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THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
GIFT OF
Peter Scott
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r
RIDPATH'S
History of the World
BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE CAREER
OF THE HUMAN RACE FROM THE BEGINNINGS OF
CIVILIZATION TO THE PRESENT TIME
COMPRISING
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
AND
THE STORY OF ALL NATIONS
From recent and authentic Sources
COMPLETE IN NINE VOLUMES
By JOHN CLARK RIDPATH, LL D.
Author of a '• Cyclop/edia of Universal History," Etc.
VOLUME IV
PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH COLORED PLATES, RACE MAPS AND CHARTS,
TYPE PICTURES, SKETCHES AND DIAGRAMS
The Jones Brothers Publishing Company,
Cincinnati, O.
Coprrigfit 1894
dopprigtjf 1896
(JEopprig^t 1897
dopErifllil 1899
Capsrig^f 1900
CopgriaUf 1901
fopraig^f 1907
^§« f onoB Brof^cre f^uBfie^ing Companj
Cincinnati, ©§io
5CZ,/? BY SU/iSCRrPTION ONL Y.
RIDPATH^S
UNIVERSAL HISTORY
VOLUME IV
BOOK XI. —BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY
BOOK Xn. —THE MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY
BOOK Xm.— THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE
BOOK XIV.— THE FEUDAL ASCENDENCY
BOOK XV. —THE CRUSADES
2227555
QUEEN BOADICEA
look JikmnW^.
Barbarian Ascendency.
Charter LXXIII.— Tribes ok the north.
HE opening paragraphs of
Modern History relate to
the Barbarian Nations.
The ■warlike tribes that
for several centuries had
beaten against the north-
eastern frontiers of the
Roman Empire at last burst through the bar-
riers which the Cffisars had set against them
and swept the Old Civilization into ruins.
Peninsular Europe became the spoil of the
invaders. The immense populations of bar-
barism, long heaped up on the further banks
of the Rhine and the Danube, suddenly dif-
fused themselves as a spreading flood over all
the better parts of the West. It may prove
of interest to take at least a cursory survey of
the barbarians, as it respects their ethnology,
institutions, and general history.
The warlike peoples by whom the Empire
of the Romans was subverted belonged to
three different races : the Germanic, the Slavic,
and the Seythie. Whether the first two groups
may be traced to a common Teutonic origin is
a question belonging to the ethnologist rather
than to the historian. It is sufficient to note
the fact that in the fifth century the Germanic
and Slavic tribes were already so" clearly dis-
criminated as to constitute different groups of
population. As to the Seythie or Asiatic
invaders they were manifestly of a distinct
stock from the Teutonic nations, whom they
drove before them into the confines of the
Empire.
1. The Germans. To this family belonged
the Goths, with their two divisions of Visi- or
Western, and Ostro- or Eastern Goths ; the
AUemannian confederation, consisting of sev-
eral tribes, the Suevi being the chief; the
Marcomanni, the Quadi, the Hermunduri, the
Heruli, the GepidiB, the Vandals, the Lom-
bards, the Franks, the Angles, the Saxons,
the Burgundians, and the Bavarians.
Of these many and populous tribes, among
the most important were the Goths. Their
origin has never been definitely ascertained.
The first historical contact between them and
the Romans was in the year A. D. 250, when
the Emperor Decius was called to confront
them on the Danube. They had, however,
been previously mentioned both by Pliny and
Ptolemy. By some authors they have been
(387^
388
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
confounded with the Get*; but for this con-
fusion there is no good reason.
Historicallj', the Goths are associated with
the Vandals and the Gepidse. Procopius, in-
deed, reo-ards the three tribes as mere subdivis-
ions of the same nation. Before their first im-
pact with the Romans the Goths were located
in the region north of the Euxine. A century
with the Empire began. In the mean tim«
they became divided into the two great fam-
ilies of Yisi- or Western, and Ostro- or Eastern
Goths. The latter occupied the territory lying
between the Danube and the Carpathian
mountains, and stretching from the borders of
Hungary to Bessarabia. The former were
located in Southern Russia between the Dom
IXCOMIXG OF THE BARBARIAN'S.
Drawn by H. Vogel.
later, about A. D. 250, they were established
on the Lower Danube. Before that time they
had made an incursion into Thrace and de-
vasted a considerable district of country. In
the year 2(52 they were defeated in battle by
.^milianus, and seven years later by Clau-
dius. Near the close of the third century
they obtained possession of the province of
Dacia, and from this region their struggle
and the Dniester. For a while the two racej
were ruled by a common king. When the
Hunnish invasions began the Visigoths put
themselves under the protection of the Empire
and were first assigned a district in Thrace,
but afterwards came into possession of Moesia.
From the times of Theodosius the Goths
became constantly more aggressive, and it was
evident that they contemplated no less than
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— TRIBES OF THE NORTH.
391
the subversion of the Empire. Meanwhile,
they were pressed forward by the Hunnish
hordes that came pouring in from Asia. They
were thus precipitated into Italy. Led on by
Alaric, they were, first in the year 408, bought
off with an enormous ransom. A second and
a third time the Gothic king returned to the
siege of the city, and in August of 410 Rome
was taken and jaillaged. Called, however, to
other fields of conquest, the Goths left the
crippled Empire for a season to the successors
of Honorius. In the middle of the century
they joined the Romans in a combined attack
upon the half-million of Huns whom Attila
had led into Gaul. In the years that followed
the countries of Spain and Southern France
were completely dominated by the Gothic race,
and in A. D. 476 the nation of the Heruli,
led by their king Odoacer, overthrew what
remained of the Western Empire, and estab-
lished the OsTROGOTHic Kingdom of Italy.
Of the two Gothic peoples, the Visigoths,
if not the more powerful, were the more en-
lightened. Having first established themsqlves
in South-western France, they gradually made
theh- way through the Pyrenees and spread as
far as the river Ebro. Under the leadership
of their king, Wallia, they overthrew the king-
dom of the Silingi, a tribe of Vandal origin,
and thus secured a foothold in Spain. The
Vandals, under the lead of Genseric, retired
into Northern Africa, and the Visigoths soon
overran the whole of the Spanish peninsula.
Only a small district in the north-west re-
mained under the dominion of the Suevi.
Even this province, after maintaining its in-
dependence till the year 585, was reduced
to submission and added to the Visigothic
Kingdom.
In A. D. 471 King Enric, the most distin-
guished sovereign of the Visigoths, put an end
to Roman authority in Spain, and established
a new constitution. By the close of the sixth
century a fusion had been effected of the na-
tive Spanish, Latin, and Gothic elements of pop-
ulation, and the Kingdom op the Visigoths
became the sole political power in the pen-
insula.
In a paragraph above mention was made
of the persistent stand of the SirEVi in North-
western Spain. This tribe of Germans had
its native seat in Upper Saxony, beyond the
Elbe. There in ancient times, in a sacred
wood, were erected the altars of their super-
stition. This forest, called the Sonnenwald,
was regarded as the spot of the nation's origin.
The Suevi were among the most warlike and
powerful of the Teutonic tribes. They spread
from the banks of the Oder to the Danube.
Such was their prowess that the Gaulish na-
tions declared to Caesar by their ambassadors
that they regarded it as no disgrace to have
fled before the Suevi, against whom not even
the immortal gods might stand in battle. It
was in the reign of the Emperor Caracalla
that the Suevi were first felt on the borders
of Rome. The legionaries of the Empire were
stunned by the fierce blows of the Germanic
warriors.
In the disturbed period following the reign
of Decius the Suevi made their way into Gaul,
and thence proceeded by way of Ravenna
till their savage banners were seen almost as
far south as Rome. The Senate, in the ab-
sence of the Emperors, spurred into activity
by the imminent peril of the state, raised a
large army of praetorians and conscripts, and
tlie Suevi, not without an immense collection
of spoils, fell back into Germany. Soon after-
wards, however, an army of three hundred
thousand Allemanni was again in Italy, but
was defeated by Gallienus in a battle near
Milan. In order to stay the inroads of the
barbarians, the Emperor then espoused Pipa,
the daughter of the king of the Suevi, and
gave to her father as the price of peace the
province of Pannonia. After many vicissi-
tudes the Suevi became established on thft
banks of the Neckar, and, as already men-
tioned, in the province of Gallicia, in Spain.
In the former position they laid the founda-
tions of the Kingdom of Suevia, which is
only a variation of the original name of the
tribe ; and from the latter they were expelled
by the Visigoths in the year 585.
Our first notices of the Marcom\nni are
derived from Strabo and Tacitus. The native
seats of this strong tribe were in Bohemia and
Moravia. Here, under their great king Maro-
bodnus, they established a powerful monarchy,
and became a terror to the surrounding na-
tions. The name Marcomanni signifies MarcJv-
men or borderers, and was, no doubt, applied
to several neighboring tribes in the confines of
392
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Germany. In the times of Csesar, the Marco-
manni constituted a part of the army of Ario-
vistus. After the establishment of their king-
dom on the Danube, they became involved in
wars with the Cherusci, and soon afterwards
confronted the Roman legions stationed on the
Danubian border.
In the reign of the Emperor, Marcus Au-
relius, the Marcomanni headed a confeder-
ation of German tribes against the Romans.
Aurelius died while engaged in the attempt to
break up the Marcomannic league, aud his
son Commodus was constrained to purchase a
peace which he could not conquer from his
German adversaries. Duriug the third aud
fourth centuries the cis-Dauubian provinces
were several times overruu by the Marcomanni,
but they did not succeed, either there or, else-
where, in laying the foundations of a perma-
nent state. In the fifth and sixth centuries,
the relative importance of the nation grew
less and less, until it finally disappeared from
history.
The QuADi were kinsmen of the Suevi,
having their original homes in South-eastern
Germany. One of their principal haunts was
the celebrated Hercynian Forest, of which so
graphic an account has been preserved in the
Sixth Book of Csesar's GalUe War. Their ter-
ritories had joined those of the Pannonians
and the Marcomanni, with whom they were
generally in alliance. At the time of the es-
tablishment of the Roman Empire the Quadi
were among the most powerful of the German
nations. In the time of the Emperor Tiberius
their government was a monarchy, a certain
Vannius occupying the throne. During the
reign of Marcus Aurelius, the Quadi became
a member of the Germanic confederation,
which was organized against the Romans, and
it was they who, in the great battle of A. D.
174, were about to destroy the imperial le-
gions, when the fortunate occurrence of a
storm tuimed the tide and gave the victory to
Rome.
During the years A. D. 357-359, the ex-
posed provinces of the Empire were dreadfully
harrassed by this warlike people, who, in al-
liance with the Sarmatians, captured the fron-
tier posts, and made it necessary for Constan-
tius to exert himself to the utmost to stay
their ravages. They were, however, speedily
subdued, and the chiefs of the nation, even
from beyond the Carpathian mountains, were
glad to save themselves by making their sub-
mission and giving hostages to the Emperor.
The nation maintained its independence until
near the close of the following century when
they were absorbed by the more powerfiil
Goths, and ceased to be a separate people.
The nation of the Heruli were destined to
establish the first barbarian kingdom in Italy.
These were the most migratory of all the Ger-
man tribes, insomuch that their original seats
have remained a matter of conjecture. At
different times they appeared on the Dniester
aud the Rhine ; in Greece and Italy ; in Spain
and Scandinavia. In the third century of our
era, during the reigns of Claudius and Galli-
enus, the Heruli joined the Goths on their ex-
pedition against the countries of tlie Euxine.
In war they were among the bravest of the
brave, disdaining the use of defensive armor
aud condemning the widows and infirm of the
tribe to jaerish because they were of no further
service to the nation. After uniting their forces
with those of the Goths in various invasions
of the Danubian provinces of the Empire,
they were conquered by their allies, and re-
duced to an inferior position. In the year
451, they joined Attila on his march into
Gaul, and after the death of that savage chief-
tain were united with the other German na-
tions in the final expedition against Rome.
With the capture of the city, in the year 476,
Odoacer assumed the title of king of Italy,
and, though by no means the greatest of the
barbarian leaders, became the founder of the
first kingdom established by the invaders on
the ruins of Rome. About the same time the
Heruli succeeded in establishing a second
kingdom in the central part of Hungary,
where they maintained themselves until they
were overpowered by the Lombards.
The native haunts of the Gepid.*; appear
to have been on the Vistula, near the Baltic.
It is from this position that their first move-
ments were directed against the civUized states
of the South. At the first they were associ-
ated with the Vandals, and were afterwards
leagued with the Goths of the Middle Danube.
At the time of the invasion of Attila they
were obliged to follow the standard of that
imperial savage, but after his death they re-
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— TRIBES OF THE NORTH.
393
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394
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
gained their independence. Under their king
Adaric, they beat back the Huns from their
territories ou the Lower Danube, and became
one of the most prosperous states. Twelve
years after the downfall of the Western Em-
pire, Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, de-
feated the Gepidse in a great battle near Sir-
mium. Afterwards, in 566, the nation suffered
a second overthrow at the hands of Alboin,
king of the Lombards, and from that time the
remnants of the people were gradually ab-
Borbed by the dominant populations around
them.
Next to the Goths in importance was the
great race of the Vandals. It appears that
they, like the Allemanui, consisted at the fii'st
of a confederation of tribes bound together by
a community of interests and institutions.
Their native seats were in the northern j^arts
of Germany, whence at an early period they
migrated into the country of the Riesengebirge
and subsequently into Pannonia and Dacia.
Some eminent authors have classified the Her-
lili, Burgundians, and Lombards as different
branches of the Vandal race. In the begin-
ning of the fifth century this great peoj)le
began its movement westward through Ger-
many into Gaul and Spain. Having crossed
the Pyrenees they established themselves about
the year 410 in the country east and south of
the kingdom of the Spanish Suevi. A short
time subsequently they pressed their way
southward into the ancient province of Boetica,
where they founded the stUl more celebrated
kingdom of Vandalusia, stUl known as Anda-
lusia. At the close of the first quarter of the
fifth century the great Genseric became king
of the Vandals, and during his long reign
contributed by his genius and bravery to
establish and extend the dominion of his peo-
ple. In the year 429, while the imbecile and
profligate Valentiniau HI. occupied the alleged
throne of the Western Empire, Genseric, as
already related in the preceding Volume,' was
invited by Boniface, governor of Africa, to
cross over and support his cause. Easilv was
the Vandal king persuaded to undertake a'
measure which promised such large and inex-
pensive results. With an army of fifty thou-
sand men he subdued the whole coast of
Northern Africa as far south as Tunis. The
• See Volume II., p. 344.
islands of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the-
Baleares were soon added to Genseric's domin-
ions. In the year 455 an army of Vandals
returned into Italy and captured the city of
Rome. In matters of religious faith they were
followers of Arius, and this brought them into
conflict with the orthodox Christians of Italy,
against whom they waged a fierce persecution.
Thus were laid the foundations of the King-
dom OF THE Vandals. For more than a cen-
tury the state grew and flourished. The-
whole of Sj)aiu, the Western Mediterranean
islands and Northern Africa were included
within the limits of Vaudal dominion. Not
until Belisarius, the great general of Justinian,
lifted again the banner of the Empire in the
West did the kingdom of the Vandals receive-
a staggering blow. In the year 534 Geluner,
the last of their kings, was defeated and de-
throned by the Roman arms. The Vandals-
never recovered from the shock, but at once-
ceased to be the ruling people in the vast
domains which Genseric had conquered. It
is believed that in the Berber islands their
descendants are stUl to be recognized by the
blue eyes and fair complexion peculiar to the
German race.
Next in influence among the barbarian)
nations were the Lombards or Long Beards,
an ancient Teutonic tribe, kinsmen of the
Suevi. Their first historical appearance was-
on the banks of the river Elbe. In this region
they began to manifest their activities as early
as the reign of Augustus. For a while they
were leagued with Arminius, prince of the
Cherusci, whom they assisted in destroying
the legions of Varus. In the palmy times of
the Empire the Lombards gave no further
sign of hostility to civilization, but in the
beginning of the fifth century they suddenly
reappeared in Hungary and on the northern
banks of the Danube. It appears that in
these districts they were for a while held in
subjection by the Heruli; but in the sixth
century they reversed their relations with this
people and waged against them an extermi-
nating warfare. They then crossed the Danube
and made an expedition into the Pannonian
kingdom of the Gepidre. At a later period
they traversed the Julian Alps, led by their
great king Alboin, and debouched into the-
valley of the Po. Here, in the j-ea.r 568, they
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— TRIBES OF THE NORTH.
395-
laid the foundations of the Kingdom of Lom-
BARDY, which continued for more than two
hundred years to be one of the leading barba-
rian states of the West.
The great race of the Franks, like the Al-
lemanni and the Suevi, first appear as a corn-
federation of tribes. The old names of the
Sigambri, Chamavi, Amprivarii, Bructeri, and
Catti are thought to have designated those
early tribal divisions. The native seats of the
race were on the Lower Rhine, where they re-
mained until the third century, when large
bodies of the Frankish warriors began to make
incursions into Gaul. As early as the times
of the Emperor Probus they became a menace
to Roman authority in the North. When
Carausius, who had been sent to defend the
Gallic states against the barbarians, turned
traitor to his master, he made an alliance with
the Franks, to whom in recompense for their
services he gave the country on the Scheldt.
This region they continued to hold till the
reign of Constantine the Great, when they
were repressed by that sovereign, and con-
fined to their original settlements. In the
times of Julian the Apostate, however, they
regained the countries conferred by Carau-
sius, and continued to hold them until the
overthrow of the Empire. They became di-
vided into two nations, known as the Salian
and the Ripuarian Franks. It was the former
division which during the fifth century con-
tinued to assail the tribes of Gaul, and pres-
ently afterwards, under the chieftain Clovis,
laid the foundations of the Kingdom of the
Franks, or France. The Ripuarian Franks
spread southward, occupying both banks of the
Rhine, extending their borders westward to
the Meuse and eastward to the Main. In the
latter region they established the head-quarters
of their dominion in the country named Fran-
conia. Both divisions of the nation have con-
tributed largely to the modern populations of
France and the adjacent parts of Germany.
We now come to two barbarian peoples,
who were properly the progenitors of the
English-speaking race — the Angles and the
Saxons. The firet were an ancient German
tribe of the North. Though migratory in
their habits, they seem to have found a per-
manent footing in the Danish islands, where
they multiplied and became a powerful body
of warriors and pirates. From Denmark west-
ward they infested the seas, braving the open
ocean in two-oared boats, and fighting a con-
stant battle with the ferocity of nature. They
made their way to Britain, invaded the island
under the lead of their chieftains, and changed
the name of the conquered country to Angle-
Land, or England. The name of the race is
also preserved in the district of Angeln in
Schleswig, but their fame is insular rather
than continental.
The more powerful and noted nations werfr
the Saxons, whose original seats were in the
north-western lowlands of Germany, along
the Lower Elbe. The name of the race has
been variously derived from sahx, meaning a
knife or short sword, and from Sakaisuna, or
sons of the Sakai, or Scythians. In the earli-
est times the Saxons were the head of a low-
land league, embracing the tribes between the-
Skager Rack and the country of the Franks.
The beginning of the fifth century found them
in alliance with the Romans. A little later
they were the leaders of the barbarians by
whom Britain was wrested from the Celts. In.
this great movement they were so closely united,
with the Angles that the two peoples — having-
no particular discrimination from each other
in race, institutions, or language — became-
known as Anglo-Saxons. These hardy war-
riors were, if the tradition of the times may
be accredited, at the first invited by Vortigern,
king of the British Celts, to come over to the
island and aid him in repelling the Picts and
Scots, who, after the withdrawal of the Romani
legions, had broken over the northern border,
and were threatening the Celtic tribes with
destruction. No sooner, however, had the
Saxons landed in the island than their cupid-
ity was aroused, and sending for reenforce-
ments of their countrymen they swept the
Celts before them, and seized the better part
of Britain for themselves. The whole south-
eastern part of the island passed under the
dominion of the invaders, and the foundations
were presently laid of the petty Saxon king-
doms of Kent, Sussex, Wessex, East
Anglia, Mercia, Essex, Bernicia, and
Deira, which by their mergement in the
eighth century were destined to constitute the
basis of the greatness of England.
Next in order may be mentioned ' the Bur-
aye
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
CUSTUila OK lUK Ui-liilA^j.— W uMEiN iiEKiiNDlNL. XHUK WAUU.N-L ASTLKS.
Drawn by A. de Neuville.
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— TRIBES OF THE NORTH.
397
GUNDIANS, who in their origin are thought to
have been of the same stock with the Goths.
Their primitive seats lay between the Oder
and the Vistula, from which position they
were expelled at an early period by the Ge-
pidae. They then settled in the region between
the Main and the Neckar, and in the begin-
ning of the fifth century joined the Suevi and
the Vandals in their initial incursions into
Gaul. In the country bounded by the Alps,
the Saone and the Rhone, the Burgundians
vistablished themselves, fixing their capital first
at Geneva, and afterwards at Lyons. Here
they remained until the year 534, when their
king, Gundemar, was conquered and killed in
a battle with the Franks, who thereupon be-
came masters of Burgundy. Having lost their
political power by this catastrophe, the Bur-
gundians were by degrees amalgamated with
the conquering people, and ceased to be an
independent race.
Among the Teutonic tribes swept westward
by the invasion of Attila should be mentioned
the Bavarians. The first references to this
nation discover their presence in Panuonia and
Noricum. A little later, however, when The-
odosius had purchased an ignominious peace
of the Huns, the Bavarians revolted from At-
tila, and, being supported by the Romans,
succeeded in maintaining their independence.
The nation became influential in Rhctia, Vin-
delicia, and Noricum, where the Bavarians
were governed by their own kings both before
and after the downfall of the West. From
the middle of the sixth to the middle of the
seventh century, the Franks by continued ag-
gressions gradually curtailed the Bavarian do-
minions and finally incorporated the state with
their own, leaving the government, however,
to be administered by native dukes. These
rulers frequently revolted against their mas-
ters, and were as many times suppressed, until
finally, in 777, an insurrection, headed by
Thassilo II., was put down by the strong hand
of Charlemagne. The government of Bavaria
then remained to the Carlovingian House un-
til the same became extinct in A. D. 911.
Of these barbarian nations, and many other
petty trib&s of the same race, the most power-
ful were, as already said, the Goths, the Van-
dals, and the Franks. It was among the first
of these, perhaps, that the barbarian character
displayed itself in its best estate. Eepeciallj
were the Visigoths conspicuous among the Teu-
tonic peoples for the character and extent of
their culture. The language of this people
was more highly developed than those of the
other Teutonic tribes. Their contact with the
Romans, especially after their settlement in
hither Dacia, was more regular and beneficial
than that between the Empire and any other
state. The Christianizatiou of the Goths, also,
falling as the new faith did upon the conscience
of a people just awaking from the slumbers of
barbarism, showed better results so far as the
development of moral character was concerned
than had ever been exhibited in Rome. Te
these elevating influences should be added the
special fact of the early translation of the Bi-
ble into the Gothic language — a circumstance
so remarkable in its nature and ultimate re-
sults as to merit a particular notice in this
place.
In the year A. D. 267, in the course of a
war with the Eastern Empire, an army of
Goths was sent into Asia Minor, where the in-
vaders laid waste the province of Cappadocia,
and carried back to the Danube a large num-
ber of prisoners, among whom were many per-
sons of culture and many Christians. In the
year 311, there was born in a Gothic home
in Dacia, of one of the Cappadocian mothers
whom a Gothic chief had taken to wife, a child
who received from his parents the name of
Ulfilas. From his boyhood he was taught the
doctrines of Christianity, and early became a
zealous adherent of that faith. He studied
Greek and Latin, going to Constantinople for
that purpose, thus familiarizing himself with
the New Testament in the original. About
this time, the Christian Goths fell under the
displeasure of their pagan neighbors, and wer«
subjected by them to severe persecutions. In
order to save his brethren from martyrdom,
the young Ulfilas conceived the design of em-
igrating with his people to the hither side of
the Danube. He accordingly went as ambas-
sador to Constantiue, and obtained from that
sovereign the privilege of bringing a Christian
colony into the province of hither Dacia.
While the youthful apostle was in Constan-
tinople he became acquainted with the re-
nowned Eusebius, then bishop of the Eastern
Church, and by him was himself consecrated
398
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
as bishop of the Goths. He now formed the
design of turning the Scriptures into the lan-
guage of his people. The measure was as
radical as it was broadly conceived. For seven
years Ulfilas labored assiduously at the great
task which he had undertaken. At the end
of that time the whole Bible, with the excep-
tion perhaps of the Book of Kings, had been
translated in the vernacular. The language,
though still half barbarous, showed itself fully
capable of developing a literary expression.
Max Miiller well says of the work accom-
plished by Ulfilas: "It required a prophetic
insight and .a faith in the destiny of these half-
savage tribes and a conviction also of the
utter effeteness of the Roman Byzantine em-
pires before a bishop could have brought
himself to translate the Bible into the vulgar
dialect of his barbarous countrymen." The
achievement of Ulfilas requires a more especial
attention for the reason that the Gothic Bible
thus produced was the first book ever written
in a Teutonic language, and for the additional
reason that the subsequent legislation and
social status of the Visigoths in Spain were
traceable in a good measure to the Scriptures
as a sort of fundamental constitution in the
State.
This episode leads naturally to the addition
of a paragraph on the characteristics of the
Gothic language. The character in which
this rough but vigorous speech was written,
are said to have been invented by Ulfilas in
conformity to the Greek alphabet. The Gothic
verb has two voices, an active and a middle ;
two tenses, a present and a past ; three moods,
the indicative, the optative, and the impera-
tive, besides an infinitive and a present and a
past participle. The general characteristics of
the language are the same as those of Anglo-
Saxon, German, and English. Gothic nouns
have three genders, two numbers and five
cases. Adjectives are inflected in two forms.
Prepositions precede the nouns, which they
govern in the genitive, dative, or accusative
case. The language has no indefinite article,
the place of the definite article being supplied
with the pronoun. The entire literature of the
Gothic language consists of three or four frag-
mentary manuscripts, the first and most im-
portant of which is the parchment containing
what has been preserved of Ulfilas's New Tes-
tament now deposited in the library of Upsala
in Sweden. A second manuscript, known as
the Codex Turitwmis, was discovered by Pfeif-
fer, in 1866. This parchment also, consist-
ing of but four sheets, contains fragments of
the New Testament. A third manuscript,
called the Codex Carolinm, discovered in 1756,
contains forty-two verses of the eleventh to the
fifteenth chapter of Paul's letter to the Ro-
mans. All the other fragments of Gothic are
of the same character with those here described.
The remains have been sufficient, however, for
the reconstruction of the grammar and a con-
siderable portion of the vocabulary employed
by the Gothic people.
It will be appropriate in this connection to
refer briefly to the manners and customs of
the Goths, or more generally to those of the
primitive Teutonic nations. The people of
this race were of a common type, and strongly
marked characteristics. To C«sar and Tacitus
we are indebted for our knowledge of the lives,
habits, and personal bearing of the Germans
in their native haunts. They were a people
of the woods. Little did the hardy barbari-
ans care for the comforts and discomforts of
the civilized state. In person they were the
most stalwart of all the ancient peoples. Their
presence was a terror even .to the veteran le-
gionaries of Rome. They are described as
having huge, white bodies ; long, yellow hair ;
broad shoulders ; brawny muscles ; florid com-
plexion, and fierce blue eyes that gleamed un-
der excitement with the lightnings of animosity
and passion. In mind they were daring to
the last degree. War was their profession.
They were huntere of men as well as of wild
beasts. With the strongest attachment for
home and domesticity, they were nevertheless
capable of interminable expeditions and in-
definite maraudings in the forest. Ariovistus,
one of their kings, told Csesar to his face that
he would be able to fi.nd out what the invin-
cible Germans, who for fourteeq years had not
slept beneath a roof, would be able to accom-
plish by their valor; and though the pro-
phetic threat was unfulfilled fiir five centuries,
at last the words of the barbaric chieftain
were made good in the subversion of Rome.
The Germans were an assemblage of tribes.
They had a common tradition and a common
method of life. They dwelt in towns and
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— TRIBES OF THE NORTH.
399
villages, and their days were spent in the vi-
cissitudes of the chase and war. In their
personal habits they were coarse, heavy, glut-
tonous. They filled their capacious stomachs
with meat and cheese. They heated them-
selves with strong drinks. When excitement
failed, they would lie for whole days in half-
stupor in the ashes of their hearth-stones, un-
kempt, and indifferent to all surroundings.
Very different, however, was their mood when
aroused by the summons of war. In battle
their onset was terrible. They fought both
on foot and on horseback — the footman run-
ning by the side of the cavalryman and sup-
porting himself by the horse's mane. If the
horseman fell in the fight, the footman bore
away his body and took his place in tlie next
onset. The intrepidity of these barbarian
warriors was such as to challenge the admira-
tion as well as excite the terror of their
enemies.
The government of the German tribes was
a kind of military monarchy ; but the chief-
tain was elected by the warriors of his nation,
whose custom it was to raise their leader on
their shields and thus proclaim him king.
Between the various tribes there was a strong
bond of sympathy, and frequent alliances
were made, embracing many peoples and kin-
dreds in different parts of Germany. Such
leagues, however, were generally formed for
a specific purpose, and when this end had
once been attained the confederation ceased,
and the tribes resumed their independent
station.
The nations of the Nortli had their own
superstitions and system of religion. The great
gods of the race were Odin and Thor — the
former being the supreme deity of the Teu-
tonic pantheon, and the latter having some of
the attributes of Hercules and others of Jove.
The goddess Freya, or Frigga was also wor-
shiped as a favorite divinity, as the mistress
of nature and the guardian of the dead. The
superstitions of the race were peculiarly dark
and doleful, but the Germanic mythology was
far more rational than that of the Celts. In
general, the Teutones rejected the notion of
sacrifice. They refused to recognize as gods
any beings ivhom they cotdd not see. Only the
obvious was worshiped. A deity by whose
assistance they were not manifestly benefited
they rejected as worse than useless. They
adored the sun, the moon, and fire; but the
unseen deities of the Greeks and Romans they
regarded as inane abstractions, unworthy of
adoration. With the infinitely inflected myth-
ological systems of the South the Germans
were unacquainted, even by common report.
Their worship consisted mostly of prayers,
supplications, and fervid hymns chanted in
praise of the somber deities of the North.
Among the Teutonic nations the family tie
was especially strong and abiding. That which
the modern world defines as virtue appears to
have been an inherent quality of the German
THE GOD THOR.
nature. A common sentiment or instinct,
rather than positive enactments of law upheld
the mouogamic relation, and insured a cliastity
which, if not universal, was the prevailing
rule of conduct. The German youth of both
sexes were reared in the utmost freedom ; but
such was the force of public opinion among
the tribes that lapses from the established
standard of morality were almost unknown.
No young man might marry until he had
passed his twentieth year, and the preserva-
tion of continence to a still later period of life
was regarded as highly honorable. " For,"
says Caesar, "it is held among the Germans
that by this reservation of the bodily powers
AOO
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
the stature is increased, the strength aug-
mented, and the whole body nerved with ad-
ditional strength." In the barbarian society
little care was taken to conceal the person,
and no shame was felt on account of the ex-
posure. The men and women of the tribe
bathed promiscuously, but preserved the ut-
most respect. For clothing, skins of deer were
used, but nakedness, except in winter, was
the rule.
Csesar goes on to say that the Germans
were little given to the cultivation of the soil.
"Nor," says he, "has any one a fixed portion
of land or definite boundaries to his posses-
sions. In each year the magistrates and chiefs
allot to each one, in what place it is consid-
ered best, a certain portion of ground, and in
the following year they compel the occupants
to remove to another tract." For this custom
they ascribed the following reasons; namely,
that the possessors of lands might lose their
warlike disposition by the acquirement of
estates, and that the more powerful would
absorb the lands of the weak and humble. To
this the additional reason is added that the
common people, seeing the lands of the great
held by the same tenure as their own, would be
more likely to remain contented with their lot.
There was another fiction of the Teutonic
barbarians that that state has the greatest
praise whose borders are solitudes and whose
frontiers are a waste. " They think it a pecul-
iar evidence of their valor," adds the Roman
historian, " that their neighbors, expelled from
their lands, abandon them, and that no one
dare settle near their boundaries." At the
beginning of war an officer corresponding to
the military dictator of the Romans was chosen
who, during the continuance of hostility,
wielded the power of life and death, but in
peace there was no such supreme magistrate,
the chiefs of each canton resuming control of
their respective tribes. The Germans are said
by Caesar, perhaps not without a touch of
slander, to have held robbery as no crime
when committed beyond the limits of their
own state. Thev even regarded depredation
abroad as a healthful exercise for the youth
of the nation — a free school for the training
and development of those manly powers which
were essential to the maintenance of a robust
community.
The peculiar usage of self-election to lead-
ership is cited by the Roman historian as
another feature of German political life. It
appears that any chief sitting in the council
of the tribes might proclaim himself a leader
and call upon those who desired to foUow his
fortunes to express their preference by an-
nouncing their names. When such a choice
had once been made it might not be revoked,
and those who had enlisted and then failed to
follow the chieftain were reckoned as deserters
and traitors.
In common with the other Aryan races the
Germans recognized the rights of hospitality.
They thought it not lawful to injure guests or
to fail in courtesy to those whom wUl or acci-
dent liad thrown into their communities. The
stranger coming to the German village must
be housed and fed. His person was invio-
lable, and, if necessary, the German sword
must be drawn to protect him from injury.
Another feature of Teutonic life, to omit
the mention of which would be resented by
the descendants of the old barbarians of the
North, is the chivalrous respect which they
are said to have shown to woman. Upon a
passage of Tacitus, Germanic pride has reared
the temple of traditional honor and sentiment.
The German wife and mother is said to have
been regarded not only by those of her own
household, but also by all the members of her
nation, with a sentiment of veneration border-
ing on awe and worship. Although so great
a thinker and historian as Guizot has declared
the statement of Tacitus, regarding the supe-
rior honor of womanhood among the Germans,
to be a pure chimera, it would nevertheless
appear from the rank which woman attained
under German auspices, in the age of chivalry,
and from the strong domestic ties manifested
to the present day in the households of Father-
land, that the claim of German patriotism may
well be allowed to stand unchallenged.
It is, however, with the influences of the
ancient Teutonic peoples upon modern civiliza-
tion that the historian of to-day is mostly con-
cerned. There appear to be at least two of
the sentiments upon which the modern world
is largely framed which owe their origin to
the barbarians. The first of these is the no-
tion of personal independence, which consti-
tuted, indeed, the very essence of all that is
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— TRIBES OF THE NORTH.
401
pleasurable in the barbaric life. It is, perhaps,
impossible for one of our day to appreciate
the full force of this sentiment as it existed
among the primitive tribes of Northern Eu-
rope. Personal self-assertion was the most
potent element in the best character of the
times. The life of enterprise and adventure,
filled with every hazard and vicissitude,
bounded by no restrictions of law or customs,
gave full scope and stimulus to the individ-
ual development of man. Restraint became
intolerable and liberty a necessity.
M. Thierry, in his history of the Norman
Conquest, has contributed a masterly sketch
of the character and dispositions of the peo-
ple who laid the foundations of Modern Eu-
rope. The instincts, passions, prejudices,
motives, and sentiments are drawn with a
skill and fervor which leave little wanting to
the completeness of the picture. Though
there was much that was coarse and selfish
in the unrestrained and violent life of the
barbarian as he fought back and forth over
the frontier of the Rhine or wandered at will
through the labyrinths of the Black Forest ;
though the chivalrous sentiment for women
did not always preserve him from brutality,
or his profession of honor prevent the perpe-
tration of gross crimes against morality and
the better laws of human conduct, yet there
were many ennobling traits and much moral
grandeur in the strongly personal, even will-
ful, character and life of the barbaric tribes ;
and these latter qualities have flowed down in
invigorating streams into the veins of every
modern state to whose population the Teutonic
race has contributed a moiety of its strength.
It was of vast importance that such an
idea as the personal worth and individual
right of man should be asserted and trans-
mitted to the modern world. In the ancient
states, the importance of men was derived.
In Rome, the honor and rights of the patri-
cian were deduced from the order to which
he belonged. The same was true of every
other rank of citizenship. The individual
was born into society, and took his status
from the body of which he was a member.
Even in Athens, the citizen democrat asserted
his rights as common to the democracy, and
in Sparta every grade of manhood, from the
supreme oligarch to the degraded Helot, de-
rived his relative importance from the mxaal
class to which he was attached.
It thus happened that the liberties o£ the
ancients, such as they were, appeared to be
deduced from the state — to be conceded by
some of the organic forms of society. With
the German warriors, however, all tliis was
different. Each member of the tribe claimed
and exercised his rights as his <ywn. They
were not derived, but inherent ; not deduced
from some body of which he wa.s a member,
but born with himself as an inheritance which
none might alienate. The barbarian spoke of
his free doom, not of his liberty. His individ-
uality predominated in all the conduct of life.
Whatever compacts he made in society, he
did of his own free will ; and any demand
which society made of him was likely to be
resented if the requisition seemed to trench
upon his personal rights and freedom.
The second idea which modern times have
inherited from the barbarian nations is that
of military ■patronage, or the tie which, with-
out destroying the freedom of the individual,
attaches one man to another. At first, no
doubt, this loyal bond which linked the indi-
vidual to his fellow existed without respect
to the relative importance of those who were
so united. Soon, however, the tie became
one of graduated subordination. The one
was in the service of the other, and the latter
protected the first. The sanction of the bond
was personal loyalty and devotion — an idea
which, in the course of a few centuries, be-
came a passion throughout Europe, and con-
stituted not only the essential principle, but
also the redeeming trait, of feudalism. In-
deed, but for the growing fidelity of man to
man, it were hard to discover how human
society could have continued to exist in such
an age of decadence and gloom as that into
which Europe plunged after the overthrow of
the Roman Empire.
The second and third groups of barbarian
nations, namely, the Slavic and Scythic fam-
ilies, require a less extended notice. The
former division embraced the Bosnians, the
Servians, the Croatians, the Wendi, the Poles,
the Bohemians, the Moravians, the Pomera-
nians, the Wiltsians, the Lusatians, the Livo-
nians, and the Lithuanians. Of these the
more important were the Poles, the Bohemv-
402
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
ans, the Pomeranians, and the Lithuanians.
As already said, it is held by some ethnolo-
gists that these Slavic, or Slavonic, tribes
were originally an oflshoot from the great
Teutonic stock of mankind. Be that as it
may, it is certain that the Slavic group of
barbarians have exercised a less important in-
fluence upon the destinies of modern Europe
aud the world than have the Teutonic nations.
The Bosnians came into Europe in the
seventh century. Their first impact was upon
the people of lUyria, whom they dislodged
from a portion of the country. They have
their modern representatives in the people of
Albania, where they constitute the ruling
•class, embracing the beys, nobility, and land-
owners. The Servians first made their ap-
pearance in Thrace, whence they came into
the country which now bears their name. In
the early days of the Empire they were con-
quered by the Romans, and were attached to
the province of Elyricum, the Servian district
being designated as iloesia Superior. This
country was overrun by the Ostrogoths and
the Huns. It was afterward attached to the
Byzantine Empire, until the middle of the
seventh century, when it was devastated by
the Avars, to whom a portion of the lands
were permanently allotted. Servia then re-
mained a dependency of the Eastern Empire
until the time of the Crusades.
The Croatians, or Croats, belonged to the
Illyrico-Servian branch of the Slavic race.
Their primitive European settlement seems to
have been in the south-western angle of Hun-
gary. This country was originally a part of
Pannonia, and became a part of the Empire
in the times of Augustus. It was overrun
first by the Goths and afterwards by the
Avars. It then became subject to the Eastern
Empire, and so remained until the tenth cen-
tury, when the Croatian princes became inde-
pendent.
The Wendi, or Wenbs, were one of the
north-western tribes of the Slavic family.
From the fourth to the ninth century they
were found in the country stretching from the
Saale and the Elbe northward to the Eider.
In the times of Charlemagne they became ag-
gressive, and were driven back by that war-
rior in the direction of the Vistula. Subse-
quently they were well-nigh exterminated by
the German kings, and by the sixteenth cen-
tury they existed only as a scattered popula-
tion in the region now known as Branden-
burg and CUicia.
The Poles constitute one of the principal
branches of the Slavic race. Their first Eur
ropean appearance seems to have been in the
country which now bears their name. Some-
what later they spread into the region between
the Oder and the Vistula. They were known
as the Polans, meaning the People of the
Plain, and soon became the most conspicuous
of aU the Slavic nations. The history of
Poland and the Poles will hereafter demand
our attention as a special study.
The BoHEJiiANS grew from the tribe of
the Boii, classified by Csesar among the Celtic
peoples of Gaul. Thej' were displaced from
their original settlements by the JIarcomanni.
They migrated into Bavaria and Bohemia,
and were subsequently incorporated with
Slavic Czechs. German colonists also settled
in the country, and the people became com-
posite. Of their own accord the Bohemians
sought annexation to the empire of Charle-
magne, with which the^' were associated for
several centuries.
The tribes known as Moravians made their
appearance in the early times of the Empire,
in the country which still bears their name.
Here with diificulty they maintained them-
selves against the successive a.«saults of the
Quadi, the Rugii, the Heruli, and the
Lombards. The country was subsequently
conquered by Charlemagne, who, after his
usual manner, imposed tribute upon the
Moravians and obliged them to accept the
Christian religion. Of the ancient Pomera-
nians very little is known, except that they
were of the Slavic race and constituted a part
of the old monarchy of the Wends. The
same may be said of the Lusatians, who
seem to have been a mixture of the Wendic
and Germanic stock, and who, after a period
of independence, were reduced to the tribu-
tary relation by Henry I. of Germany, in the
early part of the tenth century.
The Lr-onians first made their appearance
in the country stretching eastward from the
bay of Eiga. The modern representatives of
the race are found in the Finns and Letts ;
but neither the ancient couutrj- nor its inhabi-
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— TRIBES OF THE NORTH.
403
ra,uts were made known to Europe until about
the middle of the twelfth century, when inter-
course was opened up between Riga and the
West by the merchants of Bremen. The
existence of Lithuania and her people was
made known a century and a half earlier, at
which time the inhabitants were still in a state
of half-savagery, subsisting for the most part
on wild products of the woods. From this
time forth their country became subject to
the various Russian princes who were just
then beginning to be felt in the affairs of Eu-
rope. In the twelfth century they achieved
their independence, and in the thirteenth
maintained it in a long and severe struggle
with the Teutonic knights who had estab-
lished themselves on the shores of the Baltic.
The third or Scythic division of the bar-
barian nations included, besides the great race
«f the Huns, the Alaui or Alans, the Averi,
the Bulgariaus, the Hungarians, the Turks,
and the Tartars. Of all the savage peoples
wrho beat along the borders of the Roman Em-
pire and finally broke through and destroyed
the civilization of the ancient world, the most
ferocious were the Huns. Beyond their
Asiatic origin, nothing has been ascertained
■of their primitive history. To the Greeks
they were known, in a general way, by the
name of Chuni, and by that title they are de-
scribed by the historian Ptolemy as early as
the second century of our era. They are be-
lieved to have come originally of a Tartar
stock, and to have had their primitive seats in
the country north of the great wall of China.
After long and bloody wars with the Chinese,
they were at last subdued by the emperor
Vonti ; but the unbroken spirit led to a mi-
gration of the race in preference to submission.
Accordingly, in the first century of our era,
they left their original settlements to discover
and conquer new homes in the West. One
division of the tribes, known as the White
Huns, took possession of the country east of
the Caspian, but the great body continued
their westward march to the banks of the
Volga. In the course of the third century
they crossed the river and overran the country
of the Alani, many of whom they incorpo-
rated with their own nation. After another
eantury, continuing their march to the west,
they fell upon the Goths^ and,- in A. D. 375,
N. — Vol. 2 — 25
defeated them in battle. Then it was tha^
the Gothic people were pressed between the
upper and the nether millstone. Behind them
were the swords of the Huns, and before them
the lances of the Romans. It was in this
emergency that the Goths sought and obtained
permission to settle within the borders of the
Empire. The Huns then fixed their habita-
tion on the banks of the Don and the Dnieper.
They took possession of Pannonia. Rome
fought for the defense of her provinces, but
Attila, the " Scourge of God," led his tre-
mendous armies of savages to glut themselves
with the accumulated spoils of centuries. The
story of his invasion of Italy has already been
narrated in the preceding Volume.'
In A. D. 453 Attila died, and the vast
dominion which he had established fell
to pieces. His followers were broken up
into bands, and gradually amalgamated with
succeeding hordes of barbarians from the
North. Of all the wide dominions, ruled by
the sword rather than the scepter of Attila,
only the modern kingdom of Hungary has
preserved the name of his ferocious people ;
and of the various races included within the
borders of that kingdom, only the Magyars are
of genuine Hunnish descent.
The origin of the Alani is shrouded in un-
certainty. They ajjpear to have migrated
from the eastern jjart of the Caucasus to the
river Don. During the reign of Aurelian
they were associated with the Goths in an
expedition into Asia Minor. Near the close
of the fourth century they were defeated by
the Huns, whom they presently afterwards
joined in a war with the Goths. In the year
406 they were confederated with the Suevi
and the Vandals, who were then engaged in
devastating Gaul. Subsequently a colony of
Alans occupied the country south of the
Loire, while another established itself in Spain.
A portion of Northern Italy was also occu-
pied by the Alani until they were di.splace^
by subsequent invasions.
The third of the Scythic tribes that con-
tributed to the overthrow of ancient civiliza-
tion was the Avari or Avars. They first
appeared in the West about the middle of the
sixth century, when they began to try the
Roman outposts on the line of the Danube.
•See Book Tenth, ante p. 345.
404
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Their original seats are thought to have been
in the country between the Caspian and the
Don. In the time of Justinian they were in
alliance with the Greek Empire, and after-
wards with the Lombards, whom they assisted
in a war against tlie Gepidse. At one time
they possessed the larger part of Pannonia,
subjects of the Khan revolted, and all of his
kingdom, except Pannonia, fell away. In
the struggle of the Bavarians against Charle-
magne, the Avari aided the former ; but both
parties were overcome by the king of the
Franks and were compelled to accept a tribu-
tary relation.
'^-^^y('^'^^'y^>j]x'm^^:^
THE HUNS IN GERMANY.
and here they established a kingdom. The
greatest of their sovereigns was Khan Baian,
who flourished from A. D. 570 to 630. His
dominions are said to have extended from the
river Elbe to the Euxine. Such was his au-
thority that even the Emperor of the East
was obliged to pay him tribute. The Avars
conquered Dalmatia and harassed both Italy
and Germany. In the year 640, the Slavic
The Bulgarians first appeared on the weslr
ern banks of the Volga. From this locality-
they migrated to the Don, and in the latter
part of the fifth century passed westward to
the Danube. After establishing themselves^
in the region on the other side cf the river
from that which now bears their name, they
began a series of aggressions against the East-
ern Eninire. The many incursions of this,
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY— TRIBES OF THE NORTH.
40.')
warlike people, who sometimes made their
way to the very gates of Constantinople, have
already been recorded in the preceding vol-
ume.' During the reign of Anastasius, the
Empire was obliged to purchase peace by the
payment of an enormous bribe. The Bulga-
rians retired only to return in the reign of
Justinian ; but the veteran Belisarius drew his
sword against them, and they were quickly
driven to their own place. Bulgaria was
overrun by the Avars ; but the conquest was
ube into Moesia Inferior. Here, in the year
680, between that river and the Balkans were
laid the foundations of the principality of
modern Bulgaria.
The fifth branch of the Scythic famOy in
Europe was the Hungarian. By this no ref-
erence is intended to the many other nations —
Dacians, Illyrians, Paunonians, Bulgarians,
lazyges, Alans, Avars, Huns, Gepidre, Lom-
bards, Khajars — that have contributed to peo-
ple the Hungarian Empire, but to the Mag-
arrival OF THE HUNGARIANS IN THEIR NEW HOME.
After the Fresco of Lotze, in the National Museum of Pesth.
of short duration, and the people soon re-
gained their independence. The greatest of
the Bulgarian khans was Kuveat, who made
a league with the Emperor Heraclius, and re-
ceived from him the title of patrician. After
Ms death the old Bulgarian dominion was
broken up, and his five sons became as many
conquerors in distant parts. Tiie first sub-
dued a district on the banks of the Don ; the
second established himself in Pannonia; the
third, in Moldavia; the fourth, iu Italy; and
the fifth, named Asparukh, crossed the Dan-
'See Book Tenth, «»i/p.pp. 353-360.
YARs or Hungarians proper. These were a
warlike people, whose original seats were in
the vicinity of the Caucasus. Their first mi-
gration carried them into the region between
the Don and the Dniester. Afterwards they
crossed the Carpathian mountains, led by Ax-
MOS, one of their seven chieftains. They were
at this time a band of seven tribes, united in
a compact which, under the sanction of oaths,
gave a guaranty of justice and equality to all
members of the federation. Arpad, the son
and successor of Almos, overran all of Hun-
gary and Transylvania, and early in the tenth
406
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
century laid the foundations of the Magyar do-
minion in the country couquered by his arms.
Of the coming of the Turks into Western
Asia and Eastern Europe, some account has
already been given in the preceding volume.'
These people had the same original homes
with the Hun and the Tartar. With them
they engaged in those fierce wai-s with the
Chinese which occupied the first centuries
before and after the Christian era. As early
as the establishment of the Roman Empire
they had made their way westward to the
river Don. In the third century a Turkish
state was established in the country around
Lake Balkash. Meanwhile the conflicts of
the Turks and the Chinese continued in
Tartary.
It will be remembered that in the sixth
tentury the Emperor Justin 11. made a
Grseco-Turcoman league against the Sassani-
^£e — an alliance which led to the permanent
establishment of Turkish institutions in West-
ern Asia. In the eighth century there were
recognized no fewer than eight distinct Turk-
ish nations, scattered in various parts of the
vast region between Tartary and Asia Minor.
During the sixth and seventh centuries they
had already established themselves perma-
nently in what is now Asiatic Turkey. The
Seljukian dynasty, the most famous of all the
Turkish mediieval powers, extended itself in
the eleventh century almost to Constantino-
ple, and after the coUapse of this empire, the
Ottoman dynasty arose on its ruins, grew pow-
erful throughout the West, finally crossed
into Europe, and in 1453 completed the s'jo>
version of the Empire of the East.
The name of Taktar, like so many otner
tribal appellatives, appears at the first to have
been used to designate an assemblage of na-
tions. Vast hordes of half-savage tribes simi-
lar in race and habits spread out indefinitely
from their original seats in the table-lands of
Central and Northern Asia. It is thought by
ethnologists that the great Tartar expansion
took its origin from the locality of modern
Turkistan. Many scholars regard the Turco-
mans themselves as a Tartar race. The physi-
cal type, even to the present day, appears to
indicate some such race-identity. It is from
this source that the great Mongol dynasty of
the Middle Ages arose and extended itself
around so large a part of the world. From
the fourth to the tenth century, the slopes of
the Altai Mountains, which seem to have
been a center of the Mongolian movement,
threw ofl^ wave after wave of barbarous popu-
lation, which sank successively in the coun-
tries toward the West. Perhaps the largest
European influence of the Tartar race in
modern times is seen in Eastern and Southern
Russia. — Such is a sketch in outline of the
principal barbarian nations who, from the first
to the fifteenth centuries of our era, contrib-
uted by invasion and war to destroy the
Europe that was, and to fill the Europe that
now is with peoples of different races. It now
remains to take up in their order and consider
brieflv the principal barbarian kingdoms which
were founded on the ruins of Rome.
CHAPTER LXXIV.— BARBARIAN KINODONIS IN ITALY.
IRST of kingdoms estab-
lished by the barbarians
in Italy was that of the
Heruli. This nation was
led into the peninsula by
the bold chieftain Odo-
ACER, who assured his fol-
lowers that they could obtain by force the
compliance with their demand for the cession
' iSee Book Tenth, ante p. 370.
of a third part of the lands. It will be re-
membered that this demand was resisted by
Orestes, regent for his son, the helpless Au-
gustulus, and that the father, for this patriotic
but foolhardy conduct, was driven into Pavia
and slain by the barbarians. This left the
boy Augustulus like a shorn lamb, to the
mercy of the winds. He could only implore
the clemency of Odoacer, and when did a
victorious barbarian forbear?
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOMS IN ITALY.
407
Augustus the Little, the boy-Ctesar of ex-
piring Rome, was hurried away to the castle
of LucuUus in Campania. Odoacer at once
made himself king of Italy. Rome was
down, and the residue was ground under the
heel of a German chieftain out of the North,
who, to the one-third of the lands of Italy
which had been demanded by his followers as
a recompense for their services, added the
remaining two-thirds to fill up the measure.
King Odoacer soon showed himself master
of the strange situation which had supervened
in Italy. He wisely adapted his methods of
government to the condition of the people.
Having himself been previously in the service
of the Empire, he was well acquainted with
the character and disposition of the Roman
race. He accepted the title of king, but re-
fused the purple and the diadem, thus con-
ciliating both the German princes and the
phantom nobility of Italy. The Senate was
allowed to remain and even to correspond in
the usual way with the authorities of the
Eastern Empire. The body went so far as to
make out a programme, in accordance with
which the seat of empire was to be transferred
to Constantinople. Italy was to become a
diocese, and the senators respectfully asked
that this scheme be approved by the recogni-
tion of Odoacer as Patrician of the Italian
province.
At this amusing by-play and nonsensical
assumption of an authority which no longer
existed, the king of Italy might well smile a
smile of condescension. In a prudent way he
deferred to the prejudices and political cus-
toms of his subjects. In the course of a few
years he reinstituted the consulship and con-
tinued to avoid the Imperial dignity. The
old laws were still enforced, and the old
executive officers, including the praetorian pre-
fect and his subordinates, were retained in
their places. In a politic way, Odoacer de-
volved the unpleasant duties of administra-
tion, such as the collection of the public
revenue, upon native Roman magistrates ; but
the execution of those measures which were
likely to produce a favorable impression upon
the people he reserved for himself.
Meanwhile the honor of Italy, which had
been so long dragged in the dust by the de-
generate descendants of Theodosius, was re-
vived by the sword of her barbarian monarch.
On the north the old frontier of Italy was
reestablished, and was recognized by the chief-
tains of Gaul and Germany. Odoacer made
a successful campaign in Dalmatia, and re-
gained possession of that province. He
crossed the Alps and made war upon the
king of the Rugii, whom he defeated and
made prisoner. So great was his success in
arms that the Roman Senate might well decree
an honor to their warlike king.
Miserable, however, was the social and
economic condition of Italy. Agriculture and
commerce had almost ceased. For their cur-
rent sujjplies of provisions the Romans were
at the mercy of the winds and the seas. The
granaries of Egypt and Africa no longer sent
their abundance into the marts of the Eternal
City. War, famine, and pestilence had added
their horrors through generations of decay.
The tendency to depopulation was seen on
every hand. Prosperous districts were left
without inhabitants ; for the breast of dis-
honored Nature yielded sustenance no longer
to a race of idlers and brigands. As to the
industrial and artistic aspect of life, that
was seen no more. The value of property
declined to a minimum ; for the senators knew
not in what day or hour a new company of
barbarian chieftains must be supplied with
homes by the confiscation of estates. The
Roman nobility led a life of tremulous anxiety,
humbly subservient to the master to whom
they owed their lives and the remnant of their
fortunes. Nor did the king fail in many in-
stances to interpose between the rapacity of
his barbarian and the helplessness of his
Roman subjects. The demands of the German
chiefs were frequently resisted by the king,
and several of the more insolent were put to
death for the attempted robbery of native
noblemen.
In the pursuance of this difficult policy
Odoacer consumed the fourteen years of his
reign. With him rose and fell the Herulian
kingdom in Italy. His people were neither
strong enough nor sufficiently civilized to
found a permanent dominion. Already the
great nation of the Ostrogoths, under the
leadership of the justly celebrated Theodoric,
whom the discriminating Gibbon has declared
to have been ' ' a hero alike excellent in the
408
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
arts of war and of government," was ready to
sweep down from the North and destroy the
brief ascendency of the Heruli in Italy.
Having established themselves in Pannonia
and Gaul, the Ostrogoths had grown to be
first in influence among the barbarian states.
Friendly i-elations had been cultivated between
them and the Empire of the East. The Em-
peror Zeuo liad conferred on the nation many
marks of his favor, and upon Theodoric, their
king, the titles of patrician and consul. The
Goths, however, were still in a half-barbarous
condition, and the various donatives, made to
them by the Eastern Emperor, were quickly
consumed in the license of appetite. It was
in this condition of affairs that the far-seeing
mind of Theodoric perceived in the state of
Italy an inviting opportunity for the exercise
of his own genius and a vent for the restless
activities of his people.
He accordingly applied to the Eastern em-
peror. "Italy, the inheritance of your pred-
ecessor," said he in a letter to the court at
Constantinople, "and Rome itself, the head
and mistress of the world, now fluctuate under
the violence and oppression of Odoacer, the
mercenary. Direct me with my national
troops to march against the tyrant. If I fall,
you will be relieved from an expensive and
troublesome friend ; but, if with the Divine
permission I succeed, I shall govern in your
name and to your glory the Roman Senate
and the part of the republic delivered from
slavery by my victorious arms." This proposal
of Theodoric was gladly entertained by the
Emperor, who saw, no doubt, in the enterprise
the prospective restoration of his own influence
in the West.
Theodoric accordingly undertook the con-
quest of Italy. The invasion was in the
nature of an emigration of the whole Gothic
people. The aged, the infirm, the women and
children, were all borne along with the im-
mense procession of warriors, and the whole
property was included with the baggage.
During the progress of the march of seven
hundred miles, undertaken in midwinter, the
Gothic host was frequently threatened with
famine. On the way Theodoric was actively
opposed by the Bulgarians, the Gepidte, and
the Sarmatians, who had been prompted to
such a course by Odoacer. Nevertheless, the
Goth fought his way through every opposing
obstacle, passed the Julian Alps, and made
his way into Italy.
Odoacer went boldly forth to meet him.
The two hosts met on the river Sontius, and
a decisive battle was fought, in which the
Ostrogoths were successful. The country of
the Veneti as far south as Verona thus fell
into the hands of Theodoric. At the river
Adige a second battle was fought, in which
the Heruli were again defeated. Odoacer
took refuge in Ravenna, and Theodoric ad-
vanced to Milan. At this juncture, however,
the treachery of a deserter, to whom the
command of the vanguard had been intrusted,
suddenly reversed the fortunes of war and
brought Odoacer again into the field. The-
odoric was reduced to the necessity of calling
for assistance to the Visigoths of Gaul; but,
after a brief continuance, all Italy, with the
exception of Ravenna, was delivered to the
Ostrogothic king. In that city Odoacer im-
mured himself during a three years' siege.
Finally, however, he was obliged to yield, and
the Ostrogoths took possession of Ravenna.
After a few days, Odoacer, to whom an honor-
able capitulation had been granted, was stabbed
at a banquet; nor is it doubtful that the blow
was struck with the knowledge and conniv-
ance of Theodoric himself. Several of the
principal adherents of the Herulian king were
also kUled, and Theodoric, proclaimed by his
Gothic subjects, was acknowledged throughout
Italy and reluctantly accepted bj' the Emperor
of the East. Thus, in the year A. D. 493,
the Ostrogothic kingdom was established in
Italy.
Theodoric at once entered upon a reign of
thirty-three years' duration. In accordance
with the rights of conquest, a third of the
lands was apportioned to his followers. To
the Goths, long accustomed to the cheerless
rigors of the North, their new homes in Italy
seemed a paradise. The new nation that was
thus transported to the South was estimated
at two hundred thousand men of war, besides
the aged, the women, and the children.
In some respects the new population was
assimilated to the old, and in some, the old
to the new. The conquerors assumed the
more elegant dress and many of the social
customs of the Romans ; but the Gothic larw
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOMS IN ITALY.
409
guage held its own against the Latin. It be-
came the policy of Theodoric to encourage
the Italians in the industrial pursuits, and to
reserve the Goths as the warrior caste of the
state. The latter held their lauds as a gift of
military patronage, arid were expected to be
ever ready to march at the sound of the
trumpet. It was a part of the king's theory
that his realm must be maintained by the
same power by which it had been created,
wherefore supreme reliance was placed in the
arm of military power.
It is hardly to be doubted that, had he so
chosen, Theodoric, after the subjugation of
Italy, might have entered upon a general ca-
reer of conquest in the West; but such a
purpose wa.s no part of his plans or policy.
He devoted himself assiduously to the reor-
ganization of Italian society, and with that
work his ambitions were satisfied. He estab-
lished his capital at Ravenna, and his court
soon attracted ambassadors from all parts of
Europe. His two daughters, his sister, and
his niece were sought in marriage by the
kings of the Franks, the Burgundians, the
Visigoths, and the Vandals. Offerings were
brought, as if to one of the magnificent
princes of the East, a distance of fifteen
hundred miles, from the far-off shores of the
Baltic.
It is rare that history has the pleasant
duty of recording the career of a sovereign
beginning in war and ending in peace, as did
that of Theodoric the Great. When obliged
to abolish his peaceful policy, it was rather to
act on the defensive or to enforce the edicts
of the administration than to gratify the lust
of conquest. He established a government of
the provinces of Rhsetia, Noricum, Dalmatia,
and Pannonia, thus extending his authority
from the sources of the Danube to Illyricum.
It was natural that the successful career
of Theodoric in the West should awaken the
jealousy of the Eastern Emperor. A war
broke out between the two powers, and in the
year 505 came to a climax in battle on the
field of Margus. Victory declared for Theod-
oric, who, more humane than his enemy,
used his victory as not abusing it. Maddened
by his defeat, the Emperor Anastasius sent
a powerful fleet and army to the shores of
Southern Italy. The ancient city of Taren-
tura was assaulted, the country along the
coast laid waste, and the Italian trade tem-
porarily broken up. But Theodoric made
his way rapidly into the distressed region,
equipped a fleet, and hastened the departure
of the marauding squadron to the East.
About this time Clovis, king of the
Franks, gained the ascendency over the tribes
of Gaul — a movement which was resisted by
Theodoric as unfavorable to his kinsman, the
king of the Visigoths. When the victorious
career of Clovis could be no longer impeded,
the remnant of the royal Visigothic family
sought and found a friendly refuge at the
court of Ravenna. At the same time the
Alemanni, who were now severely pressed by
the surrounding nations, were taken under
the protection of the king of Italy, and the
hostile Burgundians were so severely handled
as to desire no further aggression. The cities
of Aries and Marseilles were taken, and a
free communication thus established between
the two kingdoms of the Goths. Indeed, at
this time Theodoric was recognized as the
head of the Gothic race. The Visigoths of
Spain paid revenue into the treasury of Ra-
venna, and the abuses which had grown up
in the southern kingdom were rectified by the
sovereign of Italy. The Gothic supremacy
was thus established from Sicily to the Dan-
ube and from Belgrade to the Atlantic Ocean.
It was a virtual restoration, under barbarian
auspices, of the Empire of the West.
It was deemed expedient by Theodoric not
to assume the insignia of Imperial authority.
He accepted the title of king — a name more
congenial than that of emperor to the nations
of the North. As a legislator, the monarch
was less fortunate than in the work of ad-
ministration. Instead of making laws accord-
ing to the fitness of things, as determined by
the needs of his subjects, he copied for a con-
stitution the effete statutes of Constantine.
He studiously maintained his relations of
amity with the Eastern Empire, and in his
correspondence with Anastasius assumed a
tone at once deferential and diplomatic. The
sovereigns of the East and the West regarded
themselves as in alliance, and the union was
annually confirmed by the choice of two con-
suls, the one from Constantinople and the
other from Rome.
410
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
The palace of the Gothic monarch at Ra-
venna was after the style of the later em-
perors of the West. The ministers of state
■were the prsetorian prefect, the prefect of
Rome, the master of the offices, etc., with
the names and duties of whom the Romans
were long familiar. The government of the
fifteen "Regions" of Italy was assigned to
seven consulars, three correctors, and five
presidents; and the forms of administration
were derived from the existing statutes of the
Romans. In the courts of the country the
proceedings were determined by the national-
ity of the parties to the cause. When the
action was between Roman and Roman, then
the trial was conducted according to the
practice of the Empire. If the parties were
Gothic, then the Gothic statutes were em-
ployed ; and in case of a suit of a Roman
and a Goth, a mixed court heard and deter-
mined the cause.
In the management of the afiairs of the
state, Theodoric exhibited much wisdom and
liberality. Instead of persecuting the friends
of Odoacer, he appointed Liberius, one of the
firmest supporters of the Herulian regime, to
be prffitoriau prefect He took into his coun-
cil the two authors, Cassiodorus and Boethius,
and deferred to their prudent advice. WhUe
learning was thus patronized, Theodoric also
took pains to encourage the revival of Roman
institutions by at least a respectful use of the
old republican forms. The descendants of
the patricians were flattered by hearing the
name of the Republic ; and the Roman poor
were pleased with the old-time distribution of
provisions. The games were reinstituted in
feeble imitation of the splendor of Imperial
times. The Vfrican lion again bounded into
the arena, ai^d the gladiator and gymnast ex-
hibited their prowess and skill before a mixed
multitude of Germans and Italians.
In tlie year A. D. 500, Theodoric visited
Rome, wliere he was received with all the
glory that the diminished sun of the old me-
tropolis was able to shed on her sovereign.
For six months the Gothic king remained at
the ancient capital of the Ctesars, where his
manners and morals were justly applauded
by those who as children had witnessed -the
extinction of the Empire. The still remain-
ing landmarks of power, such as the column
and forum of Trajan and the theater of Pom-
pey, made a profound impression upon the
mind of Theodoric, who conceived from these
remnants of Roman glory a shadowy notion
of what the Eternal City had been Ln the
days of her renown. He formed the design
of preserving, as far as po.ssible, from further
decay the grand monuments of- a civilization
which no longer existed. He issued edicts to
prevent further injury to the great works
which the city stdl possessed, and appointed
architects and set aside revenues to repair
and restore those structures which were fall-
ing into rum. This liberal patronage was
likewise extended to the works of art which
the city still possessed, and even the barba-
rians became emulous of their king in the
work of rescuing from oblivion the trophies
of the ancient world.
When his brief residence at the old capital
exjjired, Theodoric returned to Ravenna. He
set an example not only to those of the court,
but even to the humble. With his own hand
he pruned and cared for an orchard, and
found an actual delight in all the pursuits of
peace. When his borders were troubled by
the barbarians, he removed his court to Ve-
rona. Not only that capital and Ravenna,
but also the cities of Spoleto, Naples, and Pa-
via, exhibited in the multiplication of their
churches and other buildings, which now for
the first time showed the pointed architecture
of the Goths, the manifest presence of a mas-
ter spirit at the helm of state. Society be-
came more settled and happy than at any
time during the previous century. The peas-
ant was again seen in the field, and the Ro-
man nobleman in the porch of his villa. The
agricultural interests of the state were rapidly
revived, and the mines of Dalmatia and Brut-
tium were again worked with j)rofit.
In religious faith Theodoric, like his peo-
ple, was an Arian. This fact opened a chasm
between the Goths and the Italians, the latter
accejiting the Nicene creed. The king, bow-
ever, was little disposed to trouble or be
trouliled in matters of faith. He and his
(Jothic subjects pursued their own way, and
the orthodox Catholics, theirs. Those of the
Goths who preferred to apostatize to the Atha-
nasian belief were permitted to do so without
persecution. The whole career of Theodoric
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOMS IN ITALY.
411
was marked with a spirit of tolerance and
moderation. The old theory of the Roman
law that every citizen might choose his own
religion was adopted as best suited to the con-
dition of the people.
It would, however, be far from the truth
to suppose that the government of Theodoric
was above rej)roach or his times without their
vices. In the beginning of his reign the He-
ruli were unjustly oppressed with taxation,
and several of the economic projects of the
king would, but for the opposition of Boethius,
have greatly injured the industrial interests
of the kingdom. The nobles and friends of
the monarch were in some instances permitted
to wrest estates from others and to hold their
unjust acquisitions. Nor was it possible that
the two hundred thousand Gothic warriors, by
whose barbaric valor Theodoric had conquered
an empire, could be, even in the midst of
peaceful surroundings, converted at once from
savagery to civilization. ' The native fierce-
ness of these warriors, who could hardly be
restrained to the prosaic life of a settled resi-
dence, had many times to be conciliated by a
temporizing policy on the part of the king.
It appears that the religious toleration in-
troduced into the state by Theodoric, though
outwardly accepted by the Catholics, was
exceedingly distasteful to their orthodoxy.
Without the power to reverse or resent the
policy of the king, the Italian zealots turned
their animosity upon the Jews and made that
persecuted race the object of their scorn and
persecution. Many rich but defenseless Israel-
ites— traders and merchants living at Rome,
Naples, Ravenna, Milan, and Genoa — were
deprived of their property and turned adrift
as so many paupers. Their synagogues were
despoiled and then burned, their homes pil-
laged, and their persons outraged. To the
credit of Theodoric, he set himself against
these manifestations of rapacious bigotry, and
some of the chief leaders of the tumult were
obliged to make restitution to their victims,
and were then condemned to be publicly
whipped in the streets by the executioner.
Then it was that the Italian Catholics set
up a cry against the persecution of the Church.
The clemency and good deeds of the king
were forgotten by those who were opposed to
martyrdom when themselves were the martyrs.
The later years of the king's life were clouded
with these religious disturbances in his king-
dom. Nor did the conduct of his Italian
subjects fail to excite in the mind of the sov-
ereign the small vices of jealousy and bitter-
ness. It is alleged that he secured the service*
of informers against the malcontent but noble
bigots of the kingdom, whom he suspected,
not without cause, of a secret and treasonable-
correspondence with the Emperor of the East.
Certain it is that Justinian, who had now-
succeeded to power at Constantinople, re-
solved to purge the Church of heresy as well
in the West as in his paternal dominions.
An edict was issued from Constantinople
against the Ariau Christians in all the Med-
iterranean states. Those who refused to ac-
cept the established creed of the Church were
to suffer the penalty of excommunication.
This course was indignantly resented by The-
odoric, who justly reasoned that the same tol-
eration shown by himself to his Catholic-
subjects in the West should of right be ex-
tended to the Arian Christians in the Enipire-
of the Greeks. Theodoric accordingly ordered
the Roman pontiff and four distinguished
senators to go on an embassy to Constantinople,
and there demand of Justinian the rights of
religious freedom. They were commanded in.
their instructions to urge upon that monarch^
that any pretense to a dominion over the con-
science of man is a usurpation of the divine-
prerogative, that the power of the earthly
sovereign is limited to earthly things, and
that the most dangerous heresy in a state is
that of a ruler who puts from himself and
his protection a part of his subjects on ac-
count of their religious faith. The rejection-
by Justinian of this appeal furnished, so far
as any act could furnish, to Theodoric good
ground for issuing an edict that, after a cer-
tain day, the orthodox religion should be-
prohibited throughout Italy.
It was in the midst of the bitterness ex-
cited by this schismatic broil that the virtuous
and philosophic Boi'thius, who had so long
been the greatest and best of the king's coun-
selors, was accused of treason, imprisoned in.
the tower of Pavia, and then subjected to an
ignominious execution. As Theodoric became
more gloomy in his old age, Boethius soared
into a clearer atmosphere. In the practical
412
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
afiairs of the administration he set himself
against every cruel and tyrannical measure;
.and when the king, led by evil advisers to
believe that the further existence of the
Roman Senate was incompatible with his own
safety, resolved upon the annihilation of that
■body, the philosopher boldly interposed be-
tween the bloody purpose of his sovereign and
its object. At this juncture a senator named
Albinus was arrested and brought to trial on
•a factitious charge of desiring the liberty of
Rome. In defending him Boethius made the
-declaration that, if Albinus were criminal, he
himself and all the senators were equally
guilty ; and to this — if the informers of the
•court are to be believed — the philosopher
added that, should he know of a conspiracy
to liberate Rome from bondage, he would not
divulge his information. A paper was dis-
covered directed to the Emperor of the East,
inviting him to the deliverance of Italy, and
■signed by Albinus and Boethius. The latter
was accordingly arrested and thrust into
•prison. The subservient Senate passed a sen-
tence of confiscation and death, and Boethius
sat in his dungeon awaiting the blow which
should deliver him from darkness.
To the imprisonment of this benign spirit
the world is indebted for the composition of
that sublime treatise, the Consolation of Pliiloso-
-phy — a work which the calm Gibbon declares
to be "a golden volume, not unworthy of the
leisure of Plato or Tully, but which claims in-
comparable merit from the barbarism of the
-times, and the situation of the author." In it
Boethius traverses the whole circuit of those
themes in which the philosophic mind has
found most interest since the human spirit first
awoke to conscious being. The dungeon of
the prisoner becomes more luminous than the
■chamber of the king. Reason teaches that the
vicissitudes of good and evil fortuue are alike
as nothing to him whose mind has been dis-
-ciplined in the school of self-restraint, and
whose conscience is without ofl^ense. From the
•ethics of common life, the philosopher then
,goes forth to search out the mysteries of des-
tiny. What is the supreme good? What of
free-will, of chance, of foreknowledge, of time,
•of eternity? Why do good and evil struggle
for the mastery of the world and of mankind?
•"Such are the great themes which the sublime
spirit of Boethius grappled with in the dim
light of his prison. Then came the execution-
ers. A cord was drawn around the neck of
the philosopher, and tightened until his eyes
were bursting from their sockets. Then was
he mercifully beaten to death with clubs. The
life was out, but the work survived ; and in a
distant age, Alfred the Great of England
found time to give to our Anglo-Saxon fathers
a translation of the noble work of the Roman
martyr.
Thus in his old age was the life of Theod-
oric clouded with suspicion and crime. It ap-
pears, however, that the severe German con-
science within him laid upon him the merciless
lash for his misdeeds and cruelty. As he fell
into decrepitude and the shadows of death
gathered near, the ghosts of his murdered vic-
tims glared at him out of the settling dark-
ness. Especially did the specter of the vener-
able Symmachus, who had been executed soon
after Boethius, frown out of the shadows and
menace the trembling king, who hobbled into
his chamber, and after three days of remorse
died, in August, A. D. 526.
The decease of the Gothic sovereign was
not so sudden as to prevent him from arrang-
ing the succession. The kingdom was divided
between his two grandsons, Amalaric and
Athalaric, the Rhone being fixed as the boun-
dary between their dominions. To the former
was assigned the throne of Spain, and to the lat-
ter the empire of Italy. Athalaric was at this
time but ten years of age, and was under the
control of his mother, the celebrated Amala-
sONTH.\. Around the bedside of the dying The-
odoric gathered the Gothic chiefs and Italian
magistrates, and swore allegiance to the boyish
prince, who, under the regency of his mother,
was now destined to be their ruler. To per-
petuate the memory of the great Gothic king,
his daughter, Amalasontha, reared a conspic-
uous monument near the city of Ravenna, and
here, in a vase of porphyry supported by four
columns, his remains were deposited.
The government of a nation of two hun-
dred thousand warriore was now intrusted to a
woman. The mother of Amalasontha was the
sister of Clovis, king of the Franks. The
queen regent of Italy was thus descended from
the two royal Houses of the MerovingiartL
and the Anudiam. Neverthele.*s, the laws of
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOMS IN ITALY.
413
the barbarians forbade the occupancy of their
throne by a woman. Such, however, were the
peculiar circumstances of her condition that,
with the death of her father, the Gotlis were
almost obliged to concede to her the jjreroga-
tives of sovereignty. She had contracted a
fortunate marriage with prince Eutliaric, of
which union was born the youth, Athalaric,
whom Theodoric designated as his successor.
In the mean time Eutharic died, and the
young widow, whose personal charms and keen
intellect were heightened by the best education
which the times could afford, became of neces-
sity the chief personage in the Gothic state.
In the beginning of her regency, Amala-
sontha strove to obliterate the bitter memories
which the last years of her father's reign had
left in the minds of her subjects by restoring
the children of Boethius and Symmachus to
their lost inheritance. She also conciliated her
Roman subjects and quieted the Goths by sal-
utary restraints. The chief of her counselors
was the statesman and orator, Cassiodorus, by
whose wise advice she was generally guided.
Meanwhile, she devoted herself assiduously to
the education of her son. That youth, how-
ever, soon proved himself to be unworthy of
his parentage. Having been properly punished
by his mother for some neglected duty, he es-
caped from the palace and threw himself upon
the .sympathies of the half-barbarous Gothic
chiefs, already become malcontent under the
reign of a woman. They espoused the cause
of their boy king, and determined to rescue
him from the control of Amalasontha and her
ministry. The lad was accordingly set free
among the wild indulgences of the semi-bar-
baric life, and the queen found herself envi-
roned with enemies. Opposition stirred up the
worst elements of her nature, and in order to
maintain herself she resorted to assassination.
Several of the Gothic nobles fell by treachery.
In order further to strengthen her position,
she then contracted a marriage with the prince
Theodatus, hoping to associate him with her-
self in the government. The Gothic faction,
however, obtained control over the mind of
Theodatus, and in 535 the queen was deposed
from power, and subjected to imprisonment on
an island in Lake Bolsena.
Now it was that the Emperor Justinian un-
dertook to avail himself of the dissensions of
the Goths, and thereby recover Italy. By
his agents he procured the signature of the
captive queen to a document surrendering her
claims in his favor. The Emperor thus found
opportunity for interference in the affairs of
the West; but before any serious measures
could be taken, Amalasontha was strangled in
her bath by order of Theodatus. Such, how-
ever, was the condition of affairs in Italy and
Africa that abundant excuse was offered to
the Byzantine court for pro.secuting its designs
against the barbarian kingdoms. The state of
the Vandals was distracted with civil commo-
tions. Hilderic, the rightful sovereign, had
been deposed and imprisoned, and the usurp-
ing Gelimer was seated on the throne. The
Catholic party of the West favored the resto-
ration of the deposed sovereign, and appealed
to Justinian to aid in that work. The latter
fitted out a powerful expedition, the command
of which was intrusted to Belisarius. In the
year 533, the armament proceeded to the Af-
rican coast. A battle was fought with the
Vandals a few miles from Carthage, and Bel-
isarius was completely victorious. The East-
ern army entered the Vandal capital. Gelimer
was again defeated and obliged to. surrender.
Within three months, order was restored in
Africa and Belisarius returned to Constanti-
nople to be received with distrust by his sus-
picious sovereign. Such was his popularity,
however, that a great triumph was celebrated
in his honor in the capital of the East.
An excuse was soon found for the contin-
uance of Greek interference in the affairs of
Italy. On the occasion of the marriage of a
sister of Theodoric the Great to Thrasimond,
king of Africa, the fortress of Lilybreum in
the island of Sicily was given as a bridal pres-
ent to the Vandals. An army of Gothic
warriors accompanied the gift and participated
in the conflict of the Vandals with the Moors.
Soon, however, the Goths and the Vandals
quarreled, and Belisarius was invited by the
former to aid them in restoring Lilybieum to
the kingdom of Italy. To this was added the
motive of vengeance against the murderers of
Amala.sontha. Accordingly in A. D. 535,
Belisarius was again sent out from Constanti-
nople to reduce Sicily. That work was ac-
complished without serious opposition, and in
the following spring Belisarius crossed over
414
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
into Italy. The whole country south of Cam-
pania was speedily reduced. Capua and Na-
ples were taken. Theodatus showing no signs
of capacity in the emergency of his country
was deposed by the Gothic chiefs, who lifted
their general A^itiges upon their bucklers and
proclaimed him king. Theodatus fled and was
murdered in the Flaminian Way.
The old Roman faction of Italy, thoroughly
orthodox and thoroughly tired of the suprem-
acy of the Goths, went over to Belisarius, and
the city of the Coesars was once more rescued
from barbarism. The king of the Goths, how-
ever, collected a formidable army in the Korth
and in the spring of 637 besieged Belisarius
in Rome. A line of fortifications was drawn
arouud the city. Many of the ancient struc-
tures were demolished and the material rebuilt
into the ramparts. The mausoleums of the
old Emperors were converted into citadels.
When the Goths swarmed around the sepul-
cher of Hadrian, the immortal marbles of
Praxiteles and Lysippus were torn from their
pedestals and hurled down upon the heads of
the barbarians in the ditch. Belisarius made
one audacious sortie after another, hurling
back his inveterate a.«sailants. Nearly the
whole Gothic nation gathered around the
Eternal City, but Belisarius held out until re-
inforcements arrived from the East, and after
a siege of a year and nine days' duration,
Rome was delivered from the clutch of her as-
sailants. Yitiges was obliged to burn his tents
and retreat before his pursuing antagonist to
Ravenna.
Great were the present afflictions of Italy.
In the brief interval which followed the with-
drawal of the Gothic king from Rome, the
Frank, Theodebert, king of Gaul, sent down
from the Alps an army of Burgundians to es-
pouse the cause of the Goths. The city of
MUan, which had gone over to Belisarius, was
by them besieged, taken, and dismantled. In
the next year (A. D. 539) Theodebert him-
self, with an army of a hundred thousand
Prankish warriors, entered Italy, and en-
camped on the Po. It soon became evident
that by him the Goth and the Roman were to
be treated without discrimination. Theodebert
fell at the same time upon the opposing camps
of Belisarius and Vitiges, and drove every
thing before him. Soon, however, the provis-
ions of the Franks were exhausted, and a pes-
tilence broke out among them which swept
away a third of their army. The turbulent
warriors demanded to be led back to their
homes beyond the Alps, and Theodebert was
constrained to comply with their wishes. The
barbarian horde was quickly withdrawn, and
Belisarius again found opportunity to follow
up his successes against Vitiges.
The king of the Goths now shut himself
up in the impregnable fortifications of Ra^
venna. Nothing could tempt him to show
himself beyond the defenses of the city. Nev-
ertheless the Roman general laid siege to the
place, and awaited the results of impending
famine. He vigilantly guarded the approaches
to the city, cut off supplies, fired the exposed
granaries, and even poisoned the waters of the
city. In the midst of their distress the Goths,
conceiving that Belisarius but for his obedi-
ence to Justinian would make them a better
king than their own, offered to surrender the
city into his hands and become his subjects,
if he would renounce his allegiance to the
Emperor of the East and accept the crown of
Italy. Belisarius seemed to comply. Ravenna
was given up by the Goths, and the victor
took possession. It was, however, no part of
the purpose of Belisarius to prove a traitor to
the Emperor, though the conduct of Justinian
towards himself furnished an excellent excuse
for treason. The suspicion of the thing done
soon reached Constantinople, and Justinian
made haste to recall the conqueror from the
West. So the hero, who by his military gen-
ius and personal courage had well-nigh recov-
ered the entire Western Empire of the Ro-
mans, took ship at Ravenna and sailed for the
Eastern capital.
With the departure of Belisarius the cour-
age of the Goths revived. They still possessed
Pa\na, which was defended by a thousand war-
riors, and, what was far more valuable, the
unconquerable love of freedom. Totila, a
nephew of Vitiges, was called to the throne,
and intrusted with the work of reestablishing
the kingdom. Of the Roman generals whom
Belisarius left behind him in Italy, not one
proved equal to the task of meeting the Goth
in the field. The latter traversed the country
without opposition, marched through the heart
of Italy, and compelled submission even to
BARBARIAN AtSUENDENCY.— KINGDOMS IN ITALY.
415
416
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
tiie extremes of Calabria. He then pitched
his camp before Rome, and with an impudence
not devoid of truth invited the Senate to com-
pare his reign with the tyranny of the Greek
Empire.
One of the alleged reasons for the recall
of Belisarius had been that he might be as-
signed to the defense of the East against the
armies of Persia. Having successfully accom-
plished this duty, he was again available as
the chief resource of Justinian in sustaining
the Greek cause in Italy. In the year 545
the veteran general was accordingly assigned
to the command in the West. Care was taken,
however, by the Emperor that the aged com-
mander should be hampered with such restric-
tions as would make a conspicuous success
impossible. Meanwhile Totila laid actual siege
to Rome, and adopted starvation as his ally.
The city was defended by three thousand sol-
diers under the command of Bessas, a veteran
Goth. The besieged were gradually reduced
to the extremity of eating bread made of bran
and devouring dogs, cats, and mice, to say
nothing of dead horses and ofFal. When Bel-
isarius landed in Italy he made an ineflectual
attempt to raise the siege of the city, and the
Romans were then obliged to capitulate. In
the day of the surrender the barbarian in To-
tila asserted itself, and the city was given up
to indiscriminate pillage. The walls were
thrown down ; some of the grand structures
of antiquity were battered into ruins, and the
Goth declared that he would convert Rome
into a pa.sture. But before the worst could
be accomplished Belisarius sent so strong a
protest to Totila that the latter reversed his
purpose, and the city was saved from gen-
eral ruin.
The Gothic king next directed his march
into Southern Italy, where he overran Lucania
and Apulia, and quickly restored the Gothic
supremacy as far as the strait of Messina.
Scarcely, however, had Totila departed upon
his southern expedition when Belisarius, who
had established himself in the port of Rome,
sallied forth with extraordinary daring, and
regained possession of the city. He then ex-
erted himself to the utmost to repair the de-
fenses, and was so successful in this work that
when, after twenty-five days. Totila returned
from the South the Goths were repulsed in
three successive assaults. Nor did it appear
impossible that with seasonable reenforcements
from the East Belisarius might soon recover
not only Rome but the whole of Italy. To the
message of his general, however, Justinian re-
plied only after a long silence ; and even then
the order transmitted to the West was that
Belisarius should retire into Lucania, leaving
behind a garrison in the capital. Thus par-
alyzed by the jealousy of the Emperor, the
old veteran languished in the South, while the
Goths regained the advantage. In 549 they
again besieged and captured Rome. Totila
had now learned that to destroy is the smallest
part of rational conquest. The edifices of the
city were accordingly spared ; the Romans
were treated with consideration, and eques-
trian games were again exhibited in the circus
under the patronage of barbarians.
In the mean time Belisarius 'was finally
recalled to Constantinople and was forced into
an inglorious retirement by a court which had
never shown itself worthy of his services. He
was succeeded in the command of the Roman
army in the West by the eunuch Nakses, who
in a body of contemptible stature concealed
the spirit of a warrior. The dispatch of Jus-
tinian recalliiig Belisarius had declared that
the remnant of the Gothic war was no longer
worthy of his presence. It was this "rem-
nant" that in the year 551 was intrusted to
Karses. His powers were ample and his genius
suflicient even for a greater work. On arriv-
ing in Italy he made haste to bring matters to
the crisis of battle. On his way from Ravenna
to Rome he became convinced that delay
would be fatal to success. On every side there
were evidences of a counter-revolution in favor
of the Goths. It was evident that nothing
but a victor}' could restore the influence of the
Byzantine government in the West. Advanc-
ing rapidlv on the capital he met the Goths
in the Flaminian Way, a short distance from
the city. Here, in July of 552, the fate of
the kingdom established by Theodoric was
yielded to the arbitrament of arms. A fierce
and obstinate conflict ensued in which Totila
was slain and his army scattered to the winds.
Narses received the keys of Rome in the name
of his master, this being the fifth time that the
Eternal City had been taken during the reign
of Justinian. The remnants of the Goths-
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOMS IN ITALY.
417
retired beyond the Po, where they assembled
and chose Teias for their king.
The new monarch at once solicited the aid
of the Franks, and then marched into Cam-
pania to the relief of his brother Aligern, who
was defending the treasure-house of Cumse, in
which Totila had deposited a large part of the
riches of the state. In the year 553 Narses
met this second army in battle and again
routed the Goths and killed their king. Ali-
gern was then besieged in CumiB for more
than a year, and was obliged to surrender. It
was evident that the kingdom of the Goths
was in the hour and article of death.
At this juncture, however, an army of
seventy-five thousand Germans, led by the two
dukes of the Alemanui, came down from the
Rhsetian Alps and threatened to burst like a
thunder cloud upon Central Italy. The change
of climate, however, and the wine-swilling
gluttony of the Teutonic warriors combined to
bring on contagion and decimate their ranks.
Narses went forth with an army of eighteen
thousand men and met the foe on the banks
of the Vulturnus. Here, in 554, the petty
eunuch inflicted on the barbarians a defeat so
decisive as to refix the status of Italy. The
greater part of the Gothic army perished
either by the sword or in attempting to cross
the river. The victorious army returned laden
with the spoils of the Goths, and for the last
time the Via Sacra was the scene of the spec-
tacle of victory called a triumph. It was a
vain shadow of the Imperial glory of the
Csesars.
Thus, in the year 554, after a period of
sixty years' duration, was subverted the Ostro-
gothic throne of Italy. One-third of this time
had been cousumed in actual war. The coun-
try was devastated — almost depopulated — by
the conflict. The vast area of the kingdom
was reduced to the narrow limits of a province,
which, under the name of the Exarchate of
Baveuna, remained as an appanage of the
Eastern Empire. As for the Goths, they either
retired to their native seats beyond the mount-
ains or were absorbed by the Italians. The
Franks also receded beyond the limits of Italy,
and the Emperor and the pope, using Narses
as the right arm of their power, proceeded to
restore a certain degree of order to the dis-
tracted peninsula.
In the mean time two other barbarian na-
tions became competitors for the sovereignty
of the North. These were the Gepidoe and the
Lombards. The latter, after having disappearedx
from history since the days of Trajan, again
returned to the stage, and for a season became
the principal actors of the drama. After a.
contest of thirty years, they succeeded in over-
throwing the Gepidse, who before submitting,
fought to the verge of extermination. Audoin,
king of the Lombards, was succeeded by his-
son, AxBOm, who sought for his wife the
princess Rosamond, daughter of the king of
the Gepidfe ; but the demand was refused, and
Alboin undertook to obtain by force the cov-
eted treasure. A dreadful war ensued, which,,
as above stated, resulted in the destruction of
the Gepidse. Alboin took the princess Rosa-
mond after the heroic fashion, and converted
the skull of his beloved father-in-law into a
drinking cup.
Thus had the king of the Lombards a taste-
of the glory of war. He cast his eyes upon
the sunny plains of Italy. Around his ban-
ners were gathered not only his own tribes^
but also many of the Germans and Scyths,
Meanwhile, the able though tyrannical Narses,
accused by his Roman subjects of exaction*
and cruelty, had been recalled from Italy, and
was succeeded by the exarch, Longinus. For-
tunate it was for the Lombards that the puis-
sant eunuch was not their competitor for the
possession of the Italian prize. In the year
567, Alboin descended from the Julian Alps-
into the valley of the Po. Rumor spread her
wings before the avenging avalanche, and no-
army could be found to confront the invaders.
The peojjle fled like sheep before the terrible
Lombards, and Alboin was besought by the-
cowering multitudes to assume the lawful sover-
eignty of the country. Only the fortress of
Pavia held out against the invaders untU it
was reduced by famine. Here Alb In estab-
lished his court, and fjr more than ^\v centu-
ries Pavia, the ancient Ticiuum, became thfr
capital of Lombardy.
Brief, however, was the glory of the con-
queror. The barbarian instincts of Alboin
soon led to his destruction. Engaging in a
night revel in a palace near Verona, he drank
wine to furious intoxication. While his bar-
baric brain flashed with hilarious delirium, he-
418
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
ordered the skull of Cunimund, his father-in-
law, to be brought out and filled to the brim.
He then had the horrid vessel refilled and
■carried to the queen with orders that she too
should drink and rejoice with her father!
■Obliged to comply with the abominable re-
quest, Rosamond resolved on vengeance. She
induced two chieftains to join her enterprbe,
and while the king was sleeping heavily from
the effects of drink, she opened his chamber
door and admitted the assassins. Thus in the
year 573 the founder of the kingdom of the
Lombards met his fate on the spears of mur-
derers.
For the moment the remnant of the Ge-
pidje at Verona attempted to uphold their
•queen ; but the Lombard chiefs quickly rallied
from the shock, and Rosamond fled to Ravenna.
Here she soon captivated the exarch Longi-
ous, and with him she conspired to destroy
Helmichas, the lover who had accompanied
her in her flight. While in his bath she gave
him a cup of poison, which he partly drained;
but, discovering the treachery, he drew his
dagger and compelled Rosamond to drii}k
the red!
In the mean time the Lombard chiefs had
assembled at Pavia and chosen Clepho for
their king. Short, however, was his reign.
After a year and a half he was stabbed by a
servant, and his hereditary rights and the
regal ofiice descended to his son Autharis.
During his minority of ten years no regular
regency was established, and Northern Italy
was distracted by the conflicting claims and
animosities of thirty dukes, Roman and barba-
rian. In the year 584 Autharis attained his
majority and assumed the warrior's garb. He
vigorously asserted his kingly rights, and again
■consolidated the Lombard party over the mal-
content regions of Italy. It was well for the
barbarians that their sovereign was able and
warlike. Soon after the accession of Autharis,
■Childebert, king of the Franks, passed the
Alps with a powerful army, which was pres-
•ently broken up by the quarrels of the Ale-
mannian and Frankish leaders. A second
expedition was met and defeated by the Lom-
bard king, and a third, after a partial success,
yielded to famine and pestilence. The domin-
ion of Autharis was indisputably established
from the Alps to the headlands of Calabria.
In the year 590 Autharis died and left no
heir. The Lombard chiefs laid upon his
widow, Theodolinda, the duty of choosing a
husband, who should be king. The queen's
preference fell upon Agilulf, duke of Turin,
who entered upon a reign of twenty-five
years. Great was the reputation gained by
Theodolinda among the Catholics; for she
converted her husband to the true faith from
the heresy of Arius. So marked was the
favor which she thus obtained with the ortho-
dox hierarchy that Pope Gregory presented to
her the celebrated iron crown, afterwards worn
by the kings of the Lombards. This famous
royal bauble derived its name from an iron
band with which it was surrounded, said to
have been wrought from one of the nails used
in the cross of Christ.
For a period of two hundred years Italy
remained under the dominion of the Lom-
bards. The petty exarchate of Ravenna also
maintained its existence under eighteen suc-
cessive governors. Besides the immediate
territories ruled by the exarchs, the provinces
of Rome, Venice, and Naples were also sub-
ject to their authority. Pavia continued to
be the capital of the Lombard kingdom,
whose confines swept around on the north,
east, and west as far as the countries of the
Avars, the Bavarians, the Australian Franks,
and the Burgundians.
The Lombard monarchy was elective. The
right of the chiefs to choose their own sov-
ereign, though many times waived in deference
to heredity and other conditions, was not re-
sisted or denied. About eighty years after
the establishment of the kingdom, the laws of
the Lombards were reduced to a written code.
Nor does their legislation compare unfavorably
with that of any other barbarian state.
This epoch in history should not be passed
over without reference to the rapid growth of
the Papal Church in the close of the sixth and
the beginning of the seventh century. Most
of all by Gregory the Great, whose pontificate
extended from 590 io 604, was the supremacy
of the apostolic see asserted and maintained.
Under the triple titles of Bishop of Rome,
Primate of Italy, and Apostle of the West he
gradually, by gentle insinuation or bold asser-
tion, as best suited the circumstances, elevated
the episcopacy of Rome into a genuine papacj
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOMS IN ITALY.
419
•flf the Church. He siicceeded in bringing the
Arians of Italy and Spain into the Catholic
fold, and thus secured the solidarity of the
Western ecclesia. Greater even than these
achievements was the conversion of our Anglo-
Saxon fathers of Britain. Forty monks under
26
ST. AUGUSTINE iJJiFORE ETHELBEKT.
Drawn by L. P. Lyendecker.
420
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— TEE MODERN WORLD.
the leadership of St. Augustine were sent
out by Gregory to rescue the island from pa-
ganism, and such was their success in evangelism
that in a short time Ethelhert, king of Kent,
with ten thousand of his Saxon subjects, had
been baptized in the name of Christ. Such
was the beginning of the great spiritual mon-
archy of Rome. Though the independence of
the Greek Church was yet reluctantly recog-
nized by the popes of the West, and though
the open assertion of their temporal dominion
was still withheld as inexpedient or premature,
yet the foundations of the great hierarchical
kingdom in the midst of the nations were
securely laid, chiefly by the genius and states-
manship of Gregory the Great.
It was the growth and encroachment of
Catholic power in Italy that ultimately led to
the overthrow of the Lombard kingdom. As
the eighth century drew to a close and the
kingdom of the Franks became more and
more predominant beyond the Alps, the popes
with increasing frequency called upon the
Carlovingian princes to relieve Italy of the
Lombard incubus. As early as the times of
Gregory III., Charles Martel was solicited to
come to the aid of his Catholic brethren in
the South. The entreaties of Pope Stephen
were still more importunate, and Pepin, king
of the Franks, was induced to lead an army
across the Alps. Two centuries of compara-
tive peace had somewhat abated the warlike
valor of the Lombards. They were still brave
enough to make occasional depredations upon
the provinces and sanctuaries of the Holy
Church, but not brave enough to confront the
spears of the Franks. Astolphus, the Lom-
bard king, cowered at the approach of Pepin,
and he and his princes eagerly took an oath
to restore to the Church her captive posses-
sions and henceforth to respect her wishes.
No sooner, however, had the Frankish sov-
ereign returned beyond the mountains than
Astolphus broke his faith and renewed his
predatory war on the Catholic diocese. A
second time the angered Pepin came upon the
recreant Lombards, whose country he overran
and left the kingdom prostrate. For a period
of about twenty years the Lombard state sur-
vived the shock of this invasion, and then re-
turned to its old ways. Again the Romans
were dispossessed of their property and driven
from their towns. Pope Adrian I. had now
come to the papal throne, and Charlemagne
had succeeded his father Pepin. Vainly did
the Lombards attempt to guard the passes of
the Alps against the great Frankish conqueror.
By his vigilance he surprised the Lombard
outposts and made his way to Pavia. Here,
in 773, Desiderius, the last of the Lombard
princes, made his stand. For fifteen months
the city was besieged by the Franks. When
the rigors of the investment could be endured
no longer, the city surrendered, and the king-
dom of the Lombards was at an end. The
country became a province in the empire of
Charlemagne, but Lombardy continued for a
time under the government of native princes.
So much was conceded to the original kinship
of the Lombards and the Franks.
CHAPTER LXXV.— KiNGDOIvIS OK THE VISIGOTHS,
VANDALS, AND FRANKS.
HEN, in the year 410,
Alaric, the Goth, was
buried in the channel of
the Basentius, his follow-
ers chose his brother-in-
law, Adolphus, to be
their sovereign. The new
king opened negotiations with the Emperor of
the West, and offered his services to that sov-
ereign in repelling the barbarians beyond the
1
w^
1
^Sj
Alps. Honorius gladly accepted the proffered
alliance, and the Goth directed his march
into Gaul. The cities of Narbonne, Toulouse,
and Bordeaux were permanently occupied,
and the Gothic dominion was soon extended
to the ocean.
The friendly league between Adolphus
and the Roman Empire was further ce-
mented by his marriage with Placidia, daugh-
ter of Theodosius the Great. By the year
PERSIA.
, Chosroes II., the Great; he has all the vices of his pre decessors. J 40. Library of Alexandria (700,000 volume) <
but surpasses them ill his great q^ualities. 91. Chos roes III.; he murders | stroyed by the command of Omar.
40. He lays wa.-te Syria, and Justiniim pays his father. • 4."). Othman. He subdues Bactriana and
him 500 pounds for the sake of peace. i 27. Siroes. aftfer murdering 60. A! Hasan.
54. He renews the war and cuts to piecesi iiis laihoiiand brothers. 60. Moawiyah ( Ommias). first
a Roman armv of .50.000 men. i :iJ. Horjmisdas. OMMIADES ST. Ab-
P
The .Arabians were descendants of Ishmael. the son of Abra'
ham. They have always lived independent, although
generally at war with their neighbors. As their history is
AD ADI A unknown and unimportant, except in its connection with
MnnDlAi other nations, it is unnecessary to mention them until the
time of Mohammed and the subsequent conquests of his
followers, the Saracens, who were Arabians.
65. Justin II., a weak prince.
27. Justinian I., celebrated for his famous code of
laws and for the victories of his generals,
Belisarlus and Narses.
EASTERN EMPIRE.
73. Tiberius III.
He defeats the
Persians.
34. Belisarlus takes Carthage, and ends the Vandal kingdom
in Africa.
Dreadful pestilence, many cities wholly 82. Mauritius.
depopulated.
Mohammed, ^o. Ali, a brave and virtuous caliph o
12. Begins to propagate his Arabia, and Mawia, caliph of Kgj-
doctrines. Ali removes his seat 79. Yezid.
27. He is saluted king, from Mecca to Cuja.
22. The Hegira. or flight of Mohammed, the era from which his
followers reckon time. 83. Abdalli
; 32. Abu-Beker, his father-in-law, sue- S4. Merw;
• ceeds him as caliph ;
I takes Damascus.
• 33. Omar, in one campaign be conquers Syr
, ■ Phosnicia, Mesopotamia, and Chaldiea ;
! in the next, the whole of Persia. His gen-
! als subdue Egypt, Libya, and Numidia.
10. Heraclius. The Persians make great ravages 70. The Saracens
in tlie empire. He defeats them in five campaigns. linofi
2. Phocas, usurper.
6. He makes some conces-
sions to the bishop of
Rome, which forms
the beginning of the
temporal power of the
Pope.
41. Heraclius II. They return ^
41. Heracleonas. and are d. ^
42. Constans II. or Constan- who bums i
TINE. celebrated ■
38. Edict of Heraclius. called 85. Justinlai
the "Ethesis or Exposition," by whi
he prohibits any dispute uiwn
the question of one or two 9b.
wills in Jesus Christ. ^S
ViSIGOTHIC KINGDOM.
The West Goths conquer all Spain,
except Gallcia and Navarre.
s:5. The Suevi
conquered by the Visigoths.
40. Heldibadus.
41. Eraric.
30. Vitiges. Totila.
WESTERN EMPIRE
Narsesideieats the Goths a
whien, being recalled,
; 68. Albion king
; of the
I 73. Clephes. The
t lb. Anarchy, ill A
26. Athalaric. 37. Belisarius takes Rome. ! 84. Antharis.
34. Theodatus. 46. Totila the IGoth takes and Fe
pluni.l.'ers Rome. be
AND 49 Rome reitaken by Belisarius.
5u. Againlrecovered bv
30. The order of Bene- ToJtila. 90.' Gregory
dictines instituted. J
KINGDOM OF THE OSTROGOTHS. I '' ™v7n?."^"
33. The emperur Justinian appliles to the bishop of
Rome to settle a controversy-, saying, "We hast-
en to submit all things tu Y^ur Holiness, who
are the head over all the h;oly churches.'*
60. Extreme unctioln introduced, and
the iuvocationlof the Virgin and
16. Computation of time from S!unt.«. |
the Christian era. intro- 55. Filth Gener*al Council, at Con
duced by Dionysius, the writin^'s»of Theodorus, Theo
monk. demnedlas heresies.
nd governs Italy, as duke, until 67. 62. Grimoaldus.
in revenge he invites Alboin to invade the country.
60. Gundebertus.
LOMBARDS IN ITALY.
Latin Language ceases to be spoken in Italy
gilulphus. 15. Adaloaldus. 36. Rotharis.
71. Perthartt.
udal government
gins. 25.
Ariovaldus.
.. Rodoaldus.
S3. Aribertus.
86. Cunibert.
4. S-abinianus.
L.theG-
6.'
40. Severinus. -55
RE.\T. 40. John IV. ■'■;
Boniface III. v.i. Martin
Boniface IV. 42 Theodore.
•£>. ffonorlus I.
EugeiMus I.
Vitalianus.
12. Adeodatus.
76.Donusl. &i. JohnV.
78. Agatlio. M Canon
K'. Serglu
88. Benedict '
•7. The Pantheon at Rome dedicated as aChzntiBn Church.
80. Sixth General (
and several
Middle Ages Begin.
stantlnople, where the errors of Origen. as well as the
doretus, and Ibas. " the Three Chapters," are con-
GAUL
OR
FRANCE.
11. Childebert has Paris. Clotaire I. has Soissons,
Clodomir lui.s ( irleans. and Thierry has Metz.
Clotaire reunites the kingdom by 559,
but at his death, in 562, it is again
divided among his sons.
62. Chllperic has Soissons, Charibert
has Paris, Grotan has Bur-
gundy, and Sigebert I. has Aus-
Irasia.
MEROVINGIAN HOUSE. *^ ^^H^estibUsh
after rennit
Pepin d'Herist!
Thierry; de
authority, tl
the honors
32. Dagobert commits all the real
power into the hands of the
mayor of the palace, which
accounts for the character of
the succeeding kings, aptly
denominated "sluggards.
38. He dies, and his dominions are divided be-
tween his two sons. 91. Clov
38. Clovis II. has Nuestria. and Dagobert II has
ceeds Chilperic. Austrasia. 65. Clotaire II.
es tranauillity '28. Dagobert I. To. Thierry II.
ing the kingdom.
SAXON HEPTARCHY.
71. E.\ST ANGLIA, found
NORTHUMBERLAND, 97. Aus
founded by Idda. mis
d by Off a.
tin (Augustine) and forty monks arrive as
sionaries, sent by Gregory, bishop of Rome.
27. ESSEX, founded by SIgobert.
*4. MrRCIA, fo unded by Crida.
CHRONOLOGICAL CHART No. IV.
Barbarian axd Mohammedan Ascendencies.
From 500 to 900 A. D.
PREPARED BY JOHN CLARK RIDPATH, LL. D.
OOF'TmiOHT^D, IBBC
WALES.
13. Cadwan.
34. Cadwall.
78. Cadwallader.
8t'>. Idwallo.
4. Kenneth (or Cleneth) I.
SCOTLAND. ^' Do'"l<' 'V- •» Malduln. S8. Eugene V
50. Ferchard II. 92. Eugene V
I of Tartary.
le House of
lalil.
1. Walld I.
800
49. Abul-Abbas, first of the
ABBASSIDES.
79. Al Modi.
S4. Musa 'I Hadl.
SARACEN
14. Soliman.
IT. Omar II.
19. Yezid II.
23. Hesham.
43. waiid. 86. Haroun Al
44. Yezid III. and benev
44. Merwan II. does muc
54. Al Mansor ; does much for science.
Q'2. Builds Bagdad for his capi-
tal, and calls it the city of
Caravansaries built. Peace.
In consequence of this, Ara-
30. After conquering Spain bia loses much of its im-
they invade Gaul. portance.
7. AlAmin.
61. Al Montaser.
13. Al Mamun, a great encour-
62. Al Mostaim.
ager of learning.
65. Al IMotaz.
33. Al Motasem.
68. Al MohtadI
EMPIRE
RaSChid, a brave 41. Al Wathek. 09. Al Motamed.
olent caliph; he ^^ «■ .. » ...
h for science. ^6. Al Molawakkel.
" The Augustau age of Saracenic literature."
50. Turkishlslaves formed into the
body-lguards of the caliphs.
7. Haroun sends Charlemagne a clock, ;
the first ever seen in Europe. (il. Aft;er the murder of the
cailiph the Turkish guards
dispose of the throne at
thieir pleasure.
ege Constan- 41. Constantine V.
d months. Coprunymus. 75. Leo IV., iconoclast
>i years in succession or imaKe-breaker,
1 by Calinicus, 11. Phllipicus Bardanes. 81. Constantine VI
ships with the 13. Anastasius II. Irent' is nj^'ni in
;ek tire." 15. Theodosius III. Sho n'.ston.'.s im
16. Leo III. negotiates a m
2t). Leo publishes an edict lemagne, buti
16- ISAURIC against the venera- 88. Irene murde
illus. D A nc *^'^" ^^ images, which proclaimed
ilmarus Tiberius. RALE. causes disturbances.
, NIcephorus. 20. Theophilus.
11. Michael I. Cukui-alates.
13. Leo v., THK Armenian.
20. Michael
her son's minority,
age-worship. Irene
arriage with Chur-
s dethroned,
rs her son, and is
sole empress.
St A]
IL, THE
1 MERE a.
Basil 1. has a vigorous reign ; re-
stores in some measure the fall-
ing honor of the empire; founds
the MACEDONIAN RACE.
42. Michael lll.«
THE Drunkard.
86. Leo VI., THE Phi-
losopher.
Photius, patriarch of Constantino-
ple, a learned writer, d. 86.
12. ;The Visigoths conquered by 55. The kingdom or caliphate of
[ the Saracens, who, having Cordova founded uy Abder-
I extended their dominion rahman of the House of Cm
! along the northern coast miades. He and his success
; of Africa, invade Spain ors encourage literature and
; from Mauritania, whence science.
; they are called Moors. The
" Goths retire into Asturias. 87. Hashem.
22. Abderrahman II. He encourages science and literature.
. Insurrection at Cordova. In- .52. Mohammed I. 89. Abdalla, a mild
surgents exiled, a body of and enlightened prince.
whom capture Crete in 23, 60-81. Rebellion of Omar.
and found Candia. 44. Irruption of the Norman Sea-kings, a
race of pirates from Scandinavia, who,
during two centuries (from 800 to 1000),
ravage almost every coast in Europe.
18.
"'""'"ifi^^gTorol ASTURIAS.
Ragimbertus usurps.
Aribertus II.
12. Ansprandus.
44. Hildebrandus deplosed for iiis vices.
Rachisius. ; 74. Is deposed by
5{i. Desiderius. ; annexes Ital
49. Astolphus; he netakes Ravenna a
is defeated b-y Pepin.
Charlemagne, wlio
y to his empire.
nd llireatens Rome ;
7.'»,jCharles the Bald, liinguf Krunoe.
i 77 Carloman. y4. Lambert.
55. Louis II. 1 .su. Ciiarles tiic Fat, emperor in
(emperor.) 181. 89. Guyof Hpoletto, and Ber-
Senger of Fn iili dispute the crown
Luitprandus; he tal^es Ravenna.
Contests with
the pope.
Jolin. s. Constantine. 41. Zachary. .'i7. Paul I.
5. John VII. 31. Gregory III. .'iu Stephen II.
7. Sissinius. P A
I 74. The donation
] and enlarged
I'io. Pepin rewards Pope Stephen by co
_; him the exarchate of Ravenna
Leo.
of Pepin confirmed
by Charlemagne.
44. Sergius II. 8'J. Martin II.
t;7. Adrian II. .S4. Adrian III.
16.
II.
67. Stephen III. 95.
72. Adrian I.
PAL
nferring upon 24. Eugenius II. 47. Leo IV. 72. John VIM.
and Pentapolis. i;7. Valentine. O.'i Benedict III.
16. Stephen IV. Gregory IV. 5n Nicholas I.
17. Pascal I.
Stephen VI.
91 Formosus.
CHURCH.
26 to 87. Controversies respecting
image-worship,
icil, at Constantinople, at which I'opc Honorius
er Ijishops are solemnly anathematized.
87. Seventh Gen
(Second o
eral Council
f iNiee).
48. Eighth General Council at
( oustantinople.
49. The Saracens besiege Rome ;
pulsed by Leo IV.
I 55. Louis II. 66. Hegoes against the Sara-
13. Louis I., THi! Pious.HO. Lothaire I. His cens, who had invaded
Divides his domin-jbrother Charles has Italy, and is defeated.
ions among his;France, and I^ouis 75. Charles II., the Bald,
sons ; they revolt. .Bavaria. 42. Louis of Bavaria, king of France.
• SI. Charles the Gross, grandson of Louis I.
I 87. Arnold, great-grandson of Louis I.,
I pn>claimed 96. He takes Rome.
ayiir, declares war against 52. He applies to the pope with reference to the
him and rules with absolute
rii lie preserves to Thierry
valtv.
14. Charles Martel
succeeds his fath-
deposition of Childeric III. The decision
is that " As Pepin possesses the power, he
shall also bear the title of king." The
last of the Merovingians is therefore dis-
missed into a convent. 71. ( 'arlonian dies.
68. Charles the Great, or Charlemagn*;,
er as mayor. 32. Toims— Charles .Icf.ats the Saracens with im
11. Dagobert III. 47. Chilperic III. lit.'Tlic.sand religion of Europe.
15. Chilperic II. 72-S03. Charlemagne subdues the
41. Pepin le Bref, son Saxons seven times.
20. Thierry IV. of Charles in 73. He defeats Desiderius, who had
Austrasia. invaded the dominions of the pope.
Charlemagne, or Chaki.es the 40. Charles II., THE Bald.
Great, crowned emperor of the 41. FoiUeitny — Lothaire defeated by his
West; brave and industrious: brothers Louis and Cliarles.
a statesman and patron of learning. 77. Louis II., the Stammerer.
The Normans overthrow all the 79. Louis III. and Carloman.
, ^ western provinces, burning and destroying.
mense slaughter and saves the 87. Charles deposed for cow- 88. Eudes or
ardice, and the imperial dignity transferred from France Odo, elected.
KAoi nuiuiM/iu luofoi/i/ to Germany. 84. Charles II., the Gross.
CARLOVINGIAN. IMPERIAL. 85. Normans besiege Paris.
BEDE. "the Venerable," an ecclesiastical historian, d. .35, a. 62.
Egbert the Great j:iif;;;t,^susS: '-• Alfred the Great, ^ ;i?^9f
19. Couq\iers Kent. 38. Ethelwolf. defeats the Danes in eight battles,
24. Conquers Essex. 57. Ethelbald. divides England into counties,
27. Finishes the conquest of the and establislies trial by jury.
other kingdoms, and remainssole king. 86. Founds < t.xfonl University.
58. Fresh invasions of the piratical Danes.
60. Ethelbert. 6fi. Ethelred.
20. Roderic I.
55. Conan.
be Britons, having been totally subdued by the Saxons, had before this
time retreated into Wales and Cornwall.
