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PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE:    AN  APPEAL  TO  THE  HEAD  OF  THE  TRIBE 


The  Book  of  History 

H  IDistou^  of  all  mations 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIMES  TO  THE  PRESENT 

WITH    OVER   8000    ILLUSTRATIONS 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

VISCOUNT  BRYCE,  p.c,  d.c.l..  ll.d.,  f.r.s. 


CONTRIBUTING   AUTHORS 


W.  M.  Flinders  Petrie,  LL.D.,  F.R.S. 

UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE,   LONDON 

Hans  F.  Helmolt,  Ph.D. 

EDITOR,  GERMAN  "HISTORY  OK  THE  WORLD" 

Stanley  Lane-Poole,  M.A.,  Litt.D. 

TRINITY  COLLEGE,   DUBLIN 

Robert  Nisbet  Bain 

ASSISTANT  LIBRARIAN,   BRITISH   MUSEUM 

Hugo  Winckler,  Ph.D. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  BERLIN 

Archibald  H.  Sayce,  D.Litt.,  LL.D. 

OXFORD  UNIVERSITY 

Alfred  Russel  Wallace,  LL.D.,  F.R.S. 

AUTHOR,  "MANS  PLACE  IN  THE  UNIVERSE" 

Sir  William  Lee- Warner,  K.C.S.L 

MEMBER  OF  COUNCIL  OF  INDIA 


Holland  Thompson,  Ph.D. 

THE  COLLEGE  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 

W.  Stewart  Wallace,  M.A. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO 

Maurice  Maeterlinck 

ESSAYIST,   POET,   PHILOSOPHER 

Dr.  Emile  J.  Dilloi^ 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG 

Arthur  Mee 

EDITOR,  "THE  BOOK  OF  KNOWLEDGE" 

Sir  Harry  H.  Johnston,  K.C.B.,  D.Sc 

LATE  COMMISSIONER  FOR  UGANDA 

Johannes  Ranke 

UNIVERSITY  OF  MUNICH 

K.  G.  Brandis,  Ph.D. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  JENA 


And  many  other  Specialists 

Volume  VIII 

EASTERN  EUROPE  TO  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

The  Roumanians  .  The  Albanians 

The  Southern  and   Western  Slavs 

Hungary    .    Poland    .    Russia 


WESTERN  EUROPE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

Emerging  of  the  Nations 


NEW  YORK   .  .   THE  GROLIER  SOCIETY 
LONDON  .  THE  EDUCATIONAL  BOOK  CO. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  VIII 

PRIMITIVE  JUSTICE,   AN   APPEAL  TO  THE   HEAD  OF  tHE  TRIBE         .         FRONTISPIECE 
SIXTH  GRAND  DIVISION  (continued) 

EASTERN  EUROPE  TO   THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 
THE  ROUMANIANS 

PAGE 

The  Struggles  of  the  Wallachian  Kingdom         .......  3051 

The    Moldavian    People        .         .         .          .          ...          .          .         .         .         .  3059 

THE    ALBANIANS 3064 

THE  SOUTHERN  SLAVS 

The    Southern   Slav    Peoples        ..........  3069 

Maps  of  Turkey  and   Surrounding   Countries    .......  3082 

Croatia    and    its    Warrior    Race           .........  3083 

The  Servian  Era  of  Independence      .          .          .          .          .          ...          .          .  3089 

Under  the  Heel  of  the  Turk       ..........  3097 

Great  Dates  in  the  History  of  South-eastern  Europe        .....  3103 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  GIPSIES 3104 

HUNGARY 

The   Magyars   in   the   Middle   Ages     .........  3113 

The   Hapsburg  Power  in   Hungary     .........  3125 

German  Element  in  Hungary     ..........  3135 

THE  WESTERN  SLAVS 

Bohemia,    Moravia,    and    Silesia         .........  3145 

Bohemia  and  the  Reformation    ..........  3159 

Bohemia's   Elective    Monarchy    ..........  3173 

ORIGIN   OF  THE   EASTERN   SLAVS 3181 

POLAND 

The   Old   Polish   Empire 3193 

Lithuania  to  the   Union   with    Poland         ........  321 1 

Historical   Maps   of  Poland   and   Western    Russia      ......  3220 

Union   of  Lithuania  with   Poland        .........  3221 

The   New   Dominion   of   Poland          .........  3229 

Poland  under  the  Jagellons 3241 


THE  BOOK  OF  HISTORY 

PAGE 

The  Decline  of  Poland 3255 

The  Great  Days  of  Cossack  Power .         .         .  3263 

The  Fall  of  Poland 3278 

Thaddeus  Reyten  at  the   Diet  of  Warsaw         ....         Plate  facing  3282 

RUSSIA 

The  Beginning  of  the  Russian  Nation         , 3285 

Russia  under  the  Mongols           ..........  3305 

The    Monarchs    of    Moscow         ..........  3315 

Peter  the  Great,  Founder  of  Modern   Russia     .          .         .         .         .         .       \  3331 

When  Women  ruled  in  Russia   ..........  3345 

Great  Dates  in  History  of  Eastern  Europe 3355 

Rise  of  the   Kingdom  of   Russia         .........  3357 

Historical  Importance  of  the  Baltic  .........  3361 


WESTERN  EUROPE  IN  THE   MmDLE   AGES 

GENERAL  SURVEY  OF  THE  PERIOD 

Plan  of  the   Third   Division        .         .         .  .         .         .         ,         .         .  .  3369 

Map   of  Western   Europe    ...........  3370 

The  Moulding  of  the  Nations     ..........  3371 

The  Crusades,  and  the  Duel  between  Papacy  and  Empire         ....  3385 

Passing  of  the  Age  of  Chivalry         .  .  .         .  .  .         .  .         .  3397 

The  End  of  the  Middle  Ages ,         .  341 1 

PEOPLES  OF  WESTERN  EUROPE 

Origins    of  the   Teutons      ...........  3423 

Rising  Tide  of  Teuton  Power     ..........  3431 

The   Great  Teutonic   Deluge 3447 

EMERGING  OF  THE  NATIONS 

Italy  and  the  Lombards     ...........  34SS 

Rise  of  the   Prankish   Dominion         .........  3471 

The   Empire   of  Charlemagne      ..........  3481 

Roland,  Hero  of  France's  National  Epic Plate  facing  3484 


EASTERN  EUROPE 

TO  THE  FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


THE 

ROUMANIANS 

I 


THE    ROUMANIAN    PEOPLE 

STRUGGLES  OF   THE    WALLACHIAN    KINGDOM 


AX  infinite  number  of  different  theories, 
^^^  both  in  scientific  and  in  pseudo- 
scientific  circles,  have  continually  reap- 
peared until  recent  times  concerning  the 
origin  of  the  Roumanians,  a  nation  which 
has  settled  in  smaller  groups  in  the  Balkan 
territories  in  Hungary  and  Transylvania, 
and  in  a  coherent  body  in  the  modern  king- 
dom of  Roumania.  This  people  is  known  by 
the  Slavs  as  Wlach,  Walach,  which  nearly 
corresponds  to  the  Germanic  "  Wahl " 
(Welsh).  The  Roumanian  shepherds  of  the 
mountains  of  Dinai  were  distinguished  from 
the  Italian  townspeopile  of  Dalmatia  as 
the  "  Black  Vlachs."  Like  Italian,  Spanish, 
and  French,  Roumanian  has  descended 
from  popular  Latin,  of  the  kind  spoken 
by  the  Romanised  subjects  of  Rome 
during  the  first  six  centuries  of  our  era 
on  the  Lower  Danube  and  in  ancient 
Dacia  or  Transylvania.  Hence  the  name 
Daco-Roumanian,  to  distinguish  this  from 
the  other  Romance  languages. 

'a^E*^*  ^^^  *^^  period  of  the  coloni- 
?^.       *'  ^    sation  of  Dacia  by  the  Romans, 

IS  ory  ^^^  ^^^^  descriptive  material 
is  to  be  found  in  the  bas-reliefs  of  the 
Dacian  war  decorating  the  pillar  of  Trajan. 

Early  history  must,  on  the  whole,  be 
regarded  as  having  run  something  like  the 
following  course  :  the  scanty  native  popu- 
lation of  Daco-Thracian  origin  coalesced 
with  numerous  soldiers  and  colonists, 
whose  popular  Latin  soon  became  indi- 
vidual in  character,  but  in  spite  of  all 
changes  presei-ved  its  fundamental  romance 
type.  In  th'^  year  697,  and  to  some 
extent  a  century  earlier,  the  Finno- 
Ugrian  Bulgarians  migrated  into  the 
country,  and  preserved  their  Turanian 
language  for  three  centuries  before  they 
were  absorbed  by  the  mixed  peoples  of 
the  Balkan  Peninsula ;  during  that  time, 
the  influence  which  they  exerted  upon 
Albanian,  mediaeval  Greek,  etc.,  was 
naturally  also  extended  to  early  Rouman- 
ian. Side  by  side  with,  and  subsequent  to, 
this    influence    we    have    to    take    into 


account  the  strong  and  permanent 
influence  of  the  Slav  population. 

The  main  dialect  of  the  Roumanian 
language  is  spoken  by  about  nine  millions 
of  people  in  Moldavia  and  Wallachia, 
in  Bessarabia  and  Transylvania,  in  the 
Banat,  in  part  of  Hungary  and  Bukovina, 
and  it  alone  possesses  any  literature  ;  two 
_.  subordinate  dialects  also  exist 

„  .       — the    South,  or   Macedonian, 

jjj  .  Roumanian     of      the      Kutzo 

Wallachians,  or  Zingars,  in 
Macedonia,  Albania,  Thessaly,  and  Epirus 
— amounting  to  about  one  million  people — 
and  the  half  Slav  Istro- Roumanian,  which 
is  spoken  by  about  3,000  people  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  East  coast  of  Istria 
and  in  the  interior  of  the  Karst  range 
side  by  side  with  the  Croatian,  which  is 
the  dominant  language. 

After  the  extensive  settlements  of  Roman 
colonists  by  Trajan,  the  former  land  of 
Dacia  for  many  decades  occupied  the 
position  of  a  frontier  territory,  or  outpost, 
of  the  Roman  Empire  ;  as  that  empire 
declined  to  its  fall,  the  barbarians 
caused  increasing  disturbances,  which  only 
occasionally  and  for  short  periods  gave 
way  to  a  sense  of  security,  as  under  the 
Emperor  Maximian  (235-238).  Aurelian, 
the  "  Restorer  of  the  Empire  "  (270-275), 
was  forced  to  abandon  the  further  bank  of 
the  Danube  to  the  Goths,  to  transport  the 
colonists  over  the  stream,  and  to  form  a 
new  Dacia  on  the  south.  From  that 
period  the  districts  to  the  north  of  the 
.  -  .  Lower  Danube  were  invariably 
Q  *"  . .  the  object  of  the  invading 
V  rru  wi  j^Qj.(jgg  q{  barbarians  as  they 
advanced  to  the  south-west. 
The  Huns  and  Gepids  about  450  were 
succeeded  a  century  later  by  the  Avars 
— about  555 — and  by  the  Slavs  in 
different  advances  and  attacks.  Then 
in  679  came  the  Bulgarians  (Khazars 
and  Old  Ziagirs),  and  after  a  hundred 
and  fifty  or  two  hundred  years  the 
Magyars,  from   about  840  to  860,  whose 

3051 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


settlements,  in  parts  at   least,  were  only 
temporary. 

Such  fragments  of  Roman  colonial  civili- 
sation as  survived  those  stormy  times  were 
hard  beset  by  the  repeated  raids  of  the 
Pechenegs  about  900,  and  by  the 
Cumanians,  or  Uzes,  about  1050.  It  will 
be  obvious  that,  in  view  of  the  disturbed 
„.  state    of     the     country,     no 

theReUi  e  f  ^^^^^^^^^  chronology  free  from 
c  c  uge  o  gygpj(,JQjj  j.^jj  \yQ  given.  It  can 
a  lona  i  y  ^^  observed,  however,  in  the 
barest  outline,  that,  apart  from  the 
numerous  invasions  of  the  barbarians,  one 
striking  exception  is  to  be  observed,  con- 
sisting in  certain  scanty  remnants  of 
Germanic  languages,  Western  Gothic  and 
Gepid,  while  Slav  and  Ural  Altaic,  or 
North  Mongolian,  blood  was  infused  into 
the  Daco- Roumanian  population  that 
remained  in  the  plains,  Bessarabia, 
Dobrudza,  and  Wallachia.  The  pure  Daco- 
Rouraanian  nationality  may  have  survived 
in  a  fragmentary  state  among  the 
inaccessible  wooded  mountains  of  North- 
west Moldavia  and  Transylvania,  also  in 
Dacia  during  the  period  of  Aurelian ; 
these  elements  may  have  left  their  high- 
lands when  the  country  was  pacified  or 
passed  north  of  the  Danube,  and  again 
have  exerted  a  special  influence  upon  the 
motley  complexion  of  the  nation  now 
known  as  Roumanian. 

During  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries 
it  is  noticeable  that  similar  principalities, 
or  banats,  were  formed  in  Dacia,  of  which 
those  advancing  too  far  from  Transylvania 
into  the  low  lands  of  the  Theiss  fell  under 
Magyar  supremacy.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  duchies  which  spread  to  the  east  and 
south  of  the  Carpathian  Mountains  were 
able  to  maintain  their  ground  against  the 
Pechenegs,  Cumanians,  and  Mongols. 
About  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury the  two  kingdoms  of  Wallachia  and 
Moldavia  began  their  existence,  starting 
from  the  Carpathians  and  continuing  for 
...  a  long  time  in  mutual  in- 

•  'th    "**  °°"  dependence  with  a  history 

Caroathians  ^^  ^^^^^  ^^"*  "^^  ^^^  OUtset 
of  the  thirteenth  century 
Wallachia  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Hun- 
garian kings  of  the  house  of  Arpad. 
Bela  IV.  gave  the  country,  in  1247,  ^^  ^^e 
Knights  of  St.  John,  with  the  exception 
of  the  half  Cumanian  domain  of  the 
"  Olacus "  Seneslav,  who  was  at  that 
time  Voivode  of  Great  Wallachia  to  the 
east  of  the  river  Olt,  and  with  the  excep- 

3052 


tion  also  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Voivode 
Latovoi,  who  was  almost  independent. 
When  Ladislaus  IV.,  the  Cuman,  ascended 
the  throne  of  Hungary  in  1272,  while 
yet  a  minor,  Litovoi  and  his  brother 
attempted  to  shake  off  the  burdensome 
obligation  of  yearly  tribute ;  but  Litovoi 
was  killed  about  1275,  and  his  brother 
Barbat  was  obliged  to  pay  a  high  ransom. 
Shortly  afterwards  Basarab,  a  grand- 
son of  the  above-mentioned  Seneslav, 
founded  to  the  west  of  the  Olt  the  princi- 
pality of  "  Transalpina "  (Hungarian- 
Wallachia,  or  Wallachia  Minor)  with  Arges 
as  the  capital.  It  should  be  observed  that 
Moldavia,  constitutionally  a  state  of  later 
date,  in  contrast  to  Wallachia  or  the 
"  Roumanian  territory "  in  general,  is 
occasionally  known  as  Wallachia  "  Minor," 
until  it  was  overshadowed  by  the  older 
neighbour  state  under  Alexander  the 
Good  ;  under  Stefan  the  Great  it  is  some- 
times known  as  Bogdania — in  Moldavian, 
Mutenia.  In  contrast  to  Moldavia,  which 
was  formed  chiefly  by  foreign  immigrants, 
this  principality  is  a  state  which  developed 
from  its  own  resources.  The  power  of 
_  Basarab      was       considerably 

asara  diminished  by  the  defeat  of 
«  .       his  ally,   Michael   Tirnovo,   at 

Velbuzd  in  1330.  However,  the 
attempt  of  the  Hungarian  Angevin,  Charles 
Robert  I.,  to  re-enforce  a  half -forgotten 
homage,  became  a  total  failure  amid  the 
wilderness  of  the  Carpathian  Mountains  ; 
Basarab,  who  died  about  1340,  remained 
master  of  the  whole  of  "  the  Roumanian 
territory,"  which  indeed  became  then,  for 
the  first  time,  the  nucleus  of  a  state  in  the 
proper  sense  of  the  word.  However,  this 
Wallachia  Minor,  which  began  its  history 
with  much  promise,  was  soon  overshadowed 
by  Wallachia  Major,  and  falls  into  the 
background. 

Alexander,  the  son  of  Basarab,  concluded 
an  independent  agreement  with  Lewis  I. 
the  Great  at  Kronstadt  (i  342-1 382),  con- 
cerning the  conditions  on  which  he  held 
his  position  as  voivode  ;  however,  in  his 
own  country  his  rule  was  largely  disturbed 
by  dissatisfied  subjects.  To  his  period 
belongs  the  foundation  of  a  new  princi- 
pality in  Moldavia,  near  Baia,  by  Bogdan. 
The  affairs  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  in  his 
proximity  induced  Alexander  to  leave  this 
ambitious  rival  in  peace.  In  1359  the 
Byzantine  metropolitan,  Hyacinthus,  came 
from  Vicina  at  the  mouth  of  the  Danube 
to  Hungarian  Wallachia  as  Exarch.     By 


BEAUTIFUL    AND    HISTORIC    CATHEDRAL    OF    ROUMANIA 


This  fine  cathedral  of  Arges  is  the  subject  of  various  legends,  but  it  was  most  probably  founded  by  Basarab^  who  was 
founder  of  "Transalpina,"  with  his  capital  at  Arges,  and  died,  in  1340,  master  of  the  whole  of  the  "Roumanian  Territory." 


his  first  wife,  probably  a  Servian  or  Bosnian 
woman,  Alexander  Basarab  had  a  son, 
Layko,  or  Vladislav ;  afterwards,  about 
1350,  he  married  a  Roman  Catholic,  the 
Hungarian  Clara,  and  died  on  November 
i6th,  1364. 

Layko,  who  died  in  1377  or  between  1382 
and  1385,  was  able  to  maintain  his  position 
against  King  Lewis ;  as  early  as  1369  he 
styled  himself  in  his  documents  "  Ladislaus 
by  the  Grace  of  God  and  the  King  of 
Hungary,  Voivode  of  Wallachia,  Ban  of 
Syrmia,  and  Duke  of  Fogaras."  Fogaras 
was  a  territory  in  Transylvania,  afterwards 
granted  as  a  fief  to  the  Voivode  of  Wallachia 
by  the  kings  of  Hungary,  as  it  was  a  secure 
refuge  in  the  period  of  Turkish  invasions, 
which  began  in  1367  and  1385.  Under 
Layko,  Arges  became  a  Roman  bishopric  in 
1369,  although  the  conversion  desired  by 
the  Pope  was  not  accepted  on  the  side  of 
the  voivode.  In  fact,  his  inclination  to  the 
Greek  Church  was  plainly  apparent  in  the 
marriage  of  the  successor  Radu  with 
Kallinikia,  to  whose  influence  is  certainly 


due    the    occurrence    of    more    extensive 
ecclesiastical  gifts. 

The  sons  of  this  couple  were  the  hostile 
brothers,  Dan  (ruler  in  October,  1385  and 
1393)  and  Mircea  the  Old,  or  Great  (1386- 
1418).  In  1390  Mircea  made  a  conven- 
tion with  the  Polish  king  Vladislav  Jagiello 
XL,  which  was  renewed  in  1411.  About 
1391  he  took  Dobrudza  and  the  town  of 
Silistria  from  the  Bulgarians.  However) 
in  1389  he  was  defeated  at  Kossovo  with 
his  allies,  and  became  a  semi-vassal  of  the 
Ottomans  in  1391  and  1394.  With  the 
object  of  protecting  his  country  from  the 
threatened  advance  of  the  Turks,  Mircea 
came  to  Transylvania  in  1395,  and  on 
March  7th,  at  Kronstadt,  concluded  an 
offensive  and  defensive  alliance  with  King 
Sigismund,  in  accordance  with  the  terms 
of  which  he  fought  with  the  Christian  army 
in  the  unfortunate  battle  of  Nicopolis, 
on  September  28th,  1396.  Mircea  was, 
however,  now  forced  to  recognise  once 
again  the  Turkish  supremacy,  to  abandon 
entirely  the  right  bank  of  the  Danube  to 

3053 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


the  Ottomans,  and  to  pay  the  emir  a  yearly 
tribute  of  3,000  red  banes,  or  300  silver 
Turkish  dollars ;  the  defiance  shown  by 
Mircea  in  withholding  the  tribute  for 
three  years  was  broken  down  in  1417. 

In  return  the  Porte  guaranteed,  in 
141 1,  the  free  administration  of  the 
country  under  a  voivode  chosen  by  the 
inhabitants.  This  convention 
was  to  form  the  basis,  even  in 


Mtreea  a 

fw  II  ' h*    *^®  nineteenthc  entury,  of  the 
relations    of    Wallachia  with 
Turkey,  and  was  renewed  in  1460  between 
the  Voivode  Vlad  IV.  and  Mohammed  II., 
according  to  the  common  account.    In  the 
struggles  for  the  succession  which  broke 
out  in  1403  upon  the  death  of  Bajazet  I. 
Mircea  supported  Musa,  and  met  with  his 
reward  when  the  latter  was  recognised  as 
ruler  of  the  Ottoman  kingdom  in  February, 
1411.  Hence  the  convention  of  141 1  may  be 
regarded  as  a  friendly  alliance.    However, 
this   friendly   relationship   between   Wal- 
lachia and  the  Porto  was  not  to  continue 
permanently.     In  1413  Musa  fell  fighting 
against    his    brother 
Mohammed.  The  lat- 
ter crushed  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  false 
Mustafa,     who     was 
also  deceived  by  Mir- 
cea ;  he  also  punished 
the    Roumanians    in 
1417  by  subjugating 
their  country — a  pro- 
cess which  even  Jorga 
cannot   avoid  caUing 
"  complete."  He  may 
certainly  be  right  in 
regarding  the  agree- 
ment     for      tribute 
concluded      between 
Bajazet    and    Mircea 
as  a  falsification,  like 
that  between  Moham- 
med II.  and  Radu  the 
Fair.   Concerning  the 
amount  of  tribute  we 
have  no  certain  infor- 
mation before  1532. 

In  1413  Mircea  ap- 
pointed his  son  Mihail 

co-regent,  and  himself    Turk,  and  had  not  the  Ottoman  power'been  so°stronW  he   qf 
--     -  '-'  would  have  founded   <■    "■"»->*   -"'*  "•  i-:--j —     "••- 


brother  Dan,  the  prot6g6  of  the  Turks, 
who  disappears  from  the  scene  in  1430. 
The  Boyar  Aldea,  known  as  Alexander,  who 
was  supported  by  Moldavia  and  Turkey, 
struggled  to  secure  the  throne  for  four 
years,  1432-1436,  and  was  then  driven 
out  by  Vlad,  the  legitimate  son  of  Mircea, 
who  had  been  brought  up  at  the  court  of 
the  emperor  Sigismund. 

During  the  reign  of  the  haughty  Voivode 
Vlad  II.,  known  as  Drakul,  or  devil,  a  period 
of  the  greatest  distress  and  poverty  passed 
over  the  country.     In  1432  he  was  driven 
out  of  his  capital,  Tirgoviste,  while  Turkish 
troops  devastated  the  districts  of  Burzen 
and  of  the  Szekler  ;    in  1436  he  even  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Ottomans,  but  was 
eventually  able  to  maintain  his  position  in 
isolation.     In   the   year    1438   he   guided 
the  army  of  Murad  to  Transylvania,  and 
styled  himself  Duke  of  Fogaras  and  Amlas. 
After  the  battle  of  Szent-Endre  in  1442,  the 
leader    of    the    Hungarian    army,    Janos 
Hunyadi,  a  Roumanian  of  Transylvania, 
marched  into   Wallachia  and  forced   the 
Turkish  vassal,  Vlad 
Drakul,    to    submit ; 
in  1443  Vlad  accom- 
panied him  to  Servia. 
This     position     of 
affairs  was  not,  how- 
ever, of  long  duration. 
The  statement  that  he 
captured  Hunyadi  on 
his    flight    from    the 
disastrous   battle    of 
Varna  on  November 
loth,  1444,   is    ques- 
tionable.      However, 
the  power  of  Hungary 
was  so  weakened  that 
Vlad     concluded      a 
fresh  peace  with  the 
Porte  in  1446.  This  in- 
duced the  Hungarian 
general  to  invade  Wal- 
lachia at  the  end  of 
1446  and  to  confer  the 
dignity  of  voivode  on 
Vladislav,  who  styled 
himself  Dan  IV.  Vlad 


MIRCEA:      A    GREAT    WALLACHIAN    KING 

Mircea,  king  of  Wallachia,  and  his  son  are  here  shown  in  t-v      i      i  j    r      x     i 

an  old  mosaic.     His  life  was  spent  largely  in  fighting  the  JJrakUl   WaS    defeated 

Turk,  and  had  not  the  Ottoman  power  been  so  strong  he  nt       Ppcmvicf        iahe^rt 

HipH  nn   TVniiarvoT<it      JJ'""'''  ^a^^x  ^""".'^f''   ^  ^^^^t  and  permanent  kingdom,  '^^     -Ttguvibl,       idKCn 

Uieu  on  J  anuary  3ISI,     bemg  a  diplomatist  as  well  as  a  warrior.     He  died  in  1418.  prisoner,       and       exe- 

I4l8:  the  twonrinces     "'«  *""   MihaU,  who  succeeded,  died  two  years  later.  ^„+^^        o+         TirgSOr 


1418 ;  the  two  princes 
are  represented  together  in  a  tolerably 
well-preserved  fresco  in  the  Byzantine  style 
in  the  monastery  of  Cozia.  Mihail  also  died 
in  1420,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  hostile 

3054 


cuted  at 
together  with  his  son  Mircea.  For  a  long 
period  the  struggle  for  the  dignity  of 
prince  continued  between  the  families  of 
Dan  and  Drakul.    Partly  as  a  consequence 


STRUGGLES    OF    THE    WALLACHIAN    KINGDOM 


of     Hungarian     help     and    partly    with 
Turkish  help  the  voivodes  succeeded  one 
another    rapidly.       Dan     IV.    supported 
Hunyadi  in  the  middle  of  October,  1448. 
with  8,000  men,  in  the  battle 
on  the  field  of  Amsel,  but  his 
personal  indifference    to   the 
result    was   punished   by  the 
confiscation  of  his  fiefs  situated 
beyond  the  Carpathians. 

From  1455  or  1456  until 
1462  reigned  Vlad  IV.,  the 
second  son  of  Drakul  ;  he  is 
sufficiently  characterised  by 
his  nickname  "  the  impaler." 
Immediately  after  the  death 
of  Hunyadi  in  1456  and  of 
Ladislaus  Posthumus  in  1457, 
Vlad  made  an  unexpected 
invasion  into  Transylvania, 
reduced  Kronstadt  to  ashes, 
and  impaled  all  his  prisoners. 
For  the  purpose  of  securing 
his  rear,  he  concluded  an 
alliance  with  the  Porte  in  1460,  but  in  1461 
he  surprised  Bulgaria  from  pure  lust  of 
plunder  and  slaughter,  and  caused  some 
20,000  human  beings  to  be  impaled. 
To  avenge  this  outrage  the  Turks  marched 
against  him  in  the  spring  of  1462  in 
conjunction  with  Stefan  the  Great  of 
Moldavia,  and  drove  him  into  Tran- 
sylvania. The  Alibeg  of  the  Ottoman 
Emir,  Mohammed  II.,  placed  the  brother 
of  Vlad,  Radul  the  Fair,  on  the  throne  in 
the  autumn  of  1462,  on  condition  of  his 
paying  a  yearly  tribute  of  12,000  ducats ; 
he  also  recognised  the  supremacy  of  the 
Hungarian  king  Matthias,  who  kept  the 
hypocritical  Vlad  and  Peter  Aaron  V.,  the 
Voivode  of  Moldavia,  who  had  also  been 
expelled,  prisoners  in  Ofen.  Radu  was  for 
the  second  time  definitely  driven  out  in 
the  autumn  of  1473  by  his  Moldavian 
neighbour,  Stefan  the  Great ;  in  the 
period  of  confusion  which  followed  he  soon 
lost  his  life. 

His  successor,  Laiot,  known  as  Basarab 
the  Elder,  lost  the  favour  of  Stefan 
in  1474  on  account  of  his 
undue  partiality  for  the 
Turks  ;  he,  too,  was  driven 
out  by  Moldavian  and  Tran- 
sylvanian  troops  on  October  20th,  1474.  He 
again  suffered  this  fate  at  the  end  of  1476. 
Vlad,  the  "  impaler,"  once  again  took  his 
place  upon  the  throne  of  the  voivodes  with 
the  help  of  Hungary.  However,  his  death 
soon  followed,  and  a  family  war  continued 


for  two  years  between  the  Basarabs  ;  the 
younger  Basarab,  the  "  httle  impaler," 
maintained  himself  with  increasing  power 
from  1477  to  1481.  An  unfrocked  monk 
tlien  became  master  of  Hun- 
garian Wallachia  under  the 
title  of  Vlad  V.  (1481-1496); 
lie  was  a  submissive  vassal  of 
the  Porte,  showing  none  of 
the  desire  for  freedom  mani- 
tcsted  by  Stefan  the  Great. 
A  convention  of  1482  estab- 
lished the  river  Milkov  as  the 
frontier-  between  the  two 
1  rincipalities  of  Moldavia 
and  VVallachia. 

The  son  and    successor  of 
Vlad,  Radul  IV.  or  V.  (1496- 
1508),  who,  in  manv  respects, 
VLAD  THE   IMPALER        IS  rightly  stylcd  the  "  Great  " 
A  bloodthirsty  ruler  of  wauachia,  attempted      to     relieve    the 
whose  lust  ofpiunder  gave  Turkey  general    distrcss    by   rcforms 
good  excuse  for  joining  with  Moi-  in    the    administrative  •  and 
davia.  in  1462.  and  dethroning  him.  gcclesiastical    systcms,    espe- 
cially directed  against  the  encroachments 
of     Nifon,    the    patriarch  of    Constanti- 
nople.   Although  he  did  personal  homage 
in    Constantinople    in    1504,    the    Turks 
deprived    him  of    the    Danube    customs 
receipts    in    1507.     Michael,    or  Mihnea, 
who  was  supposed  to  be  the 
son  of  Vlad,  the  "  impaler," 


A  Bloodthirsty 

Ruler 

of  Wallachia 


A  Period  of 

rie  cigns  reigned  for  two  years  (I'^oS 
and  Lawlessness  .     °         ,         .1  i_  r  j 

to  1510),  until  he  was  forced 

to  abdicate  by  party  struggles.  The  leader 
of  the  opposition  party,  Vladut,  or  Vladice 
(Little  Vlad,  1510-1512),  recognised  the 
supremacy  of  Hungary,  was  defeated  by 
the  dissatisfied  Boyars  who  were  in  alliance 
with  Mohammed  of  Nicopolis,  and  was 
beheaded  on  January  25th,  1512. 

Basrab  III.  Neagoe  (1512-1521),  who 
was  descended  on  his  mother's  side  from  a 
Boyar  family  of  Olten,  now  occupied  the 
throne  of  the  voivodes  ;  he  was  a  peace- 
loving  ruler,  and  gave  his  generous  support 
to  churches  and  monasteries  ;  he  dedicated, 
in  1517,  the  beautiful  church  of  Curtea-de 
Arges,  which  was  restored  in  1886  under 
King  Carol.  His  successors  were  from 
1525  to  1530  mere  tools  in  the  hands  of  the 
Turks,  were  generally  at  war  with  one 
another,  and  usually  fell  by  the  hand  of 
an  assassin.  The  consciousness  of  national 
existence  seemed  to  have  wholly  dis- 
appeared from  the  people  ;  the  nobles 
spoke  Slavonic  and  also  Greek,  and 
attempted  to  enrich  themselves  in 
conjunction  with  the  Turkish  grandees. 

3055 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  throne  of  the  voivodes  was  secured  by 
Michael  II.  the  Bold  (1593-1601),  a 
brilUant  soldier  and  a  dexterous  pohtician. 
Between  1599  and  1601  he  also  occupied 
Transylvania  and  Moldavia.  He  was  a 
son  of  the  Voivode  Petrascu 
Successful         (1554-1557),  and  in  his  youth 

Merchant  i_  -^i  ^         •    j  * 

„  „.      had   carried    on   an   exten- 

Becomes  King     ■  ■   1      u      ■ 

sive    commercial     business. 

Through  his  wife  Stanca  he  was  related  to 
the  most  powerful  families,  in  which  he 
found  strong  support  against  the  preceding 
Voivode  Alexander  Mircea  ;    after  an  un- 
successful attempt  at  revolt  he  eventually 
secured  the  throne  in   September,    1593, 
chiefly  with  the  help  of  Andronicus  Canta- 
cuzenos.   On  November  5th,  1594,  Michael 
concluded    an    alliance    with    Sigismund 
Bathori    and    Aaron    of    Moldavia,    and 
shortly  afterwards,   on   November   13th, 
massacred  the  Turks  in  J  assy  and  Bu- 
charest. He  then  defeated  several  Turkish 
and  Tartar  armies  in  a  brilliant  winter 
campaign,   and   won   a  great   victory   at 
Kalugareni  on  August  23rd,  1595.       The 
glorious  deeds  of  this  brave  Wallachian 
resounded   throughout   Christian   Europe 
during  his  lifetime.     In  1598,  he  formed 
an  alliance  with  the  Emperor  Rudolf  II. 
against  the  Prince  of  Transylvania,  who 
abdicated  in  the  spring  of  1599.  However, 
when    Cardinal    Andreas    ascended    the 
throne,  Michael,  vigorously  supported  by 
the  adventure-loving  Cossacks 
of  the  Dnieper,  invaded  the 
country    on    October     17th, 
1599,  secured  the  help  of  the 
Szeklers,  besieged  Hermann- 
stadt,  and  won  a  victory  on 
October  28th  on  the  heights 
of      Schellenberg.       Andreas 
Bathori  was  murdered  while 
fleeing  to  the  country  of  the 
Szeklers. 

Michael  advanced  in 
triumph  to  Weissenburg, 
and  was  appointed  imperial 
governor  on  November  20th  ; 
on  May  7th,  1600,  he  crossed 
the    frontiers    of    Moldavia,  .^.^^'p^^^^  "^"^   ^"^° 

Ti       TT    •       J      T  •        ■h€       -1       Tn^  glorious  exploits  against  the 

1  he  Voivode  JeremiaS  Moglla    Turks  of  this   Roumanian  prince 


^smw^imm^rr- 


for  an  invasion  of  Poland,  but  he  was 
forced  to  return  to  Weissenburg  in  order 
to  negotiate  with  Pezzen,  the  ambassador 
of  the  Hungarian  king,  about  Transyl- 
vania ;  on  July  ist  he  caused  himself  to 
be  proclaimed  Prince  of  Wallachia  and 
Moldavia  and  also  of  Transylvania  in  the 
name  of  Hapsburg. 

Dangers,  however,  threatened  him  from 
another  side.     The  Poles  and  the  Turks 
were  menacing  his  frontiers,  and  Sigismund 
Bathori   was   meditating   an   invasion   of 
Moldavia.     Transylvania    itself    was    so 
entirely  impoverished  in   consequence  of 
Michael's   continual   military   enterprises, 
that  the-  nobles   broke  into  open   revolt 
against    him    and    refused    to    perform 
military  service.     After  a  disastrous  battle 
at   Mirislav   on    September    i8th,    1600, 
Michael  fled,  and  was  again  defeated  in 
his  own  country  by  the  Pole  Jan  Zamojski, 
between  Buzauand  Plojesti  ;  he  could  not 
even  make  head  against  Simeon  Movila, 
who  defeated  him  at  Arges.    Meanwhile  the 
Transylvanian    nobles    chose   the 
characterless    Sigismund    Bathori 
as     their     ruler     for    the    third 
time,     on    February    3rd,    t6oi. 
Michael  had   betaken   himself  to   Prague 
on  December  25th,   1600,  and   had  there 
presented  to  the  court  a  memorial  in  his 
own    justification ;     he    obtained    80.000 
florins,   and   with  his  troops  joined   the 
army    of    the    Austrian   general,   George 
Basta,  in  Transylvania.     On 
August  6th,  1601,  the  Prince  of 
Transylvania  was  defeated  in 
the  battle  of  Goroslau  ;  he  fled 
to       Moldavia,      where       he 
received    a   letter    in    which 
Michael    undertook    to    help 
him  to  the  throne  if  he  would 
hand     over     his     wife     and 
children,  who  had   been   left 
as  hostages   in   Transylvania 
after  his  fall.     This  piece  of 
treachery    was    reported    to 
Basta,     who     had     Michael 
murdered    on    August   19th, 
1601,  in  Thorda,  probably  in 
fulfilment  of  instructions  pre- 
viously received. 

After  Michael  the  Bold  the 


Michael 

Suffers 

Defeat 


fled   to   Poland.      The    bold  who'-uiedWaiiachia  from  1593  to 

,  J  xjiv-      uyj±\j.  jgoi,   aroused    great    enthusiasm 

ruler   seemed   to    have    con-  throughout  the  christian  world  position  of  voivode  was  occu- 

ceived  the  idea  of  securing  the  **'•'•'""«  °'*^**''P*''^''''"^""' 


throne  of  that  country  for  himself  ;  even 
at  the  present  day  he  is  known  by  the 
Wallachians  as  King  Michael — also  Alex- 
ander— the  Great.    He  made  preparations 

3056 


pied  by  wholly  unimportant 
personalities.  The  only  important  ruler 
was  Matthias  Basarab  (1632  to  April, 
1654).  He  defeated  the  Ottoman  claimant 
Radu,  the  son  of  the  Moldavian  Voivode 


^^^K^Sf^ 

^ln 

J 

> 

^ r^5" 

|H^;                     i 

f'-if 

1 

^t^      ^^Vl^ 

^x^ 

;> 

^r       ^B  '"^^ 

:^ 

■■'  /  ■■* 

1 

'^  ^  iii»jte£  •*  "•  '-"'■-  •  ^^j:;:-!^-  --  -  ■'^■' 

r^ 

•  ii  J  *■   .S.V.. 

^^l^g 

sa—^.                    KtfcM.    .     : .     .-.'.__.  .^ 

■*■ 

i^ 

THE    NATIONAL    STATUE    TO    MICHAEL    THE     BOLD    AT    BUCHARESi 


Alexander  Ilias,  at  Bucharest.  He 
carefully  protected  his  boundaries  against 
the  encroachments  of  the  Danube  Turks, 
and  took  particular  trouble  to  secure  the 
general  increase  and  advancement  of 
national  prosperity,  while  suppressing 
Greek  influence,  which  had  become  pre- 
dominant. In  1652  he  founded  the  first 
printing-press,  organised  schools  and 
monasteries,  secured  the  composition  of  a 
legal  code  on  the  model  of  Slav  and  Greek 
compilations  of  the  kind,  and  translated 
ecclesiastical  books  into  Wallachian.  No 
doubt  his  efforts  in  these  directions  were 
stimulated  by  the  examples  of  the  Tran- 
sylvanian  prince,  Gabriel  Bethlen  of  Itkar 
(1630-1639)  and  George  I.  Rakoczy  (1631- 
1648),  who  set  up  Wallachian  printing- 
presses  in  1640,  and  published  many 
ecclesiastical  books  in  Wallachian. 

His  object  was  to  spread  the  Reforma- 
tion among  the  Wallachians ;  for  since 
the  catechisms  of  Hermann  stadt  in 
1544  and  the  Old  Testament  of  1582, 
this  movement  had  found  adherents 
among  the  Roumanians  of  South-east 
Hungary.  As  a  matter  of  tact  his  efforts 
led  to  no  more   permanent  result   than 


those  of  John  Honterus,  the  reformer  of 
the  Saxons  of  Transylvania.  Neither  the 
doctrine  of  Luther  nor  that  of  Calvin 
gained  any  lasting  hold  on  the  hearts 
of  the  Wallachians,  but  these  publica- 
tions gave  a  considerable  impulse  to  the 
Roumanian  written  language  and  to 
intellectual  life  in  general. 

The  proceedings  of  Matthias  Basarab 
were  successfully  imitated  by  his  con- 
temporaries and  opponents  and  by  the 
Voivode  of  Moldavia,  Basile  Lupu,  and 
one  of  his  successors,  Serban  H.  Canta- 
cuzenos  (1679  ^^  November  8th,  1688). 
The  Moldavian  Logosat  Eustratios  had 
already  translated  the  Byzantine  legal  code 
into  Moldavian  in  1643 ;  in  1688  the 
Bible  in  Roumanian  was  printed  by  two 
laymen,  the  brothers  Greceanu. 

Side  by  side,  with  these  ecclesiastical 
works,  which  consisted  chiefly  of  trans- 
lations from  Greek  and  Slav,  chronicles 
arose  by  degrees,  such  as  those  of  Michael 
of  Miron  and  Nicolae  Costin,  of  Grigore 
Ureche  the  "  Romanist,"  and  of  Danovic, 
Neculcea  and  Axente.  Under  the  influ- 
ence of  ecclesiastical  literature  religious 
lyric    poetry  also    flourished ;    the    chief 

3057 


HISTORY    OF  THE    WORLD 

representatives  of  this  were  the  metro-  voivodes  appointed  by   the   Porte    ruled 

politan  Dositheos  of  Jerusalem,   Michael  henceforward,     who    brought    Wallachia 

Halitius,  the  high  Logosat  Miron  Costin  to    the    point    of    collapse   as   they  had 


who  was  executed  by  Kante- 
mir  the  Old,  and  Theodore 
Corbea.  However,  the  chief 
glory  of  Roumanian  scholar- 
ship in  that  period  is  Dimitrie 
Kantemir  (1673-1723),  philos- 
opher, poet,  geographer,  histo- 
rian, and  an  intermediary  : 
between  Eastern  and  Western  ! 
science  and  literature. 

Hard  times  soon  put  an  , 
end  to  these  promising  im- 
pulses, which  spread  even 
more  vigorously  to  Moldavia 
in  1680.  Under  the  rich 
Voivode  Constantine  Bran- 
kovan  {1688-1714),  who  was 
in    other    respects    a    good 


brought  Moldavia,  and  initi- 
ated a  period  of  total  decline 
from  an  economic  point  of 
view;  the  tribute  at  that 
date  amounted  to  more  than 
140,000  dollars  a  year.  The 
first  of  these  foreigners,  who 
were  generally  rich  Greeks, 
was  Nikolaus  Mavrocordato, 
who  had  previously  been 
prince  of  Moldavia  on  two 
occasions  (1716-1730).  The 
accession  of  this  first  Greek 
prince,  who  himself  came  from 
the  Island  of  Chios  and  not 
from  Phanar,  forms  an  im- 
portant epoch  in  the  literature 
of  Daco-Roumania,  the  first 


MATTHIAS    BASARAB 
After  Michael  the  Bold,  he  was  the 
_  only  Wallachian  ruler  of  note  in 

ruler,    disasters    burst    upon  *^^g„S%?n  &2  to  S and  Sd  age  of  which,  beginning  about 

the  country,  which  was  trans-  much  for   his  country,  founding  1550,  here  comes  to  an  end. 
■formed  into  a  military  road  ***«  ^^^  printing-press  in  1652.       i^     ^^le     course     of     the 

during  the  wars  of  Austria,  Poland,  and      eighteenth  century,     Russia     began     to 


Russia  with  the  Turks.  Brankovan  entered 
upon  an  alliance  in  1698  and  1711  with 
the  Tsar  Peter  the  Great.  Shortly  before 
Easter,  1714,  Brankovan  was  imprisoned  in 
Bucharest,  and  executed  in  Constantinople 
with  his  four  sons  and  his  adviser.  The 
same  fate  befell  his  successor,  Stefan  HI. 
Cantacuzenos  (1714  to  June,  1716). 

This^vent  extinguished  the  last  glimmer 
of  Wallachian  independence';  the  freely 
elected    voivode     ceased    to    exist,    and 


interfere  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  the 
country,  a  process  which  culminated  in 
the  occupation  of  Wallachia  by  the 
Russians  during  the  Russo-Turkish  war 
of  1770.  By  the  peace  of  Kutchuk- 
Kainardji,  in  1774,  Wallachia  again  fell 
under  Turkish  supremacy  ;  but  Russian 
influence  kept  the  upper  hand,  and  in 
178 1  the  Porte  agreed  to  set  up  a  Hos- 
podar  government  under  the  supervision 
of  the  Russian  general  Consul. 


SERVIANS    REJOICING    AT    THE    NEWS    OF    THE    MURDER    OF    SULTAN    MURAD 


305i> 


EASTERN 

EUROPE  TO 

THE    FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


THE 

ROUMANIANS 

II 


THE    MOLDAVIAN    PEOPLE 

AND    THEIR    STRUGGLE    FOR    NATIONALITY 


pOUNDED  on  the  west  by  the  Carpa- 
*-'  thians,  on  the  north  and  east  by 
the  Pruth  and  Russia,  on  the  south-east 
by  the  Danube  and  the  Dobrudza,  and 
on  the  south  by  the  Sereth,  the  moun- 
tainous country  of  Moldavia,  the  second 
division  of  Roumania,  is  especially  suited 
for  agriculture  and  cattle-rearing.  The 
Roumanians  and  their  Slavonic  teachers 
seem  to  have  fled  to  the  rivers  on  the  occu- 
pation of  the  country.  The  name  appears 
in  historical  times  towards  the  middle  of 
the  fourteenth  century. 

As  early  as  1335  Bogdan,  the  son  of 
Micul,  had  caused  the  despatch  of  a  Hun- 
garian primate  to  the  country,  on  account  of 
his  disobedience  to  King  Charles  Robert  I. 
In  1342,  when  the  Angevin  ruler  was 
dead,  and  his  son,  Lewis,  had  succeeded 
to  the  throne  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  Bogdan 
again  revolted.  Although  the  youthful 
king  declined  to  acknowledge  his  position 
»,  . .  .  -^  ,  as  voivode,  the  rebel  was 
OfMhl''  supported  by  the  Lithu- 

„  •  V  1.  anians  of  the  Halitshland 
Hunganaa  Yoke  j    1        .i_       T~k 

and   by  the   Roumanian 

mountaineers,  and  was  able  to  maintain 
his  position  in  the  Marmaros  ;  in  1352  his 
submission  caused  but  little  change  in  his 
position.  At  that  time  this  south-east 
corner  of  Europe  was  in  a  constant  state 
of  disturbance  ;  and  on  the  first  occasion 
of  peace  Bogdan  followed  the  example  of 
Basarab  and  shook  off  the  Hungarian  yoke 
in  1360,  to  which  success  he  was  aided  by 
the  "  benevolent  neutrality  "  of  Poland. 
About  1365  Bogdan  was  the  undisturbed 
master  of  Moldavia. 

After  his  death  his  eldest  son,  Latzko, 
ruled  the  country,  practically  in  the 
position  of  a  Polish  vassal  ;  in  1370  he 
permitted  the  erection  of  a  Catholic 
bishopric  at  Sereth.  After  this  a  series  of 
events  followed  which  are  partly  shrouded 
in  obscurity,  but  none  the  less  point  to  a 
Lithuanian  Ruthenian  foundation  for  the 
young  state.  As  late  as  the  fifteenth 
century  the  language  of  Little  Russia  pre- 
dominated as  a  means  of  communication. 


195 


However,  Moldavia  definitely  shut  the 
door  in  the  face  of  Slav  influence  at  a 
comparatively  early  period,  an  attitude 
adopted  at  the  present  time  by  Roumania. 

Partly  explained  by  the  influence  of 
geographical  ]X)sition,  this  fact  is  also  due 
to  a  number  of  occurrences,  which  at  that 
_  ,.  .  time  gave  Moldavia  a  separate 
.  .  position  apart  from  the  three 

Ea  twa  d  Balkan  states  similar  to 
that  occupied  by  the  modern 
kingdom  of  Roumania.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  a  considerable  number  of  Lithuanians 
and  Ruthenians  removed  to  the  Sereth 
from  the  district  of  Marmaros,  together 
with  the  conqueror  Bogdan.  Even  in 
the  official  documents  of  Stefan  the  Great, 
in  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
a  large  number  of  Ruthenian  names  are 
to  be  observed  ;  there,  as  they  advanced 
eastward,  they  met  with  a  number  of  settlers 
from  Little  Russia,  upon  whom  the  Walla- 
chians  looked  askance  as  strangers.  After 
the  death  of  Latzko,  in  1374,  the  Lithuanian 
Knez  or  supreme  judge,  George  Koriatovic, 
was  brought  into  the  principality  of  Baia ; 
he,  however,  soon  disap])eared,  and  was 
probably  poisoned.  Equally  short  was  the 
reign  of  a  certain  usurper  known  as 
Stefan  L  His  son  Peter  (probably  1379- 
1388)  took  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  Polish 
king  Vladislav  H.  Jagiello  in  Lemberg 
in  1387  ;  he  conquered  Suczava,  which  he 
made  his  capital.  His  youngest  brother, 
Roman,  who  immediately  succeeded  him — 
he  had  been  co-regent  from  1386  at  latest 
— was  carried  off  to  Poland  in  1393  by  the 
orders  of  Vladislav,  and  replaced  by  his 
elder  brother,  Stefan  HL 
Polish  ^  jjg  ^^g  made  a  tributary 
Supremacy  10  ^^^^^j  ^^  ^^^  Hungarian 
Moldavia  ^^^^  Siegmund  at  the  end  of 

1394,  but  on  January  6th,  1395,  he  again 
solemnly  recognised  the  Polish  supremacy. 
In  the  year  1400  Juga,  the  illegitimate  son 
of  Roman,  enjoyed  a  short  period  as 
governor  at  Suczava. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century 
the  first  important  voivode  of  Moldavia 

3059 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


began  his  government ;  this  was  Alex- 
ander, the  other  son  of  Roman,  who  was 
known  as  the  "  Good  "  even  during  his 
hfetime.  During  his  long  reign  (1401- 
1432)  he  reorganised  the  defences,  the 
administration,  and  the  military  system, 
compiled  a  legal  code  from  the  "  Basilika  " 
of  Leo  VI.,  and  improved  the  intellectual 
»-  state  of  the  people  by  founding 

I  Vu  1  schools  and  monasteries.  Upon 
p       ^  three    occasions   he    took  the 

rogress      ^^^^  ^^  fideUty  to  the  King  of 

Poland  in  1402,  1404,  and  1407,  on  the 
last  occasion  as  the  first  "  lord  "  of  the 
Moldavian  territory.  He  married,  as  his 
third  wife,  Ryngalla,  the  sister  of  King 
Vladislav,  after  sending  auxiliary  troops 
to  Marienburg  to  the  help  of  the  Poles 
against  the  German  Orders.  During  his 
reign  numerous  settlers  from  Lesser 
Armenia  migrated  into  the  country,  most 
of  whom  afterwards  removed  to  Transyl- 
vania ;  at  this  period,  also,  the  first 
gipsies  appeared  in  the  country. 

Under  his  sons  EHas  and  Stefan  V., 
the  supremacy  of  Poland  was  again 
recognised  in  1433.  The  two  step-brothers 
began  a  severe  struggle  for  the  supremacy, 
which  ended  in  a  division  by  which 
Stefan  obtained  the  south,  while  Elias 
secured  the  north  of  Moldavia  with 
Suczava.  In  1442  Stefan  concluded  an 
alliance  with  the  Hungarian  general 
Hunyadi  to  oppose  the  Turkish  danger, 
and  in  the  following  May,  1443,  he  caused 
his  step- brother  to  be  blinded.  However, 
Roman  II.,  a  son  of  Elias,  put  an  end  to 
his  uncle's  life  in  the  middle  of  July,  1447, 
and  secured  the  position  of  voivode  for 
himself.  But  in  the  next  year,  1448, 
Peter  IV.,  a  son  of  Alexander  the  Good, 
who  had  fled  to  Hungary  to  Hunyadi, 
and  had  married  his  sister,  returned  to 
his  native  land  with  a  Hungarian  army 
and  drove  out  Roman,  who  fled  to  Podolia 
to  ask  help  from  the  Polish  king.  Roman 
died  of  poison  on  July  2nd,  1448.     Peter 

PI  d       "^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^*^  °^  fidelity 

-,      .      ,  .   to  King  Kasimir  IV.,  and  con- 
Counterplots  .-        J.         ^         J      TT 
•    M..I  J    J     tmued  to  rule  under  Hunganan 
in  Moldavia         j    t>  i-  l  x-i 

and  Polish    supremacy    until 

the   year    1449.      Then   Bogdan    II.,   an 

illegitimate  son  of  Alexander  the  Good, 

revolted  on  February  nth,  and  on  July 

5th,  1450,  concluded  two  important  treaties 

with  Hunyadi,  but  was  murdered  in  1451 

by  the  Voivode  Peter  V.,  formerly  Aaron, 

an  illegitimate  son  of  Alexander  the  Good. 

Peter   was    then    forced    to    divide   the 

3060 


government  of  Moldavia  with  Alexander 
"  Olechno,"  a  son  of  Elias,  who  had 
been  originally  supported  by  Poland  and 
afterwards  by  Hungary ;  but  in  1455 
Alexander  was  poisoned  by  his  own 
Boyars.  Peter  now  ruled  alone  until  1457, 
and  was  able  to  maintain  his  power  only 
by  a  miserable  and  cowardly  subjection  to 
Poland  and  the  Turks.  From  1455  the 
Porte  was  able  to  consider  the  Voivode 
of  Moldavia,  with  his  tribute  of  2,000 
Hungarian  florins,  as  one  of  its  permanent 
vassals. 

After  this  almost  uninterrupted  period 
of  party  struggles  for  the  dignity  of 
voivode,  a  period  of  unspeakable  misery 
for  the  country,  an  age  of  rest  and  pros- 
perity at  last  dawned  in  the  second  half 
of  the  fifteenth  century ;  henceforward 
Moldavia,  which  had  hitherto  been  placed 
in  the  background  under  the  title  of 
Wallachia  Minor,  or  Bogdania,  became  of 
more  importance  than  the  older 
"  Roumanian  "  district,  which  had  been 
brought  low  by  the  two  Vlads,  the  Devil  and 
the  Impaler.  The  Voivode  Stefan  VI.  (1457 
to  July  2nd,  1504),  a  son  of  Bogdan  II.,  was 
rightly  surnamed  the  "Great"  by  his  people. 

m<  . .  .  »•  The  miniature  painting  in 
Moldavia  Rises   ^^  ^^^  ^^  ^.^^^j^  ^^  y^^^. 

m  Power  .  v-  i  ■         „„.„ 

.  -        .  netz,  which  remains    com- 

and  Importance  .•      1  ■,  j    u 

paratively  undamaged,  has 

preserved  a  not  unpleasing  portrait  of  this 
ruler.  A  brilliant  general  and  politician,  he 
not  only  extended  his  realm,  but  also 
removed  it  from  the  political  influence  of 
his  two  neighbouring  states.  He  advanced 
the  established  church,  which  was  depen- 
dent on  the  orthodox  patriarch  at  Achrida, 
and  the  good  order  of  which  was  in  strong 
contrast  to  the  confusion  prevailing  at 
Wallachia,  founded  a  third  bishopric  at 
Radautz,  where  he  also  restored  the  old 
monastery  church,  and  also  built  a  great 
monastery  at  Putna  in  Bukovina. 

He  incorporated  a  Bessarabian  frontier 
district  of  Wallachia  with  his  own  coun- 
try, recovered  Chilia  in  January,  1465, 
and  in  December,  1467,  successfully  repelled 
an  attack  of  the  Hungarian  King  Matthias, 
who  was  wounded  by  an  arrow  at  Moldova- 
banya  in  the  course  of  this  campaign. 
Harassed  by  Tartar  invasions,  Stefan 
nevertheless  found  leisure  to  invade  Tran- 
sylvania during  the  Bohemian  expedition 
of  King  Matthias  in  1469,  and  to  expel 
Radu,  the  Voivode  of  Wallachia,  in  1471- 
1473.  The  Hungarian  king  was  occupied 
in  the  west  until  1475,  and  overlooked  this 


MOLDAVIA'S    STRUGGLE    FOR    NATIONALITY 


aggression,  more  particularly  as  Stefan,  in 
alliance  with  the  Transylvanian  Szeklers 
of  Udvarhely  and  Esik,  had  driven  back 
a  Turkish  army  of  120,000  men — which 
invaded  Moldavia  under  Suleiman  Pasha 
on  January  loth,  1475 — at  Racova,  and 
had  by  this  means  diverted  the  danger 
from  Hungary.  The  exploit  is  character- 
istic of  this  glorious  age  in  which  Moldavia 
often  formed  a  bulwark  against  the 
Ottomans  on  the  south  and  against  the 
assaults  of  neighbours  on  the  north. 

The  Sultan  Mohammed  II.  now  under- 
took in  fierson  a  punitive  campaign 
against  Moldavia,  and  won  a  victory  on 
July  26th,  1476,  in  the  White  Valley. 
Stefan,  however,  with  the  help  of  Stefan 
Bathori,  who  was  accompanied  by  the 
fugitive  Vlad  the  Impaler,  eventually 
drove  out  the  hostile  army  and  secured 
for  Vlad  the  position  of  voivode  of  Wal- 
lachia.  However,  after  the  death  of  Vlad 
at  the  end  of  1476,  the  new  voivode  of 
Wallachia,  Basarab,  the  Little  Impaler, 
made  an  alliance  with  the  Turks  ;  Stefan 
overthrew  him  on  July  8th,  1481,  and 
handed  over  the  position  of  voivode  to  a 
certain  Mircea.  With  the  object  of  securing 
p  their   connection   with    the    Tar- 

^  " "  tars  in  the  Volga  districts,  the 
o  Turkish   armies    of    Bajazet    II. 

invaded  Moldavia  again  in 
1484,  together  with  Tartar  and  Wallachian 
allies,  and  stormed  Chilia  and  Cetatea- 
Albam  on  July  14th  and  August  4th. 

Only  by  means  of  Polish  help,  which  he 
was  forced  to  purchase  by  paying  a  homage 
long  refused,  was  Stefan  able  to  save  his 
country  from  overthrow  by  the  enemies' 
bands  in  1485.  Turning  to  his  own  advan- 
tage the  necessities  of  Poland,  which 
became  pressing  immediately  afterwards, 
Stefan  occupied  Pokutia  in  1490,  and  even 
paid  tribute  to  the  Porte  to  secure  his 
position,  as  formerly  Peter  Aaron  had  done. 
In  1497  the  Polish  King,  John  Albert, 
invaded  Bukovina  with  the  intention  of 
incor]>orating  the  whole  principality  with 
his  own  empire,  and  besieged  Suczava, 
the  capital  until  1550 ;  by  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Voivode  of  Transylvania  an 
armistice  was  secured,  and  the  end  of  the 
affair  was  that  the  Polish  cavalry  were 
suri^rised  in  the  forests  and  scattered  at 
Cozmin  on  the  day  of  St.  Demeter. 

In  1498,  Stefan  appeared  in  person  before 
Lemberg,  and  some  one  hundred  thousand 
human  beings  were  carried  into  captivity 
in   Turkey.    However,    on    the    12th    or 


i8th  of  July,  1499,  Stefan  dissolved  his 
connection  with  the  Porte  and  concluded 
a  convention  with  Poland  and  Hungary, 
wherein  he  tacitly  recognised  the  supre- 
macy of  both  states  over  Moldavia,  and 
undertook  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the 
Turkish  armies  through  his  country  and  to 
keep  the  neighbouring  states  informed  of 
Th  s  H  '  ^^y  hostile  movements  on 
«,..".  "^        the  part  of  the  Turks.'  Stefan 

..    M  , .     .       fulfilled    his    obligations    in 

the  Moldavians  1  1         °  ^  j 

1499,  when  he  put  an  end 

to 'the  devastations  of  Balibeg,  a  son  of 
Malkoch.  After  the  death  of  John  Albert  he 
dissolved  his  connection  with  Poland  and 
stirred  up  the  Tartars  against  the  new 
king,  Alexander ;  while  they  devastated 
Podolia  he  occupied  the  Ruthenian 
Pokutia,  and  sent  his  Boyars  and  tax- 
gatherers  to  Sniatyn,  Kolomea,  and  Halicz 
in  1502.  This  was  the  last  success  of  this 
greatest  of  all  Roumanians. 

Stefan's  son  and  successor,  Bogdan  III., 
known  as  Orbul,  the  "  blind,"  the  "  one- 
eyed,"  or  the  "  squint-eyed  "  (1504-1517), 
gave  up  his  claim  to  Polish  Pokutia  in 
return  for  a  promise  of  the  hand  of 
Elizabeth,  a  sister  of  Alexander ;  but  he 
was  cheated  of  this  prize.  The  approach 
of  the  Turkish  power  induced  him  in  1504 
to  promise  a  yearly  tribute  to  the  sultan, 
consisting  of  4,000  Turkish  ducats,  forty 
royal  falcons,  and  forty  Moldavian  horses, 
in  return  for  which,  according  to  later 
reports,  he  was  guaranteed  the  main- 
tenance of  Christianity  ;  the  voivodes  were 
to  be  freely  elected,  and  the  country  was 
to  be  self-governing  in  domestic  affairs. 
This  convention,  which  in  recent  times  has 
formed  the  basis  for  the  constitutional 
relationship  of  Moldavia  with  the  Porte, 
was  renewed  by  Peter  Rares  "  the  Rest- 
less "  (1527-1528,  and  for  the  second  time 
from  the  end  of  February,  1541,  to 
September,  1546)  in  the  year  1529 ; 
according  to  a  document  of  1532,  he  sent 
annually  120,000  aspers  or  10,000  gold 
-.         .        ducats  to  Constantinople.     At 

Gold  ''""'  ^  ^^^^^  P^"°^  ^^'^  tribute 
f  T  k  ^^^  considerably  increased. 
ur  ey  ^v^j^j^  Peter  Rares  began  the 
rule  of  the  illegitimate  branch  of  the  house 
of  Dragos,  who  was  a  natural  son  of  Stefan 
the  Great.  The  chief  object  of  Peter  after 
the  disastrous  defeat  of  Mohacs  on  August 
29th,  1526,  the  significance  of  which  he 
never  understood,  was  to  turn  to  his  own 
advantage  the  disputes  about  the  succes- 
sion in  Hungary,  which  had  broken  out 

3061 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


between  King  Ferdinand  and  John 
Zapolya  ;  on  several  occasions  he  invaded 
Transylvania,  inflicting  appalling  devasta- 
tion on  the  country,  which,  in  1529, 
declined  to  accept  his  rule.  An  attempt 
to  recover  Pokutia  from  Poland  was 
brought  to  an  end  by  the  defeat  of  Peter 
at  Obertyn  on  August  22nd,  1531.  His 
_  faithlessness  brought  about  the 

Oman       ^^  ^£  Aloisio  Gritti,  who  had 
•  '*^''""°|*  been    sent    by    the    sultan   to 

in  Moldavia  ^  .         .    J .  .  ,, 

Transylvania  m  1533.      After 

the  expulsion  of  Peter  in  1538,  the 
voivodes  of  Moldavia  became  ready  tools 
in  the  hands  of  the  Porte  ;  provided  they 
paid  the  sultan  a  yearly  tribute,  they 
were  allowed  to  govern  their  own  territory 
precisely  as  they  pleased.  The  people 
groaned  under  the  burden  of  heavy  taxa- 
tion and  extortion  of  every  kind,  and 
attempted  to  secure  relief  by  joining  the 
party  struggles  set  on  foot  by  individual 
wealthy  families,  hoping  also  to  secure 
some  momentary  relief  by  the  murder  of 
their  masters.  Thus  the  Voivode  S»sfan 
VIII.,  "the  Turk,"  or  "  the  Locust  "—so 
named  after  a  plague  of  locusts  in  the 
year  1538 — was  murdered,  in  1540,  after 
a  reign  of  two  years.  His  successor, 
Alexander  III.,  a  scion  of  the  legitimate 
Dragos  family  from  Poland,  met  with  the 
same  fate  in  the  same  year.  The  Voivode 
Elias  II.  (1546-1551),  a  son  of  Peter 
Rares,  was  ordered  by  the  sultan  to  invade 
Transylvania  in  1550,  but  transferred 
this  commission  to  his  brother  Stefan, 
abdicated  in  May,  1551,  and  soon  after- 
wards died  as  the  renegade  "  Mohammed," 
governor  of  Silistria.  His  place  was 
occupied  by  his  brother  Stefan  IX.,  the 
last  direct  descendant  of  the  illegitimate 
branch  of  the  Dragosids,  until  he  was 
murdered  by  the  Boyars  in  1553. 

His  opponent  and  successor,  Peter  the 
Stolnic,  known  as  Alexander  IV.  Lapusan 
(1553-1561),  speedily  made  himself  highly 
unpopular  with  the  Boyars  by  his  infliction 
Mold  ■  ^^  torture  and  death,  from  the 
a  Land 'of  ^^^^^     ^^    which     he    tried    to 

T— „>.j:--  cleanse  his  conscience  by  found- 
1  ragedies  .  ,  .    r-i    /•  x 

mg  a  monastery  at  Slatma.     In 

1561  the  Greek  sailor  Jakobos  Basilikos 
seized  the  position  of  voivode,  under  the 
title  of  John  I.  ;  he  founded  a  Latin 
school  at  Cotnari  (East  Moldavia)  and  a 
bishopric,  which  was  naturally  but  short- 
lived. After  playing  the  part  of  a  tyrant  for 
two  years  he  was  murdered  in  the  course  of 
a  popular  rising  on  November  5th,  1563. 
3062 


During  and  following  upon  the  short  rule  of 
one  Stefan  X.  Tomsa — beheaded  in  Poland 
,in  1564 — Alexander  IV.,  who  had  fled  to 
Constantinople,  resumed  the  government 
(1563-1568),  until  he  gradually  went  bUnd. 
His  son  Bogdan  IV.  (1568-1572)  v 
wounded  by  an  angry  nobleman  w' 
visiting  his  betrothed  in  Poland. 

The  sultan  then  appointed  as  Voivodt 
Moldavia  John  II.,  a  Pole  of    Masov 
who    had    accepted    the    Mohammec 
faith    in    Constantinople,    where    he    \ 
believed  to  be  a  descendant  of  Stefan  IX 
who  had  been  killed  in  1553.    In  order  tc 
secure  his  independence,  John  allied  him- 
self  with    Cossacks — hence    his    name   of 
"  rebel  " — but  was  surrounded  in  Roscani, 
and  executed  on  June    nth,  1574.     The 
Cossacks,    who    were    forced    tOj^c-ganise 
under  Stefan  Bathori   in    1576,  ,     re   at 
that   period   a   bold   robber-tribt,^^    •  n  "'^ 
both   by  the  Tartar  and   the   Ol'u-, 
they  devastated  the  districts  on  ,.ur 

side  of  the  Dniester  from  their  i'  in 

that    river,    and    after    1595     soi.  to 

find  opportunity    for   their  wild 
exploits,  under  Michael  the  Bold, 
Wallachia  itself.     At  the  same 

_^     _  ,^       the  ancient  Vikings     i 

The  Sultan  .        ,        n  4     j  41 

a  stop  to  all  trade  on  1' 

„.    .    .        Sea    for    forty    years: 
Dictator    ^j^     ^^^    .  J^^, ,   ^^ 

Mircea  of  Wallachia,  who  was  a^ 
voivode  by  the  sultan  (1574-157/ 
from  the  first  a  precarious  position 
was  overthrown  after  surviving  an 
from  the  Cossack  protege,  J  oh 
"  Curly  "  ;  his  conqueror,  the  <" 
John  or  Peter  Potkova,  "  the  bi  .x 

horseshoes,"  in  this  respect  a  pred      ssor 
of  Augustus  the  "  Strong,"  reigne     .or  ? 
few    days,    and    was    then    executed 
Lemberg  by  the  order  of  the  Polish  ' 
Stefan  Bathori  (1575-1586).     The 
then,  in  1577,  again  conferred  the  p- 
of    voivode    on    Peter   VII.,    whOi 
expelled  in  the  following  year,  un 
restored    him    afterwards    for    the 
time  (1584-1592). 

Moldavia  was  at  that  time  a  i  .     j; 

in  the  hands  of  the  Ottomaii;^,'  wno 
expelled  and  appointed  voivodes  as  they 
pleased,  while  their  deputies  and  their  1 
troops  devastated  the  country  in  alt, 
4irections.  Before  Peter  became  voivod^^ 
for  the  third  time  the  country  had  be^^vj 
governed,  for  a  short  period  in  1578,  by,^ 
Alexander,  a  brother  of  Potkova,  airi-T 
after  a   constant  succession  of  real  anr* 


MOLDAVIA'S    STRUGGLE    FOR    NATIONALITY 


pretended  claimants,  by  a  certain  Jankul 
the  "  Saxon  "  of  Transylvania,  who  had 
used  the  wealth  of  his  wife,  a  Palaeologa 
of  Cyprus,  to  induce   the   authorities   of 
"orstantinople   to   depose   Peter   and  to 
^er  the  position  of  voivode  of  Moldavia 
himself  in   1579.      He  became  in- 
.  jd  in  a  quarrel  with  Stefan  Bathori, 
i^iagh.  his  encroachments  upon  the  Polish 
-^"tier,   and   was    taken    prisoner    and 
'  'aded  in  1582.     One  of  his  successors, 
.6n,  who  had  formerly  been  a  coach- 
in  and  then  a  Boyar,   was  driven  out 
y  the  Cossacks  in  1591,  after  a  reign  of 
one  year,  and  fled  to  Constantinople. 

The  Cossacks  restored   Peter  in  1592  ; 

but  he  was  captured  by  the  Transylvanian 

troops  of  Sigismund  Bathori  and  handed 

over  to  '^'■•e  sultan,   who  executed  him. 

Aaro^'  aow  placed  for  the  second  time 

in  »sition    of    voivode 

'"=)5),   and   pursued   a 

3rei^ '    '  'Olicy  of  unblushing 

lup'  :  on  November  5th, 

50  made  an  alliance  at 

with     Sigismund 

'•"d  with  Michael  of 

'  -^    gainst  the  Turks  ; 

'  *  bb    deserted     the 

'^s,  was  taken  as  a 

D   Alvincz   by    the 

'\ian    troops,     and 

^e    in     1597.       His 

L  Stefan  XI.  Resvan 

'ted  Sigismund  Bathori 

Enterprises  against  the 

but  was  impaled  at 


VASILE  "THE  WOLF" 


continued.  It  was  not  until  the  seven- 
teenth century  that  a  better  period  began 
to  dawn  ;  after  a  conspiracy  of  the  Boyars 
against  Alexander  VI I.  Elias,  who  favoured 
the  Greeks,  and  after  various  other  con- 
fusions the  Greek  Albanian  Vasile  Lupu 
came  to  the  throne  (1634-1653) ;  he  founded 
schools  and  benevolent  institutions,  and 

V  "1  th  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^  ^°  improve  the 
-1,  *  condition  of  the  country.     He 

Wolf  on  i-x-   •  J 

the  Throne  ^^^  ^  cunnmg  pohtician,  and 
began  intrigues  against  George 
Rakoczy,  the  ruler  of  Transylvania,  which 
ended,  in  1654,  by  his  being  captured 
himself  by  the  Khan  of  Tartary,  who 
sent  him  to  Constantinople. 

On   January   8th,    1654,   the   Cossacks 
surrendered  to  the  Russians.     Moldavia, 
however,  came  under  Transylvanian  supre- 
macy.    The  voivode  Stefan  XIII.  (1653- 
1658),  after  secret  negotiations 
with  the  Russian  Tsar  (1654- 
1656),  joined  the  Wallachian 
Constantine  Basarab  in  placing 
himself  under  the  protectorate 
of  George  Rakoczy  II.     As  he 
supported    this    ruler    in    an 
;  attempt  to  secure  the  crown 
of  Poland  in  1675,  the  sultan 
declared  him  deposed. 

The  following  years  were  a 
period  of  unspeakable  misery 
and  sorrow ;  the  last  two 
native  rulers,  Sefan  XIV.  and 
XV.,  maintained  their  position 
with  interruptions  until  1680 
or  1690,  but  between  1658  and 


chstnt 

had  ii 

■^1 


<•  1595  by  the  Polish  t^n^'Z  fut^'be&'c'apSrld^S?  ^^  the  Turkish  court,  at  its 
n  Jan  Zamoiski,  who  the  Khan  of  Tartary  he  was  y^[\\  ^^d  pleasure,   appointed 

I  1     1  nyr    1  1  dehvered    to  the  Turks  m  1654.         ,  <•  ^^  ,t  *    •       •       i 

rulers     from     the     principal 
Albanian  or  Greek  families. 


ded  Moldavia 

1   -^gust  the  position  of  voivode  was 

1  over  by  Jeremias  Mogila,  or  Movila 

''  '608),     a     feeble     character,     who 

^  the  country  to  fall  entirely  under 

'\ipremacy.    At  that  time  Southern 

,  ^a  had  been  driven  to  find  room  for 

Tartar  settlers  ;    the  tribute  which 

the  Khan  of  the  Crim  Tartars, 

who  from   1475  had  harassed 

« the  Russians,  Poles,  and  Rou- 

'  rpanians,   then  subject  to  the 

Ottomans,  had  been  receiving  from  Mol- 

ivia  since  1566,  "according  to   ancient 

•stom,"  as  the  price  for  his  consideration 

their    frontiers,    was    now    dropped. 

1     A'ever,  this  remarkable  branch  of  the 

">quering  Nogais,  under  the   "  Mirzak  " 

^ud.ntemir,  lost  their  independence  in  1637, 

"'Ugh  their  marauding  raids  were  still 


Better  Dh^i. 


A  new  period  in  the  history  of  Moldavia 
(1712-1822)  begins  with  the  appointment 
of  the  Phanariot  class  to  the  position  of 
voivode ;  they  were  merchants  from  Con- 
stantinople, and  each  one  of  them,  intent 
solely  upon  his  own  enrichment,  did  his 
best  to  reduce  the  country  to  ruin. 

The  Russians  occupied  the  country  be- 
tween 1769  and  1774,  and  then  conferred 
the  dignity  of  voivode  upon  Gregor  III. 
Ghika,  who  was  murdered  by  the  Janis- 
saries at  J  assy  in  1777. 

After  the  death  of  Ghika  the  partition 
of  Moldavia  began.  But  of  that  process 
we  have  here  to  record  only  the  beginning, 
when,  in  1777,  the  province  of  Bukovina  was 
incorporated  in  the  Austrian  dominions. 
Heinrich  von  Wlislocki 

3063 


EASTERN  EUROPE 

TO  THE  FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


ALBANIANS:    A   SCATTERED   RACE 


THEIR   WARS  AND  THEIR   RELIGIOUS   BELIEFS 


Deeadeaee  of 

Albanian 

Independence 


'X'HE  country  known  to  us  as  Albania  is 
■'■  a  district  about  400  miles  in  length  and 
120  in  breadth  upon  the  average,  which 
lies  on  the  coast  of  the  Balkan  peninsula. 
Of  this  district,  the  Albanians  proper,  a 
strongly-marked  nationality,  occupy  the 
north  ;  the  south-east  is  pure  Greek ; 
while  the  south-west  contains  both  races, 
so  intermingled  that  the  children  learn  both 
languages  simultaneously.  Roumanians 
inhabit  the  district  of  Pindos, 
and  Bulgarians  and  Serbs 
the  district  which  borders 
their  frontiers  ;  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Albanian  race  has  also  extended 
far  beyond  the  frontiers  of  Albania.  On  the 
Shah  Dagh  Albanians  have  appropriated 
the  whole  western  portion  of  Turkish 
Servia,  extending  to  Bosnia,  and  inhabit 
the  mountain  region  lying  west  and  south- 
west of  Novi  Bazar.  Large  numbers  of 
Albanians  also  dwell  within  the  kingdom 
of  Greece ;  in  fact,  the  whole  of  Attica, 
with  the  exception  of  Athens  and  the 
Piraeus,  Megara,  with  the  exception  of  the 
city,  Boeotia,  and  the  islands  of  Hydra  and 
Spezzia,.  together  with  many  other  dis- 
tricts, are  inhabited  by  them. 

However,  during  the  course  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  Albanian  nationality  in 
these  parts  has  apparently  suffered  a  con- 
siderable decrease,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
many  Albanian  families  have  adopted  Greek 
manners  and  the  Greek  language,  as 
Greek  is  considered  the  more  distinguished 
nationality.  About  80,000  Albanians  are 
settled  in  Italy,  divided  among  the  former 
provinces  of  Nearer  and  Further  Calabria, 
Basilicata,  Capitanata,  Terra  d'Otranto, 
Abruzzo  Ulteriore  and  Sicily.  The  first 
mentioned  were  brought  over  about  1460 
by  Ferdinand  L  to  Naples.  Their  number 
was  originally  considerably  greater,  but 
many  of  them  have  been  entirely  Italian- 
ised in  language,  dress,  and  manners. 
Finally,  three  small  Albanian  colonies  exist 
upon  Austrian  soil — one  on  the  Save,  be- 
tween  Shabatz   and    Mitrovitza,    one   at 

3064 


Zara,  and  one  at  Pola.  The  Albanians 
are  divided  into  two  main  branches, 
which  are  also  distinguished  from  one 
another  by  language — the  Toskans  and 
the  Geges.  The  former  inhabited  the 
south,  the  latter  the  central  and  northern 
parts  of  the  country.  Their  respective 
dialects  are  so  different  that  they  have 
the  utmost  difficulty  in  understanding 
one  another,  and  members  of  one  branch 
are  obliged  by  degrees  to  learn  the  dialect 
of  the  other.  In  other  respects,  too,  a 
strange  divergence  between  the  two 
branches  has  existed  from  early  times. 
An  attempt  has  been  made  to  explain 
the  difference  of  dialect  on  the  supposition 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  north  were  the 
lUyrians  of  antiquity,  and  those  of  the 
south  the  Epirots.  This  hypothesis  is 
scarcely  defensible.  It  is  more  probable 
that  both  branches  are  Thracian,  and 
that  of  the  two  dialects,  Gegish  is  the 
Thracian  language  as  spoken  by  lUyrians, 
and  Toskish  is  that  language  as  spoken  by 
Greeks  ;  in  other  words,  that  the  difference 
corresponds  to  that  between  Lombard  and 
Tuscan  Italian — namely,  Latin  in  the 
mouth  of  Gauls  and  Latin  in  the  mouth  of 
Etruscans. 

In  respect  of  religion  the  land  is  again 
by  no  means  uniform.  The  north  is 
predominantly  Roman  Catholic,  while 
in  the  south  Greek  Catholicism  holds  the 
upper  hand.  Mohammedanism,  moreover, 
-^    ^  has  spread  throughout  almost 

y  .      the    whole    country,   and  the 

Q  .      number  of  its  devotees  is  nearly 

equal  to  that  of  the  Christians. 
The  distinguished  families,  especially 
in  the  towns,  are  Mohammedans  ;  there 
are,  moreover,  isolated  country  districts 
which  are  Mohammedan.  It  will  be  under- 
stood that  all  of  these  were  at  one 
time  Christians,  and  that  they  have  gone 
over  to  Mohammedanism  in  consequence 
of  the  very  various  forms  of  pressure 
which  the  Turks  were  able  to  exert 
at  different  times,  even  within  the  present 


THE    ALBANIANS:    A    SCATTERED    RACE 


century.  The  only  tribe  which  has  re- 
mained pure  Catholic  is  that  of  the  Mirid- 
ites,  in  the  north,  from  the  fact  that 
every  apostate  was  immediately  forced  to 
leave  the  district.  There  are  besides 
districts  which  are  Mohammedan  only  in 
seeming,  and  acknowledge  Christianity 
in  secret,  at  the  present  day  as  previously. 

Although,  as  we  have  said,  the  Alba- 
nians are  thus  divided  by  geographical, 
religious,  and  linguistic  differences,  yet 
they  form  one  nationality  with  a  strongly 
marked  national  character,  arising  pri- 
marily from  the  conception  of  the  family, 
which  has  dominated  the  whole  life  of 
this  people.  It  is  by  the  solidarity  of 
family  life  that  we  must  explain  their 
tenacious  observation  of  ancient  customs, 
which  accompany  every  detail  of  house- 
hold life,  birth,  engagement,  marriage 
and  death  ;  thus,  too,  is  explicable  that 
fearful  scourge  of  this  nation,  the  blood 
feud,  and  also  the  political  impotence  of 
the  country  in  spite  of  the  great  bravery 
of  its  inhabitants. 

The  strongly  marked  conservatism  ap- 
parent in  all  these  facts  has  also  con- 
tributed to  the  maintenance  of  numerous 
.   _  survivals   of    the  old    heathen 

range  pQp^jj^j-  religion  side  by  side 
jj  y  V^  °  with  the  different  religions 
which  individuals  have  adopted 
as  their  official  belief.  As  survivals  of 
this  nature  are  the  belief  in  the  Elves,  a 
household  spirit,  three  monsters  known 
as  Kutshreda,  Siikjennesa  and  Ljubia, 
the  Ore,  Mauthi,  Fatiles,  Dive,  Fljamea 
Kukudi,  Vurvulak — known  among  the 
Geges  as  Ljuvgat  and  Karkancholi — the 
Shtrigea,  Dramgua,  and  the  men  with 
tails.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
these  demoniacal  beings  are  the  survivals 
of  some  old  pure  Albanian  popular  be- 
lief ;  they  probably  represent,  to  some 
degree,  remnants  of  early  Greek,  Roman, 
Slavonic,.  Turkish,  and  perhaps  gipsy 
superstition.  The  origin  of  the  com- 
ponent parts  of  this  popular  belief  cannot 
be  pointed  to  with  certainty.  When  we 
examine  the  appellations  of  these  sepai"ate 
beings,  it  might  be  supposed  that  they 
originated  from  the  nation  from  whose 
language  they  took  their  names  ;  but  no 
reliance  can  be  placed  on  this  theory. 
The  Albanian  vocabulary  for  every  de- 
partment of  life  is  a  motley  mixture 
taken  from  all  possible  languages,  so 
that  it  is  highly  probable  that  in  myth- 
ology foreign  names  might  often  represent 


native  conceptions.  The  Elves,  known 
as  the  "  Happy  Ones,"  or  as  the  "  Brides 
of  the  Mountain,"  display  a  considerable 
resemblance  to  the  fairies  of  German 
mythology,  who  bear  the  same  name. 
They  are  generally  feminine,  about 
the  size  of  twelve-year-old  children,  of 
great  beauty,  clothed  in  white,  and  of 
g  -If  vaporous  form.  They  come 
A^b'"^*  down  in  the  night  from  the 
M  th  I  K  mountains  to  the  homes  of  men, 
^  °°  ^  and  invite  beautiful  children  to 
dance  ;  often,  too,  they  take  little  children 
out  of  the  cradles  to  play  with  them  upon 
the  roofs  of  the  houses,  but  bring  them 
back  unharmed. 

Similar  is  the  character  of  the  Mauthi,  as 
she  is  called  in  Elbassan,  who  is  probably 
to  be  identified  with  the  Southern  Albanian 
"  Beauty  of  the  Earth."  She,  too,  is  a 
fairy  clothed  in  gold,  with  a  fez  adorned 
with  precious  stones ;  "  the  man  who 
steals  this  is  fortunate  for  the  whole  of 
his  life."  Goddesses  of  fate  are  the 
Ore  and  the  Fatiles ;  the  former  goes 
about  the  country  and  immediately  fulfils 
all  the  blessings  and  curses  which  she 
hears.  The  Fatiles  are  the  same  as  the 
ancient  Greek  Moirai.  The  Attic  Albanians 
have  only  one  of  these  deities,  who  still 
bears  the  ancient  name  of  Moira  ;  however, 
all  the  gifts  which  are  offered  to  her  upon 
a  birth  in  the  house  are  tripled. 

Horrible  demons  are  the  cannibal  female 
monsters  Kutshedra,  Siikjennesa,  and 
Ljubia.  Connected  with  them  is  the 
Fljamea  of  Elbassan,  also  a  female  demon, 
who  can  afflict  with  epilepsy.  The  Dif,  or 
the  Dive  in  the  plural,  are  giants  of  super- 
natural size,  while  the  household  spirit,  the 
Vittore,  is  conceived  as  a  brightly  coloured 
snake,  which  lives  in  the  wall  of 
the  house,  and  is  greeted  with  respect 
and  wishes  of  good  fortune  by  any  one 
of  the  inhabitants  who  catches  sight  of  it. 
The  Vurvulak,  known  in  some  places 
as  vampires,  are  sufficiently  explained  by 
-  .  ,  this  second  title.  Of  a  similar 
l"'"  nature     are      the      Ljuvgats, 

1  crary  <<  -pyj.|^jgjj     COrpSCS     with     long 

Monuments         .,  ,  .   ,         *      ,        ,     •       .,     • 

nails,  which  go  about  in  their 
grave  clothes,  devouring  what  they  find, 
and  strangling  men,"  as  also  are  the  Kar- 
kantsholjes  or  Kukudes,  the  corpses  of 
gipsies  whose  breath  is  poisonous. 

The  literary  monuments  of  the  people 
are  very  few ;  all  that  can  be  called 
literature  is  confined  to  translations  of 
the     Bible     and     similar      ecclesiastical 

3065 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


compositions,  to  national  songs,  and  a  few 
attempts  at  poetry  among  the  Italian  Alba- 
nians, and  in  Albania  itself.  Among  the 
former  we  may  mention  Girolamo  de 
Rada  (1870),  who  has  treated  of  the 
heroic  period  of  his  nation — that  is  to  say, 
...  .  ,  the  wars  of  Skanderbeg.  The 
an  as   pQ^i  of  Albania  most  famous 

-.  „    .  amongst    his    compatriots    is 

Famous  Poet  xt     •   *    t^  r    -n  ^        tt 

Nezim   Bey  of   Bremet.     He 

was  a  scholar  acquainted  with  Arabic  and 
Persian  literature,  and  it  was  under  the 
influence  of  these  Oriental  literatures  that 
his  poems  were  composed,  as  they  in- 
deed declare  by  their  strong  infusion  of 
Arabic  and  Persian  words.  The  spirit 
also  is  undeniably  Oriental,  and  their 
similarity  with  the  poems  of  Hafiz,  for 
instance,  is  unmistakable.  The  national 
songs  are  not  without  a  beauty  which 
is  strikingly  foreign  to  our 
ideas.  Our  information  upon 
the  actual  history  of  the 
Albanians  is  for  the  most  part 
very  fragmentary.  Native 
historical  sources  there  are 
none  ;  we  are  reduced  to  the 
references  derived  from  the 
history  of  those  nations  with 
whom  the  Albanians  were 
brought  into  connection. 
Hence  our  chief  sources  are 
the  Byzantine  chroniclers, 
"who  trouble  themselves  very 
rarely  about  these  remote 
provinces."     Our  earliest  di- 


phorus,  son  of  the  last  despot,  attempted 
to  seize  the  government  of  Albania,  but 
was  defeated  by  the  Albanians  and  killed 
in  battle  (1357-1358).  The  Albanians  now 
fell  again  partly  into  the  hands  of  the 
Servian  despot  Simon.  As,  however,  he 
troubled  himself  but  little  about  the 
country,  the  Albanians  founded  two  prac- 
tically independent  provinces — a  southern 
province  under  Gjinos  Vayas,  and  a  nor- 
thern province  under  Peter  Ljoshas. 

Then  began  a  period  of  Albanian 
migration,  during  which  large  portions  of 
Macedonia,  Thessalia,  ^Etolia  and  Acar- 
nania  were  occupied  by  parties  starting 
from  Durazzo.  Thence  the  Albanians 
spread  further  to  Livadia,  Boeotia,  Attica, 
South  Eubcea,  and  the  Peloponnese.  After 
the  death  of  Peter  Ljoshas,  in  1374,  John 
Spata  seized  the  town  of  Arta.  His  rule 
was  a  period  of  long  struggles 
with  different  opponents, 
which  continued  almost  until 
his  death  in  1400.  About 
this  time  most  of  the  country 
was  conquered  by  Carlo  I. 
Tocco,  who  died  on  July  4th, 
1429,  and  bequeathed  what 
he  had  won  to  his  nephew 
Carlo  II.  Tocco  of  Cephallenia, 
who  was  obliged,  however,  to 
cede  the  town  of  Janina  in 
1430  to  Murad  II.,  and  to 
acknowledge  his  supremacy. 
The  process  of  converting 


-        .,  .       ,,  o';t'^.Ts.,S?.Tnir„."s^^^hecountry,oMohammeda„- 

rect  mtormation  belongs  to  derbeg,"  was  the  great  Christian  hero  ism  then  began,  and  has 
the  year  1042  ;  at  that  date,  fJ'.M^lt^  ^ears^fn' Aiblnla^^^Hl  continued  till  within  the  last 
after  subjugating  the  Bui-  began  his  struggle  in  the  year  i4u.  century.  It  was  chiefly  the 
garian     revolt,     Michael    Paphlago,    the      upper  classes  that  embraced  Mohammedan- 


governor  of  Dyrrhachium,  gathered  an 
army  of  60,000  men  from  his  province  and 
advanced  with  it  against  the  Serbs.  When 
the  Normans  made  their  expeditions  of 
conquest  (1081-1101),  the  rule  of  the 
despots  of  Epirus  from  the  house  of  the 
Comneni  began,  and  it  lasted  until  1318. 

The  land  then  fell  again  into  the  hands  of 
the  Byzantine  emperors  ;  but  the  restless 
population  repeatedly  rose  in  revolt,  and 
the  most  cruel  coercion  failed  to  secure  a 
definite  pacification.  In  the  year  1343 
fresh  disturbances  broke  out,  of  which  the 
Servian  king,  Stefan  Dusan,  took  advan- 
tage to  conquer  the  whole  of  Albania, 
Thessalia  and  Macedonia,  and  assumed 
the  corresponding  title  of  emperor  of  these 
countries.  Upon  his  death  the  Servian 
kingdom  fell   into  confusion,   and  Nice- 

3066 


ism,  and  for  this  reason  they  were  able  to 

found    native  dynasties,   which  in  some 

cases  actually  acquired   hereditary  rule. 

Of   these  native    pashas    of    Janina   the 

best  known   is   Ali,    who    was    born    in 

1741    at    Tepeleni,     and    murdered    on 

February  5th,  1822,  in  a  summer-house 

on  the  lake  of  Janina,  by  Khurshid  Pasha. 

North  Albania,  which  had  become  a  Servian 

-,      ^.      „  ,    province,  has  a  history   of 
Venetian  Help  T  a  u      *     j.i- 

...  its  own.     About    the    year 

Against  •.  .  i    •'^i 

..     n,.  1250    it  went   over  to  the 

the  Ottomans     /-  "1,     i-     /-.,         , 

Catholic  Church,  as  appears 

from  the  letters  of    Pope    Innocent    IV. 

The  family  legend  of  the  Miridite  chieftain 

preserves  the  memory  of  this  event.     The 

disruption  from  Servia,  in  which  the  noble 

family    of    the   Balzen  took    a  prominent 

part,  occurred  about  1368,  and  therefore 


THE  ALBANIANS:  A  SCATTERED  RACE 


after  the  death  of  Stefan  Dusan  in  1355. 
With  the  year  1383  begin  the  invasions 
of  the  Ottomans,  whom  the  Albanians 
opposed  with  Venetian  help.  Among  these 
TurcOrAlbanian  struggles  those  of  Skan- 
derbeg  stand  out  prominently.  Yban,  or 
John  George  Kastriota,  was  born  after  1403, 
the  son  of  Yban  or  John  Kastriota,  the 
dynast  of  Mat,  and  of  Voisava,  the  Servian 
princess  of  Polog.  In  1423  he  was  carried 
off,  with  his  three  brothers,  by  the  Emir 
Murad  II.  in  the  course  of  an  incursion 
into  Southern  Albania,  kept  as  a  hostage 
for  his  father's  fidelity,  and  employed  in 
the  royal  Se- 
raglio. There 
he  was  brought 
up  i  n  the  Mo- 
ll ammedan 
faith,  and  given 
the  name  of 
Iskander  or 
Alexander  Bey, 
popularised  as 
Skanderbeg. 
Conspicuous  for 
his  handsome 
form  and  intel- 
lectual powers, 
he  very  soon 
obtained  a  su- 
perior post  in 
the  administra- 
tion. In  1442, 
upon  the  death 
of  his  father, 
Yban,  the  prin- 
cipality was 
occupied  by  the 
emir,  and  his 
brothers  were 
killed.  The 
revolts  con- 
ducted by 
Arianites  Com- 
nenus,  who  died  in  1461,  Depas,  or 
Thopia,  and  Zenempissa,  were  crushed  by 
the  Turks. 

Kastriota  concealed  his  thirst  for 
vengeance,  and  remained  in  the  Turkish 
service  as  if  nothing  had  occurred.  WTien, 
however,  at  the  close  of  1443  the 
Hungarians  defeated  the  Turks,  George 
escaped,  with  300  Albanians,  from  the 
Turkish  camp,  and  seized  Kruja  by  a  trick. 
He  re-adopted  Christianity,  inspired  his 
compatriots  to  fight  for  their  independence, 
and  occupied  the  whole  district  in  a  month. 
All  the  chiefs  placed  themselves  under  his 


TYPES    OF    ALBANIAN    MOUNTAINEERS 


command,  and  paid  tribute  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  revolt.  Skanderbeg  con- 
tinued the  war  with  vigour,  and  in  1444, 
with  15,000  men,  he  defeated  the  Turkish 
army,  40,000  strong  under  Ali  Pasha,  and 
other  Ottoman  generals  in  the  district  of 
Dibra.  In  the  year  1449  he  attacked 
Murad  with  100,000  men,  but  was  defeated 
and  forced  to  withdraw  from  Kruja,  which 
he  besieged. 

After  the  death  of  Murad  II.,  in  145 1, 
he  remained  victorious  upon  the  whole, 
notwithstanding  disunion  -among  the 
chieftains   and   several  defeats  which  he 

suffered ;  in  the 
ten  years'  arm- 
istice of  May, 
1461,  Albania 
was  formally 
ceded  to  him. 
He  showed 
great  organis- 
ing abiUty,  and 
made  the  coun- 
try a  stronghold 
of  Christianity, 
and  his  vigorous 
services  to  this 
faith  induced 
Pope  Pius  II. 
to  select  him  as 
general  for  his 
proposed  cru- 
sade in  the  year 
1464.  The  re- 
sult of  this 
movement  was 
a  further  out- 
break of  war, 
and  once  again 
the  Turks  were 
defeated.  But 
on  January 
17th,  1468, 
Skanderbeg 
died  at  Alessio.  His  son  being  still  a  minor, 
the  Turks  were  victorious.  It  cost  them, 
however,  ten  years'  fighting  before  they 
reconquered  Kruja,  on  June  15th,  1478,  and 
succeeded  in  bringing  the  land  under  their 
sway  in  1479.  After  that  date  large  bodies 
emigrated  from  North  Albania,  and  the 
majority  of  the  Albanian  colonies  in  Italy 
belong  to  that  period.  Another  part  of 
the  conquered  Albanians  preferred  to 
remain  upon  the  spot  and  accept  Moham- 
medanism, while  the  remainder  fled  into 
the  mountains. 

Karl  Pauli 

3067 


Temple  of  Diocletian's  palace,  now  Spalaro  Cathedral.  Courtyard  of  Diocletian's  palace  at  Spalaro. 


lT.iX!SXSU^^ 


E    GREAT    ROMAN    AMPHITHEATRE    AT    POLA    IN    AUSTRIA 


MEMORIALS    OF    THE     ROMAN     OCCUPATION     OF    SLAVONIA 


3068 


EASTERN  EUROPE 

TO  THE  FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


THE 

SOUTHERN  SLAVS 

I 


THE  SOUTHERN  SLAV   PEOPLES 

MOVEMENTS   OF  A    WIDESPREAD   RACE  AND 
THEIR     ABSORPTION    INTO    OTHER     NATIONS 


AS  the  history  of  the  German  races 
■**•  emerges  from  obscurity  only  upon 
their  contact  with  the  Greeks  and  Romans 
on  the  Rhine,  on  the  Danube,  and  in  the 
Mediterranean  territories,  so  also  the  early 
history  of  the  Slav  races  has  been  preserved 
by  the  Graeco- Roman  civiUsation,  which  by 
degrees  drew  all  peoples  from  darkness  to 
light,  and  stirred  them  to  new  life  as  though 
by  a  magician's  wand.  It  was  chiefly 
with  the  Romans  that  the  Germans  came 
into  contact  by  reason  of  their  geograph- 
ical position  ;  for  similar  reasons  the  Slavs 
fell  within  the  area  of  Greek  civilisation, 
though  here  again  by  the  intervention  of 
the  Roman  Empire.  Slav  history  is  thus 
connected  with  Roman  history.  At  the 
point  where  Slavs  were  the  immediate 
neighbours  of  the  Romans  their  annals 
reach  back  to  the  beginning  of  our  era, 
though  it  was  not  until  some  500  years 
later  that  the  northern  Slav  race  appeared 
,  upon  the  scene.  It  was  upon 
The  !>iavs      ^j^^  Adriatic  and  in  the  river 

First  Contact         ,  r     xi.       /-      x     1  j 

Wth  R  system    of    the    Central    and 

Lower  Danube  that  the  Slavs 
first  came  into  contact  with  the  Roman 
Empire  ;  on  the  Adriatic  and  on  the  classi- 
cal ground  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  which 
was  saturated  with  Graeco-Roman  civilisa- 
tion, begins  our  earliest  genuine  knowledge 
of  the  Slavonic  peoples. 

The  races  which  inhabited  the  districts 
on  the  Danube  and  southwards  to  the 
Peloponnesus  are  known  in  modern  times 
as  the  Slovenians,  Serbs,  Croatians,  and 
Bulgarians.  They  form  collectively  the 
South  Slavonic  group.  As  their  origin 
is  obscure,  so  also  is  their  history  confused  ; 
it  is  a  history  the  threads  of  which  are 
lost  in  many  provinces  belonging  to 
different  states,  and  bearing  even  at  the 
present  day  different  names  ;  a  history 
of  tribes  in  which  original  divergences 
led  in  course  of  time  to  sharp  distinctions 
of  language,  script,  morals,  religion  and 
history,  and  which,  even  in  political 
matters,  are  opposed  as  enemies. 


Of  their  earliest  history  we  know  little 
enough.  The  Slavs  were  not  so  fortunate 
as  the  Germans,  who  found  a  historian  in 
Tacitus  as  early  as  the  first  century. 
Modern  inquirers  agree  upon  the  fact" 
that  the  Slavs  appeared  in  Europe  ages 
ago,  together  with  the  other  main  Euro- 
pean races,  the  Kelts,  Greeks,  Romans, 
-       _  and  Germans,  and  that  they 

UnVcr  Other  settled  in  Eastern  Europe 
p,"  ^  *'  some  where  about  the  spot 
where  they  are  still  to  be  found 
as  the  earliest  known  inhabitants.  The 
Slavs  and  their  settlements  are  known  to 
Pliny,  Tacitus  and  Ptolemy.  More  exten- 
sive accounts  are  given  of  them  by  the 
Gothic  historian  Jordanes  and  the  Byzan- 
tine Procopius,  both  in  the  sixth  century. 

From  that  time  onwards  information  as 
to  the  Slav  races  becomes  more  copious. 
They  bear  different  names.  The  Greek 
and  Roman  authors  call  them  Veneti, 
while  to  the  Germans  they  are  known  as 
Wends  ;  another  form  is  Antes.  Proco- 
pius also  informs  us  that  the  Antes  were 
anciently  known  as  Spores,  which  has  been 
connected  with  the  name  Serb.  The  second 
name  for  the  members  of  this  race  was 
Slavus — with  variants — the  name  espe- 
cially current  among  the  Byzantines. 
Those  tribes  who  settled  in  the  old  Roman 
provinces  of  Pannonia,  Noricum,  Rhaetia 
and  Vindelicia  were  known  collectively  as 
Slavs  or  Slovenians.  We  hear  of  them 
in  the  sixth  century  as  of  some  political 
importance,  and  as  already  waging  war 
.  \vith  the  Bavarian  race.     It  is 

t*w"r*w*th  P^^^^^^^  ^^3-*  ^^"^^  S^^^  king- 
*  g.  "^  doms  existed  in  the  sixth 
century  in  the  modern  Hungary, 
Slavonia,  Croatia,  Carinthia,  Styria,  Car- 
ni(Ma,  Gorz,  Gradiska,  and  on  the  coast 
line. 

From  these  Slav  peoples  settled  on  each 
side  of  the  Central  Danube,  on  the  Drave 
and  Save ;  many  migrated  southwards 
after  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  and 
settled  in  the  Balkan   Peninsula.      The 

3069 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


question  arises  whether  they  were  the 
first  Slav  colonists  in  that  district,  or 
whether  they  found  in  the  Balkan  terri- 
tories an  older  Slav  population  known 
under  other  names.  On  the  solution  of  this 
question  depends  the  problem  of  the 
Slav  population  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula. 
Moreover,  the  Slavs  from  these  districts 
«  .  were  not  the  only  members 
yi»n  ine^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  went  to  the 
mperors  in  gg^ij^g^j^  territories ;  we  find 
traces  of  Slav  immigrants  from 
Eastern  and  Northern  Europe.  Formerly 
the  opinion  was  general  that  the  immigra- 
tion of  the  Slavs  into  the  Balkan  terri- 
tories took  place  during  the  period  between 
the  fifth  and  seventh  centuries.  It  is 
now  believed  that  certain  traces  of  a 
much  earlier  migration  have  been  dis- 
covered. Evidence  for  this  fact  is  to  be 
found  in  the  older  Slav  place-names.  This 
new  theory  can  also  be  harmonised  with 
the  earliest  historical  evidence  before  us, 
and  provides  a  natural  explanation  of  the 
fact  that  the  Slavs  suddenly  appeared  in 
these  territories  in  such  numbers  that 
even  the  Byzantine  emperors  found  them- 
selves obliged  to  take  measures  to  prevent 
them  from  over-running  Greece.  The 
theory  further  explains  why  history  has 
nothing  to  tell  us  of  any  great  immigration 
or  occupation  of  these  countries  by  the 
Slavs  in  historical  times ;  only  now  and 
again  does  history  speak  of  the  settle- 
ment of  new  bands  of  colonists  by  the 
emperors. 

So  long,  however,  as  it  is  impossible  to 
ascertain  the  nationality  of  many  peoples 
living  in  those  districts  in  the  Roman 
period,  such  as  Thracians,  Skordiskans, 
Dacians,  Illyrians,  and  others,  so  long  will 
this  problem  remain  unsolved.  Hence  we 
must  first  decide  whether  they  are  to  be 
regarded  as  "  immigrants  "  or  as  "  in- 
digenous " ;  only  then  can  we  discuss  the 
question  of  earlier  or  later  dates.  It  may 
be  noted  that  the  inhabitants  of  Bosnia 
still  display  certain  ethnological 
n  en  or*     peculiarities  which  are  ascribed 

^.  ...    ..      to  the  Thracians  and  Dacians 

Civilisation  i  -r-i  ^i.  ti. 

by     Roman     authors.       Thus 

Pliny  states  that  among  the  Dacians  the 
men  paint  their  bodies.  Tattooing  is  at 
the  present  day  customary  among  the 
Bosnian  people.  Other  national  character- 
istics also  point  to  some  relationship. 

However  this  may  be,  our  first  know- 
ledge of  the  Slavs,  both  in  the  Danube 
territories  and  in  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  is 

3070 


gained  from  the  Greeks  and  Romans  when 

they    established    their    empire    in    those 

directions.     After  the  fall  of  the  Roman 

Empire   the   Slavs  inherited   the   Roman 

civilisation.     The    country    was    covered 

with    towns,     trading    settlements,     and 

fortresses.      These  territories  were  crossed 

by  admirable  military  roads.     In  Thracia 

we  find  roads  as  early  as  the  time  of  Nero, 

who  built  post-houses  along  them.     All  the 

emperors   paid    special   attention    to    the 

Balkan  Peninsula,  as  it  was    from  there 

that  they  gained  the  most  valuable  recruits 

for    their    legions.     No    Roman  emperor 

however,    spread    his    glory    so     widely 

throughout   the   countries   on   each    side 

of     the    Balkans     as     the    conqueror    of 

Dacia,   the    great    Flavian,    Trajan.     His 

memory  was  and  is  still  preserved  among 

the  Slavs,  and  his  name  was  even  added 

to  the  list  of  Slav  deities.     Bulgarian  songs 

still  sing  the  praises  of  the  "  Tsar  Trojan." 

Many  place-names  still  re-echo  his  name. 

We  constantly  find  a  Trajan's  bridge,  a 

Trajan's    road,    a    Trajan's    gate,    or    a 

Trajan's  town.     Trajan  is  also  in  general 

use  as  a  proper  name.     All  this  is  evidence 

_,  ,.        ,         for  the  fact  that  Traian  must 
Goths  and  ,  ■    ,  -"      t 

„       .    e       t.  have  come  into  personal  con- 
nuns  in  Search  ,      ,      • ,,    ,i      01  a  ^ 

f  PI    de  ^  Slavs.   As  early 

as  the  fourth  century  the 
provinces  of  the  peninsula  were  wealthy 
and  densely  populated,  as  we  are  informed 
by  the  contemporary  writer  Eunapios. 
A  disastrous  period  began  for  these  terri- 
tories in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries, 
when  the  Goths  and  Huns  attacked  and 
repeatedly  devastated  them  in  the  course 
of  plundering  raids  ;  possibly  these  assail- 
ants included  some  Slavonic  bands.  From 
this  time  onwards  the  Slavs  on  the  far 
side  of  the  Danube  began  to  grow  restless, 
especially  in  the  old  province  of  Dacia, 
and  overflooded  the  whole  of  the  Balkan 
Peninsula  as  far  as  the  Peloponnese  ;  the 
Slav  language  was  spoken  at  Taygatos  as 
late  as  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  Byzantine  emperors  themselves,  in 
their  brilliant  capital  on  the  Bosphorus, 
were  threatened  with  attack.  At  that 
time  the  Byzantine  emperors  had  more 
important  cares  and  heavier  tasks  than 
the  protection  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula  from 
these  barbarians,  whom  they  were  inclined 
to  despise  .  their  faces,  from  the  moment 
of  the  foundation  of  Constantinople,  were 
turned  towards  the  east.  Hence,  in  spite 
of  repeated  defeats,  the  Slavs  were  able 
steadily  to  advance.    Things  became  even 


THE    SOUTHERN    SLAV    PEOPLES 


worse  after  tne  death  of  the  great  Justinian. 
John  of  Ephesus,  a  Syrian  chronicler  of  the 
sixth  century,  relates  how  "  in  the  third 
year  after  the  death  of  the  Emperor 
Justinian  and  the  accession  of  Tiberius  the 
Victorious,  the  accursed  people  of  the 
Slavs  entered  and  overran  the  whole  of 
Hellas  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Thessalonica 
and  the  whole  of  Thracia.  They  conquered 
many  towns  and  fortresses,  ravaged, 
burned,  and  devastated  the  country,  and 
lived  in  it  as  freely  as  at  home." 

In  the  year  575  the  Avars,  one  of  the 
peoples  of  the  steppes  formerly  called  in  as 
auxiliaries  by  the  Byzantines,  began  their 
invasions  in  the  Byzantine  Empire,  and 
carried  their  plundering  raids  through  the 
Balkan  territories,  alone  or  in  alliance  with 
the  Slavs.  The  Slavs  in  lUyricum  and  the 
Alpine  territories  soon  became  restless. 
In  Dalmatia,  into  which  they  had  made 
incursions  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Justinian, 
they  began  to  advance  with  great  energy 
about  600,  and  drove  back  the  Roman 
power,  which  the  Avars  had  already 
enfeebled,  to  the  coast  towns,  to  the 
mountains,and  to  the  islands. 

avs  a      e       jy^^  Graeco- Roman  towns  of 

Siege  of 


Influence  of 
Country  on  Slav 
Immigrants 


Constantinople 


the  interior  were  for  the  most 


part  laid  waste,  while  such 
new  towns  as  Spalatro  and  Ragusa  were 
founded  by  the  fugitive  Romans. 

The  Slav  immigrants  soon  also  learnt 
the  art  of  seamanship.  During  the  siege 
of  Constantinople  in  626,  which  they  under- 
took in  alliance  with  the  Avars,  they 
conducted  the  attack  from  the  seaward  ^ 
side  in  small  boats.  In  the  year  641 
certain  Slavs,  probably  from  Epirus, 
landed  on  the  Italian  coasts  and  plundered 
Apulia.  The  Slav  pirates  traversed  the 
Ionian  and  ^gean  seas,  penetrating  even 
to  the  Cyclades  and  the  coast  towns  of 
Asia  Minor.  Al-Achtal,  an  Arabian  writer 
of  the  seventh  century,  speaks  of  the  fair- 
haired  Slavs  as  a  people  well-known  to  his 
readers.  The  enterprise  of  the  Slavs  was 
further  facilitated  by  the  fact  that  the 
Byzantine  Empire  was  now  in  difficulties 
with  the  Arabs,  as  it  had  formerly  been 
with  the  Persians.  Their  chief  attack  was 
directed  about  609  against  Thessalonica, 
the  second  city  in  the  Byzantine  Empire. 
They  repeatedly  besieged  this  town  by 
land  and  water,  and  on  one  occasion  were 
encamped  for  two  years  before  its  gates. 
The  Byzantine  authorities  were,  however, 
iii,variably  successful  in  saving  this  out- 
post.    In  the  seventh  century  the  Slav 


colonisation  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula  was 
com])lete,  and  no  corner  remained  un- 
touched by  them.  The  Byzantine  authors 
of  that  period  refer  to  the  Balkan  territories 
simply  as  Slavinia. 

With  regard  to  the  influence  which  their 
change  of  domicile  exercised  upon  the  polit- 
ical development  of  the  Slav  immigrants  and 
the  course  of  their  civihsa- 
tion,  we  are  reduced  to 
conjecture ;  generalisation 
is  easier  here  than  detailed 
proof,  but  in  this  case  the  connection  be- 
tween geographical  position  and  history  is 
unmistakable.  The  position  of  the  Balkan 
Peninsula,  which  brought  the  southern 
Slavs  nearer  than  any  other  members  of 
the  race  to  the  Graeco- Roman  world,  was 
of  great  importance  for  their  future 
development.  In  the  course  of  their  his- 
torical career  the  southern  Slav  tribes 
wavered  for  a  long  time  between  Italy  and 
Byzantium,  until  eventually  the  western 
portion  became  incorporated  with  Roman 
politics  and  civiHsation,  and  the  eastern 
portion  with  the  Byzantine  world. 

For  other  facts,  however,  in  the  life  of 
the  southern  Slavs,  deeper  causes  must  be 
sought,  originating  in  the  configuration  of 
the  country.  If  we  regard  the  peninsula 
of  Haemus  from  the  hydrographical  and 
orographical  point  of  view,  we  shall 
immediately  perceive  that  the  configuration 
of  the  country  has  determined  the  fate  of 
its  inhabitants.  As  the  whole  of  the  con- 
tinent is  divided  from  west  to  east  by  a 
watershed  which  directs  the  rivers  partly 
to  the  Baltic  and  partly  into  the  Danube, 
so  also  this  south-eastern  peninsula  has 
its  watershed  which  directs  the  streams 
partly  towards  the  north  and  partly  south- 
wards. As  the  northern  mountain  range 
has  divided  the  peoples,  as  well  as  the 
waters,  which  lie  on  each  side  of  it,  so, 
too,  the  same  fact  is  apparent  in  the 
Balkans.  The  northern  and  the  southern 
parts  of  the  peninsula  have  nin  a  different 
_  „      _  course  of  development  with 

anitreir'"*  different  results.  The 
^  *  •  n  .11  mountain  range  of  the 
Mountain  Battles  t^   1,  •  ■         .  /i 

Balkans,    nsmg  to   12,140 

feet,  is  difficult  to  cross,  notwithstanding  its 
thirteen  passes,  and  many  of  the  struggles 
between  the  northern  and  southern  Balkan 
races  were  fought  out  on  the  ridges  of  these 
mountains.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be 
said  that  other  ethnographers  have  drawn 
different  conclusions  from  these  same 
orographical  conditions. 

3071 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Apart  from  these  facts,  the  whole 
peninsula  is  divided  by  mountain  ranges 
running  in  all  directions  into  districts 
each  of  which  with  certain  efforts  might 
develop  independently  of  others,  as  was 
the  case  in  Western  Europe.  In  ancient 
Hellas  this  was  the  fact  which  favoured 
the  development  of  so  many  independent 
_      .  territories,  and  during   the 

^f  *  *  *     ...     Slav  period  it  also  facilitated 

C/haractertstics  .1        •         r  1  1  •       j 

„  .  the  rise  of  several  kmgdoms. 

In  so  far  as  it  is  unjust  to  re- 
gard the  Balkan  Peninsula  as  part  of  Eastern 
Europe,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term, 
it  is  incorrect  to  call  it  an  East  European 
jjeninsula.  Balkan  territories  are  in  every 
respect  more  allied  to  Western  Europe, 
and  are  somewtiat  Alpine  in  character. 

Thus  the  immigrant  Slavs  were  easily 
able  to  continue  their  separate  existence 
in  this  district,  a  fact  which  entirely 
corresponded  with  their  wishes.  Hence 
the  manifold  nature  of  the  southern  Slav 
kingdoms  ;  for  this  reason,  too,  they  were 
more  easily  accessible  to  influences  which 
ran  very  diverse  courses.  Diversity  of 
geographical  configuration  naturally  pro- 
duced diversity  of  civilisation ;-  some 
districts  lay  on  the  main  lines  of  com- 
munication, while  others,  more  difficult 
of  access  because  more  mountainous  in 
character,  were  left  far  behind  in  the  march 
of  progress.  Differences  of  climate  must 
also  be  taken  into  account. 

Upon  the  whole,  the  magnificent  posi- 
tion of  the  Balkan  territories  on  the 
Mediterranean  has  at  all  periods  favoured 
the  development  of  the  inhabitants.  The 
fact  that  the  Slavs  here  came  into  contact 
with  the  sea  created  new  conditions 
of  life  and  fresh  needs.  They  learnt  the 
art  of  seamanship,  and  rose  to  be  a 
commercial  nation.  The  southern  Slavs 
show  a  different  national  type  from  the 
great  mass  of  Slav  nationality  ;  their  en- 
vironment and  their  neighbours  have  given 
them  a  special  national  character.  The 
Slav  races  which  settled  in  the 
Balkan  Peninsula  were  num- 
erous. Such  different  names 
are  known  as  Severane, 
Brsjakes  or  Berzetes,  Smoljanes,  Sagulates, 
Welesici,  Dragovici,  Milinci  or  Milenzes, 
Ezerites  or  Jeserzes,  etc.  In  spite  of  numer- 
ous names  applied  to  various  Slav  groups, 
we  have  practically  no  guide  to  tribal 
identity  among  them.  These  names  are, 
however,  of  little  importance  for  the 
determination  of  nationality.    Apart  from 

3073 


How  did  the 
Slavi  Get 
Their  Names? 


the  fact  that  they  have  often  been 
transmitted  to  us  in  a  corrupt  form, 
their  value  is  purely  topographical  and  in 
no  way  ethnographical.  They  coincide 
with  the  names  of  the  lakes,  rivers,  and 
mountains  about  which  the  tribes  settled. 
The  question  then  arises :  did  the  tribes 
give  their  names  to  these  mountains  and 
rivers,  or,  what  is  more  probable,  did  they 
themselves  borrow  the  old  names  of 
these  rivers,  etc  ?  The  latter  is  the  case 
with  the  names  Timok  =  Timocane, 
Rorawa  =  Morawana,  Narenta  ==  Naren- 
tane,  etc.  The  opinion  of  the  Bulgarian 
scholar  Marin  St.  Drinov  appears  to  be 
correct,  that  at  different  times  different 
tribes  of  the  northern  and  western  Slavs, 
or,  rather,  fragments  of  them,  made 
settlements  here  ;  a  further  proof  of  the 
theory  is  the  divergent  dialects  of  the 
Bulgarian  language. 

Historians  state  that  of  the  Slavs  in 
the  western  half  of  the  Balkans  the  Serbs 
and  Croatians  were  the  most  numerous, 
and  that  they  alone  founded  kingdoms 
of  their  own  side  by  side  with  the  Bul- 
garian state.  But  this  may  mean  no  more 
Th  K"  d  than  that,  as  in  the  case  of 
of  S    T^  °™'  Bohemia,  Poland,  or  Russia, 

—4  r>  ^  ♦•  one  small  tribe  was  enabled, 
ana  Croatia        1      ^i       r  <■  <- 

by  the  force  of  some  favour- 
able circumstance,  gradually  to  subdue 
other  tribes,  and  to  include  them  under  its 
own  name,  while  itself  becoming  denational- 
ised by  the  conquered  tribes.  This  may  be 
true  of  the  Serbs  and  Croatians,  as  we 
have  seen  that  it  was  of  the  Bulgarians. 
The  whole  group  thus  passed  into  one 
political  unity,  and  then  acquired  some 
meaningless  name,  possibly  taken  from  a 
river,  mountain,  lake,  or  town  of  the 
country,  from  a  national  leader,  or  per- 
haps from  some  totally  different  language. 
All,  then,  that  can  be  said  is  this — that 
side  by  side  with  the  Bulgarians  in  the 
east  of  the  peninsula  two  important 
kingdoms,  the  Servian  and  Croatian,  were 
afterwards  formed  on  the  west ;  though 
each  of  these,  like  the  Bulgarians,  included 
several  tribes. 

The  numerous  Slav  races,  then,  bore  for 
the  moment  different  names.  Three  of 
these,  Bulgaria,  Croatia,  and  Servia, 
became  important ;  and  all  others  were 
included  under  these.  The  Greeks,  how- 
ever, gave  them  all  collectively  the  one 
name  of  Slaveni,  and  knew  the  whole 
country  as  Slavinia.  The  Eastern  Roman 
Empire  was  known  as  Romania  by  the 


THE    SOUTHERN    SLAV    PEOPLES 


Slavs.  This  name,  however,  they  apphed 
particularly  to  the  Thracian  plain.  At 
the  present  day  the  mountain  tribes  on 
the  borders  of  the  Thracian  plain  call  the 
inhabitants  of  the  plain  Romance  and 
the  women  Romanka,  although  the  whole 
country  up  to  the  neighbourhood  of 
Constantinople  was  entirely  under  Slav 
influence. 

The  Slavs  of  that  period,  like  most  of 
the  European  peoples,  were  at  a  stage  of 
civilisation  which  may  be  described  as 
semi-nomadic.  While  cattle-rearing  and 
hunting  were  their  main  sources  of  food, 
agriculture  was  also  carried  on,  and,  as 
among  the  Germans,  was  obligatory  upon 
the  women  and  slaves.  An  historian 
informs  us  that  the  Avars  employed  the 
Slav  women  for  agricultural  purposes  and 
in  place  of  draught-animals,  which  was 
no  innovation  on  their  part.  Nomadic 
tribes  periodically  deserted  the  lands 
which  they  had  ploughed,  and  removed  to 
virgin  soil. 

Social  and  also  civic  life  in  the  Balkan 

Peninsula,   and   probably   among   all   the 

Slavs,  is  founded  upon  the  family  group 

_,     .,   ^    ,        or  household  (the  sadrue;a), 

Family  Customs      i .;   i    i  •       j  .1 

:-  .k-  n.ii..-      which  has  survived  there,  as 

in  Lithuania  and  Russia,  to 
the  present  day,  so  that  it 
cannot  be  regarded  as  a  consequence  of  a 
Byzantine  or  Turkish  system  of  taxation. 
Survivals  of  household  organisation  have 
also  been  demonstrated  to  exist  among  the 
Germans  of  that  particular  period.  The 
married  children  do  not  leave  the  father's 
house,  but  remain  together  under  the 
government  of  the  father  or  patriarch.  All 
the  members  of  such  a  family  bear  the  name 
of  the  family  chief  ;  thus  the  descendants 
of  Radovan  and  the  people  of  the  district 
they  inhabited  were  known  as  Radovanici. 
When  the  family  had  so  increased  as  to 
make  common  life  impossible  some  portion 
broke  away  from  the  union,  founded  a  new 
settlement,  took  a  new  name,  and  formed 
a  new  sadruga,  which,  however,  remained 
in  connection  with  the  original  family 
and  worshipped  the  same  deity,  who 
thus  remained  a  common  object  of  rever- 
ence to  several  branch  settlements.  A 
sadruga  might  contain  from  fifty  to  sixty 
members  ;  the  chief  was  known  as  starosta, 
or  starjesina,  or  gospodar,  or  wladyka,  or 
djedo,  or  domakin. 

The  tribe  originated  in  the  union  of 
several  families.  The  family  was  admin- 
istered by  the  elders,  who  apportioned  the 


in  the  Balkan 
Peninsula 


work,  performed  the  service  of  the  gods 
during  the  heathen  period,  and  represented 
the  family  in  its  external  relations. 
Community  of  property  made  individual 
poverty  impossible  ;  those  only  who  had 
been  expelled  from  the  federation  of  ihe 
family  were  abandoned.  The  affairs  of 
the  whole  tribe  were  discussed  by  an 
_      -  assembly   of   the  elders.     The 

f  *'*  district  inhabited  by  a  tribe  was 
p"''**^  .  known  as  Zupa,  and  its  central 
'  ^^  '  ^  point,  which  also  contained 
the  shrine  of  the  gods  in  the  heathen 
period,  was  a  citadel  or  grad.  One  of 
the  elders  or  patriarchs  was  chosen  as 
governor  of  k  Zupa.,  and  was  then  known 
as  the  Zupan,  or,  among  the  Croatians, 
as  the  Ban. 

To  this  social  organisation,  which  con- 
tinued longer  among  the  Slavs  than 
among  the  Germans,  are  to  be  ascribed  all 
the  defects  and  the  excellencies  of  the 
Slav  tribes.  The  families  did  not  readily 
separate  from  each  other,  but  soon 
increased  to  the  size  of  tribes.  Hence, 
cattle-breeding  and  agriculture  were  con- 
ducted to  a  considerable  extent  under  a 
system  of  communal  labour  and  reached  a 
high  pitch  of  prosperity ;  consequently 
they  were  able  easily  to  colonise  and  per- 
manently to  maintain  their  hold  of  wide 
tracts  of  country.  Other  conquering 
nations,  such  as  the  Goths  and  Huns, 
poured  over  the  country,  leaving  behind 
them  only  the  traces  of  the  devastation 
which  they  had  caused,  and  then  dis- 
appeared, whereas  the  Slavs  settled  in  the 
country  which  they  occupied. 

A  further  consequence  was  that  the  Slavs 

were  in  no  need  of  extraneous  labour  for 

agricultural  purposes,  and  therefore  slavery 

was  never  so  firmly  rooted  an  institution 

among  them  as  among  the  Germans.    The 

Slavs  usually  made  their  slaves  members 

of  the  household,   as  is  related   by  the 

Emperor  Mauricius.     The  Slavs  were  also 

able  to  carry  agriculture  and  manufacture 

.  to  a  higher  point..  Their  stand- 

'f  **?..      ard  of    morality   was    higher, 
and  Military  4.     4.1,   ■       ^  j. 

-J  owing  to  their  close  corporate 

life  and  strong  family  discipline, 

a  fact  which  also  favoured  the  increase  of 

their  population.     On  the  other  hand,  the 

Germans,   among  whom   agriculture  was 

performed  by  slaves,  devoted  themselves 

entirely  to  hunting  and  military  pursuits. 

Still    this   family   organisation    enables 

us   to  explain   why   the   Slavs   were   not 

successful  as  the  founders  of  states.     Their 

3073 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


common  family  life,  while  implying  rever- 
ence for  their  patriarch,  also  produced  a 
democratic  spirit  which  was  entirely 
opposed  to  any  strict  form  of  constitution. 
No  family  was  willing  to  become  subject 
to  another ;  all  families  desired  to  be 
equal ;  one  defended  the  freedom  of 
another.  No  family  chief  was  willing  to 
_  _  acknowledge    the     supre- 

„.'      .  ,.    macy  of  another,  nor  need 

Historians  on  the  /    i  •        xl    i.    ^i, 

csi  /^v  A  we  feel  surprise  that  the 
Slav  Character     ,  ,       ,  ,      ,    ^  , . , 

blood  feud  was  an  mstitu- 

tion    which    flourished   upon    such    soil. 

Hence,    among    the    Slavs    it    was     far 

easier  for   an    individual   to    secure    the 

supremacy  over    a    number  of    families 

or  tribes  if  he  stood  outside  them  and  was 

unshackled  by  their  discipline. 

It  is,  therefore,  no  mere  chance  that  king- 
doms of  any  importance  could  be  founded 
among  the  Slavs  only  by  foreign  tribes,  often 
invited  for  that  purpose.  This  peculiarity 
of  the  Slav  character  struck  the  Byzantine 
historians.  "  They  have  abundance  of 
cattle  and  corn,  chiefly  millet  and  rye," 
says  the  Emperor  Mauricius ;  "  rulers, 
however,  they  cannot  bear,"  he  says  in 
another  place,  "  and  they  live  side  by 
side  in  disunion.  Independence  they  love 
above  all  things,  and  decline  to  undergo 
any  form  of  subjection."  Procopius  also 
relates  in  the  sixth  century  that  the  Slavs 
declined  to  submit  to  the  rule  of  any  one 
man,  but  discussed  their  common  aifairs 
in  council.  The  pride  and  honour  of 
individual  families  was  to  them  more 
important  than  all  else.  Only  under 
pressure  of  direst  need  did  the  Slav  tribes 
join  in  choosing  a  common  leader,  and  for 
this  reason  strangers  were  easily  able  to 
secure  dominion  over  them. 

Concerning  the  religion  of  the  southern 
Slavs,  our  sources  of  information  have 
little  to  tell  us ;  they  were  polytheists," 
their  chief  deities  were  the  heaven  and  the 
heavenly  bodies.  Of  Svantovit  and 
Perun,  the  deities  of  the  northern  Slavs,  no 
traces  are  to  be  found.  They  worshipped 
The  Rel'  "  their  gods  in  groves,  moun- 
of  the  *  '*"*'*     tains,   and   rocks.     Victims 

Southern  Slavs  ^^^^  "^^'^^  ^^  .^hem  with 
song.  Together  with  the  gods 
'  they  reverenced  other  beings,  such  as  the 
Vilen  or  Samovilen  (in  Thrajcia,  Samodivy), 
Budenice,  Rojenice,  Judi,  Vijulici,  spirits 
and  female  wizards  (brodnice).  Research, 
however,  has  not  said  the  last  word  upon 
this  point,  and  the  personalities  of  many 
heathen  gods  are  doubtful. 

3074 


The  districts  south  of  the  Danube  and 
north  of  the  Adriatic  were  under  the  rule 
of  the  Byzantine  emperor,  though  Byzan- 
tine rulers  were  rarely  able  to  exercise 
any  real  supremacy.  Immigrant  tribes 
from  time  to  time  nominally  recognised 
the  rights  of  the  Byzantine  emperors  to 
these  lands,  and  troubled  themselves  no 
further  upon  the  matter.  We  may  even 
question  whether  such  immigrants  always 
secured  the  consent  of  the  emperor  to  their 
settlement  upon  Roman  territory — a  fact 
which  the  Byzantine  historians  continually 
reassert,  for  reasons  easily  intelligible. 
These  peoples  came  into  the  country  be- 
cause they  met  with  no  resistance,  and 
were  the  more  readily  inclined  to  acknow- 
ledge a  vague  supremacy,  as  the\^  were 
themselves  incapable  of  founding  states. 

It  is  not  so  much  through  their  military 
power  as  through  their  diplomatic  skill 
and  wealth,  and  also  through  the  disunion 
of  the  Slavs,  that  the  Byzantines  were  able 
to  retain,  at  any  rate,  a  formal  supremacy 
over  these  territories  during  many  troub- 
lous periods.  Notwithstanding  the  great 
success  of  the  Slav  colonisation,  the  Slavs 
never  succeeded  in  founding 
ih  SI*  ^^  independent  state  in  the 
P  ..  .  Balkan  territories ;  on  this  point 
both  they  and  the  Germans  were 
far  inferior  to  the  Turco-Tartar  races. 
Apart  from  the  fact  that  these  latter,  by 
their  introduction  of  cavalry  service,  with 
the  use  of  the  stirrup,  possessed  more  for- 
midable forces  and  obtained  greater  mili- 
tary success,  they  had  also  the  further 
advantage  of  possessing  the  ideal  of  a 
strong  state,  though  in  roughest  outline. 

This  they  had  learnt  from  the  civilised 
nations  of  Asia.  In  Europe  their  appear- 
ance exercised  some  influence  upon  the 
military  habits  and  constitutional  or- 
ganisation of  the  Germanic  and  Slav 
world,  especially  of  the  Goths  ;  evidence 
of  the  fact  is  the  migration  of  peoples, 
which  was  brought  about  by  their  arrival. 
It  is  not  until  this  that  the  Germans  and 
Slavs  united  into  larger  groups — that  is, 
into  states.  It  was,  then,  no  mere  chance 
that  these  peoples  were  the  first  to  found 
kingdoms  in  the  districts  inhabited  by 
the  Slavs.  They  were  the  Huns,  Avars, 
Bulgars,  Chazars,  Magyars,  Patzinaks, 
Polovzes,  Tartars,  and  Ottomans. 

We  know  practically  nothing  of  the  rela- 
tions of  the  Slavs  to  the  state  of  the  Huns. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  learn  a  good  deal 
of  the  political  life  of  the  Slavs  in  the  sixth 


THE    SOUTHERN    SLAV    PEOPLES 


century,  when  the  second  Turkish  people, 
the  Avars,  founded  a  considerable  empire 
in  the  district  occupied  by  the  Slavs.  The 
supremacy  of  the  Avars  seems  to  have 
extended  over  the  whole  district  of  modern 
Hungary,  Bohemia,  and  Moravia,  the  whole 
of  Austria  proper,  the  northern  districts 
of  the  Elbe  and  Saale,  and  also  south- 
wards to  the  Danube  over  modern  Dal- 
matia  and  Servia.  As  they  were  a  people 
of  giants,  they  were  called  by  their  neigh- 
bours simply  Avars,  or  giants.  Their  rule 
was  exceedingly  oppressive.  Fredegar's 
chronicle  of  the  seventh  century  relates 
that  the  Slavs  were  forced  to  participate 
in  every  campaign  of  the  Avars,  and  to 
fight,  while  the  Avars  drew  up  before  the 
encampment.  Agriculture  was  the  sole 
work  of  the  Slavs  ;  other  historians  inform 
us  that  they  were  often  used  as  draught- 
animals  and  beasts  of  burden.  The  Avars 
were  the  first  foreign  people  whose  per- 
manent supremacy  over  the  Slavs  is  his- 
torically established  for  the  sixth  century. 
About  the  beginning  of  the  seventh 
century  the  position  of  the  Slavs  improved, 
in  consequence  of  a  great  defeat  experi- 

,   .         .    ^       enced  by  the  Avars  in  626. 
Independent        ^,       .  i^u        ij        j 

CI        -CI     The  Avar  Khan  had  under- 
Slavonic  Slate    ,    ,  1        1     ■  ■  1 

E  t  bl*  h  d  taken  a  plundermg  raid  on 
the  Byzantine  Empire,  ap- 
parently as  early  as  623,  and  besieged  Con- 
stantinople, when  the  Emperor  Heraclius 
began  war  against  the  Persians;  the  cam- 
paign must  have  lasted  some  years.  At  this 
time,  about  the  year  623,  the  Slavs  on  the 
Danube  in  the  districts  of  Bohemia  and 
Moravia  revolted  and  founded  an  indepen- 
dent kingdom  under  the  leadership  of  a 
certain  Samo.  When  the  Avar  bands 
before  Constantinople  were  destroyed  in 
626,  the  Avar  power  was  considerably 
weakened  for  a  whole  generation. 

The  Slav  tribes  who  had  been  hitherto 
subdued  were  now  able  to  assert  them- 
selves. They  joined  Samo,  and  appointed 
him  their  king  in  627,  the  more  easily  to 
oppose  the  attacks  of  the  Langobardi, 
Bavarians,  and  Avars.  Then  was  founded 
the  first  important  independent  Slav 
kingdom  known  to  history ;  it  lay  in 
the  western  part  of  the  modern  Austrian 
monarchy.  Samo  maintained  his  position 
until  662  (according  to  others,  until 
658) — that  is  to  say,  for  thirty-five  years. 
After  his  death  his  empire  disappears  from 
the  scene.  We  hear  later  of  the  Karantani 
as  waging  war  with  the  Bavarians,  and 
finally  coming  under  Bavarian  supremacy, 

196 


and,  in  the  eighth  century,  of  a  Slovenian 
kingdom  in  Moravia  and  of  another  in 
Pannonia  ;  whence  we  may  conclude  that 
the  kingdom  of  Samo  had  undergone  a 
process  of  disruption. 

The  foundation  of  the  Avar  kingdom 
was,  moreover,  of  importance  to  Slav 
history  for  another  reason.     The  oppres- 

Th  SI  •  ^^^^  ^^^^  °^  *^^  Avars  induced 
.u  n  iL  the  Slavs  to  abandon  their 
the  Balkan       ,  .         ,  ■,■%•. 

Territories  ^omes  m  large  bodies,  to 
migrate  northwards  or  south- 
wards, and  there  to  occupy  new  districts. 
It  was,  therefore,  at  that  time  that  the 
immigration  of  the  Slavs  to  the  Balkan 
territories  began  upon  a  larger  scale.  In 
other  respects  also  the  Slavs  were  now 
able  to  assert  themselves  more  strongly. 
The  defeat  of  the  Avars  in  the  year  626 
had  been  of  decisive  importance  both  for 
the  Slavs  and  for  the  Byzantines.  Whole 
provinces  now  broke  away  from  the  Avars 
and  were  occupied  by  the  Slavs. 

Thus  it  is  no  mere  coincidence  that  at 
this  period  two  numerous  Slav  tribes 
appear  in  the  north-west  of  the  Balkan 
Peninsula.  We  hear  that  the  Croatians, 
who  are  said,  upon  evidence  of  the  Em- 
peror Constantine  Porphyrogennetos,  to 
have  come  from  the  north,  defeated  the 
Avars  about  the  year  626,  and  appeared 
as  independent  inhabitants  of  the  country 
which  they  occupied.  Their  territories 
were  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Save 
and  by  a  line  running  parallel  to  this 
river  from  the  Unna  to  the  sea,  on  the 
west  by  the  Adriatic,  on  the  south  by 
the  mouth  of  the  Cettina  River  and  by  the 
Lake  of  Imoshi,  on  the  south-east  by  a  line 
of  mountains  running  from  this  lake  to  the 
sources  of  the  Verbas,  and  finally  on  the 
east  by  the  Verbas  itself.  Their  chief 
centres  were  Biograd — the  modem  Zaza 
Vecchia — and  Bihac.  These  boundaries 
exist  at  the  present  day,  though  their  value 
is  purely  ethnographical.  It  must  also  be 
remembered  that  the  whole  of  the  territory 
...     _  ^  now  occupied  by  the  Croa- 

Sr'vrnfanlnd"  *^^"^  ^"^  ''^"'^^  ^^*^'"  ^^^"^ 
ovenianan     i^gionprg^    formerly    to    the 

Croatian  tribes  01  •  j  n    j 

Slovenians,  and  was  called 
Slovenia.  In  course  of  time  the  Slovenian 
and  Croatian  tribes  coalesced.  Even  at  the 
present  day  a  remembrance  of  these  con- 
ditions is  preserved  by  the  name  Slavonia, 
wnich  denotes  part  of  the  Croatian  king- 
dom, by  the  name  of  the  Slovak  tribe  in 
Hungar5%  and  by  the  old  Pannonian- 
Slovenian  kingdom.     The  Croatians  thus 

3075 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Where  Servian 
Champions 
Founi  Refuge 


absorbed  the  north-west  of  Bosnia  and 
Dalmatia  as  far  as  Spalatro. 

The  Serbs  soon  followed  the  Croatians 
across  the  Save,  and,  according  to  the 
Byzantine  chroniclers,  demanded  and  ob- 
tained from  the  emperor  a 
place  of  settlement.  They 
occupied  the  modern  Bosnia 
with  the  exception  of  the 
Croatian  portion,  which  is  still  known  as 
Turco-Croatia.  To  them  also  belonged  the 
greater  part  of  Herzegovina,  Southern  Dal- 
matia, Northern  Albania,  Montenegro,  Old 
Servia  (Novi-Bazar),  the  northern  districts 
of  the  Prizrend  pashalik,  and  the  modern 
Servia.  At  the  present  day  we  find  the 
Serbs  in  these  territories.  Here  they 
formed  several  larger  and  smaller  princi- 
palities, mutually  independent,  known 
as  Zupanates. 

To  begin  with  the  most  southern,^  we 
have  the  principality  of  Zeta  or  Duklja — 
from  Dioclea,  which  is  named  after  the 
birthplace  of  the  Emperor 
Diocletian.  This  was  the 
original  home  of  the  ruling 
family  of  the  Neman] ids, 
under  whose  supremacy 
Servia  afterwards  rose  to 
the  height  of  her  power. 
This  district  was  at  all  times 
a  place  of  refuge  for  the 
champions  of  Servian  in- 
dependence. It  was  here 
that  Montenegro  developed, 
and  succeeded  in  maintain- 
ing her  freedom  until  our 
own  days ;  it  was  only 
during  the  blood-stained 
period  of  Turkish  supre- 
macy that  she  lost  some 
part  of  her  independence. 

From  Cattaro  to  Ragusa 
extended  Travunia  or 
Konavlia,  more  or  less 
corresponding  with  the 
area  of  the  modern 
Trebinje  in  Herzegovina. 
From  Ragusa  to  the  Gulf 
of  Stagno  and  inland  as  far 
as  Narenta  extended 
Zachluima,  thus  embracing 
a  portion  of  Herzegovina 
about  the  Gatzko  and 
Nevesinje.  Neretva,  o  r 
Pagania,  extended  from  the 
gulf  of  Stagno  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Cettina. 
The  inhabitants,  known  as 

3076 


Neretshans  or  Pagans,  because  for  a  long 
time  they  declined  to  accept  Christianity, 
were  dreaded  pirates,  and  often  fought 
victoriously  against  Venice. 

To  the  east  of  Zeta,  Travunia,  and 
Zachlumia  lay  Servia  proper,  the  most 
extensive  province  of  all,  nearly  corre- 
sponding to  the  modern  Servia  except  for 
the  fact  that  it  included  Bosnia,  which 
broke  away  from  it  in  course  of  time. 
Among  the  Zupanates  belonging  to  Servia 
special  mention  may  be  made  of  that  of 
Rasha  or  Rassa,  the  modern  Novi-Bazar, 
known  as  Rascia  in  the  mediaeval  sources 
for  the  history  of  Western 
Europe.  This  Croatian  and 
Servian  district,  the  modern 
Istria,  Bosnia,  Servia,  Dalmatia, 
Montenegro,  Albania,  Herzegovina — 
roughly  a  third  of  the  Balkan  Penmsula — 
formed  the  Roman  province  of  Dalmatia, 
with  Salona  as  a  central  administrative 
point ;      under     the     Byzantine     Empire 


The  Slavs 
Lose  Their 
Nationality 


SPECIMtNS    OF    SLAVONIC    JEWELLERY 


THE    SOUTHERN    SLAV    PEOPLES 


these  respective  points  bore  the 
same  name.  The  Slavs  extended 
from  this  point  over  the  whole 
peninsula,  but  were  there  to 
some  extent  deprived  of  their 
nationality.  Only  in  Macedonia 
did  they  maintain  their  position, 
although  the  Bulgarian  race 
was  here  again  in  predominance. 
The  Croatian  and  Servian  tribal 
principalities  of  the  north-west, 
the  chieftains  of  which  were 
known  as  Zupans,  united  only 
in  case  of  great  danger  under  a 
highZupan.  After  long  struggles 
the  position  of  high  Zupan  be- 
came permanent,  and  the 
foundation  of  a  more  important 
empire  was  thus  laid.  Accurate 
information  concerning  the 
Croatian  and  Servian  races  is, 
however,  wanting  until  the 
second  half  of  the  eighth 
century,  and  especially  until  the 
final  destruction,  of  the  Avar 
kinejdom  by  Charlemagne. 

When    the    Avar  supremacy 
was  approaching  its  fall,  another 
Finno  -  Ugrian      people,      the 
Bulgarians,  crossed  the  Danube, 
entered  upon  a  series  of  con- 
quests among  the  Slavs  of  the 
peninsula,  and  even  threatened 
Constantinople.      Their    im- 
migration is  of  special  import- 
ance   for    the    history    of    the 
Balkan     Slavs     and     of     the 
Byzantine  Empire.    Neither  the 
Byzantines  nor  the  Slavs  were 
able  to  offer  any  resistance.     The  Slavs, 
who  lacked  any  bond  of  union,  repeatedly 
surrendered.     As  early  as  the  end  of  the 
seventh  century  a    Bulgarian   state   was 
founded  in  the  north-east  of  the  peninsula, 
and    not    only    maintained    its    position 
against    the  Greeks,    but    also    seriously 
threatened  the  old  imperial  city.     Until 
627  the  Persian  danger  had  threatened 
Byzantium  ;    this    was    followed   by    the 
Arab    danger    in    750 ;   and  now 
the    young    Bulgarian    kingdom 
becomes    prominent    among    the 
enemies    of    the  Byzantine    Em- 
pire.     The  boundaries  of  the  new  state 
rapidly  increased,  and  by  degrees  most  of 
the  Balkan  Slavs  were  federated  under  its 
supremacy.     Under  Bulgarian  leadership 
the  Slav  tribes  gradually  coalesced  to  form 
one  people.     The  higher  civilisation  of  the 


<U)4<A^^X<^£3<ft,^^^.«^-«4%3.a^^j^  ,  Pfl    Kill 


A  Union 
of  the 
Tribes 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    SLAVONIC    LITERATURE 

The  lig^ht  of  religion  and  literature  came  to  the  Slavs  from  Byzantium,  the 
apostles  Constantine  and  Methodius,  who  went  to  Moravia  in  Hfi:i,  inventing 
a  script  for  the  writing  of  the  Slav  language  and  translating  the  Gospels  for 
the  natives.  This  script  is  known  as  Glagolitic,  and  the  above  is  a  page 
from  the  beg^inning  of  St.  Luke's  Gospel  in  an  ancient  Glagolitic  manuscript. 

Slavs,    however,    resulted    eventually    in 
the  imposition  of  their  nationality  upon 
the  Bulgarians,  who  were  much  inferior 
in  numbers,  amounting  at  most  to  thirty 
or  fifty  thousand,  including  women  and 
children  ;  it  was  only  their  name  that  these 
warlike  conquerors  gave  to 
the  state  and  the  people.    A 
couple  of  centuries  later  there 
were  no  longer  any  distinc- 
tions between  Slavs  and  Bulgarians  ;    all 
were  called  Bulgarians  but  spoke  the  Slav 
language. 

About  the  period  of  the  Bulgarian  immi- 
gration, which  closes  for  the  moment 
the  migrations  of  peoples  south  of  the 
Danube,  the  Balkan  Peninsula  displayed  a 
most  motley  mixture  of  populations. 
Side  by  side  with  the  Romans  and  the 
Greeks,  the  latter  of  whom  proudly  called 

3077 


Bulgarians 
Adopt  the  Slav 
Language 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


themselves  Romaioi,  were  the  Slavs, 
who  formed  the  majority,  and  among 
them  for  a  considerable  period  remnants  of 
the  old  inhabitants,  the  Thracians,  from 
whom  or  from  the  lUyrians  the  Albanians 
are  supposed  to  be  descended.  There 
are  also  to  be  found  remnants  of  Goths 
and  Gepids  ;  in  Croatia  there  were  rem- 
nants of   the  Avars,  and   to 


Founding 


these  in  the  seventh  century 


S  t*a^t  e*^*""  were  added  the  Finno-Turkish 
tribe  of  the  Bulgarians.  The 
process  of  unification  then  began.  Many 
tribes  were  absorbed  by  others,  with  the 
result  that  new  nationalities  were  formed, 
such  as  the  Roumanians.  By  the  found- 
ing of  the  Bulgarian  state  and  the  im- 
position of  the  Slav  nationality  on  the 
Bulgarians,  the  Slavs  became  prepon- 
derant both  politically  and  ethnographic- 
ally.  Formerly  the  individual  tribes 
lived  in  somewhat  loose  dependence  upon 
Byzantium,  and  were  the  more  easily 
able  to  preserve  their  nationality  ;  now 
any  member  of  the  Slav  kingdom  was 
forced  sooner  or  later  to  accept  the  Slav 
civilisation. 

The  Avar  people  had  brought  disaster 
upon  the  southern  Slav  tribes,  whereas  the 
immigration  of  the  Bulgarians  secured 
the  predominance  of  the  Slavs  in  the 
peninsula.  The  political  life  of  the  Balkan 
Slavs  novv  centres  round  three  main  points 
— in  the  east  the  Bulgarian  kingdom,  in 
the  centre  the  Servian,  and  in  the  west 
the  Croatian  principalities.  Of  Byzantine 
supremacy  hardly  a  trace  remained,  except 
that  a  scanty  tribute  was  transmitted  to 
Byzantium.  Only  when  some  more  power- 
ful ruler  occupied  the  throne  of  Constanti- 
nople were  the  reins  drawn  tighter  or  did  the 
flame  of  war  blaze  up.  At  a  later  period 
the  dependence  upon  Byzantium  came  to 
an  end.  Some  influence  upon  the  political 
affairs  of  the  north-west  portion  of  the 
Balkan  Peninsula  was  exercised  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  Charles  the  Great,  who  waged 
^  war  with   the  Eastern  empire 

f°Ch"*'i  *  ^"  7^^  concerning  certain  By- 
th  G  t  zantine  possessions  in  Italy. 
He  conquered  both  Istria  and 
Dalmatia,  and  the  Slovenians  between  the 
Drave  and  the  Save  paid  him.  tribute  until 
812,  when  he  renounced  his  claims  to  the 
districts  extending  to  the  Drave,  under  a 
peace  with  Byzantium.  At  the  present 
day  monuments  dating  from  the  period  of 
Charles'  supremacy  over  these  countries 
are  to  be  found  in  the  museum  at  Agram. 

3078 


The  position  of  the  Slav  territories 
brought  with  it  the  consequence  that 
Christianity  was  imposed  upon  them  from 
three  sides  :  on  the  one  hand  from  Aqui- 
leia  by  Italian  priests  ;  on  the  northern 
side  from  Salzburg  by  Germans ;  and, 
finally,  from  Byzantium  by  Greek  mission- 
aries. There  were  other  isolated  attempts, 
but  these  may  be  neglected. 

The  original  dissemination  of  Christian 
doctrine  is  here,  as  in  other  cases,  wrapt 
in  obscurity.  Some  missionaries  came 
from  the  Frankish  kingdom.  Thus  Colum- 
ban,  according  to  the  narrative  of  his 
biographer,  Jonas,  after  his  expulsion 
from  Burgundy  by  King  Theoderic  about 
610,  is  said  to  have  conceived  the  plan  of 
preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  Slavs  in  Nori- 
cum.  About  630  Bishop  Amandus,  of 
Utrecht,  entering  the  kingdom  of  Samo, 
determined  to  win  the  martyr's  crown. 
He  was  followed  about  650  by  St.  Em- 
meram  with  a  priest,  by  name  Vitalis,  who 
was  learned  in  the  Slav  language. 

More  fruitful  in  result  was  the  activity  of 

Bishop  Rupert,  of  Worms,  who  founded  a 

bishopric    and    monastery   in    the    Noric 

_     ^  Juvavia,  Salzburg.     Hence- 

»«  1  rn-  t  forward  the  diocese  of  Salz- 
Work  of  oishop  ,  J     ^      1    / 1 

y.    ...  burg  undertook  the  conver- 

irgi  lus  ^.^^  ^^  ^^^   Alpine  Slavs, 

naturally  under  the  protection  of  the 
Bavarian  dukes.  Especially  good  service 
was  done  by  Bishop  Virgilius,  who  occupied 
the  see  of  Salzburg  between  745  and  785. 
He  sent  out  capable  missionaries  to 
Karantania  and  built  churches  there.  The 
princes  of  Karantania  themselves  saw  the 
necessity  for  accepting  the  Christian  faith ; 
Chotimir  invited  Bishop  Virgilius  to  his 
court,  though  with  no  result. 

The  mission  was  energetically  supported 
by  Duke  Tassilo  II.  (748-788)  of  Bavaria, 
the  first  duke  to  rule  over  Karantania. 
He  cherished  the  idea  of  shaking  off  the 
Frankish  yoke,  and  looked  to  Karantania 
for  support,  which  he  thought  could  best 
be  gained  by  the  dissemination  of  Chris- 
tianity. He  founded  monasteries,  or  gave 
leave  for  such  foundations  under  the  ex- 
press obligation  of  continuing  the  missions. 
Such  foundations  were  Innichen  and 
Kremsmiinster.  After  the  subjugation  of 
Tassilo  by  the  Franks  in  788,  the  work  of 
conversion  was  completed  under  Bishop 
Arno.  He  received  the  necessary  full 
powers  from  the  emperor  and  Pope,  and 
completed  the  organisation  of  the  Church 
by  appointing  a  local  bishop,  by  name 


THE    SOUTHERN    SLAV    PEOPLES 


Theodoric.  Once  again  it  was  a  Wendish 
prince,  Ingo,  who  supported  his  efforts. 

The  patriarch  of  Aquileia  suddenly 
raised  an  objection  to  these  proceedings, 
alleging  that  those  districts  belonged  to 
his  own  diocese.  It  is  true  that  we  know 
nothing  of  any  missionary  energy  dis- 
played by  Aquileia  in  that  quarter.  Yet 
missions  there  must  have  been  from 
Aquileia,  for  in  8io  Charles  the  Great  was 
able  to  secure  a  compromise  on  terms 
which  made  the  Drave  a  frontier  line  for 
the  two  claimants.  Thus  thenceforward  the 
Slavs  were  divided  between  two  dioceses. 

The  whole  position  was  altered  in  the 
course  of  the  ninth  century,  when  Byzan- 
tium took  the  work  of  conversion  seriously 
in  hand.  The  Slav  nation  had  for  a  long 
time  opposed  the  first  Christian  missions 
because  these  were  supported  by  their 
princes  ;  when,  however,  they  observed 
that  by  the  acceptance  of  Christianity  they 
had  lost  their  freedom,  tliey  changed  their 
opinion.  If  it  were  necessary  to  accept 
Christianity  at  all,  it  was  better  to  take  it 
from  a  quarter  whence  no  danger  of  subjuga- 
tion threatened.  This  was  only  possible 
_  T.     .     by  adherence  to  the  Greek 

"'^.'""  Church.  The  East  Roman 
Empire  had  in  course  of  time 
fallen  into  enmity  withRome, 
a  dissension  which  extended  to  ecclesiasti- 
cal affairs.  In  the  ninth  century  Byzantium 
bad  resolved  to  act  decisively  against  the 
West.  From  that  period  her  influence 
increased  and  extended  in  a  wide  stream 
over  the  Balkan  Peninsula.  The  Greek 
language,  Greek  writing  and  coinage, 
Greek  art  and  literature,  Greek  law  and 
military  science,  were  disseminated  among 
the  Slavonic  tribes  ;  and  of  even  greater 
importance  was  the  missionary  activity  of 
the  East  Roman  Church. 

Of  decisive  importance  for  the  fate  of  the 
Balkan  Slavs  and  for  the  Slav  nationality 
in  general,  indeed  for  Eastern  Europe  as 
a  whole,  was  the  moment  when  the 
patriarchal  chair  of  Constantinople  was 
occupied  by  Photius,  one  of  the  greatest 
scholars  that  the  Byzantine  state  pro- 
duced. Apart  from  the  fact  that  he  strove 
with  all  his  might  to  further  the  revival 
of  Greek  antiquity  and  brought  Bj'zantine 
culture  to  its  zenith,  his  ecclesiastical 
policy  was  actuated  by  hostility  to  the 
Roman  chair,  and  brought  about  the 
official  division  of  the  Byzantine.  Church 
from  Rome.  He  won  over  many  nations 
and  vasts  tracts  of  country  for  the  Byzan- 


at  Enmity 
With  Rome 


tine  Church.  During  the  imperial  period, 
the  Roman  Empire  had  been  divided  into 
East  and  West  only  in  respect  of  pohtics  ; 
this  division  was  now  superseded  by  the 
ecclesiastical  separation.  The  whole  of 
the  East,  with  its  wide  northern  territories, 
occupied  by  the  Slavs  henceforth  recog- 
nised the  predominance  of  the  Byzantine 

»-    n        ..  Church    and  sided   with 

The  Byzantine         n        4-      i.-         1  ^l 

^.      .  c         J     Constantmople     m     the 

Church  Succeeds  .      .  K        ,  .   , 

Where  Rome  Fail,  P^t  struggle  which  now 
began.  Of  the  move- 
ments called  forth  in  Europe  at  that 
time  and  for  centuries  later  by  the 
action  of  Photius,  we  can  form  but  a  vague 
idea  in  view  of  the  scantiness  of  our 
records.  A  rivalry  of  unprecedented 
nature  between  the  two  worlds  broke  out 
along  the  whole  line,  and  the  great  and 
vital  point  at  issue  was  the  question, 
which  of  the  churches  would  be  successful 
in  winning  over  the  yet  unconverted  Slavs. 

To  the  action  of  this  great  patriarch  alone 
the  Byzantine  Church  owes  the  success 
which  it  achieved  over  the  Romans  in  this 
struggle.  In  vain  did  Rome  make  the 
greatest  efforts  to  maintain  her  position  ; 
success  was  possible  for  her  only  when 
German  arms  were  at  her  disposal.  Even 
to-day  the  Slavs  reproach  the  Germans  for 
attempting  to  secure  their  subjugation 
under  the  cloak  of  the  Christian  religion. 
But  the  German  emperor  and  princes  were 
only  pieces  upon  the  great  chessboard, 
moved  by  unseen  hands  from  Rome.  At 
a  later  period  the  German  princes  marched 
eastward,  not  to  convert,  but  to  conquer. 

Almost  at  this  time  two  Slav  princes 
sent  ambassadors  to  Byzantium  and  asked 
that  the  work  of  conversion  might  begin  ; 
they  were  the  Moravian  Ratislav  and  the 
Bulgarian  Boris.  It  is  possible  that  the 
prince  of  the  Khazars  had  done  the  same 
two  years  earlier.  Photius  began  the  work 
of  conversion  with  great  prudence.  Two 
brothers  from  Thessalonica,  learned  in  the 
Slav  language  and  experienced  in  mission- 
ary work,  were  chosen  to  preach  the  Gospel 
to  the  Slavs.  It  was  decided, 
Preaching      jiowever,  definitely  to  separate 

Jh*  sr?s  ^^^"^  ^^"'^  ^^^  nationalities 
*  *'*  won  over  to  the  Greek  Church, 
and  for  this  purpose  Byzantium,  in  opix)si- 
tion  to  the  Roman  use,  which  allowed  the 
liturgy  to  be  recited  only  in  Latin,  laid 
down  the  principle  that  each  people  might 
conduct  public  worship  in  its  own  language. 
Thus,  outside  the  three  sacred  languages, 
Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin,  the  Slav  was 

3079 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Apostles  who 
Founded  Slavonic 
Literature 


recognised  as  of  equal  importance,  as  had 
been  at  an  earlier  period  the  Syrian, 
Coptic,  and  Armenian  tongues. 

Constantine  and  Methodius,  the  two 
Slav  apostles,  went  forth  to  their  desti- 
nation, Moravia,  in  863.  They  invented  a 
special  form  of  writing  for  the  Slavs,  that 
which  is  nowadays  known  as  Glagolitic  ; 
they  translated  the  sacred 
books  into  the  Slavonic 
tongue,  and  thus  became 
the  founders  of  Slavonic 
literature.  They  organised  the  Slav  Church, 
founded  schools,  had  churches  built,  and 
travelled  over  the  whole  country,  every- 
where carrying  the  light  of  civilisation  and 
of  the  new  religion.  "  And  full  of  delight 
were  the  Slavs  when  they  heard  the  wonders 
of  God  in  their  own  language,"  says  the  old 
Slav  legend  concerning  Methodius. 

When,  shortly  afterwards,  divine  service 
was  recited  in  the  Slav  language  in  the 
churches  of  Moravia  and  Pannonia,  the 
German  clergy  were  stricken  with  fear,  as 
they  now  saw  that  the  East,  the  field  of 
their  future  missionary  activity,  was  lost 
to  them.  They  expostulated  forthwith 
both  to  the  German  emperor  and  to  Rome, 
enlarging  upon  the  danger  which  might 
threaten  both  powers  from  this  side.  In 
order  that  their  work  might  not  be  checked 
at  its  outset,  the  two  apostles  went  to  Rome 
to  explain  their  position  and  to  gain  confir- 
mation for  their  work.  Upon  their  return 
journey  they  entered  the  Pannonian 
kingdom  at  Lake  Platten,  where  Kozel 
was  ruler.  The  two  brothers  were  able 
to  win  over  the  prince  to  the  Gospel  so 
entirely  that  he  began  to  read  the  Slav 
books  and  ordered  several  youths  to  do 
the  same.  When  the  apostles  of  the  Slavs 
had  won  over  the  Pope  to  their  cause,  and 
Methodius  was  made  Bishop  of  Moravia, 
Kozel  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome  requesting 
that  the  Pope  would  also  place  his  princi- 
pality under  the  new  bishop.  The  Pope 
thereupon  raised  Methodius  to  the  position 

^      ..  .of  archbishop,  with  a  seat 

Croatians  and  o  .      ^  ,  ... 

the  Christianity  ;i;  Syrmmm,  and  umted 
of  the  Slavs  "^^    prmcipahty    to 

the  old  diocese  of  Syrmia. 
Croatia  on  the  Save  was  also  placed  under 
this  Pannonian  archbishopric.  The  Slav 
liturgy  then  extended  with  marvellous 
rapidity,  and  the  prestige  of  the  Bavarian 
clergy  sank  so  low  that  their  arch-priest 
was  forced  to  return  to  Salzburg  in  870. 

The  Bulgarian  prince  Boris  hesitated  for  a 
long  time  between  Rome  and  Byzantium ; 

3080 


and  it  is  doubtful  whether  his  final 
decision  in  favour  of  Byzantium  was  not 
dictated  by  the  political  object  which  had 
influenced  Ratislav,  the  prospect  of  secur- 
ing his  independence  of  Germany.  Apart 
from  the  advantage  conferred  by  the  Slav 
liturgy,  his  action  was  decided  by  the 
further  fact  that  so  many  Greek  Christians 
were  contained  among  his  people  that  the 
acceptance  of  Greek  Christianity  seemed 
inevitable.  Finally,  he  may  also  have 
acted  in  the  interests  of  that  Bulgarian 
policy  which  aimed  at  the  conquest  of 
Constantinople.  For  the  conversion  of  the 
Bulgarians,  the  advice  of  both  missionaries 
seems  to  have  been  sought.  At  the  same 
time  the  Croatians  accepted  the  Slav  form 
of  Christianity.  It  was  now  impossible 
for  the  Servian  tribes  to  stand  aloof.  We 
do  not,  however,  know  when  they  came 
over.  Some  are  said  to  have  accepted 
Christianity  as  early  as  the  seventh 
century  under  the  Emperor  Heraclius  ; 
but  it  was  not  until  a  new  band  of  scholars 
and  priests  came  into  the  country  from 
Pannonia  that  the  Slav  Church  became 
capable  of  development.  After  the  death 
of  Methodius,  in  885,  the  Slav  Church  was 

_  ...  no  longer  able  to  maintain  its 
Period  of  M.-  •        T->  c      A 

,.  position    in    Pannonia;     Svato- 

I  erary  pj^j^^  ^j^g  successor  of  Ratislav, 
drove  out  the  disciples  of 
Methodius  and  placed  his  country  under 
the  German  Church.  The  Slav  clergy 
from  Moravia  found  a  hospitable  reception 
in  Bulgaria,  and  their  activity  created  the 
Bulgarian  Slav  literature.  The  Bulgarian 
throne  was  then  occupied  by  Symeon,  the 
son  of  Boris  (893-927),  who  was  able  to 
turn  the  knowledge  and  the  powers  of  the 
new  arrivals  to  the  best  account.  He  lost 
no  time  in  commanding  Bulgarian  transla- 
tions of  the  Greek  authors,  ecclesiastical  as 
well  as  secular.  Thus,  for  instance,  the 
monk  Gregor  translated  the  chronicle  of 
John  Malala,  and  added  to  it  the  Old 
Testament  history  and  a  poem  upon 
Alexander  ;  fragments  only  survive  of  the 
Greek  original,  whereas  the  Bulgarian 
translation  contains  the  whole  work. 

The  existence  of  a  Slav  literature,  the 
most  important  of  that  day  in  Europe 
after  '  the  Graeco- Roman,  won  over  the 
whole  of  the  Slav  nationality  to  the  By- 
zantine Church  and  facilitated  its  con- 
version. The  remaining.  Balkan  Slavs 
now  gave  in  their  adherence  to  Bulgarian 
literature,  and  Bulgaria  became  the  middle- 
man   of  culture  between  Constantinople 


THE    SOUTHERN    SLAV    PEOPLES 


and  the  northern  Slavs.  The  Balkan 
Slavs  gave  the  watchword  to  the  other 
members  of  their  great  nationality.  The 
connection  of  the  Slavs  with  Greek 
civilisation  was  secured  by  the  fact  that 
the  above-mentioned  Constantine,  Bishop 
of  Velica  (or  Bishop  Clemens  of  Dre- 
novica),  replaced  the  inconvenient  Glago- 
Utic  script  by  an  adaptation  of  Greek 
writing  made  for  the  Slavs  and  aug- 
mented by  the  addition  of  several  new 
signs  representing  sounds  pecuhar  to  the 
Slav  language.  This  was  the  CyrilUc  writing. 
A  common  literature,  civilisation,  and 
religion  brought  Greeks  and  Slavs  closer 
together,  until  they  formed  one  group 
united  by  a  common  civilisation  ^nd 
divided  from  the  West.  This  event  was 
of  decisive  influence  upon  the  future  of 
the  whole  Slav  nationality.  The  southern 
Slavs  in  particular  inherited  all  the  ad- 
vantages and  all  the  defects  of  the  Greek 
character,  nor  was  it  politically  alone 
that  they  shared  the  fate  of  the  Byzantine 
Empire.  The  sloth,  the  indifference,  the 
stagnation,  and  the  other  defects  which 
characterised  the  Greek  Church  are  con- 
sequently reflected  in  the  society  and 
culture  of  the  Slavs  at  every  turn.  The 
want  of  organising  power  and  of  discipline 
which  characterises  the  Greek  Church 
has  permanently  influenced  the  poUtical 


life  of  the  Slavs.  For  the  Slavs  were 
devoid  of  any  leading  political  idea,  and 
clung  to  the  principles  of  the  slowly  decay- 
ing Byzantine  Empire.  Divided  as  they 
were  into  a  number  of  tribes  opposed  to 
union,  they  were  bound,  sooner  or  later, 
to  fall  a  prey  to  some  powerful  conqueror. 
The  only  bond  of  union  between  the 
Slav  races  in  the  Balkan  Peninsula  was 
Christianity  and  the  Graeco-Slav  civilisa- 
tion. The  Bulgarian  kingdom  advanced 
with  rapid  strides,  as  it  rose  to  power, 
towards  the  gates  of  Byzantium,  until  it 
entered  upon  a  mighty  struggle  with 
the  Emperor  John  Tzimisces  in  971 
and  was  finally  conquered  in  1018  by 
Basil  II.  ;  meanwhile,  the  history  of 
the  Croatian  and  Servian  tribes  comes 
but  slowly  into  view  from  the  historical 
background  of  the  north-west.  The  part 
played  by  the  Servian  and  Croatian 
Zupans  is  but  very  small.  For  the  pur- 
pose of  maintaining  their  independence 
they  wavered  between  Bulgaria  and  By- 
zantium, ranging  themselves  now  on  one 
side,  now  on  the  other.  Many  Servian 
and  Croatian  principalities  were  subju- 
gated by  the  Bulgarians.  After  the  con- 
quest of  Bulgaria  they  were  forced  to  join 
the  Byzantine  kingdom,  and  to  secure 
themselves  against  aggression  from  this 
side  they  turned  to  Rome. 


SERVIAN    BANDITS    RESTING    AT    A    MOUNTAIN    INN 


3081 


3082 


EASTERN  EUROPE 

TO  THE  FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


THE 

SOUTHERN  SLAVS 

II 


CROATIA  AND  ITS  WARRIOR  RACE 

THE  WORLD-RENOWNED  REPUBLIC  OF  RAGUSA 


'"THE  history  of  Croatia  begins  at  an  earlier 
*  date  than  that  of  Servia  ;  especially 
is  this  true  of  the  coast  land  occupied  by 
the  Croatians,  which  was  also  known  to 
the  Italians  as  Slavonia.  The  year  634 
is  the  date  generally  given  to  the  immi- 
gration of  the  Croatians.  They  were 
subdued  by  the  Franks,  and  after  the  dis- 
ruption of  the  Carolingian  Empire  they 
submitted  to  the  Greek  Emperor  Basil  I. 
about  877.  About  the  year  900  they  once 
again  secured  their  independence.  Prince 
Muntimir  is  said  to  have  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  this  success.  Among  the  Croatians 
of  the  coast  land  we  find  an  independent 
prince  as  early  as  the  ninth  century,  by 
name  Borna,  who  bears  the  title  Dux 
Liburniae  et  Dalmatise.  The  central  point 
of  this  duchy  lay  in  the  North  about 
Klis,  Nona,  Zara  Vecchia,  and  Knin. 
In  the  ninth  century  Christianity  was 
introduced  with  the  Slav  liturgy  and  the 
.  ^  .  ^.  Glagolitic  script,  and  in  879  a 
Introduction  ^^jgj^^p^.^  was  founded  at  Nona 

^.   .    .     .     by    the    duke   Branimir.     The 
ns  lani  y  Qjg^gQjj^jf,  script  was  forbidden 

to  the  Roman  clergy  by  the  Synod  of  Spa- 
latro  in  924,  but  was  afterwards  allowed  by 
Innocent  IV.  in  1248,  and  is  still  in  use 
in  the  churches  in  that  district.  In  1898 
Pope  Leo  XIII.  issued  fresh  regulations 
concerning  the  use  of  Glagolitic  and  of  the 
Slav  Uturgy  inDalmatia  and  the  coast  land. 

The  Servian  chieftain  Michael  did  not 
secure  the  title  of  king  from  Gregory 
VII.  until  the  eleventh  century,  whereas 
the  Croatian  chief  Timislav  was  granted 
that  title,  also  by  Rome,  as  early  as  926. 
In  other  respects  the  balance  of  power 
between  Croatia  and  Servia  on  the  frontier 
line  was  continually  changing  ;  at  one  time 
Servian  tribes  were  subjugated  by  the 
Croatians,  and  at  other  times  Croatian 
districts  were  conquered  by  the  Serbs. 

In  the  tenth  century  Croatia  became 
a  formidable  power.  The  islands  and 
coast  towns  occupied  by  the  Roman  popu- 
lation paid  yearly  tribute  to  the  Croatian 
princes    with    the    consent   of   the    East 


Roman  emperor,  in  order  to  secure 
immunity  from  attacks  upon  their  trade  ; 
the  Venetians  also  paid  tribute  to  the 
Croatians  for  the  same  reason,  down  to 
the  end  of  the  tenth  century.  According 
to  Constantine  Porphyrogennetos  (about 
C  ♦•  '  95*^)'  *^^  Croatians,  under  the 
«..  .  princes  Kriesmir  and  Miroslav, 
Strong  Army  I,  ■•  r  t--     •  1 

.  jT  the  successors  of  Timislav,  were 

*^^  able  to  place  in  the  field  100,000 
infantry  and  60,000  cavalry,  and  possessed 
180  ships  of  war.  Soon,  however,  Venice 
grew  so  strong  that  the  payment  of 
tribute  was  refused  by  the  Doge  Peter  11. 
Orsello,  and  in  the  year  1000  he  con- 
quered the  Croatians  and  Narentanes  and 
assumed  the  title  of  Duke  of  Dalmatia ; 
this  was  the  first  occasion  on  which 
Venice  acquired  possession  of  the  Dal- 
matian coast.  In  order  to  save  their 
throne  the  Croatian  ruling  family  formed 
an  alliance  with  the  commercial  republic. 
Kresimir,  the  legitimate  heir  to  the  throne, 
married  Hicela,  the  daughter  of  the  Doge, 
and  bore  the  title  of  King  of  Croatia  and 
Dalmatia  from  the  year  1059. 

These  events  aroused  anxiety  and 
enmity  in  the  Hungarian  .  court,  which 
found  itself  forestalled  in  its  attempts  to 
secure  a  footing  on  the  Adriatic  Sea  and 
to  conquer  the  coast  of  Dalmatia ;  the 
Hungarians  also  recognised  that  the 
Venetian  republic  had  become  a  dangerous 
rival.  The  house  of  Arpad  succeeded  in 
negotiating  a  marriage  between  the 
daughter  of  King  Geisa  I.  and  the  Croatian 
duke,  Svonimir,  who  at  that  time,  1076, 
had  been  crowned  king  by  the  papal  legate 
of  Gregory  VII.,  and  had  thus  admitted 
his  position  as  a  vassal  of  the 
Ab**"  b*  d  b  P^P^^  chair.  In  1088,  when 
sor  e  y  Svonimir  died  without  children, 
«ngary  ^^.^  widow  is  said  to  have  called 
in  her  brother  Ladislaus.  He  conquered 
the  interior  of  Croatia  in  1091,  but  was 
unable  to  advance  to  the  sea,  because 
Hungary  was  herself  threatened  at  that 
time  by  the  Cumanians.  He  entrusted 
the  government  of  the  conquered  district 

3083 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


'^o    his    nephew    Almus.     Croatia     thus 

oecame   an   appanage   of   the   Hungarian 

Empire,  whose  fate  it  henceforward  shared. 

Hungary  was  thus  necessarily  forced  into 

hostiHty  with  Venice,  as  it  was  committed 

to  an  attempt  to  conquer  the  Dalmatian 

coast,    then    in    Venetian    hands.     From 

this  time  forward  that  part  of  Croatia 

.        lying  next  the  sea — Dalmatia — 

*  A*  'i*      formed  for  centuries  the  apple 

*f  D'^^  ^  d    ^^  discord  between  Hungary  and 

Venice,     li  Byzantium  sought 

to  assert  her  rights,  she  would  have  had 

'to  compose  the  quarrels  of  Hungary  and 

Venice. 

While  the  Servian  state  succeeded  in 
maintaining  its  independence  until  1389, 
the  excitable,  military,  and  highly  gifted 
Croatian  people  had  been  made  tributary 
to  their  neighbours  as  early  as  the  end  of 
the  eleventh  century  ;  while  Servia  had 
been  able  easily  to  enrich  herself  at  the 
expense  of  the  declining  power  of  Byzan- 
tium and  Bulgaria,  Croatia  had  to  deal 
with  the  rising  state  of  Hungary  and  with 
Venice,  at  that  time  the  first  commercial 
power  in  Europe.  Notwithstanding  these 
differences,  Croatia  would  probably  have 
emerged  victoriously  from  the  struggle, 
had  she  not  been  weakened  by  internal 
dissensions.  The  interior  of  Croatia  re- 
mained united  to  Hungary.  Venice  and 
Hungary  struggled  for  a  long  time  and  with 
varying  success  to  secure  the  mastery  of 
the  Croatian  seaboard  which  was  known 
as  Dalmatia.  In  the  fourteenth  century 
the  Bosnian  king,  Tvrtko,  had  secured  a 
temporary  supremacy  over  Dalmatia  and 
assumed  the  title  of  "  Rex  Croatiae  et 
Dalmatiae."  Even  after  his  death  in  1391 
Bosnia  retained  her  hold  of  part  of 
Southern  Dalmatia,  which  thenceforward 
bore  the  name  of  Herzegovina.  In  the 
fourteenth  century  other  claimants  for 
the  possession  of  Dalmatia  appeared  in 
the  Angevin  dynasty  of  Naples,  until 
King  Ladislaus  sold  the  province  of  Zadar 
„    .  to  Venice  for  100,000  ducats, 

eniee  ^^^  ^ j^^^  decided  the  struggle  for 
jj^j  '  .  Dalmatia  in  favour  of  Venice  ; 
after  that  period  many  states 
voluntarily  submitted  to  the  Venetian 
rule,  while  Hungarian  influence  steadily 
decreased. 

The  consequence  was  that  these  two 
related  tribes  entered  upon  divergent 
careers.  While  the  Serbs  came  under 
Byzantine  influence  and  accepted  the 
Greek  Church  and   civilisation,   Croatia, 

3084 


united  to  the  West,  lived  under 
wholly  different  conditions.  The  frontier 
between  the  Servian  and  Croatian 
settlements  is,  therefore,  the  frontier 
between  the  East  and  West  of  Europe, 
between  the  Greek  and  the  Roman 
worlds. 

Different  courses  of  development  were 
also  followed  by  the  two  parts  of  Croatia. 
While  the  coast  line,  within  the  area  of  the 
Roman  world,  shared  in  Roman  culture 
and  economic  development,  the  interior 
of  Croatia  remained  part  of  Hungary, 
and  steadily   declined  in  consequence. 

In  religious  matters  also  the  two  parts  of 
the  country  were  divided  when  Ladislaus 
the  Saint,  of  Hungary,  founded  a  bishopric 
in  Agram  and  made  it  subordinate  to  the 
archbishopric  of  Gran,  in  1095.  In  the 
year  1153  Agram  was  raised  to  the  dignity 
of  an  independent  bishopric.  In  the 
diocese  of  Agram  the  Slavonic  ritual  was 
gradually  driven  out  by  the  Latin,  though 
the  Slavonic  maintained  its  ground  in 
Dalmatia,  after  Innocent  IV.  had  recog- 
nised its  equality  with  the  Latin  ritual 
in  1248.  At  the  present  day  the  Slav 
liturgy  is  allowed  throughout  the  diocese 
-.       .  of  Zeng,  while  in  the   rest   of 

c'th  1*  *  Croatia  only  the  epistles  and 
Q  the  gospels  may  be  read  in  the 

oun  ry  g^^^  tongue.  In  the  Hungarian 
portion  of  Croatia  adherents  of  the 
Eastern  Church  certainly  maintained  their 
existence,  and  even  multiplied  during  the 
Turkish  period  after  Suleiman  II.,  owing 
to  the  influx  of  Bosnian  and  Servian 
fugitives  ;  at  the  present  day  there  are  in 
the  country  thirteen  monasteries  of  the 
eastern  Greek  Church.  Notwithstanding 
this  fact,  Croatia  has  remained  a  distinctly 
Catholic  country. 

Among  the  towns,  the  most  important, 
with  the  exception  of  the  ancient  Sissek, 
which  dates  from  Roman  times,  was 
Kreutz,  where  the  Hungarian  king  Kolo- 
man  is  said  to  hav6  concluded  his  pact 
with  the  Crocttians  in  1097,  and  where,  at 
a  later  period,  the  Croatian  national 
assembly  was  accustomed  to  meet.  With 
these  exceptions,  town  life  developed 
comparatively  late.  For  example,  Varas- 
din  secured  municipal  privileges  from 
Andreas  II.  in  1209.  Bela  IV.  was  the  first 
to  promote  town  life  by  granting  new  privi- 
leges, a  step  to  which  he  was  chiefly  forced 
by  the  devastations  of  the  Mongols  in  1224. 
At  the  head  of  the  Croatian  government 
was  a  ban ;  this  dignitary  was  originally 


GENERAL    VIEW    OF    THE    ANCIENT    CITY-SI  All.     uF    RAGUSA,     IN    DALMATIA 
This,  one  of  the  most  picturesque  towns  on  the  Dalmatian  coast,  had  a  long;  and  remarkable  history  in  the  Middle  Ages 
as  an  independent  city-state  under  repubUcan  government     Its  merchants  held  an  extensive  trade  throughout  the  east. 


equivalent  to  a  viceroy,  and  has  retained 
his  prestige  to  our  own  days,  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  restrictions  which  the  office  has 
undergone.  In  the  course  of  time  the  ban 
was  appointed  by  the  king,  on  the  proposed 
of  the  estates,  and  was  solemnly  inducted 
into  Agram  by  their  deputies,  accom- 
panied by  1,000  riders,  the  "  army  of  the 
banate."  Holding  in  his  right  hand  the 
sceptre  as  the  sign  of  his  knightly  power, 
and  in  his  left  hand  the 
standard  as  the  sign  of  military 
power,  he  took  his  oath  to  the 
estates  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Mark,  according  to  the  formula 
dictated  by  the  royal  plenipo- 
tentiary. The  powers  of  the 
ban  were  great.  He  was  able 
to  call  an  assembly  of  the 
estates  on  his  own  initiative, 
without  previously  securing 
the  king's  consent.  He  pre- 
sided over  the  national  as- 
sembly and  signed  its  decrees. 
He  was  the  supreme  judge,  from  whose 
decisions  appeals  might  be  made  only  to 
the  king  ;  he  was  the  commander-in-chief 
of  the  collective  Croatian  troops,  and  in 
time  of  war  led  the  army  of  the  banate  in 
person  ;  coins  were  even  struck  bearing 
his  name.  In  view  of  these  facts,  Lewis 
the  Great  divided  Croatia  between  several 
bans  in  1359 ;  this,  however,  was  only 
a  temporary    expedient,    introduced    to 


SEAL 


provide  the   strong   frontier   government 
required  to  meet  the  Turkish  danger. 

The  chief  legislative  body  of  Croatia 
was  from  ancient  times  the  national 
assembly,  which,  previous  to  the  union 
with  Hungary,  was  summoned  by  the 
king,  and  after  that  union  by  the  ban. 
It  was  originally  held  in  Dalmatia,  and 
after  the  transference  of  the  central  power 
northwards  in  some  one  or  other  of  the 
Croatian  towns,  such  as  Agram, 
Kreutz,  Warasdin,  Cakathurn, 
or  Krapina.  The  most  im- 
portant powers  of  the  Croatian 
assembly  enabled  it  to  deal 
with  questions  of  legislaticuij 
taxation,  the  levying  of  troops, 
the  choice  of  officials,  and 
administrative  details.  The 
attempts  of  Lewis  the  Great 
to  unite  the  financial  adminis- 
tration of  Croatia  with  that 
of  Hungary  resulted  in  the 
revolt  of  Croatia  after  his 
death  ;  the  plan  was  consequently  aban- 
doned by  his  son-in-law,  King  Sigismund. 
Notwithstanding  these  privileges, 
Croatia  never  ran  a  steady  course  of 
development.  It  was  a  frontier  land,  and 
was  involved,  to  its  detriment,  in  every 
war.  Hence  it  required  another  kind  of 
supervision  than  that  which  Hungary  was 
able  to  provide.  Croatia  suffered  more 
particularly  in  the  Turkish  period,  and  it 

3085 


OF    THE    REPUBLIC 
OF    RAGUSA 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


then  became  wholly  obvious  that  Hungary 
was  unequal  to  the  task  of  administering 
the  country.  The  land  became  utterly 
desolate,  and  the  taxable  wealth  of  Croatia 
steadily  declined.  At  a  former  period  the 
county  of  Kreutz  contained  some  12,000 
taxable  houses,  while  in  the  sixteenth 
century  there  were  hardly  3,000  to  be 
found  in  the  whole  country. 
Turks  Oust  j^  ^^^  Venetian  province 

D^matT  «^  Dalmatia  towns  and  dis- 

tricts enjoyed  a  certain 
measure  of  self-government  under  voivodes, 
rectors,  and  priors.  Corporate  life  in  the 
towns  had  flourished  on  the  Adriatic  since 
Roman  times.  Prosperity  increased,  and 
civilisation  consequently  attained  a  high 
stage  of  development.  However,  the 
Venetian  supremacy  came  to  an  end  after 
1522 ;  the  decisive  blow  was  struck  in 
1539,  when  the  Ottomans  seized  the 
greater  part  of  Dalmatia,  while  Venice 
was  able  to  maintain  her  hold  only  of  the 
islands.  At  that  period  Turkey  was  at 
the  height  of  her  power.  Hungary  herself 
was  conquered,  and  in  Pesth  the  crescent 
waved  above  the  cross  after  1541.  Thus 
both  parts  of  Croatia  shared  the  same  fate. 
Only  one  small  municipality  on  the 
extreme  south  of  the  Dalmatian  coast 
land  was  able  to  maintain  a  measure  of 
independence.  This  was  the  commercial 
Slav  republic  of  Ragusa.  The  district  of 
the  modern  Ragusa  coincides  with  that  of 
the  Greek  city-state  of  Epidauros,  the  last 
mention  of  which  occurs  in  the  letters  of 
Gregory  I.  During  the  Byzantine  period 
it  formed  a  part  of  the  Thema  of  Dalmatia. 
After  the  immigration  of  the  Slavs,  the 
Romans,  according  to  the  account  of 
Constantine  VII.  Porphyrogennetos,  were 
driven  out  of  the  town,  and  founded  hard 
by  upon  an  inaccessible  rock  a  new  town, 
known  in  Latin  as  Ragusium,  and  in  Slav 
as  Dubrovnik.  It  was  the  seat  of  the 
Byzantine  strategos,  and  of  the  bishop 
who  was  subordinate  to  the  archbishop 
_  in  Spalatro.      In  the  twelfth 

_  *  .  ,?^       century  an  independent  arch- 

Republic         II-  r        J    J     L 

.  jj  bishopric    was    founded    here. 

agusa    'pj^g  <<  Qgj^g  Ragusea  "  became 

more  and  more  independent,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  eleventh  century  joined  the 
Normans  in  fighting  against  Byzantium. 
At  the  head  of  this  city-state  of  Ragusa 
there  appeared  in  the  twelfth  century  "  con- 
sules"  and  "comites,"  although  the  district 
was  nominally  under  the  rule  of  the  Byzan- 
tine  "  Dux  Dalmatiae  et  Diocliae."      The 

3086 


town  was  even  forced  to  wage  war  against 
Venice,  which  would  have  been  glad  to 
occupy  Dalmatia  and  Ragusa.  After  the 
death  of  the  Emperor  Manuel  in  1180, 
the  general  confusion  of  political  affairs 
enabled  Stefan  Neman j  a  of  Servia  to 
threaten  the  district ;  the  town  then  placed 
itself  under  the  protection  of  the  Norman 
kings  of  the  Two  Sicilies.  After  the 
conquest  of  Constantinople  by  the 
Crusaders  in  1204  the  Venetian  fleet 
appeared  before  Ragusa,  which  was  then 
forced  to  acquiesce  in  the  supremacy  of 
Venice.  The  people  of  Ragusa  were  left 
in  possession  of  their  old  city  government, 
only  from  this  time  forward  a  Venetian 
"  comes  "  resided  in  the  town.  Under  Vene- 
tian supremacy  the  relations  of  Ragusa  and 
Servia  became  particularly  friendly  ;  and 
the  rulers  of  the  latter  country  several 
times  presented  the  republic  with  impor- 
tant grants  of  land.  After  the  death  of 
Dusan,  in  the  period  of  the  war  between 
the  Magyars  and  Venetians  for  Dalmatia, 
Venice  was  forced,  in  1358,  to  renounce 
her  claims  to  the  whole  district  between 
Quarnero  and  Albania  ;  and  Ragusa  came 

_      ,  under  Hungarian    rule,   until, 

Great  ,-      -i"  •  .     -J 

_     .      .      in  1526,   it   was    incorporated 

'^  with  Turkey  after  the   battle 

«»««=*»  of  Mohacs.  The  hfe  of  the 
town  had  long  ago  lost  its  national 
characteristics.  Shut  in  between  two 
Servian  tribes,  the  Zachlumians  and 
Narentanes,  it  was  open  to  such  strong 
Slav  influence  that  at  the  beginning  of 
the  eleventh  century  the  Roman  element 
was  whoUy  in  the  minority. 

This  Slav  commercial  republic  was  known 
throughout  the  East  by  reason  of  its  exten- 
sive trade ;  even  the  Arab  geographer 
Edrisi  mentions  Ragusa.  The  series  of 
commercial  treaties  concluded  by  the 
town  begins  with  an  agreement  with  Pisa  in 
ii6g ;  this  was  followed  by  one  with  the 
Ban  Kulin  of  Bosnia  in  1189,  and  by 
another  with  Bulgaria  in  1230.  Especially 
favourable  were  the  privileges  gi^anted 
by  the  rulers  of  Servia,  in  return  for  which 
the  people  of  Ragusa  paid  a  yearly 
tribute — a  thousand  purple  cloths  and 
fifty  ells  of  scarlet  cloth  every  year  on  the 
day  of  St.  Demetrius.  To  Stefan  Dusan 
they  paid  only  five  hundred  purple  cloths, 
and  even  this  he  renounced  in  favour  of 
the  monastery  of  Chilandar,  on  Mount 
Athos,  a  regulation  which  remained  in  force 
until  \he  French  put  an  end  to  the  republic 
in  1806.     Bosnia  received     five  hvmdred 


CROATIA    AND    ITS    WARRIOR    RACE 


purple  cloths,  and  Hungary  five  hundred 
ducats.  Almost  the  whole  trade  of  the 
Balkan  Peninsula  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Ragusans,  who  outstripped  even  the 
Venetians  and  Genoese.  Colonies  from 
Ragusa  were  to  be  found  in  many  Servian 
and  Bulgarian  towns.  The  flag  of  Ragusa 
was  to  be  seen  on  every  sea,  and  in  every 
important  town  of  the  East  its  factories 
and  consulates  were  to  be  found.  It 
was  not  until  the  period  of  Turkish 
supremacy  that  the  commerce  of  Ragusa 
began  to  decay,  notwithstanding  the 
various  charters  in  the  Slav  language 
which  it  received  from  the  sultans ;  it  was 
forced,  however,  to  pay  a  tribute  of  12,500 
ducats. 

The  prosperity  of  this  little  state 
naturally  caused  a  considerable  increase 
of  culture  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Mathe- 
matics and  astronomy,  and,  later  on, 
literature,  and  especially  Slav  poetry,  were 
here  brilliantly  represented.  Ragusa  also 
exercised  a  strong  influence  upon  the 
culture  of  the  other  Slavs  in  the  Balkan 
Peninsula,  and  was  known  as  the  Slavonic 
Athens. 

During  the  Turkish  period  Hungarian 
Croatia  suffered  nearly  the  same  fate  as 
Servia;  thecountry  became  desolate.  When, 
however,    the     Croatians,    independently 


CROATIAN  PEASANT  WOMEN 


PEASANT  TYPES  OF  CROATIA 

of  Hungary,  raised  the  house  of  Hapsburg 
to  the  throne  of  Croatia  in  1527,  the 
country  became  of  primary  importance 
in  Austrian  politics ;  Austrian  rulers 
recognised  its  value  as  a  bulwark  against 
the  Turks.  The  warlike  Croatians  soon 
became  the  most  valuable  support  of  the 
empire,  not  only  against  the  Ottomans, 
but  also  against  other  powerful  enemies 
in  the  west  of  Europe. 

The  fortification  of  the  country  began 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  castles 
and  citadels  of  the  Croatian  magnates 
were  transformed  into  fortresses,  and 
other  strongholds  were  also  placed  along 
the  frontier  at  important  points.  Such 
of  the  population  as  still  remained  in 
the  district  were  then  called  in  for 
military  service,  and  fugitives  from  the 
neighbouring  Turkish  countries  met  with 
a  hearty  reception  in  Croatia. 

Thus  by  degrees  the  deserted  territory 
was  repopulated.  As,  however,  Croatia  was 
not  herself  equal  to  these  military  burdens, 
and  as,  upon  the  other  hand,  neighbouring 
countries  gained  all  the  advantage  from 
the  military  occupation  of  the  frontier,  it 
was  only  reasonable  that  Carniola,  Styria, 
and  Carinthia  should  contribute  their 
share  of  the  expense.  Such  was  the 
beginning  of  the  Croatian  military  frontier  ; 

3087 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


at  an  early  period  Lewis  I.  had  created 
a  *•  capitanate "  in  Zeng,  and  Matthias 
Corvinus  had  settled  fugitives  upon  the 
frontier. 

The  Archduke  Charles  performed  valu- 
able service  in  organising  the  military 
frontier  of  Styria.  He  constructed  the 
_     ,.  .        great  fortresses  of  Karlstadt,  in 

ortiying     ^^^^^  ^^^  Varasdin,    in  1595. 

P       .  The  land  on  the  far  side  of  the 

Kulpa  to  the  Adriatic  Sea  and 
the  Slavonic  frontier  to  the  Save  were  thus 
fortified  and  divided  into  two  generalates  ; 
one  was  the  Croatian,  or  Karlstadt, 
frontier,   the  other  the  Slavonic,  Windish, 

.  or  Varasdin  frontier.  The  point  chiefly 
kept  in  view  in  constructing  these  fortifi- 
cations was  the  defence  of  the  waterways, 
especially  the  lines  of  the  Save,  Kulpa, 
and  Drave,  which  had  long  been  used  by 
the    Turks.     Although    by    the    Croatian 

•  constitution  the  ban  was  the  commander- 
in-chief  of  all  the  troops  on  foot  in  Croatia, 
yet  the  military  organisation  of  the  frontier 
tended  to  make  that  district  immediately 
dependent  upon  the  empire  ;  both  frontiers 
were  under  the  administration  of  the 
Council  of  War  at  Graz. 

The  Croatian  estates  certainly  objected, 
for  they  invariably  regarded  the  military 
frontier  as  an  integral  part  of  Croatia ;  they 
secured  the  concession  that  upon  occasion 
the  authorities  upon  the  frontier  would 
be  ordered  to  act  in  concert  with  the  ban. 
To  begin  with,  the  foreign  commanders 
did  not  readily  submit  to  these  arrange- 
ments ;  apart  from  the  question  of  the 
ban,  the  estates  of  Carniola  and  Styria 
also  supported  the  independence  of  the 
military  frontier,  for  the  reason  that 
the  frontier  had  already  become  a  no- 
man's  land,  and  was  retained  only  by 
great  sacrifices  on  the  part  of  the  monarchy, 
while  Croatia  had  lost  her  right  to  it. 

Notwithstanding  the  Croatian  claims, 
the  military  frontier  became  a  special 
j^.  crown  land,  and  obtained  rights 

-  '  *  .*'^ .      of  its  own  from  the  time  of 
Q^    ..  Ferdinand  III.    In  accordance 

with  these  rights  the  peasants 
were  free,  and  subject  to  the  emperor 
alone  From  the  age  of  eighteen  every 
frontier  inhabitant  was  liable  to  military 
service,  and  was  obliged  to  keep  himself 
ready  to  take  up  arms  for  defence.  The 
land  was  divided  into  districts  or  "  capi- 
tanates."     Every  parish  chose  an  overseer. 


All  the  parishes  composing  a  "  capitanate" 
chose  their  common  judge,  who,  like  the 
parish  overseer,  was  obliged  to  be 
confirmed  in  office  by  those  under  his 
command.  As  the  Greek  Church  numbered 
most  adherents  among  the  population,  it 
obtained  equal  rights  with  the  Catholic 
Church. 

Ths  Croatian  estates  organised  the 
country  between  the  Kulpa  and  Unna  on 
similar  principles,  and  as  the  ban  was  here 
commander-in-chief,  this  frontier  was 
known  as  the  frontier  of  the  banate.  In 
the  peace  of  Karlovitz  in  1699,  when  the 
districts  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  once 
occupied  by  the  Turks,  were  given  back, 
a  third  generalate  was  instituted  in  Essek 
for  the  newly  freed  Slavonia ;  however, 
in  1745  three  Slavonic  counties  were 
separated  and  handed  over  to  the  civil 
administration. 

The  independence  of  the  military  pro- 
vince of  Croatia  was  a  matter  of  great 
importance  to  the  Austrian  rulers,  as  here 
they  had  the  entire  population  forming 
a  standing  army  always  ready  for  war. 
Hence  the  Emperor  Charles  IV.  began  a 
_  .  reorganisation  of  all  the  Croatian 
-.'^°*  **  military  frontiers.  The  gene- 
j^  '.  ralate  of  Essek  was  divided 
into  three  regiments,  that  of 
Varasdin  into  two,  that  of  Karlstadt  into 
four,  and  the  frontier  of  the  banate  into 
two.  In  the  eighteenth  century  military 
frontiers  were  organised,  after  the  manner 
of  the  Croatian,  along  the  whole  Turkish 
frontier  as  far  as  Transylvania,  the  frontier 
of  Szekl  in  1764,  and  that  of  Wallachia  in 
1766.  In  times  of  peace  it  was  necessary 
only  to  make  provision  for  outpost 
duty  in  the  cardakes  standing  along  the 
Turkish  frontier.  Although  foreign  sol- 
diers were  removed  from  the  frontier  on 
principle,  yet  the  ofiicial  posts  were  for  the 
most  part  occupied  by  foreigners,  and  the 
official  language  was  entirely  German. 
Every  frontier  inhabitant  was  liable  to 
military  service  from  the  age  of  seventeen 
to  sixty.  The  population  was  secure  in 
the  possession  of  their  land  ;  and  the 
military  spirit  of  the  Croatian  frontier 
population  grew  even  stronger.  Their 
privileges  inspired  them  with  a  decided 
prejudice  against  the  regime  of  the  banate, 
under  which  the  territorial  lords  heavily 
oppressed  their  subjects,  and  the  estab- 
lished Church  was  the  Roman  CathoHc. 


3088 


EASTERN 
EUROPE     TO 
THE    FRENCH 
REVOLUTION 


THE 

SOUTHERN 

SLAVS 

III 


SERVIAN     ERA    OF    INDEPENDENCE 

SERVIA,  MONTENEGRO,  AND  BOSNIA 
UNTIL     THE     TURKISH     SUPREMACY 


AFTER  the  conquest  of  Bulgaria  by 
'**^  Byzantium  and  the  occupation  of 
Croatia  by  Hungary  and  Venice  respec- 
tively, the  Servian  race  alone  of  all  Slav 
peoples  in  the  Balkan  Peninsula  retained 
any  kind  of  independence,  although  they 
were  by  no  means  as  yet  a  united  state. 
At  all  times  and  in  all  ])laces  small  nations 
have  federated  only  when  threatened  by 
some  external  danger ;  thus  it  was  that  the 
Russian  and  Lithuanian  states  arose, 
and  such  is  the  history  of  all  the  Western 
European  states,  and  of  Servia  among 
them.  Under  the  great  Tsar  Symeon 
Bulgaria  so  devastated  the  Servian  dis- 
tricts that  they  had  to  be  re-colonised  by 
returning  fugitives,  and  part  of  the  Servian 
tribes  were  forced  to  recognise  Bulgarian 
supremacy. 

In  the  tenth  century  the  Zupan 
Ceslav  succeeded  for  the  first  time 
in  uniting  several  Servian  tribes  for  a 
common  struggle  against  the  Bulgarians. 
After  the  destruction  of  the  Bulgarian 
Empire  by  Basil  II.  Byzantine  supremacy 
over  the  whole  peninsula  was  established 
with  a  vigour  which  had  been  unprece- 
dented since  the  time  of  Justinian  I., 
and  this  state  of  things  continued,  under 
the  dynasty  of  the  Comneni,  till  the  end 
of  the  twelfth  century.  The  boundless 
oppression  of  the  government  often,  how- 
ever, caused  revolts  among  the  Serbs. 
The  High  Zupan  Michael  applied  to  Rome 
for  support,  received  thence  the  title  of 
—^    -.  king,    and    maintained  his 

e  agyar*  independence  of  Bvzantium 
Take  Possession  r         '  ,•  t-v     ,     ,        r 

,  n      .  for  some  time.     The  help  of 

of  Bosnia  xv     tt  i      *^     . 

the  Hunganans  was  also  not 

despised.    A  prominent  figure  about  1 120  is 

Uros,  or  Bela  Uros,  the  Zupan  of  Rassa, 

whose  family  belonged  to  Zeta  ;  he  entered 

upon  friendly  relationswith  the  Hungarians, 

married   his   daughter   to    Bela    II.,    and 

helped  the  Magyars  to  secure  possession 

of  Bosnia.     From  the  Rama,  a  tributary 

of  the  Narenta  on  the  south  of  Bosnia, 


the  Arpads  now  took  the  title  of  "  King  of 
Rama." 

Of  even  more  importance  for  Servian 
history  is  the  rule  of  the  son  of  Uros, 
the  famous  Stefan  I.  Nemanja,  who  was 
also  bom  in  Zeta,  the  cradle  of  his  race. 
Although  the  youngest  of  his  family,  he 
aimed  at  the  principality  of  Rassa,  and 
Th    G  ^^^  ^^  *^^  general  supremacy, 

A  bt*^*  which  he  was  able  to  secure 
of  Stefa  I  ^^^  ^^  ^^^P  ^^  *^^  Byzantines. 
■  Though  he  had  been  baptised 
into  the  Western  Church,  he  underwent 
a  repetition  of  the  ceremony  according 
to  the  customs  of  the  Eastern  Church  when 
he  had  arrived  in  Rassa,  in  order  to  secure 
the  favour  of  the  clergy  and  the  people. 

In  the  year  1165  the  Emperor  Manuel  I. 
confirmed  his  position  as  High  Zupan 
and  gave  him  a  piece  of  land,  in  return  for 
which  Nemanja  swore  fidelity  to  him. 
In  the  year  1173  Nemanja  defeated  his 
relations  and  secured  the  obedience  of 
the  refractory  Zupans.  In  this  way  he 
founded  one  uniform  hereditary  and 
independent  state.  That  process  was  here 
completed  which  was  going  on  at  the  same 
time  in  Bohemia,  Poland,  and  Russia. 
And  in  these  states  also  families  began  to 
rule  according  to  the  law  of  seniority — 
that  is  to  say,  the  eldest  member  of  the' 
ruling  family  exercised  a  supremacy  over 
the  rest  until  the  transition  to  hereditary 
monarchy  had  been  completed.  Princes 
of  the  royal  family  who  had  hitherto 
enjoyed  equal  rights  now  became  officials 
of  the  royal  power.  In  Servia  this  change 
was  completed  at  a  much  earlier  date  than 
in  other  Slav  countries. 

Nemanja  also  took  in  hand  the  organisa- 
tion of  the  Servian  Church.  Converted 
to  the  Greek  faith,  he  built  monasteries  # 
and  churches,  suppressed  the  Roman 
faith,  and  cruelly  persecuted  the  widely- 
spread  Bulgarian  sect  of  the  Bogumiles, 
with  the  object  of  securing  a  uniform 
religion  throughout  his  own  state.     The 

3089 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Eastern  Church  thus  became  established 
in  Servia,  and  the  Eastern  form  of  worship 
became  the  national  worship,  so  that 
religion  and  nationality  formed  an  un- 
divided idea.  At  an  earlier  period  the 
Servian  churches  and  bishoprics  had  been 
subordinate  to  the  Roman  archbishopric 
of   Spalaro,    and   afterwards   to    that   of 

,«.  _.  ,  Antivari :  now  Eastern  bishop- 
The  First  ,  i  u  •  i 

_.  ^  rics  and  an  archbishopric  were 
Eastern  -  ^  — 


Archbishop 


founded  for  Servia  alone.     The 


king's  youngest  son,  Rastka, 
was  appointed  the  first  Eastern  archbishop 
in  Servia — at  the  Synod  of  Nicaea  in  1221 — 
under  the  name  of  Sava.  He  divided  the 
land  into  twelve  bishoprics,  and  bestowed 
episcopal  rank  on  none  but  Servians.  Zica 
was  made  the  residence  of  the  Servian 
archbishops ;  at  a  later  period  Sava 
carried  thither  the  remains  of  his  imperial 
father,  Neman] a,  from  Mount  Athos  ;  here, 
too,  Servian  kings  were  in  future  to  be 
crowned,  and  this  was  realised  in  the  case 
of  Peter  I.  on  October  9th,  1904.  Sava 
also  founded  monasteries  in  Servia,  all 
under  the  "  rule  "  of  Saint  Basil,  which  he 
had  found  in  force  at  Athos.  He  enjoyed 
immense  prestige,  and  was  highly  honoured 
as  the  first  national  saint  of  Servia. 
In  the  year  1235  'the  independence  of  the 
Servian  Church  was  recognised  by  the 
Greeks. 

This  ecclesiastical  ajliance  did  not, 
however,  prevent  Nemanja  from  attacking 
Byzantium  when  the  advantage  of  his 
own  state  was  in  question.  Immediately 
after  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Manuel,  in 
1180,  he  conquered,  in  alliance  with 
the  Hungarian  king,  Bela  III.,  those 
Servian  districts  which  had  fallen  under 
Byzantine  supremacy.  He  then  renewed 
his  friendly  relations  with  the  emperor, 
and  even  secured  the  hand  of  the  emperor's 
niece,  Eudoxia,  for  his  own  son  Stefan,  an 
alliance  which  brought  legitimacy  and 
special  prestige  to  his  house.  It  seems 
that   the   ambitious   Nemanja   hoped   to 

_        ^.         bring    Byzantium    within    his 
Byzantium  °       -f^i.  j. 

W  k  d  P*^^<^'*-  ^  "^  Circumstances  were 
b  Q  arrels  ^^^ourable  to  such  an  attempt. 
Servia  was  the  only  independent 
state  in  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  while 
Byzantium  was  weakened  by  quarrels  about 
the  succession.  Nemanja,  however,  did 
not  feel  himself  sufficiently  strong  for  the 
attempt.  At  that  period  the  Emperor 
Frederick  I.  Barbarossa  came  to  Nisch 
on  his  crusade.  The  Servian  prince 
appeared  before   him,   and  a    chronicler 

3090 


assures  us  that  Nemanja  was  willing  to 
accept  his  country  from  Barbarossa  as  a 
fief.  The  emperor,  however,  who  did  not 
wish  to  arouse  the  animosity  of  the  Greeks, 
declined  to  entertain  the  proposal. 

In  the  year  1195  Nemanja,  apparently 
with  the  object  of  securing  the  supremacy 
of  his  house,  abdicated  in  favour  of  his 
eldest  son  Stefan,  the  second  Nemanja, 
to  whom  he  had  already  given  the  Byzan- 
tine title  of  despot.  His  second  son,  Vukan, 
received  his  hereditary  district  of  Zeta. 
Nemanja  himself  retired  into  the  monas- 
tery of  Studenitza,  a  foundation  of  his 
own,  under  the  title  of  "  Symeon  the 
Monk "  ;  afterwards  he  went  to  Mount 
Athos,  and  died  in  1200  at  the  monastery 
of  Chilander,  which  was  also  of  his  founda- 
tion. A  struggle  for  the  succession  burst 
out  between  his  sons,  Vukan  attempting 
to  secure  support  in  Hungary,  and 
especially  in  Rome.  Stefan  also  made 
applications  to  that  quarter,  and  was 
crowned  by  the  papal  legate  in  1217 ; 
he  assumed  the  title  "  King  of  Servia, 
Diocletia,  Travunia,  Dalmatia,  and 
Chlum."  This  step,  however,  cost  him  his 
entire  popularity  in  the  country.  The 
_      .    ,,   .     Archbishop      Sava    had    re- 

Hu7'arian  P^^^^^^y  interposed  in  the 
unganan  q^an-els  of  the  brothers ; 
upremacy  ^^efan  now  asked  for  further 
action  of  the  kind.  Sava  crowned  him  in 
1222  with  a  crown  sent  by  the  Byzantine 
Empire,  at  a  great  popular  assembly,  at 
which  he  read  before  him  the  articles  of 
faith  of  the  Eastern  Church.  The  Hun- 
garian king,  Emerich,  had  availed  himself  of 
these  quarrels  to  bring  Servia  under  his 
supremacy.  In  1202  he  occupied  Servia 
and  assumed  the  title  of  "  Rex  Rasciae  "  ; 
but  a  struggle  with  his  brother  Andreas 
forced  him  to  leave  Servia.  Stefan  main- 
tained his  position  until  his  death,  in  1224. 
Since  that  time  no  Servian  ruler  ventured 
to  break  away  from  the  Eastern  Church, 
although  many  entered  into  connection 
wfth  Rome. 

Of  the  descendants  of  Nemanja,  Milutin, 
otherwise  named  Stefan  IV.,  or  Uros  II. 
(1275  or  1281  to  1320),  began  a  career  of 
ruthless  conquest  ;  he  had  no  hesitation 
in  forwarding  his  plans  by  repeated 
marriages  with  Byzantine,  Bulgarian,  and 
Hungarian  princesses,  with  a  correspond- 
ing series  of  divorces.  He  captured  Greek 
provinces  and  maintained  his  possession 
of  them  even  after  the  death  of  the  Emperor 
Michael  VIII.  Palaeologus  in   1282.       He 


MONTENEGRIN    OF    THE    "OLD    GUARD 


A     BOSNIAN     FARMER 


TYPES    OF    BOSNIANS.    SERVIANS    AND    MONTENEGRINS 


X97 


3091 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


advanced  as  far  as  Athos.  He  obtained 
Bosnia  from  Hungary  without  striking  a 
blow,  as  the  dowry  of  his  first  wife.  He 
also  secured  the  favour  of  the  Pope,  whom 
he  was  able  to  keep  in  hand  with  empty 
promises.  As  he  had  no  legitimate  male 
heirs,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  uniting  his 
empire  with  the  Byzantine,  in  which  plan 
.  ,  he  was  supported  by  the 

servia  s  ame  Express  Irene,  his  second 
Throughout  mother-in-law.     Naturally 

Western  Europe  ,  j  .,  a    u 

he  and  no  other  was  to  have 

been  emperor,  and  her  children  were  to 
succeed  him.  Under  him  and  under  his  son 
Stefan  V. — Stefan  IV.  if  we  begin  the  series 
of  Stefan  kings  in  1222 — Uros  III.,  who 
bore  the  nickname  Decanski,  Servia  became 
famous  not  only  in  the  Balkan  territories, 
but  also  throughout  Western  Europe. 

Meanwhile,  however,  Bulgaria  had  re- 
covered from  her  downfall  at  the  end  of 
the  twelfth  century,  and  was  waging  a 
successfiil  war  with  Byzantium.  The 
powerful  Servian  kingdom  now  stood  in 
the  way  of  her  further  development.  A 
struggle  between  the  two  for  supremacy 
could  only  be  a  question  of  time.  In  the 
year  1323  the  Bulgarian  Boyars  chose  the 
Despot  Michael  of  Widdin  as  their  tsar ; 
with  him  begins  the  supremacy  of  the 
Sismanides  of  Widdin,  the  last  dynasty  of 
Tirnovo.  The  new  tsar  began  friendly 
relations  with  Servia,  and  married  Anna, 
the  daughter  of  Milutin,  with  the  object 
of  vigorously  opposing  the  Byzantines  and 
other  enemies.  Soon,  however,  the  situa- 
tion was  changed.  Michael  divorced  Anna 
about  1325  and  married  the  sister  of 
Andronicus  III.  of  Byzantium. 

It  was  only  by  the  intervention  of 
the  Servian  bishop  and  chronicler  Daniel 
that  war  with  Servia  was  avoided  on  this 
occasion ;  however,  in  1330  it  broke 
out.  Michael  brought  about  a  great  alliance 
between  the  Byzantines,  Bulgarians,  Rou- 
manians, Tartars  and  Bessarabians.  The 
Servian  king  advanced  by  forced  marches 
_  against  the  allies,  and  suddenly 

Defeat  and  attacked  them  on  June  28th  at 
Plunder  of  -' 


Bulgarians 


Velbuzd.     His  army  included 


300  German  mercenaries  in 
armour ;  and  Dusan,  the  son  of  Stefan, 
fought  at  the  head  of  a  chosen  band.  The 
Bulgarians  were  routed  and  their  camp 
was  plundered.  Stefan  contented  himself 
with  raising  Stefan,  the  son  of  his  sister 
Anna,  who  had  been  divorced  by  Michael, 
to  the  position  of  tsar,  as  Sisman  II.,  and 
evacuated  Bulgaria.    Servia  now  held  the 

3092 


predominant     position     in     the     Balkan 
Peninsula. 

Stefan,  the  conqueror  of  Velbuzd,  met 
with  a  sad  fate.  He  had  been  formerly 
blinded  by  his  ^father,  Milutin,  and  now 
came  to  a  terrible  end.  His  Boyars 
revolted  under  the  leadership  of  Dusan 
and  strangled  him,  at  the  age  of  sixty, 
though  shortly  before  he  had  appointed 
his  ungrateful  son  to  the  position  of 
"  younger  king."  Thus  on  September  8th, 
1331,  Stefan  Dusan  ascended  the  throne 
at  the  age  of  nineteen.  Of  desperate 
courage  on  the  battlefield,  Dusan  also 
possessed  all  the  qualities  of  a  statesman. 
While  MUutin  confined  his  aspirations  to 
a  union  of  the  Byzantine  and  Servian 
kingdoms,  Dusan  dreamed  of  a  larger 
Servia  which  should  embrace  all  the 
Balkan  territories.  Turning  to  account  the 
weakness  of  the  Byzantine  and  Bulgarian 
Empires  he  conquered  Albania,  Macedonia, 
Thessaly  and  Epirus  between  1336  and 
1340  and  in  1345  ;  even  the  Greeks,  weary 
of  civil  war,  are  said  to  have  invited  his 
supremacy.  In  1346  he  assumed  the  title 
of  tsar  and  had  the  youthful  Uros 
crowned  king,  entrusting  to  him  the 
«    . .  adininistration  of  Servia  proper. 

.  g      .  ,     In    his    documents    we    meet 
p^  with  the  title   "  Stefan,   Tsar 

and  supreme  ruler  of  Servia 
and  Greece,  of  Bulgaria  and  Albania." 
His  title  of  emperor  was  also  to  the  bene- 
fit of  the  Servian  Church,  as  the  previous 
dependency  of  the  archbishopric  of  Servia 
upon  the  Byzantine  patriarch  was  not 
wholly  compatible  with  the  existence  of  a 
Servian  Empire.  Hence  in  1346  Stefan 
Dusan  raised  the  Servian  archbishop  to 
the  position  of  patriarch,  notwithstanding 
the  prohibition  of  the  Byzantine  Church. 
In  1352  the  Servian  Church  was  definitely 
separated  from  the  Byzantine  patriarchate. 
Henceforward  twenty  metropolitans  and 
bishops  were  subordinate  to  the  Servian 
patriarch.  Servia  was  now  at  the  zenith  of 
her  power.  As  Dusan  was  related  to  the 
rulers  of  Bessarabia  and  Bulgaria,  he  was 
able  to  form  a  confederation  of  these 
three  kingdoms  directed  against  Hungary 
and  Byzantium. 

The  reign  of  Dusan  was  the  golden  age 
of  Servia,  chiefly  for  the  reason  that  he 
provided  the  country  with  better  adminis- 
tration and  a  better  judicial  system,  and 
did  his  best  to  advance  the  civilisation  and 
prosperity  of  the  people.The  code — sakonik 
or  zakonik — which  he  left  behind  him,  a 


An  episode  in  the  life  of  Stefan  Dusan,  who  is  seen  denouncing-  a  traitor.  Dusan  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Servia 
inl  3.'i  1 ,  and  his  name  is  eminent  among  the  national  heroes  of  his  country.  He  is  remembered  especially  for  his  success- 
ful campaigns  against  the  Greeks,  and  for  the  code  of  laws  which  he  issued  in  1349,  just  seven  years  before  his  death. 


The  battlefield  of  Kossovo,  or  the  "  Field  of  the  Blackbirds,"  is  one  of  unhappy  memory  to  the  Servian  people,  as 
twice  in  their  history  it  was  the  scene  of  their  defeat.  Here  Sultan  Murad  I.  destroyed  the  Servian  Empire  when 
he  inflicted,  in  1389,  a  crushing  defeat  on  King  Lazar,  who  was  killed  on  the  battlefield.  This  famous  fight  decided 
not  only  the  fate  of  Servia,  but  that  of  the  races  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula.  The  above  picture,  by  a  Servian  artist, 
commemorates  the  second  defeat,  in  October,  1448,  when,  on  the  same  scene.  Sultan  Murad  U.  gained  a  great  victory 
over  John  Hunyadi.    The  remnants  of  the  Servian  army  and  fugitives  are  seen  retreating  from  the  fatal  fieltt 


TWO    FAMOUS    EPISODES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    SERVIA 


3093 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Stefan  Dusan 
Dies  on 
the  March 


legal  monument  of  the  greatest  importance, 
is  a  permanent  testimony  to  the  fame  of 
Dusan.  His  conventions  with  Byzantium, 
Ragusa,  and  Venice  proved  that  he  also 
cared  for  the  commercial  prosperity  of  his 
people.  The  art  of  mining,  which  had  been 
introduced  under  Neman]  a,  became  so 
widely  extended  under  Dusan  that  there 
were  five  gold  and  five  silver 
mines  in  operation.  These 
were  worked  chiefly  by 
Saxons,  whom  Prince  Vladi- 
mir is  said  to  have  first  brought  into  the 
country.  Almost  the  only  political  mistake 
that  can  be  urged  against  Dusan  is  the 
fact  that  he  did  not  use  his  power  to  secure 
the  possession  of  Bosnia,  which  was  in- 
habited by  a  purely  Servian  population. 
As  the  whole  of  Bosnia  was  never  entirely 
united  with  Servia,  a  spirit  of  individualism 
flourished  in  that  country,  which  resulted, 
shortly  after  Dusan's  death,  in  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Bosnian  kingdom  under  the  Ban 
Tvrtko.  Dusan's  main  object  was  the  con- 
quest of  Byzantium,  and  chroniclers  tell  us 
of  thirteen  campaigns  undertaken  for  this 
purpose.  In  1355,  when  he  was  marching 
against  the  imperial  city,  he  suddenly  died. 
Had  his  son  Stefan  Uros  IV.  inherited  his 
father's  capacity  together  with  his  empire 
he  would  have  been  able  to  consolidate 
the  great  Servian  state.  Uros,  however, 
was  a  weak,  benevolent,  and  pious  ruler, 
nicknamed  by  the  nation  "  Nejaki  " — that 
is  to  say,  a  man  of  no  account.  A  revolt 
soon  broke  out.  Even  the  first  councillor 
of  the  tsar,  the  capable  Vukasin,  whom 
Dusan  had  placed  at  his  son's  side,  stretched 
out  his  hand  for  the  crown,  and  Uros  was 
murdered  in  1367.  With  him  became 
extinct  the  main  branch  of  the  Neman j  a 
dynasty,  which  had  ruled  over  Servia  for 
nearly  200  years. 

In  the  civil  war  which  then  ensued  the 
Servian  nobility  raised  Lazar  Grbljanovic, 
a  brave  and  truthful  man,  to  the  throne. 
The  new  ruler,  however,  assumed  the 
simple  title  of  Knes  or  Prince. 
Meanwhile  the  political  situa- 
tion in  the  Balkans  had  under- 
gone a  great  change.  The 
provinces  formerly  conquered  by  Dusan 
had  revolted.  Servia  herself  was  too  small 
and  too  undeveloped  to  become  the  nucleus 
of  a  great  empire,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  administration  of  the  country  was  in 
many  respects  deficient. 

At  this  juncture  a  great  danger  threat- 
ened from  abroad.     For  a  long  time  the 

3094      • 


The  Turks 


Europe 


Bulgarians  and  Serbs  had  been  attacking 
the  Byzantine  Empire,  hoping  to  aggran- 
dise themselves  at  her  expense,  without 
suspecting  that  they  were  attempting  to 
sever  the  branch  by  which  they  themselves 
were  supported.  The  Turks  in  Asia  began 
their  advance  upon  the  Byzantine  Empire, 
and  no  force  could  check  them.  In  the 
fourteenth  century  their  military  fame  was 
so  firmly  established  that  the  Byzantine 
emperors  called  in  their  assistance  against 
the  Bulgarians  and  Serbs.  Soon,  however, 
it  became  apparent  that  the  most  serious 
danger  threatened  all  these  peoples  irom 
the  side  of  the  Ottomans.  In  the  year 
1361  Murad  I.  occupied  Adrianople  and 
made  that  city  his  capital  ;  Thracia 
became  a  Turkish  province.  The  Byzan- 
tines were  powerless  to  meet  the  danger. 
Immediately  afterwards,  in  1366,  the  Bul- 
garian Tsar,  Sisman,  became  a  Turkish 
vassal ;  his  sister  Thamar  entered  the 
harem  of  Murad.  In  the  year  1371  the 
Servian  usurper,  Vukasin,  marched  against 
the  Turks,  but  was  defeated  in  the  night 
of  September  25  th  and  26th,  and  slain, 
together  with  his  brother  Johannes  Ugl- 
jesa.  The  fatal  field  was  known  as  Ssirb- 
siindighi  —  that       is,       the 

I^!!T«\n  I  Servian  death.  Servia,  how- 
That  Settled  .         ,         uj      j 

o  •  .  r  X  ever,  was  not  yet  subdued. 
Servia  s  Fate  t^  ^         z•^         or    j.\-    j. 

It  was  not  until   1306   that 

Lazar  was  forced  to  become  a  Turkish 
vassal,  and  the  Turkish  danger  then  lay 
heavily  upon  all  men's  minds.  To  save  the 
honour  of  his  nation,  Lazar  prepared  for 
battle,  made  an  alliance  with  Bulgaria, 
Albania,  and  Bosnia,  and  defeated  the 
Turkish  governor  at  Plocnik  at  the  time 
when  Murad  was  occupied  in  Asia.  Murad, 
in  anger,  spent  a  whole  year  in  preparation, 
both  in  Asia  and  Europe,  and  marched 
against  Servia  through  Philippopolis  in 
1389.  On  the  feast-day  of  St.  Veit  (June 
15th)  was  fought  the  battle  of  Kossovo,  or 
Amsel,  the  famous  fight  which  decided  not 
only  the  fate  of  Servia  but  that  of  the  races 
of  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  and,  indeed,  of 
South-east  Europe  as  a  whole.  The  Servian 
army  was  supported  by  the  Croatian  Ban, 
Ivan  Horvat,  by  the  Bosnians  under  their 
Voivode  Vladko  Hranic,  by  auxiliary  troops 
of  the  Roumanian  and  Bulgarian  tribes, 
and  by  Albanians.  In  the  dawn  the  Emir 
Murad  was  murdered  in  his  tent,  according 
to  Servian  tradition,  by  Milos  Obilic,  who 
thus  hoped  to  turn  from  himself  the  suspi- 
cion of  treachery,  and  was  cruelly  murdered 
in  consequence.    The  supreme  command 


THE    SERVIAN    ERA    OF    INDEPENDENCE 


was  forthwith  assumed  by  Bajazet  I.,  the 
son  of  Murad.  The  Servians  were  utterly 
beaten  ;  Lazar  himself  was  captured,  and 
was  beheaded  with  many  others  beside 
the  corpse  of  Murad.  Servia's  future  as  a 
nation  was  destroyed  upon  that  day. 

Many  songs  and  legends  deplore  the 
battle  of  Kossovo.  It  was  not  the  superior 
force  of  the  Ottomans,  so  the  story  goes, 
that  brought  about  that  fearful  overthrow, 
but  the  treachery  of  a  Servian  leader,  the 
godless  Vuk  Brankovic.  In  the  Ottoman 
army  was  also  fighting  the  Servian  despot, 
or  "  King's  Son,"  Marko  (the  son  of 
Vukasin)  of  Priljep — a  man  of  giant 
strength.  These  facts  were  the  causes  of 
the  bitter  defeat,  and  the  Serbs  fought  like 
heroes.  Even  at  the  present  day  these 
magnificent  epics  form  one  of  the  chief 
beauties  both  of  Slav  literature  and  of  the 
literature  of  the  world  ;  they  have  been 
admired  even  by  Grimm  and  Goethe.  The 
old,  the  blind,  and  the  beggar  sing  at  the 
present  day  in  the  market-place  and  on 
the  roads  the  story  of  the  famous  old  heroic 
legends,  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  gusle, 
and  receive  rich  rewards  from  the  people, 
who  find  in  these  songs  a  recompense  and  a 
.^  consolation  for  the  loss  of  their 

cl^r  P^^^    ^^°^y-     ^^  ^^^    Tartars 

.  °S^  .  trampled  upon  the  necks  of  the 
Russians,  so  also  did  the  Turks 
upon  the  Southern  Slavs.  For  centuries  the 
Slav  races  have  had  to  endure  unspeakable 
barbarity  at  the  hands  of  the  Ottomans. 
Their  development  was  arrested,  and  they 
were  forced  to  lag  behind  in  the  march  of 
civilisation,  while  at  the  same  time  they 
became  a  bulwark  to  the  peoples  of  Western 
Europe.  For  this  reason  it  is  unjust  to 
taunt  them  with  their  half-civilised  condi- 
tion ;  yet  the  injustice  has  been  too  often 
committed. 

Bajazet,  who  was  still  occupied  in  Asia, 
placed  Stefan,  the  son  of  Lazar,  as 
despot  on  the  Servian  throne.  Stefan 
was  forced  to  pay  tribute  and  to  join  in 
the  Turkish  campaigns  in  person  at  the 
head  of  his  army  ;  at  Angora,  in  1402, 
Timur  himself  marvelled  at  the  bravery 
of  the  Serbs.  The  nation  never  lost 
the  hope  of  recovering  its  old  indepen- 
dence. Stefan  turned  to  Hungary  for 
support  and  became  a  Hungarian  vassal, 
following  the  example  of  other  Danube 
states  who  looked  to  Hungary  or  to  Poland 
for  help.  Upon  his  death,  in  1427,  he 
was  succeeded  by  George  Brankovic,  a 
son  of  that  Brankovic  to  whose  treachery 


The  Doom 

of 

Servia 


the  defeat  of  1389  was  ascribed.  He 
made  his  residence  in  Semendria  on  the 
Danube.  Meanwhile  all  the  states  of 
the  Balkans  had  been  forced  to  bow 
beneath  the  Turkish  yoke  after  suffering 
bloody  defeats.  Bulgaria  fell  in  1393, 
Then  Zartum,  Widdin,  and  Moldavia ; 
in  1455  Byzantium  itself  was  conquered. 
Brankovic  died  on  December 
24th,  1457,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  feeble  son,  Lazar,  who 
died  suddenly  at  the  end  of 
January,  1458.  In  1459  Mohammed  II. 
took  over  Servia  as  a  Turkish  province  and 
divided  it  into  pashaliks.  Many  of  the  most 
distinguished  families  were  exterminated, 
and  two  hundred  thousand  human  beings 
were  carried  into  slavery.  Thus  the 
Servian  state  disappeared  from  the  map  of 
Europe.  As  once  before,  after  their  immi- 
gration, so  also  now,  the  Serbs  were  ruled 
from  Constantinople,  and  it  was  on  the 
Bosphorus  that  the  fate  of  the  Balkan  terri- 
tories was  decided.  The  wave  of  Turkish 
conquest  continued  to  spread  onward. 
Hungary  and  Poland  were  now  forced  to 
take  up  arms  against  it,  until  the  turn  of 
Austria  arrived.  To  these  states  the 
Balkan  peoples  without  exception  now 
turned  for  help.  Apart  from  Dalmatia  on 
the  north,  which  was  inhabited  by 
Croatians,  alternately  under  Venetian  and 
Hungarian  supremacy,  the  Turks  subju- 
gated the  whole  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula, 
and  ruthlessly  oppressive  was  their  rule. 
As,  however,  they  were  concerned  only 
to  drain  the  financial  resources  of  the 
peoples  they  conquered,  and  troubled  them- 
selves little  about  questions  of  religion  or 
nationality,  it  was  possible  for  the  Balkan 
Slavs  to  retain  their  national  character- 
istics until  the  hour  of  their  liberation. 

The  former  birthplace  of  the  Nemanjids, 
Zeta,  had  a  happier  fate.  This  moun- 
tainous district,  which  took  its  name  from 
the  river  Ceta  or  Cetina,  once  formed 
part  of  the  Roman  province  of  Dalmatia. 
,  The  Emperor  Diocletian  had 
„  **  ?  formed  a  special  province  of 
Happier  pj.gevalis  in  Southern  Dalmatia, 
with  Dioclea  as  its  centre, 
from  which  town  the  whole  province 
became  known  as  Dioclitia  or  Dioclea. 
However,  in  the  period  of  the  Slav  Serbs 
it  was  known  as  Zeta,  and  was  regarded 
as  the  original  land  and  hereditary  pro- 
perty of  the  Nemanjids.  St.  Sava  founded 
a  bishopric  and  built  the  monastery  of 
St.  Michael  at  Cattaro.    Every  successor 

3095 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


to  the  throne  first  undertook  the  ad- 
ministration of  Zeta.  When,  however, 
Dusan  made  his  son  Uros  king  and  en- 
trusted him  with  the  administration 
of  Servia  proper,  another  governor  had 
to  be  found  for  Zeta,  and  he  was  taken 
from  the  house  of  Bals.  After  the  death 
of  Dusan  the  house  of  the  Balsics 
^  consequently  ruled  in  Zeta 

M   T  (1360-1421)  and  became  in- 

on  enegro       volved  in  struggles  with  the 
Took  its  Name    ,.   ..         •  i_     1    ?        1        r   au 
distmguished   family  of  the 

Cernojevic  or  Jurasevic  in  the  Upper  Zeta. 
At  the  outset  of  the  fifteenth  century  the 
Venetians  began  to  form  settlements 
here,  until  eventually  this  Servian  coast 
land  fell  into  the  hands  of  Venice,  not- 
withstanding repeated  struggles  on  the 
part  of  Servia.  The  family  of  Cernojevic, 
which  had  joined  the  side  of  Venice,  now 
became  supreme  about  1455 ;  Ivan 
Cernojevic  became  a  vassal  of  Venice 
and  received  a  yearly  subsidy.  He 
resided  in  Zabljak  and  founded  the 
monastery  of  Cetinje  in  1478  or  1485. 
His  son  George  resided  in  Rjeka  and  Obod  ; 
under  him  in  Obod  the  first  ecclesiastical 
Slav  books  were  printed  between  1493 
and  1495.  It  is  at  that  time  (first  in 
1435)  that  this  country  takes  the  name  of 
Crnagora  or  Montenegro. 

After  the  fall  of  the  family  of  Cernojevic 
in  1528,  or  really  as  early  as  1516,  the 
country  was  ruled  for  centuries  by  the 
bishops,  or  Vladiks,  of  Cetinje.  The  bishop 
and  head  of  the  monastery  of  Cetinje 
was  at  the  same  time  the  lord  of  the 
country. 

It  is  not  correct  to  say  that  the  Turks 

never  ruled  over  Montenegro  and  that  the 

people  were  able  to  maintain  their  freedom 

by  heroic  struggles  ;    the  fact  is  that  the 

Ottoman  supremacy  in  this  mountainous 

district  was    never   more   than  nominal, 

_  ,  „  ,^  chiefly  from  the  fact  that 
Provinces  Revolt  .1         U  ,  .        , 

.  -.        ,.  they    could    not    extract 

•  From  the  ■'1  .  ,  ,, 

««,„:..  r— :—  much  gam  from  the 
Servian  Empire  •    u    u-i.      i.  -o    j. 

poor  mhabitants.  But 
Montenegro  was  subject  to  the  Shand- 
shak  of  Skodra,  and  was  obliged  to  send  a 
yearly  tribute  thither,  a  fact  which  we  learn 
from  the  Italian  description  of  Mariano 
Bolizza  of  the  year  1511.  At  that  time 
Montenegro  included  ten  settlements  and 
8,027  m^n  capable  of  bearing  arms. 


After  the  death  of  Dusan  one  province 
after  another — "irst  Thessaly  and  Epirus, 
and  ihan  Mac  ;donia  and  Albania — re- 
volted from  the  Servian  Empire.  Even 
Servian  tribes,  who  had  willingly  or  un- 
willingly gathered  round  the  throne  of  the 
Neman] ids  until  1355,  now  followed  their 
individual  desires.  This  is  especially 
true  of  their  relations,  the  Bosnians,  whose 
country  had  never  been  entirely  subject 
to  Servia.  In  former  times  Bosnia,  like 
Hungary  and  Ragusa,  had  been  subject 
to  the  Roman  archbishopric  of  Spalatro  ; 
later,  Bosnian  rulers  had  expressly  declared 
themselves  Serbs  and  descendants  of  the 
Nemanjids.  None  the  less  they  went 
their  own  way.  Their  first  prince,  or  ban, 
of  any  reputation  was  Kuhn  (i  180-1204). 
Naturally  Hungary  and  Servia  were  rivals 
for  the  possession  of  Bosnia,  which 
availed  itself  of  these  circumstances  to 
maintain  its  independence.  It  is  only  on 
one  occasion,  however,  that  this  little 
district  secured  a  greater  reputation  ; 
this  was  when  favourable  political  cir- 
-      .  ,  cumstances   allowed  the  Ban 

Id        d    t    ^^^^^'^t  who  regarded  himself 


Development 


as  a  descendant  of  the  Neman- 


jids, although  his  family 
belonged  to  the  race  of  Kotromanovic,  to 
secure  the  throne  in  1376,  since  which  date 
Bosnia  has  been  a  kingdom.  This  separa- 
tion resulted  in  the  fact  that  Bosnian  civi- 
lisation developed  upon  somewhat  different 
lines  from  Servian — a  fact  apparent 
not  only  in  the  adoption  of  Roman 
ecclesiastical  customs,  but  also  in 
literature  and  even  in  writing.  Under 
King  Tvrtko  the  doctrine  of  the  Bogumiles, 
transplanted  from  Bulgaria,  extended  so 
rapidly  that  it  became  the  established 
religion.  Thus  Bosnia  in  this  respect 
also  displayed  an  individualism  of  its  own. 
The  final  consequence  was  that  under 
the  Turkish  supremacy  the  nobles,  who 
were  accustomed  to  religious  indifferentism, 
went  over  in  a  body  to  Mohammedanism, 
in  order  to  secure  their  class  privileges. 
The  possession  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula 
was  secured  to  the  Ottomans  in  1453  in 
consequence  of  the  overthrow  of  Constan- 
tinople, but  it  was  not  until  1463  that 
Bosnia  was  incorporated  with  the  Turkish 
state  ;  many  citadels  of  the  kind  numerous 
in  Bosnia  held  out  even  till  1526. 


3096 


Note. — For  references  on  Slavic  history,  see  Appendix, 


EASTERN 

EUROPE  TO  THE 

FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


THE 

SOUTHERN 

SLAVS 

IV 


UNDER    THE    HEEL    OF    THE    TURK 

THREE   CENTURIES   OF  MISERY  AND   DESPAIR 
AND  THE   LIBERATION   OF  THE   SOUTHERN   SLAVS 


T  TNDER  the  Turkish  supremacy  the 
^  peoples  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula 
entered  upon  a  period  of  death  and  national 
sorrow  ;  only  the  vaguest  recollection  of 
a  better  past  endured.  Immediately  after 
the  conquest  of  a  province  the  Ottoman 
administration  was  introduced,  the  country 
was  divided  into  provinces,  or  pashaliks, 
and  these  into  districts,  or  nahias.  The 
head  of  a  pashalik  was  a  pasha  or  vizir 
entitled  to  an  ensign  of  three  horse-tails, 
while  the  head  of  a  nahia  was  called  the 
kadi.  There  were  pashaliks  of  Servia, 
Bosnia,  Roumelia,  Scutari,  Widdin,  etc., 
and  the  distribution  of  the  provinces  was 
often  changed.  The  duties  of  the  Turkish 
officials  were  confined  to  organising  or 
maintaining  military  service,  to  levying 
the  taxes,  and  to  some  administration  of 
justice. 

Side  by  side  with  the  Turkish  officials 
the  institution  of  the  spahis  was  of  great 
importance.  Upon  Ottoman  principles  the 
whole  country  was  the  property  of  the 
sultan  ;  he  divided  the  conquered  land 
among  individuals,  who  received  it  either 
as  hereditary  property  {zian)  or  for  life 
tenure  (timir),  and  were  under  the  obliga- 
tion of  giving  military  service  in  return  ; 
these  individuals  were  known  as  spahis, 
or  horsemen.  Thus,  for  example,  the 
pashalik  of  Servia  was  divided  among 
about  900  spahis,  who  were  masters  both 
of  the  soil  and  of  its  inhabitants.  Many 
_    .   .  Christian  noble  families  became 

NobU«  Turn  hereditary  spahis  by  accepting 
■^    .  Mohammedanism;    about  the 

middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  there  were  in  Roumelia,  not 
including  Bosnia,  1,294  spahis,  who  had 
formerly  been  Christian  Bulgarians,  Serbs, 
Albanians,  or  Greeks. 

Side  by  side  with  the  state  administra- 
tion there  also  existed  a  kind  of  provincial 
administration,  which  was  left  in  the  hands 
of  the  people.    Every  village  was  adminis- 


tered by  its  judge  and  overseer  (seoski-knes 
and  kmet),  who  settled  the  affairs  of  the 
village  and  explained  the  traditional 
principles  of  justice,  though  only  to  those 
who  had  need  of  them  and  submitted  to 
their  decisions.  They  had  no  power  to 
enforce  execution,  and  dissatisfied  litigants 
applied  to  the  Turkish  authorities.  A  dis- 
_  trict  was  also  governed  by  the 

ys  em  o       ^^^^  ^^^^  (upper  knes),  origin- 

^    *  .  ally  appointed  by  the  sultan. 

Government  ■,    •'   ,  '^^^     ■    ■  ,     i-  . 

Local  admmistration  went   no 

further  than  this.     For  the  most  part  the 

people  submitted  to  the  decisions  of  their 

own  judges  and  rarely  appealed  to  the 

Ottoman  authorities  ;    at  the  same  time 

the  kneses  and  upper  kneses,  acting  as 

intermediaries  between  the  populace  and 

the    Turkish    authorities,    protected    the 

multitude.     At  a  later  period,  however, 

the  upper  kneses  became  hereditary,  and 

enjoyed  such  high  prestige  that  even  the 

Turks  were  forced  to  respect  them. 

Apart  from  this  the  Servian  Church 
remained  independent  under  the  patriarch 
of  Ipek.  It  should  be  observed  that  the 
higher  clergy  at  that  time  were  chiefly  of 
Greek  origin,  and  the  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople hoped  to  bring  the  Slavs  over 
to  the  Greek  Church  by  their  means.  In 
the  seventeenth  century  the  independence 
of  the  Servian  patriarchate  was  abolished, 
and  the  Church  was  placed  under  the 
patriarchate  of  Constantinople,  as  it  had 
been  before  1346.  In  the  year  1766  the 
patriarchate  was  abolished  altogether,  as 
also  was  the  Bulgarian  patriarchate  of 
Ochrida  in  1767  ;  bishops  were  now  sent 
out  from  Stamboul.  Only  the  lower 
clergy  remained  purely  national  and  shared 
the  sufferings  of  the  people. 

Such  were  the  powers  which  determined 
the  existence  of  the  subjugated  people. 
The  life  of  the  rayahs,  as  subjugated 
peoples  were  called,  was  one  without  law 
or  rights,  and  in  every  respect  miserable. 

3097 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Particularly  oppressive  was  the  weight  of 
taxation.  First  of  all  came  the  sultan's 
or  the  state  tax.  Next  the  male  popula- 
tion were  obliged  to  pay  a  poll  tax  of  three 
piastres  and  two  paras  to  the  state  chest  for 
every  person  between  the  age  of  seven  and 
sixty;  this  was  known  as  the  haraj .  Even 
the  priests  in  monasteries  were  not  exempt 

from  this  tax.    Three  times  a 

—'"^  "  ^.  year  the  Turkish  olhcials  ap- 

W    k  peared  m  the  villages,  pitched 

their  tents,  and  levied  the 
haraj.  The  better  to  control  the  tax,  a 
register  of  boys  and  men  was  kept.  Be- 
sides this,  married  men  paid  an  undefined 
tax,  known  as  pores,  twice  every  year,  on 
St.  George's  Day  and  St.  Demeter's  day, 
to  cover  the  cost  of  administration. 

The  kneses  held  a  meeting  in  the  central 
town  of  the  nahia  and  estimated  the  yearly 
expenses  of  administration,  which  they 
then  distributed  among  the  individual  in- 
habitants ;  naturally  the  estimate  varied 
from  year  to  year.  Besides  this  the  im- 
perial exchequer  collected  taxes  from  the 
merchants  for  their  shops  and  also  from 
the  tobacco  planters ;  then  there  were 
customs  duties,  duties  upon  fishing,  upon 
river  traffic,  etc.  Besides  the  state  taxes 
the  rayahs  had  also  to  satisfy  their  terri- 
torial masters,  the  spahis.  Every  married 
man  paid  one  piastre  for  poll  tax,  two 
piastres  married  tax,  two  piastres  grazing 
tax  {kotar)  for  the  use  of  pasturage,  one 
piastre  meal  tax  per  head,  two  piastres 
kettle  tax  for  every  brandy  still,  from  four 
to  ten  paras  acorn  tax  for  every  herd  of 
swine,  and  finally  a  tenth  of  a  field  or 
garden  produce  ;  they  were  also  liable  to 
forced  labour.  Even  the  secular  clergy 
were  obliged  to  pay  these  taxes. 

Naturally,  the  population  were  also 
obliged  to  provide  for  the  support  of  their 
kneses,  upper  kneses  and  clergy.  In 
Servia,  for  instance,  a  bishop  extracted 
twelve  piastres  from  every  house,  and  on 
a  journey  through  his  diocese  an  additional 

-,       ..  five    piastres    as   well   as    his 

now  the  ■   S  XI 

CI  r     P  "d  n^s-i'^tenance ;    as    they    were 

ThVmselves  °^^^^^^    *^    .  ^"X    ^^i'""     °^^^ 
at   Constantinople,  they  were 

forced  to  recoup  themselves  in  this  way. 

The  priests  received  tithes  of  agricultural 

produce,    and  occasionally  payments  for 

church  services. 

More  oppressive  even  than  these  various 

taxes  was  the  administration  of  justice. 

In  every  nahia  a  kadi  was  the  judge,  who 

was  also  assisted  by  a  musselim,  as  the 

3098 


executor  of  the  judicial  power.  Above 
the  kadi  stood  the  chief  judge,  or  mollah, 
of  the  whole  province.  All  these  officials 
supported  themselves  entirely  upon  court 
fees  and  fines.  As  they  were  able  to 
obtain  office  only  by  bribery,  the  manner 
in  which  they  exercised  their  powers  may 
easily  be  imagined.  Turkish  law  knew 
no  other  punishment  than  the  monetary 
fine,  except  in  the  case  of  political  mis- 
deeds ;  even  for  murder  the  punishment 
was  only  the  price  of  blood.  Usually  the 
officials  pursued  their  own  interests  alone, 
and  innocent  people  often  suffered.  The 
musselims  were  especially  dreaded,  as  they 
continually  came  into  contact  with  the 
people,  were  acquainted  with  their  cir- 
cumstances, and  consequently  could  easily 
satisfy  their  desires  or  their  vengenance 
upon  any  object.  Beyond  all  this,  the 
evidence  of  a  Christian  was  not  admitted 
by  the  courts,  and  the  Ottoman  adminis- 
tration of  justice  thus  became  a  sj'Stem  of 
torture  which  could  be  escaped  only  by 
flight. 

A  further  torment  fox  the  Christian  rayah 
was  the  presence  of   the  regular  Turkish 

_,     -,       .    foot    soldiers,  the   Janissaries; 

The  Greed     , ,  r  •'..,,.' 

-  .  these  forces  were  originally  in 

,  .  .  possession  of  no  landed  pro- 
perty  and  only  obtained  pay. 
When,  however,  they  were  sent  out  from 
Constantinople,  distributed  among  the 
provinces,  and  secured  the  imperial  power 
for  themselves,  they  were  anxious  to  be- 
come landowners,  like  the  spahis,  and 
seized  with  the  strong  hand  all  that 
pleased  them.  The  poor  rayahs  had  no 
protection  against  their  greed ;  they 
might  console  themselves  with  the  words 
of  Virgil,  "  Not  for  yourselves,  ye  birds, 
did  ye  build  your  nests  ;  not  for  yourselves, 
ye  sheep,  did  ye  wear  your  wool ;  not  for 
yourselves,  ye  bees,  did  ye  gather  honey ; 
not  for  yourselves,  ye  oxen,  did  ye  draw 
the  plough." 

Especially  cruel  was  the  levy  of  youths, 
which  took  place  every  five  years,  to  supply 
men  for  the  Janissaries,  who  then  became 
Mohammedans.  Towns  only  were  able 
to  secure  immunity  by  the  payment  of 
large  sums. 

Far  more  humiliating  and  intolerable 
was  the  treatment  of  the  rayah  at  the 
hands  of  the  Mohammedans.  It  was  at 
this  point  that  the  differences  between 
conquerors  and  conquered  first  became 
plainly  obvious.  It  was  a  difference 
expressed  in  outward  form.    The  clothing 


THREE    CENTURIES    OF    TURKISH    OPPRESSION 


of  the  rayahs  was  simple.  They  were 
not  allowed  to  wear  the  kaftan  or  gold 
or  silver  embroidery  on  their  clothes. 
They  were  not  to  inhabit  beautiful  houses 
or  to  keep  good  horses.  They  were  for- 
bidden to  wear  swords.  In  the  town  the 
rayah  might  go  only  on  foot.  If  a 
Christian  appeared  before  Turks,  he  must 
hide  his  pistols  ;  if  he  met  them  on  the 
road,  he  must  alight  from  his  horse,  and 
stand  before  them  if  they  sat.  Apart 
from  this  the  Turk  might  call  any  Christian 
from  the  street  and  force  him  to  bring 
water,  look  after  his  horse,  or  perform  any 
other  duty.  Christian  women  were  handed 
over  to  Mohammedans  without  reserve  if 
they  found  favour  in  their  eyes ;  at 
a  marriage  the  bride  was  concealed  in  a 
cellar  with  her  head  veiled  in  cloths. 

The  result  was  that  the  Christians 
fled  into  the  inaccessible  mountains  and 
forests,  and  from  there  defended  themselves 
against  their  oppressors.  Their  numbers 
steadily  increased.  In  the  Slav  provinces 
they  were  known  as  hayduks,  and  in 
Greece  as  klephts.  They  were  robbers 
who  also  robbed  the  Christians  upon 
^  ,       occasion.       But   the   spirit  of 

-  PP""****®"*  freedom  remained  alive  among 
Ch  '  f  their  numbers,  and  they  were 
respected  by  the  population 
as  avengers  of  the  people  and  cham- 
pions of  freedom,  were  protected  from  the 
pursuing  Turks,  and  were  celebrated  in 
song  as  heroes.  As  the  Christians  were 
forbidden  to  bear  arms,  the  robber 
Christians  became  the  only  people  able  to 
defend  themselves. 

In  their  misery  the  people  found  con- 
solation in  their  kneses  and  upper  kneses, 
in  the  spahis,  who  generally  treated  them 
mildly,  and  particularly  in  the  Church. 
It  was  the  monks  who  were  popular, 
rather  than  the  secular  clergy.  The 
monasteries  were  at  that  time  the  centres 
of  national  life.  They  enjoyed  privileges 
from  the  state,  and  were  less  dependent 
upon  the  Ottoman  authorities.  The  monks 
alone  were  allowed  to  hear  confessions 
and  to  celebrate  the  Communion.  They 
were  the  only  educated  class,  and  preserved 
the  remnants  of  Slav  literature.  The 
people  swarmed  to  the  monasteries  from 
the  remotest  districts,  and  on  dedication 
festivals  lively  scenes  took  place.  Mer- 
chants then  sold  their  wares  ;  lambs  and 
pigs  were  roasted  ;  and  to  the  sound  of 
the  shepherd's  pipe  or  bagpipe  the  Servian 
youths  danced  their  national  dance,  the 


kolo,  which  was  also  known  in  Bulgaria, 
and  the  old  men  sang  songs  of  the  national 
heroes. 

The  Turkish  danger  and  the  menace  of 
a  common  enemy  formed  a  jwint  of  union 
which  united  the  shattered  fragments  ol 
the  Servian-Croatian  races,  not  only  in 
political,  but  also  in  literary  and  civilised 
Croatian  ^^^^"  ^^^  Croatians,  at  least, 
Drrams  of  !^^^  V^^.  Possibility  of  satisfy- 
Revenge  '"§  their  feelmgs  of  revenge 
in  battle.  The  Serbs,  who 
were  forbidden  even  to  wear  arms,  were 
obliged  to  endure  their  cruel  fate  in 
silent  submission.  At  the  period  when 
Croatia  began  to  surround  herself  with 
frontier  defences,  and  thereby  became 
more  capable  of  resistance,  Turkey  was 
at  the  height  of  her  power,  and  the  Servian 
race  could  see  no  gleam  of  hope  for  a  better 
future.  Hence  many  of  them  turned 
their  backs  upon  their  native  land  and 
fled  across  the  frontier  to  the  more  for- 
tunate Croatia,  that  they  might  be  able, 
at^ least  from  that  point,  to  wage  war 
against  their  oppressors. 

