Full text of "A general history of Europe : from the origins of civilization to the present time"

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SCOTT THOMPSON

FROM THE ORIGINS OF'CIVILIZATION
TO THE PRESENT TIME

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PREFACE

In preparing this outline of the whole history of man from the
earliest beginnings of civilization down to the present those topics
have been chosen which have the greatest interest for us today
those which help us most in understanding our own time. Occa-
sionally it has been necessary to include certain historical facts
of no great importance in themselves merely to establish the
sequence or because they are deemed matters of " common knowl-
edge" which the student should know because they are often
alluded to. Happily these iatteV cases are few v

The presentation of a satisfactory review of gerferal history in a
single volume becomes increasingly difficult. The^older manuals
gave scanty attention to anything preceding the Qreeks and were
well-nigh through their task when they reached the year 1870.
But the long narrative of the past has been lengthened out at
both ends. Recent discoveries of archaeologists have altered funda-
mentally our conception of man's progress and made vivid and
real the long, long ages during which civilization was slowly ac-
cumulating before it reached that high degree of refinement
which we find among the ancient Egyptians. The so-called "pre-
historic" period and the story of the ancient Orient are now full
of absorbing interest and can no longer be dismissed in a few
introductory pages.

On the other hand our own times have assumed a significance
which they did not possess for us prior to the year 1914. The
shock of finding the world at war and the multitude of perplexing
problems which the war has revealed have led us to realize how
ill-understood are the conditions in modern Europe and in the
Orient. The story of the World War must therefore be told with
some account of its causes and of the questions still awaiting
adjustment. Furthermore, it is obviously no longer possible to
leave out some account of the Far East in an outline of European

iv General History of Europe

history, for the war clearly showed how close has become the
relationship between all peoples of the earth and how delicate and
pressing is the problem of international adjustment.

It is obvious that in order to make room for all this new and
essential material it has been impossible to include all the events
which have 'usually been found in a general history. The task
of selection is a difficult one. It is fair to ask the reader who is
disturbed by the omission of some familiar name or topic to con-
sider what portion of the present narrative he would discard in
favor of the incident he has in mind.

In the matter of perspective it will be noted that less than half
of the book is devoted to the whole history of the Western world
down to the sixteenth century. Nearly a quarter of the volume is
assigned to the last fifty years. This corresponds to a growing de-
mand that we should study the past in the interest, of the present.

The illustrations have been chosen with especial care, and the
legends furnish much information which could not have been added
to the text without complicating the narrative. The questions
at the ends of the chapters will serve as a review and assist the
student in summarizing his knowledge. Questions which cannot be
answered from the text have sometimes been added in the hope
of stimulating the student to carry on a little investigation of his
own and to make some application of what he has learned.

CONTENTS

BOOK I. THE ANCIENT WORLD

CHAPTER PAGE

I. PREHISTORIC MAN

I. How Man has built up Civilization I

II. The Early Stone Age 3

III. The Late Stone Age 5

II. EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION

I. Beginnings of a Higher Civilization 10

II. Age of the Pyramids 14

III. Civilization of the Empire 20

III. WESTERN ASIA: BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, THE PERSIANS,

AND THE HEBREWS

I. Babylonia and Assyria 24

II. The Indo-European Peoples : the Persian Empire 35

III. The Hebrews 40

BOOK II. THE GREEKS

IV. THE COMING OF THE GREEKS THEIR EARLY ACHIEVEMENTS

I. The ^Egean Civilization 48

II. The Coming of the Greeks 54

III. Beginnings of Higher Culture among the Greeks 57

IV. Greek Colonies and Business 62

V. Reforms of Solon and Clisthenes 68

V. THE REPULSE OF PERSIA AND THE RISE OF THE ATHENIAN
EMPIRE

I. The Repulse of the Persians . 70

II. The Rise of the Athenian Empire 75

VI. ATHENS IN THE AGE- OF PERICLES

I. Houses, Education, and Science 78

II. Art and Literature 81

III. Fall of the Athenian Empire 86

vi General History of Europe

CHAPTER PAGE

VII. CONTINUED CONFLICTS AMONG THE GREEK STATES; ART
AND LITERATURE AFTER PERICLES

I. Political Revolutions 91

II. Greek Art, Literature, and Philosophy 93

VIII. ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE HELLENISTIC AGE

I. Macedonia and Alexander the Great 101

II. The Civilization of the Hellenistic Age 107

BOOK III. THE ROMANS

IX. THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN WORLD AND THE ROMAN
CONQUEST OF ITALY

I. Italy and the Origin of Rome 1 16

II. The Early Roman Republic: its Government 120

III. The Expansion of the Roman Republic and the Conquest

of Italy 123

X. ROME AND CARTHAGE

I. Commercial Power of Carthage ; the First Punic War . . 128
II. The War with Hannibal, or Second Punic War 131

XI. EXTENSION OF ROMAN DOMINION AND ITS RESULTS

I. Conquest of the Eastern Mediterranean : New Problems . . 137
II. Signs of Degeneration in Town and Country 141

XII. A CENTURY OF REVOLUTION AND THE END OF THE ROMAN
REPUBLIC (133-30 B.C.)

I. The Struggle between Senate and People 145

II. Overthrow of the Republic; Pompey and Caesar 147

III. Triumph of Augustus and End of the Civil Wars .... 151

XIII. THE ROMAN EMPIRE FROM AUGUSTUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS

I. The Age of Augustus (30 B.C.- A. D. 14) 153

II. Successors of Augustus: Policies of Trajan and Hadrian . 157
III. Civilization of the Roman Empire 161

XIV. A CENTURY OF DISORDER AND THE DIVISION OF THE ROMAN

EMPIRE

I. Decline of the Roman Empire . . 171

II. A Century of Revolution 174

III. The Roman Empire becomes an Oriental Despotism . . . 175

IV. The Triumph of Christianity and Division of the Empire . 177

Contents vii

BOOK IV. THE MIDDLE AGES

CHAPTER PAGE

XV. THE PERIOD OF INVASIONS AND THE WORK OF THE CHRISTIAN
CHURCH

I. Invasion of the Empire by Barbarians 181

II. Results of the Barbarian Invasions 188

III. The Mohammedan Invasion of Europe 191

. IV. The Work of the Christian Church 194

V. The Monks and their Missions 198

XVI. AGE OF DISORDER: FEUDALISM

I. Conquests of Charlemagne 204

II. Causes of Disorder after Charlemagne 207

III. Feudal System and Neighborhood Warfare 211

XVII. POPES, EMPERORS, AND PRINCES IN THE MIDDLE AGES

I. Origin of the Holy Roman Empire 216

II. The Long Struggle between Popes and Emperors . . . 220

III. Organization and Powers of the Church 222

XVIII. ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

I. The Norman Conquest 227

II. Henry II and the Plantagenets 232

XIX. THE CRUSADES: HERESY AND THE MENDICANT ORDERS

I. The First Crusade 237

II. The Second and Later Crusades; Results 241

III. The Heretics and the Friars 243

BOOK V. CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES

XX. MEDIEVAL LIFE IN COUNTRY AND TOWN

I. The Serfs and the Manor 248

II. The Towns and Guilds 251

III. Business in the Later Middle Ages 254

IV. Gothic Architecture 258

XXI. BOOKS AND SCIENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

I. How the Modern Languages Originated 264

II. The Troubadours and Chivalry 267

III. Medieval Learning 268

IV. Medieval Universities and Studies 270

V. Beginnings of Modern Inventions 273

Vlll

General History of Europe

CHAPTER PAGE

XXII. ENGLAND AND FRANCE DURING THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR

I. Wales and Scotland 279

II. Beginnings of the English Parliament 281

III. The Hundred Years' War 283

IV. England and France after the Hundred Years' War . . 286

XXIII. ITALY AND THE RENAISSANCE

I. The Italian Cities during the Renaissance 289

II. The Art of the Renaissance 294

III. Early Geographical Discoveries 296

BOOK VI. THE PROTESTANT REVOLT AND THE WARS
OF RELIGION

XXIV. EMPEROR CHARLES V AND HIS VAST REALMS

I. How Italy became the Battle Ground of the European

Powers 300

II. How Spain became a Great European Power 302

III. The Empire of the Hapsburgs under Charles V .... 304

XXV. MARTIN LUTHER AND THE REVOLT OF GERMANY AGAINST
THE PAPACY

I. The Question of Reforming the Church ; Erasmus . . 308

II. Martin Luther and his Teachings 310

III. The Revolt against the Papacy begins in Germany . . 314

IV. Division of Germany into Catholic and Protestant

Countries 316

XXVI. THE PROTESTANT REVOLT IN SWITZERLAND AND ENGLAND

I. Zwingli and Calvin 319

II. How England fell away from the Papacy 322

III. England becomes Protestant 325

XXVII. THE WARS OF RELIGION

I. The Council of Trent; the Jesuits . . 328

II. Philip II and the Revolt of the Netherlands ...... 331

III. The Huguenot Wars in France 334

IV. England under Queen Elizabeth 338

V. The Thirty Years' War 343

VI. The Beginnings of our Scientific Age 347

Contents ix

BOOK VII. THE SEVENTEENTH AND EARLY EIGHTEENTH

> CENTURIES

CHAPTER PAGE

XXVIII. STRUGGLE IN ENGLAND BETWEEN KING AND PARLIAMENT

I. The Stuarts and the Divine Right of Kings 351

II. Oliver Cromwell ; England a Commonwealth 357

III. The Restoration 360

IV. The Revolution of 1688 361

V. England after the Revolution of 1688 363

XXIX. FRANCE UNDER Louis XIV

I. Position and Character of Louis XIV 366

II. Life at the Court of Louis XIV 367

III. Louis XIV's Warlike Enterprises 368

XXX. RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA BECOME EUROPEAN POWERS

I. The Beginnings of Russia ; Peter the Great 374

II. The Kingdom of Prussia; Frederick the Great .... 378

III. Three Partitions of Poland, 1772, 1793, and 1795 . . . 382

IV. The Austrian Realm ; Maria Theresa 386

XXXI. How ENGLAND BECAME QUEEN OF THE OCEAN

I. How Europe began to extend its Commerce over the

Whole World 389

II. The Contest between France and England for Colonial

Empire 392

III. Revolt of the American Colonies from England .... 395

XXXII. GENERAL CONDITIONS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

I. Life of the People in Country and Town 402

II. The Privileged Classes : Nobility and Clergy .... 405

III. Modern Science introduces the Idea of Progress . . . 410

IV. The English Limited Monarchy and George III ... 415

BOOK VIII. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON
XXXIII. THE EVE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

I. The Old Regime in France 419

II. How Louis XVI tried to play the Benevolent Despot. . 426

x General History of Europe

CHAPTER PAGE

XXXIV. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

I. Reforms of the National Assembly (1789-1791) . . . 431
II. France becomes involved in a War with Other

European Powers 438

III. Founding of the First French Republic 442

IV. The Reign of Terror 444

XXXV. THE CAREER OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

I. How General Bonaparte became Ruler of France . .450
II. How Bonaparte secured Peace in 1801 and reorganized

Germany 454

III. Bonaparte restores Order and Prosperity in France . 456

IV. How Napoleon destroyed the Holy Roman Empire . 458
V. Napoleon at the Height of his Power (1808-1812) . . 465

VI. The Fall of Napoleon 468

BOOK IX. WESTERN EUROPE, 1814-1914

XXXVI. EUROPE AFTER THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA

I. Reconstruction of Europe by the Congress of Vienna 476
II. France, 1814-1830 479

III. Germany and Metternich 480

IV. Revolutionary Tendencies in Italy and Spain, 1820-

1821 ; Latin America 482

XXXVII. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

I. The New Age of Machinery 487

II. The Steam Engine 491

III. Capitalism and the Factory System 493

IV. The Rise of Socialism 496

XXXVIII. THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 AND THEIR RESULTS

I. The Second Republic and Second Empire in France 499
II. The Revolution of 1848 in Austria, Italy, and Germany 502

XXXIX. CREATION OF THE KINGDOM OF ITALY AND OF THE
GERMAN EMPIRE

I. Founding of the Kingdom of Italy 507

II. How Prussia defeated Austria and founded the North

German Federation 511

III. The Franco- Prussian War of 1870 and the Establish-

ment of the German Empire 516

IV. The Final Unification of Italy 518

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

XL. THE GERMAN EMPIRE AND THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC

I. Development of Germany (1871-1914) 522

II. The Third French Republic (1871-1914) 527

XLI. GREAT BRITAIN AND HER EMPIRE

I. The English Constitution 531

II. General Reforms in England 534

III. The Irish Question 537

IV. The British Empire: India 539

V. The British Empire : Canada and Australasia .... 543

VI. The British Empire : South Africa 546

XLII. THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

I. Russia in the Early Nineteenth Century 551

II. Russia and the Near- Eastern Question; the Crimean

War . . . 553

III. The Freeing of the Serfs ; Terrorism 556

IV. The Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) 559

V. The Russian Revolution under Nicholas II 562

XLIII. How EUROPEAN HISTORY MERGED INTO WORLD HISTORY

I. The Growth of International Trade and Competition ;

Imperialism 569

II. Relations of Europe with China and Japan 574

III. Partition of Africa 581

IV. Decline of the Spanish Empire and Rise of the United

States as a World Power 584

XLIV. PROGRESS OF MODERN SCIENCE AND INVENTION

I. The Great Age of the Earth ; Evolution ; Modern

Chemistry 589

II. Progress in Biology and Medicine 593

III. The New History 597

BOOK X. THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND THE WORLD WAR

XLV. ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1914

I. The Armies and Navies of Europe 600

II. Movements for Peace : the Hague Conferences .... 602

III. Matters of Dispute ; National Rivalries 603

IV. The Near-Eastern Question 606

V. The Outbreak of the War , .612

Xll

General History of Europe

CHAPTER PAGE

XLVI. FIRST YEARS OF THE WORLD WAR (1914-1916)

I. Course of the War in 1914 and 1915 617

II. The War on the Sea 623

III. The Campaigns of 1916 625

XLVII. FINAL STAGES OF THE WAR; THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

I. Entrance of the United States into the War 629

II. The Russian Revolution ; the Bolsheviki 633

III. Issues of the War 636

IV. Course of the War after the Entrance of the United States 641
V. .Fall of the Hohenzollern and Hapsburg Dynasties and

Close of the War 647

X-LVIII. THE PEACE OF VERSAILLES ; EUROPE AFTER THE WORLD
WAR

I. Terms of the Peace 652

II. The League of Nations 656

III. Continued Distress and Disorder 659

IV. International Affairs 665

BIBLIOGRAPHY i

INDEX . xvii

LIST OF COLORED PLATES

PLATE I PAGE

AN AMERICAN GENERAL ADDRESSING HIS MEN JUST BEFORE
GOING UNDER FIRE IN THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE Frontispiece

PLATE II

THE PARTHENON 78

PLATE III

PERISTYLE OF THE HOUSE OF THE VETTII IN POMPEII,
RESTORED 1 68

PLATE IV

PAGE FROM THE BOOK OF HOURS, FIFTEENTH CENTURY. . 276

PLATE V

GREAT TANGLEY MANOR IN SURREY, BUILT IN ELIZABETH'S

TIME '..'.-. 340

PLATE VI

- LOUIS XIV ' 366

PLATE VII

A STREET IN CANNES IN SOUTHERN FRANCE, SHOWING THE
NARROW STREETS ORIGINATING IN THE MIDDLE AGES . . 402

PLATE VIII

QUEEN VICTORIA BEING NOTIFIED OF HER ACCESSION . . 536

LIST OF COLORED MAPS

PAGE

The Ancient Oriental World and Neighboring Europe before the Rise

of the Greeks 24

Map of Two Oriental Empires : A, The Assyrian Empire at its Height ;

B, The Persian Empire at its Greatest Extent 30

Palestine, the Land of the Hebrews 44

Greece in the Fifth Century B.C 50

Empire of Alexander the Great 104

Italy and Adjacent Lands before the Supremacy of Rome 122

Sequence Map showing the Expansion of the Roman Power to the

Death of Caesar (I~IV) 138

The Roman Empire at its Greatest Extent 158

The Migrations of the Germans in the Fifth Century 184

Europe and the Orient in 1096 220

Commercial Towns and Trade Routes in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth

Centuries 254

The British Isles 280

Behaim's Globe 296

Europe about the Middle of the Sixteenth Century 306

Europe after the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt 374

England, France, and Spain in America, 1750 390

Europe at the Time of Napoleon's Greatest Power 467

Europe after 1815 476

Italy, 1814-1859 506

The British Empire, 1914 546

Western Portion of the Russian Empire before the Revolution of 1917 . 552

European Advance (to 1914) in Asia 572

Partition of Africa ' 582

Europe in 1914 600

Austria-Hungary, 1867-1918 608

Europe after the World War 652

GENERAL HISTORY OF EUROPE
BOOK I. THE ANCIENT WORLD

CHAPTER I

PREHISTORIC MAN

I. How MAN HAS BUILT UP CIVILIZATION

1. Ignorance and Poverty of Earliest Man. How long man
has' existed on the earth no one knows. Those who have studied
the matter most carefully in recent times make various guesses
some five "hundred thousand years, some a million. In the be-
ginning he must have lived without houses or clothes or any means
of making a fire. He had to invent even language. There were
no books or teachers to help him, and so he had to find out
everything for himself. He wandered naked and houseless through
the woods and over the plains, picking up a living by looking for
wild fruit, seeds, berries, roots, and such animals as he might
find dead or could succeed in striking down with a stone or
stick. As a great English philosopher long ago remarked, the
original life of man must have been "poor, nasty, brutish, and
short."

We may imagine one of these naked, brutish forefathers of
ours sitting in the shade and amusing himself by picking up a
sharp stone arid scraping the bark off a stick he had at hand with
a view to killing a squirrel that was playing around. He might
happen to sharpen the stick and so make a rude spear, which he
discovered could be used to pierce an animal as well as hit him.
In some such way the first weapon better than clubs and stones
might have been invented. Now to invent means to "happen on"

2 General History of Europe

or "discover." Man has happened on and found out accidentally
very many things that he has slowly learned through the ages.

2. Man Learns by Imitation. One of the great differences be-
tween man and other animals is that what one man invents may
be imitated by others and become a tradition of the tribe. An
old animal let us say an elephant or horse has learned some-
thing by experience and is wiser than a young one, but he cannot
teach what he knows to the baby elephant or colt. Men and
women, however, can teach boys and girls what they have learned.
In this way discoveries which have been made from time to time
have been passed down from generation to generation and have
become more and more numerous, until the descendants of men
who could not make a fire or speak a sentence or build a canoe
have finally, in modern times, been able to construct an electric
furnace hotter than the sun itself, dispatch messages around the
world, and send great steamships back and forth across the sea.
Each new invention usually depends on earlier inventions and
these on still earlier ones, until, if we could follow the history of
civilization back to the very beginning, we might find the man
under the tree making the first spear hundreds of thousands of
years ago.

3. Civilization the Story of Invention. The history of civili-
zation is the story of how man invented and discovered all those
things which we now have and of which at the start he was igno-
rant. We nowadays think of invention as going on rapidly, so
that even a boy or girl can observe that new things are being
discovered as he looks around or reads the newspapers and
magazines. But in the beginning invention went on very, very
slowly, and mankind has spent almost its whole existence in a
state of savagery far below that of the most ignorant peoples to
be found today in central Africa or the arctic regions.

4. Man's Long History and Slow Progress. If we imagine
that man began to make the simplest inventions five hundred
thousand years ago, and we let this five hundred thousand years be
represented by a line fifty feet long, each foot would correspond
to ten thousand years. Forty-nine feet would represent the period

Prehistoric Man

before man learned to raise crops, tame and breed animals, make
pottery, and weave cloth ; the last six or seven inches, the time
that he has been able to write ; the last
three inches, the period during which he
has been studying science ; the last half-
inch, the time since the printing press
became common ; and the last fifth of
an inch, the period since he discovered
he could make the steam engine work
for him and carry him about. A great
part of the problems of the present day
are due to the rapidity with which in-
vention now goes on and changes the
conditions in which we live. But our
remote ancestors probably lived for
thousands and thousands of years with-
out experiencing any great changes
due to inventions, for it is only during
the past five or six thousand years
that civilization finally reached a point
where ever more rapid progress could

be made.

Rough flint flakes older
than the fist-hatchet show
us man's earliest efforts
at shaping stone. But the
fist-hatchet is the earliest
well-finished type of tool
produced by man. The
original is about nine
inches long. Handles of
wood or horn do not ap-
human bones. It was only when he pear until much later
began to make stone implements by

chipping fragments of flint into rude knives and hatchets that
he created anything that could last down to- our day.. How old
the most ancient of these stone weapons are we do not know.
They may have been made a hundred thousand years ago, perhaps
earlier. They are found in England, France, and Belgium and

A FLINT FIST-HATCHET

BELONGING TO THE EARLY

STONE AGE

II. THE EARLY STONE AGE

5. Great Age of Man shown by
Stone Tools and Weapons. Of the
earliest period of man's existence we
have no traces except perhaps a few

General History of Europe

SIMPLEST METHOD
OF MAKING FIRE

A hard stick is rubbed
rapidly back and
forth on a strip of
soft wood. A groove
is formed, and the
particles of wood
rubbed off take fire
from the heat pro-
duced by the friction

all around the Mediterranean Sea, especially along river banks,
where they were dropped and, as the ages went on, deeply buried
under sand and soil. Along with them are the
bones of tropical animals, for the climate of
Europe was warm in those remote times and
the hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and elephant
lived where Paris and London now stand.

For thousands of years the European sav-
ages led the lives of hunters and protected
themselves as best they could with their stone
and wooden weapons against the wild beasts
and their fellow savages. They built no huts
or shelter so far as we know and slept on the
ground wherever darkness overtook them.

6. Fire and Language. Man must have
early made use of the fire resulting from
volcanoes or from lightning which often set
the forests aflame. He was able then to cook
his food and keep himself warm. But a long time probably
elapsed before he discovered for himself how to make fire, as
savages still do by rubbing
two sticks together.

We know nothing of the
invention of language, but
man could not have gone
far without some means of
communication with his
fellows.

7. Earliest Examples of
Art. For reasons that can-
not fully be explained the climate grew cold, and the ice and snow
which always cover the high mountains and the region around the
north pole began to creep downward until it covered all England
and much of northern Europe. The tropical animals disappeared,
and man had to take to living in caves and wearing the skins of
animals in order to survive. From the remains now found in the

IVORY NEEDLE OF THE STONE AGE

Such needles are found in the rubbish in
the French caverns, where the wives of
the prehistoric hunters lost them and
failed to find them again twenty thousand
years ago. They show that these women
were already sewing together the skins of
wild animals as clothing

Prehistoric Man

French and Spanish caverns it is clear that man had learned by
this time to make flint knives, drills, scrapers, and hammers and
with these could work bone and reindeer horn into needles,
spoons, and ladles. He also learned to carve pictures on his

DRAWINGS CARVED BY STONE AGE MAN ON IVORY

implements and adorn the walls of caves with paintings of fish,
bison> deer, and wild horses. These are sometimes beautifully
executed and very lifelike. They represent the earliest examples
of human art and may go back fifteen or twenty thousand years. 1

III. THE LATE STONE AGE

8. The Late Stone Age. At length the climate grew warmer,
much as it is today. The traces left by the ice would lead us to
think that it withdrew northward for the last time probably some
ten thousand years ago. The progress which man had made by
this time in a number of important ways marks this period
following the final retreat of the ice as the Late Stone Age.
During the long, long years known as the Early Stone Age man
knew only how to chip or flake his stone weapons. Now, how-
ever, he had learned that it was possible to grind the edge of a
stone ax or chisel, as we grind tools of metal today/ He was
also able to drill a hole in a stone ax head and insert a handle.
With the new tools that he had learned to make he could con-
siderably improve his conditions of living. First, with his ground

1 According to geologists the ice has advanced and retreated four times. It is now
believed that stone implements were first made in the third warm interval, and that it
was the cold of the fourth glacial period which drove men to their cave life. This period
may be called the Middle Stone Age. For a fuller account of early man and the glacial
periods see Breasted, Ancient Times, chap. i.

6 General History of Europe

stone axes, hatchets, and chisels he could now build wooden huts.
These wooden dwellings of the Late Stone Age are the earliest
such shelters in Europe. Sunken fragments of these houses are
found along the shores of the Swiss lakes, lying at the bottom
among the wooden piles which supported them. Second, pieces of

RESTORATION OF A Swiss LAKE-DWELLERS' SETTLEMENT

The lake-dwellers felled trees with their stone axes and cut them into piles
some twenty feet long, sharpened at the lower end. These they drove several
feet into the bottom of the lake, in water eight or ten feet deep. On a
platform supported by these piles they then built their houses. The plat-
form was connected with the shore by a bridge, which may be seen here
on the right. A section of it could be removed at night for protection.
The fish nets seen drying on the rail, the "dug-out" boat of the hunters
who bring in the deer, and many other things have been found on the
lake bottom in recent times

stools, chests, carved dippers, spoons, and the like, of wood, show
that these houses were equipped with all ordinary wooden furni-
ture. Third, the householder had learned that clay will harden
in the fire, and he was making handy jars, bowls, and dishes.
Fourth, before his door the women sat spinning, flax thread, for the
rough skin clothing of his ancestors had been replaced by garments
of woven stuff. Fifth, the lake-dwellers already enjoyed one of

Prehistoric Man 7

the greatest things gained by man in his slow advance toward
civilization. This was the food grains which we call cereals,
especially wheat and barley. The seeds of the wild grasses, which
their ancestors had been accustomed to eat, these Late Stone
Age men had now learned to cultivate. Thus wild grain was

GREAT STONE CIRCLE INCLOSING A TOMB, OR GROUP OF TOMBS, OF THE
LATE STONE AGE CHIEFTAINS AT STONEHENGE, ENGLAND

The circle is about one hundred feet across, and a long avenue connecting
it with the neighboring Late Stone Age town is still traceable. No one
knows how the men of the Late Stone Age were able to handle these great
stones. Western Europe produced nothing more than this rude architecture
in stone until the coming of the Romans

domesticated and agriculture was introduced. Sixth, these Late
Stone Age men possessed domestic cattle. For the mountain sheep
and goats and the wild cattle had now been taught to dwell near
man and submit to his control. The wild ox bowed his neck to
the yoke and drew the plow across the forest-girt field where he
had once wandered in unhampered freedom. Fragments of wooden
wheels in the lake-villages show that oxen were also drawing
wheeled carts, the earliest in Europe.

9. Rise of Civilization in Egypt (4000-3000 B.C.). Thus
far we have followed man's advance only in Europe. Similar
progress had also been made by Stone Age men all around the

General History of Europe

Mediterranean ; that is, about 4000 B.C., not only in Europe but in
Asia, and especially in northern Africa, mankind had reached
about the same stage of advancement. But civilization cannot arise
or advance without the following three things : writing, the use of
metals, 1 and the control of men by an organized, government.

PART OF THE EQUIPMENT OF A LATE STONE AGE LAKE-DWELLER

This group contains the evidence for three important inventions made or
received by the men of the Late Stone Age : first, pottery jars, like 2 and j,
with rude decorations, the oldest baked clay in Europe, and i, a large kettle ;
second, ground-edged tools like 4, a stone chisel with ground edge, mounted
in a deerhorn handle like a hatchet, or 5, stone ax with a ground edge, and
pierced with a hole for the ax handle (the houses shown in the cut on page
6 were built with such tools) ; and third, weaving, as shown by 6, a spin-
ning "whorl" of baked clay. When suspended by a rough thread of flax,
it was given a whirl which made it spin in the air like a top, thus rapidly
twisting the thread by which it was hanging

Nowhere around the entire Mediterranean did the world of the
Late Stone Age as yet possess these things, nor did Europe ever
gain them for itself unaided. Europe borrowed them. Hence
we must now turn elsewhere to see where these, and many other
things that help to make up our civilization, first appeared. The

1 Metal was introduced in southeastern Europe about 3000 B. c. and passed like a slow
wave, moving gradually westward and northward across Europe. It probably did not
reach Britain until about 2000 B.C. Hence we have included the great stone monuments
of western Europe (like Stonehenge) in our survey of Stone Age Europe. They were
erected long after southeastern Europe had received metal, but before metal came into
common use in western Europe ( 20).

Prehistoric Man 9

Egyptians, emerging from the Late Stone Age, invented a system
of writing, discovered metal, and learned to use it. In the thou-
sand years between 4000 and 3000 B.C. the Egyptians of the
Late Stone Age advanced to a great and wonderful civilization,
while the Europeans whom we have been describing still remained
in barbarism. Hence, in order to understand the further history
of Europe we must turn to Egypt. We shall then see how the
Egyptians emerged from the Late Stone Age and became the
first great civilized nation.

10. Prehistoric Period (before 4000 B.C.) and the Historic
Period. It was not until man invented writing and began to pro-
duce written documents, and monuments bearing inscriptions, that
the Historic Period began. All that we know about men of the
Stone Age we have to learn from the weapons, tools, implements,
buildings, and other works of his hands which happen to have
been preserved. The age before the appearance of written records
we call the Prehistoric Period. The transition from the Prehis-
toric to the Historic Period did not take place suddenly, but was a
slow process. The Historic Period began in the Orient during
the thousand years between 4000 and 3000 B.C., as civilization
advanced and writing became more common.

QUESTIONS

I. Describe man's condition before civilization began. How would
you define civilization ? Give some examples of its progress. Give an
example of how all inventions depend on previous ones. Mention as
many things as you can which had to be invented before an automobile
could be made. Mention some things you have learned by imitation.

11. What remains of the Stone Age have been discovered in Europe ?
Have you seen any stone utensils made by American Indians? What
forced man to live in caves and to invent clothing? How would you
be able to live without fire ?

III. What were the inventions of the Late Stone Age ? What seeds,
roots, fruits, and berries do we use for food ? What is the importance
of the civilization of Egypt in the history of Europe ?

CHAPTER II

EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION

I. BEGINNINGS OF A HIGHER CIVILIZATION

11. Peculiarities of Egypt. Egypt is a very strange country.
It comprises the northern end of the valley which the river Nile
has slowly cut for itself across the eastern part of the great desert
of Sahara. Egypt includes the triangular Delta, a very fertile
region to the north of Cairo, and then the long, narrow valley
winding some seven hundred and fifty miles to the First Cataract,
where the river flows rapidly among great rocks. The valley is
usually twenty-five or thirty miles wide, lying between bare cliffs,
over which the sands of the desert blow. On each side of the river
is a narrow strip of cultivated land between the cliffs and the
stream.

12. The Rise and Fall of the Nile. It almost never rains in
Egypt, and the sun shines every day, summer and winter, so that
the farmers have had to rely for water entirely on the river. But
far up the Nile and its tributaries there is plenty of rain in the
spring, which yearly floods the valley in which Egypt lies and
raises the level of the river from twenty-five to thirty feet between
Cairo and Aswan. This overflow of the Nile covers the fields
each year and deposits a thin layer of fresh, fertile soil as the
muddy waters subside. For thousands of years the Egyptians
have been accustomed to store up the waters at their flood and to
raise water from the Nile itself to irrigate their fields during the
period when the river was low. (See Ancient Times, 46-47.)

13. Long History of Ancient Egypt. The first Egyptian king
who governed all Egypt indeed one of the very first human beings
whose name has come down to us was Menes, who lived about
3400 B.C. The earliest capital of Egypt was Memphis, a vast

r A

Egyptian Civilization n

town very near the spot where the modern city of Cairo lies.
Menes founded the first dynasty, or family of kings, and after-
wards the Egyptian dynasties rose and fell for over three thousand
years, until finally a Greek conqueror, Alexander the Great,
brought Egypt under his sway and founded the city of Alexandria
(332 B.C.), which is now the chief port of Egypt ( 165, 168 ff).
We cannot retrace here the history
of Egypt's rulers through three
thousand years and more or the
conquests they made in Western

Asia. We shall have to confine our

PICTORIAL MESSAGE SCRATCHED
account to the wonderful contnbu- ON WooD BY ALASKAN INDIANS

tions made to civilization by the

T- A - <-ni. j- j A figure with empty hands hang-

Egyptians. Their discoveries and ing Lwn helplessly, palms down,

inventions were finally introduced as an Indian gesture for uncer-

intO Europe and now form a part tainty, ignorance, emptiness, or

f j IT nothing, means "no." A figure

of our everyday life. with ^' ne hand Qn itg mQ g uth

14. The Invention of Writing, means "eating" or "food." It
The Egyptians were the first people P ints toward the tent, and this

means "in the tent." The whole

so far as we know to possess an ig a message stating> [There fa]

alphabet and learn how to write. no food in the tent"

No people could possibly advance

very far in civilization without written records of any kind, or
means of sending messages, or any books from which they could
learn what others had found out. Reading and writing have be-
come so common now that we find it hard to realize what the world
would be like if the art of writing should suddenly disappear and
there were no books, newspapers, magazines, or letters and no
way of communicating with anyone except by word of mouth.
The first step in the development of writing was the use of rude
pictures such as the North American Indians employed ; for an
event and even a kind of story can be told by drawings without
any writing (see accompanying cut). All writing, whether it
developed as it did first in Egypt or later in Babylonia and
China, is derived from such pictures of things previously used
to convey ideas.

12 General History of Europe

15. Phonetic Signs. As time went on these pictures, or hiero-
glyphics as they were called in Egypt, came to represent sounds
that were made in speaking as well as the objects they had origi-
nally stood for. For example (assuming for the sake of illustra-
tion that the Egyptian words were the same as the English), the
sign for "man" might become the sign for the syllable "man"

AN EXAMPLE OF EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING

The upper line shows the way in which the hieroglyphics were carved and

painted on the tomb walls and monuments. But when the Egyptians wrote

rapidly with a pen and ink on papyrus they simplified the figures, which

then were made as they are represented in the lower line

wherever it occurred, as in "manner" "manifest," "manifold,"
"manufacture." In the same way, a bee \j^ might become the sign
for the syllable " be " and a leaf & for the sound of the syllable
"leaf." When used together these syllables formed a new word,
"belief." Such signs were then no longer regarded as pictures
of things, but as syllables which could be used in any com-
bination one wished. Writing which represents in this way the
sounds we make when we speak is called phonetic, and this is the
kind of writing we use today. All the letters on this page represent
sounds, not things. The advantage of phonetic signs is readily
appreciated when we come to express ideas such as beauty,
love, truth, or virtue which cannot be represented by pictures
of objects.

16. Alphabetic Signs. The Egyptians went still further,
for there finally arose a series of signs, each representing only one
letter; that is, alphabetic signs, or real letters. There were
twenty-four letters in their alphabet, which was used in Egypt
long before 3000 B.C. It was the earliest alphabet known and the
one from which our own has descended (see Ancient Times,
5!-56).

Egyptian Civilization 13

17. Invention of Writing Materials. The Egyptians early
found out that they could make an excellent ink by thickening
water with a little vegetable gum and then mixing in a little soot
from the blackened pots over the fire. By dipping a pointed reed
into this mixture one could write very well. They also learned
that they could split and flatten out a kind of river reed, called
papyrus, into thin strips and make large sheets by pasting the
strips together with overlapping edges. They thus produced a
smooth, almost white paper. In this way pen, ink, and paper
came into use for the first time. Our word " paper" is the ancient
name papyr(os), but slightly changed. With the invention of
phonetic writing, records could now be made, and with the ap-
pearance of such written records the Historic Period begins.

18. Egyptian Origin of our Calendar. The Egyptians early
found it necessary to measure time. The time from new moon
to new moon seemed to them, as to all other early peoples,
a very convenient rough measure. But the moon-month varies
in length from twenty-nine to thirty days, and it does not evenly
divide the year. Thoughtful Egyptians early discovered this in-
convenience and decided to use the moon no longer for dividing
the year. They divided the year into twelve months, all of the
same length ; that is, thirty days each. Then at the end of the
year they established a holiday period five days long. This gave
them a year of three hundred and sixty-five days. The Egyptian
was not yet enough of an astronomer to know that every four
years he ought to have a leap year, of three hundred and sixty-
six days, although he discovered this fact later. This calendar is
the very one which has descended to us after more than six
thousand years. Unfortunately it has meantime suffered awk-
ward alterations in the lengths of the months, for which the
Egyptians were not responsible.

19. Discovery of Metal (at least 4000 B.C.). Meantime the
Egyptians were also making great progress in other matters. It
was probably in the peninsula of Sinai (see map, p. 24) that
some Egyptian, wandering about, once happened to bank his
camp fire with pieces of copper ore lying on the ground near the

14 General History of Europe

camp. The charcoal of his wood fire mingled with the hot frag-
ments of ore, and thus the ore was " reduced," as the miners say ;
that is, the copper in metallic form was released from the lumps
of ore. Next morning the Egyptian discovered a few glittering
metal globules. Before long he learned whence these strange
shining beads came. He produced more of them, at first only to
be worn as ornaments by the women. Then he learned to cast
the metal into a blade to replace the flint knife which he carried.

20. Dawning of the Age of Metal. Without knowing it this
man stood at the dawning of a new era, the Age of Metal. The bit
of shining copper which he drew from the ashes, if this Egyptian
wanderer could have seen it, might have reflected to him a vision
of steel buildings, huge factories roaring with the noise of thou-
sands of machines of metal, and vast stretches of railroads. Since
the discovery of fire, thousands of years earlier, man had made
no advance which could compare in importance to the first use
of metal (note, 9).

II. AGE OF THE PYRAMIDS

21. Egypt like a Museum. Egypt is like a vast historical mu-
seum, through which the traveler can wander and study the way
in which the ancient Egyptians lived and many of the things they
made and did. We owe this museum to the Egyptians' firm belief
in a life to come after death. In order to enjoy existence in the
next world they thought that the body must be preserved by em-
balming it and then be safely placed in a tomb where no one could
disturb its rest. Such well-preserved bodies are called mummies.
They are generally the remains of Egyptian kings and nobles,
who could afford a well-built tomb and the expenses of careful
embalming. It was believed that if the dead man was to be
happy in the next world he should be surrounded by the things
he had used in his lifetime and by pictures of his former servants,
workmen, cattle, and even his dinner table. So the tombs are
themselves like museums, for they contain the actual furniture and
utensils and jewelry that the rich Egyptian used, as well as reliefs,
statuettes, and wall-paintings representing his daily life.

Egyptian Civilization 15

Had the tombs continued to be constructed of sun-dried mud
bricks and roofed with wood, as they were originally built, they
would have disappeared long ago, but shortly after the time of
Menes, the kings and princes began to construct tombs of hewn

RELIEF SCENE FROM THE CHAPEL OF A NOBLE'S TOMB IN THE

The tall figure of the noble stands at the right. He is inspecting three lines
of cattle and a line of fowl brought before him. Note the two scribes who
head the two middle rows. Each is writing with pen on a sheet of papyrus,
and one carries two pens behind his ear. Such reliefs after being carved
were colored in bright hues by the painter

stone. These have proved to be very massive and enduring.
Later, the burial chambers of the tombs were hewn in the rock
many feet below the surface in the desert beyond the cultivated
fields. Many of the tombs have been explored in modern times,
and so dry is the climate that the articles found in them, as
well as the painting and statuary, are as fresh and wonderful
as they were thousands of years ago when their owner went to
his long rest ( 25-29).

1 6 General History of Europe

22. The Great Pyramids. About the year 3000 B.C. tombs
began to be built in the form of a pyramid, and about 2900 B.C.
the king's architect was able to construct the amazing Great
Pyramid of Gizeh, near the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis.
The royal city, with its villas and gardens and the offices of gov-
ernment, has quite vanished, for the structures made of sun-
baked brick and wood have long ago crumbled to dust, but

EARLIEST REPRESENTATION OF A SEAGOING SHIP (TWENTY-EIGHTH
CENTURY B.C.)

the Great Pyramid and a long line of lesser ones built by later
kings still bear witness to the surprising skill of the Nile-dwellers
five thousand years ago. Already they had advanced in their
civilization far beyond that of the lake-dwellers of the Late Stone
Age whom we left behind in Europe.

23. Vast Size of the Great Pyramid. The Great Pyramid
covers thirteen acres. It is a solid mass of masonry containing
two million three hundred thousand blocks of limestone, each
weighing on an average two and a half tons ; that is, each block
is as heavy as a large wagonload of coal. The sides of the pyra-
mid at the base are seven hundred and fifty-five feet long, and
the building was originally nearly five hundred feet high. An
ancient story tells us that a hundred thousand men were working
on this royal tomb for twenty years.

We perceive at once that it must have required a very skillful
ruler and a great body of officials to manage and to feed a hundred
thousand workmen around the Great Pyramid. The king who

RESTORATION OF THE GREAT PYRAMIDS AND OTHER TOMB-MONUMENTS
IN THE ANCIENT CEMETERY OF GIZEH, EGYPT. (AFTER HOELSCHER)

These royal tombs (pyramids) belonged to the leading kings of the Fourth
Dynasty, which came in the early part (2900-2750 B.C.) of the Pyramid
Age. The Great Pyramid, the tomb of King Khufu (Greek, Cheops),
is on the right. Next in size is that of King Khafre (Greek, Chephren) on
the left. On the east side (front) of each pyramid is a temple, where the
food, drink, and clothing were placed for the use of the dead king. These
temples, like the pyramids, were built on the desert plateau above, while the
royal town was in the valley below (on the right). For convenience, there-
fore, the temple was connected with the town below by a covered gallery, or
corridor, of stone, seen here descending in a straight line from the temple of
King Khafre and terminating below, just beside the Sphinx, in a large oblong
building of stone, called a valley-temple. It was a splendid structure of
granite serving not only as a temple but also as the entrance to the great
corridor from the royal city. The pyramids are surrounded by the tombs of
the queens and the great lords of the age. At the lower left-hand corner is
an unfinished pyramid, showing the inclined ascents up which the stone
blocks were dragged. These ascents were built of sun-baked brick and
were removed after the pyramid was finished

Egyptian Civilization

controlled such vast undertakings was no longer a local chieftain,
like the earliest rulers of Egypt, but he now ruled a united Egypt,
the earliest great unified nation, having several millions of people.
24. Earliest Seagoing Ships. In the Pyramid Age the Egyp-
tians began to extend their trade beyond the boundaries of Egypt.
A few surviving blocks from a fallen pyramid-temple south of
Gizeh bear carved and painted reliefs showing us the ships which
they ventured to send be-
yond the shelter of the Nile
mouths far across the end of
the Mediterranean to the
coast of Phoenicia (see map,
p. 24). This was in the
middle of the twenty-eighth

EGYPTIAN PEASANT MILKING IN THE
PYRAMID AGE

The cow is restive, and the ancient cow-
herd has tied her hind legs. Behind her
another man is holding her calf, which
rears and plunges in the effort to reach
the milk. Scene from the chapel of a
noble's tomb

century B.C., and this relief
contains the oldest known
picture of a seagoing ship.

25. Agriculture. A stroll
among the tombs clustering

so thickly around the pyramids of Gizeh is almost like a walk
among the busy communities of this populous valley in the days
of the pyramid-builders, for the stone walls are often covered from
floor to ceiling with carved scenes, beautifully painted, picturing
the daily life on the great estate of which the buried noble had
been lord. The tallest form in all these scenes is that of the
dead noble. He stands looking out over his fields and inspect-
ing the work going on there. These fields, where the oxen draw
the plow and the sowers scatter the seed, are the oldest farming
scenes known to us. Here, too, are the herds, long lines of sleek
fat cattle. But we find no pictures of horses in these tombs
of the Pyramid Age, for the horse was then unknown to the
Egyptian.

26. Craftsmen. On the next wall we find again the tall figure
of the noble overseeing the sheds and yards where the crafts-
men of his estate are working. The coppersmith could make

General History of Europe

excellent tools of all sorts. 1 The tool which demanded the
greatest skill was the long, flat ripsaw, which the smith knew
how to hammer into shape out of a broad strip of copper some-
times five or six feet long. Such a saw may be seen in use in
the accompanying cut.

On the same wall we find the lapidary holding up for the
noble's admiration splendid stone bowls cut from diorite. Al-
though this kind of stone is as hard as steel, the bowl is ground

CABINETMAKERS IN THE PYRAMID AGE

At the left a man is cutting with a chisel, which he taps with a mallet ; next,
a man "rips" a board with a copper saw; next, two men are finishing off
a couch, and at the right a man is drilling a hole with a bow-drill. Scene
from the chapel of a noble's tomb. Compare a finished chair belonging to
a wealthy noble of the Empire (see cut on page 21)

to such thinness that the sunlight glows through its dark-gray
sides. The booth of the goldsmith is filled with workmen and
apprentices weighing gold and costly stones, hammering and
casting, soldering and fitting together richly wrought jewelry
which can hardly be surpassed by the best goldsmiths and
jewelers of today.

27. The Potter's Wheel and Furnace; Earliest Glass. In
the next space on this wall we find the potter no longer building
up his jars and bowls with his fingers alone, as in the Stone Age.

1 Before the end of the Pyramid Age the coppersmiths had learned how to harden
their tools by melting a small amount of tin with the copper. This produced a mixture
of tin and copper, called bronze, which is much harder than copper. It is not yet cer-
tain where the first tin was obtained or who made the first bronze, but it may have come
from the north side of the Mediterranean (Ancient Times, 336).

Egyptian Civilization 19

He now sits before a small horizontal wheel, upon which he
deftly shapes the vessel as it whirls round and round under his
fingers. When the soft clay vessels are ready they are no longer
unevenly burned in an open fire, as among the Late Stone Age
potters in the Swiss lake-villages, but in closed furnaces.

Here we also find craftsmen making glass. This art the
Egyptians had discovered centuries earlier. They spread the
glass on tiles in gorgeous glazes for adorning house and palace
walls (see Ancient Times, plate, p. 164). Later they learned to
make charming many-colored glass bottles and vases, which were
widely exported.

28. Weavers, Tapestry-makers, and Paper-makers. Yonder
the weaving women draw forth from the loom a gossamer fabric
of linen. The picture on this wall could not show us its fineness,
but fortunately pieces of it have been found, wrapped around
the mummy of a king of this age. These specimens of royal
linen are so fine that it requires a magnifying glass to distin-
guish them from silk, and the best work of the modern machine
loom is coarse in comparison with this fabric of the ancient
Egyptian hand loom.

29. Life and Art in the Pyramid Age. Here on this chapel
wall again we see its owner seated at ease in his palanquin,
borne upon the shoulders of slaves. He is returning from the
inspection of his estate, where we have been following him. His
bearers carry him into the shady garden before his house,
where they set down the palanquin and cease their song. This
garden is the noble's favorite retreat. Here he may recline for an
hour of leisure with his family and friends, playing at a game like
checkers, listening to the music of harp, pipe, and lute, or watch-
ing his women in the slow and stately dances of the time, while
his children are sporting about among the arbors, splashing in
the pool as they chase the fish, or playing with ball, doll, and
jumping jack.

The portrait sculptor was the greatest artist of this age. His
statues were carved in stone or wood and painted in lifelike
colors ; the eyes were inlaid with rock crystal. More lifelike

20 General History of Europe

portraits have never been produced by any age, although they
are the earliest in the history of art. The statues of the kings are
often superb. In size the most remarkable statue of the Pyramid
Age is the Great Sphinx, which stands here in this cemetery of
Gizeh. The head is a portrait of Khafre, the king who built the
second pyramid of Gizeh. It was carved from a promontory of
rock which overlooked the royal city, and is the largest portrait
bust ever wrought.

III. CIVILIZATION OF THE EMPIRE

30. The Period of the Empire (isso-nso B. c.). We have now
seen the many things that the Egyptians had learned to make
in the Pyramid Age. Another great age came long after, when
about 1500 B.C. the Egyptian Pharaohs built up a huge empire
including a large part of Western Asia and extending up to the
Fourth Cataract of the Nile (see map, p. 24). The Napoleon of
this period was Thutmose III, whose reign began about 1500 B.C.
His armies subdued the cities and kingdoms of Western Asia and
united them into an empire. He built the first great navy in
history. He had many monuments erected in his honor, and one
of them, an obelisk, stands in Central Park, New York, today.

31. Thebes and its. Ruins. Under the Empire the chief city
was no longer Memphis but Thebes, lying over four hundred
miles up the Nile. The temple of Karnak there contains the
greatest colonnaded hall ever erected by man. The columns of
the central aisle are sixty-nine feet high. The vast capital sur-
mounting each of the columns is so large that a group of a hun-
dred men could stand on it. Mirrored in the surface of the
temple lake this building made a picture of splendor such as the
world had never beheld before.

The vast battle scenes carved on the temple walls were painted
in bright colors. The gigantic statues of the Pharaohs, set up
before the temples, were often so large that they rose above the
towers of the temple front itself and could be seen for miles
around. The sculptors often carved these colossal figures from

THE OBELISKS OF QUEEN HATSHEPSUT AND HER FATHER THUTMOSE I

AT KARNAK

The farther obelisk is that of the queen. It was one of a pair transported
from the First Cataract (n), but its mate has fallen and broken into
pieces. The shaft is eight and a half feet thick at the base, and the human
figure by contrast conveys some idea of the vast size of the monument.
(From an etching by George T. Plowman)

THE COLOSSAL COLUMNS OF THE NAVE IN THE GREAT HALL or KARNAK

These are the columns of the middle two rows in the nave (see Ancient

Times, Fig. 68). The human figures below show by contrast the vast

dimensions of the columns towering above them

Egyptian Civilization

single blocks of stone eighty or ninety feet high, weighing as much

as a thousand tons. Nevertheless the engineers of the Empire

moved many such gigantic figures for hundreds of miles. It is in

works of this massive,

monumental character

that the art of Egypt

excelled.

32. The Treasures
of the Tombs. Across
the Nile from Thebes,
cut into the rocky cliffs
which border the river
valley, are hundreds of
tombs in which the
Pharaohs and the nobles
of their time were buried.
They are adorned with
frescoes and sculpture,
with pictures of the gods
and scenes from the life
led by the great of the
time, interspersed with
magnificent hieroglyphic
inscriptions. They some-
times contain the very
furniture which their

ARMCHAIR FROM THE HOUSE OF AN
EGYPTIAN ]S T OBLE OF THE EMPIRE

This elaborately decorated chair, with other
furniture from his house, was placed in his
tomb at Thebes in the early part of the
fourteenth century B.C. There it remained
for nearly thirty-three hundred years, till
it was discovered in 1905 and removed to
the National Museum at Cairo

occupants had used,
chairs covered with gold
and silver and fitted with soft cushions, beds of sumptuous work-
manship, jewel boxes and perfume caskets of the ladies, and even
a gilded chariot in which a Theban noble took his afternoon airing
thirty-three or thirty-four hundred years ago. Many of the
articles have been removed to the museum at Cairo, and there is
also a fine collection in the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
The dead man's friends put into his mummy case rolls of
papyrus containing prayers and magic charms to help him in

22 General History of Europe

finding his way through the troubles that would meet him in the
next world. These guidebooks have been collected and form what
is called the Egyptian "Book of the Dead." From this and the
inscriptions in the chambers hidden away deep in the pyramids
scholars have learned much of the Egyptian religion and of the
many gods in which the people believed. Some of the leading
Egyptians of the Empire finally came to believe in a single god,
and one of the emperors, Ikhnaton, started a great religious reform
in which he wished to substitute the idea of one god for the old
belief in many. But the priests and people were too much attached
to their ancient notions to accept the new gospel, and Ikhnaton
perished in the attempt. He is the first distinguished religious
reformer of history.

33. Later Fate of Egypt. After the Egyptian Empire had
lasted nearly four hundred years, invaders from the North in-
cluding many Europeans whom we left in the Stone Age came in
such numbers that they put an end to the ancient power of the
Pharaohs, about 1150 B.C. But we know little of how it all hap-
pened. Temples and tombs continued to be built for hundreds
of years after the fall of the Empire, but they are, in general,
mere imitations of the earlier ones. Egyptian culture spread into
other countries and greatly affected Western Asia and, later,
eastern Europe. The Egyptians were the first to make great
progress in industry, sculpture, painting, architecture, and govern-
ment. The period of chief interest for us is that which we have
sketched between the times of Menes (34006.0.)- and that of
Seti I and Ramses II, whose reigns closed in 1225 B.C. So the
greatness of Egypt lasted for over two thousand years.

Later, Egypt was successively conquered by the Assyrians,
Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Turks, and finally came in
recent times under the control of Great Britain. We must now
turn to the civilizations which grew up in Western Asia during the
period of Egypt's greatness and after her decline.

COLOSSAL PORTRAIT FIGURE OF RAMSES II AT ABU SIMBEL IN
EGYPTIAN NUBIA

Four such statues, seventy-five feet high, adorn the front of this temple.
The face of Ramses II here really resembles that of his mummy. There is
from this point a grand view of the Nubian Nile, on which the statues have
looked down for thirty-two hundred years. The picture was taken from
the top of the crown of one of the statues. (Photograph by The University
of Chicago Expedition)

Egyptian Civilization 23

QUESTIONS

I. Describe the chief geographical features of Egypt. Contrast pic-
ture writing with phonetic writing. Give some examples of words which
could be represented by pictures and some which could hot. What are
some of the results of the invention of writing ? How was metal prob-
ably discovered ? How did the use of metal contribute to the develop-
ment of civilization? Describe some of the important uses of metal
today.

II. What is a mummy ? What conditions in Egypt have served to
make it a historical museum ? Give some examples of the objects which
have been found in tombs. Describe the Great Pyramid. If the Great
Pyramid could be set down near your schoolhouse, about how much
space would it occupy ? Describe some of the chief industries in the
Pyramid Age. Give some examples of the art in that period.

III. Describe the temple of Karnak at Thebes. What treasures
have been found in the tombs of the kings of the Empire? What
countries came into control of Egypt after the fall of the Empire?
Do you know how Great Britain came to control Egypt today?

NOTE. The scene below shows us the life of the nomads referred to in the next chap-
ter. The dark camel's-hair tents of these wandering shepherds are easily carried from
place to place as they seek new pasturage. They live on the milk and flesh of the flocks

CHAPTER III

WESTERN ASIA : BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, THE PERSIANS,
AND THE HEBREWS

I. BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

34. The Sumerians. During the period when the Egyptians
were building the pyramids, about 3000 B.C., early civilization was
also developing in the valley of the two great rivers, the Tigris and
the Euphrates. A people called the Sumerians had long before
wandered down from the eastern mountains into the plain just
above the Persian Gulf, the region later called Babylonia. Here
they learned to dig irrigation trenches and raise large harvests of
barley and wheat. They already possessed cattle, sheep, and goats.
The ox drew the plow ; the donkey pulled wheeled carts and
chariots, for the wheel as a burden-bearing device appeared here
for the first time. 1 But the horse was still unknown. The smith
had learned to fashion utensils of copper, but he did not at first
know how to harden the copper into bronze by an admixture of
tin (see 26 and n.). The Sumerians built towns of sun-dried
mud bricks. Each town with the land about it formed a little
kingdom, which seems to have been generally fighting with its
neighbors.

35. Cuneiform Writing ; Numerals. The people began to
keep their business accounts by making pictures on soft clay
with the tip of a reed. Later, the outlines of these rude pictures
were simplified into groups of wedge-shaped marks. Hence these
signs are called cuneiform (Latin, cuneus, meaning "wedge"), or
wedge-form, writing.

The Sumerian system of numerals was not based on tens but
sixties. A large number was given as so many sixties, just as

1 Probably earlier than the wheel in the Swiss lake-villages of the Late Stone Age.

Western Asia

Foot; turned
around in 2

Donkey

Bird; turned
over with feet
to the right

we say a score, fourscore, fivescore. From this unit of sixty
has descended our division of the circle (six sixties), and of
the hour and minute. 121

36. The Semites. The
great desert of Arabia
extends northward as
far as a crescent-shaped
fertile belt stretching
from Babylonia clear
around to the Mediter-
ranean coast. (This is
called the " Fertile Cres-
cent" on the map, p. 24,
and colored green.) The
desert had a sparse pop-
ulation of nomads (which
means wandering shep-
herds and herdsmen)
who wandered about
and pitched their tents
wherever they could find
water and grass at cer-
tain seasons to feed
their flocks. These no-

Ox; turned
over in 2

Sun or Day

Grain ; top of

stalk turned

over

EARLY BABYLONIAN SIGNS AND THE
ORIGINAL PICTURES FROM WHICH THEY
DEVELOPED

This list of eight signs shows clearly the pic-
tures from which the signs came. The oldest
form is in column i ; column 2 shows the
departure from the picture and the appear-
ance of the signs as the lines began to become
wedges. In column j are the later forms,
consisting only of wedges and showing no
resemblance to the original picture

mads belonged to the
Semitic race, of which
the Arabs and the
Hebrews are the best-
known members. When
towns grew up here and
there in the Fertile Crescent they were often attacked by the desert
wanderers, who would now and then adopt town life themselves.
37. The Semites on the West End of the Fertile Crescent. As
early as 3000 B.C. these nomads were drifting in from the desert
and settling in Palestine, on the western end of the Fertile Cres-
cent, where we find them in possession of walled towns five

General History of Europe

hundred years later. Here they were the predecessors of the
Hebrews and were called Canaanites. Along the Mediterranean
shores of north Syria some of these former desert wanderers the

EARLY SUMERIAN CLAY TABLET WITH CUNEIFORM, OR WEDGE-FORM
WRITING (TWENTY-EIGHTH CENTURY B.C.)

This tablet was written toward the close of the early period of the city-
kings, a generation before the accession of Sargon I (38). It contains
business accounts. The scribe's writing-reed, or stylus, was usually square-
tipped. He pressed a corner of this square tip into the soft clay for each line
of the picture sign. Lines so produced tended to be broad at one end and
pointed at the other; that is, wedge-shaped. Each picture sign thus became
a group of wedges, as shown in the preceding illustration. When the clay
dried it was hard enough to make the tablet a fairly permanent record.
Such tablets were sometimes baked and thus became as hard as pottery.
(By permission of Dr. Hussey)

Pho3nicians took to the sea and became great traders (83). By
2000 B.C. all the settled communities had a civilization largely
adopted from the cities of Babylonia and Egypt.

A KING OF AKKAD STORMING A FORTRESS THE EARLIEST GREAT
SEMITIC WORK OF ART (ABOUT 2700 B.C.)

King Naram-Sin of Akkad, one of the successors of Sargon I (38), has
pursued the enemy into a mountain stronghold. His heroic figure towers
above his pygmy enemies, each one of whom has fixed his eyes on the con-
queror, awaiting his signal of mercy. The sculptor, with fine insight, has
depicted the dramatic instant when the king lowers his weapon as the sign
that he grants the conquered their lives

28 General History of Europe

38. Sargon I conquers the Sumerians about 2750 B.C.
Semitic tribes from the desert invaded the region north of the
Sumerian towns, and about 2750 B.C. the leader of these Semites,
Sargon, a bold and able ruler, conquered the Sumerians and
established the first important Semitic kingdom. The invaders
took over the cuneiform characters to write their own language
and forsook their tents and built brick houses instead. They
learned all that the Sumerians had discovered, and in the matter
of art, especially in sculpture, they far outstripped their teachers.

39. Hammurapi. About 2100 B.C. another Semitic king, Ham-
murapi, conquered all Babylonia (see map, p. 24). He is remem-
bered chiefly for the code of laws that he had drawn up and
engraved on a stone shaft, which has survived to our own day
(Ancient Times, Fig. 93). Its provisions show much considera-
tion of the poor and defenseless classes, but are not always just.
Babylonia prospered greatly under the wise Hammurapi, and her
merchants traveled far and wide. Through their bills, made out
on clay tablets, the wedge-writing of Babylonia gradually spread
through Western Asia. There was as yet no coined money, but
lumps of silver of a given weight circulated so commonly that
values were given in weight of silver. Loans were common, and
the rate of interest was 20 per cent. Business was the chief
occupation and was carried on even in the temples.

40. Higher Life of Babylonia. A journey through Babylonia
today could not tell us such a story as do the temples and tombs
which still exist on the Nile, for the Babylon of Hammurapi has
perished utterly. There seems to have been no painting, but we
have at least one example of fine sculpture (see cut on page 27).
Of architecture little remains. There were no colonnades and no
columns, but the arch was used over front doorways. All build-
ings were of brick, as Babylonia had no stone. There were
schools where boys could learn to write cuneiform, and a school-
house of Hammurapi's time still survives, though in ruins
(Ancient Times, Fig. 95).

41. Stagnation of Babylonian Civilization. After Hammu-
rapi's death his kingdom swiftly declined. Barbarians from the

Western Asia

mountains poured into the Baby-
lonian plain. The most impor-
tant thing about them was that
they brought with them the
horse, which then appeared in
Babylonia for the first time
(twenty-first century B.C.). The
barbarians divided and soon de-
stroyed the kingdom of Hammu-
rapi. After him there followed
more than a thousand years of
total stagnation in Babylonia.

42. The Assyrian Empire.
There is nothing we need record
here between the times of Ham-
murapi and the rise of the great
Assyrian Empire a thousand
years after his death. Semites
from the desert had founded the
town of Assur (see map, p. 30)
and adopted the civilization of
the Sumerians to the south (in-
cluding cuneiform, to write their
Semitic dialect). These people
of Assur, whom we call Assyr-
ians, had by noo B.C. marched
westward and looked out on the
Mediterranean. It took three
hundred years thoroughly to con-
quer this region, but by 750 B.C.
Assyria had firmly established
herself along the Mediterranean.

SILVER VASE OF A SUMERIAN

ClTY-KlNG

This is the finest piece of metal
work from early Babylonia. The
eagle and lions which appear on it
formed the symbol, or arms, of the
Sumerian city-kingdom of Lagash.
Such animal symbols passed over
into Europe and were used in mod-
ern times by Russia, Austria, Prus-
sia, and other European nations.
The eagle one sees on the United
States coins is in a sense a de-
scendant of the eagle of Lagash five
thousand years ago

In the meantime she subdued

Babylonia, thus gaining possession of the entire Fertile Crescent.
She even gained control of Egypt in 670 and held it for a short
time. Thus the once feeble little city of Assur gained the lordship

30 General History of Europe

over Western Asia as the head of an empire a group of conquered
and subject states. It was the most extensive empire that that
world had yet seen (see map).

43. Organization of the Assyrian Empire. To maintain the
army was the chief work of the Assyrian government. The State
was therefore a vast military machine, ruthless and terrible. From
the Hittites (see map and 76) iron had been introduced, and
the Assyrian forces were the first large armies equipped with
weapons of iron. The famous horsemen and chariots of Nineveh
became the scourge of the East.

For the first time, too, the Assyrians employed powerful siege
machinery, especially the battering-ram. This device was the
earliest "tank," for it ran on wheels and carried armed men (see
Ancient Times, p. 140). The sun-dried-brick walls of the Asiatic
cities could thus be battered down. Wherever the terrible Assyr-
ian armies swept through the land, they left a trail of ruin and
desolation behind, and there were few towns of the Empire which
escaped being plundered.

44. Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.) and his Capital, Nineveh.
The Assyrian king Sennacherib was one of the great statesmen
of the early Orient. He devoted himself to the city of Nine-
veh, north of Assur, which now became the far-famed capital of
Assyria. Here in his gorgeous palace he and his successors ruled
the Western Asiatic world with an iron hand and collected tribute
from all the subject peoples.

45. Assyrian Palaces; the Library of Assurbanipal. The
Assyrian palaces were imposing buildings adorned with arches of
brilliantly colored glazed tiles (see Ancient Times, Plate II,
p. 164). Vast statues of human-headed bulls guarded the entrance.
Within the palace there were long rows of reliefs cut in alabaster
(see cuts on pages 32-34) depicting the king's exploits. Nowhere
does the artist succeed in expressing any feeling in the human
faces, but his animals are often represented full of life.

In the excavations made in modern times at Nineveh a great
library was found containing twenty-two thousand clay tablets.
This was collected by Assurbanipal, the grandson of Sennacherib.

Western Asia

PORTION OF OLD BABYLONIAN STORY OF THE FLOOD FROM
ASSURBANIPAL'S LIBRARY AT NINEVEH

This large flat tablet was part of an Assyrian cuneiform book consisting
jf a series of such tablets. This flood story tells how the hero, Ut-napishtim,
built a great ship and thus survived a terrible flood, in which all his coun-
trymen perished. Each of these clay tablet books collected by Assurbanipal
for his library bore his "bookmark," just like a book in a modern library.
To prevent anyone else from taking the book, or writing his name on it,
:he Assyrian king's bookmark contained the following warning: "Whosoever
shall carry off this tablet, or shall inscribe his name upon it side by side with
mine own, may Assur and Belit overthrow him in wrath and anger, and
may they destroy his name and posterity in the land"

It shows us all that the Assyrians and their predecessors had been
able to learn. There are a great many works dealing with magic
and methods of forecasting future events ; for instance, by watch-
ing the actions of sick people and examining the entrails of
animals. There are also religious works and some dealing with
grammar and other subjects.

EXCAVATION OF THE RUINS OF ANCIENT NIPPUR IN BABYLONIA

These ruins were excavated by the University of Pennsylvania Expedition in
three campaigns between 1889 and 1900. This view shows the work of
excavation going on. The earth (once sun-dried brick) is taken out in
baskets and carried away by a long line of native laborers, who empty their
baskets at the far end of an ever-growing bank of excavated earth. The
ruinous buildings, once entirely covered, are slowly exposed, and among them
often clay tablets or objects of pottery, stone, or metal. Thus are recov-
ered the records and antiquities of ancient Babylonia. They lie at different
levels, the oldest things nearer the bottom and the later ones higher up.
The view to the horizon gives a good idea of the flat Babylonian plain.
Only two generations ago the monuments and records of Babylonia and
Assyria preserved in Europe could all be contained in a show case only a
few feet square. Since 1840, however, archaeological excavation, as we call
such digging, has recovered great quantities of antiquities and records.
Such work is now slowly recovering for us the story of the ancient world.
(Drawn from a photograph furnished by courtesy of the University
Museum, Philadelphia)

ASSYRIAN SOLDIERS OF THE EMPIRE. (FROM RELIEFS DISCOVERED IN
THE PALACE OF ASSURBANIPAL)

It was the valor of these stalwart archers and spearmen which made Assyria
mistress of the East for about a century and a half

Western Asia

46. Decline of Assyrian Power. But the Assyrian Empire
was so vast that it proved impossible to hold it together. The
army had to be recruited from the farming and manufacturing
classes. So the fields were left uncultivated and manufacture
declined. Moreover, the foreign troops, which it was necessary to
employ, formed a very dangerous element. Finally, Assyria was so

AN ASSYRIAN KING HUNTING LIONS

weakened that she could not resist the invasion of the Chaldeans,
another Semitic tribe which had for many years been drifting
along the shores of the Persian Gulf.

47. Destruction of Nineveh by the Medes and Chaldeans
(606 B.C.). The Chaldeans first conquered Babylonia and then,
after combining with the Medes ( 52), they attacked the
Assyrian capital of Nineveh, and this mighty city fell into their
hands in 606 B.C. The Assyrian Empire was at an end, and we
can hear in the voice of the Hebrew prophet Nahum (ii, 8, 13,
and iii entire) an echo of the exulting shout which resounded from
the Caspian to the Nile when the nations realized that the terrible
scourge of the East was no longer to be feared. Nineveh speedily
became the vast heap of rubbish it remains today.

48. Reign of Nebuchadnezzar (604-561 B.C.); Magnificence
of Babylon. At Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest of the
Chaldean emperors, began a reign of over forty years a reign
of such power and magnificence, especially as narrated in the
Bible, that he has become one of the great figures of oriental

General History of Europe

history. It was he who carried away many Hebrews from Pales-
tine to Babylonia as captives and destroyed Jerusalem, their
capital (586 B.C.).

Copying much from Assyria, Nebuchadnezzar was able to sur-
pass even his Assyrian predecessors in the splendor of the great
buildings which he now erected at Babylon (see plan, Ancient
Times, p. 165). Masses of rich tropical verdure, rising in terrace

GLAZED BRICK DECORATION FROM NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S
PALACE AT BABYLON

The above lion figure adorned the wall of the throne room in the palace
of Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon (48). It is made of glazed brick in the
brightest colors, which produced a gorgeous effect as architectural adorn-
ment. This art arose in Egypt, passed thence to Assyria and Babylonia,
and was then adopted by the Persians

above terrace, crowned the roof of the gorgeous imperial palace,
forming lofty roof gardens. Here in the cool shade of palms and
ferns the great king might enjoy his leisure hours, looking down
upon the splendors of his city. These roof gardens were the
mysterious "Hanging Gardens" of Babylon, whose fame spread
far into the West, until they were reckoned among the Seven
Wonders of the World by the Greeks. The city was immensely
extended by Nebuchadnezzar, and enormous fortified walls were
built to protect it. It was this Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar which
has become familiar to all Christian peoples as the great city of
the Hebrew captivity ( 64). So little survives of all the glories

Western Asia 35

which made it world-renowned in its time that nearly twenty
years of excavation have recovered almost no standing buildings.

49. Civilization of Chaldean Babylon. The Chaldeans seem
to have adopted the civilization of Babylonia in much the same
way as other earlier Semitic invaders of this ancient plain.
Science made notable progress in one important branch astron-
omy. This was really at that time only what we call "astrology" ;
namely, a study of the heavenly bodies with the idea that one
could forecast the future by observing the movements of the sun,
moon, and planets. The equator was divided into 360 degrees,
and for the first time the Chaldean astrologers laid out the twelve
groups of stars which we call the "Twelve Signs of the Zodiac."
The observations made by these Chaldean astrologers became so
accurate that they were actually able to foretell an eclipse of
the sun. These discoveries formed the basis of the science of
astronomy, which the Greeks carried much further. Astrology
was much studied in Europe during the Middle Ages. We un-
consciously recall it in sijch phrases as "his lucky star" or an
"ill-starred" undertaking. We still use the seven-day week which
prevailed in Babylonia. The Chaldeans named the days of the
week after the sun, moon, and five planets then known. Three
of our days Saturday (Saturnday), Sunday, and Monday
(Moonday) are still named after the heavenly bodies.

II. THE INDO-EUROPEAN PEOPLES : THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

50. Origin of the Indo-European Races. We have seen how
Semitic nomads of the Arabian desert had repeatedly shifted over
into the Fertile Crescent, conquered the town-dwellers there, and
adopted their civilization. To the north were peoples of a differ-
ent race, who were pasturing their flocks in the great stretch of
grassland which extends north and east of the Caspian Sea and
westward across what is now Russia to the lower Danube. These
nomads of the North were the ancestors of the Persians, Greeks,
Romans, Slavs, and the Germanic peoples, and consequently of
the Europeans of today. They began moving about at a very

36 General History of Europe

remote date. Some of them invaded India, and some of them got
as far west as Britain. They are therefore commonly called the
Indo-European peoples.

The Indo-European races were destined to conquer the older
kingdoms of the Semites and raise civilization to a far higher
point than it had previously reached. The parent people
sometimes called the Aryans from which these races sprang
seems to have been occupying the pasture lands to the east and
northeast of the Caspian about 2500 B.C. Some of them had
adopted an agricultural life, but they were still in the Stone Age
except for some little use of copper. Besides cattle and sheep
they had horses, which they rode and employed to pull their
wheeled carts. They could not write.

51. The Indo-European Languages. As the Aryan tribes dis-
persed east and west and south they lost all contact with one an-
other. While they originally spoke the same language, differences
in speech gradually arose and finally became so great that the
widely scattered tribes, even if they happened to meet, could no
longer make themselves understood. At last they lost all knowl-
edge of their original relationship. But the languages of modern
civilized Europe, having sprung from the same Indo-European
parent language, are therefore related to each other; so that,
beginning with our own language in the West and going eastward
across Europe into northern India, we can trace more than one
common word from people to people. Note the following:

WEST > EAST

ENGLISH GERMAN LATIN GREEK OLD PERSIAN A lanskrit) AN

brother bruder frater phrater brata bhrata

mother mutter mater meter matar mata

father vater pater pater pitar pita

52. Medes and Persians. Of the Aryan peoples settled east
of the Caspian Sea some wandered into India. In their sacred
books, which we call the Vedas, written in Sanskrit, we find many
allusions to their earlier less civilized life. Other tribes pushed
southwestward toward the Fertile Crescent. Of these the most

Western Asia 37

powerful were the Medes and the Persians. The Medes first es-
tablished an extensive empire east of the Tigris. After the fall of
the Assyrian Empire (606 B.C.) the Medes became an object of
dread to their neighbors, especially to the Chaldeans of Babylonia.

53. The Religion of Zoroaster. The Medes and Persians were
as yet far inferior in civilization to the Semites of the Fertile
Crescent, but in one respect they had made a great advance. Two
or three hundred years earlier a religious teacher had appeared
among them, Zoroaster, who had thought out a religion that was
destined to influence us down to the present day. He pondered
much on the good and evil in life and the ceaseless struggle be-
tween them. The Good became for him a divine being whom he
called Mazda, or Ahuramazda, and regarded as God. Ahura-
mazda was surrounded by a group of helpers much like angels,
of whom one of the greatest was the Light, called "Mithras."
Opposed to Ahuramazda and his helpers was an evil group led
by a great Spirit of Evil named Ahriman. It was he who later
became the Satan of the Jews and Christians.

Thus the faith of Zoroaster called upon every man to stand on
one side or the other, to fill his soul with the Good and the Light
or to dwell in the Evil and the Darkness. Whatever course a
man pursued, he must expect a judgment hereafter. This was the
earliest appearance in Asia of belief in a last judgment. Zoroaster
maintained the old Aryan veneration of fire as a visible symbol
of the Good and the Light. The new faith had gained a firm
footing among the Persians ; and Mithras, the god of light, was
worshiped centuries later by many of the Romans, who preferred
this religion to the newly introduced Christianity.

54. Cyrus and his Conquests. A great leader now arose among
the Persians, Cyrus the Great. He first attacked and defeated his
neighbors the Medes (549 B.C.), to whom the Persians had been
subject, and made himself master of their territory. He then
became the first great conqueror and empire-builder of Indo-
European blood.

With a powerful Persian army that he had rapidly built up,
Cyrus marched far to the west into Asia Minor and conquered

General History oj Europe

the kingdom of Lydia. He captured its capital, Sardis, and took
prisoner its king, the wealthy and powerful Croesus (546 B.C.).
Within five years the power of the little Persian kingdom had

__ thus swept across Asia

f'" ,1 II r Minor to the Mediterra-
nean and had become the
leading state in the orien-
tal world. Turning back
eastward Cyrus had no
trouble in defeating the
Chaldean army led by the
young crown prince Bel-
shazzar, whose name in
the Book of Daniel (see
Dan. v) is a well-known
word throughout the
Christian world. In spite
of the vast walls erected
by Nebuchadnezzar to
protect Babylon, the Per-
sians entered the great
city in 539 B.C. seemingly
without resistance.

Thus the Semitic East
completely collapsed be-
fore the advance of the
Indo-European power,
only sixty-seven years
after the Chaldean con-
quest of Nineveh (47).

All Western Asia was now subject to the Persian kings. In
525 B.C., only three years after the death of Cyrus, his son
Cambyses conquered Egypt. This conquest of the only remain-
ing ancient oriental power rounded out the Persian Empire to
include the whole civilized Orient from the Nile delta around the
entire eastern end of the Mediterranean to the ^Egean Sea and

RELIEF SHOWING PERSIAN SOLDIERS
IN BABYLONIAN GARMENTS

Although carrying spears when doing duty
as palace guards, these men were chiefly
archers, as is shown by the size of the large
cases, or quivers, on their backs for con-
taining the supply of arrows. The bow
hangs on the left shoulder

Western Asia

from this western boundary eastward almost to India (see map,
p. 30). The great task had consumed just twenty-five years
since the overthrow of the Medes by Cyrus.

55. Organization of the Persian Empire by Darius. The
organization of this vast empire, stretching from the Indus River
to the ;gean Sea
(almost as long as the
United States from
east to west) and from
the Indian Ocean to
the Caspian Sea, was a
colossal task. Though
begun by Cyrus, it was
carried through by
Darius the Great
(521-485 B.C.). His
organization was one
of the most remark-
able achievements in
the history of the
world. For the system
introduced by Darius
not only established
government on a larger
scale than the world
had ever seen before,

This sumptuous and ornate architecture of the

Persians is made up of patterns borrowed from

other peoples and combined

COLONNADES OF THE PALACE OF THE PERSIAN
KINGS AT PERSEPOLIS

but it was govern-
ment controlled by
one man.

Darius did not desire further conquests. He had himself made
actual king in Egypt and in Babylonia. The rest of the Empire
he divided into twenty provinces, each called a "satrapy." Each
province was under the control of a governor, or " satrap," who
was appointed by the "Great King," as the Persian sovereign
came to be called. The subject nations, or provinces, enjoyed a
good deal of independence in their local affairs as long as they

40 General History oj Europe

paid regular tribute and furnished soldiers for the army of the
Great King. In the east this tribute was paid, as of old, in prod-
uce of various kinds. But in western Asia Minor, especially in
Lydia and the Greek settlements on the coast, the coinage of
metal had become common by 600 B.C., and the payments were
made in coined money ( 93).

56. Persia becomes a Sea Power. Unlike the Assyrians the
Persian rulers built up a great sea power, and we shall find later
how they used, it against the Greeks. They treated the Phreni-
cians kindly and with their cooperation constructed a war fleet in
the eastern Mediterranean. Darius restored the ancient Egyptian
canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea. This enabled his
vessels to sail from the Persian Gulf clear around into the Medi-
terranean. Roads were also built throughout the Empire, and a
regular postal service was established.

The later world, especially the Greeks, often represented the
Persian rulers as cruel and barbarous tyrants. This unfavorable
opinion is not wholly justified. For there can be no doubt that
the Persian Empire, the largest the ancient world had thus far
seen, enjoyed a government more just and humane than any that
had preceded it in the East.

The religious beliefs of the Persians spread among other peoples
and even into Europe ; but far more important than Zoroastrian-
ism for the Western world was the religion of the Hebrews. We
must therefore consider the little Hebrew kingdom among the
Persian vassals in the West, which was destined to influence the
history of Europe profoundly.

III. THE HEBREWS

57. Hebrew Invasion of Palestine (about 1400-1200 B. c.).
The Hebrews were all originally nomads of the Arabian desert.
For two centuries, beginning about 1400 B.C., they were gradually
drifting along the west end of the Fertile Crescent into their final
home in Palestine. Some of the Hebrew tribes had been slaves
in Egypt, but had been induced to flee by their leader, Moses.

Western Asia 41

On entering Palestine the Hebrews found the Canaanites
already dwelling there in flourishing towns with massive walls.
They had comfortable houses, a well-developed government, in-
dustries, trade, and writing. The Hebrews settled on the land
around the towns of the Canaanites and gradually adopted their
civilization.

58. Rise of the Hebrew Kingdom (about 1025-930 B.C.).
Even after the Hebrews had set up a king the old nomad customs

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PAINTING OF A BRICKYARD WITH ASIATIC CAPTIVES
ENGAGED IN BRICKMAKING (FIFTEENTH CENTURY B.C.)

The Hebrew slaves working in the Egyptian brickyards (see Exod. i, 14 and
v, 6-1 9 must have looked like this when Moses led them forth into Asia.
At the left below, the soft clay is being mixed in two piles ; one laborer helps
load a basket of clay on the shoulder of another, who carries it to the brick-
molder, at the right above. Here a laborer empties the clay from his basket,
while the molder before him fills with clay an oblong box, which is the mold.
He has already finished three bricks. At the left above, a molder spreads out
the soft bricks with spaces between for the circulation of air to make them
dry quickly in the sun. The overseer, staff in hand, sits in the upper right-
hand corner, and below him we see a workman carrying away the dried
bricks, hanging from a yoke on his shoulders. Thus were made the bricks
used for thousands of years for the buildings forming so large a part of the
cities of the ancient world, from the Orient to Athens and Rome

were still strong; for Saul, their first king (about 1025 B.C.), had
no fixed home, but lived in a tent. His successor, David, saw the
importance of a strong castle as the king's permanent home. He
therefore seized the Canaanite fortress of Jerusalem and made it
his residence. From this new capital David extended his power 1

1 For a fuller account of Palestine and the Hebrews see Ancient Times, chap. vii.

42 General History of Europe

and raised the Hebrews to a far more important position than they
had ever before occupied. His people never forgot his heroic
deeds as a warrior nor his skill as a poet and singer. Centuries
later they revered him as the author of many of their religious
songs, or "psalms."

59. Solomon and the Division of the Kingdom (about
930 B.C.). David's son, Solomon, delighted in oriental luxury
and splendor. To support his extravagance he weighed down the
people with heavy taxes. The discontent was so great that when
Solomon died the northern tribes set up a king of their own. Thus
the Hebrew nation was divided into two kingdoms before it was
a century old.

There was much hard feeling between the two Hebrew realms,
and sometimes fighting. Israel, as we call the northern kingdom,
was rich and prosperous ; its market places were filled with busi-
ness; its fertile fields produced plentiful crops. Israel possessed
the wealth and luxury of town life. On the other hand, Judah,
the southern kingdom, was poor ; her land was meager. Besides
Jerusalem, the capital, she had no large and prosperous towns.
Many of the people still led the wandering life of shepherds.

These two kinds of life came into conflict in many ways,
but especially in religion. Every Canaanite town had for cen-
turies worshiped its "baal," or lord, as its local god was called.
The Hebrew townsmen found it very natural to worship these
gods of their neighbors. They were thus unfaithful to their own
Hebrew God Yahveh (or Jehovah). 1

60. The Unknown Historian, Earliest Writer of History
(Eighth Century B.C.). Thoughtful Hebrews began to feel the
inequalities which are a result of town life. They saw that the
rich city people had showy clothes, fine houses, and beautiful
furniture, but were hard-hearted toward the poor. These social
differences were not so striking in the simple nomad life of the
desert. Men who resented the luxuries of the city-dwellers turned

J The Hebrews pronounced the name of their God "Yahveh." The pronunciation
" Jehovah " began less than six hundred years ago and was due to a misunderstanding
of the pronunciation of the Hebrew word " Yahveh."

Western Asia 43

fondly back to the grand old days of their shepherd wanderings
on the broad reaches of the desert, where no man "ground the
faces of the poor." It was a gifted Hebrew 1 of this kind who
put together a simple narrative history of the Hebrew fore-
fathers a glorified picture of their shepherd life. He told the
immortal tales of the Hebrew patriarchs, of Abraham and Isaac,
of Jacob and Joseph. These, preserved to us in the Old Testa-
ment, are among the noblest literature which has survived from
the past.

61. Amos and the Prophets. Amos, a simple herdsman clad
in sheepskin, who came from the South, entered the towns of the
wealthy North and denounced the rich for their sinful lives and
disregard of the poor, whose lands they seized for debt and
whose labor they profited from by enslaving them. By such bold
talk Amos endangered his life, but he may be regarded as the first
social reformer known in Asia. We apply the term "prophet"
to the Hebrew leaders who, like Amos, exhorted people to unsel-
fish living, brotherly kindness, and higher conceptions of God
and religion.

62. The Hebrews learn to Write. The peoples of Western
Asia were now abandoning the clay tablets so long in use ( 35,
45) and beginning to write on papyrus with Egyptian pen and ink.
The Hebrews borrowed an alphabet from their neighbors (84)
and began to reduce their traditions, laws, and religious ideas
to writing.

The rolls containing the unknown historian's tales of the
patriarchs or the teachings of such men as Amos were the first
books which the Hebrews produced. But literature remained the
only art the Hebrews possessed. They had no painting, sculpture,
or architecture, and if they needed these things they borrowed from
their great neighbors, Egypt, Phoenicia, Damascus, or Assyria.

63. Destruction of the Northern Kingdom by Assyria
(722 B.C.). As Amos had foreseen, the Assyrians crushed the

1 Unfortunately we do not know his name, for the Hebrews themselves early lost all
knowledge of his identity and finally associated the surviving fragments of his work with
the name of Moses.

44 General History oj Europe

kingdom of Israel, and Samaria, its capital, was captured by
them in 722 B.C. Many of the unhappy northern Hebrews were
carried away as captives, and Israel was destroyed after haying
existed as a separate kingdom for a little over two centuries.

The national hopes of the Hebrews were now centered in the
helpless little kingdom of Judah (see map, p. 42), which still
struggled on for over a century and a quarter. More helpless
than Belgium in 1914, Judah was now entangled in a great world
conflict, in which Assyria was the most dangerous power. Thus
far the Hebrews had been accustomed to think of their God as
dwelling and ruling in Palestine only. Did he have power also
over the vast world arena where all the great nations were fight-
ing? But even if he did, was not Assur, the great god of vic-
torious Assyria, stronger than Yahveh, the God of the Hebrews?
A wonderful deliverance of Jerusalem from the cruel Assyrian
army of Sennacherib (701 B.C.) enabled the great prophet Isaiah
to proclaim to the Hebrews that Yahveh, their God, controlled the
great world arena, where He, and not Assur, was the triumphant
champion.

64. Destruction of the Southern Kingdom by Chaldea
(586 B.C.). A century later Jerusalem rejoiced over the fall of
Assyria and the destruction of Nineveh (47). But it had only
exchanged one foreign lord for another, for Chaldea followed
Assyria in control of Palestine (48). Then their unwillingness
to submit brought upon the men of Judah the same fate which
their kindred of Israel had suffered. In 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar,
the Chaldean king of Babylonia, destroyed Jerusalem and carried
away the people to exile in Babylonia.

65. Restoration of the Exiled Hebrews by the Persian
Kings. When the victorious Cyrus entered Babylon ( 54) the
Hebrew exiles there greeted him as their deliverer. His triumph
gave the Hebrews a Persian ruler. With great humanity the
Persian kings allowed the exiles to return to their native land.
Some had prospered in Babylonia and did not care to return. But
at different times enough of them went back to Jerusalem to re-
build the city on a very modest scale and to restore the temple.

Tbe Land of the Hebrews

Assyrian Empire
Countries paying tribute

to Assyria
Kingdoms of Israel and Judah

Western Asia 45

The Hebrews were permitted to issue a code of religious laws,
which formed the basis of their government. The Hebrew king-
ship was not revived after the Exile. The high priest at Jerusalem
became the nation's leader. The Jewish State thus became a
religious organization with a priest at its head.

66. The Old Testament. The returned exiles arranged and
copied the ancient writings of their fathers, such as the accounts
of the patriarchs by the unknown historian and the books of the
prophets, Amos, Isaiah, and others! They also added writings
of their own. This collection forms the sacred Scriptures of the
Jews down to the present day and that part of the Christian Bible
called the Old Testament.

67. Summary of the Achievements of the Ancient Orient.
What did the Ancient Orient really accomplish for the human
race in the course of this long period we have been sketching ? It
gave the world the first highly developed practical arts, like metal
work, weaving, glass-making, paper-making, and many other simi-
lar industries. To distribute the products of these industries among
other peoples and carry on commerce, it built the earliest seagoing
ships equipped with sails. It first was able to move great weights
and undertake large building enterprises large even for us of
today. The early Orient, therefore, brought forth the first great
group of inventions, surpassed in importance only by those of
the modern world.

The Orient also gave us the earliest architecture in stone
masonry, including the colonnade, the arch, and the tower or
spire. It produced the earliest refined sculpture, from the colos-
sal statues of Egypt to the finest cutting of gems. It gave us
writing and the earliest alphabet. To literature it contributed the
earliest examples of narrative prose, poems, historical works, and
social discussions. It gave us the calendar we still use. It first
introduced weights and measures and introduced business methods
and trade on a large scale. It made a beginning in mathematics,
astronomy, and medicine. It first produced government on a
large scale, whether of a single great nation or of an empire
made up of a group of nations.

46 General History oj Europe

Finally, in religion the East developed the earliest belief . in
one God and his fatherly care for all men, and laid the founda-
tions of a religious life from which came forth the founder of
the leading religion of the civilized world today. For these things,
accomplished most of them while Europe was still unde-
veloped, our debt to the Orient is enormous.

68. Lack of Freedom, Political and Mental, in the Ancient
Orient. There were some very important things, however, which
the Orient had not yet gained. It had always accepted as a
matter of course the rule of a king. It had never occurred to
anyone there that the people should have something to say about
how they should be governed. No one had ever gained the idea
of a free citizen, with the feeling we call patriotism and a right
to influence the selection of government officials. Liberty as
we understand it was unknown, and the rule of the people, which
we call "democracy," was never dreamed of in the Orient.

Just as the orientals accepted the rule of kings without ques-
tion, so they accepted the rule of the gods. They thought that
every storm was due to the interference of some god and that
every eclipse must be the angry act of a god or demon. Hence
the orientals made little inquiry into the natural causes of such
things. In general, then, they suffered from a lack of freedom of
the mind a kind of intellectual bondage to religion and to old
ideas. Under these circumstances natural science could not go
very far, and religion was much darkened by superstition.

69. Transition to Europe. There were, therefore, still bound-
less things for mankind to do in government, in thought about
the natural world, in gaining deeper insight into the wonders and
beauties of nature, as well as in art, in literature, and in many
other lines. This future progress was to be made in Europe
that Europe which we left, at the end of our first chapter, in the
Late Stone Age. Therefore, we must now turn back, to follow
across the eastern Mediterranean the course of rising civilization,
as it passed from the Orient to our forefathers in early Europe
four to five thousand years ago.

Western Asia 47

QUESTIONS

I. Describe the earlier civilization of the Tigris-Euphrates valley.
Compare cuneiform writing with Egyptian hieroglyphics. Why do
almost all races use the decimal system? What was the Sumerian
system of counting, and in what ways does it survive today? Describe
the Fertile Crescent. Why do you think it played so important a part
in the history of Western Asia ? How do the Semites get their name ?
What well-known peoples belong to the Semitic race? Describe the
Semitic occupation of Babylonia. Why do historians know so much
more about ancient Egypt than about Babylonia? What do we mean
by an empire? Give some modern examples. Why is a strong army
more necessary for an empire than a democracy ? Give the extent of
the Assyrian Empire. Describe the Assyrian civilization. Find some ref-
erences to Nineveh in the Bible. Why was the city of Babylon so cele-
brated under the Chaldean rulers? What does the Bible say about
Nebuchadnezzar? What discoveries were made by the Chaldean as-
trologers? What have we in modern times which should remind us
of Babylonia? Can you find out why the French and Germans have
named the days of the week as they have and what is the origin of
our names for them ?

II. Who were the Aryans (see Ancient Times')? Tell what you
know of the origin and migrations of the Indo-European peoples. Give
an example of a word which has changed as the tribes of Indo-
Europeans dispersed. What peoples today belong to this -group ? Tell
what you know of the religion of Zoroaster. Do its teachings bear
any resemblance to Christianity? Describe the development of the
Persian Empire. How was their government arranged by Darius?
What additional power did Persia develop which helped her in her
conquests ?

III. Give a brief account of the political history of the Hebrews.
What is the origin of the first five books of the Bible? How did the
Hebrew nation come to be a religious organization? What work was
done on the Hebrew Scriptures in the "poet-exilic" period? What
important industries today owe their origin to the Orient? What arts
were begun in the Orient? What were some of the limitations of the
ancient world? How did the ideas of government differ from ours
today? In what way did the theory of the gods interfere with the
progress of science?

BOOK II. THE GREEKS

CHAPTER IV

THE COMING OF THE GREEKS THEIR EARLY
ACHIEVEMENTS

I. THE ^GEAN CIVILIZATION

70. How Europe gained its Higher Civilization from Egypt
and Western Asia. In the first chapter of this history we followed
the slow progress of mankind in Europe during the long Stone
Ages. We found that in the Late Stone Age, to judge from the
remains of villages on the shores of lakes and banks of rivers,
the peoples of Europe had learned to cultivate fields and tame
animals, to make pottery, to spin and weave ( 8). But their
ability to progress by themselves appears to have come to an end.
They contiuued to live in a state of barbarism similar to that of
many of the Indian tribes of North America before the arrival of
the Spanish, French, and English. They did not learn how to
write, how to work metals into useful articles, erect buildings of
fine stone masonry, or construct sailing ships for trade. In short,
they failed to rise to a civilized life like that we have found in
the Orient.

Meanwhile, as we have seen, in Egypt and in Western Asia men
who had formerly used stone weapons and bee'n as ignorant as
the men of the Late Stone Age in Europe had begun to make
wonderful discoveries and inventions. They had learned to write
and to use metals and make beautiful statues, furniture, and
jewelry and build great and imposing structures. In the second
and third chapters we studied some of the wonderful things ac-
complished by the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, for it

The Coming of the Greeks 49

was from them that Europe first received its higher civilization,
art, and learning. We must now follow the way in which the
inventions and knowledge of the eastern Mediterranean spread
gradually into Europe and awakened its peoples from their bar-
barous slumber of the Late Stone Age. It was natural that the
portion of Europe which lay nearest to Egypt should first be
affected ; namely, the region around the .<Egean Sea.

71. The jEgean World. The ^Egean Sea is like a large lake,
almost completely encircled by the surrounding shores of Europe
and Asia Minor, while the long island of Crete on the south lies
like a breakwater, shutting off the Mediterranean (see map,
p. 50). From north to south this sea is at no point more than
four hundred miles in length. Its coast is deeply indented with
many bays and harbors, and it is thickly sprinkled with hun-
dreds of islands so that it is often possible to sail from one island
to another in an hour or two. This sea, with its islands and the
fringe of shores around it, forms a region by itself.

It enjoys a mild and sunny climate. Here and there on the
bold and beautiful shores river valleys and plains descend to the
water's edge. On these lowlands wheat, barley, grapes, and olives
grow well, so bread, olive oil, and wine were the chief articles of
food, as they are among most Mediterranean peoples today.

The ^Egean people were the predecessors of the Greeks, who,
as we shall see, finally swept down from the north and for a time
destroyed much of the civilization which the .flLgeans had devel-
oped. These predecessors of the Greeks were, like them, a gifted
white race, but in no way related to them, and they spoke an
entirely different language.

72. Rise of Cretan Civilization under Egyptian Influence
(3000-2000 B.C.). Because of their nearness to Egypt, it was on
the /Egean islands and not on the mainland of Europe that the
earliest high civilization on the north side of the Mediterranean
grew up. From the beginning the leader in this civilization
of the ^Egeans was the island of Crete. The little sun-dried-
brick villages, forming the Late Stone Age settlements of Crete,
received copper from the ships of the Nile by 3000 B.C. They

50 General History of Europe

soon learned to make bronze, and thus the Bronze Age began in
Crete. While the great pyramids of Egypt were being built the
Cretan craftsmen were learning from their Egyptian neighbors
the use of the potter's wheel, the closed oven for baking pottery,

The earlier vases from Egypt (on the left) compared with those of Crete

(on the right) show that the Cretan craftsmen copied the Egyptian forms in

the latter part of the Pyramid Age (about 2700-2600 B.C.)

and many other important things. A system of writing was in-
vented, but scholars have not yet learned how to read the
Cretan inscriptions.

By 2000 B.C. the Cretans had become a highly civilized people.
Cnossus (see map, p. 50) became the capital of their kingdom,
which may have included a large part of the island. They
rapidly learned the art of navigation from the Egyptians. Their
ships, the earliest sailed by Europeans, were so numerous that
their rulers are often called the "sea kings of Crete." Ruins of
their earliest palace are still standing at Cnossus.

GREECE

IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C.

21 Longitude 22 East

Greenwich 24

The Coming of the Greeks

73. The Grand Age in Crete (about 1600-1500 B.C.). A
few centuries of such development carried the Cretan civilization
to its highest level, to what we may call its Grand Age (about
1600-1500 B.C.). The older palace of Cnossus gave way to a

Two CRETAN VASES SHOWING PROGRESS IN THE ART OF DECORATION

larger and more splendid building with a colonnaded hall, fine
stairways, and impressive open courts. Its walls were painted
with fresh and beautiful scenes from daily life, full of movement
and action. After learning the Egyptian art of glass-making
the Cretans adorned their buildings with glazed figures. Noble
vases (see accompanying illustrations) were painted or modeled
in relief with designs drawn from plant life or often from the
life of the sea, on which the Cretans were now more and more at
home. This wonderful pottery belongs among the finest works
of decorative art ever produced by any people (see also Ancient
Times, 341-342 and Figs. 136-141).

52 General History of Europe

74. Cretan Civilization on the European Mainland (about
1500-1200 B.C.). Up to this time the mainland, both in Europe
and in Asia Minor, had continued to lag behind the civilization of
the islands. Nevertheless, the fleets of Egypt and of Crete traded
with the mainland of Greece. In the plain of Argos, ^Egean
chieftains were sufficiently civilized after 1500 B.C. to build the
massive strongholds of Tiryns and Mycense. They imported

THE MOUND CONTAINING THE NINE CITIES OF ANCIENT TROY (ILIUM)

When the celebrated archaeologist Schliemann first visited this mound (see
map, p. 50) in 1868, it was about one hundred and twenty-five feet high,
and the Turks were cultivating grain on its summit. In 1870 he excavated
a pit like a crater in the top of the hill, passing downward in the course
of four years through nine successive cities built each on the ruins of its
predecessors. At the bottom of his pit (about fifty feet deep) Schliemann
found the original once bare hilltop, about seventy-five feet high, on which
the men of the Late Stone Age had established a small settlement of sun-
baked-brick houses about 3000 B.C. Above the scanty ruins of this Late
Stone Age settlement rose, in layer after layer, the ruins of the later
cities, with the Roman buildings at the top. The entire depth of fifty feet
of ruins represented a period of about thirty-five hundred years from the
First City (Late Stone Age) to the Ninth City (Roman) at the top. The
Sixth City was that of the Trojan War and the Homeric songs

works of Cretan and Egyptian pottery and metal work, which
are today the earliest tokens of a life of higher refinement on the
continent of Europe (see Ancient Times, 364).

75. Troy (about 3000-1200 B. c.). Along the Asiatic side
of the JEgean Sea we find much earlier progress than on the
European side. In the days when metal was first introduced into
Crete (after 3000 B.C.) there arose at the northwest corner of
Asia Minor a shabby little Late Stone Age trading station known
as Troy. Though several times destroyed, as modern excavations
show, it was rebuilt and finally came to control a kingdom of

WILD BULLS PICTURED BY A CRETAN GOLDSMITH AROUND Two
GOLDEN CUPS

These cups, made of gold, were found at Vaphio, not very far from Sparta,
whither they were imported from Crete. The goldsmith beat out these
marvelous designs with a hammer and punch over a mold, and then cut in
finer details with a graving tool. His work must be ranked among the
greatest works of art produced by any people

IVORY AND GOLD STATUETTE OF A CRETAN LADY. (BOSTON MUSEUM
OF FINE ARTS)

The proud little figure stands with shoulders thrown far back and arms
extended, each hand grasping a golden serpent, which coils about her arms
to the elbow. She wears a high tiara perched daintily on her elaborately
curled hair. Her dress consists of a flounced skirt and a tight bodice taper-
ing to her slender waist. The whole forms a costume surprisingly modern.
The figure is carved in ivory, while the flounces are edged with -bands of
gold and the belt about the waist is of the same metal. She represents
either the great Cretan mother goddess or possibly only a graceful snake-
charmer of the court. In any case the sculptor has given her the appearance
of one of the noble ladies of his time. Even the Greek sculptor never
surpassed the vitality and the winsome charm which passed from the fingers
of the ancient Cretan artist into this tiny figure

The Coming oj the Greeks

considerable size in northwestern Asia Minor. About 1500 B.C.
this flourishing city had become a powerful rival of Cnossus. We
are more familiar with the name of Troy than with that of any
other ^Egean city, owing to Homer's account of its later capture
by the Greeks.

76. The Hittites. In recent years scholars have become much
interested in the empire of the Hittites, which stretched across
Asia Minor east of
Troy. A great deal
is now being learned
about this impor-
tant people, of
which formerly very
little was known.
It will be recalled
that they are fre-
quently mentioned
in the Bible. Their
empire appears to
have reached its
height about 1450
B.C. Perhaps for us
the chief interest
of the Hittites is
that they discov-
ered rich deposits
of iron and were

AN ANCIENT HITTITE AND HIS MODERN
ARMENIAN DESCENDANT

At the left is the head of an ancient Hittite as
carved by an Egyptian sculptor on the wall of a
temple at Thebes, Egypt, over three thousand
years ago. It strikingly resembles the profile of
the Armenians still living in the Hittite country,
as shown in the modern portrait on the right.
The strongly aquiline and prominent nose of the
Hittites was also characteristic of the neighboring
Semites along the eastern end of the Mediter-
ranean, including the Canaanites

the first important
distributors of a metal which was to replace copper and bronze
and become one of the main foundations of our modern civiliza-
tion, since without iron, and the steel derived from it, we could
hardly imagine the steam engine and all the machinery upon
which we have come to rely (Ancient Times, 351-360).

77. Summary. As we look at the map (p. 50) we see that
Greece and the ygean islands, together with Troy and Asia Minor,
had, about 1500 B.C., developed into a civilized world on the north

54 General History of Europe

of the Mediterranean at its eastern end. We have seen that this
region received civilization from Egypt and Western Asia.
Farther north, however, there were still numerous uncivilized
peoples. From behind the Balkan Mountains and the Black Sea
they were migrating toward the Mediterranean. Among these
uncivilized Northerners were the Greeks, who were beginning to
overwhelm the eastern Mediterranean. With these Northern in-
truders we must begin a new epoch in the history of the eastern
Mediterranean world.

II. THE COMING OF THE GREEKS

78. Southward Advance of the Indo-European Races in
Europe. The people whom we call the Greeks were a large group
of tribes belonging to the Indo-European race. We have already
followed the migrations of the Indo-European parent people until
their wanderings finally ranged them all the way from northern
India to the Atlantic Ocean (50). While their eastern kindred
were drifting southward on the east side of the Caspian, the
Greeks on the west side of the Black Sea were likewise moving
southward from their pastures in the grasslands along the Danube
(see map, p. 104):

Driving their herds before them, with their families in rough
carts drawn by horses, the rude Greek tribesmen must have come
in sight of the fair pastures of northern Greece, the snowy sum-
mit of Olympus, and the blue waters of the ^Egean not long after
2000 B.C.

These barbarian Greek herdsmen from the Northern grasslands
had formerly led a wandering pastoral life like that which we
have seen also among the Semites in the Southern grasslands. But
now these Northern nomads were entering upon a settled life
among the Jigean towns. As the newcomers looked out across the
waters they could dimly discern the islands where flourishing
towns were carrying on busy industries in pottery and metal,
which the ships of Egypt and of the ^geans were distributing
far and wide.

The Coming oj the Greeks 55

79. Greeks take Possession of the JEgean World. Gradually
their vanguard (called the Achaeans) pushed southward into the
Peloponnesus, and doubtless some of them mingled with the
dwellers in the villages which were grouped under the walls of
Tiryns and Mycenae. But our knowledge of the Greek invasions
is very meager, because the Greeks could not yet write and there-
fore have left no written documents to tell the story. It is evident,
however, that a second wave of Greek nomads (called the Do-
rians) reached the Peloponnesus by 1500 B. c. and gradually sub-
dued and absorbed their earlier kinsmen (the Achaeans) as well
as the ^gean townsmen, the original inhabitants of the region.

The Dorians did not stop at the southern limits of Greece, but,
learning a little navigation from their ^Egean predecessors, soon
passed over to Crete, where they arrived by 1400 B.C. Cnossus,
unfortified as it was, must have fallen an easy prey to the
invading Dorians. They conquered Crete and likewise seized
the other southern islands of the ^Egean. Between 1300 and
1000 B. c. the several Greek tribes then established in Greece
took the remaining islands and the coast of Asia Minor,
the Dorians in the south, the lonians in the middle, and the
^Eolians in the north. Here a memorable Greek expedition
in the twelfth century B.C., after a long siege, captured and
burned the prosperous city of Troy (75), a feat which the
Greeks never after forgot. Thus during the thousand years be-
tween 2000 and 1000 B.C. the Greeks took possession not only of
the whole Greek peninsula but likewise of the entire ^Egean world.

