates, and its loss seemed to expose the Holy Land to a dangerous attack from that side. The crusade was led by Conrad III., king of Ger- many, and Louis VII., king of France. They tried to reach Palestine by the overland route, but failed to force their way through Asia Minor, and made the last part of the journey by water. An attempt to take Damascus failed, and the crusade really accomplished nothing.
A little later the power of the great Sultan Saladin arose in Egypt, and in 1187 he captured the city of Jerusalem. This called forth the third crusade, the most brilliant and the best known of the series. The old Hohenstaufen Em- peror Frederick L, Philip Augustus, of France, and Richard the Lion-Hearted of England were its leaders. Frederick died on the way, Richard and Philip quarrelled, and the king of France returned home, and though the strong fortress of Acre was captured from the Saracens, little else was accomplished, and Jerusalem remained in the hands of Saladin.
§110]
The Later Crusades
KNIGHT TEMPLAR
no. The Later Crusades. — The fourth crusade started almost immediately on the failure of the third. It was pro- claimed by Innocent III., the most powerful of the popes, and was organized with the highest hopes. Its decision to go by water, however, and the bargain which it made with Venice for transporta- tion, placed it at the mercy of that unscrupulous com- mercial republic. With much hesitation the crusaders con- sented to attack Constanti- nople, with some idea of obtaining a base of opera- tions against Palestine, but really in the interest of Ven- ice in her conflict for control of the commerce centring
there. The attack was successful. The Greek emperor was driven out. The so-called Latin Empire was established with Baldwin of Flanders as emperor. The territory of the Empire was divided into feudal states, and the Venetians obtained the supremacy which they desired. This Empire maintained a declining existence for about sixty years, when the Greek emperors in alliance with the Genoese, the com- mercial rivals of the Venetians, recovered their old position. The later crusades are of little interest. The emperor Frederick II. recovered Jerusalem by a treaty, but it was re- tained only a short time. Louis IX. of France, just before the middle of the thirteenth century, made an attack on Egypt to conquer the Holy Land there, but was unsuccessful. His attack on the Turks in Tunis twenty years later is usu- ally reckoned the last of the regular crusades. Individual efforts continued to be made for some time later, but Euro- pean states and sovereigns could no longer be aroused to such great expeditions as once. Other interests had arisen
The fourth founds the Latin Em- pire, 1202. Pears, Con- stantinople ; Oman, Byzantine Empire, (Nations), Chaps.XXII. and XXIII.; Penn. III., No. i.
1261.
The decline and end of the crusades
Chronicles (Bohn), Penn. I., No. 4.
Ii6 The Crusades [§ no
to occupy their attention which seemed to them of more immediate importance, and indeed the spirit of the whole world had changed, largely through the influence of the crusades themselves.
Topics
Why is the age of the crusades a most important one in history? What motives especially influenced the crusaders? What had the ad- vance of the Turks to do with the first crusade? What divisions com- posed the first crusade ? What did it accomplish ? The character of the kingdom of Jerusalem. What was the occasion of the second crusade? How did its route differ from that of the first? What did it accomplish? What event led to the third crusade? Who were its leaders? What did it gain? The peculiar character of the fourth crusade? How was Venice interested? Why was the government established by this crusade called the " Latin Empire " ? How long did the age of the regular crusades continue ?
Topics for Assigned Studies
The crusade of Richard I. Archer, Crusade of Richard /. (Con- temporaries.) Chronicles (Bohn). Archer, Jerusalem (Nations), 305-348. Cox, Crusades (Epochs), Chap. VII. Tout, Periods,
295-304.
Arms and armor of crusading age. Oman, Art of War, Book VI., Chap. VI. Archer, Jerusalem (Nations), Chap. XXIII. Fling, Studies, II., No. 5.
SARACENIC ARMS
CHAPTER VI
THE CHANGES WHICH FOLLOWED THE CRUSADES
in. The Direct Results of the Crusades. — The crusades intellectual had a most profound effect on the people of Europe. The stimulus.
f • j • i l AT- j j Adams,
age was one of great stir and stimulus. Mind was aroused, civilization, The crusaders were brought into contact with better civiliza- 270-276; tions than their own, and were taught that they had many ^m^t°n' things yet to learn. Before the age of the crusades had 388-397. closed, and produced at least in part by them, there occurs the great intellectual epoch of the thirteenth century which created the scholastic system in philosophy and founded the universities of Europe. This intellectual and scientific awak- ening of Europe we shall take up in detail at a later point.
An even more immediate effect of the crusades was the The growth stimulus which they gave to commerce, and the changes ^fdc°IJJ1smerc which followed in this direction were as far reaching and civilization, profound as the intellectual. There had always been some 279-290; commerce since the days of the Romans, specially in some J™^!°n> parts of Europe as in the towns along the seacoasts, but in 521-540. most regions of the West it had been very scanty and irregu- zimmern lar. There are indications of increasing trade all through Hansa the eleventh century, but the crusades when they began acted immediately to increase commercial intercourse in various ways. They created a strong demand for transpor- tation both of men and of supplies. They brought a num- ber of new articles into use in the West for which there arose at once a good demand. An interesting example of these new articles is sugar. They also introduced the mer- chants of Europe to new peoples with whom to trade, and
"7
Ii8 Changes which followed the Crusades [§
Increase in number and power of the cities. Adams, Civilization, 290-300 ; Fling,
Studies, II., Nos. 8 and 9.
The "third estate." Adams, Civilization, 304-310. .
The demand for security.
The demand for better law.
improved their knowledge of commercial routes and of the science of navigation.
112. The Rise of the Third Estate. — Certain results of this increased commercial activity began to appear at once. One of these was the rapid growth of cities in all the coun- tries of Europe, with large population and with great ac- cumulations of wealth. This meant the rise of a new class beside the others who had up to this time controlled public affairs. This fact is called the rise of the third estate. In medieval language the first estate was the clergy, and the second was the baronage. Now for the first time there appears a third, that of the mercantile and manufacturing class, and from its numbers and its wealth it has power to make its demands listened to and to enforce them. The two older estates can no longer control the state alone. They must now share their power with the third estate.
1 13. The Third Estate on the Side of Strong Government. — One of the things which this new class began to demand
at once was security — both for the protection of property and for safer and better means of communication. The growing government of the state found great assistance from this source in its efforts to suppress lawlessness, and to bring the private wars of the barons to an end. The in- dividual noble also soon found it profitable to put the roads and fords of his fief in order and to build bridges, charging the merchants tolls for his services, or to furnish an armed escort to their caravans of wagons from one place to an- other. He did not realize that in doing these things he was aiding to destroy the economic conditions which sus- tained the feudal system and his own power.
Another demand of the third estate was for better systems of law and of law courts. It was of great importance to the merchant that law should be uniform and should be system- atically enforced. To supplement the defective local laws for this purpose they brought into use in many parts of Europe the old Roman law, which had been highly de- veloped on the side of commercial law. The study of the
§ii3l The Rise of the Third Estate
119
Roman law in the code of Justinian had begun in Italy just The Roman before the crusades, and from there it had spread to other law* parts of Europe, especially after the founding of the univer- sities. As for law courts the purposes of the commercial classes were better served by national courts than by the iocal courts of the feudal baronies.
government
GRAND CANAL, VENICE
In these ways the growth of the towns and of their wealth The growth assisted, directly or indirectly, in the great political trans- formation which took place in Europe from the beginning of the thirteenth century on — the substitution of more gen- eral and more uniform government for the narrow and local political arrangements of the feudal system. The Roman law, if taken by itself alone, was a strong influence in this direction, for it was the law of a centralized and powerful
I2O Changes which followed the Crusades [§ 114
Destroys the economic foundation of the feudal system. See very interesting statement, Dialog, de Scac. L, VII., in Hen- derson, 55, and Stuhbs, 193 ; Ashley, English Economic History, I. 43-49-
Taxation begins to support the State.
Feudalism attacked on all sides.
government, and it breathed throughout the spirit of such a system.
114. The Effect of the Increased Use of Money. — An- other most important result of the increase of commerce was the large amount of money which it necessarily brought into use. This fact was even more destructive of the feudal system than the rise of the third estate with its new de- mands, for it cut from under that system its whole economic foundation. The regime of barter was no longer necessary. The owner of land could now obtain an income from it in the form of money, and he could purchase with this the services which he needed to much greater advantage than when he rented his land directly for services. So the man who had services to sell could now exchange them for money. The feudal relationship had become so strongly intrenched in society that naturally it passed out of use very slowly, but the specially important change now made is that it became no longer necessary. The purpose which it had once served better than anything else was now still better served in another way.
The increased use of money also affected the feudal sys- tem as decisively on its political side. The State was no longer dependent on it for the formation of its army or for any other public service. The government could now derive an income in money from a regular system of taxa- tion, and with the money thus obtained it could provide an army, more effective because more directly and completely under its control, and it could provide in the same way for all other public necessities. In England the king had be- gun to take money from his vassals in place of their military services before the third crusade, and from the beginning of the thirteenth century the governments of the different states gradually introduced regular taxation and made them- selves independent of the feudal services.
115. The Fall of the Feudal System. — Of course the natural inclination of all sovereigns was to develop their governments along just these lines, for their own power was
§§ 1 1 6, 117] Institutions of the Cities 12 1
in this way very greatly enlarged and strengthened. Thus
in all ways, by the natural ambition of the kings, by the
demands of the commercial classes for security and uniform
government, by the destruction of its economic foundation,
and by the growing financial independence of the State, the
feudal system was attacked and gradually destroyed both as
a political and as an economic system. In two ways it re- The perma
mained and exerted an influence on later times. One was
as a system of land law by which the ownership, inheritance, feudai
and sale of land were regulated. The other was in the system.
systems of nobilities which took the place of the feudal
baronage in all the European countries. The titles, legal
distinctions, social privileges, and various caste regulations
of these nobilities were based on feudal usages, though
very much modified from the earlier days when they were
something more real than the marks of mere nobilities.
116. Changes affecting the Serf Class. — Upon the serf increased class these economic changes had as great an effect as upon
any other. The growth of the towns offered the serf a place to which he could escape from the hard conditions of agri- cultural life. The rise of manufactures gave him the pos- sibility of a livelihood by which he could support himself. Soon the landlord found himself forced by this competition to grant them better and better terms if he wished to retain his laborers. The introduction of money transformed, for the serf as well as for the vassal, payments of services into payments of money, and left him free to sell his services for the best terms he could make. This was the emanci- in what pation of the serf and his transformation into a free laborer, emandpa- Like the other, it was a slow change, and was only completed sisted. in the Middle Ages in a few of the more advanced regions Ashley, of the West. In some of the more backward, indeed, it E»slish .
.... . Economic
was not made until in the nineteenth century. History, I.
117. Institutions of the Cities. — In the cities the mer- *9~33- cantile and manufacturing classes were universally organized The guilds, in corporations or guilds, somewhat like our trades unions.
They differed radically from these, however, in one or two
122 Changes which followed the Crusades [§ n?
points. Employers and workmen were members together of the same guild, and the masters or employers passed regularly through the lower grades of apprentice and jour- neyman before reaching the higher grade. The purpose of the guild was not so much to look after the interests of
A HANSEATIC SHIP
laborers or of capitalists in their conflict with one another, — labor and capital were closely identified, almost in the same set of persons, — as to regulate methods of manufac- ture, the quality of goods, and prices, and other conditions of competition. In a very large number of the medieval governed the towns, these guilds were the governing bodies, electing the towns. aldermen and other officers of the city, and having the sole
§ii/] Institutions of the Cities 123
direction of its affairs, so that persons desiring the right of voting or taking part in the government sought the privilege of being enrolled in some one of these guilds, though they might have nothing to do with the trade which it represented.
In some countries, where the government did not prove The city strong enough to reunite the State after the period of divi- leagues, sion into the feudal fragments, especially in Germany, the T cities sought to protect their interests and accomplish the Towns results which should have been brought about by the gen- (Natlons)« eral government, by means of unions among themselves. The greatest of these was the Hanseatic League, which almost made a state and which was very powerful in the north of Europe for several generations.
Topics
What was the intellectual effect of the crusades? The commercial? What was the effect upon the cities? What is meant by the third estate? What is the class corresponding to the third estate at the present time? Why was the third estate interested in the formation of strong governments? What change in the matter of law did it assist in bringing about? Why does more money come into circulation at this time? What effect has this on the feudal holding of land? How does it affect the relation of the State to feudalism? The beginning of modern taxation. How was the position of the serf affected by these changes? In what did the emancipation of the serf consist? The purposes served by the guilds. The city leagues. The Hanseatic League. Make a list of all the ways in which the feudal system was affected in this age.
Topics for Assigned Studies
The medieval towns, chiefly English. Green, Town Life in Fifteenth Century. 2 vols. (Macmillan.) Luchaire, Les Communes Fran$aises. (Paris; 7.50 francs.) Cunningham, Growth of Eng- lish Industry and Commerce (Cambridge Press, Macmillan), I. 197-214. Green, English People, I. 206-225. Zimmern, Hansa (Nations), 82-125; Penn. II., No. i; Stubbs, 82, 87, 164,307.
The English guilds. Gross, Guild Merchant (Clarendon), I. 106- 126, 167-191. Cunningham, Industry and Commerce, I. 309—318. Ashley, English Economic History (Putnam), I. 68-96., II., Chap. II.
CHAPTER VII
The State
attacks the
feudal
system.
Adams,
Civilization,
The first
Capetians.
Tout,
Periods,
70-82 ;
Adams,
French
Nation
(Macmillan),
Chap. VI. ;
Zeller, IV.
Four great
kings.
See table of French kings on p. 235.
THE FORMATION OF THE FRENCH NATION
118. General Conditions in France. — In the various ways which have just been described, the economic changes which followed the expansion of commerce undermined and weakened the feudal system. At the same time in the most fortunately situated countries feudalism was exposed to a vigorous attack from without. The time had now come when national governments could be formed, and their ex- istence necessarily meant the destruction of the local inde- pendence of the feudal baron. These new governments arose first of all in France and England, and these two countries are so closely connected during all this period of the Middle Ages that their history is almost that of a single state.
We have seen how weak the first Capetian kings were, and how little their authority was recognized in fact by the great feudal barons who divided the land of France among themselves. The first four generations of the Capetian dy- nasty seem to have been able to do no more than to secure possession of the crown for their family. The real work of making the French government and forming the French nation began with Louis VI.
In the first two hundred years, — the period which laid the foundations and made success certain, — there were four kings who did the most of the work, whose reigns accomplished far more than all the others in bringing about the final result. These were Louis VI., Philip II., Louis IX., and Philip IV. During the reigns of the other kings of the
124
119,120] The Work of Louis VI
125
period, but little which had been won by the great kings was lost even if but little was done to advance the work,
119. Two Great Difficulties. — To create modern France these early Capetian kings had two very difficult things to accomplish. They had in the first place to bring the terri- tory of France under their direct rule ; that is, to recover it from the possession of the great baronso This was in many cases a work of real conquest and annexation, so inde- pendent were many of the feudal lords, and it was made still more difficult by the fact that one of these barons, the duke of Normandy, was also king of England. In the second place, they had by degrees to create new institutions of government, to form the constitution of the State, as their rule was gradually extended over more and more of France. One of the chief reasons why the government of France down to the French Revolution was an absolute monarchy is to be found in the fact that the work of making the con- stitution fell to the kings alone. The barons, who in Eng- land had so much to do in forming the constitution, were occupied in France in defending their own independence against the king, and were at last conquered and forced to complete submission.
120. The Work of Louis VI. — Louis VI. was hardly able to do more than to mark out the road which later kings were to follow, but his vigorous opening of the way was at the time a great advance. His greatest actual success was in reducing the minor barons of his own feudal state, the duchy of France, to obedience, so that its resources were entirely at the command of later kings. He asserted, how- ever, the superior rights of the sovereign over the great fiefs as opportunity served, and began the policy so long followed of taking advantage of the frequent quarrels in the English royal family and of trying to get their French lands into the hands of some one who was not at the same time king of England.
Just at the end of his reign Louis secured a great oppor- tunity for his son by marrying him to Eleanor, the heiress of
To recover and unite the territory of France.
To create a government for the nation.
Louis VI., 1108-1137.
Kitchin,
France,
I. 249-260;
Tout,
Periods,
274-282;
Adams,
French
Nation,
73^78 :
Zeller, IV.
Eleanor, heiress of
Aquitaine.
126 Formation of the French Nation [§§ 121, 122
The
dominions of Henry II. of England. Green, Henry II. (Macmillan), Chap. II.
Philip II., 1180-1223. Tout,
Periods, 291-
294, 393-405 ;
Adams, French Nation, 81-88 ; Zeller, IV.
the duchy of Aquitaine, the largest of the feudal baronies of France. But Louis VII. and his wife did not get on well together. He lacked the energy of his father, and Eleanor, who was masculine in character and lively in disposition, had but little respect for him and took no pains to conceal the fact. Finally Louis divorced her, and she immediately married Henry of Anjou, who shortly became King Henry II. of England.
121. France threatened by the Angevin Empire. — This marriage made the dominions of Henry almost an empire ; for besides the whole southwestern quarter of France which his wife brought him, he held also the northwestern quarter, partly from his father, the count of Anjou, and partly from his mother, who was the granddaughter of William the Con- queror. This was about two-thirds of France as it then existed, and it was more than six times the territory which Louis VII. had under his direct rule. It seemed almost as if all France would be united in the end under the king of England and the two nations become one. This would not at that time have been so difficult as later, because the French language was quite generally spoken in England by the higher classes, many of whom looked upon themselves as more French than English.
122. The First Great Advance, — Against this danger the next king of France, Philip II., contended most vigorously. He took the part of Henry's sons in their wars upon their father, and when Richard became king, of John against him, and then of Arthur of Brittany against John, always against the reigning king of England whoever he might be. He gained but little success, except to prevent the growth of the English power, until John became king. Then his opportunity came. John was not lacking in ability or courage, but he was careless, and selfishly bent on his own pleasures, and his energy only flashes up at intervals into a strong defence against the French king's attack. His cause was a bad one, for he had committed some serious offences against the feudal law. He had married the betrothed bride
§122]
First Great Advance
127
of one of his own vassals, and had refused to appear at the court of his suzerain, Philip, to answer to the charges made against him on this account. So the court had decreed the confiscation of his French fiefs, and Philip was executing this sentence. There was a suspicion also that John had murdered Arthur, whom he had taken prisoner, and this did
Hutton, Philip
Augustus (Macmillan) 63-87.
France gains Normandy and Anjou.
•'.-<•&
NOTRE DAME, PARIS
not help his cause, though it never has been proved that Arthur was murdered. Philip was entirely successful, and the English king lost all his lands north of the Loire. This was the first great success of the Capetian kings and one of the greatest in their history. It multiplied the territory in their hands by three or four and almost made the kingdom of France a reality.
128
Formation of the French Nation [§ 123
The
Albigensian crusade, a step in the expansion of France. Hutton, Philip Augustus, 180-196 ; Emerton, Europe, 333-342 ; Waldenses, Hale, In His Name (novel) .
The begin- ning of government institutions. Hutton, Philip Augustus, 123-138 ; Emerton, Europe,
423 ff. ;
Adams, Civilization, 321 ff.
Louis IX.,
1226-1270.
Tout,
Periods,
405-427 ;
Adams,
French
Nation,
89-95; Zeller, V.
The way was prepared in the reign of Philip II. for an- other great annexation in southeastern France by the Albi- gensian crusade, though these lands were not actually added to the king's domain till some time later. The Albigenses were a sect accused of heresy, and they certainly held some peculiar religious notions. Theirs was the first great re- bellion against the medieval Church, and it was very severely repressed. The pope proclaimed a crusade against them ; that is, he offered the same spiritual rewards to all who would go to make war upon them that would be gained by going to the Holy Land. The crusade was led by a French baron, Simon de Montfort, the father of Earl Simon, so fa- mous in English history, and many took part in it, while the king watched it from a distance, conscious no doubt that France would reap the greatest advantage in the end from the ruin of the local barons, as was indeed the case.
The territory of France had expanded so greatly under Philip that the simple machinery of earlier times no longer sufficed to do the business of the State, and a beginning of institutional growth was made. The lands under the rule of the king were divided into districts, and to each of these an officer was appointed whose duty it was to represent the king, to look after his interests, and to see that his law was obeyed by all. This was the beginning of an adminis- trative system which has continued with some slight changes of form and name under all the governments which France has had down to the present time.
123. The King begins to make himself Obeyed. — The reign of Philip's son, Louis VIII., was a short one, and Louis IX. began his reign with a long minority. An attempt of the French barons with the help of the English king, Henry III., to undo the work of the last hundred years was a failure, and Louis found, when he reached his majority, the royal power undiminished. He is known in history as St. Louis, and as he supremely loved justice and peace, his canonization was deserved. The universal confidence of the people in his character was of great assistance in the
§124]
The King Supreme in France
129
chief work of his reign — the suppression of private war and the establishment of national law courts. These two rights were chief among those which marked the indepen- dence of the feudal baron — the right of making war at his will and that of holding a court from which there was no appeal to any higher court. Both these rights Louis attacked and greatly limited without completely destroying them. Louis also continued the work of his grandfather by developing the administrative machinery, and he prepared the way for that of his grandson by beginning the organiza- tion of the national finances.
124. The King becomes the Strongest Power in France. — The grandson of Louis who continued his work, was Philip IV., the Fair. In the making of French institutions his reign was the greatest of all. By its close the monarchy was the strongest power in France, and the political inde- pendence of the feudal baron was practically broken. All parts of the government machine shared in this advance, while the chief work of the reign was to complete the organization of the courts, to introduce a modern system of taxation and national financial machinery, making the State independent of the feudal system for its income, and to begin a national legislature by the addition of representa- tives of the third estate, the cities and towns, to the other two estates, creating thus the Estates General. This institu- tion contained of course a danger for the monarchy in the possibility that it might, as in England, bring the kings under a responsibility to itself for their acts. But there never came a time when the Estates General were able to do this. The kings called it together only when they had need of it for their own purposes, and managed to keep it almost always under strict control.
Philip IV. had thought at one time soon after the begin- ning of his reign that the time had come to complete the conquest of the English lands in France, and he had brought on a war with King Edward I., but he soon found his hands so occupied with a strife with Pope Boniface VIII.
Philip IV., 1285-1314. Rapid pro- gress in institution- making. Kitchin, France,
I.3S4ff.I
Adams,
French
Nation,
95-103;
Zeller, V.
An attempt to conquer southwestern B'rance.
130 Formation of the French Nation [§§ 125,126
Boniface VIII.
Poole, Wycliffe (Epochs, Ch. Hist.), Chap. I.; his bulls, Henderson, 432 ff. ; Gee and Hardy, 87.
The succes- sion strictly limited to the male line. Adams, French Nation, 103-107 ; Kitchin, France, I. 384-
Philip VI., 1328-1350. The Hun- dred Years' War begun. Warburton, Edward III. (Epochs),
37-41 ;
Kitchin, France,
I-39I-399: Froissart, Chronicles (Macmillan) ; Zeller, VI.
The first period of the war. The English victorious. Froissart, Chronicles, Bk. I.
over the question whether the lands of the Church should be subject to his new system of national taxation, and also with the people of Flanders, who were the allies of the English from commercial reasons, that he was obliged to give up these plans. They could not be taken up again until the reign of Philip VI., the first king of the Valois family.
125. The Salic Law. — Three sons of Philip IV. had suc- ceeded him in rapid succession, and each of these had left at his death no son. Under these circumstances that law of succession to the French throne was adopted which was afterward called the Salic law, according to which the crown could not descend to a woman nor be inherited through a woman. On the death of Charles IV., the last son of Philip, Edward III. of England, who was Philip's grandson, laid claim to the throne, but the French nation applied the Salic law strictly, as it was natural that they should against the king of England, and gave the crown to Philip of Valois, the cousin of Charles IV.
126. The First Period of the Great Struggle with Eng- land. — There were grounds in plenty on which to renew the conflict with England, and soon after his accession Philip opened the long war which is known as the Hundred Years' War. Though France suffered terribly during this period, Philip can hardly be blamed for bringing on the war, for it was a necessary one both for the monarchy and for the nation. So long as the English held great portions of the national territory there could be no permanent peace, and France could not be complete. Soon after the war opened Edward assumed the title of king of France, though he evidently did so as a war measure and with no expectation of making himself actual king.
The Hundred Years' War, during its first period, is one of the most brilliant and interesting wars of history, the last war of the age of feudalism and chivalry, now rapidly com- ing to an end. It was, however, entirely indecisive of the real question at issue. The English gained the overwhelm-
§ 127] Henry VI. becomes King of France 131
ing victories of Cr£cy and Poitiers against great odds by the use of the terrible long-bow, and they captured the seaport of Calais, and made it a strong fortress to protect their com- merce passing through the Channel from the French priva- teers. France, exhausted by the English invasions, by the Black Death, and by her own revolted peasants, with her king, John, a prisoner in London, captured in the battle of John, Poitiers, did, indeed, agree in the treaty of Ere" tigny to grant Guienne in full sovereignty to Edward in return for his sur- render of the title of king of France ; but the treaty was never carried out, and Charles V., the successor of John, after careful preparation, renewed the war.
Success now turned to the French side. Their cause was Charles V., very skilfully managed, allowing no advantage to the Eng- th^ '^^lise' lish, but taking carefully every advantage which they offered. The French Edward III. seems to have lost his mind in his old age, and victorious, the Black Prince was suffering from the disease of which he Kitchin, soon died, so that there was no good leadership on the Eng- lish side to match that on the French. Slowly they were driven back to a small territory near the sea, but the great French city of Bordeaux with the lands around it the French could Natwn'
119—125 ;
not yet recover. In government Charles V. was as skilful Zeiier, VII. as in war. He held the Estates General in check, and laid the foundations of royal independence in taxation and in a standing army, thus advancing greatly the French absolute monarchy.
127. The King of England becomes King of France. — An insane
The reign of Charles V. is a little period of prosperity in kingt
France between two long periods of disaster and suffering. Charles VI.,
His son, Charles VI., was insane during the most of his Kitchin,
reign, and the nation was divided into factions contending France,
for power and finally fighting with one another in open civil 2eUer~v?ii •
war. England, during the same time, was hardly in better Monstreiet, '
condition, and the war between the two countries was practi- Chronicles,
TJl- T ^A^
cally suspended. At last Henry V. came to the throne in especially England, young and full of ambition, and he was tempted Chaps, by the helpless state of France to renew the war and to 36> I46' alo>
132 Formation of the French Nation [§§ 128, 129
Henry V. of England almost com- pletes the conquest of France. Church, Henry V. (Macmillan) ; Kitchin, France, I. 500-512.
The tide turned against the English. Lowell, Joan of Arc, (Houghton) ; Green, Eng- lish People, I-552-558; Kitchin, France, I. 522-539. Monstrelet, Chronicles, Bk. II., first successes, Chaps.
57-64 1 capture, 86 ; trial, 105.
hope that he might really make himself king of that country.
Everything went at first in his favor. He won the great victory of Agincourt, which was almost a repetition of those of Cre"cy and Poitiers ; he occupied the whole northern and southwestern parts of France, including Paris. The duke of Burgundy, one of the most powerful princes of the time, went over to his side, partly because his father had been murdered by the leaders of the opposite faction, the Or- leanist, and partly because the commercial connection be- tween England and Flanders, which was now under his rule, was still so strong ; and finally the court party, the queen acting in the name of the insane king, recognized his right to the throne in succession to Charles VI. Henry died before Charles, but his son, Henry VI., was crowned king of France in Paris. The English soon after laid siege to Orleans, and, if it should fall, apparently all France would be theirs, and Charles VII., the rightful king, would be forced to seek refuge abroad.
128. Joan of Arc. — At this moment appeared Joan of Arc, a simple country girl, who was fully persuaded that she was called by divine voices, which had spoken to her in visions, to drive out the enemies of France. Her un- wavering belief in herself and her inspired mission restored to the French soldiers and nation the confidence they had lost. The tide began to turn against the English. The siege of Orleans was raised. The way was opened for the crowning of Charles VII. in the city of Rheims, where the French kings had always been crowned. With this event the real work of Joan — the arousing of a national enthusiasm and the restoration of confidence to the French
— was finished ; but very soon after, when she fell into the hands of the English, they foolishly did all that they could to make her leadership permanent by making her a martyr, for they burned her at the stake.
129. The Final Triumph of France. — Nothing which the English could do after this checked the advance of the
§ i3°] Louis XL and Charles the Bold
133
French. Charles VII. followed the methods of his grand- father, Charles V., in conducting the war, and refused to allow the English any advantage in the field. The sym- pathies of the French people behind the English lines were always with the cause of their own nation, and they gave it every assistance possible. Finally the duke of Burgundy abandoned the English side and took up the cause of France. The leaders of the English did as well as they could with a hopeless cause, but step by step they were driven back, till soon after the middle of the century all that they had ever held in France was lost, except the very strong fortress of Calais, which for another century continued to defend the commerce of England passing through the Channel.
Thus ended the long struggle which for 350 years the French kings had renewed in almost every generation to ex- pel the kings of England from the territories of France, and thus was almost completed also the geographical formation of France, as it existed at the beginning of modern history. Three considerable provinces yet remained to be annexed, Burgundy, Provence, and Brittany, but these were all joined to France before the fifteenth century closed.
In the conduct of the government as in that of the war, Charles VII. followed the policy of Charles V. His reign completed the absolute monarchy, freed the king from all outside control, and reduced almost to a form the national legislature, the Estates General, which scarcely ever meet again in French history except in times of civil strife and disorder.
130. Louis XI. and Charles the Bold. — Louis XI. con- tinued the policy of his father with even greater skill and by the methods of a cunning and unprincipled diplomacy. A combination of the princes and great nobles, formed to over- throw if possible the absolute power of the king, he broke up and defeated. The plans also of the dukes of Burgundy to create a strong middle kingdom between France and Germany ended in failure in his reign. The duke Charles
Charles VII., 1422-1461. Masson, Mediceval France (Nations), Chap. XIII.; Zeller, IX.
The geo- graphical completion of France. Kitchin, France, II. 8-15.
The absolute monarchy also com- pleted. Adams, French Nation, I33-I3S.
Louis XI.,
1461-1483.
Masson,
Mediceval
France,
Chap. XIV.
Kitchin, France, II. 53-86, with map;
134
Formation of the French Nation [§ r3°
Com mines, Memoirs (Holm); Zdler, IX.; Scott, Anne of drier stein and {turn/in
/ >Mf 7(1(1 1(/
(novels) ; see p. 301.
Austria ob- tains the Netherlands.
the Bold was defeated by the brave mountaineers of Switzer- land and then slain in battle in an attempt to conquer Lor- raine. At once Louis seized upon the duchy of Burgundy as a vacant fief of the crown, and he was strong enough to retain it, though Mary of Burgundy kept possession of Flan- ders and the other territories of her father and carried them to the house of Austria by her marriage with Maximilian I. With the next reign, that of Charles VIII., France passes into the current of a new age, the age of transition to mod- ern history.
Topica
What was the situation of tin- lirst Capetian kings in France ? What was the task before them and what were its especial difficulties ? How much was accomplished by Louis VI. ? Of what territories was Fleanor heiress f What led to her marriage with Henry II.? The effect of this marriage on the position ol the < 'apetians in France. The policy of Philip II. against the Knglish. What gave him his opportunity and what did he gain from it ? What did France gain from the Alhigensian crusade ? Why was this a crusade ? The institutional beginning under Philip II. Why was Louis IX. rightly eanoni/.cd ? How did he strengthen the royal power i What new institutions under Philip IV. ? Why could he not push the conquest of the Knglish lands ? The "Salic law." What reasons had Philip VI. for beginning the Hun- dred Years' NVar f The character of (he lirst period of the war. The treaty of Bretigny. The policy and successes of Charles V. The con- dition of France under ( 'harles VI. Why was Henry V. able so nearly toeon<|iier France ? The situation when Joan of An' appeared. What did she do for the French ? The result of the war. How nearly was France now completed geographically? How nearly was France an absolute monarchy ? The plans of Charles the Hold. What became of his lands ?
Topics for Assigned Studies
The long-how. Oman, Art of J!'<n; Hooks VII., VITT. Archery (Badminton Library; Longmans), 105-120. Social England, II.
1 7.!- 1 74. 1 )ovle. 'I'hf ll'/iiff Company (novel).
The battles of Crecv and Poitiers. Oman, .-/;•/ of Ifiir, 600-615, 625- <>}|. Warburton, /• </;i'<;r«/ //A, loi-iu, I54-I(>2. (Ireen, Eng- lish People, \. 410 ft. In Froissart's Chronicles, Book I.
The Capetian Kings of France
135
The Capetian Kings of Franco
Hugh Capet, 987. Robert, 996. Henry I., 1031. Philip I., 1060. Louis VI., 1108. Louis VII., 1137. Philip II., 1180. Louis VIII., 1223.
Louis IX., 1226.
I Philip III., 1270.
Philip IV., 1285. I
I I I I
Louis X., Philip V., Charles IV., Isabella. 1314. 1316. 1322. |
Edward III. of England.
Charles of Valois. Philip VI., 1328. John, 1350. Charles V., 1364. Charles VI., 1380. Charles VII., 1422, Louis XL, 1461. Charles VIII., 1483.
CHAPTER VIII
ENGLAND
Books for Reference and Further Reading
Stubbs, Constitutional History of England. 3 vols. (Clarendon;
$2.60 each.) Also full on the political history. Round, Feudal England. (Lond., Sonnenschein ; I2s. 6d.~) —Geoffrey
de Mandeville. (Longmans; $5.00.) Critical studies on the Nor- man period. Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings. 2 vols. (Macmillan;
$5.00.) Wylie, History of England iinder Henry IV. 4 vols. (Longmans ;
$20.50.) Very detailed study of the first Lancastrian. Ramsay, Lancaster and York. 2 vols. (Clarendon; $9.00.) The
fifteenth century. Very fully and carefully studied, especially
military affairs. The Paston Letters. Edition of Gairdner. 3 vols. (Macmillan; $6.00.)
Edition of Fenn. (Bohn.) Very interesting pictures of life at
about the middle of the fifteenth century. Gardiner, Atlas of English History. (Longmans; $1.50.) A very
helpful little atlas.
On all points of English history constant reference should be made to the articles in the Dictionary of National Biography (Macmillan, $3.75 per volume), many of which contain the best accounts we now have of their portions of the history.
A contrast to 131. General Character of English History. — English his-
French ^ory follows a very different course from that of France.
Adams ^ne government which had been established by the Norman
Civilization, conquest was a strong and powerful monarchy. All the land
188,3396°. of England was subject to it, and the feudal barons had no
independent political rights. Geographically while the Ca-
petian kings were creating France, the kings of England
were losing their French territories, and were extending their
136
§§ i32> J33l Henry IL Abroad and at Home 137
rule over Wales and into Ireland, and were trying to do the same in Scotland. In the growth of the English constitu- tion, also, the process was in contrast to that in France, for instead of growing more absolute the English kings were growing less so, and the new government machinery which The forming was coming into use was placing all the time more and more °** ^^ nt limitations on the exercise of their will. This constitutional side of English history is, however, so important for us be- cause it is the constitution we have inherited, that we shall study it by itself.
132. Period of the Norman Kings. — William the Con- Thedis- queror had been followed as king of England by two of his
sons in succession, William II. and Henry I., and both had reign,
ruled as very strong kings. Henry I. left no son, and he «35-"54'
had pledged the English barons to accept his daughter Ma- Chronicles in
tilda as their sovereign, but on his death her cousin Stephen, Bohn :
who was a brilliant and popular young man, persuaded them William of
to place him on the throne instead. He proved to be a J^^- UTy'
very weak king, and during his reign there were great dis- Henry of
orders in England, partly because the king could not control f^ngdo11'
the turbulent barons, and partly because Matilda and her R0ger d'e
party were continually trying to get the throne away from Hoveden, I.
him. Matilda had married Geoffrey, count of Anjou, and g^^5s4'
finally their son Henry, who had invaded England, entered piantagenets
into a treaty by which Stephen was to remain king as long as (Epochs), he should live and on his death Henry was to succeed him.
133. Henry II. Abroad and at Home. — Within a few Henry IL, months Stephen died, and Henry of Anjou became Henry II. ^^T^ents of England. He ruled wide lands on the continent, as has on the judi- been described in connection with French history, but his cial reforms, real power was much less than it seemed, for the French j"5^^. barons were turbulent and hard to control, and in the last penn.'i., part of his reign his wife and his sons were continually at No- 6i Hen< war with him, so that none of his plans for the extension of
his power in France was successful. In England his chief work was to institute a system of king's or national courts with judges going about from county to county both to try cases
138
England
[§
St. Thomas of Canter- bury.
Button, St. Thomas of Canterbury (Contempo- raries).
and to hold the sheriffs to their duties as the ad- ministrative and financial officers of the State. This led him to try to limit the independence of the Church courts and brought on a quarrel with his former friend Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. Angry words which he spoke in a moment of passion led to the murder of the archbishop, and Henry was forced by popu- lar feeling to yield something of his demands, but the organi- zation which he gave to the law courts of the State is still to
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL be seen in OUr
judicial system,
and several of the judicial institutions whose growth he encouraged, like the jury, we have still in use.
134, 135]
Henry s Two Sons
139
134. England and Ireland. — The English claim to rule Ireland dates from the reign of Henry II. The island was at this time in a very backward condition both in civilization and in religion, and the popes were anxious to bring the Irish Church into better order if possible. Almost at the beginning of Henry's reign Pope Adrian IV. is said to have issued a bull giving Henry the right to enter Ireland and take possession of it, based on the claim of the popes to all islands. It was many years before Henry found opportunity to go himself to the island, but Norman barons had begun to go over earlier and to enter into alliances with the native chiefs, and in this way to form little principalities for them- selves. It was probably this fact more than any other which finally determined Henry to cross into Ireland. He received the submission of the Normans and of some of the native chiefs, and began the reform of the Church, but his stay was very short, and all that he did amounted to no more than to establish a claim which future conquest might make a reality.
135. Henry's Two Sons. — Two of Henry's sons, Richard and John, reigned after him and were both very bad kings. Richard had little interest in England as compared with the crusade or with the more exciting feudal life of his French possessions. England was of use to him mainly as a place from which to draw money, and he did not hesitate to sell for cash almost any valuable right, among others the claim of the English kings to the overlordship of Scotland which had come down from Anglo-Saxon times.
John's government led to more open opposition because he was himself more openly tyrannical. The increasing ex- penses of the State forced him to try to provide a secure national income, that is, to begin a system of regular taxation, and this could not be done without a violation of some of the fundamental principles of the feudal law. The angry barons found an ally in the most powerful of the popes, Innocent III., who made an issue with the king over the right of appointment to the archbishopric of Canterbury. Finally, to avoid the consequences of yielding in England,
The begin- ning of the occupation of Ireland. Green, Henry II., Chap. VIII.; Green, English People, I. 175-178.
Adrian's bull,
Henderson, p. 10; Barnard, Strongholds Conquest of Ireland (Contempo- raries).
Richard I., 1189-1199. Stubbs, Plantagenets , Chap. VI. ; chronicles in Bohn; Scott, Ivanhoe (novel).
John,
1199-1216.
Stubbs,
Plantagenets^
Chap. VII.;
chronicles
in Bohn ;
Shakspere,
King John
(drama).
John's grant to the pope.
140
England
[§136
Gee and
Hardy, 75 ; Henderson, 430; Stubbs, 284.
Forced to sign the Magna Charta. Roger of Wendover (Bohn), II. 303-324.
Edward L, 1272-1307. Legislation, Tout, Edward 1. (Macmillan), Chap. VII.; Social Eng- land, II. 32-38 ; Stubbs, 457, 469, 478 ; Henderson, 148 ff.
The con- quest of Wales. Tout,
Edward /., Chap. VI.
The con- quest of Scotland. Tout,
Edward /., Chaps. X. and XII.; Stubbs, Plantagenets, Chap. XL ; Green, English People, I.
John gave up to the pope and became his vassal for the king- dom of England, one of the most signal triumphs of the papacy in the field of its political claims. But the advantage which John gained from this step was only temporary. The great plan which he formed to recover the lands which he had lost in France and to overcome all his enemies in alli- ance with Flanders and with his nephew, the Guelf em- peror Otto IV., was defeated by the great victory of Philip II. in the battle of Bouvines, and John was soon forced by the barons of England to sign the Magna Charta, the be- ginning of the conscious growth of the English limited monarchy.
136. The Greatest of the Angevin Kings. — Henry III. was a weak king, greatly under the influence of favorites, and his long reign was full of civil strife, of importance chiefly in the constitutional history of England. His son, Edward L, in marked contrast to Henry, was one of the greatest of English kings. He was as much a lawyer's king as his contemporary Philip IV. of France, and has been called the English Justinian, but in the political history of England he ranks as conquering king. In the first part of his reign the conquest of Wales, which had long been linger- ing, was at last completed and the country brought finally under English rule and law. As an honor to his new sub- jects, Edward's son Edward was made the first Prince of Wales.
The conquest of Scotland, which Edward later undertook, was not so easy a matter. A disputed succession there gave him an opportunity to interfere and to reassert the over- lordship of the English kings, and when he attempted to make his supremacy a real one, even Balliol, whom he had made king, turned against him. Edward's armies were victorious in the field, but the conquest of the people was another matter. Wallace, whom Scotland afterward ideal- ized and turned into a national hero, made a brave defence, but one marked by all the horrors of savage warfare, and Bruce, the national candidate for the throne, though for a
§ 136] The Greatest of the Angevin Kings 141
long time on the side of Edward, at last took the lead 341 ft,
against the invader. At one time it seemed as if Edward *%£
had incorporated Scotland, as well as Wales, into England, the Bruce
but just before his death a new insurrection of Bruce's (Heroes),
called him into the field. Matthew of
THE TOWER OF LONDON
The king of the next generation, Edward II., displayed Westminster
all the weak and bad traits of the Angevin family. He lost (Bohn), II.
all that his father had gained, wasted the revenues of the ^ ? '
State, and allowed his favorites to govern as they would in I307_I327.''
his place and to enrich themselves. In the end his wife Marlowe,
142
England
[§§ i37, 138
Edward II. (drama).
Edward III.. 1327-1377. A brilliant age.
Warburton, Edward III. (Epochs) ; Ward, Life of Chaucer (Harper) ; Social
England, II. 202-231 ; Chaucer's Prologue (Clarendon); Ashley, Edward III. and his Wars
(Contempo- raries).
A rapid decline.
Skeat, Piers the Plowman (Claren- don) ; Smith, Troublous Days of Richard II. (Contempo- raries).
Henry V., 1413-1422. Church, Henry V. (Macmil- lan) ; Gaird- ner, Lancas- ter and York
joined the opposition to him and he was forced to yield the throne to his son, Edward III.
137. The Hundred Years' War. — Nearly all the reign of Edward III. was filled with the great Hundred Years' War with France, of which we have had the story elsewhere. It was for a time the most brilliant age that England had seen. The surprising victories which were won in France and Scotland and other successes wakened a new national pride and enthusiasm ; many were enriched by the plunder brought home from abroad ; there was also much commer- cial activity ; and life was easy and bright. This reflects itself in the first great age of English literature, especially in the poems of Chaucer, which give us such interesting pic- tures of English life in this age, filled with the spirit of the genial poet who had such an intense enjoyment of life in the world and of the world itself.
But the last part of Edward's reign was clouded with many misfortunes. England suffered from the Black Death as severely as France, and the peasants here also, believing that they were wrongfully oppressed by the land-owners, took arms and tried to better their condition in a hopeless civil war which is known as Wat Tyler's insurrection. Lang- land's poems, contemporary with Chaucer's but seeing rather the hard side of life, give us many pictures of the wretched condition of the lower classes. At the same time the English arms abroad were meeting with constant ill-for- tune from the new military methods of Charles V. of France. The next generation under Edward's grandson, Richard II., is one of party strife and revolution, mainly of interest in the history of the English constitution, and it resulted in the accession of the house of Lancaster to the throne.
138. The House of Lancaster. — With the second Lancas- trian king, Henry V., a young and ambitious sovereign be- gan to reign, who could not resist the temptation which divided and distracted France offered, and he invaded that unhappy country apparently with the full intention of mak- ing himself its king. This war fills his reign and almost the
§ 138] The House of Lancaster 143
whole of that of his son, Henry VI., and ended at last, as it (Epochs),
deserved to, in failure and the loss of the lands in France S?a£'V';,
which the English kings had held so long. plays on tt
Henry VI. was weak in mind — he was the grandson of whole
Charles VI. of France — and not able to rule the State with Penod- a strong hand. The long course of disasters in France,
THE GREAT SEAL OF ENGLAND
which no one seemed able to check, gave rise to much Henry VI., popular dissatisfaction with the government and made it I422-i46i. easy to form a strong opposition party. The king's uncle, the duke of Gloucester, was a man of selfish ambition, dis- appointed because he did not possess the power in the State Social Eng- which he thought he ought to have, and he did not hesitate land> n- to make himself the leader of the discontented party. The Gairdner, strife between this opposition party and the government grew Lancaster
144
England
C§i39
and York,
134-159 ;
Green,
English People, I. 547 ff-, 559 #•
The charac- ter of the war. Gairdner,
Lancaster and York, 161 ff. ; Ramsay, Lancaster and York,- Thompson, Wars of York and Lancaster (Contempo- raries).
The Yorkist kings. Stevenson, The Black Arrow ; Church, Chantry, Priest of Barnet, Bulwer, Last of the Barons (novels).
Bosworth Field, 1485.
more and more bitter as time went on. On the death ot the duke of Gloucester, his place as leader was taken by the duke of York, whose title by descent to the throne was better than that of the king. Soon the strife became one for the control of the government, for the king's mind was gone, and it rapidly passed into actual civil war.
139. The Wars of the Roses. — This was the beginning of the Wars of the Roses, between the houses of York and Lancaster, though the duke of York did not advance his claim to the throne until after the opening battles of the war had been fought. At first Parliament refused to enter- tain his claim, but after his death his son boldly proclaimed himself king as Edward IV. The civil war which followed was a war of the nobles and their retainers. The nation at large had comparatively little interest in it, and though there was unusual slaughter of the leaders, quarter not often being given, the general suffering and destruction of property was not great.
Edward IV. was a vigorous and able king who ruled with a strong hand, as was his brother, Richard III., who obtained the crown by putting his nephews out of the way. All the princes of the house of Lancaster had now been killed except the young Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, who had been sent to France for safety when a boy. There he waited for his opportunity, which came with the growing unpopularity of Richard. When he knew that the time was ripe in England he landed with a small force, was soon joined by many opposed to the king, and advancing to meet Richard won the decisive battle of Bosworth Field, in which Richard was killed, and was at once recognized as King Henry VII.
Topics 145
Topics
Compare the general course of English history with that of France. The character of Stephen's reign. What things hampered the plans of Henry II. abroad? His chief work at home. The quarrel with Archbishop Thomas. The beginning of English rule in Ireland. The character of Henry's sons. Why did John become the vassal of the pope? What events in England followed the battle of Bouvines? What conquests were made by Edward I.? How was Scotland lost? The character of the first part of Edward III.'s reign. Of the second part. How did the house of Lancaster gain the throne? How did party strife begin in the reign of Henry VI.? How did this lead to the Wars of the Roses? The character of this war. The government of the Yorkist kings. The accession of Henry VII.
Topics for Assigned Studies
Thomas a Becket. Green, Henry //., Chap. VII. Stubbs, Plantagc- nets, Chap. IV. Green, English People, I. 164-170. Froude, Thomas a Becket. (Longmans; 6 sh.) Freeman, Historical Essays, II. Roger de Hoveden (Bohn), I. 335-341. Roger of Wendover (Bohn), II. 15-19. Documents in Stubbs, 135 ff. Gee and Hardy, 68 ff. Henderson, 1 1 fi. Penn. I., No. 6.
The Black Death and its effects. Jessopp, in the Coming of the Friars. (Putnam.) Social England, II. 133-146. Rogers' Six Centuries of Work and Wages (Putnam), Chaps. VIII. and IX. Sergeant, Wyclif (Heroes), Chap. XV. The Statute of Laborers. Hender- son, 165. Penn. II., No. 6.
Shakspere's character of Richard III. Gairdner, Richard III. (Longmans.) Gairdner, Lancaster and York, 210-227. Social England, II. 318-319. Henry Cabot Lodge in Scribner's Maga- zine, February, 1897, presents very vigorously, but with some exaggeration, the argument against Shakspere's portrait.
146 England
The Kings of England
William I., 1066.
I
I I I
William II., Henry I., noo. Adela. 1087. | |
Matilda. Stephen, 1035.
Henry II., 1154. Richard I., 1189. John, 1199. Henry III., 1216. Edward I., 1272. Edward II., 1307. Edward III., 1327.
Edward, the Lionel. John, duke of Lancaster. Edmund, duke of York,
Black Prince. | |
| 1 1 Richard, m. heiress of
Richard II., Henry IV., 1399. John Beaufort. Lionel.
Henry V., 1413. John. Richard, duke of York.
Henry VI., 1422. Margaret, m.
Edmund Tudor. Edward IV., Richard III.,
| 1461. 1483.
Henry VI I., 1485. |
Edward V., 1483.
CHAPTER IX
THE OTHER STATES OF EUROPE
140. The Situation in Germany and Italy. — The long NO national conflict between the Empire and the Papacy, which had govern- grown out of their rival claims to the headship of the Chris- Adams, tian world, left behind it only the ruins of a national gov- Civilization, ernment in Germany, and hardly so much as this in Italy. 3s6 ff> Both countries were hopelessly divided into many small states, whose governments were really independent, but no one of these, with the possible exception of some of the great city states of Italy, had size or strength enough to take rank among the states of Europe until towards the close of the Middle Ages.
Immediately after the fall of the great Hohenstaufen The "Great dynasty, a little after the middle of the thirteenth century, Inter' came a period which is known as the Great Interregnum. 1256^1273. It was not strictly an interregnum, for there were emperors Henderson, in name, but they were foreign princes, like the king of Ge^afy> Castile and Richard, the brother of Henry III. of England, and they made no attempt to rule Germany. The period fills a whole generation, and in it Germany grew accustomed to the absence of any national government, and to the exercise of all sovereign rights by the rulers of the small States. National
So firmly intrenched was this local independence at the fmpoTsrbiTin close of this generation that no later emperor ever made Germany, any attempt to break it down, but all recognized the impossi- Bryce- Holy
, .,. - . . , , Roman Em-
bmty of reconstructing a strong national government, and pire chey all made use of the opportunity which the office of Chap. XV.
147
148
The Other States of Europe [§§ 141, H2
Rudolf of
Hapsburg,
1273-1291.
Lewis,
Germany
(Harper),
239-243.
Ottokar of
Bohemia.
A war of
Slavs and
Germans.
Maurice,
Bohemia
(Nations),
80-106.
The house of
Luxemburg.
Lewis,
Germany,
249 ff. ;
Leger,
Austro-
Hungary
(Putnam),
Chap. XL;
map,
Putzger,
No. 18.
emperor afforded them to create a family state of their own, or to enlarge and strengthen the one already possessed by their house. The greatest of the states created in this way was Austria, which came in the end to be one of the great powers of Europe.
141. The Foundation of Austria. — The founder of Austria was Rudolf of Hapsburg, who was elected emperor at the end of the Great Interregnum. He was before his election a mere count with small possessions and little power, and this was very likely the reason why the electors chose him for emperor, but he was a man of much vigor and strength of character, and would perhaps have made a great emperor in better times. In his reign the long conflict of the Slav and the German for the possession of the border lands be- tween them broke out into open war. Ottokar II., king of Bohemia, had brought under his rule a powerful dominion on the borders of Germany and had even added to it some German territories in the southeast, including the duchy of Austria. It seemed as if the tide, which had long been running steadily in favor of the Germans, might be turning, and a Slavic dynasty be about to rule over German lands. But this did not prove to be the case. When Ottokar re- fused to do homage to Rudolf for the lands he held of the Empire, all Germany supported the emperor in his war upon him. Ottokar was defeated and deprived of his German territories, and the larger share of these Rudolf bestowed upon his own sons. In this way Austria came into the possession of the house of Hapsburg, which still retains it.
142. A Period of Many Dynasties. — The electors feared probably that the Hapsburg family had gained a dangerous power under Rudolf, for they were unwilling to continue it in the possession of the Empire, and for a century and a half there was no settled dynasty of emperors. But the other houses all followed the example of the Hapsburgs. The most important of them was the Luxemburg family, whose first emperor was Henry VII., from whom Dante
§ H3] The Hussite War 149
hoped to see the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire in Italy. To him the opportunity came to marry his son to the granddaughter and heiress of Ottokar II., and so to obtain all that remained of his dominions. This appeared to be a greater gain thnn even that which Rudolf had made, but the house of Luxemburg was not destined to a long life, and all that it brought together went at last by marriage and inheritance to swell the possessions of the Hapsburgs.
143. The Hussite War. — The last of the Luxemburg John HUSS. emperors, Sigismund, was involved in another long Slavic Maurice, war, which has a double meaning, as in part a war between chaps" vi I the races and in part a great religious war. John Huss, a andvill.; professor in the university of Prague, who had read the p°ole- books of Wycliffe of England, and learned to believe in ^^-^ his teachings in opposition to the doctrines of the Catholic Church, began to teach them in Bohemia and obtained many followers among the people. Finally this movement became so nearly a rebellion against the Church that the great council which had been called together at Constance to settle the troubles in regard to the papacy summoned Huss to come before them and explain his teachings. He went under the promise of a safe return from the emperor, but was condemned by the council and burned at the stake.
His followers in Bohemia took arms to defend their faith, A national and a war of twenty years began. It came in the end to and religious be really a war for the national independence of Bohemia, Maurice which had now been for a century under German kings, but Bohemia, the religious cause furnished additional inspiration and SJapj' IX~ enthusiasm. In spite of their bravery and of their desper- Austro- ate resistance the Hussites were at last subdued, partly Hungary, because they were not united among themselves ; but ap' though they continued to be ruled by German kings, the Church granted them some concessions in matters of reli- gious practice which they were willing to accept. Once The conflict
6 . L -n t • j of Slav and
again in later times the Bohemians attempted to secure German not national independence by war and failed, and it is only yet ended.
150
The Other States of Europe
[§i44
The Ger- mans win Slavic lands by coloniza- tion.
Tuttle, His- tory of Prussia (Houghton), I. 112-118; Lewis, Germany, 229 ff.
The Hohen- zollern create modern Prussia out of Branden- burg. Tuttle, Prussia, I. 64-70.
Switzerland. Putzger, No. 18, side map.
within the past few years that by peaceable means, through the introduction of democratic institutions and a constitu- tion, they have begun to drive the Germans out of power. This conflict, which has lasted so many centuries, is still being waged with great bitterness on both sides, but the ultimate victory seems now likely to fall to the Slav.
In another portion of the -Slavic world, on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea, the Germans were winning large territories during these centuries. This was in the main by peaceful colonization under the direction of the Order of the Teutonic Knights. From this colonization came the Baltic provinces of Prussia, and also those of Russia which are German, all territory that was once Slavic.
144. The Rise of Other German States. — The founda- tions of the great state which we now call Prussia, as well as those of Austria, were laid in this period. The central territory around which other lands were gradually gathered by the house of Hohenzollern to form the modern kingdom was the electorate of Brandenburg. This state was granted early in the fifteenth century to Frederick of Hohenzollern by the emperor Sigismund, first as security for a loan and later in full possession. The Hohenzollern princes managed their new dominion with great care and skill and began at once the process of enlargement by the annexation of neighboring lands, which they have continued down to the present time.
Another state whose history is interesting, the republic of Switzerland, has its origin in this period. The Austrian princes had some lands and feudal rights in the neighbor- hood of the three original cantons, Uri, Schwyz, and Unter- walden. and they naturally tried to extend these and to form out of them a little state of which they should have the political sovereignty, as many princes were doing in other parts of Germany. Here, however, they had to deal with a people who had long been free and accustomed to rule themselves. The Swiss did not propose to submit to any foreign rule, and they defended their mountain
§§145,146] Spain 151
valleys with success against all the strength of Austria. After generations wove many stirring legends about this early struggle for independence, some of which Schiller used as the foundation of his great drama " Wilhelm Tell." j
145. Italy. — In Italy there was even less pretence of re- The en> spect for the emperors' authority than in Germany. Those perors less who went to Rome to be crowned were not allowed to inter- JhanTn' fere in the actual government of the states. They might Germany.
sell or give away titles and even valuable rights, but they Adai7ns> .
J . J Civilization,
could exercise no real power themselves, and sometimes 36offi,
the cities treated them with open contempt and insult. Almost the whole of north Italy was divided among the city states which were constantly contending with one an- other for the enlargement of their territories or for com- mercial supremacy. The most powerful of these states were Venice, Milan, Florence, and Genoa, though the power of the last was rapidly declining at the close of this period.
In government many changes occurred in these city states The leading after the middle of the thirteenth century. Venice became ^es of a close oligarchy, Milan a monarchy under the Visconti, and later under the Sforza family, and in Florence, where there was more of a tendency towards democracy than in the cities generally, the Medici family were able to establish a virtual monarchy through the forms of the Republic. In the south the Norman kingdom of Sicily, which the Hohen- staufen had possessed, was divided into two during the most of this age. In the island of Sicily, the house of Aragon, which claimed to represent the Hohenstaufen, succeeded in establishing itself; but on the mainland, the house of Anjou, which had been called in by the popes, was in power. In this way there came to be two kingdoms of Sicily. Cen- tral Italy was still a loose and unorganized monarchy with the pope as its sovereign.
146. Spain. — Spain did not come into existence as a The growth
united state until the accession of Ferdinand and Isabella and union
IT r i f f i i- i • /-»°f the states
in the last part of the fifteenth century. Its history for the Of Spain.
preceding seven hundred years had been filled with war-
152
The Other States of Europe
[§i47
Watts,
Christian
Recovery of
Spain
(Nations) ;
Lane-Poole,
Moors
(Nations) ;
Tout,
Periods,
Chap. XX.
Spanish character made by Spanish history.
A second race of Turks. Creasy, Ottoman Turks (Holt) ; Freeman, Ottoman Power (Macmil- lan) ; Lane- Poole, Turkey (Nations).
Fall of Con- stantinople. Gibbon, Chap. LXVIII.; Freeman, Ottoman
fare with the Moors or with dynastic conflicts. At the time of the Mohammedan conquest at the beginning of the eighth century, some bits of northern Spain had remained unconquered. Later, Charlemagne had recovered a part of northeastern Spain from the Saracens. In these territories several little Christian states arose and began the long task of driving out the Moors. Five of these, beginning earlier or later, have a long history. They are, in order from the east, Aragon, Navarre, Castile, Leon, and Portugal. Na- varre was early shut out from any chance of further expan- sion when the territories of Aragon and Castile came together on its southern frontier, and Leon was finally absorbed by Castile, but three large states remained until the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile created the kingdom of Spain. The predominantly military and reli- gious character of Spanish history, during so many centuries of conflict with the Moors, had made the nation a brave and high-spirited race of soldiers, devotedly attached to the Church, and this is the character with which Spain enters upon the next age of history.
147. The Rise of the Ottoman Empire. — In the south- east of Europe, events occurred during this period which have been followed by the most important consequences down to the present time. We have already had the his- tory of the rise into power of the Seljuk Turks in the eastern caliphate and of their conflicts with the crusaders. About the beginning of the fourteenth century, another tribe of Turks — the Osmanlis or Ottomans — began to found an empire in western Asia Minor. They were a race of fine soldiers, and one of their early rulers organized the dreaded corps of the Janissaries, composed of Christian boys brought up by their captors as Mohammedans and trained to a mili- tary life under the strictest discipline. Soon after the mid- dle of the century, the Turks had obtained a footing on the European side of the straits, and from that point their do minion spread rapidly over the Greek lands and up into the Danube valley. Before very long the Eastern Empire was
§ H7] The Rise of the Ottoman Empire
153
reduced to a little territory about Constantinople, and in 1453 that city also was captured, and the Roman Empire in the East brought to an end, after surviving for a thou- sand years the fall of the Empire in the West. The Turks were not as yet satisfied with the conquests which they had made, and their attempts to force their way into central Europe are important elements in the history of the next age.
Power,
114-120;
Lane-Poole,
Turkey,
102-133 5
Oman,
Byzantine
Empire,
Chap.
XXVI.
CARVING FROM A MOSLEM SCREEN
154 The Other States of Europe
Topics
Why had Germany and Italy failed to obtain national governments? The " Great Interregnum." The policy followed by the later emperors? How did the Hapsburgs obtain Austria? What possessions were ob- tained by the Luxemburg family? Where did these finally go? What wars between Slav and Germans in this period? What other ques- tion in the Hussite war? How, besides by war, did the Germans gain Slavic land, and where? How did the Hohenzollern family gain Brandenburg? The origin of Switzerland. The leading states of Italy and their governments. What difference between the north and the south of Italy? The origin of the Spanish states. What two processes run through Spanish history? When and how was modern Spain formed? The effect of Spanish history on Spanish character. The rise of the Ottoman Empire.
Topics for Assigned Studies
The freeing of Switzerland. Buchheim, Wilhelm Tell. (Clarendon.)
Introduction, pp. xxxviii-lxii. Hug and Stead, Switzerland
(Nations), Chaps. X. and XI. The character of the Cid. Clarke, The Cid. (Heroes.) Watts,
Christian Recovery of Spain (Nations), Chap. III. Lane-
Poole, Moors of Spain (Nations), 191-213. The regulation of the German electorate. Bryce, Holy Roman Empire,
225-238. Text in Henderson, 220-261.
Topics for Review
The states which were formed from Charlemagne's empire.
The history of the title " Emperor of Rome " during this period.
What actual power attached to it in different ages?
The experiences of the city of Constantinople during this period. Of
the city of Jerusalem. Compare the political development of the states of England, France,
and Germany. The history of commerce. The position of the working classes, and the influences which affected
them.
The rise of the papacy to European power, The results which followed the crusades.
Important Dates for Review
155
|
»• |
||||
|
*O |
a |
|||
|
\ |
•1 ^ |
1 |
||
|
a K |
1 1 1 |
1 tn |
||
|
H D 55 |
„• d | |
~ s- 1 I |
a |
|
|
X U |
If 1 |
~ s- o -3 Sw a ^ o c '•• ^ |
0 M |
|
|
U M |
li 1 |
o *«• a "^ Jj 3 6 |
| |
|
|
covd cf |
w 4 d * |
CO |
||
|
^N ON CO |
ON O tx w |
xo |
||
|
O O M |
M CJ cT ^- |
Tj- |
||
|
W |
||||
|
| § |
||||
|
. |
£ |
II |
||
|
V |
3 1 |
^ |
||
|
rt ^ |
||||
|
O |
| |
cr c g J |
"C ^ .5 | X « J |
^ fid |
|
O |
r-3 |
C HI |
D O |
^ o ^ |
|
M |
I |
i I r U Z K |
rt j_ o CD tuO > ~ f£ 3 s 3 1 IS |
>, £ >, ^^ |
|
J |
in vo •**• |
10 ci xo M d\ |
ci in in |
|
|
~ |
co ^o m O O JH |
c» m oo |
||
|
O |
a |
|||
|
g |
^ |
a |
||
|
1 OD |
| |
"c I |
1 CX |
|
|
S xu |
rt |
|||
|
| |
1 |
> 5 |
||
|
1 |
•a So 1 "5 0« |
5 >' ri O _,/5 _Q. 1 31 |
d &' "SB'S 1 f 111 J3 £ ffi H |
i J \\ |
|
M M |
ON MM |
1 fit |
o\ w 3- 1- |
|
|
e i) ?S |
di g o |
& .s f 1 1 |
OJ |
|
|
THE EMPIRE, GERMANY AND ITA |
Charlemagne d. Treaty of Verdui Charles the Fat d End of Caroling] Otto I. emperor. |
Henry III. Henry IV. Concordat of W< Frederick I. |
t4i „• « 8 Ef •-1 ffi w .2 -° •§ o | g| 111 1 £ S g K |
34. Hussite war. Hapsburgs obta Netherlands. |
|
•4- co t^, w ci |
& MD ci ci |
O co »H »n |
O\ ts |
|
|
CO 00 00 ON OS |
CO to d lO 2 2 B S |
a & I1 s |
H" £ |
PART III
RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION
Books for Reference and Further Reading
Pastor, History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages. Trans- lated from the German by F. J. Antrobus. (London ; Kegan Paul ; 3 vols., 36^.)
Janssen, History of the German People at the Close of the Middle Ages. (St. Louis ; Herder; 8 vols.; $18.50.)
Both translations from the German as yet unfinished. Pastor is a fine specimen of Catholic scholarship. Janssen, also Catholic, has been very severely criticised, but is very interesting. Creighton, History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of
Rome. 6 vols. (Longmans; $12.00.)
Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy. 7 vols. (Holt ; $14.00.) Con- densed in I vol. by Pearson. (Holt ; $1.75.) Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. 2 vols.
(Macmillan ; $4.00.)
Kostlin, Life of Luther. (Scribner ; $2.50.) Fisher, The Reformation. (Scribner ; $2.50.)
Hausser, The Period of the Reformation. 1517-1648. (Am. Tract Soc.; $2.00.)
University lectures given in 1859, but still a very useful book. Froude, History of England. 12 vols. (Scribner; $18.00.) Busch, England under the Tudors. Vol. I. Henry VII. (1485-1509). Translated from the German by Miss Alice M. Todd and the Rev. A. H. Johnson, M.A., with an Introduction by Mr. James Gairdner, Editor of " The Paston Letters." Demy 8vo, cloth. (London ; Innes ; net 16^.)
Robinson and Rolfe. Petrarch, the First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters. (Putnam ; $2.00.) Translations of Petrarch's letters with notes.
Whitcomb, Source-Book of the Italian Renaissance. (Penn.) An- nounced.
158 The Revival of Learning
SUMMARY
With the beginning of the fifteenth century conditions began to favor a real revival of learning as they had never done before. In the previous century even, the revival had been begun by Petrarch in collecting the Latin classics and awakening a taste for their study. The fifteenth century opened with the revival of Greek and the recovery of the Greek writings. By the middle of the century a true scientific method had been restored, espe- cially in the study of language and of history. Then came at once the invention of printing, which cheapened books immensely and spread the results of the new learning broadcast over Europe. The century closed with the great oceanic discoveries, the sea route to India and the New World. The first generation of the sixteenth century brought the Renaissance to an end, involved in the revolutionary conflicts which followed the Reformation, but not until it had produced its finest product in two directions in the great age of Italian art and in the scientific criticism and earnest practical spirit of Erasmus, and taken the first long step of modern physical science in the work of Copernicus. Mean- while another line of great interest runs through the fifteenth century — the attempt to change the constitution of the Church and to modify some of its teachings. Under the influence of the kings of France the popes had lived for more than half a century at Avignon. The increasing complaints of Europe had led to an attempt to restore the papacy to Rome, but the only result had been to split the Church in two with two opposing popes. Then arose the theory of the supremacy of the general council in the government of the Church, and the attempt to carry this out in the councils of Pisa and of Constance early in the fifteenth century. The council of Constance succeeded in restoring the unity of the Church and almost in providing for regularly recur- ring representative assemblies, which would have changed the constitution of the Church into that of a limited monarchy. Con- temporary with this movement, Wycliflfe in England led a revolt against some of the most characteristic teachings of the medieval Church, and when this failed, John Huss took up the same ideas in Bohemia, where they led to a long religious and race war with the Germans, though Huss himself was burnt as a heretic by the council of Constance. The demand for reform, however, con- tinued to grow stronger throughout the fifteenth century, and at last found its leader in Luther, who opened the Reformation by
§148] A Transitional Epoch 159
posting his theses against the current ideas of indulgences. In the midst of general excitement Luther was gradually led on to a position of open rebellion against the old Church, and when the brilliant assembly of the Diet of Worms failed to overawe him, he was placed under the ban of the Empire. The political situation of Europe was such, however, that Charles V. found no opportunity during the life of Luther to enforce this edict The French, determined rivals for the possession of Italy, maintained at first almost constant war; the pope, anxious to protect the independence of his little state, was a most uncertain ally ; and the Turks on the east threatened the conquest of the whole Danube valley. Charles was obliged for years to suspend the execution of the edict, and finally to make a peace with the Protestants which referred the points in dispute to a general council of the Church. Outside Germany the Scandinavian states adopted the teachings of Luther ; England separated itself from the papacy, and by degrees became Protestant ; from Geneva a new type of Protestantism of a decidedly political and militant sort, taught by Calvin, spread through France and Holland and into England. Hardly was Calvinism well established before European history turned rapidly into the period of the religious wars.
CHAPTER I THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING
148. A Transitional Epoch. — By the beginning of the fif- Gradual teenth century it is evident that the medieval period is draw- character ol ing to a close. It is, of course, not possible to fix upon any transitions exact date when mankind passes out of one great age of its history, which we distinguish as an age by itself because it has certain well-marked and definite characteristics of its own, and goes on into another epoch of the same nature but with different characteristics. Every such transition is a very gradual one and is not perceived by the men who are bringing it about. When we look back upon such a period from a much later time, we can see the passing away of the old characteristic traits and the coming in of the new.
i6o
The Revival of Learning
[§
Character of this age.
Renaissance and Refor- mation.
A second birth. Symonds, Age of the Despots, Chap. I.; Adams, Civilization ,
The fifteenth and the first half or the sixteenth centuries form an age which has many of the marks of such a transi- tional epoch. The old influences and the new are mingled together and are contending with one another for the pos- session of the field. Gradually the new show themselves to be the stronger. Some of the old ideas and institutions give way entirely to new ones ; others are transformed ; others still remain, but under such changed conditions as make them something different from what they were, and new forces come in the end so clearly into the lead as to give their coloring to the times, so that we can see clearly that the world has moved on into a new stage of its history. In every age which is not a time of dead stagnation such changes are going on. But some periods are so revolu- tionary in their character, so full of striking and dramatic changes, that they appear in a peculiar sense epochs of transition.
This is the character of the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth century. The striking changes of this time, affect, as we shall see, almost every department of human activity. In two directions, however, the intellectual and the religious, they were so peculiarly revolutionary as to have given their names to the period. This is the age of the Renaissance and the Reformation. The fifteenth cen- tury is especially characterized by the first, the sixteenth by the second.
149. The Meaning of Renaissance. — The term "Renais- sance " is an especially good one with which to designate the intellectual revolution. It was a new or second birth. The methods of intellectual work, the literary and artistic feel- ing, the way of looking at life and its purposes, which the fifteenth century brought into vogue, were not then intro- duced into human history for the first time. They had all been in use or strongly felt before. But for a long time they had been lost to sight, or the same as lost, and now they were revived. So great was the change, so rich and full was the world into which it introduced mankind, that com-
§§ 150,151] Learning in the Middle Ages
161
mon consent has rightly called it a second birth time of the race.
1 50. The Place of the Middle Ages in History. — Accord- ing to the view of history which is embodied in this word, between the life of the ancient world and the life of the modern there lies a period during which the human mind was unconscious, unconscious of itself and of its powers of what men had already done and of what remained still to do ; a period during which life was not felt, to be so much concerned with this world as with the preparation for another.
Whether this view be a correct one or not, it is certainly true that the Middle Ages are below the level of either ancient or modern times in intellectual civilization. This is probably because it was the period in which the Teutonic barbarians who had taken possession of the West were being raised to a point where they could comprehend and go on with the work of civilization which Greece and Rome had begun. As a distinct period in the history of civilization, therefore, it begins to draw to a close when men begin to appreciate at its true worth the intellectual results of classic times. The fourteenth century is the age in which this appreciation in the true sense begins, and in the fifteenth it becomes more general. This is the age of the revival of learning or of the Renaissance.
151. Learning in the Middle Ages. — It is not true that all knowledge disappeared during the Middle Ages. A very great deal was preserved by the Church, especially in the monasteries, but it took on a peculiar character, not like that of ancient times, and often it was entirely misunder- stood. Greek certainly could be read by here and there a man only, and that very imperfectly. But many of the best Latin writers, like Vergil and Ovid, were in frequent use. Their use, however, was not as literature, but almost wholly as text-books of language and grammar, to teach vocabulary and forms of sentence construction. The literary sense hardly existed at all, or expressed itself feebly and in
Not a period of mental activity. Adams, Civilization, Chap. I.
The civiliz- ing of the Teutonic race.
Formal learning, but no literature.
Symonds, Revival of Learning, 58-69.
1 62
The Revival of Learning
[§152
No science or art.
The ninth century.
The eleventh century.
Poole,
Illustrations of Medieval Thought, 85-101.
strange form in the lives of the saints who wrought wonder- ful miracles, or a little later in the romantic legends of heroes, like Alexander or Arthur, in which perhaps there moved a faint breath of history. Those who attempted to write more formal history slavishly followed one another for the times before their personal knowledge, and the Bible narrative formed the common foundation of all.