18. Merwin Uriel, King of Man, and 77. He divides the kingdom among
his wife Ksyth, heiress of his sons into three principali-
Wales. 43. Roderick II., ties; viz.. North and South
the Great. Wales and Powv's Land.
Amberkeleth. 21. Mordach.
4. Eugene VII. 30. Etfinus.
64. Fergus III.
61. Eugene VIII.
67. Salvathus
87. Achalus or
ABCHANis. 19. Congal III. 57. Donald V. 74. Ethus. 92. Donald VI.
24. Dongal. .58. Constantine II. 75. Gregory the Great.
43. He extirpates the Picts, and He defeats the
takes the title of king of Scotland. Danes and Welsh.
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOM OF THE VISIGOTHS.
426
414 nearly the whole of Gaul had submitted
to the conqueror, who next turned his arms
against the barbarians of Spain. Five years
previously the Spanish peninsula had been
overrun by the Vandals, who with but little
opposition gained possession of the country.
Adolphus now made his way across the Pyre-
nees and began a career of conquest, which
in the following year was cut short by his as-
sassination. The chieftains, however, chose
Wallia as a successor, and in three successive
campaigns drove the Vandals out of Spain.
The country was thus nominally reiinnexed to
the Western Empire. On returning into
Gaul, in the year 418, the Goths were re-
warded by Honorius by the cession of Aqui-
taine, the same being the extensive region
between the Garonne and the Loire. The
Gothic capital was fixed at the city of Tou-
louse, and a more settled state of affairs super-
vened than had been witnessed since the
beginning of the barbarian invasions.
During the reign of Theodoric he was fre-
quently called upon to protect his Visigothic
friends in Gaul and Spain. The Franks,
however, became more and more aggressive.
By the year 507 Clovis had fixed his capital
at Paris. In a council held at that city he
declared his purpose of making war on the
Goths because of their heresy in following the
creed of Arius. The nobles proclaimed their
readiness to follow and their determination
never to shave their beards until victory had
crowned their enterprise. Clotilda, the queen,
added woman's zeal to the cause, and through
her influence Clovis vowed to build a church
to the holy apostles, who were expected to be
his patrons in the extermination of the Gothic
heretics. A campaign was accordingly organ-
ized for the recovery of Aquitaine.
At this time the king of the Visigoths was
Alaric, a warlike prince, but no match for
Clovis. After mutual preparations the two
armies came face to face a few miles from
Poitiers, where the overthrow of the Goths
was easily effected. The two kings met in the
battle, and Alaric fell under the battle-axe of
his rival. The conquest of the rich province
of Aquitaine was the result of the conflict,
but the Goths were permitted to retain the
narrow tract of Septimania, extending from
the Rhone to the Pyrenees. As to the rest of
the Gaulish possessions of the Visigoths, they
were permanently annexed to the kingdom
of France.
In the mean time, during the latter half of
the fifth century, the race of Alaric had
planted itself firmly in Spain. In this coun-
try the barbarians made little concealment of
their purpose to extinguish the Roman Em-
pire. Theodoric 11. , who had himself obtained
the Visigothic throne by murder, was in hia
turn assassinated by his brother, Euric, who
proved to be as able as he was base. In the
year 472 he passed the Pyrenees and captured
Saragossa and Pampeluna. The nobles of the
Roman party gathered an army to resist hio
progress, but were defeated in battle. He
then extended his conquest into Lusitania,
and reduced the whole peninsula. Even the
little kingdom of the Suevi was made to
acknowledge the authority of the Gothic
sovereign.
With the beginning of the following cen-
tury the royal line of the Goths was broken
by the death of the infant grandson of The-
odoric, and the government fell into the
hands of Count Theudes, whose valor as a
chieftain had already made him a power in
the nation. At this time the Goths were en-
gaged in a, war with the Vandals, and it waa
resolved to invade Africa. In the year 535
an expedition was made against Ceuta, on the
African coast. The place was besieged, with
every prospect of success on the part of the
besiegers ; but on the Sabbath day the pious
Goths forebore to press the enemy and en-
gaged in worship. Taking advantage of this
respite, the irreligious Vandals sallied forth
and broke up the investment. It was with
difliculty that Theudes made his escape into
Spain. In a short time, however, an embassy
came from Gelimer, now in the deepest dis-
tress ; for BelLsarius was victorious over the
Vandals, and their king was a fugitive. In
534 he applied to Theudes for help ; but the
latter merely temporized with the messengers
until he learned of the downfall of Carthage,
whereupon he dismissed them.
After the conquest of Africa, Belisarius
repaired to Italy and the Visigothic kingdom
was for a while left undisturbed. When
Theudes died the succession was disputed, and
the less worthy of the two candidates appealed
426
UNIVERSAL HISTORY— THE MODERN WORLD.
to Justinian for the support of his claims.
The Emperor espoused his cause, and received
in return several cities and fortresses as a rec-
ompense. In this way the influence of the
Eastern Empire was, to a certain extent, re-
stored in Spain, and during the remainder of
the sixth and the early part of the seventh
century the kingdom of the Visigoths might
well be regarded as a dependency.
Between the years 577 and 584 the great
religious revolution was accomplished by
which, in Gaul and Spain, the Arian faith
was overthrown and the orthodox creed es-
tablished as the true belief of the Christians.
As usual in such movements, personal agencies
were blended with general causes in effecting
the i-esult. At the period referred to, Leovi-
gild was king of the Goths. He, like his
subjects, held to Arianism. His son, Her-
menegild, chose for his wife the orthodox
daughter of Sigebert, king of the Franks.
Between her and the wife of the Gothic
monarch violent dissensions arose, and the
younger princess was at last beaten almost to
death and ordered to be drowned in a fish-
pond. Hermenegild, backed by the arch-
bishop of Seville, prevented the execution of
the murderous purpose of the queen. The
Catholic party rallied to the support of Her-
menegild and his wife, and civU war — which
was really a war of religions — broke out in
the kingdom. For the time success declared
for the side of the king and the Arians. The
rebellious son was overthrown, and finally,
after repeated acts of treason, was put to
death.
When Leovigild died, he was succeeded
by his son, Recared, who, like his brother,
was of the othodox belief. He declared him-
self a Catholic. He called a council of the
Arian clergy, and reason -and superstition
were both employed to persuade them from
their error. By various means they were
won over, though several nascent rebellions
had to be crushed before the change in the
national faith could be effected. The whole
body of the A^isigothic people was gradually
brought within the Catholic fold, and the
Suevi of North-western Spain were also added
to the Church.
One of the principal acts of the reign of
Recared was the calling of the great Council
of Toledo — first of the conventions of that
name. Seventy bishops of the Church as-
sembled and testified the zeal of new converts
by extending the doctrines of the Nicene
Creed. The king celebrated the religious re-
covery of his people by sending costly pres-
ents to Gregory the Great, and that pontiff re-
ciprocated by returning to Eecared the hairs
of John the Baptist, some of the wood of the
True Cross, and some iron rust from the
chains of St. Peter.
During the seventh century the Visigothic
kingdom in Spain flourished as greatly aa
might be expected of a barbarian power in a
barbaric age. One of the marked features of
the times was the establishment of many colo
nies of Jews in the Spanish peninsula. The
warlike spirit in the sons of Israel was now
extinct, but their buffetings amon^ the na-
tions had developed in the race that marvelouc
faculty of gain by which the Jewish people
have ever since been characterized. Their
rapid accumulations had made them the vic-
tims of avarice in every state where they had
settled. Nor were the pious Visigoths any
exception to the rule of persecution. Of
course the religion of the Jews was generally
made an excuse for the perpetration of deeds
the real object of which was mere confiscation
and robbery. Indeed, it may be stated as a
general fact that, during the Middle Ages in
Europe, the right of property was never re-
garded except when enforced by the sword.
In the beginning of the seventh century
the Visigothic king was Sisebut. During hia
reign a great persecution was instituted
against the Spanish Jews. The real motive
was j)lunder. Ninety thousand of the Israel-
ites were compelled under penalty of confis-
cation to accept the rite of baptism. Those
who refused were put to torture; nor were
the recusants permitted to avoid the alterna-
tive by escaping from the country. It was
baptism, or death. The obstinacy of the Jews
was such that most of their property passed
to the hands of their persecutors. When
there was little more to be obtained by rob-
bery one of the successors of Sisebut issued
an edict for the banishment of all Jews from
his dominion. One of the great councils of
Toledo required all succeeding sovereigns to
subscribe to the law of banishment; but cu-
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOM OF THE VANDALS.
427
pidity was generally stronger than an oath,
and it became the practice to despoil and
enslave the Jews rather than drive them to
foreign lands. Notwithstanding the distresses
which they suffered the Jews continued to
increase, and it can not be doubted that they
were the agents of that intercourse by which
in the early part of the eighth century the
Moors of Al'rica, already panting for such an
enterprise, were induced to cross the strait
and undertake the conquest of Europe.
The story of this great movement, by which
the Mohammedans were precipitated into
Spain, will be reserved for its proper place in
the Second Book. It is sufficient in this con-
nection to say that in the year 711 a great
army of mixed races, all professing the faith
of the Prophet, and led by the great chieftain
Taric, crossed the strait of Gibraltar and began
a career of conquest which resulted in the
subjugation of Spain. The Visigothic ascen-
dency was ended, except in the Christian king-
dom of Castile, in which the remnant of the
Christian powers were consolidated and were
enabled to maintain themselves during the
remainder of the Middle Ages.
Of the Kingdom of the Vandals a good
deal has already been said in the preceding
pages. The progress of this people from
the north and their settlement in Spain will
readUy be recalled.' Having once obtained a
foothold in the peninsula they gradually pre-
vailed over their adversaries. Even the Ro-
man general Castinus, who in 428 was sent
out against them, was defeated in battle and
obliged to save himself by flight. Tiie cities
of Seville and Carthageua fell into the hands
of the Vandals, who thence made their way
to the islands of Majorca and Minorca, and
then into Africa. Into the latter country
they were invited by King Boniface, who had
become the leader of an African revolt against
his rival Aetius. The disposition of the Van-
dals to extend their conquests beyond the sea
had been quickened by the warlike zeal of the
great Genseric, who, after the death of his
brother Gonderic, was elected to the Vandal
throne. So great was the prowess of this
mighty warrior that his name is written with
those of Alaric and Attila as the third of the
barbaric thunderbolts by which the great tree
' See Book First, p. 36.
of Rome was riven to the heart. He is rep-
resented as a man of medium stature, lame in
one leg, slow of speech, taciturn, concealing
his plans in the deep recesses of his barbaric
spirit. His ambition was as great as his
policy was subtle. To conquer was the prin-
cipal thing; by creating strife among his ene-
mies, if might be, by open battle if necessary.
When about to depart for the war in
Africa — though Genseric contemplated no less
than the removal of the whole Vandal race
to the south side of the Mediterranean and
the consequent abandonment of the Spanish
peninsula — he turned about to chastise the
king of the Suevi, who had rashly presumed
to begin an invasion of the territory from
which the Vandals were departing. Genseric
fell ujjon the impudent violators of the peace
and drove them into the river Anas. Then
in the year 429 he embarked at the head of
his nation, crossed the strait of Gibraltar, and
landed on the African coast.
The number transported for the succor of
Boniface amounted to fifty thousand men of
war, besides the aged and infirm, the women
and the children of the nation. It was, how-
ever, the prestige of victory rather than the
array of numbers that rendered the Vandal
invasion so formidable to the African tribes.
Strange, indeed, was the contrast between the
florid-complexioned, blue-eyed German war-
riors, strangely dressed and still more strangely
disciplined, and the swarthy natives of hat
sun-scorched shore. Soon, however, the Moors
came to understand that the Vandals were
the enemies of Rome, and that sufficed for
friendship. The African tribes crowded around
the camp and eagerly entered into alliances
with Genseric, willing to accept any kind of
a master instead of the relentless lords of
Italy.
No sooner had the Vandals established
themselves in Africa than Count Boniface
and the Princess Placidia found abundant
cause to repent of their rashness in soliciting
the aid of the inexorable barbarians. It be*
came manifest that neither Tyrian nor Trojan
would receive any consideration at the hands
of the jtern king of the Vandals. Boniface
sought and obtained the pardon of Aetius.
Carthage, and the other Roman posts, by
which Africa had long been overawed and
428
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
held in subjection, returned quickly to their
allegiance, and Boniface with an army of vet;
erans would gladly have cooperated with the
constituted authorities in driving the Vandals
beyond the sea. But Geuseric soon annihi-
lated the forces of Boniface, and carried his
victorious banners far and wide until only the
cities of Carthage, Cirta, and Hippo Rhegius
remained in the possession of the Romans.
The religious condition of Africa contrib-
THE LANDINU OF THE VANDALS IN AFRICA.
Drawn by F. E. Wolfrom.
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOM OF THE VANDALS.
429
uted to its rapid conquest by Genseric. A
sect called the Donatlsts, so named from their
leader, Donatus, who flourished in the begin-
ning of the fourth century, fell under the ban
of the orthodox party and were bitterly per-
secuted. Three hundred bishops and thou-
sands of clergymen of inferior rank were de-
prived of their property, expelled from their
country, and driven into exile. Intolerable
fines were imposed upon persons of distinc-
tion supposed to be in sympathy with the
heretics. Under these persecutions many of
the Donatists gave way of necessity and en-
tered the Catholic fold ; but the fanatical ele-
ment could not be subdued, and this numer-
ous party became the natural ally of Genseric.
■The sacking of the Catholic churches which
ensued, and which, as reported by the fathers,
has made the word vandalism a synonym for
■wanton robbery, is doubtless to be attributed
to the uncontrollable vengeance of the Don-
atists rather than to the barbarians them-
selves, who, on the whole, were less to be
■dreaded for their savagery than either the
<jroths or the Huns.
In the year 4.30, the seven rich provinces
stretching from Tangier to Tripoli were over-
run by the invaders. The cities were gener-
ally destroyed. The wealth accumulated by
ages of extortion was exposed by the torture
■of its possessors, and seized with a rapacity
known only to barbarism. In many instances
the unresisting inhabitants of towns were
butchered by the frenzied Vandals. Boniface
■himself, after vainly attempting to stay the
work which he had provoked, was besieged
in Hippo Rhegius. For fourteen months
the garrison held out, but was finally reduced
by famine. Meanwhile, the Empire sent what
succor might be spared to shore up the totter-
ing fortunes of Africa. A powerful arma-
ment, under the command of Aspar, leaving
■Constantinople, joined the forces of Boniface,
and the latter again offered battle to the Van-
dals. A decisive conflict ensued, in which
the Imperial army was destroyed. Boniface
soon after fell in Italy in a civil broil with his
old rival, Aetius.
It appears that, after the capture of Hippo
Rhegius and the overthrow of Boniface, Gen-
seric did not press his advantage as might
have been expected. He entered into nego-
tiations with the Emperor of the West, and
agreed to concede to that sovereign the poB-
session of Mauritania. Several aspirants for
the Vandal throne, notably the sons of Gon-
deric, appeared to annoy rather than endanger
the supremacy of the barbarian monarch.
Nor could the turbulent populations which he
had subdued be easily reduced to an orderly
state. An interval of eight years was thus
placed between the defeat of Boniface and
the capture of Carthage. When the city fell
into the hands of the assailants, it was de-
spoiled of its treasures after the manner of
the age. The dominant party of the Car-
thaginians was subjected to the severest
treatment by the conqueror. The nobles,
senators, and ecclcMastics were driven into
perpetual banishment.
With the downfall of Carthage the suprem-
acy of the Vandals in Northern Africa was
completely established. .The maritime propen-
sities of the Moorish nations had not been
extinguished by centuries of warfare. Nor
was Genseric slow to perceive that the ocean
was now the proper pathway to further con-
quest and glory. The coast towns again rang
with the shipbuilders' axe, and the Vandals
emulated the nautical skill of the subject peo-
ple. It was not long till an African fleet
conveyed an army into Sicily, which was
readily subjugated. Descents were made on
the coasts of Italy, and it became a question
with the emperors, not whether they could re-
cover Africa, but whether Rome herself could
be saved from the clutches of Genseric.
A Vandal fleet anchored at the mouth of
the Tiber. Maximus had recently succeeded
Valentiuian on the Imperial throne, but at the
end of three months he was murdered and his
body thrown into the Tiber. Three days after
this event, the Vandals advanced against the
city. The Roman bishop, Leo, and a proces-
sion of the clergy came forth, and in the name
of religion and humanity demanded that the
inoffensive should be spared and the city saved
from ruin. Genseric promised moderation,
but vain was the pledge of barbarism. For
fourteen "days and nights Rome was given up
to indiscriminate pillage. The treasures of
the Eternal City were carried on board the
Vandal ships, and Wanton destruction, fire,
and murder added to the horrors of the sack.
430
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
She that had despoiled the nations was iu her
turn outraged and left lying iu her own blood
by the banks of the Tiber.
From this time, for a period of eight years,
the Vandals became the terror of the Medi-
terranean. The coasts of Spain, Liguria,
Tuscany, Campania, Lucania, Bruttium, Apu-
lia, Calabria, Venetia, Dalmatia, Epirus,
Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, aud indeed of all the
countries from Gibraltar to Egypt, were as-
sailed by the piratical craft of Genseric. With
all of his conquests and predatory excursions
the Vandal king showed himself capable of
policy and statecraft. After the capture of
Rome, he took the Empress Eudoxia and her
daughter, Eudocia, to Carthage. He com-
pelled the j'oung princess to accept his sou
Hunneric in marriage, and thus established a
kind of legitimacy in the Vandal government.
Eudoxia and her other daughter, Placidia,
were then restored from their captivity.
The separation between the Eastern and
Western Empires had now become so com-
plete that the one could no longer depend
upon the other for succor. The West was
thus left to struggle with the barbarians as
best she might; nor were her appeals for aid
much regarded by the court of Constantinople.
The warlike Count Ricimer, leader of the bar-
barian armies in Italy in alliance with Rome,
was reduced to the necessity of tendering the
Bubmission of the country to the Eastern Em-
peror as the condition of protection against
the Vandals.
On his return to his African kingdom,
Genseric again found himself embroiled with
his Catholic subjects. The orthodox bishops
openly disputed with his ministers in the
synods, and the king resorted to persecution
as a means of intellectual conquest. In the
reign of Huxneric, who succeeded his father
in the year 477, the Catholic party was still
more seriously proscribed. Many were exiled,
and a few were tortured on account of their
religious creed. After the death of Hunneric
in 484, the throne descended successively to
his two nephews, GmroAJiuND and Thrasi-
ftruND, the former of whom reigned twelve
and the latter twenty-seven years.
This period in Vandal history was occupied
with the quarrels and wars of the Arian and
orthodox parties in the Church. Meanwhile,
HiLDERic, the son of Hunneric, grew to his-
majority, and after the death of his cousin
Thrasimund, in 523, acceded to the throne.
His disposition was much more humane than
that of his j^redecessors, but his goodness was-
supplemented by feebleness, aud, after halting
through a weak reign of seven years, he was
supplanted on the throne by his cousin Ge-
LIMER. The end of the Vandal power, how-
ever, was already at hand. Partly with a.
view to exterminate the Arian heresy, and
partly for the purpose of restoring the suprem-
acy of the Empire throughout the West, Bel-
isarius was dispatched into Africa and
intrusted with the work of reconquering the-
country. The years 530-534 were occupied
by the great general in overthrowing the do-
minion established by Genseric south of the-
Mediterranean. Gelimer was driven from the
throne, and attempted to make his escape to-
the capital of the Visigoths iu Spain. He-
made his way as far as the inland districts of
Numidia, but was there seized aud brought-
baek a prisoner. In the year 534, Belisarius
was honored with a triumph in the streets of
Coustautinojjle, and the appearance of the-
aged Gelimer in the captive train was a notifi-
cation to history that the kingdom of thfr
Vandals existed no longer.
The origin and course of the Frankish'
Nation down to the time of Clovis has already
been narrated in the preceding pages, i It.
will be remembered that, after their settlement
in Gaul in the beginning of the fifth century,
the Franks were ruled in the German manner
by a noble family, which traced its origin to-
the prince Meroveus and was known as the
Merovingian House. The chieftains of this-
family were elevated on the bucklers of their
followers and proclaimed kings of the Franks.
They were represented as having blue eyes-
and long, flaxen hair, tall in stature, warlike
in disposition. Clodion, the first of these^
kings, held his court at a town between Lou-
vain and Brussels. His kingdom is said to-
have extended from the Rhine to the Somme.
On his death the kingdom was left to his two-
sons, the elder of whom appealed to AttUa,
and the younger — Meroveus — to the court of
Rome. Thus was prepared one of the condi-
tions of the Hunnish invasion of Gaul. Of
' See Book First, p. 37.
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOM OF THE FRANKS.
431
the reign of Meroveus not much is known.
The next sovereign, named Childeric, was
banished on account of his youthful follies.
For four years he lived in retirement in Ger-
many, where he abused the hospitality of the-
king of the Thuringians by winning away
his queen, who accompanied him on his way
into Gaul. Of this union was born the
'THUS DIDST THOU TU THE VASE AT SUISSONS.'
432
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
prince Khlodwig, or Clovis, who is regarded
as the founder of the Frankish monarchy.
In the year 481 he succeeded his father in the
governmeut, being then but fifteen years
of age.
Clovis was a warrior from his youth. His
disposition was audacious in the extreme. In
one of his earlier campaigns he captured the
■cathedral of Rheims and despoiled the altar
of its treasures. Among the rich booty was
A marvelous vase of great size and value.
AVhen it came to a division of the spoil, the
king — against that usage of the German race
which required that all the spoils of war
should be divided by lot — sought the vase for
himself. For the bishop of Rheims had sent
to him a request for a return of the price-
less trophy, and Clovis would fain make
friends with the Christian nobleman. But
■one of the Frankish chiefs struck the vase
with his battle-axe and destroyed it.
Clovis was greatly angered, but for a whUe
■concealed his wrath. In the course of time
there was a military inspection of the Franks,
■and when the king came to examine the arms
•of him who had broken the vase he found
them rusty and unfit for use. He wrenched
the battle-axe out of the hands of the chief
and threw it on the ground, and when the
•owner stooped to recover it dashed his own
ponderous weapon into the skull of the stoop-
ing warrior. "Thus," said he, "didst thou
to the vase at Soissons." Nor did any dare
to resent the murder of the chief.
At the time of the accession of Clovis the
feingdom of the Franks embraced only the
provinces of Tournay and Arras, and the
number of Clovis's warriors did not, perhaps,
■exceed five thousand. It was, however, a
part of the freedom of the German tribes to
attach themselves to what chieftain soever ap-
peared most worthy to be their leader.
At first Clovis was a soldier of fortune. In
his earlier expeditions and conquests the
spoils of battle were divided among his fol-
lowers. Discipline, however, was the law of
his army, and justice the motto of his govern-
ment. His ascendency over the Franks and
other German tribes soon became the most
marked of any thus far witnessed since the
beginning of the barbarian invasion. Soon
after his accession to authority, Clovis was
obliged to contend for his rights with the
Roman Syagrius, who claimed to be master-
general of Gaul. That element in Gaulish
society, however, which was represented by
Syagrius had so greatly declined in numbers
and influence that Clovis gained an easy vic-
tory, and his rival was delivered over to the
executioner.
The next conflict of the king of the Franks
was with the Alemanni. This strong confed-
eration of tribes claimed jurisdiction over the
Rhine from its sources to the Moselle. Their
aggressions in the kingdom of Cologne brought
them into conflict with Clovis, and the latter
defeated them in a great battle fought in the
plain of Tolbiac. The king of the Alemanni
was slain, and his followers were obliged to
submit to the conqueror. The result of the
conflict was so far-reaching that Theodoric
the Great sent his congratulations from Ra-
venna.
In the year 496 Clovis was converted from
paganism to Christianity. In the mean time
he had married Clotilda, a Catholic princess,
niece of the king of Burgundy. It was
through her instrumentality that the king's
mind was gradually won from the supersti-
tions of the North. The tradition exists that
in the crisis of the battle of Tolbiac, when
the kingdom as well as the life of Clovis was
hanging in the balance, he prayed aloud to
the "God of Clotilda," whereupon victory
declared in his favor. The pious warrior
could do no less than recognize his obligation
by accepting the religious faith of his queen.
It appears, moreover, that the doctrines of
Christianity had already diffused themselves
not a little among the chiefs of the Frankish
nation. Though it was anticipated that the
conversion of Clovis would be illy received
by his people, yet the opposite was true. The
chiefs of the Franks applauded his course and
followed his example. In the year 496 Clovis
was publicly baptized in the cathedral of
Rheims, and the officiating bi.shops and priests
spared no pains to make the ceremony as sol-
emn and magnificent as possible. Three thou-
sand of the principal Franks were likewise
baptized into the new faith.' Thus, nominally,
' It is narrated that Clovis was greatly excited
on hearing repeate'i the tragic story of the cruci-
fixion of Christ. His feelings were a mixture of
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOM OF THE FRANKS.
433
at least, the new kingdom established by the
genius of Clovis was planted upon a basis of
Christianity.
It could not be truthfully claimed, how-
ever, that the lives and characters of the
Prankish king and his subjects were much
modified by their conversion. The ferocious
manners and coarse instincts of the barbarians
still continued to predominate until what time
the gradual influ-
ences of enlighten-
ment dispelled the
darkness of heath-
enism. The reign
of Clovis thus be-
came a mixture of
Christian profession
and pagan practices.
He accepted the mir-
acles performed at
the holy sepulcher
at Tours by St. Mar-
tin, and drank in
the entire supersti-
tion of his times.
He received from the
Catholic clergy the
title of Eldest Son
of the Church; for
he was the first of
the pagan kings to
accept the doctrines
of Christianity as
they were promul-
gated from the See
of Rome.
But neither the
professions of relig-
ious faith, nor the
baptismal ceremony,
nor any humanity
in the king himself
prevented him from
imbruing his hands in the blood of the
innocent. He assassinated all the princes of
the Merovingian family as coolly and delib-
erately as though he were an Oriental despot ;
nor was any human life or interest permitted
•Christian pathos and barbarian vengeance. "Had
I been present with my valiant Franks," he ex-
claimed in wrath, " I would have revenged his
•injuries."
to stand between him and his purpose. In
the year 497, the Armoricans were obliged to
submit to the new French monarchy. About
the same time, the remaining troops and gar-
risons v/ithin the limits of Gaul were over-
powered by the Franks. In further conquests
Clovis extended his authority over the north-
ern provinces, and in 499 he began war on
Gundobald, king of the Burgundians. In the
CLOVJd MUliilLUS THI, .MtUuVlNGlAN FKlNUiiS.
Drawn by Vieige.
realms of that monarch, as previously in those
of the king of the Franks, religious clamor
was at its height between the Catholic and
Arian parties. The king adhered to the lat-
ter, and the former, having a natural affilia-
tion with Clovis, a good excuse was given to
the king of the Franks for undertaking the
war in the name of religion. In the year
500 a great battle was fought between Langres
434
UNIVERSAL HISTORY. — THE MODERN WORLD.
and Dijon. Victory declared for Clovis. Bur-
gundy became tributary to the Franks. Within
a short time Gundobald violated the conditions
which were imposed by the conqueror, and
the war was renewed. Gundobald, however,
continued his nominal reign until his death,
and was succeeded by his son, Sigismund.
With him the kingdom of the Burgundians
was destined to extinction. In the year 532,
an army of Franks was led into the country,
and Sigismund was driven from the throne,
captured, and, with his wife and two children,
buried alive in a well. The Burgundians
were still allowed to enjoy their local laws,
but were otherwise incorporated with the do-
minions of the conqueror. There thus re-
mained to the sons of Clovis a realm almost
as broad as the Republic of France.
In the mean time Clovis had established
his capital at Paris. In the first quarter of
the sixth century occurred the great struggle
between the Goths and the Franks for posses-
sion of the country north of the Alps. A
personal interview was held between Clovis
and Alaric on an i.sland in the Loire. IMany
were the mutual professions of kingly and
brotherly affection between the two distin-
guished monarchs, who each hid beneath the
cloak of Christian regard a profound and
settled purpose to undo his friend at the first
opportunity. In the year 507 a great battle
was fought about ten miles from Poitiers, in
which the Franks were completely victorious.
In the next year the kingdom of Aquitaine
was overrun by Clovis and annexed to his
dominions. Hearing of these great conquests
&nV especially delighted with the Christian
profcssio' of'the king of the Franks, the Em-
peror Anastasius, looking out from Constan-
tinople to the west, conferred upon him the
imperial titles. The king entered the church
of St. Martin, clad himself in purple, and was
saluted as Cmisid and Augudm.
Something was still wanting to complete
the establishment of the French monarchy,
and this was supplied a quarter of a century
after the death of Clovis. The city of Aries
and Marseilles, the last strongholds of the
Ostrogoths in Gaul, were surrendered to the
Franks, and the transfer was sanctioned by
Justinian. The people of the provinces beyond
the Alps were absolved from their allegiance
to the Emperor of the East, and by this act
the independent sovereignty of the Franks
was virtually recognized. So complete was
the autonomy of the new government that
gold coins, stamped with the name and image
of the Merovingians, passed current as a meas-
ure of value in the exchanges of the Empire.
The settled state of affairs which thus super-
vened ajnong the people of Gaul, contributed
powerfully to stimulate the nascent civilization
of the epoch. Already under the immediate
successors of Clovis, the Franks or French
became of all the recently barbarous peoples
of the North the most polite in manners, lan-
guage, and dress.
It may be interesting in this connection to-
add a few paragraphs respecting the growth
of law, and, in general, of the social usages
which prevailed among the barbarian peoples,
especially among the Franks, in the times of
the Merovingian kings. Before the elevation
of the House of Meroveus, namely, in the
beginning of the fifth century, the Franks
appointed four of their sagest chieftains to
reduce to writing the usages of the nation.
Their work resulted in the production of a
code known as the Salic Laivs. These statutes
were reported to three successive assemblies of
the people and were duly approved. When
Clovis became a Christian he found it neces-
sary to modify several of the laws which
touched upon questions of religion. His suc-
cessors in the kingdom further revised the
Salic code until in the course of a century
from the time of Clovis the statutes were
reduced to their ultimate form. About the
same time the laws of the Ripuarian Franks
were codified and promulgated ; and these two
bodies of law were made the basis of the legis-
lation of Charlemagne. It will be remembered
that when the Alemanui were conquered by
the Franks they were permitted to retain their
own local institutions. The same was true in
the case of the conquest of the Bavarians.
The Merovingian kings took care that the laws
of the two peoples last mentioned should also
be compiled as a part of the local statutes of
the kingdom. In the case of the Visigoths
and the Burgundians, written legislation had al-
ready preceded the Prankish conquest. Among
the former people King Euric himself was the
tribal legislator, by whom the immemorial
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGD03I OF THE FRANKS.
435
flsages cf his nation were reduced to statutory
form.
In general, the barbarian laws were such
as sprang necessarily out of the couditious
present in their rude society. Each trilje had
its local customs and usages, which in the
course of time obtained first the sanctiou of
observance and then of authority. When the
kingdom was consolidated under the Merovin-
gians each tribe was permitted to retain its
own laws; nor did Clovis and his successors
attempt to exact uniformity. The same free-
dom which was thus extended to the various
nations composing the Fraukish power was
conceded to the different classes of society.
In some sense there was a law for each member
of the tribe. Individuality was the essential
principle— /ree doom the first thing consulted
in legislation.
The barbarian customs were persistent — ■
transmitted from father to sou. The child
received and followed the law of the parent;
the wife, of her husband ; the freedman, of
his patron. In all procedures the preference
was given to the defendant, who must be tried
in his own court, and might choose the law
under which he was prosecuted.
The peculiar vice of the barbarian legisla-
tion was the fact of its being personal. Crime
was regarded as committed against the indi-
vidual, not against society. This led inevitably
to the substitution of private vengeance for
public punishment. As among the American
aborigines, so among the ancient Germans,
revenge was regarded as honorable. Society
conceded to each the privilege of vindicating
his own rights and punishing the wrongdoer.
The individual executor of the law was thus
in his turn subjected to the will of the kins-
men of any whom he had punished. Venge-
ance and counter-vengeance thus became the
common methods of obtaining redress. The
lex talionis was the law of society. To the
extent that this principle prevailed the magis-
trate was reduced to an«advisory oflicer, whose
duty was to mediate between man and man,
rather than enforce by authority a common
law upon all.
Growing out of these vicious principles was
the idea present in nearly all the barbarian
codes that human life might be measured by
monetary valuation, that blood had its price.
The admission of this element into the legis-
lation of the Germans left the principle of fine
and forfeiture as almost the only restraint
against the commission of crime. Each mem-
ber of society was permitted to take the life
of the other, subject only to his ability to pay
the price of the deed. Every person was ap-
praised for criminal purposes. Upon the life
of each was set an estimate, and this estimate
was freely admitted as the basis of criminal
proceedings. Of the Antrustions, or persons
of the first rank, the lives were appraised at
six hundred pieces of gold. The next grade
of persons, embracing those who sat at the
king's table, were listed at one-half as much as
the Antrustions. The ordinary Frankish free-
man was reckoned as worth two hundred
pieces of gold, while the lives of persons of
inferior quality were set at a price of a hun-
dred or even fifty pieces. In general, the
commission of crime against the life of a per-
son was followed by the payment of a fine
equal to the price at which the murdered man
was appraised. It was perhaps fortunate that
this irrational and inadequate punishment was
reenforced by the fear of that personal vehge-
ance which might in turn be taken upon the
murderer.
With the lapse of time greater rigor was
introduced in the administration of justice;
and by the time of the advent of Charlemagne
legislation had for the most part become im-
personal— that is, punishment was thenceforth
inflicted in the name of society, :ind not in the
name of the individual.
In the sixth century the law was generally
executed by the duke or prefect of the county.
The judge was nearly always unlearned, pas-
sionate, perhaps vindictive. The methods
employed in the alleged courts of justice were
worthy of a barbarous age. The defendant
might introduce his friends as witnesses, and
prove that they believed him innocent! If as
many as seventy-two persons could be found
so to testify, it was sufficient to absolve an
incendiary. It was found that the barbarian
conscience was a very indifferent safeguard
against the crime of perjury. In order more
certainly to obtain the truth, two new methods
were invented of putting the partie:. to the
test. These were known by the common name
of the "Judgment of God." The first was by
436
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
fire, the second by water. The accused was
put to the test of handling a red-hot iron,
which if he might do with imp>inity he wac
adjudged innocent. In the other case the
criminal was put into the water. Should he
be buoyed up, the judgment was. Not Guilty;
should he sink. Guilty. Such was the benign
legislation attributed to the lawgiver Gundo-
hald, king of the Burguudians.
Another method of procedure in the barba-
rian court was that of judicial combat. In
this case the accused was expected to confront
the accuser, and to vindicate his innocence by
battle. The combatants met each other on
foot or on horseback, and fought, each accord-
ing to the method of his own countrymen ;
and the court adjudged that he who fell was
the criminal. This irrational and cruel method
of deciding disputes, begotten, as it was, by
ignorance and cradled by superstition, spread
throughout all the states of Europe, and con-
tinued to prevail for many centuries. Nor
might the weak, except by the aid of a cham-
pion, hope to contend successfully with the
violence of the strong oppressor.
As far back as the days of Ariovistus, a
claim was established by the Germans upon
the lands of Gaul. At first one-third, and
afterwards two-thirds, of the territory of the
Sequani were assigned to the warriors beyond
the Rhine. After five hundred years these
claims, once recognized, were reasserted by
the Visigoths and Burgundians, and became
the basis of the subsequent land titles of Gaul.
At the time of the Frankish invasion, the
rights of the original Gauls and Romans ceased
to be regarded. The land distribution made
by Clovis to his followers has already been
mentioned. The Merovingian princes took and
retained large domains out of the conquered
territory. They also assumed the right of con-
ferring upon the Frankish nobles certain lands
called benefices, which were to be held in the
feudal fashion on the conditions of military
service and homage to the suzerain. Besides
the royal estates and beneficiary lands, two
other classes of title, known as the allodial and
Salic possession, were also recognized. Already
the system of Feudalism might be seen oozing
out of barbaric France.
The system of slavery was adopted by the
Franks as weU as by the Romans. The bar-
barians reduced to servitude the prisoners
taken in war. In general, however, the cap-
tives thus reduced to serfdom were attached to
the estates of their masters, and were hence-
forth regarded as belonging to the land rather
than subject to personal ownership. Still the
power of life and death was freely exercised
by the lord, and none might question his right
to treat his serfs according to the dictates of
interest, caprice, and fashion.
The consolidating and civilizing forces which
began to assert themselves during the reign of
Clovis were greatly retarded after his death.
That event occurred in Paris in the year 511.
The king was buried in the basilica of the
Holy A])ostles, which had been erected by
him at the instance of Clotilda. The king
left four sons as his successors. The first,
named Theodoric, was born of a German wife,
who preceded Clotilda. The other three,
named Childebert, Clodomir, and Clotaire,
were the sons of the queen. The unfortunate
policy was adopted of dividing the kingdom
among them. Theodoric received for his por-
tion parts of Western Germany and Aquitaine,
together with the country bounded by the
Rhine and the Meuse. Childebert reigned at
Paris ; Clodomir, at Orleans ; and Clotaire, at
Soissons. The last named king was destined
to unite the dominions of his brothers with
his own.
At first the three sovereigns of Gaul formed
an alliance and made a successful war on Bur-
gundy, in the course of which Clodomir was
killed, A. D. 531. Thereupon, Clotaire and
Childebert consjiired together to take his king-
dom. The territory of the Orleans prince was
accordingly divided between Paris and Sois-
sons. After this Childebert made an expedi-
tion into Spain, and achieved some success over
the Visigoths, but made no permanent con-
quests. Returning into France, a dispute arose
between him and Clotaire, and the brothers
undertook to settle their troubles by battle.
But before the contest was decided, Childebert
died ; and by this mortal accident, the French
territories of Clovis were again consolidated
in the hands of his son. Meanwhile, the east-
ern part of the Frankish Empire, called Aus-
trasia, remained under the authority of The-
odoric. Two of the sons of Clodomir arose to
claim the restitution of the Orleans province
BARBARIAN ASCENDENVl. -KINGDOM OF THE FRANKS.
43?
which had belonged to their father ; but they
were hunted down and murdered by Clotaire.
A rebellion headed by Chramne, the king's
son, was next suppressed by the royal army ;
and the disloyal prince, together with his wife
and children, was burned alive. Theodoric's
crown descended to his grandson, who died
without issue, and
Austrasia also was
added to the kiugdoiii
of Clotaire, which now
equaled in extent the
realm governed by
his father. His reign
was extended for three
years after the extinc-
tion of the Austrasian
branch, when he died,
leaving the Empii i
again to be divided
among his four son-
Charibert, Gontran
Chilperic, and Sigi_
bert. These all be-
longed to the race of
Rois Faiiieants, or
Royal Donothings, as
they were called, in
contempt of their in-
dolent disposition and
slothful habits.
On the death of
Chilperic the crown
descended to a second
Clotaire, who, at the
ripe age of four
months, was left to
the regency of his
mother, Fredegonda.
At this time the Aus-
trasian government
was under the regency
of the Princess Bru-
nehaut, who governed
in the name of her grandsons. Between the
two regents a war broke out, kindled with the
double ferocity of barbarism and womanhood.
In the year 613 Brunehaut was overpowered
by the nobles of Burgundy and delivered into
the hands of Clotaire, who put her to death
with an excess of cruelty. Her extinction
removed the last obstacle to the reuniting of
the kingdom of Clovis in a single govern-
ment.
Clotaire H. died in the year 628, and was
buried in the sepulcher of the Merovingians
at Paris. He was succeeded in the govern-
ment by his son Dagobert I. Before the death
of his father, namely, in 622, he had beenr
MURDER OF THE CHILDREN OF CLODOMIR.
recognized as king of Austrasia. After the
decease of the king, Neustria and Burgundy"
fell to Dagobert by inheritance; and three
years later the kingdom of Aquitaine, which
had been previously assigned to Charibert,
was reiiunexed to the consolidated Empire.
Dagobert proved to be n sovereign of great-
abilities and ambitions. He made his capital.
438
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— TRE MODERN WORLD.
the most splendid in Western Europe. He
patronized learned men and great artisans.
He endowed monasteries and abbeys. He
■revised the old Salian and Ripuarian statutes
into a common code. He was called the Sol-
omon of the Franks, and the name was well
earned, both by the wisdom of his public and
the social vices of his private life. Striking
was the treachery displayed in his conduct
toward the Bulgarians. Them he invited to
accept an asylum within his dominions and
then murdered. The royal household became
den in the palace. When Dagobert H. waa
assassinated Pepin and Martin were honored
with the titles of dukes of the Franks. At
the same time the kingly title was abolished
in Australia. In the year 680 Martin w'as
killed in battle, and Pepin became master of
the state. The German tribes on the border
had now become hostile, and Duke Pepin was
obliged to exert himself to maintain his east-
ern frontier. In 687 he inflicted a signal
defeat on the enemy, and then invaded the
territory of Neustria. He met the forces of
I. MEROVAUS, 4S8.
I
2. Childeric I., 481.
I
3. Clovis, 511— Clotilda.
I \ \ 1
4. Thierry I., 545. 4. Clodojiib, 542. 4. Childebert, 548. 4. Clot aire I., 561.
6. CHARIBERTI..585. 5. GUNTHRAM. 593. 5. CHILPEBIC I., 681— BRCNEHAUT. 5. SIGEBERT I., 584=FREDEGOHDt
6. Clotaire II., 628. 6. Childebert II.. 596.
8. Dagobert I., 638.
I
8. Charibert II., 631. 7. Theodebert, 613. 7. Thiebby II.. 619.
9. Sigebert II., 656.
9. Clove II., C56.
I
I
10. Clotaire III., 670.
I
10. Childeeic II., 673.
11, Dagobert II., 679.
12. Thierry III., 691.
I
13. CLOVL-illl., 695.
14. Chu.debert HI.. 711
THE MEROVINGIANS.
EXPLANATION :
Figures nr«ce<Jiii(7 names indicate the numbrr of the reign.
" succeedina *' " '* date of death or deposition.
" preceding " and repeated Indicate contemporaneous reigns
From « to 18 are the Rois Fa i n ea nts
15. Dagobert III., 715.
16. Chilperic II., 720.
I
17. Thierry IV., 737.
18. Childeric III., 752.
for the time a kind of Oriental harem, dis-
tracted with the broils of three queens and
numberless concubines. He died in the year
638, and was buried at St. Denis.
Passing over the brief and inglorious reign
of Sigebert II., we come to Dagobert II.,
■who held the throne from C74 to 679, when
•he was assassinated by Pepin of Heristal and
'his brother Martin, mayor of the palace. This
■office had, during the alleged reigns of the
Rois Faineants, become the most important in
the Prankish government. The mayor of the
palace was the great functionary of the state,
and the king with his imbecile glory was hid-
this province in the battle of Testry, and in-
flicted upon them a defeat so signal as to com^
plete at one stroke the conquest of Northern
Gaul, or "Roman France," as that territory
was then called.
Perhaps no other prince ever had more
"kings" at his disposal than Pepin had. He
did not, after the manner of Clovis, attempt
the extermination of the remaining Jlerovin-
gians, but permitted them each in his turn to
occupy the nominal throne, behind which he
himself stood a grisly terror. The kings
Thierry IH., Dagobert H., Clovis IH., Chil-
debert III., and Dagobert III. were so many
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— KINGDOM OF THE FRANKS.
439
r Byal puppets in the hands of the great Frank-
i'jh master. Once a year, on May-day, when
the national assembly was convened at Paris,
Pepin would bring forth his little sovereign and
show him to the people. After this ceremony
had been performed the king was sent back
to the seclusion of his vUla, where he was kept
under guard, while Pepin conducted the aifairs
of state.
The period reaching from the year 687 to
'i'12 was occupied with fierce struggles be-
tween the Franks and Frisians on the Rhine
frontier. The former, however, having now
gained the strength of civilization without
having lost the heroic virtues of barbarism,
were more than a match for the savage tribes
whom they encountered in the north-east.
The Frisians and the Alemanni were com-
pelled, after repeated overthrows, to acknowl-
edge the mastery of the victorious Franks.
Great were the domestic misfortunes to
which Pepin in his old age was subjected. A
fierce rivalry broke out between his queen,
named Plectruda, and his mistress, AJpaida.
Grimoald, son of the former, the legitimate
heir of his father's power, was murdered ; and
the king was obliged to indicate a grandson,
Dagobert III., is his successor. The son of
Alpaida was Karl, or Charles, afterwards sur-
•named Martel, meaning the Hammer. When
in the year 714, the boy grandson of Pepin
acceded to power, he was placed under the
regency of the widowed queen Plectruda ; but
Charles Martel soon escaped from the prison
•in which he had been confined by his father,
seized his nephew, the king, and drove the
queen from the palace. The way was rapidly
preparing for a new dynasty.
In his restoration to liberty, Charles was
aided by the Austrasians, who proclaimed
dim their duke. The Franks were now, as
always, greatly discontented with the rule of
a woman. Wherefore, when Martel led an
army of Austrasians into Neustria, he easily
gained the victory over the forces of the
queen; and the Western Franks were little
indisposed to acknowledge his leadership and
authority. Becoming mayor of the palace,
he permitted Dagobert to continue in the
nominal occupancy of the throne. After his
death three other kinglets, Chilperic, Clo-
taiee, and Thierry, followed in rapid succes-
N. — Vol. 2 — 27
sion, playing the part of puppets. But when,
in 737, the last of this imbecile dynasty died,
Charles refused to continue the- farce, and
no successor was appointed. He, himself as-
sumed supreme direction of affairs, and the
Roi^ Faineants were dispensed with. The
new monarch, however, declined to accept
any title of royalty, merely retaining his
rank as Duke of the Franks.
Great was the energy now displayed in the
government. This was the epoch in which
the struggle began to be manifested between
the Frankish kings and their nobles. The
barbarian aristocracy was littb disposed to
submit to the rule of a monarch. They felt
that their free doom was curtailed by the au-
thority of a king. Charles Martel was com-
pelled to take arms against the powerful
chieftains of Austrasia before they would
submit ; and the prelates of Neustria were in
like manner reduced to obedience. He was
also successful in several campaigns against
the German tribes on the north-eastern fron-
tier ; but the great distinction of his reign
and glory of his own genius were shown in
his conflict with the Mohannnedans.
The appearance in Spain of these fiery fol-
lowers of the Arabian Prophet, their victo-
ries over the Visigoths, and the establishment
of the Moorish kingdoms in the peninsula
have already been referred to and will here-
after be narrated in full.' Having conquered
Spain, the Moslems crossed the Pyrenees and
invaded Gaul. Their purpose of conquest was
nothing less than all Europe for Allah and the
Crescent. In the south of France a gallant
defense was made by Count Eudes, Duke of
Aquitaine, who in 721 defeated the Saracens
in a battle at Toulouse, where Zama, leader
of the host and lieutenant of the caliph, was
slain. The Moslems rallied, however, under
their great leader Abdalrahman, and con-
tinued the invasion. Count Eudes called
loudly to the Franks for aid, and the call
needed no second ; for the Saracens had al-
ready penetrated as far as Poitiers, and the
kingdom was threatened with extinction.
Charles took the field at the head of his
Frankish and German warriors and con-
fronted the Moslem host on the memoraUe
field a few miles north-east of Poitieks. Here,
' See Book Second, pp. 1 14-154.
440
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
on the 3d of October, 732, was fought one
o" .he great battles of history, in which the
religious status of Europe was fixed. All
day long the conflict raged with fury. The
Arabian cavalry beat audaciously against the
ranks of the heavy-armed German warriors,
who with their battle-axes dashed down what-
ever opposed. At suuset the Arabs retired
to their own camp. During the night some
recovered and permanently annexed to tie-
Prankish dominions. Charles continued to
rule the empire until his death in 741, when
the government descended to his two sons,
Caeloman, who received Austrasia, and Pepin
THE Short, to whom was assigned the remain-
der of the Prankish dominion. The latter
soon obtained possession of his Austrasian
province, as well as his own, assumed the
ClIAULES JIARTEL IX THE BATTLE OF POITIEKS.
After a painting by Plueddemann.
of the Moslem tribes fell into battle with each
other, and on the morrow the host rolled back
to the south. Thus just one hundred years
after the death of the Prophet, the tide of his
conquests was forever stayed in the West.
In honor of his triumph over the Saracens,
Charles received the name of the Hammer ;
for he had beaten the infidels into the earth.
Without any imprudent attempt to pursue
the Mohammedan hordes beyond the limits of
safety, he nevertheless pressed his advantage
to the extent of driving them beyond the
Pyrenees. The province of Aquitaine was
name of king, and thus became the founder
of The Carlovingian Dynasty.
On his first accession to power, Pepin
adopted the policy of his immediate predeces-
sors and set up a Jlerovingian figure-head in
the person of Childeric III. This poor shadow
of an extinct House was made to play his part
until the year 752, when a decision was ob-
tained from Pope Zachary in favor of the
Carlovingian family. Childeric was thereupon
shut U]) in a monastery, and Pepin the Short
was anointed and crowned as king by St.
Boniface in the cathedral of Soissons. H»-
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGDOMS. 4^\
signalized the first year of his reign by an-
nexing to his dominions the province of Sep-
timania, which for several years had been held
by the Saracens of Spain. In 753 he engaged
in a war with the Saxons, and compelled that
haughty race to acknowledge his supremacy,
to pay a tribute of three hundred horses, and
to give pledges that the Christian missionaries
within their borders should be distressed no
more.
From the days of Clovis friendly relations
were cultivated between the Frankish kings
and the bishops of Rome. After the defeat
of the Saxons, Pope Stephen III. made a visit
to France, and earnestly besought the aid of
Pepin against the barbarian Astolphus, king
of the Lombards. The Frank readily accepted
the invitation, and led an army into Italy.
Astolphus was besieged in Pavia, and soon
obliged to sue for peace. A favorable settle-
ment was made by Pepin, who then retired to
his own capital ; but no sooner was he beyond
the Alps than Astolphus violated the terms
of the treaty and threatened the capture of
Rome. In the year 755 Pepin returned into
Lombardy, overthrew Astolphus, conquered
the exarchate of Ravenna, and made a pres-
ent of that principality to the head of the
Church. Thus was laid the foundation of the
so-called temporal sovereignty of Rome.
Five years later the attention of Pepin was
demanded by the condition of affairs in Aqui-
taine. In that country a popular leader,
named Waifar, had arisen ; and under his in-
fluence the province was declared independent.
For eight years the war continued with vary-
ing successes ; nor was Pepin at the last able
to enforce submission until he had procured
the assassination of Waifar. In 768 the king
of the Franks returned to his capital, where
a few days afterwards he died at the age of
fifty-three. The kingdom descended to his
two sons, Carloman and Carolus, or Karl,
commonly known as Charles, or Karl the
Great, or still more generally by his French
name of Charlemagne. — Such in brief is the
history of the Frankish kingdom from the
half-mythical and wholly barbarous times of
Meroveus to the coming of that great sov-
ereign, who by his genius in war and peace
may be said to have laid the political founda-
tions of both France and Germany.
CHAPTER LXXVI .— THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGDOMS.
O people of the English-
speaking race, the story
of the Anglo-Saxons can
never fail of interest.
The hardy and adventur-
ous stock transplanted
from the stormy shores
of the Baltic to the foggy island of Britain
has grown into imperishable renown, and the
rough accent of the old pirates of Jutland is
heard in all the harbors of the world.
The native seat of the Anglo-Saxons has
been already defined. From the river Scheldt
to the islands of the Jutes, and extending far
inland, lies a low and marshy country, through
which the rivers for want of fall can scarcely
make their way to the sea. The soil is a
sediment; the sky, a bed of dun mist and
heavy clouds, pouring out their perpetual
rains. Ever and anon the storms roll in from
the North Sea, and the black waves plunge
and roar and bellow along the coast. From
the first, human life in this low and doleful
region has been an everlasting broil with
the ocean.
It was from these dreary regions that the
storm-beaten, war-hardened fathers of the
English race came forth in the middle of the
fifth century to plant themselves in Britain.
Nor was the natural scenery of the new
habitat, shrouded in fogs and drenched Avith
rain, girdled with stormy oceans and clad in
sunless forests, better calculated than their
original seats to develop in our forefathers the
sentiments of tenderness and refinement. By
the banks of the muddy British rivers, and
OD the margin of the somber oak woods, the
mixed tribes of Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and
442
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Frisians established themselves and began to
work out the severe but grand problems of
English civilization. Of the personal charac-
teristics and intellectual features of the race
much has been written, but nothing better in
the way of description and analysis than the
essay of the eloquent Taine. Of the Anglo-
Saxons he says :
"Huge white bodies, cool-blooded, with
fierce blue eyes, reddish flaxen hair; ravenous
stomachs, filled with meat and cheese, heated
by strong drinks; of a cold temperament,
dow to love, home-stayers, prone to brutal
drunkenness: these are to this day the features
which descent and climate preserve in the
the man-hunt is most profitable and most
noble ; they left the care of the lands and flocks
to the women and slaves; seafaring, war, and
pillage was their whole idea of a freeman's
work. They dashed to sea in their two-saUed
barks, landed anywhere, kUled every thing;
and having sacrificed in honor of their gods a
tithe of their prisoners, and leaving behind
them the red light of their burnings, went
farther on to begin again. 'Lord,' says a
certain litany, ' deliver us from the fury of
the Jutes.' 'Of all barbarians these are
strongest of body and heart, the most for-
midable,'— we may add, the most cruelly
ferocious.
Kini
LAUDING OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS IN BRITAIN.
Drawn by A. de Neuville.
race, and these are what the Roman historians
discovered in their former country. There is
no living in these lands without abundance
of solid food ; bad weather keeps people at
home ; strong drinks are necessary to cheer
them; the senses become blunted, the muscles
are braced, the will vigorous. In every coun-
try the body of man is rooted deep into the
soil of nature; and in this instance still
deeper, because, being uncultivated, he is less
removed from nature. In Germany, storm-
beaten, in wretched boats of hide, amid the
hardships and dangers of seafaring life, they
were preeminently adapted for endurance and
enterprise, inured to misfortune, scorners of
danger.
"Pirates at first: of all kinds of hunting
"When murder becomes a trade, it bC"
comes a pleasure. About the eighth century,
the final decay of the great Roman corpse,
which Charlemagne had tried to revive, and
which was settling down into corruption,
called them like vultures to the prey. Those
who remained in Denmark, with their brothers
of Norway, fanatical pagans, incensed against
the Christians, made a descent ^a all th' sur-
rounding coasts. Their sea-kings, ' w!:,/ had
never slept under the smoky rafters of a roof,
who had never drained the ale-horn by an in-
habited hearth,' laughed at winds and storms
and sang : ' The blast of the tempest aids our
oars; the bellowing of heaven, the howling of
the thunder, hurt us not; the hurricane is oui
servant, and drives us whither we wish to go.
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGDOMS. 443
"Behold them now in England more set-
tled and wealthier. Do you look to find
them much changed? Changed it may be,
but for the worse, like the Franks, like all
barbarians who pass from action to enjoyment.
They are more gluttonous, carving their hogs,
suing themselves with flesh, swallowing down
ieep draughts of mead, ale, spiced wines, all
the strong coarse, drinks which they can pro-
cure; and so they are cheered and stimulated.
Add to this the pleasure of the fight. Not
SasUy with such instincts can they attain to
culture ; to find a natural and ready culture
we must look among the sober and sprightly
populations of the South."
Such is a picture of the character and life
of the Anglo-Saxons when they began to possess
themselves of England. It was in the middle
decade of the fifth century of our era that the
half-civilized Celtic people of South Britain, left
naked by the withdrawal of the Roman legions,
and hard pressed on the north by the Picts
and the Scots, adopted the fatal expedient of
inviting to their aid the barbarians of the
Baltic. The tribes thus solicited were the
Jutes, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Fris-
ians. The first mentioned dwelt in the Cim-
bric Chersonesus, now Jutland, or Denmark.
Parts of Schleswig and Holstein were also
included in their territories. In the latter
Country the district known as Angeln was the
native seat of the Angles. To the south
6f these two regions, spreading from the Weser
to the delta of the Rhine, lay the country of
the Saxons, embracing the states afterwards
known as Westphalia, Friesland, Holland,
and a part of Belgium. A glance at the map
will show that these tribes occupied a position
of easy approach by sea to the British Isles.
At this epoch the condition of Britain
was much the same as it had been during the
Roman Supremacy. With the retiracy of
the legions from the island the life of the
British Celts had in a measure flowed back
into its old channel. The institution of the
ancient race had been in large part revived.
Especially had the religious superstition of
the Celts reasserted its sway, and the Druidi-
cal ceremonial was again witnessed under the
oaks and by the elifts rising from the sea.
Here, as of old, the Druid priests by their
mysterious and often bloody ritual reached
out the hand of power over their .savage
subjects and swayed their pas.sions at will.
Albeit, in matters of war the British Celts
were no match for the rude barbarians of the
North, who now descended in countless swarms
ujion the coasts of the island.
It is believed that Hengist and Horsa, the
leaders of the barbarian host which accepted
the call of the Celts, as well as a majority of
their followers in the first expedition, were
Jutes. With them, however, a large body of
Angles from Holstein, and Saxons from Fries-
land, was joined in the invasion. So came a
mixed host into England. At this time the
king of the British Celts was Vortigern.
Him the Jute chieftains aided in driving back
the Picts and Scots. When the island was
thus freed from its peril the Celtic king was
entertained at a feast given by Hengist.
Beautiful was Rowena, the daughter of the
warlike host. By her was the heart of Vorti-
gern fatally ensnared. Humbly he sought
and gladly received her hajod, and in proof of
gratitude he gave to the Jutes the isle of
Thanet. Here the invaders found a perma-
nent footing and would not be dismissed.
Fresh bands were invited from the Baltic.
The fertility of exposed Britain and the
wealth of the Celtic towns excited the insatia-
ble cupidity of the barbarians. First quarrels
and then hostilities broke out between them
and the Celts. The sword was drawn. Vor-
tigern was deposed and his son Vortimer
elected in his stead. A hollow and deceptive
truce was concluded, and the chief personages
on both sides came together in a feast. When
the drinking was at it height, Hengist called
out to his Saxons, "Nimed eure seaxas" (Take
your swords) ; whereupon each warrior drew
forth his blade and cut down all who were
present except Vortigern. The result of the
first contest in the island was that all of
Kent, the ancient Cantium, was seized by the
invaders and ruled by Eric, the son and suc-
cessor of Hengist. Thus was established the
first Saxon kingdom in England.
Thus far the predominating foreigners were
Jutes, mixed with Angles. This condition of
aflairs continued with little change for about
a quarter of a century. In the year 477 a
Saxon leader named Ella and his three sons
landed a powerful force of their countrymen
iU
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.—THE MODERN WORLD.
in what was afterwards called Sussex, or South
Saxony. The first settlement made by the
immigrant warriors was at Withering, in the
island of Selsey. Thus far the Celtic popular
tions had measurably held their own, but a
serious struggle now began for the possession
DKUIDS OFFEEINQ HUMAN SAOKIFICat
Drawn by A. de Npiiville
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGDOMS.
445
ef Britain. Tlie native peoples took up arms
and made a spirited resistance. A great bat-
tle was fought in which the Saxons were vic-
torious, and the Celts were driven into the
forest of Audredswold. Meanwhile new bands
of Saxons poured into the island and joined
their countrymen. The British princes estab-
lished a confederacy, but Ella defeated their
army in a second battle and gained possession
of nearly the whole of Sussex. Such was the
founding of the second Saxon kingdom in
Britain.
The coast now in possession of the invaders
extended from the estuary of the Thames to
the river Aran. Near the close of the fifth
century the Saxon leader, Cerdic, with a sec-
ond army from the continent, landed in the
island and carried the conquest westward over
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to the river
Avon. Thus was founded Wessex, or the
kingdom of the West Saxons. West of the
Avon the country was still held by the Brit-
ons, who now fought desperately to maintain
their frontier against the invaders.
North of the river Thames the first con-
quest was made in 527 by the Saxon prince,
Ereenwine, who overran the flat country of
Essex, establishing here the kingdom of the
East Saxons. Subsequent conquests soon ex-
tended the Saxon border northward to the
Stour, which was maintained as the frontier
till 547.
The next descent made by the German
tribes from the Baltic was on the coast at
Flamborough Head. A long space. was thus
left between the frontier of the East Saxons
and the scene of the new invasion. This time
the invaders were Angles. The wild country
between the Tees and the Tyne, embracing
the present county of Durham, was overrun,
and here was founded the kingdom of Bernicia.
The next incoming tribe was also of the Angle
race. The territory between the Tees and the
Humber was now occupied, but not without a
long and bloody contest with the natives.
This region became the kingdom of Deira.
Near the close of the sixth century the
barbarians came in swarms. The most popu-
lous bands were out of Angeln. The names
of the chieftains by whom they were led have
not been preserved. The new-comers were
divided into two bands, called the South Folk
and the North Folk. They overran the coun-
try between the Stowe and the Great Ouse,
including the present counties of Suffolk and
Norfolk. This district constituted the state
of East Anglia. The country of which these
last invaders possessed themselves was almost
insular in its isolation from the rest of the
island. Around its western frontier lay a
series of bogs, meres, and lakes, and to the
defense thus naturally aflTorded the East Angles
added a long earthwork, the line of which is
still plainly to be seen, being known as the
Devil's Dike.
Still the northern tribes poured into the
island. In the beginning of the seventh cen-
tury the country between the AVash and the
Humber, constituting the modern Lincolnshire,
was conquered, the same being the only chasm
now unoccupied by the foreigners between the
Avon of Hampshire and the North Umbrian
Tyne. The northern boundary was now ex-
tended to the Frith of Forth. In the year
617 the Angles of Bernicia and Deira were
united and formed into the kingdom of North
Umbria. The western coast of England, from
the Frith of Clyde to the Laud's End in
Cornwall and the southern coast from Corn-
wall to the borders of Hampshire remained in
possession of the Celts.
The inland frontier of the Saxon kingdoms
was for a long time wavering and uncertain.
It was perpetually fixed and unfixed by the
varying fortunes of war. During the seventh
century a branch of the populous Angles
founded the inland kingdom of Mercia, ex-
tending from the Severn to the Humber, an(J
bounded on the west by AVales. In this dis>
trict a war of conquest was not so violent aa
in other parts of the island. A large propor-
tion of the original Celts remained in their
homes, and were blended with the conquering
people. The Mercian Angles are said to have
contributed more than any other of the north-
ern tribes to the general subjugation of Britain.
Such was the Saxon conquest of England,
and such is the story of the establishment of
the seven petty kingdoms known by the name
of the Heptarchy. The movement of the
German tribes from the north occupied a pe-
riod of nearly two hundred years. More than
half of that time (so stubborn was the resist-
ance of the Britains) was occupied with fierce
446
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
wars between the invaders and the invaded.
Of the previous history of the British Celts
very little is known. Nor can the traditions
which have been preserved of the famous
Prince Arthur and his chivalrous knights of
the Round Table be accepted as historical
truth. Old British patriotism has woven the
fiction of a mythical, national hero, whose
actual exploits were attended doubtless with
the disasters and misfortunes of the Saxon
conquest, and might be regarded as heroic
only because they were performed by a patri-
»tic and valorous prince striving to defend his
eountry.
It has been matter of dispute among those
who have most critically examined the history
of the Saxon Heptarchy whether the kings of
the different states were of equal and inde-
pendent rank, or whether one was recognized
as superior to the rest. According to Bede,
the Anglo-Saxon chronicler, one of the princes
of the kingdoms held the title and rank of
Britwahla, or Wielder of the Britains, being
sovereign of the rest. If, however, any such tie
of sovereignty bound together the several king-
doms of the Heptarchy, it was a very feeble
and ineffectual bond.
The first Britwalda, or ruler of Britain, is
said to have been Ella, the conqueror of Sus-
sex, who held that rank until 510. After this
for a considerable period no prince was pre-
eminent. Then arose Ceawlin, king of Wessex,
who became Britwalda in 568, but his right
of sovereignty was disputed by Ethelbert,
Jburth king of Kent, and a descendant of
Hengist. Hostilities broke out between the
two princes; but Ceawlin held the primacy
until his death in 593. The office then fell to
Ethelbert. This prince took for his queen the
beautiful Bertha, daughter of Charibert, one
of the Rok Faineants of Paris. It was the
fortune of Ethelbert to be in authority at the
time when the forty Christian monks sent out
by Gregory the Great came into Britain and
set up the standard of the cross. Now it was
that the Anglo-Saxons were induced to aban-
don the superstitions and practices of pagan-
ism and accept the doctrines of Christianity.
The first three Britwaldas — Ella, Ceawlin,
and Ethelbert — were Saxons, or Jutes. The
fourth was Redwald, king of East Anglia, who
is said to have obtained the supreme rank in
the year 617. His reign was occupied with
wars, first with the Scots, and afterwards with
Edilfrid, king of the North Umbrians, whom
he defeated in a great battle in Nottingham-
shire. Nevertheless a few years later the office
of Britwalda passed to Edwin, king of North
Umbria, whose assumption of authority marked
the transfer of political power from the south
to the north of the island. The old historian
Fabyau has this to say of the peaceful reign
of Edwin: "In this time was so great peace
in the kingdom of Edwin that a woman might
have gone from one town to another without
grief or annoyance ; and for the refreshing of
way-goers this Edwin ordained at clear wells
cups or dishes of brass or iron to be fastened
to posts standing by the said wells' sides ; and
no man was so hardy as to take away those
cups, he kept so good justice." Such are the
simple annals of a simple age.
It was during the reign of Edwin that the
Isles of Man and Anglesea were added to
North Umbria. So ])owerful became the king
that all the Saxon chiefs of South Britain
acknowledged his authority. In the year 633,
however, Penda, the Saxon king of Mercia,
rebelled against Edwin, and formed an alliance
with Cadwallader, king of Wales. In the
next year a great battle was fought at Hat-
field, near the river Trent, in which Edwin
was defeated and killed. Penda next invaded
the country of the East Angles. In these
movements he stood as the representative of
the old paganism of the Angles. It was im-
possible, however, that the principles which
he represented should make much headway
against the converted nations along the coast.
In 634 Oswald, a nephew of Edwin, gathered
an army, fell unexpectedly upon Cadwallader
and his Welsh in their camp near Hexham,
and routed them with great slaughter. Cad-
wallader himself was among the slain. The
temporary ascendency of Wales was destroyed.
Oswald retook the territories which Edwin
had lost, and he was soon afterwards recognized
as Britwalda of the Heptarchy.
In this epoch in the history of the Anglo-
Saxon fathers, churches and monasteries began
to be built in various parts of the kingdoms.
Oswald himself was a patron of such struc-
tures. He gave his daughter in marriage to
Cynegils, king of Lindesfarne, for the conver-
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGDOMS.
447
sion of whose people and those of Wessex he
labored assiduously. The energy of his gov-
ernment can not be doubted. He compelled
even the Scots and Picts to acknowledge his
authority. In him rather than in any of the
preceding Britwalda might be recognized the
lineaments of a real king of the Angles.
In 642 Oswald was slain in battle, where-
upon Penda, the pagan king of Mercia, en-
deavored to regain his ascendency over the
Angles; but Oswy, the brother of Oswald,
rallied his countrymen, and the Mercians were
beaten back. Oswy, however, was not recog-
nized as Britwalda. Under the repeated as-
saults of Penda he was restricted to the old
kingdom of Bernicia, while Deira was given
to a prince named Odelwald. In 652 the
Mercian king again advanced into North Um-
bria, laying waste with fire and sword like a
savage. In his despair Oswy sued for peace,
which was granted on such terms as greatly
to weaken the North Umbrian kingdom. Two
years later, however, the compact was broken
and a great battle was fought near York
between the Mercians and North Umbrians.
In this conflict Penda and thirty of his princes
were killed. In gratitude for his unexpected
victory, Oswy established ten abbeys and sent
one of his daughters to become a nun with
the Lady of Hilda.
Following up his success the victorious
Oswy inflicted a signal vengeance on the Mer-
cians. All the territory north of the Trent he
annexed to his kingdom, and soon afterwards
added the remainder south of the river. In
655 he assumed the office of Britwalda, but
his claim was disputed by a rival. In the
following year the North Umbrians revolted
under Wulfere, son of Penda, and not only
regained their kingdom, but also made a suc-
cessful conquest of a part of Wessex. About
this time Oswy was greatly afflicted by the
revolt of his son Alchfrid, who demanded that
a part of North Umbria should be given to
him iLi sovereignty. The king was obliged to
comply with the wish of the rebellious prince.
Meanwhile an epidemic called the yellow
plague broke out with violence, and for twenty
years continued to decimate the island. In
670 Oswy died, being the la.st of the Brit-
waldas, unless an exception should be made in
the case of Ethelbald, king of Mercia.
In the mean time a consolidating tendency
had appeared among the states of the Hep-
tarchy. The seven kingdoms were reduced to
three. Kent, Sussex, Essex, and East Anglia
were swallowed up in North Umbria, Mercia,
and Wessex, which now became the ruling
states of England. This fact of consolidation
greatly simplifies the remaining history of the
Saxon kingdoms, and further on we shall find
the tendency to union constantly illustrated
until the final mergement in the times of
Egbert.
The successor of Oswy in North Umbria
was his son Egfrid. Scarcely was the latter
seated on the throne when his northern fron-
tier was assailed by the Picts. In 671 they
were defeated by Egfrid's cavalry and driven
to their own territories. Eight years after-
wards the king made war on Mercia, and his
army met that of his enemy on the banks of
the Trent. Here was fought another bloody
battle, in which many brave leaders on each
side were slain. Peace was made by the in-
terposition of a Christian bishop, who induced
the rival Saxons to desist from further blood-
shed. In 685 the Picts and the Scots again
rushed down from the North, and were con-
fronted by Egfrid. This, however, was the
last of his battles. He was slain in a conflict
with Brude, the Pictish king.
Such was the violence of these times, that
of the fourteen kings who reigned in England
during the seventh century, six were slain by
rival competitors, generally their own kins-
men ; five were overthrown by their rebel
subjects ; two sought refuge in monasteries ;
and one died with the crown on his head.
Of such bloody materials was composed the
concrete under the heavy walls of the English
Monarchy !
During the first quarter of the eighth cen-
tury, a dubious contest was waged between
the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex. The
tide seemed to set against the latter, and the-
kings of Wessex were reduced to a kind of vas-
salage. In 737, Ethelbald, king of Mercia,
was recognized as monarch over the whole
country south of the Humber, excepting
Wales. In the fifth year of that monarch's
reign, however, the Saxons of the West King-
dom rose against the Mercians and defeated
them in a great battle at Buxford, in Oxford-
448
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
shire. From 757 to 794 the paramount au-
thority of Mercia was again recognized, espe-
cially in the reign of King Ofta, who, after
subduing Sussex and Kent, overran all that
part of the kingdom of Wessex on the left bank
of the Thames. He then made war on Wales,
and drove the king beyond the river Wye.
The country between that stream and the Sev-
■ern was permanently occupied by Saxon col-
onists. In order to secure this region from
reconquest, he caused a ditch and an earth-
work to be drawn for a hundred miles along
the Welsh frontier. The line of this defense is
fitUl to be traced from Basingwerke to Bristol.
King Offa was called the Terrible. Well
might he so be named by the yeomanry
of Wales, who many times felt his vengeful
blows. Those whom he met in battle he slew,
and the captives he reduced to slavery. Al-
beit, he was a taciturn spirit, always abounding
in silence, subtle to conceive, quick to execute
bis designs; not without pride, but above a
petty vanity. His cruelties in war were .so
many and merciless that not even the monk-
ish chroniclers have been able to make his
reputation other than that of a bloody tyrant.
In the year 795 the king of Mercia died,
and the power which he had established by
bis warlike deeds began rapidly to decline.
At the same time North Umbria fell into a
weak and helpless condition. Meanwhile the
kingdom of Wessex had been gradually gain-
ing an ascendency which was soon to be as-
serted in a still more striking manner. At
the time of OfTa's death the West Saxons
were ruled by Beotric. His right, however,
was disputed by Prince Egbert, who, after a
short and unsuccessful struggle for the crown,
-was obliged to seek safety in flight. He found
refuge at the court of Mercia, whither he was
followed by the messengers of Beotric, who
■demanded that the Saxon refugee should be
killed, and Eadburgha, daughter of Offa, be
given to himself in marriage. Escaping from
the Mercian capital, Egbert fled to the camp
of Charlemagne and took service in the army
of that great monarch. Beotric obtained
Eadburgha for a wife, but she soon proved to
be the bane of the kingdom. She instigated
her husband to the perpetration of many
crimes. She then became a murderess herself.
She prepared a cup of poison for one of Beo-
tric's noblemen, but by mistake the potion
was drunk by the king himself, who died in a
horrid manner. The thanes and warriors then
rose against the bloody-minded queen, and
she was expelled from the kingdom. Flying
to the court of Charlemagne, she was sent to a
convent for security. Here her bad disposi-
tion reasserted itself, and she was turned out
of doors. Years afterwards she was seen,
haggard and forlorn, begging bread in the
streets of Pavia.
Learning of the death of Beotric, Egbert
returned from the continent and claimed the
kingdom of Wessex. He was received by hia
subjects with great joy, and acknowledged
without further opposition. His first enter-
prise was to establish his authority in Devon-
shire and on the side of Cornwall. Scarcely
had this work been accomplished when Wes-
sex was invaded by the Mercians. Egbert
now established his character as a great cap-
tain by inflicting a decisive defeat on the en-
emy. Following up his advantage he subdued
the whole kingdom of Mercia, and annexed it
to his own dominions. He appointed a gov-
ernor for the country and others for East An-
glia and Kent. The country north of the
Humber was next invaded,, and in a short
time North Umbria was compelled to submit.
Eanred, the North Umbrian king, became a
vassal of Egbert, whose authority was acknowl-
edged from Cornwall to the Frith of Forth.
Thus in the year 827 were the kingdoms
of the Saxon Heptarchy consolidated under a
single ruler. It was three hundred and
seventy-six years since the landing of Hengist
and Horsa, and eleven years after the death
of Charlemagne. It will thus appear that the
tendency to political union was felt somewhat
later in England than on the continent, where
the great Frankish emperor had already estab-
lished a single rule over most of the barbarian
states. Egbert continued to -style himself the
king of Wessex and Britwalda of the Saxon
states. The name of king of England was
reserved for his illustrious grandson.
For seven years the island enjoyed the
blessings of a government more regular and
extensive by far than any previously estab-
lished in Britain. Local insurrections here
and there were easily suppressed, and the En-
glish people began to feel the influence of
BARBARIAN ASCENDENCY.— THE ANGLO-SAXON KINGDOMS.
449
civilizatiou. Scarcely, however, had this state
of affairs supervened when the country was
profoundly shaken by a new invasion from
the north. The Anglo-Saxons were in their
turn made to feel the blows of lawless bar-
barism. Now it was that the Danes, disturbed
in their native seats on the Baltic, took to sea,
as the Angles and Saxons had done, and threw
themselves on the shores of England.
No brood of pirates more reckless, fierce,
and hardy had ever gone forth on the hazard-
ous seas of fortune. The first landing of
these Northmen was effected in the Isle of
Sheppey in the year 832. In the following
year a new band was landed from thirty-five
ships at Chartmouth, in Devonshire. Here
they were met by the army of Egbert, and,
after a stubborn conflict, driven back on ship-
board. The Saxons were astonished at the
desperate valor displayed in battle by their
new enemy. The whole coast became infested
with the sea-robbers, who captured, killed, or
destroyed whatever came in their reach. They
made a league with Cornwall, and in 834
landed an army in that country to cooperate
with the Cornish king against Devonshire.
Egbert, however, was not to be discouraged,
much less alarmed, by the activity of the Danes.
The people of Cornwall were in a state of
comparative independence. They felt them-
selves well able to regain the political position
which they had had before the invasion of
Egbert ; but this hope was vain. They were
met by the Saxons at Hengsdown Hill, and
defeated with great slaughter. Great was the
misfortune to Wessex and all England when,
in 836, the warlike Egbert died. It became
at once apparent that the kingdom which he
had founded had been maintained by his
genius and sword. Scarcely was he buried
until the supremacy of the West Saxons was
denied, and the states began to reassert their
independence. I'he crown of the West Saxons
descended to Egbert's .son Ethelwulf, who
began his reign by conferring the kingdom of
Kent on his sou Athelstane. Mercia revolted
and regained her independence. Thus at the
very time when the piratical Danes were
swarming along the coast, that political union
by which only England might hope to protect
herself against the invaders was broken up.
Finding that the great Egbert was dead.
the Northmen spread inland everywhere.
The southern parts of Wessex and Kent were
completely overrun, and a fleet of Danes sail-
ing up the Thames captured and pillaged
London. So desperate became the condition
of the country that, in 851, the bishops and
thanes of Wessex and Mercia met in a con-
gress at Kingsbury to devise means of defense.
Barhulf, king of Mercia, led an army against
the Danes, but was defeated and slain. Better
success attended the campaign of Ethelwulf,
who, with his West Saxons, overthrew the
Northmen in Surrey, inflicting upon them
such a bloody defeat as they had never before
suffered in the island. Another victory was
gained over the pirates at Sanwich by Athel-
stane, of Kent. Ceorl, chief of Devonshire,
akso defeated the Danes at Wenbury.
The distractions of France were at this
time such as to make that country a more in-
viting field than England to the rapacious
Northmen. In the time following their de-
feats they sailed up the Seine, captured Paris,
and laid the city in ashes. England was for
the moment relieved by this diversion of her
enemies. Ethelwulf even found time to make
an expedition into Wales and to punish the
people of that country for a recent insurrec-
tion. He carried his banners as far as An-
glesey, and the Welsh were obliged to yield.
Returning from his war, Ethelwulf, whose
religious zeal was even greater than his mili-
tary abilities, determined to make a pilgrimage
to Rome. In the year 853 he passed over to
the continent, crossed the Alps, and reached
Rome, where he remained for nearly a year.
On his return into France, the aged zealot
fell in love with Judith, daughter of Charles
the Bald, of France. Obtaining her father's
consent, he led the princess to the altar of the
cathedral at Rheims, where they were married,
with a solemn ceremony.
Ethelwulf had five sons. Athalstane, the
eldest, who had been king of Kent, was now
dead. Ethelbald, the next of the brothers,
was ambitious to receive the kingdom from his
father. A plot was formed to anticipate the
course of nature by dethroning Ethelwulf
The conspiracy extended over all Wessex. A
manifesto was i.ssued, in which the direful
flagitiousness of Ethelwulf was set forth in
this — that he had openly eaten with his.French
450
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERX WORLD.
queen at the table ! It is believed, moreover,
that the favor shown to his youngest son,
Alfred, had something to do with his elder
brother's resentment. The bov Alfred had
been taken by Ethelwulf to Rome, and there
the pope had anointed the young prince with
oil. It is also thought that Osburgha, the
king's first wife and mother of his sons, was
not yet dead, but only put away to make
room for Judith.
The old king was greatly distracted by the
broil in his kingdom. Finally he agreed to a
division of Wessex, by which the better part
was given to Ethelbald. Ethelwulf did not
long survive. He died in 857, and Ethelbald
succeeded to the government of the whole
kingdom. It now appeared that his antip-
athy to his father's French queen was en-
tirely insincere, for he immediately took that
princess for his own wife, thus setting at
defiance all consistency and law. So flagrant,
however, was this oflense that the Church at
once lifted her hand and demanded a divorce.
Judith returned to France, and presently
found solace with a third husband, Baldwin
of Ardennes. Her son became Earl of Flan-
ders, and married Elfrida, daughter of Alfred
the Great, of whom was born that ]\Iaud, or
Matilda, who, as the wife of William the Con-
queror, became the great mother of all the
subsequent sovereigns of England.
After a brief reign, Ethelbald was suc-
ceeded by his brother, Ethelbert. Meanwhile
the Danes returned in swarms and hovered
around the coasts. They made inroads from
every quarter. Winchester, the capital of
Essex, was seized and burned. In 867 the
king died and was succeeded by Ethelred.
During the first year of his reign he
fought nine pitched battles with the Danes.
Hundreds and thousands of the invaders fell
under the swords of the Saxons, but as soon
as one horde was destroyed another arose in
its place. As the war progressed, it became
coutantly more apparent that the main reli-
ance of the Saxons must be placed in Prince
Alfred, who in the fierce battles fought by his
brother with the Danes displayed not only the
greatest courage but also the highest qualities
of generalship. In the fierce battle of Ashton
the day was saved by his valor and pres-
ence of mind. In the year 870, two fierce
conflicts occurred in which the Saxons were
defeated, and in the following year Ethelred
died. The crown then descended without dis-
pute to Alfred, the youngest and greatest of
the sons of Ethelwulf. For him destiny had
reserved a more distinguished part than for
any other sovereign of primitive England.
The events of his glorious career, and the cir-
cumstances attending the real founding of the
English Monarchy will be fully narrated in
the Third Book of the present Volume. —
Such is a brief sketch of the principal states
and kingdoms founded by those barbarous
nations that converted the Roman Empire
into a desolation and then established them
selves amid the ruin.
Imk Mmt\\{\*
The Mohammedan Ascendency.
Chapter lxxvii.— career oe the prophet.
iOHAMMED, the sou of
Abdallah, of the tribe of
Hashem, was bom in
Mecca ou the niideastern
shore of the Red Sea, in
the year 569. His in-
fancy was obscure and
unfortunate. The family were poor Arabs,
and the child was afflicted with epileptic
spasms. His uncles and aunts, of the Hashem
tribe, declared him to be possessed of the
Djin, or Demons. So that from his childhood
he was looked upon with a certain measure of
■superstitious dread ; but the boy proved to be
amiable, and the prejudice of his kinsfolk
against him was gradually relaxed.
The father, Abdallah, died when Moham-
med wag but two months old, and the child
was given to a Bedouin nurse, who reared the
little epileptic on a regimen of goat's milk and
rice. By and by he was returned to his
mother, but the latter, unwilling to endure
his convulsions, gave him to his grandfather,
a tough old personage, named Abd el Mottal-
lib. When he was six years old his mother
■died, and presently the tenacious grandfather
also ceased, after which the young Prophet
was put under the care of an uncle named
Abu Taleb, who disliked his ward and ab-
horred the Djiu by whom he was possessed.
At the age of nine the boy Mohammed
was mounted on a camel and dispatched on a
merchandising expedition into Syria. While
abroad he saw the sacred places of the Jews.
He stood on the spot where the King of
Salem came out and did obeisance to Abra-
ham. He was shown the place where hi8
great mother, the bondwoman Hagar, went
forth leading Ishmael by the hand. He saw
Damascus, city of the desert, and Sinai, the
mountain of the law. Then he returned to
Mecca full of visions and dreams.
When twelve years old Mohammed left
Abu Taleb and lived with another uncle
named Zubeir. He was also a merchant, but
did not, like Abu Taleb, trade in the direction
of Palestine and Egypt. Zubeir led his cara-
van into Southern Arabia, and him Moham-
med, now reaching his sixteenth year, accom-
panied on a second expedition of trade and
travel. He continued in his service till he
was twenty years of age. Then, becoming
(451)
i52
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
weary of irksome dromedaries and monotonous
journeys, he turned his attention to war. The
Meccans became involved in a quarrel with an
East- Arabic tribe called the Beni Kinanah,
and Mohammed enlisted with his countrymen.
After the war was over he returned to Mecca
and took up the vocation of a shepherd.
Afterwards he formed a partnership with a
linen merchant named Saib, and so divided
his attention between his flocks and his mer-
chandise. While engaged in carrying on the
linen trade, he became acquainted with the
rich widow Kadijah, living at the town of
Hajasha. Her, though much older than him-
self, he presently married, thus obtaining a
faithful wife and a large estate. He there-
upon gave up the business of watching flocks,
and lived at Kadijah's home in Hajasha.
Thus, from the age of twenty-six to thirty-
five, Mohammed passed the time as an Arab
citizen in private life. About the year 594,
however, he was brought to the attention of
his countrymen in a conspicuous way. The
idolatrous temple in Mecca was called the
Kaaba. When the patriarch Abraham lived
at that place, the angel Gabriel gave him a
white stone as an emblem of the original
purity of the race. Over this stone the temple
was built. With the growing wickedness of
the world the stone became as black as pitch.
The Kaaba had now become dilapidated, and
it was decided by the chiefs of Mecca that
the edifice must be rebuilt. This was accord-
ingly done; but when it came to the sacred
task of removing the Black Stone into its new
resting-place, the chiefs fell into violent quar-
rels as to who should perform the work. At
last it was agreed that the matter should be
decided by arliitration, and Mohammed was
called from Hajasiha to be the umpire. On
coming to Mecca he performed his difficult
duty in a manner highly satisfactory to all
concerned. It was the first public transaction
of the Prophet's life.
It appears that the dispute of the chiefs
about the Black Stone of the Kaaba made a
profound impression on Mohammed's mind.
To a man of his clear understanding, it is
likely that the quarrel appeared in its naked
absurdity. He may have said to Kadijah, on
his return home, that the fathers of his race,
Abraham and Islimael, would be ashamed of
such wrangles as he had lately witnessed at
Mecca.
Mohammed was exceedingly unfortunate in
his children. One after another they died.
The bereaved father grew melancholy and
morose. The motherly Kadijah was growing
old. The Prophet walked alone among the
hills and talked abstractedly to himself. One
day he wandered among the rocks at the foot
of Mount Hara. He entered the mouth of a
cave and sat musing. All at once — so he
afterwards told Kadijah — he fell into an
agony. He was shaken as by an unseen power,
and great drops of sweat rolled down his face.
While he sat shuddering, all of a sudden a
light flashed around him, and there stood the
angel Gabriel. Mohammed was overwhelmed
with terror, but the angelic voice spoke out
clearly and said :
"Cry! In the name of the Lord who has-
created all things; who hath created man of
congealed blood. Cry ! By the most benefi-
cent Lord, who taught the use of the pen;
who teacheth man that which he knoweth not
of himself. Assuredly. Verily man becom-
eth insolent, because he seeth himself abound
in riches. Assuredly." Such is the first
chapter of the Koran.
Mohammed is reported to have run home
after his swoon and cried out: "O, Kadijah!
I have either become a soothsayer or else I am
possessed of the Djin and have gone mad."'
The good Kadijah answered: "O, Abu '1 Ca-
sem! God is my protection. He will surely
not let such a thing happen unto thee, for
thou spcakest the truth. Thou dost not re-
turn evil for evil ; neither art thou a talker
abroad on the streets. What hath befallen
thee?" Mohammed told her what had hap-
pened to him in the grotto. The wife re-
plied: "Rejoice, my husband, O, Abu '1 Ca-
sem, for my life shall stand as a witness that
thou wilt be the prophet of this people."
Mohammed thought, however, that he was-
possessed of the Djin, and on the next day,
being in despair, he went out to Mount Hara
to kill himself; but Gabriel reappeared, held
back the rash Arab from his purpose, and
said: "I am Gabriel, and thou art Moham-
med, the Prophet of God." Still the son of
Abdallah trembled and refused to believe.
It is related that at this juncture Moham-
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CAREER OF THE PROPHET.
45S
med and Kadijah took a certain Jew, or, as
some say, a monk, named Waraka, into their
confidence, and told him all that had oc-
curred. Thereupon the holy
man said: "I swear by Him
in whose hands Waraka's life
is, that God has chosen thee,
O Abu'l Casern, to be the
Prophet of this people." — Such
was the commission of Mo-
hammed, the beginning of his
prophetic office.
For more than twenty years
revelations continued to be
given by Gabriel, as circum-
stances seemed to require. No
one ever saw the celestial visi-
tant but the Prophet himself:
he was his own interpreter.
What Gabriel told him in the
grotto he repeated to Kadijah
or other believers ; and these
revelations, gathered together
by his followers after his death,
constitute the Book Al Koran,
the Bible of Islam.
Having persuaded himself
of the truth of his visions,
Mohammed began proclaiming
his mission to the Arabs. His
first converts were those of
his own household. From this
nucleus his doctrines leavened
the surrounding neighborhood.
Finally the tribe of Hashem
was called together in council.
Before the assembly the
Prophet stood up and ex-
plained his purpose and the
principles of the new faith.
There was much contrariety of
opinions among the Hashe-
mites. The Prophet's uncle,
Abu Taleb, arose and pro-
nounced him a fool. Young
Ali, son of Abu Taleb, however,
expressed his admiration for
his cousin's doctrines and his
purpose to follow him and fight for his cause.
Most of the tribe voted in the same way ; but
Abu Taleb remained an infidel. He used to
say, as Mohammed passed by: "There he
goes now! Look out! He is going to talk
about Heaven! Assuredly."
After a brief proclamation of his doctrine*
at Hajasha, Mohammed repaired to Mecca.
Here he preached with passionate vehemence.
He told the Meccans that they were a race of
miserable idolaters, unfit either to live or to
454
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
■die. " There is no God but Allah," he shouted
by day and night. He stood up in the very
face of the Koreish, the Arabian Levites, who
had charge of the Kaaba, and denounced
thei-' traditions and practices. The Koreish
took fright and called upon Abu Taleb to
suppress his nephew as an enemy of re-
ligion ; but Abu could not do it. The alter-
native was thus placed before the priests of
themselves being converted or taking up arms.
They chose the latter course, and hostilities
■were about to begin at Mecca.
Mohammed was sagacious. Seeing him-
self not sufficiently strong to cope with his
enemies, disliking at first to undertake the
propagation of religion by the sword, he es-
caped from his native city and took refuge at
the court of Abyssinia. The king received
him and was converted, as were also the mem-
bers of his court. Nor did his flight from
Mecca discourage his followers in that city.
They continued to proclaim his doctrines and
Await his return. Many took sides against
the Koreish, and the latter were obliged to
consent to peace. Mohammed returned little
iess than victorious.
A new factor was now introduced into the
situation. About sixty miles from Mecca was
the town of Yathreb. In this place there
■was a large colony of Jews, who, with that
tenacity of religious belief for which over all
the world they are proverbial, had established
A synagogue. Here on every Saturday the
priests stood up and expounded Hallachah and
Haggadah— the Law and the Tradition. They
looked for a Messiah, and said " Lo here and
Lo there." These Israelites traded with Mecca
And found that city profoundly agitated by
the presence of Mohammed. They heard the
Meccans reciting how the Son of Abdallah
•of the tribe of Hashera had become a great
Prophet. This news was carried to Yathreb,
And the synagogue became excited with the
belief that the Messiah had come. The Rab-
bins took council together, and said: "If this
Mohammed is indeed that great Prophet, let
us, first of all, tender to him our allegiance.
Wherefore, when he shall have become the
ruler of the nations, he will honor us as the
•first to accept him." An embassy was sent to
Mecca to ascertain the truth, and to tender
■vhe submission of the Jews. Mohammed cau-
tiously accepted the oflTer. "For," said he,
" Ishmael our father was the uncle of Jacob.
Assuredly."
The Koreish now became desperate. They
held a council, and resolved that Mohammed
should be assassinated. A committee was ap-
pointed to do the bloody -work ; but when the
night came for the perpetration of the wicked
deed Mohammed, informed of th^^ conspiracy,
wrapped himself in his cousin All's cloak,
and aided by the darkness, escaped from the
perilous city and fled towards Yathreb. This
event, which occurred in the year 622, is called
the Hegira, and is the Era of Islam.
As Mohammed approached Yathreb the
gates were opened by the Jews. He entered
and was safe. The name of the city wa»
changed from Yathreb to Medinet al Nabbi,
or City of the Prophet — the modern Medina.
From this time forth, the Sou of Abdallah
awaited an opportunity to be revenged on the
Meccans. The city of his birth soon became
distracted with the civil feuds of his friends
and his enemies. When the time ripened for
the event, the Prophet, accompanied by a
great band of pilgrims, set out from Medina
and returned to Mecca. In that city, so pow-
erful had his influence now become, the Kore-
ish were obliged to submit. They sent out
an embassy and concluded a treaty with the
conqueror for a period of ten years. The
neighboring tribes also sent messen<jers, ten-
dering their acceptance of his doctrines. The
star of Islam was in the ascendant.
After a year or two the Meccans broke
their treaty ; but Mohammed was now strong
enough to enforce obedience. The vocation
of the Koreish was gone. The idolatrous
images were knocked from their places in the
Kaaba, and the renovated temple was dedi-
cated to the worship of Allah.
The Prophet now lost no tim? in giving
shape to the new religion. He built a mosque
at Medina. He systematized his -logmas.
He labored with the discordant elements of
Arabian thought. He struggled with bellig-
erent factions. He allayed feuds, jealousies,
and schisms. He consolidated the scattered
bands of his followers, and planned great for*
eign wars. His purpose contemplated no less
than the subjugation of the world by the Book
and sword of Islam.
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CAREER OF THE PROPHET.
45&
In the beginning of his military career
Mohammed was unsuccessful. In his first
battle, however, which was fought with Abu
Sofian, chief of the Meccans, the Prophet
gained the victory. Afterwards he met with
a series of reverses. In 625 he was defeated
by the Koreishites in the battle of Mount
Ohod. Two years later he was besieged in
Medina. Among his own followers there were
dangerous factions and contentions. His con-
nection with the Jews proved unfortunate.
He could not be their Messiah ; they would
not be his people. His alienation from the
sons of Israel became so great that war en-
sued, and he conducted several campaigns
against the Jewish tribes in Arabia. In re-
venge for these aggressions against her coun-
trymen, a Jewess, named Zainab, fed the
Prophet a poisoned lamb, the effects of which
burned in his bones until his death.
By this time the idea of propagating the
doctrines of Islam by the sword had taken
complete possession of the mind of Moham-
med. He sent to Chosroes H., king of Per-
sia, a written demand that he should submit
himself and his people to Allah and his
Prophet. When this was refused, he under-
took to enforce compliance by war. A des-
perate battle was fought at Muta, in which
Mohammed's general, Khaled, so greatly dis-
tinguished hira.self that he received the sur-
name of the "Sword of God."
Meanwhile the Meccans again revolted.
After a severe struggle, however, they were
subdued, and their submission was the end of
present resistance in Arabia. For a season
the Prophet returned to Medina, where, in
the ninth year of the Hegira, he received am-
bassadors from many of the surrounding
states. He ne.^t made a demand of submis-
sion upon Heraclius, Emperor of the East,
but the same was rejected with as much dis-
dain as that somewhat mild-mannered sover-
eign could command. Mohammed thereupon
declared war, but his attempted conquest re-
sulted in a ridiculous failure. The soldiers of
the Prophet became discontented and muti-
nous, but were finally quieted.
Resuming his station at Medina, Moham-
med now busied himself with the preparation
of a great pilgrimage to Mecca. The event
was set for the tenth year of the Hegira. At
N.— Vol. 2—28
least forty thousand pilgrims assembled for
the journey. The rites and ceremonies of the
preparation and the march have ever since re-
mained the models of the annual pilgrimage
of the faithful to the shrine of their Prophet.
In the year 6.32, three months after his return
to Medina, he was taken with a fatal illness.
He clearly foresaw the end which his friends
would have concealed from his vision. He
had himself taken to the house of his favorite
wife Ayesha — for the good Kadijah was now
dead. This house adjoined the mosque, and
the Prophet ordered himself borne back and
forth from his couch to the shrine. He spoke
of his approaching death. He liberated his
slaves and distributed sums of money to the
poor. He then prayed for support in the
final struggle and quietly breathed his last.
There was much dispute about the place of
the Prophet's burial. It was, however, finally
determined that he should be interred in the
house where he died, adjacent to the mosque
of Medina. Subsequently the temple was en-
larged so as to include the spot where the
bones of Abdallah's son are still reposing.
Of all his children only a daughter named
Fatima survived her father. She was married
to Ali, the Prophet's cousin, and became the
mother of the rulers and nobles of the Mo-
hammedan world.
Mohammed was a man of medium stature
and of a well knitted and sinewy frame. Hii
body was of the Oriental type, and his con<
stitution delicate. He had a fine oval face,
full of tender lines, and a massive head with
slightly curling dark hair. His long well-
arched Arabian eyebrows were separated mid-
way by a vein which swelled and throbbed
visibly when he was excited. His eyes were
large, black, and restless. His hand, which in
salutation he never first withdrew from another,
was exceedingly small, and soft as the hand
of woman. His step was quick and energetic,
and is described in tradition as being like that
of one who steps from a higher place to a
lower. When his attention was called he
stopped short, and turned not only his face
but his whole body in that direction. "
In mind the Prophet had the rare union
of womanly timidity with extraordinary cour-
age. In times of danger he would, without a
moment's hesitation, put his life in peril. He
456
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
was of a nervous and restless temperament, and
often low spirited. He was sometimes talka-
tive, but more frequently taciturn, and often
walked alone, moody and brooding. When he
spoke his words came forth with emphasis and
an overwhelming fluency. "If you had seen
him smile," said the early chronicle of Islam,
"you would have thought of the sunshine."
In the character of Mohammed there were
traits of childlike simplicity. After Kadijah's
death he used to sit in the house and play
with the dolls which his girl-wife Ayesha had
brought with her. The love of solitude and the
THE PROPHET MOHAMMED.
desire to be considered a famous man seem to
have been the prevailing passions in the heart
of the founder of Islam. "O my little son,"
says one of the Arabic traditions, "if thou
hadst seen him by moonlight thou wouldst
have looked first at him and then at the moon,
for his dress was striped with red, and he was
brighter and more beautiful than any moon.
Assuredly."
In order to a full understanding of the
career of Mohammed it is desirable to glance
at the previous condition of his race and coun-
try. At the dawn of our era the peninsula
of Arabia was occupied by the tribes of
Ishmael. From the Persian Gulf to the Red
Sea, from the Strait of Bab el Mandeb to the-
borders of Palestine, people of any other blood-
were either infrequent or entire strangers.
The wUd offspring of Hagar's son led the-
life of nomads. Their hand was against every
man and every man's hand against them.
After the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus,,
many of the fugitives escaped into foreign^
lands. Not a few bands and colonies found
refuge iu Ai-abia. Geographical proximity, the
vagrant disposition of the Arabs, which had left
large districts sparsely peopled or not peopled
at all, the ties of consanguinity by which the
Arabs and the Jews were bound together,
the affinity of their languages — both de^
rived from a common original — all invited'
the unfortunate sons of Israel to find a
new home among their erratic kinsmen
of the South. So Jewish settlements'
were formed in Arabia. Before the close-
of the fourth century the whole coast of
the Red Sea from Suez down to Mecca
and beyond was lined with little Jewish-
rookeries like swallows' nests under the-
eave. There were also inland colonies,
so that by the seventh century Jewish
and Arabian opinions and customs were-
well intermingled, if not amalgamated.
On the question of religion, however,
each people kept to its own traditions-
and beliefs. The Arabs continued idol-
aters, and the Jews observed the laws-
and ritual of Moses.
Meanwhile Christianity arose and flour-
ished in the North. The missionaries of
the Cross, full of zeal, planted the seeds-
of the new faith in every quarter of the
globe. Many of these monks, evangel-
ists, travelers, penetrated Arabia, and there-
preached first of all to the unrepentant.
Israelites. They found their hearers sit-
ting, as their fathers had done, in the syna-
gogue and listening to the exposition of
Hallachah and Haggadah. But these Jews
were as stubborn as flint under the preaching
of the Gospel. A few less obdurate than the-
rest, with numbers of the native Arabs, were
converted to the new doctrines ; so that by the-
beginning of the seventh century Christian as
well as Jewish settlements were frequent in-
many parts of Arabia.
It will thus be seen that at the birth of
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CAREER OF THE PROPHET.
457
Mohammed two Semitic religions, neither in a
very flourishing condition, existed side by
side in the land of his appearing. Judaism
and Christianity, the old and the ueT: develop-
ment of Mosaism, dwelt together in a sort of
subdued antagonism. The time had now come
when a third Semitic faith, more aggressive
than either and possessing the same original
ingredients as both, should appear to contest
with its predecessors the battle-field of faith.
The system of Mohammed may be defined,
first of all, as an effort to rescue the Arabs
from idolatry. But in a larger and more phil-
osophic sense it was an effort on the part of
the Prophet to furnish a common ground and
basis of union between the Christians and the
Jews by which all the descendants of Abraham
might be gathered into a single religious house-
hold. The scheme was worthy of a great and
capacious genius. It showed that Mohammed
realized the condition of the religious world.
He saw in the chaos of the Semitic race around
him the materials for the aggrandizement of
his own nation and tbe glory of his own name.
He conceived it possible to readjust the Sem-
itic fragments and to bind together both
Christian and Jew by an indissoluble tie ; but
he misjudged the peoples with whom he had
to deal. So far as his own countrymen were
concerned they were soon brought within the
fold of Islam ; but the sons of Israel and the
followers of Christ remained immovable in
their respective beliefs. After several tenta-
tive efforts on the Prophet's part, an open
rupture occurred between the three religious
parties in Arabia. Islam began its own inde-
pendent career ; Judaism fell away into obsti-
nate conservatism, and Christianity parted
company with both. From this time forth
the three Semitic religions are seen like three
ships sailing apart on the expanse of ocean.
It may be of interest, before proceeding to
notice the political development of Moham-
medanism, to review briefly the points of con-
cord and dissonance between the three religious
systems here referred to. In many of their
fundamentals they were all at one. All had
a common historical basis. That there is one
God, Father Omnipotent and Maker of heaven
and earth, Judaism. Islam, and Christianity
all emphatically affirm. Secondly, that the
Divine authority in the world is to be up-
held by a government — ^a kingdom — and that
this kingdom is to be perpetually ruled by
a Messiah, Judaism and Christianity aflSrm;
Islam denies. Thirdly, that Moses was an in-
spired lawgiver and prophet, Judaism, Islam,
and Christianity all affirm. Fourthly, that
Christ was an inspired Teacher and Prophet,
Islam and Christianity affirm ; Judaism denies.
Fifthly, that Christ is the Messiah and Savior
of the world, Christianity affirms; Judaism and
Islam strenuously deny. Sixthly, that Mo-
hammed was an inspired Teacher and Prophet,
Islam vehemently aflSrms; Judaism does not
affirm ; Christianity denies. Seventhly, that
the Scriptures of the Old Testament contain
the insj)Lred and authoritative doctrines of
God, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity aflSrm.
Eighthly, that the Scriptures of the New Tes-
tament are the words of Divine truth, Chris-
tianity affirms ; Islam affirms in part, and
Judaism denies. Ninthly, that the Book Al
Koran is the revealed truth of God, Islam
strongly affirms ; Judaism denies in part, and
Christianity denies in whole. Tenthly, that
the world is ruled by eternal Fate, Islam af-
firms; Judaism does not affirm, and Christian-
ity denies. Eleventhly, that man is a free or,
at any rate, responsible agent, Christianity
affirms; Judaism does not deny, and Islam
denies. Twelfthly, that man is rewarded for
those actions which are called virtuous and
punished for those which are called vicious,
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all affirm.
Thirteenthly, that there is a resurrection of
the body after death, Christianity and Islam
affirm ; Judaism neither affirms nor denies.
Fourteenthly, that it is the highest duty of
man in this life to serve God in faith and
obedience, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
all affirm. Fifteenthly, that God is Triune,
Christianity affirms ; Judaism and Islam deny.
Sixteenthly, that God made the universe out
of nothing, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
all afiiim. Seventeenthly, that there is ap-
pointed a Day of Judgment in which God
will judge all men according to their works,
Christianity and Islam affirm ; Judaism either
does not affirm or denies.
This list of fundamental propositions might
be greatly extended, but will perhaps prove
sufficient to give a clear idea of the leading
features of the three religious systems.
458
UNIVERSAL HISTORY. — THE MODERN WORLD.
The material of the Koran was all produced
during Mohammed's life. The whole work is
emphatically monotheistic. The oneness of
God is the dominant thought of the whole.
Lo Illah U Allah, " there is no God but Allah,"
is reiterated on almost every page. Not the
severest passages of the Jewish Pentateuch are
more singular in their enuuciatiou of one su-
preme and indivisible Deity than are the re-
peated declarations of the scriptures of Islam.
Thus in the one hundred and twelfth Chapter :
' ' Cry ! God is one God ; the eternal God :
he begetteth not, neither is he begotten : and
there is not any like unto him."
An extract from the second chapter is as
follows : " To God belongeth the east and the
ARAB READING TIIE KORAN.
west ; the face of God is everywhere, for God
is omnipresent and omniscient. Yet they say
God hath begotten children : God forbid !
To him belongeth whatever is in heaven or
in earth : and when he decreeth a thing, he
only saith unto it, Be ; and it is."
The third chapter, also, has this to say re-
specting Divine Unity : " There is no God
but God, the living, the self-existing ; he hath
sent down unto thee the Book Al Koran ; for
he formerly sent down the Law and the Gos-
pel ; and he hath also sent down the distinc-
tion between good and evil. Verily there is
no God but he, the mighty and the wise."
Chapter thirty-seventh of the Koran begins
as follows: "By the angels who rank them-
selves in order; and by those who drive for-
ward and dispel the clouds : and by those who
read the Koran for an admonition, verily your
God is one."
Islam was ever at war with Christianity
respecting the sonship of Christ. To admit
this doctrine was regarded by the Moham-
medans as destroying the unity of the Deity.
The idea that God had had a son, bom of
woman, in any other sense than that all men
are his offspring, was so repugnant to the
mind of Mohammed as to call forth his sever-
est denunciations. In the nineteenth Chapter
the Koran says :
"This was Jesus, the son of Mary, the
word of truth, concerning whom they doubt.
But it is not meet for God that he should have
a son : Praise to Allah ! Yet they say God
hath begotten a Son. In this they utter a
blasphemy ; and but little is wanting that the
Heavens should tear open, and the earth
cleave asunder and the mountains fall down,
for that they attribute children to the most
Merciful. VerUy it is not meet for God to
have a Son."
The imminent peril of the Day of Judg-
ment is everywhere depicted in the Koran.
The threatened retribution is held forth as the
most powerful motive of human conduct. In
the expectation of this final ordeal, Islam sets
forth every deed of man and utters against
every species of sin the terrible invectives of
the coming wrath. Everywhere the Koran
proclaims the approach of inexorable doom for
every soul that sinneth. The fifty-first Chap-
ter has the following paragraph :
" Cursed be the liars who wade in deep
waters of ignorance neglecting their salvation.
Forsooth they ask. When wiU the Day of
Judgment come? By the winds dispersing
and scattering the dust; and by the clouds
bearing a load of rains; and by the angelic
bands who distribute things necessary for the
support of all creatures; verily that where-
with ye are threatened is certainly true, and
the Day of Judgment will come. Assuredly."
In the fifty-second chapter the same strain
is continued: "By the mountain of Sinai;
and by the book written in an expanded scroll ;
and by the visited house ; and by the elevated
roof of heaven ; and by the swelling ocean ;
verily the punishment of the Lord will surely
come down, on that day wherein the heaven
shall be .shaken and shall reel, and the mount-
ains shall stagger and pass away."
In many parts the Koran breathes a spirit
of piety strangely at variance with the vindic-
tive utterances of other portions. There are
occasional tender and beautiful passages which
may well be compared with the best of the
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CAREER OF THE PROPHET.
459
Vedic Hymns or the Psalms of David. The
following, which stands as Chapter first in
most of the editions, might well have been
sung by the son of Jesse :
"Praise be to God, the Lord of all his
creatures ; the most merciful, the King of the
Day of Judgment. Thee do we worship and
of thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in
the right way, in the path of those to whom
thou hast been gracious ; not in the way of
those against whom thou art incensed, nor of
those who go astray."
The Koran is preeminently sensuous in its
imagery. The delights of the blessed and the
torments of the wicked are given with all the
realism of detail peculiar to the Arabian imag-
ination. Paradise and Hell are painted with
a vividness that might well add new gleams
of light and darkness to the glory and dolor
of the Divbie Comedy. The fifty-sixth Chap-
ter of the Koran gives a true idea of Islam's
abodes of peace and anguish :
" When that inevitable Day of Judgment
shall suddenly come, no soul shall charge the
prediction of its coming with falsehood. Then
the earth shall be shaken with a violent shock ;
and the mountains shall be dashed in pieces,
and shall become as dust scattered abroad ;
and men shall be separated into three distinct
classes : the companions of the right hand ;
(how happy shall the companions of the right
hand be !) and the companions of the left
hand ; (how miserable shall the companions
of the left hand be !) and those who have been
preeminent in the faith of Islam. These last
are they who shall approach nearest unto God,
and shall dwell in the gardens of delight. They
shall repose on couches adorned with gold and
precious stones, and shall sit opposite to each
other's face. Youths who shall continue in
their bloom forever shall go round about to
attend them with goblets, and beakers and a
cup of flowing wine : their heads shall not
ache for drinking it, neither shall their reason
be disturbed : and with fruits of the sorts
which they shall choose, and with the flesh of
birds of the kind which they shall desire shall
they be fed. And there shall accompany them
fair damsels having great black eyes resem-
bling pearls that are hidden in their shells;
and these shall be the reward for the work
which the righteous shall have wrought. They
shall not hear therein any vain discourse, or
wrangling, or charge of sin ; but only the sal-
utation of Peace ! Peace !— And the compan-
ions of the right hand (how happy shall the
companions of the right hand be !) shall have
their abode among lotus trees that are free
from thorns, and trees of Alauz laden regularly
with their produce from top to bottom ; under
an exalted shade, near a flowing water and
amidst abundant fruits which shall not fail,
nor be forbidden to be gathered. . . . But
the companions of the left hand (how misera-
ble shall the companions of the left hand be !)
shall dwell amidst burning winds, and scald-
ing water, under the shade of a black smoke
neither cool nor
agreeable ; and they
shall eat of the
fruit of the tree of
Al Zakkum, and
they shall fill their
bodies like to burst,
and shall drink
boiling water like a
thirsty camel. This
forsooth shall be
their entertainment on the Day of Judgment.
Assuredly."
But it is in his imprecations against in-
fidelity, and in his terrible oaths in attestation
of the truth of his mission, that the Prophet
of Islam rises to the height of his power. He
swears by the foaming waters and by the grim
darkness, by the flaming sun and the setting
stars, by Mount Sinai and by Him who
spanned the firmament, by the human soul
and the small voice, by the Kaaba and by the
Book, by the moon and the dawn and the
angels, by the ten nights of dread mystery,
and by the Day of Judgment ! Such are the
oaths of Islam, and such is Islam's book — a
book under whose fiery influence the wild
Arabian tribes were converted into a terrible
nation, whose flaming swords and fierce un-
quenchable valor conquered an empire greater
than that of Alexander.
SEAL OF MOHAMMED.
4(50
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Chapter lxxviii.— conquests ok the kirst
CALIPHS.
OHAMMED died without
a successor. The Arabs,
however, were so fired
with religious euthusiasm,
caught from the spirit of
the Prophet, that there
was no danger of dissolu-
tion. Before the death of Abdallah's son four
of his followers — two of them civilians and
two military heroes — had already acquired a
national reputation. The civilians were Mo-
hammed's kinsmen, his uncle Abu Beker and
his cousin, the noble young Ali, heretofore
mentioned. The two military leaders were
the Prophet's generals, the austere Omar and
the old veteran Klaled. Each of these had
his partisans, and each might have pressed his
claims as the rightful successor of Mohammed.
But the leaders of young Islam were too wise
and full of zeal to indulge in open quarrels.
The succession was allowed to pass quietly to
Abu Beker. Ali could well abide his time,
and the generals were satisfied with carrying
the banners of the new faith into foreign
lands. The remainder of the present Book
will be occupied with the narrative of
the Mohammedan conquests, beginning with
Arabia.
The Caliph Abu Beker contented himself
with the title of king or prince, rejecting all
claims to be the vicar of God on earth. He
was surnamed El Seddek, or the Testifier of
the Truth. He was also called the father of
the virgin, the reference being to Ayesha, the
only one of the Prophet's wives who was mar-
ried a maiden.
Abu Beker soon showed the highest quali-
ties of leadership. His purposes, moreover,
were for the promotion of the cause of Islam
and the general good of the Arabian people.
He was a man of virtue and integrity, little
susceptible to the influence of luxury and in-
dulgence. In the government he received no
emoluments, accepting only a camel and a
black slave. On entering into office he directed
Ayesha to make an inventory of his personal
estate, lest any might accuse him of enriching
himself from the Caliphate.
The death of Mohammed was the signal of
great commotions. All Arabia was aflected
by the intelligence that the Prophet was no
more. After the bitter persecutions to which,
in the beginning of his ministry, the son of
Abdallah had been subjected, he had pro-
claimed the propagation of Islam by the
sword. It will be remembered that the larger
part of the ten years of his public career was
devoted to the work of religious conquest.
The establishment of his power in Arabia was
by force ; the Arabs feared him as a con-
queror. The condition was such as to lead
inevitably to revolt when his death was known.
The Arab tribes, believing that they had
nothing further to fear, now rose in rebellion.
They gave no heed to Abu Beker. They re-
fused to pay the Zacat, or religious tribute,
which the Prophet had imposed. The revolt
spread far and wide, until in a short time
there was nothing left of the empire of Islam
but the three cities of Mecca, Medina, and
Tayef.