80. Flight of the ^Egeans and Fall of their Civilization
(by 1200 B. c.). The northern Mediterranean all along its eastern
end was thus being seized by invading peoples of Indo-European
blood coming in from the north. The result was that both the
^Egeans and their Hittite neighbors in Asia Minor were over-
whelmed by the advancing Indo-Europeans. The Hittite Empire
was crushed, and the leading families among the yEgeans fled by
sea, chiefly to the south and east. In only one place were
they able to land in sufficient numbers to settle and form a nation.
This was on the coast of southern Palestine (see map, p. 44),

5 6 General History of Europe

where a tribe of Cretans called Philistines founded a nation
which proved very dangerous to the Hebrews. Palestine is still
called after the Philistines, of which the word "Palestine" is a
later form. By 1200 B.C., therefore, the splendid ^Egean towns
and their wonderful civilization had been completely destroyed
by the incoming Greek barbarians.

The jEgean civilization, the earliest that Europe had gained,
thus almost disappeared. But many of the ^geans had not fled.
Remaining in their old homes, they feebly carried on the old
^Egean industries, and these formed part of the foundation on
which the barbarian Greeks were destined to build up the highest
civilization of the ancient world. These ^Egeans mingled with
their Greek conquerors and produced a mixed race, the people
known to us as the Greeks of history. Although some of the
-flgeans survived, they lost their language; Greek, the language
of the conquerors, became the speech of this mixed race.

81. Origin of Greek Kingship and of the Greek City-State.
For a long time the Greek tribes remained a barbarous people
continuing to tend their flocks and herds as of yore. But grad-
ually each tribe settled down, gave up its nomad life, and began
farming, although for hundreds of years their cattle continued
to form their chief source of wealth. Villages were built, and the
former nomad leaders were succeeded by "kings," who ruled
over the tribes.

In course of time a group of villages would grow together and
merge at last into a city. It is - important to note this, for the
city became the only nation which the Greeks ever had. Each
city-state was a nation ; each had its own laws, its own army and
gods ; and each citizen felt a patriotic duty toward his own city
and no other. Overlooking the city from the heights in its midst
was the king's castle, the "citadel" or "acropolis."

There were soon hundreds of such Greek city-states. Indeed
the entire ^Lgean world came to be made up of such tiny nations.
It was while the Greeks were thus living in these little city-
kingdoms that Greek civilization arose, especially during the
period from noo to 750 B.C.

The Coming of the Greeks 57

III. BEGINNINGS OF HIGHER CULTURE AMONG THE GREEKS

82. Original Barbarism of the Greeks. The Greeks had
originally invaded the ^Egean world as barbarian shepherds and
warriors, and it required a long time for them to get over their
old rude and ignorant mode of life. For a long time they learned
little about building or manufacture or art and were not even able
to write. Since the Greeks could make scarcely anything for them-
selves, they were tempted to buy the various articles which the
Phoenician merchants brought to their shores. There was much to
attract the Greeks in these cargoes, which were made up of gor-
geous clothing ; finely decorated tableware of porcelain, bronze,
and silver; toilet articles, ivory combs, and glass and alabaster
perfume flasks, along with all sorts of jewelry.

83. The Phoenicians. The Phoenicians had succeeded the Egyp-
tians and ^Egeans as the chief merchants of the Mediterranean
about the year 1000 B.C. and held their supremacy for several
centuries. They pushed westward beyond the JEgean and were
the discoverers of the western Mediterranean. Their colony of
Carthage in north Africa (see map, p. 122) became the most im-
portant commercial state in the western Mediterranean, and they
even planted settlements as far away as the Atlantic coast of
Spain. Thus the Phoenicians did much to spread the art and
industries of the East throughout the Mediterranean.

84. Phoenicians carry the First Alphabet to Europe. But the
Phoenicians brought to the Greeks a crowning gift of far more
value than manufactured goods. Long before 1000 B. c. the Phoe-
nician merchants had given up the inconvenient clay tablet of
Babylonia, used all along the Fertile Crescent, and were writing
on imported Egyptian papyrus. They or their Semitic neighbors
likewise invented a system of twenty-two signs for writing their
own language. These signs were alphabetic letters, the first
system containing no word-signs or syllable-signs. The Greeks
soon became familiar with the Phoenician tradesman's sheets of
pale-yellow paper, bearing his bills and receipts, and at last they
began to write Greek words by using the Phoenician letters. Thus

General History of Europe

an alphabet appeared in
Europe for the first
time. By 700 B.C. the
Greek potters had be-
gun to write their names
on the jars which they
painted, and writing
shortly afterward be-
came common among
Greeks of all classes.
From the alphabet which
the Phoenicians brought
to the Greeks all the al-
phabets of the civilized
world have been derived,
including our own.

Along with the alpha-
bet the equipment for
using it that is, pen,
ink, and paper for
the first time came into
Europe. The Greeks
received all their paper
from Egypt through the
Phoenicians ; hence the
word "paper," derived
from papyrus. The
Greeks also called papy-
rus byblos, after the
Phoenician city of Byb-
los, from which they
received it. The Greek
word for books is biblia,

and hence our word "Bible." Thus the English word "Bible,"
originally the name of a Phoenician city, reminds us of the way
in which books and paper were first introduced into Europe.

III

y
Z

S 1

j *

W """ o

K 13

H "

w "

J "

s a

C.G

F.V.U

E.H

TH.PH

}

K.KH

V/-M

F-

<fl

TABLE SHOWING HOW THE PHCENICIA-N

LETTERS PASSED THROUGH GREEK AND

LATIN FORMS TO REACH THEIR PRESENT

ENGLISH FORMS

The Coming of the Greeks

85. The Hero Songs of the Greeks. The Greeks were destined
to produce many wonderful poems and plays which have been
the delight of mankind ever since their day. Long before they
learned to write there were bards who sang of the mighty deeds
of the Greek warriors. These singers began to flourish perhaps
a thousand years before
the Christian Era, espe-
cially in the Greek settle-
ments on the eastern
shores of the ^Egean Sea.

Here arose a class of
professional bards who
graced the feasts of king
and noble with poetic tales
of battle and adventure
recited to the music of the
harp. Rolling on in stately
measures these heroic songs
resounded through many
a royal hall the oldest
literature born in Europe.

This magnificent work (over thirty inches
high) was found in an Etruscan tomb in
Italy (see map, p. 122), whither it had been
exported by the Athenian makers in the
days of Solon

AN ATHENIAN PAINTED VASE OF THE

EARLY SIXTH CENTURY B.C.
After the separate songs
had greatly increased in
number they were finally
woven together by the
bards into a connected
whole called an epic a great series clustering especially about
the traditions of the Greek expedition against Troy. These epics
were a growth of several centuries, the work of generations of
singers, some of whom were still living even after 700 B.C., when
they were first written down.

86. Homer. Among these ancient singers there seems to have
been one of great fame whose name was Homer (see Ancient
Times, Fig. 161). His reputation was such that he was supposed
to have been the author of two great collections of poems: the
Iliad, the story of the Greek expedition against Troy ; and the

A B

EARLY GREEK STATUE AND EGYPTIAN PORTRAIT STATUE BY WHICH IT

WAS INFLUENCED

The Egyptian portrait (B) is over two thousand years older than the Greek
figure (A). The noble (B), one of those whose estate we visited on the
Nile, stands in the customary posture of such figures in Egyptian art, with
the arms hanging down and the left foot thrust forward. The Greek figure
(A) stands in the same posture, with the left foot thrust forward. Both look
straight ahead, as was customary in undeveloped art. The Greek figure
shows clearly the influence of Egyptian sculpture

The Coming oj the Greeks

Odyssey, or the tale of the wanderings of the hero Odysseus on his
return from Troy. These are the only two series of ancient
Greek tales that have entirely survived ; even the ancient world
had its doubts about Homer's authorship of the Odyssey.

87. The Greek Gods. In the Homeric songs and in the tales
about the gods, which we call myths, the Greeks heard how the
gods dwelt among the clouds on the sum-
mit of Mount Olympus. There in his
cloud palace Zeus, the Sky-god, with the
lightning in his hand, ruled the gods like
an earthly king. Apollo, the Sun-god,
whose beams were golden arrows, was the
deadly archer of the gods. But he also
shielded the flocks of the shepherds and
the fields of the plowman, and he was a
wondrous musician. Above all, he knew
the future ordained by Zeus, and when
properly consulted at his famous shrine or
oracle at Delphi he could tell anxious in-
quirers what the future had in store for
them.

The Greeks loved to think of Athena,
the warrior goddess, standing with shining
weapons, protecting the Greek cities. But
she held out her guiding hand over them

also in times of peace, as the potters shaped their jars, the smiths
wrought their metal, or the women wove their wool. These three
then, Zeus, Apollo, and Athena, became the leading divinities of
the Greek world.

There was, moreover, a group of great gods, each controlling
some special realm. In a brazen palace deep under the waters
Poseidon ruled the sea. The ancient Earth Mother, whom they
called Demeter, brought forth the produce of the soil. At the
same time they looked also to another earth god, Dionysus, for the
fruit of the grapevine, and they rejoiced in the wine which he
gave them. Hermes was the messenger of the gods, with winged

GARMENT WORN BY

THE PHCENICIANS AND

LATER ADOPTED BY THE

GREEKS

62 General History oj Europe

feet, doing their bidding ; but he was also the god of trade and
commerce. The goddess of love the Greeks called Aphrodite.

88. Human Traits of the Gods. All these divinities the Greeks
pictured in human form, possessing human traits, both good and
bad. Homer describes to us the family quarrels between the
august Zeus and his wife Hera, just as such things must have
occurred in the household life of the Greeks. The gods were not
likely, therefore, to require anything better in the conduct of men.

One reason why the Greeks did not yet think that the gods
required right conduct of men was their notion of life after death.
They believed that all men passed at death into a gloomy kingdom
beneath the earth (Hades), where the fate of good men did not
differ from that of the wicked. As a special favor of the gods,
the heroes, men of mighty and godlike deeds, were granted im-
mortality and permitted to enjoy a life of endless bliss in the
beautiful Elysian Fields or in the Islands of the Blest, somewhere
far to the west, toward the unexplored ocean.

89. Summary of the Age of the Kings. In this period the
Greeks, after conquering their predecessors the ^geans and
largely destroying their higher civilization, gradually changed
from a wandering shepherd life to a settled life in and around
small towns. Thus arose the little city-kingdoms, the most im-
portant form of organized life among the Greeks. At the same
time, with the rise of the hero songs and the introduction of an
oriental alphabet, the Greeks produced the earliest European
literature which has survived. In general, then, the Age of the
Kings saw the barbarian Greek shepherds forming civilized states,
with government, writing, and literature (1000-750 B.C.).

IV. GREEK COLONIES AND BUSINESS

90. Greek Colonization (vso-eoo B.C.). The Greeks gradually
became traders and began to establish colonies about the year
750 B.C. Many of those who had been trying to gain a living
by cultivating the land emigrated to the new colonies. By 600 B. c.
the Greeks had established settlements all around the Black Sea.

The Coming of the Greeks 63

Here they found broad grainfields along the lower Danube and
got possession of the iron mines formerly worked by the Hittites
(76). Greek towns were also founded in the delta of the
Nile.

91. Greek Settlements in Italy. Looking westward from the
western coast of Greece the seamen could faintly perceive the
shore of Italy, only fifty miles distant. When they had once
crossed to it they coasted around Sicily and far beyond. Here
was a new world. Although the Phoenicians were already there,
its discovery was as momentous for the Greeks as that of America
for later Europe.

By 750 B.C. Greek colonies were founded in this new Western
world, and within a century they were scattered along the coast
of southern Italy to a point north of Naples. Hence this region
of southern Italy came to be known as "Great Greece" (see map,
p. 122). As the Greeks were by this time superior in civilization
to all the native dwellers in Italy, the civilized history of that
great peninsula begins with the settlement of the Greeks there.
They were the first to bring into Italy such things as writing,
literature, architecture, and art.

The Greek colonists also crossed over to fertile Sicily, where
they drove out the Phoenician trading posts except at the western
end of the island. Syracuse, at its southeast, became very soon
the most cultured, as well as the most powerful, city of the
Greek world. At Massilia (Marseilles), on the coast of later
France, the Western Greeks founded a town which controlled
the trade up the Rhone valley. In this way the Greeks expanded
till their settlements stretched from the Black Sea along the north
shore of the Mediterranean almost to the Atlantic.

92. Greek Business and Factories. Before long the merchant
fleets of the Greeks were making their way along the coasts of the
Mediterranean, bearing to distant towns their metal work, woven
goods, and beautiful pottery. To meet the demand, the Greek
workmen were obliged to enlarge their shops, which had formerly
done no more than supply the needs of a single estate. Unable to
find the necessary free workmen to help him, the proprietor

64 General History of Europe

bought slaves, if he could afford it, and trained them to carry on
the manufacturing. The slaves were commonly the inhabitants
of towns that had been conquered in the wars that went on con-
stantly. The former little shops in this way grew into factories
with a score of hands. Henceforth slave labor became and con-
tinued an important element in Greek life.

In Athens, especially, the factories grew to a size hitherto un-
known in the Greek world and filled a large district of the city.
Beautiful vases were made, which were often placed in the tombs
of the dead. They are found by modern excavators in places as
far from each other as the interior of Asia Minor, the Nile delta,
and central Italy.

Ships had to be made larger and, in addition to oars, sails
invented long before by the Egyptians were used. The new
vessels were so heavy that they could no longer be drawn up on
the shore, so that harbors had to be built for them.

The protection of these merchant ships demanded more effective
warships, and the distinction gradually arose between a " man-of-
war," or battleship, and a "merchantman." Warships must be
independent of the wind, and hence they were still driven by oars.
The oarsmen were now arranged in three rows, and the power
of an old "fifty-oar" was thus multiplied by three without essen-
tially increasing the ship's size. Battleships having the oars in
three rows were called "triremes." These improvements were
widely used by 500 B.C.

93. Adoption of Coinage by the Greeks (Early Seventh
Century B.C.). Meantime Greek business life had entered upon
a new epoch, due to the introduction of coined money. Not long
after 700 B. c. the kings of Lydia in Asia Minor, following oriental
custom, cut up silver into lumps of a fixed weight. These they
began to stamp with some symbol of the king or State, to show
that the State guaranteed their value. These pieces formed the
earliest-known coins (see accompanying illustration).

This great convenience was quickly adopted by the Greeks.
The Athenians began to use as their commonest coin a bit of
silver weighing the hundredth part of a Babylonian mina (our

The Coming oj the Greeks 65

pound). The drachma, as it was called, was worth from eighteen
to twenty cents. It still survives in large sections of Europe as the
French franc. The purchasing power of a drachma was very
much greater in ancient times than in our day. For example, a

SPECIMENS ILLUSTRATING THE BEGINNING OF COINAGE

i, both sides of a Lydian coin (about 550 B.C.) ; 2, both sides of a coin of
the Greek island of Chios (500 B.C.), showing how the Greeks followed the
Lydian model; 3, both sides of a Carian coin (650-550 B.C.), an example
of the square stamp ; 4, both sides of a four-drachma piece of Athens,
(sixth century B.C.), bearing head of the goddess Athena and an owl with
olive branch (square stamp). The inscription contains the first three letters
of "Athens." These coins are all rough lumps of silver (such as were long
before used in the Orient, 39), flattened by the pressure of the stamp

sheep cost one drachma, an ox five drachma, and a landowner with
an income of five hundred drachmas ($100) a year was con-
sidered a wealthy man.

94. Rise of a Capitalistic Class. Greek wealth had formerly
consisted of lands and flocks, but now men began to accumulate
capital in money. Loans were made, and the custom of lending
money at interest came in from the Orient. The usual rate was
1 8 per cent yearly. Men who could never have hoped to get ahead
as farmers were now growing rich. There arose a prosperous
industrial and commercial middle class, which demanded a voice
in the government.

66 General History of Europe

95. The Greeks never united into a Single Nation. The Greek
city-states never united into a single great and powerful nation.
This was in part because the country was so cut up by deep
bays and divided by mountain ranges that the various towns were
somewhat separated from one another ; partly because each of the
Greek towns had its own peculiar habits, its dialect, and its own
local gods. But in some cases a number of formerly small inde-
pendent city-states were brought together and formed such large
and important city-states as Athens, Sparta, Argos, and Thebes. In
this way the people of a considerable territory regarded themselves
as Athenians or Spartans.

96. The Tyrants. The kings began to disappear about 750 B.C.,
and for a time the government in most Greek cities was under
the control of a group of nobles. When the nobles fell out
with one another, "tyrants," as the Greeks called them, arose.
These were not necessarily tyrants in our sense of the word, but
leaders, or "bosses," who managed to get the support of the
people and so become kings in all but name. They often helped
the people to secure their rights and did much to beautify the
cities over which they ruled.

Civilization nourished under the tyrants. This is illustrated by
the fact that in the early sixth century B.C. Thales of Miletus was
the first Greek to predict an eclipse of the sun and to conclude
that the planets and stars were governed by natural laws, and
not by the whims of the gods. Nevertheless there was a natural
prejudice against the tyrants, and it was generally regarded as a
heroic act to kill one if he became unpopular. .

97. Influences leading toward Greek Unity. We have already
noticed the tendencies which kept the Greek states apart. There
were, on the other hand, influences which tended to make them feel
that they really formed in a way a single people. Among such in-
fluences were the athletic contests. These finally came to be held
at stated seasons in honor of the gods. As early as 776 B.C.
such contests were celebrated as public festivals at Olympia. 1

1 These Olympic games have been revived in modern times as an international
project.

The Coming of the Greeks 67

It became the custom to hold the Olympic games every four
years, and they finally aroused the interest and participation of
all Greece.

Religion also became a strong influence toward unity, because
there were some gods at whose temples all the Greeks worshiped.
The different city-states therefore organized several religious coun-
cils, made up of representatives from the various Greek cities
concerned. These councils were perhaps the nearest approach to
representative government ever devised in the ancient world.
The most notable of them were the council for the control of the
Olympic games, another for the famous sanctuary of Apollo at
Delphi (87), and the council for the great annual feast of
Apollo in the island of Delos.

The representatives of the cities who attended these councils
spoke the various Greek dialects at their meetings. They could
understand each other, however, and their common language
helped to bind together the people of the many different Greek
cities. A sentiment of unity also arose under the influence of the
Homeric songs ( 86-87), with which every Greek was familiar,
a common inheritance depicting all the Greeks united against the
Asiatic city of Troy.

98. Barbarians and Hellenes. Bound together by these com-
mon interests the Greeks gained a feeling of race unity, which set
them apart from other races. They called all men not of Greek
blood "barbarians," but this was not originally a term of re-
proach for the non-Greeks. They gradually came to call them-
selves "Hellenes" and found pleasure in the belief that they had
all descended from a common ancestor called Hellen. Connected
with this word is also the name "Hellas," often applied to Greece.
But it should be clearly understood that this new designation did
not represent a Greek nation or state, but only the group of
Greek-speaking peoples or states, often at war with one another.
The most fatal defect in Greek character was the inability of
the various states to forget their local differences and jealousies
and to unite in a common federation or great nation including
all Greeks.

68 General History of Europe

V. REFORMS OF SOLON AND CLISTHENES

99. Development of Athens ; Solon. Of the Greek cities
Athens was to become by far the most important and was to make
a name for itself which should never be forgotten. Its first great
citizen was Solon, who was in 594 B.C. given full power to intro-
duce needed reforms. Although a noble himself, he reduced the
oppressive power of his fellow nobles, relieved the peasants of
the heavy mortgages that lay on their lands, and set a limit to the
amount of land a noble might hold. He made it possible for any-
one, however poor, to have his lawsuit tried before a jury of citi-
zens selected by lot. Only the nobles were permitted to hold the
higher offices, but the peasants could hold the lower ones, and all
free citizens were assured a vote in the assembly of the people.
Solon is the first Greek statesman about whom we have any
reliable information.

100. Clisthenes. In spite of Solon's reforms a tyrant, Pisis-
tratus, gained control of Athens for a time. Although he ruled
wisely and with success, the prejudice of the people against ty-
rants was so great that when he died, in 528 B.C., one of his sons
was killed and the other forced to flee. Clisthenes, a second Solon,
broke up the old class divisions and established election districts
in which the nobles were always bound to be in the minority.
He also arranged that once a year the people might declare any
prominent citizen dangerous and banish him for ten years. The
names were written on bits of pottery, instead of paper ballots
such as we use today. The name of this pottery ballot was
ostracon, and to ostracize a man meant originally to banish him.
These measures made it difficult for anyone to succeed in making
himself tyrant. They also tended to make Athens a democracy ;
that is, a government in which the power lies in the hands of
the people at large.

101. Expansion of Sparta. Meantime the future rival of
Athens, Sparta, also had greatly increased in power. Long before
500 B.C. the Spartans had forced the neighboring states into a
combination, called the "Spartan League/' which included nearly

The Coming of the Greeks 69

the whole of the Peloponnese. As the leader of this league Sparta
was the most powerful state in Greece. It had no industries, and
it therefore did not possess the prosperous commercial class which
had elsewhere done so much to overthrow the nobles and bring
about the rise of the tyrants. Sparta was also opposed to the
rule of the people and looked with a jealous eye on the rising
democracy of Athens.

QUESTIONS

I. How did Europe first receive metal ? Where and how did higher
forms of civilization begin in Europe? Describe the physical aspects
of the ^gean world. Why did civilization develop in Crete earlier
than in Europe ? Describe the art and industries of Crete. Had Euro-
peans ever had sailing ships before ? What were the earliest influences
of Cretan civilization on the mainland? What contribution did the
Hittites make to the advancement of civilization ?

II. To what race do the Greeks belong ? Describe the Greek tribes-
men when they first appeared in northern Greece. Describe the in-
vasion of the JEgean world by the Greeks. What became of ^Egean
civilization? Who were the Philistines? Describe the origin of the
Greek city-states.

III. Describe the life of the early Greeks. How did they gradually
improve their ways of living ? With what civilizing influences did they
come in contact when they settled in the ^Kgean? Tell what you
know of the Phoenicians. How was the Phoenician alphabet adopted by
the Greeks? Describe the songs of adventure so popular with the
Greeks. Who was their most famous bard ? What celebrated poems
is he supposed to have written? Describe the gods of the Greeks.
Why are they sometimes called anthropomorphic ?

IV. Where did the Greeks found colonies? Tell something of the
development of trade and business among the Greeks. When and
where was coined money first used by them ? Why did the Greeks
fail to unite into a nation? Were there any national bonds among
them?

V. Describe the reforms of Solon ; of Clisthenes. Why were the
sons of Pisistratus not permitted to rule? What was the Spartan
League ?

CHAPTER V

I. THE REPULSE OF THE PERSIANS

102. The Persian Advance to the JEgean. (546 B.C.). In
order to understand the story of Greece we must now recall that
in the year 546 B.C. Cyrus the Persian marched westward to the
JEgean (54). The vast Persian Empire which he founded thus
became a close neighbor of the Greeks directly on their east in
Asia Minor. In the midst of their remarkable progress in civili-
zation the Ionian Greek cities of Asia Minor suddenly lost their
liberty and actually became subjects of Persia.

As we have already learned, the Persians possessed a high de-
gree of culture and an enlightened government, but Persian su-
premacy in Greece would nevertheless have seriously checked the
advance of the Greeks in civilization. There seemed little pros-
pect that the tiny Greek states, even if they united, could success-
fully resist the vast oriental empire, controlling as it did all the
countries of the ancient East, which we have been studying.
Nevertheless the Ionian cities revolted against their Persian lords.

103. First Persian Invasion of Europe. During the struggle
with Persia which followed this revolt the Athenians sent twenty
ships to aid their Ionian kindred. This act brought a Persian
army of revenge, under Darius, into Europe. The long march
of the Persians across the Hellespont and through Thrace cost
them many men, and the fleet which accompanied the Persian
advance was wrecked in trying to round the high promontory of
Mount Athos (492 B.C.). This advance into Greece was there-
fore abandoned for a plan of invasion by water across the ^Egean.

The Repulse of Persia 71

104. Second Persian Invasion. In the early summer of
490 B.C. a considerable fleet of transports and warships bearing
the Persian host sailed across the ^Egean and entered the straits
between Euboea and Attica. The Persians landed on the shores
of Attica, In the Bay of Marathon (see map, p. 50), intending to
march on Athens.

All was excitement and confusion among the Greek states. The
defeat of the revolting Ionian cities had made a deep impression
throughout Greece. Now this Persian foe was camping behind the
hills only a few miles northeast of Athens.

105. Miltiades and the Battle of Marathon (490 B.C.). The
Persian forces probably numbered about twenty thousand men,
but at the utmost the Athenians could not put more than half
this number into the field. Fortunately for them, there was
among their generals a skilled commander named Miltiades.
As the citizen-soldiers of Attica flocked to the city at the call
to arms, Miltiades was able to induce the leaders not to await
the assault of the Persians at Athens but to march across the
peninsula and block the Persian advance among the hills over-
looking the eastern coast and commanding the road to the city.

Unable to entice the Greeks from the advantageous position
they had chosen at Marathon, the Persians at length attempted
to force their way along the road toward Athens. The Athenians
bravely faced the storm of Persian arrows and managed to attack
the enemy in such a manner that the Asiatic army crumbled in
confusion. The Persian bows proved less effective than the Greek
spears. The invaders were routed and fled to their ships, leaving
over six thousand dead upon the field, while the Athenians lost
less than two hundred men. When the Persian commander sailed
around the Attic peninsula and appeared with his fleet before
the port of Athens, he found it unwise to attempt a landing, for
the victorious Athenian army was already encamped beside the
city.

106. Rise of Themistocles. Among the men who stood in the
Athenian ranks at Marathon was Themistocles, the ablest states-
man in Greece. He was convinced of the necessity of building up

72 General History of Europe

a strong navy, and had therefore long been trying to show the
Athenians that the only way in which Athens could hope to meet
the assault of Persia was by making herself undisputed mistress
of the sea. He found it hard to convince his fellow citizens, but
the danger of a new Persian attack led them to change their minds.

MOUND RAISED AS A MONUMENT TO THE FALLEN GREEKS AT MARATHON

The mound is nearly fifty feet high. Excavations undertaken in 1890

disclosed beneath it the bodies of the one hundred and ninety-two Athenian

citizens who fell in the battle

107. Xerxes' Attack; Creation of an Athenian Navy.
Darius the Great, whose remarkable reign we have studied
( 55 )> died without having avenged the defeat of his army at
Marathon. His son and successor, Xerxes, therefore took up the
unfinished task. The Greeks made ready to meet the new Persian
assault. They soon learned that Xerxes' commanders were making
a canal behind the promontory of Athos, to secure a short cut and
thus to avoid all risk of such a wreck as had overtaken their former
fleet in rounding this dangerous point. When the news of this
operation reached Athens, Themistocles was at last able to induce
the Athenian Assembly to build a great fleet of about a hundred

The Repulse of Persia 73

and eighty triremes. The Greeks were then ready for the first
time to oppose the Persian advance by both sea and land.

The design of Themistocles was to meet the Persian fleet first
and fight a decisive naval battle as soon as possible. If victorious,
the Greek fleet commanding the ^gean would then be able to sail
up the eastern coast of Greece and threaten the communications
and supplies of the Persian army. An effort to unite all the
Greek states against the Persian invasion was not successful.
Indeed, Themistocles was able to induce the Spartans to join with
Athens only on condition that Sparta be given command of the
allied Greek fleets.

108. Battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium (480B.C.). In
the summer of 480 B.C. the Asiatic army was approaching the
pass of Thermopylae, just opposite the westernmost point of the
island of Euboea (see map, p. 50). Their fleet moved with them.
It is supposed that the Asiatic host numbered over two hundred
thousand men, with as many more camp followers, while the enor-
mous fleet contained about a thousand vessels, of which two thirds
were warships. Of the latter the Persians lost a hundred or two
in a storm, leaving about five hundred warships available for
action. The Spartan king Leonidas led some five thousand men to
check the Persians at the pass of Thermopylse while the Greek fleet
of less than three hundred triremes was endeavoring to strike the
Persian navy at Artemisium, on the northern coast of Eubrea. This
brought the land and sea forces of both contestants face to face.

After several days' delay the Persians advanced to attack the
Greeks on both land and sea. All day the dauntless Leonidas held
the pass of Thermopylae against the Persian host. Meantime the
Persians were executing two flank movements by land and by sea.
The flank movement by sea failed, but the flanking of the pass
was successful. Taken in front and rear, the heroic Leonidas died
fighting at the head of his small force, which the Persian host
completely annihilated. The death of Leonidas stirred all Greece.
With the defeat of the Greek land forces and the advance of the
Persian army, the Greek fleet, seriously damaged, was obliged
to withdraw to the south. It took up its position in the Bay of

74 General History of Europe

Salamis (see map, p. 52), while the main army of the Spartans
and their allies was drawn up on the Isthmus of Corinth, the
only point at which the Greek land forces could hope to make
another stand.

109. Persians invade Attica and burn Athens. As the Persian
army moved southward from Thermopylae the undaunted Themis-
tocles gathered together the Athenian population and carried them
in transports to the little islands of Salamis and ygina and the
shores of Argolis. The courage of many of the Greeks at Salamis
was shaken as they looked northward, where the far-stretching
Persian host darkened the coast road, while to the south they
could see the Asiatic fleet drawn up off the port of Athens. High
over the Attic hills the flames of the burning Acropolis showed
red against the somber masses of smoke that told them that the
homes of the Athenians lay in ashes.

110. Battle of Salamis (480B.C.). On the heights overlook-
ing the Bay of Salamis, Xerxes, seated on his throne, in the midst
of his brilliant oriental court, watched the battle. The Persian
ships found themselves at a great disadvantage in attempting to
reach the Greek vessels, which were crowded in the narrow waters
between the island of Salamis and the mainland. The huge Asiatic
fleet soon fell into confusion before the Greek attack. The com-
bat lasted the entire day, and when darkness settled on the Bay
of Salamis the Persian fleet had been almost annihilated. The
Athenians were now masters of the sea. By the creation of its
powerful fleet Athens had saved Greece, and Themistocles had
shown himself the greatest of Greek statesmen.

111. Retreat of Xerxes and Expulsion of the Persians.
Xerxes was now troubled lest he should be cut off from Asia by
the victorious Greek fleet. With many losses from disease and
with insufficient supplies he retreated to the Hellespont and with-
drew into Asia, leaving his able general Mardonius with an army
of perhaps fifty thousand men to winter in Thessaly.

But the following spring the Greeks were able to defeat Mar-
donius at Plataea and expel the remnants of Xerxes' vast army
from Greece.

The Repulse of Persia 75

Not only European Greece but Ionia too was saved from
Asiatic despotism. For the Greek triremes crossed over to Asia
Minor and drove out or destroyed the remnants of the Persian
fleet. The Athenians now seized the Hellespont and held the
crossing from Asia into Europe. Thus the grandsons of those
Greeks who had seen Persia advance to the ^Egean (54)
blocked her further progress in the West and thrust her back
from Europe. Indeed, no Persian army ever set foot in European
Greece again.

II. THE RISE OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE

112. Rivalry of Athens and Sparta. As the Athenians re-
turned to look out over the ashes of what was once Athens, amid
which rose the smoke-blackened heights of the naked Acropolis,
they began to realize the greatness of their deliverance and the
magnitude of their victory. With the not too ready help of
Sparta they had crushed the ancient power of Asia. They felt
themselves masters of the world. The past seemed narrow and
limited. A new and greater Athens dawned upon their vision.

This was all very different from the feeling of the stolid Spar-
tans. Sparta was little more than a large military club or camp.
Living in a group of straggling villages, which could hardly be
called a city, greatly attached to their own old customs, proud of
their barbarous habits, still using only iron money, and refusing
to build a wall around their city, the old-fashioned Spartans
looked with misgivings upon the larger world which was opening
to Greek life.

Greece therefore fell into two camps as it were : Sparta, the
home of tradition and privileges granted only to the military
class; Athens, the champion of progress and the leadership of
the people. Accordingly the brief union of Athens and Sparta
against the Persians was followed by a fatal rivalry between these
two leading states, which continued for another century and
finally cost the Greeks the leadership of the ancient world.

113. The Delian League. Immediately after the repulse of the
Persians the Athenians formed a league with the Greek cities of

76 General History of Europe

Ionia and the islands. The members were to contribute money
or ships, and Athens was to have command of the fleet, which
could be used in case of a new attack by the Persian hosts. The
treasury, in charge of Athens, was on the island of Delos, and
hence the name of the new union was the Delian League. It
seemed to the suspicious and jealous Sparta that this was a step
toward a powerful Athenian empire.

114. Athens a Democracy. A council of five hundred paid
members had grown up in Athens and played a great part in the

AN ANCIENT GREEK BALLOT

After the repulse of the Persians Themistocles became unpopular, and the
ungrateful Athenians voted him down and sent him into exile. The cut
shows the name of Themistocles scratched on a fragment of a pottery jar
(ostracon, 100) by some citizen of the six thousand who secured the
ostracism of Themistocles in 472 B.C., or it may have served a similar
purpose in an earlier but unsuccessful attempt to ostracize him

government. It was created by the poorer classes in their conflict
with the nobles in order to form a government by the people which
we call democracy. To enable the poorest citizens to serve on the
juries established by Solon, a law was passed paying jurors for
their services. The citizen courts and the Assembly 'finally gained
the power to enact all the new laws. Moreover, all the higher
offices in the state were, with the exception of the general in chief
(who was elected), to be chosen by lot. This gave every citizen
a chance to be an officeholder. The system was certainly demo-
cratic, but it did not work very smoothly. There was constant
friction between the common people and the nobles, and some-
times fighting. The people were often untrue to their best leaders,
and they even ostracized Themistocles, the ablest statesman in

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The Repulse of Persia 77

Greece. In 460 B.C. a handsome and brilliant young citizen named
Pericles was elected general and was able for thirty years to play
the role of boss in Athens. He was one of the most successful
rulers in the world's history.

115. War with Sparta. Pericles favored a policy of hostility
toward Sparta, and induced the people to construct two long
walls from Athens down to the shore so that they could reach the
port of the Piraeus without danger from a besieging army. The
long war which finally broke out between Athens and Sparta
dragged on for fifteen years and greatly weakened both cities.
Moreover, Athens lost a fleet trying to protect Egypt, which had
revolted from the Persian kings. When peace was concluded with
both Sparta and the Persians it proved to be only a truce, for
still more disastrous conflicts were to follow until the Athenian
power was broken. But Athens is not remembered on account
of the fighting that was going on almost continuously, but for her
writers, philosophers, and artists, and now we may turn to this
more cheerful side of her history.

QUESTIONS

I. Compare the civilization and resources of Greece and Persia at
the time of the first Persian invasion. How did Persia happen to be so
close a neighbor to Greece? What were the results of the first two
Persian invasions? Describe briefly the famous^ battle of Marathon.
How far is Marathon from Athens ? What circumstances induced the
Athenians to build a fleet ? Describe briefly the third Persian invasion.

II. Contrast Athens and Sparta at the time of the expulsion of the
Persians. How did Athens develop into a powerful empire? Why was
the government of Athens called a democracy ?

CHAPTER VI
ATHENS IN THE AGE OF PERICLES

I. HOUSES, EDUCATION, AND SCIENCE

116. The New Athens: Athenian Houses. The hasty re-
building of Athens after the Persians had burned it did not pro-
duce any noticeable changes in the houses, nor were there any
of great size or beauty. The one-story front of even a wealthy
man's house was simply a blank wall, usually of sun-dried brick.
The door, commonly the only opening in the windowless front,
led into a court open to the sky and surrounded by a porch
with . columns adopted from Egypt. Here in the mild climate
of Greece the family could spend much of their time as in a
sitting room. From the court a number of doors opened into
a living room, sleeping rooms, dining rooms, storerooms, and a
tiny kitchen.

The house lacked all conveniences. There was no chimney,
and the smoke from the kitchen fire, though intended to drift
up through a hole in the roof, often choked the room or floated
out of the door. In winter gusty drafts filled the house, for many
entrances were without doors. Glass windowpanes were still un-
known. The only stove was a pan of burning charcoal. Lacking
windows, the ground-floor rooms depended for light entirely on
the doors opening on the court. At night the dim light of an
olive-oil lamp was all that was available. There was no plumbing
or piping of any kind in the house, no drainage, and consequently
no sanitary arrangements. The water supply was brought in jars
by slaves from the nearest well or spring. The simplicity and
bareness of the house itself were in noticeable contrast with the
beautiful furniture and pottery which the Greek craftsmen were
now producing.

Athens in the Age of Pericles 79

The city was about a mile wide and somewhat more in length. The
streets were merely lanes or alleys, narrow and crooked, winding
between the bare mud-brick walls of the low houses. There was
neither pavement nor sidewalk, and a stroll through the town
after a rain meant wading through the mud. All the household
rubbish and garbage were thrown directly into the street, and
there was no system of street-cleaning or of sewerage.

117. Costume. The gorgeous oriental raiment of earlier days
had now largely disappeared in Greece, as bright colors for
men did among us in the days of our great-great-grandfathers.
The women were less inclined to give up the old finery ; unhappily
they had little to think about but clothes and housekeeping. For
Greek citizens still kept their wives in the background ; they were
mere housekeepers, and it was not deemed necessary to provide
schools for the girls.

118. Schools. When a boy was old enough he was sent to
school in charge of an old slave called a pedagogue (a Greek word
meaning "leader of a child"). There were no schools maintained
by the State. School was conducted in his own house by some
poor citizen, who was much looked down upon. He received
his pay from the parents. Besides studying music and learning
to read and write, the pupil memorized many passages from the
old poets, and here and there a boy with a good memory could
repeat the entire Iliad and Odyssey. On the other hand, there was
no instruction in mathematics, geography, or natural science.

119. Athletics. If the wealth and station of his family per-
mitted, the Athenian youth spent much of his time on the new
athletic fields. On the north of Athens was the field known as
the Academy. There was a similar athletic ground, called the
Lyceum, on the east of the city. The later custom of holding
courses of lectures in these places resulted in giving the words
"academy" and "lyceum" the associations they now possess for
us. The chief events in the famous athletic contests at Olympia
(97) were boxing, wrestling, running, jumping, casting the
javelin, and throwing the disk. To these, other contests were
afterward added, especially chariot and horseback races.

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120. Higher Education offered by the Sophists. On the other
hand, there were serious-minded young men who spent their time
on other things. Many a bright youth who had finished his
music, reading, and writing at the old-fashioned private school
annoyed his father by insisting that such schooling was not
enough and by demanding money to pay for a course of lectures

GREEK BOY PULLING OUT A THORN (A*) AND A LATER CARICATURE OF
THE THORN PULLER (5)

The graceful figure of the slender boy so seriously striving to remove the
thorn was probably wrought not long after the Persian wars. It was very
popular in antiquity, as it has also been in modern times. The comical
caricature (B) in clay (terra cotta), though it has lost one foot, is a de-
lightful example of Greek humor expressed in parody

delivered by more modern private teachers called Sophists, a
class of new and clever lecturers who wandered from city to city.
In the lectures of the Sophists a higher education was for the
first time open to young men. In the first place, the Sophists
taught rhetoric and oratory with great success ; fathers who had
no gift of speech had the pleasure of seeing their sons practiced
public speakers. It was through the teaching of the Sophists also
that the first successful writing of Greek prose began. In addition

Athens in the Age of Pericles 81

they taught mathematics and astronomy, and the young men of
Athens for the first time began to learn a little natural science.

When a father of that day found in the hands of his son a book
by one of the great Sophists which began with a statement ques-
tioning the existence of the gods, the new teachings seemed im-
pious. The old-fashioned citizen could at least vote for the
banishment of such impious teachers and burning of their books.

121. Progress in Science and Medicine. Science had begun to
be cultivated in the Ionian cities before the Persian wars ( 96).
In southern Italy a celebrated philosopher, Pythagoras, founded
a school of philosophy and carried on the study of geometry.
Among the sciences medicine, perhaps, made the most progress.
In the first place, the Greek physicians rejected the older belief
that disease was caused by evil demons and endeavored to find
the natural causes of the ailment. To do this they sought to
understand the organs of the body. They discovered that the
brain was the organ of thought, but the arterial system, the circu-
lation of the blood, and the nervous system were still entirely
unknown. The greatest physician of the time was Hippocrates,
who became the founder of scientific medicine.

122. Progress in History- Writing ; Herodotus. Just at the
close of Pericles' life the historian Herodotus, a great traveler,
who had long been engaged on a history of the world, finally
published his famous work. The story was so told that the
glorious leadership of Athens would be clear to all Greeks and
they would see that to her they owed their deliverance from
Persia. Throughout Greece it created a deep impression, and so
tremendous was its effect on the Athenians that they voted Herod-
otus a reward of ten talents some twelve thousand dollars.

II. ART AND LITERATURE

123. Phidias and the Parthenon. The Greeks now began to
produce wonderful painters and architects, and sculptors such as
the world had never seen. It is they who, with the writers, have
made Athens famous through the centuries since Pericles began

82 General History of Europe

the reconstruction of the Parthenon, the most celebrated 'building
in the world. The Parthenon was the temple of the patron god-
dess Athena (87) and stood on the Acropolis. It had been
destroyed by the Persians and was now rebuilt on a scale of
beauty and magnificence hitherto unknown in the Greek world.
Phidias, the greatest of the Athenian sculptors, designed the
famous frieze, a band of carved marble reliefs extending clear
around the building. This portrayed the people of Athens moving
in a stately religious procession. The figures of the men and
horses are of unrivaled beauty and grace. Inside the new temple
rose the gigantic figure of the goddess Athena, wrought by the
masterly hand of Phidias in gold and ivory.

124. The Drama ; ^Eschylus. In spite of the teachings of the
Sophists, most of the Athenians still reverently believed in their
gods, who they thought had raised Athens to the powerful posi-
tion that she occupied. They listened with admiration and awe
to the dramas of their first great playwright, ^Eschylus. He had
fought against the Persians, and in his tragedy The Persians
he told his fellow citizens of the mighty purpose of the gods in
saving Hellas from the Asiatic invaders.

We can picture a citizen in Pericles' time skirting the base
of the Acropolis and reaching the theater to find the people
already crowding the entrance. The play would seem strange
enough to us, for there is little or no scenery ; and the actors,
who are always men, wear grotesque masks, a survival of old
days. The narrative is largely carried on in song by the chorus,
but this is varied by the dialogue of the actors, and the whole
is not unlike an opera.

125. Sophocles. A play of Sophocles is on, and the citizen's
neighbor in the next seat leans over to tell him how as a lad
many years ago he stood on the shore of Salamis, whither his
family had fled, and as they looked down upon the destruction
of the Persian fleet this same Sophocles, then a boy of sixteen,
was in the crowd looking on with the rest. How deeply must the
events of that tragic day have sunk into the boy's soul ! Because,
like ^Eschylus, the first great writer of tragedies, he too sees

84 General History of Europe

the will of the gods in all that happens to men. He exhorts his
audience to worship Zeus, however dark the destiny which the
great god lays upon men. For Sophocles is no friend of the
Sophists, who scoff at the gods.

126. Euripides. Our citizen is inclined to distrust the new
sensational plays of Euripides, who lives on the island of Salamis.
He is a friend and companion of the Sophists, and in matters of
religion his mind is troubled with doubts. All his plays are filled
with these doubts regarding the gods. He has raised a great many
questions which the citizen has never been able to banish from
his own mind. Sophocles, therefore, suits all the old-fashioned
folk, and it is very rarely that Euripides, in spite of his great
ability, has been able to carry off the prize. The citizen feels
some anxiety as he realizes that his own son and most of the other
young men of his set are enthusiastic admirers of Euripides. They
constantly read his plays and talk them over with the Sophists.

127. Comedy. The great tragedies were given in the morning,
and in the afternoon the people were ready for less serious enter-
tainment, such as comedy offered. From the old-time country
festivals the comedy developed into a stage performance. The
comedy-writers did not hesitate to introduce into their plays the
greatest dignitaries of the State. Even Pericles was not spared,
and great philosophers or serious-minded writers like Socrates and
Euripides were represented on the stage and made irresistibly
ridiculous, while the multitudes of Athens vented their delight in
roars of laughter mingled with shouts and cheers.

128. Books and Reading. Now at last books had come to
take an important place in the life of Athens. In our Athenian
citizen's library were Homer and the works of the old classic
poets. They were written on long rolls of papyrus as much as a
hundred and fifty or sixty feet in length. Besides literary works,
all sorts of books of instruction began to appear. The sculptors
wrote of their art, and there was a large group of books on medi-
cine bearing the name of Hippocrates. Textbooks on mathematics
and rhetoric circulated, and the Athenian housekeeper could even
find a cookbook at the bookshop.

THE THEATER OF ATHENS

Thjs theater was the center of the growth and development of Greek drama,
which began as a part of the celebration of the spring feast of Dionysus, god
of the vine and the fruitfulness of the earth. The temple of the god stood
here, just at the left. Long before anyone knew of such a thing as a theater,
the people gathered at this place to watch the celebration of the god's spring
feast, where they formed a circle about the chorus, which narrated in song
the stories of the gods. This circle (called the orchestra) was finally marked
out permanently, seats of wood for the spectators were erected in a semi-
circle on one side, but the singing and action all took place in the circle on
the level of the ground. On the side opposite the public was a booth, or
tent (Greek, skene, "scene"), for the actors, and out of this finally developed
the stage. Here we see the circle, or orchestra, with the stage cutting off
the back part of the circle. The seats are of stone and accommodated
possibly seventeen thousand people. The fine marble seats in the front
row were reserved for the leading men of Athens. The old wooden seats were
still in use in the days when /Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides presented
their dramas here. From the seats the citizens had a grand view of the sea
and the island of /Egina, for orchestra and seats continued roofless, and
a Greek theater was always open to the sky

86 General History of Europe

129. Summary. Under such influences there had grown up at
Athens a large group of intelligent men. They constantly shared
in the tasks and problems of city government, and they also had
the daily opportunity of coming in contact with the greatest works
of art in literature, drama, painting, architecture, and sculpture.
Very different from the old Athens of the days before the repulse of
the Persians, the new Athens had become a wonderful community
such as the ancient world had never known before. It now re-
mained to be seen whether the people, in complete control of
the State, could guide her wisely and maintain her power.

III. FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE

130. Unpopularity of Athens. In spite of all her greatness
Athens was unpopular. Sparta hated her and despised her refine-
ment. The merchants of Corinth were jealous of her successful
business. The island cities which had joined her in the Delian
League ( 113) wanted to withdraw when peace was arranged
with Persia, but Athens would not let them and forced them
to continue to pay tribute to the treasury, which had been trans-
ferred from Delos to Athens. Her dependencies in the northern
ygean revolted and received support from Sparta and Corinth.

131. Second Peloponnesian War. One war had been waged
( 115), now another began in 431 B.C. Pericles had to crowd all
the people around Athens into the city and the walls leading down
to the Piraeus. For season after season the Spartans and other
enemies of Athens beleaguered the city. The plague, brought in
from the Orient, broke out several times and carried off perhaps a
third of the population. Pericles lost control of the people, was
accused of misappropriating the public funds, and fined. Later
he was reflected when matters went from bad to worse, but
he died of the plague. After ten years of war and devastation a
peace was arranged, and the belligerents gave back the conquests
they had made and retained only what they had held before
the war.

THE Two LEADING STYLES OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE, THE DORIC

(A AND B) AND THE IONIC (C AND D). (AFTER LuCKENBACH)

The little Doric building (B) is the treasury of the Athenians at Delphi,
containing their offerings of gratitude to Apollo. On the low base at the
left side of the building were placed the trophies from the battle of Mara-
thon. Over them on the walls are carved hymns to Apollo with musical
notes attached, the oldest musical notation surviving. The beautiful
Ionic building (D) is a restoration of the temple of Victory on the Athenian
Acropolis. Contrast its slender columns with the sturdier shafts of the
Doric style, and it will be seen that the Ionic order is a more delicate and
graceful style. A and C show details of both styles. See page 88 for ex-
ample of the third style of architecture the Corinthian

General History of Europe

132. Alcibiades and the Expedition
to Sicily. Soon the war spirit in Athens
was again aroused by Alcibiades, a
brilliant young man arid a relative of
Pericles. He made the fatal suggestion
that the Athenians send their fleet to
attack Syracuse in Sicily, a colony of
Corinth. Alcibiades was one of the gen-
erals in command of the expedition.
The people of Athens, however, decided
to recall him, for he was accused, with
other young men, of having impiously
mutilated certain sacred images before
he sailed. Thereupon Alcibiades de-
serted to Sparta and gave the enemy the
benefit of his skill and insight. The
Spartans sent a force to aid Syracuse.
The Athenian general managed things
so badly that Athens had to impoverish
herself by sending a second fleet. No
Greek state had ever mustered such
forces and sent them so far away to
fight. In 413 B.C. the Syracusans man-
aged to trap the Athenian fleet in the
harbor. The troops which landed were
captured and sold as slaves. This dis-
aster, together with the ravages of the
plague, brought Athens to the end of
her resources.

133. Distress of Athens. On the ad-
vice of Alcibiades Sparta now laid per-
manent siege to Athens. The Greek cities of Asia Minor and of the
islands turned against her, and, along with Sparta, even received
the support of the Persian satrap in western Asia Minor. So the
members of the former Delian League, established to resist Persia,
were now allied with Persia to fight the founder of the league.

A CORINTHIAN CAPITAL

The shaft of this column
has been cut out in the
drawing between the base
and the capital to save
space. Like the capitals of
Egypt, this one represents
a plant, the leaves of the
acanthus, alternating in
two rows around the cap-
ital and crowned by vo-
lutes rising to the four
corners of a flat block
upon which the supported
stone above rests. The
effect of this capital is
peculiarly rich and ornate

Athens in the Age of Pericles 89

134. Return of Alcibiades. In spite of his notorious treason
the Athenians now asked Alcibiades to return and help them.
Under his guidance they once more got command of the sea.
But a slight reverse of the fleet when he was not even present led
the fickle Athenians to desert him, and he fled to a castle on the
Hellespont which he had in readiness. Here he died in exile
murdered by a Persian. Soon after the flight of Alcibiades the
Athenian fleet was captured by the Spartan general Lysander as it
lay drawn up on the beach in the neighborhood of the Hellespont
(at ^Egospotami).

135. Fall of the Athenian Empire (404 B.C.). At last,
twenty-seven years after Pericles had provoked the war with
Sparta, Athens was exhausted. Not a man slept on the night
when the terrible news of final ruin reached Athens. It was
soon confirmed by the appearance of Lysander's fleet blockading
the Piraeus. The grain ships from the Black Sea could no longer
reach the port of Athens. Starvation finally forced the stubborn
democratic leaders to submit, and the city surrendered. The
Long Walls and the fortifications of the Piraeus were torn down,
the remnant of the fleet was handed over to Sparta, all foreign
possessions were given up, and Athens was forced to enter the
Spartan League. These hard conditions saved the city from the
complete destruction demanded by Corinth. Thus the century
which had so gloriously begun for Athens with the repulse of
Persia, the century which under the leadership of such men as
Themistocles and Pericles had seen her rise to supremacy in all
that was best and noblest in Greek life, closed with the annihila-
tion of the Athenian Empire (404 B.C.).

QUESTIONS

I. Describe the houses in Athens in the time of Pericles. What was
the appearance of the city ? Were there any schools at this time ?
What instruction did a Greek boy receive? Describe the importance
of athletics. What were the chief athletic events? What were
the Academy and Lyceum ? What opportunities were offered for
higher education? What was the nature of the teachings of the

QO General History of Europe

Sophists ? Why were these teachers opposed ? What progress was
made in science? in medicine? Who was the first historian of whom
we have any account ? With what events does his history deal ?

II. Describe the most celebrated building of Athens the Parthenon.
What importance did the drama have at this time ? Tell something of
the plays of iEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Can you give the
names of any of their plays? Contrast as far as you can the Greek
play with our own. What two kinds of plays were given? Define a
tragedy ; a comedy. Can you recall any examples in English, for in-
stance, among the plays of Shakespeare? What books were available
at this time?

III. Why was Athens looked upon with jealousy by the other
cities of Greece? Review the Second Peloponnesian War. Who was
Alcibiades? Describe the fall of Athens.

NOTE. This illustration shows us the lovely porch of the Maidens built to adorn the
temple on the Acropolis known as the Erechtheum. It was a very ancient sanctuary of
Athena, supposed to have gained its name because it was originally a shrine in the castle
of the prehistoric king Erechtheus on the Acropolis. The temple was believed to stand
on the spot where Athena overcame Poseidon in her battle with him for the possession
of Attica, and here was the mark of the sea god's trident which he struck into the earth.
Here also grew the original olive tree which Athena summoned from the earth as a gift
to the Athenians. The building was erected during the last Peloponnesian war, in spite
of the financial distress of Athens at that time. It is one of the most beautiful archi-
tectural works left us by the Greeks.

CHAPTER VII

CONTINUED CONFLICTS AMONG THE GREEK STATES ;
ART AND LITERATURE AFTER PERICLES

I. POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS

136. Spartan Rule ; Struggle of Oligarchy and Democracy.

The long struggle of Athens for the leadership of the Greek world
had failed. It now remained to be seen whether her victorious
rival, Sparta, was any better suited to undertake such leadership.
Military garrisons commanded by Spartan officers were placed
in many of the Greek cities, and Spartan control was maintained
in a much more offensive form than was the old tyranny of
Athens. In each city the Spartans established and supported by
military force a government carried on by a small group of men
from the noble or upper class. The rule of a small group was
called oligarchy, a Greek term meaning "rule of a few." In this
violent way Sparta was able to repress the democracies which had
been hostile to her. In some cities the oligarchies were guilty of
the worst excesses, murdering or banishing their political oppo-
nents and seizing their fortunes. When the atrocities of the oli-
garchs, backed by Sparta, became quite unbearable in any city,
the people would be roused to revolution and would drive their
rulers out. So there was constant disorder within the Greek states
as well as continued wars between them. It is a dreary story
which need not be told here.

137. Rise of Professional Soldiers. The Peloponnesian Wars
had kept large numbers of Greeks so long in the army that many
of them remained in military life and became professional sol-
diers. Soldiers serving a foreign state for pay are called "mer-
cenaries." The Greek youths who could find no opportunities at
home were therefore enlisting as soldiers in Egypt, in Asia Minor,

92 General History of Europe

and in Persia, and the best young blood of Greece was being
spent to strengthen foreign states instead of building up the
power of the Greeks.

During the Peloponnesian Wars military leadership had also
become a profession. Athens produced a whole group of pro-
fessional military leaders; the most talented among these was
Xenophon. About 400 B.C. he took service in Asia Minor with
a young Persian prince who was planning to overthrow his brother,
the Persian king. The attempt was unsuccessful and in the re-
treat from Babylon Xenophon led ten thousand Greek merce-
naries up the Tigris past the ruins of Nineveh and through the
mountains until they reached the Black Sea and finally returned
home in safety. Of this extraordinary raid into the Persian Em-
pire Xenophon has left a history called the Anabasis (" up-
going"), one of the great books which have descended to us
from ancient times.

Just as in our own day there has been a great development of
warlike devices, such as submarines, tanks, and poisonous gases,
so the Greeks now began to introduce new war machinery
from the East, such as movable towers and battering-rams
for attacking cities. At the same time the size of the war-
ships was increased. The newer ones had five banks of oars
instead of three, and the older triremes could no longer face these
improved and powerful vessels. Fighting continued, in spite of
all the disasters it caused, to be one of the chief preoccupations
of the Greeks.

138. Final Humiliation of Sparta. Sparta managed to main-
tain her leadership for over thirty years. But she had to face
frequent revolts on the part of the cities which resented her
overlordship. The city of Thebes finally combined with Athens
to crush Sparta. After a long war the distinguished Theban gen-
eral and statesman Epaminondas decisively defeated the Spartans
in the battle of Leuctra (371 B.C.). Over half of the Spartans
engaged were slain and with them their king. It became clear
that Sparta was not invincible, and she lost the repute which she
had so long enjoyed on account of her military prowess.

Art and Literature after Pericles 93

139. Fall of Thebes and Political Prostration of the Whole
Greek World. It then remained to be seen whether Thebes, the
new victor, could accomplish what Athens and Sparta had failed
in doing and could create a Greek nation. But the supremacy
of the Thebans was based upon the genius of a single man, and
when Epaminondas fell in battle (362 B.C.), the power of Thebes
collapsed.

Thus the only powerful Greek states which might have welded
the Hellenic world into a nation had crushed each other. Hellas
was therefore doomed to fall helplessly before a conqueror from
the outside. Yet in spite of their political decline during the two
generations since Pericles, the Greeks, and especially the Athe-
nians, had made such marvelous progress in art, architecture,
literature, philosophy, and science that this period is regarded as
one of the greatest in the history of man.

II. GREEK ART, LITERATURE, AND PHILOSOPHY

140. Importance of Athens. In spite of the violence and dis-
order which we have been describing, there was a great deal of
what we should call prosperity. Athens was the leading business
center of the Mediterranean. While farming declined, manu-
facture and trade flourished, notwithstanding the constant losses
due to war. Rich men combined to form the first great banks at
Athens, which became the financial center of the ancient world,
as New York and London are in our day. Her bankers became
the proverbially rich men of the time. So there was wealth and
leisure for the more fortunate classes at least. Instead of becom-
ing mere money getters, however, the Athenians showed an
extraordinary interest in art and philosophy.

141. The Sculpture of Praxiteles. Sculpture had changed
much since the days of Pericles. The statues of men and women
were no longer modeled in the rigid and severe form which had
previously prevailed. Praxiteles, by far the most famous sculp-
tor of this period, set the example of a more human and natural
way of carving his marble figures. Unlike the cold and majestic

General History of Europe

A WALL-PAINTING AT POMPEII SHOWING THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA

The works of the great fourth-century artists have all perished, but it is
supposed that the later house decorators and wall-painters of Italy copied
the old masterpieces. Hence the scene here shown probably conveys some
impression of old Greek painting. The scene shows us the maid Iphigenia
as she is carried away to be slain as a sacrifice. The figure at the left,
standing with veiled face, suggests, as often in modern art, the dreadfulness
of a coming catastrophe, which human eyes are unwilling to behold. Note
the skill with which human limbs are made to show thickness and roundness

representations of the gods which we have from the hand of
Phidias, the gods and goddesses of Praxiteles appear as very lovely
and ideal human beings, who stand at ease in graceful attitudes
with care-free faces.

142. Painting and Discovery of Perspective. The introduc-
tion of painting on wooden tablets made it possible for people of

HERMES PLAYING WITH THE CHILD DIONYSUS

The uplifted right hand (now broken off) of the god probably held a
bunch of grapes, with which he was amusing the child. This wonderful
work was wrought by the sculptor Praxiteles and is one of the few original
works of the greatest Greek sculptors found in Greece. Nearly all such
Greek originals have perished, and we know them only in ancient Roman
copies found in Italy. This great work was dug out at Olympia

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Art and Literature after Pericles 95

wealth to have pictures in their own houses, and in this way
private support of art increased and painting made more rapid
progress than ever before. An Athenian artist named Apollo-
dorus now began to notice that the light usually fell on an
object from one side, leaving the unlighted side so dark that but
little color showed on that side, while on the lighted side the colors
came out very brightly. When he painted a woman's arm in this
way, lo, it looked round and seemed to stand out from the sur-
face of the painting ; whereas in the older Greek paintings all
the human limbs looked perfectly flat. By representing figures
in the background of his paintings as smaller than those in front,
Apollodorus also introduced what we now call perspective.

143. Age of Conflict after the Death of Pericles. Any young
Athenian born at about the time of Pericles' death found himself
in an age of conflict wherever he went : an age of conflict abroad
on the field of battle as he stood with spear and shield in the
Athenian ranks in the long years of warfare between Athens,
Sparta, and Thebes; an age of conflict at home in Athens amid
the tumult and even bloodshed of the streets and markets of the
city, as the common people, the democracy, struggled with the
nobles for the leadership of the State ; and finally an age of con-
flict in himself as he felt his own faith in old things struggling to
maintain itself against new views which were coming in.

He recalled the childhood tales of the gods, which he had heard
at his nurse's knee. When he had asked her how the gods looked
she had pointed to a beautiful vase in his father's house. There
were the gods on the vase in human form, and so he had long
thought of them as people like those of Athens. Later at school
he had memorized long passages of the Homeric poems and
learned more about the gods' adventures on earth. Then he had
begun to go to the theater, where he was much delighted with the
comedies of Aristophanes, the greatest of the comedy writers
(127). Aristophanes ridiculed such men as Euripides and the
Sophists, who doubted the existence of the gods.

144. Victory of Doubt; Triumph of Euripides. When, how-
ever, this young Athenian left his boyhood teacher behind and went

9 6

General History of Europe

to hear the lectures of some noted Sophist ( 120), he was told
that no one knew with any certainty whether the gods existed, nor
what they were like. Whatever the gods might be like, the
Sophist was sure they were not such beings as he found pictured
in the Homeric poems. The youth and his educated friends were

all reading the splendid plays
of Euripides ( 126), with their
uncertainties and struggles and
doubts about life and the gods.
Euripides, to whom the Athe-
nians had rarely voted a victory
during his lifetime, had now tri-
umphed ; and his triumph meant
the defeat of the old beliefs, the
rejection of the old ideas of the
gods, and the incoming of a new
age in thought and religion.

145. Socrates. One of the
chief doubters of the time was a
poor Athenian named Socrates,
whose ill-clothed figure and ugly
face had become familiar in the
streets to all the folk of Athens
since the outbreak of the second
war with Sparta. He was ac-
customed to stand about the market place all day long entering
into conversation with anyone he met and asking a great many
questions very hard to answer. Socrates' questions left most people
in a very confused state of mind, for he seemed to throw
doubt on many things which the Athenians had hitherto taken
for granted.

Yet the familiar and homely figure of this stonecutter's son
was the personification of the best and highest things in Greek
genius. Without desire for office or a political career, Socrates'
greatest interest nevertheless was the State. He believed that the
State, made up as it was of citizens, could be purified and saved

PORTRAIT OF EURIPIDES

The name of the poet ( 126) is

engraved in Greek letters along the

lower edge of the bust

Art and Literature after Pericles

only by the improvement of the individual citizen through the edu-
cation of his mind to understand and appreciate virtue and justice.

Inspired by this belief, Socrates
went about in Athens engaging his
fellow citizens in discussion, with the
hope that he might teach them better
to understand themselves and the pur-
poses of life. While Socrates made no
appeal to religion as an influence to-
ward good conduct, he nevertheless
showed himself a deeply religious man,
believing with devout heart in the
gods, although they were not those of
Homer, and even feeling, like the He-
brew prophets, that there was a divine
voice within him calling him to his
high mission.

Socrates' fame spread far and wide,
and when the Delphian oracle ( 87)
was asked who was the wisest of liv-
ing men it responded with the name of
this greatest of Greek teachers. A group
of pupils gathered about him, among
whom the most famous was Plato.
But the aims and noble efforts of Soc-
rates were misunderstood. His keen
questions seemed to undermine all the
old beliefs.

146. The Trial and Death of Soc-
rates (399 B. c.). So the Athenians
summoned Socrates to trial for corrupting the youth with all
sorts of doubts and impious teachings. He might easily have left
Athens when the complaint was lodged against him. Nevertheless
he appeared for trial, made a powerful and dignified defense, and,
when the court voted the death penalty, passed his last days
in tranquil conversation with his friends and pupils, in whose

PORTRAIT OF SOCRATES

This is not the best of the
numerous surviving portraits
of Socrates, but it is espe-
cially interesting because it
bears under the philosopher's
name nine inscribed lines
containing a portion of his
public defense as reported
by Plato in his Apology

98 General History of Europe

presence he then quietly drank the fatal hemlock poison. Thus
the Athenian democracy, which had so mismanaged the affairs of
the nation in war, brought upon itself much greater reproach in
quite unjustly condemning to death its most profound thinker
and reformer.

147. Writing of History. The change in Greek belief was also
evident in a new and remarkable history. Its author was Thu-
cydides, the first scientific writer of history. A generation earlier
Herodotus' history ( 122) had represented the fortunes of na-
tions as due to the will of the gods ; but Thucydides, with an in-
sight like that of modern historians, traced historical events to
their earthly causes in the world of men where they occur. There
stood the two books, Herodotus and Thucydides, side by side in
the citizen's library. There were only thirty years or so between
them, but how different the beliefs of the two historians, the old
and the new! The history of Thucydides has been one of the
world's greatest prose classics ever since.

148. Plato (427-347 B. c.) and his Dialogues. Plato, by far the
most gifted of the pupils of Socrates, wrote out much of his mas-
ter's teachings in the form of imaginary conversations between
Socrates and those who flocked around him to discuss the deep
problems of man's nature and duty. These Dialogues are at
once so charming and so full of profound thought that they are
still ranked among the most wonderful books of all the ages.
They give us a lively idea of the informal way in which the
intellectual Athenians were wont to meet in the market place or
in the house of some thoughtful citizen and confer together on
the good, the true, and the beautiful. Among the most famous
of the immortal Dialogues are those describing Socrates' defense
of his teaching against his accusers and the calm manner in which
he cheerfully discussed the immortality of the soul with his
companions while he sat in prison and waited for the fatal draught
of the poisonous hemlock to be administered. He faced death
serenely, assured that his spirit would not perish with the body.
It is through the writings of Plato that we learn most of what
we know of Socrates, for he himself wrote nothing.

Art and Literature after Pericles 99

149. Aristotle (334-322 B. c.). One of Plato's students, Aris-
totle, was destined to gain a reputation through the ages almost
greater than that of his master. With the help of his own
advanced students Aristotle composed treatises on almost every
imaginable subject politics, ethics, economics, psychology, zool-
ogy, astronomy, poetry, and the drama. Indeed, it seems to have
been his ambition to tell everything that had ever been discovered
and present this information in such a way that others could
easily learn it. His skill and knowledge were so great that in the
Middle Ages his books were almost the only ones studied in the
medieval universities, and he is still revered as perhaps the great-
est scholar that the world has ever produced. Certainly the
writings of no other man have ever enjoyed such long and wide-
spread and unquestioned authority.

150. Continued Disunion of the Greeks and their Loss of
Independence. In one of his most famous dialogues, The Repub-
lic, Plato discusses the best organization of government. It is
remarkable that he always has in mind the old city-state of the
Greeks and fails to see that the real question of his day was the
relation of the various city-states like Athens, Sparta, Corinth,
and Thebes to one another. He did not realize that no com-
munity, no matter how well organized, can stand absolutely
alone, but must, if war and confusion are to be avoided, come to
some good understanding with its neighbors. And this under-
standing the Greek cities had never reached, for they had never
been willing to establish anything like a strong and permanent
federal government, such as we have in the United States.

One of the men who saw all this most clearly was the great
orator and statesman Isocrates. He eloquently urged the Greeks
to neglect their petty differences and enlarge their local patriotism
into a loyalty toward the Greeks as a whole, and so create a Greek
nation which should be able to defend itself against the "bar-
barians," or non-Greek world. But the cities stubbornly refused
to give up their independence, and as a consequence they soon
fell under the sway of a foreign power, Macedonia, and later, as
we shall see, were merged into the Roman Empire.

ioo General History of Europe

151. Summary of Greek Achievement after Pericles. The
constant conflicts among the Greek cities, which proved so fatal
to their political independence, had nevertheless spurred on each
city to surpass its rivals in art and literature and all that is finest
in civilization. Great as was the age of Pericles, the age that
followed was still greater. The tiny Athenian state, having at
most twenty-five or thirty thousand citizens, had furnished in
this period a group of great artists and thinkers such as never in
all the history of the world arose elsewhere in so small a com-
munity. Their names today are among the most illustrious in
human history, and the achievements which are associated with
them form one of the greatest chapters in the higher life of man.

QUESTIONS

I. What is the meaning of "oligarchy"? Describe the condition of
Greece under the leadership of Sparta. What are "mercenaries"?
When were professional soldiers and professional military leadership
introduced into Greece? Can you give examples in modern states of
professional soldiers and citizen soldiers ? What do we usually call the
citizen soldiers in America? What circumstances led Xenophon to
write the Anabasis ? What improvements were made in military
equipment? Where did the Greeks learn the use of siege machinery?
How long was Sparta able to maintain her supremacy? What com-
bination succeeded in overthrowing Sparta? What put an end to the
constant fighting between the city-states?

II. Describe the development of business at Athens. What advance
was made in sculpture? What discoveries in the art of painting were
made by Apollodorus? What newer ideas were coming in during the
period of conflict? Tell what you know of the plays of Euripides.
Who was Socrates ? Did he leave any writings ? How do we know of
him ? What is the Socratic method of teaching ? What was the fate
of Socrates ? What advance was made in the writing of history ? How
did the history of Thucydides differ from that of Herodotus? Tell
what you know of Plato. What contributions did Aristotle make to
knowledge? What practical truth did Isocrates try to teach the
Greeks ?

CHAPTER VIII

ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE HELLENISTIC AGE
I. MACEDONIA AND ALEXANDER THE GREAT

152. Philip of Macedonia and his New Army. A new power
was developing to the north of the Greek cities, which was to
play a great part in Greek affairs. This was Macedonia. Its
first king of importance was Philip, the father of Alexander the
Great. He came into control of Macedonia in 360 B.C. He had
a Greek education and aspired to make himself master of the old
and famous Greek cities to the south. His first step was to
create a new and powerful army organized as a permanent institu-
tion. It was made up of infantry which fought in " phalanxes,"
or compact bodies of warriors trained to work together, and
cavalry, which also moved about in masses and supported the
phalanxes. This formed the very powerful Macedonian war
machine by means of which Philip and his far more celebrated son
were able to gain their astonishing victories.

153. Philip gains the Leadership of the Greeks (338B.C.).
Philip steadily extended the territory of his kingdom eastward
and northward until it reached the Danube and the Hellespont.
His progress soon brought him into conflict with the Greek states,
which controlled cities in this northern region. Two parties
then arose at Athens. One of them was quite willing to accept
Philip's proffered friendship and to recognize in him the savior
of the Greek world. The leader of this party was Isocrates
(150), now an aged man. The opposing party denounced
Philip as a barbarous tyrant who was endeavoring to enslave
the free Greek cities. The leader of this anti-Macedonian party
was the great orator Demosthenes. His Philippics, as his public

IO2*

General History oj Europe

speeches' denouncing King Philip are called, are among the finest
specimens of Greek eloquence.

After a long series of hostilities Philip defeated the Greek forces
in a final battle of Chseronea (338 B.C.) and firmly established
his position as head of a league of all the Greek states except

Sparta, which still held out against
him. He had begun operations in
Asia Minor intended to set free the
Greek cities there, when, two years
after the battle of Chaeronea, he was
stabbed by conspirators during the
revelries at the wedding of his
daughter (336 B.C.).

154. Education and Character of
Alexander the Great. The kingship
passed into the hands of Philip's son
Alexander, a youth of only twenty
years. Seven years before, when
Alexander was thirteen, his father
had summoned to the Macedonian
court the great philosopher Aristotle
to be the teacher of the young prince.
Under his instruction Alexander had learned to know and love the
masterpieces of Greek literature, especially the Homeric scngs.
The deeds of the ancient heroes touched and kindled his youthful
imagination and lent a heroic tinge to his whole character.

155. Alexander subjugates the Greek States. The Greek
states were still unwilling to submit to Macedonian leadership,
and they fancied they could easily overthrow so young a ruler as
Alexander. They were soon to learn how old a head there was
on his shoulders. When Thebes revolted against Macedonia for
the second time after Philip's death, Alexander captured and
completely destroyed the city, sparing only the house of the great
poet Pindar. All Greece was thus taught to fear and respect his
power, but learned at the same time to recognize his reverence for
Greek culture. The Greek states, accordingly, with the exception

PORTRAIT BUST OF
DEMOSTHENES

Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age 103

of Sparta, formed a league and elected Alexander as its leader
and general. As a result they all sent troops to increase his army.

156. Alexander, the Champion of Hellas against Asia. The
Asiatic campaign which Alexander now planned was to make it
clear that he was the champion of Hellas against Asia and its
Persian rulers. Leading his army into Asia Minor, he stopped at
Troy and camped upon the plain where the Greek heroes of the
Homeric songs had once fought. Here he worshiped in the temple
of Athena and prayed for the success of his cause against Persia.
He thus contrived to throw around himself the heroic memories
of the Trojan War, till all Hellas beheld the dauntless figure of
the Macedonian youth as if he had stepped out of that glorious
age which in their belief had long ago united Greek arms against
Asia.

157. Battle of the Granicus (334 B.C.) and Conquest of
Asia Minor. Meantime the Persian king had hired thousands of
Greek heavy-armed infantry, and they were now to do battle
against their own Greek countrymen. At the river Granicus, in
his first critical battle, Alexander had no difficulty in scattering
the forces of the western Persian satraps. Marching southward
he retook the Greek cities which had long before been conquered
by the Persians and freed all western Asia Minor forever from
the Persian yoke.

Alexander then pushed boldly eastward and rounded the north-
east corner of the Mediterranean. Here, as he looked out upon
the Fertile Crescent, there was spread before him the vast
Asiatic world where the family of the Great King had been su-
preme for two centuries. In this vast arena he was to be the
champion for the next ten years (333-323 B.C.).

158. Defeat of Darius III at the Battle of Issus (333 B.C.).
At this important point, by the Gulf of Issus (see map, p. 104),
Alexander met the main army of Persia, under the personal com-
mand of King Darius III, the last of the Persian line. The
Macedonians swept the Asiatics from the field (see Ancient Times,
Fig. 202), and the disorderly retreat of Darius never stopped
until the Euphrates had been crossed. The Great King then

IO4 General History of Europe

sent a letter to Alexander, desiring terms of peace and offering to
accept the Euphrates as a boundary, and arranging that all
Asia west of that river be handed over to the Macedonians.

Alexander's friends advised him to accept the terms. But
before the kindling eyes of the young king there rose a vision of
world empire controlled by Greek civilization a vision to which
the duller eyes about him were entirely closed. He waved aside
his father's old counselors and decided to advance to the conquest
of the whole Persian Empire.

159. Conquest of Phoenicia and Egypt. The danger from
the Persian fleet was now carefully and deliberately met by a
march southward along the eastern end of the Mediterranean.
All the Phoenician seaports on the way were captured. Feeble
Egypt, so long a Persian province, then fell an easy prey to the
Macedonian army. The Persian fleet, thus deprived of all its
home harbors and cut off from its home government, soon
scattered and disappeared.

160. Alexander Lord of the Ancient East (330 B.C.). Hav-
ing thus cut off the hostile fleet in his rear, Alexander returned
from Egypt to Asia, and, marching eastward along the Fertile
Crescent, crossed the Tigris close by the mounds which had
long covered the ruins of Nineveh. Here, near Arbela, the Great
King had gathered his forces for a last stand (see map, p. 104).
Although greatly outnumbered, the Macedonians crushed the
Asiatic army and forced the Persians into disgraceful flight. In
a few days Alexander was living in the winter palace of the
Persian king in Babylon.

At last both the valley of the Nile and the Fertile Crescent,
the homes of the two earliest civilizations, were now in the
hands of a European power and under the control of a newer and
higher civilization. Less than five years had passed since the
young Macedonian had entered Asia.

161. Alexander's Campaigns in the Far East (330-324 B.C.)
and his Return to Babylon (323 B.C.). In the course of the next
few years Alexander marched his army northward across the
Oxus and the Jaxartes rivers, southward across the Indus and the

ALEXANDRIA

Statute Miles
OV21 2

1. Royal War Harbor 4. Museum and Library

2. Theater 6. Mauiolei

3. Inner Royal Castle 6. Gymnast

Pharos L.H

EMPIRE O

ALEXANDER TH

Empire of Alexa
States subject tc
States independt
Marches of Alex;
Voyage of Near<

Lake
M ar e o t i 3

Scale of Statute
100 200 300

Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age 105

frontiers of India, into the valley of the Ganges, where at last
the complaints of his weary troops forced him to turn back.

The return march through desert wastes cost many lives as the
thirsty and ill-provisioned troops dropped by the way. Over seven
years after he had left the great city of Babylon, Alexander
entered it again. He had been less than twelve years in Asia,
and he had carried Greek civilization into the very heart of the
continent. At important points along his line of march he had
founded Greek cities bearing his name and had set up kingdoms
which were to be centers of Greek influence on the frontiers
of India.

162. His Plans to conquer the Western Mediterranean. In
the midst of all this he carefully worked out a plan of campaign
for the conquest of the western Mediterranean. His program in-
cluded the building of a fleet of a thousand battleships with which
to subdue Italy, Sicily, and Carthage. It also included the con-
struction of a vast roadway along the northern coast of Africa,
to be built at enormous expense, to furnish a highway for his
army from Egypt to Carthage and the Atlantic.

163. Deification of Alexander. The great rulers of the Orient
had been regarded as descended from gods. Alexander now
deemed it advisable to secure a similar distinction for himself.
He therefore had the Egyptian priests salute him as the son
of their god Amon (Ancient Times, 706). He adopted oriental
usages, among which was the requirement that all who approached
him on official occasions should bow^down to the earth and kiss
his feet. Formal notification was sent to all the Greek cities
that he was henceforth to be officially numbered among the gods
of each city, and that as such he was to receive the State offerings
which each city presented. In this way absolute monarchy and
the divine right of kings were introduced into Europe for the
first time.

164. Death of Alexander (323 B.C.). As Alexander was pre-
paring for a campaign to subjugate the Arabian peninsula which
would leave him free to carry out his great plans for the conquest
of the western Mediterranean he fell sick, probably as the result

io6 General History of Europe

of a drunken debauch, and after a few days died (323 B.C.). He
was thirty-three years of age and had reigned thirteen years.

Alexander has been well termed "the Great." Few men of
genius, and certainly none in so brief a career, have left so in-
delible a mark upon the course of human affairs. Alexander's
amazing conquests had placed the Orient under European leaders,
and from that day to this with some intervals the effort to
force Western leadership on the Orient has continued.

165. Division of Alexander's Realm ; the Ptolemies in
Egypt. After a generation of exhausting wars by land and sea
Alexander's empire fell into three main parts, in Europe, Asia,
and Africa, with one of his generals, or one of their successors,
at the head of each. In Europe, Macedonia was in the hands
of Antigonus, grandson of Alexander's commander of the same
name. He endeavored also to maintain control of Greece. In
Asia most of the territory of the former Persian Empire was
under the rule of Alexander's general Seleucus, who founded the
important city of Antioch. In Africa, Egypt was held by Ptolemy,
one of the cleverest of Alexander's Macedonian leaders. He grad-
ually made himself king and became the founder of a dynasty or
family of kings, whom we call the Ptolemies. He took up his
residence at the great harbor city of Alexandria, the city which
Alexander had founded in the western Nile delta. For nearly a
century (roughly the third century B.C.) the eastern Mediterra-
nean, from Greece to Syria and from the ^Egean to the Nile delta,
was under the control of Egypt.

166. Decline of Greece. Greece was no longer commercial
leader of the Mediterranean. The victories of Alexander the
Great had opened up the vast Persian Empire to Greek commer-
cial colonists, who poured into all the favorable centers of trade.
Not only did Greece decline in population, but business pros-
perity and the leadership in trade passed eastward, especially to
Alexandria and Antioch. As the Greek cities lost their wealth-
they could no longer support fleets or mercenary armies, and they
soon became too feeble to protect themselves. Although they
began to combine in alliances or federations for mutual assistance,

Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age 107

they were unable to throw off the Macedonian yoke. In spite of
the political feebleness of the Greeks in this age, their civilization
maintained its high level under the successors of Alexander.

II. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE HELLENISTIC AGE

167. The Hellenistic Age. 1 The three centuries following the
death of Alexander are called the Hellenistic Age, meaning the

RESTORATION OF THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF PERGAMUM, A HELLENISTIC
CITY OF ASIA MINOR. (AFTER THIERSCH)

Pergamum, on the west coast of Asia Minor, became a flourishing city-
kingdom in the third century B.C. under the successors of Alexander the
Great. The dwellings of the citizens were all lower down, in front of the
group of buildings shown here. These public buildings stand on three
terraces lower, middle, and upper. The large lower terrace (.4) was the
main market place, adorned with a vast square marble altar of Zeus,
having colonnades on three sides, beneath which was a long sculptured band
(frieze) of warring gods and giants. On the middle terrace (B), behind
the colonnades, was the famous library of Pergamum, where the stone bases
of library shelves still survive. The upper terrace (C) once contained the
palace of the king; the temple now there was built by the Roman emperor
Trajan in the second century of the Christian Era

period in which Greek civilization spread throughout the ancient
world. The orientals now had Greek-speaking rulers and were
constantly carrying on business with Greek merchants; they

l For a fuller sketch of Hellenistic civilization see Ancient Times, 727-768.

io8

General History of Europe

found many Greek books to read and Greek plays to attend.
Greek thus gradually became the prevailing language of the great
cities and of an enormous world stretching from southern Italy
eastward on both sides of the Mediterranean far into Asia.

THE LIGHTHOUSE OF THE HARBOR OF ALEXANDRIA IN THE HELLENISTIC
AGE. (AFTER THIERSCH)

The harbor of Alexandria (see corner map) was protected by an island
called Pharos, which was connected with the city by a causeway of stone.
On the island, and bearing its name (Pharos), was built (after 300 B.C.) a
vast stone lighthouse, some three hundred and seventy feet high (that is, over
thirty stories, like those of a modern skyscraper). It shows how vast was the
commerce and wealth of Alexandria only a generation after it was founded
by Alexander the Great, when it became the New York or Liverpool of the
ancient world, the greatest port on the Mediterranean

City life was more comfortable than ever before. The houses
were more beautifully furnished and decorated, and for the first
time water pipes were installed connected with a town water
supply. The streets also were equipped with drainage channels
or pipes, a thing unknown in the days of Pericles.

168. Alexandria : its Commerce and Splendid Public Build-
ings. In numbers, wealth, commerce, and in all the arts of civil-
ization Alexandria was now the greatest city of the whole ancient

EXAMPLE OF HELLENISTIC STATUARY

The kings of Pergamum had to repel an invasion of the Gauls from the
North, and this struggle is represented on one of the surviving pieces of
sculpture. Here we have one of the defeated Gallic chieftains, who with
one hand supports his dying wife and with the other plunges his sword into
his own breast, at the same time casting a terrified glance at the pursuing
enemy. The tremendous power of the barbarian's muscular figure is in
startling contrast with the helpless limbs of the woman

SCULPTURES FROM THE HELLENISTIC CITY OF PERGAMUM

Above is a Gallic trumpeter, as fee sinks in death with his trumpet at his
feet. Below is a part of the frieze around the great altar of Zeus at
Pergamum. It pictures the mythical struggle between gods and giants. A
giant at the left, whose limbs end in serpents, raises over his head a
great stone to hurl it at the goddess on the right

Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age 109

world. Along the harbors stretched the extensive Alexandrian
docks, where ships which had braved the Atlantic storms off the
coasts of Spain and Africa 'moored beside oriental craft which
had penetrated even to the gates of the Indian Ocean. From far
across the sea the mariners approaching at night could catch the
light of a lofty beacon shining from a gigantic lighthouse tower
which marked the entrance to the harbor of Alexandria.

From the deck of a great merchant ship of over four thousand
tons the incoming traveler might look cityward past the lighthouse
and beyond the great war fleet of the Ptolemies and see, embow-
ered in the rich green masses of tropical verdure, the magnificent
marble buildings of Alexandria: the royal palace, the museum,
the gymnasiums, baths, stadiums, assembly hall, concert hall,
market places, and basilicas, all. surrounded by the residence
quarters of the citizens. Unfortunately not one of the splendid
buildings of ancient Alexandria still stands.

169. Scientific Advance ; Archimedes. The keen intelligence
of this wonderful age was everywhere evident. Some interesting
inventions were made ; for example, the screw and the cogwheel.
One of the famous feats of the great scientist Archimedes was his
arrangement of a series of pulleys and levers which so multiplied
power that he was able by turning a light crank to launch a
large three-masted ship standing fully loaded on the dock. After
witnessing such feats as this the people easily believed his proud
boast, " Give me a place to stand on and I will move the earth."
But Archimedes was far more than an inventor of practical appli-
ances. He was a scientific investigator of the first rank, the dis-
coverer of what we now call "specific gravity." Besides his skill
in physics he was also the greatest of ancient mathematicians.

170. The Alexandrian Scientists. Although Archimedes lived
in Syracuse he was in close correspondence with his friends in
Alexandria, who formed the greatest body of scientists in the
ancient world. They lived together at the Museum, a sort of
university where they were paid salaries and supported by the
Ptolemies. They formed the first scientific institution founded
and supported by a government. They were the forerunners of

General History of Europe

systematic scientific research, and their books were regarded as
authorities for nearly two thousand years, until science took a
new start in modern times.

The most famous mathematician among them was Euclid. His
system of geometry was so logically built up that in modern Eng-
land Euclid's geometry is still
retained as a schoolbook
the oldest schoolbook in use
today. The Ptolemies built
an astronomical observatory
at Alexandria, and although it
was, of course, without tele-
scopes, important observations
and discoveries were made.
An astronomer of little fame,
named Aristarchus, who lived
on the island of Samos, even
discovered that the earth and
the planets revolve around the
sun, though few people would
believe him and his discovery
was forgotten.

Astronomy greatly aided in
the progress of geography.
Eratosthenes, a mathematical
astronomer of Alexandria, very
cleverly computed the size of
the earth. Much new infor-
mation had also been gained regarding the extent and the char-
acter of the regions reached by explorers in this age, from the
eastern coast of India to the British Isles. Eratosthenes was
therefore able to write a more accurate geography than anyone
before his time. It contained the first map bearing a cross-net
of lines indicating latitude and longitude. This enabled him to
locate any spot on land or sea far more accurately than had
been possible before.

HELLENISTIC PORTRAIT HEAD IN
BRONZE

This magnificent head of an unknown
man, with wonderful representation
of the hair, was recovered from the
bottom of the sea. It is now In the
Museum of Athens

Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age in

MAP OF THE WORLD ACCORDING TO HERODOTUS (450 B.C.)

MAP OF THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ERATOSTHENES (200 B.C.)

171. The Alexandrian Library and Book Publishing. Be-
sides these natural sciences there was now much study of litera-
ture. All other libraries of the time were far surpassed by that of
the Ptolemies at Alexandria, which finally contained over half a
million rolls. The immense amount of copying by hand required

ii2 General History oj Europe

to secure good and accurate editions of famous works for this
library gradually created the new science of editing and publish-
ing correctly old and often badly copied works. This naturally
required careful study of language and writing, and the Alexan-
drian scholars began to write the first grammars and dictionaries.

^^sgWiggi^^

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AME-'r*--^.--u--Kr%t? Ejvs-vf ,,^4>;v*'}

:^^!V-r^y" - : .-" ""--' i^f--'

A PAGE FROM THE EARLIEST SURVIVING GREEK BOOK

This book, written on papyrus, was found lying beside the body of a man

buried in an Egyptian cemetery. What we have called a page is really a

column of writing, and the book consisted of a series of such columns side

by side on the roll (see cut on next page)

172. The Schools of the University at Athens. Athens was
still the leading center of philosophy. The youth who went there
to take up philosophical studies found the successors of Plato
still continuing his teaching in the quiet grove of the Academy
( 119), where his memory was greatly revered. Plato's pupil
Aristotle, after having been the teacher of the young Alexander,
had returned to Athens, and had also established at the Lyceum

Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age 113

( IIQ) a school of his own known as the Peripatetic School,
because it occupied a terrace called the u Walk" (Greek, peripatos).

But many Greeks desired
some teaching which would
lead them to a happy and con-
tented frame of mind and guide
men in their attempts to live
successfully. To meet this de-
sire two more schools of phi-
losophy arose at Athens. The
first was the Stoic School, which
derived its name from a portico
in Athens called the Stoa. This
school taught that the great
aim of life should be a forti-
tude of soul indifferent both to
pleasure and to pain. Its fol-
lowers were famous for their
fortitude, and hence our com-
mon use of the word " stoicism "
to indicate indifference to suf-
fering. The Stoic School was
very popular and finally be-
came the greatest of the schools
of philosophy. The second, the
Epicurean School, founded by
Epicurus in his own garden at
Athens, taught that the highest
good was happiness, both of
body and of mind, but always
in moderation and in accord-
ance with virtue. Its views

GREEK YOUTH READING FROM A
ROLL, OR BOOK

It will be seen that the young man
holds the roll so that he rolls up a
portion of it with one hand as he
unrolls another portion with the
other. He soon has a roll in each
hand, while he holds smoothly
stretched out between the two rolls
the exposed portion, from which he
reads a column of writing like that
which we see photographed from the
oldest-preserved Greek book (roll).
Such a column formed for him a
page, but when it was read, in-
stead of turning a page as we do,
he rolled it away to the left side
and brought into view a new column
from the other roll on the right side

were high-minded but often
misunderstood, hence even now we call a man devoted to pleasure,
especially in eating, an "epicure." The School of Epicurus, like
the Stoics, flourished and attracted many disciples.

ii4 General History of Europe

173. The Fall of the Old Greek Gods. For highly educated
men the beliefs of Stoicism or Epicureanism served as their re-
ligion. They usually no longer believed in the gods in the old way.
There was complete freedom of conscience far more freedom
thaa the Christian rulers of later Europe granted their subjects.
The teachings of Socrates would not now have caused his condem-
nation by his Athenian neighbors.

With the weakening of their faith in the old Greek gods many
Greeks adopted the gods of Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, and
these became more and more popular.

174. The Larger World of the Hellenistic Age. The older
Greek states had been merged into a larger world. For while
Greek civilization, with its language, its art, its literature, its
theaters and gymnasiums, was hellenizing the Orient, the Orient
in the same way was orientalizing the eastern Mediterranean
world. But this world of the eastern Mediterranean, which had
grown up as a result of Alexander's conquests, had by 200 B.C.
reached a point when it was to come under the control of a great
new military power from the western Mediterranean. We shall
i>e unable to understand the further story of the eastern Mediter-
ranean until we have turned back and followed the history of the
western Mediterranean world. Iiv Italy for some three centuries
the city of Rome had been developing a power which was to unite
both the East and the West into a vast empire including the
whole Mediterranean.

QUESTIONS

I. Describe the military machine of Philip of Macedonia. How did
Philip gain the leadership of the Greeks ? Tell what you know of the
education of Alexander the Great. How did Alexander subjugate the
Greek states after Philip's death ? Describe Alexander's campaign ex-
tending to the Euphrates River. How did the ancient East come under
the control of a European power? How were Alexander's realms
divided at his death ? What were the reasons for the political decline
of Greece ?

il 'II." What is meant by the Hellenistic Age? Describe the ways in
which Greek language and civilization were spread into the East.

Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age 115

What were the conflicts of city life in this age? Describe the city
of Alexandria. What advance was made in science? What contribu-
tions did Archimedes make? What was the Museum in Alexandria?
For what is Euclid celebrated ? What is the derivation and meaning
of the word "geometry"? Compare the map of the world as under-
stood in the time of Herodotus and in that of Eratosthenes. What
progress was made in the knowledge of the earth? What is the
derivation and meaning of "geography"? How did Eratosthenes lay the
foundation of modern- geography ? Describe the Library of Alexandria.
What were the main schools of philosophy at this time ? Contrast the
Stoics and Epicureans. What was the attitude of the intellectual class
toward the gods ? Give the chief effects of Greek ideas on the Orient,
and of the oriental civilization on the Greek world.

NOTE. The tailpiece below is a pleasing example of the Alexandrian art of mosaic
the art of putting together brightly colored bits of glass or stone and forming figures or
designs with them, as a child puts together a puzzle picture. It was an old Egyptian art,
which was carried much further by the Greeks at Alexandria, where they seem to have
learned it, and used it in making beautiful pavements.

]-_r* r *~ ~~i - > . - rj .-v-y - J V-'^TV-; T L r HtJ

tr/T-rv-, ,- -'-^Stf'&LK; rrijr^

; ?#ftg|

f-- ; 2 [y^f^rfgP

? :^.\- .. ,;
St

BOOK III. THE ROMANS

CHAPTER IX

THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN WORLD AND THE
ROMAN CONQUEST OF ITALY

I. ITALY AND THE ORIGIN OF ROME

175. The Mediterranean the Center of Ancient History.

The Mediterranean Sea is a very large body of water, almost as
long as Europe itself. Laid out across the United States it would
reach from New York over to California. Italy divides it into
two basins, which we may conveniently call the eastern and
western Mediterranean worlds.

176. Italy : its Geography and Climate. Italy is about six
hundred miles long. It is not only much larger than Greece but
possesses wide plains for agriculture and ample upland pasturage
for flocks and herds ; it is not, like Greece, cut by mountain
ranges into winding valleys and tiny plains. There are fewer good
harbors, however, so that the people turned to agriculture and
the raising of live stock earlier than to sea trade. In Chapter I
we studied the conditions of Europe in the Prehistoric Age. We
must now see how Italy was the first region in western Europe to
reach a high degree of civilization.

177. Indo-European Peoples enter Italy. Probably not long
after the Greeks had pushed southward into the Peloponnesus
( 78-79) the western tribes of Indo-European blood had entered
the Italian peninsula. The most important group, which settled
in the central and southern parts of the peninsula, was the Italic
tribes, the earliest Italians.

We remember that the Greeks, in conquering the JEgean, took
possession of a highly civilized region. This was not the case

116

The Western Mediterranean World 117

with the Indo-European invaders of Italy. They found the west-
ern Mediterranean world still without civilization. It had no
architecture, no fine buildings, no fortified cities, only the rudest
arts and industries, no writing, no literature, and no organized
governments.

178. The Three Western Rivals confronting the Italic
Tribes. Besides the Italic invaders three other rival peoples
gradually came into the western Mediterranean world. The first
of these was a bold race of sea rovers whom we call the Etruscans.
Their origin is still uncertain, but no matter where they came
from they were settled in Italy by 1000 B. c. They finally gained
full control of the west coast from the Bay of Naples almost to
Genoa and held the inland country to the Adriatic Sea and the
Alps (see map, p. 122).

The Carthaginians were the second of the three rivals of the
Italic tribes. We remember how the Phoenicians carried their com-
merce far into the western Mediterranean after 1000 B. c. ( 83).
On the African coast opposite Sicily they established a flourishing
commercial city called Carthage. It soon became the leading
power in the western Mediterranean.

While the Carthaginians were endeavoring to make the western
Mediterranean their own, the Italic peoples saw the third of their
rivals invading the West. These were the Greeks. We have already
followed the Greek colonies as they founded their city-states
along the coast of southern Italy and in Sicily in the eighth
century B.C. (91). The strongest of all the western Greek cities
was Syracuse.

179. Greek Colonies bring Civilization into the Western
Mediterranean. Although the western Greeks, like those in the
homeland, fought among themselves and failed to unite in a
strong and permanent state, they nevertheless brought civilization
to Italy. Accordingly, fifteen hundred years after the barbarous
Italic tribes had first settled in Italy there grew up on the south
of them a wonderful world of Greek civilization. We shall now
follow the career of the barbarous Italic tribes of central Italy
under the leadership of Rome, and watch them slowly gaining

General History oj Europe

power and civilization, as they were influenced first by the Etrus-
cans on their north and then by the Greeks on the south of them,
and finally coming into mortal rivalry with the Carthaginians.

A STREET OF ETRUSCAN TOMBS AT ANCIENT C.ERE NOT FAR "
NORTH OF ROME

The tomb-chamber contained a sarcophagus, in which the body was laid
often accompanied with jewelry of gold and silver, furniture, implements, and
weapons, besides beautiful vases. The walls of the chambers were in many
cases painted with decorative scenes from the life of the Etruscans and
from scenes of Greek mythology, learned by the Etruscans from their inter-
course with the Greeks. The Etruscans buried here lived in a strong walled
town, of which the ruins lie near by. Their manufactures, especially in
bronze, flourished, and they carried on profitable commerce through their
harbor town, only a few miles below their city. In one of these tombs the
name of the deceased is inscribed on the wall as " Tarkhnas," which can
be nothing else than Tarquinius, the name preserved in Roman tradition as
that of the latest kings of Rome

180. Early Rome. On the south bank of the Tiber, not far
from the sea (see map, p. 120), there was a group of Italic tribes
known as the Latins. In the days when the Etruscan sea raiders
first landed on the shores north of the Tiber these Latin tribes had
occupied a plain less than thirty by forty miles. They called it
"Latium," whence their own name. "Latins."

The Western Mediterranean World

lie)

When these Latin peasants needed weapons or tools they were
obliged to carry their grain or oxen to a trading post on the
Tiber, ten or twelve miles from its mouth. On the low marshy
ground, encircled by
the hills, was an open-
air market, which they
caljed the Forum, where
Latin peasants could
meet Etruscan traders
and exchange grain or
oxen for the metal tools
or weapons they wished.
Such must have been
the condition of the
humble market village
called Rome about
1000 B.C.

181. Occupation of
Rome by the Etrus-
cans (about 750 B.C.).
Perhaps as early as 750
B.C. one of the Etrus-
can princes crossed the

Tiber, drove out the

r , i ( . i This magnificent chariot is the finest example

Latin cnieitain, and ., . , ,. , . , .

that has been discovered of Etruscan skill

took possession of Rome i n bronze. It was found in an Etruscan
and its Stronghold on tomb and is now in the possession of the
the Palatine. Etruscan Metropolitan Museum of New York. It prob-

ably dates from the sixth century B.C.
kings soon extended

their power over the plain of Latium. Thus Rome became a
city-kingdom under an Etruscan king, like the other Etruscan
cities which stretched from Capua far north to the harbor of
Genoa. Although Rome was ruled by a line of Etruscan kings
for probably two centuries and a half, it must be borne in mind
that the population of Latium which the Etruscan kings governed
continued to be Latin and to speak the Latin tongue.

ETRUSCAN CHARIOT OF BRONZE

I2O General History of Europe

182. Expulsion of the Etruscan Kings of Rome (about
500 B.C.). The Etruscan kings introduced great improvements in
Rome, but their cruelty and tyranny finally caused their Latin
subjects to revolt against them and drive them out of the city.
The two centuries and a half of Etruscan rule had left their mark
on Rome, however, for the Etruscans had long traded with the
Greeks and had become familiar with their industries, art, and
architecture. Evidences of Etruscan influence are still to be
found in Italy today (see cuts on pages 118 and 119 ; also Ancient
Times, Fig. 232).

II. THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC: ITS GOVERNMENT

183. Greek Influence in Rome. The Latins were also directly
influenced by the Greeks, because ships from the Greek cities of
southern Italy were becoming more and more common in the
Tiber. The Roman traders had gradually learned to scribble
memoranda of their own, using the letters which they found in the
bills they received from the Greek merchants. Greek letters were
adopted as .the Roman alphabet, slightly changed to suit the
Latin language. In this way the oriental alphabet was carried one
step further in the long westward journey which finally made it
(after some changes) the alphabet with which this book is printed
(see table on page 58).

As the trade of the Romans increased it seemed inconvenient to
pay for goods with grain or oxen as formerly. At length, about
a hundred and fifty years after the Etruscan kings had been driven
out, the Romans began to issue copper coins.

The rather coldly calculating mind of the Roman lacked the
vivid imagination of the Greeks, which had created the beautiful
Greek statues and dramas. The Romans were better fitted for
great achievements in political and. legal organization than for
new developments in religion, art, and literature, or discoveries
in science. Let us now see how the practical sagacity of the
Roman developed the Roman State.

184. Establishment of the Roman Republic ; Consuls and
Tribunes. When the Etruscan kings were expelled from Rome,

The Western Mediterranean World

121

the nobles, called patricians, were in control of the government.
The patricians agreed that two of their number should be elected
as heads of the State. These two magistrates, called consuls.
who were both to have the same powers, were to serve for a
year only and then give way to two others. This new state
was a republic, of which the consuls were the presidents, for the

A B

SPECIMENS OF EARLY ROMAN COPPER MONEY

In the time of Alexander the Great (second half of the fourth century B.C.)
the Romans found it too inconvenient to continue paying their debts in goods,
especially in cattle. They therefofe cast copper in blocks, each block with
the figure of an ox upon it (see A, above), to indicate its value. The Roman
word for cattle (pecus) was the origin of one of their words for property
(pecunia) and has descended to us in our common word " pecuniary." These
blocks were unwieldy, and influenced by the Greeks the Romans then cast
large disks of copper (B, above), which also were very ponderous

people had a voice in electing them. But as only patricians could
serve as consuls, their government tended to rouse dissatisfaction
among the common people (called the plebs, compare our "plebe-
ian"). The plebs finally refused to submit to the oppression of the
patricians, and revolted against it.

185. The Tribunes Defenders of the People. The patricians
were unable to get on without the help of the people as soldiers
in their frequent wars. They therefore agreed to give the people
a larger share in the government by allowing them to elect a
new kind of officials, called tribunes. These had the right to veto
the action of any officer of the government even that of the con-
suls themselves. When any citizen was treated unjustly by a consul
he had the privilege of appealing to one of the tribunes.

122 General History of Europe

186. Growing Body of Government Officials. It gradually
became necessary to create new officers for various kinds of
business. To take care of the government funds treasury officials
called quaestors were appointed. Officials called censors were re-
quired to keep lists of the people and to look after their daily con-
duct and see that nothing improper was permitted. Our own use
of the word "censor" is derived from these Roman officials. For
the decision of legal cases judges called praetors were appointed
to assist the consuls. In times of great national danger it was
customary to appoint some revered and trustworthy leader as
the supreme ruler of the State. He was called the Dictator, but
he could hold his power for only a brief period.

187. The Senate and the Struggle of Plebs and Patricians.
The consuls had great power and influence in all government mat-
ters, but they were much influenced by a council of patricians
called the Senate (from Latin, senex, meaning "old man"). The
patricians enjoyed the exclusive right to serve as consuls, to sit
in the Senate, and .to hold almost all the offices created to carry
on the business of government.

The struggle of the common people to win their rights from
the wealthy and powerful therefore continued. It was a struggle
like that which we have followed in Athens and the other Greek
states, but at Rome it reached a much wiser and more successful
settlement. The citizens of Rome insisted upon having their
rights, and without civil war or bloodshed they secured them, to
a large extent, in the course of the first two centuries after the
founding of the Republic.

188. The Twelve Tables; Control of Legislation by the
People. About fifty years after the establishment of the Republic
the earliest Roman laws were put in writing and engraved upon
twelve tablets of bronze (450 B.C.). But at the same time the
people demanded the right to share in the making of new laws.

The plebs succeeded in shaking off the legal power of the
Senate to control their action, and the assemblies of the people be-
came the lawmaking bodies of the Roman State. In this way
they gradually secured a fairer share of the public lands. Most

The Western Mediterranean World 123

important of all, new laws increased the rights of the people to
hold office. In the end ' Roman citizens elected their plebeian
neighbors as censors and quaestors, as judges, and finally even as
consuls and members of the Senate.

189. Importance of the Roman Senate. By far the larger
part of the Roman citizens, however, lived too far away to come
up to the city and vote. Feeling, too, their own ignorance of
public affairs, the Roman citizens were not unwilling that impor-
tant public questions should be settled by the -Senate. Thus the
Roman Senate became a large committee of experienced states-
men, guiding and controlling the Roman State. They formed the
greatest council of rulers which ever grew up in the ancient world,
or perhaps in any age.