However,  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
when  the  political  development  of  the 
Ottoman  state  had  reached  its  fulness,  it 
became  manifest  that  its  fundamental 
principles  were  suited  only  to  military  and 
political  life,  and  not  for  social  life  or  the 
advancement  of  culture,  and  that,  in  con- 
sequence, the  Turk  was  unprogressive  and 
wholly  incompetent  to  rule  over  other 
nations.  The  Turkish  state  was  founded 
upon  theocratic  principles ;  the  Koran 
formed  at  once  its  Bible  and  its  legal  code. 
If  the  subjugated  peoples  professed  some 
other  rehgion  they  could  never  be  full 
citizens  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  but 
would  be  forced  to  remain  in  a  position  of 
subjection.  Meanwhile,  in  Western  Europe, 
civil  law,  as  opposed  to  canon  law,  per- 
mitted members  of  other  communions  to 
become  full  citizens,  so  that  subject  races 
could  more  easily  maintain  their  faith  and 
_  .  .  become  incorporated.  In  Tur- 
Christians    j^^^  ^j^-^  ^^^  impossible.     The 

Th  ''^*T'  Mohammedan  alone  was  in  pos- 
ime  ggggJQj^  qI  rights :  the  Christian 
rayah  had  no  rights  ;  his  only  guarantee 
for  a  better  future  was  the  downfall  of  the 
existing  system.  We  can,  then,  well 
understand  that  the  Christian  populations 
were  ever  waiting  for  the  moment  when 
they  would  be  able  to  shake  off  the  oppres- 
sive yoke  of  Turkey.  If  the  burden 
became  intolerable  the  nation  emigrated 

3099 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


in  a  body.  The  strength  of  religious 
fanaticism  among  the  Turks,  both  in  past 
and  present  times,  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  rehgion  rules  the  whole  social 
and  political  life  and  culture  of  Turkey 
even  at  the  present  day. 

In  point  of  numbers  the  Slavs  were 
superior    to    the    Turks.      The    empire 
swarmed  with  Mohammedans 
of  Slav  origin,  serving  in  the 


Moslems 
of  Slavonic 
Origin 


army  as  well  as  in  the  official 
bodies.  According  to  the  testi- 
mony of  Paolo  Giovio  in  1531  and  other 
competent  authorities,  almost  the  whole 
of  the  Janissary  troops  spoke  Slav. 
Numeious  Slavs  rose  to  the  position  of 
vizir  and  grand  vizir.  Under  Moham- 
med Sokolovic  half  the  vizirs  were  Slavs 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  Several  sultans 
were  fully  acquainted  with  the  Slav 
language,  and  several  chancellors  issued 
Slav  documents  in  Cyrillic  writing.  The 
Turkish  Empire  was,  as  is  remarked 
by  the  Servian  historian,  on  the  road  to 
becoming  a  Mohammedan-Slav  empire. 

These  facts,  however,  did  not  improve 
the  life  of  the  Christian  rayahs.  For 
almost  three  centuries  these  races  had 
groaned  under  the  Turkish  yoke.  Help 
was  to  be  expected  only  from  without. 
The  first  gleam  appeared  between  1684 
and  1686,  when  Austria,  under  Charles  of 
Lorraine  repeatedly  defeated  the  Turkish 
armies  and  occupied  several  provinces. 
At  that  time  the  court  of  Vienna  conceived 
a  great  plan  of  playing  off  the  Balkan 
peoples  against  the  Porte,  and  entered 
into  relations  with  the  patriarch  of  Ipek, 
Arsen  Cernojevic,  and  with  George  Branko- 
vic,  who  professed  to  descend  from  the  old 
Servian  royal  family.  Brankovic  went 
to  Russia  with  his  brother  in  1688  to 
collect  money  for  the  building  of  the 
Servian  metropolitan  church  and  to  secure 
Russia's  help  for  the  war  against  the 
Porte  ;  at  the  court  of  Vienna  he  was 
made  viscount  and  then  count.  The 
—^  -^  Austrian  commander-in-chief, 
-  Ludwig  Wilhelm,  Margrave  of 

Liberation    ^^d^'^'  issued  an  appeal  to  the 
Slavs  of  Bosnia,  Albania,  and 
Herzegovina,  to  join  him  in  war  against 
the  Turks. 

The  Eastern  Slavs  had  already  given 
their  favour  to  Austria,  when  the  Vienna 
court  seized  the  person  of  George  Bran- 
kovic, who  had  already  appointed  him- 
self Despot  of  lUyria,  Servia,  Syrmia, 
Moesia,  and  Bosnia,  and  imprisoned 
3100 


him  first  in  Vienna,  then  in  Eger,  where 
he  died  in  171 1.  This  action  natu- 
rally disturbed  the  relations  between 
Servia  and  Austria.  However,  the  war 
of  liberation  was  continued.  Among  the 
Eastern  Slavs  there  was  an  old  legend 
that  some  day  they  would  be  freed  from 
the  Turkish  yoke  by  a  hero  who  would 
come  riding  upon  a  camel,  accompanied 
with  foreign  animals.  Utilising  this 
legend,  Enea  Silvio  Piccolomini,  the 
general  of  the  Margrave  of  Baden,  ap- 
peared among  the  Servian  nations  with 
camels,  asses  and  parrots,  and  called  them 
to  arms.  In  1690  the  Emperor  Leopold  I. 
again  proclaimed  that  he  would  guarantee 
religious  and  political  freedom  "to  all 
the  Slav  peoples  of  the  whole  of  Albania, 
Servia,  lUyria,  Mysia,  Bulgaria,  Silistria, 
Macedonia,  and  Rascia,"  and  again 
called  them  to  arms  against  the  Turks. 

In  the  same  year  36,000  Servian 
and  Albanian  families  migrated  from 
Servia  under  the  leadership  of  the  patri- 
arch Arsen  Cernojevic.  From  Belgrade 
they  sent  the  bishop  of  Janopol,  Jesaias 
Diakovic,  to  the  court  of  Vienna  as  the 
plenipotentiary  of  the  "  Com- 
Russo-  munity  of  Greek  Raizes."   The 

T  k""hW  emperor  issued  the  desired 
guarantees  for  the  whole  people 
and  for  the  three  Brankovics  in  a  special 
charter  of  liberties.  Cernojevic  received 
a  guarantee  of  his  position  of  metro- 
politan "  for  the  whole  of  Greece,  Rascia, 
Bulgaria,  Dalmatia,  Bosnia,  Janopol, 
Herzegovina,  and  over  all  the  Serbs  in 
Hungary  and  Croatia." 

The  Serbs  then  passed  over  the  Save 
and  settled  chiefly  in  Slavonia,  Syr- 
mia, and  in  some  towns  of  Hungary ; 
Karlstadt  was  chosen  as  the  seat  of 
the  Servian  patriarch.  The  privileges 
of  these  immigrants  were  often  enough 
disputed  by  the  Hungarian  municipal, 
ecclesiastical,  and  political  authorities, 
but  were  invariably  confirmed  by  the 
imperial  court,  which  took  the  Serbs 
under  its  protection.  Supreme  successes 
against  the  Turks  were  secured  when 
Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy  took  the  lead 
of  the  Austrian  troops  in  July,  1697. 
The  great  victory  of  Zenta  was  the  first 
indication  of  the  fall  of  Turkish  supremacy 
in  Europe  ;  henceforward  the  little  state 
of  Montenegro  fought  successfully  against 
the  Ottomans. 

However,  the  first  decisive  effort  was 
the  Russo-Turkish  war.    Western  Europe 


A    STREET    DANCE    IN    SERVIA    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 


had  long  striven  to  induce  Russia  to  take 
part  in  the  struggle.  Peter  the  Great 
was  the  first  to  take  action  in  171 1,  with 
that  campaign  which  roused  great  hopes 
among  the  Balkan  Slavs.     At  that  date 


Henceforward  the  Southern  Slavs 
based  their  hopes  rather  upon  their 
compatriots  and  co-religionists  in  Russia 
than  upon  Austria.  However,  the  cam- 
paign  of    171 1    was    a    failure ;   and  it 


the    first    Russian    ambassador,    Colonel     was   not    until    many    years    afterwards 


Miloradovic,  a  Herzegovinian  by  birth, 
of  Neretva,  brought  to  Cetinje  a  letter 
from  Peter  the  Great,  calling  upon  the 
Montenegrins  to  take  up  arms ;  he 
met  with  an  enthusiastic  reception. 
Thereupon   Danilo   Petrovic    Njegos,    the 


that  Russia  undertook  a  second  advance, 
under  Catharine  H.  In  1774  Russia 
secured  a  protectorate  over  the  Danube 
principalities  and  over  all  the  Christians 
of  the  Greek  Church.  Catharine  again 
turned  her  attention  to  the  warlike  state 


metropolitan  and  ruler  of  Montenegro  of  Montenegro  and  sent  Geneial  George 
(1697-1735),  made  a  journey  to  Russia  in  Dolgoruki  to  Cetinje  in  1769  ;  and  from 
1715,  and  received  rich  presents  and  1788  to  1791  the  Russian  lieutenant- 
promises  of  future  support,  golonel    Count    Ivelic    and  the  Austrian 

310I 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


major  Vukasovic  were  working  in  Monte- 
negro with  similar  objects. 

In  the  seventeenth  century,  when  it 
became  more  obvious  that  the  Turk  was 
not  invincible,  and  when  enthusiasm  had 
been  roused  by  the  hope  of  liberation, 
the  Southern  Slavs  became  more  con- 
vinced than  before  of  a  relationship  nearer 
than  that  of  fate  and  political  alliance  ; 
the  feeling  of  blood  relationship  grew 
strong  in  them,  and  they  began  to  call 
themselves  brothers  and  members  ol  a 
Slav  race.  The  feeling  of  mutual  connec- 
tion extended  not  merely  to  the  Southern 
Slavs,  but  spread  over  the  whole  Slav  world. 
They  appealed  to  their  Russian  kinsmen  for 
help,  and  authors  wrote  enthusiastically  of 
a  great  Slav  family.  Austria  gave  some 
stimulus  to  the  movement  by  repeatedly 
summoning  all  the  Balkan  Slavs  to 
common  action  against  the  Turks. 

In  the  history  of  the  Austiian  Slav  of 
that  period  there  gradually  arises  from 
the  background  the  outline  of  a  new 
southern  Slav  Empire  which  was  intended 
to  embrace  all  the  Southern  Slav  races.  A 
name  was  invented  for  it,  that  of  Illyria. 
The  name  was  chosen  to  secure  connection 
with  past  history.  Illjn-icum  had  formerly 
been  a  Roman  province,  including  Mace- 
donia and  Greece,  with  Crete,  Dardania, 
and  Dacia  ;  in  476  it  was  assigned  to  the 
East  Roman  Empire.  At  that  moment  the 
phrase  "  the  Illyrian  nation  "  meant 
nothing  more  than  the  peoples  professing 
the  faith  of    the   Greek  Church,  and    as 


most  of  the  Serbs  were  members  of  this, 
they  also  entitled  themselves  the  "  Raizes, 
or  Illyrian  nation."  Now  the  name  of 
Illyria  was  extended  to  include  the  Croatians 
and  Slavonians.  It  was  specially  used  in 
this  sense  by  the  Roman  Church,  which 
had  not  forgotten  the  old  diocese  of 
Illyria,  and  used  the  term  to  denote  the 
Slavs  in  the  west  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula. 
From  this  ecclesiastical  use  the  connotation 
of  the  name  was  extended.  In  Hungary, 
where  fugitive  Serbs  made  common  cause 
with  the  Croatians,  the  Illyrian  question 
was  a  constant  subject  of  discussion. 

Maria  Theresa  protected  the  Croatians 
and  Serbs  from  the  aggressions  of  the 
Magyars,  and  created  for  the  special 
protection  of  the  Serbs  a  new  adminis- 
trative organ,  the  "  Illyrian  Delegacy," 
in  1746.  The  court  of  Vienna  also 
regarded  the  Hungarian  Serbs  as  a 
valuable  counterpoise  to  the  IMagyars. 
Under  the  Emperor  Leopold  II.  the 
Illyrian  national  congress  was  held  in 
Temesvar  in  1790  ;  demands  were  here 
issued  for  the  separation  of  the  Servian 
nation  in  the  banat  and  in  the  bacska 
(voievodina),  for  an  Illyrian  chancery, 
for  the  parliamentary  equality  of  the 
Servian  bishops  with  the  ecclesiastical 
princes  of  Herzegovina,  and  for  a  governor, 
who  was  to  be  one  of  the  emperor's  sons. 
How  the  conception  of  Illyria  first  re- 
ceived official  extension  in  the  age  of 
Napoleon  belongs  to  another  period  and 
a  later  volume.         Vladimir  Milkowicz 


3103 


TYPICAL    TURKISH    GENTLEMAN    OF    THE    MERCHANT    CLASS 


GREAT  DATES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  SOUTH-EASTERN 

EUROPE:    A.D. 

500  TO    1792 

A.D. 

500 

Anastasius  emperor 

A  D. 

1204 

Latin  empire  of  Byzantium  till  1261 

518 

Justin  emperor 

1218 

John  Asen  II.  Tsar  of  Bulgaria 

527 

Justinian  emperor 

1222 

Golden  Bull  of  Hungary 

529 

The  Justinian  code  issued 

1241 

Mongols  devastate  Hungary,  but  retire 

533 

Overthrow  of  the  Vandals  by  Belisarius 

1261 

Fall  of   Latin  empire  of  Byzantium;    Greek 

552 

Narses  defeats  the  Goths  in  Italy 

dynasty  restored  under  Michael  PaUxologus; 

558 

Repulse  of  the  Huns  and  Avars 

Mongol    invasion  of    Hungary  repelled  by 

565 

Justin  II.  emperor 

Bela  IV. 

582 

Maurice  emperor 

1274 

League  between  Ladislaus    of  Hungary  and 

602 

Phocas  emperor 

Rudolf  of  Habsburg 

610 

Heraclius  emperor 

1288 

Beginning  of  Ottoman  power 

613 

Advance  of  Persians  under  Khosru 

1301 

End  of  Arpad  dynasty  in  Hungary.     Othman 

622 

Heraclius  checks  the  Persian  advance.      The 

defeats  Byzantines  at  Nicomedia 

Hegira :  date-year  of  iNlam 

1209 

Charles    Robert   of  Anjou    elected    king    of 

626 

Defeat  of  Avars  before  Constantinople 

H  ungary 

634 

Advance  of  the  Saracen  power 

1323 

Sismanid  dynasty  in  Bulgaria  till  1393 

640 

Establishment  of  Slavs  in  Bosnia 

1330 

Predominance  of  Servia  in  the  Balkans 

660 

Founding  of  the  Bulgarian  kingdom 

1342 

Lewis  the  Great  king  of  Hungary 

673 

Saracens  besiege  Constantinople 

l.'!4S 

Servian  conquests  under  Stefan  Dusan 

712 

Advance  of  Bulgarians 

1347 

John  Cantacuzenos  joint  emperor 

717 

Leo  III.  the  Isaurian  emperor 

1356 

Turks  cross  the  Hellespont 

725 

Beginning  of  Iconoclastic  movement 

1361 

Turks  occupy  Adrianople 

727 

Defeat  of  Saracens  at  Nicsea 

1363 

Turks  defeat  Magyars  and  Slavs  at  Marizza 

739 

Defeat  of  Saracens  at  Acroinon 

1370 

Lewis  of  Hungary  elected  king  of  Poland 

750 

Fall  of  Omayyad  caliphate 

1386 

Sigismund  king  of  Hungary 

773 

Bulgarians  checked 

1389 

Turkish  victory  at   Kossova;  subjugation  of 

780 

Constantine  VI.  emperor  ;  Irene  regent 

Servia  and  Bulgaria 

787 

Second   Council  of    Nicaea    restores    image- 

1396 

Turkish  victory  at  Nicopolis 

797 

Irene  empress                                            [worship 

1402 

Overthrow  of  Bajazet  by  Tamerlane 

802 

Fall   of    Irene  ends  Isaurian  dynasty,    Nice- 

1411 

Sigismund    of     Hungary    becomes    German 

803 

Treaty  with  Charlemagne         [phorus  emperor 

emperor                                                    [med  I. 

813 

Leo  V.  defeats  Bulgarians 

1413 

Recovery  of   Ottoman  power  under'  Moham- 

820 

Michael  the  Stammerer  emperor 

1442 

Victories  of  H  unyadi  over  Turks 

852 

Boris  king  of  Bulgaria 

1444 

Turks  defeat  Hungarians  at  Varna 

863 

Christian  mission  of  Constantine  and  Metho- 

1448 

Turks  defeat  Hunyadi  at  Kossova 

dius  among  the  Slavs                        [Churches 

1449 

Scanderbeg  heads  Albanian  revolt         [empire 

866 

Final   breach    between    Greek     and     Roman 

1453 

Capture  of  Constantinople  ;  end  of  Byzantine 

867 

Basil  I.  emperor  ;  Macedonian  dynasty  begins 

1456 

Hunyadi  defends  Belgrade  against  Turks 

869 

Council  of  Constantinople 

H58 

Matthias  Corvinus  king  of  Hungary 

886 

Leo  VI.  emperor 

I4:>1 

Turks  acknowledge  Scanderbeg's  independence 

895 

Simeon  king  of  Bulgarians 

1467 

Death  of  Scanderbeg 

912 

Constantine  Porphyrogennetos  emperor 

1477 

Turks  subjugate  Albania 

917 

Defeat  of  imperial  army  by  Simeon  of  Bul- 

1479 

Turks  defeated  by  Matthias  Corvinus         [tria 

garia,  who  takes  the  title  of  Tsar 

1491 

Invasion  of  Hungary  by  Maximilian   of  Aus- 

926 

Timislav  king  of  Croatia 

1517 

Conquest  of  Mamelukes  by  Sultan  Selim 

941 

Defeat  of  Russian  fleet  by  Byzantines 

1521 

Suleiman  the  Magnificent  takes  Belgrade 

963 

Nicephorus  Phocas  emperor 

1526 

Victory  of  Suleiman   at   Mohacz ;  Ferdinand 

969 

John  Tzimisces  emperor 

of  Austria  becomes  king  of  Hungary 

971 

Overthrow  of  Bulgaria  by  Tzimisces 

153 

Turkish  fleets  commanded  by  Barbarossa 

994 

Conversion  of  Magyars  by  Adetbert 

1536 

Alliance  of  Turks  and  French 

997 

Saint  Stefan  duke  of  Hungarians 

1545 

Ferdinand  of  Austria  pays  tribute  to  Turks 

1000 

Saint  Stefan  king  of  Hungary 

1547 

Treaty  between  Suleiman  and  Charles  V- 

1018 

Subjugation  of  Bulgaria  by  Basil  II. 

1571 

Overthrow  of  Turkish  fleet  at  Lepanto 

1040 

Servia  established  as  independent 

1593 

War  between  Austria  and  Turkey 

1044 

Peter  of   Hungary  does  homage   to   German 

1606 

Peace  of  Zsitvatorok                                 [Vizirs 

emperor 

1656 

Revival  of  Ottoman  power  under  the  Kuprili 

1052 

Independence  of  Hungary  recognised 

1664 

Austro-Turkish  war;    Turks  defeated  at   St. 

1053 

Suppression  of  Roman  Churches  in  the  East 

Gothard                                               [Khoczim 

1056 

Macedonian  dynasty  ends  with  Theodora 

1673 

John   Sobieski   of    Poland   defeits   Turks  at 

1071 

Normans  expel  Byzantine  rule  from  Italy 

1675 

Sobieski  defeats  Turks  at  Lemberg 

1076 

Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Seljuk  Turks 

1683 

Sobieski  defeats  Turks  before  Vienna 

1077 

Saint  Ladislaus  king  of  Hungary 

1687 

Defeat  of  Turks  at  Mohacz 

1081 

Alexius  Comiienus  emperor 

1697 

Defeat  of  Turks  by  Prince  Eugene  at  Zenta 

1087 

Invasion  of  empire  by  Pechenegs 

1699 

Peace  ot  Carlowitz 

1090 

Annexation  of  Croatia  by  Hungary 

1711 

Peter  the  Great,  foiled  by  the  Turks,  has  to 

1096 

First  Crusade 

accept  the  treaty  of  Pruth 

1102 

Coloman  extends  Hungarian  kingdom 

1716 

Final  repulse  of  Turks  by  Eugene  at  Peter- 

1132 

Bela  II.  king  of  Hungary 

wardein 

1143 

Manuel  I.  emperor 

1737 

Austro-Russian  war  with  Turkey 

1144 

Fall  of  Edessa  ;  cause  of  Second  Crusade 

1738 

Peace  of  Belgrade 

1151 

Manuel  invades  Hungary 

1741 

Hungary  acclaims  Maria  Theresa 

1173 

Bela  HI.  king  of  Hungary 

1774 

Treaty  of  Kutchuk  Kainardji  between  Turkey 

1185 

Isaac  Angelus  emperor 

and  Russia 

1187 

Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Saladin 

1783 

Russia  annexes  Crimea 

1199 

Nemanja  king  of  Servia 

1788 

Austro-Russian  war  with  Turkey 

1197     ' 

Asenid  dynasty  established  in  Bulgaria 

179! 

Peace  of  Sistova 

1203     1 

Fourth  Crusade  ;  Crusaders  take  Byzantium 

1792 

Treaty  of  Jassy 

3103 


THE  STORY   OF  THE  GIPSIES 

HABITS  &  CUSTOMS  OF  A  WANDERING  PEOPLE 


IT  remains  to  give  some  account  of  one 
•^  more  people,  which,  coming  from  the 
East,  has  never  found  rest  for  the  sole  of  its 
foot,  but  has  dispersed  itself  over  Europe, 
and  has  even  crossed  the  ocean,  and  yet 
has  retained  its  distinctive  racial  character. 
For  more  than  500  years  the  Gipsy  people 
have  traversed  East  and  Central  Europe, 
wandering  restlessly  from  place  to  place. 
In  general  they  live  at  the  present  day 
_  among  nations  which  have  long 

y.     .  ago  been  definitely  settled  and 

.    J,  become  organised,  themselves 

urope  ^^.jj  following  their  peculiar 
nomadic  manners  and  customs  under  in- 
dividual tribal  chiefs.  Even  at  the  date 
of  their  first  appearance  in  Europe 
the  gipsies  were  able  to  give  no  adequate 
account  of  their  origin  or  of  their  first 
home.  The  names  which  they  apply  to 
themselves  are  not  without  importance 
from  an  historical  and  ethnographical 
point  of  view.  They  call  themselves  by 
the  old  Indian  name  of  an  unclean  caste 
"rom '  =man,  "  romni"=woman.  Another 
self-bestowed  title  is  "  kalo  "  (black),  the 
opposite  term  to  which,  "  parno  "  (white),  is 
applied  to  all  non-gipsies.  Finally,  the 
g.psies  also  style  themselves  "  manusch  " 
(people),  while  foreigners  are  known  as 
"  gadsio "  (strangers).  Upon  rare  oc- 
casions, and  generally  only  in  the  course 
of  public  debate,  they  address  one  another 
as  "  sinte  "  (comrades). 

More  numerous  are  the  names  applied 
to  the  gipsies  by  the  peoples  with  whom 
they  came  in  contact.  The  German  word 
"  Zigeuner  "  is  probably  derived  from  the 
Phrygian-Lycaonian  sect  of  the  "  Athin- 
ganoi,"  mentioned  at  the  outset  of  the 

3104 


ninth  century  by  such  Byzantine  writers 
as  Theophanes.  Another  derivation  is 
from  "  tsjengi "  ;  that  is,  musicians, 
dancers,  etc.  A  third  connects  it  with 
the  Cangar  tribe  in  the  Punjab.  It  is, 
however,  certain  that  the  Germans  re- 
ceived the  name  from  the  Czechs,  who 
took  it  from  the  Magyars ;  the  latter 
got  it  from  the  Roumanians,  who  again 
borrowed  it  from  the  Bulgarians.  The 
name  "  Zigeuner "  became  general  only 
in  Eastern  Europe  and  Italy  (zingari)  ; 
other  names  were  used  by  the  West 
Europeans.  The  Modern  Greek  Tuphtes, 
the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  Gitano, 
the  Flemish  Egyptenaer,  the  English  gipsy, 
are  all  forms  of  the  title  Egyptian.  On 
their  arrival  in  Central  Europe  the  gipsies 
announced  themselves  to  be  Egyptians, 
whence  their  name  "  pharao  nepe " 
(Pharaoh's  people),  still  in  use  among  the 
Magyars.  In  the  Low-German  speaking 
countries  the  gipsies  were  originally  known 
as  Suyginer,  Zigoner,  or  even  "  Hun- 
garians," and  afterwards  as  "  Tatern  "  or 
Tartars ;  in  France  they  were  called 
-,.    p  Bohemiens,    as   they  came 

f  fh  '°  **^  *  from  Bohemia  with  letters 
Bohemian  King  g^  .  Protection  from  King 
bigismund  of  Hungary  and 
Bohemia.  Since  the  time  of  the  appear- 
ance of  the  gipsies  in  Europe,  the  flood 
of  theories  respecting  their  origin  and 
descent  has  mounted  high.  After  the  in- 
teresting linguistic  essay  of  Andrew  Boorde 
in  1542,  one  of  the  earliest  dissertations 
"  de  Cingaris  "  is  to  be  found  in  the  work 
of  the  Netherland  Hellenist  Bonaventura 
Vulcanius,  "  De  Hteris  et  lingua  Getarum  " 
(Leyden,  1542) ;  Job  Ludolf  also  paid  some 


THE    STORY    OF    THE    GIPSIES 


I 


attention  to  their  vocabulary  in  the  com- 
mentary to  his  "  Ethiopian  History " 
published  in  1691.  The  majority  of 
scholars  agree  that  the  name  of  the  sect 
of  the  Athinganer,  the  untouched,  or  those 
of  another  faith,  has  been  transferred  to 
the  gipsies  (cingani).  Others  looked  for 
their  origin  in  Zeugitana,  or  Carthage,  a 
province  formed  under  Diocletian  and 
Constantine.  Others,  again,  identified 
them  with  the  Zygians,  Canaanites, 
Saracens,  Amorites  and  Jews,  or  regarded 
them  as  the  descendants  of  Chus,  the 
son  of  Cham  (Genesis  x.  6). 

The  Hungarian  chronicler  Pray  made 
a  nearer  guess  at  the  truth  in  considering 
their  first  home  to  have  been  the  former 
Seljuk  kingdom  of  Rum  (Iconium),  as  the 


In  the  little  town  of  Fiirstenau  was  a 
gravestone,  erected  on  the  vigil  of  St. 
Sebastian  (19th  January),  1445,  to  the 
deceased  "  noble  lord  Sir  Panuel,  duke  of 
Egypt  Minor  and  lord  of  the  stag's  horn 
in  that  country."  The  coat  of  arms  upon 
the  stone  displayed  a  golden  eagle 
crowned,  and  above  the  tilting 
helmet  a  crown  with  a  stag. 
Another  monument  with  a  fan- 
tastic coat  of  arms  existed  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Backnang  in  Wiirt- 
emberg  dated  1453,  to  the  "  noble  count 
Peter  of  Kleinschild." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  gipsies  had 
leaders,  and  that  those  who  live  in  tents 
have  leaders  at  the  present  day  ;  these 
leaders  have  a  dstinctive  sign,  such  as  an 


Fant&stic 

Gipsy 

Monuments 


AN    ENCAMPMENT    OF    THE    FIRST    GIPSIES    IN    CENTRAL    EUROPE 

From  an  engraving"  by  Jacques  Callot  in  i6o4»  now  in  the  Dresden  Cabinet  of  Engravings. 


gipsies   call   themselves   Rom.     On   their 

first  appearance  many  assumed  that  they 

were    pilgrims    from    Egypt,    who    were 

performing    a    seven    years'    penitential 

pilgrimage,  in  expiation  of  the  refusal  of 

their  ancestors  to  receive  the  infant  Christ 

in  Egypt  when  he  was  fleeing  from  Herod 

,  with  his  parents.      These  and 

t^^^  *  J-    similar  legends  are  related  at 
of  Nomadic   .,  -    j        1  j     • 

-,  ..  the  present  day  by  wandering 

gipsy  tribes  in  Hungary  and 

in  the  Balkan  territories.     Here  we  have 

an  explanation  of  the  tenacious  adherence 

to    the    belief    in    their    Egyptian    origin. 

The  gipsy  leaders  also  contributed  to  the 

spread    of    this    belief ;  after    1400    they 

styled   themselves    "kings,"  "dukes,"  or 

"  counts  of  Egypt  Minor,"  and  appeared 

as  rulers  of  distinction  in  every  district. 


embroidered  cloak,  cloth,  or  goblet.  The 
several  tribes  of  the  nomadic  gipsies  are 
also  social  units  in  so  far  as  they  are  under 
the  government  of  one  voivode.  In  practice 
they  are  nowhere  tolerated  in  large  hordes, 
and  have  consequently  broken  up  into 
smaller  independent  communities  or 
societies  ("  mahlija,"  from  "  mahlo  "  = 
friend),  under  individual  chieftains,  the 
"  schaibidso."  In  important  cases  these 
leaders  appeal  to  the  decision  of  the  voivode, 
who  may  be  spending  his  time  with  one  or 
another  tribe.  The  schaibidso  is  elected 
by  the  tribe,  and  the  voivode  confirms  his 
appointment  by  eating  bread  and  salt  with 
him  in  public ;  he  then  commands  the 
mahlija  in  question  to  regard  the  schaibidso 
as  his  plenipotentiary.  Among  the  nomadic 
gipsies  the  position  of  voivode  is  hereditary 

3105 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


at  the  present  day ;  ii  a  minor  should 
inherit,  the  position  is  occupied  until  his 
majority  by  one  of  his  nearest  relations. 
The  installation  of  a  voivode  is  a  very 
simple  ceremony.  The  voivode  recites  a 
form  of  oath,  and  is  lifted  up  by  his 
tribesmen  while  the  women  throw  crab- 
apple  seeds  upon  him,  to  keep  away  evil 

_.     „  spirits.     The  voivode  among 

The  Home  ,f  j-         •      ■  j.    j.u 

J  ,  the  nomadic  gipsies  at  the 

^.       -,  present  day  occupies  a  posi- 

Gipsy  Tongue    f .  i  •  u  •  i     u 

tion  which  IS  merely  honour- 
able ;  formerly  every  mahlija  paid  him  a 
yearly  tribute  proportioned  to  the  position 
and  the  number  of  its  members. 

Various  investigators  have  been  misled 
by  confusing  the  "  Romany  "  tongue  with 
the  "  thieves'  Latin  "  of  one  country  or 
another.  It  was,  however,  long  suspected, 
and  has  now  been  definitely  proved,  that 
the  home  of  the  gipsy  language — and 
therefore  of  the  gipsies — is  in  the  north- 
west of  India.  It  belongs  to  the  same 
group  as  the  Dardu  languages  spoken  in 
Kafiristan,  Dardistan,  Kashmir,  and  Little 
Tibet. 

The  science  of  comparative  philology 
has  clearly  proved  the  gipsies  to  be  a 
branch  of  the  Hindu  nationality  ;  it  has 
also  shown  us  by  what  route  the  gipsies 
left  India,  and  in  what  countries  their 
migrations  have  been  interrupted  for  a 
longer  or  shorter  period.  The  causes 
which  drove  the  gipsies  to  migration,  and 
the  date  at  which  their  wanderings  began, 
are  shrouded  for  ever  in  obscurity.  It  is, 
however,  tolerably  certain  that  more  than 
one  migration  took  place.  Possibly  we 
have  here  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that 
in  many  countries  where  they  are  now 
naturalised  they  are  divided  into  two  or 
more  castes.  Individual  advances  or  dis- 
ruptions may  have  taken  place  at  an  early 
date,  while  the  first  great  movement  or 
movements  did  not  begin  before  the 
Christian  era.  The  Persian  and  Armenian 
elements  in  the  European  dialects  clearly 
-    ,  show  that  the  gipsies  must  have 

. .  made   their    way   first    through 

the  Arabs  '-Armenia  and  Persia,  and  have 
remained  a  considerable  time  in 
those  countries.  They  entered  Persia 
under  the  Sassanid  dynasty,  and  were 
given  the  marshy  districts  on  the  Lower 
Euphrates  as  a  settlement.  They  readily 
made  common  cause  with  the  Arab  con- 
querors ;  but  after  the  death  of  the 
Caliph  Mamun  in  833  they  left  their 
settlements,  and  disturbed  the  country  b)? 

3106 


their  plundering  raids,  until  Ojeif  ibn 
Ambassa  was  obliged  to  bring  them  to 
reason  by  force  of  arms. 

The  Armenian  "  Bosha  "  —  that  is, 
vagabonds — the  gipsies  of  the  Armenian 
faith  (the  Mohammedan  gipsies  of  Asia 
Minor  are  known  as  "  Chingene,"  or 
"  Chinghiane "),  who  are  chiefly  to  be 
found  at  Bujbat  in  the  vilayet  of  Sivas, 
when  not  engaged  in  their  favourite  occu- 
pation of  wandering,  speak  a  language 
which  possesses  an  unusually  sparse  voca- 
bulary— about  600  words  in  all  ;  no  songs 
— but  undoubtedly  belongs  to  the  Indian 
branch  of  the  Aryan  family  of  languages ; 
their  chief  occupation  is  sieve-making. 
Neither  in  Turkish  nor  in  Russian  Armenia, 
whither  part  of  them  have  migrated  since 
1828,  do  they  bring  their  disputes  before 
the  state  tribunals,  but  before  the  council 
of  their  elders,  presided  over  by  the  Altho- 
pakal  (expressly  confirmed  in  oihce  by  the 
Porte ;  formerly  called  Jamadar)  ;  in 
Russian  Armenia  he  is  associated  with 
an  Ustadar  or  secular  caste-chieftain. 
From  Armenia  members  of  the  gipsy 
nationality  may  have  migrated  to  North 
Africa  through  Syria,  and  thence,  though 
-.  .  not  before  the  nineteenth  cen- 
j.  .  tury,  to  the  centre  and  north- 
Q.    .  west  of  South  America,  where, 

following  the  convenient  water- 
ways, they  infest  one  republic  and  town 
after  another  ;  thus  they  visit  Guayaquil 
in  Ecuador  every  two  or  three  years. 
Another  and  stronger  division  entered 
Europe  through  Phrygia  and  Lycaonia 
and  across  the  Hellespont.  Greece  is  to 
be  regarded  as  the  first  European  home  of 
all  the  gipsies  who  are  dispersed  through- 
out Europe,  including  the  Spanish.  There 
is  tolerable  evidence  for  the  presence  of 
gipsies  in  Byzantium  at  the  outset  of  the 
ninth  century  ;  and  in  Crete  in  the  year 
1322  we  hear  of  them  from  the  Franciscan 
Simon  Simeonis. 

About  1398  the  Venetian  governor  of 
Nauplion,  Ottaviano  Burno,  confirmed  the 
privileges  granted  by  his  predecessors  to 
John,  chieftain  of  the  Acingani.  The 
Venetians  allowed  the  gipsies  to  settle  in 
the  Peloponnese  on  payment  of  certain 
dues.  Many  ruins  still  known  as  Typhtocas- 
tron — that  is,  Egyptian  or  gipsy  fortress — 
remain  as  evidence  of  their  occupation. 
German  travellers  in  the  second  half  of  the 
fifteenth  century  report  the  presence  of 
these  "  Egyptian  "  settlers.  In  Corfu 
"  Vageniti  "    were    to    be    found    before 


THE    BREAKING    UP    OF 

From  the  painting  by  Sir  John  Gilbert,  by 

1346  ;  about  1370- 1373  there  was  a 
fully  organised  gipsy  colony,  the  members 
of  which  are  mentioned  as  being  in  the 
service  of  the  barons,  Theodoros  Kavasilas, 
Nicola  di  Donato  of  Altavilla,  and  Bernard 
de  Saint-Maurice.  About  1386  a  "  feudum 
Acinganorum "  was  founded  from  this 
colony,  first  conferred  upon  the  Baron 
Gianuli  di  Abitabulo,  then  in  1540  upon 
the  scholar  Antonio  Eparco,  who  carried 
on  a  correspondence  with  Melanchthon  ; 
in  1563  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Count  Theodoro  Trivoli. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury those  migrations  in  the  Balkan  Pen- 
ini>ula  took  place  in  the  course  of  which 
the  Albanians  occupied  Attica  and  the 
Peloponnese,  while  numerous  Armenian 
families  settled  in  Moldavia  and  many 
Roumanians  migrated  to  the  slopes  of 
Mount  Pindus ;  at  that  moment  a  large 
number  of  the  gipsies  began  to  advance 
into  Wallachia.  They  must  have  been 
settled  in  the  country  by  1370,  for  in  1387 
the  Hospodar  Mircea  the  Old  confirmed  a 
donation  of  forty  Zalassi,  or  tent,  gipsies 

Z98 


A    GIPSY    ENCAMPMENT 

permission  of  the  Corporation  of  utancliester 

made  by  the  last  of  Ills  predecessors,  Layko 
(Vlad  I.),  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Maria  in 
Tismana  (Walladiia  Minor)  and  to  that  of 
St.  Antonius,  "  xia  Vodici  "  and  others. 
When  Wallachia  aftenvards  became  tribu- 
tary to  the  Turks,  the  gipsies  may  have 
begun  to  migrate  in  large  numbers  to 
Transylvania  and  Hungary.  Hence  they 
spread  over  the  wholt^  of  Europe.  It  was 
not  until  1820-1830  that  Alexander  Ghika 
relaxed  the  serfdom  of  the  gipsies  in 
Wallachia,  which  was  finally  abolished  on 
March  3rd,  1856. 

In  the  year  1417  the  first  gipsies 
appeared  in  the  Hansa  towns  on  the 
North  Sea  and  the  Baltic.  They  produced 
commendatory  letters  from  the  Emperor 
Sigismund,  and  repeated  the  story  of  their 
Egyptian  origin  and  their  seven  years' 
penitential  pilgrimage,  and  thus  gained 
the  support  both  of  Church  and  State  sis 
well  as  that  of  private  individuals.  In 
14 18  we  find  them  also  in  Switzerland. 

However,  this  friendly  reception  was  soon 
followed  by  persecution,  in  accordance 
with  the  somewhat  barbarous  spirit  of  the 

3107 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


age.  It  was  not  so  much  the  actual  mis- 
deeds or  the  annoying  presence  of  the 
strangers  as  their  unusual  customs  that 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  authorities. 
It  was  also  to  the  prejudice  of  this  miser- 
able and  harmless  race  that  they  came 
from  districts  more  or  less  in  possession  of 
the  Turks.  They  were  regarded  as  the 
_    ,^    _      .         advance  guard   or   as   the 

^J^^^"•^    spies  of    the    "hereditary 
of  Christianity  s     ^        •  r     ^,     •   -       j         >> 

.  enemies  of    Christendom. 

n  e  m  1  e  s  Xhus,  the  recess  of  1479  of 

the  German  imperial  diet  proclaimed, 
"  with  regard  to  those  who  are  called 
gipsies  and  constantly  traverse  the  land, 
seeing  that  we  have  evidence  to  show 
that  the  said  gipsies  are  the  spies  and 
scouts  of  the  enemy  of  Christianity,  we 
command  that  they  are  not  to  be  suffered 
to  enter  or  to  settle  in  the  country,  and 
every  authority  shall  take  due  measures 
to  prevent  such  settlement  and  at  the 
next  assembly  shall  bring  forward  such 
further  measures  as  may  seem  advisable." 
In  the  following  year  the  diet  of  Freiburg 
declared  the  gipsies  outlaws — that  is  to 
say,  the  murderer  of  a  gipsy  went 
unpunished. 

However,  the  gipsies  were  steadily  rein- 
forced by  new  arrivals  from  Hungary, 
and  these  measures  produced  little  effect. 
In  any  case,  it  was  found  necessary  to 
renew  them  in  the  recess  of  the  diets  of 
1500,  1544,  1548,  and  1577.  On  September 
20th,  1701,  the  Emperor  Leopold  declared 
that  on  the  reappearance  of  the  gipsies 
"  the  most  drastic  measures  would  be  taken 
against  them."  A  worthy  counterpart  to 
this  decree  is  the  regulation  of  the  Count 
of  Reuss,  published  on  Jul}'  13th,  171 1, 
and  made  more  stringent  on  December 
I2th,  1713,  and  May  9th,  1722,  to  the 
effect  that  "  all  gipsies  found  in  the 
territory  of  Reuss  were  to  be  shot  down 
on  the  spot." 

Every  conceivable  crime  was  laid  to  the 
charge    of    the    gipsies ;        among    other 
.  accusations    it   was    said    that 

Q^^^^  they  exhumed  dead  bodies 
Elecution,  t«  satisfy  their  craving  for 
human  flesh.  In  consequence 
of  a  charge  of  this  nature,  forty-five 
gipsies  were  unjustly  executed  in  1782  in 
the  county  of  Hont  in  North-west  Hun- 
gary. The  accusation  is  based  upon  a 
misunderstanding  of  their  funeral  customs, 
in  which  the  strongest  characteristic  of 
gipsy  religious  sentiment,  the  feeling  of 
fear,    is    vigorously    emphasised.      In    a 

3108 


lonely  corner  of  the  village  churchyard  or 
at  the  edge  of  some  secluded  wood  the 
corpse  is  interred,  and  the  spot  is  marked 
with  a  curious  post,  shaped  like  a  wedge, 
the  upper  end  of  which  is  hardly  visible 
above  the  surface  of  the  ground,  while 
the  lower  end  almost  touches  the  head  of 
the  corpse. 

This  custom  is  connected  with  an 
older  use,  now  disappearing,  in  accordance 
with  which  the  relatives  took  away  the 
head  of  the  corpse  after  a  certain  time, 
buried  it  elsewhere  and  drove  the  post 
deep  into  the  earth  in  its  place — solely 
for  the  purpose  of  hastening  the  process 
of  putrefaction.  Only  after  complete 
putrefaction  of  the  body,  according  to 
gipsy  belief,  can  the  soul  enter  the 
"  kingdom  of  the  dead,"  where  it  then 
lives  a  life  analogous  to  that  of  earth. 
Gipsies  may  have  been  surprised  in  the 
performance  of  this  custom,  and  have 
been  consequently  accused  of  eating  the 
corpse. 

By  degrees  the  gipsies  advanced  from 
Germany  over  the  neighbouring  parts  of 
East  and  Northern  Europe.  They  entered 
_^   ,  Poland    and    Lithuania    in 

...  the  reign  of  Vladislav   II. 

Gipsy  **  Kings "  Jagellon.  In  1501  King 
Alexander  I.  granted  a 
charter  to  Vasil,  the  "woyt  cyganski." 
Th3  diet  of  1557  ordered  the  expulsion  of 
the  strangers,  and  this  decree  was  repeated 
in  1565,  1578,  and  1618.  The  gipsies, 
however,  found  life  in  this  country  very 
tolerable.  They  were  governed  by  a  leader 
of  their  own,  whose  position  was  confirmed 
by  the  King  of  Poland  and  by  Prince 
Radziwill  in  Lithuania.  The  last  of  these 
gipsy  "  kings  "  was  Jan  Marcinkiewicz, 
who  died  about  1790,  and  was  recognised 
as  "  king  "  in  1778  by  Karol  Stanislaw 
Radziwill.  In  1791  they  were  given 
settlements  in  Poland. 

At  the  outset  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  gipsies  entered  Finland  and  also  the 
north  of  Russia.  Catharine  II.  put  an 
end  to  their  nomadic  existence  by 
settling  them  on  the  crown  lands,  with  a 
guaranteed  immunity  from  taxation  for 
four  years.  Many  of  them  are  living  in 
Bessarabia,  at  Bjelgorod,  and  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Taganrog ;  but  these 
South  Russian  gipsies  generally  came  into 
the  country  through  Roumania,  and  not 
by  the  circuitous  route  through  Poland. 
They  met  with  far  worse  treatment  in 
Sweden  ;  the  first  mention  of  them  in  that 


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3109 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


country  belongs  to  1572.     In  1662  they 

were  banished  by  a  royal  decree  which 

ordered  the  execution  of  any  gipsy  who 

returned.     A  Moravian  decree  of  1599  is 

couched  in  similar  terms.     Christian  III. 

of  Denmark,  where  the  strangers  had  been 

known  since  1420,  issued  a  decree  ordering 

them   to  leave  the  country  within    three 

T^t.    xxr     ,  months.   After  Frederick  II. 

Ihe  W&nderers  ,     j       •,         ,    j    .i,-  j 

.    r     1     J  had  reiterated  this  order  in 

in  England  ^         ^^  i 

.  c  .,  J  I  SO  I,  Denmark  was  soon 
and  Scotland         r'^     ^     r  xi         •    ^      j 

freed  from  the  intruders. 
More  fortunate  was  the  fate  of  those 
scattered  bodies  who  reached  England 
about  1450  and  Scotland  about  1492  ;  in 
spite  of  their  proscription  by  Henry  VIII. 
in  1531,  and  the  decrees  of  his  daughters 
Mary  and  Elizabeth,  their  numbers  in- 
creased considerably.  They  were  subject 
to  a  "  king  "  from  the  Lee  family  ;  the  last 
of  these,  King  Joseph  Lee,  died  in  1884. 
In  1827  a  society  was  formed  in  England 
to  improve  the  position  of  the  gipsies. 

In  most  of  the  Romance  countries  the 
gipsies  met  with  an  unfriendly  reception 
so  soon  as  they  arrived.  In  1422  they 
entered  Italy  (Bologna),  but  abandoned 
the  country  in  a  few  years,  as  the  clergy 
opposed  them  both  in  word  and  deed. 
The  band  which  appeared  in  France  in  1447 
was  allowed  only  five  years  of  peace. 
When  the  gipsies  plundered  the  little 
town  of  La  Cheppe  in  the  north-east  of 
Chalons-sur-Mame,  they  were  driven  out 
by  the  peasants.  In  scattered  bodies  they 
travelled  about  the  country  until  1504. 
The  first  decree  of  banishment  was  then 
issued  against  them,  and  was  repeated  with 
greater  stringency  in  1539.  Their  exter- 
mination by  fire  and  sword  was  decreed 
by  the  Parliament  of  Orleans  in  1560,  and 
was  actually  carried  out  by  Louis  XIII. 
and  Louis  XIV. 

Only  a  small  proportion  of  the  gipsies 
were  able  to  find  refuge  among  the 
Basques,  who  had  been  visited  by 
individual  gipsies  as  early  as  1538.  But 
g    .  ,  in  the  night  of  December  6th, 

Farurable  ^^^^  the  gipsies  in  that 
jj  ..  country  were  taken  prisoners, 
with  few  exceptions,  by  the 
order  of  the  prefect  of  the  Basses  Pyrenees 
and  shipped  to  Africa.  In  Spain  a  band 
of  gipsies  appeared  near  Barcelona  in  1447, 
and  met  with  a  favourable  reception.  They 
suffered  little  or  no  harm  from  the  decree 
of  banishment  issued  by  Ferdinand  'the 
Catholic  in  1499  and  repeated  in  1539, 1586, 
1619,  or  from  the  prohibition  of  Philip  IV. 

3HO 


in  1633,  extended  in  166 1  and  1663,  against 
their  use  of  their  own  language  and  their 
nomadic  habits.  Greater,  from  another 
point  of  view,  was  the  influence  of  the 
.regulations  of  Charles  III.,  of  September 
I9th,4783.  To  those  gipsies  who  renounced 
the  use  of  their  "  gerigonza "  (gipsy 
language),  wandering  habits,  and  dress, 
this  decree  granted  toleration  ;  it  threw 
open  all  offices  to  them,  and  allowed  them 
to  practise  any  trade,  thereby  furthering 
the  process  of  denationalisation.  In 
Southern  Spain  they  continue  a  highly 
satisfactory  existence  at  the  present  day. 

Hungary  and  Transylvania  formed  the 
second"  resting-place,  and  in  a  sense  the 
new  home  of  the  gipsies  in  Europe.  They 
must  have  reached  these  countries  shortly 
after  1400,  for  as  early  as  14 16  gipsies 
from  Hungary  are  found  in  Moravia, 
Bohemia,  and  Silesia,  and  in  the  rest  of 
Germany  in  1417.  Those  who  wandered 
to  Germany  brought  letters  of  commenda- 
tion from  the  Hungarian  Palatine  Nicholas 
Gara  to  Constance,  where  the  Emperor 
Sigismund  was  staying  at  that  time  ;  he 
was  thus  induced  to  grant  them  the  charter 
„  .  previously     mentioned  —  its 

^  .  existence  is  confirmed  by  a 

to  the  Gi  ■  letter  of  the  Hungarian  Count 
Thurzo  of  the  year  16 16.  The 
gipsies  who  were  left  in  Hungary  and 
Transylvania  enjoyed  certain  privileges, 
like  the  Roumanians  and  Jews  who  pos- 
sessed no  land,  as  "  serfs  of  the  king,"  in 
so  far  as  their  settlement  upon  private 
property  was  conditional  upon  the  royal 
consent.  As  armourers  they  also  enjoyed 
the  special  favour  of  the  ecclesiastical  and 
secular  authorities.  Thus,  on  September 
23rd,  1476,  King  Matthias  allowed  the 
town  of  Hermannstadt  to  employ  the 
gipsies  upon  necessary  works ;  and  on 
April  8th,  1487,  he  ordered  the  voivode  to 
leave  undisturbed  those  gipsies  who  had 
been  conceded  to  the  people  of  Hermann- 
stadt. 

In  1496,  Vladislav  II.  granted  a 
charter  to  the  voivode  Thomas  Polgar, 
whereby  he  and  his  people  were  to  be  left 
unmolested,  as  they  were  then  preparing 
munitions  of  war  for  Sigismund,  Bishop  of 
Fiinfkirchen.  As  in  Poland,  the  dignity 
of  gipsy  king  had  been  conferred  upon 
nobles  before  1731,  so  also  in  Transylvania 
and  Hungary  the  ruler  chose  the  chief 
voivode  of  the  gipsies  from  the  ranks  of  the 
nobility.  In  Transj'lvania  the  position 
was  usually  occupied  by  one  nobleman, 


THE    STORY    OF    THE    GIPSIES 


and  at  times  by  two.  In  Hungary,  on  the 
other  hand,  there  were  always  four  chief 
voivodes,  whose  seats  were  Raab,  Leva, 
Szatmar,  and  Kaschau.  The  gipsies  were 
under  their  jurisdiction,  and  were  obUged 
to  pay  a  poll-tax  of  one  florin  a  year. 
Under  Peter  Vallou,  who  was  made 
chief  voivode  of  Transylvania  by  Prince 
George  Rakoczy,  and  even  allowed  to 
take  the  oath,  the  position  was  abolished 
by  law. 

From  the  date  of  their  first  appearance 
in   the   Theiss   and   Carpathian   districts, 

[the  gipsies  were  especially  famous  as 
musicians.  In  this  capacity  they  found 
employment  at  the  courts  of  the  princes 
and  magnates ;  in  1525  they  were  even 
"  installed  "  at  the  national  assembly  of 
Hatvan  as  musicians.  Their  yearning, 
heartrending  melodies,  composed,  as  it 
were,  of  passionate  sighs,  are  played  with 
incomparable  purity,  certainty  and  feel- 
ing. Soon  this  romantic  people  acquired 
a  privileged  position  among  the  Hun- 
garians ;  noble  and  citizen,  peasant  and 
student,  alike  delighted  in  the  sound  of  a 
gipsy  violin.  These  poetic  nomads  remain 
one  of  the  most  interesting  features  both 
of   the  Hungarian  plains  and 

-  „    :™     .of  the   Transylvanian  forests. 
as  Poets  and  t^,  ^  •'  c  ,  ■ 

^     .  .  Ihe     fame     of     such     gipsy 

Musicians  t^  t-.     1 

musicians  as   Barna,   Berkes, 

Bihari,   Patikasus,   Racz,  Salamon,  or  of 

the   female   violinist   Zinka    Panna,    soon 

extended  far  beyond  the  frontiers. 

Here,  also  in  Transylvania  and  Hungary, 
are  to  be  found  the  truest  lyric  poets 
among  the  gipsies,  men  living  in  joyful 
seclusion  from  the  world,  or  considering 
the  world  only  in  the  light  of  their  own 
experience.  The  existence  of  a  ballad 
poetry  among  the  gipsies  had  long  been 
denied,  without  due  consideration  of  the 
fact  that  a  people  of  such  high  musical 
talent  could  not  fail  to  possess  a  store  of 
ballads. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  anything 
more  perfect  than  these  lyrics,  which  are 
to  be  found  among  th3  wandering  gipsies 
of  Hungary  and  tie  Balkan  territories 
by  those  who  will  take  the  pains  to  search. 
The  authorship  of  these  songs  is  unknown  ; 
they  come  forth  from  the  people,  and 
remain  a  national  possession.  One  poetess 
only  has  left  250  gipsy  poems  in  writing,  the 
Servian  wandering  gipsy,  Gima  Ranjicic, 
who  died  in  1891.  Beauty  and  educa- 
tion were  the  curse  of  her  life.  A  reader 
of  her  poems  published  in  a  German  trans- 


lation can  reconstruct  a  life  of  suffering,  of 
desperate  struggle,  and  unfulfilled  hope. 
Beyond  this,  the  intellectual  achievements 
of  the  gipsies  are  few.  Whether  the 
Madonna  painter  Antonio  de  Solari, 
known  as  II  Zingaro  (about  1382-1455),  is 
to  be  accounted  a  gipsy  is  a  matter  of 
doubt.  The  gipsy  women  earn  a  fair 
Money  in  ^"^o^"*  ^^  money  by  the  practice 
Fortune-  °^    incantations,    fortune-telling, 

Telling  ^^^^  P^^^'  ^"^  *^^  ^^^^'  ^^^  enjoy 
a  reputation  among  the  villagers 
as  leeches  and  magicians.  In  the  beiief 
of  this  outcast  people  there  are  women, 
and  sometimes  men,  in  possession  of 
supernatural  powers,  either  inherited  or 
acquired.  Most  of  the  female  magicians 
(chohalji ;  also  known  as  "  good  women," 
latche  romni)  have  been  trained  by  their 
mothers  from  early  childhood,  and.  have 
inherited  the  necessary  prestige.  They 
play  a  considerable  part  in  all  the  family 
festivals  of  the  wandering  gipsies. 

In  other  countries  these  restless  strangers 
have  been  forced  to  settle  down ;  but 
most  of  the  gipsies  in  Hungary,  in  the 
Balkans  (the  Mohammedan  Zapori),  and 
in  America  continue  their  nomadic 
existence  at  the  present  day,  almost 
invariably  within  the  limits  of  one  country 
or  nationality  ;  hence  they  are  able  to 
maintain  their  ancient  customs  more  or 
less  unchanged.  But  in  these  countries  the 
governments  have  taken  a  truly  benevolent 
interest  in  the  gipsies,  and  have  done  their 
best  to  make  them  a  civilised  race.  Thus, 
by  a  regulation  of  November  13th,  1761, 
the  Queen-empress  Maria  Theresa  ordered 
the  name  "  gipsy  "  to  be  changed  to  that 
of  "  new  Hungarian "  (in  Magyar,  «/ 
magyarok)  and  the  gipsies  to  be  settled 
in  the  Banate.  The  authorities  built 
them  huts,  and  gave  them  seed,  and  even 
cattle  ;  but  as  soon  as  the  supplies  were 
consumed  the  objects  of  this  benevolence 
started  again  upon  their  wanderings.  Only 
a  small  body  remained  and  became  a  settled 
Tt.  itr  *  A  industrial  community.  On 
The  Wasted  N^^gj^bg^       29th,       1767, 

Benevolence  of     ,,  ^,  ■' ■  ■,' 

^    .    _,.  Maria  Theresa   issued  an- 

Maria  Theresa        .,  ,  ,    •  , 

other  and  more  stringent 

edict,  to  the  effect  that  the  gipsy  children 
were  to  be  taken  away  and  brought  up  by 
"  Christian  "  people  at  the  expense  of  the 
state,  while  the  marriage  of  gipsies  was 
absolutely  prohibited.  This  edict  pro- 
duced little  or  no  effect  in  comparison  with 
the  trouble  involved.  On  October  gth, 
1783,  Joseph  II.  issued  a  "  general  regula- 

3111 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


tion "  containing  the  following  severe 
conditions  :  gipsy  children  were  not  to 
run  about  naked  in  public  places,  and  were 
to  be  taken  early  to  school  and  to  church. 
All  children  above  four  years  of  age  must 
be  redistributed  every  two  years  among 
the  neighbouring  communities  in  order  to 
secure  diversity  of  instruction.  Adults 
were  strictly  prohibited  from  wandering  ; 
even  the  settled  gipsies  were  only  to  visit 
the  yearly  market  under  special  super- 
vision. They  were  forbidden  to  trade  as 
horse-dealers.  The  use  of  their  language 
was  forbidden  under  a  penalty  of  twenty 
strokes,  and  intermarriage  was  strictly 
prohibited. 

In    the    first    half    of    the    nineteenth 


1870.  Little  effect  was  produced  by  the 
decree  of  the  Hungarian  ministry  of  the 
interior  prohibiting  vagrancy,  issued  on 
July  9th,  1867.  The  Archduke  Joseph, 
who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  nomadic 
gipsies,  settled  several  families,  but  in  less 
than  ten  years  they  had  all  deserted  their 
new  home.  The  gipsies  have  a  kind  of 
"  residence "  in  Debreczin,  formerly  a 
pure  Magyar  town.  A  few  years  ago  the 
Hungarian  Government  announced  their 
intention  of  taking  the  work  of  settlement 
in  hand  with  greater  seriousness. 

Numbers  of  gipsies  settle  down  every 
year  under  the  pressure  of  circumstances. 
Thus,  not  only  in  Hungary,  but  also  in  the 
other    countries    of    Europe,    with    the 


A    GIPSY    ENCAMPMENT    IN    SCOTLAND 

From  the  painting  by  Fred  Walker. 


century  political  confusion  and  attempts 
to  secure  freedom  so  entirely  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  state  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  deal  further  with  the  gipsy  problem. 
Attempts  to  settle  the  gipsies  were  made 
by  private  individuals.  Bishop  John  Ham 
opened  a  gipsy  school  at  Szatmar  in  1857, 
and  the  priest,  Ferdinand  Farkas,  founded 
an  educational  institution  at  Neuhausel ; 
both  experiments  speedily  came  to  an 
end.  The  efforts  of  the  Servian  govern- 
ment to  put  an  end  to  the  wanderings  of 
the  Mohammedan  tent  gipsies,  or  gurbeti, 
were  more  successful  between  i86o  and 


possible  exception  of  Roumania,  the 
number  of  gipsies  is  decreasing  every  year. 
There  are  now  only  about  12,000  in  the 
whole  of  the  British  Islands.  In  Prussia, 
where  they  were  left  in  comparative  peace 
until  the  ordinance  of  1872,  there  are 
hardly  11,000  ;  noteworthy  are  the  small 
colonies  which  have  survived  in  Lorraine 
from  the  French  period  in  the  parishes  of 
Barenthal,  Wiesenthal,  and  Gotzenbruck. 
To-day  there  may  be  about  nine  hundred 
thousand  gipsies  in  Europe  and  at  least 
as  many  again  in  the  other  continents  of 
the  world.        Heinrich  von  Wlislocki 


3112 


i  MUNGAKY   / 


I 


BEFORE    THE    FRENCH   REVOLUTION 

THE    MAGYARS    IN   THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


I 


fHTHE  district  occupied  by  the  modern 
'  •'■  state  of  Hungai  y  was,  long  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Magyars  (pronounced 
Madyars),  a  beaten  track  for  immigrating 
nations  and  a  battlefield  and  resting- 
place  for  the  most  different  races.  The 
valleys  of  Hungary  breathed  something 
of  the  attraction  of  primeval  life.  Power- 
ful fortresses  rose  at  an  early  period  in 
the  frontier  districts,  protecting  the 
main  roads.  Long  ago  Kelts  and  Thracians 
invaded  these  districts  and  founded  a 
kind  of  civilisation.  The  Romans  then 
occupied  the  west  and  south,  and  in  the 
course  of  two  centuries  created  a  flourish- 
ing community.  The  waves  of  the  great 
migration,  however,  swept  away  the 
Roman  settlers,  together  with  the  few 
barbarians  inhabiting  the  country,  into 
other  districts.  The  Roman  legions  retired 
to  Italy  before  the  advancing  Huns. 

After  the  death  of  Attila,  in  453  a.d.,  his 
kingdom  fell  to  pieces ;  the  Huns  were 
incorporated  with  other  races  and  dis- 
appeared from  the  scene.  Goths,  Gepids 
and  Langobards  now  maintained  their 
position  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  upon 
the  arena  and  destroyed  what  scanty 
remnants  of  Roman  civilisation  had  sur- 
vived. These  Teutonic  hordes 
were  in  their  turn  driven  out 
by  the  Avars,  who  occupied 
the  eastern  frontiers  from  626, 
notwithstanding  their  defeat,  until  the 
Prankish  Emperor  Charles  broke  their 
power'  in  803.  Their  deserted  territory 
was  occupied  by  Slav  nomads  and  some 
Bulgarians,  together  with  the  remnants 
of  the  Avars,  until  the  end  of  the  ninth 
century,  when  it  was  seized  by  the  nation, 


Struggles 
of  Barbaric 
Hordes 


one  of  whose  names  it  was  henceforward 
to  retain.  The  name  "  Hungarian  "  has 
no  connection  with  the  Huns.  Ungari  is 
is  merely  a  variant  of  Ungri  =  Ugri, 
Ugrians. 

Probably  the  Magyars  were  originally 
settled  in  the  south  of  Ingria,  on  the  Isim, 
Irtish,  Cm,  and  in  the  wooded  steppes  ot 
Baraba,  but  at  an  early  period  were 
driven  into  the  districts  between  the 
Q  .  .  Caspian  and  the  Black  Seas, 
nh"^  where  they  settled  between  the 
Ma  ars  ^^^  ^^^  *^^  Kuban,  and  be- 
came a  fishing  people.  On  this 
hypothesis  they  are  a  genuine  branch  of 
the  Ugrian  group  of  the  Mongolian  race,  to 
which  the  Fins  and  the  true  Bulgarians 
belonged.  It  was  the  influence  of  their 
Hun  neighbours  that  first  induced  these 
Ugrians  to  adopt  cattle-breeding,  an 
hereditary  occupation  of  the  Turkish 
nomads.  The  bracing  effect  of  the  dangers 
which  threatened  them  on  every  side  as 
they  pushed  forward  in  the  vanguard  of 
their  race  gradually  changed  their  national 
character,  with  the  result  that  they  were 
eventually  inferior  to  no  Turkish  nation 
in   political   capacity. 

For  a  long  period  the  Magyars  paused 
in  their  migrations  and  settled  in  the 
plains  on  the  Lower  Don,  where  they 
had  their  chief  market  town  in  Karch. 
Muslim  ben  Abu  Muslim  ab-Garmi  (about 
830-845),  and  other  Arabs  constantly 
confused  the  Magyars  with  the  Bashkirs, 
who  resembled  them  in  nationality  and 
name,  and  were  settled  eastward  of  the 
Pechenegs  in  the  steppes  between  the 
Ural  and  Caspian  seas,  bounded  on  the 
north    by    the    Isgil    Bulgarians   on    the 

3113 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Where  the 
Magyars 
Came  From 


Kama ;  to  this  confusion  is  due  the 
hypothesis,  long  vigorously  supported,  of 
a  "  Magna  Hungaria  "  in  South-east  Russia 
as  the  first  home  of  the  Magyars. 

The  truth  is  that  their  district,  which 
lay  upon  the  Maeotis,  bordered  that  of 
the  Alans,  Khazars  and  Bul- 
garians, and  extended  to  the 
Kuban  on  the  north-west  end  of 
the  Caucasus  ;  it  was  known  as 
"  Lebedia  "  to  Constantine  VII.  Porphy- 
rogennetos.  About  833  these  Western 
Turkish  Khazars  found  themselves  so 
oppressed  by  the  Magyars  that  they  ap- 
plied for  protection  to  the  Emperor 
Theophilus.  The  result  was  the  construc- 
tion of  a  fortified  trench 
and  the  building  of  the 
brick  fortress  of  Sarkel 
on  the  Don.  Cut  off 
in  this  direction  by  the 
Khazars,  the  Magyars 
removed  to  the  Lower 
Danube  in  839-840, 
where  they  intervened 
in  the  Bulgarian  and 
Greek  struggles. 

Soon  we  find  them 
loosely  dependent  upon 
the  Khazars.  However, 
when  these  latter,  in 
alliance  with  the  Guzes 
of  the  Sea  of  Aral, 
drove  the  Pechenegs 
from  their  possessions 
between  A  til  and  Jajyk 
this  movement  proved 
unfavourable  for  the 
Magyars,  for  the 
Pechenegs  had  been 
little  weakened,  and 
now  appeared  in  a 
hostile  attitude  upon 
the  Don  ;  the  Magyars, 
therefore,  about  862,  turned  their  backs 
upon  Lebedia,  which  was  henceforward 
closed  against  them,  and  established 
themselves  to  the  west  of  the  Dnieper, 
on  the  Bug  and  Dniester.  This  new 
home  is  repeatedly  referred  to  as  Atel- 
kuzu.  The  khan  of  the  Khazars  was 
equally  hard  pressed,  and  made  a  proposal 
to  Lebedias,  the  first  tribal  chieftain  of  the 
Magyars  in  Chelandia,  to  become  prince 
of  the  Magyars  under  his  supremacy. 
He,  however,  declined  the  proposal. 

Although  hemmed  in  by  the  Khazars 
and  Magyars,  the  power  of  the  Pechenegs 
grew  rapidly.    After  the  years  880-890 

3114 


ARPAD,  THE  LEADER  OF  THE  MAGYARS 
Chosen  by  the  chieftains  as  the  leader  of  their  race, 
by  concluding  a  "blood-treaty,"  each  chief  making 
a  wound  in  his  own  arm  and  drinking  the  blood. 


the  Magyars  found  it  impossible  to  con- 
tinue their  marauding  expeditions  east- 
ward ;  for  this  reason  they  abandoned 
Atelkuzu,  which  had  lost  its  value  for 
them,  and  had  become  absolutely  unsafe 
in  the  east  upon  the  Dnieper,  and  moved 
further  westward  in  889.  This  second 
and  final  forced  movement  of  the  Magyars 
from  the  north  shore  of  the  Black  Sea  is 
of  importance  in  the  history  of  the  world  ; 
driven  forward  by  the  Pechenegs,  and 
also  from  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  which  at 
the  invitation  of  the  Byzantines  they  had 
devastated  in  894,  from  the  Pruth  and 
Sereth,  to  meet  with  expulsion  in  895  from 
the  bold  Bulgarian  Symeon,  the  Magyars 
in  896  pushed  their  way 
like  a  wedge  amid  the 
South  -  east  European 
Slavs ;  here  they  re- 
mained and  developed 
their  civilisation,  and 
for  a  thousand  years 
continued  to  occupy 
this  position. 

The  Magyars  ad- 
vanced into  the  dis- 
tricts of  the  Theiss  and 
Danube,  across  the 
North  Carpathians, 
through  the  pass  of 
Vereczke.  It  is  said 
that  the  chieftains  of 
the  several  races — to- 
gether with  Arpad  and 
his  son  Liuntis,  who 
ruled  the  predominant 
tribe  of  the  Kabars, 
Kursan  is  also  men- 
tioned —  executed  a 
closer  form  of  agree- 
ment upon  this  journey; 
choosing  Arpad  as  their 
leader,  they  concluded  a 
"  blood-treaty  "  by  catching  blood  from 
their  arms  in  a  basin  and  drinking  it.  The 
nomadic  races  who  had  spent  their  pre- 
vious existence  on  the  steppes  of  Hungary 
were  at  once  attracted  by  the  flat  country 
„  .  J  which  surrounded  them  in 
How  Arpad  was  their  new  home  in  Pannonia, 

'•  Bi**a  t'^        "  ^^^^  ^^^  great  expanses,  its 
00  -  rea  y     pgjj^(.j(j  atmosphere,  and  its 

lack  of  colour.  Like  every  steppe  people, 
they  were  accustomed  to  live  in  a  state  of 
warfare,and  depended  partly  upon  the  booty 
which  they  were  able  to  extort  from  their 
settled  neighbours  by  their  bold  cavalry 
raids.    Some  time,  however,  before  their 


TtlE    MAGYARS    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 


appearance  in  the  plains  of  the  Theiss  they 
had  progressed  beyond  the  savagery  of  a 
primitive  race. 

The  occupation  of  this  new  nome  was 
effected  without  diflftcuhy  ;  there  was,  in 
fact,  no  one  to  bar  the  way.  The  scanty 
population  was  soon  incorporated  with 
the  new  arrivals,  who  first  settled  in  the 
plains  of  the  lowlands,  where  they  found 
abundant  pasturage  for  their  herds  of 
horses  and  cattle.  From  this  base  of 
operations  they  then  extended  their  rule 
towards  the  natural  frontiers  of  the  region 
they  occupied.  Their  only  conflicts  took 
place  on  the  north-west,  in  the  district  of 
the  Waag  River,  and  finally  Moravia 
Major  succumbed  to 
their  attacks  in  906. 
The  several  chieftains 
settled  with  their  tribes 
in  the  places  appointed 
to  them,  and  built  them- 
selves castles,  which 
served  as  central  points 
both  for  defence  and 
for  economic  exploita- 
tion. Arpad  himself 
took  possession  of 
Attila's  castle,  in  the 
ruins  of  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  somewhat 
unreliable  Gesta  Hun- 
garorum  of  the  anony- 
mous secretary  of  King 
Bela,  the  Hungarians 
"  held  their  daily  festi- 
vals ;  they  sat  in  rows 
in  the  palace  of  Attila, 
and  the  sweet  tones  of 
harps  and  shawms  and 


Central  Europe  terror-stricken  for  half  a 
century  ;  then,  laden  with  rich  booty  and 
slaves,  they  returned  home  The  Czechs, 
who  had  become  the  neighbours  of  the 
Magyars  after  the  fall  of  Moravia,  often 
suffered  from  their  raids.  On  J  uly  5th,  907, 
Death  *^^  Bavarians  experienced  a 
^j  severe  blow.    After  924  a  Magyar 

Arpad  <^ivision  from  Venice  appears  to 
have  joined  in  a  piratical  raid, 
conducted  by  the  Emir  Thamar  of  Tarsus  ; 
others  made  their  way  to  Galicia  and  An- 
dalusia about  943.  Neither  the  death  of 
Arpad,  in  907,  nor  the  defeat  inflicted  upon 
them  in  933  by  the  German  king  Henry  the 
Fowler  put  an  end  to  their  extensive  raids  ; 
in  934,  in  alliance  with 
or  under  the  rule  of 
some  hordes  of  Peche- 
negs,  part  of  whom  had 
been  converted  to 
Mohammedanism  about 
915,  they  undertook  an 
invasion  of  the  East 
Roman  Empire,  upon  a 
scale  which  reminds  one 
of  the  typical  crusade; 
they  devastated  the 
boundary  fortress  of 
Valandar  and  advanced 
to  the  walls  of  Con- 
stantinople. In  943  and 
948  this  attempt  was 
repeated  upon  a  similar 
scale.  It  was  not  until 
955,  when  they  suffered 
a  dreadful  defeat  at 
Augsburg  and  lost  the 
East  Mark  of  Germany 
for    the    second    time, 


,,  e  ^u        ■  FOUNDER  OF  THE  HUNGARIAN  KINGDOM    ^,      .  .,         ,, 

the  songs  ot  the  smgers  with  the  rule  of  Geza,  great  grandson  of  Arpad.  that      a     Considerable 
sounded  before  them."   t^^!. Magyars  passed  from  nomadism  to  a  settled  transformation      took 

nationality  and  his  son  stetan  I.,  who  reigned  as  •        i       •         n 

Mmstrels   sang  the   ex-   king  of  Hungary  from  997  till  1038,  consolidated  place  in  the  intellectual 
ploits   of   fallen   heroes  '^^  "^'"^"""^  °^  ^'''"^  ^^  ^^"  *^^  ^^^'  ""^'°"-  and   social    life   of   the 


to  the  accompaniment  of  the  lute,  and 
story-tellers  related  legends  of  the 
heroes  of  old. 

The  warlike  spirit  of  the  brave  Hun- 
garians found,  however,  little  satisfaction 
in    this    peaceful    occupation. 

in  Italy  ^99.  921,  924,  941-942,  947  and 
951,  Saxony  in  915,  Central 
and  even  South  Italy  in  the  winter  of 
921  ;  in  922,  926,  and  937  they  raided 
Burgundy  ;  South-west  Franconia  in  924, 
937,  and  951,  and  Suabia  in  937.  Advancing 
upon  their  hardy  steeds  they  ravaged 
and  plundered  far  and  wide.      They  held 


Magyar  nation.  Contact  with  foreigners, 
even  by  way  of  enmity,  and  in  particular 
the  large  immigration  of  foreign  Slavs,  who 
had  amalgamated  with  the  Hungarian 
nation,  had  brought  about  a  new  state 
of  affairs,  and  convinced  the  upper  classes 
that  no  nation  could  live  by  military 
power  alone  in  the  midst  of  peaceful 
nationalities.  The  great  grandson  of 
Arpad.  "the  duke"  Geza  (972  to  997), 
accepted  Christianity.  His  government 
marks  the  point  at  which  the  Hungarians 
passed  from  the  simple  conditions  of  life 
in  their  heathen  nomad  state  to  the  posi- 
tion of  a  settled  nation. 

3"5 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


When  Wajk,  the  son  of  Geza,  who  was 
baptised  as  Stefan  I.,  ascended  the  throne 
in  997,  he  found  the  path  aheady  pre- 
pared ;  in  the  course  of  four  decades  he 
was  able  to  complete  the  work  of  civilisa- 
tion begun  by  his  father,  and  to  secure  for 
Hungary  a  position  among  the  nationalities 
of  Europe.  With  statesmanlike  insight  he 
^  joined,  not  the  Greek,but  the 

_  .  ^"^  „  Roman  Church,  and  thereby 

Brings  Hungary  ,,  ,-  .        / 

.    P^  threw  open  his  country  to 

the  new  intellectual  move- 
ment which  was  beginning  to  stir  the  West. 
His  German  wife,  Gisela,  a  daughter  of  the 
Bavarian  duke  Henry  H.  who  died  in  995, 
was  his  faithful  supporter  in  these  labours. 
The  Pope,  Silvester  H.  (999-1003),  in 
recognition  of  his  services  to  Christianity, 
in  1000  conferred  upon  him  the  dignity 
of  king  together  with  extraordinary  eccle- 
siastical privileges  for  himself  and  his 
successors.  By  the  foundation  of  monas- 
teries and  bishoprics  Stefan  laid  a  firm 
basis  for  the  organisation  of  the  Roman 
Church  in  Hungary.  Many  tribal  chieftains 
certainly  took  up  arms  against  these 
innovations,  but  Christianity  took  firm 
root  after  a  short  time.  In  particular, 
the  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary  was  rapidly 
popularised,  owing  to  her  easy  identifica- 
tion with  their  own  Nagyasszony,  the 
"  mother  of  the  gods." 

King  Stefan  also  introduced  innovations 
in  military,  judicial,  and  economic  insti- 
tutions. He  effected  nothing  less  than  a 
revolution  in  the  domestic  and  public 
hfe  of  his  subjects.  To  him  is  due  the 
division  of  the  country  into  comitates  or 
counties.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  his 
constructive  activity  was  directed  chiefly 
to  works  of  peace,  he  was  forced  on  several 
occasions  to  take  up  arms.  After  a  vic- 
torious campaign  against  the  Pechenegs 
and  Mieczyslav  II.  of  Poland,  the  suc- 
cessor of  Boleslav  Chabri,  he  was  obliged 
to  measure  his  strength,  after  1030,  with  the 
German  emperor,  Conrad  II.,  and  in  the 
peace  of  1031  was  able  to  ex- 
w  *  k  '  f*       ^GT^<i  his  kingdom  westwards 

«,..».,  beyond  the  Fischa  to  the 
Saint  Stefan  ^   <,,  j     -nw        u  t-l 

Leitha    and    Danube.       The 

remainder  of  his  life  the  great  king  spent  in 
mourning  for  the  loss  of  his  son  Emerich. 
On  August  15th,  1038,  the  real  creator  of 
the  Hungarian  kingdom  ended  his  laborious 
existence  ;  deeply  revered  by  his  people, 
he  was  canonised  by  the  Church  in  1087. 
Stefan  the  Saint  was  succeeded  by 
Peter  Orseolo  (1038- 1041  and  1044-1046), 

3116 


Samuel  Aba  (1041-1044),  Andreas  I. 
(1046  to  December,  1060),  and  Bela  I. 
(1060-1063),  whose  daughter  Sophie  is 
regarded  by  the  Askanians,  the  Hohen- 
stauffen,  the  Guelfs,  and  the  Wittels- 
bachs  as  their  common  ancestor.  Then 
followed  Salomon  from  1063  to  1074 — he 
married  in  1063  Judith,  or  Sophie,  the 
daughter  of  the  Emperor  Henry  III. 
and  of  Agnes  of  Poitou — and  Geza  I. 
(1074-1077).  During  this  period  develop- 
ment was  impeded  by  quarrels  about 
the  succession,  and  internal  disturbances. 
The  efforts  of  the  German  Empire  to 
maintain  the  supremacy  which  had  been 
secured  over  Hungary  in  1044  came  to 
an  end  in  1052  with  the  fruitless  siege 
of  Pressburg  undertaken  by  the  Emperor 
Henry  III.  ;  the  campaign  of  Henry  IV. 
in  1074  was  equaUy  unproductive  of 
definite  result.  The  last  efforts  of 
heathendom  were  crushed  with  the  sup- 
pression of  a  revolt  begun  by  the  heathen 
population  under  their  tribal  chieftain 
Vatha,  killed  1046,  and  his  reputed  son 
Janos,  who  died  about  1060. 

St.  Ladislaus    I.    (1077-August    29th, 

1095)    and    Koloman    the   author    (1095- 

1114)  were  able  to  continue  the 

_  *1 "  *      reforming  work  of  Stefan.     To- 

e  orms     ^^j-jjg  ^j^g  gj^^j  Qf   ^-^e  eleventh 

Continued  .  tt  ■    j 

century    Hungary    occupied   an 

important  position  among  the  independent 
states  of  Europe.  St.  Ladislaus,  who 
survived  in  Hungarian  legend  as  a  type 
of  bravery  and  knightly  character,  in- 
corporated the  inland  districts  of  Croatia 
with  his  kingdom,  founded  a  bishopric 
at  Agram  in  1091,  and  divided  his  new 
acquisition  into  counties.  His  successor, 
Koloman,  whose  interests  were  primarily 
scholastic  and  ecclesiastical,  though  he 
also  turned  his  attention  to  legislation, 
subdued  the  Dalmatian  towns  with  the 
object  of  erecting  a  barrier  against  the 
growing  power  of  Venice.  From  this  time 
Croatia  has  remained  a  component  part 
of  the  Hungarian  territory. 

While  the  empire  was  extending  its 
boundaries  westward,  the  eastern  frontier 
was  troubled  by  the  Cumanians.  In 
1091,  when  the  authorities  were  occupied 
with  Croatia,  this  nation  made  a  devasta- 
ting invasion  into  Hungary ;  Ladislaus 
captured  most  of  them  in  two  campaigns, 
and  settled  them  in  the  districts  of  the 
Theiss.  He  did  his  best  to  introduce 
security  of  property.  In  the  momentous 
struggle    between    the     Pope     and    the 


THE    MAGYARS    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 


empire  he  promised  to  support  the  Roman 
Church  against  the  Emperor  Henry  IV., 
but  was  far-sighted  enough  to  take  no 
direct  part  in  the  quarrel.  In  the  year  1192 
he  was  canonised.  During  the  govern- 
ment of  Koloman,  the  first  Crusaders, 
led  by  Count  Emiko  of  Leiningen,  marched 
through  the  land  in  disorderly  array,  and 
were  for  that  reason  driven  beyond  the 
frontier,  while  a  friendly  reception  was 
extended  to  Godfrey  de  Bouillon. 

After  the  death  of  Koloman,  his  weak- 
minded  and  dissipated  son  Stefan  II. 
occupied  the  throne  from  1116  to  1131  ; 
during  his  government  the  Venetians 
recovered  the 
larger  part  of  the 
Dalmatian  dis- 
trict. When  he 
died  without 
issue,  the  Hun- 
garians sub- 
mitted to  Bela  II. 
(1131-1141),  who, 
together  with  his 
father,  Duke 
Almos  of  Croatia, 
had  been  pre- 
viously blinded 
by  King  Koloman 
for  participation 
in  a  revolt . 
Hardly  had  the 
blind  king 
entered  upon  his 
government 
when  the  country 
was  invaded  by 
Borics,  the  son 
of  Koloman  by 
a  Russian  wife, 
Eufemia,      who 


TYPES     OF 


had       been  The  history  of  this  peopK 
race,  dates  back  to  the  six 


divorced       for 


decaying  Byzantine  Empire,  and  was 
attempting  to  make  Greek  influence  oncc 
more  preponderantin  the  BalkanPeninsula. 
As  Hungary  stood  in  the  way  of  his  plans 
Byzantium's  {j^  attempted  to  undermine 

Intrigues  Against  ^^'  ^dependence  by  every 
Hungary  means  m  his  power.  At  the 

instigation  of  Borics  he  in- 
vaded the  south  of  Hungary,  but  was  driven 
back  by  Geza  II.  and  forced  to  make  peace. 
Borics  afterwards  met  his  death  at  the 
head  of  Greek  troops  in  a  conflict  with  the 
Cumanians.     The  Emperor  Manuel  now 
took    the    Dukes    Stefan    and    Ladislaus 
under  his  protection ;    they  had  sought 
refuge  with    him 
after    revolting 
against    their 
brother    Geza  in 
1158.    Under  this 
ruler    took  place 
the     first      great 
migration  of   the 
Germans       to 
Northern    H  u  n  - 
gary    and    Tran- 
sylvania.   On  the 
death     o  f     Geza 
the      Hungarian 
throne    naturally 
fell  by  inheritance 
to  his  son  Stefan 
III.    (1161-1172), 
but    Manuel     by 
means  of  bribery 
secured  the  elec- 
tion of  his  favour- 
ite  Ladislaus  II. 
in    1162.       After 
his    early    death 
the     Emperor 
THE   ANCIENT   MAGYARS  Manuel     brought 

said  to  be  a  branch  of  the  Mongolian  forward  Stefan 
th  century.  They  are  described  as  posses-  t\/  i-Ua  ni-Vtor 
ihaoelv  fitmres.   black  hair  and  eves,  dark    ^''•'       ^"^        Oiaer 


sing-  "regular  features,  shapely  figures,  black  hair  and  eyes,  dark 


adultery.      Borics  complexion,   impulsive  temperament,  and  intense  patriotic  feeling."    brother    of     GcZa, 


was  supported  by  the  Polish  Duke 
Boleslav  III.,  who  was  put  to  flight  by  the 
German  troops  of  the  king. 

On  the  death  of  Bela  II.  his  son  Geza  II., 
who  was  a  minor,  came  to  the  throne  (1141 
to  May,  1161),  and  Borics  then  attempted 
to  secure  the  help  of  the 
Crusaders,  who  were  passing 
through  Hungary.  However, 
the  Emperor  Conrad  and  King 
Louis  VII.  declined  to  support  this 
hazardous  project.  Borics  now  fled  to 
the  Byzantine  Emperor  Manuel.  This 
ruler   had   inspired   further   life   into  the 


Crusaders 


Hungary 


as  an  opposition  king;  Stefan,  how- 
ever, was  speedily  abandoned  by  his  sup- 
porters and  overthrown  by  Stefan  III.  in 
1 164,  in  alliance  with  the  Premyslid 
Vladislav  II.  Manuel  concluded  peace 
with  Stefan  III.  and  took  his  brother 
Bela  to  Constantinople  to  be  educated. 

The  danger  which  Byzantium  threatened 
to  the  Hungarian  Empire  came  to  an  end 
in  1180,  with  the  death  of  the  Emperor 
Manuel  ;  shortly  before  that  date  he  had 
given  Hungary  a  king  in  the  person  of 
Bela  III.  (1172  to  April  20th,  1196),  who 
used  his  Greek  education  solely  for  the 

3117 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


benefit  of  the  people.  Bela  III.  recovered 
the  Dalmatian  districts  and  Syrmia  from 
the  Venetians,  and  occupied  Galicia  for 
some  time.  By  his  marriage  with  Mar- 
garet, the  sister  of  Philip  Augustus  of 
France,  French  customs  were  introduced 
into  Hungary.  Andreas  II.,  the  son  of 
Bela  III.  (1205-1235),  overthrew  his  brother 

Emerich,  who  died  in  the  middle 

"^*^  of  Septembei ,  1204,  and  also  his 

I  t    A      A  ^°^  Ladislaus  III.,  who  died  on 

May  7th,  1205,  in  Vienna,  and 
undertook  a  crusade  on  his  own  account  in 
1217.  On  his  return  home  he  lived  in  a 
continual  state  of  dissension  with  his 
nobles.  After  a  long  struggle,  in  which 
the  malcontents,  under  the  leadership  of 
Benedict  Bor,  otherwise  Bank  ban,  killed 
the  Queen  Gertrude  in  1213,  Andreas  II. 
issued  the  "  Golden  Bull " — a  piece  of 
legislation  of  the  first  importance  to  the 
Hungarian  constitution.  By  this  measure 
he  broke  the  power  of  the  counts  and  gave 
extensive  privileges  to  the  ecclesiastical 
and  secular  nobility  of  lower  rank,  secur- 
ing to  the  latter  a  permanent  influence 
upon  government  legislation  and  adminis- 
tration. 

Under  the  government  of  his  son,  Bela 
IV.  (1235-1270),  the  Mongols  of  Batu 
invaded  the  country  in  March,  1241, 
and  spread  appalling  devastation  for  a 
year.  The  Austrian  duke,  Frederick  II. 
the  Valiant,  the  last  of  the  Babenbergs, 
meanwhile  occupied  the  West  and  plun- 
dered the  treasures  of  Queen  Maria,  who 
had  taken  refuge  with  him.  After  the 
departure  of  the  invading  hordes  the 
king  returned  home  from  Dalmatia,  and 
with  the  help  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John 
soon  restored  prosperity  and  undertook 
a  campaign  against  the  Austrian  duke, 
who  fell,  leaving  no  issue,  in  the  battle  of 
Vienna  Neustadt  on  June  15th,  1246.  Bela 
IV,  now  occupied  his  valuable  heritage, 
but  in  July,  1260,  was  forced  to  divide  it 
with  the  Bohemian  king,  Premsyl  Ottokar 

_  .      .  II.,  and  finally  to  renounce  it 

Bohemian  a-     i         •  xu  r 

_  .    entirely   smce  the  power   of 

uprcmacy  m  ggj^gj^jg^    extended    to     the 

Adriatic  Sea,  and  in  Germany 
the  "dreadful  period  without  an  emperor  " 
of  the  interregnum  had  begun. 

Ladislaus  IV.  (1272-1290),  the  son  of 
Stefan  V.  (1270-1272),  and  a  grandson 
of  Bela  IV.,  helped  the  Hapsburg  ruler  to 
win  a  victory  for  Ottokar  at  Diirnkrut  on 
August  26th,  1278,  and  then  wasted  his 
time  in  dissipation  and  feasting  with  the 

3118 


Cumanians,  to  whom  he  was  related 
through  his  mother,  the  daughter  of  a 
Cumanian  chief.  He  was  hardly  able  to 
expel  the  Tartar  invaders.  On  August 
31st,  1290,  he  was  murdered  by  a  company 
of  his  dearest  friends,  the  Cumanians. 
Rudolf  of  Hapsburg  made  an  unjustifiable 
attempt  to  hand  over  Hungary  to  his  son 
Albert,  as  a  vacant  fief  of  the  empire  ; 
his  real  object,  however,  was  to  secure 
concessions  in  that  quarter. 

The.  male  line  of  the  house  of  Arpad 
became  extinct  after  Andreas  III.  He 
was  recognised  only  by  Dalmatia  and 
Croatia  (1290  to  January  14th,  1301), 
being  opposed  by  Charles  Martel  of  Anjou, 
wl;o  died  in  1295,  a  stepson  of  Rudolf  of 
Hapsburg  and  a  protege  of  Nicholas  IV. 
Under  the  government  of  the  Arpads  the 
Hungarian  nation  had  imbibed  the  spirit 
of  Christian  civilisation,  though  without 
sacrificing  their  natural  interests  on  the 
altar  of  religion.  The  general  policy  of 
the  Arpads  had  been  to  connect  the  deve- 
lopment of  the  Hungarian  nationality  with 
Western  civilisation,  and  to  put  down 
infidelity  and  barbarism  with  the  sword. 
The  country  was  covered  with  churches, 
_    •  J-     -J       ^    monasteries,  and  schools, 

ris  lani  y  an  ^^  which  latter  the  high 
Early  Hungarian        i        i       .     ir 

, ..      .  school  at   Vesspnm  soon 

Literature  ,  ■      .r  ^ 

became    a    scientific    and 

artistic  centre.  No  less  obvious  is  the 
influence  of  Christianity  in  the  most  ancient 
remains  of  Hungarian  literature.  The  first 
book  written  in  the  Hungarian  language 
at  the  outset  of  the  thirteenth  century 
is  the  "  Funeral  Service  with  Proper 
Prayers";  this  service  clearly  reflects 
the  spirit  of  the  nation  whicfi  had  so 
long  wandered  upon  the  storm-lashed 
plains  and  only  a  short  time  before  had 
buried  its  dead  with  their  horses. 

Upon  the  extinction  of  the  male  line 
of  the  Arpads  several  members  of  the 
female  line  came  forward  with  claims  to 
the  vacant  throne.  Charles  Robert,  the 
grandson  of  Maria,  daughter  of  Stefan 
v.,  was  a  member  of  the  Neapolitan  Anjou 
family,  and  had  secured  a  considerable 
following  from  1295,  even  during  the 
lifetime  of  Andreas  III.  ;  however,  the 
Hungarians,  if  we  may  believe  the  some- 
what questionable  traditions  on  the  point, 
elected  the  king,  Wenzel  II.  (Wenceslaus) 
of  Bohemia,  whose  mother,  Kunigunde  of 
Halicz,  was  descended  from  the  family  of 
the  Arpads.  He  did  not  accept  the 
election,  but  handed  over  the  Hungarian 


MARGARET,  QUEEN  OF  HUNGARY,  SETTING  OUT  rwix  i-«l,ESTINE 
The  daughter  of  Louis  VII.,  King  of  France,  Margaret  became  the  second  wife  of  Bela  III.,  and  was  the  means  of 
introducing  into  Hungary  much  of  the  refinement  and  elegance  which,  even  at  that  early  period,  disting^uished  the 
French  court.  After  the  death  of  Bela,  in  Uixi,  Henry  VI.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  determined  upon  sending  an  army 
to  aid  the  Crusaders  in  Palestine,  and  at  the  head  of  the  troops  furnished  by  Hungary,  Margaret,  the  youthful  widow, 
set  out  in  person.     Margaret  was  not  destined  to  return  from  her  voluntary  expedition,  as  she  died  in  Palestine. 


crown  to  his  son,  Wenzel  III.,  who 
assumed  the  name  of  Ladislaus  V.,  as 
king  in  1302. 

However,  the  party  of  Charles  Robert 
caused  Ladislaus  so  much  trouble  during 
his  stay  in  the  country  that  he  returned  to 
Bohemia  in  1304.  The  party  of  Wenzel 
now  elected  Otto  III.,  Duke  of  Lowei 
Bavaria  (1305  to  1308),  whose  mother, 
Elizabeth,  was  also  a  descendant  of  the 
house  of  Arpad.  While  upon  a  visit  to 
Transylvania  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Transylvanian  voivode,  Ladislaus  Apor,  in 
1307  ;  after  spending  a  year  in  captivity  he 
secured  his  freedom,  abdicated  the  crown, 
left  the  country,  and  died  in  1312. 

By  means  of  the  intervention  of  the 
Pope,  Charles  Robert  was  chosen  king ; 
he  was  able  to  secure  the  predominance 
of  the  house  of  Anjou  in  Hungary  for 
nearly  a  century.  He  proved  an  admirable 
ruler,  who  not  only  kept  the  oligarchy 
.   _  in  check,  but  also  improved  the 

With  Italian  prosperity  of  Hungary  by  the 
^  .  introduction    of     a    reformed 

s^'stem  of  defence  and  of  agri- 
culture ;  he  also  brought  the  nation  into 
immediate  contact  with  Italian  civilisa- 
tion. He  secured  the  crown  of  Poland 
to  his  son  and  successor,  Lewis,  and  the 
crown  of  Naples  c  ame  under  his  influence 
by  the  marriage  of  his  other  son,  Andreas. 


Lewis 

the 

Great 


On  the  death  of  Charles  Robert  his  son 
Lewis  I.  came  to  the  throne  (1342  to 
1382),  and  Hungary  secured  a  highly 
educated  and  knightly  ruler,  to  whom 
she  gladly  gave  the  title  of  "  the  Great." 
Lewis  introduced  a  beneficial  innova- 
tion by  a  regulation  which 
obliged  the  territorial  serfs  to 
pay  a  ninth  of  the  products  of 
their  fields  and  vineyards  to 
the  nobility,  in  order  that  these  might 
the  more  easily  be  able  to  fulfil  the  heavy 
obligation  of  supplying  troops  for  military 
service  ;  by  prohibiting  the  alienation  of 
noble  lands  from  the  families  which  owned 
them,  this  Angevin  introduced  the  Hun- 
garian custom  of  aviticitas — that  is,  heredi- 
tary succession.  To  this  reform  Lewis  the 
Great  owed  his  brilliant  military  successes. 
His  attention  was  soon  claimed  by  the 
confusion  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  where 
his  brother  Andreas  had  been  murdered 
by  his  own  wife,  Joanna  I.,  in  1345.  Lewis 
appeared  in  Naples  with  a  large  army  at 
the  close  of  1347,  conquered  the  town,  and 
inflicted  punishment  upon  the  supporters 
of  his  sister-in-law,  who  fled  to  Provence. 
This  victory  of  the  Hungarian  arms  in 
Naples  considerably  raised  the  prestige 
of  Lewis  throughout  Europe.  Owing  to 
the  opposition  of  Pope  Clement  VI.  he 
was  unable  to  take  permanent  possession 

3119 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


of  the  conquered  territory,  but  the  long 
stay  which  he  made  in  Italy  (1347,  1348- 
1350)  had  a  great  influence  upon  the 
education  of  his  nobles.  In  two  cam- 
paigns, 1356  and  1358, 
he  humbled  the  republic 
of  Venice,  and  finally  re- 
conquered Dalmatia  from 
Quarnero  to  Durazzo. 
For  a  short  period  (1365- 
1369)  he  also  occupied 
part  of  Bulgaria.  It  was 
under  his  government 
that  Christian  Europe 
was  first  threatened  by 
the  Turkish  advance  into 
the  Balkan  Peninsula ; 
this  advance  he  pre- 
vented in  1366  for  some 
time.  To  secure  his  dy- 
nasty and  extend  it,  he 
betrothed  his  daughter, 
the  heiress  Maria,  to 
Sigismund  of  Luxemburg, 
a  younger  son  by  a  fourth 
marriage  of  the  German 


ever,  in  Hungary  Maria  was  forced  to  deal 
at  once  with  certain  revolted  noble 
families,  who  called  to  the  throne,  in  1385, 
King  Charles  III.,  the  younger  of  Durazzo, 
from  Naples.  This  An- 
gevin king  was  crowned 
as  Charles  II.,  and  after 
a  reign  of  thirty  -  six 
days  was  assassinated  on 
February  24th,  1386. 
The  nobles  took  Maria 
prisoner,  and  her  mother 
Elizabeth  they  strangled. 
Maria's  husband,  Sigis- 
mund of  Luxemburg, 
appeared  at  the  right 
moment  in  Hungary  with 
a  Bohemian  army  of 
Wenzel  to  free  his  consort 
from  imprisonment,  and 
the  regency  was  entrusted 
to  him  at  the  close  of 
March,  1387.  While  these 
disturbances  undermined 
the  power  of  Hungary 
LEWIS  THE  GREAT  from    withiu,    the  Otto- 


Emperor  Charles  IV.;  his  j;i^-5e'?*&Tf;om""^^^^^^^  mans     were     continuing 

other    daughter,    Hedwig,    besides  greatly  extending  the  power  and  tem-    their      COnnUCStS     in 
,     ,       ,,       1,      TTr-ii-  tory  of  his  country,  advanced  its  civilisation,     -r-.    n  t->       •         i 


was  betrothed  to  William, 
Duke  of  Austria.  Both,  however,  died 
without  children.  Lewis  did  not  secure 
possession  of  the  crown  Of  Poland  until 
1370  ;  his  power  now  extended  from  the 
Baltic  to  the  Adriatic,  and  for  a  time 
even  to  the  Black  Sea.  These  acquisi- 
tions of  territory  increased  his  prestige 
and  his  influence 
among  the  states 
of  Europe,  but 
contributed  very 
little  to  the  con- 
solidation of  the 
Hungarian  king- 
dom owing  to 
the  undisciplined 
nature  of  the 
Polish  nobility 
and  the  favourit- 
ism of  his  mother 
Elizabeth.  As 
Lewis  I.  had  no 
sons,  his  daughter 
Maria  (1^82  to 
1385) 


the 
Balkan  Peninsula.  In 
1389  the  fate  of  Servia  was  decided. 
In  1393  the  fortress  of  Widdin  fell,  the 
house  of  the  Sismanids  of  Tirnovo  was 
overthrown,  and  Bulgaria  became  an  Otto- 
man province.  Sigismund  then  turned 
for  help  to  the  Christian  states  of  Western 
Em  ope.      However,    his    splendid   army. 

half  composed  of 
Hungarians,  was 
destroyed  at 
Nicopoli  by  the 
Turks,  with  the 
loss  of  more  than 
50,000  men . 
South  Hungary 
soon  became  a 
desert.  Sigis- 
mund then  found 
himself  entangled 
in  a  long  and 
fruitless  war  with 
Venice  for  tne 
possession  of 
Dalmatia.     As 


QUEEN    MARIA    AND     HER     CONSORT    SIGISMUND 
These  old  woodcuts    represent    Maria,  the  daughter  of  Lewis  the 
_    _             ascended    Great,  and  hei  husband,  Sigismund  of  Luxemburg.     The  latter,  who  German  Empcrcr 
,u~^j.T-    i  ri.         was  also  German  Emperor,   was  made  regent  of  Hungary  in  1387.   ,  .        ,  ,        ,-     ^ 

the  throne  after  his  attention  was 


his  death,  but  was  unable  to  maintain 
her  position.  Poland  fell  into  the  hands 
of  her  sister  Hedwig,  who  had  become 
the  wife  of  Jagellon  of  Lithuania.     How- 

3120 


long  occupied,  after  1410  and  141 1,  by 
ecclesiastical  difficulties.  By  the  burning 
of  the  reformer,  John  Huss,  the  Hussite 
heresy   was   widely   spread   in   Bohemia, 


THE    MAGYARS    IN    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 


and  the  devastating  influence  of  the 
movement  extended  also  to  Northern 
Hungary. 

After  a  reign  of  fifty  years  Sigismund 
died  and  left  the  throne  to  the  husband 
of  his  daughter  Elizabeth,  Albert  of 
Austria.  Under  his  government  (1437- 
1439),  Hungary  nearly  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Turks,  and  was  saved  from  de- 
struction only  by  John  or  Janos  Hunyadi, 
Baron  of  Szolnok  and  Count  of  Temesvar  ; 
he  was  one  of  the  most  capable  generals 
and  noblest  figures  in  the  Magyar  nation. 
After  the  unexpected  death  of  Albert, 
disturbances  broke  out  at  home  and 
abroad.  One  party  of  the  nobles  chose 
Vladislav  HI.  of  Poland,  while  another 


deceived  by  the  optimism  of  the  papacy, 
broke  the  treaty,  l^he  result  of  this  rash- 
ness was  his  total  defeat  at  the  battle 
of  Varna  on  November  loth,  1444,  where 
Vladislav  and  Cardinal  Giuliano  Cesarini 
lost  their  lives.  During  the  minority  of 
Hunyadi  ^^^  Ladislaus  V.  Posthumus, 
Chosca  as  Hunyadi  was  chosen  regent  of 
Regent  empire,    and   ruled    from 

June  5th,  1446,  to  Christmas, 
1452.  He  devoted  superhuman  efforts  to 
checking  the  aggrandisement  of  the  nobility 
and  the  advance  of  the  Turks.  After  the 
capture  of  Constantinople  bands  of  Turks 
appeared  beiore  Belgrade.  Owing  to  the 
enthusiastic  preaching  of  the  Minorite, 
John  of   Capistrano,    the   people   joined 


THE  HISTORIC  CASTLE  OF  JOHN  HUNYADI,  THE  GREAT  HERO  OF  HUNGARY 


offered  the  crown  to  Ladislaus  (Posthu- 
mus), the  son  of  Albert,  born  after  his 
death  on  February  22nd,  1440.  These 
quarrels  about  the  succession  came  to  an 
end  only  upon  the  death  of  the  queen 
widow,  Elizabeth,  on  December  iqth,  1442. 
In  the  end  Vladislav  I.  secured  iccognition 
J.  ,  (1442-1444).      The  brilliant' 

.,.''°^*. '  \  successes  which  Hunyadi  had 
Victories  Over       .       ,  .  u     t-     1  ^.i. 

.    ^    .  gamed  over  the  Turks  on  the 

occasion    of   their   incursion 

into  Transylvania  and  South  Hungary  in 

1442    inspired    the    king    to    attack   the 

enemy  in   his  own  country  in  1443  :   he 

was   defeated,    and    forced    to    conclude 

the  peace  of   Szegedin  in  the    middle  of 

1444.     A  few  days  afterwards  Vladislav, 


the  army  of  Hunyadi  in  such  numbers 
that  he  was  able  to  relieve  Belgrade 
with  great  rapidity  (July  21st,  1456).  The 
whole  of  Europe  was  delighted  with  this 
brilliant  feat  of  arms.  However,  on 
August  nth  John  Hunyadi  ended  his 
heroic  life.  The  memory  of  this  great  man 
was  but  little  honoured  by  King  Ladislaus. 
Persuaded  by  the  calumnies  of  the  dead 
man's  enemies,  he  executed  his  son  Ladis- 
laus, who  had  murdered  the  influential 
Count  Ulrich  of  Cilli  in  Belgrade  ;  the 
other  son,  Matthias,  he  took  with  him  into 
captivity  in  Prague.  After  the  sudden 
death  of  King  Ladislaus  V.,on  November 
23rd,  1457,  shortly  before  the  arrival  of 
his  consort,  Isabella  of  France,  Matthias 

3121 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


returned  home,  and  was  placed  upon  the 
throne  by  the  nobility  on  January  24th, 
1458.  Thus  the  short  connection  between 
Hungary  and  Bohemia  again  terminated 
for  the  moment.  The  thirty-two  years  of 
the  reign  of  King  Matthias  Hunyadi  (1458- 
„  ,      1490),  known  as  Corvinus,  from 

Hunyadi  s     ^^^  ^^^^  ^f  ^^^^^  ^g  ^^ie  second 
Able  Son  on  pgj..^^  of   prosperity    and   the 
the  Throne    ^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^  independence  on 
the  part  of  Old  Hungary.     With  an  iron 
hand  Matthias  secured  peace  at  home  by 
the  stern  punishment   of    the    rebellious 
nobles,  and  by  making  the  grant  of  offices 
and    dignities     conditional     upon     good 
service.    His  government 
is  a  series  of  military  and 
political     successes,     ac- 
companied  by  a  steady 
advance    in    intellectual 
and    economic    progress. 
The  Hussite,  John  Giskra, 
who  had  occupied  almost 
all   the    fortified    posses- 
sions in  Upper  Hungary, 
recognised  the  power  of 
the  young  king  and  came 
over   to    his     service   in 
1462.      Matthias  became 
entangled  in  the  changing 
vicissitudes  of  a  long  war 
with    the     Emperor 
Frederick  HI.,  who  had 
been  joined  by  the    dis- 
satisfied     nobles ;       the 
struggle  was  brought  to 
an  end  between  1485  and 
1487  by  the   permanent 
conquest   of    Vienna,    of 
Austria  below  the  Enns, 
and  some  parts  of  Styria. 
The  troubles  in  Bohemia 
were  satisfactorily 
teiminated    by   the  con- 
ventions of  Ofen  and  Olmiitz  on  September 
30th,    1478,    and   on    July  21st.     1479 ; 
these    secured    to     Corvinus    the     title 
of  King  of  Bohemia,  and  gave  him  posses- 
sion of  Moravia  and  the  duchies  of  Silesia 
and    Lausitz.     He    undertook    a    great 
expedition  against  the  Turks,  who  marched 
triumphantly   into   Breslau   and    Vienna. 
When  they  invaded  Transylvania  he  sent 
Count  Paul  Kinizsi  of  Temesvar  to  help  the 
Voivode  Stefan  Bathori ;  they  defeated  the 
enemy  on  the  Brotfeld  at  Broos  on  October 
13th,   1479.     Under   the  government    of 
Corvinus    the    Turkish    danger    lost    its 
threatening  character  for  some  time  ;    by 
3122 


the  organisation  of  a  standing  army,  the 
"  Black  Squadron,"  which  maintained 
good  discipline,  he  created  a  military 
power,  the  admirable  organisation  of 
which  acted  as  a  strong  barrier  against 
the  storm  advancmg  from  the  south. 

At  that  period  the  new  spirit  of  human- 
ism was  potent  at  the  king's  palace  at 
Ofen,  in  the  castles  of  the  bishops,  and  in 
the  high  schools.     Matthias  was  entirely 
under  its  influence.     The  movement  of  the 
renaissance  found  an  enthusiastic  recep- 
tion and  a  ready  support,  not  only  in  the 
saats  of  Dionys  Szechy  and  John  Vitez, 
the    ecclesiastical    princes    of    Gran    and 
Grosswardein,  but  also  at 
the  king's  court.     Italian 
masters,  including   Bene- 
detto  da   Majono  (1442- 
1497),  built  and  decorated 
a  royal  palace   in  which 
historians,     poets,      and 
rhetoricians      assembled. 
The   prothonotary,  John 
of  Thurocz,  continued  his 
"  Chronicum  pictum  Vin- 
dobonense  "  to  the  year 
1464,  while  Antonio  Bon- 
fini,      the      "  Hungarian 
Livy,"  who  died  in  1502, 
wrote  the  king's  history, 
and     Martino     Galeotti, 
who   died    in  1478,    col- 
lected his  decrees. 

Among  the  circle  of 
scholars  who  gathered 
round  Corvinus,  a  Euro- 
pean reputation  was  won 
by  Marsilio  Ficino  and  by 
the  later  Bishop  of  Fiinf- 
HUNYADi,  THE  HERO  OF  HUNGARY  kirchcn,  Janus  Panuouius, 

John,  or  Janos,  Hunyadi  was  the  saviour  of  ii-jf}!  Hie  T  a  fin  pnirc 
hiscountry.asit  was  due  to  his  military  prow-  ,*''!  '"=*  J-.d.Liii  cpn-s, 
ess  that  Hungary  was  saved  from  the  Turkish  elcgieS,  and  epigrams, 
yoke  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,   j^j^^^     Matthias     had    OUe 

of    the    most     famous    libraries    of    his 
time,    the   "  Corvina,"    containing   about 
3,000  manuscripts  and    60,000   volumes; 
it    was   carried    off    by   the    Turks,  and 
a  few  scanty  remnants  of  it  now  existing 
weie  sent    back    from    Stam- 
boul   in  1869  and  1877.     The 
period  which  ended  with    the 
death  of  this  second  Hunyadi 
was  indeed  a  brilliant  age.      Its  influence 
was  transmitted  to  the  minds  of  the  com- 
ing generation,  and  facilitated  the  transi- 
tion to  the  Reformation,  which  in  Hungary 
found  minds  prepared  to  receive  it  by  the 
intellectual  culture  of  that  age. 


Brilliant 
Age  of 
Corvinus 


199 


3123 


HISTORY     OF    THE    WORLD 


Death  of 
the  Great 
Corvinus 


On  April  6th,  1490,  King  Matthias  died 
at  Venice  at  the  age  of  fifty.  The  creation 
of  a  powerful  Danube  kingdom,  which  the 
genius  of  the  great  Corvinus  had  brought 
to  pass,  proved  to  be  of  a  transitory 
nature.  He  had  married  twice,  but  there 
were  no  children  either  by  his 
first  wife  Katharina  Podiebrad, 
or  by  the  second,  Beatrice  of 
Aragon,  whose  praises  are  sung 
by  Bonfini.  With  the  consent  of  the 
nobles  he  therefore  designated  bis  natural 
son,  the  Duke  John  Corvinus,  as  his  suc- 
cessor. Seduced  from  their  promises  by 
the  intrigues  of  Queen  Beatrice,  the 
ecclesiastical  and  secular  dignitaries  elected 
to  the  throne  the  Bohemian  King  Vladis- 
lav, a  member  of  the  familyof  the  Jagiells 
or  Jagellon  family;  his  younger  brother, 
John  Albert,  who  had  been  brought 
forward  during  his  minority,  gave  up  his 
claim  on  February  20th,  1491,  in  return 
for  compensation  in  Silesia. 

Beatrice  had  supported  the  election 
of  Vladislav  in  the  hope  that  she 
would  marry  the  king,  who  was  still  a 
bachelor,  but  in 
this  she  was  en- 
tirely deceived. 
The  great  nobles 
were  tired  of  the 
iron  rule  of  Mat- 
thias, and  longed 
for  a  weak  king 
under  whom  the 
power  of  '  their 
families  could  be 
extended  as  they 
pleased. ,  From 
this  point  of 
view  Vladislav 
II.  (1490-1516) 
fully  realised 
their  hopes  ;  he 
lived  at  Ofen,  a 
mere  figurehead. 


Terrible 
Revolt  of  the 
Peasants 


owners,  was  secretly  aiming  at  the  throne  ; 
in  1505  he  induced  the  estates  to  decree 
that  they  would  not  again  elect  a 
foreigner  in  case  Vladislav  should  die 
leaving  no  male  heir.  To  secure  his  family 
interests  Vladislav  in  1515  made  a  con- 
vention with  the  Emperor  Maximilian 
regarding  the  succession,  and  betrothed  his 
son  Lewis  to  the  Archduchess  Maria,  the 
emperor's  granddaughter,  and  his  daughter 
Anna  to  the  Archduke  Ferdinand. 

A  short  time  before — in  1514 — a  terrible 
revolt  of  the  peasants  had  broken  out 
under  the  leadership  of  George  Dozsas. 
Zapolya  caused  the  "  belliger  crucife- 
rorum  "  (leader  of  the  Crusaders)  to  be 
burnt  upon  a  red-hot  iron 
throne,  and  reduced  the 
country  to  a  state  of  apparent 
peace".;  but  the  misery  and 
distress  of  the  common  people  had  risen 
to  a  high  pitch.-. 

After  the  death  of  King  Vladislav,  the 
throne  was  occupied  by  his  son  Lewis  II., 
then  ten  years  of  age  (1516-1526) ;  during 
his  minority  the  affairs  of  state  were 
conducted  by  a 
regency  of  three. 
In  the  midst  of 
the  disastrous 
party  struggles 
which  were  con- 
tinually fostered 
by  Zapolya,  the 
ambassador  o  f 
Suleiman  ap- 
peared in  Ofen 
and  offered  peace 
on  condition  that 
Hungary  should 
pay  the  yearly 
tribute  to  the 
sultan.  The  de- 
mand was  refused 
and  the  emissary 
imprisoned. 


KING    MATTHIAS    AND     BEATRICE     OF    ARAGON 

who     with    his    Matthias,  the  greatest  son  of  John   Hunyadi,  died  in  1690  after  a  thoUgh    UO    mca- 

nnKlpc  r-nrriaA  rtn     brilliant  reign,  though   he  had  not   succeeded   in  creating  a    great  cnrc^c  wrf^rt^    i-oVf^n 

nODies  carriea  on    Danube  kingdom.     Beatrice  was  his  second  wife,  and  he  left  no  heir.  SUrCb  Were    IdKCn 

the 


the    government 

and  bought    peace  from  foreign  enemies 

at  the  price  of  disgraceful  conditions. 

The  Roman  Emperor  Maximilian  recon- 
quered Vienna  and  the  Austrian  terri- 
tories. The  great  nobles  laid  heavy 
burdens  upon  the  towns  and  serfs,  and 
made  them  feel  inexorably  the  weight 
of  their  recovered  power  and  dominion, 
the  same  time  John  Zapolya,  Count 
of   Zips,    one    of   the    richest    territorial 

3124 


to  protect 
frontier.  When  Suleiman  invaded  the 
country  in  1526,  Lewis  II.  was  able  to 
bring  only  a  small  army  against  him. 
The  disaster  of  Mohacs,  on  August  29th, 
cost  the  childless  king  his  life  and  put  an 
end  to  the  unity  of  the  Hungarian  state. 
Suleiman  captured  Ofen,  devastating  the 
country  far  and  wide,  and  marched  home 
in  October,  retaining  only  Syrmia,  to 
secure  his  possession  of  Belgrade. 


THE  HAPSBURG  POWER  IN  HUNGARY 

AND    THE    SPREAD    OF    PROTESTANTISM 


HARDLY  had  the  Turks  retired  when 
disputes  about  the  succession  broke 
out.  One  portion  of  the  nobihty  chose 
John  Zapolya  as  king  on  November  loth, 
1526  ;  the  remainder,  on  the  ground  of  the 
compact  concerning  the  succession  which 
they  had  conckided  with  Vladislav,  raised 
the  Archduke  Ferdinand,  a  brother  of 
Charles  V.  and  king  of  Bohemia,  to  the 
throne  on  the  i6th  and  17th  of  December. 
Ferdinand  appeared  with  an  army  in  the 
summer  of  1527,  captured  Ofen  on  August 
20th,  and  drove  the  opposition  king, 
Zapolya,  to  Poland.  However,  after  the 
retirement  of  Ferdinand,  Zapolya  returned 
with  the  help  of  Suleiman,  conquered  Ofen, 
and  accompanied  the  sultan's  advance 
to  the  walls  of  Vienna  on  September  21st, 
1529.  The  attempt  of  the  Turk  to  conquer 
Vienna  was  unsuccessful.  However, 
Zapolya  was  able  to  secure  the  Hungarian 
throne  with   his    help,    while    Ferdinand 

retained  his  hold  only  of 
n^?n^tZtA  f~-  ^^^  countries   bordering  on 

Austria.    Henceforward,  for 


Battlefield  for 
Two  Centuries 


nearly  two  centuries  Hun- 
gary became  a  battlefield  and  the  scene  of 
bloody  conflicts  between  armies  advanc- 
ing from  east  and  west  respectively. 
French  policy,  which  was  working  in  Ger- 
many, Italy,  and  Constantinople  to  under- 
mine the  growing  power  of  the  house  of 
Hapsburg,  induced  the  sultan  to  undertake 
a  second  campaign  in  June,  1532,  against 
Vienna.  On  the  march,  however,  his 
quarter  of  a  million  soldiers  were  stopped 
by  the  seven  hundred  men  of  Nicholas, 
who  held  out  for  three  weeks  before  the 
little  fortress  of  Giins,  so  that  the  Turk 
was  obliged  to  give  up  his  project ;  he 
returned  home,  devastating  the  country 
as  he  went.  This  movement  eventually 
induced  the  two  kings  to  come  to  a  re- 
concihation  on  February  24th,  1538,  at 
Grosswardein.  Each  ruler  was  to  retain 
the  district  which  he  had  in  possession, 
and  after  the  death  of  John  Zapolya 
the  whole  country,  including  that  beyond 
the  Theiss  and  Transylvania,  was  to  be 


inherited  by  Ferdinand  ;   any  future  son 

born  to  the  Magyar  was  to  receive  only 

Zips  as  a  duchy. 

This  peace  was,  however,  dissolved  in 

1539  by  the  marriage  of  John  Zapolya 

with   the    Pohsh    Duchess   Isabella,   who 

bore  him  a  son,  John  Sigismund,  in  1540. 

By  the  help  of  the  Croatian,  George  Utis- 

senich,   known   as  Martinuzzi, 

{ tK    ^^    Bishop  of    Grosswardein,    the 

c    ,»  Queen  Isabella,  who  became  a 

Sultan        '^.j  iii 

widow  m    1540,   was    able  to 

secure  the  recognition  of  her  son  as  king. 
The  Porte  promised  protection.  However, 
on  September  2nd,  1541,  the  sultan  treach- 
erously occupied  Ofen,  and  incorporated 
it  with  his  own  kingdom.  The  little 
John  Sigismund  was  left  by  the  Turks  in 
possession  only  ©f  Transylvania  and  of 
some  districts  on  the  Theiss,  while  the 
northern  and  western  counties  remained 
in  the  hands  of  Ferdinand.  The  latter 
afterwards  secured  the  help  of  Martinuzzi 
in  December,  1541,  under  the  convention 
of  Gyula.  The  Elector  Joachim  II.  of 
Brandenburg  and  the  Duke  Maurice  of 
Saxony  made  an  attempt  to  recover 
Ofen  at  the  end  of  September,  1542,  but 
were  hindered  by  insufficiency  of  means. 
In  view  of  the  threatening  aspect  of  the 
Turks,  Martinuzzi  persuaded  the  queen  in 
1548  to  surrender  her  territory  in  return 
for  an  indemnity.  Isabella  and  John 
Sigismund  came  to  an  agreement  in  155 1 
with  the  Silesian  duchies  of  Oppeln  and 
Ratibor,  while  John  Castaldo,  Ferdinand's 
field-marshal,  occupied  Transylvania,  and 
/\  ¥  t  I.  "  Prater  Georgius  "  was  re- 
Queen  Isabella  warded  with  a  cardinal's  hat. 
Surrenders  a       t?     j-  j' 

_        .  As   Ferdmand  s   army   was 

ory  not  strong  enough  to  dispel 
the  attack,  Martinuzzi  attempted  to  gain 
time  by  negotiating  with  the  Porte.  This 
aroused  the  suspicion  of  Castaldo.  On 
December  17th,  1551,  he  caused  Martin- 
uzzi to  be  treacherously  murdered  in  the 
castle  of  Alvincz  by  the  Marchese  Alphonso 
Sforza-Pallavicini  and  the  private  secretary 
Marcantonio  Ferrari.     In  view  of  repeated 

3125 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


attempts  to  accentuate  the  devotion  of 

the  Austrian  hereditary  territories  and  the 

value  of  the  contingents  offered  by  the 

German  Empire,  it  is  worth  pointing  out 

that  the  very  dexterous  pohcy  of  "  brother 

George  "  was  dangerous  to  Hungary,  inas- 

.       much  as  it  served  to  clear 

.T*"!"' .v""'     the  way  for   the  inevitable 
Under  the  r     ii.       i^      i 

ott  H    1  supremacy    of    the    Turks. 

°'^  ^  Isabellaand  John  Sigismund 

soon  returned  to  Transylvania,  which  now 
became  a  permanent  vassal  state  of  Turkey, 
though  it  received  full  religious  freedom  in 
1557.  Ferdinand,  one  of  the  best  princes 
of  his  age,  could  not  oppose  the  victorious 
advance  of  the  Ottomans,  for  at  that  time 
the  interests  of  the  Hapsburgs  extended 
over  half  Europe,  and  j. 
he  could  not  use  his 
power  against  the 
Porte  alone.  Temes- 
var  fell  in  1552, 
notwithstanding  the 
heroic  defence  of 
Stefan  Losonczi ;  in 
Dregely,  George 
Szondy  died  a  hero's  | 
death,  with  the  whole 
of  the  garrison. 
Castaldo  was  forced 
to  retire  from  Tran- 
sylvania in  1556,  and 
peace  secured  the 
sultan  in  the  receipt 
of  a  yearly  tribute 
from  Ferdinand. 

After  Ferdinand's 
death,  his  son  '  and 
successor    Maximilian 


THE  FAMOUS  CROWN  OF  HUNGARY 


the  services  of  the  Hungarian  nobility, 
who  did  their  best  to  break  away  from  the 
Hapsburgs  'and  lived  in  constant  effort  to 
secure  this  end,  a  sufficient  proof  of  their 
selfishness  is  their  oppression  of  the  lower 
classes,  who  had  revolted  against  the 
Ottomans  in  1572  from  pure  patriotism. 
Stefan's  brother  Christopher  was  succeeded 
in  1586  by  his  son  Sigismund  Bathori. 

Meanwhile  Maximilian  had  died,  and  the 
inheritance  fell  to  his  son  Rudolf  {1576- 
l6o8).  Hungary  was  devastated  under 
his  rule  by  a  Turkish  war,  which  lasted 
fifteen  years  (1591-1606),  while  Tran- 
sylvania was  ravaged  both  by  the  Turks 
and  by  the  armies  of  Rudolf.  Sigismund 
Bathori,  who  had  married  Marie  Christine 
of  Styria  in  1595,  soon 
divorced  her,  and  ex- 
changed his  land  for 
Oppeln  and  Ratibor  in 
1597.  In  1598,  how- 
ever, he  regretted  his 
action.  He  returned 
home,  abdicated  in 
1599  in  favour  of  his 
nephew  Andreas,  and 
retired  to  Poland. 
Rudolf,  who  would 
have  been  glad  to  get 
Transylvania  under 
his  own  power,  incited 
Michael,  the  Voivode 
of  Wallachia,  to  make 
war  against  Andreas 
Bathori,  who  fell  in 
that  campaign.  The 
nobles  then  recalled 
Sigismund  Bathori  in 
l6oi  ;     but     he    was 


(15^4    -^57^)         became    Among- the  historic  crowns  of  Europe  none  has  bad  a 

more  varied  history  than  that  of   Hungary,  known    as    driven  OUt    in  l602    bv 
the  crown  of  St.  Stefan,  the  lower  part  of  it  having  been    ^  -w^     '.       ,-,      <- ' ,  -i 


rop 
entangled    in    the  war    more  varied  history  than  that  of  Hi 

.,,     ?    ,         o-    •  1    the  crown  of  St.  Stefan,  the  lower  pait  ui  »i  u<i»».i6  trccii    „  rt      j.      j^i      n    ^  a 

With  John    Sigismund    given  by  Pope  Silvester  11.  to  King  Stefan.     Fifty  kings    GeorgC  Basta,  the  field 

in  the  very  first  year  ^*^«  ''««"  crowned  with  it  during  a  period  of  800  years,   marshal     of    Rudolf, 


of  his  reign.  The  result  was  a  fresh  cam- 
paign of  the  Turks,  in  the  course  of  which 
Nikolaus  Zrinyi  met  his  death,  with  the 
whole  of  his  garrison,  in  the  fortress  of 
Szigetvar  on  September  7th,  1566.  John 
Sigismund  Zapolya  now  founded  a  princi- 
pality of  Transylvania  under  Turkish 
supremacy,  but  on  the  condition  that  the 
estates  should  on  every  occasion  have  free 
choice  of  their  prince.  After  his  death,  in 
1571,  Stefan  Bathori  (1571-1575),  a  far- 
seeing  and  important  man,  was  placed  upon 
the  new  throne  ;  however,  in  December, 
1575,  he  exchanged  his  throne  for  the  more 
ancient  kingdom  of  Poland,  as  the  husband 
of  the  J  agellon  princess  Anna.     As  regards 

3126 


with  the  help  of  the  Turks.  With  the 
object  of  definitely  getting  the  country 
into  the  possession  of  Rudolf,  Basta  had 
secured  the  murder  of  the  Wallachian 
voivode  inThorenburg,  orTorda,  on  August 
19th,  i6oi,  and  exercised  so  inhuman  a 
despotism  as  governor,  that 
Transylvania  was  brought  to 
the  lowest  point  of  distress.  In 
exasperation  and  despair  the 
nobles,  after  the  suppression  of  a  revolt 
begun  by  Moses  Sz^kely  in  1603,  appointed 
the  Calvinist  Stefan  Bocskay  as  prince  in 
1605,  and  he  soon  occupied  almost  the' 
whole  country,  with  the  help  of  the  Turks. 
Although  the  sultan  recognised  ,  him  as 


The  Peace 
of  Vienna 
Concluded 


THE   HAPSBURG   POWER   IN   HUNGARY 


king,  Bocskay  brought  about  a  reconcili- 
ation with  Rudolf,  and  concluded  the  peace 
of    Vienna    in  June   1606,   with  Rudolf's 
brother  Matthias,  who  had  been  appointed 
governor  in  Hungary  ;  in  accordance  with 
this  agreement  the  constitution  was  to  be 
restored  in  its  old  form, 
and   the   Protestants 
were    to    retain    their 
religious  freedom  undis- 
turbed by  the  untenable 
edicts  which  Rudolf  had 
issued  on  this  subject  in 
1604. 

After  November  of 
the  same  year  the  inter- 
vention  of  Bocskay 
brought  about  tht 
peace  of  Zsitva-Torok 
with  the  Turks.  The 
Turks  retained  the 
districts  which  they 
possessed  at  that  time, 
but  Hungary  was  no 
longer  to  pay  tributr 
after  one  final  instal- 
ment of  200,000  florins 
Bocskay  survived  tlu 
conclusion  of  the  peace 
of  Vienna  only  for  a 
short  time  ;   he  died  on 

n^r^PmKf^r    \>r^ih       rAn^        JOHN     ZAPOLYA,     KING    OF    HUNGARY 

JL/tCemoer     _9in,     lOOO.  Zapolya  was  chosen  king  by  the  nobles  in  1526,  but 

This    arrangement,  was  ousted  by  the  King  of  Bohemia.      In  1529, 

"  ■,,r;*-1^^,,4-    -.^■^^i-.A:^^    +^  however,  with   the  aid  of  Suleiman,  the  Turk,  he 

WlinOUt   prejUQlCe    to  restored  himself,  and  held  the  throne  until  his  death. 


appearance  of  Luther,  performed  a  remark- 
able service  in  fostering  the  spirit  of  union. 
During  the  piteous  strife  of  contrary  inter- 
ests it  spread  so  rapidly  in  the  course  of  a 
century  that  it  overran  almost  the  whole 
nation.  In  the  stern  theology  of  Calvin, 
which  the  nation  called 
the  "Hungarian  Faith," 
the  people  found  the 
support  which  saved 
them  from  collapse. 
From  the  time  of  the 
liitroduction  of  Chris- 
tianity," says  the 
Hungarian  writer  on 
aesthetics,  Zoltan 
l^cothy,  "  the  Protes- 
tant movement  was  the 
hrst  great  enlightening 
influence  which  passed 
over  the  whole  nation. 
The  apostles  of  the  new 
faith  appeared  in  hun- 
dreds, the  messengers 
of  a  more  penetrating 
and  more  national 
culture."  The  Protes- 
tants founded  numerous 
M  hools  and  printing- 
piesseSjWhich  published 
tlie  first  Magyar  gram- 
mars, dictionaries  and 
histories.  To  this  period 
belong  the  whole  series 


QUEEN    ISABELLA  NIKOLAUS    ZRINYI  STEFAN    BATHORI 

Isabella  was  the  wife  of  John  Zapolya  and  mother  of  King  John  Sigismund,  and  Zrinyi  was  a  Magyar  leader  who  met 
his  death  at  the  hands  of  the  Turks  at  Szigetvar  in  1566.     Bathori  exchanged  the  throne  of  Transylvania  for  Poland. 

of  translations  of  the  Bible,  among  which 
that  by  Kaspar  Karolyi  obtained  a  reputa- 
tion which  has  remained  undiminished 
from  that  psriod  rght  up  to  the  present 
day.  In  the  course  of  this  intellectual  move- 
ment,  there  appeared  in  1565,  a  year  after 

3127 


the  Catholics,"  far  from  bringing  the  wars 
of  religion  to  an  end,  rather  tended  to 
exasperate  partisan  feeling. 

In  these  difficult  times  of  degeneration, 
Protestantism,  which  had  made  an  entry 
into    Hungary    immediately    after    the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


the  birth  of  Shakespeare,  the  first  dramatic 
production  of  Hungarian  hterature,  under 
the  title  of  "  The  Treachery  of  Melchior 
Balassa,"  probably  composed  by  Paul 
Karadi,  which,  with  biting  satire  and  poetic 
vigour,  described  the  life  of  a  noble  given 
over  to  the  sins  of  that  age.  Literature 
was  circulated  through  the  country  not 
only  by  the  clergy,  but  also  by  wandering 
minstrels,  who  passed  from  castle  to  castle, 
and  from  place  to  place,  and  sang  their 
songs  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  lute 
or    viohn.     Of    them,  the    most    highly 


Reformation.  A  Protestant  who  had  been 
converted  by  the  Jesuits,  Peter  Pazmany 
(1570-1637),  Archbishop  of  Gran  from  1616 
and  Cardinal  from  1629,  was  a  zealot  in 
the  cause  of  conversion,  and  was  specially 
successful  among  the  high  nobility.  By 
his  sermons  and  pamphlets,  which  he 
collected  in  his  "  Kalauz,"  or  "  Hodegeus  " 
("  guide  "),  as  his  great  work  was  called, 
he  converted  many  nobles  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith.  In  1635  he  refounded  the 
Jesuit  University  at  Tyrnau,  which  was 
burnt  down  in  the  sixteenth  century ;  this 


THE    DESTRUCTION    OF    SZIGETVAR     BY    THE    TURKS     ON    SEPTEMBER    7th,     1566 
This    picture  of   the   assault  in  which   Nikolaus   Zrinyi  was  killed  is  taken   from   a   woodcut   of  the  period. 


educated  Wcis,  perhaps,  Sebastian  Tinodi 
(about  1510-1557),  whose  historical  songs 
and  rhymed  chronicle  recount  the  whole 
history  of  those  years  of  warfare  and 
distress.  The  heroic  and  careless-minded 
knight,  Valentin  Balassy  (1551-1594),  was 
the  first  great  Hungarian  lyric  poet  whose 
"  Blumenlieder  "  were  to  be  revived  two 
centuries  later.  Romantic  poetry  at  that 
time  entered  upon  a  peculiar  period  of 
prosperity  in  Hungary.  Under  Rudolf's  suc- 
cessor, Matthias,  whose  reign  lasted  from 
i6o8  till  1619,  began  the  Catholic  Counter- 

3128 


was  afterwards  changed  into  the  High 
School  of  Budapesth.  The  Reformation 
in  Hungary  seemed  doomed  to  collapse. 

Only  in  Transylvania  was  Protestantism 
strong  enough  at  this  period  to  check 
the  progress  of  the  Counter-Reformation 
and  to  protect  the  Protestants  who  were 
persecuted  in  Hungary.  When  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  broke  out  under  Ferdinand  H. 
(1619-1637),  the  successor  of  Matthias, 
the  throne  of  Transylvania  was  occupied 
by  Gabriel  Bethlen  (1613-1629),  the  suc- 
cessor to  Gabriel  Bathori  (1608- 1613)  ;  to. 


THE    HAPSBURG    POWER    IN    HUNGARY 


him  Protestantism  in  Hungary  and  Tran- 
sylvania is  indebted  for  its  preservation. 

When  the  Bohemians  revolted  against 
Ferdinand  II.  in  1619,  Bethlen  espoused 
their  cause,  and  brought  the  greater 
part  of  Hungary,  including  the  crown, 
into  his  power.  On  January 
8th,  1620,  he  was  appointed 
king  in  Neusohl,  and  was  also 
recognised  by  the  Porte  at 
the  price  of  the  sacrifice  of 
Waitzen  on  November  5th, 
1621.  However,  on  January 
6th,  1622,  he  concluded  peace 
with  Ferdinand  II.  at  Nikols- 
burg,  for  the  power  of  the 
Hapsburgs  had  increased  con- 
siderably since  the  battle  of 
the  White  Mountain. 

Soon,  however,  he  again 
took  up  arms  against  Ferdi- 
nand,   as    the    ally    of    the 


George  Rakoczy  I.  (1631-1648),  a  son  of 
that  Sigismund  Rakoczy  who  had  been 
prince  of  Transylvania  from  February, 
1607,  to  March  3rd,  i6o8.  After  a  series 
of  difficulties  at  home  and  abroad  he  was 
forced  to  take  up  arms  against  King 
Ferdinand  III.  (1637-1657),  in 
the  interest  of  Hungarian 
Protestantism.  In  September, 
1645,  the  contending  parties 
concluded  peace  at  Linz,  and 
a  full  measure  of  religious 
toleration  was  secured  to  the 
Protestants  ;  this  agreement 
was  an  advance  upon  that  of 
Nikolsburg,  in  so  far  as  the 
concessions  formerly  made  to 
the  nobihty  were  now  extended 
to  the  citizens  and  serfs. 

Rakoczy  died  on  the  day  of 
the  proclamation  of  the  Peace 
of  Westphaha,  and  was  suc- 


^  KING    FERDINAND    II.  ,     ,      ,  ,  •  r- 

German  Protestant  prmces.  This  Hapsburg  ruler  of  Bohemia  ceeded  by  his  son  George 
He  was  induced  by  the  victory  ''^^^^^^^^,^^tt^^^lGlhr\€i  Rakoczy  II.  (1648-1658).  In 
of  Tilly  over  the  allies  of  the  Bethien,  joining  with  the  Bohe-  1653  he  secured  the  supre- 
"  Winter  King"  to  renew  the  "i*"*- =»e^"'-«d  part  of  Hungary.   ^^^^  ^^  Moldavia,  and  that 

of  Wallachia  in  1654,  after  the  death  of 
Matthias  Basarab,  as  Constantine  Basarab 
then  submitted  to  him.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  wasted  his  strength  in  1657  in  a 
fruitless  war  against  Poland  as  the  ally 
of  Charles  X.  of  Sweden.  He  was  conse- 
quently deposed  by  the  Turks,  and  died 
on  June  6th,  1660,  of  the  wounds  he  had 

received  at 
Szamosfalva  on 
the  22nd  of  May. 
The  Grand  Vizir 
placed  Franz 
Rh6dey  on  the 
throne  in  Novem- 
ber, 1657,  and, 
upon  his  speedy 
abdication,  in- 
stalled Achatius 
Barcsay  in 
November,  1658. 
The  latter,  how- 
ever, was  ex- 
pelled  by  John 

GEORGE    RAKOCZY    "  ^  J     J 


peace  on  the  8th  of  May,  1624,  and  was 
even  desirous  of  marrying  a  daughter  of 
Ferdinand,   in   order   to   unite  his  power 
with  that  of  the  Hapsburgs  against  the 
Turks.     Catholic  influence  prevented  this 
project,  and  Bethlen  married  Katharina, 
a  sister  of  the  Elector  George  William  of 
Brandenburg.      In    thd    year    1626    he 
advanced       for 
the    third    time 
against  the  brave 
Mans  feld  ;     as, 
however,    ,  King 
Christian  IV.  of 
Denmark      was 
also  defeated  by 
Tilly,   he    finally 
concluded  peace 
with    Ferdinand 
on   December 
28th,    at    Press- 
burg.      After     a 
reign   of    fifteen 
years,     he     died 

Without  children    Though  Bethien.  King  of  Transylvania,  succeeded  against  Ferdinand.    J^emeny.  Against 

on     N  O  V  ember    with  the  aid  of  Bohemia,  he  was,  later,  glad  to  make  friends  with  the    him  the  VlZir  All 

Hapsburgs.  George  Rakoczy  1 1,  ruled  Transylvania  from  1648  till  1658. 


GABRIEL    BETHLEN 


X5th,  1629  ;  he 
was  the  greatest  prince  of  Transylvania, 
and  largely  forwarded  the  progress  of 
culture,  science  and  education. 

After  Stefan  Bethlen  had  made  an  un- 
successful attempt  at  the  regency,  the 
TransyLvanians    chose    as    their    prince 


set  up  an  op- 
position prince  on  September  14th,  1661, 
in  the  person  of  Michael  Apafi  (1661-1690). 
After  a  rule  of  one  year  Kemeny  fell,  on 
January  24th,  1662,  at  Nagy-SzoUos,  near 
Schassburg.  As  Transylvania  grew  weaker, 
Hungarian  Protestantism  was  hard  beset 

3129 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Hungarian 
Protestant 


from  day  to  day,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
Turks  were  extending  their  conquests  and 
occupying  the  most  important  fortresses 
in  Upper  Hungary  and  in  the  Austrian 
territories.  Under  the  son  and  suc- 
cessor of  Ferdinand  III.,  the  strict 
CathoHc,  Leopold  I.  (1658-X705),  the 
distress  of  the  country  began  to  reach  its 
zenith.  In  those  troubled  times 
the  greatest  figure  of  Hungar- 
ian Protestantism  was  Albert 
Szsnczi  Molnar,  who  wrote  his 
Hungarian  Grammar  and  Dictionary  at 
German  universities,  and  translated 
psalms,  which  he  set  to  French  tunes, 
a  setting  used  at  the  present  day  in 
the  Calvinistic  Churches  of  Hungary. 
In  the  battles  of  that  year  a  conspicuous 
figure  is  Nikolaus  Zrinyi  (1616-1664),  a 
great-grandson  of  the  hero  of  Szigetvar  ; 
he  composed  an  epic  poem, 
"  The  Peril  of  Sziget,"  in 
which  he  sang  the  exploits 
of  his  great  ancestor,  whose 
military  capacity  had  long 
hindered  the  progress  of  the 
Ottomans.  Leopold's  field- 
marshal,  Raimondo  Monte- 
cuccoli,  won  a  victory  over 
the  Turks  on  August  ist, 
1664,  at  St.  Gothard  on  the 
Raab  ;  but,  in  consequence 
of  the  danger  threatened  to 
his  rear  by  the  Magyars,  con- 
cluded a  peace  at  Eisenburg, 
by  the  terms  of  which  the 


EMERICH    TOKOLY 


the  Turkish  frontier  districts,  whence, 
under  the  name  of  Kurutzen  or  Crusaders, 
they  continually  made  incursions  into  the 
royal  domains.  These  struggles,  how- 
ever, with  the  mercenaries  of  the  foreign 
government  did  not  become  important 
until  1678,  when  Emerich  Tokoly  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  movement. 
With  the  exception  of  some  few  castles 
the  whole  of  the  royal  district  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Tokoly,  who  was  appointed 
Prince  of  Hungary  by  the  sultan,  and 
chosen  king  in  1682  by  the  diet  of  Kaschau, 
an  election  confirmed  by  the  Porte  on 
August  loth,  1683,  The  defeat  of  Vienna 
brought  his  rule  to  a  speedy  end,  and 
Leopold  now  sent  his  armies  into  Hungary 
in  conjunction  with  his  German  allies. 
On  September  2nd,  1686,  the  citadel  of 
Ofen  again  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Chris- 
tians after  one  hundred  and 
forty- five  years  of  Turkish  rule. 
The  grateful  nobles  abolished 
the  elective  monarchy  in  1687, 
and  recognised  the  hereditary 
rights  of  the  house  of  Haps- 
l>urg  by  primogeniture  in  the 
male  line. 

The  Turks  lost  one  district 
after  another ;  and  when  Prince 
Eugene  of  Savoy  had  inflicted 
a  fearful  defeat  upon  them  at 
Zenta,  on  September  nth, 
1697, 'the  Peace  of  Karlovitz 
was  concluded,  by  the  terms 
of  which  Hungary  was  freed 


Turks  retained  possession  of  who  headed  the  movement  against  from   the  Turkish  yoke  with 
all  their  previous  conquests.     Hungary  in  1 678  and  was  appointed  the  exception  of  the  valley  of 
This     disgraceful     retreat  P"n<:e  of  Hungary  by  the  sultan  in  the  Temes  and  part  of  Syrmia. 
stirred    up    exasperation     in  i^^^;  his  speu  of  power  was  short.   Xransylvania    had     been    so 


Hungary,  and  a  conspiracy  was  set  on 
foot  in  1667 ;  the  leaders,  however,  who 
reckoned  on  French  and  Turkish  support, 
the  Counts  Peter  Zrinyi,  Franz  Nadasdy, 
and  Franz  Christopher  Frangepani  were 
executed  on  April  30th,  1671.  Franz 
Rakoczy,  the  son-in-law  of  Zrinyi,  was 
spared,  while  Franz  of  Wesselenyi  died  a 
natural  death  on  March  28th,  1667,  before 
the  discovery  of  the  conspiracy.  The 
Vienna  government  took  advantage  of  this 
occasion  to  overthrow  the  constitution 
and  to  extirpate  Protestantism.  The 
property  of  Protestant  nobles  was 
confiscated,  priests  and  teachers  were 
transported  in  bands  and  served  in  the 
galleys  of  Naples,  whije  executions  and 
condemnations  were  of  daily  occurence. 
Thousands  fled  to  Transylvania  and  to 

3130 


closely  conjoined  with  Hungary,  on  May 

loth,  1688,  that  Apafi  now  possessed  only 

a  shadow  of  his  former  power.     However, 

the  persecution  of  the  Protestants  and  the 

oppression  of  the  people  still  continued. 

Leopold's    generals,     including    Antonio 

Caraffa,  who   had   secured   Transylvania 

„  _       for  the  Hapsburgs,  after  the 

Hungary  Free  ^^^^^  ^^  ^^^        -^^^  ^    ^^   -^ 

From  the  -;  •      j         •    i_ 

T    ...  V  1     IDQO,  exercised  so  inhuman  a 

Turkish  Yoke    ,  ^      ,  4.1     ^    4.1  1 

despotism,  that  the  general 

exasperation    broke    out   again   in   1703. 

Franz  Rakoczy  II.  (1676-1735),  a  son  of 

the  above-mentioned  Franz  I.,  took  the 

lead  of  the  malcontents.     At  that  time 

Leopold  was  occupied  with  the  War  of  the 

Spanish  Succession,  and  almost  the  whole 

country  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  nobles, 

and  was  declared  independent  on  June  7th. 


THE    RECAPTURE 
For 

important 
zealo       ~ 
Ofe 
monarchy 


OF     THE     CITADEL     OF     OFEN     BY     THE     CHRISTIANS     IN     16S6 


3I3I 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


After  the  death  of  Leopold,  his  son 
Joseph  I.  (1705-1711)  undertook  the 
government ;  and  the  nobles  then  declared 
at  the  diet  of  Onod,  in  1707,  that  the  throne 
had  passed  from  the  Hapsburgs.  An 
appeal  to  arms  resulted  in  Joseph's  favour 
in  1708.  Rakoczy  fled,  and  his  field-mar- 
shal Karolyi  concluded  peace  with  the 
,  king  at  Szatmar  on  May  ist, 

Dbrr '    ^7"-  ^^^^  *^^^  p^^^^  ^^^ 

„*  ,    ?    ..        momentous  period  of  inter- 
Protestantism  ,      ,  ^       r  u-   i,    i-i, 

nal  struggle,  for  which  the 

high  nobility  were  chiefly  to  blame,  came 
to  an  end. 

The  fact  that  the  Hungarian  nation  was 
not  destroyed  in  the  severe  struggles  of 
those  years,  but  was  able  to  preserve  its 
national  independence,  was  owing  pri- 
marily to  Protestantism,  which  preserved 


DRESSES  OF  HUNGARIAN  SOLDIERS  IN   SIXTEENTH  CENTURY 

From  an  old  wood  engraving  in  "  The  Triumph  of  King  Maximilian  I." 

the  old  native  conceptions  derived  from 
ancient  and  in  part  from  heathen  times, 
and  indeed  almost  justified  their  right  to 
exist  side  by  side  with  new  trains  of 
thought.  As  the  Roman  Church  at  the 
introduction  of  Christianity  interfered  but 
little  in  family  life  and  popular  custom, 
so  also  Protestantism,  as  being  in  close 
sympathy  with  the  idea  of  nationality, 
did  its  best  to  preserve  traditional  use 
and  custom.  In  the  midst  of  religious 
and  political  dissension  at  home  and 
abroad.  Protestantism  placed  national 
unity  above  rehgious  uniformity.  It  was 
rather  a  conservative  than  a  destructive 
force  in  its  influence  upon  ancient  family 
customs,  of  which  many  fragments  have 
survived  from  that  day  to  the  present. 
A  case  in  point  is  the  survival  of  the  old 

3132 


custom  of  buying  and  carrying  off  women 
in  the  modern  Hungarian  ceremonies  of 
wooing  and  marriage  ;  on  the  other  hand, 
the  peculiar  funeral  customs  of  Hungary 
have  been  considerably  modified  by  Chris- 
tian beliefs. 

Tenaciously  clinging  to  these  traditions, 
the  nation  watched  the  One  Hundred 
Years'  War,  which  was  carried  on  by  those 
of  their  number  who  had  been  exasperated 
beyond  bounds  by  the  arbitrary  rule  and 
the  religious  persecution  which  their  king 
had  directed  from  Vienna.  The  war  is, 
as  it  were,  an  epitome  of  the  national 
history  ;  the  splendour  and  the  sorrow 
of  this  period  is  reflected  in  a  rich  and 
brilliant  ballad  poetry,  which  was  inspired 
in  particular  by  the  revolts  of  Tokoly  and 
Rakoczy,  From  the  events  of  his  own 
time  Stefan  Gyongyosi 
(1640-1704)  found  material 
for  those  narrative  poems 
which  remained  popular 
among  the  nation  for  over 
a  century.  Shortly  after 
Descartes,  John  Apaczai 
Cseri,  who  had  been  edu- 
cated in  the  Netherlands, 
came  forward,  between 
1654  and  1655,  as  the  re- 
presentative of  rationalism, 
with  his  "  Hungarian  Ency- 
clopaedia." By  this  work 
he  created  a  Magyar  voca- 
bulary for  philosophy  some 
fifty  years  before  Chr. 
Thomasius  had  done  the 
same  for  German.  At  the 
same  time  there  were  a 
number  of  historians  and 
chroniclers,  such  as  John  Szalardi,  Prince 
John  Kemeny,  Nikolaus  Bethlen  (1642- 
1716),  Michael  Cserei  (1668-1756),  and  also 
tht  narrator  of  ancient  customs,  Peter 
Apor  (1676-1752).  The  most  distinguished 
work  in  the  literature  of  that  time  is 
certainly  the  "Letters  from  Turkey"  of 
Klemens  Mikes  (1690-1762), 
who  shared  the  banishment 
to  Turkey  of  Franz  Rakoczy 
II.,  and  clung  with  moving 
fidelity  to  his  defeated  master  and  to  the 
country  he  had  lost. 

Under  the  government  of  Charles  III. 
(1711-1740)  peace  slowly  began  to  gain 
ground,  although  the  Turkish  war  broke 
out  twice  during  his  reign.  After  the 
first  campaign  the  king  not  only  recovered, 
in  1718,  by  the  Peace  of  Passarowitz,  the 


Famous 

"  Letters  from 

Turkey  " 


"■■  '"'  "'^  ■'"  "»»  ""  '""  ""  '"I  mi  »m  "■ 


A    countess   in    tliL 


lady  of  rank  The  typical  national  costume  of  a  nobleman 


A  Hung-arian  baron  in  the  dress  of  his  rank  The  Pi  ime  Minister  in  the  costume  of  a  noble 


""  "^^«  ""  iLii  mi  till  III!  it 


ATI  IMI 


THE    COSTUMES    OF    THE     OLD     HUNGARIAN     NOBLES 

From  a  series  of  photographs  of  present-day  nobles  in  their  national  dress.  E.  N.  A. 

3133 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Turkish    portion   of   Hungary,    but   also 
made  acquisitions  in  Wallachia  and  Servia. 
After  the  death   of    Charles    III.,    his 
daughter     Maria     Theresa      (1740-1780) 
ascended  the  throne,  but  her  right  to  the 
succession  was  immediately  and  vigorously 
disputed.     The  Prussian  king,  Frederick 
II.,  invaded  Silesia ;    the  elector,  Charles 
Albert  of  Bavaria,  occupied  Upper  Austria 
and  Bohemia  with  French 
help  ;    and  the  Spaniards 
attacked   the  Itahan  pos- 
sessions.   At  the    diet    of 
Pressburg,    on    September 
nth,      1741,     the     nobles 
enthusiastically     placed 
their    hves    and    property 
at    the    disposal    of    the 
young  queen.     In  a  short 
time   the    Hungarian    and 
Austrian  troops  drove  the 
French  and  Bavarians  out 
of  Bohemia  and  occupied 
Bavaria.     Only  Frederick 
II.    was    able    to    deprive 
the  queen  of  some  compar- 
atively   small    amount    of 
territory,  as  she  was  thrice 
obliged   to  cede  to  him  a 
part  of  Silesia.    During  the 
years  of  peace  the   queen 
devoted   her   attention   to  franz  rakoczy 


formed  a  Hungarian  bodyguard  of  their 

sons,  in  1760,  at  Vienna,  who  became  the 

pioneers  of  a  new  culture  through  their 

close    connection    with    the    intellectual 

movements    in   the  West.     In  the   year 

1772   there    appeared    from    the   pen    of 

George      Bessenyei     (1752-1811)      "  The 

Tragedy  of  Agis ;  "  in  this,  as  in  his  other 

dramas  and  in  his  epic   poem   of   King 

Matthias,  the  poet  showed  a 

masterly  power  of  imitating 

the  French,  and  especially 

Voltaire.     He  thus  became 

the  founder  of  the  "  French 

School,"      among      whom 

Alexander    Baroczi    (1737- 

1809)   and   Joseph    Peczeli 

became      conspicuous      a  s 

translators    of     French 

works  of  literature. 

With  the  accession  of 
the  son  of  Maria  Theresa, 
the  humanitarian  Joseph 
II.  (1780-1790),  the  kings 
of  the  house  of  Lorraine 
and  Tuscany  came  to  the 
Hungarian  throne.  Joseph 
continued  the  work  of 
reform,  but  without  dis- 
playing his  mother's  tact. 
In  1784  he  made  German, 
instead  of  Latin,  the  official 


improving     the     material  with  whose  defeat  at  Szatmar,  in  1711,  lanffuaffc  of  the  state   and 

r,r,A    i«+Qn«/>+,,-il    r^,-^o^^.-i+^,    Hungarian  internal  strife  came  to  an  end.       r  ?i  i        i  o      i 


and  intellectual  prosperity 

of  her  subjects,  and  introduced  beneficial 

reforms  into  ecclesiastical  and  educational 

organisations. 

While  the  national  spirit  was  thus 
stirred  to  new  life,  literature  also  entered 
upon  a  remarkably  flourishing  period. 
Ful-l  of  gratitude,  Maria  Theresa  sum- 
moned the  chief  nobility  to  her  court,  and 


of  the  schools  ;  in  1785  he 
divided  the  country  into  ten  new  districts, 
and  placed  foreigners  at  the  head  of  these. 
A  dangerous  ferment  arose  in  1789  when 
Charles  Augustus  of  Saxe-Weimar  was 
nearly  set  up  as  an  opposition  king  with 
Prussian  support ;  and  Joseph  II.  shortly 
before  his  death  on  January  30th,  1790, 
was  forced  to  repeal  all  his  innovations. 


THE    CITADEL    AND    CATHEDRAL    OF    GRAN,    THE    ANCIENT   CAPITAL    OF    HUNGARY 

3134 


EASTERN 
EUROPE  TO 
THE  FRENCH 
REVOLUTION 


GERMAN     ELEMENT     IN     HUNGARY 

AND     ITS     INFLUENCE     DURING     800     YEARS 


AFTER  the  overthrow  of  the  rule  of 
the  Avars,  the  frontiers  of  the 
great  Prankish  dominion  were  occupied 
by  German  colonists ;  Prankish  and 
Bavarian  nobles  obtained  extensive 
possessions,  especially  in  the  moun- 
tainous country  which  borders  the 
frontiers  of  Styria,  and  even  then  bore 
some  traces  of  Roman  civilisation.  When 
the  Hungarians  occupied  the  country  at 
the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  they  left  the 
German  settlements  for  the  most  part 
undisturbed,  but  prevented  their  increase. 
Many  of  the  fortified  frontier  strongholds 
may  have  been  overthrown  in  the  course 
of  the  Magyar  attacks  ;  but  they  did  not 
disappear  entirely. 

Priendly  relations  with  Germany  were 
secured  in  995  by  the  marriage  of  Stefan 
with  Gisela,  the  daughter  of  the  Bavarian 
duke,  Henry  II.,  for  the  reason  that  this 
lady  brought  with  her  many  clergy  and 
.  nobles  and  their  retinues,  who 
Culture  m     j^gipg^j  ^o  bring  about  the  rapid 

„.""' °   extension  of  Christianity  and 

a  Princess  ,,  t^,  •        ,  ■•'  t 

culture.      Ihe   immigration    of 

German  knights,  monks,  and  other  people 
became  more  rapid  after  the  husband  of 
Gisela  had  ascended  the  throne  of 
Hungary  ;  however,  among  the  German 
colonies  proper  we  have  certain  information 
concerning  only  one  as  originating  from 
that  early  period,  that  is,  Deutsch-Szatmar 
on  the  Szamos,  which  was  founded  by 
Gisela  herself. 

The  apostle-king,  as  Stefan  I.,  or  Saint 
Stefan,  has  been  called,  organised  his  court 
upon  German  models,  and  throughout  his 
reign  displayed  a  consistent  tendency  to 
favour  the  noble  immigrants.  In  his  advice 
to  his  son  Emerich,  who  died  prematurely, 
he  wrote  that  the  introduction  of  foreigners 
was  to  be  regarded  as  a  necessary  means  to 
the  support  of  the  throne  and  to  the  in- 
crease of  the  imperial  power  ;  "  treat  these 
guests  well  and  hold  them  in  honour."  Upon 
the  whole,  this  was  the  attitude  adopted 
by  his  successors  of  the  Arpad  family. 


The  counties  of  Eisenburg  and  Odenburg 

on  the  slopes  of  the  Leitha  mountain  range, 

at   the   base  of  which  lies  the  Lake  of 

Neusiedel,  and  also  the    valleys   formed 

by  the  spurs  of  the  Eastern  Alps  of  Styria 

and  Austria,  are  inhabited  by  the  German 

people  of  the  Hienzes.     Upon  an  area  of 

some  400  square  miles  are  to  be  found 

_^    „  .  30,000  Slavs    ("Water-Croa- 

The  Hemzcs,  r-         ,,.      ^     „„„    t  u      4. 

..  „        ,  '  tians    ),    10,000  Jews,  about 

p'       V^'^^     5,000    Magyars,    and     about 
*°''  300,000  Germans,  for  the  most 

part  Catholics.  The  name  Hienz,  or  Haenz, 
points  to  their  German  origin,  for  their 
neighbours  would  not  have  given  this  little 
people  any  name  of  German  form.  Pro- 
bably the  name  is  derived  from  Heinz, 
Henz,  or  Aenz  (Heinrich  or  Henry),  and 
consequently  has  the  meaning  "  Henry's 
people,"  meaning  either  the  Emperor 
Henry  III.  or  Count  Henry  of  Giissing 
(1228 — 1274),  who  founded  one  of  the 
most  powerful  families,  was  for  a  time 
palatine  of  the  empire,  and  is  often 
mentioned  in  the  frontier  wars  against 
Styria  and  the  Austrians.  He  founded 
numerous  fortresses  in  these  districts, 
including  the  castle  of  Ternstein  and  the 
town  of  Giins.  His  sons,  Ivan,  or  John, 
Peter,  Nicholas,  and  Henry,  all  occupied 
high  positions,  and  are  named  in  the  docu- 
ments "  Henry's  sons  "  ;  they  all  worked 
to  secure  the  prestige  of  their  family. 
Almost  all  the  fortresses  on  the  western 
frontier  were  in  their  possession.  The 
garrisons  of  these  fortresses  were  exclu- 
■.  sively  German,  recruited  for  the 
Prosperity  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  surrounding 
Among  the  inhabitants,  and  may  there- 
Bavftnans     ^^^^    ^^^^   ^^j^^^    ^^^    names 

Hienzes,   or   Haenzes,   or  have   received 
it  from  their  master. 

The  remnants  of  that  Bavarian  settle- 
ment founded  here  by  Charles  the  Great 
to  oppose  the  Avars — though  we  need  not 
assume  that  the  colonial  activity  of  Charles 
extended  beyond  the  east  frontier  into 
Pannonian     territory  —  developed     into 

3135 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


flourishing  Bavarian  communities  under 
the  Prankish  margraves  ;  Hke  these,  the 
settlements  of  the  Hienzes  suffered  no 
doubt  considerable  damage  from  the 
occupation  of  the  country  by  the  Hun- 
garians, but  soon  received  important 
reinforcements  in  the  numerous  German 
prisoners  brought  by  the  Hungarians 
ft    n-  t.       from  German  countries  in  the 

_,  .^  ,  course  of  their  raids,  ihis 
Fruits  of        ^  J.  •,  • 

Ind    t  German  group  of  communities 

was  especially  strengthened  in 
the  first  place  by  the  neighbourhood  of 
Austria  and  Styria,  and  further  by  the 
incorporation  of  German  nobles.  The 
wooded  frontier  district,  which  even  at  the 
time  of  the  Emperor  Henry  HI.  was  so 
inhospitable  that  he  was  able  to  pene- 
trate into  Hungary  only  by  following  the 
long  windings  of  the  Raab,  was  trans- 
formed by  the  industry,  the  native  vigour, 
the  common-sense,  and  the  God-fearing 
work  of  the  Hienzes  into  a  rich  agricul- 
tural, timber-growing,  and  vine-bearing 
district  ;  here  these  people  clung  tena- 
ciously in  the  midst  of  their  progress  to 
the  manners  and  customs  of  their  fore- 
fathers, and  preserved  their  nationahty 
among  a  Finno-Ugrian  population. 

Political  circumstances  were  almost 
invariably  favourable  to  the  progress  of 
the  Germans,  notwithstanding  the  many 
disturbances  which  constantly  burst  over 
the  West.  In  1440,  when  Eisenstadt  was 
mortgaged  by  Queen  Elizabeth  to  the 
Austrian  duke  Albert,  the  German  nation- 
ality received  a  strong  reinforcement. 
With  the  consent  of  the  Hungarian  nobility 
King  Matthias  Corvinus  ceded  consider- 
able districts  to  the  Emperor  Frederick  HI. 

The  neighbours  of  the  Hienzes  are  the 

"  Heidebauern,"   or  heath-peasants,  who 

lived  upon  the  "  heath  "  on  the  shores  of 

the  Lake  of  Neusiedel,  on  the  Schiitt,  and 

near  Pressburg.     This  people  is  of  Suabian 

origin  ;    they  migrated  from  the  district 

on  the  Bodensee  to  Hungary  during  the 

Reformation,  to  escape  the 

-.  **«*■    ^*  *    persecution  of  the  neighbour- 
to  Make  Room    *  *      a  ■  ui  j 
,     ^                 ing    Austrian    nobles,    and 
for  Germans           °            i.     j.   j  u     tvt           .1.1- 
were  protected  by  Maria,  the 

consort  of  Lewis  H.,  about  1626.  When, 
however,  the  Counter-Reformation  in  Hun- 
gary prepared  to  suppress  Protestantism 
by  more  vigorous  measures  after  1640, 
some  of  the  heath-peasants  returned  to 
the  bosom  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

The  neighbourhood  of  the  Austrian 
territories  brought  with  it  the  consequence 

3136 


that  the  settlements  of  the  Hienzes  and 
of  the  heath-peasants  took  but  httle 
share  in  the  internal  disturbances  or  the 
foreign  wars  of  the  Hungarian  kingdom  ; 
for  that  reason  they  were  able  to  preserve 
their  German  nationality. 

After  the  expulsion  of  the  Turks, 
the  ecclesiastical  and  secular  nobles  at- 
tempted, by  bringing  in  German  colonists, 
to  restore  the  depopulated  and  devas- 
tated districts  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  capital,  on  the  heights  of  the  Ver- 
tesgebirge  and  of  the  Bakonyer  Wald, 
on  the  Central  Danube  and  in  the  corner 
between  the  Danube  and  the  Drave. 
At  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century 
the  Archbishops  of  Gran  settled  Suabians 
and  Franks  upon  their  property.  In 
1690,  in  the  county  of  Pesth,  Suabian 
immigrants  founded  the  town  of  Izsaszeg, 
and  six  years  later  restored  the  ruins 
of  Duna-Haraszti.  The  Duke  Charles 
of  Lorraine  and  Prince  Eugene  also 
settled  Germans  on  their  property  at 
Ofen ;  their  example  was  followed  by 
the  Counts  Zichy,  Raday,  and  Grassal- 
kovich.  In  the  year  1718  Germans  from 
the  Rhine  districts  were  settled 
on  the  property  of  the  lords  in 
the  counties  of  Tolna  and 
Baranya.  The  Austrian  field- 
marshals,  who  had  been  rewarded  with 
extensive  lands  in  Hungary  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  Turks,  attempted  to 
attract  German  colonists  thither.  In  the 
majority  of  such  settlements  the  German 
nationality  has  survived  to  the  present 
day,  though  weakened  in  many  respects. 
Of  much  greater,  and  sometimes  of 
decisive  political  importance,  have  been 
the  Germans  in  Northern  Hungary. 
Belonging  for  the  most  part  to  the  popula- 
tion of  Lower  Saxony  and  Central  Germany 
— ^Thiiringen  and  Silesia — they  reached 
their  present  home,  between  the  last  third 
of  the  twelfth  century  and  the  middle  of 
the  thirteenth,  in  the  course  of  several 
advances  to  the  slopes  of  the  Carpathians, 
Their  main  calling  was  mining,  but  they 
owed  much  of  their  prosperity  to  their  com- 
mercial activity  and  their  manufacturing 
industry  ;  and  they  received  grants  of 
municipal  privileges  through  which  they 
were  enabled  to  produce  a  prosperous 
burgher  class.  Beginning  with  the 
district  of  the  heath-peasants,  whose 
representatives  in  Germany  sent  a  few 
offshoots  over  the  Danube,  their  central 
point  was  Pressburg,  which  the  Hapsburgs 


Secret  of 

German 

Success 


THE    GERMAN    ELEMENT    IN    HUNGARY 


made,  from  1642,  the  town  for  the  corona- 
tion of  the  Hungarian  kings  and  the  seat 
of  the  assembly.  Most  of  these  advance 
posts  have  been  absorbed,  with  a  few 
scanty  exceptions,  by  the  surrounding 
Slovak- Ruthenian  population. 

The  most  northern  points  of  the  German 
nationaUty  were  formerly  the  mining 
towns  of  "  Lower  Hungary."  The  first 
Germans  may  have  settled  here  at  the 
same  date  when  others  occupied  Zips 
in  the  second  half  of  the  twelfth  century. 
The  oldest  mining  colony,  Schemnitz, 
received  corporate  privileges  from  Bela 
IV.  as  early  as  1244.  The  "  municipal 
and  mining  code  of  Schemnitz,"  com- 
posed in  two  sections  on  the  basis  of  that 
royal  document  in  the  thirteenth  century 
by  the  "  sworn  representatives  of  the 
town,"  detailed  in  forty  sections  the 
"  town  rights  "  and  in  twenty  the  "  mining 
rights,"  and  was,  in  the  course  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  extended  to  include 
most  of  the  remaining  mining  towns, 
so  far  as  they  had  not  already  charters 
of  their  own. 

In  1255  the  men  of  Neusohl  acquired 
the  right  to  carry  on  mining 
free  of  taxation  ;    their  only 


Freedom 
-and  Orde&l 


r  n  ^..  obhgation  was  to  pay  a  tenth 

of  Battle  ,°      ,     , ,  ,  J  -'       J 

part    of    the     gold    and    an 

eighth  of  the  silver  to  the  royal  treasury, 
and  to  serve  under  the  king's  flag  in 
campaigns.  They,  too,  were  allowed  the 
ordeal  of  battle,  after  the  old  Saxon 
custom,  with  swords  and  round  shields. 
It  was,  however.  King  Stefan  V.  who 
first  gave  Neusohl  its  charter  of  freedom 
in  the  year  1271.  Kremnitz,  which  had 
been  the  seat  of  the  imperial  chamber- 
lain from  1323,  was  given  rights  hitherto 
enjoyed  only  by  the  rich  Kuttenburg 
in  Bohemia,  by  King  Charles  Robert, 
with  the  consent  of  the  secular  and 
ecclesiastical  nobles.  Thus  the  people  of 
Kremnitz  were  able  to  live  under  judges  of 
their  own  choice,  and  could  be  prose- 
cuted for  debt  by  none  in  the  whole 
country. 

In  1424,  when  King  Sigismund  handed 
over  the  mountain  towns  to  his  second 
wife,  Barbara  of  CiUi,  who  died  in  1451,  the 
result  was  that  they  remained  a  coherent 
group  in  the  possession  of  the  Hungarian 
queen,  and  received  extensive  privileges 
enabling  them  to  attain  a  prosperity  which 
aroused  the  envy  and  the  avarice  of  the 
lords  of  neighbouring  castles.  The  castles 
which  surrounded  that  district  in  a  circle 


Man 


were  partly  in  possession  of  the  Hussite 
leader  Giskra,  and  partly  in  that  of  the 
family  of  Doczy  and  of  other  nobles.  In 
1497  the  quarrel  broke  out,  but  soon  ended 
in  a  compromise.  Meanwhile  the  mining 
towns  enjoyed  the  favour  of  the  power- 
ful families  of  Thurzo  and  Fugger,  with 
whose  support  they  were  able  to  emerge 
The  Richest  victoriously  from  the  struggle. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  fif- 
u  teenth  and  the  beginning  of  the 

^  sixteenth  centuries  the  mining 
towns  attained  the  zenith  of  their  pros- 
perity, notwithstanding  the  attacks  of 
the  Turks  and  the  devastations  of  hostile 
armies.  Their  export  copper  trade  ex- 
tended beyond  Cracow  to  Danzig  and  the 
Hansa  towns,  even  to  Antwerp  and 
Venice.  The  lessee  of  the  mines  of 
Neusohl,  Alexius  Thurzo,  chancellor  of 
the  imperial  exchequer,  was  regarded  in 
1523  as  "  the  richest  man  in  Hungary," 
while  his  relations  in  Augsburg,  the 
Fuggers,  were  for  a  long  time  bankers  of 
the  Hungarian  kings. 

The  disturbances  of  the  seventeenth 
century  brought  grievous  consequences 
upon  the  mining  towns.  In  1620  Gabriel 
Bethlen  caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed 
King  of  Hungary  in  Neusohl,  and  from 
1619  the  mining  towns  were  forced  to  pay 
him  heavy  taxes.  During  the  disturb- 
ances in  the  time  of  Rakoczy  and  Tokoly, 
these  towns  were  not  only  the  scene  of 
warfare,  but  also  lost  their  prosperity  in 
consequence  of  extortions  and  devasta- 
tion. Towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  mines  became  less  productive, 
for  natural  reasons.  As  an  additional 
calamity  came  the  persecutions  of  the 
Counter-Reformation,  to  which  members 
of  the  Lutheran  doctrine  were  exposed. 
The  impoverished  mining  towns  were  now 
occupied  by  Slovaks  and  here  and  there 
by  Magyars.  The  nobility  seized  the 
greater  part  of  the  mines.  A  century, 
however,  was  needed  to  reduce  the  German 
nationality  in  this  place  to  its 
present  low  ebb  ;  to-day  only 
family  names  and  place  names 
are  German,  the  population  is 
Slovak.  Passing  over  the  ruins  of  German 
nationality  in  the  north-west,  we  come 
to  the  extreme  north  of  Hungary  to  the 
southern  slopes  of  the  Carpathians,  where 
we  find  the  vigorous  German  tribe  of  the 
people  of  Zips,  who  since  the  seventh 
century  have  had  a  settled  home  amid 
the    romantic   surroundings  of  the  high 

3T37 


German 
Nationality 
in  Ruins 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


mountain    range,    and    by    their    steady 
industry  have  secured  prosperity  and  repu- 
tation among  the  neighbouring  peoples. 
The  wealth  of  timber,  the  number  of  moun- 
tain streams,  and  the  nature  of  the  natural 
products  of  the  "  Silva  zepus  "  (in  Magyar 
Szepes)  hmited  the  agricultural  possibili- 
ties of  the  place,   and   naturally  turned 
the      inhabitants     to     indus- 
e     ormy  ^^-^    occupations.     Thus    the 
,  ^        „   inhabitant  of  Zips  became  a 

of  Geza  II.  ,  <<  i^-         i  i_    ^ 

workman;         his     log    huts, 

originally  scattered  about,  gradually  drew 
closer  together,  and  from  this  uncouth 
nucleus  developed  the  towering  town." 

The  first  definite  occupation  of  Zips  by 
the  Germans  probably  falls  in  the  stormy 
period  of  Geza  II.,  who  was  in  alliance 
with  the  Welf  duke,  Henry  the  Lion. 
Tradition  speaks  of  the  Count  Reinold, 
who  was  the  king's  chief  justice,  and  led 
his  brother  compatriots  into  this  district 
about  1 150.  A  contemporary  Byzantine 
writer,  Johannes  Kinnamos,  speaks  of  an 
army  of  Czechs  and  Saxons  which  was 
gathered  by  Geza  in  1156,  for  a  war 
against  Constantinople.  It  was  not  until 
the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  under 
Bela  III.,  that  the  main  reinforcement 
reached  Zips ;  this  was  drawn  chiefly 
from  Central  Germany,  especially  from 
Silesia.  The  modern  dialect  of  Zips  is 
allied  to  that  of  Silesia. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century  individual  stragglers  followed, 
after  Gertrude  of  Andechs-Meran,  the  first 
wife  of  Andreas  II.,  had  conferred  property 
in  Zips  on  several  Tyrolese  noble  families ; 
from  their  leader,  Riidiger  of  Deutsch- 
Matrei,  the  Berzeviczy  derived  their 
descent.  The  oppressive  rule  of  the 
nobility  of  German  extraction  seems  even 
then  to  have  become  so  highly  unpopular 
that  in  1213  the  national  Magyar  party 
began  a  bloody  revolt  against  the  queen 
regent,  who  favoured  the  Germans.  After 
the  invasion  of  the  Mongols,  which 
divides  the  history  of  Zips,  like 
that  of  so  many  other  districts, 
Rev  It  ^^^^  ^^°  stages,  a  large  influx  of 
immigrants  appeared  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  chiefly  from  Silesia 
and  Thuringia. 

In  a  short  time  the  German  places 
in  this  remote  mountain  district  became 
so  prosperous  that  the  society  of  the 
clergy  of  Zips,  founded  about  1232 
under  their  provost,  and  known  after  1248 
as  a   "  sodalitate,"    or    "  confraternity," 

3138 


Magyars 


arranged  the  secular  or  ecclesiastical  affairs 
of  the  country.  In  1274  Ladislaus  IV. 
confirmed  the  rights  of  this  society  ;  in 
129.7  Andreas  III.  also  gave  it  the  right 
to  collect  tithes.  Before  1271  Stefan  V, 
had  given  his  "  faithful  Saxons  of  Zips  " 
a  "  privilegium  "  as  a  guarantee  of  their 
"  independence."  Thereafter  these  "  royal 
places  "  had  to  pay  three  hundred  marks 
of  silver  every  year,  in  return  for  which 
they  were  free  of  all  other  contributions, 
and  in  time  of  war  had  to  place  fifty  armed 
men  beneath  the  king's  banner.  They 
were  allowed  to  choose  their  own  count, 
who  governed  them  according  to  their 
rights,  and  also  their  clergy.  Hunting, 
fishing,  and  mining  rights  were  also 
recognised  in  their  charters. 

After  the  death  of  the  last  Arpad  in 
130 1,  under  the  leadership  of  the  soldier 
Matthaeus  of  Esak,  of  the  mountain 
fortress  of  Trentschin,  the  nobility  of 
the  Waag  district  attempted  a  revolt. 
The  people  of  Zips,  who  had  formerly 
done  homage  to  Wenzel  and  Otto, 
now  joined  the  Angevin  Charles  Robert, 
who  with  their  help  decisively  defeated 
.  the  west  Hungarian  nobility 
King  Lewis  ^^   Rozgony,  in  the  valley  of 

the  Friend    ^u    t-  •  t  • 

f  L'h  theTarcza,  in  1312.  In  recogni- 

"  ^     tion  of  the  services  which  they 

had  "  willingly  done  him  since  his  youth," 

and  for  their  "  manly  and  faithful  struggle 

against  Matthaeus  of  Trentschin,  in  which 

they  spared  neither   person  nor  purse," 

Charles    Robert,   in    1318,  confirmed  the 

privileges  of  the  twenty-four  royal  towns. 

On  the  basis  of  this  charter  the  chiefs, 
representatives,  and  elders,  in  1370,  drew 
up  an  important  legal  code,  the  "  arbi- 
trium " — that  is,  free  choice  or  con- 
vention— of  the  Saxons  in  Zips  ;  this 
was  recognised  in  the  same  year  by 
King  Lewis,  and  thus  became  law. 
Ecclesiasticism,  a  love  of  discipline, 
a  strong  sense  of  honesty,  are  the 
most  striking  features  of  this  code. 
Manufactures  at  this  flourishing  period 
were  controlled  by  guilds  and  associations. 
Trade  and  industry  began  to  develop  in 
the  towns  and  plains.  Numerous 
foreigners  lived  here  all  the  year  round, 
for  the  reason  that  a  vigorous  commercial 
intercourse  went  on  between  this  place 
and  Poland  and  Silesia. 

Exactly  100  years  after  the  confirma- 
tion of  the  privileges  by  Charles  Robert, 
the  first  heavy  blow  fell  upon  Zips.  On 
November   8th,    1412,  the   Emperor-king 


IN    THE    LAND    OF    THE    MAGYARS:    TYPICAL    SCENES     IN     HUNGARY 

zoo  ^  jy 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Sigismund  I.,  who  was  in  a  constant  state 
of  financial  embarrassment,  mortgaged 
the'' thirteen  settlements  of  Zips,  together 
with  the  royal  fiefs  of  Lublau,  Pudlein, 
and  Gnesen,  to  Vladislav  of  Poland.  The 
alliance  of  the  towns  of  Zips  was  continued 
for  a  time  even  after  their  alienation. 
They  were  handed  over  to  Pohsh  officials, 

who  soon  began  to  exercise  an 

*     °°°*    arbitrary     authority     in     the 

Q  mortgaged  district  and  made  it 

an  hereditary  starosty.  At  the 
instance  of  the  Hungarian  Diet,  Vladislav 
III.  promised  to  give  back  the  country 
in  1440,  but  in  the  agreement  of  Altenburg 
between  Hungary  and  Poland  the  mort- 
gage was  renewed  in  1474.  This  agreement 
sealed  the  doom  of  the  German  nationality 
in  the  northern  districts  and  in  part  of 
the  southern. 

Further  damage  was  inflicted  by  the 
intrusion  of  the  Hussites  and  the 
supremacy  of  Bohemian  mercenaries 
under  Giskra.  Political  independence 
disappeared ;  towns  that  remained 
Hungarian  were  deserted,  and  were  handed 
over  by  the  king  to  the  noble  families. 
Thus  King  Matthias  conferred  upon  his 
faithful  Emerich  Zapolya  the  hereditary 
county  of  Zips,  and  also,  in  1480,  the 
possession  of  the  town  of  Kasmark,  which 
had  been  made  a  royal  free  town,  together 
with  the  nine  parishes  attached  to  it. 
In  1655  Kasmark  alone  had  been  able  to 
resist  the  intrusion  of  the  Magyar  nobility 
and  of  the  Slavs,  and  secured  recognition 
as  a  free  town.' 

In  the  course  of  these  distresses  the 
Germans  of  Zips  would  in  no  long  time 
have  suffered  an  invasion  of  foreign 
nationalities  had  not  the  German  element 
in  Upper  Hungary  been  strengthened  by 
the  Reformation  with  its  German  preach- 
ing and  its  German  hymns.  The  close 
connection  with  Germany,  in  the  high 
schools  of  which  several  pupils  from  Zips 
studied  the  sciences  every  year,  brought 
F  *  a  A  with  it  the  consequence  that 
„  .  ^      men     like     Martin    Cziriak, 

o  ,  *•  *  a  pupil  of  Melan-chthon, 
Reformation     ^,   ^    r  .  > 

Thomas  Preisner,  and  George 

Leutscher  boldly  and  successfully  fought 
against  the  Catholic  clergy.  The  Refor- 
mation was  carried  out,  therefore,  in 
1546  throughout  the  country  of  Zips 
notwithstanding  the  decrees  of  1523  and 
1525,  in  which  it  was  declared  that 
"  all  Lutherans  with  their  supporters  and 
adherents   would   be    regarded  as    open 

3140 


heretics  and  enemies  of  the  sacred  Virgin 
Mary,  and  would  be  punished  by  execution 
and  confiscation  of  their  property." 

On  the  26th  of  October,  154O,  the  entire 
clergy  of  Zips  publicly  acknowledged  the 
Lutheran  creed.  The  intellectual  revival 
brought  with  it  fresh  development  of 
trade  and  manufacture.  The  linen  and 
cloth  fabrics  of  Zips,  and  the  leather  and 
metal  work  of  the  country,  were  famous 
far  and  wide  on  the  North  Sea  and  the 
Baltic,  in  the  midst  of  Russia  and  in  Con- 
stantinople. At  Whitsuntide,  Greeks, 
Russians,  and  Serbs,  even  North  Germans, 
were  in  the  habit  of  visiting  the  country 
to  make  their  purchases.  The  inhabitants 
were  an  enterprising  and  energetic  little 
people,  who  kept  in  touch  with  the  mother 
country  in  their  new  mountain  home  and 
created  a  civilisation  which  raised  the 
citizens  and  the  peasants  of  the  time 
to  a  height  of  prosperity  and  intelligence 
unusual  in  Hungary. 

Soon,  however,  this  revival  of  German 
science  and  art  was  exposed  to  severe 
attacks.  In  1588  opposition  to  the  new 
faith  began  at  the  instigation  of  Martin 
p  Pethe,  the  provost  of  Zips,  and 

cace  o        jj^    j-^Q^    Ij^g    opposition    de- 

n  ..      velopedmto  a  Vigorous  counter- 

Persecution      J.    ^      ,.  ^9 

reformation.     Ihe  government 

Catholic  commissioners  appeared  in  Zips 
and  attempted  to  force  the  inhabitants  to 
surrender  their  churches  to  the  Catholics  ; , 
but  the  people  rose  in  revolt  and  drove  out 
the  commissioners.  The  disturbances 
under  Stefan  Bocskay  and  the  peace 
of  Vienna  of  1606  put  an  end  for 
some  time  to  the  persecution  of  the  Pro- 
testants in  Zips. 

But  in  1632  the  Jesuits,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Magyar  Catholic  nobles  and 
with  the  military  and  civil  authorities, 
began  again  the  work  of  forcible 
conversion.  The  Protestant  clergy  lost 
their  property  and  were  driven  out  of 
the  country  ;  their  churches  were  taken 
from  them  by  the  soldiers  and  handed 
over  to  the  CathoUcs.  This  work  was 
continued  by  a  process  of  forcibly 
denationalising  the  towns  and  parishes  and 
by  electing  Magyar  nobles  as  councillors 
and  judges.  Notwithstanding  the  vigorous 
support  which  they  gave  to  all  those 
political  risings  which  took  place  in  the 
interests  of  the  new  creed,  during  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
under  Bocskay,  Bethlen,  Tokoly,  and 
Franz  Rakoczy,  the  Germans  of  Zips  had 


THE    GERMAN    ELEMENT    IN    HUNGARY 


to  suffer  the  hardest  treatment  from  their 
own  allies.  Devastation,  persecution,  and 
oppression  of  every  kind  produced  the 
result  that  the  Germans  grew  steadily 
weaker  through  the  advance  of  the 
Hungarians  and  of  the  productive,  adapt- 
able and  capable  Slovaks. 

Notwithstanding  the  depth  of  this  over- 
throw, wherever  a  hand's-breadth  of 
favourable  soil  was  to  be  found,  the 
irrepressible  vigour  of  the  inhabitants 
brought  forth  new  results.  German  in- 
dustry and  economy  survived  the  worst 
disasters,  and  eventually  succeeded  in 
producing  a  feeble  similitude  of  former 
prosperity.  Among  the  free  towns,  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  life  continued  to 
flourish.  The  German  language  was  pre- 
dominant notwithstanding  the  prevalence 
of  Magyar,  Slav,  and  Low  Latin,  and  was 
the  medium  of  constant  communication 
with  foreign  countries.  The  feeling  of 
German  nationality  was,  however,  terribly 
shattered. 

In  1772  thirteen  places  mortgaged  to 

Poland  were  reunited  with  Hungary,  and 

"  the  sixteen  towns  of  Zips  "  were  placed 

under  a  special  Count,  as  judge 

appy  an      ^^^^    supreme    administrative 

-,  oincial:     the    Empress  -  queen 

Germans        ,.  ~,  ^         ,  ^ 

Maria  Theresa  not  only  con- 
firmed the  previous  privileges,  but 
added  new  rights  in  1775. 

It  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  wherever 
the  German  nationality  in  Hungary  has 
devoted  itself  to  trade  and  manufacture 
the  lapse  of  time  has  brought  annihila- 
tion, in  spite  of  the  prosperity  and 
culture  acquired,  whereas  the  communities 
especially  devoted  to  agriculture  and 
cattle-breeding  have  been  able  to  maintain 
their  position  to  the  present  day. 

The  home  of  the  Transylvanian  Saxons 
is  encircled  and  traversed  by  the  Car- 
pathians, with  their  snow-clad  summits 
white  under  the  midsummer  sun,  with 
their  wooded  valleys  full  of  flowers,  birds, 
and  animals,  with  their  rushing  brooks  and 
streams.  Here,  more  than  seven  centuries 
ago,  the  Germans  found  the  counterpart 
of  their  earlier  home,  and  here  they  settled. 
Many  a  storm  burst  over  this  peaceful 
centre  of  German  civilisation  ;  but  inter- 
vals of  rest  continually  recurred  during 
which  this  offshoot  of  the  parent  stock 
put  forth  new  growth. 

The  chief  settlements  of  tlie  Germans  in 
Transylvania  were  made  under  Geza  II. 
for    the    protection    of    the    south-east 


frontier  of  the  empire  against  the  Cuma- 
nians,  who  had  established  themselves  in 
Moldavia  and  Wallachia  after  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  Pechenegs,  and  made 
constant  incursions  into  the  neighbouring 
provinces.  These  immigrants  came  partly 
from  the  Lower  Rhine,  partly  from 
Flanders,  and  are  designated  as  "  Teutons 

^  .  -^  from  beyond  the  forest ;  "  they 
Kronst&dt  11  i<  t-i        •  r> 

n  are  also  known  as     Flemmgs. 

Becomes        t^,  .•^,  ,,0  m    ° 

the  C    't  1  oaxons,         or 

Saxones,  which  afterwards 
became  universal,  does  not  appear  before 
1206.  Their  settlements  extended  along 
the  banks  of  the  Alt  to  its  confluence  with 
the  Homorod,  and  from  the  Maros  to  the 
valley  of  the  Kokel  River.  The  proximity 
of  savage  tribes  forced  the  settlers  to 
build  fortified  churches  and  castles  where 
the  inhabitants  of  the  plain  could  take 
refuge  in  time  of  need.  In  course  of  time 
these  strongholds  developed  into  towns 
and  places  of  greater  size.  A  favourite 
point  of  entrance  for  marauding  bands 
was  upon  the  extreme  south  of  the  Burzen 
district  ;  for  this  reason  Andreas  II. 
allowed  the  Teutonic  Order  to  build 
stockades  and  towns  here  in  1211  ;  Kron- 
stadt  then  became  the  capital.  TheOrder 
was,  however,  forbidden  to  populate  the 
district  of  Burzen  with  Saxons  from  the 
neighbouring  provinces,  and  new  settlers 
were  brought  in. 

After  the  expulsion  of  the  German 
knights,  which  took  place  in  1225,  in 
spite  of  the  vigorous  support  accorded 
to  them  by  Pope  Honorius  III.,  Kron- 
stadt  soon  became  prosperous  and 
exercised  a  kind  of  hegemony  over  the 
other  colonies ;  the  town  is  first  md^- 
tioned  in  a  document  of  1252.  The 
German  colonies  in  the  district  of  Nosen 
seem  to  be  of  earlier  date  ;  in  1264  Bistritz 
seems  to  have  been  in  existence  for  some 
time.  These  north-eastern  Transylva- 
nians,  like  those  of  Dees,  probably  came 
from  other  parts  of  Hungary,  and  settled 
here  to  carry  on  the  mining 
Huagarian  industry.    The  chief  places, 

Queens    Private       11  j      j.u    ■ 

p  which  were  under  their  own 

roper  y  counts  in  1300,  together 
with  their  surrounding  districts,  formed  the 
private  property  of  the  Hungarian  queens 
from  an  early  date ;  thus  on  July  i6th,  1264, 
Pope  Urban  IV.  orders  the  king's  son 
Stefan  (V.)  to  restore  the  towns  of  Bistritz, 
Rodna,  Senndorf,  and  Baierdorf  which  he 
had  unjustly  taken  from  his  mother, 
Maria.      On   December   29th,    1330,   the 

3141 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


"  citizens  and  colonists  of  Bistritz  and 
those  belonging  to  that  jurisdiction " 
received  a  charter  from  Queen  Elizabeth, 
with  the  consent  of  her  husband  Charles, 
by  the  terms  of  which  they  were  placed 
exclusively  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
judges  elected  by  themselves.  In  a  short 
time   the   German    settlements    rose    to 

a   prosperity  and   political 
e  r  m  a  n  importance  which  secured 

res  '8«  *   » »    them    the    favour    of  the 

Hungarian  kings.  Thus, 
about  1 1 85,  Bela  II.  was  able  to  report  to 
Paris,  upon  the  occasion  of  his  betrothal,  the 
receipt  of  15,000  marks  from  the  foreign 
settlers  of  the  king  in  Transylvania.  The 
rapidity  with  which  the  prestige  of  the 
Germans  increased  and  the  height  to 
which  it  rose  is  evidenced  by  the  "  An- 
dreanum  "  of  the  close  of  1224  ;  in  this 
edict  Andreas  II.  confirmed  and  increased 
all  the  privileges  granted  to  the 
Germans  from  Broos  to  Draas,  near  Neps, 
upon  their  immigration  ;  he  united  the 
independent  districts  of  the  settlers 
brought  in  by  Geza  II.  into  one  province 
governed  by  an  elected  "  count "  as 
supreme  judge  who  resided  in  Hermann- 
stadt. 

The  progress  of  prosperity  was,  how- 
ever, soon  checked  by  the  Mongol  invasions 
of  1240-1242.  The  fortified  towns  and 
strongholds  of  the  country  could  provide 
refuge  for  comparatively  few.  The 
majority  fled  to  the  mountains,  where  they 
perished.  Under  the  fostering  care  of  the 
kings  the  German  settlements  recovered 
comparatively  quickly  after  the  retreat  of 
the  Mongols.  Such  new  settlements  as 
Klausenburg  were  also  founded  by  Stef  an  V. , 
before  1270,  as  Duke  of  Transylvania ; 
for  the  benefit  of  his  soul  he  conferred  this 
fief  upon  the  Church  of  Weissenburg.  As 
Hungarian  nobles  were  not  allowed  to 
settle  upon  Saxon  soil,  and  as  the  Germans 
of  that  district  enjoyed  the  rights  of 
nobles,  the  last  of  the  Arpads,  Andreas  III., 
summoned    them    to    partici- 

^.,.  pation  in  the  Hungarian  diet 

Wilderness    f      ^    .  j    ■      a  ^ 

to  Garden  ^"  l^^y;  ^^92,  and  m  August, 
1290.  In  150  years  the 
"  Saxons"  had  cleared  and  completely 
transformed  the  former  wilderness. 
About  300  strongholds,  forts,  and  fortified 
churches  protected  the  goods  and  chattels 
of  freemen,  and  guaranteed  the  security  of 
this  once  doubtful  Hungarian  possession. 
The  swamps  were  drained  and  became  fruit- 
ful, arable  land.  Upon  the  mountains  and  in 

3142 


the  lonely  valleys,  in  the  fertile  lowlands 
of  the  Kokel  River,  and  where  the  stony 
slopes  of  the  Carpathians  bring  forth  a 
scanty  harvest,  dwelt  a  people  whose  indus- 
trial and  agricultural  labours  and  peaceful 
devotion  to  the  arts  had  created  a  flourish- 
ing country,  while  their  representatives 
sat  in  the  diet  side  by  side  with  the  barons 
and  prelates  of  the  empire. 

When  the  house  of  Arpad  became 
extinct  in  1301,  hard  times  began  for  the 
Saxons  of  Transylvania.  Like  all  the 
Germans  in  Hungary,  they  had  joined 
Otto,  the  duke  of  Lower  Bavaria  ;  he 
accepted  their  well-meant  invitation,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  treacherous  voivode 
Ladislaus,  or  Apor,  and  was  soon  forced  to 
leave  the  country.  The  Saxons  were  then 
exposed  to  the  oppression  of  the  Bishop 
of  Weissenburg,  and  the  powerful  voivode 
deprived  them  of  the  rich  silver  mines  of 
Rodna.  In  1324  they  were  forced  to  take 
up  arms  in  defence  of  their  rights  of  1224, 
which  had  been  again  secured  to  them  on 
May  25th,  1317,  by  Charles  Robert,  who 
had  become  sole  ruler  in  the  meantime. 
This  period  of  oppression  was  followed 
H  J  T-  by  a  time  of  prosperity  under 
ZVthe^^  the  government  of  Lewis  I., 
„  who  favoured  Saxon  trade  in 

every  possible  way.  From  1 369, 
Kronstadt  possessed  staple  privileges 
against  Polish,  German,  and  other  foreign 
merchants,  especially  cloth  merchants. 
The  fairs  in  Germany  and  Poland  were 
visited  by  bands  of  Saxons.  The  trade 
route  led  to  Germany  through  Prague, 
and  passed  to  the  south-west  through  the 
Danube  territories  to  Dalmatia  and  Venice. 
Numerous  schools  and  churches,  monas- 
teries and  hospitals,  were  founded,  and  ths 
citizen  guilds,  brotherhoods,  and  train- 
bands were  admirably  organised. 

After  the  death  of  Lewis  the  great 
troubles  again  began.  Under  Sigismund 
(1387-1437)  internal  disturbances  broke 
out,  in  the  course  of  which  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Klausenburg  was  devastated  by 
the  king's  opponents.  But  the  greatest 
danger  menacing  Transylvania  was  the 
advance  of  the  Turks.  In  1420  they 
destroyed  the  old  "  Saxon  town "  of 
Broos,  and  carried  the  inhabitants  away 
to  slavery  ;  in  the  next  year  they  over- 
whelmed Kronstadt.  Previous  to  and 
during  their  invasions  the  first  gipsies 
entered  the  country.  In  Hungary  the 
struggles  of  the  Magyar  nobles  with  the 
German  citizens  were  beginning,  and  at 


THE    GERMAN    ELEMENT    IN    HUNGARY 


this  time  the  three  hard-pressed  "peoples" 
of  Transylvania,  the  Hungarians,  the  old 
Magyar  Szeklers,  and  the  Saxons,  con- 
cluded the  "  Union "  at  Kapolna  on 
September  28th,  1427,  and  swore  "  to 
protect  one  another  against  all  and  sundry 
who  should  attack  them  ;  only,  if  the 
king  should  infringe  the  rights  of  one  of 
the  contracting  peoples,  the  other  two 
should  appear  before  him  on  bended 
knees  and  ask  his  favour.  For  the  rest, 
upon  the  second  day  following  an  appeal  for 
help,  the  parties  should  start  with  all  their 
forces  to  give  aid  as  quickly  as  possible 
and  should  march  at  least  twelve  miles 
daily." 

In  the  year  1438  the  Turks  destroyed 
the  town  of  Miihlbach  and  captured 
some  75,000  slaves,  after  fruitlessly 
besieging  Hermannstadt  for  forty- 
five  days.  On  November  loth,  1444, 
the  banner  of  the  Saxons  waved  over  the 
battlefield  of  Varna,  and  in  October,  1448, 
they  fought_  against  the  hereditary  enemy 
on  the  Ansel f eld  under  John  Hunyadi. 
But  the  domestic  life  of  the  German  settlers 
was  shattered  by  these  miUtary  distur- 
bances.  Klausenburg  and  Winz 

*  ""^  *  soon  received  a  Magyar  influx 
w    *  th       °^  population,  which  speedily 

*'^'**  became      predominant       and 

broke  off  connection  with  the  other  Sa;con 
districts.  On  the  accession  of  Matthias 
Hunyadi,  the  Hungarians,  Szeklers,  and 
Saxons  renewed  the  alliance  of  Kapolna 
at  Mediasch  in  1459,  with  a  view  to 
resisting  any  possible  attacks  of  the  king, 
The  revolt  was  stifled  by  the  rapidity  of 
his  movements.  To  these  internal  dis- 
turbances were  added  the  invasions  of  the 
Turks,  who  continually  renewed  their 
harassing  incursions,  even  after  their 
defeat  on  the  Brotfeld  in  October  13th, 
1479.  King  Matthias  recognised  the 
services  of  the  Saxons  and  increased  their 
territory. 

Notwithstanding  the  troubles  of  the 
age,  their  close  and  profitable  intercourse 
with  the  mother  country  had  enabled  the 
Saxons  to  surpass  every  other  nationahty 
jwithin  the  empire  in  respect  of  culture. 
Every  year  several  Saxon  youths  went  as 
students  to  the  German  high  schools  at 
Wittenberg,  Jena,  and  TUbingen,  and 
brought  back  a  knowledge  of  science  and 
art  for  the  benefit  of  their  own  country. 
By  these  channels  of  intercourse  the  great 
ecclesiastical  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century  reached  the  Saxon  colonies  and 


rapidly  secured  the  general  support.     In 

15 19  Saxon  merchants  brought  Luther's 

writings    from    the    fair   of   Leipsic ;     in 

1521-1522  the  first  evangelical  preachers, 

the  Silesian  Ambrosius  and  Conrad  Welch, 

appeared  in  Hermannstadt.     The  energy 

of   a   pupil   of   Melanchthon,    the   Saxon 

preacher   Johannes   Honter   (1498-1549), 

^  .       who  brought  a  printing-press 

.  jj  with  him,  secured  the  suc- 

n       ungary     ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  Reformation  in 

Break  Apart       ^  ...  ^, 

Transylvania  in  1547.     The 

struggle  for  the  throne  between  Zapolya 
and  Ferdinand  I.  cost  the  Saxons 
heavily  in  life  and  property.  After  the 
death  of  Zapolya  Suleiman  II.,  who 
claimed  the  suzerainty  of  Transylvania, 
conferred  the  country  upon  Johann  Sigis- 
mund  Zapolya,  who  was  then  in  his 
minority.  His  authority  was  hmited  to 
the  district  on  the  further  side  of  the 
Theiss,  and  the  period  of  the  separation 
of  Transylvania  from  Hungary  then  begins, 
to  last  for  150  years.  For  a  short  time 
Transylvania  came  into  the  power  of 
King  Ferdinand,  but  after  the  death  of 
Johann  Sigismund  in  1571  the  sultan 
transferred  it  to  Stefan  Eathori,  who 
brought  in  the  Jesuits.  In  December, 
1575,  he  was  elected  King  of  Poland,  and 
then  handed  over  Transylvania  to  his 
brother  Christopher,  who  also  seconded 
the  efforts  of  the  Jesuits  to  bring  the 
country  back  to  Roman- Catholicism. 

At  that  time  the  Saxons  were  exposed 
to  extortion  of  every  kind.  They  found  a 
supporter  in  Stefan  Bocskay,  who  was 
chosen  prince  by  the  nobles  and  Szeklers 
on  February  22nd,  1605,  but  died  on 
September  29th,  1606.  Siegmund  Rako- 
czy  occupied  the  country  from  February, 
1607,  but  abdicated  on  March  3rd,  1608. 
Gabriel  Bathory  now  ascended  the  throne. 
He  captured  Hermannstadt  and  attempted 
to  get  possession  of  Kronstadt.  But  on 
October  i6th,  1612,  the  people  of 
Kronstadt  inflicted  a  severe  defeat  upon 
_  him,  under  the  leadership  of 

SroLd  "''  ^^^^^  burgomaster,  Michael 
*d  °M  d  d  ^^^^SS'  ^^^  ^ost  his  life  in  the 
battle.  Shortly  afterwards 
the  population  of  Transylvania  rose  in  a 
body  against  this  crazy  tyrant ;  he  was  de- 
posed and  murdered  at  Grosswardein,  while 
in  the  act  of  flight,  on  October  27th,  1613. 
Gabriel  Isethlen,  the  leader  of  the  revolt, 
restored  the  old  privileges  of  the  Saxons. 
After  his  early  death  on  November  15th, 
1629,   a  Saxon  chronicler  justly  wrote: 

3143 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


"  God  grant  this  famous  hero  peaceful 
rest  and  a  joyous  resurrection  hereafter, 
for  he  left  the  country  securer  than  he 
found  it."  In  the  age  of  the  two  George 
Rak*zys  (1631-1660)  Transylvania  suf- 
fered from  wars  with  Moldavia,  Wallachia, 
and  Poland.  Recognising  the  situation 
as  impossible,  Michael  Apasi  broke 
.away  from  the  Turkish 
_.  *  ^**°'**  supremacy  and  placed  Tran- 
*^  *  .  sylvania  under  the  protection 
of  Leopold  I.,  by  the  Trac- 
tatus  Hallerianus  of  1686,  the  terms 
.  of  which  he  was  compelled  to  repeat 
with  greater  emphasis  in  the  con- 
vention of  Blasendorf  of  October  27th, 
1687.  The  country  was  occupied  by  the 
imperial  troops,  and  at  the  diet  of  Fogaras 
the  oath  of  fidelity  was  taken  to  the 
Hapsburgs  as  the  hereditary  kings  of 
Hungary.  Some  resistance  was  offered 
only  by  the  lower  classes  of  Kronstadt  ; 
the  town  was  forced  to  surrender  to  the 
general  Veterani  on  May  i6th,  1688.  By 
the  "  Diploma  of  Leopold  "  of  December 
4th,  1691,  the  Saxons  were  secured  in  the 
possession  of  their  rights.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  Queen-empress  Maria  Theresa, 
who  made  Transylvania  a  principality  in 
1765,  was  followed  by  the  ill-considered 
reforms  of  her  son  Joseph  IL,  when  the 
special  constitution  of  the  Saxons  was  in 
great  measure  sacrificed. 

Far  in  the  south,  in  the  Banate  of  Temes 
and  in  the  Bacska,  are  the  last  and  most 
recent  German  settlements  in  Himgary. 
The  Banate  of  Temes  is  bounded  by  the 
Danube,  the  Theiss,  the  Maros,  and  the 
mountains  of  Transylvania.  After  166  years 
.of  Turkish  rule  it  was  restored  to  Hungary 
by  the  peace  of  Poscharevatz  on  July  21st, 
1718,  which  followed  the  victories  of 
Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy.  During  the 
Turkish  supremacy  the  wide  lowlands  and 
hill  districts  of  the  counties  of  Torontal  and 
Temes  were  transformed  into  a  desert. 
Consequently  Count  Claudius  Florimond 
_  Mercy,  the  first  governor  of  this 

rosperi  y    ^g^g^g     brought    in    colonists 

Under  Wise  r  r^  tj.    i  j 

^  ^  from     Germany,     Italy,     and 

Government  <-       •        xi      ii.  t 

Spam  after  the  year  1720.     In 

1728  there  were  ten  villages  occupied  by 
Suabians,  one  village  of  Italians,  and  one 
of  Spaniards.  Under  Mercy's  govern- 
ment, between  1722  and  1730,  the  town 
and  fortress  of  Temesvar  were  restored, 
and  numerous  villages  were  founded 
and  occupied  with  colonists  who  came 
:from   Treves,    Cologne,    Alsace-Lorraine, 

3144 


Luxemburg,  and  the  Black  Forest.  After 
the  count's  heroic  death  at  Crocetta,  near 
Parma,  on  June  29th,  1734,  the  settlements 
entered  upon  a  period  of  distress,  the 
devastation  of  the  Turkish  wars,  between 
1737- 1739,  thinning  their  numbers. 

Under  Maria  Theresa  a  special  colonial 
commission  was  set  on  foot  in  Vienna 
on  July  22nd,  1766,  which  brought  in 
Catholic  colonists  from  the  districts  of 
Havenstein,  Treves,  Lorraine,  and  the 
Breisgau.  At  that  time  more  than  25,000 
Germans  are  said  to  have  found  a  home 
in  the  Banate.  Moreover,  the  Emperor 
Joseph  1 1.,  who  made  a  personal  visit  to  the 
Banate,  issued  an  "  immigration  patent  " 
on  September  21st,  1782,  in  which  he  gave 
a  special  invitation  to  "  members  of  the 
German  Empire  in  the  Upper  Rhine 
district  "  to  take  up  settlements.  By  the 
terms  of  this  patent  the  immigrants  were 
to  travel  free  of  expense,  to  receive 
allotments  of  ground  for  building  and 
cultivation,  necessary  implements,  and  a 
certain  sum  of  money.  The  Germans 
came  in  large  numbers,  built  fourteen 
_^  new    settlements     in     1784- 

c    mperor  j-^g^^  ^^^  increased  thirteen 

,      .      ,.        others.      The     neierhbouriner 

Immigration  ,  ,    ^  u-   u    i,    j 

county  of  Bacs,  which  had 

been  wrested  from  the  Ottomans  im- 
mediately after  the  victory  of  Mohacs 
in  1687,  received  attention  at  a  later 
period  than  the  Banate.  In  accordance 
with  the  "  colonisation  patent  "  of  1763 
full  arrangements  were  made  by  a  royal 
commission  for  the  occupation  of  the 
district  by  Germans.  The  greatest  in- 
flux of  settlers  took  place  between  May  ist, 
1784,  and  November  30th,  1785  ;  during 
that  period  2,057  families,  amounting 
to  9,201  persons,  entered  the  county  of 
Bacs.  Then,  by  the  decree  of  April 
24th,  1786,  further  immigration  at  the 
expense  of  the  state  was  stopped.  As 
most  of  the  Germans  were  of  the  agricul- 
tural class,  numerous  large  villages  arose, 
which  have  preserved  their  German  charac- 
ter to  the  present  day.  The  number  of 
Germans  here  amounts  to  about  30  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  population.  The  chief 
places  inhabited  by  Germans  are  Apatin 
Cservenka,  Csonopla,  Kula,  Alt-Futak, 
Alt-Szivacz,  Bajmok,  Stanisics.  In  spite 
of  the  number  of  languages  spoken  upon 
this  frontier  district,  German  is  at  the 
present  time  predominant. 

Heinrich  von  Vlislocki 
Hans  F.  Helmolt 


EASTERN 
EUROPE  TO 
THE  FRENCH 
REVOLUTION, 


THE 

WESTERN 

SLAVS 

I 


BOHEMIA,  MORAVIA  AND  SILESIA 

THE  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  CZECH  KINGDOM 


HTHE  realms  of  which  we  are  accustomed 
■'■  to  think  to-day  inclusively  as  Austria 
are  occupied  by  an  extraordinary  com- 
posite of  nationalities.  Throughout  the 
greater  part  of  it  the  Teuton  has  planted 
himself,  but  in  only  a  small  portion  of  the 
whole  is  he  the  historical  lord  of  the 
land.  In  fact,  he  is  a  colonist.  Hungary 
is  a  Magyar  kingdom,  ethnologically  of 
Mongol  origin.  The  south-west,  as  we  have 
also  seen,  is  Slavonic.  The  north-west — 
Bohemia  and  Moravia — is  also  Slavonic. 
Yet  the  sceptre  of  the  whole  has  passed 
to  the  ruhng  house  of  the  German  wedge 
thrust  in  between  the  southern  and  the 
-western  Slavs.  Thus,  while  the  house 
of  Hapsburg  is  of  the  West,  and  throughout 
its  history  essentially  a  western  power, 
the  great  bulk  of  its  dominions  to-day 
belongs  historically  to  the  East  of  Europe. 

Bohemia,  with  Moravia,  forms 
Ki^  o'f""*'"  ^^^  central  district  of  Europe. 
_  "*5  °  .  Every  wave  of  barbarian 
Bohemia         •■',.  ,  ■      .      j. 

migration    surged    against   it, 

most  of  them  seem  at  one  time  or  another 
to  have  worked  into  it  or  through 
it — Kelt  and  Teuton,  Mongol  and  Slav. 
Who  was  in  occupation  at  any  given  time 
till  long  after  Rome  had  ceased  to  be 
imperial,  it  is  nearly  impossible  to  deter- 
mine. It  seems,  however,  tolerably  clear 
that  in  the  sixth  century  the  Slavs  were 
in  possession;  and  in  the  seventh,  the 
Mongol  Avar  "  Empire,"  of  which  Httle 
enough  is  known,  disappeared  as  the 
Huns  disappeared ;  leaving  the  Slavs  to' 
work  out  their  own  future. 

The  further  development  of  the  Slav 
settlement,  its  extension,  and  its  political 
organisation,  are  hidden  from  us  by  a  gap 
in  tradition,  extending  over  more  than  a 
century  and  a  half.  We  may,  however, 
conclude  that  the  international  develop- 
ment of  the  country  progressed  consider- 
ably, from  the  Bohemian  legend  as  related 
by  Kosmas  in  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 


century,   which  tells  of  Krok,   Libusha, 

and  Premysl,  the  farmer  of  Staditz,  who 

was  called  from  the  ploughshare  to  the 

throne,  and  became  the  ancestor  of  the 

first  royal  house  of  Bohemia. 

It  is  probable  that  political  and  social 

life    in    Moravia    developed    much    more 

Louis  the         quickly  and  strongly  during 

p:^ w.      the  same  period  ;  for  before 

rious  a  Man     x^    i_        •  <•  .> 

of  Peace  Bohemia    emerges  from  the 

obscurity  of  legend  into  the 
clear  light  of  history,  there  rises  on  Mora- 
vian soil,  quietly  and  without  any  legendary 
history,  a  self-contained  principality  known 
as  the  Moravian  kingdom  of  the  Moimirids, 
after  the  founder  of  the  dynasty,  Moimir. 
During  the  military  period  of  Charles  the 
Great  it  is  unknown,  and  it  appears  in  its 
full  power  only  during  the  peaceful 
reign  of  Louis  the  Pious.  While  Moimir 
did  homage  to  the  German  emperor 
and  offered  presents,  he  extended  his 
power  eastwards,  driving  out  of  his  country 
the  neighbouring  Slav  prince  who  had 
settled  in  Neitra.  The  Prankish  counts 
in  the  East  Mark  and  in  Pannonia  had 
every  opportunity  of  watching  the  growth 
of  the  neighbouring  Moravian  kingdom, 
and  the  fact  that  the  Slav  prince  took 
refuge  with  them  upon  his  expulsion,  and 
received  their  support,  tends  to  show  that 
Moimir's  aspirations  met  with  no  approval 
upon  this  side.  However,  serious  opposi- 
tion to  the  powers  rising  on  the  frontier 
of  the  empire  formed  no  part  of  the  policy 
^  .  .  ,  of  Louis  the  Pious.  After  the 
JJ°;^.y  '  treaty  of  Verdun,  in  843,  Lewis 
St  '^"''^i  ^^®  German  took  over,  with 
rugg  e  j^.^  districts  in  the  east,  the 
task  of  securing  supremacy  of  the 
empire  formerly  founded  by  the  Em- 
peror Charles  over  the  neighbouring 
Slavs  ;  it  was  inevitable  that  a  struggle 
between  the  two  states  should  break  out, 
as  indeed  the  Franks  had  already  expected 
on    their    side.     Even    the    fragmentary 

3145 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


descriptions  which  have  come  down  to  us 
give  an  idea  of  the  fury  and  extent  of  this 
struggle,  in  Which  the  weaker  side,  the 
Moimirid  principality,  always  reappears 
upon  the  scene,  heroically  maintaining  its 
position  in  spite  of  repeated  defeat.  Moi- 
mir  himself  escaped  into  his  fortified 
castles  from  the  first  attack  which  the 
_  German    king   delivered  in  the 

man        ^^^   g^      pj.^    ^^^^     however. 
Armies  in-'  i_i_i-  ji 

j^        .       was  brought   to   an    end  by  a 

domestic  conspiracy  led  by  his 
own  nephew  Rastiz,  or  Rastislav.  The 
second  Moimirid  then  received  the  inherit- 
ance of  his  uncle  from  the  hands  of  the 
Franks,  to  govern  the  land  likewise  under 
their  supremacy.  The  struggle,  however, 
soon  broke  out  anew,  because  Rastislav 
followed  in  his  predecessor's  footsteps,  and 
strove  to  secure  complete  independence 
of  the  Prankish  kingdom.  German  armies 
repeatedly  marched  upon  Moravia  in  the 
years  855,  864,  866,  and  869.  However, 
no  decisive  battle  took  place.  At  one 
time  by  pretended  submission,  and  at 
another  by  flight  into  his  impregnable 
castles,  Rastislav  forced  the  Franks  either 
to  make  peace  or  to  retire  from  the  in- 
hospitable country.  Once  again  domestic 
treachery  placed  the  Moravian  prince  in 
the  power  of  Lewis,  in  870.  The  defeater 
of  Rastislav,  his  nephew  Svatopluk 
(Zwentibold),  secured  the  supremacy  over 
the  whole  of  Moravia  under  the  protec- 
torate of  France,  while  his  uncle  was 
punished  by  blinding  and  confinement  in 
a  French  monastery. 

The  poUtical  struggle  for  the  foundation 
of  a  powerful  Slav  empire  was  accom- 
panied, from  the  outset,  by  a  serious 
attempt  to  break  the  ecclesiastical  ties 
which  united  these  countries  with 
Germany.  German,  Italian,  and  Greek 
priests  were  working  simultaneously  in  the 
country,  and  the  disastrous  consequences 
to  the  land  afforded  the  prince  Rastislav 
a  plausible  excuse  for  appearing  before 
_        „.    .  the  Roman  Pope  Nicholas 

f*tK^     "»»o»««"»  J    with  a  request  that  he 

..  -v  r  -it  ••  should  decide  what  priests 
"  True  Faith  1       1  j     1  r  ^  j    i. 

should    henceforward    be 

permitted  to  preach  and  teach  in  Moravia. 
The  Pope,  however,  is  said  to  have  declined 
to  consider  the  question,  or  perhaps  to 
have  decided  it  against  the  wishes  of  the 
Moravian  prince,  who  in  863  asked  for 
fresh  teachers  from  the  Greek  emperor 
Michael  III.  to  preach  the  true  faith  to  the 
Moravian  nation  in  their  own  language. 

3146 


The  mission  was  entrusted  to  the 
brothers  Constantine  and  Methodius  of 
Thessalonica.  Their  spiritual  work  in 
Moravia  began  in  the  year  864  ;  as,  how-, 
ever,  they  possessed  no  high  ecclesiastical 
rank,  they  confined  themselves  at  first  to 
the  education  of  the  children.  As  they 
desired  to  fulfil  the  object  of  their  mission, 
the  introduction  of  divine  service  in  the 
Slavonic  language,  both  into  the  Moravian 
and  also  into  the  neighbouring  Slav 
kingdom  of  the  Pannonian  prince  Kozel, 
the  brothers,  accompanied  by  the  most 
capable  of  their  scholars,  betook  them- 
selves to  Rome  in  867,  in  order  to  secure 
the  Pope's  permission  for  the  use  of  the 
Slavonic  liturgy.  Pope  Hadrian  II.  is 
said  to  have  fulfilled  the  wish  of  the 
Moravians  in  868. 

Feeling,  however,  a  presentiment  of 
approaching  death,  Constantine  resolved 
not  to  return  to  Moravia ;  he  entered 
the  monastery  at  Rome,  took  the  name 
Cyril  as  a  monk,  and  died  shortly  after- 
wards, on  February  14th,  869.  The 
continuation  of  his  apostolic  work  was 
left  to  his  brother  Methodius,  who  had 
.  been     consecrated     bishop    at 

Loles  His  ^°"^^-  Hardly,  however,  had 
_,. '  '  he  returned  to  Moravia  with 
the  intention  of  resuming  the 
struggle  against  the  German  clergy,  so 
successfully  begun,  when  the  revolution 
took  place  which  cost  Rastislav  his  throne 
and  freedom,  and  transformed  Moravia 
practically  into  a  Prankish  mark.  Metho- 
dius then  succumbed  to  his  opponents  ; 
for  two  and  a  half  years,  during  the 
first  years  of  the  reign  of  Svatopluk  in 
Moravia,  he  remained  a  prisoner  in  a 
German  monastery. 

Friendly  as  were  the  relations  existing 
between  the  new  Moravian  prince  and  the 
neighbouring  German  Empire,  and  in 
particular  with  Karlmann,  the  count  of 
the  East  Mark,  they  continued  but  a  short 
time.  So  soon  as  Karlmann  had  reason 
to  suspect  the  fidelity  of  Svatopluk,  he 
seized  his  person  and  his  property,  and 
retained  him  at  his  court  in  honourable 
confinement,  with  the  idea  that  his  re- 
moval would  make  it  easier  to  establish 
Prankish  supremacy  in  Moravia.  How- 
ever, the  oppressed  Moravian  population 
began  a  desperate  attempt  to  secure  their 
freedom.  Karlmann  thought  that  he 
could  entrust  the  task  of  crushing  this 
movement  to  no  more  suitable  person  than 
Svatopluk,  so  entirely  had  the  Slav  won 


RISE    AND    FALL    OF    THE    CZECH    KINGDOM 


the  confidence  of  the  German.  Hardly, 
however,  did  Svatopluk  find  himself 
among  his  own  people,  ere  he  gave  rein 
to  his  long-repressed  fury,  and  with  one 
blow  destroyed  not  only  the  army  which 
had  been  sent  to  his  support,  but  also  all 
semblance  of  Prankish  dominion  in  Mora- 
via. In  the  two  following  years  (872  and 
873)  Karlmann  was  unable  to  break  down 
the  resistance  of  Svatopluk.  Not  until 
the  year  874  have  we  direct  evidence  of 
the  conclusion  of  a  peace  at  Forchheim, 
under  which  Svatopluk  promised  fidelity, 
obedience,  and  the  usual  annual  tribute. 
Peace  for  eight  years  followed  this  act  of 
submission. 

During  the  period  of  this  national 
rising  the  Moravians  also  remembered 
Methodius  in  his  imprisonment  abroad  ; 
their  representations  at  Rome  eventually 
induced  Pope  John  VIII.  to  order  the 
Bavarian  bishops  to  liberate  the  Moravian 
apostle.  Methodius  immediately  pro- 
ceeded— about  the  outset  of  the  year  873 — 
to  Kozel,  in  the  Pannonian  principality, 
and  shortly  afterwards  to  Moravia,  where 
he  was  received  with  marks  of  high  respect 
on  the  part  of  the  prince  and  people. 
Svatopluk,  however,  failed  to  appreciate 
the  help  which  might  have  been  given  to 
his  pohtical  plans  by  a  firm  establishment 
of  the  Slavonic  Church  in  the  country. 
During  the  dogmatic  quarrels  between 
Methodius   and   the   Bavarian   clergy   he 


TYPE    OF    BOHEMIAN    WOMAN 


PURE     GIPSY    TYPE     OF     BOHEMIA 


maintained  a  position  of  neutrality  :  he 
went  so  far  as  to  express  the  wish  that 
Methodius  should  prove  his  orthodoxy 
before  the  Pope  at  Rome.  The  latter  was 
thus  for  the  second  time  obliged  to  journey 
thither,  and  in  the  year  880  returned  to 
his  diocese  under  full  papcd  protection, 
and  with  further  recognition  of  the 
dignity  of  his  position.  Even  now,  how- 
ever, it  was  impossible  for  him  to  gain  a 
complete  victory  over  his  opponents  in 
Moravia  ;  the  Bavarian  clergy  maintained 
their  position  in  the  country,  and  threw 
obstacles  in  his  way.  It  was  not  until  the 
last  years  of  his  hfe — he  died  on  April  6th, 
885 — that  his  position  in  Moravia  became 
more  peaceful. 

Within  this  period  (882-884)  occurred 
many  violent  pohtical  struggles  between 
Svatopluk  and  the  neighbouring  Prankish 
districts.  The  Moravian  prince  then 
appeared  as  the  protector  of  one  of  two 
families  who  were  struggling  to  secure 
the  position  of  count  in  the  Traungau 
and  in  the  East  Mark,  while  Arnulf, 
or  Arnolf,  the  son  of  Karlmann,  who 
governed  the  marks  of  Karantania  and 
Pannonia,  supported  the  opposition  party. 
The  war  began  in  882.  In  883  Svatopluk 
was  raging  in  Pannonia  "  like  a  wolf," 
and  in  the  following  year  hostilities  were 
renewed.  The  feud  was  repressed  only 
upon  the  interference  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  III.  in  the  East  Mark  in  August, 

3147 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


884.  In  885  peace  was  concluded 
between  Svatopluk  and  Arnulf,  and 
resulted  in  a  mutual  understanding  so 
complete  that,  when  Arnulf  became  can- 
didate for  the  crown  of  Germany  in 
Frankfort  in  the  year  887,  Svatopluk 
zealously  supported  him.  Under  such 
circumstances  the  work  of  Cyril  and 
Methodius  could  not  flourish 
in  Moravia,  the  more  so  as 


Sl&v  Priests' 
Flight  from 
Persecution 


the  death  of  the  latter  had 
thrown  the  entire  responsi- 
bility upon  the  feeble  shoulders  of  a 
disciple.  In  the  very  year  of  the  death 
of  Methodius,  the  year  of  Svatopluk's 
reconciliation  with  the  Franks,  a  general 
persecution  of  the  disciples  of  Methodius 
began  in  Moravia  ;  only  a  few  received 
permission  from  Svatopluk  to  leave  the 
country.  The  Slav  priests  then  took 
refuge  in  the  south  Slavonic  countries, 
where  their  liturgy  found  a  field  unex- 
pectedly productive. 

Thus,  politically  as  well  as  ecclesiasti- 
cally, Moravia  remained  in  peaceful 
dependence  upon  the  Prankish  Empire 
until  the  year  890.  At  that  time  divergent 
conceptions  concerning  the  relation  of 
the  Moravian  princes  to  the  German  king 
brought  forth  new  points  of  difference, 
which  were  to  be  solved  only  by  further 
fighting.  In  the  first  campaign  in  892, 
and  more  especially  in  the  following  year, 
the  Moravians  held  the  field  ;  but  in  the 
year  895,  when  the  power  of  the  Slav 
kingdom  for  resistance  was  to  be  tested 
for  the  third  time,  Svatopluk  died  a  sudden 
but  natural  death.  With  him  disappeared 
irrevocably  the  whole  splendour  of  the 
Moravian  kingdom.  The  violent  struggle 
between  the  brothers,  who  were  the 
heirs  of  Svatopluk,  accelerated  the  down- 
fall, and  the  strength  of  the  country  was 
further  weakened  by  the  secession  of  both 
Bohemian  and  Silesian  districts,  over 
which  the  military  power  of  Svatopluk 
had  extended  his  dominion.  Under  these 
,  circumstances    it    was    im- 

oravia    a  s  p^ggjj-jjg  j^j-  ^^le  country  to 

Wld  M  resist  for  any  length  of  time 

agyar  ^^^  fearful  attacks  of  the 
Magyars,  who  advanced  with  barbaric 
ferocity.  In  the  year  906  Moravia  suc- 
cumbed to  this  enemy,  whom  she  had  hardly 
had  time  to  observe,  much  less  to  guard 
against,  after  concluding,  in  the  year  901,  a 
peace  with  her  great  enemy  the  Franks, 
which  in  no  way  limited  her  constitutional 
independence.     The  Moimirids  had  eyes 

3148 


only  for  the  limitations  which  hindered  theii 
national  development  upon  the  west,  and 
failed  to  see  the  dangers  which  threatened 
their  unprotected  eastern  frontier  ;  this 
neglect  brought  about  the  downfall  of  theii* 
carefully  constructed  empire. 

The  downfall  of  the  old  Moravian 
kingdom  made  room  for  the  development 
of  other  Slavonic  states  which  had  existed 
under  the  protection  and  government 
of  the  Moimirid  Empire  at  the  time  of  its 
highest  power  ;  such  were  the  Bohemian 
duchy  on  the  west  and  the  Pohsh  duchy 
on  the  north-east  of  Moravia.  The  for- 
tunes of  Bohemia  in  particular  were, 
during  the  ninth  century,  often  closely 
linked  with  those  of  her  more  important 
neighbour  on  the  east.  The  expeditions 
of  the  Franks  were  on  several  occasions 
directed  against  both  countries.  The 
activity  of  the  Slav  apostles  in  Moravia 
seems  to  have  been  not  unheeded  in 
Bohemia ;  there  is  evidence  for  the  fact 
that  the  Bohemian  Duke  Borivoi  was 
baptised  by  Methodius.  In  individual 
points,  however,  the  relations  of  the  two 
countries  in  politics  and  religion  are  some- 
_  .  .  what  obscure,  for  the  reason 
IT  /'f.-*f' J  that   the  history  of  Bohemia 

Established    ■       r  i  j  t,  . 

.    g  .      .     IS  of  a  very  legendary  character 

until  late  in  the  ninth  century. 
Borivoi,  a  contemporary  of  Svatopluk, 
is  the  first  historical  prince  in  Bohemia, 
and  his  name  follows  a  long  series  of 
mythical  rulers. 

However,  the  foundation  of  a  uniform 
kingdom,  and  the  definite  establishment 
of  the  Christian  faith  in  Bohemia,  belong 
to  the  period  of  the  sons  of  Borivoi — 
Spitignev  and  Wratislav — and  his  grand- 
sons— Wenzel  the  Saint  and  Boleslav  I. 
As  early  as  the  reign  of  Wenzel,  or  Wen- 
ceslaus,  took  p^ace  the  first  inevitable 
coUision  between  the  German*  Empire, 
which  had  gained  in  strength  since  the 
accession  of  Henry  the  Fowler  and  the 
Slav  power,  which  had  grown  up  during 
the  Hungarian  wars.  The  struggle  had 
fatal  effects  upon  German  prosperity. 
Wenzel  was  a  peace-loving  prince,  whose 
mind  was  bent  more  upon  the  salvation  of 
the  Church  than  on  temporal  success ;  he 
readily  recognised  the  supremacy  of  the 
German  king,  and  agreed  to  the  old  tribute, 
when  Henry  I.  appeared  before  Prague  in 
the  year  928.  :  When,  however,  Wenzel, 
in  the  course  of  domestic  struggles,  lost 
his  life  in  the  year  935  at  the  hands  of 
his  brothers  and  aUies,  and  Boleslav  I., 


WENZEL    OF    BOHEMIA:    "THE    GOOD     KING     WENCESLAUS  " 
Wenzel's  thoughtfulness  and  regard  for  others  endeared  him  to  his  people.      Of  his  humility  and  consideration  a  pretty 
story  is  told.    One  cold,  frosty  night,  so  runs  the  tale,  he  saw  a  poor  man  in  the  snow  gathering  fuel.    His  heart  was 
touched,  and  calling  on  his  page  to  "  Bring  me  flesh  and  bring  me  wine,  bring  me  pine-logs  hither;  thou  and  I  will  see 
bim  dine,  wbep  w«  b^ar  them  thittier,"  they  went  out  "in  the  rude  wind's  wild  lament"  on  their  mission  of  mercy. 

3T49 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


The  New 

Polish 

Empire 


"  the  fratricide,"  became  duke,  the  war  with 
Germany  broke  out  afresh.  The  Bo- 
hemian prince  held  out  for  a  long  time  in  the 
frontier  fortresses  and  abattis,  which  pro- 
tected his  country  against  King  Otto  I., 
then  hard  pressed  by  enemies  on  many 
sides.  Eventually,  however,  Boleslav's 
strength  grew  feeble,  and  in  950  he  sub- 
mitted to  the  same  conditions 
under  which  his  brother  and 
predecessor  had  recognised 
German  supremacy.  In  the 
battle  of  the  Lechfeld,  in  the  year  955,  a 
Bohemian  auxihary  force  fought  side  by 
side  with  the  troops  of  the  united  German 
races.  Boleslav,  who  protected  his  fron- 
tiers against  the  impetuous  Magyars, 
pursued  the  defeated  enemy,  and  inflicted 
further  defeat  upon  them. 

About  this  time  appeared  a  dangerous 
rival  to  the  rising  Premyslid  principality  ; 
this  was  the  Polish  Empire.  We  first 
become  acquainted  with  the  existence  of 
this  new  power  in  the  lowlands  between 
the  Oder  and  the  Warthe  about  963  ; 
its  political  centre  was  Gnesen,  and  it 
extended  south-west  to  the  modern  Silesia, 
where  it  touched  the  Bohemian  kingdom. 
At  first  the  two  Slav  principalities 
maintained  friendly  relations  ;  the  Polish 
Duke  Mesko  I.,  who  died  in  992,  married 
Dubrava,  the  daughter  of  Boleslav  I.  of 
Bohemia.  She  it  was  who  won  over  both 
her  husband  and  his  people  to  Christianity. 
As  early  as  the  year  968  a  Polish  bishopric 
Wcis  founded  in  Posen,  some  years  before 
that  of  Prague.  Bohemian  auxiliary 
troops  supported  Mesko  in  his  struggles 
against  his  northern  neighbours.  The 
Pohsh  and  Bohemian  princes — the  latter 
was  the  son  and  namesake  of  Boleslav  I. 
— made  an  alhance,  and  joined  in  helping 
the  Bavarian  Duke  Henry  against  the 
Emperors  Otto  II.  and  Otto  III.  in  the 
years  976  and  983-985. 

Then,  however,  the  bond  of  friendship 
between    the    two    brothers-in-law    was 

_  ^      .  broken  :  Dubrava  had    died 

Bohemia  t     ^1. 

_    . .      ^    ,^    m  977.     In  the  year  990  our 
Rushing  to  its        iZ       i.-  1  t       Ai, 

_  ...  authorities  speak  of  the 
"  bitter  hostility  "  existing  be- 
tween the  two,  as  the  Pole  had  captured  a 
considerable  district  from  Bohemia,  and 
had  succeeded  in  maintaining  his  posi- 
tion in  a  series  of  battles.  Accurate 
geographical  information  is  wanting,  but 
from  the  mention  of  the  place  Niemtsch 
it  has  been  concluded  that  the  scene  of 
the  war  was  Silesia.     A  long   period  of 

3150 


bitter  struggle  between  the  two  neighbour- 
ing states  followed,  which  severely  tested 
the  resources  of  the  Premyslid  kingdom. 
After  about  a  century  of  development 
Bohemia  had  now  arrived  at  a  turning- 
point  which  is  marked  upon  the  one  hand 
by  a  decline  in  political  power,  and  on 
the  other  by  violent  domestic  convul- 
sions. That  period  came  when  Adalbert, 
the  second  Bishop  of  Prague,  abandoned 
"  the  blind  nation  rushing  to  its  own 
downfall,"  left  his  country  and  his  home, 
and  in  997  sacrificed  his  life  in  missionary 
work  among  the  savage  Prussians.  It 
is  the  period  when  a  noble  native 
family,  the  Slavnikings,  from  which 
Adalbert  was  sprung,  was  exterminated 
by  Duke  Boleslav  II.  and  the  nobility. 
The  contagion  of  discord  soon  extended 
to  the  royal  family,  and  the  Prem5rsUds 
and  the  Bohemians  were  governed  by 
dukes,  designated  by  the  chroniclers  as 
"  basilisks,"  or  "  poisonous  vipers." 

Hardly  had  Boleslav  III.,  the  son  of 
Boleslav  II.,  assumed  the  government 
in  the  year  999  when  he  attempted  to 
destroy  his  younger  brothers,  J  aromir  and 
p  Udalrich,  and  upon  the  failure 

o  es  an  ^^  ^^^  attempt  drove  them 
o  em  ans  ^^^  ^^  ^^^  country  with  their 
mother  ;  they  found  a  refuge 
at  the  imperial  court  in  Germany.  The 
condition  of  affairs  naturally  enabled  the 
warlike  Polish  Duke  Boleslav  I.  Chabri 
(992-1025)  to  seize  Bohemia,  with  the 
help  of  dissatisfied  Bohemian  nobles, 
at  the  outset  of  the  year  1003,  after  pre- 
viously conquering  the  German  frontier 
land  between  the  Oder  and  the  Elbe, 
and  also  Moravia.  He  decUned,  however, 
to  do  homage  to  the  emperor  for  his  new 
dominions,  and  Henry  II.  resolved  to 
deprive  the  Pole  of  his  latest  acquisitions. 
Bohemia  was  reconquered  at  the  first 
attack,  in  1004,  and  Prince  J  aromir  was 
invested  with  the  Duchy  of  Bohemia. 
The  struggle  for  the  other  conquests  of 
the  Pole  ended  in  a  long  war  between  the 
German  emperor,  who  was  supported  by 
the  Bohemians,  and  Boleslav  Chabri ; 
the  war  occupied  almost  the  entire  reign 
of  this  prince. 

In  the  course  of  the  struggle  between 
the  Bohemian  and  Polish  powers  victory 
returned  to  the  flag  of  the  former,  es- 
pecially after  the  death  of  Boleslav  Chabri, 
when  a  period  of  internal  confusion  began 
in  Poland  ;  while  in  Bohemia,  after  the 
short     rule     of     J  aromir,     his    brother 


RISE    AND    FALL    OF    THE    CZECH    KINGDOM 


Udalrich  seized  the  reins  of  government, 
with  the  support  of  his  bold  son  Bretislav. 
To  Bretislav  is  in  particular  due  the 
achievement  of  obtaining  from  Poland  the 
land  of  Moravia  in  1029.  the  last  of  the 
great  conquests  of  the  period  of  Boleslav 
Chabri.  The  union  of  this  district  with 
Bohemia  materially  increased  the  pres- 
tige and  the  strength  of  the  PremysUd 
dynasty. 

After  the  death  of  his  father  Udalrich. 
in    1034,  Bretislav  took    over    the    sole 
government.     In  1039   he  undertook   an 
expedition  into  Poland  with  a  large  army 
and  made  a  victorious  advance  as  far  as 
Gnesen,   plundering  and  devastating  the 
land   on   all  sides.     At   the   point  where 
the  corpse  of  the 
Bishop  of  Prague, 
Adalbert,  had  been 
laid    to   rest   after 
his   martyrdom  at 
the   hands  of   the 
Prussians,    in  997, 
Bretislav  atoned 
i6t  the  ingratitude 
of   his    forefathers 
to  this  noble  man  ; 
"he     made     his 
Bohemian    and 
Moravian    subjects 
renounce     at     the 
martyr's  grave, 
while     they    were 
in  arms,  a  number 
of  heathen  customs 
of    long    standing,  ^^^  ancient  crown   of  Bohemia 

agamStWniCnAaai-  This  famous  crown  of  Bohemia,  often  called  the  crown 
bert  had  inveighed,  of  St.  Wenceslaus,  dates  from  the  fourteenth  century, 
rp,         (,  r1     K    r      ***'^    '*    kept     in    the    treasury     of    St.     Veit    at    Prague. 

den,"  the  remains  of    the  martyr,  were 

then  brought  back  to  his  native  land. 
The     conquests,     however,    of   certain 

districts  of  Poland  had  to  be  abandoned 

when  the  Emperor  Henry  III.  protested 

against  them.     Like  Henry  II.  before  him, 

his  son  was  determined  to  prevent  the  crea- 
tion  of  a  great  Slav  empire  on 

i^ti?"  the  east  of  Germany.  Bretislav 

accepted  the  challenge  forth- 
with, and  in  1040,  the  first  year 

of  the  war,  he  secured  a  great  success.   In 

the   following  year,  however,  the  course 

of  the  campaign  was  so  disastrous  to  the 

Bohemians,  owing  to  the  treacherous  de- 
sertion of  certain  nobles  to  the  emperor's 

cause,  that  the  Bohemian  ruler  was  forced 

to    sue    for    peace.     Only    two    Silesian 

districts    of    his    Polish    conquests    were 


Nobles 

of  Bohemia 


left  to  him,  and  these  were  shortly  after- 
wards perforce  restored  to  the  Polish 
prince  in  return  for  a  yearly  tribute. 
Henceforward  Bretislav  renounced  all 
military  operations  against  the  German 
Empire,  and,  indeed,  supported  the 
_  emperor      in     his     campaigns, 

the^Frield  especially      against     Hungary. 
J  p  ^        Bretislav    secured    peace    and 
quiet    for  the  advancement  of 
civilisation  and  economic  prosperity  in  his 
territories.      During    his    government    in 
Bohemia  and  Moravia  several  important 
monasteries  were  founded.   In  the  interior 
of  his  extensive  empire  he  hoped  to  be 
able    to    secure    permanent    order,   even 
after  his  death,  through  his  heirs.     He 
bequeathed  to  his 
first-born    son, 
Spitignev,    the 
government  in 
Bohemia,  together 
with    the    general 
right  of  supremacy; 
-Moravia  he  divided 
among     his    three 
younger  sons,  Wra- 
tislav,   Konrad, 
and  Otto.     A  fifth 
son,   Jaromir,   was 
intended    for    the 
Church. 

Bretislav    had, 
however,  taken  in- 
adequate measures 
to  secure  the  per- 
formance of  these 
conditions,  and  the 
reaction  began  im- 
mediately after  his 
death    in  1055.     Spitignev  deprived  his 
Moravian  brothers  of  their  rule,  destroyed 
the  nobility  of  Moravia,  who  attempted  to 
offer  resistance  to  his  aggressive  measures, 
and  finally,  for  unknown  reasons,  expelled 
from  Bohemia  the  Germans,  who  had  ac- 
quired great  influence  during  his  father's 
reign  ;  he  also  banished  his  mother,  Judith 
von  Schweinfurt,  the  first  German  princess 
who    had    occupied   the    throne    of   the 
Premyslids.      His  government,   however, 
lasted  scarcely  six  years  (1055-1061). 

His  brother  and  successor,  Duke  Wra- 
tislav  II.,  reverted  to  his  father's  policy. 
Bretislav  had  given  Moravia  its  first 
monastery  by  his  foundation  at  Raigern 
in  1048,  and  Wratislav,  notwithstanding 
the  great  difficulties  raised  in  his  path  by 
his  brother  Jaromir-Gebhard,  Bishop  of 

3151 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Prague,  founded  the  bishopric  of  Olmiitz 
in  1062,  which  afterwards  became  the 
ecclesiastical  centre  of  Moravia.  Of  very 
considerable  importance  to  Bohemia  and 
to  the  German  Empire  are  the  personal 
relations  upon  which  Duke  Wratislav 
entered  with  the  Emperor  Henry  IV.  ; 
these  endured  unchanged  during  the  whole 
„  ,  .  _  .  government  of  the  two 
Bohemian  Duke  ^^^^^^^  notwithstanding  the 

ssumes  general    secession    of    the 

1  It  e  o  iBg  princes  from  the  emperor 
and  the  warnings  of  Pope  Gregory  VII. 
As  a  reward  for  this  personal  fidelity  and 
for  the  constant  military  help  which  the 
formidable  reputation  of  his  troops  was 
able  to  give  the  emperor,  the  Bohemian 
duke  was  rewarded  at  different  times  by 
neighbouring  pieces  of  territory,  though 
he  was  unable  to  maintain  a  permanent 
supremacy  over  them,  and  in  the  year 
1086  he  was  allowed  to  assume  the 
dignity  of  king,  though  this  was  merely 
a  personal  concession  to  himself. 

So  great  was  the  reputation  possessed 
by  Wratislav  in  Germany  that  the 
Archbishop  Wezilo  of  Mayence  an- 
nounced the  elevation  of  the  Bohemian 
duke  to  the  dignity  of  king  in  these 
words  to  the  Pope  :  "All  are  agreed 
that  he  would  have  been  worthy  of  even 
higher  favour,  if  any  such  could  have 
been  found  for  him."  Only  in  his  own 
house  did  Wratislav  fail  to  secure  peace. 
There  were  continual  quarrels,  now  with 
his  brother  the  Bishop  of  Prague,  now 
again  with  his  other  brothers  the  Moravian 
princes,  and  also  with  his  son  and  his 
nephews.  These  differences  often  caused 
local  disturbance,  and  sometimes  forced 
him  to  take  up  arms  against  his  opponents. 
The  cause  of  them  among  the  Premy- 
slids — and  they  were  to  endure  for  almost 
the  next  century  and  a  half — consisted  in 
that  regulation  for  the  succession,  the 
"  Justitia  Bohemorum,"  which  Duke  Bre- 
tislav  is  said  to  have  arranged  upon  his 

_.  -  death-bed,    and    according    to 

Throne  of      i-  1  x     r  n   - 

_  .      .      which  supremacy  was  to  fall  to 

.    p.  the  eldest  son  of  the  house.     It 

was  the  Moravian  princes  who 

more  particularly    revolted    against  the 

power  of  the  Duke  of   Bohemia  in  the 

attempt  to  establish  their  claim  to  the 

Bohemian  throne.      During  the  reign  of 

the  two  successors  of  Wratislav,  who  died 

in  1092,  his  sons  Bretislav  II.  and  Borivoi, 

we  have  struggles  with  Udalrich  of  Briinn 

and  Lutold  of  Znaim  in  iioi,  and  some 

3153 


years  later — in  1105  and  1107 — with  Duke 
S  vatopluk  of  Olmiitz ;  these  produced  very 
serious  disturbances.  At  the  same  time  the 
Premyslid  power  was  involved  in  numerous 
military  enterprises  abroad,  at  one  time 
against  Hungary,  at  another  against 
Poland — now  upon  its  own  initiative,  and 
again  as  following  the  German  kings. 

The  relations  of  the  country  to  the  em- 
pire were  by  no  means  undisturbed  by  this 
internal  confusion  ;  on  the  contrary,  the 
emperor  was  often  called  in  as  arbitrator. 
This  struggle  increases  in  dramatic  force 
until  it  reaches  its  highest  point  in  the 
year  11 25.  Duke  Vladislav,  also  a  son  of 
Wratislav  II.,  had  died,  and  had  been 
succeeded  in  the  government  by  his 
younger  brother  Sobeslav  ;  he  was  op- 
posed by  his  cousin  Prince  Otto  of  Olmiitz, 
who  found  a  powerful  ally  in  King  Lothar 
of  Siipplingenburg.  Hitherto  German 
kings  had  offered  no  direct  interference 
in  the  struggle  of  the  Bohemian  rivals, 
but  Lothar  led  the  army  to  Bohemia  in 
person  to  support  the  cause  of  his  protege 
Otto.  The  result  was  the  fearful  battle  of 
Kulm  on  February  i8th,  1126,  in  which 
_         .  ,     not  only  the  German  knights 

o  emia  s   -^^  ^j^^  king's  service  met  with 

„  .      total  defeat,  but  the  Moravian 

Succession  ,  ,    ■  ^, 

prince    was    also    slain.      The 

wars  of  succession  were,  however,  not 
concluded.  During  the  government  of 
Sobeslav  (1125-1140)  the  country  was  in 
a  continual  state  of  internal  ferment. 
However,  the  duke  vigorously  suppressed 
one  conspiracy  after  another,  and  thus 
secured  time  to  carry  on  his  numerous 
foreign  wars,  whether  against  Poland, 
which  he  repeatedly  devastated  between 
1132  and  I135,  or  in  Germany,  Italy,  and 
Hungary,  in  the  service  of  King  Lothar, 
with  whom  he  had  made  peace  imme- 
diately after  the  battle  of  Kulm. 

Under  the  successor  of  Sobeslav,  his 
nephew  Vladislav  II.,  the  smouldering  fire 
blazed  up.  The  youthful  Bohemian  duke 
was  opposed  simultaneously  by  a  number 
of  Bohemian  Premyslid  princes,  by  the 
Moravian  princes  of  Briinn,  Olmiitz,  and 
Znaim,  and  by  a  portion  of  the  Bohemian 
nobility.  Thanks,  however,  to  his  own 
determination,  to  the  fidelity  of  his  fol- 
lowers, including  his  brother  Thebald  and 
the  Bishop  of  Olmiitz,  and  to  the  vigorous 
support  afforded  by  the  Emperor  Conrad 
II.,  a  half-brother  of  his  wife  Gertrude, 
he  succeeded  in  forcing  the  allies  to  retreat. 
The  struggles  of  the  Duke  of  Bohemia 


RISE    AND    FALL    OF    THE    CZECH    KINGDOM 


with  the  Moravian  Premyslids,  especially 
with  Conrad  of  Znaim,  endured  for  years. 
Eventually  the  forces  of  the  latter  were 
exhausted,  and  the  world-inspiring  idea 
of  a  Second  Crusade  diverted  men's  minds 
from  the  monotony  of  domestic  strife. 
The  close  relations  of  Bohemia  to  the 
German  Empire  at  that  time,  and  also  the 
energy  of  Bishop  Henry  of  Olmiitz, 
made  the  political  movements  felt  in  this 
country  in  full  force.  The  summons  for  a 
crusade  to  Palestine  in  1147,  ^^^  ^^^  ^ 
simultaneous  enterprise  against  the 
heathen  Wends  on  the  lower  Elbe  and 
Vistula,  was  enthusiastically  received  by 
Bohemia  and  Moravia.  Under  the  leader- 
ship of  Bishop  Henry  and  some  of  the 
Premyslid  princes,  one  party  started  off 
with  the  northern  crusading  army,  while 
Duke  Vladislav  with  a  no  less  splendid 
force  joined  Conrad  HI.  and  the  eastern 
host,  though  the  duke  was  forced  to  return 
from  Constantinople  or  Nicaea  by  reason 
of  the  great  hardships  of  the  campaign. 

A  few  years  later,  on  June  25th,  1150, 
death  deprived  the  duke  of  his  faithful 
counsellor,    Bishop    Henry.     The    bishop 
,        was    a    personality   of   very 
El       of  *      ^^^^  importance  both  in  the 
u  ogy  o  ecclesiastical     and     political 

Bishop  Henry  ^^^^^      p^^j^  penetrated  by 

German  ideas  and  German  culture,  he  was 
respected  both  by  the  Emperor  Conrad  and 
by  Pope  Eugenius  III.,  who  selected  him 
for  important  diplomatic  missions,  such, 
for  instance,  as  the  attempted  union 
between  the  Greek  and  Roman  Churches 
proposed  by  the  Pope.  The  Pope's  words 
to  the  eitiperor  respecting  this  bishop  are 
more  than  a  mere  compliment  :  "  Though 
we  should  have  been  very  glad  to  keep  with 
us  for  some  time  in  high  honour  and  affec- 
tion this  good  and  pious  man,  yet  we  send 
him  back  to  your  Highness,  knowing  as  we 
do  how  great  is  your  need  of  him." 
Between  the  years  1142  and  1147  we  see 
Henry  at  least  once  every  year  at  the 
German  court,  and  in  personal  attendance 
upon  the  Emperor  Conrad. 

Henry's  position  in  the  empire  can  be 
well  inferred  from  the  words  of  the  emperor 
in  an  official  document,  to  the  effect  that  he 
had  chosen  the  Bishop  of  Olmiitz  in  pre- 
ference to  all  the  bishops  in  the  empire, 
on  account  of  his  stainless  faith  as  a 
teacher  and  mediator  in  all  things  per- 
taining to  the  service  of  God.  His  energy 
as  regards  Bohemia  and  Moravia  was 
very  considerably  paralysed  by  the  endless 


quarrels  of  the  Premyslids  among  them- 
selves. The  fact  is,  however,  of  import- 
ance that  he  was,  by  reason  of  his  connec- 
tion with  Germany,  the  first  means  of 
bringing  the  ideas  of  German  civilisation 
into  Moravia  and  the  Premyslid  countries  ; 
for  the  church  of  Olmiitz,  for  instance,  he 
secured,  in  full  accordance  with  German 

„.  „,  ..  ,  custom,  a  grant  of  iurisdic- 
KiBg  Vladislav  .  •         1  -i 

_  .*     p  tional  immunity  —  a  pnvi- 

njoys    ame      j  which    had    hitherto 

and  Prosperity    ,  *="  ,  •       ^i  •       t 

been  unknown  in  this  dis- 
trict, and  was  soon  to  become  of  great 
importance  to  legal  developments  in  Bo- 
hemia and  Moravia.  The  reign  of  Vladislav 
continued  long  after  the  death  of  the 
bishop  ;  the  king  lived  in  prosperity  and 
fame  to  his  latest  years.  The  dangers 
threatened  by  Moravia  had  been  obviated 
for  the  moment  by  establishing  Bohemian 
Premyslids  in  the  divided  principalities. 
It  is  true  that  many  a  banished  Premyslid 
prince  was  living  abroad,  only  waiting  for 
the  moment  when  the  throne  of  Vladislav 
should  begin  to  totter  ;  yet  he  was  suc- 
cessful in  preserving  his  rule  for  a  long 
time  from  any  shattering  blow. 

An  important  means  to  this  end  was  the 
fact  that  upon  the  accession  of  Frederic  I. 
(Barbarossa)  to  the  German  throne  in 
1152,  Vladislav  continued  in  the  traditional 
path  of  fidelity  to  the  emperor  and  empire. 
At  the  right  moment,  and  by  means  of  the 
dexterous  mediation  of  Bishop  Daniel  of 
Prague,  the  tie  between  the  two  princes 
was  drawn  even  closer  in  June,  1156.  The 
Duke  of  Bohemia  undertook  to  place  his 
subjects  at  the  emperor's  disposal  for 
miUtary  expeditions,  and  in  return  for 
this  he  received  certain  small  concessions 
of  territory,  and  also  the  honour  of  king- 
ship, which,  exactly  seventy  yeaf^  before, 
had  been  conferred  by  the  Emperor  Henry 
IV.  upon  his  grandfather,  Wratislav  II. 

Bohemia  now  entered  upon  a  military 

period.     First  of  all  the  country  shared 

in  Barbarossa's  Polish  campaign  of  1157, 

.  crossed  the  Oder,  and  cleared 

as°a  MiHtar  *^^  P^^^  ^^^  *P*°  ^  foreign 
as  a     11  ary  ^^Q^j^^j-y  £qj.  ^^le  imperial  army. 