The rebels took the field under the lead of
the chieftain Malec Ibn Nowirah. He was
noted as a valorous Arab knight, as well as a
poet and man of culture. His popularity,
moreover, was increased by the fame of his
wife, who was reputed to be the most beauti-
ful woman in Arabia. The advance of Malec
against Medina gave notice to Abu Beker
that the insurgents aimed at the entire ex-
tinction of his authority and the restoration
of tribal independence throughout the country.
The Caliph hastened to fortify the city.
The women, the children, the aged, and the
infirm were sent to the mountains to find
freedom and security. The chief reliance of
Abu Beker was upon the veteran Khaled, to
whom the command of the army was in-
trusted. At the head of four thousand five
hundred men the fiery soldier of Islam went
forth and quickly overthrew Malec in battle.
He had been instructed by Abu Beker to
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CONQUESfS OF FIRST CALIPHS. 461
treat the rebel chieftain with courtesy, but
Khaled was devoid of sentiment, and pro-
ceeded to lay waste the territories of the re-
volted tribes. He had Malec brought into
his presence and demanded why he had re-
fused to pay the Zacat; and when the captive
answered that he could pray without any such
exactions, his head was struck off by one of
Khaled's soldiers. Abu Beker felt constrained
to permit the murder of the prisoner to pass
by unavenged.
Meanwhile, in the city of Yamama, the
-false prophet Moseilma had arisen and cor-
rupted the belief of many. He went about
uttering rhapsodies, and claiming to be the
■inspired messenger of Allah. Hearing of his
progress, the poetess Sedjah, wife of Abu
•Cahdla, prince of the tribe of Tamin, visited
the alleged prophet, and the twain became
■enamored. While this brief idyl was enact-
ing, Khaled marched forth from Medina and
overthrew the followers of Moseilma near the
the capital of the rhapsodist. The prophet
^himself was killed, and the remnant of his
forces escaped destruction by professing the
faith of Islam. Khaled then marched from
tribe to tribe, enforcing obedience and exact-
ing tithes and tribute. The rebellion was
everywhere broken up, and before the end of
the first year of Abu Beker's reign, the Mo-
hammedan empire was reestablished throughout
Arabia.
Now it was that Abu Beker undertook to
collect and reduce to form the precepts and
revelations of the Koran. Many of the
speeches of the Prophet already existed in
writing, but many others were preserved only
in the memories of his friends and followers.
Abu Beker perceived that in the course of
nature, to say nothing of the hazards of bat-
tle, the associates of Mohammed would soon
pass away, and that the precious words which
'he had uttered would erelong be given to the
■uncertainties of tradition. " In a little while,''
•said the zealous Omar, "all the living testi-
fiers to the faith who bear the revelations of
it in their memories will have passed away,
•and with them so many records of the doc-
trines of Islam."
Urged by these considerations, Abu Beker
proceeded to collect from various sources the
-materials of the Book. The surviving disci-
ples were diligently questioned as to the say-
ings of the Prophet, and whatever could be
thus obtained was written down, revised, and
made authentic. Such parts as already ex-
isted in manuscript were compared and edited
by the scribes of the Caliph, and the whole
work brought into nearly the form which the
Koran at present bears. The work, however,
was subjected to a subsequent revision by a
later Caliph, after which further modifications
were forbidden. But the chief honor of the
permanent composition of the Bible of Islam
belongs to the reign of Abu Beker.
As soon as the recouquest of the Arabian
tribes had been completed, the vision of uni-
versal dominion again rose on the court of
Medina. The prophet had said that the world
should be subdued to his doctrines. Either
persuasion or the sword should avail to bring
all nations to submission. By his oft-repeated
injunctions, his followers were incited to un-
dertake the conquest of the world. From
Arabia the scepter of authority was to be
stretched out to the remotest habitable bor-
ders ; and pagans, idolaters, and unbelievers
should bow to the sway of Allah and his
servants.
Nor was the time inauspicious for the un-
dertaking. The Roman Empire of the West
was under the heel of the barbarians. The
Byzantine power and the Empire of Persia
had exhausted themselves with long-continued
wars. Scarcely a single state of Western
Asia, and not one of the kingdoms whose ter
ritories touched the Mediterranean was in a
condition to ofler a successful resistance to a
new and aggressive power. Abu Beker,
therefore, made haste as soon as Khaled had
reduced the Arab tribes, to assume the work
enjoined by Mohammed. The first country
against which he raised his arm was Syria.
The Syrian states, embracing Phoenicia and
Palestine, had long been consolidated into a
province of the Eastern Empire of the
Romans. Heraclius now reigned at Constan-
tinople, but the Byzantine power had so
much declined from what it was in the days
of Theodosius as to invite attack from every
quarter. Syria was especially exposed ; nor
did the Arabs fail to perceive in that country
a fair field of conquest. Their caravans going
and coming from the Syrian cities had made
462
UNIVERSAL HISTORY — THE MODERN WORLD.
them familiar with' tlie al)uiulant resources of
the province, no less than with its compara-
tively defenseless position. Accordingly, in
\he second year of his reign, Abu Beker
ri:F.A(HIN(r THE KORAN
Drawn by Lisc.
issued to the chiefs of the Two Arabias the
following proclamation :
"In the name of the Most Merciful God.
Abdallah Athek Ibn Abu Kahafa to all true
believers health, happiness, and the blessing
of God. Praise be to God and ^lohammed
his Prophet ! This is to inform you that 1
intend to send an army of the faithful into
Syria to deliver that country from the infidels,
and I remind you that to iight for the true
faith is to obey God."
No sooner was this
summons issued than
the wild horsemen of
the desert flocked to
Medina, eager to join
the expedition. Th&
command of the host
was given Yezed, and
Abu Beker himself ac-
companied the army
for the first day's march,
walking as a servant of
the Prophet. He then'
gave to Yezed his
parting injunctions,
which may well be re-
peated as illustrative
of the spirit of young
Islam going forth to-
conquest :
"Treat your soldiers
with kindness and con-
sideration," said Abu
Beker to his general.
"Be just in all your
dealings with them, and
consult their feelings
and opinions. Fight
valiantly, and never
turn your back upon a
foe. When victorious,
harm not the aged and
protect women and
children. Destroy not
the palm-tree or fruit-
trees of any kind;
waste not the corn-field
with fire; nor kill any
cattle excepting for
food. Stand faithfully
to every covenant and
promise ; respect all religious persons who
live in hermitages or convents, and spare
their edifices. But should you meet with a
class of unbelievers of different kind, who go^
about with shaven crowns and belong to the
synagogue of Satan, be sure you cleave their
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CONQUESTS OF FIRST CALIPHS. 463
skulls unless they embrace the true faith or
render tribute."
So Yezed began the invasion of Syria.
On the borders of the country he met an
army which Heraclius had sent to oppose his
march, and the Mohammedans gained an easy
victory. Twelve hundred of the enemy were
left dead on the field, and a long train of
booty was sent to Medina. Arabia was fired
with the intelligence of triumph. A new
army was quickly gathered at Mecca, placed
under the command of Amru, and sent to the
Syrian frontier. In a short time no fewer
than four Mohammedan generals were carry-
ing the banners of Islam through the enemy's
country. Amru invaded Palestine. Obeidah
marched against Emessa. Seid proceeded to-
wards Damascus, and Hassan overran the
country beyond the Jordan. All four of the
armies were to act in concert, and Obeidah
was to be general-in-chief.
While the Syrian war was thus put in mo-
tion, a second campaign was undertaken into
ancient Babylonia, now tributary to the Per-
sian monarch, and of this expedition the com-
mand was given to the veteran Khaled. With
ten thousand men he undertook the subjuga-
tion of the country. He besieged the city of
Hira, carried the place by storm, and killed
the king in battle. The Chaldajan kingdom
was quickly subdued, and an annual tribute
of seventy thousand pieces of gold was im-
posed upon the conquered people. The con-
queror then marched against the city of Aila,
where he overthrew the Persian general Hor-
muz, and sent his crown, a fifth part of the
booty, and an elephant, to Abu Beker. Such
were the first instances of a tribute levied by
Islam upon a foreign nation.
Nothing could withstand the headlong
career of Khaled. Three Persian armies were
successively beaten down before him. The
Babylonian cities were taken one after another
until opposition on the banks of the Euphrates
ceased. The name of Khaled became a terror
to unbelievers. Establishing his head-quarters
in Babylonia, he wrote a letter to the Persian
monarch, saying: "Profess the faith of Allah
and his Prophet or pay tribute to their ser-
vants. If you refuse both, I will come upon
you with a host who love death as much as
you love life."
As the spoils taken by Khaled in the East
poured into Medina the Arabians fairly flamed
with enthusiasm. The trophies seemed but
the earnest of universal triumph. The fierv
zeal of the follower." of the Prophet was fed
with the sight of captured crowns snatched
from the heads of infidel princes; and the
Koran promised immortal bliss to the faithful
soldier who should fall in battle. The Arab
chiefs rushed to the uplifted standard of Islam,
eager to join the victorious general on the
Euphrates. "By Allah," .said old Abu Beker,
"all womankind is not able to give birth to
another such as Khaled."
Meanwhile, however, the Mahommedar;
armies in Syria were attended with less suc-
cess. Abu Obeidah proved unequal to the
task which was imposed upon him by the
Caliph. While each succeeding dispatch from
Khaled brought to Medina the notes of vic-
tor}% the news from Obeidah' was full of dis-
couragement and alarm. He had heard that
great armies were on the march from Constan-
tinople to oppose him and deemed himself
unable to confront the hosts of Heraclius.
Great was the contrast thus exhibited to the
mind of Abu Beker by the headlong career
of Khaled and the timid inactivity of Obeidah.
The Caliph accordingly ordered his victorious
general to leave the Euphrates and assume
the direction of the war in Syria.
Khaled at once hastened across the Syrian
desert with a force of fifteen hundred horse
and joined the army of his countrymen before
the city of Bosra. This important mart near
the Arabian frontier was a place of great
strength. Eomanus, the governor, estimating
the probabilities of the conflict, would have
surrendered to the Mohammedans, but the
garrison and the inhabitants resisted the prop-
osition and insisted on defense. Before the
arrival of Khaled, the city was already assailed
by ten thousand Mohammedan horsemen un-
der the command of the veteran Serjabil ; but
the garrison sallied forth, threw the Moslems
into confusion, and cut them down with great
slaughter.
The terrified Mohammedans were already
breaking into a rout when a great cloud of
dust on the horizon announced the arrival of
Khaled. The impetuous warrior dashed upon
the field, restored order, drove the Syrian gar-
464
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
rison again into the city, and set up his own
banner before the gates. With the early
moruiug the besieged army again sallied forth
confident of victory. Romauus, riding before
his army, entered into a sham, personal com-
bat with Khaled, telling his terrible foeman
to strike softly and he would surrender the
city into his hands. Khaled readily assented
to the proposition, but when Romanus re-
turned into Bosra he was deposed by the
indignant garrison and a new governor ap-
pointed in his stead. Another sally was made
and a personal combat ensued between the
commander and the young Abdalrahman, son
of the Caliph, who appeared as the champion
of Khaled. The governor was wounded and
put to flight. Thereupon the whole Moslem
force charged upon the opposing army and
•drove the besieged headlong into the city.
With nightfall the gates were closed and Bosra
was invested.
Taking advantage of the darkness Romanus,
who had been confined in his own house near
the wall of the city, broke an opening through
the rampart and made his way to the tent of
Khaled. Abdalrahman was sent with a hun-
dred men into the citv to open the gates. At
a preconcerted signal the Moslem hosts rushed
forward, poured through the gates, and the
people of Bosra were suddenly aroused with
the shrill battle-cry of Islam. Thousands were
cut down, and other terrified thousands cried
for quarter. The city was taken and the
carnage ended by the order of Khaled. The
inhabitants were obliged to renounce Chris-
tianity and to accept Mohammed as their
Prophet.
After the downfall of Bosra Khaled fixed
his eyes on Damascus, the flower of the Syrian
desert. With a force of thirty-seven thousand
men he pressed forward to the rich plain and
groves of palm in which the city is situated.
So beautiful was the sight which greeted the
eyes of the Moslem host that it seemed to
them a vision of that Paradise which the
Prophet had promised to the faithful. The
city was strongly fortified, and defended by a
numerous garrison.
Nor did it appear to
Heraclius, who was
then holding his
court at A n t i o c h,
that the expedition
of Khaled was more
to be feared than a
predatory foray of
nomads. He there-
fore merely ordered
a force of five thou-
sand men to march
tVom Antioch for the
succor of Damascus.
Arriving at the city,
Caloiis, the general
of the detachment,
attempted to assume
the command, and
violent dissensions ensued. Meanwhile Khaled
drew near at the head of his army, and a sense
of danger served to unite the factions within the
walls. The garrison was drawn out through
the gates, and the two armies were brought
face to face in the plain. A fierce battle en-
sued, in which both the Christian commanders
were killed, and their army driven within
the ramparts.
Damascus was now besieged. Heraclius,
learning the real character of the foe with
whom he had to grapple, sent forward from
Antioch an army of a hundred thousand men.
But the undaunted Khaled sallied forth into
the desert, met the approaching hosts in de-
tachments, and inflicted upon them a complete
overthrow and rout. The siege was again re-
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CONQUESTS OF FIRST CALIPHS. 465
sumed, but Heraclius, now thoroughly alarmed,
raised another army of seventy thousand men,
and a second time hurried to the relief of Da-
mascus. Khaled called upon the Moslem
chiefs of Arabia for aid, and as soon as possi-
ble broke up his camp before the city, march-
ing in the direction of Aiznadin. The garri-
son of Damascus sallied forth and pursued the
retiring army. Khaled, however, turned upon
them and inflicted a severe defeat; but the
assailants succeeded in carrying off a part of
the baggage and many of the Moslem women.
These in turn were recaptured by Khaled,
and the assailants were glad to make good
their escape within the fortifications of the city.
Meanwhile the Moslem reenforcements ar-
rived before Aiznadin, where Khaled now gath-
ered his entire force for the impending battle.
The Imperial army greatly exceeded the Moham-
medan m number, and was thoroughly equipped
and disciplined according to the Eomau method.
After lying face to face for a day AVerdan,
the commander of the Christian host, sought
to circumvent Khaled by treachery ; but the
latter outwitted his rival, and Werdan was
•caught and slain in his own stratagem. Tak-
ing advantage of the temporary dismay of the
Imperial army, Khaled, though outnumbered
two to one, charged upon the opposing camp,
and a massacre ensued hitherto unparalleled
in the fierce conflicts of those desert lands.
Those of the Christians who survived the on-
set fled in all directions. The spoils of the
overthrown were greater than the victorious
Moslems could well dispose of. An immense
train of booty was dispatched to Medina, and
Abdalrahman was commissioned to bear the
oews of the victory to Abu Beker.
It appeared that all Arabia was now ready
for the field. Every chief and his tribe were
«ager to join the victorious Khaled for the
■capture of Damascus. After the victory of
Aiznadin the Mohammedans resumed the in-
vestment of the city, and the siege was pressed
with such severity that neither citizen nor
^soldier durst venture beyond the ramparts.
The Moslems, however, were repelled in sev-
eral assaults, and the garrison in turn was
driven back at every sally. For seventy days
the siege continued with unremitting rigor.
When at last the people were reduced to ex-
tremity, an embassy went forth, and one of
the city gates was opened to Obeidah. At the
same time Khaled obtained possession of the
gate on the opposite side, and fought his waj
into the city, where he met the forces of
Obeidah, peacefully marching in according to
the terms of capitulation. Great was the rage
of Khaled, who swore by Allah that he would
put every infidel to the sword. For a while
the slaughter continued; but Khaled was at
length induced to desist, and to honor the
terms which had been granted by the more
merciful Obeidah.
So Damascus fell into the hands of the
Moslems. A part of the inhabitants remained
and became tributary to the Caliph, and the
rest were permitted to retire with their prop-
erty in the direction of Antioch. The latter,
however, were pursued by the merciless Kha-
led, overtaken in their encampment beyond
]\Iount Libanus, and were all slain or captured.
This exploit having been accomplished, the
Moslems hastened back to Damascus, where
some time was .spent in dividing the spoils of
the great conquest.
In the mean time Abu Beker grew feeble
with age, and died at Medina. His death oc-
curred on the very day of the capture of Da-
mascus, and before the news of that great
victory could reach him. Perceiving his end
at hand, the aged Caliph dictated a will to his
secretary, in which he nominated Omar as his
successor. The latter was little disposed to
accept the burden of the Caliphate. Having
extorted from Omar a promise to accept the
office and to rule in accordance with the pre-
cepts of the Koran, good Abu Beker, after a
reign of a little more than two years, left the
world in full assurance of Paradise.
The succession fell peaceably to Omar, who
began his reign in A. D. 634. He was a man
great in mind and great in stature, strong of
will and resolute of purpose. The two years'
successful reign of his predecessor had left
the Caliphate in the ascendant; and it was
not likely that Omar would allow the con-
quests of Islam to stop with their present
limits. His religious zeal was equal to his
warlike valor, and his private life was as tem-
perate as his public example was commendable.
For the false luxury of the world he had no
liking. His manners were as severe as those
of John the Baptist. His beverage was' water;
466
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
his food, of barley bread and dates. His motto
was: " Four things come not back: the spoken
word; the sped arrow; the past life, and the
neglected opportunity."
On acceding to power Omar received the
title of Emir-al-Moumenin, or Commander of
the Faithful. He began his career by intro-
ducing several salutary methods in the admin-
istration of justice. He ordered to be pre-
pared a twisted scourge for the backs of a
certain class of offenders, and the remedy was
so freely applied as to provoke the saying,
"Omar's twisted scourge is more to be feared
than his sword."
One of the first acts of the new Caliph
was to reappoint Abu Obeidah to the com-
mand of the army in Syria. The measure
was one of great peril ; for neither did Obei-
dah desire to be general-in-chief, nor was it
by any means certain that Khaled would qui-
etly submit to his own deposition. The su-
premacv of Islam, however, prevailed over all
minor considerations, ^nd the fiery warrior,
who had received the surname of the "Sword
of God," accepted a position subordinate to
Obeidah. A short time after this transfer of
the command the Syrian town of Abyla,
whereat a great fair was holding, and hun-
dreds of merchant princes were met to exhibit
their stuff's, was taken by a division of horse-
men under the command of Khaled, and an-
other rich harvest of booty gathered from the
infidels. A long train of spoil was driven
back to Damascus, and the plunder distributed
among the faithful.
By this time the Saracens had become a
terrible army of veterans. The discipline of
the Koran enjoined moderation in all matters
of appetite, and the simple fare of the followers
of Islam conduced to their excellence as sol-
diers. While the army was reposing at Da-
mascus, however, the use of the interdicted
wine-cup began to prevail, and Omar and
Obeidah were scandalized with occasional re-
ports of drunkenness. "By Allah," said the
Caliph, "what is to be done with these wine-
bibbers." A message was prepared at the
suggestion of Ali, wherein Obeidah was di-
rected to have the oflTenders publicly whipped.
On receiving the dispatch the general sum-
moned the guilty, and had the bastinado laid
upon their flesh until the honor of Islam was
vindicated. Such was the heat of religious
fervor that many whose potations had been in
secret came forward of their own accord, ac-
knowledged their sin, and were whipped till
their consciences were satisfied.
Leaving a sufficient garrison in Damascus,
Obeidah now went forth to complete the con-
quest of Syria. The two most important cities
stLU remaining uncaptured were Emessa and
Baalbec. As soon as the expedition was be-
gun Khaled was sent forward with one-third
of the Moslem army to scour the country in
the direction of Emessa. The main body,
under the general and chief, advanced by way
of Jusheyah, which city purchased immunity
for a year by the payment of a large ransom
to the Mohammedans.
On reaching Emessa, Obeidah found that
Khaled had already begun a siege. An in-
vestment ensued; but the authorities of the
city, like those of Jusheyah, preferred to se-
cure a temporary peace by the payment of
ten thousand pieces of gold and two hundred
silken robes. It was stipulated that at tlie
expiration of a year Emessa should be sur-
rendered to the Moslems, on condition that the
latter should in the mean time have taken the
cities of Aleppo, Alhadir, and Kennesrin, and
that they should have defeated the Imperial
army. By these heavy contributions Obeidah
secured unlimited means of prosecuting his
campaigns and of filling the coflfers of the
government at Medina.
As soon as the merchants of Emessa found
themselves secure from aggression they opened
the gates of the city, established fairs, and
began to, ply a profitable trade with their con-
querors. The god of Thrift began to recover
from Mars a portion of his spoils. The Mo-
hammedans meanwhile ravaged the surround-
ing country, fell upon the villages of the un-
believers, and seized the property of whoever
would not profess himself a follower of the
Prophet. The Syrian Greeks, having much
of the religious suppleness for which their race
had ever been noted, soon learned that the
readiest and safest way of reaching a conclu-
sion of their peril was by voluntary submis-
sion and the payment of tribute. The Moham-
medans were keepers of their faith. Town
after town .sent deputations to Obeidah and
secured peace, until by their own act the-
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CONQUESTS OF FIRST CALIPHS. 467
whole territories of Emessa, Alhadir, aud
Keunesrin were saved from devastation.
Kelations quite friendly were thus estab-
lished between the dominant Moslems and the
Bubject Syrian populations. The policy of
Obeidah was so successful that when for a
long time no intelligence of further conquest
was borne to Medina, Caliph Omar, believing
that Obeidah had ceased to glorify the Prophet,
wrote him a letter complaining of his apathy
in the cause. Stung by the reproaches of his
master, Obeidah left Khaled to await the ex-
piration of the year's truce at Emessa, aud
himself at once set forward on an expedition
to Baalbec. While on the march he captured
a rich caravan of merchants and found him-
self in possession of four hundred loads of
silks and sugars. The caravan, however, was
permitted to ransom itself and continue on its
way to Baalbec. Thus were the jjeople of that
city notified of the approach of the Moslems.
Herbis, the Syrian governor, believing that
the disturbers of his peace were only a band
of marauders, sallied forth with an army to
put to flight the assailants of his people ; but
Obeidah inflicted on him a severe defeat aud
he was glad to secure himself within the walls
of Baalbec. The city was soon besieged, but
the garrison made a brave defense. In a sally
which was ordered by Herbis, the Moslems
were driven back. Shortly the besieged made
a second sortie in full force, and a general
battle ensued, in which the Syrians were de-
feated. Being reduced to extremities, Herbis
finally sought a conference with Obeidah, and
Baalbec, like Emessa, was ransomed from pil-
lage at a heavy cost. The same scenes which
had been witnessed at Emessa were now re-
enacted in the recently captured city. Mer-
chantmen grew fat by the establishment of a
trade with the victorious but reckless Moslems,
who, burdened with the spoils of war, were
quick to purchase at an exorbitant price what-
ever pleased their fancy.
Meanwhile the year of truce with Emessa
expired, and Obeidah demanded the actual
surrender of the city. The sole condition of
exemption was the acceptance by the people
of the faith of Islam or the payment of an
annual tribute. "I invite you," said Obeidah,
"to embrace our holy faith aud the law re-
vealed to our Prophet Mohammed, and we
will send pious men to instruct you, and you
shall participate in all our fortunes. If you
refuse, you shall be left in possession of all
your property on the payment of annual
tribute. If you reject both conditions, come
forth from behind your stone walls and let
Allah, the supreme judge, decide between us."
The authorities of Emessa rejected this
summons with contempt. The garrison pres-
ently sallied forth, and the Moslems were
handled roughly. Obeidah then resorted to
stratagem aud proposed to the inhabitants that
he would retire and underbike the conquest
of other cities, on condition that his army
should be provisioned for a five days' march
from the storehouses of the city. The proposal
was gladly accepted, but when the five days'
provisions were dealt out to the Moslems,
Obeidah, pretending that the su])ply was still
insuflicient, asked the privilege of purchasing
additional stores. This granted, he continued
to buy until the supplies of Emessa were
greatly reduced. The Moslem army then
marched away and quickly captured the towns
of Arrestan and Shaizar, This done, he re-
turned with all haste to Emessa, claiming that
his promise to leave the city was by no means
a promise not to return.
Thus by craft and subtlety the inhabitants
of Emessa found themselves overreached and
subjected to the hardships of another siege.
After several days' fighting, during which the
Moslems found themselves unable to make any
impression on the steady phalanxes of the
Syrian Greeks, they resorted to their usual
stratagem of pretending to fly from the fight.
The opposing army, believing that the Arabs
were really routed, rushed forward in pursuit
and fell to plundering the Moslem camp.
Suddenly, however, the forces of Obeidah
turned from their flight and threw themselves
headlong upon the broken ranks of the Syri-
ans. The latter were thunderstruck by the
unexpected onset of a foe whom they consid-
ered overthrown, and were unable to' reform
the phalanx. Then a terrible slaughter en-
sued. The field was strewn with Christian
dead. The huge bulk of the governor was dis-
covered among the slain, his bloody garments
still fragrant with the perfumes of the Kast.
The city, unable to oflfer further resistance,
immediately surrendered. Obeidah, however.
46S
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
was unable to avail himself of the advantages
of victory. For in the moment of triumph,
inteUigeuee was received that Coustaotiue, sou
of the Emperor, was approaching with an im-
mense army of heavy-armed Greeks, flanked
by a host of auxiliaries, against whom the
Moslems could not hope to stand. It. became
a serious question in Obeidah's camp what
course should be pursued to maintain the now
unequal contest. In a council of war it was
decided to march to Yermouk, on the borders
of Palestine, and there await the approach of
Constantiue. For the position was such as to
be within supporting distance of Medina.
The rumor of the approaching Imperial
army was well founded. For the Emperor
Heraclius, at first despising the reports of the
Mohammedan aggressions on the south-west,
was now thoroughly alarmed at the portentous
intelligence which foretold the ^loslem couquest
of all Syria. An army of eighty thousand
men was accordingly organized and placed
under the command of Manuel, who was or-
dered to recover the Syrian province from the
Arabs. Manuel was joined en route by an-
other army numbering sixty thousand, led by
a renegade Islamite, named Jabalah. Such
was the powerful host, the rumor of whose
comiug had obliged the hasty retirement of
the victorious Moslems after their capture of
Emessa.
The Arab generals, now posted at Yermouk,
sent a message to the Caliph describing their
peril and asking for reenforcements. Eight
thousand men were hastily collected, placed
under the command of Seid, and sent forward
to Obeidah. Before the arrival of this force,
however, the impetuous Khaled had sallied
forth with a body of picked troops, fallen
upon the traitorous Jabalah, who led the hos-
tile advance, and inflicted on him a severe de-
feat. As ^lauuel approached with the main
army, he opened negotiations with Obeidah.
Khaled was sent to a conference, but nothing
was effected except the relea.se of some Arab
prisoners. It was e%'ident that the issue must
be decided by the sword.
In the impending battle, Obeidah, distrust-
ing his own abilities, gave the chief command
to Khaled. That veteran, before beginning
the conflict, made to his men a characteristic
addrest. "Paradise," said he. " is before you ;
the devil and hell behind. Fight bravely, and
you will secure the one ; fly, and you will fall
into the other." The hostile armies met near
Yermouk. The battle began at morning, and
raged furiously throughout the day. Three
times the Moslems were driven back by the
steady charges of the Grseco-Syrian phalanx,
and three times the cries and entreaties of
the Arab women in the rear prevailed with
the warriors to renew the fight. Nightfall
gave a brief respite to the tired army of the
Prophet.
With the morning light the battle was re-
newed, and again coutinued to the darkness.
The third and fourth days of the conflict were
decisive. The Christian hosts were at last
thrown into confusion by the fiery assaults of
the Moslems. Manuel was slain and his army
completely routed. The conflict was decisive
as it related to the possession of Syria.
After a month's rest at Damascus, the Arab
army proceeded to besiege Jerusalem. The
inhabitants of that city prepared for defense
by gathering provisions and planting engines
on the walls. The usual demands made by
the Moslem leaders that the people should
either embrace the faith of Islam or become
tributary to the vicar of the Prophet were
rejected, and the investment began. For ten
days the assaults were renewed from time to
time, and a second summons to surrender was
followed by a conference between the Christian
])atriarch Sempronius and Obeidah. It was
agreed that the Caliph Omar should himself
come from IMedina and receive the city. That
potentate accordingly traversed the Arabian
desert, and the Holy City was given into his
hands. It was stipulated that the Christians
should build no new churches in the countries
which they surrendered ; that the doors of all
places of worship should be kept open to trav-
elers and Mohammedans ; that the bells should
ring no more, and that the cross should not be
publicly exhibited. Having subscribed the
articles of capitulation, Omar assured the peo-
ple of his protection and took possession of
the city of David.
Omar scrupulously observed the erms of
the surrender. The Moslems were ; orbidden
to pray in the Christian churches. The devo-
tions of the Islamites were at first limited to
the steps and porches of the sacred edifices.
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CONQUESTS OF FIRST CALIPHS. 46!»
470
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
The Caliph, however, did not fail to add the
sanctity of Jerusalem to that of Islam.
Searching out the site of the temple of Solo-
mon, he cleared the sacred spot of the debris
of centuries, and laid thereon the foundations
of the great mosque which still bears his name,
and has ever been regarded as among the
most magnificent specimens of Arabian archi-
tecture. Thus, in the year A. D. 637, the
ancient and holy capital of the Jewish nation
passed into the hands of the foUowei-s of the
Prophet.
Before leaving Jerusalem Omar planned
the completion of his Syrian conquests.
Southern Syria was assigned to Abu Sofian,
while the northern region lying between
Hauran and Aleppo was committed to Obei-
dah. At the same time an invasion of Egypt
was ordered, and an expedition against that
country put under command of Amru. These
arrangements being completed, Omar returned
in triumph to Medina. During his absence
the aflairs of state had been managed by Ali,
whom the Caliph had intrusted with the gov-
ernment.
Meanwhile, Obeidah began his march to
the north-east. The cities of Kennesrin and
Alhadir were surrendered to him without a
conflict. The great mercantile metropolis of
Aleppo, however, was not to be given up
without an obstinate struggle. This wealthy
city was strongly fortified, and the citadel,
standing upon a high mound, seemed impreg-
nable to assault. The place was under com-
mand of an able soldier named Youkenna,
who encouraged the people by word and
example, and prepared to fight for the city to
the last. Before Obeidah could reach Aleppo,
Youkenna sallied forth with ten thousand men
to confront the approaching Moslems. Dur-
ing his absence the peace-loving traders of
Aleppo sent a deputation tt Obeidah, offering
to make the city tributary on condition of
being spared. But, whUe the negotiations
were pending, Youkenna surprised the Arab
advance and gained a partial success; then,
hearing what the citizens of Aleppo had done,
he hastened back to the city to prevent a
surrender.
On reentering the gates Youkenna charged
UDon the citizens, and hundreds were put to
the sword. A scene of bloodshed and con-
fusion ensued as terrible as any thing which
was to be apprehended from the Moslems, and
before this desperate, internal strife could be
quieted, Khaled appeared with his army be-
fore the walls. The city was stormed, the
conflict raging fiercely for many hours, until
even the headlong Khaled was obliged to
desist from the assault. The heads of the
Arab prisoners were cut off and thrown down
from the walls in contempt, and Youkenna,
by frequent sallies, made himself a terror even
to the undaunted Moslems.
For five months the citadel was besieged,
until Obeidah was ready to give up the enter-
prise ; but the Caliph ordered the investment
to be pressed to a conclusion. At last an Arab
stratagem succeeded where courage had failed.
A certain Moslem Hercules, named Damas,
with a band of thirty reckless followers, scaled
the castle wall by night, killed the guard,
threw open the portal, raised the battle-cry of
Islam, and held the gate until Khaled and his
irresistible host poared in and captured the
citadel. Aleppo was the prize of victory. The
terrible Youkenna, finding the Arab sword at
his throat, saved himself by a sudden conver-
sion to Islam, and most of the garrison fol-
lowed his example. He signalized his defec-
tion from the Christian cause by taking up
the sword of the Prophet. He betrayed the
cjty of Aazaz into the hands of Obeidah, and
then undertook no less an enterprise than the
delivery of Antioch to the Mohammedans.
To this end he gave himself up at one of the
Imperial outposts, and was taken into the
presence of Heraclius at the Syrian capital.
He pretended to be a fugitive. The Emperor
accepted his story, and put him in command
of the very band of renegades whom he had
led within sight of the city. He rapidly rose
in the Imperial favor. He was made a coun-
selor of the court, and became one of the most
important personages in Antioch.
jMeanwhile, Obeidah came on with the main
armv to besiege the citv. The treacherous
Youkenna was intrusted with the defense.
The forces of the Emperor were drawn up and
reviewed without the walls, and Heraclius
himself made a present of a crucifix to each
battalion. The main dependence for the safety
of Antioch was the great stone bridge across
the river Orontes. This passage must be
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CONQUESTS OF FIRST CALIPHS. 471
secured by the Moslems before tbey could
Lope to take the city. The guards of the
bridge, however, had a private spite to be
gratified, aud as soon as the Arab army drew
near surrendered themselves aud their charge
to Obeidah. Thus was the approach to An-
tioch laid open, and the two armies were
brought face to fece before the walls of the
•city.
In the mean time Youkenna, who held
tommand within the ramparts, completed his
■treason by liberating the Arab prisoners.
When the iutelligence of his proceedings was
-carried to Heraclius, the latter fell into de-
■spair, slipped away from the Christian camp
with a few followers, took his course to the
sea-shore, and embarked for Constantinople.
The generals of the Emperor, however, re-
mained and fought. In the severe battle
which ensued before the walls of the city, the
Moslems were again triumphant. Antioch
surrendered, and was obliged to purchase her
exemption from pillage by the payment of
three thousand ducats of gold.
The conquest of Syria was now virtually
-complete. Khaled, at the head of a division
of the army, traversed the country as far as
the Euphrates. Everywhere the towns and
villages were compelled either to profess the
■faith of Islam or pay an annual tribute.
Another leader, named Mesroud, undertook
the conquest of the Syrian mountains. Little
success, however, attended the expedition un-
til Khaled went to the assistance of Mesroud,
whereupon the opposing army of Greeks
withdrew from the country.
In the mean time Amru, to whom had
been assigned the subjugation of Egypt, pro-
ceeded against Ciesarea. Here was posted
Constantine, son of the Emperor, in command
of a large army of Grseco-Syrians. Great
were the embarrassments of Amru in the con-
duct of his expedition ; for many Christian
Arabs, who could not well be discriminated
from the true followers of the Prophet, hov-
ered as spies about the Moslem camp and
carried to Constantine intelligence of what-
ever was done or purposed. None the less,
the Christian general entertained a wholesome
dread of the Moslems, and on their ap-
proach sought a peaceable settlement. He re-
monstrated with Amru, aud at the same time
N. — Vol. 2 — 29
protested that the Greeks and Arabs were
brethren.
Amru maintained, however, that according
to the Noachic distribution of the world Syria
belonged to the descendants of Shem ; that
they had been wrongfully dispossessed and
thrust into the deserts of Arabia, and that
they were now come to repossess their inheri-
tance by the sword. After much parley, the
usual alternative was presented by the Mo-
hammedan. The people of Csesarea must
either accept Mohammed as their Prophet and
acknowledge the unity of God or else become
tributary to the Calij)!! Omar. The armies
then prepared for battle. It was the peculiar-
ity of all these conflicts that challenges to
personal combat were given and accepted by
the leaders. Before the wall of Csesarea a
powerful Christian warrior rode forth and de-
fied the Moslem host to send a man to match
him in fight. An Arab youth from Yemen
offered himself for martyrdom and was quickly
slain. A second and third followed his ex-
ample. Then the veteran Serjabil went forth
aud was prostrated by the Christian hero.
But when the latter was about to take the
life of his fallen foeman, his own hand was
cut off by a saber stroke of a certain Greek,
who came to the rescue.
Presently after this adventure — the weather
being cold and boisterous — Constantine im-
mured himself in Csesarea. That place was
then besieged by the Moslems, and Constan-
tine, instead of being reenforced, received the
intelligence of the capture of Tripoli and
Tyre. He also learned that a fleet of muni-
tions and supplies which had been sent to his
relief had fallen into the hands of the enemy.
Discouraged by these tidings, he gathered to-
gether his treasures and family, slipped away
from Csesarea, and embarked for Constantino-
ple. As soon as the authorities of the city
learned that the prince had fled, they made
overtures to Amru and secured their safety
by the payment of a ransom of two hundred
thousand pieces of silver. A few other places
of minor importance were taken by the Mo-
hammedan, and by the following year, A. I).
639, opposition ceased. All Syria was wrested
from the Empire of the East and added to
the Caliphate of Medina.
It wiU be remembered that on the acces>,9ioa
472
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
of Omar that potentate displaced the victorious
Klialed from the command of the Syrian
army, and in other ways showed his dislike
for the favorite general of Abu Beker.
Khaled was a hero according to the Arab
heart and model. Eschaus, one of the many
poets of the desert, sang the praises of the
Sword of God and attributed to him the full
glory of the Syrian victories. For this bit of
adulation Khaled was weak enough to make
the poet a present of thirty thousand pieces
of silver. To the austere Omar, already in-
imical to Khaled, this vainglory appeared in-
tolerable. The veteran soldier was, moreover,
accused of embezzlement, was deposed from
his command, and disgraced with a trial.
Already aged and infirm, the hardy warrior
iould not recover from his di.sgrace. He died
of a broken heart, but from the sepulcher his
fame shone out more brightly than ever.
For it was found that instead of enriching
himself by embezzlement, his whole estate
consisted of his war-horse and armor.
Amru was now free to prosecute his inva-
sion of Egypt. Having crossed the border,
his first work was to capture Pelusium, which
he did after a siege of a month's duration.
He then marched against Misrah, the ancient
Memphis, which, next to Alexandria, was now
the most important city of Egj^pt. The place
was invested for seven months, nor might it
then have fallen into the hands of the Mos-
lems, but for the treason of the governor,
Mokawkas, who entered into a correspondence
with Amru, and agreed to surrender the city
on condition that he be permitted to retain
the treasures which he had collected while in
office.
Having thus possessed himself of Memphis,
Amru next set out for Alexiindria. By the
terms of capitulation the people were obliged
to prepare the way before him, bridge the
canals, and supply provisions. The malcon-
tent— especially the Greek — element of Egyp-
tian society fell back before the invading
army and took refuge in Alexandria. So
strongly fortified was this city, so well provis-
ioned and defended, and so easily accessible
to all the fleets of the Mediterranean, that its
attempted reduction by the men of the desert
appeared the project of insanity. Neverthe-
less, Amru made the usual demands of relig-
ious and civil submission to the Prophet and
his vicar, and when these were refused, boldly
laid siege to the powerful capital. In a short
time he succeeded in capturing the citadel,
but the Greeks rallied in great force, drove
out the assailants, and made prisoners of
Amru and several of his oflicers. Not know-
ing, however, the rank and importance of
their captives, the victors permitted them to-
depart on the easy mission of obtaining favor-
able terms from Amru ! The far-resounding
shouts of the Moslems on beholding the safe-
return of their general gave notice to the
credulous governor of Alexandria that he had
let fly the most important bird of the desert.
For fourteen months the siege of the city-
continued. Nothing could disappoint the des-
perate Moslems of their prey. Caliph Omar
sent army after army to reenforce the besieg-
ers. It is said that twenty-three thousand of
the Arabs fell in various unsuccessful assaults,
before the city was obliged to yield. At last,
however, the end came, and the capital of
Egypt succumbed to the followers of the-
Prophet. The fiery Crescent took the place
of the Cross in the metropolis of Africa.
Most of the Greeks, who for some centu-
ries had been the predominant class in Egypt,
took ship and left the country. For a while,
however, they hovered about the coast, and
when it was. learned that Amru, leaving a.
small garrison in Alexandria, had started on
his march up the valley of the Nile, a large
force of the Greek fugitives suddenly returned
and retook the city. Great was the wrath of
Amru on hearing what was done. He at
once marched back to the capital, and after a
brief investment, again carried the citadel by
assault. Most of the Greeks were cut to
pieces, and the rest escaping to their ships-
took flight by sea. The Mohammedans were
now mad for the pillage of the city, and were
with difficulty held in check by Amru and a
message from the Caliph. Omar was very far
from desiring that the magnificent metropolis
should be destroyed. At this time Alexan-
dria is said to have contained four thousand
palaces, five thousand baths, four hundred
theaters, twelve thousand gardeners, and forty
thousand tributary Jews. The Caliph was
sufficiently wise to understand that not pillage
but the imposition of tribute was the best.
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CONQUESTS OF FIRST CALIPHS. 473
method of repleuishiug the coffers of Medina
and providing the resources of war.
Formidable resistance ceased in Egypt
with the capture of the capital. The other
towns and villages surrendered at the first
Biimmons and became tributary to the con-
queror. A tax of two ducats was laid upon
every male Egyptian, and a large additional
revenue was derived from the landed property
of the kingdom. It was estimated that the
Caliph received from these various sources the
sum of twelve millions of ducats.
At the time of the conquest of Egypt,
there was resident in Alexandria a certain
Christian scholar of the sect of the Jacobites,
known by his Greek name of Johannes Gram-
maticus, and the cognomen of Philoponus.
With him Amru, himself a scholar and a poet,
became acquainted. The antagonism of re-
ligious zeal was for once overcome by the
sentiment of personal regard. While still
resident in the city, the Grammarian informed
Amru that Alexandria contained one treasure,
which he had not yet beheld, more valuable
and glorious than all her other riches. This
was, in brief, the renowned Alexandrian
Library, the vastest collection of manuscripts
known to the ancient world. It had been
founded by Ptolemy Soter, who placed the
vast collection made in his own times in a
building called the Bruchion. Here was
gathered during the reigns of the earlier Pto-
lemies a mass of four hundred thousand vol-
umes. An additional building, called the
Serapeon, was subsequently procured, and in
this another collection of three hundred thou-
sand was stored. During Julius Cesar's in-
vasion of Egypt, he was besieged in Alex-
andria; a fire broke out, and the Bruchion
with its contents was destroyed. The Serapeon
was saved from destruction. Afterwards, as
far as practicable, the lost collection 'was re-
stored. During the ascendency of Cleopatra,
the library of Pergamus was brought by her
lover, Mark Antony, to Egypt, and presented
to the easy-going but ambitious princess. Not-
withstanding the injuries which the great
library at various timi-; sustained, it was, at
the time of the Mosler i invasion, by far the
grandest and most valuable collection of books
in the world.
In making an inventory of the treasures of
the city according to directiofls received from
Omar, Amru, through ignorance of its exist-
tence, failed to take notice of the library.
The Grammarian thereupon besought him that
he himself might be made the possessor of the
vast collection. Amru, disposed to favor hia
friend, referred the matter to the <';aliph
Omar for decision. From that potentate he
presently received the following fatal missive:
" The contents of those books are in cow-
forrnty with the koran or thev are not.
If THEY ARE, THE KORAN IS SUFFICIENT
WITHOUT THEM ; IF THEY ARE NOT, THEY ARE
PERNICIOUS. Let them, therefore, be de-
stroyed."
This reckless mandate of ignorant bigotry
was carried out to the letter. The invaluable
treasures of the Bruchion and Serapeon were
torn from their places and distributed as fuel
among the five thousand baths of the city.
So vast were the collections that six months
were required to consume them. At last,
however, the work of barbarism was com-
pleted, and the liorary of Alexandria was no
more.'
The capture of Alexandria ended the do-
minion of tlie Roman Empire in the South-
east. So great was the affliction of Heraeliua
on account <,f his losses that he presently fell
into a paroxysm and died. The crown de-
scended CO his son Constantine, but that
prince had neither the courage nor ability to
undertake the reconquest of Syria. Fortunate
it was for the Mohammedans that Egypt fell
at this juncture into their hands. A great
dearth ensued throughout Arabia, and Caliph
Omar was obliged to call upon Amru to fur-
nish Medina and Mecca with supplies. The
rich granaries of Egypt were emptied of their
stores to save the people of the South from
starvation.
In order to open and facilitate communica-
tion between Egypt and Arabia, Amru com-
pleted the canal from the Nile to the Red
Sea — a work which had been begun by the
Emperor Trajan. By this means an all-water
' The story of the destruction of the Alexan-
drian Library has been doubted by so careful an
authority as Gibbon, wlio found the act unmen-
tioned by two of the most ancient historians, and
regarded it, moreover, as a deed altogether incon-
sistent with the intelligence and character of
Amru.
474
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
route was established between the Egyptian
store-houses and the capital of the Caliphate.
Amru continued for some time in the govern-
ment of the country which he had conquered,
exhibiting in peace talents as remarkable as
those which he had displayed in war.
In the mean time, while the conquest of
Syria and Egypt had been progressing, the
Mohammedan dominion had likewise been ex-
tended in the direction of Persia. The vic-
tories of the Romans in that country, no less
than the civil broils and murders with which
the Persian court was constantly disgraced,
invited the sous of Islam to undertake an in-
vasion. The capital of the country was now
the city of Madain, on the Tigris, the site of
the aucient Ctesiphou. The conquests of
Khaled on the Euphrates before his recall to
aid in the subjugation of Syria have been
already narrated. It will be remembered that
on going to the aid of Obeidah, Khaled left
the larger part of his army under command
of Mosenna to carry on the war. On the ac-
cession of Omar a new officer was appointed
to the governorship of Babylonia, which
Khaled had subdued to Islam. It does not
appear that Mosenna was competent as a
military chieftain. For a time nothing was
added to the Mohammedan dominion, and
Caliph Omar, tired of his subordinate in the
East, sent a second Obeidah, surnamed Sakfi,
to supersede Mosenna and carry out the policy
of Abu Beker.
On the approach of the new commander to
the capital, an army of thirty thousand men
was sent out by the Persians to confront the
invaders on the border. A battle was fought
between the advance detachments of this force
and the Arabs, in which the latter were vic-
torious. The main body came up too late to
succor the routed van, and was itself signally
defeated. The reserves of the kingdom were
now brought out under the command of Beh-
man, who led into the field a new army
and thirty elephants. The Persian forces
were reorganized on the plains of Babylon,
and were vastly superior in number to the
Moslems, whose army consisted of nine thou-
sand men. There was a dispute between
Obeidah and the other commanders as to
w nether they should hazard a second battle or
retire into the desert and wait for reenforce-
ments from Arabia. Obeidah was for fight,
and his views prevailed over the adverse
opinions of his generals. The Arabs crossed
the Euphrates and attacked the Persians on
the opposite bank, but reckless valor could
not prevail over- the hosts of the enemy.
Obeidah was slain, and four thousand of his
men were either killed or drowned in attempt-
ing to retreat. Had the Persians followed up
their success with energy, the whole Moslem
army must have been destroyed. Mosenna,
however, succeeded in rallying three thousand
of his men, and was soon reenforced by de-
tachments out of Syria. Thus enabled to
reassume the offensive, Mosenna ravaged
the Babylonian plains, capturing towns and
villages.
After the battle on the Euphrates, Queen
Arzemia, then the ruler of Persia, gave the
command of her army to Mahran, who was
ordered to check the career of Mosenna. The
hostile armies again met in battle near the
town of Hirah, on the confines of the desert.
From midday until the setting of the sun the
fight raged fiercely, and the victory remained
undecided, till at last Mosenna and Mahran
met in single combat. The latter was siain,
and the Persians took to flight. A revolution
in the capital followed the news of the battle.
Arzemia was dethroned by Rustam, prince of
Khorassan, who put his captive sovereign to
death. A new army was mustered, and it
was determined to scourge the Arabs from
the land.
Meanwhile, the Caliph Omar had not been
idle. A large contingent of nomad warriors
was gathered at Medina, and Omar was with
difficulty dissuaded from taking the field in
person. The command of the reenforcements
was at length given to the veteran Abu
Wakkas, who had been a companion of the
Prophet. He was given the general com-
mand of all the Moslems in Persia, and was
intrusted with the completion of the conquest.
Mo.senna presently died, and the whole re-
sponsibility devolved on Abu Wakkas.
The Persians still greatly outnumbered
their assailants. Their army, under command
of Rustam, was posted at Kadesia, on the
frontier. So great was the disparity of num-
bers that Abu Wakkas would fain have
waited for reenforcements ; but the messenger
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CONQUESTS OF FIRST CALIPHS. 475
of the Caliph exhorted the general to fear
not, but to strike in the name of the Prophet.
Before venturing on a battle, however, Abu
Wakkas determined to attempt the conversion
of his enemy by persuasion. An embassy,
consisting of the most eminent Arabs, was
sent to the Persian capital, and the king was
exhorted to turn to the faith of Islam. The
latter was indignant at the impudent demand,
and the conference was broken up with mu-
tual recriminations.
Again the fate of the kingdom was sub-
mitted to the arbitrament of battle. The two
hostile armies were drawn up on the plains
of Kadesia. Here a terrible conflict ensued,
but night came without decisive results. The
next day was consumed in skirmishing and
personal combats, in which several of the
leaders on both sides were slain. The third
day's fight was attended with varying suc-
cesses, and the battle continued during the
night. On the next morning Rustam was
killed, whereupon the Persian army took to
flight, and the camp was despoiled by the
Moslems. Thirty thousand of the Persians
were slain in the battle and the pursuit, and
an incalculable amount of booty fell into the
hands of the victors. The sacred banner of
Persia was captured by an Arab soldier, who
received therefor thirty thousand pieces of
gold. Thus, in the year 635, was fought the
great battle which decided the fate of Persia.
The work of organizing the Babylonian
country was now devolved by the Caliph on
Abu Wakkas. A new capital, named Bas-
sora, was founded on the united Euphrates
and Tigris, and here were established the
head-quarters of the Mohammedans in the
East. In a short time the city grew into
importance, becoming a great mart for the
commerce of India. Until the present day
Bassora is regarded as one of the principal
emporiums of eastern trade.
As yet the capital of Persia had not been
assailed by the Moslems. But after the battle
of Kadesia, the people were so dispirited that
the completion of the conquest by the Arabs
was only a question of time. Many cities and
strongholds were given up without even a
show of defense. What remained of ancient
Babylon thus fell into the hands of the follow-
ers of the Prophet.
After a short time Abu Wakkas gathered
his forces, crossed the Tigris, and advanced
against Madain. On his approach to the cap-
ital the Persian counselors besought the king,
Yezdegird, to save himself and them by flying
into Khorassan. No settled policy was deter-
mined on until the Moslems were within one
day's march of Madain. Then the king, ac-
companied by his panic-struck household, took
to flight. There was no formal resistance to
the entrance of the Arabs into the capital of
Persia. The city was left sitting with her
treasures in her hand. " How many gar-
dens and fountains," said Abu Wakkas, ' ' and
fields of corn and fair dwellings and other
sourcesof delight did they leave behind them!"
The abandoned capital was given up to pil-
lage. A scene ensued like that of the sack
of Rome by the barbarians. The Arabs of
the desert broke into the magnificent palace
of Chosroes and reveled in the splendid halls
of the Sassanian king. While the Prophet
lived he had written a letter to the Persian
monarch, demanding his submission to the
new kingdom which Allah was establishing in
the earth ; but the haughty sovereign tore up
the Projihet's letter in contempt. " Even so,"
said Mohammed, " shall Allah rend his empire
in pieces." When the Arabs gained posses-
sion of the Persian basilica, they cried out :
"Behold the white palace of Khosru ! This
is the fulfillment of the prophecy of the
Apostle of God."
Al.a Wakkas established himself in the
royal abode. Most of the treasures which
through ages had been accumulated in the
vaults of the capital were seized by the ]\Ios-
lems. These untold spoils of war were dis-
tributed according to the Arab method. One-
fifth of the whole was set apart for the Calijih,
and the remainder was divided among the
sixty thousand followers of Abu Wakkas, each
soldier receiving twelve hundred pieces of
silver. A caravan of nine hundred heavily
laden camels was scarcely able to convey the
Cali])h's portion to Medina. Never before
had such an enormous train of spoil been seen
in the streets of the City of the Prophet.'
' As illustrative of the spirit of the Moham-
medans, an incident may be related of the division
of the spoils. The royal carpet of the Persian
Daiace, perhaps the most famous piece of tapestry
476
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Thus, in the year 637 — the event being coin-
cident with the capture of Jerusalem by
Omar — the Empire of Persia passed under
the dominion of the Mohammedans. The
cloud, apparently no larger than the hand of
a man, rising from the shores of the Red Sea,
had spread out to the east until its shadow
fell beyond the valley of the Euphrates and
the lofty range of Zagros.
Remaining in the capital of Persia, Abu
Wakkas sent forward an army of twelve thou-
sand men in pursuit of the fugitive king.
The latter had fled to Holwan, in the Median
hUls. This place was besieged for six months,
and finally captured. From this place Yez-
degird made good his retreat to Rhaga, the
ancient residence of the Parthian kings. The
further pursuit of the monarch was forbidden
by the Caliph, who urged that the welfare of
the believers was of more importance than
booty taken from infidels.
Abu Wakkas soon discovered the unhealth-
fulness of the situation at Madain. At the
suggestion of the Caliph it was determined to
seek a more salubrious position for the Arab
army. The village of Cufa, on the western
bank of the Euphrates, was accordingly
chosen and made the future head-quarters of
the Moslems of the East.' In building his
new city Abu Wakkas despoiled the old ; for
many of the edifices of Madain were pulled
down to furnish material for the new struc-
tures on the hither side of the Euphrates. —
And now came a characteristic event in the
career of the conquering Islam.
It appears that Abu Wakkas was too sus-
ceptible to the influences of Persian luxury.
He began to assume the habit and splendid
manners of the East. He had built for him-
of ancient times, was taken with the other booty
to Medina. What disposition should be made of
this most beautiful and costly trophy ? Should it
be spread out and used on state occasions by the
Calipli ? or should it be cut up and distributed
with the other spoils 7 Omar decided that justice
required the partition of all booty. The beautiful
carpet was accordinglj' divided without respect to
the design or workmanship, and parceled out in
scraps to those who had taken the palace.
' The town of Cufa was deservedly famous in
the traditions of the Semitic nations. There
Noah, when the world was about to be drowned,
entered the ark of safety, and there the serpent
that tempted Eve was banished under the curse.
self at Cufa a magnificent Kiosk, or summer
residence, where he assumed the state of
royalty like that of a Persian prince. Great
was the' mortification of Caliph Omar when
the news of these proceedings was borne to
Medina. He immediately wrote a message to
Abu Wakkas, and despatched the same by
the hands of a faithful envoy named Moham-
med. The latter repaired at once to Cufa,
where he signalized his advent by burning to
the ground the sumptuous Kiosk of Abu
Wakkas. When that distinguished personage
came forth indignantly and demanded to know
the reason of this incendiary work, the am-
bassador put into his hands the following
letter from Omar: " I am told thou hast built
a lofty palace, like to that of the Khosrus,
and decorated it with a door taken from the
latter ; with a view to have guards and cham-
berlains stationed about it to keep off those
who may come in quest of justice or assistance,
as was the practice of tlie Khosrus before
thee. In so doing thou hast departed from
the ways of the Prophet (on whom be bene-
dictions), and hast fallen into the ways of the
Persian monarchs. Know that the Khosrus
have passed from their palace to the tomb ;
while the Prophet, from his lowly habitation
on earth, has been elevated to the highest
heaven. I have sent Mohammed Ibn jSIus-
lemah to burn thy palace. In this world two
houses are suflicient for thee ; one to dwell in,
the other to contain the treasure of the
Moslems."
Islam had now become an Empire. The
austere Omar found himself burdened with
the cares of state. His main dependence in
the transaction of public business was in the
advice of Othman and Ali. Between them
and himself he drew as closely as possible the
ties of relationship and interest. In the same
year with the founding of Cufa he married
the Arab princess, 0mm Kolsam, daughter of
Ali and Fatima, and granddaughter of the
Prophet. The relation of the reigning Caliph
with what may be called the royal family of
Islam was thus more closely drawn, and the
support of Ali secured for the future.
Meanwhile Hormuzan, satrap of Susiana,
looked with Ul-concealed aversion upon the
Mohammedan power in Babylonia. To him
the founding of the city of Bassora on the
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CONQUESTS OF FIRST CALIPHS. 477
Lower Euphrates appeared as a meuaee.
The haughty prince foresaw that his province
must also presently succumb to the aggressive
Mohammedans, or else that they must be re-
pelled from his borders. He accordingly re-
solved on war and made Bassora the object of
his hostility. The people of that city applied
to the Caliph for assistance, and another army
of the faithful was sent out from Medina.
The conflict was short and decisive. Hor-
muzan was defeated iu a serie? of battles, and
half of his province was added to the Moslem
dominions in the East. In the mean time
Yezdegird, the fugitive king of Persia, sent
word from Rhaga to the governor of Faristan
to take up arms in common with Hormuzan
for the recovery of the kingdom. The con-
flict was accordingly renewed. Reenforce-
ments were sent forward by the Caliph, and
Hormuzan was pressed to the border. Be-
sieged iu the fortress of Ahwaz, he was finally
compelled to surrender, and taken as a pris-
oner to Medina. Here, iu order to save his
life, he was compelled to accept the doctrines
of Islam and be enrolled among the faithful.
Nothing gave greater cause of anxiety to
Caliph Omar than the apprehension that his
generals would be corrupted by thp luxurious
habits of the people whom they conquered.
Especially was the distrust of Omar directed
against Abu Wakkas, who was again reported
at Medina as having assumed the manners of
a Persian prince. This report so offended the
Caliph that he deposed Abu Wakkas from
the command and appointed Numan to suc-
ceed him. When the news of this proceeding
was carried to Yezdegird, his hopes again re-
vived, and he ordered the governors of the
provinces still unsubdued to send forward all
their available troops to rendezvous at Neha-
vend, fifteen leagues from Ecbatana. Here
in a short time an army of a hundred and
fifty thousand men was collected for battle.
This force was greatly superior in numbers to
that of the Moslems, but the latter were dis-
ciplined in all the hardships of war and
trained to victory until they regarded them-
selves as invincible. The command of the
Persian host was given to Firuzan, an aged
warrior, whose discretion was as great as his
courage. On assuming conti'ol of the army,
he adopted the policy of fortifying himself in
an impregnable camp until what time the
Moslems should wear out their energies by in-
eflTectual assaults.
Accordingly, when Numan arrived before
the Persian camp, the army of Firuzan could
not be induced to come forth and fight. For
two months the Arabs beat in vain against
the position of the enemy. But when valor
failed stratagem succeeded. Pretending to
break up his camp and retreat, the crafty
Numan fell back for one day's march and was
followed cautiously by the Persians. For
another day the Moslems continued their
feigned retreat; but on the third morning,
with the break of day, they turned back with
terrible impetuosity on tbeir pursuers, and in
an hour inflicted upon them a disastrous de-
feat. The Arabs, in their turn, pursued the
routed host and cut them down by thousands.
Both Numan and Firuzan were killed, the
former in the heat of battle and the latter in
the flight. The number of the Persian dead
was reckoned at a hundred thousand. So de-
cisive of the fate of the Persian Empire was
this great conflict that the Moslems ever after-
wards celebrated their triumph as the " Vic-
tory of Victories."
Soon after this signal success of the Mo-
hammedans, a strange Persian rode into the
Moslem camp and promised, under pledge
that his life should be spared, to show the
Arab commander a greater treasure than any
his eyes had yet beheld. It appeared that
this stranger had received from the hand of
the fugitive Yezdegird a box containing the
crown jewels of Persia. The casket was
opened in the presence of Hadifeh, who had
succeeded to the command after the death of
Numan. The Moslem general accepted the
treasure ; but since it had not been taken by
the sword, it might not be distributed to the
soldiers. The scrupulous Hadifeh accordingly
sent the box to the Caliph; but the latter
looked upon the flashing jewels with ill-con-
cealed contempt alike for the precious stones
and for any who could he dazzled by them.
"You do not know," said he, "what these
things are. Neither do I ; but they justly be-
long to those who slew the infidels and to no
one else." He then ordered the box to be
carried back to Hadifeh, by whom the jewels
were sold to the merchants who followed the
478
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Moslem camp. The proceeds of the sale were
distributed to the army, each soldier receiving
for his portion four thousand pieces of gold.
In the mean time the remnants of the Per-
sian army overthrown on the field of Nehavend
had collected at Hamadan, the ancient Ecba-
tana. Here, in a strong fortress, they took
refuge and made a stand. Habesh, the com-
mander, in order to gain a brief interval for
preparation, entered into a treaty with Hadi-
feh, at the same time preparing an obstinate
defense for the city. Learning of the treach-
ery which had been practiced upon his lieu-
tenant, Caliph Omar sent forward a detach-
ment of his army to besiege Hamadan and
bring Habesh to his senses. The latter in a
short time led out his army, and a great bat-
tle was fought before the iledian capital.
After a struggle of three days' duration the
conflict ended with the overthrow of the Per-
sians and the capture of Hamadan. ■
All Media now lay open to the invaders.
The Arab general, Nuhaim, was despatched
to hunt down the king in his hiding place at
Rhaga. Hearing of his approach the monarch
fled, leaving the defense of the town to a
subordinate officer. The gates were soon
opened by a rival chieftain; two thousand
Mohammedans were admitted ; the Persian
governor was cut down in the streets, and the
city taken in the midst of much slaughter.
The traitor Zain, who had betrayed the place
to the Moslems, was made provincial governor.
Bodies of troops were sent out to reduce the
surrounding country. Resistance was virtually
at an end. Town after town j'ielded to the
invaders and became tributary to the Caliph-
ate. The province of Tabaristan paid five
hundred thousand pieces of gold to purchase
exemption from the levying of troops within
her borders. It was evident, moreover, that
so far as the religious systems in conflict were
concerned that of Persia was tottering to its
fall ; and in proportion as the time-honored
faith of the people gave way, just in that de-
gree did the national spirit fail. The more
thoughtful among the Persians foresaw and
predicted the inevitable result. A certain
aged hero, named Farkhan, stood up among
the military leaders, and said: "This Persian
religion of ours has become obsolete ; the new
religion is carrying every thing before it.
My advice is to make peace and then pay
tribute."
During the conquest of Hamadan, the
Moslems had to encounter the soldiers of
Azerbijan, who had come from their own
province in the north-west cf iledia to aid
their countrymen in the South. It was not
likely that Islam would overlook such an af-
front, more particularly when it proceeded
from the Fire Worshipers, who had their altars
at the foot of Mount Caucasus. Ko sooner,
therefore, had Hamadan fallen into the hands
of the Mohammedans than they turned their
arms against Azerbijan. The Magian priest-
hood and secular princes of the country rallied
their forces to resist the invasion ; but the god
of fire was' no match for Allah, and the sacred
altars of the Magi, long time aflame with the
consuming symbol of the deity, were over-
thrown by the followers of the Prophet. The
armies of Azerbijan were beaten to the earth,
and the province was added without a serious
conflict to the now vastly extended dominions
of the Caliphate.
The plain countries south of the defiles of
the Caucasus had now all been subdued. It
remained for the rocky passes of the Xorth to
be seized by the men of the desert. Of old
time these passes had been guarded by for-
tresses and iron gates, behind which a few
courageous soldiers were able to keep at bay
the innumerable hordes of Gog and Magog
from beyond the mountains. It was necessary
to the further progress of Islam that the de-
files of the Caucasus should be held by the
friends of the Prophet. To secure this re-
sult, several bodies of troops were sent for-
ward after the conquest of Azerbijan, and the
passes were taken from the enemy. One
fortress, known as Demir-Capi, or the Gate
of Iron, was wrested from the barbarians only
after a severe conflict, in which not a few of
the Moslems fell.
When the gateways of the North were
thus secured, Caliph Omar appointed Abdal-
rahman governor of the region of Caucasus,
to keep the pa.sses against any possible irrup-
tion of barbarism from the North. The gov-
ernor, in performing his duty as guardian of
the outposts of Islam, took into his confidence
and pay one of the mountain chieftains,
named Shahr-Zad, whom he ninde his subordi-
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— CONQUESTS OF FIRST CALIPHS. 479-
nate in the work of defense. The acquaint-
ance of the Moslem with this barbaric leader,
and the stories which the latter told of the
mysterious regions of Gog and Magog, finally
determined the adventurous Abdalrahman to
carry his arms beyond the defiles and make
new conquests in a part of the world hitherto
unknown to the faithful. He accordingly
penetrated the countries between the Caspian
and the Euxine, where he encountered the
ancestors of the Turks, who were astonished
at the strange demeanor of the Arabs. "Are
you angels or the sons of Adam ? " said they
to the Moslems. To which the true believers
gave answer that they were the sons of Adam,
but that the angels were on their side, fight-
ing the battles of the servants of Allah.
For a while the barbarians were kept aloof
by awe; but presently, when the spell was
broken, they fought the invaders with savage
audacity. By degrees, however, the Turco-
mans were overcome, and Abdalrahman turned
his arms against the Huns. He laid siege to
Belandscher, the capital city of the barbarians,
but the place withstood his assaults. The
Turks came to the assistance of their belea-
guered neighbors. A hard battle was fought
before the walls, and Abdalrahman, who had
undertaken the expedition without the consent
of the Caliph, paid for his rashness with his
life. His body was taken by the enemy, and
became an object of superstitious reverence.
The army of the faithful made its way back
into the passes of the Caucasus. Selman Ibn
Rabiah, brother of Abdalrahman, was ap-
pointed as his successor in command of the
northern outposts of Islam.
For the Caliph Omar the day of fate was
now at hand. Among the Persian prisoners
taken to Medina was a certain carpenter,
named Firuz. He was a follower of the Magi,
■worshiping the fire. Like others of his class,
he was subject to the taunts and exactions of
the Mohammedans. Being compelled by the
authorities to pay a tax of two pieces of silver
a day, he went to the Caliph, complaiued of
the abuse to which he was subjected, and de-
manded a redress of his grievance. Omar
heard his story, and decided that one who
received such large wages as Firuz did (he
being a manufacturer of windmills) could well
aflTord to pay a tax of two pieces a dey. Firuz
turning away exclaimed: "Then I will build
a windmill for you that shall keep grinding
until the Day of Judgment!" "The slave
threatens me," said the undisturbed Omar.
"If I were disposed to punish any one on
suspicion, I should take off his head." Firuz,
however, was allowed to go at liberty. Nor
was it long until his murderous menace was
carried into effect. Three days after the inter-
view, while the great Caliph was praying in
the mosque of Medina, the Persian aasassin
came unperceived behind him and stabbed
him three times with his dagger. The attend-
ants rushed upon the murderer, who defended
himself as long as he could, and then com-
mitted suicide rather than be taken.
The good Omar finished his prayer, and
was then borne to his own house to die. He
refused to name a successor, declaring that he-
preferred to follow the example of the Prophet.
He, however, appointed a council of six, to-
whom the question of succession should be
referred. Foreseeing that the choice would'
likely fall on AH or Othman, he exhorted both
those princes to beware of unrighteousness andi
personal ambition. To his own son Abdallah
he gave much fatherly counsel, instructing
him especially to repay into the public treas-
ury eighteen thousand dirhems, which he him-
self had borrowed. He also wrote a touching-
letter to him who should be his successor, full
of admonitions and patriotic maxims. He
then made arrangements with Ayesha that he-
should be buried by the side of Abu Beker;
and then, on the seventh day after his assas-
sination, quietly expired. His death occurred-
in the eleventh year of his reign and the
sixty-third of his age.
A bloody scene followed the murder of the-
Caliph. The enraged Abdallah was easily
persuaded that others as well as Firuz were-
accessory to the taking-off of his fiither. Be-
lieving that a conspiracy had existed, he flew
upon the imagined conspirators and cut them,
down without a trial. Thus were slain Lulu —
the daughter of Firuz — a certain Christian,
named Dschofeine, and Horrauzan, who will be
remembered as the captive satrap of Susiana.
So distinguished a part did Caliph Omar
bear in the establishment and propagation of
Islam as fairly to entitle him to his appellative
of the Great. He had all the virtues whict
480
UmVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
sprang from the fanatical enthusiasm of the
Prophet. To great natural abilities he added
the discipline of experience. Perhaps no great
ruler was ever less subject to the impulses of
personal ambition than was Omar. His whole
career showed him to be a man whose guiding
-star was integrity, whose fundamental maxim
of government was justice. The temptations
of riches and the allurements of power passed
harmlessly by this unbending apostle of the
early Islam, and to him more than to any
other ruler or man, save only the Prophet, the
establishment of the Empire of the Moham-
medans must be referred. Some of the max-
ims of his government may be favorably com-
pared with those of the greatest and best
sovereigns. It wa-s a rule of his reign that no
female captive who became a mother .should
be sold as a slave. In the distributions of
money to the poor from the public treasury
it was the need of the applicant and not his
worthiness that determined the bounty. In
•explanation of his course the Caliph was ac-
customed to say: "Allah has bestowed the
^ood things of this world to relieve our neces-
•sities, not to reward our virtues. Our virtues
will be rewarded in another world."
It was also a settled principle of Omar's
government to pay pensions to those who dis-
tinguished themselves in the cause of the
Prophet. Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed,
was granted a yearly stipend of two hundred
thousand dirhems. Nearly all the veterans of
the Syrian, Persian, and Egyptian wars were
rewarded with bounties varying from one
thousand to five thousand db-hems. Nor would
the Caliph brook with patience the criticisms
or strictures of any who complained of these
disbursements. Upon the factious opposers
of his policy he hesitated not to heap the
curses of Allah.
It was during the reign of Omar that the
government of Islam began to assume a regulai
form. Tliere was a division of labor in the
administration of afl'airs. Au exchequer was
organized and put under the direction of a
secretary. The year of Mohammed's flight
from Mecca was made the Era of Islam from
which all events were dated. A system of
coinage was established, each piece bearing the
name of the Calijjh Omar with the inscription,
Lo iLLAH iL AxLAH, — "There is no God
but Allah."
It was, however, by the vast work of con-
quest that the reign of Omar the Great was
most distinguished. The jNIohammedan records
claim the capture of thirty-six thousand towns
and fortresses as trophies of the ten-and-a-half
years of his administration. But Omar wa^
by no means a destroyer. As far as was prac-
ticable he preserved all that was taken from
the enemy. Not only so, but he built in the
conquered territory many new cities and em-
poriums of commerce. Under his authority
the Caliphate was consolidated and his reigq
became the source of the Iliad of Islam, teem-<
ing with great enterprises and heroic adven-
tures. Out of this epoch rose the gigantic
figure of Saracen dominion, and to it must be
referred the rise of that political greatness
which for many generations made the Ara-
bians the masters of the East.
CHAF-XER LXXIX. — OrTHMAN AND ALL
•^ soon as the Caliph Omar
!iad received sepulture, the
I Icctoral council which he
liail appointed convened
tor the choice of a suc-
1 1'ssor. All and Othman
were both members of the
body. At first the electors tendered the Caliph-
ate to the former. In doing so they required
of him a pledge that he would govern accord-
ing to the Koran, obey the traditions of Islam,
and follow the precedents established by Abu
Beker and Omar. To the first two conditions
he readily a.«sented, but as it related to his
predecessors he declared that he would follow
the dictates of his own conscience rather than
their example. Upon this expression of his
will the electors again assembled, and the
choice fell on Othman, who accepted the terms
of the council, and was proclaimed Caliph.
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OTHMAN AND ALL
481
Th^ new potentate was already seventy
years of age, gray as to his flowing beard, tall,
swarthy, and in every sense Arabian. He had
not the austerity of manners or simplicity of
character which had belonged to Omar; but
in the strict observance of religious duties he
emulated his predecessor. It was, however,
in the matter of expenditure that Othman
differed most from the second Caliph. He was
lavish in the distribution of the great riches
which conquest had turned into Medina. Nor
was there wanting among the faithful a sj)irit
to appreciate the liberality of the ruler. In
times of famine the poor were freely supplied
from the bounty of the state. The Caliph
failed not in his antecedents and present con-
duct to excite the admiration and loyalty of
the true believers. He took in marriage two
daughters of the Prophet, thus combining in
his household the profoundest elements of per-
sonal veneration known to the Islamites. In
his previous history Othman had been inti-
mately associated with Mohammed, and had
been a partner of both of his flights. Nor did
any of the companions of the Prophet stand
more closely in his affections than did the faith-
ful Othman. Of him the son of Abdallah said :
" Each thing has its mate, and each thing its
associate : my associate in Paradise is Othman."
The fugitive Yezdegird stiU hung like a
shadow on the borders of the ancient king-
dom. Hope of recovering his former power,
there was none ; but the friends of the exiled
king still rose in rebellion here and there, and
gave trouble not a little to the Moslems. The
latter, under their veteran leaders, continued
their conquests in all directions. Ancient As-
syria was overrun by their arms. The ruins
of Nineveh, as those of Babylon had already
been, were trodden under foot by the men of
the desert. Yezdegird was pursued from town
to town, from province to province. Being
driven from Rhaga, he found shelter for a
brief season at the magnificent city of Ispahan,
and then fled to the mountains of Faristan,
whence in ancient times the Achsemenian kings
had gone forth to the conquest of the world.
Afterwards Yezdegird sought refuge in Istakar,
among the ruins of Persepolis, and here he
barely escaped capture by his enemies. Thence
he fled to the province of Kerman, and thence
into Khorassan. For a while he hid himself
on the borders of Bactria. In his flight he
still maintained the forms of kingly authority.
About four thousand dependents of the old
Persian court at Madain still followed the
wretched king and shared his fortunes.
While tarrying at the city of Merv, Yez-
degird busied himself with his superstitions.
He built a temple for the fire-worship, and
hoped, perchance, to win through the favor of
heaven what he had lost by the folly of earth.
Meanwhile the city of Ispahan was regarri-
soned by the fragments of the Persian army
which had survived the battle of Nehavend.
But on the approach of the Moslems the gov-
ernor proved treacherous, and the city was
given up. A sterner defense was made at
Istakar. Around this venerable site were gath-
ered the traditions of Persian glory. Within
the ramparts of the city were collected no
fewer than a hundred and twenty thousand
men, who, under the leadership of Shah-Reg,
the provincial governor, made a final brave
stand for Persia. But no courage or patriot-
ism could avail against the furious assaults of
the Moslems. A great battle, fought outside
the walls, resulted in the annihilation of the
Persian forces. Shah-Reg was killed, and Is-
takar fell into the hands of the Mohammedans.
The province of Khorassan was the next
to be overrun by the invaders. One district
after another was subdued until Yezdegird,
driven to the border, crossed the river Oxus
and fled to the Scythians. Nor did his wan-
derings cease until he presented himself to the
khan of Tartary and the emperor of China.
Returning from these remote pilgrimages and
supported by the Tartars, he crossed into
Bactria and renewed the effort to recover his
kingdom. Soon, however, he was deserted
by his Northern allies, while his own nobles,
who had so long adhered to his fortunes, en-
tered into a conspiracy to betray him into the
hands of the enemy. Discovering the treason,
he escaped from Merv and continued his flight
to a river, whither he was pursued by a band
of horsemen and hacked to death with their
cimeters. Thus, in the year 651, expired the
last of the old kings of Persia. With him
the fire-temples of the East tottered to their
fall, and the dynasty of Chosroes was extinct.
Per.sia became a Mohammedan province.
Meanwhile Egypt had remained quietly
482
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
under the governorship of Amru. The peo-
ple, if not contented with the change of mas-
ters, accepted the Cresent as the emblem of
their fate. A tolerable degree of quiet was
maintained until the accession of Othman,
when Amru was removed from the governor-
ship to make room for Saiid, brother of the
Caliph. The new officer owed his elevation
to favoritism, and was by no means the equal
of Amru in executive abilities. The latter
had, indeed, won the affections of the Egyp-
tians by his justice and moderation, and they
bitterly resented his deposition. From the
first the ears of the new governor were
greeted with the mutterings of revolt. Nor
did the emperor, Constantine, who had suc-
ceeded Heraelius at Constantinople, fail to
take advantage of the dissension which had
thus been fomented in Egypt. A iieet was
immediately equipped, placed under the com-
mand of Manuel, and sent against Alexan-
dria. With him the Greeks of the great me-
tropolis entered into correspondence, and the
city was presently betrayed into his hands.
Thus of a sudden, the political condition of
the kingdom was reversed, and Othman found
quick occasion to repent of his folly in ap-
pointing an incompetent favorite to office.
Amru was at once reinstated. The old
general repaired to the scene of action, raised
a large army, composed largely of the anti-
Greek element in Egypt, and again laid siege
to Alexandria. It was now the third time
that that city had been invested by the forces
of Amru. The veteran now registered an oath
in heaven that it was the last time that the
capital of Egypt would find herself in a con-
dition to become the subject of a siege. Ac-
cordingly, when, after an obstinate defense on
the part of the Greeks, the city again fell
into his hands, he leveled the ramparts to the
earth and left the metropolis exposed to as-
sault on every side. Manuel and his Greeks,
glad to escape with their lives, took ship and
sped away to Constantinople. The rest of the
inhabitants were, for the most part, spared,
and the spot where the slaughter was stayed
was commemorated by the merciful Amru,
. who built thereon a mosque called the ^losque
of Mercy.
As soon as the danger was passed and
Figyyt. pacified, the Caliph Othman aggra-
vated his former folly by again deposing
Amru from the governorship and reappointing
Saiid in his stead. The latter, smarting under
a disgrace which could not be wiped out by
the factitious honors of office, resolved to gain
glory by foreign conquest. He accordingly
fixed his eye upon Northern Africa as an in-
viting field for his operations. There, from
the borders of Egypt, stretching away across
Barca to Cape Non in the distant West, lay
a country more than two thousand miles in
extent, many of the districts populous and
fertile to exuberance, and all of historic fame.
Here were the countries of Libya, Mamarica,
Cyrenaica, Carthage, Numidia, and Maurita-
nia, especially inviting to the rapacious zeal
of the Mohammedans. After the disastrous
wars related in the last Book of the preced-
ing and the first of the present Volume, the
African states had, during the sixth century,
sunk into a condition of helpless decay. They
were now to be roused from their stupor by
the clamorous war-cry of Arabia.
As soon as Saad had settled the affairs of
Egypt after his reinstatement in office, he be-
gan to prepare for his contemplated African
campaign. An arm)' of forty thousand Arabs,
fully equipped, mostly veteran soldiers, well
supplied with camels for the march across the
desert, was mustered on the border of Egj-pt,
looking out to the west.
A toilsome march was now begun acrosa
the trackless wastes of Libya. But to the
Arab and the camel the desert was a native
place of peace and freedom. Arriving at the
city of Tripoli, one of the most wealthy em-
poriums of the African coast, Saiid began a
siege. A valiant resistance, however, was
made by the inhabitants and the Greek aux-
iliaries who came to their assistance, and the
IVIoslems were driven back with severe losses.
Meanwhile the Roman governor, Gregorius,
arrived on the scene with an army numbering
a hundred and twenty thousand men. Most
of these, however, were raw recruits whom
the general had gathered in Barbary for the
defense of his African territories. The host,
though greatly outnumbering the ^loslems,
was little capable of standing before the Arab
veterans in battle.
The two armies met before the walls of
Tripoli. For several days the conflict was
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OTHMAN AND ALL
483
desperately renewed from morning till noon,
when the African sun would drive the com-
batants to the shade of their tents. Saiid dis-
tinguished himself in the battle. In the part
of the field where he fought the enemy was
•driven back with slaughter, but in other parts
the Moslems were repulsed. One of the most
conspicuous personages of the fight was the
warlike daughter of Gregorius, who, mounted
■on a tremendous steed, flashing in burnished
•armor, scoured the field like Bellona.
The Roman general, unable to rout the
Arabs, undertook to accomplish by perfidy
what he could not do by force. He ofiered a
reward of a hundred thousand pieces of gold
:and the hand of his Amazonian daughter to
.any one who would bring him the head of
iSaad. Hearing of this proposal, the Arab
leader was induced to keep aloof from the
■field, and the battle went against him until
what time it was suggested that he in his turn
«hould ofler a hundred thousand pieces and
the hand of the same maiden — so soon as she
should be taken captive — to him who would
cut oft' the head of Gregorius. Then the
Arabs fell to stratagem. On the following
morning, pretending to renew the fight, they
■held most of their forces in reserve until the
ieated hour of noon. Then the Moslems,
fresh from their rest, led by the valiant Zobeir,
broke from their tents, fell upon the exhausted
•enemy, killed Gregorius, captured his daugh-
ter, and inflicted an overwhelming defeat on
his army. Zobeir, by whom the Roman gen-
•eral was slain, refused to accept the reward,
•and though he was made the bearer of the
news of victory to Medina, he forebore all
reference to his own deeds in reciting to the
•Caliph the story of the battle.
Though completely triumphant over the
army of his enemy, Saad was unable to follow
iip his successes. So great had been his losses
1;hat he could not further prosecute his con-
-quests. He was not even strong enough to
retain possession of the territories which he
had overrun, but was obliged, after an ab-
•sence of fifteen months, to return to Egypt.
The expedition had been more fruitful in
slaves and spoils than in the addition of ter-
ritory to the dominions of Islam. In the fol-
lowing year Saad made similar expeditions
■from Upper Egypt into the kingdom of
Nubia. The people of that land had been
christianized by the agency of traveling mis-
sionaries, who had set up the Cross as far
south as the Equator. The Nubian king was
compelled by the Moslems to acknowledge the
supremacy of the Caliph, and to emphasize
his own dependency by an annual contribu-
tion of Ethiopian slaves.
In establishing the authority of the Caliph«
ate over the distant countries subdued by the
prowess of the Arabs, it became necessary to
organize provinces and to establish therein a
kind of satrapial governments. In pursuing
this policy, Calij)h Othman appointed as gov-
ernor of Syria one of his ablest generals,
named Moawyah Ibn Abu Sofian, chief of the
tribe of Koreish, to which belonged Moham-
med. Abu Sofian proved to be an able and
ambitious ofiicer. During his service under
Omar he had frequently sought permission of
that Caliph to build a fleet and extend the
authority of Islam over the seas. Omar,
whose policy it was to hold his ambitious gen-
erals in check, refused the permission ; but
after the accession of Othman, namely, in the
year 649, it was agreed that Abu Sofian
should equip an armament and try the for-
tunes of the Mediterranean. The outlying
Asiatic islands still owned a nominal depend-
ence upon the Emjiire of the East; but the
decadence of the government at Constantino-
ple had left the insular kingdoms exposed to
easy conquest. Abu Sofian directed his first
movement against the island of Cyprus. The
garrison proved too weak to make any effect-
ual resistance, and a conquest was easily ef-
fected. In the island of Aradus, however,
the Moslems met with a more serious recep-
tion. Once and again they landed, and aa
often were repulsed by the heroic inhabitants.
With superior forces the Arabs then renewed
the attack, overran the island, fired the prin-
cipal city, and drove most of the native Ara-
dians into exile.
In the mean time the Emperor Constantine
fitted out a squadron, took command in per-
son, and went forth to encounter the Moslem
fleet in the Phoenician Sea. It was the first
decisive conflict of Islam on the deep. Con-
stantine ordered psalms to be sung and the
Cross to be lifted on high as his ships went
into battle. On the other side the golden
484
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.—THE MODERN WORLD.
Crescent was displayed above the mast, and
passages of the Koran were recited by the
faithful as they began the conflict. The bat-
tle soon showed that, by sea as well as by
land, a new power had arisen to contest for
the supremacy of the nations. The fleet of
the Emperor was either wrecked or driven
from the scene, and Constantine himself
barely escaped by flight. Such was the bat-
tle of the Masts.
The next movements of the Moslems were
directed against Crete and Malta. Landings
were effected, cities taken, conquests made in
the name of the Prophet. The island and city
of Rhodes suffered a memorable assault. That
celebrated Colossus, which was reckoned one
of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world,
was broken into fragments, shipped to Alex-
andria, and sold to a Jewish merchant.'
Soon afterwards a second sea-fight was had
with the Christians in the Bay of Feneke,
less decisive in its results than the so-called
Battle of the Masts in the Sea of Phoenicia.
Subsequently the Arabs coasted along the
shores of Asia Minor, crossed the Hellespont,
and flaunted the emblem of Islam within
eight of the turrets of Constantinople. Thus
in a few years did the inflamed followers of
the Camel-driver of Mecca, springing, as it
were, from the parched sands of the desert,
inspired with the suUen dogma of Fate and
the rapturous vision of Paradise, rear their
victorious banners over the ruins of the most
famous states of antiquity.
Ominous was the accident which now be-
fell the Caliph Othman. Mohammed had had
a ring. At his death he gave it to the vener-
able Abu Beker. After his departure the
sacred relic passed to Omar, and from him to
Othman. It consisted of a band of silver, in-
scribed with the words, "Mohammed, the
Apostle of Allah." One day, while gazing
into a brook, Othman dropped the ring into
the water. The stream was searched in vain ;
the relic could not be found. It was the sig-
net of authority. Great was the dread which
fell upon the superstitious Arabs on account
of this irreparable loss.
' The fragments of the great bronze statue are
said to have been so many and heavy that it re-
quired a caravan of nine liundred camels to trans-
Dort them across the desert.
It came to pass that since the days of Abu
Beker the Book of Al Koran had become cor-
rupted by the interpolation of many spurious
passages and false versions. Violent disputes
arose among the teachers of Islam as to what
was and what was not the true Koranic doc-
trine. The quarrels of the doctors became a
scandal to the faith, and Othman was impelled
to correct the abuses by authority. A council
of the chief Moslems was called, and it was
decreed that all the copies of the Koran, ex-
cepting one only which was in the hands of
the old princess Hafza, widow of Mohammed,
and which was recognized as genuine, should
be burned. The precious volume of the widow
was then used as the basis of seven carefully
made transcripts, and one copy of the authen*
tic original thus established was ordered to be
placed for preservation in the seven cities of
Mecca, Yemen, Damascus, Bahrein, Bassora,
Cufa, and Medina. All others were given to
the flames. Wherefrom the careful Othmaa
received the title of the Gatherer of the Koran.
The Caliph was already in his dotage. For
several years his secretary, named !Merwan,
had had an undue ascendency over the old
man's mind and was indeed the master spirit
in the government. Two other circumstances
tended powerfully to render the administration
unpopulai-. In the first place, during the
quarter of a century from the death of Mo-
hammed, the true moral enthusiasm of his
followers had somewhat abated. The motives
of action which impelled the leaders of Islam
were more worldly, less sincere. Of course
the fiery zeal for the propagation of the faith
stUl burned in the hearts of soldier and civil-
ian, but the dross of personal ambition and
the cross-purposes of enmity and jealousy pre-
vailed over the higher principles and impulses
of the first believers. In the next place, the
personal and administrative character of Oth-
man was of a kind well calculated to ofl^end
and incite the faithful to discontent. Othman
had assumed a bearing more haughty than
that of his predecessors. His expenditures of
the public money were unreasonably lavish.
He wasted the treasures of Islam upon friends
and favorites, many of whom were unworthy
of respect. To the parasites of the court he
gave money without stint. The ambitious
secretary received a gift of more than five-
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDElsCY.—OlHMAN AND ALL
486.
486
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
hundred thousand dinars, the donative being
appropriated out of the spoils of Africa. Nor
woukl the haughty old potentate brook with
patience the criticisms and complaints of his
people. His conduct in removing the able
Amru from the governorship of Egypt and
the appointment iu his stead of Saiid, his own
foster brother, had laid the foundations of
■distrust in the beginning of his administration.
Other removals of faithful officers had added
to the discontent, and now, for the first time
in the history of Islam, were heard the mut-
terings of revolt and mutiny.
Accidental circumstances fired the train of
■rebellion. On a certain occasion the Caliph
•went into the pulpit of the mosque and de-
fended himself against the charges which were
freely circulated. He declared that the money
in the public treasury belonged to Allah, and
■that the Caliph, as the successor of the Prophet,
had a right to distribute the funds in what
manner soever he would. Hereupon a certain
Teteran Moslem, named Ammar Ibu Yaser,
•who had been one of the companions of the
Prophet, spoke out openly in the mosque,
■contradicting what the Caliph had said. For
this he was attacked by the kinsfolk of 0th-
man and shamefully beaten until he fainted
:away. When the intelligence of this outrage
was spread abroad the smouldering elements
of sedition were fanned into a flame.
At this juncture a certain leader arose,
being a converted Jew of the name of Ibn
•Caba. Knowing the distempered spirit of the
people he went about inciting to revolt. He
visited Yemen, Hidschaf, Bassora, Cufa, Syria,
And Egypt, denouncing the government of
Caliph Othman and inviting the multitude to
■dethrone their sovereign. He advised that a
•fictitious pilgrimage to Mecca be undertaken
■with the ulterior object of collecting an army
against the government. It began to be said
that Ali was the rightful potentate of Islam,
and that the reign of Othman had been a
usurpation from the first. This was done,
however, without the connivance of AH, who
remained faithful to Othman.
The seed sown by Ibn Caba took root and
grew and flourished. Bands from all parts of
the country began to assemble at Medina.
Encamping at a distance of a league from the
.city, the insurgents sent a message to the Ca-
liph, demanding that he should either reform
the abuses of his government or abdicate the
throne. So critical became the situation that
Othman was obliged to seek the services of
Ali as a me-diator of the people. The latter
agreed to use his influence for peace on condi-
tion that the Caliph would denounce the errors
of his reign and make reparation for tlie wrongs
which he had inflicted. The aged Othman
was obliged to go into the mosque and make
a public confession of his sins, and to ofier
prayer to AUah for reconciliation and forgive-
ness. The multitude was quieted, and a tem-
porary peace secured.
In a short time, however, the Caliph, act-
ing under the inspiration of his secretary, who
had been absent from Medina during the re-
cent crisis, returned to the old abuses ; and the
people, learning of his perfidy, again rose in
revolt. Ali refused to interfere ; for Othman
had broken faith. When the rebellion was
about to break into open violence, the Caliph
again came to his senses and eagerly sought
to maintain the peace. He implored Ali to
lend his aid in placating the multitude. The
latter finally agreed, on condition of a written
pledge, that the abuses in the government
should be corrected, to go forth again and per-
suade the people to desist from violence. Saad
was removed from the governorship of Egypt,
and the popular Mohammed, son of Abu Beker,
was appointed in his stead. The new officer
set out for Alexandria, and afl^airs at Medina
again assumed a more peaceable aspect; but
while Mohammed was on his way to Egypt,
one of the slaves of Merwan, riding by, was
taken, and upon his person a dispatch was
found directed to Saiid, and signed by Oth-
man. The former was directed by the latter
to seize Mohammed on his arrival in Egypt,
and put him to death ! Thus had a double
treachery been perpetrated by the government
at Medina.
Mohammed at once marched back to the
capital. Othman was confronted with his let-
ter, but he denied all knowledge of its compo-
sition. Suspicion fell on Merwan, but the Ca-
liph refused to give up his secretary to the
vengeance of the people. A great tumult arose
in the city. Ali and other patriotic Moslems
sought in vain to allay the excitement. The
insurgents, led by Mohammed and Ammar
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OTHMAN AND ALL
487
Ibn Yaser, broke into the Mosque, where
Othman, now eighty-two years of age, sat
reading the Koran. By some he was struck
with clubs and by others pierced with swords
till he was dead. The treasure-house was
iplundered, and the body of the murdered Ca-
liph was buried in his bloody garments.
As soon as it was known that vengeance
■had done its work, the city became first calm
and then repentant. The maguanimous Ali
gave public expression to his sorrow, and re-
buked his sons for not having fought more
bravely in defense of the dead Caliph. It ap-
peared, moreover, that the treacherous letter
to the emir of Egypt had really been written
by Merwan for the purpose of hastening the
revolution ; for he, in the mean time, had se-
cretly abandoned the cause of Othman, and
gone over to the insurgents. Thus in the year
A. D. 655, the third Caliph of the Moham-
medan states ended an unpopular reign with
a shameful death.
Though no successor was named by Oth-
man, the popular voice at once indicated Ali.
But several candidates appeared for the vacant
Caliphate and the delegates who came to Medina
from the various parts of the Moslem Empire
were clamorous for their respective favorites.
From the first, however, it appeared that the
election of Ali could hardly be defeated. He
was by birth the Prophet's cousin ; by mar-
riage, his son-in-law. He was courageous, elo-
quent, and liberal. He had reputation both
in the field and in the cabinet. It was per-
ceived, moreover, that his election would es-
tablish the crown in the House of Mohammed ;
for Fatima, the Prophet's daughter, was the
wife of Ali, and the mother of all the lineal
descendants of Abdallah's son. The chief of
the opposing candidates were Zobeir, who had
distinguished himself in the war with Barbary
by the slaying of Gregorius ; Telha, who had
been one of the electoral council appointed to
choose a successor to Omar the Great, and
Moawyah, the satrap of Syria.
Medina was thrown into great excitement
on the occasion of the election. Nor might
the choice of a new Caliph be postponed ; for
the people were clamorous for a new ruler.
The leading men pleaded with Ali to accept
the ofiice, and he was disposed to yield to
their entreaties; but he refused, as in the elec-
N — Vol. 2 — ^o
tion twelve years previously, to bind himself
with pledges, declaring his purpose, if elected
Caliph, to administer the government with
independence and justice to all. The election
was held in the mosque of Medina. The choice
fell on Ali, and the other candidates came
forward and gave their right hands in token
of allegiance. Moawyah, however, was not
present at the election, and his family, the
tribe of Ommiah, withdrew as soon as ttiey
perceived the result of the election. It was
doubtful also whether the pledge given by
Zobeir and Telha was any thing more than a
superficial recognition of what they were un-
able to prevent. Their merely nominal loyalty
was soon discovered in an effort which they
made to ensnare Ali in difficulty by advising
him to investigate the assassination of Othman
and to punish the perpetrators of that deed.
This, if undertaken, would have hopelessly
embroiled the government with some of its
most able supporters. Ali prudently adopted
the policy of letting the dead past bury ita
dead ; nor did he omit any measure which
wisdom could dictate to propitiate the favor
of the tribes of Koreish and Ommiah, which
had so strenuously supported Moawyah for the
Calijjhate.
Ali had the genius to discover and the will
to correct the governmental abuses which had
sprung up during his predecessor's reign. He
began his work by reforming the provincial
governments. The subject states of Islam had
received as their governors at the hands of
Othman a class of favorites who, as a rule,
had little fitness for their office. It became
the duty of Ali to displace these worthies.^
satraps and to appoint others in their stead.
In the performance of this duty he displayed
his usual courage. Notwithstanding the tem-
porizing advice of his counselors he proceeded to
depose the incompetent and to put the faith-
ful in their places. Strenuous efibrts were
made to retain Moawyah in the governorship
of Syria. His wealth and influence were so
great as to make him a terror to the timid
advisers of the Caliph. But the disloyalty of
Moawyah was so manifest that Ali could not
blink the situation without jeoparding his own
authority.
The governor of Syria had recently dis-
played one of the bloody garments of 0th-
488
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
man in the mosque of Damascus and had ex-
horted the Syrians to demand the punishment
of the wretches who had slain their sovereign.
To permit Moawy^h to retain authority in
the East was a virtual abdication on the part
of Ali. A new catalogue of governors was
accordingly made out, and the officers so ap-
pointed were at once sent to their respective
provinces.
These measures were attended with much
hazard. The new officers were either not ac-
cepted at all or received with aversion and
distrust. The deposed governor of Arabia,
Felix, resigned to his successor, but carried
off the treasures of the province to Medina
and delivered them to Ayesha, who was of the
party of the malcontents. The new governor
of Bassora found his subjects in such a state
of eruption that he was obliged to retire from
the city, and was glad to effect his escape.
Ammar Ibn Sahel, who had received the
satrapy of Cufa, found the people of his
province in arms, supporting the former gov-
ernor, whom Othmau had appointed. Saiid
Ibn Ka'is, who had received the governorship
of Egypt, was met by multitudes who de-
manded that the murderers of Othman should
first be punished, and provincial governors
appointed aftrwards. Ibn Ka'is, like the rest,
unable to support his claims by force, returned
■ to Medina. Nor did better success attend the
effort of Sahel Ibn Hanif to install himself in
the governorship of Syria. So completely were
the people of this province under the influence
of Moawyah, that they drew their cimeters on
the very borders, and forbade the satrap to
set his foot within their territory. It thus
happened that four out of the five provincial
governors were obliged to return as if from a
fool's errand into foreign parts, and present
themselves empty handed to the Caliph.
It was now evident that affairs had reached
a crisis. Ali dispatched a messenger to Moa-
wyah demanding his allegiance, and the Syrian
governor sent back to Medina by the hands
of an officer a sealed missive; but when the
letter was opened it was found to contain not
a word. Such a mockery could not be other-
wise interpreted than as a challenge to battle.
Moawyah immediately prepared for the
conflict. He hung up in the mosque of Da-
mascus the bloody vest of Othman, and by
his ascendency over the passions of the Syp
ians soon mustered an army of sixty thousand
men. But Ali was not to be intimidated.
He made a public declaration in the name of
Allah and the Prophet that he was guiltless
of the blood of his predecessor. He then
dispatched messengers into all the provinces,
demanding that the true believers should rally
around the emblem of Islam.
Meanwhile, Ayesha, Zobeir, and Telha
withdrew with their confederates from jNIedina
and made their head-quarters at Mecca. The
birthplace of the Prophet became the seat
of a conspiracy for the dethronement of his-
successor. Ayesha was the leading spii-it of
the great rebellion. Supported by the two
powerful families of Koreish and Ommiah,
she sent out couriers inviting the cooperation
of those governors whom Ali would have de-
posed and inciting the people of the provinces
to insurrection. In a council which was held
at Mecca, it was resolved that the rebellious
army, under the leadership of Telha, should
march to Bassora and make that city the base
of future operations against the Caliph. At
the same time the following proclamation wafc
prepared by Ayesha and trumpeted through
the streets of Mecca :
' ' In the name of the Most High God.
Ayesha, Mother of the Faithful, accompanied
by the chiefs Telha and Zobeir, is going in
person to Bassora. All those of the faithful
who burn with a desire to defend the faith
and avenge the death of the Caliph Othman,
have only to present themselves and they
shall be furnished with all necessaries for the
journey."
The retirement of the insurgent host from
Mecca was not unlike the embarrassed move-
ments of the Prophet and his friends in the
early days of Islam. Ayesha, mounted on a
camel, led the way ; but the princess was dis-
tracted with superstitious fears. On arriving
at Ba.«sora the gates were closed against her
and her army ; for the people of the city were
divided in their allegiance, and the party of
Ali had gained the ascendency. Some went
forth and joined the camp of Ayesha, and
skirmishing began between the two factions.
Meanwhile, a message was sent to Medina to
know whether Telha and Zobeir had freely
assented to ^he election of Ali or had acted
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OTHMAN AND ALL
48U
under compulsion. While this business was
pending, however, the partisans of Ayesha
broke into the city, killed the governor's
guard, and obtained possession of his person.
By this means the party of Ali was suppressed
and Bassora remained in the hands of the
rebels. The latter conducted themselves with
more prudence than was to have been ex-
pected, for they forebore to persecute the
adherents of the Caliph, seeking to win
them from their allegiance by kindness and
blandishments.
Ali was not idle in the emergency. Being
an orator, he harangued the multitudes from
the mosque. There was, however, less enthu-
siasm for his cause in the city than a sanguine
prince would hope for. Still the people came
to his standard, and when two learned doctors
of the law made a solemn declaration that
Ali was in no wise implicated in the murder
of Othman, the loyalty of the people was kin-
dled to full heat. Taking advantage of the
uprising, the Caliph marched forth from the
city and proceeded against Bassora. He sent
word to Abu Musa Alashair, governor of
Cufa, and to the other satraps who were fa-
vorable to his cause to come to his assistance ;
but the ruler of Cufa was little disposed to
aid a prince who had attempted to depose him
from office. A reply was accordingly sent
which meant either evasion or nothing at all.
Meanwhile, the governor of Bassora, who had
been put out of office by Ayesha, and whose
beard had been contemptuously pulled out
hair by hair, came to the camp of Ali and
made a plaint of his degradation. The Ca-
liph next dispatched his son Hassan and Am-
mar Ibn Yaser to expostulate with the gov-
ernor of Cufa and to demand a contingent of
troops.
These messengers were kindly received by
the governor, and urged upon him the reason-
ableness of All's demands ; but he held aloof
from complying. He was for arbitration, for
investigating the offi^nse which was charged
to the Caliph, for every thing, indeed, except
furnishing the troops. AVliile the negotiations
were pending, another one of the Caliph's
ambassadors had struck to the bottom of the
question by seizing the citadel of Cufa, scourg-
ing the garrison into obedience, and sending
the soldiers of the escort to stop the nonsense
which was enacted at the mosque. The peo-
ple thereupon turned suddenly to the cause
of Ali. Nine thousand of the inhabitants
followed the ambassadors to the Caliph's camp.
Bassora was invested by a loyal army of thirty
thousand men. Seeing the futility of resist-
ance to such a force, Zobeir and Telha would
have capitulated ; but the vindictive Ayesha
defeated the negotiations for peace ; and the
issue was decided by battle.
A severe conflict ensued outside the walls,
in which Ayesha, seated on her camel, rode
up and down among her partisans, urging
them to strike for victory and spoil. After a
bloody fight, in which Moslem cut down Mos-
lem with no better inspiratiou than the l)reath
of faction, victory declared for Ali. Telha
was killed, and Zobeir, withdrawing from the
field, set out towards Mecca, but was over-
taken at a brook and slain while kneeling
down to pray. When his gory head was borne
to Ali, the generous Caliph wept bitterly at
the sight, and bade the wretch who brought
it to carry the tidings of his bloody deed to
Ben Safiah in hell ! Thus perished the two
rebels who had been the main support of the
insurrection. As to Ayesha, she continued
the fight until her camel, hacked with the
merciless swords of Ali's men, sank to the
earth and left her a prisoner. Ali, however,
had given orders that no indignity should be
offered to her who had received the absurd
name of Mother of the Faithful.' The spoils
of victory were divided according to the rules
of war, and the rebellion in Arabia was at an
end.
Not so, however, with the revolt in Syria.
Here the powerful Moawyah stood in arms
and defied the authority of the Caliph. The
minds of the Syrians had been abused with
the belief that Ali was guilty of the murder
of Othman, and the local power of the provin-
cial governor was used to divide them more and
more widely from all sympathy with the govern-
ment at Medina. Nor was Moawyah wanting
in the subtle policy peculiar to ambitious
chieftains. He sent word to Amru, the de-
posed governor of Egypt, now in Palestine,
to come and join his standard, promising to
restore him to the high authority which he
had held under the former Caliphate. Amru
' Absurd, for Ayesha had no children-
490
UNIVERSAL HISTORY. THE MODERN WORLD.
was not insensible to the appeal. Journeying
to Damascus, he had an interview with Moa-
■wyah, and publicly east in his fortunes with
those of the rebellion. It thus became neces-
sary for Ali to continue in the field in order
to keejj the throne.
-.For the prosecution of his Syrian campaign
of the prophets. Ali accordingly directed hia
attendants where to dig, and a huge stone
being with difficulty overturned, the well of
antiquity was found. The army was saved
from thirst and the hermit converted to Islam.
In the year 657 the forces of the Caliph
came face to face with those of Moawyah in
C.\PTL'RE OF A-i^ESHA BY ALI.
Drawn by F. Flkentsher.
tie Caliph raised an army of ninety thousand
men. Arriving on the borders of Syria, the
soldiers suffered for water; but a Christian
monk who lived in the neighborhood produced
an ancient parchment, said to have been writ-
ten by Saint Peter, wherein it was predicted
that a well digged of old by Israel should be
reopened hy the lawful successor of the last
the plain of SefTein, near the Euphrates. The
army of the enemy, led by the rebellious gover-
nor and Amru, numbered eighty thousand men.
The leading generals on the other side were Ali
himself and the venerable Ammar Ibn Yaser,
now ninety-two years of age, of old time one
of the companions of the Prophet. When the
two hosts came in sight Ali attempted to se-
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OTHMAN AND ALL
491
cure peace by negotiations; but Moawyah was
implacable, and the issue was given to the de-
cision of the sword — and the decision was ren-
dered in favor of the Caliph.
During the four mouths that followed sev-
eral battles ensued, but the results were
indecisive. The general advantage was on
the side of Ali, whose successes, however,
were clouded by the loss of several able offi-
cers, among whom was the patriarch Ammar
Ibn Yaser. In one of the desultory fights Ali
spurred his steed within hearing of Moawyah,
and challenged him to come forth and decide
their quarrel by a personal combat; but the
wary rebel would not put his life upon such a
hazard. HLs refusal precipitated a general
battle, which was fought during the night,
and which resulted in the rout of the Syrian
army. When, however, the defeated insur-
gents were driven to their camp, and were
about to be exterminated, they hoisted the
Koran on a lance and demanded that the dis-
pute should be settled by the decisions of the
Book. The victorious Ali was little disposed
to surrender the fruits of a triumph so hardly
won to an arbitration which Moawyah had
many times refused ; but the religious preju-
dices of the Moslems were so strong that they
trailed their lances in the presence of the Ko-
ran, and would not fight against those who
appealed to its decision. An arbiter was ac-
cordingly appointed from each army, Abu
Musa being chosen by Ali and Amru by
Moawyah.
The ambassadors met at Jumat al Joudel,
and the negotiations were undertaken. It
soon appeared that Musa was overreached by
the wit and subtlety of Moawyah's agent.
Amru succeeded in persuading him to a deci-
sion by which both Ali and Moawyah were to
be deposed and a new Caliph elected. When,
however, it came to the proclamation of the
result, and a tribunal had been erected be-
tween the two armies, Musa was induced to
go up first and to announce that Ali was de-
posed. It was then Amru's turn to declare
the deposition of Moawyah; but instead of
making the proper proclamation, he ascended
the tribunal and said: "You have heard how
Musa on his part has deposed Ali; I on my
part depose him also, and I adjudge the Ca-
liphate to Moawyah, and I invest him with it
as I invest my finger with this ring ; and I do
it with justice, for he is the rightful successor
and avenger of Othmau."
Great were the surprise and discontent on
the announcement of this fraudulent decision.
Strange that a decision so procured and pro-
mulgated should have been regarded of bind-
ing force ; but the bigotry and superstition of
the age were ready to enforce an agreement
which bore the semblance of faith, though ite
substance was clearly a fraud. Ali accordingly
withdrew his army, and personal hatred and
religious animosity between the opposing
powers were substituted for honorable battle.
Thus it was that victory already achieved
vanished from the grasp of the Caliph. The
Caliphate was profoundly shaken by the catas-
trophe, and the influence of Ali faded .-way
for a season. Dissensions sprang up among
those who had been his adherents. One
party, called the Karigites, denounced the
Caliph bitterly for allowing himself to be cir-
cumvented by Moawyah and Amru. The
fanatics declared — and with great truth — that
the compact was, on the j)art of the Syrians,
a palpable fraud, and that its observance on
the part of the Arabians was a piece of super-
stitious folly. The Karigites renounced their
allegiance and took up arms, and Ali was
obliged to suppress them by force.
Meanwhile, Moawyah attempted to make
good the prom'se which he had given to Amru
respecting his restoration to authority in Egypt.
In order to secure by subtlety what he could
not accomplish by force, the Syrian govern oi
forged a letter purporting to be written to
himself by Saiid Ibn Kai's, the governor of
Egypt, in which treacherous overtures were
made respecting an alliance against Ali. This
letter was permitted to fall into the hands of
the Caliph, whose mind was thereby poisoned
against Saiid, and who appointed Mohammed,
the son of Abu Beker, to supersede him.
The government of Saiid in Egypt had been
as popular as that of Mohammed proved to be
distasteful to the people. Dissensions were
spread abroad and revolt followed. Learning
of the condition of afl^airs, Ali sent out a new
governor, named Malec Shutur; but the latter
was poisoned before reaching his destination.
Afl^aics were thus thrown into such confusion
that Moawyah dispatched Amru with an army
492
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
to seize the Egyptian government for himself.
The movement was successful. The party of
Ali was overthrown. Mohammed was slain,
and his body, inclosed in the carcass of an
ass, was burnt to ashes. Thus was Egypt
suddenly snatched away from the successor of
the Prophet.
Moawyah now became more active than
ever. He assumed the offensive, carried hia
arms into Arabia, ravaged Yemen, and hoisted
his banner over the Kaaba at Mecca. The
spirits of Ali were so greatly depressed that
he fell into melancholy, and he, who had
been called the Lion of Islam, went about
with an abstracted air or sat in moody silence.
At length, however, he roused himself to
action. He raised an army of sixty thousand
men, and determined that Moawyah should
feel erelong the force of a staggering blow.
But at this juncture the remnants of the
Karigites became a factor in the political con-
dition of the times. Three of the fanatic
sect, meeting in the mosque of Mecca, and at-
tributing the distractions of Islam to the am-
bitious rivalries of Ali, Jloawyah, and Amru,
resolved upon the assassination of all three of
the rulers. The conspirators then separated
and went to their allotted stations.
Barak, who undertook the murder of Mo-
awyah, went to Damascus, took his stand in
the mosque, and as Moawyah knelt to pray,
dealt him a terrible blow with his sword.
The governor, however, was saved alive, and
finally recovered from his wound ; but the
assassin was taken and put to death. The
second murderer, Amru, the son of Asi, re-
paired to Egypt, entered the mosque, and
killed the Imam Karijah, mistaking him for
the governor. This assassin was also taken
and executed. The third conspirator, named
Abdalrahman, made his way to Cufa, which
was now the capital of Ali. Here he entered
the house of a Karigite woman, to whom he
presently made an offer of marriage. She
agreed to give her hand on condition that her
husband would bring her as a dowry three
thousand pieces of silver, a slave, a maid-ser-
vant, and the head of the Caliph Ali. All
these things Abdalrahman agreed to bestow.
He accordingly took into his confidence two
confederates, and the three stationed them-
selves in the mosque to await the coming of
their victim. When Ali drew near they fell
upon him with their swords and inflicted a
fatal wound. One of the murderers escaped,
one was slain as he was flying from the scene,
and Abdalrahman was taken. "Let him not
be tortured," said the benignant Caliph before
he expired, and his orders were obeyed. Thus,
in the year A. D. 660, the fourth successor
of the Prophet died a violent death.
The character of Ali suffers not by com-
parison with that of any of the early Moslems.
In war he was a warrior, in peace, peaceable.
But for the rebellion of Moawyah, Zobeir,
and Telha his reign would, perhaps, have been
the most prosperous among those of the early
Caliphs. Nor should failure be made to men-
tion his patronage of letters and art ; for it
was from this epoch that the Arabians began
to be distinguished as poets, historians, and
philosophers. Ali himself was a devotee of
the Arabian Parnassus. His career through-
out showed the man of sentiment and reflec-
tion rather than the fiery zealot which waa
revealed in Omar. "Life," said the poetic
Ali, " is but the shadow of a cloud, the dream
of a sleeper."
The family of the Caliph Ali embraced the
lineal descendants of Mohammed. His first
wife, Fatima, was the Prophet's daughter, and
by her he had three sons, Mohassan, Hassan,
and Hosein, two of whom survived their
father. Of his other eight wives were born
twelve sons and eighteen daughters. The
children of Fatima, as being of the blood of
the Prophet, were held in great esteem. They
were permitted to distinguish themselves by
their turbans and other dress from all other
Moslems. The descendants of this line were
known as the Fatuiites, from the name of
their great mother, and were ever regarded by
the Arabians as the legitimate sovereigns of
Islam. By that people the memory of Ali
was held most sacred, next to that of the
Prophet, and the anniversary of his death is
still scrupulously observed as a solemnity by
the faithful.
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OMMIADES AND FATIMITE8.
493
CHAF-TER LXXX.— OMMIADES AND RATINIITES.
FTER the death of Ali his
son Hassan was chosen to
the Caliphate without op-
position. He was well
fitted by the excellence
of his character and the
benevolence of his pur-
poses for the sovereignty of a great state ; but
the times were distracted with rebellion and
turmoil, and Hassan was little disposed to war.
Nevertheless, in his inaugural ceremony he
pledged himself to uphold the Book of Allah,
to follow the tradition of the Prophet, and to
make war against all opposers. The people,
in then- turn, pledged themselves to support
his government, both in peace and in war.
The circumstances of the accession of a new
Caliph were such as hardly to permit him to re-
main at peace. There, on the Syrian horizon,
stwod the hostile figure of Moawyah. Against
bim the Caliph Ali, at the time of his assassina-
tion, had already prepared an army of sixty
thousand men. The warlike Hosein, brother
-of Hassan, was eager for the fight. The Caliph
accordingly took the field in the first year of
his reign, and marched against the Syrians.
In a short time, however, his inefliciency
as a general was manifest. A tumult having
broken out in the army, he was unable to
enforce discipline, and treachery became rife
around him. His courage failed, and he re-
solved to make overtures to Moawyah. He
accordingly sent to that potentate an embassy,
proposing to surrender to him the Caliphate
on condition that he himself should be per-
mitted to retain the public treasury, and that
no further slanders should be uttered against
the memory of his father. The first condition
was fully agreed to, and the second in part.
Hassan himself was not to be offended by
hearing his father's name spoken with con-
tempt. It was also stipulated as a part of
the terms of Hassan's abdication that he
•should return to power on the death of
Moawyah.
Nothwithstanding the anger of the war-
like Hosein, and notwithstanding that the
people of Cufa refused to surrender the treas-
ury, which they claimed as their own, the
settlement was carried into effect, and the
governor of Syria became Caliph, with the
title of Moawyah I. Hassan received a large
revenue, and retiring to Medina found com-
pensation for the loss of power in distributing
to the necessities of the poor.