III. THE EXPANSION OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC AND
THE CONQUEST OF ITALY

190. Early Struggles of the Republic. It was a tiny nation
which began its uncertain career after the expulsion of the Etrus-
can kings about 500 B.C. The territory of the Roman Republic
thus far comprised only the city with the neighboring fields for
a very few miles around. On the other side of the Tiber lived
the dreaded Etruscans, and on the Roman side of the river, all
around the little republic, lived the Latin tribes, only loosely
united with Rome by treaty.

Fortunately for the Romans, within a generation after the
foundation of the Republic the Greek fleet of Syracuse utterly
destroyed the Etruscan fleet (474 B.C.). Later the Etruscans
were attacked from the north by the Gauls, who were at this time
pouring over the Alpine passes into the valley of the Po. This
weakening of the Etruscans probably saved Rome from destruc-
tion. By 400 B.C., or a little after, the Romans had conquered
and taken possession of a fringe of new territory on all sides,
which protected them from their enemies.

In this new territory the Romans planted colonies of citizens
mostly farmers cultivating the new lands or granted citizenship

124 General History of Europe

or other valuable privileges to the conquered population. From
the annexed districts Rome could draw an ever-increasing body of
brave and hardy citizen-soldiers. It was this steady agricultural
expansion of Rome which in a little over two centuries after the
expulsion of the Etruscan kings made the little republic on the
Tiber mistress of all Italy.

191. Capture of Rome by the Gauls (332 B.C.). The second
century of Roman expansion opened with a fearful catastrophe,
which very nearly accomplished the complete destruction of the
nation. In the first two decades after 400 B.C. the barbarian
Gauls of the North, who had been overrunning the territory of
the Etruscans, finally reached the lower Tiber, defeated the
Roman army, and entered the city. Unable, however, to capture
the citadel on the Capitol Hill, the Gauls at length agreed to
accept a ransom of gold and to return northward, where they
settled in the valley of the Po. But they still remained a serious
danger to the Romans.

192. Subjugation of the Latin Tribes (333 B.C.). As Rome
recovered from this disaster it was evident that the city needed
fortifications, and for the first time masonry walls were built
around it. Alarmed at Rome's growing power, the Latin tribes now
endeavored to break away from the control of the powerful walled
city. In the two years' war which resulted the city was com-
pletely victorious. Rome thus gained the undisputed leadership
of the Latin tribes.

The year 338 B.C., in which this important event took place,
also witnessed the defeat of the Greek cities at the hands of
Philip of Macedonia (153). In the same year, therefore, both
the Greeks and the Latins saw themselves conquered and falling
under the leadership of a single state the Greeks under that of
Macedonia, the Latins under that of Rome.

193. Samnite Wars (325-290 B. c.) and the Battle of Senti-
num (295 B.C.). Meantime another formidable foe, a group of
Italic tribes called the Samnites, had been taking possession of
the mountains inland from Rome. By 325 B.C. a fierce war
broke out between the Romans and the Samnites. It lasted with

The Western Mediterranean World 125

interruptions for a generation. The Romans lost several battles,
but finally crushed the Samnites (295 B.C.) in a fierce battle at
Sentinum. This victory not only gave the Romans possession
of central Italy, but it made them the leading power in the whole
peninsula.

194. Rome Mistress of Central and Northern Italy. The
Etruscans were unable to longer maintain themselves as a leading
power. One by one their cities were taken by the Romans, or they
entered into alliance with Rome. The intruding Gallic barbarians
were beaten off, though the Gauls who had settled in the north
of the Italian peninsula continued to hold the Po valley. The
northern boundary of the Roman conquests was therefore along
the Arnus River, south of the Apennines. The Romans were
already supreme from the Arnus to the Greek cities of southern
Italy.

195. The War with Pyrrhus (280-275 B.C.) and Fall of the
Greeks in Italy. The remaining three great rivals in the western
Mediterranean world were now the Romans, the Greek colonists,
and the Carthaginians. Alarmed at the threatening expansion of
Roman power the Greek colonies endeavored to unite, and sent
an appeal for help to Pyrrhus, the vigorous and able king of
Epirus, just across from Italy.

Leading a powerful army, Pyrrhus was a highly dangerous foe.
His purpose was to form a great nation of the western Greeks
in Sicily and Italy. He completely defeated the Romans in two
battles. But the Greeks disagreed among themselves, as they
always did at critical times. Pyrrhus, thus poorly supported,
found himself unable to inflict a decisive defeat on the Romans
and returned before long to Epirus. One by one the helpless
Greek cities of Italy then surrendered to the Roman army, for
they had no choice but to accept alliance with the Romans. Thus
ended all hope of a great Greek nation in the West.

This long period of conquest and expansion extended over about
two centuries and a quarter (500-275 B.C.). Thenceforward there
were but two rivals in the western Mediterranean world Rome
and Carthage.

III. Roman Power

after the Samnite

Wars (290 B.C.)

EXPANSION OF ROMAN POWER IN ITALY

The Western Mediterranean World 127

196. Rome's Allies and Colonies. Having conquered Italy as
far north as the Po, Rome had to make some arrangement for
governing her new possessions. She annexed perhaps a sixth of
the territory to pay her war expenses and supply her citizens with
land. But many of the defeated cities were granted a sort of half
citizenship, which entitled them to the full protection of the
Roman government in their business, but did not permit them to
vote. Such cities were called allies. In exchange for the protec-
tion of the powerful Roman state the allies were willing to place
their troops at Rome's disposal. Rome also continued her policy
of founding colonies throughout the conquered territory. So all
Italy was dotted with such colonies made up of Roman citizens.

QUESTIONS

I. Discuss the geography of the western Mediterranean world ; of
Italy. Who were the Italic tribes? Name the four rival peoples of
the western Mediterranean world and tell something of each.

How did Rome originate ? Do you know the story of Romulus
and Remus ? What people furnished the first kings of Rome ? What
kind of civilization did the Etruscans have ? When were they expelled
from Rome ? What is a republic and from what does the word come ?

II. Tell about Greek influences among the Romans. What took
the place of the expelled Etruscan kings? W T hat did the government
of Rome become? How did the people gain power? the Senate?

III. Describe the Roman policy of expansion. Discuss the war
with the Gauls ; with the Latins ; with the Samm'tes ; with the Greeks
and Pyrrhus. What was the result ? What two rivals remained ?

CHAPTER X
ROME AND CARTHAGE

I. COMMERCIAL POWER OF CARTHAGE; THE FIRST
PUNIC WAR

197. Development of Business Interests in Rome. Rome's
conquest of the Greek cities of southern Italy had brought her
into contact with a far higher civilization than she had previously
known. She was particularly influenced by Greek business enter-
prise. For a time the Romans used Greek silver coins, but by
the year 268 B.C. they began for the first time to issue silver
coins of their own. Just as had happened in Athens earlier, a
moneyed class now made its appearance in Rome. This class,
however, was made up largely of merchants. There was no
considerable manufacturing carried on, as at Athens, Rome
was a great center of shipping and commerce rather than an
industrial city.

198. Commercial Supremacy of Carthage. But when the ever-
increasing numbers of Roman merchant ships issued from the
Tiber, they found the western Mediterranean already occupied
by their great rival Carthage. As the trade of Carthage had
increased she had extended her control eastward and westward
along the African coast, and her enterprising merchants had even
seized southern Spain, with its valuable silver mines. The Car-
thaginians did not believe in free trade, but proposed to monopo-
lize all the business they could for themselves. So they closed the
ports under their control to all foreign ships. Vessels of other
cities venturing into the western Mediterranean harbors were
promptly rammed and sunk by Carthaginian warships sent out
to protect the business of their city. With increasing vexation

128

Rome and Carthage 129

the merchants of Italy realized that the Carthaginians were in a
position to prevent any great extension of Roman foreign trade
and that their rivals held even the markets of Sicily, close to the
Italian mainland. So after conquering Italy, Rome seemed driven
on to extend her borders still farther in order to give free play
to her growing commerce and trade. A deadly conflict between
Rome and Carthage seemed inevitable. When it came it proved
a long one, lasting with interruptions for a hundred and eighteen
years and closing with the complete destruction of the great
and flourishing African city. The three prolonged wars between
Rome and Carthage are called the Punic wars (from the Latin
word Punicus, meaning " Phoenician," the Carthaginians being
Phoenicians).

199. Carthage : its Government and Army. Carthage seems
to have been a very splendid and luxurious city when the wars
with Rome began. It was in area perhaps three times the size of
its rival. Its government was in the hands of rich business men,
who ruled the Carthaginian empire in their own interests. Cen-
turies of shrewd guidance on their part had built up a great state
far exceeding in power any of the Greek states, not excepting
Athens itself. The merchants had to rely on hired soldiers, for
there seems not to have been any large class of farmers cultivating
the land, from which Carthage could collect an -army of citizen-
soldiers, as Rome was able to do. So the forces of Carthage were
much less trustworthy, no matter how ably led, than those of
the Roman Republic.

200. The Roman Army. The Romans could put an army of
over three hundred thousand men in the field made up of her own
citizens. She had in addition about an equal number which she
could draw from her allies ( 196). The Roman forces far ex-
ceeded in strength any army ever before organized in the Mediter-
ranean world. The Romans were, moreover, very dexterous with
their short swords and javelins as well as with their spears, and
they had so improved the group formations, phalanxes ( 152),
that they moved about very much more easily than the older ones.
So the Romans became adepts in the art of war, and this accounts

130

General History oj Europe

for the many victories of their "le-
gions," as the divisions of the army
were called. Although the Romans had
already had long experience in fighting
on land, they had now to accustom
themselves to fighting on the sea. It
took some time for them to learn how
to build men-of-war and manage them
effectively. But without a sea power
they could, of course, make no head-
way against Carthage.

201. The Opening of the First
Punic War (254 B.C.). The Romans
soon realized that the struggle with
Carthage could not be avoided. The
immediate cause of the outbreak of
the First Punic War was the seizure of
Messina by a Carthaginian garrison.
Messina commanded the strait which
separated the island of Sicily from the
mainland. This move of the Cartha-
ginians seemed to be a sort of insult to
the Romans, who now took a memo-
rable step. For the first time Roman
troops went beyond the mainland of
Italy, crossed the narrow strait, and
secured a footing in Sicily. The struggle
with Carthage had begun (264 B.C.).

202. General Course of the War
(264-241 B.C.). The Romans were able
to form an alliance with the famous
old Greek city of Syracuse and so got
possession of the eastern part of Sicily,
but the war proved a very long one,

lasting nearly a quarter of a century. Five years elapsed before
the Romans got their first great fleet of one hundred and twenty

A ROMAN SOLDIER

The figure of the soldier is
carved upon a tombstone,
erected in his memory by
his brother. His weapons
are his spear, which he holds
in his extended right hand
with point upward, and his
heavy short sword, which he
wears girded high on his
right side. As defensive
equipment he has a helmet,
a leathern corselet stopping
midway between the waist
and knees, and a shield

Rome and Carthage 131

warships ready. In spite of their inexperience in naval righting
they gained some victories over their rivals; but then they had
much ill fortune, for their ships were either lost in storms or de-
stroyed by the Carthaginians, and they had to keep building new
fleets, only to have them destroyed in turn. After twenty years
the treasury was empty and Rome seemed at the end of its
resources. Finally, in 242 B.C., a last fleet of two hundred battle-
ships was built and equipped by private subscriptions of patriotic
Romans and put to sea. This time the Carthaginian navy was
defeated and broken up. The Carthaginians were then no longer
able to transport reinforcements to Sicily and at last were forced
to make peace on Rome's terms.

203. End of the First Punic, or Sicilian, War. The Romans
had suffered much in the long war and imposed very hard condi-
tions. The Carthaginians were required to give up Sicily and the
neighboring islands and pay within ten years a huge war indem-
nity of thirty-two hundred talents, over three and a half million
dollars. This was a far larger sum in those days than it would
be now. For the first time Rome now held territory outside the
Italian peninsula, and this was but the beginning of a complete
conquest of the Mediterranean countries.

II. THE WAR WITH HANNIBAL, OR SECOND PUNIC WAR

204. Interval between the First and Second Punic Wars.

About a quarter of a century elapsed before war between the great
rivals broke out again. Meanwhile both of them devoted them-
selves to -increasing their strength. Shortly after the close of the
first war Rome took possession of the large islands of Corsica
and Sardinia. These, with Sicily, gave her three outposts against
Carthage. At the same time she completed the conquest of the
Italian peninsula by conquering the Gauls to the north of the
river Po and extending her boundaries to the Alps.

205. Hannibal's Audacious Plan for conquering Rome. To
offset this increase of Rome's power Carthage turned her atten-
tion to the conquest of Spain, to which the Romans also laid

132 General History oj Ewope

claim. One of the Carthaginian generals in Spain, Hannibal, a
young man only twenty-four years of age, determined on the
bold plan of leading a Carthaginian army around through south-
ern Gaul and across the Alps into Italy, where he hoped to crush
Rome by a direct land attack instead of having to rely, as hith-
erto, on victories by sea.

206. Opening of the Second Punic War (218 B.C.). It was
late autumn when Hannibal reached the Alps. Overwhelmed
by snowstorms ; struggling over a steep and dangerous trail,
sometimes so narrow that the rocks had to be cut away to
make room for his elephants ; looking down over dizzy precipices,
or up to snow-covered heights where hostile natives rolled great
stones down upon the troops, the discouraged army of Hannibal
toiled on day after day, exhausted, cold, and hungry. At every
point along the straggling line where help was most needed the
young Carthaginian was always present, encouraging and guiding
his men. But when they issued from the Alpine pass and entered
Italy in the upper valley of the Po, they had suffered such losses
that they were reduced to some thirty-four thousand men.

With this little army the dauntless Carthaginian youth had
entered the territory of the strongest military power of the time
a nation which could now call to her defense over seven hundred
thousand men, citizens and allies. Hannibal, however, was thor-
oughly acquainted with the most highly developed methods of
warfare, and the exploits of Alexander a century earlier were
familiar to him. On the other hand, the Roman consuls, com-
manding the Roman armies, were simply magistrates like our
mayors. They were no match for the crafty young Carthaginian.

207. Hannibal's Early Successes. In spite of his weakened
army Hannibal began to gain victories over the Roman troops in
northern Italy and was joined by many of the Gauls whom Rome
had so recently conquered. On the shores of Lake Trasimene he
surprised a Roman army under the consul Flaminius, and the
awful news reached Rome that their army was cut to pieces and
its leader killed. Hannibal might now have advanced on Rome
itself, but he had neither the troops nor the machinery for a

Rome and Carthage 133

siege and so preferred to wait for another victory in the hope that
the allies of Rome might be induced to desert her and help him
besiege the city.

208. Battle of Cannae (216 B.C.). The Romans now appointed
a Dictator, a prudent old citizen named Fabius. He so irritated
the Roman people by his caution that he was known as the
"hesitator," and we still speak of a policy of delay as a Fabian
policy. Nothing of importance happened for a year, when in
216 B.C. the newly elected Roman consuls collected an army of
nearly seventy thousand men and marched southward, where
Hannibal and his army were operating.

At Cannae the Romans met one of the most terrible reverses
in their history. Hannibal managed skillfully to surround their
army, and what ensued was simply a slaughter of the doomed
Romans. When night came the Roman army was annihilated.
Ex-consuls, senators, and thousands of the best citizens of Rome
had fallen in this frightful battle. Every family in Rome was in
mourning. Of the gold rings worn by Roman knights as an indi-
cation of their rank Hannibal is reported to have sent a bushel
to Carthage.

209. Hannibal's Statesmanship versus Roman Power. Thus
this masterful young Carthaginian, within two years after his
arrival in Italy and before he was thirty years of age, had defeated
his mighty antagonist. Within a few years southern Italy, in-
cluding the Greek cities and even Syracuse in Sicily, forsook Rome
and joined Hannibal. But opposing him was the dogged resolu-
tion and the seemingly inexhaustible numbers of the Romans.
It was a battle of giants for mastery, for the victor in this struggle
would without any question become the greatest power in the
Mediterranean. In spite of Hannibal's successes, the steadiness
and fine leadership of the Roman Senate held central Italy loyal
to Rome. The Romans were finally compelled to include slaves
and mere boys in the new armies which were formed. With these
forces the Romans proceeded to besiege and capture, one after
another, the allied cities which had revolted against Rome and
joined Hannibal.

134 General History of Europe

210. Defeat of Hannibal by Scipio (202 B.C.). For a time
Hannibal struggled on in southern Italy. Meanwhile the Ro-
mans, taught by the defeat of their consuls, had given the
command of their forces in Spain to Scipio, one of the ablest
of their younger leaders and a trained soldier. He drove, the
Carthaginians entirely out of Spain, thus cutting off their chief
supply both of money and of troops. In Scipio the Romans had
at last found a general with the masterful qualities which make
a great military leader. He demanded of the Senate that he be
sent to Africa to invade the dominions of Carthage as Hannibal
had invaded those of Rome.

By 203 B.C. Scipio had twice defeated the Carthaginian forces
in Africa, and Carthage was forced to call Hannibal home. He
had spent fifteen years on the soil of Italy, and the great struggle
between the almost exhausted rivals was now to be decided in
Africa. At Zama, inland from Carthage, the final battle of the
war took place. The great Carthaginian was at last met by an
equally great Roman, and Scipio won the battle.

211. Treaty ending the War (201 B.C.) ; the Fate of Hanni-
bal. The victory over Carthage made Rome the leading power in
the whole ancient world. In the treaty which followed the
battle of Zama the Romans forced Carthage to pay a crushing
indemnity of ten thousand talents (over $11,000,000) in fifty
years and to surrender all her warships except ten triremes. But,
what was worse, she lost her independence as a nation, and
according to the treaty she could not make war anywhere with-
out the consent of the Romans.

Hannibal escaped after he lost the battle at Zama. He was one
of the greatest and most gifted leaders in all history a lion-
hearted man, so strong of purpose that only a great nation like
Rome could have crushed him. Rome still feared Hannibal and
compelled the Carthaginians to expel him. As a man of fifty he
went into exile in the East, where we shall find him stirring up
the successors of Alexander to combine against Rome ( 214).

212. Third Punic War ; Destruction of Carthage ( 146 B. c.).
Cato, a famous old-fashioned senator, was so convinced that

Rome and Carthage 135

Carthage was still a danger to Rome that he concluded all his
speeches in the Senate with the words, "Carthage must be de-
stroyed." For over fifty years more the merchants of Carthage
were permitted to traffic in the western Mediterranean, and then
the ruthless hand of Rome was laid upon the doomed city for the
last time.

Rome eagerly seized an excuse to renew hostilities and at-
tack her old enemy. In the three years' war that followed,

THE HARBORS OF CARTHAGE AS THEY ARE TODAY

Of the city destroyed by the Romans almost nothing has survived. It was
rebuilt under Julius Caesar, but, as we see here, very little of this later city
has survived. Thorough and systematic excavation would probably recover
many valuable remains of ancient Carthaginian civilization, of which we

know so little

the beautiful city was finally captured and utterly destroyed
(146 B.C.). Its territories were taken by Rome and reorganized
into the Province of Africa. Thus ended the long struggle with
a complete victory for Rome.

213. Summary. The struggle of centuries between the original
four rivals in the western Mediterranean the Etruscans, Greeks,
Carthaginians, and Romans ended in the triumph of the seem-
ingly weakest of all, the city on the Tiber. Racially the western
wing of the Indo-Europeans on the north side of the Mediterra-
nean had proved victorious over the Semitic peoples on the south

136 General History oj Europe

side. The western Mediterranean world was now under the
leadership of a single great nation, the Romans. We must now
turn back and review the relations of Rome with the eastern
Mediterranean countries, where, as we have seen, civilization had
developed under Greek influence to an unprecedented height.

QUESTIONS

I. How did Carthage interfere with Rome's business interests ?
Describe the government and territorial extent of Carthage. How was
the Roman army made up ? Describe the origin and cause of the First
Punic War.

II. What was Hannibal's plan for conquering Rome ? What were
the difficulties of his march from Spain to northern Italy ? What was
Hannibal's policy in Italy ? How did the Romans succeed in defeat-
ing Hannibal ? What was the outcome of the Punic Wars ?

CHAPTER XI
EXTENSION OF ROMAN DOMINION AND ITS RESULTS

I. CONQUEST OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN: NEW
PROBLEMS

214. Alexander's Successors conquered by Rome (200-
168 B.C.). While Rome had been making her conquests in the west-
ern Mediterranean, and slowly tightening her grip on her great
rival Carthage, the successors of Alexander the Great had been
struggling among themselves. It had occurred to Hannibal while
he was fighting in Italy that he could strengthen himself by
inducing the king of Macedonia to form an alliance with him
against Rome. The Romans did not overlook this, and after
their victory over Hannibal they sent an expedition across to
Macedonia and defeated its army in the battle of Cynoscephalae,
in 197 B.C. The country was reduced to the position of a
vassal of Rome. The Greek cities which had been brought
under Macedonian control by Philip and Alexander the Great
( J 53> X S5) were now granted their freedom, but Rome con-
tinued to keep a strict eye on them.

This war with Macedonia brought the Romans into conflict
with Antiochus the Great, the Seleucid king, who held a large part
of the vast empire of Persia in Asia. A war with this powerful
Asiatic empire was not a matter which the Romans could view
without great anxiety. Moreover, Hannibal, a fugitive from
Carthage, was now with Antiochus, giving him the benefit of his
ability and long experience in fighting the Romans. Nevertheless
at Magnesia in Asia Minor the West, led by Rome, overthrew the
East, led by Antiochus (190 B. c.), and the lands of western Asia
Minor submitted to Roman control.

138 General History oj Europe

Within twelve years (200-189 B.C.) Roman arms had re-
duced to the condition of vassal states two of the three great
empires which succeeded Alexander in the East Macedonia and
Syria. As for Egypt, the third, it also before long became a
dependency of Rome (168 B.C.).

215. Subjection of the Greeks. Although defeated, the east-
ern Mediterranean world, including the Greeks, long continued
to give the Romans trouble. Then the Romans began harsh
measures. The same year which saw the destruction of Carthage
witnessed also the burning of Corinth by the Romans (146 B.C.).
Those Greek states whose careers of glorious achievement in
civilization we have followed were all reduced to the condition
of Roman vassals.

216. Misgovernment of the Roman Provinces. The Romans
had certainly shown extraordinary ability in conducting the wars
that had built up their huge empire, which by this time reached
all around the Mediterranean. Now they had the great problem
of organizing a government to rule and control their vast posses-
sions. Most of the newly acquired territories were organized
as provinces, each under a Roman governor, who possessed al-
most unlimited powers. He had complete control of taxation in
his province and could demand all that he thought necessary for
his government and troops. These governors were commonly eager
to make a fortune during their short term of office, usually a single
year, and their rule often became a mere system of looting and
robbery. The Senate soon found it necessary to have laws passed
for the punishment of such evils, but these laws proved of little
use in improving the conditions.

The evil effects of this situation were soon apparent. The
provinces were filled with Roman business men whom we should
call " loan-sharks." There were contractors called publicans, who
were allowed to collect the taxes for the State at a great profit.
We remember the common references to these publicans in the
New Testament, where they are regularly classified with "sinners."
These grafters plundered the provinces worse than the greedy
Roman governors themselves.

60, ^

\ Map I ^

Roman Power at the
Beginning of the Wars
with Carthage (264 B.e)

Roman Power
Carthaginian Power
Macedonian and Seleucid Empires
Ptolemaic Empire

o to"

wioh

Map III

pansion of Roman Power
.from the End of the Hannibalian \
to the Beginning of the Revolut
[201-133 B.C.)
Scale of Miles

I j Roman Power

| Ptolemaic Empire ) Allies
f Rome

R.-K.-O.CO..N.Y.

SEQUENCE MAP SHOWING THE EXPANSION OF THE ROMAN I

TO THE

Greenwich

Map II

Expansion of Roman Power

between the Sicilian.and Hannibalian

Wars with Carthage (241-218 B.C.)

Scale of Miles

Roman Power
Carthaginian Power
Macedonian and Seleucid Empires
Ptolemaic Empire

A. Jn

from the Beginning: of the Revolutio
)eath of Caesar (133-44 B.C.)
Scale of Miles >

;R FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WARS WITH CARTHAGE (264 B.C.)
OF CESAR (44 B.C.)

Extension of Roman Dominion and its Results 139

217. Rise of a Wealthy Class at Rome. As these people
returned to Italy there grew up a wealthy class such as had been
unknown there before. Their ability to buy resulted in a vast
import trade to supply their demands. From the Bay of Naples
to the mouth of the Tiber
the sea was white with
the sails of Roman ships
converging on the docks
of Rome. The men who
controlled this traffic be-
came wealthy merchants.
To handle all the money
in circulation banks were
required. During the war
with Hannibal the first
banks appeared at Rome,
occupying a line of booths
on each side of the Forum.
Under these influences
Rome greatly changed.

When a returned gov-
ernor of Africa put up
a showy new house, the
citizen across the way
who still lived in his
father's old house began
to be dissatisfied with it.
For the old houses were
built of sun-dried brick,
and, like the settlers' cabins of early America, they had but one
room, called the atrium (see cut on page 140). The Roman
citizen of the new age had long before become familiar with
the comfort, luxury, and beauty with which the Greek houses
of southern Italy were filled. He therefore soon added a colon-
naded Hellenistic court, with adjoining dining room, bedrooms,
library, rest rooms, and kitchen.

AN OLD ROMAN ATRIUM-HOUSE

There was no attempt at beautiful archi-
tecture, and the bare front showed no
adornment whatever. The opening in the
roof, which lighted the atrium, received the
rainfall of a section of the roof sloping
toward it, and this water collected in a pool
built to receive it in the floor of the atrium
below (see B in cut on page 140). The tiny
area, or garden, shown in the rear was not
common. It was here that the later Ro-
mans added the Hellenistic peristyle (see
D in cut on page 140)

140

General History oj Europe

218. The New Luxury at Rome. The original atrium was in
the finer houses converted into a large and stately reception hall,
where the master of the house could display statues, paintings,
and other works of art seized in eastern cities. One of the Roman

conquerors of Mace-
donia entered Rome on
HD his return with two hun-

dred and fifty wagon-

ii ii rfl <MKfcfr^-_ _ wtt*

loads of Greek statues
and paintings.

The finest Roman resi-
dences were sometimes
supplied with running
water and sanitary con-
veniences. Some of them
had a system of heating
by means of tile pipes
conducting into the dif-
ferent rooms the heat
from a furnace, very
different from the old
charcoal brazier on
which the Romans had
formerly depended.

219. Influence of the
Art and Literature of
Greece on Rome. The
cultivated Romans nat-
urally admired the beau-
tiful Greek works of art,
which some of their artists sought to imitate and copy. The
Greek theater became popular, too, and Roman playwrights,
like Plautus and Terence, adapted Greek comedies to the taste
of Roman audiences, who laughed heartily at the old Greek jokes.
The Romans had formerly done little to educate their children
in any systematic way. Now schools began to appear, frequently

PLAN OF A ROMAN HOUSE WITH PERISTYLE

The earliest Roman house had consisted of a
single room, the atrium (A), with the pool
for the rain water (B). Then a small alcove,
or lean-to, was erected at the rear (C), as a
room for the master of the house. Later the
bedrooms on each side of the atrium were
added. Finally, under the influence of Greek
life, the garden court (D), with its surround-
ing colonnaded porch (peristyle) and a foun-
tain in the middle (), was built at the
rear. Then a dining room, sitting room, and
bedrooms were added, which opened on this
court, and, being without windows, they were
lighted from the court through the doors. In
town houses it was quite easy to partition
off a shop, or even a whole row of shops,
along the front or side of the house, as in the
Hellenistic house. The houses of Pompeii
(see 262 and Plate III, facing page 168) were
almost all built in this way

Extension of Roman Dominion and its Results 141

conducted by Greeks. A Latin translation of Homer was often used
as a textbook, and in this way Roman children learned something
of the legends of Troy and of the wily Odysseus. Roman writers
also set down the picturesque legends of early Rome and of its
founding by Romulus and Remus. A Roman general brought
back the books collected by the Macedonian king and founded
the first private library in Rome. Wealthy and cultivated Romans
now began to provide special rooms in their houses for books,
and they often read and spoke Greek almost as well as Latin.

II. SIGNS OF DEGENERATION IN TOWN AND COUNTRY

220. Gladiators and Races. Some of the old-fashioned Romans
were greatly worried by the new luxury. Laws were passed to
check it, but they amounted to little. During the Carthaginian
wars there had been introduced an old Etruscan custom of single
combats between condemned criminals or slaves, who fought to
honor the funeral of some great Roman. These fighters came to
be called "swordsmen" (gladiators, from a Latin word gladius,
meaning " sword"). Officials in charge of the various public
feasts, without waiting for a funeral, used to arrange a long
program of such combats, sure of pleasing the people, gaining
their votes, and thus securing election to higher offices. These
barbarous and bloody spectacles took place in a great stone
structure called an amphitheater. Combats between gladiators
and wild beasts were finally introduced. The Romans also began
to build enormous race tracks for chariot races (called circuses),
surrounded by seats for vast numbers of spectators.

221. Political Corruption. The Roman politician now sought
office chiefly with the hope of finally gaining the governorship of a
province. There he might hope to retrieve his campaign expenses
and make himself rich for life. The aspirant to office naturally
took advantage of the habit that had grown up of distributing
grain and bread among the poorer people, and sought, .as the
expression was", to make himself solid with the voters by means
of "bread and circuses." There appears also to have been a great

142 General History oj Europe

deal of political bribery, and the laws directed against it seem to
have had little effect in checking it.

222. Growth of Great Estates; Decline of Small Farms.
The evils of the new wealth were not less evident outside of
Rome. It was not thought proper for a Roman senator or noble to
engage in any business. The most respectable form of wealth was
land. Hence the successful Roman noble or capitalist bought
farm after farm, which he combined into a great estate or planta-
tion. Only here and there were still to be found groups of little
homestead farms of the old Roman days. The small farm seemed
in a fair way to disappear.

223. Slave Revolts and Disorders. It was impossible for a
wealthy landowner to work these great estates with free, hired
labor. Nor was he obliged to do so. From the close of Hanni-
bal's war onward the Roman conquests had brought to Italy
great numbers of captives of war. These unhappy prisoners were
sold as slaves. The estates of Italy were now filled with them.
The life of slaves on the great plantations was little better than
that of beasts. When the supply of captives from the wars failed,
slave pirates for many years carried on wholesale kidnaping in
the ^Egean and eastern Mediterranean.

Thus Italy and Sicily were fairly flooded with slaves. The
brutal treatment which they received was so unbearable that at
various places in Italy they finally rose against their masters.
In central and southern Sicily the revolting slaves gathered some
sixty thousand in number, slew their masters, captured towns,
and set up a kingdom. It required a Roman consul at the head
of an army and a war lasting several years to subdue them.

224. Evil Influences of the Long Wars of Conquest. Slave
labor and the great wars were meantime further ruining the small
farmers of Italy. Never has there been an age in which the terri-
ble and desolating results of war have more tragically revealed the
awful cost of military glory. Fathers and elder sons had been
absent from home for years, holding their posts in the legions,
fighting the battles which had brought Rome her great position
as mistress of the world. The mothers, left to bring up the

Extension of Roman Dominion and its Results 143

younger children alone, saw the family scattered and drifting
away from the little farm, till it was left forsaken.

225. Influx to the Cities. Too often as the returning soldier
approached the spot where he was born he no longer found the
house that had sheltered him in childhood. His family was gone,
and his little farm, sold for debt, had been bought up by some
wealthy Roman of the city. He cursed the rich men who had got
possession of his land, and wandered up to the great city to look
for free grain from the government, to enjoy the games and
circuses, and to increase the poor class already there.

226. The Difficulties confronting Rome after she had gained
World Power. The failure of the Roman Senate to organize a
successful government for the empire they had conquered had
brought the whole world of Mediterranean civilization danger-
ously near destruction. In the European background beyond
the Alpine frontiers there were rumblings of vast movements
among the Northern barbarians, threatening to descend as of old
and completely overwhelm the civilization which for over three
thousand years had been slowly built up by Orientals and Greeks
and Romans in the Mediterranean world.

We stand at the point where the civilization of the Hellenistic
world began to decline, after the destruction of Carthage and
Corinth (146 B.C.). We are now to watch the Roman people
struggling with three difficult and dangerous problems at the
same time : first, the deadly internal hostility which we have seen
growing up between rich and poor ; second, the question of organ-
izing a successful Roman government of the Mediterranean world
while the dangerous internal struggle was going on ; and third, in
the midst of these grave responsibilities, the invasions of the bar-
barian hordes of the North. In spite of all these threatening dan-
gers we shall see Rome gaining the needed organization which
enabled it to hurl back the barbarians, to hold the northern
frontiers for five hundred years, and thus to shield the civilization
which had cost mankind so many centuries of slow progress
the civilization which, because it was so preserved by the Roman
Empire, has become our own inheritance today.

144

General History of Europe

QUESTIONS

I. Recall the partition of Alexander's empire after his death. What
portions of Alexander's empire were conquered by the Romans ? What
difficulties did the Romans meet in governing their provinces ? De-
scribe the origin and habits of the wealthy class which now developed.

II. What were the new forms of public amusement which appeared
at Rome? Compare political corruption among the Romans with that
of today. What were the evil influences of the long wars of conquest ?
Why did the people leave the country for the cities ? What problems
confronted the Roman government as a result of their conquests ?

p%. : CORNcDVS-C/Vf SCI PI

PROOVATVS FC"JT!S'/'S SA7IE; \"> OV1- QWVi foflA*AVIRTV '
FVIT- N :-IRA5IAA

NOTE. This illustration shows the beautiful stone sarcophagus of one of the early
Scipios, found in the family tomb on the Appian Way. It is adorned with details of
Greek architecture, which clearly indicate that it was done by a Greek artist. Verses
in early Latin, on the side of the sarcophagus, contain praises of the departed Scipio.

CHAPTER XII

A CENTURY OF REVOLUTION AND THE END OF THE
ROMAN REPUBLIC (133-30 B.C.)

I. THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN SENATE AND PEOPLE

227. The Gracchi and their Attempted Reforms (133-121 B.C.).
The crying needs of the farmer class in Italy failed to produce
any effect on the blinded and selfish aristocrats who made up
the Roman Senate. But the people found a leader in Tiberius
Gracchus, the grandson of Scipio the hero of Zama. Elected
tribune in 133 B.C., he was wont with passionate eloquence to
remind the people of their wrongs. "You fight and die to give
wealth and luxury to others. You are called the masters of the
world, yet there is no clod of earth that you can really call
your own." Tiberius Gracchus brought a law before the Assem-
bly providing for a redistribution of the public lands and the
protection of the farming class. But the Senate regarded him
as a dangerous agitator, and he was slain by a mob of senators
who rushed from their meeting place and attacked him and his
supporters. This murderous deed was the prelude to a century
of struggle between the leaders of the Senate and those of the
people, which finally destroyed the Republic and led to the
establishment of the Empire.

Ten years later Gaius, the brother of Tiberius Gracchus, under-
took to force through similar reforms in behalf of the farmers
and to reduce the power of the Senate. He too was killed in a
riot. In spite of their failure these two brothers won enduring
fame in their efforts to improve the lot of the people at large.

228. Marius, the People's Commander. The Gracchi had
taught the people to look up to a leader, and this tendency was
the beginning of the one-man power which was to develop in the

146 General History of Europe

Roman Empire. The people now selected a military commander,
for they saw that they must have an army to enforce their claims.
Marius, whom they chose, was himself a man of the people and
had once been a plowboy. It was fortunate that he had military
ability, for two powerful German tribes, the Cimbrians and the
Teutons, had crossed the northern frontiers of the Roman Em-
pire and had defeated several Roman armies sent against them.
Marius was able, however, to overwhelm and nearly destroy
the German hosts in two battles in southern Gaul (102 B.C.).
So a man of the people saved Rome from this new danger.

In order to increase his army Marius gave up the old habit of
allowing only men of property to serve, and he took in the poor
and penniless. These men became professional soldiers, and it was
clear that the old days when Rome had relied on her citizens to
defend her had passed.

229. The Senate chooses Sulla as its Defender. The
Senate now set up a rival to Marius, Sulla, and gave him com-
mand of an army to be sent to fight in Asia Minor. But the
people refused to agree to this and elected Marius as head of the
expedition. Sulla then summoned his troops, marched on Rome,
and took the city by force.

230. Revenge of Marius and his Death (ss B.C.). The Senate
had triumphed, but after the departure of Sulla and his legions the
people refused longer to submit. Marius, having entered Rome
with troops, began a frightful massacre of the leading men of the
senatorial party. The Senate,, the first to sow seeds of violence
in the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, now reaped a fearful harvest.
Meantime Marius died (86 B.C.), but the leaders of the people
ruled in Rome until the day of reckoning, which was sure to come
on the return of Sulla.

231. Sulla gives the Senate Supreme Leadership ( 82-79 B.C.).
Having spent several years carrying on a victorious campaign in
Asia Minor, Sulla returned. On the way his army defeated the
armies of the people, one after another, and Sulla entered Rome
as master of the State, without any legal power to justify such
mastery. By means of his troops he forced his own appointment

A Century of Revolution 147

as Dictator (82 B.C.). His first action was to begin the system-
atic slaughter of the leaders of the people's party and the confis-
cation of their property. Then he forced the passage of a whole
series of new laws which deprived the Assembly and the tribunes
of their power and gave the supreme leadership of the State to
the Senate.

II. OVERTHROW OF THE REPUBLIC; POMPEY AND C^SAR

232. The People elect Pompey as their Leader. Some years
later Sulla, who was a cruel and heartless defender of the aristo-
cratic Senate, died, and the people began an agitation for the
repeal of the laws which deprived them and their tribunes of all
control over the government. They elected Pompey, a former
officer of Sulla's, as their leader, and he became consul in 70 B.C.
He managed to get the obnoxious laws repealed and gained a
great reputation for himself by attacking and destroying the
pirates who preyed on Roman commerce. He also gained victories
in Asia Minor and Syria, where he crushed the remnants of the
old kingdom of the Seleucids. Syria, including Palestine, became
a Roman province.

233. Rise of Julius Caesar. Meanwhile a new popular hero and
opponent of the senatorial party had arisen in Rome, a nephew
of Marius, Julius Caesar, born in the year 100 B.C. On Pompey 's
return Caesar sided with him, and with his support managed' to
be elected consul for the year 59 B.C. Caesar aspired to become
the head of the State and introduce many necessary reforms.
But he had to have an army and so secured the appointment as
governor of Gaul, much of which was still unconquered by the
Romans.

234. Caesar's Conquest of Gaul. Caesar took charge of his
new province in 58 B.C., and in the following eight years proved
himself to be a commander of distinguished ability. He subdued
the Gauls and conquered their territory from the Rhine westward
to the ocean and the English Channel. He even crossed the
Channel and invaded Britain as far as the Thames. He added

148

General History of Europe

a vast dominion to the Roman Empire, comprising in general the
territory of modern France and Belgium. We should not forget
that his conquest brought Latin into France, and it is from Latin
that modern French has developed.

Caesar believed that Rome needed an able commander with an
army behind him, who should make himself the permanent master

of the Roman government and
subdue all other competitors. He
therefore steadily pursued this aim.
One of his cleverest moves was the
publication of a history of his cam-
paigns in Gaul, which he had found
time to write in the midst of dan-
gerous marches and critical battles.
Although it is one of the greatest
works of Latin prose, the book was
really a political pamphlet, in-
tended to tell the Roman people
the story of the vast conquests
which they owed to their governor
in Gaul. At present it is the best-
known Latin reading book for
beginners in that language.

235. Pompey decides to support
the Senate. The senators dreaded
Caesar's return and probable reelec-
tion as consul. So they induced

Pompey to desert the people's party and support the cause of the
Senate. This led to a struggle between the two commanding gen-
erals, Caesar and Pompey. The Senate ordered Caesar to disband his
army, but instead of obeying he led it across the little river Rubicon,
which formed the southern boundary of his province, and marched
on Rome. Pompey and the Senate were unprepared for this, and
many of the senatorial party with their general decided to retire
to Greece. Caesar was elected consul and so could become the
legal defender of Rome against the Senate and Pompey 's army.

BUST SAID TO BE A PORTRAIT OF
JULIUS C^SAR

The ancient portraits commonly

accepted as those of Julius Caesar

are really of uncertain identity

A Century of Revolution 149

236. Caesar defeats Pompey (49-48 B.C.). Pompey had the
advantage in the struggle, for he controlled the resources of his
conquests in the East and still had the fleet with which he had
suppressed the pirates. Nevertheless Caesar managed to get his
army across to Epirus (see map, p. 138) and accepted battle
with Pompey on the famous field of Pharsalus in Thessaly. Here
Pompey was crushingly defeated (48 B.C.), and his army sur-
rendered itself to Caesar.

237. Caesar completes the Conquest of the Mediterranean
World (48-45 B.C.). Pompey then escaped into Egypt, where he
was basely murdered. Caesar, following Pompey to Egypt, found
ruling there the beautiful Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies.
The charms of this remarkable queen appear to have captivated
the great Roman.

We know little of the campaign by which Caesar next over-
threw his opponents in Asia Minor. It was from there that
he sent his famous report to the Senate: "I came, I saw, I con-
quered" (Veni, vidi, vici). The only other obstacles to Caesar's
complete control oj the empire of the Roman world were all
disposed of by March, 45 B.C., a little over four years after he
had first taken possession of Italy with his army.

238. Caesar's Reforms and Plans for the Future. Caesar was
a great statesman. He used his power with moderation and
humanity. From the first he had taken great pains to show
that his methods were not those of the bloody Sulla. It is clear that
he intended his own position to be that of a Hellenistic sovereign
like Alexander the Great. Nevertheless he was too wise a states-
man to abolish at once the outward forms of the Republic. He
made his power seem legal by having himself made Dictator for
life, and he assumed also the powers of the other leading offices
of the state.

Caesar undertook the task of reshaping the Roman Empire.
He reformed the Senate, which had long been an evil influence
in public affairs, and began far-reaching reforms in the corrupt
administration of the government. He sketched vast plans for
rebuilding Rome itself ; he laid out new roads to facilitate travel

General History of Europe

throughout the great empire. He put an end to centuries of
inconvenience which had resulted from the use of the old-fashioned
calendar based on the moon-month, and introduced the Egyptian
calendar. Our month of July (Latin, Julius) is named after him.
In short, it is not too much to say that he really established
the Roman Empire and was its first emperor in fact if not
in name.

239. Murder of Caesar (44 B.C.). But there were still men in
Rome who were not ready to submit to the rule of one man. On

COIN OF BRUTUS

The above cut shows us the two sides of a coin issued by Brutus, one of
the leading assassins of Julius Caesar. On one side the coin bears the head of
Brutus, accompanied by his name and the title Imperator, that is, general
(abbreviated to IMP). On the other side are two daggers, intended to
recall the assassination of Caesar, and between them appears the cap of liberty,
to suggest the liberty which the Romans supposedly gained by his murder.
In order that the meaning of all this might be perfectly clear, there appears,
below, the inscription EID MAR, which means the Ides of March (the
Roman term for the fifteenth of March), the date of Caesar's murder

the fifteenth of March, 44 B.C., three days before the date
arranged for his departure on a great campaign beyond the
Euphrates, these men struck down the greatest of the Romans.
If some of his murderers, like Brutus and Cassius, fancied them-
selves patriots overthrowing a tyrant, they little understood how
vain were all such efforts to restore the ancient Republic. World
dominion and its military power had destroyed forever the Roman
Republic and its old democratic government. The murder of
Caesar had the most unhappy effects and again plunged Italy and
the Empire into civil war.

A Century of Revolution

III. TRIUMPH OF AUGUSTUS AND END OF THE
CIVIL WARS

240. How Octavian (Caesar Augustus) made himself Head
of Rome. Julius had adopted his- grandnephew Octavian and had
made him his sole heir. At the time of Caesar's assassination he
was only eighteen years old and

was quietly pursuing his studies
in Illyria. His mother sent him
word of his uncle's death and
urged him to flee eastward as fast
as possible. Instead of this he
started for Rome and began skill-
fully to gather up the threads of
the tangled situation in his clever
fingers. In spite of his youth and
inexperience, he managed to find
supporters and secure a military
command, so that two years after
Caesar's murder he was able to de-
feat his enemies, including Caesar's
assassins, in the battle of Philippi
(42 B.C.). During the following
ten years he was able to make
his position stronger and stronger,
and at the age of twenty-eight he had gained almost complete
control over both the eastern and western portions of the Empire.

241. Octavian, Mark Antony, and Cleopatra. Octavian's last
struggle was with his former friend and supporter Mark Antony,
who, having fought in the east, had become infatuated with the
charming Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. Antony was now living in
Alexandria and Antioch, where he ruled like an oriental monarch.
It was reported to Octavian that Antony and Cleopatra were
planning to make themselves rulers of Rome. Accordingly Oc-
tavian induced the Senate to declare war on Cleopatra, and thus
he was able to advance against Antony. As Caesar and Pompey,

PORTRAIT OF AUGUSTUS, NOW

IN THE BOSTON MUSEUM OF

FINE ARTS

152 General History of Europe

representing the West and the East, had once faced each other
on a battlefield in Greece ( 236), so now Octavian and Antony,
the leaders of the West and the East, met at Actium on the west
coast of Greece. The outcome was a sweeping victory for the
heir of Caesar (31 B.C.).

The next year Octavian landed in Egypt. Antony, probably
forsaken by Cleopatra, took his own life. The proud queen, un-
willing to be displayed at Octavian's triumph at Rome, died by
her own hand. She was the last of the Ptolemies ( 165), the rulers
of Egypt for nearly three hundred years. Octavian therefore made
Egypt Roman territory (30 B.C.). To the West, which he already
controlled, Octavian had now added also the East. Thus he had
restored the unity of Roman dominions. The entire Mediterranean
world was under the power of a single ruler.

242. Summary. The struggle between the rich and the poor,
which resulted in violence under the Gracchus brothers after
133 B.C., was accompanied by the rise of military leaders, who
gained great power and wealth in the newly conquered posses-
sions. They strove to control the State in defiance of the laws.
Years of civil war between the leaders of the people and the Senate
resulted in the overthrow of the Republic (about 30 B.C.). Octa-
vian's success marked the final triumph of one-man power in the
entire ancient world, as it had long ago triumphed in the Orient.
The century of strife which Octavian's victory ended was now
followed by two centuries of peace. These were the first two
centuries of the Roman Empire, beginning in 30 B.C.

QUESTIONS

I. Describe the aims and fate of the Gracchi. Describe the con-
test between Marius and Sulla. What was Sulla's policy after the death
of Marius ?

II. Describe the career of Pompey. How did Julius Caesar prepare
the way for his dictatorship? Trace the struggle between Caesar and
Pompey. How did Caesar complete the conquest of the Mediterranean
world ? What were his reforms and plans ?

III. How did Caesar Augustus make himself head of Rome?

CHAPTER XIII

THE ROMAN EMPIRE: TWO CENTURIES OF PEACE FROM
AUGUSTUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS

I. THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS (30 B.C.-A.D. 14)

243. Origin of the Roman Empire. When Octavian returned
to Italy there was a general impression that peace had at last
come after a hundred years of revolution, civil war, and devasta-
tion. The great majority of Romans now felt that an individual
ruler was necessary for the control of the vast Roman dominions.
There was, therefore, no further opposition to Octavian, and he
devoted the remaining forty-four years of his life to giving the
Roman Empire the efficient organization and good government
which it had so long lacked.

The Senate conferred upon him the title of Augustus, that is,
" the august " ; but his chief official title was Princeps, that is,
"the first," meaning the first of the citizens. Another title
given the head of the Roman Empire was an old word for com-
mander or general ; namely, Imperator, from which our word
"emperor" is derived. Augustus, as we may now call Octavian,
regarded his position as that of an official of the Roman Republic,
elected by the Senate and the people.

The Roman Empire, which here emerges, was thus under a
double government of the Senate and of the Princeps, whom we
commonly call the emperor. The emperor was, however, the real
ruler, because as general he had the legions at his command. So
the Roman Republic tended to become a military monarchy, as
we shall see.

244. The Army and the Frontiers. Augustus seems to have
thought that the Roman Empire was quite large enough, and he

'53

154 General History of Europe

did not advocate any further conquests. It was bounded on the
south by the Sahara Desert and on the west by the Atlantic.
The Euphrates River was established as the frontier on the east,
and the Danube and Rhine on the north.

For the defense of these frontiers it was necessary to maintain
a large standing army on the average probably two hundred
and twenty-five thousand men. The troops were recruited chiefly
from the Roman provinces. Henceforth the legions were posted
far out on the boundaries, and the citizens in Italy saw few
troops except the emperor's bodyguard.

245. Great Task of organizing the Empire. Augustus faced
the task of providing a newer and better government for all the
various peoples and nations that made up the Empire. The selec-
tion of the governors of the provinces was almost wholly in his
hands, and the governors knew that they were responsible to him
for the wise and honest performance of their duties. Each gov-
ernor also knew that if he proved successful he would be permitted
to retain his post for years or be promoted to a better one.

The whole Mediterranean world now entered upon a period of
peace and prosperity. Formerly the various peoples had been
accustomed to fight one another, but now the Roman peace en-
veloped them all. The threads of our historical narrative have
hitherto been numerous as we followed the stories of Egypt,
Babylonia, Assyria, Persia, Athens, Macedonia, Rome, and Car-
thage. With the exception of the regions east of the Euphrates
these separate strands now become twisted together into the
single thread of history, that of the Roman Empire.

246. The Rebuilding of Rome. Augustus also undertook to
rebuild Rome and make it the most magnificent city of the world.
He remodeled several private houses into a mansion for his own
use. From this royal residence, which was on the Palatine Hill,
our English word "palace" is derived.

The palace looked down upon an imposing array of new marble
buildings surrounding the ancient Forum. The finest of these was
the magnificent business hall (basilica) erected by Julius Caesar
and restored and completed by Augustus. On the north of the

THE ROMAN FORUM AND ITS PUBLIC BUILDINGS IN THE EARLY EMPIRE
(AFTER LUCKENBACH)

We look across the ancient market place (F) to the Tiber with its ships.
On each side of the market place, where we see the buildings (, /, and D,
G, I), were once rows of little wooden booths for selling meat, fish, and
other merchandise. During the period which followed the beginning of the
Carthaginian wars these were gradually displaced by fine buildings, like the
basilica hall (D), built not long after 200 B.C.

The Roman Empire at its Height

155

old Forum Caesar had constructed another business center, called
the Forum of Caesar; but the growing business of the city led
Augustus to build a third forum, known as the Forum of Augus-
tus, which he placed next to that of Caesar (see Ancient Times,

MAP OF ROME UNDER THE EMPERORS

Fig. 247). The first stone theater in Rome had been built by
Pompey. Augustus erected a larger and more magnificent one.
247. Books and Writers of Augustus's Time. It was during
the life of Augustus that the writing of Latin reached its highest
perfection. The Romans did little in science, and their art was an
imitation of Greek models. As writers they were also dominated
by the Greeks, and literary men often studied in Athens and spoke
Greek among themselves when they returned to Italy. In the
age before Augustus, Cicero, a lawyer, statesman, and remarkable

156

General History of Europe

orator, had done much to perfect the Latin tongue in his speeches
and orations. Late in life he was forced to retire from active life
and spent several years writing out, in Latin, treatises on duty,
friendship, old age, and the gods, which have been read with
pleasure ever since. While they owed much to Greek works, they

"ALTAR OF AUGUSTAN PEACE"

The above cut shows a restoration of a magnificent marble inclosure con-
taining the "Altar of Augustan Peace," erected by order of the Senate in
honor of Augustus. The inclosure was open to the sky, and its surrounding
walls, of which portions still exist, are covered below by a broad band of
ornamental plant spirals, very sumptuous in effect. Above it is a series of
reliefs, of which the one on the right of the door pictures the legendary hero
jEneas bringing an offering to the temple of the Roman household gods
(Penates) which he carried from Troy to Latium

are so beautifully and elegantly expressed that they came to be
regarded as models of Latin prose and are still used in our
schools and colleges where Latin is studied. .

Latin poetry appeared a generation later than Cicero, after
Augustus had established peace and begun to encourage men of
letters to make his reign famous by their works. Horace was
particularly proud of having been able to introduce the various
Greek rhythms into Latin. He wrote gay and sometimes sad little
poems about human joys and loves and ambitions, which are still
quoted by those fond of Latin. Virgil, the most beloved of Latin
writers through the ages, described country life in his earlier

The Roman Empire at its Height 157

poems and then wrote his immortal ^Eneid, a sort of continua-
tion of the Iliad, in which he describes the fall of Troy, the
coming to Italy of ^Eneas, whom he represented as the ancestor of
the Caesars. Livy wrote his great history of Rome, from which
we get a large part of our information in regard to the develop-
ment of the Roman State down to his time.

II. SUCCESSORS OF AUGUSTUS: POLICY OF TRAJAN
AND HADRIAN

248. Death of Augustus; his Successors. Augustus died
A.D. 14. There was no law providing for the line of succession
in the Empire. As Augustus had no male heir, he had asked the
Senate to associate with him in the government his stepson
Tiberius, an able soldier who succeeded him. The chief thing
to be noted in his reign is that he no longer allowed the Roman
populace to go through the farce of approving what the emperor
had already decided upon ; so even the appearance of government
by the Roman people disappeared forever. We can mention
only a very few of the Roman emperors who succeeded Tiberius.
Some of them were good and efficient ; some of them followed
careers of vice and wickedness. Of the latter class Nero (A. D.
54-68) is the worst example. He is accused of having his wife and
mother and his old teacher, Seneca, killed and of setting fire to
Rome in order to witness the spectacle and have the pleasure of
rebuilding the town. There is no evidence that he really com-
mitted this crime. He put the blame for it on the Christians,
who were now beginning to appear in Rome, and had many of
them executed with horrible tortures. So Nero's name has come
down to us as one of the blackest in history. A revolt in the
army finally caused him to commit suicide.

After Nero's death there was a struggle between rival candi-
dates for the throne, and Vespasian, an able general, finally won
in the year 69 of the Christian Era. With him began a century of
general peace under good and efficient rulers who brought the
Empire to its highest point of prosperity and general content.

158 General History of Europe

249. Protection of the Empire. We have seen that on the
north and east the Roman Empire was open to attack. Owing to
the pressure of the German barbarians, civilization was constantly
in danger. Vespasian and his sons did much to make the northern
boundary safe by building walls and fortifications along the

THE EMPEROR TRAJAN SACRIFICING AT HIS NEW BRIDGE

In the background we see the heavy stone piers of the bridge, supporting
the wooden upper structure, built with strong railings. In the foreground
is the altar, toward which the emperor advances from the right, with a flat
dish in his right hand, from which he is pouring a libation. At the left
of the altar stands a priest, naked to the waist and leading an ox to be
slain for the sacrifice. A group of the emperor's officers approach from the
left, bearing army standards. The scene is sculptured with many others on
the column of Trajan at Rome, and is one of the best examples of Roman
relief sculpture of the second century

frontier. But on the lower Danube they were unable to crush the
growing power of the Dacians (see map, p. 160).

250. Trajan (A.D. 98-nv) and his Wars. This left the whole
threatening situation on the lower Danube to be met by the bril-
liant soldier Trajan. He captured one stronghold of the Dacians
after another, and finally destroyed their capital. Having built a
massive bridge across the Danube, Trajan made Dacia a Roman

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

AT ITS GREATEST EXTENT
(Under Trajan, A. D. 98-117)

? 100 200 300 400 600 600

Scale of Miles.

The Roman Empire at its Height 159

province and sprinkled plentiful Roman colonies on the north
side of the great river. The descendants of these colonists in this
region still call themselves Rumanians and their land Rumania,
a form of the word "Roman."

Trajan then turned his attention to the eastern frontier, where
a large portion of the boundary was formed by the upper Eu-
phrates River. Rome thus held the western half of the Fertile
Crescent, but it had never conquered the eastern half, including
Assyria and Babylonia, which was held by the powerful kingdom
of the Parthians. Trajan, emulating Alexander the Great, at-
tempted to add this region to the Empire, but he failed and died
a bitterly disappointed man.

251. Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) completes the Frontier Defenses.
Trajan's successor, Hadrian, was also an able soldier. He had,
moreover, the judgment of a statesman. He made no effort to con-
tinue Trajan's conquests in the East, but, on the contrary, wisely
brought the frontier back to the Euphrates. He retained Dacia,
however, and strengthened the whole northern frontier, especially
the long barrier reaching from the Rhine to the Danube, where
the completion of a continuous wall was largely due to him. He
built a similar wall along the northern boundary across Britain.
The lines of both these walls are still visible. As a result of the
wise measures of Hadrian and the impressive victories of Trajan,
the frontiers were safe and quiet for a long time.

252. The Army under Trajan and Hadrian. Drawn from all
parts of the Empire, the army now consisted of many different
nationalities, like the British army hi the recent World War. A
legion of Spaniards might be stationed on the Euphrates, or a
group of youths from the Nile might spend years in sentry duty
on the wall that barred out the Germans. The army posts were
equipped with fine barracks and living quarters for officers and
men. The discipline was never relaxed, for the troops had always
to be ready to meet any attack from the barbarian Germans who
lived beyond the walls.

253. Improvements in Government. Meantime the Empire
had been undergoing important changes within. The emperors

i6o

General History of Europe

developed a system of government departments, headed by experi-
enced ministers, such as we have in modern states. It was the
wise and efficient Hadrian who accomplished the most in perfect-
ing this organization of the government business.

Among many changes, one of the most important was the
abolition of the system of "farming" taxes, that is, allowing
them to be collected by private individuals for profit, a system

RESTORATION OF THE ROMAN FORTIFIED WALL ON THE
GERMAN FRONTIER

This masonry wall, some three hundred miles long, protected the northern
boundary of the Roman Empire between the upper Rhine and the upper
Danube, where it was most exposed to German attack. At short intervals
there were blockhouses along the wall, and at points of great danger strong-
holds and barracks for the shelter of garrisons

which had caused both the Greeks and the Romans much trouble.
Government collectors now everywhere gathered in the taxes of
the great Mediterranean world.

254. Rise of a System of Law for the Whole Empire. Not
only did the subjects of this vast State pay their taxes into the
same treasury but they were controlled by the same laws. The
lawyers of Rome under the emperors we are now discussing
were the most gifted legal minds the world had ever seen. They
altered the narrow city-law of Rome so that it might meet the
needs of the whole empire. In spirit these laws were fair, just,

The Roman Empire at Us Height 161

and humane and did much to unify the peoples of the Mediter-
ranean world into a single nation ; for they were now regarded
by the law not as different nations but as subjects of the same
great State, which extended to them all the same protection of
justice, law, and order.

III. CIVILIZATION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

255. The Peoples of the Roman Empire. The number of
inhabitants of the vast Roman Empire is supposed to have been
somewhere between sixty-five and a hundred million. We have
no exact statistics. It included the most varied peoples, Italians,
Greeks, Gauls, Iberians (Spaniards), some Britons and Germans,
Moors, North Africans, Egyptians, Arabs, Jews, Phoenicians, Syr-
ians, Armenians, and Hittites, to mention only the more impor-
tant. All these peoples differed from one another in their native
manners, customs, and dress, but they could all rejoice in the
far-reaching Roman peace and protection. For the most part
they lived in cities ; like our own day, it was an age of city life.

256. Excellent Roman Roads. Everywhere the magnificent
Roman roads, smoothly paved with massive stone like a town
street, led straight over the hills and across the rivers by impos-
ing bridges. Some of these bridges still stand and are in use
today. The speed of travel and communication was fully as
high as that maintained in Europe and America a century ago,
before the introduction of the steam railway, and the roads were
much better. By sea a Roman merchant could send a letter to his
agent in Alexandria in ten days. The huge government grain ships
that plied regularly between the Roman harbors and Alexandria
were stately vessels carrying several thousand tons.

257. Wide Extent of Commerce. With these improved condi-
tions business flourished as never before. There was a fleet of a
hundred and twenty ships plying regularly across the Indian
Ocean between the Red Sea and the harbors of India. The wares
that they brought were shipped west from the docks of Alexan-
dria, which still remained the greatest commercial city on the

1 62 General History of Europe

Mediterranean. There was a proverb that you could get anything
in Alexandria except snow. A vast system of trade routes by sea
and land covered the world of the time, from the frontiers of
China and India on the east, to the harbors of the Atlantic and
Britain on the west.

258. What a Tourist might see. The Roman citizens of this
period often made tours of the Mediterranean much as the mod-
ern sight-seer does. As the traveler passed through the towns of
the provinces, he found everywhere evidences of the public spirit
of the citizens. There were fountains, theaters, music halls, baths,
and gymnasiums, erected by wealthy men and given to the com-
munity. There were schools for boys and girls with teachers paid
by the government.

To a traveler wandering in Greece and looking back some
six hundred years to the Age of Pericles or the Persian Wars of
Athens, Greece seemed to belong to a distant and ancient world,
of which he had read in the histories of Thucydides and Herod-
otus ( 122, 147). The Roman visitor who strolled through
Athens or Delphi noticed many an empty pedestal, and he recalled
how the villas of his friends at home were now adorned with the
statues which had once occupied them.

As the traveler passed eastward through the flourishing cities
of Asia Minor and Syria, he might feel justifiable pride in what
Roman rule was accomplishing. In the western half of the
Fertile Crescent, especially just east of the Jordan, where there
had formerly been only a nomad wilderness, there were now pros-
perous towns, with long aqueducts, baths, theaters, of which the
ruins fill even us of today with astonishment. Beyond the desert
behind these towns lay the former empires of Babylonia, Assyria,
and Persia, with their great cities already reduced to mounds of
rubbish.

On visiting Alexandria our traveler might have found himself
joining a group of other tourists, who, after viewing the great
commercial town founded by Alexander the Great, could make
their way up the Nile into the midst of a much earlier world
the earliest civilization of which they knew. At Memphis and

The Roman Empire at its Height

163

Thebes they would see buildings constructed thousands of years
before Rome was founded. On these mountains we can see today
the names and comments these tourists scribbled on the stone.

259. Civilization in the West. In the western Mediterranean
civilization was a new thing. In that age western Europe had for

INTERIOR VIEW OF THE DOME OF THE PANTHEON BUILT AT ROME BY
AGRIPPA AND HADRIAN

The first building on this spot was erected by Agrippa, Augustus's great
minister. But it was completely rebuilt, as we see it here, by Hadrian. The
circular hole in the ceiling is thirty feet across ; it is one hundred and forty-
two feet above the pavement, and the diameter of the huge dome is also
one hundred and forty-two feet. This is the only ancient building in Rome
which is still standing with walls and roof in a perfectly preserved state.
It is thus a remarkable example of Roman skill in the use of concrete
(260). At the same time it is one of the most beautiful and impressive
domed interiors ever designed

the first time been building cities, under the guidance of Roman
architects, and their buildings looked like those at Rome. We can
still visit and study massive bridges, spacious theaters, imposing
public monuments, sumptuous villas, and luxurious public baths
a line of Roman ruins stretching from Britain through southern

164

General History of Europe

France and Germany to the Balkan Peninsula. Similarly, in North
Africa west of Carthage the ruins of whole cities with magnificent
public buildings still survive to show us how Roman civilization
developed there.

These Roman buildings, still encircling the Mediterranean,
reveal to us the fact that as a result of ages of human progress

THE VAST AMPHITHEATER AT ROME NOW CALLED THE COLOSSEUM
(RESTORED AFTER LUCKENBACH)

This enormous building, one of the greatest in the world, was an oval
arena surrounded by rising tiers of seats, accommodating nearly fifty thou-
sand people. We see here only the outside wall, as restored. It was built
by the emperors Vespasian and Titus, and was completed in 80 A.D. At the
left is the colossal bronze statue of Nero, about one hundred feet high,
which originally stood in this vicinity, near the entrance of his famous
" Golden House," just east of the Forum

which we have studied, the whole Mediterranean world, West as
well as East, had now gained a high civilization.

260. New Public Buildings of Rome. As for Rome itself, a
visitor at the close of the reign of Hadrian found it the most
magnificent monumental city in the world of that day. It had
by that time quite surpassed Alexandria in size and in the number
and splendor of its public buildings. It was especially in and
alongside the old Forum that the grandest structures of the

The Roman Empire at its Height

165

Empire had grown up. There Vespasian had erected a vast amphi-
theater for gladiatorial combats, now known as the Colosseum.
Along the north side of the old Forum the emperors built three
new forums which surpassed in magnificence anything which the
Mediterranean world had ever
seen before.

These buildings of Trajan
and Hadrian represent the high-
est level of splendor and beauty
reached by Roman architects.
In the Hellenistic Age architects
had begun to employ increasing
quantities of concrete. The
domed roof of Hadrian's Pan-
theon is an enormous solid mass
of concrete over a hundred and
forty feet across. The Romans,
therefore, eighteen hundred years
ago were employing concrete on
a scale which we have only re-
cently learned to imitate, and
after all this lapse of time the
roof of the Pantheon seems to
be as safe and stanch as it was
when Hadrian's architects first
knocked away the posts which
supported the wooden form for
the great cast.

261. Roman Sculpture and Painting. The reliefs which adorn
all these monuments show Roman art at its best. Those on
Trajan's column form a sort of picture book of his campaigns.
The Roman statuary is mainly copies of the masterpieces of the
great Greek sculptors. The portrait busts of leading Romans are,
however, among the finest things of the kind ever done and give
us a lively notion of how the men of the time looked. As for
painting, the decorations on the walls of houses, copied from

PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN
ROMAN

This terra-cotta head is one of the
finest portraits ever made. It rep-
resents one of the masterful
Roman lords of the world, and
shows clearly in the features those
qualities of power and leadership
which so long maintained the su-
premacy of the Roman Empire

i66

General History of Europe

Hellenistic Greek works, are the most striking examples of the
art that are to be found in the Roman period.

262. Pompeii. Fortunately one of the provincial cities has
been preserved to us with much that we might have seen there
if we could have visited it nearly two thousand years ago. In the

A STREET IN ANCIENT POMPEII AS IT APPEARS TODAY

The pavement and sidewalk are in perfect condition, as when they were first
covered by the falling ashes. At the left is a public fountain, and in the
foreground is a street crossing. Of the buildings on this street only half a
story still stands, except at the left, where we see the entrances of two shops,
with the tops of the doors in position and the walls preserved to the level
of the second floor above

year 79 of the Christian Era an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius sud-
denly overwhelmed the little city of Pompeii and covered it with
ashes. Recent excavations show us the very streets and houses,
the forum and the public buildings, the shops and the markets,
and a host of other things illustrating the life of the people of this
town as it was in the days when they were suddenly buried be-
neath the ashes of the volcano.

The Roman Empire at its Height 167

263. Luxury of the Rich Romans. The richer Romans lived
in great luxury. The Roman ladies were adorned with diamonds,
pearls, and rubies from India and clothed in silks from China.
On their tables were new rare fruits, peaches, called "Persian
apples," and apricots. We also first hear of sugar in this period,
although it did not for a long time generally replace honey for
sweetening food. Satirists, especially Juvenal (who lived in Tra-
jan's time), wrote very bitterly of the extravagance and insolence
of the rich of his day.

264. Decline of Literature. In spite of the educated public
and the excellent libraries which were now to be found in Rome,
the writers were inferior to those of the age of Augustus. Plutarch
wrote in Greek his remarkable Lives oj Famous Men, which has
charmed and inspired readers ever since. Tacitus prepared his-
tories of recent events, which are celebrated . for compact style
and penetrating estimates of the leading men of the period. But
this is the last history of importance that we have, and little is
known of the following period. .

Science made no advance. The chief scientific writer was
Pliny the Elder, who wrote a great encyclopedia called Natural
History. In it he brought together all sorts of information he
had collected from Greek writers, and he mixes much solid infor-
mation with stories of mythical animals and men and of the
magical properties of gems and plants. Yet Pliny's book was re^
garded during the Middle Ages as a great authority. Men grew
more and more indifferent to science ; they made no new dis-
coveries and forgot many of the old ones.

265. The Ptolemaic System. The last scientist of distinction
that arose in Alexandria was Claudius Ptolemaeus, commonly
called Ptolemy, who seems to have flourished in Hadrian's time or
a little later. He wrote on geography and astronomy and summed
up the previous discoveries of the Greeks so well that his books
were regarded as the last word on the subjects until a few hundred
years ago. He held that the sun revolved around the earth, and
his explanation of the movements of the planets is known as the
Ptolemaic system. It was not until the sixteenth century that,

1 68 General History of Europe

with the appearance of Copernicus ( 593 ) , men began to suspect
that Ptolemy was wholly mistaken about the universe.

266. Oriental Religions in Europe. Many thoughtful Romans
read the Greek philosophy of the Stoics and Epicureans ( 172)
in the charming treatises of Cicero (247). But such teaching
was only for the highly educated and the intellectual class.

Multitudes, including even the educated, yielded to the fas-
cination of the mysterious religions coming in from the East.
Many took refuge in the faith of the Egyptian Isis, and temples
of Isis were to be found in all the larger cities. Today tiny stat-
uettes and other symbols of the Egyptian goddess are found even
along the Seine, the Rhine, and the Danube.

In the army the Persian Mithras, the sun-god of light ( 53),
was a great favorite, and many a Roman legion had its under-
ground chapel where its members celebrated his triumph over
darkness and evil. The old Roman religion, like the early Greek
religious beliefs (87, 88), had little to do with right conduct
and held out no hopes of happiness in the next world, as did these
new oriental faiths. So it is no wonder that many people were
attracted by these Eastern forms of worship.

The Jews also, since their temple in Jerusalem had been de-
stroyed by the Romans, were to be found in increasing numbers
in the cities. The Roman world was becoming accustomed to
their synagogues ; but the Jews refused to acknowledge any god
besides their own, and this brought them disfavor and trouble
with the government.

267. Rise of Christianity. Among all these faiths of the Orient
the common people were more and more inclining toward the
Christian missionaries who told how their Master, Jesus, a Hebrew,
was born in Palestine, the land of the Jews, in the days of
Augustus. Everywhere they spread his vision of human brother-
hood and of divine fatherhood. This faith he had preached for
a few years, till he incurred the hatred of his countrymen, and
in the reign of Tiberius they had put him to death.

A Jewish tentmaker, Paul of Tarsus, became the leading
Christian missionary ; he preached the new gospel in Asia Minor,

The Roman Empire at its Height

169

Athens, and finally in Rome itself, and Christian churches began
to spring up. Some of Paul's letters to the churches he founded
were widely circulated. There were also four accounts in Greek
of the life and teachings of Jesus that came to be regarded as
authoritative. These were the four Gospels, which, with Paul's
letters and some other early Christian writings, were brought

ROMAN BRIDGE AND AQUEDUCT AT NIMES, FRANCE

This structure was built by the Romans about A.D. 20 to supply the Roman
colony of Nemausus (now called Nimes) in southern France with water
from two excellent springs twenty-five miles distant. It is nearly nine
hundred feet long and one hundred and sixty feet high, and carried the
water over the valley of the river Card. The channel for the water is at
the very top, and one can still walk through it. The miles of aqueduct on
either side of this bridge and leading to it have almost disappeared

together to form the New Testament. As time passed, increasing
numbers learned of the teachings of Jesus and found joy in the
hopes they awakened.

268. Roman Persecution of the Early Christians. These
early Christians, like the Jews, not only refused to sacrifice to the
emperor as a god, as all good Roman citizens were expected to do,
but openly prophesied the downfall of the Roman State. While
the Roman government was usually very tolerant in matters of
religion, the Christians were therefore frequently called upon to

170 General History oj Europe

endure cruel persecution. Their religion seemed to interfere with
good citizenship, since it forbade them to show the usual respect
for the emperor and the government. Nevertheless their numbers
steadily grew.

269. Summary of the Two Centuries of Peace. The remark-
able forty-four years of the peaceful reign of Augustus had
ushered in a century of general peace, ending (A.D. 68) with the
death of the infamous Nero. The second century of peace, which
began after a brief period of disorder, was covered by the reigns
of a group of very able emperors, especially Trajan and Hadrian.
These rulers expanded the once local government and laws of the
former city-state of Rome until they fitted the needs of a vast
state including the whole Mediterranean world. At this time
Christianity was spreading very rapidly. Internal decay was
going on, however, and under Marcus Aurelius, about A.D. 167,
the two centuries of peace ended. We now pass on to a fearful
century of revolution, civil war, and anarchy, from which a very
different Roman world emerged.

QUESTIONS

I. What was the meaning of the various titles of Augustus ? What
is meant by the substitution of the Roman Empire for the Republic ?
What were the bounds of the Empire in the time of Augustus ? Men-
tion the chief writers of the time of Augustus.

II. Mention some of the successors of Augustus. What do you know
of Nero ? What means were taken for protecting the Empire from
invasion ? What improvements were made in the Roman government ?

III. Mention some of the chief peoples included in the Roman
Empire. How was it possible to get about the Empire ? Describe some
of the things that a tourist might have seen in his travels. Describe the
chief public buildings at Rome. Tell something of the science of the
Romans. Mention the chief oriental religions which prevailed in
the Roman Empire. Describe the rise of Christianity.

CHAPTER XIV

A CENTURY OF DISORDER AND THE DIVISION OF THE
ROMAN EMPIRE

I. DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

270. Signs of Decay. We have now studied the Roman Empire
in its most flourishing period during the two centuries of relative
peace that began with the reign of Augustus. We must now see
how it declined in strength and was finally overrun by the North-
ern barbarians. We know little of the period, as our sources of
information are scanty and unreliable. The great historian
Mommsen wrote four volumes on the rise of Rome to the time of
Augustus and then was so discouraged when he considered the
poor historical sources for the remainder of Rome's story that
he confined the rest of his history to a single volume on the
Roman provinces. Some things, however, are pretty clear.

271. The Villas and the Coloni. The decline in farming, so
noticeable earlier, had gone on, and the land continued to pass over
into the hands of the rich, whose vast estates were called villas.
The growth of the villa had destroyed the small independent
farmers not only in Italy but in Africa, Gaul, Britain, Spain,
and other leading provinces. Moreover, the soil had gradually lost
its fertility and become exhausted owing to careless cultivation.

Unable to compete with the great villas, and finding the burden
of taxes unbearable, most of the small farmers gave up the
struggle. A discouraged farmer would often become the colonus
of some wealthy villa owner. By this arrangement the farmer
and his descendants were assured possession of the land that they
worked, but were bound by law to it and passed with it from owner
to owner when it changed hands. While not actually slaves, they

171

172 General History of Europe

were not free to leave or go where they pleased. The great villas
once worked by slaves were now cultivated chiefly by these coloni
(plural of colonus), the forerunners of the medieval serfs ( 405,
406), while the older type of slavery gradually disappeared.

Hosts of the country people, unwilling to become coloni, for-
sook their fields and turned to the city for relief. Great stretches
of unworked and weed-grown fields were no uncommon sight.
As the amount of land under cultivation decreased, the ancient
world was no longer raising enough food to sustain itself properly.
The scarcity was felt most severely in the great centers of popu-
lation like Rome, where prices had rapidly gone up. Our own
generation is not the first to complain of the "high cost of living."
The destruction of the small farmers was perhaps the chief cause
among a whole group of causes which brought about the decline
and fall of this great Empire.

272. Decline of Business. At the same time the business in
the cities was also falling off. The country communities no
longer possessed a numerous purchasing population. Hence the
city manufacturers could not dispose of their products in the coun-
try. Their business rapidly declined, and they discharged their
workmen, who began to increase the masses of the unemployed.

The cities became filled with shiftless people scrambling for a
place in the waiting lines of the poor to whom the government
distributed free grain, wine, and meat. In order to pay for this
the taxes had constantly to be raised, and the methods of collect-
ing them became harsher and harsher. Marriages decreased, and
the population of the Empire shrank.

273. Lack of a Law of Succession : Barrack Emperors. The
discipline in the Roman armies relaxed. There was no law deter-
mining the succession of the emperors, and the various divisions
of the army learned that they could set up emperors to suit them-
selves. Rude and barbarous soldiers, few of whom were citizens,
thus became the chief controlling power. There were often sev-
eral of these barrack candidates for the throne fighting among
themselves. At last (A.D. 212) citizenship was granted to all
free men within the Empire, and the various provinces felt

A Century of Disorder

that they had as much right as Italy to determine who should be
ruler. All this caused infinite confusion and disorder.

274. Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161-iso). There was also the grow-
ing danger of foreign invaders who threatened the Empire. The

RESTORATION OF ROMAN TRIUMPHAL ARCH AT ORANGE, FRANCE

The Romans built- many such handsome arches to commemorate important
victories. There were a number at Rome, naturally; of those built in the
chief cities of the Empire several still remain. The one pictured above was
built at the Roman colony of Arausio (now called Orange), on the river
Rhone, to celebrate a victory over the Gauls, A.D. 21. Modern cities have
erected similar arches; for example, Paris, Berlin, London, and New York

noble emperor Marcus Aurelius had to face a serious situation dur-
ing his reign. He had to repel the troublesome Parthians, who had
long infested the eastern boundary. Then barbarian hordes from
the German North broke through the frontier defenses and for

1 74 General History of Europe

the first time in two centuries poured down into Italy. He was
unable to expel them entirely from the Empire and finally per-
mitted some of them to settle within its limits on condition that
they should help defend it from their fellow Germans.

Marcus Aurelius was a Stoic and found time during his cam-
paigns to write a little book in Greek called his Meditations,
which we may still read with great pleasure and profit.

II. A CENTURY OF REVOLUTION

275. Beginning of a Century of Revolution (A.D. iso). The
forces of decline were swiftly bringing on a century of revolution
which was to shipwreck the civilization of the early world. This
fatal period began with the death of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 180).
The assassination of his unworthy son Commodus, who reminds
us of Nero, was the opportunity for a struggle among a group of-
military usurpers. From this struggle a rough but successful
soldier named Septimius Severus emerged triumphant. He sys-
tematically filled the highest posts in the government with military
leaders of low origin. Thus, both in the army and in the govern-
ment, the ignorant and often foreign masses were gaining control.

When the line of Severus ended (A.D. 235), the storm broke.
The barbaric troops in one province after another set up their
puppet emperors to fight among themselves for the throne of
the Mediterranean world. The proclamation of a new emperor
would be followed again and again by news of his assassination.
From the leaders of the barbaric soldier class, after the death of
Commodus, the Roman Empire had eighty rulers in ninety years.
Most of these so-called emperors were not unlike the revolutionary
bandits who have proclaimed themselves presidents of Mexico.

276. Fifty Years of Anarchy ; Collapse of Higher Civiliza-
tion. For fifty years there was no public order, as the plunder-
ing troops tossed the scepter of Rome from one soldier emperor
to another. Life and property were nowhere safe; robbery and
murder were everywhere. The disorder and fighting between rival
emperors hastened the ruin of all business, till national bankruptcy

A Century of Disorder 175

ensued. In this tempest of anarchy during the third century of
our era the civilization of the ancient world fell into final ruin.
The leadership of intelligence and of scientific knowledge won by
the Greeks in the third century B.C. yielded to the reign of igno-
rance and superstition in these disasters of the third century of
the Christian Era.

Such turmoil sadly weakened the Roman army. The Northern
barbarians were quick to perceive the helplessness of the Empire.
They crossed the frontiers almost at will and penetrated far into
Greece and Italy ; in the West they overran Gaul and Spain, and
some of them even crossed to Africa.

Moreover, on Rome's eastern boundary the Parthians were
overthrown (A.D. 226) by a new and enlightened Persian dynasty,
the Sassanids, who took possession of the Fertile Crescent and
made Persia a dangerous rival of Rome. Their capital was Ctesi-
phon on the Tigris.

III. THE ROMAN EMPIRE BECOMES AN ORIENTAL
DESPOTISM

277. Reign of Diocletian (A.D. 234-305) ; Oriental Pomp. A
little more than a century after the death of Marcus Aurelius, the
emperor Diocletian managed to restore what promised to be a
lasting peace (A.D. 284). The Roman world under Diocletian
was a totally different one from that which Augustus and the
Roman Senate had ruled three centuries before. Diocletian de-
prived the shadowy Senate of all power except that of governing
the city of Rome. Reduced to a mere City Council, it then dis-
appeared from the stage of history. With the unlimited power of
an oriental despot the emperor now assumed also its outward
symbols, the diadem, the gorgeous robe embroidered with pearls
and precious stones, the throne and footstool, before which all who
came into his presence must bow down to the dust. This pomp
offered a great contrast to the earlier simplicity of Roman rulers.

Long regarded as a divinity, the emperor had now become an
oriental sun-god, and he. was officially called the "Invincible Sun."

176 General History of Europe

His birthday was on the twenty-fifth of December. All were
obliged as good citizens to join in the official sacrifices to the head
of the State as a god. With the incoming of this oriental attitude
toward the emperor, the long struggle for democracy, which we
have followed through so many centuries of the history of early
man, ended for a time in the triumph of absolute monarchy in
the form of an oriental despotism.

278. Crushing Weight of Taxation. The wars that Diocletian
had to wage with the new Persia under the Sassanids kept him
busy in the East, and he resided most of his time not in Rome
but' in Nicomedia in Asia Minor. Following some earlier exam-
ples, Diocletian appointed another emperor to rule jointly with
him and give especial attention to the West. It was not his
intention to divide the Empire, but there was a tendency from
this time on for the eastern and western portions of the Roman
Empire to drift apart.

There were over a hundred provinces, and the financial burden
necessary to support all the innumerable officials high and low, to
keep up the luxurious court of the emperor with its multitude of
courtiers, and to satisfy the clamors of the army demanded a con-
stant increase of taxes. It was now customary to oblige a group
of wealthy men in each city to become personally responsible
for the payment of the entire taxes of their district. If there
was a deficit they had to make it up. As one goes over the laws
of the time it seems as if a great part of them had to do directly
or indirectly with wringing more and more money out of the
taxpayers.

279. Disappearance of Liberty and Free Citizenship. The
penalty for wealth seemed to be ruin, and there was little encour-
agement to keep on in business. As Rome had formerly lost her
prosperous farming class, so now she seemed to be losing her en-
terprising and successful business men. Diocletian met this by
forbidding men to give up their business or trade, and laws were
passed requiring sons to follow the profession or trade of their
fathers. Even wages and the prices of goods were as far as pos-
sible fixed by the State.

A Century of Disorder 177

So the once free Roman citizen had almost no independent life
of his own. He was watched by government officials and spies
who saw to it that the grain dealers, butchers, and bakers supplied
the public and never deserted their occupation. In a word, the
Roman government attempted to regulate almost every interest
of life, and wherever the citizen turned he felt the irksome inter-
ference and oppression of the State.

IV. THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY AND DIVISION OF
THE EMPIRE

280. Constantine (A. D. 324-337). Constantine was the first
important Christian emperor, and all his successors were Chris-
tians in name (except one, Julian, called by Christians "the
Apostate"). A series of struggles had followed Diocletian's death,
and from these Constantine the Great emerged victoriously as
emperor. The Balkan Peninsula had now become even more
important than Italy. It had flourishing towns and furnished
many of the troops, and more than one emperor, including Dio-
cletian, came from that region. Constantine determined to estab-
lish a new Rome on its eastern borders and selected for his
site the old Greek town of Byzantium on the Bosporus. Constan-
tinople, named after its founder, stood just between Europe and
Asia and was well situated to command them both. The emperor
stripped many an ancient town of its works of art to adorn his
new capital, and before his death it had become a magnificent
city, worthy to be the successor of Rome as the seat of the
Empire.

281. Division of the Empire. The founding of a second capi-
tal in the East tended to bring about a separation of the eastern
and western portions of the Empire. When after Constantine's
time there were two emperors, as there often were, one was likely
to make his quarters in Italy, the other at Constantinople. But
the Empire was always regarded as one, and no decree was ever
issued dividing it into two parts. The ancient res publica, or
Roman commonwealth, was never given up in theory.

178

General History of Europe

282. Christianity placed on a Legal Basis. The Roman gov-
ernment had often persecuted the Christians, and it was against
the law to hold Christian services. Finally, in the time of Dio-
cletian, his associate Galerius had issued a decree which permitted

ANCIENT MONUMENTS IN CONSTANTINOPLE

The obelisk in the foreground (nearly one hundred feet high) was first set
up in Thebes, Egypt, by the conqueror Thutmose III ( 30) ; it was
erected here by the Roman emperor Theodosius. The small spiral column
at the right is the base of a bronze tripod set up by the Greeks at Delphi
in commemoration of their victory over the Persians at Plataea ( in). The
names of thirty-one Greek cities which took part in the battle are still to be
read, engraved on this base. These monuments of ancient oriental and
Greek supremacy stand in what was the Roman horse-race course when the
earlier Greek city of Byzantium became the Eastern capital of Rome.
Finally, the great mosque behind the obelisk, with its slender minarets, rep-
resents the triumph of Islam under the Turks, who took the city A.D. 1453

the Christians openly to confess their faith and establish their
places of worship. The followers of Christ were put on the same
footing as the worshipers of the old gods. There were a great
many Christians now, and in spite of the persecutions their
churches had become powerful organizations. Constantine and

A Century of Disorder 179

his Christian successors favored the Christians and began to
abolish all other religions. Before long the Christians began to
persecute those who refused to accept their doctrines.

The Christian Church became more and more powerful and in
time rivaled the State in its influence. The officers of the Church
came to be looked upon as occupying a distinguished position and
were called clergy, while the members of the Church were called the
laity. Those in charge of the smaller country congregations were
called presbyters, a Greek word (meaning "elder") from which our
word "priest" is derived. Over all the churches in each city a
leading priest was appointed as bishop. In the larger cities arch-
bishops, or head bishops, were appointed. They had a certain
measure of authority over the bishops in the surrounding cities of
the province. Thus Christianity, once the faith of the weak and
the despised, became a powerful organization, and the Church
began to play a great part in public affairs.

283. Summary of Ancient History. The stone fist-hatchets lie
deep in the river gravels of France ; the furniture of the pile-
villages is submerged in the Swiss lakes ; the majestic pyramids
and temples announcing the dawn of civilization rise along the
Nile ; the silent and deserted city-mounds by the Tigris and
Euphrates shelter their myriads of clay tablets ; the palaces of
Crete look out toward the sea they once ruled ; the noble temples
and sculptures of Greece still bear witness to the world of beauty
and freedom first revealed by the Greeks ; the splendid Roman
roads and aqueducts assert the supremacy and organized control
of Rome; and the early Christian churches proclaim the new
ideal of human brotherhood.

We shall now see in the succeeding chapters how the ancient
civilization transmitted from the Orient through Greece to Rome
was never wholly lost, in spite of the dark times of disorder
through which Europe passed, and how it is this ancient civili-
zation on which we are still building today.

r8o General History of Europe

QUESTIONS

I. What were the chief signs of decline in the Roman Empire?
What was the position of the farming population? What caused the
decline in business ? Why did disorders occur in the election of em-
perors ? What is chiefly remarkable about Marcus Aurelius ?

II. Compare the third century B.C. with the third century of the
Christian Era.

III. Sketch the policy of Diocletian. Why were the taxes so heavy
in the later Roman Empire ? Why did liberty and free citizenship tend
to disappear ?

IV. What were the chief measures of Constantine? How was
Christianity legalized? Describe the Church at that time. Give a
summary of ancient history.

BOOK IV. THE MIDDLE AGES

CHAPTER XV

I. INVASION OF THE EMPIRE BY BARBARIANS

284. The Menace of the Barbarians. We must now describe
the way in which the western portions of the Roman Empire were
invaded by barbarous peoples from the North, who broke up the
old Roman government and established in its stead kingdoms
under their own rulers. These Germans, or "barbarians" as the
Romans called them, belonged to the same great group of peoples
to which the Persians, Greeks, and Romans belonged the Indo-
European race ( 50, 51). They had not advanced much in civil-
ization since the Late Stone Age and were a constant menace to
the highly civilized countries on the Mediterranean to the south of
them. It will be recalled that the barbarians had raided the
Empire from time to time. In the reign of Diocletian they were
beginning to form permanent settlements within its borders
( 276).

285. The German Peoples. The Germans were a fair-haired,
blue-eyed race of men of towering stature and terrible strength,
as it seemed to the Romans. Hardened to wind and weather in
their raw Northern climate, their native fearlessness and love of
war and plunder often led them to wander about, followed by
their wives and families in heavy wagons. Each village group was
protected by its body of about a hundred warriors, the heads of
the village families. In spite of lack of training, these fighting
groups of a hundred men, bound by ties of blood and daily

181

1 82 General History oj Europe

association, formed battle units as terrible as any ever seen in
the ancient world, and the Romans had good reason to dread them.

286. Whole German Peoples settle in the Empire. The care-
fully disciplined Roman legions, which had gained for Rome the
leadership of the world, were now no more. Indeed, the lack of
men for the army had long since led the emperors to hire the
Germans as soldiers. A more serious step was the admission of
entire German peoples to live in the Empire, with all their old
customs. The men were then received into the Roman army, but
they remained under their own German leaders and fought in
their old village units.

287. The Huns force the Goths into the Empire. About the
year 375 the Huns, a Mongolian folk from central Asia, swept
down upon the Goths, who were a German tribe settled upon the
Danube, and forced a part of them to seek shelter across the
river, within the limits of the Empire. Here they soon fell out
with the Roman officials, and a great battle was fought at Adrian-
ople in 378, in which the Goths defeated and slew the Roman
emperor Valens. The battle of Adrianople may be said to mark
the beginning of the conquest of the Empire by the Germans.
For some years after the battle of Adrianople, however, the vari-
ous bands of West Goths or Visigoths, as they are often called

were induced to accept the terms of peace offered by the
emperor's officials, and some of the Goths agreed to serve as
soldiers in the Roman armies.

288. Alaric takes Rome (4io). Among the Germans who suc-
ceeded in getting an important position in the Roman army was
Alaric, but he appears to have become dissatisfied with the treat-
ment he received from the emperor. He therefore collected an
army, of which his countrymen the West Goths formed a con-
siderable part, set out for Italy, and finally decided to march on
Rome itself. The Eternal City fell into his hands in 410 and
was plundered by his followers. Although Alaric did not de-
stroy the city, or even seriously damage it, the fact that Rome
had fallen into the hands of an invading army was a notable
disaster.

The Period of Invasions .183

289. West Goths settle in Southern Gaul and Spain; the
Vandals. After the death of Alaric the West Goths wandered into
Gaul and then into Spain, where they came upon the Vandals,
another German tribe, whom they seem to have finally driven
across the Strait of Gibraltar into northern Africa. Here the
Vandals established a kingdom and conquered the neighboring
islands in the Mediterranean.

Having rid themselves of the Vandals, the West Goths took
possession of a great part of the Spanish peninsula, and this they
added to their conquests across the Pyrenees in Gaul, so that their
kingdom extended, from the river Loire to the Strait of Gibraltar.

It is unnecessary to follow the confused history of the move-
ments of the innumerable bands of restless barbarians who wan-
dered about Europe during the fifth century. Scarcely any part
of western Europe was left unmolested ; even Britain was con-
quered by German tribes, the Angles and Saxons.

290. Attila and the Huns. To add to the universal confusion,
the Huns (the Mongolian people who had first pushed the West
Goths into the Empire) now began to fill Europe with terror.
Under their chief, Attila, this savage people invaded Gaul, but
were repulsed in the battle of Chalons, in 451. Attila then turned
to Italy ; but the danger there was averted by an embassy headed
by Pope Leo the Great, who induced Attila to give up his plan
of marching upon Rome. Within a year he died, and his warriors
were scattered.

291. The Fall of the Empire in the West (475). The year
476 has commonly been taken as the date of the "fall" of the
Western Empire and of the beginning of the Middle Ages. What
happened in that year was this. Most of the Roman emperors
in the West had proved weak and indolent rulers ; so the bar-
barians wandered hither and thither pretty much at their pleasure,
and the German troops in the service of the Empire became accus-
tomed to set up and depose emperors to suit their own special
interest. Finally, in 476, Odoacer, the most powerful among the
rival German generals in Italy, declared himself king and ban-
ished the last of the emperors of the West.

1 84

General History of Europe

292. Theodoric establishes the Kingdom of the East Goths
in Italy. It was not, however, given to Odoacer to establish an
enduring German kingdom on Italian soil, for he was conquered

, <

ROMAN GATE AT TREVES

Colonia Augusta Trevirorum (now called Trier or Treves) was one of the
chief Roman colonies on the German boundaries of the Empire. The Roman
emperors often resided there, and the remains of their palace are still to be
seen. The great gate here represented was designed to protect the entrance
of the town, which was surrounded with a wall, for the Romans were in
constant danger of attack from the neighboring German tribes. One can also
see at Treves the remains of a vast amphitheater in which on two occasions
Constantine had several thousand German prisoners cast to be killed by
wild animals for the amusement of the spectators

by the great Theodoric, the king of the East Goths (or Ostro-
goths}. Theodoric had spent ten years of his early youth in
Constantinople and had thus become familiar with Roman life
and was on friendly terms with the emperor of the East. He
greatly admired the Roman laws and institutions, and when he

THE MIGRATIONS
OF THE GERMANS

in the
FIFTH CENTURY

100 * OQ 9 500 600

*?)AttIla- V
Palace <j

A. o

LIMITS OF ATTILA'8
EMPIRE ABOUT 450

. VANDALS

WEST OOTH8
EAST GOTHS
- FRANKS

SAXONS AND ANGLES

from Greenwich

MAP OF EUROPE IN THE TIME OF THEODORIC

It will be noticed that Theodoric's kingdom of the East Goths included a
considerable part of what we call Austria today, and that the West Gothic
kingdom extended into southern France. The Vandals held northern Africa
and the adjacent islands. The Burgundians lay in between the East Goths
and the Franks. The Lombards, who were later to move down into Italy,
were in Theodoric's time east of the Bavarians, after whom modern Bavaria
is named. Some of the Saxons invaded England, but many remained in
Germany, as indicated on the map. The Eastern Empire, which was all that
remained of the Roman Empire, included the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor,
and the eastern portion of the Mediterranean. The Britons in Wales, the
Picts in Scotland, and the Scots in Ireland were Celts ; consequently modern
Welsh, Gaelic, and Irish are closely related and all of them belong to the
Celtic group of languages

1 86 General History of Europe

became king he did his best to preserve them. The old offices and
titles were retained, and Goth and Roman lived under the same
Roman law. Order was maintained and learning encouraged. In
Ravenna, which Theodoric chose for his capital, beautiful build-
ings still exist that date from his reign.

293. Code of Justinian. The year after Theodoric's death one
of the greatest emperors of the East, Justinian (527-565), came
to the throne at Constantinople. He employed a very able lawyer
to gather together all the numerous laws which had grown up
since the age of the Twelve Tables ( 188) a thousand years
before. This collection of decisions of famous Roman judges
became the foundation of law for later ages, and still greatly
influences the laws of civilized peoples of today.

Justinian undertook to regain for his empire the provinces
in Africa and Italy that had been occupied by the Vandals and
East Goths. He overthrew the Vandal kingdom in northern
Africa in 534, and so completely defeated the Goths in 553 that
they agreed to leave Italy with all their movable possessions.

294. The Lombards occupy Italy. Immediately after the
death of Justinian the country was overrun by the Lombards, the
last of the great German peoples to establish themselves within
the bounds of the former Empire. The newcomers first occupied
the region north of the Po, which has ever since been called
"Lombardy" after them, and then extended their conquests
southward. They were unable, however, to gain possession of
all of Italy. Rome, Ravenna, and southern Italy continued to be
held by the emperors at Constantinople. Their kingdom lasted
over two hundred years, until it was conquered by Charlemagne.

295. The Franks and their Conquests. While Theodoric had
been establishing his kingdom in Italy, Gaul, which we now call
France, was coming under the control of the most powerful of all
the barbarian peoples, the Franks. (The map on the previous page
will give an idea of the new German kingdoms in Theodoric's
time.) The various kingdoms established by the German chieftains
were not very permanent, as we have seen. The Franks, however,
succeeded in conquering more territory than any other people

The Period oj Invasions

187

THE DOMINIONS OF THE FRANKS UNDER THE MEROVINGIANS

This map shows how the Prankish kingdom grew up. Clovis, while still a
young man, defeated the Roman general Syagrius in 486, near Soissons, and
so added the region around Paris to his possessions. He added Alemannia
on the east in 496. In 507 he made Paris his capital and conquered Aqui-
tania, previously held by the West Goths. He also made a beginning in
adding the kingdom of the Burgundians to his realms. He died in 511. His
successors in the next half century completed the conquest of Burgundy and
added Provincia, Bavaria, and Gascony. There- were many divisions of the
Prankish realms after the time of Clovis, and the eastern and western
portions, called Austrasia and Neustria, were often ruled by different branches
of the Merovingians, as Clovis's family was called from his ancestor
Meroveus, the supposed founder of his line

and in founding an empire far more important than the kingdoms
of the West and East Goths, the Vandals, or the Lombards.

When the Franks are first heard of in history they were settled
along the lower Rhine, from Cologne to the North Sea. In the
early part of the fifth century they had occupied the district
which forms today the kingdom of Belgium, as well as the regions

1 88 General History of Europe

east of it. In 486 they went forth under their great king Clovis
(a name that later grew into Louis) and defeated the Roman
general who opposed them. They extended their control over
Gaul as far south as the Loire, which at that time formed the
northern boundary of the kingdom of the West Goths. Clovis
next enlarged his empire on the east by the conquest of the Ale-
manni, a German people living in the region of the Black Forest
and north of the Lake of Constance.

296. Conversion of Clovis (496). The battle in which the
Alemanni were defeated (496) is in one respect important above
all the other battles of Clovis. Although still a pagan himself, his
wife had been converted to Christianity. In the midst of the
battle, seeing his troops giving way, he called upon Jesus Christ
and pledged himself to be baptized in his name if he would help
the Franks to victory over their enemies. When he won the
battle he kept his word and was baptized, together with three
thousand of his warriors.

Clovis died in 511 at Paris, which he had made his residence.
He and his successors, in spite of constant wars between rival
sons, succeeded in extending the power of the Frankish rulers
over pretty much all the territory that is included today in
France, Belgium, Holland, and western Germany (see map on
preceding page).

II. RESULTS OF THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS

297. Fusion of the Barbarians and the Romans. As one looks
back over the German invasions it is natural to ask upon what
terms the newcomers lived among the old inhabitants of the
Empire. The civilization in which the barbarians now found
themselves gradually softened their Northern wildness. Their
leaders, who held offices under the Roman government, came to
have friends among highborn Romans and often married Roman
women of rank. We must be on our guard against exaggerating
the numbers in the various bodies of invaders. The readiness
with which the Germans appear to have adopted the language and

The Period of Invasions 189

customs of the Romans would tend to prove that the invaders
formed but a small minority of the population. Since hundreds
of thousands of barbarians had been absorbed during the previous
five centuries, the invasions of the fifth century can hardly have
made an abrupt change in the character of the population.

Indeed, the Germans and older inhabitants of the Empire ap-
pear to have had no dislike for one another except in matters of
religion. The Prankish kings often appointed Romans to impor-
tant positions, just as the Romans had previously selected the
Germans. The two races were distinguished in one respect, how-
ever; each had its own particular law.

298. Laws of the Barbarians. The West Goths were probably
the first to write down their ancient laws, using the Latin lan-
guage for the purpose. Their example was followed by the
Franks, the Burgundians, and later by the Lombards. These
codes make up the "Laws of the Barbarians," which form our
most important source of knowledge of the habits and ideas of
the Germans at the time of the invasions.

299. Medieval Trials. The German laws did not provide for
trials in the modern sense of the word. Instead of a decision
based on evidence, one of the parties to the case had to prove
that his side was right by one of the following methods :

1. He might solemnly swear that he was telling the truth, and
get as many other persons of his own class as the court required
to swear that they believed that he was telling the truth. This
was called compurgation. It was believed that God would punish
those who swore falsely.

2. On the other hand, the parties to the case, or persons repre-
senting them, might meet in combat, on the supposition that
Heaven would grant victory to the right. This was the so-called
wager of battle.

3. Lastly, one or other of the parties might be required to sub-
mit to the ordeal in one of its various forms : He might plunge
his arm into hot water or carry a bit of hot iron for some distance,
and if at the end of three days he showed no ill effects the case
was decided in his favor. Or he might be ordered to walk over

i go General History of Europe

hot plowshares, and if he was not burned it was assumed that
God had intervened by a miracle to establish the right. This
method of trial is but one example of the rude civilization which
displaced the refined and elaborate organization of the Romans.

300. Ignorance of the Early Middle Ages. While the bar-
barian tribes differed in their habits and character, they all agreed
in knowing nothing of the art, literature, and science which had
been developed by the Greeks and adopted by the Romans. For
a period of three hundred years scarcely a person was to be found
who could write out, even in the worst Latin, an account of the
events of his day. Everything conspired to discourage education.
The great centers of learning Carthage, Rome, Alexandria,
Milan had all been partially destroyed by the invaders. The
libraries which had been kept in the temples of the pagan gods
were often burned, along with the temples themselves, by Chris-
tian enthusiasts, who were not sorry to see the heathen books
disappear with the heathen religion.

301. Most Medieval Notions to be found in the Late Roman
Empire. It would be a great mistake to suppose, however, that
Roman civilization suddenly disappeared at this time as a result
of the incoming barbarians. Many of the ideas and conditions
which prevailed after the invasions were common enough before.
Even the ignorance and strange ideas which we associate particu-
larly with the Middle Ages are to be found in the later Roman
Empire. Long before the German conquest art and literature
had begun to decline toward the level that they reached in the
early Middle Ages.

The term "Middle Ages" is generally applied to the period of
about a thousand years which elapsed between the break-up of
the Roman Empire and the opening of the sixteenth century.
But it should be remembered that there was a great difference
between the dark period of the early Middle Ages and the re-
markable achievements of the late Middle Ages which will be
described in due time.

The Period oj Invasions 191

III. THE MOHAMMEDAN INVASION OF EUROPE

302. Mohammed. While the German barbarians were over-
whelming the Empire from the north, a young camel driver in
far-away Mecca was devising a religion in the name of which his
followers invaded the eastern and southern portions of Europe.

Before the time of Mohammed, the Arabs (a branch of the
great Semitic people) had played no great part in the world's
history. The scattered tribes were constantly at war with one
another, and each tribe worshiped its own gods, when it wor-
shiped at all. Mecca was considered a sacred spot, however, and
the fighting was stopped four months each year so that all could
peacefully visit the holy city.

As Mohammed traveled back and forth across the desert with
his trains of camels heavily laden with merchandise he became
convinced that God was sending him messages which it was his
duty to reveal to mankind. He met many Jews and Christians,
of whom there were great numbers in Arabia, and from them he
got some ideas of the Old and New Testaments. But when he
tried to convince people that he was God's prophet, he was
treated with scorn.

Finally, he discovered that his enemies in Mecca were plan-
ning to kill him, and he fled to the neighboring town of Medina,
where he had friends. His flight, which took place in the year
622, is called the Hejira by the Arabs. It was taken by his fol-
lowers as the beginning of a new era the year One, as the
Mohammedans reckon time.