With the knowledge of Greek that of the natural sciences also practically disappeared. Most men, even among those who had the education of the times, believed that the earth is round and the centre of the motion of the sun and the planets. Astrology as a means of foretelling the future and alchemy as a search for the philosopher's stone or the elixir of life, came the nearest of anything to real scientific work. Even mathematics fell far behind the point of an- cient knowledge. Art, also, hardly existed outside the Church, which kept alive the tradition of painting in rude altar pictures, and something better in the architecture of the cathedrals, but a true artistic feeling was as rare as the literary.
152. Medieval Revivals. — There was, however, no little progress during the course of the Middle Ages from the lowest point of ignorance, which was reached in the sixth and seventh centuries, and this progress is marked by several epochs of distinct revival which are preliminary to the final one of the fifteenth century. The first of these was Charlemagne's revival of schools, of which we have had the history. Better schools and better Latin style were permanent results of his efforts. At the end of the tenth, and in the first half of the eleventh centuries, there is a second revival in which we can trace a Greek influence coming from the Empire in the East through the marriage connection of Otto II. with the Byzantine court, and an Arab influence from the higher aesthetic and intellectual civilization in. Spain. Sylvester It., who had been the tutor of Otto III., and whose strange learning made people sus- pect him of magic and communication with the Evil One
§ 153] The Age of Scholasticism 163
even after he became pope, is one of the most famous men of this revival. We can trace back into this age also the beginnings of those methods of philosophical speculation which afterwards gave rise to the great systems of schol- asticism.
153. The Age of Scholasticism. — Two centuries later, in The thir- the last part of the twelfth and the first of the thirteenth teenth centuries, occurred a still more active and interesting re- pishe^' vival. The intellectual keenness and vigor of the time has Christian scarcely ever been surpassed. Mind was, indeed, far in ^^'. advance of the materials with which it had as yet to work, Bacon, and of the general preparation in other directions for a Advancement true revival. The characteristics also of the leaders were purely intellectual without those artistic and literary ele- iv. 5. ments which seem to have been necessary to the Renais- sance. Material limited to a single line, and a passion for abstract speculation determined the character of the epoch. It was the great age of Scholasticism.
The influence of one side of the Arabian civilization, the The scho- philosophical, was strongly felt in this period. Through lastlc them came a knowledge of much more of the Greek philos- * ophy than had been known to the earlier Middle Ages. It was still an incomplete and very one-sided knowledge. It was Aristotle without Plato, and of Aristotle it was his for- mal or deductive logic almost alone. This fell in very well, however, with the tendencies of the time, which, from the fact that almost all educated men were interested first of all in theology, were chiefly speculative. The rules of de- ductive logic were a sufficient guide in the construction of great systems of thought from the foundation of doctrine which the Church supplied in the works of the early fathers, and Aristotle, as the great teacher of logic, acquired an ab- solute authority which no one could dispute. In the field of theology this was one of the greatest age's of history and has had a decisive influence on all later thinking. St. Thomas Aquinas, who was probably the highest product of the time, put into definite form the great Catholic doc-
1 64
The Revival of Learning
[§i54
Rise of the
universities. Foundation charter of Heidelberg. Henderson, 262 ff.
trines, and exercises still an influence hardly equalled in this field.
154. The Founding of the Universities. — In another di- rection the age of Scholasticism exerted a permanent influ- ence upon the intellectual history of the world. This was in the organization of the universities of Europe. The in- tense eagerness to learn which characterized the times,
ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD
seized upon the best of the already existing schools and transformed them. The number of the students grew enormously, and at the same time the number and the skill of the teachers. The branches of learning began to be dif- ferentiated from one another, and teachers and students to specialize in their studies. New methods of study were also introduced — dialectics in theology and the use of Justin- ian's code in law. With the increase in numbers, these schools took on a more definite organization and became
§ I55l The Renaissance comes first in Italy 165
great self-governing communities of a democratic cast, or at least democratic after a certain stage in the course of edu- cation had been reached. Together they formed, indeed, a kind of international community, with a common lan- guage, very frequent migration from one to another, and a recognized standing in any one for those who held the degrees of another. In most of these universities, the student life and much of the instruction centred in the col- lege system, which survives to-day in the English univer- sities.
There was so much that was truly scientific both in No true ideal and in method in these schools that it seems strange • revival of that they did not lead to a complete revival of learning. The reasons for the failure are the same as those given for that of the thirteenth-century movement as a whole, — the lack of material, the need of a more general preparation, and the absence of a literary sense. Scholasticism seized upon the universities and intrenched itself so strongly in them that when the true revival came it found there its bitterest opponents.
155. The Renaissance comes first in Italy. — The Re- Conditions naissance waited some generations longer before the general ™ost favora<
0 ble in Italy,
conditions became favorable. It was in Italy that the prep- aration was first made. Here the constantly extending commerce of two or three centuries had led to great accum- ulation of wealth, the growth of great cities, and the collect- ing together of the materials of culture. These were soon followed by the awakening of a literary and artistic feeling, the growth of a native literature and art, and the perception of the fact that there had been, long before, ages of high culture, and great writers and artists. Italy led all Europe in the Renaissance because these conditions were first combined in that country.
In Italy, indeed, one of the greatest works of modern Dante, literature precedes the real revival of ancient learning. I265-i32i- If there show themselves in Dante a more human and in- timate feeling for the ancient world and its great men, a
166
The Revival of Learning
[§156
The work of
Petrarch,
1304-1374.
Symonds,
Revival of
Learning,
70-98 ;
Adams,
Civilization,
375-377-
Th e begin- ning of Renaissance art.
closer and more kindly observation of nature, and a greater independence of judgment than was usual before him, he still remains in almost everything a thorough man. of the
Middle Ages. The most that can be said is that he reveals the first faint light of the com- ing day.
156. The Be- ginning in the Age of Petrarch. — It is in the generation of Pe- trarch and Boc- caccio that the day breaks. These two men alone almost cre- ated a new liter- ature in the lyr- ical poetry of the
first and the prose tales of the second. But Petrarch him- self believed that his Latin poems would bring him greater fame than his Italian lyrics, and his devotion to the ancient classics was his strongest passion. He sought through all the countries of the West that were open to him, in the neglected libraries of the churches and monasteries, for the writings of the great authors of antiquity, and had them copied whenever he could not purchase them. This repre- sents the first stage of the Renaissance, an eager love for the treasures of the classic world and the collecting together of all that was left of them as the material of devoted study. In the same age, even a little earlier than Petrarch, Giotto had opened a new epoch in painting, seeking to give a true representation to nature and human life as they really exist.
DANTE ALIGHIERI
§§ 157, 158] Scientific Method Recovered 167
157. The Revival of Greek. — Petrarch could not read Greek Greek, though he earnestly desired to do so. and the second learned from
- . ........ r .1 i the Eastern
stage of the revival of learning is the recovery of the know- Empire, ledge of the Greek language. This was acquired from Symonds, teachers who came to Italy from the Eastern Empire in the R*™*?0/ generation immediately following Petrarch and before the 108-113. ' close of the fourteenth century. As the Ottoman Turks steadily progressed in their conquests of the territories of the Greek emperors, shutting them up to a constantly de- creasing circle of land around Constantinople, many Greek scholars abandoned the East, and in other ways intercourse between the two parts of the Christian world became more frequent. The Eastern emperors hoped to secure the mili- tary aid of the West in a new crusade, and the popes hoped that the time had come when the whole of Christendom should be united under their authority. For a moment this last hope seemed to be realized in the decisions of the council of Florence. But in the end both pope and emperor were disappointed. The one permanent result, aside from the triumph of the Turks, was the revival of the study of Greek in the West.
As soon as Greek could be read, there was the same Greek eager desire to collect Greek manuscripts, as there had been writinss
recovered.
and still was to get together tne Latin, and great numbers of these were brought into Italy before Constantinople passed out of Christian hands. By 1450 the learned world was in pos- session of the larger share of those remains of classical liter- ature, both Latin and Greek, which have ever been recovered.
158. Scientific Method Recovered. — The third and final The revival stage of the Renaissance, regarded as a revival of learning, ofscience followed immediately on the recovery of Greek. This was the the Renais- awakening of the scientific spirit. Petrarch had foreshadowed sance. On this as he did many traits of the full Renaissance, and it had Pe^rch; ;>ee
article with been slowly growing since his time, but it is the character- translation,
istic mark of the middle of the fifteenth century. Its first Yale great field was in the criticism of the texts that had been Vol> L recovered to ascertain exactly what had been originally
i68
The Revival of Learning
[§
The inven- tion of printing.
Rapid spread of printing. Janssen, German People, I. 9-24.
Symonds, Revival of Learning, 368-391.
written, and in the reconstruction of ancient history and mythology. But it was the genuine scientific spirit of questioning and criticism, using the method of collection and comparison, and it soon branched out into wider fields. 1 59. The Invention of Printing. — Just at the middle of the century came a most wonderful invention which gave an unparalleled impulse to learning and literature, and to the
whole intellectual life of mankind. This was the in- vention of printing. From whence the suggestions were derived which led to this invention we do not know, nor even with cer- tainty by whom it was made, though the place was somewhere in the Rhine valley. To develop the art of printing books from its nearest precursor, the print- ing of wood engravings, two important steps would be necessary : first, to cut the engraved words into single letters, that is, mov- able type, so that different sentences could be printed
with the same characters ; and second to adapt the press to the process of making copies. It is quite possible that these two steps may have been taken at slightly different times and by different men. Though it cannot now be said with certainty by whom these steps were taken, the evidence seems to indicate that it is from Gutenberg, that we first have the art in its perfected form. He certainly was print- ing at Mainz at the middle of the century. From here the new art spread rapidly in all the countries of Europe, par- ticularly in Italy, where the way was especially prepared for
GUTENBERG'S PRESS
$§ 1 60, 161] The Renaissance North and South 169
it. Almost every Italian city had its printing business, and Venice became the first centre of the book trade.
The early printers found a great work already waiting to Books first occupy them for many years in two classes of book for which Pnnted- there was a peculiar demand. These were theological and religious books for which the Church made a great market, and the works of the classic authors which the revival of learning had brought into demand. Twenty editions of St. Augustine's " City of God " were printed before the year 1500, and nearly one hundred of the Latin Bible, while there were more than thirty of one of the minor poems of later Latin literature.
1 60. Results of the Invention of Printing. — In two ways Books
the invention of printing immediately became a powerful increasedin .,, • i • 11 11 t- T • number and
influence in the intellectual advancement of men. It in- decreased in creased enormously the number of copies of a book in exist- price. ence, so that it became easily accessible everywhere and to everybody ; and it reduced the price of books so that whole Hearth classes to whom they had been impossible luxuries now found (novel), them within their reach. Printed books of the fifteenth century are not extremely rare. A library in Munich pos- sesses more than twenty thousand specimens ; probably thirty thousand editions were published before 1500; and the price of books fell off four-fifths. This was one of the greatest intellectual revolutions of history, not in the dis- covery of new truth, but in making knowledge the common possession of all men. In bringing the Middle Ages to an end and introducing the modern, it was even more effectual than the invention of gunpowder, which was coming into general use at the same time and revolutionizing the art of war and society itself by depriving the noble class of its advantages in castle walls and armor and the exclusive pro- fession of arms.
161. The Renaissance South and North of the Alps. — In Character Italy, where the first enthusiasm for the revival of learning °fthe had been awakened, where such vast results in the restoration in Ital
of knowledge had been achieved, and where the product in
The Revival of Learning
[§162
George Eliot,
Romola
(novel).
Character
of the
Renaissance
in northern
Europe.
Seebohm,
The Oxford
Reformers
(Longmans);
Seebohm,
Protestant
Revolution,
Pt. II.,
Chap. II.
Erasmus in England.
His purposes and methods.
literature and art was even richer than that in learning, the Renaissance remained its own chief object. Knowledge was sought for its own sake alone. The most intense pride was felt in the possession of full classical learning and an elegant Latin style, and the principal results of the age were a culture somewhat superficial in character and a science which, aside from the great work it accomplished in the classical field, was fruitless.
North of the Alps, among the nations of Teutonic race, the Renaissance advanced to further results. The first stage of this is to be seen most clearly in England, in the last year of the fifteenth and the first of the sixteenth century. There a little group of scholars in the university of Oxford, of whom Colet, who founded St. Paul's School in London to further the new methods of education, and Thomas More, Henry VIII. 's minister, were the leaders, sought knowledge for the sake of reform. Their purpose was to study the New Tes- tament and the writings of the early Church in order to find out the real character of the original Christianity, and to use this knowledge to remove from the Christianity of their time the corruptions and abuses which had come in.
162. Erasmus. — About 1498 a young Dutch scholar, Erasmus of Rotterdam, came to Oxford to study Greek be- cause he was at the time too poor to go to Italy, where every one went to learn Greek who could afford to do so. He had already been for some time a student at the university of Paris, where he had made a considerable reputation for learning, and he was destined to attain the highest fame and the widest influence of any scholar of the age. At Oxford he formed a close friendship with Colet and More, and seems to have been inspired by them with their earnest and practi- cal purposes. At any rate he became from this time on a most earnest advocate of reform, and a determined enemy of the current abuses.
These purposes he labored for in two ways. In one he made use of his remarkable literary talents, and poured tor- rents of ridicule over the follies and ignorance of the monks
§ 1 62] Erasmus 171
and scholastics, the supporters of the old abuses. His " Col- Fisher, loquies " and his " Praise of Folly " were read everywhere throughout Europe and, though men laughed, their eyes were 7 " opened to the necessity of reformation. In another way Erasmus devoted the great resources of his scholarship to the same end. His life work was the preparation of care- fully critical editions of the New Testament and of the writ- ings of the early fathers of the Church. His purpose was first to ascertain just what had been originally written, as nearly as possible, and just what it had meant to those who wrote it, and then to give these results in accessible form to all scholars. It was his intention that they should be made known ultimately to the ignorant as well as to the learned, and this intention he himself directly helped to realize by his paraphrases of the New Testament narratives which were long in use in the Protestant churches. His edition of the New Testament was published in 1516, in time to be of The New great use to Luther in his translation. It was republished Testament- many times in different places in Europe and formed the joundation until very recent times both of the accepted or standard text of the Greek original and of the Protestant translations of the New Testament.
Erasmus lived for some years after Luther's first attack Erasmus and on the Catholic Church, but though he sympathized with Luther- him fully in his desire for reformation, he did not agree with Reformation, Luther in several very important matters. He did not be- 127-132. lieve in the use of violent and revolutionary methods to bring about the reformation, while Luther preferred to break the Church in two rather than leave it unreformed, and he did not believe in the Augustinian doctrines of theology which Luther held to against those of the Church. Erasmus has been called a coward because while he went so far with Luther in demanding a reformation he was not ready to go all the way with him. But Sir Thomas More, who believed as Erasmus did, was not a coward, for he willingly died for his convictions, and we have no right to suppose that Eras- mus did not go as far as he honestly could.
ij2 Topics
Topics
Character of the age. Meaning of the term " Renaissance." What great work in civilization was accomplished during the Middle Ages ? How much positive knowledge had the Middle Ages ? Revivals of learning before the Renaissance. The source and character of scholas- ticism. The rise and character of the universities. Why did the re- vival of learning come first in Italy ? The relation of Dante to it. What was accomplished by Petrarch ? How was Italy taught Greek ? In what ways were the methods of modern science first applied ? The invention of printing and its results. Characteristics of the Renaissance in the north of Europe. The purposes and work of Erasmus. Why did he not become a Protestant ?
Topics for Assigned Studies
The universities. Rashdall, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages. 2 vols. (Clarendon.) Laurie, The Rise of Universities. (Appleton.) Compayre, Abelard and the Origin of the Universi- ties. (Scribner.) Mullinger, Cambridge, and Brodrick, Oxford (Epochs Ch. Hist.).
The medieval student. In Rashdall, Universities, Penn. II., No. 3, and Haskins, Am. Hist. Review, Vol. III.
Erasmus. Drummond, Erasmus. 2 vols. Froude, Life and Letters of Erasmus. (Scribner.) Both contain many translations from Erasmus. Translations of the Praise of Folly and of the Collo- quies (London ; Reeves and Turner), and in numerous other editions. Seebohm, Oxford Reformers. (Longmans.) Very full on Erasmus' purposes, with translations. For political ideas, see More's Utopia. See also, Penn. I., No. I.
CHAPTER II
THE IMMEDIATE RESULTS OF THE REVIVAL
163. Advance in Knowledge. — Before the end of Eras- Advance in mus' life the intellectual history of the world had been two direc' carried forward in two very different directions. In both
human knowledge had been advanced far beyond that of the classical times which it had been the especial object of the Renaissance to restore. In one direction the earth had been explored, its form and size determined, and new continents laid open to European enterprise, and in the other the true place of the earth in the solar system and its relation to the sun and the planets had been determined.
164. The Commercial Situation of the Fifteenth Century. — India the The increasing knowledge of the fifteenth century, combined goal* with commercial ambition and rivalry, led to the great ex- plorations of the age. Then, as in the time of the crusades,
the object of the merchant was to reach India and obtain a share in the exceedingly profitable trade in Oriental goods. The new ambition of the fifteenth century was to discover some route by which India itself might be reached, and thus avoid the difficulties which beset the routes through the Mohammedan countries of western Asia and Egypt. This was, besides, a real necessity for the new nations, like Spain and Portugal, which were anxious to share in the com- merce of the time. The northern Mediterranean routes were practically closed by the advance of the Turkish conquests. The natural and easy route through Egypt was a virtual monopoly of the Venetians through the especially favorable arrangements which they had with the rulers of that country.
174 Immediate Results of the Revival [§ 165
Navigation still cautious. Map of the discoveries, Putzger, No. 32.
The west coast of Africa. Fiske, Dis- covery of America, I., Chap. IV.
Some new non-Mediterranean route to India must be dis- covered, or the hope of sharing in the riches of the Eastern trade must be given up.
Long before the beginning of the fifteenth century medi- eval commerce had begun to adventure out into the Atlan- tic, though it was still timid, afraid of strange dangers, and rarely bold enough to go out of sight of land. The magnetic needle had become known in the West, probably as early as the twelfth century, but its most impor- tant application to the art of navigation was not yet fully un- derstood. The first great discoveries of the fifteenth century were made by ex- plorers who still crept along the coast and were unwilling to lose sight of it for any long period.
165. The Portu- guese Discoveries.— These first discover- ies were those of the Portuguese along the west coast of Africa.
They began perhaps in the desire of the nation to con- tinue its conquests from the Moors in northwestern Africa, since further conquests in the Spanish peninsula were no
ARMOR OF COLUMBUS
(The Arsenal, Madrid)
1 66]
Columbus
175
longer possible on account of the expansion of Castile, which had reached the Atlantic south of Portugal. It was soon found, however, that there were profitable arti- cles of commerce to be had in Africa, and the Portuguese were attracted further down the coast. The classical tra- dition of a passage around Africa was revived, and before long the Portuguese became possessed with the ambition of reaching India by this route.
This direction was largely given to their efforts by a prince of their royal family, Prince Henry the Navigator. He took up his residence on the retired promontory of Cape St. Vincent, collected all the information that he could, made himself familiar with the best scientific knowledge of his time, and gave his life to encouraging the explorations of his countrymen toward the south.
Prince Henry did not live to see the final success of his plans. Progress was very slowly and cautiously made. About all that each expedition did was to turn one of the difficult headlands on the African coast, and learn that so far at least the dangers of the ocean and the horrors of the torrid zone were mythical. Encouraged by this result, they next passed the next cape, and returned to report their safety. Only about 1484 was the equator finally crossed. The next expedition, that of Bartholomew Diaz in 1486, was carried by a storm around the Cape of Good Hope, as it was named on his return, and found reason to hope that the extremity of the continent had been reached.
It was ten years before this discovery was followed up by a voyage to India, and in the meantime another explorer, de Covilham, going through Egypt and Ethiopia, had crossed from the east coast of Africa to India and returned. In 1497 Vasco da Gama passed around Africa, sailed up the east coast to Mozambique, found Arabic-speaking pilots, and crossed to India. After an absence of over two years he returned to Lisbon with the goods of the Orient acquired in a direct voyage.
1 66. Columbus. — Before Vasco da Gama set out upon
Prince Henry the Navigator, 1394-1460.
The Cape of Good Hope discovered.
The Portu- guese reach India. Stephens, Portugal, 185-192.
Columbus' ideas and character. Adams, Civilization, 388 ff
176 Immediate Results of the Revival [§ 166
this voyage, the greatest discovery of the age had been made. Columbus had come to believe, as did the scholars of his time in common with those of the classical world, that the earth is round. He believed it to be much smaller than
COLUMBUS
it is and reasoned that by sailing west one could reach India with no very long voyage. He not merely believed this, but he had the courage to risk everything to prove its truth. The great difficulty which he had to overcome was that of persuading others of its probability, the scholastic clergy who were the advisers of kings, the kings themselves who must
§ l67] Columbus' Discoveries 177
furnish the means for an expedition, and the sailors who must man it, and whose superstitious terrors were especially hard to overcome. The most remarkable thing about Co- lumbus was not his belief that by sailing west he would reach India, but it was the courage which led him to dare to try the voyage and to stick to it until he reached the land. This marks better than any other single event of the time the age when medieval superstitions were dying out, and modern knowledge and daring based on knowledge were born together.
167. Columbus' Discoveries. — Portugal and England both America declined to venture anything on Columbus' ideas, and Spain dlscovered- was only with difficulty persuaded. The voyage occupied far less time than that to India. He sailed on the 30! of August, 1492, and returned on the i5th of March of the next year and announced his success. He thought the coast of Cuba which he had reached was that of the continent of Asia, and he believed he had opened a new route to India. In a later voyage he did touch the continent of South Amer- ica, but not until after North America had been seen by Cabot in the employ of England. For as soon as the sue- Other ex- cess and safety of these distant expeditions were proved, all Plorers-
r u « L. T-i jj°ld South,
nations became ambitious ot a share in them. England and ^os.
France joined Spain and Portugal in exploration, and new 17,20,34-37; discoveries were almost daily made. Especially important Le^f^os were the discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Balboa in 1513, and 13; and the voyage of Magellan, who set out in 1519, passed Cassell's through the straits at the southern extremity of South Amer- ^^ ica which now bear his name, crossed the Pacific, to which No. 32. he gave its name, and really reached the East Indies too late to undeceive Columbus, who died supposing that he had done this. There he was killed by the natives, but his lieutenant continued the voyage to the west, passed the Cape of Good Hope, and finally returned to Spain, proving the earth to be a sphere and obtaining the first real evidence of its size.
The share of these events in the great intellectual revolu- A new age tion of the age is nowhere very fully indicated by the writers intellectually-
Immediate Results of the Revival [§ 168
Commerce oceanic.
of the time, but it must have been very large. The geographi- cal horizon could not be so enormously widened without a corresponding broadening of human vision in all directions. Mankind were entering into possession of a whole world of knowledge and new ideas, as they were physically into the possession of the whole globe.
CORTES
168. The Economic Results. — In another direction, in the economic conditions of the world, as great a revolution was wrought by these events as in the intellectual. Commerce ceased to be Mediterranean and became oceanic, as it is to- day. The Mediterranean Sea was no longer the centre of the world. The countries open to the Atlantic, like Spain, Portugal, Holland, and England, became the great commer- cial nations of Europe. Venice lost her supremacy, though she struggled hard to maintain it. Lisbon became in sue-
§ 169] First Great Step in Physical Science 179
cession the distributing point of Oriental goods, and the Portuguese founded the first European empire in the East Indies. The consumer shared in the benefits of these changes, for the price of spices fell to one-half at a single stroke. At the same time the stores of the precious metals increased of Mexico and Peru began to be poured into the markets of q^n^cl Europe as a result of the Spanish discoveries and conquests siiver. in America. While the goods imported into Europe fell in price in consequence of the better commercial facilities of the time, those produced by labor in Europe itself sold for higher prices because of the declining value of gold and silver. It was a time of improvement and prosperity for the laboring classes where they were economically free enough to take advantage of the rise in prices, as they were in Eng- land and in most of France. Where they were not able to dispose freely of their labor and its products, as in Germany, it was a time of great discontent and of attempts to change their conditions by violence and insurrection, as we shall see hereafter.
169. The First Great Step in Physical Science. — While Copernicus, Columbus and the Portuguese were laying open the earth to 1473-IS43- human knowledge, another great explorer was tracing out the geography of the solar system. This was Copernicus, who was born in Poland in 1473. He was sent to Italy to complete his university studies, and there became especially interested in mathematics and astronomy. Very early in his studies he came to the conclusion that there must be a simpler explanation of the movements of the heavenly bodies than the one which everybody believed at the time, the ancient Ptolemaic, which made the earth the centre of the universe. The scientific
That real science had now begun, as compared with method of medieval methods of study, can be seen in the fact that no Fo^hTs^own more correct methods of investigation could be employed statement of to-day in the study of a similar problem than those which his method.
_, J . , J see Yale Re-
Copermcus used. He first examined the ancient scientific vieWf I> l60i writings to see if any suggestion of another explanation had n. &.
i8o Immediate Results of the Revival [§ 169
been made, and found in them a theory which seemed to him more reasonable. Then he began to study and com- pare all the observations which he could find recorded and others which he made himself, until he was convinced that this theory accorded with the facts much better than the Ptolemaic. All his life, however, he devoted to the collec- tion of further proof, which was at the beginning of modern
The first work of modern science.
LORENZO MAGNIFICO
From a portrait in Berlin
astronomy, without observatories or instruments, a very slow and difficult process. His conclusions he did not pub- lish until the very end of his life in 1543. A copy of the printed book was brought to him as he lay on his death-bed. This was the first great step in the advance of modern science, and two things about it are especially important to notice. The first is that it begins in the use of a new method, that of observation and comparison. The second
Art and Literature
181
is that our science rests upon the work which the students of the ancient world accomplished in their time, and this is as true of the other sciences as it is of astronomy.
170. The End of the Renaissance. — When Copernicus' book was published, Erasmus had long been dead, and civil war was just about to begin between the Protestants and the Catholics in Germany, the first in a long series of civil wars over religion which laid waste almost every country of Europe. In these political revolutions and conflicts, the age of the Renaissance came to an end. It had been an age of wonderful intellectual progress, and it had prepared the way for other great changes, and made them necessary. It is not unnatural that these now occupied the chief atten- tion of men to the comparative exclusion of science and the pursuit of knowledge. After an interval of almost a hundred years, another age of great scientific discovery comes on, the seventeenth century.
171. Art and Literature. — Great as was the Renaissance on its purely intellectual side, it was even greater as an age of art and literature. In this direction, again, Italy led the world, and her achievement in the fifteenth and early six- teenth centuries, in the fine arts at least, remains to the present time unequalled. The great wealth with which her cities were stored was employed with lavish hand to en- courage artists of all kinds and to beautify both the cities and private residences with every species of art. Of the rulers the Medici at Florence are especially famous for their liberal patronage of art and literature, and many of the popes, like Nicholas V., who founded the Vatican library, strove to make Rome the capital of the world in literature and art as in religion.
The names of the greatest of these artists are familiar to all the world, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michael Angelo, whose long life spans almost the whole of the period, but there is a crowd of lesser names which would have rendered any less wonderful age illustrious. Correg- gio, Titian, and Cellini are only less famous than those first
The Renais- sance ends in an age of revolution. In Italy, Symonds, Catholic Reaction, I. 204-228.
Favorable conditions in Italy.
The artists of Italy.
Italian literature.
Art and literature in northern Europe.
182 Immediate Results of the Revival [§ 171
named. The age is distinguished also by the fact that its artists are almost equally great in more than one branch of art at the same time. Michael Angelo, for example, is an artist of the first rank in sculpture, painting, and architect- ure at once.
In the literature of the age, Italy is not so unrivalled as in art, and no work of these generations equals the earlier work of Dante and of Petrarch. But Ariosto in poetry, and Machiavelli in history, and in the scientific observation of politics, are names which will never be forgotten.
Northern Europe in the last age of the Renaissance pro- duced a few names which are still remembered. Holbein and Albert Diirer in art, and Hans Sachs and Ulrich von Hutten in literature belong to Germany. Holland had led the way in the north in painting and had done much to im- prove the methods of the art. France, if she produced no great artists of her own, called those of Italy into her ser- vice— both Leonardo da Vinci and Cellini spent some time at Paris — and in literature she gave us Montaigne and Rabelais.
Topics
What was the motive of exploration in the fifteenth century ? The character of fifteenth century navigation. The discoveries made by the Portuguese. The characteristics of Columbus. His and other discov- eries in the West. The economic results of the age of discoveries. Copernicus' method of work and his discoveries. What brought the age of the Renaissance to an end ? The art and literature of the age.
Topics for Assigned Studies
Prince Henry of Portugal. Beazley, Prince Henry (Heroes). Stephens, Portugal (Nations), Chap. VII.
Columbus. Fiske, Discovery of America. 2vols. (Houghton.) His difficulties and the discovery, I., Chap. IV. Toscannelli's letter to Columbus, I. 356. Winsor, Columbus. (Houghton.) The dis- covery, Chap. IX. Old South, Nos. 29, 33, 71. Am. Hist. Leaf., No. i.
CHAPTER III
REVOLUTION ATTEMPTED IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH
172. The Papacy at Avignon. — In the early years of the fifteenth century, at a time when the revival of learning was just beginning, events of a very different sort were occurring which had an important share in preparing the way for the great religious revolution which brought the age of the Re- naissance to an end. A great change in the position and character of the papacy had been brought about as a result of the quarrel between Boniface VIII. and Philip IV. of France. Boniface entertained the highest ideas of the rights and duties of the pope in the world, the logical conclusion of the position created by the great popes, Gregory VII. and Innocent III., but he found that decided changes had taken place in the last few generations. Strong national governments had been forming, and these disputed his claims to authority, especially those of France and England. The conflict with France was a bitter one, and it resulted in the death of Boniface. Shortly afterward Philip IV. secured the election of a French pope, and persuaded him and his fol- lowers in succession to leave the city of Rome and to take up their residence in Avignon on the Rhone, where they came almost completely under the influence of the kings of France, with the result to make the other states, especially those that were on friendly terms with France, suspicious of the mo- tives of the popes and reluctant to obey them as formerly.
There was another result also of this change of residence which was no less important. The love of luxury and of
183
The pontifi- cate of Boni- face VIII. , 1294-1303.
See his bulls. Gee and Hardy, 87 ; Henderson, 432-437.
The removal from Rome to Avignon. Adams, Civilization, Chap. XVI.
1 84
Revolution Attempted [§§ i?3» J74
The growth of luxury in the Church. Poole. Wycliffe.
Pastor, Popes, I. 58-75. See the English statutes of Provisors and Praemu- nire, Gee and Hardy, 103, 112-125; Penn. II., No. 5, and declaration of German Diet; Hen- derson, 437.
Popes at
Rome and at
Avignon,
1378. Fisher,
Church
History,
250-254 ;
Poole,
Wycli/e,
126-130.
The effect of the schism. Pastor, Popes, I. 138-159.
Reform ideas growing more extreme.
extravagant ways of living seems to have grown rapidly in the new capital. The expenses of a brilliant court were always increasing, and new methods of enlarging the revenues of the papacy must be constantly devised. This produced of course further dissatisfaction throughout the Church. Everywhere men began to feel that the luxury of the clergy was opposed to the real simplicity of Christianity, and the demand for a moral reformation in head and mem- bers soon made itself heard, and as a preliminary step to this that the popes should return to Rome as the divinely appointed capital of the Christian world. Petrarch gives voice to this demand in several of his Italian poems. Finally in 1378 Gregory XL, under the especial influence of St. Catherine of Sienna, did return to Rome.
173. The Great Schism. — On his death there was much excitement in the city. The people demanded the election of a pope who would remain at Rome, and Urban VI. was chosen. But the French cardinals were unwilling to give up the more enjoyable life of Avignon, and, asserting that the first election had been forced by the mob, they elected another pope, who took up his residence at Avignon. There were thus two popes at once. Each one claimed to be the only rightful pope, and each proclaimed the excommunica- tion and deposition of the other.
Such a condition of things was violently opposed to the be- lief of the time that the Church must be one and undivided. The people of the West were obliged to divide themselves between the two popes, and the result was great confusion and uncertainty. Governments were influenced in their obedience mainly by political reasons, and disputes as to rights and authority were of constant occurrence. Naturally also the cost of maintaining two courts was greater than that of one, and the financial burdens kept growing heavier and heavier.
174. The Demand for Reform. — The demand for reform became louder and louder. The university of Paris took the lead in efforts to heal the schism. The first attempt was
I75l Wycliffe's Attempt at Reformation
I8S
to get the two popes to resign at the same time, to leave the way open for the election of a single pope on whom all Europe could unite. This failed through the fear of each pope that the other would gain some advantage over him in the process. Then the university and others began to ad- vocate the idea that a general council as representing the whole Church would have a right to depose a pope, if there were any sufficient reason for such a step, and to elect an- other in his place.
This was an idea full of danger for the strong monarchy of the popes which had been forming in the Church since very early in its history. If it should come to be believed that a council could depose a pope who refused to resign, then there would be an authority in the Church higher than the pope, and a limited monarchy would be the result. Just at present, however, there seemed to be no other way out of the difficulty.
In 1409 a council met at Pisa which had been called by some of the cardinals. It declared both the popes deposed and elected one to take their place, who took the name of Alexander V. But neither of the other popes would yield, and as each had still some adherents, and was still acknow- ledged by a part of the Church, while the rest obeyed the new pope, there were now three popes, and matters were worse than ever.
175. Wycliffe's Attempt at Reformation. — In the mean- time this unsettling of old beliefs and this demand for a reformation in the lives of the clergy had been favorable to the rise here and there of parties who insisted upon more decisive changes. In England Wycliffe, beginning perhaps in support of the political opposition of the State to the pope at Avignon, and in demanding simpler living on the part of the clergy, had gone on to attack some of the funda- mental beliefs of the Catholic Church, to insist on the right of every one to read the Bible in English, and to take, indeed, almost the same positions as the Protestants after- wards. He was protected by the duke of Lancaster during
Fisher,
Christian
Church,
254-256;
Poole,
Wycliffe,
131-137; Pastor, Popes, I. 76-83.
The danger
to the
papacy.
Alzog,
Church
History, II.
922-926.
The council of Pisa in- creases the difficulty. Pastor, Popes, I. 178-191.
Wycliffe's ideas. Wycliffe's New Testa- ment, and books from his Old Testament, editions of Skeat (Clarendon).
Poole, Wycliffe, 61-111; Social Eng- land, II. 157-172.
1 86
Revolution Attempted [§§ i?6> i?7
The persecu- tion of the Lollards. Gee and Hardy, no and 126-139.
Wycliffe's
ideas carried
to Bohemia.
Poole,
Wycliffe,
151-165;
Alzog,
Church
History, II.
952-967.
Religious and political reform together.
his life, so that the Church was not able to put an end to his teachings. They were accepted by a considerable body of people in England who are known as Lollards, and some of them encouraged the peasants in their insurrection under Wat Tyler, though this was not intended by Wycliffe. When the house of Lancaster came to the throne in Eng- land it no longer agreed with their policy to protect the Lollards, and in the persecution which followed these very soon disappeared as a party, though there is some evidence that their teachings were cherished among the common people until the time of the Protestant reformation.
176. Huss and the Hussites. — Although the Lollards were destroyed in England, the teachings of Wycliffe were carried to Bohemia, and there gave rise to a new demand for great changes, and to a violent religious and racial civil war. At the time of Wycliffe there was a close con- nection between the universities of Prague and Oxford, ai?d many Bohemian students learned the doctrines of Wycliffe and brought his books home with them. In Bohemia John Huss became the leader of this party which, like Wycliffe's, was almost the same as the Protestant, and which was rapidly extended by the ability and influence of Huss.
There was at that time, as we have already seen, a race conflict going on in Bohemia, as there is to-day, a part of that struggle on the border line between Slav and German which runs through all history. In the mind of the Bohe- mian the party of Huss and of reform became identical with the party of national independence, and so drew to itself a powerful national support. Wycliffe's teachings were formally condemned by the Church, and then those of Huss, but he refused to recognize the authority of the Church in such matters and publicly burned the papal bull as did Luther afterwards.
177. The Council of Constance. — This was the situation, then, in the Church when a second general council met. There were three popes contending with one another ; the Church was divided between them ; there was a loud
§ 1 78] The Council and Huss 187
demand for moral and financial reforms ; and the Bohemian The council nation in open opposition to the pope was insisting upon °fConstancc still more sweeping changes. There was surely need of a ptsher,41 great council if ever. It was called first through the influ- Church ence of the emperor Sigismund, the temporal head of H^ory^ Christendom, and on the eve of the meeting of the council p00ie, this call was repeated by Gregory XII., the pope at Rome whom the Church regards as the one legitimate pope. It was a large and brilliant assemblage which met at Con- stance at the end of 1414, and it was thoroughly represen- tative of the Church in the West.
The council decided that its first duty was to heal the The Church schism and give to the Church one universally acknowledged united under head. It secured the voluntary abdication of Gregory XII. The other two popes, who refused to abdicate, it deposed, and their adherents withdrew their obedience. Then with some representatives of the council added to their body the cardinals elected a new pope, Martin V., and the division of the Church was at an end.
178. The Council and Huss. — Before this work, which Huss occupied many months, was completed, the case of Huss condemned, had been taken up for decision by the council. As some of his teachings were clearly in opposition to the accepted doctrines of the Church, and as he refused to give up his right of deciding for himself or to acknowledge the supreme authority in matters of belief of a general council of the Church, he was condemned and burnt as a heretic. His friend and follower, Jerome of Prague, suffered the same fate. But the Bohemians refused to submit. Some efforts of the king to repress the national movement were fol- lowed by open insurrection. The emperor Sigismund, who Tne Hussites shortly after inherited the throne, was able to pacify the resist. country only after long years of bloody war, in which not A^0P* 249' merely Bohemia, but neighboring states of Germany, suf- church fered severely. He succeeded in the end only by impor- History, II. tant concessions to the demands of the Bohemian reformers, which were made with the consent of the council of Basle.
188
Revolution Attempted
[§
The
attempted
change of
Church
constitution.
Adams,
Civilization,
410-415.
The papacy escapes this danger.
One of their demands which was allowed them, the right to receive the wine as well as the bread in the celebration of the mass, had given a name to their party, that of the Utraquists or Calixtines.
179. The Council fails to reform Government or Conduct. — In the matter of the moral and financial reform of the Church the council of Constance did not succeed so well. The rules which it adopted, it had no means of enforcing, and the temptation to abuses continued too strong to resist. The most important regulation which it passed called for the meeting of other general councils at stated intervals, to exercise a general supervision of the government of the Church as a supreme legislative body representing the whole of Christendom. Had this regulation been carried out it would have changed the constitution of the Church. The pope could not be the supreme head of the Church under such an arrangement, and a great degree of national inde- pendence and perhaps of local diversity of beliefs and forms would have been easily possible.
The papacy recognized the danger at this crisis of its history and skilfully prevented the growth of a system of regular councils. The council of Basle, which attempted to carry on the ideas of the council of Constance, ended in ignominious failure, and though the Church of France suc- ceeded at the time, in the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, in securing considerable national independence, the process went no further. The reformation, which had been sought by constitutional means within the Church, was to come a hundred years later, but it was to succeed only by means of revolution and civil conflict.
Topics 189
Topics
What were the events which led to the removal of the papacy from Rome to Avignon ? What was the effect on the character and position of the papacy? How did the "great schism" arise? How did the efforts to heal the schism endanger the position of the pope? The result of the council of Pisa. What were the reform ideas of Wycliffe? The fate of the Lollards. Where were Wycliffe's ideas carried on? What other influence strengthened the party of Huss? What did the council of Constance do in regard to the schism? In regard to Huss? Why did it not succeed in reforming the Church?
Topics for Assigned Studies
Wycliffe. See references in the text. Sergeant, Wyclif. (Heroes.) Alzog, Church History, II. 947-952. Gee and Hardy, 105-112. Wycliffe's Septem Hereses, in Pamphlet Library, Religious Pam- phlets. (Holt.) Penn. II., No. 5.
The council of Constance. See references in the text. Pastor, Popes, I. 195-207. Alzog, II. 858-874. Penn. III., No. 6.
CHAPTER IV
Changes of the fifteenth century.
France under Louis XI., 1461-1483.
THE POLITICAL CHANGES OF THE AGE
1 80. Politics become International. — The Protestant revo- lution of the sixteenth century was dependent for its success upon the great intellectual changes of the fifteenth century, and also upon the long-continued repression and failure of earlier attempts at reformation. But it was also dependent in no small degree for the character of its success and for its geographical distribution upon the political situation of Europe at the time. The last half of the fifteenth century was an age of transformation in the political sphere as far reaching as any of the other changes of the time. It is the age from which we must date the rise of modern international politics, the rivalries of governments, now well organized and stable, with one another for the possessions of their weaker neighbors, for conquests at the expense of one another, and even for a position of supremacy in Europe. Such rivalries had been of course foreshadowed in medieval times, when circumstances allowed, but they had been the occasional and not the ordinary concern of the governments. In the last years of the fifteenth century was laid the foundation for the rivalry between France and the house of Hapsburg which lasted for centuries and involved Europe in many disastrous wars. The beginning was in the conflicting claims and interests of France and Spain.
181. The Condition of France. — We have seen how France emerged from the Hundred Years' War with England under Charles VII. with the monarchy almost absolute, and how the next king, Louis XL, defeated the efforts of the
190
§ l82] The Creation of Spain 191
great nobles and princes to destroy the royal authority, as well as those of the duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, to form an independent kingdom between France and Germany. Louis XL had seen clearly enough that the interests of France and Spain abroad were likely to lead to a collision between them. In his efforts to watch the plans of Spain and to pre- pare to meet them, he had done much to introduce the machinery of modern diplomacy, especially that of resident foreign ministers. But the domestic problems of France were still so pressing during his reign, there was still so much to be done to consolidate both the kingdom and the royal power, that he was not free to throw his whole strength into a foreign war.
182. The Creation of Spain. — The same thing was only The reign of a little less true of Ferdinand of Spain. His reign was much Ferdinand, longer than that of Louis and continued on into the sixteenth conquest century and the time of open war, but during the first years and union, of his rule he was occupied with the same problems as the king of France. The double process of conquering all the territory of Spain from the Moors and of uniting all the Chris- tian kingdoms into a single one, which had been going on for so many centuries, was to be completed. In 1492, the year of the discovery of America, the last Moorish kingdom, Granada, was annexed. Already by the marriage of Ferdi- nand and Isabella, the two largest Christians states, Castile and Aragon, had been brought together. Only in 1512 was Ferdinand able to seize the Spanish half of Navarre. Por- tugal he never obtained, though he laid skilful plans through the intermarriage of the royal families to bring about the union in time.
In the other direction, in his efforts to form a centralized Absolutism and absolute monarchy, he did not come so near complete created* success, but he did much more than to make the beginning. During the last century there had been much anarchy in Spain. Under the strong government of Ferdinand and Isabella this was brought to a speedy end. The influence of the great nobles in public affairs was reduced. The
192
Political Changes of the Age [§§ 183, 184
Economic mistakes of intolerance. Prescott, Ferdinand and Isabella, Pt. I., Chap. XVII., and Pt. II., Chap. VII.
Spain, the first great power of Europe.
The policy of Henry VII. Green, English
lawyers were called in to take their place. Their castles were destroyed unless they served the national defence. Many robber barons were severely dealt with. The sov- ereigns also formed a virtual alliance with the league of the cities, and thus secured a strong support against the nobles and a military force independent of the feudal levies which proved of considerable value for a time, as in the conquest of Granada. Over the national Church of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella also secured control and the right of making nominations to its higher offices.
183. Result of Ferdinand's Policy, Remote and Immedi- ate. — One serious mistake of policy was due to the narrow- ness and intolerance of the age. In 1492 all the Jews who remained faithful to their religion were ordered to leave the country. They were very numerous in Spain and added much to its wealth. A little later the unconverted Moors of Granada were expelled in the same way, though they had made a garden of the land. These were hard blows struck at the economic prosperity of Spain, but the effects were only slowly felt, or were for a long time concealed by the artificial sources of wealth which were at the same time opened in America.
In that generation Spain suddenly rose from a group of weak and unorganized states to be a powerful monarchy, and the first aspirant for a European supremacy. Ferdinand saw clearly that France would be the most dangerous rival of Spain for this position, and the chief object of his foreign policy was to unite the interests of the other great states of Europe with those of Spain and so to combine them all against France. The marriage alliances which he formed to further this policy with England and the house of Haps- burg exercised an influence over later history such as few royal marriages have done.
184. England. — In England the third quarter of the fifteenth century is filled with the Wars of the Roses, which closed in 1485 with the coming to the throne of Henry VII. of the house of Tudor, who united the warring factions by
§§ 185, 1 86] Germany — Italy 193
his marriage with Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV. People, II.
The chief object of his reign was to secure the permanent ^"77 ;
r i • 7- r -i j • i • Moberly,
possession of the crown in his family, and it was more this Earfy
than any plans of active interference on the continent that Tudors
led to the Spanish marriage which was to prove so eventful ??°.chs? '
in the history of England. His oldest son, Prince Arthur, Henry vn.
was married to Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdi- (Macmiilan)
nand and Isabella, and on his death soon after she was oHclgn
married again to Prince Henry, who became the heir to the chap.'ix. throne.
185. Germany. — Germany remained in this age as power- The house of less as before, but the house of Hapsburer was rising rapidly HaPsbur£
. ' becomes
to a European position. Already in possession of extensive a European territories in southern Germany and just securing hereditary power, possession of the imperial crown, it secured in two genera- ^egjr> tions a most remarkable extension of its power by its fortu- Hungary, nate marriages. Maximilian I. married, in 1478, Mary of 2SI-2SS- Burgundy, daughter and heiress of Charles the Bold, and thus obtained the rich provinces of the Netherlands, and their son, Philip, married Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. By these two marriages all the great domin- ions of Charles V. were brought together, and the idea of a world empire almost realized.
186. Italy. — Italy was the first battlefield of the rival The scene of
powers, the scene of the first in that long series of struggles division and 1 . , , r , . • =6 . local conflict.
tor supremacy on one side and for balance of power on the Johnson
other which the nineteenth century has scarcely seen ended Periods, notwithstanding the rise of new and larger interests. Italy 7~14* taken by itself was at this time the scene of a conflict for a local balance of power which was in miniature like that of Europe. It was still divided into numerous small states, under governments of widely different sorts, and intensely jealous of one another. These states maintained little armies of professional soldiers commanded by adventurers, the condottieri, and occasionally engaged in wars, which their soldiers had a way of making not very bloody. But if possible they preferred to gain their ends by the methods
194
Political Changes of the Age
[§ 187
of diplomacy and intrigue, and in these methods Italy was the schoolmaster of Europe. Machiavelli, who was for a long time the representative of Florence, was one of the first great diplomatists of modern history.
Venice.
THE DUOMO, FLORENCE
187. The Five Leading States of Italy. — Five states of Italy are of especial interest in this opening period of inter- national politics. Venice, rich and powerful, but before the close of the age to undergo the ruin of her commercial monopoly, was trying to form a continental dominion in northeastern Italy, and so was intimately concerned in the
§ 1 88] France begins the Struggle 195
course of local politics. In Milan, Ludovico the Moor was Milan, plotting to secure the succession in place of his nephew, the rightful duke, and so was anxious for any outside assistance possible. Florence was under the Medici, but was the scene Florence, at the close of the century of great popular excitement ^£hJtvelUi aroused by the passionate and eloquent preaching of Sav- Florence onarola, who proclaimed a great religious revival, the neces- (Bohn). sity of righteous living, and the coming of the foreign chap. VII.; invader as the scourge of God upon the wicked, and de- Armstrong, manded the restoration of political liberty to Florence. In ^^ de the States of the Church the situation was especially inter- (Heroes), esting. The popes of the last part of the fifteenth century The States oi looked upon the papacy rather as an opportunity for them- the Church, selves and their families than as an office of high responsi- bility to Christendom. Alexander VI., who was pope at the beginning of the struggle between France and Spain, is an extreme example of this view of the papal office. His ambition was to build up in central Italy out of the lands of the Church and such others as could be joined to them a kingdom in the permanent possession of his family, strong enough, it might be, to absorb all Italy and to protect it against the pretensions of the foreigner. This he almost suc- ceeded in doing. Caesar Borgia, with great political skill but by utterly unscrupulous and criminal means, ably seconded the plans of his father, the pope, and did found a very promising beginning of such a state, only to see it break to pieces in his hands on the death of his father. In the south Naples, the kingdom of Naples, or the continental half of the king- dom of Sicily, was held by a branch of the house of Aragon, but was claimed by both France and Spain and was the immediate object of their rivalry. The reign of
188. France begins the Struggle. — Before Ferdinand ^J"les of Spain was ready to open the conflict France had made I483_i498. the first move under the young and visionary Charles VIII. , Masson, who dreamed of restoring the Eastern Empire and the king- ^^td dom of Jerusalem by driving out the Turks, and who hoped 304-314; to find in southern Italy a base of operations for this exten- Zeiier, X.
Political Changes of the Age
[§189
The tempta- tion in Italy. Symonds, Age of Despots, Chap. X.
Rapid suc- cess of the French. Johnson, Periods,
17-25 ;
Duffy,
Tuscan
Republics,
Chap.
XXVI.;
Commines,
Memoirs,
Bk. VII.
sive enterprise. Charles VIII. had succeeded his father Louis XI. at the age of thirteen. His elder sister, Anne of Beaujeu, had acted as regent with great ability for some years. She overcame easily an insurrection of the great nobles led by the duke of Orleans, the last danger of the sort which threatened the crown for almost a hundred years. She defeated an attempt of the Estates General to recover something of their lost power, and finally she married the young king to the heiress of the duchy of Brittany, the last of the great feudal states of France proper which had not been absorbed in the crown.
As the result of the vigorous policy of the last two reigns, continued by his sister, Charles VIII. found himself at lib- erty in 1494 to employ all the resources of France in assert- ing the right to the kingdom of Naples which he had inherited from the house of Anjou. The situation in Italy seemed especially favorable. From many sides came invi- tations to him to interfere. Ludovico the Moor hoped to profit from any change. Savonarola was anxious for the appearance of the " scourge of God." Enemies of the Bor- gia family wished to use the French to ruin the plans of Alexander VI.
189. The First Invasion of Italy. — Charles crossed the Alps late in the summer at the head of a brilliant army, with the largest train of artillery which had up to that time ever been brought together. His success was rapid and complete. At Milan he was well received, and soon after his departure the young duke died of an opportune fever. Florence did not find much favor at his hands, for he gave to Pisa its lib- erty and restored to power the Medici, who had been ex- pelled by the people under Savonarola's lead. At Rome he trained his cannon on the castle of St. Angelo, forced the pope to grant him the investiture of Naples, and held Caesar Borgia for a time as a hostage for his father. Na- ples fell into his hands without a battle, and he assumed there the imperial, insignia and called himself king of Jerusalem.
§ I91! Rapid Changes in the Italian Situation 197
The fate of his expedition is typical of that of all the French expeditions of the period. Speedy successes were followed by just as speedy a reaction and the loss of all. Italy rose behind his army. The pope, Venice, and Milan formed a league against him, with the support of Maximilian of Austria and Ferdinand of Spain. The king's army cut its way through to France, but the force which had been left to hold Naples was driven out at once, and nothing remained of the conquest so easily made.
190. A New French Claim on Italy. — Charles VIII. was killed by an accident before he was able to repeat the at- tempt, and was succeeded by his cousin, Louis XII. Louis had a new interest in Italy, for through his grandmother he claimed the rights of the Visconti family to the duchy of Milan. It was the attempt of Louis XII. to assert his rights in northern and southern Italy that brought the great powers of the world together for the first time in combinations and wars to maintain the balance of power.
The new king began the undertaking at once. Milan was quickly overrun, and Ludovico the Moor died soon after in prison. Then an arrangement was made with Ferdinand the Catholic for a division of Naples. The French army did the work of conquering the country, and in as short a time as on the invasion of Charles VIII. But Louis was no match for Ferdinand in promising one thing and intend- ing another. The Spanish suddenly claimed the whole, and though the French fought for their share, they could not keep it.
191. Rapid Changes in the Italian Situation. — Milan was not held much longer, but its loss illustrates the rapid turns of Italian politics. In 1503 Alexander VI. died and was succeeded by Julius II., who was hostile to the Borgia family, and whose great ambition was to form the papal states into a strong monarchy, which he finally accomplished. These plans brought him into conflict with the Venetians, who had occupied some of the papal lands, and who also held some territories belonging to the duchy of Milan. Julius easily
Failure as
rapidly
follows.
Louis XII., 1498-1515. Johnson, Periods,
33-541
Masson,
Mediceval
France,
314-325;
Zeller, XL
Conquest of Milan and Naples.
Louis XII.
the victim of
the papal
policy.
Johnson,
Periods,
54-78.
198
Political Changes of the Age
[§ 192
A new world empire.
Elements of weakness in the empire of Charles V.
formed the league of Cambray with France and Austria to humble Venice. Louis XII. again did the fighting, only to find, after the Venetians had submitted, that the tables were turned against him once more, for the pope formed the Holy League as soon as the French seemed too powerful in Italy. Venice, Spain, England, and Austria united with him. The French were beaten in Italy, and the Sforza family returned to Milan, while Ferdinand seized Navarre, and Henry VIII. invaded France, where he won the somewhat absurd Battle of the Spurs. Louis was compelled to yield, and to give up his claims upon Italy.
192. The Dominions of Charles V. — Louis XII. died within a few weeks of this treaty, and the next years saw a great change in Europe. The thrones of Spain and the Empire became vacant and were united in the possession of Charles V., the grandson of both Ferdinand and Maximilian, who held at the same time the Netherlands, the Two Sici- lies, and America. The idea ,of a world monarchy, which Christendom had so long cherished, and the plans of Ferdi- nand the Catholic for European supremacy seemed about to be realized together. In reality the conditions were pre- pared for a long and evenly balanced conflict. The three strongest states of Europe were ruled by young, able, and intensely ambitious sovereigns, — Henry VIII. of England, Francis I. of France, and Charles V., — and the Protestant reformation was just beginning.
On the map of Europe the dominions of Charles V. seemed like a reconstruction of the Roman Empire, but their real was far less than their apparent strength. They were widely separated from one another, and it was not easy to maintain secure communication between them in time of war. Germany was sharply divided into two hostile parties and constantly on the verge of civil war. The title of Em- peror was a great dignity, but Charles V. would have been stronger against his enemies if he had possessed the terri- tories of Austria and left the Empire to some one else. That he had Austria, indeed, brought against him one most
§ 193] The Imperial Election and its Results 199
dangerous enemy ; for the Turks, now for more than half a century in possession of Constantinople, had already begun to push up the Danube valley, and the defence of central Europe against their victorious advance must make its last and most desperate stand around Vienna. On the other
THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.
band, France held all its strength and resources closely concentrated in the hands of its king, and, in the actual condition of things, she was an even match for the power of Charles V., which seemed so much greater.
193. The Imperial Election and its Results. — On the Three rivals death of Maximilian I., in 1519, the three young kings of ^om^n England, France, and Spain were rivals for the election to crown.
2OO Political Changes of the Age [§ 194
Johnson, the imperial crown. The German princes did not fully
Periods, trust any one of them, and would have preferred to elect
Seebohm, one °^ their own number, Frederick the Wise of Saxony,
Revolution, the sovereign of Luther, but he thought himself too old or
H"~ssfr was to° w*se to accePt so neavy an honor in such perilous Reformation, times. The election was then made in favor of Charles of 32-41; Jans- Spain, who became, as Emperor. Charles V. ^opfeer\\aH This election meant of course war between Charles and 263-284. Francis. It would have meant war if Francis had been The danger elected. But as things were, the situation might well seem to France. to threaten the existence or at least the unity of France. The dominions of Charles extended along its whole fron- tier, both east and south. The duchies of Brittany and Burgundy had been only lately annexed, and Ferdinand had at one time forced Louis XII. to agree to give them up. Henry VIII. had still some hopes of recovering the old Eng- lish possessions in France. In Italy the conflicting claims of the two sovereigns would have led to war even if the greater rivalry of European position had not existed. This war was the first stage in the conflict between France and the More than house of Hapsburg which dominates all the international two centuries politics of Europe from the beginning of the sixteenth to between tne en(^ °f tne eighteenth century, and which has affected France and so disastrously the position of both powers in the world of Austria. to-day. For Charles and Francis the immediate object of
contention was Italy,
Francis I. in 194. France still seeks Dominion in Italy. — Already, Italy, and the immediately on his accession in iziz, Francis I. had taken
results for . ^TT , , . . ,.
France. UP tne plans which Louis XII. had given up in discourage-
Kitchin, ment. He had invaded Italy with a splendid army, beaten France, II. tke £ne jnfanj-ry of the Swiss, who were in the service of the Zeiier, XII. duke of Milan, in the great battle of Marignano, and at once occupied Milan. Francis was now completely master of northern Italy, but his victory had given him other ad- vantages of great importance in the history of France. With the Swiss he made the so-called " Perpetual Peace," by which their soldiers entered the service of France. It
§ 194] France still seeks Dominion in Italy 201
was perpetual until the French Revolution destroyed it with • almost all other existing arrangements. With the pope he made a concordat by which the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges was so modified that the control of the French Church passed into the hands of the king. This was the foundation of the later '• liberties of the Gallican Church."
This was the situation in Italy at the imperial election in The begin 1519. But in the meantime a series of events of another sort had begun and was proceeding rapidly in Germany, tion. which introduced a new complication. The demand for a reformation in the Church, which had now been making itself heard for two hundred years, had found a new leader, and in his hands, as in the case of Wycliffe and of Huss, the movement was not confining itself to a demand for the reform of abuses, but was going on to attack some of the doctrines held most fundamental by the Church. The attack in this case, however, was far more dangerous than those of a hundred years before.
Topics
The rise of international politics. What kept Louis XI. occupied in France? How was Spain created geographically ? What changes in government were made by Ferdinand? His foreign policy. Re- sults of his reign for Spain. The policy of Henry VII. The two great marriages in the house of Hapsburg, and their results. Why was Italy the object of contention among the great powers? Its leading states. How was the struggle for Italy opened? The invasion of Charles VIII. Louis XII.'s new claim and his invasion. The policy of Julius II. What dominions were united under Charles V., and how did each come to him? Why was his empire less strong than it seemed? The election to the Roman Empire in 1519. How was the position of Charles V. a danger to France? What did Francis I. accomplish by his first invasion of Italy ?
Topics for Assigned Studies
Louis XL of France. See references on p. 233. Commines, Memoirs. (Bohn.) Character of Louis, Chaps. X.-XIII. Zeller, IX. Willert, Reign of Louis XI. (Rivington.) Kirk, Charles the
2O2 The Genealogy of Charles V.
Bold. 3 vols. (Lippincott.) Louis at Peronne, Willert, 131- 139. Commines, Book II., Chaps. VII.-IX.
Ferdinand in Spain. Burke, History < of Spain. Vol. II. (Longmans.) Mariejol, U Espagne sous Ferdinand et Isabelle. (Paris.) Pres- cott, Ferdinand and Isabella, I., Chap. VI. Johnson, Periods, 91-106.
The Genealogy of Charles V
Austria. The Netherlands Aragon and the Castile and
and Burgundy. Two Sicilies. America. Maximilian I., = Mary, d. 1482.
d mig Ferdinand VII., = Isabella, d. 1504.
d. 1516.
Philip, d. 1506. - Joanna, Catherine of
Called Philip I. of Spain, | the mad queen, Aragon
after the death of Isabella, i — — I d. 1555. m. Henry VIII
Charles V., Ferdinand I.,
d. 1558. d. 1564.
Philip II., The Austrian
d. 1598. Hapsburgs.
The Spanish Hapsburgs.
CHAPTER V
THE REFORMATION OF LUTHER
195. Luther's Theological Beliefs. — Luther had been led Justification by a most earnest religious spirit to give up the study of J^jjj1*' the law and to become a monk. In the cloister he had Luther, been led by a strong philosophical tendency of mind to 28~56; examine most carefully the foundations of theological belief, ciwlilation As a result he had adopted the system of St. Augustine, the 426-433. patron saint of the order of friars which he had entered.
To Luther the doctrine of "justification by faith" seemed to be the corner stone of this system, and this doctrine, most earnestly and intensely held, seemed to call upon him to cry out against one of the greatest abuses of the time. This was the preaching which frequently accompanied the sale of indulgences, and which was often an abuse also in the sight of the current theology of the Church.
196. Indulgences. — A letter of indulgence was a written What an document, granted by some one in authority in the Church, ™^}g™* by which, in view of some pious act, the temporal penalties translation of of sin were said to be remitted or changed in character in an indui- favor of the holder. The letter itself, which was written in f^n°f Latin as an official document of the Church, stated that the scribners remission was of no avail without due repentance and for- Monthly, saking of sin. For three centuries or more, it had been (May> l876)€ customary in the Church to grant these letters in return for donations of money to be applied to charitable uses or to
advance the interests of the Church, on the theory that the gift of alms was a pious act which might take the place of penance in other forms. Of course such a source of
203
204
The Reformation of Luther
Popular misconcep- tion of indulgences.
Chaucer's
Prologue,
lines
669-714.
The ninety- five theses concerning indulgences.
Intellectual preparation for revolt.
revenue was a great temptation, and subject to glaring abuse in times of general moral decline, and in later times the granting of indulgences in return for donations of money has been discountenanced or forbidden by the Church.
It is certain that the practice was popularly very much misunderstood. Few could read the language in which the letter was written. The ignorant thought that the payment of money was all that was required, and also that they could in this way escape the eternal as well as the temporal penal- ties of sin. Whether the preaching of Tetzel, who was selling indulgences in the neighborhood of Wittenberg, encouraged these misconceptions or not is a matter of doubt ; but if he was not one, there certainly were many unscrupulous agents who took every advantage they could of the popular belief, as Chaucer seems to have thought when he wrote the " Canterbury Tales " in Wycliffe's time.
197. Luther posts his Theses. — In October, 1517, fol- lowing a university custom, Luther published a general challenge to debate on the subject of indulgences by post- ing on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, ninety- five theses, or propositions, which he offered to defend against all comers. In these theses he attacked the abuses and proclaimed what he believed to be the true doctrine. They were written in Latin and were addressed to the univer- sity world, but within two weeks they had been made known to all Germany. The current of discontent with the moral and financial wrongs which the masses believed they were suffer- ing from those who had control of the government of the Church had been so long held back that when the way was opened its depth and strength surprised the world.
The intellectual changes which had taken place by this time were also a preparation for a widespread revolt against the Catholic Church. Not only had men acquired the habit of questioning authority and of looking upon old beliefs with doubt, but also they had grown accustomed to intellectual independence and to new and strange ideas. The progress of classical learning, also, especially in the work which Eras-
MARTIN LUTHER
206
The Reformation of Luther
[§198
Luther at first intends no revolu- tion. Kostlin, Luther,
95-149; Johnson, Periods, I53-IS7.
The real question was authority or private judgment.
The steps of
Luther's
progress.
The declara- tion of war.
mus had done, had furnished the reformers in easily acces- sible shape the material for attacking the historical claims of the papacy.
198. Luther gradually led to Open Rebellion. — Still Luther was himself surprised by the effect which the publi- cation of his theses had produced. He had up to this time intended no revolt against the Church, and he was for a long time unconscious of the result towards which things were tending. Gradually he was led on by the skilful attacks which were made on the weak points of the theses to take one position after another until he found himself in open rebellion.
The real test question, and that which led to the final breach, was that of the infallible authority of the Church and of the pope. The doctrine of the infallibility of the pope was not at that time formally held by the Church, though it was practically the belief of a great many churchmen, but it was universally held that the Church was infallible when speaking through a general council, like that which had condemned John Huss. Luther would no doubt have agreed to this at the time he posted the theses.
On this question Luther was by degrees forced along to a position of complete opposition to the Church. First, in the year after the posting of the theses, in a conference with a legate sent by the pope to quiet if possible the com- motion which had arisen in Germany, he asserted that the pope might be in error and that he would be if he was not in accord with the Bible. Second, as the result of a great debate at Leipsic with Dr. Eck, he was forced to admit that a general council of the Church could make a wrong decision and that one had a.ctually done so when Huss was condemned. This was in the year in which Charles V. was elected emperor.
In the summer of the next year, the pope, Leo X., issued a bull in which he announced that Luther would be excom- municated if by the middle of the next winter he had not confessed his errors and become reconciled to the Church,
§§ 199, 2oo] The Diet of Worms 207
This was the bull which Luther publicly burned in Witten- berg in December of 1520. This act was a kind of open declaration of war, but it did not make Luther any more of a rebel against the authority of the Church than his earlier declarations had done.
199. The Protestant Position in Regard to Authority. — The actual In taking this stand against the infallibility of the Church,
Luther did not intend to deny the existence of an infallible tion in authority in matters of religion. He, and most of the early conflict for Protestants, believed that the absolute truth could be known gee^dams and declared by the body of true believers, though the Civilization, actual position in which they stood with reference to the 439. n- *• Catholic Church was inconsistent with this belief. What they really asserted in that position was the right of any one man to determine for himself what is the truth, under his responsibility to God alone. Practically the Protestant world acted on this principle, for it divided into many parties on questions of theology and interpretation, and it has con- tinued divided ever since. At first most of these parties were bitterly hostile to one another because they thought their differences so very important. Recently they have come very generally to recognize the fact that the points of likeness are more numerous and important than those of difference, and to act accordingly.
200. The Diet of Worms. — The first Diet of the Empire Charles V. under the new emperor, Charles V., was summoned for the really con' spring of 1521. Germany hoped that here would be settled the inteiT many questions of political as well as of religious reform, but national the result was disappointing. In truth, Charles was not able ^flul^e' ^ to look at German questions purely from the German point politics on of view. The general interests of his wide dominions were the Reforma« always in his mind, and this must be remembered in order Ranke^
to understand his relation to the Reformation. At the Popes, time of the meeting of the Diet of Worms, the difficulty ^ohn)' which seemed the most pressing was the position of the chap.'in. French in northern Italy, which Francis I. was still holding. To the pope this was an equal danger* For the moment
208
The Reformation of Luther
[§201
Luther before the Diet, 1521.
Charles V. personally opposed to Protestant- ism.
War makes five years' delay.
pope and emperor each had need of the other, and their desires and interests were in harmony with reference both to Germany and to Italy.
Luther was summoned to the Diet under a safe-conduct, and had no hesitation in going, though his friends feared for his safety. At the Diet, when called on to acknowledge the opinions which he had taught, he asked for a day's de- lay, and then boldly reaffirmed his position, saying that he could not do otherwise. The sentence of the Diet placed Luther under the ban of the Empire and ordered his books to be destroyed. On his return from Worms, Luther dis- appeared, having been secretly carried by his friends to the castle of the Wartburg, near Eisenach. Here he re- mained nearly a year, writing and translating the New Testament.
201. No Opportunity to enforce the Edict of the Diet. — This decision of the Diet against Luther, though the result of an understanding between Charles and the pope, was not opposed to the real opinion of Charles. He never had any sympathy with Luther's ideas, and if his hands had been free to do as he would have liked in Germany, he would have put an end to the Reformation by force. The new teachings owed their long freedom from attack and the op- portunity which they had to spread and strengthen them- selves in Germany to the political difficulties in which Charles was involved elsewhere.
It was five years after the Diet of Worms before the em- peror came to a time when he even thought that he could take decisive measures against heresy in Germany. War had begun between him and Francis I. in the spring of 1521. Towards the end of the summer the troops of the emperor and the pope drove the French out of Milan. In the spring of the next year Henry VIII. of England declared war against France, and in the same year Charles of Bour- bon, constable of France, a relative of the king's, and the most powerful noble of France, made angry by a dispute over an inheritance, joined Charles and Henry in war upon
2IO
The Reformation of Luther [§§ 202-204
The French lose and recover Milan. Johnson, Periods, 172-176 ; Kitchin, France, II. 191 if.
Francis I. captured by the Spanish. Kitchin, France, II. 199 ff.
Charles V.
demands
too much.
Johnson,
Periods,
181-184;
Hausser,
Reformation,
106-112.
The
emperor's plans agairrst heresy inter- rupted.
Francis and in a project to partition his kingdom among them.
202. Events in Italy. — It would seem as if the odds were entirely against France, but the allies accomplished nothing in proportion to their strength. The French were indeed driven entirely from Italy, with the death of the Chevalier Bayard, one of the last and finest products of the age of chivalry, but an attempt to carry the war into south- ern France by Charles of Bourbon was not successful. He was forced to retreat before a great army with which Francis now advanced. By a skilful march the French passed by their enemies, appeared suddenly before Milan, and forced the Spanish garrison to abandon the city without a blow.
This was a good beginning for the recovery of Italy, but the French success went no farther. Francis began the siege of Pavia. Bourbon advanced against him with a large army, and in the battle which followed the French were totally defeated and the king was taken prisoner.
203. The Treaty of Madrid. — The battle of Pavia was in February, 1525. For nearly a year Francis remained a prisoner in the hands of Charles. The terms which the emperor demanded for his release were so high that Fran- cis could not bring himself to consent to them. At last, worn out with his confinement and seeing no prospect of any more favorable terms, Francis yielded and agreed to the demands of Charles. The treaty of Madrid was signed in January, 1526. Francis engaged to abandon all his claims in Italy, and to surrender Burgundy, Flanders, and Artois to the emperor. Had Charles been satisfied with reasonable conditions, he might have secured their fulfil- ment, but as it was Francis had -no intention of keeping the treaty.
204. Enforcement of the Edict again Prevented. — For the moment, however, Charles thought that all opposition to him in Europe was at an end, and he immediately sent word to Germany that he should take measures at once for the suppression of heresy. Before he could do this he became
§ 205] Peace between France and Charles V. 2 1 1
aware that the situation of things in Europe had decidedly changed. The pope, — now Clement VII., one of the Medici, and greatly interested in Italian politics, — the Venetians, and Francis I. had formed a league against him, and war was about to begin.
To meet this new combination Charles would need all his resources, and could not afford to run the risk of a civil war in Germany. In consequence the Diet of Speyer, which met in June of 1526, instead of renewing the edict of the Diet of Worms, declared that each state might conduct itself in regard to the religious question as it " thought it could answer to God and to the Emperor." This meant that for the present the edict of Worms was suspended, but that the time might come sometime when the emperor would call the States to an account for not obeying it. This was, however, the best that could be expected, and under this arrangement a German army largely made up of followers of Luther, and commanded by one of them, entered Italy, in 1527, stormed the city of Rome, and made the pope a prisoner. Before Charles could draw any advantage from these events, a new French army invaded Italy, took posses- sion of many cities in the north, passed Rome, and began the siege of Naples. Then fortune turned again. The Genoese abandoned the French side, and a plague reduced the French so greatly that the siege had to be given up, and finally only a small fragment of the army returned to France.
205. Peace between France and Charles V. — Now all parties were tired of the war. In June, 1529, the treaty of Barcelona was made between the pope and the emperor, and in July that of Cambray, or the Ladies' Peace, between Charles and Francis. Before these treaties were actually signed, Charles had concluded that the time was at last come when he could deal with the religious difficulty in Ger- many according to his will. The second Diet of Speyer was summoned to meet in February of that year. For the mo- ment nothing interrupted the emperor's plans. The Diet decided, by a majority vote, that the decision of the first
The first Diet of Speyer. The edict of Worms suspended. Ranke, History of Germany, Bk. IV., Chap. II.
The sack
of Rome,
Valdez'
account.
Seebohm's
Protestant
Revolution,
157-160 ;
Johnson,
Periods, 186.
The treaty of Cambray.
The second Diet of Speyer. Ranke,
212
The Reformation of Luther [§§ 296, 207
Germany, Bk. V.,
Chap. V. ; Hausser,
Reformation, 113 ff.
The " Pro- test." Fisher,
Reformation , 117; extract, Schilling, Quellenbuch, 76.
Luther opposed to fanaticism.
Reasons for
the peasant
revolt
mainly
economic.
Seebohm,
Protestant
Revolution,
59-68,
Diet of Speyer should be no longer valid, but that the edict of the Diet of Worms should be enforced at once.
206. The "Protestants" and their Strength. — Against this action of the Diet, the supporters of Luther entered a formal protest, declaring that in matters of religion the ma- jority had no right to bind the minority, " for every one must give an account of himself to God." It was from this act of protest that the name " Protestants " was given to those who followed the teachings of Luther. It was signed by five princes, the chief being Saxony, Brandenburg, and Hesse, and by fourteen cities, and this represents the strength of Protestantism in Germany ten years after Luther's open breach with the Church.
During these years the new doctrine, besides making prog- ress among the people, had passed through its age of trial, from the elements of fanaticism and revolution which accompany every great change. While Luther was at the Wartburg, fanatics had proclaimed extreme opinions and occasioned great excitement at Wittenberg and elsewhere in Saxony. Luther had felt it his duty to leave his retreat to put a stop to this movement.
207. The Great Peasant War. — Towards the end of the year 1524, a far more serious danger threatened Germany. For a hundred years the peasants had been growing more and more discontented with their lot. This was partly due to the fact that in places and for individuals the burdens laid upon them by their lords had been really growing heavier. It was probably still more due to the fact that during these hundred years great changes had been taking place as a result of which they saw the condition of the classes above them greatly improved, comforts multiplied, intelligence increased, and wealth much more easily and rapidly accumulated, while they, bound down by old cus- toms now very strictly interpreted, were not able to take advantage of these changes and had no share in the im- provements taking place.