^^'^  Though  the  enterprise  had  no 

importance  for  Bohemia  itself,  it  was  of 
great  import  to  the  independent  prin- 
cipality of  Silesia.  This  campaign,  which 
was  repeated  in  1163,  resulted  in  the  recall 
of  the  sons  of  Vladislav  II.  of  Poland  by 
the  Polish  duke  Boleslav  IV.  Kendzierzavy. 
In  1146  he  had  driven  his  brother  Vladislav 
II.    of   Poland    from    the    throne,    and 

315.? 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


forced  him  to  flee  to  his  brother-in-law, 
the  Emperor  Conrad  III.  of  Germany. 
His  children  were  now  reinstated  in  their 
father's  inheritance,  Breslau,  Glogau,  and 
Oppeln.  The  Polish  supremacy  over  these 
districts  was,  indeed,  maintained  for  a 
considerable  period.  But  the  three 
princes,  Boleslav,  Mesko,  and  Conrad, 
P  ,    who   had   spent    the   whole   of 

ermany  s  ^|^g^j.  youth  in  Germany,  were 
g .  J  .  the  first  who  brought  Silesia 
within  the  area  of  Western 
civilisation.  It  is  of  great  historical 
importance'  that  the  Bohemian  king 
co-operated  in  the  first  attempt  to  sunder 
Silesia  from  Polajid,  and  connect  it  with 
the  German  Empire. 

In  the  year  following  the  Polish  war  the 
Bohemians  received  a  summons  to  a 
campaign  against  Milan.  The  youthful 
Bohemian  knights  enthusiastically  sup- 
ported the  summons,  though  the  older 
nobility  regarded  the  new  policy  with 
suspicion  and  distrust.  Vladislav,  without 
consulting  his  nobles,  had  been  crowned 
by  the  emperor  on  January  nth,  1158,  at 
an  imperial  diet  in  Regensburg,  and,  with- 
out their  consent,  had  agreed  to  Frederic's 
conditions.  Their  opposition,  however, 
went  for  nothing.  The  spirit  and  bravery 
of  the  Bohemian  warriors  contributed 
largely  to  secure  victories  for  the  emperor, 
both  in  this  year,  and  in  his  later  campaigns 
and  conflicts  in  Italy  in  1161,  1162,  and 
1167.  It  must  be  said  that  their 
plundering  habits  procured  them  an  evil 
reputation  both  abroad  and  in  the 
emperor's  countries.  Successful,  too,  was 
an  expedition  which  King  Vladislav  led  to 
Hungary  in  1164,  in  order  to  support  his 
proteg^  Stefan  III.  in  the  struggle  for  the 
succession  against  Stefan  IV.,  who  was 
supported  by  the  Byzantine  emperor. 
The  treasures  of  the  Greek  campaign 
provided  a  rich  booty. 

Towards  the  end  of  Vladislav's  reign  his 
relations  with  Frederic  Barbarossa  were 
_  clouded    for     many     reasons. 

mperor  Upon  his  resolve  to  transfer 
InterfeTes*^  the  government  of  Bohemia  to 
his  son  Frederic  without  the 
consent  of  Barbarossa,  the  German 
emperor  opposed  this  arbitary  action  on 
the  part  of  the  Bohemian  king,  and,  instead 
of  Frederic,  made  his  cousin  Sobeslav  II. 
Duke  of  Bohemia.  The  immediate  conse- 
quence was  a  protracted  struggle  for  the 
throne.  Frederic  was  obliged  to  give 
way  at   first,   but  at  a  later  period  he 

3154 


recovered  the  emperor's  favour  and 
reconquered  the  supremacy  from  Sobeslav 
in  1179. 

In  this  struggle  he  was  supported  by 
Germany,  and  also,  in  particular,  by  the 
Moravian  prince  Conrad  Otto,  who,  in  all 
probability,  was  sprung  from  a  collateral 
branch  of  the  Bohemian  Premyslids,  and 
had  succeeded  under  King  Vladislav  II. 
to  the  principality  of  Znaim  upon  the 
extinction  of  a  native  line  of  rulers. 

From  the  beginning  of  Sobeslav's  reign, 
Briinn  and  Olmiitz  were  governed  by  his 
younger  brothers,  Udalrich  and  Wenzel,  so 
that  the  Moravian  branchof  thePremyslids 
became  entirely  extinct  about  the  year  1174. 
However,  the  struggle  between  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  broke  out  once  again.  The 
second  reign  of  Frederic,  the  "  inex- 
perienced helmsman,"  as  a  contemporary 
chronicler  names  him,  was  as  short  as  the 
first  ;  a  popular  rising  forced  him  to  flight, 
and  he  appUed  for  help  to  the  emperor. 
The  ducal  throne  of  Bohemia  seemed 
destined  to  fall  to  the  Moravian  prince 
Conrad  Otto,  who  already  united  under 
his  rule  the  three  component  kingdoms  of 
.  Moravia.  However,  Frederic 

Bohemia  and     g^rbarossa    summoned  the 

oravia  ^^^    Premyslids    to   appear 

gam  m  rms  j^g^^j-g  j^jg  cQ^-t  at  Ratisbon, 
and  delivered  his  decision  on  September 
29th,  1182  :  Frederic  was  to  reign  in 
Bohemia,  as  before,  while  Conrad  Otto 
was  henceforward  to  govern  Moravia  as  a 
margravate,  immediately  depending  on 
the  emperor  and  in  complete  independence 
of  Bohemia. 

After  the  death  of  Conrad  Otto,  in  1191, 
the  struggle  for  the  supremacy  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  broke  out  again  between 
the  two  lines  of  the  Sobeslavids  and 
Vladislavids,  and  the  emperor  eventually 
decided  in  the  favour  of  the  latter, 
conferring  Bohemia,  in  1192,  upon 
Premysl  Ottokar  and  Moravia  upon 
Vladislav  Henry,  the  two  younger  brothers 
of  the  Duke  Frederic,  who  died  in 
1 189.  Peace,  however,  was  not  even  then 
secured.  In  the  following  year  the  brothers 
were  driven  out  by  their  cousin  Henry 
Bretislav,  who  was  also  Bishop  of  Prague, 
and  ruled  over  both  countries  until  1197. 

His  death  seemed  likely  to  become  the 
occasion  of  a  further  struggle  for  the 
succession  between  the  two  brothers, 
Premysl  Ottokar  and  Vladislav  Henry. 
The  latter,  however,  was  a  peaceable 
character,  and  found   a  solution  of  the 


RISE    AND    FALL    OF    THE    CZECH    KINGDOM 


difficulty  by  offering  his  brother  an 
arrangement  for  the  partition  of  the 
empire,  which  occurred  to  his  mind  when 
the  armies  were  drawn  up  for  battle  on 
December  6th,  1197.  The  proposition 
was  that  Premysl  Ottokar  should  rule 
in  Bohemia  and  Vladislav  Henry  in 
Moravia,  while  both  "  were  to  liave  one 
mind  as  they  had  one  rule."  Though  this 
arrangement  does  not  in  the  least  represent 
the  nature  of  their  subsequent  relations,  it 
none  the  less  remains  certain  that  with 
it  a  new  age  begins  in  the  history  of  the 
Premyslid  kingdom. 

This  fraternal  compact  of  iigy  brought 
to  a  somewhat  unexpected  conclusion 
the  unfruitful  period  of  Bohemian  history, 
during  which  the  domestic  policy  of 
the  country  was  dominated  by  continual 
quarrels  concerning  the  succession,  while 
economic  development  and  the  progress 
of  culture  were  checked,  and  only  the 
unbridled  warlike  temperament  of  the 
people  was  stimulated.  However,  towards 
the  close  of  the  twelfth  century  the  mili- 
tary element  falls  into  the  background  of 
the  history  of  the  Bohemian  territories, 

while  civilisation  and  progress 
Peace  an     ^^^^  ^^^  upper  hand.   Feud  and 
rogress      qy^rrel    in    the   royal   family 
m  Bohemia   j.  j    i       A      1      1 

disappear,  and  brotherly  love 

and  unity  promote  the  bold  plans  con- 
ceived by  the  head  of  the  family,  the  Duke 
of  Bohemia,  for  the  aggrandisement  of  his 
empire  and  his  royal  house.  The  Ger- 
man emperor  no  longer  settles  Bohemian 
affairs  at  his  own  will  and  pleasure  ;  on 
the  contrary,  the  Bohemian  princes 
derive  considerable  advantage  from 
the  struggles  and  confusion  prevailing  in 
the  German  Empire.  Supported  with 
unselfish  devotion  by  his  Moravian  brother, 
the  Margrave  Vladislav  Henry,  who  died 
in  1222,  both  in  his  diplomatic  and 
military  enterprise,  the  new  Duke  of 
Bohemia  cleverly  utilised  the  quarrel 
of  the  rival  German  kings,  Philip  of 
Swabia  and  Otto  of  Brunswick,  to 
secure  the  recognition  of  Bohemia  as  a" 
kingdom  for  himself  and  his  successors, 
first  from  Philip,  then  from  Otto  after 
Philip's  secession  to  the  other  side,  finally 
from  Pope  Innocent  HI.,  in  1204.  Hardly 
had  the  youthful  Hohenstauffen  Frederic 
II.  appeared  upon  the  political  scene, 
when  the  duke  induced  him  also  to  confirm 
the  existence  of  the  kingdom,  first  in 
the  year  1212  and  afterwards  in  1216,  to 
recognise  his  first- bom  son  as  a  successor 

20Z 


to  Bohernia,  and  to  grant  other  privileges 
in  addition.  This  event  marks  the 
advancement  of  the  right  of  primogeni- 
ture as  the  principle  of  succession  against 
the  right  of  seniority  which  had  previously 
been  accepted. 

German  colonisation  gave  the  Slav 
territories,  from  a  political  standpoint,  a 

V  11/  ,  new  constitution  for  town  and 
iving  wenzel      -ii  ■,     ^  .   , 

Encourages  tillage,  and  from  a  social 
Colonisation  Standpoint  a  class  of  free 
peasants  and  citizens  hitherto 
unknown.  The  prosperous  beginning  of 
German  colonisation  received  a  further 
impulse  under  King  Wenzel  I.  (1230-1253), 
notwithstanding  the  numerous  mihtary 
entanglements  into  which  Bohemia 
was  then  drawn,  chiefly  with  Austria, 
and  in  spite  of  the  appalling  danger 
threatened  by  the  Mongol  invasion  of  the 
year  1241.  For  the  moment,  however, 
Bohemia  was  spared. 

It  was  Moravia,  and  especially  Silesia, 
that  suffered  most  heavily  from  the  bar- 
barians. The  years  1157  and  1163  were, 
as  regards  the  progress  of  political  deve- 
lopment and  civilisation,  an  important 
turning  point  in  the  history  of  Silesia,  as 
the  government  of  the  three  Silesian 
princes  betokens  an  entry  of  Germanising 
influences  upon  a  large  scale.  The  figures 
most  distinguished  from  this  point  of  view 
are  Duke  Boleslav  I.,  the  Long  (1157- 
1202),  his  son  Henry  the  Bearded 
(1203-1238),  who  IS  known  for  his  parti- 
cipation in  the  founding  of  the  German 
orders  in  Prussia,  and  his  descendant 
Henry  II.  (1238-1241).  The  dominions 
of  the  latter  extended  far  beyond  the  three 
original  Silesian  principalities.  He  ruled 
Cracow  and  part  of  Great  Poland,  which 
his  father  had  already  conquered  in  the 
course  of  wars  against  his  Polish  cousins. 

However,    this    brilliant    development 

of    the  Silesian  principality  was  shaken 

to  its    depths   in  March,    1241,    by   the 

invasion    of    the  Mongols,  who   reduced 

Poland  to   a   desert  as   they 

D       t     A  advanced,  and  forced  the  Duke 

evas  a  e     ^^  Silesia  to  oppose  them,  if 

y      ongo  s  ^^    ^.^    ^^^    ^.^^    ^^    g^^    ^^^ 

destruction  of  the  civilisation  laboriously 
acquired  in  the  course  of  the  last  hundred 
years.  The  bloody  battle  on  the  Wahl- 
statt  at  Liegnitz.  on  April  9th,  1241,  cost 
the  lives  of  Henry  and  of  numerous 
knights  in  his  following.  The  further 
history  of  the  Mongol  invasion,  which  con- 
tinued until  the  spring  of  1242,  and  kept 

3155 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


the  neighbouring  territories  of  Austria  and 

Moravia  in  suspense,  ran  its  course  upon 

Hungarian  soil. 

The  next  important  event  in  the  history 

of  Bohemia  was  the  death  of  Frederic  II., 

Duke    of    Austria,    and    the    last    male 

descendant  of  the  house  of  Babenberg,  who 

was  killed  on  June  15,  1246,  in  the  battle 

^     .     ,      on    the    Leitha    against    the 

Death  of       TT  'ru 

"T     "  Hungarians.       The    marriage 

B  \  *b  between  his  niece  Gertrude  and 
erg  ^j^g  gQjjgj^ia,n  prince  Vladislav, 
who  was  now  also  margrave  of  Moravia, 
was  not  celebrated  until  this  time,  although 
it  had  been  arranged  years  before ;  it 
seemed  destined  to  bring  the  heritage  of 
the  house  of  Babenberg  into  the  hands  of 
the  Premyslids.  The  most  dangerous 
opponent  of  the  Bohemian  claims  was  the 
Emperor  Frederic  II.,  who  desired  to  secure 
the  Austrian  territories,  as  being  an 
imperial  fief  in  abeyance.  However,  the 
struggle  for  the  inheritance  of  Duke 
Frederic  soon  came  to  a  rapid  end,  owing 
to  the  death  of  the  Margrave  Vladislav 
in  1247,  3-iid  ^^  the  emperor  in  1250. 
The  claims  of  inheritance  and  of  constitu- 
tional right  were  now  thrown  into  the  back- 
ground ;  the  disputed  possessions  passed 
to  the  greater  power  and  the  greater 
diplomatic  capacity  of  the  neighbouring 
princes  of  Bohemia-Moravia  and  of  Hun- 
gary, with  whom  Bavaria  was  straggling 
for  the  prey.  The  new  margrave  of 
Moravia,  Premysl  Ottokar,  the  grandson 
of  King  Wenzel  I.,  soon  defeated  Otto, 
the  duke  of  Bavaria,  after  a  short  struggle 
in  Upper  and  Lower  Austria.  In  the  year 
125 1  he  was  recognised  as  duke  by  the 
nobility  and  the  towns  of  that  district, 
and  further  secured  his  conquests  by  his 
connection  with  Margareta,  the  sister  of 
the  last  Babenberg  and  the  widow  of  King 
Henry  VII.  ;  in  February,  1252,  he 
married  her,  although  she  was  consider- 
ably older  than  himself. 

For  the  possession  of  Styria  a  lengthy 
struggle  began  between  King  Bela  IV.  of 
j^  p  Hungary  and  Premysl  Otto- 

rosperous  ^^^  j-j^  ^-^^  ^^^^  inherited 

the  crown  of  Bohemia  on  the 
death  of  his  father  in  1253. 
At  the  outset,  success  inclined  to  the  side 
of  the  Magyar,  chiefly  owing  to  the  support 
of  the  Pope,  in  1254 ;  eventually,  however, 
the  Bohemian  king  proved  victorious  in 
this  quarter  after  his  success  at  the 
battle  of  Kroissenbrunn.  In  July,  1260, 
the    dissolution    of    his    marriage   with 

3156 


Reign  of 
King  Ottokar  II 


the  aged  Margareta,  his  marriage  with 
Cunigunde,  the  young  granddaughter  of 
the  Hungarian  king,  in  1261,  and  his 
investiture  with  the  two  duchies  of  Austria 
and  Styria  by  the  German  king  Richard,  in 
1262,  crowned  the  remarkable  prosperity 
which  had  marked  the  first  period  of  the 
reign  of  King  Premysl  Ottokar  II. 

The  following  decade  (1273)  also  brought 
to  the  Bohemian  king  fame  and  victory  in 
many  of  his  military  enterprises,  and  an 
increase  of  territory  through  his  acquisi- 
tion of  Carinthia  and  Carniola,  and  of  a 
certain  power  of  protectorate  over  Eger 
and  the  surrounding  district.  Premysl 
Ottokar  II.  had  then  reached  the  zenith 
of  his  power.  The  domestic  policy  of  his 
reign  was  marked  by  the  continuation 
and  the  increase  of  the  work  of  German 
colonisation,  which  his  father  and  grand- 
father had  introduced  into  the  Premyslid 
kingdom.  In  this  task  he  found  a  zealous 
helper  in  Bishop  Bruno  of  Olmiitz,  who 
was  descended  from  the  family  of  the 
Holstein  counts  of  Schaumberg,  and 
administered  the  bishopric  of  Moravia 
from  1245  to  1281 ;  he  proved  the  king's 
_.  _.  .  best  counsellor  in  all  diplo- 
Three  Bishops  ^^^-^    ^^^    political   under- 

M  d   H'  t         takings.       Bishop     Bruno, 
a  e     IS  ory    ^^gg^ggj.  ^j^j^  Bishop  Henry 

of  Olmiitz  and  Bishop  Adalbert  of  Prague, 
formed  a  spiritual  constellation  in  the 
history  of  the  Premyslids.  They  set  in 
motion  a  religious,  civilising,  and  poUtical 
influence  which  were  felt  far  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  their  respective  dioceses. 

The  privileges  of  the  German  towns 
increased  from  that  period  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia.  This  advance  in  civilisation  is 
the  permanent  result  of  the  wide  activities 
of  Premysl  Ottokar  II.  ;  for  that  vast 
political  construction,  the  Bohemian- 
Austrian  monarchy,  which  he  seemed  to 
have  erected  with  so  much  cleverness, 
proved  to  be  unstable  ;  it  was  too  largely 
founded  upon  the  weakness  of  the  German 
Empire  and  upon  the  vacillation  and 
helplessness  of  the  nominal  kings  of 
Germany.  Hence  for  Premysl  Ottokar  the 
choice  of  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg  as  emperor 
on  October  ist,  1273,  marks  the  beginning 
of  the  decline  of  the  Bohemian  power. 

This  declension  was  rapidly  completed. 
Premysl  Ottokar  refused  to  acknowledge 
his  feudal  dependency  upon  the  new 
German  king,  thus  challenging  the  emperor 
and  the  empire  to  war.  For  almost 
two  years  the  Bohemian  king  succeeded 


RISE    AND    FALL    OF    THE    CZECH    KINGDOM 


in  staving  off  the  threatening  secession  of 
Styria  and  Austria,  for  the  reason  that 
Rudolf's  attention  was  fully  occupied 
elsewhere,  while  his  means  were  insuffi- 
cient to  provide  any  vigorous  support 
for  his  open  and  secret  adherents  in  these 
territories.  However,  in  the  autumn  of 
1276  the  Hapsburg  led  the  imperial  army 
through  Austria  to  the  walls  of  Vienna. 
Ottokar  was  abandoned,  both  by  the 
Austrian  nobles  and  by  some  of  his  most 
powerful  Bohemian  nobility,  with  the 
result  that  the  two  opponents  never  met 
in  conflict  ;  the  Bohemian  king  preferred 
submission  to  the  hazardous  alternative 
of  giving  battle.  The  peace  of  Vienna 
on  November  21st,  1276,  deprived  Premysl 
Ottokar  II.  of  his  position  as  a  great 
power ;  he  was  obliged  to  surrender 
Austria,  Styria,  Carinthia,  and  other 
districts  which  he  had  conquered  and 
not  inherited,  and  to  receive  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  as  the  vassal  of  the  German 
emperor. 

This  humiliating  settlement,  however, 
could  not  possibly  be  regarded  by  the 
proud  prince  as  a  permanent  embargo  on 
his  schemes.  Concerning  the  future 
.  relations  of  Bohemia  with  the 
o  «°"'>^  empire,  and  regarding  certain 
■  '^  tti*  '  important  points  in  the  peace 
of  Vienna,  more  particularly  the 
amnesty  to  the  Bohemian  lords  who  had 
deserted  Premysl  Ottokar,  and  the  pro- 
posed marriage  of  a  son  and  daughter  of 
the  two  princes,  misunderstandings  broke 
out,  which  soon  ended  in  that  fresh  struggle 
with  Rudolf  which  the  Bohemian  king 
was  anxious  to  provoke.  In  the  battle  of 
Diirnkrut,  on  the  Marchfeld,  on  August 
26th,  1278,  Premysl  Ottokar  was  captured, 
in  a  condition  of  exhaustion,  after  a 
heroic  struggle,  and  murdered  by  cer- 
tain knights  who  had  a  private  grudge 
against  him.  The  Premyslid  territories 
now  surrendered,  almost  without  resist- 
ance, to  the  German  king,  who  was 
regarded  with  considerable  favour  by 
the  German  population  of  the  towns, 
by  a  portion  of  the  nobility,  and  not 
least  by  Bishop  Bruno.  The  first  years 
after  the  death  of  their  great  king  were  a 
time  of  misery  for  Bohemia.  When,  how- 
ever, Wenzel  II.,  who  became  the  son-in- 
law  and  received  the  support  of  the 
German  king,  ascended  the  throne  in  1283, 
a  renewed  period  of  prosperity  seemed  to 
have  begun  for  the  house  of  Premysl, 
facilitated    both    by    a    peaceable    and 


serious  government  and  by  the  riches  of 
the  country,  especially  the  income  from 
the  silver-mines.  The  young  king,  with 
his  vivid  interest  in  art  and  science, 
gained  a  great  reputation  for  the  Bo- 
hemian court,  and  made  it  a  favourite 
resort  of  artists  and  scholars.  This  in- 
ternal development  was  accompanied  by 
g.j    .  ,         a    successful    foreign    policy. 

I  esia  s       After    the    struggle  with  the 
Greatness      ,,  ,  01     •  ° 

at  aa  End  ■'^^o^&O'S,  bilesia  ceases  to 
rank  among  the  countries  of 
importance  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
and  from  1241  its  history  is  purely  local. 
Once  again  the  country  was  broken  into 
petty  principalities,  some  of  which  were 
in  continual  hostility  with  Poland,  and 
were  thus  driven  into  connection  with  the 
Premyslid  kingdom  through  affinities  of 
civilisation  and  race.  In  the  decisive 
battle  on  the  Marchfeld  the  Dukes  of 
Breslau,  Glogau  and  Oppeln  acted  as  the 
independent  allies  of  the  Bohemian  king. 
King  Wenzel  of  Bohemia,  in  later  troubles, 
was  supported  by  several  Silesian  dukes, 
who  recognised  him  as  their  feudal  over- 
lord ;  he  succeeded  in  conquering  Cracow 
in  1291,  and  assumed  the  crown  of 
Poland  in  Gnesen  in  1300,  uniting  the 
heritage  of  the  Piasts  with  that  of  the 
Premyslids. 

Nor  was  this  the  end.  In  the  following 
year — 1301 — the  male  line  of  the  Hunga- 
rian royal  house  of  Arpad  became  extinct, 
and  one  party  in  the  country  offered  this 
crown  to  the  Bohemian  king  ;  he  did  not 
accept  it  himself,  but  transferred  it  to 
his  young  son,  Wenzel  III.,  who  was 
crowned  king  of  Hungary  at  Stuhl- 
weissenburg.  However,  this  period  of 
brilliant  prosperity  lasted  but  a  short 
time  for  the  Premyslids.  The  Hungarian 
crown  could  not  be  retained  in  face  of  the 
Angevin  claims,  and  in  the  year  1304 
Wenzel  III.  abandoned  it.  At  the  same 
time  Wenzel  II.  became  involved  in  war 
with  the  German  king  Albert.  In  the 
_,-  n  .  course  of  this  struggle  he  died, 
If  th!"""*"  ^"  ^305,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
p  ...     four.    When  his  heir  was  medi- 

remys  1  s    ^^^jj^g  ^j^  advance  upon  Poland 

in  the  following  year — 1306 — to  crush  the 
rising  of  Vladislav  Lokietek,  the  Polish 
claimant  to  the  throne,  he  was  murdered 
by  an  assassin  in  the  castle  of  Olmiitz  ; 
he  died  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  the  last 
male  descendant  of  the  distinguished 
house  of  the  PremysUds,  leaving  no  issue, 
although  married. 

3157 


3158 


PRAGUE,    THE     BEAUTIFUL    CAPITAL    OF    BOHEMIA 
This  famous  city  owesmucli  of  its  beauty  to  Charles  IV.,  who  from  1347  to  1378  greatly 
extended  his  capital  and  erected  such  buildings  as  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Veit,  the  Teyn 
Church,  the  Bridge  Tower,  the  bridge  across  the  Moldau  and  the  Castle  of  Hrads. 


EASTERN  EUROPE 

TO   THE   FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


THE 
WESTERN  SLAVS 
II 


BOHEMIA  AND   THE    REFORMATION 

THE  LUXEMBURG  KINGS  &  THE  HUSSITE  WARS 


CLAIMS  to  the  Bohemian  inheritance 
were  now  raised  from  two  quarters  : 
Duke  Henry  of  Carinthia  rehed  upon  the 
claim  of  his  wife  Anna,  the  eldest  sister  of 
King  Wenzel  III.  ;  on  the  other  hand  the 
German  king  Aljjert  regarded  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  as  escheated  fiefs  of  the 
empire,  and  conferred  them  upon  his 
eldest  son,  Duke  Rudolf  of  Austria. 

After  the  premature  death  of  Rudolf  in 
1307,  Henry  of  Carinthia  succeeded  in 
securing  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the 
Bohemian  nobility,  and  it  was  only  in 
Moravia  that  King  Albert  could  secure 
recognition  for  his  second  son  Frederic. 
However,  when  Albert  fell  in  the  following 
year,  1308,  under  the  murderous  attack  of 
his  nephew  John  ("  Parricida  "),'  Duke 
Frederic  was  obliged  to  refrain  from  all 
attempts  to  continue  the  war  against  Henry 
"in  Bohemia  and  also  to  surrender  Moravia, 
with  the  exception  of  certain  towns  which 
remained  in  his  possession  as  a  pledge  for 
the  repayment  of  the  expenses  of  the  war. 
,    Henry  of  Carinthia  was,  how- 

anis  e  difficult  party  questions  which 

>g«  troubled  Bohemia.  King  and 
nobles,  nobles  and  towns,  were  in  a 
state  of  perpetual  hostility.  The  result 
was  seen  in  disturbances  and  acts  of 
aggression  which  lost  Henry  his  prestige 
in  the  country.  A  new  party  arose,  led 
by  the  Abbot  Conrad  of  Konigssaal,  which 
attempted  to  secure  a  new  ruler  by  the 
marriage  of  Elizabeth,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  King  Wenzel  II. 

Their  choice  fell  upon  John,  the  young 
son  of  the  new  German  emperor  Henry  VII. 
of  Luxemburg.  On  September  ist,  1310,  the 
marriage  of  the  German  prince,  who  was 
fourteen  years  of  age,  with  the  Bohemian 
princess,  who  was  eighteen,  was  celebrated 
in  Speyer.  The  German  emperor  had 
released  the  Bohemians  from  their  oath 
to  the  Duke  of  Carinthia  in  the 
previous  July  at  Frankfort,  and  had 
invested  his  son  with  Bohemia  and 
Moravia,  as  escheated  fiefs  of  the  empire. 
The  conquest  of   the  country  was  not  a 


Germans 
Expelled  from 
Bohemia 


lengthy  task,  as  King  Henry,  recognising 
speedily  the  hopelessness  of  resistance, 
entered  upon  negotiations  and  voluntarily 
left  the  country.  The  occupation  of 
Moravia  was  accomplished  with  equal 
facility.  John  even  assumed  the  title  of 
King  of  Poland,  as  a  sign  that  he  proposed 
to  maintain  the  claims  of  his  Premyslid 
predecessors  to  this  crown. 
The  course  of  his  government 
was  soon,  however,  consider- 
ably disturbed,  chiefly  in 
consequence  of  the  hostile  feeling  enter- 
tained by  the  high  Bohemian  nobility 
for  Archbishop  Peter  of  Mainz  and  other 
German  counsellors,  whom  King  Henry 
had  sent  to  direct  his  inexperienced  son. 
John  found  his  difficulties  increased  in 
1313  by  the  death  of  his  imperial  father, 
which  deprived  him  of  the  support  of  the 
German  Empire.  He  was  obliged  to  con- 
sent to  the  expulsion  of  the  Germans  from 
Bohemia,  and  to  resign  the  government 
of  the  country  to  Henry  of  Lipa,  the  most 
powerful  of  the  Bohemian  barons. 

Peace,  however,  was  not  even  theji 
secured.  Financial  disputes  between  the 
king  and  his  chief  adviser,  the  extra- 
ordinary connection  between  Lipa  and 
the  Dowager  Queen  Elizabeth,  the  former 
consort  both  of  Wenzel  II.  and  Duke 
Rudolf,  who  resided  in  Konigingratz,  and 
overshadowed  the  court  of  the  queen 
proper,  together  with  other  causes,  led  to 
the  forcible  removal  of  Lipa  in  1315,  where- 
upon Archbishop  Peter  again  received  the 
position  of  chief  minister.  After  a  rule  of 
two  years  he  was  again  forced  to  yield  to 
the  powerful  nobles  in  1317. 
Revolt  King  John  was  weary  of  these 

Against  domestic  troubles,  and  turned 
King  John  j^.^  attention  to  foreign  affairs, 
especially  to  the  rivalry  between  Lewis 
of  Bavaria  and  Frederic  the  Fair  of 
Austria  for  the  German  crown ;  con- 
sequently the  government  of  Bohemia 
and  the  work  of  resistance  to  the  nobles 
devolved  upon  his  wife  Queen  Elizabeth, 
who  received  very  little  support  from  her 
husband.     The  result  was  a  general  revolt 

3159 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


against  the  king  in  1318,  which  he  was 
powerless  to  suppress.  Finally,  by  the 
intervention  of  Lewis  of  Bavaria,  a  some- 
what degrading  compromise  with  the 
revolted  barons  was  effected  at  Tauss,  and 
the  king  was  forced  to  content  himself 
with  his  title,  his  position,  and  the  rich 
income  of  his  territory.  King  J ohn,  a  rest- 
.  less,  cheerful,  somewhat  ex- 

FrIerLm       travagant,  but  highly  gifted 


the  Hapsburgs 


and    chivalrous    character. 


secured  a  great  extension  of 

territory  for  Bohemia  in  the   course  of 

the  numerous    enterprises  and  intrigues 

in   which   he   was  continually  involved. 

After      the     death     of    the      Margrave 

Waldemar  of  Brandenburg,  the  Oberlausitz 

fell  into  his  hands  in  1319.     In  1322  he 

received  in  pawn  from  Lewis  of  Bavaria 

the   town    of    Eger,    with    its   territory, 

which   has  ever   since   remained    in  the 

possession  of  Bohemia.       He  was   able 

definitely  to  liberate  Moravia  from  all  the 

claims  and  demands  which  the  Hapsburgs 

could  make  upon  that  province.     For  a 

few  years  (1331-1333)   he  even  secured 

possession    of    part    of    Lombardy,    the 

government  of  which  he  entrusted  to  his 

eldest  son  Charles,  while  his  youngest  son, 

John   Henry,    received   the   province   of 

Tyrol,  with  the  hand  of  Margareta  Maul- 

tasch,   in   1330 ;    but    John    Henry  was 

unable   to    maintain    his     hold    of  this 

possession. 

The  most  important  acquisition  made 

by  King  John  was  that  of  Silesia,  which 

gave  to  Bohemia  an  enormous  increase  of 

extent  and  power.     The  connection  of  the 

Silesian  princes  with  Bohemia  had  begun 

under  the  last  of  the  Premyslids,  and  had 

been  dissolved  upon  the  extinction  of  the 

race  ;   it  was  made  permanent  under  the 

rule  of  King  John.     As  early  as  the  year 

1327,  upon  the  occasion  of  an  expedition 

against  Poland,  John  received  the  homage 

of  the  dukes  of  Upper  Silesia.     In  the  same 

year    Breslau  recognised    the    Bohemian 

^  „    t  ...i       king  as   its  feudal  overlord  ; 
Fall  of  "the      ,,.^  1  ,1,         J  .  ' 

^  .  this  example  was  followed  in 

KnIgTthood  "  ^328  by  most  of  the  duchies 
of  Lower  Silesia.  In  133 1 
John,  by  a  threat  of  invasion,  forced 
Glogau  to  do  homage.  These  acquisition 
were  further  secured  by  a  treaty  between 
King  John  and  the  Polish  king  Casimir, 
son  of  Vladislav  Lokietek,  in  1335,  where- 
by John  renounced  the  claims  to  the 
Polish  crown,  which  he  had  hitherto 
maintained   as   heir   of   the   Premyslids, 

3160 


receiving  in  return  the  cession  of  the 
Silesian  districts  under  Polish  government. 

When  John  fell,  "  the  crown  of  knight- 
hood," in  the  battle  of  Crecy-en-Ponthieu 
on  August  26th,  1346,  the  anniversary  of 
the  death  of  Premysl  Ottokar  II.,  the 
domestic  resources  of  Bohemia  had  been 
greatly  shaken  by  his  extravagant  and 
unsystematic  government.  However,  his 
successful  foreign  and  military  policy, 
which  secured  a  position  for  his  son  and 
heir,  Charles,  had  largely  counterbalanced 
these  disadvantages ;  for  a  time  the 
Bohemian  king  ruled  over  a  more  exten- 
sive territory  than  any  of  his  predecessors, 
with  the  exception  of  Premysl  Ottokar  II., 
had  ever  acquired.  To  this  power  was 
now  added  the  dignity  of  the  imperial 
crown.  Thanks  to  the  diplomacy  of  his 
father,  Charles  was  elected  as  Charles  IV. 
on  July  nth,  1346,  after  the  deposition 
of  the  Emperor  Lewis  of  Bavaria. 

On  the  death  of  his  father,  Charles  was 

more  than  thirty  years  of  age,  and  had 

enjoyed  a  wide  experience  in  his  youth. 

His  father  had  sent  him  at  an  early  age 

to  complete  his  education  at  the  court  in 

T-i.  V  .1,  .  Paris,  and  his  intellectual 
The  Youthful  j     j.  x,! 

_.  ,  ...  powers  soon  made  it  possible 
Charles  and  his  i       i  •        .      j.    i  l         ii, 

^  .  ,,.  .  for  him  to  take  part  m  the 
Great  Victory    ,       .  .  ^  ,       ^  ^ 

business  of  government.   At 

the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  sent  to  Parma  to 

administer,   to  guide,    and  to  defend  his 

father's  Italian  acquisitions.     In  the  year 

1332,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  won  a  Ijril- 

liant  victory  over  his  powerful  adversaries 

at  San  Felice.    However,  the  Italian  lands 

eventually    proved  untenable,   and  were 

sold  by  King  John  in  the  following  year. 

Ii^  1333  Charles    received   the   title  of 

Margrave  of  Moravia,  and  took  over  the 

government  of  the  hereditary  dominions. 

He  at  once  reduced  the  shattered  resources 

of    the     kingdom    to     order.     Intrigues 

among  the  nobles  caused  at  times  serious 

dissension  between      father      and      son. 

These  quarrels  reached  their  highest  point 

in    the    years    1336-1337    when    Charles 

was  forced  to  resign  the  administration 

of   Bohemia.     But   in    1338   a   complete 

reconciliation  was  effected,   and  in   1341 

King  John,  of  his  own  initiative,  secured 

the  recognition  of  Charles  as  his  successor 

in    the    Bohemian    kingdom,    during    his 

own  lifetime.     Of  special  importance  to 

Charles    was    the    year    1342,    when    his 

former  tutor  and  his  father's  friend  at  the 

French    Court,     the    Archbishop    Pierre 

Roger  of  Rouen,  ascended  the  papal  chair 


BOHEMIA    AND    THE    REFORMATION 


as  Clement  VI.  These  two  highly  gifted 
men  are  said  to  have  predicted  their  careers 
to  one  another  during  their  intercourse 
in  Paris. 

The  support  of  the  Pope  enabled 
Charles  in  1344  to  raise  the  bishopric 
of  Prague,  which  had  hitherto  been  subject 
to  the  metropolitan  see  of  Mainz,  to 
the  rank  of  an  independent  archbishopric 
with  jurisdiction  over  the  bishopric  of 
Olmiitz  in  Moravia  and  the  newly  founded 
bishopric  of  Leitomischl  in  Bohemia. 
Clement  VI.  also  took  an  honourable  share 
in  the  promotion  of  the  future  king  of 
Bohemia  to  the  throne  of  Germany.  Charles 
was  spared  the  trouble  of  a  struggle 
with  the  Emperor  Lewis  of  Bavaria,  who 
had  been  deposed  on  July  nth,  1346, 
for  as  he  was  on  the  point  of  marching 
against  Lewis  in  1347  ^e  received  the 
news  of  his  rival's  death. 

Charles  was  therefore  able 
to      devote     himself      with 
greater    vigour   to  the   diffi- 
cult task  of  conducting  the 
business  of  the  empire.     As 
regarded  the  administration 
of  his  hereditary  territories, 
-he    found    a    welcome   sup- 
porter in  his  brother  John 
Henry,  upon  whom  he  con- 
ferred   the    margraviate    of 
Moravia    as    an     hereditary 
fief  on  December  26th,  1349. 
So    long    as    he   lived,   this 
brother  was  bound  to  Charles 
by    ties     of    affection    and 
friendship,    and     supported 
him    zealously    and     unselfishly    in    his 
military     and      diplomatic      enterprises. 
Their  mutual   relation   is  comparable  to 
that  which  existed  between  King  Premysl 
Ottokar      I .      and      Vladislav      Henry. 
Moravia  being  thus  secured  by  inheritance 
to   the   second   line   of   the   Luxemburg 
house,  the  diocese  of  Olmiitz  and  the  pro- 
vince of  Troppau  were  declared  fiefs  of  the 
crown  of  Bohemia  and  made  independent 
of    the    margraviate    of    Moravia.     The 

_.,  .  „  .  duchy  of  Troppau  had  been 
Silesi&  Under    ,        ^        ,         a    3      1  tr- 

the  Crown  already  founded  by  Kmg 
of  Bohemia  ^'"^"^y^]  Ottokar  H.,  who  had 
reserved  it  for  the  support  of 
his  illegitimate  son  Nicholas  I. ;  it  had  also 
been  conferred  as  a  fief  by  King  John  in 
1318  upon  the  son  and  namesake  of 
Nicholas,  so  that  the  arrangement  of 
Charles  only  confirmed  his  father's  dis- 
positions.   "The  rest  of  Silesia  Charles  had 


already,   in    1348,  incorporated  with  the 
Bohemian  crown  as  Emperor  of  Germany. 
The   assertion   of   the   Emperor   Maxi- 
milian that  Charles  IV.  was  the  stepfather 
of  the  empire  and  the  father  of  Bohemia 
is  justified  as  regards  the  latter  part  of 
The  Great    *^^    remark.     The   whole    of 
Work  of      Charles's  pohtical  activity  was 
Charles  IV   ^^^^pired  by  the  idea  of  making 
his  family  and    his  country  a 
great  power.     From  the  beginning  of  his 
independent  reign  to  his  death  he  exerted 
every  effort  to  raise  Bohemia  to  the  level 
of   civilisation   and  intellectual   develop- 
ment already  attained  by  more  advanced 
countries.     JFIe   extended   his   capital    of 
Prague  and  laid  the  foundation  of  its  great 
development,    increasing    its    beauty    by 
such  constructions  as  the  Cathedral  of  St. 
Veit,  the  Castle  of  Hrads,  the  Teyn  Church, 
and    the    bridge    over    the 
Moldau.       He       summoned 
artists    of   famous  capacity, 
both    German    and   Italian, 
architects  and  painters,  brass- 
founders  and  sculptors,  gold- 
smiths, and   other  miniature 
art   workers.     To  his   lively 
interest   in    science — he  was 
himself     an    historical     and 
theological  author — the  Uni- 
versity  of    Prague   owes  its 
origin,  at  a  time  when  such 
THE  FATHER  OF  BOHEMIA  educational  institutions  were 
Charles  IV.  was  so  called  by  the  fare  ou  the  north  ot  the  Alps, 

Emperor    Maximilian   for  his   im-  eXCCpt    in     France.      BologUa 
mense     services    to    his    country,  -i  tt*      ■  j  xj. 

which  advanced  greatly  in  power  and  PariS   SCrved  aS  patterns 

and  prosperity  during  his  long  reign,  j^j.   ^j^g      organisation    of    the 

university.  Charles  showed  an  extreme 
interest  in  jurisprudence.  He  was  able 
to  regulate  imperial  affairs  by  ordinances 
establishing  a  land  peace,  by  the  "  Golden 
Bull  "  of  1356,  and  other  edicts  ;  he  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  providing  a  uniform 
legal  code  for  Bohemia  and  Moravia  in 
the  "  Majestas  Carohna." 

However,  his  intentions  were  frustrated 
by  the  resistance  of  the  native  nobility. 
Further  important  legal  work  was  achieved 
in  Silesia  during  his  reign,  such  as  the  land 
register  for  the  Duchy  of  Breslau,  "  a 
magnificent  work,  which  has  been  a  model 
for  all  later  surveys  ;  "  the  Silesian  common 
law  code,  a  redaction  of  the  "  Sachsen- 
spiegel,"  with  special  modifications  ;  and, 
finally,  a  special  municipal  code  for 
Breslau.  And  Charles  worked  no  less 
vigorously  to  secure  material  prosperity  in 
his    own    dominions.     Mining,    forestry, 

3161 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


agriculture,  and  cattle  farming  then  became 
extremely   productive.     Prague,    next    to 
Breslau,  which  he  regarded  with  no  less 
care,  became  one  of  the  most  important 
commercial  centres  in  Central  Europe,  and 
a  meeting- place  of  traffic  from  the  south 
to  the  north,  and  from  the  west  to  the  east. 
The   energy    manifested    by   Charles  IV. 
.  .      in  promoting    the    advance  of 
o  emi&s    ij^tellectual  and  material  pros- 
J  p.  perity     deserves     the      more 

recognition  for  the  reason  that 
severe  plagues  ravaged  the  country  during 
the  first  years  of  his  rule  ;  such  were  the 
black  death,  the  Jewish  plague,  and  the 
"  flagellant  "  outburst.  Though  these 
plagues  did  not  prove  so  destructive  in  the 
hereditary  lands  of  Charles  as  elsewhere, 
they  were  none  the  less  a  powerful 
obstacle  to  the  development  of  trade  and 
intercourse,  of  education  and  art. 

It  must  also  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
emperor's  time  was  largely  occupied  by 
political  business,  military  campaigns,  and 
journeys  to  different  parts  of  the  empire, 
so  that  he  was  often  absent  from  his 
hereditary  territories  for  months  at  a  time. 
The  results  of  the  energy  which  Charles 
IV.  displayed  through  the  thirty  years 
of  his  reign,  seem,  in  brief,  to  have  been 
the  securing  of  a  prosperous  future  to  the 
house  of  Luxemburg,  which  then  counted 
numerous  male  descendants.  Partly  by 
bold  opposition,  partly  by  clever  diplo- 
macy, he  gradually  overcame  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Wittelsbach  family,  which 
had  hitherto  been  powerful,  and  finally 
secured  from  them  the  important  Mark 
of     Brandenburg     for   his    own      house 

in  1373- 

At  the  beginning  of  his  reign  he  was 
opposed  by  the  King  of  Poland,  whose 
hostility  was  supported  by  Duke  Bolko  of 
Schweidnitz-Jauer,  the  last  of  the  Silesian 
princes  who  remained  independent  of 
Bohemia.  In  the  year  1348,  however, 
Charles  concluded  an  offensive  and  de- 
D  f  J  J  fensive  alliance  with  the  King 
Poland  and  ^^  poiand,  while  he  so  far 
Bohemia  in  j     xi.  j      x  t 

.  secured    the  good    favour   of 

Bolko  as  to  induce  him  to  con- 
clude a  pact  of  inheritance  with  Bohemia 
in  1364 ;  by  this  agreement  Charles,  who 
entered  upon  a  third  marriage,  in  1353, 
with  Anna,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of 
Schweidnitz,  secured  a  reasonable  prospect 
of  acquiring  the  latter's  principality. 
These  hopes  were  realised  in  a  few  years 
by  the  death  of  Bolko  in  1368. 
3162 


Charles  had  also  a  difficult  problem  to 
deal  with  in  his  relations  with  his  stepson, 
Rudolf  IV.  of  Austria.  This  prince  was 
inspired  by  an  invincible  ambition  for 
supremacy  and  power.  He  was  anxious 
to  secure  an  exceptional  position  for  his 
kingdom  among  the  German  principalities, 
and  when  Charles  opposed  these  ambitious 
designs,  Rudolf  was  ready  to  adopt  any 
and  every  means  for  their  execution.  He 
produced  forged  documents,  and,  what 
was  more  dangerous,  made  alliances  with  . 
foreign  princes  against  the  emperor,  sup- 
porting especially  King  Lewis  of  Hungary, 
who  caused  Charles  IV.  serious  anxiety 
on  more  than  one  occasion.  However, 
the  diplomatic  skill  of  the  Luxemburg 
monarch  was  able  gradually  to  overcome  , 
these  dangers,  and  eventually  to  turn 
them  to  his  own  account.  After  1363  the 
attention  of  Duke  Rudolf  was  occupied 
by  the  acquisition  of  the  Tyrol,  and  he 
began  to  feel  the  need  of  the  emperor's 
support.  In  February,  1364,  in  the  course 
of  a  meeting  of  nobles  at  Briinn,  he  con- 
cluded with  Charles  an  important  suc- 
cession treaty,  whereby  the  Luxemburg 

«,t     .«    .^    and    Hapsburg   families    were 
The  Death  x-  ^1        5        •    i.      i. 

respectively     to     mhent    one 

Ch    1     IV   another's  lands  in  case  either 

house  should  become  extinct 

in   the    male   and   female   line.     Charles 

considerably  increased  his  dominions  by 

purchase    and    by    acquisition   in   other 

ways,  especially  in  the  Upper  Palatinate 

and  in   Lausitz  ;   also    he   attempted  to 

secure  for    his    family  the    prospsct    of 

succession      to      neighbouring      thrones, 

particularly   by     well-considered     family 

alliances.     Both    Rudolf    IV.,    and     his 

brother,  Duke  Albert  III.,  who  succeeded 

him  as    Duke    of    Austria  in   1365,  were 

married  to  daughters  of  Charles  IV.    His 

son  Wenzel,  born  in  1361,  by  Anna,  was 

originally  betrothed  to  the  niece,  at  that 

time    the     heiress     of     King    Lewis    of 

Hungary.     When,  however,  in  after  years, 

this  monarch  had  daughters  of  his  own, 

the  betrothal  was  dissolved,  and  in  1371 

Wenzel  married  Johanna,  the  daughter  of 

Albert,   Duke   of    Bavaria.     Charles    IV, 

attempted    to    marry    his    second    son, 

Sigismund,  to  Maria,  the  elder  daughter 

and     heiress     apparent      of    Lewis     of 

Hungary. 

Charles  IV.  left  his  family  in  a  strong 

position  when   he   died,    at    the   age   of 

sixty-three,     on    November    29th,    1378. 

Wenzel    had    already,    in    1376,     been 


BOHEMIA    AND    THE    REFORMATION 


appointed  German  Emperor  by  the 
Electors,  and  was  also  in  possession  of 
Bohemia  and  Silesia.  The  second  son, 
Sigismund,  received  the  Mark  of  Branden- 
burg, and  the  youngest,  John,  part  of  the 
Lausitz.  The  margraviate  of  Moravia 
had  been  governed  until  1383  by  Wenzel, 
the  brother  of  Charles  IV.,  who  also  ruled 
the  duchy  of  Luxemburg.  The  Bohemian 
king  held  the  feudal  rights  over  this  pro- 
vince, and  after  the  death  of  the  margrave 
John  in  1375  the  country  was  divided 
among  his  three  sons,  Jost,  Prokop,  and 
John  Sobeslav. 

Rarely  do  grandfather,  father,  and 
grandson  display  differences  of  life  and 
character  so  pro- 
found as  may  be 
noted  in  the  case  of 
John,  Charles,  and 
Wenzel.  The  diplo- 
matic powers  of 
King  John  reappear 
as  practical  states- 
manship of  a  high 
order  in  Charles  ;  in 
Wenzel,  however, 
scarce  the  humblest 
remnant  of  political 
capacity  is  dis- 
cernible ;  again,  the 
extravagance  of  the 
grandfather  becomes 
remarkable  economy 
in  the  son  and  avarice 
in  the  grandson.  John 
is  a  fiery,  impetuous, 
chivalric  figure,  seek 


general  situation  into  strong  relief.     Two 
Popes  were  disputing  the  tiara,  each  with 
his  own  following  among  the  princes  and 
the    clergy — Urban    VI.    at    Rome    and 
Clement  VII.  at  Avignon.     Wenzel,  whose 
special  business  it  should  have  been,  as 
Wenzel's     ^^'""^^^i  emperor,   to  allay  the 
Wall  of       schism  in  the  Church,  calmly 
Difficulties  contemplated  the  spread  of  this 
disorder    in     every    direction. 
Another  difficult  problem  for  his  considera- 
tion   was    the    position    of    his    brother 
Sigismund  in  Hungary.     The  Luxemburg 
prince    had    married    Maria,    the    elder 
daughter  of  King  Lewis   I.,  who  had  no 
male    issue,    and    occupied    the    throne 
of  Hungary  and  also, 
after     1370,   that   of 
Poland ;    on  Lewis's 
death    in    1382    his 
son-in-law      claimed 
the  Polish  and  Hun- 
garian   kingdoms   in 
right  of  his  wife.  The 
attempt    to     secure 
Poland    resulted    in 
total     failure,    while 
Hungary  was  secured 
only  after    a  severe 
struggle,      which 
absorbed      more     of 
Wenzel's       resources 
than   he   could   well 
spare.      Within    the 
empire,    again,     the 
king  was  hard  pressed 
by  the    struggle 
WENZEL  IV  KING  OF  BOHEMIA  between   the  princes 

J  n     J-         J      j.\.  The  eldest  son  of  Charles  IV.,  Wenzel,  or  Wenceslaus,  j  xx.      j.  t"!. 

ing  and  imding  death  succeeded  his  father  on  the  throne  of  Bohemia  in  1378,  in  and  tUe   tOWnS.        1  UC 

in  the  press  of  battle  :  which  year  he  was  also  elected  Emperor  of  Germany    His  partiality     which     he 

.1  v»»^  ^  v^^wrv^    ^^,.y.  ^  ,  jgjgn  was  one  long  succession  of  trouble  and  he  died  in  141 9.  r  n-      , 

— 1-----    ^|.  ^j-g^  displayed  for 

the  latter  was  succeeded  by  indecision 


Charles  is  a  more 
patriarchal  character,  with  no  preference 
for  war,  though  far  from  cowardly ; 
Wenzel,  as  years  pass  by,  exhibits  a 
voluptuousness  immoderate  and  even 
brutal,  cowardice  conjoined  with  cruelty, 
a  blend  of  indolence  and  vacillation. 
_      _         Feeble  as  was  his  capacitv  for 

Two  PODCS  •  ,  1  •  ■" 

_.  empire   this    prince    was    now 

th*T^"*  confronted  not  only  with  the 
task  of  governing  the  realm  of 
a  great  dynasty,  but  also  with  the  admin- 
istration of  the  vast  German  Empire, 
with  its  various  and  divergent  interests  ; 
this,  too,  at  a  period  when  all  the  material 
for  political  and  social  conflagration  had 
been  collected.  Shortly  before  the  death 
of  Charles  IV.  an  event  had  occurred 
which  threw  the  critical  nature   of  the 


when  his  support  proved  inadequate  to 
secure  victory  for  the  towns,  and  his 
diminishing  interest  in  German  affairs 
eventually  lost  him  the  sympathies  of  all 
parties  alike. 

These  various  foreign  complications,  for 
the  successful  solution  of  which  Wenzel 
did  not  possess  the  judgment,  the  force  of 
will,  or  the  tenacity  necessary,*  became 
far  more  dangerous  on  account  of  the  rise 
of  political,  social,  and  religious  diffi- 
culties, with  which  he  was  too  weak  to 
cope,  within  his  own  hereditary  territories. 

However,  these  menacing  dangers  were 
not  apparent  at  the  outset  of  his  govern- 
ment in  Bohemia.  The  organisation  which 
Charles  IV.  had  set  on  foot  continued  to 

3163 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


work  excellently  for  a  time,  and  Wenzel 
was  not  the  man  to  strike  out  a  line  of 
his  own.  He  continued  the  great  archi- 
tectural works  which  his  father  had 
begun ;  he  extended  the  university ; 
literary  work,  especially  in  the  Czech  lan- 
guage, met  with  his  zealous  support.  It 
was  at  this  period  that  Huss  altered  and 
^  simplified  the  Bohemian  ortho- 

A  **  1  th  S^^P^y-  ^^^  ^^^  signs  of 
gams      e  (jjssension  in  the  public  life  of 

"^^  Bohemia  grew  more  and  more 
distinct.  The  University  of  Prague  in 
particular  was  the  starting  point  of  the 
first  line  of  cleavage.  The  Bohemian 
element  in  the  population  had  grown  until 
it  outnumbered  the  other  nationalities — 
the  Bavarians,  Saxons,  and  Poles — 
and  the  result  was  a  demand  for  a  corre- 
sponding redistribution  of  votes  in  munici- 
pal and  other  corporations.  Soon,  again, 
the  Bohemian  nationahty  diverged 
from  the  other  three  nations  upon  re- 
ligious questions,  which  had  entirely  occu- 
pied the  attention  of  the  clergy  since  the 
days  of  Charles  IV.  The  German  preacher 
Conrad  Waldhauser,  whom  Charles  had 
summoned  from  Austria  to  Prague,  then 
supported  the  Czech  Milicz  of  Kremsier 
in  his  crusade  against  the  immorality 
of  laity  and  clergy.  They  both  died  during 
Charles's  reign,  and  the  activity  of  their 
successors  became  rather  nationalist  than 
religious,  and  was  directed  on  the  one  hand 
against  the  German  mendicant  Orders, 
— the  Dominicans  and  Augustinians — and 
on  the  other  against  the  upper  clergy,  the 
Archbishop  of  Prague  and  the  chapter. 

Wenzel  became  involved  in  the  quarrel, 
and  treated  the  Archbishop  of  Prague, 
Johann  von  Jenstein,  and  his  officials  with 
undue  severity.  In  the  course  of  the  con- 
flict they  were  taken  prisoners,  examined 
under  torture,  and  severely  punished ; 
one  of  them.  Doctor  Johann  von  Pomuk, 
otherwise  Nepomuk,  who  had  been  so 
brutally  mishandled  as  to  be  past  all  hope 
,  of  recovery,  was  drowned  in 
The  King  s.j^g     Moldau     at     the     king's 

Punishment         ,  t^,  •      ,  j  •      ^ v. 

f  Off*  •  1  orders.  This  happened  m  the 
year  1393.  In  the  very  next 
year  the  king  was  to  discover  the  weakness 
of  the  foundations  supporting  the  power 
which  he  exercised  with  such  despotism 
in  Bohemia.  The  most  distinguished  noble 
families  formed  a  confederacy  with  the 
object  of  overthrowing  the  king's  advisers 
and  of  recovering  their  former  rights  to  a 
share  in  the  administration. 

3164 


Their  enterprise  was  especially  danger- 
ous to  Wenzel,  for  the  reason  that  they 
had  secured  the  support  of  the  king's 
cousin  Jost,  the  margrave  of  Moravia. 
Jost,  whose  personality  is  henceforward 
of  considerable  importance  in  the  history 
of  Wenzel's  reign,  had  been  margrave  and 
overlord  of  Moravia  since  the  death  of 
his  father  John  in  1375-  Important 
estates  had  been  bequeathed  to  his  two 
brothers,  who  were  independent  of  Jost. 
But  no  love  was  lost  between  them  from 
the  outset,  and  the  enmity  between  Jost 
and  Procop  resulted  in  a  furious  struggle 
between  the  brothers  in  Moravia,  which 
caused  great  suffering  for  a  long  period 
to  the  whole  margraviate,  and  especially 
to  the  bishopric  of  Olmiitz.  Jost,  an 
ambitious  and  capable  character,  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  the  confidence  of  the 
self-mistrustful  King  of  Bohemia,  and 
was  allowed  to  assume  part  of  his 
imperial  duties  in  return  for  an  adequate 
consideration. 

To    begin    with,  he  was  appointed   in 

1383  vicar   of   the    empire    for  Italy,  as 

Wenzel  hoped  that  his  cousin  would  clear 

his  way  for  a  progress  to  Rome. 

o"  ose"  ^"  ^^^"™  ^°^  *^^  military  and 
pposc  pecuniary  help  which  he  gave 
to  Wenzel  and  Sigismund  in 
the  Hungarian  War,  Jost  obtained  the 
Mark  of  Brandenburg  on  mortgage  in 
1388  ;  to  this  were  soon  added  Luxem- 
burg and  the  governorship  of  Alsace. 
When  Wenzel  first — about  1387 — enter- 
tained the  idea  of  abdicating  the  German 
crown,  he  had  thoughts  of  transferring  it 
to  his  Moravian  cousin.  Jost  had  serious 
hopes  of  securing  that  dignity,  as  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  in  1389  he  concluded 
compacts  with  Duke  Albert  III.,  "  in  the 
event  of  his  becoming  king  of  Germany." 
The  plan,  however,  came  to  nothing. 
In  the  year  1390  Jost  was  again  appointed 
imperial  vicar  for  Italy,  with  a  view  to 
the  more  serious  consideration  of  the 
papal  question  and  the  crowning  of 
Wenzel  as  emperor. 

The  margrave,  however,  was  induced 
to  decline  the  honour  by  reason  of  the 
outbreak  of  disturbances  in  Bohemia,  and 
personally  took  the  lead  of  the  aristocratic 
league  against  the  king,  and  secured  for 
this  movement  the  support  of  King  Sigis- 
mund of  Hungary,  Duke  Albert  of  Austria, 
and  the  Margrave  William  of  Meissen. 
Wenzel  was  able  to  rely  only  upon  the 
humble   resources   of   his  cousin   Procop 


BOHEMIA    AND    THE    REFORMATION 


of  Moravia  and  of  his  youngest  brother, 
John  of  Gorhtz.  But  before  hostilities 
were  actually  begun  the  confederates 
succeeded  in  capturing  the  king's  person 
on  May  8th,  1394.  His  two  allies  attempted 
to  rescue  him,  the  sole  result  being  that 
Wenzel  was  confined  first  in  a  Bohemian 
and  afterwards,  in  an  Austrian  castle. 
Meanwhile  Jost  administered  the  govern- 
ment of  Bohemia.  Germany  then  began 
to  menace  the  conspirators,  who  liberated 
the  king.  A  war  broke  out  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  which  seemed  likely  to  be 
prolonged  by  the  weakness  of  Wenzel 
and  the  mutual  animosity  of  the  several 
members  of  the  royal  family. 

At  the  outset  Sigismund,  king  of 
Hungary,  drove  his  cousin  Jost  out  of 
he  field  by  the  conclusion  of  a  secret 
reconcihation  with  his  brother  Wenzel, 
whereby  he  secured  the  office  of  Vicar 
General  in  Germany  in  March, 
1396,  with  the  reversion  of 
the  German  crown.  About 
a  year  later — in  February, 
1397 — Wenzel  in  turn  made 
peace  with  Jost  and  allowed 
him  to  establish  a  kind  of 
co-regency  in  Prague. 

Suddenly,  however,  he 
renounced  his  compact  with 
Jost  and  summoned  Procop 
to  be  his  permanent  adviser 
in  1398  ;  this,  too,  at  a  time 
when  the  temper  of  the 
German  electors  had  grown 
threatening  owing  to  the 
weakness  of  Wenzel's  govern- 
ment. Wenzel  then  betook  himself  to 
Germany,  held  a  diet  in  Frankfort  in  1398, 
and  travelled  thence  to  Charles  VI.  of 
France  to  discuss  the  difficult  problem  of 
allaying  the  papal  schism.  Meanwhile,  the 
federated  nobles,  supported  by  Jost  and 
Sigismund,  began  war  in  Bohemia  against 
Wenzel  and  Procop.  The  struggle  con- 
tinued until  the  end  of  August,  1400,  when 

^i  VT  I.  Wenzel  received  the  news  of 
The  Nobles     i-  ,  •,•  j     r  iu 

jj  his  own  deposition  and  of  the 

cpo^  election  of  Rupert  of  the  Pala- 

ing      enze   ^jj^^^g  j^g  ].-j.^g  ^j  ^j^g  Romans. 

Wenzel  was  naturally  furious  at  the  insult. 
He  could  not,  however,  summon  up  reso- 
lution to  strike  an  immediate  blow  for  the 
recovery  of  his  position.  He  made  a 
second  attempt  at  reconciliation  with 
Sigismund  ;  but  the  brothers  again  quar- 
relled concerning  the  conditions  under 
which  the  King  of  Hungary  should  take  up 


JOHN  HUSS,  REFORMER 
The  leading  representative  of 
the  Reformation  among  the  Bohe- 
mian clergy  died  a  martyr  in  1415. 


arms  against  the  empire  on '  behalf  of 
Wenzel,  and  Sigismund  reluctantly  retired 
to  Bohemia.  Jost  seized  the  opportunity 
for  a  decisive  stroke.  In  alliance  with  the 
Bohemian  barons,  the  Archbishop  of 
Prague,  and  the  Margrave  of  Meissen  he 
forced  Wenzel  to  accept  a  regency  for 
Bohemia,  and  again  secured  his  possession 
of  Lausitz    and  of  the    Bran- 

es  ess  denburg  Mark  in  August,  1401. 
Times  in       ,,r  -P  ax 

„  Wenzel  was    anxious    to    put 

ungary       ^^  ^^^  ^^   ^^^^  tutelage  ;    for 

this  purpose  he  again  concluded  a  com- 
pact with  Sigismund  at  the  beginning  of 
1402,  appointing  him  vice-regent  or 
co-regent  in  Bohemia,  and  conferring  on 
him  the  imperial  vicariate  for  Germany. 
The  King  of  Hungary  repaid  this  mark  of 
confidence  by  making  Wenzel  a  prisoner 
in  March,  1402,  and  by  capturing  shortly 
afterwards  his  most  faithful  supporter, 
the  margrave  Procop.  Sigis- 
mund entered  upon  relations 
of  extreme  intimacy  with 
the  Austrian  dukes,  entrusted 
them  with  the  care  of  the 
l)erson  of  the  Bohemian  king 
in  August,  1402,  and  con- 
cluded with  them  important 
l)acts  of  inheritance,  con- 
siderably to  the  disadvantage 
of  Jost  of  Moravia,  whose 
Mark  of  Brandenburg  he 
treated  as  his  own. 

The  position  was  at  length 
entirely  changed  by  a  rising 
in  Hungary  which  obliged 
Sigismund  to  abandon 
Bohemia,  and  by  the  flight  of  Wenzel 
from  Austria  to  his  own  country  in 
November,  1403,  where  he  was  received 
with  much  jubilation,  owing  to  the 
general  hatred  of  the  Austrian  rule. 
Jost  was  reconciled  to  Wenzel,  chiefly  for 
the  reason  that  his  brother  Procop,  with 
whom  he  had  been  in  continual  hostility, 
had  died  in  the  year  1405,  and  the  attacks 
of  Sigismund  and  the  Hapsburgs  upon  the 
Bohemian  king  were  successfully  repulsed. 
Southern  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Austria 
suffered  terrible  devastation  between  1404 
and  1406  from  the  wars  between  the 
princes  and  also  from  the  ravages  of  the 
dangerous  robber  bands  which  then  became 
the  curse  of  the  country. 

Silesia  suffered  no  less  than  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  under  the  unhappy  govern- 
ment of  King  Wenzel.  At  the  outset  of 
his  reign  he  interfered  in  a  violent  quarrel 

3165 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


between  Breslau  and  the  local  chapter, 
and  espoused  the  cause  of  the  town  against 
the  despotic  aggression  of  its  opponents 
in  1381.  Shortly  afterwards  he  involved 
this  important  commercial  centre  in  a  long 
feud  with  the  dukes  of  Oppeln  upon  the 
question  of  a  heavy  guarantee  for  the 
king's  financial  necessities.  In  the  course 
,  of  this  struggle  the  travel- 

1  ^^^^^     rmces  j-^^  merchants  of  Breslau 

„  .  .  -,  ^  suffered  heavy  losses  in 
Bohemian  Court  .  ,    -^  o 

property  and  purse,   home 

of  the  Silesian  princes,  in  particular  those 
of  Teschen,  remained  faithful  to  Wenzel 
and  secured  high  offices  at  the  Bohemian 
court ;  others,  however,  broke  their  feudal 
ties  with  Bohemia  and  formed  connec- 
tions with  Vladislav  Jagellon,  the  reigning 
king  of  Poland. 

These  numerous  indications  of  retro- 
gression and  decay  in  the  hereditary 
Luxemburg  territories  would  perhaps  have 
been  less  ominous  had  not  the  religious 
and  nationalist  movement  among  the 
Bohemian  nation  then  attained  its  highest 
point,  declaring  war  with  terrible  deter- 
mination both  against  the  Catholic  Church 
and  against  German  influence  in  general. 
The  best- known  representative  of  the 
reform  movement  among  the  Bohemian 
clergy  is  John  Huss ;  he  had  been  a 
leading  figure  among  the  lecturers  at  the 
university  since  1396,  and  as  preacher 
in  the  Bethlehem  chapel  at  Prague  he 
enjoyed  an  unexampled  popularity  among 
all  classes  of  the  population.  He  and 
his  followers  fulminated  in  the  Bohemian 
language  against  the  immorality  of  clergy 
and  laity,  especially  against  the  sale  of 
ecclesiastical  offices  (simony),  whereby 
the  ranks  of  the  clergy  were  filled  with 
unworthy  members.  Livings  and  bene- 
fices had  been  multiplied  to  such  an  extent 
in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  that  even  small 
churches  supported  numerous  priests  in 
idleness.  These  and  other  evils  formed  a 
widespread  social  malady  of  the  period, 
_  .      .  and  as  early  as  the  middle  of 

_    .       .       the    fourteenth    century   had 
urmg     e    ^gen  combated  by  Waldhauser 

Reform&tion         ,    ,,,■         .       ^  . 

and  Milicz   m   Bohemia,  and 

by  John  Wycliffe  in  England.  Nowhere, 
however,  did  these  ecclesiastical  quarrels 
fall  upon  a  soil  so  rich  in  national  ani- 
mosities as  in  Bohemia.  The  war  broke 
out  upon  the  question  of  the  condemnation 
of  Wycliffe's  writings,  which  had  made 
their  way  into  Bohemia  and  were 
enthusiastically  received   by    the   reform 

3166 


party  among  the  clergy.  The  cathedral 
chapter  requested  the  university  to  oppose 
the  dissemination  of  Wycliffe's  works  and 
opinions  ;  they  met  with  a  refusal  from 
the  Bohemian  "  nation  "  in  the  university 
which  was  practically  led  by  Huss.  The 
breach  existing  in  the  university  and 
within  the  nation  was  widened. 

The  same  opposition  reappeared  a  few 
years  later  upon  the  question  of  concluding 
the  papal  schism.  The  Council  of  Pisa 
in  1409  proposed  to  settle  the  question 
definitely  by  observing  an  ecclesiastical 
neutrality  and  refusing  obedience  to 
either  Pope.  In  the  University  of  Prague 
the  idea  commended  itself  only  to  the 
Bohemian  "  nation  ;  "  the  three  remaining 
nationalities  in  conjunction  with  the 
upper  clergy  adhered  firmly  to  the  Roman 
Pope  Gregory  XII.  King  Wenzel,  in  con- 
trast to  Rupert,  declared  for  ecclesiastical 
neutrality,  and  the  Czech  party  induced 
him  to  issue  that  fatal  decree  whereby  the 
Bohemian  "  nation,"  though  in  the  minor- 
ity, was  henceforward  to  have  three  votes 
in  all  university  discussions  and  resolu- 
tions, while  the  three  non-Bohemian 
nations  were  to  have  but  one 
vote  between  them.  This 
measure  implied  the  despotic 
repression  of  Germans  and 
foreigners.  Their  sole  remedy  was 
migration  to  other  German  universities. 

Huss,  who  must  be  regarded  as  the 
prime  mover  in  this  momentous  trans- 
action, had  shaken  off  his  opponents  with 
unusual  success.  He  was  the  more  em- 
boldened for  the  struggle  with  the  higher 
clergy,  in  particular  with  Archbishop 
Zbynek  of  Prague.  This  ecclesiastic  had 
forcibly  deprived  the  clergy  of  their 
Wycliffite  books,  which  he  condemned  to 
be  burnt,  and  had  also  taken  measures 
against  the  licence  of  the  preachers  in 
every  direction,  and  was  anxious  to  confine 
their  activity  to  the  parish  churches. 
When  Huss  dechned  to  obey  these  regula- 
tions and  continued  to  preach  reform  from 
the  pulpit  of  the  Bethlehem  chapel,  he 
was  excommunicated.  However,  the  bulk 
of  the  population,  the  university,  the 
court,  the  Queen  Sophie — Wenzel's  second 
wife  from  1389 — and  the  king  himself, 
were  on  the  side  of  Huss,  while  the  arch- 
bishop was  supported  only  by  his  clergy 
and  by  the  new  Pope,  John  XXIII. 

The  further  development  of  these 
divisions  was  largely  influenced  by  general 
poHtical  events.     King  Rupert  had  died 


Huss 

Defies  the 
Pope 


3167 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


in  the  year  1410.  The  simultaneous  choice 
of  the  two  Luxemburg  princes,  Jost  of  Mo- 
ravia and  Sigismund  of  Hungary,  was  but 
a  temporary  danger,  as  the  former  died  in 
January,  141 1.  Of  the  many  descendants 
of  the  house  of  Luxemburg  there  remained 
only  King  Wenzel  of  Bohemia  and  King 
Sigismund  of  Hungary,  neither  having 
_.  .  _,  male  issue.  They  agreed 
u'^'^T'"'  """  without  difficulty  to  share 
ol^Jerm^n  *^^  inheritance  of  their 
ermany  Moravian  cousin,  and  laid 
aside  all  previous  grounds  of  dispute. 
Sigismund  took  the  Mark  of  Branden- 
burg, which  he  forthwith  mortgaged  to 
the  Burgrave  Frederic  of  Nuremberg  ; 
Wenzel  added  Moravia  and  Lausitz  to 
Bohemia.  Sigismund  was  then  unani- 
mously chosen  king  of  Germany.  Wenzel 
reserved  to  himself  the  right  of  acquiring 
the  dignity  of  emperor  at  the  hands  of  the 
Pope.  They  attempted  by  similar  means 
to  conclude  the  schism  in  the  Church, 
recognising  John  XXHL,  then  resident 
in  Rome,  as  against  the  other  two  candi- 
dates who  laid  claim  to  the  papal  tiara. 
Hopes  of  a  general  recognition  induced 
the  Pope  to  modify  his  attitude  to  Huss 
and  to  refrain  from  summoning  him  to 
Rome  ;  this  policy  was  the  more  feasible 
because  the  chief  opponent  _„  _ 
of  Huss,  the  Archbishop 
Zbynek,  died  in  the  year 
141 1,  and  his  aged  successor 
was  a  mere  tool  in  the  hands 
of  King  Wenzel.  Huss,  how- 
ever, was  stimulated  to 
further  invective  in  his 
preaching  against  ecclesias- 
tical abuses  by  John  XXHL's 
issue  of  indulgences  to  secure 
money  for  the  struggle  against 
his  opponents,  a  proceeding 
which  gave  further  ground 
for  serious  complaints.  Once 
again  the    nation  supported 


throughout  the  country  with  increased 
zeal,  while  in  the  capital  itself  the  tension 
between  the  two  parties  was  in  no  degree 
diminished. 

Sigismund  then  considered  that  it 
might  be  possible  to  make  an  end  oi  the 
religious  disputes  which  shook  the  Bo- 
hemian hereditary  lands,  Bohemia  itself, 
and  also  Moravia,  to  their  centre,  by  bring- 
ing Huss  before  the  Council  of  Constance, 
where  the  most  influential  representatives 
of  political  and  ecclesiastical  Europe 
had  gathered  to  conclude  the  schism  and 
to  introduce  general  measures  of  church 
reform.  Huss  arrived  a  fortnight  before 
the  first  sitting  of  the  council,  on  Novem- 
ber 3rd,  1414,  accompanied  by  several 
Bohemian  nobles,  under  a  safe-conduct 
from  Sigismund.  This  fact,  however, 
„  did  not   prevent  the  council  from 

.  '^  imprisoning  Huss  on  November 
**^®"  28th.  Sigismund  and  Wenzel 
*^"*  made  no  attempt  to  interfere, 
in  spite  of  their  express  promise 
guaranteeing  a  safe  passage  and  return 
for  Huss.  The  nobility  of  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  pressed  his  case  with 
increasing  firmness,  and  sent  letters  of 
warning  to  the  king  and  the  council  ;  but 
after  more  than  six  months'  imprisonment 

. „,    . in  misery,  Huss  was  deprived 

of  his  spiritual  office  as  an 
arch-heretic  by  the  council 
on  July  6th,  1415,  and  the 
secular  power  then  executed 
the  sentence  of  death  by 
burning. 

Huss  died  as  the  result  of 
his  religious  zeal.  The  firm- 
ness, the  love  of  truth,  and 
the  contempt  of  death  which 
he  displayed  before  his 
judges  at  Constance,  were  a 
powerful  incitement  to  his 
strong  body  of  adherents  in 
Bohemia     and     Moravia  to 


HUSSITE  REFORMER 


Huss,  with  his  pupils  and  j^rome,  or Hieronymus,  of  Pragiie  cling  the  more  tenaciously  to 
friends.  On  this  occasion,  was  one  of  the  Hussite  reformers  his  doctriucs.  Shortly  before 
however,  Wenzel  resolved  to  ^  °*"  ^""^    ®**  '"    eyear  4  .  ^^^  death,  his  pupil,  Jacobel 


give  vigorous  support,  for  political  reasons, 
to  the  minority  who  opposed  reform.  The 
result  was  the  imprisonment  and  execution 
of  certain  persons  who  publicly  opposed 
the  proceedings  of  the  papal  commis- 
sioners, while  further  complaints  were 
made  in  Rome  against  Huss,  who  con- 
sequently incurred  a  papal  sentence  of 
excommunication  in  1412.  Huss  retired 
from    Prague,    but   continued    his  work 

3168 


lus  of  Mies,  came  forward  with  a  claim, 
based  upon  the  commands  of  Holy 
Scripture,  for  communion  in  both  kinds. 
Huss  offered  no  objection,  and  his 
followers  thus  gained,  to  their  great 
advantage,  a  tangible  symbol  of  their 
divergence  from  the  Catholic  Church. 

No  priest  was  tolerated  who  would  not 
dispense  the  sacrament  in  both  kinds ; 
and    since     the    Council    of    Constance 


LUTHER  AND  HUSS  ADMINISTERING  THE   COMMUNION  TO  JOHN    FREDERIC   I.  OF  SAXONY 

Reproduced  from  an  old  print  illustrating  allegorically   the  triumph  of  the  lay  communion,  in  support  of  which, 

and  for  other  heresies,  Huss  had   been  executed  seventy  years  before  the  time  of  Luther. 


rejected  this  innovation  as  being  opposed 
to  the  existing  custom  of  the  Church, 
occasion  was  given  for  the  expulsion  of. 
the  Catholic  clergy  in  every  direction. 
Nobles  and  knights,  in  accordance  with  the 
custom  of  the  age,  soon  formed  a  league 
for  the  purpose  of  protecting  communion 
in  both  kinds  and  freedom  of  preaching 
in  the  country.  They  were  unanimously 
resolved  to  regard  the  University  of 
Prague  and  not  the  Council  of  Constance 
as  their  supreme  ecclesiastical  authority 
until  the  choice  of  a  new  Pope. 


Strong  measures  were  taken  against  the 
apostates ;  the  fathers  of  the  council  issued 
excommunications  and  an  interdict  without 
delay.  Hussite  disciples  were  burned  in 
Olmiitz  when  they  attempted  to  preach 
the  new  doctrine  in  that  city.  A  second 
magister  of  Prague,  Hieronymus,  was 
burned  in  Constance  on  May  30th,  141O. 
Bishop  John  of  Leitomischl,  who  was 
regarded  as  chiefly  responsible  next  to 
Sigismund  for  the  condemnation  of  Huss, 
was  made  Bishop  of  Olmiitz,  and  showed 
great  zeal  for  the  extirpation  of  the  heresy. 

3169 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


But  these  measures  served  only  to 
intensify  the  spirit  of  opposition,  after 
the  death  of  Huss,  from  year  to  year, 
and  soon  made  the  breach  irremediable. 
The  only  measures  which  commended 
themselves  to  the  new  Pope,  Martin  V., 
were  excommunication  and  anathema, 
which  produced  the  smaller  effect,  as  the 
„  Hussites  themselves  now  began 

„  „       to    break   up    into  sects    and 

.  "*g  ^  parties,  which  went  far  beyond 
the  doctrine  of  the  magister  of 
Prague.  The  most  numerous,  and  after- 
wards the  most  important,  of  these  sects 
was  that  of  the  Taborites,  who  took  their 
name  from  Mount  Tabor,  where  they 
originally  held  their  meetings.  As  re- 
garded religion,  they  professed  a  return  to 
the .  conditions  of  primitive  Christianity, 
and  adherence  only  to  the  actual  letter  of 
the  Bible.  At  the  same  time  their  politi- 
cal and  social  views  and  objects  were 
marked  by  extreme  radicalism.  The  more 
moderate  opposition  among  the  Hussites 
were  known  from  their  symbol  as  Calixtins 
(chalicemen)  or  as  Pragers,  as  the  Prague 
school  was  their  spiritual  centre. 

King  Wenzel,  who  had  favoured  the 
Hussites  since  the  condemnation  of  their 
founder,  was  impelled  by  his  brother  Sigis- 
mund  and  the  Pope  to  entertain  seriously 
the  idea  of  interference,  in  view  of  the 
dangerous  and  revolutionary  spirit  which 
animated  an  ever  increasing  circle  of  ad- 
herents. At  the  outset  of  the  year  1419  he 
remodelled  the  Hussite  council  of  the  Neu- 
stadt  in  Prague  by  introducing  Catholics, 
and  recalled  the  priests  who  had  been 
expelled.  However,  mutual  animosities 
had  risen  to  such  a  pitch  that  on  July  30th, 
1419,  when  the  Catholics  disturbed  or 
insulted  a  procession,  the  Hussites,  under 
their  leader  Ziska,  stormed  the  parliament 
house  in  the  Neustadt  and  threw  some  of 
the  Catholic  councillors  out  of  the  windows. 
The  councillors  were  then  beaten  and 
stabbed  to  death  by  the  infuriated  popu- 

.  «.  lace.    The  excitement  in  the 

Wenzel  Dies  •,  j     xi  a 

.  City    and    the  country   was 

in  an  Access  •     ■'  j         r  1         r^ 

J  P  mcreased  a  few  weeks  after- 

^'^  wards  by  the  sudden  death  of 

King  Wenzel  on  August  19th,  1419,  the 
consequence  of  a  fearful  access  of  fury  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  revolution. 

Sigismund,  the  last  descendant  of  the 
house  of  Luxemburg,  was  now  confronted 
with  the  difficult  task  of  securing  his  acces- 
sion to  the  heritage  of  his  brother — Bohe- 
mia, Moravia,  and  Silesia.  In  each  of  these 

3170 


three  countries  the  political  situation  and 
the  prospects  of  his  recognition  were 
different.  In  Bohemia  he  might  expect  a 
bitter  opposition,  as  long  as  he  maintained 
his  hostility  to  the  Hussite  movement.  In 
Moravia  this  movement  had  indeed  ob- 
tained a  firm  footing  among  the  nobility 
and  the  population.  Here,  however, "there 
was  a  counteracting  force  in  the  bishopric 
of  Olmiitz  and  its  numerous  feudatories, 
led  by  Bishop  John,  "  the  man  of  iron," 
who  strove  vigorously  for  the  suppression 
of  the  heresy.  Further,  the  most  impor- 
tant towns,  such  as  Briinn,  Olmiitz,  Znaim, 
Iglau,  and  others  were  populated  by  a 
majority  of  Catholic  and  German  inhabi- 
tants, and  neither  they  nor  the  nobility 
had  any  intention  of  opposing  the  rights  of 
the  Luxemburg  claimant. 

Finally,  Sigismund  could  be  certain  of 
meeting  with  ready  submission  in  Silesia, 
which  was  entirely  Germanised,  and 
regarded  the  struggle  in  Bohemia 
primarily  from  a  nationalist  point  of 
view,  condemning  it  for  its  anti-German 
tendency.  Hence  Sigismund  did  not 
enter  Bohemia,  but  entrusted  the  govern- 
„.  .  ment     to   the   Dowager-queen 

*^**th  Sophie,  and  to  some  councillors 

fL"  .^  from  the  moderates  among 
the  nobility  ;  he  appeared  in 
Briinn  in  December,  1419,  where  he 
summoned  the  provincial  assembly.  An 
embassy  also  appeared  from  Bohemia 
to  ask  for  the  king's  recognition  of  the 
four  articles  of  belief,  which  had  been 
drawn  up  by  the  Hussite  sects  a  short 
time  previously  in  a  general  assembly  at 
Prague.  These  were,  firstly,  freedom  of 
preaching  ;  secondly,  communion  in  both 
kinds ;  thirdly,  the  observance  of  apostolic 
poverty  by  the  clergy ;  and,  fourthly,  the 
suppression  and  punishment  of  deadly 
sins.  Sigismund,  however,  declined  to 
declare  his  position,  and  put  off  the 
deputies  until  he  should  arrive  in  Bohemia 
itself. 

He  did  not,  however,  proceed  to  Bo- 
hemia, but  hurried  immediately  from 
Briinn  to  Breslau,  into  which  town  he 
made  a  formal  entry  on  January  5th,  1420. 
Here  he  declared  his  real  attitude  towards 
the  Hussites  as  his  religious  and  political 
opponents.  Towards  the  close  of  Wenzel's 
reign  the  artisans  of  Breslau  had  raised  a 
revolt  against  the  aristocratic  council  and 
the  whole  system  of  royal  administration, 
following  the  example  of  the  Hussites  at 
Prague,  who  had  killed  councillors  and 


BOHEMIA    AND    THE    REFORMATKDN 


usurped  the  power  and  authority.  Sigis- 
mund  did  not  hesitate  to  bring  the  revo- 
lutionaries to  justice  ;  he  executed  twenty- 
three  of  them  in  the  pubhc  square  on 
March  4th,  1420,  condemned  the  nume- 
rous fugitives  to  death,  declared  their 
rights  and  property  forfeit,  and  most 
strictly  limited  the  freedom  and  the  privi- 
leges of  the  guilds  as  a  whole. 

This  action  was  intended  as  a  menace 
to  the  Bohemians,  and  its  meaning 
became  plainer  on  March  15th,  1420,  when 
a  citizen  of  Prague,  who  had  ventured  to 
express  pubUcly  in  Breslau  his  opinion 
upon  the  condemnation  of 
Huss,  and  to  declare  himself 
a  Hussite,  was  burned  as  a 
heretic  at  Sigismund's  orders. 
Two  days  afterwards  he 
ordered  the  crusade  bull 
against  the  Hussites  which 
Pope  Martin  V.  had  issued, 
to  be  read  from  the  pulpits 
of  the  Breslau  churches.  The 
embassy  from  Prague,  which 
had  also  come  to  Breslau  to 
negotiate  with  the  king, 
naturally  left  the  city  entirely 
undeceived,  and  upon  its 
return  to  Prague  wisely 
advised  a  union  of  the 
moderate  Calixtins  and  radi- 
cal Taborites,  and  issued  an 
appeal  for  war  upon  their 
common  enemy,  the  Luxem- 
burg ruler. 

A  few  weeks  later  Sigis- 
mund  entered  Bohemia  with 
a  strong  army,  composed 
chiefly  of  Germans  and  Sile- 
sians.      He    could   calculate 


through  Moravia  to  Hungary.  On  all  three 
occasions  the  undaunted  Taborite  am.y 
had  held  the  field  under  its  general,  Ziska. 
Conscious  of  their  power,  the  Taborites 
now  took  the  offensive,   and  conquered 
during  the  following  months  a  number  of 
towns    and    fiefs    which    had    remained 
Cathohc.     The    process    of    transforming 
the  German  towns  of  Bohemia  into  Czech 
settlements  went  on  simultaneously  with 
these  conquests,  so  far  as  it  had  not  been 
already  completed  by  earher  events.     A 
few  towns  only  were  able  to  resist  the 
change.     In  June,  1421,  the  assembly  of 
Caslau  had   already  declared 
the  crown  to  be  forfeit,  the 
king     being     "  the     deadly 
enemy     of     the     Bohemian 
nation."      The      provisional 
government  offered  the  Bohe- 
mian throne  to  the  King  of 
Poland. 

Sigismund  was  a  restless 
and  undaunted  character  ;  in 
this  and  in  many  other  good 
and  bad  qualities  he  reminds 
us  of  his  grandfather.  King 
John.  Once  again  he  resumed 
the  struggle,  although  the 
dangers  which  threatened 
him  in  Hungary  made  it 
impossible  for  him  to  think 
of  continuing  the  war  in 
Bohemia  without  foreign 
help.  Germany  equipped  a 
crusading  army  at  his  appeal, 
increased,  it  is  said,  to  200,000 
men  by  contingents  from 
Meissen  and  Silesia.  Bohemia 
was  invaded  in  September, 
1421,  but  the  furious  attacks 

.,  .       e  A    BOHEMIAN    WARRIOR         7  - 1,     tt         *     u       a     ■    a-   t.   a 

upon  the    support  of  many  ,„  gfteenth-century  chain  armonr.  of  the  Hussite  bands  mflicted 


towns  which  had  remained 
German  and  Catholic  —  for  example, 
Kuttenberg  —  and  on  the  advantage 
derived  from  the  possession  of  the  two 
fortresses  which  dominated  Prague — the 
Hradshin  and  the  Wysherad.  However, 
the  siege  of  Prague  from  May  to  June, 
1420,  was  a  failure.  An  attempt  to  relieve 
the  defenders  of  the  Wysherad  was 
defeated,  and  in  the  murderous  battle  of 
November  ist,  1420,  the  king's  army  was 
shattered,  and  many  of  the  Cathohc 
nobility  of  Moravia  who  had  followed  him 
were  included  in  the  overthrow.  In 
February,  142 1,  Sigismund  again  made 
trial  of  his  fortune  in  war  against  Bohemia, 
and  was  forced  to  retreat,  or  rather  to  flee, 


heavy  loss,  and  forced  the 
army  to  withdraw  almost  as  soon  as  it 
had  crossed  the  frontier.  It  was  not 
for  several  years  that  the  empire  under- 
took any  fresh  mihtary  enterprise  against 
Bohemia. 

Most  important  to  Sigismund  were 
the  support  and  co-operation  of  Duke 
Albert  V.  of  Austria,  which  were  continued 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
war.  The  price  paid  for  this  help  was, 
indeed,  considerable.  Sigismund  gave 
Elizabeth,  his  only  child  and  heiress,  to  the 
duke,  in  marriage,  ceded  certgun  towns  and 
castles,  and  afterwards  gave  him  the 
governorship,  and  finally  complete  posses- 
sion, of  the  margraviate  of  Moravia  under 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


the  convention  of  October  ist  to  4th, 
1423.  Albert  was  gradually  able,  with  the 
help  of  the  Bishop  of  Olmiitz,  to  withdraw 
this  province  from  Hussite  influence,  to 
crush  the  Hussite  barons,  and  to  make 
the  province  a  base  of  operations  against 
Moravia.  These  facts  induced  Ziska  to 
turn  his  attention  to  the  neighbouring 
Quarrels  Province  in  the  year  1424; 
.  but  at  the  outset  of  the  cam- 

Hus'Sfes  *  P^^  *^^^  ^^^*  general 
succumbed  to  an  attack  of 
some  kind  of  plague  at  Pribislau,  a  little 
town  on  the  frontier  of  Bohemia  and 
Moravia,  on  October  nth,  1424.  Before 
his  death  bitter  quarrels  had  broken  out 
between  the  several  Hussite  sects, 
though  these  had  hitherto  been  allayed 
by  Ziska.  However,  after  his  death  an 
irremediable  disruption  took  place.  His 
special  adherents,  who  were  known  as 
the  "  Orphans,"  separated  from  the 
Taborites.  The  leadership  of  the  latter  was 
undertaken  by  Prokop  Holy  (Rasa,  the 
shorn  one),  who  took  a  leading  position  in 
the  general  Hussite  army  during  the  war- 
fare of  the  following  years.  He  was  the 
chief  stimulus  to  the  enterprises  which 
the  Bohemians  undertook  after  1424 
against  all  the  neighbouring  provinces,  and 
he  spread  the  Hussite  wars  to  Austria  and 
Hungary,  to  Silesia  and  the  Lausitz,  to 
Saxony  and  Brandenburg,  to  the  Palatinate 
and  Franconia. 

The  Hussite  expeditions  were  repeated 
annually,  now  in  one  direction,  now  in 
another,  spreading  terrible  misery 
throughout  the  whole  of  Central  Europe. 
In  many  countries,  especially  in  Silesia, 
the  Hussites  were  not  content  with  mere 
raids,  but  left  permanent  garrisons  in  the 
conquered  towns  and  castles,  which 
incessantly  harassed  and  devastated  the 
surrounding  districts.  To  such  a  height 
did  the  danger  rise  that  the  princes  of 
the  empire  were  induced  to  undertake  a 
second  crusade  against  Bohemia  in  the 
„      .       p        summer  of  1427,  while  King 

ussi  cs     o      Sigismund  was  occupied  with 

German  ,,"  ,     ,tf    t-.      i 

A  Fl*  M  ^^^  against  the  lurks, 

rmy  o  ig  Qj^qq  again  the  enterprise 
ended  with  the  panic  and  flight  of  the 
German  army  when  confronted  at  Tachau 
by  the  Hussites,  whom  a  long  series  of 
victories  had  filled  with  hope  and  con- 
fidence. It  seemed  absolutely  impossible 
to  subdue  this  enemy  in  the  field,  and  the 
opinion  was  further  strengthened  by  the 
Hussite  exploits  in  the  following  years. 


The  last  act  of  this  tragic  period  of 
Bohemian  history  began  at  the  outset  of 
the  year  1431.  Sigismund  attempted  to 
reach  a  solution  of  the  problem  at  any 
cost  on  wholly  new  principles  ;  a  council 
had  begun  the  war,  a  council  should  end 
it.  He  succeeded  in  winning  over  to  his 
view  Pope  Martin  V.,  who  summoned  a 
general  council  of  the  Church  at  Basle, 
and  entrusted  the  conduct  of  it  to  the 
cardinal  Giuliano  Cesarini,  with  instruc- 
tions to  make  the  suppression  of  the 
Hussite  movement  a  chief  topic  of  debate. 
Th's  expedition  to  Bohemia  ended,  hke 
its  predecessors,  with  a  terrible  defeat  of 
the  Germans  at  Taus  on  August  14th,  1431 ; 
and  negotiations  were  then  attempted,  to 
which,  indeed,  more  moderate  parties  in 
Bohemia  had  long  since  manifested  their 
inchnation.  While  the  Hussite  armies  in 
1432  and  1433  marched  plundering  and 
massacring  through  Austria,  North  Hun- 
gary, Silesia,  Saxony,  and  Brandenburg 
_  to  the  Baltic,  an  embassy  from 

,**  Prague     appeared     in    Basle 

c.  .  .  during  the  first  months  of 
Sigismund  1171  1      ■ 

1433.      When     no    conclusion 

could  be  reached  there,  the  ambassadors 
of  the  council  betook  themselves  to 
Prague,  and  concluded,  on  November 
30th,  1433,  the  Compactata  of  Prague. 
The  material  point  was  the  recognition 
— though  under  conditions  and  incom- 
pletely— of  the  four  articles  of  Prague  of 
1419 ;  concerning  the  acceptance  or 
refusal  of  these  King  Sigismund,  then  in 
Briinn,  had  declined  to  commit  himself. 

Of  decisive  importance  for  further 
developments  was  the  split  between  the 
moderate  Calixtins,  who  included  the 
majority  of  the  Bohemian  nobihty,  and 
the  Taborites  and  Orphans.  The  dissen- 
sion ended  in  a  conflict  at  Lipan  in 
Bohemia  on  May  30th,  1434,  when  the 
radicals  suffered  a  severe  defeat.  The  path 
was  now  cleared  for  peace,  which  was 
concluded  on  July  5th,  1436,  by  the 
publication  of  the  Compactata  at  the 
assembly  of  Iglau.  The  reconciliation  of 
the  Bohemians  with  the  Church  was 
followed  by  a  further  reconciliation 
with  King  Sigismund,  who  was  then 
recognised  as  king  of  Bohemia.  Only 
for  a  year  and  a  half  did  he  enjoy  the 
peaceful  possession  of  this  throne.  On 
December  gth,  1437,  he  died,  after  numer- 
ous misunderstandings  and  breaches  of  the 
terms  of  peace  had  begun  to  rouse  strong 
feehng  against  him  among  the  Hussites. 


3172 


Note. — For  references  see  Appendix. 


EASTEKN 

LL'hOFL     TO 

THE    FRENCH 

ktVOLUIlON 


THE 
WESTERN 
SLAVS-lil 


BOHEMIA'S  ELECTIVE  MONARCHY 

AND  ITS  UNION  WITH  HUNGARY  AND  AUSTRIA 


Civil  War 


/^N  his  death-bed  Sigismund  recom- 
^^  mended  his  son-in-law,  Duke  Albert 
of  Austria,  as  his  successor  to  the  choice 
of  the  Bohemian  nobles  who  stood  round 
him.  Albert  II.  inherited  both  the 
German  and  the  Hungarian  crown 
from  Sigismund;  his  claim  to  Bohemia, 
Moravia,  and  Silesia  was  based  upon  the 
principles  formulated  under  the  Emperor 
Charles  IV.  to  regulate  the  succession  in 
the  house  of  Luxemburg,  and  also  upon 
the  various  succession  treaties  and  mar- 
riage connections  between  the  Luxemburg 
and  Hapsburg  families.  However,  the 
prince,  whom  the  Hussite  wars  had  made 
conspicuous  in  Bohemia,  could  secure 
recognition  from  only  two  of  the  parties 
then  dominant  in  the  country,  the 
■Catholics,  led  by  Baron  Ulrich  of  Rosen- 
berg, and  the  Calixtins,  whose  spokesman 
was  Meinhard  of  Neuhaus.  The  Taborites, 
who  were  then  guided  by  Henry  Ptacek 
of  Pirkstein,  offered  the  crown 
of  Bohemi  a  to  a  Slavonic  prince, 
„  ,  .  Casimir,  the  brother  of  Vladi- 
slav, king  of  Poland;  their 
action  brought  about  a  civil  war  in  Bohemia 
itself,  as  well  as  a  Polish  invasion  both  of 
this  country  and  of  Silesia,  which  had 
already  done  homage  to  Albert. 

While  this  struggle  was  in  progress, 
Albert  suddenly  died  on  October  27th, 
1439,  leaving  no  male  issue.  Not  until 
February,  1440,  did  his  widow  Elizabeth 
bear  a  son,  who  was  named  Ladislaus 
(Vladislav  IV.)  Posthumus.  Though  this 
prince  enjoyed,  beyond  the  shadow  of  a 
doubt,  his  father's  justifiable  claims  to 
the  inheritance,  yet  the  party  of  Ptacek 
of  Pirkstein  passed  over  the  Hapsburg 
claim  and  secured,  by  an  almost  unanimous 
vote  in  the  assembly  of  Prague,  the 
choice  of  Albert,  Duke  of  Bavaria,  as  king 
of  Bohemia  ;  he,  however,  declined  the 
honour  under  the  influence  of  a  secret 
warning  from  Ulrich  von  Rosenberg,  the 
leader  of  the  Catholics.  The  Taborites 
then  attempted  to  induce  the  Emperor 


Frederick,  the  uncle  and  guardian  of 
Ladislaus,  to  accept  the  crown  of  Bohemia. 
When  this  plan  failed,  they  professed 
their  readiness  to  recognise  Ladislaus 
himself,  provided  that  he  were  brought 
up  in  Bohemia.  During  these  endless 
party  struggles  Ulrich  of  Rosenberg  kept 
the  upper  hand.  He  was  the  most  power- 
„  .  ful  of  the  Bohemian  nobles,  and 
Ca  tur*'  ^^"^6*^  the  greatest  advantages 
Pra«ue*  ^^^^  ^^^  confusion  which  pre- 
vailed during  his  interregnum. 
The  greater  part  of  the  country  and  the 
capital,  Prague,  were  in  his  power  and  in 
that  of  his  allies,  the  Calixtins ;  the 
Taborites  were  restricted  to  four  only  of  the 
thirteen  circles  of  Bohemia. 

The  position  was  changed  after  the  death 
of  Ptacek  of  Pirkstein  in  1444,  when 
the  youthful  George  Podiebrad  and 
Kunstadt  undertook  the  leadership  of  the 
advanced  Hussite  party.  In  the  year 
1448  he  seized  Prague  by  a  bold  and 
sudden  attack,  and  there  assisted  his 
party  to  gain  a  complete  victory.  For 
two  years  civil  war  again  raged  in  Bohemia, 
until  the  close  of  the  year  1450,  when  it 
was  agreed  at  the  general  assembly  at 
Prague  to  approach  the  emperor  again 
upon  the  question  of  the  surrender  of  the 
young  king.  On  this  occasion  Frederick 
III.  came  to  an  understanding  by  direct 
negotiation  with  George  Podiebrad,  with- 
out consulting  the  other  party  leaders. 
In  1451  he  entrusted  Podiebrad  with  the 
regency  in  Bohemia  during  the  minority  of 
Th  Y  thf  I  Ladislaus.  The  Bohemian 
Lai  estates  confirmed  this  decision 

**v*  ^        at     the    assembly    of    April 

on  the  Throae       .1  _         n   j-  u      j 

24th,  1452.  Podiebrad,  more- 
over, adhered  to  these  conditions. 
When  a  revolution  of  the  Austrian 
nobility  against  the  emperor  broke  out  in 
the  following  year,  Ladislaus  was  released 
from  his  position  as  a  minor  and,  in  name 
at  least,  became  king  of  Austria,  Hungary 
and  Bohemia.  In  October,  1453.  the 
memorable  year  of  the  Turkish  conquest 

3173 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


of  Constantinople,  he  came  to  Prague  and 
was  crowned  king  of  Bohemia,  after  a 
progress  through  Moravia,  where  he  pre- 
viously received  the  homage  of  the 
Moravian  nobility,  to  the  very  considerable 


proved  obstinate,  trusting  to  the  support 
of  the  Archduke  Albert  VI.  of  Austria,  a 
brother  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  III., 
until  its  resistance  met  with  a  bloody 
punishment.     In    Silesia    and    Lausitz    a 


vexation  of  the  Bohemians.     In  Bohemia    revulsion  in  favour  of  George  took  place, 
the  young  prince  was  entirely    when  he  succeeded,  as  a  result  of  many 


King  Dies 
on  the  Eve 
of  Marriage 


dependent  upon  George  Podie- 
brad,    who  was   not   only   the 
prince's  minister  and   political 
adviser,  but  also  his  "major-domo,"  as  he 


tortuous  intrigues,  in  ousting  the  local 
claimant  to  the  throne,  Duke  Albert  the 
Courageous  of  Saxony. 

The  firmness  of  George's  position  was 


called  himself,  and  he  never  allowed  the  largely  due  to  the  fact  that,  strangely 
youth  to  be  out  of  his  sight.  He  kept  the  enough,  before  his  coronation  in  Bohemia 
prince  in  Bohemia  for  more  than  a  year,  he  had  promised  obedience  to  the  Catholic 
and  then  accompanied  him  to  Breslau  and  Church,  and  had  thereby  secured  the  power- 
Vienna,  ful  support  of  the  Pope,  who  expected 
Then  at  length  the  Bohemian  governor  that  Podiebrad  would  bring  the  whole 
left  Ladislaus  to  return  home  and  continue  of    Bohemia   into   submission    to  Rome, 


the  government  of  the 
country  in  the  name  of 
the  king.  George  Podie- 
brad was  well  able  to 
turn  the  king's  favour  to 
his  own  advantage,  and 
was  richly  rewarded  with 
fiefs  from  the  royal  do- 
mains ;  none  the  less  the 
period  of  his  governor- 
ship in  Bohemia  (1451- 
1457)  was  a  period  of 
prosperity.  He  succeeded 
in  preserving  domestic 
peace,  securing  general 
safety  and  order,  and 
advancing  the  progress 
of  trade  and  manufac- 
ture. Then,  at  the  age 
of    barely   eighteen,   the 


and  had  therefore  ordered 
the  Catholics  of  Bohemia, 
Moravia,  and  Silesia  to 
do  homage  to  the  new 
king.  Breslau  was  iso- 
lated and  unable  to 
persist  in  its  attitude  of 
hostility  to  George,  when 
Pope  Pius  II.  (iEneas 
Sylvius)  sent  his  legates 
to  the  city  in  1459  to 
arrange  a  reconciliation 
with  the  King  of  Bohemia. 
On  January  13th,  1460, 
the  intervention  of  the 
Breslau  city  chronicler 
and  historian  Peter  Es- 
chenloer  secured  the  ac- 
ceptance of  an  important 
agreement,  whereby   the 


ALBERT    II.    OF    GERMANY 

king    suddenly    died    in  S^ J^'T^  sSfs.„^nTbut  ^re'd  in"  oftX^I  cftizens  of   Breslau   pro 
Prague     on      November  1439,  before  he  had  secured  general  recogr-  miscd  obcdience  to  King 

23rd,       1457,        from       an   "'*'°"  ^^  """^"^  of  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Silesia.   Q^^j.^^^  thoUgh  the  actual 

illness  akin  to  the  plague,  at  the  moment 


when  preparations  were  being  made  for 
the  celebration  of  his  marriage  with  the 
daughter  of  Charles  VII.  of  France. 

So  admirable  had  been  the  preparations 
of  George  Podiebrad,  that  on  March  2nd, 
1458,  a  few  months  after  the  death  of 
Ladislaus,  he  was  able  to  secure  his 
elevation  to  the  crown  of  Bohemia.  The 
neighbouring  provinces  of  Moravia, 
Silesia,  and  in  particular  the  powerful 
Breslau  and  Lausitz,  at  first  refused 
obedience  or  recognition.  Eventually, 
however,  submission  to  the  Hussite  king 
was  refused  in  Moravia  only  by  the 
Catholic  towns — Briinn,  Olmiitz,  Znaim, 
Iglau  and  others.  When  George  invaded 
the  country   with   an   army,  Iglau  alone 

3^74 


performance  of  homage  was  postponed  for 
three  years. 

Secure  of  his  power  in  Bohemia,  Moravia, 
and  Silesia,  on  the  best  of  terms  with  all 
the  neighbouring  states  and  with  the 
German  Emperor,  designated  "  most  be- 
loved son  "  by  the  papal  chair,  George  was 
able  to  turn  his  attention  to  higher  objects. 
The  prospect  of  establish- 
ing himself  upon  the 
throne  of  Hungary  in 
opposition  to  Matthias 
Corvinus,  had  been  offered  to  him  or  to  his 
son  Henry  in  the  year  1459.  In  view,  how- 
ever, of  the  equivocal  nature  of  the  situa- 
tion in  Hungary,  he  had  hesitated,  and  had 
finally  declined  the  crown,  which  then  fell 
to  Frederick  III.     Podiebrad  found  some 


Podiebrad 
Refuses  the  Crown 
of  Hungary 


BOHEMIA'S    ELECTIVE    MONARCHY 


compensation  in  the  fact  that  the  two 
princes  who  were  strugghng  for  the  throne 
respectively  sought  alliance  with  him  from 
this  time  onwards.  In  August,  1459,  the 
emperor  invested  him  with  the  Bohemian 
lands,  and  also  made  him  other  important 
promises ;  at  the  same  time  Matthias  made 
a  successful  effort  to  secure  the  favour  of 
the  Bohemian  king.  Not  only  did  George 
succeed  in  turning  the  hostiUty  of  the  two 
princes  to  his  own  advantage,  but  he  also 
conceived  the  plan  of  entering  into  relations 
with  the  enemies  of  the  emperor  within  the 
empire,  and  thus  advancing  towards  the 
imperial  crown  without  the  help  of  foreign 
intervention.  This  project  of  the  King  of 
Bohemia  was  rendered  abortive  chiefly  by 
the  opposition  of  Albert 
Achilles,  the  Margrave  of 
Brandenburg. 

A  short  time  afterwards 
occurred  that  breach  with 
the  papacy  which  had 
such  momentous  conse- 
quences for  George,  and 
a  short  period  of  triumph- 
ant progress  was  followed 
by  almost  a  decade  of 
fruitless  and  exhausting 
struggle.  Pius  II.  insisted 
upon  the  performance  of 
the  undertaking  which 
George  had  given  in  his 
coronation  oath,  to  adopt 
strong  measures  against 
the  Hussites.  When  nego- 
tiation produced  no   re- 


appealed  against  George  Podiebrad  de- 
clined to  take  any  share  in  a  crusade, 
partly  for  reasons  of  family  relationship— 
(for  example,  his  son-in-law,  Matthias 
Corvinus  of  Hungary),  partly  for  political 
reasons  (for  example,  the  King  of  Poland, 
The  New  Pope  ^"^  especially  the  Em- 
Excommunicate*      P^'"^'"  Frederic  III.,   who 

King  George  Yu^  ""^'^  ^^r^  P'?^^^  '"^ 

the  years  1462  and  1463). 

The  emperor  even  attempted  to  intervene 
with  the  Pope  on  behalf  of  George  Podiebrad. 
In  1464  the  situation  changed.  Paul  II., 
a  far  more  vigorous  character  than  Pius  II., 
occupied  the  papal  chair,  while  the  death 
of  Katherina,  the  daughter  of  George 
Podiebrad,  left  her  husband  Matthias 
Corvinus  free  to  act 
against  his  former  father- 
in-law.  In  1466  Paul 
excommunicated  George 
as  a  heretic,  and  stirred 
up  war  against  him  in 
Breslau  and  Moravia. 
The  Catholic  federation 
of  nobles  soon  made 
their  hostility  felt  in 
Bohemia  also.  However, 
the  king  maintained  the 
upper  hand  against  his 
adversaries  in  his  own 
country,  as  long  as  the 
rulers  of  the  neighbouring 
territories  held  aloof. 
Only  when  Matthias  of 
Hungary  resolved  in  1468 
to  obey  the  papal  com- 
for     a     crusade 


,  ,         .p  4.     v.-  PODIEBRAD,    THE      HUSSITE      KING  , 

suit,    tne     fope    sent     niS  OeorgePodiebrad,  who  was  one  of  the  leaders  rnaUQ 

legates  to  Prague  in  the  ofthe  Hussite  party,  was  a  statesman  of  great  against     the     Bohemian 

"  f         y         rr^,  ability,  whose  plans  were  so  well  laid  that  on  •,  v  j- j       /^  i 

summer    of    1402.     There,  the  death  ofLadislaus  he  was  able  to  secure  the  king,       did      GCOrgC      lOSe 


on  August  14th,  a  violent    t'»''°"«  "^  Bohemia.     He  died  in  the  year  1471.     almOSt 


the 


scene  took  place,  when  King  George 
publicly  replied  to  the  Pope's  demands 
by  asserting  his  refusal  to  recede  from 
the  Compactata,  which  Pius  II.  had 
already  declared  invalid.  The  legates 
accused  the  king  of  faithlessness  before  the 
public  assembly,  threatened  him  with 
spiritual  and  temporal  punishment,  and 
were       forthwith       imprisoned. 


King  and 
Pope  at 


Enmity 


By  this  act  every  tie  between 
the  Pope  and  the  king  was 
broken.  For  the  moment, 
however,  the  struggle  was  confined  to 
attempts  to  induce  the  Catholics  in 
Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Silesia  to  abandon 
the  king's  cause  ;  only  in  Breslau  did  these 
exhortations  produce  any  appreciable 
effect.     The  princes  to  whom  the  Pope 


whole  of 
Moravia  and  part  of  Silesia.  However, 
he  soon  succeeded  in  surrounding  at  Wili- 
mow  the  Hungarian  king,  who  had  ad- 
vanced too  rashly  in  February,  1469,  and 
Matthias  was  forced  to  agree  to  an 
armistice  with  a  view  to  arranging 
terms  of  peace.  Peace,  however,  proved 
impossible  in  view  of  the  terms  de- 
manded by  the  papal  legate  and  the 
Bohemian  barons,  which  George  could 
not  possibly  accept.  They  even  induced 
Matthias  Corvinus  to  proclaim  himself 
king  of  Bohemia  on  May  3rd,  1469,  and  to 
receive  the  homage  of  Moravia,  Silesia 
and  Lausitz. 

The  natural  result  was  the  continuation 
of  the  war.  George  had  secured  the 
support    of    Poland — in    return    for    an 

3175 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


acknowledgment    of    the    Polish    prince 

Vladislav   as   his   successor — and    fought 

with  some  success  ;    he  did  not  live  to 

see  the  conclusion  of  the  struggle,  in  the 

midst  of  which  he  died  of  an  illness  on 

March  22nd,  1471.     He  had  been  one  of 

the   most   extraordinary    figures   on    the 

throne  of  Bohemia  ;    neither  before  nor 

afterwards  did  the  country  see 

**„  **       a  prince  of  such  humble  origin, 

e     ussi  e  ^^^  j.^gg  from  the  position  of 

^'^^  a  simple  party  leader  to  that 

of  viceroy  with  full  powers,  and  thence  to 
the  throne.  He  had  remarkable  capacity 
for  government,  and  found  enthusiastic 
admirers  and  true  friends  among  his 
contemporaries.  During  his  reign  his 
territory  was  in  a  continual  state  of  war, 
but  the  administration  was  in  strong 
hands.  But  the  religious  problem,  a 
bequest  from  the  Hussite  period,  thwarted 
his  success  and  undermined  the  whole  of 
his  efforts. 

A  wholly  different  character  from  George 
was  his  successor  on  the  Bohemian  throne, 
the  Pole  Vladislav,  who  was  known  as 
"  King  AUright,"  from  a  favourite  and 
very  characteristic  expression  of  his.  The 
war  against  King  Matthias  continued  for 
eight  years  longer,  partly  on  the  soil  of 
Bohemia  and  Moravia,  partly  in  Silesia 
(Breslau)  and  partly  in  Hungary.  Fortune 
favoured  now  one  side  and  now  the  other, 
until  financial  embarrassments  affecting 
both  princes  and  parties,  and  the  steady 
approach  of  the  Turkish  danger,  paved  the 
way  for  a  temporary  armistice  and  even- 
tually for  a  peace,  which  was  concluded 
after  lengthy  negotiations  at  Olmiitz  on 
July  2ist,  1479.  It  was  agreed  that 
Vladislav  should  remain  in  possession  of 
the  title  and  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia,  and 
that  Matthias  Corvinus  should  bear  the 
title  of  King  of  Bohemia  during  his  life,  and 
should  also  remain  in  possession  of 
Moravia,  Silesia,  and  Lausitz  ;  after  his 
death  his  provinces  might  be  bought 
back  by  Vladislav  for 
400,000  ducats,  an  exorbi- 


CathoHcs  and 
Hussites 


_        ^    _,  tant  price  for  that  period. 

Come  to  Terms  xt  r  j     j. 

No  reference  was  made  to 

the  question  of  religious  unity,  or  to  the 
bringing  back  of  the  Hussites  to  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  though  it  was  with  this  object 
that  Rome  had  stirred  up  the  struggle. 
Even  before  his  accession  King  Vladislav 
had  pledged  himself  to  maintain  the  Com- 
pactata.  Thus  it  was  inevitable  that  upon 
the  conclusion  of  the  foreign  war  the  party 

3176 


struggle  between  the  Catholics  and  the 
Hussites  should  break  out  again  in 
Bohemia.  The  movement  degenerated 
into  fearful  confusion  after  the  autumn  of 
1483.  Councillors  were  murdered  and 
flung  through  windows  ;  churches  and 
monasteries  were  plundered ;  Germans 
and  Jews  were  persecuted  and  robbed  as 
a  matter  of  course.  Strangely  enough, 
however,  this  violent  outburst  of  passion 
resulted  in  less  than  two  years  in  a  recon- 
ciliation of  the  two  parties  (1485)  ;  and 
an  agreement  was  arranged  upon  the 
basis  of  the  recognition  of  the  Compactata 
and  of  the  full  equality  of  the  Hussites 
with  the  Catholics. 

From  that  moment  the  influence  of  the 
Hussite  sect  in  Bohemia  began  to  diminish. 
It  lost  importance  the  more  rapidly  as  the 
"  Bohemian  Brotherhood,"  which  was 
originally  in  some  connection  with  it, 
began  a  vigorous  period  of  development. 
The  fact  that  the  descendants  of  the 
original  Hussites  were  able  at  this  late 
period  to  develop  a  branch  of  a  new  doc- 
trine with  such  vigour,  is  evidence  of 
the  hold  which  the  Hussite  theories  had 
_.  J  I.  „    gained    upon   the     nation  ; 

Rise  and  Fall    ^^^^^    ^^^    futihty    of    the 

P  ,.  .  q  many  attempts,  initiated  by 
Rome,  at  union  between  the 
Hussites  and  the  Catholics  of  Bohemia, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  men  of  such 
power  as  Nicholas  of  Cusa,  John  of  Capis- 
trano,  and  ^Eneas  Sylvius  applied  their 
energy  to  the  task.  An  extraordinarily  large 
number  of  sects  rose  and  disappeared  in  the 
course  of  the  fifteenth  century,  side  by  side 
with  the  main  groups  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia.  Only  the  Brotherhood  became  of 
permanent  importance  ;  this  sect  began 
with  a  society  of  certain  members  who  were 
dissatisfied  with  the  Hussite  doctrine,  and 
its  first  settlement  was  made  in  1457 
at  Rumwald,  a  Bohemian  village  belonging 
to  King  George  Podiebrad.  The  society 
incurred  its  share  of  persecution  and 
martyrdom  ;  its  most  vigorous  opponents 
were  a  relation  of  its  founder,  Gregor, 
John  of  Rokitzan.  and  the  king  himself. 
Nevertheless,  they  possessed  and  acquired, 
even  during  this  period,  a  wide  body  of 
adherents  both  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia, 
and  the  death  lOf  these  two  powerful 
oppressors,  in  the  year  1471,  relieved 
the  brethren  of  a  severe  hindrance, 
especially  in  Bohemia.  The  expansion  of 
the  sect  was  never  seriously  checked, 
either  by  its  internal  quarrels  and  dissen- 


BOHEMIA'S    ELECTIVE    MONARCHY 


sions,  or  by  the  general  decree  of  banish- 
ment from  Moravia  which  its  members 
incurred  in  1480. 

The  difference  in  the  treatment  of  the 
Brotherhood  in  Bohemia  and  in  Moravia 
was  due  to  the  separation  of  this  latter 
country  and  also  of  Silesia  from  the 
Bohemian  crown,  and  to  the  wholly 
different  policy  followed  by  Vladislav 
in  Bohemia  and  by  Matthias  in  Moravia 
and  Silesia.  The  weakness  and  good 
nature  of  the  former  allowed  the  supremacy 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  nobles.  Mat- 
thias, on  the  other  hand,  emphasised  from 
the  very  outset  his  royal  power  as  opposed 
to  the  claims  of  the  privileged  orders.  The 
iron  hand  of  Corvinus  was  even  more 
strongly  felt  in 
Silesia  than  in 
Moravia,  where 
Matthias  left  the 
government  in 
the  hands  of  the 
highly  capable 
viceroy  Ctibor  of 
(  iniburg,  who 
had  been  occu- 
pant of  this  high 
position  from 
1469,  retainiri'^  it 
until  1494.  long 
after  the  death 
of  Matthias. 

It  is  due  chiefly 
to  Ctibor  that  the 
attempts  which 
had  been  made 
during  the  past 
century  to  unite 
the  divided  prin- 
cipalities were 
now  consum- 
mated  by  means  of  a  definitely  organised 
administration.  The  institution  of  the 
princely  diets  and  the  creation  of  the  central 
bureaucracy  belong  to  the  age  of  Matthias, 
and  are  his  work.  His  government  did  not 
enjoy  the  best  of  reputations  with  posterity, 
owing  to  the  enormous  increase  in  the 
taxes  and  imposts,  which  his  continual 
financial  necessities  laid  upon  his  subjects  ; 
in  this  matter  he  was  supported,  especially 
in  Silesia,  by  his  local  governor,  George 
von  Stein,  and  by  other  faithful  servants, 
in  the  most  irresponsible  manner,  at  the 
expense  of  the  people. 

On  April  6th,  1490,  Matthias  died 
without  legitimate  issue,  and  the  Bohemian 
king,  Vladislav,  was  raised  to  the  throne 


DRESS  OF  A  LADY  OF  PRAGUE  AND  A  MERCHANTS 
WIFE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 


of  Hungary.  In  accordance  with  the  pre- 
vious arrangement,  Moravia  and  Silesia 
fell  into  his  power,  although  he  never 
fulfilled  the  condition  by  which  these  lands 
were  to  be  repurchased  at  the  price  of 
400,000  ducats,  so  that  the  title  of  the 
Bohemian  crown  to  these  districts  was 
disputed  with  some  show  of  reason. 

The  reign  of  King  Vladislav  is  one  of 
the  most  unsatisfactory  periods  in  the 
history  of  the  Bohemian  countries.  The 
great  economic  and  religious  changes 
which,  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
denoted  the  outset  of  a  new  era  for 
Europe,  found  Bohemia  and  Moravia 
divided  by  class  dissensions.  The  here- 
ditary    monarchy     had     been     greatly 

weakened  as  a 
result  of  events 
since  the  Hussite 
war,  and  the  loss 
of  the  great 
crown  demesnes 
of  former  times 
had  deprived  it 
of  its  power  and 
influence.  Eco- 
nomically as  wpII 
as  politically,  the 
nobility  were 
supreme  in  the 
country ;  they 
were,  however, 
filled  with  a 
boundless  ambi- 
tion for  power, 
and  were  ready 
to  pass  all  limits 
in  their  efforts  to 
weaken  the  mon- 
archy, to  oppose 
the  privileges 
and  freedom  of  the  towns,  or  to  keep 
down  the  peasant  class  in  a  state  of 
slavery  and  serfdom. 

The  highest  positions  in  the  country  were 
exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  nobles  and 
knights  ;  they  enjoyed  unlimited  power  in 
the  provincial  assemblies,  and  in  1500 
compiled  a  legal  code,  the  "  Ordinances  of 
Vladislav,"  which  was  to  secure  their  pre- 
dominance for  ever.  The  king  agreed  to 
the  limitations,  great  and  small,  which 
the  nobility  placed  upon  his  power.  The 
citizen  class,  however,  was  determined  to 
oppose  these  encroachments  upon  the 
principles  of  justice  with  the  more  vigour 
as  they  found  their  material  welfare  greatly 
iniured  by  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  nobles. 

3177 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


The  nobles  infringed  the  town  monopoly  of 

brewing,    forbade    the    towns    to   acquire 

landed  property,  limited  the  freedom  of  the 

fairs,    and    so    forth.      Consequently   the 

towns  continually  complained  to  the  king. 

These  complaints  produced  little  effect, 

for  the  reason  that,  after  his  elevation  to 

the   throne   of    Hungary,    Vladislav   had 

-,  .,         ,    removed     his     capital     from 
Nobles  and  ^ 


People 


Prague  to  Ofen,  and  remained 


-.        .,.      absent  from  Bohemia  for  years 
Opposition     ,        ,.  ~,  -^ 

at  a  time.  1  here  were,  more- 
over, uninterrupted  hostilities  between 
the  citizens  and  nobles,  who  respectively 
formed  federations  for  continuing  their 
mutual  strife.  These  conditions  were  in 
no  way  altered  by  the  short  stay  which 
Vladislav  made  at  Prague  in  1502,  as  the 
king  at  once  took  the  side  of  the  nobles  and 
decided  the  quarrel  against  the  towns, 
while  at  a  later  period  he  withdrew  his 
decision,  though  he  could  not  induce  the 
nobility  to  feel  satisfied  with  his  change 
of  attitude.  The  outrages  and  aggressions 
committed  by  each  side  increased  the 
bitterness  of  the  struggle,  and  from  year 
to  year  the  tension  grew  more  severe  ;  but 
from  1502  to  1509  the  king  remained  in 
Hungary,  and  left  affairs  to  take  their 
course  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia. 

For  the  history  of  Silesia  the  reign  of 
Vladislav  was  of  importance,  inasmuch  as 
this  prince,  who  was  ever  ready  to  bestow 
his  favours,  issued  an  important  consti- 
tutional law  to  the  Silesian  orders  on 
November  28th,  1498.  This  was  sub- 
stantially a  confirmation  of  all  previous 
concessions,  with  certain  further  additions. 
The  president  of  the  province,  that  is  to 
say,  the  governor  and  highest  official  in 
Silesia,  was  always  to  be  a  Silesian  prince  ; 
the  estates  also  obtained  a  right  of  voting 
taxes,  some  relief  from  military  service, 
and  a  high  court  of  justice,  known  as  the 
"  Court  of  the  Princes,"  which  was  com- 
posed of  the  territorial  lords,  and  formed 
a  final  court  of  appeal  for  every  class. 
j^.    ,     This  arrangement  might  have 

\i  ****  '  served  as  a  starting  point  for 

^  *  .  the  further  development  of  the 

Government      ■,■•.,■  o-i  tt 

administration  m  Silesia.  How- 
ever, in  this  country  also  the  king's  feeble 
government,  which  was  directed  from 
Ofen,  gave  rise  to  disputes  of  every  kind. 
The  bishopric  of  Breslau  had  for  several 
years  been  carrying  on  a  quarrel,  which 
lasted  till  1504,  with  the  town  of  Breslau 
and  some  Silesian  princes,  owing  to  the 
election  of  an  unpopular  coadjutor.    Some 

3178 


years  previously — in  1497 — the  Duke 
Nicholas  of  Oppeln  had  ended  his  life  on  the 
scaffold  in  consequence  of  an  act  of  aggres- 
sion against  the  governor,  Duke  Casimir 
of  Teschen.  The  town  of  Breslau  was  at 
feud,  now  with  one  and  now  with  another 
of  these  princes,  and  marauding  raids  were 
of  daily  occurrence.  The  king's  decree 
to  secure  peace  and  his  threats  of  punish- 
ment proved  as  futile  here  as  they  did 
in  the  other  provinces. 

Vladislav  enjoyed  little  personal  in- 
fluence unless  when  he  came  forward  in 
person  and  secured  services  in  return  for 
new  privileges.  In  1509  he  was  anxious 
that  his  son  Lewis,  born  in  1506,  who  was 
already  king  of  Hungary,  should  be 
crowned  king  of  Bohemia  during  his  life  ; 
he  was  therefore  obliged,  after  an  absence 
of  seven  years,  to  decide  upon  a  journey 
throughout  his  remaining  territories  in 
order  to.  secure  the  completion  of  his 
project  by  his  personal  influence.  He 
soon  attained  his  main  object.  On 
February  17th,  1509,  he  made  a  state 
entry  into  Prague  with  his  children  and 
court ;  on  March  nth,  some  delay  having 
been  caused  by  the  illness  of 
the  young  prince,  the  corona- 
tion of  Lewis  took  place. 
Other  difficulties,  especially 
the  struggle  between  the  nobles  and  the 
towns,  were  discussed  in  the  course  of  a 
series  of  diets,  but  no  result  was  secured. 
In  February,  1510,  Vladislav  left  Bohemia 
and  betook  himself  to  Olmiitz,  where  the 
Moravian  orders  did  homage  to  Lewis, 
upon  receipt  of  the  customary  privileges  ; 
thence  the  king  went  to  Hungary,  and  in 
the  winter  of  1510  and  151 1  again  returned 
with  the  youthful  monarch  and  the  rest 
of  his  family  to  Silesia,  where  he  also 
secured  from  the  princes  and  estates  the 
recognition  of  his  son  as  his  successor. 
The  confusion  of  legal  relations  which 
prevailed  under  King  Vladislav  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  he  received  the  homage  of 
the  Silesians,  not  as  King  of  Bohemia,  but 
as  King  of  Hungary,  though  at  the  same 
time  he  had  expressly  emphasised  the  fact 
that  Silesia  and  Moravia  belonged  to  the 
Bohemian  crown,  in  an  imperial  letter  to 
the  Bohemians  during  his  stay  at  Prague 
on  January  nth,  1510. 

Hardly,  however,  had  the  king  returned 
to  Hungary  when  his  attention  was  again 
occupied  by  the  quarrel  between  the  Orders 
of  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  which  was  all 
the  more  dangerous,  as  the  towns  appeared 


Moravians 
Do  Homage  to 
King  Lewis 


BOHEMIA'S    ELECTIVE    MONARCHY 


to  be  obstinately  resolute.  They  formed 
a  federation,  and  on  June  20th,  1513, 
concluded  an  offensive  and  defensive 
alliance  with  Duke  Bartholomsus  of 
Miinsterberg,  the  grandson  of  King  George 
Podiebrad,  who  was  to  represent  their 
party  at  the  court  of  King  Vladislav.  He 
proved  successful  in  convincing  the  king 
and  his  advisers  of  the  destructive  influence 
upon  Bohemia  of  the  dominant  party  of 
nobles.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year 
15 13  Vladislav  was  persuaded  to  receive 
the  demands  of  the  towns  with  more  favour 
than  he  had  previously  shown  them. 

However,  his  want  of  determination  and 
his  vacillation  delayed  a  definite  decision, 
although  after  the  death  of  Bartholomajus 
the  office  of  mediator 
between  the  nobles  and 
towns  was  undertaken 
with  considerable  clever- 
ness and  success  by  his 
cousin  Charles  of  Munster- 
berg.  The  struggle  was 
raging  with  undiminished 
heat  when  Vladislav  II. 
died  on  March  13th,  15 16, 
only  a  few  months  after 
he  had  concluded  the  im- 
portant marriage  contract 
of  July,  1515,  with  the 
Emperor  Maximilian  I., 
between  his  own  children 
Lewis  and  Anna,  and  the 
grandchildren  of  the 
emperor,    Ferdinand  and 


robber  knights,  and  the  town?  made 
reprisals  upon  the  nobles  and  their  asso- 
ciates, often  executing  them  without  cere- 
mony. Isolated  peasant  revolts  in  Bohemia 
are  also  reported  by  the  chroniclers.  The 
"  Compact  of  St.  Wenzel  "  of  September 
The  Great  ^^*^'  ^^i?.  in  which  a  partial 
Plague  agreement  between  the  estates 

of  15 20-1  ^^^  secured  by  the  Moravian 
baron,  William  of  Pernstein, 
proves  the  pressing  need  of  some  com- 
promise, however  partial.  An  impor- 
tant point  was  the  definition  of  the 
competency  of  the  common  law  and  of 
the  town  courts  respectively.  Disputes 
of  an  economic  nature  and  the  like  were 
deferred  for  after  consideration.  Peace, 
indeed,  was  not  finally 
secured .  The  weakness  of 
the  royal  power  made  a 
recurrence  of  the  struggle 
inevitable  after  a  few 
years.  However,  the 
public  attention  was 
occupied  with  other 
events,  such  as  the  plague, 
which  began  in  Prague  in 
1520,  and  ravaged  the 
whole  country  in  1521, 
the  Lutheran  movement, 
and  the  Turkish  danger. 

In  the  year  1522 
King  Lewis  entered  his 
Bohemian  kingdom  for 
the  first  time  as  an 
independent  ruler,  with 
the  object  of  putting  an 


Maria  ;  this  contract  also  .pj^g    last    independent    king 

included   a  federation  in  Lewis  11.,  who  was  a  mere  child  when  he  end     to     the     arbitrary 

which    room   was    found  LinTo\°Bo^VmiaTA"HVngaryrWrgnir^"^^^^^^^  government  of  the  uobles, 

for    King  Sigismund    of  isio  tiu  io2ti,  when  he  met  his  death  at  as  Continued  to  their  own 

Poland.  '^^  ''^"'^  °^  ^°^^"  ^^^'"^*  '^^  '^"'■''^-  advantage   for   years  by 


King  Lewis  II.  was  no  more  than  a 
child,  though  already  crowned.  Hence 
it  was  necessary  to  agree  upon  some 
form  of  regency  for  the  moment.  After 
long  negotiation  between  the  orders  in 
Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Silesia,  and 
also  in  Hungary,  the  task  was  entrusted 
to  the  German  emperor  and  to  the  king 
of  Poland.  However,  these 
guardians  could  exercise  no 
immediate  influence  of  any 
kind  upon  the  provinces  in- 
herited by  Lewis,  and  the  power  of  the 
nobles  continued  to  increase.  In  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  the  quarrels  between  the 
estates  continued  as  before.  The 
nobles  oppressed  the  towns,  travelling 
merchants  and  citizens  were  attacked  by 


Lewis  II. 

the 

Boy  King 


the  chief  burgrave  of  Prague,  Zdenek  Lev  of 
Rozmital.  The  real  motive  for  this  journey 
was  the  unavoidable  necessity  for  seeking 
help  against  the  Turks  outside  of  Hungary 
itself.  His  route  first  led  him  to  Briinn, 
where  he  received  the  homage  of  the 
Moravian  orders,  and  confirmed  their 
rights ;  he  attempted  to  settle  a  number 
of  class  disputes,  and  then  made  his  way 
to  the  Bohemian  frontier,  where  he  was 
met  by  the  Bohemian  ambassadors.  After 
a  short  stay  in  some  of  the  more  important 
towns  of  Bohemia,  he  reached  Prague  on 
March  28th,  1522,  and  made  a  solemn 
entry  with  his  young  wife  and  his  friend 
and  tutor  the  Margrave  George  of  Bran- 
denburg. Difficulties  at  once  arose. 
A    series    of    troublesome     negotiations 

3179 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


began  forthwith  with  the  estates  of  the 
kingdom  in  reference  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  new  chancellor  of  Bohemia, 
and  the  form  of  oath  to  observe  the 
constitution  which  the  king  was  to  take. 
When  the  wording  of  this  oath  had  been 
once  passed,  it  was  to  remain  in  force  in 
Bohemia  for  centuries.  Slow  progress  also 
J-.  ,  .  was  made  with  other  matters 
mg^  ewis  ^£  business — the  queen's 
Dismisses  ,.  ,,  ^      ,       r 

H-  f\tf  ■  I  coronation,  the  payment  of 
His  Officials      ,,      ,  J  1  X     •  J   • 

the  heavy  debts  mcurred  m 

King  Vladisav's  time,  and  the  equipment 
of  an  auxiliary  army  against  the  Turks. 
In  the  summer  of  1522  violent  disorder 
broke  out  in  Silesia,  especially  in  the  town 
of  Schweidnitz.  Finally,  at  the  end  of 
the  year,  relations  between  King  Lewis 
and  the  ruling  nobles  became  so  strained 
that,  at  the  diet  of  February  5th,  1523, 
the  king  secured  the  dismissal  of  all  the 
existing  officials  of  the  country,  in  par- 
ticular of  Lev  of  Rozmital,  and  introduced 
a  constitutional  change,  chiefly  intended 
to  restore  the  royal  power  to  its  rightful 
position. 

Notwithstanding  numerous  embassies 
and  appeals,  no  help  was  to  be  gained 
from  Hungary  or  from  the  king  ;  to  the 
-internal  troubles  of  that  country  the 
Turkish  danger  was  now  added.  When  the 
Sultan  Suleiman  L  started  from  Con- 
stantinople for  Hungary  with  a  vast 
army  in  April,  1526,  the  youthful  monarch 
resolved  to  oppose  him.  His  army,  which 
included  Bohemian,  Moravian,  and  Silesian 
mercenaries,  was  overwhelmed  by  the 
superior  numbers  of  the  Turks ;  in  the 
Battle  of  Mohacs,  on  August  29th,  1526, 
it  was  annihilated,  and  the  king  was 
unfortunately  drowned  in  a  swamp  of 
the  Danube  while  in  flight.  The  death  of 
the  last  of  the  Jagellons  on  the  throne  of 
Bohemia  and  Hungary,  at  the  age  of 
twenty  and  childless,  forms  an  event  of 
importance  in  the  world's  history,  in  so 
far  as  it  occasioned  the  foundation  of  the 
—^    -  Austrian  monarchy  under  the 

of  the  sceptre     of      the     Hapsburgs. 

Jagellons  Bohemia,  the  centre  of  that 
group  of  countries  the  historical 
development  of  which  has  been  briefly 
detailed,  may  be  regarded  in  1526  as 
a  kingdom  a  thousand  years  old,  if  we 
assume  its  history  to  begin  with  the 
estabUshment  of  the  Slavs  in  the 
province  after  the  Germanic  emigra- 
tion. It  is  an  era  rich  in  examples  of 
national  rise  and  progress.    From  its  own 

3180 


resources,  and  building  upon  foundations 
hidden  in  the  prehistoric  period,  Bohemia 
evolved  a  constitution  which  enabled 
the  country  to  secure  and  to  maintain 
a  definite  position  among  the  bodies 
politic  of  Central  Europe.  It  produced  a 
royal  house  of  indigenous  growth,  the 
Premyslids,  whose  pride  and  power  raised 
their  prestige  to  a  level  with  that  of  any 
ruling  dynasty  in  Central  Europe.  Its 
territorial  power  increased.  It  is  true  that 
the  national  dynasty  was  restricted  within 
definite  limits ;  calamitous  failure  was 
the  result  of  the  attempt  of  Ottokar  II.  to 
bring  German  provinces  under  his  power. 

The  extinction  of  the  native  dynasty  at 
the  outset  of  the  fourteenth  century  and 
the  accession  of  foreigners  to  the  Bohemian 
throne  produced  a  complete  change  in  the 
situation.  No  obstacle  prevented  a 
Bohemian  king  of  German  nationality 
from  rising  to  the  height  of  supremacy 
within  the  extensive  German  empire  ;  but 
the  people  opposed  the  transformation  of 
Bohemia  into  the  most  important  of  the 
German  principaUties  at  the  expense  of  the 
Slav  nationality.  The  national  feeling 
_      .  of  the  Slavs  rose  in  behalf  of 

^'th^'xh*  ^  reaction  and  speedily  tri- 

j  g  .      .  umphed.    But  the  attempt 

to  construct  a  national  prin- 
cipality upon  the  basis  of  home  material  was 
also  a  failure.  As  under  the  German  kings, 
so  also  under  the  Polish  kings,  Bohemia 
found  her  destiny  committed  to  the  care 
of  rulers  who  pushed  her  into  the  back- 
ground when  the  possibility  of  acquiring 
the  crown  of  Hungary  became  manifest. 

Under  such  circumstances,  and  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  the  constitutional  inde- 
pendence of  the  country  and  the  main- 
tenance of  its  throne  were  repeatedly 
endangered  by  the  secession  of  the  subject 
provinces,  especially  of  Moravia,  it  was 
fortunate  for  the  country  that  after 
Lewis's  death  the  crown  fell  to  the 
powerful  Hapsburg  d\Tiasty.  The  result 
at  which  the  Premyslid  Ottokar  II.  had 
aimed  upon  occasion  and  with  incomplete 
understanding,  the  result  that  the  far- 
sighted  diplomacy  of  Charles  IV.  had 
marked  as  the  final  object  of  Bohemian 
policy,  the  result  that  had  been  nomi- 
nally, at  least,  attained  under  Ladislaus 
Posthumus — became  an  accomplished  fact 
in  the  year  1526  ;  the  three  states  of 
Bohemia,  Hungary  and  Austria  were 
united  as  one  powerful  monarchy  in  South- 
east Europe.  Berthold  Bretholz 


EASTERN  EUROPE 

TO  THE  FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


ORIGIN    OF 

THE 

EASTERN  SLAVS 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  EASTERN  SLAVS 

A   PRELIMINARY  CHAPTER  TO  THE 
HISTORY  OF  POLAND  AND    RUSSIA 


IF  what  may  be  called  the  Slavonic  line 
*  serves  to  mark  a  genuine  division 
between  Western  and  Eastern  Europe, 
there  is  another  division  hardly  less  definite 
in  Eastern  Europe  itself.  Geographically, 
this  is  marked  by  an  irregular  line  drawn 
from  the  Baltic  to  the  western  end  of  the 
Carpathian  mountains,  which  themselves 
form  the  barrier  till  the  Danube  district 
is  reached.  In  other  words,  the  territories 
now  called  Poland  and  Russia  are  in  some 
sense  a  region  apart.  Their  peoples  do 
not  come  into  touch  with  the  Teutonic 
west  until  the  tenth  century,  though 
Eastern  Byzantium  becomes  aware  of 
them  some  hundred  years  earlier.  Even 
at  the  outset  these  peoples  emerge  in 
definitely  distinguished  nationalities, 
Polish  and  Russian,  though  neither  of 
them  has  at  this  stage  absorbed  the  non- 
Slavonic  population  of  the  Baltic  pro- 
vinces. Kin  as  they  are 
to  the  southern  and 
western  Slavs,  of  whom 
we  have  already  treated, 
they  nevertheless  appear  on  the  scene  of 
history  so  far  separated  from  these  and  so 
far' associated  with  each  other,  that  their 
origins  require  a  single  chapter  to  them- 
selves, before  we  embark  upon  the  separate 
histories  of  Poland  and  Russia. 

Slavonic  legends  tell  of  three  brothers. 
Lech,  Rus,  and  Cech,  said  to  have  been 
the  founders  of  three  great  nations,  the 
Russians,  Lechs  (Laches,  Lechites  =^  Poles), 
and  Czechs  (the  Bohemian  stock).  In  reality, 
however,  the  matter  stood  otherwise.  The 
Slavonic  tribes  lived  independently  of 
each  other.  In  the  course  of  time  one 
tribe,  as  happened  in  the  case  of  the 
Romans,  succeeded  in  extending  its  domi- 
nion over  others,  which  then  adopted  its 
name.  The  tribe  which  gave  its  name  to 
the  others  need  not  have  been  entirely 
Slavonic  ;  thus  the  Bulgarians,  although 
of  Turkish  stock,  have  become  Slavoni- 


Difference  of 
the    Eastern    and 
Western  Slavs 


Descendants 
of  the 
Great  Rurik 


cised,  and  have  now  given  their  name  to 
the  subjugated  Slavs.  The  same  thing  may 
in  the  end  have  been  the  case  with  Rus,. 
Lech,  and  Cech. 

What,  then,  is  the  origin  of  the  names  ? 
The  point  has  been  much  discussed  among 
Slavonic  and  German  scholars.  The 
"Russian  Chronicle"  relates 
that  about  the  year  859  Vara- 
gians  (Scandinavians)  ruled 
the  north  Russian  Slavs,  but 
had  been  subsequently  driven  out.  When 
quarrels  broke  out  between  the  Russians, 
they  sent  an  embassy  over  the  sea  to  the 
Varagians,  and  asked  them  to  rule  over 
them  once  more.  Three  brothers,  Rurik, 
Sineus  and  Truvor,  of  the  Varagian  tribe  of 
the  Ruotsi — that  is,  Swedes — came  to  the 
Slavs,  and  took  up  their  abode  in  Old 
Ladoga,  Isborsk,  and  Bjelosersk.  From 
Rurik,  the  eldest,  was  descended  the 
Russian  princely  house  of  the  Rurikovitch, 
which  is  said  to  have  ruled  Russia  until 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  same  Chronicle  also  asserts  that  the 
whole  of  Novgorod  was  called  Rosland,  or 
Russia,  from  this  family.  This  "  North- 
man," or  "Varagian,"  view  has  found 
ardent  champions  among  modern  writers. 
Considerably  more  than  a  hundred  Scandi- 
navian names  are  found  in  very  early 
records  ;  even  the  names  of  the  rapic^ 
in  the  Dnieper,  the  old  Varagian  way  to 
Byzantium,  have  been  declared  to  be 
Scandinavian.  The  opinion  is,  however, 
_  hardly  tenable  in  all  its  points. 

*  **?"  °  Some  intimate  relations  be- 
e  ussian  ^^gg^  ^he  Novgorodians,  who 
formed  the  germ  of  the 
Russian  state,  and  the  Scandinavians 
cannot  be  denied  ;  but  it  is  questionable 
whether  also  the  name  "  Rus  "  is  derived 
from  them.  The  Slavonic  tribes  round 
Kiev  and  the  south  of  Russia,  where  later 
the  real  centre  of  Russia  lay,  bore  from 
time  immemorial  the  name  of  "  Russians." 

3181 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Finally,  and  this  would  be  the  best  argu- 
ment against  the  theory,  the  kingdom, 
which  admittedly  must  have  existed  there 
before  the  Northmen  were  summoned, 
must  have  also  borne  a  name,  and  a  king- 
dom, except  through  conquest,  seldom 
changes  its  name.  The  south  was  known 
to  the  Arabs  as  "  Russia,"  and  the  Black 

.  .  Sea   was    simply   termed    the 

/If'^M  Russian  Sea — as,  for  instance, 
°!^^^^^Tm  Nestor  and  Masudi— at  a 
time  when  the  Varagian  princes 
were  hardly  yet  familiar  with  the  people  of 
Kiev.  We  ought  at  all  events  not  to  forget 
that  "  Ros  "  may  have  been  known  in  By- 
zantium as  merchants  even  before  840,  as 
is  clear  from  a  report  of  Bishop  Prudentius 
of  Troyes  and  from  contemporary  Arab 
accounts.  The  name  probably  had  been 
transferred  to  the  whole  of  Russia  by 
Byzantines,  who  called  the  tribes  in  the 
south  of  Russia  "  Ros."  Again,  it  is  sug- 
gested that  Hros  is  one  of  the  names  of  the 
Herulians,  who  were  once  settled  on  the 
northern  coast  of  the  Black  Sea  ;  some  of 
whom,  after  the  defeat  of  512  inflicted  by 
the  Lombards,  went  back  to  Sweden. 
Thus  the  otherwise  astonishing  familiarity 
of  the  northern  Vikings  with  South  Russia 
and  the  waterway  of  the  Volga  would  be 
no  longer  surprising. 

The  meaning  of  the  names  "  Pole " 
and  "  Lech  "  is  equally  obscure.  While 
the  name  "  Polani  "  may  be  Slavonic,  the 
name  "  Lach,"  or  "  Lech,"  seems  to  be  of 
foreign  origin.  Some  persons  have,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  name  "  Rus,"  looked  for  a 
Scandinavian  etymology  and  understood 
northern  conquerors  by  the  Lechs.  But  in 
this  connection  they  have  overlooked  the 
fact  that  Great  Poland,  the  real  mother 
country,  has  never  been  called  "  Lachia," 
or  "  Lechia,"  but  only  the  Cracow  district, 
and  from  it  North  Poland.  The  name 
"  Lach,"  "  Lech,"  "  Lechi  "  seems  to 
mean  simply  "  foreigner,"  and  is  connected 
with  the  names  "  Walch,"  "  Wlach," 
"  Walach,"  "  Walsch,"  applied 
°d*th  ^y  Slavs  not  only  to  Italians 
p  -  and     Roumanians,    but    to    the 

semi-Slavonic  Bulgarians  and 
the  Croatians,  as  well  as  to  the  "  Little  " 
Poles.  On  the  other  hand,  Posen  and 
Gnesen,  the  Polish  mother-country,  was 
always  called  Polonia,  which  title  was  then 
extended  to  South  Poland — that  is  to  say, 
the  subsequently  conquered  Cracow.  Since 
this  name  was  used  officially,  it  super- 
seded all  others,  and  throughout  Europe 


the  kingdom  was  finally  called  Poland. 
Other  peoples  —  Lithuanians,  Finns, 
Bulgarians,  Khayars — to  be  presently 
described,  have  exercised  temporary 
supremacy  within  what  we  now  call 
Russian  territory.  But  the  Slavonic  tribes, 
who  occupied  chiefly  the  centre  of  the 
East  European  plain,  found  themselves  in 
the  majority  and  unceasingly  drove  before 
them  the  heterogeneous  nations,  first 
by  peaceful  colonisation,  and  then  by  the 
sword.  We  may  assume  that  all  Slavs 
as  a  whole  had  the  same  customs,  the 
same  religion,  the  same  tribal  and  national 
institutions.  Differences  will  be  apparent 
only  where  Nature  prescribed  other  con- 
ditions of  life  or  where  foreign  influence 
made  itself  felt. 

Thus,  the  Slavs  on  the  sea-coast  lived 
in  one  way,  those  on  the  steppes  or  in 
the  forests  in  another.  Although  they 
originally  appeared  in  Europe  as  a  united 
nation  with  similar  customs,  ideas,  lan- 
guage, traditions,  and  government,  yet 
the  different  natural  surroundings  soon 
impressed  a  distinctive  stamp  on  the 
principal  tribes  and  guided  social,  religious, 
.     .  and   legal    life    into    different 

th    P?'        P^^^^-     '^^^    nomads    of    the 

d  F  ''"'t  ^"teppes  can  hardly  have  held 
the  same  faith  as  the  dwellers 
on  the  sea-coast.  Again,  while  the  forest- 
dwellers  paid  their  tribute  in  furs  and 
honey,  the  tribes  of  the  lowlands  dis- 
charged it  in  horses  or  cattle.  If  the 
large  clan  community  was  the  natural 
form  of  life  among  the  dwellers  on  the 
fertile  plains  with  their  agriculture,  in  the 
forests  the  families  were  forced  to  separate 
one  from  another. 

Further  differences  were  produced  by 
the  influence  of  neighbours ;  thus  the 
northern  Slavs,  who  lived  near  the 
Teutons,  had  a  kindred  religion  and 
mythology.  The  change  of  language 
was  closely  connected  with  this,  since  to 
express  new  ideas,  new  words  had  to  be 
invented  or  borrowed  from  other  tribes. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  draw  a 
general  picture  of  the  life  of  all  the  Slavonic 
tribes,  but  in  doing  so  the  fact  has  been 
overlooked  that  such  a  picture  can  be 
true  only  of  a  time  when  the  Slavs  still 
formed  a  single  united  people — the  time, 
that  is,  before  the  Christian  era.  Our 
authorities,  however,  dating  from  an  era 
five  hundred,  or  possibly  a  thousand  years 
later,  are  extremely  defective,  and  it  is 
not  surprising  that  the  results  of  such 


THE    SCANDINAVIAN    HERO.    RURIK,    THE    FIRST    OF    THE    RUSSIANS 
A  daring  sea-rover,  Rurik  the  Rodsen  or  Oarsman,  landed,  in  862,  on  the  Russian  shore  of  the  Baltic,  and,  with  his 
brothers,  Sineus  and  Truvor,  subjugated  the  country   from   Novgorod  to    the  Volga.     From  Rurik,  who  died  in  879, 
came  the  princely  house  of  the  Rurikovitch,  which  is  said  to  have  ruled  Russia  until  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century. 


3183 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


imperfect  investigations  are  conflicting. 
It  is  asserted  that  all  Slavs  were  agricul- 
turists at  the  period  when  they  came  into 
the  light  of  history.  Can  that  assertion 
hold  good  of  the  forest- dwellers  or  the 
inhabitants  of  the  lakes  and  swamps  ? 
Our  authorities  do  not  in  any  way  cor- 
roborate it.  A  writer  of  the  twelfth 
century  relates  in  astonishment  that  he 
heard  of  a  man  in  the  Arctic  regions  who 
had  lived  all  his  life  on  fish.  That  would 
hardly  be  an  isolated  case.  Forests, 
rivers,  and  swamps  then  covered  at  least 
a  tenth  of  the  surface.  If  the  Slavs 
during  their  migrations  kept  to  the  river 
valleys  we  can  hardly  call  this  a  peculiar 
characteristic  of  the  race. 

The  Slavonic  pagan  religion,  about 
which  we  know  very  little,  resembles  in 
its  main  ideas  that  of  India  and  of  other 
Aryans.  The  Slavs  had  the  dualism  be- 
tween good  and  evil  deities  ;  they  had 
also  their  family  gods,  like  the  Greeks 
and  Romans.  They,  too,  regarded  Nature 
as  animated  by  various  beings,  and  animals 
were  held  sacred  by  them,  as  in  Greece 
and  other  places.  It  was  merely  their 
_  .  ...  natural  environment  which 
ami  y    i  e  ^g^^gj^^  j^gj^   jj^   ^^le   northern 

th"°sf  forests  to  revere  the  owl,  the 
wolf  (as  were-wolf),  and,  on 
the  plains,  the  horse.  The  Slavs,  too, 
honoured  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,, 
thunder  and  lightning ;  they  were  also 
fire-worshippers.  But  inquiry  has  not 
told  us  in  what  the  true  Slavonic  element 
— that  is,  the  innovation — really  consists. ' 

The  same  holds  good  of  the  legal  arid 
socicd  conditions  of  the  Slavs.  The  family 
was  the  foundation  of  their  national  arid 
religious  life.  The  eldest  of  the  family 
was  the  supreme  lawgiver,  judge,  and 
priest.  Since  the  knowledge  of  the  laws, 
customs,  and  ritual  could  be  transmitted 
only  orally,  this  naturally  fluctuating 
tradition  was  all  important.  The  Slavs, 
divided  into  separate  independent  tribes, 
could  not  but  diverge  more  widely  from 
each  other  in  their  methods  of  life.  The 
separate  districts  were  called  Zupas, 
Opole,  or  Wolost. 

We  cannot  decide  whether  the  Zupa  is 
genuinely  Slavonic  or  is  to  be  compared 
with,  for  example,  the  old  Germanic  Goba. 
The  centre  of  a  district  was  the  Grad 
(gorod  =  borough),  where  the  tribal  sanc- 
tuary stood.  The  ancient  places,  where 
once  a  gorod  stood,  were  called  gorodysce. 
But  it  cannot  be  settled  whether  gorod 

3184 


is  peculiar  to  the  Slavs  only,  or  whether 

it  is  identical  with  the  old  Gothic  words 

garde    (watch)    g.nd    garder    (to    watch). 

Everywhere  in  Slavonic  countries  a  definite 

district  was  surrounded  with  a  boundary 

fence,,  while  the. roads  were  watched  and 

defended  with  palisades,  which  were  called 

preseka,;  .at  suitable  points  guards  were 

Th    T'   A     '  posted  on  watch-towers,  called 

,  f.    !?,  "^'struza.    Before  the  ninth  cen- 

of  tli»  Flams  ,  u  •  1       x      j  j 

-p.  tury  a    bnsk    trade    passed 

through  Russia  from  the  Gulf 
of  Finland  past  the  Lake  of  Ilmen  to  the 
Dwina,  and  then  down  the  Dnieper  over 
the  Black. Sea  into  Greece.  The  oldest 
wooden  towns,  originally  trading  stations, 
lay  on  this  celebrated  route  from  the 
Varagian  country  to  Byzantium.  A 
frequented  •  trade  route  from  the  Black 
Sea  to  the  Baltic  led  up  the  Dniester  to  the 
river  San,  then  down  that  river  and  the 
Vistula.  While  the  first  became  the  main 
trade  route  of  Russia,  the  other  became 
the  chief  highroad  to  Poland ;  both, 
perhaps,  date  from  Phoenician  times.  The 
vessels  and  their  cargoes  were  hauled  up 
from  one  river  system  to  the  other  ;  for 
example,  from  the  Dniester  to  the  San  ; 
hence  the  name  wolok,  wolocyska  (haul- 
ages). The  trading  stations  grew  into 
towns,  since  the  country  people  flocked 
into  them  for  greater  security.  The 
public  affairs  of  the  town  and  the  surround- 
ing district  were  organised  in  these  markets 
at  assemblies  which  were  called  wece. 
The  meeting  was  summoned  by  the  circu- 
lation of  a  token,  or,  as  later,  by  the 
tolling  of  a  bell. 

Differences  in  the  administration  of 
law  and  justice  must  have  been  noticeable 
in  the  various  districts,  while  the  con- 
ditions in  the  same  tribe  would  naturally 
alter  during  the  course  of  centuries. 
Persons  who  speak  in  general  terms  about 
the  Slavonic  laws  and  customs  of  that 
age  are  only  deluding  themselves,  as 
much  as  if  they  spoke  of  contemporary 

universal  Germanic  customs. 
Savonic  Distinctions  must  inevitably 
UnfyeMll        ^^^^  prevailed.    The  truth  is 

that  hitherto  it  has  been 
impossible  to  pronounce  any  deliberate 
opinion  about  the  religion,  mythology, 
laws,  family  life,  or  civilisation  of  the 
ancient  pagan  Slavs.  It  is  on  this  most 
slippery  soil  of  national  peculiarities,  where 
the  inquirer  oscillates  between  self-glorifi- 
cation and  unwarranted  depreciation  of  his 
neighbour,  that  a  fabric  has  been  built 


THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    EASTERN    SLAVS 


up  out  of  most  untenable  assertions. 
The  occasional  accounts  given  by  old 
writers  are  noteworthy,  especially  since 
Slavonic  paganism  lingered  on  for  cen- 
turies after  the  Christian  era.  Jordanes, 
in  550  A.D.,  says  of  the  Slavs  "  morasses 
and  forests  are  their  towns  "  ;  Procopius 
tells  us  that  they  hved  in  dirty,  scattered 

^^  _,  ,  .  huts,  and  easily  shifted  their 
The  Defensive      1     j     tu    -c*  at 

_     .  abode.  The  Emperor  Maurice 

/Ii!*^  CI  relates,  in  the  year  600,  that 

of  the  Slavs        .,         i-       j    ■       r         x 

they  hved  m  forests,   near 

rivers,  marshes,  and  lakes,  which  were  diffi- 
cult to  approach.  They  made  many  exits 
from  their  houses,  in  order  to  escape  any 
possible  dangers.  They  buried  all  their 
property  in  the  ground,  and  in  order  to 
frustrate  any  hostile  attacks  nothing  but 
bare  necessaries  were  left  visible.  Hel- 
mold  of  Bosau,  in  1170,  gives  a  similar 
account  at  the  end  of  his  Chronicle  of  the 
Slavs  :  "  They  take  little  trouble  about 
building  their  houses ;  they  quickly 
plait  twigs  together  into  huts  which  supply 
a  bare  shelter  against  storm  and  rain. 
So  soon  as  the  call  to  arms  is  heard,  they 
collect  their  stores  of  corn,  bury  them 
together  with  their  gold,  silver,  and  other 
vaJuables,  and  conduct  their  wives  and 
children  into  the  fortresses  or  the  forests. 
Nothing  is  left  for  the  enemy  but  the 
hut,  whose  loss  is  easily  repaired." 

"  When  they  go  into  battle,"  says  Pro- 
copius, "  they  attack  the  enemy  on  foot, 
holding  shield  and  spear  in  their  hands. 
They  do  not  wear  armour  ;  they  have 
neither  cloaks  nor  shirts,  but  advance  to 
the  fight  clad  only  in  trousers."  The 
wives,  as  among  the  Teutons,  occupied  an 
honourable  position  ;  they  held  property  of 
their  own,  although,  as  in  other  countries, 
polygamy  prevailed  and  wives  were  carried 
off  by  force.  The  Russian  Chronicle 
relates  of  the  Drewljans  that  they  lived 
like  cattle,  knew  nothing  of  marriage,  but 
carried  off  the  maidens  on  the  rivers.  It 
is  recorded  of  certain  tribes  that  no 
marriages  took  place  but  games 
in  the  middle  of  the   village. 


Primitive 
Marriage 


^    .  The  people  assembled  for  the 

Customs  J  J  J    •    J    1      J 

games,   danced,  and  mdulged 

in  every  sort  of  debauchery,  and  each  man 

carried  off  the  woman  to  whom  he  was 

betrothed.     This    was    the    case    among 

other  peoples  also.     Bretislav  1.  Achilles, 

so  Cosmas  of    Prague  records,  in   1125, 

carried  off  his  bride  Judith  from  Schwein- 

furt.      Until    quite    recently   the    ottniza, 

or  capture  of  wives,  was  customstry  among 


the  Serbs.  Many  instances  of  the  gentle 
disposition  of  the  Slavs  are  mentioned  by 
the  old  chroniclers.  Procopius  says : 
"  covetousness  and  deceit  are  unknown 
among  them."  Maurice  e.xtols  their  hospi- 
tality. Helmold  records  of  the  Ranes 
(Ruanians,  or  Riigen) :  "Although  they  are 
more  hostile  to  Christians  and  also  more 
superstitious  than  the  other  Slavs,  they 
possess  many  good  qualities.  They  are 
extremely  hospitable  and  show  great 
respect  to  their  parents.  Neither  beggars 
nor  paupers  are  found  among  them.  A 
man  who  is  feeble  through  sickness  or 
advanced  age  is  entrusted  to  the  care 
of  his  heir.  The  virtues  most  highly 
esteemed  among  the  Slavs  are  hospitality 
and  filial  regard."  The  man  who  refused 
hospitality  had  his  house  burned  down. 
It  was  permissible  to  steal  in  order  to 
provide  food  for  a  traveller. 

Theophylactus  Simocattes,  in  the  first 
half  of  the  seventh  century,  relates  the 
following  anecdote :  As  the  emperor 
Maurice  was  on  his  way  to  Thrace  to 
prepare  for  war  against  the  Avars,  the 
escort  of  the  emperor  seized  three  men  who 
.  carried  zithers.  When  asked  to 

.  ""  ,.  what  race  they  belonged,  they 
Among  the  i-    j    i.u    x    lu  01 

g.  replied  that  they  were  Slavs 

and  lived  on  the  western  ocean ; 
the  Khagan  had  sent  envoys  to  the  princes 
of  their  country,  with  many  presents,  to 
solicit  help.  When  they  heard  that  the 
Romans  had  reached  the  highest  stage  of 
power  and  culture,  they  escaped  and 
reached  Thrace.  They  carried  zithers 
because  they  were  unfamiliar  with  arms, 
since  no  iron  was  found  in  their  country. 
The  Arabs  also  testify  that  music  was 
practised  by  the  Slavs. 

A  noteworthy  account  of  the  funeral 
customs  of  a  Slavonic  tribe  is  furnished 
by  the  ambassador  of  the  Cahph  al-Muqta- 
dir,  Ahman  ibn  Fadlan.  When  a  poor 
man  died,  they  built  a  small  boat  for  him, 
placed  him  in  it,  and  burnt  it.  This  was 
customary  among  the  North  Germanic 
tribes.  On  the  death  of  a  rich  man  they 
collected  his  possessions  and  divided 
them  into  three  parts.  The  one  part  was 
reserved  for  his  family  ;  with  the  second 
they  prepared  an  outfit  for  him,  and  with 
the  remaining  part  they  bought  intoxicat- 
ing drinks  to  be  drunk  on  the  day  when  the 
slave-girl  consents  to  be  a  victim  and 
is  burnt  with  her  master.  "  When,  indeed, 
a  chief  dies,  the  family  ask  his  bondmen 
and  bondwomen :  '  Which  of  you  is  willing 

3185 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


to  die  with  him  ?  '      Then  one  of  them 

answers :   '  I  will.'      Whoever  has  uttered 

this  word  is  bound.     But  mostly  it  is  a 

slave-girl.    .   .    .     Boat,   wood,    and    girl 

together  with  the  dead  man  were  soon 

reduced  to  ashes.    They  then  raised  above 

the  place  where  the  boat,  which  had  been 

dragged  up  out  of  the  river,  had  stood, 

_^    g  a  sort  of  round  hillock,  erected 

Ritu  I  'V^^^   in  the  middle  of  it   a   large 

c,  „  ,  beech-trunk,  and  wrote  on  it 
Slav  Funeral  ,,  r    xi.       j      j 

the  name  of  the  dead  man 

with  the  name  of  the  king  of  the  Ros."  If 
we  compare  this  with  the  account  given 
by  Herodotus  of  the  burial  of  a  Scythian 
king  we  shall  find,  in  spite  of  many  differ- 
ences in  detail,  the  same  fundamental 
idea. 

These  are  our  materials  for  estimating 
the  degree  of  culture  which  the  Slavs 
of  that  age  had  attained.  There  was  not 
wanting  among  them  a  belief  in  the  life 
after  death.  They  are  said  to  have  been 
acquainted  with  writing  ;  and  in  connec- 
tion with  this  statement  the  so-called 
Runic  characters  must  be  taken  into 
account.  Traces  of  music  and  architec- 
ture can  be  found  among  them,  though  in 
a  crude  form,  and  they  were  lovers  of 
poetry  and  song.  It  can  hardly  be  sup- 
posed that,  as  many  Slavonic  scholars 
assert,  they  possessed  some  astronomical 
knowledge,  and  had  a  civil  year  with 
twelve  months.  The  names  of  the  months 
which  are  found  later  among  various 
Slavonic  tribes  were  indubitably  first 
formed  by  learned  priests,  on  the  model 
of  the  Greek  and  Roman  names,  at  that 
point  in  the  Christian  era  when  the  Julian 
calendar  with  twelve  instead  of  ten  months 
was  coming  into  general  use  in  Europe. 
Charles  the  Great  first  proposed  among  the 
Franks  the  substituting  of  German  names 
for  the  Latin  names  of  the  months. 

The  independent  spirit  of  the  Slavs  is 

specially  mentioned  by  German  as  well 

as   Byzantine    writers.       Widukind,    the 

—.  _,  ,  historian  of  the  first  two  Saxon 
The  Slavs  ,  ,,  n  ^i 

j^^       -        emperors,  says  of  them:     The 

Friedom  ^^^^^  ^^^  *  dogged,  laborious 
race,  inured  to  the  scantiest 
food,  and  they  regard  as  a  pleasure  what  is 
often  a  heavy  burden  to  men  of  our  time. 
They  face  any  privations  for  their  beloved 
liberty,  and  in  spite  of  many  reverses 
they  are  always  ready  to  fight  again.  The 
Saxons  fight  for  glory  and  the  expansion 
of  their  frontiers,  the  Slavs  for  their 
freedom."  Adam  of  Bremen  records  a 
3186 


century  later  :  "I  have  heard  the  most 
truth -loving  King  Sven  of  Denmark  say 
repeatedly  that  the  Slavonic  peoples  could 
long  ago  have  been  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity if  the  greed  of  the  Saxons  had  not 
interposed  obstacles.  These  think  more 
of  exacting  tribute  than  of  converting 
pagans." 

There  is  a  particular  appropriateness 
in  the  words  which  the  Polish  historian, 
John  Dlugosz,  wrote  about  the  Poles 
about  1480,  although  he  is  describing 
his  contemporaries  :  "  The  Polish  nobles 
thirst  for  glory  and  are  bent  on  booty ; 
they  despise  dangers  and  death  .  .  . 
they  are  devoted  to  agriculture  and  cattle- 
breeding  ;  they  are  courteous  and  kind 
towards  strangers  and  guests,  and  more 
hospitable  than  any  other  people.  The 
peasants  shrink  from  no  work  or  trouble, 
endure  cold  and  hunger,  and  are  super- 
stitious .  .  .  they  care  little  about  the 
maintenance  of  their  houses,  being  con- 
tent with  few  ornaments  ;  they  are  spirited 
and  brave  to  rashness,  ...  of  high  stature, 
of  strong  and  well  proportioned  build, 
with  a  sometimes  fair,  sometimes  dark 
.  complexion."    The  well-known 

ysiqoe  peaceful  disposition  of  many 
°  p  .  Slavonic  tribes,  and,  above  all, 
the  circumstance  that  they 
adhered  to  the  old  tribal  constitution, 
which  prevented  any  creation  of  a  state 
on  a  large  scale,  were  the  causes  why  the 
Slavs  in  their  pagan  period  played  no 
important  part,  but  were  first  aroused  to 
a  new  life  by  their  contact  with  the 
civilised  nations.  Christian  Rome  and 
Byzantium  saw  the  development  of 
Slavonic  kingdoms  in  the  north,  after  they 
had  to  some  degree  furnished  the  political 
germs  for  that  growth. 

We  may  now  turn  to  those  non-Slavonic 
peoples  already  referred  to  :  in  the  north, 
close  to  the  Baltic  Sea,  the  Lithuanians, 
and  further  to  the  north-east,  the  Finns  ; 
on  the  Volga  the  Bulgarians  ;  and  in  the 
south  the  Khazars.  Of  the  above  men- 
tioned the  Lithuanians  and  the  Finns 
alone  have  in  some  degree  preserved  their 
individuality. 

History  finds  the  Lithuanian  tribes 
settled  on  the  shore  of  the  Baltic  between 
the  Vistula  and  Dwina,  and  southwards  as 
far  as  the  middle  stream  of  the  Bug.  In 
one  place  only  their  frontier  touches  the 
Finnish  Livonians,  otherwise  they  are 
wedged  between  Slavonic  peoples.  They 
divided  into  the  following  tribes  in  the 


/       TYPICAL    WOODLAND    SCENE.     WITH     GIRLS    IN     ORDINARY    AND    GALA    DRESS 


LITHUANIANS:    A    SURVIVING     RACE    OF    THE     BALTIC     REGION 

203  3187 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


The  Whole 
Named  After 
the  Part 


tenth  century.  The  Wends  were  settled 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Dwina,  the  Letts  on 
th^  4^ht  bank  of  the  Dwina,  bordering 
on  the  Livonians  ;  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Dwina  were  the  tribes  of  the  Semgala 
and  the  Zelones  ;  the  Kurland  peninsula 
was  occupied  by  the  Korses  or  Kurones. 
The  Smudinians  and  the  Lithuanians  dwelt 
on  the  Niemen  ;  west  of  these 
were  settled  the  eleven  Prussian 
tribes  ;  in  the  south-west  the 
Yat  vings.  Since  the  duty  of  the 
Smudinians  and  Lithuanians  who  dwelt 
in  the  centre  of  the  whole  system  was  to 
fight  for  the  national  freedom,  and  first 
of  all  to  found  a  larger  kingdom,  Lithuania, 
all  these  tribes  were  finally  called  Lithu- 
anians. Here,  again,  was  an  instance  of 
the  name  of  a  part  being  transferred  to 
the  whole. 

These  tribes,  however,  formed  one  nation 
only  in  the  ethnographical  sense ;  in 
other  respects  they  lived  as  separate  clans. 
As  early  as  the  thirteenth  century  Lithu- 
anian leaders,  or  tribal  elders,  are  men- 
tioned ;  they  exercised  authority  only  over 
small  districts,  and  were  styled  "  Rikys  " 
by  the  Prussians,  and  "  Kunigas  "  by  the 
Lithuanians.  It  was  not  until  the  danger 
of  foreign  subjugation  threatened  them  all 
that  they  united  more  or  less  voluntarily 
into  one  state. 

The  Lithuanians  were  the  last  of  all 
the  Europeans  to  adopt  Christianity ; 
temporarily  converted  in  1387,  they 
relapsed,  and  were  again  converted  in  the 
fifteenth  century.  Owing  to  this  we  have 
full  accounts  of  their  pagan  customs. 
We  find  among  them  three  chief  dieties, 
similar  to  the  Indian  Trimurti  and  the 
later  Greek  Tritheism.  The  place  of  Zeus 
was  taken  in  their  creed  by  Perkunas 
(thunder),  represented  as  a  strong  man 
holding  a  stone  hammer  or  arrow  in  his 
hand  ;  Atrimpos,  who  was  conceived  in 
the  shape  of  a  sea-serpent  twined  into  a 
circle,  corresponded  to  Poseidon,  while 
p  Poklav,  a  grey-bearded,  pale- 

g  J.*.  .  faced  old  man,  with  his  head 
Lith  ■  swathed  in  Imen,  was  regarded 
as  the  god  of  the  Lower  World. 
Besides  these,  the  sun,  moon,  stars, 
animals,  birds,  snakes,  and  even  frogs  were 
worshipped.  The  sun-god  had  various 
names,  for  example,  Sotwaros  ;  the  moon 
goddess  was  called  Lajama';  the  rain- 
deity,  Letuwanis.  The  whole  realm  of 
Nature  was  animated  by  good  and  evil 
divine  beings,  on  which  the  hfe  of  man  was 

3188 


dependent  at  every  turn  and  step.  Among 
such  we  find  the  deities  Lei  and  Lado,  who 
were  also  known  to  the  Slavs;  Ragutis, 
the  deity  of  joy  and  marriage  ;  Letuwa,  the 
diety  of  happiness;  also  Andaj,  Diweriks, 
Mjedjej,  Nadjej,  and  Telawelda.  Besides 
the  sun,  fire  was  held  in  great  veneration. 
The  eternal  fire  of  znicz,  which  was  under 
the  protection  of  the  goddess  Praurima, 
burnt  in  the  temple  of  Perkunas  in  front 
of  his  image.  There  were  sacred  lakes 
and  groves,  as  among  the  Greeks  and  the 
Romans. 

The  affinity  of  the  Lithuanian  with  the 
Slavonic  and  Germanic  religion  proves 
that  these  nations  formerly  lived  together. 
But  when  we  discover  that  the  Lithu- 
anians, like  the  Teutons,  worshipped  the 
god  of  thunder,  whose  sacred  tree  was 
the  oak,  and  whose  temples  stood  in  oak 
groves,  we  realise  how  hard  it  is  to  single 
out  the  genuinely  Lithuanian  element. 
The  chief  shrine  of  Perkunas  was  situated 
somewhere  near  Romowo,  in  Prussia  ;  but 
when  Prussia  was  conquered  by  the  Poles 
it  was  removed  into  the  interior,  to  the 
confluence  of  the  Dubissa  and  Niemen, 
and  further  east  to  the  Wilija, 
r"!!***!*  iri  the  direction  of  Kernowo, 

Priesu  '*'"  and  lastly  to  Wilna.  The 
sacerdotal  system  was  highly 
developed.  The  high  priest,  who  had  his 
seat  at  the  chief  sanctuary,  was  called 
Krywe-Krywejto.  Subordinate  to  him 
were  all  the  priests,  male  and  female 
(Wajdelotes),  whose  principal  occupation 
was  to  offer  sacrifices.  A  higher  grade 
among  them  was  formed  by  the  Krewy,  to 
whom  were  entrusted  the  superintendence 
and  care  of  the  temple  ;  their  badge  was  a 
stick  of  peculiar  shape.  A  life  of  chastity 
was  obligatory  to  them.  The  power  of  the 
head  priest,  Krywe-Krywejto  extended 
over  every  tribe.  High  and  low  bowed 
before  his  sign,  which  he  sent  by  his 
Wajdelotes.  One-third  part  of  the  booty 
taken  in  war  belonged  to  him. 

Ample  sacrifices  were  made  to  the 
Lithuanian  gods,  mostly  animals,  occasion- 
ally prisoners  of  war.  They  were  always 
burnt-offerings.  The  old  Krywe-Krywejto 
himself,  like  other  old  men  also,  is  said  not 
infrequently  to  have  mounted  the  pyre — 
so  strong  was  the  prevailing  belief  in  the 
purifying  power  of  fire.  The  priests  also, 
in  default  of  every  sort  of  political  govern- 
ment, disseminated  public  order  and 
civilisation,  the  Krywe-Krywejto  being  as 
it  were,  the  head  chieftain  of  all  the  tribe. 


*  FINNISH    MILK-SELLERS    IN    A    CHARACTERISTIC    WINTER    SCENE 


ill    \  ^i'- 


f.  TYPICAL    FINNISH     MAIDENS  CHILDREN'S    FAVOURITE    PASTIME 


FAMILIAR    SCENES    AMONG    THE    FINNISH     PEOPLE 


3189 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


A  proof  that  the  same  system  obtained 
among  the  Slavs  and  Teutons  is  afforded 
by  the  word  kunigas  (kuning  =  king), 
which  among  the  Slavs  denotes  both  prince 
and  priest ;  knjaz  (prince),  knez  (czechish 
=  priest),  or  in  Polish  ksiadz  (priest),  and 
ksiaze  (prince).  The  priests  were  in  posses- 
sion of  a  method  of  writing.  The  chronicler 
y,  .  .  of  the  Teutonic  Order,  Peter 

of  VhrNortKern  °^  ^^^^"/^  ^^^  ^326),  asserts 
p      .  that  writmg  was  unknown 

**  *  to   the   Lithuanians  ;    but 

this  can  be  true  only  of  the  common 
people.  Traces  of  a  secret  writing  have  been 
found.  The  Runic  characters  were  pro- 
bably familiar  to  all  the  northern  peoples 
— Slavs,  Teutons,  Lithuanians,  and  Finns. 

If  Lithuania  had  not  encountered  any 
obstacles  in  its  expansion,  a  theocratic 
monarchy  would  probably  have  been 
formed  there.  External  dangers  led  to 
the  severance  of  the  spiritual  from  the 
military  power,  and  thus  to  the  develop- 
ment of  a  secular  government .  The  legend 
was  current  among  the  people  that 
Widemut — perhaps  connected  with  the 
lawgiver  Odin,  common  to  all  Germanic 
tribes — had  laid  the  foundation  of  a  social 
and  political  organisation.  Family  life 
was  dependent  on  the  priests,  who  admin- 
istered justice  according  to  ancient  custom. 
Peter  of  Dusberg  relates  that  the  Lithu- 
anians held  meetings  in  sacred  places. 
They  occupied  their  time  in  agriculture 
and  cattle  breeding,  drank  mare's  milk, 
and  were  skilled  in  brewing  beer  and  mead. 
Rich  men  drank  from  horns,  poor  men 
from  wooden  cups.  Autumn  was  a  season 
of  mirth  in  the  villages.  Guests  were 
treated  with  especial  attention,  hospitably 
entertained,  and  not  dismissed  until  they 
were  drunk. 

The  Lithuanians  learnt  the  art  of  war 

by  necessity.     They    fought    with    bow 

and   arrow,  sword  and  lance,    and   also 

with    battle-axe    and   sling.     The   oldest 

weapon  was  an  oaken  club.    The  gods 

Th    A  were   consulted    before   every 

,  *     '^  •      campaign.   Clad  in  the  skins  of 
of  War  in  u         ^  i,  mu 

...       .       aurochs  and  bears,  with  caps  on 

their  heads,  they  marched  to 
battle  amid  the  flare  of  trumpets,  some- 
times on  foot,  sometimes  mounted.  On 
their  military  standards  were  depicted 
figures  of  deities,  and  men  with  bears' 
heads,  or  two  wreaths,  blue  and  yellow ; 
the  galloping  horseman,  who  first  appears 
in  the  coat  of  arms  of  Lithuania  proper, 
was  ultimately  adopted  by  the  whole  race. 

3190 


They  contrived  to  cross  the  rivers  in  boats 
made  of  the  hides  of  aurochs,  or  by  holding 
on  to  the  tails  of  their  horses,  as  we  are 
told  the  Hungarians  and  Tartars  did. 
The  home-coming  warriors,  if  victors,  were 
received  by  the  women  and  girls  with 
dance  and  song,  but  were  treated  with 
contempt  after  a  defeat,  while  fugitives 
were  punished  by  death.  The  Lithu- 
anians also  believed  in  a  life  after  death. 
They  equipped  the  dead  man  with  all  that 
he  had  required  on  earth — weapons, 
ornaments,  and  clothes,  horses,  hawks, 
slaves,  and  wives.  They  were  then  all 
burnt,  and  their  ashes  laid  in  the  grave. 
A  funeral  feast  was  held  in  commemora- 
tion. 

The  Finns  of  the  Ugrian-Mongol  stock 
occupied  originally  the  entire  north  of 
modern  Russia.  Their  various  tribes  were 
settled  as  easterly  neighbours  of  the 
Lithuanians  between  the  White  Sea,  the 
Ural,  and  the  Volga.  The  river  Dwina 
can  be  roughly  regarded  as  the  boundary 
between  Lithuanians  and  Finns,  although 
some  Lithuanians  were  to  be  found  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Dwina.  On  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic  were  settled  the 
Livonians  and  the  Esthonians, 
who  still  survive  in  Livonia  and 
Esthonia.  Besides  these  chief 
tribes,  Wesses  or  Besses,  Meren,  Muro- 
mians,  Tcheremisses,  J  amen,  Mordwinen, 
Tchuden,  Permians,  and  others  are  men- 
tioned in  the  Russian  chronicles ;  they 
were  settled  more  to  the  south,  and  were 
called  Tchuden  by  the  Slavs.  Here  once 
lay  the  Finnish  kingdom  of  Biarmia, 
probably  the  modern  Perm. 

We  possess  very  scanty  information, 
derived  from  the  Scandinavian  Vikings 
who  made  their  way  there,  about  this 
kingdom  so  famous  in  northern  legends. 
At  the  time  of  Alfred  the  Great,  Otter 
was  the  first  to  come  into  these  regions : 
then  Wulstan.  In  the  days  of  St.  Olaf 
(1026)  the  Vikings  Karli  and  Torer 
Hund  followed.  They  professed  to  be 
merchants,  brought  furs,  and  then 
apparently  withdrew,  in  order  to  lull  the 
suspicions  of  the  inhabitants.  In  reality, 
however,  they  were  preparing  for  a  raid, 
which  Torer  conducted,  as  an  expert  in 
Finnish  magic.  Their  goal  was  the  tombs 
of.  the  Biarmians  and  the  temple  of  their 
chief  god  Jumala.  Marking  their  path 
by  stripping  the  bark  from  the  trees,  they 
reached  the  meadow  where  the  temple 
stood,    surrounded   by    a   high   wooden 


Livonians 

and 

Esthonians 


wm  <wt  iiM  im  rm  iin  »v»  mi         '    mi  tin  iiii  iiii— — 


PEASANT    CHILDREN 


WOMEN    OF    THE    FARMING    CLASS 


■^1'  'K'  ""'  '"'  ■'■'  '^"^ 


ESTHONIANS:    AN    ANCIENT     PEOPLE    OF    THE     BALTIC     SEA    COAST 

319I 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


paling ;  the  guardians  had  gone  away.  The 
Vikings  dug  up  the  sepulchral  mounds  and 
found  a  quantity  of  gold.  There  stood  in 
the  temple  an  image  of  Jumala,  on  whose 
knees  was  placed  a  plate  filled  with  gold  ; 
this  Torer  carried  off.  Karli,  however, 
struck  off  the  head  of  the  idol,  in  order  to 
geize  its  golden  necklace.  The  guards  rushed 
«>•  D  .  up  at  the  noise,  blew  their 
Before  horns,  and  the  Vikings  escaped 

tK  °&i  their  pursuers  with  difficulty. 

This  is  almost  the  only  account 
w^  have  of  Finnish  Biarmia.  Its  history 
is  then  merged  in  that  of  Novgorod. 

The  Finnish  tribes  could  not  resist  the 
advance  of-  the  Slavs.  The  Esthonians 
alone  were  able  to  maintain  their  nation- 
ality. Mordvinnic  princes  are  mentioned , 
by  the  Russian  chroniclers  even  in  the 
•fourteenth  century.  The  Finns,  especially 
the  Permians,  carried  on  a  modest  trade  ; 
they  were  glad  to  take  sabres  from 
Mohammedan  countries  in  exchange  for 
furs.  They  also  engaged  in  agriculture. 
Their  religion  resembled  the  Lithuanian. 
The  Finns  also  were  widely  famed  as  sooth- 
Sc^yers  and  magicians.  This  ice-bound 
country  was  otherwise  little  known  or  ex- 
plored. Kaswini,  who  died  in  1283,  relates 
how  the  Bulgarians  on  the  Kama  and 
Volga  traded  with  the  Finns  in  dumb 
show.  The  Bulgarian  brought  his  goods, 
pointed  to  them,  and  left  them  on  the 
ground.  He  then  came  back,  and  found 
on  the  same  spot  such  commodities  as 
were  used  in  the  country.  If  lie  was 
satisfied  with  them  he  exchanged  his  goods 
for  those  deposited  by  the  strangers  ;  if  he 
was  dissatisfied,  he  took  his  own  wares 
away  again. 

We  have  almost  as  little  information 
about  the  Bulgarians,  that  nation  of  horse- 
men on  the  Volga,  and  even  that  only  after 
the  tenth  century,  when  their  prjnce 
Almys  went  over  to  Islam  shortly  before 
921.  We  are  indebted  to  this  circumstance 
for  the  before-mentioned  report  of  Ahmad 
ben  Fadlan  (ibn  Fadhlan, 
How^They  ^^  Foszlan),  who  entered 

With  ••  Witches"  the  capital,  Bulgar,  on  May 
nth,  922,  as  the  envoy  of 
the  Caliph.  The  Spanish  Abu  Hamid,  who 
visited  Great  Bulgaria  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, reports :  "  Every  twenty  years  the 
old  women  of  this  country  are  suspected 
of  witchcraft,  and  great  excitement  pre- 
vails among  the  people.  The  old  women 
are  then  collected,  their  feet  and  hands 
are  bound,  and  they  are  thrown  into  a 

3192 


great  river  that  flows  past.  Those  who 
swim  are  considered  to  be  witches,  and  are 
burnt ;  those  who  sink  are  regarded  as 
innocent,  and  are  rescued."  Human 
sacrifices  were  not  infrequent  in  those 
days.  We  come  upon  instances  among 
the  Herulians  (Procopius  and  Ennodius) 
and  the  Ros  (ibn  Rusta),  among  the  Wends 
or  Sorbs  (Bonifatius)  and  the  pagan  Poles 
(Thietmar),  the  Radimici,  Wjatici,  and 
Sewerane  (Nestor),  and  even  among  the 
eastern  Slavs.  Most  of  the  instances  de- 
scribed were  cases  of  the  burning  of  widows. 
Some  Slavonic  tribes  paid  the  Bulgarians 
a  tribute  in  horses,  furs,  and  other  articles, 
such  as  an  ox-hide,  from  every  house. 

At  this  same  era  the  West  Turkish 
nation  of  the  Khazars,  of  whom  we  have 
evidence  after  the  second  century  a.d., 
was  settled  in  the  south  of  Russia  between 
the  Caspian  and  Black  Seas.  The  most 
flourishing  period  of  the  Khazar  Empire 
seems  to  have  been  in  the  seventh  century, 
after  the  fall  of  the  Hun  Empire.  Their 
most  important  towns  were  :  Saryg-sar,  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Volga  (yellow  town  ; 
later  Itil,  now  Astrachan),  and 
en  e  Khamlikh,  or  Khazaran,  which 
„,      ...    lay  opposite ;   also  Samandar, 

Flourished         -^  o  j      /  n-        t,  I 

or  Smendr  (now  larchu,  east 

of  Temirchan-Schura,  on  the  west  shore 
of  the  Caspian  Sea),  and  the  fortress  of 
Sarkel  at  the  mouth  of  the  Danube,  built 
under  the  Emperor  Theophilus  in  833-835 
by  the  Greek  Petronas  (in  Nestor  :  Bela- 
weza  ;  destroyed  by  Sviatoslav)  ;  a  second 
Khazar  fortress  of  some  temporary  im- 
portance was  Balangar,  in  the  Caucasus. 

The  Khazars  carried  on  an  extensive 
trade  with  Bulgaria,  Russia,  Persia,  and 
Byzantium.  T|ie  half-nomadic  popula- 
tion still  lived  partly  in  those  Wojlok- 
Jurtes  which  we  find  at  the  present 
day  among  the  Kirghiz.  Only  the  richer 
men  built  themselves  mud  huts,  and  the 
Khagan  alone  had  high  tiled  houses.  The 
Khagan  was  the  supreme  head  in  religion, 
while  a  Veg  stood  at  the  head  of  military 
affairs.  Under  the  Khagan  Bulan — tra- 
ditionally about  740;  more  correctly 
shortly  after  860 — the  Khazars,  after  a 
temporary  conversion  to  Christianity, 
partly  adopted  the  Jewish  faith.  They 
were  completely  subjugated  by  Russia 
about  969.  Remnants  of  the  Khazars 
long  remained  in  the  Crimea  and  the 
Caucasus  ;  some  memories  of  them  still 
survive  in  the  names  of  a  few  towns. 

Vladimir  Milkowicz 


POLAND 


BEFORE    THE    FRENCH    REVOLUTION 

THE  OLD  POLISH  EMPIRE  AND  THE 
MEN  WHO  SHAPED  ITS  DESTINIES 


HTHE  waves  of  Slavonic  migration,  which 
■'■  surged  to  and  fro  in  the  Far  East  of 
Europe,  had  from  an  early  date  come  into 
contact  with  the  peoples  of  Western 
Europe  ;  but  there  were  as  yet  only  tribes 
and  no  large  empire.  The  tidings  first 
came  to  Constantinople  in  the  ninth 
century  that  a  large  Russian  Empire  existed 
.in  the  north.  A  hundred  years  later  a 
powerful  Polish  Empire  was  discovered  in 
the  north-west.  The  credit  of  this  dis- 
covery belongs  to  Germany.  War  had  been 
raging  between  the  two  races  since  the 
middle  of  the  eighth  century,  on  the  Une  of 
the  Elbe,  at  the  point  where  the  Slavonic 
and  German  tribes  came  into  contact  with 
each  other.  But  while  the  Germans  won 
political  unity  through  Charles  the  Great, 
assimilated  Roman  culture  and  adopted 
Christianity,  the  Slavs  were  still  disunited, 
and  were  inimical  to  Western  views  on 
politics,  religion,  and  culture.  A  bitter 
contest  was  waged  for  these  principles, 
and  finally  for  freedom.  In  the  course 
of  a  hundred  years  the  Slavs  between  the 
Elbe  and  the  Oder  were  subjugated  ;  the 
Slavs  on  the  Oder  also  were  now  engaged 

_  ,     , .         in  a  desperate  struggle,  more 
Poland  in  •    11  ^.u  4. 

-  . .   especially  since  they  were  torn 

.  "w  ^y    internal    feuds.     It   then 

happened  that  the  Wend§ 
chose  the  Saxon  Count  Wichmann,  who 
died  in  967,  and  who  had  quarrelled  with 
the  German  Empire,  as  their  leader  against 
the  neighbouring  Lisikaviki.  Wichmann 
inflicted,  in  962,  two  defeats  on  Misako — 
Miseko,  or  Mesko,  a  diminutive  of  Mstislav 
— and  killed  his  brother  ;  Mesko,  in  con- 
sequence, submitted  to  the  Margrave  Gero, 


who  was  then  stationed  with  an  army  on 

the  Polish  frontier,  and  agreed  to  pay  a 

tribute  for  the  country  between  the  Oder 

and    the    Warthe.     That    was   the    first 

contact  of  Poland  with  the  West. 

In  965  the  Spanish  Jew  Ibrahim  ibn- 

Jacob    travelled    through    Germany    for 

trading  purposes  and  made  his  way  to 

.     _  Merseburg     and    Prague, 

T    A      '^^'^        where  he  became  acqainted 

»  nt\n  V  A  with  the  Slavs.  "  There  are 
1,000  Years  Ago  ,,     ,  .         ,,  . 

now,      he     wrote,       four 

princes  among  them,"  of  whom  he  names 
"  Mshka,"  i.e.,  Mesko,  as  "  Prince  of  the 
North."  "  As  regards  the  country  of  Mshka, 
it  is  the  largest  of  the  Slavonic  countries. 
It  is  rich  in  corn,  flesh,  honey,  and 
pasturage.  The  taxes,  which  he  levies,  are 
paid  in  Byzantine  Mitkal ;  they  serve  to 
maintain  his  people.  .  .  .  He  has  3,000 
Dsra  (Duzina,  or  bodyguard  suite)  .  .  . ; 
he  gives  them  armour  and  horses,  arms, 
and  whatever  they  need.  The  Russians 
hve  to  the  East  of  Mshka  and  the  Prus- 
sians in  the  north." 

The  above-named  Misako,  or  Mesko,  is. 
therefore,  the  first  Polish  prince  who  is 
authenticated  by  history.  The  later  tra- 
dition relates  that  he  was  descended  from 
the  family  of  the  Piast  of  Krushwitz  ;  it 
speaks  of  a  dynasty  of  the  Piasts,  and 
can  give  some  account  of  his  ancestors. 
Piast  in  Pohsh  means  much  the  same 
as  tutor  or  guardian.  In  connection  with 
the  legendary  narrative  it  is  conjectured 
that  a  court  official  of  the  royal  family, 
who  filled  the  post  of  teacher  to  the 
children,  resembling,  therefore,  a  Prankish 
majordomo,  overthrew  the  old    dynasty 

3193 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


and  obtained  the  throne.  The  Piast 
family  ruled  in  Poland  until  1370. 

Poland  comes  into  history  at  the  time 
whdn  Germany  revived  the  claim  of  the 
Roman  Empire  to  rule  over  all  lands  and 
peoples,  and  showed  the  strength  necessary 
to  enforce  the  claim.  The  Slavonic  tribes, 
which  adjoined  on  the  east,  although 
they  obstinately  defended 
The  Holy  ^j^^j^.  jj^grty,  must  have  heard 
Roman       ^^     ^j^^^^     alleged     claims     of 

"*'*"'*  sovereignty,  since  they  soon 
reconciled  themselves  to  the  position  of 
vassals  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire.  This 
empire,  hke  the  whole  West,  was 
dominated  then  by  the  Christian  idea.  To 
disseminate  it  was  the  noblest  task,  and 
the  Church,  which  put  forward  legal 
claims,  supplied  the  power  and  authority 
for  it.  The  heathen  Slavs  in  the  East 
thus  offered  a  wide  field  to  German 
missionary  enterprise ;  and  with  this 
purpose  an  archbishopric  was  founded  in 
Magdeburg.  The  conversion  of  Poland  to 
Christianity  was,  under  these  conditions, 
only  a  question  of  time. 

Some  years  after  the  first  contact  with 
Germany  Mesko  married  the  daughter 
of  the  Bohemian  prince  Boleslav  I., 
by  name  Dubrava.  At  her  persuasion 
he  and  all  his  nobles  are  said  to  have  ac- 
cepted Christianity  in  966.  The  political 
consideration  that  this  was  the  only  way 
to  assert,  even  partially,  his  independence, 
must  have  turned  the  scale.  He  must 
have  seen  that  Rome  was  the  powerful  head 
of  the  Christian  world,  and  that  upon  Rome 
even  Germany  was,  in  a  sense,  dependent. 
In  968  a  bishopric  for  the  Polish  territory 
was  founded  in  Posen,  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  archbishopric  of  Magdeburg. 
Jordan  was  the   first  Bishop  of  Posen. 

This  was  the  turning-point  in  the  history 
of  the  Polish  tribes  ;  they  began  a  new 
chapter  of  life  with  their  connection  with 
the  West.  Poland  first  grew  into  a  power- 
ful empire  under  the  guidance  of  the 
—^    _  Christian  Church.    For  this  rea- 

F  *  d**  f  ^°^  Mesko  must  be  regarded  as 
p  J  -  the  real  founder  of  Poland. 
He  cemented  more  closely  his 
amicable  relations  with  the  German  Em- 
pire by  wedding  Oda,  the  daughter  of  the 
Margrave  Thiedrich,  after  the  death  of  his 
Bohemian  consort  in  977.  He  took  part, 
however,  in  the  conspiracy  of  Henry  of 
Bavaria  against  the  Emperor  Otto  H.,  in 
the  year  976,  and  had  to  be  reminded  of 
his  duties  as  a  vassal  in  979  ;  nevertheless, 

3194 


on  the  death  of  Otto  II.,  in  983,  the  Poles 
once  more  sided  with  the  rebellious  Henry. 
It  was  only  in  985  that  Mesko  loyally 
shared  the  campaigns  of  Germany  against 
the  Wends,  and  actually  fought,  in  990, 
against  Boleslav  of  Bohemia,  the  brother 
of  his  deceased  wife. 

Mesko  died  in  992,  and  left  several 
children  by  both  wives,  who,  according 
to  Slavonic  law,  were  all  entitled  to  inherit. 
Possibly  he  had  contemplated  some 
division  of  his  inheritance.  But  the 
sovereignty  over  the  whole  empire 
was  seized  by  Boleslav  I.,  the  son  of  the 
Bohemian  mother ;  later  called  "  Chabri  " 
the  Valiant.  A  man  of  unusual  ability, 
he  anticipated  in  some  degree  the  results 
that  coming  centuries  were  destined  to 
effect,  and  to  some  extent  himself 
attained  the  objects  for  which  the  nation 
subsequently  struggled.  Cunning  and 
brave,  an  admirable  politician  and 
administrator,  possessed  of  indefatigable 
energy,  he  was  superior  to  all  who  had 
dealings  with  him.  A  true  appreciation 
of  existing  needs  and  the  forces  actually 
available  prevented  him  from  ever  at- 
j^  .  tempting  the  impossible.  The 
f^B'^K  °°'  ^^t^o"  ^^  '^o^  prosper  when  it 
Ad  lb  T  w^n^^  outside  the  circle  which 
he  drew  round  it.  At  the  very 
beginning  of  his  reign  he  marched  north- 
wards and  conquered  Pomerania  and  the 
Prussian  territory,  and  in  the  south 
Chrobatia  with  Cracow,  and  Moravia 
with  Slovakia,  as  far  as  the  Danube. 

Just  at  this  time  Bishop  Adalbert,  who 
had  been  banished  from  Prague,  went 
northwards  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
pagan  Prussians,  and  died  a  martyr's 
death  there  in  997.  Boleslav  ransomed 
his  bones  from  the  pagans  and  buried  them 
in  Gnesen.  He  knew  that  the  bones  of  a 
saint  were  necessary  for  the  founding  of 
churches,  and  that  high  respect  was  then 
paid  to  relics.  Adalbert  thus  became  the 
patron  of  the  Polish  realm.  Churches  were 
built  in  his  honour.  The  standard  of  the 
corps  which  the  prince  himself  com- 
manded bore  as  a  badge  the  figure  of 
Adalbert,  and  the  military  standard  of 
the  whole  Polish  army  displayed  his 
portrait.  Boleslav  must  have  already  been 
negotiating  with  the  emperor  and  the  Pope 
on  the  subject  of  new  bishoprics,  for  we 
find  by  the  year  999  an  organised  body 
of  clergy  in  Poland.  Gaudentius,  brother 
of  Adalbert,  was  nominated  to  be 
Archbishop    of     Gnesen,    distinct    from 


THE    OLD    POLISH    EMPIRE 


Madgeburg  ;  he  was  given  as  suffragans 
the  Bishop  of  Cracow  for  Chrobatia,  the 
Bishop  of  Breslau  for  Silesia,  and  the 
Bishop  of  Kolberg  for  Pomerania.  Posen 
still  remained  under  Mainz. 

Thus  an  independent  church  of  Poland 
was  established  as  a  foundation  for  the 
later  political  independence.  In  the 
year  looo,  when,  according  to  the 
teaching  of  the  Chiliasts  the  end  of  the 
world  ought  to  have  come,  the  fanatical 
Emperor  Otto  III.  went  to  Gnesen, 
in  order  to  pray  at  the  tomb  of  the 
saint,  to  whom  he  was  also«  related. 
He  had  a  brilliant  reception  ;  but  the 
political  advantages  which  the  Pole 
was  able  to  obtain  were  not  small.  Otto 
approved  of  the  ecclesiastical  system  of 
Poland,  and  promoted  the  prince,  whom 
hitherto  he  had  reckoned  as  the  vassal  of 
the  German  Empire,  to  be  brother,  friend, 
and  ally  under  the  title  of  Patricius.  In 
his  pursuit  of  the  dream  of  a  world- 
empire.  Otto  III.  had  lost  his  footing  on 
the  soil  of  fact.  "  May  Heaven  forgive  the 
emperor,"  exclaimed  Bishop  Thietmar  of 
Merseburg  about  1018  discontentedly,  "  for 
_^  ^  ,,  .,  having  made  a  sovereign  out 
StrT^h^ns  Ihe  °^  the  Duke  of  Poland,  who 
n  1**5  r.*°*  *  hitherto  was  a  tributary,  and 
Polish  Empire     r       v.       •  li.    j    i.- 

for  havmg  exalted  him  so 

high  that  he  soon  sought  to  bring  beneath 
his  rule  and  degrade  to  servitude  those  who 
were  once  his  superiors."  It  was  shown 
afterwards  that,  in  the  days  of  the  civil 
wars  and  disintegration,  the  solidarity  of 
the  Polish  Empire  was  safeguarded  and 
strengthened  only  by  the  unity  of  the 
Church. 

The  growth  of  the  power  of  Poland 
caused  alarm  in  Germany.  Matters  culmi- 
nated in  a  war  under  Otto's  successor,  the 
Emperor  Henry  II.,  since  Boleslav  at  the 
beginning  of  1003  had  annexed  Bohemia 
also.  Henry  II.  for  many  years  waged 
war  with  great  energy  against  the  Duke  of 
Poland,  supported  by  Bohemia,  which  had 
been  evacuated  by  Boleslav  in  1004,  and 
by  the  heathen  Liutizes — an  alliance  which 
horrified  the  pious  German  clergy — but 
could  effect  nothing.  Boleslav  had  his 
supporters  everywhere,  and  roused  up 
enemies  on  all  sides  for  the  emperor,  even 
in  Germany.  The  political  and  military 
superiority  of  Boleslav  now  showed  itself 
in  the  clearest  colours. 

In  the  year  1005,  Henry  was  forced 
to  conclude  a  disadvantageous  peace  at 
Bautzen,  while  the  treaty  of  Madgeburg, 


in   1013,  ratified  the  Pole's  claim  to  all 

the  conquests  made  in  the  East  at  the 

cost     of     Germany.      Boleslav,     indeed, 

in  return  did  homage  to  the  emperor  at 

Merseburg,  because  he  wished  at  the  same 

time  to  turn  against  Russia.     Being  now 

recognised  as  an  ally,  he  was  accompanied 

on  his  Russian  campaign  by  300  German 

_,.    _  warriors,    but    obtained  little 

The  B&aner  y  , ,  .,, 

^t  x>  1-  k      success.     In  1015  the  war  with 

of    fOllSh  ^  ,  r  1  •. 

Patriotism  Germany  began  afresh ;  it  was 
not  until  10 18  that  a  second 
peace  was  concluded  at  Bautzen.  The  Elbe 
once  more  was  the  western  frontier  of 
Poland.  Boleslav  took  Kiev  on  August 
14th,  ioi8,  and  reinstated  his  exiled  son- 
in-law  Svia-topolk. 

Although  the  union  of  Bohemia  and 
Poland  had  not  been  successfully  carried 
out,  Boleslav  had  united  most  of  the  west 
Slavs,  who  were  still  independent  of 
Germany,  under  his  own  sceptre,  and  had 
founded  an  empire  which  stretched  from 
the  Elster  and  the  Elbe  to  the  Dniester. 
He  also  emphasised  the  Slavonic  as 
opposed  to  the  Germanic  features  of 
national  life.  His  name  has  thus  become 
the  banner  of  Polish  patriotism.  After  so 
many  successes  the  Polish  duke  solicited 
the  title  of  king,  and  with  this  object  sent 
an  embassy  to  Rome.  This  was  inter- 
cepted by  the  emperor,  but  after  the  death 
of  Henry,  in  1024,  Boleslav  placed  the 
crown  on  his  own  head.  He  died  in  the 
year  1025  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight. 

Under  the  first  successors  of  the  greatest 
Polish  king  the  situation  was  at  once 
changed  ;  not  one  of  the  conquests  of 
Boleslav  could  be  retained.  In  the  first 
place,  the  empire,  according  to  custom, 
had  to  be  divided  between  the  heirs  ;  but 
Boleslav  I.  had  already  decided  that  one  of 
his  sons  should  rule  over  the  whole  realm, 
and  the  other  petty  princes  should  be 
subordinate  to  him.  Mesko  II.  did,  in 
fact,  assume  the  government  with  the 
crown,  while  we  find  his  brothers  and 
_  ,  ^.  ^  kinsmen  as  petty  princes. 
Quarrels  that  Quarrels  naturally  broke  out, 
p  t*  h  P*  which  weakened  the  power  of 
01s  ower  p^j^j^ud.  The  Bohemian  prince 
Bretislav  conquered  Moravia  in  1029 ; 
Stefan  of  Hungary,  Slovakia ;  Canute  the 
Dane,  Pomerania ;  and  Jaroslav  of  Russia, 
the  eastern  half  of  GaUcia.  It  was  a 
more  momentous  matter  that  relations 
with  Germany  grew  worse.  Emperor 
Conrad  II.,  who  had  been  closely  bound 
by  ties  of  friendship  with  the  Danish  king 

3195 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


since  1025,  adopted  Besprim,  the  exiled 
elder  brother  of  Mesko.  He  must  also 
have  considered  the  coronation  of  Mesko 
an  insult.  Mesko,  indeed,  valiantly  held 
his  ground  and  ravaged  Saxony  and  other 
districts  with  the  utmost  ferocity  in  1028 
and  1030.  Finally  he  was  forced  to  suc- 
cumb, to  resign  Lusatia  once  more,  and 

The  Splendour     ^"  the  Merseburg  treaty  of 
-„  ,    ,  1033  to  recognise  m  ex- 

of  Boleslav  ,•   .,     .  ^u       /- 

^  ^  ^  1  f>  plicit  terms  the  German 
Completely  Gone  ^  .    .  1     1.1        1 

suzeramty ;  probably  also 

to  pay  tribute.  The  splendour  which  Poland 
had  reached  under  Boleslav  I.  was  com- 
pletely gone.  The  conditions  of  a  vassal 
state  existed  for  centuries,  and  were  more 
or  less  burdensome.  We  are  nowhere  dis- 
tinctly told  what  constituted  the  duties  of 
vassals  ;  we  may,  however,  consider  it  as 
certain  that  the  Polish  princes  were  bound 
to  attend  certain  court  ceremonies,  to 
provide  tribute  or  presents,  and  on  the 
occasion  of  coronation  journeys  to  Rome 
to  supply  an  escort  of  500,  or,  later,  300 
soldiers.  So  long  as  ambitious  ideas  of 
empire  dominated  the  German  kings,  they 
actually  claimed  the  feudal  rights  of 
suzerains  over  Poland.  It  was  only  about 
the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  that 
Poland  was  once  for  all  recognised  and 
treated  as  an  independent  state. 

The  political  efforts  of  the  Polish  princes 
were  naturally  directed  to  shake  off  that 
yoke.  When  a  favourable  opportunity 
offered,  they  revolted,  refused  military 
services  and  tribute,  seldom  appeared  at 
the  court  ceremonials,  and  here  and  there 
assumed  the  royal  title,  although  in  the 
German  Empire  they  were  styled  merely 
"  duces,"  or  dukes.  The  country  reached 
the  zenith  of  independence  under  Bole- 
slav II.  at  the  time  of  Henry  IV.,  while  it 
sank  to  the  lowest  depth  during  the 
rule  of  Frederic  Barbarossa  and  Rudolf 
of  Hapsburg. 

When  Mesko  II.  died,  in  1034,  complete 
confusion  ensued.  Slaves  rose  against  free- 
p        .  men,  the  semi-serfs  against  the 

aganism  ^obles;  churches  and  mon- 
Revives  With       ,      .  1       j        j  j 

Q-  'lyf  asteries  were  plundered,  and 

the  bishops  killed  or  banished. 
Richenza,  Mesko's  widow,  a  daughter  of 
Hermann  II.  of  Suabia  and  sister  of 
the  Empress  Gisela,  was  forced  to  leave 
Poland  with  her  little  son  Casimir,  and 
went  to  her  home  to  implore  help  from 
her  brother-in-law,  the  Emperor  Conrad. 
The  old  pagan  faith  seems  then  to  have 
once  more  proudly  raised  its  head.    To 

3196 


fill  up  the  cup  of  misery,  the  surrounding 
nations  attacked  and  pillaged  the  country. 
Besides  this  Bretislav  Achilles  of  Bohemia 
in  1039  carried  off  from  Gnesen  to  Prague 
the  bones  of  St.  Adalbert,  doubtless  next 
to  the  booty  the  main  object  of  his  cam- 
paign. Boleslav  I.  had  built  up  the  Polish 
Church  over  the  tomb  of  the  Bohemian 
martyr  and  had  deprived  Bohemia  of  the 
glory  of  the  martyrdom.  How  important 
the  event  was  for  both  sides  is  proved  by 
the  lamentations  of  the  Polish  chroniclers, 
the  joy  with  which  the  relics  of  the  national 
saint  were  received  at  Prague,  and  the  long 
trial  which  was  held  about  them  at  Rome. 
Cosmas  of  Prague  cannot  find  language 
enough  to  praise  the  prince.  The  holy 
Adalbert  now  became,  equally  with  the 
holy  Wenzel,  the  patron  saint  of  Bohemia ; 
the  chief  military  standard  of  the  country 
bore  his  image.  Now  that  he  possessed 
these  relics,  the  Bohemian  duke  contem- 
plated founding  an  archbishopric  in 
Prague.  It  was  only  in  the  thirteenth 
century  that  Poland  was  able  to  acquire  a 
new  national  saint — Stanislav. 

Casimir,  meanwhile,  remained  in  Ger- 

many.      In   the   reign    of    the 

J   *^"       Emperor     Henry      III.,     who 

°      .    .      gladly   seized  the   opportunity 

of  once  again  asserting  imperial 
claims  upon  the  East,  he  marched,  in 
1040,  with  500  men  to  Poland  in  order  to 
win  back  his  inheritance.  He  found  the 
country  ruined.  Wild  animals  had  their 
lairs  where  once  the  cathedral  of  Gnesen 
stood.  The  nobles  had  established  in- 
dependent lordships  in  the  provinces. 
Casimir,  in  order  to  be  able  to  carry 
on  war  successfully,  married  a  Russian 
wife  and  made  an  alUance  with  Hungary. 
The  war  against  Bohemia  was  conducted 
with  unusual  energy  on  account  of 
Moravia  and  Silesia,  as  well  as  of  the 
plundering  of  the  church  of  Gnesen. 

When,  by  the  help  of  Russia  Casimir  had 
won  back  Masovia  and  also  Silesia,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  re-establish  the  decayed  Pohsh 
Church.  He  renewed  the  bishoprics,  and 
conferred  the  archbishopric  upon  his 
kinsman  Aaron,  who  resided  at  Cracow 
so  long  as  the  road  to  Gnesen  was  blocked. 
Casimir  successfully  accomplished  his  plans 
by  the  help  of  Germany,  whose  suzerainty 
he  acknowledged.  He  died  in  1058.  The 
distress  and  misery  which  Poland  suffered 
in  the  first  years  after  Mesko's  death 
never  occurred  again  down  to  the  time 
of  its  overthrow.     Casimir,  therefore,  for 


THE    OLD    POLISH    EMPIRE 


his  services  in  the  restoration  of  the 
empire  has  been  given  the  honourable 
title  of  "  Restaurator." 

The  empire  owes  to  him  also  a  second 
change.  Hitherto,  the  Polish  duke  had 
no  permanent  abode  ;  he  journeyed  from 
country  to  country,  in  order  to  administer 
justice  personally  in  every  place.  The 
duke  had  his  throne  in  the  town  where 
he  preferred  to  live. 
When  Casimir  came  to 
Poland  he  took  up  his 
quarters  in  Cracow,  since 
other  provinces  were  still 
to  be  conquered.  From 
that  timeCracow  remained 
the  residence  of  the  duke 
and  was,  down  to  the 
sixteenth  century,  the 
poUtical  centre.  This  was 
not  any  advantage  for 
the  development  of  the 
empire.  Posen  orGnesen 
would  indisputably  have 
better  answered  the  pur- 
pose, since  both  lay  nearer 
to  Pomerania  and  the  sea. 


In  conformity  with  the  order  of  succes- 
sion, introduced  probably  by  Boleslav  as 
king,  the  eldest  of  four  sons,  Boleslav  II., 
subsequently  called  by  the  Chroniclers 
"  the  Bold,"  assumed  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment on  the  death  of  Casimir.  His 
courage  and  ambitious  plans  recalled  the 
memory  of  Boleslav  I.  The  poUtical 
situation  on  his  accession  was  peculiarly 


f.  mmtHi  ^»a» 


AT    THE    PRESENT    DAY 

favourable ;  the  dispute 
about  the  right  of  investi- 
ture between  Henry  IV. 
and  the  Pope  left  a  free 
hand  to  the  Polish  duke. 
Boleslav  actually  took  the 
side  of  Henry's  enemies, 
and  had  himself  crowned 
at  Christmas,  1076.  But 
the  scene  of  the  struggle 
of  the  Salian  with  the 
rival  kingdom  was  mostly 
the  valley  of  the  Main. 

Fraught    with     greater 
consequences    was     Bole- 
slav's     attitude    towards 
CRACOW  CASTLE   IN   MEDiiEVAL  TIMES  Stanislav,  Bishop  of  Cra- 

From  the  time  of  Casimir,  who  restored  the  Polish  power  in  the  middle  of  the    COW,    whom    the    king,    for 
eleventh  century,  until  the  sixteenth  century,  Cracow  was  the  political  centre.    r-poconS     UnkuOWn     to    US 


3a:^s:^^c 


to  which,  indeed,  the  future  of  Poland- 
pointed.  With  Cracow  as  capital,  Poland 
came  into  the  disturbing  vicinity  of  Bo- 
hemia and  Hungary,  and  was  distracted 
from  her  true  aims.  Apart  from  this  dis- 
advantage, the  West  Slavs  were  in  this 
way  more  easily  Germanised.  The  remote- 
ness from  the  sea  was  partially  remedied 
by  the  removal  of  the  court  to  W^arsa,w, 


murdered  with  his  own  hands  before  the 
altar.  This  tragedy  was  the  theme  of 
many  writers.  It  is  also  said  to  have  been 
the  cause  of  Boleslav  being  forced  to  go 
into  exile  ;  but  the  story  is  improbable. 
He  died  in  1081,  but  the  place  of  his  death 
is  unknown.  Many  churches  were  built 
in  honour  of  the  murdered  bishop,  who 
was  promoted  in  the  thirteenth  century 

3197 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


to  be  the  first  patron  saint  of  Poland. 
Boleslav's  successor,  until  1103,  at  first 
only  in  Posen,  while  Cracow  belonged  to 
Bohemia,  was  his  brother  Vladislav 
Hermann,  a  weakUng  in  brain  and  body. 
He  was  unable  to  take  up  any  firm  attitude 
either  towards  the  nobles  or  his  own 
sons,  or  even  the  Church,  to  which  he  is 

said  to  have  granted  certain 
_     *"  privileges.     He   divided  the 

T      B    th       empire   during  his  lifetime  ; 

while  he  himself  retained  the 
supreme  authority,  Boleslav  received  Mas- 
ovia,  Gnesen,  and  Posen,  and  his  illegiti- 
mate son  Sbignev  Cracow  and  Silesia. 

The  smouldering  feud  between  the  two 
brothers  burnt  the  more  fiercely  after 
Hermann's  death,  until  Boleslav  HI. 
Krzyvousty  (Crooked  Mouth)  had  con- 
quered his  brother's  share.  In  spite  of 
numerous  frontier  wars — for  example,  in 
1 1 09  the  defence  of  Glogau  against  the 
Emperor  Henry  V.  and  Svatopluk  of 
Olmiitz — Boleslav  did  not  secure  any 
lasting  advantage.  Nor  does  his  im- 
portant place  in  the  history  of  Poland 
depend  upon  the  fact  that  he  re- 
subjugated  Pomerania  and  won  it  for 
Christianity  by  his  missionaries,  espe- 
cially Bishop  Otto  of  Bamberg,  formerly 
chaplain  of  Vladislav  Hermann  ;  for  by 
his  very  choice  of  a  German  bishop  to 
evangelise  Pomerania  the  Germanisation 
and  hence  the  loss  of  Pomerania  were 
hastened.  But  the  Church  paid  him  an 
appropriate  tribute  of  thanks  for  what 
he  had  done.  A  priest,  probably  a 
Venetian,  erroneously  known  by  the 
name  of  Martinus  Gallus,  wrote  in  glorifi- 
cation of  Boleslav  III.  the  "  Chronicae 
Polonorum,"  reaching  down  to  11 13 — the 
oldest  chronicle  of  Poland,  and  the 
earliest  literary  monument  belonging  to 
the  country.  The  campaigns  in  Pome- 
rania and  the  conversion  of  the  land  had 
the  same  value  for  Poland  as  the  Crusades 
for  the  West.     Bohemia  and  Poland  in 

->  return  for  their  often  rather 

Cracow  x        li  •     •  1     • 

„  ^.  forcible  missionary  work  in 

Becomes  the  r,  •  j 

rut-  •  t  e>    *  pagan       Pomerania       and 

Official  Centre  V»  °     .  ,  ,   j- 

Prussia  were  released  from 

the  obligation  of  sharing  in  the  expeditions 
to  Palestine.  The  importance  of  Boleslav 
III.  for  Poland  consists  chiefly  in  his  settle- 
ment of  the  order  of  succession  to  the  throne. 
He  divided  his  empire  before  his  death  in 
the  following  way  :  Vladislav,  the  el(Jest 
son,  inherited  Silesia  with  Glatz  ;  Boleslav, 
Masovia    and    Kujavja    with    Dobrzyn ; 

3198 


Mesko,  Gnesen  and  Posen  with  Pomerania  ; 
Henry,  Sandomir ;  Casimir,  a  posthu- 
mous son,  came  off  empty-handed.  The 
eldest  of  the  family  was  always  to  be 
Grand  Duke,  and  reside  in  Cracow  ;  to  him 
were  assigned  the  district  of  Cracow  with 
Lengzyca  and  Sieradz,  besides  the  tribute 
from  Pomerania  and  the  region  beyond 
the  Oder,  so  that  he  might  be  superior  in 
possessions  to  all  other  petty  princes. 
Cracow   thus   became   an   official   centre. 

It  is  persistently  asserted  that  Boleslav 
introduced  with  this  measure  the  custom 
of  seniority,  according  to  which  the 
eldest  Piast  for  the  time  being  should  be 
the  supreme  head  of  the  whole  kingdom. 
But  that  is  hardly  correct.  In  the  old 
days  there  was  no  distinction  between 
public  and  private  law.  His  scheme  for 
the  succession  was  not,  therefore,  new. 
Further,  when,  in  1054.  the  Bohemian 
duke  Bretislav  Achilles  and  Jaroslav  of 
Kiev  introduced  the  seniority,  they  only 
applied  to  the  royal  power  the  old  Slavonic 
custom  of  family  inheritance.  The  Polish 
duke,  therefore,  made  use  of  the  experience 
which  had  been  gained  in  Bohemia  and 
_^    _^  Russia.      The    conference    of 

.  _  J  J  ,  Russian  princes  at  Lubetch.  in 
jj  .          1097,  had  already  declared  that 

the  petty  principalities  were 
hereditary.  Boleslav  now  adopted  this 
principle  for  his  realm.  The  only  new 
feature  in  Boleslav's  scheme  for  the 
succession  was  that  the  district  of  Cracow 
remained  as  an  appanage  of  the  Grand 
Duke  without  any  hereditary  rights. 

The  consequences  of  Boleslav's  settle- 
ment of  the  succession  were  the  same  in 
Poland  as  in  Bohemia  and  Russia.  The 
office  of  Grand  Duke  became,  it  is  true, 
the  badge  and  guarantee  of  national  unity. 
But  it  also  became  an  apple  of  discord 
among  the  Piasts.  The  sanguinary  wars, 
which  lasted  among  the  descendants  of 
Boleslav  almost  unceasingly  down  to  the 
year  1333,  are  full  of  petty  incidents 
which  possess  no  significance  in  universal 
history  ;  but  nevertheless,  like  the  similar 
wars  in  the  families  of  the  Premyslids, 
Rurikovitches,  and  Arpades,  they  supply 
a  fresh  proof  that  the  rule  of  seniority 
was  destructive  to  the  state.  When  men 
notice  that  a  law  produces  in  different 
places  the  same  disastrous  effects,  they 
must  arrive  at  the  consciousness  that  it 
is  bad ;  but  they  have  simultaneously 
taken  a  step  forward.  But  from  the  cir- 
cumstance   that    Boheniia    was    able    to 


THE    OLD    POLISH    EMPIRE 


abolish  the  rule  of  seniority  in  1216,  and 
Poland  and  Russia  only  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  it  may  be  gathered  how  tena- 
ciously mankind  clings  to  one  idea,  and 
how  hard  it  is  to  strike  out  a  new  path. 
We  also  learn  from  it  that  Bohemia  was 
more  than  a  hundred  years  ahead  of  the 
above-named  states  in  political  develop- 
ment. 

The  oldest  period  of  Polish  history, 
when  the  young  realm,  guided  mostly  by 
strong  hands  and  sound  at  the  core, 
turned  its  strength  toward  the  outside 
world,  ends  with  Boleslav  III.,  who  had 
done  homage  again  in  ii35to  the  Emperor 
Lothar,  and  died  in  1138.  The  course  of 
events  after  1138  was  exactly  opposite. 
While  the  Piasts  disputed  among  them- 
selves for  the  seniority,  they  regarded  only 
themselves,  and 
lost  sight  of  the 
common  Polish  in- 
terests in  the 
outside  world.  The 
dispute  among  the 
sons  broke  out  soon 
after  the  death  of 
the  father.  The 
Grand  Duke  Vlad- 
islav II.,  of  Cracow, 
wished  once  more 
to  restore  unity  at 
the  expense  of  his 
brothers. 

But  the  threat- 
ened princes  com- 
bined and  asserted 
their  claims ;  the 
law,    indeed,  spoke 


A  POLISH  ROYAL  TOMB  IN   PLOCK  CATHEDRAL 


for  them.  Boleslav 
IV.  (Curly-head),  the  eldest  but  one  of 
the  brothers,  ascended  the  grand-ducal 
throne  in  the  place  of  Vladislav,  who 
was  deprived  of  his  share  in  the  in- 
heritance in  1 146;  and  maintained  his 
position  until  his  death  in  1173,  notwith- 
standing that  the  exiled  monarch  sought 
to  recover  his  sovereignty  by  the  aid  of 
Germany.  After  him,  the  third  brother, 
Mesko  III.  (the  Elder),  became  Grand 
_     .    .  Duke  ;   and  finally,  after  his 

,      "  "^  banishment  by  the  nobles  the 

Just  Comes  ,,  i    j    j     /-      •      • 

«    »i.    Tk  ongmally    excluded    Casimir 

to  the  Throne  ,,  ».,        t      ^  /  x  \ 

II.  the  Just  (1179  to  1194), 

came  to  the  throne,  since  Henry  of  San- 

domir  had  already  fallen.     The  Pope  and 

the  emperor  had  approved  of  this  choice. 

Matters  so  far  had  gone   smoothly  with 

the  succession  to  the  throne.    But  the  fruit 


of  the  new  order  of  things  had  already  been 
tasted  ;  thus  Leszko  I.,  the  White,  a  son 
of  Casimir,  disputed  the  grand-ducal 
throne  with  his  uncle  Mesko  III.  Vlad- 
islav III.,  Longshanks,  a  son  of  Mesko 
The  E  •  ^^^■'  ^^°  resided  at  Cracow, 
Loses"*  "^  1202-1206,  must  have  equally 
Prestige  recognised  the  evil  latent  in 
that  law.  Even  the  sons  of 
the  deposed  Vladislav  II — Boleslav  I.  the 
Tall  of  Breslau,  Mesko  of  Ratibor,  and 
Conrad  of  Glogau — came  forward  with 
their  claims,  and  not  without  success, 
after  they  had  previously,  with  the  help 
of  Germany,  taken  possession  of  their 
inheritance. 

The  empire,  owing  to  this,  could  not 
but  lose  all  prestige  with  the  outside 
world.  The  banished  or  defrauded  Piasts 
sought  help  on 
every  side,  espe- 
cially in  Germany; 
each  promised  and 
performed  all  that 
was  required  of 
him  in  return.  The 
dukes  Vladislav  II., 
Boleslav  IV.,  and 
Mesko  III.,  ap- 
peared in  deepest 
submission  before 
the  German  em- 
peror ;  they  paid 
tribute  and  fines, 
and  furnished 
hostages.  The  Bo- 
hemian duke  was, 
as  it  were,  their 
mediator  with  the 
emperor,  who 
usually  received  him  with  great  respect. 
The  conquests  in  the  north  also  were 
lost.  The  German  princes  Albert  the 
Bear  and  Henry  the  Lion  of  Saxony 
had,  in  alliance  with  the  Danish  king 
Waldemar  I.,  finally  subjugated  the  north 
and  west  Slavs  between  the  Elbe  and  the 
Oder,  and  had  secured  their  territory, 
after  1150,  by  the  new  margraviate  of 
Brandenburg.  Not  far  from  the  place 
where  the  Slavonic  Brennaburg  stood, 
Berlin  arose  at  the  beginning  o.f  the  thir- 
teenth century. 

The  Pomeranian  princes,  who  were  once 
tributaries  of  Poland,  were  now  forced 
to  acknowledge  the  German  sovereignty. 
Bogislav  II.  of  Stettin  was  raised  by 
Frederic  Barbarossa,  in  the  summer  of 
1 18 1,  to  the  dignity  of  a   prince    of   the 

3199 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


The  Great 
Power  of 


empire.  Only  a  part  of  Pomerania  was 
still  left  for  a  time  to  Poland.  For 
that  reason  also  the  empire  would  have 
required  a  free  hand  in  order  to  be  able 
to  defend  its  interests  against  Russia, 
which  was  at  a  low  ebb  owing  to  civil 
wars.  But  thus  it  lost  not  merely  the 
East  Galician  towns  which  Boleslav  I, 
and  Boleslav  II.  had  once  con- 
quered, but  allowed  a  strong 
th  N  b'l't  ^^ss^^"  principality  to  be 
°  * '  ^  formed  on  the  Dniester.  The 
events  of  domestic  history  were  far 
more  momentous.  First  and  foremost  the 
power  of  the  nobility,  which  composed 
the  fighting  strength,  rose  to  an  unfore- 
seen height.  The  Slachta — the  noblesse — 
forced  even  the  vigorous  Boleslav  II.  to 
leave  the  country,  as  his  father  Casimir  had 
been  obliged  to  do.  Under  Boleslav  III., 
who  was  an  able  soldier,  his  Palatine 
Skarbimir  rebelled,  and  was  blinded  as  a 
punishment  in  1117.  In  1171  the  nobihty, 
under  the  leadership  of  Jakva  of  Miechow, 
rose  against  Boleslav  IV.  in  order  to  put 
his  brother  Casimir  in  his  place ;  this  was 
the  first  great  rebellion  of  the  Slachta. 
Mesko  the  Elder  fought  for  the  princely 
rights  in  Poland,  just  as  the  son  and 
grandson  of  Vladimir  Monomach  did  in 
Susdal ;  though  repeatedly  driven  from 
the  throne,  he  mounted  it  again. 

Besides  the  nobility,  a  second  power 
arose  in  the  empire — the  Church.  The 
storm  of  the  Investitures  Controversy  had 
passed  over  Poland  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury almost  without  leaving  a  trace,  so 
little  power  had  the  hierarchy  in  those 
parts ;  Boleslav  had  entered  the  lists 
against  Henry  IV.  merely  on  political 
grounds.  If  we  assume,  with  the  clerical 
chroniclers,  that  Boleslav  was  forced  to 
go  into  exile  for  the  murder  of  Bishop 
Stanislav,  we  are  regarding  that  event 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  thirteenth 
century — in  the  eleventh  century  the 
Polish  Church  was  still  too  young  to  be 
CK  '  f  't  ^^P^^^^  of  s^ch  ^  vengeance. 
St  ^k'  "r'  ^t  ^^^  pious  historian  of  the 
in  P  I  d  thirteenth  century  pictured  to 
himself  that  the  wanton  crime 
must  have  been  expiated  in  some  way  or 
other.  The  Christian  religion  only  slowly 
struck  root  in  Poland.  The  first  prince 
who  was  obedient  to  the  Church  was 
Boleslav  III.  ;  he  took  interest  in  the 
missions,  and  himself  made  pilgrimages 
to  France  to  the  tomb  of  St.  iEgidius. 
During  his  reign  the  first  papal  legate  came 

3200 


to  Poland  in  1123-1125 — from  which 
period  dates  the  oldest  Polish  document — 
in  order  to  settle  the  boundaries  of  the 
dioceses  there,  establish  the  cathedral 
chapters  in  the  sees,  etc.  The  Polish 
clergy  still  recognised  no  rule  of  celibacy, 
and  the  prince  alone  nominated  the  bishops 
and  removed  them  at  his  own  discretion  ; 
and  this  state  of  things  continued  for  a 
long  time.  No  bishop  would  then  have 
been  able  to  oppose  the  prince.  It  was 
only  at  the  period  of  the  civil  wars  that 
the  Church  acquired  an  increasing  reputa- 
tion. Vladislav  III.  Longshanks,  son 
of  Mesko  the  Elder,  suspecting  the  latent 
danger,  obstinately  resisted  the  claims  of 
the  clergy. 

The  conviction  was  at  last  brought  home 
to  the  Poles,  as  it  had  been  to  the  Bo- 
hemians and  the  Russians,  that  the  only 
salvation  for  the  empire  lay  in  a  hereditary 
monarchy.  Since  each  of  the  petty  princes 
wished  to  become  hereditary  ruler,  and 
no  one  of  them  would  give  way,  for  a 
time  the  evil  grew  only  worse.  The 
ablest  statesman  among  the  Piasts  of 
the  time  was  undoubtedly  Casimir  II, 
.  .  ,  Brought  up  in  the  German 
Ah'rt"*^  *  school,  he  grasped  the  true 
St  V  ^  "  state  of  affairs,  and  therefore 
allied  himself  with  the  newly 
arisen  forces,  the  nobility  and  the  clergy, 
in  order  to  reach  his  goal.  Immediately 
after  his  elevation  to  the  Grand  Dukedom, 
probably  in  1179,  ^^  convened  an  imperial 
assembly  at  Lenczyca,  at  which  the  clergy 
appeared  as  well  as  the  nobles. 

This  was  the  first  imperial  assembly  of 
Poland,  and  at  the  same  time  its  first 
synod.  Here  the  Church  obtained  the 
important  privilege  of  exemption  from 
payment  of  imposts  and  taxes  to  the 
princes.  The  power  of  the  princes  was 
checked.  By  this  policy  Casimir  placed 
himself  in  opposition  to  the  conservative 
line  of  Great  Poland,  which  would  not 
hear  of  any  concessions  to  the  Church. 
Casimir  acted  here  in  the  same  way  as  the 
Ottos  when  they  provided  a  counterpoise 
to  the  dukes  by  the  creation  of  the  im- 
perial ecclesiastical  offices ;  he  must 
have  fully  understood  that  he  was  de- 
pendent on  the  nobility.  But  the  result 
was  that  he  was  supported  in  his  efforts 
by  the  grateful  Church. 

Casimir  also  took  the  precaution  of 
having  his  title  confirmed  by  the  Pope  and 
the  emperor ;  in  this  policy  he  seems  to  have 
been  the  model  for  the  Bohemian  dukes. 


THE    OLD    POLISH    EMPIRE 


He  was  now  able  to  think  how  to  make 
the  grand-ducal  power  hereditary  in  his 
family,  an  arrangement  which  was  also 
the  ambition  of  the  Premyslids.  Thus 
he  and  Mesko  III.  represented  two 
opposite  political  schools,  and  friction 
was  inevitable.  But  when  Casimir  died 
in  1 1 94,  it  was  seen  that  matters  were  in 
a  favourable  position  for  his  children. 

Vincentius,  Bishop  of  Cracow — later 
sumamed  Kadlubek  —  who  voluntarily 
became  a  monk  at  Jedrzejow  in  1218,  and 
died  in  1223,  records  that  the  clergy  and 
nobility  met  in  1195  at  Cracow  in  order 
to  settle  the  question  of  the  throne. 
Who  had  summoned  them  ?  'The  Chronicle 
does  not  tell  us.  We  learn 
only  that  the  Church  sided 
there  with  the  house  of 
Casimir.  At  the  instance 
of  Bishop  Fulko  of  Cracow, 
who  adroitly  adduced  as 
an  argument  the  preference 
given  by  Pope  and  em- 
peror to  Casimir  over 
Mesko,  Casimir's  elder  son, 
Leszko  I.  (the  White)  was 
summoned  to  Cracow. 

It  was  the  first  election 
of  a  prince  in  Poland ; 
though  only,  as  in  Bo- 
hemia, from  among  the 
members  of  the  already 
ruling  family,  the  Piasts, 
Henceforward,  with  little 
interruption,  Cracow  re- 
mained until  1370 — when 
the  family  died  out — in 
the  hands  of  the  descen- 
dants of  Casimir,  although 
the  hereditary  monarchy 
■had  not  yet  been  formally 
legalised,  and  contests  for 
the  throne  were  frequent, 
the  will  of  the  Church  and  of  the  nobility 
of  Cracow.  This  struggle  for  a  satisfac- 
tory constitution  progressed  slowly; 
Russia  and  Bohemia  had  not  escaped 
it.  It  is  an  important  feature  in  the 
present  case  that  it  was  the  Church 
_     p  which  solved  the  problem  ;    it 

must  have  been  already  very 
.     ^.       .   powerful  in  Poland  in  the  first 

half  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
Leszko,  it  is  true,  had  not  been  able  to 
gain  any  success  against  Mesko.  But 
after  the  latter's  death,  in  1202,  Leszko  was 
summoned  by  the  nobles  of  Cracow,  and 
the  only  condition  imposed  upon  him  was 


POLISH    WARRIOR    OF    THE 
THIRTEENTH   CENTURY 

But  it  was 


that  he  should  remove  the  Palatine 
Govorko  of  Sandomir.  That,  instead  of 
doing  so,  he  preferred  to  abdicate  the 
throne  in  favour  of  the  son  of  Mesko, 
Vladislav  Longshanks,  proves  how  well 
Conflict  of  designed  was  the  policy  of 

Temporal  and      the  royal  house.    Vladislav, 

Spiritual  Power  !\°^^r''  ^^'"^  tV  ^nemy  of 
the  Church,  could  not  hold 
his  own.  Just  at  this  time  Henry  KietUcz, 
a  Silesian  by  birth,  was  elected  Arch- 
bishop of  Poland.  He  had  formerly 
studied  theology  at  the  Sorbonne  in  Paris 
with  Count  Lothar  Conti,  who  mounted 
the  papal  throne  on  January  8th,  1198, 
as  Innocent  III.  ;  and  he  had  been 
steeped  in  the  plans  of  this 
mighty  Pope.  When  placed 
on  the  archbishop's  throne 
at  Gnesen,  he  did  not  de- 
mand privileges  but  rights 
for  the  Polish  Church. 
Then,  for  the  first  time 
there,  a  conflict  between 
the  temporal  and  spiritual 
powers  broke  out.  Kietlicz 
was  obdurate,  and  for  the 
first  time  in  Poland,  apart 
from  the  dubious  case  of 
Boleslav  II.,  launched  the 
ban  at  the  Grand  Duke.  He 
was  forced,  indeed,  to  flee 
the  country,  but  the  duke 
also  had  to  leave  Cracow, 
since  the  nobles  of  Cracow, 
incited  by  Bishop  Fulko, 
left  him  in  the  lurch. 

Leszko  was  then  —  in 
1206  —  recalled.  And  he 
now  took  decisive  measures 
for  the  succession.  Since 
he  first,  following  the 
example  of  many  princes 
of  the  time  —  for  example,  Premsyl 
Ottokar  I.  of  Bohemia,  1204 — declared 
his  country  to  be  a  papal  fief,  and  then 
gave  his  brother,  Conrad,  Masovia  and 
Kujavia,  he  contrived,  with  the  assent 
of  the  clergy  and  the  nobihty,  that 
Cracow  and  Sandomir  should  remain  an 
inheritance  of  his  family.  This  arrange- 
ment was  confirmed  by  the  Pope.  And 
by  it  the  law  of  seniority  of  Boleslav  III. 
was  formally  repealed.  But  since  this 
was  not  done  with  the  approval  of  all  the 
Piasts,  the  civil  wars  still  continued.  The 
result  of  the  enactment,  on  the  contrary, 
was  that  the  provinces  felt  themselves 
independent  of  Cracow,  and  the  unity  of 

3201 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


the  empire  seemed  imperilled  ;  but  this 
danger  was  averted  by  the  Church.  Arch- 
bishop Kietlicz  soon  came  back  from 
Rome,  and  summoned  a  synod  at  Gnesen. 
The  rule  of  celibacy  was  here  introduced  ; 
and  a  special  jurisdiction  and  other  rights 
were  conferred  on  the  Church.  Vladislav 
was  therefore  forced  to  give  way.  The 
remaining  petty  princes  fol- 

Banner  o*f  the     ^°^^^  ^^  example.  But  in  all 
anner  o      e     ^j^ggg  events  the  Archbishop 
Christian  Faith     ^  ^  ,  ,         ■    r     - 

of  Gnesen  played  an  mterior 

part  to  the  Bishop  of  Cracow,  for  Gnesen 
was  in  another  country.  The  wish,  how- 
ever, of  the  bishops  of  Cracow  that  the 
archbishopric  should  be  removed  from 
Gnesen  to  their  court  was  not  gratified. 

Poland  in  the  thirteenth  century  stood 
already  definitely  under  the  banner  of  the 
Christian  faith,  and  the  princes  acknow- 
ledged the  power  of  the  Church.  Casimir 
had  made  an  alhance  with  it  in  1180,  and 
solicited  Pope  Alexander  III.  to  confirm 
him  in  his  title.  Now,  also,  the  canonisa- 
tion of  Stanislaus,  Bishop  of  Cracow,  was 
completed,  in  order  that  the  country 
might  have  its  own  patron  saint ;  with 
this  object  the  old  Chronicles  had  to  be 
purposely  falsified.  Churches  and  monas- 
teries sprang  up  everywhere.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  Church  was  felt  in  every 
domain  of  public  life.  Boleslav,  Leszko's 
son,  practised  deeds  of  piety  and  acts  of 
penance.  The  princesses  took  the  veil 
and  won  for  themselves  the  saintly  nimbus. 
It  was  Leszko's  brother  Conrad  who  fought 
against  the  pagan  Prussians  and  sum- 
moned the  order  of  Teutonic  knights,  and 
by  so  doing  later  brought  great  danger 
upon  Poland. 

When  Leszko  died,  in  1227,  and  Conrad 
of  Masovia  assumed  the  government  in 
the  name  of  his  infant  son  Boleslav  the 
Shamefaced,  or  Modest,  the  nobles  con- 
spired against  him.  They  made  use  of 
the  Silesian  Piasts,  whose  head  at  that 
time  was  Henry  I.  the  Bearded,  grandson  of 
A  rki.  ♦•  ^^^^  Vladislav  who  had  been 
St^ru    le         expelled  in  1 146  from  Cracow. 

rugg  e  jj^^  nobihty  of  Cracow  sup- 
for  Cracow  _x   j    tt  i,        •  i 

ported  Henry,  who,  m  spite 

of  his  piety,  was  at  variance  with  the 
clergy.  The  princes  of  Silesia,  as  well  as 
of  Great  Poland,  seem  to  have  agreed 
together  about  him.  Vladislav,  in  opposi- 
tion to  whom  his  own  son  Vladislav 
Odonicz  came  forward  as  a  champion  of 
the  Church,  actually  designated  the 
Silesian  Henry  as  heir  to  Great  Poland. 

3202 


Under  such  circumstances  Henry  suc- 
ceeded in  uniting  in  his  hands  the  greater 
part  of  the  Polish  dominions.  It  would 
have  been  a  good  thing  for  Poland  if  the 
Silesian  Piasts  had  been  able  permanently 
to  hold  Cracow.  But  Henry  I.  died  early 
in  1238  ;  and  his  son  Henry  II.,  the  Pious, 
fell  gloriously  on  the  battlefield  at  Liegnitz, 
on  April  9th,  1241,  in  a  campaign  against 
the  Mongols. 

Thus  once  more  an  obstinate  struggle 
for  Cracow  was  kindled.  Three  lines  of 
Piasts — the  Silesian,  the  Great  Polish,  and 
the  Casimirid — entered  the  lists.  The 
weakest  of  all,  Casimir's  grandson,  Boles- 
lav Vstydlivy,  substantiated  his  claim ; 
the  bishops,  who  were  on  his  side,  married 
him  to  a  Hungarian  princess,  so  that  he 
was  supported  also  by  Hungary.  On  his 
death  without  issue  the  grandsons  of 
Conrad  of  Masovia,  Leszko  the  Black  and 
Vladislav  Lokietek,  both  of  whom  had 
estates  only  in  Kujavia,  came  forward  as 
claimants  to  the  throne.  Leszko  main- 
tained his  position  until  1288.  The  in- 
ternal feuds  were  then  at  their  height ; 
each  province  had  its  own  prince,  who, 
though  himself  too  weak, 
S'!''°T  was  still  at  war  with  his 
B^tmia  neighbour.  After  Vladislav 
emia  j^Q^jg^gj^^     ^j^q     reigned     only 

a  short  time,  another  Silesian  prince, 
Henry  IV.  Probus  of  Breslau,  took  posses- 
sion of  Cracow  (1289-1290).  In  the  true 
spirit  of  patriotism  he  selected  Przemyslav 
of  Great  Poland,  a  grandson  of  Odonicz, 
to  inherit  his  dominions.  But  others  came 
forward  as  rivals.  The  most  dangerous  was 
the  Bohemian  king  Wenzel  II.  He  married, 
in  1287,  as  his  first  wife,  Jutta,  a  daughter 
of  the  German  king  Rudolf  I.  of  Hapsburg  ; 
perhaps  the  object  in  view  was  a  union  of 
Poland  with  Bohemia  under  the  overlord- 
ship  of  Germany.  Cracow  was  taken  by 
Bohemia  in  the  year  1291.  Przemyslav, 
it  is  true,  in  order  to  notify  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  crown  of  all  the  Polands,  had 
himself  crowned  king  of  Poland  at  Gnesen 
in  1295  ;  but  he  died  the  next  year,  1296. 
Wenzel  conquered  Great  Poland,  and  had 
himself  crowned  king  of  Poland  in  1300. 
His  death,  in  1305,  alone  saved  the  indepen- 
dence of  Poland ;  but  the  kings  of  Bo- 
hemia henceforward  bore  the  title  of 
"  Rex  Poloniae."  The  native  candidates 
for  the  throne  were  finally  beaten  by 
Vladislav  Lokietek,  brother  of  Leszko  the 
Black.  When  he  was  himself  crowned  at 
Gnesen,  in  January,  1320,  with  the  consent 


THE    OLD    POLISH    EMPIRE 


of  the  Pope,  the  union  of  Poland  was  once 
more  safeguarded,  and  with  it  the  era  of 
hereditary  monarchy  had  dawned.  More 
than  two  hundred  years  had  elapsed  before 
the  PoHsh  nation,  by  great  sacrifices  and 
hard  struggles,  had  won  the  suitable  form 
of  government. 

The  Polish  nation,  which  had  bled  to 
gratify  the  ambition  of  her  princes,  while 
defiant  nobles  claimed  a  share  in  the 
government,  had  seen  her  most  prosperous 
days  irrevocably  ruined  through  civil 
wars.  We  can  best  estimate  her  loss  by 
her  relations  to  her  neighbours. 

The  position  of  Poland  towards  Germany 
had  become  unfavourable.  It  was  only 
when  Germany,  weakened  by  long  wars, 
had,  under  Rudolf  I.  of  Hapsburg,  aban- 
doned all  notions  of  world  empire,  that  a 
more  prosperous  era  dawned  for  Poland. 
It  was  only  to  the  turn  of  events  in  other 
countries,  and  to  the  battles  which  had 
been  fought  in  the  West  between  emperor 
and  Pope,  and  not  to  their  own  efficiency, 
that  the  Piasts  of  Poland  owed  their 
independence  from  Germany.  The  Bohe- 
mian relations  of  Poland  were  important, 
and,     in     fact,    decisive    for 

enace  ^^^   states    in   friendly    rela- 

ermany    ^j^j^g      ^^^g     ^q      ^j^g      Other  ; 

Mesko  I.  married  a  Bohemian  princess. 
The  common  menace  of  Germany  had 
probably  brought  them  closer  together. 
It  then  happened  that  the  two  princes 
quarrelled  with  each  other  because  the 
Polish  prince  had  robbed  the  Bohemian  of 
a  province  (Moravia  or  Cracow).  The 
emperor,  it  is  true,  decided  in  favour  of 
Bohemia,  but  could  not  force  Poland  to 
accept  his  arbitration. 

This  mutual  hostility  forms  a  pivot 
of  the  future  policy  of  Bohemia  and 
Poland.  Bohemia  openly  joined  the 
German  Empire,  and,  relying  on  this, 
wished  to  make  conquests ;  the  only 
place  left  for  Poland  was  in  the  camp  of 
its  enemies.  In  the  year  1003  Boleslav  I. 
of  Poland  succeeded  in  making  himself 
master  of  Bohemia.  The  union  of  these 
two  kingdoms  would  have  been  of  far- 
reaching  importance  for  the  whole  Slavonic 
world,  but  Germany  could  not  and  would 
not  tolerate  the  subjugation  of  her  vassal. 
Poland  was  forced  to  liberate  Bohemia. 

The  capture  of  Prague  only  increased 
the  hatred  of  the  two  nations.  Bretislav 
of  Bohemia  then  conquered  Moravia, 
and  carried  off  to  Prague  the  bones  of 

204 


St.  Adalbert.  Silesia  and  Cracow  fell  for 
a  time  under  Bohemian  rule.  Polish 
refugees  were  welcomed  in  Bohemia,  and 
those  of  Bohemia  in  Poland.  There  was 
almost  uninterrupted  fighting  in  the 
forests  on  the  Silesian  frontier.  The  same 
jealousy  was  apparent  in  the  ecclesiastical 
domain.  Bohemia  wished  to  have  its 
„.    ,  .  archbishopric,  like  Poland.  Bo- 

^f  D  1     J      hemia  took  part   m   Prussian 

of  Poland  1     .     i  ,       • 

and  Bohemia  "Missionary  work,  but  only  m 
rivalry  with  Poland.  The 
words,  therefore,  of  the  Polish  Chronicle 
of  the  so-called  Martinus  Gallus,  "  the 
Bohemians  are  the  worst  enemies  of 
Poland,"  have  a  deep  significance. 

It  was  only  in  the  thirteenth  century 
that  this  hostility  decreased,  principally 
through  the  efforts  of  Premysl  Ottokarll. 
The  hatred  of  Germany  had  now  brought 
the  two  countries  together.  It  was  Otto- 
kar  who  first  appealed  to  the  Slavonic 
fellow-sympathies  of  the  Poles  when  he 
prepared  for  a  decisive  campaign  against 
Germany.  But  Bohemia  was  too  closely 
associated  with  the  empire,  and  already 
too  far  removed  from  the  Slavonic  spirit, 
for  this  step  to  have  any  prospect  of 
success.  Poland  was  weaker,  but  since 
she  was  always  opposed  to  Germany,  the 
day  of  her  independence  would  eventually 
dawn.  While  Bohemia,  however,  in  con- 
nection with  Germany,  developed  more 
peacefully  and  under  able  kings  attained 
some  importance,  Poland  sank  deeper  and 
deeper.  Poland  formerly  had  assumed  the 
aggressive  towards  Bohemia,  but  now  the 
two  neighbours  had  exchanged  their  roles. 
Bohemia  obtained  Moravia  and  extended 
her  influence  over  Silesia.  In  fact, 
Bohemia,  the  direction  of  whose  plans  was 
defined  by  the  northern  course  of  the  Elbe 
and  Oder,  had  formed  still  wider  plans. 
If  the  Bohemian  princes  repeatedly  warred 
with  Prussia,  and  if  Wenzel  II.  conquered 
Cracow,  the  incentive  to  such  action 
must  have  been  the  Baltic.  Poland 
barred  the  way  thither. 
of  p'oland  ^^^  relations  of  Poland  and 
H*°  Hungary  were  quite  different. 
ungary  q^^^^  ^^^y  had  the  sove- 
reigns of  the  two  kingdoms  faced  each 
other  as  foes — when  Boleslav  I.  took 
Slovacia,  and  at  the  same  time  contested 
with  Stefan  in  Rome  for  the  royal  crown. 
In  later  times  the  interests  of  the  two 
countries  seldom  conflicted.  Hungary 
went  down  the  Danube  south-eastwards ; 
Poland   struggled    to    reach    the    Baltic. 

3203 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Owing  to  this  divergence  of  their  aims, 
quite  friendly  relations  were  often  after- 
wards developed. 

The  state  of  things  on  the  Baltic  Sea 
became  dangerous  for  Poland  at  the  time 
of  the  civil  wars.  The  Polish  princes  of 
Kujavia  and  Masovia  were  unable  to 
defend  themselves  against  the  pagan 
_  Prussians.      The  popes,  indeed, 

owero      ^gj.g     solicitous      about     their 
c    agan  ^.Q^ygj-gJQjj  .      crusades     were 

Prussians  i     j  j  j  r 

preached,  and  an  order  of 
knights  was  founded  in  Dobrzyn.  But  that 
was  of  little  avail.  Conrad  of  Masovia  and 
Kujavia,  therefore,  summoned  the  Teu- 
tonic knights  and  assigned  to  them  some 
districts  in  1226.  Hermann  of  Salza  did 
not,  however,  content  himself  with  the 
deed  of  gift  of  the  Piast,  but  obtained  that 
district  as  a  fief  from  the  Emperor 
Frederic  II.  and  Pope  Gregory  IX.  ;  the 
latter,  in  fact,  freed  the  territory  of  the 
Order  from  all  except  papal  overlordship. 
Thus  secured  on  all  sides  the  Order  began 
the  war  with  the  Prussians,  supported  by 
the  knights  of  Western  Europe,  and  especi- 
ally those  of  Germany  ;  the  princes  of 
Bohemia,  Poland,  and  Pomerania  also 
sent  help.  Success  came  rapidly  ;  Prussia 
was  soon  conquered  and  secured  by 
fortresses.  But  it  was  soon  apparent  that 
the  Order  had  its  own  interests,  not  those 
of  Poland,  in  view.  Duke  Svatopluk  of 
Pomerania  soon  confronted  the  Order  and 
protected  Prussia.  The  Polish  princes, 
however,  had  claimed  the  help  of  the 
knights  against  Brandenburg,  which 
wished  to  have  Pomerania.  But  the 
Order,  when  once  brought  into  Pomerania, 
was  unwilling  to  evacuate  the  country. 
In  the  same  year,  1309,  the  Teutonic 
knights  removed  their  chief  centre  from 
Venice  to  Marienburg.  Thus  there  arose 
here  a  dangerous  neighbour,  supported  by 
Germany  and  the  Pope,  which  threatened 
to  cut  off  Poland  from  the  sea.  The  only 
hope  left  was,  that  now  Lithuania  was 

,  ...,.,    developing  to  the    east    of 

Irresponsibility  ,,       r^  j         -.  j.    •    1       ^ 

of  the  Polish  *^^  ^'■^^'■'  ^*  certamly  lay 
g         .  with  Poland  to  make  the  best 

use  of  this  turn  of  events. 
Poland  was  equally  unable  to  guard  her 
interests  in  Russia.  This  position  was 
now  all  the  more  dangerous,  since  after 
the  subjugation  of  her  eastern  neighbour 
by  the  Tartars,  the  way  to  Poland  lay  open 
to  the  latter,  and  often  enough  have 
the  Tartars  ravaged  Polish  countries. 
Equally  gloomy  was  the  position  at  that 

3204 


time  of  the  internal  state  of  Poland, 
both  in  respect  of  legal  and  economic 
developments  and  with  regard  to  general 
culture.  The  person  of  the  prince  and 
his  court  constituted  the  centre  of  public 
life.  The  prince  was  the  supreme  adminis- 
trator, judge,  and  general ;  he  was 
formally  absolute  and  irresponsible.  He 
nominated  the  higher  officials,  who  re- 
presented his  rights ;  such  were  the 
court-judge  and  under-court-judge,  the 
marshal  and  under-marshal,  the  cham- 
berlain and  under-chamberlain,  senesechal 
and  under-seneschal,  carver,  etc.  At  their 
head  stood  the  palatine,  or  wojewoda.  It 
cannot  now  be  determined  which  offices 
dated  from  the  pagan  times  and  how  far 
the  court  may  have  been  altered  later ; 
the  offices  of  chancellor  and  court  secretary 
were  certainly  only  creations  of  the 
Christian  age. 