303. Islam and the Koran. It was eight years before his fol-
lowers became numerous enough to enable him to march upon
Mecca and take it with a victorious army. Before his death in
632 he had gained the support of all the Arab chiefs, and his new
religion, which he called Islam (meaning "reconciliation," by
which he meant reconciliation to Allah, the sole God), was ac-
cepted throughout the whole Arabian peninsula. The new be-
lievers he called Muslims (Moslems), meaning "the reconciled."
By us they are often called Mohammedans, after their prophet.

192

General History of Europe

Mohammed could probably neither write nor read well, but
when he fell into trances from time to time he would repeat to his
eager listeners the words which he heard from heaven, and they

in turn wrote them down.
These sayings, which were
collected into a volume
shortly after his death, form
the Koran, the Mohamme-
dan Bible.

The Koran announces a
day of judgment when the
heavens shall be opened and
the mountains be powdered
and become like flying dust.
Then all men shall receive
their reward. Those who
have refused to accept
Islam shall be banished to
hell to be burned and tor-
mented forever.

Those, on the other hand,
who have obeyed the Koran,
especially those who die
fighting for Islam, shall find
themselves in a garden of
delight. They shall recline
in rich brocades upon soft
cushions and rugs and be

ARABIC WRITING

This is a page from the Koran, with an
elaborate decorated border. It gives an
idea of the appearance of Arabic writing.
The Arabic letters are, next to the
Roman alphabet, which we use, the most
widely employed in the world

served by surpassingly beau-
tiful maidens, with eyes like

hidden pearls. Wine may be drunk there, but "their heads shall
not ache with it, neither shall they be confused." They shall be
content with their past life and shall hear no foolish words ; and
there shall be no sin, but only the greeting " Peace, peace."

304. Mosques. The mosques, or temples, are often very beauti-
ful buildings, especially in important Mohammedan cities such as

A CRUSADER AND HIS FOLLOWERS
See Chapter XIX, pp. 237-247

The Period of Invasions 193

Jerusalem, Damascus, and Cairo. They have great courts sur-
rounded by covered colonnades and are adorned with beautiful
marbles and mosaics and delightful windows with bright stained
glass. The walls are decorated with passages from the Koran,
and the floors are covered with rich rugs. They have one or more
minarets, from which the call to prayer is heard five times a day.

305. Rise of the Oriental Empire of the Moslems. The
Moslem leaders who succeeded to Mohammed's power were called
caliphs. As rulers they proved to be men of the greatest ability.
They organized the untamed desert nomads, who now added a
burning religious zeal to the wild courage of barbarian Arabs.
This combination made the Arab armies of the caliphs irresistible.
Within a few years after Mohammed's death they took Egypt
and Syria from the feeble successors of Justinian at Constan-
tinople. They thus reduced the Eastern Empire to little more
than the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor. At the same time
the Arabs crushed the empire of the New Persians ( 276), but
took over their city civilization.

With the ruins of Babylon looking down upon them the Mos-
lems built their splendid capital at Bagdad beside the New Per-
sian royal residence at Ctesiphon. Here, as Sargon's people and
as the Persians had so long before done, the Arabs learned to read
and write and could thus put the Koran into writing. Here, too,
they learned the business of government and became experienced
rulers. Thus beside the shapeless mounds of the older capitals
Akkad, Babylon, and Ctesiphon the power and civilization of the
Orient rose into new life for the last time. Bagdad became the
finest city of the East and one of the most splendid in the world.
The caliphs extended their power eastward to the frontiers of
India.

306. The Moslem Advance to the West; the Battle of
Tours. Westward the Moslems pushed along the African coast
of the Mediterranean, as their Phoenician kindred had done before
them (83). Only two generations after the death of Moham-
med the Arabs crossed over from Africa into Spain (A.D. 711) ;
then they moved on into France and threatened to girdle the entire

194 General History of Europe

Mediterranean. At the battle of Tours (A.D. 732), however, the
Moslems were unable to crush the Prankish army under their
leader, Charles the Hammer. They withdrew permanently from
France into Spain, where they established a western Moslem
kingdom, which we call Moorish.

307. Leadership of Moslem Civilization. The Moorish king-
dom developed a civilization far higher than that of the Franks,
and, indeed, the highest in the Europe of that age. Thus while
Europe was sinking into the ignorance of the early Middle Ages the
Moslems were the leading students of science, astronomy, mathe-
matics, and grammar. There was soon much greater knowledge
of these matters among the Mohammedans than in Christian
Europe. Such Arabic words as algebra and our numerals, which
we received from the Arabs, suggest how much we owe to them.

Some of the buildings which they erected soon after their
arrival still stand. Among these is the mosque at Cordova with
its forest of columns and arches. They also erected a great tower
at Seville, famous for its beauty. This has been copied by the
architects of Madison Square Garden in New York. The Moham-
medans built beautiful palaces and laid out charming gardens.
One of these palaces, the Alhambra, built at Granada some cen-
turies after their arrival in Spain, is a marvel of lovely detail
(see cut facing this page). They also founded a great university
at Cordova, to which Christians from the North sometimes went
in search of knowledge. Had the Mohammedans been permitted
to settle in southern France, they might have developed science
and art far more rapidly than did the Franks.

IV. THE WORK OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

308. The Church begins to perform the Functions of Gov-
ernment. The chief importance of the medieval Church for the
student of history does not lie in its religious functions, vital
as they were, but rather in its remarkable relations to the govern-
ment. From the days of Constantine on, the Catholic Church
had usually enjoyed the hearty support of the government. As

w
U

H
fc

O
<J

The Period of Invasions 195

long as the emperors remained strong and active there was no
reason for the clergy to assume any responsibility in the manage-
ment of the State. But as the great Empire fell apart the Church
was often called upon to assist in matters which properly belonged
to the government.

The authority of the various barbarian kings was seldom suffi-
cient to keep their realms in order. There were always many
powerful landholders scattered throughout the kingdom who did
pretty much what they pleased and settled their grudges against
their fellows by neighborhood wars. Fighting was the main busi-
ness as well as the chief amusement of this class. The king was
unable to maintain peace and protect the oppressed, however
anxious he may have been to do so.

Under these circumstances it naturally fell to the Church to
keep order, when it could, by either threats or persuasion ; to
see that contracts were kept, the wills of the dead carried out,
and marriage obligations observed. It took the defenseless widow
and orphan under its protection and dispensed charity; it pro-
moted education at a time when few laymen, however rich and
noble, could even read. These conditions serve to explain why
the Church was finally able so greatly to extend the powers
which it had enjoyed under the Roman Empire, and why it under-
took duties which seem to us to belong to the State rather than
to a religious organization.

309. Origin of Papal Power. We must now turn to a con-
sideration of the origin and growth of the supremacy of the popes,
who, by raising themselves to the head of the Western Church,
became in many respects more powerful than any of the kings
and princes with whom they frequently found themselves in
bitter Conflict. There had always been a tradition that Peter was
the first bishop of Rome. The beltef appears to have been gen-
erally accepted at least as early as the middle of the second cen-
tury. Peter enjoyed a preeminence among the other apostles
and was singled out by Christ upon several occasions. In a pas-
sage of the New Testament (Matt, xvi, 18-19), which has affected
history more profoundly than the edicts of the most powerful

196

General History of Europe

monarch, Christ says: "And I say also unto thee, That thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever

THE ANCIENT BASILICA OF ST. PETER

Of the churches built by Constantine in Rome that in honor of St. Peter
was, next to the Lateran, the most important. It was constructed on the
site of Nero's circus, where St. Peter was believed to have been crucified.
It retained its original appearance, as here represented, for twelve hundred
years, and then the popes (who had given up the Lateran as their residence
and come to live in the Vatican Palace close to St. Peter's) determined to
build the new and grander church one sees today. Constantine and the
popes made constant use in their buildings of columns and stones taken
from the older Roman buildings, which were in this way demolished

thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." This the
popes have always claimed as the divine sanction of their office
and of the authority which they believed to be theirs.

310. The Roman Church the Mother Church. The Roman
Church was therefore early looked upon as the "Mother Church"
in the West. Its doctrines were considered the purest, since they
had been handed down from its exalted founders. When there

The Period of Invasions 197

was a difference of opinion in regard to the truth of a particular
teaching, it was natural that all should turn to the bishop of
Rome for his view. Moreover, the majesty of Rome, the capital
of the world, helped to exalt its bishop above his fellows.

311. Title of Pope. The name "pope." (Latin, papa, " father")
was originally given to all bishops, and even to priests. It began
to be especially applied to the bishops of Rome, perhaps, as early
as the sixth century, but was not apparently confined to them
until two or three hundred years later.

Not long after the death of Leo the Great ( 290), Odoacer
put an end to the Western line of emperors. Then, as we know,
Theodoric and his East Goths settled in Italy, only to be fol-
lowed by still less desirable intruders, the Lombards. Dur-
ing this tumultuous period the people of Rome, and even of all
Italy, came to regard the Pope as their natural leader. The
Eastern emperor was far away, and his officers, who managed to
hold a portion of central Italy around Rome and Ravenna, were
glad to accept the aid and counsel of the Pope.

312. Gregory the Great (590-604). The pontificate of Gregory
the Great, one of the half dozen most distinguished heads that
the Church has ever had, shows how great a part the papacy could
play. Gregory was a statesman whose influence extended far and
wide. It devolved upon him to govern the city of Rome, as it
did upon his successors down to the year 1870, for the Eastern
emperor's control had become merely nominal. He also valiantly
defended central Italy from the Lombards. These duties were
functions of the State, and in assuming them Gregory may be
said to have founded the "temporal" power of the popes.

313. Gregory's Missionary Undertakings. Gregory's chief
importance in the history of the papacy is due to the missionary
enterprises he undertook, through which the great countries that
were one day to be called England, France, and Germany were
brought under the sway of the Roman Church and its head, the
Pope.

As Gregory had himself been a devoted monk, it was natural
that he should rely chiefly upon the monks in his great work of

it)8 General History oj Europe

converting the heathen. Consequently, before considering his
missionary achievements, we must glance at the origin and char-
acter of the monks, who are so conspicuous throughout the
Middle Ages.

V. THE MONKS AND THEIR MISSIONS

314. Importance of the Monks. It would be difficult to over-
estimate the influence that the monks and other religious orders
exercised for centuries in Europe. The proud annals of the
Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits contain many
a distinguished name. Eminent philosophers, historians, artists,
and poets may be found in their ranks. Among those who have
made themselves famous are "The Venerable Bede," Boniface,
Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon, Fra Angelico, Luther, Erasmus,
Loyola ; all these, and many other leaders in various branches of
human activity, were monks, or members of religious orders.

315. Monasticism appealed to Many Classes. The life in a
monastery appealed to many different kinds of people. The mon-
astery was the natural refuge not only of the religiously minded
but of those of a studious or thoughtful disposition who disliked
the career of a soldier and were disinclined to face the dangers
and uncertainties of the times. It furnished, too, a refuge for
the friendless, an asylum for the unfortunate, and sometimes food
and shelter for the indolent, who would otherwise have had to
earn their living. There were, therefore, many different motives
which led people to enter monasteries. Kings and nobles, for the
good of their souls, readily gave land upon which to found colonies
of monks, and there were plenty of remote spots in the mountains
and forests to invite those who wished to escape from the world
and its temptations, its dangers, or its cares. 1

316. Rule of St. Benedict. Monastic communities first de-
veloped on a large scale in Egypt in the fourth century. In the
sixth century monasteries multiplied so rapidly in western Europe
that it became necessary to establish definite rules for them.

1 Later, monasteries were sometimes built in towns or just outside the walls.

The Period of Invasions

199

Accordingly St. Benedict drew up, about the year 526, a sort of
constitution for the monastery of Monte Cassino, in southern Italy,
of which he was the head. This "Rule of St. Benedict," as it is
called, so well met the needs of the monastic life that it gradually
became the "plan" according to which all the Western monks lived.

CLOISTERS OF HEILIGENKREUZ

This picture of the cloister in the German monastery of Heiligenkreuz is

chosen to show how the more ordinary monastery courts looked, with their

pleasant, sunny gardens

The Rule of St. Benedict is as important as any constitution
that was ever drawn up for a state. It provided that the brethren
should elect the head of the monastery the abbot, as he was
called. Along with frequent prayer and meditation the monks
were to do the necessary cooking and washing for the monastery
and raise the necessary vegetables and grain. They were also to
read and teach. Those who were incapacitated for outdoor work
were assigned lighter tasks, such as copying books.

317. The Monastic Vows. The monk had to take the three
vows of obedience, poverty, and purity. He was to obey the
abbot without question in all matters that did not involve his
committing a sin. He pledged himself to perpetual and absolute

200

General History of Europe

poverty; he was not permitted to own anything whatsoever
not even a book or a pen. He was also required to pledge himself
that he would never marry ; for not only was the single life con-
sidered more holy than the married, but the monastic organiza-
tion would have been impossible unless the monks remained single.

MONASTERY* OF VAL DI CRISTO

This monastery in southern Spain has two cloisters, the main one lying to the

left. The buildings were surrounded by vegetable gardens and an orchard

which supplied the monks with food. We know that we are viewing the

monastery from the west, for the church faces us

318. How the Monks contributed to Civilization. With the
great loss of manuscripts due to the destruction of libraries and
the general lack of interest in books, it was most essential that
new copies should be made. Almost all the books written by tne
Romans disappeared altogether during the Middle Ages, but from
time to time a monk would copy out the poems of Virgil, Horace,
or Ovid, or the speeches of Cicero. In this way some of the chief
works of the Latin writers have continued to exist down to the
present day.

The Period of Invasions 201

The monks regarded good hard work as a great aid to salva-
tion. They set the example of careful cultivation of the lands
about their monasteries and in this way introduced better farming
methods into the regions where they settled. They entertained
travelers at a time when there were few or no inns and so in-
creased the intercourse between the various parts of Europe.

319. Arrangement of a Monastery. The home which the
monks constructed for themselves was called a monastery or
abbey. The buildings were arranged around a court, called the
cloister. On all four sides of this was a covered walk, which made
it possible to reach all the buildings without exposing one's self
to either the rain or the hot sun.

On the north side of the cloister was the church, which always
faced west. As time went on and certain groups of monks were
given a great deal of property, they constructed very beautiful
churches for their monasteries. Westminster Abbey, for instance,
was originally the church of a monastery lying outside the city
of London.

On the west side of the cloister were storerooms for provisions ;
on the south side was the " refectory," or dining room, and a
sitting room ; and to the east of the cloister was the "dormitory,"
where the monks slept.

The Benedictine Rule provided that the monks should so far
as possible have everything for their support on their own land.
So outside the group of buildings around the cloister would be
found the garden, the orchard, the mill, a fishpond, and fields
for raising grain. There were also a hospital for the sick and a
guest house for pilgrims or poor people who happened to come
along.

320. The Monks as Missionaries. The first great undertaking
of the monks was the conversion of those German peoples who had
not yet been won over to Christianity. In this they were successful
and the strength of the Roman Catholic Church was greatly in-
creased. The first people to engage the attention of the monks
were the heathen German tribes who had conquered the once
Christian Britain.

2O2 General History oj Europe

321. Saxons and Angles conquer Britain. The islands which
are now known as the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland were
at the opening of the Christian Era occupied by several Celtic
peoples of whose customs and religion we know almost nothing.
Julius Caesar commenced the conquest of the islands (55 B.C.)
(234). But the Romans never succeeded in establishing their
power beyond the wall which they built from the Clyde to the
Firth of Forth to keep out the wild tribes of the North. Even
south of the wall the country was not completely Romanized,
and the Celtic tongue has actually survived down to the present
day in Wales.

At the opening of the fifth century the barbarian invasions
forced Rome to withdraw its legions from Britain in order to
protect its frontiers on the Continent. The island was thus left
to be conquered gradually by the Germanic peoples, mainly
Saxons and Angles, who came across the North Sea from the
region south of Denmark. Almost all record of what went on dur-
ing the two centuries following the departure of the Romans has
disappeared. No one knows the fate of the original Celtic in-
habitants of England. It was formerly supposed that they were
all killed or driven to the mountain districts of Wales, but this
seems unlikely. More probably they were gradually lost among
the dominating Germans, with whom they merged into one people.
The Saxon and Angle chieftains established small kingdoms, of
which there were seven or eight in the time of Gregory the

Great (312,313)-

322. Conversion of Britain. Gregory, while still a simple
monk, had been struck with the beauty of some Angles whom he
saw one day in the slave market at Rome, and wished to go as a
missionary to their people, but permission was refused him. When
he became Pope he sent forty monks to England under the leader-
ship of a prior named Augustine. The monks were kindly received
by the king of Kent, who had a Christian wife, and were given
an ancient church at Canterbury. Here they established a mon-
astery, and from this center the conversion of the whole island
was gradually accomplished. The archbishop of Canterbury has

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MONASTERY OF ST.-GERMAIN-DES-PRES, PARIS

This famous monastery, now in the midst of Paris, was formerly outside of
the walls when the town was .much smaller, and was fortified as shown in
the picture, with a moat (C) and drawbridge (D). One can see the abbey
church (A), which still stands; the cloister (B) ; the refectory, or dining
room (E) ; and the long dormitory (G). It was common in the age of
disorder to fortify monasteries and sometimes even churches, as nothing
was so sacred as to protect it from the danger of attack

The Period oj Invasions 203

always maintained his early preeminence and down to this day is
considered the chief prelate of the English church.

323. St. Boniface, the Apostle to the Germans. In 718
St. Boniface, an English monk, was sent by the Pope as a mis-
sionary to the Germans. He succeeded in converting many of the
more remote German tribes, who had still retained their old pagan
beliefs. His energetic methods are illustrated by the story of how
he cut down the sacred oak of the old German god Odin, at
Fritzlar, in Hesse, and used the wood to build a chapel, around
which a monastery soon grew up.

QUESTIONS

I. How did the Roman army come to include numbers of Germans ?
Trace the migrations of the West Goths. Where did they finally estab-
lish their kingdom ? Describe the policy of Theodoric. What is the
Justinian Code ? Who were the Franks ? How much of modern Europe
was included in their kingdom ?

II. What are the "Laws of the Barbarians"? How did their trials
differ from those we are familiar with today? What is meant by the
Middle Ages ? Contrast the civilization of the Middle Ages with that
of the Roman period. What were the chief reasons why the Empire
could no longer maintain itself?

III. Give an account of Mohammed's life. What were the princi-
pal features of the religion he founded? Compare the mosques with
Christian churches. Compare the spread of Mohammedanism with
that of Christianity. What countries were conquered by the Moham-
medans ? Can you mention any contributions to civilization made by
the Mohammedans?

IV. In what ways did the government aid the early Christian
Church? How did the Church assist the government? In what ways
do you think the churches assist the government today ? How did the"
Bishop of Rome become the recognized head of the Church in the West ?

V. What were the advantages of life in a monastery in the early
Middle Ages? What reasons existed then for this life which do not
exist today? Describe a monastery and the life of the monks. What
did the monks contribute to civilization? Describe some of their early
missionary undertakings.

CHAPTER XVI

AGE OF DISORDER: FEUDALISM

I. CONQUESTS OF CHARLEMAGNE

324. How Pippin became King of the Franks (752). We have
seen how the kings of the Franks conquered a large territory,
including western Germany and what is called France today. As
time went on, the king's chief minister, who was called the Mayor
of the Palace, got almost all the power into his hands and really
ruled in the place of the king. Charles the Hammer, who de-
feated the Mohammedans at Tours in 732 (306), was the
Mayor of the Palace of the western Prankish king. His son,
Pippin the Short, finally determined to do away altogether with
the old line of kings and put himself in their place. Before tak-
ing the decisive step, however, he consulted the Pope, who gave
his approval. Pippin was then anointed king by St. Boniface,
the apostle to the Germans, of whom we have spoken, and received
the blessing of the Pope. 1

325. Beginnings of Kingship by Divine Right. The kings of
the German tribes had hitherto usually been successful warriors
who held their office with the consent of the people, or at least of

1 The old line of kings which was displaced by Pippin is known as the Merovingian
line. Pippin and his successors are called the Carolingian line.

204

Age of Disorder : Feudalism 205

the nobles. Their election was not a matter that concerned the
Church at all. But when, after asking the Pope's opinion, Pippin
had the holy oil poured on his head, in accordance with an
ancient religious custom of the Jews, he received the blessing and
the approval of the Church. The Pope threatened with God's
anger anyone who should attempt to supplant the consecrated
family of Pippin.

It thus became a religious duty to obey the king, for he was
regarded by the Church as God's representative on earth. Here
we have the beginning of the later theory of kings "by the grace
of God," against whom it was a sin to revolt, however bad they
might be.

326. Charlemagne (ca. 742-814). Charlemagne, 1 the famous
son of Pippin, became king of all the Prankish realms in 771.
He is the first historical personage among the German peoples of
whom we have any satisfactory knowledge.

Charlemagne was an educated man for his time and one who
knew how to appreciate and encourage scholarship. While at
dinner he had someone read to him ; he delighted especially in
history. He tried to learn writing, which was an unusual accom-
plishment at that time for any except churchmen, but began too
late in life and got no farther than signing his name. He called
learned men to his court and did much toward reestablishing a
regular system of schools.

The impression which his reign made upon men's minds con-
tinued to grow even after his death. He became the hero of a
whole series of .romantic adventures which were as firmly believed
for centuries as his real deeds. A study of Charlemagne's reign
will make clear that he was truly a remarkable person, one of the
greatest figures in the world's records and deservedly the hero
of the Middle Ages.

327. Charlemagne's Idea of a Great Christian Empire. It
was Charlemagne's ideal to bring all the German peoples together

1 " Charlemagne " is the French form for the Latin Carolns Magnus (Charles the
Great). We must never forget, however, that Charlemagne was not French ; he spoke
a German language, namely Prankish, and his favorite palaces at Aix-la-Chapelle, Ingel-
heim, and Nimwegen were in German regions.

2o6 General History of Europe

into one great Christian empire. He turned his attention there-
fore to the Saxons, who lay to the northeast of his realm and
were a constant source of alarm. The Saxons were as yet
pagans and lived under much the same institutions as Tacitus
had described seven centuries earlier. They had no towns or
roads and were consequently difficult to conquer, for they could
easily retreat into the forests or swamps when they found them-
selves in danger. Charlemagne never undertook during his long
military career any other task half so serious as subjugating the
Saxons, which occupied many years. He believed the Christian-
izing of these people so important a part of his duty that heavy
penalties were imposed on anyone who made vows in the pagan
fashion at trees or springs, who partook of their religious feasts,
or who failed to present infants for baptism before they were a
year old.

328. Charlemagne's Foreign Conquests. In 773 Charlemagne
invaded Lombardy to protect the Pope from his enemies, took
Pavia, the capital, and had himself recognized as king of the
Lombards. In extending his empire Charlemagne had other
peoples to deal with besides the Germans, namely the Slavs on the
east (who were one day to build up the kingdoms of Poland and
Bohemia and the vast Russian Empire) and the Mohammedan
Moors in Spain.

A single campaign in 789 seems to have been sufficient to sub-
due the Slavs and force the Bohemians to acknowledge the Frank-
ish king and to pay tribute to him. At the request of an embassy
from certain dissatisfied Mohammedans, Charlemagne entered
Spain and, after some years, conquered the region north of the
Ebro. In this way Charlemagne began that gradual expulsion
of the Mohammedans from the peninsula which was carried on
until 1492, when Granada, the last Mohammedan stronghold,
fell ( 509).

329. Charlemagne crowned Emperor by the Pope. But the
most famous of all the achievements of Charlemagne was his
reestablishment of the Western Empire in the year 800. Charle-
magne went to Rome in that year to settle a dispute between

Age of Disorder: Feudalism 207

Pope Leo III and his enemies. To celebrate the satisfactory set-
tlement of the difficulty the Pope held a solemn service on
Christmas Day in St. Peter's. As Charlemagne was kneeling
before the altar during this service the Pope approached him and
set a crown upon his head, saluting him, amid the acclamations of
those present, as ''Emperor of the Romans." For inasmuch
as Charlemagne held Rome itself in addition to his other pos-
sessions in Italy, Gaul, and Germany, it seemed appropriate to all
that he should assume this august title.

330. Continuity of the Roman Empire. The empire thus
reestablished in the West was considered to be a continuation of
the Roman Empire founded by Augustus. Yet it is hardly neces-
sary to say that the position of the new emperor had little jn
common with that of Augustus or Constantine. In the first place,
the Eastern emperors continued to reign in Constantinople for
centuries, quite regardless of Charlemagne and his successors.
In the second place, the German kings who wore the imperial
crown after Charlemagne were generally too weak really to rule
over Germany and northern Italy, to say nothing of the rest of
western Europe.

II. CAUSES OF DISORDER AFTER CHARLEMAGNE

331. Division of Charlemagne's Empire. The task of govern-
ing his vast dominions taxed even the highly gifted and untiring
Charlemagne and was quite beyond the power of his successors.
After his death (814) many attempts were made to divide the
Empire peaceably among his descendants, but for generations
they continued to fight over how much each should have. Finally
it was agreed in 870, by the Treaty of Mersen, that there should
be three states, a West Prankish kingdom, an East Frankish
kingdom, and a kingdom of Italy. The West Frankish realm
corresponded roughly with the present boundaries of France and
Belgium, and its people talked dialects derived from the spoken
Latin ; the East Frankish kingdom included the rest of Charle-
magne's empire outside of Italy and was German in language.

208

General History of Europe

332. Obstacles to maintaining Order. The Treaty of Mersen
was followed by several centuries of continued disorder and local
warfare. There were a number of difficulties which stood in the
way of peace. In the first place, a king found it very hard to get
rapidly from one part of his realms to another in order to put down

MAP OF TREATY OF MERSEN

This map shows the division of Charlemagne's empire made in 870 by his
descendants in the Treaty of Mersen

rebellions, for the Roman roads ( 256), which had been so ad-
mirably constructed, had fallen into disrepair, and the bridges
had been carried away by floods. Besides, the king had very
little money. There were not many gold or silver mines in western
Europe, and there was no supply of precious metals from outside,
for commerce with the Eastern countries had largely died out. So
the king had no treasury from which to pay his many officials
and had to give them land instead of money in return for their
services. In this way they gradually became rulers themselves
within their own possessions.

Age of Disorder: Feudalism 209

333. New Invasions. Moreover, frequent new invasions from
all directions kept the three parts of Charlemagne's empire, and
England besides, in a state of fear and disaster. The Moham-
medans, who had got possession of northern Africa and of Spain,
gained control of the island of Sicily shortly after Charlemagne's
death and began to terrorize Italy and southern France. On the
east the Slavs whom Charlemagne had defeated in his time con-
tinued to make trouble, and the Hungarians, a savage race from
Asia, penetrated into the Prankish kingdom. Finally they were
driven back eastward and settled in the country now named after
them Hungary.

334. The Northmen. Lastly there came the Northmen, 1 bold
and adventurous pirates from the shores of Denmark, Sweden,
and Norway, who not only attacked the towns on the coast of the
West Prankish kingdom but made their way up the rivers, plun-
dering and burning the villages and towns as far inland as Paris.

So there was danger always and everywhere. If rival nobles
were not fighting one another, there were foreign invaders of
some kind devastating the country, bent on robbing, maltreat-
ing, and enslaving the people whom they found in towns and
villages and monasteries. No wonder that strong castles had to
be built and the towns surrounded by walls.

335. Medieval Fortresses controlled by Individuals. In the
absence of a powerful king with a well-organized army to support
him, each district was left to look out for itself, and the people
came to depend on the nobles to protect them.

The Romans had been accustomed to build walls around their
camps, and a walled camp was called castra ; in such names
as Rochester, Winchester, Gloucester, Worcester, we have re-
minders of the fact that these towns were once fortresses. These
camps, however, were all government fortifications and did not
belong to private individuals ; but as the disorder caused by the
incoming barbarians increased, the various counts and dukes and
other large landowners began to build forts for themselves.

1 These Scandinavian pirates are often called vikings, from their habit of leaving their
long boats in the vik, which meant, in their language, " bay " or " inlet."

2IO

General History of Europe

336. General Arrangement of a Castle. When the castle
was not on a steep rocky hill, which made it very hard to ap-
proach, a deep ditch was constructed outside the walls, called the
moat. This was filled with water and crossed by a bridge, which
could be drawn up when the castle was attacked, cutting off the

A MEDIEVAL CASTLE NEAR KLAGENFURT, AUSTRIA

It was not uncommon in mountainous regions to have fortresses perched
so high on rocky eminences that it was practically impossible to capture them

means of approach. The doorway was further protected by a grat-
ing of heavy planks, called the portcullis, which could be quickly
dropped down to close the entrance. Inside the castle walls was
the great donjon, or chief tower. From the tiny windows in the
towers the occupants were able to shoot arrows or pour melted
pitch or lead on those attacking them. There was sometimes also
a fine hall, as at Coucy (see cut facing page 212), and handsome
rooms for the use of the lord and his family, although they
sometimes lived in the donjon. There were buildings for storing
supplies and arms, and usually a chapel.

Age of Disorder: Feudalism

211

III. FEUDAL SYSTEM AND NEIGHBORHOOD WARFARE

337. Gradual Development of Feudalism. Landholders who
had large estates often found it to their advantage to grant some
of their manors to other persons on condition that those receiving
the land should pledge themselves to accompany him to war,
guard his castle upon oc-
casion, and assist him when

he was put to any unusually
great expense. It was in this
way that the relation of lord
and vassal originated. The
vassal who received the land
promised to be true to his
lord, and the lord, on the
other hand, not only let his
vassal have the land but
agreed to protect him when
it was necessary. These ar-
rangements between vassals
and lords constituted what is
called the feudal system.

The feudal system, or feu-
dalism, was not established
by any decree of a king or in
virtue of a general agreement
between all the landowners.
It grew up gradually and irregularly simply because it seemed con-
venient under the circumstances. Land granted upon these terms
was called a fief. One who held a fief might himself become a lord
by granting a portion of his fief to a vassal upon terms similar
to those upon which he held his lands of his lord, or suzerain. The
vassal of a vassal was called a subvassal.

338. Homage and Fidelity. The one proposing to become a
vassal knelt before the lord and rendered him homage 1 by placing

1 " Homage " is derived from the Latin word homo, meaning " man."

FORTIFIED GATE OF A MEDIEVAL
CASTLE

Here one can see the way in which the
entrance to a castle was carefully pro-
tected : the moat (A) ; the drawbridge
(B); the portcullis (C)

212 General History oj Europe

his hands between those of the lord and declaring himself the
lord's " man " for such and such a fief. Thereupon the lord gave
his vassal the kiss of peace and raised him from his kneeling pos-
ture. Then the vassal swore an oath of fidelity upon the Bible, or
some holy relic, solemnly binding himself to fulfill all his duties
toward his lord. This act of rendering homage by placing the
hands in those of the lord and taking the oath of fidelity was the
first and most essential duty of the vassal.

339. Feudal Obligations. The obligations of the vassal varied
greatly. He was expected to join his lord when there was a
military expedition, although it was generally the case that the
vassal need not serve at his own expense for more than forty days.

He was expected to attend the lord's court when summoned,
where he sat with other vassals to hear and pronounce upon those
cases in which his fellow vassals were involved.

Under certain circumstances vassals had to make money pay-
ments to their lord ; as, for instance, when the lord was put to
extra expense by the necessity of knighting his eldest son or
providing a dowry for his daughter, or when he was captured
by an enemy and was held for ransom. Lastly, the vassal might
have to entertain his lord, should he be passing his castle.

340. Various Kinds of Fiefs. There were fiefs of all grades
of importance, from that of a duke or count, who held directly
of the king and exercised the powers of a practically independent
prince, down to the holding of the simple knight, whose bit of
land was barely sufficient to enable him to support himself and
provide the horse upon which he rode.

It is essential to observe that the fief became hereditary in the
family of the vassal and passed down to the eldest son from one
generation to another. So long as the vassal remained faithful
to his lord and performed the stipulated services, and his succes-
sors did homage and continued to meet the conditions upon which
the fief had originally been granted, neither the lord nor his heirs
could rightfully regain possession of the land.

The result was that little was left to the original owner of the
fief except the services and dues to which the practical owner,

COUCY-LE-CHATEAU

This castle of Coucy-le-Chateau was built by a vassal of the king of France
in the thirteenth century. It was at the end of a hill and protected on all
sides but one by steep cliffs. One can see the moat (A) and the double draw-
bridge and towers which protected the portal. The round donjon (B) was
probably the largest in the world, one hundred feet in diameter and two
hundred and ten feet high. At the base its walls were thirty-four feet
thick. At the end of the inner court (C) was the residence of the lord (D).
To the left of the court was a great hall and to the right were the quarters
of the garrison. This ancient building was destroyed by the Germans during
the recent World War

MOVABLE TOWER

This attacking tower was rolled up to the wall of the besieged tower after the

moat had been filled up at the proper point. The soldiers then swarmed

up the outside and over a bridge onto the wall. Skins of animals were

hung on the side to prevent the tower from being set on fire

Age of Disorder : Feudalism . 213

the vassal, had agreed in receiving it. In -short, the fief came
really to belong to the vassal, and only the shadow of ownership
remained in the hands of the lord.

341. Sub vassals of the King not under his Control. Ob-
viously the great vassals who held directly of the king became
almost independent of him as soon as their fiefs were granted
to them and their descendants. Their vassals, since they had not
done homage to the king himself, often paid little attention to
his commands. From the ninth to the thirteenth century the
king of France or the king of Germany did not rule over a great
realm occupied by subjects who owed him obedience as their
lawful sovereign, paid him taxes, and were bound to fight under
his banner as the head of the State. As a feudal landlord himself
the king had a right to demand fidelity and certain services from
those who were his vassals. But the great mass of the people over
whom he nominally ruled, whether they belonged to the nobility
or not, owed little to the king directly, because they lived upon the
lands of other feudal lords more or less independent of him.

342. War the Law of the Feudal World. One has only to
read a chronicle of the time to discover that brute force ruled
everywhere outside of the Church. The feudal obligations were
not fulfilled except when the lord was sufficiently powerful to
enforce them. The oath of fidelity was constantly broken, and
faith was violated by both vassal and lord.

We may say that war, in all its forms, was the law of the
feudal world. War formed the chief occupation of the restless
nobles who held the land and were supposed to govern it. The
feudal bonds, instead of offering a guarantee of peace and con-
cord, appear to have been a constant cause of violent ill-feeling
and conflict. Everyone was bent upon profiting to the full by
the weakness of his neighbor.

In theory, the lord could force his vassals to settle their dis-
putes in an orderly manner before his court ; but often he was
neither able nor inclined to bring about a peaceable adjustment,
and he would frequently have found it hard to enforce the
decisions of his own court. So the vassals were left to fight out

214 General History of Europe

their quarrels among themselves, and they found their chief
interest in life in so doing.

343. The "Truce of God." The horrors of this constant fight-
ing led the Church to try to check it. About the year 1000 several
Church councils in southern France decreed that the fighters were
not to attack churches or monasteries, churchmen, pilgrims, mer-
chants, or women, and that they must leave the peasant and his
cattle and plow alone. Then Church councils began to issue what
was known as the " Truce of God," which provided that all war-
fare was to stop during Lent and various other holy days as well
as on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of every week.
During the truce no one was to attack anyone else. Those be-
sieging castles were to refrain from any assaults during the period
of peace, and people were to be allowed to go quietly to and fro
on their business without being disturbed by soldiers.

If anyone failed to observe the truce, he was to be excommuni-
cated by the Church. This meant that if he fell sick no Christian
should dare to visit him ; on his deathbed he was not to receive the
comfort of a priest, and his soul was consigned to hell if he had
refused to repent and mend his ways. It is hard to say how much
good the Truce of God accomplished. It is certain that many dis-
orderly lords paid little attention to the truce and found three days
a week altogether too short a time for plaguing their neighbors.

344. The Kings finally get the Better of the Feudal Lords.
We must not infer that the State ceased to exist altogether during
the centuries of confusion that followed the break-up of Charle-
magne's empire, or that it fell entirely apart into little local
governments independent of each other. The king, solemnly
anointed by the Church, was always something more than a
feudal lord. The kings were destined to get the upper hand be-
fore many centuries in England, France, and Spain, and finally in
Italy and Germany, and to destroy the castles behind whose
walls their haughty nobles had long defied the royal power.

Age of Disorder: Feudalism

QUESTIONS

215

I. How did the election of Pippin differ essentially from that of
earlier German kings ? Why is a monarch approved by the Church
more powerful than one elected by the people? Can you give any
modern examples of kings by divine right? Why is Charlemagne a
heroic figure in medieval history ? How did Charlemagne build up an
empire in western Europe ? What is meant by Charlemagne's reestab-
lishment of the Roman Empire in the West?

II. How was Charlemagne's empire finally divided after his death?
What were the general causes for disorder during the ninth and tenth
centuries ? Who were the chief new invaders ? Explain the origin of
the medieval nobles. Describe a medieval castle.

III. Describe the conditions which led to the development of the
feudal system. What advantages did the lord and the vassal derive
from their relationship ? How did the feudal system affect the power
of the king ? Why was neighborhood warfare common in this period ?
In what ways did the Church attempt to check the constant fighting ?

NOTE. This castle of Pierrefonds, not very far from Paris, was built by the brother
of the king of France, about 1400. It has been carefully restored and gives one a good
idea of a fortress of the period.

s ^'^aiB^MEa^f^.^

' -')i( l ^~~^=i-rx^2 > -at. ~v '' ' **"**

CHAPTER XVII

POPES, EMPERORS, AND PRINCES IN THE MIDDLE AGES
I. ORIGIN OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

345. Otto the Great (936-973). The East Prankish, or German
part, of Charlemagne's empire had, after his death, fallen apart
into big and little fiefs, and the various dukes and counts were
constantly making war on each other and on their weak kings.
The first German ruler, after Charlemagne, who gained much dis-
tinction was Otto the Great, who came to the throne in 936. He
repelled the Hungarians, who had been a constant menace, and
forced them back into eastern Europe, where they settled and
finally built up the modern Hungarian state. Otto was having
plenty of trouble to keep his vassals under his control, but never-
theless he determined to try to add northern Italy to his realms
and succeeded in being acknowledged king of Italy. Later the
Pope, needing protection from his enemies, called Otto to Rome,
and, in return for his assistance, crowned him emperor, as Charle-
magne's successor, in the year 962.

The coronation of Otto was a very important event for Ger-
many ; for from this time onward the German rulers, who had
quite enough to do to keep their own vassals in order, were con-
stantly distracted by efforts to keep their hold on their Italian
possessions, which lay on the other side of the great mountain
range of the Alps.

346. The Holy Roman Empire. Otto's successors dropped
their old title of king of the East Franks as soon as they had been
duly crowned by the Pope at Rome, and assumed the magnificent
and all-embracing designation, "Emperor Ever August of the
Romans." Their "Holy Roman Empire," as it came to be called
later, was to endure, in name at least, for more than eight centuries,

216

Popes, Emperors, and Princes in the Middle Ages 217

but it was obviously even less like that of the ancient Romans
than Charlemagne's had been. As kings of Germany and Italy
these rulers had practically all the powers that they enjoyed as
emperors. The title of emperor was of course a proud one, although
it gave the German kings no additional power except the fatal
right that they claimed of taking part in the election of the Pope.
We shall find that, instead of making themselves feared at home
and building up a great state, the German emperors wasted their
strength in a long struggle with the popes, who proved themselves,
in the end, far stronger and finally reduced the Empire to a mere
shadow.

347. Lands of the Church drawn into the Feudal System.
In order to understand the long struggle between the German
rulers and the popes, we must recollect that great tracts of land
had been given by princes and dukes, counts, and other great
landed proprietors to the Church for the support of the bishop-
rics and monasteries. These lands of the churchmen were drawn
into the feudal system described in the previous chapter. Bishops
might become vassals of the king or other feudal lords by doing
homage for a fief and swearing fidelity, like any other vassal.
The abbots might hold the lands of a monastery as a fief.

But the bishops and abbots were forbidden by the rules of the
Church to marry, so they could not hand down their possessions
to their children. Consequently, when a bishop or abbot who held
a fief died, someone had to be chosen in his place to succeed to
the fief and perform the duties attached to the position.

348. Investiture. The bishops were, according to the rules of
the Church, to be chosen by the clergy of their bishopric, and
the abbot of a monastery by the monks. Their feudal superiors
insisted, however, in having their say in elections, and from the
time of Otto the Great on both bishops and abbots were com-
monly selected to all intents and purposes by the emperor or
other feudal lords.

When a bishop or abbot had been duly chosen, the feudal lord
proceeded to the investiture. The new bishop or abbot first be-
came the "man" of the lord by doing him homage ( 338), and

218 General History oj Europe

then the lord transferred to him the lands and rights attached
to the office. No careful distinction appears to have been made
between the property and the religious powers. The lord often
conferred both by bestowing upon a bishop the ring and the
crosier (the bishop's pastoral staff), the emblems of religious au-
thority. It seemed shocking enough that the king or feudal lord,
who was often a rough soldier, should dictate the selection of
the bishops ; but it was still more shocking that he should assume
to confer religious powers with religious emblems.

349. The Marriage of the Clergy. Still another danger threat-
ened the wealth and resources of the Church. During the tenth
and eleventh centuries the rule of the Church prohibiting the
clergy from marrying appears to have been widely neglected in
Italy, Germany, France, and England. It was obvious that the
property of the Church would soon be dispersed if the clergy were
allowed to marry, since they would wish to provide for their chil-
dren. Just as the feudal lands had become hereditary ( 340),
so the church lands would become hereditary unless the clergy
were forced to remain unmarried.

350. Task of the Popes. A hundred years after the time of
Otto the Great it seemed as if the Church would be dragged down
by its property into the anarchy of feudalism. But the popes
assumed the gigantic task of making the Church a great inter-
national monarchy, like the former Roman Empire, with its capi-
tal at Rome. The control of the feudal lords over the selection of
the clergy must be reduced or abolished, the marriage of the
clergy prohibited, and the corruption connected with Church of-
fices checked. The first great move of the Pope was the decree
of 1059 depriving the emperor of the right he claimed to control
the election of the Pope and putting the choice in the hands of
the cardinals. These were the representatives of the clergy of the
city of Rome, and in their hands the election of the Pope has
legally rested ever since.

351. Gregory VII and his Dictatus. In 1073 the most cele-
brated of the medieval popes, Gregory VII (often called Hilde-
brand), ascended the papal throne. Among his writings is a brief

Popes, Emperors, and Princes in the Middle Ages 219

statement, called the Dictatus, in which he sets forth the powers
which he believed God had conferred on the papacy. The Pope,
or Bishop of Rome, had, he claims, the right to depose or transfer
any other bishop. No Church council could be regarded as speak-
ing for Christendom without the Pope's ratification ; no religious

MEDIEVAL PICTURES OF GREGORY VII

These pictures are taken from an illustrated manuscript written some decades
after Gregory's death. In the one on the left Gregory is represented blowing
out a candle and saying to his cardinals, "As I blow out this light, so will
Henry IV be extinguished." In the one on the right is shown the death of
Gregory (1085). He did not wear his crown in bed, but the artist wanted
us to be sure to recognize that he was Pope

book should be deemed authoritative without his approval ; no
one might be considered a Catholic Christian who did not yield
obedience to the commands of the Roman Mother Church.

Gregory does not stop with asserting the Pope's complete
supremacy over the Church. He says that "the Pope is the only
person whose feet are kissed by all princes" ; that he may depose
emperors and "absolve subjects from allegiance to an unjust
ruler." No one shall dare to condemn one who appeals to the
Pope. No one may annul a decree of the Pope, though the Pope
may declare null and void the decrees of all other earthly powers ;
and no one may pass judgment upon his acts.

22O General History of Europe

II. THE LONG STRUGGLE BETWEEN POPES AND EMPERORS

352. Struggle over Investiture between Henry IV and Greg-
ory VII. The popes who immediately preceded Gregory had
more than once forbidden the churchmen to receive investiture
from laymen. Gregory reissued this prohibition in 1075. In for-
bidding investiture by laymen Gregory attempted nothing less
than a revolution. The bishops and abbots were often officers of
government, exercising in Germany and Italy powers similar in
all respects to those of the counts. The German king not only
relied upon them for advice and assistance in carrying on his gov-
ernment but they were among his chief allies in his constant
struggles with his vassals.

This act of Gregory's led to a long and bitter struggle between
the popes and German rulers, lasting for two hundred years.
Gregory's legates so irritated the young German king Henry IV
that he had the Pope deposed as a wicked man (1076).

353. Gregory VII Deposes Henry IV. Gregory's reply to
Henry and the German bishops who had deposed him was speedy
and decisive. "Incline thine ear to us, O Peter, chief of the
Apostles. As thy representative and by thy favor has the power
been granted especially to me by God of binding and loosing in
heaven and earth [compare 309]. ... I withdraw, through
thy power and authority, from Henry the King, who has risen
against thy Church with unheard-of insolence, the rule over the
whole kingdom of the Germans and over Italy. I absolve all
Christians from the bonds of the oath which they have sworn,
or may swear, to him ; and I forbid anyone to serve him as king."

354. Henry IV at Canossa (1077). After the Pope deposed
Henry his vassals turned against him. He was so discouraged
that he hastened across the Alps in midwinter and appeared as a
humble suppliant before the castle of Canossa, where Gregory VII
was sojourning. The Pope kept him waiting three days barefoot
and in the coarse garments of a pilgrim before he would admit
him. He then agreed to forgive him for the moment. The spec-
tacle of a mighty prince of distinguished appearance in tears

EUROPE AND THE OKIE
IN 1O96

On the eve of the Crusades

LUZlChristiail Land8.(I*tln-Church) I I Mohammedan Lands

I lOirlaHaii Lands (.Greek Church) I 1 Regions still Paga!

100 200 800 -100 600

Scale of Miles

THf.-N.WOIIIC8,WFALO, N.Y.

Longitude East 10 from Greenwich

Popes, Emperors, and Princes in the Middle Ages 221

before a man of small stature who humbly styled himself "the
servant of the servants of God" has always been regarded as
typifying the power of the medieval Church when directed against
even the most exalted rulers of the earth.

355. Concordat of Worms (1122). The famous scene at
Canossa settled nothing, however, and the struggle went on after
the death of both Gregory and Henry IV. Finally a settlement was
reached at the town of Worms which ended the controversy over
investitures. The churchmen . were to elect their bishops and
abbots and confer on them their religious powers. The German
king or emperor, on the other hand, was to invest the new bishop
or abbot with his fiefs and governmental powers by a touch of the
scepter. The king in a way still retained his control, for he could
always refuse to hand over the lands unless he was pleased with
the person chosen by the churchmen.

356. Frederick I (Barbarossa) of Hohenstaufen (1152-1190).
A generation after the Concordat of Worms the most famous of
German emperors, next to Charlemagne, came to the throne. This
was Frederick I, commonly referred to as Barbarossa ( from his red
beard). He belonged to the family of Hohenstaufen, so called
from their castle in southern Germany. Frederick's ambition was
to restore the Roman Empire to its old glory and influence. He
regarded himself as the successor of the Caesars, as well as of
Charlemagne and Otto the Great. He believed his office to be
quite as truly established by God himself as the papacy.

He met all the old difficulties in his life-long attempt to build
up a strong empire, in which he strove to include northern Italy.
He failed in this attempt and died on his way to take part in a
crusade to regain the Holy Land.

357. Frederick II and Southern Italy. His gifted grandson
Frederick II had married the heiress to the kingdoms of Naples
and Sicily, and here he built up a strong modern state far from
Germany. But the popes feared the new state to the south of
them, and shortly after the death of Frederick II they called in a
French prince, to whom they turned over the Italian possessions
of the Hohenstaufen.

222 General History oj Europe

358. Conditions in Germany and Italy. With the death of
Frederick II in 1250 the medieval German Empire may be said
to have come to an end. Rudolph of Hapsburg was made king
in 1273, but Germany was not really a country but a confused
mass of duchies, counties, archbishoprics, bishoprics, abbacies, and
free towns. They paid little attention to their kings, who con-
tinued to claim the title of emperor but rarely went to Rome to
be crowned.

Italy was also divided up into practically independent states,
the Lombard towns to the north, the papal possessions across the
middle of the peninsula, and, to the south, Naples, which re-
mained under its French dynasty for a time, and the kingdom of
Sicily, which drifted into the hands of a Spanish house.

III. ORGANIZATION AND POWERS OF THE CHURCH

359. General Character of the Medieval Church. In the
preceding pages it has been necessary to refer constantly to the
Church and the clergy. Indeed without them medieval history
would become almost a blank, for the Church was incomparably
the most important institution of the time, and the popes, bishops,
and abbots were the soul of nearly every great enterprise. We
have already had abundant proofs that the medieval Church was
very different from our modern churches, whether Catholic or
Protestant.

1. In the first place, everyone was required to belong to it,
just as we all must belong to some country today. One was not
born into the Church, it is true, but he was ordinarily baptized
into it when he was a mere infant. All western Europe formed
a single religious association, from which it was a crime to revolt.
To refuse allegiance to the Church, or to question its authority
or teachings, was regarded as treason against God the most
terrible of crimes and was punishable, according to the laws of
the time, with death (395).

2. The medieval Church did not rely for its support, as
churches usually must today, upon the voluntary contributions

Popes, Emperors, and Princes in the Middle Ages 223

of its members. It enjoyed, in addition to the revenue from its
vast tracts of lands and a great variety of fees, the income from
a regular tax, the tithe. Those upon whom this fell were forced
to pay it, just as we all must now pay taxes imposed by the
government.

3. It is clear, moreover, that the medieval Church was not
merely a religious body, as churches are today. Of course it
maintained places of worship, conducted devotional exercises, and
cultivated the religious life ; but it did far more. It was, in a
way, a State, for it had an elaborate system of law and its own
courts, in which it tried many cases which are now settled in our
ordinary courts. One may get some idea of the business of the
Church courts from the fact that the Church possessed the right
to try all cases in which a clergyman was implicated, or anyone
connected with the Church or under its special protection, such
as monks, students, crusaders, widows, orphans, and the helpless.
Then all cases where the rites of the Church, or its prohibitions,
were involved came ordinarily before the Church courts, as, for
example, those concerning marriage, wills, sworn contracts, usury,
blasphemy, sorcery, heresy, and so forth. The Church even had
its prisons, to which it might sentence offenders for life, if they
were convicted of serious heresy.

4. The Church not only performed the functions of a State,
it had the organization of a State. Unlike the Protestant min-
isters of today, all churchmen and religious associations of medie-
val Europe were under one supreme head, the Pope, who made
laws for all, and controlled every church officer, wherever he
might be, whether in Italy or Germany, Spain or Ireland. The
whole Church had one official language, Latin, in which all com-
munications were written and in which its services were every-
where conducted.

The control of the Pope over all parts of the Christian Church
was exercised by his legates. These papal ambassadors were in-
trusted with great powers. Their haughty mien sometimes of-
fended the prelates and rulers to whom they brought home the
authority of the Pope.

224 General History of Europe

The task assumed by the Pope of governing the whole Western
world naturally made it necessary to create a large body of
officials at Rome in order to transact all the multiform business
and prepare and transmit the innumerable legal documents. The
cardinals and the Pope's officials constituted what was called the
papal curia, or court. To carry on his government and to meet
the expenses of palace and retinue, the Pope had need of a vast
income. This was supplied from various sources.

360. Reasons for the Great Power of Clergymen in the Mid-
dle Ages. The influence of the clergy was greatly increased by
the fact that they alone were educated. For six or seven centuries
after the break-up of the Roman Empire very few outside of the
clergy ever dreamed of studying, or even of learning to read and
write. Even in the thirteenth century an offender who wished to
prove that he belonged to the clergy, in order that he might
be tried by a Church court, had only to show that he could read
a single line ; for it was assumed by the judges that no one uncon-
nected with the Church could read at all.

It was inevitable, therefore, that all the teachers were clergy-
men, that almost all the books were written by priests and monks,
and that the clergy were the ruling power in all intellectual, artis-
tic, and literary matters the chief guardians and promoters of
civilization. Moreover, the civil government was forced to rely
upon churchmen to write out the public documents and proclama-
tions. The priests and monks held the pen for the king. Repre-
sentatives of the clergy sat in the king's councils and acted as his
ministers ; in fact, the conduct of the government largely devolved
upon them.

361. Excommunication and Interdict. No wonder that the
churchmen were by far the most powerful class in the Middle
Ages. They controlled great wealth ; they were the most highly
educated class ; it was believed they held the keys of the kingdom
of heaven and without their aid no one could hope to enter in.
By excommunication they could cast out the enemies of the
Church and could forbid all men to associate with them, since
they were accursed. By means of the interdict they could suspend

Popes, Emperors, and Princes in the Middle Ages 225

all religious ceremonies in a whole city or country by closing the
church doors and prohibiting all public services.

362. Chief Sources of Difficulty between Church and State,
But as the period of feudal disorder drew to an end, and the
kings and other rulers got the better of the feudal lords and
established peace in their realms, they began to think that the
Church had become too powerful and too rich. Certain difficulties
arose of which the following were the most important :

1. Should the king or the Pope have the right of selecting
the bishops and the abbots of rich monasteries? Naturally both
were anxious to place their friends and supporters in these in-
fluential positions. Moreover, the Pope, like the king, could claim
a considerable contribution from those whom he appointed.

2. How far might the king venture to tax the lands and other
property of the Church? Was this vast amount of wealth to go
on increasing and yet make no contribution to the support of
the government ? The churchmen usually urged that they needed
all their money to carry on the church services, keep up the
churches and monasteries, take care of the schools, and aid the
poor, for the State left them to bear all these necessary burdens.
The law of the Church permitted the churchmen to make vol-
untary gifts to the king when there was urgent necessity.

3. Then there was disagreement over the cases to be tried in the
Church courts and the claim of churchmen to be tried only by
clergymen. Above all was the habit of appealing cases to Rome,
for the Pope would often decide the matter in exactly the opposite
way from that in which the king's court had decided it.

4. Lastly, there was the question of how far the Pope as head
of the Christian Church had a right to interfere with the govern-
ment of a particular state when he did not approve of the way
in which a king was acting. The powers of the Pope were very
great, everyone admitted, but even the most devout Catholics
differed somewhat as to just how great they were.

We have seen some illustrations of these troubles in the case
of the popes and the German emperors. Many others might be
given were there space to do so.

226 General History oj Europe

363. Babylonian Captivity and Great Schism (isos-i-us). By
the year 1300 the kings of England and France were coming into
a position to enforce their claims against the Church. The power
of the popes was weakened for various reasons, and finally the
French king was able to get the seat of the papacy transferred
from Rome to Avignon, a city on his frontier. Here the popes
remained for over seventy years (1305-1377). This Babylonian
Captivity, as it is called, was followed by a series of disputed
elections, the "Great Schism," during which Europe was di-
vided on the question as to who was the rightful Pope. Finally, in
the fifteenth century, the popes once more regained a considerable
part of the influence over European affairs that they had enjoyed
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and returned to their
ancient capital.

QUESTIONS

I. How did the king of the East Franks come to have the title of
Emperor of the Romans ? What was the Holy Roman Empire ? How
was the Church drawn into the feudal system ? In what ways did the
feudal system threaten the prestige and resources of the Church ? What
measures did the Church take to meet these difficulties ? How is the
Pope elected today ? What is the college of cardinals ? What were the
powers of the Pope as claimed in the Dictatus of Gregory VII? Has
the Pope more or less power today than he had in the time of
Gregory VII ?

II. Give an account of the famous struggle between Henry IV and
Gregory. How was the question of investiture finally settled? How
did the medieval German Empire come to an end ?

III. Give a picture of the medieval Church at the height of its
power. In what ways did it resemble an international state? Why
was the clergy so important in the Middle Ages ? What were the chief
sources of difference between Church and State ? What was the Baby-
lonian Captivity?

CHAPTER XVIII
ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

I. THE NORMAN CONQUEST

364. Peculiar Interest of English History. The history of
England is naturally of especial interest to all English-speaking
peoples, for it is from the English that they have derived their
language, their habits of thought, much of their literature, and
many of their laws and institutions. In this volume it will, how-
ever, be possible to study England only as it played a part in
general European history.

365. The Danes and Alfred the Great (371-901). The conquest
of Britain by the Angles and Saxons and their conversion to
Christianity by Augustine and his monks has already been spoken
f (3 2I ~3 22 )- These invasions had scarcely come to an end
before the Northmen (or Danes, as the English called them), who
were ravaging France (334), began to make incursions into
England. They were defeated, however, by Alfred the Great,
the first English king of whom we know much. Alfred forced the
Danes to accept Christianity and keep out of southern England.
But the Danes continued to make trouble, and finally a Danish
king (Cnut) succeeded in making himself king of all England in
1017. The Danish dynasty did not last many years and was suc-
ceeded by a weak Saxon king, Edward the Confessor.

Upon his death one of the greatest events in English history
occurred. The most powerful of the vassals of the king of France
crossed the English Channel, conquered England, and made him-
self its king. This was William the Conqueror.

366. France in the Middle Ages. The old West Prankish
kingdom, which we shall now call France, was, like Germany,

227

228 General History of Europe

divided up among a great many dukes and counts who built strong
castles, gathered armies, and paid little attention to their kings.
In the tenth century certain great fiefs, like Normandy, Brit-
tany, Flanders, and Burgundy, developed into little nations, each
under its line of able rulers. These little feudal states were cre-
ated by certain families of nobles who possessed exceptional
energy or statesmanship. By conquest, purchase, or marriage
they increased the number of their fiefs, and they insured their
control over their vassals by promptly destroying the castles of
those who refused to meet their obligations.

367. Normandy. Of these subnations none was more impor-
tant or interesting than Normandy. The Northmen had been the
scourge of those who lived near the North Sea for many years
before one of their leaders, Rollo (or Hrolf), agreed, in 911, to
accept from the West Prankish king a district on the coast, north
of Brittany, where he and his followers might peacefully settle.
Rollo assumed the title of Duke of the Normans and introduced
the Christian religion among his people. The newcomers for a
considerable time kept up their Scandinavian habits and language,
but gradually appropriated such culture as their neighbors pos-
sessed, and by the twelfth century their capital, Rouen, -was one
of the most enlightened cities of Europe.

368. Battle of Hastings (loee). Just what William's claims
to England were is not very clear, and it makes little difference.
The main thing to know is that many ships were building in the
Norman harbors in the spring and summer of 1066, and many
adventurers readily flocked to William's standard when it became
known that he proposed to invade England. The Normans and
the English met on the field of Hastings. The English were led by
Harold, the successor of Edward the Confessor, who made a brave
stand, but was killed and his troops routed by the Norman cav-
alry and their excellent bowmen. William managed to induce a
number of influential nobles and several bishops to accept him
as king, now that Harold was dead. London opened its gates to
him, and on Christmas Day, 1066, he was solemnly elected king
by an assembly in Westminster Abbey, and duly crowned.

England and France in the Middle Ages 229

369. William's Policy in England. The English who had re-
fused to join him before the battle of Hastings were declared to
have forfeited their lands, but were permitted to keep them upon
condition of receiving them back from the new king as his vassals.
The lands of those who actually fought against him at Hastings,
or in later rebellions, were

seized and redistributed LJ J^| \ f
among his faithful fol-
lowers, both Norman and
English.

William declared that
he did not propose to
change the English cus-
toms but to govern as
Edward the Confessor had
done. He maintained the
Witenagemot, a council
made up of bishops and
nobles, whose advice the
Saxon kings had sought
in all important matters.
He avoided giving to any
one person a great many
estates in a single region,
so that no one should
thus become inconven-
iently powerful. Finally, in order to secure the support of the
smaller landholders and to prevent combinations against him
among the greater ones, he required every landowner in England
to take an oath of fidelity directly to him, instead of having only
a few great landowners as vassals who had their own subvassals
under their own control, as in France (366).

370. General Results of the Norman Conquest. It is clear
that the Norman Conquest was not a simple change of kings, but
that a new element was added to the English people. We cannot
tell how many Normans actually emigrated across the Channel,

NORMAN GATEWAY AT BRISTOL, ENGLAND

This beautiful gateway was originally the

entrance to a monastery, begun in 1142. It

is one of the finest examples of the Norman

style of building to be seen in England

230

General History of Europe

CHOIR OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL

This was destroyed by fire four years
after Thomas Becket was murdered there.
It was soon rebuilt under Henry II. The
lower rows of arches are the old round
kind, while the upper row shows how the
pointed arch was coming in. (See 429)

but they evidently came in
considerable numbers, and
their influence upon the
English habits and govern-
ment was very great. A
century after William's con-
quest the whole body of the
nobility, the bishops, the
abbots, and the government
officials had become practi-
cally all Norman. Besides
these, the architects who
built the castles and fort-
resses, the cathedrals and
abbeys, came from Nor-
mandy. Merchants from the
Norman cities of Rouen and
Caen settled in London
and other English cities, and
weavers from Flanders set-
tled in various towns and
even in the country.

For a time these newcom-
ers remained a separate
people, but by the year 1200
they had become for the
most part indistinguish-
able from the great mass
of English people among
whom they had come.

They had nevertheless
introduced among the in-

habitants of England a new and important element which made
the nation more energetic, active-minded, and varied in its
occupations and interests than it had been before the Conquest.

Fiefs held by other vassala
than Henry II.

THE PLANTAGENET POSSESSIONS IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE

232 General History oj Europe

II. HENRY II AND THE PLANTAGENETS

371. Henry II (1154-1189). After William's death there was
a great deal of disorder for two generations, and when his great-
grandson, Henry II, came to the throne in 1154 he found the
kingdom in a melancholy condition. He had need of all his
energy and quickness of mind to restore order in England and
at the same time rule his wide realms in France, which he had
either inherited or acquired by marriage with a French heiress.

In order to put an end to the constant feuds and fighting he
reorganized the courts, and his judges made regular circuits to try
cases. The grand jury was introduced to bring accusations against
criminals and disturbers of the peace. But the method of trial
by a jury of twelve men, so familiar 'to us now, does not seem
to have been introduced until a century later. The decisions of
Henry's judges were based on old English customs, not on the
Roman law, and the foundations of the English common law
were laid in this way.

372. Henry II and Thomas Becket. Henry tried to reduce
the powers of the Church courts, and in order to insure his con-
trol of the English clergy he had a friend of his, Thomas Becket,
made archbishop of Canterbury. But Becket refused to forward
the king's plans for reducing the clergy's influence, and after a
great deal of misunderstanding Becket was finally murdered in
his own cathedral by some of Henry's knights, who thought that
they were doing the king a favor. Henry was filled with remorse,
and had to make terms with the papal legates by promising to
return to Canterbury all the property of the Church he had con-
fiscated and by pledging himself to go on a crusade.

373. The French Possessions of the Plantagenets. Henry II
spent a great part of his time across the Channel in his French
possessions. A glance at the accompanying map will show that
rather more than half of his realms lay to the south of the
English Channel. He controlled more territory in France than
the French king himself. As great-grandson of William the

England and France in the Middle Ages 233

Conqueror 1 he inherited the duchy of Normandy and the suze-
rainty over Brittany. His mother, Matilda, had married the count
of Anjou and Maine, so that Henry II inherited these fiefs along
with those which had belonged to William the Conqueror. Lastly,
he had married Eleanor, heiress of the dukes of Guienne, and in
this way doubled the extent of his French lands. Henry II and
his successors are known as the " Plantagenets," owing to the habit
that his father, the count of Anjou, had of wearing a bit of broom
(Latin, planta genista} in his helmet.

So it came about that the French kings beheld a new State,
under an able and energetic ruler, developing within their borders
and including more than half the territory over which they were
supposed to rule. A few years before Henry II died an am-
bitious monarch, Philip Augustus, ascended the French throne
and made it the chief business of his life to get control of his
feudal vassals above all, the Plantagenets.

374. Richard the Lion-Hearted. So long as Henry II lived
there was little chance of expelling the Plantagenets from France ;
but with the accession of his reckless son Richard the Lion-
Hearted the prospects of the French king brightened wonder-
fully. Richard is one of the most famous of medieval knights,
but he was a very poor ruler. He left his kingdom to take care

1 William the Conqueror, king of England (1066-1087)

William II (Rufus) Henry I (1100-1135) Adela, m. Stephen

(1087-1100) | count of Blois

Matilda (d. 1167) I

m. Geoffrey Plantagenet Stephen (1135-1154)

count of Anjou

Henry II (1154-1189)

the first Plantagenet king

m. Eleanor of Aquitaine

I I

Richard Geoffrey (d. 1186) John

(1189-1199) | (1199-1216)

Arthur

Henry III
(1216-1272)

234 General History oj Europe

of itself while he went upon a crusade to the Holy Land (389).
When Richard returned, after several years of romantic adventure,
he found himself involved in a war with Philip Augustus, in the
midst of which he died.

375. John loses the French Possessions of his House. Rich-
ard's younger brother John, who bears the reputation of being
the most despicable of English kings, speedily gave Philip good
excuses for seizing a great part of the Plantagenet lands. Philip
Augustus, as John's suzerain, summoned him to appear at the
French court to answer certain ugly charges of murder and
violence. Upon John's refusal to appear or to do homage for his
continental possessions, Philip caused his court to issue a decree
confiscating almost all of the Plantagenet lands, leaving to the
English king only the southwest corner of France (duchy of
Guienne).

376. King John becomes a Vassal of the Pope. John became
involved in a controversy with Pope Innocent III, one of the
mightiest rulers of the Middle Ages, over the selection of an arch-
bishop of Canterbury. In his anger he finally drove the monks of
Canterbury out of the country.

Innocent replied by placing England under the interdict ; that
is to say, he ordered the clergy to close all the churches and
suspend all public services a very terrible thing to the people
of the time. John was excommunicated, and the Pope threatened
that unless the king submitted to his wishes he would depose
him and give his crown to Philip Augustus of France. As Philip
made haste to collect an army for the conquest of England, John
humbly submitted to the Pope in 1213. He went so far as to
hand England over to Innocent III and receive it back as a fief,
thus becoming the vassal of the Pope. He agreed also to send
a yearly tribute to Rome.

377. Granting of the Great Charter (1215). The most perma-
nently important event of John's reign was the granting of the
Great Charter. When John proposed to lead a new army to
France, his vassals refused to go, on the ground that they were
not pledged to fight for him outside of England. Finally, a number

England and France in the Middle Ages 235

of the barons banded together to force the king to sign a docu-
ment stating plainly those things which according to old English
custom a king might not legally do. The insurgent nobles met the
king at Runny mede, not far from London. Here on the isth of
June, 1215, they forced him to swear to observe what they be-
lieved to be the rights of his subjects, which they had carefully
written out.

378. Provisions of the Charter. The Great Charter is perhaps
the most famous document in the history of government. The
king promises to observe the rights of his vassals, and the vassals
in turn agree to observe the rights of their vassals. The towns
are not to be oppressed. The merchant is not to be deprived of
his goods for small offenses, nor the farmer of his wagon and im-
plements. The king is to impose no tax, besides the three feudal
aids, 1 except with the consent of the Great Council of the nation.
This was to include the prelates and greater barons and all the
king's vassals.

There is no more notable clause in the Charter than that which
provides that no freeman is to be arrested, or imprisoned, or
deprived of his property, unless he be immediately sent before
a court of his peers for trial. To realize the importance of this
we must recollect that in France, down to 1789, nearly six
hundred years later, the king exercised such unlimited powers
that he could order the arrest of anyone he pleased and could
imprison him for any length of time without bringing him to
trial or even informing him of the nature of his offense.

379. Permanent Importance of the Great Charter. It must
be remembered, however, that the barons, who forced the Charter
on the king, had their own interests especially in mind. The
nobles, churchmen, merchants, and other freemen made up only
about a sixth of the population, and the Charter had little or noth-
ing to say of serfs or villains ( 405), who formed the great mass
of the English people at that time. They could still be victimized

l These three regular feudal dues were payments made when the lord knighted his
eldest son, gave his eldest daughter in marriage, or had been captured and was waiting
to be ransomed.

236 General History of Europe

as before by their masters, the lords of the manor. But in later
centuries, when the serfs had become free, the Charter could be
appealed to in support of the people in general against attempts of
the ruler to oppress them. There were times when the English
kings evaded its provisions and tried to rule as absolute monarchs.
But the people always sooner or later bethought them of the
Charter, which thus continued to form a barrier against perma-
nent despotism in England.

QUESTIONS

I. Review briefly the settlement of England before the Norman Con-
quest ( 321, 322, 365). Describe the development of Normandy.
What policy did William adopt in governing England? What are
some of the results of the Norman Conquest?

II. What improvements in the administration of the law were
introduced by Henry II ? How did the English rulers come to have
possessions in France? What was the extent of their territory during
the time of Henry II ? How was this territory regained by France ?
Review the struggle of King John with the Pope. What were the
circumstances leading to the signing of the Great Charter ? State some
of its important provisions.

NOTE. Edward I built Conway Castle in 1284 to keep the Welsh in check. Its walls
are from twelve to fifteen feet thick.

CHAPTER XIX

THE CRUSADES: HERESY AND THE MENDICANT ORDERS
I. THE FIRST CRUSADE

380. Fascination of the Crusades. Of all the events of the
Middle Ages the most romantic are the Crusades, the adventurous
expeditions to Palestine, undertaken with the hope of reclaiming
the Holy Land from the infidel Turks. All through the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries each generation beheld at least one great
army of crusaders gathering from every part of the West and
starting toward the Orient. Each year witnessed the departure of
small bands of pilgrims or of solitary soldiers of the cross.

For two hundred years there was a continuous stream of Euro-
peans of every rank and station, kings and princes, powerful
nobles, simple knights, common soldiers, monks, townspeople,
and even peasants, from England, France, Germany, Spain,
and Italy, making their way into Western Asia.

381. The Holy Land conquered first by the Arabs and then
by the Turks. Syria had been overrun by the Arabs shortly after
the death of Mohammed, and the Holy City of Jerusalem had
fallen into the hands of the infidels. The Arab, however, shared
with the Christian the veneration for the places associated with
the life of Christ and, in general, permitted the Christian pilgrims
to worship unmolested. But with the coming of a new and ruder
people, the Seljuk Turks, in the eleventh century, the pilgrims
began to bring home news of great hardships. Moreover, the
Eastern emperor was defeated by the Turks in 1071 and lost
Asia Minor. Finding himself unequal to the task of repelling
the Turks, the Eastern emperor Alexius appealed to the Pope,
Urban II, for aid.

23?

238 General History oj Europe

382. Urban II issues a Call to the First Crusade (1095). The
Pope responded, and at a Church council held at Clermont in
France (1095) he summoned princes, knights, and soldiers of
all ranks to give up their usual wicked business of fighting their
Christian brethren in the constant neighborhood warfare ( 342 )
and to turn instead to the aid of their fellow Christians in the
East. He warned them that the cruel Turks would, if unchecked,
extend their sway still more widely over the faithful servants
of the Lord.

The proposed campaign appealed to many different kinds of
men. The devout, the romantic, and the adventurous were by no
means the only classes that were attracted. Syria held out induce-
ments to the discontented noble who might hope to gain a prin-
cipality in the East, to the merchant who was looking for new
enterprises, to the merely restless who wished to avoid his respon-
sibilities at home, and even to the criminal who enlisted with a
view of escaping the punishment for his past offenses. The faith-
ful crusader, like the faithful Mohammedan, was assured of imme-
diate entrance to heaven if he died repentant for his sins.

383. Peter the Hermit and his Crusading Army. A few
months after Urban issued his summons a motley army of peas-
ants, workingmen, vagabonds, and even women and children
had been collected under the leadership of Peter the Hermit and
Walter the Penniless. These simple folk were confident that the
Lord would protect them during their two-thousand-mile journey
to the Holy Land and grant them a prompt victory over the in-
fidel. But, as might have been expected, a great part fell by the
way, and the rest were slaughtered or scattered by the Turks
when the disorderly horde reached Asia Minor.

384. The First Crusade (1095). The most conspicuous figures
of the long period of the Crusades are not, however, to be found
among the lowly followers of Peter the Hermit, but are the
knights, in their long coats of flexible armor. A year after the
summons issued at Clermont great armies of fighting men had
been collected in the West under distinguished leaders the Pope
speaks of three hundred thousand soldiers. Among the crusading

The Crusades: Heresy and the Mendicant Orders 239

knights who played a most important role were Count Ray-
mond of Toulouse, Godfrey of Bouillon, and his brother Baldwin.

The Eastern emperor had hoped to use his Western allies to
reconquer Asia Minor and force back the Turks. The leading
knights, on the con-
trary, dreamed of
carving out princi-
palities for them-
selves in the former
dominions of the em-
peror and proposed to
control them by right
of conquest. Bald-
win got possession of
Edessa, of which he
made himself prince.
The march on Jerusa-
lem was postponed,
and a year was spent
in capturing the rich
and important city of
Antioch. Then Ray-
mond of Toulouse set
to work and con-
quered a principality
for himself on the
coast about Tripoli.

385. Conquest of
Jerusalem. In the
spring of 1099 about twenty thousand warriors were at last able
to move upon Jerusalem. They found the city well walled, in the
midst of a desolate region where neither food nor water nor the
materials to construct the siege apparatus necessary for the capture
of the Holy City were to be found. In spite of all the difficulties
the place was taken in a couple of months. The crusaders showed
no mercy to the people of the city, but with shocking barbarity

Kingdom of J,
County of Tripoli_
Principality of Antiach \
County ofEtiat,

MAP OF THE CRUSADERS' STATES IN SYRIA

240 General History oj Europe

cruelly massacred the inhabitants. Godfrey of Bouillon was
chosen ruler of Jerusalem. He soon died and was succeeded by
his brother Baldwin.

386. Founding of Latin Kingdoms in Syria. It will be ob-
served that the "Franks," as the Mohammedans called all the
Western folk, had established the centers of four principalities.
These were Edessa, Antioch, the region about Tripoli conquered
by Raymond, and the kingdom of Jerusalem. The news of these
Christian victories quickly reached the West, and in 1101 tens
of thousands of new crusaders started eastward. Most of them
were lost in passing through Asia Minor, and few reached their
destination. The original conquerors were consequently left to
hold the land against the Mohammedans and to organize their
conquests as best they could. This was a very difficult task
too difficult to accomplish under the circumstances, since the
greater part of those who visited Palestine returned home after
fulfilling the vow they had made to kneel at the Holy Sepulcher.

387. Military Religious Orders. A noteworthy outcome of
the crusading movement was the foundation of several curious
orders, of which the Hospitalers and the Templars (so called from
the quarters assigned them in the king's palace at Jerusalem, on the
site of the former temple of Solomon) were the most important.
These orders combined the two great interests of the time, those of
the monk and of the soldier. They permitted a man to be both at
once ; the knight might wear a monkish cowl over his coat of armor.

The Hospitalers was a charitable association which cared for
the poor and the sick. The Templars became rich and powerful,
for they were able to collect vast funds and the popes showered
privileges on them. No wonder they grew insolent and aroused
the jealousy and hate of princes and prelates alike. Early in the
fourteenth century, through the combined efforts of the Pope and
the king of France, the order was brought to a terrible end. Its
members were accused of the most abominable practices, such
as the worship of idols and the systematic insulting of Christ and
his religion. Many distinguished Templars were burned for
heresy ; others perished miserably in dungeons.

The Crusades : Heresy and the Mendicant Orders 241

II. THE SECOND AND LATER CRUSADES ; RESULTS

388. The Second Crusade. Fifty years after the preaching of
the First Crusade the fall of Edessa (1144), an important out-
post of the Christians in the East, led to a second expedition.
This was forwarded by the great theologian St. Bernard, who
went about using his
unrivaled eloquence to
induce volunteers to join
the Crusade. The king
of France readily con-
sented to take the cross,
but the emperor, Con-
rad III, appears to have
yielded only after St.
Bernard had preached
before him and given a
vivid picture of the ter-
rors to be revealed on

TOMB OF A CRUSADER

The churches of England, France, and Ger-
many contain numerous figures in stone and
brass of crusading knights, reposing in full
armor with shield and sword on their tombs

the Judgment Day.

St. Bernard himself,

the chief promoter of the expedition, gives a most unflattering
description of the "soldiers of Christ." "In that countless multi-
tude you will find few except the utterly wicked and impious, the
sacrilegious, homicides, and perjurers, whose departure is a double
gain. Europe rejoices to lose them and Palestine to gain them ;
they are useful in both ways, in their absence from here and their
presence there." It is unnecessary to describe the movements and
fate of these crusaders ; suffice it to say that, from a military
standpoint, the so-called Second Crusade was a miserable failure.

389. The Third Crusade. In the year 1187, forty years later,
Jerusalem was recaptured by Saladin, the most heroic and dis-
tinguished of all the Mohammedan rulers of that period. The loss
of the Holy City led to the most famous of all the military expedi-
tions to the Holy Land, in which Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
( 356), Richard the Lion-Hearted of England ( 374), and his

242 General History of Europe

political rival, Philip Augustus of France, all took part. The ac-
counts of this Third Crusade show that while the several Christian
leaders hated one another heartily enough, the Christians and
Mohammedans or Saracens, as they were often called were
coming to respect one another. We find examples of the most
polite relations between the representatives of the opposing reli-
gions. In 1192 Richard concluded a truce with Saladin, by
the terms of which the Christian pilgrims were allowed to visit
the holy places in safety and comfort.

390. The Fourth and Subsequent Crusades. In the thirteenth
century the crusaders began to direct their expeditions toward
Egypt as a center of the Mohammedan power. The first of these
was diverted in an extraordinary manner by the Venetian mer-
chants, who induced the crusaders to conquer Constantinople for
their benefit. The further expeditions, in which Jerusalem was
recaptured for a short time, need not be described, for it was
irrevocably lost in 1244. Although the possibility of recovering
the Holy City was long considered, the Crusades may be said to
have come to an end before the close of the thirteenth century.

391. Settlements of the Italian Merchants. For one class, at
least, the Holy Land had great and permanent charms ; namely,
the Italian merchants, especially those from Genoa, Venice, and
Pisa. It was through their early interest and by means of sup-
plies from their ships that the conquest of the Holy Land had
been rendered possible. The merchants always made sure that
they were well paid for their services. When they aided in the
successful siege of a town they arranged that a definite quarter
should be assigned to them in the captured place, where they
might settle and have their church, market, docks, and all that
was necessary for a permanent center for their commerce.

392. Oriental Luxury introduced into Europe. This new
commerce had a most important influence in bringing the West
into permanent relations with the Orient. Eastern products from
India and elsewhere silks, spices, camphor, musk, pearls, and
ivory were brought by the Mohammedans from the East to the
commercial towns of Palestine and Syria; then, through the

The Crusades: Heresy and the Mendicant Orders 243

Italian merchants, they found their way into France and Ger-
many, suggesting ideas of luxury hitherto scarcely dreamed of
by the still half -barbarous Franks.

393. Effects of the Crusades on Warfare. Moreover, the
Crusades had a great effect upon the methods of warfare, for the
soldiers from the West learned from the Greeks about the old
Roman methods of constructing machines for attacking castles
and walled towns. This led to the construction in western Europe
of stone castles, first with square towers and later with round ones,
the remains of which are so common in Germany, France, and
England. The Crusades also produced heraldry, or the rules for
the use of "coats of arms." These were the badges that single
knights or groups of knights adopted in order to distinguish
themselves from other people.

394. Other Results of the Crusades. Some of the results of
the Crusades upon western Europe must already be obvious, even
from this very brief account. Thousands and thousands of French-
men, Germans, and Englishmen had traveled to the Orient by
land and by sea. Most of them came from hamlets or castles
where they could never have learned much of the great world
beyond the confines of their native village or province. They sud-
denly found themselves in great cities and in the midst of un-
familiar peoples and customs. This could not fail to make them
think and give them new ideas to carry home. The Crusade took
the place of a liberal education. The crusaders came in contact
with those who knew more than they did, above all, the Arabs, 1
and brought back with them new notions of comfort and luxury.

III. THE HERETICS AND THE FRIARS

395. Rise of Heresy. During the period of the Crusades the
Church faced a new danger at home. Leaders began to arise who
attacked its institutions and beliefs and strove to induce men to
join them in their revolt. Those who questioned the teachings of

1 The western Europeans derived many important ideas from the Mohammedans in
Spain, as Arabic numerals, alchemy, algebra, and the use of paper.

244 General History of Europe

the Church and cast off its authority were regarded as guilty of
heresy, which was the supreme crime in the Middle Ages.

It is very difficult for us who live in a time of religious tolera-
tion to understand the universal and deep-rooted horror of heresy
which long prevailed in Europe. But we must recollect that to the
orthodox believer in the Church nothing could exceed the guilt of
one who committed treason against God by rejecting the religion
which had been handed down in the Roman Church from the im-
mediate followers of his Son. Moreover, doubt and unbelief were
not merely sin ; they were revolt against the most powerful social
institution of the time, which continued to be venerated by people
at large throughout western Europe.

396. The Waldensians. Among those who continued to accept
the Christian faith but refused to obey the clefgy the most im-
portant sect was that of the Waldensians, which took its rise
about 1175. These were followers of Peter Waldo of Lyons, who
gave up all their property and lived a life of apostolic poverty.
They went about preaching the gospel and explaining the Scrip-
tures, which they translated from Latin into the language of the
people.

397. The Albigensians. On the other hand, there were popular
leaders who taught that the Christian religion itself was false.
They held that there were two principles in the universe, the
good and the evil, which were forever fighting for the victory.
They asserted that the Jehovah of the Old Testament was really
the evil power, and that it was, therefore, the evil power whom
the Catholic Church worshiped. These heretics were often called
Albigensians, a name derived from the town of Albi in southern
France, where they were very numerous.

398. The Albigensian Crusade (izos). In southern France
there were many adherents of both the Albigensians and the
Waldensians, especially in the county of Toulouse. Against the
people of this flourishing land Pope Innocent III preached a cru-
sade in 1208. An army marched from northern France into the
doomed region and, after a bloody war, suppressed the heresy by
wholesale slaughter. At the same time the war checked the

The Crusades: Heresy and the Mendicant Orders 245

development of a promising civilization and destroyed the peaceful
prosperity of the most enlightened portion of France (see below,
438). "

399. The Inquisition. The most permanent defense of the
Church against heresy was the establishment, under the headship
of the Pope, of a system of courts designed to ferret out secret
cases of unbelief and bring the offenders to punishment. These
courts, which devoted their whole attention to the discovery and
conviction of heretics, were called the Holy Inquisition, which
gradually took form after the Albigensian crusade. Those sus-
pected of heresy were often subjected to long imprisonment or
torture, inflicted with the hope of forcing them to confess their
crime or to implicate others.

Without by any means attempting to defend the methods em-
ployed, it may be remarked that the inquisitors were often earnest
and upright men, and the methods of procedure of the Inquisition
were not more cruel than those used in the other courts of
the period.

If the suspected person confessed his guilt and abjured his
heresy he was forgiven and received back into the Church ; but
a penance was imposed upon him sometimes even imprisonment
for life as a means of wiping away the unspeakable sin of which
he had been guilty. If he persisted in his heresy he was " relaxed
to the secular arm"; that is to say, the Church, whose law for-
bade it to shed blood, handed over the convicted person to the civil
power, which burned him alive without further trial.

400. Founding of the Mendicant Orders. We may now turn
to that far more cheerful and effective method of meeting the
opponents of the Church which may be said to have been dis-
covered by St. Francis of Assisi. His teachings and the example
of his beautiful life probably did far more to secure continued al-
legiance to the Church than all the harsh devices of the Inquisi-
tion. St. Francis and St. Dominic strove to meet the needs of
their time by inventing a new kind of clergyman, the begging
brother, or "mendicant friar" (from the Latin frater, "brother").
He was to do just what the bishops and parish priests often

246 General History of Europe

failed to do ; namely, lead a holy life of self-sacrifice, defend the
Church's beliefs against the attacks of the heretics, and awaken the
people to a new religious life. The founding of the mendicant
orders is one of the most interesting events of the Middle Ages.

401. St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) and his Order. There
is no more lovely and fascinating figure in all history than
St. Francis. He was born (probably in 1182) at Assisi, a little
town in central Italy. He was the son of a well-to-do merchant
and led a gay life during his youth. But after a serious illness at
the age of twenty he lost his love for his former pleasures and
began to consort with beggars, especially lepers. He soon began to
preach in his simple way. Others joined him, and they went bare-
foot and penniless about central Italy trying to arouse interest
in religion.

Pope Innocent III, although at first suspicious of these ragged
brethren, decided to approve the enterprise (1210).

402. Missionary Work of the Franciscans. Seven years later,
when Francis's followers had greatly increased in numbers, mis-
sionary work was begun on a large scale, and brethren were dis-
patched to Germany, Hungary, France, Spain, and even to Syria.
It was not long before an English chronicler was telling with
wonder of the arrival in his country of these barefoot men, in
their patched gowns and with ropes about their waists, who, with
Christian faith, took no thought for the morrow, believing that
their Heavenly Father knew what things they had need of.
Francis never wished his followers to become a rich order, but
people were ready -to found monasteries for them, and after their
founder's death the order tended to degenerate as other monkish
associations had done.

403. The Founding of the Dominican Order. St. Dominic
(b. 1170), the Spanish founder of the other great mendicant
order, was not a simple layman like Francis. He was a church-
man and had had a long course in theology in a university. He
was much afflicted by the prevalence of heresy and decided to
devote his life to combating it. Dominic induced Innocent III
to approve his undertaking and sent forth his followers as Francis

The Crusades: Heresy and the Mendicant Orders 247

had done. By 1221 the Dominican order was thoroughly organ-
ized and had sixty monasteries scattered over western Europe.

The Dominicans were called the "Preaching Friars" and were
carefully trained in theology in order the better to refute the
arguments of the heretics. The Pope delegated to them especially
the task of conducting the Inquisition. They early began to
extend their influence over the universities, and the two most
distinguished theologians and teachers of the thirteenth century,
Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, were Dominicans.

QUESTIONS

I. How did the Holy Land happen to be in the possession of in-
fidels? What circumstances led to the Crusades? What classes of
persons responded to the call ? Describe the character and fate of
Peter the Hermit's army. Give an account of the First Crusade. What
were the military results? What religious orders grew up during this
expedition ?

II. What was the outcome of the later Crusades? What was the
effect of the Crusades on commerce ? on warfare ? on general thought ?

III. What was "heresy"? What were the views of the Waldensians?
Give an account of the Albigensians and the crusade against them.
Describe the Holy Inquisition. What were the mendicant orders ? How
did they differ from the monks with whom we are acquainted? Con-
trast the Franciscans and Dominicans. Give an account of St. Francis.
Can you trace any effects of these orders on the thought of the Middle
Ages?

BOOK V. CIVILIZATION OF THE
MIDDLE AGES

CHAPTER XX

MEDIEVAL LIFE IN COUNTRY AND TOWN
I. THE SERFS AND THE MANOR

404. Unimportance of Town Life in the Early Middle Ages.
There was little town life in western Europe before the twelfth
century. The Roman towns were decreasing in population before
the German inroads. The confusion which followed the invasions
hastened their decline, and a great number of them disappeared
altogether. Those which survived and such new towns as sprang
up were of very little importance during the early Middle Ages.
We may assume, therefore, that during the long period from
Theodoric to the opening of the Crusades by far the greater part
of the population of England, Germany, and northern and central
France were living in the country, on the great estates belonging
to the feudal lords, abbots, and bishops. 1

405. The Vill, or Manor. Obviously the owner of the castle
had to obtain supplies to support his family and servants and
armed men. He could not have done this had he not possessed
extensive tracts of land. A great part of western Europe in the
time of Charlemagne appears, as we have seen, to have been
divided into great estates or plantations.

These medieval estates were called vills, or manors, and closely
resembled the Roman villas which had existed in former centuries.
The peasants who tilled the soil were called villains, a word derived

1 In Italy and southern France town life was doubtless more general.
248

Medieval Life in Country and Town 249

from vill. A portion of the estate was reserved by the lord
for his own use; the rest of the plowed land was divided among
the peasants, usually in long strips, of which each peasant had
several scattered about the manor.

406. Condition of the Serfs. The peasants were generally
serfs, who did not own their fields, but could not, on the other
hand, be deprived of them so long as they worked for the lord
and paid him certain dues. They were bound to the land and
went with it when it changed hands. The serfs were required to
till those fields which the lord reserved for himself and to gather
in his crops. They might not marry without their lord's permis-
sion. Their wives and daughters helped with the indoor work of
the manor house. In the women's buildings the women serfs en-
gaged in spinning, weaving, sewing, baking, and brewing, thus
producing clothes, food, and drink for the whole community.

We get our clearest ideas of the position of the serfs from the
ancient descriptions of manors, which give an exact account of
what each member of a particular community owed to the lord.
For example, we find that the abbot of Peterborough held a manor
upon which Hugh Miller and seventeen other serfs, mentioned by
name, were required to work for him three days in each week
during the whole year, except one week at Christmas, one at
Easter, and one at Whitsuntide. Each serf was to give the lord
abbot one bushel of wheat and eighteen sheaves of oats, three
hens, and one cock yearly, and five eggs at Easter. If he sold his
horse for more than ten shillings, he was to give the said abbot
fourpence.

407. Slight Use of Money. One of the most remarkable
characteristics of the manor was its independence of the rest of
the world. It produced nearly everything that its members
needed and might almost have continued to exist indefinitely
without communication with those who lived beyond its bounds.
Little or no money was necessary, for the peasants paid what was
due to the lord in the form of labor and farm products. They
also gave one another the necessary help and found little occasion
for buying and selling.

250 General History of Europe

There was almost Ho opportunity to better their condition, and
life must have gone on for generation after generation in a weary
routine. Their existence was not merely monotonous, it was
wretched. The food was coarse and there was little variety, as
the peasants did not even take pains to raise fresh vegetables.
The houses usually had but one room, which was poorly lighted
by a single little window and had no chimney.

408. Barter replaced by Money Transactions ; Decline of
Serfdom. The increased use of money in the twelfth and thir-
teenth centuries, which came with the awakening trade and
industry, tended to break up the manor. The habit of trading
one thing for another without the employment of money began to
disappear. As time went on, neither the lord nor the serf was
satisfied with the old system, which had answered well enough
in the time of Charlemagne. The serfs, on the one hand, began
to obtain money by the sale of their products in the markets of
neighboring towns. They soon found it more profitable to pay
the lord a certain sum instead of working for him, for they could
then turn their whole attention to their own farms.

The landlords, on the other hand, found it to their advantage
to accept money in place of the services of their tenants. With
this money the landlord could hire laborers to cultivate his fields
and could buy the luxuries which were brought to his notice as
commerce increased. So it came about that the lords gradually
gave up their control over the peasants. A serf might also gain
his liberty by running away from his manor to a town. If he
remained undiscovered, or was unclaimed by his lord for a year
and a day, he became a freeman. 1

i The slow extinction of serfdom in western Europe appears to have begun as early
as the twelfth century. A very general emancipation had taken place in France by the
end of the thirteenth century (and in England somewhat later), though there were still
some serfs in France when the Revolution came in 1789. Germany was far more back-
wird in this respect. \Ve find the peasants revolting against their hard lot in Luther's
time, and it was not until the nineteenth century that the serfs were freed in Prussia.

Medieval Life in Country and Town
II. THE TOWNS AND GUILDS

409. Importance of Town Life. It is hardly necessary to
point out that the gradual reappearance of town life in western
Europe is of the greatest interest to the student of history. The

A CASTLE WITH A VILLAGE BELOW IT

A village was pretty sure to grow up near the castle of a powerful lord and
might gradually become a large town

cities had been the centers of Greek and Roman civilization, and
in our own time they dominate the life, culture, and business enter-
prise of the world. Were they to disappear, our whole life, even in
the country, would necessarily undergo a profound change and tend
to become primitive again like that of the age of Charlemagne.
410. Origin of the Medieval Towns. A great part of the
medieval towns appear to have originated on the manors of feudal
lords or about a monastery or castle. The French name for towns,

252 General History oj Europe

ville, is derived from "vill," the manor or villa, and we use
this old Roman word when we call a town Jacksonville or Harris-
ville. The need of protection was probably the usual reason for
establishing a town with walls about it, so that the townspeople
and the neighboring country people might find safety within it
when attacked by neighboring feudal lords.

411. Compactness of a Medieval Town. The way in which
a medieval town was built seems to justify this conclusion. It
was generally crowded and compact compared with its more
luxurious Roman predecessors. Aside from the market place there
were few or no open spaces. There were no amphitheaters or
public baths as in the Roman cities. The streets were often mere
alleys, over which the jutting stories of the high houses almost
met. The high, thick wall that surrounded it prevented its
extending easily and rapidly as our cities do nowadays.

412. Townsmen originally Serfs. All towns outside of Italy
were small in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and, like
the manors on which they had grown up, they had little com-
merce as yet with the outside world. They produced almost all
that their inhabitants needed except the farm products which
came from the neighboring country. There was likely to be little
expansion as long as the town remained under the absolute control
of the lord or monastery upon whose land it was situated. The
townspeople were scarcely more than serfs, in spite of the fact
that they lived within a wall and were traders and artisans in-
stead of farmers. They had to pay irritating dues to their lord,
just as if they still formed a farming community.

With the increase of trade (414-418) came the longing for
greater freedom. For when new and attractive commodities began
to be brought from the East and the South, the people of the
towns were encouraged to make things which they could exchange
at some neighboring fair for the products of distant lands. But no
sooner did the townsmen begin to engage in manufacturing and to
enter into relations with the outside world than they became
aware that they were subject to exactions and restrictions which
rendered progress impossible.

STREET IN QUIMPER, FRANCE

None of the streets in even the oldest European towns look just as they did
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but here and there, as in this town of
Brittany, one can still get some idea of the narrow, cramped streets and over-
hanging houses and the beautiful cathedral crowded in among them

Medieval Life in Country and Town 253

Consequently, during the twelfth century there were many in-
surrections of the towns against their lords, and there was a gen-
eral demand that the lords should grant the townsmen charters in
which the rights of both parties should be definitely stated. These
charters were written contracts between the lord and the town
government.

413. The Guilds. The tradesmen in the medieval towns were
at once manufacturers and merchants ; that is, they made, as well
as offered for sale, the articles which they kept in their shops.
Those who belonged to a particular trade the bakers, the butch-
ers, the sword-makers, the armorers, etc. formed unions or guilds
to protect their special interests. The oldest statutes of a guild
in Paris are those of the candle-makers, which go back to 1061.
The number of trades differed greatly in different towns, but the
guilds all had the same object to prevent anyone from prac-
ticing a trade who had not been duly admitted to the union.

A young man had to spend several years in learning his trade.
During this time he lived in the house of a " master workman" as
an "apprentice," but received no remuneration. He then became
a "journeyman" and could earn wages, although he was still
allowed to work only for master workmen and not directly for
the public. A simple trade might be learned in three years, but
to become a goldsmith one must be an apprentice for ten years.
The number of apprentices that a master workman might employ
was strictly limited, in order that the journeymen might not
become too numerous.

The way in which each trade was to be practiced was carefully
regulated, as well as the time that should be spent in work each
day. The system of guilds discouraged enterprise but maintained
uniform standards everywhere. Had it not been for these unions
the defenseless, isolated workmen, serfs as they had formerly
been, would have found it impossible to secure freedom and
municipal independence from the feudal lords who had formerly
been their masters.

254 General History of Europe

III. BUSINESS IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

414. Revival of Business. The chief reason for the growth
of the towns and their increasing prosperity was a great develop-
ment of trade throughout western Europe. Commerce had pretty
much disappeared with the decline of the Roman roads and the
general disorganization produced by the barbarian invasions. In
the early Middle Ages there were no officials whose business it was
to keep up the ancient Roman thoroughfares. The great network
of highways from Persia to Britain fell apart when independent
nobles or small isolated communities took the place of a world
empire. All trade languished, for there was little demand for
articles of luxury and there was but little money to buy what we
should consider the comforts of life ; even the nobility lived uncom-
fortably enough in their dreary and rudely furnished castles.

415. Italian Cities trade with the Orient. In Italy, however,
trade does not seem to have altogether ceased. Venice, Genoa,
Amalfi, and other towns appear to have developed a considerable
Mediterranean commerce even before the Crusades. The Italian
cities established trading stations in the East and carried on a
direct traffic with the caravans which brought to the shores of
the Mediterranean the products of Arabia, Persia, India, and the
Spice Islands.

416. Commerce stimulates Industry. So long as the manor
system prevailed and each man was occupied in producing only
what he and the other people on the estate needed, there was
nothing to send abroad and nothing to exchange for luxuries. But
when merchants began to come with tempting articles, the mem-
bers of a community were encouraged to produce a surplus of
goods above what they themselves needed and to sell or exchange
this surplus for commodities coming from a distance. Merchants
and artisans gradually directed their energies toward the produc-
tion of what others wished as well as what was needed by the
little group to which they belonged.

417. The Luxuries of the East introduced into Europe.
The people of Europe were astonished and delighted by the

COMMERCIAL. TOWNS
AND TRADE ROUTES

of the 13th and 14th Centuries

Land Routes

(Venetian
Genoese 4- ++ +4- **

Same

o 100 200 3oo 400 aoo aoo

Scale of Hilra

"Longitude last

from Greenwich

Medieval Life in Country and Town 255

luxuries of the East the rich fabrics, oriental carpets, precious
stones, perfumes, drugs, silks, and porcelains from China, spices
from India, and cotton from Egypt. Venice introduced the silk
industry from the East and the manufacture of those glass articles
which the traveler may still buy in the Venetian shops. The West
learned how to make silk and velvet as well as light and gauzy
cotton and linen fabrics.

418. Important Commercial Centers. The Northern mer-
chants dealt mainly with Venice and brought their wares across
the Brenner Pass and down the Rhine, or sent them by sea to
be exchanged in Flanders (see map). By the thirteenth century
important centers of trade had come into being, some of which are
still among the great commercial towns of the world. Hamburg,
Lubeck, and Bremen carried on active trade with the countries on
the Baltic and with England. Bruges and Ghent sent their manu-
factures everywhere. English commerce, however, was relatively
unimportant as yet.

419. Obstacles to Business. For various reasons it was very
hard to carry on business on a large scale in the Middle Ages.
In the first place, as has been said, there was little money, and
money greatly encourages buying and selling.

Moreover, it was universally believed that everything had a "just"
price, which was merely enough to cover the cost of the materials
used in its manufacture and to remunerate the maker for the
work he had put into it. It was considered outrageous to ask
more than the just price, no matter how anxious the purchaser
might be to obtain the article.

Every manufacturer was required to keep a shop in which he
offered at retail all that he made. Those who lived near a town
were permitted to sell their products in the market place within the
walls on condition that they sold directly to the consumers. They
might not dispose of their whole stock to one dealer, for fear that if
he had all there was of a commodity he might raise the price above
the just one. These ideas made all wholesale trade very difficult.

420. Payment of Interest on Money Forbidden. Akin to
these prejudices against wholesale business was that against taking

256 General History of Europe

interest. Money was believed to be a dead and sterile thing, and
no one had a right to demand any return for lending it. Interest
was considered wicked, since it was exacted by those who took
advantage of the embarrassments of others. "Usury," as the
taking of even the most moderate and reasonable rate of interest
was then called, was strenuously forbidden by the laws of the
Church. So money-lending, which is necessary to all great com-
mercial and industrial undertakings, was left to the Jews, who
were not required to obey the rules established by the Christian
Church for its own members.

421. The Jews as Money-Lenders. This ill-starred people
played a most important part in the economic development of
Europe, but they were terribly maltreated by the Christians, who
held them guilty of the supreme crime of putting Christ to death.
The active persecution of the Jews did not, however, become com-
mon before the thirteenth century, when they first began to be
required to wear a peculiar cap, or badge, which made them easily
recognized and exposed them to constant insult. Later they were
sometimes required to live in a certain quarter of the city, called
the Jewry or Ghetto. As they were excluded from the guilds, they
not unnaturally turned to the business of money-lending, which no
Christian might practice. Undoubtedly this occupation had much
to do with causing their unpopularity. The kings permitted them
to make loans, often at a most exorbitant rate ; Philip Augustus
allowed them to exact 46 per cent, but reserved the right to extort
their gains from them when the royal treasury was empty. In
England the usual rate was a penny a pound for each week.

422. Tolls and Other Annoyances. Another serious disadvan-
tage which the medieval merchant had to face was the payment of
an infinite number of tolls and duties which were demanded
by the lords through whose domains his road passed. Not only
were duties exacted on the highways, bridges, and at the fords,
but those barons who were so fortunate as to have castles on a
navigable river blocked the stream in such a way that the mer-
chant could not bring his vessel through without a payment for
the privilege.

Medieval Life in Country and Town 257

423. Pirates. Commerce by sea had its own particular trials,
by no means confined to the hazards of wind and wave, rock and
shoal, for pirates were numerous in the North Sea. They were
often organized and sometimes led by men of high rank, who
appear to have regarded the business as no disgrace. The coasts
were dangerous and lighthouses and beacons were few.

424. The Hanseatic League. With a view of reducing these
manifold perils, the towns early began to form unions for mutual
defense. The most famous of these was that of the German cities,
called the Hanseatic League (from hansa, meaning " confederation "
or "union"). Liibeck was always the leader, but among the
seventy towns which at one time and another were included in the
confederation we find Cologne, Brunswick, Danzig, and other
centers of great importance. The union purchased and controlled
settlements in London, the so-called Steelyard near London
Bridge, at Wisby, Bergen, and far-off Novgorod in Russia.
They managed to monopolize nearly the whole trade on the Baltic
and North Seas, either through treaties or the influence that they
were able to bring to bear (see map, p. 254).

The League made war on the pirates and did much to reduce
the dangers of traffic. Instead of dispatching separate and de-
fenseless merchantmen, their ships sailed out in fleets under the
protection of a man-of-war.

425. Trade carried on by Towns, not by Nations. It should
be observed that during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
centuries trade was not carried on between nations but by the
various towns, like Venice, Liibeck, Ghent, Bruges, Cologne. A
merchant did not act or trade as an independent individual but
as a member of a particular merchant guild, and he enjoyed the
protection of his town and of the treaties it arranged.

426. Increasing Importance of Business Men. The increasing
wealth of the merchants could not fail to raise them to a position
of importance which earlier tradesmen had not enjoyed. They
began to build fine houses and to buy the various comforts and
luxuries which were finding their way into western Europe. They
wanted their sons to be educated, and so it came about that other

258 General History of Europe

people besides clergymen began to learn how to read and write.
As early as the fourteenth century many of the books appear
to have been written with a view of meeting the tastes and needs
of the business class.

Representatives of the towns were summoned to the councils
of the kings into the English Parliament and the French Estates
General about the year 1300, for the monarch was obliged to
ask their advice when he needed their money to carry on his
government and his wars. The rise of the business class alongside
the older orders of the clergy and nobility is one of the most
momentous changes of the thirteenth century.

IV. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

427. Medieval Buildings. Almost all the medieval buildings
have disappeared in the ancient towns of Europe. The stone
town walls, no longer adequate in our times, have been removed,
and their place has been taken by broad and handsome avenues.
The old houses have been torn down in order to widen and
straighten the streets and permit the construction of modern dwell-
ings. Here and there one can still find a walled town, but they are
few in number and are merely curiosities.

Of the buildings erected in towns during the Middle Ages only
the churches remain, but these fill the beholder with wonder and
admiration. It seems impossible that the cities of the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, which were neither very large nor very rich,
could possibly find money enough to pay for them. No modern
buildings equal them in beauty and grandeur, and they are the
most striking memorial of the religious spirit and the town pride
of the Middle Ages.

The construction of a cathedral sometimes extended over two
or three centuries, and much of the money for it must have been
gathered penny by penny. It should be remembered that every-
body belonged in those days to the one great Catholic Church, so
that the building of a new church was a matter of interest to the
whole community to men of every rank, from the bishop him-
self to the workman and the peasant.