Now, as in England in the time of Wycliffe, the constant
§§ 208, 209] The First Attack of the Turks 213
appeal to the Bible and the new religious teachings with Character of
their spirit of freedom, encouraged the peasants and fur- the revolt-
- „ . Hausser,
nished them with arguments and proofs. Open msurrec- Keformationt
tion had been tried many times in the century, but now, 92-105;
beginning in southwestern Germany, it spread rapidly and J^1"^11'
with fury over all that part of the Empire. In many places 176-180;
the peasants paid their debts of suffering, now that their Goethe, Goetz
turn had come, with horrible cruelties inflicted on their JJ^^f****"
lords. In some of the smaller cities the artisan class sym- (drama) ;
pathized with the peasants, and carried the town with the peasants1
them. It seemed for a time as if the revolution would artic]es»
be successful. Seebohm,
208. The Insurrection put Down. — Luther sympathized J*0****** with the demands for reform which the peasants made, but H./NO. 6.' with their methods he had no sympathy, and he saw that Position of their triumph, in their present spirit, would mean the ruin Luther. of society and of his own cause. Consequently he urged Kostlm, the princes to put the insurrection down by force, and he 3I5_32I did this with the impetuosity and violence of language which
was natural to him when he was excited.
By degrees the princes with their organized forces took The peasants the field. Against them, so much better armed and dis- Sained ciplined, the peasants had no chance of success, and were trying force. everywhere defeated and slaughtered. In very few places in Germany did the insurrection result in any improvement of their condition. The slower economic forces were on their side., however, and in time gave them more rights and freedom, though in all probability their appeal to force in an attempt to hurry on the process really hindered it, and perhaps in some regions held it back entirely until the age of the French Revolution.
209. The First Attack of the Turks. — The expectation The edict of which Charles V. entertained at the second Diet of Speyer, |^te£" can" that now the time had come for putting down heresy, was enforced. doomed to disappointment as it had been before. In this
case, however, the interruption came not from France, but from the Turks.
214
The Reformation of Luther [§§210,211
The advance of the Turks unites Germany.
Charles believes the lime has now come. Kostlin, Luther, 402-426 ; Alzog, Church History, III.
75-87 ;
Johnson, Periods, 198 ff.
The Protes- tants refuse to submit.
The League of Schmal- kalden and the peace of Nuremberg.
The conquering age of the Turks was not yet over, though it was about to close. The last of their great sultans, Sulie- man II. the Magnificent, was now reigning. He had lately overcome the Hungarians and was determined to push on into central Europe. In September the Turks appeared before Vienna, and began its siege. It was a moment of great danger for Germany. If Vienna fell, central Europe would lie open to invasion. Before this danger religious differences were suspended, and Protestant and Catholic alike prepared for the defence of the fatherland. In a few weeks, how- ever, Sulieman found that he could not take Vienna, and retired with his army.
210. The Diet and "Confession" of Augsburg. — This was really a new triumph for Charles V. He had succeeded with no effort of his own over this new enemy, and he had given no promises of lenity to the Protestants. In the spring of 1530, he came himself to Germany, resolved now to enforce his will.
The Diet met at Augsburg. Here the emperor informed the Protestant princes that toleration would now cease, and demanded that they should obey the earlier edicts against the followers of Luther. They answered firmly that they could not do so. Charles then asked for a statement of the points in which they differed from the Catholic faith. In answer to this the first formal declaration of the Protes- tant belief was drawn up, the " Confession of Augsburg," and read to the Diet. In conclusion the Diet decreed that the Protestants should be allowed until the next spring to submit, and it was understood that then measures would be taken against them.
211. The Emperor's Plans again Postponed. — When spring came the emperor hesitated. Peace with France was insecure. The Turks were threatening. All through 1531 he allowed things to drift, but the Protestants had taken steps to provide for their defence. Luther was opposed to civil war, but the princes were resolved not to yield without a struggle. In March they formed the League
§2ii] Emperors Plans again Postponed 215
of Schmalkalden, promising to defend one another with all their forces. In 1532, before the emperor was ready for extreme measures, came another Turkish invasion. This time the Protestant princes were in a position by their union to demand concessions of Charles, and he was con- strained to yield. By the peace of Nuremberg it was agreed to suspend all hostilities until the religious differ- ences could be settled by a general council. The Protes- tants then joined the emperor, and the Turks were obliged to retreat again.
Fifteen years passed before the situation changed in The Protes- Germany in any material degree in the emperor's favor,
,
The council which he had hoped to have called for a free Hausser,
discussion of the differences in religion he could not bring Reformation,
about as he desired. Two wars with France, in one of S^on
which the Turks took part, had kept him occupied. And Periods, '
in these years Protestantism had spread rapidly in north 205-219. and central Germany and strengthened greatly its power of resistance.
Topics
Luther's leading theological belief. What was an indulgence? How popularly misunderstood? What did Luther assert in his "theses"? What were "theses"? How were the theses received? Why? What were the steps by which Luther advanced to open opposition to the Church? The Protestant position in regard to authority in the Church. What motives influenced Charles V. at the Diet of Worms? Why was the edict not enforced at once? The situ- ation in Italy. What led to the treaty of Madrid? Why was not the edict of Worms now enforced? The first Diet of Speyer. The sack of Rome. The second Diet of Speyer. Why was its decision not en- forced? The origin of the name "Protestant." What plan did the Protestant states form for protection? What did they secure in the peace of Nuremberg? How long did this arrangement last, and its results? What led to the great peasant war? Did the peasants wish economic or political freedom? Character of the revolt. Its result Why was it opposed by Luther?
2I5 The Reformation of Luther
Topics for Assigned Studies
Luther's theses. Kostlin, Luther, 82-94. Alzog, Church History, III.
11-15. Translation in Penn. II., No. 6. The Diet of Worms. Kostlin, Luther, 222-245. Seebohm, Protestant
Devolution. (Epochs.) 115-135- Alzo& Church History> IIL
36-42. Hausser, Reformation, 42-47.
CHAPTER VI
THE LATER AGE OF THE REFORMATION
212. The Reformation in the North of Europe. — Outside of Germany the whole Teutonic north of Europe had fallen away from the Catholic Church. Both in England and in the Scandinavian countries the governments had much to do with the introduction of the new forms of faith, but Protestantism had soon taken a strong hold of the mass of the people.
In England at first the change was a peculiar one. It was the throwing off of the supremacy of the pope, but not the adoption of the Protestant faith. The personal interest of the king determined the step. Henry VIII. desired to be freed from his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, by whom he had no male heir, and who had once been contracted to his elder brother, Arthur. Aside from motives of passion, which may have influenced him, Henry may well have desired to have the succession to the crown placed beyond the possi- bility of dispute, as any statesman might, remembering the Wars of the Roses, still so recent in English history.
213. Henry VIII. takes the Place of the Pope. — The pope refused to annul the marriage. But Henry was a king who was both accustomed and determined to have his own way, and the divorce which the pope could not grant him he procured from an English Church court under the arch- bishop of Canterbury. This act necessarily brought matters to a square issue between Henry and the pope, and by degrees the papacy was deprived of all its powers in Eng-
217
Government on the side of change.
The peculiar
character of
the first
change in
England.
Seebohm,
Revolution,
Pt. III..
Chap. II.;
Fisher,
Reformation,
316-325;
Alzog,
Church
History, III.
191-202;
Perry,
Reformation
in England
(Epochs
Ch. Hist.) ;
Blunt,
Reformation
of the Church
of England.
218
Later Age of the Reformation [§§ 214,215
The " act of
supremacy,"
1534- Gee and Hardy, 243 ; Penn. I. No. i.
England not yet Protestant.
Edward VI.,
1547-1553 ;
Mary 1.,
Fisher, Reformation ,
325-331 ;
Alzog, Church History, III. 202-208 ; Tennyson, Queen Mary (drama).
The rise of Calvinism. Hausser, Reformation,
24x-255 I Johnson, Periods, 271-276.
land, and finally the Act of Supremacy was passed, by which the king was declared to be " the only Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England."
This step made England independent of the Roman Church, but it made at first no other change. The teachings and forms of Protestantism were not adopted, and the sub- jects of Henry were placed in a difficult position, for he put to death on one side those who still held to the supremacy of the pope, like Sir Thomas More, the author of " Utopia," and on the other those who favored Protestant doctrines. Gradually, however, these teachings, which had much in harmony with the spirit of the English nation, spread among the people. Under Henry himself the Bible was translated into English and placed in the churches to be read by any one.
214. England becomes Protestant. — Henry's son, Edward VI. , was still a child at the death of his father, and those who governed England in his name were favorable to Prot- estantism, so that, though the reign was short, it was one of rapid change. From it dates the English Prayer Book and the use of English in all the services of the Church. Queen Mary, who followed Edward, was the daughter of Henry and Catherine of Aragon, and it was hardly possible for her to be otherwise than Catholic. Her efforts to reestablish the power of the pope, her marriage with her cousin, Philip II. of Spain, and her persecution of the Protestants, which gained for her the name of " Bloody Mary," were all of no avail, and after her short reign her sister Elizabeth had no difficulty in restoring Protestant institutions and her own supremacy in the Church. In her reign Protestantism became the religion of the great body of the English nation.
215. Calvinism. — In the meantime in the Latin king- dom of France a new phase of Protestantism had arisen which was destined to have a great influence upon England and the United States. This was Calvinism. John Calvin, born not far from Paris, had been educated for the profes- sion of the law, but while still a student he had accepted the
§2is] Calvinism 219
teachings of Luther, and at the age of twenty-six he pub- lished a most remarkable book, " The Institutes of the Christian Religion," the first scientific treatise on Protestant theology. In 1536 he took up his residence at Geneva, where he spent the remainder of his life. There he was able to carry out his ideas of republican government in the Church and of a state founded on the Bible and con- trolled by religion. Geneva became a kind of city of refuge for persecuted Protestants from all the West of Europe, and a training school of the new ideas in Church and State.
Calvin's was a legal mind and inexorably logical, and Calvin's starting with the idea of the supremacy of God's will in the teachings universe as the most fundamental of all truths, he developed a system which has seemed to the modern world, in its ex- treme form, — where predestination determines everything, and the individual has no true choice and no control over his own destiny, — too harsh and merciless. But it was a system which, from its very hardness, made strong men. It taught, in contrast with Luther's feeling, the supreme duty of defending the truth and of resisting evil even in the State. This spirit of Calvinism, which will fight for the right to the death and never yield, we can trace throughout all the countries of the West of Europe, where the conflict was waged in the next age, in Scotland, England, Holland, and France, and in America, and we should recognize in it one of the most powerful forces determining the final results of the period of the religious wars. Calvinism, made no per- manent contribution to the institutions of civil liberty. The Calvin's theocratic state, taking the Bible as its law and rigidly en- political forcing a formal and sombre moral code, which Calvin irit notjn maintained in Geneva during his lifetime, and which was institutions, attempted in some of the New England colonies, especially in the New Haven colony, passed away in the end without leaving a permanent constitutional influence. But the rein- forcement which the spirit of Calvinism brought at a critical time to the hereditary spirit of the Anglo-Saxon race, in the
220
Later Age of the Reformation [§§216,217
The Refor- mation in France and Holland. Fisher, Reformation, 242-256 ; Penn. III., No. 3.
Political elements among the Huguenots.
Protestant- ism in Holland.
Reformation
in the
Catholic
Church.
Ward,
The Counter
Reformation
defence of liberty and of the government of the people, must be gratefully recognized.
216. Reformation in France and Holland. — The teach- ings of Calvin found the way prepared for ready acceptance and great results in France. Even before Luther some of his ideas in the way of religious reform had been taught in France and had found adherents. The influence of Luther's reformation followed speedily and rapidly increased the party which had been scarcely more than begun. The govern- ment, which was really in a position to deal more consist- ently with such a movement than was the government of the Empire, followed no steady policy of repression, and the party of the reformers continued to grow through the early years of the period. The effect of Calvin's teaching was not merely to give to this party the reinforcement of new converts, but all the strength that comes from regular organization and clearly defined aims.
This party, which comes in time to be known as that of the Huguenots, was naturally far stronger in France among the middle and upper classes than among the lower. In central and southern France it received a strong reinforce- ment from the elements representing the older local and feudal independence of the country, and in the age of the religious civil wars has quite as much the character of a political as of a religious party.
In the northern province of the Netherlands the ground had also been prepared for the sowing of Calvin through a kind of local self-government in political affairs and a sturdy sense of independence among the people, who retained in many ways primitive Teutonic characteristics. The Dutch Protestants were real Puritans in belief and conduct, but like the Huguenots and the English Puritans, their importance lies in the age of struggle which follows the Reformation.
217. The Counter Reformation. — The term " Reforma- tion " has rather become limited in formal history to the rise of the Protestant churches, but we ought not to over- look the fact that in nearly every sense the word is to be
§218]
The Society of Jesus
221
as truly applied to the history of the Catholic Church in this age. The old abuses in government and conduct of which the fifteenth century so bitterly complained disap- peared and have never again characterized the government of the Church as a whole. The popes of the middle of the sixteenth century were decidedly reforming popes, and the papacy has never since fallen to the hands of such a man as Alexander VI. If in some ways, in doctrine and in the mo- narchical tendency of the government, the Catholic Church emphasized the medieval tendency, it was because the body of the Church was unconvinced by the arguments of the re- formers and held to the old beliefs from firm conviction.
It was the work of the council of Trent to formulate in definite statement those points of doctrine, and to establish controlling precedents for the future by its practice in regard to those points of government which the reformers had especially attacked. In belief it proclaimed the divine mission of the Church to know and teach the truth for all its members, and in government, by recognizing that the supreme legislative power rested in the pope, it completed the establishment of the papacy as an unlimited monarchy. These conclusions were not reached in the council without some opposition, and its sessions were interrupted for long intervals, partly because of the political uncertainties of the period. In general, however, the decisions of the council were in accord with the tendencies which had long prevailed in the history of the Catholic Church and which have con- tinued to characterize it down to the present time.
218. The Society of Jesus. — During the same period the revival in the Catholic Church was accompanied with the organization of many new monastic orders, of more modern spirit and methods than those of the Middle Ages. The most important of these was the Jesuit order, or the Society of Jesus. Founded by a Spanish noble and soldier, Loyola, upon the military model, to be the army of Christ and the pope, its fundamental principle was the strict and unques- tioning obedience of the soldier. In method, as compared
(Epochs Ch. Hist.) ; Fisher, Reformation 390 ff.
The council of Trent,
IS4S-I563.
Ward,
Counter
Reformation^
Chap. III.;
Symonds,
Catholic
Reaction,
Chap. II.;
Alzog,
Church
History, III.
340-360;
Penn. II.,
No. 6.
The Jesuit
order.
Shorthouse
John
Inglesant
(novel).
222
Later Age of the Reformation [§218
with earlier monastic orders, its leading characteristic was the practice of mingling with the world in all sorts of occupa- tions wherever influence was to be acquired or something
gained for the cause of Catholicism. To educa- tion, diplomacy, and the confessional, especially to acting as the confessors of persons in positions of po- litical activity, the early Jesuits devoted particular attention, and in all direc- tions their efforts were of great value in checking the spread of Protestantism
^ ^ ^ making SOmC
recovery of what had been lost. In somewhat later times the methods of the Jesuits excited the suspicion of all the European governments, and their influence has been much less than in the sixteenth century.
IGNATIUS LOYOLA
Topics
Just what was the change in the English Church made by Henry VIII.? Why did he persecute both Protestants and Catholics? Why was Mary naturally a Catholic? And Elizabeth a Protestant? The religious and political ideas of Calvin. Their influence on character. Why were they suited to the Anglo-Saxon race? Their influence on liberty. What combination of elements in the Huguenot party? The character of Protestantism in the Netherlands. The reformation in the Catholic Church. In the papacy. The decisions of the council of Trent. The fundamental idea and the methods of the Jesuit order.
Topics for Assigned Studies
John Calvin. Fisher, Reformation, Chap. VII. Baird, Rise of the Huguenots, I. 198-216. Alzog, Church History, III. 143-155 Froude, essay in Short Studies, Vol. II. Penn. III., No. 3.
Topics for Review 223
The Jesuit order. Symonds, Catholic Reaction, Chap. IV. Ward, Counter Reformation, 31-46. Alzog, Church History, III. 373- 385.
Topics for Review- An outline intellectual history of the period.
An outline economic history of the period.
The various ways in which preparation had been made for the Reforma- tion. ' ,
The various earlier attempts at Reformation.
In what ways did the political situation in Europe protect the Reforma- tion in Germany?
Group together all the results of the Reformation.
Sketch the constitutional history of the Catholic Church in this period.
224
Important Dates for Review
|
S .S3 |
. |
|
|
<D "T3 |
rj |
|
|
* l|5 |
* |
|
|
J _) til |
1 Is! .s g. 8 2 £ K'-O 8 "^ «rt 53 •c o 'S 5 •* « 1 s d U<o, |
? 2 j a 2 i 1 i 841 S. 2 ca JS o U 05 S U |
|
^* VD oi oo |
vd d t^» co |
|
|
2-2- 2" |
to IO to iO |
|
|
c |
||
|
xJ .2 |
||
|
£3 i/) |
||
|
1 3.5 |
||
|
* 1 |
V u . I "g > |
M «'« 1H |
|
0) a > u fl) < u « S 1 |
« c £ - S3 .2 O 3 -0 T3 ^ C-, U ^3 <- C ^ «- «« S S3 o o g | >< ^ U U3J J < ^ |
| i ^i ji K- S "o >^ * -r -^ <*- JJ « D, 73 <u ^^ocr 30 g J3 d « . S H-1D-. c/ir" U i — iUp-J |
|
R" 2" ii1 ex? fl S1 |
t~x O tx ON to O to ^O M(N O(N CO •<*• TJ- TJ- |
|
|
I |
M 2" "*" "*" M M |
toto toto to to IO to |
|
Q |
o |
|
|
4J W |
1 |
|
|
G 55 |
s s |
|
|
•P ! ftl |
•a §* |
|
|
I | |
s li § ! |
g . w 2 o > M tJ -g O ^ *^ cj |
|
i |
o ^ § o S JUS J ffi |
ri Si ^3 *6 £ H H W |
|
M |
||
|
w ro LO OC) C> |
10 vd •*• t^ |
|
|
vO OO OO C^ O |
M o) co ^i" |
|
|
M MM W |
||
|
g |
si, bi |
|
|
< |
« a^ |
|
|
cn |
. |
.-£ 12 B |
|
Q |
2 |
£ c^ OH |
|
U ft! |
•g S |
o "o «3 ^ > I.S 55 |
|
1 |
1 '- |
« o 3 •§ S |
|
W |
c5 *- *-• o ° |
|
|
a |
S? £ |
6 Q£ 1^ |
|
H |
. |
|
|
M (N (N (N CO |
||
|
2" M" |
IO to to IO IO M M M HI HI 1 |
PART IV
THE STRUGGLE OF THE NATIONS FOR SUPREMACY AND EXPANSION
No reference can be made to general works covering the period of the following part which are of value for our purpose. See the genera! bibliography at the beginning of the volume, and the special bibliog raphies which follow.
SUMMARY
The age of the religious wars opened in Germany, where at the close of his reign Charles V. was able to begin his long-deferred attack upon the Protestants. The war was indecisive, however, and the Peace of Augsburg which closed it left so many ques- tions unsettled that it was a truce rather than a peace. In France a whole generation was occupied by wars between Huguenot and Catholic of the most selfish character on both sides, and closed only by the accession of the Huguenot Henry IV. to the throne as Catholic king, and by the edict of Nantes, which allowed the Huguenots almost political independence in the State. In the Netherlands the efforts of Philip II. to destroy Protestantism led to a heroic resistance and finally to the independence of the north- ern provinces and to the foundation of a great naval and colonial power. In England the nation rallied around the Protestant queen, Elizabeth, against th attempts which were made to de- throne her, and in the struggle with Spain laid the foundations of a future world empire. The practical absolutism which they were willing to allow Elizabeth because of the national danger they would not tolerate in her successor, and when the Stuarts obstinately clung to their prerogatives, the Puritan party led a rebellion against Charles I., put him to death, and established
225
226 The Age of Religious Wars
a temporary republic under Cromwell. In Germany many causes of dissension between Catholics and Protestants at last led to the terrible Thirty Years1 War, in which the land suffered the horrors of savage warfare from the armies of adventurers like Wallen- stein, and from foreign invaders, the Danes, the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus, and the French under Richelieu. The abso- lutism which had been forming so rapidly in France in the last part of the Middle Ages was completed by Richelieu, who forced the Huguenots to submission, and then the great nobles, and prepared France for a great career of foreign conquest. The treaties of Westphalia, which closed the Thirty Years1 War, left Germany exhausted and the Empire a mere name, while the strength of Spain had completely decayed. When Louis XIV. assumed the government, France was the most powerful state of Europe, and there seemed to be nothing to prevent him from reaching the frontier of the Rhine and absorbing a large part of the Spanish possessions. But these plans failed through the re- sistance of the little republic of Holland, and though Louis was able to cripple his enemy, aided by England under Charles II., in the last part of his reign, England, rid of the Stuart policy forever by the Revolution of 1688, united with all Europe against France in the great war of the Spanish Succession. Louis seated his grandson on the throne of Spain, but France was exhausted for a long time, and no real union of the States took place. The first part of the eighteenth century saw the rapid rise of Russia through the reforms of Peter the Great and his conquests from the Swedes and the Turks, and of Prussia through the careful husbandry of the Hohenzollern family, which prepared the way for the conquests of Frederick the Great. He seized the prov- ince of Silesia from Maria Theresa and forced her to yield it to him, and later defended its possession with brilliant energy against almost all Europe in the Seven Years1 War. But, looked at in the largest way, this war was only an incident in the strug- gle for colonial empire between France and England which fills the century, and was settled not in Europe, but by the victories of Clive in India and the capture of Quebec in America. Eng- land's mistake in attempting to force the colonies to share the expenses of this war gave all her old rivals an opportunity to unite in revenge, and she was obliged to acknowledge the inde- pendence of the United States. A new empire was opened, however, to the Anglo-Saxon race as one consequence, by the immediate occupation of Australia. Meanwhile the corruption of the government, the enormous burden of taxation, and odious
Summary 227
class distinctions, combined with the spread of a critical spirit and the knowledge of better things in England and America, prepared the way for a revolution in France. Once begun, the revolution was rapidly swept on to extremes, as it destroyed the relics of the old feudal system and the absolutism of the king. The Reign of Terror only prepared the way for a new absolutism, and in the one successful general in the war against all Europe, Bonaparte, the man was ready to exercise it. The consulship was a preparation for the Empire which was proclaimed when Napoleon seemed at the height of his power. For many years this power increased rather than diminished, but France was growing weak under constant drains, and at last the terrible losses in Russia could not be made good, and Napoleon fell. His desperate effort to recover himself which ended in the battle of Waterloo closed his history. At the congress of Vienna sov- ereigns and diplomats disposed of the nations as they thought good, but the longing for free government and for national unity which had begun among the people in the age of revolution could not be rooted out. Revolutionary movements kept occurring at intervals all over Europe, and resulted in the grant of constitu- tions here and there, but final success was reached only in the great period from the close of the Crimean War to that of the Franco-Prussian. Then in little more than a decade Italy secured a national existence under the lead of the house of Savoy, and Germany under Prussia, and almost every State in Europe obtained a more or less complete self-government. Russia alone remained true to the old absolutism and to her tra- ditional desire to absorb the Turkish Empire. This the Western nations combined to prevent in the Crimean War, and later in the congress of Berlin, but in the closing years of the nineteenth century the Eastern Question seemed to be losing its relative importance before the rise of world politics, due mainly to the enormous expansion of the Anglo-Saxons, and the desire of other nations to emulate their success if possible. This world expansion of a race, and the transformation of the world itself which has accompanied it, was made possible only by the in- tellectual and scientific advances of the age. Rapidity of pro- duction before undreamed of demanded the widest possible extension of markets, and this was made possible in turn by revolutionary improvements in the means of communication by the use of steam and electricity. Together these things have not merely carried the most energetic and adaptable of the mod- ern races over the whole globe, but they have led to accumula-
228
The Age of Religious Wars
[§219
tions of wealth which seem almost fabulous, and to a general dissemination of comforts and conveniences which our grand- fathers would not believe possible. As history passes into the twentieth century the world seems to be on the eve of even greater transformations.
An age of civil war.
France.
Spain.
England.
CHAPTER I
THE AGE OF RELIGIOUS WARS
219. The General Character of the Age. — About the middle of the sixteenth century, a new age opens in the his- tory of Europe. It is an age in which almost every country is involved in war — in most cases civil war, growing di- rectly out of the Reformation, though as the period comes to an end we can see rising questions of international poli- tics, the rivalry of nations with one another, and especi- ally the rivalry between France and the house of Hapsburg. At the beginning of the period, France withdraws from Italy, and turns its attention to the Rhine valley, where in the end it is to pay so dearly for the conquests it makes from Germany. Italy thus left to itself falls under the prac- tically undisputed control of the Spanish Hapsburgs. France passes almost immediately into an age of religious civil war, from which it emerges in a condition to take up again plans of national aggrandizement only after two generations. In the same years, Spain is engaged in a long and unsuccessful effort to subdue the revolted Netherlands, which would have meant the reestablishment of the Catholic religion over a Protestant people.
During the same time also, England passed through a very critical period, in constant danger of rebellion and revolution, stimulated often by Spain, in the interest of the old form of faith, and succeeded in protecting her national independence and religion only by the exercise of the ut- most vigilance and discretion on the part of the government
§ 220] First Period of the Schmalkaldic War 229
Germany opened the period of religious civil wars in the Germany. Schmalkaldic War. This was closed by the treaty of Augs- burg, which in form established toleration for Catholics and Lutherans, but it left unsettled many causes of disagree- ment, and while the other nations were passing through their civil wars, the parties in Germany were watching one another with constantly increasing jealousy. At last, when the seventeenth century was well under way, the war broke out, the Thirty Years' War, the greatest and most destruc- tive of all these civil wars, a religious war in its early stages, but changing toward the end into a war of European states. The close of the period saw also in England a great civil war between king and Parliament, a war in form upon con- stitutional questions, but deriving much of its character and spirit from the influence of Calvinism.
220. The First Period of the Schmalkaldic War. — In
1546, Charles V. was able to begin the war against the Prot- estants which he had been obliged to postpone so many times. The treaty of Crespy had given him peace with France. Francis was drawing to his end. He died in
1547, and his successor, Henry II., seemed for some years to care only for the pleasures of the court. The Turks were also no longer to be feared. On the other hand, the Protestants were now much stronger than when last threat- ened by the emperor with war, and had they been united and well led, they would have been too strong for Charles. As it was, his successes were gained by the help of the ruler and army of a Protestant state, by the able but unscrupu- lous Maurice of Saxony. He was the head of the younger Maurice of Saxon line and was ambitious of larger territories and higher Saxony* titles. During the first years everything went in Charles'
favor. He gained the great victory of Miihlberg, captured and held in close imprisonment the two chief Protestant princes, John Frederic, Elector of Saxony, and Philip of Hesse, and Maurice was rewarded for his treason by the Electorate and the larger part of the territories of his cousin. Soon afterward, the siege of Magdeburg, which
Religious war begins in Germany. Hausser, Reformation^ 196-215 ; Johnson, Periods, 220-239 ; map, Putzger, No. 21.
230
The Age of Religious Wars [§§221,222
Maurice of Saxony and France against Charles. Hausser, Reformation, 226-234 ; Johnson, Periods, 239-246 ; Zeller, XIV.
Charles defeated.
seemed the last stronghold of Protestantism, was begun
by Maurice.
221. The Turning-point of the War. — Then the situa- tion suddenly changed. Gradually it had become evident to Germany that Charles had other plans than those for the supremacy of Catholicism. He seemed to be intending to establish a strong imperial power by the overthrow of the princes, and to transfer the succession from his brother, the German Ferdinand, to his son, the Spanish Philip. Maurice quickly saw that the time was ripe for a second treason which would be equally profitable with the first. He had been offended by the treatment of his father-in-law, Philip of Hesse, by the emperor, but, a still stronger motive, here was an opportunity to obtain the consent of the Protestant princes to the gifts which Charles had made him. At the same moment, Henry II. of France, fearing the increasing strength of Charles in Germany, was thinking of interfer- ing. An arrangement was readily made between him and the Protestant princes, by which they were supplied with money, and he was allowed to take possession for France of the " Three Bishoprics," Metz, Toul, and Verdun, " cities which have belonged to the Empire but where the French language has been spoken," as the treaty said. This was the first step of France in the policy of securing the frontier of the Rhine, and though, after peace had been made in Germany, the Emperor made a vigorous attempt to recover these lands, he failed and they remained in the possession of France.
222. The Close of the War. —The Emperor did not sus- pect what was going on, and when everything was ready, so sudden was the attack of Maurice, that Charles escaped only with difficulty and by night through the passes of the Alps. The work of years was speedily undone, and Charles was forced to give up all his plans, and to leave the practical direction of affairs to his brother Ferdinand. The war was really closed by the convention of Passau in 1552, and this was followed in 1555 by the definitive peace of Augsbuig.
§ 224] Power and Character of Philip II. 231
CANNON OF THE XVIth CENTURY
This established religious toleration of a very imperfect kind. It gave to the government of each State the power to decide what should be the legal religion of its land, and then to do what it pleased with the adherents of any other, though if it de- cided to expel them, they should be al- lowed to take their property with them. Under this treaty peace was maintained in Germany until the beginning of the Thirty Years' War in 1618, but very soon questions began to arise which were not thought of when the treaty was made, and whose practical settlement seemed to one party or the other a violation of its terms.
223. Abdication of Charles V. — Very soon after the con- clusion of the peace of Augsburg, Charles V., disappointed in all his great plans and worn with disease, abdicated all his crowns, and retired to spend the rest of his days in the cloister of San Yuste in Spain. His brother Ferdinand suc- ceeded him in the German possessions of the family, and was elected emperor, and his son Philip obtained his other possessions in Spain, Italy, the Low Countries, and America. It was much to the advantage of France and of the rest of the world as well, that Charles had not been able to unite his vast dominions into a universal monarchy, but the power of the house of Austria, even though divided, still over- shadowed the world, and for generations yet was to be feared and resisted until at last its decline became evident to all.
224. The Power and Character of Philip II. — At the outset, however, the power of Philip II. was as great as that which Charles V. had had at any time. If he did not have Austria and the Empire, he escaped in that way the difficul- ties and embarrassments which had constantly hampered his father on their account. When he began to reign his con-
The peace
of Augsburg.
Hausser,
Reformation^
234-240 ;
Johnson,
Periods,
247-249.
The
important
clauses in
Schilling,
Quellenbuck,
96. -
Spain and Austria separated, IS56.
Penn. III., No. 3.
As powerful as Charles V.
232
The Age of Religious Wars
[§224
trol was undisputed over the resources of Spain, Spanish Italy, the Netherlands, and America. With power so much greater than any of his contemporaries possessed, Philip might reasonably hope to accomplish anything that he desired. That he failed in his purposes, lost some of the best portions
PHILIP II.
The charac- ter and ideals of Philip. Motley, Dutch
of his empire, and exhausted the remainder was due to his personal character and policy.
The more popular qualities of Charles V.'s early life did not descend to his son. Philip was cold and unapproach- able, secretive in disposition, hard and unpitying, and inflexibly obstinate when his purpose was once formed. His government was a typical despotism, as he sincerely believed all government should be, in which, though he
§ 225] Philip and Mary of England
233
might listen to the opinions of others, every decision was his own, and, when once reached, not to be questioned by the highest. From some source Philip had derived a strong religious tendency which was the controlling influence in shaping his policy, and which determined the result of his reign. The tendency was toward a somewhat formal and theoretical religion, and it was not of a sort to control his personal morals, but it may on that very account have exer- cised an even more decisive influence over his public policy. To Philip the supreme thing in the world was the Church. The highest duty of every monarch was to support and de- fend it.
In his own case, the way of duty seemed entirely plain. With all the vast resources at his command, he must devote himself to keeping down heresy where it was not already supreme, and to recovering as many as possible of the prov- inces which the Church had lost. He did not recognize the depth of the current nor the impossibility of turning it back, and because he thus faced the past and not the future, he hast- ened the decline of Spain, which had perhaps already begun. It certainly was the blindest political policy to drive out and destroy by persecution the Moors still left in southern Spain, but he was undoubtedly sincere in saying, as he did of the Netherlands, that he had rather not reign at all than to reign over heretics.
225. Philip and Mary of England. — The power of Philip might seem at his accession to render resistance hopeless, but a type of Protestantism had already arisen in the countries where the issue must be decided, in Holland and in England, well fitted for the conflict. This was Calvinism, whose controlling spirit of resistance to tyranny we have already noticed.
Philip had been married, some months before the abdica- tion of his father, to Queen Mary of England. It was a union very dear to Mary, though very unpopular with her subjects, and both she and Philip hoped that it would increase the power of the great Catholic monarchy and secure the
Republic (Harper), I, 139-146 ; Johnson, Periods, 309-313.
His mission, to suppress heresy.
Philip must contend with Calvinism.
The mar- riage of Philip and Mary.
234
The Age of Religious Wars [§§ 226, 227
Green,
English
People, II.
246-261 ;
Froude,
England,
VI., Chap.
XXXIII.;
Creighton,
Elizabeth
(Epochs),
29-47.
Elizabeth,
1558-1603.
Her situation
and
character.
Creighton,
Elizabeth,
128-148 ;
Green,
English
People, II.
295-302.
Documents. Prothero, 1-20 ; Gee and Hardy, 416-508.
complete triumph of the Church which both so much desired. Mary, as the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, could hardly avoid being a Catholic. If she were a Protestant, she would proclaim her own illegitimacy. In her short reign she did all that she could to bring England back into the old way. She undid the legislation of her father, restored the suprem- acy of the pope, tried to destroy the influences which had begun to work during the reign of her brother, and put many Protestants to death. But she was disappointed in all. There was no child from her marriage with Philip to carry on her plans ; England, though not yet Protestant, endured sullenly her methods of rule ; Philip, disappointed also in what he had hoped to gain from England, gave her no sym- pathy nor personal support ; and finally Providence itself seemed to desert her when Francis of Guise captured Calais, which the English had held for two hundred years against all the efforts of France. She was succeeded in the same year by Elizabeth.
226. England again Protestant. — Elizabeth, as the child of the marriage which had overthrown the supremacy of the pope, was just as necessarily constrained to be Protestant as Mary to be Catholic. Her situation was, however, critical, and demanded that she should proceed with caution. Eng- land was probably still more than half Catholic. No one who was more Catholic than Englishman could regard her as legitimately sovereign. The true heir of the crown in his eyes was Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland and wife of the king of France, and she had already assumed the arms and style of queen of England. England was a small land, and, even if it had been thoroughly united, no match for the great Catholic powers. It was with great discretion that Elizabeth met the difficulties with which her reign opened, and, though the sovereign became again the head of the Church, it was some years before the laws began to bear hard upon the Catholics.
227. The Situation in the Netherlands. — It was in the Netherlands that Philip's plans received their first decided
§ 228] Netherlands under the Hapsburgs 235
check, and the opposition which they met with there was Political
one of the most decisive influences leading to their final fail- constltution.
ure. As we have seen, the Netherlands had descended to Reformation,
Charles V. from his grandmother, Mary, daughter of Charles 285-290;
the Bold, duke of Burgundy. Their political constitution
was a peculiar one and had an important bearing on the (Lippincott),
events of this period. The provinces of the Netherlands Bk- n-
were seventeen in number, each a separate state, dating
back to the old feudal days. Each of these little states was
entirely independent of all the others politically, and had its
own legislature, laws, and government. The only form of
union between them was that which is known in modern
times as a " personal union," consisting in the fact that they
all had the same sovereign. Besides this political separation,
there were more natural differences of languages, economic Separated
character, and to some extent of former political relationship,
which divided the provinces into two groups. The people
of the northern provinces spoke a German language, were
attracted by their situation to the sea, which had led them to
develop extensive fisheries and commerce, and their rulers
had held their lands under the German emperors. The
people of the southern provinces spoke a dialect of French,
depended chiefly in the country on agriculture and in the
towns on great manufacturing industries, which had grown
up since the crusades, while a considerable portion of them
had originally belonged on the west side of the boundary
line between France and Germany.
228. The Netherlands under the Hapsburgs. — These Charles v. provinces had obtained from their earlier rulers very con- p"d. siderable political privileges in the way of making their laws and voting their taxes, and to these liberties they were de- votedly attached. Charles V., when he became their sover- eign, had paid little attention to their rights and had ruled much as he pleased. But the Netherlanders looked upon him as a native of their country, and he had also popular qualities which won men to grant him his will. Philip II., however, seemed to them a true Spaniard, and he did not
236
The Age of Religious Wars [§§ 229, 230
Religious persecution leads to resistance.
Philip's
measures
and their
effect.
Prescott,
Philip //.,
Bk. II.,
Chap. II.;
Motley,
Dutch
Republic, L
261-268 ;
Hausser,
Reformation,
290-306.
Indepen- dence declared. Old South, 72;
Johnson, Periods, Chap. VI 1 1.; Hausser,
appear to care to be thought anything else. His dark and forbidding manners made him no friends, and when he began to advance further even than Charles in the way of arbitrary government, his measures excited an opposition which his father had never met.
229. The Beginning of Resistance to Philip. — Spanish officials in the place of native, and garrisons of Spanish troops, even heavier taxes than they had ever yet paid, arbitrarily laid, might not have led to open rebellion. When to these was added religious persecution, armed resistance followed. Protestantism had made its way into the German provinces of the north, coming in the end to be of a Cal- vinistic type, while the provinces of the south had remained Catholic, — another and finally one of the most important dif- ferences between the two groups. This heretical religion, of course, Philip could not tolerate. His own provinces must all be Catholic whatever the rest of the world might be. The introduction of the Spanish inquisition, the division of the country into numerous new bishoprics for its better control, and the merciless execution of heretics led to the first steps in resistance. The nobles protested against the invasion of their political privileges. The Protestants united and drew up the Compromise of Breda, a declaration of their rights. They took in earnest the name of Beggars, — Gueux, — which had been given them in derision, and ac- cepted as their leader William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, one of the richest nobles of the country, a man brave and prudent, who was called William the Silent, from a wise habit of holding his tongue.
230. The Independence of the United Netherlands. — The conflict was obstinately fought on both sides, and long unde- cided. The military skill, the thousands of executions and unheard-of exactions of the duke of Alva were of no avail. The country might be almost ruined, but the Catholic prov- inces were driven to take part with the Protestant against the Spanish troops. A somewhat milder policy which fol- lowed succeeded no better in the main purpose. Though
§ 230] Independence of the United Netherlands 237
the Catholic provinces in the end remained under the Span- Reformation,
ish rule, the Protestant laid the foundations of a new govern- ^av^
ment in the Union of Utrecht in 1579, and soon after xxni. and
declared their complete independence of Spain. It was xxiv.
more than twenty-five years, however, before they obtained indepen- peace and a recognition of their independence. William the Silent was murdered in 1584, but his son Maurice suc-
WlLLIAM THE SILENT
ceeded him. Elizabeth of England sent the Netherlanders some little aid, but their greatest relief came from the great loss which Philip met with in the destruction of the Armada, and from his taking part in the civil war in France. At last, just before his death, Philip gave the Netherlands to his son- in-law, the archduke of Austria, and he, after failing in his turn to conquer them, recognized in 1609 the independence of the seven United Provinces, and this was formally con- ceded by the public law of Europe in the peace of West- phalia in 1648.
238
The Age of Religious Wars [§§ 231, 232
Civil strife continued.
Growth of Protestant feeling in England.
The earlier life of Mary Stuart. Creighton,
£lizabetkt 65-82.
The close of the war for independence was not the end of troubles for the Dutch. Civil and religious conflict fol- lowed, between a monarchical party led by the house of Nassau, holding to the strict Calvinistic faith, and a repub- lican party which accepted the teachings of Arminius (d. 1609), who rejected predestination and the theology founded upon it, and built an opposing system upon the basis of hu- man free will The monarchical party finally triumphed, and the leader of the republican, Oldenbarnevelt, was executed.
231 . England. — In his plans for the recovery of England for the Catholic Church, Philip had no better fortune. The method of his warfare, attack by conspiracy and revolution upon a government which all Englishmen of whatever faith re- garded as the legal and constitutional government, identified in the minds of the mass of the people the cause of Protes- tantism with that of national independence, and began that deep-seated fear of the political designs of the Catholic Church which has been in the past, at least, a characteristic of Anglo-Saxon Protestantism.
232. Mary Queen of Scots. — The character of Mary Stuart, the Catholic candidate for Elizabeth's throne, was not a help to her supporters. A daughter of Mary of Guise, brought up from infancy at the French court as the future wife of Francis II., light hearted and fond of amusement, and enjoying intensely the lively society of Paris, she was forced, when only nineteen, by the death of her husband to return to Scotland, which had been lately converted by the uncompromising John Knox to the austere faith of Calvin. It is not strange that Mary was unable to adapt herself exactly to the situation. The crisis was reached upon her marriage to the earl of Bothwell within a few months of the murder of her second husband, Lord Darnley, — a murder which it was supposed Bothwell had committed, perhaps with the connivance of Mary. To avoid the storm which this aroused, she abdicated in favor of James VI., her infant son by Darnley, and fled to England to seek refuge with her cousin and sister queen, Elizabeth.
§232:1
Mary Queen of Scots
The presence of Mary in England was a considerable The execu embarrassment to Elizabeth, who could hardly fail to sym- pathize with her troubles as a sovereign. But political necessity seemed to her and to her ministers to indicate but
QUEEN ELIZABETH
one safe course, and Mary was imprisoned. She did not Froude, cease, however, in confinement, to be made the centre En£land> of plots against Elizabeth, nor to be recognized by the pope and the king of Spain as the rightful queen of England.
240
The Age of Religious Wars [§§ 233, 234
Creighton, Elizabeth, 175-178. The petition of Parlia- ment, Prothero, 109.
Reasons for the conquest of England.
The destruc- tion of the Armada, 1588.
The demand for a more complete reformation.
Finally, after she had been imprisoned nineteen years, a conspiracy was detected which involved the murder of Elizabeth as well as the overthrow of the government, and, as the evidence seemed to indicate a guilty knowledge on the part of Mary, Elizabeth, with real or feigned reluctance, consented to her execution.
233. The Invincible Armada. — The execution of Mary, the aid which Elizabeth was giving to the revolted Nether- landers, and the injuries which Spanish commerce was receiving from the English cruisers now determined Philip to exert all his strength, overwhelming as he believed and as England feared, and with one blow be revenged upon the upstart little kingdom, and restore a lost province to the Church.
In the summer of 1588, the Invincible Armada set sail. All England, Catholic and Protestant alike, rallied to oppose it. The smaller but swifter and better handled English ships sailed around, and clung to the skirts of the great Spanish fleet and, in a nine days' continuous battle as it passed through the Channel, practically defeated it. As the remaining ships were attempting to return to Spain by sailing around Scotland and Ireland, they were dispersed by storms, and hardly one-third reached home. This was a great blow to the naval supremacy, the resources, and the prestige of Spain from which she never recovered. It was, also, the last attempt of Philip II. to conquer England, but it was only the beginning of the English triumphs over Spain, so intimately connected with the rise of her commercial and colonial empire, which we shall study in another place.
234. The Rise of the Puritan Party. — The troubles of Elizabeth with the Catholics, did not exhaust her religious difficulties. The English Church had retained many things in its forms which had belonged to the old Church, and this was true to some extent, also, of its teachings. But many in England had accepted the full teachings of Calvin. During the reign of Mary numbers had taken refuge from persecu-
§ 235] Opposing Parties in France 241
tion in Geneva, and they had returned, hoping to establish Calvinism in England. These men now refused to con- form to the English Church, but for opposite reasons from those of the Catholics. For them the Reformation had not gone far enough. This party was itself divided into two. One, for a long time the most numerous and influential in England, was the Puritan, so called from its desire to purify the Church from all Catholic form. They believed, however, in a national, established Church. The other party, for many years small and obscure, was sometimes called the Brownist, from one of its leaders, and sometimes the Separatist from its special teaching that each separate church should be an independent, democratic community, determining all questions for itself.
The government felt obliged to punish these extreme The Pilgrims Protestants for non-conformity, as it did the Catholics, and in Holland. soon after the reign of Elizabeth closed, a community of G%£sis0f the Separatists took refuge in Holland from this persecution, New Eng. and some years later still formed the little colony of Plymouth churches> in New England. Many Puritans coming later to New 209~22' England organized there churches of the Separatist type, England, and these are known in the history of America as Con- Old South, gregational, while those retaining more nearly the original S5' Puritan organization are known as Presbyterian.
235. The Opposing Parties in France. — For France, the An unhappy last half of the sixteenth century was a most unhappy period of period. Ravaged by constantly recurring civil wars, reli- gious in form but somewhat selfish in character and revo- lutionary in purpose, and ruled by incompetent kings and an utterly corrupt court, government was almost undone and all classes and interests suffered severely. The Protes- tants of France, as we have seen, differed from those of other countries in the fact that they formed a great political party in the nation, led by powerful nobles and princes of the royal family, and strove to secure their main object, a kind of independent position in the State, quite as much from political as from religious reasons.
242
The Age of Religious Wars
[§236
Government follows no consistent policy. Penn. III., No. 3; Zeller, XIV.
Catherine de' Medici and her policy. Kitchin, France, II. 294-310 ; Zeller, XV.
The first war. Vassy, 1562. Baird, Rise of the Huguenots (Scribner), II. 19-26.
The
Huguenots a state within the State.
The Reformation had an independent and early beginning in France, but it received much aid from the German move- ment, and still more from Calvin. At first the government paid little attention to it, but finally Francis I. and Henry II. adopted the policy of repression, irregularly carried out. During the short reign of Francis II., the same policy was continued, as the king was under the control of the Guises, the uncles of his wife Mary Stuart, and they were devoted Catholics.
On his death, in 1560, his brother, Charles IX., became king at the age of ten. His mother, Catherine de' Medici, an ambitious woman, but up to this time without influence upon public affairs, now resolved to rule in the name of her son. This she hoped to accomplish by balancing the Catholic party of the Guises with the Protestant party led by the Bourbon princes, Antony of Navarre and his brother, the Prince of Conde. This was a very difficult part to play on account of the bitterness of faction, and, though Cath- erine was aided by the unusual abilities of her minister, the Chancellor L'Hopital, who was tolerant from conviction, it was not an entirely successful policy.
236. The Huguenot Civil Wars. — The first civil war began by the massacre of Vassy, in which the attendants of Francis of Guise, who was on his way to Paris, attacked and killed many of a Protestant community who were wor- shipping in a barn. From this time on for thirty years there was a constant succession of wars, separated from one another by brief intervals of what was called peace, but which differed from war only in the fact that the strife was carried on by intrigues at the court rather than on the battlefield.
The peace of St. Germain, which closed the third war, is the mpst important peace in the series, and the interval between that and the beginning of the fourth war, the most important interval. The peace granted to the Hugue- nots four strong fortress towns of France, which they were to hold and control entirely independently of the govern- ment. This was done to give them a feeling of security,
§ 237] The First of the Bourbons 243
and as a kind of pledge that the terms of the peace would be honestly kept, but it had the effect of giving them a basis of political organization and of making them a little state within the State.
In the interval before the next war the effort to bring Coligny and
Protestant and Catholic together was more nearly successful tlf massacre
r , of St. Bar-
man at any other time. The marriage of the young Henry tholomew,
of Navarre, now the head of the Huguenots, with the king's 1572. sister, Margaret of Valois, was to cement the union, and ^^ many of the most prominent Protestants were attracted to History, ill. the festivities at Paris. The Admiral Coligny, the ablest of 276-279; the Huguenot nobles and one of the ablest Frenchmen of the time, acquired a decided influence over the mind of Chap, the young king. He wished to return to the policy of ex- XVIII.; tending French territory in the Rhine valley, and to turn weyman, '' the energies of the nation from civil strife to foreign con- House of the quest. The king was on the point of action, but his mother, Catherine de' Medici, began to be alarmed at Coligny's influence and to fear the loss of her hold on power. An attempt to assassinate the admiral failed. Then the king was with difficulty persuaded of a general Huguenot plot, and gave the orders which led to the massacre of St. Bar- tholomew. Thousands were murdered in Paris and through- out France, but a new spirit filled those that survived, and the Catholics gained little in the end.
237. The First of the Bourbons. — On both sides, mur- The last of ders were frequent during these wars, and many of the the Valois- leaders perished by assassination. In 1574, Charles IX. was succeeded by his brother, 'Henry III., the last of the Valois. He was ambitious to rule and wished to form a party of his own, but he could not. After having the duke of Guise murdered almost in the royal presence, he was himself murdered in 1589. By his death, Henry of Navarre was left the rightful king of France. A long strug- Henry IV. gle was necessary, however, before he obtained full posses- sion of the throne, and among other things required was Henry of his conversion to the Catholic faith, probably not a diffi-
244
The Age of Religious Wars [§§ 238, 239
Navarre (Heroes) ; his acces- sion,
Chaps. V. and VI.; Johnson, 432-437.
The close of the civil wars and the edict of Nantes. Baird, Henry of Navarre (Scribner), Chap. XIV.; Johnson, Periods, 442-445.
Designs upon the Rhine valley. Willert, Henry of Navarre, Chap. XI.
The causes of strife in the Empire. Map for the war, Putzger, No. 22.
cult thing for him, as he was not a man of deep convic- tions.
By 1598 the wars were over. England, which had hoped to gain something at the expense of France by alliance with the Huguenots, and Spain by alliance with the Catho- lics, were both repulsed ; the rebellious nobles and cities were forced to submit to a reestablishment of strong royal authority, and Henry could carry out his plans for the restoration of prosperity to France, wise according to the knowledge of the time, in which he had the aid of his great minister, Sully. The rights of the Protestants were secured and toleration made the law o.f the State by the edict of Nantes of April 13, 1598, which served its purpose for almost a hundred years.
238. The Foreign Plans of Henry IV. — Having secured the internal peace and begun the economic recovery of France, Henry IV. was just about to renew the policy of conquest in the Rhine valley, when he was assassinated, in 1610, Had Henry been granted a fe\v years longer, he would probably have made larger conquests in this region than Louis XIV. a century later, and at much less cost, for Germany was just on the eve of civil war, Spain was ex- hausted by the losses and mistakes of the last half century, and England and Holland would not have been ready to oppose the designs of France as they were a hundred years later. As it was, France fell back for many years into weakness and internal confusion. Louis XIII. was not yet ten. His mother, Mary de' Medici, did not know how to rule, and the nobles and leaders of all parties proved utterly selfish and corrupt.
239. The Beginning of the Thirty Years' War. — While France was torn with civil war, and Spain was exhausting herself in efforts to conquer the revolted Netherlands and to overthrow Protestantism in western Europe, Germany was slowly drifting toward a civil war, the most terrible in its effects of any known to civilized history. The immedi- ate successors of Charles V,, Ferdinand I. and Maximilian II.,
§ 239] Beginning of the Thirty Years War 245
were liberal-minded princes, and Protestantism made con- siderable advances even in the Austrian territories. The later emperors, especially Rudolf II. and Ferdinand II., were entirely under the influence of the Jesuits, and determined to restore Catholicism wherever possible. Each party in the Empire had some reason to complain of the unfairness with which the other interpreted the terms of the peace of Augsburg. The Protestants had managed, contrary to its
A SOLDIER OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR
spirit at least, to retain the endowments and government of several ecclesiastical states which had been converted. In 1607, Maximilian of Bavaria, taking advantage of a quarrel which had arisen between the citizens and a mon- astery, had seized the Protestant free city of Donauworth and had reestablished Catholicism there. The Protestant states then formed the "Union," under the lead of the Elector of the Palatinate. Immediately the Catholics formed the " League," with Maximilian at its head.
246
The Age of Religious Wars [§§ 240, 241
The out- break in Bohemia. Gindely, Thirty Years' War
(Putnams), Chap. II.; Gardiner, Thirty Years' War
(Epochs), Chap. II., Sec. 2; Maurice, Bohemia (Nations), Chap. XVII.
The over- throw of Frederick. Gardiner, Chap. III., Sec. i ; Gindely, I., Chap. VI.
The rise of
Wallenstein
and his
methods.
Gindely, I.
379-386;
Gardiner,
Chap. V.,
Sec. 3. See
later edict
deposing
him,
Schilling,
Quellenbuch,
'45-
240. The Bohemian Period of the War. — War did not begin, however, for some years, and then in consequence of the efforts of Ferdinand to favor Catholicism in Bohemia, where nearly all the people were Protestants. The destruc- tion of a Protestant church in Prague, in 1618, led to open hostilities. The people rose, threw the Catholic councillors of Ferdinand out of a window of the castle, after the Bohe- mian fashion, deposed the king, and elected in his place, Frederick, the Elector Palatine. He was the head of the Union, and son-in-law of James I. of England, but the aid which was expected from these sources did not come. On the other hand, Ferdinand had the support of Bavaria, Spain, and even of Protestant Saxony, and in Tilly had a general far superior to any on the Bohemian side. The first period of the war was soon over. Frederick was de- feated in the battle of the White Mountain, driven from his new kingdom, lost his dominions in the Palatinate, and even his electoral office, which was given to Maximilian of Bavaria, and never was able to recover his position. Bohemia was left at the mercy of Ferdinand, who deprived the Protestants of their rights and established Catholicism by force.
241. The Danish Period. — These successes of the house of Austria, won partly by the help of Spanish troops, and these violations of constitutional right, at last led the other Protestant states of the Empire to fear for their own safety. The king of Denmark, Christian IV., a German prince, as duke of Holstein interfered, and the Danish period of the war began in 1624. In this period, Wallenstein appeared in the service of Ferdinand, at the head of a great army which he supported and paid without expense to the emperor by the plunder of the country through which he passed. In carrying out this plan of making war pay its own expenses, he made but little distinction between friend and foe, and as his method was generally adopted by the other command- ers, and as the armies came to be composed of adventurers and professional soldiers from all parts of Europe, attracted
§ 242] Sweden and France 247
by the privilege of living as licensed freebooters, the suf- ferings of the German people can be easily imagined.
Success was still on the Catholic side. Tilly and Wallen- The edict of stein were more than a match for the leaders on the other Gardiner0"* side, the king of Denmark was driven out, north Germany chap, vii.; was almost wholly subdued, and Wallenstein was given the Gindely, I. confiscated duchy of Mecklenburg, which should be held by a J?^tff'; reigning prince. As a result of these successes, the emperor Schilling, issued in 1629 the edict of Restitution, which marks the Q^ellenbuck, highest point of his success and shows what would have followed his complete triumph. This edict ordered the restoration to the Catholic Church of all endowments and ecclesiastical governments which has become Protestant since the peace of Augsburg. As many of these were cases of genuine conversion, and as it affected all parts of Ger- many, it was an edict which could have been carried out only by an arbitrary exercise of absolute power.
242. Sweden and France. — But a change was now at The
hand in the character of the war, which marks a great ambition of
i • Ai j r i • ^ i % Sweden and
change in the deeper currents of history at large. Two 0fGustavus
nations of Europe had been for some years watching events Adoiphus. in Germany with increasing interest. One of these was Sweden on the north. Sweden was at that time a much larger and more powerful state than it has been in recent history. The eastern shore and the southeastern corner of the Baltic were in its possession, and it was ambitious of making that sea wholly a Swedish lake. During the first years of the Thirty Years' War it had been engaged in a war with the kingdom of Poland, partly with this in view. Its king was now Gustavus Adoiphus, a young man with the ambition which conscious ability always gives — a military genius who was at the same time a most devoted and sincere Protestant, ready to avenge the injuries of the Ger- man Protestants on religious grounds, even if the interests of Sweden had not been at the same time served.
The other country was France. During the minority of Louis XIII., and for a few years after, France had been
248
The Age of Religious Wars
[§243
The rise and abandoned to faction, to intrigues, and strife of the most self- general ish sortj which had reduced the royal authority to almost Richelieu. as ^ow a Pomt as during the civil wars, and prevented the country from taking any part in European affairs. But in 1624 Richelieu had come into power. From this date, for almost twenty years, he followed, without wavering, a clear and definite policy in internal affairs the supremacy of the
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS
king, and in external affairs the dominion of France in Eu- rope. To accomplish these things required, in France, the overthrow of the political independence of the Huguenots and of the power of the nobles, and in Europe, the over- throw of the house of Austria, and these form the special objects of Richelieu's policy.
243. Richelieu centralizes France. — Richelieu began to carry out his foreign policy almost as soon as he became
§ 244] Richelieu and the Thirty Years War 249
minister, by preventing the Spanish from getting possession of the Valteline pass in northern Italy, the key to the line of communication between the lands of the Spanish Hapsburgs in Italy and those of the Austrian Hapsburgs in Germany. But he found out at once that France was not prepared for a successful struggle for European supremacy until it was thor- oughly centralized at home. The conflict with the Huguenots was over comparatively soon. Their strongest fortress, La Rochelle, was taken in 1628, after a famous siege and in spite of the efforts of England to prevent it. But little further resistance was possible for them, and in 1629 Richelieu issued the edict of Alais, which deprived them of the politi- cal independence, the position of a state within the State, which the edict of Nantes had granted them, but left all their religious privileges and liberties untouched.
The conflict with the nobles lasted much longer, all through the life of Richelieu and even on into the ministry of Mazarin, but they were in the end entirely subdued. They fought with intrigue and conspiracy, in which the king's mother, his wife, and his brother Gaston, often had a part, and which were as often directed at the life as at the power of Richelieu. The minister's weapons were the law and judicial executions which removed some of the highest nobles of the kingdom. His strongest support was the fact that Louis XIII. understood and heartily approved his policy, so that the most powerful influences of the court could not turn him against his minister. The success of Richelieu's policy gave the finishing touches to the absolute monarchy and made the king's will supreme without a check.
244. Richelieu and the Thirty Years' War. — At the date of Ferdinand's edict of Restitution, Richelieu was not quite ready for open interference in the war in Germany, but he was ready to assist others to prevent any further extension of the Austrian power. He aided the electors in forcing the emperor to dismiss Wallenstein, whose army they feared might be used to destroy their independence. He inter- fered to make peace between the Swedes and Poland so that
The inde- pendence of the Huguenots broken.
The nobles
subdued.
Bulwer,
Richelieu
(drama).
Indirect interference.
250
The Age of Religious Wars
[§244
Richelieu and Prot- estantism.
Gustavus Adolphus might be at liberty to give his whole attention to the Protestant cause in Germany, and he after- wards supported the Swedish army with liberal supplies.
These events meant of course that a new directing influ- ence was entering into the religious war. Richelieu was a Catholic. He was a cardinal of the Church. But the great objects of his life were political without reference to religion.
RICHELIEU
He made war on the Huguenots, but left them all their re- ligious rights. He supported Protestant armies and sent his own to fight on that side, that he might weaken the Austrian power and put France at the head of Europe. This is the passing away of the Reformation as an influence which con- trols international politics and the action of States, and the beginning again of the conflict by diplomacy and war for national aggrandizement.
§§ 245,246] Deaths of Gustavus and Wallenstein 251
245. Gustavus Adolphus in Germany. — The great man of The char-
the Thirty Years' War was Gustavus Adolphus, a most inter- ^^JjJ
esting study both from his positive characteristics and from Gustavus
his apparent contradictions. Most earnestly devoted to the Adolphus.
Protestant faith, and at the head of an equally devoted army *' IL
which he held under strict discipline, he was still ambitious Fletcher,
for himself and desirous of conquest for his country. A Gusta<vu$
... . . , . - ,T7 ,, Adolph'us
military genius, the equal or even the superior ot Wallen- (Heroes) ;
stein, and an innovator who revolutionized the art of war by Dodge,
the lighter arms and more mobile arrangements which he gave ^^J^
his troops, he won a remarkable series of successes from which (Military
he gained no corresponding advantages, and he died in the History, midst of his career at the moment of victory over Wallenstein. oug ton^*
The interference of the Swedes in Germany was not The victories
altogether welcome to the more powerful of the Protestant ~ftl^f
princes, who feared their ulterior designs. So long was Gus- Gardiner,
tavus Adolphus in forcing his way through the territories of Chap, viil.;
the Elector of Brandenburg that the' great city of Magdeburg ^"Idely' IL fell before the assaults of Tilly, and was almost totally de- stroyed, probably by its own defenders to deprive the victors
of their advantage. This loss was soon made up by the 55-67;
great victory which Gustavus won from Tilly in the battle of contemP°-
Breitenfeld, near Leipsic. This defeat left the emperor iTscWning!
without an army capable of holding the Swedes in check, Quellenbuch,
but the plans of Gustavus seem at this time to have been di- I26' rected to other objects than the overthrow of the emperor. Ferdinand was obliged to recall Wallenstein in order to get a new army, and gave him a position almost entirely inde- pendent of control.
246. The Death of Gustavus and of Wallenstein. — In the The death ol
next year Gustavus entered Munich after again defeating Gustavus,
Tilly, who was mortally wounded, but Wallenstein prevented * 32* his further advance and then drew him off into Saxony, where, in the battle of Liitzen, Gustavus was killed, though the army of Wallenstein was defeated. The policy of Gus-
tavus was continued by Oxenstern, the minister of the little • Queen Christina, and the Swedish army remained in Ger-
252
The Age of Religious Wars
[§247
Wallenstein assassinated, 1634.
Gindely, II. 172-188 ; Gardiner, Chap. IX., Sec. 4; Schiller, Wallen- stein 's Lager,
Die Picco- lomini, and Wallen- steiris Tod (dramas).
Richelieu actively interferes. Gardiner, Chap. X.
The French successes compel peace.
many till the close of the war, through the days of its great successes were past.
The death of Gustavus more than balanced, for the em- peror's cause, the defeat of Wallenstein, and it was followed by other successes. Not long after, the emperor became convinced that Wallenstein was engaged in treasonable cor- respondence with the enemy, and was planning to use his army in some design of his own, and he had him killed, but was able to retain the services of his army. The successes of Ferdinand were crowned when, in 1635, the Elector of
SWEDISH LEATHER CANNON
From the time of the Thirty Years' War
Saxony, to secure certain advantages for himself, made a separate peace and even an alliance with the emperor.
247. The French Period of the War. —Once more the house of Austria seemed about to triumph in Germany. Again Richelieu must interfere if he would prevent it, and this time with his own forces. The French period lasts from 1635 tiH tne dose of the war.
The first efforts of France were directed against the prov- inces which had been retained by the Spanish Hapsburgs in the Low Countries, where, after driving back a Spanish invasion which had threatened Paris for a moment, Arras
§ 248] The Peace of Westphalia 253
was captured and the province of Artois conquered. In the south, Roussillon was taken possession of, and Portugal was aided to recover her independence from Spain. The Swedish army soon passed under French control, and their successes in Alsace and the Rhine valley made for the ad- vantage of France. Richelieu did not live to see the com- plete fulfilment of his plans, but he saw enough to be confident of their final realization. His policy was con- tinued by Mazarin, his successor in the French ministry. In the last years of the war, two young French generals began their career who were destined to the highest military renown, Turenne and Conde". Their repeated victories, the occupation of Bavaria, the capture of Passau and of Prague, and the threatening of Vienna, finally drove the emperor, Ferdinand III., reluctantly to consent to conditions of peace.
248. The Peace of Westphalia. — The series of treaties by The im- which the Thirty Years' War was brought to an end is known portance of as the peace of Westphalia. Considered as one, it consti- GinddyClI. tutes the most important event in diplomatic history since Chap, x.; the treaty of Verdun in the ninth century, and the wide- Gardiner»
i • i* •• i • i • i iij'i C^n3.p. .X.l.f
reaching dispositions which it made controlled, with some sec. 2;
slight modifications, the political and geographical arrange- selected
ments of Europe till the age of Napoleon. s'chnfin ™
From the point of view of general history, the peace of Queiienbuch,
Westphalia marks, first of all, the great advance of France J59-
towards the headship of Europe, and the corresponding The great
decline of the house of Austria. This was made evident in *
the treaties and secured for the future in two ways. In the Kitchin, first place, France was given the footing on the Rhine which France< HI. for a hundred years its statesmen had been hoping to attain. The larger part of Alsace was put under the control of France, though it was not actually ceded to her, and two great fortresses on the right bank of the river, Breisach and Philippsburg, became French. She thus had an easy entry for her armies directly into Germany in the event of another war. This position on the upper Rhine enabled
254
The Age of Religious Wars [§§ 249* 250
The decline of Austria. Bryce,
Holy Roman
Empire,
340-351.
Map, Putzger, No. 22.
Sweden and the German states.
France also easily to extend her influence over the small states of the lower valley, and a few years later she organized the League of the Rhine under her leadership, which made France almost as much a German power as Austria.
249. The Empire Destroyed. — In the second place, the treaties made the Empire in law what it had been in reality for more than two hundred years — a mere form, though making at the same time the forms somewhat more empty. Full sovereignty, with the right to make treaties and alliances with foreign states, limited only by the most meaningless con- ditions, was given to each of the more than three hundred and fifty little states into which Germany was now divided. The position of emperor, which now belonged by a kind of customary right to the Hapsburgs, became a merely honorary one, a kind of presidency of a loose confederation with no real power whatever. As a result, the lingering ideas of a German nation, which had existed up to this time, disappeared completely. Each little court pursued its own utterly selfish and corrupt policy, bitterly jealous of all the others and of the Empire, and even such a man as Lessing could rejoice that he was not troubled with the weakness of patriotism. Austria was reduced, by this state of things, to depend upon her own private resources in future strug- gles with France, and Louis XIV. was able to treat the Empire with most open contempt and insult with perfect impunity.
250. The Other States of Europe in the Peace. — The other dispositions of the treaties are of comparatively little importance. Sweden, Brandenburg, and Saxony received large additions of territory. The portion of the Palatinate on the Rhine was restored to the son of Frederick with an eighth electorate created for him, but Bavaria retained the part of the Palatinate which joined her territory, together with the old seventh electorate which had been given her at the beginning of the war. The edict of Restitution was not enforced except for the last years of the war. The religious arrangements of the peace of Augsburg were con-
§§251,252] New Era in English History 255
tinned in force, and the Calvinistic or Reformed Church, as it was called, was admitted to its privileges.
Spain refused to accept this peace for herself, and con- Spain tinued the war for ten years longer, hoping, on account of continues the the civil conflicts in France, to be able to extort better years> terms. In this she was disappointed, and in the peace of the Pyrenees, in 1659, she was obliged to make consider- able cessions to France, both in the Low Countries and in the south.
251. The Sufferings of Germany. — The misery which Thirty years Germany suffered from the Thirty Year's War can hardly be °fasr^raege conceived. At the end of two hundred years the losses had destroy the scarcely been made good.' Armies whose business it was gains of two to make all they could from the country had been marching Q^ir^r through the land for almost a generation. The population chap, xi., was reduced one-half, and the movable property two-thirds. Sec- ni-; Farmsteads and villages even disappeared, much of the ^ST U' country fell back into wilderness, and wild beasts that had
not been seen in the memory of man became frequent once more. Manners and morals suffered with the rest, and the peasantry especially became, as they remained until the present century, scarcely more than beasts of burden with no sense of self-respect.
252. A New Era in English History. — During the last Theacces- period of the Thirty Years' War, a civil war was going on in *lon of the England, of a somewhat different character. In 1603, the james i., reign of Elizabeth, the last of the Tudors, came to an end, 1603-1625. and that of James I., the first of the Stuarts, began. Con- sidered in itself alone, this was an event of no small impor- tance, since it brought together in close alliance the two kingdoms of England and Scotland which had been enemies
of one another for so many centuries, and prepared the way for the still closer union of the present time. But in the A great history of England, the accession of the son of Mary Stuart ch*nge in to the throne marks a still greater change. The whole situation, domestic and foreign, was now, indeed, very dif- ferent from that which had existed before the execution
256
The Age of Religious Wars
[§252
of the king's mother, Mary Queen of Scots. Spain was no longer to be feared, and there was no heir to the designs of Philip II. Such designs themselves were no longer possible, for there was not now any claimant of the throne, like the Catholic Mary Stuart, who could serve as the centre of treasonable conspiracies.
The effect of these changes upon the share taken by England in the international politics of the continent, which
English history returns to its old channel.
HOLY ROOD PALACE
was much less during the first half of the seventeenth than during the sixteenth century, was not their most important result. In national politics, the result was the opening of a new era. The practical, though not legal, absolutism — the straining of the constitution almost to the point of break- ing— which the people had tolerated in the Tudors because of the dangerous crisis through which the nation was pass- ing, was no longer necessary. The absence of all foreign danger and of any source of discontent at home which need
§ 253] The Stuarts and the Puritans 2$?
be feared, enabled the nation to return to its special work of constitution making. Its first task, and that which occu- pied it nearly all the seventeenth century, was to bring the king completely under the constitution as it existed before the Tudors, though in the process many details of the constitution were greatly clarified and perfected.
253. The Stuarts and the Puritans. — There were two The Stuart circumstances which concurred at this time to reinforce pharacter- what seems to be a natural Anglo-Saxon tendency to render Green, personal and arbitrary government impossible by means of English constitutional limitations. One of these was the character Pe°t e* of the king and of his successors. The French contem- porary remark that James I. was the wisest fool in Christen- dom has never been improved upon. He was very proud of his learning, of which he made ostentatious display, but he was pedantic, narrow, and foolish, and gained more ridi- cule than respect. In action he was short-sighted and obstinate. Filled with the most extreme notions of the sanctity and divine right of kings, he was not disposed to tolerate any interference with his prerogatives nor even any independence on the part of Parliament, but his policy lacked the definite and steady guidance of a strong nature. He commanded neither the affection nor the respect of his people, and lacked entirely the popularity and brilliant qualities which had helped to carry the arbitrary govern- ment of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. The short-sighted and narrow obstinacy of James, with his unwavering belief in the divine right of absolutism, and his vacillating will passed to his descendants and are characteristics of the Stuart kings.
The second of the circumstances favoring popular resist- The Puritan ance to the king was the strength of the Puritan party in party. England. This had increased greatly in the last years of 2^/S* Elizabeth, and was destined to a still greater growth under People, III. James and to a leading part in the reign of Charles I. 13~2I» Thoroughly imbued with the Calvinistic idea of the duty of resisting even the constituted authorities in defence of the right, and familiar with the constitutional position which
258
The Age of Religious Wars [§§ 254, 255
His foreign
policy.
Gardiner,
First Two
Stuarts
(Epochs),
Chap. II.
King and Parliament.
The Petition of Right. See refer- ences on this period in chapter on the English constitution.
Charles strives for indepen- dence. Gardiner,
Parliament had once occupied, this party with its allies was well prepared to meet the Jacobite doctrine of the sin of resistance to the king, and to conduct the struggle for a recovery of parliamentary control.
254. The Reign of James I. — James' popularity was not increased by his foreign policy. He allowed his son-in- law, Frederick, the Elector Palatine, to be ruined in the early years of the Thirty Years' War, against the wishes of the people. At the same time he strove without success to form an alliance with Spain, cemented by the marriage of his son Charles with a Spanish princess, and though the nation no longer feared Spain as once, she was still regarded as their hereditary enemy.
Under the first of the Stuart kings, the conflict between the royal power and the Parliament went no further than the vigorous assertion of claims and counter-claims. Such positive gains as were made were on the parliamentary side, which insisted with determination on a long list of rights supported by earlier precedent — to control taxation, whether internal or on foreign commerce, to demand re- forms as the necessary condition of grants of money, to impeach the king's ministers, and to criticise and discuss the government's policy regarding both domestic and for- eign interests.
255. Charles I. and Parliament. — Charles I. was of more pleasing manners than his father, but he was even less dis- posed to yield anything of his rights to what he considered factious opposition. In 1628, his financial necessities com- pelled him to assent to the Petition of Right, the second in the series of the great constitutional documents of our race, in which the right of Parliament to vote all taxes, and the right of the people to be secured from arbitrary imprison- ment and trial, were clearly affirmed.
Charles soon showed, however, that he had not meant by this agreement to surrender any of his personal authority. He determined to rule without a Parliament, and for eleven years he did not call one. Two able ministers, the ear]
§256]
Civil War Begun
259
of Strafford and Archbishop Laud, gave him their assist- ance, and in the Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission he had the means of arbitrary trials without the intervention of any jury. To assist in providing a revenue, an obsolete special tax which had been for- merly paid by the mari- time counties for naval defence, the ship- money tax, was re- vived and extended to all England. The re- fusal of Hampden and others to pay this tax was the first step in open opposition to the king.
256. Civil War Be- gun.— It was in Scot- land that rebellion be- gan. Efforts of Laud to change the Pres- byterian worship led, first to riot, and then to organized resistance. To sup- port the army which was necessary to compel obedience, Charles was obliged to summon a Parliament, but when they showed no disposition to make a grant before a re- dress of grievances, he speedily dissolved them. But the Scottish army advanced into England, and the king was forced to yield.