The  administration  was  simple.  The 
country  was  divided  into  Castellanries ; 
each  Castellan  exercised  in  his  own 
division  all  the  rights  of  the  prince.  The 
Castellanries  were  divided  into  smaller 
districts,  or  opola,  which,  probably  dating 
_  .  from    the    oldest    time,    con- 

rievous  tinned  in  existence  until  the 
^  * ^.^  thirteenth  century.  But  more 
important  for  the  people  were 
the  treasury  and  the  law  court.  It  is 
difficult  to  distinguish  accurately  between 
the  fiscal  dues  which  the  freemen  and 
serfs,  who  resided  on  the  crown  lands, 
were  required  to  pay,  and  those  which  were 
payable  to  the  royal  coffers  from  other 
lands.  The  dues  required  consisted  of 
payments  in  kind  and  in  compulsory 
services,  and  there  was  a  long  list.  A 
plough  tax,  a  court  tax,  and  a  peace  tax 
are  first  mentioned ;  we  find  also  dues 
on  honey,  corn,  cows,  oxen,  sheep,  swine, 
etc.  The  subjects  had  to  discharge  public 
duties  ;  they  were,  for  instance,  bound 
to  build  and  restore  the  castles  and  bridges, 
and  compelled  to  dig  moats,  mount  watch 
in  the  castles  and  courts,  furnish  the 
prince  and  his  officials  with  horses  and 
carriages,  guides  and  escorts,  to  hunt 
down  criminals  and  clear  the  forests,  and 
so  forth. 

Most  burdensome  was  the  obligation 
to  receive  and  board  messengers  and 
officials,  hunters,  falconers,  the  keepers 
of  the  royal  horses  and  hounds,  their 
brewers,  bakers,  fishermen,  etc.,  and  supply 
food  for  the  hounds  and  fodder  for  the 
horses.     Even  the  butchers  were  bound 


THE    OLD    POLISH    EMPIRE 


to  hand  over  to  the  royal  falconers  the 
livers  of  the  animals  which  they  slaugh- 
tered. Besides  this  the  prince  claimed 
all  unoccupied  lands,  all  hunting-grounds 
and  fisheries,  all  castles  and  towns,  tolls 
and  coinage  rights,  mills  and  the  sale  of 
salt,  markets  and  court  fees,  etc.  No 
considerable  deviations  from  the  oppres- 
sive burdens  of  the  feudal  system  in 
Western  Europe  are  observable.  If  we 
bear  in  mind  also  that  abuses  in  the  system 
occurred,  that,  for  instance,  when  horses 
were  required,  they  were  taken  from  any 
place,  but  were  often  not  restored,  we 
shall  understand  that  the  people  were 
completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  prince  and 
his  officials. 

Equally  unfavourable  to  the  people  was 
the  judicial  system.  The  inhabitants  of 
each  district,  or  opole,  were  collectively 
responsible  for  any  crimes,  and  in  the  event 
of  a  murder  which  had  been  committed 
on  its  soil  it  paid  the  indemnity,  and  also 
was  under  the  obligation  of  prosecuting 
the  criminals.  Since,  with  the  exception 
of  the  death  penalty  or  mutilation,  there 
were  only  fines,  that  is  to  say,  court  dues, 
the  courts  themselves  became 


Oppression 


a  sort  of  fiscal  institution.    As 


ty  Provincial  j^^^    ^^  ^^^  kingdom  was  Still 

Princes  undivided      and     large,     all 

burdens  were  still  more  or  less  endurable. 
But  the  position  became  worse,  and  finally 
intolerable,  when  after  the  partition  every 
prince  kept  up  in  his  own  province  a 
court  with  a  crowd  of  officials.  To  crown 
all,  the  nobles  and  clergy  struggled  more 
and  more,  as  time  went  on,  to  free  them- 
selves from  these  obligations,  while  they 
obtained  the  corresponding  privileges. 
They  released  themselves  from  the  systenl 
of  the  opole,  and,  by  so  doing,  from  its 
collective  responsibility,  jurisdiction,  and 
taxation.  In  this  way  private  lordships, 
almost  tax  free  as  regards  the  treasury, 
with  their  own  jurisdiction,  and  their 
own  system  of  taxation,  were  formed  by 
the  side  of  the  opole.  The  whole  burden 
of  the  kingdom  was  shifted  on  to  the 
peasants.  The  clergy  and  nobility  became 
rich,  while  the  people  and  the  peasantry 
were  impoverished. 

The  old  Slavonic  law  and  the  earlier 
enactments  were  so  riddled  by  these 
privileges  that  they  became  almost  im- 
practicable. The  necessary  change  came 
in  the  shape  of  the  German  colonisation. 
The  circumstance  that  the  Piasts,  es- 
pecially    in     Silesia,     married     German 


princesses,  who  came  to  Poland  with  a 
German  suite,  must  have  contributed  to 
increase  the  German  element  in  Poland, 
just  as  in  the  adjoining  country  of  Hun- 
gary. The  economic  distress,  however, 
was  the  decisive  cause.  In  order  to  fill 
the  treasury,  princes,  as  well  as  monas- 
teries and  nobles,  brought  into  the  country 
g  German  settlers  from  the  more 

of  German  ^^"^^^Y  inhabited  West  in  order 
Settlers  ^^  gather  the  produce  of  the 
fields.  The  superiority  and  the 
lasting  influence  of  the  foreign  colonists 
lay  less  in  the  fact  that  the  Germans 
knew  better  how  to  cultivate  the  soil 
rather  than  in  their  more  favourable  legal 
position.  The  colonists,  who  were  brought 
into  the  country  by  a  contractor,  received 
a  plot  of  ground  as  an  hereditary  property, 
with  certain  minor  rights  and  privileges, 
and  had  in  return  merely  to  pay  a  definite 
annual  sum  to  the  lord  of  the  manor. 

This  privileged  position  was  bound  to 
promote  their  prosperity  and  to  strengthen 
in  them  that  feeling  of  self-reliance  which 
they  had  brought  with  them  as  subjects 
of  the  German  Empire,  to  which  Poland 
was  tributary.  The  relation  of  the  im- 
migrant to  the  native  was  the  same  in 
Bohemia  and  Russia.  The  strong  political 
position  of  Germany  benefited  the  settlers 
of  that  day  as  much  as  it  benefits  the 
German  merchants  and  artisans  of  our 
times.  Foreigners  were  promoted  by  the 
Slavonic  princes  to  the  detriment  of  their 
own  people.  The  princes  were  too  short- 
sighted to  see  that  in  this  waj'  they  fostered 
in  their  own  people  that  sense  of  humilia- 
tion which  has  been  felt  for  centuries  and 
has  found  its  expression  in  legends,  songs, 
and  other  forms  of  literature. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Germans,  who 
had  the  means  at  their  disposal,  were 
always  in  the  position  to  pursue  further 
developments  of  culture.  The  feelings  of 
the  Slavonic  population,  mortified  and 
ignored  by  their  own  princes,  either 
,    unburdened      themselves      in 

e     avs     j^^|-j.p(j   fQj.  ^i^g   quite  innocent 

p  *^  ^  .       German    element    and    in   re- 
rosperi  y    i^^j^j^j^g  against  the  authorities, 

or  found  a  vent  in  emigration.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  people  took  refuge  in  the 
protection  of  the  German  law ;  Polish 
villages  and  towns  under  the  Slavonic  law 
wished,  in  order  to  increase  their  prosperity, 
to  be  "  promoted  "  to  the  German  law.  Ger- 
man customs,  language,  and  culture  would 
obviously    spread    rapidly    under    these 

3205 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


conditions.  The  devastations  of  the  Tartars 
and  the  civil  wars  helped  on  the  German 
colonisation.  Silesia  was  soon  com- 
pletely Germanised,  and  in  other  pro- 
vinces the  German  element  at  any  rate 
grew  steadily  stronger.  If  the  Silesian 
Piasts  succeeded  in  temporarily  driving 
the  Casimirids  from  the  throne  of  Cracow, 
_,  they  owed  that    in   no  small 

owns  as  degree  to  the  support  of  their 
N  f  iL'f  German  subjects.  AGerman- 
isation  of  the  entire  Polish 
state  lay  already  within  the  range  of  proba- 
bility. A  national  crisis  now  took  the 
place  of  the  economic  crisis  which  had  been 
partially  relieved  by  the  German  colonisa- 
tion. This  was  the  more  dangerous  since 
the  Teutonic  knights  had  now  formed  a 
third  party  in  the  country  by  the  side  of 
the  Germans  and  the  empire. 

This  situation  was  especially  gloomy  for 
Poland  and  all  Slavs,  since  it  was  no 
longer  the  courts  and  castles  of  the  ruling 
class,  but  rather  the  towns,  that  formed 
the  centres  of  political,  economic,  and 
social  life.  The  Slavs  had,  however, 
adopted  their  municipal  organisation 
directly  from  the  Germans,  who  were  far 
ahead  of  them  in  this  respect,  and  they 
usually  found  that  their  requirements  in 
culture  were  satisfied  to  a  far  higher 
degree  among  the  Teutons  than  among 
the  Latins. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  Poland 
when,  in  1320,  Vladislav  Lokietek  was 
crowned  king  in  Cracow.  The  removal  of 
all  abuses  in  the  interior  of  the  realm,  the 
improvement  of  the  administration  and 
judicature,  the  revision  of  the  system  of 
taxation,  the  establishment  of  equitable 
relations  between  the  various  sections  of 
the  people,  the  restraint  of  the  German- 
ising movement,  the  encouragement  of 
culture,  and  the  protection  of  the  realm 
against  foreign  attacks — such  was  the 
task  of  the  restored  monarchy.  It  was 
the  more  difficult  since  Poland  had  no 
p  .  .  friend,  or,  at  the  most,  some 
,„.^-     ^    moderate      support      from     the 

Without       T->  /-        •  u-    1- 

P  .  .  Roman  Curia,  which  was  aga.n 
in  conflict  with  the  empire. 
Lokietek  saw  clearly  that  the  Teutonic 
Order  was  the  most  dangerous  enemy  of 
Poland.  He  therefore  sued  the  knights  in 
the  Roman  Curia  respecting  Pomerania.  He 
formed  an  alliance  with  Denmark,  Sweden, 
and  Norway,  and  married  his  daughter 
Elizabeth  to  the  Hungarian  king,  Charles 
Robert  the  Angevin.      He  also  succeeded 

3206 


in  gaining  the  friendship  of  Lithuanian 
princes,  who  were  already  hostile  to  the 
Order.  In  1325  he  married  his  son 
Casimir  to  Aldona,  daughter  of  the  war- 
like Lithuanian  Gedymin.  Thus  strength- 
ened, he  advanced  himself  against  the 
Order.  The  first  engagements  proved 
favourable  to  him.  But  the  results  were 
temporarily  unimportant ;  and  the  Roman 
suit  brought  him  no  advantage.  This  was 
due  partly  to  the  hostile  attitude  of  King 
John  of  Bohemia,  who  could  not  disguise 
his  impulse  toward  the  North.  John  so 
far  accomplished  his  purpose  between  the 
years  1327  and  1331,  that  most  of  the 
Silesian  princes  did  homage  to  him  ;  and 
he  undertook  a  campaign  against  Lithu- 
ania, receiving  on  the  way  the  homage  of 
a  Masovian  prince.  The  Hungarian  assis- 
tance, which  Lokietek  received,  alone 
checked  the  Bohemian  king  from  further 
steps.  In  spite  of  all  this,  the  neighbour- 
ing states  noticed  that  the  position  of 
Poland  was  strengthened  when  Lokietek 
died  in  1333. 

Work    enough    was    left    for    his    son 

Casimir.     Lokietek  had,  it  is  true,  already 

_    .   ,  restored  to  a  large  extent  the 

asimir          unity  of  the  empire,  and  its 

St         HA  iridependence     was     actually 

rong  an  acknowledged  by  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire.  But  Poland,  which  had 
hardly  been  cemented  together,  was  so 
exhausted  that  it  could  be  permanently 
saved  only  by  a  strong  hand.  Casimir 
proved  himself  the  wished- for  strong  king. 
The  times  had  changed.  The  formerly  des- 
potic ruler  had  now  to  share  his  power  with 
the  priests  and  the  nobles.  By  the  side 
of  these  the  towns  rose  continuously  vic- 
torious. Chivalry  soon  lost  its  pecuUar 
value  ;  on  the  one  hand,  firearms  had 
been  invented ;  on  the  other,  the  ideas 
and  objects  of  men  changed  with  the 
growing  prosperity  of  trades  and  indus- 
tries. The  laws,  the  military  system,  and 
the  government  required  reform ;  they 
were  to  suit  the  conditions  of  a  new  era. 

Casimir  was  competent  for  his  task ; 
with  unerring  eye  he  recognised  that 
chivalry  was  nearing  its  end  ;  and  he  did 
not  fritter  his  time  away  in  tournaments 
as  King  John  did,  but  turned  his  attention 
with  all  the  greater  zeal  to  important 
economic,  pohtical,  and  social  questions. 
Thus,  in  1335,  making  full  use  of  the 
favourable  situation,  he  concluded  with 
John  of  Bohemia  the  treaty  of  Visegrad. 
John  abandoned  his  claims  on  Poland,  in 


THE    OLD    POLISH    EMPIRE 


he  recovered  only  Kujavia  and  Dobrzyn. 
Half  voluntarily  Poland  thus  barred  her 
own  access  to  the  Baltic  Sea.  But  in 
return  there  was  the  glimpse  of  hope  in 
the  future  of  pressing  onwards  to  the  East, 
The  King's  '^^  reaching  perhaps  the  Black 
^.^^  '  Sea,  and,  finally,  through  the 
Guidance  increase  of  power  there  ac- 
quired, of  wreaking  vengeance 
on  her  old  foes,  and  winning  back  the 
provinces  lost  to  Bohemia  and  the  Teutonic 
Order. 

Perhaps  this  goal  hovered  before 
Casimir's  eyes  when  he  concluded,  in  1339, 
the  settlement  of 
the  succession  with 
Hungary ;  there  were 
then  clear  signs  of 
ferment  in  the  region 
of  Halicz.  At  first, 
however,  Casimir  was 
unfortunate;  the  war 
with  Lithuania  and 
the  Tartars  was  by 
no  means  easy.  It 
was  only  towards 
1366  that  be  perma- 
nently secured  Lem- 
berg,  Halicz,  and  a 
part  of  Volhynia  for 
Poland.  Meanwhile 
he  had  also  re- 
conquered a  part  of 
Silesia  ;  the  Prince  of 
Masovia  also  took  the 
oath  of  fealty  to  him. 
He  still,  however, 
bore  the  title  "  Heir 
to  Pomerania  "  ;  a 
proof  that  he  con- 
CASiMiR  THE  GREAT  OF  POLAND         tinucd  to  think  about 

poisoned     in      Halicz  Casimir  in.  came  to  the  Polish  throne  at  a  time  when    that  COUUtry. 

h\r      flip       RnvarQ  nothing  but  the  iron  hand  of  a  strong  ruler  could  have         t>„+      ;+      «rac  rinf 

oy       Xlie       O  O  y  a  I  b,  g^^^^j  ^^^  country  from  disintegrration,  and  proved  himself         ^^^      ^"-      ^^^  ""^ 

Casimir     was     bound  the  wished-for  man  of  power.     He  carried  forward  many    in  his  COUqUCStS  and 

4.         •    .„„r !(      1  „  reforms,  and  greatly  advanced  his  country's  prosDeritv.   i.-           j  4. 

to    interfere    if     he  .       &       ^  y    ym^ycuLy.  j^^^   advancement 

did     not    wish    that    the     Lithuanians     of    his    realm   that    the    true    greatness 


return  for  which  Casimir  paid  him  120,000 
Bohemian  groschen,  and  recognised  the 
Bohemian  suzerainty  over  Silesia  and 
Plock. 

Casimir's  relations  with  the  Teutonic 
Order  did  not   turn    out  so    favourably 
for  Poland.    The  kings  of  Bohemia  and 
Hungary  decided  in  favour  of  the  knights  ; 
the  Roman  Curia  played  a  double  game. 
Thus  Pomerania,  which  was  lost,  could  be 
won   back  only  by    the  sword.     Casimir 
must  have  been  resolved  on  this,  since  he 
concluded  a  treaty  with  Charles  Robert 
of  Hungary,  in  1339,  at  Visegrad.     Having 
no    male    issue,    he 
promised  the  succes- 
sion   in     Poland    to 
Lewis,  the  son  of  the 
latter   and   his   own 
nephew,     on 
understanding 
Lewis    would 
back  the    lost 
vinces,    especially 
Pomerania,  would  fill 
the  offices  and  high 
posts  only  with  Poles, 
would  impose  no  new 
-taxes,      and     would 
respect    the    ancient 
privileges.    The  pur- 
port   of    this    here- 
ditary   alUance  was 
certainly    hostile    to 
the    Order.       But 
Casimir's      attention 
was     turned     in 
another  direction. 

When  the  child- 
less Prince  Boleslav 
Troidenovicz       was 


the 
that 

win 
pro- 


or      the      Tartars      should      seize      the 

country  and  thus  become  his  immediate 

neighbours.     When  Casimir  took  Halicz 

and  Lemberg,  in   1340,   the  Lithuanians 

_    ^    .      occupied    Volhynia;    an   event 
Teutonic        r  .  ,5  -      .    •  .  r  ' 

Q   .         .of  the  greatest  importance    for 

the  K'n      ^^^  Eastern  Europe.    Even  the 

question  of  the  Teutonic  Order 

at  once  became  less  weighty  and  urgent 

for  Poland.     In  1343  Casimir  concluded 

a  treaty  with  the  knights  at  Kalisch,  by 

which  he  ceded  to  them  Pomerania  and 

the  region  of  Michelau  and  Chelm,  while 


of  Casimir  lay,  but  in  his  administra- 
tion and  organisation.  He  would  not 
have  been  able  to  achieve  any  political 
successes  had  he  not  been  intent  on  internal 
reform.  In  the  first  place,  he  gave 
Poland,  which  had  hitherto  been  only  a 
personal  union  of  distinct  countries,  a 
centralised  organisation.  He  unified  the 
administration  by  creating  new  imperial 
offices  in  addition  to  the  local  offices  which 
had  existed  since  the  times  of  the  petty 
principalities.  He  then  proceeded  to  im- 
prove the  judicial  system.     He  first  of  all 

3207 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Casimir 

Fosters  National 
Feeling 


ordered  the  customary  law,  which  was 
preserved  only  in  oral  tradition  and 
naturally  was  different  in  the  different 
districts,  to  be  written  down,  and  then  had 
a  universal  code  prepared  for  all  Polish 
countries.  He  allowed  the  flourishing 
towns  which  lived  according  to  the  code  of 
Kulm  or  Magdeburg  to  retain  their  laws, 
but  forbade  any  appeal  to 
the  mother  towns  outside 
the  kingdom.  He  sub- 
stituted a  superior  court  of 
German  law  in  every  district,  which  decided 
cases  acccording  to  the  principles  of  the 
Magdeburg  Code  and  the  Sachsenspiegel ; 
the  magistrates  of  all  the  German  villages 
were  subordinated  to  this  court.  As  the 
tribunal  of  highest  instance  for  all  local 
courts  he  estabhshed  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Justice  at  Cracow  in  1356,  at  the  head 
of  which  stood  the  governor  of  Cracow 
and  a  royal  procurator-general,  with 
seven  quaUfied  lawyers  as  assessors. 
The  towns  were  in  this  way  severed  from 
Germany,  and  since  they  gradually  lost 
any  tendency  to  become  Germanised, 
the  national  feeUngs  of  Poland  were 
cautiously  fostered  and  developed. 

It  seemed  as  if  Casimir  from  the  same 
motives  had  specially  favoured  the  nobility, 
in  order  to  prevent  the  German  town  ele- 
ment from  acquiring  political  importance. 
The  arrogance  of  the  slachta  certainly  in- 
creased from  the  fact  of  his  taking  the 
advice  of  assembhes  of  nobles ;  indeed, 
there  was  actually  formed  among  the 
nobiUty  a  league  whose  head  suffered  the 
death  penalty  by  order  of  the  king  on 
account  of  outrages  which  had  been  com- 
mitted. The  king,  however,  continued  to 
regard  the  nobles  as  the  advisers  of  the 
crown.  This  tendency  was  visible  in  the 
actions  of  his  successors ;  the  national 
opposition  between  Poles  and  Germans 
was  then  very  strong. 

The  reorganisation  of  the  military 
system  was  not  less  important.  Hitherto 
p        J,  only  the  wealthy  nobles  had 

wi      ^-i-i        furnished   troops,   since    the 

New  Military  ,      ,  .        '    '  , 

g  cost  of  equipment  was  heavy 

and  the  landowning  clergy 
were  exempt  from  the  duty.  Casimir  now 
decided  that  for  the  future,  in  order  to 
raise  the  sunken  state  of  the  army,  the 
duty  of  service  should  be  imposed  upon  all 
possessors  of  land.  Thus  the  citizen  be- 
came equally  available  for  the  army  ;  the 
clergy  had  to  send  substitutes.  Regula- 
tions as  to  levying  troops  were  also  drawn 
3208 


up.  In  addition  to  this  he  ordered  that 
stone  fortresses  should  be  constructed 
everywhere  in  place  of  wooden ;  he 
transformed  churches  into  castles — hence 
the  Polish  kosciol,  Bohemian  kostel,  in  the 
sense  of  church — and  built  good  roads. 
The  later  successes  of  Poland  were  con- 
siderably influenced  by  these  military 
reforms. 

He  took  steps  no  less  effective  to  advance 
the  trade  of  the  country,  since  he  con- 
ferred special  privileges  on  the  towns, 
guaranteed  security  of  person  and  prop- 
erty to  foreign  merchants,  and  gave  them 
rights,  built  roads  and  bridges,  founded 
markets,  multiplied  the  number  of  fairs, 
opened  up  trade-routes  into  the  interior, 
extirpated  brigandage,  and,  what  was 
the  most  important  point,  introduced  a 
uniform  coinage.  The  prosperity  of  the 
kingdom  suddenly  revived,  and  the  repu- 
tation of  the  king  grew  so  greatly  that  he 
was  chosen  to  arbitrate  between  the 
Emperor  Charles  IV.  and  King  Lewis  of 
Hungary.  The  former  of  these  sovereigns 
married  at  Cracow,  as  his  fourth  wife, 
Casimir's  grand- daughter  Elizabeth,  and 
p  a    daughter    of    Boguslav   V. 

°  f  "^    J       of     Pomerania.         On     this 
Rich  and  /^      ■     •  u- 

«.  ...     .       occasion      Casimir    gave     his 

guests,  the  kings  of  Hun- 
gary, Bohemia,  Cyprus,  and  Denmark,  a 
brilliant  reception.  The  event  is  de- 
scribed in  the  "Chronica  Cracoviae"  of 
John  of  Czarnkov,  Archdeacon  of  Gnesen. 

Casimir  put  the  coping-stone  on  his 
labours  when  he  founded,  in  1364,  a  univer- 
sity at  Cracow.  Now,  for  the  first  time, 
Poland  entered  the  ranks  of  civihsed  states, 
and  could  now  perform  her  duty  in  the 
east  of  Europe.  He  considered  in  this 
scheme  the  interests  of  all  classes,  nations, 
and  creeds.  He  protected  the  peasants 
from  the  nobles,  and  was  therefore  called 
the  Peasants'  King.  He  granted  rights 
to  Armenians,  Jews,  and  others.  Himself 
a  Roman  Cathohc,  he  nevertheless  in- 
structed the  Byzantine  patriarch  to  found 
bishoprics  in  his  Russian  dominions. 

When  Casimir  died  in  1370  the  formerly 
exhausted  and  despised  Poland  was  a 
rich  and  respected  civilised  state.  The 
old  dynasty  of  the  Piasts  became  extinct 
with  him.  And  with  him  also  closes  the 
first  great  era  of  Polish  history.  In 
conformity  with  the  arrangement  which 
had  been  made  respecting  the  succession. 
King  Lewis  of  Hungary  took  over  the 
government.    Piasts    still    ruled,    it    is 


3209 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


true,  in  the  petty  principality  of  Masovia, 
but  Casimir  had  been  forced  to  exclude 
from  the  succession  these  ultra-con- 
servative and  insignificant  relations,  in 
the  interests  of  the  realm,  which  could 
attain  greater  importance  only  in  alli- 
ance with  a  second  power.  The  reign 
of  the  Angevin  Lewis  brought  no  pros- 
perity to  the  country  of  Poland,  which 
was  regarded  merely  as  an  appanage 
of  Hungary. 

After  his  coronation  in  Cracow  Lewis 
returned  home  with  the  Polish  royal 
insignia,  and  sent  his  mother  EUzabeth, 
the  sister  of  Casimir,  to  Poland  to  act  as 
his  regent.  He  thought  only  of  securing 
the  crown  of  Poland  for  one  of  his  daugh- 
ters, since  he  had  no  male  heirs,  who 
alone  were  regarded  in  the  succession 
treaty  by  Casimir.  The  agreement  with 
the  Polish  nobles  was  signed  at  Kaschau 
in  1374.  The  king,  in  return,  pledged 
himself  to  reconquer  the  lost  Pohsh 
provincies,  to  remit  the  dues  of  the  nobility 
except  the  sum  of  two  groschen  from  each 
plough,  to  confer  all  offices  only  on  Poles 
of  the  district  concerned,  and  to  give 
special  pay  to   the   military  for  service 


rendered  outside  the  borders  of  the 
country.  He  was  not  concerned  by  the 
thought  that  the  mihtary  and  fiscal 
strength  of  Poland  was  thus  much  reduced 
and  that  the  nobility  were  expressly  recog- 
nised as  the  dominant  influence ;  indeed, 
he  actually  united  Red  Russia  with  the 
Hungarian  throne,  and  sent  his  own 
governor  thither.  He  it  was,  also,  who 
largely  promoted  the  Roman  Catholic 
propaganda  in  the  Russian  territory,  and 
thus  generated  a  movement  which  not 
only  cost  Hungary  Red  Russia,  but  later 
proved  most  disastrous  to  Poland  also. 

The  arrogance  of  the  nobihty  increased 
during  his  reign,  and  with  it  disorders  in 
the  country,  so  much  that  there  was  no 
longer  any  justice.  The  property  of  the 
poor  was  continually  plundered  by  the 
Captains  and  Burggraves.  And  when,  after 
large  payments  to  the  Chancery,  a 
petitioner  came  back  from  Hungary  with 
a  royal  letter,  the  noble  brigands  took 
no  notice  of  it  at  all.  Merchants  and 
travellers  were  continually  robbed  and 
plundered  on  the  high-roads  without  the 
slightest  interference  on  the  part  of  the 
Captains. 


^^^^^m 


-^j^^LiLUmM 


GROUP    OF    POLISH    PEASANTS    AND    OTHER    NATIVES    OF    POLAND 


3210 


EASTERN 
EUROPE      TO 
THE  FRENCH 
REVOLUTION 


WHEN  KNIGHTHOOD  WAS  IN  FLOWER 

LITHUANIA   TO   THE    UNION    WITH    POLAND 


/^N  the  southern  shores  of  the   Baltic, 

^^     where  Nature  has  not  marked  any 

sharply  defined  limits  landwards,  the  Slavs, 

Finns,  and  Lithuanians   influenced    each 

other  reciprocally.     In  the  first  place,  the 

Slavs,  who  were  the  earliest  to  found  states 

in  those  parts,   ruled  the  others.      Thus, 

Poland,  following  the  course  of  the  Vistula, 

turned  against  the  Prussian  Lithuanians 

in  order  to  set  foot  on  the  Baltic.     We 

find  the   Finnish  Livonians  at   an  early 

period  of  history  the  vassals  of  the  Russian 

princes  of  Polock,  who  ruled  the  whole 

course  of  the  Dwina  as  far  as  the  sea. 

The  Esthonians  finally  became  dependent 

on  the  Novgorodian  Slavs  on  the  Lake 

of    Ilmen,    who  founded    there    Jurjev, 

or  Dorpat,  and  other  towns. 

But  when  Russia  became  weakened  by 

civil  wars,  and  the  princes  of  Polock  could 

not,  therefore,  assert  their  authority  over 

the  tribes  on  the  Dwina,  other  nations  tried 

_  .    to  gain  a  firm   footing  there. 

Danes  and     ^ni    "  . 

_  The  country  was  more  acces- 

.  , .  .  sible  from  the  sea  than  from 
the  interior  of  the  continent  of 
Eastern  Europe,  and  could  not  escape  the 
influence  of  those  nations  who  navigated 
the  Baltic  Sea. "  The  Danes  were  the  first 
to  try  to  settle  in  Livonia.  The  Swedes 
also,  who  navigated  the  whole  Baltic 
coast  and  estabhshed  a  large  emporium 
at  Wlsby  on  the  island  of  Gotland,  came 
into  contact  with  the  Finnish  tribes  in 
Livonia  and  Esthonia.  But  even  they 
failed  to  achieve  permanent  successes. 

The  situation  changed  only  when  the 
German  trading  towns  of  the  North  came 
into  prominence.  Liibeck  also  possessed 
an  emporium  and  trading  factories  at. 
Wisby,  but  then  tried  to  come  into  direct 
communication  with  the  Finnish  tribes 
without  Swedish  intervention.  The  Ger- 
man ship  that  had  sailed  to  seek  out 
these  tribes  was  driven  by  a  storm  into 
the  Gulf  of  Riga.  The  natives  flocked 
together,  as  the  older  Livonian  Rhymed 
Chronicle    tells    us,    and    attacked    the 


Germans.  But  when  they  were  beaten 
off,  they  proffered  peace  and  began 
to  trade  by  barter.  The  founding  of 
the  castle  Uxkiill,  usually  assigned  to  the 
year  1143,  really  dates  from  four  decades 
later.  This  first  contact  of  Germans  with 
_  Livonians,  Lithuanians,  and 

tf.    ^^  f*"^  Slavs  was  due  purely  to  a 

of  the  Great  •    ,       ,-  t:>    xm-jj 

n-  1.      rk«        commercial  pohcy.  But  it  did 

Bishop   Otto  ,  ..         ^  "Vu  r 

not  continue  so.  1  he  races  01 
Western  Europe  were  then  permeated 
by  a  deep  religious  feeling.  The  paganism 
of  the  Finnish  and  Lithuanian  tribes 
attracted  attention.  The  awakening  mis- 
sionary zeal  found  supporters  in  Germany 
the  more  readily  since  it  promised  to  be 
remunerative  both  in  its  political  and 
economic  aspects. 

The  first  missionary  of  the  Prussians 
was  St.  Adalbert,  who  enjoyed  the  pro- 
tection of  Poland.  Twelve  years  after 
him,  St.  Bruno  of  Querfurt  also  found  a 
martyr's  death  there.  Boleslav  IIL 
Krzyvousty  carried  on  the  work  of  con- 
version in  Pomerania-  and  Prussia  on  a 
larger  scale.  The  man  in  whom  he  con- 
fided, Bishop  Otto  of  Bamberg,  in  contrast 
to  other  missionaries  who  went  barefooted 
and  shabbily  dressed,  appeared  among  the 
Pomeranians  as  a  mighty  prince,  with  a 
briUiant  suite,  and  supported  by  the 
Polish  army.  He  gave  beautiful  clothes 
and  other  presents  to  the  newly  baptised, 
and  met  with  great  success. 

Henry  Zdik,  Bishop  of  Olmiitz,  then 
resolved  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
Prussians  in  the  footsteps  of  St.  Adalbert, 
and  appUed  to  the  Curia  in  1140.  But  it 
was  not  until  1144,  when  pre- 
Converting  pg^j-ations  were  being  made  for 
the  Second  Crusade,  that  Pope 
Lucius  IL  negotiated  with 
Henry  about  a  Prussian  mission.  It  was 
then  determined  that  Bohemia,  Poland, 
and  other  northern  kingdoms  should 
not  be  obhged  to  join  expeditions  to  the 
Holy  Land,  but  should  undertake  the 
conversion  of  the  Prussians  instead.     The 

321 1 


the 
Prussians 


HISTORY    Of    THE    WoftLG 


Moravian  princes,  therefore,  undertook, 
with  Bishop  Henry,  a  crusade  against  the 
Prussians  in  1147.  They  were  joined  by 
German  and  Polish  princes.  This  event 
may  have  ripened  the  plans  at  the  Bo- 
hemian court  for  expanding  in  a  northerly 
direction  at  the  cost  of  Poland,  and 
obtaining  a  footing  on  the  Baltic  by 
p       ,  ,  building   castles,   etc.     The 

„    -  ,     Prussians     obstinatelv     de- 

Freference  for   r      j    j     .i     -        u  j  j 

Its  Old  Gods  !?"^^^,.?T  "^^nf"^'  ^"^ 
their  hberty.  They  im- 
proved their  methods  of  warfare,  and  even 
ventured  on  invading  Kuj  avia  and  Masovia. 

During  the  course  of  these  events  the 
Danes  turned  their  attention  to  the  Wends, 
and  the  Swedes  to  Finland,  Livonia  and 
Esthonia.  Abbot  Peter  of  Rheims  marked 
out  for  the  Finnish  mission  his  pupil 
Fulko,  who  was  consecrated  bishop  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Lund.  Pope  Alexander 
in.  gave  his  sanction  to  the  plan  in  1169, 
and  conferred  indulgences  on  all  Scan- 
dinavians who  would  join  the  war  against 
the  Esthonians.  Fulko  was  not,  how- 
ever, adequately  supported  by  either 
side.  The  Christian  propaganda  of 
the  Scandinavians  generally  met  with 
no  success. 

Abbot  Arnold  of  Liibeck,  who  is 
generally  supposed  to  have  continued 
the  Slavonic  Chronicle  of  Helmod,  relates 
that  Meinhard,  a  priest,  came  with  the 
Germans  to  Livonia,  and  was  the  first  to 
try  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  Livonians. 
When  he  found  that  the  harvest  was  good, 
he  applied  to  the  Archbishop  of  Bremen, 
in  1 186,  to  inaugurate  a  mission  on  a  grand 
scale  ;  he  also  asked  the  Prince  of  Polock 
to  allow  the  mission.  As  a  reward  for  his 
successful  energy  in  building  a  church  and 
a  castle  at  Uxkiill,  founding  of  convents, 
etc.,  the  Archbishop  of  Bremen  con- 
secrated him  Bishop  of  Uxkiill.  But  when 
tithes  were  exacted  from  the  Livonians, 
and  they  noticed  their  dependence  on 
Bremen,  they  attacked  Uxkiill  and  dived 
_  .      .  into  the  Dwina  to  wash  off  their 

aJ  "a*"      baptism.    Meinhard,  who  could 

^.   .  ..    ..   not  leave  the  castle,  sent  his 

Christianity  T\.t.u  * 

Vicar,  Dietrich,  as  an  envoy  to 

Rome,  and  died  in  1196.     His  successor, 

Berthold,  reached  Livonia  with  an  army 

of  Crusaders,  but   was  defeated   by  the 

Livonians  in  1198. 

All  the  baptised  Livonians  abandoned 

Christianity  ;    they  threw  into  the  sea  a 

wooden  image  which  they  thought  to  be 

the  German  god  of  destruction. 

3212 


The  Archbishop  of  Bremen  now  sent 
Albert  of  Bukshovden,  in  1198,  as  bishop 
to  Uxkiill.  King  Canute  of  Denmark, 
Pope  Innocent  III.,  and  several  princes 
supported  him.  A  crusading  force  of 
twenty-three  ships  now  came  to  Livonia. 
The  Livonians  assumed  the  defensive,  but 
Albert  had  recourse  to  stratagem.  After 
concluding  an  armistice,  he  invited  the 
oM"st  Livonians  to  a  banquet,  and  did  not 
let  them  go  free  until  they  gave  their 
children  as  hostages,  and  promised 
acceptance  of  Christianity.  The  opposition 
of  the  Livonians  was  broken  down,  the 
children  were  sent  to  Bremen  to  be 
educated,  and  the  Gospel  was  preached 
everywhere.  In  1201,  for  greater  security, 
he  removed  the  bishopric  from  Uxkiill  to 
the  town  of  Riga,  which  had  been  newly 
fortified  by  him,  and  lay  nearer  to  the  sea. 

He  then,  in  order  to  create  a  fighting 
force  for  himself,  divided  the  land  as  liefs 
among  such  Crusaders  as  were  willing  to 
settle  there.  When  the  news  of  the 
founding  of  Riga  was  spread,  Esthonians, 
Livonians,  Courlanders,  and  Lithuanians 
came  to  conclude  peace.  In  order  to 
secure  absolutely  the  work  of  conversion, 
Albert  founded,  in  1202,  a  new 
knightly  order  for  Livonia  on 
the  model  of  the  Templars. 
These  jratres  militicB  Christi 
wore  white  cloaks  with  a  red  cross  and 
sword  on  the  left  breast,  and  were  there- 
fore called  fratres  ensiferi,  or  gladiferi, 
sword- wielders,  the  order  of  the  sword. 
They  were  subject  to  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  jurisdiction  of  the  bishops  of 
Riga.  The  master  had  his  seat  in  the 
newly  built  Wenden. 

In  the  year  1207,  Albert  surrendered 
Livonia  to  the  Emperor  Phihp  of 
Suabia  as  a  fief.  The  real  conquest 
now  began.  The  Livonians  first,  and 
then  the  Letts  were  subjugated.  The 
Russian  principality  of  Polock,  to  which 
the  country  on  the  Dwina  paid  tribute 
(the  two  principalities  of  Kukenojs  and 
Gersike  belonged  to  it),  attempted,  it  is 
true,  to  enforce  its  rights  by  help  of  the 
Esthonians,  but  it  was  too  weak.  Even 
Kukenojs  and  Gersike  were  conquered  by 
the  Germans,  and  the  name  of  the  latter 
soon  disappears  from  history,  although 
Albert  agreed  to  the  payment  of  a  tribute 
for  Livonia  to  Polock. 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  Esthonia.  The 
district  of  Sakkala,  with  FeUin,  was 
first  conquered;    then  Ungaunia.     Here, 


Surrender 

of 

Livonia 


VIEWS    OF    RIGA    THE    ANCIENT    CAPITAL    OF    LIVONIA 


3213 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


The  Danes 
Founders 
of  Reval 


however,  Novgorod,  to  which  the  Estho- 
nians  paid  tribute,  and  which  had  built 
Jurjev  in  those  parts  in  1030,  came  into 
the  question.  The  princes  also  of  Pskow, 
with  the  help  of  Novgorod,  inflicted 
defeats  on  the  Germans.  Albert  therefore 
turned,  in  1218,  to  King  Waldemar  II. 
of  Denmark.  The  Esthonians  were 
beaten  in  1219.  The  Danes 
founded  then  the  town  and 
castle  of  Reval,  and  placed  a 
bishop  there,  who  was  sub- 
ordinate to  the  Archbishopric  of  Lund. 
The  Danes  and  the  Germans  now  vied  with 
each  other  in  the  conversion  of  the  country. 
The  Livonian  Order  protested  against  the 
Danish  conquest.  Albert  lodged  charges 
against  Waldemar  in  Rome  and  before 
the  German  Emperor,  all  in  vain.  Walde- 
mar offered  Esthonia  as  a  fief  to  the  Pope  ; 
the  Emperor  Frederic  II.  was  involved  in 
the  preparations  for  a  crusade.  Albert 
was  compelled,  therefore,  to  recognise  the 
supremacy  of  Denmark  over  Esthonia. 
But  since  Waldemar,  his  attention  being 
engrossed  elsewhere,  abandoned  the  con- 
quered countries  to  their  fate,  the  Germans 
were  able  to  recover  their  strength.  In 
the  year  1224  they  took  Jurjev,  although 
it  had  been  obstinately  defended  by  the 
Prince  Wjatko.  Albert  then  conquered 
the  islands  of  Mon  and  Oesel.  The  Order 
attacked  Reval  and  other  Danish 
possessions.  Even  the  Courlanders  and 
Semgallians  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Dwina 
were  subjugated  in  the  hfetime  of  Albert. 
The  Order  received,  after  the  year  1207, 
a  third  of  the  conquered  countries  for  its 
maintenance.  When  Albert  died,  in  X229, 
the  sovereignty  of  the  bishopric  and  the 
Order  extended  over  the  whole  of  Cour- 
land,  Livonia,  and  Esthonia. 

The  successes  of  the  Livonian  Order 
drew  the  attention  of  all  the  northern 
states  to  it.  The  PoUsh  prince,  Conrad  of 
Masovia  and  Kujavia,  whose  dominions 
had  been  cruelly  raided  by  the  pagan 
p  Prussians    and    were    being 

to'^"c  Pasan  ^'^^'"''^'^  ^Y  ^^^  Lithuanians, 
Prussians  formed  a  scheme  of  founding 
a  similar  knighthood.  At 
that  time  Christian,  a  monk  of  the  Cistercian 
monastery  in  Ohva,  late  Suffragan  Bishop 
ot  Mainz,  was  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the 
Prussians.  Pope  Honorius  III.,  to  whom 
he  appealed  for  assistance,  raised  him  to  the 
Bishopric  of  Lithuania  and  recommended 
him  to  the  Archbishop  of  Gnesen.  On  his 
return  to  Prussia  he  could  not,  however, 

3214 


maintain  his  position.  Even  Conrad  was 
compelled  to  leave  his  principality.  In  his 
straits  he  founded  an  "  Order  of  Christ," 
and  cissigned  to  it  the  territory  of  Dobrzyn ; 
hence  also  the  name  "  Dobrinian  Order." 
But  this  Order  also  failed  to  hold  its  own. 

Conrad  now  turned  to  the  Teutonic 
Order,  which  just  at  this  time,  1225,  was 
expelled  from  Transylvania  by  King 
Andreas  of  Hungary.  The  Grand  Master 
Hermann  of  Salza  accepted  his  offer,  and 
received  as  territory  the  district  of  Kulm 
and  the  regions  still  to  be  conquered.  The 
Order  took  all  this  in  1226  as  a  fief  from 
the  Emperor  Frederic,  and  thus  continued 
to  make  itself  independent  of  the 
Masovian  prince. 

In  the  year  1228  Hermann  Balk,  the 
first  territorial  master,  appeared  in  Prussia 
with  a  strong  force  of  knights  under  the 
banner  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  The 
heathen,  who  were  still  disunited  and 
carried  on  the  war  in  bands,  were  driven 
back  step  by  step.  Good  roads  were  laid 
down  everywhere,  and  castles  built.  Thus, 
first  of  all,  Thorn  arose,  then  Kulm, 
Marienwerder  and  Elbing.  The  Prussian 
children  were  taken  away   and  sent  to 

Th  T  t  •  ^^^"^^^y  to  be  educated. 
Q  *    ,  "         The   pagans  offered,  indeed, 

^      .  0  an  obstinate  resistance.    But 

Oreat  rower    ,,         „  1     •    i  , 

the    German     knights    were 

supported  by  the  whole  of  Europe,  while 
the  Prussians  found  only  here  and  there 
some  slight  help  from  their  fellow  tribes- 
men in  Lithuania. 

While  the  Teutonic  Order  thus  grew 
stronger,  the  news  suddenly  came  from 
Livonia  that  the  Order  in  that  country, 
being  inadequately  supported  by  the  West 
and  threatened  by  an  overwhelming  force 
of  Livonians,  Danes  and  Russians,  was 
on  the  verge  of  being  dissolved.  In  order 
to  save  the  new  offshoot,  it  was  proposed 
to  combine  the  two  foundations.  The 
Knights  of  the  Sword  were  incorporated 
in  the  Teutonic  Order  in  1237,  adopted 
its  badges  and  dress,  and  henceforward 
formed  a  province  of  the  Teutonic  Order, 
without,  however,  disowning  their  duties 
toward  the  Bishop  of  Riga  and  the  Prince 
of  Polock.  The  amalgamation  was  ad- 
vantageous for  beth  parties.  A  powerful 
German  state  was  now  formed  on  the 
southern  coast  of  the  Baltic,  to  which  the 
Lithuanians,  Finns  and  Slavs  were  sub- 
ordinated. Its  superiority  in  culture,  war- 
fare, and  government  soon  made  the  Order 
a  menace  to  the  Russians  and  the  Poles. 


LITHUANIA    TO    THE    UNION    WITH    POLAND 


Knights  flocked  to  the  territory  of  the 
Order  from  all  parts  of  Europe.  Luxury 
and  magnificence,  with  a  constant  round 
of  brilliant  tournaments  and  banquets, 
were  the  order  of  the  day  at  Marienburg, 
the  seat  of  the  Grand  Master,  and  in 
the  other  castles.  Possibly  no  royal 
court  in  Europe,  not  excepting  that  of  the 
emperor  himself,  offered  such  pleasures  and 
distractions  to  the  knights  as  the  court 
of  Marienburg.  This  was  the  training 
college  for  the  young  knights,  who  natur- 
ally went  there  in  preference  to  Palestine. 
Every  year  foreign  knights  assembled  in 
the  domains  of  the  Order  to  take  part 
in  the  campaigns.  "Journeys"  were  made 
to  Lithuania,  when  the  lakes  and  morasses 
were  frozen.  The  country  was  completely 
ravaged,  the  inhabitants  were  carried 
off,  and  the  villages  burnt.  The  Lithu- 
anians then  did  the  same,  only  in  larger 


up  in  consequence  of  the  dissensions  of  the 
princely  family  and  with  the  popular 
assembUes,  the  contending  parties  often 
called  in  the  help  of  their  neighbours, 
and  in  this  way  Lithuania  was  drawn 
into  Russian  affairs.  By  the  first  half  of  the 
thirteenth  century  Lithuanian  principaU- 
ties  had  arisen  on  Russian  soil.  Towards 
•'  Black  Russia "  ^^^  middle  of  the  thir- 
the  Prize  teenth  century  Mendog,  or 

of  Battle  Mindove,  came  into  prom- 

inence as  ruler  of  Lithuania. 
He  appears  to  have  been  the  first  who,  as 
"  Grand  Duke  "  treated  the  other  petty 
princes  as  vassals.  But  his  position  was 
difficult.  Not  only  did  the  lords  of  Hahcz 
and  Vladimir  fight  against  him  for  the 
possession  of  Black  Russia,  but  his  kins- 
men pressed  on  him  still  more  heavily. 
Even  the  people,  dissatisfied  with  his  im- 
perious policy,  turned  against  him ;    the 


THE    CASTLE    OF    REVAL,    THE    PRINCIPAL    CITY    OF    ESTHONIA 
The  history  of  Reval  dates  back  to  the  thirteenth  century,  when  it  was  founded  as  a  Danish  town.    It  was  sold,  in  1346, 
to  the  Teutonic  knights  by  Denmark;  it  became  Swedish  in  1561,  and  in  1710  it  was  captured  by  Peter  the  Great. 


numbers,  since  the  domains  of  the  Order 
were  thickly  populated  and  studded  with 
castles.  The  Teutonic  knights  succeeded 
after  a  time  in  winning  a  party  for  them- 
selves among  the  Lithuanians ;  the 
wealthier  and  shrewder  pagans  were 
forced  ultimately  to  acknowledge  that 
Christianity  was  better,  the  culture  of  the 
-^  p  ,  Order  higher,  and  their  way  of 
T  "b  .'Y*^*  ^^^^  more  pleasant.  At  the 
Christianity  moment  when  the  danger  from 
the  Teutonic  Order  was  the 
greatest,  Lithuania  unexpectedly  found  a 
new  source  of  strength  in  the  surrounding 
Russian  territory.  The  adjoining  district 
of  Polock  had  severed  itself  earlier  than 
the  other  Russian  principalities  from  the 
control  of  Kiev.  Since  there  also,  as 
formerly  in  the  Russia  of  the  twelfth 
centtury,  several  petty  principalities  sprang 


more  so  as  the  prince,  although  still  a 
pagan,  was  not  disinchned  towards  the 
Christian  religion,  which  was  introduced 
there  from  Russia. 

The  result  was  the  formation  of  two 
parties  in  Lithuania.  The  one  repre- 
sented the  national  element,  and 
defended  the  national  language,  cus- 
toms, and  rehgion  ;  the  Christian,  which 
was  already  the  stronger  party,  incUned 
toward  Russia.  At  the  head  of  the 
latter  party  stood  Mendog's  son  Voj- 
schelk,  an  enterprising  character,  who 
was  devoted  to  the  Greek  Church  with  the 
full  zeal  of  his  fiery  soul.  He  entered  a 
convent,  and  his  dearest  wish  was  to  end 
his  days  on  Mount  Athos,  as  many 
sovereigns  of  Oriental  Christendom  had 
done.  But  what  Mendog  wished  was 
some  relaxation  in  the  struggle  against  the 

3215 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Livonian  and  Teutonic  Orders  ;  instead 
of  which  both  parties  launched  him  into 
a  still  more  obstinate  war  with  the  Orders, 
and,  in  addition,  with  Russia.  Red 
Russia  now  entered  on  the  scene  against 
Lithuania  \vith  all  its  forces  ;  a  better 
understanding  between  it  and  the  Teutonic 
knights  had  been  effected.  Both  sides 
fought  for  the  possession  of  Black  Russia. 
If  the  princes  of  HaUcz  had  succeeded  in 
uniting  Black  Russia  with  their  possessions, 
a  new  power, 
with  the  Little 
Russians  for  its 
chief  supporters, 
would  have  been 
formed,  owing 
to  the  internal 
dissensions  of 
Lithuania  and 
the  disintegra- 
tion with  which 
Russia  was 
threatened  from 
the  south-east 
through  the  Tar- 
tar ascendancy. 

But  the  wily 
Lithuanian  un- 
derstood how  to 
cri  pple  all  his 
foes.  He  first 
professed  h  i  s 
willingness  t  o 
accept  Christian- 
ity. Innocently, 
sent  him  the 
royal  crown,  and 
Mendog  received 
it  and  the  rite  of 
baptism  at  Nov- 
gorod, in  1250. 
In  this  way  a 
friendly  under- 
standing was  pro- 
moted between 
him  and  the 
Livonian  Order, 
the  whole  region 


A    PILGRIMAGE    SCENE    AT    THE    CHAPEL    OF 
OSTRO    BRAMA    IN    WILNA 


By  ceding  to  the  latter 
of  Smud,  he  revenged 
himself  also  on  that  national  party  which 
refused  to  recognise  his  overlordship. 

Mendog  also  concluded  a  treaty  with 
the  Prince  of  Red  Russia  in  1255, 
and  ceded  Black  Russia  to  him  as  a 
fief.  His  son  Vojschelk  married  a 
daughter  of  the  prince  of  the  former. 
The  people  soon  rose  in  Smud  against  the 
Livonian  Order,  and  were  willing  now  to 
accept  Mendog's  rule.    Mendog  vigorously 

3216 


supported  this  movement  ;  tne  Order 
suffered  a  decisive  defeat,  and  was  com- 
pelled once  more  to  cede  all  the  Lithuanian 
provinces.  In  this  way  the  power  of  the 
Grand  Dukein  Lithuania  was  strengthened. 
For  although  Mendog  was  murdered  in 
1263,  others  aimed  at  the  position  of 
Grand  Duke.  Lithuania  had  now, 
therefore,  to  face  the  same  struggle 
for  the  constitution  as  Russia,  Poland, 
and  other  Slavonic  countries. 

The  family  of 
Men  dog  had 
made  a  power  out 
of  Lithuania ;  but 
it  was  the  lot  of 
another  Lithu- 
anian family  to 
raise  Lithuania 
into  a  great  power 
— the  family,  that 
is,  whose  repre- 
sentative, Gedy- 
min,  was  Grand 
Duke  in  1316. 
The  state  of 
Lithuania  had 
already  acquired 
a  quite  different 
aspect.  Its 
swamps  and  lakes 
were  not  its  only 
fortifications,  but 
the  country  was 
covered  with 
castles  and  walled 
towns.  An  im- 
proved method 
of  warfare  had 
been  learnt  from 
the  Germans. 
Russian  culture 
permeated  public 
and  private  life  ; 
the  Russian  lan- 
guage was  the 
language  of  the 
Church,  the  court,  and  the  nobility ; 
the  princely  chancery  used  no  language 
except  Russian ;  the  Lithuanian  army 
consisted  to  a  large  extent  of 
Russian  troops,  and  was  often  led  by 
Russians. 

As  a  sort  of  Russian 
was  able  to  expand 
Russian  territory.  Gedymin  had  several 
Russian  principalities.  His  rule  was 
actually  greeted  with  joy  in  the  re^ons 
occupied  by  the  Tartars. 


state,  Lithuania 
more   easily    on 


3217 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


The    Lithuanians    defeated    even   the 

dreaded    Mongols,    who    were    reckoned 

invincible.     Kiev    itself    oscillated    now 

between  the  Lithuanian  and  the  Tartar 

ruler.     Russian   districts  composed  with 

it  the  predominant  part  of  the  Lithuanian 

state,  which,  under  Gedymin,  was  the  first 

power  of  Eastern  Europe.     Although  still 

^.     _       .,      a  pagan,  Gedymin  married 

The  Founding  -r,        •  ■  ji 

,  , .,.       .  ,    Russian       princesses,       and 

C  "t  1  C't  a-ilowed  them  to  live  accord- 
ing to  the  Christian  faith  and 
educate  their  children  in  it.  He  married 
his  son  Olgerd  to  a  princess  of  Witebsk,  his 
second  son  to  a  princess  of  Volhynia ;  one 
daughter  to  Prince  Symeon  of  Moscow,  and 
another  to  the  Prince  of  Tver.  Aldona 
wedded  Casimir  of  Poland ;  the  fourth 
daughter,  Boleslav  Trojdenovicz  of  Maso- 
via.  He  sent  colonists  into  the  wide  deserts, 
and  built  towns  and  villages,  to  which  he 
gave  privileges  of  the  German  type. 

He  founded  Wilna,  the  future  capital 
of  Lithuania,  transferred  the  pagan 
sanctuary  thither  in  1322,  and  had 
the  sacred  fire  kindled  there  before 
the  altar  of  Perkunas.  At  the  same 
time  he  entered  into  negotiations  with  the 
Pope,  obviously  only  to  hold  the  Teutonic 
Order  in  check.  In  1336  the  Grand 
Master  Dietrich  of  Altenburg  (1335-1341) 
once  more  organised  a  great  "  journey  " 
to  Lithuania.  The  knights  marched  on 
Smud ;  and  Pillene,  where  some  four 
thousand  Lithuanians,  with  their  wives 
and  children,  were  shut  in,  was  besieged. 
Fire  decided  the  fate  of  the  wooden  fortress 
and  its  valiant  defenders. 

Gedymin  met  his  death  in  1340  or  1341, 
at  the  fortress  of  Welona  when  it  was 
besieged  by  the  Germans,  having  been 
struck  by  a  cannon-ball  ;  use  was  therefore 
made  of  the  invention  of  gunpowder  earlier 
than  at  Crecy  in  1346.  Following  the 
precedent  of  Russia,  Gedymin  had  legal- 
ised the  dignity  of  Grand  Duke,  and  at- 
tached  it    to   the    possession    of   Wilna. 

B         B    •  .        Javnut  was  marked  out 
Pagan  Burial  ^^    ^^    ^^^^^    j^^j^^     ^.^ 

^t  •  *•      ¥     J      other  six  sons — Monvid, 

Christian  Leader  ^^  ^   -rr     ■    1  ^-\^         ■, 

Narymunt,  Koriat,01gerd, 

Kejstut  and  Lubart — divided  the  rest  of 

the  kingdom  between  them.     Olgerd  and 

Kejstut  stood  out  conspicuously  among 

them.     The    former    obtained    Lithuania 

proper,  with  Krevo  and  the  territory  of 

Witebsk ;  Kejstut,    on    the    other  hand, 

obtained  Smud,   with  Troki    as   capital, 

Grodno,  and  Berestie  in  Black  Russia. 

3218 


Olgerd  was  a  strong  and  handsome  man, 
of  fine  intellect  and  political  insight,  and, 
what  was  rare  in  his  days,  sober  and  ab- 
stemious. He  understood  several  languages, 
and  was  not  addicted  to  play.  A  crafty 
leader,  he  did  not  even  inform  his  troops 
on  the  march  to  what  goal  he  was  leading 
them.  Olgerd  was  the  representative  of 
the  Christian  party  among  the  Russians. 
His  wives  and  children  were  Christians. 
According  to  Russian  authorities  he  was  a 
Christian  himself,  although  the  foreign 
chroniclers  assert  that  his  corpse  was 
burnt  on  a  funeral  pyre  ;  perhaps  the 
pagan  priests  wished  this  to  be  so. 

Kejstut,  an  honest  nature,  a  typical 
knight  in  every  sense,  and  an  impetuous 
spirit,  was  deified  by  the  people  as  the 
representative  of  the  national  paganism. 
He  unselfishly  helped  his  brother  to  obtain 
the  grand- ducal  power,  and  was  his  most 
loyal  subject,  friend  and  guardian.  Him- 
self a  pagan  by  honest  conviction,  he 
was  the  last  Lithuanian  prince  who  was 
buried  according  to  heathen  customs. 
Both  added  to  the  greatness  and  fame  of 
Lithuania.  While  Olgerd  as  Grand  Duke 
united  Russian  principalities  with  Lithu- 
.   ^  ania,    conquered    Kiev    itself, 

„  "*  and  so  advanced  the  frontiers 
K  •  hth  a  ^^  ^^^  south  as  the  Tartar  tribes 
"**  °  of  the  Black  Sea  and  east- 
ward beyond  the  Dnieper,  Kejstut  took 
over  the  protection  of  the  western  frontier 
and  the  war  with  the  combined  knightly 
Orders. 

The  chroniclers  record  many  noble 
features  in  the  life  of  this  great  hero. 
Kejstut  rescued  by  his  intercession  the 
commandant  of  a  castle  of  the  Order  who 
was  sentenced  by  the  Lithuanians  to  be 
burnt ;  he  also  forcibly  expressed  his 
displeasure  when  corpses  were  wantonly 
mutilated  on  the  battlefield.  H  he 
planned  an  attack  into  the  knights' 
country  he  used  to  announce  his  intention 
to  their  commanders,  and  he  naturally 
expected  similar  chivalrous  treatment 
from  the  Order.  When  Covno  was  sud- 
denly attacked  by  the  knights  in  1362,  he 
lodged  a  protest  against  such  conduct 
before  the  far-famed  Grand  Master  Win- 
rich  von  Kniprode  (1351-1382).  On  one 
occasion,  being  made  prisoner  and  brought 
to  Marienburg,  he  was  recognised  and 
secretly  liberated  by  Alf,  the  servant 
assigned  to  him,  a  Lithuanian  by  birth. 
Kejstut  was  almost  beloved  by  the  Order 
on  account  of  his  chivalrous  spirit.    Once, 


LITHUANIA    TO    THE    UNION    WITH    POLAND 


when,  after  the  unsuccessful  siege  of  a 
castle,  he  was  compelled  to  cross  a  river 
and  was  nearly  drowned,  the  marshal 
Henning  Schindekopf  drew  him  out  of 
the  water  and  refused  to  make  him 
prisoner. 

For  forty  years  Kejstut  unweariedly 
defended  Lithuania,  by  the  people  of 
which  he  was  extolled  as  their  first  national 
hero.  The  Order  was  not  able  to  make 
any  conquests  there  in  his  time.  In  spite 
of  his  support  of  paganism,  Christianity 
itself  continued  to  make  greater  and 
greater  progress  in  Kejstut's  dominions, 
although  there  were  naturally  many 
martyrs.  Roman  Catholicism  alonC' 
could  strike  no  root  there.  Both  the 
Dominican  and  Franciscan  monasteries, 
which  had  existed  in  Wilna  under  Gedymin, 
were  suspended  under  Olgerd.  When, 
then,  they  were  revived  by  the  Boyar 
Gastold,  who  went  over  to  Catholicism 
to  please  his  wife,  a  band  of  pagans 
attacked  Gastold's  house  and  killed  seven 
monks ;  the  others  were  crucified  and 
thrown  into  the  river. 

Lithuania  in  its  victorious  career  was 
bound  sooner  or  later  to  come  into 
....       .  ,     contact  with  Moscow  and  the 

Lithuania  St^.  uiujj  j 

_.  Tartars  ;    both,  mdeed,  aimed 

-  y.  at  the  same  goal — the  union  of 

»c  ory    j^^ggjg^    j^    their    hands.       If 

Olgerd  beat  the  Tartars,  his  success  could 
find  only  a  joyful  response  in  the  hearts 
of  the  Russians.  It  was  therefore  easy 
for  him  to  subjugate  one  Russian  district 
after  another.  There  was  no  funda- 
mental distinction  between  Russia  and 
Lithuania  under  Olgerd's  regime.  Only 
in  Moscow  existed  any  dangerous  rival 
to  the  Lithuanian  princes.  Olgerd  was 
able  to  postpone  the  decisive  blow. 
He  died,  however,  in  1377. 

After  Olgerd,  Kejstut,  as  the  senior  of 
the  family,  ought  to  have  mounted  the 
grand  ducal  throne  ;  but  in  accordance 
with  a  wish  of  his  brother,  he  renounced  his 
claim  in  favour  of  his  nephew  Jagiello. 
The  latter  was  of  a  different  disposition 
from  his  father,  Olgerd.  He  dragged  on 
a  dull  existence  without  lofty  aspirations. 
Contrary  to  precedent,  Jagiello  allied  him-, 
self  with  the  Tartars,  nominally  in  order  to 
confront  Moscow  with  their  help.  He 
then,  by  an  equally  gross  breach  with  the 
traditions  of  his  house,  made  secret  over- 
tures to  the  Teutonic  Order.  He  was 
assisted  in  this  by  one  of  his  crown 
councillors  named  Vojdyllo,  whom  Kejstut 
205 


had  offended  on  some  occasion.  Jagiello 
did  not  concern  himself  about  the  repeated 
attacks  of  the  knights ;  in  fact,  he 
concluded  with  the  Order  a  secret  treaty 
which  was  aimed  at  Kejstut. 

Kejstut,  greatly  annoyed,  surprised 
Wilna,  took  his  nephew  prisoner,  and  dis- 
covered the  original  text  of  the  treaty  with 
National  ^^^  Order.  He  then  mounted 
„      ,  the  grand  ducal  throne  himself, 

Tragic  End  ^^^^  Witebsk  and  Krevo  to 
Jagiello,  and  then  set  him 
completely  at  hberty,  with  no  other  con- 
dition than  that  he  should  hang  the  traitor 
Vojdyllo.  Then  a  second  relation,  Dmitri 
Korybut,  rose  against  Kejstut.  Jagiello 
brought  up  his  forces,  nominally  to  the  aid 
of  Kejstut,  but  led  them  against  Wilna 
and  took  it.  The  knights  of  the  Order, 
who  were  allied  with  Jagiello,  soon  ad- 
vanced. Troki,  Kejstut's  residence,  was 
taken  and  sacked.  Kejstut  quickly 
collected  forces  to  save  his  castles.  J  agiello 
then  implored  Kejstut's  son  Witold,  a 
friend  of  his,  to  intervene,  since  he  did  not 
wish  to  shed  blood.  Kejstut  and  Witold 
went,  on  the  guarantee  of  a  third  person, 
into  the  camp  of  Jagiello,  and  were  then 
thrown  into  chains.  Cast  into  a  gloomy 
dungeon  at  Krewo,  Kejstut  was  found 
strangled  there  on  the  fifth  day,  in  1382. 
His  body  was  burnt  according  to  pagan 
rites. 

Witold,  who  had  made  good  his  escape, 
went  to  Masovia  and  thence  to  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Order.  Baptised  according  to 
Catholic  rites,  he  took  the  name  of  his 
sponsor,  Wigand,  commander  of  Ragnit, 
1383.  The  Order,  to  which  Witold- 
Wigand  promised  to  cede  Saimaiten, 
north  of  the  river  Memel,  in  the  event  of 
his  having  no  issue,  welcomed  the  new  ally. 
But  in  the  latter  the  old,  and  therefore 
more  intense,  hatred  for  the  Teutonic 
knights  quickly  overpowered  his  momen- 
tary thirst  for  vengeance.  He  had  barely 
concluded  the  treaty  with  the  Order  when 
g  he  sought  and  obtained  a  recon- 
LUhTaria  ciUation  with  Jagiello.  The 
1  uania  j^^Qg^  sahent  feature  of  Witold's 
and  Poland     ,  ,  , 

character  was    a    pronounced 

sympathy  with  Lithuania.  If  he  could  not 
reach  the  desired  goal  by  the  straight  road, 
he  did  not,  on  occasion,  hesitate  at  dubious 
methods.  Here,  however,  the  separate 
history  of  Lithuania  closes.  In  1386 
Jagiello  was  baptised,  and  wedded  Hedwig 
of  Poland.  The  union  of  the  crowns 
merges  Lithuania  into  Poland. 

3219 


15 


POLAN  D,  LIT  H  U  AN  LA 

AJTD 

"WESTERN   RUSSIA 


I   Ow>e 
,     ^  .-Band 


v-'tvWM 


at  thebe|^mini;art)ieH'\cnniry 


1^ 


too* 


,^0^ 


to 


,v 


'K         )  r    't-^re^^    V'-   ten 


^t. 


jfoliUer     ^     _^ 

oT  /t  V  -hie  t?\-o  ^  ^   r^^ 


^ 


Epericji  \jji  0  N  COJvfe/,v-j; 


\«.rt? 


TV 

6>  \Pt>Uam^ 


^^^n 


Xal 


ta 


r  s 


v'O^ 


)  ' 


OlsfiaJioA 


POLAND 

before  the   Peace  i 

of  (Riva  (1660;anrt  indrus6zo\-o  (16G7 )  j    0<*sel 


HISTORICAL  MAPS  OF   POLAND  AND    WESTERN    RUSSIA  FROM    THE    YEAR    1300  TILL  1660 
3220 


EASTERN 
EUROPE  TO 
THE  FRENCH 
REVOLUTION 


UNION  OF  LITHUANIA  WITH  POLAND 

STAGES    IN   THE    NATION'S    DEVELOPMENT 


WHEN  King  Lewis  L  of  Hungary  and 
Poland  died  at  Tyrnau,  on  September 
nth,  1382,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the 
treaty  of  Kashau,  concluded  in  1374,  one 
of  his  daughters  was  to  obtain  the  Polish 
crown.  He  had  three  daughters — Catha- 
rine, Maria,  and  Hedwig.  Catharine  was 
originally  intended  for  Poland,  Maria  was 
wedded  to  Sigismund,  Margrave  of 
Brandenburg,  and  Hedwig  was  betrothed 
to  Duke  William  of  Austria.  When  Catha- 
rine had  predeceased  her  father,  the  PoUsh 
succession  was  proposed  for  Maria.  But 
this  was  hardly  acceptable  for  Poland. 
Since  Poland  had  been  greatly  neglected  by 
Lewis,  it  wished  to  acknowledge  only  that 
one  of  his  daughters  who  would  pledge 
herself  to  reside  with  her  husband  in  the 
country.  Sigismund,  the  prospective  king 
of  Hungary,  could  not  possibly  consent  to 
such  an  arrangement.  Casimir  the  Great  had 
wished  first  to  strengthen 
his  country  economically, 
in  order  to  be  able  to  show 
a  bolder  front  against  the 
Teutonic  Order — the  most  dangerous  of 
Poland's  foes,  since  it  was  supported  by 
all  Western  Europe ;  with  this  object  he 
had  concluded  a  series  of  treaties  with  his 
neighbours.  When  he  concluded  the  suc- 
cession treaty  with  his  nephew  Lewis  of 
Hungary,  the  latter  had  to  give  a  pledge 
that  he  would  reconquer  the  lost  provinces 
of  Poland  with  his  own  forces.  From 
whom  ?  Obviously  only  from  the  Order. 
But  Lewis  had  procrastinated  ;  the  Polish 
atmosphere  did  not  please  him.  The 
Order  thus  increased,  and  with  it  the 
German  element.  As  a  result  of  this,  the 
national  feehng  and  the  hatred  of  the 
Germans  grew  so  strong,  both  in  Poland 
and  Lithuania,  that  any  candidate  would 
have  been  more  acceptable  to  the  Poles 
and  Lithuanians  than  the  Margrave  of 
Brandenburg.  The  Polish  statesmen  were 
aware  that  if  Sigismund  obtained  the 
crown  of  Poland  this  would  involve  the 


Candid&tes 
for  the 
Polish  Crown 


Thwarted 
Purpose 


loss  of  its  independence.  When,  even  in 
the  hfetime  of  his  father-in-law,  he  had 
come  to  Poland  at  the  head  of  a  small 
army  in  order  to  receive  homage,  his 
entry  into  Cracow  was  barred  ;  only  the 
towns,  where  the  German  element  pre- 
dominated, received  him  cordially.  Sigis- 
„.  .  ,     mund  was   compelled,  there- 

-rlf""!!!!!  *  ^ore,  to  leave  Poland  without 
having  achieved  his  purpose. 
And  so  the  matter  rested,  since 
he  could  not  obtain  any  firm  footing  at 
first  even  in  Hungary. 

The  PoHsh  throne  was  thus  once  more 
regarded  as  vacant.  Prince  Ziemko  of 
Masovia  soon  came  forward,  supported 
by  a  large  party  and  the  Archbishop  Bod- 
zanta  of  Gnesen,  who  actually  proclaimed 
him  king  when  the  envoys  of  the  queen 
mother  Elizabeth — who  died  in  1387 — 
appeared,  with  the  declaration  that  Hed- 
wig, who  was  born  in  1369,  and  who 
was  destined  for  the  Polish  throne, 
would  soon  come  to  Cracow  for  corona- 
tion. But  after  vainly  waiting  a  long 
time  for  Hedwig,  the  Poles  began  to 
lose  patience.  The  matter  was  not  so 
simple.  In  the  first  place,  the  queen 
widow  WcLS  herself  in  danger.  Next,  Hed- 
wig, although  just  thirteen  years  old,  was 
betrothed  to  William  of  Austria,  whom  the 
Poles  could  never  accept,  and  who  would 
not  consent  to  give  up  Hedwig.  Only  after 
a  declaration  that  the  claims  of  Hedwig 
on  the  Polish  crown  would  be  regarded  as 
waived  if  she  did  not  appear  within  two 

_.       .     months  in  Poland,  did  Elizabeth 

.    "^  °      resolve   to   send   her  daughter 

^.*  -,.  to  Poland.  Hedwig,  now  a  child 

the  Throne      r  1         1      £/.  ,^  - 

of  barely  fifteen  years,  came  to 

Cracow  at  the  beginning  of  October,  1384, 
accompanied  by  the  Archbishop  of  Gran 
and  the  Bishop  of  Csanad,  and  was  crowned 
on  October  15th.  The  first  important  step 
taken  by  the  Polish  statesmen  had  suc- 
ceeded. The  question  now  remained  to  find 
a  suitable  husband  for  the  young  queen. 

3221 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


National  and  religious  considerations 
led  the  Poles  to  Lithuania.  Poland  as 
well  as  Lithuania  fought  against  the 
Teutonic  Order  as  their  common  and 
deadly  enemy.  Only  by  combined  efforts 
could  they  hope  to  crush  it.  At  the  same 
time  the  thought  of  a  union  was  not  new. 
Vladislav    Lokietok,  when    pressed  hard 

by  the  Knights,  had  married 
•  'tK^^G*  ^^^  ^^^  Casimir  to  Aldona,  a 
*^  G*    "^   daughter    of    Gedymin.     The 

idea  then  still  prevailed  that 
even  single-handed  they  were  a  match  for 
the  Germans.  But  Lithuania  was  now 
torn  by  party  feuds.  New  and  stronger 
German  castles  arose  on  its  soil  and  gripped 
it  with  iron  arms.  Another  circumstance 
also  favoured  the  rapprochement.  Lithu- 
ania had  been  zealously  addicted  to 
paganism,  but  the  number  of  the  Christians 
now  increased  continually.  Kejstut,  the 
last  pagan  on  the  throne,  was  now  dead. 
Lithuania  was  thus,  from  political  and 
religious  reasons,  ripe  for  a  union  with 
Poland,  and  it  is  easy  for  two  nations  to 
form  a  sincere  alhance  when  a  great  danger 
threatens  both. 

We  do  not  know  from  which  side  the 
suggestion  came.  But  since  the  prospect 
of  missionary  work  on  a  large  scale  in 
Lithuania  and  the  whole  East  was  thus 
opened  up  to  the  Catholic  Church  of 
Poland,  and  since  Kmita,  the  provincial 
of  the  Franciscan  Order,  was  a  trusted 
friend  of  Jagiello,  we  may  suppose  that 
apart  from  the  nobility  of  Little  Poland, 
who  turned  the  scale  and  zealously  advo- 
cated the  union  of  the  two  states — the 
Franciscans  chiefly  prepared  the  ground 
in  Lithuania.  The  view  that  paganism 
could  nowhere  be  tolerated  was  then  very 
strong  in  Europe  ;-.the  Order  owed  to  it 
the  friendship  of  Western  Europe.  But 
if  this  pretext,  which  furnished  its  chief 
source  of  strength  in  the  struggle  against 
Lithuania,  were  to  be  cut  away,  Lithuania 
must  inevitably  accept  Christianity.  Then 
_     ^    .       only  could  the  power  of  the 

r  D  I  °°^^^    Roman    Church,  which    was 
of  Poland  s         , .,,      .r         J      •  •  £ 

v  r.  still  the  decisive  force  in 
Young  Queen  t^  ,  ,  ,   ,      ~, 

Europe,  be  made  useful.    The 

fact  that  Jagiello  with  his  whole  people 
resolved  to  accept  Christianity  shows 
that,  in  spite  of  his  low  moral  char- 
acter, he  was  a  far-sighted  statesman, 
with  a  clear  notion  of  diplomacy. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  year  1385  a 
Lithuanian  embassy  to  Cracow  formally 
asked    Hedwig's    hand    for    their    prince 

3222 


Jagiello.  No  decision  could  be  made 
without  consulting  Hedwig's  mother ; 
and  messengers  were,  therefore,  sent  to 
EUzabeth.  The  dishke  felt  by  the  Mag- 
yars for  Sigismund  and  William  caused  a 
decision  in  favour  of  Jagiello.  It  was 
certainly  withdrawn  again,  and  William 
himself  appeared  in  Cracow,  where 
romantic  love  passages  took  place  between 
him  and  the  young  queen.  But  any 
opposition  was  wrecked  on  the  firmness 
of  the  Polish  grandees. 

On  February  12th,  1386,  Jagiello  made 
his  entry  into  Cracow  after  he  had  ac- 
cepted all  the  conditions  proposed.  He 
promised  to  throw  himself  into  the 
bosom  of  the  Catholic  Church  with  all 
his  still  unbaptised  brothers  and  relations, 
all  the  nobles,  and  all  the  inhabitants 
of  his  country,  rich  or  poor,  and  to 
devote  his  treasures  to  the  use  of  both 
kingdoms.  Further,  he  promised  to  pay 
Duke  William  of  Austria  the  forfeit  of 
200,000  gulden,  which  was  entailed  by 
the  repudiation  of  the  marriage  contract, 
to  make  good  at  his  own  cost  all  the  en- 
croachments and  curtailments  to  which 
the  PoUsh  Empire  had  been  subjected,  to 
.  release  all  Polish  prisoners   of 

f »  "*r       both  sexes,   and   to   unite  for 
y.      7^        ever  his  Lithuanian  and  Rus- 

arnag  s  ^.^^  dominions  with  the  PoUsh 
crown.  Everything  now  depended  on 
Hedwig.  It  was  plainly  put  to  her  that  she 
would  not  only  serve  her  own  country,  but 
would  perform  a  meritorious  action  in  the 
sight  of  God,  if  a  whole  region  was  won  for 
Christianity  through  her  instrumentality. 
Besides  this,  the  news  from  Hungary  must 
have  forced  Hedwig  to  come  to  a  deter- 
mination, where  the  royal  power  was 
grievously  imperilled,  and  her  mother's 
life  in  danger.  On  February  15th,  Jagiello 
was  baptised,  together  with  those  of  his 
brothers  and  kinsmen  who  were  present. 
The  office  of  sponsor,  which  had  been 
declined  by  the  Grand  Master  Conrad  of 
Rotenstein  (1382-1390),  fell  to  Vladislav 
of  Oppeln,  whence  Jagiello  received  in 
baptism  the  name  of  Vladislav  II. 
Then  followed  the  marriage  and  the 
coronation,  on  March  4th,  1386.  After  that, 
Wigand,  the  king's  brother,  married  the 
daughter  of  Vladislav  of  Oppeln,  Prince 
Janusz  of  Ratibor  married  Helene,  niece 
of  the  king,  and  Prince  Ziemko  of  Masovia 
the  king's  sister,  Alexandra.  Vladislav 
II.,  Jagiello  of  Lithuania,  was  not  at  first 
hereditary  monarch  of  Poland,  biit  merely 


UNION    OF    LITHUANIA    WITH    POLAND 


prince  consort  and  regent  of  the  empire. 
The  name  of  his  dynasty  is  perhaps  more 
famiUar  in  the  form  Jagellon. 

There  is  no  more  important  event  in 
the  history  of  the  Polish  people,  with  the 
exception  of  the  conversion  to  Christianity, 
than  the  union  of  Lithuania  with  Poland, 
which  was  completed  in  the  year  1386. 
It  gave  a  quite  different  aspect  to  the 
Eastern  question,  and  completely  changed 
the  course  of 
history.  Poland, 
itself  too  small 
to  play  any  part 
in  the  midst  of 
powerful  neigh- 
bours, had  first 
leaned  upon 
Hungary.  But 
that  policy  had 
not  proved  to 
her  advantage ; 
Polish  interests, 
especially  as 
against  the 
Order,  had  been 
neglected,  where- 
as Poland  and 
Lithuania  had 
now  hardly  any- 
thing more  to 
fearfrom  theTeu- 
tonic  Knights. 
Indeed,  the 
Order,  when  deal- 
ing with  a  Chris- 
tianised Lithu- 
ania, lost  its 
raison  d'etre. 
Soon  not  merely 
the  emperor, 
but     the     Pope, 


declared  publicly 

that    the    Order  Vladislav  iii.  the  boy  king  of  Hungary  &  Poland 

had  now  fulfilled  Brief,  but  stirring:,  was  the  reign  of  this  youthful  monarch.  He  was 
its  task.  Later  '•^.rely  fifteen  years  of  age  when,  in  1440,  a  Hungarian  embassy 
arriving  in  Poland,  offered  him  the  throne  of  his  late  father,  Vladislav 
II.   Fighting  against  the  Turks,  the  young  king  fell  at  Varna  in  1444. 


Popes  forbade 
the  expeditions 
among  the  heathen  and  any  injury  to 
Lithuania  ;  a  century  had  hardly  elapsed 
after  the  baptism  of  Jagiello  when  it  was 
proposed  that  the  Knights  should  be 
transplanted  to  PodoUa,  and  be  employed 
in  the  war  against  the  Turks  and  Tartars. 
Besides  this,  the  position  of  Poland  in 
the  new  treaty  with  Lithuania  was  far 
more  favourable  than  had  been  the  case 
in  the  treaty  with  Hungary.  Poland,  as  a 
result  of  these  changes,  now  stood  higher 


in  every  respect  than  Lithuania  Further, 
Jagiello,  a  thoroughly  selfish  character, 
had,  in  return  for  the  crown  of  Poland, 
formally  given  up  his  country  to  the  Poles. 
Poland  was  the  recipient,  Lithuania  the 
donor,  if  we  disregard  the  free  constitu- 
tion, the  new  reUgion,  and  the  culture 
which  the  Poles  had  to  give  to  the 
Lithuanians.  Henceforward  the  will  of 
the    Pohsh    king   was    all   important    in 

Lithuania,  or 
rather,  since  he 
himself  was  of 
little  conse- 
quence, the  will 
of  the  Polish 
nobles  and  the 
CathoUc  priest- 
hood. Lithuania, 
three  times  as 
large  as  Poland, 
sank  into  an 
appanage  of  the 
PoHsh  crown. 
Hitherto  there 
had  been  in 
Eastern  Europe 
three  poUtical 
centres,  Poland, 
Lithuania,  and 
Russia,  not  to 
speak  of  the  Tar- 
tars, but  now  the 
largest  of  them, 
Lithuania,  sud- 
denly ceased  to 
exist.  Hencefor- 
ward only  Poland 
and  Russia  con- 
fro  n  t  e  d  each 
other,  and  the 
time  was  ap- 
proaching when 
the  question 
would  be  decided 
which  of  the  two 
was  to  dominate 
Eastern  Europe. 
When  the  first  frosts  came  in  the  winter 
of  1386-1387,  Jagiello,  accompanied  by 
princes  and  grandees,  and  by  numerous 
priests  and  Franciscan  monks  as  spiritual 
leaders  of  the  undertaking,  marched  to  his 
home  in  order,  according  to  his  promise, 
to  baptise  his  subjects.  At  the  beginning 
of  January,  1387,  when  the  ice  built  firm 
bridges  everywhere  in  that  country  of 
rivers,  lakes,  and  marshes,  the  Polish 
mission  appeared  at  Wilna.     It  was  just 

3223 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


after  tlift  long  autumn  festivities,  a  time 
when  the  supphes  of  the  Lithuanians 
began  to  fail.  The  missionaries,  however, 
brought  a  quantity  of  corn,  new  white 
linen  robes,  and  other  presents  for  those 
about  to  be  baptised,  and  appeared  in 
state  just  as  Otto,  the  apostle  of  Pomerania, 
had  formerly  done.  The  will  of  the  prince 
had  still  more  weight  in  Lithu- 
ania.     Besides  this,  Vladislav 


The  Dawn 
of  a 


„  p  Jagiello,  in  order  to  win  over 
the  nobles,  conferred  on  all 
Catholic  Boyars,  as  from  February  20th, 
1387,  the  "  Polish  right " — that  is,  all  the 
liberties  which  the  Polish  nobility  possessed. 

This  was  the  first  charter  of  Lithuania. 
Concurrently,  the  Catholic  Church  was 
organised  by  the  creation  and  splendid 
endowment  of  a  bishopric  at  Wilna,  with 
seven  parish  churches  at  Miednicki,  Mes- 
zagole,  Wilkomierz,  Krevo,  Niemerczyn, 
Hajnovo,  and  Obolcza.  The  first  bishop 
was  the  Franciscan  Vasylo,  a  Pole, 
formerly  confessor  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  then  Bishop  of  Sereth.  The  wooden 
image  of  the  god  Perkunas  stood  on  the 
highest  summit  of  the  town  of  Wilna. 
The  flames  of  the  unapproachable  Znicz 
still  darted  forth  on  the  oak-planted  square 
as  the  missionary  procession  came  up  the 
hill,  singing  holy  songs.  The  sacred  oaks 
were  felled,  the  "  eternal "  fire  was 
quenched.  A  thundering  Te  Deum  an- 
nounced to  the  people  the  dawn  of  a  new 
era.  Not  a  hand  was  raised  to  protect  the 
old  gods.  Men  and  women  were  then  led 
to  the  river,  and  whole  companies  received 
a  Christian  name — one  to  each  batch. 
Distinguished  Boyars  had  the  honour 
of  separate  baptisn. 

The  same  ceremony  was  performed  in 
the  surrounding  country.  The  number  of 
those  who  were  then  baptised  is  put  at 
30,000.  By  the  end  of  July,  1387, 
Jagiello  was  again  in  Cracow,  and  in- 
formed the  Pope  that  Lithuania  was 
converted.  "  Among  all  kings  ol  the  wo  Id 
thou,  dear  son,  boldest  the  first 
'    ""'*      place  in  our  heart,"  answered 

Ch°''r     "t    Urban    VL,    whose    sternness 
rw  lani  y  .^  ^^^g  ^^^^gg^j  ^^le  great  schism. 

But  when  he  further  said,  "  Rejoice, 
my  son,  that  thou  hast  been  found  again 
like  a  hidden  treasure  and  hast  escaped 
destruction,"  these  words,  transferred  to 
the  political  world,  aptly  represented  the 
true  state  of  affairs.  Even  in  Germany 
there  was  a  prophecy  that  all  states  would 
disappear  except  Poland  and  Lithuania. 

3224 


Various  petty  states  of  Eastern  Europe 
now  sought  support  from  the  newly 
created  empire  of  Poland-Lithuania ;  Hun- 
gary, for  example,  was  just  then  crippled 
by  internal  disturbances.  Soon  after  the 
coronation  the  petty  princes  of  North 
Russia,  mostly  vassals  of  Lithuania,  began 
to  do  homage  to  the  now  powerful  Grand 
Duke.  While  Vladislav  Jagiello  still  re- 
mained in  Lithuania,  Hedwig  personally 
received  the  homage  of  Red  Russia,  which, 
since  the  times  of  Casimir  the  Great, 
belonged  half  to  the  Hungarian,  half  to 
the  Polish  crown,  but  had  received  from 
Lewis  the  Great  a  Magyar  Starost-General. 
In  Lemberg  the  brothers  Peter  and  Roman 
who,  as  voivodes  of  Moldavia,  were, 
properly  speaking,  Hungarian  vassals,  did 
homage  to  the  Lithuanian  ;  the  Metro- 
politan Cyprian  of  Kiev  read  out  the 
formula  of  the  oath  according  to  the 
orthodox  rites.  In  the  year  1390,  a  second 
Hungarian  vassal,  Prince  Mircea  the  Elder 
of  Wallachia,  did  homage.  In  the  course 
of  the  next  years  the  voivodes  of  Bessarabia 
and  Transylvania  did  the  same,  and  their 
successors  renewed  this  oath.  In  the  north 
thefearof  theGerman-Livonian 
V  ^  •   '■^       Order  and  of  Moscow,  in  the 

™j"^l*        south   the  fear  of   the  Turks, 
Wide  Power    ,  ,,  n         •. 

drove   those   small    pnnces  to 

seek  refuge  under  the  great  ruler.  The 
sphere  of  the  influence  of  Poland- 
Lithuania  expanded  now  from  sea  to  sea. 
Meanwhile,  the  Teutonic  Order  had 
acquired  more  and  more  territory  by 
purchase  and  treaty.  It  roused  up  opposi- 
tion against  Vladislav  Jagiello  at  Rome 
and  at  every  European  court.  The  situa- 
tion became  especially  grave,  since  in 
every  negotiation  it  constantly  invoked 
the  intervention  of  the  empire,  and 
required  actual  obedience  from  Lithuanian 
princes.  Vladislav  of  Oppeln  submitted 
to  the  Grand  Master  of  Wallenrod  himself 
(1391-1393)  a  scheme  for  the  partition  of 
Poland.  Poland-Lithuania  was,  however, 
not  free  from  blame.  In  dire  straits 
treaties  were  made  with  the  Knights,  and 
some  territory  was  actually  ceded  ;  but 
there  was  bitter  feeling  against  every 
arbitrator  who  assigned  the  land  in 
question  to  the  Germans.  There  was  no 
rupture  to  be  feared  in  the  lifetime  of 
Hedwig,  whose  father,  Lewis,  had  been  a 
patron  of  the  Order.  But  after  her  death, 
in  1399,  the  decision  could  not  long  be 
postponed.  Witold,  Jagiello's  cousin,  was 
especially  eager  for  war. 


UNION    OF    LITHUANIA    WITH    POLAND 


In  the  year  1410,  Germany  had  three 
kings  or  emperors,  Wenzel,  Jost,  and 
Sigismund,  and  would  therefore  bring  no 
help  to  the  Order.  Lithuania  enlisted 
Bohemian  mercenaries  and  secured  the  aid 
of  the  Tartars.  Witold  incited  the 
Samaiten  country  to  revolt,  although  he 
had  previously  given  150  hostages  to  the 
Order.  There  was  nothing  left  for  these 
poor  wretches  except  to  hang  themselves 
on  the  doors  of  their  prisons.  The 
Russian  vassals  of  Lithuania  marched 
also  to  their  assistance.  Nevertheless,  the 
operations  were  by  no  means  easy. 


and  Zbignew  Olesnicki,  later  Bishop  of 
Cracow  and  first  statesman  of  Poland, 
took  part  in  the  battle.  Contemporaries 
probably  realised  the  far-reaching  effects 
of  this  event  more  than  the  writers  of 
the  present  day ;  John  Dlugosz,  soon  after 
1457,  urged  that  the  spoils  should  be 
kept  for  ever  in  the  Church,  and  that 
the  anniversary  should  be  commemorated 
in  perpetuity. 

The  Order,  it  is  true,  tried  its  fortune 
repeatedly  afterwards,  but  always  with- 
out success.  If  Vladislav  IL  Jagiello 
had  been  a  true  soldier  he  could  easily  have 


ARMED     POLISH    NOBLEMAN    AND    A     "HAIDUK"    OF    THE    EARLY    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 


The  Teutonic  Order,  then  the  only  power 
in  Europe  which  could  mobilise  its  forces 
in  a  fortnight,  had  splendid  artillery,  excel- 
lent cavalry,  and  a  large  body  of  merce- 
naries at  its  disposal.  In  culture  it  stood 
on  a  distinctly  higher  level  than  Poland. 

The  Grand  Master  Ulrich  von  Jungingen 
anticipated  Poland  with  a  declaration  of 
war.  The  first  engagement  took  place  in 
the  territory  of  the  Order  at  Griinwald 
and  Tannenberg,  on  July  15th,  1410  ;  the 
army  of  the  Order  was  annihilated.  The 
Polish  army  for  the  first  time  sang  the 
Te  Deum  in  the  Polish  language.  The 
chief  credit  of  the  victory  belongs  to  Witold. 
Dlugosz,  father  of  the  celebrated  historian, 


made  himselt  master  of  Marienburg,  for 
treachery  was  rife.  Many  of  the  Knights 
collected  their  money  and  goods  and  fled 
to  Germany.  The  writer  who  completed 
the  "  Chronicle  of  the  Land  of  Prussia," 
which  had  been  commenced  by  Johann 
von  Posilge,  an  official  of  Riesenburg, 
deceased  in  1405,  laments  the  fact.  In 
spite  of  the  comparatively  favourable 
treaty  of  Thorn  on  February  ist,  141 1, 
the  fall  of  the  Teutonic  Order  was  inevit- 
able. The  Electoral  College  recommended 
the  protection  of  the  Order  to  the 
Emperor  Sigismund,  and  Charles  VI.  of 
France  issued  a  warning  to  Poland;  but 
such  steps  were  of  little  avail. 

3225 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


With  the  collapse  of  the  power  of 
the  Order,  the  influence  of  Germany, 
both  national  and  pohtical  on  Eastern 
Europe  was  broken.  The  empire  lost 
its  magic  charm  there,  while  Poland 
became  a  great  European  power ;  the 
Hussite  movement,  for  example,  became 
possible  only  after  1410.  The  Slavonic 
.  spirit  grew  so  strong  that  even 

I  ^  11  **t  °  1  ^^"""^^^  culture  could  not  hold 
p  "      its    own.     The    effect   of    the 

rogress  ^^^^  1386,  enhanced  by  the 
year  1410,  thus  signifies  an  important 
crisis  for  the  Western  and  Northern  Slavs, 
whose  subjugation  would  certainly  other- 
wise have  been  accomplished,  as  weU  as  a 
revival  of  the  Slavonic  movement. 

Vladislav  II,  Jagiello  and  Hedwig  had 
done  great  services  in  raising  the  level  of 
Polish  civilisation.  Hedwig  first  endowed 
a  college  at  the  University  of  Prague  for 
such  Lithuanians  as  studied  theology 
there,  and  then  obtained  permission  from 
Pope  Boniface  IX.  to  found  a  theological 
faculty  in  Cracow.  Finally  she  left  her 
fortune  to  the  University  of  Cracow,  so 
that  in  the  year  1400  it  was  able  to  leave 
the  hamlet  of  Bavol,  near  Cracow,  and 
settle  in  its  own  buildings  in  the  city. 
The  king  himself  and  the  highest  officials 
registered  their  names  as  the  first'  among 
200  students.  Peter  Wysz  began  with 
lectures  in  the  presence  of  the  king.  After 
1410  it  was  possible  to  equip  the  university 
still  better,  and  it  soon  flourished. 
Nicholas  Copernicus  studied  theology, 
medicine,  mathematics  and  astronomy 
there  in  1491.  Schools  were  provided, 
churches  built,  art  studied. 

The  Pomeranian  duke  Bogulslav,  for- 
merly an  ally  of  the  Order,  now  did 
homage  to  the  Polish  king.  Duke  Ernest 
the  Iron  of  Styria,  Carinthia  and  Car- 
niola,  a  brother  of  that  William  who  met 
with  such  humiliating  treatment  in  1385, 
went  to  Cracow  in  1412,  concluded  a  defen- 
sive and  offensive  alUance  with  Poland, 

Tu  n  *-r  1  ^nd  married  a  niece  of  the 
The  Beautiful  1  ■  ,,  j        1.  , 

Ancestress  of  ^?"g'  ^he  daughter  of 
theHapsburgs?^^"^.'^o  o^  Masovia,  Cim- 
burgis,  or  Cecilia,  who 
created  a  sensation  by  her  physical 
strength,  her  beauty,  and  her  "  large  lips." 
She  became  in  1415  the  mother  of  Emperor 
Frederic  III.,  and  thus — after  the  here- 
ditary Countess  Johanna  von  Pfirdt,  who 
died  in  1351 — the  second  great  ancestress 
of  the  house  of  Hapsburg  ;  at  the  same 
time  she  attained  a  similarly  high  dignity  in 
3226 


house  of  Wettin,  since  her  daughter  the 
Margaretha,  who  died  in  i486,  was  married 
to  the  elector  Frederic  II.  the  Clement. 
The  Emperor  Sigismund  himself,  who 
even  before  Tannenberg  had  invaded  the 
Cracovian  territory,  concluded  a  truce 
with  Poland,  and  from  November  8th, 
1412,  pledged  the  thirteen  towns  of  the 
Zips  district  to  Vladislav  Jagiello.  In 
fact,  just  when  the  Hussite  movement 
was  at  its  height,  embassies  appeared 
several  times  in  Cracow  to  offer  the  crown 
of  Bohemia  also  to  the  PoHsh  king. 

But  this  'sche^4-','K!ke  the  further  pro- 
gress of  Poland,  was  vvrecked  on  the  per- 
sonality of  the  king.  Vladislav  1 1 .  J  agiello, 
uneducated  and  sensual,  without  energy 
and  deficient  in  military  ability,  was  not 
the  man  who  might  have  served  a  great 
empire,  burdened  with  a  difficult  constitu- 
tion in  critical  times,  although  from  his 
position  as  Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania  he 
was  invaluable  as  a  visible  sign  of  the 
union,  and  was  clever  enough  to  adapt 
himself  to  the  new  situation.  He  was, 
besides,  too  indifferent  in  most  matters. 
His  nobles,  especially  the  bishops,  man- 

«r.  ,.  .  *.  aged  everything.  Nevertheless, 
Vladislav  II.    '^      ,    ■     -'  °      •      ,  ,  , 

r^  w  ji  *  a  certain  progress  is  observable 
Culturedbut  •     ,■        r   ^      •    ,  ■  1 

p„  .  ,  in  him  if  we  picture  to  ourselves 
Effeminate      ,1^11  ■, 

how   he    once    had   governed 

despotically  as  a  pagan ;  while  he  now  had 
to  rule  a  Catholic  people  within  almost 
constitutional  limits.  Transplanted  to 
another  soil,  his  disposition  underwent  a 
change  ;  from  a  rude  barbarian  he  be- 
came a  soft-hearted  and  absolutely  effemi- 
nate character.  He  towered  above  the 
princes  of  Moscow,  for  example,  in  culture. 
Illuminated  by  the  glory  of  a  great  victory, 
and  as  the  suzerain  of  many  princes,  he 
loved  to  appear  in  magnificent  state, 
Uke  his  brother-in-law  Sigismund,  for 
whom  he  always  showed  a  certain  weak- 
ness. He  rode  with  a  suite  of  100  knights 
and  an  escort  of  6,000  or  8,000  horse. 
He  was  so  generous  that  the  story  ran 
in  the  territory  of  the  Order  that  he  had 
won  the  Polish  crown  by  bribery,  and 
his  successors  completely  squandered  the 
crown  lands.  Vladislav  Jagiello  was 
four  times  married.  After  the  death  of 
Hedwig  in  1399  he  married  the  daughter 
of  the  Cbunt  of  CilH,  a  granddaughter  of 
Casimir  the  Great  and  sister  of  that 
Barbara  who,  having  married,  as  her 
second  husband,  Sigismund  in  1408,  died 
as  empress  widow  in  1451  ;  next,  Ehza- 
beth  Granovska  ;    and,  finally,  in  X422,  he 


UNION    OF    LITHUANIA    WITH    POLAND 


espoused,  through  the  mediation  of  Witold, 
the  Russian  princess  Sofie  Olfzanska 
of  Kiev,  who  died  in  1461.  He  died  on 
May  31st,  1434,  at  Grodek,  having  almost 
attained  the  age  of  eighty-six  years. 

His  successors,  called  after  him  Jag- 
ellons,  ruled  in  Poland  until  1572  as  elec- 
tive, not  hereditary,  kings.  In  the  fifteenth 
century  Poland  reached  the  highest  point 
in  her  poUtical  history,  while  in  the  six- 
teenth her  civilisation  was  at  its  zenith. 

Some  years  after  the  death  of  Vladislav 
II.  Jagiello,  who  had  left  two  sons,  Vladi- 
slav (III.)  and  Casimir  IV.  (Andreas),  a 
Hungarian  embassy  appeared  in  Poland 
in  1440,  which  offered  the  crown  of  St. 
Stefan  to  Vladislav  III.,  a  boy  of  barely 
fifteen  years.  Fear  of  the  Turks  had 
caused  this  recourse  to  powerful  Poland. 
This  time  not  merely  the  notables  of  the 
national  party,  but  also  the  bishops,  even 
Olesnicki  of  Cracow,  the  all-powerful 
leader  of  Polish  poUcy,  counselled  accep- 
tance of  the  offer.  It  was  worth  the 
struggle  against  the  unbehevers.  Poland 
also  had  interests  in  the  south.  This  led, 
therefore,  to  the  first  war  against  the  Otto- 
„.  mans.     The  young  king  fell 

Young  King      ^^  y^^.^^  ^^  November  loth, 

r.    J.J'*      "^  1444-     The  Hungarians  had, 

the  Ottomans      -J^ -^   .  u  n*    t*u- 

it  IS  true,  chosen  Matthias 
Corvinus  king  in  1458,  and  the  Bohemians, 
George  of  Podiebrad.  But  after  the 
death  of  the  two,  the  Bohemians  first, 
and  then  the  Hungarians,  by  the  choice 
of  Vladimir  (II.),  a  son  of  Casimir,  fell 
back  upon  the  house  of  the  Jagellons. 
This  family  retained  the  crowns  of  Poland, 
Hungary,  and  Bohemia  until  1526,  when 
Lewis,  son  of  Vladislav  II.,  fell  as  the 
last  of  the  Bohemian -Hungarian  branch 
at  Mohacs. 

More  important  for  the  Pohsh  Empire 
than  the  acquisition  of  the  crowns  of 
Bohemia  and  Hungary  was  the  victorious 
advance  to  the  Baltic.  The  Teutonic 
Knights  had  often  tried  after  1410  to 
retrieve  their  losses.  Poland  was  com- 
pelled to  wage  a  tedious  war  against  them 
during  the  years  1420- 1430  ;  the  cam- 
paign flagged  greatly.  But  the  dissolution 
of  the  Order  could  not  be  staved  off.  The 
estates  of  the  country,  dissatisfied  with 
the  rule  of  the  Knights,  took  up  a  hostile 
attitude  ;  the  "  Lizard  League  "  founded 
in  1397,  and  the  Prussian  League  of 
1440,  were  openly  and  secretly  aimed 
against  the  Order.  Men  once  more  took 
courage  and  tried  to   effect   a  rupture. 


After  the  Emperor  Frederic  III.  in  1453 
had  issued  the  command  that  the  league 
was  to  be  dissolved,  the  latter  resolved  to 
submit  to  the  Polish  king,  Casimir  IV, 
Andreas.  In  February,  1454,  twelve  mem- 
bers of  the  league  appeared  in  Cracow  and 
offered  the  Polish  king  the  possession  of 
Prussia.  Cardinal  Olesnicki  tried  to  dis- 
Polish  King  ^uade  him.  But  Casimir 
:«  P«..-..:l-  accepted     it    without    hesi- 

in  rossesston  ,    ,■  '■  ■,        ■  ,•        , 

of  Prussia  *^*^°"'  ^"^  immediately 
nominated  the  spokesman 
of  the  Knights  of  the  Lizard,  Hans  von 
Baisen,  to  be  governor,  awarded  to  the 
Prussian  estates  the  rights  of  salvage,  etc., 
and  freed  the  towns  from  the  harbour  dues 
known  as  poundage.  The  Order,  defeated 
and  actually  driven  out  of  Marienburg,  was 
forced  to  accept  on  October  19th,  1466, 
the  unpalatable  second  treaty  of  Thorn. 

The  whole  of  Western  Prussia,  with 
Marienburg,  Thorn,  Danzig,  Elbing,  and 
Kulm,  fell  to  Poland,  and  Ludwig  von 
EhrHchshausen  (1449-1469)  was  compelled 
to  take  the  oath  of  fealty  to  the  King 
of  Poland  for  East  Prussia.  Every  Grand 
Master,  six  months  after  election,  was  to 
swear  the  oath  of  loyalty  to  the  king  for 
himself  and  his  followers.  The  Master  was 
to  recognise  no  superior — Poland  excepted 
— but  the  Pope,  and  to  conclude  no  alliances 
or  treaties  without  the  sanction  of  the 
king.  Prussia  and  Poland  were  to  remain 
united  for  ever.  Immediately  afterwards 
"  suitable  persons  "  from  the  subjects  of 
the  PoHsh  kingdom  were  added  to  the 
Prussian  houses  of  the  Teutonic  Order,  on 
condition  that  they  should  not  compose 
more  than  half  the  members  of  the  Order, 
but  should  be  also  eUgible  to  half  its 
offices.  The  Grand  Master  further  could 
not  be  deprived  of  his  office  without 
the  king's  knowledge.  A  long  chapter 
in  PoUsh  history  was  thus  closed.  "  With 
reluctance  I  saw,"  said  Dlugosz,  "  how 
Polish  territory  hitherto  was  divided 
among  different  nations,  and  I  count  my- 
self and  my  contemporaries 
Poian   s  happy      in     having     been 

Lost  Terntopy  ^^^^^^  ^^  ^^^   ^^  %^^   ^^-^ 

Won  Back  territory  won  back  again." 
Poland  thus  obtained  a  large  town  popula- 
tion, of  which  she  had  long  and  deeply  felt 
the  want.  The  possession  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Vistula  and  a  firm  foothold  on  the  Baltic 
Sea  was  of  inestimable  value  to  Poland, 
although  she  did  not  make  full  use  of  it 
for  the  development  of  her  trade,  or 
succeed  in  making  the  townsfolk  PoUsh. 

3227 


THE    NEW    DOMINION    OF    POLAND 

LITHUANIA'S  PLACE  IN  THE  DUAL  MONARCHY 


|\40RE  important  for  Poland  than  its 
* '-^  foreign  relations  was  the  internal  de- 
velopment— that  is,  the  development  of  the 
constitution  in  the  young  dual  monarchy 
and  the  other  relations  between  Poland 
and  Lithuania.  The  chief  task  was  to 
secure  for  all  future  time  the  union  which 
had  early  been  accompanied  by  such  great 
successes.  The  solution  of  this  and  many 
other  problems  devolved  upon  Poland. 

There  could  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  foun- 
dation on  which  the  constitution  was  to 
be  based.  The  Catholic  religion  was 
certainly  the  standard  by  which  all 
reforms  must  be  tested.  This  fundamental 
idea  had  already  been  expressed  in  the 
document  of  February  20th,  1387,  in  which 
the  Polish  rights  were  only  granted  to 
Catholic  Lithuanians ;  a  special  article 
went  so  far  as  to  assert  that  any  man  who 
left  the  Catholic  faith  should 

*    .*.*      t/>so /fldo  lose  all  privileges.    In 

°  Au*  *c!°?  order  that  the  Church  might 
in  the  State  •       .1        r    ^  • 

grow  m  the  future,   marriage 

between  the  Roman  Catholic  Lithuanians 
and  members  of  the  Greek  Orthodox 
faith  was  forbidden ;  if,  however,  the 
parties  had  secretly  married,  the  Greek 
party  was  to  be  compelled  to  accept 
conversion.  The  non-Catholic  population 
was  excluded,  therefore,  from  all  privileges. 
But  this  policy  of  depressing  the  non- 
Catholic  population,  intelligible  and  wise 
as  it  was  in  itself,  provoked  bitterness  in 
the  Lithuanian  and  Russian  districts  and 
commotions  in  the  adjoining  states.  When 
Jagiello  was  in  Cracow  in  1386  he  had,  in 
order  to  secure  Lithuania,  transferred  the 
grand  ducal  office  to  his  brother  Skirgello. 
One  danger  threatened,  however :  his 
cousin  Witold,  who  had  only  obtained 
Grodno,  seemed  eminently  dissatisfied 
with  the  new  turn  of  events.  He  entered 
into  secret  connections  not  only  with  the 
Order,  but  also  with  the  Grand  Duke 
Vassilij  Dmitri] evitch  of  Moscow,  and  was 
a  suitor  for  the  hand  of  his  sister  Sophia. 


The  cousin  brought  his  Russian  bride 
home  in  the  face  of  the  express  prohibition 
of  the  king. 

An  alliance  of  Lithuania  with  Moscow 
influenced  for  the  first  time  Polish  and 
Lithuanian  relations.  The  distinction 
between  1he  Roman  and  the 
Greek  faith  became  the  more 


Schemes  and 
Schemers  in 
High  Places 


noticeable,  since  Lithuania 
definitely  inclined  toward  the 
side  of  the  latter.  Witold  wished  to 
take  the  opportunity  of  his  marriage  to 
surprise  Wilna.  Jagiello,  who  suspected 
even  his  brother,  who  belonged  to  the 
Greek  faith,  thought  it  best  to  win  over 
Witold  to  his  plans.  The  latter  happened 
to  be  in  the  territory  of  the  Order  when 
Bishop  Henry  of  Plock  came  to  him  on  a 
secret  mission  from  Jagiello.  Witold 
accepted  the  offer,  effected  a  reconciliation 
with  Jagiello  and  Hedwig  at  Ostrov  in 
Volhynia,  and  received  the  grand  ducal 
title,  while  Skirgello  was  sent  to  Kiev. 
From  that  day  Witold  remained  so  loyal, 
to  the  Catholic  Church  at  least,  that  Pope 
John  XXIIL  conferred  on  him  later  the 
title  of  "  Vicar  of  the  Church." 

The  case  was  different  with  his  loyalty 
to  the  Polish  crown.  The  subordinate 
position  which  his  native  land  now  took 
as  regards  Poland,  and  perhaps  also  the 
slight  inflicted  upon  the  Orthodox  Church, 
in  which  he  was  brought  up,  must  have 
chagrined  a  typical  Lithuanian  like  WitoJd. 
The  great  campaign  which  he  prepared 
against  the  Tartars  throws  a  peculiar  light 
on  his  political  plans.  He  fed  himself  with 
.  the  thought  of  bringing  the 
Great  Campaign  Russian  principalities  under 
th^^^T^rt  ^^^    supremacy    in    order 

e  ar  ars  finally  to  make  even  Poland 
dependent  on  Lithuania.  But  if  he 
wished  to  subjugate  Moscow,  which  was 
then  growing,  the  Tartar  power  must  first 
be  crushed.  He  was  defeated,  however, 
on  the  Vorskla  in  1399.  His  hopes,  so  far 
as  they  had  travelled  in  that  direction, 

3229 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


were  buried  in  that  reverse.  The  battle 
on  the  Vorskia  was  therefore  momentous 
not  only  for  Poland  and  Lithuania, 
but  also  for  all  Eastern  Europe.  Above 
all,  it  placed  Lithuania  in  a  lower 
position  towards  Poland.  The  depressed 
Witold  now  resolved  to  tighten  the  bond 
with  Poland,  and  hurried  to  the  king  at 
Cracow.  Now  for  the  first  time 
the  amalgamation  of  the  two 


Poland  and 

Lithuania 

Amalgamate 


countries  was  seriously  carried 
out.  At  the  beginning  of 
1401  Witold  assembled  his  Boyars  and 
Russian  vassal  princes  at  Wilna  ;  they  all 
pledged  themselves  to  help  Poland  with 
all  their  forces  and  take  measures  that,  if 
Witold  died,  the  whole  dominions,  in- 
herited and  acquired,  might  devolve  on 
Vladislav  Jagiello. 

Witold  renewed  his  oath  of  homage, 
and  the  other  princes  followed  his 
lead ;  Svidrigello  alone  appended,  as 
the  chronicler  of  the  Order  relates, 
"an  illegal  seal"  to  the  document  in 
order  to  testify  to  his  reluctance.  Im- 
mediately afterwards  the  Polish  digni- 
taries held  an  assembly  on  their  side  at 
Radom  on  March  nth,  and  equally  gave 
the  promise  that  they  would  support 
Lithuania,  and  after  the  death  of  Vladislav 
Jagiello  would  not  elect  a  king  without 
Witold's  knowledge.  If  a  personal  union 
was  concluded  in  1386,  a  constitutional 
union  of  the  two  kingdoms  was  now 
effected.  The  advantage  lay  with  Poland  ; 
Lithuania  was  to  be  independent  only 
during  the  lifetime  of  Witold,  and  would 
then  be  incorporated  with  the  crown  of 
Poland. 

When  the  common  danger  threatening 
from  the  Teutonic  Order  had  been  dis- 
pelled after  the  great  victory  of  1410,  it 
seemed  as  if  the  union  would  break  up, 
for  Witold  believed  that  he  was  strong 
enough  single-handed.  Since  the  Polish 
statesmen  had  at  times  almost  spared  the 
Order,  they  might  nearly  be  suspected  of 

^  ..   ,.  .      having  intentionally  wished  to 
Catholicism  ,  °,  ,     •'   ,  ,,. 

the  Religion '^^^P  ^^-^^  ^"'T''^/  ""^  ?"  ^  '" 
of  Chivalry  ?-"f  ^^^  Poland  contmually 
before  the  eyes  of  the  Lith- 
uanians. Witold  for  his  part  valued 
Western  civilisation  too  highly  not  to 
form  a  true  estimate  of  its  blessings.  But 
if  he  wished  to  raise  his  country  to  the 
plane  of  a  European  state,  it  was  essential 
to  make  his  people  Catholics.  Catholicism 
had  yet  another  charm  for  him — it  was 
the    religion    of   chivalry.       Witold   had 

3230 


already  dubbed  several  of  his  men  as 
knights ;  but  now  a  creation  of  knights 
on  a  large  scale  was  planned. 

The  Polish  and  Lithuanian  nobles 
hurried  in  crowds  to  Horodlo  on  the 
Bug  (1413).  Each  Polish  clan  adopted 
a  Catholic  Lithuanian  Boyar,  who  then 
received  the  family  name,  the  arms,  and 
all  rights  of  the  members  of  that 
Polish  family ;  thus,  for  example,  the 
palatine  of  Wilna,  Monvid,  became  a 
member  of  the  Leliva  family,  and  bore  the 
same  arms  as  Jasko  of  Tarnow.  Witold 
himself  named  forty-seven  Boyars  as  the 
most  worthy.  The  personal  union  of  1386 
and  the  constitutional  union  of  1401  were 
thus  followed  by  the  inauguration  of 
brotherhood  between  the  two  nations. 
All  earlier  enactments  were  renewed,  and 
the  preliminaries  of  the  impending  cor- 
poration of  Lithuania  were  so  far  arranged 
that  it  was  resolved  to  undertake  for 
administrative  purposes  a  new  partition 
of  the  Lithuanian  territory  on  the  Polish 
model. 

Vladislav  II.  Jagiello  on  this  occasion 
increased  the  fundamental  privileges  of 
the  nobility  by  an  enactment  of  great 
-^    p  importance    for     the    future. 

Henceforward     all    nobles    of 


Parliament 
Recognised 


Poland  and  Lithuania  were  to 
have  the  right,  whenever  it  was 
necessary,  of  holding  meetings  and  parlia- 
ments, for  the  benefit  of  the  realm  with 
the  sanction  of  the  king,  at  Lublin,  Parczov, 
or  some  other  suitable  place.  By  this 
enactment  the  Polish  parliament,  as  it  is 
styled  in  the  charter,  was  legally  recognised, 
and  the  chief  power  in  the  state  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  nobility.  While  this 
new  parliamentary  constitution  implied  for 
Poland  an  enlargement  of  existing  rights, 
it  was  something  quite  new  for  Lithuania, 
which  had  hitherto  been  governed  by  an 
absolute  monarch. 

The  Lithuanians,  in  return  for  their 
adoption  of  the  Catholic  religion  and  the 
surrender  of  political  independence,  re- 
ceived the  same  liberties  and  the  same  con- 
stitution as  the  Poles,  whose  arms  they 
were  permitted  to  bear  as  brothers.  Their 
political  loss  was  compensated  by  their 
newly  acquired  influence  on  the  general 
affairs  of  the  empire.  The  two  other 
achievements  of  the  Lithuanians,  at  any 
rate,  proved  illusive.  The  greatest  con- 
fusion then  prevailed  throughout  the 
whole  community  ;  the  Hussite  and  the 
Protestant  movements  soon  increa,sed  it. 


SIXTEENTH    CENTURY    ARMOUR    OF    A    POLISH    CHIEFTAIN 
The  gorgeous  panoply  of  a  military  commander  of  the  sixteenth  century,   the  fantastic 
dress  being  made  of  numerous  small  iron  scales  or  plates  and  the  elaborate  ornamenta- 
tion being  of  copper  work  covered  with  gold.     From  the  Museum  of  Tsarskoe  Seloe. 


3231 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Nevertheless,  Christianity  had  not  yet 
lost  all  its  strength.  But  chivalry  was 
waning ;  it  had  already  become  unten- 
able on  military,  economic,  and  social 
grounds,  and  from  the  advance  of  civilisa- 
tion. Lithuania  had  only  just  laboriously 
introduced  what  Western  Europe  had 
already  begun  to  discard.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  constitution  of  Ho- 
Contending  ^.^^j^  -^    ^j  first-class  import- 

•0*1°''!!  ance  from  the  standpoint  of 
in  Poland  civilisation  and  history  gener- 
ally. Its  most  prominent  characteristic 
is  the  accentuation  of  Catholicity.  The 
Polish  statesmen  tried  to  solve  their 
main  constitutional  problem  by  the 
example  of  Western  Europe,  Did  they 
succeed  ?  The  constitutions  of  the  West 
were  equally  based  on  a  Catholic  founda- 
tion ;  but  their  success  was  not  menaced 
by  the  existence  of  a  non-Catholic  element. 
Poland,  on  the  contrary,  had  two  strong 
religious  parties  side  by  side.  That  no 
account  was  taken  of  the  Greek  faith 
was  attributable  to  the  ideas  of  Western 
Europe  ;  but  a  political  reason  for  this 
was  adduced.  "  Difference  of  faith  pro- 
duces difference  of  sympathies."  But 
subsequently  friction  was  produced  by 
this,  and  rebellions  broke  out.  Moscow, 
seizing  on  this  weak  spot  in  the  armour 
of  Poland,  proclaimed  herself  the  protector 
of  the  Orthodox  faith  and  brought  Poland 
to  the  ground.  Through  this  vulnerable 
point  of  her  constitution  Poland  was 
affected  by  the  prevailing  Roman  Catholic 
ideas. 

Witold  then  once  more  showed  that  he 
towered  above  the  Polish  politicians  in 
statesmanship.  It  was  clear  to  him  that 
the  gulf  must  somehow  be  bridged  ;  he 
perceived  the  constitutional  humiliation 
of  the  Orthodox  population,  and  found  the 
solution  in  the  idea  of  ecclesiastical  union. 
Rome,  if  an  oppressed  sovereign  sought 
her  aid,  had  formerly  stipulated  for  a 
complete  adoption  of  the  Catholic  faith, 
.  even  if  some  occasional  exemp- 
Dissenstons  ^-^^^  ^^^^  promised.  But  now 
tn  the  Roman  ■.  i      j    x  ^ 

Ch     h  ^^  resolved  to  carry  out 

the  unification  of  the  two 
Churches  in  such  a  way  that  the  Orthodox 
population  need  only  accept  the  Catholic 
articles  of  beUef  and  show  obedience  to  the 
Pope,  but  in  other  respects  should  retain 
their  Greek  ritual.  Before  the  spread  of 
the  Hussite  movement  men  would  hardly 
have  ventured  to  lay  such  terms  before  the 
Curia.     Witold  energetically  supported  the 

3232 


prosecution  of  this  plan.  It  was  essential 
that  the  Russo- Lithuanian  district  with 
Kiev  should,  in  Church  matters,  be 
made  independent  of  the  Metropolitan 
at  Moscow.  In  the  same  year  that 
JIuss  was  burnt  at  the  stake  at  Con- 
>stance  (1415),  Witold  convened  a  synod 
of  the  Russo  -  Lithuanian  clergy  at 
Novohorodok  in  Lithuania,  and  pro- 
claimed the  independence  of  the  Russo- 
Lithuanian  Church  with  Kiev  as  its 
centre.  Gregor  Camblak,  raised  to  be 
Metropolitan  of  Kiev,  went  in  141 8  with 
eighteen  suffragan  bishops  to  Constance, 
at  the  command  of  the  Grand  Duke,  in 
order  to  conclude  there  the  union  with  the 
Roman  Church.  On  account  of  the 
dissensions  in  the  bosom  of  the  Roman 
Church  the  negotiations  fell  through. 

But  the  idea  of  union  remained.  Thus, 
the  union  concluded  at  Florence  in  the 
reign  of  Vladislav  III.  is,  properly  speak- 
ing, the  sequel  of  those  efforts.  The  plan 
was  resumed  in  the  year  1596  under 
Sigismund  III.,  when  a  union  was  agreed 
upon  at  Berest ;  and  so  again  later.  But 
there  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  plan 
of  Witold  and  the  later  unions.  Witold 
contemplated  only  a  con- 
IHie  Polish  stitutional  equalisation  of  the 
Nationality     Rugso-Lithuanian  and  Catholic 

reng  ene  population,  in  which  connec- 
tion he,  as  a  statesman,  laid  no  special 
weight  on  creeds,  and  even  protected  the 
Jews ;  while  later  the  only  wish  was  to 
promote  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and 
the  spread  of  the  Polish  element. 

The  second  chief  characteristic  of  the 
Polish  constitution  of  1413  is  the  stress 
laid  on  nationality.  The  Piast  constitu- 
tion had  taken  no  account  of  other  races 
because  it  had  no  cause  to  do  so.  But 
vvhen  in  1291  the  Bohemian  king  Wenzel 
II.  became  King  of  Poland  also,  the 
Polish  nobihty,  following  a  precedent  under 
Henry  11.  of  Silesia  in  the  year  1239,  drew 
up  a  charter  that  the  king  should  confer 
offices  on  Poles  alone.  The  same  thing 
occurred  when  King  Lewis  of  Hungary 
reigned  in  Poland,  and  again  at  the  elec- 
tion of  Jagiello.  This  article  of  the  con- 
stitution raised  a  barrier  between  the 
Poles  and  the  other  nations,  and  thus 
strengthened  the  consciousness  of  Polish 
nationality. 

A  third  peculiar  feature  of  the  Polish 
constitution  was  its  republican  spirit. 
Since  in  Horodlo  it  was  only  said 
generally  that  nobles  might  rneet  in  suitable 


THE    NEW    DOMINION    OF    POLAND 


localities,  but  was  not  precisely  laid 
down  by  whom  or  how  often  they  were 
to  be  summoned  and  how  many  might  be 
present,  the  republican  character  of  the 
constitution  was  emphasised.  Wherever 
several  nobles  met  they  had,  ipso  facto, 
the  right  to  decide  on  affairs  of  state  ; 
this  was  the  source  of  the  later  Sejmiki  and 
confederations.  The  unity  of  the  con- 
stitution was  destroyed  by  it.  When  an 
attempt  was  made,  in  1540,  in  the  imperial 
diet,  to  fix  at  least  the. number  of  their 
deputies,  the  nobility 
did  not  even  concede 
that  point.  Every  noble 
was  a  deputy  by  birth 
and  had  a  share  in  the 
imperial  government. 
The  anarchy  of  the 
falling  empire  had  its 
origin  at  Horodlo.  Two 
classes  now  guided  the 
destinies  of  Poland — 
the  Cathohc  priesthood 
and  the  nobility.  The 
peasant  population  and 
the  citizens  of  the 
towns  had  no  place  by 
the  side  of  these  two. 
The  impoverishment 
which  the  privileged 
orders  brought  upon 
the  middle  class  had  a 
most  disastrous  effect 
on  industry  and  trade. 
The  peasantry,  how- 
ever, were  bound  to 
retrograde  in  every 
sense.  The  two  power- 
ful parties  were  natur- 
ally anxious  to  increase 
their  privileges  still 
more.    When  Vladislav 


we  will  not  allow  any  property-owning 
Pole  to  be  imprisoned  for  any  crime,  or 
any  penalty  to  be  inflicted  upon  him 
before  he  has  been  assigned  to  and 
brought  before  some  court  ;  excepting 
thieves  and  criminals  caught  red-handed, 
as  well  as  persons  who  cannot  or  will  not 
give  any  security.  Nobody  shall  be 
deprived  of  his  goods  by  the  king,  but 
only  by  the  sentence  of  the  barons." 
This  was  the  Polish  act  of  Habeas  Corpus. 
In  Lithuania  people  had  long  been 
discontented  with  the 
state  of  things  created 
by  the  union  with 
Poland.  Chiefly  belong- 
ing to  the  Orthodox 
communion,  they  felt 
their  religious  and  po- 
litical degradation  the 
more  keenly,  since  they 
were  socially  and 
economically  prejudiced 
by  it,  and  their  culture 
must  in  the  long  run 
inevitably  be  stunted. 
In  fine,  it  was  felt  that 
Lithuania  was  in  an 
inferior  position  as  re- 
gards Poland.  This  was 
perceived  with  the 
greater  bitterness,  since 
before  1386  Lithuania 
contained  three  times 
as  much  territory  as 
Poland.  At  first  the 
opposition  massed  itself 
round  Witold.  The 
Poles  won  him  over. 
Then  he  wished  to 
equalise  the  differences 
in  a  constitutional  way 
by  the  union.  But  he 
could  not  overcome  the 


J  agiello  m  142:)  wished  casimir  iv:  Poland's  powerful  king       ,..,,.-. 

to  secure  the  succession  when  he  ascended  the  throne  of  Poland,  in  1447,    pohtlCally  mlenor  pOSl- 

Of    his    sons,    the  StipU-  Casimir  attempted  to  curtail  the  excessive  power  of    tion    of    Lithuania.       In 

,      .  '  .       ,'  .  the    Catholic    ecclesiastical    princes,   and    forced  i    ..  .         in    j-   i 

lation  was  required  in  the   Pope  to  renounce  the  exclusive  right  of  a    letter    to    Vladislav 

return     that     for     the  "«»i"*tingr  these  dignitaries.    He  died  in  1492.  jagiello      he     declared 

future  only  men  of  noble  birth  should  be      that  the  Emperor   Sigismund    (Poland's 


admitted  to  spiritual  dignities.  This  stipu- 
lation was  not  granted,  because  it  ran 
counter  to  the  custom  of  the  Roman 
Church  itself ;  but  henceforward  priests 
from  the  common  people  were  to  be 
excluded  at  any  rate  from  the  cathedral 
chapters  at  Cracow  and  Gnesen.  Jagiello 
conferred  a  new  favour  on  the  nobiUty 
at  Jedlno  in  the  year  1430,  and  in  1433 
at  Cracow :  "  We  promise  and  vow  that 


evil  genius,  in  whose  power  it  lay  to  break 
up  the  union)  had  suggested  to  him  the 
idea  of  aiming  at  the  royal  crown  for 
Lithuania.  Witold,  in  fact,  staked  every- 
thing upon  obtaining  his  coronation.  He 
had  already  invited  Jagiello  and  many 
neighbouring  princes  to  Luck.  The  im- 
perial embassy,  which  was  to  bring  him 
the  crown,  had  reached  the  Pohsh  frontier 
when  the  Poles  barred  the  way.  Sigismund 

3233 


CHRISTMAS 


PRETTY    POLISH    CUSTOM 


At  the  Cliristmas  season  the  Pohsh  peasants  go  round  the  villages,  carrying  a  huge  lighted  star,  symbolising  the  Star 
Of  Bethlehem.  Three  boys  impersonate  the  three  kings  of  the  East,  Caspar,  Melchior,  and  Balthazar.  They  also 
carry  a  little  puppet-show,  in  which    the   drama   of  the    Nativity    and   other  Scripture  incidents  are  performed. 


3234 


CHRISTMAS    IN     POLAND:    THE     STORK     AS    CAROL -SINGER 
In  commemoration  of  the  legend  that  tells  how  the  birds  and  beusts  of  the  field  came  to  worsliip  the  Infant  Jesus,  the 
young  Polish  peasants  dress  up  as  various  creatures,  such  as  the  stork  and  the  bear,  and  go  round  the  houses  sm^ng 
traditional  carols.    They  are  paid  with  gifts  of  cakes  and  sausages.    The  ceremony  is  practised  also  during  the  Carnival. 


206 


3235 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


and  Jagiello  were  at  Luck,  when  Witold 
died  unexpectedly  (October  27th,  1430). 
The  danger  thus  disappeared.  Witold 
probably  did  not  aim  at  a  complete 
severance  of  Lithuania  from  Poland  or  at 
the  status  (which  Sigismund  designed 
imposing  on  him)  of  a  vassal  of  the  German 
emperor,  but  rather  intended  to  place 
D  I  J'  V  I.  Lithuania  on  an  equal  foot- 
Pretses'ol  ^"8  ^ith  Poland,  and  wished 
....  to  employ  Germany  for  the 

purpose.  The  Pohsh  yoke 
grew  heavier  after  Witold's  death.  Thus, 
for  example,  Polish  garrisons  were  thrown 
into  Kamienec  and  other  Podohan  fort- 
resses without  any  warning,  and  Sigis- 
mund, the  Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania,  was 
forced  in  the  name  of  Lithuania  to 
waive  all  claim  to  Podolia,  and  actually 
to  surrender  the  most  important  fort- 
resses of  Volhynia.  Nor  was  that  all. 
The  Poles  demanded  that  all  fresh 
acquisitions  of  territory  should  be  made 
in  the  name  of  the  crown  of  Poland 
alone.  Finally,  in  all  negotiations  and 
treaties  with  foreign  countries  Lithuania 
was  almost  completely  ignored.  The 
malcontents  grouped  themselves  round 
the  person  of  Svidrigello,  and  the  opposi- 
tion found  support  in  Moscow.  Then  war 
was  determined  upon  in  Poland.  Svid- 
rigello, defeated  in  1435  on  the  River 
Svienta,  was  forced  to  recognise  the 
suzerainty  of  Poland.  But  the  opposition 
was  not  yet  crushed  by  this  defeat,  and 
now  the  Grand  Duke  Casimir  himself, 
brother  of  King  Vladislav  IIL,  put  himself 
at  its  head.  The  union  of  Florence  in 
1439,  the  arrangements  of  which  were 
promoted  by  the  Pohsh  statesmen  (Bishop 
Olesnicki  received  for  his  services  a 
cardinal's  hat),  could  not  but  make  the 
more  bad  blood  in  the  Russo- Lithuanian 
districts,  since  King  Vladislav  IIL  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  cardinal  conferred  on 
the  united  clergy  the  same  rights  which 
the  Latin  clergy  enjoyed.  Casimir  IV. 
_  .  .  .„  Andreas,  even  after  he  had 
nd  th"  become  King  of  Poland  in 
Church  ^447.  did  not  alter  his  Li- 
thuanian proclivities.  On  the 
contrary,  he  endeavoured  to  change  the 
constitution,  the  defects  of  which  he  had 
clearly  recognised.  His  greatest  anxiety 
was  due  to  the  excessive  power  of  the 
Catholic  ecclesiastical  princes,  especially 
the  haughty  behaviour  of  Olesnicki,  who, 
being  the  real  originator  of  that  constitu- 
tion, tried  to  overshadow  the  crown  itself. 

3236 


Casimir,  adroitly  making  full  use  of  the 
schism  which  then  divided  the  Roman 
Church,  forced  the  anti-Pope  Fehx  V.  to 
renounce  the  exclusive  right  of  nominating 
the  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  of  his  empire  ; 
henceforward  the  king  had  for  six  years  to 
fill  ninety  first  places.  By  this  plan  the 
election  of  the  chapters  became  invaUd, 
and  only  persons  acceptable  to  the  king 
could  be  nominated  to  high  offices. 
Casimir  IV.  also  passed  the  enactment 
that  the  prelates  as  landowners  should  be 
hable  to  mihtary  service,  by  which  means 
the  mihtary  constitution  of  Casimir  the 
Great  was  completed. 

The  king  also  planned  to  break  down 
the  excessive  power  of  the  nobihty.  He 
was  at  the  same  time  firmly  resolved  not 
to  allow  Lithuania  to  be  overshadowed 
by  Poland  ;  he  resided  by  preference  in 
the  former  country  and  surrounded  him- 
self with  Lithuanians.  When  we  hear  what 
his  attitude  towards  Bohemia  and  the 
Hussites  was,  how  in  1449,  in  his  capacity 
as  Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania,  he  made  an 
alhance  with  Grand  Duke  Vasilij  Vasilje- 
witch  against  common  enemies — the 
second  treaty  of  Lithuania  with  Moscow, 
.  made  in  the  spirit  of  Witold — 
Lithuama      j^^^  ^^^^  mutually  secured  the 

Rcv*h*  guardianship  of  their  children 
and  allowed  free  trading  facili- 
ties, and  how  cautious  was  Casimir 
in  settling  the  frontier  on  the  side  of 
Moscow,  we  may  fairly  suppose  that 
Casimir  courted  connections  with  Moscow 
in  order  to  show  a  bolder  front  against 
the  Poles,  and  then  to  be  able  to  reform 
the  constitution. 

He  delayed  to  confirm  the  PoUsh 
privileges,  wished  to  institute  a  trial 
for  high  treason  against  the  cardinal, 
surrounded  himself  with  younger  men 
of  his  own  views,  and  pubhshed  pamph- 
lets on  the  necessity  of  constitutional 
reform ;  in  fact,  he  did  not  shrink 
from  emplo5nng  the  headsman's  axe  in 
order  to  show  the  great  officials  that  they 
were  not  masters  of  the  state.  He 
began  by  favouring  the  lesser  nobility,  in 
order  to  pit  them  against  the  magnates. 
This  policy  led  later  to  the  change  in  the 
constitution. 

There  was  popular  talk  in  Lithuania  of 
conquering  Podolia  by  force  of  arms,  and 
the  bitterness  between  Lithuania  and 
Poland  soon  reached  such  a  pitch  that  an 
open  revolt  of  Lithuania  threatened  in  1456. 
If   Casimir  had  persevered  in  his  action 


3237 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


he  would  certainly  have  gained  his  end. 
But  financial  straits  forced  him  to  con- 
cessions. Poland  was  confronted  with  a 
war  against  the  Order.  The  Slachta, 
which  met  at  Cerekwica,  refused  to  take 
the  field  before  their  privileges  had  been 
confirmed.  Casimir  himself  required 
money,  since  he  wished  to  marry  Elizabeth, 
.  the  sister  of  the  Hungarian 
The  King  m  ^^^^^  Ladislaus  Posthumus ;  and 
since  according  to  the  laws  the 


Financial 
Difficulties 


country    had    to    furnish    the 

dowry  for  the  queen,  the  king  was  forced 

in  1453  to  give  way,  and  at  the  imperial 

diet  at  Piotrkov,  in  the  presence  of  twelve 

knights    and    twelve    barons,    took    the 

constitutional  oath  at  the  hands  of  the 

cardinal  whom   he   detested.     The  regal 

power  was  still   more  restricted  by  the 

appointment  of  four  councillors  as  assessors 

to  the  king,  without  whose  consent  no 

ordinance  of  the  king  should  have  the 

force  of  law.    This   first   defeat    of  the 

crown    was    followed    by    others    under 

Casimir's  successors. 

From  the  time  of  Casimir  onwards  we 

can  notice  two  currents  in  the  national 

life  of  Poland  :  the  majority  of  the  nobles 

worked    for    the    enlargement    of    their 

privileges,  while  the  second  party  aimed 

at  the  strengthening  of  the  royal  power 

and  a  restriction  of  personal  liberty.    This 

division  of  aims  was  to  be  found  in  every 

state  of    Europe.        A  contemporary  of 

Casimir  was  the  Florentine  Niccolo  Machia- 

velU  (1469-1527),  who,  in  his  "  Principe," 

which    was    addressed    to    Lorenzo    de' 

Medici  in  1514,  published  a  treatise  for  the 

guidance  of  princes,  to  whom  he  wished 

to  communicate  the  art  of  attaining  an 

unrestricted  authority.     And  at  the  court 

of  Poland  lived  a  representative  of  this 

school,  the  humanist  Filippo  Buonaccorsi, 

better    known    under    the    Latin    name 

of     Callimachus    Experiens,     to     whom, 

together  with  John  Dlugosz,  Casimir  had 

entrusted  the  education  of  his  children. 

.  But  while  in  many  European 

ppostng  countries   the    imperialistic 

.    1  ,     .  party  won  the  day,  the  re- 

in Poland  ui-  .        •       T^  1      J 

publican   party   m   Poland 

continuously  gained  the  upper  hand. 

Casimir's   son  and   successor,   John    L 

Albert   (1492-1501)  vigorously  prosecuted 

his  father's  plan,  but  in  the  end,  like  him, 

had  to  acknowledge  failure.     He  is  said  to 

have  planned  nothing  less  than  a  coup 

d'etat  in  order  to  overthrow  the  nobles 

and  strengthen   the   monarchical   power. 

3238 


He  governed  without  the  senate.  When 
the  primate  Olesnicki  died,  John  Albert  set 
his  brother  Frederic  on  the  archiepiscopal. 
throne.  He  introduced  greater  magni- 
ficence at  court  and  made  difficulties, 
whenever  possible,  about  the  admission 
of  the  magnates.  He  concluded  a 
treaty  with  his  brother  Vladislav  (H.) 
of  Bohemia  and  Hungary  in  which  they 
pledged  themselves  to  help  each  other 
"  in  case  of  any  rebellion  of  their  subjects 
or  any  attempt  by  them  to  restrict  the 
monarchical  power." 

The  most  certain  means  of  increasing 
his  power  seemed  to  him  to  be  a  victorious 
war ;  he  proposed  to  conquer  Moldavia 
for  his  youngest  brother  Sigismund. 
All  the  Jagellons,  with  the  exception 
of  Alexander  of  Lithuania,  assembled 
at  Leutschau  in  Hungary  in  1494  to 
discuss  that  campaign.  They  had,  be- 
sides, every  cause  to  join  forces,  since 
the  Hapsburgs  had  concluded  an  alliance 
with  Moscow  against  Poland.  Prepara- 
tions were  made  under  pretext  of  a  war 
against  the  Turks.  Then  the  same  situa- 
tion came  about  as  under  Casimir — the 
nobles  would  not  vote  any  supplies,  and 

«».    ..»  »....     Albert  saw  himself  compelled 

The  Nobility  ■  ^       -        •  ^ 

_  'to  grant  extensive  concessions 

*  c  *  *°  the  nobility  at  the  diet  at 

Piotrkov  in  1496.  Besides  this, 
he  suffered  an  overwhelming  defeat  in 
1497  at  Cozmin  in  the  Bukovina. 

The  new,  and  at  the  same  time  mon- 
strous feature,  of  the  legislation  of  John 
Albert,  extorted  in  1496  by  the  Slachta, 
was  that  it  formally  surrendered  the 
peasant  population  to  the  nobility.  The 
pressure  of  the  Slachta  must  have  been 
great  indeed  when  it  could  be  complained 
in  the  diet  that  the  country-folk  left 
their  fields  in  crowds  and  that  the  villages 
were  empty.  On  the  basis  of  the  enact- 
ments of  Casimir  the  Great  (who  had 
checked  emigration  so  far  that  only  a 
peasant  who  had  more  than  one  son 
should  be  allowed  to  send  one  to  school 
or  to  business  in  the  town,  and  then 
only  on  a  certificate  from  his  lord)  it 
was  enacted  that  henceforward  in  every 
year  only  one  peasant  might  leave 
his  village.  This  restriction  was  not 
modified  until  1501.  In  another  article 
townsfolk  were  prohibited  from  acquir- 
ing and  owning  property  according  to 
provincial  law.  Further,  the  admission  of 
non-nobles  into  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy 
was   restricted.     Formerly,    indeed,     no 


4|f--  31 


3239 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


non-nobles  were  admitted  to  the  higher 
offices  in  the  cathedrals  at  Gnesen, 
Cracow,  Posen,  and  Plock,  but  now  the 
superior  posts  generally,  to  the  exclusion  of 
foreigners,  were  reserved  for  natives  of 
noble  birth  alone.  These  two  provisions 
were  ostensibly  designed  to  increase  the 
military  force.  If,  according  to  the  tenor 
of  the  military  system  of  Casimir  the 
Great,  only  land-owning  nobles  were 
under  any  obligations  of  military 
service,  in  the  interests  of  public 
defence  the  admission  of  non-nobles 
to  ecclesiastical  offices  ought  to  be 
prevented,  and  the  sale  of  "  noble  " 
property  to  them  forbidden, 
because"  they  were  exempt  from 
military  service.  Only  certain 
benefices  might  be  conferred  upon 
"plebeians." 

The  articles  concerning  work- 
men were  equally  harsh  :  they 
were  forbidden  to  go  to  Prussia 
and  Silesia  to  work  at  harvest- 
tide,  in  order  that  there  might 
be  no  want  of  labour  in  Poland 
and  that  the  wages  might  not 
need  to  be  raised.  The  destitute 
were  to  be  employed  on  the 
construction  of  fortresses  on 
the  Turkish  or  Tartar  frontiers. 
The  statute  of  1496  significantly 
recounts  that  there  were  more 
beggars  in  the  realm  of  Poland 
than  anywhere  else.  The  poor 
population,  therefore,  took  refuge 
by  hundreds  in  those  ownerless 
districts  on  the  Dnieper  where 
freedom  and  a  less  degrading 
existence  were  still  to  be  found, 
and  they  found  a  suitable  em- 
ployment in  campaigns  against 
Ottomans  and  Tartars.  From 
these  people  arose  the  avengers  ^ 

of  Polish  oppression.  The  same  sword 
characteristics  are  shown  by  polish 
the  laws  passed  under  Albert's  brothers, 
Alexander  I.  (1501-1506),  and  Sigismund 
the  Elder  or  the  Great  (1506-1548).  The 
imperial  diets  were  bent  on  further  re- 
stricting the  royal  power.  Thus  we  may 
call  attention  to  the  provision  that  the 
king  had  not  to  decide  anything  by  him- 
self, but  merely  to  lead  the  deUberations 
of  the  senate;  for  "  an  oligarchical  govern- 
ment was  better  than  a  monarchical." 
Further,  the  famous  statute  Nihil  novi 
declared  that  the  king  henceforth  might 
not  introduce  any  new  measure  without 

3240 


the  assent  of  the  senate  and  the  provincial 
deputies ;  this  strengthened  the  provisions 
of  1453  and  1454.  High  offices  were  to 
be  conferred  according  to  length  of  service 
and  not  at  the  caprice  of  the  monarch. 
Grave  consequences  ensued  from  the  decree 
of  the  diet  of  1504,  by  which  the  king 
might  not  pledge  or  give  away  crown 
lands  except  with  the  knowledge  of  the 
diet  and  the  assent  of  the  senate.  The 
legislative  proposals  which  aimed  at  the 
increase  of  the  defensive  powers  of  the 
realm  are  noteworthy,  and  they  would 
doubtless  haye  achieved  their  purpose 
had  they  been  carried  out.  According 
to  them,  not  merely  were  the 
townsfolk  who  owned  landed 
property  liable  to  mihtary  service, 
but  every  tenth  man  from 
the  country  population  was  to 
be  drafted  into  the  militia, 
which  was  intended  to  form  the 
basis  of  the  nation's  mihtary 
organisation. 

The  diets  under  Sigismund 
frequently  occupied  themselves 
with  this  question.  Under  him 
the  Hberty  of  the  peasants  to 
leave  their  homes  was  still  more 
restricted,  since  they  were  made 
solely  and  absolutely  dependent 
on  the  lord,  while  the  rights 
of  private  jurisdiction  were  ex- 
tended. In  the  legislative  enact- 
ments of  Melnik,  of  1501,  which, 
however,  are  not  to  be  found  in 
the  "  Volumina  legum  "  of  Jan 
Laski  (John  a  Lasco;  1466-1531), 
it  is  laid  down  that,  in  case  the 
king  should  prosecute  any  innocent 
person,  or  not  conform  to  the 
enactments  of  the  council,  and 
act  contrary  to  the  well-being 
of  the  empire,  the  whole  empire 
OF  THE  was  released  from  the  oath  of 
KINGS  loyalty  and  might  regard  the 
king  as  a  tyrant  and  a  foe. 

Such  proceedings  could  not  produce 
any  good  impression  in  Lithuania.  When 
John  Albert's  brother,  Alexander,  became 
Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania,  this  was  done 
without  the  assent  of  Poland.  The  union, 
therefore,  was  formally  non-existent. 
Alexander,  in  fact,  trod  in  the  foot- 
steps of  Witold  and  Casimir,  since 
he  similarly  entered  into  alliance  with 
Moscow.  Only  the  war  against  the 
Order  brought  both  parties  quickly 
together  again.  -^J.^SSt-J- 


POLAND    UNDER   THE   JAGELLONS 

SEEDS  OF  DECAY  IN  THE  NATIONAL  LIFE 


"VY/HEN  Sigismund,  Casimir's  son, 
^  mounted  the  throne  of  Poland  in  1506 
Eastern  Europe  presented  a  very  different 
poHtical  picture  from  that  of  a  hundred 
years  before.  The  hardest  task  of  Poland 
in  the  course  of  the  three  last  centuries, 
the  suppression,  that  is,  of  the  Teutonic 
Knights  in  order  to  occupy  the  coast  of 
the  Baltic,  had  been  performed  in  1466. 
It  was  high  time,  for  a  few  decades 
later  it  would  hardly  have  been  possible. 
Threatening  clouds  gathered  in  the 
east  and  west  of  Poland  just  at  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century  and  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth.  On  the  one  hand 
Moscow  was  arming  for  an  attack  on 
Poland-Lithuania ;  on  the  other  side  the 
Ottomans  were  pressing  with  increasing 
power.  Poland  had  long  enjoyed  tran- 
quillity on  the  side  of  Moscow,  which, 
groaning  under  the  Tartar  rule,  had  been 
unable  to  move.  But  when  Ivan  III. 
had  shaken  off  the  Mongol 

c"    ion  of      y°^^    ^"^    ^^^    ^^^    ^^"^^ 

«K  *o*th*'d°        ^^^'  ^^  formed  comprehen- 

e    r   o  ox     gj^^  schemes.      He  worked 

for  the  unification  of  Russia  with  skill  and 
good  fortune.  One  district  after  another 
was  brought  over  to  him. 

When  he  married  in  1472  the  Byzan- 
tine princess  Sophia  (Zoe),  daughter  of 
the  despot  Thomas  of  Morea,  the  last  of 
the  race  of  the  Palaeologi,  he  assumed 
the  Byzantine  imperial  arms,  the  double- 
headed  eagle,  and  claimed  from  Rome 
the  title  of  Emperor  of  Russia.  He  also 
laid  claim  to  the  Russian  districts  of 
Poland.  The  current  of  anti-PoUsh  feeling 
in  Lithuania  was  perceived  by  Ivan  III. 
He  therefore  came  forward  as  the  champion 
of  the  Orthodox  population  of  Poland. 
The  Russian  party  in  Lithuania  was  always 
strong ;  and  capable  men,  such  as 
Michael  GUnskij,  stood  at  its  head.  Even 
in  Casimir's  days  the  poHtical  condi- 
tions in  Eastern  Europe  seemed  to  have 
shifted  in  favour  of  Moscow. 


Since  the  year  1481,  after  the  Tartars 

had  been  beaten,  the  Lithuanian  princes, 

hitherto  friendly  towards  Poland,    began 

one  after  the  other  to  go  over  to  the  side 

of  Moscow.    Alexander,  while  Grand  Duke 

of  Lithuania,  was  openly  pro-Russian.     A 

rapprochement  between  him  and  Ivan  took 

place  in   1494.     Alexander    married   the 

D  t     J-    €s*     J  Princess       Helene      and 

Poland  s  Stand  ■      j     1.  -        1    •         j. 

.     .    . .,  waived    his  claim    to    a 

Against  the  .          ,                  .      , 

f>  tu  f   r-u      V  senes  of  towns  in  favour 

Catholic  Church  r  i_-      r   ■!              1              t 
of  his  father-in-law.      In 

the  marriage  contract  he  pledged  himself 
not  to  force  Helene  to  go  over  to  the  Catholic 
reHgion,and  in  fact  not  to  allow  her  to  do  so 
"  voluntarily."  He  built  a  chapel  for  her  in 
Wilna,and  surrounded  her  only  with  people 
of  her  own  creed.  We  learn  from  these 
stipulations  that  the  determined  influence 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  on  public 
poUcy,  against  which  a  stand  was  being 
made  in  Poland,  was  already  recognised 
in  Moscow.  Alexander  confirmed  in  1499 
the  old  rights  of  the  Orthodox  Church. 

Ivan  also  knew  how  to  stir  up  hostility 
on  every  side  against  Poland,  and  to 
organise  a  menacing  league  against  it. 
He  married  his  son  VasiUj  to  a  daughter 
of  Stefan  the  Great  of  Moldavia,  and 
thus  drew  this  country  into  the  sphere 
of  his  interests.  He  w£is  allied  with  the 
Teutonic  Order  and  friendly  with  the 
Tartar  Khan  Mengli  Giray  I.  (1469- 1474 
and  1478- 15 15)  ;  he  observed  an  amicable 
attitude  towards  Turkey,  and  would  not 
_  J  entertain  any  idea  of  a  league 

Mo™ow^in      ^^*^    Poland   and    Hungary 
oscow  in      aerainst Turkey.  HissonVasiUi 

Agreement  °  ,      ,,  -^  ,•      •" 

observed  the  same  poucy. 
In  this  attitude  towards  Polandthe  Russian 
princes  were  met  by  the  German  emperor 
Maximihan,  who,  as  an  opponent  of  the 
Jagellons  in  the  contest  for  the  crowns  of 
Bohemia  and  Hungary,  found  a  welcome 
ally  in  the  Muscovite  grand  duke.  This 
was  the  first  time  that  Germany  entered 
into  relations  with  Moscow. 

3241 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Equally  threatening  was  the  attitude 
of  the  Sublime  Porte.  It  was  the  zenith  of 
Ottoman  power.  Moldavia  and  Wallachia 
already  wavered  in  their  loyalty  as  allies 
of  Poland  ;  if  they  were  lost,  it  would  be 
the  turn  of  the  Dniester  district.  Finally, 
it  lay  with  the  Jagellons  to  defend  the 
Hungarian  crown.  This  state  of  things 
drove  Poland  also  towards  the 

eague  g^y^j^  ^^^  provoked  hostilities 
n^""!  with  Germany.  The  Haps- 
burgs,  therefore,  were  eager,  in 
league  with  Moscow  and  the  Teutonic 
Order,  to  close  the  circle  of  the  enemies 
of  Poland ;  besides  these,  Maximilian 
won  over  the  Margrave  of  Brandenburg, 
the  Duke  of  Saxony,  and  the  King  of 
Denmark,  for  the  combination  against 
Poland,  as  well  as  a  distinct  party  in 
Poland  itself. 

It  was  thus  high  time  for  Sigismund  to 
act.  He  had  concluded  an  alliance  with 
Hungary  in  1507,  had  renounced  Moldavia 
in  favour  of  Hungary,  and  married 
Barbara,  sister  of  John  Zapolya,  besides 
winning  over  Mengli  Giray,  the  Tartar 
Khan,  by  "  yearly  presents "  of  15,000 
gulden — everything  in  order  to  show  a 
bolder  front  to  Maximilian  and  others — 
when  he  suddenly  changed  his  views. 
Sigismund  could  not,  of  course,  wage  war 
with  all  his  enemies  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  and  was  forced,  therefore,  to  decide 
whether  to  turn  toward  the  West  or  the 
East.  But  Maximilian  also  had  cause  to 
seek  a  peace  with  Poland.  The  great 
struggle  between  the  Hapsburgs  and 
Valois  then  began.  The  succession  in 
Milan  and  Naples  aroused  this  struggle, 
and  both  antagonists  fought  in  every  part 
of  the  world  where  they  could  inflict 
damage  on  each  other. 

Sigismund  decided  for  the  contest  with 
the  East  and  fos  the  alliance  with  Maxi- 
milian. His  brother Ladislaus  (Vladislav)  II. 
of  Hungary  was  the  intermediary.  Thus, 
on  July  22nd,  1515,  that  memorable  treaty 
The  World  between  the  three  monarchs 
Power  of  the  ^^  *°  *^^  succession,  which 
Hapsburgs  "^^^  decisive  not  merely  for 
the  history  of  Poland,  was 
arranged  in  Vienna.  The  granddaughter  of 
the  emperor,  Maria,  was  to  marry  Lewis,  the 
son  of  Ladislaus,  and  Anna,  his  daughter, 
was  to  wed  one  of  the  two  grandsons  of 
the  emperor,  Charles  or  Ferdinand  ;  the 
emperor  went  through  the  form  of 
•  betrothal  with  Anna  in  the  name  of  the 
not  yet  selected  grandson,  in  the  church 

.3242 


of  St.  Stephen.  It  was  further  decided 
that,  in  the  event  of  Lewis  dying  without 
issue,  the  Hungarian  crown  should  devolve 
on  his  sister  Anna. 

This  treaty  meant  the  renunciation  by 
the  Jagellons  of  their  claims  to  the  crowns 
of  Bohemia  and  Hungary,  and  therefore  to 
any  power  in  the  West,  and  founded  the 
world  power  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  just 
as  it  laid  the  foundations  of  the  later 
empire  of  Austria.  The  day  which  saw  the 
last  Hungarian  Jagellon  fall  at  Mohics, 
August  29th,  1526,  was  the  birthday  of  the 
Austrian  monarchy. 

But  this  treaty,  on  the  other  side, 
brought  advantages  to  Poland.  The 
emperor  no  longer  supported  the  Teutonic 
Order,  and  did  not  aim  at  an  armed 
alliance  with  the  Grand  Duke  of  Moscow, 
but  left  Poland  a  free  hand.  The  situation 
that  had  been  prepared  and  created  by  the 
battle  at  Tanenberg  was  formally  recognised 
and  confirmed  by  Germany  so  far  as  such 
treaties  can  be  binding.  The  year  15 15 
forms  the  last  stage  in  the  development  of 
the  conditions  created  by  the  year  1410. 
Poland  thus  entered  upon  a  new  chapter 
N      Ch  ofherhistoricaldevelopment. 

in  Pol"  h**  ^'^  ^^^  empire,  which  had 
Development  hitherto  turned  its  face 
toward  the  west,  now  turned 
toward  the  east — namely,  toward  Moscow. 
The  c.ntestwith  this  power  fills  the  pagesof 
the  history  of  Poland  for  the  succeeding  cen- 
turies and  decides  her  fate.  Poland,  indeed, 
only  gradually  recognised  the  necessity 
of  the  struggle.  Even  Sigismund  did  not 
keep  this  goal  steadily  before  him,  though 
he  wavered  in  his  loyalty  to  Germany. 

The  Poles,  whose  country  lay  on  the 
upper  courses  of  the  Oder  and  the  Vistula, 
must  have  always  struggled  to  reach  the 
Baltic.  This  motive,  indeed,  led  to  the 
union  with  Lithuania,  which  equally 
was  drawn  toward  the  Baltic.  For  this 
reason  the  Lithuano-Polish  union  was 
maintained  in  the  face  of  all  hindrances. 
In  the  second  treaty  of  Thorn  of  1466  the 
Poles  had  reached  the  goal  which  the 
course  of  their  rivers  clearly  indicated. 
The  same  physical  necessity  caused  the 
change  of  front  in  the  year  15 15.  Poland 
never  found  the  partnership  with  Hungary 
profitable  ;  the  connection  was  physically 
impossible,  since  a  chain  of  mountains 
raised  a  barrier  between  them.  Bohemia 
and  Hungary  especially  had  greater 
interests  in  common  with  Austria  than 
with  Poland,  which  lay  on  another  line. 


POLAND    UNDER    THE   JAGELLONS 


There  the  Danube  created  out  of  all  the 
surrounding  regions  a  new  state,  Austria, 
the  necessity  of  which  was  proved  by  the 
joint  wars  against  the  Turks,  who  wished 
to  dispute  with  it  the  possession  of  the 
Danube.  The  influence  of  geography 
therefore  kept  Poland  aloof  from  Hungary, 
Bohemia  and  Austria,  and  indicated  to 
her  that  abandonment  of  all  interests  in 
Hungary  which  forms  the  one  side  of  the 
treaty  of  1515. 

But  the  other  side  of  the  treaty,  the 
advance  againsfthe  East,  was  qualified  by 
physical  conditions.  While  Western  Europe 
is  divided  by  mountain  ranges  into  many 
distinct  and  separate  parts,  in  which 
individual  states  could  develop  apart, 
since  they  were  protected 
from  their  neighbours 
by  Nature,  East  Europe 
forms  one  gigantic  plain 
which,  in  spite  of  its 
expanse,  must  have 
favoured  the  formation  of 
a  homogeneous  political 
structure  on  its  whole 
surface.  The  waves  of 
nations  continually  swept 
on  and  broke  one  on  the 
othrr  ;  the  weaker  tribes 
were  subjugated,  until  at 
last  only  the  strongest 
survived.  Nowhere 
perhaps  has  the  ethno- 
graphical picture  changed 
so  often  as  here — on  the 
sea-coasts,  if  anywhere. 

Many  centunes  elapsed 


What  the  East 
European 
War  Meant 


dominates  man.  The  two  races,  educated 
in  different  schools,  worshipped  quite 
different  ideals.  It  was  not  the  Poles 
that  were  fighting  against  the  Russians 
there,  but  the  Catholic  Church  against  the 
Orthodox,  republicanism  against  despotism. 
Hence  the  bitterness  of  this 
East  European  war  ;  it  was  a 
war  of  two  conflicting  prin- 
ciples. Moscow  had  emerged 
from  the  Tartar  school  hard  and  barbarised. 
An  implacably  stern  absolutism  had  saved 
Russia  from  destruction.  How,  therefore, 
after  this  experience,  was  she  to  give  up  her 
own  form  of  government  and  join  the 
Western  current  of  ideas  ?  People  and 
prince  alike  in  Russia  were  so  convinced  of 
the  blessing  of  absolute 
monarchy  that  they  were 
readier  to  go  further  in 
that  direction  rather  than 
to  abandon  it ;  especially 
since  in  the  impending 
war  all  the  resources  of  the 
country  stood  at  the  abso- 
lute disposal  of  the  des- 
potic ruler,  and  the  nation 
was  so  devoted  to  him 
that  it  hardly  ventured 
to  murmur  under  the 
heaviest  oppression.  A 
glance  at  the  development 
of  things  in  Poland  could 
only  strengthen  Moscow 
in  this  conviction. 

Just  when  the  struggle 
between  these  two  nation- 
ahties  began,  the  royal 
power    in     Poland    had 


SIGISMUND   I.  :  AN   ENERGETIC 
RULER 
reign,  from  1503  till   1548,  Sigis- 


betore     a     homogeneous  ^^^^-^^   ^^^ 

political    structure?  arose  mund  i.  was  "endeavouring"  to"strengtiienThe  gradually    suuk    into    a 

in      this     gigantic      basin.    rweTerfwere^Tair^o^c^:^^^^^^^ 

There  were  countless  decay  which  had  taken  root  in  the  national  soil,  king    and    the     nobiUty 
tribes   there,    and   countless   tribes   were     seemed  to  constitute  two  hostile,  opposing 


fated  to  fall,  until  finally,  on  the  question 
who  was  to  ruia  over  the  whole  of  East 
Europe,  only  two  nations  could  come 
under  consideration — the  Poles  and  the 
Russians.  And  as  soon  as  they  recognised 
each  other  as  rivals  they  rushed  at  each 
other,  just  as  when  in  the  desert 
one  wild  beast  crosses  the  path 
of  another.  Properly  speaking, 
the  two  kindred  stocks,  since 
similar  economic,  political, 
artistic,  and  even  national  interests,  and 
to  some  degree  the  same  enemies,  could 
have  quite  well  united,  as  was  the  case 
with  Poland  and  Lithuania.  But  it  was 
shown  once  more  how  powerfully  an  idea 


Poles  and 
Russians  in 
Antagonism 

they    had 


parties.  The  nobiUty  would  not  under- 
take anything  unless  they  received  in  return 
some  concession  or  other  from  the  king. 
The  Slachta  decided  on  war  and  peace,  and 
obtained  pay  for  the  campaigns  outside  the 
borders  of  the  empire.  The  ravages  and 
losses  in  war  had  to  be  made  good  to  them, 
and  their  prisoners  of  war  ransomed  by  the 
king.  The  nobihty  was  desirous  of  paying 
as  few  taxes  as  possible,  and  of  hghtening 
the  burden  of  their  other  state  duties, 
and  naturally  saw  with  pleasure  when  the 
king  was  freehanded.  The  kings  bore 
the  whole  load  of  responsibility,  and  often 
rescued  the  realm  from  distress  merely 
by  the  weight  of  their  personahty  and  with 

3243 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


their  own  means.  These  nobles,  again, 
cared  nothing  for  economy  or  work  ;  work 
was  the  concern  of  the  peasants.  These 
latter,  therefore,  and  the  king  were  the 
martyrs  of  the  commonweal.  And  the  class 
which  possessed  the  most  power  in  the 
state  regarded  the  highest  interests  of  the 
kingdom  as  something  almost  foreign. 
How  could  Poland  under  such 
conditions  be  a  strong  state  ? 


Poland's 
Weakness 
in  Battle 


These  weaknesses  came  to  light 
in  all  the  wars  which  Poland 
waged  in  the  fifteenth  century.  The  whole 
management  of  the  war  against  the 
Teutonic  Order,  which,  after  the  year  1410, 
was  enfeebled,  was  a  discredit  to  Poland  as 
a  state  ;  and  a\\  the  more  so  since  there 
were  brave  soldiers  and  competent  officers 
enough  in  the  country.  Nevertheless,  the 
Pohsh  nobiUty  was  proud  of  its  imperial 
constitution  and  its  personal  privileges. 
Its  freedom  appeared  to  it  in  a  pecuUarly 
briUiant  light  when  it  saw  how  in  the 
neighbouring  kingdom  the  intellectual  life 
was  stunted  under  the  oppression  of  the 
despotic  tsar. 

We  see  here  the  strange  phenomenon 
of  two  nations  alarmed  at  the  defects 
which  each  noticed  in  the  other,  and  driven 
to  exaggerate  their  own  good  qualities. 
The  Russians  enlarged  the  despotic  power 
of  the  tsar  to  a  monstrous  degree ;  the 
Poles  strengthened  the  freedom  of  the 
individual  so  greatly  that  the  unity  and 
liberty  of  the  kingdom  were  destroyed. 
The  two  countries,  apart  from  isolated 
personaHties,  who  wished  now  and  again 
to  stay  the  evils,  but  could  not  carry  their 
purpose  through,  did  not  adopt  a  middle 
course  between  the  two  extremes  or  any 
other  solution  of  the  problem. 

Let  us  consider  other  circumstances 
in  order  to  determine  what  were  the 
intentions  of  each  of  the  two  opponents 
in  the  impending  struggle.  Although 
Poland  was  weaker  as  a  state,  yet  it  was 
benefited  by  the  higher  civilisation  and 
_  the  support  of  Rome,  so  that  it 

jj  J.  ^  came  forward  in  the  contest 
.  *p*'!°'^  J  with  the  East  as  the  representa- 
tive of  Europe  in  the  interests 
of  culture  and  rehgion.  It  could  boast 
also  of  the  sympathies  of  Europe,  which 
did  not,  however,  go  beyond  wordy  agree- 
ments, and  did  not  prevent  the  Western 
Powers  from  attacking  Poland  itself  on 
a  favourable  occasion.  Poland  at  first 
made  great  progress.  But  then  only  too 
soon  the  difficulty  of  her  task  was  apparent. 

3244 


If  Poland  was  resolved  to  carry  Roman 
Catholicism  to  the  East,  she  was  destined 
to  learn  that  Greek  orthodoxy  was  being 
organised  and  grouped  round  Moscow 
as  its  representative.  And  even  those 
aristocratic  hberties  which  the  Poles 
thought  to  disseminate  in  the  East  were 
accompanied  by  conditions  which  were 
fatal  to  them,  since  a  heavy  oppression 
of  the  country  population  went  hand  in 
hand  with  them.  These  two  movements, 
the  rehgious  and  the  social,  could  not  but 
cause  widespread  agitation  among  the 
population,  which  led  to  revolts  and  the 
ultimate  loss  of  the  Ukraine.  The  Poles 
finally  became  conscious  that  a  concen- 
tration of  all  their  energies  was  necessary 
in  order  to  face  the  hard  struggle.  But 
it  was  at  this  point  that  the  capabilities 
of  the  highly  gifted  and  patriotic  people 
failed.  The  old  proverb,  "  Rzecz  pos|:ohta 
cnota  stoi "  (the  republic  exists  by  virtue), 
was  no  longer  applicable,  since  civic 
virtue  had  disappeared  from  Poland. 

Sigismund  and  his  son,  Sigisfnund 
Augustus,  the  last  two  J  agellons,  clearly  per- 
ceived the  root  of  the  malady  from  which 
_.     _.  .         _,    the  Polish  nation  suffered. 

E  detvdr'to  ^^^  P^"°^  °^  ^^^^"^  '■^'S"^.  '^ 
Ch  ^k^D*"^  °  therefore  an  unbroken  series 
ccay  ^j  attempts  to  change  the 
constitution,  to  stem  the  arrogance  of  the 
nobles,  to  strengthen  the  monarchy,  and  to 
pass  wise  laws ;  and  we  must  admit  that 
they  showed  abundant  proofs  of  good 
intentions,  energy,  perseverance,  and  self- 
sacrifice.  We  see  them  and  their  successors 
continually  at  war  with  the  disorder  and 
anarchy  in  the  country,  but  also  notice 
how  uselessly  they  spent  their  efforts  in 
this  unequal  contest  and  were  unable,  try 
as  they  might,  to  check  the  universal  pro- 
gress of  decay.  Sigismund  (1506-1548) 
soon  showed  his  incapacity  for  the  weighty 
task.  Even  before  1515  he  was  involved  in 
war  with  Moscow,  and  gained  some 
successes  ;  but  the  war  could  no  longer  be 
prosecuted  energetically.  It  was  the  same 
in  the  second  war,  which  broke  out  in  1533. 
Moldavia  was  already  on  the  side  of  Mos- 
cow. Sigismund  here  displayed  marked 
feebleness  toward  Germany.  When,  in 
1518,  he  married  as  his  second  wdfe 
Bona  Sforza  of  '  Milan,  the  daughter 
of  Giovanni  Galeazzo,  who  died  in 
1494,  and  thus  became  nephew  of 
the  Emperor  MaximiUan,  he  seems  to 
have  let  himself  be  influenced  by 
Germany,  as  Jagiello  once  did. 


POLAND  UNDER  THE  JAGELLONS 


The  brilliance  of  the  imperial  title  induced 
him  to  form  a  friendship  with  Ferdinand  I., 
and  to  ask  the  hand  of  Elizabeth,  the 
emperor's  daughter,  for  his  son  Sigismund 
Augustus.  But  he  did  not  make  full  use 
of  this  alHance  with  Germany.  Thus, 
he  did  not  declare  war,  for  example, 
against  the  Order,  whose  Grand  Master 
persistently  refused  to  do  homage  until 
after  the  death  of  MaximiUan  in  1519. 
But  even  then  he  did  not  understand  how 
to  retain  his  advantage.  In  1521  a  truce 
for  four  years  was  concluded  by  the  good 
services  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  who 
once  more  tried  to  play  off  the  Teutonic 
Order  against  Poland. 

The  Reformation  made  nowhere  such 
rapid  progress  as  in 
Prussia  under  the  rule  of 
the  monastic  knights,  and 
by  Luther's  advice  it  was 
resolved  to  change  the 
lands  of  the  Order  into  a 
secular  duchy.  The  Grand 
Master,  Albert  of  Bran- 
denburg, a  son  of 
Frederic  of  Anspach 
and  Sophia,  Sigismund's 
sister,  who  died  in  1513, 
and  therefore  a  nephew 
of  Sigismund,  entered 
Cracow  at  the  beginning 
of  April,  1525,  laid  aside 
the  dress  of  the  Order, 
and  did  homage  to  the 
king  on  the  great  square 
at  Cracow  as  a  secular 
prince  and  hereditary 
duke  of  Prussia.  The 
duke  pledged  himself  to 
be  a  loyal  vassal  to  the 
king,  and  to  aid  him  in  war 
with  a  hundred  knights,  and  renounced  his 
right  of  coinage.  He  received  in  return 
the  first  place  in  the  Senate  at  the  king's 
side.  On  the  extinction  of  his  descendants 
in  the  male  line  Prussia  was  to  fall  to 
Poland. 

There  was  little  cause  for  Poland  to 
rejoice  at  this  conclusion  of  the  matter. 
For  now  the  place  of  a  periodically  elected 
Grand  Master  was  filled  by  a  hereditary 
German  duke,  and,  what  was  a  far 
weightier  matter,  the  country,  owing  to 
the  Reformation,  assumed  a  thoroughly 
German  character.  The  old  enemy  reap- 
peared in  a  form  still  more  dangerous  to 
Poland.  So  weak  and  short-sighted  was 
Polish  policy,  that  even  after  the  death 


of  Duke  Albert  II.  Frederic  on  August  27th, 
1618,  the  fief  was  not  resumed  according 
to  the  meaning  of  the  compact,  but  was 
transferred  to  the  Kur-Brandenburg  elder 
line  of  the  Hohenzollerns.  The  complete 
severance  of  Prussia  from  the  Polish  crown 
could  only  be  a  question  of  time  ;  it  was 
destined  to  take  place  in  1659,  when  Poland, 
completely  surrounded  by  enemies,  was  in 
the  greatest  straits,  and  a  formidable 
danger  was  threatening  from  the  East. 
Even  now  Moscow  and  Prussia  united 
against  Poland,  and  their  friendship  soon 
became  traditional. 

It  was  but  a  slight  compensation  that 
Sigismund  united  the  western  Masovian 
principalities  with  his  own  crown  after  the 
extinction  of  the  Piasts  in 
those  parts.  It  was  fortu- 
nate for  Poland  that  with 
true  discernment  he  main- 
tained friendly  relations 
with  Turkey. 

In  spite  of  his  circum- 
spection and  foresight 
Sigismund,  though 
personally  an  efficient 
ruler,  who  reduced  to 
order  the  chaos  of  the 
imperial  finances,  did  not 
achieve  a  complete 
success  in  any  direction. 
How  could  the  vast 
empire  make  a  bold  show 
when  the  nobility  evinced 
no  patriotism,  but  were 
bent  on  their  own 
advantages  and  the 
increase  of  their  privi- 
leges, and  only  too  often 

in  matters  of  foreign  policy.     Known  also  as    prejudiced  the  rCSpCCt  dut 
Augustus  I.,  he  reigned  from  1548  till   1572.     to  the  CrOWn  ?  EvCU  UUdcr 

Jagiello,  the  Slachta.  when  the  king  had 
refused  to  cede  some  privilege,  had 
hacked  in  pieces  before  his  eyes  the  deed  of 
acknowledgment  intended  for  them.  They 
had  threatened  Casimir,  the  son  of 
Jagiello,  with  deposition.  The  same  scenes 
were  repeated  now. 

Maximilian,  who,  even  before  1515, 
stood  in  strained  relations  with  Sigismund, 
succeeded  in  bringing  over  a  part  of  the 
nobles  to  his  side.  The  Slachta  refused  the 
king  the  supplies  for  the  war  against 
Moscow.  Christopher  Szydloviecki,  one  ot 
the  most  influential  ministers  of  Sigismund, 
prided  himself  on  having  received  from 
Maximilian  80,000  gulden,  without  being 
conscious  that  he  was  guilty  of  high  treason. 

3245 


SIGISMUND     II. 
He  was  heir  to  his  father's  difficulties  as  well 
as  to  his  father's  throne,  but  he  was  an  able 
ruler,  and  his  governing  genius  revealed  itself 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Polish  Troops 

Become 

Rebellious 


For  the  same  reasons  Sigismund  was 
unable  to  carry  on  the  war  against  the 
Order  with  the  necessary  vigour.  When, 
in  1537,  he  summoned  the  nobihty  to 
a  campaign  against  Moldavia,  and  some 
150,000  men  assembled  at  Lemberg,  these 
masses  would  not  march  to  the  war,  but 
became  rebellious  and  demanded  legisla- 
tive reforms.  An  attempt  on 
the  king's  hfe  was  actually 
made  in  the  diet  of  1523.  But 
when  in  1538  it  was  proposed 
to  punish  severely  the  crimes  of  public  out- 
rage and  lese  majeste  recourse  was  had  to 
Roman  law,  since  the  national  code  was 
deficient.  It  deserves  to  be  specially  noticed 
that  the  custom  now  began  to  develop 
of  allowing  no  law  to  pass  without  the 
common  consent.  This  fundamental  prin- 
ciple led  ultimately  to  the  "  liberum  veto." 
This  state  of  things  lasted  under 
Sigismund  II.  Augustus  (also  called 
Augustus  I.  ;  1548-1572),  son  of  Sigis- 
mund I.  He  was  much  wiser  than  his 
father,  so  that  he  accomplished  notable 
results,  both  in  foreign  policy  and  in  the 
field  of  internal  reforms. 

Sigismund  Augustus  was  able  to  make 
an  important  conquest  on  the  Baltic  Sea. 
The  Livonian  section  of  the  Teutonic 
Order  was  then  approaching  its  dissolution, 
and  Poland  required  to  keep  watch  on  the 
forthcoming  negotiations  as  to  the  succes- 
sion. The  Order  had  never  reached  such 
power  and  prosperity  in  Livonia  as  in 
Prussia.  For  one  thing,  the  stream  of 
immigrating  Germans  was  less  full  there  ; 
for  another,  the  continual  struggle  between 
the  Order  and  the  archbishopric  of  Riga 
prevented  any  close  amalgamation  of  the 
estates  of  the  realm.  The  provincial 
bishops  did  not  shrink  from  looking  for 
outside  aid.  Thus  the  last  Archbishop  of 
Riga  allied  himself  with  Poland,  and  put 
himself  formally  under  the  protection  of 
the  Polish  king,  conduct  intensely  exas- 
perating to  the  Order,  which  had  always 
The  Balti  shown     a     national    spirit. 


Supremacy  in 
the  Balance 


Poland  and  Russia  had  a  keen 


interest  in  the  decision  of  the 
Livonian  question.  The  pos- 
session of  this  rich  and  populated  country, 
and  through  it  of  an  important  position 
on  the  Baltic,  was  worth  the  greatest 
sacrifices.  The  supremacy  on  the  Baltic 
simply  depended  upon  the  sovereignty  of 
the  old  German  colony.  Russia  was  still 
more  interested,  although  in  spite  of  the 
"  historic "  rights  put  forward  by  the 
3246 


tsars,  no  Russian  prince  ruled  on  these 
coasts  until  1721.  Russia  was  pressing 
forward  in  the  sixteenth  century  with 
redoubled  strength  ;  access  to  the  ocean 
was  essential  for  her,  if  she  wished  to 
become  a  great  power  in  Europe. 

But  Sweden  and  Denmark  had  an  equally 
marked  interest  in  the  solution  of  the 
Livonian  question  ;  the  former,  because 
she  had  planted  foot  on  the  north  and  east 
shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  and  found 
the  advance  of  Russia  a  menace  to  these 
possessions  ;  the  latter,  because  since  the 
days  of  Waldemar  11.  she  raised  claims 
to  Esthonia.  If  we  reflect  that  the 
empire  with  which  Livonia  was  politically 
united,  and  from  religious  reasons  Rome 
also,  must  have  had  interests  at  stake,  we 
shall  comprehend  how  the  Livonian  ques- 
tion might  grow  into  a  European  one. 

The  prospects  of  Poland  were  the  most 

favourable,  and  the  Polish  king  adopted 

the  most  practical  measures.     Not  only 

had  Sigismund  I.  (who  was  still  on  the 

throne)  always  opportunity  as  patron  of 

the  archbishopric  of  Riga  to  interfere  in  the 

internal  affairs  of  Livonia,  but  he  had  also 

Q  p  .         a  loyal  ally  in  Duke  Albert 

™       '         of  Prussia,  his  Hohenzollern 

«-j  fDi  J  vassal,  who,  as  former  Grand 
aide  01  roland    -mr     .  ■      1 

Master,    exercised   a   great 

influence  on  the  Order  in  Livonia,  and  was 
willing  to  employ  it  for  the  benefit  of  Poland. 
He  succeeded  in  raising  his  brother 
William  to  be  coadjutor,  and  in  1539  to 
be  Archbishop  of  Riga,  and  thus  strength- 
ened his  influence  in  that  direction. 

The  Curia  supported  the  Polish  king 
in  everything ;  and  for  this  reason 
Sigismund  Augustus  was  obliged  to  pro- 
ceed cautiously  in  matters  of  reformation 
in  his  empire,  and  to  try  and  hinder  any 
general  defection  from  Rome.  Poland,  as 
well  as  WilUam  himself  and  his  brother 
Albert  of  Prussia,  entertained  the  idea  of 
secularising  the  archbishopric  of  Riga,  as 
had  been  the  case  with  Prussia.  Wilham 
selected  as  the  heir  to  his  plans  his  kins- 
man, the  young  Duke  Christopher  of 
Mecklenburg,  formerly  bishop  of  Ratze- 
burg,  who  was  also  nearly  related  to  the 
King  of  Poland. 

Thus  the  most  powerful  princes  of  North- 
Eastern  Germany  now  made  common  cause 
with  Poland.  Christopher,  in  spite  of  the 
protests  of  the  Livonian  states,  was  elevated 
to  the  post  of  coadjutor  of  the  archbishop. 
Moscow  also  had  achieved  some  succeess. 
In  the  year  1554  the  Livonian  Order  had 


POLAND    UNDER    THE   JAGELLONS 


concluded  a  treaty  with  Ivan  IV.,  in 
which  it  agreed  never  to  enter  into  an 
alliance  with  Poland,  and  to  remain 
neutral  in  case  of  war,  besides  parang  a 
contribution  from  the  bishopric  of  Dorpat 
of  one  mark  per  head. 

The  outbreak  of  war  was  brought  on  in 
1556  by  an  intercepted  letter  from  the 
bishop  to  his  brother  Albert  of  Prussia, 
in  which  there  was  mention  of  his  plans 
directed  against  the  Order.  The  arch- 
bishop was  arrested  as  a  traitor,  his  castles 
and  seats  were  occupied,  the  archbishopric 
confiscated,  and  the  management  of  it 
handed  over  to  the  bishops  of  Dorpat  and 
Oesel.  The  outbreak  of  the  war,  which, 
in  distinction  from  that  of  1700  to  1718,  is 
usually  called  the  First  Northern  War, 
was  accelerated,  since,  on  the  death  of 
the  Grand  Master,  Heinrich  von  Galen, 
Wilhelm  von  Fiirstenberg,  a  man  of 
warlike  propensities,  was  elected  Master 
(1550).  But  it  was  now  seen  that  the  days 
of  the  Livonian  Order  were  numbered. 

While  Sigismund  Augustus  stood  with 
100,000  men  on  the  frontier  of  Courland, 
the  Knights  were  hardly  able  to  put 
p  10,000    men,    including    land- 

W  "  'fh  knechts  and  peasants,  into  the 
.  K  •  ht  field.  Internal  feuds  broke  up 
*"*  '  the  forces  of  the  country.  The 
Order  was  compelled,  therefore,  to  yield 
without  a  struggle,  to  ask  the  Polish  king 
for  forgiveness,  and  to  reinstate  the  arch- 
bishop with  his  coadjutor.  The  declara- 
tion of  war  by  Moscow  was  made  in 
November,  1557.  And  now  the  general  war 
began.  The  Knights  of  the  Order  and 
their  vassals  performed  many  heroic  feats 
in  it,  but  confusion,  discouragement,  and 
treachery  prevented  the  classes  agreeing 
on  united  action. 

As  once  before  in  the  hour  of  need  in 
Prussia,  so  also  here  a  movement  was 
made  against  the  Order,  and  once  more  the 
intrigues  were  due  to  the  Polish  party, 
who  raised  their  supporter  Gotthard 
Kettler  to  the  Mastership ;  Poland  thus 
immediately  gained  a  great  advantage 
from  the  election.  Kettler,  it  is  true, 
wished  to  preserve  his  independence,  and 
sought  help  from  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
the  Teutonic  Order,  and  other  powers,  but, 
as  he  himself  said  later,  found  no  consola- 
tion from  anyone,  while  the  disturbances 
in  the  country  grew  worse. 

The  Grand  Master  and  the  archbishop, 
weary  of  the  disorders,  soon  surrendered  to 
the  Polish  king.    The  treaty  was  signed 


on  November  28th,  1561.  The  territory 
of  the  Order  was  secularised.  Gotthard 
Kettler  returned  to  secular  rank,  and 
received  Courland  as  a  fief  with  the  title 
of  the  Duke  of  Courland  and  Semgallen, 
and  also  a  seat  and  vote  in  the  Polish 
Senate.  Mitau,  not  Riga,  was  assigned 
him  as  residence.  All  the  country  be- 
Ajj-.-  yond     the    Dwina,    Riga    in- 

to  th  eluded,  was  mcorporated  m  the 

Em  Dire  Po^^^h  Empire,  while  the  king 
at  the  same  time  confirmed  all 
the  privileges  of  the  country,  secured  to  it  a 
German  government,  German  language, 
and  the  freedom  of  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession, and  also  promised  to  obtain  the 
sanction  of  the  German  Empire  to  these 
treaties,  by  which  Livonia  was  separated 
from  the  empire.  The  government  of 
Livonia  was  entrusted  to  the  Duke  Kettler. 
On  the  basis  of  this  Frivilegium  Sigis- 
mundi  Augusli  the  territory  of  the  Order 
was  able  to  maintciin  its  German  character 
for  300  years.  In  the  year  1562  all  the 
estates  of  the  realm,  and  twenty  years 
later  Riga,  agreed  to  the  treaty. 

Poland  gained  a  further  advantage  by 
the  friendly  overtures  of  Sweden.  John 
III.,  brother  of  the  Swedish  king,  Eric 
XIV.,  married  in  1562  Katherine,  the 
daughter  of  the  Polish  king ;  the  son  of 
this  marriage  became  king  of  Poland  as 
Sigismund  III.  in  1587.  Sweden  came  into 
the  possession  of  Reval  and  Esthonia 
with  the  consent  of  Poland.  But  even 
Denmark  gained  some  advantages,  for  the 
Danish  prince  Magnus,  obtained  the 
bishopric  of  Oesel  by  treachery.  Moscow, 
which  persistently  continued  the  war  and 
made  devastating  inroads,  was  obliged 
to  be  content  with  Dorpat.  But  this  was 
ceded  to  Poland  in  1582. 

Attempts  had  been  made  at  numerous 
imperial  diets  to  reform  the  judicial 
system,  the  common  law,  the  system  of 
taxation,  and  the  constitution  of  the 
army,  but  almost  fruitlessly,  since  often 
p  ,  what  had  been  once  accepted 
g°  *^  '  was  again  rejected.  If  we  cast 
,  *V  .*  .  our  eyes  over  the  legislation  of 
egis  a  ton  p^jg^j^^j  irom  1500  to  1560  or 

so,  we  are  astonished  at  its  sterility  ;  so 
little  was  passed,  so  much  was  merely 
discussed.  Sigismund  Augustus  only  suc- 
ceeded in  effecting  some  improvement 
towards  the  close  of  his  reign.  Even  under 
his  father,  the  nobles  in  the  imperial 
diets  of  1535- 1536  had  demanded 
and  agreed  to  a  revision  of  the  statute- 

3247 


HISTORY    OF    THE    "WORLD 


book.  In  the  course  of  time  resolutions 
had  been  passed  by  the  imperial  diets 
which  were  contradictory  to  each  other  ; 
thus,  for  example,  the  privileges  of  the 
monasteries  and  the  clergy,  as  well  as  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  bishops  and  the  im- 
munity from  taxation  enjoyed  by  the 
clergy,  were  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of 
_     .  the  country  affecting  the  taxa- 

ciericai  ^^^^  ^^  property,  and  with  the 
""  ^*a  nii^i^^ry  constitution  connected 
therewith,  as  well  as,  on  the 
other  hand,  with  the  statute  Neminem 
Captivahimtis  and  with  the  sovereignty 
of  the  nobles  generally.  Even  under 
Casimir  III.  the  Slachta  had  opposed  the 
privileges  of  the  clerics,  and  the  king  thus 
succeeded  in  breaking  down  the  excessive 
power  of  the  Church. 

The  tendency  everywhere  was  to  abolish 
all  privileges,  whether  belonging  to  classes 
or  individuals.  There  was  also  a  general 
wish  to  abolish  the  Incompatibtlia,  or 
questionable  concentration  of  several 
offices  in  one  person.  It  was  further 
important  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
royal  treasury  and  national  taxation 
to  organise  and  classify  the  crown 
lands  which  had  been  pawned  or  given 
away  in  large  quantities,  and  were  held 
on  illegal  titles.  Their  occupants  were  now 
forced  to  give  them  up,  and  thus  a  fund 
was  created  which  was  large  enough  to 
cover  the  most  necessary  outgoings  of  the 
kingdom,  and  by  which  the  nobility  could 
be  relieved  of  their  burdens.  But  the 
most  important  reform  was  to  abolish 
the  privileges  of  individual  provinces 
and  to  bring  them  under  one  law,  in  order 
to  put  an  end  to  their  efforts  for  independ- 
ence and  to  the  lawless  state  of  things. 
To  these  belonged  in  the  first  line 
Lithuania,  then  Masovia,  Prussia,  Livonia, 
and  finally  Zator  and  Oswiecim  (Ausch- 
witz in  Galicia),  which  John  Albert  had 
acquired.  All  these  legislative  labours 
were  comprised  under  the  name  "  execu- 
—^  _  tion    of    the    laws,"    and    the 

e    ayso   jjQijjjj^y   g^^  every  opportunity 

p  ".'  noisily  clamoured  for  their 
acceptance.  The  future  political 
and  social  structure  of  the  kingdom  was 
dependent  on  this  reform  ;  so  was  the 
solution  of  the  religious  question  ;  for  Pro- 
testantism at  that  particular  time  had 
received  a  great  stimulus  in  Poland.  The 
freedom  which  Poland  enjoyed  was  favour- 
able to  the  spread  of  various  doctrines. 
Humanism   had   found  a  great  response 

3248 


there  ;  and  with  it  the  Hussite  movement, 
which  it  fostered,  was  so  widely  spread  that 
the  Hussites  were  supported  in  the  towns 
and  even  among  the  nobles.  The  Lutheran 
teaching  found  the  ground  still  better 
cleared,  because  the  old  Hussite  doctrine 
had  not  yet  died  out,  the  power  of  the 
clergy  was  limited,  and  freedom  of 
conscience  was  now  traditional. 

Lutheran  ideas  were  disseminated  in 
Poland  as  early  as  the  year  15 18.  In 
Dantzic  the  monk  Jacob  Knade  success- 
fully raised  his  voice  against  the  abuses  of 
the  Church.  Even  in  Great  and  Little 
Poland,  and  in  other  provinces,  preachers 
came  forward.  Only  in  ultra-conservative 
Masovia  did  the  new  doctrine  find  no 
followers.  The  nobility  greedily  grasped 
at  the  new  teaching,  and  not  less  greedily 
the  citizens  of  the  towns.  We  soon  find 
followers  of  the  Calvinistic  teaching,  which 
in  Poland  was  spread  perhaps  still  more 
successfully,  besides  Anti  -  Trinitarians, 
Socinians,  Bohemian  Brethren,  Arians  and 
others. 

Powerful  noble  families  adopted  the  new 

doctrines  and  took  them  under  their  pro- 

tection.    They  raised   centres 

ing  an         ^^  ^j^^  ^^^^  teaching  on  their 
ope    gams  gg^^^gg      Many     priests    and 
Luther  ,  ,  u-  u 

monks,  and  even  bishops,  op- 
posed the  Catholic  Church.  Religious  inno- 
vations found  patronage  even  at  the  royal 
court,  and  secret  meetings  were  held  at  the 
house  of  the  queen's  confessor,  a  Francis- 
can. The  court  preacher  was  a  friend  of 
the  movement.  The  heir  to  the  throne, 
Sigismund  Augustus,  at  that  time  still 
grand  duke  of  Lithuania,  was  considered 
a  supporter  of  the  new  teaching ;  it  was 
only  towards  the  end  of  his  life  that  he 
came  forward  as  a  zealous  Catholic. 

The  king,  under  the  pressure  of  the 
bishops  and  the  Curia,  was  at  first  moved  to 
adopt  severe  measures.  In  the  years  1520, 
1522  and  1523  he  forbade  the  dissemination 
of  Lutheran  books  on  pain  of  confiscation 
of  property.  The  synod  in  Len9zyca  pub- 
lished in  1523  the  bull  of  excommunica- 
tion issued  by  Leo  X.  against  Luther, 
excommunicated  for  its  own  part  all 
heretics,  and  introduced  a  clerical  censor- 
ship by  giving  priests  the  right  to  institute 
searches  in  private  houses.  The  king  was 
petitioned  to  renew  the  old  Hussite 
statute  of  Wielun  dating  from  the  year 
1424,  according  to  which  heresy  was  to 
be  punished  as  lese  majeste  and  to  be 
subject    to   episcopal    jurisdiction.     The 


3249 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


inquisition  was  introduced  in  the  year  1527 ; 
in  1534,  it  was  forbidden  to  attend  the 
University  of  Wittenberg,  and  in  1541,  on 
pain  of  loss  of  nobiUty,  to  keep  priests  who 
were  independent  of  Rome.  And  later  the 
episcopate,  consolidated  by  the  exclusion 
of  its  doubtful  members,  developed  a 
successful  energy,  especially  when  the 
_  vigorous  Bishop  of  Ermland, 

X ecu  ion         Stanislaus  Hosius,  took  the 

Punishment         ,      j  •     -u     /-    i.u    i-  i.- 

-  „  lead  in  the  Catholic  reaction. 

eresy         g^^    ^^     these     measures 

against  the  new  doctrines  bore  little  fruit. 
King  Sigismund  had  acted  with  severity 
only  in  Dantzic,  when  he  went  there  in 
March,  1526,  to  suppress  heresy,  and  ordered 
thirteen  citizens  to  be  executed  in  the 
market  place  without  a  trial ;  and  that 
though  he  had  earlier  sworn  "  by  the  king's 
honour,  helmet  and  sword,"  and  under 
letter  and  seal,  to  shed  no  blood,  but  to 
establish  peace  and  concord.  This  was 
indeed  of  small  avail ;  Prussia  remained  the 
first  country  where  the  Lutheran  doctrine 
was  promoted  to  be  the  national  religion. 

But  then  the  king  relaxed  in  his  zeal. 
When  Dr.  Johann  Eck  challenged  him 
to  proceed  in  the  spirit  of  Henry  VIII., 
he  answered  him,  in  1528  :  "  The  times 
are  changed,  and  with  them  the  rulers 
and  the  spirit  of  the  legislators  ;  sciences 
decay  and  others  blossom.  King  Henry 
may  write  against  Luther  —  you  will 
allow  me  to  be  king  of  the  sheep  as  well 
as  of  the  goats."  So  he  adopted  mild 
measures.  His  son  Sigismund  Augustus 
did  the  same.  One  case  only  is  known 
where  Sigismund  allowed  the  burning  of 
a  woman,  Katharina  Malcher  ;  otherwise 
the  bishops  at  most  let  some  innovators 
die  in  prison  without  a  trial.  So  under 
Sigismund  Augustus,  only  once  was  a 
woman  burnt  at  the  stake. 

The  prohibition  on  visiting  foreign 
universities  was  removed  in  1543,  since  it 
was  totally  impossible  to  enforce  it. 
Sigismund  Augustus,  who  often  asserted 

Nobility  and  ,^^   "^^"^^    ^^    "°    j"^g^    ^^^^ 


Clergy  in 


men's  consciences,  acted  with 


Opposition  ^q"^^'  Z'  P^'"*iapS'  greater  leni- 
ency. The  bitterness  between 
the  nobility  and  the  clergy  meanwhile 
grew  more  intense,  since  the  former  would 
not  recognise  the  episcopal  jurisdiction. 
"  We  only  wish,"  said  Jan  Tarnovski, 
"  to  submit  to  the  king's  court,  and  if 
the  king  merely  executed  the  will  of  the 
bishops,  our  slavery  would  be  worse 
than  the  Turkish  ;   for  the  least  suspicion 

3250 


would   suffice   to   stamp   any  man   as   a 

heretic.       No    injustice    is    done    to    the 

bishops,    for   as   members   of   the  Senate 

they  will  be,  in  some  sort,  judges  with  us 

in   matters   of   heresy."      And  when   the 

Bishop  of  Cracow,  Zebrzydovski,  answered 

him,  "  What  shall  I  be  if  I  am  not  to  be 

judge  over  heresy — beadle  or    bishop  ?  " 

Tarnovski  remarked  to  him,  "  It  is  better 

for  you  to  be  a  beadle  than  for  me  to  be  a 

slave. "   It  is  exhilarating  to  hear  with  what 

manly  courage  the  nobles  defended  their 

freedom. 

The    young   Rafael   Leszczynski   once, 

during  Mass  in  the  cathedral,  while  the 

king  and  bishops  were  kneeling,  put  his 

cap  on  his  head.     This  breach  of  decorum 

was  aimed  at  the  bishop,  not  the  religion. 

In  Poland,   freedom   was   prized  beyond 

everything,   while   earthly   honours   were 

despised.     Things  went  so  far  that  full 

Mberty  of  conscience  was  demanded  for 

the  serfs.    The  Poles  showed  that  they 

were  truly  a  nation  of  free  men.     The 

young  Rafael  was  then  chosen  marshal 

of  the  imperial  diet,  in  defiance  of  the 

bishops  who  had  impeached  him  before 

_^    p  the    king.     It    was  wished    to 

....  '^  aboUsh  the  episcopal  iurisdic- 
a  Nation  of    .•  ,      -^  1    •        -u       1 

P       j^         tion,  in  order  to  bring  the  clergy 

under  the  laws  of  the  country. 

This  was  intended  to  be  decided  at  once 

as  a  main  feature  of  the  programme  of 

legislative  revision. 

The  matter  was  not  easy,  and  the  king 
long  hesitated.  If  he  decided  in  favour  of 
the  bishops  and  recognised  their  jurisdic- 
tion, dangerous  results  would  follow  ;  on 
the  other  hand,  no  right  of  deciding 
religious  questions  could  be  conferred  with 
propriety  upon  the  secular  judges.  The 
king,  therefore,  postponed  the  decision  and 
resolved  to  temporise,  although  in  prin- 
ciple, according  to  the  sense  of  the  old 
laws,  he  recognised  the  episcopal  juris-i 
diction.  Possibly  the  Livonian  question 
deterred  him  from  breaking  off  with  the 
Curia,  whose  help  he  required. 

In  spite  of,  or  rather  on  account  of,  this 
great  freedom,  Protestantism  could  not 
strike  root  deeply  in  Poland.  In  Germany 
it  was  a  reaction  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  Church  ;  there  it  had  sprung 
up  out  of  the  existing  conditions,  like 
a  wild  plant.  In  Poland  the  Church  could 
not  allow  herself  any  great  abuses,  and 
Protestantism  was  accordingly  regarded 
as  an  imported  luxury.  Most  people 
played  with  it,  to  show  that  they  were  at 


POLAND    UNDER    THE    JAGELLONS 


liberty  to  hold  different  views.  When, 
then,  the  CathoUc  Church  renewed  her 
vigour  at  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  clearly 
proclaimed  her  object,  the  Counter  Refor- 
mation in  Poland  had  an  easy  task. 
While  in  the  West  the  Reformation  had 
been  mostly  suppressed  with  bloodshed, 
in  Poland  the  Counter  Reformation  was 
carried  out  almost  unnoticed  ;  even  such 
influential  opponents  as  Stanislaus  Orze- 
chovski  went  over  again  to  the  CathoUc 
Church.  Only  the  anirnosity  between  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  and  the  Greek 
Orthodoxy  grew  more  bitter. 

A  side  movement,  started  by  the  Re- 
formation, deserves  our  notice — the  wish 
for  a  national  church.  The  preachers 
employed  everywhere  the  popular  dialect 
in  spreading  their  teaching,  and  thus 
revived  the  national  languages.  This 
had  already  been  done  to  some  degree 
in  Poland  by  Hussitism,  and  Protes- 
tantism now  developed  the  Polish  lan- 
guage to  higher  perfection.  If  the  Polish 
language  ousted  Latin  in  Poland  in  the 
sixteenth  century  and  created  a  national 
literature,  this  golden  age,  as  elsewhere,  was 

_  .  ..  „  .  primarily  inaugurated  by 
Poland  s  Desire       f,  t>j.a4. 

the  Protestant  move- 
ment. The  dialects,  now 
awakened  to  fresh  hfe, 
forced  their  way  into  the  church  services. 
While  in  the  West  the  opponents  of  the 
CathoUc  Church  aimed  at  extending  the 
independence  of  their  own  national 
churches,  seeking  in  France  a  Gailican 
national  church  and  in  England  estab- 
lishing the  Anglican  national  church, 
Poland  also  wished  for  the  estabUshment 
of  a  national  church  with  a  Slavonic  liturgy 
and  more  or  less  complete  independence 
from  Rome.  And  the  opposition  wished 
to  win  the  king  over  to  this  plan. 

But  since  this  would  have  necessarily 
brought  with  it  a  change  of  the  constitu- 
tion, this  point  also  formed  part  of  the 
programme  of  the  Revision  or  "  Execution 
of  the  Laws."  FinaUy  the  king,  in  1562, 
soon  after  the  acquisition  of  Livonia, 
determined  in  favour  of  the  Execution. 
A  start  was  made  with  the  easiest  part  of 
the  demands,  namely,  the  crown  lands 
and  the  Incompatibilia  ;  the  Slachta 
understood  originaUy  by  this  the  abolition 
generally  of  all  special  privileges.  But  by 
the  influence  of  the  queen  the  question  of 
the  confiscation  of  the  mortgaged  crown 
lands  was  first  dealt  with  ;  she  wished  by 
the  multipUcation  of  crown  lands  to 
207 


for  a 

National  Church 


found  a  dynasty,  as  had  been  done  in  the 
case  of  other  royal  f^miligs. 

As  under  Sigismund,  a  resolution  passed 
by  the  imperial  diet  in  the  year  1504  was 
chosen  as  the  starting-point,  by  which  the 
pledging  of  crown  property  was  made  de- 
pendent on  the  sanction  of  the  Senate. 
Some  grandees  under  Sigismund  had  torn 
The  King  their  grants  of  privileges  in 
Sacrifkes  P^^^^^  ^"^  thrown  them  at  the 
Revenue  king's  feet,  and  there  were  now 
some  such  who  resigned  their 
offices  if  they  filled  two  or  more.  But 
when  a  serious  attempt  was  made  to 
confiscate  the  crown  lands,  such  difficulties 
cropped  up  that  the  whole  scheme  melted 
away. 

Sigismund  Augustus  himself  showed  the 
greatest  self-sacrifice,  since  he  agreed 
that  a  fourth  part  of  the  revenues  of  all 
the  crown  lands  should  be  applied  to 
cover  the  expenses  of  the  army,  and  took 
for  his  share  exclusively  those  estates 
about  which  it  had  not  been  decided 
whether  they  should  be  confiscated.  In 
the  future  the  management  of  the  army 
was  often  assigned  to  this  royal  fourth. 
This,  indeed,  was  estimated  at  so  low  a 
figure  that  it  had  later  to  be  doubled. 

The  question  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 
then  came  up.  After  great  discussions 
the  king  decided  in  favour  of  a  com- 
promise, which  recognised  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Church,  but  withdrew  from  it  the 
secular  arm.  This  law  was  so  formulated  in 
1565  that  municipal  starosts  could  not  be 
made  responsible  by  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  for  the  execution  of  commands. 
But  the  party  of  reform  demanded  that  the 
clergy  and  nobiUty  should  be  placed  on  a 
precisely  equal  footing  with  regard  to  the 
burdens  of  taxation  and  military  service. 
Only  the  presence  of  the  papal  legate, 
Francis  Commendone,  a  skilled  diplomat, 
who  knew  how  to  smooth  the  ruffled  waters, 
spared  the  CathoUc  Church  in  Poland  new 
humiUations.  He  was  vigorously  supported 
#^  t.  ••  ^L  V  by  Bishop  Hosius  of  Erm- 
Cathohc  Church  land,  who  had  represented 
Escapes  Poland  at  the  Council  of 

numuiaiions  ^       i.     ■       i.    n-      x      j.    1 

Trent   m  bnlhant  style, 

and  had  composed  a  new  confessto  fidei 
adopted  by  the  whole  Catholic  Church. 
Commendone  recommended  the  clergy, 
in  order  to  preserve  their  other  rights, 
not  to  evade  the  duty  of  paying  taxes  ; 
the  Church  tithe  was  therefore  a  tax. 
The  attempt  of  the  legate  to  introduce 
into  Poland  the  resolutions  of  the  Council 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


of  Trent  met  with  great  difficulties  ;  a  part 
of  the  clergy  opposed  several  of  the  enact- 
ments. Thanks  only  to  the  good  offices  of 
the  king,  who  declared  he  wished  to  live  and 
die  a  Catholic,  the  Catholic  Church  finally 
conquered  her  opponents,  who  were  in  a 
more  unfavourable  position  from  the  very 
first,  since  they  were  split  up  into  many 
u  .1  /^  ...  ..  parties.  All  the  plans 
Chrrlt  ^^    *^^     opposition-the 

_,  !^"^  .    .  national       church,      the 

nomp  e  national  synod,  and   the 

complete  abolition  of  clerical  jurisdiction — 
remained  unfulfilled,  although  it  tried  to  win 
over  the  king  to  its  cause  by  meeting  his 
wishes  in  all  his  private  affairs.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  accepted  from  the  hand  of  the 
legate  the  resolutions  of  the  Council  of  Trent , 
gave  them  validity  in  Poland,  and  pub- 
lished an  ordinance  which  banished  foreign 
religious  innovators  from  the  country ; 
indeed,  he  even  wished,  in  concession  to 
the  wishes  of  the  legate,  to  allow  no  reli- 
gious discussions  between  the  Catholics 
and  the  zealous  reformers.  The  Catholic 
Church  did  not  approve  of  disputations, 
judging  correctly  that  they  could  not  be 
profitable  to  the  faith. 

The  laws  as  to  the  Incompatibilia,  as 
well  as  that  touching  the  duty  of  an 
official  to  reside  on  the  scene  of  his  duties, 
were  once  more  strictly  enforced,  both  for 
secular  office-holders,  and,  in  the  meaning 
of  the  resolutions  of  Trent,  also  for 
spiritual  dignitaries. 

But  the  revision  affected  also  the  privi- 
leges of  the  towns,  since  the  export  of 
goods  to  foreign  countries  was  prohibited 
— a  prohibition  which  was  certain  to 
undermine  the  welfare  not  only  of  the 
towns,  but  also  of  the  whole  empire.  The 
nobility  alone  were  to  be  permitted  to 
export  raw  materials.  Since  the  importa- 
tion of  foreign  goods  was  still  allowed,  it 
will  be  understood  how  the  development 
of  home  industries  was  thus  sapped. 
Poland  never  understood  how  to  honour 
_  sufficiently      this       important 

,   .'     .        branch  of  human  energy  and 

Industries  ..        ,  .,  ^y-' 

a        .         national  prosperity.    The  pre- 

*'*'**  judiced  notion  that  work  is  un- 

worthy 01  a  nobleman,  and  that  trade  and 
industrial  undertakings  are  ignoble,  has 
survived  there  untU  modern  times. 

In  Poland  the  value  of  the  towns  and 
their  importance  for  culture  and  industry 
was  not  recognised  till  it  was  too  late. 
In  a  dialogue,  written  about  this  time  by 
Lucas  Gornicki,  between  a  Pole  and  an 

3252 


Italian,  the  Pole  will  not  allow  himself  to 
be  convinced  of  the  necessity  for  towns, 
which  became  everywhere  the  centres  of 
political  and  social  life  and  of  culture,  and 
points  to  the  Tartars,  who,  indeed,  had  no 
towns.  Towns  and  the  citizen  class  were 
never  able  to  develop  in  Poland.  Owing 
to  the  depression  in  trade  and  industries 
which  then  set  in,  wealthy  citizens  began 
to  have  recourse  to  agriculture.  Poland 
did  not  rise  beyond  an  agrarian  standpoint, 
and  was  therefore  exploited  by  Italian, 
English,  and  Scottish  traders.  No  sufficient 
use  was  made  of  her  position  on  the  Baltic. 
Instead  of  favouring  the  Baltic  trade,  the 
Poles  burdened  Dantzic  with  taxes,  and 
brought  matters  to  such  a  pitch  that  this 
busy  town  often  looked  round  for  other 
patrons.  No  one  in  Poland  took  any 
interest  in  commerce. 

All  these  enactments,  by  which  the 
privileges  of  the  magnates,  the  bishops, 
and  the  towns  were  partly  limited,  partly 
abolished,  made  the  chamber  of  provincial 
deputies  the  most  powerful  institution  in 
the  state- — a  circumstance  which,  in  view 
of  the  low  education  of  the  Slachta  and  the 
. .  .  ,  one-sided  representation  of  their 
1  uania  s  ^j^^^  rights,  could  not  conduce 
plmon  ^^°  the  national  prosperity. 
In  1563  an  important  ordin- 
ance was  passed  by  which  the  Orthodox 
Greek  nobility  in  Lithuania  were  conceded 
the  same  rights  which  the  Catholics  pos- 
sessed ;  henceforward  any  Boyar  was 
admissible  to  any  office.  The  nobility, 
incensed  at  the  connection  of  the  king 
with  the  Catholic  Church,  refused  other 
important  proposals  of  the  king,  such  as 
the  reform  of  the  army  and  finance,  the 
order  of  the  election  to  the  throne,  and 
others. 

A  complete  unification  of  the  empire  in 
place  of  loosely  compacted  unions  was  the 
more  urgently  demanded  ;  the  king,  with 
the  prospect  of  a  dangerous  war  with 
Moscow  before  his  eyes,  was  himself  in 
favour  of  the  scheme.  But  the  Lithua- 
nians offered  a  stubborn  resistance.  Their 
embassy,  with  Nicholas  Radziwill  the 
Black  at  its  head,  after  pointing  to  the 
independent  position  of  Lithuania  and  the 
previous  measures  of  union,  declared  for 
a  personal  union,  even  if  a  restricted  one, 
demanded  diets  of  their  own,  a  revision  of 
the  frontiers  of  Lithuania  and  Poland, 
and  a  special  coronation  of  the  king  as 
Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania.  The  king 
stood  on  the  side  of  the  Polish  crown,  and 


POLAND  UNDER  THE  JAGELLONS 


was  resolved  to  incorporate  Lithuania 
with  it.  To  facihtate  the  execution  of 
this  plan,  he  cleared  away  the  last  legal 
obstacle  by  waiving  his  hereditary  rights 
in  Lithuania,  and  thus  placing  both  parts 
in  equal  relations  to  his  person. 

When  the  Lithuanian  deputation  left  the 
Polish  diet,  in  order  in  this  way  to  prevent 
the  incorporation  of  their  country,  the  king 
nevertheless  declared  his  intention  to 
carry  it  out.  The  entreaties  of  the  envoys, 
who  implored  the  king  with  tears  to  pro- 
tect them,  were  unavailing.  On  the 
Polish  side  there  was  talk  of  war  if  Lith- 
uania offered  resistance.  Thus  in  1569,  at 
the  imperial  diet  at  Lublin,  the  "  union," 
which  was  in  fact  an  incorporation  of 
Lithuania,  was  definitely  carried.  Pod- 
lachia,  Kiev,  and  Volhynia,  districts 
which  had  originally  been  Lithuanian, 
and  for  a  long  time  a  disputed  possession, 
were  first  united  with  the  Polish  crown 
in  a  special  act.  Only  the  use  of  the 
Russian  language  in  law  courts  was 
granted  them.  Lithuania  lost  its  richest 
provinces.  Any  man  who  refused  to 
recognise  this  act  was  held  to  have  for- 
feited  his  titles  and  property. 
Po  an  There  was  no  idea  of  serious 
*^J**"  opposition,  since  the  lesser 
°^  Lithuanian  nobility,  who  were 
jealous  of  the  magnates,  remained  loyal 
to  Poland,  in  order  by  the  closer  union  with 
Poland  to  obtain  the  same  rights  which 
the  lesser  nobility  in  Poland  possessed. 
Thus  on  July  ist,  1569,  the  union  was 
proclaimed,  and  both  sides  swore  to  it. 
Lithuania  only  retained  its  own  officials, 
and  therefore  ceased  to  be  an  independent 
state.  Both  parties  shed  tears  when  the 
oaths  to  the  treaty  were  administered, 
only  with  the  distinction  that  in  the  case  of 
the  Lithuanians  they  were  tears  of  sorrow  ; 
in  that  of  the  Poles,  tears  of  joy.  What 
the  first  Jagellon,  Vladislav  IL,  in  1386, 
1401,  and  1413  had,  so  to  say,  merely 
promised,  the  last  really  accomplished. 

After  this  the  union  of  Prussia,  Livonia, 
and  the  other  provinces  was  carried 
through,  and  the  amalgamation  was  com- 
plete. Poland  now  was  united.  This  was 
a  great  political  and  economical  gain; 
Nothing  now  stood  in  the  way  of  Polish 
colonisation  in  the  vast  Russo-Lithuanian 
regions  ;  and  the  stream  of  German  and 
Polish  colonists  to  the  eastern  provinces 
swelled  from  year  to  year. 

But  the  chief  source  of  weakness  to  the 
empire  was  not  thus  removed.     This  lay 


not  so  much  in  the  constitutional  relations 
of  individual  parties  as  in  the  impotence 
of  the  crown — that  is  to  say,  in  the  Polish 
constitution,  which  threatened  to  degener- 
ate into  an  anarchy.  This  evil  was  bound 
to  spread  over  every  province  equally. 
Nothing  occurred  to  strengthen  the  central 
administration  ;  on  the  contrary,  the 
The  G  Slachta,  in  view   of  the    king 

Weakness  ^^^"8  childless,  of  the  question 
of  Poland  °^  succession,  and  of  the 
election  to  the  crown,  feared  to 
lose  in  power,  and  to  have  diminished 
rights  even  in  the  religious  question. 

The  future  of  the  rehgious  parties 
depended  to  a  great  extent  on  the  attitude 
of  the  king  towards  this  question;  and  both 
parties,  the  Catholic  no  less  than  the  united 
non-Catholic,  cherished  the  idea  of  choosing 
a  king  after  their  own  heart  by  an  elector^ 
compact.  Since  for  the  moment  the  non- 
Catholics  were  in  the  majority,  there  were 
many  among  the  minority  to  whom  the 
principle  of  a  majority  in  the  resolutions 
of  the  parliament  seemed  dangerous. 
They  demanded  the  legal  introduction  of 
"unanimity."  They  clearly  saw  the 
necessity  of  .  a  strict  government,  but 
liberty  was  more  valuable  in  their  eyes 
than  order.  Since  a  general  assent  was 
necessary  in  adopting  resolutions,  the 
liberum  veto  now  really  existed,  although 
it  was  first  claimed  as  a  right  in  1652. 

Sigismund  and  Sigismund  Augustus 
failed,  therefore,  in  their  efforts  to 
strengthen  the  power  of  the  sovereign. 
The  latter,  while  still  Grand  Duke  of 
Lithuania,  married,  after  the  death  of  his 
first  wife,without  the  consent  of  the  Senate, 
Barbara,  the  daughter  of  the  Castellan 
Radziwill.  His  father  and  the  Slachta 
disapproved ;  the  nation  was  reluctant  to 
recognise  Barbara  as  queen.  In  order 
that  his  bride  might  be  crownea,  the  king 
adopted  a  conciliatory  attitude  toward 
the  nobles.  After  the  death  of  his  deeply 
loved  Barbara,  he  married  the  second 
daughter  of  Emperor  Maxi- 
Augustus  ^jjjI^    ij      Katharina,    a 

Succumbs  to  ■     ,  rv  •/-        -         •£        T^i- 

w  •  Kt  fC  Sister  of  his  first  wife,  Lliza- 
eig  o  ares^  beth.  Since  he  had  no 
issue  by  her,  he  wished  to  be  divorced  from 
her  and  to  marry  again.  But  Rome  and 
th?  clergy,  whom  the  king  tried  equally 
to  propitiate  by  concessions,  were  opposed 
to  his  wish.  He  thus  did  not  face  either 
one  or  the  other  Order  with  firmness. 
Overwhelmed '  by  cares,  Sigismund  II. 
Augustus  died  on  July  14th,  1572, 

3253 


3254 


EASTERN 

EUROPE  TO 

THE  FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


POLAND 
VI 


THE    DECLINE    OF    POLAND 

A    NATION    BETRAYED    BY    ITS    NOBLES 


A  FTER  the  death  of  the  hist  Jagellon, 
^*'  whose  reign  seemed  in  the  memory 
of  the  nation  a  period  of  power  and  glory, 
a  period  of  decay  set  in,  which  ended  with 
the  pohtical  downfall  of  the  country. 
The  constitution  was,  in  isolated  points, 
logically  completed,  according  to  the 
principle  of  the  most  absolute  authority  of 
the  individual,  and  was  used  to  the  full 
by  every  individual  in  his  own  interest 
without  regard  for  the  common  good. 
After  the  extinction  of  the  Jagellon 
dynasty,  Poland  was  proclaimed  an  elective 
monarchy.  The  primate  of  the  kingdom, 
the  Archbishop  of  Gnesen,  obtained  thereby 
wide  privileges.  The  conduct  of  state 
affairs  during  the  interregnum — the  sum- 
moning of  the  elective  diet,  the  acceptance 
or  rejection  of  candidatures,  and  the  procla- 
mation of  the  name  of  the  elected — de- 
volved upon  him.    Catholicism  in  Poland 

_.     „.    ,      was   thus  once   more  greatly 
The  Pivot  i  iu         J       T^u 

.  _  strengthened.     There  was  no 

uro  ean  ^gg^j.|.j^  qJ  candidates,  and  the 

ip  omacy  political  situation  might  well 
be  learnt  from  the  promises  of  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  European  sovereigns.  Above 
all,-  on  this  occasion  the  hostility  between 
France  and  Austria,  the  pivot  on  which 
the  diplomacy  of  Europe  then  turned, 
cast  its  shadow  on  Poland.  Both  oppo- 
nents brought  forward  their  candidates 
and  fought  each  other  with  traditional 
bitterness  even  on  Polish  soil.  France 
relied  on  her  friendship  with  Turkey ; 
Austria  offered  an  alliance  with  Spain  and 
Denmark  against  Turkey  ;  both  held  out 
the  prospect  of  further  advantages.  France 
promised  the  formation  of  a  fleet  and  the 
organisation  of  the  finances  and  army  ; 
Austria,  a  favourable  solution  of  the 
Livonian,  Prussian,  and  other  questions  ; 
both  powers  threw  money  by  handfuls 
among  the  senators  and  the  Slachta. 

But  the  King  of  Sweden  also  announced 
his  candidature  as  husband  of  Katharina, 
one  of  the  Jagellon  stock,  and  promised  an 
alliance  against  Moscow.    There  was,  how- 


ever, among  the  Slachta  a  strong  party 
(that  which  under  Sigismund  Augustus 
had  deserved  the  greatest  credit  for  the 
reform  of  the  legislature)  which  recom- 
mended the  candidature  of  the  Tsar  of 
Moscow,  and  laid  stress  on  the  great  benefit 
for  Poland  which  would  proceed  from  this 
-,      -^,  course,  as  formerly  from  the 

Su^ortedb  ^^^^^  ^'^th  Lithuania.  But 
th''*cT  *  ^  Ivan  the  Terrible  seemed  de- 
void of  ambition ;  he  sent  his 
embcissy  and  courteously  announced  the 
conditions  on  which  he  would  accept  the 
crown  of  Poland.  Once  again  native  candi- 
dates, from  envy  and  unpopularity.were  in- 
sufficiently supported  by  their  countrymen. 

Henry,  Duke  of  Anjou,  brother  of  the 
King  of  France,  and  his  heir-presumptive, 
was  elected  in  the  middle  of  May,  1573, 
not  merely  because  French  diplomacy  was 
clever,  but  because  his  Catholicism  found 
favour  with  the  high  clergy.  He  was  also 
supported  by  the  papal  legate,  who 
henceforth  intervened  at  every  election 
of  a  Polish  king  in  the  interests  of  the 
Church,  and  always  with  success.  This 
success  was  aided  by  the  circumstance 
that  royal  elections  henceforward  were 
held  in  the  fields  near  Warsaw,  where 
many  of  the  strictly  Cathohc  Masovians 
could  take  part.  Ten  thousand  of  them 
appeared  at  the  election  of  Henry. 

The  Slachta  once  again  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  imposing  conditions  on  their 
king,  which  were  as  humiliating  as  possible. 
The  king,  hitherto,  could  only  more  or  less 
maintain  his  position  by  three  means :  he 
SI  ht  ^^^  ^^^  "ght,  first,  when  con- 
„  ...*j  *  fronted  with  conflicting  resolu- 
j,.  „  tions  of  the  diet,  to  make  one 
ing      enry  ^^  ^J^gj^  \q^  qj-  ^^q  "  conclude  "  ; 

secondly,  to  confer  the  vacant  offices  of 
state,  with  which  he  could  reward  his 
adherents  and  create  a  party  for  himself ; 
and,  finally,  to  call  out  the  mihtia,  and 
therefore  often  practically  decided  upon 
war  or  peace.  The  new  king,  on  thf- 
contrary,   was  no  longer  to  possess  the 

3255 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


right  of  "  conclusion  "  ;  the  Senate  was  to 
decide  on  war  and  peace,  and  the  diet  was 
to  summon  the  army.  The  freedom  of 
denominations  was  proclaimed,  and  the 
title  "  heir  to  the  empire  "  was  erased  from 
the  royal  title.  Should  the  king  act  con- 
trary to  these  terms,  the  nation  was 
justified  in  refusing  him  obedience.  Be- 
sides this,  Henry  pledged  him- 


The  King's 


self  to  build  a  fleet  at  his  own 


p  *f  d*^**"  ^°^^'  *^  ^^®P  ^P  4,000  soldiers, 
and  to  pay  the  debts  of  the 
empire.  However  suspicious  these  pacts 
were,  the  new  king  subscribed  them  and 
took  the  oath  to  the  constitution. 

If  the  people  did  not  see  in  the  king  the 
first  power  in  the  empire,  but  almost 
an  enemy  to  their  hberties,  they  still 
regarded  the  monarchy  as  a  brilliant  post, 
for  which  there  were  always  candidates,  of 
whom,  indeed,  nothing  more  could  be  pre- 
dicated than  that  they  wished  to  gratify 
their  pride.  It  goes  without  saying  that 
many  candidates  put  themselves  to  great 
expense,  that  other  countries  had  a 
welcome  plea  for  intervention,  which 
Poland  bought  by  her  moral  degradation, 
and  that  a  contested  election  threw  the 
land  into  civil  war.  But  the  Slachta  was 
still  lulled  in  the  sweet  dream  of  hberty 
and  security.  The  connection  with  France 
might,  perhaps,  have  been  profitable  to 
Poland ;  but  Henry  fled  on  July  17th, 
1574,  in  order  to  place  on  his  own  head 
the  crown  of  France  after  the  death  of  his 
brother  Charles  IX.  His  reign  left  behind 
no  traces  beyond  those  of  the  resolutions 
adopted  at  his  election. 

Even  at  the  next  elections  the  candidates 
of  the  Roman  CathoUc  party  came  to  the 
front ;  thus,  Stefan  Bathori,  Prince  of  Tran- 
sylvania, who  reigned  from  1576  to  1586  ; 
then  Sigismund  Vasa  of  Sweden,  the  son  of 
John  III.  and  of  Katharina  the  Jagellon, 
from  1587  to  1632  ;  he  was  followed  by 
his  sons.  Vladislav,  who  ruled  till  1648, 
and  John  Casimir,  who  in  1668  resigned  the 
C    d'd  crown  and  went  to  France. 

.      .  Then    two    natives    (Piasts) 

n  I'  L  'n.         were   elected — Michael  Wis- 
Polith  Throne  1    1  n^-       ^      \      r       •  ^ 

nioweck  {1009-1673),  of  anch 

and  respected  family ;  then  John  Sobieski. 

Next  came  a  double  election.     The  one 

party    chose     Stanislaus     Lesczynski,     a 

native,  who  was  supported  by  Sweden  and 

France  in  the  war  known  as  the  first  War 

of  the  Pohsh  Succession  ;    the  other,  the 

Elector    Frederic    Augustus    of    Saxony, 

who  held  his  own  after  many  contests 

3256 


until  1733.  This  occasion  was  the  first 
on  which  Russia  actively  interfered  in 
the  PoUsh  disorders.  She  declared  for 
Frederic  Augustus,  and  helped  him  to 
drive  out  all  enemies.  After  that  time 
the  Russian  influence  in  Poland  was 
preponderant.  Frederic  Augustus  II., 
the  son  of  Augustus  the  Strong,  defeated 
Stanislaus  Lesczynski  for  the  second  time, 
with  the  help  of  Russia,  in  the  second 
War  of  the  Polish  Succession,  and  became 
the  Pohsh  king,  Augustus  III. ;  he  died  in 
1763.  Similarly  the  last  Pohsh  king, 
Stanislaus  Poniatovski  (1764-1795),  was  a 
candidate  of  Russia. 

Of  this  whole  series  two  kings,  Stefan 
Bathori  and  John  Sobieski,  stand  out 
conspicuously,  and  to  a  lesser  degree 
Vladislav.  But  while  Sobieski,  the  libera- 
tor of  Vienna  in  the  year  1683,  was  merely 
a  military  hero,  Bathori,  a  no  less  able 
general,  distinguished  himself  by  his 
skilful  administration  and  his  statesman- 
like insight.  If  anyone  could  have  lifted 
Poland  out  of  the  political  and  social 
slough,  it  would  have  been  Bathori.  After 
he  had  by  his  manly  attitude  defeated  the 
-.  ,,  rival  candidate,  the  Lmperor 
a    on  s      Maximilian,  who  had   already 

„  ,  ..  taken  an  oath  to  the  constitu- 
Declaration   ,.  .    ^t  1  1 

tion  at  Vienna,  he  waged  an 

obstinate  struggle  with  the  Slachta  about 
the  restrictions  dating  from  the  year  1573. 
He  was  required  to  renounce  the  right  of 
distribution,  that  is  to  say,  the  right  to 
grant  imperial  offices  ;  these,  so  soon  as 
they  became  empty,  were  to  be  filled  by 
election  in  the  respective  voivodeships. 
The  king  then  made  at  the  diet  of  Thorn 
the  famous  declaration  that  he  had  no 
intention  of  being  merely  a  king  in  a 
picture. 

While  he  stiU,  as  elective  candidate, 
waged  war  against  the  imperial  party, 
but  especially  against  Dantzic  and  other 
German  towns,  which  took  Maximilian's 
side,  Ivan  IV.  the  Terrible  conquered 
almost  all  Livonia,  with  the  exception  of 
Reval  and  Riga.  Bathori's  immediate 
goal  was,  therefore,  war  against  Moscow. 
After  he  had  secured  himself  against  the 
Turks  and  Tartars,  and  had  raised  a  loan 
from  Frederic  George,  Margrave  of  Bran- 
denburg-Anspach,  he  began  the  war  in 
1579.  ^^  spite  of  superiority  of  numbers 
Ivan's  armies  were  beaten  everjrwhere,  and 
Polock  and  many  other  towns  and  for- 
tresses were  captured.  Ivan,  hard  pressed, 
looked  round  for  help,  sent  an  embassy 


THE    DECLINE    OF   POLAND 


Ivan  the 
Terrible  and 
the  Bible 


to  the  emperor  and  the   Pope,  professed 

that  he  wished  to  join  the  Russian  Church 

closely  with   the    Roman,   complained  of 

Bathori's  "  un-Christian  "  procedure,  and 

begged  for  intervention. 

Rome  was  not  in  a  position  to  resist  such 

tempting  prospects.  In  1581  the  papal 
legate  Antonio  Possevino  ap- 
peared in  Poland  and  went 
forthwith  to  Moscow.  His  con- 
versation with  Ivan  on  religious 

questions  is  interesting.    Ivan  showed  him- 
self well  read  in  the  Scriptures,  perhaps 

more  so  than  may  have  been  expected 

by  the  legate  ;  on  the  whole,  he  developed 

such     amiable     traits     that      Possevino, 

doubtless  to  the  amazement  of  all,  styled 

him  a  sweet  ruler  who  loved  his  su 

The    upshot     of    the 

legate's     exertions      was 

that   Ivan  obtained  com- 
paratively    favourable 

terms    of   peace.     At 

Kiverova  Horka,  in  1582. 

he  merely  renounced  his 

claim  to  Livonia,  Polock, 

and  Wielun ;  he  received 

back     the     other    places 

which     had     been     con- 
quered    by     the     Poles. 

The     favourable     oppor- 
tunity of  subjugating 

Moscow    and    proceeding 

to    the    conquest    of    all 

Eastern  Europe  had  thus 

been  let  slip ;  so,  too,  the 

advance  of  Rome  in  that 

quarter  was  checked.  ^tefan  bathori  :  the  fearless 

/-v  •■  ,1  Able  alike  as  a  g^eneral  and  as  a  statesman, 

Unce     more    11    was    ine  Stefan  Batnori  stands  out  prominently  among 

Slachta    which    by    its  the   Polish   kings.    A  man    of   strong    will, 

shortsightedness  and  he  left  behind    many  traces  of  his  energy. 

selfishness  had  hindered  the  king  in  the  creased  greatly 
execution  of  his  plans.  It  haggled  with  the 
king  over  every  penny,  reproached  him 
for  showing  favour  to  Zamojski,  a  general 
who  had  distinguished  himself  in  the  war 
with  Moscow,  and  for  his  non-fulfilment 
of  the  electoral  capitulation ;  always  choos- 
ing the  most  unfavourable  moment,  in 
order  to  compel  the  king  the  more  cer- 
tainly to  comply.  Indeed,  it  forced  him 
ii^to  negotiations  with  Moscow  and 
refused  the  supplies  for  the  war,  so  that 
the  king  was  driven  to  incur  debts  with 
foreign  countries.  When  Ivan  died  in 
1584,  Bathori  contemplated  a  renewal 
of  his  plans  against  Turkey,  but  he 
died  unexpectedly  on  May  2nd,  1586,  at 
Grodno. 


The  reign  of  Stefan  Bathori  was  in  many 
respects  profitable  to  Poland.     Not  merely 
was  the  glory  of  the  Polish  arms  revived 
by    his    martial    deeds,    the    Muscovite 
lust  of  conquest  quenched  for  long  years 
to    come,    and    that    semi-Asiatic    power 
driven  back  from  the  Baltic  Sea,  but  he 
left  other  noteworthy  traces  of  his  energy. 
Thus,   he  devoted  his  especial  attention 
to  the  important  religious  question.     It 
could  not  escape  him  that  the  religious 
disputes   led   to   no   union,    crippled   the 
power  of  society  and  the  realm,  and  at  the 
same  time  appreciably  checked  the  develop- 
ment of  culture  and  civic  virtues.     Start- 
ing   from    this    practical    standpoint    of 
attention   to   the  general  welfare  of   his 
111     his    subjects,     he     threw 
himself,  though  formerly 
a     Protestant,    definitely 
into  the   Catholic  cause, 
and    was   thus   the   first 
who,  with  all  the  means 
standing  at  his  command, 
was    resolved    to    carry 
through  the  Counter  Re- 
formation without  giving 
an    exclusively    Catholic 
direction  to  his  policy. 

Nevertheless,     in     his 
reign  the  Order  of  Jesuits 
gained  great  influence  in 
Poland.    The  Jesuits  had 
alread}'  moved   into 
Braunsberg    in    1565   at 
the     invitation    of    Car- 
dinal   Stanislaus  Hosius, 
the   greatest    Roman 
Catholic      champion      of 
Poland,  and  under  Henry 
and     Bathori     they    in- 
They  founded  schools 
everywhere,    and    won    over    the    rising 
generation    for    their    purposes.       How- 
ever successful   their   pedagogic  labours 
were    in     many    respects,   especially    in 
the  field  of  classical  philology,  they  did 
much   to  disintegrate   the    structure    of 
the  state,  as  became  evident 
under    the     weak     successors 
p  of    Bathori.      A    particularly 

the  Peerage  f^^o^j-j^bie  light  is  thrown  on 
Bathori  by  his  friendly  feeling  towards 
the  peasants.  He  regarded  the  patent 
of  nobility  merely  as  a  distinction  for 
services  to  the  country,  and  is  said  to  have 
raised  fifty-five  peasants  to  the  peerage. 
He  protected  the  peasants  everywhere; 
for  example,  in  Livonia  against  the  German 

3357 


Peasants 
Raised  to 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


knights,  summoned  them  to  miUtary  ser- 
vice, and  organised  a  corps  of  those  who 
were  settled  on  the  royal  estates — the  first 
regular  infantry.  Out  of  every  twenty 
small  farmers  one  was  chosen  for  military 
service.  This  corps  was  called  the  chosen 
or  farmer  corps  ;  it  acquitted  itself  well. 
He  introduced  a  better  organisation  into 

the   imperial   militia ;    he   im- 

a"  ^'"t  ih    proved  the  artillery,  and  created 

gams      e  ^^^  himself  an  efficient  staff.     It 

was  further  important  that 
Bathori  completed  the  organisation  of  the 
Cossacks  in  the  Ukraine.  Even  in  the 
fifteenth  century  there  was  in  the  un- 
claimed regions  on  the  Dnieper,  which 
had  been  ravaged  by  the  Turks,  a  large 
population,  which,  fleeing  from  Poland 
and  Russia  to  escape  intolerable  oppres- 
sion, gradually  settled  in  those  parts,  and 
soon  did  good  service  as  a  bulwark  of 
Christianity  against  the  Tartars.  It  was 
a  vigorous,  warlike  people,  which  only 
needed  military  organisation  to  become  a 
formidable  power.  Bathori  now  adopted 
them  in  the  name  of  the  empire,  and 
drew  up  lists  of  the  able-bodied  soldiers, 
but  limited  their  number  of  conscripts 
at  first  to  600.  By  this  means  he 
obtained  new  forces  for  the  empire 
against  Russia. 

It  was  a  fresh  reminder  to  the  Slachta 
that  the  laws  must  be  regarded,  when 
Bathori  had  one  of  the  unruly  members 
beheaded.  He  held  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment with  a  firm  hand.  Under  his  direc- 
tion a  much-needed  reform  in  the  judicial 
system  was  carried  out.  He  abandoned, 
indeed,  his  old  right  of  the  last  instance, 
which  from  various  reasons  was  no  longer 
enforceable  ;  law  courts  were  thus  insti- 
tuted for  separate  groups  of  provinces  in 
Lublin,  Piotrkov,  Wilna,  Grodno,  and 
Lutzk.  In  spite  of  his  high  ideals,  this  king 
was  the  object  of  the  meanest  attacks.  The 
Slachta  accused  him  of  despotic  aims  and 
threatened  him  with  deposition.  Stefan 
_    .     .,  did  not  allow  himself  to  the 

o  very  last  moment  to  be  de- 
Successor  on  ,      -^  J    r  u-  1        A  rx 

—^  terred  from  his  goal.     After 

the  Throne  ^^^    ^^^^^    ^^   Bathori    the 

situation   grew  worse. 

The  election  of  Sigismund  III.  Vasa  and 
the  alliance  with  Sweden  had  not  proved 
beneficial  to  Poland,  first,  because  this 
house  subordinated  the  newly  acquired 
state  to  the  strict  Catholic  interests,  and 
secondly,  because  it  only  furnished  incom- 
petent rulers.     Poland  was  at  first  by  its 

3258 


new  dynasty  drawn  into  the  vortex  of 
Swedish  troubles.  Sigismund  and  his  two 
sons  naturally  tried  to  retain  the  Swedish 
crown,  their  paternal  inheritance.  But  the 
empire  had  not  the  slightest  interest  in  this 
purely  dynastic  question,  since  Sweden  had 
quite  other  political  and  economic  aims; 
Protestantism,  too,  was  the  state  religion 
there.  But  the  Catholic  Church,  to  whom 
primarily  the  election  of  Sigismund  was 
due,  since  she  thought  to  bring  the  Swedes 
back  to  her  bosom,  contrived  to  interest 
the  realm  in  the  dynasty  by  the  promise 
which  the  king  made  to  cede  Esthonia  to 
Poland.  Supplies  were  granted  to  the 
king  for  the  journey  to  Sweden.  He  was 
crowned  there  on  February  19th,  1594,  and 
subscribed,  actually  with  the  knowledge  of 
the  papal  nuncio,  a  declaration  which 
excluded  the  Catholics  in  Sweden  from  all 
offices,  while  he  intended  in  Poland  to 
exclude  the  heterodox ;  such  was  the 
policy  that  was  adopted  and  carried 
through. 

But  this  was  all  that  Sigismund  did 
in  Sweden.  His  uncle  Charles  of  Siider- 
manland  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the 

Protestants,     drove    out    the 
o  an   on      j-Qyalists    step  by   step,    and 
the  Verge  of        -^       ui      u    ^u  l^k^.  x. 

_  ^  T.  was  able  by  the  year  1004  to 
Destruction     ,,  ji-  j^u 

to  be  crowned  kmg  under  the 

title  of  Charles  IX.  The  long  war  which 
broke  out  over  this  brought  Poland,  in 
spite  of  occasional  successes  and  deeds  of 
valour,  to  the  verge  of  destruction  by  the 
terrible  losses  and  humiliations  which  it 
sustained  ;  it  ended  finally  (1660)  in  the 
treaty  at  Oliva  with  the  resignation  by  the 
king,  John  Casimir,  of  all  claims  to  the 
crown  of  Sweden,  and  with  the  exhaustion 
of  the  Polish  empire,  which  had  been 
obliged  to  neglect  and  abandon  its  most 
important  interests. 

It  was,  further,  of  the  greatest  conse- 
quence to  the  empire  that  Sigismund 
became  the  wilhng  ally  of  the  Jesuits. 
Thus  a  flood  of  Catholicism  poured  into 
the  country,  which  disregarded  other 
religions  ;  a  policy  that  could  only  create 
misfortune  in  Poland,  where  there  was 
such  diversity  of  creed.  The  neighbouring 
powers,  shielding  religious  interests,  took, 
as  might  be  expected,  now  the  Protestants 
now  the  Orthodox  under  their  protection, 
merely  in  order  to  interfere  in  the  affairs 
of  the  empire.  The  very  first  appearance 
of  the  king  on  the  scene  showed  that  he 
was  entirely  in  accord  with  the  Catholic 
party.    At   a  hint   from  Rome   he  was 


THE    DECLINE    OF   POLAND 


Abortive 
Attempts  at 
Church  Union 


willing  to  abdicate  the  Polish  crown  in 
favour  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and  him- 
self to  retire  to  Sweden — a  proposal  which 
evokedgeneral  consternation  and  ill-feeling. 
The  Jesuits  in  the  interests  of  the  Church 
negotiated  the  marriage  of  the  king  with 
Anna,  and  after  her  death  with  Constantia, 
daughters  of  the  Archduke 
Charles  of  Styria  and  of  Mary 
of  Bavaria.  The  privileges 
which  the  Orthodox  Church 
had  acquired  at  the  time  of  the  Hussite 
and  Protestant  movements  were  removed, 
and  there  was  a  reversion  to  the  ideas  of 
union. 

The  attempts  at  union  in  1415  and  the 
Florentine  union  of  1439  had  proved 
abortive.  The  Hussite  movement  and 
then  the  Reformation 
strengthened  the  Ortho- 
dox Greek  world  in  its 
resistance  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  The 
union  only  split  up  the 
Russian  society  into  two 
camps,  which  fought 
against  each  other  more 
bitterly  than  the  Ortho- 
dox and  the  Catholics. 
A  union  of  the  Greek 
Orthodox  Church  with 
Rome  is  nowadays 
usually  disparaged.  The 
Slavonic  liturgy,  which 
would  not  have  been 
tolerated  by  Rome,  was 
of  inestimable  value  to 
all  the  Slavs;  they  are 
indebted  to  it  for  their 
oldest  literature. 


KING  OF  SWEDEN  AND  POLAND 

Devoted  to  the  Catholic  Church,  Sigismund 

III.  Vasa  of  Sweden  became  the  friend  of 

the  Jesuits.     He  was  even  willing,  at  a  hint 

But         on       the        other    fro™  Rome,  to  abdicate  the  crown  of  Poland. 

hand,  the  Orthodox  Church,  except  in 
the  first  centuries  of  its  spread  among 
the  Slavs,  was  nowhere  an  engine  of 
civilisation.  It  was  rather  the  cause 
why  the  Slavs  and  other  nations  of  the 
Greek  Church  remained  backward.  Their 
clergy  felt  that  most  deeply  in  places 
where  they  lived  side  by  side  with  the 
Romans  ;  for  this  reason  the  Orthodox 
bishops  were  mostly  those  who  first 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  union.  If  some 
such  union  had  been  introduced,  with  a 
set  purpose  and  yet  in  a  conciliatory  spirit, 
among  the  Russo-Polish  provinces,  the 
success  would  have  been  irresistible.  But 
what  the  Roman  priests  now  undertook 
under  the  spiritual  guidance  of  the 
Jesuits  and  the  protection  of  the  Polish 


king  met  with  no  approval  in  the  com» 
munity.  The  majority  of  Orthodox 
bishops  and  the  most  influential  laymen, 
such  as  Constantin  Ostrogski,  were  for 
the  union  ;  at  their  head  was  Atchbishop 
Michael  Rahoza  of  Kiev. 

But  the  Catholic  prelates  failed  to 
recognize  the  existing  conditions  and  to 
be  influenced  by  them.  The  earlier 
champions  of  the  union,  therefore,  drew 
back,  among  them  the  powerful  prince 
Ostrogski.  When,  besides  this,  the  Patri- 
archs of  Antioch  and  Constantinople 
came  personally  to  Poland  in  order  to 
organise  the  resistance,  only  a  handful 
of  partisans  of  the  union  were  left.  Both 
parties  met  for  a  final  discussion  at  Brest 
in  1596.  They  soon  divided  into  two 
groups,  and  banned  each 
other ;  only  a  few 
bishops,  with  the  Metro- 
politan Rahoza  and  their 
small  following,  declared 
for  Ihe  union.  Two  of 
them,  Hypatius  Potij, 
Bishop  of  Vladimir,  and 
Cyryl  Terlecki,  Bishop 
of  Lutzk,  went  to  Rome 
with  the  charter  of  union, 
and  took  the  oath  of 
obedience  in  the  name  of 
the  whole  Russian 
Church.  Thus  the 
famous  union  of  Brest 
was  effected.  The  Uniate 
bishops  were  immediately 
to  receive  seats  and  votes 
in  the  Polish  Senate. 
This  union  brought  no 
gain  to  the  Catholic 
Church  and  the  Poles  in 
the  future,  chiefly  because  the  animosity 
between  the  two  Russian  parties  increased 
and  they  fought  against  each  other  still 
more    obstinately. 

At   this  same  time  a  meeting  of  the 
heterodox,   or   Dissidents,   as   they  were 
called  in  Poland,  assembled  at  Thorn  to 
T-j     discuss  how  the  swelling  tide 
Swelling  Tide  ^^  Catholic  influence  might  be 
stemmed.  They  sent  a  deputa- 
tion to  the  king,  but  he  did 
not  receive  it.     The  union  of  Brest  could 
not,  however,  hold  its  own  ;    for  the  king 
and  the  Slachta  did  not  wish  to  fulfil  the 
conditions  of  union.     The  Uniate  bishops 
were    not    introduced    into    the    Senate, 
nor  were   the   privileges   of   the   Church 
observed;    in  this  way  the  whole  work  of 


of  Catholic 
Influence 


3259 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


union  was  made  ridiculous  in  the  eyes 
of  the  non-united  Orthodox.  The  per- 
secution of  the  Greek  Orthodox,  who 
had  not  joined  the  union,  became  more 
and  more  severe  ;  they  were  hindered  in 
their  performance  of  Divine  worship  ;  their 
priests  were  pubhcly  insulted  and  out- 
raged ;  their  churches  were  leased  by 
their  patrons  to  Jews,  who  then 
„  .  °  °!^   demanded  money  payments  for 

Priests  m    ,,  t     A.         \.        u 

-».  ,  the   openme   of    the    churches. 

Disfavour   ,,         \  °  111,1^1 

Many  towns  expelled  the  Ortho- 
dox from  ihe  town  council,  and  even 
from  the  body  of  citizens.  Their  churches 
and  church  property  were  taken  from 
them  ;  in  a  word,  the  oppression  became 
intolerable.  Hatred  of  Poland  increased 
throughout  the  East,  and  the  masses  were 
stirred  up  by  the  non-united  priests. 
The  Cossacks  in  the  Ukraine  were  especi- 
ally active,  and  came  forward  as  protectors 
of  the  Orthodox  faith.  They  demanded 
with  threats  rights  for  their  metropolitan 
and  their  bishops,  and  for  themselves  equal 
rights  with  the  Slachta ;  but  the  old 
respect  for  the  freedom  of  all  had  been  lost 
under  the  influence  of  the  reaction. 

There  was  no  longer  any  place  for  the 
heterodox  in  Poland.  The  Orthodox, 
therefore,  organised  their  forces  and  at- 
tempted to  do  something  for  the  improve- 
ment of  culture.  Prince  Ostrogski  founded 
in  Ostrog  an  academy  and  a  printing- 
office  ;  presses  were  started  in  other 
places  also.  The  gulf  between  the  two 
camps,  which  cleverly  strengthened  them- 
selves, grew  daily  wider. 

All  this  was  done  by  Poland  in  her  blind 
infatuation  at  a  time  when  some  faint 
prospects  in  the  East  were  opening  out 
to  her.  The  house  of  Ryrik  in  Russia 
was  extinct,  and  Lithuanian  magnates 
placed  at  that  time  the  pseudo-Demetrius 
on  the  throne  of  the  tsar.  This  Dmitri, 
about  whose  real  family,  in  spite  of 
searching  investigations,  nothing  can  with 
certainty  be  said,  was  a  friend  of  the  Poles 
Threatened  ^^^  °^  European  culture  pos- 
Depositionof  ^'^^y  \  ^f^.  ^H^f^"'  There 
Sigismund  ^^^  actually  m  Poland  a  party 
which  entertained  the  plan  of 
deposing  Sigismund  and  offering  the 
Polish  crown  to  Dmitri. 

When  this  plan  miscarried,  Poland  was 
still  offered  an  opportunity  of  getting  a 
footing  in  Russia,  since  after  the  deposition 
of  the  Tsar  Vassili  Shuski,  the  Privy  Council 
in  Moscow  chose  as  tsar  Vladislav,  son  of 
Sigismund.  Polish  troops  under  Sholkievski 

3260 


held  Moscow  in  their  power.  An  agree- 
ment was  so  far  made  that  Vladislav  should 
pledge  himself  to  protect  the  Greek  faith 
and  the  Greek  Church,  to  allow  the  Boyars 
to  retain  their  privileges,  to  grant  them  the 
Polish  privilege  of  Neminem  Captivabimus, 
and  to  conclude  an  alliance  with  Poland. 
But  the  narrow-mindedness  of  the  father, 
who,  probably  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Church  and  the  Jesuits,  wished  to  acquire 
the  crown  of  Russia  for  himself,  and 
the  rebellion  of  the  Zebrzydovski  family, 
which  broke  out  at  the  most  critical 
moment,  frustrated  all  the  great  plans 
regarding  a  union  with  Moscow  once  and 
for  ever. 

When  Russia,  therefore,  was  being 
consolidated  at  home  under  the  new 
Romanof  dynasty,  Poland  and  Russia 
once  more  faced  each  other  with  the  old 
hostility.  Poland  resolved  on  war  in  order 
to  bring  Vladislav  to  Moscow  by  force 
of  arms  ;  but  at  the  same  time  the  folly 
was  committed  of  binding  the  king  even 
then  to  incorporate  any  future  conquests 
with  the  Polish  crown.  Vladislav  was 
forced  in  the  year  1617  solemnly  to  resign 
^         ,        Smolensk,    Starodub,    and    a 

Cossacks  t        .x^  i.  • 

t    th    H  1     series    of    other    countries    m 

of  Pol    d  **   favour  of  the  Polish  crown,  as 

if  this  resignation  of  Russian 

provinces  would  be  a  recommendation  to 

the  Polish  candidates  in  Russia. 

For  The  favourable  peace  at  Deulino  near 
the  Troizkaja  Lawra  (1618),  which  secured 
to  them  Smolensk,  Dorogobush,  Czernigov, 
and  several  other  towns,  the  Poles  are 
indebted  to  the  Cossack  Hetman  Konas- 
zevicz,  who  came  to  their  help  with 
20,000  picked  troops  and  enabled  them  to 
march  on  Moscow,  as  well  as  to  the  pacific 
nature  of  the  Tsar  Michael  Romanof  and 
the  Russian  desire  for  tranquility.  Soon 
afterwards  Poland  was  entangled  in  a 
war  with  the  famous  Swedish  warrior 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  with  Turkey, 
which  cost  her  great  sacrifices,  in  spite  of 
the  heroic  deeds  of  the  generals  Stanis- 
laus Koniecpolski  and  Chodkievicz.  The 
Cossacks,  who  since  1596  had  already 
come  forward  openly  as  protectors  of 
the  Orthodox  faith,  now  assumed  a 
menacing  attitude. 

The  Slachta,  when  it  met  after  the  death 
of  Sigismund  in  1632  to  elect  his  son 
Vladislav  IV.  Sigismund,  who  di§d  in 
1648,  restricted  still  more  the  power  of  the 
crown.  The  king  was  in  the  future  not  to 
be  allowed  to  begin  a  war  without  the 


THE    DECLINE    OF   POLAND 


Restricted 
Liberty 


consent  of  the  imperial  diet,  or  to  enlist 
soldiers  out  of  his  privy  purse  ;  he  was 
required  to  confer  the  vacant  offices 
within  six  weeks  after  the  diet,  to  cede  to 
the  country  the  profits  of  coinage,  to 
build  a  fleet  on  the  Baltic,  and  to  contri- 
bute two  quarters  instead  of  one  quarter 
,  of  the  royal  revenues  to  the 
The  King  s  ^^,^^  ^^^^^  Moscow.    Besides  this, 

the   old   tax   of    two  groschen 
from   the    hide    of     land    was 
abolished  as  "a  survival  of  the  old  serfdom." 

According  to  these  provisos  the  king 
was  more  restricted  in  his  hberty  than 
the  ordinary  noble,  since  the  latter 
might  keep  troops ;  Zamojski  Wisneo- 
vecki  and  others  were  able  to  put  10,000 
men  into  the  field.  Vladislav  was  com- 
pelled to  accept  these 
stipulations,  and  in  the 
course  of  his  reign  had 
to  submit  to  still  further 
curtailment  of  his  free- 
dom. As  he  once  went 
to  Baden  to  take  the 
waters,  the  diet  of  1639 
passed  a  resolution  that 
the  king  could  not  leave 
the  country  without  the 
consent  of  parliament. 
Later  the  king  was  pro- 
hibited, and  this  time 
with  more  justice,  from 
incurring  debts  in  im- 
perial affairs. 