FACADE OF THE CATHEDRAL AT RHEIMS (THIRTEENTH CENTURY)

ROSE WINDOW OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL, NEARLY FORTY FEET IN
DIAMETER, FROM THE INSIDE

Medieval Life in Country and Town

259

428. The Romanesque Style. Up to the twelfth century
churches were built in what is called the Romanesque, or Roman-
like, style because they resembled the solid old buildings of the
Romans. These Romanesque churches had stone ceilings and it
was necessary to make the walls very thick and solid to support
them. There was a main aisle in the center, called the nave, and

ROMANESQUE CHURCH OF CHATEL-MONTAGNE IN THE DEPARTMENT
OF ALLIER, FRANCE

This is a pure Romanesque building with no alterations in a later style,
such as are common. Heavy as the walls are, they are reenforced by
buttresses along the side. All the arches are round, none of them pointed

a narrower aisle on each side, separated from the nave by mas-
sive stone pillars, which helped to hold up the heavy ceiling.
These pillars were connected by round arches of stone above
them. The tops of the smallish windows were round ; so the
round arches form one of the striking features of the Romanesque
style which distinguish it from the Gothic style that followed
it. The windows had to be small in order that the walls should
not be weakened.

26o

General History oj Europe

CROSS SECTION OF AMIENS
CATHEDRAL

It will be noticed that there is a row
of rather low windows opening under
the roof of the aisle. These constitute
the so-called triforium (E). Above
them is the clerestory (F), the win-
dows of which open between the flying
buttresses. So it came about that the
walls of a Gothic church were in fact
mainly windows. The Egyptians were
the first to invent the clerestory

429. The Gothic Style.
The architects of France in
the twelfth century invented
a new and wonderful method
of constructing churches and
other buildings which en-
abled them to do away with
the heavy walls and put high,
wide, graceful windows in
their place. This new style
of architecture is known as
the Gothic, 1 and its under-
lying principles can readily
be understood from a little
study of the accompanying
diagram, which shows how
a Gothic cathedral is sup-
ported not by heavy walls
but by buttresses.

The architects discovered
in the first place that the
concave stone ceiling, which
is known as the vaulting
(A), could be supported by
ribs (B). These could in turn
be brought together and sup-
ported on top of pillars which
rested on the floor of the
church. So far so good ! But
the builders knew well enough

1 The inappropriate name " Gothic "
was given to the beautiful churches of
the North by Italian architects of the
sixteenth century, who did not like
them and preferred to build in the
style of the ancient Romans. The
Italians, with their "classical" tastes, assumed that only German barbarians whom
they. carelessly and ignorantly called Goths could admire a Gothic cathedral.

Medieval Life in Country and Town

261

that the pillars and ribs would be pushed over by the weight and
outward " thrust" of the stone vaulting if they were not firmly sup-
ported from the outside. Instead of erecting heavy walls to insure
this support they had recourse to buttresses (D), which they built
quite outside the walls of
the church and con-
nected by means of
" flying "buttresses (CC)
with the points where
the pillars and ribs had
the greatest tendency to
push outward. In this
way a vaulted stone ceil-
ing could be supported
without the use of a
massive wall. This in-
genious use of buttresses
instead of walls is the
fundamental principle of
Gothic architecture. It
was discovered for the
first time by the archi-
tects in the medieval
towns and was ap- p LYING BUTTRESSES OF THE CATHEDRAL
parently quite unknown O F NOTRE DAME, PARIS

to earlier builders.

The wall, no longer essential for supporting the ceiling, was
used only to inclose the building, and windows could be made as
high and wide as pleased the architect. By the use of pointed
instead of round arches it was possible to give great variety to
the windows and vaulting. So pointed arches came into general
use, and the Gothic is often called the " pointed" style on this
account, although the use of the ribs and buttresses, not the
pointed arch, is the chief peculiarity of this form of architecture.

430. Church Windows. The light from the huge windows
(those at Beauvais are fifty to fifty-five feet high) would have

262

General History oj Europe

been too intense had it not been softened by the stained glass, set
in exquisite stone tracery. The stained glass of the medieval
cathedral, especially in France, where the glass workers brought
their art to the greatest perfection, was one of its chief glories.

431. Gothic Sculpture. As
the skill of the architects in-
creased they became bolder
and bolder and erected
churches that were marvels of
lightness and delicacy of orna-
ment, without sacrificing dig-
nity or beauty of proportion.
The fagade of Rheims cathe-
dral (see cut facing page 258)
was before its mutilation by
German shells during the
World War one of the most

,. famous examples of the Gothic

Such grotesque figures as these are

very common adornments of Gothic art of the thirteenth century,
buildings. They are often used for

FIGURES ON NOTRE DAME, PARIS

spouts to carry off the rain and are
called gargoyles, that is, "throats"
(compare our words "gargle" and
"gurgle"). The two here represented
are perched on a parapet of one of
the church's towers

with its multitudes of sculp-
tured figures and its gigantic
rose window (see cut facing
page 259), filled with ex-
quisite stained glass of great
brilliancy.

One of the charms of a Gothic building is the profusion of
carving statues of saints and rulers and scenes from the Bible
cut in stone. The same kind of stone was used for both construct-
ing the building and making the statues, so they harmonize per-
fectly. Here and there the Gothic stone carvers would introduce
amusing faces or comical animals (see cut on following page).

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Gothic buildings other
than churches were built. The most striking and important of
these were the guild halls, erected by the rich corporations of
merchants, and the town halls of important cities. But the
Gothic style has always seemed especially appropriate for churches.

INTERIOR OF EXETER CATHEDRAL (EARLY FOURTEENTH CENTURY)

NORTH PORCH OP CHARTRES CATHEDRAL (FOURTEENTH CENTURY)

Medieval Life in Country and Town
QUESTIONS

263

I. What led to the disappearance of town life before the twelfth
century ? Where and how did the most of the people live ? Describe
a medieval manor. What were the services that a serf owed his master ?
How did the use of money hasten the decline of serfdom ?

II. How did the medieval towns grow up? Compare the medieval
town with Greek and Roman cities. What class of people originally
settled in the towns ? What is the origin of the town charter ? De-
scribe the medieval guilds. Have we any instances of this form of
organization today?

III. What led to the development of town life in the later Middle
Ages? Describe the revival and extending of commerce. What were
the more important commercial centers? What were some of the
obstacles to business ? What was the medieval attitude toward taking
interest for money ? What new social class grew up as a result of the
development of business ?

' IV. What are the chief characteristics of the Romanesque style ?
What discoveries made the Gothic style possible ? Describe the decora-
tion of a Gothic cathedral. Can you find any examples of Romanesque
or Gothic art in your neighborhood ?

NOTE. Here and there about a Gothic cathedral the stone carvers were accustomed
to place grotesque and comical figures and faces. During the process of restoring the
cathedral at Rheims a number of these heads were brought together, and the photograph
was taken upon which the illustration is based.

CHAPTER XXI

BOOKS AND SCIENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
I. How THE MODERN LANGUAGES ORIGINATED

432. General Use of Latin in the Middle Ages. We should
leave the Middle Ages with a very imperfect notion of them if we
did not now stop to consider what people were thinking about
during that period, what they had to read, and what they believed
about the world in which they lived.

To begin with, the Middle Ages differed from our own time
in the very general use then made of Latin, both in writing and
speaking. The language of the Roman Empire continued to be
used in the thirteenth century, and long after. The professors in
the universities lectured in Latin, and state papers, treaties, and
legal documents were drawn up in the same language. The ability
of every educated person to make use of Latin, as well as of his
native tongue, was a great advantage at a time when there were
many obstacles to intercourse among the various nations. It helps
to explain, for example, the remarkable way in which the Pope
kept in touch with all the clergymen of Western Christendom,
and the ease with which students, friars, and merchants could
wander from one country to another. There is no more inter-
esting or important revolution than that by which the languages
of the people in the various European countries gradually pushed
aside the ancient tongue and took its place, so that even scholars
scarcely ever think now of writing books in Latin.

In order to understand how it came about that two languages,
the Latin and the native speech, were both commonly used in all
the countries of western Europe all through the Middle Ages, we
must glance at the origin of the modern languages. These all fall
into two quite distinct groups, the Germanic and the Romance.

264

Books and Science in the Middle Ages 265

433. The Germanic Languages. Those German peoples who
had continued to live outside of the Roman Empire naturally
clung to the language they had always used ; namely, the
particular Germanic dialect which their forefathers had spoken
for untold generations. From the various languages used by the
German barbarians modern English, Dutch, German, Swedish,
Norwegian, and Danish are largely derived.

434. The Romance Languages. The second group of lan-
guages developed within the territory which had formed a part
of the Roman Empire, and includes modern French, Italian,
Spanish, and Portuguese. It has now been proved that these
Romance languages were one and all derived from the spoken
Latin, employed by the soldiers, merchants, and people at large.
This differed considerably from the written Latin which was
used, for example, by Cicero and Caesar. It was undoubtedly
much simpler in its grammar and varied a good deal in different
regions ; a Gaul, for instance, could not pronounce the words like
a Roman. Moreover, in conversation people did not always use
the same words as those employed in books.

As time went on, the spoken language diverged farther and
farther from the written. Yet several centuries elapsed after the
German invasions before there was anything written in this
conversational language.

435. Ancient English, or Anglo-Saxon. The oldest form
of English is called Anglo-Saxon and is so different from the lan-
guage which we use that, in order to be read, it must be learned
like a foreign language. This old form of our language prevailed
until after the Norman Conquest ; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
which does not close until 1154, is written in Anglo-Saxon.

Here is an example : "Here on thissum geare Willelm cyng geaf
Rodberde eorle thone eorldom on Northymbraland. Da komon
tha landes menn togeanes him & hine ofslogen, & ix hund manna
mid him." In modern English this reads: "In this year King
William gave the Earl Robert the earldom of Northumberland.
Then came the men of the country against him and slew him, and
nine hundred men with him."

266 General History of Europe

By the middle of the thirteenth century, two hundred years
after the Norman Conquest, English begins to look somewhat
familiar. Chaucer (about 1340-1400) was the first great English
writer whose works are now read with pleasure, although one is
sometimes puzzled by his spelling and by certain words which are
no longer used. This is the way one of his tales opens :

A poure wydow somdel stope in age,
Was whilom dwellyng in a narwe cotage,
Bisyde a grove, stondyng in a dale.

436. French and Provengal. In the Middle Ages, however,
French, not English, was the most important of the national
languages of western Europe. In France a vast literature was
produced in the language of the people during the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries which profoundly affected the books written
in Italy, Spain, Germany, and England.

Two quite different languages had gradually developed in
France from the spoken Latin of the Roman Empire. To the
north French was spoken ; to the south Provengal.

Very little in the ancient French language written before the
year noo has been preserved. The West Franks undoubtedly
began much earlier to sing of their heroes, of the great deeds of
Clovis and Charles the Hammer. These famous rulers were, how-
ever, completely overshadowed by Charlemagne, who became
the unrivaled hero of medieval poetry and romance (326).
It was believed that he had reigned for a hundred and twenty-five
years, and the most marvelous exploits were attributed to him
and his knights. He was supposed, for instance, to have led a
crusade to Jerusalem. Such themes as these more legend than
history were woven into long epics, which were the first written
literature of the Prankish people.

437. Romances of King Arthur and the Knights of the
Round Table. The famous Song of Roland, the chief character
of which was one of Charlemagne's captains, was written before
the First Crusade. In the latter part of the twelfth century the
romances of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table

Books and Science in the Middle Ages 267

begin to appear. These enjoyed great popularity in all western
Europe for centuries, and they are by no means forgotten yet.
Arthur, of whose historical existence no one can be quite sure, was
supposed to have been king of Britain shortly after the Saxons
gained a foothold in the island.

Besides the long and elaborate epics, like Roland, and the
romances in verse and prose, there were numberless short stories
in verse, which usually dealt with the incidents of everyday life,
especially with the comical ones.

II. THE TROUBADOURS AND CHIVALRY

438. The Troubadours. Turning now to southern France, the
beautiful songs of the troubadours, which were the glory of the
Provencal tongue, reveal a gay and polished society at the courts
of the numerous feudal princes. The troubadours traveled from
court to court, not only in France but north into Germany and
south into Italy, carrying with them the southern French poetry
and customs. We have few examples of Provengal before the
year noo, but from that time on, for two centuries, countless
songs were written.

439. Chivalry. For the student of history the chief interest of
the long poems of northern France and the songs of the South
lies in the insight that they give into the ideals of this feudal period.
These are usually summed up in the term chivalry, or knighthood.
The knights play the chief role in all the medieval romances ; and
since many of the troubadours belonged to the knightly class,
they naturally have much to say of it in their songs.

Chivalry was not a formal institution established at any par-
ticular moment. Like feudalism, with which it was closely con-
nected, it had no founder, but appeared spontaneously throughout
western Europe to meet the needs and desires of the period.
When the youth of good family had been carefully trained to
ride his horse, use his sword, and manage his hawk in the hunt, he
was made a knight by a ceremony in which the Church took part,
although the knighthood was actually conferred by an older knight.

268 General History of Europe

440. Ideals of Knighthood. The knight was a Christian sol-
dier, and he and his fellows were supposed to form, in a way, a
separate order, with high ideals of the conduct befitting their
class. Knighthood was not, however, membership in an associa-
tion with officers and a definite constitution. It was an ideal,
half-imaginary society a society to which even those who en-
joyed the title of king or duke were proud to belong. One was
not born a knight as he might be born a duke or count, and could
become one only through the ceremony mentioned above. Al-
though most knights belonged to the nobility, one might be a
noble and still not belong to the knightly order, and, on the other
hand, one who was born of humble parents might be raised to
knighthood on account of some valorous deed.

The knight must, in the first place, be a Christian and must
obey and defend the Church on all occasions. He must respect
all forms of weakness and defend the helpless wherever he might
find them. He must fight the infidel Mohammedans ceaselessly,
pitilessly, and never give way before the enemy. He must be
generous and give freely and ungrudgingly to the needy. He must
be faithful to his lady and be ready to defend her and her honor
at all costs. Everywhere he must be the champion of the right
against injustice and oppression.

441. The German Minnesingers. The Germans also made
their contribution to the literature of chivalry. The German
poets of the thirteenth century are called minnesingers. Like the
troubadours, whom they greatly admired, they usually sang of
love (German, Minne), hence their name.

III. MEDIEVAL LEARNING

442. Medieval Ignorance of History. People unfamiliar with
Latin could learn little of the past, for there were no trans-
lations of the great books of Greece and Rome of Homer,
Plato, Cicero, or Livy. All that they could know of ancient his-
tory was derived from the fantastic romances referred to above,
which sometimes had for their theme the quite preposterous deeds

Books and Science in the Middle Ages 269

ascribed to Alexander the Great, .-Eneas, and Caesar. As for their
own history, the epics relating to the earlier course of events in
France and the rest of Europe were hopelessly confused.

443. Medieval Popular Science. Of what we should call
scientific books, there were practically none. It is true that there
was a kind of encyclopedia in verse which gave a great deal of
misinformation about things in general. Everyone continued to
believe, as the Greeks and Romans had done, in strange animals
like the unicorn, the dragon, and the phoenix, and in still stranger
habits of real animals. The most improbable things were repeated
from generation to generation without its occurring to anyone to
inquire whether there was any truth in them.

From the Roman and early Christian writers, the Middle Ages
got the idea of strange races of men and manlike creatures of
various kinds. We find the following in an encyclopedia of the
thirteenth century: "Satyrs be somewhat like men, and have
crooked noses, and horns in the forehead, and are like to goats in
their feet. . . . There be wonderful creatures that have heads as
hounds, and seem beasts rather than men ; and some be called
Cyclops, and have that name because each of them hath but one
eye, and that in the middle of the forehead ; and some be all head-
less and noseless and their eyes be in the shoulders ; and some
have plain faces without nostrils, and the lower lips of them
stretch so that they veil therewith their faces when they be in
the heat of the sun."

Two old subjects of study were revived and received great
attention in Europe from the thirteenth century onward until
recent times. These were astrology and alchemy.

444. Astrology. Astrology ( 49) was based on the belief that
the planets influence the make-up of men and consequently their
fate. Following an idea of the Greek philosophers, especially
Aristotle, it was believed that all things were compounded of
u the four elements" earth, air, fire, and water. Each person
was a particular mixture of these four elements, and the position
of the planets at the time of his birth was supposed to influence
his mixture or "temperament"; that is to say, his character.

270 General History of Europe

By knowing a person's temperament one could judge what he
ought to do in order to be successful in life, and what he should
avoid. For example, if one were born under the influence of
Venus he should be on his guard against violent love and should
choose for a trade something connected with dress or adornment ;
if he were born under Mars he might make armor or horseshoes
or become a soldier. Many common words are really astrological
terms, such as "ill-starred," "disastrous," "jovial," "saturnine,"
"mercurial" (derived from the names of the planets). Astrology
was taught in the universities because it was supposed to be
necessary for physicians to know how to choose times when the
stars were favorable for particular kinds of medical treatment.

445. Alchemy. The alchemists experimented in their labora-
tories with the hope of finding some way of turning lead and
copper into gold and silver. They also tried to discover a sov-
ereign remedy or elixir, as they called it, which would prolong life.
Even if they did not succeed in their chief aim, they learned a
great deal incidentally, and finally our modern chemistry emerged
from alchemy. Like astrology, alchemy goes back to ancient
times, for the people of the thirteenth century got most of their
ideas through the Mohammedans, who had in turn got theirs from
the Greek books on the subjects.

IV. MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITIES AND STUDIES

446. Origin of the Universities. All European countries now
have excellent schools, colleges, and universities. These had their
beginning in the later Middle Ages. With the incoming of the
barbarian Germans and the break-up of the Roman Empire edu-
cation largely disappeared, and for hundreds of years there was
nothing in western Europe, outside of Italy and Spain, corre-
sponding to our universities and colleges.

But by the end of the twelfth century the teachers had be-
come so numerous in Paris that they formed a union, or guild.
This union of professors was called by the usual name for
corporations in the Middle Ages, universitas ; hence our word

Books and Science in the Middle Ages 271

"university." The king and the Pope both favored the university
and granted the teachers and students many of the privileges
of the clergy, a class to which they were regarded as belonging
because learning had for so many centuries been confined to
the clergy.

About the time that we find the beginnings of a university or
guild of professors at Paris, another great institution of learning
was growing up at Bologna. Here the chief attention was given
not to theology, as at Paris, but to the study .of the law, both
Roman and church law (called the Canon Law, from the Greek
word meaning "rule").

The University of Oxford was founded during the reign of
Henry II, probably by English students and masters who had
become discontented at Paris. The University of Cambridge, as
well as numerous universities in France, Italy, and Spain, were
founded in the thirteenth century. The German universities were
established much later, most of them in the latter half of the
fourteenth century and in the fifteenth.

447. The Academic Degree. When, after some years of study,
a student was examined by the professors, he was, if successful,
admitted to the corporation of teachers and became a master him-
self. What we call a degree today was originally, in the medieval
universities, nothing more than the right to teach ; but in the thir-
teenth century many who did not care to become professors in
our sense of the word began to desire the honorable title of master
or doctor (which is only the Latin word for "teacher").

448. Simple Methods of Instruction. There were no univer-
sity buildings, and in Paris the lectures were given in the Latin
Quarter. There were no laboratories, for there was no experi-
mentation carried on in the universities. All that was required
was a copy of the textbook. This the lecturer explained sentence
by sentence, and the students listened and sometimes took notes.

449. Veneration for Aristotle. The most striking peculiarity
of the instruction in the medieval university was the reverence
paid to Aristotle ( 149). Most of the courses of lectures were
devoted to the explanation of some one of his numerous treatises.

272 General History oj Europe

The teachers of the thirteenth century were so fascinated by his
logic and astonished at his learning, that the great theologians of
the time, Albertus Magnus (d. 1280) and Thomas Aquinas
(d. 1274), devoted much time to preparing elaborate commentaries
upon all his works. He was called "The Philosopher"; and so
fully were scholars convinced that it had pleased God to permit
Aristotle to say the last word upon each and every branch of
knowledge that they humbly accepted him, along with the Bible,
as one of their unquestioned authorities.

450. Scholasticism. The name "scholasticism" is commonly
given to the beliefs and method of discussion of the medieval
professors. To those who later outgrew the fondness for logic
and the supreme respect for Aristotle, scholasticism, with its neg-
lect of Greek and Roman literature, came to seem a dry and
profitless form of education. The scholastic training in logic, if
it did not increase the sum of human knowledge, accustomed the
student to make careful distinctions and present his arguments in
an orderly way.

451. Course of Study. No attention was given in the medieval
universities to the great subject of history, nor was Greek taught.
Latin had to be learned in order to carry on the work at all,
but little time was given to the noble literature of the Romans.
The new modern languages were considered entirely unworthy
of the educated. It must of course be remembered that none of
the books which we consider the great classics in English, French,
Italian, or Spanish had as yet been written.

452. Petrarch tries to learn Greek. Although the medieval
professors paid the greatest respect to the Greek philosopher
Aristotle and made Latin translations of his works the basis of
the college course, very few of them could read any Greek and
none of them knew much about Homer or Plato or the Greek
tragedians and historians. In the fourteenth century Petrarch
(1304-1374) set the example in Italy of carefully collecting all
the writings of the Romans, which he greatly admired. He made
an effort to learn Greek, for he found that Cicero and other

Books and Science in the Middle Ages 273

Roman writers were constantly referring with enthusiasm to the
Greek books to which they owed so much.

453. Chrysoloras begins to teach Greek in Florence (1395).
Petrarch had not the patience or opportunity to master Greek,
but twenty years after his death a learned Greek prelate from
Constantinople, named Chrysoloras, came to Florence and found
pupils eager to learn his language so that they could read the
Greek books. Soon Italian scholars were going to Constantinople
to carry on their studies, just as the Romans in Cicero's time had
gone to Athens. They brought back copies of all the ancient
writers that they could find, and by 1430 Greek books were once
more known in the West, after a thousand years of neglect.

454. The Humanists. In this way western Europe caught up
with ancient times ; scholars could once more know all that the
Greeks and Romans had known and could read in the original
the works of Homer, Sophocles, Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, De-
mosthenes, and other philosophers, historians, orators, and trage-
dians. Those who devoted their lives to a study of the literature
of Greece and Rome were called Humanists. The name is de-
rived from the Latin word humanitas, which means "culture."
In time the colleges gave up the exclusive study of Aristotle and
substituted a study of the Greek and Latin literature, and in this
way what is known as our "classical" course of study originated.

V. BEGINNINGS OF MODERN INVENTIONS

455. Roger Bacon's Attack on Scholasticism. So long, how-
ever, as intellectual men confined themselves to studying the old
books of Greece and Rome they were not likely to advance be-
yond what the Greeks and Romans had known.

Even in the thirteenth century there were a few scholars who
criticized the habit of relying upon Aristotle for all knowledge.
The most distinguished faultfinder was Roger Bacon, an English
Franciscan monk (d. about 1294), who declared that even if Aris-
totle were very wise, he had only planted the tree of knowledge,

274 General History oj Europe

and that this had "not as yet put forth all its branches nor
produced all its fruits." "If we' could continue to live for endless
centuries we mortals could never hope to reach full and complete
knowledge of all the things which are to be known."

456. Bacon foresees Great Inventions. Bacon declared that
if men would only study common things instead of reading the
books of the ancients, science could - outdo the wonders which
magicians of his day claimed to perform. He said that in
time men would be able to fly, would have carriages which needed
no horses to draw them and ships which would move swiftly
without oars, and that bridges could be built without piers to
support them.

All this and much more has come true, but inventors and
modern scientists owe but little to the books of the Greeks and
Romans, which the scholastic philosophers and the Humanists
relied upon. Although the Greek philosophers devoted consider-
able attention to natural science, they were not much inclined to
make long and careful experiments or to invent anything like
the microscope or telescope to help them. Aristotle thought that
the sun and all the stars revolved about the earth and that the
heavenly bodies were perfect and unchangeable. He believed that
heavy bodies fell faster than light ones and that all earthly things
were made of the four elements earth, air, water, and fire. The
Greeks and Romans knew nothing of the compass, or gunpowder,
or the printing press, or the uses to which steam can be put.
Indeed, they had scarcely anything that we should call a machine.

457. Discoveries of the Thirteenth Century. The thirteenth
century witnessed certain absolutely new achievements in the
history of mankind. The compass began to be utilized in a way
to encourage bolder and bolder ventures out upon the ocean. The
lens was discovered, and before the end of the century spectacles
are mentioned. The lens made possible the later telescope,
microscope, spectroscope, and camera, upon which so much of our
modern science depends. The Arabic numerals began to take the
place of the awkward Roman system of using letters. One can-
not well divide XL VIII by VIII, but he can easily divide 48 by 8.

. >

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g- filu

PAGE FROM A COPY OF THE BIBLE MADE IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY
(THE EXACT SIZE OF THE ORIGINAL)

Books and Science in the Middle Ages 275

Roger Bacon knew of the explosive nature of a compound of
sulphur, saltpeter, and charcoal, and a generation after his death
gunpowder began to be used a little for guns and artillery. By
1350 powder works were in existence and French and English
books refer now and then to its use. At least a hundred and fifty
years elapsed, however, before gunpowder really began to supplant
the old ways of fighting with bows and arrows and axes and lances.
By the year 1500 it was becoming clear that the old stone castles
were insufficient protection against cannon. Gunpowder has done
away with armor, bows and arrows, spears and javelins, castles,
and walled towns. It may be that sometime some such fearfully
destructive compound may be discovered that the nations may
decide to give up war altogether as too dangerous and terrible
a thing to resort to under any circumstances.

458. Excellent Work of Medieval Copyists. The invention
of the compass, lens, and gunpowder have greatly changed the
habits of mankind. To these may be added the printing press,
which has so encouraged education that it is becoming rare to find
anyone who cahnot read. The Greeks and Romans and the people
of the Middle Ages knew no other method of obtaining a new copy
of a book than by writing it out laboriously by hand. The pro-
fessional copyists were incredibly dexterous with their quills.
They made letters as clear, small, and almost as regular as if they
had been printed (see cut facing page 274). After the scribe had
finished his work the volume was often turned over to the illumi-
nator, who would put in bright illuminated initials and sometimes
page borders, which were delightful in design and color.

The written books were often both compact and beautiful, but
they were never cheap or easily produced in great numbers. When
Cosimo, the grandfather of Lorenzo the Magnificent, wished to
form a library just before the invention of printing, he applied
to a contractor, who engaged forty-five copyists. By working
hard for nearly two years they were able to produce only two
hundred volumes for the new library.

459. Errors of Copyists. Moreover, it was impossible before
the invention of printing to have two copies of the same work

276 General History of Europe

precisely alike. Even with the greatest care a scribe could not
avoid making some mistakes, and a careless copyist was sure
to make a great many. With the invention of printing it became
possible to produce in a short time a great many copies
of a book which were exactly alike. Consequently, if

_ ma-mbwaiionibufcp faffmmtrrDiftmttua;
flDmufnfonfarrifiriorairnprimmDiarrarartfnsanDi:

abf^Dlla ralami ffararonr fir f tfitjiarue -rr a& lauttm

Jlnno Dnipliefimo mrli?'frir'0if -mmfw Jtogulli,

CLOSING LINES OF THE PSALTER OF 1459. (Mucn REDUCED)

The closing lines (that is, the so-called colophon) of the second edition of
the Psalter, which are here reproduced, are substantially the same as
those of the first edition. They may be translated as follows: "The
present volume of the Psalms, which is adorned with handsome capitals
and is clearly divided by means of rubrics, was produced not by writing
with a pen but by an ingenious invention of printed characters ; and
was completed to the glory of God and the honor of St. James by John
Fust, a citizen of Mayence, and Peter Schoifher of Gernsheim, in the year
of our Lord 1459, on the 2gth of August"

sufficient care was taken to see that the types were properly set,
the whole edition, not simply a single copy, might be relied upon
as correct.

460. Paper introduced into Western Europe. After the supply
of papyrus the paper of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans
was cut off from Europe by the conquest of Egypt by the Moham-
medans the people of the Middle Ages used parchment, made from
the skin of lambs and goats. This was so expensive that printing
would have been of but little use, even if it had been thought of,
until paper invented by the Chinese was introduced into
Europe by the Mohammedans. Paper began to become common

PAGE FROM A BOOK OF HOURS, FIFTEENTH CENTURY
(ORIGINAL SIZE)

Books and Science in the Middle Ages

277

in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and was already re-
placing parchment before the invention of printing.

461. The Earliest Printed Books. The earliest book of any
considerable size to be printed was the Bible, which appears to
have been completed at Mayence in the year 1456. A year later
the famous Mayence Psalter
was finished, the first dated
book. There are, however,
earlier examples of little books
printed with engraved blocks
and even with movable types.
In the German towns, where
the art spread rapidly, the
printers adhered to the style
of letters which the scribe had
found it convenient to make
with his quill the so-called
Gothic, or black letter. In
Italy, however, where the first
printing press was set up in
1466,3, type was soon adopted

which resembled the letters AN OLD-FASHIONED PRINTING

OFFICE

Until the nineteenth century printing
was carried on with very little machin-
ery. The type was hiked by hand,
then the paper laid on and the form
slipped under a wooden press oper-
ated by hand by means of a lever

used in ancient Roman in-
scriptions. This was quite
similar to the style of letter
commonly used today.

462. Rapid Spread of Print-
ing. By the year 1500, after
printing had been used less than half a century, there appear to
have been at least forty printing presses to be found in various
towns of Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and England.
These presses had, it is estimated, already printed eight millions
of volumes. So there was no longer any danger of the old books'
being lost again, and the encouragement to write and publish
new books was greatly increased. From that date our sources for
history become far more voluminous than those which exist for

278 General History of Europe

the previous history of the world ; we are much better informed
in regard to events and conditions since 1500 than we ever can be
respecting those of the earlier periods.

QUESTIONS

I. Why was Latin used by the educated class in the Middle Ages?
What is the origin of the Germanic languages ? of the Romance lan-
guages ? How did the written and spoken languages come to differ ?
What is the origin of dialects? Can you give any instances in the
Romance languages ? When does English appear sufficiently modern
for us to read it easily?

II. Who were the troubadours ? What were some of the ideals of
this period expressed in their songs? Describe the medieval knight.

III. Why did the people of the Middle Ages know little of the past ?
Of what did their science consist ? What was the importance of astrol-
ogy? Define alchemy. To what modern subject is it related?

IV. What is the original meaning of the word "university." Give
the names of some of the early universities. What is the origin of the
academic degrees ? What subjects were studied in the medieval uni-
versities? Why was Aristotle regarded with such veneration? What
is scholasticism? How was the study of Greek revived in Europe?
Who were the Humanists ?

V. Why did Roger Bacon criticize the study of Aristotle ? What did
he propose should take its place ? Mention some important discov-
eries made in the thirteenth century with which you are familiar today.
How were books made before the invention of printing? What are
the disadvantages of a book written by hand? What is the earliest
large printed book? What are the chief effects of the introduction
of printing?

CHAPTER XXII

ENGLAND AND FRANCE DURING THE HUNDRED
YEARS' WAR

I. WALES AND SCOTLAND

463. Extent of the King of England's Realms before Ed-
ward I (1272-1307). The English kings who preceded Edward I
had ruled over only a portion of the island of Great Britain. To
the west of their kingdom lay the mountainous district of Wales,
inhabited by that remnant of the original Britons which the
Angles and Saxons had been unable to conquer (321). To the
north of England was the kingdom of Scotland, which was quite
independent, except for an occasional recognition by the Scotch
kings of the English rulers as their feudal superiors. Edward I,
however, succeeded in conquering Wales permanently and spent
much time in attempting to add Scotland to his possessions.

464. Edward I conquers Wales. For centuries a border
warfare had been carried on between the English and the Welsh.
When Edward I came to the throne he demanded that Llewellyn,
Prince of Wales (as the head of the Welsh clans was called),
should do him homage. Llewellyn, who was a man of ability and
energy, refused the king's summons, and Edward marched into
Wales. Two campaigns were necessary before the Welsh finally
succumbed. Llewellyn was killed (1282), and wjth him expired
the independence of the Welsh people.

Edward introduced English laws and customs into Wales, but
was so conciliatory in his policy that the rule of the English was
accepted with no great opposition. He gave his son the title of
"Prince of Wales," which the heir to the English throne still

retains.

279

280 General History oj Europe

465. Scotland and Edward I's Attempt to conquer it. The
conquest of Scotland proved a far more difficult matter than that
of Wales. When the Angles and Saxons conquered Britain some
of them wandered north as far as the Firth of Forth and occupied
the so-called "Lowlands" of Scotland. The mountainous region
to the north, known as the " Highlands/' continued to be held by
wild tribes related to the Welsh and Irish and talking a language
similar to theirs, namely, Gaelic. There was constant warfare
between the older inhabitants themselves, and between them and
the newcomers from Germany, but both Highlands and Lowlands
were finally united under a line of Scotch kings, who moved their
residence down to Edinburgh, which, with its fortress, became
their chief town.

It was natural that the language of the Scotch Lowlands should
be English, but in the mountains the Highlanders to this day
continue to talk the ancient Gaelic of their forefathers.

When the old line of Scotch monarchs died out in 1290, Edward
was invited to decide who should be the next ruler. He did so on
condition that the new king should hold Scotland as a fief from
the English king. But Edward's demands roused the anger of
the Scotch, and they declared themselves independent. The
English monarch regarded this as a rebellion, and he made various
attempts to incorporate Scotland with England by force, in the
same way that he had treated Wales.

Scotland was able to maintain her independence largely through
the skill of Robert Bruce, a national hero who united the people
under his leadership. Edward I died, old and worn out, in 1307
and left the task of dealing with the Scotch to his incompetent
son, Edward II. The Scotch made Bruce their king and defeated
Edward II in the great battle of Bannockburn. (1314), the most
famous conflict in Scottish history. While England was forced to
recognize the independence of Scotland, intermittent war between
the two countries continued for nearly three hundred years after
the battle of Bannockburn. Finally, a Scotch king ascended the
English throne as James I, in 1603, and a hundred years later the
countries were at last united as they are today.

England and France during the Hundred Years' War 281

The little Scotch nation differs in habits and character from
the English, and no Scotchman likes to be mistaken for an
Englishman. The peculiarities of the language and the character-
istic habits of the people north of the river Tweed, which is the
boundary line, have been made familiar to readers of Walter Scott,
Robert Burns, and Robert Louis Stevenson.

II. BEGINNINGS OF THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT

466. Origin of the English Parliament. One of the most
important things to be noted in the period of the Edwards (1272-
1377) was the rise of the English Parliament, which was long
after to become the model for similar assemblies in all parts of
the civilized world.

The Great Council of the Norman kings, like the older Wite-
nagemot of Saxon times (369), was a meeting of nobles, bishops,
and abbots, which the king summoned from time to time to give
him advice and aid and to sanction serious undertakings. During
the reign of Edward I's father a famous Parliament was held
where a most important new class of members the com-
mons were present. These were destined to give it its future
greatness because they represented the interests and wishes of the
great mass of influential people. In addition to the nobles and
prelates, two country gentlemen (knights) were summoned from
each county and two citizens from each of the more flourishing
towns to attend and take part in the discussions.

Edward I definitely adopted this innovation. He doubtless
called in the representatives of the towns because the townspeople
were becoming rich and he wished to have an opportunity to ask
them to make grants of money to meet the expenses of the govern-
ment. He also wished to obtain the approval of all the important
classes when he determined upon important measures affecting
the whole realm. Ever since the so-called " Model Parliament"
of 1295 the commons, or representatives of the "freemen," have
always been included along with the clergy and nobility when
the national assembly of England has been summoned.

282 General History of Europe

467. Growth of the Powers of Parliament. The Parliament
early took the stand that the king must agree to "redress of
grievances" before it would grant him any money. This meant
that the king had to promise to remedy any acts of himself or his
officials of which Parliament complained before it would agree
to let him raise the taxes. Instead of following the king about and
meeting wherever he might happen to be, the Parliament from the
time of Edward I began to hold its sessions in the city of West-
minster, now a part of London, where it still continues to meet.

Under Edward's successor, Edward II, Parliament solemnly
declared (in 1322) that important matters relating to the king
and his heirs, the state of the realm and of the people, should be
considered and determined upon by the king "with the assent of
the prelates, earls and barons, and the commonalty [that is, com-
mons] of the realm." Five years later, Parliament showed its
power by deposing the inefficient king, Edward II, and declaring
his son, Edward III, the rightful ruler of England.

The new king, who was carrying on an expensive war with
France, needed much money and consequently summoned Par-
liament every year, and, in order to encourage its members to
grant him money, he gratified Parliament by asking its advice
and listening to its petitions. He passed no new law without
adding "by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual
and temporal and of the commons."

468. House of Lords and House of Commons. At this time
the separation of the two houses of Parliament took place, and
ever since the "lords spiritual and temporal" that is, the bishops
and higher nobles have sat by themselves in the House of
Lords ; and the members of the House of Commons, including the
country gentlemen (knights) and the representatives elected by
the more important towns, have met by themselves. Parliament
thus made up is really a modern, not a medieval, institution, and
we shall hear much of it later.

England and France during the Hundred Years' War 283

III. THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR

469. Edward III claims the French Crown. There had been,
as we have seen, a long struggle between the French and English
kings in the times of the Plantagenets, which had resulted in the
English kings' losing all their French territory except the duchy
of Guienne (375). This arrangement lasted for many years,
but, in the time of Edward III, the old line of French kings died
out and Edward declared himself the rightful ruler of France
because his mother was a sister of the last king of the old line.
This led to a long series of conflicts known as the Hundred
Years' War.

470. Battle of Cressy. The French set up a king of their own,
and in 1346 Edward landed in Normandy with an English army,
devastated the country, and marched up the Seine toward Paris.
He met the troops of the French king at Cressy, where a cele-
brated battle was fought, in which the English with their long
bows and well-directed arrows put to rout the French knights.
Ten years later the English made another incursion into France
and again defeated the French cavalry. The French king (John II)
was himself captured and carried off to London.

471. Edward III finds it Impossible to conquer France.
Edward III found it impossible, however, to conquer France,
and Charles V, the successor of the French king John II, managed
before Edward died in 1377 to get back almost all the lands that
the English had occupied.

For a generation after the death of Edward III the war with
France was almost discontinued. France had suffered a great
deal more than England. All the fighting had been done on her
side of the Channel, and in the second place, the soldiers, who
found themselves without occupation, wandered about in bands
maltreating and plundering the people.

472. The Bubonic Plague of 1348-1349 (the "Black
Death"). The horrors of war had been increased by the deadly
bubonic plague, which appeared in Europe early in 1348. In
April it had reached Florence; by August it was devastating

284 General History of Europe

France and Germany ; it then spread over England, attacking
every part of the country during the year 1349. This disease, like
other terrible epidemics, such as smallpox and cholera, came from
Asia. Those who were stricken with it usually died in two or
three days. It is supposed that about half the population of
England was carried off by the "Black Death."

473. The Peasant Revolt of 1381. In England there was
growing discontent among the farming classes. Up to this time
the majority of those who cultivated the land were serfs, or vil-
lains, who belonged to some particular manor, paid dues to their
lord, and worked for him ( 404-407). Hitherto there had been
new farm hands who could be hired. The Black Death, by greatly
decreasing the number of laborers, raised the wages of those who
survived and created a great demand for them. The serfs now
began to think the dues and work demanded of them by their lords
very unjust. In 1381, not long after the death of Edward III, the
peasants rose in revolt against their lot and the heavy taxes levied
to carry on the unpopular French wars. They burned some of the
manor houses belonging to the nobility and the rich bishops and
abbots and so destroyed the registers in which their obligations
were recorded.

474. Disappearance of Serfdom in England. Although the
peasants met with little success, serfdom rapidly disappeared in
England. It became more and more common for the former
serf to pay his dues in money instead of work. The landlord
then either hired men to cultivate his fields or rented them to
tenants. Sixty or seventy years after the Peasant Revolt the
English farming population had in one way or another become
free men and the serfs had practically disappeared.

475. John Wycliffe. Among those accused of encouraging the
Peasant Revolt was John Wycliffe, a teacher of Oxford. He
sought to reform the Church and organized a group of "simple
priests" to preach to the people. He translated the Bible from
Latin into English so that it might be more commonly read. He
found himself opposed by the Pope and the churchmen, and finally
went so far as to deny that the Pope was the rightful head of the

England and France during the Hundred Years' War 285

Church. He was a forerunner of the Protestants, who appeared
a hundred and fifty years after his time.

476. Renewal of the Hundred Years' War (1415). The war
between England and France almost ceased for about forty years
after the death of Edward III. It was renewed in 1415, and the
English king, Henry V, won another great victory at Agincourt,
similar to that won at Cressy. Once more the English bowmen
slaughtered great numbers of French knights. Fifteen years later
the English had succeeded in conquering all of France north of the
Loire River, but a considerable region to the south still continued
to be held by King Charles VII of France. He was weak and in-
dolent and was doing nothing to check the English victories.

477. Joan of Arc. Help came to the French from a most un-
expected quarter. A peasant girl, Joan of Arc, heard voices and
saw visions which led her to put on a soldier's armor, mount a
horse, and go to the assistance of the great town of Orleans, which
was being besieged by the English. She was accepted as a God-
sent champion, and the English were routed. The "Maid of
Orleans," as she came to be called, felt that her mission was
fulfilled after the king had been crowned at Rheims in 1429.
But the king would not let her go, and she continued to fight his
battles with success. But the soldiers hated to be led by a woman,
and she was soon surrendered by her enemies to the English. They
declared that she was a witch, who had won her victories with the
help of the devil. She was tried by a court of clergymen, found
guilty, and cruelly burned alive in Rouen in 1431.

478. England loses her French Possessions. Joan of Arc
died bravely. Her example had given new courage to the dispir-
ited French. Moreover, the English Parliament became reluctant
to grant funds for a war that was going against them. From this
time on England lost ground rapidly. Her troops were expelled
from Normandy in 1450, and three years later southern France
passed into the hands of the French king. The Hundred Years'
War was over, and the great question which had existed since the
Norman Conquest, whether English kings could succeed in ex-
tending their sway across the English Channel, was finally settled.

286 General History of Europe

IV. ENGLAND AND FRANCE AFTER THE HUNDRED
YEARS' WAR

479. The Wars of the Roses (HSS-HSS). The close of the
Hundred Years' War was followed in England by the Wars of
the Roses, between the rival families Lancaster and York (both
descended from Edward III), which were struggling for the
crown. The badge of the house of Lancaster was a red rose, and
that of York was a white one. Each party was supported by a
group of wealthy and powerful nobles whose conspiracies, treasons,
murders, and executions fill the annals of England during this
disturbed period of her history.

480 . Henry VII and the Power of the Tudor Kings. The
Wars of the Roses were brought to an end when Henry VII, a
descendant of Edward III on his mother's side, came to the
throne in 1485. He was the first of the house of Tudor, from
which he and his successors get their name, Tudors. A great
part of the nobility, whom the kings had formerly feared, had
perished in war or been executed by their enemies. This left
the monarch far more powerful than ever before. He managed
to control Parliament, and for a century or more after Henry VI I 's
accession the Tudor kings exercised an almost despotic power.
England ceased for a time to enjoy the free government for
which the foundations had been laid under the Edwards.

481. The French Estates General. The French had organized
a parliament, called the Estates General, about the time that the
English Parliament was growing up. It contained representatives
of the towns as well as those of the clergy and nobility. It met
from time to time during the Hundred Years' War, but was never
able to force the king to admit that he had no right to levy
taxes without consulting the Estates General.

482. France establishes a Standing Army (1349). In France
the closing years of the Hundred Years' War witnessed a great
increase of the king's power through the establishment of a well-
organized standing army. The feudal army had long since dis-'
appeared. Even before the opening of the war the nobles had

England and France during the Hundred Years' War 287

begun to be paid for their military services and no longer fur-
nished troops as a condition of holding fiefs. But the companies
of soldiers found their pay very uncertain and plundered their
countrymen as well as the enemy.

The Estates agreed in 1439 tnat the king should use a certain
tax, called the taille, to support the troops necessary for the pro-
tection of the frontier. This was a fatal concession, for the king
now had an army and the right to collect what he chose to con-
sider a permanent tax, the amount of which he later greatly in-
creased ; he was not dependent, as was the English king, upon the
grants made for brief periods by the representatives of the nation
assembled in Parliament.

483. How Louis XI strengthened the King's Power in
France. Before the king of France could establish a compact,
well-organized state it was necessary for him to reduce the power
of the nobles. They had already been forbidden to coin money,
maintain armies of their own, or tax their subjects, but some of
them still were in a position to threaten the king at the close of the
Hundred Years' War. The task of further reducing their power fell
to Louis XI (1461-1483), a shrewd but unscrupulous monarch.
Some of his vassals, especially the dukes of Burgundy, gave him
a great deal of trouble. While the English nobles were killing
one another in the Wars of the Roses, Louis managed to get a
number of hitherto half -independent provinces of France such as
Anjou, Maine, Provence, etc. under his immediate control. He
humiliated in various ways the vassals who had ventured in his
early days to combine against him. Louis was an efficient mon-
arch in building up a strong government, but it sometimes seemed
as if he gloried in being the most rascally among rascals and the
most treacherous among traitors.

484. England and France establish Strong National Govern-
ments. Both England and France emerged from the troubles
and desolations of the Hundred Years' War stronger than ever
before. In both countries the kings had overcome the old menace
of feudalism by destroying the influence of the great families.
The king's government was becoming constantly more powerful.

288 General History of Europe

Commerce and industry increased the people's wealth and sup-
plied the monarchs with the revenue necessary to maintain govern-
ment officials and a sufficient army to keep order throughout
their realms. They were no longer forced to rely upon the uncer-
tain fidelity of their vassals. In short, England and France were
both becoming modern states.

QUESTIONS

I. How did Wales come under the English kings? Describe the
struggle of Edward I to gain Scotland. What are the Highlands and the
Lowlands of Scotland?

II. Give an account of the beginnings of the English Parliament.
When were the commons first invited to attend ? Give an account of
the growth of the powers of Parliament. How is Parliament con-
stituted ? Do you know the relative importance of the role of the
House of Lords and the House of Commons today ?

III. What was the reason for, and the general course of, the
Hundred Years' War? What was the "Black Death"? What condi-
tions led to the Peasant Revolt? Who was John Wycliffe? How was
the Hundred Years' War brought to a close ?

IV. What were the results of the Wars of the Roses? Why did
the Estates General fail to become as powerful as the English Parlia-
ment ? How did England and France begin to establish strong national
governments ?

CHAPTER XXIII

ITALY AND THE RENAISSANCE

I. THE ITALIAN CITIES DURING THE RENAISSANCE

485. The Flourishing of the Italian Cities ; the Renaissance.
We have already seen how town life developed in northern
Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Chapter XX,
above). In the following two centuries, while England and France
were engaged in the weary Hundred Years' War, the Italian
cities reached a degree of prosperity and refinement in buildings
and art unknown north of the Alps.

Within their walls the Humanists revived the lost knowledge
of Greece and Rome (454); learning, painting, sculpture, and
architecture made such extraordinary progress that a special name
is often given to the period when they flourished the Renais-
sance? or new birth. The Italian towns, like those of ancient
Greece, were each a little state with its own peculiar life and
institutions. Some of them, like Rome, Milan, and Pisa, had been
important in Roman times ; others, like Venice, Florence, and
Genoa, did not become conspicuous until the time of the Crusades.

The map of Italy at the beginning of the fourteenth century
was divided into three zones. To the south lay the kingdom of
Naples. Then came the states of the Church, extending diago-
nally across the peninsula. To the north and west lay the group
of city-states to which we now turn our attention.

486. Venice and its Relations with the East. Of these city-
states none was more celebrated than Venice, which in the history
of Europe ranks in importance with Paris and London. This
singular town was built upon a group of sandy islets lying in the

iThis word, although originally French, has come into such common use that it is
quite permissible to pronounce it as if it were English, re-na'sens.

28Q

290

General History of Europe

Adriatic Sea, about two miles from the mainland. It was pro-
tected from the waves by a long, narrow sand bar similar to those
which fringe the Atlantic coast from New Jersey southward.
Even before the Crusades Venice had begun to engage in foreign
trade. Its enterprises carried it eastward, and it early acquired

A SCENE IN VENICE

Boats, called gondolas, are used instead of carriages in Venice; one can reach

any point in the city by some one of the numerous canals, which take the

place of streets. There are also narrow lanes along the canals, crossing them

here and there by bridges, so one can wander about the town on foot

possessions across the Adriatic and in the Orient. It also ex-
tended its sway over a considerable part of the Italian mainland
to the west of the city.

487. Height and Decline of Venice's Power. About the
year 1400 Venice reached the height of its prosperity. It had a
population of two hundred thousand, which was very large for
those days. It had three hundred seagoing vessels, which went to
and fro in the Mediterranean, carrying wares between the East
and the West. It had a war fleet of forty-five galleys, manned

S3
W

Italy and the Renaissance 291

by eleven thousand marines ready to fight the battles of the
republic. But when Constantinople fell into the hands of the
Tqrks (1453), and when, later, the route to India by sea was
discovered (498, 499), Venice could not maintain control of
the trade with the East, and while it remained an important city,
it no longer enjoyed its former influence and power.

Venice often came to blows with other rival cities, especially
Genoa, but at home its citizens lived peaceably under the govern-
ment of its Senate, its Council of Ten, and its duke, or Doge.
Venice was a sort of republic managed by a group of merchant
nobles.

488. Role of the Italian Despots. Not only were the other
Italian towns fighting one another most of the time but their
government was often in the hands of despots, something like
the old Greek tyrants ( 96), who got control of towns and man-
aged them in the interest of themselves, their relatives, and their
friends. There are many stories of the incredible ferocity exhib-
ited by the Italian despots of the Renaissance. It must be
remembered that they were rarely legitimate rulers, but usurpers,
who could hope to retain their power only so long as they could
keep their subjects under their control and defend themselves
against the attacks of equally illegitimate usurpers in the neigh-
boring cities. This situation developed a high degree of sagacity,
and many of the despots found it to their interest to govern
well, and even to give dignity to their rule by encouraging artists
and men of letters.

489. Florence. The history of Florence differs in many ways
from that of Venice and the despotisms of which Milan was
an example. Florence was a republic, and all classes claimed the
right to interest themselves in the government. This led to con-
stant changes in the constitution and frequent struggles between
the different political parties. When one party got the upper
hand it generally expelled its chief opponents from the city. Exile
was a terrible punishment to a Florentine, for Florence was not
merely his native city it was his country, and loved and hon-
ored as such.

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General History of Europe

490. The Medici; Lo-
renzo the Magnificent. By
the middle of the fifteenth
century Florence had come
under the control of the great
family of the Medici, whose
members played the role of
very enlightened political
bosses. By quietly watching
the elections and secretly
controlling the choice of city
officials they governed with-
out letting it be suspected
that the people had lost
their power. The most distin-
guished member of the house
of Medici was Lorenzo the
Magnificent (d. 1492 ) ; under
his rule Florence reached the
height of its glory in art and
literature.

As one wanders about Flor-
ence today he is impressed
with the contradictions of
the Renaissance period. The
streets are lined with the
palaces of the noble families
to whose rivalries much of
the continual disturbance
was due. The lower stories
of these buildings are con-
structed of great stones, like
fortresses, and their windows
are barred like those of a
prison ; yet within they were often furnished with the greatest
taste and luxury. For in spite of the disorder, against which the

CATHEDRAL AND BELL TOWER AT
FLORENCE

The church was begun in 1296 and
completed in 1436. The great dome
built by the architect Brunelleschi has
made his name famous. It is three
hundred feet high. The facade is mod-
ern but after an old design. The bell
tower, or campanile, was begun by the
celebrated painter Giotto about 1335
and completed about fifty years later.
It is richly adorned with sculpture and
colored marbles and is considered the
finest structure of the kind in the world

Italy and the Renaissance

293

rich protected themselves by making their houses half strongholds,
the beautiful churches, noble public buildings, and the works of
art which now fill the Florentine museums indicate that mankind
has never, perhaps, reached a higher degree of taste and skill

ST. PETER'S AND THE VATICAN PALACE

This is the largest church in the world. It is about seven hundred feet
long, including the portico, and four hundred and thirty-five feet high from
the pavement to the cross on the dome. The reconstruction was begun as
early as 1450, but it proceeded very slowly. Several great architects, Bra-
mante, Raphael, Michael Angelo, and others were intrusted with the work.
After many changes of plan the new church was finally in condition to
consecrate in 1626. It is estimated that it cost over $50,000,000. The
construction of the vast palace of the popes, which one sees to the right of
the church, was carried on during the same period. It is said to have no
less than eleven thousand rooms. Some of them are used for museums, and
others are celebrated for the frescoes which adorn their walls, by Raphael,
Michael Angelo, and others of Italy's greatest artists

in the arts of peace than did the citizens of Florence under the
rule of the despots and amid the turmoil of their restless town.
491. Rome, the Capital of the Popes. During the period in
which Venice and Florence became leaders in wealth and refine-
ment Rome, the capital of the popes, underwent a great change.
The popes had resided in France, at Avignon ( 363), during

294 General History of Europe

the greater part of the fourteenth century, and then there had
followed for forty years a struggle between rival lines of popes
at Avignon and at Rome. Conditions were accordingly highly
unfavorable for improving the city. But later, in the time of
Lorenzo the Magnificent, it became possible for the popes to turn
their attention to reviving the ancient glory of Rome. Architects
and painters and men of letters were called in and encouraged
by the popes to erect and adorn magnificent buildings and to
collect a great and still famous library in the Vatican Palace.

492. St. Peter's and the Vatican. The old church of St. Peter
no longer satisfied the aspirations of the popes. It was gradually
torn down, and the present church, with its vast dome and im-
posing approach, took its place. The old palace of the Lateran,
where the government of the popes had been carried on for a
thousand years, had been deserted after the return from Avignon,
and the new palace of the Vatican was gradually constructed to
the right of St. Peter's. It has innumerable rooms, great and
small, some of them, such as the famous Sistine Chapel, adorned
by the most celebrated Italian painters of the Renaissance ;
others are filled with ancient statuary.

As one visits Venice, Florence, and Rome today he may still
see, almost perfectly preserved, many of the finest of the build-
ings, paintings, and monuments which belong to the period we
have been discussing.

II. THE ART OF THE RENAISSANCE

493. Development of Art in Italy. We have already de-
scribed briefly the work of the medieval architects and referred
to the striking carvings that adorned the Gothic cathedrals and
to the pictures of saints and angels in stained glass which filled
the great church windows. But in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries art developed in a most astonishing manner in Italy and
set new standards for all of western Europe.

Florence was the great center of artistic activity during the
fifteenth century. The greatest sculptors and almost all of the

GHIBERTI'S DOORS AT FLORENCE

HOLY FAMILY. (BY ANDREA DEL SARTO)

Italy and the Renaissance 295

most famous painters and architects of the time either were
natives of Florence or did their best work in that city. 1

With the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent (1492), who was a
devoted patron of all the arts, the preeminence of Florence as an
art center passed to Rome, which was fast becoming, as we have
seen, one of the great capitals of Europe.

494. Height of Renaissance Art Da Vinci, Michael An-
gelo, Raphael. During the sixteenth century the art of the
Renaissance reached its highest development. Among all the
great artists of this period three stand out prominently Leo-
nardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, and Raphael. The first two not
only practiced but achieved distinction in the three arts of archi-
tecture, sculpture, and painting. It is impossible to give in a
few lines any idea of the beauty and significance of the work of
these great geniuses. Both Raphael and Michael Angelo left be-
hind them so many magnificent frescoes and paintings, and in
the case of Michael Angelo statues as well, that it is easy to ap-
preciate their importance. Leonardo, on the other hand, left but
little completed work. His influence on the art of his time, which
was probably greater than that of either of the. others, came from
his versatility, originality, and application of new methods.

While Florence could no longer boast of being the art center
of Italy, it still produced great artists, among whom Andrea del
Sarto may be especially mentioned. But the most important
center of artistic activity outside of Rome in the sixteenth century
was Venice. The distinguishing characteristic of the Venetian
pictures is their glowing color. This is strikingly exemplified in
the paintings of Titian, the most famous of all the Venetian
painters.

495. Painting in Northern Europe. It was natural that art-
ists from the northern countries should be attracted by the
renown of the Italian masters and, after learning all that Italy
could teach them, should return home to practice their art in

1 Opposite the cathedral at Florence stands the ancient baptistery. Its northern
bronze doors, with ten scenes from the Bible, surrounded by a very lovely border of
foliage, birds, and animals, were completed by Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1452, after many
years of labor. Michael Angelo declared them worthy to be the gates of heaven.

296 General History of Europe

their own particular fashion. About a century after painting be-
gan to develop in Italy two Flemish brothers, Van Eyck by name,
not only showed that they were able to paint quite as excellent
pictures as the Italians of their day but also discovered a
new way of mixing their colors superior to that employed in Italy.
Later, when painting had reached its height in Italy, Albrecht
Durer and Hans Holbein the Younger in Germany vied with even
Raphael and Michael Angelo in the mastery of their art.

III. EARLY GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES

496. Medieval Commerce on a Small Scale. The business
and commerce of the medieval towns even of the Italian cities,
such as Venice and Genoa was on what would seem to us a
rather small scale. There were no great factories, like those which
have grown up in recent times since the introduction of steam and
machinery, and the ships which sailed the Mediterranean and the
North Sea held only a very light cargo compared with modern
merchant vessels. The gradual growth of a world commerce began
with the sea voyages of the fifteenth century. These led to the
exploration by Europeans of the whole globe, most of which was
entirely unknown to the Venetian merchants and those who car-
ried on the trade of the Hanseatic League. The Greeks and
Romans knew little about the world beyond southern Europe,
northern Africa, and western Asia, and much that they knew
was forgotten during the Middle Ages. The Crusades took many
Europeans as far east as Egypt and Syria.

497. Marco Polo. About 1260 two Venetian merchants, the
Polo brothers, visited China and were kindly received at Peking
by the emperor of the Mongols. On a second journey they were
accompanied by Marco Polo, the son of one of them. When they
got back to Venice in 1295, after a journey of twenty years,
Marco wrote an account of his experiences which filled his readers
with wonder. Nothing stimulated the interest of the West more
than his fabulous description of the abundance of gold in Zipangu
(Japan) and of the spice markets of the Moluccas and Ceylon.

A MAP OF THE GLOBE IN THE TIME OF COLUMBUS

In 1492 a German mariner, Behaim, made a globe which is still preserved in
Nuremberg. lie did not know of the existence of the American continents or of
the vast Pacific Ocean. It will be noticed that he places Japan (Cipango) where
Mexico lies. In the reproduction many names are omitted and the outlines of
North and South America are sketched in so as to make clear the misconceptions

of Columbus's time

Italy and the Renaissance 297

498. The Discoveries of the Portuguese. By the middle
of the fourteenth century the Portuguese had discovered the
Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Azores. Before this time no
one had ventured along the coast of Africa beyond the arid region
of Sahara. The country was forbidding, there were no ports,
and mariners were, moreover, discouraged by the general belief
that the torrid region was uninhabitable. In 1445, however,
some adventurous sailors came within sight of a headland beyond
the desert, and, struck by its luxuriant growth of tropical trees,
they called it Cape Verde (the green cape). Its discovery put
an end once for all to the idea that there were only parched
deserts to the south.

For a generation the Portuguese ventured farther and farther
along the coast, in the hope of finding it coming to an end, so
that they might make their way by sea to India. At last, in 1486,
Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope. Twelve years later (1498)
Vasco da Gama, spurred on by Columbus's great discovery, after
sailing around the Cape of Good Hope and northward beyond
Zanzibar, aided by an Arab pilot, steered straight across the
Indian Ocean and reached Calicut, in Hindustan, by sea.

499. The Spice Trade. The Portuguese concluded treaties
with the Indian princes and established trading stations at Goa
and elsewhere. In 1512 a successor of Vasco da Gama reached
Java and the Moluccas, where the Portuguese speedily built a
fortress. By 1515 Portugal had become the greatest among sea
powers, and spices reached Lisbon regularly without the interven-
tion of the Mohammedan merchants or the Italian towns, which,
especially Venice, were mortally afflicted by the change (487).

There is no doubt that the desire to obtain spices was at this
time the main reason for the exploration of the globe. This
motive led European navigators to try in succession every pos-
sible way to reach the East by going around Africa, by sailing
west in the hope of reaching the Indies (before they knew of the
existence of America), then, after America was discovered, by
sailing around it to the north or south, and even sailing around
Europe to the north.

298 General History of Europe

It is hard for us to understand this enthusiasm for spices. One
former use of spices was to preserve food, which could not then
as now be carried rapidly, while still fresh, from place to place ;
nor did our conveniences then exist for keeping it by the use of
ice. Moreover, spice served to make even spoiled food more palat-
able than it would otherwise have been.

500. Idea of reaching the Spice Islands by sailing Westward.
It inevitably occurred to thoughtful men that the East Indies
could be reached by sailing westward. Intelligent people knew,
all through the Middle Ages, that the earth was a globe. The
chief authority upon the form and size of the earth continued to
be the ancient astronomer Ptolemy (265), who had lived about
A.D. 150. He had reckoned the earth to be about one sixth smaller
than it is ; and as Marco Polo had given an exaggerated idea of
the distance which he and his companions had traveled eastward,
and as no one suspected the existence of the American continents,
it was supposed that it could not be a very long journey from
Europe across the Atlantic to Japan.

501. Columbus discovers America (1492). In 1492, as we
all know, a Genoese navigator, Columbus (b. 1451), who had had
much experience on the sea, got together three little ships and
undertook the journey westward to Zipangu, the land of gold,
which he hoped to reach in five weeks. After thirty-two days
from the time he left the Canary Islands he came upon land, the
island of San Salvador, and believed himself to be in the East
Indies. Going on from there he discovered the island of Cuba,
which he believed to be the mainland of Asia, and then Haiti,
which he mistook for the longed-for Zipangu. Although he made
three later expeditions and sailed down the coast of South America
as far as the Orinoco, he died without realizing that he had not
been exploring the coast of Asia.

502. Magellan's Expedition around the World. After the
bold enterprises of Vasco da Gama and Columbus an expedition
headed by the Portuguese Magellan succeeded in circumnavigat-
ing the globe. There was now no reason why the new lands should
;npt become jnore and more familiar to the European nations.

5 9

Italy and the Renaissance 299

The coast of North America was explored principally by English
navigators, who for over a century pressed northward, still in the
vain hope of finding a northwest passage to the Spice Islands.

503. The Spanish Conquests in America. Cortes began the
Spanish conquests in the western world by undertaking the sub-
jugation of the Aztec empire in Mexico in 1519. A few years
later Pizarro established the Spanish power in Peru. Spain now
superseded Portugal as a maritime power, and her importance in
the sixteenth century is to be attributed largely to the wealth
which came to her from her possessions in the New World.

By the end of the century the Spanish Main that is, the
northern coast of South America was much frequented by ad-
venturous seamen, who combined in about equal parts the occu-
pations of merchant, slaver, and pirate. Many of these hailed
from English ports, and it is to them that England owes the
beginning of her commercial greatness.

The exploration of the globe and the conquest, by European
nations, of peoples beyond the sea led finally to the vast coloniza-
tion of modern times, which has caused many wars but has served
at the same time'to spread European ideas throughout the world.

QUESTIONS

I. Describe the development of Italian towns during the Hundred
Years' War. How was Italy divided in the fourteenth century? Give
a picture of Venice at the height of her power. Describe the Italian
despots. Describe Florence under the rule of the Medici. Give an ac-
count of the rebuilding of Rome. Describe St. Peter's and the Vatican
Palace.

II. Give a brief account of Renaissance art in Italy.

III. What geographical discoveries were made before 1500? What
effects did explorations of this period have on commerce? What impor-
tant part did the spice trade play in the exploration of the globe?
What led Columbus to try to reach the Indies by sailing westward?

BOOK VI. THE PROTESTANT REVOLT
AND THE WARS OF RELIGION

CHAPTER XXIV
EMPEROR CHARLES V AND HIS VAST REALMS

I. How ITALY BECAME THE BATTLE GROUND OF THE
EUROPEAN POWERS

504. Charles VIII of France invades Italy. Louis XI of
France, who had done so much to strengthen the kingly power,
was succeeded by his son, Charles VIII (1483-1498), who had
little of his father's sagacity. Charles dreamed of being a great
conqueror, and his first step was to invade Italy on the ground
that the kingdom of Naples belonged rightly to his house be-
cause of an ancient claim dating back a couple of centuries.

The Italian towns did little to oppose the army of the French
king, and he actually got control of Naples for a short time. The
ruler of Naples was a Spanish monarch, Ferdinand of Aragon, who
had no more right to it than Charles. Charles's troops, however,
became demoralized by the excellent wines and other pleasures of
southern Italy, his enemies began to combine against him, and
he was glad to escape with the loss of only a single battle from
the land he had hoped to conquer. He died three years later,
but the results of his seemingly foolish expedition were very
important.

505. Results of the Expedition of Charles VIII. In the first
place, it was clear that the Italian towns did not constitute a
nation which would combine to repulse invaders. From this time
on, therefore, France, Spain, Austria, and the German emperors
undertook successive expeditions with the object of bringing

300

Emperor Charles V and his Vast Realms 301

various portions of the Italian peninsula under their sway. Spain
and Austria were particularly successful in this, and Italy re-
mained largely under foreign rule down to the latter part of the

COURT OF THE PALACE AT BLOIS

The expedition of Charles VIII to Italy called the attention of French
architects to the beautiful Renaissance style used there. As cannon had by
this time begun to render the old kind of castles with thick walls and towers
useless as a means of defense, the French kings began to construct magnifi-
cent palaces, of which this is an excellent example

nineteenth century, when it was unified under a single ruler and
finally became the independent nation it is today.

506. Spread of Italian Art. In the second place, the French
learned to admire the art and culture of Italy. The nobles began
to change their feudal castles, which since the invention of gun-
powder were no longer impregnable, into luxurious palaces and
country houses. The new scholarship of Italy also took root and
flourished not only in France but in England and Germany as
well, and Greek began to be studied outside of Italy. Conse-
quently, just as Italy was becoming, politically, the victim of
foreign aggressions, it was also losing, never to regain, that

3O2 General History of Europe

intellectual leadership which it had enjoyed since the revival of
interest in Latin and Greek literature the so-called Renaissance,
spoken of above (454, 485).

507. Francis I. Francis I, who came to the French throne
in 1515, at the age of twenty, is one of the most famous of the
French kings. He was gracious and chivalrous in his ideas of
conduct, and his proudest title was "the gentleman king." Like
his contemporaries Pope Leo X, son of Lorenzo de' Medici, and
Henry VIII of England, he helped artists and men of letters and
was interested in fine buildings, of which a striking example is
shown on the preceding page.

II. How SPAIN BECAME A GREAT EUROPEAN POWER

508. Arab Civilization in Spain. The Mohammedan conquest
served to make the history of Spain very different from that of
the other states of Europe ( 306-307). One of its first and
most important results was the conversion of a great part of the
inhabitants to Mohammedanism. During the tenth century, which
was so dark a period in the rest of Europe, the Arab civilization
in Spain reached its highest development and exercised its in-
fluence on Christian Europe to the north. Cordova, with its half
million of inhabitants, its stately palaces, its university, its three
thousand mosques, and its three hundred public baths, was
perhaps unrivaled at that period in the whole world.

509. The Rise of New Christian Kingdoms in Spain. But
the Christians were destined to reconquer the peninsula. As early
as the year 1000 (see map, p. 220) several small Christian king-
doms Castile, Aragon, and Navarre had come into existence
in the northern part of Spain. Castile, in particular, began to
push back the Mohammedans and, in 1085, reconquered Toledo
from them. By 1250, the long war of the Christians against the
Mohammedans, which fills the medieval annals of Spain, had
been so successfully prosecuted that Castile extended to the south
coast and included the great towns of Cordova and Seville. The
Christian kingdom of Portugal was already as large as it is today.

Emperor Charles V and his Vast Realms 303

The Moors, as the Spanish Mohammedans were called, held
out for two centuries more in the mountainous kingdom of
Granada, in the southern part of the peninsula. Not until 1492,
after a long siege, did the Christians capture the city of Gra-
nada and the last vestige of Mohammedan rule in the Spanish
peninsula disappear.

510. Spain becomes a European Power. The first Spanish
monarch whose name need be mentioned here was Queen Isabella
of Castile, who, in 1469, concluded an all-important marriage
with Ferdinand, the heir of the crown of Aragon. It is with
this union of Castile and Aragon that the great importance of
Spain in European history begins. For the next hundred years
Spain was to enjoy more military power than any other of the
European states.

In the same year that the conquest of the peninsula was com-
pleted, the discoveries of Columbus, made under the auspices of
Queen Isabella, opened up sources of undreamed-of wealth beyond
the seas. The greatness of Spain in the sixteenth century was
largely due to the riches derived from her American possessions.
The shameless and cruel looting of the Mexican and Peruvian
cities by Cortes and Pizarro, and the silver mines of the New
World ( 501, 503), enabled Spain to assume, for a time, a
position in Europe which her ordinary resources and the produc-
tions of her own population would never have permitted.

511. Revival of the Inquisition. Unfortunately, the most in-
dustrious, skillful, and thrifty among the inhabitants of Spain
that is, the Moors and the Jews, who well-nigh supported the
whole kingdom by their toil were bitterly persecuted by the
Christians. So anxious was Isabella to rid her kingdom of
the infidels that she revived the court of the Inquisition, of which
an account was given above ( 399 ) . For several decades these
Church courts arrested and condemned innumerable persons who
were suspected of heresy, and thousands were burned at the stake
during this period. These wholesale executions have served to
associate Spain especially with the horrors of the Inquisition.

304 General History of Europe

III. THE EMPIRE OF THE HAPSBURGS UNDER CHARLES V

512. Charles V's Empire. In the year 1500 a baby was born
in the town of Ghent who was destined before he reached the age
of twenty to rule, as Emperor Charles V, over more of Europe
than anyone since Charlemagne. He owed his vast empire not
to any conquests of his own but to an extraordinary series of
royal marriages which made him heir to a great part of western
Europe. These marriages had been arranged by his grandfather,
Maximilian I, of the House of Hapsburg. In order to understand
European history since 1500 we must learn something of Maxi-
milian -and the Hapsburg line.

513. Reasons why the German Kings failed to establish a
Strong State. The German kings had failed to create a strong
kingdom such as that over which Louis XI of France or
Henry VII of England ruled. Their fine title of emperor had
made them a great deal of trouble and done them no good, as we
have seen ( 345, 346, 356, 357). Their attempts to keep Italy
as well as Germany under their power, and the alliance of the
mighty bishop of Rome with their enemies, had well-nigh ruined
them. Their position was further weakened by the fact that their
office was not strictly hereditary. Although the emperors were
often succeeded by their sons, each new emperor had to be elected,
and those great vassals who controlled the election naturally took
care to bind the candidate by solemn promises not to interfere
with their privileges and independence. The result was that after
the downfall of the Hohenstaufens Germany fell apart into a
great number of practically independent states, of which none
were very large and some were extremely small.

514. The "Germanics" of the Sixteenth Century. In the
sixteenth century there was no such Germany as that which
precipitated the World War in 1914, but only what the French
called the "Germanies"; that is, two or three hundred states,
which differed greatly from one another in size and character.
This one had a duke, that a count, at its head, while others were
ruled over by archbishops, bishops, or abbots. There were many

Emperor Charles V and his Vast Realms 305

cities, like Nuremberg, Frankfort, and Cologne, just as independ-
ent as the great duchies of Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Saxony.
Lastly there were the knights, whose possessions might consist of
a single strong castle
with a wretched vil-
lage lying at its foot.
The tiny realms of
the knights were often
insufficient to support
them, and they turned
to robbery for a liv-
ing and plundered the
merchants and towns-
people. It is clear that
these states, little and
big, being all tangled
up with one another,
would be sure to
have frequent disputes
among themselves and
be constantly fighting
one another. The em-
peror, as we have
seen, was not power-
ful enough to keep

order, and each ruler
had to defend himself
when he was attacked.

CHARLES V AT THE AGE OF FORTY-EIGHT
(Bv TITIAN)

515. The Imperial Title Hereditary in the House of Austria.
The dukes of Austria, belonging to the Hapsburg line, were among
the most important of the German princes, and the electors had
got into the habit of choosing the emperor from that family. So
the imperial title became, to all intents and purposes, hereditary
in the Hapsburg line. The Hapsburgs were, however, far more
interested in adding to their family domains than in advancing
the interests of Germany as a whole. Indeed, the Holy Roman

306 General History of Europe

Empire was nearly defunct, and, in the memorable words of Vol-
taire, it had ceased to be either holy, or Roman, or an empire.

516. Maximilian and the Hapsburg Marriages. While still a
very young man, Maximilian I married Mary of Burgundy, the
heiress to the Burgundian realms, which included what we now
call Holland and Belgium and portions of eastern France. In
this way the House of Austria got a hold on the shores of the
North Sea. Mary died in 1482, and her lands were inherited by
her infant son, Philip. Maximilian's next matrimonial move was
to arrange a marriage between the young Philip and the daughter
and heiress of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.

517. Charles and his Possessions. Philip, Maximilian's son,
died in 1506, six years after his eldest son, Charles, was born,
and his poor wife, Joanna, became insane with grief and was
thus incapacitated for ruling. So Charles could look forward
to an unprecedented accumulation of glorious titles as soon as
his grandfathers, Maximilian of Austria and Ferdinand of Aragon,
should pass away. 1 He was soon to be duke of Brabant, mar-
grave of Antwerp, count of Holland, archduke of Austria, count
of Tyrol, king of Castile, Aragon, and Naples, 2 and of the vast
Spanish possessions in America to mention a few of his more
important titles.

On the death of his grandfather Ferdinand of Aragon, Charles,
a boy of sixteen, became the first " King of Spain," and many were
his difficulties in controlling the formerly independent monarchies
of which Spain had been built up.

518. Charles elected Emperor (1519). But still further and
more perplexing problems were to face Charles before he was

i Austria Burgundy Castile Aragon Naples, etc.

(America)
Maximilian I = Mary (d. 1482) Isabella = Ferdinand (d. 1516)

(d. 1519)

dau. of Charles (d. 1504)

the Bold (d. 1477)
Philip (d. 1506) Joanna the Insane (d. 1555)

Charles V (d. 1558) Ferdinand (d. 1564) = Anna, heiress to kingdoms

Emperor, 1519-1556 Emperor, 1556-1564 of Bohemia and Hungary

2 Naples and Sicily were in the hands of the king of Aragon at this time.

~Longitud 5- wt from Grwnwich 0'

f k R, EUROPE

na f *!<

about the middle of the

1 > SIXTEENTH CENTURY

'f-\\ J QB Hapabuig Powsadoai

lBODf / '^

I A 100 200 300 400

d. But 20- from Greenwich 25

Emperor Charles V and his Vast Realms 307

twenty years old. It had long been Maximilian's ambition that
his grandson should succeed him upon the imperial throne. After
his death in 1519 the electors finally chose Charles as emperor
the fifth of that name instead of the rival candidate, Francis I
of France. By this election the king of Spain, who had not yet
been in Germany and who never learned its language, became its
ruler at a critical juncture.

519. Diet at Worms (1520). Germany had a national assembly
called the diet, which met at irregular intervals, now in this
town, now in that, for Germany had no capital city. The princes
and bishops and towns sent representatives to this assembly.

It was this diet that Charles V summoned to meet him on the
Rhine, in the ancient town of Worms, when he made his first
visit to Germany in 1520. The most important business of the
assembly proved to be the consideration of the case of a uni-
versity professor, Martin Luther, who was accused of writing
heretical books, and who had begun what proved to be the first
successful revolt against the powerful medieval Church.

QUESTIONS

I. What were the results of the Italian expedition of Charles VIII ?

II. What were the effects of the Mohammedan conquests of Spain?
Give an account of the expulsion of the Mohammedans from the
peninsula. How did Spain become a European power? Describe the
revival of the Inquisition in Spain.

III. How was Charles V's vast empire accumulated? Why did the
German kings fail to build up a strong, unified state ?

CHAPTER XXV

MARTIN LUTHER AND THE REVOLT OF GERMANY
AGAINST THE PAPACY

I. THE QUESTION OF REFORMING THE CHURCH ; ERASMUS

520. Break-up of the Medieval Church into Catholics and
Protestants. By far the most important event during the reign
of Charles V was the revolt of a considerable portion of western
Europe against the popes. The medieval Church, which was
described in a previous chapter, was in this way broken up, and
Protestant churches appeared in various European countries which
declared themselves entirely independent of the Pope and rejected
a number of the religious beliefs which the medieval Church had
taught.

With the exception of England all those countries that lay
within the ancient bounds of the Roman Empire Italy, France,
Spain, Portugal, as well as southern Germany and Austria
continued to be faithful to the Pope and the Roman Catholic
Church. On the other hand, the rulers of the northern German
states, of England, Holland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
sooner or later became Protestants. In this way Europe was
divided into two great religious parties, and this led to terrible
wars and cruel persecutions, which fill the annals of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries.

521. Sources of Discontent with the Church. The revolt be-
gan in Germany. The Germans were at this time still good Catho-
lics and accepted all the beliefs of the Church, but they were
seriously troubled by the fact that the popes were so frequently
Italians and that the amount of church contributions collected in
Germany was so large. Great German prelates, like the arch-
bishops of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, contributed generously

308

Martin Luther and the Protestant Revolt 309

to the papal treasury upon having their election confirmed by
the Church authorities at Rome. The Pope enjoyed the right
to fill the important church offices in Germany and sometimes
appointed Italians, who received the revenue without going to
Germany or performing the duties attached to the office. One
person often held several church offices.

At first, however, no one thought of withdrawing from the
Church or of attempting to destroy the power of the Pope. All
that the Germans wanted was that the contributions which flowed
toward Rome should be lessened, and that the clergy should
be upright, earnest men who should conscientiously perform their
religious duties.

522. Erasmus (i465-i536). Among the critics of the Church
in the early days of Charles V's reign the most famous and in-
fluential was Erasmus. He was a Dutchman by birth, but spent
his life in various other countries France, England, Italy, and
Germany. He was a citizen of the world and in correspond-
ence with literary men everywhere, so that his letters give us
an excellent idea of the feeling of the times. He was greatly
interested in the Greek and Latin authors, but his main purpose
in life was to make people more intelligent, especially in religious
matters.

One of his best-known books was his Praise of Folly, in which
he held up to ridicule many of the practices and popular beliefs
which Luther later attacked. He believed that superstition would
certainly disappear as people became better educated. It seemed
to Erasmus that if everybody could read the Bible, especially the
New Testament, for himself, it would be a great advantage.

Erasmus believed, moreover, that the time was favorable for
reform. As he looked about him he beheld intelligent rulers on
the thrones of Europe, men interested in books and art and ready
to help scholars and writers. There were Henry VIII of England
and Francis I of France. Then the Pope himself, Leo X, the
son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was a friend and admirer of
Erasmus and doubtless sympathized with many of his views.
The youthful Charles V was a devout Catholic, but he too agreed

310 General History of Europe

that there were many evils to be remedied. So it seemed to
Erasmus that the prospects were excellent for a peaceful reform ;
but, instead of its coming, his latter years were embittered by
Luther's revolt and all the ill-feelings and dissensions that it
created.

II. MARTIN LUTHER AND HIS TEACHINGS

523. Early Years of Luther. Martin Luther was born in 1483.
He was the son of a poor miner. His father, however, was deter-
mined that his son should be a lawyer, and so Martin was sent
to the University of Erfurt. After he finished his college course
and was about to take up the study of the law he suddenly
decided to become a monk.

He was much worried about his soul and feared that nothing
he could do would save him from hell. He finally found comfort
in the thought that in order to be saved he had only to believe
sincerely that God would save him, and that he could not pos-
sibly save himself by trying to be good. He gained the respect
of the head of the monastery, and when Frederick the Wise of
Saxony was looking about for teachers for his new university at
Wittenberg, Luther was recommended as a good person to teach
Aristotle; so he became a professor.

As time went on Luther began to be suspicious of some of the
things that were taught in the university. He finally decided that
Aristotle was, after all, only an ancient heathen who knew nothing
about Christianity, and that the students had no business to study
his works. He urged them to rely instead upon the Bible.

524. Justification by Faith. Luther's main point was that man
was so corrupt that he could do nothing pleasing to God. He
could only repent his sins and have faith in God's promises. It
was this faith that justified the repentant sinner in God's sight.
So Luther came to regard the " good works " recommended by the
Church such as the frequent attendance at Mass, the repetition
of prayers, pilgrimages, and the veneration of relics as unneces-
sary for salvation and sometimes misleading.

/\ETHERNA IPSE. SVAE MENTIS SIMVLACHRA

EXFFLVUTXT W1XVS CERA LVCAE OCCIDVOS

M E> x-x:

LUTHER AS A MONK. (By CRANACH, 1520)

None of the portraits of Luther are very satisfactory. His friend Cranach
was not, like Holbein the Younger, a great portrait painter. This cut shows
the reformer when his revolt against the Church was just beginning. He
was thirty-seven years old and still in the dress of an Augustinian friar,
which he soon abandoned

PORTRAIT OF ERASMUS. (Bv HOLBEIN)

This wonderful picture by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) hangs in
the Louvre gallery at Paris. We have every reason to suppose that it is an
excellent portrait, for Holbein lived in Basel a considerable part of his life
and knew Erasmus well. The artist was, moreover, celebrated for his skill
in catching the likeness when depicting the human face. He later painted
several well-known Englishmen, including Henry VIII and his little son,

Edward VI

Martin Luther and the Protestant Revolt 311

Luther's teachings did not attract much attention until the
year 1517, when he was thirty-four years old. Then something
occurred to give him considerable prominence.

525. Luther's Theses on Indulgences (1517). The fact has
already been mentioned that the popes had undertaken the re-
building of St. Peter's, the great central church of Christendom
( 491-492). The cost of the enterprise was very great, and in
order to collect contributions for the purpose Pope Leo X ar-
ranged for an extensive distribution of indulgences 1 in Germany.

In October, 1517, Tetzel, a Dominican monk, began preach-
ing indulgences in the neighborhood of Wittenberg and making
claims for them which appeared to Luther irreconcilable with
Christianity as he understood it. He therefore, in accordance
with the custom of the time, wrote out a series of ninety-
five statements in regard to indulgences. These theses, as they
were called, he posted on the church door and invited anyone
interested in the matter to enter into a discussion with him on
the subject. Luther did not intend to attack the Church and had
no expectation of creating a sensation. The theses were in Latin
and addressed, therefore, only to learned men.

526. Luther's Address to the German Nobility (1520). Of
Luther's popular pamphlets the first really famous one was his
Address to the German Nobility, in which he calls upon the rulers
of Germany, especially the knights, to carry out a reform of the
Church, since he believed that it was vain to wait for the popes
and bishops to do so. Luther denied that there was anything
so sacred about a clergyman that he could not be dismissed by a
ruler if he did not properly perform his holy duties. Luther

1 An indulgence was a pardon, issued usually by the Pope himself, which freed the
person to whom it was granted from a part or all of his suffering in purgatory. It did
not forgive his sins or in any way take the place of true repentance and confession ; it
only reduced the punishment which a truly contrite sinner would otherwise have had to
endure, either in this world or in purgatory, before he could be admitted to heaven.

It is a common mistake of Protestants to suppose that the indulgence was forgiveness
granted beforehand for sins to be committed in the future. There is absolutely no foun-
dation for this idea. A person proposing to sin could not possibly be contrite in the eyes
of the Church, and even if he had secured an indulgence, it would, according to the
theologians, have been quite worthless.

312 General History of Europe

claimed, moreover, that it was the right and duty of the rulers
to punish a churchman who did wrong just as if he were the
humblest layman.

The Address to the German Nobility closed with a long list
of evils which must be done away with before Germany could
become prosperous. Luther saw that his view of religion really
implied a social revolution. He advocated reducing the monas-
teries to a tenth of their number and permitting those monks
who were disappointed in the good they got from living in them
freely to leave. He pointed out the evils of pilgrimages and of
the numerous church holidays, which interfered with daily work.
The clergy, he urged, should be permitted to marry and have fam-
ilies like other citizens. The universities should be reformed and
"the accursed heathen, Aristotle," should be cast out from them.

527. Luther Excommunicated; Burning of the Papal Bull
(1520). Luther had long expected to be excommunicated for his
criticisms of the beliefs of the Church. But it was not until the
autumn of 1520 that a papal bull or decree arrived condemning
many of Luther's assertions as heretical and giving him sixty
days to recant. The bull irritated many of the German rulers,
who were quite willing to have a reformer bold enough to de-
nounce evils which they themselves realized well enough. Some
of the princes and universities published it, but in many cases
it was ignored, and Luther's own ruler, the elector of Saxony,
continued to protect his professor.

Luther decided that he must make a public protest, and so he
summoned his students to witness what he called "a pious reli-
gious spectacle." He had a fire built outside the walls of Witten-
berg and cast into it Leo X's bull condemning him, and a copy of
the Laws of the Church, together with a volume of scholastic
theology which he specially disliked.

Yet Luther ' dreaded disorder. He was certainly sometimes
reckless and violent in his writings and often said that bloodshed
could not be avoided. Yet he always opposed hasty reform. He
was reluctant to make changes, except in belief. He held that so
long as an institution did not actually mislead, it did no harm.

Martin Luther and the Protestant Revolt 313

528. Luther summoned to the Diet at Worms (1521). When
Charles V arrived in Germany to hold his first diet in 1520, the
case of Luther was called to his attention by the papal representa-
tive, who exhorted him to outlaw the heretic without further delay.
While Charles seemed convinced of Luther's guilt, he could not
proceed against him without serious danger. The monk had
become a sort of national hero and had the support of the power-
ful elector of Saxony. Other princes, who had ordinarily no wish
to protect a heretic, felt that Luther's denunciation of the evils in
the Church was very gratifying. After much discussion it was
finally arranged that Luther should be summoned to Worms and
be given an opportunity to face the representatives of the German
nation and the emperor and to declare plainly whether he was the
author of the heretical books ascribed to him and whether he still
clung to the views the Pope had condemned.

529. Luther's Defense. It was not proposed to give Luther
any opportunity to defend his beliefs before the diet. He was
simply asked whether a pile of Latin and German books and
pamphlets placed before him were really his work and whether he
would recant what he had written. He confessed that the volumes
were his and admitted that his attacks had been overviolent at
times. -He said, however, that he believed no one could deny that
decrees issued in the name of the Pope had sometimes gone
against the conscience of good Christians and that the German
people in particular had been plundered by church officials. If
arguments from the Bible could be found to refute his statements
he would gladly recant, but as things stood he could not do
otherwise than he was doing.

530. The Edict of Worms (1521). There was now nothing
for the emperor to do but to outlaw Luther, who had denied the
binding character of the commands of the head of the Church.

The Edict of Worms declared Luther an outlaw on the following
grounds: that he scorned and vilified the Pope, despised the
priesthood and stirred up the laity to dip their hands in the blood
of the clergy, denied free will, taught licentiousness, despised au-
thority, advocated a brutish existence, and was a menace to

314 General History of Europe

Church and State alike. Everyone was forbidden to read or
publish Luther's works or to give the heretic food, drink, or shel-
ter. Moreover, he was to be seized and delivered to the emperor.
So general was the disapproval of the edict that few were
willing to pay any attention to it. Charles V immediately left
Germany and for nearly ten years was occupied with the govern-
ment of Spain and a succession of wars.

III. THE REVOLT AGAINST THE PAPACY BEGINS IN
GERMANY

531. Luther begins a New Translation of the Bible. As
Luther neared Eisenach upon his way home from Worms he was
kidnaped by his friends and conducted to the Wartburg, a castle
belonging to the elector of Saxony. Here he was concealed until
any danger from the action of the emperor or diet should pass
by. His chief occupation during several months of hiding was to
begin a new translation of the Bible into German.

532. The Revolt Begins. Hitherto there had been a great
deal of talk of reform, but as yet nothing had actually been
done. There was no sharp line drawn between the different
classes of reformers. All agreed that something should be done
to better the Church; few realized how divergent were the real
ends in view. The rulers listened to Luther because they were
glad of an excuse to get control of the Church property and its
revenues. The peasants listened because he put the Bible into
their hands and they found nothing there that proved that they
ought to go on paying the old dues to their lords.

While Luther was quietly living in the Wartburg, translating the
Bible, people began to put his teachings into practice. Some of the
monks and nuns left their monasteries in his own town of Witten-
berg. Some of them married, which seemed in view of the pledges
they had voluntarily taken a very wicked thing to all those
who held to the old beliefs. The students and citizens tore down
the images of the saints in the churches and even went so far as to
oppose the celebration of the Mass, the chief Catholic sacrament.

Martin Luther and the Protestant Revolt 315

Luther was greatly troubled by news of this disorderly reform.
He did not approve of sudden and violent changes and left his
hiding place to protest. He preached a series of sermons in Wit-
tenberg in which he urged that all alterations in religious services
and practices should be introduced by the government and not
by the people. But his advice was not heeded.

533. The Peasant War. In 1525 the serfs rose, in the name
of "God's justice," to avenge their wrongs. Luther was not re-
sponsible for the civil war which followed, though he had cer-
tainly helped to stir up discontent. Some of the demands of the
peasants were perfectly reasonable. The most popular expression
of their needs was the dignified " Twelve Articles." In these
they claimed that the Bible did not sanction any of the dues
which the lords demanded of them, and that, since they were
Christians like their lords, they should no longer be held as serfs.

There were, however, leaders who were more violent and who
proposed to kill the "godless" priests and nobles. Hundreds of
castles and monasteries were destroyed by the frantic peasantry,
and some of the nobility were murdered with shocking cruelty.
Luther tried to induce the peasants, with whom, as the son of
a peasant, he was at first inclined to sympathize, to remain quiet ;
but when his warnings proved vain he turned against them. He
declared that they were guilty of the most fearful crimes and
urged the government to put down the insurrection without pity.

534. Cruel Suppression of the Peasant Revolt. Luther's ad-
vice was followed with terrible exactness by the German rulers,
and the nobility took fearful revenge on the peasants. In the
summer of 1525 their chief leader was defeated and killed, and
it is estimated that ten thousand peasants were put to death,
many with the utmost cruelty. Few of the rulers or landlords
introduced any reforms, and the misfortunes due to the destruc-
tion of property and to the despair of the peasants cannot be
imagined. The old exactions of the lords of the manors were in
no way lightened, and the situation of the serfs for centuries
following the great revolt was worse rather than better.

3 1 6 General History oj Europe

IV.

535. Religious Division of North and South Germany.
Charles V was occupied at this time by his quarrels with Francis I,
and was in no position to return to Germany and undertake to
enforce the Edict of Worms against Luther and his followers.
Germany, as we have seen, was divided into hundreds of practi-
cally independent countries, and the various electors, princes,
towns, and knights naturally could not agree as to what could
best be done in the matter of reforming the Church. Southern
Germany decided for the Pope and remains Catholic down to the
present day. Many of the Northern rulers, on the other hand,
adopted the new teachings, and finally all of them fell away from
the papacy and became Protestant.

Since there was no one powerful enough to decide the great
question for the whole of Germany, the diet which met at Speyer
in 1526 determined that pending the summoning of a Church
council each ruler should "so live, reign, and conduct himself as
he would be willing to answer before God and His Imperial
Majesty." For the moment, then, the various German govern-
ments were left to determine the religion of their subjects.

536. Origin of the Term "Protestants." The emperor,
Charles V, commanded the diet, which again met at Speyer in
1529, to order the enforcement of the Edict of Worms against
the heretics.

The princes and towns that had accepted Luther's ideas drew
up a protest, in which they claimed that the majority had no right
to abrogate the edict of the former diet of Speyer, which had
been passed unanimously and which all had solemnly pledged
themselves to observe. Those who signed this appeal were called
from their action Protestants, Thus originated the name which
came to be generally applied to those who do not accept the rule
and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

537. Diet at Augsburg and the Augsburg Confession. Ever
since the diet at Worms the emperor had resided in Spain,

Martin Luther and the Protestant Revolt 317

busied with a succession of wars carried on with the king of
France. But in 1530 he found himself at peace for the moment,
and came to Germany to hold a brilliant diet of his German sub-
jects at Augsburg, in the hope of settling the religious problem,
which, however, he understood very imperfectly. He ordered the
Protestants to draw up a statement of exactly what they believed,
which should serve as a basis for discussion. Melanchthon,
Luther's most famous friend and colleague, was intrusted with
this delicate task.

The Augsburg Confession, as his declaration was called, is
a historical document of great importance. Melanchthon's gentle
disposition led him to make the differences between his belief and
that of the old Church seem as few and slight as possible. He
showed that both parties held the same fundamental views of
Christianity. But he defended the rejection on the part of the
Protestants of a number of the practices of the Roman Catho-
lics, such as the celibacy of the clergy and the observance of
fast days.

538. Charles V's Attempt at Pacification, Certain theologians
who had been loud in their denunciations of Luther were ordered
by the emperor to prepare a refutation of the Protestant views.
Charles V declared the Catholic statement to be "Christian and
judicious" and commanded the Protestants to accept it. They
were to cease troubling the Catholics and were to give back all
the monasteries and Church property which they had seized. The
emperor agreed, however, to urge the Pope to call a council to
meet within a year. This, he hoped, would be able to settle all
differences and reform the Church according to the views of the
more liberal Catholics.

539. The Peace of Augsburg (isss). For ten years after the
emperor left Augsburg he was kept busy in southern Europe by
new wars. In order to secure the assistance of the Protes-
tants he was forced to let them go their own way. Meanwhile
the number of rulers who accepted Luther's teachings gradually
increased. Finally, there was a brief war between Charles and
the Protestant princes, but there was little fighting.

318 General History of Europe

In 1555 the religious Peace of Augsburg was arranged. Its
provisions are memorable. Each German prince and each town
and knight directly under the emperor was to be at liberty to
make a choice between the beliefs of the venerable Catholic
Church and those embodied in the Augsburg Confession. If,
however, an ecclesiastical prince an archbishop, bishop, or ab-
bot declared himself a Protestant, he must surrender his pos-
sessions to the Church. Every German was either to conform to
the religious practices of his particular state or emigrate from it.
Everyone was supposed to be either a Catholic or a Lutheran,
and no provision was made for any other belief.

540. No Freedom of Conscience. It is noteworthy that this
religious peace in no way established freedom of conscience in
religious matters, except for the rulers. The arrangement which
permitted the various princes to determine the religion of their
subjects was far more natural in those days than it would be
in ours, for the Church and the State had been closely associated
since the last centuries of the Roman Empire. No one as yet
dreamed that it was possible to leave people to make up their
own minds on religious matters without interference on the part
of the government.

QUESTIONS

I. What dissatisfactions with the Church grew up among the German
Catholics? Contrast Erasmus's ideas of reform with those of Luther.

II. Tell something of Luther's early life. How did Luther's theory of
salvation differ from the orthodox view? What were the famous
theses of Luther ? How did they differ in their appeal from his Address
to the German Nobility ? On what grounds was Luther excommuni-
cated ? What was Luther's defense at Worms ?

III. Describe some of the ways in which the revolt began. What was
the Peasant War? How was it put down?

IV. What is the origin of the term "Protestants"? How was Ger-
many divided on the religious question ? What was the Augsburg Con-
fession? What were the provisions of the Peace of Augsburg? What
were its limitations?

CHAPTER XXVI

THE PROTESTANT REVOLT IN SWITZERLAND AND
ENGLAND

I. ZWINGLI AND CALVIN

541. Origin of the Swiss Confederation. For at least a cen-
tury after Luther's death the great issue between Catholics and
Protestants dominates the history of all the countries with which
we have to do, except Italy and Spain, where Protestantism never
took permanent root. In Switzerland, England, France, and Hol-
land the revolt against the medieval Church produced discord,
wars, and profound changes, which must be understood in order
to follow the later development of these countries.

We turn first to Switzerland, lying in the midst of the great
chain of the Alps which extends from the Mediterranean to
Vienna. During the Middle Ages the region destined to be in-
cluded in the Swiss Confederation formed a part of the Holy
Roman Empire and was scarcely distinguishable from the rest
of southern Germany. As early as the thirteenth century the
three "forest" cantons on the shores of the winding Lake of
Lucern formed a union to protect their liberties against the
encroachments of their neighbors the Hapsburgs. It was about
this tiny nucleus that Switzerland gradually consolidated. Lucern
and the free towns of Zurich and Bern soon joined the Swiss
league. By brave fighting, the Swiss were able to frustrate the
renewed efforts of the Hapsburgs to subjugate them.

Various districts in the neighborhood joined the Swiss union
in succession, and even the region lying on the Italian slopes of
the Alps was brought under its control. Gradually the bonds
between the members of the Swiss union and the Empire were

319

320

General History of Europe

broken. In 1499 they were finally freed from the jurisdiction of
the emperor, and Switzerland became a practically independent
country. Although the original union had been made up of
German-speaking people, considerable districts had been annexed

HOLY R/OM\AN

THE Swiss CONFEDERATION IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

in which Italian or French was spoken. 1 The Swiss did not,
therefore, form a compact, well-defined nation, and consequently
for some centuries their confederation was weak and ill-organized.
542. Zwingli leads Revolt against the Old Church. In
Switzerland the first leader of the revolt against the Church was
a young priest named Zwingli, who was a year younger than
Luther. He lived in the famous monastery of Einsiedln, near

1 This condition has not changed ; all Swiss laws are still proclaimed in three languages.

Protestant Revolt in Switzerland and England 321

the Lake of Zurich, which was the center of pilgrimages on ac-
count of a wonder-working image. " Here," he says, " I began to
preach the Gospel of Christ in the year 1516, before anyone in
my locality had so much as heard the name of Luther."

But the original cantons about the Lake of Lucern, which
feared that they might lose the great influence that, in spite of
their small size, they had hitherto enjoyed, were ready to fight
for the old faith. The first armed collision between the Swiss
Protestants and Catholics took place at Kappel in 1531, and
Zwingli fell in the battle. The various cantons and towns never
came to an agreement in religious matters, and Switzerland is
still part Catholic and part Protestant.

543. Calvin (1509-1564) and the Presbyterian Church. Far
more important than Zwingli 's teachings, especially for England
and America, was the work of Calvin, which was carried on in
the ancient city of Geneva, on the very outskirts of the Swiss
Confederation. It was Calvin who organized the Presbyterian
Church and formulated its beliefs. Born in northern France in
1509, he belonged to the second generation of Protestants. He
was early influenced by the Lutheran teachings, which had al-
ready found their way into France. A persecution of the Protes-
tants under Francis I drove him out of the country. At Basel
he issued his great work, The Institute of Christianity. It was
the first orderly exposition of the principles of Christianity from a
Protestant standpoint and formed a convenient manual for study
and discussion.

Calvin was called to Geneva about 1540 and intrusted with
the task of reforming the town, which had secured its independ-
ence of the duke of Savoy. Calvin intrusted the management of
church affairs to the ministers and the elders, or presbyters]
hence the name "Presbyterian." The Protestantism which found
its way into France was that of Calvin, not that of Luther, and
the same may be said of Scotland ( 575).

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General History oj Europe

II. How ENGLAND FELL AWAY FROM THE PAPACY

544. Wolsey's Idea of the Balance of Power. Henry VIII
came to the English throne when he was eighteen years old. His
chief adviser, Cardinal Wolsey, deserves great credit for having
constantly striven to discourage his sovereign's ambition to take

part in the wars on
the Continent. The
argument of the
cardinal that Eng-
land could become
great by peace bet-
ter than by war was
a momentous dis-
covery. Peace, he
felt, would be best
secured by main-
taining the balance
oj power on the
jj Continent, so that

no ruler should be-
come dangerous by
unduly extending

HENRY VIII his sway. This idea

of the balance of

power came to be recognized later by the European countries as a
very important consideration in determining their policy. But
Wolsey was not long to be permitted to put his enlightened ideas
into practice.

545. Henry VIIFs Divorce Case. Henry had married Cath-
erine of Aragon, the aunt of Charles V. Only one of their chil-
dren, Mary, survived to grow up. As time went on Henry was
very anxious to have a son and heir, for he was fearful lest a
woman might not be permitted to succeed to the throne. More-
over, he had tired of Catherine, who was considerably older
than he. His anxiety to rid himself of Catherine was greatly

Protestant Revolt in Switzerland and England 323

increased by the appearance at court of a black-eyed girl of six-
teen, named Anne Boleyn, with whom the king fell in love.

Wolsey's failure to persuade the Pope to permit a divorce ex-
cited the king's anger, and, with rank ingratitude for his minister's
great services, Henry drove him from office (1529) and seized
his property. From a life of wealth which was fairly royal, Wol-
sey was precipitated into extreme poverty and soon died.

Henry induced Parliament to cut off some of the Pope's revenue
from England, but as this did not persuade Clement VII to grant
the divorce, Henry lost patience and secretly married Anne Boleyn,
relying on getting a divorce from Catherine later.

Parliament, which did whatever Henry VIII asked, declared
Henry's marriage with Catherine unlawful and that with Anne
Boleyn legal.

546. How Henry VIII threw off the Papal Authority. In
1534 the English Parliament completed the revolt of the English
Church from the Pope by assigning to the king the right to ap-
point all the English prelates, and to enjoy all the revenues of
the Church. In the Act of Supremacy Parliament declared the
king to be "the only supreme head in earth of the Church of
England," and that he should enjoy all the powers which the
title naturally carried with it.

547. Henry VIII no Protestant. It must be carefully ob-
served that Henry VIII was not a Protestant in the Lutheran
sense of the word. He was led, it is true, by Clement VII 's
refusal to declare his first marriage illegal, to break the bond
between the English and the Roman Church and to induce the
English clergy and Parliament to acknowledge the king as su-
preme head in the religious, as well as in the worldly, interests of
the country. Important as this was, it did not lead Henry to
accept the teachings of Protestant leaders, like Luther, Zwingli,
or Calvin, and he cruelly persecuted some of their followers.

Henry, however, authorized a new translation of the Bible into
English. A fine edition of this was printed (1539), and every
parish was ordered to obtain a copy and place it in the parish
church, where all the people could readily make use of it.

324

General History of Europe

548. Dissolution of the English Monasteries. Henry wanted
money; some of the English abbeys were rich, and the monks
were quite unable to defend themselves against the charges which
were brought against them. A large number of scandalous tales were
easily collected by Henry's agents, some of which may have been

true. The monks were some-
times indolent and sometimes
violated their pledges to lead
a good life. Nevertheless as
a body they were kind
landlords, hospitable to the
stranger, and good to the poor.
The royal commissioners
took possession of the monas-
teries and their lands and sold
every article upon which they
could lay hands, including the
bells and even the lead on the
roofs. The picturesque re-
mains of some of the great
abbey churches are still among

This interesting sketch was made be- the chief objects of interest to
fore Edward became king; he could
have been scarcely six years old, as
Holbein died in 1543

EDWARD VI. (By HOLBEIN)

the sight-seer in England.
549. Henry VIIFs Third

Marriage and the Birth of
Edward VI. Henry's family troubles by no means came to an
end with his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Of her too he soon tired,
and three years after their marriage he had her executed on a
series of monstrous charges. The very next day he married his
third wife, Jane Seymour, who was the mother of his son and suc-
cessor, Edward VI. It was arranged that should Edward die
leaving no heirs to the throne he should be succeeded by Mary,
Henry's daughter by his first wife, Catherine, and that Elizabeth,
the daughter of Anne Boleyn, should be next in line of succes-
sion. Henry's death in 1547 left the great problem of Protes-
.tantism and Catholicism to be settled by his son and daughters.