The dissensions of the Empire being thus
quieted, and the shade of Othman placated
by the destruction of those who had taken his
life, Islam had peace. About the only faction
remaining to disturb the state of the faithful
were the Karigites, who stirred up a revolt In
Syria and were with difficulty suppressed.
They were a sect of fanatical zealots who,
contemptuous of all the forms of government,
attempted to establish a reign of spiritual
frenzy over the prostrate form of reason.
The new line of sovereigns beginning with
Moawyah was known as the Ommiad Dynasty,
being so called from Ommiah, the ancestor of
the tribe to which the Caliph belonged. The
opposing party of princes in the politics of
Islam, representing the true descendants of
the Prophet, were, as already said, known as
the Fatehites.
The powerful warrior, whose ambition was
thus at last gratified with the possession of
the throne of Islam, now gave his attention
to the arts of peace. He called about him
many learned men, poels, scholars, and states-
men, many of whom were brought from the
Grecian islands, and whose culture added to
the luster of the court of Damascus. But
while the Caliph thus strengthened himself in
the world of letters, a strange family compli-
cation introduced some excitement in the
world of politics. It had happened in the
days of yore that Abu Sofian, father of Mo-
awyah, had, while sojourning in the city of
Tayef, become enamored of a Greek slave,
who afterwards bore him a son. The chUd,
being illegitimate, was named Ziyad Ibn
Abihi, that is, Ziyad the son of Nobody. But
494
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
the blood of his ancestry told in spite of the
ban. The youth had genius. He drew to
himself by his eloquence the attention of the
people. During the reign of Omar he became
a distinguished judge in the courts of Islam.
The Caliph Ali appointed hun governor of
Persia, and that position he still held on the
accession of his half-brother to the thi-one.
But the Son of Nobody by no means has-
tened to recognize Moawyah as Caliph. The
latter became alarmed at the sUenee of Ziyad
and sent a kindly invitation for him to come
to Cufa. Accepting the invitation, he was
met and embraced by Moawyah, who thus
publicly acknowledged the governor as his
brother. An act was secured by which Ziyad
was made a legitimate branch of the House
of Koreish and a prince of the realms of Islam.
Great was the anger of the aristocratic
Ommiades to be thus scandalized by the in-
troduction into their ranks of the parvenu
eon of a Greek slave. But the far-sighted
Moawyah let fume their idle passion, for he
had gained a powerful friend and supporter.
Nor did the Caliph fail to make good use of
his new-found brother. He sent him to as-
sume authority in the city of Bassora, where
a reign of anarchy and assassination had been
established. The city had become a den of
thieves, and its reputation a stench in the
nostrils of Islam. To all this the Son of No-
body put a speedy termination. Two hundred
ruffians were put to death on the first night
after his assumption of office.
Order was at once restored. The gov-
ernor was then sent to Khorassan. So exem-
plary were his measures that quiet reigned
wherever he went. As he journeyed from
city to city, he made proclamation that the
people should leave their doors open at night,
promising to make good whatever was taken
by theft. Having reduced all Babylonia to
good government, he set out for Arabia Petra.
But whUe on his way thither he was attacked
with the plague and died. So great had been
his merit that his family rights were confirmed
to his son Obeidallah, who was made governor
of Khorassan and a prince of the empire.
Another son, named Salem, was, in like man-
ner, honored, and so great was his popularity
that twenty thousand children were said to
have received his name. The third son,
Kameil, was also so much distinguished by his-
talents that he was made a prince of Arabia
Felix, and his descendants considered it an
honor to be called the children of Zivad. It
thus happened that the base-born Son of No-
body became the illustrious Father of Some-
body. Nature had written her sign-manuai
above the puny statutes of men.
Moawyah kept his faith with Amru by re-
instating him in the governorship of Egypt.
But the latter did not long survive the recovery
of what had been the object of his ambition.
In A. D. 663 he died, and Islam had cause-
to lament the fall of one of the ablest veter-
ans of the faith. Like many of his feUow-
leaders, he became in his old age enamored of
letters, and sought by patr:nage and example
to hasten the return of the day of light and
learning.
The reign of Moawyah was noted as the-
epoch when hostility to the Eastern Empire-
became a part of the settled policy of Islam.
The warlike impulses of the Caliph were-
turned in the direction of Constantinople.
The injunction of the Prophet to conquer the
world still rang in the ears of true believers,
and the general quiet of the Mohammedaa
states encouraged the half-dormant desire of
foreign conquest. It was now almost a half
century since the death of the Prophet. His-
promise of full pardon for all the sins com-
mitted by the soldiers who should conquer
Constantinople was not wanting as an incen-
tive of war in the breasts of faithful veterans-
who recalled with a sigh the glorious days of
earl}' Islam.
An army was accordingly mustered to-
march against the distant Greeks. The com-
mand was given to the veteran Sofian, who,
with several other aged patriots, companions-
of Mohammed, undertook the enterprise with.
the fiery zeal of youth. Hosein, the brother
of Hassan, was given a command, and a chiv-
alrous spirit pervaded the army, to which thff
soldiers of the Crescent had become strangers-
during the civil wars. The enthusiasm of
battle was in the ranks, and future victory
was regarded as a part of that necessity which
the Prophet had proclaimed as the immutable
law of the world. On the other hand, a gen-
eral flavor of decay was noticeable throughout
the Empire of the Greeks. Especially were-
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OMMIADES AND FATIMITES.
49.>
the armies which issued from the gates of
Constantinople fatigued, as it were, with the
lassitude of declining age. In no respect,
moreover, was the weakness of the Eastern
Empire more displayed than in the will and
character of Constantine IV., the reigning
sovereign, whose chief element of greatness
was a famous name.
In the preceding volume' a brief reference
has already been made to this effort of the
Moslems to capture Constantinople. No ex-
tensive details of the expedition have been
preserved. It is only known that the Moham-
medan squadron passed the Dardanelles in
safety and debarked the army a few miles
from the city. Tlie Arabs with their accus-
tomed vehemence began a siege, but very un-
like were the battlements of Constantinople to
the puny ramparts surrounding the towns of
Syria and the East. The Greek capital, more-
over, was well defended by troops collected
from many quarters, most of them veterans in
the defense of cities. The employment of
Greek fire spread terror among the assailants,
to whom such explosive and portentous bombs
seemed no less than the favorite hand-balls of
Ben Safiah. Of course, the besiegers with
their nomad armor could make no impression
on the rock-built bastions of the city. So,
despairing of success, they fell away from the
prize which was beyond their grasp and rav-
aged the adjacent coasts of the two continents.
They established themselves in the island of
Scyzicus, and from time to time renewed the
conflict through a period of two years.
As the war continued, the forces of the
Moslems were gradually wasted. On the other
hand, the courage of the Greeks was revived
when it was seen that they only had been able
to interpose a bar to the progress of Islam.
By and by they marched forth with their
forces and pursued the Mohammedans, inflict-
ing several defeats. Moawyah was first driven
to act on the defensive, and then compelled to
seek an expensive peace. A truce was estab-
lished for thirty years, and the Caliph agreed
to pay the Emperor an annual tribute of three
thousand j)ieces of gold, fifty slaves, and fifty
Arabian steeds.
In the mean time the Caliph had grown
old. The compact still existed with Hassan
'See Book Tenth, ante p. 383.
that the latter should succeed to the govern-
ment on the death of Moawyah. But Yezid,
the Caliph's eldest son, was already a conspira-
tor to secure the succession for himself In
the year 669, the exemplary and unambitious-
Hassan ended his career by poison. Nor is it
doubtful that the potion was administered by
an Arab woman at the instigation of Yezid,.
who promised to reward her crime with mar-
riage. The prince died as he had lived, in a
serene frame of mind, calmly consigning hia
murderers to the mercies of Allah, before whom,
they must presently stand, stripped of all
disguises.
The politic Yezid refused to marry her whose
crime had opened to him the way to the throne ;
but he procured her silence with large gifts of
money and jewels. Though Hassan himself
was destroyed, his family was by no means ex-
tinguished. He left as his contribution to the-
House of Fatima fifteen sons and five daugh-
ters. One of his marriages had been with the
daughter of Yezdegird, the last king of Per-
sia, and the expiring glory of the Sassanidse-
was blended with the prophetic blood of Islam.
A few years after the death of Hassan, the
celebrated Ayesha, who had survived the death,
of Mohammed forty-seven years, and by the
perpetual feuds springing from her jealousy of
Fatima had kept the court of Medina constantly-
embroiled, expired, A. D. 678. She left no-
ofl^spring ; nor did any of the other wives of
the Prophet, excepting only Fatima, transmit
his name to posterity.
It will be remembered how the unpopular
Abdallah Ibn Saiid attempted to make good
his claim to leadership by the conquest of
Northern Africa; and how he failed before
the walls of Tripoli. Afterwards the attention.
of the Moslems was absorbed in the civil wars,
and then in the contest with Constantinople.
Thus for a while the African enterprise was-
abandoned. The foothold which Islam had
gained on the coast west of Egypt was broken,
and the dominion of the Crescent was again
almost restricted to the vallej of the Nile.
After the failure of his war with the Greeks,
Moawyah determined to devote the energies of
his old age to the recovery of what had been
lost on the African coast. To this end an army
was organized and placed under command of
Acbah, who at the head of his forces at once
496
UNWERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
K >
^ Hi
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OMMIADES AND FATIMITES.
497
departed from Damascus to enter on his cam-
paign. His first movement was directed against
the province of Cyrenaica, and its capital, Cy-
rene. The city was besieged and taken, its
•walls thrown down, the country conquered.
From the borders of this province Acbah
then continued his march to the west. Through
dense and serpent-haunted woods and trackless
■wastes of sand, he pressed onward to the site
of ancient Carthage. Here he chose a heav-
ily wooded valley as the place in which to
found a city which should serve as the head-
quarters of Islam in the West. Nor has tra-
■dition failed to record how Acbah went forth
into the dank wilderness, infested as it was
with lions, tigers, and serpents, and conjured
them to fly to other jungles. " Hence ! " said
he; "avaunt, wild beasts and serpents! Hence,
•quit this wood and valley ! " Then they fled to
parts unknown.
When the news of the progress of Acbah
was borne to Moawyah, he added the newly
• -conquered countries to the province of Egypt,
«nd appointed Muhegir governor. But the
action of the Caliph was based upon ignorance
•of the vast extent of the territory which Ac-
bah had overrun. The latter had meanwhile
•established himself in his new city and exer-
cised authority over the surrounding country.
When Muhegir arrived in Egypt, he became
desperately jealous of the fame of Acbah, and
slandered him in letters to the Caliph to the
extent of securing his recall and deposition
from his command. The valorous Acbah,
however, indignant at the injustice done him,
hastened to Damascus and made so manly a
remonstrance that he was at once reinstated.
Returning by way of Egypt he found that
Muhegir had used the interim to destroy, as far
■&S possible, the results of the conquest. Acbah
accordingly deposed him from authority and
placed him in irons, and then went about to
remedy the mischief which he had accomplished.
In a short time he had reduced the country
to such a state of quiet that he was able to re-
sume his work of conquest in the West. From
the frontier which he had already established
at Cserwan, he marched into Algiers, the an-
cient Numidia, and setting up the banners of
Islam, compelled the barbarous tribes to rev-
erence the name of the Prophet. He then
4?roceeded into Morocco, the Mauritania of
the ancients, and in like manner reduced the
inhabitants to submission. Still westward he
pressed his way until reaching the Atlantic,
he rode into the salt waves to his saddle girth,
and drawing his cimeter, declared that only
the sea prevented him from honoring the
Prophet by further conquests in his name.
In the mean time intelligence was borne to
the victorious Moslem that the Greeks of the
African coast behind him, as well as the sav-
age tribes of the interior, had revolted and
were about to overthrow his authority. Hia
capital of Cterwan was threatened with cap-
ture. Returning by rapid marches he was at-
tacked in Numidia by the Berbers or Moors,
who gave him great annoyance, but could not
be brought to battle. On reaching his capital,
however, Acbah found that his lieutenant Zo-
hair had beaten the rebels in battle, and re-
stored order in the province. As soon as
every thing was made secure, the adventurous
governor returned into Numidia to punish the
audacious Moors.
Meanwhile, the Greeks of the coast had
joined their fortunes with the barbarians of
the mountain slopes, and Acbah found a
large army ready to oppose him. The leader
of the Moors was a noted chieftain named
Abu Cahina. When Acbah came in sight
of the enemy, he perceived that their num-
bers were so great as to make a victory over
them impossible ; but with the dauntless zeal
of a true follower of the Prophet, he deter-
mined to conquer or die. He struck oflT the
chains of Muhegir and gave him a horse and
armor. The two then rode, side by side, into
the hopeless conflict. The Moslems fought
with thinning ranks, but invincible courage.
At last only a handful remained, but they
faced the enemy until all had perished. The
dead body of Acbah was discovered still grasp-
ing his sword and surrounded with a heap of
infidel slain. The destruction of the heroic
band of Islam was complete.
Meanwhile, important events had taken
place in the Caliphate. The aged Moawyah,
forecasting the end of his career, named Yezid
as his successor. This act was in violation of
the precedent established by Mohammed and
observed by Abu Beker, Omar, and Othman.
It was a direct effort on the part of Moawyah
to make the crown of Islam hereditary in his
498
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
family — to substitute the principle of descent
for the right of election. Such a policy ran
counter to all the maxims of Arabian politics ;
but so powerful was the influence of the Ca-
liph, that when he sent abroad a summons to
the various provinces to appoint delegates who
should perform the act of fealty to the prince
Yezid, nearly all the regions made a favor-
able response, and the prince was acknowl-
edged as the representative of the Ommiades
and the heir expectant to the crown of Islam.
Thus was established by the will and power of
Moawyah the dynasty of the House of Om-
miah, from which fourteen Caliphs were des-
tined to arise.
The institution of a regular court, after the
manner of the East, had now become an es-
tablished fact in the Caliphate. The stern de-
meanor of the primitive successors of the
Prophet relaxed m the soft airs of Damascus.
The transformation from the austere regime
established by Abu Beker and Omar was
mostly effected during the reign of Moawyah
I. Already before the death of that poten-
tate, his household and government, in the
luxurious capital of Syria, had assumed the
typical aspect of the courts of the East. The
plain food, simple garb, and severe manners
of the early Moslem rulers yielded to the in-
fluences of ease and opulence, and the exem-
plary virtues of the first Caliphs were no
longer regarded as the passports to Paradise.
Superstition still held sway over the minds
of the greatest. It was a part of the policy
of Moawyah to make Damascus one of the
sacred cities of Islam. To this end he con-
ceived the project of transferring from Medina
some of the relics most sacred in the eyes of
true believers. Among the objects to be re-
moved were the walking staff of the Prophet
and the pulpit from which he used to discourse
to the people. The staff was found and trans-
ferred to the new capital, but when the pul|)it
■was about to be removed an eclipse of the
8un occurred and the faithful were terrified.
To see the stars in daytime was too much
even for Moawyah, and the pulpit of the
Prophet was allowed to remain in Medina.
Feeling his end approach Moawyah sum-
moned Yezid into his presence and gave him
his parting injunctions. In A. D. 679, being
then in the twentieth year of his reign, the
great Caliph was gathered to his fathers. His
sepulcher was made at Damascus, which had
nov? become the chief city and capital of the
Mohammedan Empire. Great was the fame
which ISIoawyah had won by his deeds, and
great was the grief which the true believers
manifested on his departure for Paradise.
The succession had already been appointed
to Yezid. He received the royal garments in
the spring of 680. The new prince came to
the throne under the full impulse of his
father's popularity and the reputation won by
his own abilities and ambitions. Nevertheless
his character as a youth had been greatly in-
jured by his associations in Damascus, and his.
accession to power at the age of thirty-four
found him indolent, intemperate, and sensual.
He entered upon his reign, however, with
many auspicious omens and no opposition, save-
from Mecca, Medina, and some of the towns
on the Euphrates.
The personal rivals whom he had most
cause to fear were Hosein, brother of Hassan,
and Abdallah, son of Zobeir. To the danger
to be apprehended from these princes the new
Caliph was fully awake. A plot was made
against their lives, but they escaped from
Medina and fled to Mecca. While resident
here Hosein received a secret message from
the city of Cufa, declaring that tlie people of
that metropolis were ready to acknowledge
him as the rightful successor of the Prophet.
He was informed that on going thither he-
would be recognized and obeyed as Caliph.
To ascertain the truth of these reports a
messenger was sent to Cufa, who found affairs
as represented, but the governor of tlie city
had no knowledge of the conspiracy. By some-
means, however, intelligence of the true state
of affairs was conveyed to the Caliph, who-
despatched Obeidallah, son of Ziyad, to sup-
press the revolt. This general hastened to-
Cufa, took possession of the city, killed the
ambassador of Hosein, and scattered the con-
spirators in all directions.
In the mean time the unfortunate prince,
who expected to reach the Caliphate by means-
of the insurrection, set out from Mecca and
journeyed toward Cufa. On the borders of
Babylonia he was met by a band of horsemen,
sent out by Obeidallah to bring the aspirant
I into his presence. The prince was led along
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OMMIADES AND FATJMITES. 499
to tne banks of the Euphrates. Findiug that
every thing had turned against him he would
fain have returned into Arabia. Those who
had him in charge would gladly have shown
consideration to a descendant of the Prophet,
but Obeidallah had resolved that Hosein
should acknowledge Yezid or perish for his
temerity. The son of Ali, however, chose to
die rather than submit. With his small band
he attempted to defend himself in his camp.
Desultory fighting continued for several
days. His followers fell one by one until he
The assassination of their prince made a
profound impression on the minds of the Fati-
mites. The day of his death became an anni
versary of mourning, and was called the Day
of Hosein. On the spot where he fell a sepul-
cher was built, and tradition recited to the
coming generations, the omens and portenta
wherewith Allah threatened the world when
the descendant of his Apostle was slain.
Among those whom the dying JMoawyah had
named as persons to be feared by his successor
was Zobeir's son, Abdallah. The caution was
TOMRS OF THE CALIPHS, DAlIASfl'S.
was left alone. At last he sank to the earth,
bleeding with thirty wounds, and died under
the swords of his assailants. His head was
then cut off and carried to Obeidallah in Cufa.
After being displayed to that savage warrior
the bloody trophy was sent to the Caliph
Yezid at Damascus, who either through real or
affected grief denounced the murder of the
prince and cursed Obeidallah as the son of a
Oreek slave. The Caliph treated the family
of Hosein with consideration, and thus in
some measure made atonement for the destruc-
tion of the grandson of the Prophet.
well taken ; for after the death of Hosein the
tribe of Hashem proclaimed Abdallah as Ca-
liph, and he was recognized as such by the
people of Medina and Mecca. The prince
thus made conspicuous was ambitious and war-
like. The party of Fatima, enraged at the
murder of Hosein, rallied to the support of
Abdallah, and a. seer out of Egypt declared
that the Prophet Daniel had predicted for this
prince the honors of royalty. The Caliph
Yezid became alarmed at the condition of af-
fairs in Western Arabia ; but pretending to
despise the presumption of Abdallah, he senJ
500
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
word to the governor of Medina to put a sil-
ver collar around the neck of the pretender,
should he not desist from his claims, and send
him in fetters to Damascus. The governor,
however — as did also his successor — feared to
undertake the duty which Yezid had assigned.
Nor did the task allotted by the Caliph to his
suoordinate become less onerous when the sto-
r.es of his own immoral life were ckculated
among the abstemious and continent Arabs.
The unpopularity of the reigning prince be-
came so great that an insurrection broke out
in Medina, and the few adherents of Yezid
were obliged for safety to shut themselves up
in the palace of the governor. It was with
great difficulty that the Caliph secured an
army and a general to go against the insur-
gents. At length the veteran Meslem assumed
command, and the expedition departed to sup-
press the revolt.
Meanwhile the people of Medina digged a
trench around the city, and prepared to de-
fend themselves to the last. When Meslem
arrived he summoned the place to surrender,
but for three successive days the demand was
refused. On the fourth ]\Iedina Wfs attacked
and carried by storm. The friends of Yezid
were liberated from the governor's palace, and
the city given up to indiscriminate slaughter
and pillage. Having completed the work of
destruction, Meslem started on the march for
Mecca, but died before reaching his destina-
tion. The command devolved upon Hozein
Ibn Thamir, who proceeded to the city and
began a siege. For forty days the walls were
battered by the Syrian engines. A part of
the Kaaba was broken down, and the rest
burned to ashes. The Meccans were brought
to the last extremity; but in the day of their
desj)air a messenger came announcing the
death of Yezid. Thereupon Zobeir, who
commanded the city, sent the intelligence to
Hozein, and demanded that since the Caliph
was no more, hostilities should come to an
end. As soon as the news was confirmed the
besiegers assented to a truce. The siege was
abandoned, and the Syrian army, accompanied
by the family of Ommiah, retired to Damas-
cus. Nor did the true believers of the party
of Fatima fail to ascribe the sudden death of
the Caliph to the avenging hand of Allah ;
XoT the pillage of Medina, the sacred home of
the Prophet, was a sacrUege well calculated to
excite the indignation of heaven.
MoAWYAH H., son of Yezid, was at once
proclaimed Caliph. He was still a mere
youth, weak in body and in mind, fickle in
conduct, and somewhat heretical in belief.
For his teacher, Almeksus, being of the sect
of the Kadarii, taught the freedom of the
will as against the doctrine of predestination,
and the young Moa^V}-ah imbibed the danger-
ous heresy. He was afflicted with weak eyes,
and obliged to avoid the daylight, from which
circumstance the Arabs gave him the surname
of Abuleilah or Father of the Kight. Fot
six months he nominally held the scepter and
then abdicated, refusing to name a successor.
This unheard-of proceeding greatly excited the
Ommiades, who attributed the prince's resig-
nation to the influence of Almeksus. Him
they accordingly seized and buried alive.
The recreant Moawyah not only refused to
name his successor, but even went so far as to
denounce the Ommiad line, saying that his
grandfather was a man less worthy than Ali,
and that Yezid had been unfit to reign. He
also very properly included himself in the list
of unworthies. Having thus relieved his
conscience, he shut himself in a dark cham-
ber and remained there until he died.
It thus became necessary for the princes of
Islam to choose a new Caliph. In a conven-
tion at Damascus, the election fell on Merwan,
the same who had once been the secretary of
Othman. It was stipulated, however, that at
his decease — for he was already aged — the
crown should descend to Khaled, the junior
son of Yezid. Merwan gave the required
pledges and entered upon his reign at Damas-
cus. Meanwhile Abdallah, the son of Zobeir,
was acknowledged as Cali])h throughout the
West. Not only Arabia, but also Khorassan,
Babylonia, and Egypt, recognized him as the
legitimate ruler of Islam. At the same time,
the bloody-minded Obeidallah, son of Ziyad
and emir of Bassora, endeavored to obtaiD
the Caliphate. He pleaded that the dissen-
sions between the Houses of Fatima and Om-
miah were sufficient cause for the independ-
ence of Bassora and his own appointment as
Caliph. The chiefs of the city were ready to
second the movement, and Obeidallah was
called upon to accept the primacy, at least
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OMMIADES AND FATIMITES.
SOT
until a new ruler could be legally elected.
This action, however, was soon repented. The
people of Cufa, still remembering the atrocious
conduct of Obeidallah in the murder of Ho-
sein, rejected his claims with disdain ; and the
inhabitants of Bassora, turning upon their
own creature, drove him from power. He
was obliged to disguise himself as a woman
and fly for his life. He escaped into Syria,
and perceiving the j)resent hojielessness of his
situation, gave his influence to Merwan and
aided in his election to the Caliphate. This
adherence of Obeidallah to the cause of the
Ommiades was one of the circumstances which
led to the defection of Babylonia and the
transfer of the allegiance of that country to
AbdaUah, Caliph of the West.
The accession of Merwan was thus recog-
nized only in Syria, and among the Syrians
themselves a strong party arose in opposition
to his claims. The leader of the disaSected
was a certain chieftain named Dehac Ibn
Kais, recently governor of Cufa, who sympa-
thizing with the politics of the people of his
former province, declared for AbdaUah and
raised an army to support his pretensions.
Merwan at once took the field against his
Syrian enemies, and a bloody battle was
fought, in which Dehac was killed and his
army cut to pieces. Merwan returned in tri-
umph to Damascus, and began his administra-
tion from the palace of Moawyah and Yezid.
The great age of the Caliph and the gen-
eral suspicion that he would attempt to vio-
late the agreement respecting the succession
led to a movement on the part of the author-
ities of Damascus to secure a guaranty. They
demanded that Merwan should marry the
widow of Yezid, and thus place himself in
loco patris to the young Khaled. He com-
plied with reluctance; but in order to extri-
cate himself as far as possible from the com-
plication, he raised an army and set out on
an expedition against Egypt. The campaign
was attended with success, and the party of
AbdaUah was overthrown in that province.
Merwan then returned to Damascus. But
scarcely had he reached the capital when
news came that Musab, the brother of the
Western Caliph, was marching upon Egypt to
recover what was lost. A second time the
Syrian army, led by Aniru, the son of Saad,
marched against the Egyptians, and anotner
hard-fought battle resulted in a complete vic-
tory for Merwan and the reestablishment of
his authority in the valley of the Nile. He
appointed his son Abdalaziz governor of the
conquered country, and again returned to the
capital of Syria.
In the mean time the people of Khorassan,
disgusted with the quarrels of the rival Ca-
liphs, chose for their governor Salem, the son
of Ziyad, who was to act as regent of the
province until what time the political affairs
of the Caliphate should be settled. While
Khorassan was thus virtually made independ-
ent, the people of Cufa, long ill at ease OB.
account of the murder of Hosein, sought by
repentance to make their peace with the-
Fatimites. A society was organized, called-
The Penitents, embracing in its membership
the principal men of the state. The whole
movement had for its ulterior design the re-
storation of the House of Ali to the undi-
vided sovereignty of Islam. The leader of
the revolutionary party was Solyman Ibn.
Sorad, who had been one of the companions
of the Prophet. An army was mustered,
which, after passing a day and night in prayer
on the spot where Hosein was murdered, be-
gan its march into Syria. But before Soly-
man reached Damascus, Obeidallah came forth
at the head of twenty thousand men and
scattered the revolutionists to the four winds.
It will be remembered how the hero AcbaL
on the far-ofi" plains of Numidia, was over-
powered and destroyed by the Moorish host
led by Abu Cahina. The latter, after his victory,
pressed on to Cserwan where he began a siege.
At this juncture, however, reenforcements ar-
rived, sent out from Egypt by Abdalaziz, the
recently appointed governor. Every thing
looked to the speedy repulse of Cahina and
the restoration of Moslem authority in North-
ern Africa. But in the mean time the sleepy
court of Constantinople had aroused itself to
action and dispatched an Imperial army to
make common cause with the Moors in the
expulsion of the Mohammedans. Against
these combined forces of Christianity and
barbarism, Zobeir, the governor of Cserwan,
made a desperate but ineffectual resistance.
The Moslems were defeated in battle and
driven back to Barca. Caerwan was assaulted
502
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
and taken, and all the western parts of the
African coast restored to the condition in
which they had been before the conquest by
Acbah.
Just after the fiasco of Solyman in Syria,
the intelligence of the loss of Northern Africa
was carried to Damascus. It had the eflect
of an electric spark upon the half-paralyzed
right arm of Islam. For the nonce, the bitter
feuds of faction were consigned to oblivion.
Though Zobeir recognized the Caliph of the
West, Merwan sent forward a large army,
under command of his son Abdalmalec to
assist the African governor in recovering his
province. The forces of Zobeir and those of
Syria were united in the Barcan desert, and
■an expedition was at once begun to regain the
lost territories. The old spirit of the Arabs
was fully aroused in the struggle with the un-
believers. The Christians and Moors were
driven back precipitately upon Cserwan.
The city was besieged and retaken, and the
whole region recovered from the enemy more
quickly than they had won it. Zobeir was
reinstated as governor of Africa, and Abdal-
malec marched back to join his father at
Damascus.
In his last days, the aged Merwan at-
tempted to undo the terms of settlement by
■which he had been elected to the Caliphate.
It was evident that his oath to transmit the
•crown to Khaled had been taken with mental
reser-vation. It transpired that when engaged
in the struggle for the recovery of Egypt,
Merwan had promised the succession to Amru
Ibn Saiid on condition that that prince would
Aid him in the establishment of his power.
This promise also was made in bad faith ; for
the monarch all the while entertained the
purpose to advance his own son, Abdalmalec,
to the throne. Circumstances favored the
scheme ; for Abd.almalec returned in great
glory from his African campaign, and was re-
ceived with such favor by the Damascenes
that Merwan found little difficulty in having
him recognized as his successor. This act,
however, hastened the exit of the Caliph and
substituted violence for the order of nature.
The prince Khaled reproached his faith-break-
ing step-father for his conduct, and the latter
denounced the prince as a son of unchastity.
Tht-reupon the mother who was thus insulted
thrust a pillow into the face of the feeble
old Caliph and sat upon it until he was smoth-
ered to death. Thus, in the year 684, the
Caliphate of Damascus was transferred to
Abdalmalec.
The new potentate was acknoweldged by
Syria, Egypt, and Africa. From the first he
exhibited the qualities of a powerful and am-
bitious ruler. He gave his attention to affairs
of state and laid extensive plans for the pro-
motion of the interests of Islam. The chief
weaknesses of his character were superstition
and parsimony. He was a scrupulous ob-
server of dreams and omens, and his conduct
was so sordid that the Arabs gave him the
surname of Rafhol Hejer, or the Sweat-Stone.
Abdallah, the son of Zobeir, stUl held the
Western Caliphate, having his capital at
Mecca. Not a little fame was added to hia
government by the fact that the sacred city
of the Mohammedans was the seat of his au-
thority. It was deemed desirable by Abdal-
malec to establish in his own dominions a sec-
ond sacred place to which the faithful might
direct their pilgrimages. To this end the
temple of Jerusalem was selected, and the
enterprise of enlarging and beautifying the
edifices on Mount Moriah and of filling them
with holy relics was undertaken by the Car
liph. The stone upon which the patriarch
Jacob laid his head on the night of his heav-
enly vision was placed in position to receive
the kisses of true believers, even as the Black
Stone of the Kaaba was saluted in the holy
place at Mecca. Thus did the Caliph en-
deavor to divert the Moslems from visiting
the scenes which were associated with the
memory of the Prophet in the capital of
Abdallah.
Among those chieftains who in the city of
Cufa had favored the cause of Hosein was a
certain Al Thakifi, surnamed Al Moktar, the
Avenger. When the emir Obeidallah sup-
pressed that unfortunate insurrection, Al Mok-
tar was persecuted and imprisoned. He re-
ceived from Obeidallah a blow which put out
one of his eyes. Being released by Yezid, he
swore eternal enmity against the tribe of Obei-
dallah, and his vengeance neither waited nor
slept. Finally his time came to be avenged.
Before the accession of Abdalmalec, at whose
court the family of Obeidallah was in high
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OMMIABES AND FATIMITES.
503
favor, Al Moktar had gone to Mecca and
espoused the cause of Abdallah, where he
fought with great bravery until the death of
Ifezid occasioned the raising of the siege.
Afterwards he went to Cufa and became an
agent in the organization of a baud of Peni-
tents. With the overthrow of that sect he
was again imprisoned, but was released on the
death of Merwan. He then went into Arabia,
and became recognized as one of the strongest
supporters of the House of Ali. At the head
of a body of avengers he fell upon and de-
stroyed Shamar, who had commanded in the
massacre of Hoseiu and his friends. Ke slew
Caulah, another of that band, and burned his
body in his own dwelling. Others of the en-
emies of Hoseiu met a similar fate, until the
larger number were destroyed.
Al Moktar established himself in Cufa and
•extended his authority over all Babylonia.
The attitude which he here assumed was such
as to bring upon him the hostility of both the
Caliphs. They accordingly made preparations
to suppress him by force. Al Moktar entered
into a correspondence with Mohammed, half-
brother of Hosein, then residing at Mecca,
but could not induce him to do any thing dis-
loyal to Abdallah. But the suspicions of the
Western Caliph were excited, and Mohammed
and his friends were thrown into prison. Al
Moktar now advanced with a small army of
horsemen to release his friends by force. The
assailants made their way into Mecca, broke
open the prison, and set the son of Ali at lib-
erty. The frightened Caliph, however, was
permitted to remain in authority, and Al
Moktar returned to Cufa to defend himself
against Obeidallah, who was approaching at
the head of a Syrian army. The latter was
encountered a short distance from the city,
and utterly routed by the forces of the
Avenger. Obeidallah was killed, and a large
part of his followers destroyed in the flight.
When the head of the slain emir was carried
to Al Moktar he struck the bloody face a ter-
rible blow, as if to repay the stroke which he
had himself received from Obeidallah, and by
which one of his eyes had been destroyed.
The Avenger was thus left victorious at
Cufa. A combination, however, was soon
formed against him, and armies were mustered
to besiege his capital ; but Al Moktar marched
N.— Vol. 2—31
forth boldly to meet his enemies in the open
field. A battle was fought, in which he was
defeated and driven into the citadel. Here,
with about seven thousand men, he defended
himself till he was slain. Thereupon the gar-
rison surrendered to Musab, the general of
Abdallah, and every man was put to the
sword. The enemies of the house of Ommiah
were avenged on the Avenger.
By the victory thus gained over Al Mok-
tar the province of Babylonia became a de-
pendency of the Western Caliphate. Musab,
the governor, was the brother of Abdallah,
and Abdalmalec perceived that in order to
maintain his authority he must reconquer the
country on the Euphrates. He accordingly
mustered a large army, and leaving Amru aa
his regent at Damascus, set out on an expe-
dition into Babylonia. No sooner, however,
had the army departed than Amru, cherishing
the memory of the wrongs which he had suf-
fered at the hands of Merwan, usurped the
vacant seat of the Caliph and undertook to
perpetuate his authority. Hearing of this
flagrant proceeding, Abdalmalec returned to
Damascus, put the usurper to death, and
drove his family into exile. The Caliph then
again dej)arted on his Babylonian campaign.
A battle was fought with the Cufians, near
the city of Palmyra, in which the army of
Musab was comj^letely routed. The emir and
his son were both among the slain. It is nar-
rated that when the head of Musab was car-
ried to the Caliph an aged patriarch living in
the castle took up his burden and said: "I
am four-score and ten years old, and have
outlived many generations. In this very cas-
tle I have seen the head of Hosein presented
to Obeidallah, the son of Ziyad ; then the
head of Obeidallah to Al Moktar ; then the
head of Al Moktar to Musab, aud now that
of Musab to yourself." Determining that the
fifth act should not be added by the presenta-
tion of his own head to another within that
castle, Abdalmalec ordered the noble edifice
to be leveled to the ground. Having done
so much at the dictation of superstition, he
appoimted his brother Besner and the prince
Khaled to be governors of Babylonia and Bas-
sora, and then returned to Damascus.
The next difficulty in which the Eastern
Caliphate was involved was with a sect or
504
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
fanatics called the Separatists, a kind of com-
munistic party, who were opposed to all gov-
ernment, alike civil and religious. For a
while these zealots had been restrained by
Mohalleb, one of the generals of Musab ; but
when the latter was slain the Separatists rose
in arms, and when the Caliph sent his brother
Abdalaziz to suppress the insurrection the
fanatics were victorious, inflicting on tie reg-
ular army a disastrous defeat. This overthrow
however, occurred during the absence of Mo-
halleb at Bassora. That general was now re-
stored to the command, and the Separatists
were soon scattered to the winds.
During the continuance of these dissensions
and bloody strifes the Emperor of the East
had not failed to avail himself of the distrac-
tions of Islam. In order to save his domin-
ions from invasion, Abdalmalec was con-
strained to add fifty thousand ducats to the
annual tribute hitherto assessed by the court
at Constantinople. By this means, however,
tke Caliph secured immunity, and having
established his authority in all the eastern
parts of his dominion, he resolved on the sub-
jugation of Arabia, to the end that all the
followers of the Prophet might be united in a
single kingdom. An army was accordingly
raised, placed under the command of Al He-
jagi, and dispatched against Mecca. Abdal-
lah soon found himself besieged in the sacred
city. The investment continued for some
time, and many assaults were made, in which
both assailants and assaUed suffered all the
havoc of war. Abdallah was reduced to des-
perate extremities, but still persevered with
the courage of a true Moslem. When most
of his friends had fallen away or were slain in
battle, he led forth the courageous few who
remained, and assailed the enemy with the
utmost fury until he was wounded and sank
bleeding to the earth. "The blood of our
wounds falls on our insteps, not on our heels,"
said the dpng Caliph ; and the enemy struck
off his head with a sword. Thus perished the
valorous Abdallah, son of Zobeir, Caliph of
the West.
The fall of his rival left Abdalmalec mas-
ter of the Mohammedan Empire. The only
emir to dispute his sovereignty was Abdallah
Ibn Hazem, of the province of Khorassan.
In order to intimidate this governor, Abdal-
malec sent to him, as an earnest of what 6©
might expect in case of hostility, the head ot
the dead Caliph of Mecca. But the loyal son
of Hazem reverently embalmed the gory relic
and sent it home to the famOy of the slain
sovereign. He then compelled the ambassador
of Abdalmalec to eat the letter which he had
brought, and threatened to cut off his head if
he did not take himself out of sight. This
piece of loyal bravado, however, cost the
emir dearly. Al Hejagi was called from
Africa and sent with a powerful army into
Khorassan. Abdallah went bravely forth to
fight, but was met by the enemy, defeated in
several battles, and slain.
So signal had been the successes achieved
by Al Hejagi that the Caliph next sent him
to assume the duties of governor in Babylonia.
He at once repaired to the city of Cufa,
spoke to the people from the door of the
mosque, and gave them to understand that
their turbulence and treason would now be
brought to an end. Nor was his threatening
oration unbacked by equal severity of action.
Beginning with the old enemies of the Caliph
Othman, he proceeded with unsparing hand
to weed out the elements of discontent.
Among those who were singled out for de-
struction was the late prime minister of the
province, the veteran Musa Ibn Nosseyr, who
in order to save his life fled first to Damascus
and thence into Egypt. At Bassora he was
equally se'vere. An insurrection broke out
under his despotic rule, but the same was
quickly suppressed, and eighteen of the leaders
lost their heads.
In the year 697 an attempt was made to
do away with Abdalmalec by assassination.
Two of the Separatists undertook to murder
the Caliph, but the plot was discovered and
the conspirators obliged to fly for their lives.
They repaired to the town of Daras, in Meso-
potamia, where they organized a revolt and
took the field. The general Adi was sent
against them, but was defeated and slain. Id
the next battle, however, the fanatics were
beaten and one of their leaders killed. But
the other rallied his men, and the array of the
Caliph was again routed. Shebib, the Sepa-
ratist chieftain, assumed the honors of govern-
ment until Al Hejagi put him to flight and
scattered his followers. The fanntic then
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OMMIADES AND FATIMITES.
505
scoured Persia, rallied a new band, and again
returned to the Tigris. Here, however, he
was drowned in attempting to cross the river.'
The next difficulty which the governor
Hejagi had to contend with was with one
of his officers, named Abdalrahman. In order
to dispose of the refractory general, the emir
sent him with an inadequate force against the
Turks; but the general perceived the machi-
nation against himself, revealed the plot to his
soldiers, and took the field against Hejagi.
The latter went forth to suppress the rebel-
lion, but was signally defeated in two bloody
battles. Abdalrahman entered Cufa in tri-
umph, and was proclaimed Caliph. The
Babylonians recognized the usurpation and
rejoiced to be set free from the tyranny of
Hejagi. The latter, however, soon collected
a third army, divided the insurgent forces,
drove the mock Caliph into a fortress and
besieged him, until Abdalrahman, losing all
hope of escape, threw himself down from a
tower and was killed.
Among the Mohammedans the emir Hejagi
acquired an unenviable reputation. He is
said to have caused the death of a hundred
and twenty thousand people. When near his
end, he sent for a soothsayer to know if any
distinguished general was about to die. The
seer consulted the stars and reported that a
great captain named Kotaib, or the Dog,
would soon expire. "That," said the dying
emir, " is the name by which my mother
called me when I was a child. And since
you are so wise, I will take you with me that
I may have the benefit of your skill in the
other world." He then ordered the asti-olo-
ger's head to be cut off.
Finding himself at length freed from do-
mestic enemies, the Caliph Abdalmalec sought
the glory of foreign wars. He accordingly
threw before the Emperor of the East the
gage of battle, by refusing to pay any longer
the enormous tribute which that sovereign re-
ceived from Islam. This act of hostility was
followed by another. The Mohammedan gen-
eral Alid was sent to make inroads upon the
territories of the Empire. Nor was the expe-
'Arabic tradition says that Shebib was literally
the most hard-hearted of all rebels. For when the
body was dragged up and opened, and his heart
taken out, that organ was found to be like a stone.
dition unattended with success. Several cities
were taken by the invaders, and Alid re-
turned to Damascus laden with an immense
amount of booty.
During the time when the attention of the
Caliph was absorbed with his troubles in Bab-
ylonia, the Eastern emperor had taken advan-
tage of the situation to recover his ascendency
in Northern Africa. The fleets of the Greeks
hovered along the coasts. Armies were landed
wherever the weakness of the Moslems seemed
to invite attack. Zohair, the Arab governor
of Barca, was assailed, defeated, and slain.
Such was the deplorable condition of the po-,
litical affairs of Islam in the countries west
of Egypt that a recouquest of Northern
Africa was necessary to lift up the fallen
Crescent. To this end, in the year 696, Ab-
dalmalec called out an army of forty thousand
men, and sent the same, under the command
of Hossan Ibn Annoman, on a campaign
against the Africans. The general proceeded
at once against the city of Carthage, and
after a tedious siege, carried the place by
storm. The walls were demolished, and a
vast amount of booty, including a gi-eat num-
ber of Moorish maidens to be sold as slaves,
was added to the treasures of Islam. A short
time afterwards, however, an Imperialist fleet
arrived unexpectedly in the harbor, and the
Moslems were expelled from the city. But
the success of the Greeks was only temporary.
The Arabs soon rallied and returned to the
attack with redoubled fury. Carthage was
again taken and reduced to ashes.
Hossan now continued his expedition along
the coast, carrying every thing before him.
At length, however, he encountered a formid-
able rival in the princess Dhabba, who ap-
peared among the Berbers as a prophetess.
The nomad tribes of Mauritania and of the
neighboring deserts flocked to her standard;
nor was this strange woman without the abil-
ity to organize and discipline an army. A
superstitious belief that their queen was di-
vinely inspired added enthusiasm and audac-
ity to the Moors, who attacked the army of
Hossan with such fury that he was eventually
driven back to the very borders of Egypt.
Having thus secured a momentary liberation
from foreign despotism, the Berber prophetess
exhorted her followers to reduce the country
506
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
to such a condition that not even the Arabs
would longer be able to traverse the region
which patriotism had desolated. The adv'ice
was eagerly accepted, and the work of de-
struction began. Treasures were buried in
the earth ; orchards were cut down ; gardens
destroyed ; houses demolished ; walls leveled
with the earth ; cities burned to ashes, and
the whole country between Tripoli and Tan-
gier reduced to a desert.
These terrible measures, however, soon
wrought their result. The ruin of their homes
led the wild people of the devastated region
to turn to the Moslems for protection. The
hosts that had gathered around Dhabba de-
serted her standard and retired to their own
districts. The queen attempted to check the
march of Hossan, who was now returning
with augmented forces ; but she was presently
defeated and taken prisoner. When brought
before the Moslem general, she haughtily re-
fused either to pay tribute or acknowledge
Mohammed. Finding his fierce captive ut-
terly intractable, Hossan ordered her to be
put to death. Her savage head was em-
balmed and sent as a trophy to the Caliph.
After his victory over the Africans, Hos-
san returned to Damascus; where he was re-
ceived with great honor, and appointed gov-
ernor of the conquered countries. Barc«. was
included in his dominions; but this addition
of territory proved a bane to the recipient.
For Abdalaziz, the Caliph's brother, then emir
of Egypt, claimed the Barcan province as
his own. As Hossan was returning to the
countries over which he had been appointed,
his commission was taken away and destroyed
by Abdalaziz, who did not cease from his
persecutions until Hossan was brought to dis-
grace and death.
The next officer appointed to the governor-
ship of Northern Africa was that Musa Tbn
Nosseyr, previously mentioned as a supporter
of the Merwan House in Babylonia. He was
already sixty years of age, but was in the full
vigor of health and strength. Repairing to
the African camp, he took command in the
name of the Prophet and his successor. On
his arrival he found the country of Tunis and
Algiers terrorized by the Berbers, who, from
the mountain slopes, would rush down upon
the coast, devastate, pillage, burn, and then
fly to their inaccessible retreats. But Musa
soon proved more than a match for the ma-
rauders. He pursued the Berbers to their
fastnesses, and hewed them down by thou-
sands. Great was the reputation which he
thus achieved. He became upon the poetic
tongue of Islam what Pompey the Great waa
to Rome after his destruction of the Cilician
pirates.
Musa, like other faithful Arab conquerora,
carried the sword in one hand and the Koran
in the other. The Berber tribes might choose
between the two. Not a few preferred the
latter, and believing Moors began to be added
to the mixed host of warriors — Arabs, SyX"
ians, Persians, Copts — that gathered around
the standard of Musa. He took advantage of
every situation to establish and augment his
authority. He patronized the old tradition
that the Berbers were of the same original
family with the Arabs. Presently the full
tide of conversion swept over the plains of
Mauritania and Numidia, and the Berbers by
thousands took up the cry of Allah and hia
Prophet. Some of the tribes, however, still
resisted and fought. Thus especially did the
Zenetes and the Gomeres, until in the year
702 they were beaten down in the extreme
West by the victorious army of Musa.
The great African governor now became a
patron of fleets and navies. Notwithstanding
the success which had attended a similar en-
terprise during the reign of Moawyah, the
work undertaken by Musa was met with doubt
and suspicion. But the veteran general waa
not to be diverted from his purpose. He or-
ganized a company of ship-carpenters, and a
iloslem fleet was soon launched from the
dock-j'ard of Tunis. The armament went to
sea, and for a whUe secured much booty. At
length, however, the squadron was caught in
a storm and dashed to pieces on a rock-bound
coast. But another armament was soon
equipped, and not only the shores of Africa,
but the distant islands of the Mediterranean,
were coasted by the freebootei's of Islam.
Thus were laid the beginnings of those auda-
cious Moorish piracies which have ever since
vexed the civilization of the world.
In the year 705 the Caliph Abdalmalec
died, and was succeeded by his eldest son
Waled. A glance at the city of Damascus,
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OMMIADES AND FATIMITES.
507
■which was now the capital and chief glory of
Islam, would show that the Arabs had by this
epoch imbibed largely of the arts aud learn-
ing of surrounding nations. Contact with the
Greeks had contributed not a little to the de-
velopment of the philosophic spirit. The
political organization was mostly copied from
the Persians, and the same people had contrib-
uted most of all to form the manners which
henceforth prevailed in the Arabian court.
But not all of the grandeur which Islam now
displayed — not even the major part thereof —
should be attributed to foreign causes. It
dishments, the unwarlike Caliph forgot the
cares of state and abandoned the service qf
Mars. In better moments he gave himself to
the arts and muses, and failed not to glorify
the Prophet's name by an orthodox observance
of religious rites. By him the mosque of
Omar, in Jerusalem, was enlarged and beau-
tified, and that of Medina was by his orders
so extended as to include the tomb of Mo-
hammed.
Of similar sort was the enterprise of en-
larging the Kaiiba at Mecca. The adjacent
buildings were cleared away to make room
THE KAABA IN MECCA.
was the epoch of the Arabic evolution. The
native genius of the race burst forth in efflo-
rescence. The religious fervor kindled by the
Prophet furnished the motive power of an
abundant though bigoted activity, which at
the first displayed itself in heroic conquest and
afterward in direful cruelty.
It has been said that the new Caliph Wa-
led, whose youth had been passed in Damascus,
was in his manners and tastes more Greek
than Arabian. Certain it is that he was in-
dolent in habit and voluptuous in disposition.
The harem had already become one of the
chief delights of Islam. Soothed by its blan-
for the more than magnificent structure which
the architects of Damascus planned to occupy
the site of the ancient edifice. Not without
much regret and many conservative murmur-
ings did the old people of Mecca behold these
preparations, by which the most venerable
structure known to the true believers was to
be replaced with a new and more stately build-
ing. At Damascus, likewise, the Caliph com-
memorated his reign by the erection of one
of the grandest mosques in the Mohammedan
Empire. As a site for this magnificent edifice
he selected the church of Saint John the Bap-
tist, wherein, since the davs of Cdnstantine,
508
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
the Christians of Syria had delighted to de-
posit the bones and relics of the saints. At
first the polite Caliph offered to purchase the
church for forty thousand dinars of gold ; but
this being refused by the owners, Waled took
forcible possession of the building and would
pay therefor not a farthing.
Meanwhile the foreign affairs of the Caliph-
ate were left to generals and secretaries. Mos-
lema, one of Waled's fourteen brothers, made
a successful campaign into Asia Minor, where
he besieged and captured the city of Tyana.
He afterwards carried his victorious arms into
Pontus, Armenia, and Galatia, in all of which
provinces he reared the Crescent and gathered
the spoils of war.
On the side of the East the dominions of
the empire were enlarged by Moslema's son,
Khatiba. Having been appointed to the gov-
ernorship of Khorassan, he carried the Crescent
across the Oxus into Turkestan, where he met
and defeated a great army of Turks and Tar-
tars. The city of Bokhara was captured and
the khan of Chariam driven into Samarcand.
The city was then besieged by the courageous
Khatiba, and after a long investment was
obliged to surrender. A mosque was at once
erected, and the conqueror himself ascending
the pulpit explained the doctrines of Islam.
Still further to the east, another general,
named Mohammed Ibn Casern, led an army
of the faithful into India. The kingdom of
Sinde was successfully invaded. A great bat-
tle was fought; the Moslems were victorious,
and the head of the Indian monarch was sent
as a trophy to Damascus. The expedition
then continued to the east, until the victori-
ous standard of the Prophet was erected on
the banks of the Ganges.
In the far west the emir Musa was still
busy with his army and fleet. In the year
704 a Mohammedan squadron committed rav-
ages in Sardinia and Sicily. On laud the
emir carried his banner westward to where
the spurs of the Atlas descend into the At-
lantic. The countries of Fez, Duquella,
Morocco, and Sus were added by successive
conquests. The resistless sway of Islam was
extended to where the setting sun casts his
last look at the headlands of Cape Non.
As a governor Musa established order.
His administration was so wise and simple
that the Berber tribes soon became the most
loyal of his subjects. The whole coast of
Northern Africa, with the exception of Tin-
gitania — the same being the northern projec-
tion of laud next the strait of Gibraltar — ac-
knowledged his authority and followed hia
banners. It remained for him, before begin-
ning the conquest of Europe, to subdue the
Tiugitanians by capturing the two cities of
Ceuta and Tangiers. These fortresses were
now held by the Gothic Spaniards, whose
kingdom on the opposite side of the strait was
thus defended from inva.sion.
Musa collected an army and advanced
against Ceuta, which was held by a strong
gaiTison, under command of Count Julian.
The Moslems laid siege to the fortress and sev-
eral unsuccessful assaults were made, in which
thousands of the assailants were slain. It had
already become evident that with the imperfect
besieging enginery of the Arabs, they would
be unable to take the citadel.
At this juncture, however, the Count Ju-
lian committed treason. A correspondence
was opened with Musa, and it was agreed
that Ceuta should be surrendered to the Mos-
lems. The treachery also embraced the deliv-
ery of the whole kingdom of Andalusia, then
ruled by the Gothic king Roderic, to the fol-
lowers of the Prophet ! It transpired that
Count Julian had been the victim of private
wrongs at the hands of his sovereign, and he
now sought this methdd of squaring the ac-
count. Great was the surprise of the veteran
Musa in having thus opened to his imagina-
tion the easy conquest of Spain.
Meanwhile the great soldier Taric Ibn Saad,
to whom had been assigned the capture of
Tangiers, had succeeded in his work. Those
of the garrison who belonged to the Berber
race were converted to Mohammedanism, and
the Christian inhabitants of the city were per-
mitted to retire into Spaii. Musa suspecting
the sincerity of Count Julian— for the latter
had represented that the people of Andalusia
were already ripe for a revolt to overthrow
the government of Roderic ^ — now sent for
Taric, and ordered him to cross the strait in
company with Julian and ascertain the true
condition of affairs in Spain. By summoning
his friends, the Count seemed to verify the
representations which he had made to Musa.
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OMMIADES AND FATIMITES.
509
Nor did Taric, in returning to Africa, fail to
scour the Spanish coast and carry home a ship
load of spoils and female captives. On receiv-
ing his ambassador, Musa at once wrote to
the Caliph, depicting in glowing colors the
glorious prospect which opened before his
vision in Spain. He implored Waled to per-
mit him to undertake the conquest of the
Visigothic kingdom, and the Commander of
the Faithful was not slow to give his consent.
Accordingly in the spring of the year 711,
an army under command of Taric was sent
across the strait and landed on the opposite
headland, to which the Moslems now gave the
name of Gehel al Taric, corrupted by modern
times into Gibraltar. King Roderic, on hear-
ing of the invasion, sent Edeco, one of his
lieutenants, to bind the audacious strangers
and throw them into the sea. Edeco was easily
defeated by Taric, and his forces scattered.
Roderic then summoned the nobles of the
kingdom to rally for defense. An army of
ninety thousand men was quickly mustered to
repel the invaders ; but great disaffection pre-
vailed, chiefly on account of Julian, who in-
duced great numbers of the Christians to join
the Arabs and share in the spoliation of Spain.
In midsummer the two armies met on the
opposite banks of the river Guadalete. For
several days there was continuous skirmishing,
which at last brought on a general battle.
Victory inclined to the banners of the Chris-
tians. The field was strewn with sixteen thou-
sand of the Moslem dead. "My brethren,"
said Taric, " the enemy is before you, the sea
is behind ; whither would ye fly? Follow your
general ! I am resolved either to lose my life
or to trample upon the prostrate king of the
Romans."
Before the battle was decided, another in-
terview with Count Julian led to a defection
in the Gothic ranks, and Taric rallied his
men with the energy of despair. The Goths
broke and fled. Roderic, leaping down from
an absurd ivory car, in which by two white
mules he had been drawn about the field of
battle, attempted to escape across the Guada-
lete and was drowned. His crown and kingly
robes and charger were found on the banks
of the river.
A short time after this decisive victory, the
city of Cordova was assaulted and taken by a
detachment of the Saracen army. Taric mean-
while continued his victorious march through
the Sierra Morena until he came to the city
of Toledo, which at once capitulated. The
conduct of the conqueror was such as to merit
praise even on the page of modern history.
The Christians were permitted to continue their
worship — the priests to officiate as usual. Nor
were the Goths driven from civil authority,
but were allowed to remain in the subordinate
offices of the kingdom. Especially were the
Jews, long and bitterly persecuted by the Chris-
tians, rejoiced at the fact of deliverance.
As yet, however, the collapse of the Gothic
power was not complete. Some half-.spirited,
but futile, efforts were made to beat back the
invaders. But Taric, marching forth from
Toledo, carried his banners to the North until
the regions of Castile and Leon were added to
the Moslem conquests. A few invincible fugi-
tives retreated into the hill country of the As-
turias, and defied the Arabs to dislodge them.
Meanwhile Musa, excited and perhaps jeal-
ous on account of the successes of Taric, has-
tened to cross the strait with a second army
under his own command. Something still re-
mained for the sword of the master to accom-
plish. The fortified cities of Seville and Me-
rida still remained in the hands of the Goths.
Both cities were besieged and taken, though
the latter fell only after an obstinate defense.
Musa then continued his march to Toledo,
where it soon became apparent that his feel-
ings toward Taric were any other than kind
and generous. The brave general was com-
pelled to give an exact account of the treas-
ures which had fallen into his hands, and was
then scourged and imprisoned. Having estab-
lished himself in the capital, the conqueror
soon planned a campaign against the Goths of
the North. He crossed the Pyrenees, con-
quered the province of Septimania, fixed his
frontier at Narbonne, and returned in triumph
to Toledo.
The remnants of the Gothic power in the
peninsula were represented 'after the death of
Roderic by the prince Theodemir. With him
a treaty was now made by which he was al-
lowed to retain the territories of Murcia and
Carthagena, and to exercise therein the rights
of a provincial governor. The conditions of
peace embraced the following clauses: That
510
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Theodemir should not be disturbed or injured
in his principality ; that he should deliver
seven of his cities to the Arabs ; that he should
not assist the enemies of the Caliph ; that he
and each of his nobles should pay an annual
tribute into the Moslem treasury.
Thus did the years 711-714 witness the
overthrow of the Gothic monarchy of Spain
and the substitution therefor of the institutions
of the Arabs. Musa, however, did not long
survive his triumph. The same ungenerous
treatment which he had visited on Taric was
now reserved for himself. He fell under the
suspicion of the court of Damascus and was
arrested by the messenger of the Caliph. His
two sons, Adallah and Abdalaaiz, were left in
the governments of Africa and Spain. The
journey of the veteran Musa into Syria,
though he was virtually a prisoner was little less
than a triumphal procession. Before he could
reach Damascus the Caliph Waled died, but
his successor was equally unfriendly to Musa.
The old general was tried on a charge of vanity
and neglect of duty and was fined two hun-
dred thousand pieces of gold. He was then
whipped and obliged to stand in disgrace
before the palace, until, condemned to exile,
he was permitted to depart on a pilgrimage to
Mecca. The resolute spirit of the aged soldier
was broken, and he died on reaching the shrine
of the Prophet.
In a short time after the conquest Spain
became the most prosperous and civilized coun-
try of the West. INIanufactures and commerce
sprang up. Cordova became a royal seat.
The city contained six hundred mosques, nine
hundred baths, and two hundred thousand
dwellings. Within the limits of the kingdom
were eighty cities of the first class and three
hundred of tire second and third, and the
banks of the Guadalquivii- were adorned with
twelve thousand hamlets and villages.
Having thus securely established them-
selves in the Spanish peninsula, the Arabs
soon began to look for other fields of conquest
beyond the Pyrenees. They aspired to the
dominion of all Europe. Ha\nng conquered
the barbarian kingdoms north of the Alps,
they would carry the Crescent down the banks
of the Danube until the Greek Empire,
pressed on the east, and the west by the vic-
torious evangelists of the Koran, should col-
lapse, and the banners of Islam be set up
around the entire Mediterranean. Such was
the outline of a purpose which wanted but
little of fulfillment.
To the north of the Pyrenees lay the king-
dom of the Franks, fallen into decline under
the last of the Merovingians. The condition
of the country was such as to provoke an in-
vasion by the men of the South. Pepin the
Elder, mayor of the palace, had died, and after
a brief contention among his illegitimate chil-
dren, his rights had descended to Charles, who
was destined soon to win the sobriquet of the
Hammer. Fortunate it was for the destinies
of Christian Europe that the Rois Faineants
had been dispossessed of the throne of the
Franks and the power transmitted to one who
was able to defend it against aggression.
It has already been noted that in the first
years of their Spanish ascendency the Arabi-
ans carried their arms to the north of the
Pyrenees and overran Septimania or Langue-
doc. By degrees the limits of their Frankisb
territory were extended until the south of
France, from the mouth of the Garonne to
that of the Rhone was included in the Moslem
dominion.
This realm, however, was by no means as
broad as the ambition of Abdalrahman, the
Arab governor of Spain. To him it appeared
that the time had now come to honor the
name of the Prophet by adding Western
Europe to his heritage. He accordingly deter-
mined to undertake a great expedition against
the Prankish kingdom. In the year 721 he
raised a formidable army and set out on his
march to the north. Having crossed the Pyre-
nees he proceeded to the Rhone and laid siege
to the city of Aries. The Christian army
which came forth for its defense was terribly
defeated on the banks of the river, and thou-
sands of the slain and drowned were carried
by the swift and arrowy Rhone to the sea.
Meanwhile the valiant Eudes, duke of Aqui-
taine, mustered an army at the passage of the
Garonne, where a second great battle was
fought with the same result as the former.
The Christians were again defeated with the
loss of many thousands.
The progress of the Mohammedans north-
ward had now continued unchecked a distance
of more than a thousand miles from Gibraltar.
MOHAMMEDAN ASCENDENCY.— OMMIADES AND FATIMITES.
511
Another similar span would have carried the
Crescent to the borders of Poland and the Scot-
tish Highlands; and in that event the conjec-
ture of the sedate Gibbon that the Koran
would to-day be used as the principal text-
book in the University of Oxford, would ap-
pear to be justified.
Destiny, however, had contrived another
end. The battle-axe of Charles, the bastard
son of the elder Pepin, still showed its terri-
ble edge between Abdalrahman and the goal.
The Frankish warrior was already hardened
in the conflicts of twenty-four years of service.
In the great emergency which was now upon
the kingdom, it was the policy of Charles to
let the Arabian torrent diffuse itself before
of the other, and forbore to close in the grap-
ple of death, victory inclined the rather to the
banner of Islam ; but, on the seventh day of
the fight, the terrible Germans arose with
their battle-axes upon the lighter soldiery of
the South and hewed them down by thou-
sands. Night closed upon victorious Europe.
Charles had won his surname of the Hammer ;
for he had beaten the followers of the Prophet
into the earth. Abdalrahman was slain. In
the shadows of evening the shattered hosts of
Spain and Africa gathered in their camps, but
the Moorish warriors rose against each other
in the confusion and darkness, and ere the
morning light the broken remnants sought
safety by flight. On the morrow the Mo-
-^-""^^^
BATTLE OF TOURS.— Drawn by A. de Neurtlle.
attempting to stem the tide. Nor is the sus-
picion wanting that the delay of the great
mayor in going forth to meet the enemy was
partly attributable to his willingness that his
rival, the duke of Aquitaine, should suffer the
humiliation of an overthrow at the hands of
the Mohammedans.
Meanwhile, Abdalrahman advanced with-
out further resistance to the center of France,
and pitched his camp in the plain between
Tours and Poitiers. Here, however, he was
confronted by the army of the Franks.
Europe was arrayed against Asia and Africa;
the Cross against the Crescent ; Christ against
Mohammed. For six days of desultory fight-
ing, in which each party, apparently conscious
of the crisis in the affairs of men, seemed wary
hammedan camp was taken by the Christians,
and the spoils of one of the greatest battles
of history were gathered by the Franks.
The Arabs hastily retired across the Pyr-
enees. Count Eudes recovered his province
of Aquitaine, and all Europe breathed freely
after escape from a peril which was never to
be renewed. Thus, in the year 732, precisely
a century after the death of Mohammed, did
the invincible valor of the Teutonic race op-
pose an impassable barrier to the hitherto vic-
torious progress of Islam.' The triumphant
^ It would have been supposed that Charles
Martel would have received the highest honors
which the Christian world could bestow. But a
different result followed his victorj. In raising
and equipping his army, he had been obliged to
512
UNIVERSAL HISTORY. — THE MODERN WORLD.
Franks, however, atteiui)tetl not to' press their
advantage by an invasion of Spain. There
the Mohammedans remained for many centu-
appropriate the treasures of several churches, and
for this sacrilegious act the clergy could never for-
give liiin. A Giiulic synod subsequently declared
that Charles had gone to perdition. One of the
saints ha<l a vision, in which the hero of Poitiers
was seen roasted in purgatorial fires, and a tradi-
tion gained currency that when his tomb was
opened, the si)ectaturs were affrighted with the
smell of sulphur and the apparition of a dragon.
lies in peaceable possession of the country,
Cordova became the seat of art and learning.
The Arab philosophers became the sages of
the West. With the subsidence of prejudice
the unlettered jjeojjies beyond the Pyrenees
and the Alps began to repair to the Moham-
medan schools to receive an education which
could not be obtained in the barbarous insti-
tutions of the North. The seeds of learning
were scattered by the scholars of Islam, and the
Crescent taught the Cross the rudiments of art
look i^iri0$nl^.
The Age of Charlemagne.
CHAPTER LXXXI.-THHi F^iRSX CaRLOVINOIANS.
HE Aryan nations again
claim our attention. Af-
ter a long sojourn among
the tribes of Ishmael—
after following the flam-
ing Crescent to its zenith
over the field of Poitiers — ■
let us turn to the peoples north of the Alps
and the Pyrenees, and, taking our stand in
the great Kingdom of the Franks, trace out
the course of human affairs in the west of
Europe.
The career of Pejnn of Heristal, duke of
the Austrasiau Franks, has already been
sketched in the First Book of the present vol-
ume.' It will be remembered that after the bat-
tle of Laon, A. D. 680, in which conflict his
brother Martin was killed, Pepin became sole
ruler of the Austrasians. In the years that
followed he was engaged in several desultory
wars with the German tribes on the right bank
of the Rhine, and in 687 invaded the province
of Neustria. The fate of this country was
decided in the battle of Testry, in which Pe-
pin was victorious. Roman France, as the
northern part of Gaul was called, yielded to
'See Iluuk Kleventli, anle p. 440.
the Austrasians ; and Duke Pepin was ac-
knowledged as the sovereign of the Frankish
empire.
It was now the heyday of the Roi^ Fairw-
ants. The kingly Donothings still occupied
the alleged throne of the Franks. They had,
however, been gradually reduced to the con-
dition of puppets in the hands of the power-
ful mayors of the palace. For reasons of pol-
icy Pepin chose not to disturb the royal show,
and the Fahieants were kept in nominal au-
thority. Thus the puny race was lengthened
out during the so-called reigns of Thierry III.,
Dagobert II., Clovis HI., Childebert ni., and
Dagobert III. Once a year, namely, at the
great national assembly in May, Pepin would
bring forth the royal manikin, show him to
the people, and then return him to the villa,
where he was kept under guard.
For a quarter of a century (687-712) Pe-
pin was engaged in almost constant wars with
the Frisians and Alemauni dwelling on thd
Rhine. The hardest battles of the period
were fought with these barbarians, who, after
many defeats, were subdued by the Frankish
king. It was, however, in the great family
which he was about to establish, rather than
(515)
516
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
in his wars, that Pepin was destined to dis-
tinguish himself as one of the chief personages
of his times. But the founding of his family
was attended with many troubles. Besides
his wife Plectruda, he had a mistress, AI-
paida, upon whom he lavished the greater
part of his attentions. A bitter feud was thus
obliged to appease public indignation and pri-
vate wrath by putting in prison the son of his
mistress, afterwai'ds known as Martel. That
bold and impetuous spirit, however, could not
long be kept in confinement. Regaining his
liberty he soon overthrew the regency which
Pepin had left to his widow during the minor'
MlKIiEK OF GRIMOALD.
Drawn by W. Claudius.
/created in the mayor's palace between the law-
ful and the unlawful wife of the ruler. In
these rivalries Alpaida gained the ascendency,
and Plectruda, with her children, was thrust
into the background. Finally Grimoald, her
eon, and the heir expectant of Pepin's rights,
was murdered, and the party of Alpaida was
involved in the ciime. The mayor was
ity of Grimoald's son, and seized the mayor*
alty for himself.
The career of Charles Martel down to the
battle of Poitiers has already been narrated in
the two preceding Books.' After that great
event his prudence forbade any reckless
'See Book Eleventh, ayite p. 439, and Book
Twelfth, ante p. 511.
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— THE FIRST CARLOVINGIANS.
517
pursuit of the Arabs, who, though overthrown
north of the Pyrenees, were still in full force
in Spain. He afterwards renewed the war
with the Arabian emirs, who still retained a
foothold on the Gallic side of the mountains,
and the intruders were gradually forced out
of the country. The annexation of Aquitaine
to the Frankish kingdom followed ; nor was
there any longer a likelihood that the Sara-
cens could regain what they had lost within
the limits of Gaul. Charles continued in au-
thority until his death. Like his father, how-
ever, he chose to be recognized as Mayor oi
the Palace rather than as King of the Franks.
The assumption of the latter dignity remained
for his son and successor, Pepin the Short.
At his death Charles Martel bequeathed
his authority to his two heirs, Carloman, who
received Austrasia, and Pepin, who inherited
Neustria. The measui'es by which the latter
circumvented his brother and became sole
ruler of the Frankish kingdom have been
already narrated. Pepin soon took upon him-
self the title of king. Childeric III. , the last
of the Rois Faineants, was sent to the monas-
tery of Sithien, at Saint Omer, and Pope
Zachary consented to the substitution of the
Carlovingian for the Merovingian dynasty.
Pepin was anointed and crowned by Saint
Boniface at Soissons, in the year 752.
It was at this time that the province of
Septimania, which had been overrun by the
Mohammedans, finally submitted to the
Franks. In 753 Pepin enforced the payzient
of tribute upon the Saxons, and also obliged
them to receive with civility the Christian
ministers who had been sent among them.
At this juncture the relations existing between
France and Italy were greatly strengthened
and extended by the favor of the Pope to the
Carlovingian dynasty. Stephen III. crossed
the Alps and visited Pepin, with a view to se-
curing his aid against the Lombards. Astol-
phus, the king of that people, had become
the oppressor of the papacy, and the Pope
naturally looked for help to the Most Chris-
tian King of the Franks. Pepin received
the great ecclesiastic with as much dignity
as an uncourtly barbarian could be ex-
pected to maintain. He readily assented to
lend the jjowerful aid of the Franks in up-
holding the dignity and honor of the Church.
A large army was at once collected and
led across the mountains to Pavia, where As-
tolphus was besieged aud brought to his
senses. The Lombard king sought earnestly
for a peace, but it soon appeared that his ear-
nestness was in direct ratio to his fears. For
no sooner had Pepin consented to cease from
hostility and withdrawn his army than Astol-
phus repudiated the compact and threatened,
should he again be disturljed, to capture and
pillage Rome. But Pepin was a monarch
whom threats merely excited to belligerency.
He hastily recrossed the mountains and com-
pletely broke the power of Astolphus. The
exarchate of Ravenna was overrun, and that
province, together with the Pentapolis, was
given to Pope Stephen. Thus, in the year
755, was laid the foundation of the temporal
sovereignty of the Popes of Rome.
Five years later, the chieftain Waifar
raised a revolt in Aquitania. The province
was declared independent, and the Aquitanians
defended themselves with great heroism. For
eight years Pepin and his Franks were seri-
ously occupied with the rebellion. Nor did
the king succeed in bringing the refractory
state to submission untU he had procured the
removal of Waifar by assassination. Pepin,
however, did not loBg survive this crime. He
died in 768, and left the kingdom to his two
sons, Carloman and Karl, or Charles.
The elder son of the late king of the
Franks exercised but a small influence on the
destinies of the state. His character was
without the element of greatness, and hia
early death, which occurred only three years
after that of his father, cut short any small
plans of ambition which he may have enter-
tained. In 771 his younger brother, soon to
be known as Charlemagne, or Charles the
Great, became sole sovereign of the kingdom
of the Franks, which now embraced the whole
of Gaul and the western parts of Germany.
But even this widely extended territory was
by no means commensurate with the ambition
of the young prince who occupied the throne.
He soon developed a genius which, alike in
war and peace, shone with such extraordinary
luster that its brilliancy flashed into the
courts of the East.
Charlemagne appears to have been one of
those men of whom Guizot has said that to them
518
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
" the spectacle of society in a state of anarchy
or immobility is revolting and almost unbear-
able. It occasions them an intellectual shud-
der as a thing that should not be. They feel
an unconquerable desire to change it, to
restore order; to introduce something general,
regular, and permanent into the world which
is placed before them. Tremendous power!
often tyrannical, committing a thousand in-
iquities, a thousand errors; for human weak-
ness accompanies it. Glorious and salutary
power, nevertheless, for it gives to humanity
by the hand of man a new and powerful
impulse."
In the very beginning of his career the
new sovereign of the Franks was confronted
with the necessity of a war with the Lom-
bards. The ascendency attained by his father
south of the Alps was about to be lost by the
ambitions and intrigues of the Lombard king,
Desiderius. The jealousy between the two
monarchs was mutual and based upon causes
which mediaeval kings were very prone to
observe. Before his accession Prince Karl
had married Desiderata, daughter of Deside-
rius ; but after becoming king — being offended
at the conduct of his father-in-law — he sent
the queen home to her parents, for whom he
took no pains to conceal his contempt. For
his part, Desiderius received and protected
the nephews of Charlemagne — an act which
seemed to discover a purpose of supporting
the claims of the family of Carloman. De-
siderius also added to his offenses by un-
friendly conduct towards the Pope, whose
partiality for the Carlovingians was notorious.
It was not likely that Charlemagne would
permit any indignity offered to the Holy
Father to pass without adequate punishment.
The personal anger of the king was combined
with his religious prejudices, and both were
excited by the loud call of Pope Adrian I.,
who besought the Frankish monarch to come
to the rescue of the newly established but
now imperiled patrimony of Saint Peter.
At the first, C'harlemagne, preserving the
appearance of peace, sent envoys to Deside-
rius reqi;esting that that monarch should
regard the rights of the Pope ; but the Lom-
bard refused, and Charlemagne immediately
prepared for the invasion of Italy. One
army, led by the king in person, crossed the
Alps by way of Mont Cenis, and the other
descended upon Lombardy by way of Saint
Bernard. On the other side of the mount-
ains Desiderius made a brave resistance, but
was soon obliged to take refuge within the
walls of Pavia. Charlemagne at once ad-
vanced to the siege. The defense was con-
ducted with obstinate courage. The assaults
of the Franks were several times repelled,
and the king of the Franks was obliged to
sprinkle cool patience on his ardor. Finding
that the investment was to continue during
the winter, he converted his camp into a royal
liead-quarters, and buUt a chapel for the appro-
priate celebration of the Christmas festivities.
He then sent for the Queen Hildegarde, a
Suabian princess whom he had married in-
stead of the discarded Desiderata, and with
her made the hours of the siege less tedious.
Winter wore away and the spring came, and
still the Lombards held the city.
Meanwhile Pope Adrian was all anxiety to
secure the presence of Charlemagne in Rome.
The dream of the nuptials of the Holy See
with the great Prankish bridegroom had risen
in full splendor upon the vision of the pon-
tiff, and he would fain make it real by a con-
summation of the ceremony. Charlemagne
was induced by the Romish ambassadors to
leave the siege of Pavia to his lieutenants
and to hasten forward to the city of St. Peter.
On approaching the battlements of the
ancient capital, the Prankish sovereign was
met by the magistrates and people, who
poured forth through the gates to welcome
their great champion from beyond the mount-
ains. The children of the schools came in
processions, carrying palms and singing hymns
of praise. He was cordially welcomed by the
Pope, who, with a strange mixture of affec-
tion and dignity, heaped honors and distinc-
tions on his guest. He gave to Charlemagne
a book containing the canons of the Church
from its foundation to the current date, and
inscribed upon the title-page a copy of verses
containing the following anagram : Pope
Adrian to his most excellent son, Charle-
magne, the king.
For some time the king of the Franks con-
tinued in conference with the Holy Father at
Rome. The Pope took all pains during the
sojourn of his distinguished guest to impress
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE. — THE FIRST CARLOVINGIANS. 519
520
VNIVEBSAL HISTORY. — THE MODEBX WORLD.
his mind as much as possible with the pageant
of the Imperial city and the spectacle of the
Imperial faith. He urged him to continue his
conquests in the name of religion, but dissuaded
him from incorporating Lombardy with his
own dominions. As soon as the conference
was at an end, the king returned to his
camp before Pavia, and the siege of thp
city was presently brought to a successful
conclusion.
The capital of Lombardy was surrendered
to the Franks. The whole countr_y fell before
the conquering arms of the Carlovingian. The
various dukes and counts, who had hitherto,
after the German fashion, maintained them-
selves in a state of semi-independence, hastened
to make their submission, and resistance was at
an end. The only exception was in the case ot
Axegisius, duke of Beneventum, who for a
season held himself in hostility. Desiderius
himself was taken prisoner and led into
France, where first at Liege and afterwards
at Corbie he found leisure to repent of his
rashness in lifting his arm against Charles
the Great.
It appears that his visit to Rome ana tae
magnificent and holy things there witnessed
made a profound impression upon the mind
of Charlemagne. It should not be forgotten
that this great personage was stUl in manners
and purposes but half emerged from barbar-
ism, and his dispositions were peculiarly sus-
ceptible to such influences as the adroit Bishop
of Rome was able to bring to bear. The Holy
See at this time made the discovery that the
presentation of moral truth and obligation to
the barbarian imagination was less effective
than splendid shows and gilded ceremonies.
She therefore adopted pageant instead of mo-
ral expostulation, and converted the barbarians
with spectacles.
After tarrying at Rome until the spring of
774, Charlemagne returned to France. Hav-
ing satisfactorily regulated the affairs of Italy,
he now- conceived the plan of extending the
empire of religion in the opposite directions o^
Saxony and Spain. In furtherance of this
purpose he convened at Paderborn, in the year
777, a general assembly of his people, and
there the scheme of conquest was matured.
The German chiefs had generally obeyed his
summons and were present at the assembly, but
Wittikind, king of the Saxons, was conspicu-
ous by absence.'
Charlemagne had already had occasion to
note the obstinacy of the Saxon people. Of
all the barbarians these were most sullen in
their refusal to accept the doctrine and prac-
tice of Christianity. As early as 772 the king
of the Franks had felt constrained to make
war on the tribes dwelling north of the Elbe.
He invaded Saxony, wasted the country with
fire and sword, captured the fortress of Ehres-
burg, and overthrew the great idol whom the
pagans called Inninsul.^ These offenses, how-
ever, rather excited than allayed the bellig-
erent spirit of the Saxons, who henceforth
lost no opportunity to repay the Christian
Franks for the injuries which they had
inflicted. The border of the Elbe became
a scene of constant depredation, inroad,
and destruction of villages and towns. The
fierce Saxons stayed not their hands where-
ever they could find the hamlets of their
recreant countrymen, who had betrayed the
faith of their pagan fathers.
Such were the antecedents of the contest
which Charlemagne was now about to under-
take with the barbarians of the North. The
subjugation of Saxony became indispensable
to the peace and safety of the kingdom, and
it was manifest that no conquest could Jdb ef-
fectual which did not include the substitution
of Christianity for paganism. The Saxons
fought not only for national independence,
but for the whole myth and tradition of the
German race. The Franks, on the other
hand, entered the conflict under the full in-
' It was at this assembly of the Saxon chiefs
that Charlemagne gave his refractory subjects
tlieir option of baptism or the sword. The im-
penitent barbarians, yielding in action but obdu-
rate in mind, were compelled to kneel down at
the bank of a stream while the priests who ac-
companied Charlemagne's army poured water
upon their heads and pronounced the bap-
tismal ritual. The king soon had cause to
learn the IneiBciency of such a conversion from
paganism.
* It appears that the effigy called Irminsul
(German, Herrmann-Sdule, or Herrmann's Pillar)
wr.s so named in honor of the great hero Armin-
ius, who, by the destruction of the legions of Va-
rus (see Vol. II., p. 272), had made Imperial Rome
tremble for her safety. On this great feat of the
German arms Saxon patriotism had reared a
pagan superstition.
TEE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— THE FIRST CARLO VINGIANS.
521
fluence of a new-born religious zeal not unlike
that which had fired the Saracens in the con-
Cjuests of Islam. In courage and indomitable
will the combatants were not unlike, being of
the same blood and proclivities. The struggle
was destined to continue with varying vicissi-
N. 2— 3.-;
IIAKl.l-.MAG.VE INFLlCrlNi: BAPTISM UPON THE SAXONS.
Drawn by A. de NeuvUle.
522
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.^THE MODERN WORLD.
tudes for more thau a quarter of a century,
and to end with the triumph of the Franks.
In beginning the war Charlemagne adopted
the policy of military occupation. Wherever
he made a conquest he built a fortress and
left a garrison. By the side of every castle
rose a church, and at the right hand of every
Frankish chieftain stood a priest. But victory
under such circumstances and over such a foe
could not insure permanency. As soon as the
march was resumed into another district the
pagans rose as if from the earth behind the
conqueror. They stormed his castles, burned
the churches, slaughtered the garrisons, and
sacrificed the priests and missionaries to the
gods of the North.
In the midst of these bloody scenes the
priest was more audacious than the soldier.
The missionaries in the very face of death
made their way into the Saxon woods and
preached the gospel \,o the barbarians. It
was, however, a gospel of the sword rather
than of peace. A certain priest, named
Saint Liebwin, made his way to the banks of
the Weser, and warned the general assembly
of the Saxons to make peace with the power-
ful prince, who, as the captain of heaven's
army, was about to fall upon them. "The
idols ye worship," said the priest, "live not,
neither do they perceive: they are the work
of men's hands; they can do naught either
for themselves or for others. Wherefore the
one God, good and just, having compassion
on your errors, hath sent me unto you. If
ye put not away your iniquity I foretell unto
you a trouble that ye do not expect, and that
the King of Heaven hath ordained aforetime ;
there shall come a prince, strong and wise
and indefatigable, not from afar, but from
nigh at hand, to fall upon you like a torrent,
in order to soften your hard hearts and bow
down your proud heads. At one rush he
shall invade the country ; he shall lay at waste
with fire and sword and carry away your
wives and children into captivity."
So great a rage followed this denunciatory
prophecy that many rushed into the forest
and began to cut sticks on which to impale
the priest alive ; but a certain prince, Buto,
appealed to the •assembly of chiefs to respect
the sacred rights of embassy. So Liebwin es-
caped with his life.
The Saxon nation at this time consisted-of
three or four ditlerent populations. These
were the Eastphalians, the Westphalians, *he
Angrians, and the North-Albingians — though
the latter were sometimes classified as a di*
tinct people. Each of these principal nation?
was subdivided into many tribes, each with
its own chieftain and local institutions. Char-
lemagne was thoroughly familiar with this-
German constitution of society, and well un-
derstood how to avail him.self of the feuda
and jealousies of the Saxon people. He
adopted the plan of making war upon each
tribe separately, and of preventing, as far as-
possible, any cohesion of the nation as a
whole. If a given chieftain could be induced
to submit and to accept Christianity, the-
king would treat with him separately and
make peace on terms favorable to the tribe;
and if others offered a stubborn resistance,,
they were punished with more than the usual
severity. In a general way, however, the
Saxons made common cause against the in-
vader, and in doing so they found a leader
worthy of the German name.
WiTTiKiND, son of Wernekind, king of the-
Saxons north of the Elbe, appeared as the-
national hero. Besides his own hereditary
rights and abilities as a chieftain, his relation
with the surrounding states was such as tO'
make him a formidable foe. He had married
the sister of Siegfried, king of the Danes, and
was in close alliance with Ratbod, king of the-
Frisians. He it was who now, in the year
777, refused to attend the assembly of chiefs^
called by Charlemagne at Paderborn ; and by
his refusal gave notice of his open hostility to-
the king of the Franks.
The previous disturbances of his country
had made it necessary for Wittikind to find
refuge with his brother-in-law, the king of
the Danes. From this vantage-ground, how-
ever, he directed the council of the Saxon
chiefs and encouraged them to a renewal of
their rebellion. Following his advice, the peo-
ple again rushed to arms, and the Franks re
coiled from the fury of their assaults. In
778 the barbarian army advanced to the
Rhine, and destroyed nearly all the towns and
villages on the right bank of that river from
Cologne to the mouth of the IMoselle. No
age, sex, or condition was spared by th*
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— THE FIRST CARLOVINGIANS. 523
Dioody swords of the enraged pagans. The
l<'rankish forces met the insurgent barbarians
•n the Rhenish frontier, and for three years
The revolted tribes fell back from the Rhine
and were driven to submission. Many of the
chiefs sought peace, and accepted reconcilia-
CUTTING DOWN A SACRED OAK OF THE SAXONS.
Drawn by H. Leutemann.
the struggle with them continued almost with-
out cessation.
Gradually, however, the superior dis-
cipline and equipment of the Franks tri-
umphed over the obstinacy of their enemy.
tion with the king on condition of professing
the Christian faith and receiving baptism.
Wittikind returned into Denmark; but the
politic Siegfried was n^w anxious foi peace,
and the Saxon king was obliered for a season
524
UXIVEBSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERX WORLD.
to make his head-quarters among the North-
men. Within a year, however, he again
crossed into Saxony and incited his country-
men to another revolt. In 782 Charlemagne's
armies were twice defeated on the banks of
the Weser, and the king himself was obliged
to take the field. Unable to meet his great
enemy, "Wittikind again fled to the Northmen,
and the brunt pf the king's hostility fell upon
those who had participated in the revolt.
Four thousand five hundred of the Saxons
were brought together at Werden, on the
river Aller, and were all beheaded by the or-
ders of Charlemagne. Having thus soaked
the river banks in blood, the king retired
into France and made his winter quarters at
Thionville.'
The terrible vengeance taken by the king
of the Franks was by no means sufiicient to
tfirrify the now desperate Saxons. On the
contrary, their anger and determination rose
to a greater height than ever. During the
winter of 782-83 the tribes again revolted,
and held out against the most persistent ef-
forts of Charlemagne till 785. In the latter
year the king's victories were more decisive,
and it seemed that the pagans must finally
submit. The king took up his residence at
the castle of Ehresburg, and from that strong-
hold sent out one expedition after another to
overawe the rebellious tribes.
Charlemagne had now learned what the
barbaric despair of the pagan Saxons was
able to do in war. Nor did he lack that
kingly prudence upon which the desire for
personal vengeance was made to wait in pa-
tience. He adopted diplomacy where force
had faUed. He sent across the Elbe a distin-
guished embassy to the place where Wittikind
had his camp, and invited that austere war-
rior and his friend, the chieftain Abbio, to
come to him under protection and to confer
on the interests of Saxony. At first the great
'History has her pictures and contrasts. It
was on this same river Weser that Charlemagne,
on a previous occasion, had gatliered an entire
tribe of the barbarians for wholesale baptism.
The program was unique, the ceremony expedi-
tious. The Oliureh militant stood on the shore;
a priest lifted up the cross, and the ministrants
poured water on the penitent Saxons as they
waded across the river. On this occasion Charle-
magne tried a baptism of blood.
barbarian feared to trust himself to the good
faith of his foeman, but was finally induced to
accept the invitation. He accordingly pre-
sented himself to the king at the palace of
Attigny, and so considerate was the reception
extended by Charlemagne, and so favorable
the profiered conditions of peace, that Witti-
kind was induced to accept them for himself
and his countrymen. He accordingly pro-
fessed the Christian faith and underwent the
rite of baptism. He received at the hands of
Charlemagne a full amnesty and the title of
Duke of Saxony, though the sovereignty was
thenceforth to be lodged with the king of the
Franks.
Wittikind ever faithfully observed the
conditions to which he had pledged his honor.
So exemplary was his life, so tractable his
disposition under the teaching of the priests,
that some of the old thi'oniclers added hia
name to the calendar of the saints. In the
year 807 he was killed in a battle with Cer-
oid, duke of Suabia, and the tomb of the old
Saxon hero is still to be seen at Ratisbonne.
Nor is the tradition wanting that the great
House of Capet, destined, after two centuries,
to supplant the Carlovingian dynasty on the
throne of France, had Wittikind for its an-
cestor; for the legend runs that he was the
father of Robert the Strong, great-grandfathei
of Hugh Capet.
But the pacification of Saxony was not
completed by the action of Wittikind. The
old spirit of paganism was not to be extin-
guished by a single act. Through a series of
years insurrections broke out here and there,
and were suppressed with not a little difficulty
and bloodshed. In some instances the king
fo'ind it necessary to remove whole tribes to
other territories, and to fill their places with
Christian, or at least Frankish, colonists.
Nevertheless it was not doubtful after the
surrender of Wittikind, that the conquest of
Saxony was virtually accomplished, and Char-
lemagne might with propriety consider the
country beyond the Elbe as an integral part
of his growing empire.
The task of Charlemagne on the German
side of Gaul was by no means completed.
Jlany of the populations which had already
been subdued continued in a state of turbu-
lence, and the utmost vigilance of the king
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— THE FIRST CARLOVINGIANS. 525
was necessary to keep them in tolerable sub-
ordination to authority. The Frisians had to
be reduced by force of arms, and only then
consented to a sullen peace. On the distant
horizon of the north and east lay the still
more savage peoples — the Avars, the Huns,
the Slavonians, the Bulgarians, and the
Danes — all bearing down from their several
quarters of the compass upon the frontiers of
the Frankish empire. Nothing less than the
most strenuous activity and warlike genius of
successful warfare with the savage races who
came upon him from the north and east, and
to give them a permanent check. Viewed
with respect to the general destinies of his
age, the king of the Franks may properly be
called the Stayer of Barbarism.
In the year 781 Charlemagne found a con-
spicuous occa-sion on which again to recognize
and honor the majesty of the Pope. Four
years previously Queen Hildegarde had
brought to her lord a royal son, who re-
BAPTISM OF BARBARIANS IN THE WESER.
Charlemagne was requisite to hurl back the
' barbarian races to their own dominions, and
to keep a solid front on the side of barbarism.
The monarch proved equal to every emer-
gency. In his contests with the more distant
nations he had the advantage of a Germanic
barrier between himself and the foe. Before
a barbarian army could inflict a wound on
any vital part of the dominion it must trav-
erse Saxony or some other frontier state
■which the king had established as a break-
water between himself and the wild ocean
beyond. He thus was enabled to carry on
ceived the name of Pepin, and who was now
presented to Pope Adrian for baptism. The
rite was administered to the Carlovingian
scion, and he was anointed by the Holy
Father as King of Italy — this title being con-
ferred out of deference to the Pope's advice
that Lombardy should not be incorporated
with the kingdom of the Franks.
Meanwhile, on the south-west, events had
taken place of but little less importance than
those which were happening on the Elbe, the
Rhine, and the Weser. The forty years fol-
lowing the battle of Poitiers had witnessed
526
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERX WORLD.
but few disturbances along the Spanish fron-
tier of Gaul. The Christians and Moham-
medans coming to a better understanding,
and having a tolerable regard for each other's
rights, had maintained a fair degree of peace.
With the accession of Charlemagne, however,
the ambitions of the Franks and the jealous-
ies of the Saracens had in a measure revived.
The one, perhaps, cherished the dream of
an early expulsion of the Mohammedans
from Europe, and the other looked with ill-
concealed enmity at the rapid progress and
overwhelming influence of the barbarian Em-
peror on the other side of the Pyrenees. Nor
might it well be forgotten or forgiven that he
was the grandson of that other Charles, at
whose hands the great Abdalrahman had met
his fate.
Mixed with these general motives was a
specific act of treason. Among those who in
777 had convened at the assembly of Pader-
born was a certain Ibn al Arabi, the Saracen
governor of Saragossa. Having a difficulty
with the Caliph, he sought the aid of the
Christian Franks, and would fain make com-
mon cause with them against the Mohammed-
ans. For this reason came he to the assembly
called by Charlemagne.
The king of the Franks was quick to seize
the opportunity thus afforded of extending his
dominions on the side of Spain. Though still
embarrassed with his German wars, he gladly
accepted the invitation of Ibn al Arabi to be-
come his champion and avenger.
In the spring of 787 the Frankish sover-
eign, having divided his army into two parts,
as in the Italian campaign, set out on the
Spanish expedition. One division of his
troops, under command of Duke Bernard,
was directed to seek the eastern passes of the
Pyrenees, and traverse the peninsula by way
of Gerona and Barcelona to Saragossa. The
other division, led by Charlemagne in person,
was to pass to the west, enter Spain by the
vaDey of Roncesvalles, and march by way
of Pampeluna to the place of meeting before
the walls of Saragossa. In carrying out his
own part of the campaign, Charlemagne trav-
ersed the provinces of Aquitaine and Vasco-
nia, at this time ruled by Duke Lupus II.,
son of that Duke Waifar who will be recalled
as a formidable antagonist of Pepin the Short.
The reigning prince was descended from the
Merovingians, and could neither by blood kin-
ship or political inclination be expected to
favor the cause of the Carlovingian conqueror.
The latter, however, soothed Duke Lupus,
and by generous treatment! secured from him
an oath of fealty. But the event soon showed
that the pledge was given with the mental
reservation to break it as soon as circum-
stances might seem to warrant the act of
perfidy.
After this brief but necessary detention
Charlemagne hurried forward to prosecutf his
work in Spain. Passing through the valley
of Roncesvalles, he arrived before Pampeluna,
and received the surrender of that city; for
the Arab governor deemed himself ill able to
make a successful defense against the Franks.
The king then pressed forward to Saragossa,
where he expected to receive a similar surren-
der at the hands of his friend Ibn al Arabi.
But as has so many times occurred in the his-
tory of the world, the recreant governor had
promised more than he could fulfill. It was
one thing to agree and another to deliver.
For, in the mean time, the old Arab spirit
was thoroughly aroused from its dream of
peace. The local quarrels of these ambitious
towns of the Western Caliphate were suddenly
hushed in the presence of the common danger.
The Saracens rushed forward to the succor of
Saragossa, and Charlemagne found that he
must take by a serious siege — should he be able
to take at all — -the prize which the officious
Arabi was to have delivered with such
facility.
In a short time there was a greater scarcity
of provisions outside than inside the walls.
The besiegers were constantly beset by new
bodies of troops arriving from various parts
of the peninsula. Diseases broke out in the
camp of the Franks, and they found them-
selves more endangered by the invisible
plagues of the air tlian by the swords of the
Saracens. At the same time intelligence came
that the Saxons on the opposite side of the
kingdom had again risen in arms, and were
threatening to undo the entire work of con-
quest on the north-east. It was, therefore, fortu-
nate for Charlemagne that at this juncture the
Arabs sought to open negotiations. The king
gladly accepted their offer of a large ransom
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— THE FIRST CARLOVINGIANS. 527
to be paid iu gold and guaranteed by hostages
in lieu of the besieged city. Such an offer
gave him a good excuse for the abandonment
•of an enterprise which would soon have had
ito be given up without even a show of success.
As soon, therefore, as a settlement had
ibeen effected with the authorities of Sara-
gossa, Charlemagne began a retreat out of
Spain. On arriving at Pampeluua, he or-
dered the walls of the city to be leveled
*Fith the ground, in order that any future
lives in the engagement. Eginhard, master
of the king's household; Anselm, count of
the palace ; and the chivalric Roland, prefect
of Brittany, and greatest knight of hia
times, were among the slain. Nor waa
Charlemagne in any condition to turn upon
the mountain guerrillas who had thus aiBicted
his army. He was obliged to continue hia
march and leave the Basques to the full en-
joyment of their victory.'
Though Charlemagne was not able to pun-
TUE BATTLE IN THE VALLEY OF KONCESVALLES.
Drawn by H. VogeL
revolt of the people might be attended with
.greater hazard. The king's army then reen-
tered the passes of Roncesvalles, and had
partly escaped through the defiles when the
Basques, having taken possession of the
heights, began to hurl down upon the soldiers
in the pass huge masses of stone The dis-
comfiture of those who constituted the rear-
guard of the army was complete. Very few
of the Franks escaped from their dangerous
situation. The Basques fell upon the baggage-
train and captured a great amount of booty.
Several of Charlemagne's captains lost their
ish the mountaineers of Vasconia for theil
perfidy in the affair of Roncesvalles, he failed
not to take vengeance upon the people of
Aquitaine. Duke Lupus, who was thought
to have had a hand in the insurrection, waa
'The defeat of the Franks in the passes of
Roncesvalles gave rise to a cycle of heroic legends,
some of which are still popular in the south of
France. The Song of Roland, reciting the exploits
and tragic death of that hero, became a favorite
with his countrymen, and was chanted by the sol-
diers as an inspiration to victory. The men of
William the Conqueror sang the hymn as they
marched to the battle of Hastings.
528
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
seized and hanged. The lives of his two sons
were spared only on condition of vassalage.
But while Aquitaine was thus reduced to a
dependency, the politic king took pains that
the province should still be left sufficiently
free to constitute a bulwark against the Arabs.
The national vanity of the Aquitanians was
flattered with the rule of a native duke, but
the real purpose of such a concession was the
making of a defense against the Audalusian
Arabs.
During his absence on the Spanish cam-
paign Queen Hildegarde added another son to
the royal household. The child received the
name of Louis, and was afterwards known as
the Debonair. In 781 the child, then three
years of age, was taken with his brother Pepin
to Rome, and was anointed by the Pope as
King of Aquitaine. Within less than a year
he was taken by the courtiers to his own prov-
ince. In order that the farce might be as
imposing as possible the child was clad in
armor, mounted on a horse, and conducted
by his councilors to the royal seat of govern-
ment. The administration of the affairs of
Aquitania was henceforth conducted in Louis's
name, though the real authority proceeded
from the court of Charlemagne.
One of the leading principles in the policy
of the king of France was the establishment
of a secure frontier around his empire. In
this work he was measurably successful. From
the eastern borders of the Prankish dominions
the Huns and Slavonians were driven back
against the borders of the Empire of the East.
The Saracens were confined to Spain and the
islands of Corsica and Sardinia. On all sides
a boundary was so well established as to se-
cure comparative exemption from foreign
invasion. In the mean time the king had
found it desirable to transfer the seat of gov-
ernment to his new capital of Aix-la-Chapelle,
which was favorably situated on the side of
the kingdom next the German peoples. At
this place the court of the monarch became
the most important, if not the most splendid,
in all Christendom. Hither came embassies
bearing presents from the great potentates of
Europe, Asia, and Africa. Neither the em-
perors of the East nor the Caliphs of Baghdad
failed to respect in this way their fellow sov-
ereign of the West. So great had been his
activity and so signal his success, both in war
and in peace, that by the close of the eighth
century Charlemagne had taken and held a
rank among the greatest monarchs of the age.'
In the year 799 intelligence was brought
to Aix-la-chapelle of serious and most dis-
graceful riots at Rome. It was said that a
band of conspirators had been organized, that
Pope Leo HI. had been attacked, that his
eyes and his tongue had been cut out, and
himself shut up in the castle of Saint Eras-
mus. The intention of the Holy Father, thus
' As illustrative of the prodigious military activity of Charlemagne the following table of h\s fifty-
three campaigns is here appended.
SYNOPSIS OF THE FIFTY-THKEE CAMPAIGNS OF CHARLEMAGNE.
f
~
2
3
4
6
6
7
8
9
10
U
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
o
F
AOAinST WHIT BNEMV.
HOW CONDL-CTKO.
a;
o
28
29
?
796
7'I7
• GAINST WHAT ENBUY.
HOW CONDUCTBD.
769
772
773
774
774
775
776
776
The Aquitanians
Charlemagne at Dordogne.
Advances beyond the W'eser.
Crosses Alps to Pavia and Verona.
Takes Pavia ; goes to Rome.
Beyond the Weser.
Reaches Treviso.
.\t the sources of the Lippe.
In person at Saraaossa.
licvond the Weser.
In the country of Osnabruck.
On the Kibe.
At confluence of Weser and AUer.
On the Elbe. -
On the Sale and the Elbe.
On the Ellie.
Conducted by his generals.
In person at Capua.
Goes to .\ugsburg.
Goes to Rjitisbon.
On Lower Elbe and the Oder.
Confluence of Danube and Raab.
Beyond the Elbe and the Weser.
Conducted by King Louis.
The Arabs
Conducted by King Pepin.
On the LoweV Elbe and Weser.
Conducted bv his son Louis.
Beyond the Elbe.
Condiirtfd by his son Pepin.
Condiu-ted by liis son Louis.
Conducted by his sons.
Between the Elbe and the Oder.
Conducted by his son Charles.
Conducted by his son Pepin.
Conducted by his son Louis.
Conducted by his generals.
Conducted by his son Pepin.
Conducted by his generals.
Conducted by his son Pepin.
Conducted by his generals.
In person on the Weser.
By his generals.
In person.
On the Elbe and the Oder.
By his generals.
By his generals.
Tlie Saxons
30 797
31798
32 801
33 801
The Arabs of Spain.
The Same
The Arabs of Spain.
The Lombards
Tlie Saxons
34 802
3.5' 804
3(; s(i.^
The Same
The Slavoniflns
778
778
779
780
783
783
784
785
785
786
787
787
788
789
791
794
79^
The Arabs of Spain.
The Same .
,--]ir;ii^ens of Corsica.
The Same.
i^'.i sih; tlie Arabs of Spain.
411 SII7 Shracens of Corsica.
41 sii7|The Arabs of Spain.
42 s(!,s Danesand Normans.
A" ,sii9| Dalmatian (irecks...
44'sil9' rhc Arabs of Spain.
4.'> sio, Dalmatian Greeks...
4il!siii Saracens of Corsica.
The Same
The Same
The Thuringians
The Bretons
47 Mil
The Huns or Avars..
The Slavonians
The Huns or Avars..
Sll'.'iH
The Avars
The Bretons
51
52
53
812
812
813
The Slavonians
Saracens of Corsica.
The Same
796
796
The Hnns or Avnrs..
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— THE FIRST CARLOVINGIANS.
529'
brutally treated, was announced to appeal to
the king of the Franks as the defender of the
insulted Church. In a short time his Holiness
came in person to Paderborn, and poured out
his grievances in the ready ear of Charle-
magne. Nor was it doubtful that the latter
would- uphold the cause of the Pope with all
the resources at his command. Having tar-
ried for a brief season in the Frankish domin-
ions, Leo returned to Rome.
the sanctuary of the apostle. Some time was-
speut in examining the charges made by and
against the Pope. Two monks, sent by the
patriarch of Jerusalem, brought to the great-
Carlovingian the blessing of their master and
the keys of the Holy Sepulcher. Finally, on.
Christmas day, when the king came into the
basilica to attend the celebration of mass,
even as he was bowing down to offer prayer,
Pope Leo placed upon his head the golden-
DEATH OF ROLAND.
The first months of the year 800 were
spent by the king in the usual affairs of gov-
ernment; but in midsummer he announced to
the national assembly his purpose of making
another visit to Italy. The journey was un-
dertaken in the autumn, and late in Novem-
ber the king arrived before the walls of
Rome. The Pope came forth and received
him with every mark of obsequious favor.
He was led into the city and given a recep-
tion on the steps of the basilica of Saint
Peter, from which place, followed by the
shouts of the 'multitude, he was taken into
crown of the Empire, while the people shouted,.
"Long life and victory to Charles Augustus,
crowned by God, the great and pacific Em-
peror of the Romans ! " Charles assumed to-
be astonished at the crowning and the procla-
mation. He even declared that, had h&
known of what was intended, he would not
have entered the church, even to attend the
Christmas festivities. But his faculties were
not sufficiently confused or his humility suffi-
ciently shocked to prevent him from paying
adoration to the Pope, according to the old-
time method at the coronation of the em-
530
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
perors. Nor did he fail therecfter to relin-
quish his title of Patrician of Rome, and to
assume that of Emperor and Augustus. It can
not reasonably be doubted that the whole
tableau and ceremony had been arranged by
Leo and Charlemagne on the occasion of the
recent visit of the former to France.
It was now clear that a principal element
in the mutual admiration of the Holy See
and the king of the Franks was the project to
restore the Empire of the West. The scheme
met with a favorable reception, especially in
Italy, where the Popes and Bishops became
conspicuously obsequious to their great ally
and supporter north of the Alps. It re-
mained for the Emperors of the East to ex-
hibit their jealousy over an event which they
were impotent to hinder. But Charlemagne
could well afford to veil under a kingly suav-
ity and prudent ambiguity his contempt for
the imbecile rulers of Constantinople. His
communications with the eastern emperors
were accordingly couched in polite and con-
ciliatory language, such as might well turn
aside their enmity or even provoke their ad-
miration. By such means he avoided any
open rupture with the effete political power
which from the palace of Constantinople still
claimed to be the Empire of the Csesars.
In the internal affairs of his government,
no less than in his foreign wars, Charlemagne
exhibited a genius of the highest order. By
the close of the eighth century, his conquests
bad made him master of the whole country
from the Elbe to the Ebro, from the North
Sea to the Mediterranean. Germany, Bel-
gium, France, Switzerland, and the northern
parts of Italy and Spain were included in his
dominions. At his accession to power the
diverse hostile tribes inhabiting these wide
domains were but half emerged from bar-
barism. The Emperor of the Franks imposed
upon liimself the herculean task of civilizing
these perturbed nations, and of giving to
them the advantages of a regular government.
It was impossible in the nature of things
what even the masterful spirit of Charlemagne
should succeed at once in giving order and
rest to the barbaric society of Western Eu-
rope. The genius of confusion still struggled
■with the spirit of cosmos, and the evolution
of regular forms was slow and painful. The
administration was one of adaptation and ex-
pedients. Whatever the Emperor found to be
practically available in carrying out his man-
dates, that he retained as a part of his admin-
istrative system. Whatever failed was re-
jected. The king struggled like a Titan with
the elements of disorder around him. Wher-
ever the superhuman energies of his wUl were
manifested, there peace and quiet reigned for
a season. But no sooner would the imperial
presence be turned to some other quarter of
the kingdom than the old violence would
reassert itself, and the reign of chaos would
begin anew.
The efforts of the Emperor to form his sub-
jects into a single nation and government
were beset with special difficulties. The peo-
ple of his empire spoke many languages.
Their institutions were dissimilar ; their prog-
ress and civilization variable. In some of the
states the authority was iu the hands of as-
semblies of freemen ; in others, military chief-
tains held the chief authority. No fewer
than four class distinctions were recognized in
society. First, there were the Freemen; that
is, those who, acknowledging no superior or
patron, held their lands and life as if by their
own inherent right. The second class was
composed of those who were known as Luedes,
Fideles, Aiitrustioyu, etc.; that is, those who
were connected with a superior, to whom they
owed fealty as to a chief or lord, and from
whom they accepted and held their lands.
Third, Freedmen; that is, those who had, for
some signal act of service or as an act of
favor, been raised from serfdom to a condition
of dependence upon some leader or chief to
whom they attached themselves in war, and
near whom they resided in peace. Fourth,
Slaves; that is, those who, being the original
occupants of the soil, had been reduced to
bondage on the conquest of the country, or
those who, taken captive in war, were con-
verted by the captors into serfs.
But these classes were by no means fixed.
Many of the people sank from a higher to a
lower level ; some rose from a lower to a
higher. Weak Freemen would attach them-
selves to some distinguished leader and be-
come his vassals. Ambitious Antrustions —
even Slaves — would not only achieve their
emancipation, but would themselves conquer
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— THE FIRST CARLOVINGIANS. 531
•estates and become independent. It was with
this vast, inorganic, and shifting mass that
■Charlemagne had to deal, and it was out of
this heterogeneous material that he labored to
•create a great and stable state.
The Frankish Emperor was by no means a
theorist. However anxious he may have been
to see a regular system of authority estab-
lished over the peoples whom he ruled, he was
preeminently willing tc be taught by circum-
■stances. However eager he was to govern by
reason and law, he none the less retained the
sanction of force as the means of preserving
■order. In an epoch of transition, while the
winds of barbarism blew from all quarters of
the compass and met in his capital, he opposed
to their fury the barrier of his will, saying,
"Thus fiir, but no farther." He was thus
■enabled, by personal energy, sternness of de-
cision, and inveterate activity, to build up in
a boisterous age the fabric of a colossal mon-
archy, well worthy to rival the Empire of the
'Caesars. In all his methods and work there
were, of course, the inherent vices of absolute
power; but the system established by Charle-
magne was the best that the times would bear
or the people were able to receive.
If we look more closely into the nature of
the Imperial administration, we shall find first
■of all the central government established at
Aix-la-Chapelle. Here the Emperor reigned ;
here held his court ; here summoned his min-
isters to council. Beside those dignitaries who
were immediately associated with him in the
government, by whom he dispensed his au-
thority, and upon whose judgment he relied
somewhat in conducting the afl^airs of state,
the general assemblies, composed of the chief
men from all parte of the kingdom, consti-
tuted a notable feature of the political system.
According to the judgment of modern histo-
rians, indeed, the national councils of Charle-
magne were the distinguishing characteristic
■of his reign. No fewer than thirty-five of
these great assemblies were convened by royal
authority. Sometimes one city and sometimes
another- was named as the place of the coun-
cil. Worms, Valenciennes, Geneva, Pader-
born, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Thionville were in
turn selected as the seat of the assemblies.
Many of the dukes and counts answered the
•edict of the king with great reluctance; but
the Emperor's overwhelming influence was gen-
erally suflicieut to secure a large attendance.
The meetings, when convened, were in the
nature of congresses, in which measures were
proposed and debated after the manner of
more recent times. It was the wish of Char-
lemagne to make his chiefs and nobles partic*
ipants in the government, and to concede to
them such freedom of expression as might at
least enable him to apprehend the wishes of
the people.
In regard, however, to the measures dis-
cussed by the assemblies, the right of propos-
ing the same was reserved by the king. It
does not appear that at any time the initiative
of legislative action might be taken by the
assembly itself. Every thing waited on the
pleasure of the sovereign^ who wrote out and
laid before his congress the subject matter to
be debated. The assembly which convened in
the early spring was called the March-parade;
and the principal convention of the year,
which was appointed for the first of May, was
known as the May-parade. In the interval be-
tween one meeting and the next Charlemagne
was wont to note down such matters as he
deemed it prudent to lay before the assembly,
and it not infrequently happened in times of
emergency that special sessions were convened
to consider the needs of the state. Modern
times are greatly indebted to Hincmar, arch-
bishop of Rheims, who flourished near the
close of the ninth century, for a full and sat-
isfactory sketch of the great Frankish assem-
blies and of the business therein transacted.
Both the subject-matter and the style of thb
venerable chronicler may justify the quotation
of a few paragraphs from his work. He says :
"It was the custom at this time to hold
two assemblies every year. In both, that
they might not seem to have been convoked
without motive, there were submitted to the
examination and deliberation of the gran-
dees . . . and by virtue of orders from the
king, the fragments of law called eapitida,
which the king himself had drawn up under
the inspiration of God or the necessity for
which had been made manifest to him in the
intervals between the meetings."
The next paragraph from Hincmar shows
conclusively that not only the initiative but
also the definitive or final act in legislation
532
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
rested with the Emperor. The chronicler con-
tinues :
" After having received these communica-
tions, they [the counselors] deliberated on
them two or three days or more, according to
the importance of the business. Palace mes-
sengers, going and coming, took their ques-
tions and carried back the answers. No stran-
ger came near the place of their meeting until
the result of their deliberations had been able
to be submitted to the scrutiny of the great
prince, who then, with the wisdom he had re-
ceived from God, adopted a resolution, which
all obeyed."
The talkative archbishop thus further
describes the workings of the Imperial gov-
ernment :
"Thiugs went on thus for one or two
capitularies, or a greater number, until, with
God's help, all the necessities of the occasion
were regulated.
" Whilst these matters were thus proceed-
ing out of the king's presence, the prince
himself, in the midst of the multitude, came
to the general assembly, was occupied in re-
ceiving the presents, saluting the men of most
note, conversing with those he saw seldom,
showing towards the elders a tender interest,
disporting himself with the youngsters, and
doing the same thing, or something like it,
with the ecclesiastics as well as the seculars.
However, if those who were deliberating about
the matter submitted to their examination
showed a desire for it, the king repaired to
them and remained with them as long as they
wished ; and then they reported to him with
perfect familiarity what they thought about all
matters, and what were the friendly discus-
sions that had arisen amongst them. I must
not forget to say that, if the weather were
fine, every thing took place in the open air ;
otherwise, in several distinct buildings, where
these who had to deliberate on -the king's
proposals were separated from the multitude
of persons come to the assembly, and then
the men of greater note were admitted.
The places appointed for the meeting of the
lords were divided into two parts, in such sort
that the bishops, the abbots, and the clerics
of high rank might meet without mixture
with the laity. In the same way the counts
and other chiefs of the state underwent sppa-
ration, in the morning, until, whether the
king was present or absent, all were gathered
together ; then the lords above specified, the
clerics on their side and the laics on theirs,
repaired to the hall which had been assigned
to them, and where seats had been with due
honor "prepared for them. When the lords
laical and ecclesiastical were thus separated
from the multitude, it remained in their
power to sit separately or together, according
to the nature of the business they had to deal
with, ecclesiastical, secular, or mixed. In the
same way, if they wished to send for any one,
either to demand refreshment, or to put any
question, and to dismiss him after getting
what they wanted, it was at their option. Thus
took place the examination of affairs proposed
to them by the king for deliberation.
"The second business of the king was to
ask of each what there was to report to him
or enlighten him touching the part of the
kingdom each had come from. Not only was
this permitted to all, but they were strictly
enjoined to make inquiries, during the inter-
val between the assemblies, about what hap-
pened within or without the kingdom ; and
they were bound to seek knowledge from for-
eigners as well as natives, enemies as well as
friends, sometimes by emploj'ing emissaries,
and without troubling themselves much about
the manner in which they acquired their in-
formation. The king wished to know whether
in any part, in any corner, of the kingdom,
the people were restless, and what was the
cause of their restlessness ; or whether there
had happened any disturbances to which it
was necessary to draw the attention of the
council-general, and other similar matters.
He sought also to know whether any of the
subjugated nations were inclined to revolt ;
whether any of those that had vevolted seemed
disposed towards submission ; and whether
those that were still independent were threat-
ening the kingdom with any attack. On all
these subjects, whenever there was any mani-
festation of disorder or danger, he demanded
chiefly what were the motives or occasion of
them.""
In this description it is easy to discover the
real preponderance of Charlemagne himself in
all the affairs of the Frankish kingdom. The
assemblies were convened by his edict. He-
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— THE FIRST CARLO VINGIANS.