In 1640, the Parliament known as the Long Parliament, and, after the execution of the king, as the Rump, came together. Charles sacrificed Strafford and Laud to the ven- geance of the commons, hoping that they would demand no further concessions, but when he found that this was but a beginning, he rashly attempted to turn the tide by depriv- ing the opposition of its leaders, and demanded in the
CHARLES I. OF ENGLAND
Stuarts, Chap. IV.; Taylor, England under Charles I. (Contem- poraries).
Finance
measures.
Green,
English
People, III.
143-149.
Scotland
resists,
1639.
Charles yields for the moment, 1641.
26o
The Age of Religious Wars
[§257
The Inde- pendents put the king to death. Green, English People, III. 258-263 ; Boyle, Clarendon, 219-223, (Clarendon) ; Gardiner, Documents, 282-291.
The Com- monwealth.
presence of the House the arrest and delivery to him of five members, including Hampden. The storm aroused by this act rendered reconciliation no longer possible, and Charles abandoned London, which was devoted to the par- liamentary side, and at Nottingham, on the 226. of August, 1642, raised the standard of civil war.
257. The Great Rebellion and the Commonwealth. — In the war which followed, known in English history as the
Great Rebellion, the war between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads, the ex- treme Puritan party, the Independents, under the lead of Cromwell, soon came to the front. Cromwell's troop, the Ironsides, de- voutly religious, thoroughly drilled, and full of deter- mined courage, was made the model of the army. Defeated in several battles, especially at Naseby in 1645, Charles took refuge in Scotland, but was delivered to Parliament by the Scots in 1647. After the failure of all attempts at com- promise, and the expulsion by Cromwell from the Long Parliament of the members who were opposed to extreme measures, Charles was put on trial before a special High Court of justice, condemned to death a;; a tyrant and traitor, and executed on the pth of February, 1649.
For four years longer the diminished Parliament con- tinued to rule England in form. Cromwell was occupied
CROMWELL
Topics 261
with his army in putting down various insurrections, in conquering Ireland, where there were many friends of the Stuarts, and finally in meeting the Scots, who had proclaimed Charles II. king and invaded England with a strong army. In the two great battles of Dunbar and Worcester, Cromwell completely defeated them, and Scotland was obliged to acknowledge the government of the Commonwealth. In Cromwell 1653, Cromwell and the army became so dissatisfied with the conduct of affairs by the " Rump," that he dissolved it 1653. by force, and soon became in name, what he had really Gardiner, been for some time, the ruler of England, under the title of Lord Protector.
Topics
The character of this age in the different countries of Europe. The first in the series of wars. The conduct of Maurice of Saxony. The new policy of France. The arrangements made by the peace of Augsburg. The close of the reign of Charles V. Compare the power of Philip II. with that of Charles V. His idea of his highest duty. The policy of Mary of England, and the result. Why must Elizabeth be a Protestant? Her rival for the crown. The political constitution of the Netherlands. How did they pass to the Hapsburgs? Causes of separation into two parts. Measures of Philip II. The rebellion and independence of the United Provinces. The early life of Mary Stuart. Why did she take refuge in England? Why was she exe- cuted? The history of the Armada. The origin and ideas of the Puritans. The differences between Puritans and Separatists. Which were the Pilgrims? Characteristics of the Huguenots. The policy of Catherine de' Medici. How did the Huguenot wars begin? The political position gained by the Huguenots. Reasons for the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The character and policy of Henry IV. His foreign plans. The edict of Nantes. The causes of the Thirty Years' War. The history of Frederick of the Palatinate. The peculiar methods of Wallenstein. Reasons for the interference of Sweden and France. Richelieu's policy in France. Abroad. His attitude towards Protes- tantism. What change in history does this stand for? The character of Gustavus Adolphus. His military skill. Why was Wallenstein assassinated? The importance of the peace of Westphalia. What did France gain from the war? In what position was Austria left? How had the Empire become so weak? In what condition was Germany
262 The Age of Religious Wars
left by the war? The characteristics of the Stuarts. What change now occurs in English history, and why? The attitude of the Puritan party. Why was James I. an unpopular king? How did Charles I. differ from him, and how was he like him? By what measures did Charles try to restore the royal power? How did he come to allow Strafford to be executed? Cromwell's party. The end of the Long Parliament.
Topics for Assigned Studies
The Armada. Froude, History of England, XII., Chap. XXXVI. Story, British Empire (Nations), I. 127-159. Johnson, Periods, 373-377. Kingsley, Westward Ho! (Novel.) Chaps. XXIX. to XXXI.
The rise of the Puritan party. Hallam, Constitutional History of Eng- land, Chap. IV. Bacon, Genesis of the New England Churches. (Harper.) 73-90. Fisher, Reformation, 342-347. Hinds, England of Elizabeth. (Macmillan.) Wakeman, The Church and the Puritans. (Epochs Ch. Hist.) Documents in Prothero, Select Statutes. (Clarendon.) Bk. VIII. 183 ff. Gee and Hardy 416 ff. Religious Pamphlets in Pamphlet Library. (Holt.)
Policy of Richelieu in France. Perkins, Richelieu and Mazarin. (Putnam.) I., Chap. IV. Kitchin, France, III. 6-10, 18-30, 75-83. Correard, Textes, p. 29.
The siege of La Rochelle. Perkins, Richelieu and Mazarin, I. 118- 127. Gardiner, Thirty Years'1 War, Chap. VI., Section IV. Correard, T^extes, p. 27.
Tudors* Stuarts, and Hanoverians
263
* Jf
O .0
a g
i d
•B I1-
« I
-§i
M
264
The Age of Religious Wars
|
1 o K D CLl ffi |
f 4 t § 1 C "73 1> C • ! . 1 1 I I'L I I ill I | 1 111 j I o_, ___ <;;£ H W O O ^ cu in vd K. -J- oo' CTV d oi -f- oo in in vo oo M Nrororo •*• |
|
|
mportant Dates for Review |
FRANCE |
J 1 g i *-• s — -§ 1 ^ O r/j 'w ^ PH ^.x. | -s^. .| a- 1 | o 4^ | •^^^§7, 7,"°^ = "S ^ a ^ S "5 tS § c c .B "3 -|^ g •§ 3 I cf> O oi oi -f CT* oo O -f oo" ro oi ro <?> to^-ovot^t^ oo'^M OJCN ro "h"^ in |
|
M |
||
|
ENGLAND |
"g ^ c •§ ^ 2 -o 2 o 2 -(-i ^ S *s y <u c ,c •— • .5 ^5 ^ bo H ^ T: ^o ^ rt P-, (5 > '^ £ • ^^ Cti^ "Jrt >*-. <l->ilw§ . - & | &J | J? || -|-| « | | g CO OO K OO ro O IO OO -f ON O <N ON ro iom oooo O (NojiN roro-h-t- -^-in |
|
CHAPTER II
FRANCE TRIES TO DOMINATE EUROPE
258. The Hapsburgs in 1660. — In 1660, after the close Spain weak of the war with Spain, France appeared to be without a ^linin rival in Europe. Spain still had widely extended posses- On the whole sions, — Naples, Milan, Franche-Comte" , and the Low Coun- age see tries,— and she still had the now diminished treasures of ^^.taiter America at her command, but her scattered possessions Ludwigs were not easy to defend, and the old energy of the race, its XIV> splendid military capacity, was gone. The country had been ( turned from the path of the sure development of its own resources, partly by the bigotry of its rulers, and partly by the more brilliant attractions of the New World, and it now plainly showed the result in rapidly declining power. The royal family seemed to reflect the condition of the nation, for it had passed into a condition of physical and mental exhaustion, which brought it to an end with the close of the century. There seemed nothing to prevent the possessions of Spain in the Rhine valley from falling an easy prey to the designs of France.
The Austrian Hapsburgs showed no signs of the exhaus- Austria tion of their Spanish cousins. Deprived of all chance of making a real empire of Germany, they were finding a com- pensation in pushing their dominion down the Danube valley, where the loosening hold of the Turk, just beginning his long decrepitude, gave them the opportunity to recover Hungary. But under these circumstances they would plainly have less reason than a generation before for opposing the plans of France in northwestern Germany.
265
266 France tries to Dominate Europe [§§ 259> 26°
England not likely to interfere.
Holland most nearly interested.
Her
resources.
259. England and Holland. — England was still in its age of revolution : 1660 was the yea* of the restoration of the Stuarts and the monarchy in the person of king Charles II., and, though Cromwell had shown himself at times disposed towards a vigorous foreign policy, and though commercial interests were rapidly increasing, no one could then suppose that England would take a leading part in international affairs within a generation.
Still less could any one suppose, in 1660, that the resist- ance which was destined to defeat the plans of the Grand Monarque, and to check the desired advance of the most powerful state of Europe would come from the little Dutch Republic, whose independence had just been recognized by Spain and the Empire. But Holland was a country of resources out of all proportion to its size, and of the most determined resolution to protect its independence, which it- believed threatened by the designs of Louis. Ideal reasons also were not wanting, — a hatred of despotism and of reli- gious intolerance, which were now embodied in Louis XIV., as they had once been in Philip II. A more republican cast had lately been given to the constitution in conse- quence of the failure of an attempt of William II. 's to make it more monarchical. The political and military headship of the State had been separated, and the former was now in the hands of John de Witt, Grand Pensioner of Holland. During the war of independence, the eastern colonies of Portugal, then a part of Spain, had been seized by the Dutch, and with the East Indian trade under its control, Holland had become the richest country of Europe and the mistress of the seas. England was beginning to dispute that position with her, and the struggle between them had been opened by a short war under Cromwell, but as yet Holland had not suffered greatly from the rivalry. It was quite as much the armies of France, as the fleets of England, that ruined the Dutch Republic.
260. The Situation in France. — In the government of France, the plans of Richelieu had been as successful as in
i
§261]
Character of Louis XIV.
26;
regard to the European position of the country. After the death of Richelieu, Cardinal Mazarin had continued his policy. In the civil war of the Fronde, during the minority of Louis XIV., an attempt had been made to check the prog- ress of the royal power, partly in the interest of the Parle- ment of Paris, the supreme court, which tried to secure some constitutional right to limit the king's prerogative, and partly in the interest of the great nobles and princes related to the royal house, whose more selfish object was to recover political power for themselves.
Both these attempts had been failures, and when Louis XIV. took the direction of the government into his own hands, on the death of Mazarin in 1661, there was no check on the will of the king and no constitutional means by which public opinion could express itself. The Estates General had not met since 1614, and they were not to meet again until the eve of the Revolution in 1789. The Parle- ment of Paris was obliged to yield in every case, however much it might wish to oppose the king, and all the ministers were entirely dependent upon him.
261. Character of Louis XIV. — Louis XIV. was not a genius in any respect. In the management of government affairs, he was a painstaking and hard worker, like an indus- trious business man. In foreign affairs, he intensely desired the aggrandizement of France and his own glory. He was ambitious to be ranked in history as one of the world's great sovereigns and conquerors, but he was narrow and short-sighted in determining the special objects of his policy, and dependent for such success as was reached on the genius of others. He was a most firm believer in the divine right of kings. He sincerely thought that he was responsible to God alone and not at all to the nation for the way in which he ruled. Intolerant of opposition or of opinions that did not agree with his, he lived upon the grossest flattery, and could be led only by adroitly persuad- ing him that the object desired was his own. But in spite of all his faults he was, as all his age believed him, a great
The minority
of Louis
XIV.
Kitchin,
France, III.
138 ff. ;
Adams,
French
Nation,
202-207,,
Louis XIV. absolute ruler of France.
An ambi- tious plodder. A contem- porary portrait, Correard, Textes, 112; Hassall, Louis XIV. (Heroes), 82-102 ; Kitchin, France, III. 142-152.
Theory of royal power. Bossuet on, in Correard, Textes, 108, and Schil- ling, Quellen- buch, 198.
268
France tries to Dominate Europe [§ 262
The finances in confusion.
The fall of
Fouquet.
Correard,
Textes,
129-139;
Perkins,
Regency,
31-40; Hassall, Louis XIV., 103-123.
king, and he honestly and sincerely sought the interests of the nation, as he understood them.
262. Colbert and the Finances. — In Colbert, Louis
had, during the first part of his reign, a great finance minister whose skill provided the resources for his undertakings. At the death of Mazarin, the finances of France were in great confusion. Corruption in their ad- ministration was the rule, and Mazarin him- self had not scrupled to comply with it. The people paid heavy taxes, but the collectors enriched themselves at the expense of the State, and only a small proportion reached the
treasury. It was estimated that of eighty-four million paid in 1661 only twenty- three were received by the govern- ment.
Mazarin's superintendent of finances, Fouquet, who had acquired an enormous fortune by these methods, fell a first victim to the new reforms. No one had supposed at first that Louis was in earnest when he had announced, on the death of Mazarin, that he would be his own prime minister, and Fouquet had hoped to succeed the cardinal in the government of the State through the king. It was the dra- matic arrest and punishment of Fouquet that first convinced the court that Louis meant what he said. Colbert, who had revealed to the king the financial methods of the time, was soon put in control of the revenues, and was by degrees
Louis XIV.
§ 263] Colbert's Economic Measures 269
given other responsible offices, until he had nearly the whole administration of the kingdom in his hands.
The confidence of the king which he had at first, he fully Colbert's deserved. Probably no minister in history ever served his reforms- country with more singleness of purpose. He attacked the old abuses vigorously. The collectors were forced to restore to the treasury their ill-gotten gains. New methods brought in greater returns to the State, while the burdens of the people were reduced, and a surplus was accumulated which was, perhaps, a temptation to the king.
263. Colbert's Economic Measures. — The efforts of Col- The protec- bert for the good of France were not confined to a reform of \ the taxation. He wished, like Henry IV., to increase the national wealth and bring in an age of great prosperity. In his measures for this purpose he was guided by two ideas. One was that manufactures must be the chief source of national wealth and not agriculture. The other was that to secure the best results industry must be under strict govern- ment supervision. This was a theory of paternalism quite natural to the time, and to the kind of government prevail- ing in France. Colbert could hardly know that the most essential condition of economic prosperity is freedom, free- dom to make changes, to introduce new methods, and to conform to varying conditions. He placed a heavy pro- tective tariff on foreign goods, introduced many new lines of manufacture, brought in colonies of skilled artisans of many kinds from abroad, and established minute regulations intended to secure always the best quality of product. The result was at first largely what he hoped for, but the class he most desired to serve did not agree in the end that his measures had been of benefit to them.
Foreign commerce, also, and colonies he endeavored to Commerce develop in the same way. The East and the West India and colonie& Companies were organized, and others of the same kind, and given monopolies of their goods. The valley and mouth of the Mississippi were occupied, and North America seemed likely to become French, but in the settlement of
2E
270 France tries to Dominate Europe [§§ 264, 265
Colbert's last days.
The mar- riage of Louis XIV.
The "right of devolu- tion." Airy,
Louis XIV. (Epochs), Chap. XII.; Hassall, Louis XIV., Chap. V.; Perkins, Regency, 52-67.
colonies a strict paternalism prevailed, as everywhere else, and prepared the way for the failure of the French in com- petition with the freer English.
It was not likely that a minister like Colbert, who did not hesitate to preach economy and to object to lavish expen- ditures, would be able to control the finances of France per- manently, under a king like Louis XIV. As the king became more devoted to the worship of himself, and involved in projects for his own glory, the influence of Colbert declined. His last years were filled with disappointment at the failure of his plans to make income equal expenditure, and he died unpopular with court and people alike, an example of the ingratitude of kings.
264. Preparing to annex Spain. — The direction which his foreign conquests should take was marked out for Louis XIV. by the treaty of the Pyrenees, which had closed the war with Spain in 1659, as well as by the weakness of that country. This peace had been cemented by a marriage between Louis and Maria Theresa, the eldest daughter of Philip IV. of Spain, but the treaty had provided that she should renounce all her rights of succession to the throne of Spain. The skilful diplomacy of Mazarin, however, had secured the insertion of a condition which rendered this renunciation of no effect. It was to become valid on the payment by Spain of a dower of five hundred thousand crowns of gold, a sum which Mazarin knew that it would be impos- sible for Spain to raise. The first successes and the final failure of Louis XIV. were alike due to this provision.
265. Louis XIV.'s First War. — In 1665 Philip died and was succeeded by his son, Charles II. He was the son of Philip by a second marriage, while the wife of Louis was a daughter of the first. Some peculiar provisions were dis- covered in the feudal law of inheritance prevailing in certain provinces of the Spanish Low Countries, by which the chil- dren of a first marriage should succeed to the exclusion of those of a second. That these were not provisions of the pub- lic law, but related only to private inheritances, made no par-
§§ 266, 267] The War against Holland
271
ticular difference. Louis at once advanced his claim to these provinces, and a fine French army under Turenne occupied, almost without resistance, some of the strongest fortresses of the Low Countries.
These rapid successes of Louis, with the evident fact that Spain could not defend herself, excited the immediate alarm of Holland. She was able to form the Triple Alliance with England and Sweden, still regarded as one of the strongest states of Europe, and offered a kind of armed mediation. Louis' first answer was the rapid occupation of the province of Franche-Comt£, a part of the territory of the former dukes of Burgundy. But he did not think it wise actually to enter upon a war with the Triple Alliance, and consented to the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1668. Franche- Comt£ was restored to Spain, but a line of strong fortresses was retained on the borders of the Low Countries, which promised France an easy entry into the heart of that country when the next war should begin.
266. Louis prepares to punish Holland. — Louis XIV. was now resolved to take vengeance upon Holland at the earliest possible moment. The little Calvinistic republic of traders and fishermen which had dared to set limits to the ambition of the greatest monarch of Christendom must be taught to know its place. His first step was, by skilful diplomacy, to deprive Holland of her allies. It was not difficult to gain Charles II. of England. To fill his empty pocket and to further his own personal designs, he was ready to sell his alliance to France, and, though so much of the bargain as became known was very unpopular, the weakening of Holland was not contrary to the commercial interests of England, which had already had two great naval wars with the Dutch within twenty years. Sweden was also gained and remained on the side of France till the close of the war, and Holland was left without an ally.
267. The War against Holland. — In the spring of 1672 the war began. Louis himself at the head of a great army, for those days, of more than 100,000 men, carefully passing
The Triple
Alliance
checks
Louis.
Airy,
Louis XIV.,
Chap. XIV.
Peace of Aix« la-Chapelle.
Holland isolated. Airy,
Louis XIV., Chap. XVI.
England against the Dutch.
Louis' first successes. Kitchin, France, III.
272 France tries to Dominate Europe [§ 267
185-189;
Hassall, Louis XIV., Chap. VI.
The war
becomes
European.
Kitchin,
France, III.
191-205 ;
Perkins,
Regency,
69-89.
around the Spanish Low Countries and through the territo- ries of his German allies on the Rhine, invaded the country from the south. His success was rapid at first. The south- ern part of the land was occupied, Utrecht was captured, and Amsterdam was threatened. But Holland was no less determined in her resistance to the new representative of intolerance and despotism than she had been in the case of Philip II. The government was revolutionized. John de Witt was murdered by a mob, and the young William III. of Orange was put at the head of the State. Then the dykes were cut and the advance of the French was checked.
William III. immediately sought for allies, and the fear which the designs of Louis XIV. began to excite in Europe came to his aid. Spain, the emperor, and Brandenburg
began war, and public opinion in England forced Charles II. to withdraw from the side of Louis. The war became a European war. France was forced for a time to fight on the defensive, but the genius of Turenne, until he was killed in 1675, and of Conde, until he went into retirement soon after, were more than a match for their enemies. Franche- Comt£ was again occu- pied, and further for- tresses in the Spanish Netherlands were cap- tured. On the sea the Dutch suffered heavily, their great admiral De Ruyter was killed, and the French admiral Du Quesne gained several victories*
Louis DE BOURBON, THE GREAT CONDE
§268]
The Period of the "Reunions"
2/3
At last all parties were ready for peace, and the treaty of Nimeguen was made in 1678. Holland had not been humiliated as Louis had hoped, and received favorable terms, but she was exhausted by the strain and losses of the war. The gains of France were as usual at the expense of Spain. Franche-Comte" was now retained and a new and better frontier drawn in the Spanish Netherlands.
268. The Period of the "Reunions." — The period of ten years which followed to the beginning of the next war is filled with interesting events, and forms a turning-point in the reign of Louis XIV. and in the history of France. In the first place, Louis had come off so well against a strong European coalition that he still believed he could do any- thing he pleased, and he acted accordingly. On pretext of the phrase "and their dependencies" which had accom- panied the cessions from Germany in the recent treaties, he set courts, called "Chambers of Reunion," at work in the Rhine valley to seek out every indication of former depend- ence on the lands which he had received, and to declare that these new territories were also French. More than a hundred bits of territory, large and small, were thus annexed. In 1 68 1, the great city of Strasburg, a free city of the Empire, was seized. At the same time, Casale, a fortress in northern Italy, which would open the way to the Spanish territories of Milan, was seized in the same way. Genoa, which had long been an ally of Spain, was bombarded, and forced to the most humiliating conditions of peace. Savoy was treated almost like a French province ; the prin- cipality of Orange was seized, and on a quarrel with the pope, Avignon was taken possession of. Spain and the Empire were powerless to resent these insults, and Austria was threatened with and soon engaged in a desperate war with the Turks, who besieged Vienna in 1683, and were only driven back by the army of John Sobieski, king of Poland. But if resistance was for a time not possible, Europe was growing constantly more convinced that a gen- eral combination was necessary to check the French ad-
The peace of Nime- guen. Airy,
Louis XIV.. Chap. XXII,
Annexations in time of peace. Hassall, Louis XIV.t Chap. VII.; Perkins, Regency, 209-218; Kitchin, France, IIL 213-217.
274 France tries to Dominate Europe [§§ 269, 270
The League of Augsburg.
The edict of
Nantes
revoked.
1685.
The loss to France.
The exhaus- tion of war and extrava- gance.
vance. In 1686, Sweden, Spain, and Austria, with other of the larger German states, formed the League of Augsburg to prevent the further violation of treaties.
269. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. — In the year which preceded this event, Louis XIV., by an act of his own, had injured France as deeply as could a league of its enemies. From the year in which Mazarin died, he had sanctioned measures of increasing severity against the Protes- tants. In 1685, encouraged perhaps, rather than incited, by the advice of Madame de Maintenon, which fell in with his own intolerant disposition, hoping by so pious an act to appease a conscience not altogether quiet, wishing to add to the other glories of his reign that of destroying heresy and making France of one faith, he revoked the edict of Nantes, which had been granted by Henry IV., in 1598.
Since the overthrow of their political power by Richelieu, the Huguenots had been faithful citizens and of the greatest service to France. They were mainly of the middle class, artisans, merchants, and landholders. Some of Colbert's manufacturing colonies had been made up of Protestants. They formed the strength of France upon the sea. How much the prosperity of the country depended on them could not be known until it was deprived of their aid, for in spite of the edicts against emigration hundreds of thousands escaped and carried to other lands their industrial skill and a bitter hatred of their native land. Protestantism was not destroyed, for in Louis' last war arid in time of desperate need the rebel Huguenots in the south of France kept a French army from fighting the foreign invader, but the industry of France was undermined and the navy fatally weakened.
270. The Resources of France declining. — Already the resources of the State were beginning to feel the constant strain of war and of extravagance also, for peace for the next hundred years was as costly to France as war. The vast building and other works at Versailles, where the king had now taken up his permanent residence, the daily ex-
§271]
Charles II. in England
275
penses of the court, and the pensions and salaries of the nobles, required enormous sums. Despite the efforts of Colbert, the taxes were growing heavier, the national debt was increasing, and the old confusion was coming back into the management of the finances. It was a crisis in the his- tory of France. Had the king been wise enough to see that the country was on the verge of exhaustion, and to realize the strength which the Huguenots lent to the nation, the whole history of France might have been dif- ferent.
271. Charles II. in England. — Events were in the meantime taking place in an- other country which were quite as important as these in their bearing on the future of France, and more important still in their bearing on the future of the world. England passed through the last of the Stuart revolutions and entered on a new era of her history. The meaning of this in the growth of her constitution and of her colonial empire, we shall study in another place. Here we are most concerned with its bearing on the plans of Louis XIV. and on the supremacy of France in Europe.
Charles II., though he was no more disposed to be a constitutional king than the rest of the Stuarts, had learned some wisdom from the disasters of his father. But his reign was increasingly unpopular. He seemed to have no personal interests except in the corrupt pleasures of the
COLBERT
The second Stuart period. See refer- ences in Chap. VIII.
The reign of Charles II., 1660-1685.
276 France tries to Dominate Europe [§§ 272> 273
James II.,
1685-1688.
court. His extravagance kept him always in need of money, and he sold Dunkirk to the French, which Cromwell had secured to take the place of Calais, and he accepted the pensions of Louis. He was willing to make war on Protes- tant Holland ; plotted to restore Catholicism in England, with a French army to aid him if necessary; and stretched the laws granting indulgence to Catholics and dissenters as far as he dared. But he knew how to yield when the popular opposition became too strong, and he managed to keep possession of the crown for twenty-five years and to pass it on to his brother, James II., whose known adhesion to the Catholic Church had made a large party in the State anxious to exclude him from the throne.
272. The Revolution of 1688. — James II. was the most narrow and obstinate of his family, and his determination to be the means of the restoration of Catholicism carried him perhaps to further extremes than he would otherwise have attempted. He assumed the right to suspend, modify, or extend laws made by the Parliament, to interfere with the operation of the courts, and to increase the standing army and commission Catholics as officers. England bore his rule with patience for three years, looking forward to the next reign, for the heir to the throne was James' daughter Mary, married to her cousin, William of Orange.
In 1688 a son was born to the king, and the situation was changed at once. The prospect of the reign of a James III. could not be endured, and an invitation was soon sent to Wil- liam to come to England and take possession of the govern- ment. On the landing of William the power of James at once collapsed, and he was obliged to flee to France, where he was William in. received and provided for by Louis. William and Mary be- came joint sovereigns with the full consent of the nation, and the constitutional principles established by the Revolution of 1688, as this event is called in English history, were put into definite form and made law in the Bill of Rights, passed in 1689.
273. The War of the League of Augsburg. — William III. was the soul of the opposition to Louis XIV., and he was
James deposed.
§ 274] The Spanish Succession 277
now able to add England and Holland at once to the League England of Augsburg. War had already been begun by Austria, and J^s*e in 1689 it became a general European war. The day of Perkins, rapid conquests was over, but France maintained herself Regency, against so many enemies with fair success. The events of the war are of little importance. The attempt of James II. France,' ill. to recover his throne through an invasion of Ireland, where as1-*?1- he had many partisans, with the help of the French, was a failure, and by his victory in the battle of the Boyne Wil- liam III. secured his position in England. The French barbarously laid waste the Palatinate, to which Louis had laid claim at the beginning of the war, to prevent its occu- pation by the enemy. On sea the French fleets were almost destroyed by those of England and Holland. On land the general balance of the war was in favor of the The peace of French, but in 1697 Louis made the peace of Ryswick, Ryswlck- granting concessions to all his enemies.
274. The Question of the Spanish Succession. — Louis The end of was moved to make such a peace, so contrary to his usual practice, by the rapid approach of another event, in which Morris, he had a far deeper interest than he could have in any Age of Anne possible conquests of this war. Charles II. of Spain was oha00^' plainly approaching the end of his life, and he had no heir. Kitchin, Louis was resolved to insist upon the claim for which France> m. Mazarin had prepared the way in the treaty of the Pyrenees, 2?2~2 4* and to which Louis had looked forward as the crowning event of his reign, and to do this with any hope of success peace was necessary.
Louis had little hope at first that he could secure the Louis' plans whole Spanish inheritance for a French prince. There ™**™y to were other heirs with claims as good or better. The arch- duke Charles of Austria and Prince Joseph of Bavaria were descended from Spanish princesses who had not renounced their rights of succession, as had the mother and wife of Louis, though the Austrian princess through whom Prince Joseph derived his immediate claim had made such a re- nunciation on her marriage. Besides this, it was hardly
278 France tries to Dominate Europe [§§275>276
The Spanish Empire to be parcelled out without leave. Hassall, Louis XIV., Chap. XII.; Green, English People, IV. 66-70.
Spain objects to the partition treaties. Kitchin, III. 284 ff.
Charles II.'s
will.
The will of Charles II. accepted.
likely that Europe would allow these two great monarchies to become so closely allied and the power of France to be so greatly increased when her comparatively small gains in the Rhine valley had been so bitterly opposed.
275. The Partition Treaties. — Louis' first plan, therefore, was to arrange in advance some partition of the Spanish territories among the different claimants, which Europe would accept without a war. Two such treaties of partition were drawn up and consented to by William III. of England, whose opposition Louis especially feared. William wished, however, to avoid war, and some such arrangement was ab- solutely necessary, since there were no other heirs to be considered. The second treaty of partition was made necessary by the death of Prince Joseph, whom the first had assigned to the throne of Spain. The kingdom of the Two Sicilies was the most important territory given France by these arrangements, and this Louis hoped to be able "to ex- change for Savoy on the southeast border of France.
Very naturally the parcelling out of the territories of what had once been the most powerful and was still the proud- est of nations, without so much as asking consent, as if Spain herself were about to die, or had no will, was deeply resented by the Spanish. They proposed to dispose of their own throne and in such a way as to preserve the integrity of their empire. Their natural disposition was in favor of the house of Hapsburg, but careful consideration convinced them that France was far more likely to be able to prevent the disinte- gration of their dominions than Austria. Accordingly, a short time before his death, Charles II. drew up a will in which he left the whole of the Spanish lands to the duke of Anjou, the second son of the Dauphin, and grandson of Louis XIV.
276. France annexes Spain. — The news of this testa- ment, on the death of Charles II., near the end of the year 1 700, occasioned a moment's hesitation in France. To take what was given by the partition treaty with less risk of war, or if war must come with England and Holland as allies, or to try for the whole and face all Europe in a certain war with
276]
France annexes Spain
279
only the possible help of Spain, — this was the question. The question was soon decided. The prize was too great to be refused, and Louis introduced his grandson to the court with the words, " Gentlemen, this is the king of Spain."
It now seems likely that even this triumph of Louis' would have been ac- cepted by Europe, so tired were some of the leading states of the constant wars of the last twenty- five years, if he had not apparently lost his head over his great success. Eng- land and Holland were disposed to give their consent in return for com- mercial concessions, but these were re- fused. Spain was to give France a mo- nopoly of some of the most profitable
lines of trade with America, especially that in negroes, at the expense of England and Holland. James II. dying at this time, France immediately recognized James III. as the right- ful king of England. Spain was openly treated as if it were already a subject state, as if the Pyrenees were indeed no more. Philip V. gave formal notice that he retained all rights of suc- cession to the French crown, and the Low Countries were almost annexed. Such things could not be passed over, and William III. had no difficulty in forming the Grand Alliance of all the chief states of Europe, whose object was to compel a
GOBELIN TAPESTRY, TIME OF Louis XIV.
Spain
treated as if a part of France. Lecky, History of England (Appleton), I. 27 ff.
The Grand
Alliance. Schilling, Quellenbuck 209.
280 France tries to Dominate Europe [§§ 277>
Great
generals and battles.
The dawn of
world
politics.
France makes a brave
defence, but is forced to yield. Hassall, Louis XIV., Chap. XIII.
partition of the Spanish Empire. William died just as the war was opening, but he was succeeded by Anne, the sister of his wife and daughter of James II., who continued his policy, under the influence of the Whig party.
277. The War of the Spanish Succession. — From a mili- tary point of view, the War of the Spanish Succession is one of the greatest of European wars. The allies had two very famous generals, the English duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy, in the service of Austria. France had no generals equal to these, and sometimes her armies were very badly led, but they knew how to fight, and such battles as those of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet are among the greatest of history.
The War of the Spanish Succession is also more than a European war, and as the last stage of the Thirty Years' War marks the introduction into international politics of new motives and guiding principles, so this war indicates the coming on of a new era in history, for it was, in some degree at least, a world war, and was fought on many seas and in all colonies. In American colonial history it is known as Queen Anne's War.
278. The War goes against Louis. — The course of the war was decidedly against the French in spite of the bravery of her armies. She lost great battles. Her territory was in- vaded. The Huguenots in the south — the Camisards — revolted. The Spanish people remained true to Philip V., but at one time he was driven from his capital which was entered by the archduke Charles. At one time during the war, Louis was brought to offer most extensive concessions in return for peace, but the allies demanded more than he could yield until absolutely conquered. He turned almost in despair to the French people, in an address which was sent throughout the country, and the nation, despite its in- tense suffering and exhaustion, responded with an enthu- siasm which made its conquest impossible. Finally the archduke Charles became emperor, and as Europe had no wish to restore the great empire of Charles V., and as Louis
§§ 279,280] The Rise of England . 281
was still ready to grant concessions, the war ended with the peace of Utrecht in 1713.
England had already signed preliminaries of peace. This Change of was due to the fact that Queen Anne had broken with her Parties in former favorite, the duchess of Marlborough, the Whigs had ng lost control of the State, and the Tories had come into power. They favored peace and had now the support of the queen. Marlborough was accused of peculation and passed the last years of the reign in disgrace.
279. The Peace of Utrecht. — Like the peace of Westpha- The Spanish lia, that of Utrecht concerned almost every European state. ||°v^jions The Spanish people retained the king they had chosen, but Morris,' failed of the purpose for which they had chosen him. Spain Anne, was separated from all her European possessions. Austria Hassaif^*' received the lion's share of these : the Spanish Netherlands, Louis XIV., Milan, Naples, and the island of Sardinia. The duke of 397-414; Savoy received the island of Sicily and the title of king. ^l^T'm. A few years afterwards he was obliged to exchange this with 335-340. Austria for Sardinia, and from this came the title of king of Sardinia, retained by the house of Savoy until the formation of the present kingdom of Italy. Spain, stripped of these The Spanish possessions but retaining her American colonies, was given to Bourbons- Philip V., the grandson of Louis XIV. The Bourbons thus became possessed of the Spanish throne, the only one they retain at the present day.
280. The Rise of England. — The gains of England from England's this war were far greater than those of any other state, colonial though they seem less striking than those of Austria. But enlarged. Austria's gains were more apparent than real, for her new possessions, as in the days of Charles V., great as they seemed, were widely scattered, difficult to defend, and not a real source of strength. England's, however, were exactly in the line of her future greatness. From Spain she received the command of the Mediterranean, the fortress of Gibraltar, and the island of Minorca containing the strongly fortified naval station of Port Mahon, and she was given also control of the supply of negroes to the Spanish colonies, a very profi-
282
France tries to Dominate Europe [§ 281
England beginning to take a first place in the world.
table trade at that time. She had successfully begun in this war also the conquest of North America from the French. France ceded to her all her claims on New Foundland and the Hudson Bay territories, and Acadia or Nova Scotia.
England's navy was now rapidly growing stronger, while those of France and Holland were growing weaker. Her commerce was widely extending. During the reign of Anne she had made a treaty with Portugal which made that coun- try, once the greatest commercial and colonial state of Europe, almost her commercial vassal. As the treaty of
A NORTH VIEW OF GIBRALTAR
The exhaus- tion of France. Contempo- rary accounts.
Westphalia marks the decline of the house of Hapsburg and the rise of France to the first place in Europe, so that of Utrecht marks the decline of France and the rise of England to a first place, not now in Europe merely but in the world, 281. France Unable to prevent the Rise of England. — But this change was not a sudden one. A long and desper- ate struggle was still necessary to complete it. Louis XIV. had gained from the War of the Spanish Succession what he had set out to gain, — the throne of Spain for his grandson ; but it was at a fearful cost, and it proved of no value in the
§§ 282, 283] End of the Stuart Dynasty 283
end. The last half of the reign of Louis XIV. had been filled Correard, with more disasters for France than the king knew of. The Tex*es> resources of the country were exhausted. Its industry under- mined. Its commerce almost destroyed. Agriculture was weighed down by a heavy burden of taxation, and had suf- fered from bad seasons as well as from the drain of men into the army. The peasantry were in a most miserable condition and sometimes even starving to death. The finances were in disorder. The court was still prodigally wasteful and cor- rupt, and all power of reformation seemed lost.
Bigotry and mistaken policy had turned France into the Recovery in
way which Spain had entered a century before. She was splte of the\ i . 11- government,
not destined to follow it to the same end, but it was not the
government which prevented this result. It was the French nation which saved itself with that immense recuperative power which is one of its marked characteristics. French industry and frugality accumulated new resources in spite of taxes and government squandering, and in another century could endure vast expenditure of men and money in a new struggle against all Europe, far greater than Louis XIV.'s. But for the present France was exhausted, and in the struggle with England which was to settle in the next fifty years the colonial empire of the world, this is the most essential fact.
282. The Beginning of Louis XV.'s Reign. — Louis XIV. The regency, was succeeded by his great grandson, Louis XV., then five years old. The regent was Philip of Orleans, nephew of Louis XIV., a most corrupt man. To keep himself in power he formed an alliance with England against Philip V. of Spain, who, notwithstanding his renunciation of all rights of succession in France, was plotting to make himself regent. The " Quad-
This alliance, joined afterwards by Austria and Holland, and rAuP.le
J Alliance.
so becoming the " Quadruple Alliance," led to a war with perkins,
Spain which had no important results, except to increase Regency,
the financial difficulties of France and to show how little ^P-*11-
Louis XIV.'s War of the Spanish Succession had led to a France,' ill.
union of Spain and France. 3Sl & 283. The End of the Stuart Dynasty. — Just before the
284
France tries to Dominate Europe [§ 283
Accession of George I. See table, p. 361- Morris, Anne, Chap. XVIII. ; Lecky, England, I. 177-183.
Thackeray, Henry Esmond (novel) ; Pamphlets by Steele, Swift, and Bolingbroke, in Political Pamphlets, Pamphlet Library.
The union
with
Scotland.
Morris,
Anne,
Chap. XVI. ;
Green,
English
People, IV.
90 ff.
end of Louis XIV.'s reign, Queen Anne of England had died. This event had been looked forward to by the extreme sup- porters of the Stuart family in the hope that something might then lead to the accession of James III., the " Old Pretender." But if any plots had been made to secure him the throne they completely failed, and George I. of Hano- ver was quietly acknowledged king, according to the Act of Settlement which had been passed before the death of Wil- liam III. By this act, failing heirs of William or of Anne, Parliament had settled the succession on the nearest Protes- tant heirs of the throne, the descendants of Elizabeth, daugh- ter of James I., who had married the unfortunate Frederick of the Palatinate. Thus began the house of Hanover, or of Guelf, which still reigns in England.
Another event in the reign of Anne of equal importance for the future of Great Britain, was the union of England and Scotland into one kingdom. By the accession of James of Scotland to the English throne, there had been formed what would now be called a " personal union," by which the two kingdoms had one sovereign and followed in general a common policy, but each retained its own Parliament and local government. In 1707 by the Act of Union, Scotland obtained representation in the English Parliament and ceased to have its own. The result proved a real union of the two peoples into one, of great importance in the age of expansion which was just beginning.
Topics
What reasons can you give for the decline of Spain? Why did it seem that France would have free hand in Europe about 1660 ? What interest had Holland in the case ? What was now the character of the French constitution ? The character of Louis XIV. The changes made by Colbert. The importance of the marriage of Louis XIV. Louis' first war. His feeling towards Holland. Louis' second war. How does the period of the " reunions " show Louis' power in Eu- rope ? The revocation of the edict of Nantes and its consequences. Did the American colonies gain anything by this ? The effect of Louis' wars on France. The relation of England under Charles II. to France.
Topics 285
The reasons for the Revolution of 1688. Its effect on France. The third war of Louis. The question of the Spanish succession. What prevented its settlement as Louis would have liked ? Spain's feeling on the subject. What brought on the War of the Spanish Succession ? Its character. Its effect on France. The treatment of Spain in the peace of Utrecht. The gain of England from the war. The effect of Louis' reign on France. The policy of the regent. The accession of the house of Hanover in England. The union with Scotland.
Topics for Assigned Studies
The reforms of Colbert. Perkins, France under the Regency (Hough- ton), Chap. IV. Hassall, Louis XIV. (Heroes), 123-130. Cor- reard, Textes, 140-207.
The revocation of the edict of Nantes. Perkins, Regency, 169-204. Hassall, Louis XIV., 241-252. Kitchin, France, III. 224-234. Text and contemporary comment. Correard, 7 extes, 230-240. German translation, Schilling, Quellenbuch, 191.
CHAPTER III
Changes in
north- eastern Europe.
Sweden a great power.
THE RISE OF RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA
284. The Position of Sweden. — While the War of the
Spanish Succession was introducing the change which we have noticed in the relative positions of France and Eng- land, changes were taking place in the northeast of Europe which, so far as the European politics of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are concerned, were of even greater in- fluence,' and in the world politics of the nineteenth century of almost equal consequence. Sweden, which at the close of the Thirty Years' War had been one of the great powers of Europe, rapidly declined into the second rank ; Russia, which until this time had never been thought of, became a strong European state and began its enormous expansion ; and Prussia rapidly rose in power and became the rival of Austria.
The Thirty Years' War left Sweden with a military reputa- tion and a geographical position which made her one of the first states of Europe. This had been gained by the wise policy and the genius of her kings, by religious enthusiasm which had inspired her armies, and by unusually favorable conditions among her neighbors. The place which she had taken she could hardly hope from her own resources to maintain. The successes of the elector of Brandenburg in the second of Louis XIV.'s wars made this evident, though he gained nothing from them at the time. Sweden, how- ever, kept her territories and her position until the sud- den rise of a new power overthrew the balance in the northeast.
286
Early History of Russia
28;
285. The Early History of Russia. — Russia was occupied From the
by the Scandinavians, at the time of the great Northmen t^°t:h^men
invasions in the ninth century, as we have seen. The dy- R0manoffs.
nasty of Ruric which was established at that time remained Rambaud,
BALTIC LANDS Hi
/xm,/iV«./<- II'.-*' 23 frnm Greenwich' 'jy
in power for more than seven hundred years, though there
was for much of that time no united government The (London);
Northmen, here as everywhere else, adopted the language Jjf^J
and civilization — or lack of civilization — of the country (Nations).
288
Rise of Russia and Prussia [§§ 286> 287
Not really a
European
state.
Obstacles to overcome. Schuyler, Peter the Great, 2 vols. (Scribner), 1689-1725.
and became Slavs. They were in closer connection with the Greek Empire than with any other civilized state, and in the tenth century received Christianity from there, and were organized as a part of the Greek Church under the Patriarch of Constantinople, a relation which continued until the conquest of the Empire in the east by the Turks. At the time of the great Mongol invasion in the thirteenth cen- tury, Russia came under their rule which lasted two cen- turies and a half. In the second half of the fifteenth century, the Prince of Moscow, Ivan the Great, a descendant of Ruric, threw off the Mongol yoke, got possession of Nov- gorod, the great commercial city of the north, and founded modern Russia. At the end of the sixteenth century the house of Ruric became extinct, and after a few years of civil strife Michael Romanoff was made czar, the founder of the house of Romanoff.
286. Russia in the Seventeenth Century. — Still through all the seventeenth century Russia was not a European power. She was shut out from all contact with the West. Sweden had possession of all the shores of the Baltic, and the Turks of all the north shore of the Black Sea. In civil- ization, political influence, or interest for other states, Russia might as well not have been a Christian state ; she was up to this time no more a part of Christendom than was China. One of the most striking characteristics of the nineteenth century has been the extension of European international law and close political relationship, to that common system which we call Christendom, over the whole world. The first step in this expansion of Christendom was the sudden entering of the European system by Russia in the reign of Peter the Great.
287. The Changes made by Peter the Great. — From the beginning of his reign in 1689, when at the age of seven- teen he began to rule alone, Peter was resolved to intro- duce western civilization into Russia, and to make her one of the great powers of Europe. To do this he had two great obstacles to overcome. One was the opposition of the " Old Russian " party, bitterly opposed to all change,
§287]
Changes made by Peter
289
against which he had to contend almost to the end of his reign. The other was the isolated position of Russia, cut off from access to the sea, which could be remedied only by successful wars with Sweden and Turkey.
Peter's work in Russia was a revolution. He had from Peter's youth a band of friends from the countries of the West who encouraged his efforts, and he increased their number. He
Rambaud, Russia, II, Chap. II.
PETER THE GREAT
called into Russia artisans, merchants, officers, and artists. He organized a new army to take the place of the old royal body-guard, the Strelitz, who had assumed too much power. He compelled the nobles to submit to his absolute authority, forced them to hold their lands of him, made nobility depend upon service, and created many new nobles and deposed many old ones. He subjected to cruel punishment his sister and even his only son when they joined the opposi- tion to his reforms. He undertook journeys to Holland and
290 Rise of Russia and Prussia [§ 288
to England to learn ship-building and to study the methods of the western states. He began the construction of a fleet while his only harbor was Archangel on the White Sea, frozen half the year. The founding of St. Petersburg as a new capital, in conquered territory, open to the Baltic, and so in connection with the West, symbolizes the result of his reign. Russia had been made a new state, facing Europe instead of Asia.
The first 2gg Russia against Sweden. — In opening the way to
Turks°n tQe sea> Peter's first success was gained from the Turks. Taking advantage of Austria's attack on Turkey in the Danube valley, he pushed through to the Black Sea, and in the peace of Carlowitz, in 1699, forced the Turks to cede to him the strong town of Azof at the mouth of the Don. Immediately after this began the great war with Sweden which led to the fall of that state.
Charles xii. jn ^97 Charles XII. came to the throne of Sweden at i^-iyiT the a§e of seventeen. This, thought all the neighbors of Moms, Sweden who wished to partition her territories, was an oppor-
Ageof Anne, tum'ty not to be neglected. Denmark, Russia, and Poland, BainP ' whose king was the elector of Saxony, formed an alliance Charles xii. against the young king. But they did not know with whom
(Heroes).
Charles XII. proved to be a great military genius, but one successes. lacking the political insight of Peter the Great. He at once Rambaud, attacked the Danes, and in three months, before any of ChatTi H ' t^ie^r a^es could come to their aid, he forced them to make peace. Then he turned immediately against Peter, and at Narva dispersed a Russian army much larger than his own. Here he made his first mistake. Without following up his advantage and forcing Peter to make peace as he had made the Danes, he turned back and marched against Poland, whose king he regarded as a personal enemy. Here he was equally successful. Augustus II. was dethroned, and a Polish noble, Stanislaus Leczinski, was elected in his place. Then he advanced against Saxony and finally forced Augustus to make peace and renounce the Polish throne, (1708).
§§ 289, 290] First Promotion of the Hohenzollern 291
289. The Fall of Charles XII. — But in these operations Mazeppa he had used up several years more indeed than were neces- fnd,thef sary, for he had lingered long in Poland, pleased perhaps at puitava, being courted by Louis XIV. on one side, and by the allies 1709- on the other, who were now in the midst of the War of the Spanish Succession, and in these years Peter had not been
idle. He had beaten the Swedes in battle, taken possession of several Baltic provinces, and in one of them had founded St. Petersburg. When at last Charles returned to the Rus- sian war, he made his second great mistake. Instead of going back to the North he let himself be persuaded by a revolted Cossack chieftain, Mazeppa, to attack Moscow. But the Cossacks gave him no real assistance, and in the great battle of Puitava, in the summer of 1 709, he was com- pletely defeated by Peter, and escaped with only a few fol- lowers into Turkey.
The war which he persuaded the Sultan to make against Charles in Russia brought him no permanent advantage, though Peter Turkey- was obliged to give Azof back to the Turks. Charles wasted several more years in Turkey, trying to induce the Sultan to renew the war, and was at last practically imprisoned there. When he escaped in 1717 the situation had so changed in the North that no recovery by Sweden was possible. The old enemies were all in the field. Augustus was again king of Poland. The Danes were threatening the capital of his kingdom. New enemies had joined the rest, Branden- burg, now the kingdom of Prussia, England, and Holland. Charles kept up the war, however, until he was killed at Charles the siege of Frederickshall in 1718. Sweden then made killed and peace at the expense of her southern and eastern Baltic humbled, provinces. Bremen and Verden went to Hanover, Pom- 1718. crania to Prussia, and the rest to Russia. Sweden's short history as a power of the first rank was over. Russia and Prussia had each taken a long step forward.
290. The First Promotion of the Hohenzollern. — At the Modem death of Peter the Great in 1725, Europe knew that a J^Tof* power had risen in the East that must be taken into account Frederick
292
Rise of Russia and Prussia
[§291
the Great.
Tuttle, History of Prussia, 4 vols. (Houghton).
The Hohen- zollern first obtain Nuremberg. Tuttle, Prussia, I., Chap. 111.
Then Bran- denburg,
1415- Map of growth of Prussia, Putzger, No. 30.
The Rhine provinces and the duchy of Prussia. Tuttle, Prussia, I., Chap. IV.
The Great Elector, 1640-1688. Tuttle, Prussia, I., Chap. V.
in the future. She hardly felt the same as yet in regard to Prussia. It was the work of Frederick the Great to bring his country forward into the rank of a first-rate power. But Frederick's work was only the natural conclusion of a long line of preparation steadily followed by his ancestors through several centuries.
The origin of the Hohenzollern family was similar to that of the Hapsburgs. When they first appear in history they are counts of a little territory on the borders of Switzerland. Shortly afterward Frederick of Hohenzollern was made burggraf of Nuremberg. In this office the family displayed the frugal middle class traits which have always character- ized it, and at the beginning of the fifteenth century the Frederick of the day was able to lend to the Emperor Sigismund a large sum of money in final payment of which he was made elector of Brandenburg, which had fallen in to the Empire by the extinction of the family of Albert the Bear. Then began the process by which the present king- dom of Prussia has been created — the union under a single rule of a great number of the little independent states into which North Germany was at that time divided.
291. The Chief Steps in the Making of Prussia. — We can follow only the most important steps of this growth. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the inheritance of the dukes of Juliers and Cleves was claimed, and a good part of it finally secured, the origin of Prussia's Rhenish provinces. In 1618 the duchy of Prussia, the lands of the old German order, which since the Reformation had been held as a secularized duchy by a younger branch of the family, fell in to the elector, but was held as a part of the kingdom of Poland. The reign of the Great Elector, Frederick William, was a time of rapid progress. At the close of the Thirty Years' \Var, Brandenburg received east Pomerania, and the secularized ecclesiastical states of Mag- deburg, Halberstadt, Minden, and Cammin. During a considerable part of his reign engaged in successful war with Sweden, he was however obliged by Sweden's ally,
Rise of Russia and Prussia
[§291
the Great.
Tuttle, History of Prussia, 4 vols. (Houghton).
The Hohen- zollern first obtain Nuremberg. Tuttle, Prussia, I., Chap. III.
Then Bran- denburg,
1415- Map of growth of Prussia, Putzger, No. 30.
The Rhine provinces and the duchy of Prussia. Tuttle, Prussia, I., Chap. IV.
The Great Elector, 1640-1688. Tuttle, Prussia, I., Chap. V.
in the future. She hardly felt the same as yet in regard to Prussia. It was the work of Frederick the Great to bring his country forward into the rank of a first-rate power. But Frederick's work was only the natural conclusion of a long line of preparation steadily followed by his ancestors through several centuries.
The origin of the Hohenzollern family was similar to that of the Hapsburgs. When they first appear in history they are counts of a little territory on the borders of Switzerland. Shortly afterward Frederick of Hohenzollern was made burggraf of Nuremberg. In this office the family displayed the frugal middle class traits which have always character- ized it, and at the beginning of the fifteenth century the Frederick of the day was able to lend to the Emperor Sigismund a large sum of money in final payment of which he was made elector of Brandenburg, which had fallen in to the Empire by the extinction of the family of Albert the Bear. Then began the process by which the present king- dom of Prussia has been created — the union under a single rule of a great number of the little independent states into which North Germany was at that time divided.
291. The Chief Steps in the Making of Prussia. — We can follow only the most important steps of this growth. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the inheritance of the dukes of Juliers and Cleves was claimed, and a good part of it finally secured, the origin of Prussia's Rhenish provinces. In 1618 the duchy of Prussia, the lands of the old German order, which since the Reformation had been held as a secularized duchy by a younger branch of the family, fell in to the elector, but was held as a part of the kingdom of Poland. The reign of the Great Elector, Frederick William, was a time of rapid progress. At the close of the Thirty Years' War, Brandenburg received east Pomerania, and the secularized ecclesiastical states of Mag- deburg, Halberstadt, Minden, and Cammin. During a considerable part of his reign engaged in successful war with Sweden, he was however obliged by Sweden's ally,
§ 292] The Father of Frederick the Great 293
Louis XIV., to give up his conquests, and secured only the independence of the duchy of Prussia of Poland, and the reputation of having a fine army.
More important than his conquests was his work in Absolutism the organization of the government. He centralized his founded' scattered states into a single whole. He broke the power of the nobles and of the local legislatures where these existed, and established the absolute rule of the sovereign. His successor joined the alliance against Louis XIV. in the War of the Spanish Succession, and Europe in the peace of Utrecht, the same peace which gave the title of king to The title of the house of Savoy, recognized his right to the title of king kingj "in Prussia," which he had assumed in 1701 with the con- pruss\a, I. sent of the Emperor. 289-302.
292. The Father of Frederick the Great. — The second Frederick king in Prussia, his son and successor, the famous father of wilham *•» Frederick the Great, the drill sergeant, the corporal, the head of the tobacco parliament, was a coarse and brutal barbarian who cared nothing for art or knowledge, and was only interested in his soldiers. He was ambitious to have a large and finely drilled army, but he was unwilling to risk it in battle, and took no part in the wars of his time, except in the last years of the great war against Sweden. In the peace which followed the death of Charles XII., he gained west Pomerania for Prussia. His chief service was to hand on to his son Frederick the army, which the Great Elector had founded, more than doubled in size, and made one of the best in Europe, and a large surplus in the treasury.
When Frederick II. came to the throne circumstances Prussia were most favorable for a long step forward towards the des- ready for *he tiny which the different labors of her rulers had been during Austria! * so long a time preparing for Prussia, — to take the place of Turtle, leadership in Germany which Austria had been obliged to %*ssta? n-> give up. To obtain this a desperate struggle would be Longman, necessary, but Prussia was more favorably situated in north Frederick Germany than Austria in south. She was stronger than any ** J^f one realized, and her young king was to prove himself a 31-42.
294
Rise of Russia and Prussia
[§293
The house of Hapsburg extinct, 1740.
Frederick the first to strike. Tuttle, Prussia, II.
42-56 I Longman, Frederick, 42-46.
genius in the art of war. The full fruits of Frederick's policy in the actual headship of Germany, Prussia did not gather for a hundred years, but before the close of his reign
it was plain to all Europe that there were two great powers in Germany of fairly equal strength.
293. The Pragmatic Sanc- tion of Charles VI. — The op- portunity for which everything was prepared came in the very year of Frederick's accession. The emperor, Charles VI., was the last male descendant of the house of Hapsburg. In the last years of his reign it had been the chief object of his policy to provide against the partition of the Austrian ter- ritories and to secure the un- divided inheritance to his daughter Maria Theresa. This he had sought to accomplish by the Pragmatic Sanction, a new law of succession in her favor, to which he had secured the consent of most of the states of Europe by treaties.
His death in October, 1 740, revealed at once the worth- lessness of these treaties. All Europe seemed to consider the time arrived to bring Aus- tria to an end. The electors of Bavaria and Saxony advanced claims to the inheritance. Spain and France showed themselves ready to assist. But
GIGANTIC GRENADIER OF FREDERICK WILLIAM I.
§§ 294> 295] Maria Theresa and Frederick 295
Frederick was first in the field. Before the end of 1 740, without waiting for an answer from Maria Theresa to his claims, and without a declaration of war he marched his army into the Austrian province of Silesia.
294. The War of the Austrian Succession. 1740-1748. — Frederick His success was rapid. The Austrians were defeated at Mollwitz. An alliance was formed with France. The elector
of Bavaria was recognized as Emperor. Moravia was in- Prussia, n.t vaded and another victory gained, and in June, 1742, Maria ^hap. IIL~ Theresa was ready to make peace with Frederick, that she Longman, might use all her strength against her other enemies. The Frederick, peace of Breslau gave to Prussia the province of Silesia with 46~56* a million and a half of inhabitants. But it was not yet in secure possession.
The tide which had been running against Maria Theresa The now turned in her favor. She threw herself on the devotion Austrians of the Hungarians, and they responded with enthusiasm. grouncj The Bavarians were driven back. Prague was recovered. The English allies of Austria defeated the French at Det- tingen. Saxony and Savoy abandoned the allies and joined the Austrians. Frederick began to fear that Maria Theresa would recover Silesia and he renewed the war. Rapidly he Frederick's gained the victories of Hohenfriedberg, Soor, and Kessels- second war. dorf, and captured Prague, while the French defeated the pllttle> English at Fontenoy. Now Frederick thought he could Chap. viii'. again make peace with safety, and in the peace of Dresden, Longman, 1 745, the cession of Silesia was confirmed, while he recognized Maria Theresa's husband, Francis of Lorraine, as Emperor.
295. Maria Theresa determined to punish Frederick. — Frederick During the war Frederick II. had twice abandoned his cannot be allies without hesitation to secure advantages to himself, but forgiven- when a general peace was made at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748
the conquests which he had made were sanctioned by Eu- rope. Frederick was, however, the only one of her enemies whom Maria Theresa could not forgive. The especial per- fidy of his attack on Silesia, the loss of that great province, the impudence of the little kingdom of Prussia in assuming
296 Rise of Russia and Prussia C§ 295
Europe against Prussia. Hassall,
STONE BRIDGE AT PRAGUE
so much power and threatening the Austrian leadership in Germany, all combined to make her determined to crush Frederick in another war.
Her plan was to form a great European combination against the little state, and to raise up so many enemies that resistance would be hopeless ; that, as the Austrian Chan-
§ 296] France abandons her Hereditary Enmity 297
cellor v. Kaunitz. said, they might force upon Frederick the fate which Henry the Lion had once undergone. Saxony, Sweden, and Poland were not difficult to secure. The Empress Elizabeth of Russia hated Frederick almost more than Maria Theresa, and was impatient for the war to begin. The most difficult, but a very necessary, ally to secure was France.
296. France abandons her Hereditary Enmity. — Austria and France had been constant enemies for more than two hundred years. It seemed like reversing all history for them to join in an alliance against any other state. But there were reasons on both sides. Austria did not hesitate to make the suggestion, and she found France ready to listen. The French statesmen no longer feared Austria. That fear belonged to a stage of history now outgrown. On the other hand France did fear that the increasing power of Prussia would threaten her influence in north Germany, and her conflict with England for colonial empire made a war with that country inevitable ; in fact, it was going on almost without a pause during this interval of peace in Europe.
An arrangement which England made with Prussia early in 1756 to secure the neutrality of Hanover, of which King George was sovereign, was immediately followed by an alliance between France and Austria. The object of Maria Theresa's policy was not the mere recovery of Silesia. It was practically the partition of Prussia, and she hoped by this means to be permanently rid of her rival in Germany. It seemed as if the plan must succeed. Frederick's only ally was England, and England's interest in the war was not chiefly in Europe. It was in the colonial struggle with France which was now at its height, as we shall see else- where, and raging with equal fierceness in North America and in India. The war now beginning in Europe was the greatest of these wars, the French and Indian War of Ameri- can colonial history. Indeed, we may almost say that the war which began with Spain in 1739 continued unbroken until the peace of Paris in 1763.
Periods, Chap. VI II.; Tuttle, Prussia, III., Chaps. VI. and VIII.; Longman, Frederick, , Chap. VII.
Almost a reversal of history.
England Prussia's only ally.
A struggle for colonial empire.
298
Rise of Russia and Prussia
[§297
Frederick will not wait to be attacked. Tuttle, Prussia, IV., Chap. I.
Great victories.
The odds
against
Prussia.
Hassall,
Periods,
Chap. IX.
Longman,
Frederick^
Chaps.
VIII.-XI.,
and XV.
Prussia maintains herself to the end. Bracken- bury, Frederick the Great (Military history, Putnam's).
297. The Seven Years' War (1756-1763). —The allies intended to begin the war in 1757, but Frederick, who was kept informed of the negotiations by secret agents in Vienna and Dresden, determined to attack before their preparations were complete. At the end of August, 1756, he invaded Saxony, shut up the Saxon army in Pirna, defeated an Austrian force that came to their aid, forced them to surrender, and in less than a month was in entire possession of Saxony, which he treated as if it were annexed to Prussia.
The next year brought all his enemies into the field, but it closed on the whole in favor of Frederick. He was de- feated by the Austrians at Kolin and forced out of Bohemia, but he later gained the great victories of Rossbach over the French, and of Leuthen over the Austrians, which saved Silesia.
But the odds were really too great for Frederick. Rus- sian and Swedish armies were in Prussian territory. The losses which his armies sustained, in victories as well as in defeat, could not be made good.- England supplied money but not men. Berlin was captured by the Russians. Nearly all Saxony and Silesia were lost. The country held by the enemy was laid waste, and the sufferings of the people were extreme. But Frederick met these disasters with fortitude, though with occasional thoughts of suicide, and displayed the greatest military genius. He reorganized his defeated armies, faced his multitude of foes, won from them occasional victories, and made them purchase every advance.
In 1760 the death of George II. of England resulted in the withdrawal of the supplies from that country, and the following year showed the strength of Prussia almost ex- hausted. But at the beginning of 1762 the death of Eliza- beth of Russia turned the tide. Her successor, Peter III., was an ardent admirer of Frederick's, and he made peace at once. Two considerable victories in the same year were followed by the recovery of Saxony and Silesia. All hope of destroy-
§§ 298, 299] Catherine II. of Russia 299
ing Prussia seemed now at an end. France also had lost all her colonies, and was tired of the war. Early in 1 763 peace was made between the several parties to the war. The peace of Hubertsburg between Austria and Prussia left to Frederick all his possessions at the beginning of the war.
298. Prussia a Great Power. — Maria Theresa was obliged Prussia a to reconcile herself to the loss of Silesia. Prussia was hence- forth recognized without dispute as one of the great powers of Europe, and as a leader in German affairs, though Aus- tria maintained a rival leadership until 1866. A few years after the peace, when the line of the electors of Bavaria became extinct, Prussia was able to defeat the plans of Austria for getting possession of this the largest of the south German states, and organized a league of the princes — called the Furstenbund — to prevent the increase of Aus- trian power in Germany.
After the war Frederick devoted himself with all the Economic power of a paternal despotism, and with success, to making C
good to his people the losses of the war and to restoring the Carlyle, prosperity of the country. Before the close of his life, Frederick
J J 'the Great,
Prussia was to receive another large increase of territory Bk> Xxi., through the first partition of Poland. In this act the two Chap. II. new powers, Russia and Prussia, whose sudden rise was so largely due to unjust wars and the disregard of the rights of others, fitly joined hands against their weaker neighbor in a crowning act of robbery.
299. Catherine II. of Russia (1762-1796). — From the The plans death of Peter the Great to the accession of his daughter Qr^tter th Elizabeth in 1741, the history of Russia is one of frequent resumed. revolutions, and the policy of Peter was but little advanced. It was taken up again by Elizabeth, who forced Sweden to give up Finland, but who gained nothing from her war against Frederick the Great. Peter III., who succeeded her, was thrown into prison by his wife, a German princess, who seized the throne and became the famous Catherine II. The plans of Peter the Great for the extension of Russia to the West, she made the controlling objects of her policy.
300
Rise of Russia and Prussia [§§ 3°°> 3°i
A weak state.
Rambaud,
Russia, II.
n8ff.;
Hassall,
Periods,
Chap. XI.
Constitu- tional anarchy.
Universal corruption.
Russia about to absorb Poland.
Sweden, Poland, and Turkey were to be forced to allow Russia a more direct outlet towards Europe.
300. The Condition of Poland. — The death of Augustus III., in 1763, gave Catherine an opportunity to bring the Russian influence into the control of Poland, where it had been rapidly extending for some years. The condition of this country had for a long time invited the interference of her ambitious neighbors. It occupied a large territory in the centre of eastern Europe, extending from the Baltic almost to the Black Sea, and from the Carpathian Moun- tains to beyond the Dneiper. It had a population of twelve millions ruled by about one hundred thousand nobles. In form the constitution was a monarchy, but the king was elec- tive and was only a figurehead. All real power was in the hands of the nobles, or it may be said in the hands of each noble. Since any act of the Diet could be vetoed by a single member — the liberum veto, as it was called — a practical right of nullification existed for every noble.
The nobles were a high-spirited and brave class, but utterly corrupt and selfish. The peasantry were sunk in the lowest serfdom and degradation, hardly human beings. A middle class was wholly lacking. The business, falling to the free burgher of western Europe, was entirely in the hands of the Jews, who were without political rights and had of course no interest in the State. The destruction of Poland was a well-merited punishment of the selfish cor- ruption of its ruling class, who would not allow reformation or abandon their privileges in the interest of the nation, but who did stand ready in large numbers to sell themselves to the Russian or the Prussian. These facts, however, do not justify the open violation of right and justice by those who destroyed the State.
301. The First Partition of Poland. — Catherine secured the election in succession to Augustus III. of a former favorite of her own, Stanislaus Poniatowski. An attempt to reform the constitution in the interest of a stronger govern- ment was defeated by the veto and a Russian army, and the
The First Partition of Poland
301
influence of Catherine increased so rapidly in the country that the fear of Frederick the Great was excited lest the whole kingdom should be absorbed by Russia, and the Baltic provinces of Prussia be threatened, and perhaps even the existence of the State as it once had been by Elizabeth.
Since the reform of Poland seemed impossible, and the Frederick country could be maintained in its present condition only
FREDERICK THE GREAT
by a great European war 01 doubtful issue, Frederick pro- posed to Austria that they should protect themselves from the designs of Catherine and obtain compensation for her increase of power by forcing her to abandon to them a part of the spoils. With great reluctance, Maria Theresa al- lowed herself to be persuaded to this step, and with great difficulty Catherine was made to see the wisdom of yielding part of her prey. The fall from power in France of the
302
Rise of Russia and Prussia [§§ 302> 3°3
The partition made, 1772. Map, Putzger, No. 25.
War with Turkey. Rambaud, Russia, II. 156-165.
Russia reaches the Black Sea.
The other states of Europe interested in the disposi- tion of Turkey. Hassall, Periods, Chap. XIII.
duke of Choiseul, who wished to preserve the independence of Poland, aided the conspirators, and the first partition was carried through in 1772. The share of Prussia was only half as large as Austria's, and one-third Russia's, but it was of especial value to her since it united the outlying duchy of Prussia for the first time with the rest of her territories by continuous possessions, and so afforded a strong guar- antee for its safety.
302. Further Russian Advance. — Before the second partition of Poland took place, Russia had made a great advance in another direction. The Turks had declared war in 1770, in aid of the Polish patriotic -party, but fortune had been against them. A Russian army reached the Danube. Still more astonishing a Russian fleet suddenly appeared in Grecian waters, having sailed around all Europe and through the straits of Gibraltar, and surprised and almost destroyed the Turkish fleet. Constantinople itself nearly fell into the hands of the Russians. In the peace which was made in 1774, Russia recovered the conquests which had formerly been made by Peter the Great, and more, with the right to navigate the Black Sea and to exercise a protectorate in favor of the Christians in the Turkish Empire, and the Crimea was declared independent of Turkey. This was the first great gain which Russia had made at the expense of Turkey, and the sudden success of the Russian arms was a further revelation to Europe of the rising power of the new Empire.
303. The Rise of the Eastern Question. — This was the beginning also of the great " Eastern Question " in the inter- national politics of Europe, which seems to-day no nearer solution than it did more than a century ago. Catherine believed that she would be able to settle it in her own reign by taking what she pleased of the possessions of the Sultan. But Austria, for centuries interested in extending its power down the Danube, could not take this view of the case. And when Russia and Austria united in a treaty of partition in 1780, by which Austria was to take Bosnia, Herzegovina,
§ 3°4] Poland at last Destroyed 303
and Servia, — a part of which it actually received at the close of the last war between Russia and Turkey, — and Russia was to carry her boundaries to the mouth of the Danube, then the other states of Europe became at once interested in the great extension of power which seemed thus to open before these two countries.
France could not be bribed even by the promise of Egypt Turkey to consent to this arrangement, but remained as she had saved, but long been the ally of Turkey. Turkey defended herself as best she could against the Russian and Austrian armies. Sweden took advantage of the war to attack Russia and threatened St. Petersburg. Finally the accession to the throne in Austria of Leopold II., who was not in favor of continuing the war, induced Catherine to consent to peace. Russia received the Crimea and other territory on the north of the Black Sea, \\ith the right to maintain a fleet on that sea, and Austria made a small annexation, but the Turkish Empire still survived to be a perpetual source of interna- tional plots, jealousies, and wars.
304. Poland at last Destroyed. — This peace was fol- The second
lowed in the next year, 1793, by the second partition of Partition-
, , . . . * . ^ . Rambaud,
Poland. Another attempt had been made by King Stanis- Kussia> n>
laus to reform the constitution, and this had received the 165-179. sanction of the king of Prussia, now Frederick William II. Catherine, however, refused to accept it and raised an oppo- sition party in Poland. A Russian army then invaded the country. A Prussian army immediately entered from the other side. It was hoped that it came to support the con- stitution as the king had agreed, but it at once joined the Russian troops. A victory gained by Kosciusko did no good, and the second partition was soon completed. In this Austria had no share. Prussia's was nearly twice as large as in the first partition, but Russia's was still the lion's share.
Kosciusko and his party refused to submit and still at- The third tempted to resist by arms, but their cause was hopeless, and Partition- their efforts only served to bring on the end at once. The
304
Rise of Russia and Prussia
[§305
New states had risen and old ones fallen.
The decline of France.
third partition took place in 1795. Austria had again part in this, but her share and Prussia's were as usual much less than that which Catherine took. Almost all Poland had been absorbed in Russia. But the extension of territory was the least important gain which Russia had made. Her whole western frontier now bordered on the great states of central Europe, on Prussia and Austria, and she had en- tered as intimately into European politics as the oldest Christian state.
305. A Revolution in the Political Situation of Europe. — These events constituted a revolution in the affairs of Europe. Two new states had entered the first rank of powers and three had disappeared. Sweden had fallen from the first rank, Poland had entirely ceased to exist, and Turkey had revealed to the world her great weakness. These three states had been the allies of France in her conflicts with the house of Hapsburg. Put into other words then, these rapid changes in Europe in the eighteenth cen- tury meant that France had been unable to maintain the great position which she had held under Louis XIV. And this was true. The rapid rise of Russia and Prussia was accompanied with the decline of France. But as we shall see in another place this age of her political decline was an age of wide intellectual influence upon all Europe, and of preparation for a new age of political leadership greater than any state had exercised since the days of Rome, — the age of Napoleon.
Topics
The power and possessions of Sweden in 1700. The early history of Russia. The reforms of Peter the Great. Charles XII. of Sweden. The gains of Russia from Sweden. The origin of the Hohenzollern. Their great promotion. In what way was Prussia formed ? The Great Elector. The preparation for Frederick the Great. What gave him his opportunity against Austria ? What was gained from Austria ? Maria Theresa's policy of revenge. Why did France join Austria ? What was the interest of England in the matter ? The course of the Seven Years' War. How did the war leave Prussia in Europe ? In Germany ? The condition of Poland. The history of the first parti-
Topics 305
tion. Russian advance towards the south. What is the " Eastern Question"? How did it arise? The final destruction of Poland. The change in the European situation made in this age.
Topics for Assigned Studies
The father of Frederick the Great. Tuttle, Prussia, I., Chaps. IX-XI.
Longman, Frederick the Great, Chap. III. Carlyle, Frederick the
Great, Bk. IV., Chap. IV. The first partition of Poland. Perkins, Louis XV., 1., Chap. XXI.
Rambaud, Russia, II., 122-130. Carlyle, Frederick the Great,
Bk. XXI., Chap. IV.
CHAPTER IV
THE STRUGGLE FOR COLONIAL EMPIRE
Books for Reference and Further Beading
Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies. Introduction^
(Clarendon; $1.00.)
Payne, History of European Colonies. (Macmillan; $l.io.) Seeley, The Expansion of England. (Little, Brown & Co.; $1.75.) Story, Building of the British Empire. 2 vols. (Nations.) Parkman, Half Century of Conflict. 2 vols. Montcalm and Wolfe.
2 vols. (Little, Brown & Co.; $8.00.)
Perkins, France under Louis XV. 2 vols. (Hough ton; $4.00.) Lecky, History of England in the Eighteenth Century. 7 vols. (Ap-
pleton; $7.00.) Mahan, Influence of Sea Power upon History. (Little, Brown & Co.;
France loses more than supremacy in Europe.