Protestant Revolt in Switzerland and England 325

III. ENGLAND BECOMES PROTESTANT

550. Edward VI's Ministers introduce Protestant Practices.
While the revolt of England against the papacy was carried
through by the government at a time when the greater part of
the nation was still Catholic, there was undoubtedly, under
Henry VIII, an ever-increasing number of aggressive and ardent
Protestants who approved the change. During the six years of
the boy Edward's reign he died in 1553 at the age of sixteen
those in charge of the government favored the Protestant party
and did what they could to change the faith of the people by
bringing Protestant teachers from the Continent.

A general destruction of all the sacred images was ordered ; even
the beautiful stained glass, the glory of the cathedrals, was
demolished, because it often represented saints and angels. The
king was to appoint bishops, and Protestants began to be put into
the high offices of the Church. Parliament decreed that thereafter
the clergy should be free to marry.

551. Queen Mary (isss-isss) and the Catholic Restoration.
Edward VI was succeeded in 1553 by his half sister Mary, the
daughter of Catherine, who had been brought up in the Catholic
faith and held firmly to it. Her ardent hope of bringing her king-
dom back once more to her religion did not seem altogether ill-
founded, for the majority of the people were still Catholics at
heart, and many who were not Catholics disapproved of the policy
of Edward's ministers, who had removed abuses "in the devil's
own way, by breaking in pieces."

The Catholic cause appeared, moreover, to be strengthened by
Mary's marriage with the Spanish prince, Philip II, the son of
the orthodox Charles V. But although Philip later distinguished
himself, as we shall see, by the merciless way in which he strove
to put down heresy within his own realms, the English took care
that he should have no hand in the government nor by any means
be permitted to succeed his wife on the English throne.

Mary succeeded in bringing about a nominal reconciliation be-
tween England and the Roman Church. In 1554 the papal legate

326

General History of Europe

restored to the communion of the Catholic Church the "Kneeling"

Parliament, which theoretically, of course, represented the nation.

During the last four years of Mary's reign the most serious

religious persecution in English history occurred. No less than

QUEEN MARY. (BY ANTONIO MORO)

This lifelike portrait, in the Madrid collection, is by a favorite painter of
Philip II, Mary's husband. It was painted about 1554, and one gets the same
impressions of Mary's character from the portrait that one does from reading

about her

two hundred and seventy-seven persons were put to death for
denying the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The ma-
jority of the victims were humble artisans and husbandmen.
It was Mary's intention and belief that the heretics sent to the
stake would furnish a terrible warning to the Protestants and
tend to check the spread of the new teachings, but Catholicism
was not promoted ; on the contrary, doubters were only convinced

Protestant Revolt in Switzerland and England 327

of the deep earnestness of the Protestants who could die so bravely
for their faith.

The Catholics, in turn, later suffered serious persecution under
Elizabeth and James I, the Protestant successors of Mary. Death
was the penalty fixed in many cases for those who obstinately
refused to recognize the monarch as the rightful head of the Eng-
lish Church, and heavy fines were imposed for the failure to
attend Protestant worship. Two hundred Catholic priests are said
to have been executed under Elizabeth, Mary's sister, who suc-
ceeded her on the throne ; others were tortured or perished miser-
ably in prison.

QUESTIONS

I. Give an account of the Swiss Confederation. What part did
Zwingli play in the revolt against the Church ? Give a brief account
of John Calvin.

II. What was the cause of the withdrawal of England from the con-
trol of the Pope ? How did Henry VIII prove he was not a Protestant ?
Give an account of the dissolution of the monasteries.

III. Under what ruler did England first become a Protestant coun-
try ? Give an account of the Catholic restoration under Queen Mary.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE WARS OF RELIGION

I. THE COUNCIL OF TRENT; THE JESUITS

552. Council of Trent ( 1545-1563). In the preceding chapters
we have seen how northern Germany, England, and portions of
Switzerland revolted from the papacy and established independent
Protestant churches. A great part of western Europe, however,
remained faithful to the Pope and to the old beliefs which had
been accepted for so many centuries. In order to consider the
important matter of reforming the Catholic Church and to settle
disputed questions of religious belief a great Church council was
summoned by the Pope to meet in Trent, on the boundary of
Germany and Italy, in the year 1545.

The Council of Trent did not complete its work for nearly
twenty years. It naturally condemned the Protestant beliefs so
far as they differed from the views held by the Catholics, and it
sanctioned those doctrines which the Catholic Church still holds.
It accepted the Pope as the head of the Church; it declared
accursed anyone who, like Luther, believed that man would be
saved by faith in God's promises alone, for the Church held
that man, with God's help, could increase his hope of salvation
by good works. The ancient Latin translation of the Bible
the Vulgate, as it is called was proclaimed the standard of
belief, and no one was to publish any views about the Bible
differing from those approved by the Church.

553. The Index. At the Council's suggestion the Pope's
officials compiled a list of works which Catholics were not to
read lest their faith in the doctrines of the Church should be
disturbed. Similar lists have been printed since from time to

328

The Wars of Religion 329

time down to our own day. The establishment of this Index of
Prohibited Books was one of the Council's most famous acts.

554. Results of the Reform of the Catholic Church. Al-
though the Council of Trent would make no compromises with
the Protestants, it took measures to do away with certain evils
of which both Protestants and devout Catholics complained.
The bishops were ordered to preach regularly and to see that
only good men were ordained priests. A great improvement
actually took place better men were placed in office, and many
practices which had formerly irritated the people were perma-
nently abolished.

555. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1555). The Catholic Church was
further greatly strengthened by the rise of a powerful organiza-
tion pledged to the support of the Pope and the Catholic teach-
ings. This was the " Society of Jesus/' or Jesuits, founded by a
Spaniard, Ignatius Loyola. In 1538 he had summoned his fol-
lowers to Rome, and there he received the sanction of the Pope.
Loyola had been a soldier in his younger days and, therefore, laid
great stress upon absolute and unquestioning obedience. Not only
were all the members of the new association to obey the Pope as
Christ's representative on earth, and to undertake without hesita-
tion any journey, no matter how distant or perilous, which he
might command, but each was to obey his superiors in the order
as if he were receiving directions from Christ in person. The
admirable organization and incomparable discipline of this society
were the great secret of the later influence of the Jesuits.

556. Activities of the Jesuits. The members were to pledge
themselves to lead a pure life of poverty and devotion. A great
number of the members were priests, who went about preaching,
hearing confession, and encouraging devotional exercises. But
the Jesuits were teachers as well as preachers and confessors.
They clearly perceived the advantage of bringing young people
under their influence; they opened schools and seminaries and
soon became the schoolmasters of Catholic Europe. So successful
were their methods of instruction that even Protestants sometimes
sent their children to their schools.

330

General History of Europe

The Jesuits rapidly spread not only over Europe but throughout
the whole world. Francis Xavier, one of Loyola's original little
band, went to Hindustan, the Moluccas, and Japan. Brazil,
Florida, Mexico, and Peru were soon fields of active missionary
work at a time when Protestants as yet scarcely dreamed of

PRINCIPAL JESUIT CHURCH IN VENICE

The Jesuits believed in erecting magnificent churches. This is a good ex-
ample. The walls are inlaid with green marble in an elaborate pattern, and
all the furnishings are very rich and gorgeous

carrying Christianity to the heathen. We owe to the Jesuits'
reports much of our knowledge of the condition of America when
white men first began to explore Canada and the Mississippi
Valley.

557. Accusations brought against the Jesuits. Protestants
soon realized that the new order was their most powerful and
dangerous enemy. Their apprehensions produced a bitter hatred
which blinded them to the high purposes of the founders of the

The Wars of Religion 331

order and led them to attribute an evil purpose to every act of the
Jesuits. They were popularly supposed to justify the most deceit-
ful and immoral measures on the ground that the result would
be "for the greater glory of God." 1

II. PHILIP II AND THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS

558. Division of the Hapsburg Possessions. The chief ally
of the Pope and the Jesuits in their efforts to check Protestantism
was the son of Emperor Charles V, Philip II of Spain. Charles V,
crippled with the gout and old before his time, laid down the
cares of government in 1555-1556. To his brother, Ferdinand,
who had acquired by marriage the kingdoms of Bohemia and
Hungary, Charles had earlier transferred the German possessions
of the Hapsburgs. To his son, Philip II (1556-1598), he gave
Spain with its great American colonies, Milan, the kingdom of
the Two Sicilies, and the Netherlands (see table, p. 306 n.).

559. The Netherlands. The Netherlands, which were to cause
Philip his first and greatest trouble, included seventeen provinces
which Charles V had inherited from his grandmother, Mary of
Burgundy ( 516). They occupied the position on the map
where we now find the kingdoms of Holland and Belgium. In
the north the hardy Germanic population had been able, by
means of dikes which kept out the sea, to reclaim large tracts
of lowlands. Here considerable cities had grown up Harlem,
Leyden, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam. To the south were the
flourishing towns of Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, and Antwerp, which
had for hundreds of years been centers of manufacture and trade.

560. Philip IPs Harsh Attitude toward the Netherlands;
Alva. Philip did everything to alienate all classes in the Nether-
lands and to increase their natural hatred and lively suspicion of

1 As time went on the Jesuits found themselves involved in difficulties with the vari-
ous European governments, largely because in the eighteenth century they undertook
great commercial enterprises, and for this and other reasons lost the confidence of even
the Catholics. Convinced that the order had outgrown its usefulness, the Pope abolished
it in 1773, I* was > however, restored in 1814 and now again has thousands of members.

332

General History of Europe

the Spaniards. What was still worse, he proposed that the In-
quisition ( 399, 511) should carry on its work far more actively
than hitherto and put an end to the heresy which appeared to
him to defile his fair realms.

For ten years the people suffered Philip's rule; nevertheless
their king, instead of listening to the protests of their leaders, who

were quite as earnest
Catholics as himself, ap-
peared to be bent on the
destruction of the land.
So in 1566 some five
hundred of the nobles
ventured to protest
against Philip's policy.

Thereupon Philip took
a step which led finally
to the revolt of the Neth-
erlands. He decided to
put down the rebellion
by dispatching to the low
countries the remorseless
duke of Alva, whose con-
duct has made his name
synonymous with blind
and unmeasured cruelty.
Alva's administration from 1567 to 1573 and the atrocities of his
rough soldiers produced a veritable reign of terror.

561. William of Orange, called the Silent (1534-1534). The
Netherlands found a leader in William, Prince of Orange. He
is a national hero whose career bears a striking resemblance to
that of Washington. Like the American patriot, he undertook
the seemingly hopeless task of freeing his people from the oppres-
sive rule of a distant king. To the Spaniards he appeared to be
only an impoverished nobleman at the head of a handful of
armed peasants and fishermen, contending against the sovereign
of the richest realm in the world.

PHILIP II. (Bv ANTONIO MORO)

The. Wars of Religion 333

William found his main support in the northern provinces, of,
which Holland was the chief. The Dutch, who had very generally
accepted Protestant teachings, were purely German in blood,
while the people of the southern provinces, who adhered (as
they still do) to the Roman Catholic faith, were more akin to
the population of northern France.

The Spanish soldiers found little trouble in defeating the troops
which William collected. Like Washington, he seemed to lose al-
most every battle and yet was never conquered. The first successes
of the Dutch were gained by their bold mariners, who captured
Spanish ships and sold them in Protestant England. Encouraged
by this, many of the towns in the northern provinces of Holland
and Zealand ventured to choose William as their governor, al-
though they did not throw off their allegiance to Philip. In this
way these two provinces became the nucleus of the United
Netherlands.

562. Origin of the Dutch Republic. Alva recaptured a number
of the revolted towns and treated their inhabitants with his cus-
tomary cruelty ; even women and children were slaughtered in
cold blood. But instead of quenching the rebellion he aroused the
Catholic southern provinces to revolt.

This revolt was, however, only temporary. Wiser and more
moderate governors were sent by Philip to the Netherlands, and
they soon succeeded in again winning the confidence of the south-
ern Catholic provinces. So the northern provinces went their own
way. Guided by William the Silent, they refused to consider the
idea of again recognizing Philip as their king. In 1579 seven
provinces, all lying north of the mouths of the Rhine and the
Scheldt, formed the new and firmer Union of Utrecht. The arti-
cles of this union served as a constitution for the United Prov-
inces, or Dutch Republic, which, two years later, at last formally
declared itself independent of Spain.

563. Assassination of William the Silent. Philip realized
that William was the soul of the revolt and that without him it
might be put down. The king therefore offered to confer a title
of nobility and a large sum of money on anyone who should

334 General History of Europe

make way with the Dutch patriot. After several unsuccessful
attempts, William, who had been chosen hereditary governor of
the United Provinces, was shot in his house at Delft, 1584. He
died praying the Lord to have pity upon his soul and "on this
poor people."

564. Independence of the United Provinces. The Dutch had
long hoped for aid from Queen Elizabeth or from the French, but
had heretofore been disappointed. At last the English queen
sent troops to their assistance. Elizabeth's policy so enraged
Philip that he at last decided to attempt the conquest of Eng-
land. The destruction of the "Armada," the great fleet which
he equipped for that purpose ( 581), interfered with further
attempts to subjugate the United Provinces, which might other-
wise have failed to maintain their liberty. Moreover, Spain's
resources were being rapidly exhausted, and the State was on the
verge of bankruptcy in spite of the wealth which she had been
drawing from across the sea. But even though Spain had to sur-
render the hope of winning back the lost provinces, which now
became a small but important European power, she refused for-
mally to acknowledge their independence until 1648 (Peace of
Westphalia, 589, 590).

III. THE HUGUENOT WARS IN FRANCE

565. Beginnings of Protestantism in France. The history
of France during the latter part of the sixteenth century is little
more than a chronicle of a long and bloody series of civil wars
between the Catholics and Protestants.

Francis I had no special interest in religious matters, but he
was shocked by an act of desecration ascribed to the Protestants,
and in consequence forbade the circulation of Protestant books.
About 1535 several adherents of the new faith were burned, and
Calvin was forced to flee to Basel, where he prepared a defense
of his beliefs which he published as a sort of preface to his famous
Institute of Christianity ( 543). Francis finally became so in-
tolerant that he ordered the massacre of three thousand defenseless

The Wars oj Religion 335

peasants who dwelt on the slopes of the Alps, and whose only
offense was adherence to the simple teachings of the Waldensians

(39 6 )-
Francis's son, Henry II (1547-1559), swore to extirpate the

Protestants, and hundreds of them were burned. He was acci-
dentally killed and left his kingdom to three weak sons, the last
scions of the house of Valois, who succeeded him in turn during
a period of unprecedented civil war and public calamity.

When his second son, Charles IX (1560-1574), came to the
throne he was but ten years old, so that his mother, Catherine
of Medici, of the famous Florentine family, claimed the right to
conduct the government for her son until he reached manhood.

566. The Huguenots and their Political Aims. By this
time the Protestants in France had become a powerful party.
They were known as Huguenots 1 and accepted the religious
teachings of their fellow countryman Calvin. Many of them,
including their great leader Coligny, belonged to the nobility.
They had a strong support in the king of the little realm of
Navarre, on the southern boundary of France. He belonged to
a side line of the French royal house, known as the Bourbons,
who were later to occupy the French throne. It was inevitable
that the Huguenots should try to get control of the government,
and they consequently formed a political as well as a religious
party and were often fighting, in the main, for worldly ends.

567. Opening of the Huguenot Wars (1562). As the duke of
Guise an ardent Catholic nobleman was passing through the
town of Vassy on a Sunday he found a thousand Huguenots
assembled in a barn for worship. The duke's followers rudely
interrupted the service, and a tumult arose in which the troops
killed a considerable number of the defenseless multitude. The
news of this massacre aroused the Huguenots and was the be-
ginning of a war which continued, broken only by short truces,
for over thirty years. As in the other religious wars of the
time, both sides exhibited inhuman cruelty. For a generation
there were burnings, pillage, and atrocities throughout the realm.

1 The origin of this name is uncertain.

336

General History of Europe

France renewed in civil war all the horrors of the English inva-
sions of the Hundred Years' War.

568. Massacre of St. Bartholomew (1572). For a time Charles
IX and his mother, Catherine of Medici, established friendly
terms with the great Huguenot leader Coligny, who even became

a sort of prime minister.
He was anxious that both
Catholics and Huguenots
should join in a great na-
tional war against France's
old enemy the Hapsburgs
of Spain. The strict Cath-
olic party of the Guises
frustrated this plan by a
most fearful expedient.
They easily induced Cath-
erine of Medici to believe
that she was being de-
ceived by Coligny, and an
assassin was engaged to
put him out of the way ;
but the scoundrel missed
his aim and only wounded
his victim. Fearful lest
the young king, who was
faithful to Coligny, should
discover her part in the attempted murder, Catherine invented
a story of a great Huguenot conspiracy. It was arranged that at
a given signal a general massacre of the Huguenots should begin
on the eve of St. Bartholomew's Day (August 23, 1572). No less
than two thousand Protestants were ruthlessly murdered in Paris
before the end of the next day. The news of this attack spread
into the provinces, and it is probable that, at the very least, ten
thousand more Protestants were put to death outside of the capital.

569. Henry IV ( 1589-ieio ) accepts the Catholic Faith. Civil
war again broke out and was accompanied by a complicated

HENRY IV OF FRANCE

This spirited portrait of Henry of Na-
varre gives an excellent impression of his
geniality and good sense

The Wars of Religion 337

struggle between claimants of the throne of France, as a result
of which the Huguenot Henry of Navarre ascended the throne as
Henry IV in 1589.

The new king had many enemies, and his kingdom was devas-
tated and demoralized by years of war. He soon saw that he
must accept the religion of the majority of his people if he wished
to reign over them. He accordingly asked to be readmitted to
the Catholic Church (1593), excusing himself on the ground that
"Paris was worth a Mass." He did not forget his old friends,
however, and in 1598 he issued the Edict of Nantes, which insured
by law some protection for the Protestants.

570. The Edict of Nantes. By this edict of toleration the
Calvinists were permitted to hold services in all the towns and
villages where they had previously held them, but in Paris and a
number of other towns all Protestant services were prohibited.
The Protestants were to enjoy the same political rights as Catholics
and to be eligible to government offices. A number of fortified
towns were to remain in the hands of the Huguenots, where they
could defend themselves if attacked.

571. Ministry of Sully. Henry IV chose Sully, an upright
and able Calvinist, for his chief minister. Sully set to work to
reestablish the kingly power, which had suffered greatly under
the last three brothers of the house of Valois.

In 1610 Henry IV, like William the Silent, was assassinated
just in the midst of his greatest usefulness to his country. Sully
could not agree with the regent, Henry's widow, and so gave up
his position and retired to private life.

572. Richelieu. Before many years Richelieu, perhaps the
greatest minister France has ever had, rose to power, and from
1624 to his death in 1642 he governed France for Henry IV's son,
Louis XIII (1610-1643). Unlike Sully he was a Catholic and
was made a cardinal by the Church. He reduced the power of the
Huguenots by depriving them of their fortified towns, not so much
on religious grounds as on account of the danger they had become
to the king's power. Something will be said of his policy in con-
nection with the Thirty Years' War (588).

338 General History of Europe

IV. ENGLAND UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH

573. England under Elizabeth (isss-ieos). The long and
disastrous civil war between Catholics and Protestants which
desolated France in the sixteenth century had happily no counter-
part in England. During her long reign Queen Elizabeth suc-
ceeded not only in maintaining peace at home but in repelling the
attacks which threatened her realm from without.

A wealthy middle class was growing up in England who made
their money in sheep raising, manufacture, and commerce. English
trade was greatly extended, and the bold mariners of Elizabeth's
time sailed about the whole globe, seeking new routes, capturing
Spanish ships, plundering Spanish colonies, and sometimes engag-
ing in the horrible traffic in negro slaves, which they seized in
Africa and sold in the Americas.

Houses were more comfortable than they had been, and those
who could afford them wore very fine clothes. Wines were imported
from the Continent, and tobacco was introduced, but coffee and
tea were as yet unknown in England. Pewter plates and spoons
began to replace the wooden ones, and chimneys and window
glass rendered houses comfortable. Mattresses and pillows took
the place of straw pallets and the wooden billets formerly used.
People continued, however, to eat with knives or with their fingers,
for forks did not come in until later.

But while the sheep raising made a few rich, it impoverished
many small farmers whose land fell into the hands of those who
inclosed it for grazing tracts. The "inclosures" also included
stretches of "commons," on which farmers and laborers had for-
merly pastured their animals free of charge. The inclosures caused
great hardship during the whole sixteenth century, and paupers
and tramps so increased that laws had to be passed to provide
for them. The poor law enacted at the close of Elizabeth's reign
was in force down to the nineteenth century.

Elizabeth's reign was celebrated for its great writers, like
Shakespeare, Bacon, and Spenser. Poetry, the drama, and science
all flourished ( 595, 596, 599).

PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH

Elizabeth, the first woman to rule England, deemed herself a very handsome

and imposing person. She was fond of fine clothes and doubtless had on

her best when she sat for her portrait

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND DARNLEY

Mary had been married to the heir to the French throne when she was six-
teen. Her French husband, Francis II, died less than three years after. She
then returned to Scotland and married her cousin Lord Darnley in 1565,
when she was twenty-three years old

The Wars of Religion 339

574. Elizabeth establishes the Church of England. Upon the
death of Queen Mary (551), in 1558, the English government
became once more Protestant. Queen Elizabeth had a new revised
edition issued of the Book of Common Prayer which had been
prepared in the time of her half brother, Edward VI. This con-
tained the services which the government ordered to be performed
in all the churches of England. All her subjects were required to
accept the queen's views and to go to church, and ministers were
to use no other than the official prayer book. Elizabeth did not
adopt the Presbyterian system advocated by Calvin but retained
many features of the Catholic Church, including the bishops and
archbishops. So the Anglican Church, as it was called, followed a
middle path halfway between the Lutherans and Calvinists on the
one hand and the Catholics on the other.

Elizabeth's first Parliament gave the sovereign the powers of
supreme head of the Church of England, although the title, which
her father, Henry VIII, had assumed, was not revived.

The Church of England still exists in much the same form
in which it was established in the first years of Elizabeth's reign,
and the prayer book is still used, although Englishmen are no
longer required to attend church and may hold any religious views
they please without being interfered with by the government.

575. Presbyterian Church established in Scotland. Conditions
in Scotland caused much trouble for Elizabeth. There, shortly
after her accession, the ancient Catholic Church was abolished,
for the nobles were anxious to get the lands of the bishops into
their own hands and enjoy the revenue from them. John Knox,
a veritable second Calvin in his stern energy, secured the intro-
duction of the Presbyterian form of faith and church government
which still prevails in Scotland.

576. Mary Stuart, the Scotch Queen, the Hope of the Catho-
lics. In 1561 the Scotch queen, Mary Stuart, whose French hus-
band, Francis II, had just died, landed at Leith. She was but
nineteen years old, of great beauty and charm, and, by reason
of her Catholic faith and French training, almost a foreigner to
her subjects. Her grandmother was a sister of Henry VIII, and

340 General History of Europe

Mary claimed to be the rightful heiress to the English throne
should Elizabeth die childless. Consequently the beautiful Queen
of Scots became the hope of all those who wished to bring back
England and Scotland to the Roman Catholic faith. Chief among
these were Philip II of Spain and the powerful French family, the
Guises ( 567, 568), to which Mary's mother had belonged.

Mary quickly discredited herself with both Protestants and
Catholics by her conduct. She was suspected of being implicated
in the death of her second husband, Lord Darnley, in order to
marry a nobleman named Bothwell. How far Mary was responsible
for her husband's death no one can be sure. It is certain that she
later married Bothwell and that her indignant subjects thereupon
deposed 'her as a murderess. After fruitless attempts to regain
her power she abdicated in favor of her infant son, James VI, and
then fled to England to appeal to Elizabeth. While the prudent
Elizabeth denied the right of the Scotch to depose their queen,
she was afraid of her claims and took good care to keep her rival
practically a prisoner.

577. The Rising in the North (1559) and Catholic Plans for
deposing Elizabeth. As time went on it became increasingly
difficult for Elizabeth to adhere to her policy of moderation in
the treatment of the Catholics. A rising in the north of England
(1569) showed that there were many who would gladly reestab-
lish the Catholic faith by freeing Mary and placing her on the
English throne. This was followed by the excommunication of
Elizabeth by the Pope, who at the same time absolved her sub-
jects from their allegiance to their heretical ruler. Happily for
Elizabeth the rebels could look for no help either from Philip II
or the French king. The Spaniards had their hands full, for
the war in the Netherlands had just begun; and Charles IX,
who had accepted Coligny as his adviser, was at that moment in
hearty accord with the Huguenots. The rising in the North was
suppressed, but the English Catholics continued to look to Philip
for help. They opened correspondence with Alva and invited
him to come with six thousand Spanish troops to dethrone Eliza-
beth and make Mary Stuart queen of England in her stead.

The Wars of Religion 341

Alva hesitated, for he thought that it would be better to kill
Elizabeth, or at least capture her. Meanwhile the plot was dis-
covered and came to naught.

578. Relations between England and Catholic Ireland. One
hope of the Catholics has not yet been mentioned, namely,
Ireland, whose relations with England from very early times down
to the present day form one of the most tragic pages in the
history of Europe. The population was divided into numerous
clans, and their chieftains fought constantly with one another as
well as with the English, who were vainly endeavoring to subju-
gate the island.

Several attempts were made by Catholic leaders to land troops
in Ireland with the purpose of making the island the base for an
attack on England. Elizabeth's officers were able to frustrate
these enterprises, but the resulting disturbances greatly increased
the misery of the Irish. In 1582 no less than thirty thousand
people are said to have perished, chiefly from starvation.

579. Persecution of the English Catholics. Two Jesuits were
sent to England in 1580 to encourage the adherents of their faith.
Parliament now grew more intolerant and ordered fines and im-
prisonment to be inflicted on those who said or heard Mass or
who refused to attend the English services. One of the Jesuit
emissaries was cruelly tortured and executed for treason, the other
escaped to the Continent. In the spring of 1582 the first attempt
by the Catholics to assassinate the heretical queen was made at
Philip's instigation. It was proposed that when Elizabeth was
out of the way an army should be sent to England to support
the Catholics.

580. Execution of Mary Queen of Scots (iss?). Mary Queen
of Scots did not live to witness the attempt. She became impli-
cated in another plot for the assassination of Elizabeth. Parlia-
ment now realized that as long as Mary lived Elizabeth's life was
in constant danger; whereas if Mary were out of the way,
Philip II would have no interest in the death of Elizabeth, since
Mary's son, James VI of Scotland, who would succeed Elizabeth
on the English throne, was a Protestant. Elizabeth was therefore

342 General History of Europe

reluctantly persuaded by her advisers to sign a warrant for Mary's
execution in 1587, and the Scotch queen was beheaded.

581. Destruction of the Spanish Armada (isss). Philip II,
however, by no means gave up his project of reclaiming Protes-
tant England. In 1588 he brought together a great fleet, includ-
ing his best and largest warships, which was proudly called by
the Spaniards the " Invincible Armada" (that is, fleet). This
was to sail through the English Channel to the Netherlands and
bring over the Spanish commander there and his veterans, who,
it was expected, would soon make an end of Elizabeth's raw
militia. The English ships were inferior to those of Spain in size,
although not in number, but they had trained commanders, such
as Francis Drake and Hawkins.

These famous captains had long sailed the Spanish Main and
knew how to use their cannon without getting near enough to
the Spaniards to suffer from their short-range weapons. When
the Armada approached it was permitted by the English fleet
to pass up the Channel before a strong wind, which later became
a storm. The English ships then followed, and both fleets were
driven past the coast of Flanders. Of the hundred and twenty
Spanish ships only fifty-four returned home; the rest had been
destroyed by English valor or by the gale, to which Elizabeth
herself ascribed the victory. The defeat of the Armada put an
end to the danger from Spain.

582. Failure of Philip IPs Policy. When Philip II died, in
1598, it was apparent that he had not succeeded in his cherished
purposes. England was permanently Protestant; the "Invincible
Armada" had been miserably wrecked, and Philip's plan for
bringing England once more within the fold of the Roman
Catholic Church was forever frustrated. In France the terrible
wars of religion were over, and a powerful king, lately a Protes-
tant himself, was on the throne, who not only tolerated the
Protestants but chose one of them for his chief minister and would
brook no more meddling of Spain in French affairs ( 569 ff.).
A new Protestant state, the United Netherlands (Holland), had
actually appeared within the bounds of the realm bequeathed to

The Wars of Religion 343

Philip by his father. In spite of its small size Holland was destined
to play, from that time on, quite as important a part in European
affairs as Spain, from whose control it had escaped.

Spain itself had suffered most of all from Philip's reign. His
domestic policy and his expensive wars had sadly weakened the
country. The income from across the sea was bound to decrease
as the mines were exhausted. After Philip IPs death Spain sank
to the rank of a secondary European power.

V. THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR

583. The Thirty Years' War really a Series of Wars. The
last great conflict caused by the differences between Catholics
and Protestants was fought out in Germany during the first half
of the seventeenth century. It is generally known as the Thirty
Years' War (1618-1648), but there was in reality a series of
wars ; and although the fighting was done upon German ter-
ritory, Sweden, France, and Spain played quite as important a
part in the struggle as the various German states.

584. Opening of the Thirty Years' War (leis). Since the
religious Peace of Augsburg, in 1555 (539), the Protestants
had increased in numbers, and the seizure of Church property
by the Protestant princes had continued. Bohemia and even
Austria contained many Protestants, and this was a source of
terrible anxiety to the Hapsburg rulers and their efficient helpers,
the Jesuits. Bohemia, in 1618, determined to call a Calvinist
prince from the Palatinate on the Rhine to be their king. But the
emperor was able to put the usurping ruler to flight after a reign
of a single winter.

This was regarded by the Protestants as a serious defeat, and
the Protestant king of Denmark decided to intervene. He re-
mained in Germany for four years, but was so badly beaten by
the emperor's able general Wallenstein that he retired from the
conflict in 1629.

585. The Edict of Restitution (1629). The emperor was en-
couraged by the successes of the Catholic armies in defeating

344 General History oj Europe

the Bohemian and Danish Protestant armies to issue that same
year an Edict of Restitution. In this he ordered the Protestants
throughout Germany to give back all the Church possessions
which they had seized since the religious Peace of Augsburg.
Moreover, he decreed that only the Lutherans might hold re-
ligious meetings; the other "sects," including the Calvinists,
were to be broken up. As Wallenstein was preparing to execute
this decree in his usual merciless fashion the war took a new turn,
owing to the intervention of Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden.

586. The Kingdom of Sweden. We have had no occasion hith-
erto to speak of the Scandinavian kingdoms of Norway, Sweden,
and Denmark, which the northern German peoples had estab-
lished about Charlemagne's time ; but from now on they begin
to take part in the affairs of central Europe. The Union of Cal-
mar (1397) had brought these three kingdoms, previously sep-
arate, under a single ruler. About the time that the Protestant
revolt began in Germany the union was broken by the withdrawal
of Sweden, which became an independent kingdom. Gustavus
Vasa, a Swedish noble, led the movement and was later chosen
king of Sweden (1523). In the same year Protestantism was
introduced. Vasa confiscated the Church lands, got the better of
the nobles, who had formerly made the kings a great deal
of trouble, and started Sweden on its way toward national
greatness.

587. Gustavus Adolphus invades Germany. Gustavus Adol-
phus undoubtedly hoped by invading Germany not only to free his
fellow Protestants from the oppression of the emperor and of the
Catholic League but to gain a strip of German territory for Swe-
den. Near Leipzig he met and routed the army of the League.

At this juncture Wallenstein collected a new army, over which
he was given absolute command. After some delay Gustavus met
Wallenstein on the field of Liitzen, in November, 1632, where,
after a fierce struggle, the Swedes gained the victory. But they
lost their leader and Protestantism its hero, for the Swedish king
ventured too far into the lines of the enemy and was surrounded
and killed.

The Wars of Religion

345

The Swedes did not, however, retire from Germany, but con-
tinued to participate in the war, which now degenerated into a
series of raids by leaders whose soldiers depopulated the land
by their unspeakable atrocities. Wallenstein, who had long been
detested even by the Catholics, was deserted by his soldiers and
murdered (in 1634), to
the great relief of all
parties.

588. Richelieu re-
news the Struggle of
France against the
Hapsburgs. At this mo-
ment Richelieu (572)
decided that it would
be to the interest of
France to renew the old
struggle with the Haps-
burgs by sending troops
against the emperor.
France was still shut in,
as she had been since
the time of Charles V,
by the Hapsburg lands.

So the war was renewed PORTRAIT OF CARDINAL RICHELIEU. (FROM
in 1635, and French, A CONTEMPORANEOUS PAINTING)

Swedish, Spanish, and

German soldiers ravaged an already exhausted country for a decade
longer. The dearth of provisions was so great that the armies had
to move quickly from place to place in order to avoid starvation.

589. Close of the Thirty Years' War (i64s). The participants
in the war were now so numerous and their objects so various
and conflicting that it is not strange that it required some years
to arrange the conditions of peace, even after everyone was
ready for it. For four years the representatives of the several
powers worked upon the difficult problem of satisfying everyone,
but at last the treaties of Westphalia were signed late in 1648.

346 General History of Europe

590. Provisions of the Treaties of Westphalia. The religious
troubles in Germany were settled by extending the toleration of
the Peace of Augsburg so as to include the Calvinists as well as
the Lutherans. The Protestant princes were to retain the lands
which they had in their possession in the year 1624, regardless
of the Edict of Restitution, and each ruler was still to have the
right to determine the religion of his state. The practical dissolu-
tion of the Holy Roman Empire was acknowledged by permitting
the individual states to make treaties among themselves and with
foreign powers ; this was equivalent to recognizing the independ-
ence which they had, as a matter of fact, already long enjoyed.
While portions of northern Germany were ceded to Sweden, this
territory did not cease to form nominally a part of the Empire, for
Sweden was thereafter to have three votes in the German diet.

The emperor also ceded to France three important towns
Metz, Verdun, and Toul and all his rights in Alsace, although
the city of Strassburg was to remain with the Empire. Lastly,
the independence both of the United Netherlands and of Switzer-
land was acknowledged.

591. Disastrous Results of the War in Germany. The ac-
counts of the misery and depopulation of Germany caused by the
Thirty Years' War are well-nigh incredible. Thousands of vil-
lages were wiped out altogether ; in some regions the population
was reduced by one half, in others to a third, or even less, of
what it had been at the opening of the conflict. The people were
fearfully barbarized by privation and suffering and by the atroc-
ities of the soldiers of all the various nations. Until the end of the
eighteenth century Germany remained too impoverished to make
any considerable contribution to the culture of Europe.

Among the German rulers the hitherto rather unimportant elec-
tors of Brandenburg, of the House of Hohenzollern, were just be-
ginning to build up a power destined in our own days to cause
untold disaster. Hohenzollern rulers created the kingdom of
Prussia in the eighteenth century, humbled both France and the
Hapsburgs in the nineteenth, and finally so overreached themselves
in the twentieth century that they lost their throne altogether.

The Wars of Religion 347

VI. THE BEGINNINGS OF OUR SCIENTIFIC AGE

592. The New Science. The battles of the Thirty Years' War
are now well-nigh forgotten, and few people are interested in
Wallenstein and Gustavus Adolphus. It seems as if the war did
little but destroy men's lives and property, and that no great
ends were accomplished by all the suffering it involved. But
during the years that it raged certain men were quietly devoting
themselves to scientific research which was to change the world
more than all the battles that have ever been fought. These men
adopted a new method. They perceived that the books of ancient
writers, especially Aristotle, which were used as textbooks in the
universities, were full of statements that could not be proved.
They maintained that the only way to advance science was to set
to work and try experiments, and by careful thought and investi-
gation to determine the laws of nature without regard to what
previous generations had believed.

593. The Discovery of Copernicus. The Polish astronomer
Copernicus published a work in 1543 in which he refuted the old
idea that the sun and all the stars revolved around the earth as
a center, as was then taught in all the universities. He showed
that, on the contrary, the sun was the center about which the
earth and the rest of the planets revolved, and that the reason that
the stars seem to go around the earth each day is because our
globe revolves on its axis. Although Copernicus had been en-
couraged to write his book by a cardinal and had dedicated it to
the Pope, the Catholic as well as the Protestant theologians de-
clared that the new theory contradicted the teachings of the Bible,
and they therefore rejected it. But we know now that Copernicus
was right and the theologians and universities wrong.

594. Galileo. The Italian scientist Galileo (1564-1642), by
the use of a little telescope he contrived, was able, in 1610, to see
the spots on the sun ; these indicated that the sun was not, as
Aristotle had taught, a perfect, unchanging body, and showed
also that it revolved on its axis, as Copernicus had guessed that
the earth did. Galileo made careful experiments by dropping

348 General History of Europe

objects from the leaning tower of Pisa, which proved that Aristotle
was wrong in assuming that a body weighing a hundred pounds
fell a hundred times as fast as a body weighing but one. He
wrote in Italian as well as in Latin. His opponents might have

GALILEO

forgiven him had he written only for the learned, but they thought
it highly dangerous to have the new ideas set forth in such a way
that the people at large might come to doubt what the theologians
and universities were teaching. Galileo was finally summoned be-
fore the Inquisition ; some of his theories were condemned, and
he was imprisoned by the Church authorities.

The Wars of Religion

349

595. Francis Bacon's New Atlantis. Francis Bacon, an Eng-
lish lawyer and government official, spent his spare hours in
explaining how men could increase their knowledge. He too wrote
in his native tongue as well as in Latin. He was the most eloquent
representative of the new

science which renounced
authority and relied upon
experiment, " We are the
ancients," he declared,
not those who lived long
ago when the world was
young and men ignorant.
Late in life he began to
write a little book, which
he never finished, called
the New Atlantis. It
describes an imaginary
state which some Euro-
pean mariners were sup-
posed to have discovered
on an island in the Pa-
cific Ocean. The chief
institution was a " House
of Solomon," a great
laboratory for carrying
on scientific investigation
in the hope of discovering
new facts and using them
for bettering the condi-
tion of the inhabitants. This House of Solomon became a model
for the Royal Society, established in London some fifty years after
Bacon's death. It still exists and publishes its proceedings.

596. Scientific Societies Founded. The earliest societies for
scientific research grew up in Italy. Later the English Royal
Society and the French Institute were established, as well as
similar associations in Germany. These were the first things of

LORD BACON

3 so General History of Europe

the kind in the history of the world except perhaps the ancient
Museum at Alexandria ( 170). Their object was not, like that
of the old Greek schools of philosophy and the medieval universi-
ties, mainly to hand down and explain the knowledge derived from
the past, but to find out what had never been known before.

We have seen how in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
new inventions were made, such as the compass, paper, specta-
cles, gunpowder, and, in the fifteenth century, the printing press.
But in the seventeenth century progress began to be much more
rapid, and an era of invention opened, in the midst of which we
still live. The microscope and telescope made it possible to dis-
cover innumerable scientific truths that were hidden from the
Greeks and Romans. In time this scientific advance produced a
spirit of reform, also new in the world.

QUESTIONS

I. What means did the Catholics take to reform the Church ? Give
an account of the famous Council of Trent. What was accomplished
by the Council? What is the Index? Describe the founding of the
order of Jesuits. What were its aim and policy ?

II. Describe the revolt of the Netherlands. What was the character
of Philip II ? Give an account of the leadership of William of Orange.
What was the origin of the Dutch Republic ?

III. Describe the beginnings of Protestantism in France. Describe
the struggle of the Huguenots with the Catholics. Describe the Mas-
sacre of St. Bartholomew. What was the attitude of Henry IV toward
the Protestants? What were the provisions of the Edict of Nantes?

IV. What religious settlement was made by Queen Elizabeth ? De-
scribe the characteristics of the Anglican Church. In what way did
Mary Stuart threaten the power of Elizabeth? Describe the destruc-
tion of the Armada.

V. Give a brief account of the Thirty Years' War. Tell what you
can of Richelieu. What were the provisions of the treaties of West-
phalia? What were the results of the war on Germany?

VI. What was the great discovery made by Copernicus ? What
discoveries were made by Galileo? Why was the Church opposed to
the teachings of these men? What do you know of Francis Bacon?
Give an account of the founding of scientific societies.

BOOK VII. THE SEVENTEENTH AND
EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

CHAPTER XXVIII

STRUGGLE IN ENGLAND BETWEEN KING AND
PARLIAMENT

I. THE STUARTS AND THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS

597. Accession of James I of England (leoa) ; the Stuarts.
On the death of Elizabeth in 1603 James I ascended the throne.
It will be remembered that he was the son of Mary Stuart, Queen
of Scots, and through her he was a descendant of Henry VIII. In
Scotland he reigned as James VI ; consequently the two king-
doms were now brought together under the same ruler.

The chief interest of the period of the Stuarts, which be-
gan with the accession of James I and ended with the flight
from England of his grandson, James II, eighty-five years later,
is the long and bitter struggle between the Stuart kings and
Parliament. The vital question was, Should the Stuart kings,
who claimed to be God's representatives on earth, do as they
thought fit, or should Parliament control them and the govern-
ment of the country?

598. James I loved to discuss the King's Claims. James I
had a very irritating way of claiming to be the sole and supreme
ruler of England. He wrote a book in which he asserted that the
king could make any law he pleased without consulting Parlia-
ment ; that he was the master of every one of his subjects, high
and low, and might put to death whom he pleased. According
to the theory of "the divine right of kings" which James held,

352

General History of Europe

it had pleased God to appoint the monarch the father of his
people, who must obey him as they would God and ask no ques-
tions. The king was responsible to God alone, to whom he owed
his powers, not to Parliament or the nation.

599. Great Writers of James's Reign Shakespeare, Bacon,
Harvey. The writers of James's reign constituted its chief glory.

They outshone those of any
other European country.
Shakespeare is generally ad-
mitted to be the greatest
dramatist that the world
has produced. While he
wrote many of his plays be-
fore the death of Elizabeth,
some of his finest Othello,
King Lear, and the Tem-
pest, for example belong
to the time of James I.

At the same time Francis
Bacon (595) was making
his eloquent plea for modern
science. It was in James's
reign also that the English
translation of the Bible was
made which is still known
and is still published as
the authorized version in all countries where English is spoken.
An English physician of this period, William Harvey, examined
the workings of the human body more carefully than any previous
investigator and made the great discovery of the manner in which
the blood circulates from the heart through the arteries and
capillaries and back through the veins a matter which had
previously been entirely misunderstood.

600. Charles I (1625-1649) and his Struggle with Parliament.
Charles I, James's son and successor, did nothing to remove the dis-
agreeable impressions of his father's reign and began immediately

JAMES I

Struggle in England between King and Parliament 353

to quarrel with Parliament. When that body refused to grant
him funds, mainly because they thought that these were likely
to be wasted by his favorite, the duke of Buckingham, Charles
attempted, without the permission of
Parliament, to raise money in irreg-
ular ways, such as forcing loans from
his subjects and imprisoning those
who protested.

These and other attacks upon the
rights of his people led Parliament
to draw up, in 1628, the celebrated
Petition of Right, which is one of the
most important documents in the his-
tory of the English Constitution.
Parliament "humbly prayed" that no
man need thereafter be forced to
make any gift or loan to the king
without consent of Parliament ; that
no free man should be imprisoned
except according to the laws and
statutes of the realm as presented in
the Great Charter (377). Very re-
luctantly Charles consented to this
restatement of the limitations which
the English had always, in theory at
least, placed upon the powers of their
king.

The disagreement between Charles
and Parliament was rendered much
more serious by religious differences.
The king had married a French
Catholic princess, and the Catholic cause seemed to be gaining on
the Continent. There was evidently a growing inclination in Eng-
land to restore the older ceremonies of the Church which had
prevailed before the Protestant Revolt and which shocked the more
strongly Protestant members of the House of Commons.

CHARLES I OF ENGLAND

This portrait is by one of the

greatest painters of the time,

Anthony Van Dyck, 1599-1641

(see cut on page 3SS)

354 General History of Europe

601. Charles dissolves Parliament (1629) and determines to
rule by himself. This fear of a return to Roman Catholicism
served to widen the breach between Charles and the Commons.
The Parliament of 1629, after a stormy session, was dissolved by
the king, who determined to rule thereafter by himself. For eleven
years no new Parliament was summoned.

Charles was not well fitted by nature to run the government
of England by himself. He had not the necessary tireless energy.
Moreover, the methods resorted to by his ministers to raise money
without recourse to Parliament rendered the king more and more
unpopular and prepared the way for the triumphant return of
Parliament.

602. The Different Sects of Protestants High Church and
Low Church. In 1633 Charles made William Laud archbishop of
Canterbury. The new archbishop ruled that every clergyman
who obstinately refused to conform to the services of the State
Church should be brought before the king's special Court of
High Commission to be tried and, if convicted, to be deprived
of his position.

Laud's conduct was no doubt gratifying to the High Church
party among the Protestants; that is, those who still clung to
some of the ancient practices of the Roman Church, although
they rejected the doctrine of the Mass and refused to regard
the Pope as their head. The Low Church party, or Puritans,
on the contrary, regarded Laud and his policy with aversion.
While they did not urge the abolition of the bishops, they disliked
all "superstitious usages," as they called the wearing of the sur-
plice by the clergy, the use of the sign of the cross at baptism, the
kneeling posture in partaking of the communion, and so forth.

603. The Independents. Moreover, there was an ever-increasing
number of Separatists, or Independents. These rejected both the
organization of the Church of England and that of the Presby-
terians and desired that each religious community should or-
ganize itself independently. The government had forbidden these
Separatists to hold their little meetings, which they called con-
venticles, and about 1600 some of them fled to Holland.

Struggle in England between King and Parliament 355

604. The Pilgrim Fathers. The community of them which
established itself at Leyden dispatched the Mayflower, in 1620,
with colonists since known as the Pilgrim Fathers to the New
World across the sea. It was these colonists who laid the founda-
tions of a New England which has proved a worthy offspring of

CHILDREN OF CHARLES I

This very interesting picture, by the Flemish artist Van Dyck, was painted
in 1637. The boy with his hand on the dog's head was destined to become
Charles II of England. Next on the left is the prince, who was later
James II. The girl to the extreme left, the Princess Mary, married the
governor of the United Netherlands, and her son became William III of
England in 1688. The two princesses on the right died in childhood

the mother country. The form of worship which they established
in their new home is still known as Congregational.

605. The Long Parliament. In 1640 Charles found himself
engaged in a war with Scotland, which, as we have seen (575),
had become Presbyterian and refused to be forced to accept the
Anglican form of worship. The army which the king got to-
gether was reluctant to fight the Scots, so Charles was at last

356 General History of Europe

obliged to summon a Parliament. This, owing to the length of
time it remained in session, was called the Long Parliament.

The Long Parliament began by imprisoning Archbishop Laud
in the Tower of London. It declared him guilty of treason,
and he was executed in 1645 m s pite f Charles's efforts to save
him. Parliament drew up a " Grand Remonstrance" in which
all of Charles's errors were enumerated and a demand was made
that the king's ministers should thereafter be responsible to
Parliament.

606. The Beginning of Civil War (1542); Cavaliers and
Roundheads. Matters grew rapidly worse, and both Charles and
Parliament now began to gather troops for the inevitable conflict,
which plunged England into civil war. Those who supported
Charles were called Cavaliers. They included not only most of
the aristocracy and the Catholic party but also a number of mem-
bers of the House of Commons who were fearful lest Presby-
terianism should succeed in doing away with the English Church.
The parliamentary party was popularly known as the Round-
heads, since some of them cropped their hair close because of
their dislike for the long locks of their more aristocratic and
worldly opponents. The Cavaliers in turn scorned the Round-
heads as a set of hypocrites, on account of their solemn ways and
for liking to go to meeting and singing psalms instead of trying to
have a' good time.

607. Oliver Cromwell; Defeat of Charles's Armies at
Marston Moor and Naseby. The Roundheads soon found a dis-
tinguished leader in Oliver Cromwell (b. 1599), a country gentle-
man and member of Parliament, who was later to become the
most powerful ruler of his time. Cromwell organized a compact
army of God-fearing men, who were not permitted to indulge in
profane words or light talk, as is the wont of soldiers, but
advanced upon their enemies singing psalms. The king enjoyed
the support of northern England and also looked for help from
Ireland, where the royal and Catholic causes were popular.

The war continued for several years and, after the first year,
went in general against the Cavaliers. Finally, the king, defeated

Struggle in England between King and Parliament 357

on every side, put himself in the hands of the Scotch army which
had come to the aid of Parliament (1646), and the Scotch soon
turned him over to Parliament. During the next two years
Charles was held in captivity.

608. Pride's Purge. There were, however, many in the House
of Commons who still sided with the king, and in December, 1648,
that body declared for a reconciliation with the monarch, whom
they had safely imprisoned in the Isle of Wight. The next day
Colonel Pride, representing the army, which constituted a party
in itself and was opposed to all negotiations between the king and
the Commons, stood at the door of the House with a troop of
soldiers and excluded all the members who were known to take
the side of the king. This outrageous act is known in history
as "Pride's Purge."

609. Execution of Charles (1549). In this way the House of
Commons was brought completely under the control of those
most bitterly hostile to the king, whom they immediately pro-
posed to bring to trial. They declared that the House of Com-
mons, since it was chosen by the people, was supreme in England
and the source of all just power, and that consequently neither
king nor House of Lords was necessary. The mutilated House of
Commons appointed a special High Court of Justice made up of
Charles's sternest opponents, who alone would consent to sit
in judgment on him. They passed sentence upon the king and on
January 30, 1649, Charles was beheaded in front of his palace of
Whitehall, London. It must be clear from the above account that
it was not the nation at large which demanded Charles's death,
but a very small group of extremists who claimed to be the repre-
sentatives of the nation.

II. OLIVER CROMWELL ; ENGLAND A COMMONWEALTH

610. England becomes a Commonwealth, or Republic. The
"Rump Parliament," as the remnant of the House of Commons
was contemptuously called, proclaimed England to be thereafter
a "commonwealth"; that is, a republic, without a king or House

358

General History of Europe

of Lords. But Cromwell, the head of the army, was nevertheless
the real ruler of England. He was supported by the Independ-
ents, but his main strength lay in his skill as an administrator and
in the well-organized army of some fifty thousand men which he

had at his command.
611. Ireland and
Scotland Subdued.
Cromwell found him-
self confronted by
every kind of difficulty.
The three kingdoms
had fallen apart. The
lobles and Catholics
in Ireland proclaimed
Charles II as king,
and an army of Irish
Catholics and English
royalist Protestants
was formed with a
view of overthrowing
the Commonwealth.
Cromwell accordingly
set out for Ireland,
where town after town
surrendered to his
army. In 1652, after

much cruelty, the island was once more conquered. A large part of
it was confiscated for the benefit of the English, and the Catholic
landowners were driven into the mountains. In the meantime
Charles II, who after his father's execution had taken refuge in
France, had in 1650 landed in Scotland, and upon his agreeing
to be a Presbyterian king the whole Scotch nation was ready to
support him. But Scotland was subdued by Cromwell even more
promptly than Ireland had been. So completely was the Scottish
army destroyed that Cromwell found no need to draw the sword
again in the British Isles.

OLIVER CROMWELL

This portrait is by Peter Lely and was
painted in 1653

Struggle in England between King and Parliament 359

612. Cromwell dissolves the Long Parliament (i653) and is
made Lord Protector. Cromwell failed, however, to get along
with Parliament much better than Charles I had done. The
Rump Parliament had become very unpopular, for its members,
in spite of their boasted piety, accepted bribes and were zealous
in* the promotion of their relatives in the public service. At
last Cromwell upbraided them angrily for their injustice and
self-interest, which were injuring the public cause. On being
interrupted by a member, he cried out, "Come, come, we have
had enough of this. I'll put an end to this. It's not fit that
you should sit here any longer," and calling in his soldiers
he turned the members out of the House and sent them home.
Having thus made an end of the Long Parliament (April, 1653),
he summoned a Parliament of his own, made up of "God-
fearing" men whom he and the officers of his army chose. This
extraordinary body is known as Barebone's Parliament, from a
distinguished member, a London merchant, with the charac-
teristically Puritan name of Praisegod Barebone. Many of these
godly men were, however, unpractical and hard to deal with.
A minority of the more sensible ones got up early one winter
morning (December, 1653) and, before their opponents had a
chance to protest, declared Parliament dissolved and placed the
supreme authority in the hands of Cromwell.

613. The Protector's Foreign Policy. For nearly five years
Cromwell was, as Lord Protector, a title equivalent to that of
Regent, practically king of England, although he refused ac-
tually to accept the royal insignia. He did not succeed in per-
manently organizing the government at home, but he showed
remarkable ability in his foreign negotiations. He promptly formed
an alliance with France, and English troops aided the French in
winning a great victory over Spain. England gained thereby
Dunkirk and the West Indian island of Jamaica.

614. Cromwell's Death, In May, 1658, Cromwell fell ill and
died, and as a great storm passed over England at that time, the
Cavaliers asserted that the devil had come to fetch home the
soul of the usurper.

360 General History of Europe

III. THE RESTORATION

615. The Restoration; Charles II (leeo-iess). After Crom-
well 's death his son Richard, who succeeded him, found himself
unable to carry on the government. He soon abdicated, and the
remnants of the Long Parliament met once more. But that bdfly
soon peacefully disbanded of its own accord. The nation was glad
to acknowledge Charles II, whom everyone preferred to a govern-
ment by soldiers. A new Parliament, composed of both houses,
was assembled, which welcomed a messenger from the king and
solemnly resolved that "according to the ancient and funda-
mental laws of this kingdom, the government is, and ought to be,
by king, lords, and commons." Thus the Puritan revolution and
the short-lived republic were followed b<y the Restoration of the
Stuarts.

Charles II was quite as fond as his father of having his own
way, but he was a man of more ability. He disliked to be ruled
by Parliament, but, unlike his father, he was too wise to arouse
the nation against him. He did not propose to let anything
happen which would send him on his travels again. He and his
courtiers led a gay life in sharp contrast to the Puritan ideas.

616. Religious Measures adopted by Parliament. Charles's
first Parliament was a moderate body, but his second was made
up almost wholly of Cavaliers, and it got along, on the whole, so
well with the king that he did not dissolve it for eighteen years.
It did not take up the old question, which was still unsettled, as
to whether Parliament or the king was really supreme. It showed
its hostility, however, to the Puritans by a series of intolerant
laws, which are very important in English history. An effort was
made to exclude Presbyterians and Independents from town
offices. By the Act of Uniformity (1662) any clergyman who
refused to accept everything in the Book of Common Prayer was
to be excluded from holding his benefice. That many disagreed
with the Anglican Church is shown by the fact that two thousand
clergymen thereupon resigned their positions for conscience' sake.

These laws tended to throw all those Protestants who refused

Struggle in England between King and Parliament 361

to conform to the Church of England into a single class, still
known today as Dissenters. It included the Independents, the
Presbyterians, and the newer bodies of the Baptists and the So-
ciety of Friends (commonly known as Quakers). These sects
had no desire to control the religion or politics of the country and
asked only that they might be permitted to worship in their own
way outside of the English Church.

617. Toleration Favored by the King ; Opposed by Parlia-
ment. The king, in spite of his dissolute habits, was inclined to
be tolerant toward differences in religious beliefs and had secret
leanings toward Catholicism. But his efforts to secure religious
liberty for- Catholics and Dissenters only aroused Parliament to
pass harsher measures, for fear the king might once more restore
"popery" in the realm. The law excluding all but adherents of
the English Church from office remained in force down into the
nineteenth century.

618. War with Holland. Charles II, who was earnestly de-
sirous of increasing English commerce and of founding new
colonies, renewed a struggle with the Dutch which had begun
under Cromwell. This war aimed to destroy Holland's shipping
and thereby increase the trade of England. The two nations
were very evenly matched on the sea, but in 1664 the English
seized some of the West Indian Islands from the Dutch. And
what was of much greater importance, the English captured the
Dutch settlement on Manhattan Island, which was renamed
New York in honor of the king's brother, the Duke of York.
In 1667 a treaty was signed by England and Holland which
confirmed these conquests.

IV. THE REVOLUTION OF 1688

619. James II (isss-iess). Upon Charles IPs death he was
succeeded by his brother, James II, who was an avowed Catho-
lic and had married, as his second wife, Mary of Modena, who
was also a Catholic. He was a far more religious man than the
late king and was ready to reestablish Catholicism in England

362 General History oj Europe

regardless of what it might cost him. Mary, James's daughter by
his first wife, had married her cousin, William III, Prince of
Orange, 1 the head of the United Netherlands, as Holland was
called. The English nation might have tolerated James so long
as they could look forward to the accession of his Protestant
daughter. But when a son was born to his Catholic second wife,
and James showed unmistakably his purpose of favoring the
Catholics, messengers were dispatched by a group of Protestants
to William of Orange, asking him to come and rule over them.

620. The Revolution of 1688 and the Accession of Wil-
liam III (1688-1702). W T illiam landed in November, 1688, and
marched upon London, where he received general support from
all the English Protestants, regardless of party. James II started
to oppose William, but his army refused to fight and his courtiers
deserted him. James fled to France, and a new Parliament
declared the throne vacant.

621. The Bill of Rights (1689). A Bill of Rights was then
drawn up, appointing William and Mary joint sovereigns. The
Bill of Rights, which is an important monument in English con-
stitutional history, once more stated the fundamental rights of the
English nation and the limitations which the Petition of Right
and the Great Charter of King John had placed upon the king
(377, 600). By this peaceful revolution the English rid them-
selves of the Stuarts and their claims to rule by divine right, the
powers of Parliament were once more established, and the Catholic
question was practically settled by the dethroning of a king who
openly favored the rule of the Pope.

The Toleration Act was passed by Parliament, which freed
Dissenters from all penalties for failing to attend services in
Anglican churches and allowed them to have their own meetings.
Even Catholics, while not included in the act of toleration, were
permitted to hold services undisturbed by the government.

1 Son of Charles I's daughter, Mary, who had married William, Prince of Orange.

Struggle in England between King and Parliament 363

V. ENGLAND AFTER THE REVOLUTION OF 1688

622. Questions settled by the Accession of William and
Mary. With the accession of William and Mary, in 1688, Eng-
land may be said to have practically settled the two great ques-
tions that had produced such serious dissensions during the
previous fifty years. In the first place, the nation had clearly
shown that it proposed to remain Protestant, and the relations
between the Church of England and the Dissenters were gradu-
ally being satisfactorily adjusted. In the second place, the powers
of the king had been carefully defined, and from the opening
of the eighteenth century to the present time no English monarch
has ventured to veto an act of Parliament. 1

623. The Union of England and Scotland (1707). William III
was succeeded in 1702 by his sister-in-law, Anne, a younger
daughter of James II. Far more important than the War of the
Spanish Succession, which her generals carried on against Louis
XIV, was the final union of England and Scotland. The two
countries had been under the same ruler since the accession of
James I, but each had maintained its own independent parlia-
ment and system of government. Finally, in 1707, both nations
agreed to unite their governments into one. Forty-five members
of the British House of Commons were to be chosen thereafter in
Scotland, and sixteen Scotch lords were to be added to the Eng-
lish House of Lords. In this way the whole island of Great
Britain was placed under a single government, and the occasions
for strife were thereby greatly reduced.

624. Accession of George I (1714-1727) of Hanover. Since
none of Anne's children survived her, she was succeeded, accord-
ing to an arrangement made before her accession, by the nearest
Protestant heir. This was the son of James I's granddaughter
Sophia. She had married the elector of Hanover 2 ; consequently

1 The last instance in which an English ruler vetoed a measure passed by Parliament
was in 1707.

2 Originally there had been seven electors, but the duke of Bavaria had been made
an elector during the Thirty Years' War, and in 1692 the father of George I had been
permitted to assume the title of " elector of Hanover."

364

General History of Europe

the new king of England, George I, 1 was also elector of Hanover
and a member of the Holy Roman Empire. 2

625. England and the "Balance of Power." William of
Orange had been a continental statesman before he became king
of England, and his chief aim had always been to prevent France
from becoming overpower ful. He joined in the long War of the
Spanish Succession (1702-1713) in order to maintain the "bal-
ance of power" between the various European countries. Dxiring
the eighteenth century England, for the same reason, continued to
take some part in the struggles between the continental powers,
although she had no expectation of extending her sway across the
Channel. The wars which she waged in order to increase, her own
power and territory were carried on in distant parts of the world
and more often on sea than on land.

1 English monarchs from James I to George III :
James I (1603-1625)

Charles I Elizabeth, m. Frederick V

(1625-1649) elector of the

Palatinate
(Winter King
of Bohemia)
Charles II (i) Anne Hyde, m. James II, m. (2) Mary of Modena Sophia, m. Ernest

(1660-1685)

(1685-1688)

William III, m. Mary Anne

(1688-1702) (1688-1694) (1702-1714)
Prince of Orange

James (the
Old Pretender)

Charles Edward
(the Young Pre-
tender)

Augustus
elector of
Hanover

George I
(1714-1727)

George II
(1727-1760)

Frederick

Prince of Wales

(d.i75i)

George III
(1760-1820)

2 The troubles with the Stuarts were not entirely over. The son and the grandson of
James II the Old and the Young Pretender lived in France and engaged in ineffective
conspiracies to regain the throne. In 1745 the Young Pretender landed in Scotland,
where he found support among the Highland chiefs, and even Edinburgh welcomed
" Prince Charlie." With an army of six thousand men he marched into England, but
was speedily forced back into Scotland and disastrously defeated and was glad to reach
France once more in safety.

Struggle in England between King and Parliament 365

QUESTIONS

I. What is the chief interest of the period of the Stuart kings ? How
were the kingdoms of England and Scotland united on the accession
of James I ? What were the views of kingship held by James ? Name
some of the distinguished writers of James's reign. What was Charles's
attitude toward Parliament ? What was the Petition of Right ? What
were the chief religious parties in England in the time of Charles I?
Describe the events which led to the execution of Charles.

II. What form of government was introduced after Charles's death ?
How did Cromwell deal with Parliament? In what did Cromwell's
strength consist ?

III. What led to the restoration of the Stuarts? What was
Charles II's attitude toward religious differences? What laws were
passed by Parliament against the Puritans ? Who were the Dissenters ?

IV. Why was James II unpopular? What was the Revolution of
1688? What was the substance of the Bill of Rights? of the Tolera-
tion Act ?

V. What questions were settled by the accession of William and
Mary? On what terms were England and Scotland united in 1707?
Explain how a member of the House of Hanover came to the English
throne. What is meant by the "balance of power"?

CHAPTER XXIX
FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIV

I. POSITION AND CHARACTER OF Louis XIV

626. France at the Accession of Louis XIV. Under the
despotic rule of Louis XIV (1643-1715) France enjoyed a com-
manding influence in European affairs. After the wars of religion
were over, the royal authority had been reestablished by the wise
conduct of Henry IV and later, Richelieu. The young monarch
now had a kingdom such as no previous French king had enjoyed.
The nobles, who for centuries had disputed the power with the
king, were no longer feudal lords but only courtiers, for Richelieu
had destroyed their castles. The Huguenots, whose claim to a
place in the State beside the Catholics had led to the terrible civil
wars of the sixteenth century, were reduced in numbers and no
longer held fortified towns from which they could defy the king's
officers. France had come out of the Thirty Years' War with
enlarged territory and increased importance in European affairs.

627. The Theory of the "Divine Right of Kings" in France.
Louis XIV held the same idea of kingship that James I had tried
in vain to induce the English people to accept ( 598). God
had given kings to men, and it was his will that monarchs should
be regarded as his lieutenants and that all those subject to them
should obey them absolutely, without asking any questions or
making any criticisms; for in submitting to their prince they
were really submitting to God himself. If the king were good
and wise, his subjects should thank the Lord ; if he proved fool-
ish, cruel, or perverse, they must accept their evil ruler as a
well-deserved and just punishment which God had sent them for
their sins. But in no case might they limit his power or rise
against him.

366

Louis XIV
From Rigaud's painting in the Louvre

France under Louis XIV 367

628. Different Attitude of English and French toward Ab-
solute Monarchy. Louis XIV had two great advantages over
James I. In the first place, the English nation has always shown
itself far more reluctant than France to place absolute power in
the hands of its rulers. By its Parliament, its courts, and its
various declarations of the nation's rights, it had built up tradi-
tions which made it impossible for the Stuarts to establish their
claim to be absolute rulers. In France, on the other hand, there
was no Great Charter or Bill of Rights ; the Estates General did
not hold the purse strings (481), and the king was permitted
to raise money without asking their permission. When Louis XIV
took charge of the government, forty-seven years had passed with-
out a meeting of the Estates General, and a century and a quarter
was still to elapse before another call to the representatives of the
nation was issued, in 1789 ( 748).

Moreover, the French people placed far more reliance upon
a powerful king than the English, perhaps because they were
not protected by the sea from their neighbors, as England was.

629. Personal Characteristics of Louis XIV. Louis was a
handsome man of elegant and courtly mien and the most exquisite
perfection of manner. He had, moreover, a sound judgment and
quick apprehension. He was, for a king, a hard worker and spent
several hours a day attending to the business of government.

II. LIFE AT THE COURT OF Louis XIV

630. The King's Palace at Versailles. Louis XIV was care-
ful that his surroundings should suit the grandeur of his office.
His court was magnificent beyond anything that had been
dreamed of in the West. He had an enormous palace constructed
at Versailles, just outside of Paris, with interminable halls and
apartments and a vast garden stretching away behind it. About
this a town was laid out, where those lived who were privileged to
be near his Majesty or supply the wants of the royal court. This
palace and its outlying buildings, including two or three less
gorgeous residences for the king when he occasionally tired of the

368 General History of Europe

ceremony of Versailles, probably cost the nation about a hundred
million dollars, in spite of the fact that thousands of peasants
and soldiers were forced to turn to and work without pay. The
furnishings and decorations were as rich and costly as the palace
was splendid. For over a century this magnificent "chateau" at
Versailles continued to be the home of the French kings and the
seat of their government.

631. Life at Louis XIV's Court. This splendor and luxury
helped to attract the nobility, who no longer lived on their estates
in well-fortified castles, planning how they might escape the
royal control. They now dwelt in the effulgence of the king's
countenance. They saw him to bed at night, and in stately pro-
cession they greeted him in the morning. It was deemed a high
honor to hand him his shirt as he was being dressed or, at dinner,
to provide him with a fresh napkin. Only by living close to the
king could the courtiers hope to gain favors, pensions, and highly
paid positions for themselves and their friends.

632. Art and Literature in the Reign of Louis XIV. It was,
however, as a patron of art and literature that Louis XIV gained
much of his celebrity. Moliere, who was at once a playwright
and an actor, delighted the court with comedies in which he deli-
cately satirized the foibles of his time. Men of letters were gen-
erously aided by the king with pensions. A magazine, which still
exists, was founded for the promotion of science ; an astronomical
observatory was built at Paris ; and the Royal Library, which
possessed only about sixteen thousand volumes, began to grow
into that great collection of two and a half million volumes by
far the largest in existence which today attracts scholars to
Paris from all parts of the world.

III. Louis XIV's WARLIKE ENTERPRISES

633. Louis XIV's Warlike Enterprises. Unfortunately for
France, the king's ambitions were by no means exclusively peace-
ful. Indeed he regarded his wars as his chief glory. He em-
ployed a carefully reorganized army and the skill of his generals

I 6

ri -i->

bO u

fli *-

I s

o "

T3 fci
J3 "S

I' 5

France under Louis XIV 369

in a series of inexcusable attacks on his neighbors and before he
died he had reduced France to the edge of financial ruin.

634. The Invasion of the Netherlands (lee?). Louis XIV
first turned his attention to the conquest of the Spanish Nether-
lands, to which he laid claim through his wife, the elder sister
of the Spanish king, Charles II (1665-1700). He easily took a
number of towns on the border of the Netherlands and then
turned south and completely conquered Franche-Comte, an out-
lying province of Spain.

These conquests alarmed Europe, and especially Holland, which
could not afford to have a barrier between it and France re-
moved, for Louis XIV would be an uncomfortable neighbor.
A Triple Alliance, composed of Holland, England, and Sweden,
was accordingly organized to induce France to make peace with
Spain and return Franche-Comte. Louis, however, broke up the
Triple Alliance later by inducing Charles II of England to pledge
England's assistance in a new war with the Dutch.

635. Louis XIV's Invasion of Holland (1572). Louis felt irri-
tated that little Holland should dare to oppose him. At the head
of a hundred thousand men he crossed the Rhine (1672) and
easily conquered southern Holland. For the moment the Dutch
cause appeared to be lost. But William of Orange showed the
spirit of his great ancestor William the Silent ; the sluices in the
dikes were opened and the country flooded, so the French army
was checked before it could take Amsterdam and advance into
the north. The emperor, Leopold I, sent an army against Louis,
and England deserted him and made peace with Holland.

When a general peace was concluded at the end of six years,
the chief provisions were that Holland should be left intact and
that France should this time retain Franche-Comte. For the ten
years following there was no open war, but Louis seized the
important free city of Strassburg and made many other less con-
spicuous but equally unwarranted additions to his territory.

636. Situation of the Huguenots at the Beginning of
Louis XIV's Reign. Louis XIV exhibited as woeful a want of
statesmanship in the treatment of his Protestant subjects as in

370 General History of Europe

the prosecution of disastrous wars. The Huguenots, deprived of
their former military and political power, had turned to manufac-
ture, trade, and banking; "as rich as a Huguenot" had become
a proverb in France. There were perhaps a million of them
among fifteen million Frenchmen, and they undoubtedly formed
by far the most thrifty and enterprising part of the nation. The
Catholic clergy, however, did not cease to urge the complete
suppression of heresy.

637. Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and its Results.
Louis XIV had scarcely taken the reins of government into his
own hands before the perpetual nagging and injustice to which
the Protestants had been subjected at all times took a more
serious form. Upon one pretense or another their churches were
demolished. Children were permitted to renounce Protestant-
ism when they reached the age of seven. Rough dragoons were
quartered upon the Huguenots with the hope that the insulting
behavior of the soldiers might frighten them into accepting the
religion of the king.

At last Louis XIV was led by his officials to believe that prac-
tically all the Huguenots had been converted by these harsh
measures. In 1685, therefore, he revoked the Edict of Nantes,
and the Protestants thereby became outlaws and their ministers
subject to the death penalty. Thousands of the Huguenots suc-
ceeded in eluding the vigilance of the royal officials and fled, some
to England, some to Prussia, some to America, carrying with
them their skill and industry to strengthen France's rivals. This
was the last great and terrible example in western Europe of
that fierce religious intolerance which had produced the Albi-
gensian Crusade, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Massacre of
St. Bartholomew.

638. Louis's Operations in the Rhenish Palatinate. Louis
XIV now set his heart upon conquering the Palatinate, a Protestant
land, to which he easily discovered that he had a claim. The
rumor of his intention and the indignation occasioned in Protes-
tant countries by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes resulted
in an alliance against the French king headed by William of

France under Louis XIV 371

Orange ( 625). Louis speedily justified the suspicions of Europe
by a frightful devastation of the Palatinate, burning whole towns
and destroying many castles, including the exceptionally beautiful
one of the elector at Heidelberg. Ten years later, however, Louis
agreed to a peace which put things back much as they were before
the struggle began. He was preparing for the final and most
ambitious undertaking of his life, which precipitated the longest
and bloodiest war of all his warlike reign.

639. The Question of the Spanish Succession. The king
of Spain, Charles II ( 634), was childless and brotherless. and
Europe had long been discussing what would become of his vast
realms when his sickly existence should come to an end. Louis XIV
had married one of his sisters, and the emperor, Leopold I, an-
other, and these two ambitious rulers had been considering for
some time how they might divide the Spanish possessions between
the Bourbons (as the descendants of Henry IV of France were
called) and the Hapsburgs. But when Charles II died, in 1700,
it was discovered that he had left a will in which he made Louis's
younger grandson, Philip, the heir to his twenty-two crowns, but
on the condition that France and Spain should never be united.

640. Louis's Grandson, Philip, becomes King of Spain.
Should Philip become king of Spain, Louis and his family would
control all of southwestern Europe from Holland to Sicily, as
well as a great part of North and South America. This would
mean the establishment of an empire more powerful than that of
Charles V. It was clear that the disinherited emperor and the
ever-watchful William of Orange, now king of England ( 620,
625), would never permit this unprecedented extension of French
influence. They had already shown themselves ready to make
great sacrifices in order to check far less serious aggressions on
the part of the French king. Nevertheless, family pride and per-
sonal ambition led Louis criminally to accept the will and risk a
terrible war.

641. The War of the Spanish Succession. King William soon
succeeded in forming a new Grand Alliance (1701) in which
Louis's old enemies England, Holland, and the emperor were

37 2 General History of Europe

the most important members. The long War of the Spanish Suc-
cession was more general than the Thirty Years' War ; even in
America there was fighting between French and English colo-
nists, which passes in American histories under the name of Queen
Anne's War. All the more important battles went against the
French, and after ten years of war, which was rapidly ruining
the country by the destruction of its people and its wealth,
Louis XIV was willing to consider some compromise, and after
long discussion a peace was arranged in 1713.

642. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713). The Treaty of Utrecht
changed the map of Europe as no previous treaty had done, not
even that of Westphalia. Each of the chief combatants got his
share of the Spanish booty over which they had been fighting.
The Bourbon Philip V was permitted to retain Spain and its
colonies on condition that the Spanish and French crowns should
never rest on the same head. To Austria fell the Spanish Nether-
lands, hereafter called the Austrian Netherlands, which continued
to form a barrier between Holland and France. Holland received
certain fortresses to make its position still more secure. The
Spanish possessions in Italy, that is, Naples and Milan, were also
given to Austria, and in this way Austria got the hold on Italy
which it retained until 1866. From France, England acquired
Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Hudson Bay region, and so
began the expulsion of the French from North America. Besides
these American provinces she received the rock and fortress of
Gibraltar, which still gives her command of the narrow entrance
to the Mediterranean.

643. The Development of International Law. The period
of Louis XIV is remarkable for the development of international
law. The incessant wars and great alliances involving several
powers made increasingly clear the need of well-defined rules
governing states in their relations with one another both in peace
and in war. It was of the utmost importance to determine, for
instance, the rights of ambassadors and of the vessels of neutral
powers not engaged in the war, and what should be considered
fair conduct in warfare and in the treatment of prisoners.

France under Louis XIV 373

The first great systematic treatise on international law was
published by Grotius in 1625, when the horrors of the Thirty
Years' War were impressing men's minds with the necessity of
finding some means other than war of settling disputes between
nations. While the rules laid down by Grotius and later writers
have, as we must sadly admit, by no means put an end to war,
they have prevented many conflicts by increasing the ways in
which nations may come to an understanding with one another
through their ambassadors, without recourse to arms.

Louis XIV outlived his son and his grandson and left a
sadly demoralized kingdom to his five-year-old great-grandson,
Louis XV (1715-1774). The national treasury was empty, the
people were reduced in numbers and were in a miserable state,
and the army, once the finest in Europe, was in no condition to
gain further victories.

QUESTIONS

I. Describe the condition of France at the accession of Louis XIV.
What were Louis's ideas of kingship? Compare the attitude of the
English and French toward absolute monarchy.

II. Describe the life at the court of Versailles. How did Louis XIV
promote literature and art?

III. What were the general results of Louis's warlike enterprises?
What was Louis's attitude toward the Huguenots? What were the
results of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes? What were the
causes of the War of the Spanish Succession? What were the provi-
sions of the Peace of Utrecht? Why was Louis's reign a favorable
time for the development of international law? What do you under-
stand by "international law"?

CHAPTER XXX

RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA BECOME EUROPEAN POWERS
I. THE BEGINNINGS OF RUSSIA; PETER THE GREAT

644. Emergence of Two New European Powers. We must
now turn to the study of two European powers which hitherto it
has not been necessary to mention Russia and Prussia. During
the past two hundred years, however, these states have played an
increasingly important part in the affairs of Europe and the
world. The aggressions of Prussia finally united most of the
civilized nations against her in the World War, the results of
which will affect mankind more profoundly than any previous
event in history. The Bolshevik revolution in Russia hastened
by the war seemed to many to threaten the whole political,
social, and economic order. The decisions of the leaders of the
Russian workmen and peasants are now viewed with more con-
cern throughout the world than the decrees of any of the old-
fashioned kings who have been able to hold their thrones. We
must therefore turn to the shores of the Baltic and the vast plains
of eastern Europe in order to see how these two states grew up
and became actors in the great drama of humanity.

645. The Slavic Peoples. We have had little occasion, in deal-
ing with the history of western Europe, to refer to the Slavic peoples,
to whom the Russians, Poles, Bohemians, Serbians, and many
other nations of eastern Europe belong. Together they form the
most numerous race in Europe, but only recently has their history
begun to merge into that of the world at large. Before the
World War, which began in 1914, the realms of the Tsar which
lay in Europe exceeded in extent those of all the other rulers of
the continent put together, and yet they were scarcely more than
a quarter of his whole dominion, which embraced in addition great

374

EUROPE

after the .Treaties of

UTKECHT AND KASTADT

1713-1714

Russia and Prussia become European Powers 375

stretches of territory in northern and central Asia an empire
nearly three times the size of the United States.

The Slavs, who belonged to the Indo-European races (50),
were settled in southern Russia long before the Christian Era.
When the Germans began to invade the Roman Empire in the
fifth century, the Slavs followed their example, and many of them
settled in the Balkan peninsula as far west as the Adriatic,
where their descendants, especially the Serbians, still live. Other
Slavic hordes to the north found their way into Germany. The
German emperors, beginning with Charlemagne ( 328), suc-
ceeded in pushing them back, but the Bohemians and Moravians,
who are Slavs, still hold an advance position on the borders
of Germany.

646. Beginnings of Russia. In the ninth century some of the
Northmen invaded the districts to the east of the Baltic, while
their relatives were causing grievous trouble in France and Eng-
land ( 334, 365, 367). It is generally supposed that one of
their leaders, Rurik, was the first to consolidate the Slavic tribes
about Novgorod into a sort of state, in 862. Rurik 's successor
extended the bounds of the new empire to the south as far as the
Dnieper River. The word "Russia" is probably derived from
Rous, the name given by the neighboring Finns to the Northmen
adventurers. Before the end of the tenth century the Greek form
of Christianity was introduced and the Russian ruler was baptized.
647. Influence of the Tartar Invasion. Russia is geographi-
cally nothing more than an extension of the great plain of north-
ern Asia. It was exposed, therefore, to the invasion of the Tartars
or Mongols, who swept in from the east in the thirteenth century.
After conquering northern China and central Asia they overran
Russia, which had fallen apart into numerous principalities. The
Tartars exacted tribute from the Russians, but left them undis-
turbed in their laws and religion.

When the Mongol power began to decline, however, and the
princes of Moscow had grown stronger, they ventured (in 1480) to
kill the Mongol ambassadors sent to demand tribute from them
and thus freed themselves from the Mongol yoke. But the Tartar

376

General History of Europe

occupation had left its mark, for the princes and people continued
to follow the habits of their former Mongolian rulers. In 1547
Ivan the Terrible assumed the title of "Tsar," 1 which was the
Russian equivalent of "king" or "emperor."

648. Peter the Great (1672-1725). When Peter came to the
throne, in 1672, he saw that Russia was very much behind the

rest of Europe and that his
crudely equipped soldiers
could never make head
against the well-armed and
well-disciplined troops of
the West. His kingdom was
Asiatic in manners and
customs, and its govern-
ment was like that of a
Tartar prince. Moreover,
Russia had no outlet to the
IH sea and no ships and with-
out these could never hope
to take part in the world's
affairs. Peter's two great
tasks were, therefore, to
introduce Western habits
into his barbarous realms

and to " make a window," as he expressed it, through which Russia
might look abroad. And he succeeded in both these enterprises.

649. Peter's Travels in Europe. In 1697-1698 Peter himself
visited Germany, Holland, and England with a view to investi-
gating every art and science of the West, as well as the most
approved methods of manufacture. Nothing escaped the keen
eyes of this rude, half-savage Northern giant. For a week he
put on the wide breeches of a Dutch laborer and worked in the
shipyard at Zaandam near Amsterdam. In England, Holland,

1 The word " Tsar," or " Czar," is derived from " Csesar" (German, Kaiser), but was
used in Slavic books for the title of the kings of antiquity as well as for the Roman em-
perors. Peter the Great called himself " Imperator " ; that is, " emperor." The Tsar was
also known as " Autocrat of all the Russias."

PETER THE GREAT

Russia and Prussia become European Powers 377

and Germany he engaged artisans, scientific men, architects, ship
captains, and those versed in artillery and in the training of
troops all of whom he took back with him to aid in the reform
and development of Russia.

650. Peter introduces European Customs. Peter made his
people give up their cherished oriental beards and long flowing

NORTHEASTERN EUROPE IN THE TIME OF PETER THE GREAT

garments. He forced the women of the richer classes, who had
been kept in a sort of oriental harem, to come out and meet the
men in social assemblies, such as were common in the West. He
invited foreigners to settle in Russia and sent young Russians
abroad to study. He reorganized the government on the model of
a Western kingdom and made over his army in the same way,

651. Founding of St. Petersburg. Finding that the old capi-
tal, Moscow, clung persistently to its ancient habits, Peter pre-
pared to found a new capital for his new Russia. He selected for

378 General History of Europe

this purpose a bit of territory on the Baltic which he had con-
quered from Sweden. Here he built St. Petersburg 1 at enormous
expense and colonized it with Russians and foreigners. Russia
was at last becoming a European power.

652. Russia gains on the Baltic. The next problem was to get
control of the provinces lying between the Russian boundary and
the Baltic Sea. After much fighting, Peter forced Sweden to
cede to him Livonia, Esthonia, and other Swedish territory which
had previously cut Russia off from the sea.

For a generation after the death of Peter the Great, Russia
fell into the hands of incompetent rulers, but from the time that
the great Catherine II (664,722) came to the throne (1762)
the Western powers had always to consider the vast Slavic empire
in their great struggles. They had also to reckon with a new
kingdom in northern Germany, which was just growing into a
great power as Peter began his work. This was Prussia, whose
beginnings we must now consider.

II. THE KINGDOM OF PRUSSIA ; FREDERICK THE GREAT

653. Brandenburg acquired by the Hohenzollerns. The
origin of the kingdom of Prussia was very humble. In the early
fifteenth century the emperor sold to the unimportant House of
Hohenzollern a strip of territory known as the electorate of
Brandenburg, extending some ninety or a hundred miles to the
east and to the west of the little town of Berlin. The successive
representatives of the line of Hohenzollerns gradually increased
their possessions until the kingdom of Prussia finally embraced,
in the nineteenth century, nearly two thirds of Germany.

654. Brandenburg becomes the Kingdom of Prussia. At
the opening of the Thirty Years' War (1618) the Hohenzollerns
came into possession of Prussia, a district on the Baltic, far to the
east of their other holdings. In 1700 the electors of Brandenburg
arranged with the emperor to have their title changed to "King

1 Changed to Petrograd during the war with Germany in 1914 so that the Russian
capital should no longer be called by a German name.

Russia and Prussia become European Powers 379

in Prussia," and in this way the modern kingdom of Prussia
originated, embracing all the older Hohenzollern territories and
the various additions they made from time to time.

655. Militarism of Frederick William (1713-1740). The sec-
ond ruler of the new kingdom, Frederick William I, was a rough
and boorish king who devoted himself to drilling his battalions,
hunting, and smoking strong tobacco. He was passionately fond

VIEW OF BERLIN IN 1717

Berlin was only a small town until the days of the Great Elector. It
increased from about eight thousand inhabitants in 1650 to about twenty
thousand in 1688. It is therefore a much more modern city than Paris or
London. Indeed, it is about as modern as New York, for most of its great
growth has taken place in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

of military life from his childhood. He took special pride in tall
soldiers and collected them at great expense from all parts of
Europe. He raised the Prussian army to a size almost equal to
that maintained by France or Austria. Moreover, by miserly
thrift and entire indifference to luxury, Frederick William treas-
ured up a huge sum of money. Consequently he was able to
leave to his son, Frederick the Great, not only an admirable
army but an ample supply of gold. Indeed, it was his toil and
economy that made possible the achievements of his far more
distinguished son.

656. Accession of Frederick II, called "the Great" (1740-
1786). In his early years Frederick grieved and disgusted his old
father by his dislike for military life and his interest in books

380 General History of Europe

and music. He was a particular admirer of the French and pre-
ferred their language to his own. No sooner had he become king,
however, than he suddenly developed marvelous energy and skill
in warlike enterprises. Chance favored his designs.

657. Frederick's Attack upon Silesia. The emperor Charles VI,
the last representative of the direct male line of the Hapsburgs,
died in 1740, just a few months before Frederick ascended the
throne, leaving only a daughter, Maria Theresa, to inherit his
vast and miscellaneous dominions. He had induced the other
European powers to promise to accept his last will, in which he
left everything to the young Maria Theresa, but she had no
sooner begun to reign than her greedy neighbors prepared to
seize her lands. Her greatest enemy was the newly crowned king
of Prussia, who at first pretended friendship for her. Frederick
determined to seize Silesia, a strip of Hapsburg territory lying to
the southeast of Brandenburg, which would increase his dominions
by about one third. He accordingly marched his army into the
coveted district and occupied the important city of Breslau
without declaring war or offering any excuse except a vague claim
to a portion of the land.

658. The War of the Austrian Succession. France, stimu-
lated by Frederick's example, joined with Bavaria in an attack
upon Maria Theresa. It seemed for a time as if her struggle
to keep her realm intact would be in vain, but the loyalty of all the
various peoples under her scepter was roused by her extraordi-
nary courage and energy. Although the French were driven back,
Maria Theresa was forced to grant Silesia to Frederick in order
to induce him to retire from the war. Finally, England and Hol-
land joined in an alliance for maintaining the balance of power,
for they had no desire to see France annex the Austrian Nether-
lands. A few years later, however (1748), all the powers, tired
of the war, which is known as the War of the Austrian Succes-
sion, agreed to lay down their arms.

659. The Seven Years' War; the Alliance between France
and Austria. Maria Theresa was by no means reconciled to the
loss of Silesia, and she began to lay her plans for expelling the

Russia and Prussia become European Powers 381

perfidious Frederick and regaining her lost territory. This led to
one of the most important wars in modern history, in which not
only almost every European power joined, but which involved
the whole world, from the Indian rajahs of Hindustan to the
colonists of Virginia and New England. This Seven Years' War
(1756-1763) will be considered in its broader aspects in the
next chapter. We shall mention
here only the part played in
it by the king of Prussia.

Maria Theresa's ambassador
at Paris was so skillful in his
negotiations with the French
court that in 1756 he induced
it, in spite of its two hundred
years of hostility to the House
of Hapsburg, to enter into an
alliance with Austria against
Prussia. Russia, Sweden, and
Saxony also agreed to join in
a concerted attack on Prussia.
Their armies, coming as they
did from every point of the
compass, threatened the com-
plete annihilation of Frederick
and his kingdom.

660. Frederick's Victorious Defense. However, it was in
this war that Frederick earned his title of "the Great," and
showed himself the equal of the ablest generals the world has seen.
Undaunted by the overwhelming numbers of his enemies and
by the loss of several battles, Frederick defeated the French
and his German enemies in the most famous, perhaps, of his
battles, at Rossbach in 1757. A month later he routed the
Austrians.

Money paid to him by the English government enabled him to
keep up the fight. The accession of a new Tsar, who was an
ardent admirer of Frederick, led Russia to conclude peace with

FREDERICK II OF PRUSSIA,
CALLED "THE GREAT"

382 General History of Europe

Prussia, whereupon Maria Theresa reluctantly agreed to give up
once more her struggle with her inveterate enemy. Shortly after-
wards England and France came to terms, and a general settle-
ment was made at Paris in 1763 (677).

III. THREE PARTITIONS OF POLAND, 1772, 1793, AND 1795

661. Question of West Prussia. Frederick's success in seiz-
ing and holding one of Austria's finest provinces did not satisfy
him. The central portions of his kingdom Brandenburg, Silesia,
and Pomerania were completely cut off from East Prussia by
a considerable tract known as West Prussia, which belonged to
the kingdom of Poland. The upper map on the opposite page
will show how great must have been Frederick's temptation to
fill this gap, especially as he well knew that Poland was in no
condition to defend its possessions.

662. Weakness of Poland. With the exception of Russia,
Poland was the largest kingdom in Europe. It covered an im-
mense plain with no natural boundaries, and the population,
which was very thinly scattered, belonged to several races. Be-
sides the Poles themselves there were Germans in the cities of
West Prussia, and Russians in Lithuania. The Jews were very
numerous everywhere, forming half of the population in some of
the towns. The Poles were usually Catholics, while the Germans
were Protestants and the Russians adhered to the Greek Church.
These differences in religion, added to those of race, created end-
less problems and dissensions. They explain, moreover, many of
the difficulties involved in the attempt to reestablish an inde-
pendent, Polish republic after the great World War.

The government of Poland was the worst imaginable. Instead
of having developed a strong monarchy, as her neighbors
Prussia, Russia, and Austria had done, she remained in a state
of feudal anarchy, which the nobles had taken the greatest pains
to perpetuate. They limited their kings in such a way that they
had no power either to maintain order or to defend the country
from attack.

N )'v^^o'^ l *P,*Bf : Bi

PRUSSIA

at the Accession of
FUEDERICK THE GREAT

(with dates of acauisition)

SCALE OF MILES

PRUSSIA

at the Death of

FREDERICK THE GREAT

In. 1786

SCALE OF MILES

384 General History of Europe

The kingship was not hereditary in Poland, but whenever the
ruler died the nobles assembled and chose a new one, commonly
a foreigner. These elections were tumultuous, and the various
European powers regularly interfered, by force or bribery, to
secure the election of a candidate who, they believed, would favor
their interests.

663. The Polish Nobles and Peasants. The nobles in Poland
were numerous. There were perhaps a million and a half of
them, mostly very poor, owning only a trifling bit of land. There
was a saying that the poor noble's dog, even if he sat in the middle
of his master's estate, was sure to have his tail upon a neigh-
bor's land. There was no middle class except in the few German
towns. The peasants were miserable indeed. They had sunk
from serfs to slaves, over whom their lords had even the right of
life and death.

664. First Partition of Poland (1772). It required no' great
insight to foresee that Poland was in danger of falling a prey
to her greedy and powerful neighbors, Russia, Prussia, and Aus-
tria, who clamped in the unfortunate kingdom on all sides and
coveted her territory.

The ruler of Russia was now the famous Catherine II, who
proved herself one of the most efficient of queens. She arranged
with Frederick the Great to prevent any improvement in Poland
and to keep up and encourage the disorder. Finally the rulers of
Prussia, Russia, and Austria agreed, in 1772, each to take a slice
of the unhappy kingdom.

Austria was assigned a strip inhabited by almost three million
Poles and Russians and thus added two new kinds of people
and two new languages to her already varied .collection of races
and tongues. Prussia was given a smaller piece, but it was the
coveted West Prussia, which she needed to fill out her boundaries,
and its inhabitants were to a considerable extent Germans and
Protestants. Russia's strip, on the east, was inhabited entirely
by Russians.

665. Second and Third Partitions (1793, 1795). Russia and
Prussia continued to promote disorder in Poland and twenty years

Russia and Prussia become European Powers 385

later declared that they could not put up any longer with such a
dangerous neighbor and proceeded to a second partition. Prussia
cut deep into Poland, added a million and a half of Poles to her
subjects, and acquired the towns of Thorn, Danzig, and Posen.

THE PARTITION OF POLAND

Russia's gains were three millions of people, who at least belonged
to her own race. Two years later the Polish king was compelled
to abdicate, and the remnants of the dismembered kingdom were
divided, after much bitter contention, among Austria, Russia,
and Prussia. In the three partitions which, until the coming of
the World War in our own day, blotted out the kingdom of Poland
from the map of Europe, Russia received nearly twice the com-
bined shares of Austria and Prussia.

386 General History of Europe

IV. THE AUSTRIAN REALM; MARIA THERESA

666. The Hapsburgs in Austria. While the Hohenzolleras of
Prussia from their capital at Berlin had been extending their
power over northern Germany, the great House of Hapsburg, es-
tablished in the southeastern corner of Germany, with its capital
at Vienna, had been grouping together, by conquest or inheritance,
the vast realm over much of which it ruled down to the end of
the World War, in 1918. It will be remembered that Charles V,
shortly after his accession, ceded to his brother, Ferdinand I, the
German or Austrian possessions of the House of Hapsburg (558),
while he himself retained the Spanish, Burgundian, and Italian
dominions. Ferdinand, by a fortunate marriage with the heiress
of the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, greatly augmented his
territory. Hungary was, however, almost completely conquered
by the Turks at that time, and till the end of the seventeenth
century the energies of the Austrian rulers were largely absorbed
in a long struggle against the Mohammedans who threatened
central Europe for many years.

667. Conquests of the Turks in Europe. A Turkish people
from western Asia had, at the opening of the fourteenth century,
established themselves in western Asia Minor under their leader,
Othman (d. 1326). It was from him that they derived their name
of Ottoman Turks, to distinguish them from the Seljuk Turks,
with whom the crusaders had come into contact. The leaders of
the Ottoman Turks showed great energy. They not only extended
their Asiatic territory far toward the east, and later into Africa,
but they gained a footing in Europe as early as 1353. They
gradually occupied the territory about Constantinople, and a
hundred years later succeeded in capturing the ancient capital
of the Eastern Empire, which came under their sway in the
year 1453.

This advance of the Turks naturally aroused grave fears in
the states of western Europe lest they too might be deprived of
their independence. The brunt of the defense against the com-
mon foe devolved upon Venice and the German Hapsburgs, who

Russia and Prussia become European Powers 387

carried on an almost continuous war with the Turks for nearly
two centuries. As late as 1683 the Mohammedans collected a
large force and besieged Vienna, which might very well have
fallen into their hands had it not been for the timely assistance
which the city received from the king of Poland. From this time
on the power of the Turks in Europe rapidly decreased. They
gradually lost their hold, and the Hapsburgs were able to regain
the whole territory of Hungary and Transylvania. Their pos-
session of these lands, which they held until 1918, was recog-
nized by the Sultan in 1699.

668. Heterogeneous Population under the Hapsburgs. The
conquest of Silesia by Frederick the Great was more than a severe
blow to the pride of Maria Theresa ; for, since it was inhabited by
Germans, its loss lessened the Hapsburg power inside the empire.
In extent of territory the Hapsburgs more than made up for it by
the partitions of Poland, but since the Poles were an alien race
they added one more difficulty to the very difficult problem of
ruling so many various peoples, each of whom had a different
language and different customs and institutions. The Hapsburg
possessions were inhabited by Germans in Austria proper, a
Slav people (the Czechs) mixed with Germans in Bohemia and
Moravia, Poles in Galicia, Hungarians or Magyars (along with
Rumanians and smaller groups of other peoples) in Hungary,
Croats and Slovenes (both Slavs) in the south, Italians in Milan
and Tuscany, and Flemish and Walloons in the Netherlands.

The problems which confronted Maria Theresa and her son
Joseph II were much more difficult than those of France or Eng-
land. Poles, Italians, Magyars, and Germans could never be
united into one state by such common interests as Englishmen or
Frenchmen have felt so keenly in the last two centuries. Instead
of fusing together to form a nation, the peoples ruled over by the
Hapsburgs have been on such bad terms with each other that there
has been constant friction, and even rebellion in the nineteenth
century against the government at Vienna. When the Hapsburgs
became involved in the terrible disaster of the World War they
finally split apart, forming separate nations.

388 General History oj Europe

QUESTIONS

I. Why is the study of the development of Russia and Prussia of
special interest today ? What peoples belong to the Slavic race ? What
was the extent of the realms of the Tsar of Russia in 1914? In what
portions of eastern Europe were the Slavs settled at the time of the
barbarian invasions ? Tell what you can of the early history of Russia.
What were some of the results of the Tartar invasion in Russia ? What
were the boundaries of Russia upon the accession of Peter the Great ?
What territory did he add? What reforms and changes did Peter
introduce ?

II. How did the elector of Brandenburg come to be the king of
Prussia? How did the early Hohenzollerns undertake to develop
Prussia? Explain the circumstances which led to the War of the
Austrian Succession. Give an account of the Seven Years' War.
Show why so many nations became involved in the war. How did
Frederick earn his title of "the Great"?

III. What were the internal weaknesses of Poland which made her
an easy prey for her neighbors? Describe the partitions of Poland
with the use of the map.

IV. Review briefly the history of the Hapsburgs. What were their
possessions at the time of Maria Theresa? Why has Austria always
been concerned in the affairs of Turkey? What peoples were under
the rule of the Hapsburgs? Locate these on the map.

CHAPTER XXXI
HOW ENGLAND BECAME QUEEN OF THE OCEAN

I. How EUROPE BEGAN TO EXTEND ITS COMMERCE OVER
THE WHOLE WORLD

669. England establishes her Supremacy on the Sea. In

the last chapter we reviewed the progress of affairs in eastern
Europe and noted the development of two new European powers,
Prussia and Russia, which have for the past two centuries played
a great part in the affairs of the world. In the West, England
was rapidly becoming the most important state. While she did
not greatly influence the course of the wars on the Continent,
she was already beginning to make herself mistress of the seas
a position which she still holds, owing to her colonies and her
unrivaled fleet.

At the close of the War of the Spanish Succession ( 641, 642)
her navy was superior to that of any other power, for both France
and Spain had been greatly weakened by the long conflict. Fifty
years after the Treaty of Utrecht, England had succeeded in
driving out the French both from North America and from India
and in laying the foundations of her vast empire beyond the seas,
which secured for her in the nineteenth century the commercial
supremacy of the world.

670. Vast Extent of the European Colonial Dominion. The
long and disastrous wars of the eighteenth century were much
more than merely quarrels of monarchs. They were caused also
by commercial and colonial rivalries, and they extended to the
most distant parts of the world. From the seventeenth century
on, the internal affairs of each country have been constantly in-
fluenced by the demands of its merchants and the achievements
of its sailors and soldiers, fighting rival nations or alien peoples

389

3QO General History of Europe

thousands of miles from London, Paris, or Vienna. The great
manufacturing towns of England Leeds, Manchester, and Bir-
mingham owe their prosperity to India, China, and Australia.
Liverpool, Amsterdam, and Trieste, with their long lines of docks
and warehouses and their fleets of merchant vessels, would
dwindle away if their trade should be cut off from distant lands
and were confined to the demands of their own country and
of their European neighbors.

Europe includes scarcely a twelfth of the land upon the globe,
and yet over three fifths of the world is today either occupied
by peoples of European origin or ruled by European states. The
possessions of France in Asia and Africa exceed the entire area of
Europe. The British Empire, of which the island of Great Britain
is but a hundredth part, includes one fifth of the world's dry land.
Moreover, European peoples have populated the United States,
Mexico, and South America.

The widening of the field of European history is one of the
most striking features of modern times. Though the Greeks and
Romans carried on a large trade in silks, spices, and precious
stones with India and China, they really knew little of the world
beyond southern Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia, and
much that they knew was forgotten during the Middle Ages.
Slowly, however, the interest in the East revived, and travelers be-
gan to add to the scanty knowledge handed down from antiquity.

671. Colonial Policy of Portugal, Spain, and Holland. The
voyages which had brought America and India within the ken
of Europe during the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries were,
as we know, mainly undertaken by the Portuguese and the
Spaniards. Portugal was the first to realize the advantage of
extending her commerce by establishing stations in India after
Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 ( 498),
and later by founding posts on the Brazilian coast of South
America ; then Spain laid claim to Mexico, the West Indies,
and a great part of South America. These two powers later found
a formidable rival in the Dutch, who succeeded in expelling the
Portuguese from a number of their settlements in India and the

FRANCE AND SPAIN

IN AMERICA
1750

100 JOO MO 400 500

How England became Queen oj the Ocean 391

Spice Islands and brought Java, Sumatra, and other tropical
regions under Dutch control.

672. The French and English in North America. In North
America the chief rivals were England and France, both of which
succeeded in establishing colonies in the early part of the seven-
teenth century. Englishmen settled at Jamestown in Virginia
(1607), then in New England, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and else-
where. The colonies owed their growth in part to the influx of
refugees, Puritans, Catholics, and Quakers, who exiled them-
selves in the hope of gaining the right freely to enjoy their par-
ticular forms of religion. On the other hand, many came in order
to better their fortunes in the New World, and thousands of bond
servants and slaves were brought over as laborers. So the popula-
tion of the English colonies was very diversified.

Just as Jamestown was being founded by the English the
French were making their first successful settlements in Nova
Scotia and at Quebec. Although England made no attempt to
oppose it, the French occupation of Canada progressed very
slowly. In 1673 Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, and Joliet, a
merchant, explored a part of the Mississippi River. La Salle
sailed down the great stream and named the new country which
he entered Louisiana, after his king, Louis XIV. The city of
New Orleans was founded, near the mouth of the river, in 1718,
and the French established a chain of forts between it and
Montreal.

The contest between England and France for the supremacy
in North America was responsible for almost continuous border
war, which burst out more fiercely with each war in the Old
World. Finally, England was able, by the Treaty of Utrecht, to
establish herself in the northern regions, for France thereby ceded
to her Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the borders of Hudson
Bay ( 642).

While the English in North America at the beginning of the
Seven Years' War numbered over a million, the French did not
reach a hundred thousand.

3Q2 General History of Europe

II. THE CONTEST BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND
FOR COLONIAL EMPIRE

673. Extent of India. The rivalry of England and France was
not confined to the wildernesses of North America, occupied by
half a million of savage red men. At the opening of the eighteenth
century both countries had gained a firm foothold on the borders
of the vast Indian empire, inhabited by two hundred millions of
people and the seat of an ancient and highly developed civiliza-
tion. One may gain some idea of the extent of India by laying
the map of Hindustan upon that of the United States. If the
southernmost point, Cape Comorin, be placed over New Orleans,
Calcutta will lie nearly over New York City, and Bombay in
the neighborhood of Des Moines, Iowa.

674. The Mongolian Emperors of Hindustan. A generation
after Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape, a Mongolian conqueror,
Baber, had established his empire in India. The dynasty of Mon-
golian rulers which he founded was able to keep the whole country
under its control for nearly two centuries ; then after the death
of the Great Mogul Aurungzeb, in 1707, their empire began to
fall apart in much the same way as that of Charlemagne had
done. Like the counts and dukes of the Carolingian period, the
emperor's officials, the subahdars and nawabs (nabobs), and the
rajahs (Hindu princes who had been subjugated by the Mongols)
had gradually got the power in their respective districts into their
own hands. Although the emperor, or Great Mogul, as the Eng-
lish called him, continued to maintain himself in his capital of
Delhi, he could no longer be said to rule the country at the open-
ing of the eighteenth century, when the French and English were
beginning to turn their attention seriously to his coasts.

675. English and French Settlements in India. In the time
of Charles I (1639) a village had been purchased by the English
East India Company on the southeastern coast of Hindustan,
which grew into the important English station of Madras. About
the same time posts were established in the district of Bengal, and
later Calcutta was fortified. Bombay was already an English

SKETCH MAP OF

INDIA

100 200 ar)0
The tfia'lril portion in the north-cant
ihotea the territory acquired by the

394 General History of Europe

station. The Mongolian emperor of India at first scarcely deigned
to notice the presence of a few foreigners on the fringe of his vast
realms, but before the end of the seventeenth century hostilities
began between the English East India Company and the native
rulers, which made it plain that the foreigners would be forced
to defend themselves.