Vladislav  was    ob- 
viously   forced     to     try 


fortunes,  and  finally  watched  every  step 
which  the  king  took. 

Vladislav,  who  in  May,  1624,  at  his 
father's  instructions,  had  undertaken  a 
long  journey  to  several  courts,  and  finally 
to  Rome,  at  last  ventured  to  take  up 
a  bold  attitude  against  the  predominance 
of  the  Church.  He,  hke  Casimir  IV.  pre- 
viously, endeavoured  to  make  the  influence 
of  the  crown  felt  in  the  election  of  the 
bishops,  and  negotiated  with  Rome  on  the 
subject  with  some  success.  He  wished 
that  the  papal  consent  to  the  founding  of 
the  Jesuit  academy  in  Cracow  should  be 
recalled.  He  instituted  in  Thorn,  certainly 
to  the  indignation  of  the  Catholics,  a  dis- 
cussion between  the  different  confessions, 
which,  however,  like  others  previously, 
remained  unsuccessful. 
He  protected  the  non- 
united,  and,  disregarding 
the  union  at  Brest,  left 
them  their  own  bishoprics 
in  Lemberg,  Premysl, 
Lutzk,  Mohilev,  and  the 
archbishopric  of  Kiev, 
without  troubhng  him- 
self about  the  protest 
of  Rome ;  in  fact,  he 
actually  permitted  the 
return  of  Uniates  to 
Orthodoxy  and  treated 
the  Greek  Orthodox  with 
justice.  The  success  of 
his  exertions  was  con- 
siderable. In  consequence 
of  this  the  eastern  pro- 
vinces,  and,    above    all, 


and    improve    this    un-        a  king  without  liberty 

fpnahlp    nodtinn     nf    fhp    The  liberty  of  the  crown  was  curtailed  during    fUp    rn«;<;ark<;     thf   rham- 

lenaoie   position    01    me  the  reign  of  Vladislav  iv.    The  diet  of  1639   ^'}^  ^.ossacKs,  me  cnam- 

Crown    in    regard    to    the    passed  a  resolution  that  the  king  could  not  leave    pions        of         Orthodoxy, 

estates,  and  to  Strengthen  *'>"*=°""''"y"*'*'°"**''"""^*'"'°^P""^"""*-  remained     true    to    the 
the  central  power.     His  whole   reign  is     king,  although  they  were  aware  that  they 


a  covert  struggle  against  the  existing 
constitution.  Above  all,  he  wished  to 
withdraw  himself  from  the  excessive 
influence  of  the  Catholic  Church,  which 
he  judged  harmful  to  the  welfare  01 
the  country.  The  Church,  dominated  by 
Jesuits,  encouraged  men  to  enter  their 
community,  conceded  no  privileges  to 
the  Uniates,  and  thus  rendered  the  whole 
work  of  the  union  void.  The  Jesuits  in 
Poland,  as  in  other  countries,  searched 
for  Protestant  and  other  heretical  books 
and  destroyed  them.  The  schools  came 
gradually  into  their  hands  ;  they  founded 
their  own  academy  in  Cracow,  in  order 
to  enter  into  rivalry  with  the  one  already 
existing.       They    accumulated    immense 


could    not    expect    any   just    treatment 
from  their  enemy  the  Slachta. 

In  an  equally  decisive  manner  he  broke 
away  from  the  foreign  policy  of  his 
father.  He  strove  for  an  alhance  of 
Poland  with  Russia,  carried  on  war  with 
_,      .  great     energy,     and     obtained 

PoiTc^of  ^"  ^^34  ^*  Poljanovka  a 
VI*  «r^l°  favourable  peace,  which 
brought  to  the  Poles  the 
possession  of  Sievsk,  Smolensk  and 
Czernigov.  His  intention  was  now  to 
wage  a  joint  war  on  a  grand  scale 
against  Turkey;  he  therefore  yielded  in 
the  Swedish  question,  and  in  the  truce 
at  Stuhmsdorf  on  September  12th,  1635, 
in  return  for  the  restoration  of  Prussia, 

3261 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Social 
Revolution 
in  Poland 


renounced  all  claim  to  Livonia,  which  was 
conquered  by  Sweden.  In  his  eagerness  to 
attain  his  purpose  he  made  overtures  to  the 
house  of  Hapsburg,  and  married  Cecilia 
Renata,  an  Austrian  archduchess.  When 
on  her  death  he  married  a  French  princess 
— Marie  Louise  of  Nevers-Gonzaga — he  did 
so  probably  in  order  to  fit  out  troops 
against  Turkey  with  her  money. 
If  Poland  then  achieved  suc- 
cesses, she  owed  them  only  to 
the  circumspection  and  self- 
sacrifice  of  her  king.  In  return  she  was 
not  even  willing  to  pay  the  debts  incurred 
by  him  in  the  war  against  Moscow, 
and  after  great  efforts  a  tax  was  granted 
the  king  only  as  "gratitude."  In  one 
single  point  did  the  king  allow  himself 
to  be  carried  away  by  the  Slachta  to  take 
a  step  momentous  for  Poland,  in  the 
legislation  concerning  the  Cossacks. 

At  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  a 
great  economic  and  social  revolution  had 
been  completed  in  Poland.  The  colonisa- 
tion of  the  eastern  provinces  had  made 
unexpected  progress.  Red  Russia, 
Volhynia  and  Podolia  had  been  long 
occupied  by  the  Polish  lords ;  now  the 
stream  of  colonists  flowed  into  the 
Dnieper  region  and  swept  along  with  it 
the  inhabitants  of  the  above-named 
regions.  Even  nobles  who,  in  consequence 
of  the  civil  wars  and  also  of  the  struggle 
with  Russia,  were  at  the  end  of  their 
economic  resources,  marched  under  the 
protection  of  mighty  lords  to  the  eastern 
provinces,  and  there  became  Cossacks. 
Small  landowners  in  the  western  pro- 
vinces could  not  hold  their  own  from  want 
of  hands ;  equally  in  the  east  the  un- 
certainty and  the  exhausting  work  of 
colonisation  rendered  the  development  of 
small  farms  impossible. 

The  consequence  was  that  the  petty 
nobility,  especially  in  the  east,  became 
dependent  on  the  large  landowners  ;  by 
this  step  their  influence  in  national  life 
would  naturally  sink,  while  that  of  the 
magnates  rose.  If  in  the  fifteenth  and 
also  in  the  sixteenth  century  the 
petty  nobles  had 
exercised  such 
power  in  the  state 
that  they  could 
pass  even  the 
great  legislative 
Revision,  and  if 
the  constitution 
had    stood     under 

3262 


the  banner  01  democracy,  the  centre  of 
gravity  was  now  shifted  once  more  to 
the  Senate,  which,  by  economic  pres- 
sure, ruled  the  chamber  of  provincial 
deputies. 

The  development  of  Poland  from  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  century  lay,  there- 
fore, in  the  hands  of  the  magnates;  the 
oligarchs  dictated  to  the  crown ;  with 
them  originated  the  first  of  those  revolts 
so  disastrous  to  the  state,  which  were 
destined  to  lead  irresistibly  to  the  down- 
fall of  Poland.  Side  by  side  with  the 
formation  of  the  large  landed  estates  in 
the  eastern  provinces  went  a  movement 
of  the  population  from  west  to  east, 
which  shifted  the  economic  and  also  the 
political  centre  of  gravity  of  the  empire 
toward  the  eastern  frontier.  The  great 
nobles  of  the  east  guided  the  state  accord- 
ing to  their  own  will. 

In  addition  to  this  a  social  transforma- 
tion took  place.  Among  the  Cossacks  a 
party  was  slowly  developing  which  aimed 
at  freedom  and  wished  to  be  on  equality 
with  the  nobles.  But  nothing  was  more 
dangerous  for  the  great  landowners  of  the 
eastern  marches  than  this  movement,  by 
which  they  ran  the  risk  of  losing  the  whole 
peasantry,  the  one  support  of  their  farms. 
All  who  were  oppressed  and  wished  to  live 
a  life  of  freedom  joined  the  Cossacks.  The 
^  peasant   population    could    only 

v/OSSftCKS    11111  11  r  c 

.  be  held  back  by  force  from  run- 

j  ning  away  and  migrating  to  the 

Ukraine.  The  number  of  the 
Cossacks  increased  from  year  to  year  with 
great  rapidity.  To  remedy  this  evil, 
measures  were  taken  that  only  600  Cos- 
sacks should  be  admitted,  and  registers 
were  drawn  up  for  inspection,  while  all 
others  had  to  remain  peasants. 

The  threatened  oligarchs  now  thought 
of  applying  an  efficient  remedy.  At  their 
instigation  the  diet  of  1638  resolved  to 
place  the  registered  persons  under  a  Polish 
commissary ;  all  who  later  acquired 
privileges  were  to  forfeit  their  rights,  liber- 
ties and  incomes.  Their  possessions  were 
confiscated  by  the  lords,  and  they  must 
immediately  pay 
taxes  on  them. 
This  resolution  of 
the  diet  kindled 
a  revolt  of  the  Cos- 
sacks which  was 
destined  in  the  end 
to  result  in  the 
loss  of  the  Ukraine. 


EASTERN 
EUROPE   TO 
THE  hRENCH 
REVOLUTION 


W^ 


■■     *u^<f 


POLAND 
VII 


GREAT  DAYS  OF  COSSACK  POWER 

AND    THE    COMING    UP    OF    RUSSIA 


A  FTER  the  conquest  of  Kiev  and  the 
**•  subjugation  of  Russia  by  the  Tartars, 
Moscow  on  the  one  hand,  and  Lithuania 
on  the  other,  had  grown  into  new  pohtical 
centres.  But  in  Kiev  all  culture  and 
political  life  were  dying  out.  The  country 
gradually'  became  a  desert ;  the  survivors 
left  by  the  sword  of  the  Tartar  were 
dragged  away  into  captivity  or  emigrated, 
while  a  few  who  remained  behind,  living 
in  perpetual  danger,  sank  into  barbarism 
and  took  refuge  in  the  forests  and  fens. 
It  was  only  when  these  districts  were 
conquered  by  Lithuanian  princes  that  the 
fugitives  came  back  and  the  country  was 
once  more  populated.  Princes  of  the 
Olgerd  stock  received  large  tracts  of  this 
unowned  land  and  introduced  settlers. 
Their  primary  duty  was  always,  however, 
to  ward  off  Tartar  attacks,  and  the  military 
organisation  had  therefore  first  to  be  taken 
in  hand.  Thus,  in  course  of  time  a  kind  of 
military  frontier  against  the  Tartars  was 
developed.  The  first  step  was  taken  by 
the  frontier  starosties  (districts  governed 
by  starosts)  ;  the  resident  landowners  also 
fought  the  Tartars  on  their  own  account. 
Owing  to  this  duty  of  defence,  free  com- 
panies were  formed,  which  stood  in  very 
loose  relations  with  their  princes  and 
starosts.  At  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century  they  bore  the  name  of  Cossacks. 

The  whole  institution,  like  the  name,  is 
of  Tartar  origin  ;  but  the  Slavonic  Cos- 
sacks developed  quite  differently.  In  any 
case,  a  direct  connection  with  the  Kirghiz, 
who  call  themselves  Kasaks,  is  not  demon- 
_  strable.      It    is    also  better  to 

Ah*'  ^°^  separate  them  entirely  from  the 
^  .  Casoges  on  the  peninsula  of 
Taman,  and  the  Icherkesses  m 
the  Caucasus,  who  were  subjugated  in  965 
by  Sviatoslav.  Among  the  Tartars  those 
persons  were  called  Cossacks  who  made 
raiding  expeditions  without  the  permission 
of  their  chiefs.  Russian  and  Lithuanian 
princes,  such  as  Vasilij  IV.  Ivanovitch  and* 
Sigismund  I.,  made  formal  complaint  to 
the  Tartar  khans  that  the    "  Cossacks  " 


invaded  their  territories.  In  Russia 
people  were  originally  called  Cossacks 
who,  in  contrast  to  the  settled  population 
with  their  burden  of  taxes,  were  engaged 
in  trade  and  commerce,  exporting  salt  in 
particular,  or  served  on  board  the  shipping 
on  the  Volga,  or  were  occupied  with 
fisheries  on  the  Dnieper  and  brought  fish 

_  ,  n  J  to  the  market  at  Kiev — 
Cossack  Bands  1-1.1  . 

.     P  ,  people,  m  short,  who  were  not 

c     e  ugc         fettered  to  the  soil.     But  by 
of  Discontents     ,,     1       •      •         rxi_      •    ^        ^u 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 

century  there  were  Cossacks  whose  duties 
were  exclusively  military,  although  they 
were  not  free,  but  were  the  subjects  of 
various  princes.  They  must  have  been  the 
descendants  of  those  free  itinerant  traders 
who  must  have  been  familiarised  with 
every  sort  of  danger  on  their  journeys. 
Citizens  and  peasants  who  found  their 
burdens  intolerable  flocked  to  them. 
These  Cossack  bands  often  bore  the  names 
of  their  lords  ;  thus  we  find  "  Cossacks  of 
Prince  Demetrius  Wisnioviecki,"  or,  ac- 
cording to  the  names  of  the  starosties  and 
towns,  Cossacks  of  Kanew,  Bar,  Win- 
nica,  Bilacerkov  and  Kiev,  of  Smolensk, 
Riasan  and  Putvol.  Those  of  Czerkasy  were 
so  renowned  that  the  Cossacks  were  later 
called  generally  Czerkasy.  The  greatest 
services  in  the  organisation  and  develop- 
ment of  the  Cossack  system  were  per- 
formed by  the  frontier  starosts  and  by  the 
princes. 

Daszkovicz,  Starost  of  Czerkasy  on  the 
Dnieper,  went  to  Poland  and  demanded 
in  the  diet  at  Piotrkov  that  these  free 
companies  should  be  recognised  as  an 
imperial  army,  whose  duty  was  to  guard 
the  frontier  ;  he  showed  also  how  import- 
ant that  might  be  for  the  empire.  His 
request  was  not  granted  ;  and  when  the 
government  proposed  to  restrict  the 
Cossack  right  of  settlement  they  withdrew 
behind  the  rapids  south  of  Czerkasy. 
Here  the  free  Cossack  race,  which  recog- 
nised no  sovereign,  made  its  home.  We 
find  the  first  traces  of  these  "  Saporoska 
Sjetsch  "  in  an  edict  of  King  Sigismund 

3263 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Augustus  of  1568.  They  are  more  pre- 
cisely described  to  us  in  the  documents  of 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Their 
strongholds  were  the  islands  in  the 
Dnieper,  where  they  had  their  forts. 

Their  organisation  was  that  of  the  orders 
of  chivalry  in  Western  Europe.  ImpUcit 
obedience,  piety,  chastity  in  the  camp, 
.  absolute  equahty — these  were 
The  strict  ^^^  conditions  of  life  among 
thrs^luth  *h^  Sjetsch.  The  assembly 
■**  '*^  was  the  only  authority  ;  it 
elected  the  chief,  the  Ataman  or  Hetman, 
who  held  his  office  only  for  one  year,  and 
then  was  brought  to  account  for  his 
actions,  and  could  even  be  punished  by 
death  ;  the  Asavul,  or  second  in  command, 
and  a  chancellor  (pisar).  The  assembly 
possessed  also  the  only  judicial  authority. 
Quarrels  were  strictly  forbidden ;  theft 
and  the  plundering  of  Christians  were 
punishable  by  hanging.  The  Sjetsch  lived 
according  to  the  precepts  of  the  Orthodox 
Church  and  strictly  observed  the  fasts. 

Their  most  honourable  task  was  war 
against  the  infidels.  They  lived  in  fenced 
enclosures  (kurenj)  which  were  covered 
with  horse-skins,  150  in  each.  Married  men 
could  be  received  into  the  company,  but 
their  wives  might  not  be  brought  with 
them.  Their  food  was  a  sort  of  yeast, 
fish,  and  fish-soup.  A  new  institution 
thus  began  to  flourish  in  those  parts ; 
indeed,  it  seemed  as  if  a  new  state  would 
spring  up  there,  on  a  new  non-European 
basis.  While  in  Poland  and  the  rest  of 
Europe  the  freedom  of  individual  classes 
alone  was  known  and  preserved,  there  the 
very  lowest  stratum  demanded  for  itself 
the  same  freedom ;  there  was  to  be  there  no 
class  distinction,  but  merely  a  free  nation. 

Independently  of  the  Sjetsch,  free  com- 
panies also  were  formed  which,  when  they 
planned  a  raid,  chose  a  Hetman  for  them- 
selves. But  everything  later  was  concen- 
trated in  the  Sjetsch,  which  formed  the 
rallying  point  of  all  the  Cossacks  of  the 
_  Ukraine.     So  far  as  we  know, 

.  *I°"  °  .  the  noble  John  Badovskij  was 
P  .  .  .  elected  Hetman  over  all  the 
airy  an  Cossacks  for  the  first  time  under 
Sigismund  Augustus  in  1572.  The  same 
king  put  all  the  Cossacks  under  the  juris- 
diction of  one  judge,  who  had  his  residence 
at  Bilacerkov.  After  this  time  captains,  or 
Hetmans,  who  were  recognised  by  the 
Polish  government  appeared  at  their  head. 
The  Cossack  life  possessed  an  irresistible 
charm  ;    and  when   the  news  spread  of 

3264 


this  fairyland  where  every  man  could  live 
as  free  as  a  bird,  and  it  received  a  solemn 
consecration  as  a  sworn  foe  to  the  infidels, 
it  was  gradually  populated  with  fugitives 
and  deserters  from  Poland  and  Russia. 
The  country  on  both  sides  of  the  Dnieper 
round  Kiev,  as  far  as  the  Tartar  frontier, 
became  a  paradise  for  all  the  poor  and  the 
oppressed,  not  less  than  for  those  who 
thirsted  for  glory  and  feats  of  arms.  The 
Little  Russian  race  seemed  qualified  to 
put  into  practice  the  idea  of  universal 
equality  and  freedom.  The  science  of  war 
was  here  brought  to  high  perfection.  At 
the  same  time  a  literature  was  produced 
which  glorified  the  Cossack  life  in  attrac- 
tive ballads  and  tales.  All  the  Slavonic 
world  might  well  be  proud  of  this  free 
state.  Of  course  this  people,  which 
regarded  war  as  the  object  of  life,  could 
not  fairly  be  expected  to  cultivate  a  higher 
civilisation. 

The  Cossacks  might  have  brought  incal- 
culable advantages  to  the  country  and 
the  whole  empire  of  Poland  if  the  Poles 
had  understood  how  to  fit  this  new  member 
into  the  organism  of  the  state.  But  the 
democratic  spirit  of  the  Cossacks  did  not 
harmonise  with  the  aristocratic 
constitution  of  Poland.  There 
were  in  Poland  after  the  Union 
of  Lublin  (1569)  only  three 
sharply  divided  classes — the  Slachta,  the 
citizens,  and  the  present  serfs.  There  was 
no  place  for  the  Cossacks  among  these 
three  classes,  and,  instead  of  any  ad- 
vantages, the  Cossacks  therefore  presented 
to  Poland  a  social  and  political  problem, 
as  important  as  it  was  dangerous,  which 
in  its  subsequent  shape  became  predomi- 
nantly an  economic  question. 

The  Cossacks  exercised  on  the  peasantry 
in  Poland  and  Lithuania  such  a  strong 
attraction  that  only  the  severest  penalties 
could  restrain  the  people  from  fleeing  by 
crowds  into  the  Ukraine.  They  seemed, 
therefore,  to  the  Slachta  to  be  a  revolu- 
tionary influence  which  disturbed  the  order 
of  the  state,  and,  by  encouraging  the 
exodus  of  the  labouring  country  popula- 
tion, threatened  every  farm  with  desola- 
tion and  ruin.  But  the  economic  stability 
of  the  Polish  state  depended  on  the 
serfdom  of  the  country  population  ;  this 
had  been  a  main  object  of  the  legislature, 
just  as  in  the  ancient  world  the  prosperity 
of  the  state  had  depended  on  slavery  as  a 
legal  institution.  It  is  therefore  intelligible 
why  the  Slachta  persecuted  with  deadly 


Poland's 
Problem  of 
the  Cossacks 


CHARACTERISTIC     PORTRAITS     OF     THE     FIGHTING     COSSACKS 
1,  Cossack   o£Bcer;  2,  3,  4,  and  5,  Typical  Cossacks  soldiers  of  the  Caucasus ;  6,  Cossacks  of  tbc  Don. 


32^)5 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


hatred  and  deep  contempt  those  runaway 
peasants  who  ventured  to  put  themselves 
on  a  level  with  their  betters.  They  staked 
everything  on  reducing  the  Cossacks  again 
to  the  position  of  peasants.  The  division 
of  interests  was  not  to  be  healed,  and  war 
was  inevitable.  It  was  an  almost  hopeless 
task  to  find  a  means  of  arranging  the 
dispute  and  solving  the  social  problem. 

Apart  from  Sigismund  I.,  who  had 
quietly  promoted  the  organisation  of  the 
Cossacks,  Sigismund  Augustus  was  the 
first  who  attempted  to 
link  the  Cossack  element 
with  the  organism  of  the 
PoHsh  state,  since  he 
placed  them  under  the 
authority  of  the  starosts, 
restricted  their  numbers, 
and  fixed  their  pay. 
Bathori  had  only  taken  in 
his  pay  600  Cossacks,  and 
those  for  the  war  against 
Moscow.  It  was  only 
under  Sigismund  III.  that 
the  diet  of  1590  deter- 
mined to  pay  6,000 
Cossacks.  They  were  en- 
tered upon  a  list  and 
called  "registered." 
Their  commander-in-chief 
was  the  Polish  Crown 
Hetman  for  the  time 
being,  so  that  the 
Cossacks  were  intended 
to  compose  only  a  part 
of  the  Polish  army.  The 
"registered"  received 
grants  of  land,  a  court  of 
justice  of  their  own  at 
Baturin,  and  the  right  of 
electing  superior  officers. 
All  the  others,  by  far 
the  majority,  were  in- 
tended to  revert  to  the 
status  of  peasants.  Sigis- 
mund thus  found  a  way 
out  of  the  difficulty 
which  only  satisfied  a  very  small  pro- 
portion of  the  Cossacks.  But  the  Slachta 
did  not  wish  to  admit  even  these  6,000 
into  the  state,  and  treated  them  merely  as 
mercenaries.  This  provoked  new  strife. 
The  "  registered  "  combined  with  the  non- 
registered  Cossacks  and  rebelled  against 
the  government,  attacked  the  Slachta  on 
their  estates,  and,  under  leaders  of  their 
own  choice,  made  raids  upon  Turkey 
\nd  the  Tartar  territory.    Through   this 

3266 


ANCIENT    COSSACK    CHAIN    MAIL 
Present-day  Cossack  in  the  armour  of  the  past. 


state  of  affairs  a  new  difficulty  sprang 
up  for  the  Polish  government ;  for  this 
arrogance  of  the  Cossacks  threatened 
every  moment  to  bring  on  their  heads 
a  dangerous  war  with  the  Porte,  and 
injured  Ottomans  were  continually  lodging 
complaints  against  insolent  Cossacks. 
All  commands  were  as  useless  as  the 
execution  of  several  Hetmans.  What 
did  the  free  Cossacks  care  about  the 
national  interests  of  Poland  ?  They  loved 
liberty  and  war  above  everything  else  ; 
they  went  as  gaily  to 
battle  as  to  a  dance.  Often 
imitating  the  intrepid 
Varangians,  they  sailed  in 
their  light  craft  from  the 
Dnieper  to  the  Black  Sea 
and  plundered  the  suburbs 
of  Constantinople  or  the 
towns  of  Kilia,  Akerman, 
Ismail,  Sinope  and  others. 
Sigismund  built  the  for- 
tress of  Kremenczug  on 
the  Dnieper  in  1591  to 
hold  1,000  men,  whose 
task  it  w^ould  be  to  keep 
the  Cossacks  in  check. 
But  even  these  standing 
garrisons  were  unable  to 
restore  order.  In  the 
year  1592  the  first  revolt 
of  the  registered  Cossacks 
broke  out,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Hetman 
Christopher  K  o  s  i  n  s  k  i . 
Prince  Constantine 
Ostrogski,  himself  Ortho- 
dox, suppressed  it  at  the 
head  of  the  Slachta.  The 
Cossacks  were  forced  to 
surrender  Kosinski  and 
elect  another  Hetman,  to 
give  up  the  booty,  and  to 
bind  themselves  not  to 
undertake  any  raids  ^vith- 
out  the  knowledge  and 
consent  of  the  government, 
and  not  to  receive  any  deserters.  But  a 
second  rising  followed  in  1596,  under 
Loboda  and  Severin  Nalivajko. 

The  first  revolt  may  have  had  a  more 
social  character,  but  now  there  was  a 
religious  element  added,  since  the  Cossacks 
rose  to  protect  the  Orthodox  faith,  which 
was  threatened  by  the  union  of  Brest  in 
1596.  Ostrogski,  the  antagonist  of  the 
union,  now  himself  fanned  the  flame, 
since   he  wished  to  wreak  vengeance  on 


A    KUBAN     COSSACK    WITH     HIS    WIFE    AND     DAUGHTER;   AND    A    KUBAN    GIRL       K, 


__^     -4^ 


FAMILIAR    TYPES    OF    THE     KUBAN     COSSACKS 
208  3267 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Turkish  Fleet 
Burned 


Alexander  Siemaszko,  the  castellan  of 
Braclaw,  and  on  the  Bishop  Cyryl  Terlecki. 
The  rebels  assembled  in  his  territory ;  they 
were  joined  in  Ostrog  by  Damian  Nali- 
vajko,  a  brother  of  Severin,  the  chaplain 
of  Ostrogski ;  many  nobles,  even  the  non- 
registered,  took  their  side.  The  best 
generals,  Zamojski  and  Sholkievski,  were 
sent  against  the  insurgents 
and  forced  them  to  surrender. 

^  ^  .  The  two  Hetmans  were  given 
by  Cossacks  ,  u   u      j    j       4. 

up    and   were    beheaded   at 

Warsaw.  Treated  with  great  harshness, 
the  Cossacks  now  fled  in  masses  to  the 
left  bank  of  the  Dnieper,  to  Sapo- 
roshje,  where  they  established  their  head- 
quarters. Their  numbers  grew  so  rapidly 
there  that  they  were  able  once  more  to 
undertake  raids ;  they  surprised  Varna 
in  1605,  and  destroyed,  in  1607,  Oczakov 
and  Perekop. 

The  Saporogi  became  especially  formid- 
able when  the  Hetman  Peter  Konasze- 
vicz  Sahajdacznyi,  a  bold  and  skilful 
strategist,  placed  himself  at  their  head  in 
1612.  He  plundered,  in  1612,  the  coast  of 
the  Crimea  as  far  as  Eupatoria,  took 
Kaffa,  destroyed  Sinope  in  1613,  pillaged 
in  1614  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  and  in 
1615-1616  Trebizond,  and  burnt  the  Turk- 
ish fleet.  It  was  he  who  supported  the 
Polish  campaign  against  Moscow.  The 
name  of  Saporogi  was  soon  universally 
used  for  the  Dnieper  Cossacks.  Konasze- 
vicz  assumed  the  title  "  Hetman  of  both 
banks  of  the  Dnieper  and  of  the  Saporogi," 
and  placed  himself  over  the  "  registered  "  ; 
in  fact,  he  entered  into  alliance  with  the 
tsar  and  with  Turkey. 

He  was  the  first  Hetman  who  openly 
protected  the  Church  and  organised  it,  since 
he  demanded  an  Orthodox  Metropolitan 
with  suffragan  bishops  for  Kiev,  and  carried 
his  point.  The  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem, 
Theophan,  came  to  Russia  and  conse- 
crated Jov  Borecki  as  Metropolitan  and 
six  other  bishops  ;  Konaszevicz  assigned 
Th   c         k  ^^^"^    estates.     He    founded 

e  ossac  j^g^j^y  churches,  renewed  the 
.  Q  monasteries,  opened  schools, 

and  was  thus  the  first  who  laid 
stress  on  the  improvement  of  culture.  He 
also  called  upon  the  Polish  government  to 
confirm  his  position  ;  this  was  done  when 
his  help  was  required  against  the  Turks. 

But  he  was  always  endeavouring  to 
emphasise  his  independence.  When 
Poland,  in  the  treaty  with  Turkey  of  1621, 
promised  to  keep  the  Cossacks  in  check, 

3268 


he  immediately  organised  an  expedition 
into  the  Turkish  territory,  by  way  of  regis- 
tering his  protest  against  that  stipulation. 
Strangely  enough,  this  man  of  iron,  who, 
for  instance,  ordered  the  Hetman  of  the 
"  registered  "  Borodovka  to  be  beheaded 
in  sight  of  the  Polish  camp,  and  seemed  to 
love  war  and  war  only,  retired  after  the 
battle  of  Khotin,  where  he  was  wounded 
in  the  hand,  into  a  monastery,  and  there 
occupied  himself  with  the  composition  of  a 
book,  to  which  even  his  enemies  gave 
unstinted  praise.  Konaszevicz  died  on 
April  5th,  1622,  an  extraordinary  character, 
bold  to  foolhardiness,  a  clever  statesman, 
a  patron  of  culture  and  freedom  ;  in  short, 
one  of  the  greatest  Slavs  in  history.  He 
founded  the  national  independence  and 
spread  abroad  the  fame  of  his  native 
Ukraine  ;  among  the  Cossacks  themselves 
he  roused  a  deep  love  for  the  mother- 
country.     He  is  still  celebrated  in  song. 

In  three  years  after  his  death  the  Cossack 
country  sank  from  the  pinnacle  to  which 
it  had  been  raised  by  Konaszevicz.  The 
Cossacks  had  been  welcomed  everywhere 
as  mercenaries  ;  Loboda  and  Nalivajko 
had  fought  under  the  emperor's  banner  in 
Transylvania,  and  others,  like 
ec  me  o         Lisovski,  in   Germany   itself. 

.   .         .         The  Polish  government  now 

Independence  -.iTXi  tz  it- 

sent  the  Hetman  Koniecpolski 

to  the  Ukraine,  on  the  right  bank,  under 
the  pretext  of  preventing  Cossack  inroads 
into  Turkish  territory.  The  Cossacks 
were  unexpectedly  surrounded  by  his 
forces  on  Lake  Kurakov,  misled  by  false 
promises,  and  compelled  to  surrender. 
They  were  forced  to  accept  the  following 
terms  on  the  heath  of  Medveshi  Lozy  in 
1625.  Six  thousand  "  registered  "  were 
to  be  retained,  60,000  gulden  in  gold  paid 
to  them,  and  the  register  kept  in  the 
imperial  treasury  ;  the  Hetman  was  to  be 
confirmed  in  his  appointment  by  the  Polish 
Crown  Hetman ;  inroads  inito  Turkish 
territory  were  to  be  discontinued  ;  the 
boats  were  to  be  burnt  and  no  new  ones 
built.  A  thousand  of  the  registered  Cos- 
sacks were  to  be  on  garrison  duty  in  the 
country  of  the  Saporogi. 

The  non-registered  were  to  serve  their 
lords  and  sell  their  goods  within  twelve 
weeks.  Michael  Doroszenko  was  then 
chosen  Hetman,  and  confirmed  in  his  post 
by  Koniecpolski.  Some  years  afterwards  a 
Polish  army  came  again  into  the  Ukraine, 
and  under  its  protection  the  Slachta  in- 
dulged in  acts  of  the  greatest  injustice  and 


THE    GREAT    DAYS    OF    COSSACK    POWER 


violence.  Murders,  outrages,  and  con- 
fiscation of  property  were  the  order  of  the 
day.  If  we  reflect  that  hardly  one  in 
twenty  could  be  entered  on  the  register, 
we  shall  realise  how  great  a  mass  of  in- 
flammable material  was  collected  there. 
There  was  equal  danger  seething  among 
theSaporogi,  who  had  their  ownHetmans. 
On  the  election  of  Vladislav  IV.,  the 
representatives  of  the  Cossacks  also  ap- 
peared in  the  imperial  diet.  They  asked 
for  electoral  rights,  abolition  of  the 
union,  increase  in  the  numbers  of  the 
registered,  and  the  confirmation  of  the 
privileges  of  the  Orthodox  Church.  They 
received  the  answer  that  the  Cossacks 
certainly  formed  part  of  the  body  of  the 
Polish  republic,  but  only  as  the  hair  and 
nails,  which  could  be  cut  off.  In  order  to 
emphasise  his  demands,  Petryzcky,  Het- 
man  of  the  "  registered."  marched  to 
Volhynia  and  ravaged  the  property  of 
the  Slachta.  The  Cossacks  were  not  ad- 
mitted to  full  electoral  privileges  ;  but 
the  rights  of  the  Orthodox  Church  were 
confirmed  and  its  Metropolitan,  Peter 
Mogila,  was  recognised.  Vladislav  IV. 
promised  to  restore  the  Orthodox  dioceses 

and  to  found  new  dioceses  for 
Cossack  theUniates,  and  allowed  them 
ea  crs  ^^  build  some  churches  and 
Beheaded       .  .  ■    ,■ 

to    set     up    prmtmg  -  presses. 

But  there  was  little  talk  of  the  freedom 
of  the  Cossacks;  on  the  contrary,  he 
ordered  the  new  fortress  of  Kudak  to  be 
built  on  the  Dnieper,  which  was  intended 
to  keep  the  Saporogi  in  check.  The 
Hetman  Sulyma  destroyed  this  fortress, 
for  which  act  he  was  impaled  in  Warsaw 
and  an  army  was  sent  against  the  Cos- 
sacks ;  these,  under  Pawluk,  who  already 
contemplated  the  autonomy  of  the  Ukraine, 
were  ready  for  a  desperate  resistance.  The 
Cossacks  fought  fiercely  at  Kumejki  and 
Borovitza,  but  were  forced  to  give  in. 
Pawluk,  Tomilenko,  and  other  leaders 
were  beheaded. 

The  Cossacks  had  to  ask  for  pardon  ;  all 
who  went  to  Saporoshje  were  to  be  sent 
back  to  their  lords.  The  preparation  of 
the  register  was  for  the  future  entrusted 
to  the  royal  commissaries,  and  the  people 
were  robbed  of  their  goods.  The  diet  of 
1638,  rendered  arrogant  by  its  last  victory, 
now  had  recourse  to  the  severest  measures. 
The  "  registered "  were  put  on  a  level 
with  the  peasants,  declared  to  have  for- 
feited all  rights,  and  deprived  of  their 
goods.     Henceforward  the  Polish  commis- 


sary resided  in  Trechtemirov.  The  Polish 
armies  encamped  in  the  Ukraine  and 
mercilessly  wasted  the  country. 

But  people  were  much  deceived  in 
Poland  who  expected  that  the  Ukraine 
would  be  finally  pacified  by  the  enslave- 
ment of  the  Cossacks.  As  an  answer  to 
the  resolutions  of  the  diet  a  new  revolt 
T  rribi    F  11  ^^oke  out  under  Hunia,Ostrja- 

,  "*   *    *    nvcia  and  Filonenko.  But  this 
01  the  f  ,         ^ 

Cossacks  °  ^^^  suppressed.      In  a 

camp  which  had  surrendered 
unconditionally,  every  single  person  was 
massacred.  Among  the  Polish  magnates 
who  took  the  greatest  interest  in  the  en- 
slavement of  the  Ukraine,  Jeremias 
Wisnioviecki — a  voivode  of  the  Jagellon 
stock — distinguished  himself  by  his  bar- 
barity ;  at  the  head  of  his  own  troops  he 
burnt,  beheaded,  impaled,  or  blinded  all 
the  Cossacks  who  fell  in  to  his  hands. 

The  rebellion  was  crushed  by  the  weight 
of  numbers.  Many  fled  to  Saporoshje  and 
wandered  about  in  the  steppe.  The 
idea  of  gaining  support  from  some  foreign 
power  now  gathered  strength.  Ostrjanycia 
and  Filonenko  went  to  Moscow ;  some 
6,000  are  said  to  have  entered  the  service 
of  Persia.  The  Slachta  now  ruled  abso- 
lutely in  the  Ukraine  :  the  Cossacks  were 
forbidden  even  to  fish  and  to  hunt.  The 
Jesuits,  too,  came  there  before  long. 
Many  magnates,  such  as  Wisnioviecki, 
Konicepolski,  Kalinovski,  Potocki, 
acquired  huge  tracts  of  land.  The 
district  which  Wisniovecki  now  possessed 
was  greater  in  size  than  many  a  German 
principality.  A  deputation  of  the  Cossacks 
— Roman  Polovetz,  Bogdan  Chmelnicki, 
Ivan  Bojaryn,  Ivan  Wolezenko  —  which 
demanded  from  the  king  the  restoration 
of  freedom,  of  the  right  to  own  property, 
and  of  payment  for  service,  could  not 
effect  anything.  There  was  tranquillity 
in  the  Ukraine  only  for  ten  years  ;  it 
seemed  as  if  the  country  only  wished  to 
try  to  what  limits  the  oppression  of  the 
Polish  Slachta  could  go.  To 
:'« !«  ^^^^  period  belong  the  meri- 
torious exertions  of  the 
famous  Metropolitan  of  Kiev, 
Peter  Mogila.  The  family  of  Mogila  gave 
some  able  rulers  to  the  principalities 
of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia ;  it  was 
connected  by  many  matrimonial  ties  with 
the  foremost  families  of  Poland.  Peter 
received  his  education  partly  in  the  school 
of  the  Stauropigian  fraternity  at  Lemberg, 
which  was  intimate  with  his  family,  and 

3269 


Ten  Years' 
Tranquillity  in 
the  Ukraine 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


partly  abroad.  In  1625  he  entered  the 
most  celebrated  monastery  of  Russia,  the 
Peczerskaja  Lavra  at  Kiev,  of  which  he 
became  abbot  at  the  end  of  1627.  In 
this  capacity  he  went  in  1632,  at  the  head 
of  the  Cossack  deputation  to  Poland,  to 
the  Reichstag,  and  petitioned  the  king  to 
grant  rights  to  the  Orthodox  Church. 
The  consecration  of  Jov  Bo- 
The  Famous  ^^^^^  ^^  Metropolitan  of  Kiev 
Metropohtan  ^^  ^^^  Patriarch  Theophan  of 
retcr  Mogiia  jg^usalem,  at  the  request  of 
the  Hetman  Konaszevicz,  had  taken  place 
without  the  king's  knowledge  ;  the  office 
of  metropolitan  and  certain  bishoprics 
were  now  intended  to  be  recognised  by  the 
state.  After  the  death  of  Borecki,  Peter 
Mogiia  was  recognised  as  Metropolitan  in 
1632. 

Mogila's  first  and  important  task  was 
the  improvement  of  secondary  and  ele- 
mentary schools.  While  the  Catholic 
priests,  the  Jesuits  in  particular,  founded 
and  supported  scientific  institutions  on 
every  side  in  order  to  fight  the  Evangelicals 
with  spiritual  weapons,  the  Russian  clergy 
at  the  period  of  the  Tartar  dominion 
had  sunk  very  low.  The  majority  of  the 
priests  were  illiterate.  Even  the  most 
bigoted  supporters  of  Orthodoxy  could  not 
fail  to  see  that,  if  they  wished  to  save  their 
Church,  they  ought  not  to  neglect  culture 
any  further.  Ecclesiastical  brotherhoods 
were  founded,  and  printing-presses  and 
schools  were  set  up  for  the  protection  of 
the  Church  in  the  most  important  sees, 
such  as  Lemberg,  Kiev,  Luck,  Wilna. 

The  first  Orthodox  school  with  a  press 

was  founded  in  1580  by  Prince  Constantine 

Ostrogski  in  his  town  of  Ostrog.   A  school 

with  a  press  was  next  founded  in  1586  at 

Lemberg  by  the  Stauropigian  fraternity ; 

another    in    1588    at    Wilna,    when    the 

Patriarch  of  Constantinople  stayed  there  ; 

a  third  in  Luck,  in  1589  ;    a  fourth  in 

Kiev.     Books  in  defence  of  their  Church 

now    began    to    be    published    by    the 

„.      ..  Orthodox      party.       The 

Education  j  .1 

e        J    .    c  •.    danger    was   the   greater 

Spreads  in  Spite  rr-        c-    ■  j  ttt 

of  Persecution  ^^^^^  ^/"^  ^Ig'^^^^^d  IIL. 
an  enthusiastic  Catholic 
and  patron  of  the  Jesuits,  aimed  at  the  ex- 
tirpation of  the  Church  and  schools  of  the 
Orthodox  party.  When  Theophan,  the 
Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  appeared,  he  was 
announced  to  be  a  Turkish  spy,  and  the 
bishops  consecrated  by  him  were  brought 
before  the  courts.  In  spite  of  all  this  they 
held  their  own,  and  the  schools  increased  in 

3270 


number.  Mogiia  was  especially  desirous  ot 
founding  in  Kiev  a  university,  like  those  of 
other  countries,  in  which  instruction  could 
be  given  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  Polish, 
He  sent  young  persons  abroad  for  some 
years  to  study  the  higher  branches  of 
education,  and  then  installed  them  as 
professors  in  his  school,  which  bore  the 
name  of  a  "  college,"  and  was  subse- 
quently raised  to  the  rank  of  a  university. 
He  sacrificed  all  his  property  to  this  end. 
He  was  soon  in  a  position  to  send  exem- 
plary monks  and  efficient  teachers  to  the 
Prince  of  Wallachia  and  to  Moscow. 

A  vigorous  intellectual  movement  now 
began.  An  apologetic  Orthodox  literature 
appeared ;  the  Greeks  could  now  vie 
successfully  with  the  Roman  Calholics. 
The  school  had  good  teachers,  and  it 
educated  famous  scholars.  Mogiia  himself 
was  conspicuously  active  in  the  literary 
field.  He  wrote  a  series  of  the  most 
necessary  church  books  for  the  people 
and  for  teachers,  amended  the  text  of  the 
translation  of  the  Bible,  and  composed 
apologetics,  especially  the  "  Orthodox 
Confession  of  the  Catholic  and  Apostolic 
Church  of  the  East "  (the  Confessio 
Orthodoxa  of  1643).  Russia 
."  ..^*  °.  was  able  for  centuries  to  find 
sustenance  in  the  intellectual 
products  of  this  man  and  his 
school.  In  the  year  1640,  Peter  Mogiia 
proposed  to  the  Tsar  Michael  to  found 
a  monastery  with  a  school  under  the 
direction  of  Little  Russian  monks,  in 
which  the  instruction  should  be  given  in 
the  Greek  and  Slavonic  languages.  Two 
of  the  learned  Kievans,  Epifanij  Slavi- 
neckij,  at  the  recommendation  of  the 
Patriarch  Nikon,  and  Simeon  Polockij, 
entered  into  closer  relations  with  the 
Tsar  Alexis. 

Polockij  in  particular  was  both  a  promi- 
nent preacher  and  a  poet,  whose  dramas 
were  produced  at  court ;  he  was  also 
(after  1670)  manager  of  the  royal  printing 
establishment.  He  it  was  who  drafted 
the  first  scheme  for  a  university  in 
Moscow  with  faculties  in  Slavonic,  Greek 
and  Latin — a  magnificent  conception, 
which  can  be  traced  back  to  Mogiia  him- 
self. The  sons  of  Alexis,  Feodor  and  Ivan 
were  patrons  of  the  Kievan  scholars. 
Peter  the  Great  invited  the  teachers  of 
this  school  to  his  court,  and  formed  out 
of  them  a  staff  of  savants,  to  whom  he 
confided  the  intellectual  regeneration  of 
Russia.    The  pupils  of  the  Kievan  school 


Intellectual 
Activity 


PALACE  AT  ALOUPKA  AND  TOMBS  OF  THE  KHANS  AT  BAKHTCHI-SARAI 


jL  Jj  IN  THE  GARDEN  OF  THE  PALACE  AT  ALOUPKA 

^   IN   THE  CRIMEA  :  SCENES   IN   THE  LAND  OF  THE   TARTAR   KHANS 


3271 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


bore   the  torch    of   culture    everywhere, 
and  filled  the  highest  offices  in  the  Church. 
Mogila  died  in  1647,  barely  fifty  years 
old,  worn  out  by  his  restless  energy.     As 
Konaszevicz  aroused  the  pride  and  the 
independence  of  the  inhabitants  of  South- 
ern Russia,  so  Mogila,  a  kindred  spirit, 
awakened   the   culture    of   the    Ukraine, 
covered  it  with  the  glory  of  science,  and 
promoted    the    self-consciousness    of    the 
Orthodox  Church.     It  must  be  confessed 
that  even   thus  the  old  defects  of  the 
Greek  Church  could  no  longer  be  made 
good  ;    the  richest  and  most  conspicuous 
families,  to  whom  nearly  half  the  Ukraine 
on  the  left  bank  belonged,  gradually  went 
over  to  the  CathoUc  Church.     Almost  the 
only  adherents  of  the  Orthodox  faith  were 
the  poor,  and  in  the  towns 
the  few  citizens  who  were 
persuaded     by     spiritual 
brotherhood  to  continue 
in  the    Eastern    Church. 
In  the  year  of   Mogila's 
death  there  was  already 
great  excitement   in  the 
Ukraine,     and      at     the 
beginning    of     1648    the 
Cossacks  defeated  a  Polish 
army.     This  time  Bogdan 
Sinovi  Chmelnicki,  son  of 
a  Sotnik  from  Tchigirin, 
had  placed  himself  at  the 
head    of   the  insurgents. 
He   had  studied    in    the 
Collegium  Mogilanum  and 
then  in  the  Jesuit  school 
at  Jaroslav,  and  had  the 
reputation  of  being  a  well 


A    GREAT    REBEL    LEADER 
Bogdan  Sinovi  Chmelnicki  revealed  his  quali- 

„„„j  ^„„        TT„    f^,,„U+  :^     ties  as  a  leader,  overcoming  the  Polish  forces 

read  man.  He  lOUgnt  m  at  Shovti  and  again  at  Korsunj.  There  was 
the  Pohsh  army  at  the  great  rejoicing -the  pealing  of  bells  and 
,     ^ , ,  c     r^  1  the  thunder  of  cannon — when  he  entered  Kiev. 

battle  of  Cecora,  where 
his  father  fell;  he  himself  was  taken 
prisoner  and  detained  for  two  years  in 
Constantinople.  There  he  learnt  the 
Turkish  habits  and  language,  a  know- 
ledge which  proved  very  useful  to  him. 
Returning  home  on  the  conclusion  of  peace 
he  went,  discontented,  to  the  Cossacks, 
shared  in  all  their  revolts,  and  was  nomi- 
nated chancellor  (pisar)  by  them.  y  ' 
His  was  a  kindly,  peaceable  nature  ;  it 
would  never  have  occurred  to  him  to 
stir  up  a  rebellion  had  not  the  arrogance 
of  the  Polish  Slachta  and  the  prevailing 
anarchy  in  Poland  driven  him  to  it. 
His  estate  of  Sobotovo  was  taken  from 
him  (he  was  not  a  noble)  by  the  under- 
starost  Czaplinsky ;  his  wife  w£is  carried 

3272 


off,  his  son  killed,  and  when  he  demanded 
justice  he,  like  all  other  injured  persons 
before  him,  failed  to  find  it.  He  then 
turned  to  the  king.  The  latter  had 
then  received  humiliation  upon  humiha- 
tion  from  \  he  Slachta ;  there  was  reluc- 
tance to  pay  even  his  war  debts,  and  his 
personal  Uberty  was  restricted ;  as  just 
at  this  time  his  only  son  had  died,  his 
sorrow  knew  no  bounds  and  his  temper 
was  greatly  excited.  He  is  said  to  have 
hinted  to  the  Cossack  who  now  lodged  his 
grievance  before  him  that  he  had  a  sword 
with  which  he  could  procure  justice  for 
himself.  In  any  case,  there  is  little  doubt 
that  Vladislav  gave  some  encouragement 
to  the  Cossack ;  the  whole  subsequent 
attitude  of  Chmelnicki  shows  it.  On  the 
way  back  from  Warsaw 
Chmelnicki  stopped  in 
every  village,  complained 
everywhere  at  the  in- 
justice done  to  him,  and 
asked  if  the  people  were 
ready  to  take  up  arms 
against  the  Poles ;  all 
were  only  waiting  for  the 
right  moment.  Having 
reached  the  Ukraine,  he 
took  counsel  in  the  forest 
with  his  friends  who  had 
grown  grey  in  campaigns ; 
they  all  thought  that  no 
help  could  be  looked  for 
except  from  themselves. 
An  order  for  his  arrest 
was  issued,  but  he  escaped 
to  Saporoshje  (towards 
the  end  of  1647).  After 
having  secured  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Cossacks  in  an 
assembly,  he  went  to  the 
Tartars  to  ask  their  help.  His  proceeding 
got  wind  in  Poland,  and  at  the  beginning 
of  1648  two  army  corps  were  sent  to  the 
Ukraine,  one  overland,  the  other  down  the 
Dnieper  ;  in  the  latter  were  embodied  the 
"  registered""  under  the  Hetman  Barabasz. 
Chmelnicki  advanced  to  meet  them,  and 
when  they  came  to  shore  they  went  over 
to  him. 

Chmelnicki  called  on  them  to  protect  their 
life  and  liberty,  their  wives  and  children  ; 
a  shout  of  joy  greeted  his  words ;  Barabasz 
was  thrown  into  the  river.  Thus  the 
Ukraine  on  both  sides  of  the  Dnieper  was 
in  a  blaze.  The  clergy  preached  the  war 
everywhere  and  encouraged  the  revolt. 
But    the    feeling    was    intense    enough 


THE    GREAT    DAYS    OF    COSSACK    POWER 


without  this.  Not  merely  the  people  in 
the  Ukraine,  but  also  those  of  Red  Russia, 
and  even  the  country  folk  in  the  western 
provinces  of  Poland,  rose  up  and  helped  the 
Cossacks.  If  they  murdered  the  Slachta 
and  the  Catholic  clergy,  pillaged  their 
property  and  burnt  their  churches,  they 
only  requited  them  for  what  they  them- 
selves had  already  suffered.  Every  dis- 
contented spirit  hurried  into  Chmelnicki's 
camp,  knowing  well  that  the  hour  of 
reckoning  was  at  hand. 

Chmelnicki  soon  defeated  one  Polish 
army  at  Shovti  Wody,  another  at  Korsunj. 
At  the  news  of  this  Vladislav  IV.  started 
to  go  to  the  Ukraine,  but  died  on  the  way, 
at  Merecz,  on  March  20th,  1648.  Another 
large  army  was  put  in  the  field,  but  this, 
being  surrounded  on  the  River  Pilavka, 
took  to  flight  under  cover  of  darkness, 
and  the  whole  rich  camp  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Cossacks.  Confusion  and  perplexity 
now  prevailed  in  Poland.  The  Cossacks 
wished  to  be  led  to  Warsaw.  But  Chmel- 
nicki hesitated,  probably  because  there 
was  no  reliance  to  be  placed  on  the  Tartars. 
He  only  marched  to  Red  Russia,  besieged 
Lemberg,  took  200,000  gulden  as  ransom, 
^1.    »r-  .    ■       invested    Zamosc,    received 

The  Victorious    ,,  u  j 

M      h    f  th       there    20,000    gulden,    and 

^  .  .  awaited  the  result  of  the  royal 
Cossack  Army     ,      ..        ^t-         1  1     j 

election.  His  embassy  worked 

for  the  election  of  John  Casimir,  brother 
of  Vladislav,  who  was  eventually  elected. 

Chmelnicki  now  began  his  homeward 
march  ;  and  made  his  entry  amid  the 
pealing  of  bells  and  the  thunder  of  cannon 
into  Kiev,  where  he  was  solemnly  received 
by  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  by  the 
metropolitan,  the  clergy,  and  the  citizens. 
There  how  appeared  in  his  camp  am- 
bassadors of  the  sultan  from  Moldavia 
and  Wallachia,  from  Transylvania  and 
Moscow,  all  with  offers  of  alliance. 
Chmelnicki  played  the  part  of  an  inde- 
pendent sovereign.  Ambassadors  also 
came  from  the  newly  elected  king,  at 
their  head  Kisiel,  an  Orthodox  noble.  But 
Chmelnicki  rejected  all  proposals  for 
peace,  and  marched  for  the  second  time  to 
the  Polish  frontier,  since  he  knew  that 
only  the  sword  could  decide. 

The  king  in  person  now  took  the  field 
against  him.  A  battle  was  fought  at 
Zborov.  John  Casimir  had  almost  been 
taken  prisoner  when  Chmelnicki  gave 
orders  for  the  slaughter  to  cease ;  he 
wished,  he  said,  to  extirpate  the  Slachta, 
but  not  to  fight  agdnst  the  king.     New 


terms  of  peace  were  put  forward  by  him. 
He  demanded  that  40,000  should  be  put 
on  the  list  of  the  "  reserved,"  and  that 
the  voivode  ships  of  Kiev,  Tchernygov, 
Poltava,  and  Podolia,  should  be  given  to 
the  Cossacks  ;  abolition  of  the  union  of 
Brest,  a  seat  for  the  Orthodox  Metro- 
pohtan  in  the  Polish  Senate,  and  the 
g  .  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  and 
in  the  ^^^  Jews  from  the  Ukraine. 
Ukr&ine  P^'^n^  would  not  listen  to 
these  conditions,  and  prepara- 
tions were  renewed  for  war.  The  people 
now  began  to  mutter  that  Chmelnicki 
was  deserting  them  and  would  not  win 
freedom  for  them.  But  this  time  the 
Cossacks,  although  Chmelnicki  is  said 
to  have  had  350,000  men  with  him,  were 
beaten  at  Beresteczko  in  Volhynia,  through 
the  treachery  of  the  Tartar  Khan,  who, 
having  made"  an  agreement  with  the  king, 
left  the  field  of  battle  at  the  decisive 
moment  and  carried  off  with  him  as  pri- 
soner Chmelnicki,  vainly  urging  him  to 
turn  back.  The  latter  regained  his  liberty 
after  much  trouble,  and  when  he  came 
back  all  was  lost.  He  still  persevered, 
indeed,  and  even  won  some  victories  ;  but 
he  saw  that  the  country  could  not  hold  its 
own  without  foreign  aid.  At  the  assembly 
specially  convened  for  the  purpose  some 
declared  for  Turkey,  others  for  Moscow  ; 
there  were  a  few  voices  in  favour  of  re- 
maining with  Poland.  The  masses  were 
for  Russia,  with  which  the  common  faith 
formed  a  link.  Chmelnicki  himself  pre- 
ferred Russia.  He  sent  in  1653  a  solemn 
embassy  to  the  Tsar  Alexis,  who  had 
hitherto  maintained  an  unfriendly  attitude 
toward  the  insurgents,  and  this  time  the 
Grand  Duke  decided  to  accept  the  Cos- 
sacks. In  the  next  year  Muscovite  com- 
missaries appeared  in  the  Ukraine  and 
took  possession  of  the  country.  An  army 
under  Doroszenko  submitted  some  years 
later  to  Turkey.  In  the  centuries  of 
struggle  between  Poland  and  Russia  for 
_  .  ,  _  .  the  sovereignty  in  the  East, 
In^to'^he"'"  t^^  year  1654  forms  the  turn- 
B  \  d  ^"?  pont.  Poland  had  been 
groun  driven  into  the  background 
by  her  own  fault,  while  the  power  of  Russia 
was  from  year  to  year  extended  at  the 
expense  of  Poland.  It  might  now  be  said 
that  the  game  was  lost  for  Poland. 

But  the  democratic  Cossack  community 
was  as  little  adapted  for  the  arrogant 
Muscovites  as  for  the  aristocratic  Polish 
republic.       Absolutism      cannot      brook 

3273 


3274 


THE    GREAT    DAYS    OF    COSSACK    POWER 


national  forms  of  liberty  in  its  own 
domain.  Moscow  was  otherwise,  with  its 
rude  Boyars  and  its  low  culture,  little 
adapted  to  benefit  a  people  like  the 
Cossacks,  who,  accustomed  to  freedom, 
stood  on  a  higher  plane  in  politics  and 
culture.  The  position  of  the  Cossacks, 
however,  became  more  endurable  under 
the  Muscovite  sceptre,  since  definite  laws 
were  enforced  there ;  all  subjects  were 
equal,  and  even  those  outside  the  Boyar 
class  were  not  treated  more  indulgently. 
The  weight  of  the  government  was, 
therefore,  felt  less  acutely. 

An  independent  existence  for  the  Cossack 
state  was  impossible.  The  Cossacks  re- 
ceived their  material  as  well  as  spiritual 
requirements  from  Russia.  They  bought 
their  weapons  in  Russian 
marts,  and  they  owed 
their  very  moderate  de- 
gree of  intellectual  de- 
velopment to  the  Ortho- 
dox clergy,  whose  patron 
the  Russian  Tsar  was. 
Chmelnicki  alone,  with 
his  sound  common  sense, 
recognised  this.  A  bold 
and  skilful  soldier,  he  was 
hardly  competent  for  his 
great  task  as  a  statesman ; 
he  was  no  born  ruler,  but, 
always  regarding  himself 
as  a  servant  of  the 
trown,  he  only  thought 
how  to  find  out  another 
master   for   himself.     He 


at  another  time  there  were  reversions  to 
Moscow.    But  there  were  always  the  three 
parties  existing  in  the  Ukraine,  the  Polish, 
the  Turkish,  and  the  Russian,  which  fought 
each  other  with  renewed  vigour.      Soon 
there  was  evidence  of  a  deplorable  spht 
between  the  Cossacks  and  the  population 
which    was   excluded    from    the    military 
service.     The  Cossacks,  who  acquired  large 
estates,  began  to  separate  themselves  more 
sharply  as  an  aristocracy  from  the  lower 
stratum,  over  which  they  wished  to  rule, 
like  the  Slachta  in  Poland.     The  demo- 
cratic spirit,  which  had  formerly  worked 
wonders  in  the  Ukraine  and  had  inspired 
and  morally  elevated  the  whole  people, 
gradually  disappeared.    Soon  the  hate  of 
the  people  turned  against  the  Cossacks 
themselves,    who   became 
their    oppressors.     When 
the  reorganisation  of  the 
government  and  the  army 
was      completed      under 
Peter    the   Great    and    a 
standing  army  was  raised, 
the   Cossacks    no    longer 
fitted  into  the  new  politi- 
cal and  military  structure. 
But     Peter    still    spared 
them.     It  was  only  when 
Hetman    Ivan     Mazeppa 
(the  hero  of  Byron's  poem) 
had     attempted     in    the 
Northern  War   {1707)    to 
emancipate    the    Ukraine 
with    the     help     of     the 
Swedes,  and  had  entered 
A :  HERO  OF  BYRONS  POEM  into    sccrct    negotiations 


showed    superficiahty   in 

his     grip    of    the    national  in  the  Northern  War  of  1707,  Hetman  Ivan  with    CharlcS     XII.,     that 

and  the  social  questions.  t'^ilLTma^e^an'effoTto^rerthe'uLTa^ne;  Peter    Struck    about   him 

He     owed     the     successes  with  Swedish  help ;  this  led  to  the  abolition,  with     his    USUal     CrUClty  ; 

,  .    ,      ,  ,  .  J  by  Peter  the  Great,  of  the  office  of  Hetman.  i         .       i  x      xu 

which  he  achieved  more  he  took  no  further   con- 
sideration for  the  separate  interests  of  the 


to  accident  and  the  universal  hatred  of 
the  Slachta  than  to  his  genius.  The  people 
did  not  notice  these  defects  in  him ; 
and  when  he  died,  on  August  25th,  1657, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-four  years,  a  Cossack 
ballad  sang  that  it  was  not  the  wind  that 
groaned  and  howled  in  the  trees,  but  the 
nation  bewailing  its  father  Chmelnicki. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  Muscovite 
administration  in  the  Ukraine  caused  a 
bitter  disappointment.  The  PoUsh  party 
therefore  grew  again,  especially  among  the 
upper  classes,  while  the  people  mostly 
remained  loyal  to  Moscow.  There  was  still 
vacillation  ;  at  one  time  there  were  fresh 
submissions  to  Poland,  as,  for  instance, 
in  the  case  of  Jurij,  Chmelnicki's  own  son, 


Cossacks,  instituted  in  Moscow  a  special 
"  Chancery  for  Little  Russian  affairs," 
and  abolished  the  office  of  Hetman. 

Menschikov  captured  the  Sjetch  of  the 
Saporogi  on  the.  island  of  Chortiza,  and 
they  now  emigrated  to  the  Crimea.  They 
were  recalled  to  the  Dnieper  under  the 
Empress  Anna  in  1737.  They  did  not 
recognise  their  country  again.  Southern 
Russia  had  become  quickly  settled 
after  the  subjugation  of  the  Tartar 
khanates,  and  was  covered  with  towns. 
The  steppe,  through  which  the  Cossacks 
had  roamed  like  the  Arabs  through 
their  desert,  had  been  transformed  into 
a     populous     land.      Discontented     with 

3275 


»»!■  TTit  wiv  1111  ipiii  mi  mm  ■         »ivi  ml        ■    nil  tiTi  rr 


THE  CARPET  FAIR  IN  THE  KREML  AT  ASTRAKHAN 
""      *""       ^'■^  ^^*<      »m       tt"       »m       tm      int      T^ 


SCENES  IN  THE  ANCIENT  CITY  OF  ASTRAKHAN,   FORMERLY  KNOWN  AS  SARAI 
3276 


THE    GREAT    DAYS    OF    COSSACK    POWER 


this,    they   wished   their  old   land   to  be 
restored  to  them  and  changed  back  again 
into  a  waste — a  further  proof  that  they, 
the  knights  of  robbery  and  plunder,  were 
no  longer  suited  to  the  new  age  and  an 
organised  government.     Once  again  in  the 
time    of    Catharine    II.    a    savage    social 
and  religious  war  against 
Poles,  Jews,  and  Catholics 
blazed    forth,  when    the 
Cossacks,    together   with 
Haidamakes    and    every 
sort  of    riffraff,  wreaked 
their    fury    and  pillaged 
whole  towns  like  Umani. 
Gonta  and  Sehsnjak  were 
the  ringleaders  ;  the  Greek 
clergy  once   more  added 
fuel  to  the    flames.      At 
last,  in  1775,  Potemkin, 
by     Catharine's     orders, 
took  the  Sjetch  and  de- 
stroyed it.     One  part  of 
the  insurgents  emigrated 
to  Turkey  ;    the  rest  re- 
mained  as    Cossacks    of 
the  Black  Sea  ;    they  re- 
ceived the  southern  shore 
^of  the  Sea  of  Azov  and  pugatchef  :  a  leader  of  revolt 

...       J         r    T^  Cathanne  II.  was  much  alarined  at  the  frc- 

tne   island     01     r  anagoria  quent  revolts,  and  at  the  hindered  develop- 

oc     tVioir    Vinrnoc       Ti-i+Vi     a  ment  of  her  new  towns  in  the  south  in  conse- 

dis     lllt;ir    Iiomes,     Wllll    a  quence  of  these  outbreaks.     Pugatchef,  who 


the  treatment  of  the  serfs  became  more 
and  more  oppressive,  only  with  the  dis- 
tinction that  it  was  not  so  much  the  Boyars 
here,  as  the  state  itself  and  the  magistrates, 
who  ill-treated  the  people  with  true  Oriental 
brutality,  and  extorted  from  them  the 
uttermost  farthing.  Whole  districts  be- 
came depopulated.  Ac- 
cording to  the  official 
report  there  were  in  one 
region  of  460  square  miles 
(German)  only  123  in- 
habited settlements  and 
967  deserted  ones ;  the 
reason  often  given  for  this 
was  "  the  tsar's  taxes 
and  imposts."  The  people 
emigrated  by  thousands  ; 
the  limitation  and  the 
subsequent  abolition  of 
the  right  of  emigration 
proved  ineffectual.  All 
the  pretenders  to  the 
Russian  crown  found 
supporters  among  the 
Cossacks  or  started  from 
that  country.  Among  the 
more  famous  chieftains 
we  may  mention  Bolot- 
nikof ,  who  encouraged  the 
bands     to     murder    the 


».w     *.-»,«..     »»v^..»^^,      .,»..»•    ^    quence  of  these  outbreaks.     Pugatchef,  who     •^"•»*^-'        >■"       -..«.—>..       .,.•„ 

special  constitution.  This  gave  himself  out  to  be  Peter  Til.,  in  1774,    Boyars,    to     appropriate 

was   the    end   of    the    free    ""^^  ^  particularly  dangerous  revolutionary,     ^j^^.^.    ^^^^^^    ^^^^^     ^-^^^ 


Cossack  life  ;  it  survived  only  in  songs. 
Catharine  II.,  being  alarmed  by  revolts, 
especially  by  that  of  Pugatchef  (1774), 
and  also  indignant  because  her  new  settle- 
ments and  towns  in  the  south  were 
injured  in  their  development  by  a  popula- 
tion of  born  robbers,  declared,  in  the 
decree  of  May  3rd,  1783,  in  spite  of  her 
liberal  views,  all  the  crown  peasants  of 
Little  Russia,  and  therefore  the  peasants 
among  the  Cossacks,  to  be  serfs — a  measure 
by  which  1,500,000  peasants  were  presented 
to  the  nobles.  When  in  the  same  year 
she  united  the  Crimea  (the  Tartar  Cos- 
sacks) with  the  empire,  "  the  old  life 
of  those  half-nomads,  half-robber  knights, 

„^    e    r        with  all  its  romance  and  ad- 
The  Serfs  ,  ■,  r  •     i.u 

U  <i      H      K  v^i^ture,  ceased  for  ever  in  the 

-,  .  .  south,  and  the  stillness  of  the 
grave  sank  over  that  country 
where  for  centuries  a  noisy  life  had  pulsed." 
A  similar  phenomenon  came  to  light  in 
the  territory  belonging  to  the  state  of 
Moscow,  and  to  some  extent  in  the  ad- 
joining districts.  The  peasant  population 
was  no  better  treated  there  than  in  Poland  ; 


and  daughters,  to  plunder  the  warehouses  of 
the  merchants  and  divide  all  state  offices 
among  themselves ;  then  the  dreaded 
Hetman  Stenka  (Stefan)  Rasin  in  the 
time  of  the  Tsar  Alexis  (1667-1671)  ; 
Kondratij  Bulavin  under  Peter  the  Great 
o  I.  *  (1707-1708):  Pugatchef,  who 
Cossacks  at  himself  out  to  be  Peter 

to"or!er  "^^  '     ^^^^^^^     *^°    P^^^^^" 

Demetri  ;  they  were  all  sup- 
ported by  these  bands.  This  was  the  harvest 
which  the  state  of  Moscow  reaped  from 
the  Asiatic  brutality  of  its  poHcy.  But 
among  the  Cossacks  also  arose  Jarmak 
Timofejef,  who  became  famous  by  the 
conquest  of  Siberia,  and  then  Deschnef, 
the  discoverer  in  1648  of  the  strait  between 
America  and  Asia  which  was  later  re- 
discovered by  Behring  and  called  after  him. 
Cossacks  conquered  Azov  and  wished  to 
surrender  it  to  the  tsar.  Nevertheless, 
the .  revolts  of  these  Cossacks  gave  the 
Russian  government  much  trouble.  It  was 
only  after  the  defeat  of  Pugatchef  under 
Catharine  II.  that  their  wide  domains 
became  gradually  reduced  to  order. 

3277 


EASTERN 

EUROPE   TO 

THE    FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


THE    FALL    OF    POLAND 

AND  ITS  PARTITION  AFTER  800  YEARS  OF  INDEPENDENCE 


TTHE  loss  of  the  Ukraine  was  not  the  sole 
■'•  disaster  which  befell  Poland  in  1654. 
The  war  for  it  with  Moscow  and  Turkey 
was  almost  worse.  But  the  Swedish 
king,  Charles  X.  Gustavus,  against  whose 
accession  John  IL  Casimir  (i 648-1 668) 
raised  a  protest,  also  declared  war  with 
Poland.  In  addition  to  these  Prince 
George  Rakoczy  IL  of  Transylvania 
attacked  Poland  in  1657.  For  many  years 
Poland  had  not  been  faced  by  such  great 
danger.  Warsaw  and  Cracow  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  Swedes;  the  Great  Elector 
of  Brandenburg  took  Prussia ;  Wilna 
and  Red  Russia  were  occupied  by  the 
Russians  and  Cossacks,  and  Rakoczy  was 
committing  the  most  terrible  ravages. 
The  king  fled  to  Silesia.  The  saddest 
feature  was  that  the  Slachta  joined  the 
Swedes,  and  that  there  were  traitors  who 
roused  rebellion  against  their  own  sove- 
reign. The  nobler  minds  formed  a  league, 
at  whose  head  the  king  placed  himself ; 
and  an  alliance  was  concluded  with  Austria 
and  Denmark. 

In  spite  of  some  successes,  Poland  was 
forced  to  submit  to  great  sacrifices.  In  the 
treaty  of  Wehlau  (September  29th,  1657) 
she  renounced  the  suzerainty  of  Prussia  in 
favour  of  the  Elector  Frederic  William ; 
by  this  concession  the  duchy  of  Prussia 
was  definitely  lost.  By  the  treaty  with 
Sweden,  concluded  on  May  3rd,  1660, 
in  the  Cistercian  monastery  of  Oliva 
near  Dantzic,  Poland  had  to  cede  Elbing 
and  Livonia  ;  besides  this,  John  Casimir 
abandoned  his  rights  of  inherit- 
o  an  a  ^^^^  ^^  Sweden,  and  was  only 
oncessions  a^jQ^g^j  ^0  assume  for  his  life 
o  oscow  ^j^^  ^^^j^  ^^  King  of  Sweden. 
The  Polish  arms  were  comparatively 
most  successful  in  the  Ukraine,  where 
the  Poles  succeeded  in  winning  over  to 
their  side  a  part  of  the  Cossacks  under 
Wyhovskij . 

Even  the  son  of  Chmelnicki  submitted  to 
Poland.  Nevertheless,  Poland  was  com- 
pelled by  the  truce  of  Andrussov  (January 

3278 


20th,  1667)  to  cede  to  Moscow  Smolensk, 
Severien,  Czernigov,  and  the  Ukraine  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Dnieper  for  thirteen 
years,  and  Kiev  for  two  years.  The  war 
with  Turkey,  which  had  been  brought 
about  by  the  defeat  of  a  part  of  the 
Cossacks  under  Doroszenko,  similarly 
ended  v/ith  a  humiliating  peace  for  Poland 
at    Buczacz   (Budziek),    which 


-,  *  ..  *       ,  was  concluded  eventually  under 
Condition  of  -^ 

Poland 


Michael,  the  successor  of  John 
Casimir,  on  September  i8th, 
1672.  According  to  its  terms  Poland 
ceded  part  of  the  Ukraine  to  Doroszenko, 
PodoUa  with  the  fortress  of  Kamieniec 
(Kamenez)  to  Turkey,  and  consented  to 
pay  an  annual  tribute  of  22,000  ducats. 

Still  more  unfortunate  for  Poland  were 
the  moral  degeneracy  of  its  Slachta 
and  the  general  corruption  of  public  Ufe. 
Each  group  concluded  peace  on  its 
owh  account  with  the  enemy  ;  the  parties 
were  hostile  to  each  other  and  stirred 
up  ill-will  against  the  king ;  even  in- 
dividual officials  carried  out  an  independent 
policy.  Many  were  in  the  pay  of  foreign 
powers,  among  them,  for  instance,  the 
primate  of  the  empire  and  John  Sobieski, 
the  subsequent  king ;  the  high  digni- 
taries publicly  taunted  each  other  with 
venahty. 

It  was  in  the  year  1652  that  a  single 
deputy  from  Troki  in  Lithuania,  Vladislav 
Sicinski  by  name,  dissolved  the  Reichstag, 
which  had  been  summoned  at  a  dangerous 
crisis,  by  interposing  his  veto.  That  the 
validity  of  a  resolution  of  the  Reichstag 
depended  on  the  assent  of  each  individual 
member — the  "liberum  veto" — was  the 
essence  of  the  constitution ;  each  individual 
was  the  embodiment  of  the  majesty  of 
the  empire.  Unanimity  in  all  the  reso- 
lutions of  the  Reichstag  had  already 
been  demanded,  and  minorities  had  before 
this  dissolved  the  Reichstag.  But  it  was 
unprecedented  that  an  individual  should 
have  dared  to  make  the  fullest  use  of  the 
"  liberum  veto."    Foreign  interference  and 


THE    FALL    OF    POLAND 


the  exercise  of  influence  on  the  imperial 
policy  were  henceforward  much  simphfied, 
since  all  that  was  now  required  was  to 
win  over  one  single  individual. 

But  then,  as  formerly,  as  if  that  was  the 
obvious  course,  the  blame  was  laid  on 
the  king.  John  Casimir  was  cautious  and 
bold,  but  nevertheless  the  Slachta 
hated  him.  He  was  accused  of  indiffer- 
ence, no  regard  was  paid  to  him,  and  his 
deposition  was  discussed.  He  anticipated 
this  last  proceeding,  as  he  resolved  to 
lay  down  the  crown  voluntarily.  There 
was  still  much  haggling  about  the 
annuity  payable  to 
him,  just  as  he  had 
formerly  been  torced 
from  motives  of 
economy  to  marry 
his  brother's  widow, 
Marie  Louise,  in 
order  that  the 
country  might  not 
require  to  keep  up 
two  queens.  The 
abdication  took  place 
on  September  i6th, 
1668.  The  Senate 
and  the  Chamber  of 
Provincial  Deputies 
met  in  a  joint  ses- 
sion. With  touching 
words  of  farewell  the 
weeping  king  laid  on 
the  table  of  the  house 
the  deed  of  abdica- 
tion, and  the  whole 
assembly  wept  with 
him.  But  the  whole 
state,  as  it  were,  abdi- 
cated in  the  person 
of      the     king;     his 


JOHN 


Reigning:  during  a  period  of  wars  and  rebellions  (1648- 
1668),  Casimir  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  a  league  which 


the  kingship  of  Poland  in  the  seventeenth 
century  meant  little  more  than  a  super- 
fluous ornament,  and  this  was  exemplified 
in  Wisnioviecki  with  peculiar  force. 

Contemporary  Polish  literature,  which 
is  characterised  by  the  same  shallow- 
ness as  the  political  life,  is  a  true  mirror 
of  the  faiults  and  vices  of  the  Slachta. 
There  were  few  exceptions.  We  find  an 
apt  criticism  of  it  in  the  Respublica 
Poloniae  (Leiden,  1627) :  "  The  king  can  do 
just  so  much  as  he  can  personally  effect  by 
good  fortune  and  cleverness.  The  nobles 
do  what  they  like  ;  they  associate  with 
the  king,  not  as  peers, 
but  as  brothers." 
In  the  person  of 
John  HL  Sobieski 
(elected  after  the 
death  of  Wisnio- 
viecki on  May  19th, 
1674),  who  had  dis- 
tinguished himself  as 
a  general  against  the 
Turks,  Poland  ob- 
tained a  king  who 
would  have  been 
capable  of  retrieving 
the  losses  of  recent 
years  and  of  winning 
fresh  glory  for  the 
empire.  He  clung 
with  the  full  force  of 
his  soldierly  nature 
to  the  plan  enter- 
tained by  the  greatest 
kings  of  Poland  of 
opening  the  decisive 
campaign  against 
Turkey  in  alliance 
with  Moscow  and 
Austria,     since      he 


CASIMIR 


rpfJrpmpnf     wa<5     the    succeeded  in  bringing  about  an  alliance  with  Austria  and    nghtlv  SaW    that   the 

retirement    was    tne  Yi(ta^Sii\i.   He  abdicated  in  lees,  dying  in  France  in  1 672.  J&   re  of  Poland  dc- 


most  tangible  proof 
of  the  impossible  position  of  public  affairs. 
The  ex-king  revisited  Sokal,  Cracow, 
and  Czenstochau  ;  he  learned  of  the  election 
of  his  successor,  the  feeble  Michael  Thomas 
Korybut  Wisnioviecki  (1669-1673),  and 
went  to  France,  where  he  died  at  St. 
Germain  on  December  i6th,  1672. 
Shortly  before  that.  King  Michael  had 
been  forced  to  conclude  the  shameful 
peace  of  Buczacz.  He  was  the  son  of 
that  voivode,  Jeremias  Wisnioviecki  of 
Reussen,  who  had  once  vented  his  fury 
on  the  Ukraine  Cossacks  ;  but  he  had  not 
inherited  the  warlike  abilities  of  his  father. 
Under  the  prevailing  repubUcan  conditions 


pended  on  it.  This  idea  led  him  in  1683  to 
Vienna,  where  he  defeated  the  Ottomans. 
This  brilliant  victory,  which  made  him 
celebrated  in  the  whole  Christian  world, 
and  further  successes  in  Hungary,  were 
the  last  rays  of  sunlight  in  which  the 
fame  of  Poland  shone.  A  thorough 
statesman,  he  treated  also  the  religious 
question  from  the  political  standpoint, 
and  thought  he  could  end  the  disputes 
between  the  Roman  Catholics  and  the 
other  confessions  by  a  synod,  which 
he  convened  at  Lublin  in  1680  and  then 
at  Warsaw.  From  this  higher  point  of 
view  he  organised  the  Ukraine,  adopting 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


just  and  lenient  measures,  and  in  this 
way  he  won  over  a  large  part  of  the 
Cossacks. 

He  did  not  hesitate  at  great  self-sacri- 
fices in  order  to  attain  his  purpose  of 
annihilating  the  Turks.  At  the  beginning 
of  1656  he  sent  Christopher  Grzymul- 
tovski  to  Moscow  to  conclude  an  alliance 
with  the  Tsaritsa  Sophia.  Poland  ceded, 
on  April  21st,  in  perpetuity,  Smolensk, 
Czernigov,  Dorogobush,  Sterodab,  and 
Kiev,  with  the  whole  of  the  Ukraine 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Dnieper.  Moscow 
was  to  pay  146,000  roubles,  and  to  wrest 
the  Crimea  from  the  Tartars.  The  Polish 
hero,  with  tears 
in  his  eyes,  took  the 
oath  to  this  "  eternal 
peace"  with  Russia, 
in  the  hope  that 
he  had  won  this  state 
for  his  great  plans. 

But  Moscow  was 
then  still  too  bar- 
barous to  entertam 
such  noble  ideas,  and 
too  weak  to  be  able 
to  carry  them  out. 
Sobieski  saw  himself 
thrown  on  his  own 
resources.  But  in  his 
tioble  efforts  he,  like 
his  predecessors,  was 
always  hindered  by 
that  social  and  poli- 
tical corruption  in 
his  own  country 
which  rendered  every 
great  undertaking 
abortive.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  his  reign 


The  reign  of  Sobieski  was  the  last 
flickering  gleam  in  the  life  of  the  Polish 
state.  The  terrible  times  of  John  Casimir 
now  seemed  to  have  come  back  ;  party 
feuds  began  afresh  and  with  redoubled 
fury.  Hitherto,  individuals  or  parties 
had  betrayed  and  sold  their  country,  but 
now  kings  did  the  same  ;  foreign  countries 
had  hitherto  made  their  influence  felt  in 
Poland  only  by  residents  and  money,  but 
now  they  did  so  directly  by  troops,  which 
never  left  the  borders  of  the  realm  and 
enforced  the  orders  of  their  sovereigns  by 
the  sword.  The  Slachta  formerly,  loving 
freedom  beyond  all  else,  had  refused  to 
make  any  sacrifices 
to  the  dictates  of 
sound  policy  or  to 
listen  to  any  reform ; 
but  now  foreign 
countries  were 
eagerly  desirous  of 
maintaining  the  ex- 
isting conditions  and 
admitted  no  reforms. 
Foreign  mercenaries 
took  up  their 
quarters  in  Poland, 
established  arsenals, 
fought  each  other,  and 
traversed  the  terri- 
tory of  the  republic 
in  every  direction 
without  asking  leave. 
Even  before  this 
time  the  neighbour- 
ing powers  had 
entertained  no 
great  respect  for  the 
sovereignty  of  the 
Polish  state.    In  1670 


THE    FEEBLE    KING    MICHAEL 

Unlike  his  powerful  father,  the  voivode  Jeremais  Wisnio- 

Sr'woc    ff,u"^f    •^'^"    viecki.  King  Michael  had  but  little  wUl  of  his  own,  and  was  -f  ""SXl  Staie.      in  IO70 

ne  was    lUll^  01    laeas    easily  influenced  by  those  around  him.     He  was,  in  fact,  the  Great  Elcctor  had 

of  a  coup  d'etat,  but    Uttle  more  than  a  superfluous  ornament;  he  died  in  1 673.  ordered      a      PrUSsiaU 

was   compelled,    like   all   the   others,    to      nobleman    to    be 


give  up  every  hope.  The  actions  of  this 
monarch  furnish  a  proof  that  even  capable 
men  may  become  the  slaves  of  circum- 
stances. Men  should  be  accounted  great 
not  according  to  their  achievement,  but 
according  to  their  endeavour. 

The  Slachta  did  not  even  allow  him  to 
nominate  his  son  Jacob  Lewis  as  his 
successor ;  they  felt  indeed  a  malicious 
joy  when  the  latter  did  not  receive  the 
promised  hand  of  an  Austrian  princess, 
and  they  tried  to  thwart  even  his  marriage 
with  a  rich  Lithuanian.  Filled  with  morti- 
fication and  weighed  down  by  care,  John 
in.  sank  into  his  grave  on  June  17th,  1696. 

3280 


a 
forcibly  seized  from 
the  very  side  of  King  Michael  Wis- 
nioviecki  and  led  away  to  Konigsberg. 
John  Casimir  himself,  even  in  the  reign  of 
his  brother  Vladislaus,  while  travelling 
in  the  west  of  Europe,  and  driven  by 
a  storm  on  the  French  coast,  was  kept 
two  years  in  imprisonment  without  any 
special  feeling  being  caused  in  his  country 
at  the  incident.  Poland  was  now  treated 
with  undisguised  contempt. 

In  the  old  days,  when,  according  to 
the  ancient  custom  at  a  coronation, 
money  was  scattered  among  the  crowd, 
no  Pole  ever  stooped  to  pick  up  a  coin  ; 
now  they  all  clutched  with  both  hands  at 


THE    FALL    OF    POLAND 


doles    from    whatever    side    they    came. 

Formerly  the  Slachta  had  imposed  harsh 

conditions  on  foreign  candidates  for  the 

throne,       and      had 

stipulated      for     the 

recovery       of      lost 

provinces,    but    now 

no     king    could    be 

elected   without    the 

consent     of     foreign 

powers,  obtained   by 

humiliating  promises. 

National  and  religious 

intolerance    grew    in 

consequence  stronger. 

Rome  and  the  Jesuits 

had  great   influence, 

and       indefatigably 

carried      out      their 

task     of    conversion 

and       antagonism 

toward       all       who 

were    not    of    their 

creed. 

The  Elector  Frede- 
rick    Augustus    (the 
Strong)  of  Saxony,  or 
as    King   of    Poland 
Augustus   II.   (1697- 
1733),  owed  his  elec- 
tion   partly     to    the 
money      which       he 
distributed,    but 
mostly    to    the     circumstance    that     he 
had     adopted     the     Catholic    faith     on 
June    1st,    1697. 
In    the    year 
1733   the  Reich- 
stag declared  he- 
terodox   persons 
to  have  forfeited 
all  political  rights 
and  offices,   and 
by    this    action 
had  given  a  new 
pretext  to  foreign 
powers  for  inter- 
ference    in    the 
affairs     of      the 
empire.     The 
sudden     dissolu- 
tion of  the  diets 
was     now      the 
ordinary    course 
of  things.  Under 
.Augustus  II.,  out 
of  eighteen  diets  between  the  years  1717 
and  1733  only  five  brought  their  delibera- 
tions  to  a  close ;  under   Augustus   III., 


JOHN  III.  SOBIESKI  :  ENEMY  OF  THE  TURKS 
This  great  king  came  too  late  to  avert  Poland's  impending 
doom.  In  happier  circumstances  he  might  have  saved 
the  empire  and  won  for  it  fresh  glory;  as  it  was,  he  crushed 
the  Ottoman  power,  and  thus  became  celebrated  in  the 
whole  Christian  world.  He  was  a  thorough  statesman  as 
well  as  a  brilliant  general.   Disappointed,  he  died  in  1696. 


MONUMENT    AT    WARSAW    TO     THE 
JOHN    III.    SOBIESKI 


only  one.  Even  the  law  courts  were  often 
hindered  in  their  duties  by  party  contests 
and  were  compelled  to  suspend  their 
sittings.  Smce  the 
state  machinery  was 
stopped  recourse  was 
had  to  alliances  and 
armed  combinations 
which  led  mo  e  cer- 
tainly to  the  goal. 
But  it  was  not  diffi- 
cult even  for  a  foreign 
power  to  call  into  life, 
to  suit  their  own 
purposes,  some  such 
"confederation." 
They  grew  up  like 
mushrooms,  fought 
against  each  other, 
and  increased  the 
confusion.  Together 
with  political  dis- 
organisation, the  im- 
poverishment of  the 
Slachta  made  alarm- 
ing progress.  Desti- 
tute nobles,  who  now 
lived  only  on  the 
patronage  and  favour 
of  the  high  nobility, 
crowded  in  masses 
round  the  rich 
magnates,  whose 
numbers  also  steadily  decreased.  As  a 
natural  consequence,  the  peasants    were 

inhumanly  op- 
pressed.  The 
towns,  more  and 
more  burdened 
by  the  national 
needs,  were 
equally  i  m- 
poverished,  es- 
pecially since 
they  never  en- 
joyed the  favour 
of  the  crown. 

The  Jesuit 
schools  now  only 
fostered  a  spe- 
cious learning, 
and  only  edu- 
cated soldiers  of 
Christ,  who  were 
intended  to  set 
up  in  Poland  the 
Society  of  Jesus  rather  than  the  kingdom 
of  God.  Even  the  Piarists,  an  order 
established  in  1607,  who  founded  schools 

3281 


POLISH     KING 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


in  rivalry  with    the    Jesuits,  were  more 

solicitous  for  their  own   popularity  than 

for     the     diffusion     of    true    knowledge. 

The  morality  and  culture  of  the  Slachta 

were  on  a  disgracefully  low    level ;   and 

their  condition  was  the  more  repellent  since 

it  bore  no  proportion  to  their  ambition, 

their  pretensions,  or  position  in  the  realm. 

p  The     empire     had      thus 

p*!"'  "'*'  been  engaged  in  a  deadly 

..  ■»"  i»    e-     "  struggle  for  a  century.     If 
For  Its  Sins      ..      ^^  ,  ,  ,,         j  -4.  * 

its  neighbours  allowed  it  to 

last  so  long,  the  only  reason  was  that  they 
were  not  themselves  ready  and  strong 
enough  to  swallow  Poland  up.  They 
jealously  watched  and  counterbalanced 
each  other.  It  was  with  good  reason 
that  the  saying  "  Poland  stands  by  dis- 
order "  now  became  a  current  proverb. 

Frederic  Augustus  of  Saxony  and 
Poland,  physically  so  strong  that  he 
could  bend  a  thaler  between  his  fingers, 
and  a  thorough  man  of  the  world,  seemed 
as  a  Polish  writer  aptly  puts  it,  to  have 
been  chosen  by  Providence  to  punish  the 
nation  for  its  sins.  Frivolous  in  private 
and  often  also  in  public  life,  he  intro- 
duced immorality  and  political  corruption 
into  his  surroundings.  In  1699  he  had 
just  reaped  the  fruits  of  the  campaigns 
of  his  great  predecessor  by  the  treaty 
of  Karlovitz,  through  which  Poland  re- 
covered from  Turkey  Podolia  and  Kam- 
ieniec,  when  he  plunged  Poland  into  a 
war  which  almost  cost  him  the  throne. 

He  made  friendly  overtures  to  Peter  the 
Great  of  Russia  and  planned  with  him  a 
campaign  against  Sweden ;  Livonia  was  to 
be  the  prize  of  victory.  The  Danish  king, 
Frederic  IV.  was  then  drawn  into  the 
alliance,  and  the  Saxon  troops,  which 
Augustus  always  kept  in  Poland,  began  the 
war.  But  the  allies  had  grievously  de- 
luded themselves  in  the  person  of  the 
youthful  King  of  Sweden.  Charles  XII. 
struck  blow  after  blow  with  crushing  effect. 
While  Russia  by  her  natural  weight  and 

Di  L  a  J  not  by  her  warlike  skill 
Plucky  Sweden  en         u  1      j. 

.  .  was  finally  able  to  conquer 

Youthful  Kins  ^^^  ^^**^^  country  of  Sweden, 
Augustus  II.  and  Denmark 
could  not  make  any  stand  against  it. 
Charles  XII.  demanded  from  the  Slachta 
the  deposition  of  the  king,  and  ordered 
the  election  of  Stanislaus  Lesczynski  as 
king  on  June  12th,  1704. 

Augustus  II.  tried  in  vain  to  win  over 
Charles  XII.  He  repeatedly  offered  him, 
through   secret  emissaries,  a  partition  of 

3282 


Poland,  but  was  obliged,  on  September 
24th,  1706,  when  Charles  had  also  conquered 
Saxony,  to  renounce  the  crown  of  Poland 
by  the  treaty  of  Altranstadt,  and  did  not 
recover  it  until  Charles  XII.  had  been 
decisively  defeated  by  Peter  the  Great  at 
Poltawa  on  July  8th,  1709.  The  only  power 
to  benefit  from  this  second  Northern  War 
was  Russia,  finally  which  acquired  Livonia, 
Esthonia,  and  Ingria,  and  so  set  foot  on 
the  Baltic. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  reign  Augus- 
tus II.  entertained  the  idea  of  strengthen- 
ing the  monarchical  power  ;  he  kept  Saxon 
troops  in  Poland,  and  did  not  consult  the 
Reichstag.  But  although  he  possessed 
considerable  talents  as  a  ruler,  the  various 
schemes  which  he  evolved  all  turned  out 
disastrously  for  Poland.  The  opposition 
against  him  daily  grew  stronger,  and  the 
followers  of  Lesczynski,  who  was  deposed 
on  August  8th,  1709,  increased  in  numbers ; 
confederations  were  formed  on  both  sides. 
Russia  brought  matters  to  a  head.  Rapidly, 
and  with  astonishing  astuteness,  Peter  the 
Great  found  his  way  in  the  PoHsh  diffi- 
culty, and  knew  how  to  act.  He  came 
p  t  tK  G  between  the  parties  as  a 
..  p  "^    ^    '^^   mediator,  but  took  the  side 

r  D  I  ...  of  Augustus  as  the  least 
ofPoland       J  ^  ,  ,  ., 

dangerous ;  he  sent,  as  the 

"  Protector  of  Poland,"  18,000  men  into 
the  country,  and  negotiated  an  agreement 
between  the  rival  parties  in  Warsaw. 

Augustus  11.  promised  to  withdraw  his 
Saxons  from  the  country  within  twenty- 
five  days  ;  all  confederations  were  broken 
up  and  prohibited  for  the  future,  and  the 
constitution  was  safeguarded.  In  a  secret 
clause  the  number  of  troops  in  Poland  was 
limited ;  Poland  was  not  to  keep  more  than 
17,000,  Lithuania  not  more  than  6,000 
men.  The  Reichstag  of  1717  was  forced 
to  approve  of  all  these  points  without 
discussion,  for  which  reason  it  was  called 
the  "  Dumb  Diet."  This  was  a  master 
move  of  Peter's,  and  all  the  more  so  since 
he  succeeded  in  inducing  Turkey  to 
recognise  this  agreement.  Since  that  date 
Russian  troops  never  left  Poland,  a  policy 
observed  up  to  the  last  partition. 

Another  neighbour  had  to  be  considered 
during  the  dispute  for  the  Polish  succes- 
sion, in  the  person  of  the  Elector  Frederic 
of  Brandenburg.  He  retorted  to  the 
promotion  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony  to 
the  throne  of  Poland  by  crowning  himself 
as  King  of  Prussia,  on  January  i8th, 
1 70 1.     This  action  of  his  meant  that  he 


THE    FALL    OF    POLAND 


withdrew  from  the  federation  of  the 
German  Empire  with  one  part  of  his 
territory,  and  shifted  the  centre  of  gravity 
of  power  as  a  sovereign  to  Prussia,  which 
was  not  indeed  subject  to  the  suzerainty 
of  the  emperor  ;  attention  was  at  the  same 
time  called  to  the  fact  that  he  claimed  the 
other  part  of  Prussia,  which  still  was 
subject  to  Poland. 

The  far-sighted  policy  of  the  Prussian 
king  and  his  successors  is  shown  by 
their  unwearying  solicitude  for  the 
organisation  and  strengthening  of  their 
army.  The  numerical  superiority  of  the 
Russian  and  other  troops  was  intended  to 
be  balanced  by  the  efficiency  of  the 
Prussians.  Frederic  I.  was  also  approached 
by  Augustus  II.  with  the  plan  of  parti- 
tionmg  Poland.  Thus  he,  the  King  of 
Poland,  was  the  first  to  suggest  to  his 
neighbours  the  idea  of  its  partition.  The 
third  occasion  was  in  the  year  1732,  when 
he  hoped  by  this  offer  to  win  over  the 
Prussian  king  for  the  election  of  his  son 
Frederic  Augustus  as  King  of  Poland. 

The  Reichstag,  it  is  true,  after  the  death 
of  Augustus  II.  (February  ist,  1733), 
elected  with  unusual  unanimity  Stanislaus 
Lesczynski  on  September  nth,  for  the 
second  time.  But  the  Slachta  forgot  that 
their  resolutions  were  meaningless  against 
the    will    of    a    stronger    power.     Forty 


STANISLAUS  II.  :  POLAND'S  LAST  KING 
The  end  of  the  Polish  Empire  was  in  sight  when,  in  1764, 
Stanislaus  II.  Poniatovski  ascended  the  throne.  He  did 
nothing  to  stem  the  rapid  tide  of  ruin  or  to  prevent  the 
country's  shameful  betrayal  by  its  aristocracy.  In  1795, 
Stanislaus  resigned  the  crown,  and  died  three  years  later. 


aog 


STANISLAUS    I.  :    TWICE    KING    OF    POLAND 

The  troubled  condition  of  Polish  affairs  is  reflected  in  the 
history  of  Stanislaus  Lesczynski,  who  was  elected  to  the 
throne  in  1704.  Five  years  later,  in  1709,  he  was  deposed 
on  the  return  of  Augustus,  at  whose  deatli.  in  1733,  he 
was,  for  the  second  time,  elected  to  the  throne.  But  he 
bad  to  give  way  to   Frederic  Augustus  II.  of  Saxony. 

thousand  Russians  entered  Poland,  and 
Russia's  protege,  Frederic  Augustus  II. 
of  Saxony,  was  elected  king  on  January 
17th,  1734,  with  the  title  of  Augustus  III. 
France  was  obliged  to  acquiesce  in  the 
defeat  of  her  candidate,  Lesczynski.  He 
received  Lorraine  and  Bar  as  a  solatium 
(1735-1738).  He  was  occupied  to  the  day 
of  his  death  (February  23rd,  1766)  with 
the  thought  of  his  unhappy  native  land, 
and  ultimately  collected  round  him  at 
Nancy  and  Luneville,  the  youth  of  Poland, 
in  order  to  educate  them  as  reformers. 

It  was  now  perceived,  even  in  Poland, 
that  the  catastrophe  could  not  be  long 
delayed.  The  voices  that  demanded 
reform  grew  more  numerous.  It  is  a 
tragic  spectacle  to  see  how  the  nobler 
minds  in  the  nation  exerted  themselves 
vainly  in  carrying  reforms  and  saving 
their  country.  Two  great  parties  (at  the 
head  of  the  one  was  the  Tsartoryski  family, 
at  the  head  of  the  other  the  Potocki)  were 
bitter  antagonists.  The  former  wished  to 
redeem  Poland  with  the  help  of  Russia ; 
the  latter,  with  the  support  of  France. 
Both  were  wrong  in  their  calculation,  for 
the  salvation  of  Poland  was  not  to  be 
expected  from  any  foreign  power,  but 
depended  solely  on  the  unanimity  and  self- 
devotion  of  the  nation   itself,   and  this 

32S3 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


was  unattainable.  The  whole  reign  of 
Augustus  III.  (he  died  on  October  5th, 
1763)  is  filled  with  these  party  feuds. 

The  evil  star  of  Poland  willed  that  in 
the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century 
Prussia  and  Russia  should  possess,  in  the 
persons  of  Frederic  the  Great  and 
Catharine  II.,  rulers  who  are  reckoned 
among  the  greatest  in  history,  while 
Poland  herself  was  being  ruined  by  dis- 
union. In  1764,  soon  after  the  death  of 
Augustus  II.,  both  the  adjoining  states 
came  to  an  agreement  as  to  an  occupation 
of  parts  of  Poland's  territory.  Stanislaus 
II.  Poniatovski,  a  relation  of  the  Tsar- 
toryski  family,  who  had  been  elected  king 
on  October  7th,  1764,  had  lived  hitherto 
in   St.  Petersburg,  and   had   been,    as   a 


William  I.  of  Prussia,  had  already  inquired, 
through  their  representatives  in  Russia, 
what  attitude  the  tsar  would  adopt  on  the 
fall  of  the  Polish  Empire.  The  idea  of  a 
partition  of  Prussia  had  already  been 
dispelled  by  the  Seven  Years'  War  ;  and 
the  Prussian  hero  of  that  war,  Frederic 
the  Great,  was  quite  ready  to  apply  the 
idea  to  Poland.  Neither  England  nor 
France  intervened  when,  in  February, 
1772,  at  the  beginning  of  1793,  and  on 
October  24th,  1795,  Poland  was  parti- 
tioned between  Russia,  Prussia,  and 
Austria,  and  the  Pohsh  Empire  disappeared 
from  the  map  of  Europe.  The  people  of 
Poland  had  also  to  endure  the  mortifica- 
tion of  seeing  their  own  diet  concur  in 
these  outrages  of  the  great  powers. 


TARTAR   ( 


MD   DURING  THE   SEVENTEENTH   AND   EIGHTEENTH 


-  1 
CENTURIES 


favourite  01  Latnarme,  mtended  for  the 
throne  of  Poland.  This  circumstance  in 
itself  gave  grounds  for  supposing  that  this 
king,  in  spite  of  his  amiable  nature,  would 
be  a  tool  of  the  Russian  policy. 

The  Tsartoryskis,  indeed,  wished  to  use 
the  opportunity  and  introduce  useful  re- 
forms, and  took  up  a  strong  position  against 
Russia ;  but  confederations  were  soon 
formed  for  the  protection  of  the  old 
liberties,  and  these  received  the  support 
of  Russia,  whose  interest  it  was  to  keep  up 
the  lack  of  central  authority  in  Poland. 
All  the  European  powers  then  showed  a 
singular  eagerness  for  expansion ;  the  idea 
of  partition  seemed  to  be  in  the  air.  The 
Emperor     Charles     VI.     and     Frederic 

3284 


Thus  the  Polish  state  after  lasting  800 
years,  ceased  to  be.  Poland,  in  the  search 
for  the  solution  of  the  main  constitutional 
question,  went  to  excess  and  was  choked 
by  the  exuberance  of  individucil  license. 

After  this  date  there  were  frequent 
rumours  of  efforts  to  be  made  by  Polish 
patriots,  especially  by  those  who  had 
emigrated  to  France,  to  recover  political 
independence  ;  European  diplomacy  has 
often  been  occupied  with  the  Polish 
question.  But  beyond  friendly  encourage- 
ment the  Poles  have  found  no  friend  who, 
with  powerful  hand,  could  and  would 
have  reversed  the  momentous  events  of 
the  last  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Vladimir  Milkowicz 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    NATION 

RISE    AND    FALL    OF    THE    FIRST    EMPIRE 


HTHE  birth  of  the  Russian  Empire  falls  in 
•*■  the  period  when  the  Scandinavian 
Vikings  were  at  the  zenith  of  their  power. 
Just  as  these  hardy  rovers  sailed  over  the 
Baltic,  the  Atlantic  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean, until  they  reached  Iceland  and 
North  America,  and  in  their  small  forty- 
oared  galleys  went  up  from  the  mouths 
of  the  Elbe,  the  Weser,  the  Rhine,  the 
Maas  and  the  Seine  far  into  the  interior, 
striking  terror  into  the  inhabitants,  so, 
too,  in  the  east  of  Europe  they  followed 
the  course  of  the  rivers  and  discovered 
the  way  to  the  Black  Sea  and  Constanti- 
nople. The  route  which  led  up  the 
Dwina  and  then  down  the  Dnieper  to 
Byzantium  was  called  the  Varagian  way  ; 
even  the  rapids  of  the  Dnieper  bore,  so 
it  is  said,  Scandinavian  names.  The 
Norsemen,  who  had  founded  here  and 
there  independent  empires  in  the  west 
of  Europe,  could  do  so  still  more  easily 
in  the  east. 

At  the  outset  of  Russian    history   we 
find  here  six  or  seven  independent  dis- 
tricts, which  stood,  perhaps,  under  Norse 
rule  :   (old)  Ladoga  on  the  Wolchow,  later 
.  Novgorod,  Bjelosersk,  Isborsk, 

^uri  .     e     juj-Q^  jj^  ^hg  region  of  Minsk, 

Polock,   and    Kiev.     The  core 


Ancestor 
of  Russia 


of  the  later  Russian  Empire 
was  at  first  (about  840)  in  the  north, 
in  the  Slavonic-Finnish  region,  but  it  soon 
spread  toward  the  south  and  was  then 
shifted  to  Kiev  in  the  basin  of  the  Dnieper. 
"  Russia  "  absorbed  the  Slavonic,  Finnish, 
Bulgarian  and  Khazar  empires.  Rurik, 
in  Norse  Hroerekr,  an  otherwise  unknown 
semi-mythical  hero  of  royal  race  [see  page 


3183],  was  regarded  in  the  eleventh  century 

as  the  ancestor  of  the  Russian  dynasty. 

The  soil  was  so  favourable  here  for  the 

growth  of  a  large  empire  that  the  Russians 

were    able,    by   the   middle  of  the  ninth 

century  (860),  to  undertake  a  marauding 

expedition  against  Constantinople.  Besides 

Slavs,  Lithuanians,  Finns,  and  Khazars,  the 

,^        ™     .        Varagians  fought ;  usually 
Norse  Warriors   -,        °c       j      r         tt   1      j 
Q^^j^^  it  was  Swedes  from  Upland, 

by  the  Slavs         Sodermanland,  and  Oster- 

gotland   who  formed    the 

picked  troops  and  took  the  lead  in  every 

expedition.     The  mercenary    bands   had 

entered  into  a  covenant  with  the  prince, 

but  were  pledged  to  obey  him  ;  they  were 

not,    however,    his   subjects   and    could, 

therefore,  leave  him  at  any  time  ;  their  pay 

consisted  in  the  booty  they  won.  The  Slavs 

composed   the  overwhelming  majority  of 

the  inhabitants  ;   they  gradually  replaced 

the     Norse    warriors    and    ousted    them 

completely  later,  notwithstanding  various 

reinforcements  from  their  northern  home. 

By  the  end  of   the  eleventh  century  the 

Varagian  element  had  almost  disappeared. 

In  less  than  250  years  the  same  fate  befell 

them  which  shortly  before   had   befallen 

the   Finno-Ugrian  Bulgars  in  the  Balkan 

Peninsula.    Both   races    were    merged  in 

the  Slavonic. 

The  first  hero  of  the  old  Varagian  style, 

and  at  the  same  time  the  first  genuinely 

historical    ruler,    meets    us    in    Gleg,    or 

Helgi,  who,  in  880,  became  the  head  of 

the  Russian  state.     He  conquered  (880- 

881)  Smolensk,  defeated  the  petty  princes 

in    Kiev   in    882,    and    then    transferred 

thither   the   centre   of   the   empire.     He 

3285 


3286 


Igor  II.  X^^^I^^P\^      Sviatopolk  II.,  lojj     'C  /i^VC^' J^yi-        Muiiomacli,  1114 

THE     EARLY     RULERS    OF     RUSSIA 

Reproduced  from  a  series  of  historic  medals. 


Basil  I.,  isji  'C /'Clr>^V^T^  Dmitri,  1*76 

THE     RULERS    OF     RUSSIA     FROM.  1125    TILL     1276 

Reproduced  from  a  series  of  historic  medals. 


3287 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


inflicted  on  the  Khazars  and  the  Bulgarians 

defeats  from  which  they  never  recovered. 

In  900  he  forced  part  of  the  Chorvats  on 

the  Vistula  to  serve  in  his  army.     In  this 

way  he  founded  a  Dnieper  empire,  which 

reached  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Black 

Sea,  from   the  Bug   to   the  Volga.     Not 

satisfied  with  this,   Oleg  planned  an  ex- 

_      .  pedition    against    Byzantium, 

w***ho        which,  like  Rome   and   Italy, 

^.     ,     was   always  the  coveted  goal 
on  Wheels       ,  xt     ^v.  t       xu 

of  every  Northman.      In   the 

year  907  he  went  with  a  mighty  army  of 
allies  down  the  Dnieper ;  the  Russian 
Chronicle  states  that  he  had  2,000  boats 
with  forty  men  in  each.  As  the  harbour 
in  the  Bosphorus  was  closed,  he  beached 
his  ships,  set  them  on  wheels,  bent  his 
sails,  and  thus  advanced  against  the  town, 
to  the  horror  of  his  enemies,  with  his 
vessels  from  the  landside.  A  propitious 
moment  had  been  chosen.  The  Greek 
fleet  had  fallen  into  decay,  and  the  empire 
was  hard  pressed  by  the  Bulgarians.  The 
Emperor  Leo  VI.  (the  Philosopher)  de- 
termined, therefore,  to  bribe  the  Russians 
to  withdraw,  after  an  ineffectual  attempt 
had  been  made  to  get  rid  of  them  by 
poisoned  food.  The  Greeks  paid  six 
pounds  of  silver  for  every  ship,  and  in 
addition  gave  presents  for  the  Russian 
towns. 

Liberty  of  trading  with  Constantinople 
was  then  secured  to  the  Russians.  Their 
merchants,  however,  were  to  enter  the 
city  only  by  a  certain  gate  and  unarmed, 
under  the  escort  of  an  imperial  official; 
their  station  was  near  the  church  of  St. 
Mammas.  They  received  also  the  right 
to  obtain  for  six  months  provisions  in 
the  city,  to  visit  baths,  and  to  demand  pro- 
visions and  ships'  gear  (anchor,  cables, 
and  sails)  for  their  return  voyage.  This 
treaty,  having  been  concluded  by  word 
of  mouth,  was  sworn  to  by  the  Byzantines 
on  the  cross,  and  by  Oleg  and  his  vassals 
before  their  gods  Peran  and  Wolas,  and 
Q.    ,  on  their  weapons.     When  the 

S  ^bol  of  ^^ssians  left  the  city,  Oleg 
victory  fastened  his  shield  to  the 
city  wall,  as  a  token  that 
he  had  taken  possession  of  the  city. 
This  treaty  was  reduced  to  writing  m 
the  year  911 — a  noteworthy  document. 
Both  parties  first  promise  love  and  friend- 
ship to  each  other,  and  fix  the  penalties  to 
be  incurred  by  any  who  disturb  their  con- 
cord through  murder,  theft,  or  indiscretion. 
Then  follow  agreements  as  to  the  ransom 

3288 


of  prisoners  of  war  and  slaves,  as  to  servants 
who  had  deserted  or  been  enticed  away,  and 
as  to  the  estates  of  the  Russians  (Varangians 
or  Varagians)  who  had  died  in  the  service 
of  the  emperor.  The  proviso  as  to  ship- 
wrecked men  is  important  as  a  contribu- 
tion to  international  law.  "  If  the  storm 
drives  a  Greek  vessel  on  to  a  foreign  coast, 
and  any  Russians  inhabit  such  coast,  the 
latter  shall  place  in  safety  the  ship  with 
its  cargo  and  help  it  on  its  voyage  to  the 
Christian  country  and  pilot  it  through  any 
dangerous  places.  But  if  such  ship,  either 
from  storm  or  some  other  hindrance, 
cannot  reach  home  again,  then  we  Russians 
will  help  the  sailors  and  recover  the  goods, 
if  this  occurs  near  the  Greek  territory. 
Should,  however,  such  a  calamity  befall 
a  Greek  ship  (far  from  Greece),  we  are 
willing  to  steer  it  to  Russia  and  the  cargo 
may  be  sold.  Any  part  of  it  that  cannot 
be  sold  and  the  ship  itself  we  Russians  are 
willing  to  bring  with  us  honestly,  either 
when  we  go  to  Greece  or  are  sent  as 
ambassadors  to  your  emperor,  or  when  we 
come  as  traders  to  buy  goods,  and  we  will 
hand  over  untouched  the  money  paid  for 
the  merchandise.  Should  a 
Russian  have  slain  a  man  on 
this  vessel  or  have  plundered 
any  goods,  the  agreed  penalty 
will  be  inflicted  on  him."  Oleg  died  in 
the  year  912,  from  the  bite  of  a  snake, 
which,  it  was  alleged,  crept  out  of  the 
skull  of  his  favourite  steed  ;  hence  arose 
the  legend  about  the  marvellous  fulfilment 
of  a  wizard's  prophecy  that  he  should 
meet  his  death  from  that  horse.  Nine 
hundred  years  later  Oleg  became  a  favourite 
hero  of  Catharine  II.,  who  extolled  him  in 
a  drama  bearing  his  name. 

His  successor,  Igor  or  Ingvar,  a  less 
capable  ruler,  carried  the  work  of  conquest 
a  stage  further.  In  the  year  914  the 
Russians  went  with  500  ships  to  the 
Caspian  Sea  and  plundered  the  Persian 
coasts.  The  Arab  Mascudi  has  described 
this  expedition,  which  appears  to  have 
been  made  during  the  minority  of  Igor, 
when  his  wife  Olga  (Helga)  administered 
the  affairs  of  the  state.  He  himself  took 
command  of  the  army  in  941,  when  he 
planned  a  new  expedition  against  Con- 
stantinople ;  about  the  same  time  the 
Pechenegs,  at  his  instigation,  undertook  to 
plunder  Bulgaria,  which  had  been  allied 
with  Byzantium  since  924.  But  on  this 
occasion  the  Russian  fleet  was  annihilated 
by  the  Greek  fire,  with  which  the  Russians 


The  Legend 
of  a  Wizard's 
Prophecy 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


now  made  their  first  acquaintance.  In 
944,  Igor  marched  once  more  against 
Byzantium — the  fourth  Russian  campaign 
against  the  capital.  Igor  was  induced  by 
peasants  to  withdraw,  and  a  new  treaty 
was  then  concluded  (945).  The  old  trading 
privileges  of  the  Russians  were  somewhat 
restricted.  Certain  goods,  for  example, 
_      .  ,         might  not  be  sold  to  them,  and 

ussia  s  strict  passports  were  demanded 
p*  .  from  them.  The  Russians,  in 
addition  to  this,  pledged 
themselves  to  protect  the  region  of  the 
Chersonnese  against  attacks  of  the 
Danubian  Bulgars,  and  to  come  to  the  aid 
of  the  Greek  emperor  in  time  of  need. 

The  treaty  was  once  more  solemnly  sworn. 
"  And  we,"  so  it  runs  in  the  Russian 
version  of  the  document,  "  so  many  of  us 
as  are  baptised,  have  sworn  in  the  cathe- 
dral of  St.  Elias  (at  Kiev),  on  the  holy 
cross  lying  before  us  and  this  parchment, 
to  hold  and  observe  all  that  is  written 
thereon,  and  not  to  transgress  any  part 
thereof.  If  any  man  transgress  this, 
whether  he  be  the  prince  himself  or  another, 
whether  Christian  or  unbaptised,  may  he 
be  deprived  of  all  help  from  God  ;  let  him 
become  a  serf  in  this  Hfe  and  in  the  hfe 
to  come,  and  let  him  die  by  his  own  sword. 
The  unbaptised  Russians  shall  lay  their 
shields,  their  naked  swords,  their  gorgets, 
and  other  arms  on  the  ground  and  swear 
to  everything  contained  in  this  parchment ; 
to  wit,  that  Igor,  every  Boyar,  and  all  the 
Russians  will  uphold  it  for  ever.  But  if 
any  man,  be  he  prince  or  Russian  subject, 
baptised  or  unbaptised,  act  contrary  to 
the  tenor  of  this  document,  let  him  die 
deservedly  by  his  own  sword,  and  let  him 
be  accursed  by  God  and  by  Perun,  since 
he  breaketh  his  oath.  May  the  great 
Prince  Igor  deign  to  preserve  his  sincere 
love  for  us,  and  not  weaken  it,  so  long  as 
the  sun  shineth  and  the  world  remaineth 
in  this  and  all  future  time."  On  his  return 
home,  Igor  was  murdered  by  the  Drevlanes, 

•wt  r»  j(  f  from  whom  he  wished  to 
The  Dreadful  x   ^    u    ^  j- 

j.j^j    ^j  exact  tribute  ;  accordmg  to 

Prince  Ijror  ^^^  *^^  Deacon  he  was  bound 
to  two  saplings,  which  were 
bent  to  the  ground,  and  was  torn  in  two, 
after  the  manner  of  Sinnis  in  the  Greek 
legend  of  Theseus. 

Since  Igor's  son  Sviatoslav  was  a 
minor,  his  widow  Olga  held  the  reins  of 
government.  She  first  wreaked  vengeance 
on  the  Drevlanes.  While  besieging  their 
town,   Korosten,   she  promised  to  make 

3290 


a  peace  with  them  in  return  for  a  tribute 
of  three  pigeons  and  three  sparrows  from 
every  house.  She  then  ordered  balb  of 
hghted  tow  to  be  fastened  on  the  birds, 
which  were  let  loose  and  set  fire  to  the 
houses  and  outhouses  of  the  Drevlanes. 
The  Chronicle  styles  Olga  the  wisest  of 
women.  She  was  the  first  to  accept 
Christianity ;  in  957  she  went  with  a  large 
retinue  to  Constantinople,  and  under  the 
sponsorship  of  the  Emperor  Constantine 
Porphyrogennetus  and  the  Empress 
Helena,  daughter  of  Romanus  Lacapenus, 
received  baptism  and  the  name  of  Helena 
from  the  patriarch  Theophylactus.  She 
endeavoured  to  win  her  son  over  to  the 
new  doctrine;  "My  druzina  [body-guard, 
huscarlesj  would  despise  me,"  he  is  said 
to  have  replied. 

In  964  Sviatoslav  himself,  the  greatest 
hero  of  old  Russia,  took  over  the  govern- 
ment, although  his  mother  (who  died  in 
970)  still  administered  home  affairs,  since 
he  was  seldom  in  the  country.  He  wished 
to  complete  the  task  which  Oleg  and 
Igor  began.  He  turned  his  attention  first 
against  the  still  unconquered  peoples  on  the 
_  .  Oka    and    Volga,    marched 

via  OS  av     e  ^^g^jj^g^  ^jjg  Wiatici  and  then 
Greatest  Hero     °    ■      ,    ,1       t7-i_  1. 

f  Old  R  ■  3-g3-i^st  the  Khazars,  whose 
town  Belaweza  (Belaja  Vesh 
or  Sarkel)  he  captured  ;  after  subjugating 
the  Jases  (old  Russian  for  Alanes,  or  in 
Georgian  Owsi  =  Ossetes)  and  the  Kasoges 
(Tcherkesses)  he  returned  to  Kiev.  After 
the  year  966  the  Wiatici  paid  tribute  to 
Sviatoslav  ;  shortly  afterwards  (968-969) 
the  Ros  (apparently  Baltic  Vikings  inde- 
pendent of  Sviatoslav)  laid  waste  Bulgaria 
as  well  as  the  Khazar  towns  Itil,  Kha- 
zaran,  and  Samandar.  These  blows  were 
so  crushing  that  during  the  next  fifty 
years  we  hear  nothing  more  of  the  Khazars. 
Shortly  before  these  events  Sviatoslav, 
acceding  to  the  request  of  the  Emperor 
Nicephorus  Phocas,  backed  up  by  a 
payment  of  fifteen  hundredweight  of  gold 
(180,000  Byzantine  gold  pieces),  had 
undertaken  a  campaign  against  the  Danu- 
bian Bulgars  ;  they  were  to  be  attacked 
simultaneously  from  north  and  south.  In 
the  summer  of  968  Sviatoslav  crossed  the 
Danube,  defeated  the  Bulgars,  captured 
numerous  places,  and  took  up  his  abode 
in  Perejaslavetz.  Sviatoslav  was  already 
planning  to  establish  himself  firmly  in 
Bulgaria,  since  Peter,  the  Bulgarian  ruler, 
died  at  the  end  of  January,  969,  when 
tidings  cajne  from  Russia  that  the  wild 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    RUSSIAN    NATION 


Pechenegs  were  besieging  Kiev.  They  were 
induced  temporarily  to  withdraw  by  the 
ruse  of  a  false  report  that  Sviatoslav  was 
advancing  with  all  speed  against  them  ; 
but  the  people  of  Kiev  accused  Sviatoslav 
of  indifference.  He  therefore  retraced  his 
steps  as  quickly  as  possible,  defeated  the 
Pechenegs,  and  restored  peace. 

But  his  heart  was  still  fixed  on  Bulgaria, 
since  Perejaslavetz  on  the  Danube  was  the 
centre  of  his  country,  and  a  place  where  all 
good  things  were  collected  together  :  "  from 
the  Greeks  gold  and  precious  stuffs,  wine 
and  fruits ;  from  the  Bohemians  and 
Hungarians  silver  and  horses ;  from  Russia 
furs,  wax,  honey  and  slaves."  In  the  end, 
Sviatoslav  divided  his  empire  among  his 
three  sons  and  marched  towards  the 
south-west. 

John  Tzimisces  had  now  come  to  the 
throne  of  the  Byzantine  Empire  in  the 
place  of  the  murdered  Nicephorus  Phocas. 
His  predecessor  had  concluded  peace  with 
Bulgaria  so  soon  as  he  learnt  the  real 
plans  of  Sviatoslav,  and  Tzimisces  now 
made  a  similar  attempt,  but  twice  with- 
out success.  There  remained  therefore 
_      .  only  the    arbitrament    of 

m  ^j^^  sword.  Perejaslavetz 
and  Silistria,  to  which 
towns  the  Russians  had 
withdrawn,  were  captured  by  the  Greeks, 
in  spite  of  a  most  gallant  resistance  ;  the 
Russian  women  themselves  fought  hand- 
to-hand  in  the  mel^e. 

The  Russians  were  seen  during  the  night 
after  a  battle  coming  out  of  the  town  by 
moonlight  to  burn  their  dead.  They 
sacrificed  the  prisoners  of  war  over  their 
ashes,  and  drowned  fowls  and  little  chil- 
dren in  the  Danube.  The  emperor  pro- 
posed to  Sviatoslav  to  decide  the  victory 
by  single  combat.  Sviatoslav  declined, 
and  was  the  more  bent  on  a  last  passage 
of  arms.  But  when  this  also  turned  out 
disastrously  to  him,  owing  to  the  superior- 
ity of  the  Greek  forces,  he  made  overtures 
for  peace  (971).  The  terms  were  as 
follows  :  The  emperor  promised  to  provide 
provisions  for  the  army  of  Sviatoslav, 
which  withdrew  with  the  honours  of  war, 
and  not  to  harass  them  with  the  Greek 
fire  during  the  retreat  ;  he  also  confirmed 
the  old  trading  privileges  of  the  Russian 
merchants. 

A  meeting  of  Sviatoslav  and  Tzimisces 
took  place  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Danube 
to  ratify  the  settlement.  Leo  the  Deacon 
has  left  us  a  description  of  his  person. 


Fight 

Against  Greeks 


Sviatoslav    was   of    middle    height,    with 

blue  eyes  and  thick  eyebrows  ;    his  nose 

was  flattish,  his  mouth  hidden  by  a  heavy 

moustache  ;  his  beard  was  scanty,  and  his 

head    close    shorn    except    for    one    lock 

hanging  down  on  each  side  (a  sign  of  his 

high  birth)  ;  his  neck  rose  like  a  column 

from  his  shoulders,   and  his  limbs  were 

_.  well  proportioned.    His  general 

jj      .  ,         aspect  was  gloomy  and  savage. 

D  A       A  gold  ring,  set  with  a  ruby 

P&gan  Age    ,     ,«=>  ,    ^'  ,      ,  , 

between  two  pearls,  hung  from 
one  ear  ;  his  white  tunic  was  only  distin- 
guished from  those  of  his  warriors  by  its 
cleanliness. 

Sviatoslav  now  set  out  on  his  homeward 
journey.  But  the  Pechenegs  were  already 
waiting  on  the  Dnieper.  The  Greek  chron- 
iclers relate  that  Tzimisces  had  requested 
the  Pechenegs  to  allow  the  Russian  army 
to  pass  through  without  hindrance  ;  but 
he  would  probably  have  done  the  exact 
opposite.  With  a  wearied  and  exhausted 
army,  whose  ranks  were  being  thinned 
by  hunger,  Sviatoslav  went  slowly  home- 
wards. He  was  slain  by  Kuria,  the  prince 
of  the  Pechenegs  (973),  who  had  his  skull 
made  into  a  drinking-vessel.  Part  only 
of  Sviatoslav's  army  succeeded  in  making 
their  way  to  Kiev.  This  was  the  end  of 
the  greatest  hero  of  Old  Russia.  A  soldier 
rather  than  a  general  or  statesman,  he 
was  worshipped  by  his  followers.  He  and 
Oleg  strengthened  and  consolidated  tlie 
Old  Russian  state.  The  Pagan  age  of 
Russia  ends  with  Sviatoslav. 

Sviatoslav's  three  sons  were  still  minors 
when  he  divided  his  empire  among  them, 
and  each  of  them  was  placed  under  a 
guardian.  Jarapolk  was  sovereign  in 
Kiev,  Oleg  in  the  country  of  the  Drevlanes, 
Vladimir  in  Novgorod.  Quarrels  soon 
broke  out  ;  Oleg  fell  in  battle  ;  Vladimir 
fled  to  Scandinavia ;  Jarapolk  thus  re- 
mained sole  ruler.  But  Vladimir  came 
back  with  numerous  Varagian  mercenaries, 
defeated  Jarapolk  and  besieged  him  in 
Rodna.  When  Jarapolk  sur- 
The  Hero  rendered,  at  the  demand  of 

Vladimir  j^j^  brother,  and  was  on  the 

on  the  Throne  ^^^  ^^  Vladimir,  he  was 
murdered  by  two  Varagians  at  the  door 
of  the  presence-chamber. 

Vladimir  thus  assumed  the  govern- 
ment in  977.  He,  too,  was  a  hero,  fought 
many  wars,  and  conquered  numerous 
tribes.  His  importance,  however,  does  not 
lie  in  this,  but  in  the  Christianising  of  the 
Russians,  which  was  completed  by  him. 

3291 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Merchants  had  long  since  brought  the 
Christian  doctrines  from  Byzantium  to 
Russia  ;  several  churches  already  existed 
in  Kiev  and  elsewhere,  and  the  Christian 
faith  in  Russia  was  free  and  unmolested. 
When  Olga  received  baptism,  in  957, 
there  was  already  a  considerable  Christian 
community  in  Kiev.  Tradition  relates 
...  that  the  Jews,  the  Moham- 
a/  r'»k  medans,  the  Romans,  and  the 
qJ^^^YJ*^  Byzantines  had  tried  to  win 
Vladimir  over  to  their  faith. 
He  is  said  to  have  sent,  by  the  advice  of 
his  Boyars  and  city  elders,  envoys  into  every 
country,  who  were  to  report  f'rom  their 
own  experience  on  the  value  of  the  different 
religions.  Ten  men  thus  started  out,  first 
to  the  Bulgarians,  then  to  the  Germans, 
lastly  to  Byzantium.  The  service  in 
the  splendid  church  of  St.  Sophia  at 
Byzantium  made  the  best  impression  on 
them.  This  decided  the  adoption  of  the 
Greek  faith.  Vladimir  had  indeed  no 
other  choice.  Unless  he  made  some 
violent  breach  with  the  past,  he  was 
bound  to  establish  the  Byzantine  re- 
ligion, which  was  already  widely  spread 
in  the  country,  as  the  national  religion. 

The  decision  was  taken,  as  had  been  the 
case  with  the  Franks  or  the  Bulgarians, 
during  a  campaign.  Vladimir,  as  an  ally 
of  the  emperor,  vowed  to  become  a 
Christian  if  he  should  take  Kherson, 
christians  were  already  strongly  repre- 
sented in  his  army.  When,  then,  the 
town  surrendered,  he  sent  to  the  Em- 
perors Basil  II.  and  Constant ine  VI II,,  and 
asked  the  hand  of  their  sister  Anna.  His 
request  was  granted  on  the  condition  that 
he  would  consent  to  be  baptised. 
Vladimir  is  said  to  have  attributed  the 
defeats  of  his  great  father  to  the  mighty 
God  of  the  Christians,  just  as  the  Byzan- 
tines thanked  at  one  time  St.  Demetrius,  at 
another  St.  Theodorus  Stratilates,  for  their 
victories.  Vladimir  now,  therefore,  put 
the   Christian   God   to   the   proof  before 

_.    ^.   .  ^.      Kherson,  just  as  Constantine 
The  Christian        j      /-1      •       i.    j      j 
-,  J  „  .  and     Clovis    had    done    m 

God  Put  .     .,  J     •  -i 

to  the  T  t  Similar  crises,  and  since  the 
result  was  favourable,  he 
decided  to  adopt  the  Christian  doctrine.  He 
was,  therefore,  baptised  in  988  in  Kherson. 
The  Byzantines  conferred  on  him  new 
royal  insignia  and  the  title  of  Basileus, 
which  he  at  once  inscribed  on  his  gold  and 
silver  coins.  He  returned  to  Kiev,  after 
founding  another  church  in  Kherson. 
The  Russian  chronicle  tells  us  what  a 
3292 


marvellous  change  was  then  accom- 
plished in  the  character  of  Vladimir. 
Formerly  a  bloodthirsty  barbarian,  he  had 
once  wished  to  revive  the  service  of  the 
old  gods  to  whom  he  owed  his  victory 
over  Jarapolk.  He  commanded  a  Perun 
of  wood  with  a  silver  head  and  golden 
beard  to  be  erected  on  a  hill  in  the  vicinity 
of  his  palace  at  Kiev,  and  then  images 
of  Chors,  Dashbog,  Stribog,  Simargla  and 
Mokosh.  Two  Christian  Varagians  were 
sacrificed  to  Perun,  since  the  father  re- 
fused to  surrender  to  the  pagan  priests  his 
son,  on  whom  the  sacrificial  lot  had  fallen. 
Vladimir  had  been  an  unbridled  volup- 
tuary. Besides  five  lawful  wives,  he  had 
three  hundred  concubines  in  Wyszgorod, 
300  in  Belgorod,  and  200  in  the  village  of 
Berestow  near  Kiev. 

But  after  the  adoption  of  Christianity  he 
became  a  changed  man.  The  idols  were 
cast  down,  and,  amid  the  tears  of  their 
worshippers,  were  partly  hacked  to  pieces, 
partly  burnt.  He  ordered  the  Perun,  which 
was  most  highly  revered,  to  be  fastened 
to  the  tail  of  a  horse  ;  twelve  men  then 
belaboured  it  with  sticks  and  hurled  it 
into  the  river.  The  spot  is 
even  now  pointed  out  where 
the  "  downfall  of  the  devil  " 
was  consummated.  Men  were 
posted  along  the  shore  to  push  back 
into  the  water  the  stranded  god  and 
to  keep  off  the  wailing  pagans. 

Vladimir  then  issued  a  proclamation  that 
any  man,  whether  rich  or  poor,  who  did  not 
come  to  the  river  bank  on  the  next  morning 
would  be  considered  his  enemy.  The  next 
day  he  went  to  the  Dnieper  accom- 
panied by  the  priests.  The  people  stepped 
into  the  water  and  were  baptised  in 
crowds.  Many  followers  of  the  old  gods 
escaped  into  the  steppes  or  the  woods ; 
centuries  elapsed  before  Russia  was 
entirely  Christian.  Under  the  direction  of 
the  Greeks  he  started  a  school  at  Kiev. 
Even  this  encountered  difficulties  ;  Vladi- 
mir, indeed,  was  compelled  to  send  many 
children  away  from  school  back  to  their 
homes,  because  their  parents  regarded 
writing  as  a  dangerous  form  of  witchcraft. 
Kiev,  where  there  was  already  a  bishop- 
ric, was  now  made  the  see  of  a  metro- 
politan, and  several  new  bishoprics  were 
founded.  The  first  metropolitan,  Michael, 
came  from  Constantinople ;  even  in 
later  times  the  bishops  and  metropolitans 
were  mostly  Greeks,  seventeen  out  of 
twenty-three,  down  to  the  Mongol  invasion 


Vladimir 
Destroys 
His  Idols 


KJW^  ^  J^  AX  Mk    Ilk    J:X  ATk   J!<   J^    JK   .^  J^  AK  AX    JX    ii^   J^S^  j:^.  J5.  JS    .IXJIV.  J\M 


VIEWS  OF  THE    CHURCHES   OF   ST.    ANDREW  AND   ST.   VLADIMIR 


] 


: 


I  HE     BEAUTIFUL    MONASTERY    OF    ST.    MICHAEL 


rA,"  W  VV  ^/  SV  W  VIV  W  NVSV  VWiy  SV  MV^NVVTy'SV  ST,^^.V%%^fy^NV  Vy'SV^,^ 


THE  ANCIENT  AND    ROYAL  CITY  OF   KIEV:  "THE  RIVAL  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE" 

3293 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


of  1240.  The  first  priests  are  said  to 
have  been  Bulgarians.  It  was  not  until 
later  that  the  schools  provided  for  their 
own  rising  generation. 

Vladimir  was  completely  changed.  He 
remained  loyal  to  his  Greek  wife,  distri- 
buted his  income  to  the  churches  and  the 
poor,  and  no  longer  took  pleasure  in  wars. 

A  ^  ^  «sx  In  contrast  to  his  previous 
A  Great  Step  t.       i.u 

.    „      .  seventy   the  pnnce  was  now 

in  Russian  u     iT  1      a.      a.     r 

j..  mild;  he  was  reluctant,  from 

IS  ory  ^^^^  ^j  ^.^^  ^^   enforce  death 

penalties,  and,  since  brigandage  was  largely 
on  the  increase,  had  to  be  urged  by  the 
bishops  to  reintroduce  the  old  laws.  In  all 
probability,  he,  like  the  Emperor  Otto  III. 
and  Duke  Boleslav  I.  Chabis,  had  been 
influenced  by  the  idea  of  the  millennium, 
and  believed  that  the  end  of  the  world 
would  come  in  the  year  1000.  He  was 
passionately  fond  of  relics,  and  came  back 
from  Kherson  with  a  rich  store  of  them. 
He  is  worshipped  in  the  Russian  Church 
as  a  saint,  and  was  named  Isapostolos,  or 
the  Apostle-like. 

Although  Christianity  was  only  super- 
ficially grafted  upon  national  life  and 
was  so  adapted  to  Pagan  customs  and  ideas 
that  it  was  closely  interwoven  with 
the  old  popular  religion,  nevertheless  the 
conversion  was  decisive  for  Russia.  By 
the  adoption  of  the  Greek  faith  it  entered 
into  the  communion  of  the  Greek  Church 
and  into  the  intellectual  heritage  of  the 
Greek  world,  and  by  so  doing  was  distinctly 
opposed  to  the  Roman  Church  and 
Western  civilisation.  This  step  decided  the 
place  of  Russia  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
Henceforward  Russia  shares  the  for- 
tunes of  the  Oriental  Church,  and  partly 
those  of  the  Byzantine  Empire.  Byzan- 
tium had  gained  more  by  the  conversion 
of  Russia  than  it  could  have  ever  won  by 
force  of  arms ;  Russia  became  in  culture  and 
religion  a  colony  of  Byzantium  without 
thereby  losing  political  independence.  We 
must  not  overlook  the  fact  that  Byzan- 

iiri.  ..  n  •  tium  then  was  the  foremost 
What  Russia     •     i-      j         ,•  r  1  ■  1 

G  •     dt         Civilised  nation,    from   which 

„         .  all  Western  Europe  had  much 

^  °  '  ™  to  learn.  Byzantine  Christian- 
ity brought  inestimable  advantages  to  the 
Russian  people — a  language  for  church 
services,  which  was  understood  by  all  and 
enriched  the  vernacular  with  a  host  of 
new  words  ;  and  an  independent  church, 
which  promoted  culture  and  at  the  same 
time  was  considered  politically  as  a 
common   focus   for   all   parts   of   Russia. 

3294 


Priests  and  bishops  brought  books  from 
New  Byzantium  and  disseminated  the 
art  of  writing.  These  were  followed  by 
architects,  builders,  scholars,  artists  and 
teachers.  Splendid  edifices  rapidly  arose 
in  Russia.  Kiev  with  its  countless  churches 
was  soon  able  to  vie  with  Byzantium. 
Vladimir  founded  a  school  for  the  training 
of  the  priests.  Monasteries  were  built, 
which  carried  culture  into  distant  coun- 
tries. It  was  the  national  church  which 
helped  the  Russians  to  impress  a  Slavonic 
character  on  alien  races. 

The  union  with  Byzantium  had,  it  is 
true,  some  disadvantages ;  but  these 
were  not  apparent  for  centuries.  After 
the  thirteenth  century  Byzantine  culture 
retrograded,  and  Russia  suffered  the  same 
fate  as  her  instructress.  The  hatred  of  the 
West,  which  Russia  inherited  from  Byzan- 
tium, was  transformed,  at  a  period  when 
the  Western  civilisation  stood  high,  into 
a  hatred  of  culture.  .Russia  was  thus  con- 
demned to  a  sort  of  stagnation.  But  it 
can  hardly  be  asserted  with  justice  that 
Russia  suffered  any  detriment  because 
in  daj^s  of  danger  it  could  not  reckon  on 
j^   -  support  from  Rome.    It  is  true 

.  _  that  Rome  was  for  many  cen- 

-,  turies  the  foremost  power,  but 

^  was  she  able  to  save  Palestine  ? 

Russia  shared  the  fate  of  Byzantium, 
because  that  was  the  fate  of  all  Eastern 
Europe,  which,  lying  on  the  frontier  of 
Asia,  suffered  much  from  Asiatic  hordes. 
Russia  and  Byzantium  were  like  break- 
waters erected  against  the  waves  of 
Asiatic  immigration.  That  was  the  draw- 
back of  the  geographical  position.  Even 
the  line  of  states  which  lay  further  back, 
Poland  and  Hungary,  had  been  partly 
drawn  into  the  same  vortex.  Only  the 
states  westward  of  this  dividing  wall 
were  able  to  develop  their  civilisation 
unhindered. 

Since  Russia  entered  fully  into  the 
field  of  Greek  thought,  it  adopted  those 
peculiar  conditions  which  resulted  as  a 
consequence  of  the  relations  of  Church  to 
State  in  Byzantium.  Rome  aimed  at 
ecclesiastical  absolutism  and  world-sove- 
reignty. The  papacy  was  not  content  with 
a  position  subordinate  to,  or  even  parallel 
with,  the  state,  but  insisted  that  the 
spiritual  power  ranked  above  the  secular. 
This  claim  kindled  in  the  West  the 
struggle  between  the  secular  power  and 
the  Church,  the  struggle  between  Papacy 
and  Empire.   No  such  movement  disturbed 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    RUSSIAN    NATION 


the  East.  There  the  Church  continued 
in  that  subordination  to  the  state 
which  had  existed  from  the  beginning. 
Hence  the  omnipotence  of  the  State  in 
Russia,  although  the  Church  at  all  times 
exercised  great  influence  there.  The 
sovereign  could  appoint  or  depose  the 
bishops.  Even  the  ecclesiastical  depend- 
ence on  Byzantium  was  rather  a  matter 
of  tolerance  and  custom  than  an  esta- 
blished right.  If  the  sovereign  did  not 
find  it  agreeable  to  receive  a  bishop  sent 
from  Byzantium,  he  substituted  another. 
The  inner  change  which  was  worked 
in  Vladimir  was  in  one  respect  dis- 
advantageous for  the  empire  ;  there  was 
a  loss  of  energy.  In  the  year  992  Vladimir 
came  into  conflict  with  the  Pechenegs  on 
the  southern  frontier  near  Perejaslav. 
A  single  combat  was  to  decide  the  day. 
After  a  fierce  struggle  a  young  Russian 
succeeded  in  throttling  with  his  own 
hands  the  giant  champion  of  the  Peche- 
negs. In  order  to  protect  the  country 
against  further  attacks,  Vladimir  esta- 
blished a  line  of  defence.  There  are  indica- 
tions that  he  entered  into  alliances  with 
.  the  West,  above  all  with  Rome, 
.  \  i'.™"^  Germany,  Poland  and  Bohemia. 
...  J.  His  son  Sviatopolk  married  the 

daughter  of  Boleslav  I,  of 
Poland.  Possibly  there  is  some  connection 
between  this  and  the  fact  that  Vladimir 
in  981  took  possession  of  the  Czerwenish 
towns  of  Halicz  and  Przemysl — the  later 
Red  Russia — and  thus  pushed  the  western 
frontier  of  Russia  as  far  as  the  Carpa- 
thians. 

In  the  year  1000,  Bruno  of  Querfurt, 
styled  the  Archbishop  of  the  Heathen, 
came  to  him,  being  desirous  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  wild  Pechenegs.  Vladimir 
employed  him  to  negotiate  a  peace  with 
the  Pechenegs,  and  accompanied  him  to 
the  frontier.  The  report  which  Bruno 
furnished  in  1008  to  the  Emperor  Henry  II. 
gives  us  a  good  picture  of  Vladimir's 
character.  He  wrote  :  "  After  I  had  spent 
a  full  year  among  the  Hungarians  to  no 
purpose,  I  went  amongst  the  most  terrible 
of  all  heathen,  the  Pechenegs.  The  lord  of 
the  Russians  (Vladimir),  ruler  of  a  wide 
territory  and  great  riches,  detained  me 
for  a  month,  tried  to  deter  me  from  my 
purpose,  and  was  solicitous  about  me, 
as  if  I  was  one  who  wantonly  desired  to 
rush  upon  destruction.  .  .  .  But  since 
he  could  not  move  me  from  my  purpose, 
and  since,  besides  that,  a  vision  concerning 


my  unworthy  self  frightened  him,  he 
accompanied  me  with  his  army  for  two 
days  to  the  furthest  boundary  of  his 
kingdom,  which  he  had  surrounded  with 
an  exceedingly  strong  and  long  palisade. 
He  dismounted  ;  I  and  my  companions 
went  ahead,  while  he  followed  with  the 
chief  men  of  his  army.  Thus  we  passed 
Mission  to  ^^^°"g^  t^^  g^te.  He  took  his 
the  Wild  Station  on  one  hill,  we  on 
Pechenegs  another.  I  myself  carried  the 
cross,  which  I  embraced  with 
my  arms,  and  sang  the  well-known  verse, 
'  Peter,  if  thou  lovest  Me,  feed  My  sheep.' 
"  When  the  antiphone  was  finished,  the 
prince  sent  one  of  his  nobles  to  us  with 
the  following  message  :  '  I  have  escorted 
thee  to  th^  spot  where  my  land  ends  and 
that  of  the  enemy  begins.  I  beseech  thee 
in  God's  name  not  to  grieve  me  by  forfeit- 
ing thy  young  life  ;  I  know  that  to-morrow 
before  the  third  hour  thou  wilt  have  to 
taste  the  bitterness  of  death  without 
cause  and  without  gain.'  I  sent  the 
following  answer  back  to  him :  '  May 
God  open  paradise  to  thee,  as  thou  hast 
opened  to  us  the  way  to  the  heathen  !  ' 
We  then  started,  and  went  two  days,  and 
no  one  did  us  any  harm.  On  th-i  third 
day — it  was  a  Friday — we  were  thrice, 
at  daybreak,  noon,  and  at  the  ninth  hour, 
brought  to  execution  with  bowed  neck, 
and  yet  each  time  came  out  from  among 
the  army  of  the  enemy  unscathed.  On 
Sunday  we  reached  a  large  tribe,  and  a 
respite  was  accorded  to  us  until  special 
messengers  had  summoned  the  whole 
tribe  to  a  council.  At  the  ninth  hour  of 
the  next  Sunday  we  were  haled  to  the 
meeting.  .  .  .  Then  a  vast  multitude 
rushed  upon  us  .  .  .  and  raised  a  terrible 
outcry.  With  a  thousand  axes  and  swords 
they  threatened  to  hew  us  to  pieces.  .  .  . 
The  elders  at  length  tore  us  forcibly  from 
their  hands.  They  listened  to  us,  and 
recognised  in  their  wisdom  that  we  had 
come  to  them  with  good  intentions.  So 
_  we  stayed  for  five  months  with 

Converts  ^^^^  people,  and  travelled 
*°  .  ,.  ..  through  three  of  their  districts  ; 
Christianity^^  did  not  reach  the  fourth, 
but  envoys  from  their  nobles  came  to  us. 
When  some  thirty  souls  had  been  won 
for  Christianity,  we  concluded  for  the 
acceptance  of  the  king  a  peace  such  as 
they  thought  no  one  save  we  would  have 
been  able  to  conclude.  '  This  peace,'  they 
said,  '  is  concluded  through  thee.  If,  as 
thou  promisest,  it  is  lasting,  we  are  willing 

3295 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


all  to  become  Christians ;  but  if  the 
prince  does  not  loyally  adhere  to  it,  we 
must  then  think  about  war,  not  Chris- 
tianity.' With  this  object  I  went  back 
again  to  the  prince  of  the  Russians,  who 
for  God's  sake  was  contented  therewith, 
and  gave  his  son  as  hostage.  We,  however, 
consecrated  one  of  our  number  to  be  bishop, 
.  and  placed  him,  together  with 
Vladimir       j^-^  ^^^^  j^  ^^le  middle   of  the 

^^°^'^.  land.  Thus  Christian  order  now 
am  s  pj.gyaj]s  among  the  most  cruel 
and  wicked  nation  of  heathens  that 
dwells  on  the  face  of  the  globe."  This 
important  letter,  which  is  also  the  only 
contemporary  account  of  Vladimir,  un- 
fortunately breaks  off  here.  St.  Bruno 
was  probably  master  of  some  one  Slavonic 
language. 

According  to  the  later  chroniclers, 
Vladimir  was  much  beloved  by  his  people. 
The  tradition  records  with  especial  plea- 
sure how  every  week  he  banqueted  with 
his  Druzina  and  the  elders  of  the  city  of 
Kiev.  He  is  celebrated  in  historical 
ballad  as  a  sun-god,  and  called  the  beauti- 
ful red  sun  of  Russ  a(krasnoje  solnyszko). 
The  Church  reckoned  him  amongst  her 
saints. 

Vladimir  died  in  1015.  Some  con- 
siderable time  probably  before  his  death 
he  had  divided  his  empire  among  his 
sons  after  the  following  method  :  Sviato- 
polk  received  Turow  ;  Isjaslav,  Polock  ; 
Boris,  Rostow ;  Gleb,  Murom ;  Sviato- 
slav,  the  country  of  the  Drevlanes ; 
Wsevolod,  Volhynia ;  Mstislav,  Tmuto- 
rokan.  Whether  or  how  he  disposed  of 
Kiev  we  are  not  told.  In  any  case,  the 
quarrel  about  it  broke  out  immediately 
after  his  death.  The  Druzina  had  wished 
for  one  of  the  sons  of  the  Greek  princess 
Anna.  But  Boris,  like  his  brother  Gleb, 
was  absent,  and  the  power  was  seized  by 
Sviatopolk,  the  son-in-law  of  Boleslav  of 
Poland,  who  happened  to  be  on  the  spot, 
although  an  attempt  was  made  to  keep 
_      .  secret    the   death    of    the 

d"  *1*  U  d  ^^ther  until  the  arrival  of 
f-*J,f.i*JL*  **  *'  Boris.  The  latter  himself 
resigned  the  sovereignty  in 
favour  of  his  elder  brother,  but  neverthe- 
less was  assassinated  together  with  Gleb 
and  Sviatoslav.  Boris  and  Gleb  were 
worshipped  as  holy  martyrs,  and  many 
churches  bear  their  names. 

The  other  brothers  were  now  seized 
with  panic.  Jaroslav  of  Novgorod 
marched    at    once    against    Sviatopolk, 

3296 


defeated  the  "  godless  "  sinner  atLubetch 
and  forced  him  to  fly  to  Poland.  Jaroslav 
then  remained  in  Kiev  ;  for  Sviatopolk, 
although  reinstated  in  1017  by  Boleslav 
of  Poland — who  took  this  opportunity 
to  conquer  Przemysl  in  1018 — could  not 
maintain  his  position.  Jaroslav  had  yet 
another  war  to  face  with  Mstivlav  of 
Tmutorokon.  With  the  help  of  the 
Kasoges,  Khazars  and  Seweranes  Mstislav 
insisted  upon  a  new  partition  of  the 
empire  in  1023  ;  he  received  the  whole 
country  east  of  the  Dnieper,  with  a 
residence  in  Tchernigov.  Jaroslav's  rule 
was  important  for  the  development  of 
Russia.  We  notice  especially  a  coolness 
in  the  relations  with  the  Varagians,  who 
began  to  be  troublesome  and,  indeed, 
dangerous  to  him.  Between  them  and  the 
Novgorodians  there  were  frequent  and 
sanguinary  riots.  Jaroslav  supported  the 
latter,  and  sent  the  Varagians  out  of  the 
land,  as  Vladimir  had  tried  to  do  in  980. 
Thus  the  Varagian  age  of  Russia  ends 
with  Jaroslav. 

Russia  already  appears  as  a  large  Slavonic 
commonwealth,  with  a  policy  of  its  own 
„.  and  a  consciousness  of  nation- 

f  th"^w  ^^l  ^^  Byzantium  had  formerly 
been  due  merely  to  Varagian 
influences,  the  last  occasion  when  Russia 
and  the  empire  came  into  collision  occurred 
under  Jaroslav.  The  casus  belli  was  a 
quarrel  between  Russian  merchants  and 
Byzantines.  The  punitory  expedition 
with  which  Jaroslav  entrusted  his  son 
Vladimir  in  1043  ended  disastrously,  once 
more  in  consequence  of  the  devastating 
effect  of  the  Greek  fire.  Part  only  of  the 
Russian  army  was  able  to  rally  and 
inflict  a  defeat  on  the  pursuing  Greeks. 

Jaroslav,  though  no  hero  in  the  style  of 
Sviatoslav,  still  knew  how  to  handle  the 
sword.  He  struck  the  Pechenegs  such  a 
blow  that  they  no  longer  ventured  to 
attack  Russia ;  their  name  soon  dis- 
appeared. Their  role  was  taken  over, 
however,  by  another  wild  people,  the 
Polowzes,  whom  we  already  know  as 
Kumanes.  In  the  west,  also,  Jaroslav 
fought  with  Lithuanians,  Jatvinges,  and 
Masovians,  and  helped  his  son-in-law 
Casimir  of  Poland  to  win  back  the  empire. 

Kiev  reached  the  zenith  of  its  grandeur 
under  Jaroslav  and  excited  the  admiration 
of  the  West  ;  among  its  churches,  which 
were  said  to  number  400,  that  of  St. 
Sophia    with    its    splendid    mosaics    was 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    RUSSIAN    NATION 


conspicuous.  The  city  with  its  eight 
markets  was  the  rendezvous  of  merchants 
from  Byzantium,  Germany,  Scandinavia, 
Hungary  and  Holland  ;  flotillas  of  mer- 
chantmen furrowed  the  waters  of  the 
Dnieper. 

Jaroslav  founded  monasteries,  for 
instance,  the  Crypt  Monastery  at  Kiev, 
which  was  destined  to  become  a  seminary 
of  culture  for  Russia.  Himself  acquainted 
with  writing,  he  took  an  interest  in  schools, 
and  founded  one  in  his  beloved  Novgorod 
for  300  boys.  He  had  not  artists  enough 
to  decorate  all  the  churches,  nor  priests 
enough  to  provide  for  divine  service.     He 


Jaroslav  enjoyed  a  high  reputation 
among  his  contemporaries.  He  formed 
connections  by  marriage  with  the  royal 
houses  of  Norway,  Poland,  Hungary  and 
France,  and  was  in  request  as  an  ally. 
The  Russian  people  called  him  the  Wise  ; 
the  Scandinavian  sagas  have  much  to  tell 
of  him.  If,  however,  the  empire  was 
to  be  preserved  in  its  old  grandeur  the 
succession  must  be  fixed  in  some  way. 
In  old  times,  when  the  state  was  governed 
in  patriarchal  style  and  the  sovereign 
held  a  paternal  authority,  when  the  royal 
treasury  was  also  the  national  treasury 
and  the  offices  at  the  royal  court  were  also 


THE     GRAND     DUKE    VLADIMIR    MONOMACH 
His  government  lasted  from  1114  till  1125,  and  was  marked  by  vigour  and  justice. 


summoned  Greek  choristers  from  Byzan- 
tium to  the  capital,  who  were  to  instruct 
the  Russian  clergy.  Adam  of  Bremen  was 
justified,  therefore,  in  calling  Kiev  the  rival 
of  Constantinople  and  the  fairest  ornament 
of  Greece.  Since  Russia  had  hitherto  no 
written  laws,  Jaroslav  ordered  the  custom- 
ary law  to  be  noted  down.  This  simple 
code  contains  little  beyond  a  scale  of 
penalties  for  various  crimes,  and  a  fixed 
table  of  fines  ;  it  does  not  mention  death 
sentences  or  corporal  punishments.  Never- 
theless, it  was  a  promising  preliminary  step. 
The  first  ecclesiastical  laws  for  Russia  were 
also  put  into  writing  under  Jaroslav. 


state  offices — when,  that  is,  the  empire 
was  considered  the  private  property  of  the 
monarch,  family  law  was  identical  with 
public  law,  and  the  sovereign  had  the  con- 
trol of  the  kingdom  as  much  as  of  his  own 
goods  and  chattels.  And  just  as,  according 
to  the  civil  law  of  the  time,  every  child 
had  a  claim  to  a  part  of  the  paternal  or 
family  property,  so  every  member  of  the 
reigning  house  had  a  claim  to  a  share  of 
the  kingdom. 

Since,  then,  according  to  Germano- 
Slavonic  custom,  the  eldest  of  the  tribe  or 
of  the  family  administered  affairs  within 
the  family  circle,  so  in   the  empire  the 

3297 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


younger  members  were  pledged  to  obey 
the  eldest.  This  was  the  so-called  ' '  right  of 
seniority."  Russia  had  long  been  ruled  on 
this  principle.  The  custom  had  grown  up 
there  since  the  days  of  Olga  that  the 
eldest  should  have  his  home  in  Kiev,  while 
the  younger  sons  lived  elsewhere,  and 
were  in  some  sense  his  subjects.  Sviato- 
_       ,  slav  had  divided  the  kingdom 

p  among   his  sons  on  this  prin- 

repares  (.jpjg^  Only  reserving  for  himself 
the  title  of  grand  duke. 
According  to  the  Russian  Chronicle, 
Jaroslav,  foreseeing  his  death,  made  the 
following  arrangements  :  "  Isjaslav,  your 
eldest  brother,  will  represent  me  and  reign 
in  Kiev.  Subject  yourselves  to  him  as 
you  have  subjected  yourselves  to  your 
father.  I  give  to  Sviatoslav,  Tchernigov, 
to  Wsewolod,  Perejaslav,  to  Wjatshelav, 
Smolensk.  Igor,  the  youngest,  receives 
Vladimir  with  Volhynia.  Let  each  be 
content  with  his  share  ;  if  not,  then  shall 
the  elder  brother  sit  in  justice  over  you  as 
lord.  He  will  defend  the  oppressed  and 
punish  the  guilty."  By  this  arrangement 
Jaroslav  had  merely  acted  according 
to  the  ancient  custom.  How  far  the  privi- 
leges went  which  customary  lav^^  gave 
to  the  "  eldest  "  is  shown  by  the  expression 
current  at  that  time  ;  the  younger  rode 
at  the  rein  of  the  elder  ;  he  had  him  as 
master,  stood  at  his  orders,  and  looked  up 
to  him.  The  grand  duke,  whose  seat  was 
in  Kiev,  was  lord  over  all  Russia  ;  he 
disposed  of  vacant  principalities,  and  was 
the  supreme  judge  and  commander-in- 
chief. 

The  innovation  introduced  by  Jaro- 
slav probably  consisted  only  in  clearly 
defining  the  order  in  which  the  younger 
princes  should  be  promoted  after  the 
death  of  the  grand  duke.  The  territories, 
which  he  assigned  to  his  sons  according 
to  their  respective  age  and  rank,  formed 
the  following  scale  :  Kiev  I.,  Tchernigov 
II.,  Perejaslav  III.,  Smolensk  IV.,  Vladi- 
TK    St  ^^^  ^'    ^^^  royal  throne  was 

p  fh    °^°^^  ^"^y    ^°    ^^  reached    by   pro- 

.    Th  ceedingfrom  V.  to  I.  If  a  junior 

prince  died  before  the  elder,  and 
therefore  without  having  reached  Kiev, 
his  sons  also  remained  excluded  from  the 
grand  ducal  title.  Thus  the  son  of  Vladimir 
of  Novgorod,  Rotislav,  was  forced  to 
abandon  any  prospect  of  reaching  Kiev. 
The  princes  who  were  thus  from  the  first 
precluded  from  advancing,  since  their 
fathers  had  not  been  grand  dukes,  were 

3298 


called  Isgoji.  But  the  weakness  of  the  law 
lay  in  this  very  point  ;  for  those  who  were 
set  aside  felt  the  injustice  of  it,  and  had 
recourse  to  arms.  Parties  were  formed 
which  were  bitter  foes  to  each  other. 

The  position  of  the  grand  duke  at  the 
same  time  was  not  strong  enough  to  ensure 
order.  His  power  rested  on  the  idea  of  a 
paternal  authority  which  was  deficient 
in  any  true  basis  of  power ;  he  had,  in  fact, 
only  obtained  one  share,  like  the  others. 
If  he  wished  to  enforce  the  right  of  seniority, 
he  was  compelled  to  look  out  for  alliances. 
And  since  self-interest  usually  outweighs 
patriotism,  Russia  was  plunged  into  long 
years  of  civil  war  through  the  increasing 
numbers  of  the  royal  house.  Subsequently 
many  petty  principalities,  which  were 
unceasingly  at  war  with  each  other, 
sprang  up  side  by  side  in  Russia,  since 
the  legal  arrangement  was  broken  down 
by  unforeseen  contingencies.  The  root 
of  the  evil  is  to  be  found  in  that  defective 
legislation  and  in  the  large  increase  of 
the   Rurikoviches. 

Thus  the  heroic  age  ended  with  Jaroslav. 
Russia,  parcelled  out  into  numerous  pro- 
vinces, its  strength  sapped  by 
prolonged  civil  wars,  soon  sank 


Russia's 
Heroic  Age 


_    .      from  the  pinnacle  which  it  had 
at  an  End  ^      -,  ■      ■ ,      ^  e 

reached  in  its  days  of  prosper- 
ity. Perhaps  for  this  reason  tradition  has 
shed  a  flood  of  glory  round  the  last  prince 
and  despot  of  the  old  era. 

The  very  first  successor  of  Jaroslav, 
the  Grand  Duke  Isjaslav,  whom  his  father 
had  placed  on  the  throne  at  Kiev  during 
his  lifetime,  could  not  maintain  his  posi- 
tion. The  people  of  Kiev  banished  him 
and  raised  to  the  throne  a  prince  who 
stood  outside  the  prescribed  order  of 
succession.  A  hot  dispute  soon  broke  out 
which  was  destined  to  last  for  centuries. 
Not  a  single  Russian  prince  was  ashamed 
to  invoke,  in  case  of  need,  the  help  of 
Poles,  Germans,  Lithuanians,  Hungarians, 
or  even  Polovzes.  The  first  appeal  for 
help  was  to  the  Polish  duke  Boleslav  II. 
the  Bold,  who  conquered  Kiev  in  1069, 
as  Boleslav  I.  had  once  done,  and  for  the 
first  time  sacked  the  city.  Soon,  however, 
the  threatened  Isjaslav  was  compelled 
once  more  to  give  way,  and  his  renewed 
appeals  to  the  Poles  for  help  were  futile. 
Then  in  1075  he  made  overtures  to  the 
Emperor  Henry  IV.  ;  but  the  embassy 
of  the  latter  failed  to  obtain  any  results 
in  Kiev.  Isjaslav,  in  order  to  leave  no 
stone   unturned,    actually   sent    his   son. 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    RUSSIAN    NATION 


Jaropolk,  to  Rome  to  Pope  Gregory  VII. 
(a  course  which  was  followed  later  by  his 
second  son,  Sviatopolk,  grand  duke  from 
1093  to  1114). 

If  we  reflect  that  the  Investiture  struggle 
was  then  at  its  height,  and  that  the  rift 
between  Rome  and  the  Greek  Church  was 
now  too  wide  to  be  bridged,  we  must 
from  the  Russian  standpoint  condemn  the 
conduct  of  Isjaslav  in  offering  for  sale  in 
every  market  the  honour  of  his  country. 
He  had  not  been  able  to  induce  Little 
Poland  or  Germany  to  lend  him  any  help 
without  some  return,  and  he  now  went  to 
Rome  and  professed  himself  to  be  a  vassal 
of  the  papal  chair.  The  Pope  in  gratitude 
nominated  his  son  Jaropolk  to  be  his 
successor.  Had  that  nomination  been 
accepted,  a  hereditary  monarchy  would  at 
one  stroke  have  been  created  in  Russia, 
certainly  to  the  country's  advantage.  But 
Isjaslav  never  came  to  the  throne. 

Hitherto  there  had  not  been  wanting  a 
supply  of  able  princes  and  heroes  of  the 
old  stamp  ;  but  they  destroyed  each  other. 
Everyone  knew  that  this  meant  the  ruin 
of  Russia  ;  but  no  one  was  willing  or 
able  to  prevent  it.  Vladimir 
Monomach,  the  son  of  that 
Wsewolod  to  whom,  accord- 
ing to  the  distribution  made 
by  Jaroslav,  the  district  of  Perejaslav  was 
assigned,  was  a  man  of  gentle  character, 
religious  and  just,  but  at  the  same  time 
brave  and  shrewd.  He  always  endeavoured 
to  settle  disputes  by  pacific  methods,  and 
pointed  out  the  great  ravages  caused  by 
the  Polovzes.  The  princes  finally  concluded 
a  peaceful  alliance,  when  they  met  in  1097 
at  Lubetch  by  Tchernigov  on  the  Dnieper. 
The  source  of  the  evil  was  seen  to  lie  in 
the  proviso  that  the  princes,  since  they 
moved  from  one  country  to  another, 
gradually  approaching  Kiev,  never  felt  at 
home  anywhere,  but  neglected  their  princi- 
palities. It  was,  therefore,  decided  that 
every  Rurikovich  should  continue  to  hold 
his  father's  share.  All  kissed  the  cross 
of  peace,  and  promised  to  defend  the 
country,  one  and  all,  against  the  Polovzes. 
But  the  rule  of  succession,  which  had 
become  in  Lubetch  the  law  of  the  land, 
did  not  put  an  end  to  the  civil  wars. 
David  of  Volhynia,  the  son  of  Igor  and 
grandson  of  Jaroslav,  was  at  enmity  with 
Volodar  of  Terebowla  and  Vassilko  of 
Przemysl,  the  sons  of  Rotislav.  The  princes 
had  hardly  separated  when  the  Grand  Duke 
Sviatopolk,  in  consequence  of  the  hints  of 


Princes 

Kiss  the  Cross 

of  Peace 


Letter 

of  Counsel 


David,    enticed    Vassilko    to    Kiev,    and 

then    surrendered    him    to    David,    who 

put  out  his  eyes.     The  princes  once  more 

assembled   in    iioo   at   Uwjatyci   on   the 

Dnieper,  and  concluded  a  new  peace  ;  the 

chief  agent  this  time,  also,  was  Vladimir 

Monomach.     He  was  Grand  Duke  from 

1 114  to  1 125,  and  conducted  the  govern- 

^  ..        ment  with  xngour  and  justice. 

Monomach  s        .       ,    ..  °,.   ,       ^J    ..     . 

A     letter    which    Vladimir 

wrote  to  Oleg  of  Tchernigov 
is  still  extant,  as  also  his  will, 
some  of  the  chief  sentences  of  which  deserve 
to  be  quoted.  "  Since  my  end  is  near,  I 
thank  the  All  Highest  that  he  has  prolonged 
my  days.  .  .  .  Praise  the  Lord,  dear  chil- 
dren, and  love  also  your  fellow-men. 
Neither  fasting,  nor  solitude,  nor  monasti- 
cism  will  save  you,  but  good  deeds  alone, 
.  .  Do  not  always  have  the  name  of 
God  on  your  hps ;  but  if  you  have 
strengthened  an  oath  by  kissing  the  cross, 
beware  of  breaking  it.  .  .  .  Look 
diligently  yourselves  after  everything  in 
your  households,  and  do  not  trust  to 
retainers  and  servants,  or  the  guests  will 
speak  evil  of  your  house.  Be  strenuous  in 
war,  setting  a  model  to  your  voivodes. 
.  .  .  When  you  travel  through  your 
country,  suffer  not  your  vassals  to  molest 
the  people,  but  where  you  halt,  give  your 
meat  and  drink  to  your  hosts.  Above  all, 
honour  your  guests,  noble  and  lowly,  mer- 
chants and  ambassadors  ;  if  ye  cannot 
give  them  presents,  make  them  content 
at  least  with  food  and  drink.  For  guests 
spread  good  and  evil  report  of  us  in 
foreign  lands.  .  .  .  Love  your  wives, 
but  be  not  governed  by  them.  .  .  . 
Keep  in  mind  the  good  which  ye  hear,  and 
learn  that  which  ye  do  not  know.  My  father 
could  speak  in  live  languages.  .  .  ., 
Man  ought  always  to  be  occupied.  When 
you  are  journeying  on  horseback,  and 
have  no  business  to  transact,  do  not  give 
way  fo  idle  thoughts,  but  repeat  some 
prayer  which  you  have  learnt ;  if  no  other 

occurs  to  you,  then  the  shortest 
Rules  for     ^^^    ^^^     .  ^^^^     j^^^^     ^^^^.^^y 

^'*  ^^  upon  me.'  Never  go  to  sleep 
wors  ip     ^^.i^j^Q^t    having     bowed    your 

head  to  the  earth  ;  but  if  you  feel  ill,  bow 
yourselves  thrice  to  the  earth.  Let  the  sun 
never  find  you  in  bed  !  Go  early  into  the 
church  to  offer  your  matins  to  God  ;  my 
father  did  so.  and  so  did  all  good  men. 
.  .  .  After  doing  that  they  sat  in 
council  with  the  Druzina,  or  administered 
justice  or  rode  to  the  chase.     But  at  noon 

3299 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Record  of 
Monomach 


they  lay  down  to  sleep  ;  for  God  hath 
fixed  noontide  as  a  time  of  rest  not  only 
for  men,  but  also  for  four-footed  creatures 
and  for  birds.  Thus,  too,  hath  your 
father  lived.  I  have  always  done  per- 
sonally that  which  I  might  have  employed 
my  servants  to  do.  ...  I  myself 
exercised  supervision  over  the  church  and 
•ri.  r-  V*-  divine  worship,  over  the 
I  *__/_!""*  household,  the  tables,  the 
chase,  the  hawks  and  the 
falcons.  I  have  fought  in 
eighty-three  campaigns  altogether,  not 
reckoning  the  unimportant  ones.  I  con- 
cluded nineteen  treaties  of  peace  with  the 
Polovzes.  I  took  prisoners  more  than  a 
hundred  of  their  noblest  princes  and 
afterwards  released  them ;  more  than  two 
hundred  I  executed  and  drowned  in  the 
rivers.  Who  has  travelled  quicker  than  I  ? 
If  I  started  in  the  morning  from  Tcherni- 
gov,  I  was  in  Kiev  before  vespers.  .  . 
I  loved  the  chase,  and  your  uncle  and  I 
have  often  captured  wild  beasts  together. 
How  often  have  I  been  brought  to  the 
ground  .  .  .  but  the  Lord  hath  pre- 
served me.  Therefore,  dear  children,  fear 
neither  death  nor  battle  nor  wild  beasts. 
Be  men,  whatever  be  the  destiny  that 
God  intends  for  you  !  If  divine  provi- 
dence has  destined  death  for  us,  neither 
father  nor  mother  nor  brother  can  save 
us.  Let  the  hope  of  man  be  in  the  pro- 
tection of  God  alone."  When  Vladimir 
Monomach  died,  in  1125,  "all  the  people 
wept,"  said  his  contemporary  Nestor. 

The  number  of  the  princes  fighting  for  the 
possession  of  Kiev  grew  more  and  more, 
and  the  position  of  Russia  became  more 
and  more  desperate.  South  Russia  in 
particular  could  never  regain  tranquillity 
and  defend  itself  against  the  wild  dwellers 
in  the  steppe.  It  was  a  fortunate  cir- 
cumstance indeed  that  inveterate  feuds 
prevailed  among  these  latter.  The  western 
tribes,  the  Torkes,  Berendejans,  and 
Pechenegs,  which  were  called  collectively 
Chornyje  Klobuki  (Black 
Caps),  were  mortal  enemies 
of  the  Polovzes,  and  there- 
fore sided  with  Russia  and 
were  settled  in  the  country.  They  were 
soon  assimilated  with  the  Russian  people, 
and  thus  brought  a  peculiar  strain  into 
the  national  characteristics  of  South 
Russia.  These  various  nations  of  the 
steppe  fought  as  allies  of  one  Russian 
prince  against  others,  until  they  all  became 
Slavs.  But  as  late  as  the  sixteenth  century 

3300 


Political 
Collapse  of 
South   Russia 


a   tribe    in   the  district  of  Skvirsh  near 
Kiev  called  itself  "  Polovces." 

The  end  of  all  this  was  the  political  and 
economic  collapse  of  South  Russia.  A  con- 
sequence of  the  same  causes  was  that  the 
princes  who  were  excluded  from  the  con- 
test for  Kiev  shook  themselves  free  from 
the  supremacy  of  the  grand  duke  there, 
and  that  totally  independent  principalities 
were  formed.  This  was  the  case  with 
Polock,  Novgorod,  Rostov,  Turov,  Pskov, 
Wjatka,  and  in  the  west  with  Halicz. 

A  powerful  principality  developed  in  the 
south-west  of  Russia,  in  the  Dniester 
district.  Vladimir,  who  had  been  entrusted 
by  Jaroslav  the  Wise  with  the  conduct  of 
the  campaign  against  Byzantium  in  1043, 
and  as  prince  of  Novgorod  had  pre- 
deceased his  father  in  1052,  had  left  a  son, 
Rotislav.  The  latter,  as  the  "  Isgoj  "  [see 
above]  having  no  claim  to  the  throne  of  the 
grand  duke,  had  to  be  content  with  Rostov. 
When,  then,  one  of  his  uncles,  Vjatcheslav 
of  Smolensk,  died,  and  the  youngest  uncle, 
Igor,  advanced  from  Volhynia  to  Smo- 
lensk, Rotislav  obtained  Volhynia,  while 
Rostov  was  defeated  at  Perejaslav.  But 
when  Igor  also  died  at  Smolensk 
Poison  Ends  .^  1060,  and  Rotislav  indulged 
Rotislav  s      .         ,  r        J  •  i 

.  .  m     hopes     of     advancmg     to 

Smolensk,  and  later  eventually 
to  Kiev,  the  uncles  did  not  wish  to  make 
this  fresh  concession  to  him.  The  adven- 
turous prince,  therefore,  went  in  1064  with 
his  Druzina  in  an  oblique  line  from  the 
extreme  west  of  Russia  to  the  farthest 
eastern  boundary,  to  Tmutorokan,  and 
drove  out  the  prince  Gleb,  the  son  of  his 
uncle  Sviatoslav  of  Tchernigov.  As  the 
nearest  neighbour  of  the  Byzantines,  he 
aroused  their  alarm  ;  a  Katapan  who  was 
sent  to  him  won  his  confidence  and 
poisoned  him  in  1066. 

Rurik,  Volodar,  and  Vassilko,  the  sons 
of  Rotislav,  inherited  a  part  of  the 
Volhynian  principality,  Przemysl  and 
Terebowla  ;  these  "  Chervenian  towns," 
which  had  been  conquered  by  Vladimir 
the  Great  in  981,  and  taken  from  him  by 
Boleslav  of  Poland  in  1018,  had  been  won 
back  by  Jaroslav  in  1031,  at  the  time  of 
the  Polish  disturbances.  The  Diet  of 
Princes  at  Lubetch  recognised  their  right 
to  the  towns.  The  efforts  of  the  Igorid, 
David  of  Volhynia,  to  wrest  this  province 
from  the  Rotislaviches  were  unsuccessful. 
New  bishoprics  were  formed  here  in  the 
twelfth  century,  as,  for  example,  in 
Przemysl  (1120)  and  Halicz  (about  1157). 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    RUSSIAN    NATION 


Vladimirko,  the  son  of  Volodar,  after  the 
death  of  his  father,  his  uncles,  and  his 
brother  Rotislav  of  Przemysl,  united  the 
whole  country  under  his  sceptre  and  made 
Halicz  on  the  Dniester  his  capital.  When 
he  died  in  1153  he  left  to  his  only  son 
Jaroslav  Osmomsyl,  who  reigned  until 
1187,  a  principality  stretching  from  the 
River  San  almost  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Dniester.  The  Chronicle  extols  the  wis- 
dom and  learning  of  this  prince,  who  was 
a  patron  of  culture  and  possessed  a  re- 
markable library.  The  principality  of 
Halicz  (Galicia)  threatened  to  eclipse 
Kiev. 

It  fell  to  the  lot  of  this  principality, 
from  its  prominent  position  on  the  western 
frontier  of  Russia,  to  repel  the  attacks  of 
the  Hungarians  under  Bela  HI.  and  of  the 
Poles,  who  were  then  torn  by  internal 
feuds.  But  under  Vladimir,  son  of 
Osmomysl  (about  1200),  Roman  of  Volhynia, 
having  been  called  in  by  Galician  Boyars, 
won  the  country  over  to  his  side,  and  by 
this  union  of  Volhynia  with  Halicz 
founded  a  dominion  which  was  perhaps 
the  most  powerful  among  all  the  Russian 
U  d'  t  d  ^*^^^s  ^"^  larger  than  the  exist- 
^n  ispu  e  jj^g  Polish  Empire.  Roman  had 
All  R  ss'  *^^  throne  of  Kiev  at  his  dis- 
posal, and  fought  with  Poles, 
Lithuanians,  and  Hungarians.  The 
Volhynian  Chronicler  calls  him  the  undis- 
puted monarch  of  all  Russia.  The  ex- 
pelled Vladimir  sought  refuge  with  the 
German  Emperor.  Innocent  III.,  to  whose 
ears  the  fame  of  Roman  had  come,  sent 
an  embassy  to  him,  offering  him  the  royal 
crown,  and  urged  him  to  adopt  Catholic- 
ism ;  he  received,  however,  an  unfavour- 
able answer.  The  effect  of  the  proximity 
of  Hungary  and  Poland  was  that  the 
Druzina  of  the  prince,  the  nobility,  was 
more  prominent  here  than  in  other  parts 
of  Russia  and  influenced  the  destiny  of 
the  country.  This  tendency  was  sup- 
pressed by  Roman.  He  is  said  to  have 
ordered  refractory  Boyars  to  be  quartered 
or  buried  alive.  "In  order  to  eat  a  honey- 
comb peacefully,  the  bees  must  be  killed," 
was  his  favourite  saying. 

When  Roman  fell  in  1205,  at  the  battle 
of  Zavichost,  leaving  behind  him  two 
infant  sons,  Daniel  and  Vassilko,  inter- 
minable wars  for  the  possession  of  the 
country  broke  out,  and  princes  were 
tortured  and  hanged.  Poles  and  Hun- 
garians took  advantage  of  these  disturb- 
ances to  seize  the  country.     Koloman,  a 


son  of  the  Hungarian  king  Andreas  II., 
having  married  the  Polish  princess  Salome, 
was  placed  on  the  throne  of  Halicz.  Daniel 
had  reconquered  it  in  1229  by  dint  of  great 
efforts,  and  did  not  succeed  in  winning 
back  his  whole  inheritance  until  1239.  He 
then  chose  Cholm  for  his  residence.  The 
estrangement  of  the  north-west  was  fraught 
The  Cradle  ^^^^  disastrous  consequences 
of  Russian  J?'",  Russia.  The  princes  of 
History  Polock  m  the  region  watered 
by  the  Niemen  and  the  Dwina 
were  too  weak  to  protect  themselves,  first 
from  the  Swedes  and  Germans,  and  then 
from  the  Lithuanians.  It  was  the  weaken- 
ing of  this  region  which  rendered  the  rise 
of  a  strong  Lithuanian  state  possible. 

Novgorod  also  aimed  at  independence, 
but  had  to  suffer  much  from  the  wars 
about  Kiev.  The  ruling  body  there  was 
the  assembly  of  citizens  {wece),  not  prince 
or  Boyars.  Novgorod  was  an  important 
industrial  centre  and  greatly  influenced 
the  history  of  the  northern  Slavs  and 
Finns.  It  was  in  fact  the  cradle  of 
Russian  history.  The  Novgorodians  were 
once  the  first  and  only  people  to  resist 
the  Varagians,  whom  they  ultimately 
drove  out  of  Russia.  When  Jaroslav  the 
Wise,  having  been  defeated  by  his  brother 
Sviatopolk  and  the  Poles,  came  to  Nov- 
gorod and  wished  to  cross  the  sea,  the 
people  of  Novgorod  broke  up  his  boats, 
voluntarily  laid  a  tax  on  themselves  for 
war  purposes,  and  forced  him  once  more 
to  resume  hostilities  with  Sviatopolk. 

Being  victorious  at  their  head,  he  held 
Novgorod  in  high  honour,  and  is  said  to 
have  granted  a  charter  of  privileges  to  the 
city  in  1019.  The  people  of  Novgorod 
also  always  held  his  memory  sacred.  But 
in  that  busy  trading  town,  with  its  hundred 
thousand  or  more  inhabitants,  no  prince 
was  able  to  exercise  absolute  authority, 
nor  could  any  dynasty  find  a  firm  footing. 
The  prince  was  obliged  to  take  an  oath 
that  he  would  respect  their  rights  and 
privileges.  He  could  not  pro- 
nounce any  judicial  sentence 
without  the  assistance  of 
the  municipal  "  Possadnik," 
and,  above  all,  he  could  not  bring  a  disputed 
cause  before  a  foreign  court.  He  could 
neither  obtain  any  existing  villages  nor 
build  any  new  ones  within  the  municipal 
district.  His  revenue  was  accurately  fixed. 
The  prince  had,  it  is  true,  the  right 
to  summon  the  popular  assemblies,  which 
met  in  "the  court  of  Jaroslav  "  at  the 

3301 


Princely  Power 
Restricted 
in  Novgorod 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


sound  of  the  tocsin.  But  they  were  more 
powerful  than  he  was  ;  for  with  his  small 
Druzina,  which  neither  belonged  to  the 
body  of  citizens  nor  could  live  in  the  centre 
of  the  district,  he  was  totally  unable  to 
keep  the  great  city  in  check.  If  the  prince 
was  guilty  of  any  misconduct,  he  was 
impeached.  If  he  did  not  give  satisfaction 
"  they  said  farewell  to  him  and  showed 
him  his  way."  When  Prince  Vsevolod- 
Gabriel,  who  exchanged  Novgorod  with 
Perejaslav,  came  back  in  1132,  the  Wece 
said  to  him  :  "  Thou  hast  forgotten  thy 
oath  to  die  with  us,  and  hast  sought  a  new 
princedom  for  thyself ;  go  hence  whither 
thou  wilt."    The  popular  assembly  also 


Far  East.  Independent  Druzines  tra- 
velled in  search  of  adventure,  subjugated 
countries,  and  founded  colonies,  as,  for 
instance,  the  subsequently  important  Free 
State  of  Vjatka,  which,  like  Pskov  also, 
was  governed  by  its  assembly  of  citizens. 
The  Novgorodians  were  esteemed  good 
seamen ;  their  merchants  formed  a 
guild  of  their  own.  Novgorod  played  the 
principal  part  in  Slavonicising  the  north 
of  Eastern  Europe. 

The  congress  of  princes  at  Lubetch, 
which  settled  the  hereditary  provinces  to 
be  held  by  the  princes,  had  assigned  the 
Finnish  territory  round  Rostov  to  the 
family  of  Monomach.   Monomach  founded 


ipi 

nWL    '        ^     "^     9 

Ml 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Bk              "^R^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ET* 

MARKET    DAY    IN    THE    OLD    TOWN    OF    HALICZ    ON    THE    DNIESTER 


summoned  new  princes.  The  princes,  for 
this  reason,  were  reluctant  to  go  to 
Novgorod.  •  When  an  archbishopric  was 
founded  there  in  the  twelfth  century,  the 
archbishop  himself  was  chosen  by  the 
popular  assembly,  which  naturally  deposed 
him  if  there  was  anything  against  him. 
The  Wece  decided  even  matters  of  faith. 
The  town,  therefore,  proudly  styled  itself 
"  sovereign,  mighty  Novgorod."  It  was 
full  of  churches  and  monasteries  founded 
by  private  individuals.  Since  the  soil  was 
sandy,  the  town  was  forced  to  expand, 
colonise,  and  trade  far  and  wide,  especially 
with  Northern  Europe  and  even  with  the 

3302 


there  on  the  Kliasma  a  town  which  bore 
his  name,  Vladimir.  The  son  of  Mono- 
mach, George  Dolgoruki,  was  the  first 
independent  prince  of  Rostov.  He  soon 
attained  his  object  of  becoming  Grand 
Duke  in  Kiev  ;  yet  he  cared  more  for  his 
inheritance  in  the  north,  for  Vladimir  and 
Susdal.  He  removed  ttiither  the  discon- 
tented population  from  the  south ;  he 
founded  towns  there,  and,  according  to 
tradition,  Moscow  also,  which  is  mentioned 
for  the  first  time  in  1147.  His  son  Andrew 
Bogolubski,  who  became  ruler  in  1157, 
took  no  further  interest  in  the  south,  since 
Kiev,  he  thought,  had  no  future ;  its  title 


■■""'  Ji'i  '"»  rvrt  >viT  vvvt 


HOLY    MONASTERY    OF    THE    ANNUNCIATION    AND    THE    SIBERIAN    WHARVES 


VIEWS    IN    IHE    RUSSIAN     CITY    OF    NIJNI     NOVGOROD 


3303 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


of  grand  duke  had  been  passed  on  from 
hand  to  hand  eighteen  times  since  1125  ! 

In  the  year  11 69  he  organised  an 
alhance  of  eleven  princes,  at  whose 
head  he  placed  his  son  Mstislav.  The 
latter  took  Kiev  by  storm  after  three  days' 
siege  and  allowed  it  to  be  sacked  merci- 
lessly. A  great  impression  was  made  on 
the  whole  country  when  the  city,  which 
was  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  every  Russian, 
the  mother  of  all  Russian  towns  and  the 
goal  of  the  ambition  of  their  princes,  was 
captured  by  her  own  sons  ;  many  believed 
.  .  .  that  the  end  of  Russia  had  come. 
Q.  The  glory  and  importance  of 

of^e  Kiev    were    ended.       Andrew 

assumed,  it  is  true,  the  grand 
ducal  title,  but  sent  to  Kiev  his  brother 
Gleb,  who  also  bore  the  title  of  grand  duke. 
Other  heads  of  the  princely  families — 
those  of  Halicz,  Smolensk,  Tchernigov — 
equally  assumed  the  title  of  grand  duke. 
There  was,  however,  no  doubt  that  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Susdal-Vladimir,  the  con- 
queror of  Kiev,  was  the  true  master  of 
Russia  ;  Vladimir  on  the  Kliasma  was 
destined  to  become  the  centre  of  the 
empire. 

George  Dolgoruki  and  Andrew  Bogo- 
lubski  had  a  clear  insight  into  the  heart 
of  the  matter.  They  wished  to  found  a 
strong  princely  power  independent  of  the 
Boyars  (Druzina)  and  the  municipality, 
which  in  later  years  had  often  disposed  of 
the  crown  in  the  south.  Father  and  son, 
therefore,  showed  no  mercy  towards  the 
Boyars.  In  the  north  there  were  mostly 
newcomers  and  colonists,  who  were  bound 
from  the  outset  to  adapt  themselves  to 
the  new  conditions.  The  towns,  too.  were 
new,  uninfluential  settlements,  which  be- 
came exactly  what  their  founders  wished 
them  to  become.  Andrew  had  for  this  reason 
chosen  as  his  residence  in  the  district  of 
Susdal  neither  Rostov  nor  Susdal  with  their 
old  citizen  assemblies,  but  the  insignificant 
market  town  of  Vladimir.  An  absolute 
monarchy  was  able  to  develop  there 
which  was  capable  of  rescuing  Russia 
from  destruction.  Andrew,  it  is  true,  was 
murdered  by  his  Boyars  in  1175  ;  but  his 


successors  resolutely  carried  out  the 
policy  of  treating  the  Druzina  merely  as 
subjects. 

During  the  calamitous  civil  wars  the 
consciousness  of  a  common  Russian  mother 
country  was  kept  alive  less  by  the  blood 
relationship  of  the  reigning  princes  than 
by  the  Church.  In  the  later  period  the 
glory  of  Kiev  also  was  mainly  based  on  the 
fact  that  the  oldest  churches  were  there, 
especially  the  famous  subterranean  monas- 
tery, where  the  bones  of  the  saints  reposed, 
and  that  the  supreme  metropolitan  resided 
there.  If,  then,  Vladimir  on  the  Kliasma 
was  to  be  a  serious  rival  of  Kiev,  it  must 
receive  an  archbishop  and  magnificent 
churches.  The  princes  provided  both  these 
essentials.  Vladimir  soon  possessed  a 
golden  gate,  like  that  of  Kiev,  a  tithe 
church,  several  monasteries,  and  beautiful 
buildings.  At  the  sack  of  Kiev  valuable 
images,  church  ornaments,  books  and  bells 
had  been  carried  off  to  Vladimir. 

But   the   petition   to  the  Patriarch  of 

Constantinople  to  found  an  archbishopric 

in  Susdal  met  with  no  immediate  success. 

Otherwise    the    power    of    Susdal    grew 

stronger  from  year  to  year.     Vsevolod  the 

Great,   brother    of    Andrew,  was    feared 

throughout  Russia.     But  quarrels  again 

arose  among  his  sons,  until  Constantine 

defeated  the  others.     After  his  death,  in 

1217,  his  brother  George  II.  became  Grand 

Duke  of    Vladimir.     He  conquered    the 

»^  _,  J.  country  of  the  Mordvins  and 
Ine  Founding  r         j    j    •  xt-    •    xt 

-  M-.  .  founded  m   1221  Niini  Nov- 

of  Nijni  J      J.  { 

Novgorod         go^o/'    ^ro"?     ^350     to     1390 
residence  of   the    prmces    of 
Susdal,  at  the  point  where  the  Oka  flows 
into  the  Volga. 

In  1200  three  forces  in  Russia  were 
struggling  for  victory — the  princes,  the 
nobles,  and  the  popular  assembly  (wece). 
The  Boyars  were  victorious  in  Halicz,  the 
citizens  in  Novgorod,  Pskov,  and  Vjatka, 
and  the  princes  in  Susdal  ;  in  Kiev  alone 
the  three  institutions  existed  side  by  side, 
collectively  powerless.  As  an  inevitable 
consequence,  instead  of  only  one,  several 
political  centres  were  formed  side  by  side 
in  Russia. 


3304 


EASTERN 

EUROPE  TO 

THE  FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


I     ^1 


RUSSIA 
II 


RUSSIA    UNDER    THE    MONGOLS 

THE  DEGENERATING  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  TARTAR  YOKE 


DUSSIA  had  already  been  weakened  by 
*^  internal  feuds,  and  now  the  greatest 
calamity  that  had  ever  befallen  it  burst 
on  the  country.  In  the  year  1222  the 
Mongols  appeared  in  the  south,  and  first 
struck  a  blow  at  the  Alans,  who  lived  to  the 
north  of  the  Caucasus.  Terrible  tidings 
heralded  their  approach.  Genghis  Khan 
had  united  the  Mongol  tribes,  had  con- 
quered and  plundered  Northern  China, 
Kharismia.  Bokhara,  Samarkand,  and 
Northern  India,  and  was  now  filled  with 
the  idea  of  subduing  Europe.  He  styled 
himself  the  Scourge  of  God,  and  the 
Asiatics,  with  their  inborn  fatalism,  seldom 
dared  to  offer  resistance. 

The  Alans  allied  themselves  with  the 
Polovzes  ;  but  the  Mongols  brought  the 
Polovzes  over  to  their  side  by  bribes,  and 
subjugated  the  Alans,  and  after  that  the 
faithless  Polovzes.  The  latter  appeared  as 
fugitives  in  Russia.  The  princes  of 
Southern  Russia  united  their  forces,  and 
the  Polovzes  joined  them,  their  khan, 
Basti,  having  accepted  Christianity.  They 
determined  to  anticipate  the  enemy  and 
attack  him  in  the  steppe.  Tartar  envoys 
then  appeared  in  their  camp,  ostensibly  on 
account  of  the  detested  Polovzes.  The 
Russians,  in  their  infatuation,  rejected  the 
offer  of  peace  and  put  the  envoys  to  death  ; 
they  had  collected  more  than  80,000  men. 
A  decisive  battle  was  fought  on  June  i6th, 
1223,  on  the  banks  of  the  small  river 
Kalka,  which  flows  into  the  Sea  of  Azov. 
,  The  Polovzes  fled  at  the  very 
Mongols  outset,  and  thus  forced  the 
rucsomc  Russians  into  a  retreat  which 
anq««  degenerated  into  a  disastrous 

rout.  Mstislav  of  Kiev  defended  himself 
for  three  days  longer  in  his  fortified  camp, 
but  finally,  from  over-confidence,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Tartars  ;  six  princes  and 
seventy  Boyars  were  left  on  the  field  of 
battle.  Mstislav  and  his  two  sons-in-law 
were  suffocated  under  planks,  and  the 
Mongols    celebrated    the    victory    by    a 


banquet  over  their  dead  bodies.  Hardly 
a  tenth  part  of  the  army  succeeded  in 
escaping.  "  A  vast  host  pressed  on  its 
heels,  plundering,  murdering,  and  sacking 
the  towns,"  so  the  Arab  Ibn  al-Athir 
records ;  "  many  Russian  merchants 
banded  together,  packed  up  their  valu- 
ables, and  sailed  in  many  ships  to  Moham- 
_.  medan     countries."      Genghis 

lege  an  j^han  Suddenly  turned  back 
Massacre       ^        a    ■         n        ■  j 

.jf.  to  Asia ;    Russia   was    saved. 

of  Kiasan       »,,  .  i-     1 

The  great  conqueror  died 
in  1227,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
third  son  Ogdai.  A  resolution  was 
passed  by  the  general  assembly  of  the 
empire  at  Karakorum  in  1235  that  Russia 
and  Europe  generally  should  be  conquered, 
and  the  supreme  command  was  given  to 
Batu,  a  grandson  of  Genghis  Khan.  A 
Mongol  army  of  500,000  men,  nominally, 
appeared  in  Russia  in  the  year  1237. 
The  Bulgarians  on  the  Volga  offered  a 
feeble  resistance,  and  their  capital,  Bulgar, 
was  destroyed.  The  Mordvins,  who  were 
of  Finnish  stock,  joined  the  Tartars  and 
became  their  scouts.  The  enemy  were 
soon  before  the  gates  of  Riasan  ;  by  the 
help  of  powerful  siege-engines  they  took 
the  town  after  five  days'  storming,  on 
December  21st,  and  a  terrible  massacre 
ensued.  The  Grand  Duke  of  Vladimir 
had  gone  northwards  before  the  battle, 
but  was  soon  overtaken  and  killed ; 
Vladimir,  which  was  defended  by  his  sons 
Vsevolod  and  Mstislav,  had  already  fallen 
on  February  14th,  1238. 

The  whole  principality  of  Susdal  was 
plundered,  and  Kolomna,  Moscow,  Volo 
Kolamsk,  Tver  and  Torchok  were  re- 
duced to  ashes.  Batu  was  now  close 
to  Novgorod  when  a  thaw  prevented 
any  further  advance  of  the  Mongols. 
On  their  way  back  they  captured  Kose- 
lok  after  a  gallant  resistance  of  seven 
weeks.  In  the  winter  of  1239  Batu 
marched  against  South  Russia  ;  the  task 
of  conquest  was  rendered  easier  for  him 

3305 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


by  the  persistent  feuds  of  the  Russian 
princes.  Daniel  of  HaHcz  seized  Kiev, 
which  he  ordered  his  Boyar  Dmitri  to 
defend,  but  the  latter's  stubborn  courage 
was  ineffectual  against  the  superior  force. 
Kiev  fell  on  December  6th,  1240,  and  was 
ruthlessly  sacked ;  even  the  tombs  were  not 
spared.  Batu  spared  the  life  of  the  brave 
_      .    .  Dmitri,  an  unprecedented  act 

ussia  in        ^j  grace,  and  kept  him  by  his 

the  Hands  of     .-P  .,r  j  •'. 

.    -,  Side   as    a    military  adviser. 

He  then  conquered  Halicz ; 
Novgorod  alone  still  held  out.  In  the 
higher  arts  of  war  the  Russians  were  in- 
ferior to  the  Mongols,  who  were  always 
mounted ;  the  latter  even  employed  a 
sort  of  Greek  fire.  Poland,  Hungary,  and 
other  neighbouring  kingdoms  were  filled 
with  Russian  fugitives.  Counter  measures 
were  discussed  everywhere,  in  Rome, 
Hungary,  Bohemia  and  Germany.  Men's 
thoughts  turned  to  Gog  and  Magog,  the 
mythical  destroyers,  whose  appearance 
would  signify  the  end  of  the  world. 
Louis  IX.  of  France  made  ready  for  a 
crusade. 

The  Tartar  storm  then  raged  over 
Poland,  Moravia  and  Dalmatia.  Suddenly 
the  Asiatic  tide  ebbed.  Russia  alone 
remained  Tartar.  The  fugitive  princes 
returned,  but  as  Tartar  vassals.  Attempts 
were  begun  to  make  the  pillaged  towns 
once  more  habitable,  and  the  ruins  were 
partially  rebuilt.  But  the  country  was 
depopulated ;  men  were  required  and 
they  were  chiefly  taken  from  the  more 
densely  populated  west.  From  this  time 
dates  the  movement  of  German  colonists 
towards  the  east. 

Batu  had  long  since  established  on  the 
Volga  an  empire,  almost  independent 
of  the  Great  Khan,  called  Kiptchak,  or 
the  Golden  Horde,  with  Sarai  as  capital, 
and  was  now  occupied  with  its  organisa- 
tion. The  national  code  was  the  Yasa  or 
customary  law  drawn  up  by  Genghis 
Khan,  which  recognised  only  the  penalty  of 

.^    _      ,        death  and  corporal  punish- 
1T.eJrande«r    ^^^^        ^^^  ^^^  ^^  ^^^^^^ 

^c  *  n  »         was  taken  bareheaded,  kneel- 

KAan  Datu  i      -^i.  i  j     •    n 

mg  and  with  loosened  girdle. 
A  strict  ceremonial  distinguished  the  khan 
from  the  people.  Before  any  man 
approached  him,  he  had  to  pass  between 
two  fires,  since  poison  or  other  dangerous 
things,  which  he  might  have  on  his  person, 
would  thus,  it  was  supposed,  be  ren- 
dered harmless.  No  one  might  speak 
with   the   khan   except    when    kneeling, 

3306 


and  frequently  a  veil  was  thrown  over 
the  visitor  that  he  might  not  look  on  the 
face  of  the  khan. 

John  de  Piano  Carpini,  who  was 
received  in  audience  by  Batu  as  ambas- 
sador of  Pope  Innocent  IV.,  records : 
"  Batu  keeps  a  splendid  court  ;  his  army 
numbers  600,000  men.  His  brothers, 
sons,  and  grandees  sit  below  him  on  a 
bench  in  the  middle,  all  others  on  the  bare 
ground — men  on  the  right,  women  on  the 
left.  .  .  .  We,  too,  when  we  had  delivered 
our  message,  seated  ourselves  on  the  left, 
as  all  ambassadors  do ;  but  we  were  placed 
on  the  right.  .  .  .  Batu  never  drinks  in 
the  presence  of  people  without  singing 
and  zither-playing.  When  he  rides,  an 
umbrella  is  held  over  his  head,  as  is  the 
custom  of  all  Tartar  princes  and  their 
wives." 

The  residence  of  the  khan  was  called 
Orda,  hence  "  horde."  The  nation  was 
divided  on  a  military  system  into  groups 
of  tens,  hundreds  and  thousands.  A  tuman, 
or  body  of  ten  thousand,  constituted  a 
separate  province.  The  subject  peoples 
had  only  to  pay  taxes,  and  were  not  under 

_      .  any  other  obligation.     The 

Russian  •'  •  1     r  x 

„  .        ...      receiver-general  of  taxes  was 
Princes  Under        n   j  u     1     i    /i   * 
g  . .     .  called  baskak  (later,  equiva- 

lent to  extortioner  or  op- 
pressor). Piano  Carpini  tells  us  that  one 
such  baskak  carried  off  one  son  out  of  every 
family  which  had  three  ;  the  same  thing 
occurred  with  the  unmarried  men,  women 
and  all  beggars.  A  list  was  made  of  the 
remaining  inhabitants,  and  a  tax  levied 
on  every  human  being,  new-born  babes 
of  a  day  old  included  ;  from  each  a  black 
or  white  bearskin,  a  black  beaver,  a  sable,  a 
marten,  and  a  black  fox.  Those  who  could 
not  pay  were  carried  off  into  slavery. 

The  Russian  princes  were  required 
to  make  personal  suit  to  the  khan  that 
he  would  confirm  their  rank.  Thus  Batu 
summoned  the  Grand  Duke  Jaroslav 
of  Vladimir,  who  had  succeeded  his 
brother  George  II.,  to  appear  before  him 
at  Sarai  with  all  his  family.  Jaroslav  was 
further  forced  to  go  to  the  Great  Khan  at 
Karakorum  ;  there  he  met  Piano  Carpini. 
Jaroslav  died  in  the  desert  on  his  way 
home,  either  from  exhaustion  or  from 
poison,  which  he  is  supposed  to  have 
drunk  at  the  court  of  the  Great  Khan 
(1246).  The  adventurous  Minorite  saw 
in  the  Kirghiz  steppes  the  dried  bones  of 
the  Boyars  of  the  grand  duke,  who  had 
perished  of  thirst  in  the  desert.     It  was 


THE    KREMLIN      MOSCOW  S    ACROPOLIS— SURROUNDED    BY    ITS    GREAT    WALL 


THE    CITY    AS    SEEN    FROM    THE    KREMLIN 


\trr 


Tin  1«»r  nm  11.11  im  mi  mi-  iin  1 1  n- 


SCENES     IN     MOSCOW,    THE    ANCIENT    CAPITAL    OF    RUSSIA 


3307 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


necessary,  in  order  to  be  successful,  to 
spend  large  sums  on  "  presents "  to 
Tartar  princes,  favourites  and  women. 
The  unhappy  Russian  princes  had  also  to 
face  the  machinations  of  their  own  people. 

Daniel  of  Halicz,  far  from  paying  any 
tribute,  fortified  his  towns  and  sought 
an  alliance  with  the  Pope  after  1246. 
-  But  in  1250  a  message  came 

eve  re  from  the  khan,  that  he  was 

Me&sures  of  the  .  tt  i-  t->   ■ 

Great  Khan         ^^  f"^   'J?   H^^^^^"       J^V^^ 
inadequately    prepared    lor 

resistance,  he  went  thither  and  humbled 
himself  by  drinking  the  black  mare's  milk 
(kumiss)  and  prostrating  himself  before 
the  "  great  princess."  He  was  dismissed 
after  twenty-five  days,  and  received 
Halicz  back  again  as  a  fief.  He  never- 
theless renewed  his  negotiations  with 
Innocent  IV.,  and  promised  to  subordinate 
his  Church  to  him  ;  he  received  papal 
legates,  by  whom  he  was  crowned  king 
in  1254.  6ut  as  the  crusade  was  preached 
in  vain,  he  once  more  broke  off  his  rela- 
tions with  Rome.  He  was  then  compelled 
at  the  command  of  the  Great  Khan  to 
raze  his  fortresses,  and  from  dire  necessity 
he  bore  the  Tartar  yoke  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  at  Cholm  in  1266. 

Alexander,  son  of  Jaroslav,  who  had 
driven  out  the  Germans,  and  in  1240  had 
conquered  the  Swedes  on  the  Neva 
(hence  the  honourable  title  of  Newskij) 
was  then  established  in  Novgorod.  Inno- 
cent IV.  sent  two  cardinals  in  1251  to 
win  him  over  to  the  Roman  Church,  but 
in  vain.  Alexander,  on  the  other  hand, 
went  in  1254  to  Sarai,  accompanied  by 
his  brother  Andrew,  and  thence  to  Kara- 
korum ;  the  journey  lasted  three  full 
years.  He  must  have  obtained  an  over- 
powering impression  of  the  Mongol  power  ; 
henceforward  he  remained  loyal  to  the 
Tartars,  and  even  fought  with  his  own 
brother  Andrew  on  their  behalf.  Only 
a  united  Russia  could  have  resisted. 
Batu  Khan  died  in  1256.  His  son 
„  Sertak,  who  was  devoted    to 

„  *,    *  *.     Christianity,  soon  followed  him 

Baskaks  tn    .       ,,  •'  u    ui 

Novgorod  *°  *^^  8^^^^'  probably  owmg 
to  poison,  and  Batu's  brother 
Berkai  (or  Bereke)  now  mounted  the 
throne  (1257).  He  instituted  a  general 
census  and  taxation  throughout  Russia. 
The  hated  Baskaks  now  appeared  for 
the  first  time  in  Novgorod.  The  popular 
assembly  was  convened.  The  Possadnik 
addressed  the  meeting,  but  when  he  coun- 
selled submission,  the  people  killed  him. 

3308 


Alexander's  own  son  reproached  his  father 
for  imposing  servitude  on  free  men.  It 
was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  the 
prince  induced  the  defiant  population  to 
allow  themselves  finally  to  be  registered. 
In  the  year  1262  the  towns  of  Vladimir, 
Susdal,  and  Rostov  revolted  against  the 
Baskaks.  Alexander  hurried  with  presents 
to  the  khan,  but  was  nevertheless  detained 
for  a  year.  He  died  on  the  journey  home 
on  November  14th,  1263,  in  consequence 
of  his  privations. 

A  change  was  then  produced  in  the  life 
of  the  Tartar  people.  They  could  not 
permanently  disregard  the  influence  of  a 
higher  culture.  Rome  made  great  efforts 
to  win  them  by  missions,  especially  since 
the  Mongol  world,  by  the  destruction  of 
Bagdad  in  1258,  had  proclaimed  itself 
hostile  to  Islam.  The  two  recently 
founded  orders  of  Franciscans  and  Do- 
minicans gained  a  name  in  the  Church 
history  of  the  East,  and  undertook  in 
particular  the  task  of  converting  the 
Tartars.  John  de  Piano  Carpini  the 
Minorite  was  not  the  last  who  sought  to 
win  the  Tartar  khan  for  the  Roman  faith. 
The  Greek  Church  also  was 
Wh*  W  r"*  ^°*  without  influence.  Some 
-..  ?  ^.  ^^^  great  khans  were  superficially 
Christians       ?  „  ,         r-u   •  ^-        a 

followers  of  Christianity. 
Kuyuk  (1246-1248)  had  a  Christian  chapel 
near  his  palace ;  Kublai  (i 260-1 294) 
regularly  attended  the  celebration  of  the 
feast  of  Easter.  A  Greek  bishopric  was 
founded  in  Sarai  itself.  The  Mongol 
rulers  were  thoroughly  tolerant.  Piano 
Carpini  saw,  in  the  camp  of  the  Great 
Khan,  Christians,  Greek  priests,  and  a 
Christian  church.  The  Franciscan  William 
of  Rubruquis  describes  how  Mangu  Khan 
in  1254  arranged  a  discussion  between  the 
representatives  of  various  beliefs  ;  Chris- 
tians, Mohammedans,  and  heathen  per- 
formed their  acts  of  worship  in  his  presence. 
Priests  and  monks  were  exempt  from  the 
poll-tax ;  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Greek 
Church  was  confirmed ;  sacrilege  was 
punishable  with  death.  The  monasteries 
within  the  dominions  of  the  formerly 
abused  Mongols  increased  in  numbers  and 
wealth. 

An  event  of  great  significance  then 
occurred  ;  Berkai  Khan  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  Islam.  The  religious  fanaticism 
of  the  Moslems  then  invaded  Sarai,  and 
prevented  the  fusion  of  the  nations.  It 
was  one  of  the  serious  results  of  the 
miserable  Fourth  Crusade,  which,  by  the 


RUSSIAN     SOVEREIGNS     FROM     1281     TILL    1533 

From  9  series  q{  historic  medAl^ 


3309 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


capture  of  Constantinople  (1203)  under 
conditions  of  revolting  cruelty  and  by 
the  partition  of  the  empire,  had  crippled 
the  power  of  the  Greek  Church  and  of 
Greek  culture  without  aiding  the  West, 
that  Mohammedanism  was  able  to  achieve 
so  important  a  victory.  A  Byzantium  o f  un- 
diminished power  would  have  all  the  more 

certainly  won  the  Tartars  for 
T^!-.^-*         the    Orthodox    faith,    since 

the  Greek   form  of  worship 


Adopt  the 
Faith  of  Islam 


impressed  the  Asiatics,  and 
since  their  army,  to  the  extent,  perhaps, 
of  three-fifths,  consisted  of  Oriental  Chris- 
tians, owing  to  the  thousands  of  prisoners 
made  yearly.  But  a  destroyed  Byzan- 
tium commanded  as  little  respect  from 
the  Tartars  as  the  mutual  hatred  of  the 
two  "  Christian  "  beliefs.  The  Mongols, 
therefore,  adopted  Islam,  which  from  racial 
considerations  at  least  appealed  more 
closely  to  them  and  seemed  to  be 
politically  more  advantageous.  The  gulf 
between  Europe  and  Russia  was  widened 
by  the  Mohammedan  Tartars.  Russia 
had  now  for  the  first  time  become  a  pro- 
vince of  Asia  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word. 
The  three  centuries  which  Russia  had 
spent  under  the  Tartar  yoke  had  deter- 
mined its  place  in  civilisation  and  its 
development.  Hitherto  it  had  stood,  if 
not  higher,  at  any  rate  not  lower  than 
many  a  Western  state.  But  now  its 
culture  was  so  sapped  and  had  sunk  so  low 
that,  even  at  the  present  day,  it  has  not 
completely  recovered  from  the  blow. 
The  political  situation,  it  is  true,  remained 
much  in  the  same  position  ;  some  princes 
were  confirmed  in  their  dominions,  and 
self-government  conceded  to  them. 

But  the  excessive  drain  on  the  finances 
weighed  so  heavily  on  the  country  that 
it  infallibly  took  from  the  people  any 
desire  to  work.  The  humiliating  treat- 
ment and  the  feeling  of  absolute  im- 
potence as  regards  the  Great  Khan  could 
not  but  corrupt  the  ideas  of  the  people, 
_      .  ,  destroy  their  national  pride, 

ussia  *  g^j^(j  ga^p  their  moral  fibre. 

National  Pride     ^,-       •'^  ,•        ,  , 

jj  ,  1  his    IS      noticeable    even 

es  roye  j^  ^j^^   chroniclers  of    the 

Tartar  age.  When  in  the  fifteenth  century 
one  prince  put  out  the  eyes  of  another, 
the  Chronicle  did  not  utter  a  word  of  blame, 
as  it  did  when  Vassilko  was  blinded.  The 
Russian  people  had  thus  become  accus- 
tomed to  scenes  of  horror.  And  these 
outrages  were  a  heavier  burden  and  lasted 
longer  than  the  economic  (iownfEUl, 

3310 


Even  after  half  a  century  the  widely 
spread  influence  of  the  Asiatic  school 
could  be  felt.  The  son  of  Daniel  of  Hahcz 
already  kept  a  Tartar  body-guard  ;  the 
insubordination  of  the  nobles  cannot 
alone  excuse  this  procedure.  That  same 
proud  city  of  Novgorod,  which  had  only 
submitted  to  the  Baskaks  with  extreme 
reluctance,  rejected  Prince  Michael  in 
1304  with  the  words  :  "  We  elected  thee, 
indeed,  but  only  on  the  condition  that 
thou  showest  us  the  Jarlyk  "  (the  warrant 
from  the  khan).  Mongols  were  called 
in  by  Russian  princes  just  as  Pechenegs 
and  Polovzes  had  been — to  help  them 
against  their  own  people.  Russians  took 
part  in  the  campaigns  of  the  Tartars,  who 
honourably  gave  them  a  share  of  the  spoils. 

The  relations  between  Mongols  and  Rus- 
sians rapidly  became  so  much  closer,  that 
in  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century 
Tartar  princes  and  nobles  settled  in  Mos- 
cow. Many  distinguished  Russian.families 
are  of  Tartar  descent  ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  must  not  overlook  the  fact  that 
the  later  Tartar  immigrants  were  mostly 
descendants  of  Russian  prisoners,  so  that 
we    ought  rather  to   speak  of 

e    erms   g^g^y^j^^^^     blood     among    the 

?,  .,!*^".*  Tartars  than  vice  versa.  Russia 
Unification  u      i         j.    u  4. 

would  almost  have    got    over 

the  depression  had  not,  from  time  to 
time,  fresh  outbursts  of  savage  barbarism 
inflicted  new  wounds  on  the  country. 
The  keen  wish  for  liberty  was  thus  kept 
alive.  Russia  obtained  some  partial 
successes  politically.  Hostilities  between 
Russian  princes  were  forbidden,  since  no 
one  dared  to  wage  war  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  khan.  A  still  more  important 
point  was  that  the  grand  duke,  as  vassal  of 
the  dreaded  Mongol,  enjoyed  elsewhere  a 
greater  reputation  than  had  ever  been  the 
case.  We  may  see  in  this  fact  the  germs 
of  the  subsequent  unification  of  Russia. 

Under  the  Tartar  supremacy  the  place 
of  Vladimir  (in  the  principality  of  Susdal) 
as  the  residence  of  the  grand  duke  and 
the  capital  of  Russia,  was  taken  by 
Moscow,  which  lay  to  the  west  of  it  on  the 
small  river  Moskva.  The  grand  dukes, 
as  Nikolai  M.  Karamsin  justly  observes, 
while  assuming  the  modest  title  of  servants 
of  the  khan,  became  gradually  powerful 
monarchs.  By  this  policy  the  way  was 
paved  for  the  rise  of  despotic  power  in 
Russia,  and  the  princely  house,  in  Moscow 
as  formerly  in  Vladimir,  had  a  definite 
c^in^  before  its  eyes.    They  were  responsible 


^"'  ""  ■'"  ■"■■  '^"  ■  "ir 


Hl§TQRig    PAI,ACt§    ANP    CHURCHES    QF    MOSCOW 


33" 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


to   the    khan    for    the    maintenance    of 

pubUc     order    in     Russia,    assumed,    as 

general  agents  of  the  khan,  the  collection 

of  taxes  throughout  Russia  in  order  to  be 

spared  the  torment  of  Tartar  tax-gatherers, 

and  thus  were  able  to  act  unscrupulously 

towards    their    own    subjects    and    other 

princes,    and    showed   no    mercy,    since 

--  _.        thev   received    none    them- 

Moscow  Rises    ^^^^^^   -^  g^^.^-        j^^  ^^j^^^. 

in  Wealth  ■     ,  j       ,  i      , 

.  D  ^.  mdependent  princes  lost 
and  Prestige  ^       ,.  '^   ,  , 

m  prestige,  and  no  less 
so  the  popular  assemblies  and  the 
nobility.  Everyone  from  fear  of  the 
Mongol  bowed  before  the  grand  dukes  of 
Moscow.  They  drew  from  the  farming 
of  the  revenue  not  merely  financial  but 
also  political  strength.  The  Tartar 
tribute  was  exacted  by  Moscow  even 
when  it  was  not  necessary  to  pay  it  to  the 
Tartars,  and  the  people  paid  it  without 
murmuring.  Thanks  to  this  circumstance, 
Moscow  had  always  large  sums  of  money 
at  its  disposal,  and  Russia  in  this  way 
grew  accustomed  by  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury to  see  in  it  the  capital  of  the  country. 

These  princes  of  Moscow  of  the  four- 
teenth, fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  centuries 
were  unpleasing  figures,  harsh,  selfish, 
and  shrinking  from  no  steps  which  led  to 
power.  It  is  a  repugnant  task  in  these 
modern  times  to  read  the  accounts  of  the 
degradation  and  meanness  of  most  of 
them  in  their  dealings  with  the  Mongols. 
But  it  was  a  political  necessity.  Lithuania 
and  afterwards  Poland  were  willing  to 
form  leagues  with  the  Tartars  against 
Russia,  and  actually  did  so.  Only  such 
unscrupulous,  unfeeling,  but  diplomatic 
rulers  as  the  Muscovites  were,  could  have 
saved  Russia  in  its  helpless  and  desperate 
plight  from  the  Mongols  and  other  neigh- 
bouring nations. 

The  first  known  prince  of  Moscow  was 
Michael  the  Bold  (after  1248),  younger 
brother  of  Alexander  Nevski.  The  true 
founder  of  the  princedom  was  Nevski's  son. 
The  First  ^^"^^^  (1263-1303),  who  had 
p  .  .  received  Moscow  as  an  appan- 
w  age.    He  increased  his  territory, 

founded  convents,  encouraged 
trade,  and  made  a  good  waterway  on  the 
MosKva.  When  he  died  in  1303  he  left  to 
his  sons  George,  Danilovitch  (1303-1325), 
and  Ivan  (1328-1341)  a  compact  territory, 
which  they  still  further  enlarged.  George 
was  the  first  who,  after  the  death  of  the 
Grand  Duke  Andrew  Alexandrovitch  of 
Vladimir,    came  forward   in    1304    as    a 

3313 


claimant  of  the  grand  ducal  title ;  but  his 
second  uncle,  Michael  of  Tver,  had,  as 
the  eldest  of  the  family,  a  better  claim 
to  it.  Both  went  to  their  over-lord  at 
Sarai,  and  tried  to  defeat  each  other  by 
bribery  and  intrigues. 

A  civil  war  thus  broke  out  between 
Moscow  and  Tver,  which  lasted  almost 
thirty  years,  revealed  starthng  depths 
of  baseness,  and  cost  the  Ufe  of  several 
princes.  Moscow  eventually  won.  George, 
who  married  in  1315  Kontchaka,  the 
favourite  sister  of  Uzbeg  Khan,  became 
grand  duke.  Ivan  I.,  surnamed  KaUta, 
from  the  purse  which  he  wore  in  order 
to  distribute  alms,  knew  how  to  win  over 
the  Church,  and  to  induce  the  Metro- 
politan Peter  of  Vladimir  to  settle  at 
Moscow ;  Theognost,  Peter's  successor, 
also  resided  in  Moscow,  which  ranked  as 
the  capital  after  1328, 

No  Russian  prince  made  so  many 
journeys  to  the  Horde  as  Kalita.  He 
so  completely  won  over  the  Mongols 
that  they  entrusted  him  with  the 
government  of  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom, 
and    even  placed  an  army  at    his    dis- 

.  posal.    Peace  reigned  for  years 

eign  o  -^  Russia.  The  amalgamation 
„      .  of  the  two  nations  made  rapid 

strides.  This  wise  poUcy  was 
the  more  profitable  since  the  mighty 
Uzbeg  (1312-1340)  then  sat  on  the 
throne  of  Kiptchak.  Kalita  was  himself 
a  merchant  prince  and  in  favour  of 
Uzbeg,  and  the  wide  expanse  of  the  Mongol 
Empire  helped  the  Russian  trade.  Ivan 
took  upon  himself  the  duty  of  levying 
the  tribute  from  Russia. 

The  same  policy  was  followed  by  his 
sons  Simeon  the  Proud  (1341-1353)  and 
Ivan  II.  (1353-1359).  Simeon  even  ven- 
tured to  assume  the  title  "  Grand  Duke 
of  all  Russia."  Other  times  had  come. 
The  grand  duke  had  formerly  been  to 
all  other  princes  "  father "  or  "  elder 
brother,"  now  he  was  for  all  his  relations 
"  lord  "  (gospodin).  All  had  to  feel  the 
weight  of  his  hand.  When  Novgorod, 
which  had  become  a  dependency  of  Moscow, 
tried  to  gain  freedom,  it  was  punished 
with  severity,  and  the  obligation  imposed 
on  it  that  in  the  future  the  municipal 
officials  should  kneel  barefooted  before 
the  assembly  of  the  princes  and  entreat 
their  mercy.  We  notice  here  the  influence 
of  Mongolian  customs.  But  the  necessity 
for  this  severity  is  shown  by  the  reign  of 
Simeon's  brother  Ivan  II„  whose  weakness 


RUSSIA    UNDER    THE    MONGOLS 


rendered  insecure  all  the  successes  that 
had  been  achieved. 

The  position  of  Russia  had  meantime 
improved.  While  the  Muscovite  princes 
slowly  united  the  Russian  countries  in 
their  hands,  the  Mongol  state  began  to 
break  up.  Some  parts  of  the  vast  empire 
made  themselves  independent  of  Sarai 
under  khans  of  their  own,  the  same 
process  which  had  formerly  ruined  Russia. 
The  son  of  Ivan  II.,  Dmitri  Ivanovitch 
(1362-1389),  was  soon  strong  enough  to 
defy  the  wiU  of  the  Tartars  and  to  govern 
in  Russia  as  he  thought  best  ;  in  1376 
he  actually  made  two  petty  Tartar 
princes  his  tributaries.  When  in  the  same 
year  he  conquered  a  governor  of  the  able 
Manaj  Khan,  he  exclaimed:  "God  is  with 
us  ;  their  day  is  over ! "  But  that  was 
premature.  Manaj  collected  an  immense 
army,  and  at  the  same  time  concluded  a 
treaty  with  the  Lithuanian  prince,  Jagiello. 
Dmitri  also  rallied  many  princes  round 
him,  and  strengthened  himself  by  prayer 
in  the  Church  of  the  Assumption,  before 
he  rode  to  the  battlefield.  All  felt  keenly 
that  a  religious  war  impended.  Manaj 
p.       „.  is  said  to  have  threatened  to 

.  destroy  all  the  churches  and 

MonKol  Yoke  ^^'"§  ^^^^  Russia  to  Islam. 
The  battle  took  place  on 
September  8th,  1380,  on  the  plain  of  Kuli- 
kovo  (at  the  confluence  of  the  Nepraedva 
and  the  Don),  and  was  decided  in  favour 
of  Russia.  Fifteen  Russian  princes  were 
left  on  the  field.  Dmitri  received  the 
surname  of  Donskoj,  the  Victor  of  the 
Don.  On  that  very  day  Jagiello  of 
Lithuania  had  been  only  a  few  miles 
away  from  the  Tartars ;  his  junction 
with  Manaj  would  certainly  have  changed 
the  result.  The  rejoicings  at  this  first  great 
victory  were  immense  ;  Moscow,  the  new 
capital  of  Russia,  thus  received  its  baptism 
of  war.  Even  if  the  Tartar  yoke  was 
still  far  from  being  shaken  off,  it  was  yet 
seen  that  the  Russians  in  their  long 
servitude  had  not  forgotten  how  to  draw 
the  sword  for  freedom  and  honour.  They 
had  now  learnt  that  the  Mongols  were 
not  invincible ;  and  their  courage  and 
character  were  increased. 

Not  the  less  important  for  the  uni- 
fication of  Russia  was  the  enactment  of 
Dmitri,  by  which  primogeniture  became 
the  law  of  the  land.  The  eldest  son  of 
the  grand  duke,  not  the  eldest  of  the 
stock,  was  henceforward  to  succeed  his 
lather.     By  this  law,  of  which  we  have 


no  details,  the  family  disputes  of  the  ruling 
house  were  not  indeed  completely  ended, 
but,  happily  for  Russia,  were  restricted. 
The  son  of  Donskoj,  Vasilij  I.  Dmitrije- 
vitch  (1389-1425),  now  succeeded  in 
accordance  with  this  law  of  succession. 
Under  Vasilij 's  successor,  Vasilij  II. 
Vasilijevitch  (1425-1462),  a  dispute  once 
Great  Prize  ^lore  broke  out  between  the 
in  the  Contest  f^PPorters  of  the  old  rule  of 
of  Humility  Seniority    and  the  new  rule 

of  "  Primogeniture."  George 
Dmitrijevitch  was  opposed  to  the  grandson 
of  Dmitri  Donskoj ,  the  uncle  to  the  nephew. 
The  ambassador  sent  from  Moscow  saved 
the  cause  of  his  master  s.t  Sarai  by  a 
speech  which  throws  a  flood  of  light  upon 
the  situation.  "  All  powerful  Tsar,"  so 
Vsevoloshkij  in  1431  addressed  Ulugh 
Mahmet,  'allow  me  to  speak,  who  am  the 
Grand  Duke's  slave.  My  master,  the 
Grand  Duke,  solicits  the  throne  of  the 
Grand  Duchy,  which  is  entirely  thy 
property,  without  any  other  claim  thereto 
but  through  thy  good  will,  thy  consent, 
and  thy  warrant.  Thou  disposest  of  it 
as  thou  thinkest  fit.  The  prince  George 
Dmitrijevitch,  his  uncle,  on  the  other 
hand,  claims  the  Grand  Duchy  according 
to  the  enactment  and  last  will  of  his 
father,  but  not  as  a  favour  of  thy  omni- 
potence." 

The  speech  did  its  work  ;  the  khan 
commanded  that  George  should  hence- 
forward lead  his  nephew's  horse  by 
the  bridle.  "  Thus  the  prize  in  this 
contest  of  humility  was  assigned  to  the 
prince  of  Moscow."  At  VasUij's  corona- 
tion (such  ceremonies  have  always  taken 
place  at  Moscow  since  that  day)  a  Mon- 
golian Baskak  was  present.  Vladimir, 
the  old  capital,  now  lost  the  last  trace 
of  its  glory.  The  war  between  uncle  and 
nephew  was  continued  in  spite  of  the 
decision  of  the  khan.  It  was  then  seen 
how  dependent  the  people  were  on  their 
prince.     When  Vasilij,  ousted  by  his  uncle, 

had  Kostroma  assigned  him  as 

cpar  e        residence*,   the  Muscovites  left 

„  °'y  °        their  city  in  crowds  and  joined 

him  at  Kostroma ;  the  uncle, 
who  could  not  maintain  his  position  in 
Moscow,  now  voluntarily  withdrew.  And 
when  Vasilij  II.  entered  Moscow  'or  a 
second  time,  the  people  thronged  round 
him  "like  bees  round  their  queen,"  says 
a  chronicler.  He  died,  blinded  in  1446 
by  a  son  of  George  (hence  called  Temnyi), 
on  March  17th,  1462. 

3313 


THE    RULERS     OF     RUSSIA     FROM     1584    TILL     1762 

Fioiu  a  series  of  historic  medals. 


3314 


THE    MONARCHS   OF    MOSCOW 

AND  THE  DAWN  OF  BETTER  DAYS  FOR  RUSSIA 


'T'HE  fall  of  the  Tartar  power  rendered 
•*■  the  consolidation  of  Russia  possible. 
The  unerring  persistent  policy  of  the 
Muscovite  princes  was  destined  to  bear 
good  fruit.  Their  aim  was  to  shake  off  the 
Tartar  yoke  and  to  "join"  all  countries 
formerly  Russian— i hat  is  to  say,  to  re- 
unite them  in  one  empire.  Ivan  III. 
(1462-1505),  who  now  mounted  the  throne 
as  "  sole  monarch,"  his  son  Vasilij  III. 
(1505-1533),  and  his  grandson  Ivan  IV. 
(1533-1584),  surnamed  the  Terrible, 
effected  this  junction  of  Russia,  although 
they  were  the  reverse  of  heroic  soldiers. 

Ivan  III.,  the  most  important  among 
them,  was  the  model  of  a  Susdalian  and 
Muscovite  ruler,  a  cold,  heartless  and 
calculating  statesman.  His  policy  was 
markedly  influenced  by  his  second  mar- 
riage with  Sophia  (Zoe),  a  niece  of  the 
last  Byzantine  emperor,  who  had  been 
educated  in  Rome  at  the  papal  court. 
Cardinal  Bessarion  (the  humanist  and 
advocate  of  the  union  of  the  Churches), 
had  first  prompted  that  alliance.  The 
proposal  in  question  reached  the  grand 
duke,  then  twenty  years  old,  in  1469, 
and  had  been  received  by  the  Boyars 
with  enthusiasm.  In  the  year  1472 
Sophia  entered  Moscow  accompanied  by 
many  of  her  countrymen  and  by  the 
papal  legate  Antonio,  and  her  arrival 
brought  a  new  spirit  into  the  Russian 
court.  She  it  was  who  realised  the 
humiliation  of  the  Mongol  yoke.  Moscow 
regarded  itself  now  as  the  heir  of 
p  ,  Byzantium,  and  Ivan  adopted 
e  ope  s  ^j^g  double  -  headed  Byzan- 
.  U  .  tine  eagle  as  the  new  arms 
of  Russia.  The  outlook  of 
Russian  policy  widened  ;  henceforward 
Russia  was  regarded  as  the  representative 
and  seat  of  orthodoxy.  Moscow  took  up 
the  cause  of  the  Greek  Christians  in  the 
East  and  actually  waged  war  in  the  name 
of  this  idea,  which  was  translated  into 
deeds  against  the  Ottomans  in  the 
eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries.    The 


2ZX 


of  Ivan  "The 
Awful " 


Pope,  indeed,  when  he  sent  the  fair 
daughter  of  the  Palaeologi  to  Russia,  was 
intent  on  the  plan  of  winning  the  whole 
of  Russia  for  Rome  ;  but  the  cunning  of 
the  Russian  sovereign  frustrated  such 
intentions.  Ivan  derived  all  possible  ad- 
vantages from  that  alliance  without  con- 
ferring the  slightest  benefits  in  return. 
_      J  The  entry  of  the  Roman  legate 

into  Moscow  was  a  humiliation 
for  Rome  ;  he  was  forced  to 
put  aside  the  silver  crucifix, 
which  he  wished  to  be  borne  in  front  of 
him,  and  to  face  an  argument  with  a 
learned  Russian  monk,  which  only  caused 
him  annoyance.  Even  the  young  Greek 
princess,  once  arrived  on  Russian  soil, 
seemed  to  have  forgotten  her  Roman 
education  and  her  papal  benefactor. 

It  was  Sophia  also  who  taught  her 
husband  "  the  secret  of  despotism."  Ivan 
came  forward  now  in  a  quite  different 
character  from  the  earlier  grand  dukes. 
He  stood  before  the  eyes  of  the  Russians 
like  an  avenging  deity,  and  was  called 
not  only  the  "  Great  "  but  the  "  Awful  " 
(gnosnyi ;  the  surname  of  "  Terrible  " 
suits  Ivan  IV.  better).  He  inflicted  death 
penalties  and  martyrdoms  lavishly.  When 
he  slept  after  meals,  the  Boyars  anxiously 
kept  watch  by  him  ;  women  fainted  at 
his  gaze.  He  treated  foreign  potentates 
with  almost  Oriental  presumption.  When 
the  Mongol  Khan  Ahmed  sent  envoys 
with  his  portrait,  in  order  to  demand  the 
tribute,  he  stamped  on  the  portrait,  and 
ordered  all  the  envoys  to  be  killed  except 
one  who  was  to  carry  the  tidings  to 
Astrakhan.  He  communicated  with  the 
Mongol  envoys  only  through  officials  of 
the  second  rank. 

In  a  word,  the  bearing  of  the  grand 
duke  testified  to  unbounded  pride  of 
sovereignty.  He  governed  without  the 
Boyars  ;  when  one  of  them  complained 
that  the  grand  duke  decided  every  point 
alone,  he  was  beheaded.  Herberstein 
asserts  that  no  monarch  in  Europe  was  so 

3315 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


implicitly  obeyed  by  his  subjects  as  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Russia.  This  self-con- 
sciousness of  the  Russian  court  often, 
indeed,  amounted  to  an  absurdity,  and 
barbarous  customs  considerably  detracted 
from  the  magnificence  which  was  displayed 
at  the  reception  of  foreign  embassies. 
Ivan  carried  on  the  work  of  uniting  Russia 
J  n  fc  ^^  ^^^  most  unscrupulous 
» 'Vt,.  "  *  manner.  He  began  by  entering 
Ambitious       •    ,  r  .J.  iu 

p  mto  a  series  of  contracts  with 

"*  his  relations,  in  order  to  secure 
the  supremacy  to  himself.  He  then  put 
an  end  to  the  more  or  less  independent 
petty  principalities  and  lordships  which 
existed  round  Moscow.  Thus,  in  the  first 
years  of  his  reign,  Tver,  Vereja,  Rjasan, 
and  then  Bjelosersk,  Rostow,  Jaroslav, 
were  placed  under  the  immediate  govern- 
ment of  Moscow. 

The  union  of  Novgorod  with  Moscow 
cost  much  bloodshed.  This  once  powerful 
free  city  on  the  Ilmen,  the  cradle  of  the 
Russian  state,  brought  on  its  own  fall 
by  internal  factions.  The  princes  of 
Moscow  had  long  been  indignant  that 
Novgorod  barred  their  access  to  the  sea, 
and  also  entertained  the  suspicion  that 
it  might  join  their  enemies,  Lithuania 
or  Poland.  Its  freedom  must,  therefore, 
be  crushed ;  it  was  not  enough  that, 
having  long  recognised  the  suzerainty  of 
the  lords  of  Moscow,  it  paid  them  tribute 
without  difficulty ;  its  self-government 
was  to  be  taken  away. 

Ivan  understood  how  to  form  a  political 
party  out  of  the  supporters  of  the  Greek 
faith  in  Novgorod,  and  to  play  them 
off  against  the  others,  who  were  devoted 
to  the  Catholic  cause,  and  therefore 
to  Poland.  The  Lithuano-Polish  party 
was  led  by  the  Borecki  family,  whose 
head  was  Marfa,  the  energetic  widow  of 
a  former  Possadnik.  Ivan  waited  until 
Novgorod  was  guilty  of  a  breach  of 
faith  by  opening  negotiations  with 
Poland,  in  order  to  seek  protection 
-,  .  «.  ..     there  against  the  attacks 

Se3/  °^  ^^''^^-     '^^^  Muscovite 

c  ore  army     then    entered    the 

Muscovite  Army  .        y,  ,  ^t  j        j 

territory  of  Novgorod  and 

defeated      the     untrained     Novgorodian 

troops,  who  had  been  collected  with  great 

difficulty,  in  1471  at  the  river  Schelona. 

The  Novgorodians  submitted,  recognised 

Ivan  as  sovereign,  and  actually  accepted 

the  jurisdiction  of  the  courts  of  Moscow. 

But  in  1478  Ivan  took  from  them  the  rest 

of  their    self-government,    deported    the 

3316 


most  famous  families  into  the  interior  of 
Russia,  sent  his  governors  to  Novgorod, 
and  brought  to  Moscow  the  bell  which  for 
centuries  had  summoned  the  people  to 
the  popular  assembly.  The  fall  of  Novgo- 
rod has  often  been  sung  by  the  poets  and 
made  the  subject  of  drama,  Marfa  Borecki 
being  celebrated  as  the  heroine.  But  no 
one  will  deny  that  the  republic  outlived 
its  day,  that  it  never  properly  fulfilled 
its  duty  as  a  middleman  between  the 
merchants  of  the  East  and  West,  and  that 
it  now  really  stood  in  the  way  of  the  union 
of  Russian  countries.  The  capture  of 
Novgorod  and  its  environs  gave  Moscow 
an  overwhelming  superiority  over  the 
other  principalities. 

Besides  this,  Ivan  conquered  Perm, 
"  the  land  of  silver  beyond  the  Kama." 
The  second  free  city,  Viatka,  was  con- 
quered in  1489  ;  an  advance  was  made  to 
the  Petchora,  the  Ural  was  crossed,  and 
the  country  of  the  Voguls  and  Ugrians 
made  tributary.  Russia  thus  expanded 
as  far  as  the  Arctic  Ocean,  and  for  the  first 
time  set  foot  in  Asia.  Vasilij  III.  then 
subjugated  the  free  state  of  Pskov,  where 
,  the  dissensions  of  the  citizens 

J*^  *  -  had  opened  the  ground  for 
^  him  ;      many     families      were 

sent  thence  to  other  towns. 
"  Alas,  glorious  and  mighty  Pskov,  where- 
fore this  despair  and  these  tears  ?  "  ex- 
claims the  poetical  chronicler.  "  How 
shall  I  not  despair  ?  "  answered  Pskov. 
"  An  eagle  with  the  claws  of  a  lion  has 
swooped  down  on  me.  .  .  .  Our  land  is 
wasted,  our  city  ruined,  our  marts  are 
destroyed,  our  brethren  led  away  whither 
neither  our  fathers  nor  grandfathers 
dwelt."  But  subordination  to  Moscow  was 
for  Pskov  an  historical  necessity  if  the 
unification  of  Russia  was  to  progress. 
When  Vasilij  had  banished  the  princes 
of  Rjasan  and  Novgorod  Severskij  and 
united  their  lands  with  Moscow,  the  union 
of  European  Russia  under  the  leadership 
of  Moscow  would  appear  almost  finished. 
Russia  already  directed  her  eyes  toward 
newly  discovered  Asiatic  districts,  where 
the  Arctic  Ocean  formed  the  frontier. 
Only  the  Lithuanians  and  the  Tartars 
were  still  left  to  be  conquered. 

Ivan  III.  had  the  good  fortune  to  shake 
off  the  Tartar  yoke.  There  were  then 
several  Tartar  kingdoms — Kasan,  Astra- 
khan (Sarai),  the  Nogai  Horde,  the  pro- 
vince of  the  Crimea,  and  numerous  smaller 
independent  hordes — ^who  all  fought  with 


THE   MONARCHS    OF    MOSCOW 


each  other,  and  thus  Hghtened  the  task 
of  the  grand  duke.  In  the  year  1480 
Ivan  advanced  with  a  strong  army  against 
the  great  horde  of  Sarai,  but  could  not 
make  up  his  mind  to  strike  ;  for  months 
the  two  armies  stood  opposite  each  other 
in  inaction,  until  at  last  the  Tartars  with- 
drew. It  was  not  therefore  a  great 
victory ;  Russia  had  only  ceased  to  pay 
tribute.  Once  again,  in  the  year  1521, 
the  Tartars  of  the  Crimean  horde  united 
with  their  tribesmen  beyond  the  Volga  in 
the  Nogai  steppe  and  in  Kasan,  to  attack 
Moscow.  The  town  was  so  suddenly 
invested  on  all  sides  that  the  Grand  Duke 
Vasilij  hardly  made  good  his  escape.  The 
citizens  in  their  first  panic  promised  to  pay 
again  the  old  tribute. 
Then  discord  broke  out 
among  the  Tartars  ;  they 
withdrew. 

From  that  time  the 
Tartar  danger  was  as  good 
as  ended.  But  another 
Mohammedan  power, 
Turkey,  threatened  Rus- 
sia from  the  south ;  in 
1475  Mohammed  II. 
.  brought  the  Crimea  under 
his  suzerainty.  At  the 
same  time  a  growing 
danger  arose  in  the  union 
of  Poland  with  Lithuania. 
How  could  Russia  have 
withstood  this  powerful 
neighbour  if  she  had  been 
still  politically  divided, 
and  dependent  on  Tartar 
hordes  ?    It  was  the  merit  ivan  hi. 


of  civilisation.  Just  as  when  formerly 
the  Grand  Duke  Vladimir  married  the 
Greek  princess,  Anna,  the  art  and  religion 
of  Byzantium  were  transplanted  with  her 
to  Russia,  so  the  second  wife  of  Ivan  and 
her  Greek  suite  now  called  a  new  age  of 
Ivan's  Wif  ^^^^^^^  ^^^^  ^i^^-  Byzantine 
Introduces'  ^^^olars  brought  Greek  books 
Culture  ^^*^  them,  which  formed  the 
nucleus  of  the  later  libraries 
of  Moscow.  Ivan  III.  himself  took  plea- 
sure in  distinguished  foreigners. 

Artists  and  scholars  from  Western 
Europe  found  a  brilliant  reception  at  Ivan's 
court.  In  Aristotele  Fioraventi  of  Bologna 
he  acquired  a  distinguished  architect, 
artillerist,  and  tutor  for  his  children.  Pietro 
Antonio  built  a  palace  for 
him.  Monks  from  the 
famous  monastery  of 
Athos  came  to  Russia ; 
amongst  them  a  learned 
Greek,  Maxim  by  name, 
was  conspicuous.  He 
is  said  to  have  been 
astonished  to  find  such  a 
mass  of  old  manuscripts 
in  the  Kremlin  at  Moscow. 
The  monks  were  entrusted 
by  the  grand  duke  with 
the  translation  of  Greek 
books  into  Slavonic.  The 
grand  dukes  owed  their 
successes  against  the  Tar- 
tars and  petty  princes 
partly  to  the  artillery 
perfected  by  foreigners. 
The  whole  system  of  war- 
THE  AWFUL"  ^^^^  ^^^  revolutionised, 

of  the  grand  dukes  of  Cow.heartiessandcaicuiating.ivan  111.  stood  At  the  Same  time  mineral 
Moscow  that  a  liberated  ^r/^^^^hiy^fntcTef  del?h"pSfes'f„^d  treasures  were  exploited, 
and  united  Russia  could  martyrdoms.  During  his  reign,  from  i462  tm  Ivau  III.  also  dcvotcd 
not    only    defend    itself,   ^^os.  the  prestige  of  NfoscowgreaUy  extended,  attention  to  the  judicial 

but  could  also  advance  victoriously  against      system,  which  in  the  Tartar  age  was  often 


the  menacing  foe. 

The  prestige  of  Moscow  grew  not  only 
in  all  Russian  districts,  but  also  in  foreign 
countries.  The  courts  of  Western  Europe 
sought  to  win  the  alliance  of  the  grand 
duke.  Apart  from  their  re- 
lations to  Rome,  Lithuania 
and  Poland,  Ivan  III.  and  his 
son  Vasilij  received  envoys  from 
Venice,  Hungary,  the  Emperor  Frederic 
III.  and  his  son  Maximilian,  Sweden  and 
Denmark.  From  the  East  came  envoys 
from  Turkey,  Georgia  and  Persia.  Russia 
now  found  the  leisure  and  also  experienced 
the  desire  to  devote   time  to  the  work 


Advance 
of  Russian 
Prestige 


a  matter  of  caprice,  and  in  1497  caused 
the  common  law  to  be  published  in  the 
new  Russian  code  Sudebnik. 

The  question  of  the  succession,  that 
open  wound  from  which  Russia  so  long 
bled,  and  to  which  she  formerly  owed  her 
subjugation,  was  at  last  settled.  The 
testamentary  dispositions  of  Ivan  III. 
showed  his  opinion  on  the  point.  After 
he  had  long  hesitated  whether  to  nominate 
as  his  successor  his  grandson  or  his 
son  by  his  second  wife,  he  decided  in 
favour  of  his  son  Vasilij,  probably  because 
his  mother  was  a  Byzantine.  The  other 
sons     received   small   provinces   without 

33x7 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


monarchical  rule  ;    they  had  neither  the 

right  of  coinage,  nor  any  higher  jurisdiction, 

and  were  compelled  to  recognise  the  elder 

brother  as  their  lord.     If  one  of  them  died 

without  issue,  his  lands  reverted  to  the 

grand  duke.      Thus  the  first  hereditary 

monarchy  was  instituted  in  Russia.     An 

era  of  renaissance  now  began  for  Russia — 

-^     _  a  restoration  of    the   political 

The  Dawn      •    j  j  j  •  r 

-  mdependence    and    union     of 

Q        Q.       the      empire,      an     economic 

revival,  an  awakening  of  the 

national  self-consciousness,   a  renewal  of 

national  culture  and  literature,  the  dawn 

of  new   and  greater   glory.     Russia,    by 

frequently   sending   embassies   to   foreign 

courts,  entered  by  degrees  into  the  circle 

of  the  civilised  nations  of  the  West.     In 

short,  fortune  once  more  smiled  on  Russia. 

But  the  goal  was  still  far  away,  and 
serious  obstacles  remained  to  be  overcome. 
The  people  were  now  the  greatest  obstacle 
to  themselves.  In  the  long  period  of 
Tartar  rule  they  had  been  warped  not 
merely  politically  but  morally.  The 
Russians  had  emerged  from  the  Asiatic 
school,  in  which  they  had  so  long  been 
trained,  as  Asiatics  accustomed  to  murder 
and  cruelty.  The  Greek  Church  in  Russia 
had  suffered  equally ;  left  to  itself  it 
inevitably  became  stagnant.  It  is  easier 
to  improve  the  national  welfare  and 
culture  and  to  gain  victories  than  to 
change  the  nature  of  a  whole  people  ; 
several  generations  at  least  are  requited 
for  that. 

The  hard  fortunes  of  the  country  had 
produced  a  hard  ruling  dynasty.  The 
pride  and  self-consciousness  of  the  sover- 
eign, in  whose  person  the  state  was  bound 
up,  grew  with  the  progress  which  the 
union  of  Russia  made  under  Moscow's 
supremacy,  with  the  increase  of  the  royal 
power  as  compared  with  the  nobility  and 
the  popular  assembly,  and  with  the  growth 
in  the  power  and  prestige  of  the  nation.  In 
Moscow  the  contest  between  the  power  of 
I       ..^1^       the  prince   and    that    of   the 

»,     ...  ,,*     nobility     and     the     popular 
Terrible     on  A         i,  •  u  j  xil  i. 

(he  Throne  assembly,  which  raged  through- 
out Russia,  had  been  decided  in 
favour  of  the  former.  It  was  a  soil  on  which 
tyranny  might  flourish.  The  Susdalian  and 
Muscovite  princes  had  increased  the  strict- 
ness of  their  government,  and  while  Ivan 
III.  had  already  earned  the  surname  of 
"Awful,"  this  stamp  of  sovereign  reached 
the  climax  in  Ivan  IV.  History  calls  him 
"The  Terrible."     A  man  of  unusual  gifts 

3318 


and  iron  wijl,  but  of  the  worst  education 
imaginable,  he  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
phenomena  in  history,  in  which  he  has 
acquired  a  dark  notoriety.  It  would  be 
unfair  to  condemn  him  at  once  ;  he  is  too 
important  to  be  measured  by  conventional 
standards. 

When  he  was  only  three  years  old  his 
father  died.  The  government  during  his 
minority  was  taken  over  by  his  mother, 
Helene  Glinska,  a  Lithuanian,  whose 
family  was  originally  Tartar.  A  council  of 
Boyars,  in  which  the  first  place  was  ceded 
to  her  uncle  Michael  Glinski,  was  placed 
at  her  side.  But  it  was  soon  apparent  that 
this  ambitious  woman  would  not  tolerate 
any  other  will  by  the  side  of  hers.  Only 
her  favourite,  Count  Ivan  Telepnev 
Obolenskij,  could  exercise  any  influence 
over  her.  A  reign  of  bloodshed  began. 
Her  brother-in-law  George,  her  uncle 
Michael,  her  second  brother-in-law  Andrew, 
and  others  who  seemed  dangerous  to 
her,  died  a  cruel  death,  while  the  affairs 
of  the  empire  were  not  maladministered 
externally.  When  Helene  died  suddenly 
in  1538,  and  the  Boyar  council  alone  under- 
took  the  conduct  of   state 

'^*™*  .  affairs,  two  families,  the 
an        un  enng  g^^j^^jsi^jj    g^j^jj   y  -^   Bielskij, 

^*"  came  forward,  disputed  for 

precedence,  and  fought  each  other.  Once 
more  there  were  scenes  of  blood ;  no  quarter 
was  given  by  either  side  when  it  had  the 
upper  hand.  Russia  had  now  been  so  long 
accustomed  to  self-government  that  even 
in  the  Privy  Council  a  member  would  wish 
to  have  unrestricted  liberty  of  language. 
The  fact  that  no  regard  was  shown  the  suc- 
cessor to  the  crown  in  the  matter,  and  that 
he  would  have  been  gladly  ignored,  shows 
how  untamed  the  powerful  Boyars  then 
were.  Even  in  later  years  Ivan  complained 
that  Ivan  Schujskij  had  not  greeted  him, 
and  in  his  bedroom  had  placed  his  feet  on 
his  father's  bed,  that  the  treasury  of  his 
father  and  his  uncle  had  been  plundered  by 
the  Boyars,  and  that  even  the  royal  service 
of  plate  had  been  marked  with  their  names. 

Ivan  in  those  days  often  suffered 
hunger  ;  even  his  life  was  threatened.  The 
Schujskij  attacked  towns  and  villages, 
tormenting  and  extortijng  without  mercy. 
They  jealously  watched  that  no  one  else 
gained  influence.  One  of  the  privy  coun- 
cillors, Fedor  Voronzov,  who  seemed  to 
rejoice  in  the  favour  of  the  young  sove- 
reign, was  insulted  and  cuffed  in  the 
presence  of  the  latter  ;    his  clothes  were 


THE    MONARCHS    OF    MOSCOW 


torn,  and  he  would  have  been  killed  had 
not  the  metropolitan  rescued  him  at 
Ivan's  petition.  Prematurely  accustomed 
to  barbarity  and  bloodshed,  the  twelve- 
year  old  boy  gloated  over  the  agonies  of 
tortured  animals  ;  when  only  fifteen  years 
old,  he  rode  through  the  streets  of  Moscow 
with  his  young  companions  and  cut  and 
slashed  all  he  met. 

The  Orthodox  Greek  Church,  which 
might  have  been  expected  to  exercise 
a  favourable  influence  on  the  lawless 
youth,  had  sunk  into  such  decay  under 
the  Mongol  yoke,  that  it  had  not  the 
strength  to  interfere.  The  clergy  were 
almost  as  addicted  to  gaming,  drunken- 
ness, and  other  vices,  as  the  laity  ;  the 
darkest  superstition  prevailed  among  the 
common  people.  Impostors,  robbers,  and 
fanatics  roamed  the  land  ;  murder  and 
brigandage  were  everyday  occurrences. 
This  was  the  normal  condition  of  the 
society  in  which  Ivan  the  Terrible  grew  up. 
At  first  he  submitted,  until,  in  1543,  in 
blazing  fury  he  had  Prince  Andrew 
Schujskij  seized  in  the  open  street,  sub- 
jected to  gross  indignities,  and  murdered. 
-.  From      that      day,      says      the 

Chronicle,  the  Boyars  began  to 
fear  him.  He  was  then  thirteen 
years  old.  On  February  3rd, 
1547,  when  barely  seventeen  years  old,  he 
married  Anastasia,  daughter  of  the 
chamberlain,  Roman  Sacharin.  It  is  a 
proof  of  his  political  insight  that  he 
assumed  the  title  of  tsar,  and  that  he 
obtained  in  1561,  personally  through  the 
Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  as  well  as 
through  a  council  expressly  called  for  the 
purpose,  a  confirmation  of  his  descent 
from  the  imperial  Byzantine  house  and  of 
his  right  to  the  imperial  crown. 

Fear  fell  on  all  pagan  countries,  says  the 
Chronicle  of  Novgorod.  All  the  nations  of 
the  Orthodox  East  began  to  look  to  the 
Muscovite  tsar  as  to  the  head  and  repre- 
sentative of  their  Church  and  their 
patron.  In  the  year  of  his  coronation 
three  outbreaks  of  fire  (April  and  June, 
1547)  reduced  the  city  of  Moscow  to  ashes. 
The  lives  of  the  tsar  and  the  metropolitan 
were  in  the  greatest  danger.  The  Schuj- 
skij princes  spread  the  report  that  the 
tsar's  grandmother,  Anna  Glinska,  had 
torn  the  hearts  out  of  corpses,  soaked  them 
in  water,  sprinkled  the  streets  of  Moscow 
with  them,  and  thus  caused  the  fire.  The 
excited  populace  murdered  the  uncle  of 
Ivan,     George    Glinska,    in    the   church, 


la 
Ashes 


marched  to  Vorobjovo,  where  the  tsar  was 
staying,  and  demanded  with  threats  the 
surrender  of  his  grandmother.  The  mob 
did  not  disperse  until  Ivan,  acting  on  a 
bold  impulse,  had  the  spokesman  executed. 
The  occurrence  is  said  to  have  made  a 
weighty  and  lasting  impression  on  the 
tsar,  it  was  then  that  Ivan  drew  two  men 
The  G    d         *°  his  side,  the  Pope  Silvester 

InfluenTe  of       ^"K^    \  ^^^^^^    official,  Alexis 

Pope  Silvester  Adaschev  Silvester  governed 
him  completely.  Ivan  did  not 
venture  on  a  step  without  Silvester ; 
he  ate,  drank,  dressed  and  lived  according 
to  Silvester's  doctrines.  The  influence  of 
the  two  was  very  beneficial,  and  not  less  so 
that  of  his  wife  Anastasia.  An  honourable 
atmosphere  prevailed  in  court  circles  ;  in 
all  state  business,  moral  and  religious 
aspects  came  into  the  foreground.  Synods 
and  imperial  assemblies  were  summoned, 
in  order  to  discuss  important  business. 
It  was  an  inspiring  moment  when  the 
young  tsar,  in  the  year  1549,  asked  for- 
giveness from  the  assembled  people  for  all 
injustice,  and  humiliated  himself.  He 
showed  universal  courtesy  and  commanded 
men's  trust  and  love.  Much  good  was 
really  done  then.  In  1556  a  new  code  of 
civil  and  canon  law  appeared,  which  from 
its  division  into  one  hundred  chapters  was 
called  Stoglaw.  Its  sixteenth  paragraph 
contained  an  enactment  for  the  erection 
of  parochial  schools  in  every  town. 