306. The Dawn of the Age of World Politics. — In the
international politics of Europe, France had declined, dur- ing the eighteenth century, from the position of commanding influence which she had occupied when the century opened. In the same century, a position of far more commanding in- fluence than any limited to the continent of Europe merely, and one which France could very likely have gained if she had followed a wiser policy, was finally lost to her. For this century covers almost the whole of and finally decides the struggle between France and England for colonial em- pire, for a commanding position in the world as a whole, not in a single continent, and the decision goes against France. This is almost the same as saying that in this century new m commerce interests begin to guide the policy of European states, or at and colonies, least of some of them, interests not connected with those
306
World supremacy
§ 307} First Modern Colonial Powers
which concerned the balance of power in Europe, but with the question of a wider balance of power, or rather with the struggle to overcome all rivals and to obtain an exclusive commercial and colonial control of all seas and continents. This new interest was slow in making itself felt as a guiding influence in the eighteenth century. England was the first England first to be moved by it, very greatly to her advantage. France Jealizes the followed some little distance after and partly, but not fully, realized the importance of the interests at stake before the struggle was concluded. It is only of the nineteenth cen- tury and perhaps only the last half of it, that we can say that these new questions have been steadily pushing those of merely European international politics down into a second- ary place.
307. The First Modern Colonial Powers. — France was not Other colo- the first rival of England in this struggle, nor were either nial P°wers- France or England the first of the world's great commercial and colonial powers.
We have already studied the expansion, during the age of Portugal and the Renaissance, of the medieval Mediterranean commerce sPain- into the ocean commerce of modern times in consequence of the discoveries of the Portuguese in Africa and India, and of the Spanish in America. Both these nations immediately took possession of the countries which their explorers had reached, and so began the first age of European colonial history.
The Portuguese established their factories along the in India and coasts of India and in the East India Islands, and under g™e"ec^ the Viceroy Albuquerque exercised a kind of authority Albuquerque over the whole East. In the West, Cortez conquered (Macmiiian). Mexico for Spain, and Pizarro conquered Peru. The fabu- lous riches of these western lands attracted to them large numbers of Spaniards. At one time there was a fever of emigration in Castile almost like the rush for newly dis- covered and rich gold-fields in these days. There were very many more Spaniards who went to America than there were of Portuguese who went to the East.
308
Struggle for Colonial Empire [§§ 3°8? 3°9
But no
colonies in
the English
sense.
Lucas,
Introduction,
61-67 ;
Payne,
European
Colonies,
39-53-
The Spanish the first world empire.
In conflict with Spain. Lucas,
Introduction, 74-81 ; Payne, Colonies,
Still neither of these nations established colonies in our understanding of that word. The Portuguese establishments in India were trading-stations, to which men went for a time to make themselves fortunes and then to return home to enjoy the results. The Spanish in America were garrisons, and overseers of mines, and adventurers, whose object was the same, to send or carry back to Spain as much wealth as possible, gained from the new country. The Spanish estab- lishments grew in the end into a much more permanent and real colonization than the Portuguese, but this was not their original intention. The idea of finding in these lands a new home for the people, where another nation of the same blood and language as the mother nation should grow up, to enlarge at once the power of the State and the prosperity of its citizens, had not yet arisen.
308. Spain's World Power Threatened. — We have seen elsewhere how successful at first this policy was of drawing as much wealth as possible for the home country from the colony, and what was its final effect. The mines of America added much to the resources of Charles V. in his conflict for empire in Europe. When under his son Philip II. Portu- gal was absorbed in the Spanish monarchy and the East Indies were added to the West in the possession of Spain, it seemed as if a real world empire were about to be es- tablished. But the reign of Philip saw the rise of two new commercial and colonial powers, near together in time and under very similar circumstances, partly at least as the result of his own mistaken policy, as Spain and Portugal had risen together in the age of the Renaissance.
309. The Rise of the Dutch Empire. — One of these was a country which at the beginning of Philip's reign had been his own, and which his despotism and intolerance had driven into independence. Familiar with the sea from before the time when Caesar wrote his description of them, depending for a large part of their livelihood upon the difficult and dangerous ocean fisheries, the best training-school of sailors, and having also already a good beginning of commerce, the
§ 3IQ] Beginning of the English Empire 309
rapid rise of the Dutch into a great naval and commercial power need not surprise us. Hard blows were to be struck the Spanish power on many seas, and the native vigor of the Dutch, reinforced by the tremendous energy excited by their desperate struggle for independence, carried them far.
It was Portugal, after her absorption in Spain, that suf- fered the heaviest actual losses from the attacks of the Dutch, and in the East Indies the new colonial empire of Holland was created. She took the great Spice Islands and Ceylon, and established factories on both the east and west coast of India.
In 1602 the East India Company was founded, followed New Nether- soon by the West India Company, which founded the lands and colony of New Netherlands in America. Soon afterward story, °° the settlement of Batavia was made in the East, destined to British great prosperity, and in no long time the Cape of Good EmPtre> *• Hope was occupied by an agricultural colony for the supply- ing of ships on the long India voyage. The East India commerce was still very profitable, though less so than it had once been ; Amsterdam became the chief entry and distrib- uting port for Oriental goods for Europe ; and a large part of the world's carrying trade was in the hands of the Dutch.
310. The Beginning of the English Empire. — But in Contempo- the meantime another commercial power was rising, not so rary with 'the rapidly as Holland, but very largely out of the same condi- tions, — a power which was destined, not to destroy the com- merce of Holland, but to sec a limit to its expansion. This was England.
In very early times, owing to their situation, the English The English had become a sea- going people. At the opening of the ne(jessariiy thirteenth century England had asserted her right to rule the narrow seas. Her commercial connection with Flanders, and still more with the territories which she held in the southwest of France, created interests which exercised a decisive influence upon her foreign policy in the fourteenth century. Before the close of the fifteenth, her navigators
3io
Struggle for Colonial Empire
[§310
had had a fair share in the explorations of the time, and to one of them, Cabot, had fallen the honor of first seeing the continent of America.
Still through the whole sixteenth century, the great age of struggle with Spanish and Portuguese commerce, or at least until the very Spain. end of it, England was not a sea power. It was the conflict
with Philip II., the struggle for the defence of religious and political independence, as in the case of Holland, which be-
The Empire begins in the
Story,
British
Empire,
THE MOSQUE AT DELHI
Bk. I.,
Chaps. 1IL- VI.
The warfare in the Span- ish main. The Last Fight of the Revenge (Arber Reprints) ; Payne,
gan the naval glories of English history and turned the atten- tion of her people to distant commercial enterprises.
It was a most attractive warfare. Rich plunder, strange adventures, and the striking of hard blows at the bitterest of enemies, all were to be had at one time. It is not strange that with these inducements, and with the energy and enthusi- asm of a young race in an age of great events on every side, the deeds of the English seamen in the first age of the struggle for empire have never been surpassed in any later one.
The First English Colonies
311. The First English Colonies. — In one sense the modern colonial supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race is de- served, for the real colony, as a new home of the people, in distinction from the trading-station, was begun by Englishmen. It was the work, however, of the people themselves and not of the government.
Perhaps this honor is hardly to be given to the first per- manent English settlement in America, that of Jamestown in 1606. But whatever may have been the original intention which influenced the first settlers to undertake the enterprise, it very soon found its great source of wealth in tobacco and not in gold, and grew into an agricultural colony, the planters with their families looking upon the country as their home. The same thing may be said, both as to origi- nal intention and later history, of the Dutch colony which was estab- lished at New Amster- dam in 1614. But in 1 6 20 there was founded at Plymouth, in New England, a settlement whose purpose was from the start, not to open up trade or to dis- cover mines, but to find a new and permanent home for the founders and their posterity.
These were the Pil- grims, of the extreme Puritan party, called Independents, who had fled from England to Holland to escape the persecution of the State in the early part of the reign of James I., and afterwards abandoned Holland for America, to keep them- selves from absorption in the Dutch, to preserve their lan- guage, race, and institutions. They were followed in ten years by much larger numbers of the Puritans, who founded
WILLIAM PENN
Voyages of Elizabethan Seamen (Clarendon); Froude, English Seamen in XVL Century (Scribner) ; Kingsley, Westward Ho! (novel).
The first real
colonies
English.
Lucas,
Introduction,
90-99.
Virginia and Plymouth. Green, English People, III. 167-171 ; Am. Hist. Leaf., 27 and 29; Old South, 48-51
The Pilgrims.
The
Puritans.
312
Struggle for Colonial Empire [§§ 3I2~3r4
Founded from various motives.
Sweden's colony.
Beginning about the middle of the seventeenth century. Story, British Empire, I.
the colonies of Salem and Massachusetts Bay, and a little later of Connecticut and New Haven. In America these Puritans all became Independents, and organized the churches called Congregational.
312. The Thirteen Colonies. — This beginning of colonies was followed by many others of different kinds — Maryland for the Catholics, Pennsylvania for the Quakers, Rhode Island for the oppressed of all names, the Carolinas by a corpora- tion of English gentlemen, Georgia for the debtor class — during the seventeenth and the last not until near the middle of the eighteenth century. It is a very interesting indication of the feeling that was now beginning to grow up in Europe about colonies, or at least trading-stations, in the new parts of the world, and their relation to the position of a power of the first rank, that Sweden during the time of her greatness in the Thirty Year's War attempted to secure her share in the division of North America, and began the colony of Delaware. The same feeling is indicated by the attempt of the Great Elector to obtain trading-stations for the rising state of Prussia on the coast of Africa, a little later in the same century. His experiment was even less successful than that of Sweden.
313. Conflict between England and Holland. — The Thir- teen Colonies of North America were only begun when the conflict came on between England and Holland. This was hardly to be avoided on account of their conflicting in- terests in the East. England had begun to try for a share in this rich trade as early as Holland. Her East India Com- pany was, indeed, organized first, in the year 1600. It was a little more than fifty years after this date before their rival- ries brought the countries to actual war with one another, but their traders were fighting for the possession of the mar- kets of the East and for favorable stations before the begin- ning of declared war. The massacre of the English residents at Amboyna by the Dutch, in 1623, is only the worst of many incidents in these conflicts before actual war began.
314. Government Colonial Policy, Laws, and War. — It is
§ 3T5] Power of Holland broken by France 313
from the time of Cromwell's rule that we may date the Thebegin-
beginning of a continuous commercial and colonial policy on nin& of
-.._.., TT r . government
the part of the English government. How far we have a coioniai
right to attribute such a policy to Cromwell himself, as one policy, consciously and understandingly chosen, is doubtful. Prob- ably in this as in other things he did not see very far into the future, but did with great vigor and decision the thing that seemed at the moment to be the wisest. But with him began the measures which long characterized English policy, to defend and develop commerce and the colonies, not as colonies mainly but as feeders of commerce, by acts of Par- liament and whenever necessary by war.
In 1651 was passed the first Navigation Act, which forbade The first the importation of goods into any English possession except ^tvlgf tlon in English vessels or in the vessels of the country producing ^m. Hist*, the goods. This was aimed directly at the great carrying Leaf., 19. trade of the Dutch, and was intended to transfer this to English ships. Laws of this kind, successively passed, re- mained in force until into the nineteenth century. In the The first next year came the first war with Holland, a war of fleets, ^°nial wai; which lasted two years and closed without decisive results, though the advantage was chiefly with England. In a war of Cromwell's with Spain- was made the first important Eng- lish colonial conquest, the island of Jamaica.
315. The Power of Holland broken by France. — The ruin In the of Holland, however, as a great commercial power, was in the end not so much the act of England as of Louis XIV., though he had the help of England in a part of the process. A short war between England and Holland a few years after the restoration of Charles II. led to no more decisive con- Green, elusion than that of Cromwell, but it is remarkable for the ^f^h appearance of a hostile fleet in the Thames within sight of nT. 371-375, London, and for the conquest of New York, though this was really made before the war began.
In the great Dutch war which Louis XIV. made upon the England's Dutch Republic, to punish the little state for having dared to ^J,,^ ^ check by the Triple Alliance his conquests in the Spanish this age.
314
Struggle for Colonial Empire
England fighting for Holland.
In the age of Louis XIV.
Netherlands, the French monarch had the aid of Charles II. under a secret treaty and for an annual pension, until in the last part of the war public opinion forced him to with- draw. This was the last war which England made upon Holland, the last war between them until Holland joined the enemies of England in the war of the American Revolution. In the later wars of Louis XIV. the two countries were allies against the French. But these long and, during some of the time, desperate wars had exhausted the wealth and greatly weakened the power of the Dutch. It was too small a state
CHAMPLAIN
for so long and violent a strain. On the other hand the English commerce had been rapidly extending as the Dutch declined, and England now left Holland behind in the race as both had earlier distanced Portugal and Spain.
316. The Beginning of Rivalry with France. — But these wars of Louis XIV. were not over before it became evident to the colonists in North America, and more slowly to the government at home, that there was a new and perhaps
Colonial Wars
315
more dangerous rival in the field, with whom a conflict must now begin. This was France.
The French had established a settlement in North Amer- ica, in 1605, before the English, but the English colonies, once begun, rilled up more rapidly with settlers. On the other hand the French occupation was more widely extended, and they came to hold, before the close of the seventeenth century, an important strategic position which gave them a very decided advantage in a struggle for the possession of the continent. From Louisiana up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to the Great Lakes and Canada, they laid claim to the whole interior, and would shut the English in between the mountains and the Atlantic. In America the French saw the advantage which they possessed, but it was impossible to persuade the government at home to make full use of it. France was too deeply interested in the politics of the continent of Europe to realize the rise of these new and greater interests until the opportunity was passed.
317. The Advantages of the English. — This one advan- tage of position was the chief one which the French pos- sessed. Almost everything else was in favor of the English. Their colonies were filled with a much larger number of per- manent settlers. The bigotry of the French government came to their aid, for it refused to allow homes in the colonies to the Huguenot exiles, and they added to more than one of the Thirteen Colonies a valuable element which would have gone to the side of the French had it been allowed. The French government also extended its paternal despotism to the colonies, from the days of Colbert, vexing them with minute and unsuitable regulations, which hampered their free development, while the English colonies were especially fortunate in being left almost entirely to themselves.
318. Colonial Wars. — The last two wars of Louis XIV. 's had been colonial as well as European wars. The first is called in American colonial history King William's War, and the second, which was in Europe the War of the Spanish Succession, is known as Queen Anne's War. These were
In North
America.
Payne,
Colonies,
80-89.
The French have the advantage of position.
Numbers and inde- pendence.
French
colonial
policy.
Parkman,
Old Regime,
Chaps. XII.-
XVI.;
Lucas,
Introduction,
81-89.
King William's and Queen Anne's Wan
316
Struggle for Colonial Empire
Parkman, Half Century, Chaps. III.- V.; VII.-IX.
An interval of peace, I7I3-I743.
The found- ing of foreign dominions easy.
mainly wars of the colonists with one another to which the home governments, absorbed in the European struggle, paid little attention. They show clearly enough, however, that in America the great conflict was opening, and that the colonists realized the importance of the issue. Neither led to decisive results, though in the second Nova Scotia — Acadia — was conquered, mainly by the efforts of the New England colonists, and was ceded to England at the peace of Utrecht, together with Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay territory.
Queen Anne's War was followed by thirty years of peace, during which the colonies of both nations in America were developing very rapidly, the English more rapidly than the French in population and resources. In Europe, France was becoming by degrees more conscious of the real char- acter of the conflict before it, and was endeavoring to pre- pare for it by the strengthening of her fleets and the encouragement of commercial enterprises, but she could not, unfortunately for her future, get rid of the belief, in which she had been trained for so many generations, of the superior importance of European politics and of the great danger which threatened her from the house of Austria. Spain also was alarmed at the progress which the unauthor- ized English commerce with her colonies was making. This she now endeavored to stop, and she also strengthened her fleets, and made an alliance with France.
319. The Situation in India. — It was in India, however, that the greatest changes occurred in this quarter of a century. The situation there was one especially favorable to the building up of a foreign dominion. The Empire of the Great Mogul was falling to pieces, and numerous little states were gaining an insecure kind of independence, with the natural result that there was more anarchy than good government, and that it was easy for a strong outside power to gain a footing in alliance with one native state or another and begin the creation of a territorial dominion. It was easy, indeed, for two outside powers to carry this process on until they came into collision with one another.
§320]
King George s War
317
This change, by which a trading company was transformed into the political ruler of wide territories and millions of human beings, was a most revolutionary one, but ?t was well under way before the next war between France and England began. As in America, so in India, the French had at the beginning of the war much the stronger position. They had also the decided advantage in the first war in India of commanders of genius.
320. King George's War. — Frederick the Great's attack on Maria Theresa, in order to seize the province of Silesia and to lead in the partition of the Austrian dominions, opened the war between France and England. England was on the side of Maria Theresa, but if France had been for her, England would have been against her, as was the case in the next war. Before this European war broke out England and Spain had come to blows, in consequence of the attempts of the Spanish to break up the English com- merce with their colonies. Throughout this was for Eng- land a commercial war, and this clearness of aim went far to balance the better position of France in the colonies, for France did not realize even yet as clearly as Eng- land what was at stake.
The war, which lasted from 1741 to 1748, did not end in the triumph of either nation, but the pe- riod is characterized by a very rapid extension of the French power in In- dia, and hardly less so in America. In India the French interests were in the hands of Dupleix, a
most able and successful statesman, who marked out the way to empire which the English have since followed, — conquest
2£
France has
the best position.
In Europe the War of the Austrian Succession. Green, English People, IV. 164-173.
England and Spain at war, I739-
DUPLEIX
The French
gaining a
stronger
position in
India;
Perkins,
Louis XV.,
I., Chap. IX.;
Malleson,
Dupleix
(Macmillan)}
318
Struggle for Colonial Empire [§32I>322
and in America.
The capture and return of Louisburg. Parkman, Half Century, Chaps. XIX. and XX.
The war does not stop in America. Parkman, Montcalm, Chap. VII.
here, alliance there, and drilled native soldiers to supplement his European troops. Had the French officers in India been more ready to cooperate heartily with one another, and had home government been willing to put its strength into their support, the issue would most likely have been different. In America, also, the French became during this war con- scious of the great advantages of their geographical position in the interior of the continent, and they began to connect Canada and Louisiana with a chain of fortified posts along the great rivers, — a measure which excited the serious alarm of the English colonists.
321. The Close of the War. — Only one event of the war is important here. That was the capture, in 1745, of the strong fortress of Louisburg, the " Gibraltar of America," by troops of the New England colonies. At the close of the war, Louisburg was returned to France in exchange for Madras in India, which had been taken by the French. The people of New England thought this was a sacrifice of their interests, and to a certain extent they were right, but for the interests of the Empire at large — and we have now a right to speak of the Empire — the recovery of Madras more than outweighed the surrender of Louisburg. These two events, however, the conspicuous success of the New England troops and the apparent heartless disregard of the interest of the colonies by the home government, became important influences preparing for the American Revolution.
322. The Interval of Nominal Peace. — So clearly was it seen in the colonies that the conflict must go on until one party or the other was forced to yield, that the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, which the two nations signed in Europe in 1748, hardly made a pause in the war in America, and suspended it only in form in India. For the Thirteen Colonies the occupation of the interior was a matter of the most vital importance, since on it depended all opportunity of future expansion. They could not sit quietly by and let the French take possession. Washington's expedition, Brad- dock's disastrous attack on Fort Duquesne, and the attack
§ 323] The Great Colonial War 319
on the upper French posts near Lake George, were all attempts of the colonists to break through the barrier which the French were erecting against them, and they were not the less real war because no formal declaration had been made.
In India France lost her advantages through the blind- AndCHve ness of the authorities at home. Dupleix's operations were fene^ U cut short because they were too expensive, and then the Wilson, English succeeded in getting him recalled because his clive> and schemes might lead to a renewal of the war. There was Lo^ciive no other genius on the French side, but one immediately (Macmilian), arose on the English. Clive began to profit by the lessons which Dupleix had taught, and to open a new war, under the thin veil of aiding one native state against another. His brilliant capture and defence of Arcot took place before the declaration of war.
323. The Great Colonial War. 1756-1763. — Maria The Theresa's war of revenge, in which she united almost all " French and Europe against Frederick the Great, the Seven Years' War £ AmeriST of European history, was the signal for the next war in the story, colonial struggle. This was the great and final war of the Brifisfl series, for since its close France has never been able to rival 85^101'' England for colonial empire. Her empire was everywhere Payne, ruined. In America the English attacked the French posts Colomes^ along the whole line and with success. Montcalm made a Bradley,' brave defence, but Wolfe purchased Quebec with his life Wolfe (Mac-
and thus forced the surrender of Montreal and all Canada. JJJ . 0 :.u
Old boutn,
At the end of the war France withdrew entirely from North 73. America, ceding her western possessions to Spain, and her Parkman, northern to England. Montcalm,
In India Lally-Tollendal made a vigorous defence but ChaP-XXXL with no better success. He was obliged at last to surrender. Clive won the great victory of Plassy, which carried with it the conquest of almost all Bengal. And at the peace France gave up everything but five trading-stations which she promised not to fortify.
England also made important gains in the West Indieg
320
Struggle for Colonial Empire
[§324
The ministry of William Pitt. Lecky, England, II.
555-565 ;
Green, English People, IV. 176 ff.
The American
colonies less
dependent
on England.
Lecky,
England,
111.290-333;
Green,
English
People, IV.
187-200.
France rejoices in the prospect of revenge.
and in Africa. It was a great war, the most brilliant in the modern history of England. A national enthusiasm was aroused again as under Elizabeth. Horace Walpole wrote : " We need to enquire every morning what new victory there has been, lest any escape us." These great successes had been won for England not merely by the generals in the field, but largely by the energy which a great minister, William Pitt, afterwards earl of Chatham, infused into the administration at home. He was not able, however, to make his influence felt at the conclusion of the peace, for he had lost office on the accession of George III. in 1760, because of the king's alliance with the Tory party.
324. The Ultimate Consequences of this War. — This great war involved, however, in the course of a few years, further consequences which went far to balance, looked at in one way at least, all the gains which had been won by it at first. In the first place the conquest of Canada removed from the great American colonies the constant danger which had made them closely dependent upon the aid of England. They had long been left to manage their own affairs with scarcely any interference from the mother country, and these affairs had now become equal in importance to those of the smaller states of Europe. They had lately grown accustomed to raise and direct military enterprises of con- siderable extent from their own resources and with their own officers. There had been good training-schools for both the statesman and the soldier. It is only what might be expected that, without an enemy to be feared upon the continent, the colonists should decide for independence upon the first serious difficulty with the home government.
At the close of the war some of the French statesmen had realized this great change which had been made in the situa- tion of the Thirteen Colonies by the transfer of Canada to England and the probable consequences, and had rejoiced at the prospect of revenge in the not distant future at the hands of England's own colonies.
In the second place the war immediately created the
GEORGE WASHINGTON
§ 325] English Colonies to be taxed 321
difficulty. The enormous cost of the war gave rise to an The question
extremely difficult question, so difficult indeed that England of the
, , , , r j expenses or
after more than a hundred years has not found any answer defence.
to it. This is the question of the way in which the expense Am. Hist. of defending the Empire ought to be divided between the Leaf'» 2I* . mother country and the colonies. In 1763 it was an entirely new question. It had never risen before in the history of the world. Neither the English government nor the colonies had any experience to guide them in the diffi- culty. It ought not to be surprising that the wrong thing was done, perhaps on both sides.
325. The English Ministry determines to tax the Colonies. The case for — The English government determined to lay taxes upon England, the colonies by act of Parliament. The colonies, on the Burke1 s principle that they could only be taxed by their own repre- speech on sentatives, determined to resist the collection of these taxes ^^f 'ptl1 by a war of independence if necessary. So far as the strict (Longmans), letter of the law is concerned there can be no doubt that the English government was within its rights. The colonies were in every particular subject to the laws made in Parlia- ment. Repeatedly, in the past, Parliament had passed as oppressive laws as these, with special reference to the col- onies, and they had been submitted to. The cabinet of George III. had reason to believe that these new measures might be successfully carried through.
On the other hand there can be just as little doubt that, The case for not merely the attempt at taxation, but the whole practice of governing great communities of Englishmen by a distant parliament in which they had no voice, was in violation of pendence the spirit and fundamental principles of the English consti- (^ou tution. England came during the nineteenth century to admit this in practice with the great colonies of that time, but this was not until long after the American Revolution, and was due to the rise of new influences. The colonies were right in the general position which they took, and England ought to have seen it and to have realized that the colonists were still Englishmen. It was only a hundred
322
Struggle for Colonial Empire [§§ 326> 327
Compromise the proper settlement.
Royal and
party
obstinacy.
Many motives at work in the colonies.
The colonies declare their indepen- dence. Woodburn's Lecky's American Revolution (Appleton).
years before that she had gone through revolution and civil war to secure these principles for all her citizens.
326. Compromise not possible. — This was a question for compromise, for the calm and careful comparison of the two positions. If this could have been done the result would have been very different. But it was impossible. There were reasons on both sides which shut up this way out of the difficulty.
On the English side it was very unfortunate that the man- agement of this crisis fell to the hands of George III. and a Tory ministry. Not that the Tories were entirely respon- sible for the attempt. These measures had been fore- shadowed by Whig ministers and would undoubtedly have been tried by a Whig cabinet. But the Whigs would have been more ready to yield and to oppose the king. The Tories were on principle opposed to such concessions, and they held office largely by their compliance with the obsti- nacy of the king. In the second place there was in the Parliament and the government so little understanding of the actual situation in the colonies that the danger of push- ing things to an extreme was not appreciated.
On the other hand, it is probable that there were other motives in the colonies for pushing the dispute on to inde- pendence than appeared on the surface. Perhaps those which have been suggested by English historians, local pride, personal ambition, and the influence of fiery oratory, were less effective than the willingness of a community heavily in debt to another to try what relief might be found in the issue of war. At any rate the spirit of concession was no more active in America than in England.
327. The War of the Revolution. — In a situation of this sort, the quarrel soon became bloody. Battles were fought, and on July 4th, 1776, came the Declaration of Indepen- dence. In the war the apparent odds were all against the Americans, but England was undertaking the impossible task of keeping down a whole population by military force. The Americans lost New York and Philadelphia, but they
§ 328] The Empire apparently broken up 323
gained a great success in forcing the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga. This was soon followed by the alliance with France, which was anxious to take vengeance for its misfor- tunes in the past. Not long after, Spain and Holland joined the war against their old commercial enemy.
These events greatly changed the character of the conflict The revolt for England. It now became a war not merely to preserve Thirteen the Thirteen Colonies, but to preserve the whole Empire. Colonies It was fought in every quarter of the globe, especially in becomes a
£c vkcLTvLld f-tr*
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Facsimile (reduced) of the first lines of Jefferson's original draft
India, the Mediterranean, and the West Indies. The bal- world war. ance of defeat and victory was about evenly divided. The pj^JJ' French had the experience, not recent with them, of some chap. xil. naval victories. Suffren won a series of brilliant successes in India. Cornwallis was forced to surrender at Yorktown. *
On the other hand, De Grasse was beaten in the West Indies, &a Power,
and a combined French and Spanish fleet near Gibraltar. Chap. XII,
328. The English Empire apparently broken up. — At the England
peace in 1783, England recognized the independence of the eivesuP
324
Struggle for Colonial Empire
[§329
many
possessions. Lecky, England, IV. 274-289.
No commer- cial loss.
Loss of Empire stimulates its growth.
Ill-feeling between America and England.
See Green, English People, IV. 266-271.
United States, and thus lost her greatest colonies, and the only ones she had at that time in which a new English nation was growing up. In Africa, France recovered Senegal, and in the West Indies two islands. To Spain was given back Florida, and in the Mediterranean Minorca, but she failed in the great effort which she made to regain possession of Gibraltar. In India nothing was lost. So far as the French were concerned, things remained as they were, but the Eng- lish Empire was rapidly advancing under the vigorous but unscrupulous policy of Warren Hastings.
329. The Revenge of France more Apparent than Real. — The revenge which France, in alliance with the other beaten colonial rivals of England, had taken, was in appearance complete. But in reality it proved to be, except in one par- ticular, in appearance only. In commerce England lost nothing. The colonies were no longer compelled by law to trade with her, but they continued to do so from interest, and the rapid development of the United States which fol- lowed independence had its effect on commerce, so that in twenty years this had increased to undreamed of proportions.
On the growth of Empire also the revenge of France had an opposite effect to that intended. England sought com- pensation for her loss, as we shall see, in other regions which she would probably have long left unoccupied if she had still possessed the American colonies. The United States also grew into a nation and took possession of the great West, as it most likely could not have done if it had remained under the government of England. The Anglo-Saxon Empire in the world is to-day larger and stronger, the French Empire is smaller, than would have been the case if the American colonies had not become independent.
In one particular the results were not so fortunate. The American Revolution split the Anglo-Saxon Empire into two halves, and, with other events which followed, taught the people of the two parts to dislike and distrust one another. Fortunately these feelings have been growing weaker of late, and more natural ones have begun to take their place, and
Topics 325
we may perhaps reasonably hope that now all possibility of danger from them, which might sometime make the revenge of France a real one, is happily over.
Topics
The first colonial powers. Their possessions. How differ from the English? How did the Dutch Empire begin? Their colonial posses- sions. What circumstances like the Dutch in the beginning of the English Empire? The first real colonies. The Thirteen Colonies. The beginning of the conflict with the Dutch. What was the govern- ment policy expressed in the Navigation Acts? The effect of Louis XIV.'s wars upon Holland. The French and English in North America. In India. What advantages had the English in America? The French in India? The first colonial wars with France? The third war, King George's. What is the meaning of the fact that the colonists keep up the war during the interval of peace in Europe? What gains were made by the English from the fourth colonial war? What unfavorable results followed it? Give both sides of the question of taxation. Why not compromise? How did the Revolution become a world war? The losses of England. Why less than they seemed? What positive advantages?
Topics for Assigned Studies
Clive wins India. Perkins, Louis XV., I., Chap. X. Lecky, England, II. 541-550. Story, British Empire, II. 56 ff. Macaulay's essay.
Englishmen on the right to tax the colonies. Lecky, England, III. 333-361. Green, English People, IV. 225-240. Story, British Empire, II. 128-140. See also Burke's and Chatham's contem- porary speeches, in many editions.
Compare in object, spirit, and language, the Declaration of Inde- pendence (Old South, 3); the Magna Charta (Old South, 5); the Petition of Right (Old South, 23; Gardiner, i); and the Bill of Rights (Old South, 19).
326
Struggle for Colonial Empire
a 8
O C '& V
111
! s
8.
|
D
o
t
.a
< s
^| I ""I
5 c fl -
PH O,
•si
<U C/2
ro LO
>-H VO VO
*— i r^ r^
O
f> vO t~^
•s I
i. 1
cf\ od iA
O «-i M
|
l-j |
(U ^ hi |
^JH '- S |
s |
|
dl |
H ^ |
rl ^ *•>. -^ M 0 |
rt V |
|
V •3 -5 |
'5 |
r5 S |
8 |
|
15 |
J3 |
<u |
ES |
|
vS «x |
^ |
s: t» |
1 |
CHAPTER V
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON
330. The Intellectual Leadership of France. — During the eighteenth century France had not been able to maintain her leadership in the international politics of Europe, and in the struggle for colonial empire she had been defeated by England ; but in another direction, in intellectual influ- ence, and in the preparation of the nations of Europe for the next great stage of political advancement, through revo- lution and war to civil liberty, France exercised a leader- ship which is a compensation, in its real service to mankind, for all that she had lost. At the close of the century she led again in the revolution itself. And in the wars which followed, with enormous loss and suffering, though with great military glory which is dear to the French heart, she opened the doors of all the continent of Europe to the forms of free government which the Anglo-Saxons had long en- joyed.
331. The Deists. — Near the end of the seventeenth cen- tury there arose in Europe a school of thinkers who are called Deists from some of their teachings about religion. Their ideas were a result of the marvellous scientific advance of the seventeenth century, and were characterized, like the thinking of all such ages, by a tendency to criticise and call in question many old beliefs. Early in the next century several French members of this school began to criticise the government of France. It was at a time when the selfish policy of Louis XIV. had brought such misery upon the French people, when a corrupt and extravagant government
327
France leads Europe to free government.
A school of critical and sceptical thinkers.
328 The French Revolution and Napoleon [§ 332
The influ- ence of England.
Montes- quieu. Lowell, Eve of French Revolution. (Houghton), 126-153.
Voltaire.
Morley,
Voltaire
(Macmil-
lan);
Lowell,
Eve, 51-69.
Rousseau. Morley, Rousseau (Macmillan).
The abuses denounced were very real. Adams, French Nation, Chap. XV.; Penn. IV., No. 5.
seemed to be forcing the nation under heavier and heavier burdens at home, and to be powerless to maintain its pres- tige abroad. In other words, it was a time when absolute government, which had so long existed in France, seemed to have failed, or at least when it should be forced to defend itself and prove its right to further existence.
332. Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. — Two of the greatest leaders of this school, Voltaire and Montesquieu, had spent some time in England, and had there studied the constitution of a limited monarchy, and observed the pros- perity and freedom from oppresssive exactions and galling caste privileges of the people. What they had learned in this way enabled them not merely to criticise the abuses in France more sharply, but also to describe the kind of gov- ernment which should exist.
This was especially done by Montesquieu, whose praise of the English constitution had a great influence throughout Europe, and even on those who framed the government of the United States. Voltaire obtained a reputation and an al- most autocratic authority in Europe, such as have hardly been enjoyed by any other in the history of literature. Rousseau, a third leader of the same school, urged a return to nature in education, society, and government. All the little courts of Germany in the eighteenth century were making them- selves as French as possible, and following the example set by Versailles as closely as they could, so that the writings of these men had as much influence in Germany as in France ; they profoundly affected and for a long time theories of education and government.
333. Abuses existing in France. — It is one thing, how- ever, to influence philosophical theories about things and quite a different one to bring about an actual revolution in the State. If the abuses in France had not been so mon- strous and so plain to every one, these writings would have had no such effect. They were often exaggerated and declamatory ; scarcely one of them is a permanent part of literature ; and in their zeal against superstition, selfish-
§333]
Abuses existing in France
329
ness, and corruption, they often failed to distinguish between the false and the true. But the abuses were too glaring and universal to be denied, when these writings turned the light upon them, and this made the revolution necessary.
The nation was practically divided into two classes, the The privi- privileged and the non-privileged. To the first everything leses of the seemed to be given and of them nothing demanded, while orders, the second class had to meet all the expenses. The privi-
VERSAILLES
leged orders were two, the clergy and the nobles. To them Taine, were reserved all the offices in the court, the State and the *™?£ army. Many of them also received large pensions from the (Holt), public treasury. Two-thirds of all the land belonged to 13-85- them, and its cultivators paid them heavy dues besides the other burdens which they bore. They were exempt, legally or illegally, from almost all the State taxes, which there- fore rested with greater weight than was just on the other orders.
33° The French Revolution and Napoleon [§ 334
France on the verge of bankruptcy. Lowell, Eve, 230-242.
The experi- ment of John Law. Perkins, Regency, 428-519; Adams, French Nation, 237 ff-
A burden- some method of tax collecting. Taine, Ancient Regime,
349-373 I Lowell, Eve, 207-229.
334- The Financial Condition of France. — This burden ot taxes and the general financial condition of the government was one of the most decisive causes of the revolution. France had entered the century heavily in debt because of the wars of Louis XIV., and these debts had constantly grown. Salaries and pensions, reckless extravagance at the court, the cost of wars which were of frequent occurrence through the whole century, these kept pushing France nearer and nearer to bankruptcy.
A great experiment had been made at the beginning of the reign of Louis XV., under the Regency, to relieve the
treasury by the issue of an irredeemable paper currency, under the direction of the Scotch banker, John Law, but, after causing immense speculative excitement and making and destroying great fortunes, this proved a false hope.
The burden of the taxation was greatly increased for the people by the method of its collection. The State did not collect the taxes but sold the right of collection to private individuals, the reve- nue farmers, who took pains MARIE ANTOINETTE to make themselves rich from
their contracts by forcing the
people to pay much larger sums than the treasury received. The well-to-do in each community were made responsible for the taxes of the less frugal, so that often a heavy penalty was placed on industry and saving. In some parts of France the peasantry were reduced almost to the condi- tion of wild beasts, and in places the land fell back into wilderness.
§§ 335? 336] Failure of attempted Reforms 331
335. Attempts at Reform. — It was impossible that this Revolution
condition of things should last, but there were only two ways the alterna-
, live of
out of it, — reform by the government as it existed or the fanure.
overthrow of the government and the substitution for it of Adams,
some other kind of a government which should be able to
2\a,tion,
relieve the nation of its burdens and of their causes. The 250-257. impossibility of securing reformation under the government of the king led to the opening steps of the revolution.
This was not until the alternative of bringing about a The kings reformation under the existing government had been tried. were sreatlJ Louis XV. was one of the most selfish of kings that ever reigned. He knew that the State seemed to be drifting to ruin, but he said, " Let those that come after me look out for that." No change was possible while he lived. Louis XVI. was a much better man, but he was too weak for his place. He could not resist the pressure of a corrupt court whose privileges were threatened by any reformation.
Louis promised one of his early ministers, Turgot, who The reform was one of the first of political economists and who knew ™^!ls*?rs" the changes which should be made, that he would support correard, him in his reforms. But when the test came he failed to Textes, do so and Turgot had to give up his ministry. The more p^^y moderate reforms of Necker, later in the reign, also raised NO. 2. too heavy a storm for the king. The war which France Necker. made to aid the American colonies and to take vengeance on England plunged the State still deeper into debt. Finally in despair, after trying every expedient except a genuine reformation, the government decided to call to- gether the representatives of the nation, the Estates General, to see if they could suggest any way out of the difficulty.
336. The Danger of calling together the Estates General. Revoiution- — It seems to us now as if the privileged orders ought to have been able to see that this experiment was likely to be far more dangerous to them than even the reforms of Turgot. The new ideas of liberty and equality, of a state of nature in which all men stood on the same level, and of the right of the people as a whole to determine what the
332 The French Revolution and Napoleon [§ 337
The Third Estate has the best of leadership. May 5, 1789. Speeches of Mirabeau. Stephens, Speeches, I. 47 and 55 ; and Indiana, Mod. Hist., No. i.
The Third
Estate
demands
union.
Stephens,
French
Revolution,
I- 55-63.
It declares itself supreme, June 17.
This was revolution, See Indiana, Mod. Hist., No. 2.
government should be, were now the prevailing fashion and had won many adherents even among the nobles and the clergy. It was almost certain that an attempt would be made in the Estates General, as legally standing for the whole nation, to bring the government under the control of the people and of these ideas.
This was at any rate exactly what did happen. When the Estates General came together, it was found that certain of the nobles like Mirabeau, and of the clergy like Sieyes, filled with the new ideas, had had themselves elected repre- sentatives of the Third Estate, or non-privileged order, and they ac once took the leadership of its policy. To put the people into power two things must be done : the other two orders must be forced to accept the leadership of the Third Estate, and then the king and the government must be made subject to the legislature.
337. The Struggle for One Chamber. — In earlier times the Estates General had met as three separate chambers each estate by itself and each having a single vote. Now the Third Estate, which had a small majority of all the deputies elected, demanded that they should meet as a single chamber in which each deputy should have a vote. This would mean that the privileged orders accepted the leadership of the Third Estate, and very naturally they refused.
The struggle lasted for more than a month, the Third Estate refusing to allow any business to be done. Finally on motion of Mirabeau they declared themselves the representatives of the people of France, and on motion of Sieyes they assumed the name of the National Assembly, and the power to regulate the taxation without the consent of the other estates.
Such action was of course revolutionary, for it was not sanctioned by the old constitution of France, but was really in violation of it. It brought matters to a crisis at once and led to the second step in the development of the revolution, the conflict between the Third Estate and the king. In reality in calling together the Estates General at all, the
§§ 33&> 339] The King completely Overcome 333
king had practically abandoned the theory of absolute monarchy, as held by Louis XIV., that the king determined everything for the good of his people under a responsibility to God, but not to the nation. But the king and the court did not yet recognize this, and a struggle with the Assembly was necessary to make it evident.
338. The Struggle with the King. — On this action of Louis orders the Third Estate the king determined to interfere in per- the houses son, and a session of the three estates was held at which he separately, attended. He promised that in the future taxes should
be voted by the representatives of the nation, but he ordered the estates to meet and vote separately, and to take up only financial questions.
On the departure of the king the Third Estate refused to The Third
adjourn as they had been directed to, and on the king's Estate
J J . refuses to
master of ceremonies repeating the order, Mirabeau cried obey> out : " Tell your master that we are here by the will of the people, and we can be driven out only by the bayonet." This was drawing the issue sharply between the people and the king, but Louis did not accept the challenge. He passed over the refusal of the Assembly and allowed them to score the first point. At his request, indeed, the deputies of the other estates joined the Third, and their first victory over him was thus complete, and the way well opened for the second.
339. The King completely Overcome. — Immediately the The king National Assembly, going on in the way of revolution, began j."^tance to take measures for the transformation of the entire con- Stephens, stitution. Then the king made up his mind to appeal to Periods, force, and troops began to be collected near Paris. Necker, 5I~57' who stood in the popular opinion for the reform party in
the cabinet, was removed from his ministry and exiled.
These measures brought to the front at once the most The first terrible ally of the Third Estate, the mob of Paris, to whose influence the bloody excesses of the revolution were due. This mob now took possession of Paris amid the greatest excitement. The old government of the city was 2 F
334 The French Revolution and Napoleon L§ 339
July 14. Stephens, French Revolution, I., 135-145.
overthrown, its head was murdered, and a new revolutionary government was put into power. A city militia was organ- ized, the first of the National Guards. The Bastille, symbol- izing to the mind of the mob the tyranny and abuses of the old regime, was stormed and its commander murdered after surrender.
THE TAKING OF THE BASTILLE
The king
surrenders.
Louis yielded at once to the storm. He promised to send away the troops and to recall Necker. He went to Paris and was received with wild enthusiasm. He recognized the new mayor, and the National Guards with Lafayette as their commander, and put on the tricolor cockade. This was the complete surrender of the king. The nobles who were most bitterly opposed to change with the king's
§§ 340, 34i] Rise of Opposing Parties
335
brother, the Comte d'Artois, at their head, recognized the fact that the revolution could not now be held back and fled from France, the first of the emigres.
340. Revolution Completed. — The revolution was indeed in full tide, and its progress from this time rapid. The other cities set up citizen governments like that of Paris. The peasants rose and sacked the castles of the nobles and destroyed the evidence of their feudal services. Finally on the night of the 4th of August, the National Assembly, in a session of intense excitement, swept away all the odious privileges of the old regime, and decreed in law the reign of equality in France.
The making of a new constitution was not so easy as the destroying of the old. The French were very familiar with philosophical theories of government, but they had never had any actual experience in making constitutions or in governing themselves, and they had all this to learn. It ought not to surprise us that they did not succeed very well at first. It was not until September, 1791, that the new constitution was finished and accepted by the king.
341. The Rise of Opposing Parties. — Meantime many events of importance had occurred. In October, 1789, the king and his family had been forced by the mob to leave Versailles and take up their residence in Paris, where he would be more directly under control. On the first anni- versary of the taking of the Bastille, a striking ceremony took place in Paris called the " national federation," at which the king, the Assembly, the officers of the State, the National Guard, now organized throughout France, and the people present, took a solemn oath of fidelity to the nation and the law.
Notwithstanding, in June, 1791, the king attempted to escape from Paris with his family and to reach the fron- tier, but he was recognized and brought back. The endow- ment lands of the clergy were taken possession of by the Assembly for the benefit of the nation, and the Church was reorganized and given a civil constitution as a department
The old regime destroyed. Penn. I., No. 5.
A new
constitution.
Stephens,
French
Revolution,
I. Chap. IX.
Taine,
French
Revolution
(Holt), I.,
187-216.
The progress of events.
The king tries to escape.
336 The French Revolution and Napoleon F§ 342
Two parties forming.
Mirabeau.
The clubs.
The
Assembly dissolved.
The finances still in disorder.
The seizure of the Church lands.
of the State. The old provinces of France had been abol- ished and the country divided for administrative purposes into new divisions called departments.
Before the new constitution was finished the Assembly began to divide into parties, especially into two, a party in favor of a limited monarchy somewhat after the English model, and a party in favor of a republic. Robespierre was a leader of the latter and Mirabeau of the former. So long as Mirabeau lived his influence was very strong in the Assembly, and the constitution adopted embodied many of his ideas. His death on April 2, 1791, was a great loss to the moderate party.
The clubs organized in Paris, at whose meetings ques- tions of government were debated, often in a purely theo- retical way and sometimes with great excitement, began to exercise an influence on the people and on the Assembly. The Jacobin club, at first moderate, became finally more vigilant under the lead of Robespierre. That of the Cor- deliers, led by Danton, was early an advocate of the extreme revolution. On the flight of the king, the republican party attempted to establish a republic, but they were dispersed by the National Guards under Lafayette. This was the first open break between the two parties.
342. Financial Difficulties still Continue. — On the adop- tion of the constitution and its acceptance by the king, the Assembly, which had been called in 1789, and which now called itself the Constituent Assembly, was dissolved Sep- tember 30, 1791.
The meeting of the Estates General had been forced upon the king by the impending bankruptcy of the State. The representatives of the people, however, showed themselves no more able to find a wise and permanent solution of this diffi- culty than had the absolute government. After the failure of some attempts to fill the treasury, it was proposed to take possession of the endowment lands of the Church. These were more than half the area of France, and their value, if it could be realized, would relieve the government of its pre*
3343]
Paper Money based on Land
337
ent difficulties and make some provision for the future. It was argued that these lands had been given to the Church in trust by the nation, to provide for religious services, education and charity ; that the clergy had not fulfilled these obliga- tions ; that instead their wealth had led to corruption and scandal ; and that in consequence the nation had a right to resume the lands, both to its benefit and to that of the Church, it was asserted. The vote of resumption was passed in November, 1789, and the lands were offered for sale. It was soon found that sales would be slow, as possi- ble purchasers feared a speedy counter revolution and the consequent loss of their whole investment.
343. Paper Money based on Land. — In December it was voted to try a most attractive plan. Paper money was to be issued, secured by these national lands, and thus their value be realized for the State. In theory this seemed a most satisfactory arrangement. The actual value was in the land behind the notes, which would therefore circu- late readily and relieve the nation of its embarrassments. The first issue was for 400,000,000 francs. But this succeeded so well, and was so easy a way to solve problems which did not seem to admit of any other solution, that one issue quickly followed another, with the inevitable results.
In a few years the purchasing power of the paper money, the so-called assignats, declined to one four-hundredth of its face value, and the printing-presses could not work fast
FACSIMILE OF AN ASSIGNAT (REDUCED)
Stephens, French Revolution, I. 297-303. Civil consti- tution of the clergy. Penn. I., No. 5.
" The land secures the notes." Stephens, French Revolution, I. 351-362. A speech of Mirabeau's. Stephens, Speeches^ I. 197.
The results of inflation.
338 The French Revolution and Napoleon [§ 344
The Legisla- live Assem- bly, Oct. i, 1791.
The Girondists.
War de- clared by France, Apr. 20, 1792.
Penn. ' No. 5.
The war goes against the French.
enough to supply the needs of the government. The ex- periment only postponed the real solution of the problem of meeting the financial needs of the State, and still further complicated it. Later governments had to devise new measures, and these included at least a partial repudiation.
344. The Beginning of a Long War. — From this date revolutionary France drifted rapidly into a war with Europe which scarcely ceased until the battle of Waterloo. A new Assembly, the Legislative Assembly, met the day after the adjournment of the Constituent. It was composed of men without experience, for the old deputies had forbidden their own reelection. Its control was at first in the hands of the constitutional monarchists and moderate republicans, the party of the Girondists, but the extreme republicans were well represented. Outside the Assembly their influence was rapidly extending, especially through the aid of the Jacobin and its affiliated clubs.
On the Rhine frontier of France the emigres, the nobles who had abandoned France, were collecting and organizing for an attempt to reverse the revolution. The republicans believed that the king and the court sympathized with their plans and stood ready to assist them. This belief seemed to be confirmed by the rapid veto by the king of the measures of the Assembly against the emigres and for the national de- fence. Austria was plainly preparing to interfere in France against the revolution, and Prussia had formed an alliance with her for the same purpose. The emperor, Leopold II., refused any explanation of his preparations or of his relations with the emigres, and in April, 1792, the Assembly declared war with the consent of the king.
345. The First Step towards the Republic. — The war at first went everywhere against the French. Enthusiasm was a poor substitute for discipline and experience, and the best officers of France were on the other side. The people of Paris believed that the successes of the enemy were due to the treason of the court, and a mob took possession of the Tuileries and forced the king to a new declaration of his fidelity to the nation.
§ 346] The Republic Proclaimed 339
On the news of this the duke of Brunswick, at the head The mob
of the Prussian army which was advancing on Paris, issued forces the
. . , . . . . r suspension
his famous manifesto, threatening to hold the citizens of Of the king.
Paris responsible for any injury to the royal family. This excited the mob beyond all bounds. The palace was stormed, the Swiss guards murdered, and the king forced to take refuge in fear of his life in the chamber of the Assembly. The mob demanded the republic at once, and the Assembly voted the suspension of the king from all his functions, and called a convention to decide the question of the form of government. This was the famous loth of August, 1792. The king remained a prisoner in Paris in the Temple.
346. The Republic proclaimed and the King executed. — The massa- The commune was now in possession of the capital under cres of Robespierre, Marat, and their friends. They organized its Stephens/1' defence with great energy, but the Prussians continued to French
advance, and to gain success after success. It seemed as if Kevo^tion,
II 141-150. nothing could check them, and the mob, in an insane passion
of anger at the supposed royalist traitors who were aiding their advance, burst open the prisons and massacred more than a thousand men and women, on the 2d and 3d of September. But within a few days the French army gained an advantage over the Prussians in the battle of Valmy, and the immediate danger was past.
On the next day after this battle, the Convention unani- The mously declared the monarchy abolished. But it was not ™°"arvchj
abolished.
so easy to decide what to do next. The Girondists had a cariyie, majority at the opening of the Convention, but the Jacobins, French or the "Mountain," had a larger number than in the last ^J^y **' Assembly, and between the two parties was the " Plain," or Chaps. VI, the " Marsh " as it was called in derision, containing a large and VII> number of undecided members, whom the French method Ro^T of allowing free entry into the galleries of the mob was pierre's. likely to convert to the side of the extremists. Mo
The battle of Valmy was speedily followed by other sue- ^a 4. cesses. The invaders were driven out. Belgium was occu-
340 The French Revolution and Napoleon [§ 34?
French successes.
The king executed, fan. 21, 1793-
Europe combines against the revolution.
A stronger
executive
necessary.
The Reign
of Terror.
Stephens,
French.
Revolution,
II., Chap. X.;
Carlyle,
French.
Revolution,
Bks. VI.-
VIII.
A speech of
pied, annexed to France, and divided into departments. The conquest which the French monarchy had been striv- ing for during more than two centuries was made by the republic in two months. This was followed by the execu- tion of the king. The Girondists, irresolute before the superior energy of the Jacobins, yielded ; Louis was put on trial before the Convention, and declared guilty of high treason by almost a unanimous vote, and finally condemned to death by a small majority.
347. War against All Europe. — The execution of the king, together with the violation of international law which had taken place, and the evident intention of extensive con- quest on the part of the republic, combined all Europe against France. War existed with Austria and Prussia, and on the ist of February, 1793, it was declared against Eng- land, Holland, Spain, Naples, and Sardinia. These were great odds, and the first results were disastrous to France Belgium was lost, and the enemy everywhere made advances
These disasters led to a step which resulted finally in if change of government in France and prepared the way foi Napoleon. The first Committee of Public Safety was elected by the Convention, and soon after, the second, which re- mained in power for a year. The object of this step was to strengthen the executive authority, in view of the public danger, and to avoid a divided responsibility. Its power continued to increase, as was inevitable in times of so great confusion, and it passed in the end, through the stages of the Directory and the Consulate, into the Empire.
348. The Reign of Terror, followed by Reorganization and Success. — The two years which followed the election of the first Committee of Public Safety, from the spring of 1793 to that of 1795, were fil^d with events of the greatest importance to France and to Europe. In the Convention the extremists quickly gained the upper hand, the Girondists were expelled, the Reign of Terror began and raged in Paris and throughout France, until passion was exhausted and the leaders of all parties had been guillotined, Then the more
§§ 349> 35°] Bonaparte forces Austria
341
moderate recovered power, the Girondists were recalled, and Europe became aware that the days were over when the French were resolved to revolutionize all the world at the point of the bayonet.
On the frontiers the French armies had been made over. New officers had arisen, and the men had been brought under strict discipline. Continuous successes were the result. Not merely was Belgium recovered, but Holland also was conquered, and though not annexed to France, it was transformed into the Batavian republic, and made a close ally. Important successes were also gained in the south. Some of the states of Europe were now ready for peace, and in the spring of 1793 the number of the enemies of France was reduced. But England and Austria remained in the field. England's successes on the sea had been very great and almost all the French and Dutch colonies were in her hands.
349. The Work of the Convention. — In 1795 the Con- vention established the constitution which it had been elected to make, called the constitution of the year III. It vested the legislative power in a legislature of two housds, and the executive in the Directory of five members elected by the legislature, one going out of office each year. The legislative work of the Convention in other directions was of great importance. It established a uniformity of weights and measures, adopted the republican calendar, began the formation of a code of laws, and organized with great ability a new system of national education.
350. Bonaparte forces Austria to make Peace. — The new government had the war against England and Austria to carry on, but the military situation of France was now much improved. The war department was in the hands of Carnot, the " Organizer of Victory," who conducted it with great skill. Bonaparte had also risen by this time to such a military reputation that the conduct of the war in Italy was confided to him over older and more experienced gen- erals. He quickly justified the confidence. In ten days
Danton's. Stephens, Speeches, II 265.
Renewed
military
The new
republican
constitution.
Bonaparte's first cam- paign in Italy,
1796-1797. Stephens, Periods,
173-193 ;
Morris, Napoleon, Chap. II.; Fyffe,
342 The French Revolution and Napoleon [§ 35 *
Europe, Chap. III.
The treaty of Campo- Formio. Lanfrey, Napoleon 1. (Macmillan), I., Chap. IX.; Penn. II., No. 2.
The way
preparing for the Empire.
LAZARE CARNOT
he forced the Sardinians to withdraw from the war, and in six weeks he had defeated the Austrian armies, occupied
Milan, and begun to levy heavy contributions from the Italian states. New armies from Aus- tria were beaten one after an- other, and the fortress of Mantua was forced to surrender. In March, 1 797, Bonaparte invaded Austria itself, and in a month had compelled the emperor to sue for peace.
The war was closed by the treaty of Campo-Formio. Aus- tria recognized the annexation of Belgium, the extension of France to the Rhine, and the
republics in alliance with France which had been formed in Italy, the Ligurian around Genoa, and the Cisalpine around Milan. Venice, which Bonaparte had seized, was given to Austria in compensation, and was retained by her until late in the nineteenth century. This treaty completed the sanction of Europe to the great conquests which the republic had made. England alone refused to be a party to it.
351. Revolution within the Revolution. — Before the re- turn of Bonaparte to Paris, a series of coups d'etat, of revo- lutionary appeals to force in violation of the constitution, but designed to keep in power the party which had made it, had been begun ; and these prepared the way by clear precedents for Bonaparte's arbitrary assumption of power two years later. The first of these was against the mon- archical party which had begun to recover strength in France. By the aid of troops, two Directors and about fifty deputies were expelled from office and new elections or- dered. A second, the next May, was against the Jacobins, who were beginning to acquire a majority in the legislature.
§§ 35 2> 353] Strong Government Demanded
343
352. Bonaparte in Egypt. — A few days later Bonaparte set sail for Egypt, to restore if possible the French suprem- acy in the Orient and to destroy that of England. By the conquest of Egypt he hoped to be able to aid the insurrec- tion of Tippoo Sahib in India, and to injure fatally the Eng- lish power there. The famous battle of the Pyramids gave him the country, and he a little later beat off the army which the sultan sent against him. But Nelson's victory in the battle of the Nile cut off his communication with France, and the British hold of India proved too strong to be shaken. In the meantime, changes in France seemed to open a brill- iant prospect of advancement for himself, and he returned after an absence of a year and a half, escaping the English cruisers with marvellous good fortune.
353. A Strong Government Demanded. — On every hand in France the strong man was now demanded, and the only strong man in whom every one had confidence was Bona- parte. The Directory was unpopular and weak, and seemed able to govern only by repeated coups d'etat. Their con- duct of foreign affairs, as arbitrary and unprincipled as that of the early republic, had enabled England to renew the European coalition against the French, and the war was going against them, especially in Italy, where a skilful Russian general, Suvarov, carried all before him. Steady government at home, better generalship abroad, was the desire of all.
With the aid of one of the Directors, Sieyes, who had kept his head above water through every storm, a revolu- tion was quickly carried through. Troops dispersed a part of the legislature; Consuls were put in the place of the Directors, Bonaparte among them ; the constitution was revised in favor of a stronger executive, and the Consuls were made the permanent executive with Bonaparte as the first Consul and real ruler of France, a position which he henceforth held. The first and longest step had been taken toward the making of a new absolute government in France, as unlimited in power as the old monarchy, but with the old
An attack on the Empire of England, 1798-1799. Lanfrey, Napoleon /., I., Chaps. X. and XL; Morris, Napoleon, Chap. III.
The weak- ness of the Directory.
Bonaparte put into power by a revolution, Nov. 1799. Stephens, Periods, 210-217 ; Fyffe, Europe,
135-144; Morris, Napoleon, 6977.
344 The French Revolution and Napoleon [§ 354
England even con- sents to peace with France. Stephens, Periods, 217-225.
The Treaty of Amiens, 1802.
Bonaparte's attempt on Louisiana, 1802.
THE THREE CONSULS
feudal distinctions and privileged orders swept away. That much at least the revolution had accomplished.
354. Bonaparte turns the Tide of War. — Bonaparte quickly restored order to all departments of the government
at home, and victory to the French arms in the war. He went himself to Italy, gained the victory of Ma- rengo, and drove out the Austrians. Along the Dan- ube also they were forced to fall back, and before the close of the year 1800 to make peace again, with a recognition of all the French conquests. Rus- sia had already withdrawn from the coalition. Eng- land again remained alone to carry on the war a year or two longer. But England and France were hardly within striking distance of one another. England had no armies on the continent. France had no fleets on the sea. Nelson's attack on Copenhagen prevented Bonaparte from securing the Danish fleet. By the end of 1 80 1 both parties were ready to end the useless war, and the treaty of Amiens was made. England surrendered nearly all her own conquests and recognized nearly all those of France.
355. The Interval of Peace. — The final treaty was not yet signed when Bonaparte began a new attempt to recover the colonial empire of France, and to weaken that of England, in the expedition which he sent to recover the island of San Domingo, which had revolted. This he proposed to use as a base of operations for the occupation of Louisiana and the restoration of French power in North America. The first step failed through the obstinate resistance of the revolted negroes and the ravages of the yellow fever, and before a second could be taken war had been renewed in Europe.
§356]
The War Renewed
345
In the interval, the organization of France had been Constitu-
carried forward. The balance was established between the tional
various parties. The administrative machinery was central- Lanfrey*
ized. The codes were completed. An agreement was made Napoleon /., with the pope, and the Church became reconciled to the new state of things. The constitution was twice revised in
Morns,
NAPOLEON
the interest of a stronger executive, and Bonaparte was made first Consul for ten years and then for life. Everything was so arranged that a little later, in May, 1804, the Empire could be proclaimed with scarcely a change.
356. The War Renewed. — Neither Napoleon nor Eng- land could consider the peace of Amiens as much more than a truce and the war began again in the spring of 1803,
Napoleon, Chap. V.; Stephens, Periods, 237-241. Napoleon at the height of his power. Stephens,
346 The French Revolution and Napoleon [§ 357
Periods, 250-262 ; Blackmore, Springhaven (novel).
The Roman
emperor
deposed.
Schilling,
Quellenbuch,
331; Bryce,
Holy Roman Empire, 359-368.
The map of Europe torn to pieces.
The " con- tinental system," 1806.
Penn. II., No. 2.
Joseph made king of Spain, 1808.
Austria's
premature
attempt.
Maria
Louisa.
Sloane,
Napoleon,
III.,
Chap. XX.
The exhaus- tion of France.
through the fault of both. Austria and Russia also took the field against France, but with the usual result. Ulm and Austerlitz forced Austria to retire. Prussia tried to take her place, but lost the battle of Jena, and could not save Berlin. Then came the turn of Russia which finally con- sented to the peace of Tilsit.
This was the moment of Napoleon's greatest success. All the continent was at his feet. Boundary lines in every direc- tion were wiped out and redrawn where he pleased. His- tory and the former relations of territories were not in the least regarded. His allies took what they wished at the expense of his enemies. Two of his brothers became kings. France was further enlarged, and the European Empire of Rome and of Charlemagne, of which Charles V. had dreamed, was created. But England would not submit.
357. Napoleon stretches his Power too Far. — The tide was now about to turn. The change began through two mistakes of Napoleon's, whose results were not at first ap- parent. The one was his attempt to strike at England, by shutting out her goods from the markets of the continent — his " continental system," which had the effect to excite against him much discontent and opposition. The other was his attempt to make his brother Joseph king of Spain. This brought into the field against him an enemy he had never met before, the determined spirit of a nation in de- fence of its independence, and it opened the way for the celebrated peninsula campaign of Wellington, which weak- ened the French so greatly.
So much in the situation seemed encouraging that in 1809 Austria tried the experiment of war again, but with no better success than earlier. Wagram was an old time Napoleonic victory, the emperor had to give up more terri- tory, and to allow his daughter, Maria Louisa, to become Napoleon's wife, in the place of Josephine whom he dis- carded.
358. The Beginning of the End. — But these continuous wars, if they seemed to leave Napoleon still the Dictator of
§§359.36o] The Charter 0/1814 347
Europe, were steadily exhausting the resources of France, especially in men, and it was becoming more and more difficult to keep the quality of the armies up to the level of
those that had won the earlier successes. In northern Ger- The awaken-
many also a great revolution was taking place, under the in& of.
lead of Prussia, reforms in all department of the State, and penn.II.,
the growth of that sort of national feeling which had proved No. 2. so difficult to deal with in Spain.
Napoleon, however, did not seem to realize that the The invas-
foundations of his pdwer were weakening. When Russia j°n of
became unwilling any longer to adhere to the continental Morris'
system and began to draw towards England, he resolved to Napoleon,
treat her as he had the rest of Europe, and set out in May, 273~286;
1812, on the invasion which led to his fall. At first he was war and
as successful as ever. He drove back the Russian armies Peace, and entered Moscow. But this was the limit. The Rus- sians burned him out and forced him to retreat. Then his army began to melt away before the winter storms and the
swift attacks of the Cossacks. Prussia believed the time had Europe rises
now come and rose against him, better prepared than ever a§alnst
before. Austria quickly followed. At Leipzig in one of the Morris,
greatest battles of these wars, often called the battle of the Napoleon,
nations, his army was almost totally destroyed. ^d xii^*
359. The First Restoration. — Napoleon was now obliged map, to cross to the French side of the Rhine. The terrible Putzger, losses which his armies had suffered he could not make °' 29< good. His genius was as great as ever, but he had no ^^°0et°hne longer the same material to work with. Steadily he was island of pushed back, and in the spring of 1814 his enemies entered Elba« I8l4- Paris. The Bourbons were restored in the person of Louis XVIII., brother of Louis XVI., but the old absolute monarchy
was not restored. The new king promised to reign as a constitution monarch. Napoleon was sent to the island of Elba, between Corsica and Italy, where he was kept in honor- able confinement, retaining his title of emperor.
360. The Charter of 1814. — Louis XVIII. began his reign with many indications of the Bourbon spirit. He put
348 The French Revolution and Napoleon [§ 361
Louis
XVIII. king by divine right. Fyffe, Europe, 368-380. The Charter in Penn. I., No. 3.
What the
revolution
had
permanently
secured.
A new map of Europe to be made.
Discontent in France.
aside the constitution suggested by the Senate. He claimed the constitution-making power for himself. He would grant a constitution to his people. Shortly afterwards he issued it, the so-called Charter of 1814. In this he called himself king " by the grace of God," and dated it from the nine- teenth year of his reign, counting from the death of Louis XVII., the little Dauphin who died in the Temple prison. It was made very evident that he was determined to be regarded as the fountain and source of all authority.
But the work of the revolution could not be set aside. The old monarchy was impossible even for a Bourbon. The representative system was secured, and the responsibility of the ministers to the legislature. All Frenchmen were to be equal before the law, in taxation and in eligibility to office. Private property as transferred by the revolution, should not be disturbed. The right of suffrage was determined by a property qualification. The constitution, though bestowed as an act of the king's good grace, was not an illiberal one. In the administrative system of the kingdom, the close centralization which had been devised by Bonaparte was retained and has become apparently permanent in France.
361. The Congress of Vienna. — The removal of Napo- leon and the restoration of the Bourbons were not the only things the allies had to do. Napoleon had at one time made a map of Europe to suit himself. This of course the ministers of Europe could not allow to stand, but they must agree among themselves on the new one, and such an agreement was not easy to reach. One thing was quickly settled. France was to be set back to the boundaries of 1792, and this was determined upon, and accepted by France, a few weeks after the entry of the allies into Paris. A diplomatic congress assembled at Vienna to settle the rest, and there the allies began to show signs of quarrelling over the spoils. News of this was carried to Napoleon at Elba.
In France, also, considerable discontent had arisen with the new government. The nation began to fear a reaction- ary tendency against the results of the revolution, and not
§§ 362? 363] The Second Restoration 349
without some reason. The censorship of the press was re- established. The officers of Napoleon were sent into retire- ment and their places supplied with the nobles who had fought against him. Lands confiscated by the revolution, but not yet sold, were restored to their old emigre owners. Napoleon learned of this feeling in France also.
362. The "Hundred Days." — Suddenly at the end of Napoleon's February, 1815, he left Elba, landed in the south of France, return to and began to advance towards Paris. Everywhere he was
well received. His old soldiers joined him. Officers and troops sent to arrest him went over to his side. In twenty days the king had fled and he was in Paris. Here he tried to persuade Europe by solemn assurances that he would not renew the war, and the French people by issuing a constitu- tion supplementary to that of the Empire that he would not renew his despotism. Neither attempt entirely succeeded. The allies certainly could not allow him to reestablish his rule and prepare in peace for the inevitable attempt to recover the lost frontiers, and they immediately declared war.
One great battle ended the war. This fell to the English Waterloo, and the Prussians. Wellington held firmly his position at June l8» Waterloo until the Prussians came up and Napoleon's army was totally routed. He tried to secure the succession of his son by abdicating, but the allies restored the Bourbons once more, and Napoleon was carried by the English to the island of St. Helena, where he died May 5, 1821.
363. The Second Restoration and the Congress of Vienna. Bourbon — The second restoration of the Bourbons was more per- reactlon- manent than the first, but they had learned little by their ex- Democracy perience. Louis XVIII. showed the same characteristics as
before the return of Napoleon. The reaction against the revo- lution grew ever stronger until it led to another revolution.
The Congress of Vienna completed its work in 1815. A The work little more territory was taken from France after the battle c0*eress of Waterloo. Holland was made a kingdom and given the Stephens, Austrian Netherlands or Belgium, Switzerland was enlarged Period*, and its neutrality guaranteed. Savoy was given back to the 336~3S°;
35O The French Revolution and Napoleon [§ 364
Fyffe, Europe, 380-387 and 411-418.
Reaction and absolutism only temporary.
king of Sardinia, and the Bourbons restored in Naples and Sicily. Nearly all north Italy, Venice, and Lombardy was put under the rule of Austria, which retained it until the formation of the present kingdom of Italy. Prussia received a part of Saxony, which had been too faithful to Napoleon, and also considerable lands in the Rhine valley taken from the small German states of a former time and from France. England's gains were colonial, and the most important was the Cape Colony.
364. Results of the Revolution in Europe at Large. — The diplomats at Vienna could treat a large part of Europe as if they were the absolute owners of it, disregarding utterly the feelings of the inhabitants, but they could no more undo the work of the revolution in Europe at large than the Bour- bons could in France. The way had been made open everywhere for constitutional liberty, and if it did not at once appear, the delay was only temporary. The worst abuses of the old regime had disappeared. Feudalism, serfdom, and insignificant sovereignties were to a large extent things of the past. A new national spirit had been excited in countries like Germany, which had long been divided into fragments, and the preparation was begun for their future national governmen.ts. The next few years might be characterized by reaction, and absolutism seem to triumph, but the people of Europe were really a new people, and they had begun to cherish the spirit of liberty and democracy which reigns at the present day.
Topics
The compensation of France for her political decline in the eighteenth century. The influence of England on French thinkers. The leaders of French thought and their ideas. The real abuses in France. Her financial condition. Why were not reforms carried through? The character of the two kings. Why was the Estates General called? Why a dangerous experiment? What was the first conflict which introduced the revolution? The result and its effect. The struggle with the king. The part played by the Paris mob. The completion
Topics 351
of the revolution. The formation of two parties. The clubs. What were the assignats? Why necessary? How secured? The result. The beginning of European war. What led to the suspension, and what to the execution, of the king. Effect on Europe. Change in the executive government in France. The Reign of Terror. The military successes of the Republic. The constitution of the year III. Bona- parte in Italy. Gains in the treaty of Campio-Formio. Why did Bonaparte invade Egypt? Result. How did he gain political office in France? What preparation had there been for this step? The treaty of Amiens. How did Bonaparte use the interval of peace? The great successes of Napoleon in the next war. How did he treat Europe? What were his mistakes? What were the causes and the successive steps of the overthrow of Napoleon? The first restoration. Character of the Bourbon constitution. What things encouraged Napoleon to return to France? How was he received by France? By Europe? Waterloo. The new map made by the Congress of Vienna. Permanent results of the revolution in France. In Europe.
Topics for Assigned Studies
The execution of Louis XVI. Stephens, French Revolution (Scrib-
ner), II. 212-221. Carlyle, French Revolution, Book IV., Chap.
VIII. A speech of Robespierre's. Stephens, Speeches of French
Revolution (Clarendon), II. 357. In French. The battle of Waterloo. Sloane, Napoleon (Century Co.), IV., Chap.
XXIII. Ropes, Campaign of Waterloo. (Scribner.) Morris,
Napoleon (Heroes), Chap. XIII.
Important Dates for Review
1789. May . . . Estates General meet.
1791. Sept. . . . The new constitution proclaimed.
1793. Jan. . . . Louis XVI. executed.
June . . . Reign of Terror begins.
1796 Bonaparte in Italy.
1798 Bonaparte in Egypt.
1799. Nov. . . . Bonaparte, Consul.
1802 Treaty of Amiens.
1804. May . . . Bonaparte made emperor.
1806 The continental system.
1808 Joseph, king of Spain.
1810. Apr. . . . Napoleon marries Maria Louisa.
1812 Invasion of Russia.
1813. Oct. . . . Battle of Leipzig.
1814 Napoleon at Elba.
1815. June . . . Battle of Waterloo.
CHAPTER VI
The inter- national system be- ginning to embrace the whole world.
EUROPE SINCE 1815
Books for Reference and Further Reading
Fyffe, History of Modern Europe. In one volume. (Holt; $2.75.) M tiller, Political History of Recent Times. (Harper; $2.00.) Adams, Democracy and Monarchy in France. (Holt; $2.50.) Andrews, The Historical Development of Modern Europe. 2 vols.
(Putnam; $5.00.) Suggestive and instructive commentary for
the use of the teacher.
Seignobos, Political History of Modern Europe. Announced. (Holt.) Holland, The European Concert in the Eastern Question. (Claren- don; $3.75.) Treaties and other public acts. Murdock, The Reconstruction of Europe. (Houghton; $2.00.) On
the national movement. Thayer, The Dawn of Italian Independence, 1814-1849. 2 vols.
(Houghton; $4.00.) Lieber, Civil Liberty and Self Government. (Lippincott; $3-15.)
Interpretation of English liberty, especially in comparison with
French ideas. Contains many documents.
365. The Nineteenth Century an Age of Transition. — By
the year 1815 the world of international politics had begun to be considerably larger than the continent of Europe, and it has been expanding ever since. Very soon after that date the United States began to make her voice heard in the councils of the nations. England had become even earlier so much more concerned with the affairs of the larger world that she had begun to consider all questions of European politics from their bearing on her wider interests, as she still does. Other nations have become by degrees interested in the same way, and new nations, once unthought of and lying far remote from Europe and its local questions, like
352
§§ 366, 367] The Absolutist Reaction 353
Japan, have entered the field of international politics and secured immediate and strong influence.
The nineteenth century is in this respect an age of transi- Local tion. The twentieth century will before its close have ceased European
111111 f • T- ^i • politics still
to regard the local balance of power in Europe, or the minor £f great details of its interior boundary lines, as the leading questions interest, of international diplomacy. There are, however, running through the whole of the nineteenth century, certain lines of European political movement which are of decided impor- tance in the history of the world.
366. Three Lines of Great Political Changes. — Of these Three lines. lines there are three of especial interest, which can be
readily traced, and whose history makes up in large part the political history of Europe. They are :
First : The continued effects of the French revolution ; The struggle the efforts of the people to secure a larger share in their for c°nstitu-
. : tional
governments, and of the sovereigns to prevent this ; the con- government, sequent revolutions and changes of government, advancing to the result, which has now been reached almost everywhere, of the triumph of liberal government and of the democratic principle.