The English had to face not only the opposition of the natives
but that of a European power as well. France also had an East
India Company, and at the opening of the eighteenth century
Pondicherry was its chief center, with a population of sixty thou-
sand, of which two hundred only were Europeans. It soon be-
came apparent that there was little danger from the Great Mogul ;
so the native princes and the French and English were left to
fight among themselves for the supremacy.

676. Olive renders English Influence Supreme in India. At
the moment that the Seven Years' War was beginning, bad news
reached Madras from the English settlement of Calcutta, about
a thousand miles to the northeast. The nawab of Bengal had
seized the property of some English merchants and imprisoned
one hundred and forty-five Englishmen in a little room, the
Black Hole of Calcutta, where most of them died of suffoca-
tion before morning. The English were fortunate in finding a
leader of military skill and energy. Robert Clive, although but
twenty-five years old, organized a force of Sepoys, as the native
soldiers were called by the English. He hastened to Bengal, and
with a little army of nine hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred
Sepoys gained a great victory at Plassey, in 1757, over the nawab's
army of fifty thousand men. He then replaced the nawab of
Bengal by a man whom he believed to be friendly to the English.
Before the Seven Years' War was over, the English had won
Pondicherry and deprived the French of all their former influence
in the region of Madras.

677. England's Gains in the Seven Years' War. When the
Seven Years' War was brought to an end, in 1763, by the Treaty
of Paris, it was clear that England had gained far more than any
other power. She was to retain her two forts commanding the

How England became Queen of the Ocean 395

Mediterranean Gibraltar, and Port Mahon on the island of
Minorca; in America, France ceded to her the vast region of
Canada and Nova Scotia, as well as several of the islands in the
West Indies-. The region beyond the Mississippi was ceded to
Spain by France, who thus gave up all her claims to North
America. In India, France, it is true, 'received back the towns
which the English had taken from her, but she had permanently
lost her influence over the native rulers, for Clive had made the
English name greatly feared among them.

III. REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES FROM
ENGLAND

678. England Victorious in the Struggle in America (nse-
1763). Just before the Seven Years' War came, in 1756, the
French and English had begun their struggle in America as well
as in India. In America the so-called French and Indian War
began in 1754 between the English and French colonists. Sup-
ported by money and men from the mother country the English
colonists captured the French forts at Ticonderoga and Niagara ;
Quebec was won in Wolfe's heroic .attack, 1759; and the next
year all Canada submitted to the English.

679. England long left her Colonies very Free. England
had, however, no sooner added Canada to her possessions and
driven the French from the broad region which lay between her
dominions and the Mississippi than she lost the better part of
her American empire by the revolt of the irritated colonists,
who refused to submit to her interference in their government
and commerce.

The English settlers had been left alone, for the most part, by
the home government and had enjoyed jar greater freedom in the
management of their affairs than had the French and Spanish
colonists. Virginia established its own assembly in 1619, and
Massachusetts became almost an independent commonwealth.
Regular constitutions developed, which were later used as the
basis for those of the several states when the colonies gained

396 General History oj Europe

their independence. By the end of the Seven Years' War the
colonists numbered over two millions. Their rapidly increasing
wealth and strength, their free life in a new land, the confidence
they had gained in their successful conflict with the French,
all combined to render interference of the British government
intolerable to them.

680. Navigation Laws. England had, like Spain, France, and
other colonizing countries, enacted a number of navigation and
trade laws by which she tried to keep all the benefits of colonial
trade and industry to herself. Early navigation laws were passed
under Cromwell and Charles II which were specially directed
against the enterprising Dutch traders. They provided that all
products grown or manufactured in Asia, Africa, or America
should be imported into England or her colonies only in English
ships. Thus, if a Dutch merchant vessel laden with cloves, cinna-
mon, teas, and silks from the Far East anchored in the harbor of
New York, the inhabitants could not lawfully buy of the ship's
master, no matter how much lower his prices were than those
offered by English shippers. Furthermore, another act provided
that no commodity of European production or manufacture should
be imported into any of the colonies without being shipped
through England and carried in ships built in England or the
colonies. So if a colonial merchant wished to buy French wines
or Dutch watches, he would have to order through English
merchants. Again, if a colonist desired to sell to a European
merchant such products as the law permitted him to sell to
foreigners, he had to export them in English ships and even send
them by way of England.

681. Trade Laws. Certain articles in which the colonists were
interested, such as sugar, tobacco, cotton, and indigo, could be
sold only in England. Other things they were forbidden to export
at all, or even to produce. For instance, though they possessed
the finest furs in abundance, they could not export any caps or
hats to England or to any foreign country. The colonists had
built up a lucrative lumber and provision trade with the French
West Indies, from which they imported large quantities of rum,

How England became Queen of the Ocean 397

sugar, and molasses, but in order to keep this trade within British
dominions, the importation of these commodities was forbidden.

682. The Colonists evade the English Restrictions. The
colonists naturally evaded these laws as far as possible; they
carried on a flourishing smuggling trade and built up industries in
spite of them. Tobacco, sugar, hemp, flax, and cotton were grown
and cloth was manufactured. Furnaces, foundries, and nail and
wire mills supplied pig and bar iron, chains, anchors, and other
hardware. It is clear that where so many people were interested
in both manufacturing and commerce a loud protest was sure to be
raised against any attempts of England to restrict the business of
the colonists in favor of her own merchants.

But previous to 1763 the navigation and trade laws had been
loosely enforced, and business men of high standing in their com-
munities ventured to neglect them and engage in illegal trade,
which from the standpoint of the mother country constituted
"smuggling." English statesmen had been too busy, however,
during the previous century with the great struggle at home and
the wars with Louis XIV to stop this unlawful trade.

683. Change in English Colonial Policy after 1763. With
the close of the successful Seven Years' War, and the conquest of
Canada and the Ohio valley, arrangements had to be made to
protect the new territories and meet the expenses incident to the
great enlargement of the British Empire. The home government
naturally argued that the prosperous colonists might make some
contribution in the form of taxes to the expenses of the late war
and the maintenance of a small body of troops for guarding the
new possessions.

684. The Stamp Act. This led to the passage of the Stamp
Act, which taxed the colonists by forcing them to pay the Eng-
lish government for the stamps which were required on leases,
deeds, and other legal documents in order to make them binding.
This does not appear to modern historians to have been a tyranni-
cal act, and it was certainly perfectly legal. But it stirred up
some of the leaders among the colonists, who declared that they
had already borne the brunt of the recent war and that Parliament

398 General History of Europe

had no right to tax them, since they were not represented directly
in that body. Whatever may have been the merits of their argu-
ments, representatives of the colonies met in New York in 1765
and denounced the Stamp Act as indicating " a manifest tendency
to subvert the rights and liberties of the colonists."

The unpopular stamp tax was repealed, in spite of the opposi-
tion of King George III, who, with some of the members of
Parliament, thought that the colonists should be punished rather
than conciliated. Others were very friendly to them, and a pro-
posal was made to permit the colonists to tax themselves, but
Benjamin Franklin, then in England, sadly admitted that they
would not consent to do so. Parliament then decided to raise
a certain amount by duties on glass, paper, and tea, and a board
was established to secure a stricter enforcement of the old and
hitherto largely neglected navigation laws and other restrictions.
The protests of the colonists led Parliament, however, to remove
all the duties except that on tea, which was retained owing to
the active lobbying of the East India Company, whose interests
were at stake.

685. The Boston Tea Party (1773) ; Attitude of Parliament
toward the Colonists. The effort to make the Americans pay
a very moderate duty on tea, and to force upon the Boston
markets the Company's tea at a very low price, produced trouble
in 1773. Those who had supplies of " smuggled" tea to dispose
of, and who were likely to be undersold even after the small duty
was paid, raised a new cry of illegal taxation, and a band of young
men was got together in Boston who boarded a tea ship in the
harbor and threw the cargo into the water. This so-called Boston
Tea Party fanned the slumbering embers of discord between the
colonies and the mother country.

A considerable body in Parliament were opposed to coercing
the colonists. Burke, perhaps the most able member of the House
of Commons, urged the ministry to leave the Americans to tax
themselves, but George III, and the Tory party in Parliament,
could not forgive the colonists for their opposition. They believed
that the trouble was largely confined to New England and could

How England became Queen oj the Ocean 399

easily be overcome. In 1774, acts were passed prohibiting the
landing and shipping of goods at Boston; and the colony of
Massachusetts was deprived of its former right to choose its
judges and the members of the upper house of its legislature,
who were thereafter to be selected by the king.

686. The Continental Congresses. These measures, instead
of bringing Massachusetts to terms, so roused the apprehension
of the rest of the colonists that a congress of representatives from
all the colonies was held at Philadelphia in 1774 to see what could
be done. This congress decided that all trade with Great Britain
should cease until the grievances of the colonies had been re-
dressed. The following year the Americans attacked the British
troops at Lexington, and later made a brave stand against them in
the battle of Bunker Hill. The second congress decided to prepare
for war and raised an army which was put under the command
of George Washington, a Virginia planter who had gained some
distinction in the late French and Indian War.

687. Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776). Up to this
time few people had openly advocated the separation of the
colonies from the mother country, but the proposed compromises
came to nothing, and in July, 1776, Congress declared that "these
united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent.''

The party which favored an attempt to gain independence was
a minority of the population. The so-called "Tories" who op-
posed separation from England were perhaps as numerous as the
"patriots" who advocated the American Revolution; and the
other third of the colonists appear to have been indifferent.

688. The United States receives Aid from France. The Dec-
laration of Independence naturally excited great interest in
France. The outcome of the Seven Years' War had been most
lamentable for that country, and any trouble which came to her
old enemy England could not but be a source of congratulation
to the French. The United States, therefore, regarded France as
their natural ally and immediately sent Benjamin Franklin to
Versailles in the hope of obtaining the aid of the new French
king, Louis XVI. The king's ministers were uncertain whether

4OO General History of Europe

the colonies could long maintain their resistance against the over-
whelming strength of the mother country. It was only after the
Americans had defeated Burgoyne at Saratoga that France, in
1778, concluded a treaty with the United States in which the in-
dependence of the new republic was recognized. This was equiva-
lent to declaring war upon England. The French government
then aided the colonies with loans, and enthusiasm for the Amer-
icans became so great in France that a number of the younger
nobles, the most conspicuous of whom was the Marquis of Lafa-
yette, crossed the Atlantic to fight as volunteers in the American
army.

689. Success of the Revolution, There was so much difference
of opinion in England in regard to the expediency of the war, and
so much sympathy in Parliament for the colonists, that the mili-
tary operations were not carried on with much vigor. Neverthe-
less, the Americans found it no easy task to win the war. In spite
of the skill and heroic self-sacrifice of Washington, they lost
more battles than they gained. It is extremely doubtful whether
they would have succeeded in bringing the war to a favorable
close, by forcing the English general Cornwallis to capitulate at
Yorktown (1781), had it not been for the aid of the French fleet.
The chief result of the war was the recognition by England of the
independence of the United States, whose territory was to extend
to the Mississippi River. To the west of the Mississippi the vast
territory of Louisiana still remained in the hands of Spain, as well
as Florida, which England had held since 1763 but now gave back.

Spain and Portugal were able to hold their American pos-
sessions a generation longer than the English, but in the end
practically all the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of
Canada, completely freed itself from the domination of the
European powers. Cuba, one of the very last vestiges of Spanish
rule in the West, gained its independence with the aid of the
United States in 1898.

690. Great Extension of England's Colonial Possessions.
England had lost her American colonies as a result of the only im-
portant and successful revolt that has ever taken place in her

How England became Queen of the Ocean 401

great empire. This led to the creation of a sister state speaking
her own language and destined to occupy the central part of the
North American continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. She
still retained Canada, however, and in the nineteenth century
added a new continent in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia, to
her vast colonial empire. In India she had no further rivals among
European nations and gradually extended her influence over the
whole region south of the Himalayas.

QUESTIONS

I. Why is the study of colonial possessions important in understand-
ing the history of Europe? Compare the extent of Europe with the
colonial possessions of the European powers before the World War.
What were the possessions of Spain, England, and France in North
America before the Seven Years' War? What were the English pos-
sessions at the close of the war ? -

II. Tell something of the extent and population of India. Describe
the government in India at the opening of the eighteenth century.
What settlements did the English and French have at this time?
How did England make her influence supreme in India?

III. Review the struggle of the English and French for possessions
in America. What was the condition of the English settlers in America
at the close of the Seven Years' War? Describe England's navigation
and trade laws. How did the colonists evade these restrictions ? Why
did England introduce a stricter policy after 1763 ? Why were the taxes
so unpopular in the colonies? What was the attitude of Parliament
toward the colonies? Review the events which led to the separation
of the colonies from England. What was the importance of the aid
given by France?

CHAPTER XXXII

GENERAL CONDITIONS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
I. LIFE OF THE PEOPLE IN COUNTRY AND TOWN

691. Survivals of the Manorial System. If a peasant who
had lived on a manor in the time of the Crusades had been able
to return to earth and travel about Europe at the opening of the
eighteenth century, he would have found much to remind him
of the conditions under which, seven centuries earlier, he had
extracted a scanty living from the soil. Although the gradual
disappearance of serfdom in western Europe seems to have begun
as early as the twelfth century, it proceeded at very different rates
in different countries. In France the old type of serf had largely
disappeared by the fourteenth century, and more completely in
England a hundred years later.

Even in France there were, however, still many annoying
traces of the old system. The peasant was, it is true, no longer
bound to a particular manor; he could buy or sell his land at
will, could marry without consulting the lord, and could go and
come as he pleased. But the lord might still require all those on
his manor to grind their grain at his mill, bake their bread in his
oven, and press their grapes in his wine press. The peasant might
have to pay a toll to cross a bridge or ferry which was under the
lord's control, or give a certain sum for driving his flock past the
lord's mansion. He might also have to turn over to his lord a
certain portion of his crops.

692. Condition of the Serfs in a Large Part of Europe. In
Prussia, Russia, Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Spain the medieval
system still prevailed (406) ; the peasant lived and died upon
the same manor, and worked for his lord in the same way that his
ancestors had worked a thousand years before. Everywhere the

402

A STREET SCENE IN CANNES IN SOUTHERN FRANCE, SHOWING
THE NARROW STREETS ORIGINATING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

General Conditions in the Eighteenth Century 403

same crude farm implements were still used and were roughly
made in the neighboring village. The wooden plows were con-
structed on the model of the old Roman plow; wheat was cut
with a sickle, grass with an unwieldy scythe, and the rickety cart
wheels did not have iron tires but only wooden rims.

693. Wretched Houses of the Peasants. The houses occupied
by the country people differed greatly from Sicily to Pomerania,
and from Ireland to Poland ; but, in general, they were small,
with little light or ventilation, and often they were nothing but
wretched hovels with dirt floors and neglected thatch roofs. The
pigs and the cows were frequently as well housed as the people, with
whom they associated upon very familiar terms, since the barn
and the house were commonly in the same building. The
drinking-water was bad, and there was no attempt to secure proper
drainage. Fortunately everyone was out of doors a great deal of
the time, for the women as well as the men usually worked in the
fields, cultivating the soil and helping to gather in the crops.

Country life in the eighteenth century was obviously very
unattractive for the most part. The peasant had no newspapers
to tell him of the world outside his manor, nor could he have read
them if he had had them. Even in England not one peasant in
five thousand could read at all.

694. Towns still Medieval in the Eighteenth Century. In
the towns also there was much to remind one of the Middle Ages
( 409 ff.). The narrow, crooked streets, darkened by the over-
hanging buildings and scarcely lighted at all by night, the rough
cobblestones, the disgusting odors even in the best quarters,
all offered a marked contrast to the European cities of today, which
have grown tremendously in the last hundred years in size, beauty,
and comfort.

695. London. In 1760 London had half a million inhabitants,
or about a tenth of its present population. There were of course
no street cars or omnibuses, to say nothing of the thousands of
automobiles which now thread their way in and out through the
press of traffic. A few hundred hackney coaches and sedan chairs
served to carry those who had not private conveyances and could

404 General History oj Europe

not, or would not, walk. The ill-lighted streets were guarded at
night by watchmen who went about with lanterns, but who afforded
so little protection against the roughs and robbers that gentlemen
were compelled^ to carry arms when passing through the streets
after nightfall.

696. Paris. Paris was somewhat larger than London and had
outgrown its medieval walls. The police were more efficient
there, and the highway robberies which disgraced London and
its suburbs were almost unknown. The great park, the "Elysian
Fields," and many of the boulevards which now form so distin-
guished a feature of Paris were already laid out ; but, in general,
the streets were still narrow, and there were none of the fine broad
avenues which now radiate from a hundred centers. There were
few sewers to carry off the water which, when it rained, flowed
through the middle of the streets. The filth and the bad smells of
former times still remained, and the people had to rely upon easily
polluted wells or the dirty River Seine for their water supply.

697. German Towns. In Germany very few of the towns had
spread beyond their medieval walls. They had, for the most
part, lost their former prosperity, which was still recalled by the
fine old houses of the merchants and of the once flourishing
guilds (413). Berlin had a population of only about two hun-
dred thousand. Vienna, the finest city in Austria, was slightly
larger. This city then employed from thirty to a hundred street
cleaners, and boasted that the street lamps were lighted every
night.

698. Italian Cities. Even the famous cities of Italy, Milan,
Genoa, Florence, Rome (485 ff.), notwithstanding their beau-
tiful palaces and public buildings, were, with the exception of
water-bound Venice, crowded into the limited compass of the
town wall, and their streets were narrow and crooked.

699. Trade and Industry on a Small Scale. Another contrast
between the towns of the eighteenth century and those of today
lay in the absence of the great wholesale warehouses, the vast
factories with their tall chimneys, and the attractive department
stores which may now be found in every city from Dublin to

a a?

-w
Q.

General Conditions in the Eighteenth Century 405

Budapest. There were as yet no steamships, railroads, or even
factories supplied with machinery, so business was conducted
upon a small scale, except at the great ports like London, Ant-
werp, or Amsterdam, where goods coming and going to the col-
onies in sailing vessels were brought together in great warehouses.

700. Survival of Medieval Guilds. The medieval guilds still
controlled the making and selling of goods. A great part of the
manufacturing still took place in little shops where the articles
were offered for sale. Generally all those who owned the several
shops carrying on a particular trade, such as tailoring, shoe-
making, baking, tanning, bookbinding, hair cutting, or the mak-
ing of candles, knives, hats, artificial flowers, swords, or wigs,
were organized into a guild, the main object of which was to
prevent all other citizens from making or selling the articles in
which the members of the guild dealt (413). The guilds were
confined, however, to the old established industries, and their
seeming strength was really giving way before the entirely new
conditions which had arisen.

II. THE PRIVILEGED CLASSES : NOBILITY AND CLERGY

701. Privileges of the Nobility. Not only had the medieval
manor and the medieval guilds maintained themselves down into
the eighteenth century, but the successors of the feudal lords
continued to exist as a showy and powerful class. They enjoyed
various privileges and distinctions denied to the ordinary citizen,
although they were, of course, shorn of the great power that the
more important dukes and counts had formerly enjoyed. In the
Middle Ages they ruled over vast tracts, could summon their
vassals to assist them in their constant wars with their neighbors,
and dared defy even the authority of the king himself ( 341 ff.).

702. Feudal Nobles brought under Royal Control. The Eng-
lish, French, and Spanish kings had gradually subjugated the
turbulent barons and brought the great fiefs directly under royal
control. The monarchs met with such success. that in the eight-
eenth century the nobles no longer held aloof but eagerly sought

406 General History of Europe

the king's court as we have seen. Those whose predecessors had
once been veritable sovereigns within their own domains had
deserted their war horses and laid aside their long swords; in
their velvet coats and high-heeled shoes they were contented with
the privilege of helping the king to dress in the morning and at-
tending him at dinner. The battlemented castle, once the strong-
hold of independent chieftains, was transformed into a tasteful
country residence where if the king honored the owner with a
visit the host was no longer tempted, as his ancestors had been, to
shower arrows and stones upon the royal intruder.

By their prolonged absence from their estates the nobles in
France lost the confidence of their tenants, while their stewards
roused the hatred of the peasants by strictly collecting all the
ancient manorial dues in order that the lord might enjoy the
gayeties at court.

703. The English Peerage. In England the feudal castles
had disappeared earlier than in France, and the English law did
not grant to anyone, however long and distinguished his lineage,
special rights or exemptions not enjoyed by every freeman.
Nevertheless there was a distinct noble class in England. The
monarch had been accustomed to summon his earls and some of
his barons to take council with him, and in this way the peerage
developed ; this included those whose title permitted them to
sit in the House of Lords and to transmit this honorable privi-
lege to their eldest sons. But the peers paid the same taxes as
every other subject and were punished in the same manner if
they were convicted of an offense. Moreover, only the eldest
living son of a noble father inherited his rank, while on the
Continent all the children became nobles. In this way the num-
ber of the English nobility was greatly restricted.

704. The German Nobles. In Germany, however, the nobles
continued to occupy very much the same position which their
ancestors held in the Middle Ages. There had been no king to
do for Germany what the French kings had done for France;
no mighty man had risen strong enough to batter down castle
walls and bend all barons, great and small, to his will. The

General Conditions in the Eighteenth Century 407

result was that there were in Germany in the eighteenth century
hundreds of nobles dwelling in strong old castles and ruling with
a high hand domains which were sometimes no larger than a big
American farm. They levied taxes, held courts, coined money, and
maintained standing armies of perhaps only a handful of soldiers.
705. The King the Chief Noble. In all the countries of Europe
the chief noble was, of course, the monarch himself, to whose
favor almost all the lesser nobles owed their titles and rank.
On the whole, the king merited the respect paid him. He had
put a stop to the private warfare and feudal brigandage which
had disgraced the Middle Ages. He it was who had destroyed
the power of innumerable lesser despots and created something
like a nation.

706. The Clergy a Privileged Class. In addition to the nobles,
the clergy, especially in Catholic countries, formed a privileged
class, which was even more powerful and better organized than
the nobility. They still enjoyed many rights and immunities
which set them off from the people at large. We have seen how
the government during the Middle Ages depended on the clergy
to write out its documents and decrees, for they alone were
educated, and how the higher clergy came to play a prominent
part in the affairs of state and to act as counselors to the king.
Moreover, they controlled the vast wealth of the Church, which
had gradually accumulated through gifts of money and lands.
The archbishops, bishops, and abbots were in the eighteenth cen-
tury fond of living at the king's court, supported in luxury by the
income from their great estates, and had in many cases the rights
of feudal lords. On the other hand, many of the poor parish
priests could hardly subsist on their meager and uncertain in-
comes. The Church, however, did not rely for its support en-
tirely upon the revenue from its extensive domains, but imposed
a regular tax on everyone the tithe, which all were forced to
pay whether they wished to or not.

707. Powers of the Church in the Eighteenth Century. In
spite of the changes which had overtaken it, the Church remained
in the eighteenth century a powerful and impressive institution.

408 General History of Europe

It retained its gorgeous ceremonial, its hierarchy, its enormous
possessions, and its control over the minds of men. By per-
forming many useful services it seemed as indispensable to the
average citizen as it had before the development of great national
states. It registered his birth, took care of his education, sancti-
fied his marriage, gave him relief in time of sickness or distress,
and provided eternal salvation for his soul. In return, however,
it claimed the right to collect its income and to demand loyalty
to its teachings. It fined and imprisoned those who dared to
oppose its dogmas and could by excommunication punish those
who defied its authority.

708. Intolerance of Both Catholics and Protestants. Both
the Protestant and Catholic churches were intolerant and were
usually supported by the government, which was ready to punish
anyone who refused to conform to the religion adopted by the
State or who ventured to speak or write against its doctrines.

709. Censorship of the Press. Books and pamphlets were
carefully examined by a censor in order to see whether they in
any way attempted to undermine the authority of the Church or
of the king. As late as 1757 the king of France issued a declara-
tion establishing the death penalty for those who wrote, printed,
or distributed any work which appeared to be an attack on reli-
gion. A considerable number of the books issued in France in
the eighteenth century which criticized the government or the
Church were condemned by either the clergy or the king's courts
and were burned by the common hangman or suppressed. Not
infrequently the authors, if they could be discovered, were
imprisoned.

Nevertheless, books attacking the old ideas and suggesting
reforms in Church and State constantly appeared and were
freely circulated. The writers took care not to place their names
or those of the publishers upon the title-pages, and many such
books were printed at Geneva or in Holland, where great free-
dom prevailed. In Spain the censorship of the press and the
Inquisition constituted a double bulwark against change until
the latter half of the eighteenth century.

General Conditions in the Eighteenth Century 409

710. The English Established Church and the Protestant
Sects. It will be remembered that Henry VIII had thrown off
his allegiancje to the Pope and declared himself the head of the
English Church. Under Queen Elizabeth a national Church had
been established by Parliament. Those who loyally adhered to
the Roman Catholic faith fared badly, although happily there
were no such general massacres as overwhelmed the Protestants
in France. There were many Protestants who did not approve of
the Anglican Church as established by law. During the seven-
teenth and early eighteenth centuries these Dissenters devel-
oped gradually into several sects, with different views. In addition
to those of which we have already spoken ( 616) was the
Society of Friends, or Quakers. They owed their origin to George
Fox, who began his preaching in 1647. The Friends were dis-
tinguished by their simplicity of life and dress and their plain
meeting-houses with scarcely a trace of the old forms of religious
worship. The Quakers were the first religious sect to denounce
war ever and always, and they should have the credit of beginning
a movement against war which had gained much headway before
the outbreak in 1914.

The last of the great Protestant sects to appear was that of
the Methodists. Their founder, John Wesley (d. 1791), when at
Oxford, established a religious society among his fellow students.
Their piety and the regularity of their habits gained for them
the nickname of " Methodists."

711. Legal Intolerance in England. The Toleration Act,
which was passed in 1689, permitted Dissenters to hold meetings;
but "Papists and such as deny the Trinity" (namely, Unitarians)
were explicitly excluded. The Dissenters as well as Catholics
were not permitted to hold government offices and could not
obtain degrees at the universities. Only the members of the
Anglican Church could secure a church benefice. Roman Catho-
lics were forbidden to enter England and legally had no rights
whatever within the realm.

712. Freedom of Speech and of the Press in England. Never-
theless, in spite of the ancient intolerant laws and the special

4i o General History of Europe

privileges of the Anglican Church, men were very free in the eight-
eenth century in England to believe and to say what they wished.
One desiring to publish a book or pamphlet did not have to obtain
the permission of the government, as was required in France.
The result was that there was a vast amount of discussion of
religious, scientific, and political matters beyond anything that
went on in any other European country. The books of the Eng-
lish reformers had a great influence upon the French, as will
become apparent in the following section.

>
III. MODERN SCIENCE INTRODUCES THE IDEA

OF PROGRESS

713. Idea of the "Good Old Times." Before the eighteenth
century men in general showed a great respect and veneration
for the past. They believed that former times had been better
than the present, because the evils of the past were little known,
while the existing ones were only too apparent. They therefore
always aspired to be as saintly, to write as good books, or to
paint as beautiful pictures as the great men of old. That they
might hope to excel their predecessors did not occur to them.
Their ideals centered in the past, and improvement seemed to
them to consist in reviving the "good old days."

714. New Idea of Progress. Thoughtful people, however, be-
gan to be aware of the deficiencies and mistakes of the past and
to dream of betterment and progress beyond the happiest times
of which they had any record. They came to feel that the igno-
rance and prejudices of their forefathers, and the bad laws and
institutions which they had handed down to them, were the chief
obstacles to reform. If only they could be free of these burdens
they might create an environment which would be more suitable
to their needs.

715. Influence of Scientific Discoveries. It was mainly to the
patient men of science that the Western world owed its hope of
future improvement. They have gradually robbed the past of its
binding authority and by their discoveries pointed the way to

General Conditions in the Eighteenth Century 411

indefinite advance. We can hardly realize how great a change
has come over man's outlook on the world in recent times, for
today we expect constant new discoveries and improvements and
accept without astonishment such marvelous inventions as the
telephone, the wireless telegraph, and the aeroplane.

716. Modern Experimental Science. In the Middle Ages
learned men had been but little interested in the world about
them and had devoted their attention to philosophy and theology.
They were content to get their knowledge of nature from reading
the works of the ancients mainly Aristotle. The new scientists,
however, were not satisfied with the mere observation of what
they saw about them, or the account which some ancient writer
had given; they began to perform experiments that is, they
placed materials in new combinations and carefully observed what
took place. They established laboratories, especially equipped,
where they could use apparatus which was designed to help them
in their studies. Microscopes, telescopes, barometers, thermom-
eters, clocks, and balances now assisted them in making accurate
measurements which were impossible for the Greeks and Romans,
who had none of these instruments to aid them. This new method
of study led to the most astonishing discoveries, which have
revolutionized the world in which we live. Our modern machinery,
locomotives, steamships, telephones, cameras, and phonographs
are but a few of the marvelous results of scientific experiment
which had its beginnings in the eighteenth century.

717. Opposition to Scientific Discoveries. Those who ac-
cepted the old views of the world and religion were quite justified
in suspecting that the new discoveries would make them trouble.
For scientific investigation taught men to distrust the past, which
furnished so many instances of ignorance and superstition. More-
over, some of its teachings did not seem to harmonize with the
Bible and the prevailing notions of the universe. Unlike the
theologians, the newer thinkers maintained that man was not
utterly vile or incapable of good thoughts and deeds except
through divine grace. They urged him, on the contrary, to use
his own reason freely and believed that he might indefinitely better

412 General History of Europe

his own condition and that of his fellows could he only succeed in
ridding himself of the accumulation of ancient error and tradition.

718. Views of Voltaire (1694-1788). In the year 1726 there
landed in England a young and gifted Frenchman who was to
become the great prophet of this view. Voltaire, who was then
thirty-two years of age, had already deserted the older religious
beliefs and was ready to follow enthusiastically the more pro-
gressive English thinkers, who discussed matters with an open-
ness that filled him with astonishment. He greatly admired the
teachings of Newton and regarded his discovery of universal
gravitation as greater than any of the achievements of Alexander
or Caesar. He had no use for warriors; he says, "It is to him
who understands the universe, not to those who disfigure it, we
owe our reverence." Voltaire was also deeply impressed by the
Quakers their simple life and their hatred of war. He was
pleased by the English -liberty of speech and writing, and he
respected the general esteem for the business class. His little
volume Letters on the English, in which he records the impressions
which England made on him when he visited it, was condemned to
be publicly burned by the high court of justice at Paris as scan-
dalous and lacking in the respect then considered due to kings
and governments.

719. Influence of Voltaire. Voltaire remained, however, during
the rest of his long life the chief advocate in Europe of reliance
upon reason and confidence in progress. The vast range of his
writings enabled him to bring his views before all sorts and
conditions of men. He wrote histories, plays, dramas, philosophic
treatises, romances, and innumerable letters to his many admirers.
The name of Voltaire has become associated with his relentless
attack upon the Roman Catholic Church, which appeared to him
opposed to the exercise of reason and hostile to reform. It was
because he believed that the Church stood in the way of progress
that he seemed incapable of realizing all that it had done for
mankind during the bygone ages. He, however, fought against
wrong and oppression and did much to prepare the way for great
and permanent reforms.

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LEADERS OF THE REVOLUTION IN THOUGHT

General Conditions in the Eighteenth Century 413

720. Diderot's Encyclopedia. Voltaire had many admirers and
powerful allies. Among these none were more important than
Denis Diderot and the scholars whom Diderot induced to coop-
erate with him in preparing articles for a new Encyclopedia,
which was designed to spread among a wide range of intelligent
readers a knowledge of scientific advance and rouse enthusiasm
for reform and progress. Diderot and his fellow editors endeav-
ored to rouse as little opposition as possible. They respected cur-
rent prejudices and gave space to ideas and opinions with which
they were not always personally in sympathy.

The Encyclopedia attacked temperately, but effectively, reli-
gious intolerance, the bad taxes, the slave trade, and the atrocities
of the criminal law ; it encouraged men to turn their minds to
natural science with all its possibilities. The article "Legislator,"
written by Diderot, might have been written today: "All the
men of all lands have become necessary to one another for the
exchange of the fruits of industry and the products of the soil.
Commerce is a new bond among men. In these days every nation
has an interest in the preservation by every other nation of its
wealth, its industry, its banks,- its luxury, its agriculture. The
ruin of Leipzig, of Lisbon, of Lima, has led to bankruptcies on
all the exchanges of Europe and has affected the fortunes of many
millions of persons."

In spite of its wisdom and moderation, however, it aroused the
opposition of the theologians, and after the first two volumes
appeared, in 1752, the king's ministers, to please the officials of
the Church, suppressed them, as containing principles hostile to
royal authority and religion, although they did not succeed in
preventing the completion of the work.

721. Jean Jacques Rousseau (i?i2-i778). Next to Voltaire, the
writer who did most to cultivate discontent with existing condi-
tions was Jean Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau believed in the
natural equality of mankind and the right of every man to have
a voice in the government. In his celebrated little treatise The
Social Contract he declares that it is the will of the people that
renders government legitimate. The real sovereign is the people.

414

General History of Europe

Although they may appoint a single person, such as a king, to
manage the government for them, they should make the laws,
since it is they who must obey them. We shall find that the first
French constitution accepted Rousseau's doctrine and defined law
as "the expression of the general will" not the will of a king
reigning by the grace of God. Rousseau also urged men to re-
turn to nature and to a life of
simplicity ; for he held that
the development of the arts
and sciences had demoralized
mankind, since they had pro-
duced luxury, insincerity, and
arrogance.

722. The Benevolent Des-
pots. Some of the rulers of the
time, especially Frederick the
Great of Prussia, Catherine
p. the Great of Russia, and
Maria Theresa's son, Emperor

^J^H

jjB Joseph II, read the books of

the French reformers and cor-
responded with them. These
monarchs are known as the
"benevolent despots"; for

while they were careful to keep the government in their own
hands, they introduced various reforms which they claimed would
be advantageous to their subjects.

Frederick read French books and wrote in French ; he invited
Voltaire to spend some time at his palace near Berlin and kept
up a correspondence with him later. Catherine too worked hard
in governing her realms and explained her reforms in letters to
Voltaire. She also helped and encouraged Diderot. She talked
of abolishing serfdom, but really made the serfs' lot worse. She
confiscated the property of churches and monasteries, using part
of the revenue to support the clergy and part for schools and
hospitals.

CATHERINE II

General Conditions in the Eighteenth Century 415

Joseph II, who succeeded Maria Theresa in 1780 as ruler of
the Austrian realms, was the only one of the benevolent despots
who undertook sweeping reforms. He tried to make the scattered
and heterogeneous possessions of the Hapsburgs into a consoli-
dated, well-organized, modern state ; he freed the serfs and de-
prived the nobles of their privileges. He seized the Church
property and appointed the bishops himself. In spite of his good
intentions he met opposition on all hands, and after his death,
in 1790, few of his reforms left any permanent results.

IV. THE ENGLISH LIMITED MONARCHY AND GEORGE III

723. Limited Monarchy of England. In striking contrast to
the absolute rule of the "benevolent despots" on the Continent,
the island of Britain was, as we have seen, governed by its Par-
liament. There the king, from the Revolution of 1688 on, had
owed his crown to Parliament and admitted that he was limited
by the constitution, which he had to obey. This did not prevent
at least one English king from trying to have his own way in
spite of the restrictions placed upon him, as we shall presently see.

724. Whigs and Tories. There were two great political parties
in England : the Whigs, successors of the Roundheads, who ad-
vocated the supremacy of Parliament and championed toleration
for the Dissenters ; and the Tories, who, like the earlier Cavaliers
(606), upheld the divine right of kings and the supremacy of
the Anglican, or Established, Church. After the death of Anne
many of the Tories favored calling to the throne the son of
James II (popularly called "the Old Pretender"), whereupon
the Whigs succeeded in discrediting their rivals by denouncing
them as traitors. They made the new Hanoverian king, George I,
believe that he owed everything to the Whigs, and for a period
of nearly fifty years, under George I and George II, they were
able to control Parliament.

725. Robert Walpole, Prime Minister (1721-1742). George I
himself spoke no English, was ignorant of English politics, and
was much more interested in Hanover than in his new kingdom.

4i6

General History oj Europe

He did not attend the meetings of his ministers, as his predeces-
sors had done, and turned over the management of affairs to the
Whig leaders. They found a skillful "boss" and a judicious

A NOBLE FAMILY OF THE OLD REGIME

Extravagance in dress, of which the men were as guilty as the women, was
largely due to the influence of court life

statesman in Sir Robert Walpole, who maintained his own power
and that of his party by avoiding war and preventing religious
dissensions at home. He used the king's funds to buy the votes
necessary to maintain the Whig majority in the House of Com-
mons and to get his measures through that body.

General Conditions in the Eighteenth Century 417

726. Development of the Cabinet and the Office of Prime
Minister. Walpole was England's first prime minister. The
existence of "two well-defined political parties standing for widely
different policies forced the king to choose all his ministers from
either one or the other. The more prominent among his advisers
came gradually to form a little group who resigned together if
Parliament refused to accept the measures they advocated. In
this way the "cabinet government," begun under William III,
developed, with a prime minister, or premier, at its head. Under
weak monarchs the prime minister would naturally be the real
ruler of the kingdom.

727. George III and Parliament. Finally, George III, who
came to the throne in 1760, succeeded in creating a party of his
own, known as the "King's Friends," and with their aid, and a
liberal use of what would now be regarded as bribery and graft,
ran the government much as he wanted to. His mother, a German
princess, had taught him that he ought to be a king like those
on the Continent ; and, in spite of the restrictions of Parliament,
he did rule in a high-handed and headstrong way. During the
war with the American colonies, which soon broke out, he was
practically his own prime minister.

728. Growing Demand for Reform. The really weak spot in
the English constitution, however, was less the occasional high-
handedness of the king than the fact that Parliament did not
represent the nation as a whole. Already in the eighteenth cen-
tury there was no little discontent with the monopoly which the
landed gentry and the rich enjoyed in Parliament. There was
an increasing number of writers to point out to the people the
defects in the English system. They urged that every man should
have the right to participate in the government by casting his vote,
and that the unwritten constitution of England should be written
down and so made clear and unmistakable. Political clubs were
founded, which entered into correspondence with political societies
in France; newspapers and pamphlets poured from the press in
enormous quantities ; and political reform found champions in the
House of Commons.

4i 8 General History of Europe

729. The French Revolution checks Reform in England.
This demand for reform finally induced the younger Pitt, son of
the Earl of Chatham, who was prime minister from 1783 to 1801,
to introduce bills into the House of Commons for remedying some
of the old evils. But the violence and disorder accompanying the
French Revolution, which began in 1789, involved England in a
long and tedious war and discredited reform with Englishmen
who had formerly favored change, to say nothing of the Tories,
who regarded with horror any proposal looking toward an exten-
sion of the right to vote. We must now turn to the conditions
in France which led to the French Revolution.

QUESTIONS

I. What survivals of the manorial system were to be found in
Europe in the eighteenth century? What was the condition of the
serfs ? Describe the medieval towns. Compare town life in the
eighteenth century in London and Paris with what you know of it
today. How was trade and industry carried on?

II. How did the European nobility originate ? How did their mode of
living in the eighteenth century differ from what it had been in the
Middle Ages ? Compare the French nobility with the English peerage.
What do we owe to the development of kingship? How did the clergy
come to be a privileged class? What was the position of the Church
in Catholic countries ? What was the censorship of the press ? Does it
exist today ? What Protestant sects had grown up in England ?

III. Contrast the medieval attitude toward the past with that of
thoughtful people in the eighteenth century. To what was the change
of attitude largely due? What is meant by experimental science?
What new instruments were used which assisted in making discoveries ?
Why was there opposition to the discovery of new truths ? Tell what
you know of Voltaire. What did the Encyclopedia attempt to do?
Why was it suppressed? Why did Rousseau think that civilization
was a bad thing? What was the policy of the "benevolent despots"?
Why is not this kind of government a promising one ?

IV. What is meant by the. "limited monarchy" in England? De-
scribe the origin of the two great political parties in England. How
did the office of "prime minister" develop? Who is at present prime
minister of England ? Describe the reasons for a demand for reform
under George III.

BOOK VIII. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
AND NAPOLEON

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE EVE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
I. THE OLD REGIME IN FRANCE

730. The French Revolution not the Reign of Terror. It was
France that first carried out the great reforms that did away
with many of the old institutions and much of the confusion that
had come down from the Middle Ages. Even in England little
was done in the eighteenth century to remedy the great evils of
which the reformers complained. But in 1789 the king of France
asked his people to submit their grievances to him and to send
representatives to Versailles to confer with him upon the ways in
which the government might be improved so as to increase the
general happiness and the prosperity of the kingdom. The French
National Assembly swept away the old institutions and accom-
plished more in a few months than the reforming kings had done
in a century.

However, when one meets the words "French Revolution," he
is pretty sure to call up before his mind's eye the guillotine and
its hundreds of victims, and the Paris mob shouting the hymn
of the Marseillaise as they paraded the streets with the heads of
unfortunate "aristocrats" on their pikes. Everyone has heard of
this terrible episode in French history even if he knows nothing
of the permanent good which was accomplished at the time.
Indeed, it has made so deep an impression that the Reign of
Terror is often mistaken for the real Revolution. It was, how-
ever, only a sequel to it, an unhappy accident, which will seem

419

42 o General History of Europe

less and less important as the years go on. The Reign of Terror
will be described in good time, but it is a matter of far greater
importance to understand clearly how the permanent reforms
were wrought out and how France won the proud distinction of
being the first nation to do away with the absurd and vexa-
tious institutions which continued to weigh upon Europe in the
eighteenth century.

731. The "Old Regime." We have already examined these
institutions which were common to most of the European coun-
tries, despotic kings, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair taxation,
censorship of the press, serfdom, feudal dues, friction between
Church and State, all of which the reformers had been busy
denouncing as contrary to reason and humanity, and some of
which the benevolent despots had, in a half-hearted way, at-
tempted to remedy. The various relics of bygone times and of
outlived conditions which the Revolution abolished forever are
commonly called in France the "old regime." 1 We shall now try
to see how almost everyone, from the king to the peasant, came
to realize that the "old regime" was bad and consequently re-
solved to do away with it and substitute a more rational plan
of government for the long-standing disorder.

732. France not a Unified State. Of the evils which the Revo-
lution abolished, none was more important than the confusion in
France due to the fact that it was not in the eighteenth century
a well-organized, homogeneous state whose citizens all enjoyed
the same rights and privileges. A long line of kings had patched
it together, adding bit by bit as they could. By conquest and
bargain, by marrying heiresses, and through the extinction of the
feudal dynasties the original restricted domains of the early
French kings about Paris had been gradually increased by their
descendants. We have seen how Louis XIV gained Alsace and
Strassburg. Louis XV added Lorraine in 1766. So when Louis
XVI came to the throne in 1774 he found himself ruler of prac-
tically the whole territory which makes up France today. But
these different parts had different institutions.

1 From the French ancien regime, the old or former system.

The Eve of the French Revolution 421

Some of the districts which the kings of France brought under
their sway were previously considerable states in themselves,
each with fts own laws, customs, and system of government.
When these provinces had come, at different times, into the pos-
session of the king of France, he had not changed their laws so
as to make them correspond with those of his other domains. He
was satisfied if a new province paid its due share of the taxes and
treated his officials with respect.

While in a considerable portion of southern France the Roman
law still prevailed, in the central parts and in the west and north
there were no less than two hundred and eighty-five different local
codes of law in force ; so that one who moved from his own to a
neighboring town might find a wholly unfamiliar legal system.

One of the heaviest taxes was that on salt. This varied
greatly, so greatly in different parts of France that the govern-
ment had to go to great expense to guard the boundary lines
between the various districts, for there was every inducement
to smugglers to carry salt from those parts of the country where
it was cheap into the regions where it sold for a high price on
account of the tax.

733. The Privileged Classes. Besides these unfortunate local
differences, there were class differences which caused great dis-
content. AH Frenchmen did not enjoy the same rights as citizens.
Two small but very important classes, the nobility and the clergy,
were treated differently by the State from the rest of the people.
They did not have to pay one of the heaviest of the taxes, the
notorious t aille ; and on one ground or another they escaped other
burdens which the rest of the citizens bore.

734. The Church. We have seen how great and powerful the
medieval Church still was (see above, 706 ff.). In France, as
in other Catholic countries of Europe, it took charge of education
and of the relief of the sick and the poor. It was very wealthy
and is supposed to have owned one fifth of all the land in France.
The clergy claimed that their property, being dedicated to God,
was not subject as other land was to taxation. They consented,
however, to help the king from time to time by a " free gift," as

422 General History of Europe

they called it. The Church still continued to collect the tithes
from the people, and its vast possessions made it very independent.
A great part of the enormous income of the Church went
to the higher clergy the bishops, archbishops, and abbots.
Since these were appointed by the king, often from among his
courtiers, they tended to neglect their duties as officers of the
Church and to become little more than "great lords with a
hundred thousand francs income." But while they were spend-
ing their time at Versailles the real work was performed and
well performed by the lower clergy, who often received scarcely
enough to keep soul and body together. This explains why, when
the Revolution began, the parish priests sided with the people
instead of with their ecclesiastical superiors.

735. The Privileges of the Nobility. The privileges of the
nobles, like those of the clergy, had originated in the medieval
conditions described in an earlier chapter ( 701 ff.). While serf-
dom had largely disappeared in France long before the eighteenth
century, and the peasants were generally free men who owned or
rented their land, the lords still enjoyed, as we have seen, the right
to collect a variety of time-honored dues from the inhabitants
living within the limits of the former manors ( 405 ff.).

The nobles, too, had the exclusive privilege of hunting, which
was deemed an aristocratic pastime. The game which they pre-
served for their amusement often did great damage to the crops of
the peasants, who were forbidden to interfere with hares and deer.
Many of the manors had great pigeon houses, built in the form
of a tower, in which there were one or two thousand nests. No
wonder the peasants detested these, for they were not permitted
to protect themselves against the innumerable pigeons and their
progeny, which spread over the fields devouring newly sown seed.

The higher offices in the army were reserved for the nobles,
as well as the easiest and most lucrative places in the Church
and in the king's palace.

736. The Third Estate. Everybody who did not belong to
either the clergy or the nobility was regarded as being of the
Third Estate. The Third Estate was therefore really the nation

The Eve of the French Revolution

423

at large, which was made up in 1789 of about twenty-five million
souls. The privileged classes can scarcely have counted altogether
more than two hundred or two hundred and fifty thousand indi-
viduals. A great part of the Third Estate lived in the country and
tilled the soil. Most historians have been inclined to make out
their condition as very wretched. They were certainly oppressed

A CHATEAU AND PIGEON HOUSE

The round tower at the right hand in front is the pigeon house. The wall
inside is honeycombed with nests, and the pigeons fly in and out at the side

of the roof

by an abominable system of taxation and were irritated by the
dues which they had to pay to the lords. They also suffered
frequently from local famines. Yet there is no doubt that the
evils of their situation have been greatly exaggerated, for it has
commonly been thought that the Revolution was to be explained
by the misery and despair of the people, who could bear their
burdens no longer.

737. Relatively Favorable Position of French Peasants. If,
however, instead of comparing the situation of the French peasant
under the old regime with that of an English or American farmer
today, we should contrast his position with that of his fellow

424 General History of Europe

peasant in Prussia, Russia, Austria, Italy, or Spain in the
eighteenth century (see 691 if.), it would be clear that in
France the agricultural classes were really much better off than
elsewhere on the Continent. Moreover, the fact that the popula-
tion of France had steadily increased from seventeen millions after
the close of the wars of Louis XIV to about twenty-five millions
at the opening of the Revolution indicates that the general con-
dition of the people was improving rather than growing worse.

The real reason why France was the first among the European
countries to do away with the irritating survivals of feudalism was
not that the nation was miserable and oppressed above all others,
but that it was sufficiently free and enlightened to realize the evils
and absurdities of the old regime. The French peasant no longer
looked up to his lord as his ruler and protector, but viewed him as
a sort of legalized robber who demanded a share of his precious
harvest, whose officers awaited the farmer at the crossing of the
river to claim a toll, who would not let him sell his produce when
he wished, or permit him to protect his fields from the ravages
of the pigeons which his lord kept.

738. France a Despotism in the Eighteenth Century. In the
eighteenth century France was still a despotism. The king still
ruled "by the grace of God," as Louis XIV had done. He
needed to render account to no man for his governmental acts;
he was responsible to God alone. The following illustrations will
make clear the dangerous extent of the king's power.

In the first place, it was he who levied each year the heaviest
of the taxes, the hated faille, from which the privileged classes
were exempted. This tax brought in about one sixth of the whole
revenue of the State. The amount collected was kept secret, and
no report was made to the nation of what was done with it or,
for that matter, with any other part of the king's income. In-
deed, no distinction was made between the king's private funds
and the State treasury, whereas in England the monarch was
given a stated allowance. The king of France could issue as
many drafts payable to bearer as he wished ; the royal officials
must pay all such orders and ask no questions.

The Eve of the French Revolution 425

739. Arbitrary Imprisonment. But the king not only con-
trolled his subjects' purses ; he had a terrible authority over their
persons as well. He could issue orders for the arrest and arbi-
trary imprisonment of anyone he pleased. Without trial or for-
mality of any sort a person might be cast into a dungeon for an
indefinite period, until the king happened to remember him again
or was reminded of him by the poor man's friends. These noto-
rious orders of arrest were called " sealed letters." They were
not difficult to obtain for anyone who had influence with the king
or his favorites, and they furnished a particularly easy and effica-
cious way of disposing of an enemy. These arbitrary orders lead
one to appreciate the importance of the provision of Magna Carta
which runs : " No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned except
by the lawful judgment of his peers and in accordance with the
law of the land." Some of the most eminent Frenchmen of the time
were shut up by the king's order, often on account of books or
pamphlets written by them which displeased the king or those
about him.

740. The Parlements and their Protests. Yet, notwithstand-
ing the seemingly unlimited powers of the French king, and in
spite of the fact that France had no written constitution and no
congress to which the nation sent representatives, the monarch
was by no means absolutely free to do just as he pleased. For
example, the high courts of law, the so-called parlements, could
often hamper him and his ministers.

These resembled the English Parliament in almost nothing but
name. The French parlements of which the most important
one was at Paris and a dozen more were scattered about the
provinces did not, however, confine themselves solely to the
business of trying lawsuits. They claimed that when the king
decided to make a new law he must send it to them to be regis-
tered, for how, otherwise, could they adjust their decisions to
it ? Although they acknowledged that the right to make the laws
belonged to the monarch, they nevertheless often sent a " protest "
to the king instead of registering an edict which they disapproved.
They would urge that the king's ministers had misled his Majesty.

426 General History of Europe

They would also take pains to have their protest printed and sold
on the streets at .a penny or two a copy, so that people should get
the idea that the parlements were defending the nation against
the oppressive measures of the king's ministers.

Struggles between the parlements and the king's ministers
were very frequent in the eighteenth century. They prepared the
way for the Revolution by bringing important questions to the
attention of the people ; for there were no newspapers, and no
parliamentary or congressional debates, to enable the public to
understand the policy of the government. In this way the
parlements helped the growing discontent with a government
which was carried on in secret and which left the nation at the
mercy of the men who might get the king under their influence.

741. Attempts to encourage Discussion of Public Questions.
Although there were no daily newspapers to discuss public ques-
tions, large numbers of pamphlets were written and circulated by
individuals whenever there was an important crisis, and they
answered much the same purpose as the editorials in a modern
newspaper. We have already seen how French philosophers and
reformers, like Voltaire and Diderot, had been encouraged by the
freedom of speech which prevailed in England, and how indus-
triously they had sown the seeds of discontent in their own
country. We have seen how in popular works, in poems and
stories and plays, and above all in the Encyclopedia, they ex-
plained the new scientific discoveries, attacked the old beliefs
and misapprehensions, and encouraged progress.

II. HOW LOUIS XVI TRIED TO PLAY THE BENEVOLENT

DESPOT

742. Accession of Louis XVI (1774). In 1774 Louis XV 1
died, after a disgraceful reign of which it has not seemed neces-
sary to say much. His unsuccessful wars, which had ended with
the loss of all his American possessions and the victory of his

1 He came to the throne in 1715 as a boy of five, on the death of Louis XIV, his
great-grandfather.

The Eve of the French Revolution

427

enemies in India (see 677), had brought France down to the
verge of bankruptcy. The taxes were already so heavy as to
arouse universal complaint, and yet the government was running
behind seventy millions of dollars a year. The king's personal
conduct was scandalous, and he allowed his courtiers to meddle

COURT SCENE AT VERSAILLES

The king is surrounded by princes of the royal family and the greatest
nobles of France while he dresses and is shaved upon rising in the morning
(the levee). Similar ceremonies were performed when the king went to bed
at night (the couchee). The bed, hung with rich tapestries, is behind the
railing. The door at the left leads into a small room called the Bull's
Eye Room (salon de I'CEH-de-bceuf) from the round window above the
door where the ambassadors and other dignitaries waited to be admitted,
and while waiting often planned and plotted how to win the king's favor.
Louis XVI's bedroom at Versailles is still preserved, in much of its old-
time splendor; for the palace is now a museum

in public affairs and plunder the royal treasury for themselves
and their favorites. When at last he was carried off by smallpox
everyone hailed, with hopes of better times, the accession of his
grandson and successor, Louis XVI.

743. Character of Louis XVI. The new king was but twenty
years old, poorly educated, indolent, unsociable, and very fond of

428

General History of Europe

hunting and of pottering about in a workshop, where he spent his
happiest hours. He was a well-meaning young man, with none of
his grandfather's vices. He tried now and then to attend to the

disagreeable busi-
ness of govern-
ment, and would
gladly have made
his people happy
if that had not
required more en-
ergy than he pos-
sessed. He had
little of the inter-
est in public affairs
that we found
in Frederick the
Great or Gather
ine II; he was
never tempted to
rise as they had
at five o'clock in
the morning in or-
der to read State
papers.

744. Marie An-
toinette. His wife
was the beautiful
Marie Antoinette,
daughter of Maria
Theresa. The mar-
riage had been arranged in 1770 with a view of maintaining the
alliance which had been concluded between France and Austria in
1756 ( 659). The queen was only nineteen years old when she
came to the throne, light-hearted and eager for pleasure. She dis-
liked the formal etiquette of the court at Versailles and shocked
people by her thoughtless pranks. She loved intrigue and did not

A. LETTER OF MARIE ANTOINETTE

From a letter written July 12, 1770, to her mother,
Maria Theresa. The immaturity of the handwriting,
the mistakes in spelling, and general carelessness show
what an undeveloped girl she was when she came to
the gay court of Versailles

The Eve of the French Revolution 429

hesitate to interfere in the government when she wished to help
one of her favorites or to make trouble for someone she disliked.

745. Turgot, Controller General (1746-1777). At first Louis
XVI took his duties very seriously. He almost immediately placed
the ablest of all the French economists, Turgot, in the most im-
portant of the government offices, that of controller general.

The first and most natural measure was economy, for only
in that way could the government be saved from bankruptcy
and the burden of taxation be lightened. Turgot felt that the
vast amount spent in maintaining the luxury of the royal court
at Versailles should be reduced. The establishments of the king,
the queen, and the princes cost the State annually about twelve
million dollars. Then the French king had long been accustomed
to grant "pensions" in a reckless manner to his favorites, and this
required nearly twelve million dollars more.

Any attempt, however, to reduce this amount would arouse
the immediate opposition of the courtiers, and it was the courtiers
who really governed France. They were constantly about the
monarch from morning until night ; therefore they had an obvious
advantage over Turgot, who only saw him in business hours. In
May, 1776, the king finally consented to dismiss Turgot, and most
of his reforms were undone.

746. Necker's Financial Report. Necker, who after a brief
interval succeeded Turgot, contributed to the progress of the
coming revolution in two ways. He borrowed vast sums of money
in order to carry on the war which France, as the ally of the
United States, had undertaken against England. This greatly
embarrassed the treasury later and helped to produce the financial
crisis which was the immediate cause of the French Revolution.
Secondly, he gave the nation its first opportunity of learning
what was done with the public funds, by presenting to the king
(February, 1781) a report on the financial condition of the king-
dom ; this was publicly printed and eagerly read. There the
people could see for the first time how much the taille and the
salt tax actually took from them, and how much the king spent on
himself and his favorites.

43 o General History of Europe

747. Calonne predicts Bankruptcy (me). Necker was soon
followed by Calonne, who may be said to have precipitated the
French Revolution. He was very popular at first with king and
courtiers, for he spent the public funds far more recklessly than
his predecessors. But, naturally, he soon found himself in a posi-
tion where he could obtain no more money. At last Calonne,
finding himself desperately put to it, informed the astonished
king that the State was on the verge of bankruptcy, and that in
order to save it a radical reformation of the whole public order
was necessary. This report of Calonne's may be taken as the
beginning of the French Revolution, for it was the first of the
series of events that led to the calling of a representative assembly
which abolished the old - regime and gave France a written
constitution.

QUESTIONS

I. How should the French Revolution be distinguished from the
Reign of Terror? What is the meaning of "old regime"? Why was
France so poorly organized in the eighteenth century? Give some ex-
amples of the differences which existed between the various provinces.
Who were the privileged classes, and what were their privileges ? Give
examples of the feudal dues. In what respects was the French peasant
more happily situated than his fellows in other parts of Europe?
What were the chief powers of the French monarch ? What were
"sealed letters"? What did the parlements do to forward the coming
revolution? What is meant by public opinion, and what chances does
it have to express itself today that it did not have in France before
the Revolution?

II. Who was Louis XVI? Tell something of his wife. Why did
Turgot fail to remedy any of the abuses? What happened under
Necker to forward the Revolution? Why was Calonne forced to
admit that he could not carry on the government unless reforms were
introduced ?

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

I. REFORMS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (1789-1791)

748. How the Estates General was Summoned. Calonne first
induced the king to summon in 1786 an assembly of Notables
nobles, bishops, and government officials and tried to persuade
them to ratify a series of reforms which he hoped would put
the treasury on a better basis. But they had no confidence in
Calonne and no inclination to give up their privileges and exemp-
tions. So the king dismissed Calonne and sent the Notables
home. He then tried to get the parlements to ratify some new
taxes, but they refused. The parlement of Paris resolved to
make as much trouble as possible for the king's ministers and
gain popularity for itself. So it declared, "Only the nation as-
sembled in the Estates General can give the consent necessary to
establish a permanent tax." "Only the nation," the parlement
continued, "after it has learned the true state of the finances can
destroy the existing evils and injustices." So the king finally
decided to summon the Estates General in May, 1789.

749. Question of voting by Order or by Head. The Estates
General had originated in the fourteenth century (481) and
was made up of representatives elected by the nobility, clergy,
and Third Estate, each sending an equal number of delegates.
These delegates were not expected to consider the needs of the
nation as a whole but of their own particular class. So each of
the three groups sat by itself, and each came to a separate agree-
ment and cast a single vote for its class. They did not form a
single body deliberating and voting individually, like a modern
House of Representatives. The Estates had not met since 1614,
and there was much discussion in regard to the nature and powers

431

432 General History of Europe

of the body. But there was a general agreement that the system
of voting by orders was absurd, for the two privileged orders could
outvote the representatives of the nation at large, and they were
likely to do so when it came to abolishing their old privileges and
exemptions. The king's ministers finally agreed that the Third
Estate might have twice as many representatives (namely, six
hundred) as either of the other orders, but the king refused to
permit the assembly to sit and vote as a single body.

750. The Cahiers. We have an extraordinary proof that
France was ready for a great reform in the list of grievances and
suggestions for improvement which, following an ancient custom,
the king asked each town and village throughout France to pre-
pare. These were the so-called cahiers (pronounced ka ya'). The
cahiers agreed that the chief evil was the old disorder, the auto-
cratic powers of the king and his ministers, and the absence of
a constitution setting forth the rights of the nation and limiting
the power of the monarch. No one- dreamed as yet of getting rid
of the king altogether and establishing a republic, as later hap-
pened, but most thoughtful people were tired of the old absolute
monarchy.

751. How the Estates General became a National Assembly,
June, 1789. With these ideas in mind, the deputies assembled in
Versailles and held their first session on May 5, 1789. In spite
of the king's commands the representatives of the Third Estate
refused to organize themselves in the old way as a separate
order. They sent invitation after invitation to the deputies of the
clergy and nobility, requesting them to join the people's repre-
sentatives and discuss together the great interests of the nation.
Some of the more liberal of the nobles Lafayette, for example
and a large minority of the clergy wished to meet with the
deputies of the Third Estate. But they were outvoted, and the
deputies of the Third Estate, losing patience, finally declared
themselves, on June 17, a " National Assembly." They argued

. that, since they represented at least ninety-six per cent of the na-
tion, the deputies of the privileged orders might be neglected alto-
gether as a worse than useless element in the assembly. This

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The French Revolution 433

transformed the old feudal Estates, voting by orders, into the first
modern national representative assembly on the continent of Europe.

752. The "Tennis-Court" Oath. Under the influence of his
courtiers the king tried to restore the old system by arranging
a "royal" session of the three orders, at which he presided in
person. He presented a long program of reforms, and then bade
the Estates sit apart, according to the old custom. But it was
like bidding water to run uphill. Three days before, when the
members of the Third Estate had found themselves excluded from
their regular place of meeting on account of the preparations for
the royal session, they had betaken themselves to a neighboring
building called the "Tennis Court." Here, on June 20, they took
the famous "Tennis-Court" oath, "to come together wherever
circumstances may dictate, until the constitution of the kingdom
shall be established."

Consequently, when the king finished his address and com-
manded the three orders to resume their separate sessions, most
of the bishops, some of the parish priests, and a great part of the
nobility obeyed ; the rest sat still, uncertain what they should do.
When the master of ceremonies ordered them to comply with the
king's commands, Mirabeau, the most distinguished statesman
among the deputies, told him bluntly that they would not leave
their places except at the point of the bayonet. The weak king
almost immediately gave in and a few days later ordered all the
deputies of the privileged orders who had not already done so to
join the commons.

753. The Fall of the Bastille, July 14, 1789. The National
Assembly now began in earnest the great task of preparing a con-
stitution and regenerating France. It was soon interrupted, how-
ever, by events at Paris. The king had been advised by those
about him to gather together the Swiss and German troops who
formed the royal guard, so that if he decided to send the insolent
deputies home he would be able to put down any disorder which
might result.

On July 14 crowds of people assembled, determined to procure
arms to protect themselves and mayhap to perform some daring

434 General History of Europe

"deed of patriotism." One of the bands turned to the ancient
fortress of the Bastille. The castle had long had a bad reputa-
tion as a place of confinement for prisoners of State and for those
imprisoned by "sealed letters." When the mob demanded admis-
sion, it was naturally denied them, and they were fired upon and
nearly a hundred were killed. After a brief attack the place was
surrendered, and the mob rushed into the gloomy pile. They found
only seven prisoners, but one poor fellow had lost his wits and
another had no idea why he had been kept there for years. The
captives were freed amidst great enthusiasm, and the people soon
set to work to demolish the walls. The anniversary of the fall of the
Bastille is still celebrated as the great national holiday of France.

754. Abolition of Feudalism, August, 1789. About the first
of August news began to reach the National Assembly of the
serious disorders in the provinces. In some cases the peasants
burned the country houses of the nobles so as to destroy the
registers enumerating the feudal dues. This led to the first
important reforms of the Assembly. A momentous resolution
abolishing the survivals of serfdom and other institutions of feu-
dalism was passed in a night session (August 4-5) amid great
excitement. The exclusive right of the nobility to hunt and to
maintain pigeon houses was abolished, and the peasant was per-
mitted to kill game which he found on his land. The tithes of
the Church were done away with. Exemptions from the payment
of taxes were abolished forever. All citizens, without distinction
of birth, were thereafter to be eligible to any office. Moreover,
all the peculiar privileges of the provinces were revoked and
absorbed into the law common to all Frenchmen.

All France was to have the same laws, and its citizens were
henceforth to be treated in the same way by the State. The
Assembly soon went a step farther in consolidating and unifying
France. It wiped out the old provinces altogether, by dividing
the whole country into districts of convenient size, called de-
partments. These were much more numerous than the ancient
divisions and were named after rivers and mountains. This
obliterated from the map all reminiscences of the feudal disunion.

The French Revolution 435

755. The Declaration of the Rights of Man. Many of the
cahiers had .suggested that the Estates should draw up a clear
statement of the rights of the individual citizen.

This Declaration (completed August 26) is one of the most
notable documents in the history of Europe. It not only aroused
general enthusiasm when it was first published but it appeared
over and over again, in a modified form, in the succeeding French
constitutions, and has been the model for similar declarations in
many of the other continental states. Behind each article there
was some crying evil of long standing against which the people
wished to be forever protected.

The Declaration sets forth that "Men are born and remain
equal in rights." "Law is the expression of the general will.
Every citizen has a right to participate, personally or through
his representative, in its formation. It must be the same for
all." "No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned ex-
cept in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by
law." "No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions,
including his religious views, provided that their manifestation
does not disturb the public order." "Every citizen may speak,
write, and print with freedom, being responsible, however, for
such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law." Taxes
were to be imposed and used according to the wishes of the
people.

756. Suspicion against the Court. The king hesitated to ratify
the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and about the first of
October rumors spread that, under the influence of the courtiers,
he was calling together troops and preparing for another attempt
to put an end to the Revolution similar to that which the attack
on the Bastille had frustrated. It was said that the new national
colors red, white, and blue had been trampled under foot at a
banquet at Versailles. These things, along with the scarcity of
food due to the poor crops of the year, aroused the excitable
Paris populace.

757. The King carried to Paris, October, 1789. On October 5
several thousand women and a number of armed men marched

436

General History oj Europe

out to Versailles to ask bread of the king, in whom they had
great confidence personally, however suspicious they might be
of his friends and advisers. Lafayette marched after the mob
with the national guard to keep order, but did not prevent some
of the rabble from invading the king's palace the next morning
and nearly murdering the queen, who had become very unpopular.

The mob declared that
the king must accompany
them to Paris, and he was
obliged to consent. So
they gayly escorted the
"baker and the baker's
wife and the baker's boy,"
as they jocularly termed
the king and queen and
the little dauphin, to the
Palace of the Tuileries,
where the king took up
his residence, practically a
prisoner, as it proved. The
National Assembly soon fol-
lowed him and resumed its
sittings in a riding school
near the Tuileries.

This transfer of the king and the Assembly to the capital was
the first great misfortune of the Revolution. At a serious crisis the
government was placed at the mercy of the leaders of the dis-
orderly elements of Paris.

758. Confiscation of Church Property. As we have seen, the
Church in France was very rich and retained many of its medieval
privileges. Its higher officials, the bishops and abbots, received
very large revenues, and often a single prelate held a number
of rich benefices, the duties of which he neglected. The parish
priests, on the other hand, who really performed the mani-
fold and important functions of the Church, were scarcely able to
live on their incomes. This unjust apportionment of the vast

Louis XVI

The French Revolution 437

revenue of the Church naturally suggested the idea that if the
State seized the Church's possessions it could see that those who
did the work were properly paid for it, and might, at the same
time, secure a handsome sum which would help the government
out of its financial troubles.

The tithes had been abolished in August along with the feudal
dues. On November 2 a decree was passed providing that "All
the ecclesiastical possessions are at the disposal of the nation
on condition that it provides properly for the expenses of main-
taining religious services, for the support of those who conduct
them, and for the succor of the poor." This decree deprived the
bishops and priests of their benefices and made them dependent
on salaries paid by the State. The monks, monasteries, and
convents, too, lost their property. 1

759. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy. The Assembly
set to work completely to reorganize the Church. The one hun-
dred and thirty-four ancient bishoprics, some of which dated back
to the Roman Empire, were replaced by the eighty-three new
departments into which France had already been divided. Each
of these became the diocese of a bishop, who was looked upon as
an officer of the State and was to be elected by the people. The
priests too were to be chosen by the people, and their salaries
were much increased, so that even in the smallest villages they
received over twice the minimum amount paid under the old
regime.

This Civil Constitution of the Clergy was the first serious
mistake on the part of the National Assembly. While the half-
feudalized Church had sadly needed reform, the sweeping changes
which were introduced and the proposal to have the people elect
the bishops and priests shocked thousands of those who had
hitherto enthusiastically applauded the great reforms which the
Assembly had effected. Louis XVI gave his assent to the changes,

1 The National Assembly resolved to issue a paper currency for which the newly ac-
quired lands should serve as security. Of these assignats, as this paper money was
called, about forty billions of francs were issued in the next seven years. But since so
much land was thrown on the market, they were worth less and less as time went on, and
ultimately a great part of them was repudiated.

438 General History of Europe

but with the feeling that he might be losing his soul by so doing.
From that time on he became at heart an enemy of the Revolution.
The discontent with the new system on the part of the clergy
led to another serious error by the Assembly. It required the
clergy to take an oath to be faithful to the law and the new
French constitution. Forty-six thousand parish priests refused to
sacrifice their religious scruples. As time went on, the "nonjur-
ing" clergy were dealt with more and more harshly, and the way
was prepared for the horrors of the Reign of Terror.

II. FRANCE BECOMES INVOLVED IN A WAR WITH OTHER
EUROPEAN POWERS

760. Permanent Reforms of 1789. We have now studied
the progress and nature of the revolution which destroyed the old
regime and created modern France. Through it the unjust privi-
leges and the local differences were abolished and the people were
admitted to a share in the government. This vast reform had
been accomplished without serious disturbance, and, with the
exception of some of the changes in the Church, it had been
welcomed with enthusiasm by the French nation.

761. Conditions leading to the Reign of Terror. This per-
manent and peaceful revolution was followed by a period of vio-
lence known as the Reign of Terror. This was caused not so
much by the friends of the revolution as by its enemies within
and without France, who were eager at any cost to undo the
great work of the National Assembly. After the fall of the Bas-
tille some of the nobility, under the leadership of the king's
youngest brother, the count of Artois, had left the country. They
were joined later by other nobles, and collected a little army with
which they proposed to invade France and reestablish the old
regime. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette tried to join them in
June, 1791, but were arrested at Varennes near the border and
brought back to Paris. The National Assembly pretended that
the king had not really fled, but had been carried off by his
bad advisers.

The French Revolution 439

762. Declaration of Pillnitz. The queen's brother, Leopold,
the Austrian ruler, was greatly agitated over the forcible arrest of
the French king and declared that the European powers should
combine to "check the dangerous excesses of the French Revolu-
tion," which he thought threatened the power of other monarchs.
He induced the king of Prussia to join him in the famous Declara-
tion of Pillnitz (August, 1791), in which he suggested that the
European powers unite in an attempt to force the French people
to give back to Louis XVI his former rights.

The Declaration was little more than an empty threat, but it
seemed to the French people a sufficient proof that the monarchs
were ready to help the seditious French nobles to reestablish the
old regime against the wishes of the nation and at the cost of
infinite bloodshed. The idea of foreign rulers' intermeddling with
their internal affairs would in itself have been intolerable to a
proud people like the French, even if the permanence of the new
reforms had not been endangered. Had it been the object of
the allied monarchs to hasten instead of to prevent the fall of
Louis XVI, they could hardly have chosen a more efficient means
than the Declaration of Pillnitz.

763. The Newspapers. The political excitement and the enthu-
siasm for the Revolution were kept up by the newspapers which
had been established, especially in Paris, since the meeting of the
Estates General. The people did not need longer to rely upon an
occasional pamphlet, as was the case before 1789. Many journals
representing the most diverse opinions were published. Some were
no more than a periodical editorial written by one man. Others,
like the famous Moniteur, were much like our papers of today and
contained news, reports of the debates in the Assembly, announce-
ments of theaters, etc.

764. The Jacobins. Of the numerous political clubs, by far
the most famous was that of the "Jacobins." When the Assembly
moved into Paris, some of the representatives of the Third Estate
rented a large room in the monastery of the Jacobin monks, not
far from the building where the National Assembly itself met.
The aim of this society was to discuss questions which were about

44O General History of Europe

to come before the National Assembly. The club decided before-
hand what should be the policy of its members and how they
should vote.

The Jacobins rapidly developed branches of the mother society
at Paris and in this way exercised a considerable control over public
opinion throughout France. They were bent on opposing any re-
turn to the old institutions under which France had suffered so
long. At first they were not in favor of a republic, but finally
came to the conclusion that the old monarchy must be abolished.

765. Completion of the First French Constitution. At last
the National Assembly put the finishing touches on the new con-
stitution for France upon which it had been working for two years,
and the king swore to observe it. The discord and suspicion of
the past few months were to be forgotten. The government was
turned over to the new congress or Legislative Assembly provided
for in the constitution. This met for the first time October i, 1791.

766. Problems facing the Legislative Assembly. The new
assembly was made up for the most part of new and inexperienced
young men. For the National Assembly had voted that none
of its members should be eligible for election to the Legislative
Assembly which it had created. France was in a critical condi-
tion; there was a general distrust of the king, the emigrant
nobles were conspiring on the borders, foreign kings had sug-
gested armed intervention to restore the old regime, and large
classes in France itself were opposed to certain features of the
new order, especially the laws concerning the Church.

The growing discord in the nation was increased by the severe
edicts which the Legislative Assembly immediately issued against
the emigrant nobles and the nonjuring clergy. "The Frenchmen
assembled on the frontier" were ordered to return to France by
January i, 1792. If they failed to do this they were to be re-
garded as convicted traitors to their country, to be punished, if
caught, with death, and their property was to be confiscated.
Clergymen who refused to accept the Civil Constitution of the
Clergy and the new constitution of the National Assembly were
regarded as suspects and finally ordered to leave the country.

The French Revolution 441

In this way the Assembly aroused the active hostility of a great
part of the priests who had formerly supported the Third Estate.
It lost, moreover, the confidence of the great mass of faithful
Catholics, merchants, artisans, and peasants, who had ap-
proved the reforms but would not desert their religious leaders.

767. France involved in War with Austria and Prussia (1792).
By far the most important act of the Legislative Assembly during
the one year of its existence was its starting a war between France
and Austria. It little dreamed that this was the beginning of a
war between revolutionary France and the rest of western Europe
which was to last, with slight interruptions, for over twenty years.

To many of the leaders in the Assembly it seemed that the
existing conditions were intolerable. The emigrant nobles were
forming little armies on the boundaries of France and had, as we
have seen, induced Austria and Prussia to consider interfering in
French affairs. The Assembly suspected that Louis was negotiat-
ing with foreign rulers and would be glad to have them intervene
and reestablish him in his old despotic power. The deputies
argued, therefore, that a war against the hated Austria would
unite the sympathies of the nation and force the king to show his
true character, for he would be obliged either to become the na-
tion's leader or show himself the traitor they suspected him to be.

It was with a heavy heart that the king, urged on by the
clamors of the Assembly, declared war upon Austria in April,
1792. The unpopularity of the king only increased, however.
In June a mob of Parisians invaded the Palace of the Tuileries,
and the king might have been killed had he not consented to don
the "cap of liberty," the badge of the "citizen patriots."

When France declared war Prussia immediately allied itself
with Austria. As the Prussian and Austrian armies approached
the French boundaries it became clearer and clearer that the king
was utterly incapable of defending France, and the Assembly be-
gan to consider the question of deposing him. The duke of Bruns-
wick, who was at the head of the Prussian forces, took the very
worst means of helping the king, by issuing a manifesto in which he
threatened utterly to destroy Paris should the king suffer any harm.

442 General History of Europe

III. FOUNDING OF THE FIRST FRENCH REPUBLIC

768. Insurrection of August 10, 1792. Angered by this dec-
laration and aroused by the danger, the populace of Paris again
invaded the Tuileries, August 10, 1792, and the king was obliged
to take refuge in the building in which the Assembly was in ses-
sion. Those who instigated the attack were men who had set
their heart upon doing away with the king altogether and estab-
lishing a republic. A group of them had taken possession of the
city hall, pushed the old members of the municipal council
from their seats, and taken the government in their own hands.
In this way the members of the Paris city government (or
Commune) became the leaders in the new revolution which
established the first French republic.

769. France a Republic, September 22, 1792. The Assembly
agreed with the Paris Commune in desiring a republic. If, as was
proposed, France was henceforth to do without a king, it was
obviously necessary that the monarchical constitution so recently
completed should be replaced by a republican one. Consequently,
the Assembly arranged that the people should elect delegates to a
constitutional Convention, which should draw up a new system
of government. The Convention met on September 21, and its first
act was to abolish the ancient monarchy and proclaim France a
republic. It seemed to the enthusiasts of the time that a new era
of liberty had dawned, now that the long oppression by " despots"
was ended forever. The twenty-second day of September, 1792,
was reckoned as the first day of the Year One of French liberty. 1

770. September Massacres (1792). Meanwhile the usurping
Paris Commune had taken matters into its own hands and had
brought discredit upon the cause of liberty by one of the most
atrocious acts in history. On the pretext that Paris was full of
traitors, who sympathized with the Austrians and the emigrant

l A committee of the Convention was appointed to draw up a new republican calen-
dar. The year was divided into twelve months of thirty days each. The five days pre-
ceding September 22, at the end of the year, were holidays. Each month was divided
into three decades, and each tenth day was a holiday. The days were no longer dedicated
to saints, but to agricultural implements, vegetables, and domestic animals.

The French Revolution 443

nobles, they had filled the prisons with some three thousand citi :
zens. On September 2 and 3 hundreds of these were executed with
scarcely a pretense of a trial. The members of the Commune who
perpetrated this deed probably hoped to terrify those who might
still dream of returning to the old system of government.

771. French Military Successes. Late in August the Prus-
sians crossed the French boundary and on September 2 took the
fortress of Verdun. It now seemed as if there was nothing to pre-
vent their marching upon Paris. The French general, Dumouriez,
blocked their advance, however, and without a pitched battle
caused the enemy to retreat, for the Prussian and Austrian rulers
had little interest in the war. The French now invaded Germany
and took several important towns on the Rhine, including May-
ence, which gladly opened its gates to them. They also occupied
the Austrian Netherlands and Savoy.

772. Execution of the King, January, 1793. Meanwhile the
new Convention was puzzled to determine what it was best to
do with the king. A considerable party felt that he was guilty
of treason in secretly encouraging the foreign powers to come to
his aid. He was therefore brought to trial, and when it came to a
final vote, he was, by a small majority, condemned to death. He
mounted the scaffold on January 21, 1793, with the fortitude of
a martyr.

773. France declares War on England, February, 1793.
The exultation of the Convention over the conquests which their
armies were making encouraged them to offer the assistance of
the new republic to any country that wished to establish its free-
dom by throwing off the yoke of monarchy. They even suggested
a republic to the English people. February i, 1793, France
greatly added to her embarrassments by declaring war on Eng-
land, a country which proved her most inveterate enemy.

774. French Reverses. The war now began to go against
the French. The allies had hitherto been suspicious of one an-
other and fearful lest Russia should take advantage of their pre-
occupation with France to seize more than her share in the second
partition of Poland (665). They now came to an agreement.

444 General History of Europe

The adjustment of their differences gave a wholly new aspect to
the war with France. When in March, 1793, Spain and the Holy
Roman Empire joined the coalition, France was at war with all her
neighbors. The Austrians defeated Dumouriez at Neerwinden and
drove the French out of the Netherlands. Dumouriez, disgusted
by the failure of the Convention to support him and by their
execution of the king, deserted to the enemy with a few hundred
soldiers who consented to follow him.

IV. THE REIGN OF TERROR

775. The Committee of Public Safety. The loss of the
Netherlands and the treason of their best general made a deep
impression upon the members of the Convention. If the new
French Republic was to defend itself against the " tyrants " with-
out and its many enemies within, it could not wait for the Con-
vention to draw up an elaborate, permanent constitution. An
efficient government must be devised immediately to maintain the
loyalty of the people to the Republic and to raise and equip
armies and direct their commanders. The Convention accordingly
put the government into the hands of a small committee, consist-
ing originally of nine, later of twelve, of its members. This famous
Committee of Public Safety was given practically unlimited
powers. "We must," one of the leaders exclaimed, "establish the
despotism of liberty in order to crush the despotism of kings."

776. The Girondists. Within the Convention itself there were
two groups of active men who came into bitter conflict over the
policy to be pursued. There was, first, the party of the Girondists,
so called because their leaders came from the department of
Gironde, in which the great city of Bordeaux lay. They were
moderate republicans and counted among their numbers some
speakers of remarkable eloquence. They were not, however, men
of sufficient decision to direct affairs in the terrible difficulties in
which France found herself after the execution of the king. They
consequently lost their influence, and a new party, called the
Mountain from the high seats that they occupied in the Conven-
tion, gained the ascendancy.

The French Revolution 445

777. The Extreme Republican "Mountain." This was com-
posed of the most vigorous and uncompromising Jacobins. They
believed that the French people had been depraved by the slavery
to which their kings had subjected them. Everything, they argued,
which suggested the former rule of kings must be wiped out. A
new France should be created in which Liberty, Equality, and
Fraternity should take the place of the tyranny of princes, the
insolence of nobles, and the exactions of the priests. The leaders
of the Mountain held that the mass of the people were by nature
good and upright, but that there were a number of adherents of
the old system who would, if they could, undo the great work of
the Revolution and lead the people back to slavery, as formerly
under a king. All who were suspected by the Mountain of
having the least sympathy with the nobles or persecuted priests
were branded as counter-revolutionary. The Mountain was will-
ing to resort to any measures, however shocking, to rid the nation
of those suspected of counter-revolutionary tendencies, and its
leaders relied upon the populace of Paris, which had been disap-
pointed that "liberty" had not bettered the hard conditions of
life as it had hoped, to aid them in reaching their ends.

778. Civil War in France. In June, 1793, the Convention
was surrounded by a Paris mob demanding the expulsion of the
Girondists. The leaders of this party of moderation were ar-
rested, and the power in the Convention fell into the hands of the
extreme Jacobins of the Mountain. This act of violence was re-
sented by the great cities of Bordeaux, Marseilles, and Lyons,
who favored the Girondists and hated the Mountain and its ally,
the Paris mob. These cities therefore ventured to revolt against
the Convention. Moreover, the peasants in the old province of
Brittany, who still loved the monarchy, rebelled against those who
had killed their king and were persecuting the priests. So the
Committee of Public Safety had to face a civil war in addition
to the attacks of foreign powers. But it succeeded in quelling the
rebellions at home and in organizing armies of enthusiastic re-
publicans, who drove off the enemy so that by the end of the year
all danger from invasion was past.

446 General History of Europe

779. The Reign of Terror. A special court, called the Revolu-
tionary Tribunal, had been established to try all those suspected
of being opposed to the Mountain and the new Republic. A ter-
rible law was passed declaring all those " suspects " who by their
acts or remarks had shown themselves "enemies of liberty." The
wives, fathers and mothers, and children of all the emigrant nobles
were to be imprisoned. The guillotine was used to cut off the
heads of those convicted of being counter-revolutionists.

In October the queen, Marie Antoinette, after a trial in which
false and atrocious charges were brought against her, 1 was exe-
cuted in Paris, and a number of high-minded and distinguished
persons suffered a like fate. But the most horrible acts of the
Reign of Terror were perpetrated in the provinces, where deputies
of the Committee of Public Safety were sent with almost absolute
military power to crush rebellions. A representative of the Con-
vention had thousands of the people of Nantes shot down or
drowned. The Convention proposed to destroy the great city of
Lyons altogether, and, though this decree was only partially car-
ried out, thousands of its citizens were executed. 2

780. Split in the Mountain. Soon the radical party which
was conducting the government began to disagree among them-
selves. Danton, a man of fiery zeal for the Republic, who had
hitherto enjoyed great popularity with the Jacobins, became tired
of bloodshed and believed that the system of terror was no longer
necessary. On the other hand, Hebert, the leader of the Commune,
felt that the Revolution was not yet complete. He proposed, for
example, that the worship of Reason should be substituted for
the worship of God, and arranged a service in the great church
of Notre Dame, where Reason, in the person of a handsome
actress, took her place on the altar. The most powerful member

1 She had, like the king, been guilty of encouraging the enemies of France to
intervene.

2 It should not be forgotten that very few of the people at Paris stood in any fear of
the guillotine. The city during the Reign of Terror was not the gloomy place that we
might imagine. Never did the inhabitants appear happier, never were the theaters and
restaurants more crowded. The guillotine was making away with the enemies of liberty,
so the women wore tiny guillotines as ornaments, and the children were given toy guil-
lotines and amused themselves decapitating the figures of " aristocrats."

The French Revolution

447

of the Committee of Public Safety was Robespierre, who, although
he was insignificant in person and a tiresome speaker, enjoyed
a great reputation for republican virtue. He disapproved alike
of Danton's moderation and of the worship of Reason advocated
by the Commune. Through his influence the leaders of both the
moderate and the extreme
party were executed (March
and April, 1794).

781. Fall of Robespierre,
July 27, 1794. It was of
course impossible for Robes-
pierre to maintain his dic-
tatorship for long. When
he had the Revolutionary
Tribunal divided into sec-
tions and greatly increased
the rapidity of the execu-
tions with a view of destroy-
ing all his enemies, his
colleagues in the Conven-
tion began to fear that he
would demand their heads
next. A coalition was

formed against him, and the Convention ordered his arrest. 1
He called upon the Commune to defend him, but the Convention
roused Paris against the Commune, which was no longer powerful
enough to intimidate the whole city, and he and his supporters
were sent to the guillotine.

In successfully overthrowing Robespierre the Convention and
Committee of Public Safety had rid the country of the only man
who, owing to his popularity and his reputation for uprightness,
could have prolonged the Reign of Terror. There was an imme-
diate reaction after his death, for the country was weary of execu-
tions. The Revolutionary Tribunal henceforth convicted very

MAXIMILIAN ROBESPIERRE

1 The date of Robespierre's fall is generally known as the Ninth of Thermidor, the
day and month of the republican calendar.

448 General History of Europe

few of those who were brought before it. Indeed, it turned upon
those who had themselves been the leaders in the worst atrocities ;
for example, the public prosecutor, who had brought hundreds of
victims to the guillotine in Paris, and the brutes who had or-
dered the massacres at Nantes and Lyons. Within a few months
the Jacobin Club at Paris was closed by the Convention, and
the Commune abolished. In this way the Reign of Terror came
to an end.

782. Constitution of the Year Three. The Convention now
at last turned its attention to the great work for which it had
originally been summoned and drew up a constitution for the
Republic to take the place of the first French constitution which
was monarchical. This provided that the law-making power should
be vested in a legislative assembly consisting of two houses. The
lower house was called the Council of the Five Hundred, and the
upper chamber the Council of the Elders. Members of the latter
were required to be at least forty years of age. The executive
powers were put in the hands of a Directory of five persons, to be
chosen by the two chambers.

783. End of the Convention, October, 1795. In October,
1795, the Convention finally dissolved itself, having governed the
country during three years of unprecedented excitement, danger,
and disorder. While it was responsible for the horrors of the
Reign of Terror, its committees had carried France through the
terrible crisis of 1793. The civil war had been brought to a
speedy end, and the coalition of foreign powers had been defeated.
Meanwhile other committees appointed by the Convention had
been quietly working upon the problem of bettering the system of
education, which had been taken by the State out of the hands of
the clergy. Progress had also been made toward establishing a
single system of law for the whole country to replace the old con-
fusion. The new republican calendar was not destined to survive
many years, but the metric system of weights and measures intro-
duced by the Convention has now been adopted by most Euro-
pean countries and is used by men of science in England and
America.

The French Revolution 449

On the other hand, the Reign of Terror, the depreciated paper
currency, 1 and many hasty and unwise laws passed by the Con-
vention had produced all sorts of disorder and uncertainty. The
Directory did little to better conditions, and it was not until
Napoleon's strong hand grasped the helm of government in the
year 1800 that order was really restored.

QUESTIONS

I. What were'Calonne's plans, and why did they fail? How did the
Estates General come to be summoned in 1789? What were the chief
questions raised in regard to their organization ? What were the cahiers,
and upon what main points did they agree? By what process did the
Estates General turn into a national assembly ? What were the causes
and results of the attack on the Bastille ? What were the chief provi-
sions of the decree abolishing the feudal system? Give an account
of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Under what conditions was
the National Assembly moved to Paris ? What were the reforms made
in the French Church? What immediate results did they have on the
course of the Revolution ?

II. Who were the emigrant nobles, and what was their plan ? What
were the results of the king's attempted flight in June, 1791? What
was the Declaration of Pillnitz ? Who were the Jacobins ? What vari-
ous kinds of matter do we find in a modern newspaper? What meas-
ures were taken against the emigrant nobles and the nonjuring clergy?
Why did the Legislative Assembly declare war on Austria ?

III. How was the First French Republic established ? Do you see
any good reasons for the execution of Louis XVI? Why did France
declare war on England? With what European powers was France at
war by the spring of 1793?

IV. What was the need of a Committee of Public Safety ? Who
were the Girondists ? the Mountain ? What led to civil war in France,
and what was the outcome of it? What do you understand by the
Reign of Terror ? Can you give any justification of the harsh measures
taken by the Convention and its committees ? What were Robespierre's
views? What were the reasons for his fall? Describe the constitu-
tion of the Year Three. Review the chief acts of the Convention.

1 See page 437 n. There were about forty billions of francs in assignats in circulation
at the opening of 1796. At that time it required nearly three hundred francs in paper
money to procure one in specie.

CHAPTER XXXV

THE CAREER OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
I. How GENERAL BONAPARTE BECAME RULER OF FRANCE

784. The Napoleonic Period. The former military leaders
of France had usually belonged to the nobility. During the
Revolution they had either run away or been discredited as
suspected enemies of the new Republic. Those who led the
French troops to victory under the Reign of Terror were for
the most part sprung from the people and had been selected by
the Committee of Public Safety on account of their ability and
not on account of aristocratic birth. Among the new commanders
there was one who was destined to dominate the history of
Europe for fifteen years as no man before him had ever done.
The influence of Napoleon Bonaparte was indeed so overmaster-
ing that the epoch we are now entering may properly be called
the Napoleonic Period.

785. Early Life of Bonaparte. General Bonaparte was born
on the island of Corsica, August 15, 1769. He was of Italian
origin and spoke Italian as a boy, although the island had been
annexed to France shortly before his birth. He was sent to a
French military school and then entered the French army. He
managed to show his extraordinary skill in military matters, and
in the spring of 1796, when twenty-seven years of age, he was
made commander in chief of an army which the French Directory
had organized to invade Italy. This was the beginning of a
career of conquest which hardly finds a parallel in history, except
that of Alexander the Great.

786. Bonaparte's Italian Campaign (1796-1797). The French
Republic had driven back its enemies in the autumn of 1793 and

The Career oj Napoleon Bonaparte

451

taken possession of the Austrian Netherlands and western Ger-
many. Prussia decided to withdraw from a war in which it was
not much interested and concluded peace with the new French
Republic. Bonaparte's army was directed against Austria and the

CENTRAL EUROPE, TO ILLUSTRATE NAPOLEON'S CAMPAIGNS, 1796-1801

king of Sardinia (who ruled over northwestern Italy). In a rapid
and brilliant campaign he defeated both these enemies and marched
his army nearly to Vienna. He forced Austria to make peace and
cede the Netherlands to France. She also agreed to help France
get the whole western bank of the Rhine. Bonaparte brought
the ancient republic of Venice to an end, giving a part of it to
Austria and incorporating the western part into a new state called
the Cisalpine Republic, which he patched together out of the small
Italian states.

452

General History of Europe

787. Bonaparte's Ambition. Bonaparte paid little attention
to the wishes of the Directory and managed affairs as if he were
already ruler of France. He set up a court near Milan as if he
were a king. He declared that he was just at the beginning of his
career, and seems already to have dreamed of making himself head
not only of France but of Europe. He was a short man, very thin
at this time, with searching eyes and rapid, if somewhat incor-
_____^^_^_^__^^^_^^^_ rect, speech. He was at

once a dreamer and a
man of supreme practi-
cal ability. He once
told a friend that when
he was a poor young
lieutenant with no pros-
pects he was wont to
imagine just how he
would wish things to
be ; then he would con-
sider the exact steps to
be taken. His utter un-
scrupulousness, tireless
energy, and extraordi-
nary military genius
brought him to his goal.

At twenty-eight he was head of the French armies ; at thirty he

was destined to become the ruler of France itself.

788. The Egyptian Expedition. Bonaparte foresaw that the
Directory was likely to get into trouble with the European powers,
and so he decided to leave them to discredit themselves and show
their weakness and incapacity. He organized an expedition to
Egypt with the idea of cutting off Great Britain's commerce with
the East and perhaps seizing her possessions in India. He man-
aged to land his army safely at Alexandria, but the British fleet
under Nelson destroyed the French fleet as it lay in the harbor
and cut Bonaparte off from Europe. He easily defeated the troops
of the Turkish Sultan, who was ruler of Egypt, in the famous

EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN

a S I

M <" tf

i-) O.

O 1

5! ^

2 -

NAPOLEON CROSSING THE ST. BERNARD

The Career of Napoleon Bonaparte 453

battle of the Pyramids (July i, 1798) and then made an unsuc-
cessful expedition into Syria. Here he received news from Europe
which led him to desert the army in Egypt and hasten back with
a few of his best officers. He reached France in October, 1799.

789. Bonaparte overthrows the Directory (November,
1799). The Directory, one of the most corrupt and inefficient
bodies the world has ever seen, had completely disgraced itself at
home and become involved again in a new war with Austria. Bona-
parte enjoyed sufficient support to overthrow the Directory a
month after his return and have himself chosen First Consul.
This coup d'etat, or "stroke of state" as the French called it, put
Bonaparte at the head of the government. He had a new con-
stitution drawn up which was ratified by a vote of the nation.

790. Bonaparte Acceptable as First Consul. The accession of
the popular young general to power was undoubtedly grateful to
the majority of citizens, who longed above all for a stable govern-
ment. The Swedish envoy wrote just after the coup d'etat : " A
legitimate monarch has perhaps never found a people more ready
to do his bidding than Bonaparte, and it would be inexcusable if
this talented general did not take advantage of this to introduce
a better form of government upon a firmer basis. It is literally
true that France will perform impossibilities in order to aid him
in this. The people (with the exception of a despicable horde of
anarchists) are so sick and weary of revolutionary horrors and folly
that they believe that any change cannot fail to be for the better.
. . . Even the royalists, whatever their views may be, are sin-
cerely devoted to Bonaparte, for they attribute to him the inten-
tion of gradually restoring the old order of things. The indifferent
element cling to him as the one most likely to give France peace.
The enlightened republicans, although they tremble for their form
of. government, prefer to see a single man of talent possess him-
self of the power than a club of intriguers."

791. Necessity of renewing the War. Upon becoming First
Consul, General Bonaparte found France at war with England,
Russia, Austria, Turkey, and Naples. These powers had formed
a coalition in December, 1798, had defeated the armies that the

454 General History of Europe

Directory sent against them, and undone Bonaparte's work in
Italy. It now devolved upon him to reestablish the prestige of
France abroad, as well as to restore order and prosperity at home.
Besides, he had to keep himself before the people as a military
hero if he wished to maintain his supremacy.

II. How BONAPARTE SECURED PEACE IN 1801 AND

REORGANIZED GERMANY

792. Napoleon crosses the Alps. Early in the year 1800
Bonaparte began secretly to collect an army near Dijon. This
he proposed to direct against an Austrian army which was be-
sieging the French in Genoa. Instead of marching straight into
Italy, as would have been most natural, the First Consul resolved
to take the Austrian forces in the rear. Emulating Hannibal, he
led his troops over the famous Alpine pass of the Great St. Ber-
nard, dragging his cannon over in the trunks of trees which had
been hollowed out for the purpose. He arrived safely in Milan
on the second of June to the utter astonishment of the Austrians,
who were taken completely by surprise.

793. Battle of Marengo, June, 1800. Bonaparte defeated the
Austrians in the famous battle of Marengo (June 14), and added
one more to the list of his great military successes. A truce was
signed next day, and the Austrians retreated eastward, leaving
Bonaparte to restore French influence in northern Italy. The dis-
tricts that he had "freed" had to support his army, and the
reestablished Cisalpine Republic was forced to pay a monthly
tax of two million francs.

794. General Pacification (isoi-isoz). A second victory gained
by the French in December of the same year brought Aus-
tria to terms, and she agreed to conclude a separate peace with
the French Republic. This was the beginning of a general paci-
fication. During the year 1801-1802 treaties were signed with all
the powers with which France had been at war, even with Eng-
land, who had not laid down her arms since war was first declared
in 1793.

The Career of Napoleon Bonaparte 455

795. Cession of the Left Bank of the Rhine to France. In

the treaty signed by Austria at Luneville in February, 1801, the
emperor agreed, on his own part and on the part of the Holy
Roman Empire, that the French Republic should thereafter
possess in full sovereignty the territories lying on the left bank
of the Rhine which belonged to the Holy Roman Empire, and
that thereafter the Rhine should form the boundary of France
from the point where it left Switzerland to where it flowed into
Dutch territory. As a natural consequence of this cession various
princes and states of the Empire found themselves dispossessed,
either wholly or in part, of their lands. The Empire bound itself
to furnish the hereditary princes who had lost possessions on the
left bank of the Rhine with "an indemnity within the Empire."

796. Secularization of Church Lands. This provision implied
a veritable transformation of the old Holy Roman Empire, which,
except for the development of Prussia, was still in pretty much the
same condition as in Luther's time ( 514). There was no unoc-
cupied land to give the dispossessed princes ; but there were two
classes of states in the Empire that did not belong to hereditary
princes ; namely, the ecclesiastical states and the free towns. As
the churchmen, archbishops, bishops, and abbots, who ruled
over the ecclesiastical states, were forbidden by the rules of the
Church to marry, they could of course have no lawful heirs.
Should an ecclesiastical ruler be deprived of his realms, he might,
therefore, be indemnified by a pension for life, with no fear of any
injustice to heirs, since there could be none. The transfer of the
lands of an ecclesiastical prince to a lay, that is, hereditary, prince
was called secularization. As for the towns, once so powerful and
important, they had lost their former influence and were defenseless.

797. Decree redistributing German Territory (1803). A
decree issued by the diet of the Holy Roman Empire in 1803
transferred all the ecclesiastical states, except the electorate of
Mayence, to lay rulers. Of the forty-eight imperial cities only six
were left. Three of these still exist as republican members of the
present German federation ; namely, the Hanseatic towns Ham-
burg, Bremen, and Lubeck. Bavaria received the bishoprics of

456 General History oj Europe

Wurzburg, Bamberg, Augsburg, Freising, and a number of the
imperial cities. Baden received the bishoprics of Constance, Basel,
Speyer, etc. The knights who had lost their possessions on the
left bank were not indemnified, and those on the right bank were
deprived of their political rights within the next two or three years
by the several states within whose boundaries they lay.

798. Partial Unification of Germany. The final distribution
was preceded by a bitter and undignified scramble among the
princes for additional bits of territory. All turned to Paris for
favors, since the First Consul, and not the German diet, was really
the arbiter in the matter. Germany never sank to a lower degree
of national degradation than at this period. But this amalgama-
tion was, nevertheless, the beginning of her political regeneration ;
for without the consolidation of the hundreds of practically
independent little states into a few well-organized monarchies,
such a union as the later German Empire would have been im-
possible, and the country must have remained indefinitely in its
traditional impotency. Thus Germany owes to a French ruler, not
to any oj its emperors or to Prussia, the first measures which re-
sulted in the German Empire !

799. Extension of French Influence. The treaties of 1801
left France in possession of the Austrian Netherlands and the left
bank of the Rhine, to which increase of territory Piedmont was
soon added. Holland became the Batavian Republic and, with
the Italian (originally the Cisalpine) Republic, came under
French control and contributed money and troops for the forward-
ing of French interests.

III. BONAPARTE RESTORES ORDER AND PROSPERITY
IN FRANCE

800. The Demoralized Condition of France. The activity of
the extraordinary man who had placed himself at the head of the
French Republic was by no means confined to the important
alterations of the map of Europe described above. He was in-
defatigable in carrying out a series of internal reforms second

The Career of Napoleon Bonaparte 457

only in importance to those of the great Revolution of 1789. The
Reign of Terror and the incompetence of the Directory's govern-
ment had left France in a very bad plight. 1 The finances were
in a terrible condition. These the First Consul adjusted with great
skill, quickly restored the national credit, and established the
Bank of France.

801. Adjustment of Relations with the Church. He then set
about adjusting the great problem of the nonjuring clergy, who
were still under suspicion for refusing to sanction the Civil Consti-
tution of the Clergy (759). Under the slack rule of the Directory
persecution had ceased and priests were again officiating in thou-
sands of parishes. Their churches were now formally given back
to them. All imprisoned priests were freed, on promising not to
oppose the constitution. Their churches wer given back to them,
and the distinction between "nonjuring" and "constitutional"
clergymen was obliterated. Sunday, which had been abolished by
the republican calendar, was once more observed, and all the revo-
lutionary holidays, except July 14 the anniversary of the fall of
the Bastille and the first day of the republican year, were done
away with. A formal treaty with the Pope, the Concordat of
1 80 1, was concluded, which revoked some of the provisions of the
Civil Constitution, especially the election of the priests and
bishops by the people, and recognized the Pope as the head of
the Church. It is noteworthy, however, that Bonaparte did not
restore to the Church its ancient possessions and that he reserved
to himself the right to appoint the bishops, as the former kings
had done.

802. Emigrant Nobles permitted to Return. As for the emi-
grant nobles, Bonaparte decreed that no more names should be
added to the lists. The striking of names from the list and the
return of confiscated lands that had not already been sold he made
favors to be granted by himself. Parents and relatives of emi-
grants were no longer to be regarded as incapable of holding

1 The roads were dilapidated and the harbors filled with sand ; taxes were unpaid,
robbery prevailed, and there was a general decline in industry. A manufacturer in Paris
who had employed from sixty to eighty workmen now had but ten. The lace, paper, and
linen industries were as good as destroyed.

458 General History oj Europe

public offices. In April, 1802, a general amnesty was granted, and
no less than forty thousand families returned to France.

803. Old Habits Resumed. There was a gradual reaction
from the fantastic innovations of the Reign of Terror. The old
titles of address, "Monsieur" and " Madame," were again used
instead of the revolutionary "Citizen." Streets which had been
rebaptized with republican names resumed their former ones. Old
titles of nobility were revived, and something very like a royal
court began to develop at the Palace of the Tuileries ; for, ex-
cept in name, Bonaparte was already a king, and his wife,
Josephine, a queen.

804. The Code Napoleon. The heterogeneous laws of the old
regime had been much modified by the legislation of the successive
assemblies. All this needed a final revision, and Bonaparte ap-
pointed a commission to undertake this great task. Their draft
of the new code was discussed in -the Council of State, and the
First Consul had many suggestions to make. The resulting codi-
fication of the civil law the Code Napoleon is still used today,
not only in France but also, with some modifications, in Rhenish
Prussia, Bavaria, Baden, Holland, Belgium, Italy, and even in the
state of Louisiana.

805. Bonaparte becomes Emperor Napoleon I. In May,
1804, Bonaparte was given the title of "Emperor," and in Decem-
ber he was crowned, as the successor of Charlemagne, with great
pomp in the cathedral of Notre Dame. He at once proceeded
to establish a new nobility to take the place of that abolished by
the first National Assembly in 1790.