At  the  same  time  the  court  of  Moscow 
resolved  to  carry  on  war  against  the 
Tartars  on  the  Volga,  who  still  harassed 
Russia.  Ivan,  at  Silvester's  advice,  though 
reluctantly,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  army.  Kasan  was  taken  in  1552, 
not  so  much  by  the  bravery  as  by  the 
sheer  numerical  superiority  of  the  Russians. 
In  the  year  1557,  Astrakhan,  the  old 
Sarai,  once  so  formidable  to  Russia,  also 
fell.  The  results  of  this  first  conquest  at 
the  cost  of  the  Asiatics  were  far-reaching. 
Not  merely  was  the  power  of  the  Tartars 
crushed  and  the  whole  of  the 
r°K*x  great  Volga  made  a  Russian 

Crwhed  "  stream,  but  Russian  influence 
now  reached  into  the  Caucasus 
as  far  as  Persia.  Other  tribes,  such  as  the 
Tcheremisses,  Mordvins,  Tchuvashes, 
Votiaks,  Bashkirs,  who  had  formerly  been 
subject  to  the  ruler  of  Kasan,  now  made 
their  submission.  The  first  step  .towards 
the  conquest  of  Asia  was  taken.  The 
Crimean  horde  alone  was  left  ;  but  it  led 
a   precarious   existence   and   sought    the 

3319 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Treason 
Against 
the  Tsar 


alliance  of  Russia.  Ivan  returned  to 
Moscow  as  a  hero.  His  confident  attitude 
towards  the  Boyars  increased.  "  I  fear 
you  no  longer,"  he  is  said  to  have 
exclaimed  to  a  voivode. 

He  resolved  at  this  period  to  disseminate 
the  culture  of  Western  Europe  in  Russia. 
Hans  Slitte,  a  German  from  Goslar,  who 
was  at  Moscow  in  1547,  ^^^  commissioned 
by  him  to  bring  scholars,  artists,  physicians, 
printers,  artisans,  etc.,  to  Russia.    And  it 
was  only  in  consequence  of  the  hostile 
attitude  of  the  Livonians,  who  saw  in  this 
plan  a  dangerous  strengthening  of  their 
neighbour,  that  Slitte  failed  to  bring  to 
Russia   the    123    persons   whom   he   had 
engaged.     From  this  moment  the  dislike 
Ivan  felt  for  the  Baltic  Germans  grew  the 
more   intense,   since    the 
Teutonic  Order  in  T  ivonia 
barred  his  road  to  the  sea. 
From    these  reasons   the 
determination  to  conquer 
Livonia   matured   in    his 
mind  despite  the  warnings 
of  Silvester  and  Adaschev. 

When  in  1553,  under 
Edward  VI.,  a  British 
expedition  of  three  ships 
was  sent  to  explore  the 
route  to  China  and  India 
by  the  Arctic  Ocean,  and 
one  of  the  ships  was  cast 
away  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Dwina,  Ivan  seized  the 
opportunity  of  opening 
commercial  negotiations 
with  England.     He  con-         ..^.^^  terrible"  ivan   iv. 

Ceaed       to      the       Enghsh    it  was  not  without  reason  that  this  significant 

merchants  highly  advan- 
tageous trading  privi- 
leges,  and  thus   secured 


name,  "The  Terrible,"  came  to  be  applied  to 
Ivan  IV.  But  he  was  the  first  ruler  to  en- 
courage British  merchants  to  trade  in  Russia, 
and  was  thus  nicknamed  "  The  English  Tsar." 


to  his  empire  a  connection  with  the  West. 
In  the  war  for  Livonia,  which  broke  out 
between  Russia,  Poland,  and  Sweden, 
Ivan  obtained  only  Dorpat  (1558),  while 
Poland  held  Livonia  as  a  province  and  the 
duchy  of  Courland  as  a  fief.  Esthonia  fell 
to  Sweden.     These  events  entirely  broke  off 

Russia's  Share     J^^    ^^"^^y    '^j^l^^"'  ^^- 
tween  Ivan  and  Adaschev 

and  Silvester.  The  death  of 
his  virtuous  queen  (August 
7th,  1560)  certainly  contributed  to  this 
result.  The  guardianship  exercised  over  him 
by  the  two  men  had  at  last  become  intoler- 
able. Silvester  had  tried  to  make  his  master 
quite  dependent  on  him,  and  had  even  taken 
up  a  position  of  hostihty  to  the  tsaritsa. 

3320 


When  the  first  son  of  the  tsar  died  (June, 
1553),   Silvester  declared  to  him  that  it 
was   a    punishment    inflicted    by   heaven 
for  his  disobedience.     But  a  severe  illness 
of  the  tsar,  about    the  end  of  the  year 
1552-1553,    had    brought    matters    to    a 
head.     Awaiting  his  end,  Ivan 
called  on   the    Boyars    to    do 
homage    to    his    son    Dmitri. 
But  the  Boyars  refused  ;   Sil- 
vester and  Adaschev  sided  with  the  rebels. 
The  noise  of  the  disputants  reached  the 
sick  chamber  of  the  tsar. 

When  Ivan,  contrary  to  expectation, 
recovered,  his  confidence  in  his  two  coun- 
cillors was  gone.  Ivan  was  as  yet  moderate 
in  his  punishments  ;  but  little  by  little  the 
number  of  executions  increased,  until  his 
fury  against  the  Boyars 
knew  no  bounds.  The 
fallen  ministers  had  many 
partisans ;  and  when  Ivan 
later  scented  treason 
everywhere,  and  felt  him- 
self insecure  in  his  own 
court,  he  was  to  some 
extent  justified.  Lithu- 
ania -  Poland,  the  most 
dangerous  enemy  of 
Russia,  kept  up  com- 
munications with  the 
malcontents,  and  the 
party  of  the  fallen  made 
no  disguise  of  their  Polish 
proclivities.  Prince 
Andrew  Kurbskij  inten- 
tionally brought  about  a 
shameful  defeat  in  the 
Livonian  campaign,  and 
fled  in  1564  to  the  Polish 
camp.  Others  actually 
admitted  Tartars  into  the 
Ivan's  anxiety  now  became  a 
he  believed   himself  to  be   sur- 


of  the 

Spoils  of  War 


country 
disease  ; 
rounded  by  none  but  traitors. 

He  at  this  time  received  a  letter  from 
the  fugitive  Kurbskij,  in  which  the  latter 
summoned  him  before  a  divine  tribunal  to 
answer  for  his  cruelties.  Ivan  sent  for  the 
bearer  of  the  letter,  drove  his  iron-shod 
staff  through  his  foot,  leant  with  all  his 
weight  on  it,  and  then  had  the  letter  read 
out.  Rarely  have  more  stinging  reproaches 
been  hurled  in  the  face  of  a  sovereign. 
The  tsar  thought  well  to  answer  the  letter 
at  length. 

Both  writings  belong  to  the  most 
remarkable  documents  of  Russian  history. 
Ivan  suddenly  left  Moscow  on  December 


THE  METROPOLITAN  PHILIP  REFUSING  TO  BLESS  IVAN  THE  TERRIBLE 
Both  for  good  and  evil,  Ivan  IV.,  known  as  "The  Terrible,"  occupies  a  prominent  place  in  Russian  history.  Singling: 
out  a  series  of  towns  and  some  streets  in  Moscow,  he  declared  them  to  be  his  own  private  property.  The  Metro- 
politan Philip  was  bold  enough  to  protest,  and  refused  his  blessing  to  the  tsar.  Ivan,  in  hot  rage,  summoned  an 
ecclesiastical  court,  and  from  the  steps  of  the  altar,  on  November  8th,  1568,  Philip  was  dragged  oflF  to  a  convent 
prison,  where  he  was  strangled  the  following  year.    Ivan's  reign  lasted  for  fifty-one  years— from  1533  till  1584. 

3321 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


3rd,  1564,  in  the  company  of  his  family, 
many  Boyars,  and  an  armed  force,  and 
went  to  Alexandrovskaja  Sloboda.  He 
took  the  most  revered  rehcs  and  the  state 
treasure  with  him.  Moscow  was  wildly 
excited.  A  month  afterwards  two  missives 
from  him  arrived — one  to  the  metro- 
politan, in  which  he  said  that  he  could  no 
longer  tolerate  the  illegalities  of 
J'*'^  '.  .  the  Boyars,  especially  since  the 
n  mics  an  (>jgj.gy     hindered     him     from 

punishing  them,  and  that  he 
had  resolved  to  leave  the  empire  and  go 
whither  God  led  him ;  a  second  was 
addressed  to  the  Orthodox  citizens  of 
Moscow,  in  which  he  assured  them  that 
he  was  not  angry  with  them. 

The  impression  produced  by  these  two 
letters  was  overwhelming.  The  people,  filled 
with  the  fear  of  falling  again  under  the  rule 
of  the  nobles,  marched  with  lamentations 
and  threats  through  the  streets  of  the  city, 
ready  to  cut  down  the  tsar's  enemies,  and 
requested  the  metropolitan  to  propitiate 
the  tsar ;  whereupon  an  embassy  to  the 
tsar  was  organised. 

'  Ivan  came  back  on  February  2nd,  1565. 
But  a  terrible  change  would  seem  to  have 
taken  place  in  him.  "  His  mere  aspect 
struck  horror ;  his  features  were  distorted 
with  fiiry,  his  sight  nearly  gone,  his  hair 
almost  all  fallen  off.  He  declared  before  a 
great  meeting  that  he  needed  a  body- 
guaird."  He  then  singled  out  a  series  of 
towns  and  some  streets  of  Moscow,  and 
declared  that  to  be  his  private  property, 
which  was  called  Opritshina,  while  the  rest 
of  Russia  as  state  property  was  called 
Semshtshina,  and  was  left  under  the 
management  of  the  council  of  Boyars. 
This  was  the  first  separation  of  crown 
property  from  national  property,  and  was 
important  in  its  consequences. 

He  chose  out  of  his  own  lands  a  body- 
guard of  6,000  men  with  wives  and  children, 
mostly  people  of  low  origin,  the  Opritshniki. 
An  axe,  a  dogshead,  and  a  besom  were 
Seven  Years  ^^^^^  badges,  signifying  that 
^j  traitors  would  be  beheaded, 

Strange  Events  g"^^fd  ^^  PJ^J^S,  and 
swept  away.  The  whole 
Semshtshina  was  assigned  to  them  to 
plunder,  and  there  was  no  appeal  to 
justice  against  them.  How  they  wreaked 
their  fury  is  shown  by  the  circumstance 
that  even  now  in  Russo-Polish  countries  a 
vagabond  and  robber  is  called  "opryszok." 
Ivan  meantime  executed  the  traitors  un- 
sparingly, and  then  retired  to  Alexandrovo. 
3322 


There   he   indulged  in   wild  excesses,   m 
brutal  man-hunts,  murdering,  and  burning. 
Strangely  enough,  he  combined  with  all  this 
sincere    religious    observances,    arranging 
his  court  as  a  convent,  and  forming  out  of 
300   trustworthy   myrmidons   a   monastic 
brotherhood,  of  which  he  was  abbot.    He 
performed  every  duty  and  himself  rang 
the   bell   for  service.     At   midnight   they 
assembled  in  cowls  and  black  gowns,  and 
Ivan  struck  his  forehead  so  hard  upon  the 
floor  that  his  face  was  covered  with  bruises. 
This  state  of  things  lasted  until  1572, 
for   seven    full    years.     Ivan    was   mean- 
time conscious  of  the  disgracefulness  of 
these  proceedings,  for  he  endeavoured  to 
disguise  to  the  outside  world  the  existence 
of    the   Opritshniki,    and   conducted   the 
affairs  of  state  as  before.  The  Metropolitan 
Philip    finally    plucked    up    courage    to 
ask  him  to  abolish   the  Opritshina.    Ivan, 
however,     summoned     an      ecclesiastical 
court  and  impeached  the  bold  petitioner. 
While  Philip  was  standing  in  full  robes 
before  the  altar  on  November  8th,  1568, 
a  troop  of  the  bodyguard  rushed  in,  tore 
the  vestments  from  him,  and  dragged  him 
off  to  a  convent  prison,  where 
p"^   ."  -     he  was  strangled  in  1569.    The 
„    .     .  .      public      mourning       for      the 
metropolitan  reduced  Ivan  to 
fury.      Hundreds   of   persons  were   daily 
executed,    burnt,    or   tortured   to   death, 
and  whole  communities  were  annihilated. 
Ivan  lived  under  the  delusion  that  for 
the   sake   of   his   own   and   his    family's 
existence     he     must      exterminate     the 
traitors.    In  the  year  1572,  tormented  by 
fear  and  anxiety,  the  monarch,  who  in 
his   soul  was    intensely   unhappy,   made 
his  will  :     "  My  body  is  exhausted,   my 
spirit  gloomy  ;   the  ulcers  on  my  soul  and 
my  body  are  spreading,  and  no  physician 
is  there  to  heal  them.   I  waited  if  any 
would  wish  to  have  pity  on  me,  but  none 
came    to    me.  .  .  .  They   have    returned 
good  with  evil,  love  with  hate."     These 
are    his    words    at    the    opening    of    this 
document.  We  now  have  an  insane  person 
before  us.    He  seems  to  have  been  stung 
by    qualms    of    conscience    in    his    lucid 
intervals,  as  is  seen  from  many  indications. 
A    most    remarkable    and    historically 
unique  record  of  the  tsar  is  left  us  in  the 
shape  of  a  book  of  masses  for  the  souls 
of   the   deceased   drawn   up   by   his   own 
hand,  in  which  he  instituted  masses  for 
each  one   of   his   victims.     After  several 
names  stands  the  sinister  note,  "  with  his 


THE   MONARCHS    OF    MOSCOW 


wife,  his  children  and  servants,"  "  with 
his  sons,"  or  "  with  his  daughters."  Or 
we  read  there  "  twenty  men  from  Komen- 
skoje/'  "eighty-seven  from  Matvejschevo," 
"  Lord  be  gracious  to  the  souls  of  Thy 
servants,  1,505  persons  from  Novgorod," 
and  so  on.  This  list  alone  gives  a  total  of 
3,470  victims.  There  was  no  one  now  at 
court  who  would  have  had  any  influence 
on  Ivan.  His  second  wife,  a  Tcherkess, 
who  was  only  baptised  just  before  her 
marriage,  may  well  have  increased  Ivan's 
evil  propensities  by  her  barbarous  nature. 
Thus,  then,  the  torrent,  having  once 
left  its  banks,  rushed  on,  destroying  all 
in  its  course.  Since  the  time  of  the  Roman 
Caesars  hardly  any  sovereign  can  have 
proved  so  clearly  as  Ivan  the  Terrible 
the  truth  of  the  doctrine  that  every 
human  being  and  all  earthly  power  require 
some  restriction,  if  they  are  to  remain 
within  the  pale  of  humanity.  But  the 
Russian  people  share  the  guilt  with  him  ; 
especially  are  the  nobility  and  clergy 
to  blame,  since  they  did  not  support  the 
efforts  of  the  monarch  in  the  cause  of 
culture,  but  by  cringing  and  immorality 
paved  the  way  for  his  wicked 
•  ^Iv^^R**  propensities.  The  last  liberties 
in  e  oya  ^^  ^^^  people  were  destroyed. 
Household  J    ,1  J.  r    Al- 

and  the   omnipotence    of  the 

crown  established  for  all  future  time. 

The  foreign  policy  was  successful  in  the 
East  ;  the  Cossack  Jarmak  laid  the 
crown  of  Siberia  at  Ivan's  feet.  But  in  the 
contest  with  Poland  he  was  worsted, 
notwithstanding  that,  under  the  pretext 
of  wishing  to  receive  the  Roman  faith, 
he  humbly  begged  the  emperor  and  Pope 
to  intervene.  The  Poles,  who  were  ready 
to  offer  him  the  crown  after  the  death  of 
Sigismund  Augustus,  were  deterred  by 
his  untrustworthiness  and  his  avarice. 

Fate  brought  grievous  misfortunes  on 
his  own  house.  In  a  quarrel  he  struck  his 
son  Ivan  such  a  blow  with  an  iron  rod 
that  the  prince  died  from  it  on  November 
19th,  1581.  His  third  son,  Feodor,  was 
of  weak  intellect.  Ivan's  remorse  hastened 
his  end.  This  remarkable  prince,  whose 
crimes  are  not  devoid  of  some  great- 
ness, but  whose  name  must  always 
be  mentioned  with  a  shudder,  died  on 
March  17th,  1584.  Ivan  IV.  holds  a 
prominent  place  in  Russian  history  both 
for  good  and  for  evil. 

Ivan's  son  Feodor  mounted  the  throne 
in  1584  ;  but  his  gentleness  and  piety 
would  have    been    more    suitable    for    a 


convent.   The  whole  power  thus  lay  in  the 

hands  of  the  privy  councillors,  amongst 

whom  existed  a  dangerous  rivalry  between 

a  Schujskij  and  a  Bielskij.  The  reputation 

of  Boris  Godunov  at  the  same  time  was 

slowly   increasing,   more   especially   since 

Nikita     Romanof,    Feodor's    uncle,    who 

was  at  first  the  most  influential  regent, 

,      .  ,»,    .  had  died  in  1586,  and  Godu- 

Ivan  s  Weak  ,      ,  ^   •      j 

S      M  ^^"^  contrived  a  marriage 

♦v   Tk  between    his    sister    and    the 

the  Throne  ,  •     r     ^   i.  j    u. 

young  tsar ;  m  fact,  he  aimed  at 
the  crown  himself.  Although  he  could 
neither  read  nor  write,  he  skilfully  con- 
ducted the  business  of  the  nation,  won  a 
great  reputation  for  Russia  in  foreign 
countries,  and  appreciated  the  value  of 
Western  European  culture.  He  proposed 
to  found  schools  and  in  Moscow  a  uni- 
versity, and  sent  John  Kramer  to  Germany 
to  obtain  professors  for  it.  He  sent  young 
Russians  abroad  to  study,  and  gladly 
employed  foreigners  in  his  service  ;  began 
giving  an  excellent  education  to  his 
children  and  supported  art  and  industries. 
In  a  word,  Godunov  was  thoroughly 
capable  of  performing  his  task.  His  name, 
therefore,  had  a  good  reputation  in  foreign 
countries,  but  not  so  in  Russia.  There  men 
regarded  his  innovations  with  disapproval. 
The  clergy  despised  the  acquisition  of 
foreign  languages  as  superfluous,  con- 
fusing and  dangerous  to  the  faith.  The 
great  nobles  muttered  against  the  upstart. 
Godunov  found  himself  compelled  to 
look  for  support  to  the  higher  clergy 
and  smaller  nobility.  Two  important 
innovations  owe  their  inception  to  this 
circumstance — the  prohibition  of  free- 
dom of  movement  of  the  peasants,  and  the 
founding  of  the  patriarchate.  The  Russian 
peasant  had  hitherto  been  allowed  to 
change  his  master  ;  that  alone  differen- 
tiated him  from  a  slave.  But  this  liberty  of 
migration  only  benefited  the  owners  of 
extensive  properties,  who  held  out  enticing 
advantages  to  the  peasant  in  order  to  be 
able  to  cultivate  their  broad 
Liberty  of  pj^ins.  The  peasantry,  there - 
Peasants  ^^^^^  deserted  the  small  pro- 
Kestricted  pj-jg^Qj-g  ^hose  lands  became 
def)Opulated  and  depreciated  ;  yet  these 
latter  sustained  the  chief  state  burdens. 
Thus  in  this  case  the  interests  of  the  state 
coincided  with  those  of  the  lesser  nobility. 
Godunov,  by  taking  from  the  peasant  the 
right  of  movement,  saved  the  lesser 
nobility  from  misery  and  gained  it  for 
his  purposes.     That  must  have  been  far 

3323 


HlStORV    OF    THE    WORLD 


The  Protector 
of  Orthodox 
Christianity 


irom  his  own  interest,  since  he  was  himself 
the  owner  of  extensive  landed  estates. 

What  was  really  for  his  personal  advan- 
tage was  the  founding  of  the  patriarchate. 
The  Russian  clergy  had  long  complained 
that  its  supreme  head,  the  Patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, was  the  servant 
of  an  infidel  monarch  and 
possessed  no  proper  prestige, 
Moscow  regarded  herself  as  the 
third  Rome,  just  as  Byzantium  had 
thought  herself  the  second.  Why  should 
Moscow  not  obtain  ecclesiastical  inde- 
pendence, now  that  Constantinople  had 
fallen  so  low,  and  Russia  was  reckoned 
the  protector  of  Orthodox  Christianty  ? 
Just  then  Jeremias,  Patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, came  to  Moscow.  Godunov  seized 
the  opportunity  to  win 
him  over  to  his  scheme. 
The  other  patriarchs  as- 
sented, and  in  1598  was 
founded  in  Moscow  the 
patriarchate  which  con- 
tinued until  the  end  of 
1700.  The  first  patriarch 
was  Job,  a  favourite  of 
Godunov. 

Even  now  Godunov 
seems  to  have  made  all 
preparations  for  gaining 
the  throne  after  the  death 
of  Feodor.  But  a  brother 
of  Feodor,  Dmitri,  son  of 
the  seventh  unlawful  wife 
of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  was 
still  living.  Although  he 
had  been  sent  in  good 
time  to  Uglitch  with  all 
his  relations,  there  was  no 
room  for  doubt  that  he 
would  mount  the  throne 
after  the  death  of  Feodor 
arrived  (1591)  that  the  young  Dmitri  was 
no  more.  Public  opinion  incriminated 
Godunov.  It  is  true  that  he  organised  an 
investigation  and  executed  the  inhabitants 
of  Uglitch  ;  but  the  rumour  persisted. 

Nevertheless  Boris  Godunov  mounted 
the  throne  of  the  tsar  after  the  death  of 
the  childless  Feodor  (January  7th,  1598), 
since  the  crown  was  offered  him  by  the 
Patriarch  Job,  and  he  had  been  elected 
in  a  sort  of  imperial  assembly.  In  order 
to  ensure  his  own  safety,  he  threw  Bielskij 
into  prison  and  banished  the  Romanofs. 
One  of  them,  Feodor  Nikititsch,  was 
compelled  to  become  a  monk  under 
the    name  of    Philaret;    his  wife,  Xenia 

3324 


MICHAEL  III.  THE  FIRST  ROMANOF 
When  Michael  III.  was  called  to  rule  in  1613 
a  new  dynasty  mounted  the  Russian  throne. 
It  was  a  time  of  severe  crisis,  and  Michael, 
physically  weak  and  of  small  intellectual  en- 
dowments, was  not  the  necessary  strong:  man. 

The  news  then 


Schestov,  took  the  veil  as  the  nun  Marfa. 
Boris  was  at  first  an  admirable  ruler. 
But  soon  he  was  overcome  by  fears  ;  he, 
too,  saw  himself  surrounded  by  traitors. 
He  completely  lost  his  balance  of  mind 
when  the  news  spread  that  Dmitri  was 
still  alive,  and  was  preparing  to  recover 
the  throne.  Lithuanian  magnates  under- 
took to  put  a  person  who  styled  himself 
the  miraculously  rescued  Dmitri  on  the 
Russian  throne  by  force  of  arms.  The 
people  believed  that  Dmitri  was  the  true 
tsarevitch.  The  troops  wavered  in 
their  loyalty,  and,  in  spite  of  the  reverse 
which  was  inflicted  on  the  pretender, 
his  adherents  increased  in  numbers. 

Godunov  died  in  1605,  in  the  middle  of 
this  movement,  and  the  pseudo-Dmitri 
became  master  of  Russia. 
The  whole  nation  shed 
tears  of  joy  at  seeing  the 
son  of  their  prince  once 
more.  His  behaviour  and 
sympathies  showed  that 
he  was  no  Rurikovitch. 
He  doted  on  the  West  and 
on  the  Roman  Church, 
he  associated  with  Jesuits, 
and  wished  to  convert 
Russia  to  Catholicism. 
He  ridiculed  the  native 
customs  and  the  Boyars, 
and  scorned  the  court 
ceremonial.  The  Polish 
nobles  who  came  to  Mos- 
cow with  their  retinue 
indulged 
behaviour 
Russians. 


in  shameless 
towards  the 
A  month 
hardly  had  elapsed  before 
Dmitri  fell  victim  to  a 
conspiracy  (May  17th, 
1606).  His  corpse  was  burnt,  and  a 
cannon  loaded  with  the  ashes,  which  were 
then  scattered  to  the  four  winds. 

The  succeeding  period  was  full  of  dis- 
turbances. In  a  new  assembly,  summoned 
by  the  patriarch,  Vasilij  Schujskij,  who 
had  conducted  the  inquiry  in  Uglitch,  had 
y    ....  struck  the  pretender,  and  had 

c!*t'  '^,  ••  .1.     the  courage  to  tell  him  he  was 
Schujskij  the  °  1     X    J  i 

j^      -,  an  impostor,  was  elected  tsar. 

Since  a  new    patriarch  had 

been    installed  by  the    pseudo-Dmitri,  a 

change  now  took  place  in  this  office.   The 

assembly    imposed  on  the  new    tsar   the 

condition  that  he  was  not  to  punish  any 

offender  by  death  without   a  trial,   nor 

confiscate    the    property    of    criminals, 


THE   MONARCHS    OF    MOSCOW 


and  that  false  accusers  should  be  liable 
to  penalties.  These  formed  a  charter  or 
constitution,  such  as  the  Slachta  had 
extorted  from  the  Polish  king.  Schujskij 
solemnly  swore  to  it.  But  Russia  saw  in 
it  a  weakening  of  the  royal  dignity.  The 
dominion  of  the  nobility  was  feared  more 
than  the  tyranny  of  the  tsar. 

Schujskij  could  not  hold  his  own.  Not 
merely  were  the  nobility  opposed  to 
him  from  jealousy  and  envy,  but  new 
pretenders  cropped  up  who  professed  to  be 
Dmitri,  or  Peter,  Feodor's  son.  A  more 
dangerous  symptom  was  that  the  King  of 
Poland  came  forward  as  a  serious  candidate 
for  the  Russian  crown.  In  1587  the 
Swedish  house  of  Vasa  attained  the  Polish 
throne  in  the  person  of  Sigismund  III. 
It  was  wished  to  })rocure 
the  Russian  crown  for 
his  son,  Vladislav  ;  Sigis- 
mund would  certainly 
have  liked  to  obtain 
it  for  himself.  The 
Polish  troops,  which  were 
already  in  the  vicinity 
of  Moscow,  did  not 
wish  to  leave  Russia, 
since  the  new  tsar  had 
already  been  elected. 
Schujskij  could  not 
restore  order,  and  was 
"  humbly "  begged  by 
the  assembly  to  vacate 
the  throne,  since  he  was 
unfortunate  in  his  govern- 
ment and  could  not  en- 
force any  obedience  to 
his  rule.  He  abdicated 
and  became  a  monk.  The 
council  of  Boyars  now 
elected  Vladislav  to  be 
tsar,  on  the  condition  that  he  would  accept 
the  Orthodox  faith.  The  Polish  troops 
were  already  allowed  to  enter  Moscow  and 
commanded  the  city. 

Then  the  Russian  people  rose  throughout 
the  empire,  the  monasteries  also,  with 
the  Troizko-Sergievsch  at  their  head. 
Nobles,  merchants,  and 
peasants  banded  together  to 
save  Russia  from  the  foreign 
yoke.  In  Nijni  Novgorod 
many,  following  the  example  of  a  meat- 
seller,  Kusma  Minin,  sacrificed  a  third  part 
of  their  property.  The  noble  prince  Poshar- 
skij  took  the  lead,  and  the  Poles  were  soon 
driven  out  of  Moscow.  In  the  year  1613 
the  new  assembly  was  convened.      The 


A  New 
Dynasty  for 
Russia 


PHILARET  :  FATHER  OF  MICHAEL  III- 
The  Metropolitan  Philaret,  who  g:ave  the 
first  Romanof  to  the  throne  of  Russia,  really 
ruled  in  place  of  his  son,  but  as  he  had  no 
governing  talents,  he  accomplished  very  little. 


Russia  in  Fear 

of  the 
Foreign  Yoke 


votes  now  fell  on  a  step-grandson  of  Anas- 
tasia,  wife  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  Michael 
III.  Romanof,  the  fifteen-year-old  son 
of  the  Metropolitan  Philaret,  who  had 
gone  as  ambassador  to  the  Polish  king 
and  had  been  kept  prisoner  by  him  in 
Marienburg.  Even  in  1610 
Michael  found  himself  among 
the  candidates  for  the  throne, 
and  had  barely  escaped  Polish 
plots.  With  him  a  new  dynasty  mounted 
the  Russian  throne. 

The  state  was  impoverished  and  public 
affairs  were  in  a  bad  condition.  Many 
towns  declared  outright  that  they  could 
pay  no  taxes.  Michael,  who  had  received 
a  monastic  education,  and  was  physically 
weak  and  of  small  intellectual  endowments, 
was  not  the  right  man 
for  Russia  at  this  severe 
crisis.  Even  his  father, 
Philaret,  who  really 
governed  in  place  of  his 
son,  possessed  no  talent 
as  a  ruler,  while  able 
monarchs  were  seated  on 
the  thrones  of  Sweden 
and  Poland  in  the  per- 
sons of  Vladislav  and 
Gustavus  II.  Adolphus. 

Russia  thus  was  forced 
to  endure  still  longer  to 
be  cut  off  from  the  Baltic 
Sea  by  Poland  and 
Sweden.  In  the  treaties 
which  she  made  with 
Sweden  at  Stolbovo  in 
1617,  with  Poland  at 
Deulino  in  1618,  and 
then  at  Poljanovka  in 
1634,  Russia  was  forced 
to  relinquish  all  claim  on 
Livonia,  Smolensk,  and  a  series  of  towns. 
"  Russia  now  cannot  launch  a  single  boat 
on  the  Baltic  without  our  consent,"  said 
Gustavus  Adolphus  in  the  Swedish  diet, 
"  and  it  will  be  hard  for  the  Russians  to 
leap  over  this  stream."  Even  against 
other  enemies  Russia  felt  her  weakness. 
When  the  Cossacks  had  conquered  Turkish 
Azov,  the  tsar  ordered  them  to  evacuate 
the  fortress.  The  highest  merits  of 
Michael  and  his  father  were  that  they 
governed  without  harshness  and  endea- 
voured to  raise  the  economic  position  of 
Russia.  After  centuries  of  oppression 
from  Tartars  and  tsars  the  people  once 
more  enjoyed  more  humane  treatment. 
Both  rulers  held  frequent  sessions  of  the 

3325 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Fortune 
Smiles  on 
Russia 


Privy  Council,  which  had  long  been  in 
abeyance. 

It  was  only  under  Michael's  son  Alexis 
(1645-1676)  and  under  the  children  of 
Alexis,  Feodor  (1676-1682),  Ivan  (1682- 
1689),  Sophia,  and  Peter  the  Great,  that 
fortune  once  more  smiled  on  Russia,  first 
in  consequence  of  the  weakness  of  Poland 
under  John  Casimir,  and  then 
from  her  own  increased  strength. 
The  Ukraine  then  submitted  to 
the  tsar ;  in  1667  Poland  in 
the  treaty  at  Andrussov  was  obliged  to 
cede  the  Ukraine,  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Dnieper,  with  Kiev ;  this  was  finally 
ratified  in  1686  in  the  peace  of  Grzymul- 
tovskij  by  Sobieski,  when  Sophia  reigned 
in  the  name  of  her  infant  brother.  Russia 
also  in  1667  recovered  Smolensk  and  other 
territories,  which  had  been  the  cause  of 
wars  for  centuries.  Peter  the  Great  first 
began  the  war  with  Sweden  on  account  of 
Livonia.  It  was  still  more  important  for 
Russia  that  with  the  Romanofs  Tartar 
Russia  ceased,  and  its  Europeanising  began. 
The  Tartar  supremacy  was  the  greatest 
calamit^'  that  befell  the  Russian  state  in 
its  entire  historical  development,  not 
merely  because  it  lost  political  indepen- 
dence for  nearly  300  years,  and  was  treated 
with  barbarity  and  became  impoverished, 
but,  in  a  still  higher  degree,  because  the 
people  were  nearly  500  years  behind 
Western  Europe  in  the  progress  of  civilisa- 
tion. A  despotic  government,  which 
treated  its  subjects  like  Asiatics,  a  taxation 
which  emptied  the  pockets  of  the  people, 
a  brutalisation  of  habits,  a  growth  of 
servility  among  the  population,  and,  as  a 
consequence,  a  disparagement  and  even 
a  contempt  for  culture,  an  Asiatic  arro- 
gance, and  a  tendency  to  aloofness  from 
the  West  European  world — all  this  was 
the  fruit  of  the  long  Tartar  thraldom. 
And  can  any  one  assert  that  even  now 
Russia  has  entirely  outgrown  these  charac- 
teristics ?  It  was  only  towards  the  end 
—^  .      of  the  fifteenth    century  that 

J 1.  ?"  '  more  frequent  tidings  of  Russia 
Th  Id  reached  Western  Europe.  On 
the  other  hand,  Russia  had  a 
keen  interest  in  the  West.  The  Florentine 
Union  might  be  regarded  as  the  first  step 
towards  closer  intercourse  between  East 
and  West.  But  the  reign  of  Ivan  III.  in 
this,  as  in  many  other  connections,  marks 
a  real  epoch.  Ivan  III.  made  himself 
famous  by  his  marriage  with  the  house  of 
the  Palaeologi,  and  also  by  the  fact  that 

3326 


he  finally  shook  ofi  the  Tartar  yoke.  The 
Hapsburgs  were  the  first  to  wish  to  enter 
into  relations  with  Russia.  Nicholas  Popel 
von  Lobkovitz  (i486)  and  George  von 
Thurn  appeared  there  as  the  envoys  of 
Frederic  III.  and  Maximilian.  The  Arch- 
duke Sigismund  of  the  Tyrol,  who  died  in 
1496,  sent  Michael  Snups  with  the  order  to 
learn  Russian,  and  inquire  into  all  the 
chief  points  of  interest  in  the  country. 

Ivan  himself  instituted  embassies  to 
Hungary,  Germany  and  Italy.  He  asked 
King  Matthias  Corvinus  to  send  him  skilful 
miners  (1482).  He  made  the  same  request 
to  the  Emperor  Frederic  III.,  asking  at 
the  same  time  for  an  artillerist,  a  builder, 
and  a  silversmith.  He  summoned  pain- 
ters and  architects,  goldsmiths  and  bell 
founders  from  Italy  ;  among  the  engineers 
the  most  famous  was  Aristotele  Fioraventi, 
a  Bolognese,  who  cast  cannon  and  created 
the  first  artillery  in  Russia.  An  Italian, 
Giambattista  della  Volpe,  was  director  of 
the  Mint  in  Moscow  after  the  year  1469. 
The  Greek  diplomatist,  Trachaniotes,  in 
the  year  1489,  conducted  negotiations  for 
the  marriage  of  a  daughter  of  Ivan  III. 
with  Maximilian.  In  1520 
ew  ou  e  Paolo  Centurione,  a  Genoese 
"^^"d'  ^^°^^  merchant,  came  to  Moscow 
with  a  papal  letter  of  intro- 
duction. He  was  ostensibly  com- 
missioned to  find  a  new  route  from 
Europe  to  India,  but  undoubtedly  received 
other  secret  instructions.  Important  re- 
sults followed  the  diplomatic  labours 
of  the  Austrian  ambassador,  Siegmund 
Herberstein,  who  visited  Russia  on  two 
occasions  (1516-1518  and  1526-1527)  and 
wrote  a  much  read  book,  "  Rerum  mosco- 
viticarum  commentarii,"  about  the  results 
of  his  investigations.  A  Carinthian  by 
birth,  he  knew  Slavonic,  and  could  there- 
fore with  great  "facility  learn  the  Russian 
language  and  collect  news.  Neverthe- 
less, he  relates  many  fabulous  stories  of 
wonderful  human  beings  and  beasts  in 
Russia. 

The  Venetians  and  English  being  excited 
by  the  discovery  of  America,  like  the 
Genoese  by  their  merchant  Centurione, 
wished  to  find  a  new  route  through  Russia 
to  India.  In  England,  Willoughby  and 
Chancellor,  in  the  reign  of  King  Edward 
VI.  (1553)  fitted  out  an  expedition  to  find 
the  north-east  passage  to  India;  Will- 
oughby was  lost ;  Chancellor  was  driven  by 
a  storm  to  the  mouth  of  the  Dwina.  Ivan 
the  Terrible  received  him  very  graciously 


^7zr 


TSAR    AND    TSARITSA    IN     NATIONAL    COSTUMES 
OF    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 


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an- 


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B'^^B^^  v^l 

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V  J 

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TPTT 

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RUSSIAN    PRINCES    IN    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    DRESSES    OF    THE    GRAND    DUKES 

THE    RICH    COSTUMES    OF    RUSSIA'S    ROYALTY 

3327 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


England's 
Trade  with 
Russia 


and  gave  the  English  merchants  special 
privileges.  After  that  time  a  brisk  trade 
developed  between  England  and  Russia  ; 
in  fact,  an  English  trading  company  for 
Russia  was  founded,  with  headquarters  at 
Moscow,  and  several  branches  which  be- 
came a  formidable  rival  of  the 
Hansa.  Ivan,  a  friend  of  the 
British,  was  nick-named  by 
the  anti-progressive  Russians 
"  the  English  Tsar,"  and  even  contem- 
plated the  idea  of  marrying  Queen  Elizabeth 
of  England.  The  English  merchants  soon 
aimed  at  monopolising  the  trade  and 
industries  of  Russia  ;  they  started  factories 
and  prepared  accurate  maps  of  separate 
districts.  Their  trading-agent,  Giles 
Fletcher,  wrote  in  1591  a  detailed  account 
of  Russian  trade.  This  first  discovery  of 
Russia,  as  the  people  of  England  called 
Chancellor's  journey,  brought  arich  harvest 
to  the  English,  and  produced  a  large  output 
of  rather  valuable  literature  on  Russia. 

The  Dutch,  here,  as  in  many  other  parts 
of  the  world,  followed  in  the  footsteps  of 
the  English.  They,  too,  equipped  several 
expeditions  in  order  to 
find  the  northern  passage 
+0  China  and  India,  and 
their  trade  soon  out- 
stripped the  English. 
Isaac  Massa,  their  agent, 
who  made  several  jour- 
neys in  Russia  and  Asia, 
collected  important  infor- 
mation, studied  carto- 
graphy, and  was  the  first 
to  bring  home  trust- 
worthy accounts  of 
Siberia.  Hessel  Gerritsz, 
a  Dutchman,  published 
in  1641  a  map  of  Russia 
(the  first,  by  Anton  Wied, 
dates  from  the  year 
1542).  Even  the  French 
and  Germans  took  steps 
to  open  commercial  rela- 
tions with  Russia. 

But  the  Russian  nation,  p***"""  °^  foreigners, 
instead  of  seizing  the  opportunity  and 
learning  as  much  as  possible  from  the 
foreigners,  offered  energetic  resistance  to 
foreign  influence  ;  only  some  few  persons 
tried  to  bring  Russia  into  closer  relations 
with  Western  Europe.  A  feud  broke  out 
between  the  conservatives  and  the  party 
of  progress,  between  darkness  and  en- 
lightenment, which  characterised  the  inner 
life  of  Russia  after  its  emancipation  from 

3328 


Resistance 
to  Western 
Culture 


THE    TSAR    FEODOR    III. 

ovemed 

exis,  an 

accomplished    and    cultured    ruler    and    the 

Feodor  died  in   1682. 


A  monarch  of  kindly  disposition,  he  g:( 
on  the  same  lines  as  his  father,  aT< 


the  Mongol  dominion.  It  continued  with 
undiminished  force  and  persistently  de- 
manded immense  sacrifices  of  blood, 
wealth,  and  the  most  valuable  possessions 
of  mankind.  The  future  of  Russia 
depended  on  the  decision  she  took  to 
oppose  or  to  encourage  progress. 

In  Russia,  as  a  despotic  state,  the 
decision  ought,  in  the  first  instance,  to 
come  from  the  rulers  themselves.  But 
the  education  which  always  fettered  the 
Russian  tsars  to  the  palace  and  its 
environs,  and  tied  them  with  innumerable 
formalities,  was  ill  adapted  to  make  clear- 
sighted, level-headed  men  of  them.  The 
Orthodox  Church  in  her  ignorance  sup- 
ported the  policy  of  resistance 
to  Western  culture.  Such  harm- 
less innovations  as  shaving  the 
beard,  bathing  on  certain  days, 
killing  vermin,  or  wearing  European 
clothes,  were,  in  the  eyes  of  the  uneducated 
clergy,  who  could  hardly  read  or  write, 
regarded  as  treachery  to  their  nationality 
and  the  Church. 

It  is,  therefore,  no  mere  accident  that 
Boris  Godunov,  having 
been  brought  up  far  from 
the  court,  was  the  first 
tsar  who  could  be  called 
an  Occidental  friend  of 
civilisation.  Not  only 
did  he  invite  foreigners 
to  his  country,  but  he  sent 
young  men  to  study  in 
Liibeck.  France,  and  Eng- 
land, founded  schools,  and 
wished  even  to  endow  a 
university  at  Moscow, 
and  for  this  purpose 
obtained  professors  from 
Germany.  He  had  his 
children  taught  by  stran- 
gers, and  ordered  a  map 
of  Russia  to  be  prepared 
for  his  son,  which  was 
afterwards  used  by  the 
Dutchman,  Hessel  Ger- 
ritsz, for  his  publication. 
He  was,  therefore,  compared  by  foreign 
nations  to  Ptolemy  or  Numa  Pompilius. 
But  he  roused  antagonism  in  Russia,  and 
representations  were  made  to  him  through 
the  patriarch.  Even  Dmitri  the  Pretender 
was  a  friend  of  culture,  and  for  this  reason 
could  not  hold  his  own.  Schujskij,  a 
thorough-paced  Muscovite,  repealed  the 
innovations  of  Godunov  and  Dmitri. 
The    first     Romanofs     were    friends    of 


THE    MONARCHS    OF    MOSCOW 


European  culture.  Michael  summoned 
scholars  to  Russia ;  Arsenius,  a  Greek, 
set  up  a  Greek  and  Latin  school  in  Moscow. 
A  still  greater  patron  of  foreigners  was 
Alexis  (1645-1676).  He  was  devoted  to 
hawking,  although  it  was  forbidden  by 
the  Church; 
he  brought 
foreigners  in 

numbers  to  Rus- 
sia, protected 
them  from  the 
hatred  of  the 
people,  and  as- 
signed them  a 
particular  quar- 
ter in  Moscow, 
which  was  called 
the  Germ  an 
suburb  or  Slo- 
boda.  Previous 
tsars  had  not 
even  known  how 
to  write;  we  have 
many  letters 
written  byAlexis, 
a  treatise  on 
hawking,  and 
memoirs  of  the 
Polish  war.  It 
was  he  who 
fetched  the 
Little  Russian 
scholars  Slavi- 
necky  and  Po- 
locky  to  Moscow 
and  established 
the  first  postal 
c  o  mmunications 
with  the  West. 
He     also      first 


THE    PATRIARCH    NIKON,    THE    REFORMER 
The  reforming  zeal  of  the  age  revealed  itself  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Church  itself,  where  the  Patriarch  Nikon  attempted  to  introduce 
ecclesiastical  changes.    Among  other  things,  he  ordered  a  revision 
of  the  service  books,  but  the  success  of  his  efforts  was  very  slight 

Reproduced  irom  an  old  engraving;. 


established  a  court  theatre.  His  son 
Feodor,  a  monarch  of  kindly  disposition, 
governed  on  the  same  lines.  Now 
at  last  private  individuals  and  ministers 
were  found  who  were  zealous  advo- 
cates of  West  European  culture.  The 
enlightened  chancellor  Alexis,  Ordin- 
Nashtshokin,  and  the  Boyar  Matvejev 
were  Westerners ;  they  lived  in  civilisation, 
and  were  students  of  learning  without 
paying  any  attention  to  the  prejudices  of 
their  countrjonen.  Vasilij  Golizyn,  who  was 
minister  (1680-1689)  and  favourite  of  the 
regent  Sophia,  was  especially  praised  and 
admired  by  the  foreigners.  Neuville,  the 
Franco-Polish  diplomatist,  wrote  of  him 
that  he  was  one  of  the  most  intellectual, 
magnificent,  and  courteous  princes  of  his 


time.  Even  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church 
there  appeared,  under  Alexis,  a  man  who 
ventured  to  meditate  ecclesiastical  reforms; 
this  was  the  Patriarch  Nikon.  Among 
other  things,  he  ordered  a  revision  of  the 
service  books,  into  which  many  errors  had 

been  introduced 
by  copyists.  But 
the  success  of  his 
efforts  was  tri- 
fling. The  emen- 
dations of  Nikon 
far  from  a  re- 
form, produced  a 
schism  in  the 
Russian  Church. 
The  priests  re- 
fused to  accept 
the  revised 
books,  and  re- 
garded them  as 
heretical.  This 
schism  still 
estranges  from 
the  Russian 
Church  millions 
of  subjects,  who 
embody  Old  Rus- 
sia. From  the 
bosom  of  the 
Raskolnikscame, 
for  example, 
Pugatchef.  After 
postal  comrauni- 
cations  with 
Western  Europe 
had  been  insti- 
tuted, a  Russian 
wrote  :  "The 
foreigners  have 
knocked  a  hole 
between  our  country  and  theirs ;  the  post, 
which  possibly  is  financially  advantageous 
to  the  tsar,  only  harms  the  country.  The 
foreigners  know  at  once  whatever  takes 
place  in  our  land." 

And  yet  what  would  Russia  have  been 
without  the  foreigners  ?  Everything  had 
to  be  brought  in  from  abroad  ;  architects, 
engineers,  painters,  artists,  officers,  cannon- 
founders,  bell-founders,  miners,  silver- 
smiths, goldsmiths,  doctors,  chemists, 
actors,  teachers,  and  so  on.  It  was  only 
under  the  direction  of  the  English, 
Germans,  and  Dutch  that  industries, 
such  as  mines,  glass  manufactories, 
powder-mills,  etc.,  were  started.  For 
all  military  successes  the  Russians  are 
thus  indebted  to  the  outside  world. 

3329 


The  one  aim  of  Peter  the  Great  was  to  advance  the  interests  of  his  country,  and  he  devoted  himself 

customs '^f"n?h^r^n.'t^,^"n^-'''".TT  '°'  *'"^^=»^''-  .  ««  -^^  ^  close  student  of  thrmanners  and 
customs  of  other  nations.  Dunn?  the  tsars  residence  m  London  he  was  taken  by  Lord  Dartmouth 
to  the  roof  of  the  House  of  Lords,  where  he  watched  the  Second  Clm.nber  traLactinr  its  b„sT„ess 


3330 


EASTERN 

EUROPE  TO 

THE  FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


RUSSIA 
IV 


I 


THE  FOUNDER  OF  MODERN   RUSSIA 

THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF    PETER   THE    GREAT 
I 


T  was  the  greatest  good  fortune  for  Russia 
that  in  the  long  struggle  between  light 
and  darkness,  affecting  aii  the  aspects  of 
Russian  life,  it  possessed  such  a  ruler 
as  Peter  the  Great,  the  son  of  Alex  s  by 
his  second  wife — a  lady  of  the  house  of 
Naryszkin.  Peter,  a  man  of  rare  gifts, 
with  a  marvellous  memory  and  an  indomit- 
able will,  placed  himself  most  emphatically 
on  the  side  of  the  party  of  culture  ;  he 
overthrew  with  a  strong  but  rough  hand 
the  enemies  of  European  civilisation  and 
refinement,  brought  Russia  suddenly  nearer 
to  Europe,  and  procured  her  an  honourable 
place  among  the  great  European  powers. 
Like  Godonov,  he  had  not  been  brought 
up  in  the  stifling  atmosphere  of  the  tsar's 
court,  but  in  the  country,  since  his  sister 
Sophia  wished  to  keep  him  far  from  the 
throne.  A  rough  child  of  Nature,  with 
keen  mother  wit,  he  rode  rough-shod  over 
all  meaningless  tradition,  and  while  thus 
arousing  the  horror  of  his  countrymen,  he 
excited  the  admiration  of  the  outside 
world.  He  was  the  first  Isar  who  left  his 
palace,  laid  his  own  hand  to  every  sort  of 
work,  travelled  widely,  and  performed 
the  hitherto  unprecedented  feat  of  a 
journey  to  the  West. 

Peter  became  absolute  tsar  in  1689, 
after  his  half-sister  Sophia  the  regent,  who 
had  even  plotted  against  his  life,  had  been 
placed  in  the  convent  of  the  Muscovite 
Sisters.  His  brother  and  co-tsar  Ivan  V. 
took  no  share  in  the  government,  but  was 
P  t  '  G  merely  named  with  Peter  in  all 
.  *  .  ^  state  documents  down  to  his 
.  D  s  •  death  on  January  29th,  1696. 
By  the  year  1725  Peter  with 
restless  energy  had  accomplished  a  vast 
number  of  works,  for  the  completion  of 
which  the  Russians,  with  their  natural 
lethargy,  would  have  otherwise  required 
centuries.  One  goal  shone  before  him 
and  led  his  steps ;  he  wished  to  make  Russia 
great  and  strong  by  culture.  And  since 
he  was  not  for  one  moment  in  doubt  that 


2X2 


much  must  first  be  learned  from  Europe,  he 
twice  journeyed  westward  to  study,  and 
was  always  eager  to  bring  his  country 
nearer  to  the  Western  nations  and  to  pave 
the  way  for  a  systematised  commerce  with 
them.  Just  as  his  plans  were  diametric- 
ally opposed  to  the  views  of  the  Russian 
conservatives,  so  his  life  was  an  uninter- 
TheDark  '^Pted  and  bitter  struggle 
Forces  f  against  Old  Russia,  against  all 
Old  Russia  ^  d^T^^  forces  which  openly 
and  in  secret  tried  to  preserve 
the  old  order — in  a  word,  against  the  past. 
This  explains  his  enthusiasm  for  the  sea 
and  the  navy,  which  might  become  the 
connecting  links  with  Western  Eurof)e. 
Russia  was  an  inland  empire,  on  every 
side  somewhat  remote  from  the  sea,  and 
her  neighbours  jealously  watched  that  she 
should  not  set  sail  on  it.  This  unfavour- 
able geographical  position  has  coloured  the 
whole  history  of  Russia.  Condemned  by 
Nature  to  seclusion,  she  became  in  the 
course  of  time  accustomed  to  this,  and  soon 
regarded  it  as  a  natural  characteristic. 
The  Uttle  country  of  Greece  was  formerly 
indebted  to  its  position  on  the  Mediterra- 
nean, the  high-road  of  the  world,  for  its 
high  civilisation,  as  also  was  ancient  Italy. 
For  this  reason  Ivan  IV.  had  already 
endeavoured  to  conquer  Livonia  and  win 
a  place  on  the  Baltic.  Peter  grasped  this 
idea  still  more  clearly  and  applied  himself 
to  the  naval  question  with  all  the  fire  of 
his  soul.  When  he  saw  the  sea  for  the 
first  time  at  Archangel,  he  was  as  it  were 
inspired.  English  and  Dutch  ships  came 
thither  by  the  long  and  seldom  ice-free 
route  past  the  North  Cape.  That  was,  for 
the  time  being,  the  only  way  to  Western 
Europe,  and  there  was  the  first  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  foreign  shipping  ;  Peter 
was  seized  by  a  longing  for  the  sea,  like  a 
man  who,  after  long  years  in  a  foreign 
country,  is  smitten  with  home-sickness. 
He  learnt  shipbuilding,  studied  naval 
subjects,   associated  with   mariners,   and 

3331 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


on  a 

Tour  of  Study 


formed  the  plan  of  journeying  to  Western 
Europe  in  order  to  gain  a  complete  know- 
ledge of  the  subject.  But  he  first  con- 
quered the  Turkish  Azov,  in  1696,  and 
determined  to  build  a  fleet  on  the  corner 
of  the  Sea  of  Azov. 

He  had  been  primarily  indebted  to  the 
technical  skill  of  foreign  officers  for  the 
p  t  th  G  capture  of  the  fortress,  and 
e  er  e  rea  ^j^-^  could  only  confirm  him 
in  his  intention  of  going  to 
the  West.  His  victory  over 
the  Turks  produced  an  impression  in 
Western  Europe  and  many  sovereigns  con- 
gratulated him.  In  the  year  1697  he 
started  on  his  first  European  journey,  ac- 
companied by  270  followers.  This  was  an 
epoch-making  event  for  Russia  and  for  the 
civilised  world,  since  Russia  thus  broke  with 
her  past  and  went  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  the 
West,  onlj'  to 
assume  later  one 
of  the  first  places 
in  the  circle  of 
the  European 
powers.  It  was 
not  so  much  the 
magnific  nee  of 
the  Western 
courts  that  im- 
pressed the  royal 
barbarian  as  the 
culture ;  before 
that  he  bowed 
humbly. 

Disguised  as  a 
simple  member 
of  his  suite  under 


THE 


the  nobles,  who  avoided  all  manual 
labour,  that  he  worked  there  with  an  axe 
as  a  carpenter  in  order  to  learn  thoroughly 
the  art  of  shipbuilding. 

Peter,  on  his  return  home  from  abroad, 
tried  to  utilise  what  he  had  learned  in 
as  many  ways  and  places  as  he  could. 
The  knowledge  that  Russia  emphatically 
required  access  to  the  sea  for  her  developr 
ment  soon  led  him  into  war  with  Sweden, 
which,  by  the  possession  of  Livonia, 
Esthonia,  Ingria,  and  Finland,  could  call 
the  Baltic  its  own.  This,  the  second  or 
true  "Northern  War"  with  Charles  XII. 
of  Sweden  ranks  among  the  most  important 
in  European  history.  Peter's  badly  armed 
and  ill-trained  army  confronted  the  best 
troops  in  Europe.  But  every  defeat 
which  he  sustained  only  served  him  as 
a  lesson.     The  losses  of  his  enemies  grew 

larger  and  larger, 
until  on  July  8th, 
1709,  he  crushed 
them  at  Poltava. 
At  a  banquet 
afterwards  he 
drank  the  health 
of  the  captured 
Swedish  officers 
for  the  lessons 
they  had  taught 
him. 

From  that  day 
forward  he  made 
continuous  pro- 
gress  on    the 


»w^    WIVES    OF    PETER    THE    GREAT  „    .  . 

This  great  monarch  was  twice  married.    It  was  a  deep  sorrow  to  him  -DaillC,    UntU     at 

that  his  first  wife,  Eudoxia  Lopuchin,  whom,  in  1698,  he  sent  to  a  con-  the     peace     of 

the     plebeian    vent,  did  not  share  his  reforming:  zeal  but  schemed  against  him ;  his  Nvstad  (ScDtcm- 

»,^»v,«     nf     Ppfpr    s^*^**"*^  wife,  Catharine,  succeeded  him  on  the  throne  and  died  in  1727.  i    'T    y^fU      t'7'9t\ 


name 

Michailof,  he  went  into  foreign  countries, 
not  to  enjoy  himself,  but  to  learn.  He 
did  not  yet  consider  himself  worthy  to 
appear  in  all  his  state.  He  had  for  some 
time  served  in  his  own  army  as  a  private, 
then  as  a  bombardier,  later  as  a  captain, 
and  so  through  the  grades,  and  had  sub- 
mitted to  the  orders  of  foreigners.  It  was 
only  after  great  victories  that  he  ventured 
to  assume  higher  commands.  He  went  via 
Riga  to  Holland  first,  and  then  visited 
England  and  Holland  again  ;  not  France 
this  time,  because  Louis  XIV.,  as  Saint- 
Simon  tells  us,  dissuaded  him  in  a  courteous 
manner.  He  wished  to  see  everything 
everywhere.  Holland,  with  its  highly 
developed  navy,  especially  attracted  him. 
It  was  an  important  point  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  Russian  people,  particularly 

3332 


he  obtained  Livonia,  Esthonia,  Ingria,  and 
parts  of  Finland  and  Carelia.  Sweden  thus 
sank  to  the  position  of  a  second-class  or 
third  class  power.  The  maritime  problem 
was  solved  for  Russia ;  a  new  era  dawned. 
Peter  and  Russia  were  seized  with  a  wild 
joy.  Peter  publicly  danced  upon  the 
table  and  drank  to  the  health 
of  the  cheering  mob.  Ho  had 
resolved  even  before  the  close 
of  the  war  to  remove  the 
centre  of  the  empire  to  the  Baltic.  He, 
therefore,  built  after  1703  on  the  Neva, 
in  the  territory  conquered  from  Sweden, 
a  fortress  and  a  new  capital  which  was 
to  bear  his  name,  in  order  that  Russia 
should  not  again  be  driven  back  from  the 
sea,  and  that  she  should  not  forget  the 
man  who   had   led  her  to  the  sea.    He 


Russia  as 
a  Maritime 
Power 


PETER    THE    GREAT,    THE    FOUNDER    OF    MODERN    RUSSIA 


remembered,  as  he  did  so,  the  ancient  times 
when  that  coast  had  been  Russian,  and 
the  men  who  had  won  the  first  victory 
over  the  Swedes.  He,  therefore,  founded 
the  Alexander-Nevskij  Order.  St.  Peters- 
burg, wh.re  he  felt  himself  "  in  a  sort  of 
paradise,"  he  modestly  called  his  little 
window  looking  on  Europe. 

This  same  longing  for  the  sea  impelled 
him  to  win  the  shore  of  the  Black  Sea. 
The  declaration  of  hostilities  by  the 
sultan,  whom  Sweden,  the  Tartars,  Stan- 
islaus Lesczynski,  and  the  French  had 
instigated  to  make  war  on  Russia,  was 
therefore  most 
welcome  to  him. 
Peter  already 
dreamt  of  march- 
ing  to  "Zari- 
grad,"  that  is, 
Constantinople, 
as  once  the  heroes 
of  old  Russia  had 
done,  in  order  to 
free  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  East 
— S  e  r  b  s,  M  o  n  - 
tenegrins,  B  u  1- 
-garians,  Greeks, 
and  Wallachians 
— from  the  Tur- 
kish yoke.  He 
calculated  upon 
a  universal  rising 
of  the  Christians, 
but  his  under- 
taking failed 
simply  because 
no  such  rising 
took  place.  Sur- 
rounded at  Husch 


for  new  high-roads  and  waterways  through- 
out   his   empTe,    and   contempla  ed   con- 
necting the  Twerza  with  the   Msta,   the 
Dwina  and  the  Don  with  the  Volga,  the 
Caspian  Sea  with  the  Black  Sea,  and  both 
by  means  of  the  Volga  with  the  Baltic. 
He  constructed  the  great  Ladoga  Canal, 
which  connected  the  Wolchov  with  the 
Neva.     Holland  was  his  model  in  these 
operations,    as    Sweden    was    for    road- 
making.     The   postal   system   was   satis- 
factorily enlarged  under  Peter,  although 
German  officials  were  still  employed  and  the 
postal  accounts  were  for  a  long  time  kept 
^"■^"■^"■■"^^^■^^  in  German.  Peter 
also  tried  to  im- 
prove the  fairs,  of 
which  there  were 
some  1,630. 

He  concluded 
commercial  trea- 
ties with  several 
European  states, 
ordered  his  Bo- 
yars  to  send  their 
children  abroad, 
and  undertook 
himself,  in  the 
year  1716,  his 
second  journey 
to  the  West, 
where  he  devoted 
his  special  atten- 
tion this  time  to 
art  and  scie:  ce, 
a  proof  of  the 
progress  he  him- 
self had  made  in 
culture.  He  now 
visited  France 
and  tc  ok  pains 
on  the  Pruth  by  peter  the  great :  chief  of  all  the  romanofs  to  conclude  a 

•7  on  nnn  TnrL-c  Becoming:  absolute  Tsar  in  1(589,  Peter  the  Great  rode  rough-shod  n  nm  m  o  r  r-  i  '^  1 
^uu,UUO  XUlKb  oygr  aU  meaningless  tradition,  and  soon  procured  for  Russia  an  COmmerCiaJ 
and     Tartars,     he    honourable  place  among  the  great  European  powers.    He  died  in  172.5.    treaty     and 


was  compelled  to  surrender  Azov  on  July 
23rd,  1711,  and  destroy  his  fleet.  He  took 
this  humiliation  deeply  to  heart.  It  was 
reserved  for  his  successors  to  conquer  the 
northern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea. 

He  fought  with  better  fortune  against 
the  Persians  for  the  possession  of  the 
Caspian  Sea,  across  which  the  commerce 
between  Europe  and  Asia  was  intended 
to  pass.  The  Russians  captured  in  1723 
Daghestan,  Gilan,  Mazandaran,  with  Resht, 
Asterabad,  and  Baku.  The  way  was 
paved  for  their  dominion  on  the  Caspian 
Sea.  With  a  thorough  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  free  intercourse,  Peter  provided 


closer  alliance  with  Louis  XV.,  and  would 
have  been  glad  to  marry  his  daughter 
Elizabeth  to  the  heir  to  the  throne.  But 
France  only  consented  to  a  commercial 
treaty.  Louis  XV.  married  on  September 
5th,  1725,  Maria,  daughter  of  that  Stanis- 
laus Lesczynski  whom  Peter  in  1707  had 
helped  to  drive  from  the  Polish  throne. 

Peter  also  brought  foreigners  into  the 
country  that  they  might  erect  workshops 
there  and  carry  on  business.  The  French 
started  tapestry  works  and  stocking 
factories  on  the  model  of  the  Gobelins 
manufactory  at  Paris,  and  were  famous 
for  their  skill  in  weaving  Russian  wool, 

3333 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Russia's 
Debt   to 


as  the  English  were  for  the  preparation 
of  Russian  leather.  The  tsar  allowed 
foreigners  to  look  everywhere  for  metals. 
He  himself  founded  factories  and  com- 
manded the  Russian  artisans  to  take 
instruction  from  foreigners  ;  thus  he  sent 
a  number  of  shoemakers  from 
every  town  to  Moscow  to  be 
_      .  taught  by  the  English  who  were 

oreigners   ^^j-j^jj^g  there.     He  improved 

+he  conditions  of  mining,  agriculture  and 

jck-rearing.      No    aspect    of   economic 

welopment    escaped    his   notice.       The 

sperity  of  the  empire  increased  and 

economic  revival  spread.  The  national 

■  nue  increased  in  fifteen  years  (1710- 

3^  from  three  to  ten  million  roubles. 

■  le    iifluence  and  prestige  of  Russia  were 


of  the  line,  800  vessels,  and  28,000  sailors, 
which  soon  showed  its  value  in  war. 
There  were  in  his  army  many  foreign 
officers  or  Russians  educated  abroad,  so 
that  in  the  end  he  was  able  to  defeat  all 
his  enemies.  In  this  task  he  was  especially 
supported  by  his  general  Patrick  Gordon, 
a  Scotsman,  his  admiral  Francois  Lefort, 
a  Genevan — both  died  in  1699 — and 
James  Bruce,  a  Scotsman,  who  managed 
the  artillery  department.  The  Russians 
themselves  soon  made  merry  over  the  old 
army  ;  Theophan  Pososhkof,  the  peasant 
scholar  and  partisan  of  Peter,  compared 
it  to  a  herd  of  cattle.  The  army  which 
Peter  created  beat  the  first  commanders 
in  Europe. 

He  devoted   not  less  careful   attention 


THE  PALACE  OF  ORANIENBAUM,  NEAR  PETERHOF.  BUILT  BY  PETER  THE  GREAT  IN  17U 


immensely  widened  by  the  growth  of 
national  wealth  and  intercourse  with 
other  countries.  The  first  place  among 
all  Russian  monarchs  is  on  these  grounds 
most  emphatically  to  be  assigned  to  Peter 
the  Great. 

The  chief  corps  in  Russia  had  been, 
since  Ivan  the  Terrible,  the  Strelitz.  As 
they  had  several  times  revolted  against 
Peter,  he  dissolved  them  in  1698,  after 
inflicting  a  sanguinary  punishment  for 
their  disloyalty.  He  now  formed  new 
regiments  of  foot  soldiers  and  dragoons 
as  a  standing  army,  which  was  raised  to 
210,000  men  and  regularly  levied.  The 
Cossacks  and  the  wild  Eastern  tribes 
supplied  an  unlimited  number  of  fighting 
men.  Peter  created  a  large  force  of  artillery 
and  a  fleet,  numbering  forty-eight  ships 

3334     > 


to  founding  educational  institutions,  so 
that  Russia  might  no  longer  be  dependent 
for  her  culture  on  the  outside  world.  He 
thus  set  up  technical  schools,  such  as  a 
school  for  accountants,  a  school  for 
working  builders,  a  naval  academy,  a 
school  of  cartography,  and  introduced 
foreign  teachers,  with  whom  he  had 
personally  much  intercourse.  His  acquaint- 
.  ance  with  Leibnitz,  whom   he 

I  ^  11  ^*t  °  1  ^oiTii^ated     privy     councillor 
*    "*    with  a  salary  of  1,000  thalers, 
Progress  j.      j.      a  1  av, 

was  important.  At  the  sugges- 
tion of  Leibnitz  he  founded  the  Academy  of 
Sciences,  which  was  intended  to  have  its 
seat  in  St.  Petersburg  (it  only  came  into 
existence  after  his  death,  1725).  Peter 
also  equipped  scientific  expeditions,  as 
for  example  to  Kamchatka,  in  order  to 


AN   EARLY  APPEARANCE  OF  THE  JEWS  IN   RUSSIA 


Peter  the  Great  was  the  friend  of  foreigners,  and  he  is  here  depicted  g^ranting:  pennission 
to  settle  in  Russia  to  a  deputation  of  Jews  in  Moscow.  But  although  this  conrp«.:ir..,  ,.- 
made  by  Peter,  it  was  not  until  1839  that  a  Jew  could  be  a  citizen  of  the  first  cl, 


J 


3335 


RUSSIA    IN    WINTER  :      ST.    PETERSBURG    UNDER    SNOW 


solve  the  problem  whether  Asia  is  con- 
nected  with   America. 

It  was  not  less  important  for  Russia 
that  he  brought  to  his  court  scholars 
from  Little  Russia  such  as  Theophan 
Prokopovitch  and  Stefan  Javorsky, 
who  nad  already  advised  the  founding 
of  an  academy  and  now  found  a  use- 
ful outlet  for  their  energies  in  the 
ecclesiastical  domain.  But  the  most 
important  point  was  that  Peter  decided 
no  one  should  be  admitted  to  the  service 
of  the  state  who  had  not  acquired  the 
rudiments  of  school  education  and  some 
technical  knowledge.  Nobles  who  were 
unable  to  read  and  write  were  to  lose  their 
nobility.  Every  official  was  bound  to  put 
his  children  in  a  national  school  from 
their  tenth  to  their  fifteenth  year ;  un- 
educated children  of  the  official  class 
were  not  allowed  to  marry  unless  they  had 
learned  a  trade.  The  tsar  ordered  a  number 
of  technical  books  to  be  translated  into 
Russian,  on  which  task  he  himself  gave 
advice  to  the  authors.  They  were  to  aim 
in  their  translations  at  re- 
producing not  so  much  the 
words  as  the  sense,  and 
were  to  guard  against 
useless  digressions.  Peter  also  reformed 
the  obsolete  and  unpractical  alphabet 
by  devising  new  forms  of  letters.  Since 
the  art  of  printing  in  Russia  had  made  no 
progress  since  the  sixteenth  century,  he 
summoned  Dutch  printers  and  set  up  two 
printing-presses  in  Moscow,  four  in  St. 
Petersburg,     one     each    in    Tchernigov, 

3336 


The  Founder 
of  Russian 
Newspapers 


Tsar  Encourages 
Printing 
aind  Science 


Novgorod,  and  other  towns.  He  also  was  a 
patron  of  science.  The  author  Polykarpov 
received  200  roubles  from  Peter  for  the 
"  History  of  Russia  from  the  Sixteenth 
Century  onwards, ' '  which  he  printed.  Peter 
did  much  also  for  geography.  He  ordered 
curious  bones,  peculiar  stones,  and  even 
inscriptions  to  be  collected,  and  human 
and  animal  abortions  to  be 
exhibited,  while  he  noticed  in 
the  ukase  that  ignorant  people 
made  mysteries  of  such  things 
and"  ascribed  them  usually  to  diabolic 
agency.  He  had  the  monastic  libraries 
examined  and  copies  made  of  their  archives. 
He  built  hospitals, and  sent  young  persons 
to  study  medicine  abroad.  From  January 
ist,  1700,  he  introduced  into  Russia  the 
Christian  chronology — of  course  according 
to  the  Julian  calendar,  which  had  become 
antiquated  in  the  interval  but  was  still 
tenaciously  upheld  by  most  non-Catholics 
— while  hitherto  the  creation  of  the 
world  had  been  taken  as  the  starting- 
point.  He  even  recognised  the  value  of 
the  public  Press,  and  brought  into  exist- 
ence in  1714  the  "  Petersburg  Journal." 
By  such  many-sided  and  far-sighted 
efforts  to  advance  the  civilisation  of  his 
country,  he  more  than  justified  the 
doctorate  which  he  received  from  Oxford, 
and  the  further  honour  of  being  nominated 
a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at 
Paris. 

The  ancient  provincial  administration 
would  obviously  be  affected  by  this  great 
reorganisation,    and   all   the  more  so  as 


PETER    THE    GREAT,    THE    FOUNDER    OF    MODERN    RUSSIA 


the  worst  abuses  prevailed  in  this  domain. 
Since  the  officials,  as  was  then  the  custom 
almost  everywhere,  received  no  salary, 
but  only  grants  of  land,  or  had  to  maintain 
themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  popula- 
tion, they  became  regular  tormentors  of 
the  people,  whom  they  could  plunder 
without  breaking  the  law.  Such  emolu- 
ments were  called  in  Russia  Kormlenje ; 
that  is,  nourishment  or  forage.  "  Wait  for 
your  post  and  grow  fat  "  was  the  formula 
for  appointment  in  the  days  o(  the  old 
tsars.  Peter  abolished  the  Kgaimlenje, 
in  doing  which  he  acted  with  his  usual 
harshness,  if  not  brutality,  and  appointed 
a  fixed  salary  for  every  office.        ;; 

In  the  machinery  of  administration 
complete  confusion  prevailed,  since  the 
departments  of  the  individual  magistrates 
were  not  clearly  separated.  Peter 
divided    the   empire    in  1708  into  eight. 


in  1719  into  ten,  and  later  into  eleven, 
governorships,  and  these  finally  into 
forty-three  provinces.  Each  governor 
had  at  his  side  a  provincial  council 
elected  from  the  nobles.  As  central 
authorities  he  created  in  1718  ten  govern, 
mental  colleges  or  ministries,  on  the 
Danish  and  Swedish  model,  for  foreign 
affairs,  war,  the  navy,  the  treasury, 
law,  the  revenue,  noble  estates,  industries, 
mining  and  trade.  In  each  college  one 
foreigner  was  given  a  position.  In  171 1 
Peter  instituted  a  senate,  in  the  place  of 
the  Council  of  the  Boyars,  as  the  supreme 
court  of  justice  and  a  supervisory  author- 
ity ;  he  nominated  a  Procurator-General 
as  its  president,  who  was  to  watch  over  the 
observance  of  the  laws.  He  gave  the 
towns  self-government  and  independent 
jurisdiction,  and  established  at  St. 
Petersburg,  to  control  them   all.  a  chief 


PETER  THp  GREAT  ON  HORSEBACK 

■While  Peter  the'Great  sought  to  advance  Russia    by  culture  and    the  arts  of  peace,   he  was  not  \'"'"'."^f"'  o*". '*» 

position  as  an  empire  that  depended  upon  its  strength  of  arms,  and  he  aimed  at  making  it  powerful  against  its  enemies. 

3337 


333S 


THE    CROSS    OF    DESTINY    NEAR    POLTAVA 
Near  the  city  of  Poltava,  at  the  Junction  of  the  Poltava  and  the  Vorskla  rivers,  stands  the  massive  cross  shown  in  the 
illustration.     It  marks  the  resting-place  of  many  hundreds  of  Swedish  soldiers,  who,  under  Charles  XII.    were  defeated 
by  the  Russians,  led  by  Peter  the  Great,  on  July  8th,  1709.    The  battle  at  once  marks  the  fall  of  Sweden  s  power  and 
the  beginning  of  the  rise  of  modern  Russia,  for  as  the  one  nation  retrograded  the  other  made  rapid  strides  forward. 


magistrate  who  was  responsible  to  the 
senate  only,  and  had  to  attend  to  trade 
and  commerce. 

The  tsar  created  a  body  of  police  and 
introduced  a  sort  of  state  inquisition 
in  order  to  break  down  the  opposition 
-to  his  reforms.  He  improved  the  judicial 
system  parth'  after  the  Swedish  model, 
more  especiallj'  the  criminal  code,  and 
reformed  the  system  of  taxation  by  sub- 
stituting a  poll-tax  for  the  hearth-tax. 
He  took  the  severest  measures  to  ensure 
the  public  peace,  by  no  means  an  easy 


task  when  brigandage  was  so  widely 
prevalent.  He  prosecuted  the  coiners, 
built  workhouses,  infirmaries,  and  lunatic 
asylums  ;  he  called  on  all  his  subjects  to 
inform  against  thieves,  and  punished 
the  guilty  often  x\ith  his  own  hand.  In 
order  to  raise  the  tone  of  honour  among 
the  whole  body  of  officials,  who  were  both 
ignorant  and  corrupt,  he  ordered  that  every- 
one who  entered  the  public  service  should 
become  noble.  By  this  expedient,  and 
by  the  institution  of  orders,  he  abolished 
the  privileges  of  the  hereditary  nobility. 


GENERAL    VIEW    OF    POLTAVA     SHOWING    THE    FAMOUS    BATTLEFIELD 


3339 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Service  and  work  would  for  the  future 
ennoble  a  man.  He  introduced  into  the 
public  service  fourteen  grades,  of  which 
the  highest  were  to  be  attained  by  merit 
only,  without  respect  of  birth. 

He  interfered  even  with  family  and 
social  life.  He  would  not  tolerate  face- 
veils,  or  litters  concealed  by  curtains. 
Women  were  not  to  live  in  Asiatic  seclu- 
sion, but  to  move  about  freely  in  the 
European  fashion.  He  repealed  the  old 
Russian  law  by  which  all  members  of  a 
fam.ily  had  equal  rights  of  inheritance,  and 
introduced  the  German  law  of  primo- 
geniture, in  order  that  the  younger  sons 
should  be  compelled  to  look  for  a  livelihood 


at  court  in  any  other  costume  ;  •  and  a  tax 
of  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  roubles 
was  laid  upon  beards.  In  short,  there 
was  hardly  a  form  of  life  that  Peter  would 
not  have  gladly  reformed,  all  to  raise  his 
people  as  quickly  as  possible  from  the 
condition  of  barbarism.  But  although 
he  esteemed  strangers,  followed  their 
advice,  and  wished  to  Europeanise  Russia, 
he  did  not  do  so  slavishly,  but  only  adopted 
useful  novelties ;  he  preserved  the  dignity 
of  the  Russian  nation  and  allowed  no 
encroachments  by  foreigners.  Thus  he 
punished  severely  anyone  who  propagated 
Lutheran  doctrines ;  and  as  far  as  possible 
he  placed  Russians  in  the  leading  positions. 
He  did  all  this  with  as  much 
haste  as  if  he  wanted  to  leave 
nothing  for  his  successors  to  do, 
or  as  if  he  were  afraid  that  his 
reforms  would  be  reversed  and  his 
Russians  brought  back  to  the  old 
barbarism.  Nor  was  this  anticipa- 
tion altogether  groundless ;  for, 
in  spite  of  his  iron  rule  and  un- 
paralleled energy,  he  had  his  ene- 
mies ;  he  had  not  by  any  means 
conquered  the  darkness.  The  party 


A    CANAL    DREDGER    AT    WORK 

in  trade  or  in  the  civil  service. 
But  this  enactment  was  repealed 
under  the  Empress  Anna,  since  it 
did  not  suit   Russian  conditions. 
Peter  further    decreed  that  serfs 
should  only  be  sold  by  families  and 
not  separately  like  heads  of  cattle. 
He  introduced  the  social  forms  and 
customs  of  the  West,  arranging,  for 
example,  balls  and  receptions  upon 
the  French  model.  Indeed,  he  gave 
orders  that  Western  dress  should 
be  worn,  in  order,  as  an  English  diplomat 
expressed  it,  that  his  people  might  be  trans- 
formed both  outwardly  and  inwardly  ;  and 
to  make  them  entirely  European,  or,  as  he 
himself  declared  to  the  Danish  Ambassador, 
Juel,  in  order  to  make  men  out  of  beasts. 
When,  having  returned  from   his   first 
European    journey,    he    was   respectfully 
welcomed    by    the    Boyars,    he    received 
them    graciously,    embraced    and    kissed 
them,  but  at  the  same  time  remonstrated 
with  them  about  their  dress,  cut  off  with 
his  own  hands  the  beards  of  Field-Marshal 
Alexei  Schein  and  others,  as  well  as  their 
long    skirts    and    sleeves,    and    required 
that  men  and  women  alike  should  dress 
like   Europeans.     No  one  might    appear 

3340 


LADOGA  CANAL,  BUILT  BY  PETER  THE  GREAT 

of  Old  Russia  still  lived  ;  they  crept  away 
like  reptiles  when  a  sunbeam  strikes  into 
their  lurking  place.  "  Unhappily  he  stands 
alone  with  his  dozen  workers  while  mil- 
lions block  the  way,"  wrote  the  en- 
lightened Pososkof,  peasant  and  merchant 
at  once,  in  his  book  on  "  Poverty  and 
Wealth." 

The  people,  the  body  of  officials, 
the  clergy,  the  Boyars,  and  in  fact  his 
own  relations  were  dissatisfied  with 
the  reforms.  When  Peter  came  back 
in  i6g8  from  his  travels,  a  story  was 
current  that  it  was  not  the  tsar,  but  a 
stranger,  while  the  real  tsar  had  been 
rolled  into  the  sea  in  a  barrel  by  the 
Germans.      The    priests    announced    the 


THE    ANITCHKOFF     PALACE 


HERMITAGE     ADJOINING    WINTER    PALACE 


I '  • ' !  f  s  i"  i  g « 
1%  >'^  r  I  I  I  I 


1 1  »■ 


S*M  J^SKB 


PALACES  OF  THE  NOBLES  ON  THE  FONTANKA  CANAL 


THt    STATELY     PALACES    OF    ST.     PETERSBURG 


3341 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


secret    agents    after    him.     They    found 
him    at    Sant'    Elmo,    near   Naples.     He 
was  induced  to  return  home,  and  his  father 
sat  sternly  in  judgment  over  him.      He 
forced  Alexis,  at  a  meeting  of  notables  in 
the    Kremlin,    to    renounce    the     throne 
(February  14th,  1718) .  He  then  ordered  him 
'to  be   thrown  into  prison   and  tortured. 
The  tsarevitch  was  found  dead  there  on 
July  7th.     Peter  the  Great,  in  excess'^of 
zeal,  had  thought  himself  bound  to  sacri- 
fice his  own  son  on  the  altar  of  his  country. 
He   clearly  saw   from   which   side   the 
greatest   danger  threatened   his  immense 
work  :    it  was  the  Church  ;    and  he  there- 
fore soon  determined  to  limit  the  influence 
of  the  clergy.  On  the  death  of  the  Patriarch 
Adrian,  the  enemy  of  his  reforms,  in  1700, 
he  did  not  again  fill  the  vacant  chair,  but 
nominated  Stefan  Javorsky  as 
vice-patriarch.      In    1721    he 
definitely  abolished  the  office 
of  Patriarch,  and  appointed  a 
synod    of     bishops     as     the 
chief  ecclesiastical  authority, 
and,    as   in   the   case   of    the 
S'^nate,  he  placed  at  its  head 
a  procurator-general,  who  was 
often  a  soldier,   to  represent 
the  tsar.      In  the  edict  which 
announced   this    change    the 
tsar  stated  that  "  the  common 
people  cannot  grasp  the  differ- 
ence    between    Ihe     highest 
spiritual   and  secular  power, 
and   imagine   that   the   chief 
strengthen     Peter's     govern-  ave7se"to  Employing"  foreign"  offi-  pastor    of    the    Church   is  a 
ment.     Nevertheless,  he  was  cers,  many  of  whom  were  in  the  second  sovereign,  who  is  the 
called  upon  to  suppress  numer-  service  of  Russia.  Francois  Lefort,   equal,    if    not     the    superior 

He   advised 


approach  of  Antichrist,  and  since,  ac- 
cording to  a  prophecy,  Antichrist  was  to  be 
born  in  adultery,  it  was  said  that  Peter's 
mother,  the  second  wife  of  Alexis,  was 
the  false  virgin,  the  adulteress.  Insulting 
notices  were  posted  on  the  walls.  The 
clergy  were  especially  dangerous,  since, 
being  unpleasantly  disturbed  in  their  dolce 
«M.    ^M  /^^   niente   by    Peter,    they 

The  Clergy  as  thought  it  their  duty  to  op- 
the  Enemies      ^^^^  ^^^  innovations.     The 
of  Progress       patriarch  of  Moscow  declared 
that  shaven  beards  were  unworthy  of  men ; 
a  beardless  man  resembled  a  beast.    Euro- 
pean dress  was  stigmatised  as  the  badge 
of   unchristian    views.     Foreigners    were 
always  in  such  danger   that    Peter    had 
to   protect    them.     A   physician,   Brem- 
burg,   was  almost    murdered   because   a 
skeleton  had  been  seen  in  his 
possession.      Whenever    fires 
broke    out,    foreigners    were 
not  infrequently  the  victims. 
On  the  occasion  of  the  revolt 
of  the  Strelitz  corps,  a  mass- 
acre of  all  foreigners  had  been 
planned.     It  was  intended  to 
destroy  the  German  quarte 
and  to  attempt  the  life  of  the 
tsar.      If  he  had  not   inter- 
vened at  the  very  first  with 
severity    and    courage,    a 
general  revolution  would  have 
broken  out. 
The  victories  of  Azov  and 

PoltavaCOntributed  largely  to    Peter^heTetLasYy^oIeans 

Peters 


admiral  of  the  fleet,  was  a  Genevan 


ous  risings  of  the  Cossacks 
and  different  bands,  as  well  as  the 
rebellions  of  various  individuals.  How 
far  the  clergy  were  to  blame  for  these 
insurrections  cannot  at  this  distance 
of  time  be  ascertained.  They  even  knew 
how  to  sow  opposition  in  his  family. 
His  sister,  his  wife  Eudoxia  Lopuchin, 
and  even  his  son  Alexis,  were  unfriendly 
to  his  reforms  and  therefore  to  him. 

That  was  the  greatest  sorrow  to  Peter. 
He  sent  his  wife,  in  1698,  to  a  convent, 
but  her  cell  became  the  centre  of  all  the 
machinations  against  him.  He  tried 
vainly  to  guide  his  son's  steps  into  another 
path.  Even  the  threat  to  exclude  him  from 
the  throne  proved  unavailing.  While 
he  was  on  his  travels,  Alexis  fled,  in  1717, 
to  the  relations  of  his  wife,  Charlotte 
of  Brunswick,  at  Vienna.    But  Peter  s?nt 


of  the  tsar." 
the  bishops  to  avoid  display  and  pride, 
and  to  forbid  men  prostrating  them- 
selves before  them.  Every  bishop  was 
to  set  up  a  school  in  his  palace. 
Peter  also  looked  into  the  monastic 
question,  and  forbade  anyone  to  enter  a 
convent  before  the  age  of  thirty.  He 
ordered  the  monks  to  learn  a 
trade.  He  did  not  venture  to 
jj  ..  .  coniiscate    the     monastic    re- 

e  >g»ons  venues,  although  the  monas- 
teries had  piled  up  immense  wealth,  and 
were  often  merely  incentives  to  idleness 
and  vice.  He  imposed  on  them,  however, 
the  duty  of  keeping  up  schools  and  support- 
ing the  destitute.  With  these  exceptions 
he  interfered  little  in  religious  questions, 
and  was  thoroughly  tolerant  to  all  denomi- 
nc^tions.   It  was  perhaps  mainly  from  f^ar  of 


Peter 

Tolerant  to 


NEVSKY    PROSPECKT  :       THE    SPLENDID    MAIN     THOROUGHFARE    OF    ST.    PETERSBURG 


SPANNING    THE    RIVER    NEVA  :       THE    NICHOLAS    BRIDGE 


§T.     PETERSBURG,    THE    MAGNIFICENT    CAPITAL    OF    THE    RUSSIAN     EMPIRE 

^343 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


the  excessive  power  of  the  Church  that  he 

retained  the  despotic  form  of  government, 

and     even     wished     to     strengthen     the 

power  of  the  sovereign.     Even  Ivan  the 

Terrible    had    condescended    to    convene 

provincial  diets  ;    his  successors  did   the 

same  ;    but  Peter  refused.     His  ministers 

supported  him  in  this.     Stefan  Javorsky 

-,  actually  wrote  a  book  in  which 

f°AlMh      ^^  tried   to   give    a    scientific 

„      .  basis  to  absolutism.    Peter  did 

Russias  ^     ,  ,  , 

not,   however,  go  so  far  ;    for 

instance,  he  forbade  prostration  before  him 
and  servile  modes  of  address.  But  in  the 
question  of  the  royal  title  he  wished  to 
break  with  tradition,  and  assumed  the 
style  of  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias.  He 
thus  placed  himself  on  an  equality  with 
the  Roman  emperor,  since  he  regarded 
himself  as  a  successor  of  the  Byzantine 
Caesars.  He  was  thus  the  first  sove- 
reign in  Europe  who  no  longer  acknow- 
ledged the  Roman  idea  of  world  empire. 
In  order  that  his  reforms  and  those  of 
his  heirs  might  not  be  exposed  to  an 
attack  delivered  by  some  crown  prince  of 
the  Old  Russian  party,  he  changed  the 
law  of  succession  in  so  far  that  each  tsar 
could  nominate  his  successor. 

A  more  versatile  monarch  can  hardly  be 
imagined.  Peter  put  his  hand  to  every- 
thing ;  almost  everything  was  due  to 
his  own  initiative.  Even  if  he  tried  to 
introduce  the  civilisation  and  morality 
of  the  West  into  Russia  by  force,  he  never 
allowed  Russia  to  become  dependent  on 
strangers  or  to  be  governed  by  them.  He 
summoned  young  Russians  as  well  as 
foreigners  to  his  side.  In  Peter's  eyrie, 
as  Pushkin  says,  there  was  a  wonderful 
brood  of  eaglets  :  Menschikov,  who  sprang 
from  a  small  family,  became  prince, 
field-marshal  and  admiral ;  Boris  Schere- 
metjef,  the  first  marshal  of  Russia,  re- 
nowned for  his  bravery  and  uprightness, 
whose  exploits  were  the*  theme  of  folk- 
songs ;  the  brothers  Demetrius  and 
Michael  Golizyn,  Feodor  Golovin,  Gavrilo 
Golovkin,  Jacob  Vasily,  and  Gregor 
Dolgoruki  ;  the  fiery,  honest,  and 
shrewd  Jagusinsky,  solicitor  -  general 
of  the  senate ;  Boris  and  Alexander 
Kurakin  (father  and  son),  ambassadors 
to  the  European  courts ;  Peter  Tolstoi, 


a  splendid  diplomat ;  Alexis  Kurbatof ,  the 
treasurer,  and  others.  Even  Peter  III.  of 
Holstein,  the  degenerate  grandson  of  Peter 
the  Great,  said  in  his  praise  that  he 
had  reared  an  enlightened  family  and 
furnished  the  state  with  able  generals  and 
officials. 

Peter  died  on  February  8th  (January 
28th  O.S.),  1725,  barely  fifty-three  years 
old,  the  greatest  of  the  Romanovs,  and 
one  of  the  greatest  monarchs  of  any 
nation.  Seldom  has  any  man  employed 
his  life  to  more  advantage.  The  new  era 
of  Russia  begins  with  him.  He  filled  the 
country  with  fresh  and  vigorous  sap, 
breathed  a  new  spirit  into  the  giant  frame 
of  the  nation,  and  rejuvenated  the 
empire.  His  successors  stand  on  his 
shoulders.  The  foreign  diplomats  were  full 
of  wonder  at  his  person.  "  The  Isar 
towers  above  every  man  in  his  realm," 
wrote  the  Danish  ambassador ;  "  he  is 
a  marvel  of  wisdom,  acuteness,  observa- 
tion, promptness,  and  strength." 

The  tsar's  own  people  honoured  such 
services.  The  senate  bestowed  on  him  the 
title  of  Great  Father  of  his  Country.  Yet 
he  had  received  a  very  defective  and  old- 
fashioned  education.  The  electress,  Sophia 
Charlotte  of  Brandenburg,  after  1701 
first  queen  of  Prussia,  admirably  described 
.,  _  him  :    "  He  is  at  once  very 

r  *u*  r  good  and  very  bad,"  she 
Father  of  °      ,         .<u    j    u  •         j 

H's  C  t  "  ^^ot^5  ^^^  he  enjoyed  a 
better  education  he  would 
have  been  a  perfect  man."  It  is  obvious  that 
sometimes  in  his  exacting  labours  he  acted 
over-hastily,  and  that  thus  many  of  his 
creations  appeared  clumsy  at  first  ;  much 
also  that  he  planned  was  not  carried  out, 
and  much  proved  ephemeral.  Documents 
that  have  been  quite  recently  published 
give  us  a  glimpse  into  the  indefatigable- 
ness  and  variety  of  his  labours,  and  into 
his  capacity  for  carrying  a  matter  through. 
The  documents  for  the  history  of  his  reign 
are  not  yet  completely  accessible,  nor  has 
any  exhaustive  life  of  Peter  been  written 
owing  to  the  mass  of  materials.  But  with 
the  lapse  of  time  his  true  greatness  has 
been  more  fully  realised.  In  days  of  dis- 
tress his  disciples  wept  at  his  grave,  and 
folk  songs  called  on  him  to  rise  from  the 
tomb. 


3344 


EASTERN  I 
EUROPE  TO  I 
THE  FRENCH  j) 
REVOLUTION  It 

1. 

WHEN    WOMEN    RULED    IN    RUSSIA 

PETER  THE  GREAT'S  SUCCESSORS  AND  THE 
BRILLIANT  REIGN  OF  CATHARINE  THE  GREAT 


IT  was  a  misfortune  for  the  empire  that 
*  Peter  the  Great  died  without  having 
nominated  his  successor,  not  merely  because 
a  civil  war  might  easily  have  arisen,  but 
because  this  insecurity  grew  into  a  malady 
which  endured  for  a  whole  century,  occa- 
sioning great  dangers  to  the  empire. 
Almost  all  the  relations  of  Peter,  his 
second  wife,  Catharine  I.,  his  nieces,  his 
daughters,  and  his  grandsons  grasped  at  the 
sceptre.  After  1598  almost  every  change 
of  sovereignty  from  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
to  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
was  effected  by  a  coup  d'etat ;  and  how 
many  tsars  died  a  natural  death  ? 

Peter  was  followed  on  the  throne  by 
Catharine,  a  Lithuanian  of  low  origin, 
chieffy  because  she  had  won  much  credit 
both  with  the  army  and  with  the  official 
classes  by  wise  bribery  of  the  Grand  Vizir 
in  the  crisis  on  the  Pruth  (171 1).  She 
designated  Peter  IL,  grandson  of  Peter 
and  son  of  the  unfortunate  Alexis,  as  her 
successor.  She  died  in  1727,  and  he  on 
February  9th,  1730.  The  throne  was 
then  held  by  the  army,  especially  by  the 
guards.  Thus  in  1730  the  niece  of  Peter, 
the  Duchess  of  Courland,  Anna  Ivanovna, 
the  second  daughter  of  his  brother  and 
co-tsar  Ivan,  came  to  the  throne,  and  in 
1740  Ivan  VI.  Antonovitch  of  Brunswick- 
Bevern,  a  grandson  of  Peter,  with  his 
mother,  Anna  Leopoldovna,  as  regent.  But 
these  latter  were  deposed  in  the  course  of 

the  next  years,  and  Elizabeth, 

th^'T^iT  ^^    ^^^   third   daughter    (born    in 

-p      .        1709,  and  therefore  illegitimate) 

of  Peter,  mounted  the  throne, 
which  she  occupied  until  her  death,  in 
1762.  After  her,  the  grandson  of  Peter 
the  Great  by  his  second  daughter,  Anne 
of  Holstein-Gothorp,  came  to  the  throne 
as  Peter  III.,  but  was  forced  to  abdicate 
after  six  months,  and  finally,  on  July  17th, 
1762,  was  murdered  by  Alexis  Orlov  at  the 
country    house    of    Ropsha.       His    wife. 


Sophia  of  Anhalf-Zerbst,  mounted  the 
throne  as  Cathirine  1 1.  She  was  followed 
in  1796  by  her  son  Paul  I.,  who  was 
assassinated  on  March  23rd,  1801. 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  the  course  of 
the  eighteenth  century  women  mostly 
guided  the  fates  of  Russia,  while  the  men 
could  not  hold  their  own,  but  usually  died 
C  th  •  I  ^^o^^"^  deaths.  Peter's  sister 
o  ■  •  '  Sophia  had  been  the  first  to  sit 
M*  t  ess  ^"  ^^^  throne,  at  first  as  regent ; 
she  wished  to  be  proclaimed 
sole  ruler.  She  allowed  herself  more 
liberty  of  movement  than  her  brother 
Peter  would  have  liked,  and  in  this  way 
paved  the  way  for  other  women  to  the 
throne,  hitherto  an  unprecedented  event  in 
Russia.  The  respect  felt  for  Peter  I.  was 
so  intense  and  permanent  that  his  second 
wife  was  able  to  succeed  him  at  once. 
Catharine  I.  was  the  first  absolute  mistress 
of  Russia.  The  Raskolniki  alone,  true  to 
their  tradition,  refused  to  swear  allegiance 
to  her,  and  preferred  to  suffer  death. 

With  the  women  came  also  the  power 
of  favourites,  of  whom  some,  such  as 
Btihren  (Biron),  the  favourite  of  Anna 
Ivanovna,  behaved  defiantly,  and  treated 
the  whole  nation  with  contempt ;  some 
even  were  desirous  of  mounting  the 
throne  themselves,  such  as  Alexander 
Menschikov,  who  immediately,  after  the 
death  of  Catharine  I.,  betrothed  his 
daughter  Maria  on  May  25th,  1727,  to 
the  heir  to  the  throne  (Peter  IL),  and 
wished  to  marry  his  son  Alexander  to  the 
latter's  sister ;  in  writing  to  the  young 
Tsar  Peter  1 1.,  he  signed  himself  "  your 
father,"  and  ordered  the  members  of  his 
family  to  be  inserted  in  the  almanac  with 
those  of  the  imperial  family,  and  the 
names  of  his  daughters  to  be  recited  in  the 
church  pravers.  Alex  s  Rasumovsky.  who 
was  secretly  betrothed  to  Elizabeth,  be- 
came count  (1744),  field-marshal,  and 
master    of    the    hunt ;     Gregory    Orlov, 

3345 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


ennobled  in  1762,  "  the  handsomest  man 

in  the  north,"  wjghed  to  marry  Catharine 

II.,  and  became  in  1762  an  ancestor  of 

Count  Bobrinsky. 

It   was   a   shameless    state   of    things. 

The   parties   at  court  were  fighting  one 

against    the    other   without     regard    for 

the  welfare  of  the  nation.      If  one  party 

.         came  to  the  helm,  it  wreaked 

"h  "        ^^^  ^^^y  recklessly  on  the  out- 

ioyat  Court  goi"g^P^^tj-,     ^^^     ^^^^^^^^ 
were  beheaded ;  if  mercy  was 

shown  them  from  the  "  inborn  goodness  " 
of  the  tsaritsa,  their  hands  were  lopped 
off,  their  tongues  and  ears  cut  off,  their 
property  confiscated,  and  they  were  sent 
to  Siberia.  Thus  a  series  of  able  men  were 
killed  in  barbarous  party  feuds.  The  hatred 
against  foreigners  was  revived,  and  foreign 
officers  were  murdered  from  "  patriotism." 

The  new  constitutional 
changes  were  usually  due  to 
the  favourites ;  an  attempt 
was  made  in  them  to  limit 
the  power  of  the  crown  in 
favour  of  the  councillors  of 
the  crown.  After  the  death 
of  the  last  Romanof  (1730) 
the  "  High  Privy  Council  " 
resolved  to  utilise  the  situa- 
tion in  order  to  obtain 
charters  for  the  nobility.  The 
Dolgorukij  and  Golizyn  ac- 
cordingly offered  the  crown 
to  the  female  descendants  of 
Ivan  v.,  who  stood  further 
from  the  throne,  in  the  well- 
founded    anticipation     that 


PETER   II.    OF    RUSSIA 


Possibly,  too,  the  Swedish  Riksrad  had 
supplied  them  with  a  model.  But  the 
text  of  the  capitulations  which  we  have 
quoted  shows  that  the  Russians  were 
tyros  in  such  matters.  Men  would  not 
tolerate  too  sudden  innovations,  especially 
when  the  body  of  Boyars  and  priests  was 
intended  to  submit  to  the  rule  of  a  few 
persons. 

The  Russian  nation  feared  the  domina- 
tion of  the  high  nobility  more  than  the 
tyranny  of  the  tsar.  When,  therefore,  a 
few  days  afterwards,  a  general  assembly 
of  the  states  was  summoned  and  the 
capitulation  was  read  out,  there  was  no  one, 
so  Bishop  Theophan  Procopovitch  tells  us, 
among  those  present  who  did  not  tremble 
from  head  to  foot  when  he  heard  the 
document.  The  members  of  the  Senate 
and  many  others  presented  the  empress 
with  petitions  against  the  new 
constitution,  and  the  officers 
of  the  guard  cried  :  "  We  do 
not  wish  that  laws  shall  be 
dictated  to  the  empress  ;  she 
ought  to  have  the  same  rights 
as  her  predecessors."  Anna, 
as  might  be  expected,  then 
carried  out  a  coup  d'etat  to 
secure  the  crown.  Russia  was 
not  yet  ripe  for  a  more  liberal 
constitution.  Despotism,  in 
fact,  now  struck  deeper  roots, 
since  it  had,  as  it  were,  received 
the  sanction  of  the  people. 
In  other  respects  the   rule 


the   of 


Desig-nated     by     Catharine, 

widow  of  Peter  the  Great,  as  her    wif  Ji 

successor  on  the  throne  of  Russia, 


the    Russian    empresses, 
the     exception     of 


they    would   more  easily  ac-    Peter  11.,  grandson  of  the  Great,'  Catharine  II.,  was  thoroughlv 

^^^4-    +^^^^         A^«^    T,,^„^,,««     became  tsar  in  1727.  He  died  in  1730.    i 1  * — ^x      r^^^     xu^    t^^4. 


cept  terms.  Anna  Ivanovna 
actually  signed  the  demands  laid  before 
her  to  the  effect  that  the  High  Council 
should  consist  of  eight  members  ;  that 
vacancies  should  be  filled  by  co-optation, 
and  that  the  council  should  be  summoned 
for  all  imperial  affairs,  so  that  without  its 
consent  no  decision  could  be  taken  as  to 
peace  and  war,  nor  any  new  taxes  levied  ; 
that  no  offices  from  the  highest  downwards 
might  be  conferred,  nor  any  crown  property 
alienated  without  its  approbation,  nor  any 
member  of  the  nobihty  punished  without 
its  judicial  cognisance. 

Anna,  further,  might  neither  marry  nor 
nominate  her  successor  without  the  ap- 
approval  of  the  council.  Thus  in  1730 
the  Russian  Privy  Councillors  demanded 
all  at  once  that  which  the  Polish  nobility 
only  obtained  in  the  course  of  centuries. 

3346 


bad.  Apart  from  the  fact 
that  the  greatest  licentiousness  pre- 
vailed at  the  court,  and  that  some 
empresses,  like  Catharine  I.  and  Elizabeth, 
were  addicted  to  drink,  they  achieved 
nothing  of  note  by  their  foreign  policy, 
although  they  all  governed  in  the  spirit 
of  Peter,  and  were  anxious  to  carry  out 
F.V  h  th  ^^^  plans.  Elizabeth,  at  the 
.    p  .  advice  of  her  favourite,  Ivan 

p.      ,.  Schuvalov,  founded  the  Uni- 

Education  .l       ^  nV  j 

versity  at  Moscow  in  1755,  and 

the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  at  St.  Peters- 
burg in  1758.  Cyril  Rasumovsky  wished  to 
establish  a  university  at  Baturin  in  the 
Ukraine.  The  learned  Privy  Councillor 
Teplof  said,  with  justice,  of  these  founda- 
tions :  "  The  Academy  is  without  acade- 
micians, the  University  without  students, 
the  rules  are  not  followed  ;  an  irremediable 


DECEIVING    CATHARINE    THE    GREAT 


»  w 


L 


was  desirous  at  otie  time  to  abolish  seridom.  and  took  a  deep  iiuece&t  iu  the  condK;ou  ut  her  people. 
During  her  Majesty's  royal  progresses  it  was  the  custom  of  her  favourite,  Potemkin,  to  patch  up 
miserable   Tillagrs    into    a  state  of   apparent  prosperity.      Our    illustration    depicts    such    a    deception. 


2IJ 


3347 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


confusion  prevails  everywhere."  This  con- 
fusion was  apparent  in  foreign  pohcy  no 
less  than  in  home  affairs.  The  influence  of 
foreigners  now  made  itself  felt  in  a  harsh 
manner.  Under  Anna,  the  German  in- 
fluence was  predominant  ;  the  Russians 
were  treated  with  contempt. 
Anna  regarded  herself  as  a 
foreigner,  and  ridiculed  the 
Russian  nobility  and  all  that 
was  Russian  in  an  unseemly 
fashion .  She  chose  her  court 
fools  by  preference  from 
among  the  Russian  nobles ; 
even  princesses  were  com- 
pelled to  submit  to  whip- 
pings, to  crow  like  hens,  sit 
on  nests  of  eggs,  etc. 

Under, -Elizabeth,  French 
fashions  were  the  vogue, 
and  were  equally  exagge- 
rated. The  foreign  policy 
was  shaped  to  suit  this 
movement.  The  greatest 
victories,  such  as  that  won 
in  conjunction  with  Laudon 
in  1759  at  Kunersdorf,  were  not  made  full 
use  of.  Policy  was  guided  by  sentiment 
rather  than  by  regard  for  the  public  wel- 
fare. Some  advantages  were  obtained 
against  Turkey,  but  at  an  excessive  price. 

At  the  invitation  of  the  Empress 
Elizabeth  there  then  came  to  court  Joanna 
Elizabeth  of 
Anhalt-Zerbst,  a 
princess  of  Got- 
torp,  connected 
through  Anna 
Petrovna  with 
the  Romanovs, 
together  with 
her  daughter 
Sophia  Augusta 
Frederica.  She 
succeeded  in 
marrying  her 
daughter  to  the 
heir  to  the 
throne,  Peter 
Fedo  rovi tch 
(September  ist, 
1745).  Sophia 
had  already 
adopted  the  Orthodox  religion  in  1744, 
and  took  the  name  of  Catharine  Alexe- 
jevna ;  she  became  afterwards  the 
great  empress  Catharine  II.  Herself  a 
beautiful  and  accomplished  woman,  of 
great  intellectual  powers,  she  could  not 

3348 


but  overshadow  her  husband,  who  pos- 
sessed limited  abilities  and  had  been 
indifferently  educated.  When  she  was  only 
fifteen,  she  read  Plato,  Cicero,  and  other 
classics.  She  studied  later  the  new  French 
literature,  especially  the  Encyclopaedists. 
Thus,  besides  D'Alembert 
and  others,  she  read  and 
passionately  admired  Monte- 
squieu, whose  writings  she 
"  pillaged,"  and  called  his 
"  Esprit  des  Lois,"  the 
monarch's  breviary.  "  If  I 
were  Pope,"  she  said,  "  I 
would  canonise  him."  She 
kept  up  a  vigorous  corre- 
spondence with  Voltaire  : 
"The  ancients  would  have 
ranked     him     among     the 


HUSBAND  OF  CATHARINE  II. 
Peter  III.  had  been  on  the  throne 
for  only  six  months  when  he  was 
forced  to  abdicate,  and  on  July  17th, 
1762,  was  murdered  by  Alexis  Orlov 
at    the    country    house    of    Ropsha. 


gods," 
She  ' 
library 


EMPRESSES    ANNA    IVANOVNA    AND    ELIZABETH 
The  German  influence  was  predominant  in  Russia  during:  the  rcigrn 
of  Anna,   who,    regarding  herself  as    a    foreigner,   ridiculed    every- 
thing that  was   Russian.       French  fashions   were  the  vogue  under 
Elizabeth,  and  the  foreign  policy  was  shaped  to  suit  this  movement. 


she  wrote  of  him. 
bought "  Diderot's 
for  15,000  livres, 
but  on  the  condition  that  he 
managed  it  for  her  during 
the  rest  of  his  life  at  a  high 
salary.  She  was  also  familiar 
with  the  literatures  of  England  and  Spain. 
Her  gifts  and  accomplishments  were 
balanced  by  her  licentiousness,  in  which 
she  surpassed  her  predecessors.  Never- 
theless, the  fortunes  of  Russia  took  a  turn 
for  the  better  when  she  mounted  the 
throne  on  July  gth,  1762,  having  deposed 

her  husband  by 
force.  This  able 
woman  soon 
probed  the  most 
complicated 
questions.  It 
could  not,  there- 
fore, escape  her 
notice  that  the 
future  of  Russia 
depended  on  the 
establishment  of 
connections  with 
the  West.  Itw^s 
a  great  stroke 
of  good  fortune 
for  the  Russian 
nation  that  in 
her  person  a 
ruler  took  the 
reins  of  government  who,  as  Peter  the 
Great  formerly,  in  the  great  struggle 
between  reaction  and  progress,  definitely 
placed  herself  on  the  side  of  progress.  She 
not  only  possessed  the  will  to  do  something 
for  the  elevation  of  culture,  but  knew  how 


THE    SUCCESSORS    OF    PETER    THE    GREAT 


to  set  the  machinery  of  reform  in  motion 
with  undeniable  skill  and  intelligence. 

Her  powerful  mind  had  long  contem- 
plated various  schemes  of  reform.  She 
found  a  coadjutor  in  the  equally  intel- 
lectual and  beautiful  Princess  Catharine 
Romanovna  Woronzov-Dashkov,  the  most 
accomplished  woman  of  her  time,  who,  as 
she  said,  was  willing  to  mount  the  scaffold 
for  her  mistress.  She  did  Catharine  great 
service  in  the  deposition  of  Peter  III. 
The  French  were  the  models  for  Catharine 
in  culture  as  well  as  in  immorality  ;  but 
she  did  not  imi- 
tate them  to  a 
slavish  or  vulgar 
degree.  As  she 
always  remained 
a  sovereign  in 
her  attitude 
towards  her 
favourites,  so 
she  always  main- 
tained her  dig- 
nity among  the 
foreigners  from 
whom  she  learnt. 
She  knew  how 
t  o  strike  the 
-happy  mean,  and 
did  not  go  to  ex- 
tremes, as  Anna 
and  Elizabeth 
did,  or  her  hus- 
band Peter  III., 
who  had  deified 
the  Prussian 
king,  Frederic 
the  Great,  to  an 
absurd  degree. 
Besides  French, 
she  also  brought 
Germans  to  her 
court,  especially 
natives  of  the 
Baltic  provinces, 
in  which  the  best  schools  were  to  be  found. 

Above  all,  she  allowed  the  French 
philosophy  of  enlightenment  to  influence 
her  mind.  Worshipping  the  views  of  the 
Encyclopaedists,  she  was  filled  with  the 
lofty  thought  of  making  her  people  happy.- 
She  dreamed  of  no  less  a  scheme  than  the 
abolition  of  serfdom.  "  Freedom,  thou 
soul  of  all  things,"  she  wrote,  "  without 
thee  all  is  dead  ;  I  wish  to  have  obedience 
in  laws,  but  no  slaves."  Steeped  in  these 
ideals,  she  desired  to  inaugurate  her  reign 
with  a  modern  code.  She  therefore  resolved 


ANNA  IVANOVNA  IN  HER  ROYAL  SPLENDOUR 

From  .1  p-iintin^  in  the  Roinanof  Gallery,  St.  Petersburg. 


to  summon  a  legislative  assembly,  on  the 
model  of  the  old  French  estates,  from  the 
whole  of  Russia,  and  worked  for  some 
years  with  great  diligence  and  acuteness 
at  a  draft  scheme  for  its  constitution, 
which  testified  to  her  liberal  views.  She 
wrote:  "The  nation  is  not  for  the  ruler, 
but  the  ruler  for  the  nation.  The  equality 
of  the  citizens  consists  in  their  only  having 
to  obey  the  law  ;  freedom  is  the  right  to  do 
everything  that  is  not  forbidden  by  the 
law."  She  condemned  religious  persecu- 
tions and  every  form  of  intolerance. 
Voltaire  ex- 
pressed  his  as- 
tonishment to 
he-. 

Even  Frederic 
the  Great  could 
not  find  words 
enough  to  cele- 
brate the  author- 
ess, the  first 
woman  who  came 
forward  as  a 
legislator.  The 
legislative  assem- 
bly was  sum- 
moned in  the 
year  1766.  It 
consisted  of  re- 
presentatives of 
all  classes  and 
races  in  the  em- 
jiire,  559  persons. 
There  were  to 
be  seen  senators, 
officials,  soldiers, 
members  of  the 
synod,  citizens, 
peasants,  Tar- 
tars, Kalmucks. 
L  a  ff  s,  Samoy- 
edes,  Germans, 
and  Poles.  Every 
member  was 
required  to  be  provided  with  an  authori- 
sation from  at  least  five  of  his  electors, 
and  received  a  medallion  bearing  the 
likeness  of  Catharine  and  the  inscription : 
"  For  the  happiness  of  one  and  all, 
December  14th,  1766." 

All  members  were  declared  inviolable 
for  the  period  of  their  sittings,  and  exempt 
for  ever  from  all  corporal  punishments. 
She  wrote  to  Voltaire:  "  I  think  that  you 
would  be  pleased  with  an  assembly  in 
which  the  Orthodox  believer  sits  between 
the   heretic   and   the   Moslem,   all   three 

3349 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


listen  to  tke  speech  of  an  idolator,  and  then 
the  four  of  them  come  to  a  unanimous 
opinion."  This  assembly,  owing  to  its 
composition,  was  naturally  unfitted  for 
legislative  work.  In  the  middle  of  an 
earnest  discussion  over  the  rights  of 
citizens  in  towns,  one  member  talked 
about  hygiene,  and  another  recommended 
a  remedy  against  frost-bite.  Nevertheless, 
in  the  200  sittings  or  more  which  the 
assembly  held,  a  number  of  questions  were 
thoroughly  discussed,  and  resolutions 
were  formulated  which  are  of  the  highest 
interest. 

Owing  presumably  to  the  Turkish 
war,  Catharine  dissolved  the  assembly 
on  December  i8th,  1768 ;  only  the 
special  committees  continued  in  force 
until  December  4th,  1774. 
She  emphasised,  at  any 
rate,  in  a  ukase,  the 
belief  that  the  proceed- 
ings had  diffused  light 
and  learning  over  the 
whole  realm.  The  ques- 
tion of  the  abolition  of 
serfdom  had  also  been 
touched  upon  in  the 
assembly ;  even  some 
nobles  among  the  depu- 
ties were  in  favour  of 
it.  Count  Peter  Schere- 
metjet,  a  great  benefactor 
to  the  poor,  and  so  free 
from  prejudice  that  he 
had  married  a  serf,  de- 
clared his  readiness  to 
emancipate  them  all.  But 
on  the  whole  the  Rus- 
sian nobility  were  not  Catharine 
inclined  to  release  their  uniform  of 
"  souls  "  ;  for  that  would  have  meant 
economic  ruin  for  most  of  them.  Many 
were  full  of  class  prejudices.  The  poet 
Alexander  Sumarokov  expressed  their 
view  when  he  says  :  "  The  peasant  is  as 
fitted  for  serfdom  as  the  house-dog  for  the 
chain  or  the  canary  for  the  cage." 

Catharine  herself  honestly  desired  the 
complete,  but  gradual,  abolition  of  serf- 
dom, and  energetically  advocated  its 
amelioration.  She  severely  punished 
persons  who  were  denounced  to  her  for 
their  inhumane  treatment  of  serfs.  But 
the  question  was  very  complicated,  for 
serfdom  had  a  political  basis.  Its  begin- 
ning lies  in  the  Tartar  age,  when  the 
Russian  petty  princes,  who  were  also  the 
chief  tax-collectors  of  the  Tartar  Khans, 

3350 


were  obliged  to  raise  the  Tartar  imposts 
together  with  their  own,  and  for  this 
object  had  to  introduce  a  new  system  of 
fiscal  groups.  The  increased  demands  on 
the  army  and  revenue  caused  by  con- 
tinual wars  compelled  the  Muscovite 
grand  dukes  above  all  to  look  for  means 
with  which  they  could  enforce  the  military 
duties  of  the  nobility  and  the  taxes  and 
services   of   the   peasantry. 

A  suitable  machinery  was  found  in  the 
well-proved  system  of  fiscal  groups  with 
common  responsibility,  so  that  the  govern- 
ment could  not  touch  each  separate  indi- 
vidual immediately,  but  only  through  the 
body  of  ratepayers.  The  same  method 
was  applied  to  the  nobility  to  bring 
til'  in  ii.to  touch  with  military  service 
by  the  creation  of 
"  districts  of  nobility." 
in  which  an  ocladozik, 
elected  from  amongst  the 
nobles,  fixed  the  amount 
and  value  of  the  military 
service  which  each  of  the 
"  district  nobles  "  had  to 
render.  As  a  reward  for 
the  service  the  prince 
handed  over  to  the  nobles 
crown  lands  with  the 
resident  peasants,  whose 
numbers  constituted  the 
real  value  of  the  lands. 
The  nobles  naturally 
could  only  discharge  their 
obligations  to  the  state 
if  the  peasants  remained 
on  the  soil  and  cultivated 
it  ;  if  these  left  their 
part  of  the  country, 
the  lands  which  they 
deserted  had  no  further  value.  In  order, 
therefore,  that  military  service  might  be 
secured,  and  the  land-tax  (plough-tax), 
and,  after  Peter  the  Great,  the  hearth-tax 
or  poll-tax,  might  not  be  diminished,  the 
peasants'  right  of  moving  their  domicile 
required  to  be  checked.  At  first  it  was 
only  restricted.  Feodor  Ivanovitch,  1592 
and  1597,  then  Boris  Godunov,  1601  and 
1602,  Schuskij,  1607,  and  Peter  the  Great, 
frequently  occupied  themselves  with  this 
problem.  First  of  all,  emigration  was 
rendered  difficult  ;  then  it  was  absolutely 
forbidden,  and  the  "  floating  element " 
of  the  population  was  permanently  riveted 
to  the  soil.  The  power  of  the  lord  over  his 
serf  thus  was  strengthened,  and  the  state 
did  not  interfere  in  their  mutual  relations. 


GREAT    IN    THE 
THE    HUSSARS 


THE  SUCCESSORS  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

In  the  seventeenth  century,  prison,  fetters  peasants  in  Little  Russia.  The  sanguinary 
and  neck-irons  were  to  be  found  in  a  revolt  of  the  Ukraine  peasants  under 
country  house.  Gonta  and  Selisnjak  in   1767-1768,   just 

This  patriarchal  jurisdiction  was  not  at  the  time  when  the  abolition  of  serfdom 
limited  by  any  legal  conditions,  except  was  being  discussed,  completely  destroyed 
that  the  death  penalty  was  forbidden,  the  tsaritsa's  pleasure  in  reforms,  since 
The  peasants,  however,  always  endured  she  was  indignant  at  the  cruelties  perpe- 
this  burden  in  the  knowledge  that  trated  there,  and  she  entirely  changed  her 
their  services  were  rendered  directly  to  attitude,  as  the  dangerous  and  sanguinary 
the  state  as  payment  for  the  officials  rebellion  of  Pugatchef  fully  occupied  her 
performing  military  and  other  servkes  ;     attention. 

~  ~  Although  the  Russian  nobihty  in  the 

bulk   was   hardly   worth    more    than   the 
peasantry,  yet    it    helped    the     state     to 
keep     the    savage     peasantry    in    check, 
and    might     be    regarded,    therefore,    as 
part  of  the  state  machinery.     Catharine's 
liberal    notions    received     a    still    ruder 
shock     when,     in      the 
course     of     the     French 
Revolution,    that    very 
people,  for  whose  welfare 
and    freedom    men    had 
written    and     toiled    in- 
defatigably,    perpetrated 
hideous  atrocities.  Gonta, 
Selisnjak,  and  the  Jaco- 
bins,    Umani     and     the 
storming   of   the  Bastile, 
gave  her  much  food  for 
meditation.     Her  opinion 
was  that  the  people  did 
not  deserve  liberty. 

Then  her  reactionary 
efforts  began.  She  de- 
stroyed socialistic  books 
and  ordered  their  authors 
to  be  watched  and  their 
correspondence  opened. 
She  broke  off  relations 
with  France,  banished  all 


that  is,    the    nobility.     But  when   Peter 
III.  in    1762    released    the   nobles    from 
the    obligation    to    serve    the    state,    on 
the  grounds  that  love  for  the  sovereign 
and  zeal    for  the    service    of    the  state 
were    so    universal    that    it    no    longer 
appeared    necessary    to    maintain    those 
compulsory      mea- 
sures,   a  great   agitation 
was    roused    among  the 
peasants,     for     they 
believed    that    on    their 
side   they  were   released 
from    all    obligations    to 
the  nobility.      A  respon- 
sive    quiver     was     felt 
throughout   the  empire  ; 
even     the     disturbances 
in    the   Ukraine   of    the 
year  1767-1768,  were  in- 
fluenced by  it.     For  the 
first    time    the   peasants 
were   overcome  by  mis- 
trust     of     the     nobles, 
whom    they  accused   of 
keeping  them  in  slavery 
in  defiance  of  the  tsar's 
will.      This     idea    came 
more     prominently    for- 
ward under  Alexander  II., 


THE    FAMOUS    CATHARINE    11.    IN 
HER    ROYAL    ROBES 


and   has    not    been    entirely    dissipated  Frenchmen  who  were  supporters  of    the 

to-day.  Revolution,  and  received  the  emigres  with 

Catharine  would  certainlv  have  lightened  open    arms.      Catharine    did   not,    how- 

the  yoke  of  serfdom.  But  on  the  other  hand  ever,  entirely  sacrifice  her  hberal  ideas; 

the  solution  of  this  question  was  then  far  the    peasants    were    only    temporarily   in 

too  difficult  ;    on  the  other  hand  she  had  disfavour  with  her.    She  gave  the  nobility 

just  been  diverted  from  that  idea  by  the  a  sort  of  constitution  according  to  districts, 

bai^barism  of  the  empire,  and  altered  her  to  the  towns  self-government  and  pnvate 

views  surprisingly  in  1768.      Instead  of  jurisdiction,  and  special  privileges  to  the 

alleviating  the  lot  of  the  peasants,  she  merchants.     The  nobility  at  that  period 
extended  the   prerogatives  of  the  land-  •  enjoyed  her  peculiar  favour.     She  thought 

owners,    conceded    to    them    the    most  the  king's  cause  was  the  nobles'  cause; 

extensive   jurisdiction,   forbade   the   pea-  no  nobility,  no  monarch, 

sants  to  impeach  their  lords,  and  allowed  Although  Catharine  would  not  abolish 

tl^e  lords  to  send  their  serfs  to  Siberia,  serfdom,  she  was  at  least  trying  to  prepare 

Catharine,    who    erased    the    word    rab  for  its  abolition.     She  saw  that  the  culture 

(slave)     from    the     Russian    dictionary,  of    the  nation  must  first  be  raised  before 

reduced  to  serfdom  a  million  and  a  half  its  condition  could  be  ameUorated,  and  she 

3351 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


threw  herself  heart  and  soul  into  the  task 
of  raising  the  standard  of  schools  and 
education.  In  this  effort  she  was  much 
helped  by  Ivan  Betzkoy,  who  had  been 
educated  abroad.  Like  Peter  the  Great, 
she  founded  schools,  academies  of  science 
and  art,  and  educational  establishments. 
There  was  room,  for  example,  for  some 
„      ,  -  ^  hundreds  of  well-born  girls  in 

fo^Learnir  ^^'^  Smolna  convent.  and  the 
°  d  g**™"^*  immense  educational  institute 
for  destitute  children  roused 
the  admiration  of  Napoleon  I.  She  com- 
missioned Diderot  to  prepare  a  scheme 
for  a  system  of  secondary  schools. 

But,  unlike  Peter  the  Great,  she  contem- 
plated the  education  of  the  masses,  and, 
therefore,  set  more  thoroughly  to  work.  She 
not  only,  in  1775,  ordered  the  "  colleges 
of  general  supervision  "  in  the  separate 
governments  to  provide  for  the  founda- 
tion of  schools  in  every  large  town,  and  in 
1781  built  in  Petersburg  seven  schools 
containing  one  class  only,  which  im- 
mediately received  486  scholars,  but  also 
nominated,  in  1782,  a  special  committee 
for  the  establishment  of  national  schools. 
At  the  head  of  the  commission,  it  is  true, 
was  placed  Peter  Savadovskij,  who,  in 
spite  of  his  learning,  was  very  indolent, 
but  he  had  efficient  scholars  at  his  side, 
among  them  the  "  IllvTian "  school- 
director  Theodor  von  Jankovics  sent  by 
the  Emperor  Joseph  II.,  in  1782,  who 
elaborated  a  new  curriculum  and  wrote 
text-books.  The  Russian  Kosodavlef 
published  twenty-eight  school-books. 

These  were  modest  beginnings  ;  no  vil- 
lage school  had  yet  been  erectejd-  But  the 
National  School  Ordinance  of  August  5th, 
1786,  made  school  reform  obligatory  on  the 
whole  of  Russia.  The  French  educational 
system  was  the  empress's  ideal  in  this; 
the  Emperor  Joseph,  whom  she  had  met 
at  the  beginning  of  July,  1780,  in  Mohilef, 
influenced  her  in  this  direction,  since  he, 
too,  was  under  the  spell  of  the  French  en- 
lightenment. At  the  advice 
of  the  Princess  Dashkov, 
Catharine  founded  in  1783, 
on  the  model  of  the  French, 
a  Russian  Academy,  which  was  entrusted 
ydth  the  dut\'  of  "  drawing  up  rules  for 
orthography,  preparing  a  Russian  gram- 
mar and  prosody,  and  encouraging  the 
study  of  Russian  histor\'."  The  Russian 
Academy  stood,  therefore,  independently 
by  the  side  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences, 
whose    director  was    also    the    princess, 

3352 


Catharine 
Founds  a  Russian 
Academy 


from  17S3-1796  ;  the  former  was  incor- 
porated in  the  latter  as  a  second  division 
as  recently  as  1855.  The  Russian 
Academy  set  about  the  preparation  of  a 
Russian  dictionary.  The  Princess  Dash- 
kov edited  three  letters ;  the  empress 
composed  an  appendix  to  the  first  volume. 
Both  academies  performed  meritorious 
services  in  elevating  the  progress  of 
science  in  Russia. 

Catharine's  literary  activity  had  many 
phases.  When  Princess  Dashkov,  in 
1783-1785,  published  "  The  Companion  " 
(or  "  Conversational  Guide  for  Friends 
of  Russian  Literature "),  the  empress 
composed  for  it  some  anonymous  sketches 
of  a  satirical  character.  She  also 
wrote  treatises,  tales,  and  plays.  Thus 
she  glorified  in  "  Oleg "  the  first  cam- 
paign of  the  Russians  against  Con- 
stantinople ;  her  court  bandmaster, 
Giuseppe  Sarti,  composed  choruses  for 
this  piece.  In  the  piece  called  "  Gore- 
bogatyr,"  or  the  "  Hero  of  Misfortunes," 
she  ridiculed  Gustavus  III.  of  Sweden. 
Other  works  from  her  pen  are  "  The 
Siberian  Shamans,"  "  Deceivers,"  "  The 
_     . .,  Blinded,"     "  Woe     for     the 

The  Literary   t-  >>       t^        1  1 

Q  .  -  limes.  ror  her  grandsons 
the  Em  ress  Alexander  and  Constantine  she 
™'*'^  wrote  "  The  Grandmother's 
Alphabet,"  and  "The  Library,"  which  was 
printed  in  Berlin.  She  collected  linguisti: 
notes,  spent  time  qn  archaeology  and 
mythology,  and  extracted  chronicles.  She 
was  fond  of  history,  especially  Russian. 
"  No  history  supplies  better  and  greater 
men  than  ours  ;  I  love  it  to  infatuation," 
she  wrote  to  Diderot. 

An  imperishable  monument  of  her 
genius  is  to  be  found  in  her  numerous 
letters,  which  testify  to  her  grace,  her 
good  breeding,  her  great  intellect  and 
literary  talent,  as  well  as  to  her  sparkling 
\\it  and  sensibility.  She  wrote  with  equal 
facihty  (though,  it  must  be  owned,  with 
equal  incorrectness)  in  Russian,  German, 
and  French.  Her  French  letters,  accord- 
ing to  the  opinion  of  the  Abbe  Jean 
Siffrein  Maury,  surpassed  even  those  of 
Voltaire.  For  music  alone  she  had  no 
talent.  She  commissioned  many  trans- 
lators and  paid  them  well,  as  Peter  the 
Great  had  formerly  done.  As  a  patroness 
of  belles  lettres  she  brought  distinguished 
poets,  artists,  philosophers,  and  scholars 
to  her  court,  at  which  a  high  intellectual 
tone  prevailed.  Many  famous  contem- 
poraries visited  her  there,   among  them 


CATHARINE  THE  GREAT  OF  RUSSIA 

Mounting  the  throne  in  1762,  after  deposing  Peter  III.,  this  remarkable 
woman  did  much  to  raise  the  standard  of  education.  Liberal  and  tasteful, 
she  enriched  St.   Petersburg  with  works  of  art  and  splendid  buildings. 


3353 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Voltaire  and  Diderot.  With  Baron 
Melchior  Grimm  (1723-1807),  she  once 
conversed  for  seven  hours  without  inter- 
ruption on  scientific  questions.  He  was 
her  art  and  Hterary  agent  in  France,  and 
bought  for  her  books,  works  of  art,  and 
collections.  Voltaire  was  her  intellectual 
model.  Liberal  and  tasteful,  she  adorned 
and  enriched  St.  Petersburg  with  works 
of  art  and  splendid  buildings  of  every  sort. 
She  loved  brilliance  and  a  luxury  hitherto 
unknown  in  Russia. 

She  also  patronised  the  Russian  scholars 
and  poets.  Even  in  her  day,  Russian 
literature  showed  a  list  of  famous  names  ; 
the  Russian  drama  was  created  at  this 
time.  The  empress  had  a  great  share  in 
rousing  the  self-conscious- 
ness of  the  nation.  Although 
a  German  princess  by  birth, 
she  felt  herself  a  Russian. 
She  said  in  jest  to  the 
physician  who  opened  one 
of  her  veins  :  "  That  is 
better ;  the  last  drop  of 
GeiTnan  blood  is  gone." 
The  Russian  party  might 
have  seen  that  it  was  pos- 
sible to  be  a  reformer  and 
remain  a  true  Russian.  A 
number  of  Russian  news- 
papers sprang  up,  and  the 
national  literature  of  Russia 
now  flowed  in  a  broad 
stream.  In  short,  the  cul- 
ture of  East  Europe  rose, 
at  least  in  the  higher  circles 
of  society,  to  heights  of 
which  the  most  sanguine 
had  never  dreamed.  It 
was  also  greatly  to  the 
honour  of  Catharine  that  she  employed 
the  Church  in  the  cause  of  culture.  She 
completed  a  step,  on  which  Peter  the 
Great  did  not  venture,  namely,  the  confis- 
cation of  the  estates  of  the  Church.  The 
Russian  monasteries  were  enormously 
wealthy.  They  had  been  spared  even  by 
the  Tartars,  and  their  property  had  grown 
from  century  to  century.  The  number  of 
their  members  amounted  to  more  than  a 
million  ;  the  convent  of  Troizko-Sergiev, 
at  Moscow,  alone  had  120,000.  Catharine 
now  appointed  a  board,  which  placed  all 
Church  estates  under  one  government. 
The  convents  received  for  every  male 
member  a  rouble  and  a  half  ;  from  the 
surplus,  schools,  hospitals,  and  other 
charitable  institutions  were  to  be  erected. 

3354 


POTEMKIN,  THE  FAVOURITE 
The  favourites  of  Catharine  were,  for 
the  most  part,  highly  gifted  men,  and 
in  the  front  rank  of  her  esteem  stood 
Gregory  Potemkin.  But  he  was  not 
above  deceiving  her  Majesty  on  occasion. 


Catharine  divided  the  Russian  state  into 
districts,  in  order  to  improve  the  admini- 
stration and  facilitate  supervision,  and 
thus  created  forty  governments.  During 
her  reign  large  tracts  of  land  were  settled, 
mostly  with  colonists  from  the  West, 
among  them  many  Germans.  The  num- 
ber of  the  population  of  the  kingdom  rose 
under  her  to  forty  millions,  which  was 
due  not  only  to  the  colonisation  and  in- 
corporation of  various  regions,  but  also 
to  the  circumstance  that  she  paid  attention 
to  public  sanitation,  and  among  other 
things  introduced  inoculation  for  small- 
pox. She  founded  many  towns,  several 
of  which  bear  her  name,  constructed, 
like  Peter,  canals  and  roads,  and  pro- 
moted trade  and  industries. 
It  was  fortunate  for 
Russia  that  through  the 
advocacy  of  her  great 
tsaritsa  the  warming  rays 
of  Western  culture  shone 
on  her  longer  than  formerly 
under  Peter  the  Great.  For 
the  military  strength  and 
political  influence  of  Russia 
grew  with  the  progress  of 
her  civilisation.  In  spite 
of  the  great  services  of 
Catharine  we  must  not 
forget  tliat  she  only  built 
on  the  foundation  which 
Peter  I.  had  laid.  Peter  the 
Great  had  roused  Russia 
from  a  secular  apathy,  and 
his  task  was  the  greater. 
He  did  almost  everything 
himself.  Catharine  worked 
mainly  through  her  states- 
men ;  her  greatest  gift  was 
her  knack  of  gathering  splendid  men 
round  her.  She  was  aware  of  this,  and 
just  enough  to  admit  it  openly  and  to 
give  the  precedence  to  Peter  the  Great. 

Catharine's  favourites  were  to  some  ex- 
tent highly  gifted  men,  to  whose  suggestion 
she  may  have  been  indebted  for  many 
an  act  ascribed  to  her  own  inventive 
powers.  It  is  perhaps  an  excuse  for 
Catharine's  weaknesses  and  sensuality 
that  in  her  days  such  conduct  was  uni- 
versal. But  while  other  sovereigns  were 
taken  up  with  sensuality,  she  worked 
indefatigably  ;  from  early  morning  until 
late  into  the  night  she  attended  to  the 
business  of  the  empire.  Her  people 
readily  forgave  her  any  failings  in  view 
of  her  services. 


GREAT  DATES  IN  THE 

HISTORY  OF   EASTERN 

EUROPE:   A.D. 

376   TO    1793 

A.D. 
376 

Huns  invade  Russia 

A.D. 
1593 

AustroTurkish  war 

C.  480 

Czech  migration  to  Bohemia  and  Moravia 

1598 

Murder  of    the    pseudo-Dmitri    m    Russia  ; 

799 

Prague  founded 

murder  of  Feodor  I.,  last  of  the  Ruriks ; 

862 

Rurik  the  first  of  his  line  at  Novgorod 

Moscow  patriarchate  founded 

864 

Moravia  Christianised 

1606 

Peace  of  Vienna 

894 

Bohemia  Christianised 

1613 

Michael    Fedorovitz,    first     Romanof    ruler; 

906 

Magyars  overcome  Moravia 

Russia  becomes  Europeanised 

907 

Oleg  invades  Greek  Empire 

1617 

Treaty  of  Solbovo  and  cession  of  Finland  to 

941  \ 
944  / 

Igor  attacks  Byzantium 

1619 

Sweden 
Revolt  of  Bohemia ;  Frederick  elector  palatine 

9SS 

Olga  of  Russia  baptised 

elected  king  of  Bohemia 

988 

Russia  under  Greek  and  Christian  influence 

1648 

Bohemia  secured  to  Austria 

C.  992 

Christianity  introduced  into  Poland 

1634 

Conquest  of  Poland  by  Russia  and  Sweden 

996 

Hungarian  monarchy  founded 

1660 

Poland  regains  independence 

1041 

Henry  111.  conquers  and  devastates  Bohemia 

1667 

Treaty  of  Andrussov  and  acquisition  of  Polish 

:06l 

Hungary  infested  by  Poles 

territory  by  Russia 

1077 

Saint  Ladislaus  king  of  Hungary 

1668 

John  Casimir  abdicates  Poland 

1132 

Bela  H.  king  of  Hungary 

1671 

Cossacks  subjugated  in  Russia 

1157 

Progress  of  Silesia 

1674 

John  Sobieski  reigns  in  Poland 

1174 

Bela  HI.  brings  Greek  civilisation  into  Hungary 

1675 

Turks  defeated  at  Lemberg  by  John  Sobieski 

1187 

Premysl  Ottokar  first  king  of  Bohemia 

1676 

Stefan  Bathori  reigns  in  Poland 

1222 

Golden  Bull  of  Hungary 

1683 

John  Sobieski  overcomes  the  Turks  and  raises 

1223 

Russia  invaded  by  the  Golden  Horde 

the  siege  of  Vienna 

1238 

Henry  H.  extends  rule  of  Silesia 

1686 

Ofen  retaken  from  Turks 

1241 

Tartars  ravage  Hungary;  Danes  driven  back 

1687 

Hungarian  crown  becomes  hereditary 

from  Russia 

1689 

Peter  the  Great  absolute  ruler  in  Russia 

1242 

Tartar  power  in  Russia 

1696 

Conquest  of  Azov  by  Russia 

1274 

Ladislaus  of  Hungary  and  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg 

1697 

Turks  defeated  at   Zenta;  Peter  the  Great 

make  league 

travels 

1300 

Moscow  made  the  capital  of  Russia 

1698 

He  dissolves  the  Strelitz  and  forms  a  fleet 

1301 

Arpad  dynasty  in  Hungary  ends 

1699 

Hungary     freed     from     Turks;     peace     of 

1309 

Charles    Robert    of    Anjou   elected    king  of 

Carlowitz 

Hungary 

1700 

Russia  defeated  at  Narva  by  Charles  XII.  of 

1325 

Silesia  invaded  by  John  of  Bohemia 

Sweden  ;  introduction  of  Julian  Calendar 

1342 

Lewis  the  Great  king  of  Hungary 

into  Russia 

1344-82 

Lewis  the  Great  victorious  in  Servia,  Bulgaria 

1703 

St.  Petersburg  built  for  the  capital 

and  Dalmatia 

1704 

Stanislaus  I.  elected  at  Vienna 

1346 

King  John,  blind  king  of   Bohemia,  slain   at 

1707 

Mazeppa  attempts  to  free  the  Ukraine 

Crecy 

1709 

Swedes  defeated  at  Poltava 

1370 

Lewis  of  Hungary  elected  king  of  Poland 

1711 

Defeat  of  Russians  on  the  Pruth ;  Russia  in- 

1380 

Tartar  war  in  Russia 

stitutes  a  senate 

1383 

Moscow  burned 

1715 

Russian   conquests  on   the    Baltic;    Finnish 

1395 

Tamerlane  invades  Russia 

territory,  Esthonia  and  Livonia  added  to 

1411 

Sigismund  of    Hungary  elected  emperor  of 

Russia 

Germany 

1716 

Peter  the  Great's  second  visit  to  the  West 

1415 

Martyrdom  of  John  Huss 

1718 

Expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  from  Russia ;   peace 

1419 

Capture  of  Prague  by  Ziska,  the  Hussite  leader ; 

of   Passarowitz  ;    death   of   Peter's   son. 

Hussite  war  in  Bohemia 

Alexis 

1437 

Bohemia  and  Hungary  united  to  Austria 

1721 

Abolition  of  patriarchal  office  in  Russia 

1442 

Hunyadi  victorious  over  the  Turks 

1722 

Pragmatic    sanction    in    Austria    permitting 

1444 

Ladislaus   of  Hungary  defeated  and  slain  at 

female  succession 

Varna;  Hunyadi  regent  of  Hungary 

1723 

Russian  conquests  on  the  Caspian  shores 

1448 

Hunyadi  defeated  at  Kossova  by  Turks 

1725 

Death  of  Peter  the  Great 

1456 

Hunyadi  defends  Belgrade 

1730 

Deposition  of  Peter  II.  (last  of  the  Romanofs) 

I4R2 

Ivan  III.  reigns  in  Russia 

1737 

Austro-Russian  war  with  Turkey 

1471 

Ladislaus,  king  of  Poland,  elected  to  Bohemian 

1739 

Cession  of  Servia  and  Wallachia  to  Turkey  by 

throne 

Peace  of  Belgrade 

1478 

King  of  Hungary  takes  Silesia 

1740 

Prussia  conquers  Silesia ;   Hungary  supports 

1479 

Tartar  invasion  of  Russia  repelled  by  Ivan  III. 

Maria  Theresa 

1481 

Tartars  in  Russia  crushed 

1741 

War    of     Austrian     succession ;    Elizabeth, 

1491 

Hungary  invaded  by  Maximilian  of  Austria 

daughter  of  Peter  the  Great,  reigns  in 

1S06 

Sigismund  I.  reigns  in  Poland ;  war  between 

Russia 

Russia  and  Poland 

1757 

Prussia  defeats  Austria  at  Prague 

1514 

Peasant  revolt  in  Hungary 

1762 

Catharine  II.  reigns  in  Russia 

1516 

Louis  11.  king  of  Hungary 

1763 

Frederick  of  Prussia  retains  Silesia 

1526 

Hungary  invaded  by  Turks;  Ofen  captured; 

1764 

Murder  of  Ivan  VI.,  lawful  heir  of  Russia 

Louis  II.  defeated  at  Battle  of  Mohacs; 

1770 

Great  pestilence  in  Poland 

John  Zapolya  elected  king  of  Hungary 

1772 

First  partition  of  Poland 

1531 

Defeat  of  Wallachia 

1774 

Crimea  independent ;  peace  of  Kainardji 

1533 

Ivan  the  Terrible  reigns  in  Russia 

1775 

Cossack  rebellion  in  Russia ;  peasant  revolt  in 

1548 

Sigismund  II.  effects  reforms  in  Poland 

Bohemia 

1553 

England  opens  trade  with  Russia 

1781 

Bohemian  edict  of  toleration 

1568 

Strelitz  established  in  Russia 

1783 

Russia  an:.e.\es  Crimea 

1569 

Lithuania  united  to  Poland 

1784 

Protestants  tolerated  in  Hungary 

1579 

Ivan  the  Terrible  of  Russii  seeks  to  marry 

1790 

Hungary  independent 

Elizabeth  of  Enuland 

1791 

Peace  of  Sistova 

1591 

Hungary  devastated  by  Turks 

1793 

Second  partition  of  Poland 

3355 


SYMBOLS  OF  RUSSIA'S  GREATNESS:  CROWNS  AND  SCEPTRES  OF  THE  NATIONS  RULER 
1,  Tsar's  "  globe  "  as  Tsar  of  Astrakhan.  2,  The  costliest  crown  in  the  world,  worn  by  the  Russian  Emperor  as 
the  Tsar  of  Novgorod  ;  surmounted  by  a  cross  of  twelve  enormous  diamonds.  3,  The  "  globe  "  which,  as  Tsar  of 
Kiev,  belongs  to  the  Emperor  ;  and,  4,  his  sceptre  as  Tsar  of  Siberia.  5,  The  Russian  crown  of  Siberia  ;  and,  6,  the 
crown  of  the  kingdom  of  Kasan.  7,  This  sceptre,  which  once  belonged  to  Peter  the  Great,  is  wielded  by  the 
Tsar  as  "Emperor  and  Autocrat  of  All  the  Russias."  8,  The  Tsar's  throne  as  ruler  of  Vladimir  (16th 
century).     9,  Crown  used  in  ceremony  of  crowning  heir  to  Russian  throne.      10,  Sceptre  as  Tsar  of  Moscow. 


3356 


EASTERN 

EUROPE  TO 

THE    FRENCH 

REVOLUTION 


RISE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  RUSSIA 

ITS  RAPID  GROWTH  IN  POWER  AND  INFLUENCE 


VY/HILE  the  sum  total  of  the  work  done 
^  by  Russia  in  the  domain  of  culture 
during  her  general  development  was 
hardly  sufficient  for  her  own  requirements, 
her  military  and  political  successes  were,  on 
the  other  hand,  most  important,  although 
purchased  by  great  sacrifices.  The  Russian 
people  had  stubbornly  survived  the  Tartar 
terrorism,  had  subdued  in  the  sixteenth 
century  the  Tartar  khanates  of  Kosan 
and  Astrakhan,  had  obtained  possession  of 
Siberia,  had  acquired  in  the  seventeenth 
century  the  Ukraine,  had  conquered  under 
Peter  the  Great  the  Baltic  coast,  the 
Caspian,  and  the  Sea  of  Azov,  and  had 
carried  their  arms  to  Persia. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  the  diplo- 
matists of  Europe  were  much  occupied  by 
the  Turkish  or  Eastern  question  as  well 
as  with  the  destiny  of  Poland.  A  happy 
solution  of  this  problem  was  a  vitally 
important  task  for  Russia.  Some  few  years 
after  the  great  defeat  under 
Turkey        ^^^  ^^jj^  ^^  Vienna  (1683),  the 

A  Bone  of       •    ,      ■  r    xr  c    c 

^  ^  ,.  Victories  of  Eugene  of  Savoy 
Contention  1     j      1     1  xl     t-      1  •  i. 

had  shaken  the  Turkish  power 

to  its  foundations.  As  long  as  a  war 
against  the  Porte  seemed  a  dangerous 
enterprise,  Hungary,  Austria  and  Poland 
had  been  forced  to  bear  the  brunt  of  it 
alone  :  in  fact  they  had  been  sometimes 
actually  hindered  by  other  i)owers.  But 
when  after  1718  the  question  of  the 
Turkish  succession  became  one  of  practical 
politics,  all  the  powers  announced  their 
interest  in  what  they  were  pleased  to  call 
the  Eastern  question,  and  thus  Turkey 
has  been  as  great  a  bone  of  contention  as 
was  Poland  at  an  earlier  period.  Russia, 
France  and  England,  who  hitherto  had 
taken  practically  no  share  in  wars  with 
Turkey,  now  became  so  susceptible  on 
this  very  point  that  they  thought  they 
alone  had  a  right  to  settle  the  matter. 

Russia  has  been  often  surprised  by 
events  at  a  moment  when  she  was  still  too 
weak  to  discharge  some  great  task  with 
which  she  suddenly  found  herself  con- 
fronted ;     but   then,   after   collecting   all 

814 


her  forces,  she  has  often  outdistanced  her 
rivals,  who  had  got  the  start.  At  the  end 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  Poland 
and  Austria  dealt  Turkey  such  heavy 
blows,  Russia  was  still  too  unprepared  to 
think  of  making  war  upon  the  sultan. 
The  war  which  she  was  compelled  to  wage 
for  the  possession  of  the  Ukraine  ended 
.  in  1 68 1  with  the  inglorious  peace 
.  .  of  Bachtschissarai.  Then  in  1684 
^  .  a  joint  embassy  for  Austria  and 
Poland  appeared  in  Moscow  to 
induce  the  tsar  to  occupy  the  Crimea, 
the  "  right  hand  of  the  sultan."  In 
1686  John  Sobieski  ceded  the  Ukraine  east 
of  the  Dnieper  to  Moscow,  in  order  to 
secure  its  co-operation  in  his  plan. 

War  against  the  Turks  was  then  still 
regarded  as  a  holy  war,  to  which  all 
Christian  states  ought  to  feel  themselves 
bound ;  the  fact  that  the  Polish  king 
nevertheless  richly  rewarded  Moscow  for 
its  services  shows  that  other  motives 
besides  those  of  the  Crusader  were  brought 
into  play.  The  Russian  court,  indeed, 
promised  in  that  treaty  to  attack  the 
Crimea  ;  but  two  expeditions  equipped  for 
that  purpose  were  abortive.  Even  Peter 
the  Great  only  succeeded  in  taking  Azov 
at  the  second  attempt  (1696).  By  these 
campaigns  he  formally  opened  the  series 
of  Russian  wars  with  Turkey,  just  as  on 
the  west  he  was  the  first  to  gain  a  firm 
footing  in  Poland.  When  Peter,  a  year 
later,  started  on  his  European  journey, 
he  received  congratulations  on  all  sides, 
even  in  Poland.  In  Vienna  the  Jesuit 
p  ,  Freiherr  von  Liidinghausen 
e  er  s      brought    into    his    sermon    the 

Scheme  ^^'"^^  *^^*  "  God  would  give  the 
*"  tsar,  as  the  namesake  of  St. 
Peter,  the  keys  to  open  the  Sublime  Porte." 
But  Peter  had  more  important  matters 
to  settle  first.  It  was  not  until  after  Poltava 
(1709)  that  he  recurred  to  that  idea.  To 
drive  out  the  Ottomans  from  Europe  in 
the  name  of  civilisation  became  a  favourite 
scheme  of  his  ;  he  saw  many  millions  of 
Christians  of  his  own  faith  pining  under 

3357 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


the  Turkish  yoke  and  fixing  their  hopes 

on    him.     He    was    already    thinking    of 

reheving  these  peoples  when  he  sustained 

the    reverse     of     171 1.      Surrounded  on 

the    Pruth,    he   was  compelled   to   resign 

Azov  and  destroy  his  fleet.    Peter  did  not 

venture    to    contemplate    a    fourth    war 

against  Turkey.    Austria,  meanwhile,  was 

.  still   entangled   in   the  War  of 

ussia        ^Y^Q    Spanish    Succession.     The 

ee  mes  a  jja.psburgs  won,  it  is  true,  whole 

Kingdom  r  u      J.U      x        i.       \     T> 

regions    by  the   treaty  at    ro- 

sharevatz  (1718)  ;  but  twenty  years  had 
hardly  passed  before  most  of  the  fruits 
of  these  great  efforts  and  sacrifices  were 
once  more  lost.  Russia  filled  the  place 
of  the  now  crippled  Poland.  Soon  after 
the  promotion  of  Russia  to  the  rank  of  a 
kingdom  (1701),  the  growing  hostility 
between  Brandenburg  and  Austria  had 
formed  the  political  axis  of  Central 
Europe  ;  at  the  conferences  of  Vienna  in 
1720  Frederick  William  I.  was  already 
termed  the  most  dangerous  enemy.  Hardly 
any  other  state  than  Russia  could  be 
taken  into  consideration  as  an  ally  against 
the  house  of  Hohenzollern.  The  first 
alliance  between  them,  therefore,  was 
concluded  on  August  6th,  1726.  The 
advantage  lay  on  the  side  of  Austria. 
The  Viennese  diplomatists  cautiously 
assumed  no  responsibility  towards  Turkey 
except  for  Russian  possessions  in  Europe, 
and  succeeded  in  strictly  limiting  their 
obligations  to  their  ally,  while  the 
latter  was  pledged  in  general  terms  to 
afford  assistance  against  the  house  of 
Brandenburg. 

The  assistance  which  Austria  voluntarily 
extended  to  Russia  on  the  question 
of  the  Polish  succession  was  possibly 
of  more  value  ;  later,  too,  the  friendly 
attitude  of  Austria  in  Polish  matters 
was  highly  useful  to  Russia.  France, 
however,  on  the  one  hand  avenged 
herself  for  the  defeat  of  Lesczynski  in 
the  Polish  election  of  1733  by  Augustus 
HI.  of  Saxony,  by  declaring 
war  on  Austria,  and  by  incit- 
ing to  rebellion  the  electors 
of  Mainz,  Cologne,  Bavaria 
and  the  Palatinate,  and  on  the  other  hand 
by  forcing  Turkey  into  war  against  Russia. 
Urged  by  Austria,  Russia  in  1736  sent  for 
the  first  time  her  armies  to  the  West,  and 
simultaneously,  supported  by  Austria, 
began  a  war  against  the  Porte,  after  she 
had  by  a  treaty  with  Persia,  given  up  the 
conquests  of  Peter.     This  common  action 

3358 


France 

At  War  with    ; 

Austria 


is  the  more  noteworthy  since  from  the 
language  of  the  Russian  and  Austrian 
diplomatists  in  Niemirov  it  was  clearly 
shown  that  both  countries  had  Constan- 
tinople before  their  eyes  as  the  ultimate 
goal.  While,  however,  Russia  fought 
victoriously  against  France  in  Poland, 
and  also  against  Turkey,  Austria  was 
beaten  on  both  fields  of  battle  with  con- 
siderable losses.  In  the  peace  of  Belgrade 
of  1739,  Charles  VI.  was  forced  to  give 
back  Belgrade  and  Orsova,  with  Servia 
and  Wallachia.  Anna  Ivanovna,  how- 
ever, won  on  the  Black  Sea  a  strip  of 
country  between  the  Bug  and  the  Dniester. 
The  influence  of  Austria  henceforth 
steadily  declines  in  the  south,  while 
Russian  influence  rises  ;  the  victories  of 
Prince  Eugene  in  the  end  only  benefited 
Austria's  neighbours. 

It  would  seem  as  if  fear  of  Prussia  had 
crippled  all  the  energies  of  Austria.  The 
watchword  of  Austrian  diplomacy  was 
necessarily  "  Freedom  from  Prussia." 
A  scheme  for  effecting  this  was  soon 
prepared  ;  it  proposed  the  partition  of 
Prussia.  Sweden  and  France  declared 
their  readiness  for  it,  and  Russia  was  tc 

r.  .  •  .1  be  the  main  support.  But 
Frederic  the  t.^  1  t-     j      • 

Great  Insults  ""^  ^^y  ^rd.,  1740,  Frederic 
Er  b  th  ^^^  Great  mounted  the  throne 
of  Prussia  ;  on  October  20th, 
the  Emperor  Charles  VI.  died,  and  by 
December  Frederic  was  in  possession  of 
Silesia,  having  stolen  a  march  on  his 
enemies.  Austria  was  defeated  in  two 
wars.  In  their  terror,  the  Austrian 
diplomatists  allied  themselves  still  more 
closely  with  Russia  in  the  new  treaty 
of  June  2nd,  1746.  Attempts  were  made 
in  every  possible  way  to  bring  home  to 
Russia  the  conviction  that  Prussia  was 
dangerous  to  both  parties.  The  advantage 
lay  again  on  the  side  of  Austria  ;  Russia 
was  pjedged  to  send  her  sixty  thousand 
auxiliaries  should  the  position  become 
critical.  And  it  was  only  because  Frederic 
had  insulted  the  Empress  Elizabeth  by  a 
disparaging  remark  that  the  latter  had  on 
her  part  a  cause  for  fighting. 

Notwithstanding  that  Russian  armies 
several  times  defeated  the  Prussian  king, 
as  at  Kunersdorf  (August  12th,  1759) 
or  his  generals,  the  opinion  gained  ground 
in  St.  Petersburg  that  Russia  was  only 
picking  the  chestnuts  out  of  the  fire  for 
Austria,  and  that  nothing  could  be  accom- 
plished in  Polish  affairs  without  Prussia. 
The  court  of  St.  Petersburg  was  driven 


RISE    OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    RUSSIA 


to  this  view  by  the  Eastern  policy  of  Aus- 
tria. In  the  eighteenth  century  Austria 
possessed  no  statesman  of  first  rank  ; 
even  the  much-lauded  Kaunitz  really 
accomplished  nothing.  Confusion  and 
hollow  phrases  mark  the  style  of  the 
Austrian  memoirs  of  that  age. 

Since  the  Congress  of  Niemirov  and  the 
peace  of  Belgrade  envious  glances  had 
been  turned  on  Russia.  The  mediocre 
diplomatists  of  Vienna  thought  that 
Russia  would  help  to  crush  Prussia  and 
rebuild  the  power  of  Austria  in  the  West 
without  interfering  with  Turkey  in  return. 
This  absence  of  any  definite  plan  wearied 
and  exasperated  the  two  northern  courts. 
Not  to  mention  Peter  II.,  who  was  an  un- 
qualified admirer  of  Frederic,  even  the 
cool-headed  Catharine  II.  came  to  an 
understanding  with  Frederic  as  to  all 
the  essential  questions  of  the  foreign 
policy  of  both  countries  in  the  "  treaty 
for  mutual  defence  "  of  April  1764. 

France  now,  as  in  the  year  1736.  fanned 
a  flame  in  the  East,  since  she  urged  the 
Porte  to  a  war  against  Russia  with 
the  intention  of  diverting  the  latter  from 
Poland.  Kaunitz  probably 
had  a  hand  in  the  matter  ; 
he  was  convinced  that  Russia 
was  not  in  a  position  to  offer 
resistance,  and  that  he  would  thus  cheaply 
get  rid  of  the  danger  threatened  from  that 
quarter.  But  the  very  opposite  result 
followed.  Alexander  Golizyn  with  thirty 
thousand  men  defeated  the  Grand 
Vizir  Mohammed  Emin  with  a  hun- 
dred thousand  men  in  1769  at  Chotin 
on  the  Dniester,  and  occupied  Moldavia 
and  Wallachia ;  Peter  Rumjanzov 
similarly  with  a  few  thousand  troops 
defeated  a  hundred  thousand  Tartars  on 
the  Large,  and  then  with  seventeen 
thousand  beat  the  Grand  Vizir  himself  with 
a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  on 
the  Kaghul.  Vasili  Dolgoruki  con- 
quered almost  the  whole  Crimea  (1771), 
after  Alexis  Orlovon  July  i6th,  1770,  had 
annihilated  the  Turkish  fleet  in  the 
channel  of  Scio.  Bessarabia,  some  part 
of  Bulgaria,  and  a  few  islands  of  the 
Archipelago  were  conquered. 

The  panic  at  Constantinople  knew  no 
bounds.  Even  in  the  cabinet  of  Vienna  the 
greatest  bewilderment  prevailed.  Russia, 
it  was  feared,  would  conquer  Turkey 
single-handed.  The  Prussians  now  were 
acceptable  to  Kaunitz,  who,  with  the 
approval  of   Emperor  Joseph  II.,  paved 


Great  Panic 


Constantinople 


the  way  for  an  understanding  with 
Frederic.  He  also  concluded  a  secret 
treaty  on  July  7th,  1771,  with  Turkey, 
which  was,  however,  repudiated  by  Maria 
Theresa.  But  he  did  not  wish  definitely 
to  abandon  the  old  alliance  with  Russia. 

Frederic  the  Great  began  to  feel 
anxious  about  the  rapid  growth  of 
Brilliant  Russian  power.  A  suitable 
Victories  of  P^^^sure  exerted  at  this  fitting 
Russia  opportunity,  when  the  Russian 

state,  on  account  of  Austria, 
was  dependent  on  the  friendly  neutrality 
of  Prussia,  promised  success';  after  the 
brilliant  victories  of  the  Russians  he  saw 
that  some  enlargement  of  his  empire  was 
a  political  necessity  in  order  to  preserve 
the  balance  of  power.  In  Poland  alone 
was  there  any  possibility  of  acquiring  some 
enclaves,  which  could  be  permanently 
incorporated  with  the  body  of  the  empire. 

The  Prussian  king  therefore  asserted 
that  he  required  some  parts  of  it.  A  com- 
plete annexation  of  Poland,  such  as  Peter  I, 
had  contemplated  for  his  son  Alexis, 
was  abandoned  by  Catharine  II,  who 
had  too  great  interests  at  stake  in  the 
south,  and  was  compelled  to  satisfy  the 
claims  of  her  two  other  neighbours.  Prussia 
made  the  proposal,  Austria  took  Zips 
while  waiting  to  arrange  matters  with  the 
other  courts,  and  Russia  put  the  seal 
to  it.  Thus  the  first  partition  of  Poland 
was  arranged  on  August  5th,  1772.  The 
lion's  share,  the  rest  of  Livonia  and  White 
Russia  (Witebsk,  Mstislav,  half  Polock, 
and  districts  on  the  Dnieper),  with 
1,800,000  inhabitants  fell  to  Russia. 

Russia,  after  soothing  the  political 
conscience  of  Prussia  and  Austria,  could 
now,  strengthened  by  Polish  territory, 
follow  out  her  southern  aims  with  greater 
energy.  From  this  aspect  we  can  under- 
stand the  arrangement  of  her  favourable 
treaty  with  the  Porte,  concluded  on  July 
2ist,  1774,  at  Kutchuk-Kainardje  (near 
,  Silistria),      Turkey  was  com- 

"**'*  wth  P^^^^^  *°  recognise  the  indepen- 


the  Porte 


dence  of  the  Tartars  in  the 


Kuban  country,  on  the  Bug, 
and  in  the  Crimea.  Russia  received  Azov 
on  the  Don,  Kinburn  on  the  Dniester,  and 
all  fortified  places  in  the  Crimea  ;  besides 
that,  the  right  of  sailing  in  all  Turkish 
waters  and  the  protectorate  over  all 
Orthodox  Christians  in  the  East  were 
secured  to  Russia,  The  severance  of  the 
Tartars  from  Turkey  rendered  it  easier 
for    Russia    to   subdue    them,    and    the 

3359 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


protectorate  over  the  Orthodox  Christians 
allowed  her  to  interfere  at  any  time  in  the 
political  affairs  of  Turkey.  By  the  first 
stipulation,  the  loss  of  the  Black  Sea  for 
Turkey,  and  by  the  second,  the  loss  of 
the  Balkan  countries,  became  nearer 
possibilities.  Catharine  would  certainly 
have  dictated  harder  terms  had  not  her 
attention  been  occupied  by 
f:  .  "'  ,  ,  the  rebellion  of  Jemelian 
DnvenOutof  p^^^^^^^^  (1773-1774  ;    exe- 

cuted  January  nth,  1775). 
But  reasons  of  foreign  policy  imposed 
moderation  upon  her ;  the  Austrian 
statesmen,  who  had  themselves  brought 
on  the  Eastern  question,  terrified  at  the 
unwelcome  turn  of  events,  sounded  a 
loud  alarm.  In  defiance  of  the  principle 
of  the  inviolability  of  Turkey  laid  down 
by  the  Viennese  cabinet,  Austria  induced 
the  Porte  to  cede  Bukowina  to  her  in  1774, 
an  act  which  could  only  at  bottom  be 
acceptable  to  the  Russian  statesmen. 
Austria  reaped  the  fruits  of  this  policy 
in  the  War  of  the  Bavarian  Succession 
(1778  to  1779),  in  which  she  was  driven 
out  of  Bavaria  by  Prussia  and  Russia. 
The  young  monarch,  Joseph  II.  (1780- 
1790),  after  receiving  these  new  blows, 
became  wiser  than  his  diplomatists  ; 
he  sided  with  his  Russian  neighbour, 
since  he  would  not  or  could  not  come 
to  terms  with  Prussia ;  he  guaranteed 
to  Russia  her  Turkish  conquests  by  the 
treaty  concluded  in  the  autumn  of  1782, 
and  confirmed  the  agreements  as  to 
Poland. 

Russia  meanwhile  resolutely  pushed  on 
towards  her  goal.  In  March,  1779,  the 
Porte  was  induced  to  complete  the  treaty 
of  1774  by  the  agreement  of  Ainali  Kavak. 
In  1783,  the  Kuban  and  the  Crimea  were 
annexed  by  Russia,  and  thus  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  Turkish  Khanates,  which 
Ivan  the  Terrible  had  begun,  was  com- 
pleted. Petersburg  actually  prepared  a 
plan  for  the  partition  of  Turkey,  the 
„      •    A     •    "  Greek  scheme  "  of  Septem- 

_^  _,  ,  sanctioned  on  November 
13th,  1782.  The  Greek  Empire 
was  to  be  restored  and  the  Grand  Duke 
Constantine  (born  on  May  8th,  1770)  to 
be  created  emperor.  The  child  was  given 
a  Greek  nurse  ;  he  learned  Greek,  and 
was  surrounded  by  Greeks.  Potemkin's 
boastful  inscription.  "  Road  to  Byzan- 
tium," belongs  to  this  period.  Turkey, 
in  great  disquietude,  and  encouraged  by 

3360 


Great  Britain,  Sweden  (whose  help  was  of 
little  value)  and  Prussia,  took  the 
initiative  in  declaring  war.  The  Russian 
commanders,  Suvarof,  Potemkin,  Repnin, 
supported  by  Austrian  generals,  again  won 
brilliant  victories  over  the  Turks.  In  the 
peace  of  Jassy  (January  9th,  1792)  Russia 
received  merely  Oczakov  and  the  stretch 
of  coast  between  the  Bug  and  the  Dniester  ; 
Russian  influence  over  the  Danubian 
principalities  was  secured. 

This  moderation  was  prescribed  by 
reasons  the  same  as,  or  similar  to,  those 
in  the  year  1771.  Russia  urged  a  further 
partition  of  Poland.  The  latter  had  after 
1772  zealously  reformed  the  educational 
and  fiscal  systems,  raised  the  number  of 
her  troops  to  100,000,  and  even  abolished 
the  liberum  veto.  The  new  constitution, 
which  had  been  laboriously  and  judiciously 
elaborated  by  the  Polish  diet,  was  based  on 
patriotic  ideas  and  liberal  notions.  It  was 
published  on  May  3rd,  1791,  and  held  out 
the  promise  of  a  better  future.  If  Russia 
and  Prussia  did  not  wish  to  suffer  by 
this  movement,  they  must  nip  it  in  the 
bud.  The  official  pretext  for  intervention 
p  was    offered    by  the    guarantee 

ar  1  ions  ^j^j^,^^   they    had   given  for  the 

p  J  .  maintenance  of  the  old  constitu- 
tion. In  1772  the  powers  had 
appropriated  pieces  of  Poland  on  political 
grounds.  Then  followed  in  1793  the  second, 
and  in  1795,  after  the  insurrection  under 
Kosciusko,  the  third,  partition  of  Poland ; 
in  the  latter  Austria  again  partici- 
pated, having  just  then  (January 
3rd,  1795)  come  to  an  understanding  with 
Russia  against  Prussia.  Only  these  two 
events  properly  deserve  the  name  of 
partitions,  since  the  three  courts  then 
actually  contemplated  erasing  Poland 
from  the  map  of  Europe,  while  in  1772  it 
had  only  been  a  question  of  ceding  several 
districts.  The  Polish  diet,  as  in  1772,  was 
compelled  in  1793  also  to  approve  the 
resolutions  of  the  powers  and  to  sign  its 
own  death-warrant.  While  Prussia  and 
Austria,  after  numerous  changes  of  owner- 
ship, took  the  central  districts  of  old 
Poland,  Cracow  (and  the  old  Russian 
principality  of  Halicz),  Gnesen,  Posen, 
and  Polish  Prussia,  Russia,  with  the 
exception  of  Masovia  (Warsaw),  only 
occupied  territories  once  belonging  to  old 
Russia.  Catharine  thus  almost  completed 
the  "  collection  of  Russia  "  which  Ivan  III, 
had  begun. 

Vladimir  Milkowicz 


t^OTS, — I'or  references  qx\  history  of   Poland  and   Russia,   see   Appendix, 


THE    HISTORICAL    IMPORTANCE    OF 
THE    BALTIC    SEA 

AND    THE    NATIONS    AROUND    ITS    SHORES 


TTHE  Mediterranean  and  the  Baltic  in 
^  Europe  occupy  an  exceptional  posi- 
tion among  the  secondary  seas.  The  sea 
which  the  ancients  regarded  as  placed  in 
the  centre  of  the  world,  and  which  they 
therefore  called  Mediterranean,  displays 
for  our  admiration  the  architects  of  that 
civilisation  which  preceded  Columbus,  the 
representatives  of  an  intellectualism  which 
is  imposing  itself  upon  the  whole  of  man- 
kind. The  Baltic  Sea,  again,  though  of 
smaller  extent,  and  at  the  present  day  of 
no  greater  importance  than  any  other 
secondary  sea,  at  one  time  played  a  very 
similar  part  and  exerted  no  small  influence 
upon  a  considerable  portion  of  Europe 
throughout  the  historical  changes  which 
took  place  in  the  countries  which  formed 
its  shores.  Hence  the  Baltic  seems  to 
deserve  that  special  treatment  which  we 
have  already  devoted  to  the  Mediterra- 

^1.    D  t.-  .   nean.     Within  the  last  thirty 
The  Baltic  s  ,,  i_-      i     •     -i 

....  years  the  geographical  similar- 
Pro  r  s  ^^y  between  these  two  seas  has 
often  been  pointed  out,  and  with 
full  justification.  Both  are  true  inland 
seas,  which  may  be  regarded  as  deep  gulfs 
extending  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  far 
into  the  gigantic  continental  mass  of  Asia, 
Europe,  and  Africa.  The  Mediterranean 
is  730,000  square  miles  in  extent,  the  Baltic 
but  little  more  than  a  seventh  of  that 
amount,  namely,  111,408.  The  fact  be- 
comes highly  important  when  we  remem- 
ber that  the  Mediterranean,  notwithstand- 
ing its  comparatively  narrow  area,  was 
the  sea  of  chief  importance  to  the  ancient 
world  ;  in  fact,  almost  the  whole  of  the 
then  known  world  was  concentrated  upon 
the  length  of  its  shores.  The  Baltic  has 
never  been  able  to  claim  so  high  a  position. 
It  has,  indeed,  its  own  cycle  of  historical 
progress  and  national  development  ;  but 
it  is  only  one  of  many  successive  cycles, 
and  one,  too,  considerably  more  remote. 
It    must,   moreover,   be    admitted    that 


the  history  of  the  Baltic  cannot  compare 
in  uniformity  with  that  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
the  smaller  size  of  this  sea  seemed  to 
favour  concentration  upon  its  shores. 
Only  once — during  the  time  of  the  Roman 
Empire  —  has  its  political  uniformity 
found  complete  expression  ;  on  the  other 
Wh  s  A  '^^^^'  attempts  have  often 
n  we  en  ^^^^  made  to  unify  the 
Q    *    p  Mediterranean,  in  the  colo- 

nisation of  the  Phoenicians 
and  Greeks,  in  the  establishment  of  the  Pax 
Romana,  in  the  triumphs  of  Christianity, 
and  the  advances  of  the  Arabs — and  these 
were  attempts  which  reached  the  shores 
of  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

In  the  case  of  the  Baltic  a  modern 
attempt  to  secure  complete  political  uni- 
formity occurs  only  once,  during  the  age 
when  Sweden  became  a  great  power,  though 
other  peoples  upon  the  coast,  such  as  the 
Danes,  Germans,  Poles,  and  Russians, 
have  aimed  at  the  "  dominion  of  the 
Baltic."  Similarly,  an  economic  and  com- 
mercial uniformity  has  existed,  not  only 
during  the  prosperity  of  the  Hanseatic 
League,  but  also  again  under  the  Swedish 
domination.  At  the  present  day  it  is 
possible  to  regard  the  Baltic  as  dominated 
by  a  German  commercial  system,  as  the 
business  of  the  Russian  and  Polish  interior 
is  largely  carried  on  by  German  firms  ;  and 
in  modern  times  Protestantism  has  retained 
_  -  its  ground  on  every  shore. 

German  System  g^gj^  St.  Petersburg,  the 
Dominating  cosmopolitan  capital,  cannot 
the  Baltic  Sea      ■    n  ii_-  c         -j. 

influence  this  uniformity,  as 

the  Russian  national  spirit  is  rather  repelled 
by  than  attracted  to  the  capital  on  the 
Neva,  and  is,  moreover,  of  small  com- 
mercial influence.  In  Finland,  the  Swedish 
element  of  the  population  is  largely  con- 
cerned with  commerce  over  seas,  and  the 
coasts  overshadow  the  -interior,  both  in 
economic  progress  and  in  their  influence 

3361 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


upon  civilisation  as  a  whole.  A  material 
difference  exists  between  the  two  seas, 
with  regard  both  to  their  position  and 
the  direction  which  their  civilisation 
followed.  In  the  Mediterranean,  civilisa- 
tion advanced  with  comparative  rapidity 
at  an  early  date  from  east  to  west,  sup- 
ported as  it  was  by  similar   geographical 

conditions  on  every  coast.  In 
ThTn  the  '  ^^^  ^^^^^^  ^^^'  ^^  conformity 
B  Tf    S^      ^^^^  ^^^  position  running  from 

south  to  north,  the  southern 
shores  are  mentioned  by  history  far  earlier 
than  the  northern,  which  were  opened  to 
Christianity  and  to  European  culture  only 
at  a  later  date.  Though  the  geological 
changes  which  have  characterised  the 
Baltic  were  of  no  importance  to  the  history 
of  mankind,  we  do  not  mean  to  imply 
that  man  was  not  a  conscious  witness  of 
their  passage.  Man  was  already  living  and 
hunting  in  Central  Germany  long  before 
there  was  any  Baltic  Sea  in  the  present 
sense  of  the  word ;  recent  discoveries 
seem  to  betoken  an  even  wider  distribution 
of  man  in  the  neighbouring  districts. 
However  this  may  be,  it  is  likely  that  even 
as  antediluvian  man  did  not  object  to  live 
permanently  upon  ice  and  glacier,  so  his 
descendants  did  not  hesitate  to  follow  the 
ice  when  it  finally  melted  and  retreated. 
Such  progress  was  indeed  imposed  upon 
man  by  the  fact  that  he  depended  for  his 
hunting  upon  the  fauna  of  the  glacier, 
which  he  was  obliged  to  follow  until  new 
climatic  conditions  opened  to  him  a  life 
of  greater  material  convenience  and  com- 
fort. This,  however,  must  have  been  a 
process  of  such  long  continuance  through- 
out the  district  of  the  retreating  glaciers 
that  the  Baltic  and  the  North  Sea  had  time 
to  fill  their  deepest  recesses  and  to  assume 
those  general  outlines  which  have  since 
remained  practically  unchanged.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  certain  experts  upon  the 
stone  age  of  the  north  assert  that  the 
"  kitchen-midden  "  people  are  not  to  be 
_  regarded  as  the  first  inhabitants 

_    I  of  the   shores   of   the   western 

I  J  k-*    *     Baltic,  but    that  the  traces  of 

Inhabitants  ' , .  ^        r         , 

an    earlier  race  can   be    found 

which  must  have  been  more  closely  con- 
nected with  the  geological  development  of 
Northern  Europe  than  those  later  archi- 
tects of  the  mussel  heaps  can  ever  have 
been.  We  are  therefore  justified  in  saying 
that  man  has  witnessed  the  formation  of 
the  Baltic.  This  sounds  a  great  assertion, 
and    seems    to    secure    to   this    sea     an 

3362 


exceptional  position  among  its  sisters.  The 
fact,  however,  is  not  so.  Long  before  the 
connecting  straits  were  broken  through, 
men  were  living  upon  the  rolling  plains  of 
South-eastern  England ;  and  even  upon 
the  shores  of  the  oceans  which  go  back  to 
a  remoter  period  mankind  has  witnessed 
changes  which  have  exerted  a  deep 
influence  upon  the  later  distribution  of 
humanity.  The  Baltic  for  a  time  certainly 
remained  without  influence  upon  the  fate  ol 
its  earliest  settlers,  for  the  momentous  step 
of  embarking  upon  the  sea  has  been  taken 
by  humanity  without  exception  at  a  late 
and  comparatively  advanced  period  of 
civilisation.  If  in  the  case  of  the  Baltic 
we  find  it  necessary  to  look  back  to 
prehistoric  times  we  are  therefore  bound 
to  give  special  reasons  for  our  decision. 

The  historical  importance  of  the  sea  is 
chiefly  and  most  easily  obvious  to  the 
eye  of  the  spectator  in  so  far  as  it  evokes 
and  consolidates  certain  anthropological, 
ethnographical,  political,  economic,  and 
intellectual  conditions,  and  in  so  far  as  its 
mere  existence  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth 
diminishes  the  differences  between  near  or 
,        ^  -    remote  settlements  of  man- 

L^r'^l  ^^"^-  ^°  ^^"^^^  ^^'^  °^  °^^ 

x^'f^  c    *        larger  water    systems    has 

Water  Systems  t   ■?  ■,  ,  .-^  , 

failed  to    exert   some   such 

influence ;  even  in  the  case  of  seas  so  sparsely 
inhabited  as  the  Arctic  Ocean,  these  results 
have  been  attained  by  centuries  of  search 
for  the  North  -  east  and  North  -  west 
Passages  ;  in  the  absolutely  uninhabited 
Antarctic  Ocean  the  search  for  the  "  Terra 
australis  incognita "  has  produced  the 
same  results.  It  may  indeed  be  said  that 
the  final  influence  of  these  seas  upon  the 
formation  of  our  modern  territorial  and 
economic  relations  has  been  far  greater 
than  that  of  many  seas  more  favourably 
situated  upon  the  habitable  globe,  and  far 
deeper,  for  instance,  than  the  influence 
of  the  Baltic,  which  has,  however,  a 
historical  character  of  its  own. 

The  special  position  of  the  Baltic  is  due 
to  a  point  which  falls  outside  the  limits  of 
those  general  considerations,  and  which 
for  this  reason,  and  also  because  its  dis- 
covery is  the  work  only  of  very  recent 
years,  has  been  neglected  or  disregarded 
by  the  ordinary  historian.  In  the  case  of 
the  Baltic,  it  is  possible  for  us,  using  pre- 
historic and  early  historic  discoveries,  and 
utilising  the  sciences  of  comparative  civili- 
sation and  comparative  philology,  to 
follow  upon  the  shores  of  this  sea  a  sharply 


THE    HISTORICAL    IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    BALTIC    SEA 


distinguished  group  of  peoples  almost  to 
its  birth,  and  to  an  earlier  age  than 
perhaps  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  with 
the  possible  exceptions  of  Mesopotamia 
and  Kgypt.  These  groups  are  Indo- 
Germanic  or  Indo-Keltic,  or  whatever 
other  name  may  be  chosen  for  this  great 
ethnographical  unity  which  in  respect  of 
language  and  civilisation  is  unmistakably 
identical,  whatever  differences  may  exist 
among  the  component  members  of  the  race. 
In  the  process  of  retracing  these  people  to 
those  remote  times,  generally  known  as 
prehistoric,  there  rises  before  the  eyes  of 
the  modern  historian,  who  no  less  than 
the  ethnographer  must  deal  with  pre- 
historic facts,  an  ethnological  unity,  the 
foundations  of  which  remain  unshaken 
at  the  present  day,  though  many  of  its 
numerous  portions  may  require  recon- 
struction. 

As  soon  as  the  Baltic  begins  to  influence 
the  history  of  its  inhabitants  and  neigh- 
bours, its  special  position  and  configura-" 
tion  make  their  effects  felt  as  plainly 
as  in  all  later  times,  notwithstanding  the 
great  modern  improvements  in  means  of 
communication.  Comparison 
and  contrast  with  the  Medi- 
terranean are  immediately 
suggested.  Both  seas  are  un- 
usually secluded  from  the  outer  ocean,  and 
advance  unusually  far  into  the  broad 
continent  of  the  Old  World,  and  to  the 
common  configuration  of  both  seas  Europe 
owes  the  fact  that  so  many  countries  have 
been  laid  open  to  communication  and  well 
provided  with  coast  line.  At  a  very  early 
period  the  Mediterranean  facilitated  con- 
tact and  amalgamation  between  different 
races,  and  linked  together  spheres  of 
civilisation  which  differed  ethnographi- 
cally  and  intellectually ;  the  Baltic,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  but  a  means  of  union 
between  neighbours  who  were  little  more 
than  tribes  of  the  same  race,  and  there- 
fore stood  upon  a  very  similar  intellectual 
plane.  The  presence  of  the  Finns  in  the 
gulfs  of  Finland  and  Bothnia  became  a 
disturbing  influence  upon  this  unity  ;  the 
Finns,  however,  were  late  in  entering  the 
circle  of  the  Baltic  people,  and  have,  more- 
over, avoided  its  rivers  more  entirely  than 
any  branch  of  the  Indo-Germanic  family. 
Apart  from  the  piratical  Esthonians  and 
Livonians,  who  flourished  comparatively 
late  and  were  speedily  crushed  by  the 
Germans  and  the  Danes,  no  great  maritime 
movement    is    discoverable    among    this 


Baltic  and 

Mediterranean 

Contrasted 


group  of  nations,  who  were  predestined 

by  their  position  to  work  by  land  rather 

than  by  sea. 

Thus    far   the    Baltic    appears    as    the 

counterpart   of   the   Mediterranean,    with 

the  difference  that  its  population  is  more 

uniform,  its  position  more  northerly,  and 

its  historical  force  inferior.  This  similarity, 

„  ,       however,  comes  to  an  end  so 

Progress  of  , 

w„..,  soon  as  we  turn  our  gaze  upon 

Mediterranean    ,,  j-.-       ^     , 

Civilisation  economic  Conditions  of 

the  surrounding  countries 
and  the  influence  exerted  by  the  sea  upon 
their  composition.  The  geographical  posi- 
tion of  the  Mediterranean  is  characterised 
by  the  fact  that  its  axis  follow  the  degrees 
of  latitude.  In  comparison  with  this  axis, 
all  other  lines  of  extent  are  so  short  that 
the  northern  and  southern  shores  are 
separated  only  by  a  few  degrees  at  any  one 
point.  Consequently,  the  climate  and  the 
natural  products  of  the  Mediterranean  dis- 
trict are  everywhere  characterised  by  a 
certain  uniformity;  the  products  of  the 
various  Mediterranean  countries  differ 
rather  in  quantity  than  in  kind.  The 
economic  importance  of  the  Mediterranean 
has  been  more  strongly  influenced  by  this 
uniformity  than  is  commonly  supposed ;  of 
native  products  there  has  been  but  little 
fetching  or  carrying  on  the  Mediterranean  ; 
its  importance  rather  consists  in  the  fact 
that  it  gathered  the  products  of  foreign  and 
often  distant  countries  and  distributed 
them  equally  over  its  breadth  and  other 
surrounding  countries.  To  the  Mediterra- 
nean there  primarily  belongs  that  unique 
uniformity  of  moral  and  intellectual  pro- 
gress, for  which  we  justifiably  employ  the 
term  "  Mediterranean  civilisation." 

In  the  case  of  the  Baltic,  these  condi- 
tions are  largely,  though  not  entirely, 
changed.  The  shorter  axis  of  the  Baltic 
is  that  which  runs  from  west  to  east ; 
none  the  less  the  eastern  and  western 
extremities  of  this  sea  differ  remarkably 
in  climate,  in  conformation,  in  the  condi- 
tions  of  production  and  distri- 
Different  ^^tion.  The  western  extremity 
th   Blui/"  ^^  "^^^y  articulated,  its  climate 

*  *  "  is  that  of  the  ocean,  and  it  leads 
to  direct  communication  with  western 
Europe  while  the  eastern  extremity  bears 
the  characteristics  of  the  north-east  of  the 
European  continent.  The  northern  third 
of  the  Baltic  is  characterised  by  the  scanty 
influence  it  has  exerted  upon  the  history  of 
mankind ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  configura- 
tion of  the  remaining  two-thirds  has  resulted 

3363 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


in  an  influence  far  greater.  Superficially, 
this  configuration  appears  to  have  little  in 
common  with  that  of  the  Mediterranean  ; 
but  if  we  disregard  the  exchange  of  com- 
mercial products,  the  only  point  in  ques- 
tion before  nations  became  politically 
active  over  seas,  another  similarity  be- 
tween the  two  seas  becomes  obvious.  The 
.  Mediterranean  at  every  period 

aryiBg  ^^^  acted  as  a  great  collecting 
egrecso  j-^^gj^  jj^j-q  which  more  has 
flowed  from  the  East  than  has 
flowed  out  ;  the  eyes  of  the  whole  antique 
and  mediaeval  world  eagerly  directed  to  this 
quarter  are  sufficient  evidence  of  the  fact. 
Eastward  the  Mediterranean  need  give 
but  little  to  receive  more. 

Westward  and  northward  the  contrary 
was  the  case.  In  these  directions  there 
were  to  be  found  no  peoples  of  a  civili- 
sation in  some  respects  higher  than  that 
of  the  Mediterranean,  as  was  the  case 
in  Mesopotamia,  India,  and  China ;  on 
that  side  existed  only  poverty-stricken 
tribes,  which  were  regarded  with  scorn, 
as  too  far  beneath  the  ideals  of 
civilisation  then  prevalent.  If  upon  occa- 
sion they  were  deemed  worthy  of  com- 
mercial intercourse  by  no  means  insignifi- 
cant, the  fact  was  due  merely  to  practical 
considerations :  in  return  for  staple  wares 
esteemed  but  little  at  the  centre  of  civilisa- 
tion, they  gave  those  products  of  their 
Northern  homes  which  were  indispensable 
to  satisfy  the  luxurious  wants  of  the  sunny 
South  ;  these  were  tin  and  amber.  The 
general  picture  therefore  appears  as  follows: 
From  the  south-east  to  the  Red  Sea.  the 
Persian  Gulf,  and  the  Syrian  passes,  came 
a  strong  influx  of  expensive  wares  indis- 
pensable to  refined  civilisation — silks,  aro- 
matic spices,  etc.  ;  there  is  a  weaker  but 
well-marked  flow  of  Mediterranean  pro- 
ducts northward  and  a  vast  consumption 
of  such  products  in  the  great  basin  of  the 
Mediterranean  itself.  The  Baltic  never  had 
the  character  of  a  collecting  basin  in  anv 

i»i.    B  ,.•  high  degree ;  it  has  alwavs  been. 
The  Baltic         ^  •         j.  j.u  '    ^  j 

■ .  and  remams  at  the  present  dav, 
as  a  Line  ,.  ^  ^     t  xt_" 

J  p  a    fine  of    passage.      In   other 

respects  its  circumstances  re- 
semble those  of  the  Mediterranean,  wnth 
the  exception  that  the  lines  of  exit  and 
entrance  diverge  by  some  ninety  degrees. 
The  North  Sea  and  the  strait  on  which  lie 
Hamburg  and  Liibeck  serve  as  the  line  of 
entrance,  as  also  at  times  do  the  three  straits 
leading  to  the  Skagerrak  ;  from  this  direc- 
tion the  most  valuable  articles  of  commerce 

3364 


have  reached  the  south  Baltic,  which  alone 
can  be  regarded  as  an  independent  centre 
of  civilisation  ;  this  process  has  continued 
from  neolithic  times — in  which,  as  is  evi- 
denced by  the  dolmens  and  stone  burial 
places,  a  civilisation  connected  with  an- 
cestor worship  extended  from  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea  to  the  western  Baltic 
territories — down  to  the  Hanseatic  and 
modern  periods,  which  have  always  given 
and  continue  to  give  a  larger  amount 
of  manufactured  articles  to  these  Baltic 
shores  than  they  receive  in  the  way  of 
raw  material.  The  district  of  exportation 
is  the  whole  of  the  north  east.  It  is 
not  until  later  centuries  that  it  can  be 
shown  to  have  assumed  this  character, 
which  then  became  strong  enough  to 
influence  the  whole  commercial  and 
economic  history  of  central  and  western 
Europe.  Its  importance,  however,  was 
secured,  not  by  tin  or  amber,  but  by 
boundless  woods  which  afforded  admirable 
timber  for  shipbuilding,  and  vast  supphes 
of  com,  which  then  fed  the  industrial 
districts  of  western  Euro|^,  and  es- 
pecially of  Flanders.  These  goods  still  form 
the  staple  exports  of  those 
districts.  Thechief  reason  for 
the  fact  that  the  north-east 
part  of  the  Baltic  became  of 
imjx)rtance  to  international  communica- 
tion at  so  late  a  date  is  to  be  found  in  the 
slow  development  which  north  Euro})ean 
civilisation  pursued.  The  original  Ger- 
manic tribes  were  for  many  thousands 
of  years  living  in  a  state  of  nature  ;  they 
were  dependent  upon  the  gifts  of  nature 
to  a  greater  extent  than  almost  any  un- 
civilised people  in  their  position.  In 
considering  the  part  played  by  the  Baltic 
in  the  development  of  the  settlers  upon 
its  shores,  it  is  obviously  permissible 
for  these  reasons  to  regard  that  part,  up 
to  a  certain  date,  as  coincident  with  the 
influence  exerted  by  the  sea  in  general 
upon  the  life  of  primeval  humanity. 

That  influence  is  wonderfully  slight. 
For  the  majority  of  inferior  races,  it  is 
practically  non-existent,  and  in  the  case  of 
others  it  does  not  extend  beyond  the 
occasional  practice  of  shore  fishing  for  pur- 
poses of  food  or  beyond  coast  navigation 
for  a  similar  object  ;  the  sea  becomes  a 
means  of  intercommunication  and  a 
modifying  influence  only  for  a  very  small 
number  of  peoples  living  in  favourably 
situated  islands  or  upon  broken  coasts, 
such  as  the  Malay  Polynesians,  the  North- 


German  Tribes 
in  a  State 
of  Nature 


THE    HISTORICAL    IMPORTANCE    OF    THE    BALTIC    SEA 


west  Americans,  and  Eskimo.  Such  in- 
fluence was  exerted  by  the  Baltic  at  the 
end  of  the  first  millennium  a.d.  only  upon 
the  adjacent  parts  of  the  extreme  west  of 
Europe,  where  civilisation  was  more  ad- 
vanced ;  for  the  remaining  time  and  over 
its  larger  eastern  portion,  the  importance 
of  the  Baltic  varies,  though  it  never  be- 
comes an  influence  of  direct  importance 
to  the  inhabitants  of  these  shores.  As  we 
have  already  observed  we  can  pursue 
their  history  in  an  unbroken  course  to  the 
"midden  mounds"  of  the  early  Neolithic 
Age.  Neither  the  sea  nor  its  shores  were 
of  any  great  importance  to  them ;  no 
evidence  has  yet  been  found  to  prove  the 
existence  of  the  simplest  methods  of  navi- 
gation in  those  early  times. 

During  the  later  period  of  this  long  era, 
and  above  all  in  the  Bronze  Age,  the  case 
is  entirely  changed.  The  distribution 
of  great  megalithic  buildings  shows  that 
during  the  early  period  maritime  com- 
munication was  continued  with  the  Medi- 
terranean round  the  west  coasts  of  Europe. 
During  the  Bronze  Age,  the  Hallristningar, 
the  rock  carvings  in  the  southern  frontier 
_  ,.  .  provinces  of  Norway  and 
Sweden,  with  their  numerous 
pictures  of  strongly  manned 
warships,  sea-fights,  and 
other  warlike  enterprises,  prove  that  the 
old  Scandinavians  were  mariners  almost 
as  bold  and  confident  as  their  successors 
the  Vikings  and  shared  their  art  of  boat- 
building. In  view  of  this  close  acquaint- 
anceship with  the  sea,  we  cannot  be 
surprised  at  the  uniformity  of  the  civilisa- 
tion which  during  the  whole  metallic  age 
prevailed  throughout  the  coast  lands  of 
the  southern  and  central  Baltic  ;  navi- 
gation proved  to  be  the  best  means  of 
equalising  contrasts  and  differences  in 
the  native  civilisation,  and  also  of  dis- 
tributing rapidly  and  equably  through- 
out the  districts  those  material  and  in- 
tellectual importations  which  arrived  in 
such  number  from  the  South  and  the 
Mediterranean. 

The  close  connection  between  the 
European  North  and  the  Mediterranean 
South  is  one  of  the  remarkable  facts  in 
the  early  history  of  our  continent,  while 
its  illustration  is  one  of  the  greatest 
achievements  of  northern  archaeologists. 
This  connection  was  maintained  by  the 
most  different  routes,  from  the  Adriatic 
Sea,  down  the  Elbe  and  the  Oder,  along 
the  Danube,    and    from   the    Black    Sea 


in  the 
Bronze  Age 


westward  through  Russia ;  all  these  were 
paths  converging  directly  upon  the  southern 
Baltic.  These  facts  cannot  be  due  to 
chance,  and  we  shall  certainly  not  be 
wrong  in  assuming  the  true  cause  to  exist 
in  the  civilising  influence  of  the  Baltic 
itself.  This  influence  was  inadequate  to 
create  unaided  a  special  and  isolated 
T  1  t  d  civilisation,  such  as  charac- 
Norther  terises  the  Mediterranean  ;  the 
Peoples  arctic  position,  the  small  size, 
and  the  sparse  population  of 
the  Baltic  region  militated  against  such 
a  possibility  ;  but  when  once  connection 
had  been  made  with  the  more  complex 
civilisation  of  the  south,  the  talented 
northern  races  were  fully  capable,  not 
only  of  assimilating  foreign  importations, 
but  also  of  adding  to  them  new  forms, 
which  in  many  cases  were  nobler  and  more 
beautiful.  Thus  the  Mediterranean  and 
the  Baltic  stand  connected  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  From  the  south,  which 
was  itself  influenced  by  the  east,  civilisa- 
tion advanced  to  the  north,  whereupon 
the  Baltic,  though  exercising  no  creative 
power,  continued  to  disseminate  and 
unify  that  civilisation. 

The  connected  history  of  the  Baltic 
begins  at  a  time  when  the  interchange  of 
commercial  products  was  more  often 
effected  by  force  than  by  peaceful  trade. 
As  yet  no  great  political  heroes  advance 
into  the  dawning  light  of  history  ;  we  can 
observe  only  the  representatives  of  con- 
siderable bodies  of  seafarers,  whose  ambi- 
tion sent  them  forth  upon  bold  voyages  in 
small  boats,  to  plunder  foreign  coasts. 
Gradually  these  piratical  raids  became 
more  deliberate  undertakings  for  the  foun- 
dation of  settlements  and  supremacy.  The 
Vikings,  the  "  men  of  the  creeks,"  founded 
a  kingdom  in  Russia  in  the  ninth  century 
under  the  Slavs,  and  in  the  tenth  wrested 
Normandy  from  the  Franks ;  they  soon 
entered  the  Mediterranean  and  settled  in 
Italy.    They  came  forth  from  every  part 

in.    vt--  of  Scandinavia,  including  the 

The  Vikings        .^j^^^^  ^^  j  ^^^^^^ .  ^^^  ^^^^^ 

inter  the  ^j^^  founded  the  kingdom  of 

Mediterranean  -.^  ,  re 

Novgorod  came  from  bveo- 

land ;  others  from  Norway  and  Denmark ;  all 

were  heathen  and  enemies  to  the  people  of 

European   civilisation.       They   advanced 

from   the   Volkhov    and    Dwina    to    the 

Dnieper,   thence  into  the  Black  Sea  and 

extorted  gold  and  manufactured  articles 

from  the  Byzantines.     They  raised  their 

dragon  standard  on  the  Volga  and  spread 

3365 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


the  terror  of  their  name  to  the  Caspian  Sea. 
At  the  same  time  a  peaceful  commerce 
grew  up  between  Upper  Asia  and  Germany 
by  way  of  Kiev  ;  thus  even  in  England, 
traces  are  to  be  found  of  a  commerce 
which  was  largely  in  the  hands  of  the 
Arabians  ;  Kufish  coins  were  then  current 
from  the  Black  and  Caspian  Seas  to  the 
u  D  r  •  shores  of  the  Baltic  and  to 
CoIm?ce  England.  This  commerce  was 
tamer  e  destroyed  by  domestic  con- 
Was  Destroyed  r  ■  ■^  ■  •'  r,  u 
fusion       m       Russia,       by 

struggle  between  the  Russian  princes  and 
also  between  the  Slavic  and  Finnish  tribes. 

The  Baltic,  which  sent  its  amber  by 
various  routes  to  the  south,  also  attracted 
Oriental  wares  by  other  routes.  The 
necessity  was  soon  recognised  of  effecting  a 
union  among  the  Baltic  coast  lands.  In 
the  eleventh  century  the  Danes  first  raised 
the  claim  of  political  supremacy  over  the 
coasts  of  the  Baltic  instead  of  making 
their  name  feared  by  piratical  raids. 
Gorm  the  Old  was  prevented  by  Henry 
the  Fowler  from  carrying  out  similar 
intentions,  and  the  Mark  of  Schleswig  was 
secured  against  Danish  influence  (934). 
Canute  the  Great  (1014-1035)  appeared 
capable  of  gaining  that  supremacy  for 
his  nation  ;  he  united  England  and  Nor- 
way with  Denmark,  secured  the  Mark 
of  Schleswig  by  an  alliance  with  the  Em- 
peror Conrad  II.,  wrested  Pomerania  from 
the  Polish  League,  and  extended  his 
conquests  to  Samland.  These  great  suc- 
cesses were  to  be  immortalised  by  the 
conversion  of  this  people  to  Christianity. 

If  the  empire  had  remained  in  the 
hands  of  the  Franconians  and  southern 
Germans,  the  Danish  supremacy  might 
have  endured  for  a  long  period.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  future  of  Germany,  a  Saxon, 
Lothar  of  Suplinburg,  was  elected  em- 
peror in  1 1 25.  The  Emperor  Lothar  and 
after  him  the  great  duke,  Henry  the 
Lion,  recognised  the  wide  danger  implied 
by  the  Danish  advance  and  began  meas- 
_     _  ures  of  defence.     They  entered 

e  *y'**  upon  the  struggle  with  their 
g  Scandinavian  neighbours,  in  full 

^  consciousness  of  the  political 
importance  which  the  entrance  to  the 
Baltic  implied  to  the  German  nationality. 
To  secure  the  victory,  all  that  was  necessary 
was  to  burst  through  the  barrier  of  Slav 
peoples  which  had  settled  on  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic  up  to  the  period  of  the 
great  migrations  and  separated  the  Ger- 
mans from  their  harbours. 

3366 


Concerning  Jomsburg,  Vineta,  and  the 
great  Wendish  commercial  towns,  we  have 
only  legendary  narratives  ;  history  must 
confine  itself  to  the  statement  that  the 
maritime  tiaific  of  the  Slavs  upon  the  Baltic 
in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  was 
of  first-rate  importance. 

From  an  early  period  Wisby,  in  Goth- 
land, was  the  central  point  of  the  Baltic 
commerce.  The  old  town  laws  contained 
the  following  clause  :  "  Let  it  be  known 
that  as  the  people  of  many  countries  have 
gathered  in  Gothland,  peace  is  hereby 
assured  .  .  .  whoever  comes  to  the 
coast  is  to  enjoy  the  peace  that  has  been 
sworn."  Soon  afterwards  a  German  com- 
munity was  formed  in  Wisby  by  the  side 
of  the  Gothlanders.  Shortly  after  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century  the  Germans 
crossed  into  Russia  and  appeared  together 
with  the  Goths  in  Slavonic  Novgorod. 
At  the  close  of  the  century  a  German  court 
existed  in  that  town,  on  the  Volkhov. 

Together  with  Novgorod,    Polock   and 

Smolensk    were    in    commercial    relations 

with  Gothland  from  an  early  time,  and 

with  the  Germans  there,  communications 

being  carried  on  by  way  of  the 

„  Dwina.      In    1201     Riga    was 

.i.^'V^  founded  from  Wisby,  and  this 

the  Lion  ,  , ,  J     /- 

became     the    second    German 

town  on  the  Baltic  ;  from  Liibeck,  the  first 
German  port,  the  citizens  of  the  West- 
phalian  towns,  Seost,  Miinster,  and  Dort- 
mund, travelled  to  Riga,  by  way  of  Goth- 
land, in  order  to  found  a  German  civic 
community  enjoying  "  the  rights  of  the 
Germans  in  Wisby."  The  connection 
between  Liibeck,  Wisby,  and  Riga  formed 
the  chief  link  in  that  chain  which  was 
joined  at  a  later  period  by  other  Wendish 
and  Prussian  towns. 

The  Danes  were  forced  to  retreat  before 
these  successes.  The  fall  of  Henry  the 
Lion  in  1181  and  the'  resulting  revolt  of 
the  Danes  under  Waldemar  I.  and  Knut 
VI.,  as  the  overlords  of  the  Baltic  Wends, 
proved  to  be  of  no  permanent  importance. 
It  seemed,  indeed,  that  Waldemar  II. 
(1202-1241)  might  be  able  to  extend  and 
permanently  to  secure  these  acquisitions. 
The  Baltic  coasts  were  subjected  to 
Danish  supremacy  in  a  wide  curve  to  the 
south-west,  from  Gothland  to  Pomerania. 
Hence,  Waldemar  advanced  to  the  island 
of  Osel  at  the  mouth  of  the  Gulf  of  Riga 
in  1206  ;  but  the  attempts  at  conquest 
and  at  conversion  to  Christianity  were 
alike  failures.     He  sent  forth  two  bishops 


THE    HISTORICAL    IMPORTANCE   OF    THE    BALTIC    SEA 


to  Riga  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  affairs, 
and  would  have  been  glad  to  wrest  the 
town  from  the  Germans.  In  the  year 
1 2 10  he  appeared  in  Pomerellen  ;  the 
duke  Mestwyn  did  homage  to  him,  and 
he  entertained  designs  upon  Smaland. 
Seven  years  later,  in  1217,  Count  Albert 
of  Hoist ein,  a  vassal  of  Waldemar,  founded 
a  colony  in  Livonia  and  would  have 
resumed  the  attack  upon  Osel  had  he  not 
been  hindered  by  a  thaw.  In  1219  the 
king  appeared  in  person,  and  occupied  the 
Esthonian  fortress  of  Lindanyssa ;  this 
was  destroyed  and  the  town  of  Reval  was 
built  upon  the  site.  In  the  next  year 
W'aldemar  again  sailed  to  Reval.  On 
this  occasion  he  turned  his  attention  to 
the  more  southerly  Livonia,  which  had 
been  conquered  and  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity by  the  Germans.  He  immediately 
closed  the  harbour  of  Liibeck,  to  prevent 
any  further  increase  of  the  German  colony. 
The  year  1222  marks  the  zenith  of  Danish 
supremacy  in  the  east,  and  the  greater 
part  of  Esthonia  then  did  homage  to  the 
Danebrog.  On  May  7th,  1223,  the  whole 
of  this  mighty  edifice  collapsed.  King 
.  Waldemar      II.      was      taken 

enit   o       prisoner  in  Fiinen  by  his  vassal, 
""*'*  Count     Henry    of    Schwerin ; 

upremacy  ^^^  Count  Albert  of  Holstein 
also  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Germans. 
The  harbour  of  Liibeck  was  reopened 
and  counter  influences  made  themselves 
felt  throughout  the  Baltic  coasts.  Upon 
his  release  from  imprisonment  Waldemar 
again  tried  the  fortune  of  war,  but  by  his 
defeat  at  Bornhoved  on  July  22nd,  1227, 
the  dominion  of  the  Baltic  was  wrested 
for  ever  from  the  Danes.  Waldemar 
surrendered  Nordalbingia  and  the  South 
Baltic  coasts.  Northern  Esthonia  was 
already  conquered  by  the  Germans,  and 
its  return  to  the  diminished  Denmark  was 
only  due  to  the  intervention  of  the  Pope 
in  1238. 

About  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century  a  struggle  again  broke  out 
between  the  Germans  and  the  Danes  for 
the  predominance  in  the  Baltic,  and  then  it 
was  that  the  union  of  the  Wendish  towns 
first  became  the  great  alliance  of  the  Hansa. 
Under  King  Eric  Menved  (1286-1319) 
Denmark's  supremacy  had  again  been 
extended  to  the  southern  shores  of  the 
Baltic,  though  in  a  short  time  it  was  driven 
back  by  the  German  princes.  When 
Waldemar  Atterdag  ascended  the  throne 
of  Denmark  in  1340,  her  power  began  to 


rise  again.  The  lost  portions  of  the  empire 

were    recovered    with    the    exception    of 

Esthonia,  the  masters  of  which  were  chiefly 

German  knights  and  citizens.    Waldemar 

sold  this  province  to  the  Teutonic  knights 

in  1346.    The  main  territories  of  Denmark 

were  united  and  the  kingdom  recovered 

the  power  which  it  had  formerly  possessed 

-,.    p  under    Gorm     the     Old,    and 

The  Famous  ■,  ' 

Federation  ^PP^^^ed  a  serious  menace 
of  Cologne  ^°  *^^  Germans.  In  order 
to  secure  his  power  perman- 
ently Waldemar  wrested  the  most  valuable 
link  from  the  chain  of  the  Hanseatic  towns. 
Wisby,  which  remained  the  staple  market 
of  Novgorod,  and  which  for  a  long  time 
rivalled  Liibeck,  was  suddenly  captured  in 
1361  by  the  Danish  king,  who  had  a  short 
time  previously  recovered  Schonen,  with 
the  Hanseatic  towns  of  Bitten,  Halland, 
and  Blekinge.  This  event  led  to  a  firm 
alliance  between  the  Hansa  and  the  famous 
federation  of  Cologne  in  1367 ;  the 
towns  from  Flanders  to  Esthonia  were 
united  in  a  great  military  confederacy. 
Princes  who  were  hostile  to  Denmark 
joined  the  League,  and  the  proud  Walde- 
mar succumbed  to  the  repeated  attacks 
of  the  Germans.  He  abandoned  his 
kingdom,  and  commissioned  the  Danish 
parliament  to  conclude  peace.  The  towns 
opened  negotiations  in  1370  at  Stralsund, 
and  secured  important  commercial  and 
political  privileges  ;  the  prince  concluded 
negotiations  at  Stockholm  in  1371. 

Only  now  does  the  Hansa  appear  as  an 
independent  political  power  on  the  Baltic  ; 
though  internal  dissensions  decreased  its 
efficiency,  yet  in  its  dealings  with  the 
outer  world,  under  the  leadership  of 
Liibeck;  it  constituted  a  national  power 
which  did  not  collapse  until  Poland 
became  supreme  in  the  north.  At  an 
earlier  period  the  Hansa  had  already 
suffered  infringements  of  their  rights. 
The  trading  privileges  of  the  German 
merchants,  the  maintenance  of  which 
they  regarded  as  their  special 
Scots  and       ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  disputed  upon 

occasion  in  the  north-west  and 
east ;  in  Scandinavia  the  union 
of  Kalmar  paved  the  way  for  a  federation 
of  native  merchants,  while  the  Prussian 
towns  had  introduced  Scottish  and  English 
traders  into  the  Baltic.  But  the  chief 
menace  to  the  powers  of  the  federation 
was  the  growing  force  of  the  Slav  nation- 
ality. The  Teutonic  Order  in  Prussia  and 
Livonia  had  excluded  the  Russians  and 

3367 


English 

on  the  Baltic 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Poles  from  the  Baltic.  In  1402  the  knights 
bought  the  New  Mark,  and  thus  impeded 
Polish  access  to  the  coast  of  Pomerania  ; 
but  in  1410  the  Poles,  in  alliance  with 
Asiatic  hordes  of  Tartars,  defeated  200 
Prussian  knights  on  the  battlefield  of 
Tannenberg,  and  the  territory  of  the  Order 
would  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Polish 
inhabitants  of  the  interior 
had  not  the  Livonian  master, 


East  Prussia 
Becomes  a 


P  r  h  F"  f  Conrad  of  Vitmghove,  sent 
his  marshal  to  Prussia  with 
a  strong  force,  which,  with  the  help  of  Ger- 
man mercenaries,  secured  the  peace  of 
Thorn.  Fifty  years  later,  in  1466,  in  a  second 
peace  of  Thorn,  West  Prussia  and  Danzig 
became  Polish,  while  East  Prussia  was 
made  a  Polish  fief.  The  white  eagle 
replaced  the  black  cross,  and  the  Polish 
flag  became  important  on  the  Baltic. 
In  the  year  1494  the  Petershof  in  Novgorod 
was  destroyed  by  Russia,  which  had 
been  united  under  Ivan  ill.  The  Russian 
traders  advanced  to  the  Hanseatic  towns 
of  Livonia.  The  result  was  jealousy 
between  these  towns  and  the  other 
members  of  the  federation,  as  the  former 
began  to  make  the  inland  trade  a  mono- 
poly of  their  own. 

For  another  half-century  the  Slavs  on 
the  Livonian  coast  were  held  back,  but 
without  foreign  help  "  the  bulwark  of 
Christianity "  was  too  weak  to  make 
permanent  headway  against  the  onslaught 
from  the  east.  Denmark  and  Sweden  were 
divided  by  dissension.  Gustavus  Vasa 
destroyed  the  union  of  the  Scandinavian 
powers,  introduced  the  Reformation  into 
Sweden  and  Finland,  and  prepared  for 
the  conquest  of  Esthonia,  which  was 
also  Protestant,  an  enterprise  concluded 
by  his  son,  Eric  XIV.,  in  1561.  Livonia, 
however,  was  left  to  the  Poles,  who  secured 
the  whole  seaboard  from  Pomerania  to 
Danzig  after  the  retirement  of  Russia  ; 
about  the  same  time,  1562,  Courland  also 
came  under  Polish  supremacy.  This  position 
PI  AiK  °^  *^^  Baltic  made  Poland  the 
p  .  .  J  principal  northern  power.  With 
p  strong  bases  at  Cracow,  Danzig, 

and  Riga,  extending  between 
the  Black  and  the  Baltic  Seas,  Poland 
played  a  considerable  part  in  western 
history,  and  attained  a  measure  of 
scientific  and  artistic  reputation,  supported 
by  her  close  connection  with  Rome  and 
Italy.  Sweden  and  Russia  were  unable 
to  make  head  against  this  great  power. 
The    defects    of    the     Polish    kingdom, 

3368 


apart  from  her  internal  dissensions,  were 
very  well  known  to  her  contemporaries. 
She  required  a  fleet  to  secure  the  dominion 
of  the  Baltic.  In  the  election  capitulations 
a  fleet  was  demanded  from  the  kings,  but 
the  jealousy  of  the  Polish  Slachta,  which 
had  been  long  growing,  prevented  the 
imposition  of  the  taxes  which  would  have 
sufficed  for  so  great  a  task.  Adherence 
to  the  Catholic  reaction  against  Protes- 
tantism, in  addition  to  the  want  of  a  fleet, 
undermined  the  position  of  Poland,  and  in 
the  course  of  one  generation  this  monarch- 
ical republic  began  to  totter  to  its  fall. 

When  the  great  European  wars  of 
religion  broke  out,  the  Swedish  Protestant 
king,  Gustavus  Adolphus  II.,  invaded 
Livonia,  forced  Riga  to  capitulate  in  1621, 
and  defeated  the  imperial  power  in 
Germany  in  163 1.  In  another  generation  it 
was  difficult  to  conceive  that  any  other 
power  except  Sweden  had  possessed  any 
permanent  prestige  or  influence  in  the 
north  of  the  continent. 

The  Tsar  of  Russia,  Peter  the  Great, 
advanced  from  the  east  upon  the  Baltic 
coast.  He  wished,  as  he  said,  to  have  at 
u  ,      least     one     window      through 

nmar    s    ^j-^j^^j^  ^j^g  Russians  could  look 

Q  out  upon  Europe.    Charles  XI. 

and  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden  ac- 
celerated the  fall  of  their  empire  by  their 
selfishness  and  stupidity.  The  Northern 
War,  which  was  not  inevitable,  was  badly 
conducted,  and  ended  in  the  loss  of 
Stettin  with  part  of  Nearer  Pome- 
rania in  1720,  of  Riga  with  Livonia,  and 
of  Reval  with  Esthonia  (in  the  peace  of 
Nystad,  1721).  By  his  bold  foundation  of 
St.  Petersburg  in  1703  upon  Swedish 
territory,  which  had  not  yet  been  ceded, 
Peter  the  Great  built  a  bridge  for  his  nation 
to  the  west. 

The  dominion  of  the  Baltic  which  Poland 
and  Sweden  had  attempted  to  exercise 
had  disappeared  after  long  struggles,  and 
was  never  secured  by  Russia.  It  may 
indeed  be  said  that  the  small  country 
of  Denmark,  through  her  possession  of 
the  entrance  to  the  Baltic  and  the 
extent  of  her  maritime  commerce,  was  a 
greater  influence  in  Baltic  navigation 
than  the  tsar's  kingdom — at  any  rate, 
until  the  Sound  tolls  were  removed  in 
1857.  Since  that  date,  the  preponderance 
of  naval  force  in  the  Baltic  has  passed 
to  Germany. 

Karl  Weule 
Joseph  Girgensohn 


EUROPE:    THIRD    DIVISION 

WESTERN    EUROPE    IN 
THE      MIDDLE      AGES 

From  fhe  Sundering  of  the  Roman 
Empire  to  the  eve  ol  the  Reformation 

The  first  stage  in  the  general  treatment  of  Europe  allowed 
us  to  treat  so  much  of  the  continent  as  was  known  to  the 
Romans,  down  to  the  final  division  of  their  empire.  From 
that  point  it  became  necessary  to  introduce  a  geographical 
division  between  East  and  West  for  a  period  terminating  about 
the  tim°  of  the  French  Revolution. 

Eastern  Europe  during  that  period  has  formed  a  single 
division.  The  grezter  diversity  and  the  multiplication  of 
detail  in  the  history  of  Western  Europe  requires  us  to  give  the 
period  two  divisions — media;val  and  post  medi2e%'al.  The  first 
brings  us  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century — the 
times  immediately  preceding  the  Reformation. 

In  it  we  shall  trace  the  expansion  of  the  Teutonic  wave  over 
the  whole  area,  and  its  partial  recession,  leaving  a  Latinised 
portion  and  a  Germanised  portion.  We  shall  see  the  develop- 
ment of  the  dual  conceptions  of  Emperorand  Popeas  temporal 
and  spiritual  heads  of  Western  Christendom,  often  in  sharp 
rivalry;  and  the  development  of  nationalities  outside  the 
empire :  among  the  Latins,  French  and  Spanish ;  among  the 
Teutons,  Scandinavian  and  Britannic. 

We  shall  see  also  the  collision  between  the  Cross  and  the 
Crescent  expressed  in  the  Crusades.  Finally  we  shall  see  the 
development  of  the  new  conceptions,  intellectual,  religious, 
and  economic,  which  evolved  modern  out  of  mediaeval  Europe ; 
and  shall  survey  the  fundamental  characteristics  of  the  social 
and  political  structure  which  was  passing  away. 


GENERAL  SURVEY  OF  THE  PERIOD 
By  Dr.  Thomas  Hodgkin 

THE  PEOPLES  OF  WESTERN  EUROPE 
By  Professor  Eduard  Heyck 

THE  EMERGING  OF  THE  NATIONS 

ITALY— THE  PRANKISH  EKDMINION— THE  EMPIRE  OF 
CHARLEMAGNE  — THE  BRITISH  ISLES  — THE  SPANISH 
PENINSULA-THE  CHURCH   IN   THE  WEST— SCANDINAVIA 

By 
Dr.  H.  F    Helmolt.  H.  W.  C.  Davis.  Professor 
Heyck.     Dr.     Mahrenholtz,     Dr.     H.     Schurtz. 
Professor     Walther,     and     Dr.     Hans    Schjoth 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  NATIONS 

THE  GERMANIC   EMPIRE— GERMAN   EXPANSION    ON    THE 

EAST— THE  PAPACY-FRANCE— THE  BRITISH  ISLES-ITALY 

—SPAIN— THE  CRUSADES- INTER  NATIONAL  COMMERCE— 

THE    RENAISSANCE 

By 

Dr.  Armin  TUIe,  H.  W.  C.  Davis,  A.  D.  Innes, 

Professor  Mayr.  Dr.  Clemens  Klein,  and  others 

THE  SOCIAL  FABRIC  OF  THE  MEDIiVEVAL  WORLD 
By  W.  Romaine  Paterson,  M.A. 


3369 


MAP  TO  ILLUSTRATE  THE  THIRD  DIVISION  OF  EUROPE 
In  the  above  map  the  third  division  of  Europe,  which  treats  of  the  whole  western  part  of  the  Continent  from  the 
sundenng:  of  the  Roman  Empire  down  to  the  eve  of  the  Reformation,  is  illustrated.  The  map  is  at  once  historical, 
geographical  and  ethnological,  since  it  shows  the  territorial  disposition  of  the  land  within  the  period  mentioned  as  weU 
as  the  ciadles  of  the  various  races  whose  movements  throughout  that  period  constitute  so  large  a  part  of  its  history. 
The  shaded  portion  of  the  map  on  the  right  indicates  the  western  extremity  of  that  part  of  Europe  whose  history 
down  to  the  time  of  the  French  Revolutioa  has  already  been  fully  dealt  with  in  the  preceding  division  of  Europe. 


WE5TE 


GENERAL  SURVEY  OF    THE   PERIOD 

By  Dr,  Thomas  Hodgkin 

THE   MOULDING    OF  THE    NATIONS   AND  THE 
TIME    OF    THE    NORTHMEN 


IN  the  year  500  the  leading  states  of 
^  Western  Europe  were  those  which  had 
been  founded  by  the  two  branches  of  the 
great  Gothic  nation,  itself  in  many  respects 
the  most  civilised  and  cultured  of  all  the 
barbarian  tribes  that  had  built  their 
homes  amid  the  ruins  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  The  West  Goths,  or  Visigoths, 
under  their  king,  Alaric  II.,  the 
„.*  '*"  seventh  in  succession  from  his 
ing  o      e  j^a^niggj^i^g  ^}^g  ravager  of  Rome, 

Barbarians  •     i       i        ^    .1  . 

occupied  about  three-quarters 
of  the  Spanish  Peninsula  and  the  whole 
of  that  beautiful  region  of  Gaul  which 
was  known  as  Aquitaine,  and  which  lay 
south  and  west  of  the  broad  sickle  of  the 
Loire.  The  East  Goths,  or  Ostrogoths, 
ruled  Italy  and  Sicily  as  well  as  Germany 
up  to  the  frontier  of  the  Danube.  Their 
king,  Theoderic,  was  in  many  respects 
the  wisest,  strongest,  and  most  enlightened 
of  all  the  barbarian  rulers,  and  honestly 
strove  to  blend  as  much  as  possible  the 
culture  of  the  old  Greek  and  Roman 
world  with  the  rough  strength  and  energy 
of  his  Gothic  countrymen. 

Other  Teutonic  states  were  those  of  the 
Burgundians  in  the  valley  of  the  Rhone, 
of  the  Vandals  along  the  northern  coast  of 
Africa,  and  of  the  Suevi  in  the  region  which 
is  now  called  Portugal. 

All  of  these  kingdoms  were  drawn 
together,  not  only  by  a  consciousness  of 
kindred  origin,  but  also  by  the  profession 
of  the  same  creed,  for  all  had  been  con- 
verted to  Christianity;  but  all  were 
Christians  of  the  Arian  type,  refusing  to 


accept  the  statement  contained  in  the 
creed  of  Nicaea  as  to  the  co-equal  divinity 
of  Christ  with  His  Father. 

One  Teutonic  nationality,  destined  to  be 
the  mightiest  of  all,  remains  to  be  noticed. 
Along  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine  and 
the  Meuse,  in  the  flat  expanses  of  Cham- 
pagne and  Lorraine,  and  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Middle  Rhine,  clustered  the  two 
great  divisions  of  the  Prankish  nation, 
the  Salian  and  Ripuarian  Franks.  These 
fierce  wielders  of  the  battle-axe  remained 
heathen  long  after  most  of  their  fellow- 
Teutons  had  accepted  the  message  of 
Christianity;  but,  four  years  before  our 
story  begins,  their  brisk  young  king, 
Chlodwig,  or  Clovis,  embraced  the  faith 
of  his  Christian  wife,  Clotilde,  and  at  his 
bidding  the  majority  of  his  subjects 
embraced  it  likewise.  A  fact  of  immense 
importance  for  the  future  history  of  Gaul 
and  of  Europe  was  that  the  Christianity 
which  won  his  allegiance  was  not  of  the 
Arian,  but  of  the  Trinitarian  or  Catholic 
type.  This  secured  for  him  the  hearty 
goodwill  of  the  Catholic 
ExpaDsion         ^j^         ^^^    through    them 

of  the  Prankish      r    ?,•'  ,  •      .     t->  j 

Kin  dom  subject   Romanised 

ing  om  population  throughout  the 

whole  of  Western  Europe,  and  was  doubt- 
less one  cause  of  the  rapid  extension  of  the 
Prankish  kingdom.  In  the  year  507,  with 
the  words,  ''I  cannot  endure  that  these 
Arians  should  hold  so  large  a  part  of  Gaul," 
he  challenged  the  Visigothic  king  to  battle, 
and  defeated  and  slew  him  on  the  plains 
of  Poitiers.      The    Visigothic    monarchy 

3371 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


lived  on  for  a  few  centuries  longer,  south 
of  the  Pyrenees,  and  even  extended  its 
borders  in  587  by  the  conquest  of  the  Suevi, 
but,  save  for  a  narrow  strip  of  territory, 
called  Septimania,  on  the  west  coast  of  the 
Gulf  of  Lyons,  its  grasp  on  Gaul  was  gone. 

Clovis  died,  a  middle-aged  man,  in  the 
year  511,  but  his  sons  continued  his  policy 
_,.    .   J       of  profitable  religious  warfare, 

.  „.  *  and  after  some  campaigns,  con- 
g  ducted    with   varymg   success, 

finally  added  the  fruitful  pro- 
vinces of  Burgundy  to  the  Prankish  king- 
dom, which  now  included  the  whole  of 
modern  France — save  for  the  little  strip 
of  Septimanian  territory— and  also  the 
Netherlands,  the  Rhinelands,  and  an  in- 
definable extent  of  country  beyond  the 
Rhine.  It  was  certainly  in  the  six  hundreds 
and  seven  hundreds  (seventh  and  eighth 
centuries)  the  most  powerful  of  all  the 
barbarian  kingdoms,  but  was  weakened  by 
the  perpetual,  and,  to  a  historian,  most 
irritating,  partitions  of  the  empire  between 
the  always  jealous  and  often  actively 
hostile  members  of  the  royal  family 
— surnamed  Merovingian,  from  Merovech, 
the  fabled  son  of  a  sea-god  and  grandfather 
of  Clovis. 

Another  source  of  weakness  was  the 
rapid  demoralisation  of  the  kings,  whose 
constitutions  were  ruined  by  sensual  in- 
dulgence and  who  generally,  died  before 
middle  life  worn  out  by  their  vices.  Thus, 
then,  before  the  middle  of  the  five  hundreds 
two  of  the  Arian  kingdoms,  the  Burgundian 
and  the  Suevic,  had  been  overthrown,  and 
a  third,  the  Visigothic,  had  been  shorn 
of  much  of  its  strength.  And  before 
the  five  hundreds  had  run  their  course 
it,  too,  was  lost  to  the  Arian  cause,  not  by 
conquest,  but  by  conversion.  In  587, 
Recared,  the  Visigothic  king,  who  is 
believed  by  some  to  have  been  the  first 
promulgator  of  the  so-called  Athanasian 
Creed,  formally  renounced  Arianism,  and 
the  vast  majority  of  his  subjects  followed 
his  example.     While  these  events 

°™    *.  were  happening  in  the  west,  the 
Crippled  r    1-      ?      •         a    •       ■ 

J.     .        cause    of    Teutonic    Ariamsm   in 

™  Italy  was  sustaining  deadly  blows 

at  the  hands  of  an  antagonist  whom  it 
had  too  lightly  valued,  the  by  no  means 
effete  though  crippled  Roman  Empire.  The 
wise  and  statesmanlike  Theoderic,  king  of 
the  Ostrogoths,  died  in  526,  his  last  years 
having  been  clouded  by  rumours  of  con- 
spiracy and  sedition  which  had  seduced 
him,  naturally  one  of  the  most  tolerant 

3372 


of  rulers,  into  persecution  of  his  Catholic 
subjects.  A  minority  and  a  female  regency 
followed.  Theoderic's  daughter,  Amala- 
suntha,  lost  the  love  of  her  Gothic  warriors 
by  her  unwise  following  of  Roman  fashions ; 
her  son,  the  lad  Athalaric,  died  of  the 
excesses  which  followed  on  his  liberation 
from  her  maternal  strictness.  The  whole 
fair  fabric  of  Italo-Gothic  prosperity  was 
shaken,  but  might  perhaps  yet  have 
endured  for  generations  had  not  the  sceptre 
of  the  Byzantine  Caesars  been  swayed  at 
this  time  by  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
of  its  possessors. 

The  story  of  the  reign  of  Justinian 
(527-565),  belonging  to  the  Eastern  empire, 
has  been  told  in  another  volume.  All 
that  needs  to  be  said  here  is  that  by  his 
brave  and  skilful  general,  Belisarius,  he 
first  overthrew  the  Vandal  monarchy  in 
Africa  (533-535),  and  then  successfully 
assaulted  the  Ostrogothic  dominion  in 
Italy.  This  last  enterprise  proved  a  far 
harder  task  than  he  had  anticipated.  Rome 
was  taken  and  re-taken  three  times ; 
once  for  the  space  of  forty  days  she  lay 
absolutely  empty  of  inhabitants.  The 
Th    o  t        tK    struggle  lasted  sixteen  years, 

e     s  rogo    *  a,nd  wore  out  the  noble  heart 
isappear  ^^  Belisarius,  who  died,  if 

From  History  .  .  /     . 

not  in  poverty,  in  some  mea- 
sure of  disgrace.  But  the  stubborn  pati- 
ence of  Justinian  was  at  last  rewarded 
with  success.  By  the  victory  which  his 
old  wrinkled  eunuch  general,  Narses.  won 
amid  the  passes  of  the  Apennines  over  the 
gallant  young  King  Totila  the  last  hope 
of  the  Ostrogoths  was  crushed.  The 
remnant  of  that  nation  cleared  out  of 
Italy  in  553,  recrossed  the  Alps,  and 
disappeared  from  history. 

Thus,  then,  by  the  middle  of  the  five 
hundreds,  or  soon  after,  the  whole  of  that 
powerful  combination  of  peoples  which 
had  upheld  the  standard  of  Teutonic 
Arianism  was  dissolved.  Some  were  exter- 
minated, others  were  converted,  and 
Catholicism  was  the  religion  of  all,  whether 
victors  or  vanquished.  Let  it  not  be 
thought  that  this  was  a  matter  of  which 
only  Church  historians  need  take  notice. 
Apart  from  all  questions  of  theological 
soundness  or  unsoundness,  the  mere  fact 
that  the  whole  commonwealth  of  Western 
European  nations  professed  the  same 
creed  and  took  their  spiritual  word  of 
command  from  the  Bishop  of  Rome 
exercised  an  enormous  influence  on  the 
course  of  political  history  and  national 


MEDIEVAL    WESTERN    EUROPE:    GENERAL    SURVEY 


development    from   the   downfall   of    the 
Arian  kingdoms  to  the  Reformation. 

What  made  this  extension  of  the 
spiritual  sway  of  Rome  more  memorable 
was  the  splendid  success  of  the  missionary 
oj>erations  of  the  greatest  of  Roman 
Pontiffs,  Gregory  I.  (590-604).  According 
to  the  well-known  story,  the  sight  of  some 
handsome  Anglian  lads  exposed  for  sale 
in  the  Forum  caused  him,  in  596,  to  send 
his  friend  Augustine  on  a  mission  to  the 
then  almost  forgotten  and  unknown  island 
ot  Britain.  Although  Christianity  of 
a  somewhat  different  type  retained  its 
hold  on  the  Keltic  population,  and  might 


a  strain  of  nobleness  in  his  blood.  Laymen 
and  churchmen  alike  did  more  than  lip- 
service  to  their  new  creed,  and  a  man 
such  as  Bede,  who  was  barely  two  genera- 
tions removed  from  heathenism — ^he  was 
born  about  670 — has  won  the  abiding 
veneration  of  posterity  both  as  saint  and 
scholar. 

The  seven  hundreds  witnessed  a  melan- 
choly decline  in  every  department  of 
Anglo-Saxon  life.  Murders  of  kings 
abounded,  scholars  were  scarce,  the 
monasteries  became  the  haunts  of  the 
dissolute  and  the  idle ;  but  side  by  side 
with  this  decay  of  religious  life  at  home 


THE  GREAT  POPE  GREGORY  AND  THE  "ANGELS 
Gregory  I.,  the  greatest  of  all  Roman  Pontiffs,  made  his  spiritual  sway  memorable  by  the  splendid  success  of  his 
missionary  operations.  Seeing  some  handsome  youths  exposed  for  sale  in  the  Forum,  he  asked  whence  they  came, 
and  on  being  told  they  were  Anglians,  he  replied.  "  Non  Angli  sed  angeh'— not  Anghans  but  angels.  The  sight  of 
these  touched  his  compassionate  heart,  and  caused  him.  in  noc,  to  send  his  friend  Augustine  on  a  miss  on  to  Bntam, 
-t  »i.-t  ♦:™-  ,„  ,im«ct  .,nt-„„wn  uianrt     Rnt  it  was  not  until  686  that  the  orocess  of  conversion  was  bnauy  compietea. 


at  that  time  an  almost  unknown  island. 


even  be  said  to  flourish  in  Ireland  and  in 
the  Hebrides,  the  conversion  of  our 
stubborn  Anglo-Saxon  forefathers  was 
not  altogether  an  easy  process,  and,  in 
fact,  was  not  finaUy  accomplished  till 
the  year  686,  nearly  a  century  after  the 
landing  of  Augustine. 

This  century,  however,  during  which 
the  struggle  between  Christianity  and 
Paganism  was  still  going  forward,  was  the 
heroic  age  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  nation. 
Noble  Christian  kings,  such  as  Edwin, 
Oswald  and  Oswy,  led  their  people  upwards 
in  the  path  of  civilisation.  Even  the 
obstinate  pagan  Penda  was  not  without 

3X5 


ana  causea  mm.  in  ,ii«>,  lo  seuu  iii»  jwcuu  riu^ "=>■""=  v.^. ..  '"•-":; — .  r  j 

But  it  was  not  nntU  686  that  the  process  of  conversion  was  finaUy  completed. 

From  the  painting  by  Kelley  HalsweUe,  R.I. 


there  was  a  marvellous  display  of  mis- 
sionary energy  abroad. 

Wilfrid,  Willibrord,  Boniface,  moved 
up  and  down  through  Friesland,  Hesse 
and  Franconia,  destroying  idols  and  con- 
verting their  worshippers.  They  were 
thus  preparing  the  way  for  the  addition 
of  these  regions  beyond  the  Rhine  to  the 
vast  Prankish  empire.  It  is  hardly  too 
much  to  say  that  Germany  owes  both 
her  Christianity  and  her  civilisation  to  the 
labours  of  Anglo-Saxon  missionaries. 

From  the  statement  previously  made 
as  to  the  unity  of  religious  belief  in 
Western  Europe,  two  notable  exceptions 

3373 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


must,  for  a  time,  be  made.  They  were 
caused  by  the  arrival  of  the  Lombards  in 
Italy  and  of  the  Moors  in  Spain. 

Only  fifteen  years  after  the  expulsion 
of  the  Ostrogoths  from  Italy,  the  Lom- 
bards under  their  ruthless  leader  Alboin 
arrived  in  the  peninsula  (508).  An  uncouth 
and  barbarous  people,  they  were  for  genera- 
tions  a  miserable  substitute 
e  ope  on  for  the  almost  Cultured  Ostro- 
the  Swords  of  ,,  1    .1     •  i-    •  c 

The  Lombards  ff^'\^;;^  ^^^''  religion  if 
they  had  any,  was  either 
Arian  Christianity  or  absolute  heathenism. 
Gregory  the  Great,  even  while  he  was  plan- 
ning his  campaigns  of  spiritual  conquest, 
was  living,  as  he  bitterly  complained, 
"  between  the  swords  of  the  Lombards," 
and  the  fierce  enmity  between  the  papacy 
and  the  Lombard  kings  was  not  ap- 
peased even  by  the  conversion  of  the  latter 
to  Catholic  Christianity,  which  was 
effected  in  a  half-hearted,  desultory  way 
about  a  century  after  their  entry  into 
Italy.  In  fact,  the  relations  between 
king  and  pope  at  this  period  of  the  world's 
history  bore  a  strong  resemblance  to 
those  between  their  modern  Italian  re- 
presentatives. 

The  conquest  of  Italy  by  the  Lombards 
was  only  partial.  From  their  capital  at  Pa  via 
they  ruled  the  greater  part  of  the  valley 
of  the  Po.  Tuscany  was  theirs,  and  most 
of  the  country  on  the  flanks  af  the  Apen- 
nines, divided  into  the  two  great  duchies 
of  Spoleto  and  Benevento.  But  the  city 
of  Naples,  the  toe  and  heel  of  Italy,  the 
island  of  Sicily,  and — in  the  north-east 
corner  of  the  land — the  all  but  impregnable 
city  of  Ravenna,  still  owed  allegiance  to 
the  emperor,  whose  representative,  called 
the  Exarch  (generally  a  Byzantine  cour- 
tier), ruled  all  imperial  Italy  from 
Ravenna  as  his  capital.  Rome  was,  of 
course,  also  nominally  imperial ;  but 
all  through  these  centuries  the  Popes, 
who  had  many  a  theological  battle  with 
the  Eastern  emperor,  were  showing  an 
.  increasing  tendency  to  make 
enice^  Rome  their  own  subject  city, 
ising  in  ^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^  independently  of 
Constantinople.  During  the  same 
period  the  little  city,  or  group  of  cities, 
amid  the  mud-banks  of  the  Adriatic, 
which  was  afterwards  to  be  known 
as  Venice,  was  quietly  increasing  in 
wealth  and  power,  holding  the  Lombard 
barbarians  at  bay  and  professing  un- 
bounded loyalty  to  the  distant  Byzantine 
emperor.     Visigothic  and  Catholic  Spain 

3374 


underwent  in  the  six  hundreds  a  process 
of  rapid  decay.  It  was  governed  by  kings, 
none  of  whom  was  able  to  found  an 
abiding  dynasty  ;  by  national  councils,  in 
which  the  power  of  the  bishops,  which 
directed  the  forces  of  the  state  chiefly  to 
the  persecution  of  Jews  and  heretics, 
predominated,  and  by  nobles  rich  and 
turbulent,  but  destitute  of  loyal  devotion 
to  their  country.  The  old  Romanised 
population,  of  whom  we  hear  but  little, 
was  probably  oppressed  and  down- 
trodden. Thus,  when,  in  711,  the  Saracen 
conquerors  of  Africa — who  are  generally 
styled  Moors,  though  by  no  means 
all  of  Mauretanian  descent — crossed 
the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  and  challenged 
Roderic,  the  king  of  the  Goths,  to  a  fight, 
one  obstinately-contested  battle — that  of 
Xeres  de  la  Frontera — overthrew  the 
whole  rotten  fabric  of  the  Visigothic 
state.  Save  for  a  few  resolute  spirits  who, 
under  their  king,  Pelayo,  kept  the  standard 
of  the  Cross  flying  on  the  mountains  of 
Asturias,  all  Spain  was  Moorish  and 
Mussulman.  Nor  did  the  wave  of  Saracen 
conquest  stop  with  the  Pyrenees.  It 
_  flowed  over  into  Gaul,  and  for 

Great  Wave  ^  ^-^^  seemed  likely  to  add 

of  Saracen      ,  1     ,  ,  ^       1.     i.'L 

^  that  country  also  to  the  empire 

onques  ^^  ^^^  caliphs.  Fortunately  for 
Europe,  Charles  Martel,  the  virtual  ruler 
of  the  Franks,  proved  equal  to  the  occa- 
sion, and  in  the  desperately  hard-fought 
battle  of  Poitiers — about  seven  miles 
from  the  modern  city,  often,  but  incor- 
rectly, called  the  battle  of  Tours — defeated 
the  Saracenic  emir,  Abd-er-Kahman,  and 
saved  Europe  from  the  Moslem  yoke.  It  is 
worthy  of  notice  that  this  battle — 
emphatically  one  of  the  decisive  battles  of 
the  world — was  fought  in  732,  exactly 
100  years  after  the  death  of  Mahomet, 
"  Prophet  of  God."  So  far  in  one  century 
had  the  fierce  faith  of  the  sons  of  the 
desert  carried  them  ;  but  so  far,  and  no 
further,  did  the  great  wave  roll. 

We  have  called  Charles  Martel  "  the 
virtual  ruler  of  the  Franks,"  for  that,  and 
not  crowned  king,  was  still  the  position 
of  the  members  of  the  Arnulfing  family, 
of  which  he  was  the  head.  For  more  than 
a  century  the  kings  of  the  Merovingian 
line  had  been  sinking  into  a  state  of 
fatuous  decline.  Young  men,  for  the 
most  part  ruined  by  dissipation,  and 
seldom  surviving  their  thirtieth  year,  they 
had  allowed  the  reins  of  government  to 
slip  from  their  nerveless  hands  into  the 


3375 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


strong  grasp  of  the  chief  minister,  who 
was  called  Mayor  of  the  Palace  ;  and  for 
three  generations  this  fortunate  manager 
of  the  royal  business  had  been  chosen 
from  the  same  family,  the  descendants  of 
the  sainted  Arnulf,  Bishop  of  Metz. 

Charles  Martel,  the  greatest  man  whom 

the  family  had  yet  produced,  and  made  in- 

comparably    greater    by    his 

*"_*  deliverance  of   Europe   from 

e  c  IV  r  r  ^j^gj^fidel,  died  in  741,  having 
urope  j^gygj-  formally  assumed  the 
regal  title,  though  he  allowed  himself  for 
the  last  four  years  of  his  life  the  luxury  of 
ruling  without  a  phantom  master.  His 
sons,  Carloman  and  Pippin,  from  motives 
of  policy,  thought  proper  to  repeat  the  old 
comedy,  and,  drawing  forth  a  descendant  of 
Clovis  from  his  seclusion,  ordered  him  to 
reign  as  Childeric  III.  Before  long,  how- 
ever, Carloman  himself  retired  into  a 
monastery,  and  Pippin,  sole  mayor  of  the 
palace,  feeling  his  position  now  secure, 
addressed  to  Pope  Zacharias  the  sug- 
gestive question  whether  it  was  better  that 
the  man  who  had  all  the  power  of  a  king 
or  he,  who  had  only  the  show  of  sovereignty, 
should  reign  ?  The  Pope  gave  the  answer 
which  the  wording  of  the  question  evidently 
implied,  and,  with  his  high  sanction. 
Pippin  was  crowned  and  anointed  king  by 
the  hands  of  Boniface,  the  missionary 
Bishop  of  Germany,  about  the  year  751. 

The  Prankish  king  was  soon  able  to 
show  his  gratitude  by  important  services 
to  his  papal  benefactor.  In  the  year  752 
the  king  of  the  Lombards  took  the  long 
impregnable  Ravenna,  and  the  dominion 
of  the  eastern  emperor  in  the  north  of 
Italy  came  to  an  end.  The  triumphant 
Lombards  pressed  on  towards  Rome,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  that  imperial  city  itself  would 
fall  into  their  hands.  Sorely  pressed, 
Pope  Stephen  II.,  the  successor  of  Zacha- 
rias, uttered  plaintive  appeals  to  Pippin 
for  help,  and  even  crossed  the  Alps  in  the 
depth  of  winter  to  urge  his  piteous  case, 

_^  ,  ,  .  and  to  gratify  his  patron  by 
The  Lombards  j        j      ^  ^ 

_  .  a  second  and  solemn  corona- 

Driven  .•         t      x 

-,        „  tion.  In  two  successive  cam- 

From  Rome  j       /'      -r.-       • 

paigns — 755  and  750 — Pippm 
vanquished  the  Lombard  king,  and  com- 
pelled him  to  surrender  the  territories 
which  he  had  conquered  from  the  empire 
— known  as  the  Exarchate  and  Pentapolis 
— to  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  Thus  was  laid 
the  foundation  of  that  temporal  power  of 
the  Popes,  which,  through  all  the  Middle 
Ages,    wrote    the    title    "  States   of    the 

3376 


Church  "  on  a  large  block  of  territory  in 
Central  and  Northern  Italy,  and  vvhich, 
in  fact,  was  only  in  the  middle  of  last 
century  shattered  by  the  united  arms  of 
Napoleon  III.  and  Victor  Emmanuel. 

When  Pippin  died,  in  768,  his  two  sons, 
Charles  and  Carloman,  succeeded  without 
opposition  to  his  royal  inheritance.  Carlo- 
man  soon  died,  and  Charles  began  that 
career  of  conquest  and  imperial  organisa- 
tion which  has  deservedly  won  for  him  the 
surname  of  Great,  and  has  caused  him  to 
figure  in  countless  poems  of  romance  as  the 
hero  Charlemagne.  In  the  first  six  years 
of  his  reign  he  conquered  the  Lombards  and 
added  the  northern  half  of  Italy  to  his 
dominions.  In  a  long  and  stubborn  con- 
flict, which  lasted  thirty  years,  he  subdued 
the  barbarous  Saxons,  who  dwelt  in  the 
modern  province  of  Hanover,  and  forced 
them  to  accept  the  yoke  of  Christianity  and 
civilisation.  The  yet  more  barbarous 
Avars,  whose  kingdom  included  at  least 
half  of  modern  Austria,  were  conquered 
before  the  end  of  the  century  ;  and  the 
north-eastern  corner  of  Spain  was  also 
won  from  the  Moors.  Thus  the  dominions 
.of  Charlemagne  included  all 

ar  emagne  s  g^^-^pg  ^vest  of  the  Elbe  and 

_.     .  .  the  Danube,  Italy  as  far  as 

Dominions  xt      1  jo-  r 

Naples,  and  Spam  as  far  as 

the  Ebro.  There  was  no  such  splendid 
realm  seen  again  in  Europe  till  the  days 
of  the  Emperor  Napoleon. 

On  Christmas  Day,  800,  the  seal  was 
set  on  all  this  glory  by  the  coronation  of 
Charles  the  Frank  as  Emperor  of  the 
Romans.  Though  for  nearly  four  cen- 
turies the  Roman  Empire  had  been  but 
a  shadow  as  far  as  Western  Europe  was 
concerned,  the  memory  of  its  greatness 
had  never  wholly  faded  out  of  the  minds 
of  men  nor  had  the  people  of  the  West  ever 
heartily  accepted  the  fiction  that  the 
true  home  of  that  empire  was-  to  be  found 
at  Constantinople.  Now,  when  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  had  placed  the  imperial  diadem 
on  the  head  of  the  mightiest  man  of  the 
mightiest  nation  in  Europe,  and  w^hen  the 
citizens  of  Rome  had  cried  with  a  loud 
voice,  "  Life  and  victory  to  Carolus 
Augustus,  crowned  by  God,  mighty  and 
pacific  emperor,"  it  was  felt  that  the 
waters  of  the  barbarian  deluge  had  in- 
deed subsided  and  the  world  had  again 
a  prospect  of  a  peaceful  and  well-ordered 
life.  Such  was  the  second  birth  of  "  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire."  But  the  Golden 
Age  had  not  yet  arrived  ;  in  fact,  the  eight 


THE  ADVENTUROUS  VENETIANS  ON  THE  TRACK  OF  WAR 
In  the  eighth  century,  when  the  Lombards,  under  their  ruthless  leader  Alboin,  were  conauering:  Italy,  the  little  citv, 
or  group  of  cities,  amid  the  mudbanks  of  the  Adriatic,  afterwards  to  be  known  as  Venice,  was  making  a  bold 
stand,  holding  the  Lombard  barbarians  at  bay,  and  steadily  increasing  in  wealth  and  power.  So  great  did  the  sea 
power  of  the  Venetians  become,  that  the  enterprising  and  adventurous  republic,  from  being-  the  admitted  "  Queen  of 
the  Adriatic,"  rose,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  to  the  proud  position  of  "  Mistress  of  the  Seas,'  the  maritime  colonies  of 
Venice  being  widespread  throughout  the  Near  East,  and  her  influence  felt  in  the  remote  parts  of  the  mediaeval  world. 

3377 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


hundreds  and  nine  hundreds,  the  two  cen- 
turies after  the  coronation  of  Charlemagne 
at  Rome,  were  in  some  respects  darker 
than  any  that  had  preceded  them. 

This  was  partly  due  to  the  weakness  of 
the  rulers.  The  descendants  of  Charle- 
magne were  not  nonentities,  like  the 
Merovingians,  but  they  were  for  the  most 
_    .   ,    ,        part    selfish    and    turbulent 

Turbulent  ^    •  j  i.  

c  ,  prmces ;    and    only    a    very 

Successors  of  ^,  i        j  -  .  l 

Charlemagne   ^t^'O"?   ,  ^^^^  ,  grasping     the 

imperial  sceptre  could  have 
kept  the  discordant  elements  of  that  vast 
empire  in  orderly  sub  j  ection .  Such  a  strong 
hand  was  emphatically  not  possessed  by 
Charlemagne's  son  and  successor  Louis  the 
Good-natured.  His  sons  revolted  against 
him  and  quarrelled  among  themselves. 
France,  Germany  and  Italy  sprang  apart 
and  began  those  separate  lives  of  theirs 
which  still  continue  ;  and  not  only  so,  but 
in  each  country  the  principle  of  disintegra- 
tion was  at  work.  Counts  and  barons  who 
should  have  been  mere  officials  appointed 
for  life  or  during  good  behaviour  became 
hereditary  nobles  ;  in  short.  Feudalism  was 
born.  Amid  all  these  changes  the  stately 
vessel  of  the  Carolingian  dynasty  went 
hopelessly  to  pieces,  the  last  direct 
descendant  of  Charlemagne  who  reigned 
as  emperor  in  Germany  being  dethroned 
in  887,  the  last  who  was  king  of  Italy  dying 
in  950,  the  last  who  was  king  of  France  in 
987.  Out  of  the  drift-wood  of  the  family, 
the  representatives  through  females  and 
the  illegitimate  descendants,  almost  all  the 
reigning  dynasties  and  a  large  part  of 
the  ducal  and  baronial  houses  of  Europe 
have  been  constructed. 

Chief,  however,  among  the  causes  which 
made  Europe  miserable  were  the  ravages 
of  the  Scandinavian  pirates,  who  seem  at 
the  end  of  the  seven  hundreds  to  have 
suddenly  awakened  to  the  fact  that  there 
were  fair  lands  to  the  south  of  them  with 
rich  booty,  which  it  needed  but  good 
seamanship    and    well-organised    robber- 

r-      .  n.    .    raids  to  make  their  own.     The 

Great  Pirate    tt  ^u  ^  ^ 

-      .  Here,  as  the  great  pirate  army 

in  E    land     ^^^  Called,  visited  England  at 

longer    or    shorter    intervals 

throughout  the  three  centuries  from  787, 

when   they  first   landed   in   Wessex,   till 

1066,    when    Harald    Hardrada    invaded 

Yorkshire  and  fell  before  his  namesake 

Harold,  son  of  Godwin.     It  is  not  necessary 

here  to  relate  the  memorable  story  of  the 

victories  and  defeats  which  marked  the 

struggle   of  the   Danes  with   Alfred  the 

3378 


Great  from  871  to  900,  of  their  subjugation 
by  Edward  the  Elde  and  Athelstan  from 
900  to  940,  and  of  the  success  with  which, 
under  their  king,  Canute,  they  fastened 
the  Danish  yoke  upon  the  neck  of  the 
English,  so  that  it  seemed  for  a  time 
probable  that  the  island  would  be  but  a 
humble  member  of  a  great  Scandinavian 
empire,  dominating  the  Baltic  and  the 
North  Sea. 

We  must,  however,  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  in  these  three  centuries  of 
conflict  the  pirates  themselves  greatly 
changed  their  character,  and  from  bar- 
barous pagans  became  a  Christian  and 
civilised  power  ;  also  that  they  settled  in 
large  numbers  in  the  north-eastern  part 
of  England  and  added  undoubtedly  a 
valuable  element  to  the  population  of 
Northumbria  and  Mercia.  Moreover,  the 
fierce  attacks  of  these  dreaded  invaders 
helped  to  unify  the  Anglo-Saxon  state. 
When  all  the  other  kingdoms  of  the  so- 
called  Heptarchy  had  gone  down  before 
the  ruthless  Here,  Wessex  alone  success- 
fully resisted  their  onslaught,  and  there- 
fore it  is  that  from  the  royal  house  of 
_  Wessex  the  present  king  of 

t  ^t    ^^**^t ,    England  is  descended.     It  is 
of  the  Terrible         ^  ,  a^    ■      l.^ 

«,    ^.  not,  perhaps,  suthciently  re- 

Northmen  f       11  1      it- 

membered  how   sorely   the 

scourge  of  the    Danish  invasions    smote 

France  and  Germany  as  well  as  England. 

Wherever  there  was  a  broad  estuary  of  a 

river,  there  the  keels  of  the  Danes  might 

be  looked  for  ;    the  Elbe,  the  Seine,  the 

Marne,  the  Loire,  the  Garonne,  all  saw  the 

Dragon-standard  of  the  Mkings  mirrored 

in  their  waters.     Aachen,   Charlemagne's 

own  capital,  was  sacked.   Rouen  was  taken. 