533
initiates the law and completes it. He is ad-
visea, but decides tlie matter according to his
own preference. He consults with his dukes
and counts, not to derive autliority from
them — for that he already has — but to obtain
information of the real condition of the em-
pire, to the end that he may adjust the
clumsy machinery of state to the work to be
accomplished. Nor is it proper to suppose
that any true public liberty was couched in
the national assemblies. They were not a ve-
hicle for the maintenance of popular rights,
but for the transmission of royal authority.
They were the means which the greatest sov-
ereign of the age adopted for the purpose of
reforming society by the introduction of regu-
larity and law in the place of caprice and
violence. The government of Charlemagne
was absolute, but salutary.
Turning from the general to the local
administration of affairs, and passing from the
capital into the provinces, we are able to dis-
cover the scheme of the Prankish Emperor in
practical application. To secure obedience
and unity, he recognized in the provincial
governments two classes of agents, the one
local, the other general; the one native and
to the manner born, the other appointed by
the king as his resident representatives. In
the first class may be enumerated the dukes,
counts, vicars, sheriffs, and magistrates — the
natural lords and leaders of the political
society of the provinces. These were em-
ployed by the Emperor as his agents iu dis-
pensing authority. Nor did he omit any rea-
sonable means to secure their fidelity and
cooperation in maintaining the order and
anity of the kingdom. In the second class
were included those beneficiaries and vassals
of the Emperor who held their lands and
properties directly from him, and were there-
fore more immediately dependent upon him
than were the native provincial dukes and
counts. Politically, the royal vassals were
the agents of the government. Their inter-
est, to say nothing of loyalty, inclined them
to the support of the throne, and they thus
constituted a powerful influence to counteract
or suppress local rebellions.'
' The relations of the native dukes .md the
royai beneficiaries in the administrative system of
Charlemagne were not dissimilar to those of State
A third class of officers, over and above
the former two, were the royal messengers,
called the Missi Regit, whom the Emperor ap-
pointed to travel into every part of his do-
minions, to find out and punish wrong-doing,
to superintend the administration of justice,
and especially to inform the sovereign of the
actual condition of affairs throughout the
empire. The office of these important agents
was not only iuformatory, but administrative.
They stood wherever they went for the king
in person. They exercised authority in hia
name, and in general their acts required na
confirmation from the royal court.
There was thus extemporized, so to speak,
out of the crude materials of Frankish polilr
ical society, and by the genius of an extraor-
dinary man, a huge monarchy, rude but
powerful — a government of adaptation and
expedients, rather than a government of con-
stitutional form. The motive of Charlemagne
was single. He desired to introduce order
into human society, to restore in some meas-
ure the symmetry of that social constitution
which he saw dimly through the shadows of
the past. He thus Decame a reformer of the
heroic type, and laid about him with an en-
ergy and persistency that would have been
creditable in any, even the greatest, characters
of history.
The personal character of the Frankish
sovereign may well be illustrated from the
memoranda which he left behind him of Co-
plhdarifg, or statutes either actually adopted
by the national assemblies or intended to be
discussed by those august bodies. In these
notes and suggestions of laws we find a strange
intermixture of ethics, religion, and politics.
Sometimes the royal note-book contains a
principle like this: " Cove tousness doth con-
sist in desiring that which others possess, and
in giving away naught of that which one's
self possesseth ; according to the Apostle it is
the root of all evil." Again the king says
briefly: "Hospitality must be practiced."
Soon afterwards, however, he adds: "If men-
dicants be met with, and they labor not with'
and Federal officers in the government of the
United States. The local counts and sheriflfs rep-
resented the State system under our American con-
stitution, while the royal vassals stood iii the rela
tion of Federal appointees.
534
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
their hands, let none take thought about giv-
ing unto them." Much of the Emperor's
thought seems to have been given to economic
questions, and it is instructive to see this great
mind considering various projects for putting
a fixed price on provisions. He was jealous
of the justice of his administration and the
reputation of his court. The royal head-quar-
ters were not to be made an asylum for crim-
inals: "We do will and decree that none of
those who serve in our palace shall take leave
to receive therein any man who seeketh ref-
uge there and cometh to hide there by reason
of theft, homicide, adultery, or any other
crime. That if any free man do break through
our interdicts, and hide such malefactor in
our palace, he shall be bound to carry, him on
his shoulders to the public quarter, and be
there tied to the same stake as the male-
factor."
It was in the latter rather than in the ear-
lier part of his reign that Charlemagne be-
came conspicuous as a legislator. Of the
sixty-five statutes attributed to him, only thir-
teen are referable to that part of his reign
before his coronation at Rome. The remain-
ing fifty-two are all included between the
years 801 and 814. We are thus afforded
another example of a military leader who,
having conquered a peace with the sword,
was anxious to preserve by law what had
been so hardly achieved.
Any sketch of the life and times of Char-
lemagne would be incomplete if notice were
omitted therefrom of his attitude towards
learning. Instead of that jealousy which so
many of his predecessors and contemporaries
manifested towards scholars and philosophers —
instead of that contempt which the small
rulers of the human race have ever shown
for the big-brained, radical thinkers of the
passing age — the great Carlovingian took
special pains to seek the acquaintance and
cultivate the esteem of the learned. Upon
scholars and teachers he looked with the
greatest favor. He invited them to his court.
He made them his counselors. He sought
their advice in the gravest emergencies. He
bestowed favors upon them, and made no
concealment of his wish to be indebted to
them for a knowledge of letters and the arts.
In the midst of such snrroundingfs, he found
time and opportunity to lay in his own rougb
and powerful intellect the foundations of
exact knowledge. He obtained the rudiment*
of science. He studied grammar, rhetoric,
logic, geometry, astronomy, and even, to a
certain extent, the recondite problems of the-
ology. He even, in some measure, assumed
the duty of teaching these branches to his
children and members of his household, and
it is amusing to find in his correspondence
many interesting references to such smaU
questions of scholarship. Thus, in a letter to
the learned Alcuin, being troubled, forsooth,
because he could no longer discover the planet
Mars, he writes: "What thinkest thou of
this Mars, which, last year, being concealed in
the sign of Cancer, was intercepted from the
sight of men by the light of the sun ? Is it
the regular course of his revolution ? Is it
the influence of the sun? Is it a miracle?
Could he have been two years about perform-
ing the course of a single one ? " '
Nearly all of the distinguished men of the
eighth and ninth centuries were grouped
about the court of Charlemagne. These were
employed by the Emperor, either as his polit-
ical advisers or as the instructors of his house-
hold. Some were sent to Pepin in Italy to
superintend that prince's education, and some
to Aquitaine to teach young Louis the rudi-
ments of learning. Those who remained at
Aix-la-Chapelle were organized into a body
known as the School of the Palace. Over
this Charlemagne presided in person. Here
questions of scholarship, theories of learning,
and speculations of metaphysics were dis-
cussed with all the vigorous zeal for which
the men and the times were noted. At the
head of this group of scholars and philoso-
phers stood the two most distinguished literary
men of the age. These were Alcuin, the
principal director of the School of the Palace,
and Eginhard, who was distinguished as a
historian and biographer of his sovereign.
Among the other most eminent scholars may
be mentioned the bishops Angilbert, Leidrade,
Adalhard, Agobard, and Theodulph, who were
at the head of the Sees of St. Requier, Lyons,
and Orleans. Of all these, Alcuin stood high-
est in the confidence of the Emperor. To his
sovereign he was wont to say: " If your zea'
were imitated, perchance one might see arise
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— THE FIRST CARLO VINGIANS.
5'55.
in France a new Athens far more glorious
than the ancient — the Athens of Christ."
works, and was also intrusted with the educa
tion of Prince Louis.
Eginhard was made master of the public The School of the Palace had its affecta-
CHARLEMAGNE PRESIDING IN THE SCHOOL OF THE PALACE.
Drawn by A. de Neuville.
:5S(>
UNIVEBSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
tions. Antiquity was worshiped aud imitated.
The names of the ancient philosophers were
adopted by the scholars of the court. Alcuin
was called Flaceus ; Angilbert, Homer ; Theo-
dulph, Pindar. Charlemagne himself selected
his model out of Israel, and chose to be known
as David. But these small vanities and imi-
tations may well be forgiven to men who
•made life a serious business and with whom
public office was never a sinecure.
In his habits, manners, and preferences
■Charlemagne remained essentially German.
The old Frankish stock was ever honored by
his own and the example of his court. He
«poke German, aud looked with little favor
upon that incipient French which, by the
■blending of the corrupt Latin of the Gauls
with the Frankish dialects, was beginning to
■prevail as the folk-speech of France. It
was at this time that the two great divisions
•of French, the Langiie d'oe of the South,
soon to be modified into Provengal, and the
Langue d' oil of the North, which was the real
foundation of modern French, took their rise
:as permanent varieties of human speech. As
for Charlemagne and his court, they held
•stoutly to the rougher tongue of their
±Vankish fathers.
As the Emperor grew old his activities were
■somewhat abated. More and more he in-
trusted to others the management of the
affairs of state, and more and more be gave
himself to enjoyment, recreation, and religious
•devotions. He found' delight in the warm
baths of Aix-la-Chapelle. To these resorts he
invited his family, his friends, and many of
the nobility of the kingdom. His old fond-
ness for riding and the chase never forsook
him. Of milder joys he preferred the exhil-
aration of music, and to the end that he
might be thus inspired and soothed, he brought
to his capital the most distinguished musicians
of Italy. In the midst of such exercises and
amusements he forgot not the near apj)roach
of the inevitable hour. Several times he made
and unmade or modified his will. He pro-
■vided with the greatest care not only for the
settlement of the affairs of the kingdom, but
also for the distribution of his own estate.
His property he divided into three major por-
••ions. The first two-thirds were given to the
^ifenty-one principal churches of the empire.
The remaining third was reserved for himself
during life, and was then to be distributed to
his family, or bestowed in alms on the poor.
Having attended to his personal aflJairs, the
aged Emperor, in the year 813, set about the
settlement of the succession. Three years be-
fore this time he had lost by death his second
son Pepin, king of Italy, and in 811 his eldest
son Charles, whom he had intended as his
successor in France, had died. Prince Louis
was now summoned by his father to Aix-la-
Chapelle, to be publicly recognized as his suc-
cessor. The principal bishops, abbots, counts,
and laic noblemen of the kingdom were or-
dered to convene and ratify the Emperor's
choice. Of what follows, the biographer
Eginhard says: "He [the Emperor] invited
them to make his son Louis king-emperor;
whereto all assented, saying that it was very
expedient, and pleasing, also, to the people.
On Sunday in the next month, August, 813,
Charlemagne repaired, crown on head, with
his son Louis, to the cathedral of Aix-la-Cha-
pelle, laid upon the altar another crown, and,
after praying, addressed to his son a solemn
exhortation respecting all his duties as king
towards God and the Church, towards his
family and his people, asked him if he were
fully resolved to fulfill them, and, at the an-
swer that he was, bade him take the crown
that lay upon the altar and place it with his
own hands upon his head, which Louis did
amidst the acclamation of all present, who
cried, ' Long live the Emperor Louis ! ' Char-
lemagne then declared his son Emperor jointly
with him, and ended the solemnity with these
words: 'Blessed be Thou, O Lord God, who
hast granted me grace to see with mine own
eves my son seated on my throne!
rhe
ceremony being completed, the prince re-
turned into his own province, there to await
the event which all foresaw as near at hand.
In the beginning of the year 814 the Em-
peror was taken ill of a fever. The resolute
old monarch adopted the usual methods which
he had previously used in sickness, but in
this instance to no avail. On the seventh day
after his attack, having received the com-
munion at the hands of the bishop, he quietly
expired, being then in the seventy-first year
of his age and the forty-seventh of his remark-
able reign.
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— SUGCESSOBS OF CHARLEMAGNE. .537
lu so far as the energies of Charlemagne
were devoted to the great work of erecting a
Carrier against barbarism, and of giving to re-
viving Europe a state of quietude in which
the arts of peace might once more flourish, his
career was one of the most successful of all
history. The barbarians were brought to bay.
On the north and east the still half-savage
tribes, scarcely imjiroved since the
days of Julius Ctesar, were com-
pelled to give over their wandering
life and to settle within fixed lim-
its of territory. On the south-west
the fiery cohorts of Islam were
thrust back into the j>eninsula
of Spain. Nor was it any longer
to be supposed that a Moham-
medan army would dare to make
its appearance north of the Pyr-
enees. In these respects the ser-
vices rendered to civilization by
the Emperor of the Franks can
hardly be overestimated. But if
we scrutinize the other great
purpose of Charlemagne, namely,
the restoration of the Roman
Empire of the West, we shall find noth-
ing but the inevitable failure. In this re-
epect the Emperor's political theory was
utterly at fault. He apprehended not that
the dead is dead, and that the artifice and
purpose of men can never avaU to restore
a system which human society in its growth
has left behind. In the west of Europe the
civilization of the Graeco-Italic race had ex-
pired nearly three centuries before Charle-
magne became a sovereign ; and his grand
scheme of restoration, kindled as it was ia
MANUSCRIPT OP OHAELEMASNE CONTAINING HIS SIGNATURE. •
the flame of his own ambition and fanned by
the perpetual encouragement of the Church,
could but prove a delusive dream — an idle
vision of the impossible.
Chapter lxxxii.— Successors ok Charleiviagne.
FRING the reign of
Charlemagne the Carlo-
vingian race reached its
highest glory. None of
his successors proved to
be his equal in king-craft
and valor. From the
death of Charlemagne to the overthrow of the
Carlovingian dynasty, a period of a hundred
and seventy-three years elapsed, and this
epoch may in general terms be defined as one
of decline and retrogression. The only sub-
stantial fact which remained to testify of the
grandeur of the times of Charles the Great
wa« the permanent repression of the barbarian
N. — Vol. 2 — 33
migrations. So efficient had been the work
accomplished in the last quarter of the eighth
century that the territorial foundations of
modern France and Germany were laid on an
immovable basis. Though the barbarian inva-
sions were renewed or attempted throughout
the whole of the Carlovingian ascendency,
yet the restless tribes of the North could
never again do more than indent the terri-
torial lines which had been drawn on the
map of Western Europe by the sword of
Charlemagne.
Another general fact to be noted respect-
' The signature consists of the cross with thw
four letters " K L K S" at the ends of ths bam.
538
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
ing the period upon which we now enter is that
to it belong the eflbrts of the piratical North-
men to obtain a footing within the limits of the
more civUized states of the South. During the
ninth and tenth centuries no fewer than forty-
seven incursions of the Sea-kings into France
are recorded. These desperate bands of cor-
sairs were from Norway, Denmark, Sweden,
and Ireland ; and their murderous forays con-
tributed not a little to check the civUizing
forces which had received so great an impetus
during the reign of Charlemagne. The for-
mation of North-western Europe was such as
specially to favor the movements of the pi-
rates. They penetrated the country by way
of the rivers. At first they ascended the
Scheldt, and robbed the hamlets on his banks.
The Seine furnished the next inlet for the
guerrillas of the North Sea, and then the
Loire. Before the middle of the ninth cen-
tury they had ascended the Garonne and
sacked his villages. In 84.5 the city of Saintes
was burnt by the sea-robbers ; and in the fol-
lowing year Limoges was taken and sacked.
Following up their advantages, the piratical
craft next appeared in the rivers of Aqui-
taine, and the city of Bordeaux, after making
one successful defense against their assaults,
was captured, plundered, and given to the
flames. Tours, Rouen, Angers, Orleans,
Meaux, To'olouse, Saint Lo, Bayeux, Ev-
reux, Nantes, and Beaubais were sooner or
later pillaged by the insatiable Northmen.
More, however, will be added in detail with
respect to these incursions when we come to
consider the times in which they occurred.
Resuming the narrative, we find Louis,
the third son of Charlemagne, seated on the
throne vacated by his father's death. He is
known in history as the Debonair, though
by his contemporaries he was called the
Pious. Perhaps the name of the Weak would
have suited him better than either. He was
altogether wanting in that physical energy
and immoral robustness which had constituted
the salient features in the character of his
father. It should not be overlooked, how-
ever, that in the single matter of moral recti-
tude, the new sovereign far excelled his
predecessor ; but his political incapacity ren-
dered his domestic virtues of but small or
even negative value.
In the beginning of his reign the new Km-
peror attempted to institute certain reforms in
the manners and habitude of the court. The-
excesses of the preceding reign had been en-
dured because of the magnificent strength
with which they were accompanied. A code
of austerity was now substituted in the palace,
and throughout the empire some feeble at-
tempts were made to throw off certain abuses
which had flourished during the preceding
administration. The subjugated, though still'
sullen Saxons, were restored to a portion of
their liberties. Royal messengers were sent
into various provinces with authority to miti-
gate the hardships of the preceding reign.
But none of these measures were backed with-
that degree of administrative energy which'
was essential to any real reform.
Before his accession to the Imperial throne-
Louis had already been presented by the-
queen Hermengarde with three sons, Lothaire,
Pepin, and Louis. These princes, at the date-
of their grandfather's death, were already ad-
vancing towards manhood, the elder being-
nineteen years of age. Three years aftjr
coming to Imperial power Louis convened ai
national assembly at his capital, and an-
nounced to that body his purpose of sharing
the throne with Lothaire. The measure was
coupled with the assertion of the Emperor that
he did not by any means purpose to break up-
the unity of the great kingdom which he had
received from his father; but the merest
novice in statecraft could not faU to see the-
inevitable effect of the joint sovereignty thus-
instituted in the empire.
Coincident with the elevation of Lothaire-
to Imperial dignity, the other two sons of the-
emperor — Pepin and Louis — were crowned as^
kings, the former receiving Aquitaine, South-
ern Gaul, and Burgundy ; and the latter, the-
countries beyond the Rhine. The rest of
Gaul and Germany, together with Italy, fell
to Lothaire, and the subordinate rulers were-
directed to repair to him from time to time
and receive their authority at his hands.
During the remainder of his life Louis the-
Debonair was to retain the home kingdom,
having Lothaire as his associate in the gov-
ernment. The two junior sons of the Emperor,
youths as they were, repaired to their re-
spective provinces and assumed the duties of
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 539
government, the one in Aquitaine, the other
in Bavaria. Thus, within five years after the
death of Charlemagne, were made the be-
ginnings of the great three-fold division of
Western Europe into France, Germany,
and Italy.
At the very commencement of his reign,
the weakness and subserviency of Emperor
lovingian had set on these occasions was re-
plete with dignity and kingly self-assertion.
He had shown due deference, but no abase-
ment, in the presence of the Holy Father.
But not so with the subservient and pious
Louis. As Stephen drew near to Rheims,
the Emperor went forth to meet him, and
prostrated himself at full len(jth before him.
I. CHARLEMAGNE, 814.
II. LOUIS THE DEBONAIR, 840.
in. LOTH AIRE, I., 855.
IV. LOUIS THE GERMAN, 876. V. CHARLES THE BALD, 877.
I
I
CarUman, 880.
Louis, 882.
VI
. char:
LES THE FAT, 888.
!dwig=Otho of
Hedwigi
SAXONY.
YU. ARNULF, 899.
I Conrad of FRANCONIA.
8. Loois THE Child, 9n. 1
X. Henry the Fowler, 936.
I
9. CONBAD I., 918.
Henry.
I
1 XI. OTHO THE GREAT, 973.
Werner. I
I I I Henry.
Conrad=Luitgarde. XII. OTHO II.. 983. „„,
I I XIV. HENRY II., 1024.
Otho. XIII. OTHO IIL, 1002.
I
Henry.
XV. CONRAD II.. 1039.
I
XVI. HENRY III., 1056.
XVII. HENRY IV., 1106.
XIX. LOTHAIRE OF SAXONY, Henry the Black. XVIII. HENRY V.. 1125. Aenes=Frederick of HOHENSTAUFEN.
Gertrude— Henry the Proud.
Henry the Lion.
Ju(iith=:
ith=Frederick.
I
XXI. FREDERICK BARBAROSSA, 1190.
\
20. CONHAD III., 1152.
XXII. HENRY VL, 1197.
XXIV. FREDERICK II.. 1250.
25. Conrad IV., 1254.
Conradin.
23. Philip, 1208.
S XT ^^ ».« .A. R -y s
I. Carlovlngian Line, A. D. 800-911, 8 Sovereigns.
II. Baxon
III. Franoonian
IV. Hobenstaufen
911-1024, 6
1024-1125,4
1125-1254, 6
EXPLANATION:
Plain Ifnes Indicate descent.
Parallel lines Indicate marriage.
Figures fjreceding names indicate the order of the reigns.
" " lif -Soman charactersi indicate EMPERORS.
" " " 'if .4 rft&ic characters) •■ rulers, not EmpEROPS.
following ** indicate rf^a^/i or ri^;)osi/iOH,
Dark-faced type Indicate the several D7NAST1ES.
GERMAN HOUSES
OF THE
MIDDLE AGES.
Louis were manifested. Two years after his
accession, Pope Stephen IV. was invited
to come into France and perform the cere-
mony of consecration. The Roman pontiffs
had already on several occasions performed like
service for the Most Christian Kings of
France. Charlemagne had been crowned by
Leo lU., and his sons consecrated at Rome.
The example, however, which the great Car-
There he lay until the Pope stretched forth
his hand and lifted up the groveling ruler
from the dust.
It was not long until the inherent weak-
ne.ss of the government gave occasion for
insurrection. The mountaineers of Vasconia
first rose in revolt. Meanwhile Bernard, who,
before the death of Charlemagne, had suc-
ceeded his father Pepin in the kingdom o)
540
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Italy, was loath to see the crown transferred
to his cousin Lothaire, more particularly since
the latter had no better claim on the throne
of Italy than might be found iu the caprice
of the Emperor Louis. The priuce Bernard
undertook to maintain his rights by force ;
but the rebellion received little countenance,
even south of the Alps, and Bernard was
quietly put aside. The Vascons were also
easily reduced to submission. In Brittany,
however, a revolt occurred of more serious
proportions. The country was still covered
with heavy forests, and many facilities of re-
sistance were aflbrded to an insurgent popula-
tion. In the, year 818, the inhabitants chose
for their king one of their chieftains named
Morvan. They renounced their allegiance
and refused to pay tribute to the Franks.
At the very time when the Emperor Louis
was presiding in a national assembly at Aix-
la Chapelle, Count Lambert, governor of
Brittany, made his way to the capital, and
reported that his province was in a state of
revolt and that France was invaded. There-
upon a Frankish mouk, named Ditcar, was
sent to the Breton k4ng to know his griev-
ances and to command submission. A haughty
answer was returned, and the Frankish mon-
arch was obliged to go to war. A battle was
fought in the dense woods of Brittany, and
the rebels were utterly routed. Morvan was
slain, and his bloody head was brought by the
slayer to Ditcar for recognition. The revolt
was quickly extinguished in blood.
After the death of the Empress Hermen-
garde, Louis chose for his second wife the
princess Judith of Bavaria, daughter of Count
Guelf — a family destined to the highest dis-
tinction in the subsequent annals of European
monarchy. In the year 823, the new Empress
presented her lord with a son, who became
known among the rulers of France as Charles
the Bald. There was thus added to the king's
household of heirs another expectant, who,
backed by the absorbing passion and brilliant
abilities of his mother, was from the first an ob-
ject of dread to the three princes upon whom
the Emperor had already settled the succession.
Nor was it long until good reason was shown
for their jealousy. In the year 829 the king,
now completely under the influence of Queen
Judith, went before a national assembly at
Worms and openly annulled the settlement
which he had made twelve years previously.
He took away from Pepin and Louis, c\m
provinces of Burgundy and Alemannia and
assigned them to the young prince Charles.
This flagrant act led to an immediate revolt
on the part of Lothaire, Pepin, and Louis,
and to the bitterness of this rebellion were
added the disgraceful quarrels which pre-
vailed at the royal court. An ambitious Sep-
timauian nobleman, named Bernard, was ad-
vanced to the position of chamberlain of the
palace. He soon engaged in an intrigue with
Queen Judith which scandalized the court
and increased the opposition to Louis and his
government. A conspiracy was organized, in-
cluding many of the chief men of the king-
dom. The Empress was seized and shut up in
a convent. Louis was obliged to go forth
from his capital and give himself up to the
insurgents. By them he was deposed from
office and the crown confirmed to Lothaire.
The old act of 817, by which the distribution
of the kingdom among the sons of Hermen-
garde had been determined, was restored ; and
the more recent act of Emperor Louis, relative
to Prince Charles, was annulled. Thus, by a
sudden outbui-st of popular indignation, the
ambitious schemes of Queen Judith were
brought to naught.
Soon, however, there was a great revulsion
of public feeling in favor of the dishonored
king. It was tardily perceived that he had
been more sinned against than sinning. The
princes Louis and Pepin, moreover, became
bitterly jealous on account of the Imperial
dignity conferred upon Lothaire. They ac-
cordingly went over to their father's side ; nor
were the ecclesiastics slow to repent of the
course which they had recently pursued towards
their sovereign. Another national assembly
was convened at Nimeguen, and the acts
which had been adopted by the former body
were abrogated. Louis the Debonair was
restored to his rights, and the two princes,
Pepin and Louis, were reinstated in their
former rank.
Now it was that the Emperor was obliged
to maintain his authority by force. He ac-
cordingly mustered an army and marched
against his refractory sons. Prince Pepin, of
Aquitaine, had been already overthrown by
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 541
his brothers Lothaire and Louis, and his king-
dom given to Charles the Bald. It was now
the father's turn to try the issue of battle
with his own offspring. The two armies met
at a place called the Field of Red, situated
between Colmar and Bale. But when the
battle was about to begin a large part of
King Louis's forces abandoned him and went
over to Lothaire. The monarch was thus
left naked to the mercy of his sons. The
name of the Field of Red was changed to the
Field of Falsehood.
The victorious princes, however, received
their father with the consideration due to his
rank, but their filial respect did not extend to
his restoration to power. On the contrary,
Lothaire convened a national assembly and
had himself proclaimed Emperor. In a short
time another convention of grandees and
bishops was held at Compiegne, and Louis
the Debonair was again formally deposed.
He was obliged to hear the decree of his own
dethronement, in which the charges of inca-
pacity and weakness were openly set forth,
read aloud to the multitude. He meekly ac-
cepted the situation which had been imposed
by his subjects, and retired to the convent
of Rheims.
It now appeared that the afl^airs of the
Empire were permanently settled ; but though
the Emperor Louis was dethroned the party
of his supporters was by no means annihilated.
In a short time rebellions in his favor occurred
in various parts of his kingdom, and the
usurping sons found it difficult to retain the
power which they had seized by force. The
beautiful and ambitious Judith was still at
liberty, and her intrigues prevailed to win
over many friends to the cause of her dis-
honored husband. Not a few of the clergy
rallied to his support. In the year 834 two
national assemblies were held, and the acts of
the convention of Compiegne were formally
revoked. The Imperial dignity was again
conferred on Louis, and the kingdom con-
tinued in a ferment of revolt as before.
Four years after this second restoration of
the Emperor to jjower Pepin of Aquitaine
died. The problem of the Empire was thus
somewhat simplified. In 839 an assembly was
called at Worms. The general condition of
the dynasty and the distribution of political
power again came up for discussion. It was
resolved to make a new territorial division of
the kingdom. Bavaria and the circumjacent
regions were left as before to the Prince Louis,
henceforth known as Louis the Gemum. The
western portion of the Empire was divided
into two parts by the Rhone and the Meuse,
the eastern division falling by his own choice
to Lothaire. The western part was assigned
to Charles the Bald. The German, however,
was by no means satisfied with the distribution.
He took up arms to undo the settlement, and
his imbecile father in his old age was obliged
once more to attempt the maintenance of
peace by war. At the head of his army he
set out towards the Rhenish frontier; but on
arriving near the city of Mayence he fell sick
of a fever and died at the castle of Ingelheim.
Thus in the Summer of 840 the question of
the settlement of the kingdom was still fur-
ther simplified by the course of nature.
In his last hours the exj)iring monarch
transmitted the Imperial crown and sword to ■
his son Lothaire. To Louis of Bavaria he
sent the assurance of pardon, and to both
princes the earnest admonition that the rights
of the Queen Judith and the young King
Charles the Bald should be faithfully observed.
Of little avail, however, were these chari-
itable injunctions of the dying Emperor. For
in the mean time the prince Pepin II., son
of the deceased Pepin of Aquitaine, had
usurped the government of his fixther's pro-
vince. With him Lothaire now entered into
a conspiracy for despoiling Charles the Bald
of his inheritance. The latter took the alarm,
and made an alliance with Louis the German,
who, like himself, was imperiled by the am-
bition of Lothsiire. The Empress Judith went
on a mission to the Bavarian jtrinee, and the
latter, as soon as practicable, sent an army to
the aid of Charles. In the next summer after
the death of the Debonair the forces of the
rival brothers, Charles and Louis on one side,
and Lothaire and his nephew Pepin II. on
the other, met near the village of FontenaiUes,
where the destinies of the Carlovingian em-
pire were again to be decided. The two
armies are said to have numbered three hun-
dred thousand men. For four days the an-
tagonists maneuvered, dreading to come to
battle. In the beginning of the conflict
542
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
victory seemed to incline to the banners of
Lothaire ; but the forces of Charles aud Louis
rallied from their temporary repulse, aud in-
flicted on their enemy an overwhelming defeat.
Hardly ever in the previous history of France
had such fearful carnage been witnessed. The
overthrow of the old Imperial party was ruin-
ous to the last degree, and well might the
aged poet of the court of Charlemagne bewail
the irreparable disaster.'
Not withstand iug his discomfiture Lothaire
made most strenuous efforts to restore his for-
tunes. He appealed to the Saxons and prom-
ised the restoration of paganism if they would
espouse his cause. Several of the tribes re-
volted in his favor; but Louis and Charles
were little disposed to lose by negligence the
fruits of their great victory. The two princes
met in a public assembly on the right bank
of the Rhine, between Bale aud Strasbourg.
Each came at the head of his army, and there,
in the most solemn manner, they renewed
their covenant against Lothaire. The alliance
thus made was publicly celebrated by the offi-
cers and soldiers of the two armies in a series
of games, military sports, and joustings, the
same being, perhaps, the beginning of those
knightly tournaments which became one of the
leading features in the social history of the
Middle Ages. The two kings themselves, clad
in armor, entered the lists, attacked each other,
as if in battle, pursued, retreated, and per-
formed feats of fictitious daring.
But neither the league between Louis and
Charles nor the royal sports which they insti-
tuted for the delight of their soldiers could
overawe the courageous Lothaire. In spite
of the efforts of the allied princes he made such
headway on the side of Saxony that they were
obliged to recognize his rights and to consent
to a new territorial adjustment. The three
brothers met in a conference in the summer
' Angilbert thus utters his anguish over the
battle of Fontenailles : "Accursed be this day!
Be it imnumbered in the return of the year, but
wiped out of all remembrance ! Be it unlit by the
hght of the suri ! Be it without either dawn or
twlHght ! Accursed, also, be this night, this awful
night, in which fell the brave, the most expert in
battle ! Eye ne'er hath seen more fearful slaugh-
ter : in streams of blood fell Christian men ; the
linen vestments of the dead did whiten the cham-
paign even as it is whitened by the birds of au-
tumn."
of 843, and it was agreed that Italy, Aqui-
taine, and Bavaria should remain in the hands
of their present possessors, and that to Louis
should also be given the three cities of May-
ence. Worms, and Spires, on the left bank of
the Rhine. The eastern part of Gaul, bounded
by the Rhine and the Alps and the rivers
Meuse, Saone, and Rhone, was assigned to
Lothaire. The remainder of the Gaulish ter-
ritory was given to Charles the Bald, and t»
him also fell the provinces of Yascouia, Sep-
timania, and the French possessions beyond
the Pyrenees.
This settlement of affairs made at Verdun,
in the year 843, gave the finishing stroke to
the project of restoring the Empire of the
AVest. The name of Emperor was still re-
tained and has continued for many centuries
as a sort of traditional factor in the politics of
Europe. But it was the shadow without the
substance. The Empire itself became a myth,
into which not even the greatest minds could
do more than breathe the breath of a fitful
and evanescent vitality.
In the midst of the great civU disturbances
to which the Fraukish kingdoms were thus
subjected the Northern Pirates came in to
reap their abundant harvests of spoil. They
made their way at times to the very gates of
Paris. The abbeys of St. Germain and St.
Denis were captured and sacked. The outer
quarters of the city were several times in the
hands of the sea-robbers, to whom all treas-
ures, both sacred and profane, were alike. In
'the year 850 Pepin of Aquitaine made a
league with the Northmen and consented to
their capture of Toulouse. The marauders
went from place to place through the prov-
ince of Aquitaine, seizing what they liked
and destroying what they would. Nor did it
appear that either Pepin or Charles the Bald
had the courage requisite to scourge the
Northmen out of their territories.
One of the most audacious of the piratical
leaders was the sea-king Hastings. Several
times he appeared with his fleet in the rivers
and harbors of France. Not satisfied with
the spoils of the western coasts, he made his
way into the Mediterranean. On the shore
of Tuscany he descried a city which he mis-
took for Rome, but being unable to take the
place by assault, he resorted to stratagem.
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 543
.Pretendiug to repent of his past life, he sent
■lor the Christian bishop, and was baptized as
.a convert. Soon afterwards he caused the re-
port to be circulated that he was dead, and
his followers claimed for him the rights of
burial. The body was borne to the cathedral.
>
to
H-
<3
a
5
a
w
■e «
I g
fTt O
•< o
£ "^
O
w
a
544
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
but while the priests, with dolorous accent,
were chanting his requiem, up sprang the
prostrate Hastings, drew his sword, and slew
the ecclesiastics right and left. His men, at
the signal, joined in the bloody work. The
cathedral was plundered, and the robbers
made away with their spoils before the stupe-
fied population could realize what was done.
At a later date Hastings and his band rav-
aged the provinces of Aujou and Brittany.
He then sailed up the Seine and appeared be-
fore Paris. Chartres was taken, and Charles
the Bald was obliged to entrench himself at
St. Denis. So great was the terror which
the Northmen had spread abroad that the
king — though against the advice of many of
his barons — entered into negotiations with
Hastings, and consented to purchase a peace.
It was agreed to cede to the triumphant
robber and his followers the county of Char-
tres, on condition that he would cease from
his piracies and become a Christian. It seems
that the rapacity of Hastings was at last sat-
isfied, and he accepted the overtures of the
Prankish king. But his fellow-chieftain Bi-
oern, not yet satiated with plunder, could not
be reconciled. He sailed away with a cargo
f booty, was wrecked on the coast of Fries-
land, and soon afterwards died. There was
then a lull in the tempest of northern inva-
sion, and the kingdom of the Franks for a
while flowed in the more quiet currents of
history.
Three kingdoms issued from the treaty of
Verdun — Italy, Germany, and France. Po-
litical causes — the accidental circumstance of
many sons in the family of Louis the Deb-
onair— had combined with the general facts
of geography, language, and race-kinship to
divide the descendants of the subjects of Char-
lemagne into Italians, Germans, and French.
The imbecility of the Emperor Louis had co-
operated with the tongue of Clovis in the
formation of nations ; and the jealousy of the
queens, Hermengarde and Judith, had made
s league with the Alps.
Among the various immediate successors
of Charlemagne the most distinguished were
Charles the Bald and Lothaire. The former
inherited the brilliant faculties of his mother,
and added a judgment and will of his own.
He maintained about his capital and court
something of the culture which had been
planted by his great ancestor. Men of learn-
ing were again encouraged. Philosophers
were patronized. The School of the Palace
was rei'nstituted ; but since the administration
of Charles was so clearly the fruit of the
planting of Charlemagne, some of the people,
not without a flash of semi-barbaric wit, called
his learned institution the Palace of the
School. As to Lothaire, his energies and
ambitions have been suflicieutly illustrated in
the preceding narrative. If Louis the Debo-
nair had had no other son but him, the Em-
pire founded by the greatest of the Carlovin-
gians might have preserved its unity for a
season.
It will now be desirable to note briefly the
principal events in the history of the three
kingdoms of Italy, Germany, and France, from
the middle of the ninth century to the acces-
sion of Hugh Capet. Taken altogether, the
period is one of the least interesting and in-
structive in the whole course of Modern His-
tory. During its continuance men appear
with little heroism, and events are projected
on a stage so little dramatic as scarcely to ex-
cite a passing interest.
Charles the Bald continued his reign from
850 to 875 with scarcely a notable incident.
After the settlement of Hastings at Chartres,
the kingdom, though frequently menaced, suf-
fered for the time not much actual injury
from the incursions of the Danes. In the
year 875 Louis II. of Germany died. For
some years that sovereign had borne the Im-
perial title ; for Lothaire had ceased to be Em-
peror in the year 855. On the death of Louis,
Charles the Bald seized the title ; but so small
nad already become the influence of this tra-
ditional dignity that the French king was
rather weakened than made strong by its as-
sumption. Shortly afterwards a much more
important event occurred in the establishment
of the hereditary principle among the noble
families of France. Hitherto the dukes,
counts, and grandees had held and exercised
their authority by the royal jirerogative. In
876 Charles was obliged to sign a decree by
which the tenure of the noble titles of the
kingdom, with the landed estates thereunto
belonging, Avas remanded to the law of de-
scent. Thus as earl" as the last quar-
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 54&
ter of the ninth century were laid in France
the foundations of the feudal system, which
was destined in the course of time to obtain
the mastery of almost the whole of Western
Europe. In the following year, 877, Charles
the Bald died in a village at the foot of
Mont Cenis ; nor was the suspicion wanting
that his life was taken by poison administered
by his Jewish physician, Sedecias. A fitting
epitaph for himself and his reign is furnished
in the pungent comment of one of the old
French chroniclers: "Fortune in conformity
to his humor made him happy in appearance
and miserable in reality."
The late king had been exceedingly un-
fortunate in his family. Of his four sons,
namely, Louis, Charles, Lothaire, and Carlo-
man, the eldest two proved to be rebellious
and turbulent princes. It was the purpose of
the father that Lothaire and Carloman should
be devoted to the service of the Church. The
thought was uppermost in his mind that his
own sins might thus be vicariously expiated.
The Prince Lothaire, being weak and lame,
submitted to his fate and entered a monastery,
but Carloman refused obedience. He broke
oiT from the enforced obligations of the monas-
tic life and fled into Belgium. Here he
raised a revolt, put himself at the head of
the insurgents, and laid waste the country.
The forces of the king were called out against
him, and the prince was defeated and taken
prisoner. Convicted of violating his religious
vows, he was condemned to have his eyes put
out ; but escaping from confinement, he made
his way into Bavaria, and found refuge with
his uncle, Louis the German. Charles and
Lothaire soon died, and Louis was thus left as
the heir expectant of the kingdom and the
empire. On the death of his father he
quietly ascended the throne, taking the title
of Louis II., and receiving the sobriquet of
the Stammerer.
The new reign was brief and iuau.spicious.
No event of importance occurred during the
two short years in which he held the royal
power. He died in 879, leaving two sons,
named Louis and Carloman, and a posthu-
mous heir who received the name of Charles.
Louis took as hi« inheritance the kingdom of
Neustria, and Carloman obtained the province
of Aquitaine. All the rest of the territories
recently governed by Charles the Bald, with
the exception of Provence and Burgundy,
were given up to the sons of Louis the Ger-
man. The excepted districts were seized by
Bozon, Count of Provence, who had married
a daughter of the Stammerer. This usurps/-
tion was recognized by Pope John YIH., and
Bozon was crowned as king. Thus, by a bold
and successful, though bloodless, usurpation,
were laid the foundations of the little king-
dom of Provence, which was destined to
flourish for several centuries, and to become
the most polite and refined center of culture
north of the Pyrenees.
King Louis, like his predecessor, was des-
tined to a brief and inglorious reign. He
came to a premature death in the year 882,
and was succeeded by the exiled Carloman,
who held feebly to the crown for the space of
two years. The posthumous Prince Charles,
being now but five years of age, was consid-
ered by the not over-loyal barons as too
young to assume the burdens of the state.
They therefore sent a deputation to Bavaria,
and tendered the French crown to Charles,
the youngest son of Louis the German. This
prince had already received the Imperial dia-
dem at the hands of the Pope, and thus, by
a concurrence of fortuitous events, all the do-
minions of Charlemagne, with the exception
of the kingdoms of Provence and Aragon,
were again united in a single government.
To their new sovereign the French gave the
surname of Le Gros, or The Fat ; for he was
corpulent to the last degree. Nor was he more
energetic in mind than in body. More even,
perhaps, than his predecessors, did he become
the tool of the intriguing courtiers by whom
he was surrounded. Neither did the humili-
ating position into which he was forced
arouse his pride, nor the distresses of his peo-
ple awaken his sympathies.
Now it was that France was destined, more
than ever, to feel the scourge of the hands of
the Northmen, and to experience the full
humiliation arising from the imbecility of a
ruler who was incompetent to defend her.
The piratical Danes had in the meantime
found a leader greater and more warlike than
Hastings. The new chieftain bore the name
of Rolf, or Rollo, who by native courage and
brawn had obtained an easy ascendencj' over
546
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
the imaginations and passions of his turbulent
countrymen. It now became his ambition, as
well as that of his warriors, to capture the
city of Paris aud bring the French monarchy
in the person of its king to a supple compli-
ance with their wishes. Two armies of North-
men were organized, one led by Rollo in per-
converted and the unconverted Northman ended
with the expostulations of the one and the
defiance of the other. Hastings returned to
the Frankish army, and preparations were
renewed for the impending conflict.
At this juncture an episode occurred
worthy of note. A certain Count Thibault,
THE NORMANS IN THE SEINE.
son and the other by his associate chieftain,
Siegfried. The latter was to a-scend the Seine,
and the former, having: captured the city of
Rouen, was to join him before the towers of
?aris. In the emergency that was upon him,
Charles the Fat sent for Hastings and em-
ployed him as an ambassador to the chief of
the Danes. But the interview between the
who had greatly coveted the estates which
were held by Hastings, availed himself of the
situation to play ujwn the fears and credulity
of that reformed pirate. The count told his
victim that King Charles had purposed his
death, and that his only safety lay in flight.
Hastings thereupon sold to his informer at a
trifling price his town of Chartres, fled to his
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 547
countrymen, and lapsed into the more con-
genial pursuits of pii-acy.
Meanwhile, the Northmen gathered before
the walls of Paris.' Their fleet consisted of
seven hundred huge barks and obstructed the
Seine for the distance of two leagues. The
forces of Rolf and Siegfried numbered fully
thirty thousand men, and every one was a
weather-beaten warrior, hardened by every
species of exposure, and expert in all the
dangers of laud and sea. But even this wild
and daring host was astonished at the walls
and towers of Paris. Everywhere new forti-
fications had been reared, and a defiant sol-
diery looked down from the ramparts. Great
towers of stone stood here and there, and the
solid walls of St. Denis and St. Germain were
seen in the distance. Even the dauntless
Siegfried forbore for a season to make an as-
sault upon the impregnable bulwarks of the
city, but rather sought to gain his end by
parley and negotiation.
The city of Paris was at this time held and
•defended by Count Eudes, eldest son of Rob-
ert the Strong, of Anjou. Of him the Danes
made the demand of a free passage through
the city, and promised, if this were granted,
to refrain from all injury and violence. But
neither Eudes himself nor the bishop Gozliu,
by whom the negotiations were conducted,
was silly enough to be entrapj)ed by the wiles
•of a pirate. So the bafiled Danes were obliged
to give over their stratagem and resort to
open force.
A siege ensued of thirteen months' dura-
tion. Eight unsuccessful assaults were made
by the Danes. The old Abbe, a monk of St.
Germain des Pres, has left on record a poem,
recounting the progress and daring exploits
of the struggle. The leaders within the city
were Eudes and Gozliu. The latter died during
the siege, and Count Eudes, quitting the city,
made his way to the Emperor Charles, calling
for reenforcements. On his return with three
battalions of troops, he was obliged to cut his
' It will be remembered that the outskirts of
Paris hai been already several times taken and
pillaged by the Danish pirates. But the lieart of
the metropolis, that is, so much of Paris as is situ-
ated in the lie de la tile, had not thus far been pen-
etrated by the marauders. It was tliis center of
the city that was now assailed by Rolf and his
robbers.
way from the heights of Montmartre through
the Danes to tlie gates of the city. The in-
vestment continued until the autumn of 886,
when Charles the Fat came with a large army
to the succor of the besieged. But it was a
fatal succor which he brought to Paris. On
his arrival he agread to purchase with a heavy
ransom the retreat of the Northmen, who
were induced for the winter to retire into
Burgundy.
So pusillanimous was this conduct of the
king that a diet, convened in the following
year on the banks of the Rhine, passed a de-
cree of deposition, and the Imperial dignity
was conferred upon Arnulf, a natural son of
Carloman, brother of Louis III. At the
same time the title of king was conferred
on Count Eudes, who had so bravely defended
Paris, and the monarch-elect was presently
crowned by the archbishop of Sens. Another
claim to the crown of France was at the same
time advanced by Guy, duke of Spoleto, whose
alleged rights were founded on the fact that
he was descended from Charlemagne in the
female line. The duke hastened over from
Italy, and was proclaimed by the bishop of
Langres. But the accession of Eudes was
already a fact accomplished, and Guy re-
turned to his own place as hastily as he had
come.
Meanwhile, Bozon, king of Provence, died
and was succeeded by Boso, duke of Aries.
At the same time. Count Rodolph was given
the title of king in Trausjuran Burgundy, and
was crowned at St. Maurice. All the while
the young Prince Charles, son of Louis the
Stammerer, and legitimate heir of the Carlo-
vingian House, was overlooked and well-nigh
forgotten. He was, as yet, only a child, and
the ambitious dukes and counts, themselves
eager to seize some petty crown, were little
disposed on the score of loyalty to hunt up
and honor the feeble scion of the stock of
Charlemagne.
Having retired from his unsuccessful siege
of Paris, the chieftain Rollo renewed in West-
ern France his career of cruising and pillag-
ing. It appears, however, that his contact
with civilization began to react upon nis kic-
ulties; for he was a man of genius. Before
entering upon his French conquests he had
already made an expedition into England.
548
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
where he conceived a great admiratiou for the
valor and wisdom of King Alfred the Great.
It had been noticed that after his capture of
Rouen he forbore to destroy the city, but
chose rather to restrain his followers, and to
repair as far as practicable the injury whick
BESIEGING PARia
by A. de Neuville.
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 549
had beeu done in the capital. Only when he
met with obdurate resistance did the old
violence of his nature break forth against
his foes.
This change in the character and senti-
ments of the Danish chief led to a correspond-
ing change in the manner of warfare. After
the deposition of Charles the Fat, the struggle
between King Eudes and Rollo continued
with varying fortune. The former gained a
great victory over the Danes at Moutfaucon,
but was in his turn defeated at Vermaudois.
In the latter conflict the veteran Hastings
again appeared as the leader of the North-
men. Rollo, now master of many towns, be-
gan to treat the subject populations with kind-
ness and justice. At times he showed himself
disposed to forbear from further excursions
and maintain the existing status. On one
occasion he went over to England, and there
renewed his old-time friendship with King
Athelstaue, who had succeeded Alfred ou the
throne. So great became the reputation of
RoUo for increasing wisdom and humanity
that Eudes was obliged to recognize and deal
with him as king with king.
In the year 898 the French monarch died,
and Charles the Simple, the legitimate Car-
lovingian prince, now nineteen years of age,
was raised to the throne. Rollo and the
Danes still held their own in the western
parts of France, and it became more and
more apparent that their expulsion from the
country was a remote, if not impossible,
event. In the first years of the tenth century
the question of some satisfactory settlement
with the Northmen was many times debated
in the councils of the king, and Rollo himself
was by no means an unwilling hearer of the
premonitory rumors of peace. Nevertheless,
the great Danish chieftain was not at all dis-
posed to relinquish aught of his advantages.
In the year 911 Charles was advised by his
counselors to open negotiations with Rollo
with a view to securing the permanent settle-
ment of the question between the two peoples,
even by the cession of territory. Franco,
archbishop of Rouen, acting on behalf of the
king, was authorized to offer the Dane a con-
siderable part of Neustria and the hand of
GisMe, daughter of Charles the Simple, on
condition that Rollo would become the king's
vassal and embrace Christianity. The North-
man regarded this proposition in so favorable
a light that he consented to a three months'
truce in order that the negotiations might
continue. A day was appointed for a confer-
ence between Rollo and the French monarch.
A meeting was held at St. Clair-sur-Epte,
Charles taking his station on one side of the
river and the Dane on the other. The king
offered to cede Flanders, but this was refused.
Nor would the Northman accept only the
maritime parts of Neustria. He demanded,
also, that those districts of Brittany which
had been seized by the French should be
added to the cession, and that the dukes of
the ceded provinces should become his vassals.
To these demands the king at last consented,
and a treaty was formed accordingly.' The
question of a century was .settled by the ad-
mission of a nation of invaders within the
borders of France.
Thus iv was that the pacified Northmen
ceased to threaten. Having now a country
of their own to defend, they troubled their
neighbors no longer. The piratical habit was
abandoned, and the agricultural life was sub-
stituted for predatory warfare.
On the southern border of France, for the
last half century, the Saracens had not ceased
ta trouble. Time and again were the prov-
inces of Aquitaine, Se])timania, and Provence
invaded by bands of brigands and robbers.
The Mohammedan banditti appeared now on
the Rhone at Aries, in Camargne, in Dau-
phine, Rouergue, and Limousin. Against
these incursions the imbecile successors of
Charlemagne seemed impotent to defend the
people. Each province had to protect itself
as best it might. To this end towers and fort-
' An amusing tradition has been preserved of
the ratification of the terms of tliis settlement.
Tlie Franks insisted tliat Rollo in token of his
vassalage sliould kiss tlie foot of Cliarles, but the
Dane indignantly refused. After nmcfi parleying
it was agreed that the kissing should be done by
proxy, and a certain Northman was appointed by
Rollo to perform the ceremony ; but the warrior
so selected was as haughty as liis master. Bend
the knee he would not. The king stood upright
and so did the Dane. At length the warrior
stooped down and taking hold of the royal foot
lifted it so high and suddenly that Charles fell
backwards on the ground. It was fortuhate that
the ridiculous scene ended in laughter.
550
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
resses were built in many parts, and into
these, when the cry of the "Saracen" was
raised in the country, the people would flee
for shelter.
On the whole, however, the disturbance on
the southern border was provoking rather
than dangerous. The incursions were made
by hordes of robbers, who expected to plunder
and fly rather than plunder and fight. Nor
were the Mohammedans of Spain pressed from
behind by other hosts out of Africa, as were
the Northmen, driven from their homes by
innumerable swarms of Asiatic barbarians.
Thus it happened that, while the northern
and western frontier of France was broken in
,and a large part of her territory taken by the
audacious Danes, the southern border was
preserved from serious infraction.
As to the new province thus ceded by
Charles the Simple to RoUo and his eountr}'-
men, the same soon became one of the most
prosperous districts in France. The great
Danish chieftain was recognized as Duke of
NoRMAXDY. Nor should the pen of history
here fail to note that AVilliam the Conqueror,
whose valorous blood has flowed into the veins
of all the English kings and queens who have
reigned since the Norman conquest of 1066,
was himself — though illegitimate — the eighth
in regular descent from Rolf, the Danish
pirate turned reformer and civUizer.
After the settlement between Charles the
Simple and Duke Rollo, the kingdom enjoyed
peace for the space of ten years; but in 922
the ever-growing ambition of the French
barons led to a revolt against the feeble-
minded Charles and in favor of Count Rob-
ert, brother of Eudes. Civil war broke out
between the rival parties, and Charles, in at-
tempting to maintain his rights, half redeemed
bis forfeited fame. He took the field in per-
son, met Count Robert in battle and slew
him with his own hand. But the cause of
the rebellion was taken up by Hugh the
Great, son of the slain count, and the king
was soon disastrously defeated. Hugh, al-
ready Count of Paris, was ambitious to be
the maker of kings rather than be king him-
self. He would fain restore that ancient
ri'.ghixe in which flie Mayor of the Palace
stood behind the throne and directed the
afiairs of the kingdom. Accordingly, after
the defeat and flight of Charles the Simple —
for the latter with all speed sought refuge
with Herbert, count of Vermandois — Hugh
brought it about that the French crown
should be conferred on Rodolph, duke of
Burgundy, to whom his own sister had been
given in marriage. So predominant was the
influence of the great count that Rodolph's
nomination was ratified by the barons, whUe
the deposed Charles was shut up as a prisoner
in the Chateau Thierry. Elgiva, the wife of
the dethroned monarch, who was a sister to
Athelstane, king of England, escaped with
her son Louis and sought protection with her
brother.
The status thus fixed by revolution was
maintained until 929. In that year Charles
the Simple died, his taking-oS" being ascribed
to poison. Rodolph continued to reign until
926 ; but the real power of the kingdom was
wielded by Hugh the Great. Rodolph died
childless, and the crown of France was again
at the disposal of the great leader, who again
refused to claim it for himself. Nor can it
be doubted that in his policy Count Hugh
was guided by a desire to secure the peace
and prosperity of the kingdom. In looking
about for a new sovereign he failed not to
take note of the absent Prince Louis, who
with his mother was stOl sojourning with bis
uncle Athelstane, of England. A message
was sent to the English court, requesting the
exiled queen to return with her son, in order
that he might receive the crown of France.
As was natural, the sincerity of the count
was distrusted, and the queen at first refused
to put herself at his mercy. King Athelstane
also shared his sister's apprehensions ; but the
fears of the exiles were at length quieted, and
Louis returned with his mother to France.
They were received by Hugh with profound
respect, and were conducted by him to the
cathedral at Rheims where the prince was
solemnly crowned with the title of Louis TV.
Nor did the imaginative French fail to find
for their new sovereign an appropriate sobri-
quet. He was called UOutremer, or the
Stranger ; for his youth had been passed
beyond the sea.
It was not long until King Louis showed
in the management of public affairs an ability
and prudence greater than had been exhibited
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 551
by any previous king since the days of Char-
lemagne. Had his character been as sincere
as his sagacity was profound, the greatest
good might have been expected to the king-
dom ; but he was dishonest, and in some re-
spects vicious, to the extent that his great
abilities bore little fruit. The foreign affairs
of the kingdom, moreover, were now of such
a sort as to require the full resources of the
state.
In the year 937 France was invaded by
the Hungarians, who were with difficulty re-
pelled beyond the border. Two years after-
wards the people of Lorraine, who had re-
belled against the authority of Otho I. of
Germany, made a voluntary transfer of their
allegiance to King Louis. That monarch had
married Otho's sister Gerberge ; but this affin-
ity did not prevent the rival brothers-iu-law
from going to war. In the struggle that en-
sued, it was Louis's misfortune to have alien-
ated many of his great counts and barons.
In the very beginning of his reign he had at-
tempted to shake off Count Hugh of Paris;
but that powerful nobleman was not to be
easily disposed of, and the sympathies of the
other nobles were naturally attracted to his
cause. It thus happened that whUe King
Louis gained the inhabitants of Lorraine and
went to war to defend his acquisition, the
great vassals of France went over to Otho
and proclaimed him king. The war became
one between Louis and his own subjects. A
battle was fought before Laon, in 941, and
the king's army was defeated. Hugh of Paris
was on the eve of again becoming master of
the situation when Otho, satisfied with the
humiliation of his rival, interfered in his be-
half and saved him from ruin. The war was
brought to an end. The German Emperor
received back the province of Lorraine, and
then with the aid of the Pope mediated a
peace between Louis and his barons.
The next complication in the affairs of
France was in respect to the duchy of Nor-
mandy. In the recent civil war William
Longsword, duke of that province, had taken
sides with Count Hugh against the king.
But Arnulf, count of Flanders, supported the
royal cause. The two nobles were thus
brought into antagonism, and after the cessa-
tion of hostilities William was assassinated by
his enemy. The young Duke Richard fell
into the hands of King Louis, who, under the
pretense of educating him at the capital,
would have taken away his liberty, and per-
haps his life. But the boy's governor, Os-
mond, perceiving what was intended, per-
suaded his ward to feign illness, and while the
king and his officers were ofl' their guard,
carried the young duke away from the castle
in a truss of hay. He then escaped with his
charge, and took the lad for protection to his
uncle, the count of Senlis. Soon afterwards
this nobleman succeeded in making King
Louis himself a prisoner, and obliged him to
surrender those places of Normandy which he
had unjustly seized. Richard was restored to
his dukedom, and by his marriage with Anne,
daughter of Hugh the Great, soon became a
powerful ruler. Nor was his goodness of
character less than his courage was notable.
He received the surname rf the Fearless, and
such were the beauty of his person, the affa-
bility of manners and the generosity of his
conduct, as to make him at once the favorite
of his own people and the praise of foreign
tongues. It was one of the caprices of this
amiable prince to prepare his own coffin,
which was hewn of stone. Until what time
it might be used for its ultimate purpose,
the sarcophagus was on every Friday filled
with wheat and coins, which were distributed
to the poor. When about to die, he gave or-
ders that the open coffin should be set under
the eaves of the church of Fecamp until the
rains should wash his bones clean and white.
The reign of Louis D'Outremer continued
until the year 954. While still in the full
strength of manhood, he journeyed one day
from Laon to Rheims. A vagrant wolf
crossed the pathway before him, and the
king, spurring after the beast with all his
might, was thrown from his horse and killed.
He left as his heirs two sons, Lothaire and
Charles, the latter being in his infancy. The
elder son, now at the age of fourteen, re-
ceived the crown by the right of succession,
and with the consent of the counts and
barons. The unfortunate policy of dividing
the kingdom among the sons of the deceased
monarch — a political method which had pre-
vailed from the times of Louis the Debonair —
was now abandoned, never to be revived.
552
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
The undivided sovereignty of France was
conferred upon Lothaire, and Charles, his
younger brother, was left to abide his time.
The education of the new sovereign had
been carefully conducted by his mother and
her brother, the celebrated St. Bruno. His
character, thus formed, was above the stan-
dard of the Carlovingian kings ; but his am-
bitions were sometimes ill-directed, and his
reign was on the whole less successful than
that of his father.
Two years after the succession of Lothaire,
Hugh the Great died. He had maintained
his ascendency in the affairs of France for
nearly half a century, and the hour of his
■death found him in full favor with the
people. He had persisted in the policy of
jefusing the crown for himself, being content
with the duchy of Paris. But this pecidiarity
•of his ambition rather increased than dimin-
ished his power. His contemporaries were
justified in speaking of his reign; for though
mot bearing the title of king, his authority
"was regal.
In the year 973 the Emperor Otho the
•Great died, and bequeathed his rights, kingly
;aad Imperial, to his son Otho H. This trans-
fer of power to a j'oung and inexperienced
.prince gave opportunity to King Lothaire to
leassert his claims to the province of Lor-
iiaine. He accordingly raised an armj% and
without any notification of his intentions to
i,he Germans, marched upon Aix-la-Chapelle,
the then capital of the Emperor. The Prince
■Otho was taken completely by surprise. He
was obliged to spring from the dinner-table
and speed away, in order to escape from the
*ity. Lothaire captured and pillaged the pal-
ace, and then returned to France. Otho,
Jiowever, soon showed himself worthy of his
place. Having raised an army, he proceeded
--against his cousin to repay the insult which
he had received. He marched on Paris, wast-
ing the country as he went ; but the Count
Hugh Capet, who had succeeded to the au-
thority of his father, Hugh the Great, had
put the city in such a state of defense that
■Otho durst not assault the ramparts. Being
unable to efl^ect a conquest and to " repay the
visit" of Lothaire, as he had threatened, he
contented himself with nonsensical menaces.
Eaving taken possession of the heights of
Moutmartre, he drew up his army and made
them sing a Latin canticle. The performance
was like the lowing of a herd of buffaloes, and
the music reverberated through Paris ! It was
the first German opera, performed before an
audience of French !
Having inflicted this terrible insult upon
his foe, Otho marched away towards Ger-
many. Lothaire sallied forth in pursuit, and
overtook his cousin's forces on the banks of
the Aisne. One division of the army had al-
ready crossed to the other side. The river
rose in the night, and the French were thus
enabled to fall upon and destroy the remain-
ing division with little danger to themselves.
In this emergency Otho sent a challenge to
Lothaire to meet him in single combat; but
the French barons, distrusting the puissance
of their king, sacrificed their chivalry to pru-
dence, and induced him to decline the battle.
Having at length fatigued their own capri-
cious ambitions with marching, countermarch-
ing, and indecisive conflicts, the two mouarcha
agreed to a treaty of peace. The province of
Lorraine was divided, one part being returned
to Otho and the other assigned to Prince
Charles, brother of the French king. The
latter, in the year 986, died, leaving hia
crown to his only son, Louis V., surnamed
the Sluggard. This prince was twenty years
of age at the time of his father's death, but
so feeble were his faculties that the ministers
were obliged to put him under the guardian-
ship of Hugh Capet. It appeared that the
drama of a puppet king with the real monarch
behind the throne was about to be reeuacted.
But the French barons were now tired of the
ridiculous farce which had been performed at
intervals since the days of the Roii Faineants,
and they determined to have a real king or
none. Loyalty to the Carlovingian dynasty
was now almost extinguished, and the people —
if the word people may be properly applied
to the inhabitants of a European state in the
tenth century — were ready for a revolution.
The logic of events at this crisis was assisted
by the early death of Louis V., who reigned
but little more than a year. His brother
Charles, duke of Lorraine, was now the sole
male survivor in the line of Charlemagne.
Such, however, was the insipid character of
this prince that he ceased, by his own worth-
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 553
lessness, to be a quantity in the problem.
The event was ripe for cousuramatiou. The
nobles looked to Hugh Capet as a king nom-
inated by nature and approved by destiny.
A race which had held the throne of France
for two hundred and forty-six years, and
which had really contributed to history but
one great ruler, was now to give place to
another, from which were to spring some of
the greatest sovereigns of Europe.
Turning, then, to another branch of the
Carlovingian House, we find in Germany a
list of princes not unlike those of France. It
will be remembered that with the death of
liOuis the Debonair the empire of Charle-
magne was divided among his three sons — Lo-
thaire, Louis, and Charles. To the second of
these princes was assigned Germany. He
made his capital in Bavaria, and reigned un-
til 876. German history may properly be
said to begin with the treaty of Verdun in
S43. The nature of the struggle among the
three sons of the Debonair has already been
sufficiently narrated in the history of the
French Carloviugians. It will be remembered
that, in 869, Charles the Bald and Louis the
German divided between them the territory
which had fallen to Lothaire II., the line of
division running between Verdun and Metz,
thence along the Vosges, and terminating at
the Rhine, near the city of Bale. It may
also be recalled that the settlement of a suc-
cession in the House of the German was
attended with as much difficulty as the Deb-
onair had experienced witii hk sons. For
Carlomau and Louis, the heirs of the Em-
peror, were already before their father's death
engaged in intrigues against each other or
their father. It was partly to free himself
from the presence of a dangerous aspirant
that the Prince Carloman was sent by Louis
to make war on the Wends and Slavonians,
who were threatening the frontier of the
Elbe. The year 875 was marked lay another
attempt on the part of the rulers of France
and Germany to obtain possession of the
kingdom of Italy. In this ambition Charles
the Bald was more successful than his rival,
and Louis, inflamed with jealous anger, pre-
pared to make war on the French king. But
in the year 876 he died, being then at the
age of seventy-one.
N.— Vol. 2—34
With this event the German kingdom was
partitioned among the three sons of the late
sovereign, Carloman, Louis the Younger, and
Charles the Fat. Hoping to avail himself of
the distracted condition of the country, Charles
the Bald marched against the German princes,
but he was met at Andernach, on the Rhine,
and terribly defeated by an army under com-
mand of Louis the Younger. The three
brothers then peaceably adjusted their own
differences. Bavaria, Carinthia, the Danubian
provinces, and the half-sovereignty of Bohe-
mia and Moravia were assigned to Carloman.
Louis the Younger received all of Central
and Northern Germany, while Charles the
Fat became king of Suabia.
As soon as this settlement had been ef-
fected, Carloman proceeded to seize the king-
dom of Italy ; but before he could establish
his authority he was struck with apoplexy and
died, A. D. 880. As soon as he learned of
the decease of his brother, Charles the Fat,
who had already crossed the Alps with an
army, comiselled the Lombards to acknowl-
edge his sovereignty, and was crowned by the
Pope with the title of Charles HI. In Ger-
many Louis the Younger was recognized as
the successor of Carloman, and Arnulf, legit-
imate son of the latter, was made Duke
of Carinthia.
This condition of affairs continued until
882, when, by the death of the childless
Louis the Younger, all German}' and Italy
became united under Charles the Fat. It
will be remembered that shortly after this
consolidation of power in the East and South,
the French Louis and Carloman, sons of
Charles the Bald, died, leaving the crown of
France to the imbecile stripling, Charles the
Simple. Nor will it be forgotten that, when
the latter intensified the folly of childhood by
the absence of intellect, the French nobles
offered the sovereignty to Charles the Fat,
who by its acceptance became monarch of the
reunited empire of Charlemagne.
The story of the invasion of the Northmen,
and of the utter incapacity of the Emperor
Charles to repel them from his dominions,
need not be repeated. Such were his feeble-
ness and timidity that he soon lost all hold
upon the confidence of his nobles, in so much
that a conspiracy was organized against him.
554
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.-^THE MODERN WORLD.
and in 887 he was driven /rom the throne, to
spend the remaining year ot his life on an es-
tate in Suabia.
At this crisis nature again asserted her su-
periority over legitimacy. Duke Aeniilf, the
bastard grandson of Louis the German, was
recognized as the successor of Charles the Fat
in Germany. The Frankish dominions, as
already narrated, began to be dismembered.
The kingdom of Burgundy was founded, with
Aries for its capital. In Italy, Berengar,
duke of Friuli, seized upon the inheritance of
the Carlovingians ; while Eastern France and
Western Switzerland were given to Duke
Conrad, grandson of Louis the Debonair.
As for King Arnulf, he adopted the policy of
attending strictly to his own dominions. He
successfully and finally drove back the Danes
from his northern and the Bohemians from
his eastern frontiers. Against the latter peo-
ple he pursued his advantage by making an
invasion of their country. Half-barbaric Bo-
hemia was thus ground between the upper
and the nether mill-stone. For at this junc-
ture the fierce, blood-drinking Magyars, most
savage of the Finnish race, had burst out of
Hungary on the east, and were rivaling the
hordes of Attila in their devastating course.
Having completed his conquest in Bohe-
mia, Arnulf returned into his own kingdom,
and in 894 was called to Italy to assist Be-
rengar against a dangerous rival. But the
most important of Arnulfs acts related to the
Church. Ambitious to be made Emperor,
and therefore eager to secure the support of
the popes, the king favored the ecclesiastical
body to the last degree. He issued an edict
that the civil officers should execute the de-
crees of the clergy ; and to this was added
another that those who were excommunicated
should forfeit all civil rights. The hitherto
but half-avowed purposes of the popes to
claim a temporal dominion over the nations,
began to be more openly advanced under the
stimulus thus afforded by the secular ruler of
Germany. In the mean time a series of doc-
uments, called the Tstdorian Decrefah, were
brought to light and gave still further encour-
agement to the ambitions of the Roman pon-
tiffs. These celebrated parchments received
their name from Bishop Isidorus, of Seville,
by whom they were said to have been written.
They purported to be a reproduction of the
decrees of the ancient councils of the Church,
and in them the claims of the popes to be
regarded as the vicars of Christ, the vice-
gerents of God on earth, and the rigtitfuli
arbiters of all human affairs, whether ecclesi-
astical or civil, were unequivocally asserted.
Upon these claims the Church now planted
herself, and looked here and there for the-
means with which to maintain her position.
King Arnulf soon found his reward. The
Pope Formosus was at this time in the power
of a Lombard prince, on whose head he-
had been compelled to place the crown of
empire. Under the pretext of liberating His-
Holiness from bondage, the German king ledi
an army into Italy, set free Formosus, cap-
tured Rome, and was himself crowned as Em-
peror. Here, however, his good fortune came-
to a sudden end. Shortly after his corona-
tion he was poisoned, and though he lingered
for three years before death put a period to-
his sufferings, he had little further control of
public affiiirs. He died in 899, and was suc-
ceeded b-y his son, known as Louis the Child,
the last prince of the Carloviugian line ii>
Germany. He occupied the throne from his-
father's death until the year 910, when he
and the German army were defeated in a.
great battle with the Hungarians. The young
king fled from the field of his overthrow, con-
sented to pay tribute as a condition of peace,
and died in the following year.
On the extinction of the Carlovingiaa
House in Germany, the crown of that king-
dom would, according to the terms of the
treaty of Verdun, have descended to Charles-
the Simple, then on the throne of France.
But the German nobles had become too inde-
pendent to submit themselves again to a>
Frankish sovereign. They accordingly met
in a diet at Forcheim and chose for their king'
Duke Conrad of Franconia. He belonged
by family to the Salian Franks, and thus was-
established what is known as the Salian Dy-
nasty, instead of the Carloviugian. Pope-
Stephen ni. had threatened to anathematize-
all who acknowledged allegiance to any Em-
peror not a descendant of Charlemagne. But
King Conrad, fearing him not, accepted the
honor conferred by the diet, and was crowned
by Hatto, archbishop of Mayen-^^
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 555
The new king of Germany soon showed
himself to be a brave and generous ruler.
Great was the favor with which he was re-
ceived by his subjects, and great his abilities
in court and field. But the success of his gov-
ernment was by no means equal to his de-
serving. The Hungarians again invaded the
country, and were defeated in a great battle
by the Bavarians and Suabians; but the
monarch despaired of upholding the kingdom.
He accordingly, when near his death, ordered
his brother Eberhard to bear the crown and
scepter to Henry of Saxony, whom he de-
clared to be the only prince capable of rul-
ing Germany. The ambassadors found their
prince expectant netting finches in a valley
near the Hartz, from which circumstance they
gave him the sobriquet of ilie Fowler. In the
t'ONRAD ELECTED KING OF GERMANY.
counts, Arnulf, Berthold, and Erchanger,
who commanded the king's forces, now set
their sovereign at defiance and would fain
rule as independent princes. Conrad suc-
ceeded in deposing them ; but Arnulf fled to
the Hungarians and incited them to march
again into Germany. The king, thus badg-
ered and distressed, appealed to the Pope for
succor ; but the latter replied that Conrad
should pay tithes. Being wounded in a bat-
tle with the Hungarians, the unfortunate
year 919 he was, after the old German fash-
ion, lifted upon the shields of the nobles and
proclaimed as king. When it came, however,
to the ceremony of anointing he refused to
accept the rite, the king declaring that he was
only a ruler of the people. Thus was a lineal
descendant of Wittikind, the old foe of Char-
lemagne, seated on the throne of Germany.
The new king justified the expectations of
his subjects. Though war broke out almost
immediately in Suabia, Bavaria, and Lor-
556
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
xaine, Henry easily succeeded, rather by
pacific conduct than by open force, in bring-
ing his rivals to submission. In like manner
was settled a difficulty with Charles the Sim-
ple, of France, with whom, in the year 921,
a treaty was made defining the territorial
boundaries of the two kingdoms. Three years
afterwards the Hungarians again invaded Con-
rad's kingdom, and over them he likewise
obtained the advantage by a superiority of
wit. Having had the good fortune to capture
one of the Hungarian chiefs, the king would
accept as the condition of his liberation
nothing less than a nine years' truce. A
breathing-time was thus obtained in which to
prepare for the next outbreak of war.
King Henry labored incessantly to bring
his army to a better discipline and his people
to a better government. Jn both of these
duties he was preeminently successful. The
Saxon warriors, hitherto accustomed to fight
only on foot, were exercised as horsemen until
their skill became equal to that of the best.
The frontier of the kingdom on the side of
danger was carefully surveyed, and the forti-
fied towns of "Quedlinburg, Merseburg, and
Meissen were founded within supporting dis-
tance of each other. The people were ordered
to store within the fortified inclosures one-
third of the products of their fields, and regu-
lar markets were instituted in order to facilitate
the transfer of supplies.
Having now a well-disciplined army, Henry
tried the mettle of his soldiers in a campaign
against the Slavonians beyond the Elbe. In
928 he conquered the pro^^nce of Branden-
burg, which was destined in after times to
expand into the kingdom of Prussia. His con-
quests in Bohemia were extended to the river
Oder; and in 932 Lusatia, or East Saxony,
was added to his dominions, thus advancing
his frontier line from Stettin, on the Baltic,
to Vienna, on the Danube.
Finally, when the nine years' truce with
the Hungarians had expired. King Henry,
who, in order to secure the truce, had agreed
to pay tribute in the interim, sent as his an-
nual contribution to tlie Hungarian treasury
a mangy dog! The insult was easily under-
stood, and the Magyars rushed to the conflict
with such fury that the king's forces were at
first stunned by the shock; but they soon
rallied and inflicted one defeat after another
on the enemy until, in 933, the contest waa
decided by a great victory, in which the Hun-
garian army was well-nigh annihilated.
A short time afterwards Henry made a suc-
cessful war on Gorm, the king of Denmark.
The latter was driven back across the Eider,
and Schleswig was annexed to Germany.
Having thus conquered a peace throughout his
dominions, the king seemed destined to a long
and glorious reign ; but in the year 935 he
fell under a stroke of apoplexy and came to
hLs death. AVhUe he lingered, however, he
called a diet at Erfurt, and his second son
Otho, afterwards known as Otho the Great,
was chosen for the succession. Though the
king had two other sons, no attempt waa
made again to divide the kingdom, the unity
f which had been achieved only after a cen-
tury of turmoil.
Heury the Fowler died in the summer of
936. Otho was accepted without opposition,
and was crowned with a splendid ceremony in
the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. The dukes
of Lorraine, Franconia, Suabia, and Bavaria
served as chamberlain, steward, cup-bearer,
and marshal at the coronation. Nor was there
wanting any circumstance of pomp- to this
royal spectacle, which so critical a thinker as
Bayard Taylor has declared to be " the first
national event of a spontaneous character
which took place in Germany."
Without the prudence and patience of his
father, King Otho equaled that monarch in
energy and surpassed him in genius. Great,
however, as were his abilities, and distin-
guished as was his reign, he failed — could
but fail — to give unity and nationality to the
German people. The various parts of the
Teutonic race were still discordant, belligerent.
Nor could it be hoped that a German king of
the tenth century could do more than hold
together by the force of his will and the magio
of his sword the as yet heterogeneous parts of
his people.
The first duty of Emperor Otho was to re-,
pel the Bohemians and Wends, who had made
their way into Brandenburg. The wars that
ensued were of considerable duration, but vic-
tory remained with the Germans. The Hun-
garians were also defeated in Thuringia and
Saxonv. But while these successes crowned
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE. 557
the king's arms abroad, a civil feud of serious
proportious disturbed the peace of the king-
dom. Eberhard and Thaukmar, the son of
a divorced wife of Henry the Fowler, and
therefore half-brother to Otho, conspired with
Giselbert, duke of Lorraine, to achieve inde-
pendence in their respective provinces. The
Saxon nobles, also, were offended because of
the preeminence of the king's favorite general.
Count Hermann, and joined the insubordinate
dukes. The situation portended great peril to
the king; but the conspirators failed to act in
concert, and Otho was victorious. Thankmar
was killed and Eberhard obliged to put him-
self at the mercy of his sovereign. Mean-
while, however, the king's younger brother,
Henry, had been tempted into sedition, and
the revolt suddenly broke out anew. This
time the insurgents were headed by Giselbert,
Eberhard, and Prince Henry. Otho again
took the field and marched to the Rhine ; but
while part of his forces were on one side of
the river and part on the other, he was at-
tacked by the rebel dukes. For the time it
seemed that every thing was lost. But Otho
exhibited the greatest heroism ; his men ral-
lied to the charge, and the insurgent army
was annihilated.
Now it was that the defeated princes
sought aid of Louis d'Outremer of France.
Nor was the petition refused. A French army
penetrated Alsatia. All of the territory west
of the Rhine was overrun. The fate of the
Emperor again hung in the balance, but his
courage was equal to the occasion. Marching
to the frontier, he gained the day in several
minor engagements, and finally won a great
victory in the battle of Andernach. Eber-
hard was slain and Giselbert drowned in the
river. The French fled towards Paris, whither
they were pursued by Otho; but the fortifi-
cations of the city bade defiance to the Ger-
mans. Negotiations were presently opened
between the two monarchs, and a definitive
treaty was made, by which Lorraine was as-
signed to the Emperor and the other boun-
daries reestablished as before.
Otho again showed his magnanimity by par-
doning his brother Henry. The prince was
sent to be go'-ernor of Lorraine ; but unable
to defend himself in the position to which he
had been assigned, he entered into a plot with
the archbishop of Mayeuce to assassinate the
Emperor. But their treason was discovered,
and the conspirators, with the exception of
Henry, were put to death. The prince him-
self was thrown into prison ; but having at
length made his escape, he was a third time
pardoned by Otho.
Meanwhile the German dominion was
firmly established beyond the Elbe. The
Slavonian and Wendic tribes were beaten
back into remoter territories. The Emperor
himself made an expedition against Harold
the Blue-tooth, king of Denmark ; and march-
ing to the end's-land of Jutland, threw his
spear into the sea as a token of his dominion
even to the brine of the North.
In the year 946 Emperor Otho was called
upon by Louis, king of France, to assist him
in that war which he was then waging with
Hugh the Great and the barons. The two
monarchs were brothers-in-law, and this affin-
ity, together with the natural interest of the
German ruler in seeing the ambitions of the
nobles curtailed, led him to accept the invita-
tion. He marched an army of thirty-two
thousand men into Normandy ; but no great
success attended the movements of the allied
monarchs, and Count Hugh held out several
years before he was brought to submission.
In the mean time, a complication had
arisen in Italy which drew the Emperor's at-
tention. After the times of Charlemagne,
that unfortunate country had been left to
the mercy of the winds. The Saracens,
Greeks, Normans, and Hungarians had as-
sailed the Italian coasts at will. Neither the
imjjotent Pope nor the shadowy Roman Em-
peror beyond the mountains was able to aflbrd
relief. In this condition of affairs, Berengar,
duke of Friuli, one of those strong and tur-
bulent spirits that arise from the great deep
in times of anarchy, had himself proclaimed
king of Italy. He demanded in marriage the
Princess Adelheid, sister of Conrad of Bur-
gundy. But she refused to accept so rough a
lord, and was thrown into prison. She man-
aged from thence to send a message to Otho,
who at once conceived the double project of
liberating the princess and claiming her for
himself. For his English queen, Edith, was
now dead.
The Emperor accordingly crossed the Alps
558
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
with a large army, defeated Berengar, cap-
tured the cities of Verona, Pavia, and MUan,
married Adelheid, and assumed the title of
king of Italy. Berengar was permitted to
retain the crown of Lombardy on condition
of surrendering the country from Venice to
Istria.
Soon after this event another revolt, headed
by the princes Rudolf of Suabia and Conrad
of Lorraine, broke out in Italy. For nearly
four years the country was plunged into civU
war. At length the rebellious princes per-
mitted the Hungarians to pass unopposed
through their provinces to the end that the
invaders might fall upon the Emperor. This
action aroused the Teutonic spirit against the
rebels, and the revolt was brought to an end
in the year 954.
The Hungarians, however, were not yet
conquered. In 955 they returned to the at^
tack, but were defeated by Otho in a great
battle near Augsburg. So signal was the
overthrow of the barbarians that but few of
them escaped to their own country. Nor did
they ever afterwards dare to renew the con-
flict. In a short time Prince Henry of Bava-
ria died, as did also Rudolf, son of Otho.
Civil war came to an end in Germany. In
the lull that ensued Otho found opportunity
to gratify his ambition by a coronation at
Rome. Pope John XH., then a youth but
seven years of age, officiated at the ceremony,
and the title of Roman Emperor was again
borne by a prince of Germany.
It was not long, however, until the boy
Pope repented of his action and would fain de-
stroy the traditional rights which he had con-
ferred on Otho at the coronation. He sought
to stir up the whole world against him. He
wrote to the Emperor of the East to aid him
in deposing Otho from power. He incited all
Italy to revolt, and tried to induce the Hun-
garians and the Saracens of Corsica to make
war on the Germans. The Emperor, how-
ever, met the emergency with great boldness.
He marched into Italy, captured Rome, de-
posed the Pope, drove Berengar into exile,
reduced the country to quiet, and in 965 re-
turned in triumph to Aix-la-Chapelle.
The ambition of Otho was greatly in-
- flamed by these successes. He began to neg-
lect the real interests of the German people
for the fictitious splendors of a court. He
demanded as wife for his son Otho the Prin-
cess Theophania, daughter of the Emperor of
the East ; and when the latter was reluctant
to comply, the ^German sovereign attempted
to overthrow the Byzantine rule in Italy.
Theophania was at length given to the Prince
Otho, and was sent to the German capital in
the year 972. In the following year the suc-
cesses of the Emperor were duly celebrated
at a great Easter festival in the city of Qued-
linburg. No pageant so splendid had been
witnessed since the days of Charlemagne.
The dukes and counts of the Empire, the
kings of Bohemia and Poland, ambassadors
from the Emperor of the East, from the Cal-
iph of Cordova, and from the kings of Bul-
garia, Russia, Denmark, and Hungaria were
present at the fete. Soon afterwards the Em-
peror, foreseeing his end, retired to Memle-
ben, in Thuriugia, and there was presently
stricken with apoplexy. He lingered for a
brief season, died sitting in his chair, and was
buried in ilagdeburg.
Having thus traced the history of Ger-
many from the accession of the Carlovingian
line to the death of Otho the Great, it will be
appropriate to turn to another field of obser-
vation. The consolidation of the English
Heptarchy and the growth of a regular mon-
archy on the ruins of the Saxon states of
Britain may now well claim our attention.
It is only necessary, before concluding the
present chapter, to remark that, as will have
already been observed by the careful reader,
the history of Italy, the third of the Carlo-
vingian kingdoms, during the ninth and tenth
centuries, is so intimately involved with that
of Germany and France that a separate sketch
from the Italian point of view is altogether
superfluous. As a matter of fact, Italy had.
already become — as she was destined to re-
main — an appanage of the greater states
north of the Alps, and her local annals dur-
ing this, the epoch of her ruin and decay, are
devoid alike of interest and instruction. In
the following Book the history of France will
be resumed with the triumph of the House of
Capet, and that of Germany with the acces-
sion of Otho n.
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. o59
■CHA.F'XER LXXXllI— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS.
iF the career of Egbert,
the powerful king of Wes-
sex, a sketch has already
been given in the First
Book of the present vol-
ume/ It will be remem-
bered that iu the first
.quarter of the ninth century this distinguished
ruler succeeded in bringing under one sover-
-eignty all the states of the Heptarchy. He
■disclaimed for himself, however, the title of
king of England, being content with that of
Wessex. The peace of his long reign was by
'DO means undisturbed ; for now it was that
-the Northmen began to prey upon the coasts
of England. In the year 832 a baud of these
audacious pirates captured and ravaged the
island of Sheppey. In the next year Dorset-
shire suffered a similar fate. The method of
the Danes was to fall upon a given coast, rob,
•devastate, and fly. Attempting to protect his
.chores, King Egbert was himself at one time
in imminent danger of capture. In 834 the
Northmen invaded Devonshire, being joined
-on the expedition by the rebellious people of
Land's End. Others of the old Britons
•espoused the cause of the Danes ; but Egbert,
■equal to the emergency, met the enemy at
Hengsdown Hill, and defeated them with great
■slaughter. So decisive was the victory that
-for two years the pirates kept aloof; but the
•career of Egbert was already at an end. He
.died iu the year 836, and was succeeded by
Ethelwulf, his oldest surviving son.
At this time might be noticed in the rising
■monarchy of England the same disposition
which has so many times been remarked in
the history of Germany and France, to divide
.among several sons the political power which
had been held by the father. Such was the
policy of Ethelwulf, who, on coming to the
throne, gave up Kent, Sussex, and Essex to
be held as a separate kingdom by his son
Athelstane. For himself he retained Wessex
.and Mercia, but the latter soon .^eYolted and
' See liook Kle-veutb, aide p. 4-18.
became independent. Nor were the Danes
slow to perceive the broken-up condition of
England. They returned like birds of prey.
They took and pillaged Loudon, Rochester,
and Canterbury. In 851 a congress of the
Saxon Thanes was held at Kingsbury, and
measures of defense were planned against the
Danes. In the course of the ensuing struggle
Barhulf, king of Mercia, was killed. But the
West Saxons, led by Ethelwulf, won a great
victory over the enemy in Surrey. Athel-
stane, king of Kent, was hardly less success-
ful in a battle at Sandwich, where he took
nine ships from the pirates. The men of Dev-
onshire also gained a victory at Wenbury,
and the sea-robbers, thus baffled at every
point, turned from tlie island, which seemed
to bristle with Saxon spears, and fell upon
the more inviting fields and hamlets of France.
The devout Ethelwulf now found oppor-
tunity to make a pilgrimage to Rome. In
853 he crossed the Alps, and was received
with honor in the Eternal City. On his re-
turn he fell in love — for such is the phrase of
man — with Judith, daughter of Charles the
Bald, and her he took in marriage. In the
mean time Athelstane, king of Kent, died,
and the king's next oldest son, Ethelbald, en-
gaged in a conspiracy to dethrone his father.
The ostensible reason for the treasonable plot
was found in the fact that Ethelwulf had had
his new French wife crowned as queen in the
cathedral of Rheims. He had actually eaten
with her at the table! Such insults were not
to be borne by Anglo-Saxon patriotism. Thus
came it to pass that when Ethelwulf returned
with his bride to England, he found his hos-
tile subjects in arms to oppose him. The
aged monarch would not go to war to main-
tain his rights, but agreed to a compromise,
by which the western and better portion of
Wessex was given up to his rebellious son.
In 857 the old king died, and Ethelbald suc-
ceeded to his whole dominions.
On his succession to the full crown of
We,<«sex, King Ethelbald claimed his father's
560
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
widow for his wife, from which it appeared
that his antipathy to a French Cjueen did not
apply to his own case. The Romish Church,
however, was horrified at this forbidden mar-
riage, and soon compelled its abrogation by
divorce.'
Ethelbald was succeeded in the kingdom
by Ethelbert, who, after a short and inglori-
ous reign, died in the year 866. The crown
thereupon descended to the third brother,
Ethelred, in whose reign the Danes again
Bwarmed in innumerable hosts along the shores
of England. Thev had alreadv invaded Wes-
the mass was over, Alfred threw himself
with his West Saxons upon the on-coming
Danes, and thus saved the king's cause from
ruin. In the battles of Basing and Mereton,
which were fought soon afterwards, Ethelred
was defeated. In the last-named conflict he
received a wound from which he presently
died, and in 871 the crown descended without
opposition to the popular Prince Alfred.
The new king was destined to an inheri-
tance of war and glory. Within a month
after his succession he was obliged to fight a
terrible battle with the Danes. Kear night-
J. EGBERT, 836.
I
2. Ethelwulf, 857.
I I I I
3. Ethelbald, 4. Ethelbekt, 6. Ethelred, 6. Alfred the Gbeat,
862. 867. 871. | 901.
7. Edward the Elder,
I 925.
DUKE OF NORMANDY.
8. Athelctane, 940. 9. Edmund the Athei.tng, 916. 10. Edbeb, 955.
I I
U. Edwy the Fair, 12. Edgar, 975=
958. I
=Elfriaa.
13. Edward 14. Ethelred theUkready, 1015=
the Martyr, 978.
of Normandy.
19. Hardicasute, 1042.
16. Edmund Ironside, 1017. Edwy.
Emperor Conrad n.
Edmund.
Edward— Gunhilde.
Edgar Christina. Margaret=MALCOLM. Earl Godwin.
the Atheling. I
=Emma=
Duke Richard 11.
Duke Robert the Devil.
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.
15. SwEYN THE Dane, 1013.
I
17. Canute the GREAT,=Alfgiva.
1035.
18. Harold
HiKJiFOOT, lOlO.
21. Harold. 1066.
Editha=20. Edward, the Confessor. 106S.
EZPIiAIf ATION :
Flgnre37iriT<!rfin7nam«indicate theordfrofthereign';. . , „ ,
" siicceedina " " " dirte of the ds<«A or dfpojtfion Of the Sovereign.
Parallel lines indicate marrmj7f.
Plain lines indicate dfsc*-nt.
Dotted lines indicate ilUgitimate descent
THE ANGLO-SAXON
KINGS.
Bex and burned Winchester, which was then
the capital. They had established themselves
in the Isle of Thanet, from which they now
went forth to ravage, plunder, and destroy.
Ethelred is said to have fought nine pitched
battles with these ferocious marauders. It
was in the course of these furious conflicts
that the military genius of Prince Alfred,
youngest but greatest son of Ethelwulf, began
to be displayed. In the hard-fought battle of
Ashton, while the pious Ethelred was at his
prayers and refused to go into the fight untU
' For the subsequent career of Queen Judith,
Bee Vol. II., Book Eleventh, p. 449.
fall the field was won by the Saxons ; but the
pagans, seeing by how few they were pur-
sued, turned and regained as much as they
had lost. Nevertheless, so great had been
their losses that they were fain to conclude
a treaty. Withdrawing from Wessex, the
Northmen went to London, and there passed
the winter. In the following year they rav-
aged Lincolnshire, and then, repairing ixy
Derby, took up their quarters at Repton. In
875 Northumbria was overrun by the Danes
as far as the friths of Clyde and Forth,
where they came into contact with the Scots,
Halfdane, leader of this marauding host, di
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 561
■Tided Northumbria among his followers, who,
mingling with the Anglo-Saxons, were, in the
course of some generations, united into a
single people. Another army of Northmen
captured Cambridge, which they fortified and
converted into a camj). Having thus overrun
the kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, and
East Anglia, the Danes again looked to the
West Saxons and their king, between whom
and themselves a contest was now to be waged
for the mastery of England.
The prudent Alfred, having now had the
advantages of a three years' truce, had em-
ployed the interval in preparations. Espe-
cially had his wisdom been revealed in the
construction of a fleet, which, though small
and rude, may be regarded as the beginning
of England's greatness on the sea. Origi-
nally the Anglo-Saxons had been as skillful
and courageous seamen as the Danes them-
selves. But in the course of four centuries
from the coming of Hengist and Horsa their
followers had given over the maritime life,
forgotten the management of ships, and de-
generated into swineherds and peasants. Not,
indeed, that the warlike valor of the race was
in any wise abated, but the settled life had
superseded the piratical habit, and the mas-
tery of the sea had passed to their kinsmen of
the North.
Meanwhile the Danes, breaking from their
winter camp at Cambridge, swore by their
golden bracelets that they would drive the
West Saxons from the land. In Dorsetshire
they surprised the castle of Wareham and de-
vastated the surrounding country. Soon aft-
erwards, however, the Danish squadron was
attacked and destroyed by Alfred's rude
flotilla. The effect was electrical upon both
parties, being inspiration to the Saxons and
paralysis to the Danes. The latter speedily
agreed to make peace and evacuate the king-
dom. King Alfred made his enemy swear
upon the relics of the saints that they would
abstain from further injury. But on the very
next night, as the king was journeying with
a small band of followers towards Winchester,
the oath-breaking pagans fell upon him, and
he narrowly escaped with his life. The Danes
then retired to Exeter, where they were joined
by others of their nation, and the war was re-
newed wit'n more violence than ever.
It now became the policy of the Northmen
to incite the jseople of Cornwall to revolt. In.
order to strengthen the insurrection in the-
West a Danish fleet put to sea from the mouth
of the Thames. But Alfred's courageous navy
attacked and destroyed the hostile squadron.
The army of the king had in the mean time
marched against Exeter. Here Guthrun,
king of the Danes, was besieged ; but learning
that his flotilla had been destroyed, he gladly
capitulated, and, giving hostages to Alfred,,
retired with his army into Mercia.
In these fierce conflicts between Alfred and
his antagonist it soon became apparent that
the faith of the Danes even when supported
by the most solemn oaths, was utterly value-
less as a basis of trust or action. No sooner
had King Guthrun returned into Mercia than^
he prepared to renew the war. His maneu-
vers exhibited such skill as in a civilized ruler
would have indicated a chief of diplomacy-
He advanced his head-quarters to Gloucester,.
a position as near as practicable to that of
Alfred. At this place his followers r^-Uied in-
great numbers, and their presence was a.
source of constant alarm to the kingdom of
Wessex.
The time had now come for a new depart-
ure by King Guthrun. Hitherto the devas-
tating excursions of the Danes had always-
been conducted in summer. In winter they
shut themselves up in some fortified town and
spent the frozen season in drinking and carous-
ing, after the manner of the men of the North.
On the first day of January, 878, the king of
the Danes issued to his followers a secret order
to meet him on horseback at a certain rendez-
vous. King Alfred was at that time in his
capital at Chippenham, little anticipating the
impending attack. While he and his Saxons-
were observing the feast of the Epiphany the
Danes suddenly burst through the gates with
an overwhelming force, and the king barely
saved himself by flight. Accompanied by a
small band of faithful followers, he fled into
the woods and concealed himself in the som-
ber moorlands of the West. Chippenham was
pillaged by the victorious marauders, who
then rode in triumph from one end of Wes-
sex to the other. Some of the inhabitants
made their way to the Isle of Wight. Some
escaped to the continent. Most of the peas-
S62
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
antry remained and were reduced to an igno-
minious servitude by their Danisli masters.
In the county of Somerset a heroic band
still upheld the banners of the king ; but when
Alfred came among them he was obliged,
for fear of treachery, to hide himself in the
fenlands. He found a lurking-place iu the
forests of Prince's Island, which was then the
haunt of wild be^ts and the home of outlaws.
Here the king was obliged to maintain him-
self as best he could by fishing and the chase.
Sometimes he and his companions would sally
forth by night, and, falling secretly upon the I
In this extremity of his fortunes the king
was discovered by others of his faithful friends.
Many rallied around hun as the hope of Saxon
England. The islet where they gathered,
was fortified, and Alfred began to look for-
ward to an escape from his shameful subjec-
tion. His spirit was also strengthened by a
vision of St. Cuthbert, who came to him in
the guise of a pUgrim, begging alms. With
him the king divided his only loaf, and the
pUgrim went away; but he returned by night
and comforted the king with assurances of suc-
cess.— Such is a pious tradition of the times.
KING ALFRED IX 'IFIE VKASANT'S HUT.
Danes, plunder some exposed camp and then
return to covert. To this epoch of extreme
hardship belongs the story of Alfred's visit to
the hut of the swineherd, where he lodged for
«ome time unknown to the peasant and his
■wife. One day, while the king sat moody
by the hearthstone, and the woman of the
hovel was baking bread, he noticed not that
the loaves were burning. The housewife, at
length discovering the ruin of her bread,
rushed upon him with angry gesture and ex-
claimed: "You man! you will not turn the
bread you see burning, but you will be glad
enough to eat it !'
Meanwhile, the men of Somersetshire,
Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Hampshire took
heart against the Danes and flocked to the
camp of Alfred, now no longer concealed.
The courage of the gathering army was still
further kindled by an event in Devon. Hubba,
one of the Danish chiefs, had landed with
a large force in that province ; but the men
of Devon rose upon them in great might,
slew the king with nine hundred of his fol-
lowers, and captured their banner, embroidered
with the terrible raven of Denmark.
Already the king ventured forth and skir-
mished with the enemy. Determining to as-
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 563
certain the number and resources of the
Danes, he adopted the hazardous expedient
of going into their camp in disguise. He ac-
cordingly clad himself as a minstrel (called
gleeman by the Anglo-Saxonsj, and gained an
entrance in this garb to the camp of King
Guthrun. There he entertained the warriors
with baDads and songs ; but he carefully noted
the condition of the camp, and was delighted
to' observe the security in which the Danes
were resting. He obtained full information
of their plans and purposes and then returned
to his own retreat in safety.
Believing that the time had come to strike
B, decisive blow, Alfred now sent word to the
warriors of Wessex to rendezvous in Selwood
forest. His faithful subjects flocked to the
•designated spot, knowing not, however, that
their king had sent the summons. Great was
the joy of the army on the sudden appear-
ance of the beloved Alfred among them. The
enthusiam of the Saxons rose to the highest
pitch, and the king, perceiving that the au-
spicious hour had come, marched rapidly
upon the Danes at Ethandune. Here a great
battle was fought, in which the enemy, taken
completely by surprise, was utterly routed.
Guthrun, with the remnant of his forces, fled
to his fortifications, whither he was immedi-
ately pursued and besieged by the Saxons.
After a fortnight the supplies of the Danes
-were exhausted, and Guthrun was obliged to
capitulate. Not hoping to drive the enemy
■out of England, Alfred demanded that the
Danes should evacuate all Wessex, and that
their king should receive Christian baptism.
The enlightened policy of the Saxon king was
clearly shown in the conditions which he im-
posed. Guthrun accepted the terms which
were offered, and Alfred, with the consent of
his Thanes, made to him a cession of all the
eastern part of the island from the Thames to
the Humber.' The kingdom of North Um-
bria, lying beyond the Humber, was already
under the dominion of the Danes ; so that
after the treaty their territories, which now
'The language of King Alfred's cession to tlie
Danes is as follows : " Let the bounds of our
dominion stretch to the river Thames, and from
thence to the water of Lea, even unto the head
of the same water; and thence straight unto
Bedford, and finally going along by the river Ouse
let them end at Watlingstreet-"
took the name of Danelagh, extended from
the Thames to the Tweed. The policy of
Alfred, as it respected the foreigners in Eng-
land, evidently contemplated their fusion with
the Saxons and the consequent production of
a single people in the island. At the baptism
of the Danish king, his generous conqueror
answered for him at the font. He received
the name of Athelstan, and in 878 was dis-
missed to his own territory, loaded with
presents.
After this treaty between the Danes and
Saxons, the two peoples lived in comparative
peace; but this was true only of the North-
men already in the island. Other pagan
hordes kept pouring in from Denmark and
infesting the shores of Saxon England. It
was the epoch when Holland, Belgium,
France, and Britain were alternately assaUed
by the northern pirates, and the success of
any of these countries in beating back the ma-
rauders was generally an index of the inability
of some other to beat them off. Thus when
Alfred repelled them from his shores, they
redoubled the fury of their assaults in the
Low Countries and in France.
In his relations with the English Danes,
Alfred exhibited his liberality and prudence.
The laws of the two peoples were gradually
assimilated. It was agreed that Danish sub-
jects should be regarded as under the protec-
tion of Saxon statutes. If an Englishman
slew a Dane, he was punished in the same
manner and degree as though his victim had
been of the homicide's own race. All fines
were assessed in the money of both people
and were payable in that of either. The in-
tercourse between the Saxon and Danish sol-
diery was carefully regulated to the end that
incursions, reprisals, and retaliations might be
avoided.
Now it was that King Alfred began to
display his qualities as a civilizer. In his
boyhood he had been taken by his father to
Rome, and had there imbibed a taste for the
culture of the South. He longed to see his
own people humanized and refined by the in-
fluence of letters. With a view to planting
the seeds of learning, he invited Asser, a
monk of St. David's, who was then esteemed
the greatest philosopher in England, to come
to his court, that he might profit by the con-
664
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
versations and instructions of one so learned,
for a long time Asser remaiued with the
king, reading with him out of the best books
and teaching him from the abundance of his
lore. The ties between the distinguished
monk and his sovereign became as enduring
as they were affectionate. The royal mind
and the mind of the scholar cooperated to
kindle in the fogs of our ancestral island, even
ALFRED THE GKEAT.
in the darkness of a gloomy and violent age,
that torch of gentle radiance which shineth in
the darkness.
In the year 886, while the piratical Danes
were engaged in the siege of Paris, King
Alfred availed himself of the opportunity to
rebuild and fortify the city of London. This
ancient municipality, the founding of which
is said to antedate the Roman conquest, had
been burned by the Danes, and the place was
reduced almost to a waste. Under the patron-
age of the king, the city arose from her ashes
and soon became more populous than ever.
Ethelred, earl of Mercia and son-in-law of the
king, was made protector of London, which
soon, though on the immediate frontier of
Danelagh, became one of the most imj)ortant
cities of the kingdom.
In the mean time the fleet of England had
been steadily extending the Saxon dominion
on the sea. At the first the king had found
it necessary, on account of the inexperience
of his own sailors, to employ foreign captains
for his flotilla. Many Frieslanders, skillful in
the management of vessels,
were procured as oflicers, and
the king's squadron, thus
manned and commanded, be-
came equal, if not superior, to
the fleets of the Danes. In
the year 882, and again in
885, decisive victories were
gained liy the English arma-
ment.
By his wisdom in adminis-
tration and his successes in
war, Alfred so strengthened
his kingdom that his enemies
were kept at bay. For a pe-
riod of seven years, during
which time the attention of
the pagans of the North was
almost wholly occupied in
Flanders and in France, the
realms ruled by the king of
the West Saxons had peace
and plenty. Ah-eady in the
green pastures of England
were seen those flocks and
herds which for more than a
thousand years have consti-
tuted a leading feature of the
wealth of the island. But while tliis pros-
perity prevailed in the insular kingdom,
certain parts of the continent, particularly
those which were infested by the Danes,
were distressed with a grievous famine.
This condition of affairs soon led the North-
men to abandon the regions of starvation
for the realms of plenty. The very pros-
perity of England became a bait to allure
once more to her shores the wolfish pirates of
the Baltic.
In the year 893, the most formidable fleet
of Danes ever thus far seen in Englii^i waters
appeared off the coast of Eomney Marsh.
The armament consisted of two hundred and
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 565
fifty ships, every vessel being filled with war-
riors and horses gathered out of Flanders and
France. The fleet anchored at the eastern ter-
mination of the Wood of Anderida, near the
mouth of the river Limine, into which they
towed their vessels. The invaders then
marched inland and constructed a fortified
camp at Appledore. In the same year, the
celebrated Hastings, commander-in-chief of
the Danish fieet, sailed up the Thames with a
squadron of eighty ships and debarked at
Milton. Here, also, a strong fortification was
constructed. For the Danes had now grown
wary of the English king, and acted on the
defensive. The aged Guthrun was dead, and
his conservative influence was no longer felt
in the movements of his countrymen. Every
thing conspired to stake once more the fate of
England on the issue of battle. In the strug-
gle that ensued, the military skill and valor
of King Alfred were fairly weighed against
the prowess of the brave and audacious
Hastings.
The genius of the king now appeared con-
spicuous. According to Saxon law, the mili-
tia of the kingdom could only be called into
the field for the space of forty days. This
short period of service seemed an insuperable
difiiculty in the organization of an army. To
remove this embarrassment, the king adopted
the plan of organizing his forces into two di-
visions, whose duties alternated between the
home service and the service of the field. He
thus succeeded in producing a more permanent
and thoroughly disciplined army than had
been seen in Britain since the days of the
Romans.
Having in this manner prepared himself
for the conflict, the king advanced into Kent
and secured a position between the two divis-
ions of the Danes. His station was chosen
with so much skill and held with so much
courage that the two armies of the Northmen
could in no way form a junction. From his
camp he sent forth small detachments of troops
to scour the country in all directions, and cut
ofi" supplies from the Danes. The latter were
thus brought to the extremity of breaking up
their camp and leaving the kingdom. But
this movement of Hastings was only a feint.
The Danish army, encamped on the Limine,
instead of sailing away, marched rapidly
to Alfred's rear. When the king turned
about and followed this division of the enemy,
Hastings, who had apparently put to sea, re-
turned to Benfleet in Essex. Alfred, how-
ever, continued his pursuit of the other army,
and overtook them at Farmham, in Surrey.
Here a great battle was fought, in which the
Saxons were victorious. Those of the Danes
who escaped were pursued through Middlesex
and Essex across the river Coin into the Isle
of Mersey. Here they were besieged by Al-
fred and compelled to sue for peace. They
surrendered on condition of an immediate de-
parture from England.
But before Alfred could enforce the terms
of capitulation the men of Danelagh rose in
revolt, and created such a diversion that the
attention of Alfred was immediately drawn to
other parts of his kingdom. A large Danish
fleet bore down upon the coast of Devon, and
the city of Exeter was besieged. Another
armament, equipped by the enemy in North-
umbria, sailed around Scotland, and, descend-
ing the western coast as far as Bristol Channel,
entered that water, and laid siege to a fortified
town on the Severn. The king was thus
obliged to make all speed from Essex to the
West. On reaching Exeter he attacked and
overthrew the Danes, driving them pell-mell
to their ships. In like manner the Saxons
fell upon the enemy at Severn, and obliged
the raising of the siege. While these move-
ments were in progress the king's son-in-law,
Ethelred, rallied the soldiery of London, at-
tacked the fortified post of the enemy at Ben-
fleet, captured the Danish encampment, and
made captives of the wife of Hastings and his
two sons. With a generosity unusual, perhaps
unequaled in those half-barbaric times, the
king ordered the prisoners to be returned to
the Danish chieftain. It was an act which
would have been expected in vain at the hands
of Charlemagne, or even of Otho the Great.
It appears that Hastings had but a feeble
appreciation of the chivalrous conduct of his
adversary. In a short time he reappeared
with his fleet in the Thames, and then marched
to the West. He traversed the couutry as
far as the Severn, and established himself at
Buttington. But the Welsh as well as the
Saxons were now thoroughly aroused, and
with them made a common cause against the
566
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
invader. Hastings was surrounded and be-
sieged. Supplies were cut off, and Alfred
soon had the pleasure of hearing that the
pent-up Danes were reduced to the extremity
of filling their insatiable maws with the flesh
of their own half-starved horses. The Danish
leader, however, knew no such word as de-
spair. Summoning all his resources for the
effort, he dashed himself upon the line of the
besiegers and succeeded in breaking through.
But the desperate exploit cost him the larger
part of his forces. With the remainder he
retraced his course and reached his fleet on
the coast of Essex.
In the following winter Hastings was reen-
forced by men out of Danelagh. With the
opening of spring he made an expedition into
the central counties of the kingdom. He
gained possession of the town of Chester, for-
tified of old by the Romans, and here estab-
lished himself in a position impregnable to
assault. So skillful, however, were the ma-
neuvers of Alfred that Hastings in a short
time found his supplies cut off, and, dreading
a repetition of his experience at Buttington,
left Chester and marched into the north of
Wales. In that country they were confronted
and turned back by an army of Welsh and
Saxons. On the retreat the Danes traversed
Northumbria, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Suf-
folk, and finally reached their winter quarters
in Essex.
In the following year Hastings ascended
the river Lea and erected a fortress at Ware.
Here he was attacked by the men of London,
but the latter were defeated with great losses.
Alfred was obliged to protect the people of
the city by encamping between it and the po-
sition of the Danish army. At this juncture
the genius of the king stood him well in hand.
Taking possession of the Lea at a point below
the town of Ware, he threw up fortifications
and then digged three deep and broad canals
from the river to the Thames. The waters of,
the Lea were thus drained into the parent
stream, and the Danish fleet, left high and
dry, was rendered useless. Perceiving his
critical condition, Hastings abandoned every
thing, broke from his camp by night, and
made for the Severn. Here he took up a
strong position at Quatbridge, and having for-
tified his camp, remained therein during the
winter. Meanwhile the men of London madt
their way to the Lea, seized the stranded fleet,
destroyed what ships they could not drag
away, and floated the rest down to the city.
It was now evident that the career of
Hastings on English soU was weU-nigh at an
end. His expeditions had been gradually re-
stricted to the poorer districts of the country,
and his ill success during the last three years
had destroyed his prestige with his own peo-
ple. While in their winter quarters at Quat-
bridge, the Danish leaders quarreled, and with
the opening of the spring of 897, these rest-
less followers of the raven of Denmark left
their fortifications, broke up into small de-
tachments and scattered in all directions. A
few who still adhered to the fortunes of
Hastings made their way to the eastern coast,
where they equipped a small fleet and sailed
away to France.
So rapid had been the progress of the
Anglo-Saxons in the building and manage-
ment of ships, that King Alfred's navy was
now greatly superior to any which the Danes
could bring against him. The form of the
English ships had been improved and their
size enlarged to almost double the dimensions
of the craft of the pirates. The shores of
England were now protected by more than
a hundred ships, and it was only occasionally
that a Danish fleet durst anywhere come to
land. The king, moreover, adopted a more
severe policy with respect to his enemies,
who, the hope of conquest being now aban-
doned, could be regarded only as robbers. In
one instance a severe sea-fight occurred off the
Isle of Wight. Two of the enemy's ships
with their crews were taken and brought to
shore, whereupon the king ordered the last
man of them to be hanged. In the following
three years, the same severity was shown in
the case of twenty other ships captured from
the enemy ; and this conduct, so at variance
with the humane disposition of the king, was
justified on the ground that the Danish crews
so taken were traitors out of Danelagh and
not honorable pagans from abroad.
During the period of the Danish invasions
of England, the country suffered besides the
calamities of war the ravages of pestilence.
The contemporaneous famine on the conti-
nent seems not greatly to have distressed the
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 567
British Islands. But the horrors of the plague
counterbalanced the immunity from famine.
Many of the best and noblest Saxons, includ-
ing not a few of the most powerful Thanes in
Wessex, were carried oif. At the same time
the murrain broke out among the English
cattle, so that death in the city was answered
by death in the field. It was in the midst of
these dangers, distresses, aud sorrows that the
virtues of the greatest and wisest of the early
English kings were tried in the fire and found
pure gold.
The career of Alfred was already drawing
to a close. His labors in the camp, the field,
and the court were as unceasing as those of
goodness of character was acknowledged by
his contemporaries and has been confirmed by
the judgment of modern times. His genius
was equaled by his beneficence, and his wis-
dom by his success. In his childhood he was
carefully trained by his mother. He accom-
panied his father through France and Italy
to Rome. Nor is it doubtful that, though
but eight years of age, his mind was deeply
impressed with the superiority of the art and
refinement of the South. One year of his
boyhood was spent in the Eternal City and
one in Paris. The active mind of the prince
could but have been much occupied with the
painful contrast between the colossal struc-
^^^l>'
ALFRED S MOTHER TEACHES HIM THE SAXON SONGS.
Drawn by A. de Neuville.
Charlemagne ; but the equable tempered Eng-
lish monarch was a man of far finer fiber and
mould than his great Frankish contemporary.
In his boyhood Alfred was enfeebled by dis-
ease, and about the time of reaching his ma-
jority he was attacked by another and pain-
ful malady, which afilicted him through life.
Even in times of his greatest activity he was
seldom free from pain. Soon after the retire-
ment of the Danes from the kingdom, his
health began rapidly to decline. In the
month of October, 901, the good king, being
then in the fifty-third year of his age, died
and was buried in the monastery which he
had founded at Winchester.
The estimate of the life and work of Al-
fred the Gnat can hardly be overdrawn. His
tures of stone in the old and the new capital
and the poor wooden houses and low, mud
huts of his own country.
These episodes in the boy-life of the great
king, no doubt, did much to inspire within
him the love of letters. He conceived the
great project of raising his people from bar-
barism and bringing them to the light. He
began this work with the cultivation of his
own mind. He listened with delight to the
gleemen as they recited in his father's court
the wild and warlike ballads of the Anglo-
Saxons. He learned his country's songs by
heart, and his own poetic genius, even in
boyhood, was thus kindled into a flame.
Having mastered his vernacular, the princn
then undertook the learning of Latir*, th«
^68
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
classic language of his times. He became a
skillful translator and sought diligently to
improve the taste of his people by rendering
the works of the Latin authors into the
Anglo-Saxou vernacular. He urged the same
work upon the scholars who frequented his
court, and on one occasion addressed to the
bishops of the kingdom an earnest appeal, in
which he recommended that "all good and
'f^^S^
J^./fl^
ALFRED THE GREAT IN HIS STUDY.
Drawn by A. Maillard.
useful books be translated into the language
which we all understand ; so that all the
youths of England, but more especially those
■who are of gentle kind and easy circum-
stances, maj' be grounded in letters — for they
can not profit in any pursuit until they are
well able to read English."
The king was not by any means content
with the culture of his court. He availed
himself of every opportunity to sow the seeds
•of enlightenment in all parts of the kingdom.
He conceived the grand project of popular
education, and his work in this respect far
surpassed that of Charlemagne in France.
On his accession to the throne the outlook for
English culture was by no means encouraging.
The seats of learning had been ravaged by the
Danes. The once flourishing schools of North-
umberland were either destroyed or had fallen
into decay. The ignorance of the English
people was amazing for its grossness. At the
time of the death of Ethelred there was
scarcely a professional teacher in all Wessex,
and the Anglo-Saxon language could not
boast of a single text-book. In his efforts to
organize public schools the king was obliged
to send to INIercia for teachers, and
even in that kingdom none were
found competent for the work except
the priests. A few instructors were
brought over from France. Bishop
Asser, upon whom Alfred most relied
in the prosecution of his educational
enterprises, was a Welshman. In or-
der to supply the text-books necessary
for his people, the king recommended
the translation of works already exist-
ing in Latin or French ; and thus by
precept and example he sought to
implant in the nascent mind of Eng-
land the fundamentals of culture and
learning.
The reputation of King Alfred as
a diligent scholar, no less than a war-
like sovereign, is as wide as the fame
of the English race. It is a matter
" of surprise how, amid the arduous
duties of government and the dan-
gers and disasters of war, this benign
sovereign found time and opportunity
for those laudable pursuits in which
he so greatly delighted. Nothing
but the most methodical division of his
time could have enabled him, with the mea-
ger facilities at his command, to make so
great progress in scholarship and literature.'
The greatest of King Alfred's works as an
author are his translations of Boethius's Con-
solation of Philosophy and of Bede's Ecclesiasti-
cal History of tlie English. Measured by mod-
ern standards, neither of these works would
be considered preeminent as a translation.