IV. How NAPOLEON DESTROYED THE HOLY
ROMAN EMPIRE

806. Napoleon aspires to be Ruler of Europe. A great ma-
jority of the French undoubtedly longed for peace, but Napoleon's
position made war a personal advantage for him in increasing his
power. No one saw this more clearly than he. "I shall put up
with peace," he said to his advisers in 1802, "as long as our

The Career oj Napoleon Bonaparte 459

neighbors can maintain it, but I shall regard it as an advantage if
they force me to take up my arms again before they are rusted."
i On another occasion, in 1804, Napoleon said, "There will be no
rest in Europe until it is under a single chief an emperor who
shall have kings for officers, who shall distribute kingdoms to his
lieutenants." This was his ideal, which he now found himself in
a situation to carry out with marvelous exactness.

807. England's Opposition to Napoleon. There were many
reasons why the peace with England (concluded at Amiens in
March, 1802) should be speedily broken, especially as the First
Consul was not averse to a renewal of the war. The obvious in-
tention of Napoleon to bring as much of Europe under his control
as he could, and the imposition of high duties on English goods
in those territories that he already controlled, filled commercial
and industrial England with apprehension. The English people
longed for peace, but peace appeared only to offer an opportunity
to the Corsican usurper to ruin England by a continuous war upon
her commerce. This was the secret of England's persistence. All
the other European powers concluded peace with Napoleon at
some time during his reign. England alone did not lay down her
arms a second time until the emperor of the French was a prisoner.

808. Renewal of War with England. In 1803 war was re-
newed between France and England. 1 Napoleon declared the
whole coast of western Europe from Holland to southern Italy
blockaded against all English ships. He collected an army at
Boulogne, just across the Channel from England, which filled the
English with fear lest he might succeed in invading their country.
He did not make the attempt, however, for the transportation of a
large body of troops on flatboats would have been very hazardous.

809. The War of 1805 and its Results. Meanwhile a number
of the European states, including this time Russia as well as

1 At this time an event of great importance for the United States took place. The
vast Louisiana territory, which France had ceded to Spain at the end of the Seven
Years' War forty years before ( 677), had been returned to France when the peace of
1 80 1 was concluded. Now Napoleon, finding himself in need of funds, decided to sell
the region to the United States. In this way an extensive region was taken away from
European control and later developed into a series of states forming an essential part of
the great American republic.

460 General History of Europe

England and Austria, had joined in a great coalition to put an
end to Napoleon's power. In August, 1805, Napoleon decided
to turn his army eastward and give up the plan for invading the
British Isles. He had at least succeeded in terrifying England.
One of the Austrian commanders exhibited the most surprising
incapacity in allowing himself to be shut up in Ulm, where he
was forced to capitulate with all his troops (October 20). Napo-
leon then marched down the Danube with little opposition, and
before the middle of November Vienna was in the possession of
French troops. Napoleon thereupon led his forces north to meet
the allied armies of Austria and Russia ; these he defeated, on
December 2, in the terrible winter battle of Austerlitz. Russia
then withdrew for a time and signed an armistice ; and Austria
was obliged to submit to a humiliating peace, the Treaty of
Pressburg. By this treaty Austria ceded various territories in
Italy to Napoleon and consented to permit his friends the rulers
of Bavaria and Wiirtemberg to assume the title of "King."

810. The Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire (isoe).
Napoleon had no desire to unify Germany; he merely wished
to maintain a certain number of independent states, or groups of
states, which he could conveniently control. He had provided, in
the Treaty of Pressburg, that the newly created sovereigns should
enjoy the "plenitude of sovereignty," precisely as did the rulers
of Austria and Prussia.

This treaty, by explicitly declaring several of the most impor-
tant of the German states altogether independent of the emperor,
rendered the further existence of the Holy Roman Empire
impossible. The emperor, Francis II, accordingly abdicated,
August 6, 1806. Thus the most imposing and enduring political
office known to history was formally abolished.

811. Francis II assumes the Title of "Emperor of Austria."
Francis II did not, however, cease to be an "emperor." Shortly
after the First Consul had received that title Francis adopted the
title "Emperor of Austria," to designate him as the ruler of all
the possessions of his house. 1 Hitherto he had been officially

1 Thus Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire became Francis I of Austria.

The Career of Napoleon Bonaparte

461

known as King of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Galicia,
and Laodomeria, Duke of Lorraine, Venice, Salzburg, etc., Grand
Duke of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia, etc.

812. The Confederation of the Rhine. Meanwhile Napoleon
had organized a union of the southern German states, called the
Confederation of the Rhine, and

had assumed its headship as
" Protector." This he had done,
he assured Europe, " in the dear-
est interests of his people and
of his neighbors," adding the
pious hope that the French ar-
mies had crossed the Rhine for
'the last time, and that the peo-
ple of Germany would witness
no longer, " except in the annals
of the past, the horrible pictures
of disorder, devastation, and
slaughter that war invariably
brings with it." In reality, how-
ever, Napoleon was enlarging
his empire by erecting depend-
ent states east of the Rhine.

Immediately after the battle of Austerlitz Napoleon proclaimed
that the king of Naples, who had allied himself with the English,
had ceased to reign, and French generals were ordered to occupy
Naples. In March, 1806, he made his brother Joseph king of
Naples and Sicily, his brother Louis king of Holland, and his
brother-in-law, Murat, duke of Cleves and Berg. These states
and those of his German allies constituted what he called "the
real French Empire."

813. Prussia forced into War with France. One of the most
important of the continental states had taken no part as yet in the
opposition to the extension of Napoleon's power. Prussia, the first
power (o conclude peace with the new French Republic in 1795,
had since that time maintained a strict neutrality.

FRANCIS I OF AUSTRIA

462 General History of Europe

Napoleon's conduct toward Prussia was most insolent. After
setting her at enmity with England by promising that she should
have Hanover, he unblushingly offered to restore the electorate
to George III. His insults now began to arouse the national
spirit in Prussia, and the reluctant Frederick William III was
forced by the party in favor of war to break with Napoleon.

814. Campaign of Jena (isoe). Prussia's army was, however,
as has been well said, "only that of Frederick the Great grown
twenty years older"; one of Frederick's generals, the aged duke
of Brunswick, who had issued the famous manifesto in 1792
( 767, end), was its leader. A single defeat, near Jena (October
14, 1806), put Prussia completely in the hands of her enemy.
This one disaster produced complete demoralization throughout
the country. Fortresses were surrendered without resistance, and
the king fled to the uttermost parts of his realm on the Russian
boundary.

815. Treaties of Tilsit (iso?). Napoleon now led his army
into Poland, where he spent the winter in operations against Rus-
sia. He closed an arduous campaign by a signal victory at Fried-
land (June 14, 1807), which was followed by the treaties of
Tilsit with Russia and Prussia (July 7 and 9). Prussia was
thoroughly defeated. Frederick William III lost all his pos-
sessions to the west of the Elbe and all that Prussia had gained
in the second and third partitions of Poland. The Polish terri-
tory Napoleon made into a new subject kingdom called the grand
duchy of Warsaw, and chose his friend the king of Saxony as
its ruler. Out of the western lands of Prussia, which he later
united with Hanover, he created the kingdom of Westphalia for
his brother Jerome. Russia, on the other hand, was treated with
marked consideration.

816. The Continental Blockade. Napoleon's most persevering
enemy, England, still remained unconquered and inaccessible.
Just as Napoleon was undertaking his successful campaign against
Austria in 1805, Nelson had annihilated a second French fleet in
the renowned naval engagement of Trafalgar, off the coast of
Spain. It seemed more than ever necessary, therefore, to ruin

The Career of Napoleon Bonaparte

463

England commercially and
industrially, since there was
obviously no likelihood of
subduing her by arms.

817. The Berlin Decree
and the " Paper " Blockade.
In May, 1806, England had
declared the coast from
the Elbe to Brest to be
blockaded. Napoleon re-
plied to this with the Ber-
lin decree (November 21,
1806), in which he pro-
claimed it a monstrous
abuse of the right for Eng-
land to declare great
stretches of coast in a state
of blockade which her
whole fleet would be unable
to enforce. He retaliated
with a " paper" 1 blockade
of the British Isles, which
forbade all commerce with
them. Letters or packages
directed to England or to
an Englishman or written
in the English language
were not to be permitted
to pass through the mails
in the countries he con-
trolled. Every English sub-
ject in countries occupied
by French troops or in
the territory of Napoleon's

NELSON'S COLUMN, TRAFALGAR SQUARE,
LONDON

The English regard Nelson as the man
who safeguarded their liberty by the victo-
ries of the fleet. Nelson was killed at Tra-
falgar and buried with great ceremony in
the crypt of St. Paul's, under the very cen-
ter of the dome. Some years later "Tra-
falgar Square" was laid out at the point
where the street leading to the Parliament
buildings joins a chief business street
the Strand and a gigantic column to
Nelson erected, surmounted by a statue of
the admiral. In the distance one can see
the towers of the Parliament buildings

1 That is, a blockade which includes too long a stretch of coast to permit the
ships at the disposal of the power proclaiming the blockade really to enforce it.

464 General History of Europe

allies was to be regarded as a prisoner of war and his property
as a lawful prize. All trade in English goods was forbidden.

A year later England established a similar paper blockade of
the ports of the French Empire and its allies, but permitted the
ships of neutral powers to proceed, provided that they touched
at an English port, secured a license from the English govern-
ment, and paid a heavy export duty. Napoleon promptly de-
clared all ships that submitted to these humiliating regulations to
be lawful prizes of French privateers.

818. The Plight of the United States. The ships of the
United States were at this time the most numerous and important
of the neutral vessels carrying on the world's trade, and a very
hard time they had between the restrictions of Great Britain and
the decrees issued by Napoleon. An American newspaper calcu-
lated that if an American ship consented to meet England's regu-
lations and pay all the charges she imposed for licenses and
dues, the amount to be paid for a single voyage, let us say from
Baltimore to Holland and back, would amount to thirty thousand
dollars a large sum in those days.

Exasperated by the situation, Congress, at the suggestion of
President Jefferson, passed an embargo act (December, 1807),
which forbade vessels to leave port. It was hoped that this would
prevent the further loss of American ships and would at the same
time so interfere with the supplies of England and France that it
would bring them to terms. But the only result was the destruc-
tion of the previously flourishing business of the Atlantic coast
towns, especially in New England. Early in 1809 Congress de-
cided to permit trade once more with European nations, except
England and France ; but conditions remained very bad, and the
United States finally drifted into war with Great Britain in 1812.

819. Question of the Freedom of the Seas. It is very inter-
esting to compare the situation of the United States during the
Napoleonic wars with that in which she was placed when Germany
and England resorted to similar blockades during the World
War. In both cases the United States was drawn into the con-
flict. America can never be indifferent to European struggles

The Career oj Napoleon Bonaparte 465

which endanger the lives of passengers and crews and threaten the
destruction of cargoes. All warring nations are likely to disre-
gard the rights of neutrals, and it was such disregard on Ger-
many's part which finally led Congress in 1917 to recognize that a
state of war existed between Germany and the United States.

820. Napoleon's Effort to make Europe Independent Eco-
nomically. Napoleon tried to render Europe permanently inde-
pendent of the colonial productions brought from English colonies
and by English ships. He encouraged the substitution of chicory
for coffee, the cultivation of the sugar beet, and the discovery of
new dyes to replace those coming from the tropics. But the dis-
tress caused by the disturbance in trade produced great discon-
tent, especially in Russia ; it rendered the domination of Napoleon
more and more distasteful and finally contributed to his downfall.

V. NAPOLEON AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS POWER
(1808-1812)

821. Napoleon's Public Improvements. France owed much
to Napoleon, for he had restored order and guaranteed many of
the beneficent achievements of the Revolution of 1789. His
boundless ambition was, it is true, sapping her strength by forcing
younger and younger men into his armies in order to build up the
vast international federation of which he dreamed. But his vic-
tories and the commanding position to which he had raised France
could not but fill the nation with pride.

He sought to gain popular approval by great public improve-
ments. He built marvelous roads across the Alps and along
the Rhine, which still fill the traveler with admiration. He
beautified Paris by opening up wide streets and quays and build-
ing magnificent bridges and triumphal arches that kept fresh in
the people's minds the recollection of his victories. By these
means he gradually converted a medieval town into the most
beautiful of modern capitals.

822. The Question of Spain. Napoleon decided, after Tilsit,
that the Spanish peninsula must be brought under his control.

466

General History of Europe

Portugal was too friendly to the English, and Spain, owing to
serious dissensions in the royal family, seemed an easy prey. In
the spring of 1 808 Napoleon induced -both the king and the crown
prince of Spain to meet him at Bayonne. Here he was able to per-
suade or force both cf them to surrender their rights to the throne,

and on June 6 he appointed
his brother Joseph king of
Spain. The Spanish, how-
ever, rebelled against this
arrangement and with the
help of English troops under
Wellington, who had landed
in Portugal, defeated the
French armies.

In November the French
emperor himself led a mag-
nificent army into Spain, no
less than two hundred thou-
sand strong. The Spanish
troops, perhaps one hundred
thousand in number, were, on
the other hand, ill clad and
inadequately equipped; what was worse, they were overconfident
in view of their late victory. They were of course defeated, and
Madrid surrendered on December 4. Napoleon immediately abol-
ished the Inquisition, the feudal dues, the internal customs lines,
and two thirds of the cloisters. This is typical of the way in
which the French Revolution went forth in arms to spread its
principles throughout western Europe.

823. The Peninsular War. The next month Napoleon was
back in Paris, as he saw that he had another war with Austria
on his hands. He left Joseph on his insecure throne, after assur-
ing the Spanish that God had given the French emperor the power
and the will to overcome all obstacles. He was soon to discover,
however, that these very Spaniards could maintain a guerrilla war-
fare against which his best troops and most distinguished generals

DUKE OF WELLINGTON

NAPOLEON MEDITATING

Empire of France

I I Dependencies

10 from Greenwich 15

The Career of Napoleon Bonaparte

467

were powerless. The English army under the Duke of Welling-
ton slowly but surely drove the French back over the Pyrenees.
Napoleon's ultimate downfall was in no small measure due to this
ill-advised Peninsular War.

824. War with Austria (ISOQ) ; Battle of Wagram. In April,
1809, Austria ventured to declare war once more on the "enemy

Music ROOM IN THE PALACE OF COMPIEGNE

Napoleon used the various palaces erected by the previous rulers of France.
That at Compiegne, fifty miles from Paris, was built by Louis XV. The
smaller harp was made, it is said, for Napoleon's heir, the "King of Rome,"
as his father called him. However, when Napoleon abdicated in 1814, the
boy was but three years old, and was carried off to Austria by his Austrian
mother, Maria Louisa. He was known by the Bonapartists as Napoleon II,
but never ruled over France

of Europe," but this time she found no one to aid her. The great
battle of Wagram, near Vienna (July 5-6), was perhaps not so
unconditional a victory for the French as that of Austerlitz, but
it forced Austria into just as humiliating a peace as that of
Pressburg. Austria's object had been to destroy Napoleon's sys-
tem of dependencies and "to restore to their rightful possessors
all those lands belonging to them respectively before the Napo-
leonic usurpations." Instead of accomplishing this end, Austria
was obliged to cede more territory to Napoleon and his allies, and

468 General History of Europe

he went on adding to his dependencies. Consequently, in 1810,
France stretched from the confines of Naples to the Baltic. One
might travel from Liibeck to Rome without leaving Napoleon's
realms.

825. Napoleon marries a Hapsburg Princess. Napoleon was
anxious to have an heir to whom he could transmit his vast
dominions. As Josephine bore him no children, he decided to
divorce her, and, after considering a Russian princess, he married
the Archduchess Maria Louisa, the daughter of the Austrian
emperor and a grandniece of Marie Antoinette. In this way the
former Corsican adventurer gained admission to one of the oldest
and proudest of reigning families, the Hapsburgs. His new wife
soon bore him a son, who was styled King of Rome.

VI. THE FALL OF NAPOLEON

826. Relations between Napoleon and Alexander I. Among
the continental states Russia alone was entirely out of Napoleon's
control. There were plenty of causes for misunderstanding be-
tween the ardent young Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon. Up to
this time the agreement of Tilsit had been maintained. Napoleon
was, however, secretly opposing Alexander's plans for adding the
Danubian provinces and Finland to his possessions. Then the
possibility of Napoleon's reestablishing Poland as a national
kingdom which might threaten Russia's interests was a constant
source of apprehension to Alexander. By 1812 Napoleon believed
himself to be in a condition to subdue this doubtful friend, who
might at any moment become a dangerous enemy. Against the
advice of his more far-sighted counselors, the emperor collected
on the Russian frontier a vast army of four hundred thousand
men, composed to a great extent of young conscripts and the
contingents furnished by his allies.

827. Napoleon's Campaign in Russia (1812). The story of the
fearful Russian campaign which followed cannot be told here in
detail. Napoleon had planned to take three years to conquer
Russia, but he was led on by the desire to proclaim at least one

The Career of Napoleon Bonaparte 469

victory before he closed the first season's campaign. The Russians
simply retreated and led him far within a hostile and devastated
country before they offered battle at Borodino (September 7).
Napoleon won the battle, but his army was reduced to something
over one hundred thousand men when he entered Moscow a week
later. The town had been set on fire by the Russians before his
arrival ; he found his position untenable and had to retreat as
winter came on. The cold, the want of food, and the harassing
attacks of the people along the route made that retreat one of
the most signal military tragedies on record. Napoleon regained
Poland early in December with scarcely twenty thousand of the
four hundred thousand with which he had started less than six
months before.

828. Napoleon collects a New Army. Napoleon hastened back
to Paris, where he freely misrepresented the true state of affairs,
even declaring that the army was in a good condition up to the
time that he turned it over to his brother-in-law in December.
While the loss of men in the Russian campaign was enormous,
just those few had naturally survived who would be most essential
in the formation of a new army ; namely, the officers. With their
help Napoleon soon had a force of no less than six hundred
thousand men with which to return to the attack. This contained
one hundred and fifty thousand conscripts who should not have
been called into service until 1814, besides older men who had
been hitherto exempted.

829. Social Conditions in Prussia before 1806. By the end
of February, 1813, the timid Frederick William had been induced
by public sentiment in Prussia to break with his oppressor and
join Russia. On March 17 he issued a famous address "To my
People," in which he called upon them to assist him in the recov-
ery of Prussian independence.

Up to the defeat of Jena, Prussia was far more backward in its
social organization than France had been before 1789. The agri-
cultural classes were serfs, who were bound to the land and com-
pelled to work a certain part of each week for the lord without
remuneration. The population was divided into strict social castes.

470 General History oj Europe

Moreover, no noble could buy citizen or peasant land ; no citi-
zen, noble or peasant land ; no peasant, noble or citizen land.

830. Prussia undertakes Reforms. The overwhelming defeat
of the Prussian army at Jena and the provisions of the Treaty of
Tilsit, which reduced Prussia to territorial insignificance, forced
the leaders of that old-fashioned country to consider whether its
weakness was not partly due to its medieval institutions. Neither
the king nor his usual advisers were ready for thoroughgoing
reform, but there were some more progressive spirits, among
whom Baron vom Stein and Prince Hardenberg were conspicuous,
who induced the government to alter the old system.

The first step was taken in October, 1807, when a royal
decree was issued which declared its purpose to be nothing less
than "to remove every obstacle that has hitherto prevented the
individual from attaining such a degree of prosperity as he is
capable of reaching." Serfdom was abolished, and the old class
system done away with, so that anyone, regardless of social rank,
was legally free to purchase and hold real estate no matter to
whom it had formerly belonged.

831. The Prussian Junkers. It is important to note that while
serfs had practically disappeared in England and France hundreds
of years earlier, it was not until the opening of the nineteenth
century, and then under the stress of dire calamity, that Prussia
sufficiently modernized herself to abolish the medieval manor and
free the peasants until then bound to the soil and sold with it.
But the manorial lords, the so-called Junkers, remained rich and
influential, and have continued down to this day, with their
ancient notions of kingship by the grace of God and military
prowess, to exercise a fatal influence on the Prussian government.
Moreover, the mass of the Prussian people seem to retain some-
thing of their old servile attitude toward their masters.

832. Origin of the Modern Prussian Army. The old army of
Frederick the Great had been completely discredited, and a few
days after the signing of the Treaty of Tilsit a commission for
military reorganization was appointed. The object of the re-
formers was to introduce universal military service. Napoleon

The Career of Napoleon Bonaparte 471

permitted Prussia to maintain only a small force of not more
than forty-two thousand men, but the reformers arranged
that this army should be continually recruited by new men, while
those who had had some training should retire and form a re-
serve. In this way, in spite of Napoleon's restrictions on the size
of the regular Prussian army, there were before long as many as
a hundred and fifty thousand men sufficiently trained to fight
when the opportunity should come. This system was later adopted
by other European states and was the basis of the great armies
of the Continent at the outbreak of the World War in 1914.

833. Fichte's Addresses (ISOT-ISOS). While serfdom and the
old system of social classes were being abolished in Prussia at-
tempts were being made to rouse the national spirit of the Ger-
mans and prepare them to fight against their French conquerors,
A leader in this movement was the well-known philosopher
Fichte. He arranged a course of public addresses in Berlin, just
after the defeat at Jena, in which he told his auditors, with
impressive warmth and eloquence, that the Germans were the
one really superior people in the whole world. All other nations
were degraded and had, he was confident, seen their best days ;
but the future belonged to the Germans, who would in due
time, owing to their supreme natural gifts, come into their own
and be recognized as the leaders of the world. The German
language was, he claimed, infinitely stronger than the feeble
speech of the French and Italians, borrowed from ancient Latin,
Unhappily, later German writers, as we shall see, have followed
Fichte's lead in cultivating the Germans' self-esteem and their
contempt for every other race.

834. Battle of Leipzig (October, 1813). Napoleon had to
face now not only the kings and the cabinets of Europe and the
regular armies that they directed but a people who were being
organized to defend their country. The campaign which followed
is known in Germany as the War of Liberation. Napoleon's sol-
diers were, however, still triumphant for a time. He gained his last
great victory, the battle of Dresden, August 26-27. Finding
that the allied armies of the Russians, Prussians, and Austrians,

472

General History of Europe

which had at last learned the necessity of cooperating against their
powerful common enemy, were preparing to cut him off from
France, he retreated early in October and was totally defeated in
the tremendous " Battle of the Nations," as it has since been
called, in the environs of Leipzig (October 16-19).

835. Break-up of Napoleon's Empire. As the defeated em-
peror crossed the Rhine with the remnants of his army the whole

THE ABDICATION OF NAPOLEON' THE DOCUMENT IN HIS OWN
HANDWRITING

fabric of his political edifice in Germany and Holland collapsed.
The members of the Confederation of the Rhine joined the allies.
Jerome Bonaparte fled from his kingdom of Westphalia, and the
Dutch drove the French officials from Holland. During the year
1813 the Spanish, with the aid of the English under Wellington,
had practically cleared their country of the French intruders.

836. Napoleon's Abdication (April, 1814). In spite of these
disasters, Napoleon refused the propositions of peace made on
condition that he would content himself henceforth with his
dominion over France. The allies consequently marched into
France, and the almost superhuman activity of the hard-pressed
emperor could not prevent their occupation of Paris (March 31,
1814). Napoleon was forced to abdicate and renounce all rights
to the throne for himself and his family. He was permitted to
retain his title of Emperor and was granted full sovereignty over
the tiny island of Elba in the Mediterranean, where he was really

The Career of Napoleon Bonaparte

473

a prisoner of the allies. The allies immediately reinstated the
Bourbon dynasty on the throne of France. Louis XVI 's brother,
the count of Provence, was
recalled from England,
where he had been living,
and was given the title of
Louis XVIII. 1 The bound-
aries of France were fixed
as they had been at the be-
ginning of 1792. A great
Congress of the victorious
powers was summoned to
meet at Vienna to settle the
many problems of readjust-
ment which now arose. Ac-
cordingly there gathered in
November a notable as-
sembly of rulers and states-
men, who set about to
redistribute the realms Na-
poleon had ruled. Although
the allies were at one in
their hostility to Napoleon,
they immediately began ,to
disagree on how Europe
should be reconstructed.

837. Return of Napo-
leon. While their sessions
were still in progress Napo-

TOMB OF NAPOLEON

Napoleon died at St. Helena in 1821.
The body was brought to Paris in 1840
and placed with great military splendor
in this sarcophagus of reddish-brown
granite, which was hewn in Finland as
a solid block, weighing sixty-seven tons.
Around it in the pavement are inscribed
the names of Napoleon's greatest vic-
tories, while some sixty captured ban-
ners stand beside colossal statues of
victory. The whole tomb is under the
gilded dome of the church of the old
soldiers' hospital, known as the In-
valides, which rises one hundred and
sixty-one feet above it

leon, encouraged by the un-
popularity of the Bourbon
king and the dissensions
among the powers, succeeded in escaping from his little kingdom
and with twelve hundred men landed in France. With an army

1 The son of Louis XVI had been imprisoned and maltreated by the terrorists. He
died while still a boy in 1795, but nevertheless takes his place in the line of French
kings as Louis XVII.

474 General History of Europe

of enthusiastic followers, who joined him on the way, he reached
Paris, March i, 1815. Napoleon counted on the loyalty of the
French people and trusted that the divisions between the nations
would prevent a combined attack on him. But the allies quickly
forgot their rivalry in the face of common danger and joined to
overthrow once more "the destroyer of the world's peace."

838. Defeat of Napoleon. The Duke of Wellington assembled
an army of one hundred thousand British, Germans, and Dutch
in the Netherlands, and Bliicher with another large army of
Prussians was ready to assist him. The Austrians also had a
considerable force near the Rhine. Napoleon hastily collected
such an army as he could and with his old daring marched to the
Belgian frontier, hoping to divide his enemies and deal with them
separately. Although he managed at first to drive back the Prus-
sians, he was overcome by Wellington's forces at Waterloo and
completely routed by Bliicher's troops, who arrived to assist the
British general. There was now no hope for Napoleon, for the allies
had combined to send indefinite numbers into the field against
him. Hopelessly defeated at last, the career of the mighty con-
queror had come to an end. Banished to St. Helena, a lonely
island in the South Atlantic, Napoleon spent his few remaining
years writing his Memoirs, in which he sought to justify his deeds
and hand down to posterity the story of his achievements.

QUESTIONS

I. Tell something of the early life of Napoleon Bonaparte. What
powers were at war with France when Bonaparte took command of the
Italian army ? With what success did Bonaparte meet in Italy ? De-
scribe Bonaparte's character. What were the chief sources of his
power ? What were Bonaparte's motives in going to Egypt ? How did
Bonaparte become First Consul? What is the origin of the word
"consul"? Why was Bonaparte popular? What were his first
measures ?

II. Describe Bonaparte's second expedition to Italy and its results.
Describe the general nature of the Holy Roman Empire. Had the em-
perors tried in previous centuries to strengthen Germany ? What were
the circumstances that led to the consolidation of Germany in 1803 ?
What is meant by "secularization"? Give some examples.

The Career of Napoleon Bonaparte 475

III. How did Bonaparte adjust the relations of France to the
Church? What did he do about the runaway nobles? What was the
Code Napoleon ? Why did Bonaparte want to be called Napoleon I ?

IV. Why did Napoleon believe that he would be constantly involved
in war? How did Louisiana come into the possession of the United
States? What was the extent of French territory when war was re-
newed in 1803 ? What were the sources of Napoleon's dislike for Eng-
land? -Describe the final dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.
How did Prussia become involved in war with France in 1806, and what
were the results ? What was the continental blockade ? What was the
position of the United States? What difficulties do neutral nations
have during a war of maritime powers ? How did Napoleon hope to
make the Continent independent of English commerce ?

V. What did Napoleon do for Paris? W T hat was the result of
Napoleon's attempt to add Spain to his empire ? How were the French
boundaries extended after the war with Austria in 1809? Why did
Napoleon marry an Austrian princess ?

VI. Why did Napoleon undertake his Russian expedition ? What re-
forms were carried through in Prussia as a result of her defeat by
Napoleon? Tell something of the campaign of 1813. Why is the battle
of Leipzig called the "Battle of the Nations"? What was the end of
Napoleon's career in Europe? What does Europe owe to Napoleon?

BOOK IX. WESTERN EUROPE, 1814-1914

CHAPTER XXXVI
EUROPE AFTER THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA

I. RECONSTRUCTION OF EUROPE BY THE CONGRESS OF

VIENNA

839. Decisions of the Congress of Vienna, There are few more
important chapters in the political history of Europe than the
reconstruction of the map which was arranged by that impressive
assembly of monarchs, princes, and statesmen who met at the
international Congress of Vienna. They had no idea of establish-
ing things as they had been before the Napoleonic period, for the
reason that Austria, Russia, and Prussia all had schemes for their
own advantage that interfered with so simple an arrangement.

The allies quickly agreed that Holland should become a heredi-
tary kingdom under the House of Orange, which had long played so
conspicuous a role in the history of the Dutch Republic ( 561 ff).
In order that Holland might be the better able to check any new
encroachments on the part of France, she was given the former
Austrian Netherlands. Switzerland was declared independent, as
were all the small Italian states which had existed prior to the
changes made by Napoleon, except the ancient republics of
Venice and Genoa, neither of which was restored. Genoa was
given to the king of Sardinia ; Venetia to Austria, as an indemnity
for her losses in the Netherlands. Austria also received back
her former territory of Milan and became, by reason of her con-
trol of northern Italy, a powerful factor in determining the policy
of the whole Italian peninsula. As to Germany, no one desired
to undo the great work of 1803 and restore the old anarchy. The

476

Europe after the Congress of Vienna 477

former members of the Rhine Confederation were bent upon
maintaining the "sovereignty" which Napoleon had secured for
them ; consequently the allies determined that the several states of
Germany should be independent, but "united in a federal union."

840. Dispute over Polish Territory and Saxony. So far all
was tolerably harmonious. Nevertheless serious differences of
opinion developed at the congress, which nearly brought on war
among the allies themselves and encouraged Napoleon's return
from Elba. These concerned the disposition of the Polish terri-
tory that Napoleon had converted into the grand duchy of War-
saw. Prussia agreed with Russia that the territory should remain
a separate state under the supremacy of the Tsars. Prussia was
then to be indemnified for her losses in the east by annexing the
lands of the king of Saxony, who, it was argued, merited this
retribution for remaining faithful to Napoleon after the rest of
Germany had repudiated him.

841. Sagacity of Talleyrand. Austria and England, on the
other hand, were bitterly opposed to this arrangement. They
approved neither of dispossessing the king of Saxony nor of
extending the Tsar's influence westward by giving him Poland.
The great diplomatist Talleyrand, who represented Louis XVIII
at the congress, now saw his chance. The allies had resolved to
treat France as a black sheep and permit the other four great
powers to arrange matters to suit themselves. But they were
now hopelessly at odds, and Austria and England found France
a welcome ally in their opposition to the northern powers. So
in this way France, which had stood apart for the last quarter
of a century, was received back into the family of nations.

842. The Compromise. A compromise was at last reached.
The Tsar, Alexander, was allowed to create a kingdom of Poland
out of the grand duchy of Warsaw, but only half of the possessions
of the king of Saxony were ceded to Prussia. As a further indem-
nity to Prussia, Frederick William III was given certain districts
on the left (that is, west) bank of the Rhine which had previously
belonged to ecclesiastical and petty lay princes before the Treaty
of Luneville. The power of Prussia was thus increased in western

478 General History of Europe

Germany. The great importance of this arrangement we shall see
later when we come to trace the development of the German Empire.

843. Reactionary Policy following Congress of Vienna.
Napoleon, in spite of all his despotism, was a son of the Revolu-
tion and had no sympathy with the ancient evils that it had done
away with. The people of the countries that had come under his
influence had learned some of the great lessons of the French
Revolution. Nevertheless the restored monarchs in many of the
smaller European states proceeded to reestablish the ancient feudal
abuses and to treat their subjects as if there had been no French
Revolution and no such man as Napoleon.

In order to understand the period following the downfall of
Napoleon we must realize that the statesmen who met together
at Vienna were determined to restore peace in Europe and to
promote their own national interests, which had been so impaired
by Napoleon's ambitions. They therefore reinstated the monarchs
whom they regarded as " legitimately " entitled to rule, and sup-
pressed all attempts on the part of the people to gain any further
measure of liberty. This they believed was the only way to bring
order out of the chaos into which Europe had fallen.

844. Influence of Metternich. Austria had emerged from the
disorder as the most dominant power in Europe and played for
thirty years the leading role in international affairs. From 1815
to 1848 those - who believed in keeping things as they were at
any cost were able, under the leadership of her astute minister,
Count Metternich, to oppose pretty successfully those who from
time to time attempted to secure for the people a greater control
of the government. This did not mean, of course, that no prog-
ress was made during this long period in realizing the ideals of
the liberal parties in the various European states, or that one
man could block the advance of nations for a generation.

845. The Holy Alliance. The Tsar, Alexander I, had become
very religious and invited the pious king of Prussia and the
emperor of Austria to join a brotherhood of monarchs who were
to regard themselves as "delegates of Providence to govern three
branches of the same family." Other European- powers were to

IMPORTANT MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA

Europe after the Congress oj Vienna 479

be invited cordially and affectionately to join this "Holy Alli-
ance." This was not, as later supposed, a conspiracy of despotic
monarchs to repress all liberal movements, but it was so repre-
sented by newspapers and reformers. Accordingly Metternich's
policy of repression was often ascribed to the Holy Alliance.

II. FRANCE, 1814-1830

846. The Restoration of the Bourbons in France. The French
had aroused themselves in 1793-1794 to repel the foreign powers
Austria and Prussia, who threatened to bring back the old regime.
Twenty years later, in 1814, when the allies entered Paris, there
was no danger of the reestablishment of the old wrongs. It is
true that the Bourbon line of kings was restored, but France had
always been monarchical at heart. It was only the ill-advised
conduct of Louis XVI that had led to his deposition and the
founding of a republic, which Napoleon had easily converted
into a monarchy. The new king, Louis XVIII, made no effort
to destroy the great achievements of the Revolution. He granted
the nation a constitution, called the Charter, which remained in
force, slightly changed in 1830, until 1848.

847. The Charter of 1814. The Charter of 1814 furnishes us
with a statement of the permanent results of the Revolution and
measures the distance that separates this time from that of
Louis XVI. Almost all the great reforms proclaimed by the first
Declaration of the Rights of Man ( 755) are guaranteed. The
laws are to be made by the king in cooperation with a parliament,
consisting of a House of Peers and of a Chamber of Deputies
elected by the nation ; the latter may impeach the king's ministers.

848. Charles X deposed in 1830. In 1824 Louis XVIII died
and was succeeded by his brother, the count of Artois, who took
the title of Charles X. Under his rule the reactionary policy of
the government became more pronounced. A bill was passed
voting the nobility a large sum of money for the property they
had lost during the Revolution. Then, by royal decrees, a censor-
ship of the press was established, the suffrage was limited to a

48o

General History of Europe

small, wealthy class, and only the king was to initiate laws. These
unjust and tyrannical measures led to the dethronement of the
unpopular king by a revolution in Paris in 1830. Louis Philippe,
the descendant of Henry IV through the younger, or Orleans,
branch of the Bourbon family, was put upon the throne. 1

III. GERMANY AND METTERNICH

849. Reduced Number of States in Germany. The Napoleonic
occupation of Germany left permanent results. The consolidation
of territory that followed the cession of the west bank of the
Rhine to France had, as has been explained, done away with the
ecclesiastical states, the territories of knights, and most of the free
towns. Only thirty-eight German states, including four towns, were
left when the Congress of Vienna took up the question of forming
a confederation to replace the defunct Holy Roman Empire.

850. Growing Importance of Prussia. .Prussia was greatly
strengthened by the annexation of a part of Saxony and of the
Rhine provinces. Moreover, the reforms carried out in Prussia
after the battle of Jena by the distinguished minister Stein and his
successor, Hardenberg, had done for Prussia somewhat the same
thing that the first National Assembly had done for France. The
abolition of the feudal social castes and the liberation of the serfs

i THE BOURBON KINGS
Henry IV

Louis XIII (d. 1643)

Louis XIV (d. 1715)

Louis XV (d. 1774)
great-grandson of Louis XIV

Louis the Dauphin (d. 1765)

Louis X V I (d. 1 793) Louis XV 1 1 1

count of Provence

(d. 1824)
Louis XVI I (d. 1795)

Philip, duke of Orleans

Charles X
count of Artois
(deposed 1830)

Louis Philippe I

(great-great-grandson of

Philip), deposed 1848

Europe ajber the Congress of Vienna 481

made the economic development of the country possible. The
reorganization of the whole military system prepared the way for
Prussia's great victories in 1866 and 1870, which led to the forma-
tion of a new German empire under her headship.

851. German Confederation a Union of Rulers. The Ger-
man Confederation established by the Congress of Vienna was
not a union of the various countries involved, but of " the Sover-
eign Princes and Free Towns of Germany," including the emperor
of Austria and the king of Prussia for such of their possessions
as were formerly included in the German empire, the king of
Denmark for Holstein," and the king of the Netherlands for the
grand duchy of Luxemburg. The union thus included two sover-
eigns who were out-and-out foreigners, and did not comprise all
the possessions of its two most important members. 1

The diet which met at Frankfort was composed not of repre-
sentatives of the people, but of the rulers who were members of
the confederation. The members reserved to themselves the right
of forming alliances of all kinds, but pledged themselves to make
no agreement endangering the safety of the union or of any of
its members, nor to make war upon any member of the confedera-
tion on any pretense whatsoever. The constitution could not be
amended without the approval of all the governments concerned.
In spite of its obvious weaknesses the confederation of 1815
lasted for half a century until Prussia finally expelled Austria
from the union by arms and incorporated the rest of Germany in
the German Empire.

852. Disappointment of the Liberals. The liberals in Ger-
many were sadly disappointed that the Congress of Vienna had
failed to weld Germany into a modern national state ; they were
also troubled because the king of Prussia broke his promise to
give Prussia a constitution. But Frederick William III was a
weak monarch and had lived through such a period of revolution-
ary disorder that he was quite willing to listen to the advice of the
Austrian chief minister Metternich, who hated progress in any

1 Observe the boundary of the German Confederation as indicated on the map,
P-476.

482 General History of Europe

form and who had become the leader of those who fought all
tendencies toward democracy and constitutional government.

853. Liberal Thought in Germany suppressed. The attacks
upon the freedom of the press, and especially the interference
with the liberty of teaching in the universities, which were already
beginning to pride themselves on their scholarship and science,
scandalized such progressive spirits as Germany possessed. Yet
no successful protest was raised, and Germany as a whole ac-
quiesced for a generation in Metternich's system of discouraging
reform of all kinds.

854. The Southern German States receive Constitutions
( 1818-1820). Nevertheless, important progress was made in south-
ern Germany. As early as 1818 the king of Bavaria granted his
people a constitution, in which he stated their rights and admitted
them to a share in the government by establishing a parliament.
His example was followed within two years by the rulers of
Baden, Wurtemberg, and Hesse.

IV. REVOLUTIONARY TENDENCIES IN ITALY AND SPAIN,
1820-1821; LATIN-AMERICA

855. Italy "a Geographical Expression" in 1820. Italy was
at this time what Metternich called only "a geographical expres-
sion" ; it had no political unity whatever. Lombardy and Venetia,
in the northern part, were in the hands of Austria, and Parma,
Modena, and Tuscany belonged to members of the Austrian
family. In the south the considerable kingdom of the Two Sicilies
was ruled over by a branch of the Spanish Bourbons, while the
Papal States cut through the center of the peninsula northward
to the Po. There seemed to be no hope of making Italy into a
united nation.

856. Revolutionary Movements in Italy (i82o-i82i). The
downfall of Napoleon left Italy seemingly in a worse state than
that in which he had found it. The hold of Austria was strength-
ened by her acquisition of Venice. The petty despots of Parma,
Modena, and Tuscany, reseated on their thrones by the Congress

Europe after the Congress of Vienna 483

of Vienna, hastened to sweep away the reforms which Napoleon
had introduced and to reestablish all the abuses of the old regime.
The lesser Italian princes, moreover, showed themselves to be
heartily in sympathy with the hated Austria. Popular discontent
spread throughout the peninsula and led to the formation of
numerous secret societies, which assumed strange names, practiced
mysterious rites, and plotted darkly in the name of Italian liberty
and independence. By far the most noted of these associations
was that of the Carbonari ; that is, charcoal burners. Its objects
were individual liberty, constitutional government, and national
independence and unity. These it undertook to promote by agita-
tion, by conspiracy, and, if necessary, by revolution.

Attempts were made by the Neapolitans and by the people of
the kingdom of Sardinia, and later by other Italian states, to
force their rulers to grant them constitutions. The alert Metter-
nich, who had from time to time called congresses of the European
powers, obtained their consent to dispatch Austrian troops to
check the development of "revolt and crime." So all liberal
movements in Italy were suppressed for the time being.

857. Hopeful Signs. Yet there were two hopeful signs. Eng-
land protested as early as 1820 against Metternich's theory of
interfering in the domestic affairs of other independent states in
order to prevent reforms of which he disapproved, and France, on
the accession of Louis Philippe in 1830, emphatically repudiated
the doctrine of intervention. A second and far more important
indication of progress was the increasing conviction on the part
of the Italians that their country ought to be a single nation and
not, as hitherto, a group of small independent states under foreign
influence.

858. Creation of the Kingdom of Greece (iszi). Two events,
at least, during the period of Metternich's influence served to
encourage the liberals of Europe. In 1821 the inhabitants of
Greece had revolted against the oppressive government of the
Turks. The Turkish government set to work to suppress the
revolt by atrocious massacres. It is said that twenty thousand
of the inhabitants of the island of Chios were slaughtered. The

General History oj Europe

Greeks, however, succeeded in arousing the sympathy of western
Europe, and held out until England, Russia, and France inter-
vened and forced the Sultan to recognize the independence of
Greece in 1829. /

859. Belgium becomes an Independent Kingdom in 1831.
Another little kingdom was added to the European states by the
revolt of the former Austrian Netherlands from the king of Hol-
land, to whom they had been assigned by the Congress of Vienna.
The southern Netherlands were still as different from the northern
as they had been in the time of William the Silent ( 561). Hol-
land was Protestant and German, while the southern provinces,
to whom the union had always been distasteful, were Catholic and
akin to the French in their sympathies. Encouraged by the revo-
lution at Paris in 1830, the people of Brussels rose in revolt
against their Dutch king and forced his troops to leave the city.
Through the influence of England and France the European
powers agreed to recognize the independence of the Belgians,
who established a kingdom and introduced an excellent constitu-
tion providing for a limited monarchy modeled upon that of Eng-
land. The neutrality of Belgium was solemnly guaranteed by
the European powers, but this did not prevent Germany's violat-
ing Belgian territory and making it a battle ground in 1914.

860. Revolution in Spain. In Spain Ferdinand VII, who was
restored to power by the allies, abolished completely all the re-
forms that Napoleon had introduced. He annulled the constitution
which had been drawn up in 1812, and restored the Inquisition,
feudal privileges, and religious orders. Books and newspapers
were strictly censored, free speech was repressed, and great
numbers of liberals were imprisoned or executed.

861. Spanish-American Colonies. A large part of the Spanish
empire consisted of the colonies which she had established in
America. These included Mexico (and the regions to the north-
west, later acquired by the United States), Central America, and
all of South America except Brazil, which belonged to Portugal.
The mother country had from the first monopolized the trade of
her colonies. This selfish policy, although later relaxed, caused

Europe after the Congress of Vienna 485

great discontent among the colonists. When Napoleon placed his
brother on the throne of Spain the Latin- Americans 1 saw their
commerce still further threatened. Encouraged by the success of
the North American colonies in gaining their independence from
England, the Spanish-Americans revolted.

862. Revolt of the Spanish Colonies (isio-iszs). Beginning
in 1810, Mexico, New Granada (now Colombia), Venezuela,
Peru, Buenos Aires, and Chile, while they still professed to be
loyal to Ferdinand VII, took their government into their own
hands, drove out the former Spanish agents, and finally rejected
Spanish rule altogether. At first the revolts were put down with
great cruelty, but in 1817, under the leadership of Bolivar, Vene-
zuela won its independence, and during the following five years
the Spaniards lost New Granada, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Mexico,
and lastly (1825) Upper Peru, which was renamed Bolivia after
its liberator.

863. Revolution in Spain (iszo). Ever since his restoration
Ferdinand VII had been sending thousands of men to die of fever
and wounds in the vain attempt to subdue the insurgents. At
last, in January, 1820, the soldiers who were waiting in Cadiz
to be sent to America, well aware of the sufferings of the regi-
ments which had preceded them, were easily aroused to revolt.
The revolution spread to Madrid, where a mob surrounded the
palace (March 9) and forced the king to take the oath to the
constitution of 1812 ( 860). /f-

864. Interference of France in Spain. The representatives
of the Great Powers Russia, Austria, Prussia, France, and
England met at Verona in 1822 to discuss what should be done
about the Spanish crisis. England refused to interfere in any
way, for it was not to her advantage to assist Ferdinand to regain
his power and perhaps recover the Spanish- American colonies.
She did not wish to lose the profitable trade which was opened up
to her by the new South American states. It was finally left to
Louis XVIII to send an army across the Pyrenees. The French

1 South and Central America and Mexico are often spoken of as Latin- America,
because their inhabitants speak Spanish or Portuguese, which are languages derived from
Latin.

486 General History oj Europe

commander easily defeated the revolutionists and placed Ferdi-
nand in a position to stamp out his enemies. He did this in such
a ferocious and bloodthirsty manner that his French allies were
heartily ashamed of him.

865. European Policies and the Monroe Doctrine. While
France was helping to restore absolutism in Spain the Spanish
colonies, as we have seen, were rapidly winning their independ-
ence, encouraged by the United States and England.

The threats of Metternich and his friends to help Spain restore
her control over her colonies led President Monroe, in his message
to Congress, December, 1823, to call attention to the dangers of
intervention as practiced by the European alliance of great powers,
and clearly state what has since become famous as the "Monroe
Doctrine" namely, that the United States would consider any
attempt on the part of the European allies to extend their system
to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to the peace and
safety of the United States and as an unfriendly act.

QUESTIONS

I. Upon what points did the Congress of Vienna easily agree ? Upon
what two points was there serious discord ?

II. Who were the Bourbons, and how did they come to reign both
in France and in Spain? What was the Charter of 1814? Contrast
Charles X with Louis XVIII.

III. What were the chief results of the Napoleonic period in Ger-
many? How was Prussia strengthened as a result of Napoleon's in-
tervention in Germany? Describe the German Confederation of 1815.
Who was Metternich, and what were his views ? Do you think that the
government ought to prevent criticism of its policy ?

IV. Of what states was Italy composed after 1815? What were the
chief obstacles in the way of a united Italy ? How did the Pope come
to be the ruler of an Italian state ? Explain why Metternich was able to
oppose successfully the tendencies toward revolution. What two new
kingdoms were added to the map between 1815 and 1848? What do
you understand by neutrality? What colonies did Spain hold in
America ? What caused the Spanish colonies to revolt from the mother
country? What were the circumstances which led to the formulation
of the "Monroe Doctrine."

CHAPTER XXXVII

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

I. THE NEW AGE OF MACHINERY

866. A Revolution that changed the Life of Everyone. In

the preceding chapters we have reviewed the startling changes
and reforms introduced by the leaders of the French Revolution
and by Napoleon Bonaparte, and the reconstruction of Europe at
the Congress of Vienna. These were mainly the work of states-
men, warriors, and diplomats. But a still more fundamental revo-
lution than that which has been described had begun in England
before the meeting of the Estates General.

In studying the past we sometimes make the mistake of think-
ing that the great mass of the people were taking part in the vari-
ous wars and congresses. We need only recollect, however, that
even during the recent World War the everyday life of the great
majority of people in the United States who did not participate
directly or indirectly in the conflict went on much as usual. So
it must have been in the past. While statesmen discussed the
distribution of territories and thrones almost everyone went about
his work almost unconscious of the changes that were taking
place. Whether Polish territory went to Prussia or Russia, or
a Bourbon king sat on the throne of France or not, the labo-
rious life of the farmer and workman remained much the same.

We shall now turn our attention to a revolution which did
alter the life of everyone. This revolution was the work of
scientific men and patient inventors who set about to improve
man's ways of living. These men never stirred an assembly by
their fiery denunciation of evils, or led an army to victory, or
conducted a clever diplomatic negotiation. On the contrary, their

487

488

General History oj Europe

attention was concentrated upon the homely operations of every-
day life the housewife drawing out her thread with a distaff
or spinning wheel, the slow work of the weaver at his primitive
loom, the miner struggling against the water which threatened
to flood his mine.

867. The World transformed by Machinery. Most of us
accept the world in which we live that is, the clothes we wear,

our modern houses, trains, steam-
ships, skyscrapers, asphalt streets,
telephones, automobiles as if it had
always existed. We do not realize
the countless discoveries, inventions,
and improvements which had to be
made in order to transform the con-
ditions of the eighteenth century
into our modern world (Chapter
XXXII).

Up to that time the people of west-
ern Europe for the most part con-
tinued to till their fields, weave their
cloth, and saw and plane their boards
by hand, much as the ancient Egyp-
tians had done. Merchandise was
still transported in slow, lumbering
carts, and letters were as long in
passing from London to Paris as in
the reign of Constantine. Suddenly, however, a series of ingenious
devices were invented, which in a few generations eclipsed the
achievements of ages and revolutionized every branch of business.
This change is known as the Industrial Revolution, and its most
important factor is the introduction of machinery. The power
and tireless energy of the machine was substituted for the human
hand ; moreover, it was also no longer necessary for the horse and
the ox to drag persons or goods slowly from place to place. The
amount of work which could be accomplished in the world by
these new slaves of iron was indefinitely increased. The modern

DISTAFF AND SPINDLE

The Industrial Revolution 489

era with its opportunity for endless improvement had begun. Let
us examine some of the ways in which this came about.

868. Improvements in Spinning and Weaving. If one walks
through a department store he may see hundreds of yards of cot-
ton goods, silks, woolens, and velvets of marvelous fineness and
beauty neatly piled on the shelves. None of this material has
been made by hand, but has been skillfully and rapidly manu-
factured by machinery. The revolution in manufacture which
has taken place in the last hundred and fifty years is excellently
illustrated by the improvement in making woven fabrics. In
order to produce cloth one must first spin (that is, twist) the
wool, cotton, or flax into thread ; then by means of a loom the
thread can be woven into a fabric. If we examine a handkerchief
or a piece of our clothing carefully we can see how skillfully
the many threads are interlaced. A simple way of spinning thread
had been in use for thousands of years, but it was possible for a
person to make only a single thread at a time. This method was
so slow that the weavers could not get all the thread they needed.
There was great demand, therefore, for a means of spinning which
would supply thread as fast as the weavers could use it. By 1767
James Hargreaves, an English spinner, invented what was called
a spinning jenny, which enabled a workman, by turning a wheel,
to spin eight or ten threads at once and thus do the work of
eight or ten spinners. 1 A year later a barber, Richard Arkwright,
patented a device operated by water power for drawing out
thread by means of rollers. Before the end of the eighteenth
century improved machines spinning two hundred threads simul-
taneously had been invented, and as they were driven by power
and required only one or two watchers, the hand workers could
not compete with them. Such inventions as these produced the
modern factory system.

1 The hand spinner had bunches of wool, which had been combed into loose curls, on
the end of a stick, or distaff. She pulled and twisted this with her fingers into a
yarn, which she wound on the spindle. By whirling the spindle around she could help
twist. The spinning wheel was invented to give a better twist to the spindle. It had
become common in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and was still used by our
great-grandmothers. By means of the spinning wheel it was possible in some cases for
one person to make two threads, one in one hand and a second in the other.

490

General History of Europe

869. The Power Loom and Cotton Gin. The enormous
output of thread and yarn on these new machines made the
weavers dissatisfied with the clumsy old hand loom, which could
not now take care of the thread as fast as it was produced. At
length, in 1784, Dr. Cartwright, a clergyman of Kent, patented a
new loom, run by water power, which threw the shuttle and
shifted the weft for itself. This machine was steadily improved

SPINNING MULE

The spinning mule required only one person to operate a long row of
spindles and did the work of many hand-spinners

during the nineteenth century until today a single machine
operated by one workman can do as much weaving in a day as two
hundred weavers could do with old-fashioned hand looms. The
accompanying cut gives some idea of a modern spinning machine.
Other inventions followed. The time required for bleaching was
reduced from several months to a few days by the use of
acids, instead of relying principally upon the sunlight. In 1792
Eli Whitney, in the United States, invented a power "gin," which
enabled one man to take the seeds out of over a thousand pounds
of cotton a day instead of five or six pounds, which had been the
limit for the hand worker.

The Industrial Revolution 491

870. Mass Production. The effect of these inventions in in-
creasing the amount of cloth manufactured was astonishing. In
1764 England imported only about four million pounds of raw
cotton, but by 1841 she was using nearly five hundred million
pounds annually.

II. THE STEAM ENGINE

871. Demand for Iron, Steel, and Motive Power. The new
inventions greatly increased the demand for iron and steel, for it
was necessary to have a strong and durable material out of which
machinery could be made. Moreover, some adequate power had
to be found to run -the new machines. Windmills were common,
and waterfalls and streams had long been used to turn water
wheels, but the wind was uncertain and the streams were often
low. By the invention of steam engines these difficulties could be
overcome, and the mills need no longer, as formerly, be located
near running water. The earliest engines were power pumps
which raised water into a high reservoir so that it could fall with
force on a water wheel. Pumps were also used to drain the
water out of mines.

While new methods of spinning and weaving were being intro-
duced other inventors were finding better ways of melting and
forging iron, and still others were improving the crude steam
engines then in use. New processes for reducing iron from the
ore were discovered. Coal began to be used instead of charcoal
for softening the metal, and the old-fashioned bellows were re-
placed by great blast furnaces. Steam hammers were invented,
weighing seven hundred and fifty pounds and striking three hun-
dred blows a minute, to beat the iron into shape.

872. Watt's Steam Engine. James Watt was first able to
make the steam engine a practical device for furnishing power to
the new machines. Watt did not, however, invent the steam
engine, as has been commonly supposed. As an instrument-maker
in Glasgow, he was called upon (about 1760) to repair the model
of a steam engine invented sixty years earlier by an ingen-
ious mechanic named Newcomen. Watt hit upon a number of

492

General History of Europe

important improvements and devised a scheme for making the
engine turn the wheels of a machine attached to it. In 1785 the
steam engine was first applied to spinning machinery, and by
the end of the century the new engines were becoming as common
as the old wind and water mills.

873. The Industrial Revolution in France. England was the
first country to develop the modern use of machinery for manu-
facturing. It was not until
after the establishment of
peace in 1815 that the In-
dustrial Revolution really
began in France. At that
time there was only one
small steam engine employed
in French industry at a
cotton factory in Alsace;
but by 1847 France had
nearly five thousand steam
engines, with a capacity of
sixty thousand horse power,
and many important manu-
facturing centers had grown
up. Paris alone had three
hundred and forty-two thou-
sand working people, other

cities had their great factories, and whole quarters, peopled
exclusively by factory laborers, grew up in manufacturing centers.

874. The Age of Steam. While the steam engine was first
used in factories to increase manufacture, it soon revolutionized
navigation and transportation. We shall see in a later chapter
how the steamboat and the steam locomotive made it possible
for men to get from place to place in a much shorter time than
was required by the stagecoach or the sailing vessel. Moreover,
the manufactured goods which were now produced in such large
quantities by the new power machines could be sent rapidly all over
the world. Thus both commerce and business were enormously

JAMES WATT

The Industrial Revolution 493

increased. For a century or more steam was used as a motive
power. But now steam has to some extent been replaced by
gasoline and by electricity, for men have learned how to utilize
an electric current to drive great power plants, to run trolleys,
and to send messages around the world.

III. CAPITALISM AND THE FACTORY SYSTEM

875. The "Domestic" System of Industry. Having seen how
machinery was introduced in England in the latter part of the
eighteenth century and how steam came to be utilized as a motive
power, we have now to consider the important results of these
inventions in changing the conditions under which people lived
and worked. Up to this time "manufacture" still meant, as it
did in the original Latin (manu jacere), "to make by hand."
Artisans carried on trades with their own tools in their own homes
or in small shops, as the cobbler does today. Instead of working
with hundreds of others in great factories and being entirely
dependent upon his wages, a workman, in England at least, was
often able to give some attention to a small garden plot, from
which he derived a part of his support. This old method of manu-
facture is known as the domestic system. The introduction of
machinery changed this. Hand laborers were no longer able to
compete with the swift and tireless machines and found their
work growing more and more unprofitable. Large factories sprang
up, and the workers now realized that they had to leave their
pleasant surroundings and live near their work ; long rows of
houses, without gardens or even grassplots, were hastily built
around the factory buildings, and thus the ugly tenement districts
of our cities came into existence.

876. The Capitalist and the Workingman. There grew up
then, as the result of this great revolution in the methods of manu-
facturing, two new social classes. There were, on the one hand,
the capitalists, who owned the buildings and the machinery and
who had the money necessary to run the business and, on the
other, the workmen whom they hired to operate the machines.

494 General History o] Europe

The workingman became dependent upon the few who were rich
enough to set up factories. He could no longer earn a livelihood
in the old way by conducting a small shop of his own, but must
seek employment from the capitalist. As long as there were
plenty of workers the business man could fix any hours and pay
what he wished. The question of how much of the profits shall
go to the business man or capitalist and how much shall be given
tc the workmen is still the most vital question in the problem of
the relation of labor and capital.

877. Women and Children in the Factories. The destruc-
tion of the domestic system of industry had also a revolution-
ary effect upon the work and the lives of women and children.
Before the invention of the steam engine, when the simple
machines were worked by hand, children could be employed only
in some of the minor processes, such as preparing the cotton for
spinning. But in the modern factory, labor was largely confined
to watching machines, piecing broken threads, and working levers,
so that both women and children could be utilized as effectively as
men, and much more cheaply.

This tended greatly to increase the number employed in the
factories. Under the old system of domestic industry the tasks
of the women were varied and performed at home, whereas
under the new system they must flock to the factory at the call
of the whistle and labor monotonously at a speed set by the
foreman. This led to many grave abuses which, as we shall see,
the State has been called upon to remedy from time to time
by factory legislation. Although women and children have been
saved from some of the worst hardships, a great deal still remains
to be done.

878. The Capitalists oppose Government Interference. The
capitalists and business classes maintained that the government
should not attempt to regulate the prices of goods or their quality.
Neither should it interfere with the employer and his workmen,
except to protect both from violence ; it should not fix the hours
of work or the conditions in the factories. Prices, they maintained,

The Industrial Revolution 495

would be kept down by competition among the manufacturers,
and wages would be fixed by the supply and demand. Everyone
should have the greatest freedom to do what he was able to do.
If he was a person of ability he would prosper ; if he had no
special ability he could only hope to get the wages that the em-
ployer found it advantageous to pay him.

879. Sad Results of the Industrial Revolution. The chief
trouble with this theory was that it did not work well in practice.
On the contrary, the great manufacturing cities, instead of being
filled with happy and prosperous people, became the homes of a
small number of capitalists, who had grown rich as the owners and
directors of the factories, and multitudes of poor working people
with no other resources than their wages, which were often not
enough to keep their families from starvation. Little children
under nine years of age, working from twelve to fifteen hours a
day, and women forced to leave their homes to tend the machines
in the factories were now replacing the men workers. After their
long day's work they returned to miserable tenements which were
the only lodgings they could afford.

880. Laws to Protect Workingmen. After the close of the
Napoleonic wars, as things got worse rather than better, there
were increasing signs of discontent in England. This led to
various attempts to improve matters. There were those who
hoped to secure reforms by extending the right to vote, in order
that the working classes might be represented in Parliament and
so have laws passed to remedy the worst evils at least. In this
movement some of the wealthier class often joined, but the work-
ing people were naturally chiefly interested, and they embodied
their ideas of reform in a great " people's charter," which will be
described later (954).

881. Origin of Trade-unions. In addition to this attempt to
secure reform through the government, the workingmen formed
unions of their own in the various trades and industries, in order to
protect themselves by dealing in a body with their employers. The
trade-union movement began in the early part of the nineteenth

496 General History of Europe

century. 1 At first the formation of unions was forbidden by
English law. Men were sentenced to imprisonment or deporta-
tion as convicts if they joined such "combinations," or unions,
to raise their wages. In 1824 Parliament repealed this harsh law,
and trade-unions increased rapidly. They were hampered, how-
ever, by various restrictions, and even now, although they have
spread widely all over the world, people are by no means agreed
as to whether workingmen's unions are the best way of improving
the conditions of the laboring classes.

Another theory for permanently bettering the situation of the
working people which developed was socialism. As socialism has
played an important role in the history of Europe during the past
fifty years, we must stop to examine the meaning of this word.

IV. THE RISE OF SOCIALISM

882. The Social Ownership of the Means of Production.

Socialists hold that "the means of production" should belong
to society and not be held as the private property of individuals.
"The means of production" is a very vague phrase and might
include farms and gardens as well as tools ; but when the socialist
uses it he is generally thinking of the machines which the Indus-
trial Revolution has brought into the world, and the factories and
mines which house and keep them going, as well as the railroads
and steamships which carry their goods. In short, the main idea
of the socialists is that the great industries which have arisen as a
result of the Industrial Revolution should not be left in private
hands. They claim that it is not right for the capitalists to own
the mills upon which the workingman must depend for his living ;
that the attempt of labor unions to get higher wages does not
offer more than a temporary relief, since the system is wrong
which permits the wealthy to have such a control over the poor.
The person who works for wages, say the socialists, is not free ;

1 The craft guilds described in a previous chapter ( 413, 700) somewhat re-
sembled modern labor unions, but they included both capitalists and laborers. Our labor
unions did not grow out of the medieval guilds, but were organized to meet conditions
'that resulted from the Industrial Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution

497

he is a "wage slave" of his employer. To remedy this the socialist
would turn over the great industries of the capitalists to national,
state, or local ownership, so that all shall have a share in the
profits. This ideal state of society, which, they say, is sure to
come in the future, they call the Cooperative Commonwealth.

The first socialists relied on the kind hearts of the capitalists
to bring the change, once the situation was made clear. Modern
socialists, however, do not
think that the rich will ever,
from pure unselfishness, give
up their control over indus-
tries. So they turn to work-
ing people only, and call
upon them to reform industry
in the face of opposition of
the capitalists. They claim
that wealth is produced by
labor, for which capital but
furnishes the opportunity,
and that labor is justified in
taking what it produces. 1

883. Karl Marx. The great
teacher of this modern doc-
trine of socialism was Karl
Marx, a German writer who

lived most of his life in London. He was a learned man, trained in
philosophy and political economy, and he came to the conclusion
from a study of history that just as the capitalists 2 had replaced
feudal nobles, so the working class would replace the capitalists in
the future. By the working class he meant those who depend upon
their work for a living. The introduction of the factory system had
reduced the vast majority of artisans to a position in which the
capitalist was able to dictate the conditions upon which this work

1 This does not mean that socialists would divide up all private property. Socialists
claim only that there shall be no unearned wealth in private hands controlling, as now,
the industries of the country. Brain workers are also " workers."

2 The French term boutgeoisie is often used by socialists for this class.

KARL MARX

4Q8 General History of Europe

should be done. Marx, in an eloquent appeal to them in I847, 1
called upon the members of this "proletariat," "who have nothing
to lose but their chains," to rise and seize the means of production
themselves. His appeal had no effect at the time, but it has been
the hope of the socialists ever since.

884. Socialism and Democracy. Modern, or "Marxian," so-
.cialism is therefore a movement of the working class. As such,
it must be viewed as part of the history of democracy. It is
never satisfied with partial reforms so long as the conditions re-
main which make possible the control of the work of one man by
another for the latter's benefit. So it insists that the workers
shall keep one aim clearly in mind and not be drawn into other
political parties until the Cooperative Commonwealth is gained.

There is one other important element in socialism. It is inter-
national. It regards the cause of workers in different countries
as a common cause against a common oppressor capitalism.
In this way socialism was a force for peace between nations
until the war of 1914.

QUESTIONS

I. What do you understand by the "Industrial Revolution"? What
is spinning? weaving? Give some account of the way in which our
modern way of spinning and weaving by machinery grew up.

II. What conditions were necessary for the development of modern
machinery ? Do you understand just what makes a steam engine run ?
When did steam engines begin to be used in factories ?

III. What was the "domestic" system of industry? What is the
principle of the factory system ? Give all the results you can of the
introduction of machinery and the growth of factories. What do you
understand by "capital"? Contrast the theories of the capitalist with
those of the factory hand. Why were trade-unions formed? Why do
some business men oppose them?

IV. Describe the theories of the socialists of the first half of the
nineteenth century. Why do modern socialists regard these theories
as impracticable ? Who was Karl Marx ? W T hat advantages do the
socialists claim would come if our present system were abolished?

1 The Communist Manifesto, written jointly with Frederick Engels. Marx used the
word " communism ' to distinguish his plan from the socialism of the " dreamers " who
looked to capitalists to help.

CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 AND THEIR RESULTS

I. THE SECOND REPUBLIC AND SECOND EMPIRE
IN .FRANCE

885. General Revolutionary Movement in Europe in 1848.
In 1848 the gathering discontent and the demand for reform sud-
denly showed their full strength and extent ; as if obeying a pre-
concerted signal, the liberal parties in France, Italy, Germany,
and Austria, during the early months of 1848, gained control of
the government and proceeded to carry out their program of
reform in the same thoroughgoing way in which the National
Assembly in France had done its work in 1789. The general
movement affected almost every state in Europe, but the course
of events in France, and in that part of central Europe which
had so long been dominated by Metternich and Austria, merits
especial attention.

886. Unpopularity of Louis Philippe. In France there were
various causes of discontent with the government of Louis
Philippe. The liberals maintained that the king had too much
power and demanded that every Frenchman should have the
right to vote so soon as he reached maturity. As Louis Philippe
grew older he not only opposed reforms himself but also did all
he could to keep the parliament and the newspapers from advo-
cating any changes which the progressive parties demanded.
Nevertheless, the strength of the Republicans gradually increased.
They found allies in the new group of socialistic writers who
desired a fundamental reorganization of the State.

887. The Second Republic Proclaimed. On February 24,
1848, a mob invaded the Assembly, as in the time of the Reign
of Terror, crying, " Down with the Bourbons, old and new !

499

500

General History of Europe

Long live the Republic ! " The king abdicated, and a provisional
government was established. The first decree of this body,. rees-
tablishing a republic, was solemnly proclaimed on the former site
of the Bastille, February 27. Thus the second French Republic

came into existence.

888. The "Red Repub-
lic." The new provisional
government was scarcely in
session before it was threat-
ened by the " red republic,"
whose representatives, the
Social Democrats, desired to
put the laboring classes in
control of the government
and to let them conduct it
in their own interests, and
wished to substitute the red
flag 1 for the national colors.
The government went so far
as to concede the so-called
"right to labor"; that is,
the duty of the government
to see that everyone had
work. Great numbers of the
unemployed were given use-
less work by the Assembly.

889. Insurrection in Paris
(June, 1848). A National

Assembly had been convoked, whose members were elected by the
votes of all Frenchmen above the age of twenty-one. Since the
majority of Frenchmen were country people who were not inter-
ested in the victims of the factory system, the result of the elec-
tion was an overwhelming defeat for the Social Democrats. Their
leaders then tried to overthrow the new Assembly on the pre-
text that it did not represent the people ; but the national guard

1 Socialists use red as a symbol of the common blood of the brotherhood of man.

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN WORKING-
MEN AND THE GOVERNMENT TROOPS
IN PARIS, JUNE, 1848

The Revolutions of 1848 and their Results 501

frustrated the attempt. The number of men now employed on
the national works had reached one hundred and seventeen thou-
sand, each of whom received two francs a day in return for either
useless labor or mere idleness. No serious attempt was made to
make the experiment pay, and it was abolished in June. The
result was a terrific battle in the streets of Paris for three days,
June 23-25, and
over ten thousand
persons were killed
more than had
perished in the
whole Reign of
Terror.

890. Establish-
ment of the Sec-
ond Empire. This
desperate outbreak
of the forces of rev-
olution resulted in
a general convic-
tion that a strong
hand was essential
to the maintenance
of peace. The new

constitution decreed that the president of the Republic should
be chosen by the people at large. Their choice fell upon the
nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, who had
already made two futile attempts to make himself the ruler of
France. 1 Before the expiration of his four years' term he resorted,
like Napoleon I, to a coup d'etat (December 2, 1851) and set up
a new government. He next obtained, by a general vote, the

1 Few monarchs of Europe have had such a romantic career as this nephew of Na-
poleon I. An exile, a conspirator against 'Louis Philippe, prisoner of state, escaping, to.
return and to be elected president of the Second Republic, he was one of the shrewdest
politicians of the nineteenth century. As emperor he gratified French pride with beau-
tiful buildings and other showy public works, but the " Napoleonic legend "of glory kept
involving him in foreign wars, which mostly turned out badly for France and finally led
to his own overthrow ( 923, 942).

NAPOLEON III

502 General History of Europe

consent of the people to his remaining president for ten years. A
year later, the dream of his life was at last realized the Second
Empire was established, and as Napoleon III he became "Emperor
of the French by the grace of God and the will of the people."

II. THE REVOLUTION OF 1848 IN AUSTRIA, ITALY,
AND GERMANY

891. Austria's Commanding Position. The overthrow of
Louis Philippe encouraged the opponents of Metternich in Ger-
many, Austria, and Italy to attempt to make an end of his system
at once and forever. In view of the important part that Austria
had played in central Europe since the fall of Napoleon I, it
was inevitable that she should appear the chief barrier to the
attainment of national unity and liberal government in Italy
and Germany. As ruler of Lombardy and Venetia she practically
controlled Italy, and as presiding member of the German Confed-
eration she had been able to keep even Prussia in line. Moreover,
the territories of the Hapsburgs were inhabited by such a mixture
of peoples that to grant national independence would mean com-
plete disruption of the Empire.

892. Overthrow of Metternich (March, 1848). On March 13
the populace of Vienna rose in revolt against the government.
Metternich fled, and all his efforts, for thirty years, to suppress
reform appeared to have come to naught. Before the end of the
month the helpless Austrian emperor had given his permission to
the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia to draw up constitutions
for themselves granting equality of all classes in the matter of
taxation, religious freedom, and liberty of the press, and providing
that each country should have a parliament of its own, which
should meet annually.

893. Revolution in Italy. Italy naturally took this favorable
opportunity to revolt against the hated "Germans." Immediately
on the news of Metternich's fall the Milanese expelled the Aus-
trian troops from their city, and soon Austria was forced to
evacuate a great part of Lombardy. The Venetians followed the

The Revolutions of 1848 and their Results 503

lead of Milan and set up the republic of St. Mark. By this time a
great part of Italy was in revolt. Constitutions were granted to
Naples, Rome, Tuscany, and Piedmont by their rulers. Charles
Albert, the king of Sardinia, was forced by public opinion to as-
sume the leadership in the attempt to expel Austria from Italy.

894. Reform Movement in Germany. The king of Prussia
determined to take the lead in Germany. He agreed to summon
an assembly to draw up a constitution for Prussia. Moreover, a
great National Assembly was convoked at Frankfort to draft a
constitution for Germany at large.

895. Defeat of the Italians (July, 1848). For the moment
Austria's chief danger lay in Italy. The Italians were, however,
unable to drive the Austrian army out of Italy. Charles Albert
found himself, with the exception of a few volunteers, almost un-
supported by the other Italian states, which, for one reason or
another, grew indifferent as soon as the war had actually begun.
On July 2 5 he was defeated at Custozza and compelled to sign a
truce with Austria and withdraw his forces from Lombardy.

896. Conditions in Austria. Meanwhile conditions in Aus-
tria began to be favorable to a reestablishment of the emperor's
former influence. Each of the various peoples under Austrian
rule determined to make itself largely independent, and great
was the confusion that ensued. The Czechs 1 and Germans in
Bohemia hated one another. The Germans naturally opposed the
plan of making Bohemia practically independent of the govern-
ment of Vienna, for it was German Vienna to which they were
wont to look for protection against the enterprises of their Czech-
ish fellow countrymen. An insurrection that broke out among the
people of Prague gave General Windischgratz, the commander
of the Austrian forces, a sufficient excuse for intervening. He
established a military government, and the prospect of independ-
ence for Bohemia vanished. This was Austria's first real victory.

897. Insurrection of the Radicals in Vienna Suppressed.
In October, 1848, the radical party rose in Vienna, as it had in
Paris after the deposition of Louis Philippe. The minister of

l The Slavic inhabitants of Bohemia.

504

General History of Europe

war was brutally murdered, and the emperor fled. The city was,
however, besieged by General Windischgratz and was forced to
surrender. The imperial government was now in a position still
further to strengthen itself. A reactionary ministry was formed
and the emperor, a notoriously inefficient person, was forced to

abdicate (December 2,
1848) in favor of his
youthful nephew, Francis
Joseph I, who ruled as
emperor until his death
in 1916.

898. Suppression of
Hungarian Republic. A
vigorous campaign was
begun against Hungary,
which, under the influence
of the patriotic Kossuth,
had deposed its Hapsburg
king and declared itself an
independent republic un-
der the presidency of Kos-
FRANCIS JOSEPH AT HIS ACCESSION suth The Tsar placed his

Francis Joseph (1830-1916) witnessed the forces at the disposal of
revolutions of 1848 at the age of eighteen Francis Joseph, and with
and the great war of 1914 at the age of , . , .

eighty-four the aid of an arm y of

one hundred and fifty

thousand Russians, who marched in from the east, the Hungarians
were compelled, by the middle of August, to surrender. Austria
took terrible vengeance upon the rebels. Thousands were hanged,
shot, and imprisoned, and many, including Kossuth, fled to the
United States or elsewhere. But within a few years Hungary
won its independence by peaceful measures and became the equal
of Austria in the dual federation, which from that time was
officially known as Austria-Hungary (920).

899. Austria reestablishes the Former Conditions in Italy.
Austria was soon able to reestablish her power in Italy and to

The Revolutions of 1848 and their Results 505

sweep away most of the reforms that had been gained. Charles
Albert abdicated in favor of his son Victor Emmanuel, who was
destined before many years to become king of Italy (see next
chapter).

900. Problems in forming a Constitution for Germany. In
Germany, as elsewhere, Austria profited by the dissensions
among her opponents. On May 18, 1848, the National As-
sembly, consisting of nearly six hundred representatives of the
German people, had met at Frankfort. It immediately began
the consideration of a new constitution that should satisfy the
popular longings for a German state, to be governed by and for
the people. But what were to be the confines of this new
German state? There was no hesitation in deciding that all the
Prussian territories should be admitted to the new union. As it
appeared impossible to exclude Austria altogether, the assembly
agreed to include those parts of her territory which had belonged
to the confederation formed in 1815 (851). This decision ren-
dered the task of founding a strong German state practically
impossible ; for the new union was to include two great European
powers who might at any moment become rivals, since Prussia
would hardly consent to be led forever by Austria.

901. Frederick William IV refuses to become Emperor.
The new constitution provided that there should be a hereditary
emperor at the head of the government, and that exalted office
was tendered to the king of Prussia. Frederick William IV
hated revolution and doubted whether the National Assembly
had any right to confer the imperial title on him. He also fett
that a war with Austria, which was likely to ensue if he accepted
the crown, would be dangerous to Prussia, and so refused the honor.

902. The German National Assembly Disperses; the Old
Diet Restored. This decision rendered the year's work of the
National Assembly fruitless, and its members gradually dispersed.
Austria now insisted upon the reestablishment of the old diet, and
Prussia submitted.

903. Results of the Revolutions of 1848. While the revolu-
tions of 1848 seem futile enough when viewed from the standpoint

506 General History oj Europe

of the hopes of March, they left some important indications of
progress. The king of Prussia had granted his country a constitu-
tion, which, with some modifications, served Prussia down to the
end of the World War. Piedmont also had obtained a constitution.
The internal reforms, moreover, which these countries speedily
introduced prepared them to lead once more, and this time with
success, in a movement for national unity.

QUESTIONS

I. What were the causes of discontent with Louis Philippe's govern-
ment ? When and how was the Second Republic established ? Why
were the Socialists dissatisfied with the provisional government ? De-
scribe the experiment with the "national workshops" and its result.
Give some of the causes that led to the reelection of Louis Napoleon
as president of the Second Republic. How did he succeed in reestab-
lishing the Empire?

II. Why was Austria regarded as the greatest enemy of liberal
government in Europe ? Name some of her possessions. What effect
did the overthrow of Metternich have on the liberals in Europe? De-
scribe the struggle in Italy for independence. What were the difficul-
ties in making any peaceful settlement in Austrian territories ? Describe
the effort to establish a republic in Hungary. What was the outcome
of the revolution of 1848 in Italy? Discuss the problems involved in
making a strong German state. What was the result of the Frankfort
Assembly? Why were the revolutions of 1848 unsuccessful?

EMPIRE OF AUSTRIA

M lta\>
(To QreatBr tln) y rp * T V

CHAPTER XXXIX

CREATION OF THE KINGDOM OF ITALY AND OF THE
GERMAN EMPIRE

I. FOUNDING OF THE KINGDOM OF ITALY

904. How Two New European Powers were formed. Among
the most important events of the latter half of the nineteenth
century was the consolidation of the two great modern states of
Italy and Germany. We should recall how weak and divided both
of these countries had been during the Middle Ages, and how
the German rulers had tried in vain to keep the various German
countries under their control and at the same time incorporate
Italy into the Holy Roman Empire. Both Germany and Italy
fell apart for centuries into practically independent little princi-
palities and city states, often warring with one another and often
dominated by foreign powers. After the French king Charles VIII
invaded Italy in 1495 ( 504), France, Austria, and Spain fought
with one another over bits of Italian territory, and later Napoleon
rearranged both countries to suit his taste. The Congress of
Vienna left Italy divided and assured Austria control over the
northern portions. As for the German states, they were com-
bined in a feeble union in which Austria and Prussia, with all
their bitter rivalries, were included.

In spite of Metternich's efforts to maintain this situation there
were leaders in both Germany and Italy working for unification,
and finally, after centuries of disunion, weakness, and foreign
intervention, both countries were wrought into powerful states
during the twelve years from 1859 to 1871. We must now see
how all this came about.

905. Early Efforts to unify Italy. After the Congress of
Vienna leaders arose in Italy who strove to free their land from

508 General History oj Europe

foreign domination and unite the various states into a single
powerful country. There were unsuccessful revolutions in 1820-
1821, in 1830, and, as we have seen, in 1848-1849. Among these
leaders Mazzini, the poet and man of letters, was the most famous.
He joined the Carbonari (856) for a time, but became dis-
gusted with their mummeries and formed an association called
" Young Italy" to carry on the movement for Italian unity. So
the way was prepared for the king of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel,
and his able minister, Cavour, to realize at last the dreams of
the Italian patriots.

906. How Napoleon III intervened in Italian Affairs. The
kingdom of Sardinia consisted mainly of Piedmont and the
neighboring Savoy in northwestern Italy and had its capital at
Turin ; the island of Sardinia was a very unimportant part of
the ruler's realms. After the unsuccessful war with Austria in
1848-1849 the country had been reorganized under a new consti-
tution and became the nucleus around which all Italy might
unite. Cavour easily induced Napoleon III to agree to lend his
help if a new excuse could be found for attacking Austria and
expelling her from northern Italy. Napoleon argued that since
the Italians were a Latin race, like the French, a successful war
against the German Austrians would be popular in France and
would make his own position stronger. He also hoped he might
add Savoy to France and perhaps become the protector of the
proposed Italian confederation.

907. Abrupt Close of the War of 1859. Victor Emmanuel
managed easily enough to fall out with Austria and was imme-
diately reenforced by a French army. Austria managed the
campaign badly and was defeated, June, 1859, in the fierce
battles of Magenta and Solferino. But Napoleon was appalled
by the horrors of actual war and seemingly startled at the enthu-
siasm aroused among the Italians, which he feared might result
in so powerful an Italy that he would no longer be desired as
protector. Consequently he left his work half done. Instead of
freeing Italy to the Adriatic, as he had talked of doing, he ar-
ranged a peace with Austria by which she still held Venetia, but

The Kingdom of Italy and the German Empire 509

ceded Lombardy to
Victor Emmanuel and
permitted him to an-
nex the little duchies
of Parma and Mo-
dena. It was also ar-
ranged that France
should be rewarded for
its trouble by receiv-
ing Savoy and Nice,
which were racially
French rather than
Italian.

908. Formation of
a Kingdom of Italy
(iseo). Napoleon III
had, however, precip-
itated changes which
he was powerless to
check. Italy was now
ready to fuse into a
single state. Tuscany,
as well as Modena
and Parma, voted
(March, 1860) to
unite with Piedmont.
Giuseppe Garibaldi, a
famous republican
leader, sailed for Sic-
ily, where he assumed
the dictatorship of the

GARIBALDI

Garibaldi shares with Victor Emmanuel the na-
tional enthusiasm of Italy, and his monument,
one of the finest in Rome, looks proudly over
the Eternal City from a high hill. He was a
republican, a convert of Mazzini, and had lived
a restless life, having fought in South America
and lived for a time in New York (where his
house is preserved as a memorial). At the
head of his "legion" of volunteers, clad in their
gay red blouses, he was a most picturesque
figure, and his rapid success in the south lent an
element of romance to the unification of Italy

island in the name of

Victor Emmanuel, "King of Italy." After expelling the troops
of the king of Naples from Sicily, he crossed to the mainland,
and early in September he entered Naples itself, just as the
king fled from his capital.

General History oj Europe

909. Napoleon III prevents the Annexation of Rome. Gari-
baldi now proposed to march on Rome and proclaim the kingdom
of Italy. This would have imperiled all the previous gains, for
Napoleon III could not, in view of the strong Catholic sentiment
in France, possibly permit the occupation of Rome and the de-
struction of the political independence of the Pope. He agreed

MAP OF UNIFICATION OF ITALY
j

that Victor Emmanuel might annex the outlying papal possessions
to the north and reestablish a stable government in Naples instead
of Garibaldi's dictatorship. But Rome, the imperial city, with
the territory immediately surrounding it, must be left to its old
master. Victor Emmanuel accordingly marched southward and
occupied Naples (October). Its king capitulated, and all south-
ern Italy became a part of the kingdom of Italy.

910. Italian Unification only Partial. In February, 1861, the
first Italian parliament was opened at Turin, and the process of

The Kingdom of Italy and the German Empire 511

really amalgamating the heterogeneous portions of the new king-
dom began. Yet the joy of the Italians over the realization of
their hopes of unity and national independence was tempered by
the fact that Austria still held one of the most famous of the
Italian provinces, and that Rome, which typified Italy's former
grandeur, was not included in the new kingdom. Within a decade,
however, both these districts became a part of the kingdom of
Italy owing to the policy of Prussia. William I and his adviser,
Bismarck, were about to do for Germany what Victor Emmanuel
and Cavour were accomplishing for Italy.

II. How PRUSSIA DEFEATED AUSTRIA AND FOUNDED THE
NORTH GERMAN FEDERATION

911. Prussian Ambitions. We must now follow the story of
modern Prussia and see how its ruling classes, by means of three
wars, made themselves masters of Germany, and then developed
such strength that its military leaders ventured, in the fatal year
1914, to risk further bloodshed to make Germany a "world
power" by attempting to crush England, its great naval rival.
In one sense Germany is the youngest of the larger European
states ; at the same time it became far the most dangerous by
reason of its warlike ambitions; and nearly the whole world,
including the United States, was finally forced to join in a
terrific struggle with the kaiser and his armies in order to
defend democratic institutions from the menace of Prussian
autocracy.

912. Review of German History. The third German emperor,
William II, was born in 1859, and it was during his boyhood that
the empire over which he ruled as kaiser was created. All the
efforts of the medieval emperors from Otto the Great to Frederick
Barbarossa to unify Germany had proved vain (Chapter XVII).
Under the long line of Hapsburg emperors, from Rudolph of
Hapsburg to the last ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, Fran-
cis II, the German states became even more independent of
one another than they had been in earlier centuries. Finally,

512 General History of Europe

the first step toward German unification was made by Napoleon
when, under his auspices, many of the little states were swal-
lowed up by the larger ones in 1803 and the following years
( 797 f -)- The old Holy Roman Empire of the German na-
tion came to an end in 1806, and Germany was completely
under French influence for several years. After Napoleon's
downfall a loose union of the surviving states into which Ger-
many had been consolidated was formed at the Congress of
Vienna. The attempt of the constitutional assembly of Frank-
fort in 1848-1849 to form a strong democratic empire under
Prussia failed, because the king of Prussia refused to accept the
crown, on the ground that the assembly had no right to offer it
to him and that should he accept it he would, as he timidly feared,
become involved in a war with Austria, which was excluded from
the proposed union.

913. William I of Prussia (isei-isss). With the accession of
William I in I&5& 1 a new era dawned for Prussia. An ambitious
king came into power, whose great aim was to expel Austria from
the German Confederation and out of the remaining states to
construct a firm union, under the domination of Prussia, which
should take its place among the more important states of Europe.
He saw that war would come sooner or later, and his first busi-
ness was to strengthen his army.

914. The Prussian Army. The war of independence fought
against Napoleon in 1813 had led the Prussian king to summon
the whole nation to arms, and a law was passed in Prussia making
service in the army obligatory upon every able-bodied male
subject. The first thing that William I did was to increase the
annual levy from forty to sixty thousand men and to see that all
the soldiers remained in active service three years. They then
passed into the reserve, according to the existing law, where for
two years more they remained ready at any time to take up
arms should it be necessary. William wished to increase the
term of service in the reserve to four years. In this way the

l He ruled until 1861 as regent for his brother, Frederick William IV, who was in-
capacitated by disease.

The Kingdom of Italy and the German Empire 513

state would claim seven of the years of early manhood and have
an effective army of four hundred thousand without including
men who were approaching middle life. The lower house of the
Prussian parliament refused, however, to vote the necessary
money for increasing the strength of the army.

915. Bismarck Leader of Prussia ( 1862). The king proceeded,
nevertheless, with his plan, and in 1862 called to his side Otto von
Bismarck, a Prussian statesman who could carry out that plan
despite opposition. The new minister was a Prussian of the
Prussians, and he dedicated his great abilities to the single object
of Prussianizing all Germany. He believed firmly in the divine
right of the Hohenzollern rulers ; he hated parliaments and ex-
pressed contempt for the Liberal party, which had striven to
create a democratic Germany in 1848. He had every confidence
in the mailed fist and shining sword, by which he foresaw that
he must gain his. ends. He belonged to the highly conservative
group of Prussian landed proprietors, the so-called Junkers,
the same class that assumed so much responsibility in precipi-
tating the World War in 1914.

916. Four Items in Bismarck's Program. In order to raise
Prussia to the position of a dominating European power, Bis-
marck perceived that four things were necessary : ( i ) The Prus-
sian army must be greatly strengthened, for without that he could
not hope to carry out his audacious program. (2) Austria, hith-
erto so influential in German affairs, must be pushed out of Ger-
many altogether, leaving the field to Prussia. (3) Prussian
territory must be enlarged and consolidated by annexing those
German states that separated the eastern possessions of the
Hohenzollerns from their important holdings on the Rhine.
(4) And, lastly, the large South German states, which disliked
Prussia and suspected her motives, must in some way be induced
to join a union under her headship.

The first obstacle that Bismarck met was the refusal of the lower
house of the Prussian parliament to grant the money necessary
for increasing the army. Bismarck frankly proclaimed, however,
that the great questions of the time had to be decided "not by

General History of Europe

speeches and votes of majorities but by blood and iron." So he
went on with his plan of strengthening the army without waiting
for legal appropriations.

917. The Danish War of 1864. Bismarck found the following
excuse for attacking Austria. There were two provinces, Schleswig
and Holstein, south of Denmark which had for centuries been

TERRITORY SEIZED BY PRUSSIA IN 1866

ruled by the Danish king, although they were largely inhabited by
Germans and were not considered a part of Denmark. In 1863, in
spite of the outcry in Germany, the king of Denmark decided
to incorporate the provinces into his kingdom. Bismarck induced
Austria to join Prussia in a war with Denmark (1864) and easily
forced the Danish ruler to cede the provinces to his assailants
jointly. Bismarck then proposed that the new territories be
practically annexed to Prussia. When Austria protested he formed
an alliance with the new kingdom of Italy and arranged that if
Prussia went to war with Austria, Italy should also attack her,
with the hope of gaining Venetia. The plan was carried out.

The Kingdom oj Italy and the German Empire 515

Austria tried to call out the troops of the German Confederation
against Prussia, and Prussia declared the union of 1815 dissolved.

918. Speedy Victory of Prussia over Austria (ises). On
June 12, 1866, Prussia formally declared war on Austria. Almost
all the German rulers took sides against the Hohenzollern aggres-
sion, but the powerful Prussian army was ready for immediate
action, so that, in spite of the suspicion and even hatred which
the Liberal party in Prussia entertained for the autocratic Bis-
marck, all resistance on the part of the states of the North was
promptly prevented. Austria was defeated on July 3 in the deci-
sive battle of Sadowa, and within three weeks after the breaking
off of diplomatic relations the war was practically over. The in-
fluence of Austria was at an end, and Prussia had proved her
power to do with Germany as she pleased.

919. The North German Federation. Prussia was aware that
the larger states south of the Main River were not ripe for the
union that she desired. She therefore organized a so-called
North German Federation, which included all the states north
of the Main. Prussia had grasped the opportunity to increase
her own boundaries and round out her territory by seizing the
North German states, with the exception of Saxony, that had
gone to war against her. Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, and
the free city of Frankfort, along with the duchies of Schleswig and
Holstein, all were added to the kingdom of the Hohenzollerns.

920. Formation of the Austro-Hungarian Dual State. After
Austria had been expelled from Germany in 1866 the relations
between the Austrian Empire and the kingdom of Hungary were
adjusted by a compromise. Francis Joseph agreed to regard him-
self as ruling over two separate and practically independent states:
(i) Austria, including seventeen provinces Upper and Lower
Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Carinthia, and the rest; and (2) Hun-
gary, including Croatia and Slavonia. Each of these two states
had its own parliament, one at Vienna, the other at Pesth. But
the dual state was to have one army and a sort of joint parlia-
ment to manage the affairs common to both parts of the union.
In spite of a great deal of discontent on the part of the Slavic

$i6 General History of Europe

population, both in Austria and in Hungary, who resented the
predominating position assumed by the German element in Aus-
tria and the Hungarian element in Hungary, this curious federa-
tion of two states lasted down until 1918, when it all fell to
pieces as a result of the World War.

III. THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR OF 1870 AND THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE

921. Disappointment of Napoleon III. No one was more
chagrined by the abrupt termination of the war of 1866 and the
speedy victory of Prussia than Napoleon III. He had hoped that
the combatants might be weakened by a long struggle, and that
at last he might have an opportunity to arbitrate, and perhaps
to extend the boundaries of France, as had happened after the
Italian war. But Prussia came out of the conflict with greatly
increased power and territory, while France had gained nothing.
An effort of Napoleon's to get a foothold in Mexico had failed,
owing to the recovery of the United States from the Civil War
and their warning that they should regard his continued inter-
vention there as a hostile act.

922. The Franco-Prussian War (isvo-mi). One course re-
mained for the French emperor, namely, to permit himself to be
forced into a war with Prussia, which had especially roused the
jealousy of France. The nominal pretext for hostilities was rela-
tively unimportant. 1 Bismarck eagerly encouraged war with
France, for he believed that if the South German states were to

1 In 1869 Spain was without a king, and the crown was tendered to Leopold of
Hohenzollern, a very distant relative of William I of Prussia. This greatly excited the
people of Paris, for it seemed to them only an indirect way of bringing Spain under the
influence of Prussia. The French minister of foreign affairs declared that the arrangement
was an attempt to " reestablish the empire of Charles V." In view of this opposition
Leopold withdrew his acceptance of the Spanish crown early in July, 1870, and Europe
believed the incident to be at an end. The French ministry; however, was not satisfied
with this and demanded that the king of Prussia should pledge himself that the plan
should never be renewed. This William refused to do. Bismarck did not hesitate
to falsify the actual circumstances in the German newspapers in such a way that it ap-
peared as if the French ambassador had insulted King William. The Parisians at the
same time received the impression that their ambassador had received an affront, and
demanded an immediate declaration of war.

The Kingdom of Italy and the German Empire 517

unite under Prussia against a common enemy, they would later
join the North German Federation. On the other hand, the hos-
tility which the South German states had formerly shown toward
Prussia encouraged Napoleon III to believe that as soon as the
French troops should gain their first victory, Bavaria, Wiirtem-
berg, and Baden would join him.

923. Victory of the Germans. That first victory was never
won. War had no sooner been declared than the Germans laid
all jealousy aside and ranged themselves as a nation against
.France. The French army, moreover, was neither well equipped
nor well commanded. The Germans hastened across the Rhine
and within a few days were driving the French before them. In
a series of bloody encounters about Metz one of the French
armies was defeated and finally shut up within the fortifications
of the town. Seven weeks had not elapsed after the beginning of
the war before the Germans had captured a second French army
and made a prisoner of the emperor himself in the great battle
of Sedan, September i, 1870.

The Germans then laid siege to Paris. Napoleon III had been
completely discredited by the disasters about Metz and at Sedan,
and consequently the Empire was abolished and France for the
third time was declared a republic. In spite of the energy which
the new government showed in arousing the French against the
invaders, prolonged resistance was impossible. The French capi-
tal surrendered January 28, 1871, an armistice was arranged, and
the war was to all intents and purposes over.

924. Cession of Alsace and Lorraine and the Indemnity.
Bismarck humiliated France, in arranging the treaty of peace,
by requiring the cession of two French provinces Alsace and
northeastern Lorraine. 1 The Germans wished for a visible sign
that they had had their revenge on the French. Many of the
Alsatians, it is true, spoke a German dialect, but the provinces had
no desire to become a part of the German Empire.

1 Alsace had, with certain exceptions, especially as regarded Strassburg and the
other free towns, been ceded to the French king by the Treaty of Westphalia ( 590).
During the reign of Louis XIV all of Alsace had been annexed to France (1681). The
duchy of Lorraine had upon the death of its last duke fallen to France in 1766.

518 General History oj Europe

The Germans exacted a heavy war indemnity from France
a billion dollars and proclaimed that German troops would
remain in France until the sum was paid. The French people
made pathetic sacrifices to hasten the payment of the indemnity
in order to free their country from the presence of the detested
"Prussians." The bitter feeling between France and Germany
dates from this war. The natural longing of the French for
their "lost provinces/' and the suspicions of the Germans, not
only prevented the nations from becoming friends but had much
to do with the sudden and inexcusable attack which Germany,
made on France in August, 1914. The fate of Alsace-Lorraine
was from the first one of the crucial issues of the World War.

925. Proclamation of the German Empire, January 18, 1871.
The war between France and Prussia in 1870, instead of hinder-
ing the development of Germany, as Napoleon III had hoped it
would, only served to consummate the work of 1866. The South
German states, Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, Baden, and South Hesse,
having sent their troops to fight side by side with the Prussian
forces, consented after their common victory over France to join
the North German Federation. Surrounded by the German
princes, William, King of Prussia and President of the North Ger-
man Federation, was proclaimed German Emperor in the palace
of Versailles, January, 1871. In this way the German Empire
came into existence. With its victorious army and its wily chan-
cellor, Bismarck, it immediately took an important place among
the western powers of Europe and sought to increase its power.

IV. THE FINAL UNIFICATION OF ITALY

926. Rome added to the Kingdom of Italy (mo). The unifi-
cation of Italy was completed, like that of Germany, by the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870. After the war of 1866 Austria had
ceded Venetia to Italy. Moreover, in August, 1870, the reverses
of the war compelled Napoleon to recall the French garrison from
Rome, and the Pope made little effort to defend his capital
against the Italian army, which occupied it in September. The

The Kingdom of Italy and the German Empire 519

people of Rome voted by an overwhelming majority to join the
kingdom of Italy, and the work of Victor Emmanuel and Cavour
was completed by transferring the capital to the Eternal City.

927. Position of the Pope. Although the papal possessions
were declared a part of the kingdom of Italy, a law was passed
which guaranteed to the Pope the rank and privileges of a

MONUMENT TO VICTOR EMMANUEL II, AT ROME

On the northwestern slope of the Capitoline Hill the Italians have erected
the most imposing monument in Europe, to commemorate the unification
of Italy. Its size is indicated in the picture by the relative size of people
and buildings. A colossal statue of Victor Emmanuel adorns the center,
while a vast colonnade surmounts the hill. The Forum of ancient Rome lies
just behind it; but the monument faces in the opposite direction, down a
broad, busy street of the modern city, which is growing rapidly. Electric cars
now connect the seven hills, and arc lights shine beside the Colosseum

sovereign prince. As head of the Church the Pope was to be
entirely independent of the king of Italy. A sum of over six
hundred thousand dollars annually was also appropriated to aid
the Pope in defraying his expenses. He, however, refused to
recognize the arrangement, regarding himself as a prisoner and
the Italian government as a usurper who had robbed him of his
possessions.

520 General History of Europe

928. Italy becomes a European Power. In order to maintain
the dignity of her new position Italy rapidly increased her army
and navy. Universal military service was introduced as in other
European states, and modern warships were built. Then the
Italians set about gaining colonies in Africa and in 1887 sent an
army into Abyssinia ; but after some fifteen years of intermittent
warfare they were able to retain only a strip along the coast of the

THE PAPAL GARDENS AT THE VATICAN, ROME

These few acres 5 along with a summer residence which the popes never use,

and the two churches of the Vatican and the Lateran in Rome, are all that is

left of the temporal sovereignty of the papacy

Red Sea about twice the size of the state of Pennsylvania. Again,
in 1911, by a war with Turkey, they took Tripoli on the south
shore of the Mediterranean ( 1103).

929. Emigration from Italy. The cost of armaments made
Italy almost bankrupt at times, and as it was not a rich country,
taxes were very high. Since these fell largely upon the poor, hun-
dreds of thousands of Italians left their land as emigrants, prefer-
ring the United States or Argentina to their own colonies. Many
of those who stayed at home became discontented with the govern-
ment, some becoming Socialists. Still the present monarchy has

The Kingdom of Italy and the Ger.man Empire 521

proved much better than the old governments which it replaced.
Much of the revenue has been spent on other things than arma-
ments. Railroads have been built by the state to open up the
country. Manufactures have grown up in the northern part, so
that Milan is today one of the great manufacturing cities of
Europe. National schools are bringing improvement in education,
although the peasants in the mountainous districts are still very
ignorant and superstitious.

Victor Emmanuel died in 1878. His son Humbert was assas-
sinated by an anarchist in 1900. Humbert's son and successor,
the present king, Victor Emmanuel III, is regarded as an en-
lightened man desirous of ruling within the limits of the con-
stitution. The monarchy is in practice, as in form, quite similar
to that of England.

QUESTIONS

I. Review briefly the history of Italy from the break-up of the
Roman Empire to 1859. What was the importance of Sardinia in
Italy ? Why was Napoleon III ready to intervene in Italian affairs ?
What was the result of his intervention.? How was the kingdom of
Italy founded, and what Italian territories were not included in the
union of 1861 ?

II. Why is Germany called the youngest of the European powers?
How did the unification of Germany really begin? Why did Prussia
play such an important role in Germany? What was the policy of
William I and Bismarck? What do you know of the German army?
What had the Schleswig-Holstein affair to do with the war of 1866?
What was the North German Federation?

III. How did France become involved in war with Germany in
1870? What was the course of the war? What were the terms of
peace? Why did these prove disastrous not only to Germany but to
the world at large? How did the final unification of Germany take
place ?

IV. When and how was Italy finally unified ? What is the position
of the Pope? Why do Italian emigrants go to America in preference
to their own colonies ?

CHAPTER XL

THE GERMAN EMPIRE AND THE THIRD FRENCH REPUBLIC
I. DEVELOPMENT OF GERMANY (1871-1914)

930. The Predominance of Prussia in the German Empire.
In the North German Federation of 1866 Prussia, with the Ger-
man states she had just seized, constituted nearly the whole
union. After the South German states joined the federation and
so formed the German Empire, Prussia still formed nearly two
thirds of the whole empire, and her citizens amounted to nearly
two thirds of the entire population of Germany.

We may be sure that Bismarck, with his Prussian autocratic
ideas and his confidence in armies and kings, would see to it
that the new constitution for the empire insured the control of
Germany by Prussia and the Junker class to which he himself
belonged. The dominating position of Prussia and her king was
so cleverly disguised that it sometimes seemed to escape the
Germans themselves.

931. Powers of the Kaiser. The "presidency" of the empire
was vested in the king of Prussia, but he was not, in theory, the
monarch of Germany, in spite of his august title of "emperor"
(Kaiser). Emperor William II, it is true, always talked as if he
ruled by the grace of God, but he had no constitutional right to
such a claim. He did, however, according to Prussian law, rule
Prussians by "divine right," and they, as we have seen, constituted
a great part of the German people. The emperor did not have a
right directly to veto the measures passed by the imperial parlia-
ment, but he exercised many of the powers which would fall to an
absolute monarch. He appointed and dismissed the chancellor of
the empire, who was, with his "all-highest" self, the chief official
spokesman of Germany. What was most dangerous for the rest

522

The German Empire and the Third French Republic 523

of the world, the kaiser commanded the unconditional obedience
of all German soldiers and sailors and appointed the chief officers
in the army and navy. He had only to say that the Fatherland
was "attacked," and he could hurl the German armies against any
innocent neighbor he chose without asking anyone's approval.
This he did when he ordered the invasion of Belgium and the
attack on France in 1914.

932. The Bundesrat. The real sovereignty, however, according
to the constitution, resided in the whole body of the German
rulers included in the union, and therefore especially in the Fed-
eral Council, or Bundesrat, to which the various governments sent
their representatives. This council was much more important
than the Senate of the United States or any other upper house in
Europe. It initiated the important laws and was presided over
by the imperial chancellor. Prussia's influence in it was secured
by assigning her king a sufficient number of votes to enable him
to veto any measure he wished.

933. The Reichstag. The House of Representatives, or Reichs-
tag, consisting of about four hundred members, was elected by
universal male suffrage for a term of five years. The emperor,
however, might dissolve it at any time with the consent of the
Bundesrat, and did so on occasions when it refused to pass
the measures of his ministers. It exercised much less control of
the government than does the British House of Commons or the
United States House of Representatives. Moreover it did not
fairly represent the people in the rapidly growing cities. Berlin,
for instance, increased to two million inhabitants, but it had only
six seats when it was entitled by its size to twenty. The govern-
ment, however, refused to readjust the representation for fear
the Socialists would gain more seats.

934. Laws establishing Uniformity throughout Germany.
The constitution gave the Federal government power to regulate
commerce, railways, telegraphs, currency, and the criminal and
civil law. Under Bismarck the old systems of the various states
were largely replaced by uniform regulations. The bewildering
variety of coins and paper money in the several states was done

524 General History of Europe

away with, and the mark (normally worth about twenty-five
cents) became the basis for the currency of the whole empire.
A tariff system was introduced to protect the entire country from
foreign competition and encourage home industries. So it will
be seen that Germany rapidly became a remarkably well-organized
and powerful state, with little resemblance to the weak and dis-
tracted old Holy Roman Empire out of which it had grown.

935. Bismarck and the Socialists. The Industrial Revolution
did not get fully under way in Germany until after the middle of
the nineteenth century, but in the period we are describing Ger-
many was undergoing a rapid and profound change. Large manu-
facturing towns spr