Second : Closely connected with the first, growing largely The idea of from the same causes, and greatly aided by the increasing nationality, influence of the people upon their governments, the move- ment to secure for nations long broken into fragments by the arbitrary dispositions of absolute rulers, a political unity whose boundary lines should correspond to the territories occupied by the nation, and whose government should be an expression of the national will. This has resulted in a very considerable making over of the map of Europe in the interest of the idea of nationality.
Third : The Eastern question, occasioned by the slow The Eastern dissolution of the Turkish Empire and the rivalry of several question. European nations for the inheritance. An essential part of this is the enormous expansion of Russia, both in Europe and Asia, during the century.
367. The Absolutist Reaction. — The first results which
354
Europe since 1815
The sover- eigns want no constitu- tions. Fyffe, Europe, Chap. XI II.
The Holy
Alliance,
1815.
Miiller,
Recent
Times, 2-5 ;
Penn. I.,
No. 3;
Schilling,
Quellenbuch,
407.
Metternich. Penn. I., No. 3.
The univer- sities, and the secret societies.
followed the overthrow of Napoleon by the allies were disastrous to the cause of free government. We have seen the consequences in France, where the restored Bourbons had granted a constitution, but where the whole tendency was towards illiberal government and the limitation of the rights of the people. The same was true of all Europe, both in the states whose rulers had been compelled to grant constitutions and in those where they had not been. The sovereigns of Europe had been thoroughly frightened by the revolution and they did not propose to allow it to proceed further.
Three months after the battle of Waterloo a treaty was signed at Paris between the emperors of Russia and Austria and the king of Prussia. Ostensibly the purpose of this alliance was to make the precepts of the Christian religion prevail everywhere, in the relations of states to one another and of governments and their citizens. On this account it became known as the Holy Alliance. Whether the profes- sions originally made were sincere or not, the Holy Alliance came very soon to mean an agreement between the sover- eigns to interfere in any state which was threatened with revolution, and to force the people to submit to their rulers. Count Metternich of Austria was one of the most active sup- porters of the policy ; he possibly gave the Holy Alliance this direction ; and the arrangement has sometimes been called from him " Metternich's system." Diplomatic congresses were held at frequent intervals to carry out the policy, almost as if the alliance had created a government for all Europe with a regular cabinet.
368. Revolutionary Movements. — On the other hand, the people did not propose to give up everything without a struggle. In Germany, Italy, and Spain the movement against absolutism was especially active. The universities were seats of vigorous propaganda, as they are in Russia to-day. Secret societies were organized, the Burschenschqft in Germany, the Carbonari in Italy. In Germany some of the sovereigns thought it wise to yield a little. The king
§369] The Monroe Doctrine 355
of Prussia made some concessions. In Bavaria, Baden, Wiirtemberg, and Weimar constitutions were granted. But repression quickly followed. Agitators were punished and the universities put under special supervision.
In Italy and Spain insurrections took place and armed Armed
intervention was necessary. In 1820, in the kingdoms of insurrec- ' tions put
the Two Sicilies and of Sardinia, the sovereigns were com- down by the pelled to grant constitutions. At the Congress of Laybach Holy the next year, Austria was authorized to deal with these cases, and her armies overthrew these constitutions and NO. 3. repressed agitation in Lombardy. The same result followed in Spain. There a constitution had been established in 1812, but King Ferdinand VII. had taken advantage of later events to get rid of it. In 1820 an insurrection of a part of the army had compelled him to reestablish this con- stitution. Then the Holy Alliance interfered. The Con- gress of Verona, in 1822, commissioned France to do the work, and a French army made Ferdinand VII. a despotic sovereign again.
369. The Monroe Doctrine. — The action of the Con- The gress of Verona in regard to Spain had consequences out- sPanish side of Europe of the greatest importance. The colonies of C0i0nies Spain in South and Central America had taken advantage of independent the troubles of that country during the Napoleonic wars to declare their independence and to establish republican gov- ernments of their own. It now looked as if the interference of the Holy Alliance might be extended so far as to attempt the recovery for Spain of the colonies which she herself had not been able to accomplish. England, which had favored the independence of these colonies, was opposed to such interference, and she suggested to the United States that a declaration to the same effect from that government would aid in preventing the attempt.
This led to the famous Monroe Doctrine, which, as then The Monroe stated, was that the United States would regard any attempt Doctrine, of the allied powers to extend their system — that is, the system of armed interference to establish a government op-
356
Europe since 1815
[§37o
Charles X.,
1824-1830.
Miiller,
Recent
Times,
96-101.
The revolu- tion of 1830. Fyffe, Europe, 603-619 ; MUller, Recent Times,
IO2-II2.
posed to the will of the people, Metternich's system — to any part of these continents as an unfriendly act.
370. Further Reaction and a New Revolution in France.
— The great days of the Holy Alliance ended with the death of the Czar, Alexander I., in 1825, but the opposition to free government had the upper hand for a few years longer. In France, Louis XVIII. was succeeded in 1824 by his brother Charles X., who as the Count of Artois had been the leader of the emigres and who seemed incapable of learning anything from experience. Under him reaction- ary measures rapidly followed one another. More of Napo- leon's officers were dismissed from the army. The National Guard was dissolved. The press was placed under stricter control. The Church was given more authority. A large
sum was appropri- ated to pay the emigres for the lands of which they had been deprived by the revolution. And finally, in July, 1830, the king at- tempted a coup d'etat. He issued a series of ordi- nances by which he practically made a new constitution in the interest of his own ideas.
Immediately Paris broke out in
insurrection. The troops proved untrustworthy. Lafayette was put at the head of a provisional government. The king fled and abdicated in favor of his grandson, the Comte de Chambord, but instead the duke of Orleans, Louis Philippe, was proclaimed king of the French. He was descended
LAFAYETTE
§ § 37 J > 372] Preparation for A nother Revolution 357
from a brother of Louis XIV. ; his family had long professed
liberal ideas ; he was himself popular with the people and
was known as the citizen king. The constitution was imme- Constitution
diately revised to secure greater freedom, and the king rec-
ognized the right of the people to determine for themselves
the form of their government.
371. The Consequences of the Revolution in France. — Unsuccessful The July revolution, as it is called, encouraged the friends attempts to of liberal government throughout Europe, but the time was example of still too early to overthrow the strongly intrenched sover- France. eigns. An insurrection in Belgium against the continued ^yffe> rule of Holland was successful and the two states were sepa- 619-643 ; rated. A similar one in Poland against Russia, though Miilier, bravely fought, was a failure, and resulted in the loss of the
constitution which had been secured to Poland at the close 112-143. of the Napoleonic period, and its reduction to a province of the Russian Empire. Insurrections in Italy were for a moment successful, but the Austrian troops proved again too strong. In Spain and Portugal, however, constitutions were secured within a few years of the July revolution, but this was due not to revolutions but to disputes as to the succession in the royal families which forced the rightful claimants to rely upon the liberal party for success.
It had proved easy to suppress insurrections for a time at Ideas not least, and for eighteen years longer the absolute governments were in possession. But it was not so easy to suppress liberal ideas, and the longing and determination of the people, and these were making steady progress through these years. In the new revolution which was to advance greatly the realization of these ideas, France was still as before the leader of the nations.
372. Preparation for Another Revolution. — The reign of Louis Louis Philippe excited no enthusiasm in France. It was phlhPPe>s
.... . government
marked abroad by a policy of conciliation and concession unpopular. which was not flattering to French pride, and at home by a disposition to leave the constitution as it was formed in 1830 and to allow no extension of the popular influence.
358
Europe since 1815
[§§ 373, 374
The growth of socialistic ideas.
The
" February "
revolution.
Adams,
Democracy
and
Monarchy,
Chap. VII.;
Fyffe,
Europe,
Chap. XIX.;
Muller,
Recent
Times,
186-192.
The attempt to realize socialistic theories.
But the demand for this was not long in arising. The prop- erty qualification required for the suffrage and for member- ship in the legislature had been reduced at the accession of the citizen king, but they were still so high as to place the real control in the hands of a minority of the people. The demand for an extension of the suffrage was made by the liberal party and was steadily resisted by the king.
Meantime the artisan class, especially in Paris, was be- coming greatly interested in economic and political ques- tions. The rapid introduction of labor-saving machinery, together with over-production in many lines, had led to a re- duction of wages and had even thrown many workmen out of employment. A group of writers of much ability began to propound socialistic and communistic theories, and in these many of the workmen became greatly interested. In this way was prepared a party which in the next revolution and in many later events in France exercised a great and sometimes a very destructive influence.
373. The Revolution of 1848. — The revolution came in February, 1848. The signal was given by the refusal of the government to allow a banquet to be held at which the liberal party proposed to advocate the exten- sion of the suffrage. A public protest of the liberal leaders followed. They probably did not intend or expect a revo- lution, but events rapidly drifted beyond their control. The mob took charge. The king showed no firmness of resis- tance and abdicated. But the people of Paris organized a provisional government and the Republic was proclaimed.
374. The Second Republic. — This was a very short-lived republic, but it is interesting for one experiment which it tried. Among the theories held by the Parisian artisans was one which asserted the right of every man to a liveli- hood, and the duty of the State to insure him the means of procuring it. The provisional government, which found it necessary to satisfy the demands of the workmen who had carried through the revolution, determined to fulfil this duty.
§ 375] Revolution in Austria and Italy
359
National workshops were opened and the unemployed were guaranteed labor by the State. Though the wages were small the number of the state workmen was found to increase very rapidly, it became very difficult to keep them profitably employed, and the government was at last com- pelled to lay a special tax to meet the expenses, much to the discontent of the rest of the nation. The experiment lasted four months. Then the Constituent Assembly, which had been called to frame a new government, closed the national workshops. The workmen immediately rose in insurrection, and for four days fought like savages, throwing aside the restraints of civilized warfare, before they were subdued. The bourgeois, or middle class of Paris, long remembered the terrible experience of these days, and the dread of the communistic spirit was one of the things which made easy the way of Louis Napoleon and sustained the despotism of the second Empire.
375. Revolution in Austria and Italy. — With the tri- umph of this French revolution of 1848, it seemed for a moment as if constitutional government and political freedom were about to triumph in the whole of Europe. Everywhere the people rose against the absolute sovereigns, and their speedy success showed the depth of the prepara- tion which had now been made. Even in Vienna the revo- lution could no longer be suppressed. A popular insurrection forced Metternich into exile early in March, and made the emperor call a constitutional convention elected by uni- versal suffrage. When a little later he attempted to with- draw these concessions he was himself forced to leave Vienna, and abdicated in favor of his nephew, Francis Joseph.
In all the Austrian dominions similar events took place, and the Empire was for a time threatened with dissolution. Prague expelled the Austrian troops, and Bohemia proposed to secure a government of its own. Hungary did the same and soon went a step further, declared its independence and organized a republic under Kossuth.
National workshops. Miiller, Recent Times, 192-196.
Constitution in Lieber, Civil Liberty.
Insurrection of the workmen.
Metternich and the emperor driven from Vienna. Leger, Austro- Hungary, Chaps.XXX. and XXXII. See Maurice, The Revolu- tionary Movement of 1848-1849 (London),
In Bohemia
and
Hungary.
36o
Europe since 1815
[§376
In Italy.
Miiller,
Recent
Times,
202-211;
Fyffe,
Europe,
Chap. XX.
Italy had not remained behind the other peoples. Indeed, a few days before the revolution in Paris, the king of the Two Sicilies had been compelled to grant a constitu- tion. In Rome, Pius IX., who had been lately elected pope, granted a constitution in March and seemed to give promise of a liberal disposition. When, however, somewhat later in the year, he withdrew the constitution, the people rose again, drove him out of the city, and with the aid of
POPE Pius IX.
The house of Savoy assumes the lead in Italy.
Mazzini organized a republic. Florence did the same. Milan and Venice expelled the Austrian troops.
This was the opportunity of the house of Savoy, and the way in which it was used prepared for them the throne of a united Italy. The reigning king of Sardinia, Charles Albert, put himself at the head of the movement for national independence, and made war upon the Austrians, at first with success, and Venice and Milan accepted his rule.
376. Unsuccessful Attempts in Germany. — In Germany
§ 377] Suppression of the Revolution 361
the struggle for constitutional liberty was closely bound up Hindered bj with that for national unity. A popular movement begin- lackof ning in Baden demanded civil rights, the freedom of the un{ty. press, and a constitutional government for the whole of Fyffe, Germany. The first step was the election of a constituent assembly, which met at Frankfort, in May, 1848, to form a government and a constitution. Recent
Early in 1849 tne crown of a new German Empire was ^™"' offered by the Assembly to Frederick William IV. of Prussia. Thg ki of This proved a premature realization of the ambition of the Prussia will Hohenzollern family, for the king declined the offer, believ- not be ing that it should be made by the state governments of Germany. Austria and some of the other larger states Schilling, refused to accept the constitution, and the mission of the Assembly finally ended in failure. In Prussia itself, however, a constitution was finally secured, with a representative assembly of a limited character.
377. The Suppression of the Revolution. — Not merely The czar of
in Germany but everywhere else, these promising beginnings Russia
' . J , interferes,
came to nothing in the end. The czar, Nicholas I., even
more bitterly opposed to liberty than Alexander had been, came to the aid of the Austrian emperor. An army of 100,000 Russians entered Hungary, overthrew the Republic, and restored the Austrian rule. In Vienna and Prague force also triumphed.
The Italians, not well united among themselves, suffered Despotism several defeats, and in the spring of 1849, Charles Albert reestablished abdicated in favor of his son Victor Emanuel. Milan and 1] ta y> Venice submitted. In Rome the Republic was destoyed by French troops sent by Louis Napoleon, the President of France, and they remained to sustain the pope's absolute government so long as the rule of Napoleon III. lasted. In the Two Sicilies, also, the constitution was annulled. All Italy was thrown back into the old condition, except in except in the kingdom of Sardinia, where Victor Emanuel refused to Sardima' do away with the constitution at the demand of Austria, and thus kept the hopes of Italy centred in his house.
Europe since 1815
[§§378,379
Louis
Napoleon,
President.
The coup d'etat of Dec. 2, 1851. Victor Hugo, History of a Crime ; Muller, Recent Times,
197 ff-
New consti- tution in Lieber, Civil Liberty.
The second Empire. Revised constitution in Lieber, Civil Liberty.
The cause of free gov- ernment apparently hopeless.
378. The Second Empire established by Napoleon III. —
In the meantime the short-lived second Republic in France was drawing rapidly to its end. It had been weak from the beginning because it was not desired by a majority of the people. Louis Napoleon had been elected President by a very large popular majority, and was laying plans to make his power permanent. He set himself forward as the cham- pion of universal suffrage against the monarchically inclined Assembly, and of order and security against the red republi- cans, while the army was tired of the long inglorious peace and hoped for better things from a Bonaparte.
By a sudden coup d'etat on the 2d of December, he arrested the leaders of the opposition, dissolved the Assem- bly, and called for a vote by universal suffrage to make him President for ten years and to authorize a revision of the constitution. An attempt to raise Paris against him failed, and the popular vote was overwhelmingly in favor of the change of government.
This was but a step to the second Empire, and a year later that was proclaimed, after the sanction of another popular vote. The constitution made the emperor abso- lute. He was responsible to the people only, his ministers to him alone. The legislature was under his control ; free- dom of speech ?,nd of the press were no more. But France had secured what it especially wished at the time, a strong government.
379. Free Government indirectly Secured. — It was now sixty years since the opening of the French revolution, and still the effort to secure real political liberty was a failure. Despotism seemed as strongly intrenched almost every- where as before the age of revolutions began. In some few countries, like Prussia and France, constitutions existed in name, and this was a point gained, but in these constitu- tions the real power was most carefully preserved to the sovereign. The cause of the people might well seem hope- less, but it was in truth just on the eve of success. It had met its last great defeat.
§§ 38°>38i] The Independence of Greece 363
The final triumph of constitutional government in Europe Secured in was secured, however, not by a direct effort of the kind alliance with
. . - „ i o r. T the cause of
which was made in the revolutions of 1830 and 1848. It national was brought about rather by the triumph of the right in unity, another cause, that of national unity and independence, which had been all along closely associated with it. To this we must now turn as the leading movement in the next stage of European history.
380. The Congress of Vienna and the Idea of National- The diplo- ity . — The Congress of Vienna, in rearranging the boundary H^^1^ lines which Napoleon had moved about to suit himself, nationality, treated Europe as if there were no such things as nations Maps,
to be considered. Italy was divided up into petty states as ^J^g1"' the interests of the sovereigns dictated. Germany was treated as arbitrarily in the same interest, but many of the smaller states of earlier times which had been wiped out by the dis- positions of Napoleon were not reestablished, and the larger became larger still, but there was no Germany. The Ger- manic Confederation, which was established with a Diet under the presidency of Austria, was as empty a form as the old Empire.
Belgium, though differing from Holland in language, reli- Austria their gion, and economic interests, was made a part of it. Poland idea of a remained divided, and though a part of it was given a constitution and called the kingdom of Poland, with the czar as king, this was a form and disappeared at once on the first attempt to make it more real. Meanwhile such a composite empire as that of Austria, which corresponded to no nationality but included several great races or parts of several, Germans, Bohemians, Hungarians, Italians, and others, seemed to be regarded as resting on as natural a foundation as any true nation.
381. The Independence of Greece. — But the spirit of nationality and the longing for independence, which are nation to perhaps never entirely wanting, had been newly awakened rise-
by the uprising of the peoples against Napoleon, and they £U^gt were no more destroyed by the temporary triumph of the Chap. XV.
364
Europe since 1815
[§382
The powers interfere.
Belgium successful in 1830.
Failure in 1848.
opposite principles than was the desire for political liberty. Their first outbreak in actual strife was in the insurrection of the Greeks against the Turks, which began in 1821. This struggle for independence involved from the begin- ning of course the perennial Eastern question, and was settled at last as a part of that question.
Here is to be said only that at first the Greeks were left to themselves, because the powers could not agree upon their action ; and after more than five years of heroic re- sistance, aided only by a few volunteers, like Lord Byron, the Turkish warfare characterized as always by horrible atrocities, they were practically subdued by Egyptian troops in the Turkish service. Then Russia, on the accession of the new czar, Nicholas I., interfered, seconded by England and France, and Turkey was compelled to acknowledge the independence of Greece in 1829. An attempt to or- ganize the new state as a republic proved a failure, and Otto of Bavaria became its first king.
382. The Attempts following the Two French Revolu- tions.— The revolution of 1830 in France enabled the people of Belgium to break their connection with Holland and to found a government representing the nation, with Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as king. But every other attempt to realize national aspirations failed. Poland lost even the little that it had ; Italy remained under Austria.
Again in 1848 the same result followed most promising beginnings, as we have seen. The Hungarians organized a republic. The Bohemians drove out the Austrians, as did the Italians from north Italy. The king of Sardinia threw the resources of his little state into the struggle for Italian independence. In Germany a national constitution was drawn up, and the crown, which it was hoped would be that of a united nation, was offered to the king of Prussia. But Prussia hardly saw as yet that the way to the realization of her long-cherished ambition, to expel Aus- trian influence and to become the leading state in Germany, should be the way of national unity.
§§ 383> 384] The Policy of Cavour 365
She had already, unconsciously, taken one long step The
towards this result in the Zollverein which she had organ- .
° . Muller,
ized in 1833, in spite of the opposition of Austria. This Decent was a customs union between most of the German states, Times, 164. by which national unity on one most important side, the commercial, was created, and a strong influence towards political unity set in motion. But Frederick William now refused the crown ; the constitution could not be put into operation ; and Austria recovered control of all her revolted races.
383. The Spirit of Nationality growing stronger. — But The cause the spirit of national unity and independence had grown of unity much stronger in spite of these failures, and it was not feeders. much longer to be held down. The king of Prussia soon
made an attempt to form a political union between a part of the German states, but gave it up on the determined opposition of Austria. In Italy the house of Savoy stood clearly forth as the declared champion of union and inde- pendence. In both these countries the central core of a new national state was prepared.
It was in these two countries also that the current ran The current most strongly in this direction. Neither had ever had a stKmgin
. . Germany
government giving expression to the national teeling since and they had become conscious of such a feeling. The feudal system, the Holy Roman Empire, the policy of the papacy, and the diplomacy of modern Europe, had in turn kept them broken and divided. But now that the current had begun to run, it ran all the deeper and stronger for the long holding back.
384. The Policy of Cavour. — It was ten years before Cavour win? another opportunity occurred. In the meantime the king al^s for lus of Sardinia had made, under the wise guidance of his min- Fyffe,' ister, Cavour, a shrewd stroke to gain the gratitude of some Europe,
of the first powers of Europe by joining the allies against xxn •
Russia in the Crimean war and sending his little army to Muller'
their aid. This led directly to the desired result. The Recent
Congress of Paris, which followed the war, was not willing tma'
366
Europe since 1815
[§385
270-292 ; Cesaresco, Liberation of Italy (Scribner).
War with Austria.
to allow Cavour to accomplish his plans by diplomatic means. But the emperor, Napoleon III., was ready to enter into a close alliance with him.
Encouraged by this, Cavour began extensive military preparations. When he refused to explain these prepara- tions at the demand of Austria, she declared war and sent a large army into Italy. Napoleon III. immediately sent against it a still larger army. The Austrians were beaten
The people too strong for the diplomats.
COUNT CAVOUR
in three great battles. Lombardy and Milan were occupied and Venice threatened. But Napoleon did not wish to go too far. He refused to drive the Austrians from Venetia. In November, 1859, he concluded the treaty of Zurich with Austria, by which Lombardy was given to Victor Emanuel, and the Italian states were authorized to form a confederacy. 385. United Italy. — But matters had now gone too far to be controlled any longer by diplomacy. The people took matters into their own hands. Everywhere they arose,
§ 3861 William L and Bismarck 367
expelled the rulers of their little states, and voted their own annexation to Sardinia. All central Italy down to the States of the Church had done this by March, 1860. Napoleon III. signified that he would acquiesce in these arrangements if compensation were granted him by the cession to France of Savoy and Nice, and this was allowed him, — the largest permanent annexation of territory made by France since the reign of Louis XIV.
But the end was not yet. In the next month the people Garibaldi of Sicily rose against their Bourbon king. Garibaldi went and the to their aid. In a short time the whole kingdom of the j°^ Two Sicilies and a large part of the territories of the pope had been freed, and had put themselves under Victor Emanuel. In February of the next year, the kingdom The king- of Italy was proclaimed, — the first real one that had ex- dom of Ital* isted in history, — with a constitution and parliamentary institutions. Rome was not yet its capital, for the French troops still held that city and Victor Emanuel was not ready to break with France, and Austria still kept Venetia. But the occupation of Rome and Venice could only be delayed until the first favorable opportunity.
386. William I. and Bismarck. — The realization of William I. German aspirations for national unity was deferred for ten opens a new years longer, and cost in blood and treasure far more than p^^ l86l had Italian. Frederick William IV. of Prussia, who had Fyflfe, refused the imperial crown in 1848 and who had been un- Europe, willing to oppose Austria with the necessary determination, xxill.; was succeeded in 1861 by his brother William I. He was Malleson, a man of different stuff. Early in his reign he made Otto RQff°™ding von Bismarck his leading minister, and through a long reign German he cordially sustained the vigorous and determined policy Empire
Of his Chancellor. (Scribner).
If Frederick William's policy had been to wait until the ^J^
chance should come when everything would be favorable, and iron."
Bismarck's was to force the favorable opportunity and to Mulier,
overturn every obstacle with violence — the policy of blood Times
and iron, as he called it himself. So far as national unity 304-309.
368
Europe since 1815
[§§387,388
The consti- tution overridden.
The
Schleswig- Holstein question. Miiller, Recent Times, 309-318.
Little Denmark the first stepping- stone in the rise of Prussia, 1864.
was concerned that should be realized, but it should be real- ized by the sword of Prussia, and the new nation should re- main under the dominant control of Prussia. From the beginning this was the end which Bismarck sought to reach, and this was what he accomplished.
387. The Army made ready. — The first necessity for the success of such a policy was a strong army. This William had seen before Bismarck entered the ministry; and while he was regent, in the last years of his brother's reign, he had begun to increase the size of the standing army, and to improve its organization and discipline. In the Prussian legislature a majority was opposed to these measures, and repeated dissolutions failed to secure the lacking votes. But the policy could not be abandoned. Soon after Bismarck took office, it was announced to the legislature that the government would go on with its plans without the required constitutional sanction. It was only after the first great military successes of this army that the representatives of the people acquiesced in this policy.
388. The New Prussia's First War. — The opportunity to try the army came very soon. The king of Denmark was the sovereign also of two German duchies, Schleswig and Holstein, lying directly south of Denmark proper. According to existing diplomatic arrangements, these were to remain separate states and could not be incorporated in the kingdom of Denmark. At the end of 1863 a new constitution was made for Denmark, which was arranged to apply to Schleswig also in such a way as practically to an- nex that duchy to Denmark. The German Confederation objected. Denmark persisted. In January, 1864, an army of Austrian and Prussian troops invaded the country. Resistance was determined but hopeless against such odds.
Denmark was forced out of the country in a few weeks, and in October ceded the duchies. After some disagree- ment between Austria and Prussia as to the disposition to be made of the conquest, Prussia took Schleswig and Austria Holstein. The immediate gain was very consider-
BISMARCK
370
Europe since 1815
[§§ 389, 390
Prussia
could not
unite
Germany
without first
overthrowing
Austria.
Careful preparation made for the war.
The odds
against
Prussia.
Fyffe,
Europe,
Chap.
XXIII.;
Miiller,
Recent
Times,
318-368;
able for Prussia and almost nothing for Austria. Still more important was the fact that this arrangement would be likely to afford grounds for a quarrel with Austria as soon as Prussia was ready for it.
389. War with Austria must come. — This conflict was a necessity, both for the realization of the plans of Prussia and of the hopes of German patriots. Prussia could not be the dominant power in the nation unless Austria were humbled. No national unity was possible so long as these rival powers stood upon an equal footing. All through the middle of the century public opinion in Germany had looked more hopefully to Prussia than to Austria as the power from which unity was to be expected. Lately, feeling had begun to turn against Prussia on account of the violence which the government had shown to the constitution and on account of its treatment of the Schleswig-Holstein question.
Bismarck made careful diplomatic preparation for the com- ing war. Measures were taken which it was hoped would secure the neutrality of Napoleon III. With Italy, which was more than willing from its eagerness to obtain Venice, a close alliance was made for the event of a war of either state with Austria. Immediately after the making of this treaty, Bismarck proposed to the Diet the calling of an assembly for a revision of the constitution of the Confeder- ation. This could only mean one thing, the formation of a new confederation without Austria. The Diet decided, how- ever, rather in favor of Austria. Thereupon Prussia formerly withdrew from the Confederation, and war began at once.
390. The " Seven Weeks' " War. — The war was a real civil war. On the side of Prussia were the small states of the north. But on the side of Austria all the south, and all the large states of the north, like Hanover, Saxony, Nassau, and the electorate of Hesse, whose governments had the most to fear from the designs of Prussia. The odds seemed to be against William and his minister, but the advantage of their thorough preparation was quickly manifest.
§§39J>3923 Results of the War for Austria 3/1
The war was soon over. It has been called the Seven Leger, Weeks' War. In three weeks, indeed, Austria had been so thoroughly beaten in the great battle of Koniggratz, or
Sadowa, in Bohemia, that no further resistance was for the ,
Austria moment possible, and the Prussian army reached the neigh- quickly
borhood of Vienna before an armistice was arranged through beaten, 1866 the mediation of Napoleon III. The allies of Austria could not hope to overcome Prussia alone, and were obliged to accept the result. The Italians had had no corresponding good fortune in their campaign. They had been beaten on land and at sea, but the destruction of the Austrian army at Sadowa had compelled the recall of her Italian troops and the abandonment of Venice.
391. The Results of the War for Germany. — The peace Prussian of Prague, which closed the war, did not create German annexations, unity, but it made its creation very easy on the next oppor- tunity. Austria withdrew from Germany. Prussia made
large annexations. Hanover, Nassau, Electoral Hesse, Schleswig-Holstein, and Frankfort were taken, and thus for the first time her provinces on the Rhine were connected by continuous territory with those in the east.
Then a new confederation was formed with the other The new North German states, a union whose constitution formed the foundation of that of the present German Empire. The foreign policy of the Confederation was to be under the control of Prussia, and its military resources in time of war. The large South German states, though not members of this confederation, in a short time made secret treaties with Prussia, by which their troops were to be placed under the command of the king of Prussia in case of war. It needed but slight changes to transform this arrangement into a federal state, the present Empire.
392. The Results of the War for Austria. — The with- The creation drawal of Austria from Germany did not constitute all the Hungary*" change which the war forced upon her. Venice was ceded under con- to Italy, and so that country advanced a step towards national stitutionai
. _ , , governments,
completeness. But also the spirit of race independence and
372
Europe since 1815
[§§ 393. 394
Leger,
Austro-
Hungary,
572-588.
A necessary war. Fyffe, Europe, Chap. XXIV.
Discontent in France.
of constitutional government triumphed elsewhere in the Empire. Francis Joseph had granted a constitution to the Empire, after the war with Italy and France in 1860, but it had been very imperfectly carried out. Now Hungary was created a separate kingdom, with its own constitution, minis- try, legislature, and local self-government. A similar consti- tution was also given Austria, and the two states were united in a kind of federal legislature for the consideration of com- mon aifairs. The day when the Bohemians and the other races under Austrian rule should obtain their local inde- pendence was postponed, but the way was made easier by what Hungary had gained.
393. The Franco-Prussian War desired by Both Govern- ments. — Another greater and more glorious war was to complete the process of nation making in Germany, the war with France. This was a war which seemed equally neces- sary to the governments of both countries. If Prussia needed it to complete the organization of the new Empire, Napoleon III. thought that by a victorious war with Prussia, whose growing power seemed a menace to France, he could strengthen his government.
Things had not been going well with the emperor of recent years. The failure of his attempt in Mexico to overthrow the republic and set up an empire under his pro- tection had reacted against him in France. The republican opposition was growing constantly stronger, not merely among the people, but in the legislature. The concessions which Napoleon made from time to time, going at last so far as to grant the responsibility of the ministry to the legis- lature, failed of their purpose — the conciliation of the oppo- sition. The republicans were glad to get anything they could, but they were not to be satisfied short of everything. A glorious foreign war, especially one against Prussia, would arouse the enthusiasm of the French and the memories of the first Empire, and secure the position of the Napoleonic dynasty for another generation.
394. The Pretext found for War. — When two countries
§§395>3963 The Course of the War 373
are anxious to go to war with one another, an excuse can A revolution soon be found, and the ostensible reason for the Franco- in Spain. Prussian War was a mere excuse. In 1868 the Spanish peo- Receni pie, tired of the rule of their Bourbon queen, Isabella, had Times, driven her out by a revolution, and had organized a republic. 409~417* But Spain was not yet able to govern herself under repub- lican forms, and in a few years they began to look about for some prince, not a Bourbon, who would rule as a constitu- tional sovereign.
Early in the summer of 1870, Prince Leopold, of the France younger Hohenzollern line, accepted the throne. At once caTnTn°'t allow
*, a Hohenzol-
.b ranee protested. It could not tolerate the reestabhshment lern in Spain, of the monarchy of Charles V. in favor of the Hohenzollerns. Prince Leopold withdrew his acceptance. France then de- The declara- manded of King William an assurance that the crown of !ion, °f^ar
in Schilling,
Spain should not be accepted at any future time. When Quellenbuch,
this was refused, relations were broken off and the war was 464- begun.
395. France began the War with False Hopes. — France Disap- immediately found herself disappointed and deceived in P°intedof more ways than one. She had expected that Austria and
the South German states would join in the war against Prussia, anxious to be revenged for their defeat in the last war. But Austria was held back by Russia, and the South German people proved themselves as enthusiastic and patri- otic as those of the north in resisting the hereditary enemy. The German nation was at last united.
France had believed also that everything was well pre- Deceived in pared in the way of war material and a well- organized and resard to hel disciplined army for a rapid advance into German territory. res0urces " On to Berlin " was the cry of the multitude. In this she was deceived. Nothing was ready. The German army was larger, in better order, and better handled. It was especially rapid in its attack, and there never was a moment when the French had the least chance of invading German soil.
396. The Course of the War. — Within two months the Napoleon great French armies which were to capture Berlin had-sur- ni. and his
374
Europe since 1815
[§396
armies surrend Miiller, Recent Times, 426-440.
The
republic proclaimed in Paris. Sept. 4, 1870.
rendered to the enemy. MacMahon was beaten in the great battle of Worth, and later his reorganized army was compelled to surrender at Sedan, where also the Emperor Napoleon, who had been present at the battle, sent his sword to "his brother" King William. Ba- zaine with the other great army held out for a few weeks longer in the fortress of Metz, and then surrendered also. In Paris on the news of Sedan the repub- lic had been pro- claimed and a pro- visional govern- ment of national defence had been organized. After an attempt to ne- gotiate with Bis- marck, the new government, which refused to pay the price of the cession of Al- sace and Lorraine which was de- manded for peace, deter- mined to go on with the war. Be- fore the end of September, hardly more than six GERMANIA NIEDERWALD MONUMENT weeks after the
first fighting, Paris was completely surrounded by the German lines.
§§397. 398] Alsace-Lorraine and Rome 375
The city made a brave defence. It endured a bombard- France ment of three weeks, and attempted in a desperate sortie to forced to break the siege lines. Outside the city also the efforts of the Bismarck's provisional government had no better result. Their armies terms. in the various provinces all met with defeat. Finally further resistance became hopeless, and an armistice was agreed upon at the end of January, 1871. A national assembly was elected which met in Bordeaux to arrange the terms of peace. France was obliged now to accede to Bismarck's demand and give up Alsace and Lorraine, to pay a large war indemnity, and to allow the German troops to hold a part of France until it was paid.
397. The Empire of Germany. — In demanding the ces- William I., sion of these provinces, Bismarck was hardly true to the emperor of
, . . . , . „ Germany.
principle of nationality to which he owed so much. For See on that principle had now completely triumphed in Germany, growth of On the i8th of January, in the hall of Louis XIV.'s palace at German .
J r unity to the
Versailles, the German Empire had been proclaimed with Empire. William I. as emperor, and all the States united under one Bryce, government. This triumph of the principle of nationality in Germany carried with it in form the triumph of constitutional 399-445. government, for the constitution of the Empire was that of a limited monarchy. But in practice the imperial ministries have not been responsible to the legislature, and the German people have still much to gain before they have entirely free government.
398. Alsace-Lorraine and Rome. — In the case of Alsace Aisace- and Lorraine, the territory had indeed at one time belonged Lorraine
rccillv 3,
to Germany. It had come into the possession of France forejgn at various times and in different ways. Some of it had conquest, been conquered by Louis XIV., and a part of this, like Strasburg, by a most violent and brutal disregard of law and right. But it had now become really French, and its representatives in the assembly made solemn protest against the cession. That it may in time become as truly German is likely, but its annexation by Germany, in which it was organized as a separate imperial territory, can
376
Europe since 1815
[§§399,400
Rome the capital of Italy.
The Commune.
The consti- tution very slowly created. Annals Am. Acad. Pol. and Social Science, Vol. VI., and Supplement, March, 1893.
National unity and constitu- tional governments.
hardly be regarded otherwise than as a conquest of force, like Louis XIV.'s.
The war had other consequences than the union of Ger- many. Napoleon could no longer protect the pope,, In September, 1870, the Italian troops entered Rome, and that city became the capital of united Italy. In France the re- sults were still more important. The despotism of the second Empire was at an end, and the third Republic was begun.
399. The Third Republic in France. — The way of the new republic was not easy at first. It had many dangers to overcome. The communistic party in Paris, which had aroused so much fear in the middle classes in 1848, had in- creased in strength. Now it rose in insurrection again, seized Paris, and held it several weeks, doing enormous damage before it could be subdued.
Throughout the whole of France the republic was hardly desired by the majority of the people, and progress in the formation of a final republican constitution was slow and cautious. It was five years before the legislature contained a republican majority, and it was some years more before the constitution was completed, and the country began to have confidence in the permanence of the government. The third Republic has now, however, passed through several severe crises in safety ; its legislatures and cabinets have shown themselves less subject to panic in times of threatened coup d'etat than was formerly the case with republican gov- ernments in France ; and the people seem to have acquired calmness and self-control and to be learning real self-gov- ernment. We may hope that France has at last obtained a free government by the people in the place of paternal despotism.
400. The Results of the Period in Europe at Large. — By the end of the Franco- Prussian War, in 1871, national unity had been secured by Italy and Germany, and all the coun- tries of Europe, except Russia, had gained constitutional government. These governments all follow more or less
§ 4oi]
The Eastern Question
377
closely the model of limited monarchy created by England, and where they are administered in the same spirit, as is nearly everywhere the case, they make, as the constitution of England does, a virtual republic.
M. THIERS
401. The Eastern Question. — During the last quarter More than a of the nineteenth century, the great interest of international century old- politics in Europe has been the " Eastern question." This question has troubled European diplomacy for more than a hundred years, and seems after all this time no nearer solution than at the beginning. The difficulty has not been The real to overthrow the Turk, for, if he had been left to himself, difficulty- his dominion would have ended long ago, but it has been to find a disposition of his territories which would satisfy all the interested parties. Russia, Austria, and England, on account of her possession of India, have all had an irn-
378
Europe since 1815
[§§ 402, 403
The results.
Its origin. See p. 402.
Mahmoud II.,
1808-1839.
The value
of reforms.
Fyffe,
Europe,
659-672;
Miiller,
Recent
Times,
155-159=
The inter- ference of Russia.
mediate concern in the result, and the other states have been indirectly interested not to allow too great an exten- sion of power to any one state.
The impossibility of reaching an agreement among the great powers, except for a small piece at a time, has kept the Turkish Empire a long time dying, and it has exposed the weaker Christian races left under its rule at different times to most barbarous atrocities ; but on the other hand, in a part of European Turkey, it has led to a recogni- tion, which would not otherwise have been made, of the principle of local self-government and of race indepen- dence.
402. The First Stages of the Question. — Near the close of the eighteenth century, as we have seen, Catherine II. had a plan for the disposition of European Turkey and thought that she was going to be able to carry it through with the aid of Austria, but the other powers stepped in and she was not allowed to complete the work. During the first third of the nineteenth century there was a considerable re- vival of strength in the Turkish Empire due to the vigor and ability of the sultan, Mahmoud II. During his reign occurred the revolt of the Greeks, but this would probably have been subdued by the Turks if Russia, England, and France had not taken part against them.
403. Rise of Egypt under Mehemet All. — At the same time there was in Egypt a most remarkable revival of Mohammedan power under the pasha, Mehemet Ali, one of the ablest men of his day. He began with well-considered political and military reforms in his own province, and appears to have been anxious to extend the benefit of these measures to the whole Empire, as the first minister of the sultan, with the hope of bringing back the great days of Turkish history.
He was opposed at Constantinople, however, and was at last obliged to make war on the sultan. His troops were at once successful, and conquered all Syria and a large part of Asia Minon Then Russia interfered, alarmed at his
§ 404] Preliminaries of Crimean War 379
growing power. In 1833 Mehemet All agreed to a peace with Turkey by which he was left in possession of Syria and a small portion of Asia Minor, Russia managing as usual to secure important advantages from the troubles of the suc- cessor of the prophet.
The sultan, however, did not propose to allow this Finally arrangement to stand, and six years later he attacked his too ambitious governor. Success was again on the side of Mehemet Ali, and again the intervention of Russia was necessary. But by this time the interest of other powers had been excited, particularly that of England, because she recognized, as Bonaparte had done, that the way of dan- gerous attack upon India lay through Egypt. Russia had to admit the intervention of England, Austria, and Prussia with her own. The allied powers attacked Syria. Mehemet Ali was of course compelled to submit. His conquests in Asia were taken from him, but he was allowed Egypt as a hereditary possession of his family, with local autonomy but under the suzerainty of Turkey. By another treaty the European powers guaranteed the integrity of the Turkish Empire.
404. The Preliminaries of the Crimean War. — If this Nicholas I. arrangement was for the purpose of putting Russia under r(j^™^the bonds not to proceed with her designs in regard to Turkey, Catherine II it had no more effect than such treaties usually do in simi- lar cases. In ten years' time Nicholas I. had resumed his plans, on a scale as extensive as those of Catherine II., and he hoped to succeed in alliance with England, as she had hoped to by the help of Austria and France. Egypt, which Catherine had offered to France, he offered together with Crete to England. He proposed to take the most of European Turkey and Constantinople himself. England refused the offer. Then he demanded of the sultan the protectorate of the Christians in Turkey, which in former times had been conceded to Russia by treaty and subse- quently withdrawn. On the refusal to grant this he began war.
38o
Europe since 1815
[§405
England and 405. The Crimean War (1854-1856). — This was the be- France make ginning of the Crimean War. His successes early demanded Russia. tne attention of England. Napoleon III. also had reasons of
Fyffe, his own for interference, and he was not sorry to have the
opportunity for a war. Later the king of Sardinia joined
Europe,
SEBASTOPOL
Times, 253-270-
Chap. XXI.; in the war and sent fifteen thousand men against the CZSiT' ^^ a^ies attac^e(^ southern Russia through the Black Sea, and thus forced the return of the Russian army from beyond the Danube. The chief event of the war was the siege of Sebastopol, which the Russians were finally obliged to yield. In the course of the war Nicholas I. died and the more liberal-minded Alexander II. came to the
§ 4°6] Russia again attacks' Turkey 381
throne. The peace of Paris in 1856 deprived Russia of her The terms right to maintain a fleet on the Black Sea, and of her pro- of Peace- tectorate of the Danubian principalities, Wallachia and Mol- davia. A short time afterwards these principalities were united to form that of Roumania with local independence on the payment of a tribute to Turkey.
The result of the Crimean War was, therefore, the intro- Theprinci- duction of the practice of forming little independent states pie of out of European Turkey, corresponding to the local division ^cognized of races, and this practice has since been carried much further. It placed a barrier of independent territory be- tween Russia and the Turkish Empire, and this result was no doubt more desired by the allied powers than any recog- nition of the principle of nationality ; but it is not to be regretted that diplomacy was for once on the side of the people.
406. Russia again attacks Turkey. 1877. — Alexander Aiexan- II. set free the serfs of Russia in 1863, but he had no in- Continues tention of abandoning the policy of his ancestors for aggran- Russia's dizement at the expense of Turkey. The Franco-Prussian P°licy- War gave him an opportunity of which he took advantage Europe, to recover the right to keep ships of war on the Black Chap. XXV Sea. Soon afterwards insurrections of the Christians be- gan in the Danube valley, which the Turks undertook to repress in their usual style with barbarous cruelties. The The Bui- Bulgarian massacres so excited the horror of Europe, es- Sanan
massacres.
pecially of England, that Russia believed she could venture to interfere.
The Turks made a most vigorous defence, especially at Russia the fortress at Plevna, under Osman Pasha, but he was obliged to surrender in December, 1877. The Russians Mtiller, now crossed the Balkans, and advanced to the neighborhood Recent of Constantinople. It was the plan of Alexander to form a great state under Russian protection of almost all the Euro- pean territories of Turkey, and to this the sultan consented in the treaty of San Stefano. This would never do for the interests of Austria and England. Lord Beaconsfield —
382
Europe since 1815
[§§ 407, 408
In general, Miiller, Recent Times,
547-5541 McCarthy, Our Own Times, II., Chap. LXV.
Russia.
Austria.
The Balkan
states.
Miller,
The Balkan
States
(Nations).
Russia not
entirely satisfied.
Disraeli — especially protested against it, and by the medi- ation of Bismarck a congress was called to meet at Berlin and make arrangements satisfactory to all.
407. The Treaty of Berlin. 1878. — The treaty of Berlin changed entirely the dispositions of that of San Stefano. Russia gained less, Turkey retained more, and at the same time the small states of the Danube valley obtained a more independent position. To Russia was given a strip of territory at the northwestern corner of the Black Sea, which carried her boundary once more to the northern mouth of the Danube, and in Asia an addition to her lands south of the Caucasus, including the cities of Kars and Batoum.
Austria was allowed the military occupation and adminis- tration of the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a virt- ual annexation. England, by an arrangement of its own with the sultan, took possession of Cyprus, engaging to pay over to Turkey the surplus revenue, and hoping to be able from there to watch and check the designs of Russia in western Asia.
Russia's great Balkan state was cut to pieces. Macedonia went back to Turkey and has remained under the sultan ever since. Bulgaria, between the Danube and the Balkans, was made a principality dependent upon Turkey, and the province south of the Balkans was left to Turkey, but was to have an independent administration under a Christian governor. The sultan agreed to make some small additions to Greece, and this was done a few years later. The older Danubian principalities, Roumania, Servia, and Montenegro, were made independent states.
408. Later History of the Balkan States. — This treaty, the most important step ever taken towards the settlement of the Eastern question, because it proceeded according to national lines, did not prove a final settlement because it did not go far enough. Russia was disappointed of the con- trolling influence which she hoped to exercise in Bulgaria, a strong party in that state favoring an independent national
3^4
Europe since 1815
[§409
Bulgaria • advancing.
Bulgaria's
independent
attitude.
The future of the Danube valley.
The
Armenian
massacres.
policy. In 1885 the South Balkan province, eastern Rume- lia, elected the prince of Bulgaria its governor. This was equivalent to an annexation, and Servia at once took arms to prevent it. But she proved no match in the field for Bulgaria, and was only saved from conquest by the interven- tion of the great powers. Rumelia has since remained under the prince of Bulgaria.
In 1886 the first prince of Bulgaria, Alexander of Batten- berg, who proved to incline too much to the national party, was forced by Russian intrigues to abdicate, but Russia was not strong enough to prevent the election of Prince Ferdi- nand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as his successor ; he accepted the position without the international sanction required by the treaty of Berlin, but has proved himself able to hold it.
These small Danubian states are constitutional monarchies, modelled on that of England, which are fairly well managed, and are very democratic in spirit. They have an intense national feeling, and are extremely jealous of one another. Each is eagerly hoping for some opportunity for expansion in the dissolution of the Turkish Empire, and each is watch- ing lest some one of the others should gain a premature advantage. What the final outcome will be, still remains as uncertain as ever, but it will hardly be possible for Europe, once having so clearly recognized the principle of nationality, to recede from it in the settlement of the future of European Turkey.
409. Later Phases of the Eastern Question. — After a few years pause, the Eastern question again advanced to a sharp crisis in another part of the Empire. Turkish passion — the passion of a dying race taking vengeance upon any of the races that are surplanting it which it still has in its power — broke out in fearful atrocities against the Christian Armeni- ans of Asia. The material for the history of this period is not yet accessible, but it seems evident that the jealousies of the great powers prevented the adoption of any effective check on the actions of the Turks, until their passion burned itself out.
§ 409] Later Phases of the Eastern Qtiestion 385
Early in 1897 the rather uncalculating anger of the Greek people forced that government into a war with Turkey, which proved in a few weeks disastrous to Greece. Her prepara- tions were insufficient, and her troops though brave were very poorly led. But for the intervention of the great powers she would have been obliged to agree to any conditions of peace demanded, and as it was the war proved a very costly experiment.
The Eastern question seems on the eve of leading to new and decisive events, which no one can foreshadow. But it is only one of the great unsettled problems in the political situation of the world with which the twentieth century will open, and which seem about to bring us very soon to mo- mentous issues.
War between Greece and Turkey.
The Eastern question but one of the problems of world politics.
Topics
The three lines of important changes in the nineteenth century. The purposes of the Holy Alliance, ostensible and real. The character of the early revolutionary movement. What were the events in Europe which led to the Monroe Doctrine? What led to the "July revolu- tion" in France? Its consequences in Europe. Character of the reign of Louis Philippe. The causes and character of the Revolution of 1848. The socialistic experiment and its outcome. The revolution in Austria. In Italy. The new policy of the House of Savoy. The movement in Germany. Attitude of the king of Prussia. Russia's policy towards free government. How was the second Empire estab- lished? The union of the cause of free government with that of nationality. Treatment of the national idea by the Congress of Vienna. The Greek war of independence. The independence of Belgium. The failure in 1848. The Zollverein. The Italian policy of Cavour. How did he win France":- The formation of the kingdom of Italy. The new policy of Prussia. The attitude of William and Bismarck towards the constitution. Prussia's first step — the quarrel with Denmark. Why was war with Austria necessary? How was it brought about? The character of the war. The new German confederation. Changes produced in the Austrian Empire. What advantages to the cause of constitutional government in Italy, Austria, and Germany? Why was Napoleon III. willing for a war with Germany? Why was Prussia also willing? What was the pretext for the war? How was France dis- appointed? The events of the war. What change of government in
386 Europe since 1815
France? In Germany? The terms of peace. The Alsace-Lorraine question. The constitution and condition of the third Republic in France. In what circumstances did the Eastern question first arise? What is the real question, and why is it difficult? Mehemet Ali, his plans and their outcome. The plans of Nicholas I. The allies in the Crimean War. The settlement at its close. The war of 1877. The treaty of Berlin. The recent history of Bulgaria. The situation at the close of the nineteenth century. What advantages to the principles of nationality and of free government from the changes in Turkey ?
Topics for Assigned Studies
European politics and the Monroe Doctrine. Fyffe, Europe, Chap. XIV.
Miiller, Recent Times, 23-62. Am. Hist. Leaf., No. 4. Old South,
No. 56. The Bulgarian massacres. Miiller, Recent Times, 505-517. McCarthy,
Our Own Times, II., 591-595. Fyffe, Europe, in Chap. XXV.
CHAPTER VII
ANGLO-SAXON EXPANSION AND THE GROWTH OF WORLD POLITICS
410. Europe no longer the Stage of History. — Tradition- The globe ally the politics of the continent of Europe, the international ]a°ger than relations of the great powers, are the controlling factors in Europe in diplomacy. Men find it still difficult to believe that this is l8oa
no longer so, but in reality the nineteenth century has wrought a great change. The interest of most nations is now turned far more to other continents than to Europe. The whole world is now the field of active diplomacy, and with the vast improvements in means of intercommunication and the transmission of news, the globe is no larger than the con- tinent of Europe was when the nineteenth century opened. Its remotest inhabited parts are about as easily reached and controlled as the remotest portions of Europe a hundred years ago.
411. The Occupation of the World. — Germany, France, All the great and England have divided Africa between them. Russia JJ?^5 has stretched over the whole of central and northern Asia, interested. English territory has been greatly extended in southern
Asia. At the eastern end of that continent, Japan has sud- denly risen to be a power of the first rank, and there is now as much doubt and eager jealousy over the ultimate disposi- tion to be made of China as there ever was over that of Turkey. Off to the south of Asia a new English nation has grown up in Australasia, soon to be of the first rank, and already greatly interested in the settlement of Oriental ques- tions.
387
388
Anglo-Saxon Expansion
[§412
The United States a world power.
World politics the work of the Anglo- Saxon.
Transporta- tion.
Australia then unoccu- pied. Captain Cook. Story, British Empire, II. 216-222 ; Cassell's National Library, No. 40.
In America the whole northern continent has become Anglo-Saxon, and in the last half of the century the United States has seemed to be developing a claim to a controlling interest in the South American states which alone would bring it directly into the field of world diplomacy, but by its annexation of Hawaii, and by the results of its successful war with Spain, the United States has definitely taken its place as one of the great powers of the world, and will find in the end its interests immediately involved in the settle- ment of some of the Oriental problems, both in the disposi- tion of China and in that of the great island region of the south seas.
In this bringing of the world under civilized control, and making it into a closely connected system in which every power must play its part, the Anglo-Saxon race has led. Its expansion began indeed long before the present century and has continued without a check, if we leave the American Revolution out of account, as should be done from the present point of view.
412. Australia the First Step. — It was the loss of the thirteen colonies, indeed, that led immediately to the first step of a new expansion. At the end of the eighteenth cen- tury it was still believed that, in practice as well as in theory, the best disposition which could be made of the criminal class was to send them into the colonies to begin life over again. Up to this time England had used the Ameri- can colonies for this purpose, but she could do so no longer. It was necessary to find a new place of transportation.
For about thirty years both England and France had had Australia in mind. Captain Cook had visited the east shores of the island soon after the conclusion of the Seven Years' War, and had taken possession of the country, which he named New South Wales for England. Neither France nor England had made any actual settlement there, however, up to this time, and it would very likely have remained still longer unoccupied, in the rush of events which followed the French Revolution, if it had not been for this need on the
1 1
390
Anglo-Saxon Expansion [§§4*3? 4*4
The settle- ment of Botany Bay. Story, British Empire, II. 223-229. Becke,
A First Fleet Family (novel).
Expansion in
Australia.
Story,
British
Empire,
Bk. IV.,
Chap. IV.;
Payne,
Colonies,
165-176.
The place of
the thirteen
colonies
filled.
Tregarthen,
Australasia
(Nations) ;
Jenks,
Australian
Colonies
(Cambridge
Hist. Series).
Transporta- tion abandoned.
part of England. She determined to found a new penal colony and occupy a new region at the same time.
413. Early History of Australia. — Preparations with this object in view were almost immediately begun on the con- clusion of peace in 1783, and the first expedition was sent out in 1787. This consisted of about a thousand persons, the convicts and their guards included, but there were no real colonists among them. It was several years before the settlement, known as Botany Bay, became anything more than a kind of open-air prison, and certainly those who de- termined upon the first occupation of Australia had no vision of the unparalleled development of the country in a hundred years.
The first step forward was the introduction of grazing, especially of sheep raising, about twenty years after the first occupation. This was soon followed by the opening up of the interior, and by the founding of new settlements. Tasmania was occupied in 1803. Victoria was settled in 1834 and became a part of New South Wales. New Zealand was taken possession of by a free colony from England just as it was on the point of being occupied by the French in 1839. South Australia was also founded by free settlers from England in 1836, and West Australia in 1829.
414. A New English Nation. — Before this last date the great island continent had come to take the place once held by the American colonies as a field for emigration, and to be looked upon as a future home of one branch of the English race. About the time of the founding of these last colonies a new method of disposing of the public lands was adopted, by which they were sold at good prices and the proceeds used in bringing out other settlers. This proved for a time very successful, and nearly all the colonies ad- vanced rapidly in population and wealth. By 1835 tney numbered together 80,000.
As the free settlers became numerous and new ones be- gan to come in large numbers, the colonies very naturally began to object to being used any longer as a dumping
§ 415] England in the French Revolution 391
ground for English criminals. It was not easy to persuade the home government to give up this practice so useful to the mother country, and language of considerable violence was used in some of the colonies before they accomplished their purpose, but within a few years transportation was given up to all the colonies except to West Australia, which re- quested that criminals might still be sent on account of the scarcity of laborers. It was finally abandoned there in 1860.
415. England in the Wars of the French Revolution. — Scarcely had the occupation of Australia begun when England was led into the wars which grew out of the French Revolution. For her these wars, as all wars had now been for a hundred years, were chiefly colonial and commercial wars. There was some real ground for fearing that the new enthusiasm of the French nation might lead them to try to reconstruct their naval power and their colonial empire. This became especially the case when in 1795 Holland was practically absorbed in the French republic. This would give them at once a considerable reinforcement of their navy and a most valuable foundation of empire in the East Indies. England at once blockaded the Dutch fleet, and with quick blows took possession of most of the Dutch and French colonies, including the Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon.
The danger became still more acute on Bonaparte's occu- pation of Egypt. Could he succeed in establishing a strong French power there, England's hold upon India would be at once shaken. But the fatal weakness of his plans was that he could not command the sea. Nelson's victory in the battle of the Nile shut him up as closely as if he were on an island, and it was by good fortune only that he got back to France at all. The war in India in which he had hoped that Tippoo Sahib with French aid would overthrow the Eng- lish was not successful, though it was no easy task to bring it to an end. It served rather to extend the British domin- ion. Here it was that Wellington as a young officer served his apprenticeship in the art of war. In a series of wars
The danger to the
Empire from France. Payne, Colonies, Chap. X.
Bonaparte in Egypt.
Expansion in India. Story, British Empire, II, 242-253.
392
Anglo-Saxon Expansion [§§ 4*6, 4*7
England's conquests 'surrendered.
Napoleon saw the importance of colonial power.
Napoleon
determines
to occupy
Louisiana
and the
Northwest.
Adams,
History
United
States
(Scribner),
I., Chaps.
XIV.-XVII.
The
Louisiana purchase, 1803.
before the fall of Napoleon the strong Mahratta tribes of south central India were subdued and the Empire greatly enlarged and strengthened.
In the peace of Amiens, in 1802, England showed that she had looked upon the war as chiefly a defensive one, for of all her extensive conquests, of which she could have kept anything that she pleased, she retained only Ceylon from Holland, and the West India island of Trinidad from Spain.
416. Napoleon's Attempt at Colonial Empire. — Napoleon appears to have realized that France could become perma- nently the leader of the world only by a reconstruction of her colonial empire. He realized also that the greatest obstacle in the way was the power of England. England, on her side, saw the great danger with which she was threat- ened by the genius of Napoleon. As a natural result they were irreconcilable enemies. When the war opened once more, in less than two years after the peace of Amiens, it never paused again between them though all other nations made peace.
The second attempt which Napoleon made in the direc- tion of colonial dominion, immediately after this peace of Amiens was concluded, was a most promising one, and it threatened the American half of the Anglo-Saxon race with as serious a danger as the English. His recovery of Louisi- ana from Spain, and his attempt to obtain in San Domingo a base of operations for its occupation and colonization, seemed about to be successful. But the first expedition was fatally weakened by the yellow fever, and the immediate breaking out of the European war prevented any renewal of the attempt. It led, however, indirectly, to one of the greatest extensions of Anglo-Saxon territory made during the century.
417. The Expansion of the United States. — The United States was more immediately interested in the growth of a great French dominion west of the Mississippi than England even. Before the practical failure of the attempt was known, the plans of Bonaparte had aroused some excitement, and
§ 4J8J Expansion of the United States 393
steps to protect American interests had been determined upon. Bonaparte seems to have known, however, that to keep this territory in the hands of France after the war began was simply to make a present of it to England, since there was no French naval force to protect it, and conse- quently the American envoys to Paris found him willing to sell it all to the United States as if he supposed her to be as great an enemy of England as himself. The bargain was soon made. The enormous advantages offered, and the inborn Anglo-Saxon trait of acquisitiveness overruled the constitutional objection of no power expressly granted the general government to make annexations, although the party of strict construction was in power, and the area of the United States was doubled.
Already the United States had become a great colonizing The coioni- nation. Settlement after settlement had been made in the zatlonofthe region beyond the Alleghanies. In the northwest ordinance of 1787, for the government of territories and their admis- sion into the Union on the same footing as the original states, a most wise arrangement had been adopted for the management of colonies and the securing of their allegiance to the home country. Already by the time of the Louisiana purchase, four new states had come into the Union and others rapidly followed. Not long afterwards a second im- Florida> portant annexation was made in the purchase of Florida 1819. from Spain, a sale to which Spain was practically forced by methods of a somewhat unneighborly character.
418. The English Empire in the Napoleonic Period. — In England" the war which began in 1803 between England and Napoleon, the occurrences of the earlier war were repeated. England took possession of the French and Dutch colonies, and main- tained an indisputable command of all oceans. The short and The War indecisive war which was fought during this period between l812" England and the United States, growing out of the harshness with which England, exercised the rights which she claimed over neutral commerce and to the compulsory service of her own seamen wherever found, though it showed the
394
Anglo-Saxon Expansion
English annexations in 1815.
American navy to be worthy of its parentage, served only to perpetuate and intensify the bitterness of feeling between the two nations. In this respect the United States was serv- ing well the purposes of Napoleon.
At the close of the war, England retained in addition to her annexations at the peace of Amiens, the Cape of Good Hope, a part of Dutch Guiana, and a few small French
Story, British Empire, II., 304-317.
The impor- tance of the Cape Colony. Lucas, Historical
DURBAN, NATAL
islands- For the territories taken from Holland, England made a large payment in compensation.
Of all the gains of England since the occupation of Aus- tralia, the Cape Colony was by far the most important. Holding a strategic position unequalled by any other land in the world, commanding the passage from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, a vitally necessary connecting link in a world empire, a half-way house between England and both India
§ 419] The Expansion of Canada 395
and Australia most conveniently situated for supplying and re- Geography, fitting ships, and, finally but by no means the least important, IV-; ,T^a!'
J J . South Africa
an opening which would render easy the occupation of the (Nations), best portions of the continent behind it, the colony was of far greater value than its area indicated or its stage of develop- ment at the time.
419. The Expansion of Canada. — During these years the Slow but population of Canada had steadily increased, though not steady with the phenomenal rapidity of Australia or the United lourinot, States. As a result of the American Revolution there was Canada a large immigration of families devoted to the old govern- (Natlons)- ment, known at the time as United Empire Loyalists. Slowly, also, Canada began to attract immigrants from Great Britain, and these were usually of a very good class. By 1815 there was a European population in British North America of about half a million.
As the English population and the wealth of the country The govern- increased an agitation began to secure more complete self- ment of government. A constitution had been granted Canada in Roberts' 1791 by the ministry of the younger Pitt which was based History of on the English constitution of the time. In imitation of the Canada
(Lamson),
monarchical and aristocratic elements in the government of 210-213. England, which were then in supreme control, the power in Canada was placed in the hands of the governor sent by the cabinet in London and in an appointive upper house. As the English at home were at this time hardly conscious of the principle of ministerial responsibility to Parliament, as they came to be fifty years later, there was no suggestion made that this practice should be allowed in Canada.
The debate in Parliament upon the grant shows that it An aristo-
was the conscious intention of everybody to create an aristo- cratic
, , . , , .„ government
cratic government for these colonies, and this the bill cer- tainly did. There was clear evidence in the history of the earlier English colonies in America to show that such a gov- ernment would result in serious discontent and strife. But those who framed and discussed this bill do not seem to have thought of referring to colonial experience for instruction.
396
Anglo-Saxon Expansion [§§42°>42i
A thirty
years'
conflict.
Roberts,
Canada,
Chaps.
XVIII. and
XIX.
The English government afraid of the conse- quences.
The Cana- dians win their cause by gradual steps. Roberts, Canada, Chap. XX.
420. The Struggle for Self-government, — The conflict to secure a change began in less than twenty years after the framing of the government, and it continued for thirty years before it was successful. The ultimate object aimed at was the control of the government by the lower house of the legis- lature, the immediate representatives of the people. In character it resembles in an interesting way the much longer struggle in the old country to secure the same result, and also that in both earlier and later English colonies where the same thing had to be done. The chief weapon employed until near the close of the conflict was the old constitutional expedient of withholding the supplies, and trying to coerce the government through its financial needs.
The government in England, whether the Tory party or the Whig was in office, was extremely reluctant to make the changes desired. The first effect of the American Revolu- tion upon the ruling class in England had been to create a fear of independence in the case of their other colonies, and to lead to a resolve to hold them in, politically, with as tight a rein as possible. As the agitation in Canada increased, this fear was repeatedly expressed by the leaders of both parties. To yield to their demands would, it was thought, only lead to other demands and to final independence. There was at that time very little understanding in England, even among the officers directly connected with the colonial department, of the conditions or feelings of the colonists, and in view of this ignorance their fear of the result of yielding was not unnatural.
421. Canada opens the Way for Colonial Self-govern- ment.— In 1837 came the appeal of a part of the Cana- dians to arms. The rebellion was soon put down, but it made an impression in England. In the next year Lord Durham was sent out to make a careful examination of the situation. His report was published early in 1839, and is a most remarkable document. It had a large share in bringing about the great revolution in English public opinion regarding the colonies which takes place in the next twenty years. By 1840 the home government had become con-
§ 422] A Great Change in English Methods 397
vinced that the effect of granting concessions could not be worse than that of withholding them, and concessions ac- cordingly began. These led in a few years to full ministe- rial responsibility and to all the colonists had desired, and England quickly discovered that instead of independence there resulted a deeper and truer loyalty.
422. A Great Change in English Methods of Colonial Gov- Complete ernment. — This was the beginning of a great revolution in j^ence'in English colonial government which is one of the most re- the great markable facts of the history of the nineteenth century. The colonies, revolution was not wrought at once. Ten years later the introduction, Australian colonies found some of the old difficulties in 118-137. the way of their securing full self-government, but they were far more easily overcome. Ten years later still the change was complete. Since then England has cordially granted complete local independence to every colony when it reaches a stage of development in which it can wisely exercise it. The Australian colonies and New Zealand, Cape Colony and the Dominion of Canada, are, for almost all purposes, as independent as the United States. Their subjection to the home government in foreign affairs, the chief item in which they are not independent, has been of great advan- tage to them both in actual protection and in saving the cost of preparations for national defence.
The causes of this important revolution are more than The causes one. It has been erroneously attributed to the influence °^thls
change.
of the American Revolution, but a study of the Canadian Adams, struggle shows clearly that the effect of the independence of Kept. Am. the thirteen colonies was rather the opposite. The chief Jg"6' j ssn" cause was no doubt the discovery that the grant of local self- 373-389. government did not result in independence, but rather in strengthening the real bonds of connection. This cause was greatly aided by the adoption of free trade in commerce, by the rapid growth of democratic sentiment, by a more general popular interest in colonial affairs and understanding of them, and finally after the change had begun by a more correct reasoning about the American Revolution.
398
Anglo-Saxon Expansion [§§423*424
Texas and the Mexican War.
One-third the United States annexed, 1848.
The dis- coveries of gold,
1848-1851. Story, British Empire, Bk. IV., Chap. VII.
423. A Second Great Annexation by the United States. —
At just about the time when this change began in England's method of governing her colonies, when the Canadian peo- ple secured control of their government, the United States made a second great annexation of territory. The Mexican state of Texas had received a considerable immigration from the neighboring states of the Union. In 1835 it declared its independence of Mexico and was soon after admitted into the Union. Then arose the question of the correct boundary line between Texas and Mexico, and this disagree- ment was pushed on rapidly to open war, as we now know, with deliberate intention on the part of the American leaders in the hope of conquest.
The war was soon decided. Mexico had no power of resistance either in army or resources. In the end she ceded to the United States her northern territories, down to the mouth of the Rio Grande and to the head of the Gulf of California, an area, if Texas be included, equal to one-third the present United States. The result was no doubt of the greatest value to the territories in question and to civiliza- tion in general, but it should be remembered that the process did not differ materially from that which we are disposed to criticise when employed by other strong peoples in absorb- ing the lands of their weaker neighbors.
424. Gold in California and Australia. — Hardly was the Mexican War concluded, and this great territory transferred from the Latin to the Anglo-Saxon race, when there came the rich discoveries of gold in California in 1848. These were followed three years later still by similar discoveries in Australia. The result in both countries was the same, — an era of enormously rapid increase of population and of wealth,
— for although many of the miners returned to their old homes taking their gold with them, a large proportion remained in the country and aided in its development in other directions with the products of their mining.
The population of Victoria, in which the best mines were situated, more than doubled in two years, and was multiplied
§ 425] A Theory of Imperial Dissolution
399
by four in four years. In California the same increase took Unparalleled place, and, though this rate could not be maintained, the next increase of thirty years saw a development of population and wealth in the western regions of the Union and in Australasia unparalleled in history. In 1861 Australasia had a population of thirteen
SUITER'S MILL
Where gold was first discovered in California
hundred thousand. In 1891 this had grown to almost four millions. Since 1891 both these countries have suffered from financial depression and growth has been more slow. As the century closes signs are evident of returning prosperity.
425. A Theory of Imperial Dissolution. — About the year The argu-
1870 a new era opened in the history of the British Empire. ment fo[
dissolution At that time a movement towards imperial federation begar
4QO
Anglo-Saxon Expansion
[§426
leads to the idea of federation.
The
Manchester
school.
Cobden,
Speeches, I.,
486.
Goldwin
Smith,
The Empire
(Lond.).
The Liberals rather dis- posed to hasten the dissolution, 1869.
which has not as yet led to the exact result intended, but has led to others of hardly less importance. It began as a re- action against theories of a contrary sort. The generation of English statesmen, who then had charge of public affairs, had been brought up in the idea that all the colonies were des- tined to eventual independence, and could only be retained by England up to a certain stage of development. The growth of this idea had been much encouraged by the teach- ings of the Manchester school of political economists, under the lead of Richard Cobden.
The fundamental principle of this school was complete freedom from government interference in every direction. As applied to the colonies this meant liberty to sever their connection with England whenever they should think their interests demanded the separation, with no resistance or ob- jection on the part of the home government. Cobden had taught, indeed, that the care of the colonies was far too ex- pensive a burden to be borne, and that whatever advantage was derived from them would not be lost when England's active assistance was withdrawn from them. This teaching was greatly reenforced about 1860, and extended to an argu- ment for the breaking of all political connection by a series of most vigorous and effective letters to a London daily paper from Professor Goldwin Smith of Oxford, immedi- ately collected into a book.
426. Gladstone's Ministry ready to let the Colonies go. -These ideas had an especial influence upon the leaders of the Liberal party who were in power under Mr. Gladstone from 1868 on. Their practical effect was to make the gov- ernment entirely indifferent to a breaking off of the political connection between the mother country and the colonies, if not willing to bring it about. This feeling was plainly enough indicated by the ministry to New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada. On the other hand, the colonies were not in the least disposed to seek independence or to be forced into it, and some of them threatened to seek the protection of the United States, should England refuse hers.
§ 427 j The Imperial Federation Movement 4O1
The feeling of the colonies was, however, speedily reflected The colonies by the feeling in England, and the mass of the people soon *"|jo*e made it evident that the current theories no more repre- determined sented their opinion than they did colonial opinion. There to maintain was no desire on the part of the nation to force the colonies * into an unwilling independence; the desire was rather to draw the bonds of union closer if this could be done in any wise way. The government reversed its action as soon as See leader, the nature of public opinion became evident, and the crisis, ^^^ which had been sharp for a few weeks, was over. May 21, 1870.
427. The Imperial Federation Movement. — Out of the First definite feeling excited at this time grew the Imperial Federation proposal. Movement. The first definite proposal of such an organi- p0 zation for the Empire was made early in 1870, just as Review, Jan. the ministry was changing its policy. The progress of the and APr- movement was at first slow. It was five years before the idea was taken up by any statesman of prominence. About 1880 it began to make converts more rapidly, owing to a variety of disasters which seemed to be threatening the English dominion in different parts of the world.
In 1884 the Imperial Federation League was organized The in England, having among its officers and members many *mPerial of the leaders of both political parties, and for its purpose League, the promotion of such a union of the mother country and her colonies. After attracting wide attention to the subject, and publishing a considerable literature in its favor, the League was disbanded in 1893 in favor of other methods of advancing the cause.
In the colonies the movement never has found even so Results of the much support as at home, and the practical objections to movement- any actual imperial federation seem at present insuperable. But there has undoubtedly resulted a much greater general interest in the imperial connection, and a far better under- standing at home of the colonial feeling and in the colonies of the home feeling. The bond of connection is known to be much stronger than was once believed, and no one now looks forward to a time of certain colonial independence.
402
Anglo-Saxon Expansion [§§ 428, 429
The occupa- tion of Asia and Africa.
Gradual expansion in India. Frazer, British India (Nations).
The Sepoy mutiny, 1857. Steel,
On the Face of the Waters ; Chesney, The
Dilemma (novels).
The
"scientific
frontier."
On the whole in the native interest. Frazer, British India, Chap. XVI,
428. Expansion of English Dominion in India. — While these events were taking place in the purely Anglo-Saxon world, the two largest of continents, which until the nine- teenth century had lain nearly always outside the current of history, had been opened up to European enterprise, and almost entirely seized upon by the different European states in their rivalry for colonial empire.
The occupation of Asia was the first to begin. At the opening of the century England already had the possession of India well begun, and Russia had Siberia in the north. After the conquests made during the Napoleonic wars, small additions continued to be made to British territory in India, the most important being that of the Punjaub just before the middle of the century. In 1857 came the great Sepoy mutiny in north central India, due partly to dislike of the British rule, of whose good effects the natives were as yet hardly conscious, and which was indeed often unnecessarily harsh, partly to superstitious dislike of the greasy cartridges served to the troops and partly to ambitious intrigues of rulers not reconciled to the loss of irresponsible power. The early stages of the mutiny, before the English could organize defence or attack, are filled with horrors ; but it was overcome in a few months after the first surprise had passed.
In more recent times the fear occasioned by the steady advance of the Russians in central Asia, has led to a gradual extension of the English occupation to the north and west, in the search for a " scientific frontier," that is one which will admit of easy defence against attack. To protect the exposed western flank, the large territory of Baluchistan has been occupied, so that now England controls all central Asia south of Persia, Afghanistan, and China.
429. The Character of the English Government of India. — The British rule in India, though marked by cases of ex- treme selfishness and of harsh and overbearing conduct on the part of individuals, especially in its earlier periods, is on the whole and in its general results the most remarkable case in modern history, if not in the whole history of the
§§ 430, 43 0 The Results in Asia 4°3
world, of the wise and considerate administration of a sub- ject country in the best interests of the native population. The most intelligent of the natives are coming to recognize this more and more, and there is now forming in India a feeling of patriotism and loyalty to the Empire which prom- ises the most happy results, if the swift progress of events allows it time to strengthen itself as it should.