The king sought to reproduce the spirit rather
than the letter of the original. The work of
Boethius was rendered by the king at Wood-
' The king's daily program of duty and rest was
as follows: eight hours for meals, exercise, and
sleep; eight hours for the affairs of government;
and eight for study and devotion.
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 569
stock, iu Oxfordshire, and was called by
iiim — from its adaptation to the common af-
fairs of life — the Handbook or Maniml. The
jendering of the Ecclesiastical History of the
Venerable Bede was a work of the highest im-
portance to the young nationality of England,
for the story was of such sort as to affect the
Still half-barbarous Anglo-Saxons much as
Homer's song of ancient Troy may be sup-
posed to have swayed the passions of the old
Hellenes.
Time would fail to narrate the swift trans-
formation of England effected by the genius
of Alfred the Great. He found his country
without a navy and his countrymen ignorant
of the management of ships. AVhen he died,
the English fleet was the best on the western
coast of Europe. By the most unwearied ef-
forts he obtained a fair geographical knowl-
edge, not only of his own country, but also
■of most of the nearer states and kingdoms of
the continent. Whatever could be gathered
in the way of information was carefully re-
duced to writing. Travelers and voyagers
were sent abroad for the express purpose
of deciding disputed points in geography.
On such a mission even so distinguished a
person as Swithelm, bishop of Sherburn, was
•dispatched overland to India ! Not less as-
tonishing is the fact that the journey was
safely performed, and that the adventurous
bishop came happily home, bringing with him
jjems and spices from the East.
Among the other enterprises of Alfred
may be meutioued the better style of building
"which he introduced ; the general prevalence
of human comfort which he encouraged ; the
jebuilding of desolated towns and the found-
ing of others; the construction of fortifica-
tions and harbors ; the survey of the coasts
And rivers of England ; the erection of strong
towers and castles in different parts of the
Jdngdora ; the revision of the Anglo-Saxon
Jaws ; the development of the Witenagemot
into a regular parliament, upon which, jointly
with himself, was devolved the care of the
■state ; the institution of a system of police so
effective that it was said bracelets of gold
might be hung out of doors without the least
danger of theft , the establishment of an effi-
■cient judiciary ; and the general stimulus
■which he afforded to all kinds of industry in
the kingdom. It is not wonderful, in view of
the prodigious activities, kindly genius, and
generous character of Alfred, that even after
the times of William the Conqueror the Nor-
man kings and nobles were accustomed to re-
fer to this illustrious ruler as the chief glory
of early England.
On the death of Alfred the Great, in the
year 901, the succession was disputed by his
son Edward and Iws nephew Ethehvald, son
of that Ethelbald who had preceded Alfred on
the throne. Each of the claimants gathered
an army; but the forces of Ethelwald were
found so much inferior to those of Edward
that the former, forbearing to fight, fled into
Danelagh, where he was recognized as king.
Prince Edward then ascended the throne of
England, and received the surname of the
Elder.
The turbulent Danes had long fretted un-
der the strict law of Alfred, and many rest-
less spirits among the Saxons had chosen the
North as the more congenial scene of their
lawlessness. All of these malcontent elements
of the rising English society combined around
the standard of Ethelwald. Between him and
Edward, in the year 905, a terrible battle
was fought, in which Ethelwald was slain ;
but the general result was so indecisive that
the Danes were enabled to treat on equal
terms with the Saxon prince. The project
of the complete independence of Danelagh
was entertained by the rebels ; nor were they
without a hope of regaining their ascendency
over the whole island. For six years the war
continued with varying successes ; but in 911
Edward met the Danes on the river Severn,
and inflicted on them an overwhelming defeat.
In the mean time a peculiar complication
had arisen in the earldom of Mercia. In that
country the Princess Ethelfleda, daughter of
Alfred the Great and wife of Ethelred, had
succeeded her deceased husband in authority.
Nor did she hesitate to assert and maintain
the independence of her country of her brother
Edward's rule. She raised an army and com-
manded like a warrior. It was evident that
her father's spirit was upon her. She made a
successful defense against the claims of her
brother, and then drove the Danes out of
Derby and Leicester. In battle she com-
manded in person, and even led successful
570
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
a^^orming parties against seemingly impregna-
ble fortifications. She conducted an expedition
into Wales and made prisoner the wife of the
king. After a brilliant career of eight years
she died in 920, whereupon the kingdom of
Mercia was given up to Edward. This gave
the king a great advantage in the North, in
so much that all the country between the
Thames and the Humber was presently over-
awed by the Saxon arms. From this vantage
ground King Edward made campaigns against
the people of Northern Danelagh. He sub-
dued the Welsh and the Scotch. He made suc-
cessful warfare upon the inhabitants of Strath-
clyde, Cumbria, and Galloway, thus extending
further than ever before the dominions of
England in the North.
After a successful reign of twenty-four
years Edward died, and in 925 was succeeded
by his son Athelstane. The court of this
king is represented as having been more brill-
iant than that of any preceding sovereign.
His policy was to carry forward the civiliza-
tion of England — a work so well begun by his
father and grandfather. The great event of
the earlier part of his reign was the conquest
of Wales, which country at this time became
more subjected than hitherto to the author-
ity of the English kings. So marked were
the successes of Athelstane in the West that
the Welsh were compelled to make payment
of heavy tribute, and droves of beeves from
the pastures of Wales were now first driven
into London and Oxford. A like subjugation
of the people was effected in Cornwall, and
the warlike tribes beyond the river Tamar
were reduced to obedience.
Meanwhile the people of Danelagh, always
restive under English rule, had again gath-
ered head for an insurrection. A leader was
found in the Prince Olaf, or Aulaf, of North-
umbria, who had of late carried on a success-
ful war in Ireland, where he took the city of
Dublin, and compelled the Celtic nations of
the island to pay tribute. After these ex-
ploits the Danish chieftain returned to North-
umbria, and sailed up the Humber with a
fleet of six hundred and twenty sail. He
effected an alliance with Constantine, king
of the Scots, and was joined by the men of
Strathclyde and Cumbria. The whole North
rose in arms and bore down upon King Ath-
elstane, who came forth and met his enemies-
on the field of Brunuaburg. Here the En-
glish gained a glorious victory. Five Danish
princes of royal rank and seven earls were
slain in this battle. A handful led by Olaf
fled into Ireland. Constantine made his way
north of the Frith of Forth, wailing out his
grief for the death of his son. So decisive-
was the victory of Athelstane that none durst-
any longer resist his authority. The consoli-
dation of the kingdoms and peoples of the
island was now so complete that Athelstane
felt warranted in assuming the title of " King
of the English," a dignity which had not been-
claimed by either Edward or Alfred the-
Great.
The application of the term England to
the growing monarchy is no longer inappro-
priate. The court of Athelstane was hardly-
less splendid than that of the later Carlovin-
gians. Several foreign princes, either for ob-
servation or safety, made their home for a.
season with the English monarch. As already
narrated, Louis d'Outremer found with his-
mother a safe retreat in Loudon. Haco, son
of King Harold of Norway, also abode with
the courtiers of Athelstane. The counts of
Brittany and Armorica, driven from their na-
tive possessions by the fury of the Danes,
waited in England for the subsidence of the-
storm. Rulers of distant nations sent to the-
English king many and costly gifts, and the
givers sought diligently to ally themselves
with the Saxon blood by seeking the sisters-
of Athelstane in marriage.
In his patronage of letters and art Athel-
stane emulated the example of his grand-
father. The translation of the Bible into-
Anglo-Saxon — a work which had been well
begun in the reign of Alfred — was now dili-
gently promoted, and the rising literature of
England had no cause to complain of the-
want of royal patronage. After a brilliant
reign of fifteen years, Athelstane died, and
was succeeded in 940 by his brother Edmukd,
surnamed the Atheling.
The new king proved to be a prince-
worthy of his stock. His character, however,
showed itself in a fondness for the pursuits-
of peace rather than the carnage of war.
Edmund was compelled, none the less, to lead
his people in the long-continued struggle witlfc
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 571
the Danes ; for the great leader, Olaf, now
returned from his retreat in Ireland, and
again incited his countrymen to rise against
the English. In the struggle that ensued the
fortune of war turned in favor of the Danes,
who gained several victories over Edmund's
forces. The king was obliged at last to consent
to a peace on the basis of resigning to the Danes
the whole country north of Watlingstreet.
Scarcely, however, had this brief settlement
been effected when the Danish leader died,
and King Edmund succeeded in regaining the
countries of the North. The kingdom of the
Scots by this time began to show signs of vi-
tality and progress. With Malcolm, king of
that realm, Edmund deemed it expedient to
cultivate friendly relations, and the two sov-
ereigns made an alli.ince against the Danes.
The English ruler soon showed his faith by
his works. He made an invasion of Cumbria,
whose people were in rebellion, and having
reduced them to submission, made a present
of the province to Malcolm. In the course
of his war with the Cumbrians, Edmund made
prisoners of the two sons of the king, Dum-
mail, and them, in a manner wholly at vari-
ance with the usual clemency of the Anglo-
Saxons in victory, he barbarously deprived of
their eyes. Nemesis, however, soon brought
her retribution for the deed. At the festival
of St. Augustine in that year, while the king
caroused with his nobles and Thanes, he rec-
ognized in the company a noted outlaw named
Leof, who had been banished. Edmund or-
dered his expulsion from the festival, but the
bandit stood his ground. The king, already
heated with wine, sprang from his seat, seized
Leof by his long hair, and attempted to lay
him low, but the robber could not be handled.
He drew a dagger and stabbed Edmund to
the vitals. Thus, in the year 946, the crown
of the kingdom was transferred by the sudden
death of the king to Eldred, another son of
Edward the Elder.
This prince was already by the ravages of
disease a physical wreck, and on account of
his debility was nicknamed Debilis Pedibus, or
Weak Feet. Fortunate it was for the new
administration that the resolute Duustan, ab-
bot of Glastonbury, was one of the king's
counselors, as was also the able Torkatul,
chancellor of the kingdom.
On the accession of Eldred, the people of
Danelagh, in common with the other inhaoi-
tants of the North, took the oath of allegiance
to the new king. But it was not long until,
incited by Eric, prince of Denmark, they
took up arms against the Saxons. By this
time the English army had become a veteran
soldiery, and the discipline of Eldred's forces
triumphed over the audacity of the Danes.
Several bloody battles were fought, in which
the English were victorious. Northumbria
was more completely subjugated than ever be-
fore. The title of king was abolisiied, and
the province was incorporated with the other
realms of Eldred. It was not long, however,
after these marked successes until the king
died, without offspring, and left the crown
(A. D. 955) to his brother Edwy, a youth
but fifteen years of age.
The incapacity of the new sovereign was
manifested in one of the first acts of his
reign. He appointed his brother Edgar sub-
regulus, or under king, of the old realm of
Mercia, thus laying again the foundation for
a possible dismemberment of the kingdom.
The recent chastisement of the Danes and the
generally quiet condition of affairs in the
North gave promise of a peaceful reign. It
happened, however, that a domestic embro-
glio arose, almost as ominous as a foreign
war. The youthful king became enamored
of his cousin Elgiva, whom he might not
marry without violation to one of the most
deeply seated prejudices of the Church. The
prince, however, took the law into his own
hands and married the maiden of his choice.
Dunstan, already referred to as wielding a
powerful influence in the state, set his face
against the union. At the nuptial festival,
when the monks and bishops, in common
with the Thanes, had imbibed wine until they
were uproariously drunken, the young king,
less intemperate than his courtiers, slipped
from the banquet hall and sought the cham-
ber of his queen. His absence was at once
remarked by the banqueters, who were deeply
offended at their monarch's withdrawal. Dun-
stan was at once dispatched to bring him
back. The monk accordingly broke into the
bridal chamber, seized upon Edwy, dragged
him from the side of Elgiva, and hurried him
back to the banquet. The queen, also, and
572
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
her mother were obliged to lend their pres-
ence ; and when they reached the hall where
the revelers were carousing, they were in-
sulted with filthy and disgusting language.
This conduct struck fire from the indignant
spirit of Edwy, and he determined to be re-
venged on the indecent churchmen who had
disgraced his nuptials.
At this time the English Church was rent
■with feuds and quarrels over the question of
the celibacy of the clergy. Some main-
tained— and to this class the secular clergymen
mostly belonged — that the priests might marry
without offense to the divine law ; but the
monks on the contrary, held that the mar-
riage of a priest was a thing most horrible
in the sight of heaven. The leaders of the
latter party were Odo, archbishop of Canter-
bury, and the monk Dunstan. It appears that
the king had espoused the opposite doctrine,
and this fact added fuel to the quarrel which
had broken out at the marriage feast. Dun-
stan, who had been treasurer of the kingdom
during the reign of Eldred, was charged with
peculation and driven into exile. He fled
into Flanders, and it is said that the king
made an unsuccessful attempt to have the
monk's eyes put out by the people of Ghent.
Archbishop Odo remained in Northumbria.
Himself a Dane, he appealed to the people of
his race to rise in revolt against the impious
Edwy. In order to encourage a civil war,
the insurgent party proclaimed Edgar king
of the whole country north of the Thames.
Dunstan, hearing of the insurrection which
had been so successfully begun, returned from
his exile.
While these events were taking place, the
enemies of the king accomplished his domestic
ruin. A company of knights, or more prop-
erly bandits, employed by the archbishop of
Canterbury, broke into the royal residence,
seized the beautiful Elgiva, branded her in
the face with a hot iron, and dragging her
away, cast her, a disfigured exile, into Ire-
land. The people of that island had compas-
sion upon her in her misfortunes. They care-
fully nursed her back to health and beauty —
for her wounds healed without scars — and sent
her back to England. But the relentless Odo
was on the alert. His brigands again seized
the unfortunate queen. By them she was
barbarously mutilated. The tendons of het
limbs were cut ; and in a few days the suffer-
ing princess expired in agony. This shock
was more than the high-spirited Edwy could
bear. In a short time, being in despair,
he died. Nor is the suspicion wanting that
the expiring agonies of the royal heart were
hastened to a close by an assassin.
Thus in the year 959 Prince Edgar came
to the throne of England. The event, viewed
politically, was the triumph of the monkish
party, headed by Odo and Dunstan. A re-
lentless warfiire was now waged against the
married clergymen of the kingdom. They
were everywhere expelled from' the abbeys,
monasteries, cathedrals, and churches. The
doctrine of celibacy was enforced with merci-
less rigor. The monkish party ruled both
king and kingdom. The youthful Edgar be-
came a pliant tool in the hands of the old
foxes, who were loose in the pastures and gar-
dens of England. In the midst of this pro-
gressive retrogression several circumstances
conspired to improve the condition of the
kingdom. The king had been reared among
the Danes, and was by them looked upon as
their own prince. His accession to the throne
was regarded as a kind of Danish ascendency
in the island. This fact contributed greatly
to the general peace of the realm. Nor can
it be denied that Odo and Dunstan adminis-
tered the affairs of state with great vigor and
ability. The kingdom was more thoroughly
consolidated than ever before. The English
army was better disciplined, and the fleet was
increased to three hundred and sixty sail.
The ministers of the king induced him to
adopt a policy of journeying in person into
all parts of England, making the acquaintance
of the people, holding courts, and encourag-
.ing enterprise. So great was his reputation
that eight kings are said to have rowed his
barge in the river Dee.
This actual augmentation of power was re-
flected in the high-sounding titles which Edgar
assumed. He was called Emperor of Albion,
King of the English and of all the islands
and nations around. It was the good fortune
of his reign not to be disturbed by a single
war, and from this auspicious circumstance
the king received the surname of the Peace-
' able. His policy was conciliatory. The
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 573
Welsh tribute was commuted into three hun-
dred wolf-scalps annually. He called in the
worn and mutilated coin of the kingdom, and
reissued a new money in place of the old.
Many other beneficent measures attested the
progressive character of the times. In his
private life, however, the king was any other
than a temperate or virtuous ruler. His
court was the resort of profligate men and
abandoned women. Notwithstanding the fact
that the king, as the wUling instrument of
Odo and Dunstan, enforced the celibacy of
the clergy with a rigor never before known
among the Anglo-Saxons, he himself failed
ingloriously as an exemplar of the domestic
canons of the church. He bore the character
of a profligate, surrounding himself with con-
cubines and converting the court into a harem.
Not satisfied with ordinary flagitiousness, he
abducted from the monastery of Wilton a
beautiful nun, named Elfreda, and made her
his paramour. Notwithstanding this out-
rageous conduct the monkish chroniclers of
the age bestow great praise on Edgar as a
virtuous and godly prince ! Forsooth it was
sufiicient that he countenanced them in their
doctrines and practices, and supported the
profligate race of shaven scribes who lauded
his fictitious and sham morality.
The story of Edgar's second marriage is
illustrative of the character of the times. Or-
gar, earl of Devonshire, had a beautiful
daughter named Elfrida. The fame of her
charms was borne to the ears of the royal
voluptuary. Imagining himself already in
love with the lily of Devon, he sent thither
one of his courtiers named Athelwold to spy
out the hidden beauty of the West, and to re-
cite to him her varied attractions. The cour-
ier d'amour found the princess even as she
had been represented, and then, after the
manner of men, fell in love with her himself.
Concealing the true object of his mission, he
sought and obtained the hand of Orgar's
daughter in marriage. He then hurried back
to his master and reported that the princess
of Devon was indeed wealthy, but that her
beauty was a myth. The king, however, sus-
pected his spy of lying, and determined to
resolve with his own eyes the question of El-
irida's charms. Athelwold was ordered to
return to Devon and to make straight a path
for the king. The courtier, thus brought into
a narrow place, and knowing not what to do,
ordered his wife to put on coarse attire and
demean herself like a peasant ; but .she, per-
ceiving that she had taken a courtier when
she might have married a king, was not un-
willing that her beauty might dazzle the royal
vision. It thus happened that the double-
dealing Athelwold was hoisted on his own
petard. Presently afterwards he was found
murdered in the woods, and the ambitious
Elfrida was taken by the king. It was not
long until Edgar's son by his former wife was
also disposed of, and the way thus cleared for the
succession of Elfrida's ofl^spring to the throne.
A few years after the perpetration of these
crimes King Edgar died, and was succeeded in
975 by his son, called Edward the Martyr,
at that time but fifteen years of age. He it
was whose claims were resisted by Elfrida.
She advanced the charge that Edward was of
illegitimate birth. The right of her own son
Ethelred was boldly advanced by the unscru-
pulous queen, and the two half-brothers were
soon arrayed against each other in war. Now
it was that the anti-celibate party in the
priesthood rallied from obscurity and banish-
ishment, and espousing the cause of Ethelred,
sought the restoration of their fortunes. On
the other hand, Dunstan, who had now suc-
ceeded Odo as archbishop of Canterbury, up-
held the claims of Edward. In the struggle
that ensued the latter was at first successful ;
but Elfrida was by no means content to see
her son displaced. She made a league with
Alfere, the eolderman of Mercia, and organ-
ized a conspiracy among the Thanes of the
North. For three years the hostile parties
faced each other, but did not proceed to the
extremity of war. Elfrida and her son,
meanwhile, resided at Corfe Castle, in Dorset-
shire. On a certain occasion, the king, hunt-
ing in this neighborhood, resolved to pay a
visit to his half-brother. Elfrida received
Edward with smiles at the castle gate, and
gave him a cup of wine to drink ; but as he
was raising the cup to his lips, one of Elfrida's
attendants stabbed him in the back. The
wounded king put spurs to his horse and fled,
but presently fainting and falling from the
saddle, he was dragged by one foot through
the woods until life was extinct.
574
VNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
This bloody outrage left the boy Ethelred
the rightful heir to the throne ; rightful, for
it appears that in the murder of his half-
brother he had no part or sympathy. It is
even related that when he wept on account of
Edward's death, the furious Elfrida beat him
with a torch until he was well-nigh dead him-
self. The personal innocence of the prince,
however, did not shield him from the popular
odium engendered by his mother's crimes.
Taking advantage of this fact, the able and
crafty Dunstan again appeared on the scene,
and rallied the monkish party against the
throne. He found a claimant to the crown in
the Princess Edgitha, daughter of Edgar and
that lady whom he had abducted from the
nunnery of Wilton. Edgitha, however, had
taken the veil and refused to exchange her
quiet life for the dangers and passions of the
court. The celibate party was therefore
obliged to consent that the crown should be
worn by the imbecile son of Elfrida, upon
whom they vented their spleen by giving him
the nickname of the Unready.
The personal character of several of the
recent kings, and the crimes and murders
whicli had been committed by rival claimants
of the crown and their partisans, no less than
the disgraceful church broils of the celibate
and anti-celibate parties, had by this time
almost extinguished the hearty Saxon loyalty
with which the people had regarded the
House of Alfred. Why should sturdy En-
glishmen any longer uphold the degenerate
representative of that illustrious family ?
Meanwhile, in the course of the last half cen-
tury, the ancient and terrible animosity be-
tween the Saxons and the Danes had sub-
sided. Each had come, in a certain measure,
to regard the other as countrymen. Affinity
of race and language had been supplemented
by hundreds and thousands of inter-marriages.
It thus happened that the Saxon Thanes and
yeomanry of Wessex and the South began to
look with favor upon the project of substitut-
ing an able Dane for a degenerate Saxon on
the throne of England. And while this feel-
ing grew apace in the country south of the
Thames, certain general causes, having their
roots in the political condition of Norway,
Denmark, France, and England, also con-
duced to a ehange of dynasty.
For in the mean time Prince Sweyn, son
of the king of Denmark, having quarreled
with his father, was banished from the king-
dom. Such, however, were his talents, ambi-
tion, and personal influence, that a large
company of warriors and adventurers gathered
around his banner and followed nis fortunes
on the sea. After a few preliminary adven-
tures, the audacious Dane made a descent on
England ; and though at first the expedition
was intended rather to discover the condition
of affiiirs and try the spirit of the people than
to undertake a serious conquest, yet it was
not long until Sweyn conceived a larger and
more alarming enterprise. In the year 981
he fell upon and captured the city of South-
ampton. From hence he proceeded to Chester
and London. These important places were
also taken and pillaged. The ominous raven
of Denmark was seen now here, now there,
as far as the borders of Cornwall. The in-
competency of Ethelred to defend his king-
dom against these aggressions was painfully
manifested. His attention in the great crisis
which was upon the country was absorbed
with local difficulties and the quarrels of the
monks. Alfere of Mercia was now dead, and
the earldom had descended to his son, Alfric.
Him the king had first banished and then re-
called ; but the earl nursed his revenge until
the day of judgment. That day was now
at hand, and Sweyn the Dane was the j)re-
cursor.
In the year 991 the English were defeated
in a great battle fought in East Anglia.
Alarmed at the situation of affiiirs, Ethelred
had recourse to the fatal expedient of pur-
chasing a peace. The payment of ten thou-
sand pounds of silver procured the temporary
retirement of the enemy from the country.
In a short time, however, the Saxon Witena-
gemot adopted measures for the enlargement
and better equipment of the fleet, and the
English soon found themselves again masters
of the sea. But the command of the squad-
ron was given to Alfric, who now found am-
ple opportunity to be revenged. As soon as
an engagement with the Danes could be
brought about he went over with a large part
of the fleet to the enemy. Ethelred was re-
duced to the miserable expedient of seizing
Alfric's son and putting out his eyes.
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 575
In the year 993 all of aueieut Danelagh
was overrun by the native insurgents com-
bined with foreign marauders. Meanwhile,
the king of Denmark was slain, and Sweyu
ascended the throne. He formed an alliance
with Olaf of Norway, and in the following
vear the two monarchs made a formidable de-
scent upon the southern coasts of England.
Ethelred was again obliged to buy ofi' hjs as-
sailants, who now exacted sixteen thousand
pounds as the price of peace. The miserable
and now priest-ridden spirit of the Saxons
found some solace in a clause of the treaty
which required the victors to be baptized. To
this the Danes readily assented. To them it
was no more than a plunge in the water.
Sweyn himself had already several times re-
ceived the rite at the hands of the zealous
priests, anxious for the welfare of his bar-
baric soul. One of the other leaders made a
boast that he had been washed tiventy times!
In the case of Olaf, however, it appears that
.a genuine conversion from paganism was ef-
fected. At any rate he honestly observed his
oath not to trouble the English further.
The same could not be said of his country-
men, who took only to break the oath. From
998 to 1001 the country was constantly vexed
with Danish incursions. Meanwhile, the mil-
itary resources of the kingdom, under the
puerile management of Ethelred and his coun-
cil, rapidly declined until the only available
means of preventing the ascendency of the
Danes was the gold of the treasury. On one
■occasion as much as twenty-four thousand
pounds was paid to secure the departure of
the enemy. This tremendous burden was
lifted by a tax, known as the Dane-geld, which
was levied upon the Saxon yeomanry.
While this deplorable state of affairs ex-
isted at home, Ethelred managed to embroil
the kingdom in foreign complications. He
quarreled with Richard II., duke of Nor-
mandy, and the two princes were proceeding
to war when the Pope commanded the peace.
Ethelred then sought the hand of the Princess
Emma, sister of the Norman duke, and by this
■marriage of the English king with her who
was known as the Flower of Normandy was
laid the foundation of that claim which, in
1066, led to the conquest of the British Isles
by AVilliam the Conqueror.
The general condition of the Danes and
Saxons in England and their relations with
each other, living in many parts intermingled
as a common people, have been already de-
scribed. In the North the Danish population
was generally predominant ; in the South, the
Saxon. In the central districts the two peo-
ples were mixed together. The situation was
such as in case of treachery to expose the vic-
tuns of a plot to the greatest hardships.
It appears that King Ethelred was as per-
fidious as he was weak. The situation of the
Danes seems to have suggested t^ him the
horrible project of exterminating them by a
wholesale massacre ! It can not be denied
that the foreigners and their descendants in
the i-sland had behaved with great harsh-
ness towards the native population. The se-
verity and outrage peculiar to the early years
of the Danish domination had, however, at
length given place to a milder, more tolerable
condition of affairs. Quiet and orderly hab-
its had at length become prevalent among the
grandsons of those old pirates who had made
England red with the light of their burnings.
This state of his people, however, seems to
have had no effect upon the bloody mind of
Ethelred and the scarcely less perfidious spirit
of his Saxon subjects.
In the latter part of the year 1002 the
king sent out secret orders into aU the cities
and towns, appointing' a day and hour in
which the Saxons should everywhere fall upon
and destroy the Danes. The time set for the
great atrocity was the feast of St. Brice,
namely, the 13th of November. With a hor-
rid precision the murderous scheme was car-
ried out. At the appointed hour the unsus-
pecting Danes in every town and hamlet were
attacked and cut down by their neighbors.
No mercy was shown to any. All ages and
conditions were hewed down together. Even
Guuhilda, sister of King Sweyn, herself a
Christian and married to an English earl of
Danish descent, was obliged to look on while
her husband and child were put to death, and
was herself then murdered. No wonder, when
the news of this bloody work was carried to
Denmark, the heart of Sweyn grew hot within
him, and he resolved to visit on the treacher-
ous English such a vengeance as should never
be forgotten.
576
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
A Danish armament was now fitted out by
far greater than any that had ever been seen
off the coasts of England. An army of chosen
warriors, all in the prime of life, was em-
barked, and the isqiiadron set sail for its des-
tination. The fiisl; landing was effected near
the city of Exeter. That place was soon taken
and plundered. The work of vengeance was
now begun in earnest. In every town through
which the invading army passed the Danes
compelled the Saxons to furnish them a feast.
As soon as the warriors had eaten their till
they slew their hosts and set fire to the houses.
When at last a Saxon army of nearly equal
strength was brought out to stay this desolat-
ing inroad, it was commanded by that same
Alfric of Mercia who had already betrayed an
English fleet into the hands of the enemy.
How or why he had again been restored to
the king's favor does not appear. At any
rate, when a battle was imminent, the traitor
got in his work by feigning sickness until
what time King Sweyn succeeded in securing
hb booty and made his way unmolested to
the coast. In the year 1004 England was re-
duced to famine, and the Danes, not liking
the prospect of starvation in a foreign island,
BaUed away to the Baltic.
In the mean time that train of events was
carried forward which portended the establish-
ment of the Norman ascendency in England.
Ethelred had hoped, by his marriage with the
Princess Emma, to obtain an alliance with the
Normans against the Danes. In his emer-
gency he appealed to Duke Richard for help.
The latter heeded his call, but only in such a
way as to promote the interests of his country.
Those Normans who came over to the island
for the ostensible purpose of taking up Ethel-
red's cause against the northern invaders were
more concerned about the establishment of
their master's influence in England than about
the chastisement of the Danes. In the mean
time the king's conduct towards his wife had
been such as to give mortal oflfense to her
womanly pride. She laid her cause before
her brother, the duke, and found in him a
ready listener to the story of her wrongs. A
violent quarrel broke out between him and
Ethelred. The latter was on the eve of in-
vading Normandy, and was only hindered in
his purpose by the distracted condition of the
kingdom. The duke, upon his part, seized
upon all the English in his realm, killed
some, and cast the rest into prison. Thus'
was engendered between England and Nor-
mandy a state of hostility which was not-
likely to be appeased, except by the conquest-
of one of the countries by the other.
While these events were in progress King;
Sweyn again returned into England, fur-
ther to appease his vengeance on the murder-
ers of his countrymen. The Witenagemot,
knowing the warrior with whom they had to-
deal, and thoroughly distrusting their own
sovereign, adopted the usual expedient of pur-
chasing a peace. But the triumphant Sweyi*
now demanded thirty thousand pounds as the
price of his forbearance. This enormous sum
was raised- and paid; but the people began at
last to see tliat the spoliation of the country
was as dreadful under the policy adopted by
the king as if the laud were left a prey to the
Danes.
In 1008, only two years after the former
levy, another assessment was made upon the
lands of the kingdom. The object in this in-
stance was to rebuild the English fleet ; but
after this work was accomplished the squad-
ron was soon broken up by the dissensions'
and treachery of the commanders. A certain
courtier named Edric had obtained such an
ascendency over Ethelred's mind that he vir-
tually ruled the kingdom. Bithric, a brother
of this magnate, was also in high favor. The
latter made a conspiracy against Earl VVulf-
noth, who was obliged to save himself by
flight. He took with him, however, twenty
ships of the English navy, and when pursued
by Bithric, with eighty ves.sels, had the good
fortune to see his enemy's squadron wrecked
in a storm. The remainder of the English
armament was dispersed by mismanagement
or accident, and the kingdom was thus left
naked to her enemies.
As soon as it was known in Denmark that
the preparations for defending the island had
come to naught, a large fleet was equipped
and an army put on board, under command
of a leader named Thurkill. For three year;
this host ravaged England at will. The king-
dom had no peace or security except such af
was aflTorded by brief truces purchased from
the Danes. During this period the adherent'
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 577
of Ethelred's government fell away until he
was left without supporters. As for himself,
he still pursued the policy of quieting the en-
emy with bribes. It is said that he paid to
Thurkill the sum of forty-eight thousand
pounds. By this means the Danish leader
■was induced to consent to a peace, and even
to ally himself with Ethelred. It appears,
however, that his motives were treacherous,
and that he was really acting in concert with
Sweyn, who now contemplated the complete
subjugation of England. Presently ThurkiU
quarreled with Ethelred, and undertook a new
expedition ; but the Danish king now ap-
peared on the scene, and avowed his purpose
of reducing both Thurkill and the Saxon
monarch to submission. With the appearance
of Sweyn on the Humber the people of Dane-
lagh rose and joined his banners. Most of
the army of Thurkill did the same. The cen-
tral counties of England quietly submitted.
Oxford and Winchester opened their gates to
receive him. Ethelred meanwhile took refugtf
in London, and here the valor of the citizens
kept the Danes at bay for a season. All the
West soon submitted to the Danish king.
Seeing that the rest of the kingdom had
fallen away, the Londoners at length gave up
the contest, and Ethelred fled with his family
and sought protection at the court of his
brother-in-law, the Duke of Normandy. In the
beginning of the year 1013 Sweyn was acknowl-
edged as the king of England ; but a few
weeks afterwards he died at ihe town of
Gainsborough. Thereupon the Saxon Thanes
reasserted themselves, and invited Ethelred,
after his six weeks' banishment, to return to
the throne. The Danish party meanwhile
proclaimed the Prince Canute, son of King
Sweyn, as monarch of the country. Civil
war again broke out, and for a season there
was a reign of bloodshed and burning.
At length, completely despairing of relief
at the hands of their unready sovereign, the
Saxon nobles set aside the claims of Ethelred
and his legitimate children, and selected for
their king his natural son, the warlike Ed-
mund, surnamed Ironside. It was the mis-
fortune of this valorous prince to receive at
the hands of his supporters an already ex-
hausted country. Nevertheless he did as
much as courage might to retrieve the fur-
tunes of Saxon England. Twice he attempted
to relieve the beleaguered city of London.
He fought with the enemy five pitched battles,
but the Danes were generally victorious. As-
a last desperate measure of defense he chal-
lenged Canute to mortal combat. The latter,
however, durst not meet his stalwart antago-
nist in personal battle, but proposed instead
the division of the kingdom between them.
The proposition was accepted ; Edmund Iron-
side ruled over the South, and Canute re-
ceived the rest of the island.
This settlement, however, was of only two
months' duration. Within that time after the
treaty the Saxon monarch died, and in 1017
the whole kingdom passed under the dominion
of Canute. This distinguished ruler began
his reign with measures of conciliation, but
his course in this respect was more politic?
than sincere. The House of Ethelred was
bitterly persecuted, and many of that family
and its Saxon adherents were hunted down
and slain. Edward and Edmund, the infant
sons of Edniund Ironside, were seized and
sent to Sweden. The king of that country,
having compassion upon their misfortunes,
sent them to distant Hungary, where Edmund
died. The Prince Edward, however, married
the daughter of the Emperor of Germany, of
which union were born Edgar Atheling,
Christina, and -Margaret. The last named
was married to Malcolm, king of Scotland,
and thus through a Scottish House the blood
of King Alfred was transmitted to aftertimes.
Meanwhile the warrior King Canute was
menaced by a specter out of Normandy. In
that country the two princes, Edward and
Alfred, sons of Ethelred and Emma, were
supported by Duke Richard, their uncle.
The latter demanded of the Danish king that
the rights of his nephews should be respected ;
and when this demand was treated with con-
tempt, the Norman duke offered his sister, the
widowed Emma, to the Dane in marriage. It
appears that Duke Richai-d, the widow her-
self, and Canute were equally anxious to con-
summate this unnatural union. Nor was it
with a view to securing the rights of her son&
so much as again becoming queen of England
that the Flower of Normandy went up gladly
to the bed of the royal Danish ruffian by
whom her former husband had been destroved.
578
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
As for the exiled princes, to them no further
thought was given. They grew up in Nor-
mandy, forgot the language of their father,
and ceased to be regarded in the realm over
which they might have reigned.
Thus it happened that the crowns of Eng-
land, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway were
CANUTE REBUKING HIS COrRTIEES,
combined on the head of Canute. In the
northern kingdoms, however, his claims were
much disputed, and he was involved in several
foreign wars. The last of his expeditions was
undertaken in the year 1017 against Duncan,
king of Cumbria. The war lasted for two
years ; nor could the Cumbrians and Scots
be subdued until the king's resources were
strained to the utmost. After this conflict in
the North was brought to a successful conclu-
sion, the kingdom enjoyed an interval of
peace more beneficent in its results than any
epoch since the times of Alfred the Great.
The despotic Canute relaxed the rigor of
his reign. His revengeful nature found no fur-
ther cause of oflfense, and in his old age, for-
getting to be cruel, he sought
comfort for his soul in a pil-
grimage to Rome. In the
year 1030 he assumed the
pilgrim's garb and journeyed
to the Eternal City. Return-
ing from his holy visit, he
went into Denmark, where
he tarried for some time.
From that country he sent
his commands to England by
the abbot of Tavistock, and
thus maintained his authority
over his English realms.
Of King Canute tradition
has fondly repeated a famous
incident. At the height of
his power, struck one day
witli remorseful reflections on
the brevity and follies of hu-
man greatness, and disgusted
with the excessive flatteries
of the sycophants about the
court, he ordered them to
bear him down to the sea-
shore in his chair of state.
Having seated himself in the
very edge of the surf a« the
tide came roaring in he de-
manded to know of his cour-
tiers whether the sea would
obey him and stand back.
After the manner of liars,
they answered that the great
deep would shrink at his
gesture of command. The
king then sat silently awaiting the issue, while
the tide rolled in around him. "Ocean," said
he, "the land and the sea are mine. Presume
not to wet the edge of my robe." The surf
rose higher and the king was obliged to wade
dripping from the waters. Thereupon he
turned and rebuked the fawning flatterers,
whose ill-timed adulation had magnified the
greatness of the weak.
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS.
In the year 1035 Canute died, and was
buried at Winchester. He left to the realm
another disputed succession ; for the claims of
Hardicanute, his son by the widow of Ethel-
red, were disputed by his two illegitimate
sons, named Sweyn and Harold. As to these
two princes, the scandal of the time declared
that they were not of the royal blood at all.
It was said that Alfgiva, the mistress of Ca-
nute, had imposed on him two bantlings not
his own ; the gossip of the times was perhaps
a true interpretation of the facts. Neverthe-
less, the credulous Canute recognized Sweyn
and Harold as joint heirs with Hardicanute,
and purposed to divide his kingdom among
tliem. He accordingly provided that England
should fall to Harold, Denmark to Hardica-
nute, and Norway to Sweyn. When the
king died, two of his sons, Hardicanute and
Sweyn, were in the north of Europe, only
Harold beiug iu England. The claims of Har-
dicanute to the English crown were ardently
supported by the old Saxon party in the island,
for he was the son of the widow of Ethelred,
and therefore allied to the royal family. In
the Danelagh, however, the people recognized
Harold. Civil war was again imminent, and
was only obviated by the interference of
the Witenagemot, which body convened at Ox-
ford and divided the realm between the rival
claimants. Harold should have the country
north of the Thames, with London for his
capital, and Hardicanute should rule the
South.
The latter prince, beiug still in Denmark,
gent his mother, Emma, as regent of Eng-
land. With her the powerful Earl Godwin
was to share the authority during the absence
of the king. Harold, however, perceiving
the weakness of the situation, resolved to
usurp his brother's throne, and the condition
of affairs iu the southern kingdom favored
such an enterprise.
Meanwhile Prince Edward, son of Ethelred
and Emma, still residing in Normandy, ad-
vanced his claims to the crown once worn by
his father. Hearing of the death of Canute,
he set sail for England and landed at South-
ampton. From his mother's friends he had
expected a cordial reception and support ; but
that unscrupulous lady was now engaged in an
intrigue to secure the succession for her son
Hardicanute. Edward was obliged to beat a
hasty retreat from the island. Soon after-
wards both of the sons of Ethelred were in-
vited by a treacherous letter, purporting to
have been written by their mother, to return
to England and claim their inheritance. Ed-
ward was wary of the invitation, but the
young Alfred, attended by six hundred fol-
lowers, accepted his mother's call, and landed
opposite to Canterbury. Here he was met by
the powerful Earl Godwin, who swore alle-
giance to the prince and began to conduct
him inland. When the party had advanced
as far as Guildford, while Alfred and his
friends were sleeping unarmed at night, they
were suddenly assailed and massacred by the
barbarous soldiers of King Harold. The eyes
of the prince were torn out, and he died in
agony. The ruler of England had thus put
out of the way another of his possible rivals.
Nor was it long until he secured for himself
the full title of the King of England. He
received the surname of Harefoot. Of his
reign there is little to be recorded other than
the quarrels of the clergy and the intrigues
of the Saxon and Danish parties to obtain an
ascendency in the affairs of state.
After a reign of four years, Harold died
and in 1040 was succeeded by his half-brother,
Hardicanute. It was the happy fortune of
this prince to be acceptable to both the Eng-
glish factions — to the Saxons, because he was
the son of Emma ; to the Danes, because he
was the son of Canute. As for the prince, he
favored his father's people. He chose his
courtiers from among his countrymen of the
North, and his army and navy were Danish.
During the early years of his reign there were
several insurrections, chiefly traceable to the
king's partiality for men of his own race.
For his predecessor, however, he manifested
such contempt that the Saxons were delighted.
The body of Harold was digged from the
grave, insulted, decapitated, and thrown into
the river. In his tastes the king manifested
all the gluttonous excesses of his people.
Four times a day he feasted, and then held a
carousal at night. Meanwhile, the affairs of
government were managed by Earl Godwin
and the queen-mother Emma. At length,
after a reign of nearly two years, in the
midst of a revel by night, Hardicanute. al-
580
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
ready drunken, fell down dead on the floor
of his banquet-hall.
After his foolish attempt to secure the
throne of England, the Prince Edward had
retired to Normandy, and there devoted him-
self to more congenial pursuits. Fain would
he have become a holy man and retired from
the world. With the death of Hardicanute,
however, a plain way was opened before his
feet, and in 1042 he ascended the throne of
England. The Danes had now no descendant
of Canute to advance against Edward's claims,
and many of their nobles retired from the
island. Even Earl Godwin forebore to op-
pose the accession of Edward, who received
the surname of the Confessor, and began a
prosperous but not untroubled reign.
One of the first acts of the new sovereign
was to accept in marriage the daughter of
Godwin. It is believed that the stern father-
in-law himself dictated this union with a view
to increasing his own power in the kingdom.
This circumstance may iu part account for the
fact that in no long time the report went
abroad that King Edward treated his wife
with great harshness. As to his mother, the
royal severity was mingled with scorn. Per-
haps the treatment was not unmerited ; for
the belief was prevalent that the death of the
Prince Alfred might be traced to a plot hav-
ing its seat in the bosom of Emma.
In the year 1043 an attempt was made by
Magnus, king of Denmark, to restore the for-
tunes of his House in England. A Danish
fleet once more appeared off the coast; but
the Saxons were now prepared to receive
their enemy, and the latter deemed it prudent
to retire to the Baltic. The Saxon monarchy
had now come to rest on so firm a basis that
an overthrow was no longer to be feared at
the hands of buccaneers and marauders.
Notwithstanding the general quiet of Ed-
ward's reign, his authority over his subjects
had in it an element of feebleness. The great
Earl Godwin and the other Thanes and nobles
of the kingdom had so augmented their power
as to make their ruler a king by sufferance.
By them most of the lands of the kingdom
had been appropriated. By them courts were
held, judges appointed, and levies made of
troops and money. The combined power of
this nascent, feudal nobility was greater than
that of the monarch, and but for their jeal-
ousies and cfuarrels, they might have at any
time compassed his dethronement.
Another element of weakness specially to
be noted in the government of Edward was
his preference for the Normans. He could
but see that those polite gentlemen of Rouen,
in whose society he had passed the gi-eater
part of his life, were greatly superior in man-
ners and culture to even the most refined of
his rough, untutored countrymen. He pre-
ferred the language and dress of his adopted
country to those of his native land. The
royal predilection in these regards furnished a
sufficient motive for constant communication
with the gay court of Rouen. Many schol-
arly and courtly Normans came over to Ed-
ward's capital, and brought with them the
sunlight of Normandy. For these ample pro-
vision was made by the king, and it was not
long before this dawning Norman ascendency
was felt in all parts of the kingdom.
However agreeable this state of affairs may
have been to the king himself, it was gall and
wormwood to the Saxons. The alread}' over-
grown ])0wer of Earl Godwin w^as thus greatly
increased ; for he was regarded as the leader
of the native nobility against the Norman in-
novations. In 1044, however, a circumstance
occurred which for a while greatly injured
the earl's popularity and power. His oldest
son, bearing the famous name of Sweyn,
proved to be a brigand and adventurer. Con-
temptuous of all law and sanctity, he violated
an abbess and was banished from the king-
dom. He improved his exile by becoming a
terrible pirate, which vocation he plied until
what time his father procured for him a par-
don from the king. In the delay incident to
such a business Sweyn became impatient and
laid the blame upon his cousin Beoru, then resid-
ing at the court. Him, on returning to Eng-
land, he first conciliated and then murdered.
But his father's influence was able to secure a
second pardon, and Sweyn was restored to his
estates.
In the year 10.51 Count Eustace, of Bou-
logne, who, by his marriage with the Lady
Goda, daughter of Ethelred, became brother-
in-law to the king, paid a visit to Edward
and his court. Here he found every thing
conformed to the style and manner of Nor-
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 581
mandy. It was not wonderful that he con-
ceived for the Saxons a sentiment of profound
contempt. On departing after his sojourn the
count, with his retainers, entered the town of
Dover, and there became embroiled in a bloody
riot with the inhabitants. Eustace thereupon
returned to the capital and laid his grievances
before the king. The latter ordered Earl
Godwin to proceed forthwith to the punish-
ment of those who had insulted his Norman
brother-in-law.
Instead of doing as he was bid the earl
espoused the cause of the men of Dover, and
told the king plainly that the Normans were
they who deserved the punishment. Edward
thereupon summoned Godwin himself before
his foreign court at Gloucester, there to an-
swer for his contumacious conduct. Incensed
at this summons, the earl took up arms. At
this time the whole country south of the
Thames was under his sway. His eldest son,
Harold, appeared on the scene. This young
prince and his brother Sweyn, as well as their
father, led large bands of armed men to
Gloucester, and demanded that Count Eustace
should be given up. The king, in this crisis,
sought to gain time by negotiation. Mean-
while Siward, earl of Northumbria, and Leo-
fric, earl of Mercia, who were rivals of God-
win, came to the rescue of Edward. The two
armies came face to face ; but it was now dis-
covered that the fierce animosity so long
existing between the Saxons of the South and
the Anglo-Danes of the North had so far died
away that the angry leaders could not precip-
itate a battle. Godwin and the king were
obliged, by a popular sentiment, to make
peace and to refer their difficulties to the
Witeuagemot for settlement. But before the
time of the meeting of that body the tide had
80 turned against Godwin that he was unable
to sustain his cause, and he was banished.
Together with his wife and three of his sons,
he set sail for Flanders, where he was cor-
dially received by Baldwin, count of that
province. The princes Harold and Leofwin
escaped from the western coast and made their
way to Ireland.
Having thus freed himself from the
presence of the male members of the House
of Godwin, the king next turned his anger
upon his wife Editha, who, as will be re-
membered, was a daughter of the banished
earl. From her Edward took away her es-
tates and jewels, and then, when she was
completely broken in spirit, confined her in
the monastery of Wherwell.
Thus, for the time, was the Saxon party
overthrown and scattered. Relieved of the
presence of his most formidable opponents,
Edward gave free rein to his preference for
the people and institutions of Normandy. The
Norman nobles came over in great numbers,
and settled at his court. Even Prince Will-
iam, the illegitimate son of Duke Robert,
availed himself of the opportunity to tarry for
a season with Edward and his friends. Nor
is it doubtful that this ambitious aspirant,
who was destined to play so important a part
in the history of mediaeval England, was al-
ready, on the occasion of his visit, looking to
the possibilities of the future. King Edward
was childless, and it was said that he was
under a sort of monastic vow to remain so.
The Norman rage, already prevalent in the
upper circles of English politics, pointed even
now to a not remote contingency of a Norman
dynasty in the island. The Prince William
was cousin to the reigning king, and the cir-
cumstance of his being the son of a tanner's
daughter had little weight, so long as he was
also the son of the Duke of Normandy. He
was received by Edward with every mark of
esteem and preference. He was taken into
the private counsels of the king, and it is
hardly to be doubted that then and there it
was understood that after Edward's death the
crown of England should descend to William.
Meanwhile, however, the great Earl God-
win, now exiled in Flanders, was neither idle
nor despairing. In 1052 he got together a
powerful fleet and boldly returned to Eng-
land. Landing on the southern coast, he was
cordially welcomed by the Saxons, who every-
where rose in his favor. Harold and Leofwin
returned from Ireland and joined his standard.
Presently the earl's fleet sailed up the Thames,
and on approaching London was reenforced by
many of the men and ships of Edward. God-
win behaved with much moderation, merely
demanding a revocation of the edict of exUe
against himself and family and a redress of
grievances. This the king obstinately refused.
But the crisis in the royal household soon be-
582
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
came so threatening that the monarch was
obliged to consent to negotiations. Then it
was that the Norman favorites of the court of
Edward suddenly took to flight. No longer
were the fogs of London or its spectral Tower
congenial to the elegant jSIessieurs of Rouen.
Some took refuge in castles along the coast,
but the greater part fled to Normandy.
To complete what revolution had already
accomplished, the Witenagemot assembled and
passed a sentence of outlawry against the
Normans. Godwin and his sons were legally
with the king. In the midst of the banquet,
while tlie carousal was at its height, the earl
was struck with apoplexy, and fell dying from
his seat. In a few days he expired, and his
estates and title descended to Prince Harold,
best and bravest of his sons.
Many circumstances now conspired to turn
the attention and expectancy of the kingdom
to the son of Godwin. Siward, the earl of
Northumbria, died ; his eldest son, Osberne,
was slain in battle with the Scots, and the
younger was too immature to succeed to his
THE TOWER OF LONDON.
restored to their estates. Queen Editha was
taken from the monastery and brought back in
triumph to London. Only Sweyn, the brig-
and, was excluded from the pardon. Find-
ing that the blood-stains of his crimes could
not be washed away, the bandit son of God-
win made the most of the situation by putting
on a pilgrim's garb and walking barefoot to
Jerusalem !
By this counter-revolution the Saxon party
again became dominant in the kingdom.
Godwin, however, did not long survive his
triumph. Having regained a kind of en-
forced favor at the court, he feasted one dav
father's titles. Meanwhile the thoughts of the
king were turned more and more from thia
world to the next, and he resolved as a meas-
ure preparatory to his exit to make a pilgrim-
age to Rome. The Witenagemot, seeing their
childless king about to depart, recalled his-
pious thoughts to the fact that no succession
had been provided in case of his death. This
emergency in the state brought out from long
obscurity the Prince Edward Atheling, son of
Edmund Ironside, and set him forth as heir
expectant of the crown. Edward was sent
for, and brought with many acclamations to
London. Shortly after his arrival, however^
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.— ALFRED AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 583
he suddenly sickened and died, and the suspi-
cion was blown abroad that the means of his
taking-off was poison, and the cause the jeal-
ousy of Harold. Be this as it may, the prob-
lem of the succession was reduced to this:
whether Harold, as the representative of the
Saxon party but of no blood kinship to the
former kings of England, should succeed Ed-
ward on the throne, or whether the crown,
after the demise of Edward, should descend
to William of Normandy.
Now are we come to the complications
which immediately preceded the establishment
of a Norman dynasty in the British Islands.
King Edward is said to have made a will in
which he bequeathed his crown to Duke Will-
iam, his cousin. It is said that this will was
executed before the recall of Edward the
Atheling. It is said that the nature of this
instrument was kept a profound secret for
years, and that Harold remained in ignorance
of the scheme which had been concocted to
thwart his ambition. It is said, on the other
hand, that the king's will was not made until
1065, the year before his death ; and that
Harold, instead of being kept in ignorance
of its contents, was himself dispatched by the
king to reveal the provisions of the instru-
ment to Duke William. Certain it is that
Prince Harold found his way — whether by
accident or design does not appear — to the
Norman court ; that he was wrecked at the
mouth of the river Somme ; that he was seized
by the Count of Ponthieu ; that he was im-
prisoned in the castle of Beaurain ; and that
he appealed in his distress to Duke William
for help. The latter quickly saw his advan-
tage. He demanded that Harold should be
released and sent to Rouen. In order to
secure this result he gave to the Count of
Pouthieu a large sum of money and a fine
estate. It was not long until he had Harold
in his power, but the crafty Norman preferred
to gain his end by policy rather than vio-
lence. He made known to Harold, who now
perceived the extreme peril of his situation,
his purpose of claiming the crown of England
in accordance with a long-standing pledge
made to himself by Edward the Confessor.
Harold was dumfounded and — helpless.
He was in the power of his great rival. Will-
iam proceeded to extort from his guest a
promise that the latter would promote his
scheme for the assumption of the English
crown. He induced the prince to promise
that in the event of Edward's death he would
aid him in obtaining the kingdom. Albeit
the promise was given with mental reserva-
tion ; but what could Harold do, being in the
clutches of his rival? To make assurance
doubly sure, William contrived that Harold
should swear to fulfill his pledges. Nor was
either the moral character of the Norman
duke or the spirit of the age above resorting
to a ridiculous subterfuge in order to give ad-
ditional sanctity to the oath. A meeting was
appointed for the ceremony. William sat in
his chair of state and the Norman nobles were
ranged around according to their rank. When
Harold appeared the Duke arose and said,
"Earl Harold, I require you, before this
noble assembly, to confirm, by oath, the prom-
ises you have made me — to wit : to assist me
in obtaining the kingdom of England, after
King Edward's death, to marry my daughter
Adele, and to send me your sister, that I may
give her in marriage to one of mine." The
prince had no alternative but to swear. He
laid his hand upon the Bible and took the
oath, being in evident trepidation. Then, at
a signal from the duke, the cloth which cov-
ered a table was jerked aside, and there was
revealed a box filled with the bones of saints
and martyrs. Over this terrible heap of osts-
ology, the son of Godwin had sworn away his
own right to the throne of England !
Prince Harold, thus duped and over-
reached, was permitted to depart. He re-
turned to England loaded with presents and
accompanied by Haco, one of the Saxon
nobles whom Godwin had given as a hostage
to Edward the Confessor, and by him had
been sent for safe keeping to his cousin, Will-
iam of Normandy. The other hostage was
detained at Rouen as a guaranty for the ful-
fillment of Harold's oath.
On his return to his own country, the
English prince, though humiliated, was re-
ceived with honor. He became again the rec-
ognized head of the Saxon party, by whom he
was openly upheld for the succession. The
event was now at hand which was to deter-
mine the value of his claims. The childless
Edward came to his death-bed. It is said
-584
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
'that, in his last hours, he renewed in the
presence of his nobles and attendants the pro-
vision of his will by which the crown was to
descend to AVilliam of Normandy. "Ye
know right well, ray lords," said he, " that I
have bequeathed my kingdom to the Duke of
Normandy ; and are there not those here who
iave plighted oaths to secure William's suc-
cession?" Again it is said that in the last
scene the dying king named Prince Harold
as his successor. Be that as it may, Edward
died in January of 1066, and the question of
the succession remained to be decided by the
rival claimants to the crown.
We are now in the day-break of the Nor-
man conquest of England. That great event
w'Lll be fully narrated in the succeeding Book.
Here for the present we pause. The narra-
tive will be resumed at the proper place, be-
ginning with the death of Edward the Con-
fessor and the consequent struggle of Harold
and William for the English crown.
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)Oo{{ l[(mrl0gnl^»
The Feudal Ascendency.
Chapter lxxxiv.— Keudalisni proper.
BOUT the close of the
ninth century the still half-
barbaric society of West-
ern Europe began to be
transformed into a new
condition. Tlie movement
■was apparently retro-
grade. The unity which had been attained
in several states and kingdoms began to be
broken up, and the people seemed to prefer
a return to tribal independence. General
government, in a measure, disappeared, and
was replaced by local institutions. Gradually
this process went on, now in France and Ger-
many, and finally in England, until the whole
face of society was changed. By the close of
the eleventh century the great governments
which had been established by such rulers as
Charlemagne and Alfred the Great were seen
no longer. But in their stead had risen a
multitude of dukedoms, counties, and petty
dependencies, dotting the whole face of the
country, and bound together — if bound at
all — by ties which had been voluntarily as-
sumed and might generally be renounced at
svill. The state of society which thus super-
N.— Vol. 2—36
vened, and which prevailed throughout the
greater part of Europe, from the epoch of the
Carlovingians to the times of the Crusades, is
known as the Feudal System, and wUl now
claim our attention.
The social condition which thus presents
itself for analysis and review is, perhaps, the
most difficult to grasp and understand of all
the aspects in human history. Why it was
that the political power, seemingly so well
established by Charlemagne and others, should
suddenly be loosened in all its bonds and fall
back as if into the very chaos from which it
had emerged, is a problem which has occupied
the attention of the greatest thinkers and per-
plexed the pen of history. Certain it is that
the fiict existed, and that in the times of
which we speak, when all human expectancy
would have looked in the other direction and
predicted the growth and development of great
states out of the energetic materials of barbar-
ism, a sudden collapse and decline appeared
in the affairs of the Western nations, and a
subtle social chemistry, seizing upon the ele-
ments of society, resolved them into the prim-
itive condition. It is the first duty of the
(587J
588
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
historian to explain, if he may, the causes
which led to the establishment of Feudalism
on the ruins of the barbarian monarchy.
First among these causes may be mentioned
the ipirit of national independence which pre-
vailed among the tribes of the North. It was
in the very nature of barbarism that it de-
spised restraint. "While the GrEeco-Italic peo-
ples rejoiced in citizenship and took pride in
political and social organization, the Teutones
looked with disfavor upon both. To the im-
agination of the northern warrior strength
and honor resided in himself. Distinction
was not derived, but inherent. Courage and
all the manly virtues were not drawn from
the state, but were personal and peculiar to
him who possessed them. Under these feel-
ings and beliefs a type of character was pro-
duced hitherto unknown in Europe. During
the epoch of barbarism the natural impulses
of the northern peoples were nurtured into
full strength. The migratory habit encour-
aged freedom and discouraged association.
Fixed territorial limits are necessary to the
idea of a state. The barbarians had no estab-
lished territories. They were driven from
their homes by other tribes more savage than
themselves. For a while they raged around
the borders of the Roman Empire, and then
burst through. Now it was that the necessity
of combination was forced upon them. In
order to battle successfully with the Romans
they must have union, leadership. Great was
the importance which the German kings at-
tained by means of war. The tribes came to
understand that safety and success lay in the
direction of union and subordination. Very
hard was this lesson to be learned. How rest-
less, how sullen, how terrible with suppressed
anger was the German warrior under the re-
straints of military command and civil author-
ity ! His logic of the situation was that he
would suffer the ills of obedience until the
enemies of his nation were overthrown, and
then he would teach a lesson to those who
were despoiling him of his rights. The recov-
ery of his freedom was merely postponed. He
looked forward to the time W'hen he should
break the bonds of that galling restraint un-
der which neces-sity had placed him, and re-
gain the glorious license wliich his fathers had
enjoyed in the forests of Germany.
It was with sentiments such as these thafr
the Fraukish tribes bowed to the scepter of
Charlemagne. The greatness of his personal
will had much to do with their temporary
subordination. While this constrained order
existed, a new element was introduced into-
the problem, which tended at once to stimu-
late and to discourage the idea of personal,
and local independence. The barbarians ob-
tained a fixed residence on the soil. Territo-
rial boundaries were marked out by the sword-
of Charlemagne. The tribes ceased to jostle
upon each other and to migrate from place to
place. As it related to foreign enemies, this
fact made the personal virtues of barba'
rian dukes and counts of less value and im-
portance than hitherto ; but as it related to
the king, the attainment of local fixedness
was unfavorable to his prerogatives. To the
German chiefs a monarch was desirable in the
emergencies of war, but distasteful in the
safety and security of peace.
The first cause, then, of the institution of
Feudalism was the revival of the sense of
personal right and importance among the-
Frankish nobles, leading them to claim and-
achieve local independence of their sovereign.
This was the beginning of the universal
break-up of political society. The great duke
declared his independence of the king ; the
count, of the duke ; the lord, of the count ;,
the petty vassal, of the lord ; and so on,,
until the social fabric was dissolved into its
elements.
The next general cause of the social disin-
tegration of Europe in the tenth and eleventh-
centuries may be discovered in the religious^
and philogophical beliefs which had superseded
those of paganism. Christianity everywhere-
supplanted the mythology of the North. The
monks and priests, perceiving that the barba-
rians were creatures of sense, converted them
by means of shows and spectacles. The mys-
tic concepts of the Christian system were in-
terpreted literally to the barbarian imagina-
tion. The figurative sense of the Scriptures
was entirely lost upon the pagans who now
accepted the new faith for the old. With
them the history, prophecy, and ethics of the
Biblical record were received as the literal ac-
count of the things done and to be done in
the scheme of the salvation of man. All the-
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDALISM PROPER.
589
ferocious honesty of the barbarian nature be-
came pledged to the absolute fulfillment of
the law and the prophecies.
Among the prophetic utterances relating
to the future, and indeed above them all, was
that ominous prediction which foretold the
end of the world. The earth and all that
therein dwells were to pass away in a catas-
trophe of fire. The universe was to be rolled
up as a scroll. As soon as the thousand
years from the birth of Christ should be ful-
filled, a consuming flame should wrap the
world, and a throne of judgment should be
set in heaven. The Dies Irce, that terrible
crisis in the destinies of mankind, should sud-
denly flash up through the ashes of nature ;
and the cowering ghosts of men, flocking in
spectral shoals from the four quarters of
the burnt-up ball, should bow before the in-
exorable Judge and receive the everlasting
sentence of their doom.
The efiect of this prophecy, accepted by
the barbarians in all its literal horror, was de-
structive of all hope and fatal to all progress.
As the end drew nigh, all general interests
ceased. Human life became an individual
concern. Each must save himself in the hour
of catastrophe. The king with his council,
the peasant with his flocks, must both alike
erelong sufier the pangs of the transform-
ing fire.
In the shadow of this awful foreboding the
race of man sat dumb. The brilliant activi-
ties of former times gave place to dolor and
gloom. A belief in the impotence and deca-
dence of man became universal. The vision
of the old world, glorious afar off, full of
great cities, splendid works of art, and march-
ing armies, was dimly seen in recollection — a
beautiful dream of the delusive past. As for
the world which now lay doomed under the
curse, it was ready by its sins and crimes
for its imminent perdition. These gloomy
thoughts sank deeper and deeper into the
hearts of the deluded millions, and they sat
in dumb despair awaiting the day of fate.
It was impossible under such a system of
belief that any great human interests should
flourish. That which the mind of man con-
ceives of as real becomes in some sense reality.
Mankind have bowed to specters more than
they have bowed to facts. In the tenth cen-
tury, all classes of people from the king to
the serf were haunted with the belief that the
world was soon to be destroyed, and this be-
lief acted as a paralysis upon all the energies
and aspirations of the people. What was the
Empire of Charlemagne — so reasoned the
monks and fanatics — since the Dies L'ce was at
hand? Why should any fabric of human
greatness and folly be longer maintained in
the shadow of the impending catastrophe?
With such a cataclysm just before, the mass-
book was better than a constitution, and an
ascension robe more important than the
robe of a king.
Added to these general influences were
many sjsecial circumstances which contributed
to the political disintegration of Western
Europe. Among the principal of these may be
mentioned the personal character of the
LATER Carlovingians. Nearly all of these
sovereigns were, as individuals, contemptible.
With the exception of D'Outremer and two
or three otherc, not a single one of the de-
scendants of Charlemagne had the courage
and talents requisite in a king. Most of them
were imbeciles and blockheads — a second race
of Faineants of the same grade with the Do-
nothings of the old Merovingians. One of
the C'arlovingian neuters was the Simple, and
another was the Fat. One was the Stam-
merer, another the Child. It was impossible
that the old Frankish warriors and their de-
scendants should look with favor upon this
degenerate line of royalty. Here a duke and
there a count came to understand the simple
lesson ihat nature makes the great men and
society the manikins. That artificial loyalty
and absurd devotion to factitious greatness,
which had done so much of old to support
the gilded thrones of the East, found no place
in the breasts of the nobles of the Middle
Ages. For a while they looked on with dis-
dain while the ridiculous farce was enacted,
and then turned their backs upon the pageant
of the court and struck for independence.
As soon as the swords of a few of the bolder
lords had cleft a passage through the royal
harness and freed themselves from the domi-
nation of some kingly simpleton, the less
courageous were inspired to do tlie same.
Provinces fell away. Counties became inde-
pendent. Personal ties, voluntarily, assumed,
590
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
took the place of imposed authority, and
government gave way to — Feudalism. The
Empire of Charlemagne was made into three,
then into four, and then into seven kingdoms.
Each of these in its turn was divided into
great fiefs, of which there were in the aggre-
gate, at the end of the ninth century, twenty-
nine in France alone, and at the close of the
tenth, no fewer than Jiffy-Jive! Over each of
these some duke, count, or viscount estab-
lished himself in almost independent sover-
eignty. He held his own courts, issued his
own edicts, and in many instances coined his
own money. He sublet his fief to his vassals,
and exacted of them taxes, fealty, and hom-
age. From the times of Charles the Bald,
877, the greater nobles of France claimed
and exercised the right of transmitting their
estates to their sons, according to their pleas-
ure. Landed property became the basis of
all the dignities of the state. The crown and
prerogatives of the king fluctuated between
real facts and myths. Though the constitu-
tion of the kingdom still gave to the nominal
monarch the right to distribute benefices to
his nobles, the hereditary principle in the no-
ble houses themselves had really gained the
upper hand, to the extent of substituting the
law of descent for the royal prerogative.
Thus it was that the Feudal system was sub-
stituted for the greater fact of nationality in
France, Germany, and finally in England.
The word feudal, thus used to define the
state of society which prevailed in Europe
from the tenth to the twelfth century of our
era, is derived from the Low Latin feodum,
and more remotely from the German word
vieh, meaning cattle, or, more generally,
goods, money, or property. In other words,
the thing defined was the property system, as
contradistinguished from the political system
which it supplanted. In its broader sense, feud-
alism was a type of social organization based on
the ownership of land. In the nature of the
case the system implied several things:
First, that the lands of the state should be
concentrated in the hands of a few ;
Secondly, that political rights should be
made dependent on landed rights ; and —
Thirdly, that all public relations should be
deduced from the private relations of those
who held them.
It wUl readily be seen from this geaeral
outline of the system that in its essential na-
ture feudalism reversed the old theory of soci.
ety by putting the Man before the State.
Nor will the close connection of the system,
historically considered, with the primitive in-
stitutions of Germany fail to be noted by any
one accustomed to trace out the sequence of
events. The real transformation of the society
of ancient Germany into that of Jlediseval
Europe reached no further than this — that the
political organization from being personal in
the former became territorial in the latter. In
the language of another, laiid became the sac-
ramental tie of aU public relations. The poor
man depended on the rich, not as his chosen
patron, but as the owner of the land which he
must cultivate, the lord of the court to which
he must bring his suit and service, and in
war the leader whom he was bound *ii follow.
It is only by a stretch of language that the
word system can be applied to the feudal state
of Europe. Theoretical writers have been
pleased to see in the European king of the
eleventh century the suzerain or head of grad-
uated orders ranged around this central figure,
and sloping down in all directions until they
rested on serfs and peasants, Nor is this view
of the situation wholly devoid of truth. But,
like so many other theories of human affairs,
it is constructed out of imagination rather than
out of the facts. True it is that during the
prevalence of feudalism the king was, in gen-
eral terms, the suzerain or sovereign of all the
nobles of the kingdom. In this sense he was
the head of the system. But the feudal
scheme was much more irregular and broken
than what is here implied. Many of the
dukes and marquises held their lands in entire
independence of the king. Even lords of
lower rank sometimes possessed estates for
which they paid no tax and did no homage to
any superior. In hundreds of instances one
duke or count held his lands of another, and
it not infrequently happened that while the
nobleman A held certain lands of the nobleman
B, the latter also held certain other lauds of the
nobleman A. At one season of the year A
did homage to B as a pledge of the renewal
of his fealty and service, and then in like
manner would B do homage to A. The king
himself held estates in many parts of the king-
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDALISM PROPER.
591
dom, and these he let to his vassals without
much respect to their rank. Lords of low as
well as lords of high degree were thus bound
directly to the king, so that the supposition
of a graduated order ranged around the sov-
ereign would be no adequate representation of
the fact. In truth, during the prevalence of
the feudal system the whole structure of soci-
ety was bound and rebound with ties and
cross-ties, without either the appearance or in-
tention of regularity or systematic gradation.
The conditions on which feudal lands were
held in the Middle Ages are well understood.
They were, in general, three in number —
homage, taxation, and military service. The
act of homage was intended to indicate the
submission of a vassal to his lord. It could
be received by the lord only, in person. When
the relation of dependence was sought or en-
forced, the person about to become a vassal
presented himself to his liege with uncovered
head, and prayed that he might be allowed to
enter into the feudal relation with him. The
request being granted, the vassal took oft' his
sword and spurs, unglrt his belt, kuelt before
his lord, placed his own two hands in his, and
said: "I become your man from this day
forth, of life and limb, and will hold faith to
you for the lands I claim to hold of you."
The oath of fealty was then administered, and
the ceremony of investiture followed. If the
homage had been done on the lands received
by the vassal, the lord gave to him a handful
of earth or a stone in token of the transfer of
right ; and if the ceremony was performed off
the estate referred to, the superior generally
gave to the vassal a bit of turf taken from
the estate.
As already said, feudal rights were gener-
ally hereditary. On the death of a vassal the
estate fell to his eldest son. But the latter
must immediately repair to the manor and
repeat the act of homage done by his father.
It was possible for an infant to do homage by
proxy. But in this instance the act must be
repeated as soon as the vassal had reached his
majority.
As to the taxes imposed by a suzerain
upon his vassal, the same might be discharged
either in money or in the products of the
estate. In the case of the king and the greater
nobles, money was generally exacted ; for the
royal chamberlains preferred to purchase pro-
visions for the king's household from the me-
diaeval market. But in the case of the lords
of low degree, who dwelt perhaps upon the es-
tates cultivated by their vassals and serfs, their
suzerains might well choose to accept the an-
nual stipend in products of the land. Ever
and anon, the peasants and villagers were seen
gathering from the fields and hamlets the
tithes belonging to the master and conveying
the same in rude carts to the store-house of
the baronial castle.
Most of all, however, did vassalage depend
upon the condition of military service. The
vassal was solemnly bound to rally at the call
of his lord, to accompany him in all his en-
terprises of war, and to fight his battles to the
death. The Middle Age was in some sense a
camp as wide as Western Europe. As a rule
the peasant must bring from his hamlet the
armor and supplies necessary for the cam-
paign. Woe to the wight who faded to arm
himself for the fray. Sometimes the expedi-
tion was long and full of hardships. Gener-
ally it was undertaken at the caprice or whim
of the suzerain, who, tired of the gluttony of
peace, sought instinctively the noble sport of
slaughter. What cared the well-fatted king,
the duke, the marquis for the butchery of the
low-born serfs and cattle whom they drove
into the fight? It was enough that soma
petty spite, engendered of kingly malice, or
some bitter jealousy born in the kingly bed,
should be propitiated with the base blood
of serfs.
It can not be doubted that Feudalism waa
a necessity of the social condition of Europe
in the tenth century. The universality of its
adoption would of itself be a sufiicieut proof
that the system sprang naturally and inevit-
ably out of the existing condition of political
society. With the cessation of barbarism, the
feudal principle began to assert itself. It
sprang up, as if from the soil. Wherever a
given situation was present, there the feudal
tenure prevailed more and more until the
whole social machinery of Western Europe
was conformed to a common type of action.
Every existing institution adopted the feudal
form. Monks hated it. Kings dreaded it.
Both embraced it. Even the Church put ofl
her imperial habit and donned the garments
592
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
of Feudalism. Cathedrals and monasteries
took on the relation of sovereigns and vassals.
One city became the suzerain of another.
The king himself was only a feudal lord of
larger growth. Not only landed estates, but
rights, prerogatives, privileges — the surplice
fees of the Church, the revenues derived from
the baptismal rite, the privilege of fishing in
a given river or of cutting wood in a given
forest — all were conceded by the superior to
the inferior after the feudal manner. The
system took complete possession of society, and
organization of the famUy, the household, the
estate of a feudal baron of tne Middle Ages.
He was himself a warrior. He was igno-
rant, brave, and gloriously brutal. He came
as the leader of a band out of the North. At
the time of his appearing the inhabitants of
the country were those half-Romanized Celts,
who ia the cities and towns had wholly, and
in the country districts partly, substituted the
Latin language and institutions for the prim-
itive usages of their fathers. These once war-
like peoples, long subject to the iron scepter
FEUDAL CASTLE AT ROUEN.
constrained every other institution to accept
its form, if not its spirit.
Looking more cioseiv into the social con-
dition of Feudal Europe, we find much of in-
terest and instruction. Modern times have
been and are still largely influenced by con-
ditions which were native to the soil of Feu-
dalism. The family of to-day is essentially
feudal in its character and sentiments, and
the nature of land-ownership in most of the
states of the West is derived from the same
origin. From these considerations it may be
interesting to sketch in outline the peculiar
of Rome, had become tame and timid. They
were trodden under foot by the mighty war-
riors of the German woods. The work of
subjugation was quickly and easily accom-
plished. A powerful barbarism sat down with
crushing weight upon the abject Celtic peas-
antry of Western Europe.
The leader of this conquering band was
now destined to become a feudal lord. He
settled in the country which he had con-
quered. He chose for himself an estate with
a limit proportionate to his power and ambi-
tion. The inhabitants of these lands — vil-
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDALISM PROPER.
593
dagers, farmers, shepherds, peasants — cowered
in terror at the sight of his naked sword.
Resist him, they durst not. He entered and
;took possession, and it was astonishing to see
•the Celtic serfs gathering around him for pro-
tection ! They huddled around his dreadful
plume, preferring his savage domination to a
probable conquest by another still more terri-
ble and cruel.
The first work of the incipient baron was
"to create for himself a permanent residence.
To this end he selected some solitary spot, a
high hill, an almost inaccessible crag, or de-
fensible position by the water side, and there
laid the foundations of his castle. With the
-aid of his companions and the subject peas-
ants, he reared the huge walls of stone. The
battlements and towers appeared. A deep
moat was drawn around, and draw-bridge and
portcullis completed what part of the defenses
had been omitted by nature. Within were
•capacious and high chambers, finished in im-
perishable oak. Within the stone-girt inclos-
ure were stables, kennels, and store-houses.
Nothing was wanting to complete the isola-
tion, solitude, and defensibility of the massive
pile in which the warrior chief now took up
his abode.
With him into his castle came his family.
This consisted, first of all, of his German wife
and children. Them he held in all the love
and honor of barbaric tenderness. Besides
these, there were generally in the baron's
household a number of dependent kinsmen —
some feeble uncle or indifferent cousin, who
had been unable to conquer an estate for
himself, and who preferred the safety of hang-
ing on, rather than the dangerous glory of in-
• dependence. The same disposition was shown
by many other freemen who chose to associate
•themselves with the master and to obey his
•commands in return for a safe abode in his
castle. Thus was created about the new baro-
nial lord a body of retainers, who constituted
a principal element in the feudal society. —
Such was the small, isolated family or com-
munity which constituted the nucleus of
power in the new system which had taken
possession of Europe.
At the foot of the hill on which stood the
castle of the lord were clustered the village
.-and hamlets of the serfs and peasants. They
drew near to their master as to a rock of
safety. They dreaded him, feared him, re-
spected him, hated him — for who ever loved a
master? They huddled together and looked
up at the height; it was inaccessible. They
accepted their lot ; and then began that weary
career of toil, servility, and despair through
which the peasantry of Europe has held its
suffering way even to the present hour.
At the first there were few ties existent
between the master and his servants. Perhaps
the first real bond which came to unite them
in interest and feeling was the tie of a com-
mon religion. The Christian priest insinuated
himself into the new situation. For a while
the castle wall kept him at bay, and he waa
obliged to content himself with a residence
among the peasants of the village. To them
he ministered in holy things. He baptized
their children, solemnized their marriages,
soothed them in affliction, and ministered
consolation at the grave. It was from these
benevolent ministrations that the Christian
priest of the Middle Ages gained and held so
powerful an ascendency over the peasant
mind of Europe. But with the baron in the
castle the expositor of religion was far less
successful. The manners and sentiments of
the early feudal family were pagan rather
than Christian. It was not to be expected
that the baronial chief, who had thrown ofl
all restraint, who held his estates in his own
rights and contemned even the prerogatives of
the king, would patiently give up his soul to
the management of a priest. To be sure, the
baron became nominally a Christian ; but hig
instincts, opinions, and manners were not
much curbed by the restraints of the faith
which he professed. He held the priest aloof
or tolerated his interference as a necessary evil.
If we look into the sentiments and feelings
of the feudal family, we shall observe several
traits of marked importance. In the first
place, the situation was such as to encourage
in the possessor of a fief the idea of his own
personal greatness and his vast superiority to
those around him. No other condition of
man ever so powerfully conduced to engender
pride and a sense of personal consequence as
did the institution of Feudalism. The baron
saw himself lifted vastly above the common
herd. He saw himself deferred to, feared.
594
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
obeyed, approached with awe and obsequious-
ness. He appeared to himself as the source
and fountain of authority and honor. His
importance was not derived, but inherent.
He had conquered his estate with the sword.
He had built his castle without permission
even of the king. His greatness belonged to
himself alone, or, at most, to his family. To
his son he looked as his successor, and in-
stilled in him the same lessons of haughty
self-assertion which he himself had learned
was a system in which the chieftain was the
father of a family proper, set in an inacessi-
ble position above a subject people, between
whom and himself (for they were not of the
same race) there existed no ties of kinship or
friendly feeling and few bonds of common
interest.
The situation of the feudal family was
such as to bring into play and develop the do-
mestic and chivalrous sentiment in a measure
unequaled in any other social institution of
FEUDAL CASTLE OF HUNYADI JANOS IN TRANSYLVANIA.
first in war and afterwards on his baronial
estate.
As to the feudal family, it was unlike any
other presented in history. It was not a
tribe after the patriarchic fashion — a gray and
venerable sage, father, grandfather, and great-
grandfather of the shepherds who gathered
around his tents ; nor was it a clan after the
manner of the primitive society of Scotland —
a chief living apart from his followers and
pursuing a different life, leading his men in
war and commanding them in peace: but it
the world. The members of the family,
placed as they were in complete isolation,
must hold each other in love and honor.
With each nightfall the draw-bridge waai
thrown up, and all the household gathered in
tlie banqueting-hall and around the baronial
hearth. Wine and laughter and song ruled
the hours of the gloomy night. There hung^
the arms of the master and the trophies'
which he had gathered in war. There the
baron's beautiful daughter took part in her
brother's games and listened with them to the
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDALISM PROPER.
59Jv
warrior father's epic recital of the deeds done
in the fire of his youth. The mother, too,
was in the midst of the scene, still strong-
limbed and glorious after the battles of niauy
an expedition and the victorious struggles of
maternity. It was not strange that Woman
here and now became the idol of a nascent
civilization, honored, adored, worshiped as she
had never been before. The sentiment of
Ideal Love gained here an ascendency over the
mind of man, and about his life began to be
woven those magic cords of chivalrous devo-
tion which he has gladly and nobly worn for
nearly a thousand years. May many another
thousand be added to the past before those
strong and tender cords shall be broken and
the soul of man, so hardly emerged from the
old fenlands and sloughs of lust, be remanded
again to the level of brutality and the horrid
styes of animalism !
Another circumstance to be noted in con-
nection with the feudal institution was the
growth therein of the principle of inheritance.
The baronial lord naturally looked around to
discover some means or expedient whereby to
preserve in its integrity the estate which he
had won by the sword. The suggestion of
substituting the law of descent for the law of
conquest arose naturally in his mind ; and
since the division of an estate among several
sons would have destroyed the very system
which it was intended to conserve, the prin-
ciple of primogeniture came in as the inevit-
able concomitant of the law of inheritance.
The complication arose with respect to the
younger sons of the feudal family. What
should be done in the case of him who had
the misfortune not to be the first-born of the
household? The only solution of the difii-
culty seemed to rest in the fact that the
younger son, if born to the inheritance of
valor and ambition, might go forth and con-
quer an estate of his own. The world was
wide. Many provinces still lay in the waste
of half-savagery. He who would and could,
might take and keep a domain of his own.
Missing this opportunity of conquest, the only
alternative remaining to the younger scion of
feudalism was either to win the only daugh-
ter of some sonless baron or to become the
hanger-on of an elder brother.
As it respected the small community of
serfs, the government of the feudal lord was
arbitrary and tyrannical. The peasants were
regarded as destitute of rights. All the powers
and prerogatives which modern society has
delegated to the magistrate were exercised
and abused at will by the baronial master.
He made the law and executed it. He levied-
and collected taxes. He inflicted punishment
and treated his tenants as slaves.
There was thus established over the peas-
antry of Mediaeval Europe a tyranny the most,
galling, as it has been the most persistent,
known in the annals of mankind. The most
bitter hardship of the system lay in the fact
that the despotism of the feudal baron was
personal. He did not pretend to derive his
authority from the consent of the governed.
Neither the concession of the king nor the-
permission of heaven was recognized as a nec-
essary antecedent of his authority. He ruled
in his own right. It was man over man — the
most odious of all the species of tyranny.
Hence has arisen and continued throughout-
Western Europe the deep-seated aversion or
positive hatred of the peasant classes for the-
system of feudal domination. Nor can it-
well be doubted that the day will come when
this avei'sion of the subject for the ruling-
classes in European society will result in sub-
stituting everywhere the government of rea-
son and consent for the government of per-
sonal will.
The feudal family, as described in the
preceding paragraphs, constituted a part-
of a general society. The face of Europe-
was dotted with castles. Though the iso-
lation of each was complete, the common
origin and character of all produced a like
situation on the face of Europe. The people
in all parts became divided into lords and
vassals. Ties, first of kinship and afterwards,
of political interest, were gradually estab-
lished between the possessors of fiefs. Obli-
gations of service and counter-service stretched.
from castle to castle, from province to prov-
ince, from state to state. The new social con-
dition which had gradually oozed out of bar-
barism became organic, was converted into a-
system. True it is that these ties and obliga-
tions, mutually and voluntarily imposed upon;
each other and their serfs by the feudal lords,
never became constitutional, never were de-
596
UNIVERSAL HISTORY. — THE MODERN WORLD.
veloped into statutory forms. But they ex-
isted. Man was bound to man. The one
conceded rights, the other rendered service.
Ideas and sentiments hitherto unknown sprang
up and prevailed. Honor and loyalty came
in as the sanctions of human conduct which
hitherto had had no guaranty but violence.
The principles of fidelity were substituted for
the argument of force, and personal devotion
took the place of written statutes and maxims
of the crown.
As it respected the feudal baron and his
family, it can hardly be denied that this pe-
was the twitter of the adventurous bird in the
gray light of the early morning. Albeit the
untutored baron and his sons and daughters
wist not that in the general destinies of the
world they were entertaining the wierd pre-
cursor of the mighty bards of the future.
Not so, however, respecting the intellectual
development of the serfs. To them the sys-
tem was wormwood and despair. They must
toil and give to another. They must patiently
endure the brutal treatment and exactions of
the lords. They must live without ambition
and die without encomium. They must trans-
FEUDAL CASTLE OF BELEM, POETCGAL.
culiar system which took possession of Europe
was beneficial — salutary. The character of
the lord and his household grew and expanded
under the stimulus of the institution which
he had created. The baronial castle became
the seat of sentiment and affection. Here the
wandering minstrel, that forlorn, idealistic
Bpirit, drifting up and down the ways and
bjTways of half-barbaric Europe, found a
resting-place at night. Here he was enter-
tained by the amused lord and his household.
Here that long-haired harper of the dawn
sang the first songs and ballads of the new
era by and by to break upon the world. It
mit their hard estate to a household of squalid
wretches like themselves. They must consent
without a murmur to half-starvation of the
body and total starvation of the mind. They
must accept a life with no tradition except
the memory of hardship, with no fruition
except the sour bread of poverty, and with
no prospect except a gloomy mass of shadow
and cloud out of which shot two tongues of
fire, the one in the shape of a sword and the
other in the shape of a lash.
The great system which has thus been
sketched in outline gained possession of almost
the entire social fabric of Western Europe.
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDALISM PROPER.
597
France became feudal. As early as the treaty
■of Verdun in 843 two princes divided the
Frankish lands with Charles the Bald. The
king of Aquitaine took his portion of the
territories, and the Duke of Brittany did like-
wise. The action of Charles in 876, in rec-
ognizing the hereditary rights of his lords, has
already been narrated in the preceding Book.'
By the end of the ninth century, twenty-nine
great fiefs had been established in Carlovin-
gian France, and in the century following
the number was increased to fifty-five. Dur-
ing the tenth century the disruptive tendency
in society everywhere displayed itself in fuU
force. The ties between the great dukes and
lords on the one side and the king on the
other were either greatly weakened or wholly
abrogated. But little was wanting to the
■complete independence of the petty states
into which the kingdom was resolved. In
process of time the only obligation recognized
T)y the lords and nobles was the insignificant
act of fealty performed by them in the pres-
•ence of a shadowy king.
In Germany, also, the break-up under the
successors of Charlemagne lacked little of
completeness. Here Feudalism as a system be-
came a definite political form, which in some
parts has remained with few changes unto
the present day. In the first place. Saxony
and Bavaria asserted their independence.
The Suabian and Saxon dukes became suzer-
ains and united the interests of their subjects
with their own. Feudal government — that
graduated system of jurisdiction in which
every lord judged, taxed, and commanded the
class of persons next below him — was substi-
tuted for that legal system which had been
established by Charlemagne.
In England there were symptoms of an in-
digenous Feudalism as early as the time of
Alfred the Great. Under Canute the Great
all Britain was divided into four great earl-
doms. East Anglia was given to Thurkill ;
Mercia, to Eadric ; North umbria, to Eric;
while West Saxony was reserved by Canute.
Whether the system thus fairly inaugurated
in Danish England would have come to full
flower and fruitage under the auspices of the
Saxons and the Northmen, can only be deter-
mined by conjecture. At the time of the
Norman Conquest, the institutions of the
island were in a semi-feudalized condition.
With the coming of William the Conqueror,
the native tendencies were suddenly arrested.
He introduced into England a great central
administration, to which the country had
hitherto been a stranger. He took the lands
of the kingdom in his own right, and became
the lord-paramount of all England. The ad-
ministrative functions of the old Saxon and
Danish earls were transferred to the sheriffs of
the king. Vainly did the native barons re-
sist the encroachments upon their rights.
They were overpowered and put down by the
arm of one more powerful than themselves.
Norman nobles were insinuated into the places
of the expelled Danish and Saxon proprie-
tors, and the new order was established, which
has remained the basis of land tenure, and,
in some sense, of the general constitution of
England, to the present day.
Having thus drawn an outline of the
feudal system itself — having considered that
peculiar institution in its origin, growth, and
tendencies, and noted the sentiments and
ideas which sprang naturally from the bosom
of that society, forecasting, here and there,
the influences which the system might be ex-
pected to exert on the destinies of modern
times — we will now proceed to sketch the
social and political progress of the various
states of Europe over which Feudalism as-
serted its sway.
» See Book Thirteenth, pp. 544, 545.
598
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
CHAPTER LXXXV.— KETJDAL FRANCE.
SOUIS V. of France died
childless. With him the
French Carlovingians be-
came extinct. Even be-
fore his death that once
illustrious line of kings
had sunk to a level with
the earth. The blood of Charlemagne no
more asserted itself as a living force in the
state. For many years the powerful Hugh
Capet, son of Hugh the Great, had wielded
the power of the kingdom. Louis the Slug-
gard was no more than putty in his hands.
Now that the puppet king was dead, now that
only a distant collateral and discredited rep-
resentative might claim the crown, the issue
■was squarely made whether Hugh would him-
self accept an election to the throne or allow
the choice to fall upon another.
As soon as King Louis was dead the
French nobles assembled at Senlis. The tide
of public opinion ran strongly in the direction
of the choice of Hugh Capet. A feeble effort
was made by the remaining descendant of the
Carlovingians, Duke Charles of Lower Lor-
raine, to obtain the royal power for himself;
but his claims were treated with contempt.
In June of 987 the grandees reassembled at
Senlis and proceeded to an election. Count
Hugh was present among them and addressed
the assembly. The nobles were of one opin-
ion as to him who should be raised to the seat
of Charlemagne. Hugh Capet was unanimously
elected, and on the following day was crowned
king of the Gauls, the Bretons, the Normans,
the Aquitainians, the Goths, the Spaniards, and
the Basques. Thus, in the year 987, the Ca-
petian line was substituted for the Carlovin-
gian on the throne of France.
One of the first cares of the new king was
to establish the succession. He proposed to
the nobles that to secure the stability of the
kingdom his son Robert should be associated
with himself in the royal power. At first the
proposal was met with opposition. In the re-
cent interval between the death of the Slug-
gard and the election of Hugh it had been
urged by the champions of the latter that the
hereditary principle ought not to prevail over
fitness in the choice of a king of France.
Now there was a manifest disposition on the
part of the supporters of the king to reverse
the late rule of action and restore the law of
descent. After some debates Duke Robert
was solemnly crowned in the basilica of Sainte-
Croix, and associated with his father in the
government.
The election of Hugh Capet to the throne
of France was the substitution of a feudal
kingdom in the place of the constitutional
monarchy established by Charlemagne. King
Hugh was the greatest feudal chieftain of his
times. He was duke of the country called
France, and count of the city of Paris. Hia
coronation as king of the French was a public
recognition of the fact that the Imperialistic
claims of the Carlovingians had given place
to Feudalism as the essential principle of the
state. The very nobles who had elected Hugh
to the throne forbare not presently to assert
their independence of it. A certain Adelbert,
who had participated in the recent royal elec-
tion, fell into an altercation with his sover-
eign, and hot words passed between them.
" Who made thee Count?" demanded the king
of his vassal. And the vassal replied with
the equally pertinent question, " Who made
thee King?" The incident is illustrative of
the fact that feudal insubordination had al-
ready triumphed over monarchical prerogative.
Duke Charles of Lorraine made a spas-
modic and inglorious attempt to regain the
throne of his fathers. The struggle was vain,
being in the face of fate. A new order had
taken possession not only of France, but of
all Western Europe. In the year 992 the
Duke Charles died, and his family fell into
still greater obscurity than ever. King Hugh,
meanwhile, entered upon his reign with wis-
dom and moderation, and the throne was soon
securely established in his House. From the
verj' first, however, it was evident that the
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL FRANCE.
599
incipient struggle was on between the inde-
pendent claims of the feudal baron and the
assertion of kingly authority. It was the be-
ginning of a conflict which was to continue
for centuries, and which was finally to be de-
cided in favor of the crown by the triumph
of Louis XI. over Charles the Bold.
The reign of Hugh Capet was of nine
years' duration. He administered the affairs
of state wisely and well. He had the advan-
tage of continuing the policy which he him-
self had instituted during his uncrowned
career before the death of the Sluggard.
Under his auspices the civilization of France,
destined to remain under the direction of his
matters. It happened that Robert and his
queen were cousins in the fourth degree, and
this relationship was, according to the canons
of the church, an insuperable obstacle to mar-
riage. Pope Gregory V. issued an edict or-
dering an immediate divorce under pain of
excommunication. But the twain clung to-
gether even under the dire anathema of Rome.
They remained in the palace, abandoned by
their friends, destitute, suflermg, starving ;
for none durst bring them food or minister to
their necessities. The whole kingdom waa
placed under an interdict. Still the law of
love prevailed in the royal bosom. At length
the queen became a mother, but her child
ELECTION OF HUGH CAFET.
Drawn by A. de Neuville.
House for eight hundred years, began to move
forward with rapid strides, and the kingdom
soon surpassed in refinement and culture any
other state north of the Alps. In 996 Hugh
Capet died, and was quietly supceeded by his
son Robert, already king-elect of France.
The new sovereign of the now feudal king-
dom entered upon a long, obscure, and in-
glorious reign. No regular annals of the
period are in existence, and the partial records
■which have been preserved are confused and
contradictory. In the year before his acces-
sion to the throne the king had taken in marr
riage Bertha, the widow of Eudes, count of
Chartres; for whom he had long cherished a
romantic aflfection. The Church of Rome,
however, was little given to romancing in such
was born dead. Thereupon the monks pro
claimed that it was the curse of God upon
the kingly pair for their unholy marriage.
They circulated the report that the dead child
was a monstrous deformity, having no sem-
blance to the oflspring of man. Terror now
seized upon the mind of King Robert, and
he consented to divorce the queen. Bertha
was sent in her sorrow to a convent, and
there passed the remainder of her life as a nun.
In abilities and energy Robert, who now
received the surname of the Pious, was
greatly inferior to his father. He paved his
way with good intentions, but the superstruc-
ture of his reign was reared of weakness and
folly. The king mixed an amiable disposition
and kindly designs with foolish misconcep-
600
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
tions and chimerical projects. It is said that
his charities were so administered as to en-
courage idleness rather than to relieve the
needy. His mildness in the exercise of au-
thority was understood as a license by the
vicious, and his religious sentiments were so
shallow as to be satisfied with forms and cer-
emonies.
After the divorce of Bertha, King Robert
married the Princess Constance of Provence.
Very unlike his former queen was the vain
and insolent woman whom he now took to the
throne. She would have her own way in the
palace. She brought with her to Paris a
retinue of her gay and delightful friends from
the South. Their bright dresses flashed in the
eyes of the sedate courtiers with whom the
king had surrounded himself. Their free and
joyous manners were horrifying to the pious
Robert; but to the queen all this was life.
She filled the palace with minstrels and trou-
badours. She contrived exciting sports and
amusements, and made the monk-shadowed
hall ring with the high glee of jocularity.
The despairing king sought refuge with his
priests. He assisted them in the church serv-
ices. He went on lonesome pilgrimages to
the shrines of the saints. He sought the com-
panionship of filthy beggars, and was in the
habit of washing their feet as a token of his
humility.
The reign of Robert the Pious is note-
worthy in French history as the time when
the first flush of the crusading fever was felt
in Western Europe. At the very time when
Queen Constance was holding high revel with
her troubadours in the palace at Paris, and
the disconsolate king was wandering here and
there in search of some balm for his dy.speptic
spirit, vague rumors floated westward and the
east wind began to whisper the story of out-
rage done by the sacrilegious Saracens at the
tomb of Christ. It was said that the holy
places of Jerusalem were defiled by Infidel
dogs, who spurned with the foot of contempt
the lowly Christians of Palestine. It was the
peculiarity of this premonitory excitement,
which, after smouldering for nearly a cen-
tury, was destined to wrap all Europe in its
flames, that the wrath of the Western Chris-
tians was at first directed against the Jews.
It was said that these people, still hating
Christ and his followers, had instigated the
outrages which had been committed by the
Mohammedans in Palestine. They had car-
ried on a secret correspondence with the In-
fidels of the East, and had suggested the
extermination of the Asiatic Christians. Pope
Sylvester H., though now in his old age,
vehemently proclaimed the duty of Europe
to destroy the perfidous Jews and proceed
against the defilers of holy Jerusalem. The
time, however, had not yet come when such
an appeal could fire the multitudes and fling
them headlong into Asia.
In the year 1002 Robert became embroiled
with the princes of Burgundy. Duke Henry
of that province, uncle of the French king,
died and left no children ; but after his death
his step-son Otho came in and claimed the
dukedom. King Robert al.so laid claim to
Burgundy as the nephew of Duke Henry.
But the king was not fitted, either by disposi-
tion or experience, for a conflict which must
be decided by force of arms. He accordingly
called in his great vassal, the Duke of Nor-
mandy, to aid him against the Burgundian
usurper. The latter in the mean time raised
an army, advanced to meet his foe, and took
possession of the abbey of St. Germain, near
the city of Auxerre. The army of French and
Normans came on from the west, and were
about to attack the Burgundians at the abbey
when a priest came forth and warned the
king not to incur the anger of God by as-
saulting his earthly sanctuary. At that mo-
ment a thick mist arose up from the river.
It was the spirit of St. Germain himself come
from the deeps to reenforce the appeal of
his priest!
The pious King Robert could not stand be-
fore such an apparition from the unseen
world. He and his army turned and fled.
The rebel Otho was left master of the situa-
tion. In 100.3 the king made a second abor-
tive attempt to reduce the Burgundian to
submission. The campaign ended with as
little success as before, and Otho continued to
rule the province for a period of eleven years.
At the end of that time he made a voluntary
submission to the king, whose vassal he be-
came, with the title of Count of Burgundy.
King Robert held the throne of France
untU the year 1031. His eldest son Hugh
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL FRANCE.
601
was recognized as his successor, and was
crowned as the expectant heir while still a
chUd. But this prince died six years before
the death of his father. Eudes, the second
son of Robert, was an idiot ; so Henry, the
third son, was chosen for the succession,
though this act was done against the violent
opposition of Queen Constance, who desired
that the crown should be bestowed upoji her
favorite, the Prince Robert, youngest of the
four brothers. In the year 1031, King Rob-
ert, being then in his sixtieth year and the
thirty-fourth of his reign, was attacked with a
fever while on his return from a pilgrimage.
He died at the town of Melun, and was suc-
ceeded by Prince Henry.
No sooner was the new king seated on the
throne than the partial and implacable queen-
mother stirred up a revolt against him. So
great was her influence in the court and cap-
ital, and so critical became the aspect, that
Henry fled from Paris and sought the protec-
tion of Robert the Magnificent, the reigning
Duke of Normandy. That country had re-
cently been the scene of tumult, intrigue, and
crime. The Duke Richard H. had died in
1027, and was succeeded by his son, Richard
HI. With him his brother Robert, ambitious
to gain the duchy for himself, raised a quar-
rel, and the two princes took up arms to decide
the controversy. Richard at first gained the
advantage, and Robert was besieged in the
castle of Falaise. The latter, finding himself
pent up, resorted to treachery. Pretending
to desire reconciliation, he opened the gates
to his brother and invited him and his nobles
to a banquet. Thereupon Richard sickened
and died, the probable cause being poison.
An accusation was brought against Robert,
and he was excommunicated by his brother,
Archbishop Mauger, of Rouen. Presently
afterwards, however, the sentence was re-
moved, and he gained the title not only of
Duke of Normandy, but also of the Mag-
nificent. To him King Henry now appealed
as to a protector against the malice of his
delightful mother. Robert at once espoused
the cause of the royal appellant, marched on
Pilris, brought the queen-mother to obedience,
and shut her up in a convent. There she had
leisure to recall the pleasures of youth, and
to hear again in dreams the thrumming
of mediaeval guitars in the hands of her
troubadours.
As a reward for service rendered. King
Henry gave to his friend, Duke Robert, the
provinces of Pontoise and Gisors. These
were annexed to Normandy. At the same
time he appeased the ambition of his own
brother Robert by bestowing on him the crown
of Burgundy. Shortly afterwards the Duke
Magnificent discovered an alarming balance
against his soul in the ledger of conscience.
He dreamed of the treacherous banquet at
Falaise, and saw his brother's face in the
shadows. Fain would he abandon the splen-
dor which he had so foully won, and regain
the favor of heaven by a pilgrimage to Jeru-
salem. But what of the succession to the
dukedom? He had no children save one and
he was — illegitimate. Robert had been enam-
ored of the daughter of a tanner ! Feudalism
would hardly recognize the ofl^spring of so
base a union. But Nature had set on the
brow of the youth the seal of genius. The
father was anxious to have him acknowledged
as his successor. At last the reluctant barons
consented. They came into the presence of
the bastard boy and swore allegiance to him
who was presently to become William the
Conqueror! Then the penitent Robert, in
pilgrim's garb, wended his way to the holy
places of the East, and died in Palestine.
No sooner was Duke William acknowl-
edged as the rightful ruler of Normandy than
he began to display the great qualities of am-
bition and daring for which he was so greatly
distinguished. The Norman nobles became
proud of their young suzerain, and the bishops
blinked the story of his birth. Meanwhile,
King Henry of France, surprised at seeing
thus to bud from the bosom of a tanner's
daughter a plant which seemed likely to over-
shadow the realm, bitterly repented the part
which he had taken in favor of Robert and
his base-born son. He accordingly conspired
with Archbishop Mauger, uncle of the aspir-
ing duke, to reverse the order of events and
transfer the Norman duchy to another. But
William was so firmly establi.slied in the re-
spect and afiections of his subjects that the
plot against hini came to naught. Nature
went forth to victory, and legitimacy sat
' mouthing.
^02
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
King Henry occupied the throne of France
from 1033 to 1060. His reign, on the whole,
was weak, if not contemptible. Tliree times
was he married. The first two unions were
with queens who brought him no children ;
but in the third marriage he took to the pal-
ace the Russian princess Anne, daughter of
the czar, and by her he had three sons. This
third marriage of the king with the daughter
of a royal House then scarcely known in West-
ern Europe was an event the motives of which
it would be difficult to discover. But such was
the wifely and the queenly character of the
foreign princess thus oddly introduced into the
palace of the Capets that all cavil against the
king's caprice was quieted. The three sons
born to King Henry were Philip, who suc-
■eecded him ; Robert, who died in childhood ;
and Hugh, who became count of Vermandois.
Now it was that the disk of Feudalism grew
iarge and bright. At the same time the sun
■of royalty waned, as if to its setting. The
splendor of the king's court was actually
■eclipsed by the superior brightness of the
courts of many of his vassals. The great
•counts of Toulouse, Flanders, and Anjou out-
•ehone their king in magnificence, and were
fully his equals in the field. The Count of
Champagne and Blois, half-brother to King
Henry, maintained a court in rivalry to that
■of Paris. He even set up a pretension of
royalty, and in 1037 fought a bloody battle
with the Emperor Conrad of Germany. He
■claimed from that monarch the territories
which had belonged to Conrad the Pacific ;
but the count was slain in battle, and his
claims were thus blown away. The elder of
his two sons was permitted to inherit the earl-
dom of Champagne, and the younger became
Count of Blois.
The reign of King Henry, however undis-
tinguished in itself, was a noted epoch for two
considerations. The first was the formal effort
which was now put forth by the Romish Sec
to reform the abuses of the Church, and the
second was the growth and development of
Chivalry. For a long time ecclesiastical af-
fairs, especially in France, had been sinking
deeper and deeper into confusion and disgrace.
The conduct of the Gallic clergy had been
such as to cover the cause of religion with re-
proach and shame.
It will be remembered that the celibate party
had, in the great struggle of the ninth cen-
tury, won the day over the supporters of a
married clergy. For a generation or two the
celibate monks rejoiced in their victory ; but
by and by they began themselves to be rest-
less under the system which they had suc-
ceeded in enforcing. Many of them broke
their vows and left the monasteries. The
Church was greatly scandalized. Other abuses
added to the disgraces of the organization.
Benefices were frequently sold to the highest
bidder. Even the Papal crown itself had
been so disposed of. The folly of the earthly
kingdoms in permitting children and boys to
occupy thrones was witnessed also at Rome,
where Benedict IX., a stripling but ten years
of age was raised to the seat of St. Peter.
The more serious and sincere ecclesiastics felt
keenly the shame consequent upon these cor-
ruptions. The cry of reform was raised. The
conscience of Germany was deeply stirred at
the existing condition of affairs. In the year
1049 the celebrated Bruno was chosen Pope,
under the auspices of Henry HI. The new
dignitary was a man of sanctity and learning.
Under the name of Leo IX. he undertook a
renovation of the Church. He passed over
into France, and convened a great council at
Rheiras. Here the prelates of the kingdom
were summoned, and a more rigorous enforce-
ment of the canonical and moral law was made
against those who had been guilty of cirme.
As a further measure of reform in the
Church, St. Bruno instituted the order of
Carthusian monks, the same being a branch
of the Benedictines, already established. A
wild and solitary spot near the city of Greno-
ble, in the department of La Chartreuse, was
chosen as the site of the first monastery. The
observances of the new order were austere and
penitential in the last degree. Nor was it
long until the Carthusians gained a reputation
for benevolence and sanctity above that of
any contemporary establishment. Their mon-
asteries soon appeared in various parts of
France, Germany, and England. One branch
of the brotherhood was established in the
Thermoe of Diocletian at Rome. Great was
the industry displayed by the shorn brothers
of Chartreuse in the works peculiar to the
monastic life.
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL FRANCE.
603
Another feature of the religious history of
these times was the spread of various heresies.
The doctrines of the Church were denied or
assailed by many of the clergy. Persecutions
for opinion's sake were already frequent.
Sects of fanatics, anxious by some extraordi-
nary method and discipline of life to merit the
special favor of heaven, arose in different
parts of the country. Of these, the charac-
teristics were some almost intolerable form of
penance, or unusual rigor of restraint upon
the natural appetites. It was the peculiar
tenet of one of the heretical sects to fast to
the last extreme, with total abstinence from
all animal food. Under this severe self-denial
the devotees of the community were presently
wasted until they were more like wan specters
than men of flesh and blood. To be so re-
duced in body was regarded as the highest
evidence of sanctity, and the haggard visage
was thought to be the only countenance worthy
the name of Christian.
Turning from these peculiar aspects of the
religious history of the eleventh century, we
note the rise of Chivalry. This institution,
like Feudalism, of which it was a concomitant
development, grew naturally out of the social
condition of Western Europe. As early as
the days of Tacitus the sentiment of honor
was noticeable as a characteristic of German
life. Under a system where the man was
every thing and the state was little it was nec-
essary to the very existence of tribal society
that truth and devotion should prevail over
the intriguing and treacherous spirit. In such
a state trust was an antecedent of action.
When the Frankish tribes gained possession
of Gaul, and, giving over the wandering life,
fixed their residence on the soil, they began
almost from the very first to cultivate those
sentiments which they had come to regard as
the best traits of German character. When
the Frankish youths were first presented with
the weapons which they were to wear in man-
hood, they were made to take an oath that
they would be brave, valiant, and honorable
soldiers. Even in those early times the worst
stigma which could be affixed to the tribal
name was a dishonorable act on the part of
its chief. Such were the fundamental facts
upon which the chivalrous institutions of the
Middle Ages were founded.
H.— Vol. a— 37
In the beginning of the eleventh century,
Frankish society having then taken on a
definite form and Feudalism having become
the basis of the state, the Church discovered
in the chivalrous sentiments of the Franks
the means of giving a new impulse to relig-
ion. Many of the pious nobles who had been
actual warriors by profession were induced to
become ideal soldiers of the Cross. They
consecrated their swords to the cause of vir-
tue, truth, and religion. They took upon
them vows to defend the innocent and uphold
the weak. They became the sworn foes of
oppression, the enemies of wrong-doing where-
ever and whenever found. The old warlike
impulses thus found a vent, and -the restless
energies of the barbarian character, still pres-
ent in the descendants of the Teutones, flowed
in a newer and broader channel. Just at the
time when the consciousness of Western Eu-
rope was reviving from its long, barbaric
sleep, just at the time when the human imag-
ination began to paint an aureole about the
gross head of the feudal chieftain, Chivalry
came with its refinement of thought and gen-
erosity of action to add new radiance to the
morning of civilization.
The noble principles and high ideals which
thus began to gain an ascendency in mediaeval
society soon became organic in an institution.
An Order of Knighthood was established as
the conservator of the new heroism of nascent
Europe. Laws and regulations were adopted
and a discipline established for the better de-
velopment of chivalrous sentiments and the
proper direction of knightly ardor. The order
opened its portals to none but men of noble
birth. The vulgar peasantry was absolutely
excluded. What dreams of heroism and gen-
erosity, of honor, virtue, and truth, of the
rescue of the helpless and the defense of the
weak, could agitate the unimaginative brains
of ignoble serfs? So reasoned and queried
the suzerain, the royal warrior, the baronial
lord and his aspiring sons, riding forth to
tournament or going abroad in search of
heroic and adventurous excitement.
The ceremonial of knighthood was in-
teresting and elaborate. The aspirant tO
knightly honors, after a period of probation,
came at length to the day when he was to be
admitted among the noble order. The candl-
604
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
date was first carefully bathed, in order that
he might be presented pure before the luinis-
trants. After the washing he was clothed in
a white tunic, over which in a later part of
the ceremony was placed a crimson vest. Fi-
nally he was encased in a coat-of-mail.
His waist was bound with a belt. Spurs were
affixed to his boots and a sword girt at his
side. The various parts of his dress and
armor had a speculative significance as well
as an actual use. The white tunic was sym-
bolical of the new life which the knight had
vowed to lead. The red vest, symbol of
blood, indicated that his business was war.
His armor, which was of a sable hue, was to
noble Houses were put for preparatory disci- ■
pline into the halls of the most eminent
knights. There they did service and took
lessons of the master, imbibing his courtly
manners and emulating his chivalrous deeds.
The sentiment of heroic adventure became-
the one absorbing passion of Feudal Europe,
and the armor of the returning knight, coming
home victorious over the enemies of truth
and chastity, was regarded as the most hon-
orable emblem of the age.
Nor should failure here be made to men-
tion the part which woman naturally assumed
under the chivalric regime which now pre-
vailed instead of the barbaric rule of the past^
A KIXG GOING TO TOURNAMENT.
remind him of the blackness of death. His
belt signified that he was girt with chastity,
and his spurs that he should fly to the res-
cue of the innocent. When the ceremony of
clothing the initiate was completed, he knelt
before the officiating knight, who there-
upon struck him a blow on the shoulder with
the side of his sword, and exclaimed : " In the
name of God, St. INIichael, and St. George, I
dub thee knight. Be brave, bold, and loyal.
Rise, Sir !" For Sir was the knightly title.
Great was the popularity immediately at-
tained by the chivalrous orders. The one
overmastering ambition of the noble youth of
Europe was to be admitted to knighthood.
To this end the sons of the feudal lords were
carefully bred and trained. The scions of the
She was the radiant and adored goddess of the
chivalrous age. To her, in some sort, the
whole system was directed. Weaker than
man, her protection, from being an mstmc-
tive sentiment, became the open and avowed
duty of the knight. Religion said that the
knight should be true to God ; humanity,
that he should be true to woman. The times
were still full of violence. Lawless passions
still sought to be gratified at the expense of
virtue, unable to defend itself against the
strong. The feudal situation was such as to
encourage the sentiment of ennobling love.
Woman wai secluded from base familiarity.
She grew up in the castle halls. The baron's
daughter was rarely seen abroad. From her
father's castle to the castle of her possible-
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL FRANCE.
605
lover was the space of fifty, perhaps a hun-
dred, miles. It was hill country, dark woods,
and deep rivers — hills without a roadway,
woods infested with brigands and robbers, and
rivers without a bridge. Her lover must
come to her at peril of his life. She had
never seen him ; he had never seen her.
They had only dreamed and imagined each
other's loyalty and devotion. Their fathers,
perhaps, were friends — old-time companions
in the perils and hardships of war. Perhaps
his caparisoned steed, fling the reigns to a
groom, and walk, in full and shining armor,
into the echoing hall of her father's castle.
It was the beginning of that great romance
which for a thousand years has been the
dream of the human heart, gilding the gloom
of action and adorning the coarseness of life
with the beauty and tenderness of ideal love.
The institution of chivalry, thus estab-
lished in the beginning of the eleventh cen-
tury, spread rapidly throughout the western
KNIGHTS'-ERRANT.
they were enemies! May be between them
yawned a chasm which had been rent open by
the deadly feuds of a hundred years. The
young baron saw the divmity af his life afar.
He must blow his bugle outside of the moat.
The warder must announce a stranger and let
down the drawbridge if he was welcome. Up
must be flung the portcullis, and in must
ride the aspiring lover, who would fain behold
and worship the goddess of his dreams.
Meanwhile she, after the manner of her sex,
looked down into the court from her high and
narrow window and saw him dismount from
part of Europe. Knighthood in France be-
came the dominant a.spect of society. In a
short time a class of champions known as
knights-errant became prevalent, and the rep-
resentatives of this Order might be seen in
almost every part of the country. In Spain
the business of the knight was more serious
and less ideal. There the Moors were to be
confronted. There the banner of the Cross
was to be lifted against that of the Crescent.
There in a thousand private encounters and
deadly personal battles the metal of the
Christian sword was to be tested against that
606
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
of the Mohammedan. It thus happened that
the sentiment of hatred and contempt of Infi-
dels prevailed over nobler motives in the
chivalry of Spain. Of all the countries of
Europe, insular and practical England was
least favorable to the reception of knighthood.
The knightly branch of the military service
was less important to the English kings than
were those sturdy yeoman archers, whose long
bows of yew were so terrible to the enemy.
In the succeeding Book, the influence of the
chivalrous orders will again demand our atten-
tion as one of the leading impulses of the
Crusades. It was in those marvelous move-
ments of Europe to the East that the knightly
spirit of the West found its broadest and most
congenial field of activity.
After his death in the year 1060, King
Henry was succeeded on the throne of France
by his son Philip I. This prince was a mere
child, being but seven years of age at the
time of his accession. The late king had
taken the precaution to appoint as regent Earl
Baldwin of Flanders during the minority of
Philip. In 1067 the protector died, and the
young king was left to his own resources and
responsibilities.
The domestic relations of the new prince
were no more fortunate than those of his
father. Two years after the death of the
regent, Philip took in marriage the Princess
Bertha, daughter of the Count of Holland.
Six years afterwards she brought to her lord a
son, who was destined to succeed him with the
title of Louis the Fat. After twenty years of
married life, the king made the convenient
discovery that he and the queen were within
the prohibited degrees of kinship. He there-
fore put her away by divorce, and she went
into banishment at Montreuil-sur-Mer. Nor
was it long until the nature of the king's con-
scientious scruples were amply revealed. He
had conceived a violent passion for the beauti-
ful Bertrade, fourth wife of his vassal, the
Count of Anjou.
But no sooner was Queen Bertha disposed
of thau the king set out for Tours, made
^nown his so-called love for Bertrade, who
presently left her consort and joined her al-
leged lover at Orleans. The bishops and
priests were properly shocked at these proceed-
ings on the part of their sovereign. Scarcely
could the king discover one of the clergy suf-
ficiently bold and unscrupulous to perform the
marriage ceremony. The whole Church of
France was up in arms against it. The Pope
promptly joined his authority with that of the
Galilean bishops who refused to recognize the
validity of the union. Then followed a des-
perate struggle between papal and kingiy
prerogative. One excommunication after an-
other was launched at the heads of the king
and his few adherents, but all to no avail.