Paris  was  once  taken  and  once  suffered 

a  terrible  two  years'  siege  (885-886).     In 

fact,  throughout  the    eight    hundreds    it 

would  be  hard  to  say  whether  England  or 

France  suffered  the  most  from  the  ravages 

of  the  terrible  Northmen. 

But    in    France    the    most    memorable 

result  of  the  Scandinavian  invasions,  the 

settlement  of  the  Northmen  in  the  fruitful 

lands  at  the  mouth  of  the  Seine,  tended 

eventually  to  benefit  rather  than  to  injure 

civilisation.     In  the  early  nine   hundreds 

Rolf    the     Northman    closed    a    life    of 

piratical  adventure  by  becoming  the  "  man  " 

of  the  Frankish  king  Charles  the  Simple, 

and  condescending  to  receive  from  him  the 

fair  province  which  has  ever  since  borne 

the  name  of  Normandy.     His  descendants, 

appropriately  named  the  "  Long-sworded," 


CHARL'cMAGNli  and  the  SCHOLARS 


Succeeding  his  father,  Pippin,  as  Prankish  king,  Charles,  afterwards  to  fig:ure  in  countless  poems  and  in  «"o«an" 
as  the  hero  Charlemagne,  began  a  great  career  of  conquest  and  imperial  organisation,  winnmg  for  himself  the 
title  of  "the  Great.  "  His  dominions  included  all  Europe  west  of  the  Elbe  and  Danube,  Italy  as  far  as  Naples, 
and  Spain  as  far  as  the  Ebro.  Possessed  of  a  learning  unusual  for  the  period  in  which  he  lived,  Charlemagne 
could  speak  Latin  and  read  Greek,  and  he  laboured  with  much  earnestness  to  extend  education.  In  his  palace 
he  conducted  a  school  for  the  sons  of  his  servants,  and  invited  teachers  of  grammar  and  arithmetic  from  Rome 
to  fill  his  public  schools.     He  was  the  first  Teuton  on  whom  the  dignity  of  Roman  Emperor  was  conferred,  i 

From  the  painting  by  Blaas ^ ^| 

'.  3379^ 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


"  the  Fearless,"  and  the  Uke,  embraced 
Christianity  of  the  militant  type  then 
fashionable,  inhaled  the  new  air  of  chivahy, 
and  became  in  some  respects  its  tj'pical 
representatives.  The  converted  Scandi- 
navian pirate  seems  to  have  been  a  finer 
specimen  of  humanity,  more  chaste,  more 
temperate,  and  more  devout  than  either 
««.  .  .V  his   Prankish   or   his   Saxon 

What  the  •    u  u  u    i        i 

„  _...  neighbour:    but    also    more 

Norm&ns  Did        ^?i 

K»  r  1  J  ruthless,  more  srraspmg,  a 
For  England    ..  ,     , .  r    u      ■  >. 

better    man    of    busmess. 

He  was  the  keen,  well  polished  steel,  while 

they  were  but   the  clumsy  iron  weapon. 

Thus,  it  was  only  in  the  natural  order  of 

things  that   when,   in  1066,  William  the 

Bastard,  Duke  of  Normandy,  landed  on 

the  coast  of  Sussex,  his  rival,  the  Saxon 

Harold,  Godwin's  son,  should  fall  before 

him  in  the  battle  which  bears,  not  with 

strict  accvu-acy,  the  name  of  Hastings. 

But  memorable  as  this  Norman  conquest, 

which  placed  a  new  dynasty  on  the  throne 

and  introduced  a  fresh  social  and  political 

order,   must  ever   be   to  Englishmen,  it 

is  important  to  remember  that  it  was  not 

by  any  means  the  only  Norman  conquest 

which    Europe    witnessed    in   that    age. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  ten  hundreds, 

Normans,   half    pilgrims,   half    warriors, 

had  been  making  their  way  over  the  Alps 

and  Apennines  into  Southern  Italy.   They 

had  mingled  as  auxiliaries  in  the  endless 

contests   which   were   going   on  in  that 

region   between  Lombards,  Greeks    and 

Germans.     At  length,  in  the  year  1038, 

William  of  the  Iron  Arm,  eldest  of  the 

twelve  sons  of  a  Norman  knight,  Tancred 

de  Hauteville.  made  his  prowess  felt  in  a 

battle  with  the  Saracen  lords  of  Sicily, 

He    obtained   the    dignity    of   Count  of 

Apulia.     One  after  another  the  sons  of 

that  prolific  Norman  house  appeared  upon 

the  scene,  eager  to  share   his  fortunes. 

Robert  Guiscard,  the  sixth  brother,  made 

himself  supreme  in  Southern  Italy,  dealt 

fierce    blows    at    the    Eastern    Empire, 

_       ,  ,.       took  the  Pope  of  Rome,  Leo 

Foundations  t-.t  ^    •       i     ,,,  , 

f    M*  ht  '  Pnso^^r  m  battle,  and 

n^  ^  ^  soon  after%vards  became  the 
vassal  of  his  successor.  Mean- 
while, his  brother  Roger,  the  youngest  of 
the  tribe,  by  his  \'ictories  over  the  Saracens, 
was  building  up  a  more  enduring  dominion 
in  Sicily,  and  preparing  the  way  for  a  ro\-al 
dynasty  which,  in  the  eleven  and  twelve 
hundreds,  was  powerfully  to  influence  the 
fortunes  of  the  whole  of  Europe.  And 
these  Norman  conquests  in  the  Mediter- 

3380 


ranean  lands  were,  be  it  remembered, 
strictly  contemporary  with  that  other 
Norman  Conquest  with  which  we  are 
familiar  as  forming  the  greatest  landmark 
in  English  history. 

In  order  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the 
Northmen,  we  have  come  down  to  the  end 
of  otu:  second  period  ;  but  we  must,  for  a 
little  while,  remount  the  stream  of  time 
in  order  to  notice  other  calamities  which 
were  distressing  Europe. 

In  the  eight  hundreds,  the  danger  to 
Europe  of  Mohammedan  conquest  was 
more  menacing  than  it  had  ever  been  since 
Charles  Martel  won  the  battle  of  Poitiers. 
For  the  Saracens  had  now  become  a  great 
sea-power,  probably  in  the  decay  of  the 
maritime  strength  of  the  Eastern  Empire, 
the  greatest  sea-power  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. 

In  the  year  831  they  overran  and 
conquered  Sicily,  which  remained  theirs 
for  more  than  two  centuries  till,  as  just 
related,  it  was  won  back  for  Christianity 
by  Roger  the  Norman.  Fifteen  years  later 
they  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber  ; 
Ostia  was  taken,  the  Campagna  wasted. 
St.  Peter's  itself  was  desecrated 
and  robbed  of  the  treasures 
of  centuries  :  St.  Paul's  \\'ith- 
out  the  Gates  shared  the  same 
fate  ;  the  city  of  Rome  itself  only  just 
escaped  being  handed  over  to  a  Mussulman 
emir  and  echoing  the  cry  of  the  muezzin. 
It  really  seemed  as  if  Mahomet's,  rather 
than  Christ's,  was  to  be  the  holiest  name 
in  all  the  Mediterranean  lands.  And  this 
lamentable  eclipse  of  the  glory  of  the  new 
empire  was  witnessed  by  a  generation, 
many  of  whom  must  have  gazed  on  the 
living  face  of  Charlemagne. 

While  the  Saracens  still  threatened  by 
sea,  a  more  terrible,  because  more  bar- 
barous, foe  spread  desolation  by  land. 
Over  the  vast  Danubian  plains,  where 
Attila  and  his  Huns  once  encamped,  the 
Magyars,  or  Hungarians,  a  race  perhaps 
remotely  connected  both  with  the  Huns 
and  with  the  Turks,  now  came  thundering 
and  destro^k^ng.  From  889  till  933,  when 
they  were  defeated  by  the  Emperor  Henry 
the  Fowler  in  the  great  battle  of  Riada, 
the  Hungarian  squadrons  were  a  night- 
mare of  terror  to  Europe.  They  overran 
German}',  Burgundy,  and  Southern  France, 
crossed  the  Alps  into  Italy,  burned  Pavia, 
and  threatened,  but  did  not  take,  Rome. 
From  many  a  terrified  congregation  in  the 
churches   of    Italy   went    up   the   heart- 


Great  Wars 

on  Land 
and  Sea 


CHARLEMAGNE    HOLDING    AN    AUDIENCE    OF    HIS    PEOPLE 

After  the  drawing  by  E.  Dawant 


3381 


PRANKISH  LEADERS  AND  THE  CLERGY  DOING  HOMAGE  TO  THE  CHILD  KING,  CLOVIS  II. 
Clovis  II.  was  only  a  child  six  years  old  when  he  succeeded  his  father,  Dagobert,  as  king  of  Neustria  in  638.  During 
his  minority  the  government  was  carried  on  by  his  mother,  Nanthildis,  but  Clovis,  of  course,  was  the  king  on  the 
throne,  and,  as  represented  in  the  illustration,  received  the  homage  due  to  that  high  office.  Under  Clovis  II.  the 
Prankish  Empire  was  once   more  united,  and  he  thus  became  king  of  the  whole  of  the  Franks.     He  died  in  656. 

From  the  painting  by  Maignan,  by  permission  of  Braun,  Clement  &  Cie, 


breaking  litany :  "  From  the  arrows  of  the 
terrible  Hungarians,  good  Lord  deliver 
us."  By  the  middle  of  the  nine  hundreds, 
however,  they  were  beaten  down  into  a 
reasonable  frame  of  mind  ;  they  became 
civilised  and  Christianised.  In  the  year 
1000,  a  royal  saint,  Stefan,  received  from 
the  Pope  the  title  of  King  of  Hungary, 
and  in  later  centuries  the  brave  and 
chivalrous  Magyar  was  the  great  bulwark 
of  Europe  against  his  Mohammedan 
kinsman  the  Turk. 

Beside  the  miseries  of  barbarian  in- 
vasion, Europe,  after  the  collapse  of  the 
dynasty  of  Charlemagne,  suffered  from 
religious  terrors.  As  the  years  wore  on 
towards  the  fateful  era  of  the  thousandth 
from  the  Birth  of  Christ,  a  presentiment 
brooded  over  the  nations  that  the  end  of 
the  world  was  at  hand.  When  they 
needed  most  the  support  of  religious  faith, 
their  spiritual  guides  most  signally  failed 
them.  These  centuries,  the  eight  hundreds, 
the  nine  hundreds,  and  the  early  ten  hun- 
dreds, are  admitted  by  all  historians  to 

3382 


have  been  the  time  of  the  greatest  loss  of 
power  of  the  papacy.  A  long  succession 
of  Popes  is  followed  by  one  man  of  emin- 
ence, perhaps  of  genius,  Pope  Formosus 
(891-896),  but  he  was  a  strong  political 
partisan,  and  after  his  death  the  legality 
of  his  acts  was  contested  and  his  body 
was  treated  with  contumely,  but  Theo- 
dorus  II.  restored  it  to  Christian  burial 
and  at  a  council  presided  over  by  John 
IX.  his  pontificate  was  declared  valid  and 
all  his  acts  confirmed. 

Then  came  the  period  of  the  ascendancy 
of  two  women,  a  mother  and  a  daughter, 
Theodora  and  Marozia,  who  for  over 
sixty  years  (901-964)  influenced  the  elec- 
tion of  their  sons  and  their  grandsons 
to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  After  an  in- 
terval the  Counts  of  Tusculum,  petty 
feudal  princes  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Rome,  succeeded  in  controlling  the  elec- 
tion of  successive  Popes  (1012-1048). 
With  such  men  as  these  sitting  in  the 
holiest  place  of  Western  Christendom,  the 
reverence  which  in  the  days  of  Gregory  the 


MEDIiCVAL    WESTERN    EUROPE:    GENERAL    SURVEY 


The  "  Holy 
Rom&n  Empire" 
Maintained 


Great  had  waited  upon  the  hghtest  word 
of  "  the  Apostle  "  was  imperilled. 

The  cure  for  the  worst  miseries  of  this 
anarchic  age  came  this  time  from  Germany. 
The  old  Prankish  Empire,  it  is  true,  had 
split  into  pieces.  France  especially,  after 
the  deposition  of  Charles  the  Fat,  in  887, 
had  been  drawing  further  and  further 
away  from  the  empire  and  when,  a  century, 
later,  a  new  royal  dynasty  ascended  the 
throne  in  the  person  of  Hugh  Capet 
she  no  longer,  even  nominally,  formed 
part  of  it.  Still,  however,  the  great 
political  fabric  founded  by  the  join  action 
of  Charlemagne  and  Leo 
kept  its  proud  title,  "The 
Holy  Roman  Empire," 
though  now  it  virtually  in- 
cluded only  the  two  countries  of  Germany 
and  Italy,  divided  into  an  infinite  number 
of  petty  feudal  principalities,  over  which 
"  Caesar  " — as  the  emperor  was  styled — 
wielded  a  strange  and  not  easily  defined 
dominion,  strong  and  stern  in  the  hands 
of  a  man  of  firm 
will  and  with  the 
trick  of  success, 
shadowy  and  of 
little  or  no  account 
m  the  hands  of  a 
weakling. 

To  the  former 
class  of  strong  and 
successful  rulers 
belonged  the  Saxon 
emperors,  who  wore 
the  imperial  dia- 
dem during  the 
nine  hundreds  and 
whose  most  cele- 
brated representa- 
tives were  Otho— or 
Otto  the  Great,  the 
final  vanquisher 
of  the  Hungarians, 
and  his  son  and 
grandson,  who  bore 
his  name  (Otto  I. 
936-973  ;  Otto  n. 
973-983;  Otto  HI. 
9S3-1002).  These 
strong  rulers  ended 
the  political 
anarchy  which  had  tor  a  hundred  years 
prevailed  in  Italy,  where  petty  princes  of 
provence,  of  Spoleto,  of  Friuli,  in  rapid  and 
unremembered  succession,  had  reigned 
as  shadowy  kings.  In  the  ecclesiastical 
realm  also  they  restored  a  certain  measure 


THE    TRIUMPH    OF    CLOVIS 

From  ihe  painting  by  Joseph  Blanc  in  the  P.uuht' 


of  order.  In  963  Otto  the  Great  summoned 
a  council  to  meet  in  Rome,  by  which  Pope 
John  XII.,  a  headstrong  and  arbitrary 
youth,  grandson  of  Marozia,  was  solemnly 
deposed,  and  a  layman  who  had  been 
a  papal  secretary,  Leo  VIII.,  was  chosen 
The  Papacy  ^^  ^^^  Stead.  Still,  however. 
under  ^^^    ^'^^    ^^    Roman    factions 

Leo  IX.  continued,  and  one  pontiff  fol- 
lowed another  in  rapid  suc- 
cession till,  in  996,  the  boy-emperor, 
Otto  III.,  placed  his  cousin,  Bruno  of 
Carinthia,  little  older  than  himself,  but 
a  young  man  of  pure  and  noble  charac- 
ter, on  the  papal  throne.  Too  good 
for  those  surrounding  him  and  the  popu- 
lace of  Rome,  this  German  Pope  died 
in  the  last  year  of  the  nine  hundreds, 
the  victim,  it  was  said,  of  poisonous 
conspiracy.  Ere  long  followed  the 
dynasty  of  Tusculan  Popes  to  which 
reference  has  been  already  made.  It 
seemed  as  if  nothing  could  save  the 
people  from  a  succession  of  endless 
quarrels,  when  help 
was  once  more 
invoked  ftom  be- 
yond the  Alps, 
and  this  time 
with  success.  An- 
other German, 
Bruno,  of  noble 
descent  was  raised 
to  the  papacy 
by  the  Emperor 
I  Henry  III.  A 
saint  and  a  mystic, 
the  new  Pope,  who 
took  the  name  of 
Leo  IX.,  did  much 
in  his  six  years  of 
rule  ( 1 048-1 054)  to 
restore  peace  and 
tranquillity  on  all 
sides.  Unfortun- 
ately for  him  he 
resorted  to  carnal 
weapons  for  the 
defence  of  his 
territory  against 
the  Norman  Guis- 
card,  by  whom  he 
was  defeated  and 
made  prisoner.  The  vexation  of  his  defeat 
and  the  hardships  of  his  captivity  prob- 
ably hastened  his  end,  for  he  died  the 
year  after  the  battle,  but  the  good  which 
he  accomplished  survived  its  author  for 
generations. 

3383 


;^s=:as^ 


1^^ 


ST.  BERNARD  PREACHING  THE  SECOND  CRUSADE 
During  the  period  of  the  Crusades,  from  1096  till  1272,  eight  great  expeditions,  besides  many  smaUer  ones,  set  out 
for  the  Holy  Land  to  do  battle  for  its  recovery  from  the  Turks.  Though  preached  with  burning  eloquence  by  the  great 
S>t.  Bernard,  the  Second  Crusade,  in  1147-48,  did  not  arous«  so  much  enthusiasm  as  some  of  the  later  enterprises. 

33S4 


WESTERN 

EUROPE   IN 

THE  MIDDLE 

AGES 


GENERAL 

SURVEY   II 

BY 

DR.  THOMAS 

HODGKIN 


THE     HEROIC     AGE    OF    CHIVALRY 

THE  CRUSADES  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND  AND 
THE  DUEL  BETWEEN  PAPACY  AND  EMPIRE 


■"PHE  result  of  two  centuries  of  anarchy 
■'■  and  barbarian  invasions,  together  with 
the  feudahsm  which  they  had  called  into 
being,  was  to  intensify  the  military 
spirit  and  to  bring  back  into  life  the 
old  theory  of  the  forest-traversing  Ger- 
mans, th^  war  was  the  only  fitting 
occupation  for  a  freeman,  or,  in  modern 
language,  for  a  gentleman.  Immured 
within  his  massive  castle,  seeing  all  the 
lands  up  to  the  horizon  cultivated  by 
serfs  "  tied  to  the  soil  "  or  by  men-at- 
arms,  his  vassals  bound  to  follow  him  in 
war,  the  knight,  or  baron,  or  earl,  who 
was  the  only  really  important  unit  in 
mediaeval  society,  accepted  the  excitement 
of  the  chase  as  making  life  tolerable,  but 
longed  for  the  more  glorious  excitement 
of  the  stern  realities  of  war.  Eyen  his 
religion  was  of  the  militant  type.  As 
one  of  the  early  Teutonic  converts  said 
when  he  heard  the  sad  story  of  Calvary : 
"  Had  I  been  there  with  my  henchmen, 
I  would  never  have  allowed  the  Romans 
to  nail  Him  to  the  Cross." 

Thus  the  spirit  of  that  age,  especially 
in  those  countries  where  the  young  Norman 
nation  made  itself  most  manifest,  might 
be  expressed  in  two  words :  Militant 
Christianity.  It  was  almost  as  if  the 
religion  of  Christ  and  the  religion  of 
Mahomet  had  changed  places.  Faith 
longed  to  display  itself  by  deeds,  but  they 
must  be  deeds  such  as  the  mail-clad 
».»..    r»        r  warrior    only  could   perform. 

The  Days  of    t>,  •'  ^    •  lix 

»..  .  Ihere  was  a  certam  nobility 

Chris^anity  «^  ^P^^^  ^^out  that  brave 
Ignorance.  The  heroic  age  of 
chivalry  must  certainly  be  placed  in  the 
two  centuries  which  we  are  about  to  review 
rapidly — the  centuries  of  the  Crusades. 
The  fuel  was  all  laid  ready  for  the  fire 
when  Peter  the  Hermit,  a  mean-looking 
figure  riding  on  an  ass,  but  bearing  aloft 


the  crucifix  and  breathing  the  fiery 
eloquence  so  often  given  to  men  with  one 
idea,  went  through  the  cities  and  villages 
of  France  proclaiming  the  hardships, 
the  humiliations,  even  the  cruelties  which 
Christian  pilgrims  to  the  holy  places  in 
Peter  the  ^^^  ^3iSi  had  to  endure  at 
H  't  St  t  ^^^  hands  of  the  Mussulmans. 
theTrusaVe!  ^^,^^  Comparatively  mild,  the 
yoke  pressed  upon  them  had 
become  ten  times  harder  since — in  the 
year  1076  —  the  fierce  Seljuk  Turks 
from  Tartary  made  themselves  masters 
of  the  sacred  lands.  The  Church  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  had  been  de^ 
molished,  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  had 
been  dragged  along  the  pavement  by  his 
hair  and  thrown  into  a  prison,  from  wh'ch 
he  was  released  only  on  the  payment  of 
an  enormous  ransom  ;  everywhere  the 
Christian  pilgrims  were  being  plundered, 
insulted,  maltreated.  •  With  all  these 
exasperating  stories  in  men's  minds,  when 
Pope  Urban  II.  convened  a  council  at 
Clermont,  in  the  centre  of  France,  in  1096, 
and  pleaded  for  an  armed  expedition  to 
rescue  the  holy  places  of  Jerusalem  from 
the  infidels,  promising  the  forgiveness 
of  all  sins  to  those  who  should  start  on 
such  an  expedition,  and  an  immediate 
entry  into  Paradise  for  those  who  should 
die  in  its  service,  the  well-known  cry 
"  Dieu  le  veult  !  "  burst  from  thousanck 
of  excited  hearers ;  the  badge  of  the 
Cross  was  assumed  by  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men  ;  the  Crusades  began  their 
chequered  and  feverish  life. 

The  period  of  the  Crusades  lasted  for 
176  years  (1096-1272),  and  during  that 
time  eight  great  expeditions,  besides 
numberless  smaller  ones,  were  launched 
from  Europe  against  Asia.  It  will  thus 
be  seen  that  the  average  interval  between 
each  crusade  was  a  little  less  than  the 

3385 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


average  length  of  a  generation.  That  was 
the  time  necessary  to  rekindle  in  the  bosom 
of  the  French  or  Norman  knight  the 
enthusiasm  which  had  sent  his  father  to 
the  Holy  War.  France,  which  had  been 
the  scene  of  the  first  proclamation  of  the 
crusade,  remained  the  chief  supporter  of 
the  movement — France  and  her  sister- 
land  of  Flanders,  and  her 
^rusalcm     i^j^sfolk  the  Normans  of  Eng- 

thT'infidri  ^^"^  ^^^  ^*^^y-  ^P^^."  ^^^ 

too  much  occupied  with  her 
own  domestic  crusades  against  the  Moors, 
Germany  too  keenly  interested  in  her  long 
battle  with  the  Popes  and  the  internal 
dissensions  resulting  thence,  to  give  her 
whole  mind  to  the  recovery  or  the  defence 
of  the  holy  places,  though  three  of  hei 
emperors  at  least  took  some  share  in  a 
crusade.  French  or  Flemish  or  Norman 
remained  the  chief  material  forces  of  the 
long  campaign,  and  French  were  its  two 
chief  spiritual  champions  —  Peter  the 
Hermit  (1093-1099)  and  Bernard  of 
Clairvaux  (1146-1153). 

The  detailed  history  of  the  Crusades 
belongs  to  Eastern  rather  than  to  Western 
Europe.  The  First  Crusade,  the  most 
successful  and  the  most  memorable  of  the 
number,  that  one  which  inspired  the 
Itahan  poet  to  write  his  epic  "  Gerusalemme 
Liberata,"  lasted  three  years  (1096-1099). 
It  saw  the  Turks  defeated  in  the  great 
battle  of  Dorylaeum,  in  Bithynia,  Antioch 
taken,  and  at  last,  most  joyful  of  triumphs, 
Jerusalem  itself  recovered  from  the  infidel 
in  July  of  1099.  In  that  holy  city,  when 
Godfrey  of  Boulogne  was  proclaimed,  but 
not  crowned  king,  a  dynasty — a  "  Latin 
Christian  "  dynasty — was  established,  with 
laws  and  polity  all  its  own,  the  very  em- 
bodiment of  feudalism ;  and  this  dynasty 
lasted  with  varying  fortunes  for  nearly  a 
hundred  years  (1099-1187),  till  it  was 
overthrown  by  the  Mussulman  soldier  of 
fortune,  Saladin.  In  this  crusade,  Robert 
the     Norman      eldest    son    ot     William 

the    Conqueror,    took    an    im- 
ai  ure  o     portant   part,   having   pawned 
the  Second    f-       t\      u         xxtj       j. 
^        .         his    Duchy   of    Normandy   to 

his  brother  Rufus  in  order 
to  raise  money  for  the  enterprise.  The 
Second  Crusade  (1147-1148),  though 
pleaded  for  with  enthusiastic  eloquence  by 
the  great  Saint  Bernard,  was  a  poor  and 
ineffectual  affair,  memorable  in  French 
history  chiefly  from  the  fact  that  it  led 
to  the  loss  of  the  province  of  Aquitaine, 
Eleanor,  the  heiress  of  that  goodly  land, 

3386 


had  brought  it  as  a  dowry  to  her  husband, 
the  French  king,  Louis  VII.  The  young 
pair  went  together  on  crusade,  quarrelled, 
as  many  other  travelling  companions  have 
done,  and  were  divorced ;  Eleanor,  marry- 
ing a  second  time,  brought  to  her  new 
husband,  Henry  Plantagenet,  King  of 
England,  the  right  to  that  splendid  in- 
heritance along  with  her  own  unrivalled 
capacity  for  making  her  husband's  home 
miserable. 

The  son  of  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine, 
Richard  Lion- Heart  of  England,  was  the 
chief  hero  of  the  Third  Crusade  (1189- 
II 92).  He  failed  to  recover  the  Holy 
City  from  the  grasp  of  Saladin,  but  he 
captured  Acre,  and  his  personal  bravery 
did  something  to  restore  in  the  East  the 
fading  lustre  of  the  Christian  arms.  It  is 
needless  to  do  more  than  refer  to  the  well- ' 
known  story  of  his  quarrels  with  Philip 
Augustus  of  France,  his  captivity  in 
Austria,  and  the  enormous  ransom  which 
was  extorted  from  him  by  the  mean- 
souled  German  emperor. 

The  Fourth  Crusade  {1202-1204)  was  a 
tragi-comedy,  played  with  a  disastrous 
disregard  to  the  true  interests 
of  Christian  civilisation. 
Venice,  Champagne  and 
Flanders  furnished  the  bulk 
of  the  Crusaders,  who  never  approached 
within  a  thousand  miles  of  Jerusalem,  but, 
instead  of  fighting  the  infidel,  occupied 
themselves  in  overturning  the  Christian 
Empire  of  the  East,  the  barrier  which  had 
for  six  centuries  protected  Europe  from 
the  ravages  of  Saracen  invasion.  A 
shadowy  "  Latin  "  Empire  was  founded 
when  Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders,  was 
crowned  with  the  diadem  in  Constanti- 
nople, and  the  Republic  of  Venice  became 
sovereign  of  "  one-quarter  and  the  half  of 
a  quarter  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  and 
countless  principalities,  marquisates,  and 
baronies  were  allotted  to  French  and 
Flemish  knights  on  the  coasts  of  the 
^gean.  But  none  of  these  stage  sove- 
reignties, though  picturesque  and  romantic, 
had  enough  inherent  vitality  to  enable 
them  permanently  to  resist  the  rising  tide 
of  Mussulman  conquest.  That  a  Turkish 
sultan  later  sat  as  lord  in  the  palace  of 
Constantine  was  a  direct  —  we  might 
almost  say  an  inevitable — consequence 
of  the  felony  of  the  Fourth  Crusade. 

The  Latin  empire  of  Constantinople 
had  an  even  shorter  life  than  the  Latin 
kingdom  of  Jerusalem.   In  1261  the  Greek 


The  Felony 
of  the  Fourth 
Crusade 


THE    CRUSADES 


emperors  were  back  in  their  own  city, 
but  so  weakened  and  impoverished  that 
we  learn  with  surprise  that  the  final  ruin 
of  the  empire  was  postponed  for  nearly 
200  years.  From  this  point  onwards 
the  story  of  the  Crusades  oecomes  rather 
monotonous.  There  was  scarcely  any 
fighting  in  the  Holy  Land  itself,  the 
Crusaders  having  apparently  decided  that 
the  conquest  of  Palestine  must  be  achieved 
in  Egypt.  The  Fifth  and  Seventh  Crusades 
(1216-1221  ;  1245-1250) — a  short  notice 
of  the  Sixth  Crusade  (1235-1241)  is  reserved 
for  a  later  place  in  this  chapter — were 
occupied  chiefly  with  operations  round 
Damietta,  which  was  twice  taken  by  the 
Crusaders,  and  which  might,  with  a  little 
prudent  management,  have  been  exchanged 
for  Jerusalem.  The  hero,  or,  rather,  the 
saint  and  martyr,  of  this  Seventh 
Crusade  was  Louis  IX.  of  France,  who, 
after  some  successes,  was  taken  prisoner  by 
the  Egyptian  sultan  and  released  only  on 
the  payment  of  an  enormous  ransom. 

Twenty  years  later — in  1270 — St.  Louis 
headed  the  Eighth  Crusade,  but  died  of 
fever  at  Tunis  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
_  .  expedition.  Edward,  son  of 
-*  **  Henry  in.  of  England,  remained 
^  .  in  command,  went  forward  to 
Palestine,  landed  at  Acre,  and 
took  the  holy  village  of  Nazareth.  His 
success,  however,  ended  there.  He  fell 
sick,  narrowly  escaped  death  at  the  hand 
of  an  assassin,  and  returned  to  England 
in  1272  to  mount  the  throne  and  begin  a 
memorable  reign  as  Edward  I.  This  was 
virtually  the  last  of  the  Crusades,  and  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  last,  like  the  first, 
was  connected  with  the  personality  of  a 
chivalrous  Anglo-Norman  prince. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Crusaders  were 
essentially  a  product  of  feudalism,  but  it 
is  also  true  that  their  influence  was  in  the 
end  antagonistic  to  feudalism.  Contact 
with  nations  of  an  utterly  different  type 
of  civilisation,  with  the  Greek,  the  Egyp- 
tian and  the  Arab,  brought  new  ideas  and 
shook  the  mail-clad  warrior  out  of  his 
stolid,  knightly  pride.  The  multitude 
of  lowly  born  peasants  who  flocked  to  the 
banner  of  the  Cross  loosened  the  hold  of 
the  landowner  on  his  serfs ;  the  im- 
poverishment of  the  chivalrous  classes 
and  the  diminution  of  their  numbers 
increased  the  relative  strength  of  the 
crown ;  above  all,  the  spread  of  commerce, 
which  was  undoubtedly  a  result  of  the 
Crusades,  augmented  the  wealth  and  power 


of  the  Communes,  whom  we  find  through- 
out these  centuries  rapidly  rising  into 
importance,  and  who  were,  moreover, 
often  able  to  buy  valuable  charters  and 
remissions  of  obnoxious  burdens  from  a 
knightly  or  baronial  neighbour,  who 
must  have  money  at  any  price  to 
enable  him  to  start  for  the  Holy  Land. 
The  New  ^^^  influence  of  the  Crusades 
Weapon  of  ^.^  ^^^  whole  was  on  the 
the  Papacy  ^^^^  ^^  enlightenment  and 
freedom.  It  is  clear  that 
it  put  a  powerful  weapon  into  the 
hands  of  the  papacy,  which  now  put 
an  end  to  teaching  in  which  it  detected 
hostility  to  Catholicism  by  declaring 
its  advocates  heretics,  and  proclaiming 
a  Crusade  against  them.  A  notable 
instance  of  this  was  furnished  by  the 
Crusade  against  the  Albigenses,  en- 
gineered by  Innocent  III.  (1209-1217), 
a  Crusade  which  crushed  the  poetic 
but  free-thinking  civilisation  of  South- 
ern France,  and  possibly  postponed 
for  three  centuries  the  Protestant 
Reformation. 

The  German  emperors  had  done  a  good 
deed  for  Christendom  by  helping  to  raise 
the  papacy  from  the  position  which  it 
occupied,  but  they  had  not  altogether 
promoted  their  own  ease  or  security. 
Throughout  the  closing  years  of  our  second 
period  the  dominant  influence  in  the 
counsels  of  the  papacy  had  been  wielded 
by  the  cardinal  sub-deacon  Hildebrand. 
It  had  ever  been  his  voice  which  stimu- 
lated the  Popes,  his  nominal  superiors,  to 
assert  the  claims  of  their  office  against 
the  authority  of  the  emperor.  By  his  advice 
Pope  Alexander  II.  had  commissioned 
William  the  Norman  to  undertake  the 
conquest  of  England.  By  his  contrivance 
the  momentous  change  had  been  made 
which  transferred  the  election  of  the  Pope 
from  the  people  of  Rome  to  the  bishops  and 
clergy  of  that  city,  who  bore  the  rank  of 
cardinals.  Now,  in  the  year  1073,  the  great 
pope-maker  consented  to  be- 
Becorc*       ^^^^  himself  Pope.  The  Cardinal 

^.  *  J"  Hildebrand  began  his  short  but 

the  Pope  ,9  J 

ever  memorable  papacy  under 

the    title    of    Gregory   VII.   (1073-1085). 

There  is  an  old  and  true  proverb  that  if 

two  men  ride  on  one  horse,  one  must  go 

behind.    Such  had  been  for  centuries  the 

condition   of   Europe   under   the   empire 

founded   by  Charlemagne,   and  till  now 

the  question  had  never  been  fully  faced 

which  of  the  two  riders,  emperor  or  Pope, 

3387 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


was  to  take  the  hindmost  place.  One  of  the 
two  riders  claimed  to  represent  the  im- 
memorial domination  of  Rome,  to  be  the 
successor  of  Julius,  of  Augustus,  and  of 
Constantine,  and  to  possess  all  their  pre- 
eminent rights.  The  other  claimed  to 
be  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  God's  vice- 
regent  upon  earth,  and  the  claim  was 
generally  admitted  for  all  that  concerned 
the  religious  interests  of  mankind  ;  but 
the  thought  was  now  finding  harbourage 
in  the  minds  of  churchmen  that  temporal 
matters  ought  also  to  be  subjected  to  the 
same  divinely  appointed  rule.  "  Come, 
then,"  said  Hildebrand  to  a  council  of 


proud  princes,  what  may  not  ye  do  to  these 
their  servants  ?  " 

The  balance  of  forces  at  the  accession 
of  Gregory  VII.,  in  1073,  was  indeed, 
strangely  altered  from  that  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  previous  century.  Then 
there  had  generally  been  a  pontiff 
with  comparatively  little  power  against 
a  strong,  chaste,  strenuous  emperor. 
Now  there  was  a  stern,  austere,  monk- 
pope  matched  against  the  dissolute,  un- 
stable, though  not  by  any  means  stupid, 
young  emperor,  Henry  IV.  Each  found 
his  worst  enemies  in  his  own  house.  Many 
Italian  bishops  were  indignant  at  Gregory's 


AN    ARMY    OF    THE    CRUSADERS    ON    THE    MARCH 
From  the  picture  by  Sir  John  Gilbert,  R.A.,  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum 


ecclesiastics,  "  let  all  the  world  under- 
stand, and  know  that  since  y^  have  power 
to  bind  and  loose  in  heaven,  ye  have  power 
to  take  away  and  to  grant  empires,  king- 
doms, principalities,  duchies,  marquisates, 
counties  and  the  possessions  of  all  men 
according  to  their  deserts.  Ye  have  often 
deprived  wicked  and  unworthy  men  of 
patriarchates,  primacies,  archbishoprics, 
bishoprics,  and  bestowed  them  on  religious 
men.  If  ye  then  judge  in  spiritual  affairs, 
how  great  must  be  your  power  in  secular  ; 
and  if  ye  are  to  judge  angels  who  rule  over 

3388 


determination  to  enforce  the  absolute  rule 
of  celibacy  on  all  churchmen  ;  many  Ger- 
man nobles  resented  every  attempt  which 
Henry  made  to  convert  a  nominal  into  a 
real  supremacy. 

In  the  year  1076  the  smouldering 
antipathy  between  the  two  men  broke 
out  into  open  war.  Gregory  summoned 
the  emperor  to  appear  before  him  at 
Rome,  there  to  answer  for  various  breaches 
of  ecclesiastical  law.  Henry  retorted  by 
convoking  a  synod  at  Worms  at  which 
the     bishops,     who    were    his    partisans, 


THE    CRUSADES 


formally  renounced  their  allegiance  to 
Gregory  and  served  upon  him  a  summons, 
couched  in  insulting  terms,  to  leave  the 
apostolic  throne  which  he  had  usurped  : 
"I,  Henry,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  with  all 
the  bishops  of  my  realm,  say  unto  thee — 
Down,  down  !  " 

The  emperor  had  over-rated  his  power, 
as  he  soon  discovered  when  the  Pope 
replied  with  his  expected  counter-stroke, 
excommunication  and  deposition  from  the 
imperial  dignity.  The  political  result  of 
this  sentence,  the  assembling  of  a  hostile 
diet,  the  revolt  of  three  of  the  most 
powerful  dukes,   he  could  perhaps  have 


To  the  disgust  of  his  Italian  allies,  Henry 
was  all  for  submission,  for  petitioning 
the  Pope  to  annul  his  sentence  of  deposi- 
tion ;  but  the  Pope  was  determined  not 
to  make  forgiveness  easy.  For  three  days 
the  emperor,  clad  in  the  thin  white  robe 
of  a  penitent,  shivered  in  the  courtyard 
of  Canossa.  When  at  length  admitted, 
he  received  absolution,  but  on  the  humili- 
ating terms  of  submission  to  the  Pope's 
will — a  promise  to  appear  before  his 
judgment  scat  to  answer  the  charges 
made  against  him,  and  meanwhile  to  lay 
aside  the  marks  of  his  rank  and  perform 
none  of  the  functions  of  royalty. 


A    FLEET    OF    THE    CRUSADERS    CROSSING    THE    BOSPHORUS 


surmounted  ;  but  the  social  results,  the 
loneliness  and  depression  caused  by  the 
terrible  "  boycott  "  of  excommunication — 
an  expressive  word  must  be  borrowed 
from  modern  politics — were  too  much 
for  him.  In  the  depth  of  an  unusually 
severe  winter  he  and  a  few  faithful 
followers  scrambled,  at  the  risk  of  their 
lives,  over  the  slippery  slopes  of  Mont 
Cenis.  At  his  descent  into  Italy  the 
adversaries  of  Gregory  rallied  round  him, 
and  the  Pope  himself  retired  to  the  castle 
of  Canossa,  a  fortress  high  up  in  the 
Apennines,  which  belonged  to  his  faithful 
partisan  Matilda,   Countess  of  Tuscany. 


This  is  the  far-famed  pilgrimage  to 
Canossa,  which  profoundly  stirred  the 
minds,  not  only  of  contemporaries,  but 
of  many  succeeding  generations,  and  the 
echo  of  which  was  heard  in  modern  politics 
in  Bismarck's  well-known  phrase,  "  We 
certainly  shall  not  go  to  Canossa." 

It  took  place  in  1077,  just  eleven  years 
after  the  battle  of  Hastings.  In  this 
instance  it  was  proved  that  Gregory 
had  over-strained  his  power.  The  humilia- 
tion so  joyously  inflicted  on  the  greatest 
of  its  potentates  revolted  the  conscience 
of  Christendom.  German  pride  was 
wounded  by  the  arrogance  of  the  Italian, 

3389 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Henry's  affairs  assumed  for  the  time  a  more 
cheerful  aspect,    a   second   excommunica- 
tion fell  harmless.     Rome  was  besieged, 
and  saved  from  capture  only  by  the  appear- 
ance of  those  terrible  allies,  the  Normans, 
who   pillaged,   burnt   and  ravaged  worse 
than  any  of  Rome's  previous  barbarian 
conquerors.        Gregory    himself    died    at 
Salerno  in  1085,  uttering  the 
_  *     *""       memorable   words  :    "I  have 
rcgory  s       loved  righteousness  and  hated 
^'  ^  iniquity ;  therefore  it  is  I  die  in 

exile."  The  point  at  issue  between  the  two 
rival  potentates  was  not  merely  a  personal 
one,  though  undoubtedly  the  natural 
man's  desire  for  pre-eminence  played  a 
great  part  in  the  drama.  There  was  also 
one  really  difficult  question  which  for  more 
than  half  a  century  distracted  Christendom, 
the  question  of  Investitures.  The  high  lords 
of  the  Church,  her  bishops,  archbishops, 
mitred  abbots  and  patriarchs  were  also, 
especially  in  Germany,  high  lords  in  the 
state,  rulers  of  enormous  territories  and 
entitled  to  the  obedience  of  powerful 
vassals.  Here  then  were  two  mighty 
organisations,  the  ecclesiastical  and  the 
feudal.  How  could  these  be  fitted  into 
one  another  ?  On  feudal  principles,  all 
temporal  power  involved  the  feudal  tie, 
lordship  over  the  vassals  beneath,  vassal- 
age to  the  lord  above,  and  the  lord  para- 
mount over  all  was  the  king. 

But  on  ecclesiastical  principles,  as  now 
asserted  by  Hildebrand,  the  dignitaries 
of  the  Church,  deriving  their  authority 
from  God  Himself,  were  subject  to  no 
man,  save  the  Pope,  God's  vicar.  How 
then  could  the  bishop  or  archbishop  be 
asked  to  do  homage  to  any  temporal 
lord,  even  to  the  emperor  himself  ?  How 
could  the  hands  which  in  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Mass  "  could  create  the  Creator  "  be 
pressed  between  the  hands  of  a  man  who 
was  perhaps  an  adulterer  and  a  murderer  ? 
The  symbols  of  the  investiture  of  a  prelate 
were  the  ring  and  the  pastoral  staff — the 
ring  to  betoken  the  new 
w  ere    ope    bjgj^Qp'g  marriage  to  his  dio- 

DiffereT"°'  cese,  the  staff,  his  duty  of 
shepherding  the  flock.  Where 
was  the  fitness  of  the  bestowal  of  these  on 
a  churchman  by  an  earthly  potentate  ? 
Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  if  some  of  the  most 
powerful  nobles  of  the  empire  could  hold 
their  lands  subject  to  no  recognition  of  the 
emperor's  supremacy,  what  became  of 
feudal  subordination  ?  It  will  therefore 
be  seen  that  the  dispute  about  Investitures 

3390 


was  no  mere  strife  about  words,  but 
that  a  real  contest  of  principles  was 
involved.  At  one  point  of  the  struggle 
a  Pope — Paschal  II. — was  actually  willing 
to  surrender  all  the  landed  domains 
of  the  Church  if  the  emperor  would  give 
up  his  claim  to  grant  investiture  to  her 
officers  ;  but  this  sacrifice  was  too  much 
for  his  episcopal  clients,  and  negotiations 
on  that  footing  had  to  be  abandoned. 

At  last,  however,  at  the  Diet  of  Worms  in 
1122,  a  reasonable  compromise  was  effected. 
Investiture  by  ring  and  staff,  the  religious 
part  of  the  process,  was  renounced  by  the 
emperor,  but  the  newly-consecrated  eccle- 
siastic must  kneel  before  the  emperor  and 
receive  from  his  outstretched  sceptre  the 
touch  which  conveyed  to  him  dominion 
over  the  lands  attached  to  his  bishopric. 
The  principle  of  the  Concordat  of  Worms 
was  apparently  accepted  in  the  other 
countries  of  Western  Europe,  and  in  some 
of  them,  at  any  rate,  continues  in  force 
till  this  day.  When  a  parish  clergyman  is 
selected  for  promotion  to  an  English 
bishopric,  after  he  has  gone  through  the 
ecclesiastical  ceremonies  of  election  by  the 
j^^  dean  and  chapter,  consecration 

Question  of  ^y  ^^^  brother-bishops,  and 
Investiture  enthronement  in  his  cathe- 
dral, it  is  his  duty  to  take  the 
train  for  Windsor,  and  there  do  homage  to 
the  Crown  for  the  temporalities  of  his  see. 

Though  the  contest  about  Investitures 
was  formally  closed,  abundant  materials 
for  strife  between  emperor  and  Pope  still 
remained,  and,  as  the  eleven  hundreds  rolled 
on,  a  new  element — Republicanism — made 
its  appearance  in  Italy.  When  men 
first  awoke  from  the  torpor  of  the  dark 
centuries,  remembrances,  dim,  but  ma- 
jestic, of  the  mighty  republics  of  old,  of 
Rome,  and  of  all  the  bright  train  of  her 
subject  sisters,  the  municipalities  of  Italy, 
began  to  stir  in  their  souls  ;  and  now,  too, 
the  democratic  side  of  Christianity  began 
to  display  itself  especially  to  some  of  the 
inmates  of  the  cloister.  Such  a  man  was 
Arnold  of  Brescia  (1136-1155),  who 
preached  republicanism  and  the  abroga- 
tion of  the  temporal  power  of  the  priest- 
hood in  language  which  now  sounds 
strangely,  modern  ;  and  he  actually  suc- 
ceeded for  a  time  in  setting  up  a  republic 
in  Rome.  All  over  Italy,  but  especially  in 
the  valley  of  the  Po,  the  cities  began  to 
withdraw  themselves  from  the  feudal 
organisation  of  the  empire,  or  to  claim 
that   the   feudal   rights   which   remained 


THE    CRUSADES 


should  be  vested  in  their  own  elected 
magistrates,  to  whom  they  generally  gave 
the  proud  old  name  of  consuls. 

This  movement  inevitably  brought  them 
into  collision  with  the  man  in  whom  all 
feudal  rights  and  privileges  were  summed 
up,  with  the  man  who  wore  the  imperial 
crown,  and  that  man  in  the  middle  of  the 
eleven  hundreds  was  one  of  all  others  least 
likely  to  forgo  a  tittle  of  his  rights — 
Frederic  Barbarossa  of  Hohenstaufen, 
Duke  of  Swabia  and  Emperor  of  Rome. 
This  great  emperor,  one  of  the  greatest  in 
the  long  line  of  mediaeval  Caesars,  had  some 
qualities  in  common  with  King  Edward 
Plantagenet.  Like  him,  proud,  brave,  and 
strong;  like  him,  generally  a  man  of  his 
word,  and  with  a  deep  conviction  of  the 
duties  laid  upon  him  by  his  high  office,  but, 
unfortunately,  with  a  tendency  to  ride  his 
steed,  the  people  under  his  rule,  with  too 
sharp  a  bit,  thus  his  very  virtues  were  in 
danger  of  becoming  crimes.  His  deter- 
mination to  put  an  end  to  anarchy  and  to 
assert  the  just  claims  of  the  empire 
degeijierated  more  than  once  into  tyranny 
and  cruelty.  The  chief  quarrel  of  the 
j^.  emperor    was    with    Milan,    that 

.  '  *^  stately  city  which  had  often 
^  .  been  the  residence  of  the  old,  the 
genuine,  Augusti.  Frederic's  chief 
ally  in  Italy  was  the  Lombard  city 
of  Pavia.  Milan,  at  first  rather  feebly 
supported  by  her  sister-cities,  drew  strength 
from  the  support  of  the  Popes — first,  that 
of  Hadrian  IV.,  the  only  Englishman 
who  has  ever  worn  the  triple  crown,  and 
then  that  of  Alexander  III,  (1159- 
1179),  who,  in  his  turn,  leant  upon  the 
somewhat  uncertain  help  of  his  Norman 
vassal,  William,  king  of  Sicily.  After 
seven  years  of  war,  in  which  the  com- 
batants had  been  growing  ever  more 
exasperated  against  one  another,  the 
emperor,  having  starved  Milan  into 
submission,  received  her  unconditional 
surrender  in  1162.  He  ordered  the  city  to 
be  levelled  with  the  ground,  and  sent  the 
citizens  forth  to  wander  as  beggars  through 
the  cities  of  Italy,  all  save  a  remnant,  who 
were  allowed  to  live  in  four  villages  planted 
near  their  old  home. 

But  here  the  emperor  had  overshot  his 
mark.  The  piteous  tale  told  by  the 
banished  Milanese  roused  the  sympathies 
even  of  their  former  foes.  In  1167  the  Lom- 
bard League  was  formed,  a  confederation 
which  included  nearly  all  the  cities  of  Lom- 
bardy ;  Milan  was  rebuilt  and  received  again 


her  old  inhabitants ;  the  strong  city  of 
Alessandria  was  built  and  named  after  the 
pope,  patron  of  the  league.  Frederic's 
armies  were  more  than  once  all  but 
annihilated  by  disease,  engendered  by 
summer  heats  and  ill-drained  plains  ;  and 
at  last,  in  1176,  the  twenty  years'  struggle 
was  ended  by  the  battle  of  Legnano,  in 
_.   .    .  which  the  Italians  won  a  com- 

Twent  Years'  P^^^^  victory,  and  Frederic, 
StruxKU  "  after  witnessing  the  terrible 
slaughter  of  his  men,  with 
difficulty  escaped  from  the  field.  Convinced 
that  it  was  a  hopeless  task  to  overcome  the 
independent  spirit  of  the  Lombard  republics, 
Barbarossa  now  thankfully  accepted  the 
mediation  of  Alexander  III. — against 
whom  he  had  been  raising  up  one  anti- 
pope  after  another  for  the  preceding  ten 
years — met  him  at  Venice,  and  humbly 
kneeling  before  him,  obtained  the  removal 
of  the  ban  of  excommunication  for  himself 
and  his  adherents.  It  was  on  this  occasion 
that,  according  to  a  picturesque  but  un- 
trustworthy legend,  the  Pope  set  his  foot 
on  the  neck  of  the  prostrate  emperor, 
saying,  with  exultation  :  "  Thou  shalt 
tread  upon  the  lion  and  adder,  the  yount^ 
lion  and  the  dragon  shalt  thou  trample 
under  foot." 

The  emperor  then  returned  into  Ger- 
many, but  in  1 1 83  recrossed  the  Alpr>, 
and  meeting  the  delegates  of  the  Lombard 
cities  at  the  fair  city  of  Constance,  con- 
cluded with  them  a  treaty  which  was  the 
basis  of  the  public  law  of  Italy  for  cen- 
turies. The  regalia,  or  rights  of  sove- 
reignty, claimed  by  the  emperors,  were 
greatly  limited,  the  right  of  the  cities  to 
levy  taxes  and  to  elect  their  own  chief 
magistrate  was  recognised  ;  the  Lombard 
League  itself  was  solemnly  authorised  by 
the  emperor.  From  this  time  onwards  the 
dependence  of  the  cities  of  Italy  upon  the 
empire  was  ever  tending  to  become  more 
precarious  and  shadowy.  Italy  and  Ger- 
many began  more  and  more  to  trace  out 
their  peculiar  and  separate 
orbits.     During  these  contests 


Two  Great 
Powers 
in    Italy 


two  party-names,  which  were 
destined  to  shed  a  lurid  light 
over  Italian  politics  for  many  centuries, 
first  came  into  being.  These  were  the 
names  of  Guelf  and  Ghibeline.  The 
Dukes  of  Bavaria  and  Saxony — from 
whom,  through  the  electors  of  Brunswick, 
England's  royal  family  is  descended — 
bore  the  name  of  Guelf ;  and  these,  partly 
from    mere    antagonism    to    the    other 

3391 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


family,  were  almost  invariably  found 
siding  with  the  Pope  against  the  emperor. 
On  the  other  hand  were  the  two  families 
of  Franconia  and  Swabia,  which  between 
them  ruled  the  whole  south-western  quarter 
of  Germany,  which  were  connected  by  close 
family  ties,  which  ruled  the  empire  for  two 
centuries — the  Henries  belonging  for  the 
_,  most  part   to  the  Franconian, 

ope    ^^^     ^j^^      Frederics     to     the 
£  »    Swabian  line  ;    and  these  were 

found  with  equal  constancy 
on  the  side  opposed  to  the  Popes,  whom 
the  Church  finally  recognised,  and  against 
whom  they  raised  up  innumerable  anti- 
popes. 

The  Swabian  emperors,  who  are  now 
generally  known  in  history  by  a  surname 
derived  from  their  castle  of  Hohenstaufen, 
seem  to  have  been  better  known  among 
their  contemporaries  by  the  name  of 
-Weiblingen,  which  their  Italian  subjects, 
intolerant  of  the  "'  W,"  converted  into 
Ghibeline.  These  two  party  labels  were 
taken  over  from  German  into  Italian 
politics,  and  had  a  far  longer  and  more 
vigorous  life  in  Italy  than  in  their  native 
land.  Even  so,  we  may  remark  in  passing, 
the  words  "  Whig  "  and  "  Tory  "  were 
imported  into  English  party  warfare 
from  Scotland  and  Ireland  respectively. 
Of  course,  in  the  fierce  cross-currents  of 
Italian  urban  strife  they  ofteri  drifted 
far  from  their  moorings  ;  but,  speaking 
generally,  we  may  say  that  the  Guelf 
swore  by  the  Pope,  and  the  Ghibeline 
by  the  emperor  ;  the  Guelf  leaned  towards 
republicanism,  the  Ghibeline  towards 
feudalism  ;  religious  democracy  was  the 
ideal  of  the  former,  the  ideal  of  the  latter 
was  knightly  loyalty. 

This  section  must  close  with  a  sketch 
of  the  career  of  the  last  and  most  brilliant 
of  the  Hohenstaufen  emperors,  Frederic 
II.  of  Sicily.  His  grandfather,  Frederic 
Barbarossa,  having  in  his  old  age  embarked 
on  the  Third  Crusade,  was  marching 
_         .  through  Asia  Minor,  and  had 

'**"?.    '  already     reached    its    south- 

thc  Brilliant  ,       -^  u  i  • 

_  eastern  corner  when,  plungmg 

mperor        ^^  ^  ^^^  ^^  burning  heat  into 

the  little  Cilician  stream,  Calycadnus.  he 
caught  a  sudden  chill,  resulting  in  a  fever 
or  a  stroke  of  paralysis,  by  which  he  waS 
almost  immediately  carried  off.  Though 
he  was  buried  in  that  far-off  Asiatic  land, 
the  imagination  of  the  Germans  pictured 
the  glorious  emperor  still  living  in  an 
enchanted  sleep  in  a  cave  of  the  moun- 

3393 


tains  near  Salzburg,  from  which  he  should 

one   day  burst   forth  in   the  time   of  his 

country's  darkest  need  to  champion  her 

cause.      Yet   Louis   XIV.   and   Napoleon 

came,  and  still  Barbarossa  slumbered. 

The  son  and  successor  of  Barbarossa, 

Henry  VI.,  emperor  from  1190  till  1197,  was 

a  man  of  base  and  ignoble  nature,  whose 

most  memorable  action  was  the  arrest  and 

imprisonment  of   Richard   Coeur-de-Lion 

on  his  return  from  the  Holy  Land.  He  made, 

however,  a  most   successful   matrimonial 

venture    when    he    married    Constantia, 

who   was   ultimately   the   heiress   of   the 

Norman  kings  of  Sicily.    He  thus  acquired 

dominion  over  the  whole  south  of  Italy, 

and    made    the    house    of    Hohenstaufen 

more  terrible  and  more  hateful  than  ever 

to  the  papacy,  which  saw  itself  girt  in 

on  every  side,  north,  east  and  south,  by 

this  inexorable  foe.    But  Henry  VI.  died 

in  the  prime  of  life,  a  victim  probably  to 

that  fatal  climate  of  Italy,  which  was  the 

keenest  of  all  Guelfic  partisans.    His  wife 

Constantia,  whom  he  had  sorely  wounded 

bv  many  cruelties  towards  her   kindred 

and  her  people,  died  a  year  after  him  ; 

but  before  dying  left  her  son. 
The  Famous  ^  j-^^^^  ^^^  ^^  ^^^^  ^,^^^^  ^j^^ 

.  °^^  ^ ...  under  the  guardianship  of  the 
Innocent  III.    ,-,  i-i  •  l  ifu 

Pope.     1  his  orphan  child  was 

the  future  Emperor  Frederic  II.  Guardian 
and  ward  were  each  to  play  a  great  part 
on  the  stage  of  history,  the  first  in  the 
early,  and  the  second  in  the  central  years 
of  the  century  ;  but  two  more  diverse 
characters  could  hardly  be  imagined. 
The  Pope  who  received  Constantia's 
dying  charge  was  none  other  than  the 
famous  Innocent  III.,  greatest  of  all  the 
Popes  but  Hildebrand,  the  man  whom 
we  have  already  met  organising  the 
Fourth  Crusade  and  ruthlessly  rooting 
up  the  heresy  of  the  Albigenses  ;  the  man 
who  brought  John  of  England  to  his  feet 
and  made  the  English  kings  his  vassals  ; 
the  man,  too,  who  harnessed  the  enthu- 
siasm of  St  Francis  and  St.  Dominic  to  the 
chariot  of  the  Church.  A  Roman  noble, 
calm,  strong,  self-possessed,  he  showed  that 
the  imperial  race  had  not  quite  forgotten 
the  secret  of  "  ruling  the  nations,"  that  it 
could  still  "  spare  the  fallen  and  wear  down 
the  proud." 

The  child  Frederic,  son  of  a  German 
father  and  a  Norman-Italian  mother, 
grew  up  to  the  age  of  seventeen  in  his 
mother's  native  Sicily,  amid  many  perils, 
from  which  he  was  on  the  whole  faithfully 


A    TYPE    OF    THE    MIDDLE     AGES  :    THE    SOLDIER    OF    FORTUNE 
Men  loved  fighting  in  mediaeval  times,  and  frequently  engaged  in  war  out  of  pure  delight  in  the  combat.     But  fighting 
was  also  a  profession ;  men  were  hired  to  fight,  just  as  to-day  they  are  employed  for  business,  and  much  fighting  meant 
handsome    recompense.     Mr.  Seymour  Lucas,  A.R.A.,  here  admirably  depicts  a  bluff,  hearty   soldier  of  fortune. 

3393 


History  of  the  world 


shielded  by  a  Pope,  the  predestined  enemy 
of  his  race.  When  his  character  fully 
declared  itself,  when  his  position  as 
emperor  of  Rome  and  king  of  Sicily 
was  established  beyond  possibility  of 
question,  he  was  indeed,  as  he  was  often 
called,  "  stupor  mundi,"  an  object  of 
bewildered  wonder  to  the  world.  The 
,  emperors  who  followed  Charle- 
Frederie  s  j^g^gj^g^  especially  the  emperors 
f  \"*i  °^  th^  three  previous  centuries, 
!>'<^««y  had  been  for  the  most  part 
brave,  thick-headed  German  soldiers, 
silently  despised  as  "  barbarians "  by 
their  Italian  vassals.  But  now,  behold  ! 
the  imperial  diadem  was  worn  by  a  man 
more  Italian  than  the  Italians,  a  man  who 
spoke  six  languages — Latin,  Italian,  Ger- 
man, French,  Greek,  Arabic — and  who 
wrote  poetry  in  one  of  them — the  young 
"  volgare  "  dialect  of  Italy.  Here  was  a 
troubadour  upon  the  throne,  yet  also  a 
skilled  and  resolute  soldier ;  a  free- 
thinker, too,  in  that  most  orthodox  age  ; 
a  man  who  consorted  with  Saracens,  and 
who  dared  to  say  :  "If  the  Almighty 
had  ever  seen  my  beautiful  Sicily,  He 
would  never  have  given  that  arid  Palestine 
as  a  possession  to  His  chosen  people." 
And  yet  this  free-thinking  emperor  could 
also  be,  when  it  served  his  purpose,  a 
cruel  persecutor  of  heretics.  There  is 
much  in  the  character  of  Frederic  II. 
to  move  our  just  condemnation.  We 
are  always  fascinated  by  his  brilliant, 
many-sided  personality,  but  we  never 
quite  love  him. 

By  the  help  of  the  papacy  the  young 
heir  of  the  Hohenstaufen  not  only  pre- 
served his  Norman-Sicilian  kingdom,  but 
in  1215  won  the  imperial  crown  from  a 
competitor.  Otto  of  Bavaria  (1198-1215), 
who,  though  sprung  from  a  Guelfic 
family,  had  incurred  the  hostility 
of  Innocent  III.  by  his  too  strenuous 
advocacy  of  the  rights  of  the  Caesar. 
Scarcely,  however,  was  Frederic  seated 
-,  ,      on  his  throne  when  dissensions 

^  mpcror  s  ^j-^gg  between  him  and  his 
foster-mother  the  Church.  The 
ostensible  ground  for  these 
dissensions — a  real  cause  of  quarrel  between 
Pope  and  a  Hohenstaufen  could  never 
be  lacking — was  the  fact  that  on  the  day 
after  his  election,  Frederic,  perhaps  m 
a  moment  of  enthusiasm,  had  assumed 
the  Cross  and  taken  a  vow  to  deliver 
Jerusalem  from  the  hands  of  the  infidels. 
This  obligation  was  solemnly  urged  upon 

3394 


New 
Crusade 


him  by  successive  Popes,  by  the  mild  and 
good-tempered  Honorius  III.  (1216-1227), 
and  by  the  irascible  old  pontiff  Gregory 
IX.  (1227-1241)  who,  with  octogenarian 
bitterness,  launched  the  thunders  of  the 
Church  at  his  devoted  head. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  Frederic  was 
exasperating  in  his  behaviour  with  reference 
to  this  Crusade.  He  was  always  about  to 
start  in  two  years'  time,  "if  only  you  will 
leave  me  unexcommunicated  so  long." 
and  always  found  something  to  do  in 
crushing  Norman  barons  or  Guelfic  citizens, 
which,  when  the  end  of  the  two  years 
came,  made  it  impossible  to  leave  Italy 
just  then.  When,  at  last,  in  September. 
1227,  he  did  set  sail  from  Brindisi,  a  fatal 
sickness,  the  result  no  doubt  of  the  neglect 
of  sanitary  precautions,  broke  out  in  his 
army,  carrying  off  some  of  the  chiefs 
of  the  expedition,  and  attacking  the 
emperor  himself,  whereupon  he,  not 
unnaturally,  doffed  his  armour  and  re- 
turned to  his  palace  in  Sicily.  The 
sickness  seems  to  have  been  genuine,  but 
the  Pope  chose  to  consider  it  feigned,  and 
hurled  a  furious  bull  of  excommunication 
„.     p  at    the    offender.     There    was 

.  *  0°****  evidently  more  of  spite  than 
„      .  of  statesmanship   in   this   pro- 

ceedmg,  for  when  m  the 
following  year,  1228,  Frederic  in  good 
earnest  started  for  the  Sixth  Crusade, 
the  excommunication  remained  unre- 
pealed. Every  place  at  which  he 
might  land  was  laid  under  an  interdict, 
and  this  interdict  was  extended  even 
to  Jerusalem  itself,  which  Frederic,  it 
must  be  confessed,  by  diplomacy  rather 
than  by  arms,  had  recovered  for  Christen- 
dom. We  have  said  that  the  whole  conduct 
of  the  Pope  at  this  crisis  seems  to  have 
been  dictated  by  passion  rather  than  by 
policy.  If  the  Crusade  were  to  have  any 
chance  of  success  it  was  essential  that 
the  Crusaders  should  be  of  one  heart  and 
one  mind  and  should  feel  that  they  had 
with  them  the  blessing  of  the  Church. 

Moreover,  Frederic,  who  had  now 
taken  for  his  second  wife  Yolande  of 
Brienne,  and  in  right  of  that  marriage 
had  assumed  the  title  of  King  of 
Jerusalem,  had  reasons  of  his  own  for 
making  the  Crusade  a  real  success, 
and  should  surely  from  the  narrowest 
point  of  view  of  the  papal  interests,  have- 
been  encouraged  to  spend  as  much  of  his 
strength  as  possible  in  the  East,  instead  of 
returning  to  fight  the  cause  of  Ghibelinism 


THE    CRUSADES 


in  Italy.  That,  however,  was  what  he 
actually  did  ;  and  the  remaining  twenty- 
one  years  of  his  life  (1229-1250)  were 
one  long  and  deadly  duel  with  the  Popes, 
first  with  octogenarian  Gregory  and  then 
with  a  more  subtle,  but  less  venerated 
foe,  Innocent  IV,  This  Pope,  in  his  humbler 
capacity  as  Cardinal  Fieschi,  had  been 
classed  among  the  partisans  of  the  empire, 
but  when  Frederic  was  congratulated 
on  his  elevation  he  answered  with  too 
true  a  presentiment  :  "I  have  lost  a  friend 
and  not  gained  an  ally.  No  Pope  can 
ever  be  a  Ghibeline." 

After   the   death   of   Frederic,  in  1250, 


IV.,  who  happened  to  be  a  Frenchman, 
took  the  fateful  step  of  inviting  one  of  his 
countrymen,  Charles  of  Anjou,  brother 
of  St.  Louis,  to  enter  Italy  as  the  champion 
of  the  Guelfic  cause  and  wrest  the  crown 
of  Sicily  from  Manfred.  He  came ;  he 
conquered  his  opponent  on  the  desperately 
fought  field  of  Benevento  on  February 
26th,  1266.  The  body  of  the  excom- 
municated "  Sultan  of  Lucera,"  as 
the  victor  derisively  called  him,  was 
buried  in  unconsecrated  ground.  The 
long  duel  between  the  Popes  and  the 
Hohenstaufen  was  ended  ;  the  old  priest's 
crosier   had   beaten    the   young   laiight's 


CHARACTERISTIC    MARKET    SCENE    OF    THE    THIRTEENTH    CENTURY 

This  picture  is  restored  from  a  window  in  the  Cathedral  of  Chartres 


and  the  short  reign  of  his  son,  the  Em- 
peror Conrad  IV.,  the  young  and  brilliant 
Manfred  was  proclaimed  king  of  Sicily, 
An  illegitimate  son  of  Frederic  II.,  he 
inherited  many  of  his  father's  attractive 
qualities  and  therewith  the  undying 
enmity  of  the  papacy.  Like  Frederic,  he 
leaned  much  on  the  support  of  a  military 
colony  of  Saracens  established  in  the  for- 
tress of  Lucera,  whose  vast  circuit  of  walls, 
indicating  the  great  size  of  the  mediaeval 
castle,  may  still  be  seen  on  a  hill  of  Apulia. 
Under  Manfred's  able  guidance  the 
Ghibeline  party  in  Italy  was  fast  rising 
into   domination,  when  the  Pope,  Urban 


sword;  or,  more  literally,  the  victory 
seems  to  have  been  won  by  the  rapier 
over  the  sabre.  The  French  had  recently 
introduced  the  former  weapon,  and,  while 
the  Italian  soldier  was  lifting  his  great 
broadsword  for  a  down-stroke,  the  agile 
Frenchman  thrust  in  his  rapier's  point 
and  let  out  the  life  of  his  antagonist. 
Here  too,  virtually  ended  the  battle 
between  the  papacy  and  the  empire. 
Each  will  have  other  foes  in  the  portion 
of  history  which  lies  next  before  us  ;  but 
they  will  not  be  so  directly  pitted  against 
one  another  as  they  have  been  for  these 
two  centuries. 

3395 


3396 


WESTERN 

EUROPE   IN 

THE  MIDDLE 

AGES 


PASSING  OF  THE  AGE  OF  CHIVALRY 

AND     THE     PAPAL     SUPREMACY     RESTORED 


'X'HIS  period  might  fitly  be  called  the 
*•  Autumn  of  Chivalry  and  the  Spring  of 
Literature  and  Art.  There  are  no  more 
Crusades;  the  spirit  of  knight-errantry 
is  departing  ;  war  seems  to  be  often  a 
sordid  speculation  on  the  value  of  the 
ransoms  that  may  be  extorted  from 
wealthy  prisoners.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
young  languages  of  Europe  are  beginning 
to  bud  and  put  forth  leaves,  as  the  truth 
dawns  upon  men  that  poems  and  histories 
may  be  written  in  other  languages 
than  Latin,  that  even  the  despised  ver- 
nacular is  a  possible  literary  instrument. 
To  this  period  belong  the  names  of  Dante, 
Petrarch,  Boccaccio  in  Italy,  of  Froissart 
in  France,  of  Chaucer  and  Langland  in 
England.  In  the  history  of  art  we  have 
a  catalogue  of  illustrious  names  from 
Giotto  to  Fra  Angelico  ;  in  architecture, 
though  Norman  and  early  English  lie 
behind  us,  the  beautiful  decorated  and 
stately  perpendicular  styles  are  still  to 
come. 

Nor  ought  we  in  this  connection  to 
forget  the  services  which  the  fresh  en- 
thusiasm of  the  young  Mendicant  Orders 
rendered  both  to  literature  and  to  art. 
Both  Dominic  and  Francis  lived  near  the 
end  of  our  third  period,  but  the  influence 
on  the  intellect  of  Europe  of  the  orders 
which  they  founded  was  most  fully  felt 
after  their  deaths,  and  was  certainly 
mighty  throughout  the  later  twelve 
hundreds  and  the  two  following  centuries. 
The  Friars — as  the  Mendicants  were  called 
to  distinguish  them  from  their 

e     riars    j-j^g^jg^  ^^le  more  old-fashioned 


as  University 
Professors 


and     conservative     monks- 


chiefiy  known  by  their  two 
most  popular  representatives,  the  Domini- 
can Black  Friars  and  Franciscan  Grey 
Friars,  swarmed  into  the  universities  now 
rising  into  eminence  throughout  Europe, 
and  contributed  the  most  celebrated 
names  to  the  list  of  professors  of  scholastic 
theology,  who,  however  the  world  may 
think  to  have  outgrown  their  teaching. 


evidently  possessed  some  of  the  strongest 
and  keenest  intellects  of  their  day. 
Of  the  five  greatest  schoolmen,  Albert 
the  Great  and  Thomas  Aquinas  (the 
Angelic  Doctor)  were  Dominicans  : 
Buonaventura  the  Seraphic,  Duns  Scotus 
the  Subtle,  and  Occam  (the  Invincible), 
were  Franciscans.  It  was  from  the 
bosom  of  the  Franciscan  Order  also  that 
the  philosopher  sprang  who  antici- 
pated in  some  degree  that  strictly 
scientific  method  which,  in  the  hands 
of  his  mighty  namesake,  was  one  day 
to  vanquish  the  word-splitting  dialectic 
of    the    schoolmen,    Roger    Bacon     the 

_.  ^  ^  "  Doctor  Mirabilis "  (1214- 
The  Creator  ^„^,x     t  •       •       xu 

of  the  House  ^f^fl  In  reviewmg  the  coursc 
.  ^  of    these    two    centuries,    we 

of  Commons  i-   •  ^i      ^         1 

may  very  lightly  touch  upon 

the  well-known  events  which  took  place 
in  England.  England  under  the  early 
Plantagenets  had  not  been  a  stranger  to 
the  storm  which  had  swept  over  the 
ecclesiastical  sky  in  Southern  Europe. 
She,  too,  had  found  her  Hildebrand  in 
Becket,  and  had  witnessed  her  Canossa 
when  the  abject  John  submitted  to  de- 
clare himself  the  vassal  of  the  Pope. 
Perhaps,  also,  it  may  be  said  that  she 
had  not  been  without  her  Guelfs  and 
Ghibelines  when  Simon  de  Montfort, 
popularly  known  as  the  creator  of  the 
English  House  of  Commons,  vanquished 
Henry  III.  at  Lewes,  and  was  him- 
self vanquished  by  Prince  Edward  at 
Evesham. 

In  1272,  six  years  after  the  battle  of 
Benevento,  Edward  Longshartks,  greatest 
of  the  Plantagenets,  ascended  the  throne. 
In  his  reign  of  thirty-five  years,  he  did  many 
noble  deeds  both  as  statesman  and  as 
legislator.  Even  his  conquest  of  Wales, 
notwithstanding  some  ungenerous  harsh- 
ness, must  be  reckoned  among  his  praise- 
worthy exploits  ;  but  his  unsuccessful 
attempt  on  the  liberties  of  Scotland,  his  en- 
deavour to  convert  the  friendly  superiority 
which  Scotsmen  were  willing  to  grant  him 

3397 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


into  the  strictest,  harshest  tie  of  feudal 

vassalage,   wrought   untold  harm  to  the 

England   which   he   surely   loved.     From 

the    year    1296,    when    the    galling    acts 

of  Edward  drove  the  luckless  John  Balliol 

into  revolt,  down  to  1603,  when  James 

Stuart   mounted   the   English   throne,    it 

may  almost  be  said  that  there  was  never 

lasting  peace  between  the  two 
Scotland  i  1  J 

countries,  only  wars   and    pre- 

E  *  1  °d  °     carious      truces,       raids     and 
"^  ***  counter-raids,  and,  above  all,  a 

continual  and  most  natural  tendency  on 
the  part  of  Scotland  to  ally  herself  with 
England's  other  enemy,  France.  There 
was  thus  always  a  foe  at  England's 
back  door  who  would  not  have  been  there 
had  Edward  I.  shown  somewhat  less  of 
the  qualities  of  a  sharp  attorney  in  his 
dealings  with  the  sister  kingdom. 

Though  John  "  Lackland,"  by  his 
cowardice  and  cruelty,  had  lost  his  father's 
inheritance  of  Normandy,  the  Planta- 
genets.  till  the  close  of  our  present  period, 
never  entirely  quitted  hold  of  the  magnifi- 
cent dower  which  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine 
brought  to  Henry  II.,  and  these  possessions 
in  the  south-west  corner  of  France  often 
furnished  a  base  for  the  operations  which 
they  undertook  in  what  has  been  forcibly, 
if  not  quite  accurately,  called  the  Hundred 
Years'  War  between  England  and  France. 
That  war  began  with  the  invasion  of 
France  by  Edward  III.  in  1339,  and  it 
ended  with  the  defeat  of  Talbot  before 
Castillon  in  1453,  the  very  year  which  for 
another  reason  has  been  chosen  as  the  close 
of  our  present  period.  During  that  age 
of  strife  the  English  won  three  memorable 
victories,  Crecy,  Poitiers  and  Agincourt. 

We  are  perhaps  too  much  inclined  to  for- 
get their  defeats  ;  that  of  Beauge  (1421), 
where  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  brother  of 
Henry  V.,  was  slain  ;  that  of  Patay  (1429), 
where  Lord  Talbot  was  vanquished  and 
made  prisoner  by  the  heroic  Jeanne  D' Arc  ; 
his  final  defeat  and  overthrow,  as  above 
mentioned,  at  Castillon. 
ng  an    8  j^^  ^^^^^  proudest  days  for 

Triumphs  over     .1       t-       t  l     •  j 

P  the  English  invaders  were 

March  24th,  1359,  when,  by 
the  Treaty  of  London,  the  captive  king  of 
France  yielded  to  Edward  III.  in  full 
sovereignty  all  that  Henry  II.  had  ever 
ruled  as  vassal  of  the  French  crown,  Nor- 
mandy, Brittany,  Anjou,  Maine, and  Aquit- 
aine— in  other  words,  a  full  half  of  France ; 
and,  again,  December  i6th,  1431,  when, 
apparently  with  the  consent  of  the  greater 

339S 


part  of  the  French  nation,  weary  of  the 
feuds  of  Armagnacs  and  Burgundians,  the 
English  child,  Henry  VI.,  was  proclaimed 
"  King  of  England  and  France,  our 
sovereign  lord."  That  title,  King  of  France, 
so  soon  to  be  rendered  a  vain  show  by  the 
enthusiasm  aind  courage  of  the  Maid  of 
Orleans,  was  clung  to  with  ludicrous 
tenacity  by  many  generations  of  English 
sovereigns,  even  by  James  II.,  when  he 
was  a  throneless  exile  at  the  court  of  the 
real  king  of  France,  Louis  XIV.,  and  was 
abandoned  only  in  the  days  of  our  grand- 
fathers at  a  time  when  there  was  no  king 
in  France,  and  that  country,  under  a  ruler 
mightier  than  any  of  her  kings,  was 
engaged  in  a  life  and  death  struggle  with 
England. 

The  high-water  mark  of  England's 
dominion  in  France  was  soon  succeeded 
by  a  steady  and  continuous  ebb  of  the 
tide.  It  was  by  a  series  of  petty  reverses 
more  than  by  any  great  victories  that  the 
English  intruders  were  edged  out  of 
France,  until  at  last  at  the  end  of  our 
present  period  Calais  only  remained  to 
them.  But  the  Hundred  Years'  War  left 
in  one  way  a  favourable  impress  on 
France.  As  the  Danish 
invasions  had  consolidated 
England,  so  the  long  misery 
of  the  English  invasions 
unified  and  strengthened  the  national 
feeling  of  Frenchmen.  WTien  the  Hundred 
Years'  War  began,  the  men  of  Aquitaine 
scarcely  looked  upon  the  Parisians  as  their 
fellow-countrymen.  When  it  ended,  they 
recognised  the  necessity  of  their  position 
and  accepted,  if  somewhat  grudgingly, 
Charles  VII.  as  their  sovereign  lord. 

The  advantage  which  France  won, 
however  painfully,  from  this  struggle  for 
her  national  existence  was  to  some  extent 
neutralised  by  the  folly  of  her  kings, 
especially  of  John  and  Charles  V.,  in  grant- 
ing enormous  "  appanages  "  to  members 
of  their  family,  which  made  them  almost 
independent  sovereigns  and  tended  to 
keep  alive  sectional  and  provincial  jea- 
lousies. It  was  owing  to  this  mistaken 
policy  that  the  rival  houses  of  Burgundy 
and  Orleans  were  able  to  distract  their 
country  by  that  fatal  feud  which,  far  more 
than  the  English  valour  at  Agincourt, 
laid  France  prostrate  at  the  feet  of 
Henry  V.  ;  and  even  when  peace  was 
restored  and  the  English  invader  ex- 
pelled, the  reconciled  Duke  of  Burgundy 
was  terrible  to  his  sovereign  lord,  whose 


France's  Gains 
from  English 
Invasions 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    AGE    OF    CHIVALRY 


power  he  gloomily  overshadowed.  Lords 
of  Burgundy  by  inheritance,  and  of  the 
rich  Netherlands  by  marriage,  these 
mighty  seigneurs,  whose  beautifully  carved 
tombs,  a  marvel  of  late  mediaeval  work, 
are  the  glory  of  the  cathedral  at  Dijon, 
became  the  traditional  enemies  of  their 
French  cousins,  traditional  allies  of  the 
English  kings  whose  country  was  closely 
connected  with  their  country  by  the  ties 


proudest   of   European  royalties,  was  all 
accomplished   in    the   period   now   before 
us.     When  the   mighty  house  of  Hohen- 
staufen   fell  (1254)  there  was  for  a  time 
anarchy    in    Central    Europe.     Phantom 
emperors,    an    English    prince    (Richard 
Duke    of    Cornwall),    a    king   of    Castile 
(Alfonso    the    Wise),    and   others    flitted 
across  the  stage  ;    but  none  of  them  ex- 
ercised anv  real  authority,  till  in  1273  the 
Electors  chose   for  emperor  a 
Swabian  knight  of  respectable 
l^osition     named     Rudolf     of 
Hapsburg,  who  was  accordingly 
crowned     with    the    imperial 
diadem  in  Charlemagne's  city 
of    Aachen     (Aix-la-Chapelle). 
Ihe  territories — of  very  mod- 
rate     extent — over     which 
Ivudolf    ruled,   as  well  as  his 
'  astle     of     Ha|  sburg,     were 
>ituated  in  the  valley  of  the 
Aar,  in  the  north-east  corner 
of  what  is    now   Switzerland. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the 
I  radle  of  that  dynasty  which 
has  pre-eminently  represented 
the    monarchic    principle    in 
Europe,  and  the  cradle  of  the 
first,  and  we  might  almost  say 
the  typical,  Teutonic  republic 
were  situated  within  a  short 
day's  journey  of  one  another. 
Rudolf,  who  had  been  chosen 
partly  on  account  of  his  very 
insignificance,  proved  himself  a 
stronger  and  abler  ruler  than 
had  been  expected.     He  hum- 
bled   to  the  dust  the   proud 
Ottokar,  king  of  Bohemia,   in 
whose     court    he    had    once 
served,  and   after  his  second 
victory  over   him   rent  away 
from  his  slain  rival  the  duchies 
of    Austria,  Styria,  Carinthia 
and  Carniola,  a  goodly  inherit- 
of  rulers  prtxiuced  ance  which  he  bestowed  upon 

by  tho  Roman  Catholic  and  feudal  world  of  the  Micfdle  Ages.    A  sincere  bis  OWn  SOn   thereby  laying  the 
Catholic,  he  was  very  independent,  and  under  his  reign  the  administrative   r  J+*         'f+V.  ♦  ( 

and  judicial  systemsof  his  country  were  greatly  developed.    H3  died  in  1270.   lOUnClatlOn  01    tnC  gTCatneSS   OI 


ST.     LOUIS   DISPENSING  JUSTICE 
LouiB  IX.,  Ung  of  France,  was  one  of  the  highest  typ( 
-  ~  ~ -     -    -      -j/^ 


of  commerce.  The  very  surnames  of  these 
men  mark  their  militant  position — Philip 
the  Bold,  John  the  Fearless,  and  Charles 
the  Rash  ;  they  were  men  born  to  be 
assassinated  or  slain  in  battle. 

Eventually,  as  we  shall  see,  the  fortunes 
of  the  heirs  of  Burgundy  were  closely  inter- 
twined with  those  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg. 
The  uprise  of  this  house  of  Hapsburg, 
by  no  means  the  oldest  though  one  of  the 


the  house  of  Hapsburg,  Unlike  his  recent 
predecessors  he  was  on  friendliest  terms 
with  the  Pope  ;  but  no  invitations  or  ex- 
hortations could  induce  him  to  enter 
Italy,  "  that  lion's  cave,"  into  which  he 
saw  many  footsteps  tending,  but  from 
which  there  were  none  returning. 

There  was  as  yet  no  willingness  on  the 
part  of  the  Electors  to  permit  the  empire 
to   become  hereditary  in  the  Hapsburg 

3399 


History  of  the  world 


Of  any  other  line.  With  difficulty  did 
Rudolf's  son,  Albert,  win  the  imperial 
crown,  which  he  held  for  a  few  troubled 
years  ;  and  after  his  death,  in  1308,  there 
was'tio  emperor  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg 
reigning  with  undisputed  title  for  130 
years.  For  twelve  years  (1314-1325) 
Frederic  of  Austria  was  endeavouring, 
_  generally  with  little  success  , 

e  mperor  ^^  vindicate  his  right  to  the 
Danu's  Heart  imperial  title  against  his  rival, 
Louis  of  Bavaria. 

This  interval,  somewhat  tantalising  to 
the  student  who  knows  that  it  will  end 
in  the  establishment  of  the  empire  in  the 
Hapsburg  line,  was  filled  chiefly  by 
emperors  of  the  house  of  Luxemburg, 
such  as  Henry  VH.,  the  ruler  for  whose 
advent  into  Italy  Dante  longed,  and 
who,  when  he  came,  was  crowned  emperor 
in  Rome,  but  after  three  years'  stay  in 
Italy,  years  of  mingled  success  and 
failure,  died,  as  men  said,  from  poison 
administered  in  a  cup  of  sacramental  wine. 
Henry's  son,  the  blind  King  John  of 
Bohemia,  who  fought  so  bravely  at  Cre^y, 
was  never  emperor  ;  .  but  his  grandson, 
Charles  IV.,  the  Parson's  Emperor,  as  he 
was  called,  because  of  the  ecclesiastical 
influence  which  secured  his  election,  by 
his  celebrated  Golden  Bull  (1356)  weakened 
the  prerogatives  of  the  Imperial  Crown 
and  established  the  Seven  Electors  as 
almost  independent  sovereigns.  These 
Electors  were  three  ecclesiastical  poten- 
tates in  Rhineland,  the  Archbishops  of 
Mayence,  Cologne,  and  Treves ;  and 
four  secular  princes,  the  Count  Pala- 
tine of  the  Rhine,  the  Margrave  of  Bran- 
denburg, the  King  of  Bohemia  (who  after 
1437  was  generally  a  Hapsburg),  and  the 
Duke  of  Saxony.  By  this  instrument, 
as  Mr.  Bryce  has  well  said,  Charles  IV. 
"  legalised  anarchy  and  called  it  a  con- 
stitution." Yet  it  is  interesting  to  note 
the  prevalence  at  this  date  in  Central 
Europe  of  a  form  of  government  which 
has    now    entirely    disappeared.     In    the 

_,        .       ,      thirteen    hundreds    and    for 

Experiments  ,-  ,  r- 

•    Tk     a  ♦    f  some  time  longer,  Germany, 

Government  gohemia,  Hungary  and 
Poland  were  all  elective  mon- 
archies. In  other  ways  at  this  time  some 
new  and  interestiii^  experiments  were  being 
made  in  the  art  of  government.  Albert 
of  Austria,  son  of  Rudolf,  to  whose  short 
tenure  of  the  imperial  dignity  reference 
has  been  made,  was  successfully  resisted 
(1307-1308)  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  four 

3400 


Forest  Cantons  which  cluster  round  the 
Lake  of  Lucerne.  This  was  the  germ  of 
the  Swiss  Confederation,  which  at  Mor- 
garten  in  1315,  and  at  Sempach  in  1386, 
defeated  the  knights  and  men  at  arms 
sent  against  them  by  the  Austrian  princes, 
and  for  ever  established  the  independence 
of  Switzerland. 

During  the  same  century,  the  century 
of  the  thirteen  hundreds,  the  confederacy 
of  German  merchants  known  as  the  Hanse 
Towns — the  chief  of  them  Liibeck,  Ham- 
burg, and  Bremen — were  fitting  out  fleets 
and  armies,  and  comporting  themselves 
like  sovereign  princes  on  the  shores  of  the 
Baltic.  By  the  treaty  of  Stralsundin  1370 
they  obtained  from  Waldemar  III.,  king 
of  Denmark,  the  righ  tto  receive  for  fifteen 
years  two-thirds  of  the  Danish  revenues 
and  a  provision  that  thereafter  none  of  his 
successors  should  ascend  the  throne  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  Hansa.  When,  in 
1397,  the  daughter  of  this  king,  Waldemar, 
Margaret,  "  the  Semiramis  of  the  North," 
succeeded  in  uniting  Denmark,  Sweden,  and 
Norway  by  the  Union  of  Calmar  (1397),  the 
power  of  the  Hanseatic  League  was  some- 
what abated ;  but  to  the  end  of  the 
period  under  consideration  it 

e^    rrogan   j-gj^^ined  a  most  important 

„  *.  .  „,  factor  in  the  politics  of  the 
Frederic  III.    t,   ,.•       ,    ,  ^ 

Baltic  states. 

Returning  for  a  moment  to  the  Haps- 
burg princes,  we  have  to  note  that  at  last, 
in  1437-1438,  a  Hapsburg,  Albert  II., 
having  married  the  heiress  of  the  house 
of  Luxemburg,  was  elected  king  of 
Bohemia,  king  of  Hungary,  and  emperor ; 
but  he  held  these  dignities  only  for  a  short 
time,  dying  in  1439.  On  his  death,  his 
cousin,  the  Duke  of  Styria,  was  raised  to 
the  empire  as  Frederic  III.,  and  thence- 
forward the  imperial  title  was  borne  by 
none  but  his  descendants  for  nearly  four 
centuries,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the 
empire  itself  ceased  to  be.  Frederic  III., 
himself,  a  dull,  slow  man,  with  the  heavy 
under-lip  of  the  Hapsburgs,  dabbled  in 
alchemy  and  astrology,  and  derived, 
apparently  from  these  studies,  an  intense 
conviction  of  the  proud  destiny  of  his 
house.  This  conviction  he  expressed  in  the 
mystic  letters  A.E.I.O.U.,  which  he  caused 
to  be  carved  abundantly  on  all  his  furni- 
ture, and  which  signified  "  Alles  Erdreich 
1st  Oesterreich  Untertan  (the  whole  earth 
is  subject  to  Austria),  which  we  might 
paraphrase  "  All  Europe  Is  Ours  Undoubt- 
edly,"   the   equivalent   in   the    fifteenth 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    AGE    OF    CHIVALRY 


century  of  the  nineteenth  century  song, 
■"  Deutschland,  Deutschland,  iiber  alles." 

As  that  song  is  now  sung  chiefly  by  the 
Northern  Germans,  we  may  here  remark 
that  the  Hohenzollern  princes,  who  are 
now  represented  by  the  Emperor  WiUiam 
II.,  obtained  possession  of  Brandenburg, 
which  has  now  been  for  many  centuries  the 
stronghold  of  their  dynasty,  in  the  year 
1417.  The  Hohenzollerns,  Uke  the 
Hohenstaufen  and  the  Hapsburgs,  came 
originally  from  Swabia,  that  picturesque 
south-west  corner  of  Germany,  watered  by 
the  sharply  turning  Rhine,  which  almost 
alone  of  the  provinces  of  Germany  was 
once  part  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

We  recross  the  Alps  and  inquire  what 
are  to  be  the  fortunes  of  Italy  now  that 
the  Swabian  sons  of  her  Norman  con- 
querors are  vanished  out  of  the  land. 
Not  absolutely,  however,  did  they  vanish 
when  Manfred  fell  at  Benevento.  In  1268, 
Manfred's  nephew,  the  gallant  youth 
Conradin,  son  of  the  Emperor  Conrad  IV., 
descended  into  Italy  with  a  large  army. 
For  a  time  fortune  smiled  upon  him,  and 
even  when  he  joined  battle  with  his  enemy, 
King  Charles,  near  Tagliacozzo,  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Sabine  Moun- 
tains, the  battle  at  first  went  in 


Conr&din 
Dies  on  the 


g  ff  ij  his  favour  ;  but  a  well-planned 
ambuscade  threw  his  army  into 
disorder.  Victory  was  for  Charles,  death 
on  the  field  of  battle  for  a  multitude  of 
German  knights,  the  followers  of  Conradin  ; 
a  more  ignominious  death  at  Naples,  by 
the  hands  of  the  executioner,  for  Conradin, 
himself  a  captured  fugitive.  It  was  con- 
sidered a  foul  and  unknightly  deed  when 
the  Frenchman  thus  punished  the  captive 
lad  who  had  but  striven  to  regain  the 
inheritance  of  his  fathers ;  and  later 
writers  described  how  from  the  scaffold 
he  threw  his  gauntlet  down  on  the  pave- 
ment of  the  Piazza  del  Mercato,  crying, 
"  Take  that  glove  to  him  who  will  avenge 
me."  Criticism  has  thrown  doubt  on 
this  story,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  was 
as  the  avenger  of  Conradin  that  his  cousin 
by  marriage,  Pedro,  king  of  Arragon, 
Manfred's  son-in-law,  before  long  appeared 
upon  the  scene. 

Charles  of  Anjou,  a  hard  and  hateful 
man,  vexed  his  subjects  with  all  manner 
of  new  taxes  rigorously  exacted ;  but  even 
more  than  by  pecuniary  oppression  the 
souls  of  the  people,  especially  the  hot- 
blooded  Sicilians,  were  fired  by  the 
insolence    of    the    French    soldiers    who 


swaggered  as  conquerors  among  a  nation 
whom  they  despised.  Vengeance  slum- 
bered for  fourteen  years  ;  but  during  all 
that  time  the  gauntlet  of  Conradin — real 
or  metaphorical — was  being  treasured  at 
the  court  of  Arragon,  and  when  at  last,  on 
the  evening  of  Easter  Monday  (March  30th, 
1282)  the  lewd  insults  of  a  French  soldier 
_     .  to  a  Sicilian  matron  roused  the 

„  '"  *  ,  people  of  Palermo  to  revolt. 
Massacre  of   t.'-         ti  j  j      j.  j 

_.        .  Kmg  Pedro  was  ready  to  aid 

Frenchmen      ,,      ^         ~,  x       ii 

them.  The  massacre  of  all 
Frenchmen,  which  began  with  the  ringing  of 
the  vesper  bell  at  Palermo,  was  accom- 
plished with  dreadful  thoroughness  all  over 
the  island,  and  is  known  to  history  as  the 
Sicilian  Vespers.  Charles  of  Anjou,  of 
course,  did  not  surrender  the  beautiful 
island  without  a  struggle.  Messina 
endured  a  terrible  siege,  but  survived 
untaken.  Pedro  of  Arragon  was  declared 
king,  and  successfully  established .  his 
kir-gdom,  which  was  held  by  his  descen- 
dants down  to  our  own  time. 

Charles  remained  king  of  Naples  and  of 
all  Southern  Italy,  which  by  a  legal  fiction 
received  also  the  name  of  Sicily,  and  hence 
came  that  absurd  title,  "  King  of  Both  the 
Sicilies,"  which,  when  the  two  kingdoms 
afterwards  came  together  under  descen- 
dants of  the  king  of  Arragon,  was  borne 
by  their  rulers. 

Thus,  as  far  as  Sicily  was  concerned,  the 
arrogant  French  invader  was  repelled, 
but,  alas,  freedom  had  to  be  purchased  at 
the  cost  of  submission  to  another  foreigner, 
a  Spaniard.  The  conditions  were  similar 
to  those  which  inspired  Byron's  lines 
addressed  to  Italy. 

"The  stranger's  sword 
Is  thy  sad  weapon  of  defence,  and  so,  1 

Victor  or  vanquished,  thou  the  slave  ( 

of  friend  or  foe." 
Thus  the  fall  of  the  Hohenstaufen  brought 
little  peace  to  Italy.  Let  us  now  see  how 
it  affected  the  fortunes  of  the  Hohen- 
staufens'  great  enemy,  the  papacy.  In 
1294,  on  the  occasion  of  a  papal  vacancy, 
the  cardinals,  divided  among^ 
A  Hermit  themselves,  and  tired  of  one 
Pa  'al*  Throne  ^'^other's  intrigues,  took  thej 
apa  rone  yjjexpected  step  of  choosing; 
as  Pope  a  holy  hermit  in  the  moun- 
tains of  the  Abruzzi,  who  most  unwillingly 
donned  the  papal  crown  and  took 
the  title  of  Celestine  V.  It  was  soon 
seen,  however,  that  a  great  saint  might 
make  a  strange  Pope.  This  wild  man 
from  the  mountains,  with  his  shaggy 
beard  and  vile  raiment,  though  kings  held 

3401 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


The  Pope 
Celestine  V 
Abdicates 

December, 


the  bridle  of  his  ass  as  he  rode  into  the 
city  of  Aquila,  could  not  adapt  himself 
to  the  splendour  of  his  new  position  or 
manage  with  decent  ability  the  compli- 
cated affairs  of  his  world-wide  spiritual 
kingdom.  Almost  at  once  he  began  to 
meditate  abdication  and  a  return  to  the 
roots  and  water  of  his  cell ;  and  one  of 
the  cardinals,  the  astute  Bene- 
detto Gaetano,  was  ever  at  his 
ear  whispering  that  this  would 
be  his  wisest  course.  In 
1294,  after  little  more  than 
four  months'  pontificate,  Celestine  abdi- 
cated— if  a  Pope  could  abdicate — his  great 
office,  making,  as  Dante  says,  "  through 
cowardice  the  grand  refusal,"  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  benevolent  adviser, 
Gaetano,  who  took  the  title  Boniface  VIII., 
and  before  long  committed  his  predecessor 
to  a  strict  imprisonment  in  a  noisome 
dungeon,  from  which,  after  a  few  years' 
captivity,  he  was  released  by  death. 

In  the  pontificate  of  Boniface  VIII.  the 
papal  power  seemed  to  reach  its  greatest 
height,  only  to  undergo  its  most  terrible 
humiliation.  He  out-Hildebranded  Hilde- 
brand  in  the  language  which  he  addressed 
to  kings  and  emperors.  "  There  are  two 
swords,"  he  said,  quoting  the  words  of 
Christ  in  the  garden.  "  These  are  the 
spiritual   and  the  temporal.     One  sword 


must  be  under  the  other,  the  temporal 
under  the  spiritual.  The  spiritual  insti- 
tuted the  temporal  power,  and  judges 
whether  that  power  is  well  exercised.  We 
assert,  define,  and  pronounce  that  it  is 
necessary  to  salvation  to  believe  that 
every  human  being  is  subject  to  the  Pontiff 
of  Rome." 

For  a  time  all  went  well  with  the  haughty 
and  grasping  Boniface.  He  banished  the 
whole  family  of  the  Colonnas,  his  personal 
enemies,  he  razed  their  fortresses,  and 
forbade  their  city  of  Palestrina  to  be  re- 
built. He  imposed  peace  on  the  warring 
kings  of  England  and  France.  He  pro- 
claimed a  Jubilee  in  the  year  1300  ;  men, 
women,  and  children  flocked  to  Rome  to 
obtain  eternal  salvation  ;  and  two  priests 
stood  by  the  altar  of  St.  Peter's  with  rakes 
in  their  hands  sweeping  in  the  gold  and 


Pilgrims  &nd 


silver  coins  offered  by  the  pil- 


^.    .    _,  ,,      grims.    It  was  said  that  durmg 

their  Gold        y,  •     T    ui        ta        r 

.  c.  „  »    .    this    ubilee  Boniface  wore  an 
at  St.  Peter  s  .         -* .    ,  n         .  1 

imperial  crown  as  well  as  the 

papal,  that  the  purple  sandals  of  the 
emperor  were  on  his  feet,  and  that  two 
swords,  signifying  temporal  an-d  spiritual 
power,  were  borne  before  him. 

But  this  man,  so  proud  and  domineer- 
ing, met  his  equal  in  the  king  of  France, 
Philip  the  Fair,  grandson  of  St.  Louis, 
and  in  all  things  the  opposite  of  his  sainted 


CHARACTERISTIC    LANDSCAPE    OF    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 
From  a  copperplate  by  Albert  Diirer 


3402 


FTiriTIVES-      THE    MONASTERY    AS    A    HARBOUR    OF    REFUGE 


ancestor.     Hard,  covetous,  and  revenge- 
ful   Philip  came  into  collision  with  Bom- 
face  over  his  claims  to  tax  the  revenues 
of   the   Church,    and  he   found  his   pre- 
tensions   ably   supported   by    the    rising 
school  of  lay  lawyers,  who  magnified  the 
office  of  Csesar  as  much  as  the  ecclesias- 
tical lawyers  magnified  the  office  of  the 
Vicar   of    Christ.     The    Pope    thundered 
forth  his  bulls;  the  French  king  replied 
with  his  angry  decrees.    There  were  ex- 
communications on   one    side,    outlawry 
and  confiscation  on  the  other  ;   but  it  was 
plain  that  Philip  had  the  majority  of  his 
subjects  on  his  part,  and  that  he  would 
not  have  to  go  to  Canossa  or 
The  Duel         fggj  ^^  j^js  neck  the  pressure 
Between  Pope  ^^  ^^^  Pontiff's  sandal.     Far 
and  King  ^^^^    ^I^J5^  j^g    and  his  legal 

advisers  began  to  moot  the  question  of 
Boniface's  own  right  to  the  Popedom,  the 
weak  point  in  which  was,  of  course,  his  elec- 
tion during  the  lifetime  of  his  predecessor, 
and  to  press  for  his  trial  before  a  general 
council  on  some  strange  and  scarcely 
credible  charges  of  heresy,  blasphemy,  and 
immorality.     But  ere  such  a  council  could 


Boniface 
Dies  from 
Assault 


be  summoned  Boniface,  who,  to  avoid  the 
heat  of  a  summer  in  the  city  and  the  tur- 
bulence of  Roman  citizens,  had  retired  to 
his  native  town  of  Agnana,  was  attacked 
there  by  a  band  of  ruffians,  headed  by  one 
of  his  old  enemies  the  Colonnas,  and  by  a 
mvrmidon  of  Phihp,  William  of  Nogaret ; 
arid  by  these  men  and  their  followers  he 
was  so  roughly  handled  that  in 
less  than  five  weeks  he  expired. 
The    assailants    and    all    but 
murderers  of    the  Pope   were 
never     punished,     but,     on     the    other 
hand,     the    memory     of    Boniface    was 
spared  that  solemn  condemnation  which 
Philip  longed  to  inflict.    The  influence  of 
the    French    king,    however,    was    now 
triumphant    at    the    papal    court  ;     one 
Frenchman  after  another  was  raised  to 
the  papacy  and  came  to  nestle  under  the 
wing  of  French  royalty  at  Avignon  on  the 
Rhone.     Avignon  was  not    at  this  time 
actually    part    of   the    French  .territory, 
though  closely  bordering  upon  it.      Ihus 
began  the  Seventy  Years'  Captivity  which 
amazed  and  scandalised  Europe.     For  the 
greater   part   of   the   thirteen   hundreds, 

3403 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


from  1305  to  1376,  during  the  hottest  of 
!the  war  between  Edward  III.  and  the 
!Valois  kings,  we  must  think  of  the  Pope 
as  the  humble  chent  of  the  French  king, 
it  might  be  said  hardly  more  than  his 
domestic  chaplain. 

It  was  in  this  position  of  meek 
subordination  to  the  king  of  France 
that  Clement  V.,  the  first 
F^fe  of  Avignon  Pontiff  (1305-1314). 
th  K  •  ht  sanctioned  the  suppression  of 
nig  s  ^^^  Order  of  Knights  Templars, 
on  account  of  their  alleged  immorality, 
heresy,  and  secret  practising  of  obscene 
and  blasphemous  rights.  For  these  al- 
leged crimes,  mainly  on  the  strength  of 
confessions  extracted  by  torture,  the  aged 
Grand  Master  of  the  Order,  Johndu  Molay, 
and  113  of  the  knights  were  burned  in 
Paris.  Hundreds  perished  in  the  French 
prisons.  In  England  the  Order  was  also 
suppressed,  and  some  of  its  members 
appear  to  have  been  subjected  to  the 
torture,  but  the  punishment  was  for  the 
most  part  limited  to  lifelong  seclusion  in  a 
convent.  The  degree  of  justification  for 
the  suppression  of  the  Order  of  Knights 
Templars  is  one  of  the  disputed  questions 
of  history,  and  in  some  respects  resembles 
the  similar  question  with  reference  to  the 
suppression  of  the  English  monastic  orders 
in  the  fifteen  hundreds. 

In  both  cases  large  and  terrible  accusa- 
tions were  brought  against  the  incriminated 
parties,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  understand 
how  these  rumours  can  have  arisen  abso- 
lutely without  cause  ;  but  in  both  cases 
also  the  chief  crime  of  the  accused  was 
evidently  their  large  possessions,  which 
attracted  the  desires  of  a  greedy  and 
extravagant  king,  in  England,  Henry  VIII. , 
in  France,  Philip  the  Fair.  The  execu- 
tion of  Grand  Master  du  Molay  especially 
moved  the  pity  of  Europe,  which  heard 
of  the  martyr's  dying  summons  to  king 
and  Pope  to  meet  him  speedily  before 
the  bar  of  the  Most  High — a  summons 
which  was  followed  by  the 

A^ste?  ^^""^^  °^  Clement  V.  within 

_  .'  *c  thirteen    months     and    of 

Dying  Summons  ^^^^    ^^    ^^.^^^   ^^^^^y_ 

one  months  of  the  murder  of  their  victim. 
The  sojourn  of  the  Popes  for  more  than 
two  generations  at  Avignon  is  one  of  the 
strange  paradoxes  of  mediaeval  history. 
How,  we  ask  ourselves,  was  it  possible  for 
ecclesiastics  whose  sole  title  to  the  obedi- 
ence of  the  Church  lay  in  the  fact  that 
they  were  Bishops  of  Rome  to  spend  the 

3404 


whole  of  their  official  lives  in  a  city  on  the 
Rhone,  a  month's  journey  from  the 
imperial  city  ?  Theoretically  the  position 
was  certainly  indefensible.  Practically,  it 
is  easy  to  see  how  the  thing  came  to  pass. 
The  French  influence  having  once  become 
strong  in  the  College  of  Cardinals,  tended 
to  become  ever  stronger,  since  each  French 
Pope  created  more  and  more  of  his  own 
countrymen.  The  king  of  France,  not 
yet  engaged  in  his  deadly  struggle  with 
England,  overshadowed  the  weak  Bohe- 
mian emperors  of  Germany. 

Italy,  now  that  the  emperor  was  no  longer 
in  any  sense  arbiter  of  her  destinies,  was 
falling  into  a  state  of  disorganisation,  city 
warring  against  city,  and  almost  every  city 
having  its  own  knot  of  exiled  citizens 
who  were  yearning  to  return  to  their 
homes  and  to  wreak  vengeance  upon  their 
opponents.  After  a  short  and  glorious 
existence,  the  ItaUan  republics  in  the 
thirteen  hundreds  were  falling  one  by 
one  under  the  yoke  of  tyrants — in  the 
Greek  sense,  masters  of  a  city  which  had 
been  free — the  Visconti  at  Milan,  the  Delia 
Scala  at  Verona,  Castracani  at  Lucca,  and 
so  forth.  Florence,  the  great  Guelf  city, 
it  is  true,  was  still  free,  though 
T ^'^'aX  sorely  tossed  by  faction,  and 
osse  y  ygj^j(,g^  ^j^^^-  marvel  of  aristo- 
cratic state-craft,  had  naught  to 
fear  in  the  way  of  tyranny  from  her  tightly- 
curbed  and  muzzled  Doges.  But  else- 
where th-^  Republicanism  which  had  largely 
prevailed  in  Italy  under  the  theoretical 
rule  ol  the  Franconian  and  Swabian 
emperors  was  giving  place  to  a  form  of 
government  which  was  not  feudalism, 
still  less  constitutional  monarchy,  but  the 
irresponsible,  unlimited,  often  cruel 
^overno  d'un  solo.  In  the  states  of  the 
Church  turbulent  barons  alternated  with 
turbulent  democracies,  and  both,  as  oppor- 
tunity offered,  availed  themselves  of  the 
assistance  of  those  predatory  bands  of 
soldiers  representing  no  nationality  and 
responsible  to  no  sovereign,  who  were 
called  Condottieri,  or  free  companies,  and 
who  were,  unfortunately,  to  a  large  extent 
the  outcome  of  the  long  and  devastating 
wars  of  the  Plantagenets  in  France. 

In  addition  to  these  troubles  came  the 
terrible  scourge  of  the  Black  Death — 
perhaps  the  most  awful  pestilence  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  which  from  1346  to 
1368  swept  over  Europe,  destroying  in 
some  regions  as  much  as  two-thirds  of  the 
population,  and,    on   an    average,  of  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Rienzi 

the  Meteoric 

Reformer 


whole  probably  not  less  than  a  quarter. 
From  these  varied  causes  the  condition  of 
Italy  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteen  hun- 
dreds was  doubtless  a  sad  one,  and  it  is 
not  perhaps  surprising  that  the  Pope  and 
his  cardinals,  for  the  most  part  Frenchmen, 
should  have  preferred  the  splendid  semi- 
regal  fortress-palace  of  Avignon  and  their 
luxurious  villas  by  the  Rhone 
in  beautiful  Provence  to  the 
fever-haunted  streets  of  alien 
Rome.  For  a  short  time  it 
seemed  as  if  the  great  absentee  landlord 
would  lose  his  hold  upon  the  property 
from  which  he  took  his  title. 

The  splendid  dreamer,  Nicolas  Gabrini, 
who  is  known  to  history  by  the  name 
of  Rienzi,  musing  on  the  miserable  state 
of  Rome,  agitated  as  she  was  by  the 
faction  fights  of  turbulent  nobles,  and 
comparing  it  with  the  calm  majesty  of 
the  old  Roman  Republic,  as  revealed  to  him 
by  inscriptions  in  the  Forum,  and  inter- 
preted by  the  pages  of  Livy,  decided  to 
call  his  fellow-citizens  to  revolt,  and 
assumed  the  historic  title  of  Tribune 
(1347-1349).  He  was  marvellously  suc- 
cessful for  a  time  ;  the  proud  nobles,  the 
Orsini  and  the  Colonnas,  were  awed  into 
silence  and  submission,  and  the  papal 
legate  found  it  expedient  to  be  a  humble 
partner  in  the  tribune's  administration. 
But  Rienzi's  record  in  history  is  essen- 
tially meteoric.  As  a  meteor  he  burst 
upon  Europe  ;  as  a  meteor  he  fell,  the 
victim  partly  of  his  own  vain,  unstable 
character.  If  he  had  possessed  the  brave, 
modest  nature  of  a  Garibaldi,  he  might, 
perhaps,  have  changed  the  course  of  his- 
tory and  re-established,  half  a  millennium 
ago,  the  Roman  Republic.  But  he  was 
only  Rienzi.  and  his  meteor  Ught  left  the 
sky  dark  behind  it. 

The  Seventy  Years'  Captivity  at  Avig- 
non, itself  somewhat  of  a  scandal,  died  out 
in  the  greater  scandal  of  the  Forty  Years' 
Schism.  Under  the  earnest  pressure  of  the 
public  opinion  of  Christen- 
Humble  Monk  ^  ^^  represented  bv  such 
Raised  to  the  ^ 


Pope's  Chair 


enthusiasts   as    Catharine   of 


Siena,  Pope  Gregory  XI. 
returned  to  Rome  for  a  visit,  which  proved 
to  be  a  farewell  visit,  for  he  died  there 
early  in  1378.  Where  the  Pope  died,  there 
must  the  Conclave  be  held.  The  cardinals 
assembled  in  Rome  to  choose  a  new  Pope, 
appalled  by  the  furious  shouts  of  the 
populace,  who  demanded  a  Roman,  or 
at   least   an   Italian,   Pope,  went  outside 

3406 


their  own  college — more  than  half  of 
whom  were  Frenchmen — and  elected  Bar- 
tolommeo  Prignani,  an  Italian  of  low 
origin,  but  skilled  in  the  canon  law  and 
famed  for  his  piety,  who  took  the  title  of 
Urban  VT.  The  humble  monk,  wherr 
raised  to  the  papal  throne,  developed 
qualities  of  strange  and  unexpected  pride 
some  of  the  manifestations  of  which  seem 
to  indicate  a  vein  of  lurking  insanity. 
The  luxurious  and  high-born  cardinals 
found  themselves  restricted  to  one  dish 
at  dinner,  and  heard  their  new  master 
bellow  at  them  such  courtesies  as :  "  You 
have  talked  long  enough,"  "  Hold  your 
tongue,"  and  so  forth.  Worst  of  all,  the 
Pope  declared  his  intention  of  remaining 
in  Rome,  and  was  about  to  make  a  large 
creation  of  Italian  cardinals  in  order 
effectually  to  bar  the  way  of  a  return  to 
Avignon. 

At  this,  a  large  party  of  cardinals, 
chiefly  Frenchmen,  broke  away  from  their 
allegiance,  declared  the  election  of  Urban 
invalid,  as  having  been  made  under  duress 
from  the  Roman  mob,  and  elected  as  Pope 
the  high-born  soldier-cardinal.  Robert  of 
Geneva.  He  took  the  name  of  Clement  VTL, 
and  ere  long  found  his  way 
*d*th  °^^^     back  to  Avignon,  and,  though 


Supporters 


with     diminished    splendour, 


kept  high  court  there,  hke  the 
six  Popes  before  him.  His  rival  remained 
in  Rome,  or  when  frightened  thence  by  the 
turbulence  of  the  mob  or  by  the  soldiers 
of  the  Queen  of  Naples,  with  whom, 
though  Neapolitan  born,  he  had  continued 
to  quarrel,  he  took  up  his  abode  at  Genoa, 
at  Lucca,  at  Perugia,  at  any  Italian  city 
which  could  give  him  a  constrained 
welcome. 

The  chief  powers  of  Europe  ranged 
themselves  under  one  or  other  of  the 
rival  banners.  Northern  Italy,  Germany 
and  England  were  in  obedience  to 
Urban  VI.  France,  Spain,  Scotland  and 
Naples  were  in  obedience  to  Cement 
of  Avignon.  It  will  be  seen  how  large  a 
share  national  quarrels  had  in  determining 
ecclesiastical  partisanship.  France,  of 
course,  took  the  side  of  the  Pope  who 
hankered  after  pleasant  Avignon  ;  Ger- 
many and  England,  as  foes  to  France, 
took  the  side  of  his  rival ;  Scotland,  as 
deadly  enemy  to  England,  followed  France. 

The  schism  thus  begun  lasted,  as  has 
been  said,  for  nearly  forty  years.  When 
Clement  VII.  died,  in  September,  1394,  a 
successor  to  him  Wcis  chosen  who  took  the 


POPE  URBAN  VI.  RECITING  HIS  BREVIARY  AT  NOCERA 
On  the  death  of  Pope  Gregory  XI.,  in  1378,  the  populace  luriously  detnanaed  that  a  Roman,  or  at  least  an  Italian, 
should  be  raised  to  the  papal  throne,  and  the  cardinals,  with  whom  the  election  rested,  appalled  by  the  clamour,  chose 
Bartolommeo  Prignani,  an  Italian  of  low  origin.  The  new  Pope  took  the  title  of  Urban  V  I.  Hea  ring  of  a  conspiracy 
among  his  cari  inals,  the  Pope  invited  the  ringleaders  to  his  country  residence,  the  Castle  of  Nocera,  and  put  them 
to  torture  in  order  tO  extract  from  them  the  details  of  the  plot. 


Hcproduced  froiii  the  painting  by  the  Ifon.  John  Collier  by  the  artist's  perniissioa 


34^ 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


at  the 
Same  Time 


title  of  Benedict  XIII.  To  his  rival,  who 
had  died  five  years  before,  three  Popes 
in  succession  were  elected  by  the  Italian 
cardinals,  the  last  of  these  being  the 
octogenarian  Gregory  XI I.  (1406-1417). 
At  each  election  the  same  professions  of 
earnest  desire  to  end  the  schism  were 
clamorously  repeated,  and  each  successive 
p  pontiff  expressed  his  willing- 

ree     opes    ^^^^  ^^  abdicate   if  his  rival 

would  do  the  same.  "  I  would 
abdicate,"  said  Benedict 
XIII.,  before  his  election,  "as  easily  as  I 
take  oH  my  hat."  "  I  long  for  a  conference 
which  shall  restore  unity,"  said  the  vener- 
able Gregory  XII.  "If  there  is  not  a  galley 
to  take  me  to  the  place  of  meeting,  I  will  go 
in  a  fishing  boat.  If  horses  fail  for  the  land 
journey,  I  will  take  my  staff  in  my  hand 
and  will  go  on  foot."  But  practically  all 
yearning  after  conciliation  and  com- 
promise resolved  itself  into  a  willingness 
to  accept  'the  unconditional  surrender  of 
the  opponent.  Each  Pope  would  graciously 
allow  the  anti-pope  to  kiss  his  foot,  but 
was  invincibly  resolved  not  to  perform 
the  converse  operation. 

The  anarchy  of  the  Church  reached  its 
climax  when,  at  the  Council  of  Pisa  in  1409, 
both  the  rival  Popes  were  called  upon  to 
resign  and  a  devout  Franciscan  friar  was 
elected  in  their  stead,  under  the  title  of 
Alexander  V.  But  the  existing  Popes, 
though  formally  deposed,  refused  to  accept 
their  deposition,  and  it  was  soon  evident 
that  the  council,  instead  of  ending  the 
schism,  had  only  widened  it  by  adding 
a  third  Pope  to  the  list.  More  dreadful  was 
the  entanglement  when,  after  the  short 
pontificate  of  Alexander,  the  tiara  was 
bestowed  upon  a  man  who,  though  a 
cardinal,  was  little  better  than  a  general 
of  condottieri,  Baltasare  Cossa,  who 
took  the  title  of  John  XXIII.  The  well- 
meant  endeavours  to  end  the  schism  had 
but  ended  in  the  election  of  one  of  the 
most  unpopular  pontiffs  who  ever  sat  in 
^.     _,  the  chair  of  St.  Peter.    The 

The  Famous  ,  ,.  -i         n     i    i- 

^        ..  extraordmary  evil  called  for 

^t  r^^-.*.---  a-n  extraordinary  remedy. 
of  Constance    r^,.  ,-'       ,  J 

1  his  was  none  other  than  the 

far-famed  Council  which  assembled  at 
Constance  under  the  presidency  of  Sigis- 
mund,  last  emperor  of  the  house  of  Luxem- 
burg, and  which  sat  for  three  years  and  a 
half — from  November,  1414,  till  May,  1418. 
The  assembling  of  this  council,  at  which  29 
cardinals,  three  patriarchs,  33  archbishops, 
and  2,400  other  ecclesiastics  from  all  parts  of 

3408 


Europe  were  present,  besides  100  dukes  and 
earls,  2,400  knights,  and  116  representatives 
of  cities,  was  one  of  the  greatest  events  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  Had  it  corresponded  to 
the  jubilant  expectations  formed  of  it,  the 
Council  might  have  been  their  glorious 
finale. 

Much  had  been  hoped  for  from  the 
assembling  of  so  many  grave  and  learned 
men,  especially  in  the  reformation  of 
abuses  which,  in  the  course  of  ages,  had 
crept  into  the  administration  of  the 
Church.  What  was  accomplished  ?  The 
obliteration  of  the  three  obstinate  old  men, 
each  of  whom  persisted  in  calling  himself 
the  Vicar  of  Christ,  and  the  election  in 
their  stead  of  a  capable  and  respectable 
Italian  noble  of  the  house  of  Colonna,  who 
took  the  title  of  Martin  V.  This  was  a  wise 
and  statesmanlike  act,  though  some  think 
that  even  after  the  lapse  of  three  years  the 
Council  showed  undue  haste  in  electing  a 
Pope  before,  instead  of  after,  passing  those 
measures  of  reform  which  became  practic- 
ally unattainable  after  it  had  given  itself 
a  master  in  the  person  of  Pope  Martin. 

Not  so  wise  or  so  statesmanlike  were 
the  acts  by  which  the  Council  sought  to 
demonstrate  its  own  ortho- 


"TomrBurned  ^^^y-   the  burning  oj  John 
as  Heretics 


Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague, 
two  devout  and  learned 
Bohemians  who,  in  the  spirit  of  Wiclif,  and 
partly  in  consequence  of  his  teaching,  had 
defended  what  would  now  be  called  the 
Protestant  position  against  the  mediaeval 
papacy.  In  the  case  of  Huss,  this  murder 
was  especially  to  be  condemned,  as  he  had 
come  to  Constance  of  his  own  free  will, 
trusting  to  a  safe  conduct  which  he  had 
received  from  the  emperor.  Of  this  fact 
he  reminded  Sigismund  when  he  stood 
before  his  tribunal  to  receive  his  condem- 
nation, and  it  is  said  that  the  emperor 
blushed  with  shame.  Practically,  a  Pope 
elected  and  two  heretics  burned  were  all 
the  outcome  of  this  memorable  and  long- 
labouring  Council. 

Underlying  the  discussions  on  temporary 
points  of  policy  at  the  Council  of  Constance 
was  the  important  question  of  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Church.  If  the  power  of  an 
oecumenical  council  could  be  magnified, 
if  its  sittings  could  be  repeated  at  short 
and  regular  intervals,  if  it  could  be  made 
impossible  for  the  Pope  to  take  any 
important  step  without  its  advice,  the 
constitution  of  the  Church  would  become 
aristocratic  ;  if  Martin  V,  and  his  successors 


THE    PASSING    OF    THE    AGE    OF    CHIVALRY 


could  succeed  in  negativing  these  pro- 
posals, and  could  keep  the  papacy  on  the 
old  lines  on  which  it  had  moved  from 
Hildebrand  to  Boniface,  it  would  remain 
monarchical.  The  second  alternative  event 
was  that  which  actually  happened.  Council 
after  council  was  held  during  the  thirty 
years  after  the  Council  of  Constance ; 
Basle,  Ferrara,  Florence,  each  had  its 
council,  the  first  defying  the  Pope,  and 
even  renewing  for  a  time  the  misery  of  the 
schism,  the  second  and  third  working 
with   the   Roman    Pope   and   effecting   a 


papacy  in  the  centuries  that  we  have 
been  lately  traversing  is  really  central 
in  the  history  of  Europe.  Financially, 
the  enormous  drain  of  bullion  to  Rome 
or  to  Avignon,  in  order  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  the  papal  tax-gatherers,  diverted 
the  course  of  commerce,  created  the 
profession  of  bankers,  sometimes  helped 
and  sometimes  hindered  the  struggles  of 
English  parliaments  with  their  kings. 
And  in  the  purely  political  domain,  in 
the  war  of  dynasties  and  the  collision  of 
nations  the  papal  question  played  a  most 


THE    SPANISH     INQUISITION  :      READY    FOR    THE    ACCUSED 

This   tribunal,  established    in    Spain   ana   Portugal   in   the    Middle  Ages  for   the   suppression   of   heresy,   was  a 

terrible  instrument.     All  the  inquisitors  were  churchmen,  and  one  of  them,  the  terrible  Torquemada,  is  said  to  have 

condemned  no  fewer  than  9,000  persons  during  his  tenure  of  office.     It  was  not  till  1835  that  the  Inquisition  was  finally 

abolished,   and  though  it  still  exists  as  the  Holy  Office,  its  function  is  confined  to  the  detection  of  heresy  in  books. 

Reproduce  from  the  paintioK  by  (Jie  Hon.  John  Collier  by  the  artist's  permission 


short-lived  reconciliation  between  the* 
.Latin  and  Greek  Churches.  But  all  ended 
in  a  re-establishment,  apparently  on  a 
firmer  basis  than  ever,  of  the  papal  supre- 
macy ;.  and  our  fourth  period  closes  with 
the  pontificate  of  Nicolas  V.,  a  lover  of 
peace,  a  lover  of  the  arts,  and  one  of  the 
best  of  the  mediaeval  pontiffs.  He  is  said 
to  have  died  of  grief  on  hearing  of  the 
fall  of  Constantinople. 

Let  it  not  be  thought  that  in  this  brief 
sketch  too  large  a  space  has  been  given  to 
ecclesiastical  affairs.     The  history  of  the 


important  part.  Anyone,  who  studies 
the  history  of  Naples,  of  Florence,  of 
Milan,  of  Bohemia  and  of  Hungary,  or 
reads  the  story  of  the  wars  between' 
England  and  France,  will  find  his  steps 
continually  dogged  by  the  Seventy  Years 
Captivity  and  the  Great  Schism,  It  is 
worthy  of  note  that  Agincourt  was  fought 
in  the  first  year  of  the  CouncU  of  Con- 
stance, and  that  in  the  interests  of  his 
schemes  for  papal  reform  Sigismund 
tried  to  arrange  a  three  years'  truce 
between  France  and  England. 


For  references  in  this  chapter,  see  Appendix. 


3409 


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3410 


WESTERN 

EUROPE  IN 

THE    MIDDLE 

AGES 


GENERAL 

SURVEY    IV 

BY 

DR.     THOMAS 

HODGKIN 


THE    BIRTH    OF    A    NEW    WORLD 

AND    THE    END     OF     THE     MIDDLE     AGES 


pNORMOUS  as  have  been  the  changes 
'-^  in  the  aspect  of  the  world  and  in 
human  Ufe  which  have  been  wrought  by 
the  nineteenth  century,  it  may  probably  be 
asserted  with  truth  that  at  least  equal 
changes  were  wrought  by  events  which 
occurred  in  the  last  half  of  the  fourteen 
hundreds. 

The  lirst  of  these  was  the  fall  of 
Constantinople  (May  29th,  1453).  While 
emperors  and  kings  were  still  playing 
with  the  question  of  possible  crusades, 
for  which  Popes  were  pleading  in 
deadly  earnest,  the  believers  in  Islam, 
reversing  the  crusading  process,  crossed 
the  Bosphorus  and  took  the  great  city 
which  for  more  than  a  thousand  years 
had  preserved  in  strange  union  the  two 
memories  of  Csesar  and  of  Christ.  Western 
Christendom  was  horrified  at  the  news, 
but  did  little  to  stay  the  onrushing 
Ottoman  tide  which  for  more  than  200 
years — till  the  unsuccessful  siege  of  Vienna 
in  1683 — was  always  more  or  less  of  a  terror 
to  Europe.  But  cruel  as  was  the  loss  to  the 
East,  the  West  was  in  some  sort  a  gainer, 
by  the  dispersion  of  eminent  scholars  who 
reinforced  the  ranks  of  the  Humanists — 
the  lovers  of  the  illustrious  classical 
literature  of  bygone  ages  and  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  schoolmen — both  by  their 
oral  teaching  and  by  the  priceless  manu- 
scripts   which    they  preserved 

'^    f. ,        from    the    sack   of   Constanti- 
Kises      irom  ,  .  ^1  ■  1  1 

»K  D  a"  ^ople.  As  was  finely  said  by  a 
modern  scholar  :  "  At  this  time 
Greece  arose  from  the  dead  with  the  New 
Testament  in  her  hand."  This  new 
learning,  powerfully  aided  by  the  art  of 
printing,  which  was  invented  somewhere 
about  1450,  set  fermenting  in  the  minds  of 
such  men  as  Erasmus  and  Luther  thoughts 
which  were  destined  to  work  marvellous 
changes  in  the  mental  atmosphere  of 
Europe.  Geographically,  the  voyages  of 
discovery  which  signalised  the  closing 
years  of  our  present  period  were  the  most 


important  that  were  ever  made  since  the 
first  Phoenician  mariners  pushed  through 
the  Pillars  of  Hercules  into  the  vast  and 
shoreless  Atlantic. 

Throughout  the  fourteen  hundreds  the 
work  of  maritime  discovery  along  the 
east  coast  of  Africa  had  been  entirely 
undertaken  by  the  Portuguese,  who  were 
cheered  on  their  adventurous  career 
by  the  patronage  of  their  noble  prince, 
Henry  the  Navigator,  a  man  who  had 
p  English    blood    in     his    veins, 

^o  uguese  ^gi,^g  ^^le  grandson,  on  his 
jj.  .      mother's     side,     of     John     of 

Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster. 
From  his  eyrie  on  Cape  St.  Vincent  he 
watched  the  departure,  in  1419,  of  two 
frail  vessels  which  sailed  a  little  beyond 
the  Peak  of  Teneriffe.  Later  voyages 
were  much  more  successful,  and  before 
his  death,  in  1460,  the  Portuguese  dis- 
coverers had  crept  down  to  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Sierra  Leone,  twenty  degrees 
nearer  to  the  Equator  than  that  ominous 
Cape  Nam  (Cape  No)  which,  when  Prince 
Henry  began  his  enterprise,  had  been  the 
southern  limit  of  European  navigation. 

After  the  prince's  death,  his  great  work 
went  steadily  forward.  Guinea  and  the 
Gold  Coast,  the  mouth  of  the  mighty 
River  Congo,  and  Angola  were  discovered, 
and  in  i486  Bartholomew  Diaz,  a  knight 
of  the  royal  household,  with  the  double 
hope  of  discovering  a  passage  to  India 
and  meeting  with  the  mythical  Prester 
John,  steered  due  south  for  many  days 
and  discovered  the  promontory  which  he 
called  the  Cape  of  Storms,  but  which 
the  Portuguese  king  on  his  return  insisted 
on  renaming  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
But  the  long  eastward  bend  of  the  coast 
of  South  Africa  seems  to  have  hidden  from 
him  and  his  sailors  the  real  meaning  of 
their  discovery.  It  was  not  till  eleven 
years  later,  in  1497,  that  the  illustrious 
Vasco  da  Gama  succeeded  in  fairly 
rounding  the  southern  end  of  the  great 

34"    ' 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


continent,  and,  steering  across  the  Indian 

Ocean,   reached-  the   coast   of   Hindustan 

and  beheld  the  Zamorin  of  Calicut  in  his 

palace. 

It  is  a  strange  thought  that  the  vain 

hope  of  doing  in  another  way  that  which  was 

thus  accomplished  with  comparative  ease 

by  Vasco  da  Gama  had  driven  Christopher 

^  .     .       Columbus  five  years  previously, 
Columbus    •  i  •  J  i 

jj.  in     1492,     on      his      desperate 

.  .  voyage  westward  across  the 
Atlantic.  On  the  well-known 
circumstances  of  those  memorable  months 
of  suspense,  which  ended  on  October  nth, 
when  Columbus,  standing  on  the  poop  of 
his  vessel,  saw  the  moving  lights  of  Guana- 
hani,  there  is  no  need  to  dwell.  Only  we 
ought  to  emphasise  to  ourselves  the  change 
which  the  discovery  of  this  western  world, 
expanding  every  year,  as  it  evidently 
seemed  to  expand,  by  the  reports  of  the 
successors  of  Columbus,  must  have  wrought 
in  the  mind  of  the  ordinary  commonplace 
mediaeval  European.  It  is  perhaps  not  too 
much  to  say  that  it  was  as  great  as  that 
which  would  be  wrought  in  us  by  the 
discovery  of  a  means  of  communication 
with  the  inhabitants  of  Mars  or  Venus. 

It  was  hard  that  when  a  Portuguese  prince 
had  been  the  prime  mover  in  this  crusade 
of  discovery,  the  glory  and  the  gain  of  it 
accrued  chiefly  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns. 
As  the  well-known  motto  on  the  tomb  of 
Columbus,  dictated  by  Ferdinand  of 
Arragon  himself,  ran  : 

A  Castilla  y  a  Leon 
Nuevo  Mundo  die  Colon. 
(To  Leon's  and  to  Castile's  throne 
Columbus  brought  a  world  unknown. ) 

Besides  the  discovery  of  America  and 
the  riches  resulting  therefrom,  many 
other  causes  concurred  in  the  four- 
teen hundreds  to  push  Spain,  hitherto 
somewhat  solitary  and  self-absorbed,  into 
the  front  rank,  the  fighting  line  of  the 
nations  of  Europe.  In  the  seven  centuries 
that  had  elapsed  since  the  Moorish  con- 
_     .  ,  quest  she  and  the  sister  state 

n***'^  «.       of    Portugal  had  been    slowly 
Rapid  Rise  u     i       xi.   •  ^ 

p  wmnmg    back    their    country 

from  the  Moors.  At  first  the 
process  was  a  slow  one  ;  but  in  the  twelve 
hundreds,  after  the  great  Christian  victory 
of  Navas  de  Tolosa,  in  1212,  it  went  for- 
ward with  giant  strides,  and  by  the  middle 
of  that  century  the  only  region  of  Spain 
left  to  the  Moslems  was  the  fertile  but 
comparatively  small  province  of  Granada. 
There,  however,  a  compact  kingdom  was 

3412 


founded  which  endured  for  more  than 
250  years  (1238-1492).  One  reason  for 
its  continuance,  probably  the  chief  reason 
for  all  the  long  pauses  in  the  Christian 
advance,  was  the  number  of  petty  king- 
doms into  which  the  peninsula  was  divided. 
Leon,  Castile,  Navarre,  Barcelona,  Arra- 
gon, Portugal — aU  had  for  long  their 
separate  existence,  and  were  frequently  at 
war  with  one  another. 

Now,   however,   at  last,   by   the   mar- 
riage   of    Ferdinand    of     Arragon    with 
Isabella    of  Castile   in  1469,   almost  the' 
whole  of  Spain  was  united  in  one  powerful 
monarchy.     The   exception  was  Navarre, ; 
which   was    not    appropriated  by  Ferdi-.- 
nand    till     1512.      The   actual   union   of 
Arragon   and  Castile  did  not  take  place, 
till    1479,    on    the    death    of    Isabella's 
brother,  Enrique  IV.     One  of  the  earliest . 
enterprises  of  the  royal  pair  after   they 
had  come  into   full   possession  of    their 
sovereignty     was     the     annexation     of, 
Granada.    For  ten  years  the  war  went  on, 
the  patient  strategy  of  Ferdinand  being 
greatly  aided  by  domestic  quarrels  in  the, 
Moorish    palace,    son     rebelling     against- 
^  .        father,    and    uncle    fighting 

the  Christians  °"  ^^^^^  4th,  1492-three 
months  before  Columbus  set 
sail  from  Seville — the  last  blow  was  struck. 
Granada  itself,  hopelessly  blockaded,  sur- 
rendered to  the  Christians,  and  its  weeping 
king,  Abu  Abdallah,  looking  his  last  on  its 
stately  pinnacles,  rode  forth  into  exile. 

The  subjugation  of  the  last  Mohamme- 
dan state  in  Spain  was  perhaps  regarded 
by  Christendom  as  some  slight  compen- 
sation for  the  loss  of  Constantinople. 
Unhappily,  the  Christian  sovereigns 
showed  themselves  less  tolerant  towards 
their  conquered  subjects  of  another  faith 
than  the  Turkish  sultan.  Ferdinand's 
promises  of  toleration  for  the  Mussulman 
Moors  were  soon  evaded ;  forcible  con- 
versions were  attempted  ;  the  Inquisition 
put  forth  its  baneful  energies — everything 
was  prepared  for  that  disastrous  revolt 
of  the  Moriscos,  disastrously  quelled, 
which  inflicted  so  deep  a  wound  on  Spain 
in  the  following  century. 

The  "  kings  "  of  Arragon  and  Castile,, 
so  fortunate  in  aU  else,  suffered  the  dis-. 
appointment  of  seeing  their  male  issue  ex- 
pire in  their  own  lifetime.  It  was  evident 
that  their  magnificent  inheritance  must 
fail  to  the  lot  of  the  descendants  of  one 
of  their  daughters ;    and  that  daughter 


3413 


SEA-GOING    NORMAN    WARRIORS:    ANCESTORS    OF    ENGLAND'S    CONQUERORS 
Inhabiting  a  province  of  France,  the  Normans  were  regarded  by  their  French  neighbours  as  pirates  and  heathen  till 
the  close  of  the  tenth  century,  yet  under  Rolfs  grandson.  Richard   the  Fearless  (942-906),  they  gradually  adopted 
French  Christianity  and  feudalism.    William  the  Conqueror,  the  seventh  Duke,  united  Normandy  to  England  in  1066. 


eventually  proved  to  be  Princess  Joanna, 
wife  ol  Philip  of  Hapsburg,  whose  eldest 
son,  Charles,  the  future  Charles  V.,  was 
born  in  the  last  year  of  the  century,  the 
fateful  year  1500. 

Meanwhile,  during  the  whole  of  the  pre- 
vious period  there  had  been  a  growing 
community  of  interest  between  the  two 
peninsulas,  the  Spanish  and  the  Italian, 
and  a  growing  tendency  in  Italian  affairs 
to  embitter  the  relations  between  Spain 
and  France.  Two  successive  queens  of 
Naples,  descendants  of  Charles  of  Anjou, 
Joanna  I.  and  II.,  both  of  them  women 
of  tainted  reputation,  had  embroiled  the 
politics  of  Italy  by  adopting  as  their 
heirs  both  French  and  Spanish  princes. 
The  French  claimants,  three  successive 
Louis  of  Anjou,  had  never  succeeded 
in  making  good  their  title  for  any  length- 
enied  period,  and  the  last  of  the  line, 
"  le  bon  roi  Rene,"  troubadour  and 
master  of  pageants,  but  better  known 
as  father  of  Margaret  of  Anjou,  of 
fatal  memory  in  the  English  civil 
wars,  was  himself  as  shadowy  a  king  of 

3414 


Naples  as  his  forefathers.  But  in  1442 
the  great  prize  fell  to  another  adopted 
son  of  the  latest  Joanna,  to  Alphonso, 
king  of  Arragon,  and  also  king  of  Sicily. 
Thus  at  last  was  the  death  of  Con- 
radin  fully  avenged,  and  the  descendant 
of  Frederic  II.,  king  of  both  the  Sicilies, 
possessed  the  full  inheritance  of  his 
Norman  forefathers.  On  his  death,  while 
his  Spanish  dominions  and  Sicily  went  to 
his  brothers,  Naples,  which  he  had  won 
with  his  sword  and  with  his  bow,  became 
subject  to  his  illegitimate  son  Ferdinand, 
and  thus  till  near  the  end  of  the  fourteen 
hundreds  we  have  the  Sicilies  again 
disparted,  Naples  itself  ruled  by  this 
Ferdinand,  and  Sicily  by  his  first  cousin, 
Ferdinand  of  Spain,  the  husband  of  Isa- 
bella. And  over  all  hovered  the  spectral, 
shadowy  claims  of  the  titulars  of  Anjou, 
which  had  bred  wars  in  the  past  and  were 
likely  to  be  the  cause  of  wars  to  come. 

Notwithstanding  these  dynastic  con- 
flicts, the  solid  strength  of  //  Regno,  as 
the  kingdom  of  Naples  was  called,  was 
always  looked  upon  with  something  of 


THE  END  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 


envy  and  admiration  by  the  northern 
states  of  Italy.  There  almost  every  city 
was  at  war  with  its  nearest  neighbour, 
the  trade  of  the  Condottieri  flourished, 
and,  as  before  stated,  the  turbulent  free- 
dom of  the  repubhcs  which  had  leagued 
against  Barbarossa  was  being  crushed 
under  the  heel  of  petty  local  despots. 
An  Italian  patriot  surveying  the  condition 
of  his  country  in  1453  might  well  think 
that  the  liberation  from  the  yoke  of  the 
empire,  which  had  been  won  by  generations 
of  Guelfs,  had  been  after  all  but  a  doubtful 
blessing. 

One  of  the  last  of  the  republics  to 
fall  into  slavery — and  even  after  her  fall 
she  struggled  up  once  and  again  into 
liberty — was  Florence.  In  1464  died  old 
Cosmo  de  Medici,  who  by  the  combined 
influence  of  wealth,  eloquence,  liberality, 
and  some  real  patriotism,  aided  by  the 
blunders  of  his  opponents,  had  made  him- 
self virtual  master  of  his  native  city.  It 
was  certainly  a  wonderful  story,  that  of  the 


Medicean  house.  They  had  no  claims  to 
feudal  nobility  ;  the  party  which  they  led 
was  by  profession  the  Liberal  party ; 
Cosmo  himself  with  his  vast  wealth  might 
be  looked  upon  as  the  Gladstone-Roth- 
schild of  Florence ;  yet  he  succeeded  in 
leaving  to  his  offspring  a  power  which, 
in  the  hands  of  his  grandson,  the  "  Magnifi- 
cent "  Lorenzo,  was  httle  less  than  regal  ; 
his  collateral  descendants  for  two  centu- 
ries were  grand  dukes  of  Tuscany,  and 
their  blood,  through  the  intermarriage 
of  Catharine  and  Marie  de  Medici  with  the 
kings  of  France,  now  flows  in  half  the 
royal  families  of  Europe. 

Lorenzo  de  Medici  died  in  1492,  the 
same  year  which,  for  other  reasons,  we 
have  already  seen  to  be  indeed  annus 
mirahilis.  The  other  great  Italian  com- 
monwealth, Venice,  preserved  indeed 
through  all  her  more  than  a  thousand 
years  of  life  her  republican  freedom,  but 
changed  her  popular  character  in  1300  by 
the  act   known   as   "  the  Closing  of  the 


THE    DOGE    PRESIDING    AT    A    COUNCIL     OF    WAR     IN     MEDIi^VAL    VENICE 
After  preserving,  in  outward  form  at  least,  her  republican  freedom    or  more  than  a  thousand  years,  the  great  Italian 
commonwealth  of  Venice  changed  her  popular  character  in  13W  by  the  act  known  as  the  Cosing  of  the  Grand  Council. 
Limiting  the  right  of  election  to  the  great  offices  of  state  to  aristocratic  families,  the  tyranny  of  the  oligarchy  wai  supreme. 

From  the  painting  by  Sir  J.  Gilbert,  R.A. 

3415 


THE    END    OF    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 


Grand  Council,"  which  Hmited  the  right 
of  election  to  the  great  offices  of  state  to 
certain  aristocratic  families,  and  she 
thus  became  that  jealous  and  suspicious 
oligarchy  whose  methods  have  been  so 
lovingly  described  by  many  a  tragedian 
and  writer  of  romance. 

In  the  periods  which  now  lie  behind  us 
she  had  many  a  bitter  struggle  with  her 
rival  Genoa,  in  one  of  which,  the  war  of 
Chioggia  (1378-1381),  she  all  but  lost  her 
national  life  ;  and  the  domineering  Vis- 
contis  of  Milan  had,  especially  towards 
the  close  of  the  thirteen  hundreds,  rolled 
up    dangerously    near    to    her    borders. 


(Filippo  Maria),  who  died  in  1447,  leaving 
no  legitimate  progeny.  Thus  were  the 
Sforzas  established  on  the  throne  of  Milan, 
where  they  reproduced  most  of  the  un- 
amiable  characteristics  of  their  Visconti 
ancestry.  In  1492,  the  year  to  which  so 
much  of  our  narrative  converges,  the  young 
prince,  Gian  Galeazzo  Sforza,  was  nominally 
reigning  in  Milan,  the  real  ruler  being 
his  uncle  Ludovico  il  Moro — so-named 
from  his  swarthy  complexion — who  was 
generally  believed  to  be  plotting  his 
nephew's  murder. 

Here,  however,   as  well  as  in  Naples, 
there  was  also  a  French  claimant  in  the 


A     LADY    OF    RANK    RETURNING    FROM    CHURCH     IN     MEDIEVAL    TIMES 
In  the  mediaeval  ages,  hardly  less  than  in  the  great  days  of  Greece  and  Rome,  the  ceremonial  observance  of  rank  ajid 
power  was  maintained,  and  characterised  the  commonest  actions  of  daily  life,  no  less  than  the  afifairs  of  state.    This 
painting,  and  tliat  on  the  opposite  page,  serve  to  illustrate  the  display  made  by  ladies  of  rank  in  attending  church. 

From  the  painting  by  George  H.  Boughton,  R,A.,  in  the  Guildhall  Art  Gallery 

Since  then,  however,  the  tide  of  conquest  person  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  was 

had  turned ;  she  had  become  a  great  land  descended    from    a    legitimate    Visconti 

power  as  well  as  a  sea  power,  and  in  the  princess,  while  the    Sforzas    could   claim 

period  before  us  it  may  be  roughly  com-  only    through    Filippo     Maria's    bastard 

puted   that    she   was   mistress    of    two-  daughter. 

thirds  of  Lombardy,   the  remaining,  the  '  Of  the  condition  of  the  papacy  during 

western  third,  being  under  the  dominion  the   half   century   now   under   review   it 

of  the  dukes  of  Milan.  is    not    easy    to    speak.     Unfortunately 

Those  dukes  were   no  longer  Viscontis  Nicolas  V.  had  few  successors  like-minded 

but    Sforzas,    the    renowned    Condottieri  with  himself.     The  pontificates  of  Sixtus 

general,   son   of   a   Romagnole     peasant,  IV.  (Francesco  dellaRovere)  and  Alexander 

Francesco  Sforza,  having  succeeded  with  VI.    (Rodrigo    Borgia)    were    not    bene- 

infinite  trouble  in  winning  the  hand  of  ficial     to     Christendom ;      and    that    of 

Bianca,   daughter   of    the    last    Visconti  Alexander,   which   began   in    1492,   was 

3417 


34i8 


THE    END    OF    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 


undoubtedly  one  of  the  events  which 
prepared  the  way  for  the  Reformation. 
It  is  perhaps  a  matter  of  praise  rather 
than  blame  that  all  the  Popes  of  this 
period  were  eager  for  the  strengthening 
of  the  temporal  dominion  of  the  Church 
in  Central  Italy.  After  the  troubles  of  the 
last  two  hundred  years,  the  turbulence  of 
Rome  and  the  absurdity  of  the  Avignonese 
"  captivity,"  it  was  certainly  a  more  sensible 
policy  to  try  to  build  up  a  secure  and 
independent  papal  state  on  the  basis 
of  the  old  "  donations  "  than  to  repeat 
the  obsolete  pretensions  of  a  Hildebrand 
or  a  Boniface  to  the  deposition  of  emperors 
and  the  government  of  the  world. 

Turning  now  to  the  northern  nations, 
we  find  that  the  later  fourteen  hundreds 
were  a  dreary  time  for  England.  In  1445, 
only  two  years  after  England's  expmlsion 
from  France,  began  those  terrible  Wars  of 
the  Roses,  in  which  it  is  difficult  not  to 
see  the  righteous  judgment  of  heaven  on 
the  nation  which  had  so  wantonly  de- 
vastated the  fair  fields  of  France. 

One  change,  possibly  beneficial,  was  the 

result  of  these  sixteen  years  (1455-1471) 

of  more  or  less  continuous 

I''^"/!  .  fighting.  By  them,  and  by 
Feudal  System  ,u    •  •  r      4.11 

g  the  mcreasmg  use  of  artillery, 

which   made   the  mediaeval 

castle  no  longer  impregnable,  the  power  of 

the  old  feudal  baronage  was  to  a  great 

extent  broken,  and  king  and  people  were 

left  practically  alone  to  make  what  they 

could   of   their   country's   fortunes.     The 

century    closed   with    Henry  Tudor,    the 

silent,     statesmanlike,     unamiable     king, 

hoarding  the  treasures  which  were   soon 

to  be  scattered  by  his  lusty  son. 

In  France  a  somewhat  similar  process 

was  going  on  under  the  rule  of  Louis  XI. 

(1461-1483).     The     characters    of    these 

two  kings,  Henry  and  Louis,  present  some 

points  of  resemblance,  though  it  would  not 

be  fair  to  put  that  eminently  respectable 

and  devout   paterfamilias,    Henry  Tudor 

on  a  level  with  the  unscrupulous  Louis 

of  Valois,  who  hesitated  at  no  crime  to 

attain  his  ends,  and  who  spent  his  lonely 

old  age  surrounded  by  his  hireling  Scottish 

archers  in  abject  fear  of  death,   "  rising 

up  at  the  voice  of  a  bird  "  and  oscillating 

between     blasphemous     irreverence     and 

abject  superstition.     Yet  Louis  XL  had 

also  some  clear   perception   of  the   duty 

which  he  owed  to  the  country  over  which 

he    ruled.     He    was  a   most   industrious 

king ;  he  encouraged  commerce  and  learn- 


ing, and  even  in  his  successful  endeavours 
to  free  himself  from  the  strait-waistcoat 
ot  the  feudal  nobility,  by  which  at  his 
accession  he  found  himself  constrained, 
he  had  probably  some  consciousness  that 
he  was  working  for  his  people  as  well  as 
for  himself.  The  first  revolt  of  the 
nobles  against  him  called  itself  "  The 
.    ...  League  of  the  Public   Weal." 

fCh  'rr*     Reviewing  his  reign  at  its  close 
the  Bold**    ^^  might  fairly  have  said,  "  At 
least  I  did  more  than  they  for 
the  public  weal  to  which  they  professed 
their  devotion." 

Chief  of  all  the  antagonists  of  Louis  XL 
was,  of  course,  the  head  of  the  great 
house  of  Burgundy,  Charles  the  Bold, 
who,  with  his  wide  domains  for  which 
he  owed  vassal-homage  partly  to  France 
and  partly  to  the  empire,  aspired 
to  make  himself  independent  of  both 
realms,  and  would  probably,  had  he 
lived  and  conquered,  have  founded  a 
middle  state,  a  kingdom  of  the  Rhine, 
or  something  of  the  sort,  which  might  have 
proved  itself  a  blessing  to  Europe  as  a 
"  buffer  state "  between  France  and 
Germany.  This,  however,  was  not  to  be. 
After  years  of  open  or  secret  conflict  with 
his  cousin  Louis  XL,  a  war  of  the  Lion 
against  the  Fox,  in  which  the  Fox  once 
or  twice  very  nearly  perished,  he  became 
involved  in  hostilities  with  his  southern 
neighbours,  the  peasants  of  the  Switzers' 
confederation.  To  the  surprise  of  Europe 
the  Swiss  peasants  overcame  the  mighty 
feudal  lord ;  the  stoutly  held  pike  van- 
quished the  battle  array  of  chivalry. 
In  three  battles,  Granson  in  1476,  Morat  in 
1476,  and  Nancy  in  1477,  Charles  was  com- 
pletely beaten,  and  after  the  last  a  page 
found  his  dead  body  lying  covered  with 
wounds  in  a  frozen  swamp — the  battle 
was  fought  on  the  fourth  of  January — 
and  the  Switzers  took  it  up  and  bore  it 
into  Nancy  for  burial.  In  that  frozen  swamp 
lay  dead  the  schemes  of  the  aspiring  house  of 
.  Burgundy ;  and  yet  in  a  certain 

Marriage  o     ggj^gg   ^j^gy    j-^gg    again    when 

mperor        Charles'     orphaned    daughter 
Frederic  III.  ,,  u        u      j    *       4.u 

Mary  gave  her  hand  to   the 

heir  of  the  house  of  Austria.  This  heir  was 
Maximilian.  The  Emperor  Frederic  III., 
who  slumbered  on  the  imperial  throne 
for  fifty-three  years  (1440-1493),  did, 
at  any  rate,  one  sensible  thing  when  he 
married,  in  1452,  the  clever  and  beautiful 
Princess  Eleonora  of  Portugal.  The  off- 
spring of  this  union,  Maximilian,  born  m 

3419 


A    GLIMPSE    OF    VENICE     IN    THE     FIFTEENTH    CENTURY 
From  the  painting  by  Jacques  Wagrez.  by  permission  of  Messrs.  Braun.  Clement  et  Cio 


3420 


THE    END    OF    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 


1459,  was  almost  the  last  of  the  knights 
errant  of  Europe,  a  versatile  and  accom- 
plished but  somewhat  unstable  prince,  a 
mighty  hunter  but  an  erratic  statesman, 
who  was  elected  king  of  the  Romans  in 
i486,  and  who,  on  the  death  of  his  father, 
obtained  the  imperial  crown. 

All  this,  however,  was  still  in  the  future, 
when,  soon  after  the  death  of  Charles  the 
Bold,  his  daughter,  beset  with  enemies  on 
every  side,  gladly  gave  her  hand  to  the 
goodly  young  knight  Maximilian,  saying  : 
"  Welcome,  thou  noble  German  blood,  how 
has  my  heart  longed  for  thee."  It  was  a 
happy  union,  too  soon  closed  by  death — 
the  young  duchess  died  in  1482 — but  it 
changed  the  fate  of  Europe,  for  the  issue 
of  this  marriage  were  two  children,  a  son 
and  a  daughter,  and  the  son,  Philip  the 
Handsome,  is  the  prince  who,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  married  Joanna,  daughter  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  thus  trans- 
mitted to  his  son  Charles  the  heirship  to  the 
crowns  of  Spain  and  the  New  World.  Let 
us  just  consider  to  what  a  height  the  house 
of  Hapsburg,  founded  by  the 
.  little  Swabian  knight  only 
two  centuries  before,  had 
now  reached.  They  owned 
the  Austrian  provinces,  Tyrol,  Styria,  Car- 
inthia,  Archducal  Austria,  etc.,  by  inherit- 
ance ;  they  had  acquired,  by  Maximilian's 
marriage  with  Mary  of  Burgundy,  the 
wealthy  and  populous  Low  Countries,  Hol- 
land and  Belgium,  together  with  Franche 
Comte — this,  which  was  called  the  County 
of  Burgundy,  escaped  for  the  time  absorp- 
tion by  France.  The  duchy  of  Burgundy 
was  successfully  assimilated  by  Louis  XL 
on  the  death  of  Charles  the  Bold. 
Spain,  too,  and  the  Indies  became  theirs 
when  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had  gone, 
and  the  child  born  at  Ghent  in  1500  had  a 
better  chance  of  being  elected  to  the 
crown  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  than 
any  of  his  contemporaries. 

Later  on — but  this  is  beyond  our 
present  horizon — Bohemia  and  Hungary 
fell  to  a  son  of  the  same  house, 
Ferdinand  of  Austria,  by  his  marriage 
with  Anne,  the  last  descendant  of  the 
house  of  Luxemburg. 

Well  might  other  European  houses  have 
looked  with  envy  and  amazement  at 
the  immense  possessions  earned  by  this 


The  Great 
Possessions 
the  H&psburgs 


simple  process  of  marriage,  a  sort  of  fortune- 
hunting  in  empires.  A  Latin  epigram  on 
the  subject  may  be  thus  translated  : 

While  other  princes  wage  their  toilsome  wars, 
Thou,  lucky  Austria,  needest  but  to  marry  ! 
Realms  which  to  others  are  the  spoils  of  Mars 
Propitious  \'enus  to  thy  sons  doth  carry. 

Truly  the  old  emperor's  five-vowel  motto 
Shadow  seemed  to  be  growing  near  to 
of  a  Comin  ^^l^lnient,  perilously  near  for  a 
StruKKle  Europe  which  might  not  wish 
to  be  altogether  the  heritage  of 
Austria.  It  was  probably  clear  to  anyone 
who,  with  statesmcmlike  vision,  surveyed 
the  political  horizon  in  the  year  1500  that 
there  was  an  inevitable  struggle  impending 
between  two  great  states.  On  the  one 
side  was  this  wide-stretching  Hapsburg 
domain,  clutching  at  France  on  her 
southern,  eastern,  and  north-eastern  bor- 
ders, ruling  a  large  part  of  Eastern  Europe, 
and  possessing,  for  whatever  it  might  be 
worth,  the  magic  title  of  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  possessing  also  territories  of 
unknown  expanse  beyond  the  Atlantic — 
truly  a  boa  constrictor  of  an  empire. 
On  the  other  side  was  France,  far 
smaller,  but  compact,  rich  in  natural 
gifts  and  strong  in  the  national  spirit, 
which  had  been  begotten  in  her  by  the 
hundred  years  of  war  with  England. 
Such  a  contest,  in  truth,  was  the  domi- 
nating factor  in  European  politics  for 
three  centuries,  strangely  complicated  and 
interfered  with  by  another  conflict  which 
was  to  be  bom  of  thoughts  already  ten- 
tatively expressed  by  the  middle-aged 
Erasmus,  but  which  had  not  yet  begun  to 
germinate  in  the  brain  of  the  "  poor 
scholar,"  Luther. 

Italy  was  to  be  the  prize  for  which  the 
two  great  powers  were  first  to  strive,  and 
the  lists  were,  in  fact,  opened  in  1494  by 
I*  I  •  r  ♦  *h^  Neapolitan  expedition  of 
in  the  Charles  VIII.,  son  of  Louis  IX. 

_  .  But  the  story  of  that  expedi- 

tion connects  itself  most  natur- 
ally with  the  Italian  wars  of  the  following 
century.  It  seems  better,  in  the  words 
of  Hallam,  "  here,  while  Italy  is  still 
untouched,  and  before  as  yet  the  first 
lances  of  France  gleam  along  the  defiles 
of  the  Alps,  to  close  the  history  of  the 
Middle  Ages." 

Thomas  Hodgkin 


?i9 


3421    ' 


3422 


^HEPEDPLES  or  WESTERN  EUROP^ 


THE    ORIGINS     OF    THE    TEUTONS 

RISE  OF  THE  GERMANIC  RACES  AND 
THE    COMING  OF    THE    BARBARIANS 


'T'HE  original  home  of  the  Indo-Germanic 
•'•  races  is  not  yet  definitely  known,  not- 
withstanding many  hypotheses  proposed 
by  experts.  The  comparative  philology 
of  these  races  provides  no  special  reason 
for  placing  it  in  Scandinavia.  While  the 
proofs  adduced  by  supporters  of  the 
theory  are  little  to  the  point,  the  history 
of  "  prehistoric  "  civilisation  can  produce 
many  contrary  arguments.  It  is  true  that 
in  their  earliest  home  the  Indo-Germanic 
races  saw  the  phenomena  of  winter,  such 
as  snow  ;  they  knew  the  beech  and  birch- 
trees,  the  wolf  and  the  bear,  but  no  animals 
belonging  definitely  to  a  southern  climate. 
It  remains  to  be  explained  how  it  was  that 
the  Indo-Germanic  tribes  left  the  wide 
continent  of  Asia  to  other  races,  and 
established  themselves  upon  a  line  to  the 
south  of  the  Black  and  Caspian  Seas 
and  of  Lake  Ural,  extending  thence  to 
India,  thus  occupying  primarily  the 
Asiatic  district  of  :  outh-east  Europe  and 
forcing  their  way  among  other  races ;  it 
must  be  explained,  again,  how  they  con- 
trived to  conquer  Europe,  and  to  drive 
back  or  to  hem  in  the  primitive  inhabitants 
_  in  possession.  Again,  lingu- 

th   Td*     *  ^^^^^   evidence  contradicts 

r.  •'  1.  .t      the  theory  of  a  northern 

Genn&nic  Tribes       .  ^,  i  i  ii_  i 

settlement,  and  the  general 

picture     of     Indo-Germanic    distribution 

points   to  some  early  centre   which  was 

situated  in  Europe  itself  and  must  be  sought 

rather  in  the  south.     But,  in  plain  terms, 

it  is  not  at  present  possible  to  claim  anything 

more  than  plausibility  for  any  particular 


Where 
the  Teutons 
Failed 


theory  which  professes  to  have  located  the 
original  cradle  of  the  Aryan  peoples. 

Among  the  Aryan  peoples,  the  Teutons 
form  a  definite  separable  group.  The 
phonetics  and  grammar  of  their  lan- 
guage and  its  vocabulary,  their  science, 
then  household  implements, 
their  mode  of  life  and  consti- 
tution, their  legal  conceptions 
and  their  religious  ideas  dis- 
play three  distinctive  facts.  In  the  first 
place,  they  were  merely  developing 
materials  which  were  the  common  property 
of  all  Indo-Germanic  tribes ;  in  the  second 
place,  they  shared  a  civilisation  always 
distinctive  of  west  Indo-Germanic  unity ; 
and,  in  the  third  place,  they  maintained 
their  old  connection  for  a  long  period  with 
the  Slavo-Lithuanians  on  the  one  side 
and.  with  the  Kelts  on  the  other,  and  it 
was  from  these  groups  that  they  broke 
away  last  of  all.  Further,  they  never 
reached  a  complete  and  self-contained 
unity,  afterwards  differentiated  by  further 
disruption.  On  the  contrary,  they  grew 
as  an  incoherent  group,  always  united 
by  a  bond  of  connection,  and  upon  oc- 
casion by  the  special  tie  of  relationship, 
but  never  attaining  complete  domestic 
uniformity,  for  the  reason  that  their 
numbers  prevented  the  rapid  acquisition 
of  any  such  ideal,  and  because  their  wide 
extension  allowed  the  old  underlying 
differences  to  revive  and  to  complete  the 
disruption  of  the  whole  group,  when 
reinforced  by  new  points  of  -difference 
developed  in   a  later  stage  of  progress. 

3423 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


These  unifying  and  differentiating  pro- 
cesses continue,  neither  gaining  the  pre- 
ponderance, throughout  the  further  stages 
of  Teutonic  history,  and  remain  to  the 
present  day  as  forces  operative  upon  the 
Teutonic  nationahty  by  way  of  opposi- 
tion and  contradiction.  As  civihsation 
increased,  other  conditions  of  difficulty 
_  „  .  were  added  to  those  of  mere 
c       .  *  ,     spatial  distance  ;     these   were 

Search  of         ^-  •,  i-.-      i  j  j 

Settlements  W^^^^^^Y  politica^,  and  made 
themselves  felt,  for  mstance, 
in  distinctions  arising  from  differences  of 
dialect  and  the  desire  to  secure  a  written 
language. 

During  the  distribution  of  the  Indo- 
Germanic  tribes  we  find  the  Kelts  ad- 
vancing from  the  south  and  west  and 
preceding  the  Teutons  and  Slavs  upon 
routes  which  had  been  unquestionably 
marked  out  from  early  antiquity.  The 
Slavs,  on  the  other  hand,  are  found  to  the 
east  of  the  Teutonic  tribes,  which  thus 
stand  between  the  two.  These  Teutons 
reached  the  sea  upon  the  shores  of  the 
Baltic,  while  the  Indo-Iranians,  the  Greeks, 
the  Illyrians,  and  the  Italians  reached  it 
upon  the  south.  We  do  not  know  how 
far  they  came  into  collision  with  the  Kelts, 
and  with  the  non-Aryan  Finnish  tribes 
lying  to  the  west  upon  the  northern  line 
of  advance.  At  any  rate,  they  reached 
the  Baltic  long  before  the  Slavs,  and 
settled  there  as  the  western  neighbours 
of  the  Finnish  group. 

The  chronology  of  this  movement  is 
entirely  unknown.  We  cannot  say  when 
the  interchange  of  civilisation  began 
which  sprang  up  between  the  Teutons  and 
the  Finns,  and  continued  until  historical 
times.  Possibly  some  more  accurate  evi- 
dence may  be  obtained  by  the  science 
of  comparative  philology.  Such  inquiries 
will  show  what  Teutonic  or  what  Finnish 
elements  were  the  earliest  or  came 
into  closest  connection.  The  Finns,  at 
any    rate,    have    retained    a   number    of 

^.  ...    ,.       Teutonic    words  in  extremely 
Civihsation  •      j.     x  j- 

,_.  ancient    form,     correspondmg 

of  Finns  ,         ^  .'    ,  -K        ,,° 

.J,  almost     precisely    with      the 

"  Primitive  Teutonic  "  which 
philologists  have  restored.  On  the  other 
hand,  this  Finnish  tendency  to  form  loan- 
words from  Teutonic  has  continued  to  a 
recent  period ;  for  instance,  the  Roman  word 
canpo,  the  innkeeper  whose  inn  was  used  as 
a  shop  by  the  simple  Teutons,  reappeared 
among  the  Finns  in  the  form  kauppias. 
Further  evidence  of  the  kind  is  the  fact 

3424 


that  about  the  period  when  Tacitus  wrote, 
and  afterwards,  the  Germans  showed  far 
more  interest  in  the  Finns  than  in  the  Slavs, 
and  Roman  authors  and  geographers 
obtained  much  information  from  them 
concerning  the  Finns.  This  information 
contained  errors  such  as  Germans  would 
make.  A  branch  of  the  Finns  called 
themselves  Quaens,  while  the  Germans 
called  them  Finns,  in  their  terminology. 
Originally,  indeed,  groups  of  peoples  had 
no  special  appellation  of  their  own.  It 
was  their  neighbours  who  felt  the  necessity 
of  discovering  and  popularising  such 
appellations.  In  this  way  such  tenns  as 
Welsh,  German,  Negro,  Indian,  Finn  have 
arisen.  The  Germans  called  these  Quaens 
by  their  own  name  Quen — the  English 
Queen — and  popular  etymology  then  ex- 
plained the  word  by  supposing  a  female 
supremacy  to  exist  among  the  Finns ;  this 
is  accepted  by  Tacitus  who  gives  full 
respect  to  all  that  he  hears,  but  himself 
makes  a  fresh  confusion  of  names.  The 
debt  owed  by  the  Teutons  to  their  inter- 
course with  the  Finns  can  probably  be 
determined  only  by  the  excavations  of  the 
p    ..  archaeologists,who  have  recently 

^.  .  discovered  a  new  mode  of 
Mines  in         .        .  ,       .  .    ^  i_ 

Sib  ria  tracing  foreign  influence  by 
comparing  the  style  and  work- 
manship of  domestic  utensils  ;  this  clue 
takes  us  back  through  the  Teutonic  north 
of  Europe  to  the  Finno-Ugrian  districts 
and  to  the  primitive  mines  of  the  Ural 
and  Siberia. 

As  3'et  we  are  not  aware  whether  the 
Teutons  reached  the  Baltic  at  the  point 
where  this  coast  turns  to  the  north  or 
to  the  south.  As  evidence  for  the  first 
supposition  we  can  hardly  regard  the 
fact  that  the  southern  Teutons  at  a  later 
period,  with  their  "  protective  cloth  ng," 
their  mode  of  house  construction,  tneir 
astonishing  powers  of  endurance,  and  many 
other  preferences  and  customs,  appear  as  a 
nation  living  much  as  the  present  inhabi- 
tants of  the  north,  standing  in  this  respect 
in  a  certain  contrast  to  those  who  lived 
upon  the  same  isothermal  lines.  There  is, 
however,  no  doubt  that  the  settlement 
of  Scandinavia  was  not  accomphshed  from 
this  point,  but  only  when  the  South-west 
Baltic  was  reached,  though  we  cannot ' 
venture  to  say  that  the  question  is  solved 
by  supposing  an  early  ignorance  of  navi- 
gation. It  has  been  shown  elsewhere 
that  the  ship  is  one  of  the  earliest  means 
of  transport  known  to  mankind-     It  is, 


THE  TEUTONS  ON  THE  MARCH 


3425 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


in  fact,  far  easier  to  travel  along  the  coasts 
and  to  cross  even  open  stretches  of  sea  in 
simple  vessels  than  to  advance  overland 
through  uncleared  forests  and  swamps 
with  cattle  and  carts.  This  is  an  ex- 
perience that  forces  itself  upon  the  notice  of 
any  traveller  who  visits  a  forest  country 
or  archipelago  washed  by  the  sea  and  not 
Th  F'  y^^  open  to  civilisation.  From 
I  K  h't*^*!  ^heir  food  it  has  certainly 
f  D  k  ^^^^     concluded     that     those 

first  inhabitants  of  Denmark, 
who  left  behind  them  the  famous  mussel 
heaps,  or  "  kitchen-middens,"  were  deep- 
sea  fishers  and  mariners.  Confirmatory 
evidence  is  afforded  by  the  boldness  with 
which  these  Germanic  tribes,  who  after- 
wards belonged  to  the  Prankish  and  Saxon 
alliances,  ravaged  during  the  first  millen- 
nium of  our  era  Britain  and  even  more 
distant  shores  and  coast  lines  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  We  know,  again,  how 
the  Vikings,  who  harassed  the  Prankish 
kingdom,  crossed  the  great  North  Sea 
upon  vessels  which  could  be  rowed  up 
rivers.  We  know  what  bold  mariners  were 
the  Goths  when  they  reached  the  Black 
Sea  in  the  third  century ;  even  bolder 
at  a  later  date  were  the  Vandals  of  Africa  ; 
while  later  again  the  Scandinavian  Warager 
(Varingjar,  Varinja,  Varanger),  who  were 
thorough  representatives  of  the  old  Teu- 
tonic civilisation,  crossed  the  Baltic  east- 
wards and  reached  the  Pinns,  travelling 
as  "  rowers."  They  journeyed  by  river  as 
far  as  the  Black  Sea,  and  even  greater 
distances,  dragging  their  ships  from  the 
Dwina  to  the  Dnieper.  There  is  no  reason 
why  the  early  Teutons  should  not  have 
borne  this  character.  Water  communica- 
tion wherever  it  exists  is  readily  used,  and 
a  civilisation  speedily  arises  astonishing  in 
its  complexity.  The  collections  of  anti- 
quities from  Stralsund,  Schwerin,  Kiel, 
Copenhagen  and  Stockholm  display  a 
civilisation  with  which  no  inland  culture 
could  compare.  The  similar  impression  of 
„    . .  ,    .      an  earlv  settlement  relatively 

Prehistoric         i  'j        j  j       iu     j. 

„         .  ,        close  and  endowed  with  strong 
Memorials  •.    i-.        •      r  j 

on  the  Baltic  vitality  IS  forced  upon  any- 
one who  makes  a  personal 
acquaintance  with  the  coast  lands  and 
islands  of  the  Baltic  ;  the  old  and  remark- 
able prehistoric  memorials  and  remains 
which  are  to  be  found  around  this  sea 
far  surpass  anything  of  the  kind  upon  the 
mainland.  Their  dispersion  over  the  exten- 
sive districts  of  the  Baltic  produced  an  el^ect 
upon  the  Teutons  corresponding  to  that 
3426 


of  the  Indo-Germanic  dispersion.  Local 
communication,  which  would  have  favoured 
the  process  of  unification,  was  replaced 
by  disintegrating  influences  ;  a  unity  that 
was  never  uniform,  but  in  course  of 
transition,  began  to  break  into  subordinate 
groups.  These  were  not  formed  instan- 
taneously, but  they  began  to  arise,  and  we 
can  speak  of  north  Teutons  and  south 
Teutons.  The  latter  are  fundamentally 
identical  with  the  so-called  west  Teutons, 
and  these  we  know  to  be  the  same  as 
the  Germans. 

To  the  north  Teutons  belong  the  modern 
Scandinavian  tribes,  where  they  are 
not  of  Pinnish  or  Lappish  origin,  and  the 
Danes,  whose  early  settlements  were 
also  upon  the  southern  portion  of  the 
Scandinavian  peninsula.  At  the  dawn  of 
history  the  southern  Germans  are  to  be 
found  upon  the  south  coast  of  the  Baltic, 
both  in  Mecklenburg,  in  West  Pomerania, 
and  further  south,  and  also  upon  the 
peninsula  of  Schleswig-Holstein  and 
Jutland,  which  for  simplicity  will  hence- 
forth be  referred  to  as  Jutland.  The  tradi- 
tions of  the  peoples  themselves  must  be 
K  It  A  accepted  as  evidence  with  the 
-,  greatest  caution,  and  certainly 

J,  .  . .  cannot  be  regarded  as  providing 

^  *"^  proof  upon  problems  of  such 
remote  antiquity.  At  the  same  time,  the 
powers  of  memory  in  nations  which  poss- 
essed no  writing  have  been  proved  to  be 
remarkable  ;  in  their  simple  poems,  com- 
posed under  the  reverent  and  critical 
examination  of  the  whole  community, 
they  created  "  annals  "  for  themselves,  as 
Tacitus  calls  them,  and  we  may  therefore 
refer  to  the  fact  that  the  south  Teutons, 
in  contrast  to  their  related  tribes,  know 
nothing  of  any  sudden  change  of  abode  ; 
as  Tacitus  learnt,  they  regarded  them- 
selves as  indigenous,  the  fact  would  be 
true  if  the  original  home  of  the  Indo- 
Germanic  tribes  was  actually  about  the 
Baltic  and  the  North  Sea ;  and  they 
certainly  were  native  to  the  soil  in  so  far  as 
they  did  not  pass  the  Baltic. 

Teutonic  borrowings  from  the  Kelts 
are  obvious.  The  Kelts  were  early 
neighbours  of  the  Teutons  ;  they  had  re- 
tained their  sympathy  with  Mediterranean 
culture,  and  especially  with  the  Italians, 
and  had  advanced  to  the  North  Sea  at 
an  early  period  from  the  other  side. 
In  the  case  of  the  many  points  of  lin- 
guistic contact  between  the  Kelts  and  the 
Teutons,    we    must    naturally    separate 


THE    ORIGINS    OF    THE    TEUTONS 


those  elements  which  are  due  to  common 
association  in  late  Indo-Germanic  times, 
and  the  borrowings  of  a  later  period,  when 
the  Germans  came  into  contact  with  the 
Kelts  in  a  second  intimacy,  and  with 
newly  acquired  wishes  for  civilisation. 
Naturally  the  absence  of  any  permanent 
geographical  division  from  the  neighbour- 
ing settlers,  and  German  desire  for  instruc- 
tion and  capacity  to  learn,  both  perhaps 
acting  as  alternate  influences,  made  this 
nation  especially  inclined  from  the  outset 
to  borrow  from  others.  The  Kelts  thus 
first  acted  as  the  tutors  of  the  Germans, 
and  this  to  a  remarkable  extent,  until  the 
Romans  relieved  them  of  the  task  ;  the 
Germans  then  transmitted  part  of  these 
acquisitions  to  the  remaining  Teutonic 
tribes,  and  also  to  the  Slavo-Lithuanians. 

Among  a  large  number  of  borrowings 
from  Keltish  etymology  were  many  terms 
dealing  with  war  and  settlement,  and 
especially  with  means  of  transport,  also 
the  word  "  riks "  =  "  commander." 
The  Germans,  indeed,  as  a  result  of  their 
peculiar  political  system,  made  no  proper 
use  of  the  term  ;  but  the  word  became 
H      th  popular  as  an  element  in  the 

gV    n  G  t  P^OP^'*  names  of  distinguished 

Tk  •   Ki  people  ;   for  instance.  Boiorix 

Their  N&mes  ^      ^      '   ,        „.     ,     .    /, ,       \    . 

among  the  Cimbri   (the  later 

termination  "-rich ' '  in  Friedrich  or  Frederic, 
etc.,  is  the  same).  Teutonic  name-form- 
ations of  various  kinds  point  to  close 
connection  with  these  recently  discovered 
Keltic  sources.  At  a  later  period  we 
find  names  like  Flavins,  Claudius,  Civilis, 
Serapion ;  at  the  time  of  the  Hunnish 
supremacy  we  find  Hunwulf,  Hunigais, 
with  other  similar  borrowings  throughout 
German  history  to  the  time  of  Jean,  Louis, 
Henry  and  Harry,  wherever  foreign 
fashion  overmastered  the  Teutons ; 
similarly,  in  the  earliest  period,  we  find  the 
formation  of  proper  names  under  Keltic 
influence.  From  time  to  time,  however, 
the  Germans  were  obliged  to  find  names 
for  larger  or  smaller  groups  of  people  ;  at 
a  later  period  they  do  not  disdain  to 
borrow  from  vulgar  Latin — for  instance, 
Ribuarii,  Ripuarii,  afterwards  Germanised 
as  Reiffer  and  Reifferscheid.  So,  on 
the  Teutonic  side,  we  can  show  phonetic 
similarity  or  parallel  formation  between 
Gaulish  and  German  tribal  names.  Such 
instances  as  Brigantes  and  Burgundians, 
both  appellations  of  a  mountaineering 
people,  explain  the  fact,  though  such 
cases    may    again    be    due    to    chance. 


The  Teutons  received  but   few  elements 

of  civilisation  from  the  Lithuanian  group 

during    their    immediate    neighbourhood, 

and  equally  little  from  the  Slavs  when  these 

latter   gradually   advanced   to   their   im 

mediate    frontiers.     On   the   other   hand, 

Lithuanians  and  Slavs  received  much  from 

the  Teutons.     Their  relationship  is  analo- 

j  _  -  gous  to   that   of  the  Teutons 

-,  and  Kelts.  Among  other  things 

~-  .k-  «i       they  gained  from  the  Teutons 

on  the  alavs         •'<-'.  ,         ,,        .  ,  . 

expressions    for    the   idea   of 

lordship,  and  received  the  Keltic  term 
"  riks  "  and  the  Teutonic  "  -wait  "  and 
"  kuningass."  "  Kuningass  "  became  the 
Lithuanian  "  kuningas,"  and  was  used 
as  a  distinctive  title  of  superiority,  which 
was  applied  to  the  priest  at  a  later  date  ; 
in  Slavonic  this  latter  form  was  reduced 
to  "  kuas  "  and  "  kneese."  Eventually 
"  karol{us)"  also  became  "  kral  "  and 
"  kroU  "  ("  kruU  ").  The  Slavonic  method 
of  forming  proper  names  was  also  in- 
fluenced by  Teutonic  methods  ;  "  vladi- 
mir "  corresponds  exactly  with  the 
"  wait-  "  and  "  -mero  "  of  Teutonic  names, 
and  "-mero  "  (Segimer,  Sigmar,  Ingwio- 
mer,  etc.)  appears  to  correspond  with  the 
frequent  Keltic  termination  "  -marus," 
used  in  proper  names.  Finally,  the 
Slavo-Lithuanians  received  from  the 
Teutons  a  considerable  number  of  ex- 
pressions dealing  with  intercommunication 
and  economic  facts. 

Between  the  south  Germans,  next  to  the 
Kelts  and  the  Slavo-Lithuanians,  were 
settled  for  some  time,  apart  from  the 
Finnish  peoples,  another  branch  of  the 
Teutonic  group — namely,  the  east  Teutons. 
The  name  has  been  chosen  by  philologists, 
whose  researches  are  founded  upon  the 
Gothic  translation  of  the  Bible  by  Ulfilas, 
other  literary  works  of  an  ecclesiastical 
nature,  a  few  inscriptions  upon  domestic 
articles,  some  scattered  words  in  Latin 
texts,  and  numerous  proper  names  be- 
longing to  kindred  nationalities.  These 
latter  lost  their  original  char- 
acteristics or  disappeared  at  an 
earlier  or  later  date.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  we  hear  of 
the  last  east  Teutons — namely,  the  Crimean 
Goths.  Philology  regards  as  east  Teutons 
those  Teutons  of  the  mainland  who  were 
linguistically  more  nearly  related  to  the 
Scandinavians  than  to  the  Germans.  At 
the  same  time  the  east  Teutons  on  the 
continent  lost  all  sense  of  connection  with 
their     northern     relatives,     and    either 

3427 


Gothic 
Transl&tioB 
of  the  Bible 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


developed  independently,  or  under  the  communities  ;  they  are  thus  emigrants  in 
strong  influence  of  the  west  Teutons.  On  the  true  sense  of  the  term,  seeking  wider 
philological  grounds,  east  Teutons  include  and  fairer  districts  than  the  rocky  forest- 
the  Goths,  together  with  the  Gepids,  land  of  Sweden  could  offer.  So  far  as  we 
Rugians,  Skires,  Vandals,  Burgundians,  possess  their  native  legends,  we  find 
Herulians,  and  perhaps  some  earlier  ethno-  mention  of  this  emigration  from  Scandi- 
graphical  unities.  The  pioneer  work  of  navia,  which  is  thus  a  useful  confirmation 
Julius   Ficker   has    thrown  of  existing  evidence, 

light  upon  these  problems     ^>m[hm^  /t^^Hk.         Upon  the  question  as  to 

from  the  side  of  comparative       ^3f  ^S^®    the   manner  in  which   the 

jurisprudence — amorevalu-         3  I  emigration  was  performed, 

able,  because  a  more  conser-  a  H  we  have  evidence  at  hand 

vativesourceof  information.      ^^^^  i        q.     Wj^p.  both  for   a   maritime   and 

A    comparison     of     the     ^wa3^         il        (.ae;^  ^^  for  a  land  route.     General 
common    elements   in    the     ^  ^§  ^        il  '^         experience   of    other  cases 

earliest    legal     codes     has         'Q^  JM  ^         would  lead  us  to  conclude 

shown    that,     besides    the  i|li  j|M  .  ~         that  the  ship  was  the  more 

Goths    and     Burgundians,  w'lj  /I'B  :  usual  means  of    transport, 

the  Lombards  and  Frisians         \-  I,  MB  ^  -^t  the  same  time  there  is 

possessed  a  system  of  tribal         ^r  MB  ^^    doubt    that    the    land 

law  closely  related  to  that         '  r  MB^  route   through  the  Danish 

of     the     north     Teutons.        'if^       j^BB  islands   and   through    Jut- 

Where  the  sciences  of  phil-        ^K)       Imr-WBk  land  also  played  some  part, 

ology  and  comparative  law        fiM       Im^'BB  8  This  question  concerns  us 

proceed    side    by    side   in  H        ^  ^^a  '  I        ^^  ^^^   ^^^^  ^^  *^^  Goths, 

this   matter,   they  support  m       ^M  ^V  ',  |        whose  recollections  of  Scan- 

one  another   entirely,   and  |1         ww^  i        dinavia   are    preserved    by 

no  contradictory  points  are         s||  \J^  •  [l        their  historian  J ordanes  in 

apparent.     It  must  only  be         rlj  WM  |         the  sixth  century  A.D.,  who 

remembered  that   the   lin-         ^|J  Fm  '  I        used  earlier  Gothic  narra- 

guistic  development  of  the         IH  |  B  'I        tives ;  and  also  in  the  work 

groups  proceeds  upon  geo-         ^m  I  I  I        of  Cassiodorus  the  Senator, 

graphical  principles  and  not         PB  r  ■  I         the  chancellor  and  chroni- 

according  to  "genealogical         i    j  tB  j         cler  of  Theoderic  the  Great, 

relationship,"      which     for         li  %«Jp  I         The  name  which  was  origi- 

historical  purposes  is  prac-  jlf  I         nally  spelled  "  Gutans "  is 

tically  useless.  lyl  ■  ^         preserved   in    the    modern 

If  at  the  present  day  we      /^l^'^  *v!/  Gotarike,  found  in  the  ex- 

carefully  consider  as  a  whole      (£  ji  tensive  districts  to  the  south 

the  legal,  philological,  geo-      ^^^  of   the   old   Swedish  terri- 

graphical  and  literary  evi-  tories  and  in  the  name  of 

dence,  and  any  other  points  German  weapons  of  war  the  island  of  Gothland, 
of  the  kind,  no  doubt  can  These  ancient  instruments  of  warfare  At  the  time  when  the 
be  felt  as  to  the  origin  of  were  in  use  by  the  Teutons  in  their  early  Roman       narrative      was 

.,  J  T^      i  T^-L  struggles,    and    are    of    great    historic         ...  .,  .  . 

the  east  Teutons.  They  are  interest.  The  first  is  a  long  iron  sword  written  the  emigrant  east 
emigrants  from  Scandinavia,  with  heavy  handle,  encased  in  an  orna-  Tcutouic  Goths  Were  settled 


who    settled  upon    the  con-    mented  sheath  of  brass  or  bronze.    The  on    the   COaSt   of   the   COUti- 

tinent.  They  broke  away  L^^t^e'seconre^r^e,' whne%'hrt*h^^^^^  nent  in  the  Baltic  districts 
from  the  north  Teutons,  and,  that  of  an  iron  sword,  with  Runic  in-  of  the  Vistula  and  about 
in  fact,  are  nothing  more  scription,  belonging  to  a  somewhat  later  Gutalus.  The  legal  code 
than  the  early  Vikings,  who  pe"od  than  the  other  two  weapons  shown.  ^^   Gothland   and  that    of 

went  out  as  colonists  in  historical  times,  Gotarike  in  later  centuries  display  some 
attempted  to  establish  themselves,  and  points  of  resemblance  ;  the  same  may  be 
while   they   succeeded    in   some  districts      said  of  the  mediaeval  Spanish  legal  codes, 

which    are   fundamentally   west    Gothic. 


they  were  driven  back  in  others. 

A  certain  number  at  least  of  these  old  east 
Teutons  are  by  no  means  a  nation  which 
emigrated  as  a  whole,  but  represent  discon- 
tented fragments  broken  away  from  original 

3428 


J  ordanes  mentions  the  Greutungs,  who 
formed  one  section  of  the  historical  Ostro- 
goths, and  were  also  included  among  the 
Scandinavian  peoples  as  Greotingi.  Double 


THE    ORIGINS    OF    THE    TEUTONS 


appellations  of  this  kind  are  by  no  means 
uncommon  among  the  eastern  and  northern 
Teutons. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  Goths  reached 
the    mainland    in    part    by   crossing   the 
Baltic.     Evidence,  however,  of  somewhat 
doubtful  value — it  is,  indeed,  our  earliest 
reference    to    the   Teutons — points   to    a 
more  complicated  route.     At  the  time  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  Pytheas  of  Massilia, 
the  tin  merchant  and  navigator,  reached 
the    "  Gulf   of    Ocean,"  near  the  amber 
island   Abalos,   upon   his  famous  voyage 
to     the     north,    and     encountered     the 
Gutones ;     this   name   would   correspond 
with  the  Gutans,  if  the  emendation  be 
correct.     Pliny's   manuscript,   which   has 
alone   preserved   to   us   the   accounts   of 
Pytheas,  has  the  word  "  Guiones."     The 
island  of  Abalos  is  most  probably  to  be 
sought  on  the  north  coast  of  Frisia,  where 
much  amber  was 
found;    the 
soldiers  of    Ger- 
man i  c  u  s     also 
knew  of  an  amber 
island     in     that 
part,    known    as 
Glaesaria      or 
Austeravia,     the 
east  island.  Both 
of  these  are  Teu- 
tonic words.  The 
Romans  changed 
the  Teutonic  for  household  utensils  of  the  teutons 

amber    mtO    glcB-    The  use  of  these  articles  is  obvious  at  a  glance.    Both  vessels  were 

SUfn     and   Uviu   is    '***''  '<"'  drinking  purposes,  the  one  being  a  glass  goblet   and  the    them 

+hp    n\r\    (^prman    "*'**''  *  k'^ss  drinking  horn,  while  the  middle  object  is  a  toilet  comb. 


au,  the  connotation  of  which  was  eventu- 
ally limited  by  a  loan  word  for  "  island." 
Hence  the  "  Gulf  of  Ocean "  must  be 
that  off  the  Elbe,  and  the  narrator  Pytheas 
must  have  found  the  Goths  after  their 
migration  to  the  continent.  The  west 
Teutons,  who  were  defending  their  settle- 
ments, must  have  left  the  Goths  in  peace, 
for  the  moment,  upon  their  east  side. 

The  Rugi  once  occupied  Riigen,  and 
gave  it  this  name.  Perhaps  it  was  in 
consequence  of  their  stay  in  that  island 
that,  as  Jordanes  tells  us,  they  bore  the 
name  Holm-Riigen.  Holm  is  a  northern 
word  for  island.  Jordanes  also  speaks 
of  Etelrugi  instead  of  Ethelrugi,  which 
is  the  form  we  should  expect ;  the  phonetic 
spelling  of  names  by  Jordanes  in  the 
manuscript  of  his  work  is  of  no  philo- 
logical value.  In  Scandinavia  are  to  be 
found  Rygir  and  Holmrygir.     The  Rugi 


also  shared  in  the  historical  settlement  of 
Britain,  and  the  record  has  been  preserved 
to  us  in  the  name  of  "  Surrey."  Gothic 
tradition  tells  us  that  the  Goths  came  into 
conflict  with  the  Holm-Riigen  in  the  course 
of  their  settlement  upon  the  mainland  ; 
the  scene  of  the  struggle  must  be  sought 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Oder. 

The  earlier  history  of  the  Vandals  is 
even  more  obscure.  The  various  phonetic 
spellings  of  their  name  by  the  Romans 
and  Greeks  show  that  the  accent  must 
have  been  on  the  first  syllable.  About  the 
year  loo  a.d.  they  were  settled  to  the 
north,  between  the  Elbe  and  the  Vistula, 
and  thence  advanced  by  the  line  of  the 
Oder. 

The  name  "  Burgundians "  implies 
mountain  inhabitants.  Burg,  a  secondary 
form  of  Berg,  first  attained  this  connota- 
tion at  a  later  period,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  Teutonic 
art  of  fortifica- 
tion clung  to  the 
old  methods  of 
retirement  to  the 
mountains  for 
purposes  of  de- 
fence. Hence  we 
cannot  be  sur- 
prised  at  the 
word  "  Teuto- 
burg"  for  a 
mountain  range. 
The  Burgundians 
have  left  behind 
the  names 
o  f  Borgundar- 
holm  and  Bornholm  in  memory  of  their 
former  geographical  position.  At  a  later 
period  they  were  settled  upon  the  Vistula 
and  in  the  district  of  the  Netze  to  the 
south  of  the  Goths,  where  their  character 
as  mountaineers  could  no  longer  be 
preserved. 

The  Herulians  followed  the  remaining 
east  Teutons  at  a  comparatively  late 
date,  for  the  reason  that  they  were  driven 
out  by  the  Danes  in  Scandinavia.  Of 
the  continental  Teutons  they  remained  the 
most  original,  by  the  preservation  of 
their  old  customs  and  by  the  bold,  defiant 
childishness  of  their  national  character. 
Legend  or  popular  tradition  is  wanting 
in  their  case,  as  in  those  of  the  Rugi, 
the  Vandals,  and  the  Burgundians  ;  there 
are,  however,  several  signs  that  their 
Scandinavian  recollections  were  preserved. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  migratory^  period 

3429 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


they  were  involved  in  the  troubles  of 
their  neighbours  and  reduced  to  an 
unsettled,  wandering  life.  Part  of  them 
eventually  reached  the  North  Sea,  crossing 
a  mountainous  country,  and  thence 
travelled  to  Scandinavia,  where  in  the 
modern  Sweden  they  found  a  hospitable 
reception  at  the  hands  of  the  Gotes.  We 
„  have  several  pieces  of  evidence 

cru  lans      ^^^^  ^^     reserved  their  right  to 
Find  a  Home       ,  •'  ,,     .         •        i.- 

.    g      .  return  m  case  their  migration 

should  prove  fruitless,  and  that 
the  despatch  of  successive  parties  was 
continued  as  a  regular  arrangement. 
Thus  the  Vandals,  at  the  time  when  their 
African  kingdom  was  flourishing,  did  not 
permit  their  compatriots  who  had  been 
left  'jehinj  in  Pannonia  to  occupy  the 
districts  reserved  for  the  emigrants  in  the 
event  of  their  return. 

It  would  be  bad  criticism  to  regard  the 
somewhat  meagre  traditions  of  the  Lom- 
bards as  unworthy  of  critical  examination. 
According  to  these  traditions  they  re- 
garded themselves  as  a  third  part  of  the 
people  of  the  Winiles^"the  warriors"  or 
"the  battle-loving" — of  Scandinavia. 
Their  legal  code  most  nearly  resembles 
those  of  the  Frisians  and  the  Saxons — 
that  is,  the  isolated  group  known  to 
philologists  as  Anglo-Frisians,  who  form 
the  connecting  link  between  the  south  and 
the  north  Teutons,  who  had  advanced  to 
the  north  at  an  early  date.  During  the 
first  century  a.d.  we  find  a  people  settled 
on  the  banks  of  the  Lower  Elbe  under  the 
name  of  the  Bards  or  Langobards,  thus 
named  from  the  battle-axe  with  which 
they  were  armed.  Velleius  Paterculus 
said  that  "  they  even  surpass  the  usual 
Teutonic  ferocity,"  and  Tacitus  observes 
that  "  they  are  respected  for  their  scanty 
numbers,  as  they  can  make  head  in  battle 
against  far  stronger  neighbours."  About 
the  year  165  they  left  their  homes  and 
migrated  to  Pomerania ;  thence,  about 
200,  they  crossed  to  the  right  bank  of  the 
.  Vistula,   which  the  Goths  had 

*""*  already  abandoned,  and  en- 
...  tered  the  district  of  Galinden. 
About  380  they  proceeded 
through  the  district  of  the  Lithuanian 
Jatwinges  to  the  land  of  the  Antes  north 
of  the  Carpathians.  Had  no  Lombard 
elements  remained  upon  the  Lower  Elbe — 
they  were  afterwards  amalgamated  with 
the  Saxons — there  would  probably  have 
been  no  local  names  compounded  with 
Barden,  and  certainly  no  Bardengau  in  the 

3430 


Elbe  district  about  Bardowieck.  To 
sum  up,  east  Teutons,  in  the  general 
sense  of  the  term,  were  therefore  the 
Goths,  the  Gepids,  the  Rugi,  the  Skiri, 
the  Vandals,  and  the  Burgundians.  That 
they  and  the  west  Goths  were  conscious 
of  any  fundamental  difference  between 
these  groups  is  impossible.  The  political 
and  ethnographical  ideas  of  the  old 
Teutons  were  extremely  simple  ;  they  were 
narrow,  and  yet  open-hearted.  That  the 
east  Teutons  were  ready  to  learn  from  the 
west  Teutons  was  a  possibility  not  pre- 
vented by  any  admitted  opposition  between 
the  two  groups,  but  not  necessarily  for- 
warded by  any  feeling  of  relationship.  The 
civilisation  handed  on  by  the  Germans 
to  the  east  Teutons  is  in  no  way  different 
from  that  given  to  the  Finnish  peoples 
and  afterwards  to  the  Slavo-Lithuanians. 
At  an  early  period  the  Frisians  arrived 
at  the  sea  by  that  westerly  path  which 
was  afterwards  closed  to  the  Lombards. 
It  was  not  until  a  later  date  that  they 
extended  eastward  and  northward  to  their 
near  relatives,  the  Angles  and  the  Jutes, 
chiefly  upon  the  islands  of  the  North  Sea. 
-  Their  exclusive  connection  with 

nh"  *    ^^^    south     Teutons     produced 
g  similarity    between    their     lan- 

guage and  the  dialect  of  that 
branch,  and  since  the  discovery  of  Frisian 
linguistic  memorials  a  steady  absorption  of 
the  Frisian  by  the  Low  German  dialect 
has  been  observed.  In  other  words,  the 
Frisians  became  part  of  the  west  Teutons, 
or  Germans,  in  consequence  of  that  course 
of  linguistic  and  political  development 
which  they  pursued. 

The  Saxons,  who  also  took  their  name 
from  their  favourite  weapon,  preserved 
legends  relating  to  the  arrival  of  their 
earliest  ancestors  upon  the  continent, 
which  must  be  considered  in  connection 
with  the  Anglo-Frisian  position,  which 
they  shared,  as  intermediary  between  the 
south  and  north  Teutons.  Though  the 
Saxons  were  not  west  Teutons  from  the 
outset,  they  entered  the  west  Teutonic, 
group  at  a  comparatively  early  date,  and 
helped  towards  the  foundation  of  a  special 
German  nationality.  With  the  south  Teu- 
tons of  modern  North  Germany  they  formed 
that  permanent  confederation  to  which  they 
have  given  their  name  ;  this  confederacy 
again  was  subjugated  to  the  Prankish 
monarchy,  while  the  empire  exercised  an 
increasing  influence  upon  the  solidarity  of 
the  Saxons,  as  upon  the  Frisians. 


WESTERN 

EUROPE   IN 

THE  MIDDLE 

AGES 


THE  PEOPLES 

OF  WESTERN 

EUROPE 

II 


THE  RISING  TIDE  OF  TEUTON  POWER 

AND    ROME'S    VAIN    ATTEMPT    TO    STAY    IT 


DEFORE  Romans  or  Teutons  learned 
^  anything  of  one  another  the  Germans 
had  been  borrowing  civiHsation  from  the 
Kelts,  upon  whom  they  pressed  with  slow 
but  irresistible  expansion.  Unfortunately, 
no  Keltic  Livy  or  Tacitus  has  written  a 
history  of  these  events.  The  sources  of 
our  knowledge  lie  hidden  in  language,  in 
geographical  names,  or  in  the  specimens 
of  archaeological  collections  ;  at  the  same 
time,  we  cannot  always  share  the  con- 
fidence of  those  who  explain  these  me- 
morials. Only  when  the  movement 
happens  to  touch  some  nerve  in  the  old 
Mediterranean  civilisation  does  the  light 
of  literature  flame  up  and  illumine  some 
fragments  of  the  advancing  Teutonic  band, 
or  of  its  pioneers  and  scouts.  Then  these 
fleeting  events  are  again  shrouded  in  the 
prevailing  obscurity.  Until  the  time  of 
Caesar  we  have  only  scattered  notices  of 
the  general  migratory  movements  of  the 
Teutons,  and  chance  fragments  or  poems 
pointing  to  place  and  time.  Such  a  frag- 
mentary record  may  be  found  in  the 
report  of  Pytheas,  and  we  may  thence 
conclude  that  the  western  Germans  of  the 
Teutonic  advance  had  reached  the  mouth 
of  the  Rhine  about  30  B.C.  The  next 
mark  of  this  concentric  expansion  is  to  be 
found  on  the  south  side  ;  after  200  B.C. 
the  Bastarnae,  indisputably  a  Germanic 
tribe,  had  reached  the  Carpathians,  and 
_  part  of  them  were  taken  into 

„.    _,   "    "   the  service  of  the  Macedonian 
Hired  to  I  ■  -I-  ■      ^ 

p.  .    „  kmgs    as    auxiliaries   against 

ig  ome  j^Qj^g  The  next  phenomenon 
related  by  Roman  contemporaries  is  the 
advance  of  the  Cimbri.  Then  comes 
Ariovistus. 

Of  this  great  advance  against  the 
Keltic  nationality,  shrouded  in  darkness 
as  it  is,  we  may  at  least  say  this  :  where 
the  Teutons  found  good  arable  land  they 
advanced  with  steady  determination  and 
left  no  room  for  the  previous  inhabitants 
except  for  those  subjugated  members  who 
were  bound  to  pay  tribute.    The  central 


mountain  district  of  Germany  attracted 
them  neither  to  form  definite  settlements 
nor  to  enter  on  a  serious  struggle  ;  they 
attempted  to  move  onward.  Hence,  we 
may  explain  the  wide  wanderings  of  such 
tribes.  Their  household  goods  and  pro- 
perty, animate  or  inanimate,  were  carried 
with  them,  and  their  one  desire  was  to 
secure  a  permanent  settlement  upon  good 
arable  ground  ;  this  was  an  indispensable 
condition.  Hence,  too,  we  may  explain 
«,  the    unusual    characteristics   of 

.*.  that  portion  of  the  Suevi  who 
Q  advanced  from  the  east.     Caesar 

describes  them  as  undecided, 
supporting  themselves  with  great  diffi- 
culty, and  going  back  to  an  earlier  form  of 
communism.  Thus  advancing  from  the 
mountain  lands  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  they  disturbed  the  population  in 
the  neighbourhood,  and  made  no  difficulty 
in  retiring  before  Caesar's  two  advances 
across  the  line.  The  case  was  otherwise 
in  the  year  16  a.d.  with  the  Cherusci,  who 
conceived,  though  they  did  not  execute, 
the  idea  of  evacuating  the  country  and 
retiring  beyond  the  Elbe,  only  after  they 
had  suffered  a  military  defeat. 

The  details  of  this  great  and  general 
movement  are  manifold.  Sometimes  a 
few  emigrants  separate  from  their  com- 
patriots. At  other  times  whole  popula- 
tions or  federated  populations  set  forth 
voluntarily ;  this  latter  is  the  rarer  case, 
and  was  due  to  the  compulsion  of  war 
and  not  to  want  of  land.  While  some 
went  abroad  to  seek  their  fortunes,  others, 
if  they  felt  themselves  strong,  attempted 
to  found  a  settlement  at  their  neighbour's 
expense. 

Either  they  conquer,  and  the  tribes  they 
expel  are  forced  to  emigrate,  or  they  are 
driven  back  by  the  peoples  they  menace, 
who  defend  themselves  in  isolation  or  in 
alliance  until  the  attempt  is  given  up  or  the 
assailants  are  annihilated,  as  were  the 
Ambsivari.  The  general  result  of  these  in- 
dividual movements,  which  are  repeated  at 

3431 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


many  points,  and  continually  disturb  the 
settled  populations,  is  the  map  of  the  Teuton 
peoples  as  depicted  by  the  Roman  geo- 
graphers and  by  Tacitus.  Any  attempt  to 
form  from  their  description  an  accurate  pic- 
ture of  the  distribution  of  the  prehistoric 
groups  must  be  given  up  as  practically 
hopeless.  The  confusion  and  interconnec- 
-.  tion  of  the  German  tribes  is  ex- 

f  th  '"^^      traordinarily  complex,  and  all 
~,  ..  attempts    to    arrange   chrono- 

logical tables  will  end  at  least 
a  decade  out  of  date.  The  method  of 
grouping  upon  the  basis  of  Ingwaones,  the 
Istvvaones,  and  Erminones  as  the  "  old 
tribes,"  which  has  recently  been  revived, 
must  be  abandoned.  It  is  ethnologically 
valueless,  and  it  is  useful  only  as  showing 
the  legendary  connection  between  nations, 
based  as  it  is  upon  those  early  yearnings 
for  legends  of  primeval  origin  which  are 
manifest  in  all  nations  who  think  them- 
selves of  any  account.  The  German  tribes 
do  not  descend,  but  are  formed  in  the 
course  of  history,  are  brought  together  by 
the  stress  of  political  circumstances,  and 
then  attempt  to  secure  a  unity  by  mutual 
accommodation. 

Anyone  who  wishes  to  examine  the 
recent,  and  therefore  more  intelligible, 
evidence  may  consider  the  people  of  Wiir- 
temberg,  or  of  the  Netherlands,  who  have 
b'.oken  away  from  their  old  nationalities 
and  have  become  fresh  unities  by  the 
amalgamation  of  very  different  elements  : 
or  the  Bavarians  of  modern  Bavaria, 
who  are  in  the  course  of  this  development. 
At  a  previous  date  the  Germans  who 
migrated  eastward  beyond  the  Elbe, 
though  of  most  varied  origin,  thus  coalesced 
in  the  districts  of  the  Mark,  Silesia,  Meck- 
lenburg, Pomerania,  and  Prussia.  Long 
before  came  the  Anglo-Saxons ;  before 
them  again  the  Saxons,  the  Franks, 
Alamanni,  Baioarii ;  before  them  again  the 
Belgae  and  others.  In  later  periods  foreign 
oppression,  dynastic  policy,  and  deliberate 
aUiances    have    done  much    to 


.    ^  ..    ,    accelerate   such  amalgamations 
in  Tribal     -  ° 

Unions 


In  their  historical  periods  the 
Germans  are  seen  with  no  special 
political  or  ethnical  appellation  other  than 
those  which  belong  to  their  component 
nationalities,  or  to  their  transitory  and 
often  fortuitous  and  fragile  federations  for 
political  purposes.  The  nationality  is 
the  final  great  conception  of  unity,  known 
as  the  "  folk,"  or  "  diet."  With  this  alone  is 
connected  the  idea  of  a  common  language, 

3432 


and  of  mutual  understanding  in  habitual 
association.  When  fragments  of  this 
nationality  emigrate,  in  certain  cases  they 
retain  the  name  of  their  parent  stock 
throughout  their  wanderings,  as  is  the  case 
with  the  Goths  or  the  Cimbri,  or  the 
Charudes,  who  came  from  the  peninsula 
of  Jutland  to  Ariovistus.  If  they  become 
newly  settled  in  an  independent  unity, 
they  generally  assume  fresh  titles,  such 
as  were  taken  by  the  Lombards,  who  were 
offshoots  of  the  Winiles,  and  by  the 
Batavi.  These  were  members  of  the  Chatti, 
who  reached  the  great  river  island  (Au, 
Ava)  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Waal 
during  the  general  movements  before 
Caesar's  period,  and  settled  there. 

From  this  island,  the  Bat-Au,  the  modem 
Betuwe,  they  called  themselves  Batavi, 
although  they  retained  the  ancestral 
nomenclature  when  afterwards  providing 
names  for  individual  settlements  in  their 
territory  ;  these  names  thus  begin  with 
"  kat."  Their  legal  code  is  also  that  of 
the  Chatti.  But  the  two  peoples  ceased 
to  hold  intercourse  ;  the  Chatti  shared  in 
the  phonetic  shifting  of  the  second  High- 
German  transition,  whUe  the 
Q.  '  ^  Batavi  retain  their  older  phone- 
-  jj  tic  system  even  to  the  present 

day,  as  in  the  name  Katwijk. 
In  this  later  process  of  name-giving, 
changing  geographical  conditions  play  an 
important  part  ;  we  may  mention  only 
the  further  examples  of  the  Ambsivari, 
who  took  their  name  from  the  Ems,  or 
of  the  Sigambri  on  the  Sieg,  river  names 
which  are  older  and  of  Keltic  origin.  These 
local  appellations  come  into  general  use 
only  when  a  settlement  has  determined 
upon  permanent  residence.  While  Caesar's 
Suevi  were  wandering  vaguely  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Rhine,  or  Ariovistus  was 
attempting  to  found  a  supremacy  on  the 
Upper  Rhine  and  in  Gaul  with  fragments 
of  the  Suevi  and  other  adherents,  in- 
dividual tribal  names  lost  their  material 
character  and  were  all,  or  chiefly,  absorbed 
in  the  great  and  famous  federation  of  the 
Suevi  in  the  districts  upon  the  Elbe  and 
Havel ;  all  these  people  called  themselves 
and  were  called  Suevi.  But  when  the  iron 
girdle  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  of  Roman 
policy  forced  the  Suevi  to  abandon  their 
advance,  to  leave  their  neighbours  in 
peace,  and  to  settle  perforce  in  the  hill 
country  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine, 
we  meet  with  their  separate  tribal  names 
in  place  of  the  general  term   "  Suevi." 


THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    TEUTON    POWER 


While  the  Cimbri  were  migrating,  we  hear 
of  no  other  name  than  that  borne  by  their 
original  stock  ;  but  the  remnant  of  them 
who  stayed  in  Gaul  became  Aduatuci. 

From  the  North  Sea  to  Bohemia  and 
the  Beskides,  the  Keltic  nationality  was 
spread  at  first  along  the  whole  line  of  the 
Teuton  advance,  and  the  Teutons  them- 
selves perceived  that  it  was  with  this 
nationality  they  had  to  reckon.  They 
required  some  word  to  connote  the  totality 
of  the  Kelts,  and  for  this  purpose  they 
generalised  the  national  name  of  the 
Keltic  "  Volcae,"  as  the  Romans  after- 
wards wrote  it,  in  the  form  "  Walchen." 
The  Kelts  already  possessed  fortified 
places,  which  the  Germans  attacked  in 
vain,  owing  to  their  defective  skill  in  for- 
tification and  siege  work.  They  had  finer 
and  better  made  weapons,  which  the 
Teutons  could  obtain  only  by  importation, 
which  proved  more  or  less  profitable ; 
for  instance,  the  Cimbri  eagerly  possessed 
themselves  of  these  weapons,  and  con- 
sidered them  valuable  objects  of  plunder. 
The  public  life  of  the  Kelts  was  more 
advanced,  and  their  military  spirit  was 
K  stronger ;  in  all  these  respects 

G'^  w  *  t   *^^  Teutons  could  learn  much 

.. '^1  *^  °  from  them.  In  spite  of  these 
the  Teutons        ,  ,  xu     rr   i^ 

advantages,  the  Kelts  gave  way 

before  the  more  primitive  and  humbler 
nation,  and  retired,  as  in  later  years  the 
warrior  Germans  retreated  before  the 
advancing  wave  of  the  frugal  Slavs.  The 
Teutons,  who  found  their  North  German 
plains  too  narrow,  advanced  by  the  course 
of  the  Weser,  and  drove  back  to  the  Ruhr 
Mountains  from  the  Thuringian  forest  a  set 
of  tribes  whom  archaeologists  have  re- 
garded as  forming  a  comparatively  recent 
Keltic  outpost.  With  far  greater  vigour 
than  in  the  hill  country  of  Central  Germany 
they  crossed  the  Lower  Rhine  and  proceeded 
to  occupy  the  Keltic  territory.  They  were 
not  wholly  able  to  expel  all  the  inhabitants, 
or  afterwards  to  absorb  them.  They 
became  masters  of  the  country  as  far  as  the 
Schelde,  the  Upper  Maas,  and  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Saar  and  Moselle ;  between 
them,  however,  remained  many  Keltic 
settlements,  either  in  independence  or  in 
subjugation,  and  the  invaders  began  to 
be  absorbed  by  the  Keltic  nationality, 
as  afterwards  happened  to  the  Franks, 
the  advance  guard  of  the  second  Teutonic 
wave  of  conquest  and  domination.  They 
became  Belgae,  numbering  twenty-seven 
nationalities   in   Caesar's   time,   and  still 


conscious  of  their  Teutonic  origin,  though 
only  five  of  the  Belgian  nationalities 
living  near  the  Rhine  were  then  actually 
Teutons.  The  Batavi  formed  the  connect- 
ing link  between  these  Belgae  and  the 
Teutons  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine. 

With  these  events  in  the  Netherlands 
and  Gaul  the  rise  of  the  name  "  German  " 
Q  .  .  .  is  connected.  As  we  have 
the  Word  3^1ready  seen  elsewhere,  the  Ger- 
..  n^,„.«  -.  mans  themselves  did  not  pro- 
duce  this  appellation  for  their 
nationality,  but  the  Kelts,  who  felt  the 
need  for  some  such  general  term.  The 
"  Germans  "  have  not,  to  the  present  day, 
developed  any  general  feeling  for  the 
necessity  of  any  special  designation  denot- 
ing their  philological  totality— Germans, 
English  and  Scandinavians.  Those  sci- 
entists who  feel  the  necessity  are  con- 
tented with  the  old  Keltic  term,  which  the 
Romans  adopted,  and  which  German 
scholars  borrowed  from  them.  The  Keltic 
origin  of  the  word  "  German  "  is  beyond 
doubt,  though  its  etymological  significance 
is  not  certain.  All  that  can  be  said  is  that 
it  was  an  expression  suitable  to  denote 
non- Keltic  nations,  for  the  Kelts  also 
applied  it  to  their  Iberian  neighbours,  the 
Oretani.  On  the  Rhine  they  gave  this 
name,  as  Tacitus  reports,  to  the  Tungri, 
who  were  the  first  to  cross.  "  Thus  the 
word  was  extended  from  its  original  appli- 
cation to  a  tribe  to  cover  a  whole  nation," 
wrote  Tacitus,  and  this  tribe,  first  tem- 
porarily known  as  German,  resumed  its 
name  of  Tungri. 

Caesar,  like  Tacitus  at  a  later  period, 
closely  examined  the  general  relationship 
of  the  peoples  established  in  Belgium,  and 
with  the  care  of  an  ethnographer,  whose 
researches  were  guided  by  the  wide 
political  outlook  of  a  rising  power,  was 
the  first  to  point  out  the  accurate  lines  of 
distinction  between  Gauls  and  Germans. 
Meanwhile  it  has  gradually  become  clear 
that  the  Cimbri  also  belonged  to  that 
,  mysterious  wave  of  peoples 
w 'k*^  f  which  the  Gauls  called  Ger- 
_  '  .  mans.  Not  until  after  the 
Cimbrian  war,  about  the  period 
of  the  great  Servile  war,  does  the  opinion 
become  clear  in  Rome,  for  which  Caesar 
was  the  first  to  give  the  desired  and 
necessary  evidence. 

The  migration  of  the  Cimbri  is  one  of  the 
numerous  subordinate  movements  among 
the  Teutonic  tribes.  Its  importance  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  it  led  to  the  first 

3433 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


immediate  collision  between  Teutons  and 
Romans,  and  obliged  the  latter  hence- 
forward to  devote  careful  attention  to  the 
nations  appearing  upon  the  geographical 
and  political  horizon  to  the  north  of  the 
Alps.  It  is  impossible  to  dispute  the  fact 
of  the  later  existence  of  a  nation  of  the 
Cimbri  upon  the  Cimbrian  peninsula  by 
_  which  the  wandering  bands  were 

omans  absorbed.  The  inhabitants  of 
th  Elb  ^^^^  peninsula  were  in  relations 
with  Augustus,  surrendered  to 
him  the  plunder  which  they  had  received 
from  the  migrating  Cimbri,  and  were 
settled  in  a  district  which  was  by  no  means 
an  uUima  thule  for  the  Romans,  whose 
fleets  then  sailed  the  Elbe,  who  had 
gained  the  Frisians  for  allies,  and  who  were 
considerably  successful  in  their  efforts  to 
acquire  a  geographical  knowledge  of  the 
whole  Teutonic  nationality,  including  the 
Scandinavian  portion.  When,  however, 
these  emigrants  found  their  home  too 
small,  at  what  date  they  started  out,  how 
much  time  they  spent  in  travelling  or 
fighting  their  way  through  the  Germans 
upon  the  south,  through  modern  Central 
and  Upper  Germany,  and  through  the 
Keltic  nations  there  established  are  ques- 
tions entirely  shrouded  in  obscurity.  It  is 
not  until  the  last  years  of  the  second 
century  B.C.  that  we  gain  any  information 
upon  the  nature  of  their  migrations. 

In  the  year  113  B.C.  the .  Cimbri  had 
reached  the  north  frontier  of  the  Alps  ; 
commercial  and  political  considerations 
had  already  turned  the  attention  of  the 
Romans  in  this  direction.  It  was  in  the 
process  of  dividing  the  Keltic  territories 
that  the  Romans  and  Teutons  collided  for 
the  first  time.  The  Cimbri  considered 
that  the  world  was  wide  enough  for  them 
both,  and  that  the  Keltic  districts  were 
extensive  enough  to  suffer  division  into  a 
Roman  and  Teuton  sphere  of  interest. 
The  same  views  are  afterwards  expressed 
by  Ariovistus,  and  in  either  case  there  is 

^i  ^.  I  •.  no  direct  intention  of  challeng- 
The  Cimbri  s  i.^      i  •         iu       j        i 

„.       .  mg    or    attackmg  the  deeply 

Victories  i_    J  £  "Ti  'T^i 

Q       jj  respected  power  of  Rome.    1  he 

Cimbri  respectfully  informed 
the  Romans  that  they  had  heard  of  their 
victories  over  the  Kelts,  and  were  therefore 
anxious  to  secure  a  friendly  accommoda- 
tion. Whether  they  are  treacherously  sur- 
prised or  openly  attacked,  the  Cimbri 
gain  victory  after  victory  over  the  Roman 
armies  ;  at  the  same  time  they  are  ever 
ready  to  make  peace,  send  ambassadors 

3434 


to  Rome,  and  continually  urge  that  the 
Roman  government  should  not  oppose 
their  establishment  at  a  suitable  point  in 
the  Keltic  districts.  Rome,  on  the  other 
hand,  which  had  suddenly  become  con- 
scious of  this  Keltic  question,  though  not 
knowing  who  the  disturbers  really  were, 
declined  to  admit  their  requests,  drove 
away  the  compliant  emigrants  from  the 
north  frontier  of  the  Alps,  and  gave  them 
no  rest,  even  in  Gaul. 

At  that  point  the  Cimbri  met  with  com- 
panions in  misfortune,  the  Teutones,  a 
great  horde  of  emigrants  like  themselves, 
with  the  exception  that  those  homeless 
Teutones  were  more  probably  of  Keltic 
than  of  Teutonic  origin.  Their  attempts 
to  find  settlements  in  Gaul,  either  in  the 
dominions  of  the  Romans  or  in  those  of 
the  brave  Belgi,  had  proved  fruitless.  An 
invasion  of  the  Cimbri  into  Spain  had  led 
to  equally  little  result,  and  the  two  hordes, 
recognising  the  unity  of  their  purpose, 
resolved  to  march  upon  Italy.  The 
Teutones  chose  the  road  over  the  western 
Alps,  the  Cimbri  returned  by  way  of 
Noricum,  which  was  better  known  to 
them,  across  the  Brenner  Pass. 
Closer  examination  shows  that 
there  is  more  reason  to  suppose 
some  rivalry  between  them 
than  any  project  of  military  co-operation, 
such  as  Rome  with  her  political  ideas 
naturally  imagined. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  the 
Cimbri  were  pursuing  any  definite 
plan,  whether  they  had  resolved  with 
greater  determination  than  before  upon 
the  conquest  of  Upper  Italy,  the 
most  fruitful  of  the  Keltic  districts, 
the  occupation  of  which  the  Romans  had 
recently  begun,  or  whether  they  merely 
wished  to  compel  Rome  to  buy  off  their 
menaces  at  the  price  of  some  final  con- 
cessions in  Gaul.  Further,  the  fact  that 
the  Cimbri  left  their  baggage  in  Northern 
Gaul  in  the  care  of  a  detachment  left 
behind  for  the  purpose  seemed  to  show 
that  they  merely  intended  a  threat.  More- 
over, when  they  had  driven  the  German 
armies  out  and  secured  a  footing,  instead 
of  entering  Galha  Cispadana,  they  spent 
much  time  in  irresolute  wanderings  in 
the  district  of  Gallia  Transpadana,  which 
was  not  yet  entirely  subjugated  by  Rome. 
When  Caius  Marius  at  length  confronted 
them  they  again  demanded  from  him  per- 
mission to  found  a  settlement  for  themselves 
and  for  the  Teutones,  as  otherwise  it  would 


Great 

March  on 
Italy 


THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    TEUTON    POWER 


be  impossible  for  them  to  make  peace.  It 
was  only  by  the  scornful  answer  of  Marius 
that  they  learned  of  the  previous  destruc- 
tion of  the  Teutones  at  Aqua  Sextiae.  On 
the  Raudian  plain  before  Vercellas,  Marius 
inflicted  equal  destruction  upon  them.  Of 
the  migrating  Cimbri  there  remained  only 
the  detachment  which  had  been  left  in 
Gaul ;  these  people  secured  a  settlement 
among  the  Belgae,  and  their  amalgamation 
with  the  Tungri  jjroduced  the  Belgian 
nationality  of  the  Aduatuci. 

The  Cimbri  were  followed  by  other 
emigrants,  who  advanced  within  the 
Roman  Empire  in  their  northern  search  for 
settlements.  At  the  point  where  the 
Rhine  crosses  the  fruitful  plains  and  the 
temperate  region  to  the  north  of  the  Alps, 
Germanic  peoples  forced  their  way  and 
settled  as  the  advance  guards  of  the 
Germanic  settlements  around  the  old  Keltic 
towns  ;  the  Nemeti  appear  about  Speyer, 
the  Vangiones  about  Worms,  the  Triboci 
about  Strassburg.  The  great  river  of 
Keltic  name  now  flowed,  as  regards  its 
middle  and  upper  reaches,  no  longer  through 
Keltic  territory,  or  only  through  scanty 
portions  of  it.  Throughout 
the  districts  of  the  Main  and 


The  Teutons 
in  Search  of 
an  Easy  Life 


the  Danube  the  Kelts  were 
thrown  into  disturbance  by  the 
Teutons,  were  forced  into  movement,  and 
collided  with  one  another.  From  the 
Main  to  the  Alps  they  retreated  before  the 
Teutons  and  surrendered  their  country, 
even  before  the  invaders  had  determined 
upon  its  capture  or  retention. 

Thus  in  the  angle  of  the  Rhine,  about  the 
modern  Baden  and  Wiirtemberg,  the  south- 
ward advance  of  the  Helvetii  created  the 
"  Helvetian  Desert,"  and  in  this  form  the 
land  about  the  Black  Forest  to  the  east 
remained  ownerless  for  a  long  period. 
The  Teutons  were  more  than  ever  anxious 
to  secure  a  settlement  where  the  soil  and 
the  climate  would  produce  a  rich  and 
easy  life.  They  were  not  then  the  patient 
agriculturists  of  later  centuries  ;  to  that 
point  they  were  educated  only  by  the 
necessity  for  self-content.  Their  character 
at  this  time  is  rather  arbitrary  and 
pugnacious  than  hardworking  or  laborious. 
While  we  proceed  to  base  these  events 
upon  motives  and  interests  of  low 
standard,  we  must  not  judge  them  with  too 
narrow  a  mind,  or  forget  that  migration 
begets  the  desire  for  wandering.  The 
plains  of  the  Upper  Rhine  attracted  the 
advance  guard  of  the  conquerors  with  far 


greater  force  than  the  mountains  of 
Upper  Germany,  and  the  sunlit  civilisation 
of  the  west  and  south  also  proved  an 
enticement.  More  successful  than  the 
Cimbri  two  generations  earlier,  Ariovistus 
and  the  bands  of  Suevi  which  he  led 
were  able  to  make  themselves  masters  of 
Sequani  to  the  south  of  the  Triboci,  to 
seize  the  plains  on  the  Upper  Rhine  and  on 
_  ,  the  south,  and  thence  to  extend 
p  .J.  westward  towards  Jura  and 
Folic  *^^  Doubs.  The  process  of 
Belgian  occupation  in  North 
Gaul  began  to  repeat  itself  in  the  centre 
of  the  country. 

Rome  had  been  greatly  paralysed  by 
domestic  dissension,  and  it  was  high 
time  for  her  to  resume  the  Teutonic  policy 
which  she  had  carried  out  against  the 
Cimbri  and  to  secure  the  pacification  of  the 
Keltic  district.  Caesar  appeared  as  the 
great  leader  of  this  policy  ;  he  began  by 
repelling  the  Helvetii,  who  had  found 
life  uncomfortable  in  their  contracted 
settlements,  which  were  invaded  by  other 
Keltic  tribes  ;  exploring  bands  of  Teutons 
increased  their  anxieties,  and  they  were 
therefore  seeking  a  settlement  in  Gaul  to 
the  west.  Cesar's  victories  drove  them 
back,  and  he  was  able  to  use  them  as  a 
buffer  against  the  Germans.  Ariovistus 
gave  them  no  help  ;  under  the  consulate 
of  Caesar,  Rome  had  sent  him  presents  of 
honour  with  royal  insignia  and  had  given 
him  the  title  of  a  friendly  king.  When 
the  Helvetian  question  had  been  settled, 
Caesar  turned  against  him.  The  confer- 
ence between  the  two  leaders  led  to  no 
result,  and  is  remarkable  only  for  the  fact 
that  Ariovistus  was  willing  to  lead  his  men 
as  Roman  auxiliaries  if  they  might  remain 
peacefully  in  their  settlements  among  the 
Sequani.  But  Caesar  was  not  only  anxious 
to  drive  them  out,  but  was  compelled 
to  do  so ;  their  expulsion  was  necessary,  not 
only  for  the  sake  of  the  Gauls,  but  also  for 
that  of  the  remaining  Teutonic 
tribes.  An  appeal  to  arms  re- 
sulted in  his  favour,  as  in  the 
case  of  his  great -uncle  Marius, 
whose  triumpihal .  monument  he  had  ad- 
mired in  his  youth. 

Caesar  was  now  able  to  pursue  his  great 
object  ;  he  proposed  to  solve  the  Keltic 
problem  definitely  by  closing  Gaul  to 
any  Teutons  whatsoever,  and  making  the 
Rhine  a  frontier  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
He  had  preferred  not  to  venture  on  the 
experiment  of  including  Ariovistus  within 

3435 


Czesar  in 
Pursuit  of  a 
Great  Object 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


the  province  he  was  about  to  create  ; 
but  this  poHcy  he  followed  in  the  case  of 
the  Belgae,  who  had  lost  their  Teutonic 
nationality  and  become  Gauls,  although 
they  offered  the  bravest  resistance.  The 
Belgae  were  necessary  to  him  to  complete 
his  work  ;  he  wished  to  make  them  the 
^  .  bulwark  of  his  great  province 
aesar  s  ^^  Qaul,  and  not  to  leave  them 
Broken  ,        ,.  ,  , 

p.   .  as    a    standmg    danger    and   a 

basis  for  marauding  raids  upon 
Gallia  Minor.  He  was  able  to  win  over 
the  Teutonic  Ubii  with  greater  ease  ;  this 
tribe  felt  the  need  of  such  support,  as  they 
were  contmually  struggling  against  wander- 
ing bands  of  Suevi  and  other  neighbours. 

When  Caesar  closed  the  inlets  of  Gaul, 
these  Teutonic  struggles  upon  the  Rhine 
naturally  grew  more  intense.  Such 
Teutonic  bands  as  crossed  the  Rhine 
were  destroyed  by  Caesar  with  an  utter  dis- 
regard of  his  pledged  word,  even  when 
they  were  the  victims  of  those  same 
Suevi,  whom  he  regarded  as  the  origin  of 
these  disturbances.  Against  the  Suevi  he 
undertook  his  two  expeditions  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  which  merely 
forced  that  tribe  to  retire  to  the  interior  ; 
these  attempts  were  speedily  ended  by 
Caesar  before  any  disaster  could  occur. 
The  Rhine  frontier,  however  defective  as 
a  boundary,  was  retained  throughout  the 
decade  following  Caesar's  supreme  com- 
mand in  Gaul.  When  the  Teutons,  who  had 
been  finally  driven  from  their  habitations, 
were  admitted  to  the  west  bank — as,  for 
instance,  the  Ubii — permission  was  given 
them  to  settle  in  definite  form.  More- 
over, during  the  revolt  of  Vercingetorix 
Caesar  had  opened  a  new  profession  to 
dissatisfied  and  restless  Teutons  by  ad- 
mitting them  into  the  Roman  service  as 
auxiliary  troops  ;  it  was  a  profession  which 
speedily  rose  to  repute,  and  was  regarded 
as  analogous  to  the  German  system  of 
war  bands. 

It   remained  to   repeat   Caesar's  policy 

on  the  Rhine,  and  on  the  Danube  also, 

.      before    the    Teutons    reached 

eu  ons  in    ^^^  crossed  that   river.     This 

the  Kofn&n  ,  i_     /->  >    •    ^   n      j.      i 

_      .  was  done  by  Caesar  s  intellectual 

and  political  heir,  Augustus, 
through  the  creation  of  the  provinces  of 
Noricum  and  Rhaetia ;  the  task  was 
carried  out  without  disturbance  from 
the  Teutons,  whose  main  body  had 
advanced  no  further  than  the  Main. 
New  and  more  portentous  incursions 
and  disturbances  broke  out  in  the  Rhine 


district.  Rome  did  not  care  to  remain 
content  with  the  inadequate  frontier  line 
afforded  by  the  river.  When  a  world- 
empire  is  on  the  rise  and  its  neighbours  are 
in  a  state  of  political  unrest  there  is  an 
unconscious  tendency  to  push  the  frontier 
forward.  Caesar  had  secured  Gaul  ;  Au- 
gustus and  his  followers  attempted  to  pro- 
tect the  three  divisions  of  Gaul  by  means 
of  the  provinces  of  Germania. 

The  first  and  second  provinces  of  Ger- 
mania were  easily  and  rapidly  created, 
as  they  were  situated  upon  the  left  bank 
of  the  Rhine  and  composed  of  the  German 
settlements  already  in  existence ;  it  re- 
mained to  secure  the  third  Germania 
povince  by  carrying  the  eagles  of  Rome  to 
the  Elbe,  and  thus  following  the  lines  of 
commercial  intercourse  which  had  been 
opened  by  traders  in  the  frontier  districts. 
Then  in  the  year  i6  B.C.  the  incompetency 
of  the  legate  M.  Lollius  produced  a 
general  resumption  of  hostilities. 

Nero  Claudius  Drusus  had  made  the 
Rhine  frontier  a  strong  basis  of  operations 
by  providing  a  full  supply  of  forts  and 
garrisons  even  upon  the  right  bank  ; 
Mainz  was  the  central  point, 
while  the  construction  of  the 
Fossa  Drusi  had  made  the 
navigation  possible  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river  in  the  larger  delta  of 
the  Rhine,  which  then  lay  further  east- 
ward than  at  the  present  time.  He  had 
won  over  the  Batavi  and  the  Frisians  to 
accept  a  position  of  subjugation  similar 
to  that  of  the  Belgae,  under  Roman 
supremacy,  had  sent  a  fleet  to  the  coasts 
of  the  North  Sea  and  up  the  German 
rivers,  and  had  traversed  the  future 
province  in  various  directions  with  his 
army.  Tiberius  Claudius  Nero,  the  brother 
and  successor  of  Drusus,  who  died  upon 
his  return  from  the  last  great  expedi- 
tion in  9  B.C.,  pursued  the  same  policy. 
Experience  had,  however,  shown  him 
that  the  Teutons  were  most  easily  Roman- 
ised if  they  were  allowed  to  go  their  own 
way,  were  compelled  to  acknowledge 
Roman  supremacy,  and  were  left  to  offer 
their  support,  whereas  a  series  of  cam- 
paigns and  premature  plans  of  subjugation 
were  more  likely  to  turn  their  attention 
to  their  own  powers  and  prospects  of  union. 
This  policy  proved,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  so  successful,  that  the  third 
German  province  was  for  a  time  brought 
into  actual  existence.  There  was  but  one 
opponent    to    its    permanency — Marbod, 


How  the 
Teutons  were 
Romanised 


THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    TEUTON    POWER 


king  of  the  Suevi,  whose  name  is  Latinised 
as  Maroboduas;  but  a  second  arose  in 
consequence  of  the  blundering  whereby 
P.  QuinctiUus  Varus  destroyed  the  achieve- 
ments of  Tiberius  in  the  year  9  a.d. 
Marbod,  Hke  Arminius,  would  not  accom- 
modate himself  to  the  short-sighted  policy 
or  to  the  ancestral  institutions  of  the 
Teutonic  tribes.  It  may  be  asserted  that 
had  it  not  been  for  the  political  and 
general  education  gained  by  the  young 
Teutons  in  the  Roman  service  there  would 
have  been  no  "  German  Liberator,"  and 
that  the  Teutonic  characteristics  would 
not  have  proved  sufficiently  strong  to 
resist  the  process  of  absorption  within  the 
Roman  Empire. 

The  "Kindred"  (Sippe)  is  a  conception 
which  the  Teutons  derived  from  their 
Indo-Germanic  ancestors.  It  existed  in 
embryo  in  all  Indo-Germanic  societies, 
though  it  was  not  developed  until  the 
period  of  separation,  with  the  result  that 
the  characteristics  and  even  the  designa- 
tion of  a  Kindred  are  not  the  same  in  every 
case.  Among  the  Teutons  the  Kindred  is 
rather  democratic  than  patriarchal  ;  it 
Wh  t  th  ^^  ^  union  of  related  families  or 
"K"  a  .„  households  on  the  basis  of  equal 
Re  resented  ^^S^*^'  ^^^  authority  exercised 

^'  by  the  heads  of  families. 

The  thorough  conservatism  under  which 
Teutonic  constitutional  forms  have  devel- 
oped has  but  little  modified  the  old  pur- 
poses and  arrangements  of  the  Kindred 
even  in  historical  times.  In  primitive  and  in 
later  times  it  remains  a  defensive  alliance, 
never  asking  whether  a  member  is  "  guilty" 
or  "  innocent,"  but  protecting  him  in 
feuds,  blood  quarrels,  legal  processes, 
oaths,  and  accepting  the  responsibility  for 
his  actions  as  long  as  he  is  not  formally 
deprived  of  membership.  The  Kindred 
is  a  coherent  armed  community,  and  as 
such  forms  the  smallest  unit  of  the  army. 
It  is  an  industrial  and  economic  guild  ; 
the  individual  household  has  personal 
possession  only  of  implements  and  mov- 
able property,  among  which  the  house  was 
for  a  long  time  included,  just  as  tent  poles 
and  coverings  were  among  nomadic  tribes. 

This  economic  unity  forms  collectively 
with  its  inhabitants  a  village,  which 
consequently  in  later  times  bore  the  name 
of  the  Kindred,  just  as  during  the  periods 
of  migration  resting  places  and  encamp- 
ments may  have  been  named  after  the 
tribe  that  used  them.  Thus,  the  patrony- 
mic followed  by  suffixing  "  -ton,"  "  -ford," 


"-ham."  etc.,  is  very  familiar  in  England. 
The  district  which  was  occupied  by 
the  Kindred  or  its  settlement,  the  village 
mark,  was  the  property  of  the  community, 
which  was  thus  a  "  mark  corjx)ration." 
The  distribution  of  the  ground  which  was 
carried  out  at  stated  periods  gave  the 
temporary  usufruct   to   individuals,   pro- 

„      ,.  vided   that  they  observed  the 

Functions  ,.,.  -^     ,         ,, 

of  the  conditions  imposed  on  the  com- 

Kindred        rnunity ;  pasture  land  and  forest 

were  for  a  long  time  enjoyed 
in  common.  The  affairs  of  individual 
families  also  came  within  the  purview  of 
the  Kindred  in  its  character  as  an  economic 
corporation,  so  far  as  families  could  affect 
the  common  possession  of  property  or  of 
labour  ;  thus,  for  instance,  the  Kindred 
exercised  a  right  of  confirming  marriage 
contracts,  and  the  appointments  of  guar- 
dians. Hence  the  separation  of  the  in- 
dividual from  his  kin,  or  opposition 
between  the  individual  and  the  kin,  was 
an  unexampled  occurrence  at  the  outset 
of  the  historical  Teutonic  period. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era  these  conditions  in  other  respects 
were  of  a  very  primitive  character  ;  a 
general  organisation  existed  only  in 
the  form  of  Kindreds  within  the  mass 
of  Teutonic  tribes  who  were  connected  by 
a  common  nationality  and  language. 
This  organisation  was  first  extended  by 
the  necessity  of  concluding  and  of  turning 
to  practical  account  alliances  of  peace 
between  the  tribes.  Thus  federations 
combining  several  Kindreds  arose  ;  these 
acted  as  corporations  upon  important 
occasions,  and  these  corporations  were  a 
kind  of  judicial  court.  It  was  not  a 
court  which  could  decide  or  pronounce 
upon  points  of  law,  but  it  could  hear 
arguments  upon  questions  of  compen- 
sation, when  such  questions  arose  and 
the  Kindred  concerned  were  not  in  a  state 
of  antagonism.  In  such  cases  the  court 
provided  that   the    Kindred  upon  which 

compensation  or    performance 
D   °"f  th    ^^  obligatory  should  perform 
ays  o      e  .^^  duty  ;    there  was  as  yet  no 
Penal  Code  /.  '  ,  1         j 

conception    of    a   penal   code. 

The  old  name  for  this  larger  conjunction  of 
Kindreds  is  the  "  Hundred,"  or,  in  the 
northern  provinces,  herad,  herred,  harde. 
The  term  is  derived  from  the  numeral 
"  hund,"  a  hundred,  probably  the  highest 
number  which  the  original  Teutons 
possessed.  We  cannot,  however,  venture 
to  conclude  from  this  term  the  existence 

3437 


HISTORY    OF    THE     WORLD 


of  a  numerical  limit  to  the  corporation. 
Any  attempt  of  the  kind  is  met  by  the 
most  obvious  contradictions  ;  for  instance, 
the  Hundreds  are  not  extended  or  con- 
tracted in  correspondence  with  the  change 
in  population. 

The  term  "  hundred "  was  merely  an 
indefinite  expression,  which  might  connote 
ten  multiplied  by  twelve  just 
"  F^'ik  "  ^^  much  as  ten  multiplied  by 
Q  ■  .  ,  ten  (the  Teutons  also  possessed 
the  term  "great  hundred"); 
the  term  is  no  more  mathematically 
accurate  than  the  usage  of  our  more 
educated  aeje,  when  it  sends  a  thousand 
kind  remembrances  or  speaks  of  millions. 

The  state,  or,  as  the  Teutons  said,  the 
Folk,  was  formed  at  some  date  which  we 
cannot  determine.  For  the  latter  expres- 
sion the  term  "  army "  is  practically 
equivalent.  Both  were  formed  only  gra- 
dually and  slowly.  The  Folk  originated 
like  the  Kindred  and  the  Hundred,  though 
in  another  manner  and  direction,  from  the 
need  for  peace  and  mutual  help.  Hence 
its  origin  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  instan- 
taneous or  uniform,  or  its  organisation  as 
entirely  systematic.  It  grew  slowly  and 
simply  ;  in  the  historical  period  we  find 
Teutonic  races  with  this  organisation  only 
in  midway  process  of  development.  A 
number  of  neighbouring  and  related  Kin- 
dreds and  Hundreds  united  to  discuss  the 
ways  and  means  which  should  enable  them 
to  protect  their  territory  and  property 
against  foreign  enemies,  and  also,  if  occa- 
sion arose,  to  improve  their  position  at  the 
expense  of  others,  by  some  common  attack. 
The  object  of  the  Folk  is  therefore  wholly 
military. 

It  is  upon  this  basis  that  all  its  organisa- 
tion is  founded  ;  the  council  which 
deliberates  and  frames  proposals,  the 
popular  assembly  (folk-moot)  of  the  men 
capable  of  bearing  arms,  the  law  of  crime 
— cowardice,  desertion,  and  treachery — 
and  the  consequent  rise  of  a  criminal  court 

...in.,  and  of  punitive  power.  This  new 
The  Priest         •      •      i         j     v. 

cnmmal  code  has    no  connec- 

j^  p..  tion  with  the  Hundred  courts, 
which  are  essentially  different. 
The  assembly  of  the  Folk  is  injured  in  its 
military  capacity  by  such  transgressions  ; 
it  becomes  a  court,  and  proceeds  to  find 
a  suitable  means  of  executing  punishments 
— by  the  hand  of  the  priest.  The  trans- 
ference of  punitive  rights  to  the  Hundred 
courts  is  a  far  later  regulation  of  the  state, 
when   it   had   become   a  regulating   and 

3438 


highly  organised  power.  At  the  moment 
the  earlier  corporate  elements,  the  Kindred 
and  the  Hundred,  are  used  only  to  forward 
its  military  objects  as  component  parts  of 
the  "  army." 

To  put  the  matter  another  way,  the 
Kindred  and  the  Hundred  exist  as  military 
elements,  and  there  is  neither  oppor- 
tunity nor  reason  for  any  other  mode 
of  division.  On  the  other  hand,  in  order 
to  subserve  the  military  purpose,  the 
Kindred  permitted  certain  interference 
by  the  state  with  the  rights  of  guardian- 
ship reserved  to  themselves  and  to  their 
<"amilies  by  pronouncing  youths  to  be 
capable  of  bearing  arms  before  the  popular 
assembly — that  is  to  say,  capable  of  being 
enlisted  in  the  army  upon  the  occasion 
of  its  muster.  At  the  same  time  there  is 
no  actual  interference  of  the  state  with  the 
family  power  of  the  household  ;  capacity 
to  bear  arms  and  patriarchal  power  are 
totally  different  characteristics. 

With  these  creations  we  reach  the  ideas 
of  people  and  patriotism,  or,  as  we  should 
say,  of  state  and  citizenship.  Here,  again, 
there  is  no  settled  system  or  line  of 
demarcation.  We  find  members  of  a 
.  nationality       breaking       away, 

/th"*^  founding  new  settlements  and 
j^    .  becoming   independent    peoples, 

as  in  the  case  of  the  Batavi  and 
the  Mattiaci,  who  were  fragments  of  the 
Chatti.  Had  Ariovistus  been  permanently 
successful,  the  seven  fragments  of  different 
nationalities  which,  at  the  least,  he  led, 
together  with  the  several  thousands  of  the 
Charudes  who  followed  him,  would  have 
grown  into  one  nation. 

We  find  remnants  or  fragments  of 
one  nation  absorbed  into  others ;  for 
instance,  the  Aduatuci,  a  remnant  of 
the  Cimbri,  amalgamated  with  the 
Tungri,  who  had  "first"  come  to  Bel- 
gium ;  the  Sigambri,  again,  absorbed  the 
remnants  of  the  Usipetes  and  Tencteri. 
Sometimes  there  is  merely  a  temporary 
amalgamation,  and  a  later  dissolution  or 
attempt  to  dissolve  ;  thus  the  Rugi,  whom 
Theoderic  had  led  to  Italy,  attempted, 
after  the  murder  of  Ildebad.  to  choose  a 
king  of  their  own  and  broke  away  from  the 
Ostrogoth  nationality.  Thus  the  history 
of  the  old  Teutonic  nationality  is  for  these 
reasons,  as  well  as  for  their  continual 
migrations,  far  too  complicated  a  period 
to  be  represented  for  more  than  a  moment 
by  maps  or  general  views.  For  the 
same  reason,  it  is  impossible  to  use  the 


THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    TEUTON    POWER 


information  at  hand  as  a  basis  for  specula- 
tions about  unknown  prehistoric  times. 

A  repetition  of  the  process  of  Folk  forma- 
tion can  be  observed,  though  taking  place 
upon  a  higher  plane  and  in  wider  form. 
The  co-operation  of  the  Folk  naturally  did 
not  abolish  war  from  the  world,  but 
separated  war  and  peace  somewhat  more 
clearly  from  mere  disorder,  and  made  the 
difference  of  more  importance.  Thus  the 
impulse  which  had  led  to  the  formation  of 
the  Folk  remained  operative,  and  con- 
junction was  no  less  necessary  than  before. 
As  formerly  a  number  of  tribes  and  hun- 
dreds were  forced  to  combine,  so  now  Folk 
unions  were  driven  to  union.  Hence  the 
corporate  character  of  Teutonic  history  as 
a  whole  regards  the  peoples  as  a  transition 
form  of  the  corporation,  next  in  point  of 
greatness  to  the  allied  state.  This  body, 
again,  produces  a  transition  to  the 
"nation, "in  which  the  modernTeutonshave 
arranged  themselves,  both  to-day  and  at  an 
earlier  period,  if  at  the  cost  of  great  effort. 

This  movement,  which  concerns  the  Folk 

unions,  began  in  prehistoric  times,  but  it 

remains  in  constant  and  steady  progress  at 

the  outset  of  German  history.     The  possi- 

—^    ^  bilityof  achievement  depends 

The  v>erm&ns  ".u  i-      i-  r 

c.  .     t    upon  the  equalisation  of  com- 
in  &  state  of        '^^.^-  ^  .  ,  ~, 

J.       ...  petitive  concurrent  forces.  1  he 

existence  of  the  Folk  union 
also  exercises  a  retrograde  influence.  It  is 
everywhere  existent  and  recognised  ;  its 
objects  and  its  independence  have  over- 
shadowed the  individual  of  flesh  and  blood, 
just  as  the  modern  Mecklenburger  or  West- 
phalian  is  forgotten  in  his  general  German 
nationality.  Thus  the  Bructeri  or  Cherusci 
as  such  did  not  forget  the  desirability  of 
conjunction  with  others,  but  only  when 
confronted  with  immediate  danger  did  this 
possibility  become  urgent  in  their  eyes  ; 
thev  must  first  become  accustomed  to  a 
wider  political  outlook  and  do  not  care  to 
see  their  customary  traditions  diminished 
in  importance. 

Thus  at  the  time  of  primitive  Ger- 
man history  we  find  the  Germans  in 
a  condition  of  more  or  less  transitory 
federation,  and  only  gradually  do  we 
find  individual  federations  becoming 
permanent  associations  in  the  form  of 
states.  Possessions  of  the  Folk  as  such  are 
not  straightway  abandoned  to  the  federa- 
tion when  a  Folk  enters  into  an  alliance 
with  others  ;  it  remains  an  independent 
and  political  community,  and  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  any  federal  institutions 


except  the  federal  assembly,  which  for 
practical  reasons  is  indispensable  and 
generally  employed.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances some  compensating  element 
was  required  to  guarantee  fidelity  to  alli- 
ances, and  this  end  was  gained  by  oaths, 
religious  forms,  the  union  of  divinities,  and 
the  subjugation  of  the  alliance  to  the  rule 
The  Folk'  "^  ^^^  divine  deities.  When  an 
ReHgious*  Amphictyony  thus  formed  has 
Festivities  remained  some  time  in  exist- 
ence, a  federal  name,  used  for 
definite  purjxjses,  takes  the  place  of  the 
individual  folk  names. 

The  need  for  an  earlier  historical  origin 
is  then  felt,  and  finds  expression  in  the 
form  of  epic  legends,  or,  what  is  a  different 
process,  in  artificial  ethnogonies  and  other 
fancies  of  the  kind.  Many  alliances  survive 
the  course  of  only  one  campaign,  while 
others  remain  in  existence  only  in  intention, 
and  can  be  aroused  by  the  impact  of  some 
strong  collision.  There  is  evidence  to 
show  that  the  federal  religious  festivities 
once  celebrated  were  not  necessarily 
allowed  to  collapse — the  gods  are  not  to  be 
offended — though  the  political  meaning 
of  the  federation  may  have  passed  away. 
We  find,  moreover,  alliances  which  may 
have  remained  operative  for  a  long 
time,  perhaps  for  centuries,  though  they 
at  least  remember  their  great  importance 
only  in  its  after  effects  and  tradition  ; 
this  is  true  of  the  Suevi  at  the  time  of 
Tacitus.  Apart  from  this  we  shall  hardly 
be  able  to  connect  the  isolated  tracks 
which  wind  between  different  groupings 
of  the  German  nations,  or  to  gather  any 
fruitful  or  definite  result  from  the  tradi- 
tional fragments  of  ethnogonic  ideas. 
Similarly,  only  in  a  few  cases  can  we 
venture  to  say  whether  later  states  have 
grown  up  out  of  individual  folks  or  from 
the  remnants  of  alliances. 

To  form  and  keep  alliances  in  permanent 
connection,  to  secure  the  adherence  of 
allies,  and  in  this  way  to  unify  diverse 
tribes,  remained  the  privilege 
Leaders  of  the  of  the  kings  and  princes.  The 
rise  and  formation  of  their 
houses  was  naturally  based 
upon  the  individual  Folk.  Any  federation, 
no  matter  how  democratic  its  basis,  which 
pursues  military  and  political  objects, 
stands  in  need  of  leadership,  not  only  in 
war,  but  also  in  deliberation.  On  the  other 
hand,  every  man  who  desired  power,  or 
to  work  for  the  general  welfare,  was 
obliged,   by  the  special  character  of  the 

3439 


"  Folk  "  in 
Peace  and  War 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


old  Teutonic  kin  organisation,  to  act 
upon  every  occasion  in  concert  with  his 
Kindred.  He  exists  only  for  the  Kindred, 
and  his  every  performance  is  open  to 
discussion.  Without  the  Kindred  he  cannot 
rise  to  pre-eminence,  and  it  is  not  himself, 
but  his  kin,  that  he  brings  into  the  fore- 
ground and  makes  the  leader  upon  national 
.  J  questions.  The  question  thus 
.  requires  examination   upon  this 

Tacit  s  ^^de,  when  we  find  leading 
personalities  and  their  policies, 
however  democratic  and  well  founded, 
involved  in  domestic  difficulties  and  over- 
whelmed by  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  at  the  period  covered 
by  the  Annals  of  Tacitus — an  excellent 
source  of  constitutional  information — we 
find  at  times  within  an  individual  Folk  a 
leading  Kindred,  with  its  precedence 
secured  in  a  surprising  measure — provided, 
in  fact,  with  a  special  legitimacy,  which  it 
carefully  preserves  in  such  cases  as 
marriage  contracts,  which  are  confined 
to  members  of  equal  rank,  in  those  in- 
stances which  we  can  fully  examine. 
"  Stirps  regia "  is  the  name  given  by 
Tacitus  to  such  a  family — the  noble 
family  of  any  specific  nationality.  This 
family  provides  the  princes,  from  whom 
generals  are  chosen  according  to  their 
capacity.  These  leading  men,  known  as 
"  kuninge,"  'from  their  membership  of 
the  kuni,  or  noble  Kindred,  regarded 
as  a  family,  are  as  yet  far  removed  from 
any  monarchi  al  power  or  sovereignty  ; 
the  latter  belongs  in  all  things  to  the 
general  assembly. 

The  princes  settle  only  unimportant 
matters  by  mutual  discussion,  in  accord- 
ance with  a  custom  which  arose  for  obvious 
reasons  of  convenience,  and  their  decisions 
are  subject  to  the  consent  of  military, 
national,  or  popular  assemblies.  To  the 
latter  they  have  to  bring  their  decision  on 
the  more  important  matters  that  have 
arisen  in  their  own  discussions.  They  are 
_  leaders  in   this  assembly,   and 

_^.  J  naturally  the  most  important 
the  Princes  o^ators.  though  anybody  may 
speak  who  has  the  prospect  of 
getting  a  hearing.  In  view  of  the  solemnity 
with  which  even  savages  conduct  debate, 
no  doubt  sh^Tiess  forbade  attempts  to 
speak  in  most  cases.  All  this  is  excellently 
described  by  Tacitus,  who  also  shows  how 
the  princes  ruled  "  auctoritate  suadendi 
magis  quam  jubendi  potestate  " — '■  by 
the    influence     which     persuades    rather 

3440 


'  than  by  the  power  which  commands." 
For  leadership  in  war  and  military  expedi- 
tions the  appointment  of  definite  persons 
was  a  necessity.  A  chief,  whom  Tacitus 
calls  dux,  rendered  "  duke,"  was  ap- 
pointed, or  sometimes  two  dukes.  But  the 
latter  system  was  tried  only  in  primitive 
times  and  was  not  always  successful. 
The  holder  of  the  office  is  drawn  from 
the  noble  families  in  every  case  of  which 
history  speaks.  Tacitus  is  in  agreement 
with  this  statement,  though  Beda  em- 
phasises the  princely  character  of  the 
dukes  among  the  Saxons  in  Britam.  But 
even  in  face  of  the  enemy  their  power  is 
by  no  means  unlimited,  and  their  careful 
plans  are  occasionally  overthrown  by  the 
jealousy  of  their  blood  relations  and  the 
success  of  these  in  persuading  the  military 
assembly,  which  met  for  executive  pur- 
poses as  the  Folk. 