430. Russian Expansion in Asia. — From very early times Early plans the Russians have possessed dominion over the north of Asia. asainst Siberia formed a part of the empire of Peter the Great, and
his plans of conquest included Asia. The Russian advance has been steady for two centuries, though much more rapid in recent times. Even before the time of Napoleon the Russians began to consider the possibility of striking Eng- land a hard blow through India, in case of a war between the two countries, and twice during the Napoleonic wars the project was seriously discussed, and once an army was actu- ally started to begin the invasion.
Although the Russian occupation of central Asia- seems on The methods the surface to have been often the result of accident, and of oi Russian the irresponsible action of military officers, there is perfectly curzone' evident behind all the systematic purpose of the government. Russia in The action of the officer in the field may be disavowed, but c(^al Asia the annexation which he makes is always preserved. Very mans). possibly the desire of conquest has had less to do with this than two other reasons, — the natural tendency of every great empire to expand, and the military purpose of getting within striking distance of India. With the authorities in the field and in the government directly concerned with the adminis- tration of Asia, this last has probably been the most influen- tial motive.
431. The Results in Asia. — All central and northern Asia The Russian is now Russian. China, Afghanistan, and Persia are the only and English independent territories remaining between the two European empires. Since the recent annexation of the Pamir district
by Russia, there is at that point only a very narrow strip of neutral land, which belongs to Afghanistan, between the
404
Anglo-Saxon Expansion [§§432>433
The problem now more complicated.
The work
of twenty
years.
Keltie,
The Partition
of Africa
(Lond.).
Explorations.
The Congo Free State. Keltie, Partition, Chap. XIV.
France.
rival frontiers. The struggle of these great powers in Asia threatens the continued existence of Persia and Afghanistan, and even of China, as the most recent events show.
The entry of other European nations into the rivalry in the further Orient, like France and Germany, and the sudden rise of Japan to a position of the first rank, with especial in- terest in the solution which is to be found for this far Eastern question, are only likely to push events with greater rapidity, and to lead to less satisfactory and less permanent results than would be produced by a more moderate procedure.
432. The Occupation of Africa. — In the occupation of Africa the rivals of the English have been the Germans and the French, and the greater part of the process has taken less than twenty years. Neither the conquest of the Cape Colony at the begin- ning of the century, nor that of Algiers by the French about thirty years later, was followed by any noteworthy expansion. In the third quarter of the century general interest in the " dark continent " was aroused by numerous expeditions for scientific explorations, for which the name of Livingstone especially stands ; but these led to no further results until Stanley's famous journey across the continent from east to west, which laid open the course of the Congo River as a great highway into the interior. This awakened the eager desire of several European states to get possession of the commercial advantages which the control of this river would insure, and finally, as a kind of compromise, to the organiza- tion of the Congo Free State, open to the commerce of the world, but under the sovereignty of the king of the Belgians.
433. The General Scramble. — This was in the year 1884, but in the meantime the general scramble had begun. France made the first move in the expedition of De Brazza in 1880 and 1881, by which a large territory on the north bank of the Congo was taken possession of so effectively that it was recognized as French when the Congo Free State was organized. Germany followed immediately the exam- ple thus set. In 1883 some Germans who were nominally
§434] The English Occupation of .Egypt 405
private adventurers seized a portion of the coast in south- Germany, western Africa, and this was in a few months developed into Keltie. a German protectorate over an extensive territory in that chapYxiL region. This part of Africa had always been regarded by the English colonists of the Cape as within their proper con- trol, but the home government had steadily refused the re- quests of the colony to annex it formally, and now proved unwilling to sustain the colonists against the claims of Ger- many.
These cases illustrate the methods followed by all the na- Africa now dons of Europe from this time on. Germany settled in the nearly a11
, . occupied.
same way upon several points of the coast, on both the east and west sides of the continent. France formed and has steadily followed the plan of connecting her various colonies by means of annexations in the interior. England pushed rapidly north from the Cape Colony until she now has pos- session of all the best portions of the interior, and she also considerably enlarged both her west and east African terri- tories. Italy saw with jealousy but was not able to prevent the French occupation of Tunis, and has tried with but little success to found a colonial dominion of her own in eastern Africa in the neighborhood of Abyssinia. Portugal and Spain, whose African possessions date from a much earlier period, have been left behind by the rush of these events and have now no opportunity for expansion.
434. The English Occupation of Egypt. — In Egypt the A joint extravagance of the khedive, Ismail Pasha, especially after administra- the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, threw the finances of England and the country into disorder, and gave an opportunity for the France, joint interference of France and England in 1879 in the inter- McCarthy, est of the holders of the debt. There was much opposition from r§§0 in the country, however, to this arrangement, and in 1882 an (Harper), insurrection broke out under Arabi Pasha. The French Chap' VL government sent orders to their fleet not to interfere, but the English bombarded Alexandria and put down the insurrection. Since that time England has had virtual possession of the England country, though her position is not formally recognized by alone.
406
Anglo-Saxon Expansion
A Moham- medan revival.
the European powers0 Her rule has been of the greatest benefit to the population and is rapidly developing the re- sources of the State.
435. The Insurrection of the Mahdi. — At about the same time with the insurrection of Arabi Pasha, the equatorial or upper Nile provinces of Egypt were swept by a flood of
McCarthy, Our Times from 1880, 134 ff.
KHARTUM
fanatical Mohammedanism, a revival of primitive religious enthusiasm led by the Mahdi, or the prophet. General Gordon attempted to check its advance at Khartum, but was killed in 1885, and the Egyptian Soudan became indepen- dent. The early attempts of the English to recover posses- sion of the provinces were unsuccessful, and only in 1897 did their real reoccupation begin, completed in the following year by the capture of Khartum.
The reconquest of the Soudan was no doubt stimulated
§436J The Anglo-Saxon Race 407
somewhat by the movements of the French towards the Rivalry for upper Nile from the western Soudan, which appeared to thfuPPer be directed to the establishment of a connection between the French possessions in West and those in East Africa. These movements threatened the connection on their side which the English had long been planning to bring about through the centre of Africa between the Cape Colony and Egypt.
In area the French possess by far the largest share of England has Africa, but neither their possessions nor those of the Ger- thebestof mans equal those of the English in resources or in adapta- bility to European colonization.
436. The Anglo-Saxon Race in the World. — The position The greatest which the Anglo-Saxon race now occupies in the world, if its world emPire two halves be taken together, is one which no other race has General ever held before or holds at present. Of the five continents, sketch, it possesses the whole of one, North America, all the por- ^u^s: ..
Introduction,
tions best suited to European residents of another, Africa, 101-107; and exceedingly rich and populous portions of a third, Asia, Adams, and in addition the whole of a great islan'd continent, Aus- ^^My tralia, which is as thoroughly Anglo-Saxon as England itself. Apr. 1897. It holds one-fifth the area, one-fourth the population, and one-third the wealth of the whole globe. It is externally in every sense of the word a world empire, and internally it represents the highest point yet reached by mankind in political and civil liberty and economic freedom.
This proud position which our race occupies has excited The future of the jealousy of more than one of the others, and within re- *he rac<~ .
. 1*1-1 c demands its
cent years signs have been multiplying that some or them at union in least are only awaiting a favorable opportunity to attempt the policy, dismemberment of the Anglo-Saxon Empire. With the race ^^lish united in a common policy of defence, it would seem cer- People, iv., tain that no combination of other nations likely ever to be 266-271. formed against it could succeed in destroying, or even in dividing, its empire. That the Anglo-Saxon race has a heri- tage from the past in its system of free government worth defending wherever it exists, and a civilization worth pre-
408 Anglo-Saxon Expansion
serving for the future, are conclusions to which the study of our history can hardly fail to lead us.
Topics
What led to the occupation of Australia? How was it changed into a colony proper? Its early growth. How was the French Revolution dangerous to the English empire? What were Bonaparte's ideas of colonial empire? How illustrated in Egypt? In America? What was the final result in both cases? England's colonial gains from the Napoleonic wars. The importance of the Cape Colony. Pitt's Cana- dian government. Canada's struggle for self-government. Of what value to the other colonies. England's present method of governing great colonies. The second great annexation by the United States. Results of the gold discoveries. Theory about the Empire held in England between 1850 and 1870. How did this lead to the imperial federation idea? English expansion in India. Character of the Ind- ian government. Russian advance in central Asia. What awakened the first interest of Europe in Africa? The Congo Free State. The beginning of the scramble. The present occupation of Africa. Eng- land in Egypt. The question of the upper Nile.
Topics for Assigned Studies
The Sepoy mutiny. Frazer, British India, Chap. XIV. McCarthy. Our Own Times, II., Chaps. XXXII.-XXXV. Malleson, The Indian Mutiny, (Scribner.)
Present government of English colonies. Payne, Colonies and Depen- dencies. (English Citizen Series. Macmillan.) Canada. Text of Act of Parliament, 1867. Roberts, Canada, 443-476.
Important Dates for Review
EUROPEAN POLITICS
1787. Australia occupied. 1789. Estates general meet in France.
1803. Louisiana purchase. 1804. Napoleon I., emperor.
1815. Holy Alliance.
1819. Florida purchase. 1821. The Greek insurrection.
1823. The Monroe Doctrine. 1830. The July revolution in Paris.
ANGLO-SAXON EXPANSION
1815. Cape Colony annexed.
Important Dates for Review
409
EUROPEAN POLITICS
1848. Revolutions throughout Eu- rope.
1851. Napoleon III., emperor. 1854. Crimean War.
g/r ( Kingdom of Italy formed.
( William I., king of Prussia. 1864. War with Denmark. 1866. War between Prussia and
Austria.
1870. Franco-Prussian War. 1877. War between Russia and Tur- key.
ANGLO-SAXON EXPANSION
1840. Change of government in Can- ada.
1848. Annexations of Mexican terri- tories.
1848 to 1851. Discoveries of gold.
1857. Sepoy mutiny.
1867. Alaska purchase.
1870. Imperial Federation Movement begun.
1879. Egypt occupied by France and England.
1880-1883. Scramble for Africa be- gins.
CHAPTER VIII
THE GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH AND AMERICAN CON- STITUTIONS i
Books for Reference and Further Reading
Medley, Manual of English Constitutional History. (Macmillan;
$3-25-)
Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History. Ashworth's edi- tion. (Houghton; $6.00.)
Montague, Elements of English Constitutional History. (Longmans; $1.25.) A very interesting and successful elementary book.
Hannis Taylor, Origin and Growth of the English Constitution. 2 vols. (Houghton; $9.00.) With especial reference to the American constitution. A very suggestive introduction opens Vol. I.
Hallam, Constitutional History of England. (Many editions, usually in 3 vols.) Old, but still valuable.
Boyle, Selections from Clarendon. (Clarendon; $2.00.)
On the present English constitution see : Fonblanque, How IV e are Governed. (Warne; 75 cents.) Volumes in English Citizen Series. (Macmillan; $1.00 each.) Macy, The English Constitution. (Macmillan; $2.00.) Bagehot, The English Constitution. (Appleton ; $2.00.)
And compare on the American :
Bryce, The American Commonwealth. 2 vols. (Macmillan; $4.00;
or abridged, $1.75.) Wilson, Congressional Government. (Houghton; $1.25.)
1 In connection with this chapter there should be a review of the facts of English political history. The study of constitutional history, though of the greatest importance, is always more difficult than that of narrative history. The separate treatment of this subject, which the facts readily allow, will permit the teacher to omit it entirely with less advanced classes, if desired, and in the case of the more advanced to give it more careful attention than would be possible if combined with the political history.
410
§§ 437, 4383 Absolutism of the Norman Kings 411
437. The Importance of the History of our Institu- tions.— Throughout all its vast empire the Anglo-Saxon race has carried liberty and free self-government. Other nations have found by experience, also, that the Anglo-Saxon institutions are the best adapted to secure freedom and the most likely to be permanent of any that are now known, and therefore all civilized nations that try to have a free govern- ment at all have adopted some form of ours ; if they are monarchies taking the English form with such modifications as their circumstances seem to require ; and if they are re- publics, either following this model still, as in the case of France, or following more closely the special forms of the United States. It seems almost certain, so far as any pre- diction is possible, that the final free institutions of the world are to be built on the foundation which the English people has laid down. This fact, in addition to the circumstance that they are our own, makes the history of the way in which these institutions were formed of very great interest and im- portance.
438. The Absolutism of the First Norman Kings. — The English constitution begins with an absolute monarchy. After William the Norman had conquered England in 1066, he ruled as a very strong king. Every important question of government which came up he was able to decide by his own will alone, and there was no machinery known at the time by which the will of the people or even of their leaders, the great barons, could be made to decide a question in op- position to the king's will. William II. ruled in the same way, but he was an even more arbitrary man than his father, and he did a great many things which the barons and the Church believed were contrary to the principles of the feudal law.
The feudal system, as it existed in the duchy of Normandy, was brought into England as a result of the conquest of Wil- liam. In the theory of the time the fundamental idea of the feudal relation was that it was a contract of mutual service and obligation between the lord and his vassal. This being
They are becoming the institutions of the world.
William L
William II.
William II. pushes his feudal rights to the point of tyranny. Stubbs, Cons. Hist^ I., Sec. 106.
412 The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§§439>440
The Charter of Henry I.,
IIOO.
Taswell- Langmead, Cons. Hist., 65-67;
Text, Stubbs, 99 ; Penn. I., No. 6.
The
promises of Stephen. Stubbs, 119; Penn. I., No. 6.
What if the king does not keep his promises?
the case, the lord had no more right to demand additional services from his vassal, which the contract did not call for, than one of us would have to change for his own advantage the terms of a written bargain, which he had made, without the consent of the other party. William II., however, in his anxiety to obtain money, seems to have pressed some of his feudal rights to an extreme point, like wardship and marriage, and to have applied them to the lands held by the bishops and abbots in a way that the Church did not think was right. While he reigned, however, he was so powerful that nothing could be done about it.
439. Our First Constitutional Document. — On William's death his brother Henry hastened to secure the crown to the exclusion of their elder brother Robert, and as he needed the support of every one whom he could secure, the barons and bishops made him sign and seal a written agreement, specifying many of the things which William had done and solemnly promising that he would not do them. This is the Charter of Henry I., and is the first document in Eng- lish constitutional history. It is in principle and character, as stating the rights which have been violated and insisting that they must be respected, very similar to the Declaration of Independence of 1776, and we may rightly call it the earliest ancestor from which that document descends.
440. Progress under a Bad King. — Henry I. was a strong and a fairly good king, and no attempt was made to force him to a strict keeping of his promises. When Stephen tried to make himself king in the place of his cousin Matilda, he had to purchase support, as Henry I. had done, and to make written promises again ; indeed, he made several sets of promises to different parties, — to the Church, to London, to some of the great barons, and to the whole kingdom.
Now Stephen proved to be a very bad king, and the peo- ple who were interested had to decide what they would do with a king who did not keep his promises. They probably did not think about it and all its consequences very clearly or consciously, but this is certainly what they did. They tried
§§ 44J> 442] Beginning of Judicial Institutions 413
to depose him and put Matilda in his place. But Stephen always had a party on his side, and Matilda showed herself just as bad a ruler, so that the attempt did not come to any satisfactory conclusion. It is interesting as the first trace we have of the idea that the people may try to force the king by civil war to keep his promises.
441 . Absolute Kings again. — After Stephen came Henry Henry II., II., the great Angevin king. At the beginning of his reign Richard I., he issued a charter in which he promised to regard the good
laws of his grandfather and discontinue all evil customs ; but he and his sons were the most absolute of English kings, and we may almost say of them that their will was law, certainly it was for everything not already settled by custom, and for all questions of government policy. Their hand and will kept the government machine going, and in a very true sense in their time the king was the State.
442. The Beginning of our Judicial Institutions. — Al- Law courts though there was not much progress in the reign of Henry II. and the Jury towards constitutional liberty, there was begun a very im- ^stubbs** portant development of one set of public institutions, which i35 ff., and help to secure our freedom, — the law courts. In order to be especially, sure to get all the money which was due him, and to compel p5enn.i., the sheriffs to perform all their administrative duties faith- No. 6; fully, Henry determined to send down into the counties, * enderson» where they could get at all the evidence easily, members of
the king's court, or curia regis, the body to which the sher- iffs were responsible and to which they made their reports.
These members of the king's court were supposed to rep- The chief
resent the king himself, and were charged to look carefully work of the
after all his dues and rights, and to inquire how the sheriff Juices!
had conducted his office in each county. In order to get See account
the evidence which they needed, they had the right to sum- of Charle-
mon men from each locality and put them on their oath to ^^p. 169 tell them all they knew about these facts. This was the ori- gin of our jury.
These new officers, called itinerant justices, were also al- They also
lowed to hear and decide cases at law in the different coun- tned cases<
414
The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§§443>444
The jury. Stubbs, Cons. Hist., I., Sec. 164.
The question of taxation at the founda- tion of the English constitution. Stubbs, 146, 159, 283, and Cons. Hist., I., Sec. 161.
John is forced to grant a full and specific charter. Text and
ties which might otherwise have come before the king's court at Westminster. In trying these cases, to decide questions of fact which might arise, they were allowed to make use of the jury, which was considered to be an institu- tion belonging especially to the king, and primarily to be used only in his business. This judicial side of their busi- ness grew much more rapidly than the other, and by degrees, as new methods of looking after the financial interests of the government were introduced, it came to occupy almost their whole attention. This was the beginning of our circuit court system, which we think of usually as nothing but judi- cial ; but when one of our judges instructs the grand jury to look into the way in which the sheriff has kept the jail since the last meeting of the court, he is doing just what his office was originally invented to accomplish.
443. King John's Arbitrary Taxation. — Henry II. did not seriously interfere with those rights of the people which were secured by the law, but Richard I. did many very arbi- trary things, and John was a thoroughly bad king. He was indeed bad in more ways than one, but the particular line of badness which had the greatest influence on the growth of the constitution was with reference to taxation. John is not to be blamed for trying to increase the income of the State. The necessities of the government, owing to the rapidly increasing business which it had to attend to, had grown so much greater than they formerly had been that the old feudal revenues were entirely inadequate. But in trying to establish a regular system of taxes, by simply order- ing feudal dues to be paid at his own arbitrary will, without regard to the circumstances which gave him a right to take them by law, John had certainly violated the principles of the feudal contract.
444. The Magna Charta. — When the opposition to John became so strong that he was forced to yield, in 1215, the barons, with the advice of Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, drew up a new charter, the Magna Charta, which was based on the Charter of Henry I. but which was
§§ 445> 446] The Right of Insurrection Applied 415
much more full and specific. This charter covered, besides comment,
its provisions in regard to taxes, many other points of feudal Taswell-
law. Some were points which had arisen in the working of consTffisi.,
the new itinerant courts; some regarded questions of ad- Chap, iv.;
ministration ; others related to the royal forests ; and Text> Stubbs<
others still to matters in which the interests of the Church oid South,
were involved. No. 5 ;
In latter English history it came to be believed that the JJo"^1'1
Magna Charta secured the right of Parliament to vote all the Lieber, Civil
taxes, and the right of every freeman to a jury trial, and to Liberty;
the writ of habeas corpus. As a matter of historical fact, x -
these things were not in the Magna Charta as its framers The Magna
understood it, but there were clauses which naturally seemed Charta takes
to imply them, and, when they had once been established as on later an
, - i /- TI i , even wider
the great safeguards of liberty, the authority of the Magna meaning.
Charta helped to give them a sacred character. Adams,
445- The Right of Civil War. — Without much question the most important clauses of the Magna Charta, in their The M^ na influence on the actual work of making the English constitu- Charta to be tion, are these at the end which state the means of com- enforced by pelling the king to keep his promises. These state that if ]™rg°n the he fails in any of his obligations " the community of the whole kingdom may distress and distrain [him] in all the ways in which they shall be able " till the grievance is re- dressed.
This was the logical conclusion of the practice begun Civil war a with Henry I. of extorting from the king definite and specific constitu- promises to be faithful to the law ; but this conclusion, of expedient. which no one had been conscious in Henry's time, and which was first thought of in the case of Stephen, was now much more clearly and consciously drawn than it had been before. From this time on it became, we may say, legal and constitutional to raise civil war against the king, if he violated the legal rights of the people.
446. The Right of Insurrection Applied. — On this prin- John ciple the nation acted as long as it was necessary. When deP°sed0 John attempted to throw off the engagements made in the
416
The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§ 447
Henry III. Hutton, Misrule of Henry ill. (Contempo- raries) .
Stubbs, 378.
The Baron's War. Hutton, Simon de Montfort (Contempo- raries) ; Matthew Paris (Bohn), 1 1 1., 344-356; Matthew of Westminster (Bohn), II., 412-441 ; Stubbs, 409.
The right to restrain a bad king.
The growth of a national party.
Richardson, National Movement in Reign of Henry III. (Macmillan).
Charter, and got the pope to release him from them, the barons declared him deposed and proclaimed Prince Louis of France king in his place. A change of dynasty might have taken place at this time if John's death in the midst of the conflict had not saved the throne to his son.
When that son, Henry III., came of age, he proved to be a weak and extravagant king, who was continually disregarding the rights of his subjects. At one time the barons threatened to choose another king in his place if he did not dismiss one of his favorite ministers. Later they compelled him to give up practically the whole government of England into the hands of a commission which they had chosen, and to which the officers of the State were made responsible. This was the arrangement called the Provisions of Oxford.
Later still they made open war on the king. At first they were successful and obtained a confirmation of the charters from Henry, in which he distinctly recognized their right to rise in insurrection against him if he violated the agreement. Afterwards they were defeated by Prince Edward, and Simon de Montfort, their leader, was killed ; but the most of the principles for which they had been contending were adopted, through the wisdom of Prince Edward, and made into laws.
447. The Idea of a Limited Monarchy. — Besides carrying on this principle of rightful resistance to the king, the reign of Henry III. was one of the greatest periods of constitu- tional growth in English history. It was a time during which the idea of a limited monarchy, of controlling the king, put- ting him under restraints, and guiding him by the national will took very rapid shape. This was partly due to the personal character of the king, which was so weak that it did not command the respect of any one, so that nearly every one was ready and willing to oppose him. In part it was due to the fact that there was throughout his reign a con- stant conflict between the native English and parties of foreign favorites of the king's, who were using their position to gain everything which they could for themselves, so that there was always a good reason for opposition. We cannot
§§ 448,449] Representatives in the Great Council
say that a limited monarchy yet existed or any definite machinery for expressing the national will, but the beginnings of both date from this reign.
448. The Origin of Representative Institutions. — The The begin- greatest advance of all during the reign was in the taking of the first steps towards the formation of Parliament and the introduction of the representative system. The first full and regular Parliament, in the legal sense, the so-called model Parliament, was called together by Edward I. in 1295, but it was during the reign of his father that the preliminary steps were taken which made the assembling of the full Parliament seem to every one a perfectly natural thing.
These steps consisted, first, in employing representatives of The steps
the counties in national business ; second, in summoning them ^l^ led to
e Parliament.
to meet with the Great Council, which was composed of the Medley,
barons and prelates and served as the king's council and Manual,
court, to act for their counties and make known to the coun- .p^'^Jj1.
cil the local opinion ; and, finally, in adding to these repre- Langmead,
sentatives of the counties other representatives from certain Cons- Hist->
of the more important towns. Social '
449- Representatives of the Counties brought into the England, i.
Great Council. — The representatives of the counties were 396-403-
known as knights of the shire. That is, they were members The knights
of the lower ranks of the land-holding aristocracy, who had oftheshire-
Stubbs, 259.
no noble titles but were persons of great influence in their localities. They had first begun to be employed in public business in connection with the itinerant justice courts in which they chose and, so far as their numbers went, formed the juries.
Their use in this way undoubtedly suggested their employ- The knights ment in business more directly concerning the government employed in when the need for it arose. In 1220 two knights were busmess chosen in the county courts to assess and collect a land tax. Stubbs, 357. In 1225 four knights were elected from each hundred to assess and collect a tax on personal property granted the king by the Great Council. In 1226 four knights were sum- moned to go to the king from each of eight counties to re-
The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§§ 450, 451
In the Great
Council.
Stubbs,
375- and Cons. Hist., II., Sec. 214.
Simon de
Montfort's
Parliament.
Taswell-
Langmead,
Cons. Hist.,
197-200.
The "model Parliament,"
1295- Taswell- Langmead, Cons. Hist., 201-208. Writs of summons. Stubbs, 400, 479, and 482 ; Penn. I., No. 6.
Parliamen- tary control of taxation.
port on the conduct of the sheriffs. Other cases of the same sort follow.
In 1254 occurs the first case of the knights meeting with the Great Council, summoned thither by the king from each county to aid in granting him a new tax. They were sum- moned again in 1261, in 1264, and in 1265. From this time on their membership may be said to be a regular feature of the Great Council, which was now beginning to be called Parliament.
450. The First Case of Town Representation. — The representation of the towns was introduced more suddenly, and in a revolutionary way, by Simon de Montfort in the Parliament which he called to meet in January, 1265, while the king was a prisoner in his hands, but it does not seem to have been thought at the time a very strange step. In fact, the towns had been regularly represented for a long time in the county courts, and as they seemed to be a some- what different class from that directly represented by the knights of the shire, the idea was sure to occur to some one before long that they should be represented in the Parlia- ment also. This step, which Simon de Montfort took to strengthen himself, was not followed, in anything which we can call a full Parliament in the later sense, for thirty years.
In the interval, the practice shows a very great variety and uncertainty both in the composition and in the method of operation of the Parliament, which means of course that the institution was still in the process of formation, and that neither its make up nor its functions were yet fixed. We can, indeed, scarcely detect any drift towards regularity, but when all the elements were once more brought together in a regular assembly summoned by the king, in 1295, this be- came immediately the standard form.
451. Further Progress in the Thirteenth Century. — Be- sides determining the composition of Parliament, the reign of Edward I. decided the first great point in the conflict be- tween Parliament and the king, and laid the foundation for the final victory of Parliament. This was the establishment
§ 4523 Parliaments Right to control Taxation 419
of the right of Parliament to vote the taxes. In principle this was the same as the provision of the Magna Charta with regard to extraordinary feudal taxes, but during the century there had been very great progress in two directions which decidedly changed the application of the principle.
In the first place, since the granting of the Magna Charta, The a system of taxes, more regular in character and more like development modern taxes than the feudal levies, had been growing up. taxation. Taxation meant something different in 1295 from anything it had meant in 1215. Extraordinary taxes, voted by the Parliament, were at the close of the century a much heavier and more frequent burden on the nation than at the begin- ning, and they were much more the dependence of the government, in fact without them government was no longer possible.
In the second place the body giving consent to taxation, Change in called in the Magna Charta the Common Council of the the charactel
, . , ii.i ., . , of the Great
kingdom, and which we have called the Great Council, had council.
now decidedly changed in character. It was no longer, as it had been then, an assembly of the king's vassals only, the barons and prelates of the realm, but it was an assembly containing representatives of all the chief classes of the nation becoming conscious of standing in the place of the community and watchful of its interests.
452. The King recognizes the Right of Parliament to The "con- control Taxation. — Consequently, when in 1297, after a fij;matlon struggle with regard to arbitrary taxation, Edward was charters." forced to issue a new agreement to conform to the charters, Taswell- it contained a much more full and specific promise than ^f "^^' ever before not to take any taxes "but by the common 210-217; assent of the realm." It was intended to make this declara- text in tion so full as to cover all kinds of taxes. And, indeed, though later kings at different times were able to invent No. 6. means of dodging, the prohibition and violating the spirit of the law if not its form, they were never able to deny the principle nor to recover the ground which had been lost in the thirteenth century.
420
The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§§ 453> 454
The king forced by his need of money to make reforms. Stubbs, Cons. Hist., II., Sec. 289.
The Hun- dred Years' War under Edward III. gives an opportunity. Medley, Manual, Sec. 33; Montague, Elements •,
73-89; Taswell- Langmead, Cons. Hist., 226-244.
The right to make specific appropria- tions. Stubbs, Cons. Hist.% II., Sees. 287-288.
453. Parliament immediately takes a New Step. — Upon the foundation thus laid down Parliament steadily pro- ceeded through the whole fourteenth century to increase its power in the State, and to acquire a more complete control over the king. The first step in this advance was taken early in the reign of Edward II., when Parliament asserted a right to use the financial necessities of the government to compel the king to agree to reforms which they demanded. This was done by granting the tax asked for on the condition that the reforms were made. In the next reign Parliament met the tendency of the king to promise the reform, and when he had got the money to fail to carry it out, by insisting that the changes be accomplished before their grant was made.
454. Another Most Important Right Gained. — Hardly had Parliament made sure of this new weapon against the king, when they proceeded to put into use another and still more effective one. The demands of the king for money were frequent beyond all precedent during the long war with France in the fourteenth century, and this made the Parliament more than usually interested in the public ex~ penses. Almost at the beginning of the war they began to make inquiry into the methods of collection and to examine the accounts of the collectors. By the middle of the century they began to grant taxes to be applied to the purposes of the war only.
These were but preliminaries to holding the government to a strict accountability for the expenditure of its income. In the reign of Richard II. this advance was made, and the treasurers were required to make in writing a full statement of the income and expenses of the State. From this was developed the parliamentary right of strict appropriations of money for government use, so strongly insisted upon as a means of controlling the executive in all the Anglo-Saxon constitutions that, though the treasury may be full to over- flowing, and the needs of the government never so pressing, not a penny can be used without a specific vote of the representatives of the people.
§455] A Third Great Gain of Parliament's 421
Of course when this practice should be put into complete This would
operation it would mean a very effective control by Parlia- mean a
... . . r , '. . . control of the
ment over the whole policy of the government. The right whole to withhold the money for the necessary expenses would government make it possible for Parliament to prevent any action on P°licv- the part of the State of which it did not approve. In the end the English government did come to be subject to the control of the legislature, even to as great an extent as this. But the right of appropriating the supplies was not the only means which led to this result.
455. A Third Great Gain of Parliament's. — At exactly The right of the same time that Parliament was securing this right, it was creating another equally effective. This was the right of impeaching the king's ministers. In 1367 was the first case of impeachment, and in 1386 the second and still more important case which fully established the right. In these cases the House of Commons formally accused the ministers before the House of Lords of misconduct in office. The Lords put them upon trial, found them guilty, and passed sentence of punishment upon them.
The right of impeachment, when it was put into its final The ministei form, meant far more than the power of Parliament to resP°nsible
. , in place of
punish an unpopular minister. It meant that the king the king, would find it impossible to get any minister who would be willing to carry out a policy known to be opposed by the Parliament or by the public sentiment of the nation. It meant, in other words, a shifting of the responsibility, and so in the end of the control of the government's policy from the king personally, or acting of his absolute will, as Henry II. had done, to the minister.
The great advantage of this change was in the fact that A substitute while a king could never be held to any real accountability for .
. , . . . . . J revolution,
without civil war and revolution, ministers could easily be
held strictly answerable for all the acts of the government without revolution, unless the king insisted, as Charles I. finally did, on assuming the responsibility himself.
To carry out fully this application of impeachment, Parlia-
422 The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§§ 456, 457
The full development of the right comes later.
Statutes vs. ordinances. Stubbs, Cons. Hist., II., Sec. 292; Medley, Manual, Sec. 34.
The power of Parliament meant the power of the House of Commons.
ment in the end refused to allow the minister to plead the orders of the king in his defence, since that would make the king responsible, or to stop the trial before its conclusion by getting the king to grant him a pardon. These points were not secured, and the full meaning of impeachment was not understood, however, at first. They were a part of the more perfect statement and understanding of the English constitution which resulted from the struggles of the seventeenth century with the Stuart kings.
456. The Exclusive Right to Legislate. — In the four- teenth century Parliament took still another step towards the enlargement of its power at the expense of the king. This was in opening the struggle between laws, or statutes, regularly passed by both Houses of Parliament and assented to by the king, and ordinances made by the king and his council, either the king's permanent council or the great council, now practically the same as the House of Lords. This last had been the method of legislation of feudal times, in so far as there was any at all, and it survived alongside the new method of legislation in Parliament for some time, and traces of it remained in the constitution much longer. The rivalry between ordinances and statutes was like that between the old feudal and the new parliamentary taxes which runs through the thirteenth century, and, like that, it was in the end settled entirely in favor of Parliament.
457. The Rise of the House of Commons. — We have been speaking all along of the increase of the power of Parliament, but it must be noticed that Parliament really means the House of Commons added to the old Great Council, or to the barons and prelates of the realm. Conse- quently the increase of the power of Parliament really means the rise in influence and to control over public business of the House of Commons. Before the middle of the four- teenth century the Commons had withdrawn from the Lords and organized themselves as a distinct body, thus complet- ing the form of Parliament ; and all the advances made in this century are really for the benefit of the lower House.
§§ 458> 459] First Attack on the Constitution 423
458. Summary of Results. — If we put these all to- England gether, we can see that by the close of the fourteenth cen- *}™!£* a tury we have a right to speak of the English monarchy as monarchy. already a limited or constitutional monarchy sustained, if
king and Parliament came to a square issue, by the right of deposing the king. The monarchy had lost, either com- pletely or to all practical intents, two rights essential to an absolutism : the right of providing a revenue, and the right of making laws without the consent of the nation; and another right of the same kind had so far slipped out of its hands that it was henceforward exercised by kings in exceptional circumstances only, that of determining the policy of the government without consulting the nation. Just the opposite process was going on in this century in The contrast France, and by the close of the next the king of that coun- in France- try had made himself the most absolute monarch of the Christian world by getting possession of all these three rights so that he could exercise them without any check.
459. The First Dangerous Attack on the Constitution. Thetyr- — This young constitution was brought to a sharp test, ann^ of which reveals its character and its strength, in the reign Taswell- of Richard II. Just what kind of a man Richard II. was, Langmead, and just what he intended to do, we cannot say with any Cons-Hi3i" certainty. But this makes very little difference with the
result. Whatever his purpose may have been, if he had been allowed to go on and to complete the process he had begun, he would have restored the monarchy of the Ange- vin kings, where the sovereign's will decided everything. He was getting an independent revenue, and, by a round- about method, the right to make such laws as he pleased, and he was assuming the power to suspend statuter passed by Parliament and to inflict heavy penalties by a royal order.
That the personal cause of Henry of Lancaster was bound The first up with that of the nation does not make the revolution of ccrostitu- 1399 any tne IGSS one m defence of the constitution, or any r the less a perfect precedent to apply to a king like James II. 1399.
424
The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§§ 460, 461
Stubbs, Cons. Hist., Sees. 268—269.
The right of deposition clearly established.
Parliament passes over the heirs by blood.
A new kind of title to the throne created — the parliamen- tary title. Taswell- Langmead, 173-176.
Parliament was perfectly conscious of its rights in the case. Much earlier in Richard's reign, when he showed a dispo- sition to resist the right of the legislature to control his min- isters, Parliament called his attention in a formal address to their right to depose the king and to the exercise of this right in the case of Edward II.
460. The Deposition of Edward II. 1327. — The case of Edward II. was not so clear a case by any means of consti- tutional deposition as that of Richard II. The personal ele- ment entered into it much more as a controlling influence than in the later case. But in form Edward was deposed distinctly on the ground that he was a thoroughly bad king. But even without this precedent there could be no question but that the principle had been clearly established, in the still earlier cases of John and Henry III., that the people had the right to make war upon the king to force him to better government, and this logically involved the right of deposition or it could not be really effective. There was abundant sanction in the past, explicit and implied, for the deposing of Richard II., and it was clearly necessary to save the constitution.
461 . The Right of Parliament to control the Succession. — In the revolution of 1399, however, the Parliament be- sides establishing the clearest precedent yet made for the exercise of this right of deposition went a step further and put into operation another right, logically involved in the first, but never before acted upon and not even then fully understood in all that it was to lead to. This they did by passing over the nearest heirs to the throne and placing upon it a man who could never have reached it by the ordinary rule of succession.
No doubt they did this with no thought of enlarging their own power. Henry was the only one who was competent to be king at the time. But it is equally true that by this act they did establish the principle that the nation acting through Parliament has the right in exceptional cases to set aside the regular line and to give a legitimate title to the
§ 462] Progress of the Fifteenth Century 425
throne to a new line whose only right, strictly speaking, is derived from the choice of the nation.
This right was confirmed during the reign of Henry IV. by The question
acts of Parliament fixing the line of succession in the family ^etween Jhe
J houses of of the king, and Parliament very soon became clearly con- York and
scious of the gain which it had made. When in 1460, vie- Lancaster, torious in the field, Richard duke of York advanced in the ^n^mst House of Lords his better hereditary title to the throne than m.,Sec.677. that of the house of Lancaster, and demanded recognition of it, one point of the reply to him was that the title of the house of Lancaster by statute was better than any other kind of title. When Richard accepted the compromise which Parliament proposed, he practically recognized this fact. The right of the Parliament to do all that it did when it de- posed James II. and set aside the rightful line of the Stuarts in favor of the house of Hanover, was fully established by the precedents of 1399.
462. The Progress of the Fifteenth Century. — The fif- Constitu- teenth century is one of far less activity in constitution mak- tional s°v- ing than either the twelfth or the thirteenth. The position becomes of Henry IV. made him dependent upon Parliament, and habitual, he reigned in many respects almost like a modern constitu- tional monarch, and this had an effect to secure all that had been already gained and fix it in the familiar habits of the nation. In many minor details Parliament enlarged or de- fined its rights during the period.
The House of Commons secured the right to originate all Manyminov bills relating to money ; the principle was established that the rlshts wording of acts of Parliament once passed should not after- wards be changed ; the dangerous power was assumed of pun- ishing great opponents, not by impeachment, but by bill of attainder, an act of Parliament declaring a person guilty and fixing his punishment without trial : a most dangerous power of which the Congress of the United States has been wisely Cons, of deprived, and which will never again be exercised in England F- s- L so long as the cabinet system of government lasts. The right ' 3* to determine upon regencies was repeatedly exercised and
426
The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§ 463
Freedom of debate.
Medley,
Manual,
Sec. 37;
Taswell-
Langmead,
Cons. Hist.,
268-272.
An evidence
of the
progress
already
made.
See passage
from
Fortesque,
Taswell-
Langmead,
Cons. Hist.,
301-303.
A time of danger to the constitu- tion.
Tendency of the Yorkist kings to in- dependence.
insisted upon ; the freedom of speech of members, the right not to be called in question elsewhere for things said in debate, and their freedom from arrest during the sessions of Parlia- ment were established in principle, though not always after- wards perfectly respected ; and finally the decision of dis- puted election cases and the fixing of the qualifications for exercising the right of suffrage, and for membership in the House of Commons were assumed by Parliament.
None of these points is of particular importance in itself, but taken all together they form a considerable body of privilege, and coming all within a short period of less than fifty years they show us what extensive powers Parliament must already have gained to occupy itself during a time par- ticularly favorable to its pretensions with such relatively un- important matters only.
463. The Yorkist Period. — The last half of the fifteenth century was filled with the Wars of the Roses, a time unfa- vorable to large constitutional growth. Indeed, the period when the Yorkist kings were in power was a time of no small danger to Parliament and the constitution. The fact that their case required them to insist on the superior right of a hereditary title to the throne brought them into collision with one of the powers which Parliament had acquired which was most essential to the life of the constitution, the power of determining who should be king.
The Yorkist kings also show a decided tendency to seek for an independent revenue, and, so far as circumstances would allow, to rule without Parliament. Yet on the whole the con- stitution lost nothing. Richard III. was compelled to some dependence on Parliament for his title, and the power of the House of Commons was revealed at times by the anxiety of the government to get it packed with its own supporters. Still more decisive was the fact that the period was too short and too tumultuous to allow an absolutism to become fixed in the government.
The battle of Bosworth Field and the accession of Henry VII. were incidents in the Wars of the Roses, and yet the
§§ 464, 4&5J Circumstances of Tudor Age 427
overthrow of Richard III. was a revolution which protected The over- the constitution as truly as did that of 1399, though from a *J^ ^f IIL less immediate danger. Edward IV. and Richard III. were indirectiy a abler sovereigns than any that have followed them in English constitu- history with the exception, perhaps, of Elizabeth and Wil- liam III. ; but a constitutional monarchy has no place for able sovereigns. They are always a dangerous menace or a nui- sance, and the Yorkist kings were plainly tending to a policy dangerous to the constitution.
464. The Tudor Period. — The Tudor period is commonly The charac- called that of the absolute monarchy in English history. J*;rofthe And it certainly is so in a sense. The sovereigns showed absolutism. tendencies decidedly like those of the Yorkist kings. The Montague,
constitution was severely strained and in some points even . ' * 92—104.
broken. Many times the monarch imposed his will on a nation, reluctant, to say the least. But the absolute power of the Tudors was as far asunder as possible from that abso- lutism, with no institutions to check or limit it, which was exercised during the same time by the king of France. Cer- tain peculiar circumstances of the historical situation, partly affecting the sovereigns and partly affecting the nation, pre- served the underlying principles of the constitution uninjured, and kept the monarch and the Parliament from ever coming into direct collision with one another.
465. The Peculiar Circumstances of the Tudor Age. — The question There were three of these circumstances most important to of the . notice. First was the question of title to the throne, affect-
ing all but Henry VIII. and Edward VI., and compelling a Langmead,
recognition of the supreme authority of Parliament on this
most fundamental matter. Indeed, the two kings named
are not real exceptions, because the reign of Edward was
practically all a minority under a regency deriving its author-
ity from Parliament, and Henry VIII. was compelled by his
own situation to recognize the supreme authority of Parlia-
ment in this particular, and did so when he allowed it to
confer on him the right to fix the order of succession among
his heirs.
428
The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions
[§466
The growth of a close community of nations.
The rise of
religious
strife.
Enough to make a practical absolutism. Taswell- Langmead, Cons. Hist., Chap. X.
Prothero, 118-126.
The turn of the current.
The second was the rapid development of international politics, which created a great community of the European states, and bound them in a close and intricate struggle for leadership, so that questions of foreign policy now began to influence the conduct of domestic affairs in a way they had never done before. This was intimately connected at first with the question of the succession, and in the last part of the period with the third of these circumstances.
This third was the general condition produced by the great revolution which swept over all Europe in the reforma- tion of Luther, creating new and more intense issues, and dividing almost every nation into two bitterly hostile parties. For England this quickly became a question of national in- dependence, and made the country willing to support the cautious and carefully balanced policy of Elizabeth, even at the cost of overlooking some disregard of the constitution, of which, however, they were perfectly conscious.
466. Details of Tudor Action. — The special details of the unconstitutional action of the Tudors are not so many in number as they are grave in principle. Forced loans and other illegal means of avoiding a financial dependence on the legislature, and at times long intervals between Parlia- ments ; arbitrary methods of trial by a sort of royal preroga- tive in the court of the Star Chamber, and equally arbitrary arrests and imprisonments both of which tended to destroy the safeguards of individual liberty existing in the ordinary courts ; interference with the freedom of debate, going so far even as the imprisonment of members of the House of Commons in the Tower ; and the insisting that royal proc- lamations should have the force of statute law, a claim which for a few years and in special cases received the sanc- tion of Parliament. Taken together these -principles and practices would constitute a very strong arbitrary govern- ment.
The dangers which had induced the nation to submit be- gan to lessen in the last years of Elizabeth, and many signs began to appear which made it evident that Parliament would
§§ 467; 468] Constitutional Change in the Church 429
not much longer endure the practical control of everything by the sovereign's will. But one not insignificant result of the trend of things during this period was a theoretical ac- ceptance and defence by some of the doctrine of a divine •• Divine right in kings of which they cannot be deprived, the source ri§ht-" of a supreme power in government. This doctrine in a more developed form was to play a great part in the consti- tutional history of the next century.
467. Institutional Character of the Tudor Rule. — In No real general we may say of the Tudors that theirs was an abso- absolutist
. J. * institution.
lutism exercised not so much through institutions proper to Haiiam, a despotic monarchy, as by imposing their will on the nation Cons. Hist., through the existing institutions of the State. The nation **f' ^ pf submitted because in a grave crisis of its existence the sov- ereign's policy seemed wise and had the support of public opinion, while to resist too far the sovereign's method would only increase the most serious danger of the time, the con- stantly threatened civil war.
The royal exercise of power was not unlike that of an Modern American " boss," who decides all questions of policy by his irresponsible will, but without any visible change of the con- stitution. Perhaps a still better parallel would be the present government of Germany, because there the supremacy of the Germany, sovereign's will is accompanied with some departure from the constitution, and because intelligent Germans justify the nation's submission on similar grounds of expediency. For England the method of the Tudor absolutism meant that all constitutional rights were still in existence, ready to be put into force when the nation should judge that the time had come.
468. The Constitutional Change in the Position of the The Church Church. — In one particular there had been a great consti- made subJe« tutional change during the age of the Tudors. Whatever men"* one may think of the method by which the Church of Eng- See Gee and land had been made independent of the pope, constitution- Hardy« 477- ally the result had been to put the Church completely under
the control of the nation. What the fourteenth century had
430
The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§§ 469, 47°
The opening of a new era.
The attitude of the kings.
Personal character- istics.
The question of title. Hallam, Cons. Hist., I., first pages of Chap. VI.; Prothero,
done in subjecting the monarchy to Parliament, the sixteenth did on the ecclesiastical side of public affairs in subjecting the Church to Parliament. The supremacy of the king as the head of the Church was in many respects real during the Tudor period, but when Parliament had once recovered its place this function of the sovereign like every other was under national control.
469. Character of the Stuart Period. — With the acces- sion of James I., the first of the Stuart kings, there opened a new age in the history of the English constitution. The period of the suspension of parliamentary control had come to an end. The time of national danger, when it was neces- sary that the strength of the State should be directed by a single will, and when civil strife was more dangerous than temporary submission to arbitrary government, was now past. Parliament was ready to resume its direction of the nation's policy, and to begin once more the steady building up of the constitution.
These intentions of Parliament came by degrees, however, into direct collision with the intentions of the kings. The Stuart kings were by no means disposed to surrender the influence over public affairs which the Tudor kings had exercised.
470. Reasons for the Attitude of the Kings. — The atti- tude of the kings was partly due to the personal character- istics of the Stuart family. Nearly all its members were men of small intellectual gifts, of little political insight, short- sighted and of poor judgment, but with the highest ideas of their own rights, and with that determined obstinacy of purpose which often accompanies these other character- istics.
The attitude of James I. to the constitution was also partly due to the fact that by the parliamentary arrangement of the succession, made in the reign of Henry VIII., his title to the throne ha'd been postponed to that of the descend- ants of Henry's younger sister, Mary. It is evident that on the death of Elizabeth, the will of the nation was entirely
§§47I>472] Slow Advance towards War 43 r
in favor of the accession of the king of Scotland. There was, in fact, no real opposition to it. But the existence of this legal defect in his title seems to have disposed James to emphasize the indefeasible right of hereditary succession and to have prepared the way for a union, which was indeed an entirely natural one between the Stuart kings and the growing party of those who held to the doctrine of divine right.
471. A Third Reason of Strife, the Religious Parties. — The One further reason of the fact that the constitutional history
of England in the seventeenth century passes through a great civil war, is to be found in the gradual separation of the nation into two great parties on religious questions. One of these, while desiring to free the national Church from the government of the pope, and to change the most distinctive of the Roman Catholic doctrines, like that of trans-substantiation, was disposed to retain just as much as possible of the old church both in organization and in forms, and was unwilling to take formal sides on minor points of doctrine with any of the sects which were arising in the Protestant world.
On the other hand a large and increasing body in the The Puritan nation was determined to carry the reformation further, both party- in doctrines and in forms, and in the matter of organization wished to give the national Church a constitution which would make it republican in government, or even demo- cratic. The fact that this body was strongly inclined to the spirit and teachings of Calvinism, which was a fighting faith, made it ready to take up arms and enter upon a civil war in defence of what it believed to be the right. Each of these two parties found itself to a considerable extent in a natural alliance : the one with the idea of the divine right of kings to govern, and the other with that of parliamentary supremacy.
472. Slow Advance towards War. — During the reign of Nearly a half James I. there was a growing opposition between the king
and the Parliament, a growing determination on the part of ment.
432
The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§§473? 474
James I., Taswell- Langmead, Cons. Hist., 405-444 ; Montague, Elements, 115-118.
The Petition of Right, 1628. Text and comment. Taswell- Langmead; Cons. Hist., 444-461 ; text,
Gardiner, i ; Old South, 23; Lieber, Civil Liberty; Stubbs, 515.
The difficulty of a revenue. Montague, Elements, 120 ff. ; Gardiner, 5, 16, 17.
Ship-money. Taswell- Langmead, Cons. Hist., 467-476 ; Gardiner,
37-54 : Old South, 60.
The Scottish war.
each to insist on what it believed to be constitutionally right ; but there was no open breach between them and no irrec- oncilable conflict. In the reign of Charles I. matters by degrees progressed to a square issue between king and Parliament.
473. The Second Great Constitutional Document. — Very soon after the accession of Charles, Parliament drew up the second in the series of great constitutional documents which declare and confirm our liberties, the Magna Charta being counted the first. This is called the Petition of Right, and it was made a statute law with the consent of the king in 1628. It is exactly similar in spirit and character with the line of great documents already referred to, for its purpose is to state the rights of all citizens which have been infringed by the action of the king, and to secure them from such infringement in the future. But though he had consented to this statute, Charles had no intention of abandoning what he regarded as his rightful prerogatives, and before many months this Parliament was dissolved by the king in anger at its insistance upon its own will.
474. The Period of Rule without Parliament. — The king now resolved to rule without a Parliament and was able to do so for eleven years. The greatest difficulty of such a method of government was to provide a sufficient revenue, for all the usual sources of income were now dependent on the consent of Parliament. The ingenuity of one of the king's ministers revived an old form of taxation, called " ship-money," by which the king had apparently the right to require the different cities and counties to furnish ships for the defence of the kingdom, and this was used to obtain money ostensibly for the strengthening of the navy, but really for the ordinary expenses of the State. The refusal of Hampden to pay this tax led to a trial of the case in the courts, and though the judges decided in favor of the king, the nation was aroused to a consciousness of the danger.
Just at this moment the king had involved himself in a war with the Scottish people by attempting to force them to
§§ 475 > 476] Further Concessions of the King 433
use a liturgy in church services to which they were bitterly
opposed. They drew up in consequence the famous The
" Covenant," and took arms in its defence. The expense " Covenant."
r , . tl .. Text in
of this war could not be met without more regular sources Gardiner, 54;
of income, and Charles was forced to call a Parliament, Old South,
which met in April,. 1640, but remained in session only 25> three weeks. No agreement could be reached about the ship-money, and the king again dissolved the Parliament in anger.
475. Charles forced to a Temporary Submission. — For a The meeting few months Charles managed to sustain himself by even °f the Lon£ more arbitrary methods than before, but the failure of his NOV^^O. campaign against the Scots turned the feeling of the army Tasweii- against him, and he was forced to yield. In November ^"f1^^1 Parliament met again, a Parliament which was to continue 602, and
in existence until after the death of the king, and which is reference
known as the Long Parliament. At the beginning of this clarendon Parliament the popular or constitutional party was very strong, and its spirit was one of most determined opposition to the arbitrary government of the king.
Its first act was to impeach the earl of Strafford, the Parliament
king's minister, of treason. The feeling was especially bitter £old,s the
against him because he had been earlier one of the leaders minister
of the popular party, but had now gone completely over responsible.
to the king. When it was found that under the statute of ?.?yle> .
Clarendon,
treason he could not be proved guilty of that crime, Parlia- 63-78 ; ment accomplished its purpose by passing a bill of attainder, Gardiner, 85; that is, a special law declaring him guilty, and sentencing ^ld lth> him to death by act of Parliament. Strafford hoped to the last that the king would save him, but Charles was not yet ready to accept the full personal responsibility of his con- duct by coming to an open breach with Parliament, and preferred to sacrifice his minister.
476. Further Concessions of the King. — Parliament then enough to proceeded to strike at the measures of the king. Ship- restore the money and the Star Chamber tribunal were declared illegal, GTrdlrTer,0^ and an act was passed to enable Parliament to meet without 88-122.
434
The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§ 477
The king not trusted.
The party of moderate royalists growing.
The Grand Remon- strance. Boyle, Clarendon^ 82-85 1 text,
Gardiner, 127; Old South, 24.
The case of the five members. Taswell- Langmead,
496-503 ;
Boyle,
Clarendon,
88-94.
the sanction of the king, if he should allow three years to pass without calling it together. To these and other de- mands Charles seemed readily to give way, and if his con- cessions had been honest and the Parliament could have had confidence that his future conduct would have been in accord with them, the English constitution would have been preserved without any violent or unconstitutional measures.
It was perfectly evident, however, that the king regarded these concessions as only temporary, and that, as soon as circumstances enabled him to do so, he would declare them void because they had been extorted from him by force. This made the most earnest defenders of the constitution very suspicious and watchful, and disposed to more extreme measures.
On the other hand many, who up to this time had been acting with the opposition to the king, began now to think that enough had been demanded of him, and that further concessions would reduce the royal power to a shadow. As a result, the constitutional party in Parliament began to de- crease in numbers and the moderate supporters of the king to grow more numerous.
477. The King determines to resist. — In these circum- stances, at the opening of the second session of the Long Parliament, the popular party proposed the adoption by the Commons of the Grand Remonstrance, a formal declaration of their position, and to appeal to the support of the nation. This they were able to carry by only a small majority. Now Charles determined to abandon the policy of concession and to adopt that of resistance.
His first step was to lay before the House of Lords an im- peachment of treason of five members of the Commons, including Hampden and Pym, the leaders of the constitu- tional party. This was an illegal step on the part of the king, since he had no right to make use of an impeachment trial, but only of a jury trial in the ordinary courts. A still greater violation of right was his invasion in person of the House of Commons to try to arrest the five members. The
§ 478] Character of the Commonwealth 435
attempt was a failure, and the incident served only to em- bitter both sides and to aid in convincing them both that an appeal to force would ultimately be necessary.
The open issue came on a struggle between the king and The war the parliamentary party for the control of the militia in the counties on which much would depend if civil strife should begin. The Parliament was successful in this because the popular sympathy was on its side, but Charles would not give his consent to their arrangements, and on the 22d of August raised his standard at Nottingham and began the civil war.
478. The Constitutional Character of the Commonwealth. Not in the — We are not concerned here with the details of the " Great ^EngHsh Rebellion." The governments of the Commonwealth and develop- of the Protectorate are hardly in line with the special, or ment- perhaps it would be more accurate to say with the con- temporary, development of the English constitution. But they are in harmony with the deeper spirit of that develop- ment which was already at that time showing itself, as it has since continued to do, in the wider Anglo-Saxon world beyond the seas, and which has come into control in Eng- land also, in reality if not in form, in the last part of the nineteenth century.
Before the organization of the commonwealth, the Puri- The English tan party had founded in New England a series of republics rePubllcs m
r America,
with a strong ultimate tendency towards democracy, and the
other colonies in America, as all later English colonies have been, were virtual republics, with the same democratic ten- dency more or less perfectly realized according to circum- stances.
The constitutional documents of the commonwealth pe- A slight riod have an especial interest for us because of a certain foreshadow- resemblance in some of the innovations which they made, American which were to pass out of use immediately in England, institutions.
with expedients which the framers of the Constitution of ~ee,.
Gardiner,
the United States afterwards adopted. The written con- 270 and 314, stitution itself is one of these which has never been adopted Old South, in England. But the monarchical drift was too strong in
436 The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§§
The com- monwealth becomes a monarchy.
Charles II. Boyle, Clarendon, 286-290.
James II.
His arbitrary acts. Taswell- Langmead, Cons. Hist,,
530-538 ;
Montague,
Elements,
144-146.
William of Orange invited to England.
England in the seventeenth century. Few of the Puritans themselves were out-and-out republicans. Very likely also the situation really demanded a king, and the common- wealth passed into what was really a strong monarchy under the Protectorate.
479- The Later Stuarts. — The Restoration in 1660 brought the Stuarts back in the person of Charles II. He had learned some wisdom from the past, and was careful not to allow himself to come to an open breach with the Parliament, though in the last years of his reign he showed a decided tendency to arbitrary methods, and seemed to be preparing the way for an absolutism.
His brother, James II. , had the Stuart characteristics in their worst form. He was extremely short-sighted, obsti- nate, and determined to rule by his own will ; and his attack on the constitution was nearly as thorough-going as that of Richard II., though it never had any chance of success. He ordered the illegal collection of taxes ; gath ered a standing army of unusual size with which he hoped to overawe opposition; forced the judges to support his policy; and with their aid exercised the right which he claimed of suspending the operation of laws. So rapid was the development of the king's purposes, and so great the fear of the Roman Catholic religion, which he openly pro- fessed, that all parties were united in a determination to protect the constitution.
480. The Revolution of 1688. — The crisis was brought on by the birth of the Prince of Wales. Till that event, the Princess Mary, wife of William of Orange, had been the heir of the throne, and the nation had had reason to expect a change on the death of James. Now this hope was destroyed, and revolution seemed the only recourse. An invitation was at once sent to William by leaders of both parties, and on the 5th of November, 1688, he landed in England with a small force. James' power immediately crumbled in his hands. His supporters abandoned him, and in six weeks he was a fugitive in France.
§ 482] Constitutional Questions in the Colonies 437
With the expulsion of James II. the last attempt failed which any English sovereign has made to throw off the bonds which the gradual growth of the constitution had placed on the exercise of an arbitrary authority. Some later kings have attempted to influence the policy of the State according to their own ideas, but never to the extent of an open breach with the constitution.
481. The Results of the Revolution. — The convention Parliament, which assembled soon after the flight of James, drew up a formal statement of the arbitrary acts of the king and declared them illegal, and it was on the con- dition of accepting this declaration that William and Mary
. r ,'
obtained the throne. This declaration was soon afterwards embodied in a regular statute, called the Bill of Rights, and takes its place among the great constitutional docu- ments of our history. Some of its clauses are closely copied in the Constitution of the United States.
So far as the larger principles of the constitution are concerned, the revolution of 1688 did no more than to restore what already existed under the Lancastrian kings in the fifteenth century, but these principles were now defined in the clearest way and rendered safe from any future attack. The attempt of the Stuart kings to free themselves from restraint had led to a more definite un- derstanding of the constitution, and this was a gain of the greatest importance.
In minor points some positive advance had been made : in establishing the independence of the judges, so that in the future they could not be used as the tools of the executive ; in placing the army more completely under the control of the legislature ; and in protecting the citi- zen more perfectly from arbitrary arrest and unfair trial.
482. Constitutional Questions in the Colonies. — In the meantime the English colonies in America had so increased in population and strength that they had become themselves interested in constitutional questions, and that the govern- ment at home had begun to look upon their virtual indepen-
No revolu- tion again
En°g1anZ " Medley,
^"™al' ancj 46.
The Bill of Rights.
stubbs, 5??; L
Civil Liberty;
Langmead, Cons-Hlst->
A clearer unde'"sl;and-
mg oi the
constitution.
In some
Growing in |nterest and
438 The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§§ 483* 484
The govern- ment of Andros.
Struggle to subject the executive to the legislat- ure.
Perfection of details.
Act of
Settlement. Montague, Elements, IS3-I56; text, Stubbs, 528;
Taswell- Langmead, Cons. Hist., SSI- Growth of cabinet system. Montague, Elements, 163-173.
Difference in executive
dence with some suspicion. The last two Stuarts included a consolidation and increase of the royal authority in America among their plans, and towards the close of the reign of Charles I. the charter of Massachusetts was annulled.
Soon after Sir Edmund Andros was made governor of all the northern colonies and established a " tyranny " in America similar to that of James II. in England, but on the news of the revolution in the mother country he was at once de- prived of power and thrown into prison.
In most of the colonies the history of the eighteenth cen- tury is the story of a struggle between the appointed royal governors and the elected legislatures, in which the legislat- ures were winning more and more power by taking advan- tage of the financial necessities of the executives, a process which is closely like in detail, and entirely so in principle, to that by which the Parliament in England had established its power over the king.
483. Progress in the Eighteenth Century in England.— The constitutional history of the eighteenth century in Eng- land continues that of the revolution. Some of the great principles were more clearly defined, some minor advances made, and some better government machinery devised. The Act of Settlement, by which the throne was secured to the house of Hanover, proclaimed in the clearest way the right of Parliament to declare who should be king, and to give a title to the crown better than all others. The civil liberty of the citizen received further protection — in the perfection of the jury trial, for instance, and the prohibition of general warrants — and the development of the modern cabinet sys- tem provided more simple machinery for the control of the policy of the government by Parliament, though the perfec- tion of this new device came only in the nineteenth century.
484. The Constitution of the United States. — We have already seen how one result of the struggle between England and France for colonial empire was the independence of the thirteen colonies. When the Americans came to frame their Constitution, the fact that they wished to create a republic
s4&5] Tendency towards Democracy 439
instead of a monarchy led to some changes of form from the and upper English constitution. The most important of these changes house> from the constitution as it then existed in England was the fact that both the executive and the upper house of the na- tional legislature were made elective, and both these institu- tions were given such a place in the government that in the hundred years since their founding both have gained in power rather than lost it, as in England.
The difference in form which seems to us now the most Difference in striking is that in the relation of the cabinet to the lower cabmet- house, but it must be remembered that at the close of the eighteenth century statesmen even in England did not real- ize that relation clearly. It is the experience of the nine- teenth century which has brought the forms under which the House of Commons now controls the cabinet to their full perfection.
In the English system the prime minister is the real ex- The English ecutive, and not the sovereign. He forms his cabinet of cabinet the other leaders of his party, and they hold office so long Medley, as the measures which they propose command the support Manual, of a majority of the House of Commons. When one of their measures is defeated, either the cabinet resigns and the Langmead, leader of the opposite party forms a new one, or the Parlia- Cons- Hist., ment is dissolved and the voters of the nation are asked to Mm^ague decide between the two lines of policy advocated by the Elements, opposing parties. The election determines at once whether 2I5~222' the old cabinet shall go on or a new one be formed from the other party.
485. Tendency towards Democracy. — Though differing Democracy in this way in form, still in principle and in almost all minor adopted first details, the Constitution of the United States is thoroughly English. Other differences than those of form are. chiefly more rapid advances along the road which the race had long been following, and in which England herself was to advance more slowly. This is especially true of the most important of these differences — the more democratic cast of our government. The colonies had always been demo-
440
The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions [§§ 4^6, 487
More gradually adopted in England.
Widely adopted throughout the world.
cratic in spirit, and though democracy was not perfectly realized in practice at the time the Constitution was adopted, still the drift in that direction was so strong and so thor- oughly in harmony with all the tendencies of the race that this realization was not long delayed in America.
In England the first steps towards a more democratic government would undoubtedly have been taken before the close of the eighteenth century had it not been for the French Revolution, which naturally, but somewhat needlessly, alarmed the property classes. As it was, the first step was postponed a generation, and was finally taken in the first Reform Bill which was adopted in 1832. Since then, by a series of such bills at intervals, the qualifications required of the voter have been gradually reduced until now there is hardly a man in England who cannot become a voter if he cares to be one.
486. Anglo-Saxon Institutions in Other States. — In the past hundred years the Anglo-Saxon constitutions have been widely adopted throughout the world, almost every civilized nation of the present time having imitated more or less closely some of our institutions. As most of these states retain monarchical forms, and desire a constitution which will be at once monarchical in name and republican in fact, the English constitution has been rather more extensively imitated than the American. Even the French republic follows the English model, and it must be admitted that the English cabinet system secures to a democracy, more per- fectly than the American, a control over the government policy. It is, however, open to question whether this will be considered in the long run an advantage, and whether the American cabinet system, combined with a stronger executive, does not furnish a check to hasty action very necessary in a thoroughly democratic state — a need which England is more likely to feel in the twentieth century than she has in the nineteenth.
487. The Common Work of England and America. — Besides furnishing an example for the imitation of other
§487] Common Work of England and America 44!
states, each of the two great Anglo-Saxon nations has had Different its own special mission. That of the United States has been f to establish these principles of liberty throughout an empire work. nearly twice the extent of the Roman, and to absorb into the race and train in self-governing freedom millions of aliens who have come to them from other nations. Eng- land's has been to establish the same liberty throughout vast regions of the world, on every continent and in great island states, and to undertake the gigantic task, greater even than America's, of training up to freedom millions upon millions of alien and uneducated races. These are, in truth, but different phases of the same task, and together in this com- mon mission, in harmony for the political freedom and best good of all the world, our race ought to be able, both by its example and by its power to protect the right, to prevent any further extension of tyranny and by degrees even to banish despotism from the world.
Topics
Why is the study of Anglo-Saxon institutions especially important? The government of the first Norman kings. What led to the charter of Henry I.? The character of this charter. How was the principle involved in the charter extended under Stephen? The government of the first Angevin kings. Describe the judicial system organized by Henry II. What do we derive from it? Why was King John involved in special difficulties about taxation? How did this lead to the Magna Charta? The contents and meaning of the Magna Charta. Its special importance in the growth of the constitution. How was the right of
442 The Anglo-Saxon Constitutions
insurrection used under John and under Henry III.? The beginning of the idea of a limited monarchy. The steps which led to the forma- tion of Parliament. What were knights of the shire? What led to their use as county representatives? The first town representation. The " model Parliament." Just what was the institutional change which created Parliament ? How did Parliament secure finally the right to control taxation ? State the four great rights established by Parliament in the fourteenth century, and how each was gained. In how far was England then a limited monarchy ? What was involved in the revolu- tion of 1399 ? How was the right of deposition established, and of what earlier right was it the logical outcome ? How was this right carried still further in 1399 ? Later development of this right. The progress of the Lancastrian period. The constitution in the Yorkist period. The institutional character of Tudor absolutism. What cir- cumstances of the time made a strong government necessary ? Specific instances of Tudor arbitrary rule. Change in the constitutional position of the Church. In what respects was the situation changed at the ac- cession of the Stuarts? Reasons for the attitude of the kings. Parties in England. Character of the Petition of Right. The steps which led to civil war. What constitutional rights were involved ? Construct Charles I.'s argument for his case. The relation of the commonwealth to the growth of the constitution. The policy of the later Stuarts. Compare the revolution of 1688 with that of 1399. The Bill of Rights. What did the revolution of 1688 accomplish ? How were the colonies involved in the Stuart troubles ? What were their own constitutional problems ? The eighteenth century in England. Why was not the American Constitution exactly like the English ? What are the chief differences ? Explain the English cabinet system. The difference in the two states in the progress towards democracy. Anglo-Saxon insti- tutions in other states. The special missions and the common work of England and America.
Topics for Assigned Studies
The judicial system of Henry II. Medley, Manual, Sees. 51 and 52.
Taswell-Langmead, Cons. Hist,, 129-143. Montague, Elements,
31-33, 47-50 ; Social England, I., 285-298 ; Penn. I., No. 6,
2ded. Compare the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the
United States, especially Amendments I.-VIII., with the Bill of
Rights. The reform bills. Montague, Elements, 206-212. Medley, Manual,
Sec. 32. Taswell-Langmead, Cons. Hist., 606-610. Speech of
Macaulay on first reform bill, in Adams, British Orations, III., 62,
and in Political Orations (Camelot Series), 295.
Important Dates for Review 443
Important Dates for Review
lioo . . . Charter of Henry I.
1215 . . . Magna Charta.
1295 . . . The Model Parliament.
1399 . . . First constitutional revolution.
1485 . . . Accession of the Tudors.
1628 . . . The Petition of Right.
1649 . . . Charles I. executed.
1688 . . . James II. dethroned.
1689 • • • Bil1 of Rights. 1700 . . . Act of Settlement. 1714 . . . Accession of George I.
1776 . . . Declaration of Independence.
1788 . . . Constitution of United States adopted.
1832 . . . First Reform Bill.
CHAPTER IX
SCIENTIFIC AND ECONOMIC ADVANCE SINCE THE RENAISSANCE 1
In the first part of the sixteenth century.
Books for Reference and Further Reading
Meyer, History of Chemistry. (Macmillan ; $4.50.)
Sachs, Historv of Botany* (Clarendon ; $2.50.)
Clerk e, History of Astronomy during the Nineteenth Century.
(Macmillan; $4.00.)
Lubbock, Fifty Years of Science. (Macmillan.) Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern
Times. (Macmillan; $4.50.)
Traill, Social England. Vols. III. to VI. (Putnam; $3.50 per vol.) The First Century of the Republic. (Harper.) Rambaud, Histoire de la Civilisation Contemporaine en France.
(Paris: Colin.; 5 francs.) Escott, Social Transformations of the Victorian Age. (Scribner;
$2.00.)
Wallace, The Wonderful Century- (Dodd, Mead & Co. ; $2.50.) Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and Wages •. (Putnam ; $3.00.)
488. The Close of the Renaissance. — As we have already seen, the first great intellectual age of modern times, and the first age of great economic changes was the fifteenth century, the age of the revival of learning with the invention of printing, and of the oceanic discoveries, east and west, with their commercial and economic consequences. We have also seen how this age came to a rather «?udden close, involved in the equally great revolutionary age which
1 It is probable that this chapter, like the preceding, will be found to have its greatest value for advanced classes.
Much of the history, which is covered in outline by this chapter, has still to be written, and as a consequence both the bibliography of the chapter and the specific references are incomplete.
444
§§ 489, 49°3 A Great Age of Scientific Work 44$
followed the teaching of Luther, in the European wars and the civil wars which rilled the whole remaining part of the sixteenth century. The result was that science, which had made so good a beginning in the work of Copernicus, took no further step in advance in the century, and even classi- cal learning, which might rightfully claim the highest achieve- ments of the fifteenth century, passed into a new age of scholasticism, dominated by the rules of a barren style, and with a new dictator in Cicero, as absolute as Aristotle had been in the earlier scholasticism.
489. The Great Age of English Literature. — With the closing years of the sixteenth century there begin to be signs of a new age of intellectual activity. This is partic- ularly true of England in the field of literature, as if the stimulus of the great struggle for life and death with Spain had been immediately felt. This was a conflict, indeed, well calculated to quicken mind, fought as so much of it was in the waters of the new world, in the midst of strange and thrilling scenes, and with all the enthusiasm awakened by desperate odds and the most invincible courage.
The finest products of the age of Elizabeth were in the form of dramas. This would naturally be the case. An age of great achievement is an age which delights in story- telling, and the romances and novels of a time when books were expensive and little general reading was done, were most easily published upon the stage. The greatest of the dramatists was Shakespeare, but the fact that in the mind of to-day he seems to stand almost alone for the whole age, should not make us overlook the very rich product of the minor dramatists, especially of Ben Jonson, Marlowe, and Beaumont and Fletcher.
490. A Great Age of Scientific Work. — The great work of .the seventeenth century, however, greater even than its literature, was to be its science. A connecting link between the two forms of intellectual activity in England was Francis Bacon, whose Essays were a permanent contribution to literature and his Advancement of Learning to both. He
A new scholasti- cism.
The Eliza- bethan age,
Dramatic literature.
Lord Bacon.
Wright's
Bacon's
Advancement
of Learning
(Clarendon),
446
Advance since the Renaissance
C§49»
Kepler and Galileo.
Sir Isaac Newton.
Great progress during this age.
attacked with vigor the scholasticism of his day, and pro- claimed in language eloquent and convincing the necessity of observation and experiment and of the inductive method. If Bacon's services in the actual and practical development of modern science would not now be estimated so highly as formerly, he at least influenced individual students and in the right direction.
Already, independently of any influence of Bacon's, the science of the seventeenth century, probably the greatest age of modern science considered in its relative accomplish- ment, had begun in the work of Kepler and Galileo. On the basis of the Copernican theory of the solar system, Kepler explained more accurately the orbits of the planets and stated the three fundamental laws of their motions. At the same time Galileo in Italy placed the truth of the Copernican explanation of the solar universe beyond all doubt by discovering the moons of Jupiter and the fact that Venus shows the same phases as our moon.
491. The Law of Gravitation. — These great discoveries formed the foundation for much detailed work of value in the years that followed. Before the century closed, its marvellous progress towards a right understanding of the universe was completed by the discovery of the law of gravitation by Sir Isaac Newton. This discovery, agreeing with the laws of Kepler and with the known facts of obser- vation, and tending to take the place of the somewhat speculative theories of Descartes in regard to the physical constitution of the universe, which nevertheless had been of service in the progress of science, completed the mathe- matical and practical demonstration of the new astronomy, and placed the science on the most solid foundation.
Comparing what was known in this field in the year 1600, with what was known at the death of Newton, we are forced to say that even the nineteenth century has not broadened the field of human knowledge more than did the earlier age, nor in any more important respects has it given us new or more accurate conceptions of the physical universe.
BENJAMIN FKANKUN
§§ 492~494] The Idea of the Reign of Law
447
492. The International Character of Science. — In a very interesting way this earlier progress of astronomy illustrates one feature of all modern scientific study — its international character. The first step, the statement of the heliocen- tric theory, was taken by Copernicus in Poland. This theory was definitely proved by Galileo in Italy, but his work was rendered possible only by the hint, at least, of the telescope which came to him from Holland. The demon- stration was completed by Kepler in Germany, but his work was based upon data furnished by the observations of Tycho Brahe, the Dane. The final step was taken by Newton in England in the establishment of the law of gravi- tation, but in order to complete his proof he was obliged to wait for the correct measurement of a degree of latitude by the Frenchman Picard. Almost every people of Europe had its share in this great building.