He kept his queen and mocked at the Holy
Father's authority. Philip's spirit rose with
the persecution against him. The priests re-
fused to perform religious services in any
town where he was sojourning, and when he_
departed from a town the bells rang a peal of
joy for his departure. Thereupon he was ac-
customed to say with a laugh to her who waa
the cause of the insult, "Dost hear, my love,
how they are ringing us out?"
This social disturbance in the king's house
soon distracted the affairs of the whole realm.
The kingdom was put under an interdict by
the Pope. For twelve years France lay
smitten with the awful displeasure of the
Holy See. Not until the First Crusade had
drawn the attention of both Church and king
to the more serious question of expelling the
Infidels from Palestine did Philip finally yield
to the dictation of the Church. In the year
1104, in a great convocation of the bishops at
Paris, the king went humbly before the body,
confessed his sin, renounced his wife, and
promised to expiate his crime with meek and
penitential works. In like manner, Bertrade
yielded to the inevitable and took the oath of
renunciation and future obedience. Never-
theless, it is more than probable that both
king and queen, in abjuring their past lives,
swore falsely even on the Gospel. A short
time afterwards the audacious twain were liv
ing as before, and publicly journeying to-
gether from place to place in the kingdom.
It appears, however, that King Philip waa
not wholly engrossed with his vices. In the
early part of his reign he drew his sword in a
war with Robert, duke of Friesland, who had
seized upon the duchy of Holland. But the
event soon showed that the king of the French
was by no means a match for Count Eobert
and his northern warriors. A peace was ac-
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL FRANCE.
6U7
cordiDgly made, on terms altogether favorable
to the Duke of Friesland. Robert stipulated
that the young king should accept in marriage
his daughter Bertha. For she was that Bertha
who has already been mentioned as the first
wife of Philip.
It was already the daybreak of the Cru-
sades. The reader will readily recall that
part of the narrative in the Second Book of
the present Volume wherein an account is
given of the more friendly relations which
were gradually established between the Chris-
tians and Mohammedans in the East. Nor is
it likely that the old flames of animosity
would have burst out anew if the mild-man-
nered Saracens of the East had remained in
possession of the Holy Sepulcher. It was
needed that the prejudice of race should be
added to the prejudice of religion before the
ancient fires could be rekindled. But this
missing condition necessary to wrap all Eu-
rope in a conflagration was presently supplied
in the conquest of Palestine by the Seljukian
Turks. In the latter part of the eleventh
century these fierce barbarians, themselves
the followers of the Prophet, but a very dif-
ferent people from the refined and philosophi-
cal Arabs who controlled the destinies of
Islam in the South and the West, gained pos-
session of the city of Jerusalem, and began a
career of violence and persecution which was
almost as repugnant to the Saracens as to the
Christians themselves. What should be said
of the despicable wretches who, without com-
punction or fear, converted the churches of
the city of David and Christ into cow-houses
and stables?
The news of what was done in Palestine
created the greatest indignation and rage.
The Christian pilgrims, who escaped from the
atrocities of the lufidels in Asia, returning,
spread the story of the sacrilegious crimes done
by Turks on the followers of Christ. It will
be remembered that at this juncture of aflliirs
the Empire of Constantinople trembled to its
base. The menacing Turks were even then
at the threshold. The Emperor Michael VII.,
distrusting his own ability to save the Greek
Empire from destruction, sent a hurried em-
bassy to Pope Gregory VII., imploring his
aid against the common enemy. The Holy
Father thereupon disnatched letters to the va-
rious Christian states of Europe, calling loudly
upon them to rally to the standard of the im-
periled Cross. Meanwhile a certain Peter, a
devout monk of Picardy, had made a pilgrim-
age to Jerusalem. There he had been mal-
treated and abused according to the manner
of the conscienceless Turks. The monk saw
with indignation and shame his country-
men and brethren insulted and spit upon in
the same manner as himself. Going to the
Christian patriarch of Jerusalem, he laid be-
fore him the story of his wrongs. But the
patriarfch was unable to redress his grievances.
He told Peter, moreover, that the Greek Em-
peror was as impotent as himself to protect
the pilgrims from the fury of th? malignant
Turks. The monk thereupon returned to
Italy and flung himself before the successor
of St. Peter, beseeching him to rally all
Christendom against the defilers of the tomb
of Christ.
Meanwhile the Church of the West was
rent with a violent schism. In 1088 Gregory
VII. was succeeded on the papal throne by a
Benedictine monk named Otho de Lagny,
who took the title of Urban II. But Henry
IV., Emperor of Germany, refused to recog-
nize him, and put up Clement HI. as anti-
pope. The latter was presently expelled by
the Romans, and he and Henry were excom-
municated by Urban. In 1091 the Emperor
marched an army to Rome, restored the anti-
pope, and obliged the Pope to fly into Apulia.
Two years later, however. Urban regained the
papal crown, and in 1095 called a great coun-
cil at Piacenza. There were present at the
assembly two hundred bishops, three thousand
of the inferior clergy, and thirty thousand lay-
men. While this great convocation was busy
with the aflTairs of the Church ambassadors
arrived from Alexius Comnenus, Emperor of
the East, who joined his voice with that of
Peter of Picardy in imploring the aid of West-
ern Europe against the Turks. Urban lent a
willing ear to the appeal, and called upon the
Chi-istian princes to draw their swords against
the Infidels. The agitation spread everywhere.
The council of Piacenza adjourned, and the
bishops returned to their several countries,
fired with the rising spirit of crusaders. Be-
fore the end of the same year — namely, in
November of 1095— Pope Urban II. called
608
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
another great council at Clermont, in Au-
vergne, and there the first formal step was
taken for the rescue of the Holy Land from
the Turks. — Here, then, we pause in the
feudal history of France to sketch the course
of events in the surrounding states before en-
tering upon the history of that tumultuous
movement called the Crusades.
Chapter lxxxvi.— F"eudal Germany.
HE course of German his-
tory has already been
traced from the division
of the Carlovingian em-
pire to the death of Otho
tlie Great, in the year
973. That distinguished
sovereign was succeeded on the throne by his
son Otho II. , surnamed the Red. - The prince
who thus came into the kingly and Imperial
dignity was at the time of his accession but
seventeen years of age. It was the first fate
of his reign to fall under the regency of his
mother, Adelheid, who exhibited great abilities
during the minority of her son. But Theo-
phania, the wife of Otho, became inflamed
with jealousy on account of the ascendency of
her mother-in-law, and the latter was presently
obliged to descend from her preeminence and
retire into Burgundy.
In the first years of the reign of Otho the
Emperor's cousin, Henry of Bavaria, headed a
revolutionary movement against the crown,
with a view of securing the independence of
his own state. The revolt made consideral>le
progress, and Henry was crowned at Ratis-
bon ; but the tide presently turned against
him, and in 976 he was overthrown in battle.
The ambitious purpose of the barbarians was
brought to naught, and they had the chagrin
to see their country united with the province
t)f Suabia. By this union of the two German
states, efiected in the last quarter of the tenth
century, were laid the foundations of the mod-
ern kingdom and empire of Austria.
The next complication demanding the at-
tention of Otho arose on the frontier of Bo-
hemia and Denmark. With both of these
states he went to war and was so successful as
to maintain the boundaries established by his
father. But while the Emperor's energies
were thus absorbed in the North-east, Lo-
thaire, king of France, seized the favoring
opjiottunity to possess himself of the lower
province of Lorraine. In the summer of
978, he succeeded in capturing Aix-la-ChapeUe
and thus established himself in the ancient
capital of Charlemagne. Great was the wrath
which these events excited throughout Ger-
many. An army of sixty thousand men was
raised ; and Otho, turning upon the Franks,
drove them back more rapidly than they had
come. The Emperor pursued the retreating
Lothaire to Paris and besieged him in his own
capital. Then it was that the German army,
encamped on Montraartre, performed an ex-
quisite piece of bravado by bellowing the
Latin litany in the ears of the Parisians.'
After a war of two years' duration, a personal
interview was had between Otho and Lothaire,
and their difliculties were settled by the res-
toration of Lorraine to Germany.
The next trouble in which the Empire was
involved was on the side of Italy. The Eter-
nal City had for some time been the scene of
turmoil and confusion. lu the year 891 Otho
found it necessary to go to Rome in order to
quiet the disturbances in the government.
While engaged in this duty he had personal
interviews with Conrad, duke of Burgundy,
and the great count, Hugh Capet of France.
His mother, the ex-empress Adelheid, also
met him at Pavia, and the two were recon-
ciled. At this time the coasts of Italy were
assailed by both the Greeks and the Saracens.
It was necessary for Otho, in virtue of his Im-
perial title, to defend the South against the
ravages of her enemies. Notwithstanding the
fierce animosities existing between the Greeks
and the Saracens, an alliance was made be-
tween them for the purpose of resisting the
' See Book Thirteenth, p. 552.
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL GERMANY.
609
'German Emperor. For one year a desultory
war was carried on between the belligerents of
Italy ; but in the summer of 982, a great and
decisive battle was fought on the coast of Ca-
labria. The army of Otho was utterly routed
by the Saracens, and he himself only escaped
■destruction by flinging himself into the sea
and swimming to a ship. The vessel was
found to be a galley of the Greeks, but Otho
induced the captain to put him ashore at Ros-
sano, where he was joined by the EmjJress.
Thence the Imperial pair made their escape
into Northern Italy, and in the following year
•Otho summoned the Diet of the Empire to
meet him at Verona.
The call was obeyed with alacrity. The
princes assembled from most of the states of
Western Europe, and the Diet was the most
imposing deliberative body which had been
■convened for centuries. The kings of Hun-
gary and Bohemia sat side by side with the
■dukes of Saxony, France, and Bavaria. One
of the first duties devolving on the assembly
was the establishment of the succession. The
■choice fell naturally on the Emperor's son,
then a child but three years of age, after-
wards to be known as Otho III. Great prep-
arations were then made for prosecuting the
war with the Saracens. The national spirit
of the Germans was thoroughly aroused, and
the energies of the Empire were bent to the
destruction of the Mohammedan buccaneers
in the Mediterranean. But before the prepa-
rations for the conflict could be completed the
Emperor Otho fell sick and died, being then
in the twenty-eighth year of his age and the
tenth of his reign.
The ministers at Aix-la-Chapelle were en-
gaged iu the coronation of Otho III. — follow-
ing in that matter the decree of the Diet at
Verona — at the time when the news came of
his father's death. The establishment of a
regency became an immediate necessity, and
a violent dispute arose between the queen-
mother, Tiieophania, and the queen-grand-
mother, Adelheid, as to which should have the
guardianship of the Imperial scion. Duke
Henry of Bavaria also came forward, and
-claimed the regency, being actuated thereto
by the ill-disgui.sed motive of obtaining the
•crown for himself. The German princes,
iowever, were not at all disposed to favor
this ambitious project, and the vision of the
aspiring Henry was soon reduced to his own
dukedom of Bavaria. The regency went to
Adellieid and Theophania, the latter exercis-
ing authority in the name of her son in Ger-
many, and the former doing likewise in Italy.
In l)oth countries these royal women wielded
their authority with prudence and success.
After eight years Theophania died, and the
now aged Adelheid became sole regent of the
Empu-e. Choosing the dukes of Saxony, Sua-
bia, Bavaria, and Tuscany as members of
her council, she continued for three years
longer to sway the Imperial scepter, and was
then succeeded by her grandson, who, on
reaching the age of sixteen, took into his own
hands the reins of government.
In this period of thirteen years since the
death of Otho II. the Empire was almost con-
stantly menaced with war. The Wends in
Brandenburg agaiu revolted and fell upon the
German settlements beyond the Elbe. Nor,
for the time, was any effective aid rendered
by the Imperial army to the people of this
exposed frontier. The Saxons themselves,
however, proved equal to the emergency, and
the Weudish revolt was suppressed after a
severe and bloody struggle. Nor were the
relations of the Empire on the side of France
more peaceable than in the Northeast.
Though open hostilities were not resorted to,
the sentiment of war prevailed during the
whole minority of Otho III. This was the
epoch in French history when the House of
Charlemagne was in the slow agonies of ex-
tinction. Duke Charles, last of that degener-
ate line, was setting up his feeble and ridicu-
lous claim to the crown of the kingdom,
while the great Hugh Capet was quietly tak-
ing to himself the royal dignity, with the
ample consent of the nobles and people of
France.
Little was the German Empire benefited
by the transfer of tlie scepter from the with-
ered but virtuous hand of Adelheid to that of
her facile and capricious grandson. Though
the education of Otho III. had by no means
been neglected, his instruction had been
Greek rather than German. Like many
another upstart stripling, he preferred his for-
eign to his native culture. He afl^ected to
be — and perhaps was — ashamed of his Sa^on
610
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
lineage, and was fool enough to style himself
a Greek by birth and a Roman by right of
rule. Albeit but little good might be ex-
pected to flow from the Imperial scepter while
wielded by a prince so fantastic in disposition
and absurd in his royal mannerisms.
In accordance with his theory of regarding
himself as a Roman rather than a German Em-
peror, young Otho made all speed to the Eternal
City to receive his crown at the hands of the
Holy Father. The papal chair was at that
time occupied by Pope John XVI., whom
Otho had recently aided in a struggle with a
certain Roman noble named Crescentius, who
had endeavored to usurp the government of
the city. The Pope, however, died while the
Emperor was en roiite into Italy ; and the lat-
ter found it necessary to create his own creator
by appointing to the papacy his cousin Bruno,
■who took the seat of St. Peter with the title
of Gregory V. By him Otho was crowned a
few days after his arrival in the city. How,
indeed, could the Pope do otherwise, when he
himself had been raised up for that especial
duty ?
It soon appeared that the Pope had the
worst of the bargain. When tlie ceremony
of coronation was done, and Otho had retired
from Italy, Crescentius rose against the Pope,
expelled him from power, and set up a new
creature of his own. On arriving in Germany
Otho found that the Wends of Prussia were
again in insurrection, and that his northern
frontier liad been broken in by the Danes.
Notwithstanding this alarming condition of
affairs, the Emperor left his own country to
defend herself against her enemies, and hastily
recrossing the Alps, fell upon the enemies of
Gregory. The rival Pope was seized and bar-
barously mutilated. Crescentius was taken
and beheaded, and Gregory reinstated in the
papacy. The triumph of the latter, however,
was of short duration. He died in 999, and
his place was taken by Gerbert of Rheims,
■whom Otho now raised to the papal chair,
with the title of Sylvester II.
The new pontiff liad been the teacher of
the Emperor in Ijoyhood, and was greatly es-
teemed for his learning, though not at all for
his piety. Indeed, the Pope's scholarship, es-
pecially in matters of science, was such as to
gain for him the bad fame of being a magi-
cian. It was held by the people thai he
practiced the Black Art and was the servant
of his master, the Devil. Already were dis-
coverable the symptoms of an outbreak be-
tween the calm-spirited, benevolent founders
of science and the ignorant zeal of bigoted
credulity.
For three years Otho HI. remained in
Rome, occupying his time with the religious
pageants of the city and cultivating the ac-
quaintance of the celebrities of the Church.
In A. D. 1000 he returned to Germany,
where his aunt, the Princess Matilda, had
held rule during his absence in the South.
Here his attention was at once absorbed with
the religious affairs of the Empire. One of
the most serious questions of the times was-
the setting up of an independent Church by
the Poles. These people, under the lead of
the Archbishop of Magdeburg, demanded and
obtained from the Emperor the separation of
their diocese from that of the Empire. The
concessions made by Otho in this respect were
so many and important that the authority of
the German Empire over the rising kingdom
of Poland was presently denied.
During the negotiations of Otho with the
Poles, he turned aside from the principal
business in hand to make a pilgrimage to the
tomb of St. Adalbert at Prague. Afterwards
he made a journey to Aix-la-Chapelle, and
there gratified his morbid fancy by entering
the sepulcher of Charlemagne. It was one
of the dreams of Otho that he should become
the restorer of the Roman Empire of the
West. That, too, had been the delusive
vision which flitted before the fancy of the
greatest Carlovingian. Now tlie German
prince entered the gloomy vault where the
body of Charlemagne had lain for nearly two
hundred years, believing that the spectral
lips would speak to him and teach him how
his object might be accomplished.
It was not long until the condition of af-
fairs in Italy again demanded the presence of
the Emperor. Sylvester was not much mor»
kindly received by the Romans than had been
his predecessor. A strong party of tlie Italican
clergy openly denounced the scandalous pro-
ceeding of Otho in the appointment of the
last two Popes. In the year 1001 the Em-
peror returned to Rome and established his
FEUDAL ASCEND£.j^CY.— FEUDAL GERMANY.
611
court on the Aventine. But his presence was
illy brooked by the insurgent people. Moved
partly by his unpleasant surroundings and
partly by curiosity, Otho slipped out of the
city by night aud made a visit to Venice.
On his return to Rome, however, he found
the gates closed against him. Enraged at this
inhospitable reception, he gathered a force
and began a siege of the city. But before he
couid make any impression upon the defenses
he sickened and died, being at that time in
the sixth year of his reign and the twenty-
third of his age. His body was taken in
charge by his followers, who cut their way
ihrough the Roman insurgents, bore their
lifeless burden across the Alps, aud buried it
in the royal tomb at Aix-la-Chapelle.
In the following year, A. D. 1003, Sylves-
ter n. died, aud the papal seat was seized upon
by the counts of Tusculum. By them an ef-
fort was now made to apply the hereditary
principle to the Holy See, and to establish a
papal succession in their own family. One of
the counts, then a youth but seveuteen years
of age, was raised to the pontifical dignity
with the title of John XVII., aud in the
course of the following nine years he was suc-
ceeded by three others as immature as him-
self. Thus, while the Imperial crown of
Germany, so ably and honorably worn by
Otho the Great, descended to a fantastic strip-
ling incapable of any great and serious enter-
prise, the papal tiara in like manner declined
from the broad brow of Leo VII. to rest on
the ridiculous heads of the boyish incompe-
tents, John XVIII. and Sergius IV. Such
was the waning and eclipse of the magnificent
dream of Charlemagtie to reestablish the an-
cient empire in state and Church.
At the death of Otho HI. the Imperial
crown was claimed by three of the German
princes. The choice fell at length upou the
late Emperor's cousin, Duke Henry of Bava-
ria, great grandson of Henry the Fowler.
The election of this prince was seriously op-
posed by the dukes of Saxony, Suabia, and
Lorraine; and for a season the Empire was
threatened with disruption. But in due time
the refractory electors submitted, and the
authority of Henry was recognized throughout
Germany. iVoi so. however, in the South.
The disposition to regard Italy as a separate
kingdom was more and more manifest, and
the Italians were quick to perceive the differ
. ence between a powerful sovereign like Otho
the Great and the present wearer of the Im-
perial crown.
During the greater part of his reign
Henry II. was vexed with the complication
of his affairs south of the Alps. But a more
pressing demand was made upon the military
resources of Germany in repelling the aggres-
sions of the Poles. For Boleslau, the reign-
ing Duke of Poland, a brave and warlike
prince, undertook to unite Bohemia and all
the Slavonic countries eastward of the Elbe
into an independent kingdom. The German
territories in this region were thus about to
be wrested away from the parent state and
absorbed in a foreign dominion. The first
sixteen years of Henry II. 's reign were almost
wholly consumed in warfare with the Poles.
One bloody campaign after another was waged,
until at last, in 1018, peace was concluded by
the acceptance of a dependent relation on the
part of Poland. But to compensate for this
humble position as a tributary of the German
Empire, the Saxon province of Meissen was
forced into a like relation of dependence upon
the Polish duchy.
While these events had been in progress
beyond the Elbe the Wends had again revolted
and obtained the mastery of Northern Prussia.
In that region the authority of the Empire
was overthrown and paganism established on
the ruins of the Church. In the mean time
Arduin, duke of Ivrea, had once more in-
duced the Lombards to throw off their alle-
giance. Independence was declared and the
duke was chosen king. As early as 100&
Henry H. was obliged to lead an army across
the mountains in order to restore quiet tO'
Italy. Proceeding against Pavia he laid siege
to that city, which was presently taken and
burned. Believing the insurrection at an end
the king returned into Germany. But no
sooner were the Alps between him and Ar-
duin than the latter again came to the front
as the leader of the revolution. Pope Bene-
dict VIII., the third of the boy pontiffs of
the Tusculan dynasty, was so hard pressed by
the insurgents that he fled to Germany, and
besought Henry to aid him in recovering the
chair of St. Peter. In 1013 the king con-
612
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
ducted the Holy Father back to Italy, retook
Pavia, and marching on Rome reinstated Ben-
edict in the jsapacy. Then it was that Henry
himself received at the hands of the grateful
pontiff the honor of the Imperial crown.
While the Polish war still continued in the
Northeast the western frontier on the side
of Flanders, Luxemburg, and Lorraine were
troubled with rebellions. Indeed, in aU parts
of the Empire the same tendency towards dis-
integration and the achievement of local in-
dependence, which we have observed in the
contemporaneous history of Feudal France,
was manifest. At this time a violent quarrel
broke out between Rudolph HI., king of
Burgundy, and his nobles, on account of the
disposition which he was about to make of
the crown. In looking forward to his exit he
bequeathed the kingdom to his nephew, who
was none other than the reigning Emperor.
Burgundy was thus about to pass under the
German scepter, and to prevent this catas-
trophe the Burgundians went to war. The
armies of Henry II. marched rapidly to the
rescue and the country was conquered after
two arduous campaigns.
The year 1020 was signalized by the dedi-
cation of the great cathedral of Bamberg.
Upon this structure the Emperor had for many
years lavished his treasure. The Pope made
a journey from Rome in order to be present
and direct the ceremonies of consecration.
His Holiness availed himself of the opportu-
nities of the German court again to implore
the interference of Henry in the affairs of
Italy. The southern part of that country was
now overrun and held by the Greeks. The
city of Capua had been taken by them, and
could not be recovered by the Italians. The
Emperor hesitated not to respond to the call.
In the following year he led a large army
across the Alps, and expelled the Greeks from
the whole peninsula, except a few places on
the coast of Bnittium. The campaign, how-
ever, was almost as disastrous to the Germans
as to the enemy whom they defeated. A
pestilence broke out, and the army of Henry
was well-nigh destroyed before it could escape
from the country.
The remaining three years of the reign of
the Emperor Henry were spent in settling
the affairs of Germany. On every side the
kingly prerogative was assailed by the dukes
and counts struggling after the manner of
feudal lords to become independent of their
suzerain. The development of a feeling of
nationality was thus counterchecked by the
sentiment of local independence. In spite of
the strenuous efforts of Henry H. he was
obliged to witness the constant disintegration
of the Empire. The spirit of the times had so
changed since the death of Otho the Great
that not even the greatest genius and industry
could suffice to check the forces of localism
and hold the state in one. In the year 1024
the Emperor died and was buried in his cathe-
dral ut Bamberg. With him expired the
Saxon line of sovereigns which had begun
with Conrad I. in 918.
It thus became necessary for the German
nobles to elect a new sovereign in the place
of Henry H. For this purpose a great assem-
bly was held on the Rhine, near the city of
Mayence. This had now become the border
line between the Germans and the Franks.
About sixty thousand persons came to the
assembly. Two great camps were formed,
the one on the eastern, the other on the west-
ern bank of the river. The candidates for
the Imperial crown were two cousins, both
named Conrad, and both supported by a pow-
erful following. At length, after five days of
discussion not unmixed with intrigue, the
choice feU on Conrad of Suabia, the elder
and more popular of the candidates, and he at
once received the crown in the cathedral of
Mayence. The election had turned largely
upon the facts that Conrad was a man of
great abilities, and that he had married the
Princess Gisela of Suabia. By her — for she
was already experienced in the matter of gov-
ernment— the new Emperor was greatly aided
in conducting the affairs of state. Nor was
any serious opposition manifested to the as-
sumption of royal power by one so worthy to
W'ield the scepter.
It was the peculiarity of mediaeval times that
a change of dynasty generally furnished the
occasion for the revolt of malcontent peoples.
The accession of Conrad II. proved to be no
exception to the rule. First of all, the Lom-
bards threw off the German yoke. They fell
upon the city of Pavia and destroyed the Im-
perial palace. At the same time Rudolph of
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL GERMANY.
613
Burgundy, who, as will be remembered, had
designed to give his kingdom to Henry II.,
now changed his mind and resisted the claims
of Conrad. In Poland, also, King Boleslau
annulled the existing treaty and refused any
longer to recognize the tributary relation of
the kingdom. Just at the time, however,
when the Empire seemed to totter, the Polish
king died, and while his sons were engaged in
a violent quarrel about the succession Conrad
found opportunity to reestablish his sover-
eignty over the country. In Burgundy also
the childless Rudolph III. was presently obliged
to yield to the logic of events and acknowl-
edge Conrad as his successor. With Canute
the Great of England the Emperor made a
treaty by which the Eider was established as
his boundary on the side of Denmark.
Having thus efi'ected a settlement of the
affairs north of the Alps, Conrad next turned
his attention to the insurgent Lombards. He
led an army across the mountains, and early
in 1026 entered the valley of the Po. Find-
ing Pavia in the hands of the rebels, the king
proceeded to Milan, where he received, at the
hands of the nobles, the iron crown of Lom-
bardy. In the course of a single year all
Northern Italy yielded to his sway. In the
following spring he continued his course to
Rome, where he was welcomed by Pope John
XIX., one of the Tusculan pontiffs, being
now but twelve years of age. At the hands
of this sage father of the Holy See, Conrad re-
ceived the golden crown of Empire. Canute
of England and Rudolph of Burgundy were
present on the occasion, which was signalized
by the betrothal of Gunhilde, daughter of
Canute, to Prince Henry, son of the Emperor.
In the mean time the adventurous Normans
had made their way into Southern Italy, aud
had there succeeded in expelling from the
country the Greeks and the Saracens. After
their manner they took possession for them-
selves, and a new Normandy was about to be
established in the South. Conrad found it
necessary to stretch out the Imperial scepter
towards the Mediterranean. But the Nor-
mans, though they readily assumed the rela-
tion of vassals to the crown, refused to leave
the provinces which they had conquered.
Thus did the blood of the northern races
assert itself as far as the strait of Messina.
During the absence of the Emperor in
Italy, an alarming condition of affairs had
supervened in Germany. Duke Ernest H.,
of Suabia, step-son of Conrad, raised the
standard of revolt and laid claim to the crown
of Burgundy. On reaching the paternal king-
dom the Emperor marched against the insur-
gents, defeated Ernest and threw him into
prison. The prayers of Gisela, the rebel
prince's -mother, at length prevailed to secure
him his liberation. But he failed to keep
faith with the crown, united himself with
Count Werner of Kyburg, became an outlaw
in the Black Forest, and was soon afterwards
killed in a battle with the Imperial troops.
Such, however, had been the daring career
which the rebellious prince had run that he
became a popular hero, and his exploits were
sung in the ballads and recited in the tradi-
tions of a story-loving people. Duke Ernest
was the Robin Hood of Germany.
The affairs of Poland, after an epoch of
turbulence subsequent to the death of Boles-
lau, at length fell to a calm. The Poles
again asserted their independence of the Ger-
man crown, and Conrad invaded the country
to reestablish his authority. But the expedi-
tion ended in disaster. The Imperial army
was utterly defeated and forced back to the
river Elbe. By this time a war had broken
out between Count Albert of Austria and
King Stephen of Hungary. The latter had
succeeded in inducing his people to abandon
paganism, and had himself, in the year 1000,
been baptized by Pope Sylvester II. ; but his
piety, which afterwards gained for him the
appellation of Saint, did not save him from
the lust of war. Count Albert appealed
to the Emperor for aid, and the Hunga-
rians were obliged to consent to a treaty
of peace dictated by the conquerors. A set-
tlement having been reached on the Danubian
frontier, Conrad found opportunity to renew
the war with the Poles. In this, also, he was
successful, and Poland again became tributary
to the Empire. In 1032 Rudolph of Bur-
gundy fulfilled the promise which he had
made by sending his crown and scepter to the
Emperor. Hereupon, Count Odo of Cham-
pagne, who as the next relative to Rudolph,
claimed the duchy of Burgundy, and raised a
revolt in the southern part of that province.
614
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
BAPTISM Of SAINT STEPHEN BY POPE SYLVESTER II.
From the painting by Benczur Gyula, Jn tlie NatSonal Museum, Pesth.
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL GERMANY.
615
The insurrection was of sufficient importance
to demand the presence of an Imperial army.
But Count Odo was overthrown, and Conrad
was crowned king of Burgundy. Thus, in
the early part of the eleventh century was the
valley of the Rhone, including about the half
■of Switzerland, incorporated with the Empire.
The union, however, extended no further than
the establishrneut of a political bond, and not
to the institutions, language, and social cus-
toms of the Burguudians, who continued as
they had been, essentially French.
In Italy a movement was now begun which
in its result was one of the most important in
the Middle Ages. The Imperial sway over
the Italian peoples was nominal rather than
real. It afforded but little protection to soci-
ety and had in itself no element of stability.
In order to continue, it had to be constantly
reestablished by force. To be sure, the papal
power never failed to uphold the author-
ity of the Emperors ; for by this means the
Popes were in turn enabled in every time of
need to call forth the secular sword in defense
of their interests.
Many of the Italian nobles and patriots,
however, perceived the hollowness of this fac-
titious system of government. A few of the
bolder spirits grew restless under a foreign
domination which claimed every thing and
gave nothing. Chief among these brave
spirits was Heribert, archbishop of Milan.
In the year 1037 he induced the people
of his city to throw off the Imperial yoke and
assert their independence. The insurrection
was organized under the leadership of Heri-
bert, who staked all on the cast of the die.
He was deposed by the Emperor and excom-
municated by the Pope. But he defied them
both, and prepared the defense of Milan. The
fortifications of the city were so strengthened
that Conrad's array was obliged to desist from
the siege, and the virtual independence of
MUan was achieved. Such was the beginning
of that movement which, in the following
century, led to the emancipation of the cities
and the establishment of the petty but vigor-
ous Republics of the Middle Ages.
The career of Conrad II. was already
drawing to a close. Two years after the re-
volt of Milan he died at the city of Utrecht,
and was succeeded by his son Henry III.
The latter, now twenty-three years of age,
was a prince of the highest promise. In tal-
ents and accomplishments he was equally pre-
eminent, and the condition of the Empire at
the time of his accession was such as to fur-
nish a fair opportunity for the display of his
abilities. In Germany Proper there was a
general peace. The Bohemians and Hunga-
rians, however, again rose against the crown
and attempted to gain their independence.
In two arduous campaigns Henry overthrew
the armies of the insurgent states and re-
stored his authority. Duke Casimir, of Po-
land, and Peter, king of Hungary, were
both compelled to acknowledge their depend-
ence upon the Imperial crown. The Russian
Czar attempted to ally his fortunes with those
of the Empire. He offered his daughter to
Henry after the death of Queen GunhUde,
but the princess was declined by the Emperor
in favor of Agnes of Poitiers, who became his
second queen.
A cursory view of the social condition of
Germany in the middle of the eleventh cen-
tury would reveal a gloomy and forbidding
prospect. The resources of the state were
wasted in almost continual warfare. Follow-
ing hard after this fact stalked ever the spec-
ters of pestilence and famine. The ministers
of the state and the dignitaries of the Church
were, for the most part, ignorant, mercenary,
corrupt. The general administration of the
Church, under the auspices of the boy Popes
of Tusculum, had sunk to the lowest level.
The prostitution of the Italian clergy to the
basest of motives and practices had led to a
similar defilement throughout all Christendom.
The year A. D. 1000 had passed without the
fiery catastrophe, and the End of the World
seemed to be indefinitely postponed. Reacting
from the abject despair of the preceding cen-
tury, the leaders of the age entered upon a
career of defiance and criminal bravado ; and
though the End of the World was no longer
to be dreaded, the End of Humanity seemed
nigh at hand. Disappointed superstition sub-
stituted the gulf of depravity for the abyss
of fear.
It will not have escaped the attention of
any careful student of history that the human
race has in itself in the last hour of its
despair the power of sudden recovery. Just
616
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
at the time when the last embers of hope are
expiring in the ashes of bitterness and gloom,
a sudden breeze, as if blown up from the pa-
vilion of the unseen world, touches the dying
coals, kindles them into a feeble jet, the jet
into a flame, the flame into a conflagration.
The epoch of revival succeeds the epoch of
hopelessness, and man, inflamed with new am-
bition, begins again the confident battles of
existence.
In the midst of this violent and pestilential
century, the first throb of one of these revivals
of humanity was felt in Southern Europe.
The occasion for the reaction against the
crime and despair of the age was found in the
scandalous corruption of the Church, and the
first movement of reform had the same origin
with the abuse which demanded it. The
Burgundian monks of Cluuy, led by their ab-
bot, Odilo, began to inveigh against the vices
of the time, especially against the remorseless
methods of mediieval warfare. They pro-
claimed a dogma which became known as the
Truce of God, by which all combats, whether
public or private, were forbidden from the
evening of each Wednesday until the morning
of the following Monday. The larger part of
the week was thus absolutely reserved for the
duties of peace. Private feuds and public
battles were so impeded by the perpetual re-
currence of the truce that the baflled spirit of
retaliation and revenge could hardly any
longer be gratified. The new doctrine was
received with great favor. The monks who
had originated the measure became known as
the Congregation of Cluny, and many pious
ecclesiastics in different and distant parts
sought to join themselves with the peaceful
brotherhood. Not a few of the secular princes
favored the beneficent measure, and the Em-
peror Henry HI. called a diet of the German
nobles for the express purpose of enforcing
the observance of the truce.
One reform led to another. At this epoch
the crime of simony, or the practice of selling
the offices and dignity of the Church, was
scandalously prevalent. Unscrupulous aspir-
ants, all the way from the common priesthood
to the papacy, were wont to buy the coveted
preferment. The largest bribe won the contest
over the greatest merit. The Congregation of
Cluny attacked this abuse with great vigor,
but with less success than had attended their
efforts in combating the merciless methods of
war. Henry IH. again lent his aid in the ef-
fort at reform. He took pains to favor the
appointment of such priests only as were moral
and intelligent. He interfered in the afl^ira
of the Holy See. Three rival Popes were at
this time contending for the seat of St. Peter.
Each of these had excommunicated the othei
two, together with their followers. There was
good reason why the Emperor should cross
the Alps and attempt the restitution of order
and decency in the papal state. Accordingly,
in 1046, Henry made his way into Lombardy,
and thence to the old Etruscan city of Sutri,
where a great synod was held to consider and
reconcile the difficulties of the Church. It
was voted that all three of the alleged Popes
should be deposed, and that the tiara should
be placed on the head of the Bishop of Bam-
berg. This choice, however, so evidently
made out of deference to the Emperor, was
very distasteful to the real reformers, and the
dislike for Clement II. — for such was the title
of the new pontiff" — was greatly increased
when the Holy Father, on the same day of his
own coronation, conferred the Imperial crown
on Henry. The growing republican spirit of
Italy was vexed and oflfended by this ill-con-
cealed bargain struck by the Pope and the
Emperor in the very center of the reformatory
movement. The temporary backset given to
the work acted as a stimulus to the demo-
cratic spirit already rife in Venice and Milan.
It was at this time that the Italican clergy
and people, who had hitherto been an actual
factor in the election of the Popes, were re-
manded to the background. The right of
choice fell into the hands of the bishops, and
they, receiving their appointment from the
Emperor, were certain to follow his lead and
preference in the selection of a pontiff". Be-
tween the years 1047 and 1055 no fewer than
four Popes were successively raised to the pa-
pal dignity at the dictation of Henry HI.
Near the close of his reign the Emperor
again visited Italy, and readjusted the affairs
of the Norman principalities in the southern
parts of the peninsula. While absent on this-
mission the home kingdom was seriously dis-
turbed with outbreaks and dissensions. The
three counts — Godfrey of Iiorraine, Baldwin
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL GERMANY.
617
of Flanders, and Dietrich of Holland — all
threw off the Imperial sway and asserted their
independence. The occasion of this alarming
outbreak was the persistent folly of Henry in
filling the offices of the Empire with his per-
sonal friends and kinsmen, to the exclusion of
more able and meritorious claimants. So great
was the abuse complained of that by the year
1051 all the states of Germany, with the sin-
flict with Baldwin of Flanders, and sent a
powerful army against Godfrey of Lorraine.
But no decided successes were achieved by the
Imperial arms, and the insurrectionary state?
could not be quieted.
HENRY III. PRESIDING AT THE SYNOD OF SUTRI.
gle exception of Saxony, were governed by
the personal friends and relatives of the Em-
peror. But the stubborn monarch was not to
be put from his purpose by opposition. He
plunged into a four years' bloody war with
the rebellious dukes. He called to his aid his
creature, Pope Leo IX., who excommunicated
the insurgents. He procured the assistance
of the English and Danish fleets in his con-
During the progress of the war Duke Bern-
hard of Saxony, who was not a favorite of the
Emperor, held himself and his countrymen in
a sort of unfriendly neutrality. With a view
to counteract this antagonism Henry HI. ap-
pointed one of his friends, named Adelbert,
as archbishop of Bremen. At the same time
he built for himself the royal castle of Goslar,
at the foot of the Hartz, to the end that
618
imiVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
he might have a residence on the Saxon
border.
While these events were taking place north
•of the Alps, Italy was again rent with a civil
commotion. In 1054 Pope Leo IX. under-
took the conduct of a campaign against the
Kormans. The result was the defeat of his
forces and the capture of himself by the
■enemy. His Holiness, however, was treated
FORCES OF LEO IX. DEPARTING FROM ROME.
•with the greatest respect by his warlike cap-
tors. Tiiemselves under the dominion of the
Feudal spu-it, they hesitated not to acknowl-
■edge themselves the vassals of their prisoner :
■this, too, with no regard to the fact that they
were already the vassals of the Emperor. The
latter must now regain or lose his dominion
in the South. He accordingly set out for
Italy to reassert his claims. Arriving in Lom-
bardy, he summoned a diet and held a review
of the Italian army at Piacenza. Just after-
wards the problem was simplified by the death
of Leo IX. and by the Imperial appointment
of Victor II. as his successor. Now it was
that the powerful hand, first shadowy and
then real, of the celebrated Hildebrand of Sa-
vona, an austere monk of Cluny, began to be
visible behind the throne and miter of St.
Peter. It was soon discovered that both Leo
and Victor had been but clay in the hands of
the great monkish potter,
who moulded them to his
wUl.
As to Henry HI., the
end was now at hand. In
the fall of 1056, while re-
siding at the castle of Gos-'
lar, he was visited by the
Pope ; but the latter was
unable to raise the broken
spirits of the aged and
troubled monarch. Already
in his last illness, his exit
was hastened by the news
of a disaster which his
army had received at the
hands of the Slavonians.
The curtain fell, and the
scepter was left to the Em-
peror's son, already crowned
as king of Germany, and
afterwards to receive the
Imperial title of Henry IV.
Being yet in his minor-
ity the young prince was
placed under the regency
of bis mother, the Empress
Agnes, of Poitiers. The
latter devoted herself assid-
uously to the care of the
state, and for a while af-
fairs went better than dur-
ing the reign of her husband. The hos-
tile provinces of Flanders and Lorraine were
again brought to a peaceful acknowledgment
of the Imperial sway. It was not long, how-
ever, until the old favorites of the deceased
king regained their ascendency, and the reform
was brought to an end. The feudal lords
scarcely any longer heeded the Imperial man-
date, but each pursued his own way towards
local independence. In Italy especially they
asserted themselves in affairs of Church and
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL GERMANY.
619
state, and demanded the old-time right of
nominating the Pope. This claim was re-
sisted by the Empress, who in 1058 raised
Nicholas II. to the throne. In a short time
the new pontiff' surprised the queen-regent by
abandouding the interests of the Empire and
casting in his lot with the Norman barons
and new-born republican cities of Italy. In
the home kingdom, also, the feudal broils were
perpetually renewed. A conspiracy was made
to destroy Prince Henry and change the dy-
nasty. When the first jjlot was foiled, a
second was formed under the lead of Hauno,
archbishop of Cologne. The purpose now was
to wrest Henry IV. from his mother, drive
her into retirement, and transfer the regency
to some prince who was able to exercise Im-
perial authority. Hanno succeeded in entic-
ing young Henry on board his vessel at Kai-
serswerth. Here the royal lad, then but
twelve years of age, was seized by the con-
spirators and forcibly carried away. Shortly
afterwards a meeting of the princes was hold,
and the young king was placed under the
guardianship of Hauno.
The severity of his protector soon alienated
both Henry and the nobles of the Empire.
A counter rev*4ution deprived Hanno of
the guardianship, and the same was trans-
ferred to Adelbert of Bremen. The latter
held the troublesome distinction untU 1065,
when the j'rince, then reaching the age of
fifteen, was invested with the sword of man-
hood. Taking the government upon himself,
Henry reluctantly accepted Hauno as his
chief counselor, the latter being forced upon
him by the princes of Cologne and others
affiliated with them.
At the age of seventeen the young king
took for his wife the Italian princess. Bertha.
But in the course of three years he wearied
of his choice and sought to be divorced. The
Archbishop of Mayence gave his sanction ;
but Hildebrand, now the chancellor of Pope
Alexander II. , induced the pontiff to deny the
king's wishes, and Henry was obliged to yield.
His humiliation over the failure of the project
was compensated by the death of the old en-
emy of his House, Godfrey of Lorraine.
About the same time another foe, Duk;-t Otho
of Bavaria, was seized by the king's party and
deprived of his duchy. Both these events
N.— Vol. 2— c(8
tended powerfully to establish Henry in the
Empire, but the tendency was somewhat neu-
tralized by the hostile attitude of Magnus of
Saxony. The Saxons had never been patient
under the rule of the Franconian Emperors,
and circumstances now favored a general re-
volt of the nation. The people, under the
leadership of the deposed Duke of Bavaria, rose
to the number of sixty thousand, marched
upon the castle of Harzburg, and demanded
of Henry the dismissal of his counselors and
a reform of the government. This the king
refused, and was thereupon besieged in his
castle.
When the situation became critical, he es-
caped from Harzburg aud fled almost without
a following. Not until he reached the Rhine
was there any general uprising in his favor.
The cities in this region, however, had grown
restive under the domination of the bishops,
and were eager to begiu a revolution by receiv-
ing the fugitive Emjjeror. His fortunes were
thus stayed by a powerful support, but he was
presently obliged to make peace with the
Saxons, who dictated their own terms of set-
tlement. They even proceeded to the extreme^
of demolishing the Emperor's castle and church
at Harzburg, where the bones of his father
were buried. This flagrant abuse of victory
soon turned the tide in fiivor of Henry, who
rallied a large army, entered the country of
the Saxons, aud inflicted on them an over-
whelming defeat. Thus -at length were all
parts of the Empire reduced to submission,
and the throne of Henry IV. seemed more
firmly established than that of any former
Emjieror of the German race.
Now it was, however, that the great monk
Hildebrand, after having moulded the policy
of the papacy during four successive pontifi-
cates, himself assumed the tiara, and, with the
title of Gregory ~VH., took the seat of St.
Peter. He was without doubt the greatest
genius of his age, and the work of his far-
reaching intellect in establishing a new order
throughout Christendom has continued to be
felt for more than eight hundred years.
Coming to the papal throne in 1073, he at
once set about recasting the whole policy and
form of the papal Church. At the first the
Bishop of Rome had neither claimed nor ex-
ercised auv snecial preeminence over the othc
620
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
prelates of the Christian world. From the
sixth to the eleventh century the Pope had
claimed to be, and was, the nominal head of
Christendom ; but the office was still regarded
as subordinate in all secular matters to the
kings and emperors of Europe. It remained
for Gregory \'II to conceive the stupendous
scheme of raising the papal scepter above all
powers and dominions of the earth. The proj-
ect was no less in its design than the estab-
CiKEGORY Vll.— (HlLDEBRAND.)
lishment of a colossal religious empire, to
which all kingdoms, peoj)k's, and tribes should
do a willing obeisance. In carrying out this
prodigious design Gregory conceived that the
first steps necessary were certain reforms in
the Church itself He began by espousing
the doctrine of a celibate clergy. He resolved
that every priest of Christendom .should belong
wholly to the Church, and should know no
tie of earthly kinship or affection. The strug-
gle which had been begun in the times of
Charlemagne for the obliteration of a married
nriesthood was renewed in all Western Eu-
rope. In the mean time the spread of the'-
monastic orders, all of which were celibate,
had greatly strengthened the cause of an un-
married priesthood. In 1074 the law of celib*-
acy was proclaimed as a fundamental prin-
ciple of the Romish hierarchy, and from
that day forth the power and influence
of the opposing party in the Church began
to wane until it was finally extinguished-
in the fourteenth century.
In the next place, Gregory-
turned his attention to the crime-
of simony. The proclamation
of the celibacy of the priesthood-
was quickly followed by another
denouncing the sale of the offi-
ces of the Church. It was de-
clared that henceforth the bish-
ops, instead of being invested'
with the insignia of office by
the secular princes, whom they
paid for the preferment, should,
receive the ring and crosier only
from the hands of the Pope.
Without a moment's hesitation-
Gregory sent ordei-s to Henry IV.
to enforce the reform through-
out the Empire. Henry was-
at this time wearing the Im-
perial crown. He was Emperor
of the West — successor of Ctesar
and Charlemagne. To be thus
addressed by a Pope — a creature
until now made and unmade by
an Imperial edict — seemed not
only a reversal of the whole
order of human authority, but
also a flagrant insult done to the
greatest potentate in the world.
In the height of his indignation the Em-
peror called a synod at Worms, and, with the
aid of the bi.shops, at once proceeded to de-
pose the Pope from office. Word was sent to
the malcontent elements in Rome, advising
that the arrogant monk of Savona be driven
from the city ; but before the message was re-
ceived Gregory, though environed with foes-
and threatened with an insurrection of the
Normans in the South, had suppressed the
rising tumult, enforced order throughout the
states of the Church, and now stood ready to
measure swords with the Emperor- Against
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL GERMANY.
621
that potentate he hurled the bolt of excom-
munication.
It was now Henry's time to act on the de-
fensive. He issued a summons for a national
Diet, but the lukewarm princes hesitated to
come to his aid. After a year of endeavor,
the assembly at last was held at Mayence in
1076. But the nobles would not permit the
Emperor to be present. He was obliged to send
a messenger and to signify his willingness to
yield the whole question at issue between him-
self and the Pope to the body for decision.
In the following year the assembly reconvened
at Augsburg, and Gregory rather than Henry
was invited to be present. The latter, now
i^reatly alarmed at the situation, at once set
out for Italy, in the hope of settling the contro-
versy by a personal interview with the Pope.
On arriving in Lombardy he found the peo-
ple in insurrection and might easily have led
them in triumph against his great enemy.
The latter, indeed, seeing the peril to which
he was then exposed, took counsel of his
prudence, and though already on his way to
meet the German Diet, he turned aside to
find safety in a castle of Canossa in the
Apennines.
Henry, however, was far from availing
himself of the possible advantage. Instead
of warlike menace and flourish of the sword,
he humbly clad himself in sackcloth, went
barefoot to the gate of the castle of Canossa,
and sought admittance as a penitent. There
for three days in the snow and sleet, the suc-
cessor of Csesar was allowed to stand waitino-
before the gate. At last being admitted he
flung himself before the triumphant Gregory,
promised present submission and future obedi-
ence, and was lifted up with the kiss of rec-
onciliation.'
The pardon bestowed by the Pope on the
penitent king turned many of the princes
against the powerful pontiff; for they had
hoped to see the Emperor deposed and de-
'This humiliation of Henry was in a measure
atoned for by tlie papacy a few years afterwards
when Gregory's successor, CaHxtus II., was com-
pelled at the Diet of Worms to surrender to
Henry V. the right of investiture. In 1122 Calix-
tus openly laid down before the imperial throne
the symbols of his temporal authority, reserving
for himself only the ring and crosier as the signs
of his sniritual domiMC's.
stroyed. Many now went over to the Impe-
rial interest, and the Empire was rent with
strife. The anti-imperial party in Germany
proclaimed King Rudolph of Suabia as Henry's
successor, and the Emperor was supported by
the Lombarde. For two years a fierce civil
war left its ravages on battle-field and in
city, until 1080, Rudolph fell in the conflict,
and the power of Henry was completely re-
established.
The victor now remembered the Pope as
the cause of all his griefs. With a large
army he crossed the mountains and received
the iron crown at the hands of the nobles of
Lombardy. The Countess Matilda of Tus-
cany, to whom belonged the castle of Canossa,
exerted herself to the utmost, but in vain, to
prevent the progress of the invaders. Rome
was besieged by the German army, and Greg-
ory was obliged to take refuge in the castle
of St. Angelo. In his extremity he issued an
edict, releasing from a previous ban Robert
Guiscard, the Norman suzerain of Southern
Italy, who was now besought by the Pope to
come to the rescue and aid in the expulsion
of the Germans from Italy. Guiscard here-
upon led an army of thirty thousand men,
mostly Saracens out of Sardinia and Corsica,
to the Eternal City, and the Emperor was
obliged to retire before them. The Pope
gained his release by the aid of the Normans,
but his allies proved to be almost as much to
be dreaded as the enemy from beyond the Alps.
The city of Rome, the greater part of which
had already been destroyed by the Germans
during the siege, was now assailed by the
friendly Saracens, who burned what remained,
sluicing the .streets with blood and carrying
away thousands of the iuhabitants into slav-
ery. So complete was the devastation of the
City of the Ages that the Pope durst not re-
main with the desperate brigands who now
prowled around her ashes, but chose to retire
witli the Saracens as far as Salerno. There
in 1085 the greatest of the Popes of Rome
expired in exile.
The death of Gregory VII. was the signal
of a papal schism. The Emperor made haste
to reassert his old prerogative by the appoint-
ment of a new Pope, who came to the papal
seat with the title of Clement HI. The Nor-
man nobles of Italy, however, acting in con-
622
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
junction with the bishops of France, set up
an anti-Pope in the person of Urban U. Be-
tween the rival pontiffs, who hurled at each
other the most direful anathemaj;, a fierce
warfare broke out, and continued with all the
insane madness which religious bigotry and
ambition could inspire. From the date of
Gregory's death until the outbreak of the
Crusades, the relentless struggle Was unabated
Conrad would be able to maintain himself
against his father. Gradually, however, his
supporters fell away, and he himself was
seized and thrown into prison.
The king now looked anxiously to his
younger son Henry as his successor in the
Imperial dignity. But the enemies of the
Emperor, instigated and encouraged by the
emissaries of Urban II., succeeded in alienat-
A P,E I . A K D .\ N IJ II E L 1 1 i S E.
and Western Christendom was convulsed with
the shock.
As for the Emperor, he seized the oppor-
tunity afforded by the warfare of the rival
Popes to resume his duties as the secular ruler
of the German Empire. Trouble and disas-
ter, however, attended the latter years of his
reign. The Prince Conrad, eldest son of the
king and heir expectant to the crown, became
rebellious and usurped the throne of Lom-
bardy. His usurpation was acknowledged by
Urban II., and it appeared for a while that
ing the younger prince from his father, as
they had already done in the case of Conrad.
Thus in distraction and gloom the reign of
Henry IV. dragged on apace, while the first
clarion of the Crusades waked the slumbering
echoes in the valleys of Western Europe.
Peter the Hermit came back from Palestine
telling the story of his wrongs. The people
of the European states, wearied of the broils
of the secular princes, disgusted with , papal
intrigues, and despairing of national unity
under the shadow of Feudalism, rose as one
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL ENGLAND.
623
mau at the bugle-call and drew their swords
for the rescue of the holy places of the East.
Peter called aloud to the anti-Pope Urban,
and Urban called to Christendom. In March
of 1095 a great assembly was held at Piacenza,
and the cause of outraged Palestine was elo-
quently pleaded by the Pope and the envoys
from Constantinople. Thence was issued the
summons for the great Council of Clermont,
which assembled in November of the same
year, and before which august body of French,
Italian, and German potentates, the wild cry
of Dieu le Veut^ was raised by the fanatic
multitudes. In the presence of the new and
burning enthusiasm, the old feuds of kings,
Popes, and princes were forgotten, and all
Christendom eagerly lifted the banner of the
Cross.
The present chapter may be approjiriately
concluded with a reference to the interesting
mediaeval episode of the phOosopher Abelaed.
This distinguished and unfortunate scholar
was born at Nantes, in 1079. His childhood
■was precocious. At the age of sixteen he be-
came the pupil of William de Champeaux.
Before reaching his majority, he was already
considered one of the most eminent disputators
of his times. De Champeaux became bitterly
jealous of his pupil, and at the age of twenty-
two Abelard opened a school of philosophy of
his own at Melun, near Paris. This establish-
ment was soon in great repute. In scholastic
debates with De Champeaux, Abelard came
oil' victorious. Now it was that H^loise, the
beautiful daughter of the canon Fulbert, waa
put under charge of the young philosopher as
a pupil. Soon they loved. The story is
known to all the world — the most pathetic of
the Middle Ages. The bigotry of the times
drove the master into the monastery of Saint
Denis and threw the veU over the despairing
Heloise in the nunnery of Argenteuil. The
catastrophe, however, was the virtual begin-
ning of the ascendency of Abelard over the
philosophical opinions of his times; nor can it
well be doubted that his mind was the most
versatile and brilliant of the benighted epoch
in which he lived.
Chapter lxxxvii.— Feudal England.
IN the fifth day of January,
1066, died Edward the
Confessor. For four and
twenty years he had
swayed the scepter of
England, but now there
was an end. The race
of Cerdic and Alfred the Great expired with
the childless king, and over his silent clay
was written defundns est in the abbey of West-
minster. To his honor be it said that, living
in a warlike age and beset with many enemies.
King Edward preferred the pursuits of peace,
and would fain have brought her blessing to
all the hamlets of England.
As soon as the body of the late monarch
was properly interred, the Prince Harold, son
of the great Earl Godwin, was proclaimed
king in a grand assembly at London. The
' " God wills it " — the cry of the first Crusaders
on assuming the Cross.
crowning immediately followed, the ceremony
being performed by Stigand, archbishop of
Canterbury. No doubt, as the coronation
oath was administered, the memory of that
other oath which the prince had taken over
the bones of the saints in the presence of
William the Norman came unbidden to his
miud ; but he cast all upon the die of the
present, and the bones of the martyrs were
remanded to the past.
In all the southern counties of England
the accession of Harold was hailed with joy-
ful acclamations. In him the people saw a
Saxon king and the possible founder of a new
Saxon dynasty. He thus became the repre-
sentative of the old national spirit and the
hope of those who longed to see the country
freed from foreign domination. Not without
prudence and sound policy did the new sov-
ereign begin his reign. He sought to win and
to deserve the aifections of the people. Oner-
624
UNIVERSAL HISTORY— THE MODERN WORLD.
ous taxes were abolished, and the wages of all
those who were in the royal service were
raised to a higher figure. Meanwhile Harold
souc'ht to strengthen himself in the esteem of
the Church by a careful observance of the
duties of religion.
In secular affairs the king, first of all, ex-
pelled from the court the whole swarm of
Norman favorites. But while this policy was
rigorously pursued with respect to the for-
eigners, they were not driven from the coun-
try or robbed of their estates. Many of the
Normans, however, fled from England and re-
turned with all speed to their own country.
They it was who brought to Duke AVilliara
the news of the death of Edward the Confessor
and the usurpation of the throne by Harold,
the son of Godwin.
Tradition has recorded that William, when
he first received the intelligence, was hunting
in the wood of Rouen, and that his counte-
nance and manner were at once changed to
an expression of great concern and indigna-
tion. He affected to regard the act of Harold
as the grossest and most outrageous perjury.
Notwithstanding his wrath William deemed it
prudent to conciliate his enemies, actual and
possible, with a show of moderation. He at
onco dispatched ambassadors to Harold with
the following message: "William, duke of
the Normans, warns thee of the oath thou
hast sworn him with thy mouth and with thy
hand on good and holy relics." To this mes-
sage, which had all the superficial semblance
of soundness, King Harold responded with
sterling speech: "It is true that I made an
oath to William, but I made it under the in-
fluence of force. I promised what did not
belong to me, and engaged to do wliat I never
could do ; for my royalty does not belong to
me, nor can I dispose of it without the con-
sent of my country. In the like manner I
can not, without the consent of my country,
espouse a foreign wife. As for my sister,
whom the duke claims in order that he may
marry her to one of his chiefs, she has been
dead some time. Will he that I send him her
corpse ?"
There was no mistaking the nature of these
negotiations. England was to be invaded by
the Normans. Duke William, however, took
pains to send over another embassy, again
pressing his claims and reminding Harold of
his oath. Threats and recriminations followed,
and then preparations for war. According to
the constitution of Normandy it was necessary
for William to have the consent of his barons,
and this was not obtained without much diffi-
culty. The Norman vassals held that their
Feudal oath did not bind them to follow and
serve their lord beyond the sea, but only in
the defense of his own realms. A national
assembly was called at Lillebonne, and a
stormy debate had well-nigh 'ended in riot
and insurrection; but William, by patience
and self-restraint, finally succeeded in bring-
ing the refractory nobles to his support. A
great force of knights, chiefs, and foot-soldiers
flocked to his standard. At this fortunate
crisis in the duke's affairs a legate arrived
from the Pope, bringing a bull expressing
the approval of the Holy Father. Hereupon
a new impetus was given to the enterprise.
Under the sanction of religion the oath-break-
ing Harold was to be punished and his king-
dom given to another. A consecrated banner
and a ring containing one of the hairs of
St. Peter were sent from Rome to the ambi-
tious prince, who, thus encouraged, made no
concealment of his intentions soon to be king
of England.
During the early spring and summer of
1066 all the seaports of Normandy rang with
the clamor of preparation. Ships were buUt
and equipped, sailors enlisted, armor forged,
supplies brought into the store-houses. Mean-
while a similar but less energetic scene was
displayed aci-oss the channel. Harold, hear-
ing the notes of preparation from the other
side, braced his sinews for the struggle. He
sent over spies to ascertain the nature and ex-
tent of William's armament; but when one
of these was brought into the duke's presence
he showed him every thing, and bade him say
to King Harold not to trouble himself about
the Norman's strength, as he should see and
feel it before the end of the year.
It was now the misfortune of the Englbh
king to be attacked by a domestic foe. His
own brother Tostig, formerly earl of North-
umbria, but now an exile in Flanders, suc-
ceeded in raising abroad a squadron with
which he made a descent on the Isle of Wight.
Driven back by the king's fleet, Tostig next
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL ENGLAND.
625
■ravaged the coast of Lincolnshire and then
sailed up the Humber. Expelled from thence,
'be made his way first to the coast of tScotland
and then to Denmark, where he besought the
king to join him in an invasion of England,
Failing in this enterprise Tostig renewed hit
LANDING OF THE (JONQUEKOR.
Drawn by A. de Neuville.
626
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
offer to Hardrada, king of Norway, who ac-
cepted the invitation and swooped down on
the English coast with two hundred ships of
war. Under the conduct of the rebel Saxon
the Norwegians effected a landing at Riccall
and marched directly on York. This city fell
into the hands of the enemy, and here the
king of Norway established his head-quarters.
Thus whOe the threatening note was borne
across the channel from Normandy the
clamor of present war sounded in the ears of
the distracted Harold. Nevertheless he girt
himself bravely for the contest. He marched
boldly forth and confronted the Norwegians
at Stamford Bridge. Here a bloody battle
was fought, in which King Hardrada and
nearly every one of his chiefs were slain.
The victory of the Saxons was complete and
overwhelming.
No sooner, however, was one of the great
foes of Harold destroyed than the other ap-
peared in sight. Only three days after the
overthrow of the Norwegians the squadron of
Duke William anchoi-ed on the coast. A
landing was effected on the shore of Sussex,
at a place called Bulverhithe. Archers, horse-
men, and spearmen came on shore without
opposition. William was the last man to
leave his ship. Tradition has recorded that
when his foot touched the sand he slipped
and fell ; but with unfailing presence of mind
he sprang up as though the accident had been
by design and showed his two hands filled
with the soil of England. "Here," cried he
aloud to his men, "I have taken seisin of
this land with my hands and by the splendor
of God, as far as it extends, it is mine — it
is yours ! "
In the mean time King Harold was ad-
vancing to his station on the field of Hastings,
near the Fair Light Downs. On his way
thither he stopped at London and sent out a
fleet of seven hundred vessels to blockade the
fleet of William and prevent his escape from
the island. The Norman duke had now
reached Hastings, and the time was at hand
when the question between him and the .Saxon
king must be decided.
The prudent William before hazarding a
battle sent another message to Harold. "Go
and tell Harold," said he, " that if he will
keep his old bargain with me I will leave him
all the country beyond the river Humber, and
will give his brother Gurth all the lands of his
father. Earl Godwin; but if he obstinately
refuse what I offer him thou wilt tell him
before all his people that he is perjured and a
liar; that he and all those who shall support
him are excommunicated by the Pope, and
that I carry a bull to that effect."
Notwithstanding this terrible threat the
English chiefs stood firmly to the cause of
their king. William had in the mean time
fortified his camp and stood ready for the
shock. Harold came on with great intrepid-
ity; nor could he be prevented by the expos-
tulations of his friends from taking the per-
sonal responsibility and peril of battle. On
the night of the 13th of October the two
armies lay face to face in their respective
camps at Hastings. The English were up-
roarious and confident of victory. They had
recently overwhelmed the Norwegians and
now in like manner they would Ijeat down the
adventurers of Normandy.. Tliey danced and
sang and drained their horn-cups brimming
with ale until late at night, and then in the
heavy English fashion flung themselves to
rest. ■ On the other side the Normans were
looking carefully to their armor, examining
the harness of their horses, and joining in
the litanies which were chanted by the priests.
With the coming of morning, both armies-
were marshaled forth for battle. Duke Will-
iam, having arranged his forces in three col-
umns, made a brief and spirited address, in
which he recited the cruelties and treachery
of the foe and promised the rewards of vic-
tory. A Norman giant, named Taillefer,
rode in front of the ranks, brandishing hi»
sword and singing the old heroic ballads of
Normandy. The army took up the chorus,
and the enthusiasm of battle spread like a.
flame among the knightly ranks." The oppos-
ing English had fortified with trenches and
palisades the high ground on which they were-
encamped. The two kings, equally courage-
ous, commanded their respective armies in
person, and each sought to be foremost in the
fight. At the first, the assaults of the Norman
bowmen and crossbowmen produced little ef-
fect on the English lines ; and even the
' It was on this occasion that the Normans
sang the Song of Roland, the hero of Roncesvalles.
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL ENGLAND.
627
charge of William's cavalry was bravely met
and repelled. The English battle-axes cut the
lances of the knights and cleft both horse and
rider. At one time the report was spread
that William was slain, and his followers fell
into dismay and confusion. But the prince
reappeared unhurt, threw up his visor that he
might be seen, and rallied his men to the
charge. From nine o'clock in the forenoon
untU three in the afternoon the battle raged
with fury. At the last, after many maneu-
vers, Duke William resorted to a stratagem.
English were made to believe themselves vic-
torious, but were again turned upon and.
routed. The lines of Harold's encampment,
were broken through. Then the fight raged'
briefly around the standard of England, which
was finally cut down and supplanted by the
banner of Normandy. Harold's two brothers-
were slain in the struggle. The English were
turned into a rout, but ever and anon they
made a stand in that disastrous twilight of
Saxon England. Victory declared for Will-
iam. King Harold himself was killed by a.
BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
He ordered his knights to charge and then to
turn and fly. The English, deceived by the
pretended retreat of the foe, broke from their
lines to pursue the flying Normans. The lat-
ter, being strongly reinforced, turned suddenly
about at a signal and fell upon their scattered
pursuers. The disordered English were en-
compassed and cut down by thousands. The
chieftains wielded their battle-axes with terri-
ble effect, but were ridden down and slain.
In another part of the field the Normans
adopted the same stratagem and were again
successful. Even a third time the imprudent
random arrow, which, piercing his left eye,,
entered his brain. Nearly one-half of his sol-
diers were either killed or wounded. Of
William's army, more than a fourth perished
in the battle, and the jubilation of Norman
triumph sounded like a spasmodic cry over
the dead bodies of three thousand Norman,
knights. Sorrowful was the sight of Queen
Edith searching among the slain for the body
of her lord. At such a price was the oath,
made good which Prince Harold had unwit-
tingly taken over the bones of the saints.
Tiie immediate result of the battle of
628
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— TEE MODERN WORLD.
Hastings was to transfer one-fourth of the
kingdom to William the Norman. As soon as
it was clear that the victory was his, the Con-
queror set up the consecrated banner which
had been sent him by the Pope, and his sol-
diers proceeded in sight of that sacred emblem
to despoil the Saxou dead. William vowed to
erect an abbey on the very spot where the
banner of Saxon England had been struck
down, and in a short time the monastery of
St. Martin was filled with monks to celebrate
masses for the repose of the souls of the slain
knights of Normandy.
In was still necessary that William should
make haste slowly in the further reduction of
the kingdom. More than two months elapsed
before he reached the city of London. In
the interval he beat along the coast, hoping
ttiat the people would make a voluntary sub-
mission ; but in this he was disappointed.
Finding that moderation was of little avail
with the stubborn Saxons, he continued the
conquest by the capture of Romney and
Dover. While at the latter place he was
strongly reinforced with recruits from Nor-
mandy. Thus strengthened, the Conqueror
left the coast and marched direct to London.
The defeat of Hastings had broken the spirit
of resistance, and little opposition was mani-
fested to his progress. Nevertheless, the
Witenagemot assembled in the capital, and the
uppermost question related to the succession
rather than submission to the Normans.
After much discussion, it was decided to
confer the crown on Edgar the Atheling, grand-
son of Edmund Ironside, who had previously
been set aside on account of the spurious de-
scent of his ancestor. This measure, however,
was carried by the old Saxon or National
party, in the face of the strenuous opposition
of the Norman faction, supported as it was by
most of the clergy, who trembled at the
thought of excommunication. The fact that
Prince Edgar himself was devoid of all kingly
qualities added strength to the Norman cause
and discouraged the national movement.
Such was the condition of affairs when
WUliara appeared before the city. Finding
himself debarred, he burned Southwark and
ravaged the surrounding country. The peo-
ple of Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, and Berk-
shire were made to realize all the terrors of
war. In a short time communication was cut
oif between the city and the country and the
shadow of famine began to hang over Weft-
minster Abbey. The earls, Edwin and Mor-
car, to whom the defense had been intrusted,
withdrew towards the Humber, taking with
them the forces of Northumbria and Mercia.
Their retirement from London was the sig-
nal of submission. An embassy, headed by
"King" Edgar hkmself and Archbishop Sti-
gand of Canterbury, went forth to Berk-
hampstead, and there presented themselves to
the Conqueror. The submission was formal
and complete. Edgar for himself renounced
the throne, and Stigand for the Church took
the oath of loyalty. The politic William
made a pretense of reluctance in accepting
the crown of England ; but his feeble remon-
strance was drowned in the acclaim of his
nobles and courtiers. As soon as the embassy
had completed its work, the I>iormans set out
for the capital, conducted by the distinguished
envoys. In a short time the Conqueror estab-
lished himself in the city and preparations
were completed for the coronation.
The Abbey of Westminster was chosen as
the place for the ceremony. Attended by two
hundred and sixty of his nobles, the duke
rode between files of soldiers that lined the
approaches, and presented himself before the
altar. When in reply to the question ad-
dressed to those present by Aldred, arcjibishop
of York, whether they would accept William
of Normandy as their lawful king, they all
set up a shout. Those Normans outside the
Abbey, hearing the noise and conjecturing
that some act of treachery had been com-
mitted against their j)rince, began to set fire
to the .houses of the English and to kill all
who fell in their way. Others rushed into the
Abbey as if to rescue William, and the cere-
mony was interrupted in the midst of univer-
sal turmoil. For a while it appeared that
both parties, each misunderstanding the other,
would, in the wildness of their frenzy, raze the
city to the ground. But Archbishop Aldred
continued and completed the duty of corona-
tion, and the first of the Norman kings of
England arose from before the altar, crowned
with the crown of Alfred.
Thus, in the latter part of the year 1066,
was the Norman dynasty established in Eng-
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY'.— FEUDAL ENGLAND.
629
land. The policy adopted by Edward the
Confessor, combining with the general laws
•of causation, had triumphed over the old na-
tional spirit and made predominant the Ian-
guage and institutions of a foreign race. The
new sovereign fixed his court at Barking, and
EDITH DISCOVERS THE BODY OF HAROLD.
Drawn by A. de Neuville.
630
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
in accordance with his coronation oath that he
would treat the English people as well as the
best of their native, kings had done, began
the administration of the government with as
much mildness as the age was fitted to receive.
It can not be doubted that the English thanes
and great earls, who made their submission to
the king, gained from his hands a generous
consideration. To them were confirmed their
estates and honors, and the work of confisca-
tion began only with those who were rebel-
lious or disloyal. The domains of Harold and
his brother, as well as those of less distin-
guished leaders and chiefs, were seized by
William and conferred on his Xorman nobles.
Though these acts might well be defended as
strict!)' in accordance with the usages of war
and conquest, they failed not to sow the seeds
of bitterness and revenge, which for centu-
ries together grew rank and poisonous in the
soil of England.
Prominent among those Saxons who re-
ceived the favor of William was the royal
cipher, Edgar Atheling. Without the ability
to accomplish serious harm in the state, this
nominal prince of the old regime was still re-
garded with afiection by the adherents of the
lost cause. For this reason rather than on
account of personal esteem, he was recon-
firmed by the king in the earldom of Oxford,
which had been conferred on him at the ac-
cession of Harold,
In furtherance of his policy WUliam pres-
ently set forth from Barking to visit the va-
rious districts of the kingdom. His progress
was half-civil, half-military, and wholly royal.
For he would fain impress the English with a
new idea of kiugly pomp and greatness. At
every place he failed not, as far as practi-
cable, to display a generous condescension. In
all of his intercourse he took care, by a prudent
restraint of temper and courteous demeanor
towards the Saxon Thanes, to conciliate their
esteem and favor. In his edicts he carefully
regarded the old Anglo-Saxon laws, and in
the administration of justice did not unduly
incline to the interests of his own country-
men. In some instances he even went beyond
the letter of his promise, and showed a posi-
tive favor to the native interests and institu-
tions of the Island. He enlarged the privi-
leges of the corporation of London, and made
himself the patron of English commerce and
agriculture.
While iu this conciliatory way the Con-
queror diligently sought to gain the trust and
even the afiection of his Saxon subjects, he at
the same time took every care to fortify his
power with bulwarks and defenses. Now it
was that those wonderful feudal towers and
castles, which still survive in moss-grown
majesty, rose, as if by magic, as the impreg-
nable fortresses of Norman domination. On
every side the Saxon thanes and peasants be-
held arising these huge structures of stone, and
sighed with vain regrets or mutterings of re-
venge at this everlasting menace to the old
liberties and institutions of the Teutonic race.
The Normans also understood the situation.
They appreciated the necessity of laying deep
and strong the immovable buttresses of their
dominion. Well they knew the vigor, the
fecunditv, and warlike valor of the Anglo-
Saxon people. Well did they forecast the
impending struggle of the races, and wisely
did they prepare for the maintenance of the
power which they had gained and established
by conquest.
One of the greatest difficulties which King
AVilliam had to meet and overcome was found
in the rapacity of his followers. The great
host of Norman lords and bishops who had
followed him from the continent constantly
clamored for the spoils of the kingdom. The
foreign ecclesiastics were even more greedy
than the secular lords, and could hardly be
restrained from the instantaneous seizure of
the cathedrals and abbeys of England. Many
of the hardships under which the Saxons were
presently made tfr groan must be traced to the
insatiable demands of William's followers,
rather than to the personal wishes of the king
to inflict injuries on his Saxon subjects. Even
from the first year of the Conquest the sup-
pressed rebellion iu the heart of native Eng-
land was sprinkled with vitriol by another
circumstance in the conduct of their oppress-
ors. The Norman lords began to woo and win
the women of the Saxon thanes. The rich
clothing, burnished armor, and gaudy equip-
age of the courtly foreign lords flashed in the
eyes of the English maidens with a dazzling
brightness. What should be the brawn and
sinews of the native boor, with his broad
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL ENGLAND.
631
Bhoulders, florid face, and uncut flaxen hair,
compared witli tlie elegant limbs, graceful
dignity, and condescending smile of the gay
and polished knight of Rouen? Even the
widows of valiant Saxon thanes, who had
fallen on the field of Hastings, proved to
be not over-difficult to win by the splendid
foreigners. Love fanned
by admiration prevailed
over patriotism fanned by
memory.
The Conquest of Eng-
land was,' as yet, by no
means completed. All the
West lay unsubdued. In
the south-eastern part of
the island the conquerors
had firmly established
themselves in the country.
In the spring of 1067
King WiUiam went over
to Normandy, leaving hfs
half-brother Odo as regent
during his absence. It has
been conjectured by Hume
that the motive of the
Conqueror in going abroad
at this juncture was found
in the belief that as soon
as his absence was known
the Saxons would break
into revolt, and thus fur-
nish him a valid excuse
for completing the subju-;
gation of the Island ano'
confiscating the estates of
the Thanes. For he was
greatly harassed by the
Norman nobles to supply
them with lands and titles,
as he had promised at the
beginning of the Con-
quest. The character of
Odo, who was arbitrary, impolitic, and reck-
less, moreover conduced to the result which
WiUiam anticipated.
At Rouen the victorious king was received
with great eclat. To his friends at home he
distributed many rich presents, and gave a
glowing account of the country which he had
subdued. Nor did he hesitate to exhibit to
the people and the foreign ambassadors at his
court living specimens of the race that had
yielded to his arms ; for as a precautionary
measure he had taken with him on his return
a number of the Saxon thanes.
Meanwhile aSairs in England were rapidly
approaching a crisis. The tyranny of Odo
and his counselors began to press heavily upon
■..jjiiM?>il-")l)li{tti>.Ail...linlnim»dmJ I.
1!<|
■i.jiiiiiAii.iiiiiiiiiiiiiii'iiiiiiii.iiii.iiisyj
aai.
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.
the subject race. Their rapacity sought grafr
ification in pillage and robbery. Not only
the peasants, but people of the highest rank,
were made the victims of outrage and spolia-
tion. In vain did they cry out for justice
and revenge upon the noble brigands who
had ruined their homes. The complaints of
the sufferers were met with insult and mockery.
Not long could the Saxon blood be expected
632
UNIVERSAL RIHTORY.—THE MODERN WORLD.
to brook the contumely of a haughty master.
Insurrections broke out iu various parts, and
woe to the luckless Norman knight who was
caught outside the walls of his castle. Soon
there was concert of action among the insur-
gents, and the foreign dominion was menaced
with destruction in the first year of its exist-
ence. The Saxon plotters sent word to Count
Eustace of Boulogne to come over and be
their leader ; for he was known to be a bitter
foe to King William. The count accepted
the call and landed with a chosen band near
the castle of Dover. Here he was joined by
the rebel Saxons of Kent, and an imprudent
and disastrous attack was made on the castle.
The assailants were beaten back by the garri-
son, who sallied forth from the gates and
drove the ra.sh men of Kent headlong over
the cliffs. Count Eustace fled to the coast
and thence across the sea.
Among those who soon after his landing in
the previous year did obeisance to the Con-
queror was Thane Edric the Forester, of the
river Severn. He had been sincere in his
protestations, but was soon provoked into
hostility by the cruelty and injustice of the
rapacious Normans. With two of the princes
of Wales he made an alliance, and the
Norman garrison that held the city of Here-
for ' T^as quickly pent up within the fortifica-
tions. All the country round about was
overrun by the insurgents, and for the time it
appeared that there only wanted a national
leader to rally the Saxons as one man and
expel their oppressors from the island.
At this juncture the two sons of Harold
came over from Ireland with a fleet of sixty
ships, and made a spasmodic attempt to regain
the crown of their lather. But they were re-
ceived with little favor, even by their own
countrymen. Attacking the city of Bristol,
they were repulsed and driven to their ships,
pursued by the Saxons. The two princes
then made their way back to the safe obscur-
ity of Ireland.
Meanwhile the spirit of discontent and re-
bellion grew rife throughout the country.
One message after another was sent to King
William, urginar his immediate return to
England. But, either not sharing the alarm
of his own countrymen in the island or desir-
sus that the Saxons should still further pro-
voke him to war, he tarried at Rouen for the
space of eight months, and then, iu December
of 1067, returned to London. On arriving
at his capital, he at once resorted to his old
policy of favor and blandishment to the Saxon
chiefs. At the Christmas festival he received
them with all the kingly courtesy which he
was able to command. He promised the peo-
ple of London a restitution and observance of
the old laws of the Anglo-Saxons; and then,
as soon as confidence was somewhat restored,
proceeded to levy a burdensome tax upon his
subjects.
The spring of 1068 witnessed the outbreak
of a rebellion in Devonshire. The people of
Exeter fortified their city and made ready to
defend it to the last. So great was the pop-
ular exasperation that the crews of some Nor-
man ships, which were wrecked on the coast,
were butchered after the worst manner of
savagery. Against the insurgents of Devon-
shire, King William led out his army in per-
son. Approaching the city of Exeter he
demanded submission, but was met with refu-
sal and defiance. A siege ensued of eighteen
days' duration, and then Exeter fell into the
hands of the Conqueror. A strong castle
was built in the captured town and garrisoned
with Norman soldiers.
During the summer of this year the sons
of God\v'in made a second absurd attempt to
create a rising in the West. Several landings
were effected on the shores of Devon and
Cornwall, but the leaders were met with the
same aversion as in the previous year. Find-
ing neither support nor sympathy, they again
abandoned their native land and took refuge
in Denmark.
After the conquest of Devon, King Will-
iam quickly added that of Somerset and
Gloucester. The city of Oxford was taken
and fortified. In every district subdued by
his arms, the lands were confiscated and ap-
portioned to his followers. New castles were
built and occupied by Norman lords. Mean-
while every ship from Rouen brought another
company of hungry nobles to demand a share
in the spoils of England. The enforced con-
sideration which William had hitherto com-
pelled his followers to show to the Saxons was
soon no longer observed. After the garrulous
manner of his tribe, the old chronicler Holin-
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL ENGLAND.
633
shed thus describes the afflictions of his people
in the early years of WLUiam the Conqueror:
" He [the king] took away from divers of
the nobUity, and others of the better sort, all
their livings, and gave the same to his Nor-
mans. Moreover, he raised great taxes and
subsidies through the realms ; nor in any thing
regarded the English nobility, so that they
who before thought themselves to be made
forever by bringing a stranger into the realm,
did now see themselves trodden under foot, to
be despised, and to be mocked on all sides, in
so much that many of them were constrained
(as it were, for a further testimony of servi-
tude and bondage) to shave their beards, to
round their hair, and to frame themselves, as
well in apparel as in service and diet at their
tables, after the Norman manner, very strange
and far differing from the ancient customs and
old usages of their country. Others, utterly
refusing to sustain such an intolerable yoke of
thralldom as was daily laid upon them by the
Normans, chose rather to leave all, both goods
and lauds, and, after the manner of outlaws,
got them to the woods with their wives, children,
and servants, meaning from thenceforth to live
upon the spoils of the country adjoining, and to
take whatsoever come next to hand. Where-
upon . it came to pass within a while that no
man might travel in safety from his own
house or town to his next neighbor's, and
every quiet and honest man's house became,
as it were, a hold and fortress, furnished for
defense with bows and arrows, bills, pole-axes,
swords, clubs, and staves and other weapons,
the doors being kept locked and strongly
bolted in the night season, as it had been in
time of open war and amongst public enemies.
Prayers were said also by the master of the
house, as though they had been in the midst
of the seas in some stormy tempest ; and when
the windows and doors should be shut in or
closed they used to say Benedicite, and others
to answer Dominus, in like sort as the priest
and his penitent were wont to do at confession
in the church."
It was in the midst of such conditions as
these that the deep-seated and long-enduring
hatred of the Normans was laid in the heart
of Saxon England. Ever and evermore the
chasm seemed to widen between the hostile
races. Now came the great earl. Edwin of
Mercia, who, under promi.se of receiving the
king's daughter in marriage, had supported
his cause, claiming the hand of the Norman
maiden. He was refused and insulted.
Thereupon he left London with a burning
heart, called his brother Morcar to his aid,
and raised the standard of war in the north
of England. The rebel princes took their
stand beyond the Humber. Around their
banners rallied the Saxo-Danish patriots of
Yorkshire and North umbria. In their wrath
they took an oath that nevermore would
they sleep beneath the roof until they had
taken an ample revenge upon the perfidi-
ous and cruel Normans. But the warlike and
energetic William was little alarmed by the
menace of such a rebellion. Putting himself at
the head of his army he marched rapidly from
Oxford to Warwick, from Warwick to Leices-
ter, from Leicester to Derby and Nottingham,
from Nottingham to Lincoln, from Lincoln to
the Humber. Near the confluence of the Ouse
he met and completely routed the forces of
the rebel earls. Hosts of the English fell in
the battle and the remnant fled for refuge
within the fortifications of York. Thither
they were pursued by William and his sol-
diers, who broke through the gates, captured
the city, and put the people to the sword. A
citadel of great strength was built within the
conquered town and garrisoned with five hun-
dred warriors and knights. The city of York
became heucefortli the stronghold of the Non
mans in the North.
In the second and third years after th«
Conquest, the country was agitated through
its whole extent by outbreaks and upris-
ing of the Saxons. By degrees the English
nobles, who had thus far upheld the Conquer-
or's cause, became alienated and took sides
with their own countrymen. As to the Saxon
peasants, they groaned and writhed under the
o]ipression of their masters and seized every
opportunity, fair or foul, to wreak their venge-
ance on the hated foreigners. While the Nor-
man throne was thus threatened with mutter-
ing earthquakes in the sea-bed of Saxon
humanity, the nobles and knights, not a few,
who as soldiers of fortune had followed his
banner into England, began to desert the
Conqueror's service for some more promising
field of spoil. In spite of all his smiles and
•634
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
allurements, the king's own brother-iu-law,
Earl Tilleuil of Hastings Castle, and the pow-
erful Hugh de Grantmesnil, earl of Norfolk,
quitted England and retired into Normandy.
So serious was the situation that the king
deemed it expedient to send his queen, Ma-
tilda, back to Rouen. For himself, however,
he was as undaunted as ever. To till the
places made vacant by defection and desertion,
ihe sent invitations into all the countries of
Western Europe, offering the brilliant rewards
of conquest to those who would join his stand-
ard. Nor was the call without an answer.
Bands of rovers, wandering knights, soldiers
in ill-repute, and refugee noblemen came
flocking to the prey.
The year 1069 was mostly occupied with
military operations in the North. The city of
York was besieged by the insurgent popula-
tion, and was only relieved by the approach of
William with an army. A second fortress
And garrison were established in the city,
which was thus rendered impregnable. As
soon as the outposts were secure, a campaign
was undertaken against the rebels of Durham.
The expedition was led by Robert de Comine,
•who marched into the enemy's country and
■entered Durham with little opposition. Dur-
ing the night, however, the English lighted
signal-fires on the neighboring heights and
gathered from all directions. At day-break
■on the following morning they burst into the
town, fired the houses, fell upou the Normans,
and slaughtered them without mercy. Of
Robert's forces only two men escaped to tell
•*he tale of destruction.
Encouraged by their great success, the
Northumbrians immediately dispatched am-
bassadors to the king of Denmark, urging him
to make an invasion of England. At the
■same time they sent overtures to Malcolm,
king of the Scots, representing to him the ad-
vantages of an alliance against the Normans.
At the court of the Scottish monarch Edgar
Atheling had found a refuge, and hi$ claims
to the crown of England were not forgotten in
the general movement. The sons of King
Harold, also, were abroad and were regarded
by some as a possibility of the future. But
the very multiplicity of interests in the at-
tempted combination against the Normans
prevented unity of action and forbade success.
By and by a Danish fleet of two hundred
and forty ships, commanded by the sons of
the Danish king, was sent to aid the North-
umbrians and Scots against the Conqueror.
The squadron first appeared ofl!" Dover and
then sailmg northward entered the H umber.
A landing was effected at the mouth of the
Ouse, and the army of Danes, reinforced by
their English allies, marched directly on York.
The Normans were driven into the fortifica-
tions, and were cut off fi-om all communica-
tion with the country. For eight dav'j the
assailants beat around the ramparts. Finally
a fire broke out, and the city was wrapped in
flames. In order to escape a more horrid
death, the Normans rushed forth, sword in
hand, and met tlieir fate on the spears of the
infuriated Northumbrians and Danes. The
slaughter degenerated into a massacre, and
of the three thousand men composing the
garrison only a few escaped with their lives.
The smouldering ashes of York steamed with
the blood of Normandy.
King William was hunting in the forest of
Dean when the terrible news came to him of
the butchery of his Yorkshire army. Flam-
ing with rage, he burst out with his usual
oath, "by the splendor of God," that he
would leave not a Northumbrian alive. As a
preparatory measure, he at once relaxed his
severity towards the Saxons of South Eng-
land, and resumed his old role of cajoling
them with bountiful promises. At the same
time he managed by shrewd diplomacy to
induce the king of Denmark to withdraw his
army from England. As to the Saxons, how-
ever, they were not any longer to be lulled
with soothing words. When with the open-
ing of the following spring, the Conqueror, at
the head of a powerful army began his march
against the Northumbrians, the sullen and
vengeful English rose behind him witti
torch and pike and pole-axe to satiate their
desperate anger in the wake of his campaign.
But the persistent William was not to be dis^
tracted from his purpose. The son of a tan-
ner's daughter had in his mind's eye the vision
of burnt-up York and the bleaching bones of
his Norman knights.
Now was it the turn of the men of the
North to quake with well-grounded apprehen-
sion. In the hour of need the Danish fleet
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL ENGLAND.
635
sailed down the Humber and disappeared.
Tlie Northumbrians were left naked to the
sword of the Conqueror. He fell upon them
a short distance from York, and only a few
escaped his vengeance. Edgar Atheling fled
from the apparition and returned to the court
of Malcolm. Perhaps no district was ever
before smitten with such a besom as that
which now swept across the fields and hamlets
of Northumbria. The Norman army broke
up into bands and slew and burnt and rav-
aged until the well-nigh insatiable thirst for
he next proceeded to seize the movable prop
erty of his English subjects. The wealthy
Saxons had generally adopted the plan of de-
positing their treasures in the monasteries,
believing that these sacred precincts would
remain inviolate. The commissioners of the
king, however, soon broke into the holy
places of England, and robbed with as much
freedom as if they had been ravaging a vulgar
village. A regular system of apportionment
was adopted, by which the lands of England
were divided out to the Norman lords. — Thus
DANISH WAItKIORS ON THE HUMBER.
, Draivu by F. W. Heine.
bloody vengeance was appeased. The old
chronicler, William of Malmsbury, declares
that, "from York to Durham not an inhab-
ited village remained. Fire, slaughter, and
desolation made a vast wilderness there, which
continues to this day.'" Oderic Vitalis esti-
mates the number of victims of this murder-
ous expedition at a hundred thousand souls.
From this time forth the policy of concil-
iation was flung aside by the Conqueror of
England. It now became his avowed purpose
to seize all the landed estates of the kingdom.
Nor satisfied with this enormous spoliation,
•About the year A. D. 1150.
N. — Vol. 2—99
were the first seven years after the invasion
consumed in perpetual insurrections, brutal
punishments, confiscation, robbery, and ruin
throughout the realm of England.
In the year 1074 William was obliged by
the condition of his continental aflairs to re-
turn for a season to Normandy. The county
of Maine, on the borders of his paternal
kingdom, had been bequeathed to the Con-
queror before his departure for England.
About two years after the devastation of North-
umbria, Count Foulque of Anjou instigated
the people of Maine to rise against William
nnd expel his magistrates from the country.
636
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
With a shrewd understanding of the situation,
William, in departing for the continent, took
with him only an English army, leaving all
his Norman forces behind him. With these
troops he made his way into Maine, and soon
drove the insurgents into a bitter repentance
for their folly.
While engaged in suppressing this rebel-
lion, WUliam received intelligence of a still
more alarming outbreak in England. This
time it was the Norman barons themselves,
who had conspired to overthrow their master.
The office of prime counselor of the kingdom
was now held by Roger Fitz-Osborn, who
was also Earl of Hereford. This distinguished
young lord had, during the Conqueror's ab-
sence, paid his court to the daughter of
Ralph de Gael, earl of Norfolk ; and her he
was about to take in marriage. The rumor
of the intended union was borne to the Con-
queror, who for some reason sent back a mes-
sage forbidding the marriage. This interfer-
ence was bitterly resented by Fitz-Osborn
and his prospective father-in-law. Without
regard to the interdict, the marriage was cele-
brated, and the leading Norman barons were
present at the feast. While heated with wine,
a sudden disloyalty broke out among them,
Normans as they were, and a conspiracy was
made to destroy William and redivide the
realm into the three old kingdoms of Wessex,
Mercia, and Northumbria. The earls of
Waltheof and Norwich entered into the plot
with Fitz-Osborn and De Gael, and the
drunken revel ended in an insane insurrec-
tion. Waltheof, however, as soon as he was
sober, washed his hands of the disloyal busi-
ness. Fitz-Osborn was confronted on the
Severn by a loyal army sent out by Arch-
bishop Lanfranc, primate of the kingdom ;
and the insurgents under the Earl of Norfolk
were beaten down by a force commanded by
Odo, bishop of Bayeux. Nor was it long
until the whole rebellion was brought to
naught. William returned from the conti-
nent, and the conspirators were punished,
some with mutilation, some with imprison-
ment, and some with death.
It was now the fate of the Conqueror to be
touched in a still more, vital part by the trea-
son of his son Robert, duke of Maine. This
prince had been honored by his father before
the departure of the latter for his conquest of
England. AVilliam had induced his Norman
barons to do the act of fealty to Robert as
their future sovereign. On coming to man's
estate, the duke, without regard to his father's-
wishes, would fain assume the government in
his own right. Hearing of the rebellious con-
duct of his sou, the Conqueror addressed to him.
a brief but comprehensive letter. " My son,"
said he, "I wot not to throw off my clotheS'
till I go to bed." This figurative expression
was easily understood by the youth, who-
openly demanded the fulfillment of the king's
promise to make him duke of Normandy.
"Sire," said Robert, in an interview with his-
father, "I came here to claim my right, and-
not to listen to sermons. I heard plenty
of them, and tedious ones, too, when I
was learning my grammar." Hereupon the-
estrangement broke into hostility. Robert-
fled into foreign parts, but was presently re-
ceived and supported by Philip of France,
who was glad to find so sharp a weapon
wherewith to hew away some of the greatness
of his rival AVilliara. The rebel prince was
established in the castle of Gerberay, on the
borders of Normandy, and supplied with
French soldiers, with whom he made preda-
tory forays into his father's duchy. King;
William in great wrath crossed the channel
with an English army and laid siege to the
castle where Robert had made his stand.
Here it was that the famous incident occurred'
in which the king was brought within a
single stroke of losing both his crown and
his life.
On a certain day, when the usual desultory
fighting was going on in the vicinity of the
castle, Duke Robert, who had sallied forth,
met and engaged in deadly conflict with a
stalwart Norman knight, whom he had the-
good fortune to unhorse and hurl to the
ground. Springing from his horse and draw-
ing his sword, the duke was about to dispatch
his fallen foeman when tlie latter cried out
for help. It was the voice of William the
Conqueror, about to perish under the sword
of his son. The latter, however, was sud-
denly touched with chivalrous and filial devo-
tion. He threw himself on his knees before
the prostrate form of his father, craved a-
hurried pardon, assisted the wounded William
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL ENGLAND.
637
into tlie saddle, and permitted him to ride
away to his own camp.
After this heroic episode, so illustrative of
the temper of the Middle Ages, strenuous ef-
forts were made by William's friends and
counselors to effect a reconciliation between
DDKE KOBERT RECOGNIZES HIS FATHER.
Drawn by L. P. Leyendecker.
638
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
him and his son. At first the mortified and
angry king, still weak from the wound which
Robert had inflicted, would hear- to nothing
but submission and punishment. At length,
however, his wrath subsided and he accepted
of the prodigal's repentance. But it soon ap-
peared that the Conqueror had little sympathy
with his eldest born, and no confidence in the
sincerity of his purposes. A second quarrel
soon ensued, and the prince was again driven
forth, never to see his father more. His two
brothers, William and Henry, by a more du-
tiful conduct retained their father's afliectiou
and were destined, each in his turn, to occupy
the ithroue of England.
The year 1080 was marked by another in-
surrection at Durham. The duty of govern-
ing the warlike population of North umbria
had been intrusted to Walcher, of Lorraine,
a valorous bishop of the Church. His rule
was arbitrary and oppressive. The English
who appealed to him for redress of grievances
were treated with injustice and disdain.
Liulf, one of the noblest natives of Northum-
bria, having been robbed by some of the
bishop's retainers, and appealing to that dig-
nitary for redress, was repelled and presently
assassinated. Enraged at this crime against
their race the English in the neighborhood of
Durham made a conspiracy by night and came
in great numbers, petitioning Walcher to render
up the murderers of Liulf. Each of the yeo-
men had a short sword hidden under his gar-
ment. The bishop perceiving that a tumult
was threatened retired into the church, which
was soon surrounded by an angry multitude.
The building was fired, and Walcher and his
satellites were obliged to come forth and be
killed in preference to being burned to death.
The murderers of Liulf were slain with
the rest.
Fearful was the vengeance taken on the
Northumbrians for their savage deed. Odo,
bishop of Bayeux, half-brother to King Will-
iam, was sent with a large array against the
people of Durham. This savage prelate pro-
ceeded, without the slightest attempt to dis-
criminate between the guilty and the innocent,
to smite the whole district with fire and sword.
Beheadings, mutilations, and burnings were
witnessed on every hand, until the bishop's
thirst for blood was fully glutted. Soon after-
wards Odo entered into an intrigue to raska
himself the successor of Pope Gregory VH. ,
and for this was brought under the displeasure
of the king. The bishoj) was taken before
a council and his plot was fully exposed by
William, who had his half-brother arrested,
carried into Normandy, and imprisoned in the
dungeon of a castle.
The years 1083-84 were filled with alarm
on account of the threatening movement of
the Danes. In that country King Sueno and
his son Harold had both died, leaving the
crown to the illegitimate Canute, who did not
hesitate to lay claim to England as the suc-
cessor of Canute the Great. An issue was
thus made up between one royal bastard who
coveted and another who held the English
throne. Canute began his work by making a
league with Olaf the Peaceful, king of Nor.
way. With them, also, was united Robert,
earl of Flanders, Canute's father-in-law, who
promised to furnish six hundred ships to aid
in the expulsion of the Normans from Eng-
land. It was propo.sed to bear down on the
Island with an armament of a thousand sail.
When the squadron was about to depart one
distracting circumstance after another arose,
and treachery followed treachery until the en-
terprise was completely frustrated. The move-
ments of his northern enemies, however, had
sufficed for the space of two years to keep the
Conqueror in a state of anxiety and alarm,
and to lay upon the English people such griev-
ous burdens as they had rareh' borne before.
For William, by taxes, levies, and contribu-
tions seized upon a large part of the resources
of the kingdom in his preparations to meet
and repel the Danes.
About the year 1080 was undertaken one
of the most memorable of the works of Will-
iam the Conqueror. This was the great sur-
vey of the kingdom of England, the results of
which were recorded in the famous work
known as Domesday Book, which has ever
since remained the basis of laud tenure in
those parts of the Island to which it applied.
The king's justiciaries, or agents, traversed the
entire kingdom and gathered the required in-
formation from the sheriflTs, lords, priests,
reeves, bailifl^s, and villeins of each district.
Thus was made out in detail a complete record
of the bishops, churches, monasteries, manors,
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL ENGLAND.^
639
tenants in chief, and under tenants of the
reahu; and to this were added the name of
each place, the name of the holder, the ex-
tent of the holding, the wood, the meadow,
the pasture, the mills, the ponds, the live
stock, the total appraisement, the number of
villeins and freemen, and the property of each.
Upon the whole estate three estimates were
made by the jurors; first, as the same had ex-
isted in the time of Edward the Confessor;
secondly, as the property was when granted
by William to his vassals; and thirdly, as it
now stood after the lapse of thirteen years.
The vast mass of details thus gathered by
the king's officers was digested at Winchester
and carefully recorded, the first part in a great
vellum folio of three hundred and eighty-two
double column pages, and the second part in
a quarto of four hundred and fifty pages.
The first volume contains the description of
the estates in the counties of Kent, Sussex,
Surrey, Southampton, Berks, Wilts, Dorset,
Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, Middlesex, Here-
ford, Bucks, Oxford, Gloucester, Worcester,
Cambridge, Huntingdon, Bedford, Northamp-
ton, Leicester, Warwick, Stafford, Salop,
Cheshire, Derby, Notts, York, and Lincoln.
The second exhibits the record for the coun-
ties of Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk, together
with additional surveys for Wilts, Dorset,
Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. The two
volumes were named respectively the Great
and Little Domesday, and were at first carried
about with the king and the great seal of
England. Afterwards they were deposited in
the vault of the chapel of the cathedral of
Dennis Dei.^
So carefully was the great survey executed
and so accurately were its results recorded
that the authority of Domesday Book as an
ultimate appeal in matters affecting the land
titles of England has never been called in
question. For a while the invaluable record
was kept at Westminster, where it was depos-
ited under three locks and keys in charge of
the auditor and chamberlain of the exchequer.
In 1696 it was transferred to the Chapter
• It has been disputed whether the name of
Domesday Book is a corruption of the name of the
cathedral Domus Dei, or whether it is properly
Doomsday Book, that is, the Book of the Day of
Doom. The latter seems to be the better spelling
and etymology.
House. At the present day it lies securely in
a strong glass case in the Office of Public
Records, and may there be consulted by any
without payment of a fee.
Like many another monarch the conqueror
of England was unfortunate in his children.
The story of Duke Robert's rebellion and
downfall has already been told. Duke Rich-
ard, the second born, after wearing through
the years of his youth the scandal, perhaps
the slander, of illegitimacy went hunting in
New Forest and was gored to death by a
stag. The third son William, and Henry the
fourth, as they grew to manhood, became es-
tranged, jealous, and quarrelsome. Fortu-
nately, however, both the youths were pos-
sessed of kingly abilities, though neither gave
promise of the preeminent genius displayed
by their father.
One of the worst acts of King William in
his old age was the seizure and conversion of
Hampshire into a hunting park. In season,
when the man-hunt abated, the royal appetite,
famished with abstinence from blood, was best
appeased with the slaughter of beasts. The
favorite residence of the king was the city of
Winchester. Desirous that his hunting park
should be at no great distance from his cap-
ital William, without scruples, took possession
of all the southwestern part of Hampshire
from Salisbury to the sea, a distance of thirty
miles. The district thus chosen contained no
fewer than one hundred and eight manors,
villages, and hamlets, all of which were de-
molished and swept away that the native
woods might grow again for the sport of royal
hunters. Thus before the close of the reign
of the Conqueror was established New Forest
Park, in which three princes of his own blood
were destined to die by violence. From this
time dated the beginning of those game-laws
and forest-laws which have been the bane of
the people of England unto the present day.
"For," saith ever the English noble lord,
"are not my hares and foxes worth more than
the base churls who would destroy them?"
In the year 1086, the king called together
a great assemblage of his nobles and fief-
holders to receive again their homage before
departing to the continent. The great and
lesser men of the realm, to the number of
sixty thousand, assembled at Winchester and
640
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
renewed their oath of allegiance. Shortly
afterwards AVilliam crossed the channel into
Normandy and opened negotiations with Philip
of France for the possession of the territory
between the rivers Epte and Oise. The situ-
ation portended war, and a coarse joke perpe-
trated by the French king at AViiliam's
expense was a spark in the magazine. At
this junctui'e, however, the Conqueror fell
sick, and his vengeance was delayed till the
following year. But as soon as the summer
of 1087 had ripened the harvests and made
heavy the purple vineyards of France, the
now aged William took horse at the head of
his army and began an invasion of the disputed
territory.
The objective point of the warlike expedi-
tion was the city of Mantes, capital of the
coveted district, and thither the Conqueror
made his way, destroying every thing in his
path. i\Iantes was besieged, taken, and
burned. Just as the city, wrapped in the
consuming flame, was sinking into ashes, the
Conqueror, eager to be in at the death,
spurred forward his horse tUl the charger,
plunging his fore feet into the hot embers of
the rampart, reared backwards and threw the
now corpulent king with great violence upon
the pommel of the saddle. His body was
ruptured, and it was evident that a fatal in-
jury had been received. The wounded king
was taken first to Rouen and thence to the
monastery of St. Gervas, just outside the
walls of the city. There for six weeks the
king of England lingered on the border of
that realm where the smoke of burning towns
is never seen. As death drew nigh, the in-
vincible spirit of the man relaxed. The better
memories and purposes of his life revived,
and he would fain in some measure make
amends for his sins and crimes. His last days
were marked by several acts of benevolence
and magnaminity. He issued an edict releas-
ing from confinement all the surviving state
prisoners whom he had shut up in dungeons.
He attempted to quiet the voices within him
by contributing large suras for the endowment
of churches and monasteries. He even re-
membered the rebellious Robert, and in his
last hours conferred on him the duchy of
Maine. As to the crown of England, he
made no attempt to establish the succession,
expressing, however, the ardent wish that his
son Prince William might obtain and hold
that great inheritance. To Henry he gave
five thousand pounds of silver, with the ad-
monition that, as it respected political power,
he should patiently abide his time. On the
morning of the 9th of September, 1087, the
great king was for a moment aroused from his
stupor by the sound of bells, and then, after
a stormy and victorious career, and almost in
sight of the spot of his birth, the son of the
tanner's daughter of Rouen lay stiU and.
pulseless.
Unto his dying day William the Con-
queror was followed by the curses of English-
men." So hostile to him and his House were
the native populations of the Island that
Prince William Rufus, knowing the temper
of the nation, deemed it expedient to secure
by silent haste and subtlety the throne va-
cated by his father's death. He quickly left
Normandy and reached Winchester in ad-
vance of the news of the decease of the king.
There he confided the momentous intelligence
to the primate Lanfranc, archbishop of Can-
terbury. Him he induced to become the
champion of his cause. A council of barons
and prelates was hastily summoned, and the
form of an election was had, in which,
though not without opposition, the choice fell
on Rufus. Such was the expedition with
which every thing was done, that, on the sev-
enteenth day after the Conqueror's death, the
king-elect was duly crowned by Archbishop
Lanfranc.
The first act of the new sovereign exhib-
ited at once his own quality and the temper
of the age. He issued orders that all the
Englkh nobles recently liberated from prison
bv his father should again be seized and in-
carcerated. The Norman prisoners of state,
however, were, with singular partiality, con-
firmed in the honors and possessions to which
they had been recently restored.
Meanwhile Duke Robert, surnamed Courte-
Heuse, or Short-Hos«, eldest son of the Con-
queror, now for many years an exile In France
and Germany, hearing of his father's death,
made all speed into Normandy and claimed
the dukedom. He was received with great
joy by the prelates of Rouen, who, fortified
by the dying decision of King William, gladly
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL ENGLAND.
641
'testowed the coronet on his son. As for
Prince Henry, he took the five thousand
pounds bequeathed him by the late king, and
going into a reluctant retirement, set the
jealous eye of discontent on both his brothers.
The disposition of William Rufus and his
•brothers was little conducive to friendly rela-
tions among them. Both Robert and the king
were turbulent spirits, and it was hardly
probable under the circumstances that they
would not soon come to blows. The situation
•was such as greatly to embarrass the
Tassals of the two princes. Many of
the nobles had estates both in Eng-
iand and in Normandy. All such
held a divided allegiance to William
•and Robert, and it became their
interest either to preserve the peace
-or else to dethrone either the duke or
'the king. In a short time an alarm-
ing conspiracy was made in England
with a view to unseating William
•and the placing of Robert on the
throne. The chief manipulator of
the plot was Bishop Odo, half-uncle
■of Robert, who found in him a ready
and able servant. The Duke of
Normandy, for his part, promised to
send over an army to the support of
his confederates.
The conspiracy gathered head in
Kent and Durham, and in the West.
In these parts the revolt broke out
■with violence. But there was little
•concert of action, and the insurrection
made slow headway against the es-
•tablished order. The army of Duke
Robert was delayed until a fleet of
English privateers — first, perhaps,
of their kind in modern times — put
"to sea and cut off the Norman squadron in
■detail. Since the rhovement against the king
■proceeded exclusively from his Norman sub-
jects, the English rallied to his banner. In
•order to encourage this movement of the na-
tives against his insurgent countrymen, he
•called together the few Anglo-Saxon chiefs
■who had survived through twenty years of
warfare, and to them made pledges favorable
•to their countrymen. It thus happened, by a
strange turn in the political affairs of the
■■kingdom, that the old English stock revived
somewhat in the favor of the royal House.
So, when the old Saxon proclamation was
issued — " Let every man who is not a man of
nothing, whether he live in burgh or out of
burgh, leave his home and come," — fully
thirty thousand sturdy yeoman mustered at
the call.
The king at the head of his forces marched
against Bishop Odo, who had fortified himself
in Rochester Castle. From thence the rebels
were presently driven into Pevensey, where
BURIAL OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEEOB.
after seven weeks they were overthrown and
scattered. Odo was taken prisoner, and in
order to save his life agreed to give up Roch-
ester Castle to the king and to leave Eng-
land forever. At this time, however, the
castle was held by Eustace, earl of Boulogne,
who making a pretense of wrath and acting in
collusion with Odo, seized that prelate and
drew him within the walls. The defense waa
begun anew, and was finally brought to a
close by disease and famine rather than by
assault. When the castle was at last obliged
642
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
to yield, the enraged English franklins would
fain have destroyed the whole company of in-
surgents. But the Normans in the army of
Rufus had many friends among the rebels,
and the king was induced to grant terms of
capitulation on condition that the prisoners
would all leave the kingdom. After a season
of desultory warfare, the movement in favor
of Duke Robert lost its force and came to
nothing.
The temper of the king and the spirit of
the age now demanded retaliation. The sup-
porters of William in England determined to
make war on Robert Short-Hose in his own
duchy. The condition of affairs in Normandy
favored such an enterprise. The duke, al-
ways more courageous than prudent, had,
after his father's death, managed things so
badly that his nobles became disloyal and the
duchy fell into anarchy. In his distress Rob-
ert made overtures to the king of France,
who, promising his aid, marched an army to
the frontier of Normandy, but lent no practi-
cal assistance to his ally. A counter insurrec-
tion favorable to King William now broke
out in the duchy and was with difficulty sup-
pressed. Meanwhile William Rufus occupied
his time with preparations, and in the begin-
ning of 1091 crossed over with an English
army into Normandy. When the issue be-
tween the two brothers was about to come to
the arbitrament of battle, the king of France
came forward as a mediator, and a treaty of
peace was concluded at Caen. The terms
were very favorable to the English king, who
obtained large possessions of his brother's realm,
together with the reversion of the whole duchy
in case Duke Robert should die first.
This settlement was, of course, exceedingly
distasteful to Prince Henry, who still lay in
his covert awaiting the death or downfall of
his brothers. So much was he angered on
account of the treaty that he broke into open
revolt. He defended himself briefly in his
castles and then retired to the almost impreg-
nable rock and fortress of St. Michael, off the
coast. Here he was besieged by the forces of
William and Robert, and was at last obliged
to capitulate. All his possessions were taken
away, and he was then permitted to retire into
Brittany, accompanied by one knight, three
Bquires, and one chaplain.
After the settlement of his afiairs on the
continent, WOliam Rufus was for a while en-
gaged in a war with Malcolm Caenmore, king
of Scotland. The latter had been the ag-
gressor during the absence of Rufus from his
kingdom. When William returned, he fell
upon the Scottish army, then in Northum-
berland, and inflicted on the enemy a signal
defeat, in which both Malcolm and his son
were slain.
In the year 1093, the non-compliance of
Rufus mth the terms of the treaty of Caen
led to a renewal of hostilities between him
and Duke Robert. The French king came
to the rescue of the latter, but William suc-
ceeded in bribing him to retire into his own
country. Robert was thus left alone to strug-
gle with his more powerful brother. Nor ia
it doubtful that the English king would soon
have wrested from Robert the whole duchy
of Normandy had not the afl!airs of his own
realm demanded his immediate return from
the continent.
For the people of Wales had now risen
against the Norman dominion, and the revolt
soon became one of the most alarming that
had occurred for many years. The insurgents
first fell upon and captured the castle of
Montgomery and then overran Cheshire,
Shropshire, Herefordshire, and the isle of An-
glesea. On reaching his kingdom, Rufus at
once marched into the rebellious district, but
could not bring the Welsh mountaineers to a
general battle. The enemy kept to the hills
and forests, whence they sallied forth in sud-
den destructive attacks upon the royal forces.
For two years the king with his heavy Nor-
man cavalry continued an unsuccessful war-
fare on his rebellious subjects ; but he was
unable to reduce them to submission, and was
at last obliged to content himself with the
erection of a chain of castles along the fron-
tier. In these he established garrisons and
then turned aside to put down an insurrection
in the North, which was headed by Robert
Mowbray, earl of Northumberland.
In 1096 the English king found hia?self
free once more to resume operations against
Normandy. In the preceding autumn, how-
ever, an event had occurred which, in a most
unexpected manner, decided the whole ques-
tion at issue. The Council of Clermont wa»
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— FEUDAL ENGLAND.
645
called by Urban 11., and all Western Europe
had taken fire at the recital of the outrages
done to the Christians in the East. Duke
Robert was among the first to catch the en-
thusiasm and draw his sword. What was the
maintenance and development of his province
of Normandy compared with the glory of
smiting the infidel Turk who sat cross-legged
on the tomb of Christ? But the coflers of
the fiery Robert were empty. In order to
raise the means necessary to equip a band of
Norman Crusaders, he proposed to his brother
Rufus to sell to him for a period of five years
the duchy of Normandy for the sum of ten
thousand pounds. The offer was quickly ac-
cepted, and William in order to raise the
money was constrained to resort to such cruel
exactions as were, by the old chroniclers,
compared to flaying the people alive. But
the ten thousand pounds were raised and paid
into the treasury of Robert, who gladly ac-
cepted the opportunity thus afforded of ex-
changing an actual earthly kingdom for the
prospect of a heavenly.
In entering upon the possession of Nor-
mandy thus acquired, William Rufus was
well received by his subjects. The people of
Maine, however, were not at all disposed to
accept the change of masters. Under the
leadership of their chief nobleman, the Baron
of La Fleche, they rose in hot rebellion, and
it was only after a serious conflict that the
king succeeded in reducing them to submis-
sion. Once and again the presence of Will-
iam was demanded in Maine to overawe the
disaffected inhabitants. In the last of his ex-
peditions in that province the king received a
wound, which induced him to return to Eng-
land. On reaching home he found that the
crusading fever had already begun to spread
in the Island. Several of his noblemen, imi-
tating the example of Duke Robert, preferred
to mortgage or sell their estates in order to
gain the means to join in the universal cam-
paign against the Infidels. Means were thus
afforded the king of greatly extending his
territorial possessions. But while engaged in
this work his career was brought to a sudden
and tragic end.
In the summer of the year 1100, William,
according to his wont, sought the excitement
of the chase in the great hunting park of New
Forest. He was accompanied by several of
his nobles. Among the rest was Sir Walter de
Poix, better known by his English name of
Sir Walter Tyrrel. The cavalcade was gay
and boisterous, and feasted and drank under
the great trees of Mahvood-keep. When
the company in high spirits were about to-
begin the hunt, a messenger came running to
the king, saying that one of the monks of
St. Peter's at Gloucester had dreamt a dream
of horrid jjortent respecting the sudden death
of the king. "Give him a hundred pence,""
.said Rufus, "and bid him dream of better
fortune to our person. Do they think I am
one of those fools that give up their pleasure
or their business because an old woman hap-
pens to dream or to sneeze. To horse, Wal-
ter de Poix !"
Hereupon the reckless king with his-
boon companions dashed into the woods and
began the chase. Towards evening a hart
sprang up between Rufus and the thicket
where Sir Walter was for the moment stand-
ing. The king drew his bow to shoot ; but
the string snapped, and his arrow went wide-
of the mark. He raised his hand as if to-
shade his eyes while watching the hart and
called aloud to his companion, ' ' In the name-
of the devil, shoot, Walter, shoot!" Sir Wal-
ter at once let fly his arrow, but the fatal
shaft, glancing against the side of an oak,
struck William in the left breast and pierced
him to the heart. He fell from his horse and
expired without a word. Nor has authentic-
history ever been able to decide whether the-
bolt that sped him to his death was, according
to common tradition, winged by accident or
whether it was purposely sent on its deadly-
mission either by Sir Walter himself or by-
some secret foe of the king ambushed in the-
thicket. At any rate, the childless WiUiam
Rufus died with an arrow-head in his breast ip-
the depth of N^ew Forest hunting-ground, and
the popular superstition was confirmed that
that great Park created aforetime by the de-
struction of so many Anglo-Saxon hamlets-
and churches, was destined many times to be
wet with the blood of the royal tyrants whose-
wanton passions were therein excited and
gratified.