The  process  by  which  a  particular 
Kindred  took  a  leading  part  and  became 
a  noble  family  of  historical  import  cannot 
be  explained  in  full  detail.  There  is  some 
evidence  to  show  that  the  noble  family 
was  able  to  pledge  the  credit  of  the  whole, 
as  the  conceptions  adal  (noble)  and  odal 
Dividing  (property)  differ  only  by  a  dis- 
.k  ni  J  tinction  of  vowels.  Again,  the 
the  Plunder  xu     ^  P -r       x 

of  W  r         prmces  m  the  time  of  lacitus 

received  gifts  in  virtue  of  their 
leading  position,  voluntarily  given  by 
their  tribal  associates  ;  as  such  Tacitus 
mentions  animals  and  field  produce.  It 
is,  however,  especially  important  that  the 
manager  of  the  general  assembly  should 
be  in  communication  with  the  all-powerful 
gods.  The  members  of  the  noble  Kindred 
provided  the  national  priest  or  priests, 
built,  administered,  and  maintained  the 
sanctuaries  of  the  gods,  which  we  must 
imagine  as  buildings  provided  with  sub- 
ordinate offices,  sheep,  cattle,  and  pasture, 
and  an  adequate  temple  precinct,  not- 
withstanding a  passage  in  the  "  Germania  " 
which  Tacitus  himself  contradicts  in  the 
"  Annals." 

The  division  of  the  plunder  taken  in 
war  remained  the  privilege  of  the  popu- 
lar assembly  until  Merovingian  times, 
though  no  doubt  the  leaders  gained 
certain  preferences  in  this  respect.  A 
somewhat  larger  share  of  prisoners  of 
war — that  is,  slave  labour — was  assigned 
to  the  leading  Kindred,  and  enabled  them 
correspondingly  to  extend  their  agricul- 
tural operations  and  their  property.  Thus 
their    capacity    and    their    public    work 


GERMAN  RIDERS  IN  THE  ROMAN  ARMY 

From  a  relief  on  the  Coloima  Antunina  at  Kuiiu^ 


received  not  only  a  social  and  political 
return  from  the  whole  community,  but 
also  secured  an  increase  in  property  which 
steadily  consolidated  their  position.  More- 
over, the  formation  of  the  above-mentioned 
ideas  of  a  penal  code  threw  the  execution 
of  punishment  into  their  hands,  as  they 
were  the  priests  who  offered  to  the  gods 
the  sacrifices  which  appeased  their  wrath 
and  secured  their  friendship  ;  they  alone 
could  attack  the  person  or  the  life  of  the 
Teuton. 

A  further  advance  in  power  which 
began  at  the  time  of  Tacitus  may 
be  seen  in  the  fact  that  they  not  merely 
conduct  the  popular  assembly,  but 
also  divide  among  themselves  the  right 
to  visit  and  conduct  the  assemblies  of 
the  Hundreds.  We  must  not 
under-estimate  the  high  power 
which  was  given  them  by  the 
system  of  retainers,  or  by  their 
right  of  training  the  young  to  the  use  of  arms 
where  their  parents  or  blood  relations  were 
unable  to  perform  this  duty.  Here  we 
have  already  in  embryo  the  later  right  of 
tutelage  exercised  by  the  crown. 

Hitherto  we  have  spoken  only  of  the 
princes  as  members  of  a  noble  Kindred. 
As  regards  their  mutual  rank  and  position. 


The  Kindred 
Adv&nce 
in  Power 


they  are  all  able  to  raise  equal  claims 
in  point  of  right.  Flavins,  the  brother  of 
Arminius,  renounces  the  royal  position 
which  belongs  to  him  among  the  Cherusci 
as  he  is  remaining  in  the  service  of  the 
Romans  ;  but  his  son  Italicus,  who  was 
brought  up  as  a  Roman,  afterwards  con- 
centrates in  his  person  all  the  rights  of 

the  Kindred  of  which  he  was 
ew    oya        ^^^  ^^j^  remaining  represen- 
Families  from   ,    ,  •  t-,  "  ,  ,^ 

it  «-•  J  J  tative.  Ihese  rights  were 
the  Kindred  .    j         i  ui 

respected  as  long  as  possible 

by  the  nationality,  which  was  especially 
mistrustful  of  new  men  and  of  innovations. 
Only  in  very  special  cases  did  the  Teutons 
raise  a  new  royal  family  by  choice  from 
one  of  the  other  Kindreds  in  opposition 
to  the  old  family. 

The  overthrow  of  Marbod  or  Erma- 
naric,  with  its  consequent  confusion,  does 
not  prevent  the  resumption  of  their 
hereditary  privileges.  By  the  elevation 
of  Witichis  the  Ostrogoths  broke  away 
from  the  younger  house  of  the  Amali, 
which  had  become  alienated  from  the 
people  ;  at  the.  same  time  one  of  the 
first  acts  of  Witichis  was  to  secure  a 
kind  of  right  to  share  the  legitimacy  of 
the  Amali  by  his  marriage  with  Matas- 
winta.   Though  every  member  of  the  royal 

3441 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Kindred  had  the  right  to  come  forward 

as    prince,    we    find    in    numerous    cases 

that  not  all  of  them  actually  exercised 

this  right  or  would  have  had  any  prospect 

of  success.    The  different  blood  relations 

of  Segestes  and  Arminius  are  politically 

without  any  public  reputation,  although 

they  enjoy  not  only  princely  rights,  but 

„  ,.  also  the  princely  title  iprinceps, 

Father  ^^      • .     \       r^-^f  ^^  /  ■ 

.  m  lacitus).     1  he  same  remark  IS 

^     .  .       true  of  the  brother  of  Segestes 

and    of    his   son,    although    his 

noble  birth  and  consequent  right  to  act 

as  national  priest  induced  the  Romans  to 

call  him  from  the  third  Germania  to  act 

as  priest  at  the  Ara  Ubiorum,  which  had 

been  set  up  at  Cologne  for  the  three  Ger- 

manias,  and  corresponded  to  the  altars  of 

I^onie  and  Augustus,  set  up  at  L3^ons  over 

the  three  Gauls.    The  father  of  Arminius, 

who   outlived   the   greatness   of   his   son, 

was  of  no  political  importance  whatever. 

This  narrower  clique  of  principes — among 

the  Cherusci,  Segestes,  Arminius,  and  his 

uncle  Inguiomerus — who  busied  themselves 

with  public  affairs,  attempted  to  determine 

the    decisions    of    the    people,    and    thus 

arrived  at  an  attitude  of  mutual  jealousy 

more  or  less  pronounced.     The  majority 

of  the  popular  assembly  follows  now  one, 

now  another,  of  these  leaders,  according 

as  he  has  been  successful  or  represents 

the  most  popular  view.     No  one  of  the 


nobles,  or  kuninge,  was  able  to  become 
the  sole  and  privileged  ruler  in  the  later 
sense  of  the  term,  with  definite  and  polit- 
ical privileges  assured  to  him  for  a  definite 
time  ;  they  were  continual  rivals,  attempt- 
ing to  secure  the  momentary  and  fickle 
approval  of  the  majority. 

None  the  less,  individual  personalities 
appeared,  sufficiently  powerful  to  break 
through  the  restraints  of  the  Kindred  and 
to  concentrate  its  collective  rights  within 
themselves.  Ariovistus  is  not  exactly  a 
prince  of  this  character.  He  succeeded  in 
securing  permanence  for  his  personal 
position  as  prince  and  duke  to  an  extent 
unusual,  and  not  in  accordance  with  the 
principle  of  tribal  constitution.  This  he 
achieved  by  securing  definite  authority 
over  the  Gauls  and  also  from  Rome. 
Marbod,  on  the  other  hand,  is  an  over- 
thrower  of  tribal  legitimacy  after  the 
.  manner  of  the  Caesars. 
arcomanni  ^^^  Marcomanni,  who  be- 
longed to  that  portion  of 
the  Suevi  which  had  entered 
the  Rhine  district,  had  settled  in 
the  Lower  Maine,  and  were  there 
stationed  when  Augustus  and  Drusus 
began  that  policy  which  brought  them 
between  two  hostile  frontiers  from  Main/: 
and  Rhaetia.  Marbod  then  led  his 
people  up  the  Maine  to  the  comparative 
seclusion    of    Bohemia,    which    had    been 


in  the  Place 
of  Danger 


BATTLE     BETWEEN     THE     ROMANS     AND     MARCOMANNI 
The  Marcomanni,  a  Germanic  tribe   that    originally  dwelt  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube,  expelled  the  Boii 
from  Bohemia  and  part  of  Bavaria  early  in  the  Christian  era,  and  founded  a  kingdom  which  reaclied  to  the  Danube. 

From  a  relief  on  the  Colonna  Antonina  at  Rome 

3442 


THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    TEUTON    POWER 


abandoned  by  the  Boii.  Marbod  had 
become  a  pohtician  in  the  school  of  the 
Roman  mihtary  service.  He  attempted  to 
make  himself  a  power  equal  to  the  Romans. 
He  was  a  man  of  high  importance,  who, 
attempting  to  break  through  the  restric- 
tions of  his  native  birth,  had  developed 
his  capacity,  driven  away  his  blood 
relations,  absorbed  their  rights,  and 
founded  the  continuance  of  his  supremacy 
on  a  basis  of  militarism,  and  also  upon  the 
predominance  of  the  Marcomanni  over 
other  Teutonic  peoples.  His  rule  was 
obeyed  over  an  area  extending  even  to  the 
Lombards  at  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe.  Thus 
he  appeared  as  a  rival  acting  against  the 
Romans  on  the  east  front  of  the  Teutons 
to  secure  supremacy  for  the  Teuton 
sphere  of  influence,  and  his  rivalry  was 
the  more  formidable  as  the  existence  of 
such  despotism  generally  depends  upon 
unceasing  effort  and  extension. 

Formerly  it  had  been  important  for  Rome 
to  save  the  Keltic  districts  from  the  hands 
of  the  Teutons,  who,  though  an  incoherent 
force,  were  advancing  upon  every  side  ; 
and  so  now  the  question  arose  whether  the 
district  occupied  by  the  loosely  united 
.  Teutonic  peoples  between 
the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe 
should  belong  to  Rome  or 
to  Marbod. 
Such  being  the  situation  and  the 
opponent,  the  former  policy  of  Tiberius, 
to  overcome  the  Teutons  by  peace  and 
not  by  the  challenge  of  campaigns,  proved 
inapplicable.  After  careful  plans  and 
preparatory  expeditions  through  Ger- 
mania,  which  showed  him  that  the  popular 
opinion  of  the  Germans  was  inclined  to 
support  Rome  and  its  policy  rather  than 
the  supremacy  of  Marbod,  he  began  his 
double  attack  upon  the  kingdom  of  the 
Marcomanni  by  a  simultaneous  advance 
from  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine  in  the 
year  6  a.d.  At  this  dangerous  moment  for 
Marbod,  a  revolt  broke  out  in  Pannonia 
and  Dalmatia,  and  Tiberius  was  occupied 
with  its  suppression  until  the  year  9  a.d. 
Marbod,  who  could  hardly  have  survived 
had  he  not  given  some  diplomatic  assist- 
ance to  this  revolt,  calmly  reverted  to 
his  old  relationship  to  Rome,  as  a  supreme 
king  of  equal  weight  with  the  emperor, 
and  pursuing  a  like  policy. 

The  third  province  of  Germania  was  not 
to  be  lost  to  Rome  on  that  account. 
Augustus  had  been  able  undisturbed  to 
place  the  garrisons  on  the  Rhine  at  the 


Three  Years 
Revolt  in 
Pannonia 


disposal  of  Tiberius   for  the  subjugation 

of  Pannonia.     In  Germany,  on  the  right 

bank  of  the  Rhine,  the  diminished  Roman 

troops  held  their  winter  or  summer  camps 

in  time  of  peace  ;    the  surrounding  tribes 

and  their  princes  who  could  be  won  over 

by     the     grant     of     em]:)ty     distinctions 

admitted  the  claim  of  Roman  supremacy. 

«  and    the    governor     exercised 

«i.  ^,-    -       the    rights    of    levying     taxes 
Supremacy  ,9  /      P  ,.     . 

Recognised  ^""  "^  summary  jurisdiction. 
The  action  of  P.  Quinctilius 
Varus,  however,  in  either  of  these  depart- 
ments, went  far  beyond  anything  that  the 
patient  Teutonic  tribes  had  hitherto  borne 
in  the  way  of  pressure.  Hence  it  became 
possible  for  Arminius  to  rise  in  opposition 
to  Segestes,  the  friend  of  Rome,  to  deprive 
the  latter  of  the  leadership  of  the  Cherusci, 
to  secure  the  alliance  of  the  other  peoples 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  to  lead 
them  cleverly  against  the  position  of 
Varus,  and  to  destroy  that  leader  with  his 
army  of  Roman  soldiers  and  Teutonic 
auxiliaries — from  the  peoples  of  the  North 
Sea — in  the  Teutoberg  forest  in  9  a.d. 

Arminius  had  returned  no  long  time 
previously  from  the  Roman  service.  C. 
Julius  Caesar,  to  whom  the  south  Teutonic 
relations  with  Rome  owe  their  beginning, 
had  introduced  the  custom  of  using 
German  troops  as  Roman  auxiliaries.  We 
must  remember  to  distinguish  between 
migrating  tribes  in  search  of  land  and 
the  adventurous  raids  of  bold  companies. 
Caesar  was  acquainted  with  Teutonic 
invasions  of  Gaul  in  both  of  these  forms. 
When  he  discovered  the  urgent  need  for 
cavalry  to  deal  with  the  last  great  revolt, 
he  had  employed  the  enterprising  spirits 
of  certain  mouated  troops  of  young 
Teutons.  Whether  or  not  this  was  really 
intended  as  a  last  resource  in  time  of  need, 
from  that  time  forward  German  auxiliaries 
become  a  regular  and  extending  branch 
of  the  Roman  service.  Thus,  while  the 
Roman  state  crushed  the  Teutons  or 
_  .  attempted  to  confine  them 
ar  arians  ^j^^j^jj^  boundaries,  it  opened 
as  Roman       .,  ,        ,,.  ,.   ^    ... 

Qj^.  its   armies   to   this  nationality 

by  the  offer  of  employment. 
Leaders  of  such  barbarians  became  Roman 
officers,  generals,  administrators  and  high 
officials.  The  Roman  armies  gradually 
lost  their  nationality,  and  became  a  foreign 
force,  consisting  chiefly  of  Teutonic  troops, 
paid  by  Romans,  fighting  for  Rome,  but 
unable  to  prevent  the  overthrow  and  dis- 
ruption of  the  empire,  and  destined  one 

^3 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


day  to  seize  Italy,  the  last  remaining 
province  of  the  empire,  for  themselves 
under  the  leadership  of  Odoacer. 

At  the  moment  the  use  made  by  the  Ger- 
man nobles — that  is,  by  the  members  of  the 
leading  kindreds  among  individual  peoples 
— of  the  instruction  which  they  gained  in 
the  Roman  service  and  brought  home  with 
.      .  .  them  is  sufficiently  remarkable. 

rminius  ^^  have  already  spoken  of 
in  (he  Hour  ht     u    j         tu       .<  n 

.-,  .  .  Marbod.  I  he  eques  Rom- 
anus,"  Arminius,when  he  led  the 
revolt  against  Varus,  had  no  intention  of 
following  the  precedent  of  the  Cimbri  and 
Ariovistus  by  requesting  the  Romans  to 
settle  a  time  and  place  for  a  battle  or  for 
a  judicial  decision  by  the  judgment  of 
God.  War,  indeed,  was  orlog  or  iir-lag,  and 
lag  i?!feans  law.  Arminius,  however,  had 
been  trained  in  the  Roman  school,  and  he 
paid  his  teachers  in  full  for  all  their 
treacherous  attacks  since  Noreja. 

We  know  but  very  little  of  the  ideas 
which  inspired  Arminius,  but  if  in  the  joy 
of  his  triumph  he  had  cherished  the 
ambitions  of  Marbod,  his  capacity  would 
have  been  unable  to  cope  with  the  mass 
of  opposition  which  he  encountered.  The 
prestige  of  Segestes  revived,  and  the 
rivalry  between  himself  and  Arminius 
continued  for  many  years  with  varying 
success.  The  younger  man  was  helped  to 
recover  his  preponderance  by  the  inde- 
fatigable efforts  of  Germanicus,  the  son 
of  Drusus,  who  held  command  upon  the 
Rhine,  to  repair  the  defeat  of  Varus  by 
campaigns  against  the  Teutons. 

Segestes  was  eventually  forced  to  take 
refuge  with  the  Romans,  together  with  his 
relation  and  adherents,  who  were  obliged 
to  follow  him,  and  to  abandon  the  field  to 
Arminius.  Germanicus  might  lead  Segestes, 
whose  company  he  had  not  compelled,  in 
triumphal  procession,  but  the  fact  that  his 
ally  was  no  longer  in  his  own  country 
was  a  wholly  unexpected  result  of  this 
struggle  for  Rome.  Such  was  the  opinion 
.  of     Tiberius,    who    was     now 

th  t*^""  °\  upon  the  imperial  throne  and 

c  mperi&  ^^^  ^^^.^  fresh  confirmation  of 

his  old  theories  as  to  Teutonic 
policy.  He  put  an  end  to  the  campaign, 
considering  that  if  the  third  Germania 
was  to  be  reconquered  it  could  be  better 
secured  by  peace  than  by  war. 

The  province,  however,  remained  lost  to 
Rome;  and  this  was,  as  Tacitus  says,  "with- 
out doubt  "  the  personal  achievement  of 
Arminius.     He  saved  the  Germans  on  the 

3444 


right  bank  of  the  Rhine  from  becoming 
Roman  provincials,  as  those  upon  the  left 
had  become,  in  which  process  large  and 
capable  numbers  of  the  German  population 
were  lost  to  Germany ;  and  thus  he  actu- 
ally became,  not  merely  the  liberator,  but 
actually  the  saviour  of  German  nationality 
and  of  German  history. 

The  Roman  abandonment  of  punitive 
measures  left  Arminius  triumphant  during 
his  own  time.  "  In  battles  against  Ger- 
manicus he  fought  with  varying  success, 
but  as  a  leader  of  war  he  was  uncon- 
quered" — thus  Tacitus  summarises  his 
achievements.  The  tribes  on  the  right  of 
the  Rhine  were  free,  and  owed  their  liberty 
to  him.  Among  the  Cherusci  he  had  but  one 
serious  opponent,  Inguiomerus.  He  now 
put  forward  the  claim  of  supremacy  over 
the  Cherusci,  and  as  Segestes  had  formerly 
gone  into  exile,  so  now  Inguiomerus  took 
to  flight  and  went  to  Marbod.  This  fact 
expresses  the  whole  change  in  the  political 
situation. 

In  place  of  the  Romans,  who  had 
given  up  the  conflict,  Marbod  led  the 
opposition  against  Arminius,  who  was  also 
confronted  by  Marbod's  championship  of 
M    h  a  th     ^^^  "  freedom  "  of  the  country 


Champion  of 


between  the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe; 


"  Freedo  "  ^^^  people  who  had  hitherto 
obeyed  Marbod  now  deserted 
to  Arminius.  An  appeal  to  arms  led  to  no 
clear  decision.  Marbod,  however,  was  not 
triumphant  ;  his  despotism  had  begun  to 
totter,  and  soon  collapsed  entirely.  One 
of  the  nobles  whom  he  had  driven  out, 
Katwalda,  returned  from  exile  and  seized 
his  position,  but  only  to  fall  himself  the 
more  rapidly.  Katwalda  was  soon  living 
at  Frejus  under  Roman  protection,  as 
was  Marbod  at  Ravenna,  while  their 
respective  adherents  had  left  the  country 
and  were  settled  by  the  Romans  in  the 
frontier  district  on  the  Danube.  The 
■'  kings,"  however,  of  these  Suevi — the 
name  which  they  now  resumed — were 
chosen  by  the  Roman  emperors  themselves. 
Thus  we  meet  with  a  new  and  clever 
system,  introduced  by  Rome;  the  evils 
of  tribal  supremacy  were  utilised  by  Rome, 
by  the  help  of  her  power  and  the  weight 
of  her  name,  to  raise  one  man  to  high 
positions,  who  now  became  the  "  rex," 
though  entirely  dependent  upon  Roman 
patronage,  in  place  of  the  Stirps,  th^ 
princely  family,  which  was  a  continual 
source  of  disturbance.  In  this  way  the 
Romans     gained    considerable    successes 


THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    TEUTON    POWER 


to  the  north  of  the  Danube,  even  among 
the  Quadi  and  Marcomanni.  This  German 
kingship  was  not,  however,  based  upon  the 
Roman  pohcy,  but  upon  the  slow  and 
systematic  disregard  of  common  family 
claims — a  process  which  could  be  achieved 
only  after  centuries  had  elapsed.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  will  be  perceived  that  this 
Roman  policy  was  extremely  likely  to 
stimulate  ambitious  Teutonic  nobles  to 
secure  a  despotism  with — or  better  with- 
out— Roman  help,  though  such  supremacy 
could  be  secured  only  for  individual  persons 
and  was  not  necessarily  transmitted  by 
inheritance  to  their  children. 

Among  the  Cherusci  also  the  Romans 
were  able  to  introduce  their  king.  After 
the  fall  of  Marbod,  Arminius  found  no 
obstacle  to  the  task  of  making  his  leader- 
ship and  his  policy  a  permanent  basis  of 
settlement.  He  wished  to  "  become  king," 
in  the  words  of  Tacitus,  who  speaks  of  him 
as  "  regnum  adfectans."  In  the  course  of 
this  attempt  Arminius  was  overthrown  by 
the  existing  members  of  the  noble  Kindred, 
whose  rights  were  infringed  by  his  efforts. 
The  principles  of  public  right  and  the 
actual  state  of  affairs  were  in  opposition  to 
his  personal  claims.  However, 
German  tradition  long  re- 
mained faithful  to  the  liberator, 
and  at  the  time  of  Tacitus  his 
fame  was  sung  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
Cherusci  in  those  epic  poems  in  which  the 
Teutons,  for  want  of  a  written  language, 
preserved  their  history. 

At  the  death  of  Arminius  a  generation 
of  conflict  within  the  noble  family  con- 
fused the  succession  until  the  year  47  a.d. 
The  only  remaining  representative  of  that 
house  was  Italicus,  the  son  of  Flavins, 
who  had  been  brought  up  among  the 
Romans.  The  invincible  ideas  of  legiti- 
macy raised  this  last  member  of  the  family, 
the  nephew  of  Arminius,  to  the  leadership 
of  the  nation,  and,  with  the  support  of  the 
Romans,  Italicus  entered  the  district  of 
the  Weser,  which  he  had  never  before  seen ; 
he  was  now  personally  a  "  rex,"  as  the 
"  stirps  regia "  depended  entirely  upon 
him  ;  he  was  sole  king  because  there 
was  no  other  "  kuning,"  no  other  man 
belonging  to  the  noble  family  (kuni).  But 
the  cessation  of  political  faction  was  an 
inconceivable  result.  Misunderstandings 
arose,  and  partisans  from  the  struggles 
before  the  year  47  rose  against  Italicus. 
In  vain  did  Italicus  urge  their  want  of 
nobility,   as  Tacitus  expressly   explains. 


German 
History  in 
Epic  Poetry 


and  show  that  no  right  existed  except  that 
concentrated  in  himself ;  struggles  began, 
and  Italicus  was  forced  to  flee  to  the 
Lombards,  who  were  then  settled  on  the 
Lower  Elbe,  to  secure  their  interference. 
Further  events  are  unknown  to  us. 

Our  scanty  knowledge  of  the  history  of 
Italicus  shows  plainly  enough  the  em- 
p.    .  .  barrassments  which  inevitably 

Trium  hs  f  ^^°^^  from  the  well-devised 
the  RTman°  Jo"^^^  P^.^^V  ^^  protecting 
dependent  kmgs,  m  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  kings  themselves  did  not 
stop  at  considerations  of  legitimacy.  Even 
when  the  Romans  fought  with  the  Chatti 
and  other  Teutons  in  the  course  of  the 
first  century,  no  great  achievement  was 
ever  attained,  and  the  triumphs  which  the 
emperors  celebrated  before  the  senate  and 
people  of  the  capital  were  but  too  plainly 
fictitious.  The  true  inwardness  of  the 
Roman  policy  consists  not  in  these 
struggles,  but  in  the  great  technical  labour, 
which  lasted  for  decades,  of  establishing 
or  protecting  the  lines  of  frontier.  The 
several  lines  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube, 
regarded  as  frontiers,  were  isolated  unities 
and  as  yet  unconnected  ;  in  the  district 
of  the  Upper  Danube.,  on  the  wooded 
heights  of  the  Baar  and  the  Black  Forest, 
which  were  as  yet  occupied  by  neither 
Romans  nor  Teutons,  and  also  in  the 
fair  plains  of  the  Breisgau,  the  ownership 
of  the  land  was  a  doubtful  question,  and 
its  occupants  always  changing.  The 
angle  formed  at  the  north-east  by  the 
Upper  Danube  and  the  Rhine  formed  a 
deep  wedge  between  Rhaetia  and  Upper 
Germania.  While  the  world-empire  was 
still  advancing,  or  while  advance  was 
contemplated,  indecision  on  this  point 
could  be  settled  by  a  general  advance  of 
Roman  authority  either  to  the  Elbe  or 
elsewhere.  When  the  intention  of  advance 
had  been  abandoned,  it  was  necessary, 
before  the  Teutons  reached  the  old  Keltic 
territory,  which  was  now  ownerless,  to 
,  close  this  wedge-shaped  opening 

^""^^^         and  the    "  Helvetian  Desert," 

Ambitious      ^.^^g    j^j^^^^   ^g   ^j^g    ^gj.-    j)g. 

*"*  cumates,    and    to    make     the 

Danube  and  the  Rhine  the  common  frontier 
line  from  Pannonia  to  the  North  Sea. 
Such  was  the  purpose  and  the  meaning 
of  the  line  of  communication  drawn  from 
Kelheim  to  Rheinbrohl  ;  the  separate 
fortifications  and  protected  lands  were 
eventually  united  into  one  great  fortified 
boundary  line. 

3445 


WESTERN 

EUROPE    IN 

THE   MIDDLE 

AGES 


THE  PEOPLES 

OF    WESTERN 

EUROPE 

111 


THE  GREAT  TEUTONIC  DELUGE 

GOTHS  IN  CONFLICT  WITH  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE 


DOME  had  now  established  her  frontiers ; 
■■■^  the  time  of  expansion,  of  attack  and 
counter  attack,  had  ended,  and  a  respite 
follows.  Then  comes  a  period  of  defence 
and  loss.  From  the  Black  Sea  to  the  North 
Sea  the  Teutonic  nationahty  surges  over 
the  frontier  and  breaks  through  the 
boundaries  erected  in  Dacia  and  in  the 
coast  lands  of  the  Black  Sea  ;  some  rapid 
advances  are  driven  back,  but  they 
remain  a  presage  foreboding  the  inexorable 
rise  and  advance  of  a  current  that  can 
no  longer  be  checked.  The  material  cause 
of  these  movements  is  not,  as  before,  an 
increase  of  population  which  has  grown 
too  dense  to  be  supported  by  the  rude 
forms  of  pastoral  life  and  primitive 
agriculture,  and  is  therefore  forced  to  send 
out  migrating  bodies ;  in  this  case  we 
have  to  deal  with  a  general  advance  from 
the  east,  which  can  be  recognised  by  its 
effects  and  by  contemporary  accounts. 
It  resulted  in  a  general  shifting  of  nations, 
and  eventually  brought  the  whole  Teutonic 
world  into  movement. 

Signs  of  this  movement  became  evident 
from  Rhaetia,  against  which  the  Chatti 
made  a  disturbing  advance,  to  Pannonia 
and  Dacia.  The  Teutonic  world  was  in 
a  ferment  throughout  its  southern  boun- 
dary— an  effect  which  points  to  a  great 
number  of  previous  changes  in  the  un- 
known interior.  The  Marcomanni  ad- 
vanced to  the  Danube  ;  the  Lombards 
had  left  the  Lower  Elbe  for  the  most  part, 
and  were  following  an  easterly  direction  ; 
the  Vandals,  who  were  formerly 
settled  in  Silesia,  also  started 
out.  Marcus  Aurelius  spent  half 
a  generation  fighting  against 
these  Teutons  and  the  still  more<  obstinate 
Jazyges  of  Sarmatia,  with  the  result  that 
the  proposed  organisation  of  a  Sarmatian 
province  was  abandoned,  and  Commodus 
permitted  the  settlement  of  Teutons  in 
the  frontier  districts  of  the  empire  on  the 
Danube.  The  "  pores  of  the  empire  " 
were  beginning  to  open  to  the  Teutons. 


Aurelius 
Fighting  the 
Teutons 


The  Goths,  again,  who  before  the  year 

200  A.D.  had  been  driven  from  the  Lower 

Vistula,  had  gone  up-stream  and  turned 

to  the  east  about  the  Carpathians  ;  about 

the  year  200  they  appear  on  the  Black 

Sea  and  on  the  frontier  of  Dacia.     After 

a  decade  of  struggle  by  land  and  by  sea, 

Rome   surrendered   Dacia   to   the   Goths 

_       ,  after    an    expensive    defence, 

c  ™  .  .  and  the  first  great  province 
Surrender  to  i      i.  j.    j.u    t?  t? 

Tu  r-  .u  was  lost  to  the  Roman  tmpire 
The  Goths         A         1-  r  1    . 

Aurelian   was   forced  to   sur 

render  it,  as  Rome  itself  was  threatened 
by  the  Alamanni,  whose  marauding  band? 
passed  through  Rhsetia  into  the  peninsula 
itself.  The  policy  of  using  the  Teutonic 
tribes  as  a  buffer  was  now  shown  to  be 
purposeless  and  inconsistent. 

After  a  momentary  attempt  to  cross  the 
Vistula,  the  Lombards  turned  to  the 
south-east  and  thus  joined  hands  with  the 
east  Teutons,  while  the  forces  of  the 
Alamanni  advanced  from  the  south-west. 
They  came  forth  from  the  districts  on 
the  Elbe  above  the  Lombard  settlements 
and  also  from  those  upon  the  Havel  and 
Spree.  For  a  wide  distance  round  the 
Elbe  and  to  the  right  of  it  the  country  was 
abandoned  by  the  Teutons,  and  room  was 
made  for  the  Slavs,  who  desired  it.  The 
Alamanni  were  the  nucleus  and  the  rem- 
nant of  the  old  Suevian  federation  and 
clung  closely  to  this  name,  though  they 
did  not  meet  with  recognition  by  other 
tribes  on  this  account.  In  the  first  place 
the  Alamanni  no  longer  represented  the 
old  confederacy  as  such ;  during  the 
migration  other  nationalities,  who  were 
not  members,  had  joined  them.  More- 
over, there  were  besides  themselves  many 
other  Germans,  who  had  also  been  Suevi, 
extending  from  the  Marcomanni  and 
Danubian  Suevi  in  the  south-east,  along 
the  whole  line  of  the  Roman  frontier,  to 
the  hill  country  of  the  Rhine.  These 
double  titles  have  remained  to  the  present 
day,  and  the  name  Alamanni  has  never 
been  adopted  by  the  Suevi,  or  Swabians, 

3447 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


themselves,  except  under  the  influence  of 

scholars  in  later  times. 

The    Alamanni    marched    towards    the 

frontier   of    Upper    Germania,    while    the 

East  Teutonic   Burgundians    followed    in 

their  path.    These  two  nations  pushed  the 

Chatti  and  their  adherents  to  the  north, 

after    driving    them    to    abandon    their 

.  .  previous  attempts  upon  Rhaetia 

Advance  on  '^      ,   j     ,  ^, ,     ■'^  _     x 

.     P  and  destroymg  their  prospects 

_,     .  in    the    south-west.      In    con- 

™'""         sequence,    the    Chatti    became 

a  member  of,  if  not  the  principal  nation  in, 

the  union  of  the  "  Franks,"  which  extended 

from  the  Central  Rhine  to  the  North  Sea, 

and  appeared  as  the  rivals  of  the  Alamanni 

throughout   the  westward  advance  upon 

the  Roman  Empire. 

The  year  213  marks  the  beginning  of 
the  struggle  upon  the  frontier  line  itself  ; 
two  generations  later  the  Alamanni  over- 
ran the  Agri  Decumates  and  settled  there. 
In  that  country  they  formed  a  denser 
population,  as  is  shown  by  old  local  names, 
than  in  their  previous  settlements  to  the 
east  of  the  boundary ;  they  had  now 
reached  the  land,  under  Roman  adminis- 
tration, which  had  already  been  under 
cultivation,  and  found,  in  consequence,  a 
larger  extent  of  arable  land,  and  probably 
learned  a  more  productive  form  of  agri- 
culture. But  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  century  this  temporary  satisfaction 
came  to  an  end.  Bands  of  Alamanni  had 
long  before  been  making  raids  beyond  the 
Rhine  into  Gaul  ;  large  bodies  now, 
advancing  for  purposes  of  occupation, 
overran  the  province  of  Alsace  and  the 
district  of  the  Vosges.  Once  again  the 
military  power  of  Julian  drove  them  across 
the  Rhine  by  his  great  victory  of  357. 
But  Julian's  death  soon  followed,  and 
Rome  was  unable  to  prevent  their  return. 

The   Alamanni   of   the   fourth   century 

certainly    formed    a    confederacy.     Their 

several  component  nationalities  pursued, 

upon  the  whole,  a  similar  policy  ;  but  they 

-,     ,  ,  had  methods  of  war  and  peace 

Confederacy  ,-         .        -u  1  j 

fth  peculiar    to    themselves,    and 

,  J  .       even  in  their  chief  undertakings 

against  the  Romans  they  did 
not  appear  absolutely  united.  In  the 
case  of  the  individual  peoples  the  leader- 
ship is  at  one  time  in  the  hands  of  one 
man,  and  is  at  another  conducted  by  a 
commission  of  near  relatives  ;  in  general, 
the  administrative  and  selective  power 
within  the  Stirps  regia  had  advanced 
considerably,  compared  with  the  time  of 

3448 


Arminius.  By  what  process  a  uniform 
nation  was  produced  from  this  confederacy 
of  the  Alamanni  we  do  not  know.  In 
any  case,  this  further  development  began 
before  the  period  when  they  were  subject 
to  Clovis.  The  districts  occupied  by  the 
component  nationalities  are  in  the  course  of 
becoming  districts,  "  Gaue,"  of  the  nation 
of  the  Alamanni ;  for  instance,  in  place 
of  the  district  of  the  Lentienses  we  find 
a  "  Linzgau,"  and  the  whole  is  ruled  by  a 
kingdom. 

The  details  of  the  process  by  which  such 
a  federation  became  a  coherent  nation  are 
known  to  us  only  in  the  case  of  the  Franks. 
They  also  advanced  steadily  from  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury. They,  too,  were  checked,  though 
not  driven  back,  by  Julian ;  notwith- 
standing his  victory  at  Toxandria,  he  left 
them  in  possession  of  the  country  between 
the  Scheldt  and  the  Maas,  which  they  had 
occupied  a  short  time  previously.  In  the 
third  century  the  Franks  had  proved  a 
burden  and  a  danger  to  the  Romans  by 
the  incredible  boldness  and  extent  of  their 
maritime  enterprises.    Now,  however,  they 

.  appeared   in   forces  confined 

*lt.*'^L  almost  entirely  to  land  ;    in 

on  the  Roman      .,  ,        -^  ,•  •, 

-,      .  other  words,  marauding  raids 

Coasts  1    J  1  •  -7 

had  been  given  up  in  favour 

of  permanent  occupation.  The  Franks 
themselves  had  been  driven  back  by  the 
Saxons,  the  third  of  these  important 
and  recently  formed  federations  of  the 
west  Teutons.  The  origin  of  the  federa- 
tion and  its  name  must  apparently 
be  looked  for  in  Nordalbingia.  The 
federation  extended  so  far  westward  that 
it  embraced  the  old  Cherusci,  and  from 
thence  it  turned  northward  towards  the 
Rhine,  at  the  expense  of  the  Eastern 
Franks,  and  almost  reached  that  river. 
The  traditional  task  of  maritime  raids 
upon  the  Roman  coasts,  which  made  the 
process  of  conquest  a  maritime  affair, 
became  a  monopoly  of  the  Saxons  ;  they 
were  thus  employed  to  a  far  greater  extent 
than  the  Frisian  coast  dwellers,  who 
formed  a  settled  people,  and  were  content 
with  coasting  voyages. 

To  return  to  the  Franks,  the  character- 
istics of  their  federation  and  constitution 
corresponded  with  those  of  the  Alamanni. 
The  intermediate  step  between  the  federa- 
tion of  nationalities  and  a  uniform  nation 
is  seen  in  the  fourth  century  ;  it  is  the 
cohesion  of  two  allied  nationalities,  the 
Ribuarii    on    the    Rhine,    and   the    Salic 


THE    TEUTONIC    DELUGE 


Franks  nearer  the  sea.  In  the  fifth  century 
we  find  the  Ribuarii  alone  provided  with 
a  royal  dynasty  of  their  own. 

The  emperors  of  the  house  of  Constantine, 
and  at  a  later  date  the  regent  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  including  the  Ribuarian 
Frank,  Arbogast,  fought  against  the 
Rhine  Teutons  incessantly  and  often  with 
ferocity.  Chiefly  on  this  account  the 
imperial  residence  was  temporarily  trans- 
ferred to  Treves.  The  abandonment  of  this 
residence  and  the  surrender  of  Gaul  to  the 
Alamanni  and  Franks,  and  of  Britain  to 
the  Saxons,  was  not  forced  upon  the 
empire  until  the  time  of  Stilicho,  and  this 


and  the  rivalry  of  individual  tribal 
princes,  for  as  yet  the  old  tribal  elements 
of  the  Tervinges,  Taisales,  etc.,  had  not 
been  entirely  absorbed  by  the  Gothic 
nationality.  Among  the  Ostrogoths,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  noble  family  of  the 
Amalunges  or  Amalinges — the  old  language 
made  no  difference  between  i  and  u  in 
this  termination — had  produced  a  powerful 
national  chief,  by  name  Ermanaric  or 
Hermanrich.  His  power  is  said  to  have 
extended  over  the  Goths  and  the  related 
east  Teutons,  over  the  Slavs  and  the 
nations  of  that  Ural  group  to  which, 
among  others,  the  Esthonians  and  Finns 


IN    COMMEMORATION    OF    A    GREAT    WAR 
The  inscription  on  the  rock  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  shown  in  the  illustration,  records  the  great  conquest  of  the 
Roman  Emperor  Trajan  over  the  Dacians  in  A.D.  103.    This  hard-won  victory  completed  the  triumph  of  Rome,  and 
through  it  the  Greek  cities  on  the  Pontus  were  at  last  delivered  from  the  oppres.sion  of  the  Dacian  powers. 


retreat  was  due  to  the  action  of  other 
Teutonic  tribes,  and  to  the  approach  of 
danger  in  another  quarter.  The  action 
of  the  Alamanni  had  formerly  thrown 
Dacia  open  to  the  Goths,  and  the  Goths 
now  became  the  agency  which  opened 
Eastern  and  Northern  Gaul  to  the 
Alamanni  and  the  Franks. 

The  Goths,  who  were  divided  into  the 
subordinate  divisions  of  the  Visigoths  and 
Ostrogoths,  had  extended  greatly  in  their 
settlements  on  the  Lower  Danube  about 
the  north-west  and  north  of  the  Black 
Sea.  So  late  as  375  the  Visigoths  were 
still   suffering   under   the   neighbourhood 


belong,  to  the  shores  of  the  Arctic  Ocean. 
So  wide  an  empire  could  never  be  coherent, 
and  the  invasion  of  the  Huns  in  375 
shattered  it  at  one  blow.  The  unity  of 
the  Ostrogoths  was  broken  by  repeated 
dissensions  between  the  remaining  Amali 
and  other  noble  princes,  in  the  course  of 
which  the  Huns  appeared,  now  as  adver- 
saries and  now  as  allies,  and  secured  the 
mastery  of  all  the  Ostrogoths  without 
trouble. 

The  Visigoths  had  made  a  vain  attempt 
to  prevent  the  Huns  from  crossing  the 
Dniester.  Athanaric,  the  prince  who  had 
hitherto  possessed  the  greatest   prestige 

3449 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


and  power,  retired  to  the  mountains  of 
Transylvania  with  a  number  of  his  people, 
while  the  princes  who  had  attempted  to 
revolt  and  maintain  themselves  against 
Athanaric  with  the  help  of  Christianity, 
which  was  making  its  way  into  the  country, 
asked  and  secured  from  the  Roman 
Empire  treaties  guaranteeing  the  reception 


Roman  Army 


of  themselves  and  their  people 
D^r"?  ^  b"'^  within  the  empire.  Bands  of 
c  ea  c  y  yjgj„Q^j-^  converts  to  Christi- 
oaroarians  .  '^         .        111  1   - 

amty,  who   had   been   driven 

from  their  homes,  had  already  entered  the 
empire  at  an  earlier  date.  The  em])ire 
undertook  to  provide  for  their  mainten- 
ance until  they  could  begin  agricultural 
operations  and  reap  their  harvests.  This 
opportunity  was  turned  to  scandalous 
account  by  the  Roman  administrative 
officials,  who  strove  to  enrich  themselves 
indefinitely  at  the  expense  of  the  Goths ; 
the  straits  to  which  the  settlers  were 
reduced  eventually  brought  about  the 
Gothic  revolt,  which  proved  successful, 
and  ended  with  the  slaughter  of  Valens 
on  the  battlefield  of  Adrianople  in  378. 
Thus  a  great  Roman  army  had  been 
defeated  on  Roman  soil  by  barbarians 
hard  by  the  capital  of  Constantinople,  and 
for  the  first  time  for  centuries  a  triumphant 
enemy  was  in  the  midst  of  the  country. 

Though  the  Goths  met  with  no  open 
resistance  in  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  they 
were  unable  to  capture  any-  towns.  At 
the  same  time,  this  does  not  necessarily 
prove  that  they  had  any  intention  of 
making  themselves  masters  of  the  country. 
In  this  situation  the  West  Roman  Empire 
succeeded  through  the  Magister  militum,  or 
Captain-general,  Theodosius,  in  resettling 
the  Goths  within  the  boundary  of  the 
empire  as  peaceful  peasants  performing 
military  service.  With  the  help  of  their 
forces,  Theodosius,  who  had  been  appointed 
co-emperor,  starting  from  Aquileia  in  the 
east,  conquered  Arbogast,  the  regent  who 
held  the  imperial  power  in  the  west,  and 
-^  _,  .  established  the  unity  of  the 
Estabr  h  ^n^pire.  Ihis  result  endured 
Unity  '^"^y  ^°^  ^^^  lifetime.     In  both 

halves  of  the  empire,  both 
Greek  and  Latin,  he  was  succeeded  by 
regents  acting  for  his  sons  ;  these  were 
Rufinus  in  the  east,  and  in  the  west  the 
Vandal  Stilicho. 

Alaric,  of  the  Visigothic  noble  family 
of  the  Balthi,  the  leader  of  the  Visigoths 
in  the  Battle  of  Aquileia,  was  the  first  to 
impress  upon  his  nation  the  knowledge 

3450 


of  the  fact  that  Rome  no  longer  had 
power  to  command  the  Goths,  but  was 
in  their  hands.  He  had  been  the  origi- 
nator of  the  plan  "of  founding  kingdoms 
with  his  own  forces  instead  of  obeying 
strangers."  The  consent  and  approval 
of  his  nation  made  him  military  king  ; 
noble  families,  who  had  formerly  claimed 
to  lead,  retired  to  the  background  and  did 
not  reappear  until  after  his  death.  The 
first  enterprises  of  the  Visigoths,  who 
revolted  against  East  Rome,  proved  fruit- 
less. Alaric  was  in  the  same  position  as 
Fridigern  ;  he  was  able  to  march  through 
the  peninsula  without  resistance,  but 
could  not  tell  what  to  do  with  the  power 
he  had  gained.  In  fact,  he  suddenly 
betrayed  a  certain  timorousness  before 
the  vast  fabric  of  this  Old  World  civilisa- 
tion, which  even  in  its  weakness  appeared 
invincible. 

Stilicho  did  not  allow  to  pass  the  oppor- 
tunity of  acting  as  champion  for  the 
helpless  Roman  Empire ;  he  did  not, 
however,  propose  to  free  the  hands  of  the 
Byzantine  government  by  any  decisive 
victory  over  Alaric.  With  the  assistance 
^.    ^    .     of     Byzantium    he     concluded 

The  Goths  i       1  ii  ^  r 

S  til  d  ^  compact  by  the  terms  of 
.  ^.  ^  .  which  Alaric  and  his  followers 
*'"*  were  to  be  settled  in  Illyria, 
Alaric  himself  becoming  commander-in- 
chief  in  that  imperial  prefecture.  Thus 
the  Goths  were  thrust  in  between  Western 
and  Eastern  Rome,  and  Stilicho  might 
expect  to  have  their  forces  ready  at  his 
disposal,  especially  against  the  east, 
should  necessity  arise. 

The  situation,  however,  was  entirely 
changed  by  the  difficulties  which  the  West 
Roman  court  threw  in  the  way  of  the 
regent's  policy.  Stilicho  had  ordered  Alaric 
to  prepare  for  an  attack  upon  East  Rome, 
but  was  obliged  to  countermand  his  orders 
at  the  command  of  the  emperor.  Alaric 
demanded  compensation  ;  Stilicho  cham- 
pioned his  request,  but  the  emperor 
declined,  whereupon  Alaric  led  his  people, 
who  were  under  arms,  against  Italy. 
The  result  was  a  wholly  unintentional 
co-operation  and  connection  between  the 
Gothic  enterprises  in  the  east  and  those 
of  the  Alamanni  and  Franks  on  the  Upper 
Danube  and  Rhine.  The  western  half 
of  the  empire,  the  political  outlook  of 
which  had  for  a  long  time  been  limited 
by  the  jealousy  of  the  east,  was  suddenly 
confronted  by  the  danger  of  immediate 
destruction    at    the    hands    of    barbaric 


THE    TEUTONIC    DELUGE 


hordes.     The  capital  of  Rome,  which  had 

been  recently  fortified  by  Aurelian  against 

the  marauding  raids  of  the  Alamanni  was 

abandoned  by  the  court,  which  transferred 

its  residence   to  the  almost   impregnable 

sea    fortress    of    Ravenna.      Once    again 

Stilicho  drove  Alaric  and  the  Goths  out 

of  the  plains  of  the  Po,  which  they  had 

overrun  almost  to  the  western  Alps.    This 

success  was  secured  only  at  a  dangerous 

price,  involving,  perhaps,  permanent  loss, 

as  Gaul  and  Britain  were  almost  entirely 

deprived  of  their  garrisons,  of  which  they 

were  in  urgent  need. 

Shortly    afterwards,    Stilicho   with    the 

same  troops  destroyed  the  bands  of  Rada- 

gais,  to  whom  Alaric's  advance  had  pointed 

out  the  way;  they  were  a  gigantic  ai"my 

of  emigrants,  composed  of  East  Teutons 

and  Swabian  Germans,  who  had  already 

crossed  the  Apennines  and  reached  Fiesole. 

This  band  had  reached  the  Central  Danube 

in  a  state  of  unrest,  the  reasons  for  which 

apparently  continued.    As,  however,  the 

invasion    of    Italy    was   a   failure,    other 

bodies  of  the  same  kind  advanced  by  the 

Danube,  broke  through  the  position  of  the 

_  ,     Alamanni,  and  crossed  the  Rhine 

^.'  "^  .   *   in  406,  some  of  them  remaining 

J  ¥^  ^t  in  Gaul,  while  the  main  body 
and  Death  1      i       <-       •  i  ^i_ 

reached  Spam,  where  they 
founded  the  kingdom  of  the  Vandals,  the 
Alans,  and  the  Suevi.  Their  forcible 
passage  through  the  territory  of  the  Ala- 
manni proved  a  benefit  to  the  Burgun- 
dians,  who  had  long  been  hostile  neigh- 
bours of  the  Alamanni  and  had  been 
prevented  by  them  from  advancing.  They 
now  followed  this  band  to  the  Rhine,  where 
they  stopped,  and  founded  a  kingdom 
about  Worms,  one  of  the  few  tangible 
historical  events  in  this  general  history 
of  change  and  migration,  which  has,  how- 
ever, found  a  special  and  tragical  illustra- 
tion in  legend  and  poetry. 

Stilicho  was  unable  to  use  his  victories 
for  the  restoration  of  the  West  Roman 
prestige,  or  to  take  new  measures  to 
secure  the  northern  provinces,  which  had 
l)een  abandoned  owing  to  force  of  circum- 
stances. He  ended  his  life  in  the  course 
of  a  court  intrigue  in  408,  and  a  con- 
temptible paroxysm  of  panic  against  the 
Teutons  ended  in  the  massacre  of  the 
women  and  children  of  the  very  troops 
who  had  just  saved  Italy.  The  warriors 
who  had  suffered  under  this  visitation 
then  turned  to  Alaric,  who  now  found 
no  army  to   oppose    him.      On    several 


STILICHO:  GOVERNOR  AT  ROME 
Of  Vandal  origrin,  Stilicho  rose  to  be  commander-in-chief  of 
the  Roman  army,  and  married  the  emperor's  niece,  Serena. 
In  394,  Theodosms  appointed  him  governor  at  Rome.  After 
defeating:  Alaric,  king-  of  the  Goths,  in  two  great  battles, 
in  402  and  403,  Stilicho  aimed  at  making  himself  master  of 
the  empire,  but  latterly;  his  own  solcijrs  turned  against 
him.    He  died    in  408,  in  the  course  of  a  court  intriguo. 


TRIUMPHAL    PROCESSION    OF    THEODOSIUS    INTO    ROME 
To  Theodosius,  as  emperor  of  the  East  Roman  Empire,  was  entrusted  the  conduct  of  the  war  against  the  Goths,  who 
finally  yielded.     In  383  Theodosius  suppressed  the  revolting  Maximus,  and  the  following  year  he  entered  the  imperial 
city    in    triumph.      That   great  triumphal  procession   is   represented  in  the  illustration,   which  is  reproduced  from 
the   Theodosius    Column,   erected    by    the    Kaiser    Arcadius,    in    410,   at    Constantinople,  and  demoliihed  in  1695. 


occasions  he  made  himself  master  of 
Rome  and  of  the  whole  peninsula  as  far 
as  Ravenna.  If  he  wished  to  occupy 
Italy  permanently,  it  was  necessary  to 
secure  his  possession  of  the  corn  pro- 
vinces of  Sicily  and  Africa,  without  which 
Italy  might  well  be  starved  out,  under  ttie 
stress  of  opposition  from  the  East  Roman 
Empire.  On  a  journey  to  the  Straits  of 
Messina  the  Visigothic  king  died  in  the 
year  410. 

After  some  hesitation  his  brother-in-law 
Athaulf  gave  up  an  attempt  to  found, 
as  he  expressed  it,  a  Gotia  in  place 
of  a  Romania — a  fact  vvhich  points  to 
some  similar  idea  entertained  by  Alaric. 
Athaulf  was  convinced  that  the  "  unre- 
deemed simplicity  "  of  his  Goths  made  it 
impossible  for  them  to  follow  the  Romans 
as  masters  of  a  civilised  empire.  Thus  a 
convention  was  concluded  with  Ravenna  ; 
the  imperial  court  which  had  seen  Gaul 
overrun  by  Burgundians,  Vandals  and 
Alans,  and  partially  absorbed  by  Franks 
and  Alamanni,  placed  the  Visigoths  in 
the  south  of  this  province.  Gaul,  which 
was  now  to  receive  the  "  unredeemed 
simplicity  "  of  the  Goths,  was  at  least  upon 
an  equality  with  the  Italy  of  those  days 
in  point  of  culture  ;  many  characteristics 
of  civilisation  which  had  decayed  and  died 
in  Italy,  especially  literature,  were  still 
cultivated  in  Gaul.  Aihaulf's  ideas  were 
largely  influenced  by  the  emperor's  clever 

3452 


sister,  Placidia,  who  became  the  wife  of 
the  Goth,  and  was  especially  anxious  to  see 
Honorius  master  of  Italy.  It  was  in- 
tended that  the  Visigoths  should  receive 
their  province  in  South  Gaul  as  federal 
allies  ;  Rome  then  might  persuade  herself 
that  she  was  acting  for  the  protection  of 
this  province,  then  threatened  upon  every 
side.  After  some  months  of  internal  and 
bloody  confusion  among  the  Visigoths, 
and  after  a  barbarian  reaction  against  the 
relations  of  Athaulf  with  the  Romans  and 
their  emperor,  which  ended  in  his  death, 
an  arrangement  was  concluded  upon  these 
lines.  This  arrangement  rather  favoured 
than  prevented  the  possibility  that  the 
Visigoth  community  might  develop  into 
an  independent  empire,  side  by  side  with 
the  \\"est  Roman  court,  which  ruled  Italy 
from  Ravenna. 

Their  settlement  in  Gaul  and  a  certain 
understanding  with  the  policy  of  Ravenna 
had  turned  the  Visigoths  against  Spain 
and  the  Teutonic  powers  in  that  country. 
But  before  these  questions  could  become 
acute,  the  Vandals  under  King  Geiserich 
evacuated  the  peninsula,  and  left  only 
their  name,  Vandalusia,  to  the  southern 
districts  which  they  had  inhabited.  The 
far-seeing  Geiserich  then  availed  himself  of 
the  hostility  existing  between  the  imperial 
regent,  Aetius,  and  the  African  governor, 
Bonifacius.  This  latter,  as  commander  of 
the  only  province  which  had  as  yet  been 


THE    TEUTONIC    DELUGE 


spared  invasion,  counted  himself  at  least 
as  important  and  supreme  as  the  master 
of  the  other  provinces  ;  Italy  was  to  him 
no  more  than  a  province,  owing  to  her 
dependence  upon  Africa  for  her  corn  supply. 

In  429  the  Vandals  crossed  the  straits ; 
they  soon  overran  the  country,  and  finally 
conquered  Carthage.  They  occupied  the 
Balearic  and  Tyrrhenian  islands,  and  made 
a  footing  on  the  shores  of  Sicily,  while 
their  fleet  was  supreme  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean. It  seemed  that  the  Mediterranean 
and  Atlantic  coasts  were  steadily  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  Teutonic  nations. 
The  retirement  of  the  Vandals  from  Spain 
proved  of  advantage  neither  to  a  revival 
of  Roman  power  in  that  country,  nor  to 
the  little  kingdom  of  the  Suevi,  but  placed 
the  Visigoths  in  the  position  of  future 
masters.  Rome  was  again  in  that  position 
which  she  had  occupied  before  the  Punic 
wars,  with  the  difference  that  her  power 
was  now  upon  the  decline. 

Rome,  however,  still  possessed  the 
tradition  of  a  policy  superior  to  that  of 
the  barbarians,  if  wielded  by  a  clever 
hand ;  she  could  replace  the  decaying 
forces  of  her  citizens  by  mercenaries.  In 
view  of  the  horrifying  loss  of  Africa  and 
in  opposition  to  the  East  Teutonic  power 
that  was  there  rising,  Aetius  felt  the  need 
for  some  temporary  success  of  the  Roman 


arms.  For  this  purpose  the  Burgundian 
kingdom  of  Worms  appeared  weak  enough, 
and  it  was  certain  that  neither  the  Ala- 
manni  nor  the  Franks  would  help  it,  as  it 
had  pushed  itself  between  them.  An 
occasion  for  war  was  easily  provided  by 
some  infringement  of  Roman  rights  in 
Gaul.  With  the  help  of  the  Hunnish 
bands  Aetius  destroyed  the  aged  king 
Gundikar  and  his  kingdom  in  437.  The 
homeless  remnants  of  the  Burgundian 
people  might  become  a  source  of  general 
disturbance  in  East  Gaul,  while  the  Gallic 
problem  could  be  settled  only  by  their 
complete  subjugation  ;  the  Roman  ruler 
was  therefore  obliged  to  give  personal 
consideration  to  the  matter,  and  after 
some  years  settled  them  as  federal  allies 
in  Sabaudia  on  the  Lake  of  Geneva  at  the 
frontier  of  the  Alamannic  conquests  on 
the  south-west. 

The  Huns  had  now  but  a  short  way  to 
go  in  order  to  reach  the  Rhine.  They 
were  already  masters  of  the  Teutonic 
peoples  on  the  Noric  Danube,  so  far  as 
these  had  not  retreated  before  them,  under 
pressure  from  the  expeditions  of  Radagais 
and  the  Gallic  invasions  of  the  Vandals 
and  Danubian  Suevi ;  certain  Vandals 
still  remained  in  Pannonia  among  other 
tribes  in  subjugation  to  the  Huns.  Their 
employment  against  the  Burgundians  had 


GOTHIC    PRISONERS     IN    THE    TRIUMPHAL    PROCESSION    OF    THEODOSIUS 


220 


3453 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


already  shown  the  Huns  the  road  west- 
ward. This  same  employment,  however, 
had  inspired  Geiserich  with  the  idea  of 
inviting  the  Hun  forces  westward,  to 
further  his  own  pohtical  aims.  Geiserich 
recognised  that  the  Visigoths  even  now 
might  become  the  principal  opponents 
of  the  Vandal  empire ;  they  were  a 
,_  rising  and  a  conquest-loving 
nation,  and    as   all   other    direc- 


Attila's 
Famous 
Advance 


tions  had  more  or  less  been 
closed  to  them  by  the  Teutons, 
they  would  be  forced  to  expand  along 
that  line  which  the  Vandals  had  followed 
forty-five  years  previously. 

Thus  the  famous  advance  into  Europe 
of  Attila,  the  leader  of  the  Huns  and 
allied  peoples,  during  the  year  451,  was 
chiefly  due  to  the  diplomacy  of 
Geiserich.  In  accordance  with  this  policy 
the  Visigoths  and  Aetius  formed  the 
main  line  of  resistance.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  indecisive  result  of  the  battle 
on  the  plains  of  Mauriazen,  Attila 
speedily  abandoned  his  attempt.  The 
plundering  raid  which  he  undertook  upon 
Italy  in  the  following  year,  which 
was  opposed  by  Aetius  and  not  by  the 
Visigoths,  displayed  even  greater  inde- 
cision. No  definite  plan  of  changing  the 
situation  in  Central  Europe  seems  to  have 
been  entertained  by  the  Hun  monarch. 
On  the  death  of  Attila,  in  453,  the  empire 
of  the  Huns  speedily  collapsed.  The 
subjugated  East  Teutons  and  Suevi  se- 
cured their  freedom  under  the  leadership 
of  the  Gepids,  while  the  East  Roman 
Empire  recovered  its  courage  for  offensive 
measures. 

Geiserich  remained  master  of  the  situa- 
tion in  the  west.  In  the  confusion 
which  followed  the  fall  of  Aetius  in  454  he 
appeared  in  Rome  as  arbitrator.  As  if 
he  were  gathering  plunder  from  subju- 
gated territories  for  his  capital,  he 
shipped  objects  of  value,  works  of  art, 
and  trophies  from  Rome  to  Carthage. 
,  _  Between  East  Rome  and 
•  *tK  '  *  ^  Africa,  Italy  now  appears  as 
^  a   province   the   fate  of  which 

had  not  been  definitely  decided. 
While  the  East  Roman  Empire  was 
anxious  to  secure  the  existence  of  a  West 
Roman  emperor  who  should  in  reality  be 
East  Roman  governor  in  Italy,  the  Teutons 
simply  occupied  the  country  as  they  pleased. 
No  attempt  of  the  kind  was  made  by  the 
Vandals,  who  would  only  have  hampered 
their    action    by    such    occupation,    but 

3454 


only  by  the  Teutons,  who  formed  the 
standing  army  in   Italy. 

The  undiminished  continuance  of  the 
Roman  Empire  and  of  its  universal 
supremacy  remained  not  only  unques- 
tioned by  Italian  ideas,  but  also  by  the 
Teutons  in  Italy.  The  Byzantine  em- 
perors had  recently  wielded  the  im- 
perium,  which  existed  unimpaired.  The 
Byzantine  government  had  despatched 
Julius  Nepos  as  emperor  of  Italy  ;  he, 
however,  was  obliged  to  retire  to  Dalmatia 
before  the  adroit  upstart  Orestes,  the  suc- 
cessful maker  of  emperors,  and  Patricius, 
the  father  of  Romulus  Augustulus. 

The  fact  that  Odoacer  now  secured 
the  fall  of  Orestes  was  but  another 
satisfaction  to  Byzantium,  though  there 
was  no  prospect  of  restoring  Nepos  to 
Italy.  It  was  necessary  to  conclude  a 
treaty  with  Odoacer  recognising  him  as 
dependent  king,,  as  formerly  with  Athaulf 
and  Wallia,  to  whom  the  empire  had 
previously  abandoned  parts  of  Gaul  ; 
but  an  attempt  was  made  to  secure 
some  theoretical  supremacy  over  Italy. 
Through  Odoacer  the  senate  proclaimed 
,  the  abolition  of   the   Italian 

oacer  s        imperial   dignity,  which  had 

...  .    always    been    more    or    less 

Achievements    ,        -^  ,      ^  t-     ^     t^ 

dependent    on    East    Rome. 

By  way  of  compensation  East  Rome  was 
asked  to  grant  Odoacer  the  title  of 
Patricius  and  admit  the  legitimacy  of 
his  position  with  regard  to  the  Italians. 

Odoacer  never  suspected  that  his 
achievement  in  overthrowing  the  West 
Roman  Empire  would  be  the  starting- 
point  of  a  great  historical  period  and 
that  historical  science  would  treat  his 
reign  as  a  landmark.  The  importance  of 
the  events  of  476  is  not  merely  confined 
to  the  replacing  of  Nepos  and  Orestes  by 
Odoacer,  but  is  accentuated  by  a  long 
series  of  previous  events  and  by  the 
possibilities  which  were  laid  open  for  the 
future.  Moreover,  as  the  remaining  Teu- 
tons recognised  in  Italy  a  Teutonic  and 
not  an  imperial  court,  many  obstacles  to 
their  development  were  removed  ;  as 
Odoacer  was  not  a  supreme  authority 
over  them,  the  quondam  West  Roman 
province  seemed  for  the  first  time  to  be 
left  in  isolation,  or  abandoned  to  those 
who  desired  to  extend  their  power.  Thus 
the  settlement  of  the  old  Roman-Teutonic 
army  in  Italy  is  connected  with  further 
changes  in  West  and  Central  Europe. 

Eduard  Heyck 


Wfb:^ 


^^^^W^M0-^^^m^MM^MMM§m\ 


LiTME  EMERGINGOr  THENAriONSU 

ITALY    AND    THE    LOMBARDS 

AND   THE    DAWN   OF   PRANKISH   SUPREMACY 


A  FTER  the  confusions  of  the  Visigoth 
^*-  and  Vandal  invasions,  Italy  enjoyed 
a  period  of  comparatively  settled  govern- 
ment under  Odoacer  and  his  Heruli, 
Odoacer  had  never  entertained  any 
thoughts  of  an  imperial  policy  ;  he  wished 
to  take  the  place  of  the  Western  emperor 
only  over  Italy  itself  and  its  Roman  in- 
habitants, and  as  the  viceroy  of  East 
Rome.  He  certainly  defeated  the  Rugii, 
who  had  established  themselves  in  Nori- 
cum,  a  province  still  remaining  to  Italy ; 
but  after  his  success,  he  abandoned  the 
province  and  transferred  the  Roman 
population  to  Italy. 

Odoacer's  campaign  in  Noricum  had  been 
caused  by  the  intrigues  of  Byzantium  with 
the  Rugii.  Byzantium,  indeed,  was  ex- 
tremely reluctant  to  see  this  upstart  upon 
the  throne  of  Italy  ;  if  a  Teuton  were  to 
reign  there  at  all,  it  would  be  better  to 
have  a  king  who  was  bound  to  the  imperial 
court  by  respect  and  friendship,  and  who 
would  consequently  act  in  full  compliance 
with  Byzantium.  Such  a  character  was 
Theoderic,  an  Ostrogoth,  of  the  family  of 
the  Amali  from  Pannonia.  He  had  grown 
up  in  Byzantium  as  a  hostage,  with  full 
knowledge  of  and  a  high  respect  for  Roman 
civilisation  ;  he  had  now  united  in  his 
,  own  person  the  power  of  his 
yzan  lum  s  f^^j^gj-  .^^y^^  j^j^-  ^^^^  uncles,  and 

.  _  J  also  that  of  a  prince  who  was 
notof  the  Amalic  kindred.  If  he 
entered  Italy  he  would  be  exactly  the  ruler 
whom  Byzantium  would  wish  to  see  ; 
moreover,  the  Ostrogoths  would  then 
leave  Pannonia,  where  they  had  estab- 
lished them;  elves  after  the  collapse  of  the 
Hun  supremacy,  and  where  they  might 


easily   become    inconvenient    to    Eastern 

Rome.     Here  the  Emperor  Zeno  invested 

Theoderic    with    full    powers,    and    the 

remnants  of  the  Rugii  were  to  follow  the 

Ostrogoth  to  Italy.      Odoacer's  action  a 

short  time  previously — in  448,  when  he 

_,.      .    .  surrendered  and    evacuated 

Theoderic  xt      •  ^u  •   l 

on  the  Throne  Noricum,  the  provmce  neigh- 
,  J.  J  bourmg  on  Pannonia — was  a 

vain  attempt  to  avert  the 
coming  storm.  In  that  same  year  the  Goths 
and  the  Rugii  started,  and  reached  Italy  in 
489.  A  year  later  the  supremacy  of  Odoacer 
had  collapsed,  though  the  sea  fortress 
of  Ravenna  protected  the  king  until  he 
could  be  blockaded  with  a  naval  force.  In 
493  Odoacer  surrendered  on  condition 
that  he  should  be  left  as  joint  ruler  in 
Italy  ;  Theoderic  speedily  freed  himself 
from  this  embarrassment  by  murdering 
his  rival.  Thus  he  reigned  alone  over  the 
peninsula  as  patricius  ;  the  capital  and 
many  Romans  regarded  him  from  the 
outset  as  a  conqueror,  who  was  justified 
in  recovering  Italy  for  the  emperor  ;  his 
Goths  settled  upon  the  allotments  occupied 
by  the  troops  of  Odoacer,  who  remained 
subject  to  him. 

Theoderic's  rule  is  to  be  understood 
from  two  special  points  of  view  ;  in  the 
first  place,  he  restored  their  former  con- 
ditions of  life  to  the  Romans  in  the  country 
after  the  government  of  Odoacer,  which 
they  considered  as  a  foreign  usurpation  ; 
in  the  second  place,  his  reign  implied  a 
renewal  of  western  imperial  supremacy 
over  its  former  province  of  the  West  Roman 
Empire.  The  policy  implied  in  the  first 
point  of  view,  and  the  consequent  con- 
sideration  which   Theoderic-  showed    for 

3455 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Roman  customs  in  general,  was  increased 
and  developed  to  a  remarkable  care  for  the 
prosperity  of  the  country.  He  introduced 
an  economic  revival  and  provided  Italy 
with  new  or  improved  material  appliances. 
He  constructed  buildings  greater  than 
any  emperor  had  built  for  a  long 
period ;  he  encouraged  a  later  growth 
of  the  native  antique  philosophy,  and 
in  every  respect  was  ready  to  con- 
sider Roman  claims  as  much  as  Gothic. 

As  regards  the  revival  of 
the  supremacy  of  the  West 
Roman  Empire,  we  find  a 
curious  state  of  double 
dealing  ;  Theoderic  acknow- 
ledged the  imperial  rights  of 
Byzantium  and  its  supremacy 
over  himself,  but  on  the  other 
hand  his  chancery  documents, 
delivered  to  the  court  of 
Thuringia  in  the  silence  of 
the  Teutonic  interior,  referred 
to  himself  and  the  house  of 
Amali  as  free  and  independent 
heirs  of  the  West  Roman 
emperors.  Thus,  Theoderic, 
probably  with  complete  suc- 
cess, after  the  manner  of 
Aetius,  regarded  the  whole  of 
the  west,  including  old  Ger- 
mania  and  the  Africa  of  the 
Vandals,  as  contained  in  the 
political  purview  of  the 
western  imperial  power  which 
he  represented,  and  in  every 
political  event  or  transforma- 
tion, throughout  Central  and 
Western  Europe,  he  felt  bound 
to  declare  his  position.  Thus, 
when  the  rising  power  of  the 
Franks,  under  Clovis,  defeated 
King  Gibuld,  and  deprived 
his  people  of  their  inde- 
pendence, and  when  the  loss 
of  a  king  had  left  them 
without  a  leader,  Theoderic 
proceeded  to  exercise  his 
supremacy  over  Rhaetia  in  the  old 
province  of  Italy  and  over  the  Alamanni 
there  settled,  who  had  been  in  the  course  of . 
migration. 

Theoderic,  relying  partly  upon  ties  of 
kinship,  attempted  to  hold  in  connec- 
tion the  Visigoths,  Vandals,  Burgundians, 
Thuringians,  Heruli,  and  Varini  in  one 
great  friendly  federation,  managed  from 
Ravenna  and  turned  against  the  restless 
Franks ;    he    was    also    anxious    to    gain 

3456 


"LAST  OF  THE  ROMANS" 
Boethius,  Theoderic's  Minister, 
has  been  described  by  Gibbon  as 
"  the  last  of  the  Romans  whom 
Cato  or  TuUy  could  have  acknow- 
ledged for  their  countrymen."  He 
was  accused  of  treason,  and  was 
executed,  without  a  trial,  in  525. 


influence  over  his  brother-in-law,  Clovis, 
by  overtures  of  friendship.  His  efforts 
proved  fruitless.  In  the  year  507  the 
Merovingians  advanced  to  the  attack 
upon  the  Visigoths,  a  conflict  which  the 
world  had  anxiously  awaited  for  many 
years.  The  Burgundians  were  allied  with 
the  Franks  during  the  struggle,  and  the 
other  tribes  remained  neutral.  Theoderic, 
who  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources, 
saw  the  defeat  of  his  son-in-law,  Alaric  II., 
while  in  the  next  year,  508, 
his  dangerous  ally  subjugated 
almost  the  whole  Gallic  por- 
tion of  the  Visigoth  empire. 
Only  in  Spain,  which,  after 
the  elevation  of  Odoacer,  the 
Visigoths  had  rapidly  con- 
quered as  far  as  the  Suevic 
Galicia,  did  the  Visigoths  and 
Alaric's  son,  Theoderic's 
grandson,  who  had  taken 
refuge  there,  find  themselves 
safe. 

The  struggle  in  the  west 
was  followed  with  close  atten- 
tion, and  with  the  foresight 
of  a  superior  ruler  by  a  yet 
earlier  power,  that  of  Byzan- 
tium. The  politeness  of 
Theoderic,  his  loyal  recog- 
nition of  his  position  as  the 
vassal  of  East  Rome,  his  care 
and  consideration  for  Roman 
civilisation,  could  not  prevent 
the  existence  of  a  deeper 
hostility  between  the  two 
powers  than  had  ever  existed 
in  the  old  period  of  joint 
imperial  rule.  The  great 
poirt  of  variance  was  the 
fact  that  the  East  Romans 
hated  the  Goths  as  Arians 
and  as  heretics  ruling  Catholic 
Rome.  Hence  Clovis,  King 
of  the  Franks,  had  been,  since 
his  baptism,  regarded  by 
Byzantium  as  Theoderic  had 
formerly  been,  when  the  destruction  of 
Odoacer  was  a  desired  object. 

While  Clovis  marched  against  Alaric  II., 
an  East  Roman  fleet  had  attacked  Lower 
Italy  without  any  open  declaration  of 
war.  When  Clovis  returned  from  his 
victorious  campaign  he  met  envoys 
from  Byzantium,  who  invested  him  with 
the  dignity  of  Roman  Consul,  which 
he  accepted  with  the  greatest  respect 
and  with  a  show  of  outward  solemnity. 


ITALY    AND    THE    LOMBARDS 


Byzantium  then  helped  to  check  the 
advance  of  that  Teutonic  power  which 
alone  among  the  new  conquering  states 
maintained  close  connection  with  the  dis- 
tricts of  pure  Teutonic  nationality,  and,  in 
consequence,  alone  seemed  capable  of 
creating  a  future  for  the  Germans. 

Such  being  the  state  of  affairs,  Theoderic 
abandoned  his  position  of  neutrality  so  far 
as  to  send  an  army  across  the  Alps,  the 
success  of  which  secured 
him  a  certain  share  in 
the  plunder ;  he  con- 
quered the  country  be- 
tween the  Durance  and 
the  sea,  which  the 
Visigoths  had  occupied 
at  the  time  of  Odoacer, 
and  which  Clovis  had 
handed  over  to  the 
Burgundians  as  the  price 
of  their  help.  The  Franks, 
on  the  other  hand,  re- 
tained Auvergne,  Aqui- 
tania,  and  the  territory 
north  of  the  Garonne, 
and,  south  of  it,  Gas- 
cony,  including  Toulouse. 
Thus    the   Visigothic 


the  destruction  of  other  Prankish 
noble  tribes  by  Clovis,  and  the  des- 
potic institution  of  a  general  Prankish 
federation,  or  imperial  supremacy  of  the 
Merovingians,  Gregory  of  Tours  has,  indeed, 
no  chronology  to  give,  as  he  borrowed  his 
narrative  of  these  events  from  the  epic 
legends  of  the  time  ;  he  therefore  adds 
the  events  to  which  he  can  give  dates 
as  an  appendix.      He  also  adds  a  further 


THE  TOMB  OF  THEODERIC 


isolated  notice  of  the  fact 
that  Clovis  murdered  his 
own  nearest  blood  rela- 
tions. The  weakness  of  the 
more  developed  Teutonic 
states  still  consisted  in  the 
lack  of  any  monarchical 
succession,  and  in  the  old 
traditional  rights  of  the 
royal  house.  Two  power- 
ful rulers  attempted  to 
avert  this  danger  in  favour 
of  the  monarch.  Geiserich 
created  the  right  of 
seniority — that  is.  the 
right  of  the  oldest  member 
of  the  family  to  the  succes- 
sion, an  idea  calculated  to 


THE  PALACE  OF  KING  THEODERIC  AT  RAVENNA 

kingdom  of  Spain  retained  in  Gaul   only     offend  as  little  as  possible  the  theory  of 


that  strip  of  coast-line,  with  the  town  of 
Narbonne,  which  is  known  as  Septimania. 
The  Ostrogoth  and  Visigoth  kingdoms  were 
connected  by  the  geographical  line  of 
passage  over  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea.  More- 
over, the  Pranks  allowed  Theoderic  to 
exercise  for  the  moment  a  supervisory 
power   over   the   Visigoths.      As    regards 


family  right ;  an  institution  through  which 
the  Vandal  Empire  perished.  Clovis,  with 
characteristic  disregard  of  theoretical  defi- 
nitions, but  with  full  practical  effect, 
"not  sparing  his  own  near  relatives," 
secured  the  result  that  of  all  the  Mero- 
vingians he  alone  remained  in  existence 
for  the  moment,  and  the  succession  was 

34.57 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


afterwards  secured  to  his  sons  to  the 
number  of  four.  Even  this  means  natur- 
ally proved  ineffectual  in  the  future.  Thus 
family  right  continued  to  retain  its  power, 
even  among  the  Franks.  Both  the  later 
Merovingians  and  the  Carolingians  were 
able  to  limit  its  influence  only  by  reducing 
the  number  of  claimants  by  murder  or 
_,  „.  other  violent  measures  of 
our  ings  exclusion.  Of  these  two  great 
the  F  anks  teutonic  contemporaries,  the 
West  Teuton  and  practical 
politician,  Clovis,  was  the  first  to  die,  in 
511.  His  kingdom  was  not  divided,  but 
after  their  father's  death  his  four  sons  all 
became  kings  of  the  Franks  and  of  the 
subject  peoples.  Their  working  arrange- 
ments regulated  only  the  amount  of  their 
income  and  the  limitations  of  their  adminis- 
trative power.  The  result  was  by  no 
means  to  produce  four  ruling  houses.  On 
the  contrary,  when  the  death  of  one 
brother  occurred  the  survivors  took  par- 
ticular care  to  reduce  the  extension  of  the 
ruling  power  and  to  exclude  the  sons  of 
the  deceased  from  any  share  in  the  govern- 
ment. The  policy  was  successful  upon  one 
occasion,  on  the  death  of  Chlodomer,  but 
fruitless  on  the  death  of  Theoderic,  the 
governor  of  the  pure  Teutonic  subjects  of 
the  empire,  who  had  his  capital  at  Metz. 
The  rights  of  the  royal  family  as  a  whole, 
which  in  early  German  history  had  been 
subject  to  the  practical  effects  of  personal 
influence,  were  thereby  driven  back  a 
step;  the  actual  governor  became  more 
strongly  distinguished  from  hereditary 
claimants,  partly  as  a  result  of  his  own 
course  of  aggrandisement  and  partly  under 
the  influence  of  the  manifold  responsi- 
bilities of  the  kingdoms  which  now  repre- 
sented the  supremacy  of  the  Franks  over 
other  nations  and  over  Roman  subjects. 

Consequently  the  foreign  policy  of  the 
Franks  and  of  their  kings  followed  the 
common  and  federal  interests,  and  in  the 
course  of  it  the  most  strongly  interested 

_      ...  brothers     appeared    as    the 

Prankish  ,       ■,■  j         •  i- 

^  ^ .    leadmg  and  guidmg  powers. 

Government  m.  "       ii_T->j- 

Difficulties  Among  the  Burgundians, 
Sigismund,  the  son  of  the  de- 
ceased Gundobad,  attempted  to  repair  his 
position  by  adopting  Catholicism  and 
courting  the  favour  of  Byzantium,  with  the 
result  that  he  exposed  himself  helplessly 
to  the  attacks  both  of  Ostrogoths  and 
Franks.  Theoderic  was  strengthened  by 
the  domestic  difficulties  which  hampered 
the  Frankish  government,  and  when  the 

3458 


Franks  deposed  and  killed  King  Sigismund 
in  523,  he  annexed  new  parts  of  the  Bur- 
gundian  territory  ;  the  Merovingians,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  obliged  to  spare  the 
Burgundian  kingdom  under  Sigismund's 
brother,  Godomer,  and  not  until  532  were 
they  able  to  overthrow  and  to  incorporate 
it  with  their  own. 

Theoderic  died  in  526,  saddened  by  the 
knowledge  that  his  policy  of  care  and 
reconciliation  had  proved  fruitless,  and 
that  he  had  only  stimulated  the  tendency 
of  the  Italian  Romans  and  their  Catholic 
Church  towards  the  Eastern  Empire.  The 
epic  poems  of  popular  tradition,  in  their 
picture  of  his  character,  concerned  them- 
selves but  little  with  these  concluding 
events,  of  which  they  were  in  any  case  not 
likely  to  take  account.  They  have  depicted 
the  main  feature  of  his  fame  as  resting 
upon  the  fact  that  he  became  perforce  an 
arbitrator  and  the  greatest  of  the  heroes 
who  have  governed  the  Teutons  and  re- 
strained both  the  Siegfrieds  and  the 
Hagens  among  the  Franks.  The  picture 
will  in  any  case  remain  the  more  striking 
as,  after  his  death,  no  one  arose  to  prevent 

_  ,  ..  the  Franks  from  disturbing  the 
Destruction   ^  ,•  ,,       i-v  • 

J  y     .  .     Burgundians,  the   Ihurmgians, 

J,.     .  the  Alamanni  in  Rhaetia,  and 

ing  om  ^^^  Baioarii  in  Rhsetia  and 
Noricum.  In  Byzantium  that  strong, 
energetic,  and  prudent  ruler  Justinian 
had  succeeded  to  the  throne  about  the 
time  when  the  successor  of  Theoderic, 
the  queen-regent,  Amalaswintha,  began 
to  grow  alienated  from  the  Goths, 
owing  to  her  ungovernable  preference 
for  everything  Roman.  Her  government 
was  only  legitimised  by  her  son  Athalaric, 
who  died  in  534 ;  but  a  short  time 
previously  she  had  been  able  to 
perform  important  services  to  the  East 
Roman  emperor  and  his  generals  upon  the 
occasion  of  the  African  expedition  which 
had  begun  after  long  hesitation,  and 
ended  in  the  destruction  of  the  Vandal 
kingdom.  Having  secured  his  power  in 
Africa  and  upon  the  Tyrrhenian  islands, 
the  emperor  of  the  Balkan  I'eninsula 
could  not  avoid  the  obvious  necessity 
of  finally  destroying  the  intermediate 
Gothic  position  in  Italy. 

An  outward  reason  for  war  was  afforded 
by  the  fact  that  his  ally,  Amalas- 
wintha, was  murdered  by  an  Amalian, 
Theodahad,  who  became  king  after  the 
death  of  Athalaric,  in  535.  After  Theo- 
dahad, who  was  by  no  means  a  ruler  to  the 


ITALY    AND    THE    LOMBARDS 


liking  of  the  Teutonic  nation,  had  fully 
disp  ayed   his  incompetence   in   the   field 
against  Belisarius,  Justinian's  general  and 
the  conqueror  of  the  Vandals,  the  Goths 
considered  themselves  justified  by  circum- 
stances in  breaking  away  from  the  alien- 
ated and  degenerate  family  of  the  Amali. 
In    their    council,    or    thing,    upon     the 
open  field  they  elected  a  new  king  and 
leader,    Witichis,    who   had   distinguished 
himself  by  his  bravery  in  a  war  with  the 
Gepids.     The    Italian    war    of    Justinian 
was  regarded  with 
favour     by      the 
Franks,  as    they 
hoped   to   derive 
advantage     both 
from     their     old 
friends  the  East 
Romans  and  also 
from  the  expelled 
Ostrogoths,       to 
whom  they  owed 
a  debt  of  assist- 
ance.       Witichis 
left  to  them  the 
concessions  which 
Theodahad     had 
already  made, 
the     districts    of 
Southern      Gaul, 
formerly  occupied 
by  Theoderic. 

But  Prankish 
policy  was 
cherishing  bolder 
plans.  Theude- 
bert,  the  son  of 
Theuderic,  an 
energetic  charac- 
ter, was  ruling  at 
Metz.  It  was  he 
who  proposed  the 
carefully  planned 
attack,  in  alliance 

with      the      Lom-    ThesebeautifuUyworkedemblems  of  power,  belonging  to  the  Visigoth    bravely        and 
bards  and  Gepids,    •^'"^rs  of  the  seventh  century,   were  found  near  Toledo,  in  Spain,    nobly       defended 


GOLDEN    CROWNS    OF    THE    VISIGOTH     KINGS 


a  position  of  predominance  at  the  old 
centre  of  the  empire,  the  more  so  as 
Theoderic  the  Great  had  strengthened  the 
theory  that  the  two  conceptions  were 
inseparable.  Carolingian  history  thus 
announces  itself  in  the  person  of  this 
ambitious  Austrasian.  As  it  proved, 
however,  he  was  not  able  to  insjiire 
his  peasant  infantry  with  a  permanent 
enthusiasm  for  his  imperial  policy,  and 
sickness  among  his  troojis  forced  him 
to  retire  from  the  Apennine  peninsula. 
At  a  later  period 
the  Merovingians 
renewed  their  at- 
tempts to  gain  by 
diplomatic  means 
some  territorial 
concessions  in 
Italy. 

The  majority 
of  the  Ostrogoths 
abandoned  Witi- 
chis in  conse- 
quence of  his 
lack  of  success. 
Belisarius,  whose 
policy  recalls  that 
of  Wallenstein, 
threw  away  the 
opportunity  af- 
forded by  his 
command  of  the 
war  in  lialy,  and 
the  royal  position 
among  the  Goths 
was  characteristi- 
caliy  given  to  a  re- 
lation of  Witichis, 
his  uncle  Uraja. 
He,  however,  was 
advanced  in  years 
and  advised  the 
choice  of  Hilde- 
bad,     who     had 


upon  the  superior  power  of  East  Rome,  and 
who  removed  the  figure  of  the  emperor 
from  his  gold  coins  and  placed  on  them  the 
word  Augustus  after  his  own  name. 
At  the  moment  when  Witichis  succeeded  in 
involving  Justinian  in  a  war  with  the 
Persians  in  539,  Theudebert  invaded  Italy 
with  a  great  army,  and  fought  both  against 
the  Goths  and  against  the  Byzantine  troop  i, 
who  were  intended  for  further  employ- 
ment in  Asia.  A  supremacy  over  the 
West  was  indeed  inconceivable  without 


the  important  town  of  Verona  against  Beli- 
sarius. and  who  was  of  noble  birth,  as  the 
nephew  of  the  Visigoth  king  Theudis. 
He  began  not  unsuccessfully  to  reconcen- 
trate  and  reorganise  the  confused  Gothic 
kingdom,  but  jealousy  broke  out  between 
his  family  and  that  of  Uraja,  in  which 
he  took  the  wrong  side,  lost  much  of  his 
prestige,  and  was  finally  murdered  to 
satisfy  private  revenge.  At  this  moment 
the  Rugii,  who  were  settled  in  isolation 
from  the  Goths,  set  up  a  king  of  their  own, 

3459 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Eraric,    while    the    Goths    remained    for 

months  without  a  leader,  or  accepted  the 

rule  of  the  Rugic  king. 

Eventually  Badvila,  or  Totila,  a  nephew 

of   Hildebad,    was   appointed   king,    and 

Eraric,  who  had  attempted  to  consolidate 

his  position   by  recognising  the  imperial 

supremacy  and  accepting  the  dignity  of 

_  ^  patricius.  was  murdered.  The 

Ostrogoths  ^    -u  -J 

«7  .  •  r^  Goths  once  agam  gamed  an 
Weak  in  Face   •    ,  i      r   ^       i  / 

,  _,  mterval  of  twelve  years  for 

of  Danger  ..  •',     , 

unity,    recovery   and    hope. 

King  Badvila  regarded  Justinian's  actions 
in  550  as  dangerous,  when  he  attempted  to 
play  off  against  him  the  old  royal  rights 
of  the  Amali.  Theoderic's  granddaughter, 
Amalaswintha,  was  still  living  in  Byzan- 
tium. Witichis,  who  had  formerly  been 
elected  king  by  the  people,  had  prudently 
married  her.  At  the  present  moment 
she  was  the  wife  of  Germanus,  the  em- 
peror's nephew,  whose  capacity  and  wealth 
determined  Justinian  to  make  an  expe- 
dition to  Italy.  Germanus  was  then 
suddenly  carried  off  by  sickness  while 
he  was  collecting  Teutonic  light  troops  in 
Illyria  for  his  enterprise  ;  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  Ostrogoths  showed  much  inde- 
cision and  weakness  before  this  danger. 

Once  again  Badvila  gathered  his  forces 
for  a  determined  advance,  upon  the  ap- 
pointment of  Narses,  who  had  already  held 
a  command  under  Belisarius.  His  fleet, 
however,  met  with  disaster  at  Sinigaglia, 
and  the  rude  Danubian  Teutons,  who 
formed  the  flower  of  Narses'  troops, 
surrounded  Badvila  and  conquered  him 
at  Taginae  (Gualdo  Tadino).  The  Gothic 
king  received  his  death  wound  from  the 
Gepid  leader  in  552. 

Thereupon    the    Goths    entrusted    the 

political  power  to  Teja,  who  commanded 

a  considerable  force  as  Badvila's  general, 

though  his  troops  had  not  arrived  in  time 

for   the    battle,    and   therefore   remained 

intact.     In  the  battle  of  Vesuvius  in  553 

Teja    was    unable    to    save    the    Gothic 

-,      ^         Empire,  though    he  preserved 

_  ^„  '^"  the  inextinguishable  honour  of 
Battle  of        ,,     .  ■  u-   u  4.  ^u 

y        .  their  armies,  which  was  not  the 

case  upon  the  downfall  of  the 

V'andals.    The  remnant  of  the  Goths  in  the 

town  garrisons  of  Upper  Italy  now  sent  for 

the  Frank  Theudbald,  a  son  of  Theudebert. 

But    this    youthful    king    (548-555)    died 

so    early    that    he    was    unable    to   exert 

any   personal   influence   upon   the    course 

of  affairs  in  Italy.     On  the  other  hand,  two 

West   Teutonic    "  dukes "    of  Alamannic 

3460 


origin,  the  brothers  Leuthari  and  Butilin, 
invaded  Italy,  unchecked  by  the  Prankish 
government,  with  72,000  Alamanni  and 
Franks.  They  were  joined  by  the 
remnant  of  the  Teutonic  nationality, 
and  seriously  threatened  the  position 
of  Narses  for  a  considerable  time.  The 
Arian  East  Teutons  were  also  divided  by 
dissension  of  every  kind  Irom  the  Catholic 
Franks  and  the  Alamanni,  who  were 
chiefly  heathen.  The  usual  summer 
maladies  broke  out  among  the  Germans, 
and  Narses  was  master  of  them  all  until 
the  spring  of  555.  The  danger  of  the 
government  of  a  Radagais  or  of  an  Odoacer 
in  Italy  was  averted.  The  last  warriors 
of  Teja  had  marched  northwards  across 
the  Alps  at  an  earlier  period.  Other 
thousands  of  the  Goths  were  now  trans- 
ferred to  the  East  Roman  Empire.  The 
commander  of  the  Heruli,  who  had  held 
a  post  under  Narses,  Sindwal — probably 
Sindwalt — attempted  to  establish  himself 
on  the  Etsch.  He,  however,  was  over- 
thrown and  executed  by  his  former 
master.  To  the  Goths  eventually  succeeded, 
in  568,  the  wider  empire  of  the  Lombards. 
_     .  In  the  course  of    long   migra- 

Mh*"         tions  and  changes  of  settlement 

...  the  Lombards  had  become  a 
Lombards         ,  .,.,  ~,     ■ 

strong  mihtary  power.  Iheir 
final  victory  over  the  Gepids  of  Pannonia 
in  566,  though  gained  with  the  help  of  the 
Avars,  had  given  them  sufficient  self- 
confidence  to  venture  upon  the  conquest 
of  Italy.  This  enterprise  was,  however, 
by  no  means  entirely  successful.  Alboin 
is  rather  to  be  regarded  as  the  first  of  the 
long  roll  of  Italian  petty  princes  which 
most  clearly  displays,  for  thirteen  hundred 
years,  the  political  disruption  of  the 
peninsula. 

For  the  moment,  the  Roman  or  Byzan- 
tine garrisons  retired  from  the  vaUey  of 
the  Po,  from  Piedmont,  Emilia,  and 
Northern  Tuscany,  to  the  coast,  in  almost 
every  case.  After  the  surrender  of  Milan, 
on  September  4th,  569,  Pavia,  then  known 
as  Ticinum,  which  had  offered  a  bold 
resistance  for  several  years,  was  captured 
in  572  and  became  Alboin's  capital.  At 
that  period,  however,  any  thorough  foun- 
dation of  an  empire  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  wanderings  of  the  Lombards 
from  the  Lower  Elbe  to  the  Lower  Vistula, 
from  this  again  to  the  Central  Danube,  and 
thence  over  Monte  San  Michele,  at 
Gradisca,  to  the  Po,  and  the  severe 
struggles  which  were  often  a  matter  of  hfe 


THE    RETREAT    OF    THE    GOTHS    AFTER    THE    BATTLE    OF    VESUVIUS    IN    553 
When  the  Gothic  king  Badvila  was  killed  in  battle,  in  552,  the  Goths  entrusted  the  political  power  to  Teja,  who  had 
been  Badvila's  general.     He  encountered  the  Romans,  under  Narses,  at  the  battle  of  Vesuvius,  in  553,  and,  though  he 
was  unable  to  save  the  Gothic  Empire,  he  preserved  the  honour  of  their  armies.    The  illustration  shows  the  retreat  of 
the  Goths,  bearing  the  corpse  of  Teja,  after  their  defeat  at  Vesuvius,  and  the  weird  ceremony  attending  the  procession 

3461 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


or  death  to  their  nationahty,  were  in- 
fluences by  no  means  calculated  to  raise 
them  from  their  semi-barbarous  condition. 
Nor  were  their  travelling  companions  and 
allies  any  more  civilised  than  themselves  ; 
these  were  the  remnants  of  the  Gepids, 
the  East  Slavs  and  West  Teutons,  and  the 
20,000    Saxons    who    had    accompanied 

them.  Hence  their  invasion 
j^'  ^  J  .  was  more  formidable  in  t  ha- 
S°^^  ^  t  d   ^^^^^^  than  the  occupation  of 

a  third  of  the  country  by  the 
Ostrogoths  of  Theoderic  or  than  the 
invasions  of  the  Visigoths,  who  indeed 
entered  the  imperial  service.  The  move- 
ment thus  forms  the  culmination  of  the 
barbarian  invasions. 

Alboin  enjoyed  his  success  for  no  long 
period  ;  in  the  early  summer  of  572  he 
fell  a  victim  to  the  vengeance  of  his  second 
wife,  the  Gepid  Rosamund.  A  similar 
fate  befell  his  successor,  Clepho  or  Kleph, 
in  574,  after  a  reign  of  eighteen  months. 
The  leaders  of  the  tribes  had  become 
military  commanders  and  members  of  the 
royal  retinue,  under  the  supremacy  of  the 
king,  towards  the  end  of  the  period  of 
migration  ;  at  a  comparatively  early  date 
they  became  dukes,  ruling  a  definite  tract 
of  territory,  and  exercising  jurisdiction 
according  to  the  customary  law  over  a 
certain  number  of  Lombard  tribes.  By 
this  process  the  subjugation  of  Italy  was 
completed  ;  consequently  it  could  never 
become  a  settlement  carried  out  in  due 
form.  The  old  territorial  owners  fled,  if 
they  had  not  first  been  killed,  Before  the 
intimidated  Roman  element  could  turn 
to  its  own  advantage  the  mistakes  of  an 
over-centra.lised  royal  power,  such  bold 
and  ambitious  leaders  as  Faroald  and 
Zotto  rapidly  formed,  even  in  Central 
Italy,  the  two  great  duchies  of  Spoleto 
and  Benevento.  Narses,  the  conqueror  of 
the  Goths,  had  been  dead  for  some  con- 
siderable time,  while  Byzantium  was 
threatened  by  the  Avars  and  Persians  ; 

„  ^  ^.  the  imperial  leader  Baduarius 
Uestruction  111.  -, 

•.IT-  .was  repulsed  between  575  and 
in  the  Tram  of      r  ^.i,       x  r     /  r 

Barbarians  576  near  the  strong  fortress  of 
Ravenna.  Ihe  process  of 
Lombard-Arian  conquest  was  marked  by 
the  devastation  or  extermination  of  the 
Catholic  priesthood,  and  its  wild  destruction 
of  episcopal  sees  has  been  unmistakably 
proved  by  statistics.  The  old  capital  towns 
of  Ravenna  and  Naples  rose  almost  in 
complete  isolation  above  this  inundation, 
and  were  able  to  defy  the  untrained 
3462 


barbarian  hordes  by  means  of  their  fortifi- 
cations. Even  in  these  quarters,  however, 
attempts  were  already  being  made  to 
secure  Prankish  help,  Austrasia  in  par- 
ticular was  induced  to  aid  in  the  expulsion 
of  the  heretical  invaders  in  582,  by  means 
of  a  magnificent  present  from  the  Emperor 
Maurice.  Byzantine  bribery  also  secured 
the  transference  of  individual  Lombard 
dukes  to  the  imperial  service  in  584. 

These  ten  years  of  selfish  ambition  were 
brought  to  an  end  by  the  view  that  a 
stronger  king  was  required,  if  the  Lombard 
nationality  was  to  maintain  its  ground  in 
Italy  ;  the  majority  of  the  dukes  chose 
for  this  purpose  Authari,  the  son  of  Kleph. 
The  new  government  was  forced  to 
struggle  desperately  in  order  to  extort 
recognition  from  such  of  the  dukes  as 
refused  submission  ;  together  with  the 
gastalds,  who  administered  the  scattered 
portions  of  crown  territory,  certain  dukes 
maintained  more  or  less  independent 
positions  as  territorial  princes  until  the 
fall  of  the  empire.  Authari,  however, 
showed  much  dexterity  in  yielding  when 
force  was  useless,  and  turning  every 
favourable  moment  to  the  best 
possible  advantage  ;  he  was 
thus  able  to  survive  even  the 
perils  of  the  summer  of  590, 
which  brought  with  it  the  dangerous 
invasion  of  Childebert  II.  of  Austrasia. 
He  married  Theodelinda,  a  daughter  of  the 
orthodox  Duke  of  Bavaria,  Garibald,  a 
Prankish  vassal  in  possession  of  important 
Alpine  passes,  but  remained  an  Arian  till 
his  death,  in  590. 

At  that  moment  the  rising  power  of 
the  Roman  bishop  in  Central  Italy  was 
almost  paralysed  by  the  secession  of  the 
Patriarch  of  Aquileia  and  the  Bishops 
of  Istria  from  the  decrees  of  the  fifth 
synod  of  Constantinople— the  queen  also 
adhered  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Council  of 
Chalcedon.  None  the  less  he  eventually 
rendered  great  services  in  the  dissemina- 
tion of  the  Catholic  faith  among  the 
Lombards,  who  had  remained  isolated  in 
this  respect  after  the  conversion  of  the 
Visigoths  in  587.  Beyond  the  limits  of 
Ravenna  but  very  few  remnants  of 
Ostrogoth  and  Lombard  Arianism  are  to 
be  found. 

The  fruits  of  the  work  of  Authari  were 
clearly  displayed  under  the  rule  of  his 
brother-in-law,  Agilulf,  who  forced  his 
way  from  the  ducal  chair  of  Turin  to  the 
Lombard  throne  in  November,  591.     A 


Missionaries 
to  the 
Lombards 


ITALY    AND    THE    LOMBARDS 


copper  tablet,  overlaid  with  gold — now  in 
the  Bargello  at  Florence — which  was 
made  at  that  period,  represents  him  sur- 
rounded by  hfeguards  with  clasped  helmets 
and  corselets  of  mail.  The  refractory 
dukes  of  Bergamo,  Treviso,  and  Verona 
were  speedily  humiliated.  The  appoint- 
ment of  Arichis  of  Friuli  as  Duke  of 
Benevento  gave  a  definite  form  to  the 
comparatively  aimless  settlement  of  the 
Lombards  in  Southern  Italy.  The  centre 
was  under  the  powerful  rule  of  Duke 
Ariulf  of  Spoleto. 

Fortunately,  during  those  dangerous 
ten  years  at  the  close  of  the  sixth 
century  the  Ch-r^h  possessed  an  ener- 
getic restorer  and  a  defender  of  first- 
rate  capacity  in  the  person  of  Gregory 
the  Great,  who 
ruled  for  thirteen 
years  and  a  half 
— 590  to  604 ; 
otherwise  the 
Roman  element, 
even  within  the 
states  of  the 
Church,  would 
have  succumbed 
speedily  and  for 
ever  to  the  ad- 
vance of  the 
Lombards,  which 
now  proceeded 
upon  more  de- 
finite lines.  The 
fact  is  proved  by 


dependence  and  the  possibility  of  separa- 
tion from  Byzantium  naturally  increased  ; 
this  tendency  forms  one  of  the  main 
features  of  Italian  history,  from  the  un- 
successful revolt  of  Eleutherios  in  610 
until  the  complete  break  with  the  East 
Roman  supremacy  introduced  by  Charles 
the  Great  in  781. 

After  ti.e  death  of  Agilulf,  in  616,  Ada- 
loald,    who    had    already    been    baptised 
into  the   Roman  Catholic  faith,  ascended 
the  throne  as  a  min  r,  under  the  regency 
of  his  mother  Theodelinda.   To  this  period 
belongs  the  settlement  of  the  disciples  of 
the  Irish  monk  Columba,  who  had  been 
driven  from  his  settlements  in  the  Vosges 
by  the  lawless  Brunhilda,  and  had  taken 
refuge  on  the  Bobbio  with  the  permission 
of  Agilulf ;  in  628 
they  left  the  camp 
of  the  schismatics 
and  went  over  to 
the  papacy,  with 
flying  colours.  In 
626  Adaloald  was 
overthrown,    ap- 
parently for   the 
reason    that     he 
had  shown  exces- 
sive favour  to  the 
Roman      nation- 
ality,    and     his 
place  was  taken 
by  Arioald  (626- 
636),  the  husband 
of  his  sister,  who 

-                   .-  THE    FAMOUS    IRON    CROWN    OF    LOMBARDY                         ,            r\,thn 

the       manner      m  There  is  a  tradition  that  this  celebrated  crown  of  Lombardy,  deposited  )^  ^^  aiSO  a  V^aillO- 

Which     the    Lom-  in  the  Cathedral  of  Monza,  was  made  fromnaUs  used  at  the  Crucifixion  lie.    He,  hOWCVer, 

,         J               J     '  f~,  of  Christ,  and   given  to  Constantine   by  his   mother,   the   Empress  „,„_    ,,„oK1q     t^ot- 

bard        and       rSy-  Helena.     Henry  VII.  was  the  first  of  the  Italian  kings  who  is  known  vvaS    Unaoie     per- 

-yontino   armictirf>  with  any  certainty  to  have  worn  it.  in  1311.   Charles  V.  was  the  last  of  m  a  n  P  n  1 1  V        tO 

Zanime  armiblice  the  emperors  who  made  use  ofituntU  Napoleon  crowned  himself  with  it.  "' *  "  ^  "  "^  '  J' 

was  concluded  in 


the  autumn  of  598,  and  also  by  the 
increased  power  of  the  Exarch  of 
Ravenna,  who  was  entrusted  with  one  of 
the  most  responsible  state  posts,  and  had 
resumed  the  powers  of  Theoderic,  though 
not  with  a  hereditary  title  ;  it  was  a  rise 
of  power  conditioned  by  the  permanent 
danger  of  exposure  to  barbaric  attacks. 

The  stern  logic  of  facts  had  transformed 
a  peaceful  portion  of  the  empire  i  to  a 
frontier  province  under  military  law  and 
composed  of  different  fragments,  the 
several  frontiers  of  which  ran  into  the 
interior  and  not  along  the  coast-line  of 
Italy,  and  could  be  secured  only  by  the 
wearisome  work  of  fortified  garrisons. 
As  the  imperial  government  was  more 
hardly    pressed,    the    inchnation    to    in- 


check  the  disrup- 
tion of  the  Lombard  kingdom,  a  process 
which  was  accelerated  by  the  autonomous 
spirit  of  the  dukes,  and  was  partly  due  to 
the  preponderance  of  Roman  civilisation  ; 
in  any  case,  the  outward  rest  which  Italy 
enjoyed  upon  the  whole  under  the  Exarch 
Isaac  (625-643)  and  the  Pope  Honorius  I. 
(625-638)  in  no  way  contributed  to 
strengthen  the  Lombard  position. 

No  Lombard  revival  occurred  until  the 
secular  policy  of  the  orthodox  Curia  suffered 
a  severe  defeat  on  June  17th,  653,  when 
Pope  Martin  I.  was  deposed  by  imperial 
decree,  as  a  result  of  the  Monothelite  quarrel. 
The  revival  was  begun  by  King  Rothari 
(636-652),  wl  o  introduced  a  national  ad- 
vance in  the  second  half  of  the  seventh 
century  by  the  severity  of  his  attitude 

3463 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Through 
Murder  to 
&  Throne 


towards  the  autonomofls  aspirations  of  the 
dukes  in  contrast  with  the  more  feeble 
poHcy  of  friendship  with  Rome.  His 
orgSlhising  spirit  is  evidenced  by  the 
decree  of  November  22nd,  643,  which 
provided  his  subjects  for  the  first  time 
with  the  advantage  of  a  legal 
code,  though  written  in  Latin. 
Immediately  afterwards  the 
Lombard  attacks  upon  the 
remnants  of  the  Byzantine  supremacy 
were  renewed  with  a  success  which 
implied  a  simultaneous  strengthening  of 
the  government's  dynastic  power. 

Rodoald,  the  son  of  Rothari  (652-653), 
was  succeeded  by  the  Catholic  Aripert,  the 
cousin  of  Gundeberga  ;  he  reigned  until  661, 
and  his  policy  was  marked  by  conciliation 
towards  Rome.  During  the  dissension 
between  his  sons  Godepert  and  Perctarit, 
Duke  Grimoald  L  of  Benevento  secured 
the  throne  by  murdering  the  former, 
expelling  the  latter,  and  marrying  their 
sister.  The  national  life 
then  entered  upon  a  real 
revival.  Grimoald  suc- 
ceeded in  uniting  th« 
Lombard  districts  in  thi 
north  with  those  m 
Southern  Italy,  and  thus 
formed  a  powerful  king- 
dom with  resources  which 


At  the  same  time  the  kingdom  which 
had  thus  been  vigorously  held  together 
by  the  iron  grasp  of  Grimoald  was  broken 
up  almost  immediately  alter  the  death 
of  the  king,  in  671.  Romuald,  the  elder  son, 
maintained,  indeed,  his  position  in  the 
south  as  duke  of  Benevento,  but  in  the 
north  Perctarit,  who  had  been  formally 
expelled,  drove  out  the  young  Garibald 
at  the  first  onslaught.  The  grand-nephew 
of  Theodelinda  was  in  policy  and  in  religion 
an  adherent  and  supporter  of  the  pacific 
policy  of  the  Bavarian  dynasty.  During 
the  last  quarter  of  the  seventh  century 
the  Catholic  Church  made  great  progress 
on  account  of  the  abandonment  of  the 
Monothelite  position  and  the  condemna- 
tion of  the  orthodox  Pope  Honorius  in 
681,  which  had  facilitated  a  reconciliation 
between  East  and  West,  and  the  splendour 
of  its  progress  benefited  chiefly  the  Roman 
papacy.  Arianism  disappeared,  and, 
even  in  the  schismatic  north-east  corner, 
gave  way  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  system  under 
King  Kunibert  (690- 
700). 

The       uniformity      of 
religious  belief  now  pre- 
vailing in  Italy  and  the 
peace   which    had     been 
QUEEN  THEODELINDA  s  CROWN     Concluded  on  the  ground 

almost  doubled  the    This  famous  crown  of  the  queen  of  the  Lom-    of       mutual        recognition 

achievements  of  Rothari.  ^f^tt"tt7i^7llo^"zT'"Vh\ioVetdrw^  between    the    Lombards 
Even      the      Emperor  was  a  daughter  of  Ganbaid  the  orthodox  on  the  one  hand  and  1  he 

,1-      ',  Duke   of   Bavaria,     married    King    Authan.    ^       •  1,1 

.^^* — ^  ,.,^^  «Ki,„„^    ,„  «.  Curia  and  the  empire  on 

the    other,    about    the    year    682,    could 


Constans  was  obliged,  in 
663,  to  renounce  his  project  of  driving 
the  intruders  from  the  old  centre  of 
the  empire,  and  contented  himself  with 
the  possession  of  Sicily.  In  consequence, 
Rome  was  deprived  of  her  importance 
as  the  chief  political  town  and  capital 
for  almost  1,207  years,  while  her 
ecclesiastical  pre-eminence  suffered  a 
further  blow  from  the  action  of  Constans, 
who  granted  with  equal  readiness  and 
shortsightedness  an  independent  position 
to  the  Bishop  of  Ravenna.  It  must  be 
said  that  the  latter  after  no  long  time 
turned  upon  his  patron  ;  the  increasing 
division  between  the  Curia  and  the  East 
had  been  extended  between  606-741, 
notwithstanding  the  attempts  at  reunion 
and  the  efforts  of  thirteen  S\Tian  or 
Greek  Popes,  for  the  Curia  had  been 
finally  and  inevitably  driven  by  the 
emperor  into  the  open  arras  of  the  Franks, 
and  Ravenna  gradually  decayed  and  was 
unable  to  maintain  its  position  alone. 

3464 


not  prevent  the  separation  of  Italy  into 
a  Lombard  and  non-Lombard  portion. 
Within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Lombard 
kingdom  the  Roman  nationality  steadily 
decayed,  notwithstanding  the  superiority 
of  its  civilisation  ;  the  Roman  respect  for 
law  was  overthrown  by  these  colonists, 
and  the  idea  of  "  abstract  obedience " 
was  replaced  by  the  Lombard  idea  of 
unlimited  freedom  and  the  abandonment 
of  all  restraints.  The  desire  of  individuals 
to  act  as  they  pleased  was  a  constant 
obstacle  to  the  foundation  of 
real  political  freedom.  The 
separatism  of  the  south, 
which  even  at  the  present 
day  is  clearly  obvious  beneath  the  outward 
union  of  Italy,  may  be  attributed  to  the  loose 
relations  of  the  strong  duchy  of  Benevento 
with  the  North  Italian  kingdom  quite  as 
reasonably  as  to  the  separation  of  the 
dioceses    of    Lower    Italy,    which    were 


What  Freedom 
Meant  to 
the  Lombards 


ITALY    AND    THE    LOMBARDS 


inclined    to     Byzantium,     a     movement 
certainly  promoted  by  the  ruling  classes. 

This  partition  of  Italy  into  divisions  of 
different  character  and  different  politics 
was  materially  supported  by  a  change 
in  the  centre  of  power,  which  became 
gradually  obvious,  and  is  in  close  connec- 
tion with  the  above-mentioned  alienation 
of  Western  from  Eastern  Rome  ;  this  was 
the  movement  for  freedom  which  was 
vigorously  begun  by  "Pope  Sergius  with 
the  "  quinisext  "  (the  ecclesiastical  assem- 
bly of  Constantmople, 
which  completed  the 
fifth  and.  sixth  councils) ; 
the  movement  was,  how- 
ever, organised  about  the 
year  710  by  Georgius  of 
Ravenna. 

The  design  simply  aimed 
at  bringing  to  an  end  the 
s,upremacy  of  Byzantium, 
which  in  many  respects 
persisted  only  in  name. 
This    object    would,   no 

doubt. have  been  attained 
at  a  much  earlier  date  had 

not  inopportune  resump- 
tions   of     the    Lombard 

attacks  shown    that    the 

Byzantine      protectorate 

was     not     only      highly 

desirable,    but    at    times 

absolutely  necessary. 
The      fact      that     the 

Lombards  resumed  their 

plans  of    conquest    after 

short  pauses  was  due  to 

the    essential    nature    of 


Ansprand,  who  died  after  a  short  reign  in 
the  spring  of  712.  Liutprand  was  a 
second  Grimoald  in  his  policy  of  unifica- 
tion ;  during  the  struggles  between  the 
Curia  and  the  imperial  government  he 
showed  great  cleverness  in  preserving  the 
balance  between  these  forces. 

About  730  he  helped-  to  reduce  Pope 
Gregory  IL  (715-731),  vvho  had  made 
himself  almost  entirely  independent,  to  the 
position  of  a  supreme  bishop  of  the  Church, 
using,  on  the  one  hand,  the  exarch  for  the 
humiliation  of  Spoleto 
and  Benevento,  while  he 
also  provided  him,  on  the 
other  hand,  with  sufficient 
occupation  for  his  energies 
by  promoting  the  auto- 
nomous tendencies  in 
Central  and  Northern 
Italy. 

The  local  governing 
powers  (tribunes,  etc), 
which  had  grown  up  in 
the  meantime  in  such 
towns  as  had  remained 
Roman,  and  which  were 
indispensable  to  the 
further  development  of 
Italy  in  later  years,  could 
no  longer  be  silenced  after 
730.  Venice,  moreover, 
now  began  to  rise  from 
entire  unimportance, 
favoured  as  she  was  by 
her  geographical  position 
upon  the  lagoons  and 
islands  of  the  North- 
west Adriatic,  under  the 


THE    CROSS    OF    KING    AGILULF 

their  constitutional  a  brother-in-iaw  of  King  Authari,   AgUuif  government  of  a  "dux," 

svstem  •   it  was   onlv  bv  ^^'^^^^  '"'^  "^^y  ^'■°™  ^^^  ^^'^^^  '^'*^'''  °'  ^''^""  whose  office  was  originally 

■^  -'  •'.,•'     to  the  Lombard  throne  in  591.      His   reign  _r    r, .; :„;^      U.,* 


expansion        over 


the 


to  the  Lombard  throne  in 

lasted  until  his  death,  in  616.  The  cross  is  now 


of  Byzantine  origin,  but 


country     that    the    crown  preserved  in  the  treasury  of  the   Castle    of  in      the       COUrSC      of       the 

could  maintain  its  position  Monza.    a  copper  tablet,  overlaid  with  gold,  eighth  century  gradually 

aeainst  the  dukes  and  the  "°'' '"  *^''  BargeUo  at  Florence,  represents  became  dependent   upon 

agdUibl  iiicuuis.cs,  duu  LUC  ^gilulf  surrounded  by  some  of  his  lifeguards  -^^  if  *K^  V^^^fjor, 

good  understanding  with  with  clasped  helmets  and  corselets  of  mau.  the  choicc  of  the  Venetian 
the  Curia  was  not  likely 


to  be  impaired  by  slight  aggressions,  as  the 
papacy  was  also  working  against  the 
emperor,  while  from  726  the  Iconoclastic 
quarrel  added  fresh  fuel  to  the  flames  and 
formed  another  point  of  union  between  the 
Romans  and  the  Lombards. 

The  Lombards  were  then  ruled  by  King 
Liutprand  (712-744)  ;  though  his  re- 
sources were  limited,  he  was  able  to  turn 
them  to  the  best  advantage,  and  showed 
great  ability  in  increasing  his  power.  He 
succeeded  his  father,  the  "  Wise  "  Duke 


fishermen  and  traders. 
For  about  150  years  a  kind  of  alliance 
had  existed  between  the  Lombards  and 
the  Franks,  a  traditional  connection 
which  was  emphasised  by  the  loyal  friend- 
ship of  Liutprand  with  the  powerful  mayor, 
Charles  Mart  el ;  this  connection  was  now- 
exposed  to  a  severe  test.  The  Pope  found 
that  his  conventions  with  the  dukes  of 
Spoleto  and  Benevento,  who  preserved 
their  independent  spirit  though  repeatedly 
subjugated,  were  an  inadequate  protection 
against  the  Lombard  attacks,  which  were 

34^ 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


renewed  notwithstanding  the  treaty  of 
Terni  in  742  ;  as  he  could  secure  no  help 
from  East  Rome  he  applied  for  assistance 
to  the  Prankish  king,  Pippin,  from  752 
onwards.  The  test  proved  too  severe. 
Liutprand  was  succeeded  by  Hildeprand, 
and  he  again  by  Duke  Ralchis  of  Priuli, 
before  the  expiration  of  the  year  744  ; 
_,  .   _  the  friendliness  to  Rome  of  this 

f  ^*  th  *^*  latter  monarch  was  replaced  in 
Lombards     J""*^'    749.    by    the     ruthless 

oppression  of  his  brother 
Aistulf.  It  was  this  change  which  brought 
about  the  breach. 

The  new  king,  who  had  been  in  occu- 
pation of  Ravenna  since  the  summer 
of  751,  had  conceived  the  idea  of  shatter- 
ing the  Roman  nationality  to  its  very 
foundations,  and  thus  drove  the  first 
nail  into  the  coffin  of  the  Lombard  king- 
dom. The  alliance  between  the  Pope  and 
the  Franks  had  been  prepared  by  the 
mission  of  Boniface  and  the  appeals  of 
Gregory  III.,  though  these  had  been 
fruitless  (739-740)  ;  the  accession  of 
Pippin  in  751  definitely  secured  the 
alliance,  and  even  a  united  Lombard 
state  could  hardly  have  resisted  these 
combined  forces.  The  Prankish  king  was 
pledged  by  the  agreements  of  Ponthion 
and  Quierzy  in  754  to  restore  the  status 
quo  ante,  in  other  words,  the  frontier  lines 
of  682  ;  and  when  his  mild  remonstrances 
produced  no  effect  upon  Aistulf,  Pippin 
crossed  the  Alps  in  person  upon  two 
occasions  (754  and  756),  defeated  the 
Lombards,  and  forced  them  to  restore 
Ravenna  and  the  castles  which  they  had 
previously  conquered,  though  he  did  not 
urge  a  complete  restoration  of  the  territory 
taken  t)efore  749  by  Liutprand  and  others 
from  the  Curia,  or,  more  exactly,  from  the 
emperor.  This,  again,  was  a  "  barbarian  " 
attack. 

The  promises  made  in  the  agreement 
of  Quierzy  were  thus  not  entirely  fulfilled. 
But  the  performance,  though  incomplete, 

produced  a  result  of  vast  im- 

tK  *P  "^*     portance  to  later  Italy ;  this  was 

e     ope  s    ^j^^  valuable  foundation  of  tbe 

States  of  the  Church,  which 
even  now  had  become  something  more 
than  an  extended  territorial  estate,  and 
offered  a  convenient  basis  for  the  further 
extension  of  the  Pope's  secular  power. 
The  Prankish  king  could  never  have  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  recovering  the  terri- 
tories alienated  from  the  East  Roman 
ruler  and  placing  them  in  the  hands  of 

3466 


imperial  officials  ;    what  he  had  done  was 

done  merely  to  the  glory  of  God  and  from 

his  desire  to  serve  the  sacred  chair.     The 

fact  that  the  occupant  of  this  chair  was 

subject  to  the  supremacy  of  the  empire, 

as  the  governor  of  the  Roman  duchy  and 

as  an  imj>erial  bishop  ;    the  fact,  again, 

that  he  himself  had  been  brought  under 

the    imperial    authority    by    the    Pope's 

gratitude,   which  conferred  upon   him   in 

754  the  title  of  "  patricius  Romanorum  " 

— these    were    matters    which     troubled 

Pippin  not  at  all.     Thus  the  movement 

for   Italian   freedom    had   won   a    further 

victory,  and  the  separation  of  Rome  from 

Byzantium  had  secured  a  highly  promising 

recognition  beyond  the  bounds  of  Italy. 

The  interference  of  the  chief  secular  power 

of  Central  Europe  in  Italian  affairs  soon 

grew  stronger  and  was  often  repeated  ; 

but  for  centuries  its  work  survived  it  in 

its  creation  of  the  Patrimony  of  Peter,  a 

state  within  a  state. 

Aistulf  suffered  from  the  effects  of  the 

utter  failure  of  his  attempted  policy  of 

aggression  only  for  a  few  weeks ;  he  died  in 

December,  756.  His  place  was  unexpectedly 

^    .        taken  by  that   Ratchis  who  had 

Monk  -'  ,       , , 

jj  renounced     the      crown      seven 

Q  and     a     half    years     previously, 

and  had  become  a  monk  in 
Monte  Cassino.  Spoleto  and  Benevento 
immediately  seized  this  welcome  oppor- 
tunity to  break  away  from  the  kingdom, 
while  in  the  north  a  powerful  opposition 
king  arose  in  the  person  of  the  Tuscan 
duke,  Desiderius  ;  these  facts  dictated  the 
future  policy  of  Ratchis,  and  while 
formerly  a  supporter  of  Rome,  he  was  now 
forced  to  oppose  the  Pope  and  the  Franks. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Curia  had  an  easy 
task  ;  it  supported  Desiderius  when  he 
made  overtures  to  Rome,  and  secured 
from  him  a  promise  of  the  restoration  of 
such  imperial  towns  as  had  been  left  by 
the  events  of  756  — Bologna,  Imola,Faenza 
and  Ferrara,  Osimo,  Ancona,  and 
Humana — while  he  also  undertook  to 
secure  the  abdication  of  the  monk  king, 
who  was  now  hard  pressed. 

As  soon  as  he  had  secured  the  power, 
Desiderius  revealed  himself  as  a  second 
Aistulf  or  Liutprand.  He  opened  negotia- 
tions with  Byzantium  with  the  object  of 
again  reducing  the  excessive  power  of  the 
.Curia,  while  he  declined  to  offer  any 
prospect  of  a  serious  attempt  to  redeem 
his  promises  of  restoration  ;  at  the  same 
time  the  dilatory  character  of  his  diplo- 


sr>  .»» 


"".   .-«« 


PAVIA:     ONCE     THE     CAPITAL     OF     THE     LOMBARDIC     DOMINIONS 
This  ancient  town,  known  to  the  Romans  as  Ticinum,   was  taken  by  Charlemagne  in   774,  and   its  liistoric  nniversity, 
which  still  stands,  is  said  to  have  been  founded  by  the  great  warrior  in  that  year.      It  was  at  Pavia,  centuries  later,  in 
1525,  that  the  great  battle  was  fought  which  resulted  in  the  defeat  of  the  French  and  the  capture  of  their  king, 
Francis   I.,   by  the  troops  of  the   Emperor  Charles    V.       The  town  was  joined  to  the  kingdom  of  Italy  in  1859. 


macy  avoided  any  open  breach  with  the 
dreaded  Caiolingians.  However,  about 
763,  through  the  intervention  of  Pippin,  a 
peaceful  recognition  of  the  status  quo  was 
definitely  secured.  Thus  the  Prankish 
king  had  already  been  invited  to  arbitrate 
in  the  struggle  for  the  supremacy  of  non- 
Lombard  Italy  waged  by  the  emperor 
and  Pope.  Prankish  friendship,  more- 
over, proved  a  permanent  possession, 
guaranteed  as  it  was  by  the  unanimity  of 
orthodox  faith  in  opposition  to  the  icono- 
clasm  of  the  East.  This  protectorate 
was  continued  during  the  following  years, 
which  saw  a  series  of  bloody  struggles 
upon  the  several  elections  of  the  Popes  ; 
in  spite  of  repeated  attacks,  the  Lombard 
nationality  was  unable  to  exercise  any 
material  influence  upon  Roman  affairs. 

The  comparative  peace  prevailing  in 
Italy  was  significantly  disturbed  by  the 
complications  in  the  Prankish  Empire 
which  resulted  in  the  death  of  Pip^pin  on 
September  24th,  768.  The  confusion  was 
initiated,  as  is  often  the  case,  by  a  woman, 
the  queen- widow,  Bertrada,  married  her 
son  Charles  to  the  daughter  of  the 
Lombard  king,  who  had  previously  been 
crushed — she  was  called  Desiderata,  accord- 
ing to  the  Vita  Adalhardi.  The  mother 
of  Charles  intended  the  marriage  to  make 
him  brother-in-law  of  Tassilo,  the  refrac- 


tory Duke  of  Bavaria.  It  was  only  to  be 
expected  that  this  remarkable  change  of 
Prankish  policy  should  produce  a  revival 
of  the  Lombard  claims.  Por  the  moment, 
indeed,  Desiderius,  under  the  pressure  of 
necessity,  displa^^ed  a  friendly  attitude 
towards  the  Prankish  alliance  with  the 
Pope.  The  line  of  cleavage  between  these 
powers  was  not,  however,  definitely  bridged 
by  this  alliance,  and  was  widened  by  the 
open  dissension  of  the  two  brothers, 
Charles  and Carloman,  in  the  middle  oiyyi. 
After  the  death  of  the  latter,  on 
December  4th,  Charles  took  possession  of 
the  other  half  of  the  empire  on  the  Italian 
side,  and  the  widow  Gerberga  saw  no 
alternative  before  her  but  an  appeal  to 
Desiderius  to  protect  her  children  who  had 
been  deprived  of  their  inheritance.  The 
materials  for  a  conflagration  were  com- 
pleted by  Charles'  divorce  of  his  Lombard 
wife,  which  coincided  in  date,  and  was  no 
doubt  in  practical  connection,  with  these 
events  ;  he  married  Hildegard,  a  Swabian 
of  noble  birth.  The  restoration  of  the 
Roman  towns,  proposed  and  actually 
begun  by  Bertrada,  soon  came  to  an  end. 
Paenza,  Perrara,  and  Comacchio  remained 
in  Lombard  hands;  and  in  declared  hos- 
tility against  his  revolted  son-in-law,  the 
Lombard  king  advised  Pope  Hadrian  I.  to 
crown  the  sons  of  Carloman  in  jyz- 

3467 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Fall  of  the 

Lombard 

Kingdom 


Negotiations  were  opened,  and  papal 
expostulations  passed  continually  between 
Charles  and  Desiderius ;  but  all  efforts 
proved  fruitless,  and  the  expedition  to 
Italy  began  in  the  same  year.  By  the 
autumn,  the  Franks  were  in  front  of  Pavia, 
the  strongly  fortified  capital.  Thence,  at 
the  end  of   March,   774,   Charles   betook 

himself    for   the  first   time   to 
\       f  an  ot  the   j^Qj^g^  ^here  the  Easter  festival 

was  celebrated,  and  the  "  pro- 

missio  "  of  Pippin  was  solemnly 
received ;  the  frontier  delimitation  was 
conducted  upon  principles  characteristic 
of  the  age,  in  a  general  and  very  indefinite 
manner,  and  the  Curia  was  thus  enabled 
to  prove  from  it  a  "  Donation  "  of  the 
most  extensive  kind.  Pavia  fell  at  the 
beginning  of  June,  and  Desiderius,  with 
his  wife  and  daughter,  was  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Franks.  Such  was  the  end  of  the 
Lombard   kingdom. 

The  Lombard  nationality,  however,  was 
by  no  means  expelled  from  Italy.  The 
Crown  1  rince  Adelgis,  who  had  been  co- 
regent  with  his  father  from  759,  had  fled 
from  Verona  to  Byzantium,  but  the  Dukes 
of  Friuli,  Chiusi,  Benevento  and  Sp'oleto 
continued  to  hold  out,  the  last-named  being 
for  a  time  dependent  upon  the  Pope.  Nor 
were  any  bounds  placed  for  the  moment  to 
the  extent  of  the  foreign  supremacy.  From 
the  year  774  onwards  Charles  was  simply 
the  heir  and  successor  of  Desiderius,  and 
the  immediate  representative  of  the  Lom- 
bard dynasty.  The  name  of  the  nation 
which  occupied  the  throne  had  changed  ; 
the  "  barbarian  "  intruder  was  there  as 
before. 

There  was,  however,  one  essential 
difference  in  the  situation — the  Franks 
were  compelled  to  interfere  in  Italian 
affairs,  whereas  this  power  of  interference 
had  formerly  been  the  special  object  of  the 
Lombards.  It  may  also  be  asserted  that 
even  after  the  thorough  and  conscientious 
execution  of  those  tasks  which  Pippin's 

promises  had  laid  upon  his  great 
e  a  ions      ^^^  there  existed  at  the  moment 
of  Pope  and  ,  ,  ■  j-    ,i 

J,  no    clear    appreciation    of   the 

'^^  '  '  vast  historical  importance  of 
the  twofold  supremacy  which  had  been 
secured.  There  were  two  reasons  to 
prevent  such  appreciation.  In  the  first 
place,  the  relation  of  the  Pope  to  the 
emperor  and  to  the  Archbishop  of  Ravenna 
was  at  that  time  but  vaguely  defined,  and 
was,  indeed,  in  process  of  transition.  Many 
points  were  still  uncertain,  although  the 
3468 


general  policy  of  separation  from  Byzan- 
tium had  long  been  clearly  perceived,  and 
had  been  reinforced  and  pursued  by  the 
efforts  of  the  Franks  to  emphasise  their 
own  independence. 

Considerable  doubt  also  existed  con- 
cerning the  extent  of  the  territorial 
claims  and  rights  which  the  Curia 
might  raise  to  districts  that  had  now 
come  under  Frankish  supremacy.  It  is 
obvious  that  this  question  contained  the 
germs  of  much  future  dissension  between 
the  Pope  and  his  previous  protector,  who 
had  now  become  a  neighbour,  with  in- 
terests of  his  own.  On  the  other  hand, 
Charles  must  not  be  too  hastily  credited 
with  fixed  aims  or  a  comprehensive  policy. 
He  was  a  great  conqueror,  because  he 
never  shrank  from  any  opportunity  of 
extending  his  frontiers,  and  was  always 
able  to  cope  vigorously  with  the  new 
obligations  to  which  he  thus  laid  himself 
open.  He  was,  however,  also  obliged  to 
consider  the  circumstances  in  which  he 
found  himself,  and  he  had  no  prophetic 
expectation  of  those  vast  consequences 
which  might  result  from  the  alliance  that 
,  _        he  had  set  on  foot  between  the 

ar  es     rea  j^qj^^j^  patricius,  the  Italian 

„**  .  ..  king,  and  the  monarch  of 
Reconstruction  <-     °      ,    t-  t-  ^i  - 

Central  Lurope.     I^rom  this 

point  of  view  his  acquisition  of  the  Roman 
imperial  crown  must  be  regarded  and 
understood. 

In  the  autumn  of  780  Charles  undertook 
his  second  journey  to  Rome  after  a  tem- 
porary reorganisation  of  the  affairs  of 
Uppsr  Italy.  The  task  of  reconstruction 
was  advanced  in  the  famous  capital  about 
the  middle  of  April,  781  (Easter),  and 
the  eldest  son  of  Charles,  Pippin,  who 
had  been  "  crowned  "  with  his  younger 
brother  Louis,  was  given  the  government 
of  the  subjugated  territory,  with  a  court 
of  his  own  and  a  special  administration 
at  Pavia.  He  is  commemorated  by  a 
fresco  of  more  than  life  size,  which  still 
survives  in  San  Zeno  Maggiore  at  Verona. 
At  the  same  time  the  frontiers  of  this 
kingdom,  which  was  almost  independent, 
were  arranged  upon  the  principle  of  682, 
though  including  the  patrimonium  of 
the  Sabine  country  which  had  been 
occupied  under  Liutprand.  The  hopes 
which  the  Curia  had  vainly  cherished 
for  twenty-seven  years  were  thus  at  lengt  h 
fulfilled ;  at  the  same  time  the  vague, 
and  therefore  unlimited,  claims  which 
it  had  advanced  shortly  after   774  were 


ITALY    AND    THE    LOMBARDS 


more  closely  limited  by  these  arrangements. 
The  settlement  of  relations  with  the 
Byzantine  south  was  a  matter  of  much 
greater  difficulty.  As,  however,  the 
East  Roman  Empire,  which  was  then 
in  the  hands  of  the  Athenian  Irene, 
had  abandoned  the  policy  of  the  great 
Isaurian  Leo  IIL,  the  solution  proved 
surprisingly  simple,  or,  in  other  words, 
unexpectedly  peaceful ;  at  any  rate,  the 
ambassadors  of  the  empress  offered  no 
objection  to  the  complete  and  absolute 
occupation  of  the  Lombard  possessions  by 
the  Frank  power.  The  "  liberation  "  of 
Italy,  begun  in  619,  was  now  completed. 
Connected  with  the  process,  though  the 
connection  was  not  expressly  stated,  was 
the  actual  recognition  of  the  separation  of 
the  papal  states  from  the  imperial  federa- 
tion. In  another  direction  the  East  and 
West  were  brought  together,  though 
Charles  himself  stood  apart  with  reference 
to  doctrinal  questions  raised  by  the  decree 

concerning  the  veneration  of 
.  *JI[.  images  issued  by  the  Council  of 

Pa      '**    Nicaea  in   ']9s'].      Thus    the    old 

division  of  Italy  into  three  parts 
— the  Lombard,  or  Prankish,  province, 
the  Patrimony  of  Peter,  and  the  isolated 
south — had  been  preserved;  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Ravenna  was  allowed  by 
Charles  to  lapse.  There  appeared,  how- 
ever, a  new  phenomenon,  which  has  never 
been  duly  appreciated,  and  requires  careful 
consideration  ;  the  papal  states  are  hence- 
forward an  independent  and  no  longer  a 
vassal  power — protected,  indeed,  by  the 
Prankish  kings,  but  manifesting  their 
independence  in  charters,  coinage,  etc.  It 
is  obvious,  of  course,  that  they  retained 
this  position  only  during  the  transition 
period  of  the  twenty  years  from  781  to  800, 
when  the  supremacy  of  East  Rome  had 
been  overthrown,  and  no  equivalent  com- 
pensation had  been  secured  by  the  creation 
of  a  West  Rome.  Prom  this  point  of  view 
the  coronation  of  Charles  by  Leo  must 
be  regarded  as  a  backward  step,  an 
impolitic  movement,  or,  better,  a  con- 
fession of  weakness,  which  was  the  inex- 


orable result  of  the  submission  of  the 
Roman  bishop  to  emperors  who  regarded 
their  dignity  seriously.  The  pontificate  of 
Hadrian  (772-795)  must  from  this  point 
of  view  be  regarded  as  a  culminating 
moment  in  the  history  of  the  papacy. 

Even  at  that  time,  however,  the  Curia 
had  become  conscious  of  a  certain  inade- 

The  Italian  3"^.^y  ?k '^^^T'''"'-  ^.^PP^^ 

Dominioas    ^^^l^^  ^he  third  Visit  of  Charles 

of  Charles  *°  ^^"^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^set  of  787, 
when  Hadrian  attempted  to 
induce  the  Prankish  king  to  turn  his  mili- 
tary power  against  Arichis  of  Benevento, 
who  had  fortified  Salerno,  but  was  entirely 
loyal  in  other  respects  ;  the  result  was  his 
subjugation  and  the  surrender  of  important 
points  to  the  states  of  the  Church.  At 
Easter  Charles  carried  to  its  necessary 
conclusion  the  breach  with  Irene  which 
had  been  sealed  by  the  Council  of  Nicaea, 
abandoning  his  consideration  for  the  East, 
and  "  granting  the  restoration  "  of  the 
southern  patrimonies  to  the  Pope. 

In  the  following  year  the  Carolingian 
also  abandoned  an  attempt  to  include 
Southern  Italy  in  his  world-wide  political 
schemes.  The  dueal  throne  of  Benevento, 
which  had  been  vacated  by  the  death  of 
Arichis  on  August  26th,  787,  was  given  to 
the  heir,  Grimoald,  upon  his  recognition  of 
the  Prankish  supremacy.  Charles  did  not 
even  insist  upon  the  actual  performance 
of  the  conditions  imposed  upon  Grimoald's 
father,  and  thereby  crushed  for  the 
moment  the  germs  of  a  possible  alliance 
between  the  remnants  of  the  Lombards 
and  Byzantium,  which  was  thirsting  for 
vengeance.  His  Italian  dominions  were 
further  secured  by  the  overthrow  of  Tassilo 
and  the  incorporation  of  Bavaria  in  788, 
which  made  the  most  valuable  Alpine 
passes  available  as  Prankish  lines  of  com- 
munication. At  the  same  time  the  kingdom 
of  the  Avars,  which  had  long  been  threaten- 
ing the  north-east  of  Italy,  was  crushed 
and  destroyed  by  King  Pippin,  upon 
whom  this  task  was  imposed  for  geo- 
graphical reasons  (791-796  and  803). 

H.  P.  Helmolt 


??? 


KINGS    OF    THE    PRANKISH    DOMINION    FROM    5U    TILL    737 


3470 


WESTERN 

EUROPE  IN 

THE  MIDDLE 

AGES 


THE 
EMERGING 

OF  THE 
NATIONS  II 


RISE   OF  THE    PRANKISH    DOMINION 

FROM  THE  GREAT  CLOVIS  TO  CHARLEMAGNE 


A  BOUT  the  time  when  the  petty  Teu- 
^*  tonic  tribes  of  the  Continent  were 
permanently  amalgamating  in  alliance  with 
larger  nationalities  the  Franks  appeared 
in  the  whole  of  the  Lower  Rhine  districts. 
In  the  second  half  of  the  third  century  they 
were  known  to  the  Romans  by  this  name. 
That  the  appellation  was  intended  to  dis- 
tinguish the  peoples  it  denoted  as  being 
"  free,"  compared  with  those  within  the 
Roman  provinces  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  seems  improbable  ;  it  is  more  likely 
that  the  title,  as  among  the  Saxons  and 
others,  was  adopted  from  some  military 
weapon,  and  only  at  a  later  period  became 
the  designation  of  the  dominant  people 
of  the  Franks,  and  also  an  honourable 
appellation.  The  chief  nations  which 
formed  the  Prankish  federation  were  the 
Chatti,  Chattwari,  Chamavi,  Sigambri, 
Bructeri,  Ambsiwari,  Canninefates, 
.  Kugerni  and  Batavi ;  the.last,j 
*  F**  k"  h  ^  fragment  of  the  earlier 'feder-^ 
Feder&ti  n  ^^^^^1  of  the  Chatti,  had  previ- 
ously migrated  to  the  district 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Rhine.  Thus  the  north 
and  south  extremes  of  the  federation 
appeared  as  closely  related. 

In  the  case  of  individual  nationalities, 
the  royal  family  is  invariably  retained  ; 
a  purposeful  and  vigorous  federal  policy 
is  called  forth  only  by  the  necessities  of 
some  important  war  with  the  Romans. 
At  other  periods  raids  are  made  by  in- 
dividual tribes,  or  rather  by  enterprising 
bands  sent  out  by  the  tribes,  and  for  this 
reason  the  tribal  names  are  preserved  by 
the  Romans  throughout  the  fourth  cen- 
tury. After  that  period  they  disappear 
behind  the  general  name,  Frank.  The 
individual  tribes  become  Prankish  dis- 
tricts, which  remain  independent  military 
communities,  with  their  own  royal  families, 
developing  their  legal  rights  in  isolation. 
Among  the  Chamavi,  a  traditional  right 
of  this  kind  regained  its  force  for  centuries, 
long  after  one  reigning  tribal  family,  that 


of    the    Merovingians,    had    secured    the 

domination  of  all  the  remaining  Franks, 

and    an    equalisation    of    constitutional 

rights  had  been  secured,  at  any  rate  among 

the  two  larger  groups.     These  two  groups 

formed  a  transition  stage    on    the    road 

^.        ..  to   a    uniform   constitu- 

Wherc  the  a-         i  ^  j 

•*ScaFri.nks"  Got  ^'^^^LTu^^^I  ^^'^  '^^'"^ 
Their  Name  provided  by  that  general 

amalgamation  of  tribes 
into  federations,  of  which  we  have  spoken 
above ;  these  groups  appeared  as  the 
Ribuarii  and  Salii.  The  connection  of  the 
Salic  Franks  with  Saal,  Salland,  Salhof, 
Salweide,  is  not  very  striking  in  view  of  the 
strong  contrast  between  the  Franks  on  the 
shores  of  the  Rhine  and  the  "  sea  Franks," 
while  the  latter  branch  may  be  shown, 
philologically,  to  have  gained  their  name 
from  the  word  "  Salhund,"  meaning  a 
"  sea-dog."  It  has  also  been  urged,  and 
perhaps  correctly,  that  the  most  south- 
<f-ward,  or  Upper  Pranks,  who  advanced 
their  settlements  beyond  the  Moselle 
and  later  to  the  Main  and  beyond  the 
Neckar,  should  not  be  included  among 
the  Ribuarii.  In  that  case  the  great 
people  of  the  Chatti  would  form  a  special 
group  in  the  federation,  side  by  side  with 
the  two  above-mentioned.  Questions  of 
this  nature  must,  however,  remain  open. 

The  empire  often  fought  against  the 
Franks  with  military  success,  and  the 
name  of  Julian  was  as  terrible  to  them  as 
to  the  Alamanni.  but  these  wars  did 
not  produce  permanent  peace.  Moreover, 
the  Romans  were  enabled,  by  the  loose 
_  composition  of  the  federation, 

G^me  o/"  ^°  P^^y  ^^  °"^  *^*^  against 
th^'V  °  another,  and  to  take  discon- 
man  tented  nobles  with  their  follow- 
ings  into  their  own  service.  As  regents  of 
the  empire,  Arbogast,  himself  a  Frank, 
and  Stilicho  repelled  the  Franks  by  force. 
When,  however,  Stilicho  was  obliged  to 
recall  the  troops  from  Britain  and  the 
Rhine   to   protect    Italy   against   Alaric, 

3471 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


the  Franks  did  not  forthwith  overrun  Gaul ; 
a  settled  peasant  population,  even  at  a 
stage  when  property  ownership  is  unde- 
veloped, must  have  more  cogent  reasons 
for  abandoning  their  homes  in  a  body 
than  the  possibility  of  exploiting  a  subject 
_  population    in  new  territory. 

.J  V  1  •  I.  It  is  more  probable  that  they 
the  Fr&nkish  j       n  j     •    .       /-    n- 

•  .  gradually  spread   mto   Gallic 

territory  from  their  previous 
boundaries  as  the  superfluous  and  enter- 
prising elements  of  the  population  felt  the 
need  of  migration,  and  preferred  to  make 
fresh  settlements  upon  Gallic  soil  rather 
than  open  up  fresh  ground  at  home.  Their 
occupation  was  carried  out  according  to 
the  usual  economic  forms ;  and  the  ques- 
tion must  remain  for  the  moment  unsolved 
whether  the  Franks  thus 
advancing  left  any  of  the 
Gallo- Roman  population 
in  the  area  of  their  new 
settlements.  Hitherto  the 
possibility  is  better  at- 
tested by  the  existence 
of  Frankish  and  also  of 
Walloon  laets,  and  by  the 
fact  that  Latin  documents 
are  sealed  with  a  Roman 
signet  ring  by  King 
Childeric,  than  by  the 
proofs  which  an  examina- 
aticn  of  Frankish  place 
names  is  supposed  to 
yield.  In  any  case  the 
Frankish  language  was 
predominant  in  the  dis- 
tricts immediately  ac- 
quired. 


CLOVIS.    THE    EMPIRE    FOUNDER 
Regarded  as  the  founder    of  the    Frankish 


himself  preferred  to  leave  them  undis- 
turbed ;  it  would  certainly  be  wrong  to 
say  that  they  appeared  in  Julian's  cam- 
paigns as  the  most  distinguished  of  the 
Franks.  After  the  year  400  they  advanced 
by  the  Scheldt,  on  both  banks,  towards 
the  Sambre  and  the  "  Kohlenwald,"  where 
the  carboniferous  strata  appear  on  the 
northern  slopes  of  the  Ardennes — that  is  to 
say,  nearly  to  the  modern  Franco-Belgian 
frontier. 

About  this  period  the  federation  as  a 
whole  possessed  little  importance  ;  in 
the  year  451  portions  of  the  Franks 
fought  both  for  and  against  Attila.  The 
Salii  were  still  under  the  royal  families 
of  their  component  nationalities.  We  ob- 
serve, however,  that  as  soon  as  the  dark- 
ness begins  to  recede  in 
the  course  of  the  fifth 
century,  the  kingdom  ex- 
ercises a  leading  influence 
which  grows  clearer  as 
the  nationality  extends 
in  area  and  begins  to 
pursue  a  definite  foreign 
policy.  In  particular  the 
Salian  Merovingian 
family  consciousl}'  turned 
to  account  the  imme- 
diate neighbourhood  of 
the  Roman  dominion, 
which  still  existed  by  the 
side  of  its  own  people  in 
Gaul.  The  Merovingian 
king,  Chlodio  —  a  nick- 
name derived  from  some 
more  formal  name  which 
is   not   known — the    first 


The  Upper  or  Chattian   Empire,  ciovis  i.  appeared  on  the  scene  historical  personalitv  that 


Franks   advanced  to  the 


in    481.      In  486  he  overthrew  the  power   of    „™p,-„pc     frnm 
Syagrius,  added  the  territory  of  that  ruler  to    tiiicif^ca     in^iii 


the   mists 
Moselle,  Xahe,  and  Saale.   hfs  own,  and  vastly  extended  his  own  sway,   of  cpic  and  etymological 


After  Aetius  had  destroyed  the  Burgundian 
empire  of  Worms  they  also  occupied  this 
district  ;  that  final  success  of  the  Roman 
power  upon  the  Rhine,  if  intended  to 
intimidate  the  Franks,  produced  no  per- 
manent effect.  This  movement  brought 
the  Chattian  Franks  into  competition  with 
the  Alamanni,  who  were  also  extending  in 
that  direction.  Sooner  or  later  the  question 
would  require  an  appeal  to  arms.  The 
Ribuarii  advanced  over  the  districts  of 
the  Eifel  to  Treves.  At  an  earlier  period 
the  Salii  had  advanced  from  the  old 
settlement  of  the  Batavi  to  Toxandria 
into  the  land  between  the  Scheldt  and  the 
Maas.  Although  the  Romans  were  highly 
indignant  at  this  "  presumption,"  Julian 


legend,  extended  his  dominion  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  century  to  the 
Somme  from  the  districts  which  were 
still  called  after  the  former  Belgian  Tungri. 
It  would  be  a  mistake  to  estimate  the 
culture  or  the  character  of  the  early 
Th    G  Frankish  kings  by  the  scanti- 

ness and  the  barbarity  of  our 
sources  of  information,  or  to 
regard  them  as  standing  upon 
a  lower  level  than  Odoacer  of  the 
Visigoth  kings. 

In  481  appears  on  the  scene  the  king 
who  is  regarded  as  the  founder  of  the 
Frankish  Empire,  familiarly  known, 
through  French  sources,  as  Ciovis,  though 
more  correctly  as  Chlodwig — i.e.,  Ludwig 


King 
Ciovis  I 


RISE    OF    THE    PRANKISH    DOMINION 


or  Lewis.  The  general  trend  of  the  poHcy 
of  Clovis  has  often  been  examined  ;  the 
dexterity  with  which  he  alternately 
planned  to  secure 
the  amalgama- 
tion of  the  Teu- 
tonic and  Roman 
populations  and 
to  keep  the 
balance  between 
them  has  often 
been  pointed  out. 
If  our  informa- 
tion for  this 
period  were  as 
extensive  as  it  is 
for  later  cen- 
turies,  the 
prudent  sim- 
plicity of  Clovis' 
policy  would 
probably  vanish 
before  the  reve- 
lation of  the 
many-sided  and 
complicated  re- 
lations which  are 
usually  main- 
tained by  estab- 
1  i  s  h  e  d  states, 
even  when  their 
civilisation  is  in- 
ferior to  that  of 
migrating 
nations.  All  that 
we  can  attempt 
to  determine  is 
the  position  as 
evidenced  by  tlie 
course  of  events. 
Clovis  was  a 
Teutonic  and 
heathen  ruler  of 
a  Franko  -  Salic 
district  with  a 
Gallo-Roman 
population.  As 
long  as  the  Gallo- 
Roman  suprem- 
acy persisted  as 
a  state,  and  as 
inapplicable  t  o 
certain    parts   of 


was  advanced  by  the  Teutonic  ruler.  In 
486,  the  Merovingian  overthrew  the  power 
of  Syagrius,  added  the  territory  of  that 
ruler  to  his  own, 
and  extended  his 
power  at  first  to 
the  Seine,  and 
afterwards  over 
the  whole  dis- 
trict. Thus  the 
whole  of  the 
Roman  domin- 
ions in  Gaul  now 
became  a  Teu- 
tonic kingdom, 
and  lost  all  con- 
nection with  any 
foreign  political 
centre,  except 
possibly  with  the 
distant  Byzan- 
tium ;  Ravenna 
was  no  longer  in 
Roman  hands. 
There  was,  there- 
fore, no  reason 
why  Clovis 
should  make 
haste  to  concili- 
ate the  orthodox 
Church,  to  which 
a  considerably 
increased 
number  of  his 
subjects  be- 
longed. His 
history  is  by  no 
means  character- 
ised by  precipi- 
tate action,  but 
rather  by  con- 
sideration and 
foresight.  It  was, 
however,  in  the 
nature  of  the 
case  that  he 
should  be  con- 
verted sooner  or 
later,  even  as  his 
father  had  worn 
the  Roman  signet 
ring.  He  had  no 
inducement      t  o 


BAPTISM    OF    THE    b;-^.. .     ^__  .  li 

The  conversion  of  Clovis  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  in  i96,  is  said 

to  have  been  due  to  the  influence  of  his  wife,  who  was  a  devoted  member 

of  that  body  and  brought  their  children  up  in  its  faith.     There  were 

that     population,    also  various  reasons  why  he  should  pubUcly  associate  himself  with  the    remain  an  AriaU, 

manv    dangerous   CathoUcChurch,  and  these,  no  doubt,  weighed  with  the  prudent  Clovis.     aS  his  wife  WaS   B. 

points    of  differ-  '"'"""  '*"^ """"'  ""'"'""^  ''*'  ^"^'^^  ^^"^ '"  ""^  ^'"''^^''"  Catholic  and  his 

ence  and  unsettled  questions  must  have  children  were  brought  up  in  that  faith, 
arisen,  even  though  the  Gallo-Roman  We  shall  also  be  correct  in  emphasising 
population  considered  that  their  prosperity      the  fact,  which  has  often  been  noted,  that, 

3473 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


as  a  Roman  Catholic,  Clovis  would  gain  the 
adherence  of  a  Prankish  party  among 
the  Catholic  subjects  of  the  Arian  Bur- 
gundians  arid  Visigoths.  Even  if  the  fact 
had  never  occurred  to  him,  it  must  have 
been  brought  to  his  mind  by  the  con- 
gratulations of  the  Burgundian  arch- 
bishop, Avitus  of  Vienne,  on  his  baptism. 
.  It  is  said  that  his  Catholic  wife 

ovis  ^^,^^    ^j^^    instrument    of    her 

Converted  by  i       .        j.  tj    j 

„.    ^.j  husband  s  conversion.      Had 

she  been  able  to  secure  this 
result  unaided,  her  efforts  would  certainly 
not  have  ceased  until  the  kingdom  had  sent 
forth  a  mission  to  work  among  the  Franks. 
But  of  this  we  hear .  nothing ;  when 
Clovis  became  a  Christian,  he  was  thinking 
of  his  Roman  and  not.  of  his  Prankish 
subjects.  The  conversion  of  his  immediate 
followers  was  inevitable,  as  they  were 
bound  to  follow  their  leader  ;  the  free 
people  obeyed  their  own  inclinations,  and 
remained  for  the  most  part  in  heathenism. 

The  date  of  the  conversion  coincides 
with  that  of  the  first  campaign  against 
the  Alamanni,  in  496.  This  nation  was 
now  a  uniform  whole,  under  the  king 
Gibuld,  or  Gebaud,  which  is  nearly  the 
same  in  the  Alamannic  phonetic  s\'stem  ; 
the  war  was  conducted  by  the  Pranks  as 
a  federal  war,  during  which  the  king 
of  the  Ribuariis,  Sigibert,  received  a  wound 
in  the  knee  which  lamed  him.  The 
problem  at  stake  was  the  general  de- 
cision whether  the  Prankish  federation 
or  the  people  of  the  Alamanni  should  ex- 
ercise supremacy  in  the  east  and  north 
of  Gaul  and  secure  the  lion's  share  in  the 
appropriation  of  land.  In .  the  conclud- 
ing campaign  of  501  the  Pranks  were 
victorious,  and  took  care  to  destroy  the 
prospects  of  the  Alamanni  for  the  futiue. 
To  the  advantage  of  the  upf)er  Prankish 
nationality  of  the  Chatti,  the  Alamanni  as 
a  whole  were  driven  behind  the  Lauter 
and  Murg.  To  the  south  of  that  point 
they  came  under  foreign  supremacy  ; 
—^   _  numerous       Prankish       lords, 

.    jj  especially  in  Alsace,  had  made 

-,      .  good  a   settlement  among  the 

rri  ory  Alamannic  tribal  villages,  in  the 
manner  in  which  the  Pranks  had  already 
settled  in  Roman  territory  ;  and  by  the 
side  of  these,  much  of  the  occupied  lands 
remained  reserved  as  Prankish  state 
property. 

The  conflicts  of  Clovis  with  the  Ala- 
manni and  the  Burgundians  are  certainl}' 
connected    as    regards    the    forces   which 

3474 


were  employed.  The  Burgundian  war 
falls  between  the  two  campaigns  against 
the  Alamanni. 

The  Burgundians,  after  their  settle- 
ment in  Sabaudia  by  Aetius,  had,  in  443, 
strengthened  their  position  under  King 
Gunjok,  who  was  a  member  of  the  old  royal 
tribe  of  the  nation;  apd  had  gradually  ex- 
tended around  the 'xiistrict  of  the  Rhone. 
Upon  the  death  of  Gunjok,  in  473,  the 
leading  royal  family  consisted  of  his  three 
sons,  Gundobad,  Godegisel  and  Chilperic. 
In  the  last  year  of  Gunjok's  life,  his  son 
Gundobad  governed  in  Italy  as  patricius, 
after  the  death  of  Ricimer.  Thence  he  was 
speedily  recalled  home  at  the  outset  of  a 
family  feud  between  the  rival  brothers. 
After  the  fourth  brother,  Godomer,  had 
been  set  aside  at  an  earlier  period,  Gun- 
dobad •  killed  Chilperic  with  the  sword — 
according  to  the  comparatively  clear 
information  provided  by  the  epic  poem — 
and  extended  his  supremacy  towards  the 
Mediterranean,  the  settlement  of  the  ac- 
count between  himself  and  Godegisel  being 
deferred  for  the  moment.  The  Catholic 
Church  of  the  Roman  inhabitants  was 
...  suffering  under  the  oppression 

^i.*^  'J\^°.-  of  the  Arian  Burgundians,  and 
the  Catholic    ,      J    .i_  .  •   r      ?•  /  J 

^.       .  had  the  satisfaction  ot  gradu- 

ally invading  the  distracted 
royal  family  ;  for  instance,  it  found  a 
zealous  champion  in  the  wife  of  Clovis,  a 
daughter  of  Chilperic.  whose  two  brothers 
Gundobad  is  also  said  to  have  supplanted. 
When  Clovis  himself  became  a  Catholic 
Christian,  and  discovered  speedily  after- 
wards the  Prankish  interest  that  existed 
among  the  Roman  subjects  of  the  Bur- 
gundians, the  natural  result  was  an 
informal  compact  between  the  royal 
family  and  Catholicism,  and  a  certain 
rivalry  in  this  direction,  in  which  the 
conflicting  brothers  strove  to  outstrip  one 
another.  Godegisel  requested  King  Clovis 
to  interfere  on  his  behalf  in  500.  Gundo- 
bad was  beaten  at  Dijon  and  forced  to 
retire  to  Avignon. 

At  that  moment,  however,  Clovis  sud- 
denly broke  off  hostilities,  and  turned 
upon  the  Alamanni,  who  had  not  been  defi- 
nitely defeated,  and  now  completed  their 
destruction.  Godegisel  was  abandoned 
and  executed,  when  Gundobad  seized 
Vienne ;  the  latter,  until  his  death,  in 
516,  reigned  as  the  sole  king  of  the  Bur- 
gundians, issued  important  laws,  and 
strove  by  improving  the  organisation  of 
his    kingdom    and    his    relations     with 


RISE    OF    THE    PRANKISH    DOMINION 


Catholicism  and  the  Merovingians,  to 
avert  the  grievous  dangers  that  had 
threatened  his  rule. 

The  descendants  of  Clovis  had  turned 
to  excellent  account  the  disappearahce 
of  Theoderic's  defensive  policy  and  the 
annihilation  of  the  East  Teutonic  tribes  on 
the  Danube.  If  their  attempt  to  gain  a 
footing  in  Italy  failed,  the  absorption  of 
the  Central  European  territories  into  the 
Prankish  kingdom  would  continue  as 
before,  with  less  to  impede  it. 

Long  before,  the  Hermunduri  had  ad- 
vanced from  the  river  district  of  the  Elbe 
to  that  of  the  Main,  whence  they  had 
maintained  friendly  relations  for  the  most 
part  with  the  Romans,  though  they  passed 
through  severe  struggles  with  their 
western  neighbours,  the  Chatti.  The 
general  migration  of  the  second  century 
pushed  the  Hermunduri  forward  to  the 
Danube  frontier  and  the  "  Limes."  The 
forward  movement  of  the  Alamanni  and 
Burgundians  then  cut  them  off  from 
contact  with  the  Romans  ;  they  disap- 
peared from  the  view  of  Roman  or  of 
modern  historians,  and  their  existence  is 
,  unfortunately  buried  for  us  in 
Sons°"°"*  the  forests  of  Central  Germany. 

,^,     .       There    is    no    doubt    that    the 
of  Clovis      T-...    .  ~,       .       . 

Dunnge,    or    Ihurmgians,    are 

connected  with  them  ;  these  people  ap- 
peared within  the  neighbouring  sphere 
of  Prankish  history  after  the  fifth  century, 
though  at  first  only  in  the  dim  light  of  epic 
tradition.  Thuringi  were  also  to  be  found 
on  the  left  of  the  Lower  Rhine  among  the 
Pranks,  and  these  must  no  doubt  be 
regarded  as  emigrants  from  the  main  body. 
This  formed  at  that  time  a  considerable 
kingdom  under  one  dynasty,  extending 
from  the  Harz  to  beyond  the  Main. 
After  a  long  period  of  cautious  friendship, 
the  sons  of  Clovis  proceeded  to  wage 
the  same  decisive  warfare  against  the 
Thuringians  with  which  their  father  had 
attacked  the  Alamanni  ;  they  were  at  the 
same  time  helped  by  the  struggles  of 
kinsmen  within  the  royal  house,  such  as 
had  previously  favoured  intervention. 
In  alliance  with  the  Saxons  they  destroyed 
the  Thuringian  kingdom  in  531,  and 
pursued  their  triumph  as  thoroughly  as 
Clovis  had  done  in  the  case  of  the 
Alamanni.  The  Prankish  settlements 
were  advanced  along  the  Main  to  the 
heights  which  form  the  Thuringian  forest ; 
and  such  Thuringian  tribes  as  were  living 
to  the  north  of  the  Rennstieg  were  made 


dependent  and  tributary.  For  the  future 
history  of  Germany  it  was  a  highly  im- 
portant fact  that  the  triumphant  Prankish 
Em])ire  proceeded  to  expand  eastward, 
and  that  its  extended  supremacy  in 
German  districts  was  united  with  a  system 
of  Prankish  colonisation.  This  conquest 
could  never  have  been  achieved  by  the 
Franks  aad  ^'^"^t'  ^^^^P^  with  the  help 
Saxons  ^  alliance  of  a  people  whom 
in  Alliance  1^^^  T""^"^  obviously  have  to 
nght  for  eventual  supremacy, 
the  Saxons.  These  latter,  as  the  price 
of  victory,  received  the  land  from  the 
Unstrut  to  the  Saale  and  Elbe ;  they 
made  the  inhabitants  tributary,  reducing 
them  to  the  position  of  laets,  them- 
selves occupying  that  of  overlords.  Por 
the  moment  the  Merovingians  could 
afford  to  defer  the  impending  struggle  for 
supremacy.  The  strong  conservatism  of 
these  Low  German  populations  had 
hitherto  declined  to  allow  any  one  tribal 
family  to  secure  political  preponderance 
over  the  rest,  such  as  might  be  secured 
through  the  leadership  of  a  close  federa- 
tion or  an  over-kingdom  of  Saxony.  Nor 
did  anything  of  the  kind  develop  in  the 
future.  On  the  contrary,  the  aristocracy 
of  the  noble  tribes,  retaining  their  equality, 
were  able  to  increase  their  prestige  and  to 
secure  it  by  legal  forms,  usually  in  connec- 
tion with  questions  of  wergeld  and  mar- 
riage contracts  ;  the  old  nobility  of  the 
other  great  peoples  did  not  attain  success, 
because  they  were  broken  down  at  a 
comparatively  early  date  and  fettered  by 
the  monarchy  which  arose  in  their  midst. 
This  refusal  to  permit  the  rise  of  a  strong 
individual  leadership  produced  its  natural 
consequence  upon  the  federal  policy  of  the 
Saxons ;  their  federation,  which  was 
great,  and  upon  occasion  powerful,  was 
inclined  to  avoid  collision  elsewhere, 
interfered  but  little  in  the  affairs  of  other 
Teutonic  alliances,  and  confined  offensive 
operations  against  the  Pranks  to  petty 
wars,  which  produced  no  result 
Wave  of  ^^^  ^gj.g  fggbiy  conducted,  until 
Advancing  ^^^    ^^^^    ^^^    ^^^^    delayed 

*^*  struggle  was  eventually  forced 

upon  them  by  the  decision  of  Charles  the 
Great. 

Together  with  the  Thuringians,  or  as 
a  result  of  their  defeat,  a  number  of  other 
racial  fragments  came  under  the  supremacy 
of  the  Pranks.  These  had  settled  down  as 
dependents  of  the  Thuringians  between 
them  and  the  wave  of  Slavs  advancing 

J475 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


from  the  east  ;    they  included  fragments 

of   the   Angles,    who   formerly   inhabited 

the   peninsula   of   Jutland,   and   took   an 

important     share    in    the    migration    to 

Britain.    There  were  also  the  Wareni,  or 

Wereni,or  Varini,  who  were  ruled  by  their 

own  kings  as  late  as  the  time  of  Theoderic  ; 

they  were  a  fragment  of  that  considerable 

people  formerly  settled  on  the 

,,f°'*",     .     .  Baltic  and  driven  away  by  the 

Who  Colonised  r-i  u         i        i.      i 

g  .    .  Slavs,  who  also  took  some 

share  in  the  colonisation  of 
Britain.  Under  the  Prankish  supremacy 
both  were  considered  as  forming  part  of 
the  Thuringians,  though  down  to  the  time 
of  Charles  the  Great  they  retained  separate 
legal  codes.  As  the  Angles  and  the  Varini 
migrated  simultaneously  from  the  neigh- 
bouring districts  in  the  north,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  under  Carolingian  sway 
these  two  codes  were  united  in  one, 
which  held  good  in  the  Thuringian  dis- 
tricts of  Engili  and  Werinofeld  ;  the  less 
so,  as  these  two  peoples  had  been  neigh- 
bours for  centuries  in  Central  Germany. 

At  the  point  where  these  Angles  and 
Varini  were  settled,  and,  in  fact,  every- 
where to  the  east  of  the  old  Thuringian 
districts,  settlements  were  thus  lying 
vacant  for  homeless  peoples — we  also 
find  Frisians  in  the  district  of  Friesenfeld — 
for  the  reason  that  these  districts  were 
menaced  by  the  advances  of  the  Slavs. 
Similarly  the  "  Helvetian  Desert,"  though 
not  occupied  by  the  Teutons,  had  formerly 
attracted  and  retained  such  Kelts  as, 
in  the  words  of  Tacitus,  had  been  made 
desperate  by  necessity.  Thus  the  Saxons, 
who  had  turned  to  the  Eastern  Harz 
after  the  destruction  of  the  Thuringian 
kingdom,  may  not  have  felt  themselves 
entirely  comfortable.  When  the  Lombards 
started  to  Italy,  an  independent  band  of 
Saxons,  said  to  be  more  than  20,000 
strong,  accompanied  them.  A  gap  was 
thus  formed  on  the  Slav  frontier,  and  this 
the  Prankish  governor  hastened  to  stop 
_      _  with  Swabian  settlers — that  is, 

p  y  "^y  North  German  Suevi,  not  of  the 
.  p^  .  Alamannic  tribe  —  who  were 
given  the  districts  of  the 
Bode  and  the  Dipper  for  colonisation. 
This  information  suggests  that  the  cession 
to  the  allied  Saxons  of  territory  from 
the  East  Harz  to  the  Elbe  in  531  may 
have  been  a  clever  piece  of  far-sighted 
Prankish  policy,  intended  to  form  a 
barrier  against  the  Slavs.  The  existence  of 
a  mediaeval  "Hassingau"  also  points  to 

3476 


the  settlement  of  Hessian  colonists  on 
the  Lower  Saale.  The  Saxons  who  had 
marched  to  Italy  were  unable  to  acquiesce 
in  the  necessity  of  becoming  Lombards, 
as  the  Lombard  legal  code  demanded ; 
they  were  unwilling  to  abandon  their 
national  law  and  custom,  as  the  continued 
preservation  of  these  implied  national, 
if  not  political,  independence  at  that  date. 
This  theory  met  with  considerate  and 
successful  treatment  from  the  Prankish 
conquerors.  The  Saxons  therefore  started 
out  again  in  572  and  crossed  Mount 
Genevre  to  the  Merovingian  kingdom,  at 
first  with  no  settled  plan,  but  in  573  with 
the  object  of  recovering  their  old  posses- 
sions on  the  Harz.  They  were  given  per- 
mission to  march  thither.  The  Hessians 
were  so  diminished  in  battle  with  the 
Suevi,  who  were  first  affected  by  the 
attempt  of  the  emigrants  to  resume  their 
lands,  that  at  length  both  nationalities 
found  the  available  land  sufficient  for 
their  purposes. 

In  =^i,  shortly  after  the  subjugation  of 
the  Thuringians,  the  Merovingians  incor- 
porated the  Burgundian  kingdom  in 
_        .  their  empire,  also  the  district 

of  the  Alamanm,  who  were 
formerly  under  the  pro- 
tectorate of  Theoderic  at  the 
moment  when  Witichis  abandoned  the 
Ostrogoth  part  of  Gaul. 

The  Pranks  were  now  neighbours  of 
the  Baioarii,  or  Bavarians,  and  afterwards 
incorporated  this  nationality  within  their 
empire,  towards  the  middle  of  the  sixth 
century,  apparently  by  peaceful  methods. 
The  family  of  the  Agilolfings,  which  was 
equal  in  rank  to  the  royal  houses,  and 
superior  to  the  five  other  noble  families 
of  the  Bavarian  federation  in  respect  of 
wergelds,  retained,  or  thus  acquired,  the 
leadership  of  the  Bavarian  people  ;  the 
latter  alternative  is  the  more  probable. 
Possibly  the  Agilolfings  were  Pranks 
transferred  to  this  district.  The  Merovin- 
gians naturally  could  not  permit  the 
existence  of  other  kings,  and  certainly  of 
none  with  full  governing  powers  in  their 
own  empire,  beside  themselves ;  hence  the 
well-known  Roman  term  dux,  the  title 
of  the  provincial  military  commander, 
which  had  been  borne,  for  instance,  by 
Alaric  in  lUyria,  was  employed  in  the 
comparatively  similar  case  of  Bavaria. 

After  the  Lombards  had  become  masters 
on  the  plains  of  the  Po,  local  differences 
and  coUisions  began  in  the  Alps  between 


Incorporated 
by  the  Fr&nks 


AFTER  THE  DEFEAT  OF  THE  SARACENS  :  CHARLES  MARTEL  ENTERING  PARIS 
Mayor  of  the  palace  to  the  Frankish  king  of  Austrasia,  succeeding  his  father.  Pippin,  in  the  office,  Charles  Martel 
fought  successfully  against  the  Frisians,  Saxons,  Bavarians,  and  Alamanni.  All  these  victories,  however,  were 
eclipsed  by  his  great  triumph  over  the  Saracens,  whom  he  utterly  routed  in  the  hard-fought  battle  of  Tours  m  lAi.. 
This  victory  saved  Western  Europe  from  the  Moslem  domination,  which  was  then  immment.  Martel,  as  representea 
In  this  illustration  of  the  event,  receivwl  an  enthusiastic  welcome  when  be  entered  Paris  after  the  epocb-malung  battle. 

3477 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


themselves  and  the  grandsons  of  Clovis, 
which  eventually  became  lengthy  wars, 
under  the  continued  impulse  of  Byzantine 
diplomacy  and  money  expended  in  sub- 
sidising the  Franks.  On  the  Prankish 
side  the  struggle  is  marked  by  an  effort 
to  extend  their  territory  to  the  Italian 
mountains,  while  the  Lombards  were 
_  -J  anxious  to  appear  as  the  heirs 
„    ,     ^  of     the    Ostrogoths,      and      to 

Masters  .1     •      r 

J  J  .  secure  their  former  supremacy 
*  ^  in  Southern  Gaul.  At  the 
same  time  the  Franks  and  Lombards 
did  not  respectively  determine  the  des- 
tinies of  the  Teutonic  world,  as  Clovis 
and  Theoderic  had  once  done  ;  nor  did 
the  new  masters  of  Italy,  who  were  not 
yet  in  full  occupation  of  the '  country, 
and  had  difficulty  in  making  head  against 
Byzantium,  attempt  to  follow  any  im- 
perial policy  in  Western  or  Central  Europe. 
The  old  friends  of  the  Lombards,  the 
Bavarians,  had  gone  over  to  their  side, 
notwithstanding  their  inclusion  in  the 
Frankish  monarchy.  After  some  attacks 
of  the  Franks,  which  seem  to  have  been 
delivered  with  greater  vigour,  these  cam- 
paigns ended  in  the  year  590.'  The 
Merovingians  gave  up  their  attempts  to 
secure  influence  in  Italy,  which  they  had 
continued  for  more  than  half  -  a  century 
at  various  intervals,  and  refrained  on 
their  side  from  interference  with  the 
Lombards  in  Southern  Gaul. 

The  indecision  of  the  Italian  pohcy  of 
the  Franks,  the  loose  connection  of  the 
Bavarians  with  the  Frankish  Empire,  and 
other  indications  of  decay,  are  to  be 
explained  (by  that  cause  which  acted  as  a 
disruptive,  or  weakening  influence  upon, 
the  Teutonic  empires  in  general — namely, 
the  family .  struggles  within  the  reigning 
dynasties  ;  these  invariably  revived  upon 
every  question  of  policy  or  other  pretext, 
and  the  special  course  which  they  ran 
among  the  Merovingians  will  justify 
reference  to  them  as  the  struggles  of 
Brunhilde      and     Fredegunde. 

ise  o^     e  jj^g.  j^Qg^    important  result  of 

J.  ....  these  struggles  is  the  rise 
*  ^  of  the  new  Frankish  nobility. 
Clovis  had  thoroughly  exterminated  the 
old  noble  families.  Thus  the  Franks 
of  the  Merovingian  period  surprise  our 
constitutional  historians  by  the  fact  that, 
in  contrast  with  the  Alamanni,  the 
Bavarians,  or  the  Saxons,  they  possessed 
no  aristocracy  or  nobility  standing  im- 
mediately   below  the  crown.      The    new 

3478 


aristocracy  was  one  of  service,  and 
arose  among  the  superior  secular  and 
ecclesiastical  officials.  Distinguished  from 
these  was  the  Mayor  of  the  Palace,  whose 
office  originally  represented  the  royal 
prerogatives  which  were  derived  from  the 
patria  poksias  of  early  German  society — 
a  power  exercised  over  followers  and 
household  servants,  and  now  increased  in 
proportion  as  that  power  had  extended. 
Among  the  Visigoths,  Burgundians,  and 
Anglo-Saxons  the  major  .  domus-.  never 
became  more  than  a  distinguished  master 
of  the  household— the  title  is  borrowed 
from  the  Roman  official  of  that  name, 
in  accordance  with  the  early  German 
reluctance  to  form  new  words  and"  titles 
from  the  native  language.  The  Frankish 
mayor  became  the  chief  supervsory 
official  and  overseer  both  of  the  king's 
proj)erty  and  of  all  court  and  state  offices. 
Eventually  jwwerful  "  nobles "  in  the 
gradually  increasing  lands  of  the  empire', 
such  as  Austrasia,  Burgundy,  and  Neustria, 
which  were  enlarged  despite  the  partitions 
and  struggles  of  the  Merovingians,  mad^ 
this  important  office  a  personal  and  family 

„    ,       .    possession  ;   they  then  speedily 
Factors  in  ^  j   x      1       1   ^u    •  1       • 

At    r<  11    »  ceased  to  lead  their  vassals    in 
the  FaII  of  ,,        ,  .      ,  J    , 

B      h"id  ^'^S  ^    service,  and   began 

to  use  them  as  a  weapon 
against  him.  This  connection  between  the 
mayoralty  and  the  rising  aristocracy 
eventually  led  to  the  fall  of  Brunhilde. 

Although  the  Merovingian  royals  house 
was  never  lacking  in  leading  characters, 
this  connection  never  allowed  such  leaders 
full  access  to  sovereignty  and  adminis- 
trative power ;  it  was  a  connection 
prepared  by  Clovis  and  actually  used  by 
his  descendants  in  conjunction  with  Roman 
/•conceptions  of  supremacy.  The  Teu- 
tonic communities  of  the  Frankish  people 
came  into  existence  only  during  the 
military  mobilisations  held  in  different 
years,  and  were  only  occasionally  con- 
cerned with  political  affairs,  while  the 
action  of  the  Crown  was  restricted  by  a 
continuous  and  more  or  less  constitutional 
co-operation  of  "nobles."  Moreover,  the 
nobility,  as  ruling  aristocracies  are  ever 
particularist — for  community  of  interests 
is  destroyed  by  excess  of  unity — frustrated 
those  opportunities  which  occurred  for 
concentrating  the  dynastic  government  of 
the  whole  Frankish  kingdom  in  one  person. 

It  was  not  until  the  maj-oral  system 
grew  sufficiently  strong  to  pursue  its 
own    ambitions     or    dynastic    purposes, 


RISE    OF    THE    PRANKISH    DOMINION 


and  to 'employ  the  military  forces  of  the 
official  nobility,  notwithstanding  their 
territorial  and  particularist  tendencies, 
that  the  struggle  began  afresh  for  supreme 
power  within  the  Prankish  kingdom.  In 
this  struggle  succumbed  successively  the 
Austrasian  mayor,  Grimoald,  a  son  of  the 
elder  Pippin,  and  the  Neustrian,  Ebruin  or 
Ebroin,  the  latter  upon  his  first  attempt. 
After  Ebruin  was  murdered,  in  68i,  at  the 
moment  of  his  success, 
the  nephew  of  Grimoald 
and  the  grandson  of 
Bishop  Arnulf  of  Metz, 
upon  his  father's  side, 
Pippin  of  Herstal,  the 
major  domus  of  Aus- 
trasia,  became  the  mayor 
of  the  whole  Frank 
Empire  by  his  victory 
at  Testri,  near  Peronne 
and  St.  Quentin,  in  687. 
The  kings  of  the  Mero- 
vingian dynasty  then 
became  of  no  import- 
ance. Compared  with 
the  mayor  ot  ihe  palace, 
they  occupied  a  position 
analogous  to  that  which 
belonged  after  934  to 
the  caliphs  of  Bagdad,  as 
compared  with  the  Emir 
al  -  Omra,  or  to  the 
Japanese  Mikado  before 
1867,  compared  with  the 
Shogun.  After  the  victory 
of  Testri  there  '"  reigned," 
in  the  words  of  the  annals 
composed  shortly  after 
that  event,  the  family  of 
Arnulf  and  Pippin,  united 
in  the  person  of  Pippin, 
which  was  afterwards 
known  as  Carolingian. 
Pippin  began  the  task  of 
incorporating  the  Frisians 
in  the  empire  with  greater 
determination  than  had 
been  previously  brought 
to  the  attempt.  He  also  tried,  by  force 
of  arms,  to  subjugate  the  alienated 
Alamanni ;  their  dukes  had  risen  from 
their  position  of  officials  to  become 
national  leaders  in  the  wide  sense  of  the 
term,  and  leaders  of  a  nation  which  re- 
garded itself  as  a  special  and  independent 
race.  The  Frisians  were  among  those 
Teuton  tribes  who  had  been  most  strongly 
influenced  and  utilised  by  the  Romans, 


WARRIOR  OF  THE  FIFTH  CENTURY 

This  statue  of  a  Prankish  warrior,  which 
stands  in  the  Roman-German  Museum  at 
Mainz,  was  reconstructed  from  discoveries  in 
burial  places  of  the  fifth  to  eighth  centuries. 


and  during  the  Carolingian  period  they 
displayed  the  greatest  capacity  of  all  the 
Germans  for  trade  and  manufacturing 
pursuits  ;  their  political  and  constitutional 
organisation  remained,  however,  for  cen- 
turies far  removed  from  the  characteristics 
of  the  old  German  institutions. 

Though  we  cannot  gain  much  informa- 
tion about  their  earlier  history,  we  can  yet 
see  that,  about  1300,  their  institutions 
corresponded  with  those 
current  in  the  past  federal 
epochs  of  other  nations, 
and  were  analogous  to 
those  of  the  Alamanni  in 
the  fourth  century.  The 
Folk,  with  its  assemblies 
and  its  noble  families, 
formed  a  unit  of  organisa- 
tion. Every  year  at  a 
special  time,  namely,  in 
the  spring — Whitsuntide 
was  the  season  provided 
by  Christianity,  which  was 
driving  out  or  transform- 
ing the  institutions  of 
heathen  priesthood — the 
general  assembly  of  all 
Frisians  met  at  Upstalls- 
boom,  near  Aurich,  and 
discussed  the  affairs  of 
the  federation  and  such 
matters  as  war  and  peace. 
The  customary  law  of  the 
Frisians  was  developed 
for  the  individual  com- 
munities, and  also  for 
the  whole  of  Friesland, 
by  the  legislative  activity 
of  the  annual  assembly. 
We  have  observed  the 
process  by  which  the 
Folk  becomes  a  nation  in 
the  case  of  the  Franks 
— Salii  and  Ribuarii — 
and  how  it  was  carried 
out  by  pure  geographical 
distribution  among  the 
Lombards  —  Austria  and 
Neustria  — and  the  Saxons  — the  East- 
phalians,  Angrians,  and  Westphalians. 

The  Frisians  had  been  visited  since  tho 
outset  of  the  seventh  century  both  by 
Franks  and  by  missionaries.  As  among 
the  Visigoths  during  the  Dacian  period, 
and  afterwards  among  the  Danes,  or  as, 
in  the  case  of  Catholicism,  among  the 
Burgundians,  the  missions  had  been  largely 
supported  by  the  poUtical  interests  and 

3479 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


aims  of  individual  nobles.  After  the 
middle  of  the  seventh  century  Aldgild  is 
known  both  as  duke  and  as  king  of  the 
Frisians  in  the  annals  which  we  owe  to  his 
influence  ;  similarly  Ratbod,  who  was 
afterwards  conquered  by  Pippin  at  Wyk- 
te-Durstede,  bore  a  Frankish  title  equiva- 
lent to  that  of  duke,  while  his  position  must 

_.    ,  .  .be   regarded   as  equivalent 

Rivalries  and       ,       .1       j        i      .    j. 
«.        ,       ...     to  the  ducal  status  among 
Struggles  of  the  , ,  ^y  j       a  1 

M  ki  T  -k  the  Bavarians  and  Ala- 
Noble  Tribes  •     T-1  ^     r 

manni.    1  he  prospect  of  any 

general  leadership  of  the  Frisian  nationality 

was,   however,   destroyed  by   the   rivalry 

and  the  struggles  of  the  noble  tribes. 

When  the  Carolingians  occupied  the 
position  of  king  and  had  ceased  to  be 
merely  higher  officials,  it  was  inevitable 
that  they  should  absorb  family  rights 
as  they  exercised  their  authority  and 
interfered  in  the  struggles  of  relatives 
which  thence  arose.  This  process  began 
immediately  after  the  death  of  Pippin, 
and   Charles   Martel   emerged   victorious. 

Although  he  was  never  able  to  con- 
solidate the  empire  as  a  whole,  his  efforts 
were  by  no  means  fruitless,  and  his 
achievements  were  perhaps  limited  at  the 
moment  by  the  approach  of  a  serious 
danger,  the  invasion  of  Frankish  Gaul  by 
the  Spanish  Arabs.  The  struggle  against 
the  Arabs  was  continued  from  730  to  740, 
and  was  not  definitely  settled  by  the 
famous  battle  in  732  at  "  Old  Poitiers. 
The  successful  repulse  of  Islam  from 
Central  Europe  not  only  proved  the  salva- 
tion of  Western  Christianity,  of  Roman 
civilisation  revived  by  the  Teutons,  and 
of  the  general  Indo-European  character 
of  the  composite  races  in  Europe,  but  also 
gave  a  considerable  impulse  to  new  de- 
velopments. The  necessity  of  keeping  a 
standing  cavalry  force  under  arms  in 
Southern  Gaul  for  the  long  struggle  with 
the  Saracens  stimulated  the  process  of 
transforming  the  German  military  system 
in  the  direction  of  chivalry.  Among  the 
Ch  •  f      i    Frankish  portions  of  the  empire 

ris  lani  y  ^■^^  transformation  of  the  Teu- 
Repulses         .       .  .  •  ,        , 

J  J  tonic  army  into  a  cavalry  force 

was  a  process  which  had  gradu- 
ally pervaded  the  remaining  tribes,  though 
the  Saxons  and  Frisians  were  least  affected. 

In  spite  of  all  the  efforts  and  the 
imperial  power  which  Charles  the  Great 
exerted  to  secure  the  direct  adminis- 
trative action  of  the  state  upon  questions 
of  government,  all  official  duties  and 
responsibilities  committed  to  other  hands 

3480 


assumed   a   form    of   feudal  dependence, 

and  this  the  more  easily,  as  the  advance 

of     agricultural     progress     involved    the 

payment  of   all  rewards   in   the   form  of 

arable  ground   and  soil.     The  possession 

of    offices,    the    capable    management    of 

surplus  products,  the  continual  entrance 

into   some    feudal   relation   of   free   men 

who  wished  to  be  relieved  of  their  public 

duties    or    the    difficulties    of    existence, 

the  exemption  t)f   influential  lords  from 

the  general  duties  of  state  administration, 

and  the  grant  of  judicial  powers  over  their 

possessions  and  their  people — these  were 

all    influences    which    steadily    advanced 

the   size  and  the  independence  of  great 

territorial  domains. 

It    was,    however,    the    Church    which 

turned    its    landed    property    to    special 

account  in  acquiring  administrative  powers 

and    lordship.       She    received    far    more 

extensive   immunities   than    the   laymen. 

She  was  not  discouraged  by  any  temporary 

decrease  of  possessions  or  power,  such  as 

took  place  when  Charles  Martel,  finding 

large  supplies  necessary  for  the  repulse 

of  the  Saracens,  procured  them  by  wide 

_  appropriation   of   Church   pro- 

Germans  i.  r  i  u-   U 

y,  perty    or    01    property    which 

Ch  *  t*  't  ^^  popular  ideas  had  long  been 
regarded  as  subject  to  the 
Church.  His  sons  agreed  to  return  what 
they  could.  The  Church,  however,  was 
able  to  make  use  of  any  opportunity. 

About  the  time  when  the  armies  of 
the  Austrasians  and  other  Germans  had 
saved  the  West  from  Mohammedanism, 
and  during  the  following  decade,  the 
Frisians,  the  middle  and  the  southern 
Germans,  were  largely  won  over  to 
Christianity,  and  their  districts  subjected 
to  Church  organisation,  by  means  of 
the  missions  of  Anglo-Saxon  and  Frankish 
evangelists,  and  especially  by  the  pioneer 
work  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Winfried.  The 
Teuton  conceived  of  his  Christianity  as 
giving  him  membership  in  a  greater 
community,  wider  than  his  own  tribal 
district,  or  his  most  extended  conception 
of  the  Folk,  an  idea  which  in  the 'political 
world  was  to  dawn  upon  him  much  more 
slowly.  Nor  was  this  the  only  common 
point  of  interest  which  bound  the  Frankish 
mayors  of  the  palace  to  the  Church  and 
induced  them  to  regard  the  universal 
claims  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  which 
Winfried  invariably  exalted  above  his 
own,  as  coincident  with  their  own  interests. 
Eduard  Heyck 


WESTERN 

EUROPE    IN 

THE  MIDDLE 

AGES 


THE 

EMERGING    OF 

THE   NATIONS 

111 


THE     EMPIRE    OF    CHARLEMAGNE 

IN    THE    DAYS    OF    ITS    POWER    AND   GLORY 


(~\P  the  two  sons  of  Charles  Martel  who 
^^  succeeded  jointly  to  the  position  of 
mayor  of  the  palace,  Carloman  shortly 
retired  to  a  monastery,  leaving  Pippin — 
Pepin  le  Bref — at  the  head  of  the  Prankish 
dominion.  The  only  thing  wanting  to  con- 
firm the  power  of  his  predecessors  within 
the  Prankish  Empire  had  been  the  title  of 
king,  which  was  something  more  than  a 
trifle  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  ;  Pippin 
determined  to  secure  this  title  with  the 
help  of  the  ecclesiastical  power. 

The  representatives  of  St.  Peter  in  their 
little  "  Patrimonium  "  on  the  shores  of 
the  Tiber,  with  Rome  as  its  capital, 
continually  felt  the  pressure  exerted  by 
the  Lombards,  who  from  568  had  expelled 
the  Byzantines  from  Italy  after  their 
Ostrogoth  triumphs,  though  the  Lombard 
want  of  a  navy  obliged  them  to  leave  the 
Byzantines  in  possession  of  Venice,  the 
three  islands  of  Sicily,  Sardinia,  Corsica, 
and  of  the  southern  point  of  Italy. 
Hence,  as  early  as  the  time  of  Charles 
Martel,  the  Curia  had  conceived  the  plan 
of  using  the  warlike  Franks  to  crush  the 
Lombards,  who  had  grown  enfeebled  in 
the  milder  climate  of  Italy  and  by  their 
contact  with  the  moral  degeneration  of 
Roman  culture.  Upon  the  receipt  of  a  secret 
missive  from  Stephen  IV.,  Pippin  invited 
the  Pope  to  visit  the  Prankish  Empire, 
and  promised  him  a  safe  conduct  through 
the  Lombard  territory.  The  two  met  at 
„      ..  Ponthion,  on  the  Marne,  on 

uVn^rclV  J^^^^^y  6th,  745.  Pippin 
E  br  h  d  ^^^  subsequently  anointed  as 
king  at  Soissons  (July  25th) 
notwithstanding  the  representations  of  his 
brother  Carloman.  Pippin's  two  sons  were 
anointed  with  himself.  Thus  the  dignity 
which  he  had  seized  became  a  hereditary 
monarchy  resting  upon  divine  right,  and  the 
allegiance  of  the  Franks  to  Pippin  and  his 
descendants  became  imperative.  As  early 
as  751,  the  nominal  monarch,  Childeric  III., 
had  been  illegaUy  deposed  in  the  diet  at 
Soissons  and  sent  into  a  monastery. 


The  newly  crowned  monarch  received 
the  title  of  Patricius  of  the  Romans — that 
is  to  say,  protector  of  the  Romans  and  of 
the  Pope,  and  thus  occupied  a  position 
which  had  hitherto  been  held  by  the  East 
Roman  emj^eror  residing  in  Byzantium. 
In  return,  Pippin  conducted  two  trium- 
phant campaigns  against  the  Lombard 
king,  Aistulf,  whom  he  forced  to  surrender 
the  territory  taken  from  the  Pope.  To 
.  the  Pope  was  given,  besides  the 

of  th  P  1  exarchate  of  Ravenna  and  the 
c  apa  Pentapolis,  the  whole  of  the 
coast  line  from  the  south  of  the 
Po  to  Ancona,  without  reference  to  the 
claims  which  Byzantium  could  lay  to 
these  last-named  possessions. 

The  Donation  of  Pippin  is  the  begin- 
ning of  the  later  increase  in  the  secular 
power  of  the  Popes ;  their  position 
largely  distracted  the  interests  of  the 
occupants  of  this  highest  spiritual  dignity 
from  their  ecclesiastical  calling  and  in- 
volved them  in  secular  partisanship  and 
policies  ;  at  the  same  time  it  gave  them 
some  independence  in  their  dealings  with 
the  great  European  powers,  the  petty 
princes  of  Italy,  and  the  incorrigible  insub- 
ordination of  the  Roman  populace. 

The  Lombard  kingdom  remained  for  the 
moment  independent  ;  Aistulf,  however, 
paid  tribute,  and  the  appointment  of  his 
successor,  Desiderius,  was  subject  to 
Prankish  approval.  Desiderius  naturally 
joined  Byzantium,  the  rights  of  which  had 
been  infringed  equally  with  his  own  by  the 
Franks  ;  the  independent  lords  of  Bene- 
ventum  and  Spoleto  turned  for  support  to 
the  Prankish  Empire.  It  is  obvious  that 
in  this  state  of  affairs  the  Prankish  ruler 
did  not  become  dependent  on  the  Pope, 
who  required  his  protection  against  th^ 
Lomba-ds,  the  Byzantines,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Rome,  and  the  petty  princes  of 
Italy.  It  is  clear  that  the  Pope  was  rather 
depending  upon  the  Franks,  and  this 
relationship  served  to  increase  the  halo 
of     religious    sanctity    surrounding    the 

3481 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


kingship  which    the    Prankish   ruler  had 
assumed. 

Once  in  possession  of  this  predominant 
position,  which  extended 
far  beyond  the  hmits  of 
the  Prankish  Empire 
proper,  Pippin  had  no 
difficulty  in  humiliating 
and  subjugating  refrac- 
tory neighbours.  Thus 
Aquitaine,  over  which 
many  struggles  had  been 
fought,  came  permanently 
into  his  possession  in  768  : 
eleven  years  previoush- 
Duke  Tassilo  of  Bavaria 
had  taken  the  oath  ot 
allegiance.  Only  the  free 
Saxons — who  inhabited 
the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine  to  the  Lower  Elbe, 
divided  into  four  groups 
of     West-      and      East- 


PIPPIN    THE    FIRST    KING 


of  conquering  this  nationality  was  the 
more  difficult  for  the  reason  that  it  was 
necessary  to  subjugate  one  tribal  district 
after  another,  and  that 
every  failure  inspired  a 
revolt,  which  ran  through 
every  canton  of  the  three 
tribes,  as  far  as  the 
frontier  of  the  Eider  in 
Xordalbingia.  Hence  the 
final  subjugation  and 
conversion  to  Christianity 
of  this  last  bulwark  of  the 
old  Teutonic  freedom  was 
a  process  extending  over 
some  thirty  years — 772  to 
804. 

As  early  as  777,  at  the 
diet  of  Paderborn,  after 
two  unsuccessful  battles, 
the  Saxon  chiefs  had 
offered  their  submission, 
undertaking      to     forfeit 


Phalians,    Angrians    and  succeeding  his  father,  charies  Martei,  at  the  their  freedom  and  posses- 
North     Albingians — were  head  of  the  Prankish  dominion,  Pippin  at  once  gious   if   they   disavowcd 

,  ,      ,              .    ,  ".       , ,      .        ,1  sot  himself  to  secure  the  title  of  King,  which  , ,          ,^1     •    ,  •            r    ■   ^ 

able  to  maintain  their  old  had  not  been  held  by  his  predecessors.    He  the    Christian    faith     or 

faith      and      possessions,  s^*'"^**  ^'^  «"''•  ''^•"s:  anointed  at  Soissons.  i^^Qj^g    ^           fj.Qj^    ^Yie\r 


possessions, 
though  obliged  to  make  certain  payments 
of  tribute.  The  unity  of  this  extended 
empire  was  expressed  in  the  partition 
which  Pippin  carried  out  before  his  death, 
on  September  24th,  768.  His  two  sons. 
Charles  and  Carloman, 
received  districts  contain- 
ing a  mixed  population 
of  Teutonic  and  Romance 
elements  under  conditions 
presupposing  the  common 
government  of  the  whole. 
These  careful  beginnings 
of  the  comprehensive 
empire  which  Pippin  had 
secured  were  steadily  ex- 
tended by  his  son  Charles 
the  Great,  or  Charle- 
magne; the  coping-stone 
of  the  whole  fabric  was 
the  imperial  dignity  and 
the  succession  to  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Caesars  in 
ancient  Rome,  united  with 


away 

fidelity  to  Charles,  his  sons,  and  the 
Franks.  The  most  bitter  enemy  of  the 
Franks  was  Widukind,  who  had  been 
appointed  duke  by  the  general  assembly 
at  Marklo  on  tlie  Weser  ;  he  escaped  the 
obligation  of  this  agree- 
ment, and  of  baptism,  by 
a  flight  into  the  Danish 
land  across  the  Eider. 
While  Charles  was  fight- 
ing in  Spain  against  the 
Arab  Omayyads  in  778, 
the  revolt  broke  out 
afresh.  Under  the  leader- 
ship of  Widukind  the 
rebels  advanced  to  the 
Ivhine,  supported  by  the 
Danes  and  Frisians,  de- 
\  astating  Thuringia  and 
Hesse  and  destroying  the 
Christian  colonies.  In 
780  they  were  recon- 
quered as  far  as  the  Elbe, 
and  their  land  was  divided 


a    right    of   protectorate  ^7^\  Jk^,?"^-  Merovingian  king     into  countries   accordiner 

°  ,  ,    \  r  /-I     ■        Though  Chimeric  was  the  nominal  monarch  of    ,       ,,       t^         ,  .   ,  ,,       P 

over    the  whole    ot  ChnS-    the  Prankish  dominion,  the  reins  of  govern-    tO  the  Fraukish    method, 

tianity.      The  first   step  SeTthat'thl'^a^'"wt1c^ilL'i}yru;'ed'sh'^^^^^^  native    magnates     being 

was  the   subjection   of   all    sit  on  the  throne.    Childeric  was,  therefore,    appointed  COUntS.      At  the 

Teutonic  peoples  who  Still  '^P°'"' '"'''•  ""^^^"''"*"^™°""*^-^-  memorable  assembly  of 
retained  their  independence  of  the  Prankish  Lippspringe  in  782,Christianity  was  imposed 
Empire.  The  most  dangerous  enemies  upon  them  by  strict  legislation.  Forcible 
were  the  heathen   Saxons,  and   the  task     entry  into  Christian  churches,   disregard 

3482 


THE    EMPIRE    OF    CHARLEMAGNE 


of  Christian  fasts,  or  the  murder  of  the 
clergy,  were  made  punishable  with  death. 
Upon  their  baptism,  the  Saxons  were  to 
forsake  the  devil  and  the  heathen  gods 
— in  the  opinion  of  the  Church  the  latter 
were  the  tools  of  the  devil — and  to  ac- 
knowledge the  Trinity  in  Unity.  The 
pacification  seemed  so  far  complete  that 
in  782  Charles  made  a  levy  of  his  new 
subjects  to  complete  his  expedition  against 
the  Wendish  Sorbs  on  the  Saale.  The 
Saxons,  however, 
attacked  the  Franks 
the     march     at 


on 


The  religious  character  of  these  long 
wars  was  outwardly  indicated  by  the 
presence  of  missionaries  and  of  the  relics 
of  the  saints  with  the  armies.  The 
Christian  "  message  of  peace  "  was  intro- 
duced by  armed  force  and  bloody  persecu- 
tions, methods  repeated  900  years  later 
in  the  Huguenot  wars  under  Louis  XIV. 
These  methods,  however,  were  in  com- 
plete accord  with  the  arbitrary  spirit  of 
the  times.    The  work  of  conversion  was 

and     Bremen.      The  the  great  Charlemagne  Wends,     and    Avars 

system   of   tithes  was    This   illustration,   taken   from  tlie  painting   by    Albert    either        tO        beCOmC 

introduced    and    the  ^"'■«'"'  »"  ^'^^^'  "-epresents  the  great  Charlemagne  in  incorporated  with  his 

T-.         1  •   1  J  c    the  coronation  robes  of  a  German  emperor  of  that  period.  •*.       .       ,„„„_ 

Prankish    system    of  ft-  empire  or    to  recog- 

miUtary  service  imposed  upon  the  Saxons,     nise    his   supremacy.    The    campaign    in 


Once  again — 792  and  following  years — irri- 
tation against  these  two  latter  innovations 
ended  in  a  rebellion,  which  was  punished  by 
the  transportation  of  10,000  Saxon  families 
to  the  Prankish  Empire ;  in  the  lands  thus 
left  vacant  Prankish  colonists  were  settled. 
In  this  way  the  strength  of  the  old  race  was 
broken.  The  supposed  "  peace  of  Salz," 
concluded  in  803,  on  the  Prankish  Saale, 
cannot  be  proved  by  documentary  evidence. 


Spain  was  inspired  only  by  the  desire  to 
secure  the  Prankish  frontier  against  a 
repetition  of  the  Moorish  invasion.  Por 
this  purpose  Charles  fought  in  alliance 
with  the  Arab  king  of  Saragossa  against 
his  enemy  the  caliph  Abd  ur- Rahman — 
a  Christian  thus  uniting  with  an  unbe- 
liever, as,  during  the  Crusades,  the 
Knights  Templars  occasionally  helped  the 
Mohammedans  against  their  co-religionists. 

3483 


CHARLEMAGNE  RECEIVING  THE  SUBMISSION  OF  WIDUKIND 
When  Charles  the  Great,  better  known  as  Charlemagne,  succeeded  his  father,  Pippin,  on  the  throne,  he  set  himself  to 
subjugate  all  the  Teutonic  peoples  who  Still  retained  their  independence  of  the  Prankish  Empire.  One  of  the  bitterest 
of  these  enemies  was  Widukind,  who  led  a  revolt  while  Charlemagne  was  fighting  in  Spain,  and,  supported  by  the 
Danes  and  Frisians,  devastated  Thuringia  and  Hesse  and  destroyed  the  Christian  colonies.  Widukind,  however,  finally 
yielded  to  Charlemagne's  power,  and,  adopting  Christianity,  which  had  been  imposed  by  legislation,  was  baptised  in  785. 


The  destruction  of  the  Frankish  rear- 
guard in  the  valley  of  Roncevalles,  the 
historical  nucleus  of  the  "  Chanson  de 
Roland,"  was  due  to  the  Basque  moun- 
taineers and  not  to  the  Arabs,  who, 
however,  availed  themselves  of  this  de- 
feat to  regain  the  territory  conquered 
by  Charles. 

The  Frankish  monarcn  and  the  papacy 
also  stood  in  close  alliance,  even  in  cases 
where  matters  of  European  policy  were 
concerned  rather  than  ecclesiastical  and 
religious  questions.  It  was  to  this  alliance 
that  the  Lombard  kingdom  fell  a  victim 
in  774.  Desiderius  had  renewed  his 
attacks  upon  the  papal  possessions,  and 
had,  moreover,  entered  into  close  relations 
with  Charles'  brother  Carloman  and  his 
family,  who  were  hostile  to  the  emperor. 

Desiderius  had  recognised  the  two 
sons  of  Carloman,  who  were  not  yet 
of  age,  as  Frankish  kings  after  their 
father's  death,  in  771.  The  family  dissen- 
sion thus  threatened  was  averted  by  the 

3484 


premature  death  of  Carloman,  upon  which 
Charles  was  appointed  sole  ruler  by  a 
decree  of  the  national  assembly,  and  the 
nephews  were  passed  over.  None  the  less, 
after  a  victorious  campaign,  Charles  put 
an  end  to  the  independence  of  the  Lom- 
bard state,  was  crowned  at  Milan,  divided 
the  conquered  territory  into  counties, 
and  introduced  the  judicial  and  military 
organisation  of  the  Frankish  Empire. 
Desiderius  was  sent  into  a  monastery,  the 
usual  fate  of  troublesome  competitors  in 
that  age.  Charles  thereupon  hastened  to 
Rome  to  take  part  in  the  Easter  festivals 
of  April  3rd,  774 ;  he  was  received  in 
solemn  procession  and  concluded  an 
alliance  of  friendship  with  Pope  Hadrian  at 
the  tomb  of  the  Apostle  Peter.  There  is 
no  doubt  he  then  renewed  the  Donation 
made  by  his  father ;  it  is,  however, 
more  than  doubtful  whether,  as  a  papal 
record  asserts,  he  conferred  Parma, 
Mantua,  Reggio,  Venice,  Spoleto,  and 
Corsica  upon  the  papal  chair  as  fiefs.    Of 


ROLAND,    THt     Hi  Hi)    Ol 

A  nephew  of  Charlemagne  and  the  jj^'catesl  of  h 


IHE     NATIONAl      1  I'K      i)t      IKANii 

A  nephew  of  Charlemagne  and  the  Kreatest  of  hi-  p.il.ulins.  Kcland  l>ecame  the  theme  of  le^eii.l  and  r"Mi.iTn  r.  On  I  hirlrin  ix;nf  s  return  Irom 
Spain.  KoUnd.  commanding  the  rear-^uard.  fell  into  an  ambuscade  in  the  defile  of  Koncevalle*  and  perished  with  the  flower  of  French  chivalry. 
Hu  &bulaus  sword  remained  unbrokwi  cftar  ha  tud  itruck  it  t*o  tisMt  on  •  rock,  and  !•(<<><>  jclU  tbtt  be  finally  thraw  it  into  •  poitooad  Mraam. 


THE    EMPIRE    OF    CHARLEMAGNE 


these  supposed  grants  Charles  himself 
retained  Spoleto  after  the  conquest  of  the 
Lombard  kingdom.  Even  though  these 
and  other  districts  were  declared  papal 
possessions  by  a  decree  of  Louis  the 
Pious  in  the  year  817,  the  points  at 
issue  were  then  claims  and  desires  rather 
than  actual  rights  of  practical  possession. 

We  find  the  king  and  Pope  agreed  upon 
the  desirability  of  overthrowing  Tassilo, 
the  last  Bavarian  duke.  He  had  re- 
newed his  old  oath  of  allegiance  and  had 
given  hostages,  but  was  administering  his 
territory  from  the  Lech  to  the  Enns  as 
an  independent  prince.  Charters  were 
dated  by  the  years  of  his  reign  and  he  had 
appointed  his  son  to  succeed  him.  In 
the  3^ear  787  negotiations  took  place  in 
Rome  between  his  ambassadors  and  those 
of  Charles,  though  the  latter  were  not 
given  full  powers  to  treat. 

The  Pope  threatened  the  duke  with 
excommunication  if  he  broke  his 
faith.  Upon  the  complaint  of  certain 
treacherous  Bavarians  that  Tassilo  had 
joined  Charles'  enemies — the  Avars, 
who  were  collected  at  the  Theiss — the 
duke   was    condemned    to    death    in    the 


following  year  by  the  imperial  diet  at 
Ingelheim,  though  Charles  commuted  his 
sentence  to  confinement  in  the  monastery 
of  St.  Goar.  Bavaria  was  united  with 
Franconia  ;  the  limits  of  the  empire  were 
extended  to  the  Saale  and  the  Wilzes  in 
Pomerania,  the  East  Mark,  Austria,  thus 
becoming  the  frontier  against  the  Avars, 
and  the  Mark  of  Brandenburg  securing 
the  empire  against  the  Slav  Sorbs.  The 
territory  taken  from  the  Avars,  from  the 
Enns  to  the  Raba,  was  given  up  to  Prankish 
colonists,  and  Christianity  in  the  Danube 
district  was  revived  by  the  foundation 
of  the  Archbishopric  of  Salzburg. 

Charles  had  many  opjwrtunities  for 
using  his  position  as  protector  of  the 
papacy  after  the  accession  to  that  dignity 
of  Leo  in.  on  December  26th,  795.  Leo 
sent  the  banner  of  the  city  of  Rome  and  the 
keys  of  St.  Peter's  tomb  to  the  Prankish 
king,  while  Charles  used  the  protectorate 
thus  given  to  him  by  advising  the  Pope 
to  follow  the  canonical  rules  and  to  avoid 
simony.  In  the  year  799  there  broke  out 
against  Leo  a  popular  revolt  which  was 
instigated  by  his  immediate  relations. 
The  threatened  Pope  fled  to  Charles,  and 


ANOINTING  THE  YOUTHFUL  CHARLES  THE  GREAT  AS  KING  OF  THE  FRANKS 

From  the  paintiinf  by  Schoorr  yon  CafvWeld  «  Munich 

3485 


9iZ 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


was  brought  back  to  Rome  by  force  of 
arms.  Before  Christmas,  in  the  year  800, 
Charles  held  a  court  at  Rome  to  decide 
between  the  Pope  and  his  opponents.  The 
latter  did  not  venture  to  bring  any  proof 
of  their  accusations,  while  the  former 
swore  to  his  innocence  ;  and  at  his  request 
his  opponents,  who  had  been  condemned 
to  death,  were  punished  only  with  exile. 
On  December  25th  Charles  was  crowned 
emperor  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  ;  the 
matter  had  been  previously  discussed,  but 
was  carried  out  in  a  form  distasteful  to 
him,  as  it  seemed  to  confer  too  large 
a  measure  of  independence  upon  the  Pope, 
who  required  his  help,  though  upon  this 
occasion  the  Pope  himself  bent  the  knee 
before  the  ruler 
of  Christianity. 

Thus  the  polit- 
ical unity  of  the 
nations  of  Europe 
had  received  the 
blessing  of  the 
Church,  for 
Charles'  empire 
included  the 
countries  from 
the  Pyrenees  to 
the  North  Sea 
and  from  the 
Eider  to  the 
Apennines.  Dis- 
regarding the 
claims  of  Byzan- 
tium to  the  title 
of  Roman  Em- 
pire, the  Prankish 
monarch  now 
ruled      as      the 


CROWN    OF    THE     HOLY    ROMAN    EMPIRE 


of  which  had  been  ordered  by  the 
Empress  Irene.  He  also  wounded  the 
pride  of  the  Byzantines  in  799  when  he 
received  the  keys  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
and  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem  from  the 
patriarch,  thus  coming  forward  as  pro- 
tector of  the  Holy  Land.  This  fact  in  no 
way  disturbed  the  friendly  character  of 
his  relations  with  the  Abbasid  caliph, 
Harun  al  Raschid,  who  kept  peace  with 
the  patriarch.  In  811  Byzantium  was 
obliged  to  recognise  the  imperial  supre- 
macy of  Charles,  and  received  Venice  as 
the  price. 

The  last  decade  of  Charles'  reign  was 
disturbed,  apart  from  some  frontier  wars, 
only  by  a  dangerous  invasion  of  the 
Danish  ruler 
Gottfried,  who 
made  a  trium- 
phant advance 
with  a  large  fleet 
on  the  Frisian 
coast  and  threat- 
ened with  de- 
struction  the 
Christian  colonies 
in  the  north  of 
Germany.  As 
no  fleet  of  war 
existed,  the  chas- 
tisement of  this 
enemy  was  out  of 
the  question,  and 
the  danger  was 
averted  only  by 
Gottfried's  mur- 
der in  810.  The 
east  and  south 
frontiers    of    the 


f      ,         This  symbol  of  royal  power,  known  as  the  Crown  of  Charlemag-ne,  or  , 

successor    Ot    tne    the  Crown  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  is  in  the  Treasury  at  Vienna,    empire  Were,  IlOW 

ever,    firmlv    de 


X^aesars.  His  rela- 
tions with  Byzantium  were  already  strained, 
and  this  tension,  accentuated  by  dogmatic 
quarrels  and  the  division  of  the  Greek 
Church  from  the  Roman,  would  no  doubt 
have  led  to  an  appeal  to  arms  had  not  the 
military  weakness  and  dissensions  of  the 
Byzantine  Empire  forced  the  authorities 
to  compliance.  For  a  time  the  project 
was  even  entertained  of  a  marriage 
between  Charles,  who  was  nearly  sixty 
years  of  age,  and  the  Empress  Irene. 
Charles  also  asserted  his  superiority  over 
the  Eastern  Empire  by  his  arbitrary  inter- 
ference in  the  lengthy  quarrel  concerning 
the  adoration  of  pictures.  An  assembly 
of  Prankish  bishops  at  Frankfort  declared 
in  794  against  this  practice,  the  resumption 

3486 


fended  by  the  Marks,  under  the  command 
of  warlike  counts.  These  were  :  the  East 
Mark,  protecting  Thuringia  and  Franconia 
against  the  Avars,  Sorbs  and  Bohemians  ; 
and  in  the  south  the  Spanish  Mark,  which 
was  organised  in  the  year  810  after  the 
reconquest  of  the  district  between  the 
P\Tenees  and  the  Ebro.  In  the  year  806 
Charles  divided  his  territory-,  according  to 
the  tradition  of  his  house,  among  his  three 
sons,  Charles,  Pippin  and  Louis,  upon 
principles  that  secured  the  chief  power  to 
the  eldest,  and  were  intended  to  maintain 
a  close  federal  alUance  between  the  three 
parts  of  the  empire.  The  death  of  the 
two  eldest  sons  (810-811)  overthrew  these 
arrangements,    and  on   September   nth, 


348; 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


The  Gre&t 
Ambition 
of  Charles 


813,  Charles  himself  crowned  his  youngest 
son  as  emperor,  without  the  assistance  of 
the  Pope,  who  was  entirely  subordinate 
to  his  will. 

Charles  had  realised  the  idea  of  a 
Caesar- Pope — that  is  to  say,  the  union  of 
the  secular  and  ecclesiastical 
powers ;  in  the  government  and 
administration  of  his  wide  em- 
pire he  also  aimed  at  unlimited 
power.  Prankish  kings  had  originally  been 
nothing  more  than  the  first  among  their 
vassals.  At  the  time  of  the  conquest  of 
the  Roman  districts  the  leaders  nominally 
possessed  the  right  to  dispose  of  all  mili- 
tary acquisitions  ;  but,  in  order  to  secure 
the  fidelity  of  their  soldiers,  they  were 
obliged  to  make  a  general  and  equal  divi- 
sion of  all  land  and  property.  From  the 
stage  of  communistic  enjoyment  of  the 
land,  that  of  private  ownership  was  bound 
to  arise,  as  the  kings,  in  order  to  secure 
adherents,  were  accustomed  to  confer  land 
upon  nobles  for  agricultural  purposes,  which 
land  was  thus  given  as  private  property. 

The  occupation  of  such  allodial  land 
— that  is  to  say,  of  land  held  in  free- 
hold— implied  an  obligation  to  serve  in 
war,  to  provide  an  armed  force,  and  to 
administer  justice  in  the  smaller  divisions 
of  the  counties.  During  the  continual 
wars  the  fields  lay  fallow  and  property 
was  ravaged.  Hence  the  smaller  free- 
holders adopted  the  method  of  surrender- 
ing their  property  to  some  noble,  or  to  the 
Church,  from  whom  they  received  it  back 
as  a  fief  {beneficiiim)  for  a  yearly  rent. 
A  long-standing  custom  was  the  confer- 
ment of  C  hurch  property  upon  smaller 
men,  or  the  grant  of  it  by  royal  decree, 
'',  under  terms  which  pro vi  1  ed  for  its  e ven- 
'  tual  return,  to  nobles  for  a  rental,  which 
was  generally  unpaid.  Charles  Martel 
was  especially  fond  of  this  form  of  grant. 
The  great  landowners  also  made  grants  of 
small  estates  in  return  for  payment  in  kind 
and  product. 

Charles    the    Great    wisely    strove    to 
protect    the    freemen,    supporting    their 
_      J    ,       independence,   and   creating  a 
^' "        close    bureaucracy    dependent 
.**p'^     °'    only  upon  himself .  For  this  pur- 
pose the  obligations  of  the  free- 
men were  strictly  regulated,  and  the  counts, 
who  were  chiefly  territorial  owners  and 
used  their  power  to  plunder  the  peasants, 
were    prohibited    from    any    attempt    to 
destroy  the  independence  of  that   class. 
The  poorer  men  were  reUeved  by  Charles 
3488 


of  the  duty  of  personal  military  service, 
by  the  regulation  that  several  might  join 
to  equip  one  man.  Those  parts  of  the 
empire  which  lay  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  seat  of  the  war  were  partially 
relieved  of  the  necessity  for  service. 

Charles  also  limited  the  number  of  court 
days  and  assembly  days.  General  meet- 
ings of  the  freemen  of  the  county  were 
to  be  held  only  thrice  a  year,  to  discuss 
the  most  important  matters  affecting  the 
rights  and  welfare  of  the  community ; 
all  other  judicial  sessions  took  place  under 
the  presidency  of  the  count,  and  after 
about  775  seven  assessors  only  were 
summoned  to  attend,  as  representing  the 
communities.  These  were  chosen  from 
the  principal  men  by  the  royal  "  missi 
dominici  "  (itinerant  commissioners),  the 
supervisory  officials  of  the  county,  while 
the  counts  had  a  voice  in  the  matter. 
These  measures  did  not,  however,  secure 
self-government  or  real  communal  free- 
dom. Charles  was  chiefly  anxious  to 
increase  the  prosperity  of  the  freema.n. 
His  own  estates  were  regarded  as  models  of 
their  kind.  He  was  accustomed  to  examine 
the  smallest  details,  to  look  over  the  ac- 
counts,  and  to   increase  the 

n"™  -f    •         productivei)owersof  the  non- 
Pursuits  in  a    i  ,j-     ^-r  ]  ,        ,  , 
«      ,„  ,         tree.    His  wiie  and  daughters 
Royal  Palace                      1    ^^u     u  i     11 

managed  the  household  per- 
sonally, and  were  obliged  to  spin  and 
card  wool.  This  high  example  exercised 
a  stimulating  influence  upon  agriculture. 
Villages  and  courts  arose  where  formerly 
the  land  had  been  fallow.  Trade  also 
revived.  Military  roads  went  along  the 
Rhine  to  the  North  Sea,  from  the  Elbe 
to  the  Black  and  Adriatic  Seas.  Feuds 
and  other  disturbances  of  the  peace  were 
suppressed  by  stern  regulations. 

The  administration  of  justice  was  the 
object  of  the  emperor's  special  care. 
Every  week  a  communal  court  was  held 
under  the  presidency  of  a  Hundred,  or, 
while  a  county  court  was  held  monthly, 
under  the  count  of  the  district.  The 
"  missi  dominici  "  were  obliged  to  make 
quarterly  journeys  of  inspection,  when 
they  examined  every  detail,  inspected  the 
courts  and  the  military  contingents,  and 
represented  the  interests  of  the  crown 
against  the  spirit  of  feudal  separatism. 
As  commissioners  dependent  upon  the 
crown,  they  took  the  place  of  the  old 
independent  dukes.  The  ruler  was  advised 
upon  matters  of  legislation  by  an  imperial 
assembly  composed  of  the  ecclesiastical 


THE  SIRASBURG  OATHS;  LEWIS  AND  CHARLES  FORMING  AN  ALLIANCE 
When  the  unity  of  the  Carolingian  Empire  was  dissolved,  the  Eastern  and  Western  Franks,  under  the  rule  of  Lewis  and 
Charles,  entered  upon  separate  courses  of  development.  In  the  Treaty  of  the  Meerssen  in  870.  Lewis  the  German 
and  Charles  the  Bald  agreed  that  their  Romance  districts,  Provence  and  Burgundy,  should  belong  to  the  West 
Prankish  Empire,  and  that  the  remainder  should  come  under  the  East  Frankish  ruler.  In  contra.st  to  the  Roman 
language  of  the  West  Franks,  and  also  to  the  ecclesiastical  Latin,  a  German  vernacular  language  had  there  developed, 
the  first  specimen  of  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  Strasburg  Oaths  which  Lewis  and  Charles,  when  formmg  their  alliance 
against  Lothair,  took,  each  in  the  language  of  the  other,  in  February,  842.  The  oath  bound  not  only  the  two  princes, 
but  also  their  officials,  who  were  to  be  judged  gruUty  of  rebellion  if  they  broke  their  aUegiance  to  the.r  feudal  lords. 

3489 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


and  secular  nobility  and  of  the  royal 
officials,  a  continuation  of  the  old  popular 
and  military  assembly  of  the  Mayfield.  which 
had  long  become  meaningless ;  this  assembly 
received  and  confirmed  the  decrees  of 
Charles  in  the  spring,  while  in  the  autumn 
- .    .     .        an  imperial  privy  council  met 

imi  a  ion  fQj- (jgiib^ration.  Hitherto  two 
P  ^k'  *  t  legal  systems  had  been  in  vogue, 
the  Salic  and  the  Ribuarian.  It 
was  now  advisable  that  the  united  empire 
should  have  a  uniform  system  of  law  ; 
the  two  existing  systems  were  improved 
by  Charles,  who  introduced  his  own  regu- 
lations in  his  "  capitularies."  In  contrast 
to  those  issued  by  the  Merovingians, 
these  decrees  are  characterised  by  their 
humanitarian  character  and  their  limita- 
tion of  capital  punishment.  They  were 
supplemented  by  his  successor,  and  the 
earliest  collection  of  them  is  dated  827. 
Though  written  in  Latin,  they  breathe 
a  Teutonic  spirit  and  faithfully  reflect 
old  Teutonic  customs,  morality,  and  in- 
stitutions. Charles  also  caused  collec- 
tions to  be  made  of  the  popular  laws  of 
the  larger  tribes  under  his  rule — the 
Saxons,  Angles,  and  Frisians. 

Below  his  court  officials,  the  clergy 
formed  the  medium  of  higher  culture, 
their  energies  being  chiefly  confined  to 
studying  the  creeds  of  the  Church,  liturgies, 
and  extracts  from  the  Fathers,1:he  writing 
of  ecclesiastical  Latin  and  the  reading 
of  some  ecclesiastical  authors.  Of  these 
court  clergy,  the  highest  in  rank  was  the 
arch-chaplain,  apocrisiarius,  who  kept 
the  emperor  informed  as  to  all  ecclesiastical 
matters  and  received  his  orders.  The  arch- 
chaplain  was  at  the  head  of  the  Imperial 
Chancery.  In  the  High  Court  of  Justice 
the  president  was  the  Count  of  the  Palace, 
the  highest  secular  official.  With  him  sat 
commissioners,  who  were  chosen  from  the 
most  experienced  lawyers  of  the  court. 
Upon  occasion  Charles  himself  presided 
in  these  courts. 

The  Prankish  Empire  was  essentially  an 
amalgamation  of  the  Roman  and  Teutonic 
_  civilisations  ;    side  by  side  with 

_,  *".  the  popular  law  existed  the  civil 
^.  ...  .  law  of  Rome,  just  as  ecclesi- 
astical Latin  existed  side  by 
side  with  the  vernacular  dialects.  Simi- 
larly, Charles  attempted  to  conjoin  Teu- 
tonic legend  and  tradition  with  the  re- 
mains of  Roman  civilisation  and  culture. 
Hence  he  caused  to  be  made  collections 
of  the  old  Teutonic  songs  which  celebrated 

3490 


the  exploits  of  the  legendary  kings  ;  he 
conceived  the  idea  of  a  German  grammar, 
and  replaced  the  Latin  names  of  the 
months  with  German  names.  To  the  four 
German  terms  which  existed  to  denote 
the  direction  of  the  wind  he  added  twelve 
new  ones,  if  we  may  believe  the  report  of 
Einhard. 

His  own  tutors  in  the  classical  lan- 
guages and  civilisation  were  partly  Anglo- 
Saxons,  with  whom  were  now  to  be  found 
the  learning  and  philosophy  which  had 
perished  in  Italy  with  Cassiodorus  and 
Boethius.  Of  these  scholars  the  chief 
was  Alcuin  of  York,  who  created  the 
monastic  school  of  Tours,  and  was  the 
leading  spirit  among  Charles'  group  of 
scholars.  To  him  Charles  owed  his  know- 
ledge of  rhetoric,  dialectic  and  astronomy. 
The  Emperor's  teacher  of  grammar  was 
Peter  of  Pisa,  a  priest  like  Alcuin.  The 
most  distinguished  historians  of  Charles' 
exploits  were  Einhard,  who  was  by  origin 
from  the  Odenwald,  and  wTote  the  first  com- 
plete biography  of  the  Emperor — the  only 

_.     ,  defect  of  which  is  the  unneces- 

Charles  ...  , 

,         .  ,.     .  sary  plagiarism   of    sentences 

Immortalised  i      f  r  ^i.      i-  r 

.    p  and  phrases  from  the  lives  of 

Suetonius — and  Angilbert ,  who 
immortalised  the  emperor's  feats  in  an 
epic  poem. 

Since  the  time  of  Gregory  of  Tours 
and  his  contemporary,  jomandes,  or 
Jordanes,  the  historian  of  the  Ostrogoths, 
historical  writing  had  sunk  to  a  low  ebb. 
It  now  revived  in  the  hands  of  Teutons 
who  wTote  Latin.  At  Charles'  court  lived 
for  some  time  the  Lombard  Paul,  son  of 
Wamefried,  or  Paulus  Diaconus,  the  author 
of  the  history  of  his  nation  to  the  year 
744,  which  is  based  upon  old  sagas  and 
legends.  Charles  himself  attempted  to 
remed}'  the  defects  of  his  youthful  educa- 
tion. When  advanced  in  years  he  would 
spend  the  nights,  though  with  no  great 
success,  in  learning  to  write,  an  art  which 
was  chiefly  confined  to  the  clergy  and 
scholars.  On  the  other  hand,  he  had  com- 
pletely mastered  Latin  and  the  elements  of 
Greek,  if  the  testimony  of  Einhard  may  be 
beheved.  He  was  acquainted  with  the 
work  of  St.  Augustine,  "  De  Civitate 
Dei."  He  caused  his  sons  and  daughters 
to  be  also  educated  in  the  sciences,  and  for 
the  education  of  young  nobles  and  of  the 
more  talented  sons  of  the  middle  class 
he  provided  the  School  of  the  Palace,  which 
he  himself  was  accustomed  to  inspect,  in 
addition  to  the  model  school  of  Toius. 


THE    EMPIRE    OF    CHARLEMAGNE 


Among  the  arts,  he  had  an  especial 
preference  for  music  and  architecture,  both 
of  which  he  apphed  to  the  service  of  God. 
He  attempted  to  improve  church  music 
by  the  introduction  of  ItaUan  masters, 
whose  cleverness,  however,  could  do  little 
with  the  rough  voices  of  the  Franks,  while 
divine  service  was  amended  by  the  use  of 
a  book  of  homilies  which  Paulus  Diaconus 
composed.  Charles  paid  zealous  attention 
to  the  construction  and  decoration  of 
churches.  For  the  Basilica  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  he  sent  for  marble  from  Italy,  and 
provided  a  magnificent  supply  of  gold  and 
silver  vessels  and  ecclesiastical  robes  and 
vestments.  He  visited  the  church  morn- 
ing and  evening,  and  often  at  night,  and 
took  pains  to  secure  the  observance  of  order 
and  decorum  in  the  services.  He  also 
afforded  valuable  assistance  in  the  decora- 
tion of  the  Church  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome. 
Those  Christians  who  lived  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  the  Frankish  Empire  ever 
found  a  ready  supporter  in  Charles  the 
Great. 

In  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  time, 

he    enriched    churches    and    monasteries 

u  ^v  .  by  presents  and  grants  of  land : 
How  Charles .  u       t-        i  •  u       i  v. 

_,    •  k  J        the    Frankish    clergy,    whom 

»k  />!.  L  he  kept  in  strict  obedience, 
the  Church      ,  T       ,    •  i^-      i 

began  to  claim  political  power 

on  the  ground  of  their  wealth,  even  in 
his  successor's  reign.  Apart  from  tithes, 
the  Church  possessed  wide  properties  and 
estates  —  the  abbey  of  Fulda,  for  instance, 
owned  fifteen  thousand  hides  shortly  after 
its  foundation.  At  the  same  time,  these 
incomes  had  to  provide  for  much  charity, 
for  the  education  of  the  poor,  and  other 
obligations,  while  the  overlords  retained 
their  right  of  appropriating  church  pro- 
perty in  order  to  reward  their  own  ad- 
herents. The  monasteries  and  churches 
remained,  however,  the  central  points,  not 
only  of  education,  but  also  of  trade  and 
intercourse,  of  manufacture  and  agricul- 
ture. 

The  great  ecclesiastical  festivals  were 
also  the  most  important  market  days. 
Even  if  business  was  at  a  standstill 
on  those  particular  days,  it  was  carried 
on  the  more  zealously  either  before  or 
afterwards.  In  the  towns  and  market 
villages,  foreign  merchants  came  in  where 
formerly  trade  and  manufacture  were  per- 
mitted only  to  the  members  of  guilds. 
The  name  "mass"  for  a  market  was 
derived  from  the  solemn  high  mass  which 
was  held  on  such  days,  and  was  attended 


by  numerous  natives  and  foreigners. 
Around  churches  and  monasteries  arose 
new  marks  and  even  new  towns.  Within 
the  territory  of  the  monastery  hved  also 
the  non-free  artisans,  who  worked  for  the 
inmates  of  the  monastery,  and  stimulated 
manufacture  by  their  industry  and  clever- 
ness. Agriculture  and  viticulture,  garden- 
Improved  ^"^  ^"^  vegetable  growing,  were 
Methods  in  increased  by  the  example  of  the 
Agriculture  "i^nasteries ;  new  products  were 
discovered  and  new  methods 
introduced.  The  growth  of  the  eccle- 
siastical estates  and  their  methods  of 
cultivation  on  a  great  scale,  which  almost 
recalled  the  Roman  latifundia,  gave  a 
useful  impulse  to  changes  in  the  primitive 
system  of  agriculture  in  vogue  upon  noble 
and  peasant  properties. 

Charles  remained  a  true  Teuton  in  his 
mode  of  living  ;  his  dress,  his  favourite 
exercises  of  riding  and  hunting,  were 
entirely  German.  Of  an  excitable  dis- 
position, which  could  move  him  easily  to 
tears,  he  was  yet  entirely  master  of  him- 
self. He  had,  for  instance,  completely 
overcome  the  tendency  to  excessive  drink- 
ing which  was  characteristic  of  the 
Teutons,  and,  to  a  less  degree,  his  inclina- 
tion to  eating,  which  his  bodily  vigour 
permitted  him  to  satisfy.  His  constant 
activity,  extending  often  through  the  hours 
of  the  night,  was  a  standing  example. 
Wherever  he  went  he  inquired  personally 
into  details  ;  his  household,  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  and  the  settlement  of 
quarrels  were  subjects  in  which  he  took 
most  interest.  He  resided  in  his  palaces 
at  Nimwegen,  with  its  sixteen-cornered 
chapel,  at  Nieder-Ingelheim,  built  in  768- 
774,  and  at  Aachen,  or  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
rebuilt  between  yyy  and  786,  and  not  in 
the  Romance  portions  of  his  empire. 

In  793  Charles  attempted  to  connect  the 
Rhine  with  the  Danube  by  the  canal  from 
the  Altmiihl  to  the  Rednitz,  which  was 
never  completed ;  at  Mainz  he  built  a 
,  wooden     bridge     over      the 

The  ater  Rhine  500  yards  long,  and 
Ch"^i  when  this  was  burnt  down  in 

ar  emagne  jyj^y^   g^^^    he  projected  the 

construction  of  a  new  bridge  in  its  place. 
He  was  often  obUged  to  change  his  head- 
quarters owing  to  the  difficulty  of  collect- 
ing the  necessaries  of  life  in  any  one  spot, 
for  communications  by  road  or  river  were 
then  highly  defective.  In  his  last  years 
Aachen  was  his  favourite  residence,  and 
its  hot   baths  provided  him  with  rehef 

3491 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


for  his  growing  infirmities ;  he  advised 
his  son,  his  friends,  and  his  courtiers  to 
make  constant  use  of  them,  and  often  more 
than  one  hundred  persons  bathed  together. 

He  was  distinguished  above  all  other 
Franks  for  his  breadth  of  mind,  which 
was  especially  obvious  in  his  preference 
for  foreign  culture  and  its  exponents,  and 
in  his  disregard  of  the  limits  of  nationality 
and  of  religious  faith,  when  higher  political 
objects  seemed  to  be  at  stake.  He  con- 
cluded alliances,  not  only  with  Alfonso  II. 
of  Galicia  and  Asturias  and  with  the 
Scottish  princes,  but  also  with  Harun 
al-Rashid,  who  was  a  friend  of  culture. 
Under  the  protection  of  this  Mohammedan, 
Charles  sent  an  embassy  to  adorn  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  while  Harun  sent  mes- 
sengers to  conduct  the 
Franks  on  their  homeward 
journey,  bearing  presents 
to  Charles  of  treasures, 
robes,  and  spices  of  the 
East,  in  addition  to  an 
elephant,  for  which  the 
Frankish  rule  •  had  asked. 

Charles  also  showed  an 
entirely  German  spirit  in 
his  relations  with  the 
female  sex.  He  did  not 
indeed  follow  the  tradi- 
tional polygamy  of  his 
ancestors,  but  he  con- 
stantly changed  his  wiv^es 
and  was  never  long  a 
widower.  After  marrying 
the  daughter  of  Desi- 
derius  at  the  wish  of  his 


times,  in  conscious  opposition  to  German 
manners.  Charles  the  Great  is  rather  t( 
be  regarded  as  the  earliest  exponent  ot 
the  excellencies  of  the  Teutonic  character, 
the  rudeness  of  which  he  was  able  to 
moderate  while  overcoming  or  mastering 
its  weaknesses. 

It  is  a  common  historical  experience  that 
great  empires,  consisting  of  mixed  peoples 
connected  by  outward  ties  rather  than  by 
inward  solidarity,  often  lose  their  greatness 
or  fall  into  disruption  upon  the  death  of 
their  founder.     Such  was  the  case  in  the 
fourth    century    B.C.  with   the   empire  of 
Alexander  the  Great :  also  in  Central  Asia, 
after   the   death  of  Tamerlane ;   and  the 
phenomenon  was  repeated  in  the  case  of 
the  Carolingian  monarchy.     The  one-sided 
theory     which      regards 
mankind    as    master    of 
circumstances,  and  not  as 
subject   to  them,  usually 
makes    the    less    capable 
successors  of  great  princes 
responsible  for  such  dis- 
ruption ;   but  the  deeper 
reasons  lie  in  foreign  and 
domestic   political  condi- 
tions.    Such  was  the  case 
with  the  Frankish  Empire. 
Notwithstanding  his  sedu- 
lous care  for  the  defence 
and  security  of  his  fron- 
tiers,  Charles    the  Great 
had      never     been     able 
entirely  to  overcome  two 
dangerous  enemies. 
LOUIS  THE  PIOUS  Evcu  during  his    time 

mother,     Bertrada,     for  The  sole  heir  of  his  great  father,  Charlemagne    the  Northmen,  or  Vikings, 
whom    he   had    a    great  ir^^^^^s'^'^i^'e^Tsli^n^'^^^^^  were  plundering  the  Eng- 

respect,    he    divorced  her  ling  because   he   divided  the  empire    among    lish      COastS       UUdcr        the 

for  unknown  reasons,  and  ^'^^^'^^  ^°"«'  Lothair,  Pippin,  and  Louis,  leadership  of  their  petty 
married  Hildegarde,  a  Swabian  woman  of      kings,  v^po  had  been  driven  out  of  their  Nor 


noble  birth,  who  died  in  771.  After  this, 
in  783,  he  married  a  Frankish  woman, 
Fastrada,  who  was  followed  by  the  Ala- 
mannian  Luidgard,  who  died  in  800. 
Beside  his  legal  wives,  he  had  concubines, 
whose  numbers  increased  to  three  after 
the  death  of  Luidgard.  He  allowed  his 
unmarried  daughters  entire  freedom  of 
sexual  intercourse. 

The  glamour  which  has  been  spread 
.  around  this  great  emperor  and  his  paladins 
by  legend  and  poetry  must  pale  in  the  light 
of  historical  truth.  But  this  will  also 
destroy  the  grotesque  picture  of  the  one- 
sided French  Charlemagne,  to  which 
French  historians  have  clung  until  recent 

3492 


wegian  possessions  by  powerful  governors. 
In  795  they  captured  the  island  of  Rathlin 
on  the  north  coast  of  Ireland,  in  802  the 
missionary  settlement  of  lona,  one  of  the 
Hebrides,  and  in  804  they  sailed  up  the 
Boyne  and  captured  Dublin.  They  were 
also  advancing  in  the  interior  of  the  country; 
in  789  they  raided  Wessex,  and  in  799 
Northumberland.  Charles  fortified  the 
coasts  and  rivers  on  the  north  frontier  of 
his  empire,  but  for  want  of  a  fleet  he  could 
no  more  permanently  repel  these  raids 
than  drive  back  the  Danish  sea-king 
Gottfried.  The  example  of  the  Northmen 
in  Western  Europe  was  repeated  by  th*. 
Saracen  pirates   in   Southern    Italy,  and 


THE    DEPOSITION    OF    LOUIS    THE    PIOUS 
When  Louis  the  Pious  divided  the  empire  among;  his  three  sons  he  sowed  the  s^ed  of  foture  troub^^^^^^^^  Th«* 

sons  revolted  when  their  father  subsequently  altered  the  principle  of  the  partition  in  °'^°er  inarm:.  >u      j^ 
marriage  afterwards  known  as  Charles>he/ald  shoiUd  not  be  left  -thXo^nllK'a  ie«  laTer   and  dUsdTn  liS! 
which  foUowcd,  Louis  was  deposed  in  933,  but  bo  returned  to  the  throne  about  a  year  laicr, 

3493 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


here  again  Charles  strove  to  protect  him- 
self by  fortifications  at  the  river  mouths 
and  harbours.  The  main  object  of  the 
Northmen  was  the  extortion  of  tribute  and 
the  acquisition  of  plunder,  and  the  extent  to 

which  Charles' 
successors 
suffered  under 
this  plague  will 
be  seen  when 
we  study  the 
history  of  Scan- 
dinavia. 

The  second 
enemy  was  the 
Slav  people, 
who  were 
divided  into  a 
number  of 
tribes ;  they  had 
occupied  the 
country  aband- 
oned by  the 
Germans  during 
their  migrations 
from  the  Baltic 
and  the  mouth 
of  the  Elbe  to 
THE    EMPEROR    LOTHAiR  the     Bohemian 

This  son  of  Louis  the  Pious  was  Tr,^rocf  •     iVx^nr^i:* 

crowned  in  823.     Troublous  times  i^Olcbl  ,     iut;ui.e 

followed,  in  which  Lothair  and  his  they      had      eX- 

brothers  struggled  for  supremacy.  ^^^-^^ ^  ^^  g^^,^..^ 

and  Carinthia,  to  the  Danubian  terri- 
tories of  the  Byzantine  Empire,  and 
even  into  ancient  Greece.  In  Moravia 
a  powerful  empire  had  arisen  under 
Svatopluk — who  died  in  895 — which  was 
not  to  collapse  until  the  beginning  of  the 
tenth  century.  The  modern  territories  of 
Prussia,  Pomerania,  Mecklenburg,  Bran- 
denburg, Saxon}',  Bohemia,  Moravia  and 
the  Austrian  Alps  were  in  the  possession  of 
Slavonic  tribes.  Notwithstanding  the  vic- 
tories of  Charles  over  the  Sorbs  and  Wilzes, 
they  retained  their  wide  sphere  of  influence 
practically  undiminished.  The  dissension 
prevailing  among  the  individual  tribes, 
of  whom  even  in  Charles'  time  the  Obotrites 
of  Mecklenburg  joined  the  Franks,  made  it 
impossible  that  they  should  withstand  the 
superior  military  prowess  of  the  Germans. 
Until  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries 
they  were  steadily  driven  back  before  the 
missionary  zeal  of  their  western  neigh- 
bours ;  only  in  heathen  Prussia  did 
they  resist  the  power  of  the  Teutonic 
knights  until  the  thirteenth  century. 
In  the  interior  the  feudal  nobility  had 
been  kept  in  check  by  the  strong  hand  of 

3494 


Charles,  but  its  tendency  to  separatism 
had  not  been  thereby  destroyed.  The 
rich  presents  and  favours  of  Charles  had 
raised  the  power  of  the  ecclesiastical 
nobility,  which  soon  became  a  force 
threatening  the  monarchy,  although  the 
papacy  continued  subject  to  the  protec- 
torate of  the  Franks  for  a  longer  period. 

Louis  the  Pious  was  the  sole  heir  of 
his  great  father,  who  died  on  January  28th, 
814.  He  was  crowned  emperor  in  Rheims 
by  Pope  Stephen  v.,  and  was  by  no  means 
the  helpless  weakling  that  he  is  painted 
in  the  traditional  accounts  of  his  reign. 
During  the  lifetime  of  his  two  elder  bro- 
thers he  was  naturally  thrown  into  the 
background,  and  was  brought  up  in 
Aquitaine  by  monks  in  an  environment 
of  prayer  and  penance.  After  his  ac- 
cession he  continued  the  great  work  of 
conversion  begun  by  Charles,  and  created 
two  strong  centres  of  Christianity  in  the 
bishoprics  of  Hildesheim  and  Hamburg. 

Hamburg  was  intended  to  form  a  bulwark 
against  the  heathen  Danes  and  North- 
men, but  was  reduced  to  ashes  by  them 
in  8^y,  about  thirty  years  after  its  founda- 
tion. Louis 
also  followed 
his  father's 
example  by 
enriching  the 
clergy  with  gifts 
of  land  and 
rents  ;  but  he 
allowed  the 
secular  princes 
subordinate 
to  himself  to 
appropriate 
Church  pro- 
perty. It  was 
chiefly  for  this 
reason  that  the 
clergy,  who 
were  conscious 
of  their  inde- 
pendence, con- 
spired against 
the  Emperor  on 
behalf    of     his       charles  the  bald 

i-£.K£.lli/-ino    e/->no  Another  son  of  Louis  the   Pious, 

reOeillOUS    sons,  ^r whose  benefit  the  principle  of 

The         action  the  partition   of  the  empire  was 

rtf        T  r»i  'c         ■  altered — a  step  which  led  to  strife. 

dividing  the  empire  between  his  sons, 
Lothair,  Pippin,  and  Louis,  in  817, 
has  been  denounced  as  weakness.  But 
this  partition  was  in  the  first  place  pro- 
posed rather  by  the  great  ecclesiastics  of 


THE    EMPIRE    OF    CHARLEMAGNE 


the  empire  than  by  Louis  himself,  and 
was  but  a  continuation  of  the  precedent 
set  by  Pippin  and  Charles.  The  unity  of 
the  empire  and  the  emperor's  own  position 
were  guaranteed  by  the  provisions  that 
Louis  should  remain  sole  ruler  during  his 
lifetime,  that  the  imperial  title  should  pass 
only  to  the  eldest  son,  without  whose 
consent  the  other  two  sons  could  not 
wage  war,  conclude  peace,  or  negotiate 
upon  questions  of  foreign  policy,  while  the 
consent  of  the  national  assembly  was 
necessary  before  they  could  enjoy  their 


could  take  place  only  when  the  Emperor's 
consent  had  been  obtained. 

The  misfortunes  of  Louis  were  due  to 
his  weakness  in  dealing  with  his  second 
wife,  the  Guelf  Princess  Judith.  In 
order  that  the  son  of  this  marriage,  Charles, 
afterwards  known  as  tlie  Bald,  should 
not  be  thrown  into  the  background,  Louis 
altered  the  principle  of  partition  in  favour 
of  this  son  without  the  consent  of  the 
nation,  but  with  the  assent  of  the  com- 
pliant Pope.  These  feminine  intrigues 
were  the  signal  for  a  revolt  of  the  three 


THE  EXCOMMUNICATION  OF  ROBERT  THE  PIOUS 
Robert  II.,  King  of  France,  better  known  as  Robert  the  Pious  incurred  the  severe  displeasure  gf^he  Pope  because 
of  his  marnage  with  Bertha,  a  distant  relative  of  his  own.  The  king  was  commanded  to  P"*  ^«'^°*,*,^*yv"  „5f 
pain  of  excommunication,  and  though  he  struggled  for  four  or  five  years  agamst  the  terrors  of  the  papal  ban.  he  wa. 
at  length  compelled  to  yield,  and  to  send  from  his  side  the  wife  to  whom  he  was  deeply  attached  "e  afterward, 
married  Constance  daughter  of  the  Count  of  Toulouse.    Robert  reigned  for  nearly  thirty-five  years,  dying  m  1031. 

From  the  piinting  by  Laurens  in  the  Luxembourg 


shares.  Upon  the  death  of  the  eldest 
brother  the  next  in  age  was  to  take  the 
seniority.  Pope  Paschal  L,  who  had  been 
won  over  by  guarantees  securing  his 
territory,  agreed  to  this  scheme  of  partition 
and  showed  great  readiness  to  support 
the  empire.  On  April  5th,  823,  he 
crowned  Lothair  as  emperor,  and  allowed 
the  new  ruler  to  impose  a  regulation  upon 
the  Romans  by  which  they  were  forced 
to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Pope 
and  the  Emperor,  while  the  papal  elections 


other  sons,  whose  possessions  were  thus 
reduced.  The  rebellious  sons  were  now 
joined  by  the  \\'est  Prankish  clergy,  who 
had  grown  extremely  powerful. 

The  Empress  Judith  became  a  special 
point  of  attack  on  the  part  of  the 
opposition  nobles.  These  were  laymen, 
many  of  whom  had  already  shared  in 
the  revolt  of  Bernhard,  the  nephew  of 
Louis.  They  were  able  to  relieve  them- 
selves of  Judith  by  confining  her  in  a 
monastery;    but  the  monarchy  was  too 

349S 


HISTORY    OF    THE    WORLD 


Revolt 
of  the 
Clergy 


firmly  rooted  to  be  overthrown  at  one 
blow.  Louis  was  able  to  find  help  among 
the  East  Prankish  nobility  against  the 
West  Franks  and  his  own  sons,  of  whom 
Lothair  was  the  ringleader.  At  an  imperial 
diet  held  at  Aachen,  or  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in 
831,  the  emperor  and  his  queen,  who  had 
come  back  from  her  monastery,  were  justi- 
fied, and  Lothair  was  forced  to 
submit.  The  revolt  of  the  clergy 
from  the  crown  offered  a  favourable 
opportunity  to  the  Pope  for  breaking 
away  from  the  dependent  position  which 
Charles  had  introduced,  and  for  making 
himself  supreme  over  the  shattered  power 
of  the  king.  When  the  sons  again  raised 
the  banner  of  revolt  they  found  Gregory  IV. 
on  their  side.  At  Colmar,  in  Alsace,  the 
Emperor's  officials,  advised  by  the  Pope 
himself,  deserted  to  their  rebel  comrades 
in  arms  at  the  end  of  June,  833  ;  Rotfeld, 
where  this  treachery  was  completed, 
received  the  contemptuous  name  of 
Liigenfeld,  or  field  of  lies.  We  now  find  a 
division  in  the  ranks  of  the  West  Prankish 
episcopate.  Many  who  feared  that  the 
papal  aggressions  threatened  their  own 
independence  renewed  the  allegiance 
to  Louis ;  a  minority,  led  by  the 
vigorous  Archbishop  Ebo  of  Rheims, 
forced  the  Emperor  to  do  penance  in  the 
church  of  St.  Medard  at  Soissons,  to 
abdicate  his  position  as  emperor,  and  to 
enter  a  monastery.  The  other  party  in- 
duced Louis  to  withdraw  the  decision 
which  he  had  made  at  St.  Denis,  and  to 
renounce  his  deposition  at  a  council  at 
Diedenhofen  in  835.  The  Emperor  was 
induced  by  his  wife  to  make  a  fresh  parti- 
tion in  839,  under  which  Louis,  whom  she 
hated,  was  placed  at  a  disadvantage  in 
favour  of  Lothair  and  Charles,  although  it 
was  to  Louis  in  part  that  the  Emperor 
owed  his  restoration  ;  Pippin  had  died  on 
December  13th,  838.  Louis  then  took  up 
arms  against  his  father,  who,  however,  died 
at  Ingelheim  before  any  battle  was  fought, 
_  .  -  on  June  20th,  840.  The  struggle 
,    *.  for   the   inheritance  was  carried 

thc"pious  °"  ^y  *^^  ^^°  younger  brothers, 
Louis  and  Charles,  who  joined 
their  forces  against  the  domineering  Lothair, 
Lothair  was  utterly  defeated  at  the  Ries  in 
the  beginning  of  841,  and  at  Pontenoy  en 
Puisaye,  near  Auxerre,  on  June  25th, 
where  the  flower  of  the  Austrasian  nobility 
fell.  He  summoned  to  his  help  the 
heathen  Saxons,  to  whom  he  promised  the 
restoration  of  their  old  privileges,  and  the 

3496 


Danes  ;  he  also  secured  the  support  of  the 
papal  legates,  but  he  was  unable  to  re- 
cover the  supremacy  of  his  West  Prankish 
territory.  He  therefore  agreed  to  the 
partition  treaty  of  Verdun  on  August  loth, 
843.  He  was  left  in  possession  of  the 
imperial  title,  together  with  the  old  pro- 
vince of  Austrasia,  the  main  portion  of 
Burgundy,  the  Alamannic  districts  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  Provence  and  Italy ; 
that  is  to  say,  of  a  district  extending 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Rhine  to  the 
harbours  of  the  Mediterranean.  Neustria, 
Planders,  and  Britanny,  North-west 
Burgundy,  Aquitaine  and  the  Spanish 
Mark  went  to  Charles.  Louis,  known  as 
the  German,  received  all  the  country  on 
the  right  of  the  Rhine,  and  on  the  left 
bank  Worms,  Mainz,  and  Speier,  together 
with  parts  of  modern  Switzerland. 

Thus  the  unity  of  the  Carolingian 
Empire  was  dissolved,  although  Lothair 
retained  the  imperial  title.  The  East  and 
West  Pranks,  under  the  rule  of  Louis  and 
Charles,  entered  upon  separate  courses  of 
development,  affecting  their  national 
characters,  their  languages  and  their 
policies,  which  ended  in  the 
differentiation  of  Prance  from 
Germany.  The  kingdom  of 
Lothair  was  broken  in  855  into 
three  parts  connected  by  a  siiow  of  out- 
ward unity.  These  were  :  Austrasia,  with 
Friesland,  and  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine 
— "  Lotharingia,"  so  called  from  its  future 
owner,  Lothair  II. — Provence,  with 
Burgundy,  and  Italy,  which  belonged 
to  the  Emperor  Louis  II.  Lotharingia, 
although  inhabited  by  Germans,  was 
exposed  to  French  aggression. 

However,  in  the  treaty  of  Meerssen  on 
August  8th,  870,  Lewis  the  German  and 
Charles  the  Bald  agreed  that  the  Romance 
districts — namely,  Provence  and  Bur- 
gundy— should  belong  to  the  West 
Prankish  Empire,  and  that  the  remainder 
should  fall  under  the  East  Prankish  ruler. 
Politically,  however,  the  separate 
portions  of  the  divided  empire  went 
their  own  ways.  In  East  Prancia, 
the  old  hereditary  Duchies  of  Saxony, 
Franconia,  Swabia,  and  Bavaria  gradually 
gained  a  new  importance  which  menaced 
the  existing  unity.  In  West  Franconia 
a  number  of  greater  and  smaller  vassals 
secured  their  independence,  and  in  course 
of  time  reduced  the  crown  to  the  position 
of  a  meaningless  and  helpless  shadow. 
Richard  Mahrenholtz 


The  Divided 
Carolingian 
Empire 


UC  SOUTHERN  neaONU.  UBMRY  FMaury 


A      000  046  831       4 


'j«t; 


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