493- Advance in Other Sciences. — No other science of the seventeenth century was so far advanced as astronomy, but in several preliminary work of great importance was done, and in some advances were made almost as revolu- tionary in character as those in astronomy. Galileo's dis- coveries in physics rank second only to those already mentioned. In mathematics the introduction of logarithms by Napier, and in medicine the discovery of the circulation of the blood by Harvey, both coming in the early years of the century, imparted a new impetus to the progress of these sciences.
494. The Idea of the Reign of Law. — Taken altogether, so great was the progress of science in this age that some- time before its close we notice one result of it on men's general ways of thinking which had important consequences far outside the field of science proper. This was in the conception of law and its operation in the universe, which, in the way in which we hold it to-day, now comes into gen- eral thinking for the first time. It was, of course, in the field of science a most fruitful idea, but more interesting results for us lay in other directions.
All countries share in it
Physics, mathematics, and medi- cine.
A result of the progress of science.
448
Advance since the Renaissance [§§ 495? 49^
The
philosophy of Locke.
Attack on the idea of a divine revelation.
Influence on
Christian
thought.
Influence on the age of revolution.
Voltaire and Montes- quieu.
Upon this idea, as its fundamental conception, was based a school of empirical or sensational philosophical teaching, whose most famous leader was Locke. He developed the new philosophy in most interesting ways in psychology, edu- cation, and the science of government, with results, in this last direction at least, which were long and widely felt in France and America.
495. The English Deists. — A still further manifestation of this belief in the reign of law was the party of the Eng- lish Deists, who failed to reconcile in their own minds this new idea with the older one of miracles, and a supernatural government of the world, especially as related to a divine revelation. Their exceedingly vigorous attack upon these notions forced the leaders of Christian thought to a review of their position, and to much clearer conception and sharper definition than ever before of their religious ideas, especially those concerning the method and plan of reve- lation ; and though these have been in turn superseded in many most essential points by the still clearer thinking of the nineteenth century, they nevertheless represent a great advance in our understanding of the dealings of Providence with mankind.
But the influence of this school of thinkers upon the religious ideas of the world does not exhaust its historical importance. Through them the scientific movement of the seventeenth century and the intellectual changes which resulted had their influence on the great revolutionary movement which was to be characteristic of the eighteenth century.
496. Leaders of French Thought in England. — Early in that century there came to England refugees from the per- secution which too bold thinking entailed in France. The most famous of these were Voltaire and Montesquieu. In England they came in contact with three different lines of influence, which affected in a marked degree their later efforts for reform : English civil liberty, which, though not as complete as in the nineteenth century, was far in
§ 497] French Leadership 449
advance of anything in France ; the political philosophy of Locke ; and the ideas of the Deists, especially the idea influenced of bringing old beliefs to a searching, critical examination. ^ English Their English training and observation clarified and fixed Morley, their ideas, and gave definite aim and purpose to the Voltaire strong demand for reform to which they had already given (Macmil~ voice — a demand which had not unnaturally made itself felt under the absolutism of the French kings and the abuses of all sorts which accompanied it. They returned to France and carried on the attack with new ammunition and redoubled energy, imparting to the nation the con- ceptions of government and of freedom, intellectual and political, which they had gained.
The influence of these ideas in preparing the way for Through the French Revolution we have already seen. But their France they influence was not confined to France. Through France Europe* they spread to all Europe, and, though checked in their immediate operation by the fears which the Revolution ex- cited in the European governments, they have, reenforced by other influences, brought forth abundant fruit in the nineteenth century.
497. French Intellectual and Social Leadership. — France imitated by
exercised in the eighteenth century a kind of despotic allthe
, . . r TT , continent
sway over the minds of men. Her great power under
Louis XIV., and long and fairly successful struggle against almost all Europe ; the brilliance of that age in literature : the great age of the French drama, of Corneille, Moliere, and Racine ; the refinement of the French language, as com- pared with most other European tongues; and the grace and elegance of French fashionable life, — all these had combined to give to France an intellectual and social in- fluence over the entire continent which made her a leader and teacher through the whole eighteenth century, so powerful an influence indeed that some traces of it remain even at the present time under wholly changed conditions. French became a kind of universal language, and to imi- tate Versailles and the French court a sort of religion.
450
Advance since the Renaissance [§§ 498> 499
Reform by
paternal governments. Stephens, Periods, 4-5.
An age of
preparation.
Taine,
Ancient
Regime,
170-174.
498. The Benevolent Despots. — The works of the re- formers, which were rather the fashion in France, notwith- standing their attacks on Church and State, were eagerly sought for everywhere and carefully studied by statesmen and sovereigns. One interesting result was the attempts which were made by the so-called benevolent despots, espe- cially by Joseph II. of Austria, but even by Frederick the Great and Catherine II. of Russia, and by statesmen like Pombal in Portugal, to introduce reforms by paternal meth- ods. These attempts all came to failure, as it was perhaps inevitable that they should, based as they were on pure theory and carried out under the direction of absolute gov- ernments ; but they serve to show us clearly how strong the belief in the necessity of reform had come to be, even among the highest classes, and this was one of the most important conditions of the success of the Revolution. For this belief on the part of those most interested to preserve the old abuses undermined their power of resistance when the people began the attack.
499. Character of Eighteenth Century Science. — In re- gard to its larger intellectual features we may say of the eighteenth century that it was, on the whole, an age of destruction rather than of construction, and yet the work which it did in the advancement of science was of the utmost importance. It may be called a great age of observation and experiment, of the collection and classification of facts, rather than of the discovery of new laws or of great advances in the understanding of the universe as the seventeenth century had been. It was a time of bringing the old theories to the test of scientific criticism, of becoming conscious of their defects, and of preparing for new and better explana- tions by the careful marshalling of related facts. There were some by no means slight advances made, but the great work of the eighteenth century in science was to make the necessary preparation for the progress of the following age. The wonderful scientific discoveries of the nineteenth century were possible because the eighteenth had cleared the way and provided the means.
§§500,501] A New Science 451
500. Positive advances in Science. — Two particularly Physics and important advances of the eighteenth century must not be astronomy, overlooked. One was the discovery of oxygen and the understanding of the true nature of combustion which fol- lowed, overthrowing the old theory of phlogiston which had
been the ruling explanation for nearly a hundred years. The other was the work of Laplace in astronomy, published just at the end of the century, which put the knowledge of the time into still more scientific form, and made a most valuable suggestion for the future in the statement of the nebular hypothesis. In the natural sciences much better methods of classification were introduced than ever before, in botany Botany and by the work of Linnaeus, and in zoology by that of Buffon zoology, and later of Cuvier. The study of these sciences advanced Darwin, so far, indeed, as to afford some foregleams of the great 2^?*^ discovery of the nineteenth century, — the theory of evolu- preface to tion, — of especial interest in the case of the elder Darwin, Am. edition grandfather of the author of the " Origin of Species." In medicine the introduction of inoculation for the small-pox must not be forgotten, the first step towards the wonderful immunity from certain especially dangerous diseases which we are now on the eve of acquiring, nor in physics the beginning of the scientific study of electricity in the work of Volta, Galvini, and Franklin.
501. A New Science. — One new science, which in our Political own time has reached most important conclusions, dates its economy' beginning from the eighteenth century, — the science of po- litical economy. Colbert at the close of the seventeenth century had held certain theories, chiefly concerning govern- ment supervision of industry and commerce ; but thinking
in regard to the production and distribution of wealth had never taken any organized form until the rise of the school of the Physiocrats in France. Quesnay may be called the founder of the science. The new ideas were enlarged by Gournay and later still by Turgot, but the work which gave the new science its definite form was Adam Smith's " Wealth of Nations," published in Scotland in 1776.
452
Advance since the Renaissance [§§502>5°3
A succession of inventions. Cunning- ham,
Industry and Commerce, Modern, 447-475 1 First Century of Republic, Chap. II.
502. The Age of Machinery Begins. — In one direction the eighteenth century brought about as revolutionary changes as any produced by the nineteenth, in the intro- duction of the great age of machinery in manufacturing. Between 1760 and 1800 a series of most remarkable inven- tions and improvements followed one another with unheard of rapidity. The steam-engine was so greatly improved that it could be put to practical use for the first time, and we are in the habit of saying that it was then, invented. A
THE COTTON-GIN
succession of inventions of machinery for spinning and weaving, by Hargreaves, Arkwright, Compton, and Cart- wright, revolutionized the making of cloth. At the same time improvements in the mining of coal began to furnish a sufficient supply of fuel for these new demands, and by leading to new processes in the manufacture of iron and steel met in another direction an equally strong demand of the age of machinery. Finally the invention of the cotton- gin, by Whitney in America, enabled the producers of the raw material to keep pace with the manufacturers, and to share in the benefits of the new era.
503. The Effect upon Manufacturing. — It was a new era
§ 5°4] The Effect upon Labor 453
indeed, and its results touched almost every side of life. In The factory
manufacturing there was a complete transformation. Up to system mad«
,.'..',. „ , , necessary,
this time everything had been upon a small scale and
entirely unorganized. In the making of cloth of all kinds, for example, the most important industry before the nine- teenth century, nearly everything was done by individual effort and in the houses of the workmen. Now not merely was there an opportunity for the employment of capital on a larger scale, but there was a necessity for it if the new machinery was to be properly housed and operated. This was the beginning of the factory system. It meant the collection and careful organization of all parts of the process in one concern, and the employment of larger and larger amounts of capital until the enormous enterprises of the present day were reached.
504. The Effect upon Labor. — The transformation of the The work- laboring class was just as great. The factory system brought ™^rsells the workmen together, and put them by hundreds into the instead of the employ of a single concern to which they looked, not merely products of for payment, but for the direction and supervision of their labor. The workman was no longer, as he had been, his own employer, working when and how he pleased, and disposing of the product of his labor to the workman of the next stage for whose labor it was the raw material, and in the mean time living in a little village or even on a small farm which he also tilled. Now what he sold was not the product of his work, but his work itself under fixed rules and conditions, and he must live with all the other employees of the con- cern in the immediate neighborhood of the factory.
The making of this transformation by the laboring class The first was a very painful process, and the first results seemed to Jj?^| be disastrous. Old-fashioned labor could not easily adapt tageous to itself to the change, and thousands found themselves de- labor, prived of their means of sustenance. Lack of experience led to many evil consequences from the crowding together of the workmen in the new towns, and the same reason put them at first rather at the mercy of their employers. The
454
Advance since the Renaissance
[§505
Craik, John Hali- fax, Gentle- man (novel).
But later, beneficial
The field of labor greatly expanded. Cunning- ham,
Industry and Commerce, Modern, 607-651.
Great in- crease of general intelligence and comfort.
Rogers, Six Centu- ries, p. 497.
result was both a great increase of poverty and suffering among the laborers, and the growth of a bitter feeling of hostility towards the capitalist who seemed to be reaping the only benefits from these changes and towards the new ma- chines which had brought them about. Frequent machine- breaking riots gave expression to both these feelings. Ex- perience by degrees brought about a better condition of things, and the operation of natural laws and of the con- tinued cheapening of manufacturing processes has tended to reduce the proportionate returns of the capitalist and to increase the real wages of the workman.
505. The Final Effect. — In other ways also the workman has greatly benefited from the results of this revolution. The introduction of machinery speedily gave rise to new industries. Some of these soon passed in importance the great cloth-making industry of the eighteenth century, and in the nineteenth century the field of labor expanded enor- mously. The necessary cost of living has been greatly reduced, and comforts and luxuries undreamed of in the eighteenth century have been brought within easy reach of the laborer's family, while progress in sanitary science has rendered their lives more secure.
As a result, directly or indirectly, of these things, there has been a great advance of intelligence, and a clearer and better understanding of their true interests by the laboring class. Great trade organizations have been formed to look after these interests and, where they have been wisely directed, as they have increasingly been among Anglo-Saxon workmen with the growth of experience, many advantages have resulted. Relatively speaking, the artisan class has gained more from the new age than the capitalist class. The rich man has been always able to buy what comforts and luxuries he pleased, and the millionaire of to-day can neither purchase nor enjoy many more of these than his predecessor of the end of the eighteenth century ; but the wildest prophet of that time would never have ventured to foresee the present improved condition of the intelligent laborer.
§§ 5°6> 5073 The Accumulation of Wealth 455
506. Political Results. — Politically the effect of these Advance of changes has been as marked as economically, especially in the middle England. At first the middle class rose to a new social and Montague, political importance. The centre of power began to shift Elements, from the country, and the land- owning class, where it had I9I~193* always been, to the new towns and the new wealthy manu- facturers and merchants. Conscious of their power, they
began to insist upon the reform of the system of parlia- mentary representation ; and the result was the first reform bill of 1832, which gave representation for the first time to the great manufacturing towns. The process did not Then a
stop at this point, but by successive stages the State became dernocratic
, ... , tendency,
more and more democratic, until it was practically under
the control of the mass of the people. The United States began with a more democratic theory, but at first this was not perfectly realized in practice, and the tendency has been in the same direction as in England, though less noticeable and more quickly and more completely accom- plished. This tendency has been perhaps still more marked in the Australian colonies, where many measures ol an extreme democratic, almost of a socialistic, stamp have been adopted, apparently to the satisfaction of the public, though we should look upon their operation with dread.
507. The Accumulation of Wealth. — Upon the accumu- Vastly in-
lation of wealth, both by individuals and by the community creased Pr°- . , duction of
in general, the economic revolution of the end of the eigh- weaith. teenth century had naturally a profound influence. The Escott, introduction of machinery was like the opening of number- s°cml ,
i r r i • i r Transform*
less mines of gold. At first the great profits derived from tions, 13-38. the new methods of work were chiefly absorbed by the capitalist class. But they had their burdens to bear in return, for it was this rapid production of wealth that en- abled England to endure the long strain of the Napoleonic wars without ruin. Later the products of industry have been more fairly divided, and the statistics of the income tax and of savings banks seem to indicate that the middle and working classes have gained relatively more than the
456
Advance since the Renaissance
[§508
Wealth in the Anglo- Saxon world.
Of great
variety. First Century of the Republic, Chap. XL
Political applications of science.
Transporta- tion.
Applications of electricity.
rich, notwithstanding the building up of enormous individual fortunes.
Wealth in the Anglo-Saxon world has increased more rapidly than population even, and now comprises one-third of that of the whole globe. It has been said that the amount saved and added to capital in England between 1860 and 1870 was enough to purchase the whole kingdom as it existed in 1815, and the census of 1880 showed the United States to be the richest nation of the world. In the expansion of the race, these facts have been of great importance. While England has formed and administered the largest empire of history, and has had innumerable frontier wars to pay for, and a great fleet to maintain, her national debt has been reduced since 1815 by a thousand million dollars, and is now, in proportion to the wealth of the nation as compared with that of the earlier date, almost insignificant.
508. Nineteenth-century Science. — The scientific work of the nineteenth century has covered such a wide variety of subjects, and made such a multitude of discoveries, that any brief statement of its results is impossible. Only the general characteristics and the most important advances of the age can be pointed out.
Two marked traits characterize throughout the science of the century. One of these is the rapid application of dis- coveries in pure science to practical purposes in improved economic appliances or in increasing the conveniences and comforts of men. This began in the opening of the great age of machinery and has continued ever since.
The nineteenth century was only well under way when the application of the steam-engine to transportation, in the railway and in the steamboat, revolutionized commerce, and enabled it to keep pace in the distribution of goods with the enormous output resulting from the new processes of manufacture. Since that time the most interesting and even startling of these applications of science have been in the field of electricity, the telegraph, the telephone, electric
§ 5°9l Advances in Pure Science 457
lighting, and electric motive power. These are almost equalled in interest by lucifer matches and photography, both now so familiar that the first impression made by their introduction is forgotten ; and in the field of surgery and other prac- medicine by anaesthetics, antiseptic surgery, and the new tical results methods of meeting and overcoming diseases which are due to germs. But these together are only a very few from the long list of such applications of science, and one may per- haps gain some idea of their influence upon our lives by imagining ourselves deprived of all such applications and inventions of the last hundred years.
509. Advances in Pure Science. — Another chief charac- The dis- teristic of the science of the nineteenth century is its won- coveiT °f
. . natural laws,
derful progress in the discovery of the laws of nature in
every department of nature's activity. The careful study of the facts during the previous century had prepared the way for great advances in the understanding of the forces behind the facts, and these the next age made.
In this case, also, our list must be a very brief one and The most of the most important advances only : the conservation of lmP°rtant
.. discoveries.
energy, the theories of the molecular structure of matter, of organic evolution, of the cell structure of living organisms with the resulting science of embryology, and the germ theory of diseases. It is difficult to find anything in the history of the past with which to compare these, in their influence upon our understanding of nature, unless it be Newton's theory of gravitation alone, but discoveries only less in importance to these have affected every branch of knowledge.
If it is possible that the seventeenth century made a The greatest greater relative progress in science, that is a greater progress ^erl°Jsthe considering the point at which it began, it is hardly too scientific much to say of the nineteenth that its absolute progress is history, as great as that of all preceding time. We may now almost ^"^^ venture to look forward to a time, not very distant in the Century, future, when all natural forces will have been brought into ChaP- xv- the service of man, and when nearly all the suffering, danger,
458 Advance since the Renaissance
and disease due to our ignorance of nature's ways or to our inability to foresee or control her operations will have disappeared.
Topics
In what way did the age of the revival of learning close? The first great age of English literature. The work of Lord Bacon. Progress in astronomy in the seventeenth century. The law of gravitation. The international character of modern science. The scientific work of the seventeenth century as a whole. The idea of natural law. The ideas of the Deists. English influence upon French writers. How did these ideas become European? Attempted reforms by governments. The character of eighteenth century science. Advances in various sciences. The beginning of political economy. Inventions of ma- chinery at the close of the eighteenth century. The effects of the use of machinery upon labor, manufacturing, political reform, and the pro- duction of wealth. Two chief characteristics of nineteenth-century science. Examples of the practical applications of science. Examples of important discoveries of natural laws.
Topics for Assigned Studies
The invention of the cotton-gin. American Historical Review, Vol. III., pp. 90-127.
The general character of the nineteenth century. Wallace, The Won- derful Century, Chap. XV.
Topics for Studies in Review
How had the German-Roman Empire become so weak in 1648 ?
Put together the facts which mark the decline of Spain.
The steps in the rise of England.
The reasons why France failed to secure a colonial empire.
The steps in the advance of Russia.
The share of the American colonists in the struggle with France for
colonial empire.
Steps in the advance of Prussia. Make an outline of the history of the " Eastern Question " from the
beginning of the reign of Catherine II. The relation of the wars of Frederick the Great to the colonial struggle
between France and England.
ABBREVIATIONS
Am. Hist. Leaf. American History Leaflets. Professors Albert Bush-
nell Hart and Edward Channing. (A. Lovell & Co.; 10 cents
each.)
Bohn. Bohn's Libraries. (The Macmillan Co.) Clarendon. The Clarendon Press, Oxford. (Henry Frowde.) Contemporaries. English History by Contemporary Writers Series.
(Putnam.) Correard. Choix de Textes pour servir a PEtude des Institutions de la
France. (Paris ; Delalain.)
Epochs. The Epochs of History Series. (Longmans or Scribner.) Epochs Ch. Hist. The Epochs of Church History Series. (Longmans.) Fling, Studies. Studies in European History. Professor Fred Morrow
Fling. I. Greek and Roman Civilization ; II. Mediaeval History.
(J. H. Miller, Lincoln, Neb.; Single Studies, 5 cents. The bound
volume, 55 cents.) Gardiner. Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution.
(Clarendon ; $2.25.) Gee and Hardy. Documents illustrative of English Church History,
(Macmillan ; $2.60.) Henderson. Historical Documents of the Middle Ages. (Bohn ;
#1.50-)
Heroes. Heroes of the Nations Series. (Putnam.) Indiana. Extracts from the Sources. Professors Samuel B. Harding
and U. G. Weatherby. University of Indiana. (Bloomington ;
5 cents each.)
Mathews. Select Mediaeval Documents. (Boston ; Silver.) Nations. Story of the Nations Series. (Putnam.) Old South. Old South Leaflets. (Directors of the Old South Work.
Boston ; 5 cents each.) Penn. Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European
History. (Department of History, University of Pennsylvania.
10 to 25 cents each ; bound volumes $1.50.) Periods. Periods of European History Series. (Macmillan.) Prothero. Statutes and Constitutional Documents, 1559-1625. (Clar- endon ; $2.60.)
Putzger. Historischer Schul-atlas. (Leipzig ; Velhagen ; 2 marks.)
459
460 Abbreviations
Schilling. Quellenbuch zur Geschichte der Neuzeit. (Berlin ; Gaert- ner.)
S. P. C. K. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. (Young.)
Stubbs. Select charters illustrative of English Constitutional History. (Clarendon; $3.10.)
Zeller. L'Histoire de France racontee par les Contemporains. lyvols. published as 16. (Paris : Hachette ; I franc each.) Translated into French. I. Gaul and the Invasions ; II. The Merovingians; III. Charlemagne and his Successors ; IV. Advent of the Cape- tians, Philip Augustus ; V. St. Louis, Philip the Fair ; VI. Philip VI., John the Good ; VII. Charles V., Du Guesclin ; VIII. Charles VI.; IX. Charles VII., Louis XI. ; X. Charles VIII.; XI. Louis XII. ; XII. and XIII. Francis I.; XIV. Henry II.; XV. Francis II., Charles IX.; XVI. Henry III., The League ; XVII. Henry IV.
LIST OF BOOKS
REFERRED TO MORE THAN ONCE, EXCEPT THOSE COVERED BY THE LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, WITH THE PAGE ON WHICH THE NAME OF THE PUB- LISHER IS GIVEN
Adams, C. K., Democracy and Mon- archy in France, 352.
Adams, G. B., Civilization during the Middle Ages, 73 ; The Growth of the French Nation, 124.
Airy, Louis XI V., 270.
Allen, Christian Institutions, 20.
Alzog, Church History, I.
Archer and Kingsford, Kingdom of Jerusalem, 109.
Ashley, English Economic History, 123.
Baird, Henry of Navarre, 244; Rise of the Huguenots, 242.
Boyle, Clarendon, 260.
Bradley, The Goths, 57.
Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire, 73.
Bury, Later Roman Empire, i.
Capes, The Age of the Antonines, 13 ; The Early Empire, 6.
Carr, The Church and the Roman Empire, 22.
Church, Henry V., 132; Stories of the East, i.
Cox, The Crusades, 109.
Creighton, Elizabeth, 234.
Cunningham, Growth of English In- dustry and Commerce in Modern Times, 444.
Dodge, Hannibal, 72.
Duffy, Tuscan Republics, 108.
Emerton, Mediaeval Europe, 73.
Fisher, The Beginnings of Christian- ity, 20; History of the Christian Church, i ; The Reformation, 157.
Fiske, Discovery of America, 182. Frazer, British India, 402. Freeman, Historical Essays, 37. Froude, History of England, 157. Fyffe, History of Modern Europe,
352-
Gairdner, Henry VII., 193; Lan- caster and York, 142.
Gardiner, The First Two Stuarts, 258 ; The Thirty Years' War, 246.
Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Ro- man Empire, i.
Gindely, The Thirty Years War, 246.
Green, Conquest of England, 84; History of the English People, 73 ; Making of England, 51.
Green, Mrs., Henry II., 126.
Hadley, Introduction to Roman Law,
51-
Hallam, Constitutional History of England, 410.
Hassall, Louis XIV., 267.
Hatch, Organization of the Early Christian Churches, 20.
Hausser, The Period of the Reforma- tion, 157.
Henderson, History of Germany, 73.
Hodgkin, Charles the Great, 52; Dynasty of Theodosius, 32; Italy and her Invaders, i ; Theodoric the Goth, 45.
Hutton, Philip Augustus, 127.
Johnson, 'Ihe Normans in Europe, 80.
46l
462
List of Books
Keary, Vikings in Western Christen- dom, 80.
Keltie, The Partition of Africa, 404.
Kitchin, History of France, 73.
Kostlin, Life of Luther, 157.
Lecky, History of England in the Eighteenth Century, 306.
Leger, Austro-Hungary, 148.
Lewis, History of Germany, 148.
Lieber, Civil Liberty, 352.
Longman, Frederick the Great, 293.
Lowell, Eve of the French Revolu- tion, 328.
Lucas, Historical Geography of the British Colonies, Introduction, 306.
Mahan, Influence of Sea Power upon History, 306.
Masson, Medicsval France, 133.
Maurice, Bohemia, 148.
McCarthy, Our Times from 1880, 405-
Medley, Manual of English Consti- tutional History, 410.
Merivale, Romans under the Em- pire, i.
Mombert, Charles the Great, 64.
Montague, Elements of English Con- stitutional History, 410.
Morris, Age of Anne, 277 ; Napoleon, SSL
Motley, The Dutch Republic, 332.
Miiller Political History of Recent Times, 352.
Oman, Art of War in the Middle Ages 109; Byzantine Empire, 18.
Park man, Half Century of Conflict; Montcalm and Wolfe, 306.
Pastor, History of the Popes, 157.
Payne, History of European Colonies, 306.
Pears, The Fall of Constantinople, 109.
Perkins, France under Louis XV.,
306; France under the Regency,
285.
Poole, Wycli/e, 130. Prescott, 'Philip II., 235. Rambaud, History of Russia, 287. Ramsay, Lancaster and York, 136. Ranke, History of the Popes, 207. Roberts, History of Canada, 395. Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and
Wages, 145. Schaft", History of the Christian
Church, i. Seebohm, The Protestant Revolution,
316. Sergeant, The Franks, 37; Wycli/e,
145-
Sloane, Napoleon, 351.
Stephens, French Revolution, 351 ; Portugal, 182; Speeches of the French Revolution, 351.
Story, Building of the British Em- pire, 306.
Stubbs, Constitutional History of Eng- land, 236 ; The Plantagenets 137.
Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy,
157-
Taine, Ancient Regime, 329.
Taswell-Langmead, English Consti- tutional History, 410.
Tout, Edrvard /., 140.
Traill, Social England, 73.
Tuttle, History of Prussia, 292.
Uhlhorn, Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism, 20.
Wallace, The Wonderful Century, 444.
Warburton, Edward III., 130.
Ward, The Counter Reformation, 220.
Willert, Henry of Navarre, 243.
Zimmern, Hansa, 117.
INDEX
Abbassides, the dynasty of, 58, 60.
Abyssinia, 405.
Acadia, 316.
Acre, siege of, 114.
Actium, battle of, 5.
Act of Settlement, the, 438.
Act of Supremacy, the, 218.
Act of Union, 284.
Alfred the Great, 82.
^Ethelred, 83.
Ae'tius, 34.
Afghanistan, 403, 404.
Africa, 404, 405 ; conquests of, 3, 45,
57. See Cape Colony, Egypt, etc. Agincourt, battle of, 132. Agricola, 13. Agrippina, 10. Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 271 ; peace
of, 295, 318. Alais, edict of, 249. Alaric, 2, 22-34. Albigenses, 75, 107, 128. Albuquerque, 307. Alcuin, 69.
Alemanni, the, 16, 31, 38, 40, 93. Alexander I., Czar of Russia, 356,
361; II., 380, 381. Alexandria, in Egypt, founding of,
23 ; bombardment of, 405. Algiers, 404. AH, the Caliph, 58. Alliance, the Triple, 271, 313. Alsace-Lorraine, 375. Alva, duke of, 236. America, discovery of, 177; English
colonies in, 311-315; Revolution
in, 322; Anglo-Saxon expansion
in, 388.
Amiens, peace of, 344, 392. Andros, Sir Edmund, 438.
Angevin empire, 126.
Anglo-Saxons, 3, 48-50, 388, 407,,
Anjou, county of, 88.
Anne of Beaujeu, 196.
Anne of England, 280, 284.
Antioch, 23, 112.
Antonines, Rome under the, 13.
Antony of Navarre, 242.
Aquinas, Thomas, 163.
Aquitaine, duchy of, 88.
Arabia, 55-57 ; science of, 58.
Arabi Pasha, 405.
Arabs, 56, 57 ; in Spain, 4, 57.
Arcadius, 32.
Archangel, 290.
Arians, 38.
Ariosto, 182.
Ariovistus, 29.
Arius, 38.
Armada, the Invincible 240.
Arminius, or Hermann, 9 ; the theo- logian, 238.
Arnulf, 93.
Arnulf of Metz, 53.
Arthur of Brittany, 126.
Artois, count of, 356.
Asia, 402-404.
Assignats, French, 337.
Asti, siege of, 33.
Attila, 34, 40.
Augsburg, Confession of, 214 ; peace of, 225, 230, 245 ; league of, 277.
Augustus Caesar, 6-10.
Augustus II., king of Poland, 290; III., 300.
Aurelian, emperor of Rome, 16.
Aurelius, Marcus, 7, 13, 14, 22.
Austerlitz, battle of, 346.
Australasia, 399.
Australia, 388-390, 397.
463
464
Index
Austrasia, 52, 53, 399, Austria, 148, 253, 265,294-299,370; in the Seven Weeks' War, 370-372. Austrian Succession, War of the, 295. Avignon, 158, 183, 273. Azof, 290, 291.
Bacon, Francis, 445.
Bagdad, 58, no.
Balboa, 177.
Baldwin of Flanders, 115.
Balkan states, 382.
Balliol, 140.
Baltic provinces, 150, 301.
Baluchistan, 402.
Barcelona, 66 ; treaty of, 211.
Basle, council of, 188.
Bastille, taking of the, 334.
Bavaria, Joseph of, 277.
Bavarians, the, 64, 93, 245.
Bayard, Chevalier, 210.
Becket, Thomas, 138.
Belgium, 78, 364.
Belisarius, 45.
Berlin, treaty of, 382.
Bill of Rights, 276.
Bismarck, Otto von, 367, 370.
Black Death, the, 131, 142.
Black Prince, 131.
Bohemia, 148, 158, 186, 187, 246,
298, 359. 371-
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 341-349, 391. Borgia, Caesar, 195. Bosphorus, 16, 17. Bosworth Field, battle of, 144, 426. Bothwell, Earl of, 238. Bourbon, house of, 242, 243. Bourges, Pragmatic Sanction of, 188,
201.
Bouvines, battle of, 140. Boyne, battle of the, 277. Braddock, General, 318. Brandenburg, elector of, 292. Breda, compromise of, 237. Breslau, peace of, 295. Bretigny, treaty of, 131. Britain, 13, 48. British empire, expansion 0^387-403 ;
in Africa, 404 ; in Canada, 395 ; in
Incli.i, 402. Bruce, Robert, 140, 141.
Brunswick, house of, 106. See Han- over.
Buffon, 451. I Bulgaria, 382,384; massacres in, 381.
Burgundians, 33, 39, 42.
Burgundy, duchy of, 78, 88, 134; duke of, 132.
Burschenschaft, 354.
Cabot, 310.
Caesar, Augustus, emperor of Rome,
6-10. Caius, 10.
Calais, 133, 234, 276. Caligula, emperor of Rome, 10. Caliphate, the, 58, 60, no. Calvin, John, 159, 219. Calvinism, 219, 229, 233, 238, 241. Cambray, league of, 198 ; Ladies'
Peace of, 211.
Campo Formio, treaty of, 342. Canada, 315, 318, 319, 320, 395, 397. Canossa, 103. Canterbury, 138. Cape Colony, 309, 350, 391, 394, 397,
404, 405, 407. Capetian kings of France, 74, 88, 96,
124, 125, 127, 136. Carbonari, 354. Carlowitz, peace of, 290. Carnot, 341. Carolingian house, 52, 60-74, 81, 93,
96.
Carthage, 34. Castile and Aragon, 152. Catherine of Aragon, 193. Catherine II. (the Great), of Russia,
299-304, 378.
Catholic League, the, 245. Cavaliers, 260. Cavour, Count, 365. Celts, 48, 50. Ceylon, 391. Chalons-sur-Marne, 34. Chambord, Comte de, 356. Charlemagne, 3,64,71,74; the em- pire of, 68, 76.
Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, 360. Charles V., emperor of Germany,
159, 198-200, 229-233 ; VI., 294. Charles the Bold, 133, 193.
Index
465
Charles the Fat, 79, 93-95.
Charles the Simple, 95.
Charles I., king of England, 258, 260, 432-435; II., 261, 266, 275, 436.
Charles V., king of France, 131 ; VI., 131; VII., 132; VIII., 134, 195- 197.
Charles XII., king of Sweden, 290.
Charles of Bourbon, Constable of France, 208, 210.
Charles Martel, 53, 57, 62.
Chaucer, 142, 204.
China, 402-404.
Christianity, causes of early persecu- tion of, 21, 22; rapid spread of, 21-25; under Constantine, 2, 24; Church government, 22; under Julian, 26; under Jovian, 29; Arian vs. Catholic, 38 ; reforms of Cluny, 100 ; the crusades and their results, 109-123 ; Hussites, 149, 186; religious revolution attempted, 183- 188 ; reformation of Luther, 203- 222; in England, 233, 240, 257; in France, 241 ; Edict of Nantes, 244.
Civilis, 13.
Claudius, 10, 13.
Clermont, council of, no.
Clive, Robert, Lord, 319.
Clotilda, 38.
Clovis, 3, 4, 37-40.
Cluny, reforms of, 100.
Cnut, 74, 83.
Cobden, Richard, 400.
Colbert, 268-270, 274, 315.
Co let, 170.
Coligny, Admiral de, 243.
Colonial wars, 315, 325.
Colonies, Northmen, 81 ; German, 150; modern, 307; English, 311, 3i5-3i8, 394-397, 399-402 ; French, 269, 270, 274, 315, 392.
Columbus, 176.
Commodus, emperor of Rome, 13.
Commons, House of, 259, 260 ; origin and growth of, 417, 422, 425. See Parliament;
Commonwealth, English, the, 260, 261, 435-
Conde, Prince of, 253, 272.
Congo Free State, the, 404.
Conrad, of Franconia, 93; II., em- peror of the Holy Roman Empire, 95; III., 114.
Constance, peace of, 106 ; council of, 149.
Constantine the Great, 2, 17, 20, 22- 25, 26.
Constantinople, 17, 57, 115, 153.
Constituent Assembly, in France, 336, 338 ; in Germany, 361.
Constitutions of England and the United States, 410-441 ; Charter of Henry I., 412; beginning of the judiciary, 413 ; the Magna Charta, 414-416, 419; the Provisions of Oxford, 416; the origin of repre- sentative institutions, 417 ; Parlia- ment, 418-430; House of Com- mons, 259, 260, 421-425 ; taxation by, 419-425; the Yorkist period, 426; the Tudor period, 427; the Stuart period, 430; Petition of Right, 432 ; Grand Remonstrance, 434; Bill of Rights, 437; colonial questions, 437 ; Reform Bills, 440.
Consuls, of France, 343.
Convention, the, of the Commune,
339-341-
Copernicus, 158, 179, 445, 447. Corneille, 449. Cortez, 397.
Council, the Great, 417. Coup d'etat, the, 362. " Covenant," the, 433. Cr6cy, battle of, 131. Crespy, treaty of, 229. Crimea, 302.
Crimean War, 227, 379-381. Cromwell, Oliver, 260-261, 313. Crusades, age of, 109, 112, 117; first,
no; second and third, 114; later,
ii5-
Cuba, 177. Cuvier, 451. Czar, the name, 6.
Dagobert, 42, 52, 61. Damascus, 38, 114. Danes, 80 ; in England, 81. Dante, 166. Dan ton, 336.
466
Index
Danube, states of the, 382, 384.
Darwin, 451.
Decius, 16, 31.
Declaration of Independence, 323,
412.
Deists, French, 327 ; English, 448. Denmark, 368. Descartes, 446.
Desiderius, king of Lombards, 65. Diaz, 175. Diocletian, Roman emperor, 2, 16,
17, 23, 26.
Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield, 382. Divine Right of Kings, doctrine of
the, 257.
Domitian, Roman emperor, n, 13. Dresden, peace of, 295. Dunbar, battle of, 361. Dupleix, 317, 319.
Dutch Republic. See Netherlands. Dutch war in reign of Charles II., 313.
Eadmund Ironside, 83, 96. Eadward the Confessor, 83, 96, 97. Enstern Empire, 3, 31, 44, 46. Eastern Question, the, 227, 302, 377,
384.
East India Company, 269, 309, 312. Ecgberht of Wessex, 81. Eck, Dr., 206. Edessa, 114.
Edict of Restitution, 247, 249. Edward L, king of England, 129, 140,
417; II., 141, 420, 424; III., 130,
142; IV., 144; VI., 218, 427. Egypt, 57. 58, 152, 153. 166-172, 343,
378, 391, 405. Eisenach, 208. Elagabalus, 16. Elba, 347-349- Eleanor of Aquitaine, 126. Elector, the Great, of Brandenburg,
251, 292, 293, 312 ; of Bavaria, 295 ;
of the Palatinate, 245, 258, 284;
of Saxony, 229, 252-295. Elizabeth of York, 193. Elizabeth of England, 218, 225, 234,
237-251, 427; literature of the age
of, 445-
Elizabeth of Russia, 297, 299. Emigres, 338, 356.
Empire and papacy, 102-107.
England, Saxons in, 48 ; under fiL\- fred, 82; invasions of, 74, 81, 82; Norman conquest of, 96 ; at war with France, 131, 142, 283,315,345, 349,391; Norman kings of, 137, 411; Angevin kings of, 126, 137-142, 412, 413 ; in Wars of the Roses, 142-144, 192,426; the Reformation in, 185, 217, 218, 233, 234, 238-241 ; Tudor rule in, 218, 233, 239, 427—430; Stu- art kings of, 255-259, 275, 284, 430- 436 ; Revolution in, 260, 436 ; Com- monwealth of, 260 ; rise of, 281, 309 ; colonies of, 311-325, 388, 394, 397, 400-402; constitutional history of, 410-440 ; Magna Chai ta, 414 ; Par- liament of, 417-426.
Epirus, 32.
Erasmus, 158, 170.
Estate, the Third, 332.
Estates, general, 129, 131, 133, 196, 331. 336. See National Assembly.
Ethandun, 82.
Eudes, king of France, 95.
Eugene of Savoy, 280.
Europe, reorganization of, 349, 350; since 1815, 352-385.
Ferdinand of Aragon, 151, 191; em- peror of Germany, 230.
Feudalism, the rise of, 85; the sys- tem of, 86, 87, 411 ; in France, 88 ; the serf class under, 89-91 ; classes of, 89 ; permanent influence of, 120, 411; causes of decay, 121; results of, 121.
Flanders, 88, 309.
Flavian dynasty in Rome, II.
Florence, the city, 151, 195.
Florida, purchase of, 393.
Fontenay, battle of, 77.
Fontenoy, battle of, 295.
Fort Duquesne, 318.
Fouquet, 268.
France, under the feudal system, 88; beginning in, 95 ; Capetian kings of, 74, 88, 96, 124-127, 136; the Valois in, 130, 243; in the Thirty Years' War, 244-253 ; under Louis XIV., 267-274, 277-281, 313-315;
Index
467
intellectual character of, 327-329; financial condition of, 330, 336 ; revolutions in, 332-339, 356-358, 364; the Republic in, 338-345, 358, 376 ; the Empire, 345, 362 ; Bour- bon restoration, 347, 349 ; the war with Prussia, 372-375 ; in the Cri- mean War, 379 ; colonies of, 269, 315, 392.
Franche-Comte, 265, 271-273.
Francis I., king of France, 208; II., 238, 242.
Francis of Guise, 242, 373.
Francis Joseph, emperor of Austria,
359-
Francis of Lorraine, emperor of Aus- tria, 295.
Franco-Prussian War, 227, 372-375.
Franklin, 451.
Franks, the, 3, 37-43, 57, 62.
Frederick William, the Great Elector (of Brandenburg), 251, 286, 292, 293, 312.
Frederick the Wise of Saxony, 200.
Frederick II. (the Great), 293-295, 298-301.
Frederick I., emperor of the Ger- mans, 104, 114; II., 104, 107-115.
Frederick, of the Palatinate, 245, 258, 284.
Frederick William I., king of Prus- sia, 293 ; II., 303 ; IV., 361.
Frederickshall, siege of, 291.
French and Indian War, 297.
French Revolution, the, 227, 332-339.
Fronde, wars of the, 267.
Galba, emperor of Rome, n.
Galileo, 446, 447.
Garibaldi, 367.
Gaul, 3, 6.
Geneva, 219.
German nation, beginnings of, 3, 9, 35. 92. 93 5 the Holy Roman Em- pire of the, 94; in conflict with the papacy, 99-107, 147; in the cru- sades, 114-116; the Great Inter- regnum, 147; the Reformation of Luther, 203-215 ; the religious wars, 229-257; the Thirty Years' War, 244-246, 251-255 ; end of the
Empire, 254 ; rise of the Hohenzol- lern in, 291-294; the Seven Years' War, 298, 370-372; the Zollverein, 365, 368 ; the New Confederation, 371 ; the New Empire, 375.
George I., king of England, 284; III., 320-322.
Ghibellines, 106.
Gibraltar, 281.
Girondists, the, 339, 340.
Gladstone, 400.
Gold, discovery of, 398.
Gordon, General, 406.
Goths, 31, 32.
Granada, 191, 192.
Grand Alliance, the, 279.
Great Seal of England, 265.
Greco-Turkish War, 385.
Greece, independence of, 363.
Greek Empire. See Eastern Empire.
Greeks, revival of the learning of, 158, 161-163.
Gregory. See under Popes.
Gregory of Tours, 38.
Grimoald, 52, 61.
Guelfs, 106.
Guise, the family of, 242.
Gustavus Adolphus, 247, 251.
Gutenberg, 168.
Hadrian, emperor of Rome, 13-15.
Hampden, 259, 260, 432.
Hanover, 106 ; the house of, 284, 425, 438.
Hanseatic League, 123.
Hapsburg, house of, 148, 190, 192, 228, 234, 249, 265, 282.
Harold I., king of England, 97.
Hastings, battle of, 97.
Hawaii, 388.
Hegira, 56.
Helena, St., 349.
Henry I., emperor of Germany, 93; H., 95, 99; III., 95, 101, 102; IV., 102; V., 103; VI., 102, 104, 106.
Henry I., king of England, 137; Charter of, 412, 415 ; 1 1., of Anjou, 126, 137, 421; III., 128, 140, 416; IV., 423-425; V., 131, 142; VI., 132, 143; VII., 144, 426; VIII.,
192, 198, 200, 208, 217, 257, 427, 430.
468
Index
Henry II., king of France, 229, 230, 242; III., 243; IV., of Navarre,
243. 244-
Henry the Lion, 106.
Henry the Navigator, 175.
Heptarchy, the, 49.
Herculaneum, n.
Hermann, 9.
Hohenstaufen, the house of, 74, 104- 106, 151.
Hohenzollern, the house of, 150, 226, 292, 361, 373.
Holbein, 182.
Holland, 78, 309 ; at war with France, 266, 271, 313, 357, 391.
Holstein, 368.
Holy Alliance, the, 354-356.
Holy League, 198.
Holy Roman Empire, the, 69 ; eco- nomic conditions of, 76; its contest with the papacy, 99-107; renewed by Otto the Great, 74, 94 ; effects of the renewal of, 94; diminished by the treaty of Westphalia, 226 ; end of, 254.
Honorius, emperor of Rome, 32.
Horace, 7.
Hubertsburg, peace of, 299.
Hudson Bay territory, 282.
Huguenots, 242-244, 248, 274.
Hundred Days, the, 349.
Hundred Years' War, the, 75, 130- 133, 142, 190.
Hungarians, the, 74, 80, 93, 363.
Hungary, 359, 361, 372.
Huns, the, 2, 29, 31-35, 44.
Huss, John, 149, 158, 186.
Hussites, 149, 186.
Illyricum, 32.
Imperial Federation League, 401. Independents, English, 260, 311. India, 173, 316, 317, 319, 343, 391, 402.
403-
Indulgences, 203. Interregnum, the Great, 147. Ireland, 137, 261, 277. Isabella of Bourbon, 373. Isabella of Castile, 151, 152. Ismail Pasha, 405. Italian city-states, 105, 106, 151, 194.
Italian Renaissance, 165.
Italy, reorganization of, 349, 363; cities of, 105, 106, 151, 194; Re- naissance in, 165; the invasions of, 196-200, 210, 211 ; revolutions in, 200, 355, 359; growth of the spirit of nationality in, 365 ; united, 366, 367; in the Seven Weeks' War, 370-371.
Ivan the Great, 288.
Jacobins, 336, 338, 339, 340, 342.
James I., king of England, 258; II., 276, 277, 280, 284, 436, 437, 438; III., 279.
James II., king of Scotland, 284.
Janissaries, 252.
Japan, 404.
Jena, battle of, 346.
Jerome of Prague, 187.
Jerusalem, taken by Titus, n ; by the Turks, no, 113; by the cru- saders, 114; Latin kingdom of, 114; taken by Saladin, 114.
Jesuits, the order of, 221.
Jews, insurrection of, 12; expulsion from Spain of the, 192.
Joan of Arc, 132.
John, king of England, 74, 126, 139; grant of Magna Charta by, 139, 140, 414-416.
John, king of France, 131.
Josephine, 346.
Joseph of Bavaria, 277.
Jovian, 29.
[ulian the Apostate, 26, 29, 31.
fustinian, 3, 15, 44-46, 119.
Jutes, the, 48, 49.
Kaaba, the, 55. Kepler, 446, 447. Khadijah, 55. Khartum, 406. Knox, John, 238. Koniggratz, battle of, 371. Koreishites, 55, 56. Kosciusko, 303. Kossuth, 339.
Lacedaemon. See Sparta. Lafayette, 334, 336, 356.
Index
469
Lancaster, house of, 142, 144, 186,
423-425.
Langton, Stephen, 414. Laplace, 451. La Rochelle, 249. Latin Empire, 115. Laud, William, 259. Law, John, 330. Law, Roman, 14-16, 106, 119. Laybach, Congress of, 355. Leczinski, Stanislaus, 290. Legislative Assembly, 340. Legnano, battle of, 106. Leipzig, battle of, 347. Leon, 152.
Leonardo da Vinci, 181. Leopold II., king of Austria, 303. Leopold, Prince, 373. Lewis I., Carolingian king, 77, 79. Linnaeus, 451. Lisbon, 175, 177. Literature of the Renaissance, 179,
181, 182. Livia, 10. Livy, 7.
Locke, John, 449. Loire, the, 57, 127. Lollards, the, 186. Lombard League, the, 105. Lombards, the, 3, 4, 46, 61, 62,65. Lorraine, no, 375. Lothair, emperor, 77, 78. Louisburg, 318. Louisiana purchase, the, 393. Louis, prince of Conde, 253, 272. Louis V., king of France, 96; VI.,
124, 125; VII., 114; VIII., 128;
IX., 115, 128; XL, 133, 190, 191;
XII., 197-200; XIII., 244, 247, 249 ;
XIV., 266-283, 313 ; XV., 283, 313 ;
XVI., 331, 336, 339, 340; XVII.,
348; XVIII., 347, 349,356. Louis Napoleon, 359, 361-376. Louis Philippe, 336, 358. Low Countries. See Netherlands. Loyola, Ignatius, 222. Lucan, 10.
Ludovico the Moor, 195-197. Luther, Martin, 158, 171, 203-215;
posts his theses, 204; burns the
papal bull, 207; edict against, of
the Diet of Worms, 207, 208 ; op- posed to fanaticism, 212, and to civil war, 214.
Liitzen, battle of, 251.
Luxemburg, the family of, 148.
Machiavelli, 182, 194.
Machinery, the age of, 452 ; its effect
on manufacturing and labor, 453. Madrid, treaty of, 210. Magdeburg, siege of, 229, 251. Magellan, 177. Magna Charta, the, 140, 414-416, 419,
432.
Mahmoud II., sultan of Turkey, 378. Maintenon, Mme., 274. Maria Louisa, empress of France,
346. Maria Theresa of Austria, 294-299,
301.
Marie Antoinette, 330. Marignano, battle of, 200. Marlborough, duke of, 280. Mary def Medici, 244. Mary of Burgundy, 193. Mary, queen of England, wife of
William III., 276, 436. Mary Stuart, queen of Scots, 234,
238-240, 242, 255, 256. Mary Tudor, queen of England, 218,
233-
Matilda, 137, 412, 413. Maurice of Saxony, 229. Maximilian I., emperor of Germany,
134. 193-
Mazarin, 199, 249, 267, 270, 274, 277. Mazeppa, 291. Mazzini, 360. Mecca, 55, 56. Medici, family of, 151, 195, 196, 216;
Catherine de', 175, 242; Lorenzo
de', 180; Mary de', 244. Medina, 56. Mehemet Ali, 378. Mercia, 49, 81. Metternich, 354, 359, 389. Metz, 230; fortress of, 374. Mexico, conquered by Cortez, 307. Michael Angelo, 181. Milan, 31, 33, 105, 151, 195, 200, 342. Minorca, 281, 324.
470
Index
Mirabeau, 332-336. Missi dominici, 69, 76. Mohammed, 55, 56. Mohammedanism, doctrines of, 55;
spread of, 56 ; decline of, 60. Moliere, 449. Money, effects of an increased use of,
120.
Monroe Doctrine, the, 355. Montaigne, 182. Montesquieu, 328, 448. Montfort, Simon de, 128, 416, 418. Moors of Granada, 192. More, Sir Thomas, 170, 171. Moscow, burning of, 347. " Mountain," the, 339. Mozambique, 175. Miihlberg, 229.
Nantes, the edict of, 244, 249; revoca- tion of, 274. Naples, 195, 197, 281. Napoleon III., 362, 372. Naseby, 260. National Assembly, French, 332, 336,
339- 34°-
National Guard, 334-336, 356. Navarre, 151, 191. Navigation Act, 313. Necker, 331, 333, 334. Nelson, 343, 344, 391. Nero, emperor of Rome, 10, n,
21.
Nerva, emperor of Rome, 13. Netherlands, 186, 193 ; under Charles
V., 235; revolt of the, 228, 236;
Union of Utrecht, 237; ceded to
Austria, 237 : to France, 255. Netherlands, the New, 309. Neustria, 53. Newfoundland, 316. Newton, Sir Isaac, 446, 447. Nicaea, 24. Nicholas I., czar of Russia, 361,364,
379. 380.
Nile, battle of the, 343, 391. Nimeguen, treaty of, 273. Nineteenth century, 352. Norfolk, 49. Normandy, 81, 95, 411. Normans, 69, 96; in Italy, 104; con-
quest of England by, 96; in the
crusades, no. Northmen, 74, 80, 81. Northumberland, 49. Norwegians, 80. Nottingham, 261. Nova Scotia, 316. Nuremberg, peace of, 215.
Octavius, emperor of Rome, 5, 9,
Odovakar, 3, 35.
Ommiads, the, 58.
Orange, William of, 276-280, 436, 437.
Orleans, the siege of, 132.
Osmanlis, the, 152.
Osman Pasha, 381.
Ostrogoths, 3, 31, 40-44.
Otho, emperor of Rome, n.
Otto I., the Great, emperor of Ger- many, 74, 93 ; II., 94; III., 94; IV., 106, 107, 140.
Ottokar II., king of Bohemia, 148.
Ottoman Empire, the. See under Turks.
Ovid, 7.
Oxford University, 170.
Palatinate, 245, 254, 277.
Palmyra, fall of, 16.
Papacy, the " temporal power " of, 3, 62; its growth, 4, 61 ; in conflict with the Empire, 68, 102-107, X47J at the height of the power of, 106, 107; theory of papal supremacy, 99 ; reforms of Cluny, 100 ; removal of the papal chair to Avignon, 158, 183-185 ; the great schism, 184; the papal states, 195; deprived of power in England, 217, in Italy, 360.
Papal states, the, 195.
Paris, peace of (1763), 297; peace of (1856), 381.
Parliament, English, 395; the first, 417; growth of power of, 418-423, 425-429; rise of House of Com- mons in, 422, 439; rights of, 258, 415, 419-422, 424 ; attacks on, 258, 259, 423, 432-435 ; Charles I. and the, 258, 432-435; the Long, 259, 433 ; the " Rump," 259, 261 ; the
Index
471
convention, 437; union of Scotch
with the, 284. Parthians, 12. Pavia, 210. Peasants' War, 201. Persia, conquest of, by Saracens, 57 ;
modern, 402-404. Persian Empire revived, 44. Persian wars with Rome, 16. Peter the Great, 288-291 ; III., 298. Peter the Hermit, no. Petition of Right, 258. Petrarch, 166, 167, 182. Philip Augustus, king of France, 75,
114. Philip II., king of France, 124, 126-
128, 140; IV. (the Fair), 129, 130,
140, 183; VI., of Valois, 130. Philip II., king of Spain, 218, 225,
231-238, 240; IV., 270; V., of An- , jou, 279, 280. Philip of Hesse, 229, 230. Physiocrats, the, in France, 451. Picard, 447. Pippin of Landen, 52. Pippin of Heristal, 53. Pippin the Short, 4, 57, 62. Pisa, council of, 158, 185. Pitt, William, 320. Pizarro, 307. Plassy, victory of, 319. Plevna, surrender of, 381. Poitiers, 57, 131. Poland, 292 ; partitions of, 300, 303 ;
revolutions in, 357. Pomerania, 292. Pompeii, n. Popes. See Papacy. Leo I., 34;
Gregory I., 61; Stephen II., 62;
Leo IX., 102; Gregory VII., 74,
102,183; Urban II., no; Adrian
IV., 139; Innocent III., 107, 115,
183; Boniface VIII., 129, 130, 183;
Gregory XI., 184; Urban VI. ,184;
Gregory XII., 187; Alexander V.,
185; Martin V., 187; Nicholas V.,
181 ; Alexander VI., 195, 221 ;
Junius II., 197; Leo X., 206;
Clement VII., 211 ; Pius IX., 360. Portugal, 173, 174, 253, 307. Pragmatic Sanction, 188, 201, 294.
Prague, peace of, 371. Pretender, the Old, 284. Pretorian guard, 6, 10, 1 1. Printing, invention of, 168, 169. Protestants, the name, 159, 212. Protestant Union, the, 245. Provisions of Oxford, 416. Prussia, duchy of, 292; rise of the
kingdom of, 291-294, 299, 367-372. Pultowa, battle of, 291. Punjaub, the, 402. Puritans, 241, 257. Pym, 434.
Pyramids, battle of the, 343. Pyrenees, 33, 57; peace of the, of
1659. 255, 270.
Quadruple Alliance, the, 283. Quebec, 226, 319. Quesnay, 451.
Rabelais, 182.
Racine, 449.
Radagaisus, 33.
Ramillies, 280.
Raphael, 181.
Ravenna, 3, 48, 61.
Reformation, the, under Luther, 158,
160, 203-215; in England, 217-
219; in France, 220, 242; the
counter-, 220. Reform Bill of 1832, 440. Reign of Terror, 227, 340. Religious wars, the age of, 228 ;
the Schmalkaldic War, 229 ; the
Thirty Years' War, 244. Renaissance, the, 158, 160, 173;
south of the Alps, 165, 169; north
of the Alps, 170; end of, 179, 444. Restitution, edict of, 247. Restoration of the Stuarts, 266, 275,
436-
Revival of learning, 161-167; in Italy, 165 ; in England, 170.
Revolution, American, 226, 321-324, 438, 439; its influence, 324; in England, 260; of 1688, 276; in France, of 1789-1799, 335 ; results °f» 35°' 357 1 i° France, of 1830, 350, 364; in Germany, 364, 365; in France, of 1848, 338 ; in Hun-
4/2
Index
gary, of 1848, 361 ; in Italy, of 1820, 355; of 1830, 357; of 1848, 359, 361 ; in Poland, of 1830-1832, 357.
Rheims, 132.
Rhine, 2, 3, 33 ; the League of the,
154.
Rhodes, in.
Richard I., king of England, 126, 139, 144; as a crusader, 144; II., 142, 420,423,424; III., 144,426.
Richelieu, Cardinal, 226, 247-253.
Rights, Bill of, 276.
Robert the Strong, 95.
Robespierre, 336.
Rollo, 81, 95.
Roman law, 14-16, 106, 119.
Romanoff, house of, 288.
Romans, religion, 21-25.
Rome, changes in the constitution of, 2, 16-18 ; the Empire, 5-32 ; causes of the fall of the Empire, 27 ; at- tacks by the Goths, 31 ; division of the Empire, 32; end of the West- ern Empire of, 35 ; the Eastern Empire of, 3, 31, 44-48 ; the capi- tal of the kingdom of Italy, 376.
Romulus Augustulus, 35.
Roses, Wars of the, 144, 192.
Roumania, 381.
Roussillon, 253.
Rousseau, 328.
Rudolph of Hapsburg, 148.
Runnymede, 140.
Ruric, 287.
Russia, introduction of Christianity into, 288 ; Tartar conquest of, 288 ; under Peter the Great, 288-290; under Elizabeth, 298, 299; under Catherine the Great, 299-304; the partition of Poland, 300-304; in- vaded by Napoleon, 347; expan- sion of, in Asia, 403 ; Napoleon, 347; in the Holy Alliance, 354; at war with the Turks in 1770-1774, 302; in 1828, 364; in 1877-1878, 381-384 ; in the Crimean War, 379- 381 ; emancipation of serfs in, 381.
Ryswick, peace of, 277.
Sadowa, battle of, 371. St. Augustine, 50, 169, 203.
St. Bartholomew, 243.
St. Germain, peace of, 242.
St. Paul, ii, 21.
St. Peter, n, 21.
St. Petersburg, 291.
Salic law, 130.
San Stefano, treaty of, 381.
San Yuste, 231.
Saracens, 57; their service to sci- ence, etc., 58, 59.
Sardinia, at war with France, 340- 342, 350 ; revolution in, 355 ; war with Austria, 360 ; in the Crimean War, 380.
Sassanid dynasty, 29.
Savonarola, 29, 195, 196.
Savoy, 278 ; house of, 78, 360.
Saxons, the, invade Britain, 48; con- quered by Charlemagne, 65; con- version of, 49, 66.
Saxony, 254, 298, 299.
Scandinavians. See Northmen.
Scandinavian states, 159.
Schleswig-Holstein, 368.
Schmalkaldic War, 229, 230.
Schmalkald, league of, 215.
Scholasticism, 163-165.
Science in the nineteenth century, 456, 457-
Scotland at war with England, 140, 259-261.
Sebastopol, siege of, 380.
Sedan, battle of, 374.
Sejanus, 10.
Seneca, 7, 10.
Separatists, the, 241.
Sepoy mutiny, 402.
Serfs, emancipation of Russian, 381.
Settlement, Act of, 284.
Seven Weeks' War, 370, 371.
Seven Years' War, 226, 298.
Sforza, family of, 198.
Shakespeare, 445.
Sicily, the two kingdoms of, 151, 355, 360.
Sigismund, 149, 150, 187, 292.
Silesia, 295, 298.
Smith, Adam, 457.
Sobieski, 273.
Society of Jesus, 221.
Soudanese revolt, 406, 407.
Index
473
Spain, conquest of, by the Vandals, 33 ; the Visigoths, 34 ; the Sara- cens, 57; by Charlemagne, 152; by Ferdinand, 191 ; union of Cas- tile and Aragon, 152, 191; discov- eries and colonies of, 177, 323, 324 ; conquest of Granada, 191 ; under Ferdinand and Isabella, 191, 192; expulsion of Jews and Moors, 192 ; at war with France, 195-198, 200, 208-211, 229; empire of, under Charles V. and Philip II., 198-200, 210-212; in the age of religious wars, 228-237, 238, 240, 246-255, 308 ; rapid decline of, 233, 265 ; the Armada, 240; in the Triple Al- liance, 271 ; the War of the Suc- cession, 226, 277, 279-281 ; annexed by France, 278, 283 ; loss of Ameri- can colonies, 355, 393.
Spanish Succession, the War of, 226, 277-283.
Speyer, Diet of, 211.
Spurs, battle of the, 198.
Star Chamber, 259, 428, 433.
Stephen, king of England, 137, 412,
4i3-
Straffbrd, earl of, 433.
Strasburg, 273 ; the Oath of, 277.
Strelitz, the, 289.
Stuarts, house of, 257, 283, 422, 430- 438; Charles I., 258, 260, 432-435 ; Charles II., 261, 266, 275, 430; Henry (Lord Darnley), 238; James I., 257, 258, 430, 431 ; James II., 276, 279, 436; James III., 279, 284 ; Mary, 234, 238-242, 255, 256.
Suevi, 33, 34.
Suez Canal, the, 405.
Suffolk, 49.
Sulieman the Magnificent, 214.
Supremacy, Act of, 218.
Sussex, 49.
Sweden, 247; in the Thirty Years' War, 251-254; power of, under Charles XII., 290; decline of, 286-288 ; at war with Russia, 290 ; fall of Charles XII., 291.
Switzerland, 78, 150.
Syagrius, 38.
Syria, 16, 57.
Tacitus, 13.
Tartar Avars, 66, 93.
Tell, William, 151.
Templar, a Knight, 115.
Testry, battle of, 53.
Tetzel, 204.
Teutoberger Forest, battle of, 9.
Teutonic Knights, order of, 150.
Teutonic races, 170.
Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, 40,
41.
Theodosius the Great, 2, 3, 32, 44. Thiers, M., 376.
Third Estate, the, 118, 132, 177. Thirty Years' War, the, 225, 229, 244-
253-
Thuringians, 42.
Tiberius, emperor of Rome, n.
Tiers Etat. See Third Estate.
Tilly, 246, 247, 251.
Tilsit, peace of, 346.
Tippoo Sahib, 343, 391.
Titian, 181.
Titus, emperor of Rome, n, 12.
Tory party in English politics, 322. 396.
Tours, battle of, 57.
Tower of London, 141.
Trajan, emperor of Rome, 13.
Trent, council of, 221.
Triple Alliance, the, 271, 313.
Tudor, house of, 144, 192; table of kings, 263.
Tunis, 115, 405.
Turenne, 253, 272.
Turgot, 331, 451.
Turks, the Seljuk, 60, no; capture of Edessa by, 114; Osmanlis, 152; capture Constantinople, 153 ; the siege of Vienna by the, 214; con- quered by Peter the Great, 290; at war with Russia, 302; the East- ern Question, 353, 377, 384 ; insur- rection of the Greeks, 364-378 ; the Crimean War, 379-382 ; war be- tween Greeks and, 385.
Tycho Brahe, 447.
Ulfilas, 39.
Ulm, battle of. 346.
Ulrich von Hutten, 182.
474
Index
United States, the, 322-324 ; War of I8l2, 393; the Monroe Doctrine, 355; expansion of, 392-393, 398; Revolution, influence of, 324, 396- 398 ; Mexican War, 398 ; the Con- stitution of, 435, 437-440.
Universities, in the Middle Ages, 164.
Utraquists, 188.
Utrecht, Union of, 237; treaty of, 281.
Valens, emperor of Rome, 2, 32. Valerian, emperor of Rome, 16. Valmy, 339. Valois, house of, France under the,
13°, 243- Vandals, 3, 34. Varus, 9.
Vasco da Gama, 165. Vassy, massacre of, 342. Venetia, 366-371. Venetians, 197.
Venice, in the fourth crusade, 115; among the city-states of Italy, 151, 195 ; the centre of the boat trade, 169; revolution in, 359-361; a part of the kingdom of Italy, 371. Verdun, treaty of, 17, 253. Verona, Congress of, 355. Versailles, 375.
Vespasian, emperor of Rome, n, 12. Vesuvius, ii. Victor Emmanuel, king of Sardinia,
365-367-
Vienna, Congress of, 227, 348, 363 ; reorganization of Europe by the^
349. 3So; siege of, by Sulieman,
214. Visigoths, 2, 31, 40, 41, 45 ; establish
kingdom in Gaul and Spain, 32-34. Voltaire, 328, 448.
Wagram, battle of, 346.
Wales, conquest, 140.
Wallenstein, 146, 152.
Walter the Penniless, no.
Wartburg, 207, 212.
Waterloo, 349, 354.
Wat Tyler, 186.
Wellington, duke of, 349, 391.
Wessex, 81.
Western Empire (Roman), 3.
Westphalia, treaty of, 226, 237, 253.
Whig party in English politics, 322,
396.
William I. (the Conqueror), king of England, 97, 411; II., 137, 411; III., of Orange, 276, 279, 284, 427. William I., emperor of Germany,
367-
William I. (the Silent), 236. Witt, John de, 266, 272. Wittenburg, 202. Wolfe, 319.
Worcester, battle of, 361. Worms, the Concordat of, 74, 103
the Diet of, 159, 207, 211. Wiirtemburg, 355. Wycliffe, 149, 158, 185, 212.
York, house of, 144. Zurich, treaty of, 366.
Students' History of the United States,
By EDWARD CHANNING,
Professor of History in Harvard University. WITH SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS
By ANNA BOYNTON THOMPSON,
Thayer Academy, South Braintree, Mass.
8vo. Half Leather. Price, $1.40 net.
This work is intended for use in classes in high schools and academies where, the facts and dates of American history having been learned in the more elementary grades, it is wished to give the student a thorough knowledge of the constitutional, the political, and the industrial development of the United States, especially the period since the beginning of the movement which led to the separation from the British Empire and the formation of a republican government under the Constitution.
IMPORTANT FEATURES
Reproductions of original documents Colored maps Excellent illustrations Accurate copies of well known por- traits Lists of Standard ( Small Library
Works for ) Good Llbrarv worts tor ( yery GoQd Library
Suggestions to teachers
A Perspective of United States History
List of books for consultation at the
beginning of each chapter Suggestive Questions and Topics at
the close of each chapter Table of Important Dates Marginal Notes throughout
Professor A. A. Freeman, Reviewing this work in The American His- torical Review, says :
" Decidedly the best one-volume American history yet published. ... In the preface the author has explained that his purpose in the publication of this work is to provide a text-book suited to the needs of the senior class in high schools and acade- mies. He believes that ' the serious study of American History more fitly follows than precedes other countries and belongs to the maturer years of school life.' The author assumes a considerable knowledge of American history on the part of pupils from the use of more elementary text-books in the lower grades. He accordingly omits all the stock stories and anecdotes which form so large a part of our elementary text-books. ... It is full of suggestions for both teachers and pupils. Miss Anna Boynton Thompson, of Thayer Academy, has written a chapter entitled ' Sug- gestions to Teachers,' in which she has described her own method of teaching. These suggestions will be very helpful to the teacher if he accepts them as ' suggestions ' and not as rules. . . . They should prove of peculiar value in preparing pupils for the new requirements for entrance tc college. Especially valuable are the mar- ginal references on every page to standard works which contain a fuller account of each topic. Each chapter is headed by a list of books, special accounts, sources and bibliography, maps and illustrative material. In the last are found the names of titles of books of American literature. Everything is done to stimulate and aid a more thorough investigation by the student. The introduction is a study of the land and its resources and shows the influence of geographical conditions in the development of the country. . . . The author displays a judicial and impartial spirit in rela- tion to all controverted questions. This is especially noticeable in the consideration of such topics as the administration of Andros in Massachusetts, the persecution of the Quakers at Boston, the effect of the English navigation laws, the character and and treatment of the Loyalists, and the execution of Andre\ . . . There is a grati- fying absence of cheap illustrations. The volume contains many excellent portraits. The period since 1789 is treated by topics. The old arbitrary division by administra- tions is properly abandoned and is replaced by the following divisions: Federalist Supremacy, 1789-1800; Jefiersonian Republicans, 1801-1812; War and Peace. 1812-1829; The National Democracy, 1829-1844; Slavery in the Territories, 1844- 1859; Secession, 1860-1861; The Civil War, 1861-1865; National Development 1865-1897."
COMMENTS.
J. M. Greenwood, Supt. of Schools, Kansas City, Mo.: " I have just finished reading Channing's Students' History, and I closed it with the conviction that it is the best single-volume history of the country that has yet been printed."
Frederic A. Vogt, Principal Central High School, Buffalo, N.Y. : " It is a relief
to see a history in which the military achievements give some space to the victories of peace and the growth of constitutional liberty. Mere incidents have been weeded out, and the essential whole has been preserved in a continuous story. There is a breadth of view and loftiness of exposition which is scientific and much more profit- able than a mere string of dates and events. The schemes for study, the outlines for reading, and the suggestions to teachers, ought to make the book very helpful."
Prof. Kendric Charles Babcqck, University of California: " I have no hesitation in saying that I am convinced it is the best single-volume students' history of the United States yet published. The maps are more perfect and satisfactory than in any other school or students' history known to me. It is scholarly, interesting, and typographically excellent."
Prof. W. C. Wilcox, University Of Iowa: " It is the most complete history of the United States in one volume for high-school use. I shall recommend it to the high schools in this State. It ought to be in all the preparatory schools either as a text- book or as a work of reference. It will serve equally well as either. The book- references, the topical studies, and the completeness of the treatment especially commend it to me."
Prof. F. H. Hodder, University Of Kansas: " Professor Channing's book is in every way admirable. I do not believe that any other work gives, in a single volume, so excellent a summary of the whole period tf American history. It is a splendid text for high schools, university extension classes, and genera) readers."
Prof. Jesse Macy, Iowa College: " It seems to me altogether the bes* planned and the best executed work on the subject yet prepared for the use of high schools "
Prof. Marshall S. Brown, New York University: " Professor Channing's name was a guarantee that this book would be what is needed in our higher grade o? secondary schools. The book as completed is admirably adapted to the purpose for which it was written."
Charles H. Keyes, Principal of High School, Holyoke Mass.: " We have a
last a text suited for high-school use and one that will help put the subject into thx important place it ought to occupy in the curriculum of the secondary school. It is manifestly the work of one who is both an historian and a teacher, and it ought to meet with unprecedented success."
Reuben Post Halleck, Principal of Male High School, Louisville, Ky. : " The statements are clear, definite, and interesting. The list of books for consultation is very wisely selected.''
Prof. Edwin A. Grosvenor, Amherst College, Mass.: " One can hardly praise it too highly. It reads like a romance and pictures like a panorama, while at the same time accurate and impartial."
Prof. Benjamin Gill, State L'dllege, Pa. : " The book goes far ahead of any of its predecessors. It deals with the subject more generously than such hand-books have been used to do. Its method is entirely new, its illustrations, maps, and charts, are abundant and unlike anything that has preceded them; beaten tracks have not been followed; the author has followed a self-made pattern; the authorities cited are most excellent; they are mostly American, and though quite recent are authoritative, such names as Fisk, Winsor, Hart, etc. I have been impressed with this fact in particular — that from whatever side the student or instructor may approach this book he will find intelligent guidance and stimulus."
E. W. Wright, A.M. (Harvard), Examiner of Teachers for Essex County, Vt.:
" Twenty-five years in secondary school-work leads me unhesitatingly to declare it the. school history of our country. In broad, philosophical treatment, in the just subordination of military details to the real progress of our people in the arts of peace, in its true perspective, and in its fearless ' calling a spade a spade,' it ha., no rival within sight. In following out political opinions from birth to maturity and in care- fully tracing causes to their effects it surpasses even more elaborate works."
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO. SAN FRANCISCO.
2
American History
TOLD BY CONTEMPORARIES.
BY
ALBERT BUSHNELL flART.
Harvard University.
Complete in Four Volumes, Small Quarto. Each Volume sold Separately, Price $2.00.
VOL. I. Era of Colonization, 1493-1689.
VOL. II. Building of the Nation, 1689-1783,
VOL. III. National Expansion, 1783-1844.
VOL. IV. Welding of the Nation, 1845-1897.
Professor T. H. WOOD of Worcester Academy, Worcester, Mass., says 01 Volume I. : —
" The plan and the contents are alike admirable. The set wilt be a necessity for libraries and for teachers of American History."
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
HEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO. SAN FRANCISCO
The Growth of the French Nation.
BY
GEORGE BURTON ADAMS,
Professor of History in Yale University.
Cloth. i2mo. Price, $1.25.
Dominant
influences carefully traced.
Clear and to the point.
Promise of title fulfilled.
Strict fairness
and clear,
independent
judgment.
COMMENTS.
"The present work is a proof of how much that is new and striking may be said upon a trite subject. Many books have been written upon French history, but it would be difficult to specify any in which the dominant forces at work in that history have been so carefully traced." — Oxford Magazine.
" Mr. Adams has dealt in a fascinating way with the chief feat- ures of the Middle Age, and his book is rendered the more attrac- tive by some excellent illustrations. He traces the history of France from the Conquests by the Romans and Franks down to the presi- dency ot M. Felix Faure, and has always something to say that is clear and to the point , Mr. Adams seems to us to have seized the salient features of the growth of the French nation, and to have fulfilled the promise of his title." — Educational Review.
'"The History of Institutions,' writes Bishop Stubbs, 'cannot be mastered, can scarcely be approached, without an effort :' and in Mr. Adams's work we are glad to recognize many of the rare qualities needed. He shows strict fairness with clear and indepen- dent judgment, and he tells his story pleasantly. . . . The portraits and other illustrations, all apposite and interesting, lend grace and charm to the book." — London Academy.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
NEW YORK.
BOSTON.
CHICAGO
SAN FRANCISCO
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
D
103
A33
1907
C.I
ROBA