The history of Feudal England has thu?-
been traced from the beginning of the Nor-
644
UNIVERSAL HISTORY. — THE MODERN WORLD.
man Ascendency in the times of Edward the
Confessor, through the great crisis of the
Conquest, down to the death of William
Eufus and the accession, in the summer of
1100, of Henry I., the remaining son of the
Conqueror. On the continent, as will readily
'>ftMC4
^/. ^-. V,,. .,•
DEATH OF WILLIAM RUFUS.
Drawn by A. de Xeuville.
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— MOHAMMEDAN STATES.
645
be recalled, the people of the various states
were already in universal commotion from the
preaching of the First Crusade. In insular
England the excitement was by no means so
great; nor was English society thoroughly
aroused until in the succeeding reigns of
Stephen, Henry Plantagenet, and Richard I.
This fact would indicate the continuance of
the present narrative down to the time when
the Lion Heart lifted his battle-axe against
the Infidels; but the date of the Council of
Clermont (A. D. 1095) has already been
fixed upon as the limit of the present Book
and the beginning of the next. Here, then,
we pause in the narrative of English affairs,
with the purpose of resuming the same here-
after with the accession of Henry, surnamed
Beauclerc, to the throne of England.
CHAPTER IvXXXVIII.— MOHAIvIMEDAN STATES AND
NORTHERN KlNQDOJVIS.
ET us again, for a brief
season, follow the yellow
Crescent of Islam, waning
in the West, fulling in
the East. The history of
tlie Mohammedan power
has been given in the
preceding Book from the time of the Prophet
to the age of decline in the Caliphate of
Damascus during the reign of Merwan U.
The latter; who was the fourteenth and last
of the Ommiyad Dynasty, held the throne till
the year 750, when a
contest broke out between
him and Abul Abbas,
which ended in the over-
throw of Merwan and
the setting up of the
Abbasside Caliph. Abul
Abbas claimed to be a
lineal descendant of Mo-
hammed's uncle Abbas,
and for this reason the
name Abbassidce was given
to the House.
Not only was Merwan
overthrown by his enemy,
but the Ommiyades were
presently afterwards as-
sembled with treacherous intent,
but two of them were murdered,
survivors escaped, the one into Arabia and
the other into Spain. The Arab Ommiyad
became the head of a line of local rulers
who continued in power until the sixteenth
century, and he who came to Spain laid the
foundation of the Caliphate of Cordova.
Having secured the throne of Damascus,
Abul Abbas began a reign of great severity.
The fugitive Merwan was pursued into Egypt
and barbarously put to death. The victorious
Caliph earned for himself the name of Al-
Saffah, or the Blood-shedder. So complete
was the destruction of his enemies that in all
the East none durst raise the hand against
him. The new dynasty was firmly established
from Mauritania to the borders of Persia.
Nt^
DESTRUCTION OF THE OMMIYADES.
and all
The two
Drawn by F. Lix.
Spain secured her independence, but the re-
mainder of the Mohammedan states feU to the
Abbassides.
After a reign of four years' duration Abul
Abbas died, and was succeeded on the throne
by his brother Al-Mansour. The sovereignty
646
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
was also claimed by his uncle Abdallah, by
whom the destruction of the Ommiyades had
been accomplished. Abdallah took up arms
to maintain his cause, but Abu Moslem, the
lieutenant of Al-Mansour, went forth against
the insurgents, and they were completely de-
feated. Abu Moslem, however, soon after-
wards incurred the anger of his master, and
was deprived of his eyes for refusing to accept
the governorship of Egypt. Like his prede-
cessor, Al-Mansour marked his reign with
merciless cruelty. In the year 758, a hereti-
cal sect, called the Ravendites, whose princi-
pal tenet was the old Egyptian doctrine of
metempsychosis, became powerful at the city
of Cufa, the then capital of the Eastern
Caliphate. They fell into violent quarrels
and riots with the orthodox Mohammedans",
and thus came under the extreme displeasure
of the Caliph. After much violence and
bloodshed, Al-Mansour determined to puuish
the city and people by removing the capital
to another place. He accordingly selected a
site on the Tigris, once occupied by the
Assyrian kings, and there founded the new
city of Baghdad, which was destined to remain
for more than four centuries the capital of
the Mohammedan kingdoms in the East.
In the year 762-68 .the seat of government
was transferred, and Al-]Mansour began his
reign of twenty-one years with beautifying his
palace and drawing to his court the art and
learning of his countrymen. It was not long,
however, until he was obliged to go to war.
The descendants of Ali, son of Abu Taleb,
raised the standard of revolt and attempted to
recover the Caliphate. The armies of Al-
Mansour, however, gained the victory over
the enemies of their master, and Asia Minor
and Armenia, in which the insurrection had
made most headway, were reduced to submis-
sion. But in the West the revolt held on its
way and could not be suppressed. Distance
and the intervening Mediterranean favored
the rebellion in Spain to the extent of secur-
ing the independence of that province, which
could never be regained by the Eastern
Caliphs.
But more important than the wars of
Al-Mansour were his efforts to set up a higher
standard of literary culture than had hitherto
been known among the Mohammedans. The
old anti-literary dispositions of Islam weie
made to yield to a more reasonable view of
human culture and refinement. The arts and
humanities embalmed in the works of the
Greeks were revealed by translation to the
wondering philosophers of the Tigris, who
were stimulated and encouraged in their work
by the liberal patronage of the Caliph.
After a successfid and distinguished reign
of twenty-one years Al-Mansour died, and was
succeeded by his son Mahdi, who held the
throne for a period of ten years. Perhaps
the most distinguished part of his reign re-
lated to the slave Khaizeran, by whom he be-
came the father of the celebrated Haroun
Al-Rashid, most distinguished of all the Car
liphs of the East. The young prince became
his father's chief military leader. He com-
manded an army of ninety-five thousand men
in an expedition against the Byzantine Em-
pire, then ruled by the Empress Irene. With
his well-nigh invincible soldiers, he marched
through Asia Minor, overthrew the Greek
general, Nicetas, in battle, reached the Bos-
phorus, and in the year 781 gained possession
of the heights of Scutari, opposite Constanti-
nople. Such was the alarm of the Empress
and her councU that she was glad to purchase
the ■ retirement of the IMohammedans by the
payment of an annual tribute of seventy
thousand pieces of gold.
While the fame of these exploits was fill-
ing all the realms of Islam with the name of
the slave-woman's son, his elder brother Hadi
was busily engaged in a conspiracy to destroy
both his reputation and his life. Nor was the
bitterness of Hadi at all appeased when, in
785, the father Mahdi died and left him heir
to the Caliphate. No sooner had he reached
this position than, fired with increasing jeal-
ousy, he issued orders for the execution of
Haroun ; and the edict was prevented from
fulfillment only by -the death of Hadi, who
came to an end within a year from his acces-
sion. When this event occurred, Al-Rashid
came into peaceable possession of the throne.
His character and abilities far surpassed those
of any preceding Caliph. With hi3 accession
came the golden era of Mohammedanism. In
his dealings with the different nations under
his dominion, he fully merited his honorable
sobriquet of the Just. He selected his min-
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— MOHAMMEDAN STATES.
647
isters from the different states of the Empire,
and thus united in his government the claims
Among those who
his administration
6. Al Amin, 813.
Mohammed.
12. MosriiN 806.
19. Kahib, 934.
and sympathies of all.
were thus brought into
were Tahya and his son
Jaffar, two of the ancient
fire-worshiping priest-
hood of Persia. By then-
influence the people
whom they represented
were greatly advanced
in the favor of the Ca-
liphate, and even the
religious system of Zo-
roaster, which had waned
almost to extinction, was
permitted to burn more
brightly while its repre-
sentatives remained in
power.
In his foreign rela-
tions, Haroun Al-Rashid
busied himself in
strengthening his front-
iers on the side of the
Byzantine Empire.
While thus engaged, a
disgraceful war broke
out between religious
factions in Syria. The
general Musa was sent
by Al-Rashid into this
region, and the leaders
of the rival jiarties were
captured and taken to
Baghdad. An end was
thus made of the Syrian
dissensions, and Jaffar
was appointed governor
of that province, includ-
ing Egypt.
It was at this time
that the powerful family
of the Barmecides be-
came predominant in the
affairs of the Caliphate. The head of this
fejmily, Khaled ben Barmek, had been the
tutor of Haroun Al-Rashid in his youth. It
was his son, Tahya, who became prime minis-
ter in 786. Twenty-five members of the fam-
ily held important offices in the different prov-
inces of the Empire. For fifteen years, their
ascendency remained unshaken ; but at last
in 803, a circumstance occurred which added
fuel to the already increasing jealousy of Al-
Rashid and led to the downfall of the Barme-
I
Abdallah.
aL
Mohammed.
Ibrahim. 1. Abd'l Abbas, A. D. 754.
2. Al Manscr, 775.
3. Mahdi, 785.
4. Hadi, 797.
5. HabounalRaschu>,809.
. Al Mamun, 833. 8. Al Motassim, 842.
9. Vathek, 847.
14. MOHTADI, 870.
10. MOTAWAKKEI,,861.
I
Mowaffak. 11. Mantasir, 862. 15. Mootamid, 884. 13. Mo6tazz, 867.
16. Mo6tadid, 902.
18. Moktadik, 932.
17. MoKTAFI, 908L
22. Mo.STAKFI, 946.
Ishak.
25. Kadir, 1031.
I
26. KaIM, 1079.
I
23. MOTI, 974.
24. Tai, 99a
21. Mottaki, 945. 70. B.41 dO.
Mohammed al Din.
I
27. MoKTADi, 1099.
28. MOSTAZHIR, 1124.
I
31. MOKTAFI, 1167.
I
32. MOSTANJID, 1178.
I
33. MosTADi, 1187.
I
34. Nasir, 1234.
I
35. Zahir, 1235.
I
36. MoSTANSI'R, 1252.
I
37. IIOSTASIM, 1255.
29. mostarshid, 1141.
30. Raschid, 11431
THE ABBASID CALIPHS.
Caliphs in small capitals, and dated.
cides. The minister Jaffar, grandson of Kha-
led ben Barmek, made love to Abassa, sister
of the Calij)h ; and when the lover represented
to Haroun that his affection for the princess
was purely platonic, it was agreed that he
might marry her. In course of time, how-
ever, Abassa presented her singular lord with
648
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
an heir, greatly to the chagrin of the Calijih.
So hot was his rage that he caused Jaffar to
be beheaded. Tahya and Fadhl were chained
and thrown into a dungeon, where they died.
Nearly aU the other members of the family
suffered deposition, confiscation of property,
and imprisonment. The influence of the
House was thus suddenly thrown off. But the
memory of Al-Rashid suffered not a little
from the gratification of his passion against
those whom he had no cause of hating other
than jealousy.
In the same year with the downfall of the
Barmecides, Nicephorus, having then succeeded
Irene on the throne of the Byzantine Empire,
made a sudden show of old-time virtue by re-
fusing payment of the annual tribute agreed
to by his predecessor. Not only did he de-
cline longer to continue the stijiend, but he
sent an embassy to Al-Eashid, demanding a
restitution of all the sums previously paid by
Irene. Thereupon the Caliph, flaming with
rage, returned the following perspicuous but
undiplomatic message: "In the name of the
Most Merciful God, Haroun Al-Rashid, com-
mander of the Faithful, to Nicephorus the
Roman dog. I have read thy letter, O thou
son of an unbelieving mother. Thou shalt
not hear, thou shalt behold my reply." Nor
was this threatening manifesto without an im-
mediate fulfillment. The Caliph put himself
at the head of his army, wasted a large part
of Asia Minor, besieged the city of He-
raclia, and quickly obliged Nicejjhorus to
resume the payment of tribute.
The Emperor was not yet satisfied, and
soon violated his agreement. In 806 Haroun
Al-Rasliid returned with a hundred and thirty-
five thousand men, overtook Nicephorus in
Phrygia, and defeated him with a loss of forty
thousand of his troops. StiU the Greek Em-
peror was not satisfied. Two years later, he
again refused to pay the stipulated tribute,
and Al-Rashid came upon him with an army
twice as great as previously. He ravaged
Asia Minor to the borders of the JSgean, and
then taking to his fleet, overran the islands of
Rhodes, Cyprus, and Crete. The tribute was
reimposed on more humiliating terms than
ever. But hardly had the ISIohammedans re-
tired from their expedition before the perfid-
ious Greek Emperor once more broke ofl^ his
engagement aud took up arms. Haroun re-
newed the war with the greatest fury, swear-
ing that he never would treat again with such
an oath-breaking enemy as Nicephorus. But
before his vengeance on the Greek could
wreak a bloody satisfaction, a revolt broke
out in Khorassan, and Al-Ra.shid was recalled
from the West to overawe the insurgents.
Before reaching the revolted province, how-
ever, he fell sick and died, leaving behind a
reputation for ambition, prudence, and wis-
dom unequaled by any of his predecessors in
the Caliphate. He had a breadth of appre-
hension which would have been creditable in
a sovereign of modern times. He cultivated
the acquaintance of the great rulers of his
age. He corresponded with Charlemagne,
and in the year 807 sent to that monarch a
water-clock, ,an elephant, and the keys of the
Holy Sepulcher. Nine times did Al-Rashid
make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Above all
his contemporaries, he sought to encourage the
development of literature and art. About
his court were gathered the greatest geniuses
of Islam, aud legend and poetry have woven
about his name the imperishable garland of
the Arabian Nights.
On the death of Al-Rashid, in the year
809, the succession was contested by his two
sons, AL-Amin and Al-Mamoun. The former
obtained the throne aud held it for four
years. But his brother grew in favor and
power, and when in 813 the issue came to be
settled by the sword, Al-Amin was killed and
A_l-Mamouu' took the Caliphate. He entered
upon his administration by adopting the pol-
icy of his father, especially as it related to
the encouragement of learning. The chief
towns of the East were made the seats of
academic instruction and philosophy. Many
important works were translated from the
Greek and the Sanskrit. From the Hindus
were obtained the rudiments of the mathe-
matical sciences, especially those of arith-
metic and algebra. Ancient Chaldsea gave to
the inquisitive scholars of the age her wealth
of star-lore ; while the elements of logic, nat-
ural history, and the Aristotelian system of
philosophy were brought in from the Archi-
pelago and Constantinople.
As a warrior Al-Mamoun was less distin-
guished. In his country, as in the West, »
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— MOHAMMEDAN STATES.
649
disruptive force began to appear in the gov-
ernment, and many of the jsrovinces, remote
from the center of the Empire, regained their
independence. Indeed, near the close of his
reign, the disintegration became alarming ;
and when the government passed by his
death, in the year 833, to his brother Al-
MoTASSEM, the Empire seemed on the verge
of dissolution. The latter sovereign received
the name of the Octonary, for he had fought
eight victorious battles with the enemies of
Islam.' His reign, however, is chiefly notable
for the fact that at this time the Seljukian
Turks began to be a powerful element both
in the armies and government of the Caliph-
ate. The Seljuk soldiers surpassed in courage
and vigor any others who ranged themselves
under the Crescent. During the siege of Amo-
rium, in Phrygia, in the year 838, in which
the army of the Emperor Theophilus was envi-
roned by the Mohammedans, it was the Turk-
ish cavalry that dealt the most terrible blows
to the Greeks. Thirty thousand of the Chris-
tians were taken captive and reduced to slav-
ery, and other thirty thousand were slaugh-
tered on the field. From this time forth,
the Turks were received into the capital.
They became the guards of the Caliph's pal-
ace, and it was not long until they held the
same relation to the government as did the
praetorian cohort six hundred years before to
the Imperial household in Rome. It was esti-
mated that by the middle of the. ninth cent-
ury there were fully fifty thousand Turks in
Baghdad.
This new and dangerous patronage of the
Caliphate bestowed on a race of lawless for-
eigners, warlike, restless, and audacious, be-
came in a short time the bane of the Moham-
medan countries. Even during the reign of
Motassera, who was the Edward Confessor of
the East, the quarrels of his Turkish guards
with the native inhabitants of Baghdad pro-
duced so great turbulence and rioting in the
city that the Emperor was constrained to
retire with his favorites to Samara on the
' According to the Arab chroniclers, Motassem
was an exceedingly eight-fold sovereign. He was
the eighth of the Ahbassides. He reigned eight
years, eight months, and eight days. He left
eight sons, eight daughters, eight thousand slaves,
and eight millions of gold.
Tigris, about forty miles distant from the cap-
ital and there establish a new royal residence.
The Caliph Motawakkel, next after Vathek,
son of Motassem, still further encouraged the
Turkish ascendency until the guards, having
come to prefer the Prince Montasser, son of
the Caliph, murdered their master and set up
the youth in his stead. The latter enjoyed or
suffered the fruits of his crime no more than
six months, when the same power that had
created, destroyed him, and set up his brother
MosTAiN, who reigned until 866. From this
time until the close of the century, four other
obscure Caliphs — Motaz, Mohtadi, Motam-
MED and MoTADHED — succeeded each other in
rapid succession in the Caliphate. The follow-
ing century was occupied with nine additional
reigns, being those of Moktafi I., Moktader,
Kaher, Khadi, Mottaki, Mostakfi, Mothi, Tai,
and Kader. Except in a special history of
the Eastern Caliphate, but little interest
would be added to the general annals of man-
kind by reciting in detail the bloody and
criminal progress of events on the Tigris and
in Asia Minor.
In tlie following — the tenth — century the
ascendency of the Seljukian Turks became
more and more pronounced, and their intoler-
able domination was felt and resented almost
equally by the more quiet Mohammedans of
the south-west districts of the Caliphate and
by the Christians who, especially in the Holy
Land, were subjected to every humiliation
and barbarity which the Seljuks could well
invent. This circumstance, viewed from the
Asiatic standpoint, was the antecedent condi-
tion of that fierce turmoil of excitement and
wrath which spread through Western Europe
in the latter half of the eleventh century and
broke out in the wild flame of the Crusades.
Meanwhile the Crescent still floated over
Spain. For in the great proscription of the
Ommiyades a royal youth, named Abderrah-
MAN, son of Merwan II., escaped the rage of
the Abbassides and fled into Western Africa.
From thence he made liis way into Spain,
where, on the coast of Andalusia, he was sa-
luted with the acclamations of the people.
He was hailed by all parties as the lineal de-
scendant and rightful successor of the great
Ommiyah, and therefore entitled to reign over
the western followers of the Prophet. After
650
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
& brief struggle with the contending factions,
under the leadership of rival emirs, he was
elevated to the throne of Cordova, and thus,
in 756, was established the Ommiyad dynasty
in the Western Caliphate.
While these movements were taking place
fiouth of the Pyrenees, the Mohammedans
were gradually expelled from theii- foothold
in the North and driven back into Spain.
The triumph of the Franks, however, was as
advantageous to the Mohammedans as to
themselves. A mountain barrier was estab-
lished between the two races, and the Islam-
ites were left on the southern slope to con-
centrate their energies and develop into
nationality.
At first the head of the Eastern Caliphate
relished not the idea of the independence of
Spain. On the contrary, it was determined
to make a strenuous effort to subject the Ca-
liphate of Cordova to the scepter of Baghdad.
One of the Abbasside lieutenants was sent
into Spain with a fleet and army, but was
overthrown in battle and slain by Abderrah-
man. The Caliph Al-Mansour at length came
to understand that it was best for his rival to
be left undisturbed in the West, lest his dan-
gerous energies should be turned against him-
self. By the time of the accession of Charle-
magne, the Caliphate of Cordova had already
grown so much in solidity and strength as to
become a formidable power with which to
contend, even to the king of the Franks. The
meager success, or positive unsuccess, of Char-
lemagne's expedition against Saragossa has
already been narrated in the preceding Book.
Much of the glory of the Arabian civiliza-
tion in Spain must be referred to the great-
ness of Abderrahman and his reign. To him
the city of Cordova was indebted for the
most magnificent of her mosques, of which
structure the Caliph himself was the designer.
He also it was who planted the first palm-tree
in Cordova, and from that original all the
palms of Spain are said to be descended. His
immediate successors were Hashem I., Al-
Hakem I. , and Abderrahman II. , whose reign
extended to the year 852. The greatest of the
House after the founder was Abderrahmam
ni., who in the beginning of the tenth cen-
tury occupied the throne for forty-nine years.
The whole Ommiyad Dynasty in Spain em-
braced the reigns of twenty-two Caliphs and
extended to the year 1031, when Hashem IH.
was deposed by a revolution having its origin
in the army. During this time Spain, under
the patronage of the Mohammedans, made
greater progress in civilization than at any
period before or since. Agriculture and com-
merce were jjromoted. Science and art flour-
ished, and institutions of learning were estab-
lished, the fame of which extended from
Ireland to Constantinople, and drew within
their walls a host of students from almost
every country in Europe. It was from this
source that the fundamentals of scholarship
were deduced by the uncultured Christiana
north of the Apennines and the Alps. The
language and customs of the Moors became
predominant in the peninsula, and during the
latter half of the eighth and the whole of the
ninth century there was little disposition to
dispute the excellence of the Mohamme<lan
institutions which spread and flourished under
the patronage of the Cordovan Caliphs.
In the course of time, however, the relative
power of the Cross and the Crescent in Spain
began to be reversed. About the beginning
of the eleventh century, the dissensions and
strife which pre^Tailed in the Calipliate of
Cordova gave opportunity for the growth of
the Christian states in the north-western part
of the peninsula. Here, in the mountainous
district of Oviedo, under Pelayo and Alfonso
I., the dominion of the Cross was considerably
extended. Portions of Leon and Castile were
added to Oviedo by conquest, and thus was
planted the kingdom of Asturias. Under
Ordono II. the kingly residence was trans-
ferred to Leon, and that city henceforth gave
the name to the Christian kingdom. Mean-
while, on the Upper Ebro and Pisuerga, arose
the kingdom of Castile. In this region there
had always been preserved a remnant of in-
dependence, even since the days of the Mo-
hammedan conquest. Until the year 961
Castile was in some sense a dependency of
Leon. At that date Fernando Gonzales ap-
peared, and the people of Castile, under hia
leadership, gained and kept their freedom.
In 1037 Ferdinand I. reunited the kingdoms
of Leon and Castile, and the combined states
soon became the most powerful in Spain.
While these events were in progress north
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— MOHAMMEDAN STATES.
65J
of the strait of Gibraltar a new line of Ca-
liphs was established in Africa. This dynasty
is known as the African Fatimites; for the
founder of the house was a certain Abu,
claiming to be the son of Obeidallah, a de-
scendant of Fatinia. The dynasty was i'ounded
in the year 909 and continued during the
reigns of fourteen Caliphs to the death of
Adhed in 1171. But the Fatimites of Africa
did not display the energies which were ex-
hibited by their contemporaries a" Baghdad
and Cordova, and civilization, which made
such rapid progress in Spain, was as much as
liphate was given up to luxury. That mon-
arch is said to have left behind him a treasure
of thirty million pounds sterling, and this
vast sum was consumed in a few years on the
vices and ambitions of his successors. Hia
sou Mahdi is said to have squandered six
million dinars of gold during a single pilgrim^
age to Mecca. His camels were laden with
packages of snow gathered from the mountains
of Armenia, and the natives of Mecca were
astonished to see the white and cooling crys-
tals dissolving in the wines or sprinkled on
the fruits of the royal worshipers. Al-M»-
THE ALHAMBRA.
ever retarded in the states south of the Med-
iterranean.
Of the three or four divisions of the Mo-
hammedan power during the Middle Ages
the most splendid and luxurious was the Ca-
liphate of Baghdad ; the most progressive, the
kingdom of Cordova. In the latter realm it
was intellectual culture and architectural
grandeur that demanded the applause of the
age; while in the East a certain Oriental mag-
nificence attracted the attention of travelers
and historians. In their capital on the Tigris
the Abbassides soon forgot the temperate life
and austere manners of the early apostles of
Islam. They were attracted rather by the
splendor of the Persian kings. As early as
the reign of Al-Mansour the court of the Ca-
N- — V-jU 2 — 40
moun is said to have given away two million
four huudred dinars of gold "before he drew
his foot frora the stirrup." On the occasion
of the marriage of that prince a thousand
pearls of largest size were showered on the
head of the bride. In the times of Moktader
the army of the Caliphate numbered a hun-
dred and .sixty thousand men. The officers
were arrayed in splendid apparel. Their belts
were ornamented with gems and gold. Seven
thousand ennuchs and seven hundred door-
keepers were a part of the governmental reti-
nue. On the Tigris might be seen superbly
decorated boats floating like gilded swans.
In the palace were thirty-eight thousand pieces
of tapestry. Among the ornaments of the
royal house was a tree wrought of gold and
652
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.—THE MODERN WORLD.
silver with eighteen spreading branches. On
these were placed a variety of artificial song-
birds, which were made to twitter their na-
tive notes.
Though less gorgeous in their displays than
the Abbasside monarchs, the Caliphs of Cor-
dova displayed with not a little pomp the
HAI.L OF THE ABENCEBRAGES, ALHAMBBA.
regal glories of Ommiyah. Abderrahiuau HI.
built near the capital the splendid palace and
'gardens of Zebra. Twenty-five years was the
magnificent structure a-building, and three
millions of pounds were consumed in the
■work. The most skillful sculptors and archi-
tects of the age were brought to Cordova to
the end that the palace might want nothing
in splendor. Within the hall of audience
was incrusted with gold and pearls, and the
great basin in the center was surrounded with
life-like effigies of birds and beasts.
Not less was the magnificence displayed in
the famous residence of the Moorish kings at
Granada. This celebrated structure, known'
as the Alhambea, has (though partly in ruins)
remained to our day
one of the wonders of
the modern world. In.
its structure nothing
that could contribute to
the security and gratifi-
cation of man or woman
seems to have been
omitted. The grandest
apartment was known
as the Hall of Lions,
for in the midst was a^
great marble and alabas-
ter fountain sujjported
by lions and orna-
mented with arabesques.
In the Hall of Abencer-
rages the ceiling was
of cedar inlaid with
mother-of-pearl, ivory,
and silver. The color-
ing was exquisite and
beautiful, and even at
the present day, after
the lapse of more than
five hundred years, the
brilliant tints flash down
upon the beholder aS'
though they were the-
work of the highest art
of yesterday.
In other parts of the
Caliphate the glories of
^lohammedan civiliza-
tion were displayed in.
almost equal splendor.
For more than five centuries the city of
Seville revealed in her progress and adorn-
ments the energies and genius of Islam.
The population rose to three hundred-
thousand souls. Perhaps no tower in alj
the Moslem empires surpassed in grandeur
the GmALDA of Seville, from whose summit
the muezzin was wont to call to prayer
the followers of the Prophet. This noble'
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— MOHAMMEDAN STATES.
653
structure was two huudred aud fifty feet
in height, and illustrated the beauties of
arabesque architecture iu its best estate. Of
the other edifices of the city the most noted
was the famous Moor-
ish castle called the
Alcazak, which was
the residence of the
prince of the city,
and was in many re-
spects equal in arch-
itectural excellence
to the Alhambra
itself.
While the greater
part of Spain was
thus dominated by
the Moors, the Chris-
tians still maintained
their hold in the
north-western part
of the peninsula.
The kings of Leon
and Castile, during
the eleventh century
made some valorous
attempts to advance
their frontiers and to
reestablish the Cross.
Of these sovereigns
the most distin-
guished were Sancho
II. and his brother
Alphonso. To this
epoch belonged the
exploits of the hero,
RoDKiGO Diaz, com-
monly known as the
CiD, the most valor-
ous Christian war-
rior of his time. In
the country below
the Pyrenees he was,
for a season, a sort
of Richard Lion
Heart, whose battle-
axe was well-nigh as
terrible to the Moors as was that of Plantagenet
in Palestine. He made war in the name of
his sovereign against the Arab governors of
Bpain, and marked his way with havoc. He
overthrew the Kadi of Valencia, took the
province for his own, and, if tradition may be
believed, gave orders that his captive adver-
sary should sufier death by fire. Scarcely
less famous was his wife, the Princess Donna
THE GIRALDA OF SEVILLE.
Ximena, who accompanied him on his expe-
ditions, and was, after his death, his successor
in the palace of Valencia.
Such in brief is a sketch in outline of the
character and progress of the Mohammedan
G54
UXJVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
states during the Middle Ages. Let us now,
before beginning a history of the Crusades,
consider in a few brief paragraphs the rise and
condition was the peninsular anj insular king-
dom of Denmark. The earliest of the popu-
lation of this region appear to have been th«
THE ALCAZAR OF SEVILLE.
earlj development of the kingdoms of North-
ern Europe.
Among the earliest of the Northern states
to Djake some progress toward the civilized
Cimbri, who held the country as early as the
close of the second century. This race, how-
ever, was afterwards overrun by the Goths,
who gained possession of Jutland shortly after
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— NORTHERN KINGDOMS.
655
the downfall of the Western Empire of the
Romans. The great Gothic chieftain Skiold,
son of Woden, led his countrymen on this in-
vasion, and became the first king of the coun-
try. Denmark remained under Gothic auspices
through the sixth and seventh centuries, and
THE CID OKDiiKa TUK EXECUTION OF THE KADI.
brawn by A. de Neuville.
656
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
it was during this period that the national
character was differentiated from that of the
other Teutonic tribes. The people became
Danes, the fathers of the Northmen who in
the ninth century, jostled from their native
seats by the fierce and long-continued wars
waged by Charlemagne upon the Northern
nations, took to the sea in their pagan barges,
became pirates and hunters of men, and made
all Western Europe red by night with the
glare of their burnings. They fell upon Eng-
land and gained possession of the island,
proving themselves the equals, if not the su-
periors, of the warlike Anglo-Saxons. In the
ninth century the different states of Denmark
were consolidated into a single monarchy. In
the year 1000 Norway was added to the king-
dom, and in 1013 the greater part of England
was gained by the conquests of Sweyn. Three
years afterwards Canute the Great reigned
over the entire Island, as well as his paternal
kingdom. It was at this epoch that Chris-
tianity was carried by the missionaries to the
Danes, who were finally induced to abandon
paganism.
About the time of the political separation
of England and Denmark in 1042 the influ-
ence of the latter kingdom among the North-
ern nations somewhat declined. Gradually
the Feudal system made its way to the North,
and the political power of Denmark under-
went the same process of dissolution by which
Germany, France, and England were trans-
formed into a new condition. The Danish
barons quarreled with their sovereign, went to
war, and gained the same sort of independence
which the nobles of the South attained under
the Capetian kings. Not until 1387 did
Queen Margaret, called the Semiramis of the
North, arise, and, by the union of Denmark
and Norway, restore the okl-time prerogatives
of the crown. As the widow of Haco, daugh-
ter of Waldemar III., and descendant of Ca-
nute the Great, she claimed the triple crown
of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway ; and these
three powers were united under her sway by
the Treaty of Calmar in 1397.
The kingdom of Norway has the same
mythical origin with that of Denmark. Prior
to the seventh century, the history of the
country rests wholly on myth and tradition.
The first kings were reputed to be the descend-
ants of Woden, the first of the line bearing
the name of Seeming. After him came Nor,
out of Finland, and established himself on the
site of the modern city of Drontheim. From
this foothold, gained in the fourth century,
he made war upon the neighboring tribes and
reduced them to submission. Not, however,
until the middle of the ninth century do we
come to the actual dawn of Norwagian history.
The great Harold Harfager, or the Fair Hair,
came to the throne and reduced the petty
chieftains of the country to submission. Love
was the impelling motive of his conquests.
For the beautiful Gyda, daughter of the Earl
of Hardaland, vowed to wed him not until he
had make himself king of aU Norway. The
Norse noblemen whom he overthrew took to
sea and found in the exhilarating pursuits of
piracy an oblivion for their losses. After
Harfager, his son Haco, surnamed the Good,
who had been educated at the court of Athel-
stane, king of England, reigned in his father's
stead. Under his patronage the Christian
monks traversed Norway, and the strongholds
of paganism yielded under the influence of
their teachings. Olaf I. came to the throne
in the year 995, and continued the work be-
gun by the monks. Pagan temples were de-
stroyed, and churches built on their ashes.
This king also laid the foundations of Dron-
theim, which soon became the most flourishing
of the Norwegian cities. Under Olaf, Den-
mark and Norway were involved in war. The
king of the latter country was killed in battle,
and Norway was overrun by the Swedes and
Danes. In 1015 King Olaf II. signalized his
zeal for the new faith by a bitter persecution
of the pagans. Thirteen years later, Canute
the Great landed on the Norwegian coast, de-
throned and defeated Olaf, and was himself
chosen king of the country. In 1030 the de-
posed king attempted to regain the throne,
but was overthrown and slain in ^he battle
of Stikklestad. The national cause, however,
was revived by Magnus I., son of Olaf H.,
who succeeded in driving Sweyn, the succes-
sor of Canute, out of the kingdom. In 1047
Harold HI., surnamed Hardrada, made an
invasion of England, where he captured
York, but was afterwards defeated and killed
in the battle of Stamford Bridge. During the
reign of his grandson Magnus HI. (1093-
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— NORTHERN KINGDOMS.
657
1103), the Isle of Mau, the Shetlands, the
•Orkneys, aud the Hebrides were overrun by
the Danes. Ireland was invaded, and there
Magnus was slain in battle. His son Sigurd
I. became the Scandinavian hero of the Cru-
sades, and his exploits against the Moors in
Spain, as well as in Palestine, were the sub-
ject of many an epic ballad of the North.
Of the primitive history of Sweden but
few authentic scraps have been preserved.
Tradition relates that, when Woden with an
.army of Swedes entered the country, he found
it already in possession of the Goths, who
had previously expelled the Lapps and
Finns. At the first Woden ruled over
• only the central portion, but under his
; successors the remainder was conquered
before the eighth century. As early as
829, Ansgar, a monk of Corbie, visited
■Sweden, and made the first converts to
Christianity. Paganism, however, held
its ground for more than a century, and
it was not until the reign of Olaf Skot-
konung that a regular bishopric was es-
tablished at Skara.
When the Swedes took possession of
the land to which they gave their name,
the Goths were permitted to remain in
the country. No union, however, was
"for many centuries effected between the
two races, and innumerable feuds and
frequent civil wars fill up the annals of
the times. It was not until the accession
of Waldemar, in the year 1250, that
.a political union was accomplished be-
tween the hostile peoples.
The authentic history of Russia be-
.gins at a period somewhat later than that
of the Scandinavian nations. There is a sense,
however, in which the statement may be re-
versed, for the tribes inhabiting the vast region
.now included under the name of Russia were
"better known to the Greeks and Romans than
were those of the Baltic provinces. The names
■Scythian and Sarmatian are sufficiently familiar
;as the tribal epithets by which the peoples of
the great north-eastern steppes were designated.
During the great ethnic movements of the
"fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries Russia was
-4Jie principal field on which and over which
*the powerful nations of Goths, Alans, Huns,
.Avars, and Bulgarians marshaled their hosts
for the subjugation of the West. At a later
period the Slavonic tribes first appeared on the
scene — unless, indeed, these were the descend-
ants of the ancient Sarmatians. Their first
impact was upon the Finns, whom they drove
from their native seats. Many, however, re»
mained, and were blended with the dominant
Slavs. From this union and amalgamatioa
sprang the modern Russians.
Soon after the Slavic tribes gained the as-
cendency they founded the towns of Novgorod
and Kiev, which became the capitals of the
M
1 ^^^^
'
^^^^^SSK^^^^^^^^^I 1
p^^^
BUBIC THE GREAT.
two divisions of the country. In the course
of a century the former principality was in-
vaded by the Rus out of the North, and both
Slavs and Finns were reduced to a tributary
relation. Several times the Slavic tribes re-
volted ; but finally, despairing of success, they
invited the great Rus prince, RuRic, to come
to Novgorod and be their king. In the year
862 he came with his brothers Sinaf and Tru-
ver, and then and there was founded the Rus-
sian Empire.
From this time until nearly the middle of
the eleventh century the family of Ruric oc-
cupied the throne. On the death of the great
658
UNIVERSAL HISTOBY.-THE MODERN WORLD.
chieftain, in 879, the succession passed to his
cousin Oleg, who reigned for twenty-three
years. During this time the principality of
Kiev was conquered and added to that of
Novgorod. The Khazars between the Dni'^per
and the Caspian were also subduetl, and the
Magyars were driven out of Russia in the
direction of Hungary. Oleg next made
war on the Byzantine Empire, and pressed
upon the Greeks with such force tha^ in
911 the Emperor was obliged to consent
VLAniMllt.
to a peace in every way advantageous to
the Rus.
After the death of Oleg, in the following
year, Igor, son of Ruric, came to the throne,
and reigned for thirty-three years. His career
was that of a warrior. He first put down a
revolt of the Drevlians on the Pripet, and
then vanquished the Petchenegs, who had
their seats on the shores of the Black Sea.
Afterwards, in 941, he engaged in a war with
the Greek Emperor, but w^as less successful
than his predecessor. In a second conflict
with the Drevlians he was defeated and slain,
and the crown passed to his son Sviatoslav,
under the regency of Olga, his mother. This
princess became a convert to Christianity, and
the new faith gained a footing at Kiev.
The Emperor, however, remained a pagan,
and devoted himself to war. He made cam-
paigns against the same nations that had felt
the sword of his father and grandfather. The
Bulgarians also were at one time his enemies,
and were defeated in battle. While returning
from an unsuccessful expedition against the
Greeks of Constantinople Sviatoslav was at-
tacked and killed by the Petchenegs, through
=T( whose country he was passing. On hia
death, in 972. the Empire, which was now
extended to the sea of Azov, was divided
among his three sons, Yaropolk, Oleg, and
Vladimir. The first received Kiev, the
second the country of the Drevlians, and
the third Novgorod. The brothers soon
quarreled and went to war. Oleg was slain
and Vladimir fled. Yaropolk gained pos-
session of the whole country, but Vladi-
mir gathered the Rus tribes to his stand-
ard, returned against his brother, put him
to death, and secured the Empire for him-
self. He then conquered R«d Russia,
Lithuania, and Livonia. He becarne a
Christian, married the sister of the Greek
Emperor, and received the title of the
Great. Under his influence and example
Russia turned from paganism to Christian-
ity. Churches rose on every hand; schools
were founded, and new cities gave token
that the night of barbarism was lifting
from the great power of the North.
Vladimir left twelve sons to contend for
the crown. On his death civil war broke out
among them, and several of the claimants
were slain. At length Sviatopolk, son of
Yaropolk, himself an adopted son of Vladi-
mir, hewed his way to the throne over the
bodies of three of his foster brothers. Yaro-
slav, one of the surviving sons of the late
Emperor, allied himself with Henry II. of
Germany and returned to the contest. The
struggle continued until 1019, when a decisive
battle was fought, in which Sviatopolk was
signally defeated. He fled from the field and
died on his way to Poland. After this crisis
the Empire was divided between Yaroslav
and Metislav, but the latter presently died,
and the former became sole ruler of Russia.
To this epoch belong the beginnings of art-
FEUDAL ASCENDENCY.— NORTHERN KINGDOMS.
65&
and learning in the Northern Empire. The
works of the Greeks began to be translated
into Slavic. Learned institutions were founded
in various cities, and scholars were patronized
and honored. The Russian customs and usages
were compiled into a code of law.s, and am-
icable relations were established with foreign
states. Three of the daughters of Yaroslav
were taken in marriage by the kings of Nor-
way, Hungary, and France — a clear recogni-
tion of the rank of the new Russian Empire
among the kingdoms of the earth.
In the year 1051 Yaroslav established
the succession on his son Izaslav, but por-
tions of the Empire were to go to the three
brothers of the heir expectant. They were
to acknowledge the eldest as their sovereign.
In the same year the Emperor died, and
the four brothers took the inheritance.
The result was that the unity of the Empire
was broken. Each of the rulers became
independent ; the feudal principle came in,
and Russia was reduced to a confedera-
tion. Thus weakened, the frontiers were
successfully assailed by the Poles, Lithuan-
ians, Danes, and Teutonic barons. Such
was the condition of affairs when Europe
forgot her own turmoils and sorrows in a
common animosity against the Infidels of
the East.
In close ethnic affinity with the Rus-
sians were the primitive Slavic tribes of
Poland. Of these peoples the most nu-
merous and powerful were the Polans, who
ultimately gave a name to the amalgamated
race. The mythical hero of this branch of
European population was Prince Lech,
brother to Rus and Czech, so that tradi-
tion as well as history associates the Poles
and the Russians. Another fabulous leader
was Krakus, the reputed founder of Cracow.
The first historical ruler of Poland was Ziem-
owit, who was elected king in 860.
But the annals of the first century of
Poland are very obscure, and it is not until
962 that we reach the solid ground of authen-
ticity with the accession of Miecislas I. This
prince took in marriage a Bohemian princess,
by whom he was induced to become a Chris-
tian and to urge upon his people the aban-
donment of paganism. In common with so
many other rulers of his times he adopted the
fatal policy of dividing his kingdom among
his sons. Civil wars and turmoils ensued until
what time Boleslas, the eldest of the claim-
ants, subdued his brothers and regained the
sovereignty of all Poland. He received the
surname of the Brave, and vindicated his
title by successful wars beyond the Oder, the
Dneister, and the Carpathian mountains. His
right to reign was acknowledged Ijy the Em-
peror Otho III., but at a later date he en-
gaged in war with Otho's successor, Henry H.
Afterwards he was called into Russia as arbi-
YAROSLAV.
ter between Novgorod and Kiev. In the
civil administration he was still more success-
ful than in war. He encouraged the indus-
trial and commercial enterprises of the king-
dom and promoted the cau.se of learning. He
held his turbulent subjects with a strong hand
and administered jistice with impartiality.
He assumed the state of a king, and had him-
self crowned by the Christian bishops. On'
his death, in the year 102.5, the Polish crowtt
descended peaceably to his son Miecislas U.,
whose brief reign was followed by the regency
of his widow Rixa ; for the Prince Casimir,
her son, was not yet old enough to assume
•660
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
the duties of the government. The regency
went badly, but when Casimir arrived at the
regal age he took upon himself the crown and
gained the sobriquet of the Restorer.
In the year 1058 the Polish king died, and
was succeeded by his son Boleslas II., who
reigned for twenty-three years. Soon after
his accession he became involved in a war
with the Bohemians, over whom he gained a
decisive victory. Afterwards he was sum-
moned into Hungary to decide a dispute rela-
tive to the crown of that country, and a like
mission to Kiev was successfully accomplished.
Ruturning from that city he acquired in his
own government the reputation of a tyrant.
At last he filled the cup of public indignation
by slaying St. Stanislas, bishop of Cracow,
who had reprimanded him for some of his acts.
He was driven from the throne, and in 1081
died in exile. His half-imbecile brother, La-
dislas Herman, succeeded to the crown of
Poland, wore it for a season, and then abdi*
cated to accept the less dangerous distinction
of a dukedom. — Such was the condition of
Polish afiairs when Urban H., pursuing the
policy of Gregory the Great, summoned the
council of Clermont and exhorted all Christen-
dom to lift the Cross against the Crescent.
SALA D IN
Uok l[tft00nfl^.
The Crusades.
Chapter lxxxix.— The Uprising ok Europe.
HAT great movement of
mediaeval society known
as the Crusades was
the first European event.
That is, the agitation in-
volved all Europe, territo-
rially, socially, religiously,
politicidly. Hitherto the various enterprises
which had filled the annals of the West since
the subversion of the Roman Empire had
lacked the general character. They had been
local — peculiar to some particular state or na-
tion. At last the time arrived when every
people west of the Bosphorus was moved by a
common sentiment, impelled to action by a
common motive. As far as the Cross was
adored, as far as the Crescent was hated, so
far was the proclamation heeded which called
all Christendom to unsheath the avenging sword
against the Infidels.
Not only were the Crusades a European
event — the first of modern times — but they
were the first natioital event in the several
states of the West. The condition of Europe
during the Feudal Ascendency has already
been delineated. Continental unity had been
A delusive dream of Charlemagne. National
unity was a vision, a hope, rather than a re-
ality. Europe parted into kingdoms; king-
doms, into dukedoms ; dukedoms, into counties;
counties, into petty fiefs. The dissolution was
universal. Common interests ceased. Any
thing that might properly be defined as na-
tional or European was impossible. The
break-up was to the very bottom of the social
fabric.
Even in the darkest age of the world there
is something in the nature of man which re-
vives, expands, develops. So it was in the
time of the feudal dissolution of society. Hu-
manity made sufiicieut progress to demand a
common interest. Only the cause, the occa-
sion, was wanting to call together the discor-
dant and belligerent elements and unite them
in a universal enterprise.
An outrage — a series of outrages — done to
the religious sectJ'r eut of Europe furnished
the opportunity and motive of action. Mu-
tual hatred had long existed between the
Christians and the Mohammedans. The lat-
ter aforetime had done incalculable damage
to the prospects of the Cross. All that the
missionaries and evangelists had accomplished
in Arabia, Abyssinia, Egypt, and. Northern
(663)
664
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Africa, had been eradicated by the followers |
of the Prophet. The triumphant Crescent
was carried into Spain, and the Christian
kingdom of the Visigoths went down before it.
The system of Christianity seemed on the
verge of extinction. Only Martel and his
line of battle-axes stood between the tottering
Cross and apparent doom.
When at last the tide rolled back and the
Pyrenees became the Tkm far to Islam, a
deep-seated resentment took possession of the
mind of Barbarian Europe. An instinct of
revenge postponed lay deep in the sea-bed of
European purpose. The West said in her
heart, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay."
When with the coming of the eleventh cen-
tury tiie prophetic Dies Ine went by, and the
Christians came to see that the drama of the
world was not yet ended, the recollection of
the old feud with the Mohammedans came
back with redoubled violence. Europe — she
that trembled under the shadow of impending
fate — found time and occasion to gratify her
passions and animosities as of old.
All ages and peoples have had their scape-
goats. The meanness and barbaric gloom of
human nature have always found something
which they might rend and tear with popular
approval. The eleventh century discovered
its common enemy in the Infidel Turk. In
him were concentrated all the objective condi-
tions of hatred. To destroy him and eradi-
cate his stock from the earth was the one work
worthy of the praise of man and the favor of
heaven.
The thoughtful reader of the preceding
pages will already have discovered the antece-
dent conditions or causes of the Crusades. The
most general of these was the long-suspended
reaction of Christian Europe against Moham-
medan Asia. In the eighth century Islam
struck the West a staggering blow. As a re-
sult of the conquests of Taric and Abdalrah-
man, Spain was severed from her natural affini-
ties and brought into relations with the Asiatic
states. The Spanish Crescent continued for
centuries a flaunting menace to the followers
of Christ. The movement of the Mohammed-
ans westward through Africa and northward
into Europe in the eighth century was
answered by the counter-movement of the
Christians ea.stward through Europe and into
Asia in the eleventh. The sword of the liv-
ing Godfrey was crossed with that of the dead
Taric.
The more immediate and specific causes of
the uprising of the Christians against the Infi-
dels were to be found in the condition of af-
fairs in the Holy Land. About the year 1050
the great sultan Togrul Beg, grandson of that
Seljuk who gave his name to one division of
the Turkish race, came out of the Northeast,
overran Khorassan and other provinces of Per-
sia, and in 1055 took possession of Bhagdad.
His apparition, however, was that of a revo-
lutionist rather than a conqueror. He and his
followers were already disciples of Islam, and
on assuming authority in the Eastern Caliph-
ate he took the usual title of Commander of
the Faithful. In 1063 he died and was suc-
ceeded by his equally famous nephew Alp Ars-
lan, or the Valiant Lion. He continued the
warlike policy of his predecessor, drove back
the Byzantine Greeks, and captured the Em-
peror, Romanus Diogenes. He carried his
victorious arras from Antioch to the Black
Sea, and then turning about planned an ex-
pedition against Turkestan, the native seat of
his race. Having crossed the Oxus and taken
the first fortress in his route, he was assassin-
ated by the governor of the town. The sul-
tanate passed to his son ]\Ialek Shah, who
transferred the capital of the East to Ispa-
han. Renewing the unfinished enterprise of
his father and grandfather, he extended the
Seljukian dominion from the borders of China
to the Bosphorus.
In the course of these triumphant cam-
paigns of the Seljuks they came ujion Pales-
tine. This province was at the time an ap-
panage of the Caliphate of Cairo, now under
the rule of those wild-mannered African Fat-
imites, successors of Abu Obsidallah. About
the year 1076 Jerusalem was taken by the
Turks, and the Fatimite governors were
obliged to retire into Egypt. The Holy City
fell under the dominion of the viceroys of
Malek Shah, who instituted a high revel of
violence and outrage against both Christians
and Arabs.
For many years the fanatic religious senti-
ment of the West had prescribed a pilgrim-
age to some holy place as the best balm for
an inflamed conscience. The morbid soul of
THE CRUSADES.— THE UPRISING OF EUROPE.
667
the vv'estern Frauk saw in the saudal-shoon
and scallop-shell of the pilgrim the emblems
and passport of a better life. He who had
sinned, he who had consumed his youth in
lawlessness and passion, he who had in his
mannood done some bloody deed for which
he was haunted by specters, he who had for-
gotten tlie ties of kindred and stopped his
ears to the entreaties of the weak, must ere
the twilight faded into darkness find peace
and reconciliation by throwing off the insig-
nia of human power and folly and going bare-
foot to the holy places of the East. And
what other spot so sacred, so meritorious, as
the scene of the crucifixion and burial of
Christ?
Pilgrimages abounded. The paths of Asia
Minor were thronged with those who made their
way to and from the Holy Sepulcher. Around
that Tomb of tombs knelt the devout believers
from every state of Christendom. Jerusalem
was the Mecca of Europe. What, therefore,
was the horror of the followers of Christ when
the news was borne abroad that the Seljuk
dogs, who had supplanted the Fatimites in the
Holy City, were spurning and spitting upon
the lowly at the very tomb of their Lord? —
Such was the condition of afi'airs in Palestine
as the eleventh gloomy century of our era
drew to its dreary close.
Great was the terror inspired in the Byzan-
tine emperors by the conquests of the Turks.
Alp Arslan had waved his defiant banners
almobt in sight of Constantinople. The de-
generate successors of the Ctesars quaked in
their capital. In their agitation they looked
abroad for help. Could they induce the bar-
barous West to come to their rescue? Would
the successor of St. Peter heed their cry ? Per-
haps if the Pope were allured with the pros-
pect of gaining an unquestioned recognition
as the head of Christendom — even of Eastern
Christendom — he would call the Italians, the
Franks, the Germans, to the defense of the
capital of the East. Such were the sentiments
which moved the Greek Emperor to send an
embassy to Gregory VH., and to implore that
ambitious potentate to rally the armies of Eu-
rope against the Infidels.
Meanwhile the pious monk of Savona, Peter
of Picardy, came home from Palestine, recit-
mg viiU fervid and ])athetie eloquence the
story of the intolerable outrages to which the
Christian pilgrims were subjected. He him-
self had received brutal insults at the hands
of the savage Turks. Into his ears the vener-
able patriarch of Jerusalem had poured a tale
of horror. Christ was put to shame. His
name was blasphemed. His lowly children
were beaten, mocked, trampled under foot by
the base and bloody-minded followers of the
false Prophet. Under this recital Europe be-
gan to quake with the premonitory shudder
of the great upheaval. In this condition of
affairs the Greek Emperor saw the prospect of
rescue and support. Urban II. saw the way
ojsen by which he was to confound his enemies
and carry forward the ambitious plans of his
great predecessor. The secular rulers of Europe
saw an opportunity to recover from the feudal
barons the lost prerogatives of royalty. The
priests and bishops saw the promotion and
glory of the Church ; and the ignorant zealot
saw in the gore of the Moslems smeared on
sword-blade and Cross the element of purifica-
tion and peace.
The council of Piacenza, held in the sum-
mer of 1095, was quickly followed by that of
Clermont. Meanwhile Peter the Hermit had
gone from town to town, from church to
church, preaching the holy war. France took
fire. The feudal settlements were all ablaze.
Lord, retainer, and jjeasant all caught the
spirit of the inflammatory appeal. Crowds
followed at the Hermit's heels. They bowed
down and kissed the hem of his garment.
They plucked hairs as precious mementos
from the mane of Im mule 1 His fame spread
throughout the continent, and even in insular
England the barons of William Kufus shared
the excitement of their friends in Normandy.
When the time came for the great council
convened by the Pope, Clermont was like a
vast camp. Three hundred bishops ivere pres-
ent. Thousands of priests flocked to the as-
sembly. Multitudes gathered from all the sur-
rounding states. Pope Urban braved the cold
and fatigue of a journey across the Alps, and
came in person to preside over the council.
Princes, prelates, and ambassadors thronged to
the scene, and caught the common spirit. The
messages from Alexius, Emperor of the East,
were read to the multitude. The Pope was
warned of the peril to Constantinople, and ci
668
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
the incalculable loss to Christendom if that
city should fall into the hands of the Turks.
The secular princes were exhorted to rise for
the sake of the Cross, for the sake of the rich
rewards which the Emperor was able to bestow,
and for the sake of Greek women whose charms
would be freely yielded to those who became
^eir champions against the infidel dogs of Asia.
On the tenth day of the council the meet-
ing was held in the great square of Clermont.
The Pope, accompanied by the cardinals and
Peter the Hermit, ascended a throne and made
a pathetic address to the people. His Holi-
ness said :
"Christian warriors, rejoice! for you who
without ceasing seek vain pretext for war have
to-day found true ones. You are not now called
to avenge the injuries of men, but injuries of-
fered to God. It is not now a town or castle
that will reward your valor, but the wealth of
Asia, and a land flowing with milk and honey.
If you triumph over your foes the kingdoms
of the East will be your heritage. If you are
conquered you will have the glory of dying
where Christ died. This is the time to prove
that you are animated by a true courage, and
to expiate so many violences committed in the
bosom of peace. When Christ summons you
to his defense let no base affections detain you
at home. Listen to nothing but the groans
of Jerusalem, and remember that the Lord has
said, ' He that will not take up his cross and
follow me, is unworthy of me.' Gird your
swords to your thighs, ye men of might. It
is our part to pray, yours to do battle ; ours —
with Moses — to hold up unwearied hands, yours
to stretch forth the sword against the children
of Amalek."
Then it was that the surging mass arose in
their enthusiastic rage, and the loud cry of
Dieu le Veut ! Dieu le Veut ! resounded like the
voice of many waters. " God indeed wills it,"
responded the Pope. "Go forth, brave war-
rioi-s of the Cross, and let ' God wills it ' be
your watchword and battle-cry in the holy
war." Such was the tumultuous scene in which
the Crusades were first formally proclaimed.
As soon as the loud cry of Dieu le Veut was
hushed at a gesture from the Pope, one of the
cardinals arose and pronounced a form of con-
fession for all those who would enlist in the
holy enterprise. Thereupon, Adhemar, bishop
ot Puy, came forward and received from tne
hands of Urban one of the red crosses which
had been consecrated for the occasion. Knights
and barons crowded around the seat of his
Holiness to receive the sacred badge and to
take the oath of loyalty to Christ. The cross
of red cloth was then stitched upon the right
shoulder of the mantle, and the wearer became
a soldier of the Cross — a Crusader.^
As soon as the council of Clermont was
dissolved those who had participated Ln its
proceedings dispersed to their several provinces
to rouse the people and to prepare for the
advance on Palestine. Everywhere they were
received with applause and enthusiasm. Ur-
ban II. traversed France, and the people gath-
ered from far and wide to hear the story of
the sorrows of Jerusalem. Already France
resounded with the din of preparation. Men
of every rank assumed the cross and demanded
to be led against the defilers of the Holy
Sepulcher. The more ignorant classes were
profoundly agitated. The peasants surged to
and fro and could scarcely be restrained from
setting out in the dead of winter. Many of
the nobles felt the spell and eagerly prepared
fcr an expedition to the East. In order to
secure the means of raising and equipping
forces they borrowed money and mortgaged
their estates. Men were thus enlisted and
furnished, and by the beginning of 1096 a
large army was gathered for the holy war.
From Scandinavia to the Mediterranean the
Crusade was preached with a fiery zeal that
kindled a flame in every village. In accord-
ance with a canon of the Council of Clermont
the taking of the cross was to be accepted in
lieu of all the pjnances due to the church.
The license thus granted was in the nature of
a plenary indulgence and became one of the
most powerful incitements to the cause. The
peasant mind of Europe, long galled by eccle-
siastical restraint, fired with the prospect of
liberation, and the nobles were not proof
against the same seductive motive. The bits
were suddenly taken out of the mouth of
Rapine, and the old pirate came up serenely
with the red cross on his shoulder. All the
warlike lusts of the age were set at liberty
under the sanction of religion and retributive
' The word crusade is derived from the French
croisade, " a holy war," from croix, a " cross."
THE CRUSADES.— THE UPRISING OF EUROPE.
669-
''nstice. The extravagant imaginations of
traders and pilgrims painted in glowing colors
the exhaustless treasures and rich provinces of
the opulent East, and to win these from the-
infidel Asiatics seemed to be the natural re-
ward of all who would assume the cross.
PREACHING THE CRUSADE.— " DIEU LE VEUT!"
Drawn by A. de Neuville.
^70
UNIVEBSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLl
The clergy were in the heyday of fanatical
glory. All the world swayed to and fro under
the magical scepter of Christ. The monks
found a good excuse to leave their cloisters
and share in the common activities of life.
They beheld all the offices of religion suddenly
elevated to a new respect and dignity. They
saw themselves become the leaders of society,
looked to as the arbiters of the common fate.
To no class did the crusade promise a fairer
prospect than to the toil-burdened peasantry.
To them it was an escape from bondage and
oppression. Those who were in debt gladly
threw oft" the burden by assuming the cross.
The creditor might no longer menace or dis-
turb those who had become the soldiers of
Christ. Offenders and criminals also found
the day auspicious. No prison wall might any
longer restrain him who took the sword against
the Infidel. Over the thief and the murderer
on whose right shoulders appeared the sacred
«mblem of the holy war the church threw the
aegis of her protection. All manner of crime
was to be washed white in the blood of the
sacrilegious Turks.
In the midst of the excitement of these
scenes the Italian merchants began to build
up a profitable commerce. It was necessary
that Europe should be furnished the means
of arming herself for the fray, and of supply-
ing her armies with provisions for the war.
Perhaps, of all the classes of society, the
traders gained the most solid and -permanent
advantages from the great commotion. They
became the factors and carriers of the time,
and in many instances furnished the money
•with which the lords and vassals armed
themselves and their retainers. From the very
■first a certain advantage was thus gained by
the merchants and townspeople over the own-
ers of estates and country folk, who became
indebted to them for the means of joining the
army of Crusaders.
The actual number of those who from the
various ranks of society sprang up as if by
a common impulse, took on the cross, and ral-
lied at the call of Peter and his fellow apos-
tles, can never be authentically ascertained.
Certain it is that all Europe seemed to rise as
if by a common impulse. By one of the an-
cient chroniclers the estimate is placed at six
millions of persons. In an age when no au-
thentic records were kept, every thing was left
to conjecture, but it is probable that after
making due allowances for various delays and
for the iuflueuce of returning reason, and tor
the thousand accidental causes which would,
operate to reduce the host, the number was
not much short of that given above. For
awhde it appeared that all Europe would be
depopulated.
The eastern frontiers of France became the
scene of the gathering. There Peter the
Hermit, as the chief promoter of the enter
prise, assumed the leadership of the host.
Without adequate preparation, without suit-
able arms, without any appreciation of the
dangers and difficulties to be encountered, the
vast and tumultuous throng swept out of
France and into Germany. The great sea of
angry and excited humanity overflowed the
ordinary routes of travel, and spread devasta-
tion on every hand. The means of subsistence
were quickly exhausted, and the multitudes
began to prey on the countries through which
they traversed. They swept on through the
German territories like an army of devouring
locusts, until through sheer waste of resources
they were obliged to divide into smaller masses.
One baud numbering about twenty thou-
sand, commanded by Walter the Penniless, of
Burgundy, pressed fonvard through Hungary
and Bulgaria in the direction of Constantinople.
It is said of this advanced host that there
were only eight horsemen in the whole num-
ber. The rest of the wretched mob proceeded
on foot, generally marching without shoes and
hundreds falling by the wayside through ex-
posure, disease, and famine. Nothing but the
tolerance and friendly disposition of Carloman,
king of the Hungarians, saved the miserable
vanguard from entire destruction. In Bul-
garia, however, the lieutenant of the Eastern
Emperor looked with less favor upon the law-
less horde that had been precipitated into his
kingdom. The Crusaders were quickly cut off
from supjilies and were obliged to have re-
course to violence, but they now found them-
selves opposed by a race as savage as them-
selves.
The Bulgarians took up arms to defend
their country from destruction. The track of
Walter and his army was marked with blood
and fire. The Crusaders were cut ofl day h^
THE CRUSADES.— THE UPRISING OF EUROPE.
671
day until at the confines of the country only
Walter and a few followers remained to make
their way through the forests to Constantinople.
Meanwhile the second division of the host,
numbering about forty thousand men, women,
and children, under the command of Peter the
Hermit himself, pressed on in the same direc-
tion taken by AValter. Their march was pro-
moted through Hungary by the favor of king
and people. The wants of the vast multitude
were supplied, and friendly relations were
maintained, as far as the city of Zemlin.
Here on the walls were displayed some of the
spoils which had been taken two months pre-
viously from Walter and his savages. On see-
ing these tokens of their friends' overthrow
the Crusaders broke into ungovernable rage,
and fell furiously upon the offending city.
The ramparts were scaled, thousands of the
people were butchered, and Zemlin suffered all
the horrors of pillage and burning.
These atrocious proceedings aroused the
anger even of King Carloman. He quickly
gathered an army, and marched against the
despoQers of his city. At his approach the
Crusaders hastily withdrew from Zemliu, and
made their escape by crossing the river Save.
On the opposite bank, however, they were
furiously attacked by the wild Bulgarians, who
had gathered to dispute their passage. The
eavage people were driven back by the des-
perate Crusaders, who, though they thus forced
a way before them, found solitude on every
hand. The Bulgarians withdrew into their
fastnesses or shut themselves in fortified towns,
from which they could not be dislodged.
Peter and his followers were thus left to the
mercy of the elements, and were reduced to
the necessity of purchasing supplies from the
Imperial officers who commanded the towers.
The feeling between the invaders and the in-
aabitants became more and more hostile until
the people of Hissa, who had been maltreated
by the Crusaders, sallied forth and massacred
the rear-guard. Hereupon the whole army —
if such a name may be applied to an unor-
ganized host — turned about and assailed the
city, thinking to renew at Hissa the havoc and
spoliation of Zemlin, but the citizens defended
themselves with great bravery. The assailants
were driven back from the walls and were pur-
sued in a general rout and slaughter, in which
N.— Vol. 2—41
it was estimated that ten thousand Crusaders
were butchered. Their camp was taken and
plundered by the Hissans, and the wretched,
half-starved fugitives pressed on in the direc-
tion of Constantinople.
Meanwhile the Emperor Alexius began to
exert his influence to save the remnant of the
Crusaders from destruction. A few of the van-
guard under the leadership of Walter the
Penniless had already reached the Eastern
capital. Those who survived of Peter's divis-
ion were now received in the city, and their
wants were supplied from the Imperial store-
houses. Such was the desperate character,
however, of the abandoned and licentious rab>
ble that nothing could restrain them from out-
raging and plundering their protectors. Their
presence in the city became intolerable, and
the Emperor gladly acceded to their request
to be transported into Asia. The ragged and
desperate fanatics were accordingly taken on
ship-board and carried across the Bosphorus
into Asia Minor ; but no sooner were they out
of sight of the capital than they let loose aU
their fury upon the unoffending subjects of
Alexius. Not Peter himself could prevent the
wholesale robbery of the districts through
which the Crusaders were passing. After striv-
ing in vain to preserve order and moderation
in the fanatic herd of his followers he aban-
doned them to their own will, and returned to
Constantinople.
But AValter the Penniless had all the spirit
of the turbulent host. When they demanded
to be led against the Infidels, he willingly as-
sumed the responsibility of leadership. At
this juncture the Crusaders were greatly ex-
cited by the report that the city of Nice, cap-
itiil of the province of Roum, had fallen into
the hands of the Christians. Hoping to share
the spoils of this important conquest, the mul-
titude rushed blindly into the hostile country,
and reached the plain of Nice. Here, how-
ever, they received no welcome from Christian
allies or signal from Christian banners. On
the contrary they were surrounded by an im-
mense army of Turkish cavalry. The Crusaders
were now fully gratified with the sight of the
Infidels. Walter and his followers fought with
desperate courage until they were all, with the
exception of about three thousand, hewed down
with the cimeters of the Turks. Those who
672
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
survived escaped into the Byzantine forest, and
tuade their way back to Constantinople. The
triumphant Turks gathered into a huge mound
the bones of the dead men of the West, and
left the monument, like Tamerlane's pyramid
of skulls, a warning to other fanatical hosts to
beware of Asia Minor.
Thus did the first two divisions of the cru-
sading host sink into the earth. A third rab-
ble soon followed from Germany. A certain
monk named Godeschal, envious of the fame
of Peter and Walter, preached the holy war
through his native districts, and about fifteen
thousand villagers and peasants flocked to his
standard. Following the same route which
had been taken by the preceding divisions,
Godeschal led his followers into Hungary.
Oarloman, however, had now wearied of cast-
ing his pearls before swine, and gave to the
German fanatics an inhospitable reception.
He adopted the policy of despatching them
with all haste through his kingdom. But
the lawless multitude was not to be appeased
with any thing but violence and rapine. The
former scenes of plundering and outrage were
renewed until the Hungarians rose in arms,
And the king permitted them to do as they
would with the invaders. He even went fur-
ther, and did an act of perfidy in order to
free the land from the presence of the hate-
ful horde. When the Germans had gathered
before the walls of Belgrade, he induced them
with fair promises to lay down their arms, but
no sooner had they done so than the inhabi-
tants were let loose upon them, and they were
massacred almost to a man.
In the mean time, the fourth and last divis-
ion of the host gathered on the eastern con-
fines of Germany. Perhaps no other such exe-
crable mass of vile humanity was seen before or
since in the world. France sent her thieves;
the Rhine provinces, their ofl!scouring ; the
British Islands, their outlaws; and all the
West, her pads and murderers. This delight-
ful army of European refuse heaped up to
the number of more than two hundred thou-
sand. A few ignorant nobles with their bands
of retainers were merged in the common mass ;
but when it came to the election of leaders,
the choice fell on a gout and a goose! These
ridiculous creatures were actually set forward
as the divinely constituted agents by which the
host was to be led to victory over the infidel
Turks of Asia !
The result was as revolting as the beginning
was abominable. The superstitious horde fell
upon the Jewish colonists in the cities of the
Rhine and the Moselle, and began to rob and.
murder. The victims of the atrocity had<
under the protection of the barons of the
towns, become prosperous and wealthy. This-
circumstance whetted the appetite of the vile-
rabble, who pretended to see in the Jews only
the enemies of Christ. They proposed to be-
gin the holy war by exterminating the foes of
God in Europe before proceeding against those
in Asia. The blood of the' unoffending Israr
elites flowed in torrents, and their homes were-
ravaged and destroyed. In spite of the pro-
tests of the Romish Church, under whose call
the Crusade had been begun, the Jews were
massacred by thousands, and other thousands,
in order to save themselves from a worse fate-
under the brutal swords of their persecutors,
threw themselves into the flames or rivers.
When the rufiian host could find no further-
material for slaughter, the march was resumed'
from the Rhine to the Danube. The whole-
route was a scene of barbarous lust and licea-
tiousness. Nothing which native depravity
could suggest or sensual fanaticism enforce-
was omitted to complete the horrors of the
advance. The day of judgment, however, at
last arrived. On the thither side of the Dan-
ube a Hungarian army was drawn up to dis-
pute the progress of the invaders. It was
now their turn to feel the edge of a merci-
less sword. The Hungarian leaders proved
to be more than a match for General Goat
and General Goose. The immense rabble was-
hemmed in and beaten back against the river.
The tide of the Danube was red with the blood
of robbers. The bodies of the slain floated like
drift-wood, or choked the channel with a hor-
lid mass of putrefaction. Very few escaped
the vengeance of the Hungarians and the-
engulfing river. It was perhaps the vastest
and most salutary execution of criminals ever
witnessed within the limits of Europe. Thus
perished the fourth and last of those fanatic
multitudes that arose at the call of Peter the
Hermit. Already more than a quarter of a
million of human beings had been swallowed
from sight before a regular army could b«-
TME CRUSADES.— THE UPBISING OF EUROPE.
673
equipped and started in the wake of the pop-
ular tumult. Not a Christian soldier had
thus far penetrated beyond the plain of Nice.
Walter the Penniless was dead. The fame
of Peter was at a discount, but the fever of
Europe was in no wise cooled. It still re-
mained for her soldiery to undertake by reg-
ular expeditions what her peasants and monks,
'ler goose and her goat, had failed to accom-
plish.
In the mean time the secular princes of the
West, who had attended the Council of Cler-
mont and assumed the cross, were busily en-
gaged in preparing for the holy war. Among
\ihose who were destined to distinguish them-
selves as crusaders, should be mentioned, first
of all, Godfrey of Bouillon, duke of Lorraine.
His reputation for piety, learning, and courage
was equal to that of the best prince of his age.
In his father's house Peter the Hermit had
lived before he became a monk. From his
mother, \.'ho had in her veins the blood of
the Carlovitigians, Godfrey inherited his duke-
dom. In ea.-ly life he took up arms for the
Emperor Hen^-y IV. in his war with Hilde-
orand, and won high distinction as a soldier.
[n the bloody battle which was fought on the
banks of the Elster he had struck down with
his own hand that Jtlodolph of Suabia whom
the Pope had invested with the crown of Ger-
many. Afterwards, during the siege of Rome,
when the papal banner trailed and Gregory
fled for refuge into the castle of St. Angelo,
it was Godfrey who, first of all the imperial
captains, broke over the ramparts and opened
the gates of the city. With the subsequent
triumph of the Pope, however, the duke's eon-
science began to upbraid him for the wicked
part he had taken against the Head of the
church. Living in his duchy, surrounded
with wealth and enjoying a good name, he
none the less sufiered all the pangs of remorse.
How else should he atone for the great sins
of his rash youth except by taking the cross
and giving his life, if necessary, in recovering
the Holy Land from the Infidels?
With no half-hearted purpose did Duke
Godfrey become a Crusader. No .sacrifices
were spared to secure the desired end. He
sold or mortgaged all of his ca.stles and estates.
He alienated his cities and principalities and
gave up his duchy. He laid all on the altar
if by any means he might regain the favor of
heaven, which he had forfeited by making war
on the vicar of Christ. With the money pro-
cured by the sale of his va.st domains he raised
and equipped a magnificent army. Ten thou-
sand knights, the flower of European chivalrv,
I'allied around his banner, while a force of
eighty thousand foot made up the body of his
forces. His principal ofiicers were his two
brothers, Eustace and Baldwin, the former
count of Bouillon ; his kinsman Baldwin du
Bourg, and several other noblemen less con-
spicuous by their rank and reputation.
In the south of France the men of war
were rallied to the cross by Raymond, count
of Toulouse. He too was a soldier by profes-
sion. He had fought against the Saracens in
Spain. He had distinguished himself at the
right hand of the Cid. He had wedded the
daughter of King Alphonso, and was known
as one of the most valiant captains of his
times. It was his saying that he had spent
his youth fighting the followers of the false
Prophet in Europe, and would spend his old
age in warring with them in Asia. Already
aged, his white locks made a conspicuous sign
around which soon was gathered out of Prov-
ence and Gascouy an army of a hundred thou-
sand men. His principal officer was the Bishop
of Puy, who, after the Council of Clermont
was made legate of the Pope, and now became
a soldier of the cross militant against the
Infidels.
While the Crusaders of Lorraine and Prov-
ence were thus marshaled by Godfrey and
Raymond, Hugh, of Vermandois, brother of
King Philip of France, and Robert, Count of
Flanders, sounded the call in their respective
provinces and armed their several hosts.
Stephen, Count of Blois, and Robert, Count
of Paris, also rallied their knights and retain-
ers and made ready for the march into Asia.
It was at this time that the crusading fervor
kindled all Normandy into a glow. The court
of Rouen furnished two gallant leaders. The.se
were Robert Short Hose, son of William the
Conqueror, and Edgar Atheling, heir of the
Saxon line to the throne of England.
The characters and dispositions of both
these princes have already been sketched In the
preceding book. Such was the improvidence
of Robert, and so frequently was he made the
674
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
■victim of the wiles and cupidity of the haug-
ers-on of his court, that he was many times
reduced to a stage of ridiculous poverty. He
had in him all the elements of a genuine Cru-
sader— brave, rash, fanatical, Lmpecuuious, ex-
cluded by his younger brother from the throne
THE FOTJE LEADERS OF THE FIRST CRUSADE— GODFREY, RAYMOND, BCEMUND, TAN'CRED
Drawn by A. de Neuville.
THE CRUSADES.— THE UPRISING OF EUROPE.
675
of England, beset by usurers who demanded
their interest and women who wanted presents
in exchange for their alleged virtue — he was
precisely the sort of a personage who, without
inducement to remain at home, might gladly
embark in the respectable enterprise of hunting
Infidels. Sucli were the antecedents of that
mutually profitable bargain by which Count
Robert for the sum of ten thousand marks sold
out his duchy of Normandy to his brother
William Rufus of England.
As to Edgar Atheling, though of a differ-
ent character, and already past the fortieth mile-
stone of life, he too found many and potent
reasons for joining in the holy war. Pro-
scribed from England, and robbed of even the
conduct of his own afl^airs, set out with an
army of Anglo- and Scoto-Saxons to eject Don-
ald Bane I'rom the throne which he had
usurped. Before departing however, he prom-
ised his friend. Count Robert, to join him in
the East as soon as the Scottish pretender
should have been hurled from power.
Meanwhile, the Short Hose set up his white
banner, and at the signal multitudes of Nor-
man Knights flocked to join their fortunes
with those of a leader so well renowned for
generosity and courage. Stephen, Earl of
Albermarle, Edward Percy, Aubrey de Vere,
Joscelyn de Courtenay, Conan de Montacute,
and Girard de Gourney were the principal
Anglo-Norman barous who set out with Count
^liPllMVP
GATHERING 01' THE CRUSADERS.
Drawn by A. Maillard.
prospect of the crown worn by his Anglo-
Saxon fathers, he had for many years found
his chief delight in the companion.ship of
dogs and the solace of philosophy. Neither
the one nor the other, however, had sufliiced
to quiet his ambition, and when the prevail-
ing enthusiasm reached Rouen, especially when
his friend Robert Short Hose caught the con-
tagion, Edgar also fired with the crusading
fever, and put the red cross on his shoulder.
At this juncture, however, it happened that
a certain Donald Bane, an ambitious Scot, had
seized upon the throne of his country, which
of hereditary right belonged to a son of Ed-
gar's sister. To reseat his nephew on the Scot-
tish throne, the English Prince, acting with
more energy than he had ever shown in the
Robert to rescue the sepulcher of Christ from
the Turks.
Very unlike the peasant-rabble were these
magnificent bands of warriors. All the wealth
and intelligence of Europe were now commit-
ted to the enterprise, and as far as the igno-
rance of the age would allow, due preparations
were made to insure the success of the great
expedition. All Europe went to prayers as
the knightly pageant departed. In the matter
of armor the best skill of the times was em-
ployed to perfect it. Each Crusader wore a
casque and hauberk of chain mail. The foot
soldiers carried long shields, and the knights
wore circular bucklers. The weapons consisted
of swords, lances, poniards, axes, maces, bows
and cross-bows, slings, and indeed every fash-
PRAYING FOK THt ijUUCi'kifc OF THE CRUSADERS,
THE CRUSADES.— THE FIRST CRUSADE.
677
►ion of instrument and missile peculiar to the
■warfare of the Middle Ages. Still there was
no true foresight of the difficulties to be en-
countered. The distance was totally niisap-
.prehended. The routes to the East were little
known. The real obstacles to be overcome be-
fore a blow could be delivered were either
unheard of or esteemed as trifles. The most
intelligent knights began the extraordinary
dHarch as though it were a hunt or a holiday.
Many took their wives and children with them.
Distinguished barons rode along with their
bugle-horns and blew at intervals as if to sound
the signak of the chase. Some carried hawka
on their wrists, while hounds trotted by the
side of the horses. Even yet the Crusade was
considered rather in the light of a pilgrimage — ■
a demonstration in force against the Infidels — '
than as a military expedition involving long
marches, stubborn sieges, and bloody battles.
Chapter XC— The Kirst Crusade.
IJhE pilgrim princes who
were now about to di-
rect the chivalry of Eu-
rope against the Turks
had sufficient prudence to
consider the difficulty of
SI subsistence. The c o u n -
•tries through which they were to pass were al-
ready half exhausted by the ravages and
■excesses of the precursive multitudes. It was
now agreed among the leaders to set out at
-different dates and by different routes. Con-
stantinople was to be the rendezvous. It was
•clear that if all the hosts now under arms
were to proceed in one body, the provinces
throUjTh which they should pass would be ut-
terly consumed. Europe could survive only
by distributing the stomachs of her defei.ders.
The rabble vanguard of the soldiers of the
•Cross had not left a favorable impression on
the minds of the Byzantine Greeks. The Em-
peror Alexius found reason to repent of having
■called from the vasty deep the perturbed spir-
its of the West. Now came the news to Con-
stantinople that other vast armies, less sav-
age, but more severe, were on their way to
the Eastern Capital. The Emperor began to
see that he might as well have braved the
warriors of Alp Arslan as to have evoked
■by his messages such an insatiable host of
friends.
From this time forth Alexius was driven
by the winds and tossed. Unable to dictate
by authority and enforce with a menacing
attitude such mandates as seemed necessary
for the preservation of the Empire, he fell
into subterfuge and double dealing — the last
resorts of the weak against the strong.
Never was monarch more beset with perils.
SARACENIC COAT OP ARMS.— Muse d' Aitillerie, Paris.
He had himself procured the throne by the
perpetration of a crime. He held it as if
awaiting a visit from Nemesis. A thousand
domestic foes were in the city. Now hia
678
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
crown, with his head iu it, seemed to be
pressed flat between a Turkish siiield and a
Christian buckler. Beyond the Bosphorus
was the flaming Crescent. Over the Hunga-
rian forest was seen the portentous shadow of
the coming Cross.
The (xreek Emperor, with something of
the oki-time craftiness of liis race, perceived
that the Crusaders were really adventurers.
He knew that the Franks, and especially the
Normans, had just one class of friends — those
rather the motive of loyalty is altogether
wanting in such a soldiery. To match the
hired barbarians of the Eastern Empirg
against the mail-clad warriors of Godfrey and
Kaymond was like setting curs on mastiffs. —
So the Emperor fell back on craft and subtlety.
Meanwhile the several crusading armies
took up their march for the East. For a
while affairs went well. By and b)', however,
Hugh of Vermandois, leader of the French
Knights, having set out with the Pope's ban-
THE FIRST CRUSADE.
who had nothing; and one class of enemies —
those who had something. He understood
that these greedy descendants of the Xorth-
■men would discover in the luxurious capital
of the East every thing which was calculated
to excite their cupidity ; and what robber in
the presence of spoil ever faUed to find a cause
of quarrel?
The .situation was in the highest degree
critical. The armies at the disposal of Alex-
ius were made up of mercenaries. At all
times such forces are notoriously disloyal, or
ner and blessing, was wrecked on the coast
of Epirus. In this cata.strophe Alexius per-
ceived his opportunity. He ordered Count
Hugh to be seized, brought to Constantinople,
and held as a hostage. By this means he
hoped to make King Philip of France, a
brother of the prisoner, dependent upon his
pleasure respecting the future conduct of the
Crusade. Count Hugh was also held as a
pledge for the future good conduct of the
Franks while traversing the territories of the
Empire.
THE CRUSADES.— THE FIRST CRUSADE.
679'
The chivalrous Godfrey was deeply in-
censed at this act of bad faith on the j)art
of the Emperor. Landing at Philipopoli, the
Duke of Lorraine dispatched a messenger to
Constantinople to know the occasion of the
arrest of the Count of Vermandois, and to
demand his liberation. To this civil request
an evasive and unsatisfactory answer was re-
turned. It was not long until crowds of fugi-
tive Greeks rushing into Constantinople gave
notice that Godfrey ha'' become the avenger
of his friend, and turned his warriors loose
upon the perfidious country.
Alexius came quickly to his senses. An
embassy was hastily dispatched to Godfrey,
promising full explanation and satisfaction for
tifully to whatever good things the fruitful
East had heaped up in her lap. It was not
long until Alexius perceived that another pol-
icy must be adopted with the warriors of the
West. He sent a messenger to Godfrey in-
forming him of his desire to supply the army
out of the stores of the city, and the duke-
thereupon ordered his followers to desist from
further pillage. A better understanding was-
thus arrived at between the treacherous Greeka-
and their unwelcome guest.
Notwithstanding the outward show of amity-
quarrels were constantly breaking out between,
the two races. At times it appeared that their
common enmity against the Turks would be
wholly forgotten in the bitter recriminationa
CRUSADERS ON THEIR WAY TO PALESTINE.
Drawn by A. de Neuville.
the violence done to Hugh, and begging him
to restrain his followers from further ravages.
The prince thereupon bade his warriors to
refrain from further injury to the Greeks, and
then pressed forward to the Eastern Capital.
Arriving before the gates he found them closed
against the army of the Cross ; for the Highly
moral Alexius, having now conceived the
noble design of starving the Crusaders to death,
had forbidden the Greeks to supply them with
provisions. But the Emperor had not yet ap-
prehended the spirit and temper of the men
with whom he had to deal. The Crusaders
were unwilling to be offered up on the altar
of hunger. They burst into the suburbs of
the city, plundered palaces and villages, cap-
tured store-houses and helped themselves boun-
which burned in the hearts of Byzantine and
Frank. More than once the Crusaders were
on the eve of assaulting the city, and the
leaders of the host were little concerned to
prevent such a conflict. It were hard t6 say
whether at this juncture the cui)idity of the
western soldiers or the insolence of the Greek*
was more difficult to curb.
The Emperor within the walls looked with
ever-increasing alarm upon the threatening at-
titude of the crusading host. His next piece
of diplomacy was to secure from tlie Western
princes who had their camps outside the ram-
parts such acts of homage and oaths of fealty
to himself as could not be honorably or evcD
decently violated. He first tried the new-
policy witli success upon Hugh of Verman-
680
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN- WORLD.
dois, and, having that prince in his power,
succeeded in securing from him the desired
oath. Great was the indignation in the pU-
grim camp when the proposal of Alexius was
known. But the Emperor sent his son as a
hostage to the Crusaders, and their repugnance
was gradually overcome with blandishments.
Godfrey, Robert Short Hose, and the counts
of Flanders and Blois consented to do homage
to Alexius as their suzerain ; but Eaymond of
Toulouse refused with disdain to render fealty
to such a master. It became a problem with
the Emperor in what way he might bring the
sturdy Crusader to a sense of what was due
the majesty of Constantinople.
On the appointed day the western princes
were admitted to the city and taken to the
palace of Alexius. There — •
High on a throne of royal state that far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus or of Ind —
eat the Emperor of Byzantium, surrounded by
the Imperial court. Nothing was omitted which
artificial magnificence could supply to impress
the Crusaders with a sense of eastern greatness.
But the eye of penetration could not have
failed to pierce through the flimsy and gilded
sham and perceive the essential weakness of
the power which was placed under the protec-
tion of the swords of western Christendom.
Godfrey, the two Roberts, and Stephen did
the act of homage as might become great
knights and warriors. Rich gifts were showered
upon them, and the Emperor began to wrap
himself in the cloak of a delusive security.
Before the ceremony was fairly ended an
incident occurred which shocked the crafty
Greek from his pleasing reverie. Count Rob-
erto of Paris was among the number of nobles
who were present at the obeisance of the lead-
ers. While the pageant was still set this stal-
wart son of the ancient sea-kings, with no
effort to conceal his contempt for the mum-
mery that was enacting, strode boldly forward
to the throne and sat down by the side of the
Emperor. At this the Greeks w^ere horrified
and the Crusaders laughed. Some of the more
prudent Franks attempted to remonstrate with
Count Robert, and one of them taking him by
the arm said: "When you are in a foreign
country you ought to respect its customs!"
"Indeed!" said the impudent count, with a
significant look at Alexius; "but this is a
pleasant clown who is seated while so man^
noble captains are standing." The Emperoi
wa.s obliged to pocket the insult, and when
the ceremony was over he attempted to mol'
ify the implacable Crusader with some pleasant
talk. " What is your birth, and which is youi
country?" said he with mild accent to th(
surly Robert. "I am a Frenchman," said
the Frank, "and of the highest rank of
nobles. And one thing I know, that in my
country there is a pla e near a church where
those repair who are eager to attest their valor.
I have often been there myself, and no one
has ventured to present himself before me."
The hint of a challenge was lost on the mild-
mannered Alexius, who had as little notion of
exposing his person as he had of hazarding
his throne.
Meanwhile the people of Southern Italy,
especially the Normans of Calabria, had been
roused from their slumbers by Prince Boemund,
of Tarento. He was the son of that Robert
Guiscard by whom and his brother William
the knights of the North had been led against
the Saracens in the war for the possession of
the lower part of the peninsula and the Sici-
lies. Now he took up arms in the common
cause. His own principality was far too small
a field for his ambition. Like many another
restless baron, he would seek in the East and
under cover of a holy enterprise the opportu-
nity which the West no longer aflbrded.
But while the aspirations of Bcemund urged
him to assume the cross he found himself with
neither money nor soldiers. At this time the
Norman army of the South, led by one of the
brothers of the Prince of Tarento, was engaged
in the siege of Amalfi, a stronghold of South-
ern Italy, which the Normans had not yet
reduced. Boemund repaired to the camp of
his countrymen and began to excite their
minds with the story of outraged Jerusalem
and to compare the glories of a crusade with
the un worth of the petty war in which they
were engaged. From the enthusiasm wlich
h^ thus kindled to the leadership of an expe-
dition was but a step, and Bcemund soon found
himself at the head of a multitude of knights
who wore the red cross and shouted, Dieu le
Veut. The siege of Amalfi was given up, and
the army, thirty thousand strong, departed
for the Holy Land. Arnong the leaders of
THE CRUSADES.— THE FIRST CRUSADE.
681
this division of Crusaders was the Prince Tan-
cred, nephew of Bcemuud, destined to become
one of tlie greatest heroes of the age.
The first lauding of the Italian knights was
made at Durazzo. At this place the Prince
of Tarento had already in his youth distin-
guished himself in a conflict with the Greeks.
Even now his secret purpose was rather to
renew the war with the Eastern Empire than
to exterminate the Turks. He accordingly
sent word to Godfrey, at Constantinople, ad-
vising him to seize the Byzantine dominions
for himself; but the chivalrous Godfrey would
be no party to such an enterprise. Boemund
then advanced through Macedonia and ap-
proached the Eastern Capital.
When Alexius heard that the Norman
Knights were coming, and that the impla-
cable Prince of Tarento was their leader, he
resorted to his usual method of duplicity.
He resolved, if possible, to make Boemund
his vassal by means of bribes. He invited
him to come to Constantinople, and received
him with all the arts known to an imperial
demagogue. Nor did Boemund himself fail in
the display of craft. The meeting of the
twain was occupied with high-flown compli-
ments and hollow professions of friendship.
In the course of the .sham interview, Alexius
was indiscreet enough to exhibit to his dan-
gerous guest one of the treasure houses of the
palace. The eyes of the Prince of Tarento
dUated with the sight. "Here is enough,"
said he, "to conquer a kingdom." Deeming
the moment opportune, the Emperor immedi-
ately ordered the treasures to be conveyed to
BcBmund's tent as a present. The latter af-
fected to decline the gift. "Your munifi-
cence,'" said he, "is too great; but if you
would have me your vassal forever make me
Grand Domestic of the Empire!" This re-
quest went through Alexius like a dart; for
he himself had seized the Imperial crown
while holding the office of Grand Domestic.
He accordingly replied, that he could not
confer the desired honor, but that he would
grant it as a reward of future servics.
Thus was the year 1096 consumed with the
gathering of the armies of the West before the
walls of Constantinople. All winter long the
Emperor was in extreme anxiety lest the up-
lifted sword of Christendom should fall on him-
self rather than on the Turks. Nor is it likely
that such a catastrophe could have been avoided
but for the prudent restraints imposed by God-
frey of Bouillon upon the soldiers of the Cross.
At length, with the opening of the follow-
ing spring, Alexius had the inexpressible sat-
isfaction of seeing the Crusaders break up their
camp and cross into Asia Minor. The host
was safely in Bithynia on the march for Pal-
estine. The forces thus gathered out of the
prolific West numbered fully six hundred thou-
sand warriors. Of these, a hundred thousand
were mounted knights, and the remainder foot
soldiers in armor. The mixed character of
the vast throng was still preserved. Priest,
matron, and maid still journeyed by the side
of young warriors, who carried white hawks
on their wrists, and whistled at intervals to
the hounds. At the head rode the austere
Godfrey, the white-haired Raymond of Tou-
louse, and Peter the Hermit seated on a mule.
The immense army pre.ssed steadily forward
and came to Nice, the capital of Bithynia.
The sultan of this province made strenuous
efforts to put his kingdom in a condition of
defense. Nice was strongly fortified. The
people were roused by a jn-oclamation, and
called in for the protection of the capital. In
accordance with the military methods of the
East, the non-combatants were placed within
the walls, while the Turkish army pitched its
camp on the neighboring mountains. On the
10th of May, 1097, the banners of the Cru-
saders came in .sight. Quite different was the
prospect from that which the Western chivalry
had expected to descry. Here lay a powerful
city surrounded with the seemingly impreg-
nable rampart, protected by Lake Ascanius
and a ditch deep and broad, flooded with
water. Here were turrets bristling with
Turkish spears, and yonder on the mountain
slope waved the black banner of the Abbas-
sides over a powerful army of Moslem war-
riors. But the courage of the Crusaders was
rather awakened into active energy than
cooled by the spectacle. Taking their posi-
tion on the plain in front of the city, they
immediately began a siege. The day had at
last arrived when the issue of valor, which
had been tested three hundred and fifty years
before on the field of Poitiers, was again to be
decided, but now on the plains of Asia Minor.
682
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
For a season the opposing armies of Cross
and Crescent tested each other's strength and
powers in desultory and indecisive conflicts.
Several times the Crusaders flung themselves
against the walls of Nice, and were repulsed
with considerable losses. But the sultan and
his generals discovered in these reckless as-
saults a courage and determination which had
had not been witnessed in Western Asia since
the days of Alexander the Great. After some
delay, the Moslem leaders determined to risk
a battle. The sultan harangued his soldiers,
appealing to every motive which seemed likely
to call forth the most heroic energies of Islam.
Then, girding on his sword, he gave orders for
the charge, and the Moslem host, .surging down
the mountain slope, fell headlong upon the
Christian camp. Such was the fury of the
charge that the soldiers of Raymond of Tou-
louse, by whom the brunt of the battle was
first borne, were thrown into some disorder
and driven from their lines. But the advan-
tage thus gained by the Saracens was of brief
duration. Raymond rallied his men with the
greatest bravery. Robert the Short Hose,
now in the height of his glory, and Robert of
Flanders, rushed to the rescue, and in a short
time the bugles of the sultan were heard
sounding the retreat. The Crusaders raised
the shout of triumph, and the shadow of the
victorious Cross fell athwart the field of car-
nage. The losses of the Moslems, however,
were not great; for the sultan abandoning his
capitaj, made good his retreat, and postponed
the decisive conflict. The Crusaders were thus
left to batter down the walls of Nice at their
leisure.
Notwithstanding the withdrawal of the
main army of defense the garrison within the
city held out bravely against the besiegers.
The latter, however, were not to be put from
their purpose. A Lombard engineer lent his
skill in the preparation of such military ma-
chines as were known to the skill of the Mid-
dle Ages. The ramparts were battered with
rams. An engine called the balister dis-
charged enormous stones against the turrets.
Catapults hurled huge masses of wood and
rock upon the defenders of the city, and the
classical tower, built at a distance from the
walls, and brought down against them by
means of an artificial agger or mole of earth.
enabled the assailants to reach their enemies
in hand to hand encounters on the top of the
ramparts.
The besieged meanwhile answered force with
force. Breaches were repaired, assaults re-
pelled, the place of the fallen supplied with
new soldiers, and the Crusaders kept at bay.
A-fter the siege had continued for several weeks
it was discovered by Godfrey and the confed-
erate princes that success would be indefinitely
postponed as long as the inhabitants of Nice
had free ingress and egress by way of lake
Aseanius. To gain pos.session of this body of
water became therefore the immediate object
of the Crusaders. Boats were brought over-
laud, manned with soldiers and launched by
night on the lake. The morning brought con-
sternation to the inhabitants of Nice. The
wife and household of the sultan attempting
to escape were captured. The exultant Crusa-
ders prepared for a final assault, but to their
utter amazement, when the charge was about
to be made, the standard of the Emperor
Alexius rose above the turrets of the city.
For this crafty ruler had determined to
deprive the Crusaders of their prize. Seeing
that they were about to prove victorious, he
sent his general and admiral to open secret
negotiations with the besieged. The latter
were induced to believe that it would be far
preferable for them to yield the city to their
friend, the monarch of Byzantium, than to
surrender to the terrible warriors of the West.
To this course the authorities of Nice were easily
persuaded. Accordingly when the Crusaders'
bugles were about to sound the charge in an as-
sault which must have proved successful, the
subtlety of the Greek prevailed over the valor
cf knighthood, and the capital of Bithynia was
given to him rather than to them. The weak-
ness of human nature found ample illustra-
tion in the conduct of the western j)rinces.
They were called together by the Emj)cror, and
their rising rage at the treachery to which
they had been subjected was quenched in a
copious shower of presents. But even this
cooler upon the indignation natural to such
perfidious conduct could not drown the secret
hatred of the Christian knights for the double
dealing and two-faced Alexius. With sullen
demeanor they witnessed the transfer to his
hands of the prize won by their valor, and
THE CRUSADES.— THE FIRST CRUSADE.
683
then set out in no enviable mood to prosecute
their march toward Jerusalem.
Departing from the scene of their victori-
ous discomfiture, the Crusaders set out in two
divisions. The first and by far the larger
force was commanded by the Counts Godfrey,
Raymond, Hugh and Robert of Flanders.
The other and more warlike army composed
for the most part of the Norman knights, was
under the lead of Short Hose, Boemund,
and Taucred. The first division advanced
across the plain of Dorylisum, and the other
entered the valley of Dogorgan. Ten days
after their departure, namely, on the 30th of
June, the warriors under the lead of Boemund
pitched their tents in what was deemed a se-
cure position and prepared for the rest of the
night. Early on the following morning Greek
spies hurried into the camp and announced
the approach of the sultan with two hundred
thousand men. Before the Crusaders could
prepare for the onset, clouds of dust boiled
up on the horizon, and the Turks bore down
at full speed to battle.
Now it was that the powers of Boemund of
Tarento shone with unequaled luster. The
camp was hastily surrounded with a palisade
formed with the wagons. Behind this the non-
combatants were placed for safety, and the
knights, vaulting into their saddles, quickly
took the battle-line, with Short Hose and Tan-
cred furious for the fight. Scarcely was the
order of the conflict set wheu the white tur-
bans and green sashes and long spears of the
Turks flashed out of the dust-cloud and broke
upon the Christians. Then followed the blow-
ing of horns, the roll of drums, the yell of
the Saracens, and the cloud of darts descend-
ing with deadly din and rattle upon the armor
of the Norman horsemen. Galled by the jave-
lins which set the horses in a foam of rage and
fear, the Crusaders dashed into the small river
which separated them from the enemy, and
rushed hand to hand with their assailants.
The skillful Turks opened their lines, and the
Christians seemed to beat the air. Then the
enemy wheeled, returned to the fray, discharged
their arrows, and again sped out of reach.
Many of the knights reeled from their saddles
and fell. Horses dashed wildly about the field.
Confusion and rout seemed to impend over
the Christian army. Count Robert of Paris
and forty of his comrades were killed. The
sultan, with a body of picked cavalry, da-shed
across the stream, and captured the camp of
the Crusaders. At the critical moment, when
all seemed well-nigh lost, Robert Short Hose
burst with a fresh body of horsemen upon the
astonished Turks, and several of their leaders
bit the dust under the flashing swords of the
Normans. In another part of the field Boe-
mund rallied his men to the charge, and re-
took the camp. Nevertheless the odds against
the Christians were as five to one, and it seemed
impossible that the fight could be long main-
tained. The Crusaders were beaten back into
the encampment. Despair was settling down
on the heroic band wheu the shrill bugles of
Godfrey were heard in the distance, and in a
moment more than fifty thousand sabres flash-
ing in the sunlight under the banner of Hugh
of Vermandois gleamed over the summit of
the hills behind the Christian camp. It was
now the turn of the sultan to be dismayed.
His bugles sounded a retreat, and the Turks
fell back rapidly, pursued by the Crusadera.
The lines of the enemy were broken, and the
Saracens soon found themselves hemmed in on
every side, and slashed by the swords of the
Crusaders. Backed against the hills, flight was
impossible. The host was cut down by thou-
sands, and the sultan, with a few survivors,
could hardly bolster up the courage of his
countrymen with a lying report of victory.
The Turkish camp, rich in provisions, treas-
ures, camels, and tents, fell into the hands of
the conquerors. The priests of the crusading
army chanted a hymn of victory, and the out-
line of the triumphant cross was seen in the
Valley of Dogorgan.
The Crusaders might with good reason cel-
ebrate their victory. It was now evident that
the Saracens were not able to stand before
them in battle. The courage of the conquer-
ors arose with the occasion, and with renewed
enthusiasm they took up their march towards
Antioch. The expedition had not proceeded
far, however, until a change came over the
dreams of the Christians. The sultan of Nice,
unwilling to hazard another engagement,
adopted the policy of laying waste the coun-
try, to the end that his enemies might starve.
The army of the princes soon came into a re-
srion where no food was to be found for man
BATTLE of UOGORGAN.— Drawn by GuEtave Dore.
THE CRUSADES.— THE FIRST CRUSADE.
685
or beast. The distress became extreme. The
pilgrims were obliged to subsist on the roots
of plants and the chance products which had
escaped destruction by the Turk. The hawks
and hounds starved to death. Men and horses
fell famishing. The despairing moans of dy-
ing women were heard in the camp. Hun-
dreds and thousands dropped by the wayside
and perished. Then the water failed. Not a
brook, fountain, or well was any longer found.
The horrors of thirst were added to those of
famine. At length, when the whole host seemed
on the brink of destruction, some of the strag-
gling hounds came into camp dripping with
water. They had found a river, bathed in it,
and drank to repletion. The pilgrims hasted
in that direction, and soon came to a cool,
running stream. Forgetting all moderation,
they rushed in and drank tUl nature gave way
under the sudden reaction, and other hundreds
died on the banks. Others sickened from the
overdraught, and the camp was filled with an-
guish. Still the host quailed not; aud eveiiing
and morning the heralds made proclamation of
"Save the Holy Sepulcher!" and the chiefs
courageously renewed the toilsome march.
At length in the middle of autumn a pass
was found in the mountains, and the half-
starved Crusaders, dragging themselves through,
came into a region of plenty. Supplies w.ere
gathered from the towns and fields, and the
spirits of the enfeebled warriors revived with
the quieting of hunger. Presently, Antioch,
with its lofty castles and four hundred and
sixty towers, came in sight, and the second
great prize to be contended for by the armies
of Christendom was reached.
The city itself was an object of the great-
est interest. Beyond rose a mountain, the
hither slope being covered with houses and
gardens. In one of the suburbs the celebrated
fountain of Daphne tossed its waters in the
sunlight. The feet of the rich metropolis were
washed by the great river Orontes, plentiful
in waters. But better than her natural beauty
and opulence were the hallowed associations
of Antioch. Here the followers of Christ had
first taken the name of Christians. Here St.
Peter was made first bishop of the Church.
Here the early saints and martyrs had per-
formed their miracles and given to the city a
sanctity second only to that of Jerusalem
The portion of Upper Syria of which An-
tioch was the capital was at the time of the
First Crusade governed by Prince Auxian, a
dependent of the Caliphate. Not destitute of
warlike abilities, this ruler now made prepara-
tions for an obstinate defense. So great, how-
ever, was the fame which flew before the tri-
umphant Crusaders that the Moslems had come
to anticipate defeat; and the momentum of
victory carried the invaders onward.
Not only had success, in despite of famine
and disasters, thus far attended the main body
led by Godfrey and Short Hose, but the other
divisions had in like manner triumphed over
the Infidels. Tancred and Baldwin (of Bouil-
lon) had captured Tarsus. The former had
also been victorious at Malmistra and Alexan-
dretta, and the latter had subdued the princi-
pality of Edessa. He then wreathed his sword
in flowers by marrying a daughter of the prince
of Armenia, by which act he gained the bet-
ter portion of Ancient Assyria. Indeed, the
greater part of Asia Minor was already dom-
inated by the Cross ; and the various divisions,
elated with repeated successes, concentrated be-
fore Antioch.
Between that city and the crusading armies
flowed the Orontes. The stream was spanned
by a great bridge defended by iron towers.
Before the Christians could reach the other
side, the bridge must be captured, and this
duty was assigned to Robert Short Hose of
Normandy. In him it were hard to say
whether his courage was greater than his rash-
ness. He had all the heroic virtues and splen-
did vices of his age. With a picked force of
Norman knights he attacked the bridge with
the greatest audacity, and such was the terror
of his flashing sword, that the Moslems aban-
doned the towers and fled. The Christian bu-
gles sounded the charge, and the crusading
host crossed in safety to the other side. A
camp was pitched before the walls of Antioch,
and here the mail-clad warriors of the West
lay down to rest in the shadow of the palms
of Syria.
Thus far in the course of the great expe-
dition from the Rhine to Constantinople, from .
Constantinople to Nice, from Nice to Antioch,
not much opportunity had been given the Cru-
saders to reap the harvest of promised pleas-
ure. One of the chief incentives to the
«86
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
uprising had been the license freely offered by
the Church to all who should be victorious
■over the Infidel. To them restraint should
be unknown. The maidens of Greece and
the dark-eyed houris of Syria, were openly
named as a part of the reward due to them
who should hurl the Turk from bis seat on
the tomb of Christ; and the Crusader in his
•dreams saw the half-draped figures of' Oriental
beauties flitting in the far mirage. Before the
walls of Antioch the men of the West sat
■down to enjoy whatever the laud afforded.
The god of License became the favorite divin-
ity. All restraint was cast aside. Every vil-
lage in the surrounding country was recklessly
pUlaged, and the camp of the Crusaders was
heaped with spoils. Then the armed warriors
^ave themselves up to feasting and love-making
with the Syrian damsels. Bishops of the
■Church wandered wantonly through the or-
•chards and lay on the grass playing dice with
Cyprians. Believing that the garrison of An-
tioch would not dare to come forth and at-
tack them, the Franks abandoned themselves
to riotous living, and all manner of excess.
It was not long until this course provoked
its natural consequences. The defenders of
"the city watched their opportunity and made
■a, successful sally. The Crusaders were dis-
persed in neighboring villages, expecting no
Attack. Thus exposed, they were slaughtered
in large numbers, and the heads of all who
were overtaken were cut off and thrown into
•the camp as a taunt. Great was the fury of
the Crusaders on beholding the bloody remind-
ers of their own and slain friends' folly. Roused
to a sudden fury, they seized their arms and
rushed like madmen upon the fortifications.
'They were beaten back with large losses by
the garrison. In order to prosecute the siege
the Christians now found it necessary to for-
tify their camp and build a bridge across the
'Orontes. The next work was the construc-
tion of wooden towers commanding the river ;
ibr a blockade was essential to the success of
the investment.
Ere the siege was well begun winter came
■on. The riotousness of the summer and vin-
tage months wa,s brought to a sudden end.
Hardship and hazard returned with the cold,
And distress followed hard in the wake of
•carousal. Supplies grew scarce. Eobert Short
Hose and Boemund scoured the countiy and
brought back little. All summer long the
Western host had filled itself with fatness.
Now there was no more. Suffering began.
Storms of cold rain flooded the camp. Tents
were blown away by the hurricane. The gar-
ments of the Crusaders were worn to rags.
Disease brought anguish, and many in despair
gave up the enterprise and set out secretly for
home. Peter the Hermit escaped from the
camp and had gone some distance before he
was overtaken and brought back by force.
The daring Short Hose undertook to save him-
self by retiring into Laodicea; but when God-
frey sent a summons to him in the name of
Christ he was induced to return.
When affairs were about at their worst the
Caliph of Baghdad, learning of the situation
at Antioch, sent an embassy to the Crusaders
with an offer of alliance and protection ! The
Norman and French knights were in no mood
to be protected by an Infidel. They sent back
a defiant message and resolutely continued the
siege. Winter wore away, and the condition
of the woeful warriors began to improve with
the sunny weather ; but better than the change
of season was the news that came from the
port of St. Simeon. That harbor had been
entered by a fleet of provision-ships from
Genoa and Pisa. Such was the elation of
the Crusaders that many hurried off to the
coast to obtain supplies, but returning without
due caution they were attacked by a division
of Saracens and dispersed. Thereupon God-
frey, Tancred, and Short Hose called out their
forces and went to the rescue. Seeing this
movement the commandant of Antioch ordered
the garrison to sally forth and attack the
camp. In order to make sure of success he
shut the gates behind them. Thd Crusaders turned
furiously upon the Moslems and drove them to
the wall. Here they were hewed down until
nightfall, when Auxian reopened the gates
and the survivors rushed in for safety.
Still the defenses of the city held out.
Spring went by and summer came, and the
position of the combatants remained un-
changed At last, however, when the sheer
valor of the Crusaders seemed insufficient to
gain for them the coveted prize, an act of
treason did what force of arms had been un-
able to accomplish. One of the principal
THE CRUSADES.— THE FIRST CRUSADE.
687
commanders in Antioch was a certain rene-
gade Cliristian named Emipher. For rea-
sons of his own, in former years he had left
the Cross to follow the Crescent, and by ser-
vUity and, zeal had gained the favor of the
sultan of Antioch. Auxian had taken him
into his official household, and given him an
important command. The chief towers on the
ramparts were committed to his keeping.
The situation suggested to him the profita-
bleness of a reconversion to Christianity.
Looking down into the camp of the Cru-
saders, he soon descried tiie figure of one to
whom he deemed it well to open his designs.
This was Boemund of Tarento. Not that
this prince was disloyal to the cause for
which he fought; but he was ambitious in
the last degree, and had long been fixed in
his purpose to conquer a principality of his
own. The great and rich city of Antioch
seemed to be the prize which he had seen
in vision. Such was his frame of mind
that when a secret message was delivered to
him from Emipher, requesting an interview
on matters of the highest moment, he not
only scented the treachery which was intended,
but gladly welcomed the opportunity of gain-
ing nis end by dishonorable means.
The meeting was held. The hypocrite Em-
ipher narrated how Christ had come to him in
a dream and warned him to turn again to the
Cross and to bring forth fruits meet for repent-
ance. The good Bcemund exhorted him to go
on and to follow the command of the Lord.
The result was that the shrewd Prince of Ta-
rento overreached the traitor, gained his con-
fidence, and secured from him a promise to
deliver Antioch into his hands.
Bcemund now called the Western leaders
together, and offered to gain possession of An-
tioch on condition that he should be recognized
as prince of the city. At first the proposition
was received with great disfavor. The ambi-
tious leader was rebuked for his scheme, and
like Achilles he went off' to his tent in sullen
anger. It was not long, however, until news
was borne to the camp which changed the dis-
position of the Western princes. The sultans
of Nice and Mossoul had aroused half the East,
and were marching a host of four hundred thou-
sand Moslems for the relief of Antioch. It
was only a question of time when this tremen-
N.— Vol. s- '
dous force would be hurled upon the Cru-
saders. Godfrey, Tancred, and the rest were
prudent enough to put aside their scruples,
and, sending for Boemund, they signified to
him their willingness that he should be prince
of Antioch if he would obtain possession of
the city. Communication was accordingly
opened with Emipher, and it was arranged
that on a given night the towers should be
surrendered into the hands of the Christians.
It was a perilous piece of business. The
traitor was suspected and sent for by Auxian.
Such, however, was his skill as a dissembler,
that he completely reestablished the sultan's
confidence. On the day appointed for the
delivery, the Crusaders withdrew as if aban-
doning the siege. They hid themselves in a
neighboring valley, and lay there until night-
fall. A storm came on and favored the en-
terprise. The besiegers returned and swarmed
silently around that portion of the rampart
which was held by Emipher. The latter es-
tablished communication with the Franks be-
low, and the Lombard engineer was taken up
to the towers to see that every thing was in
readiness for the surrender. When the sig-
nal was at last given for the Crusaders to
plant their ladders and ascend, they became
apprehensive of a double treacliery, and re-
fused to scale the rampart. It was with the
utmost difficulty that Boemund and a few
others, by finst climbing the ladders them-
selves and reporting every thing in readiness,
finally induced their followers to ascend. It
was found that Emipher was in bloody ear-
nest. There, in the tower, lay the body of
his brother, whom he had butchered because
he refused to be a participant in the treason.
The turrets were quickly filled with Chris-
tian warriors, and, when all was secure, they
poured down into the city. Trumpets were
sounded, and the thunder-struck Moslems
were roused from their slumbers by the fear-
ful and far-resounding cry of Dieu le Veidl
In the midst of the panic and darkness they
heard the crash of the Crusaders' swords.
Auxian, perceiving that he had been be-
trayed, attempted to escape, but was cut
down by his enemies. The Saracens, rush-
ing to and fro in the night, were slaughtered
by thousands. The gray dawn of June
4th, 1098, showed the streets heaped with
STORMING OF ANTIOCH.— Drawn bj- Gustave Dcrf.
THE CRUSADES.— THE FIRST CRUSADE.
689
corpses, and the banner of Boemund of. Ta-
rento floating from the highest tower of
Antioch. Only the citadel remained in pos-
session of the Moslems.
Meanwhile the great army of Turks, led
by Kerboga, the sultan of Mossoul, and Kil-
idge Arslan, sultan of Nice, drew near to
the city. The Christians were now inside
the walls and the enemy without. Great
was the disparity in numbers ; for the Asi-
atics were estimated at nearly a half a mill-
ion, of whom one hundred thousand were
cavalry. Godfrey and Boemund found them-
selves in possession of abundance, but it was
that kind of abundance upon which an army
could not long subsist. The actual stores
and provisions of Antioch had been well-
nigh exhausted in the course of the recent
siege, and gold and treasure could not suf-
fice for bread. The Turks gained possession
of the Orontes between the city and the sea,
and cut off communication with the port of
St. Simeon. No further supplies could, for
this reason, be obtained from Europe. The
allied sultans, perceiving their advantage, sat
down in a spacious and luxurious camp and
quietly awaited the day when the pent-up
Christians must yield to the inevitable.
The condition soon became desperate.
Hawks and hounds disappeared. Then horses
began to be eaten. Many a hungry knight
saw with famishing rage the splendid steed
that had borne him proudly in every bat-
tle, from Scutari to the Orontes, slaughtered
and devoured. Luxury was on every hand,
but no food. The leaders saw that it was
better to fight and die than to remain within
the walls and starve. They, therefore, ex-
horted their followers to sally forth with
them, and meet their fate like heroes; but
the exhortation now fell on dull and de-
spairing ears. Zeal had perished of hunger.
But, when every thing else failed, supersti-
tion came to the rescue. A certain monk,
named Peter Barthelemy, had a dream. St.
Andrew came to him and said: "Arise! Go
and dig in a spot which I will show thee in
the Church of St. Peter, and thou shalt find
the spear wherewith the soldier pierced the
side of the Lord. Take that sacred weapon
and carry it at the head of the army, and
the Infidels shall flee before it."
The pilgrims went hastily and digged. Lo !
the object of their search. It was brought
forth and shown to the army. Inconceivable
was the excitement produced by the exhibi-
tion of the wonderful weapon. Now were
they ready to go forth and fall upon the
profane dogs of Asia. The host demanded
to be led forth to that victory which St. An-
drew had foretold.
It was deemed prudent by the Western
princes to send an embassy to the sultan and
warn him to retire from the country. Peter
the Hermit was chosen to bear the message.
Mounted on a mule and clad in a woolen man-
tle, the little monk of Savona rode boldly
through the gates of Antioch to order out of
Syria an army of four hundred thousand Turk-
ish warriors! Coming to the sultan's camp
he found him in a splendid pavilion, sur-
rounded with all the luxury of the East, and
amusing himself with a game of chess. "I
come," said the Hermit, "in the name of the
princes assembled in Antioch, and I conjure
you, in the name of God, to leave this prin-
cipality. Go in peace, and I promise that you
will not be molested. But if you refuse to go
in peace, let a battle convince you of the jus-
tice of our cause." The old sultan swelled with
rage and scorn on the delivery of this insolent
speech. "Return," said he, "to those who
sent you, and tell them that it is for the con-
quered to receive conditions, not to dictate
them. Bid thy captains hasten, and this very
day implore ray clemency. To-morrow they
will find that their God, who could not save
himself, will not save them from their fate.
Drive the vagabond away."
With the return of this answer the Crusa-
ders grew hot for battle. The chiefs prepared
for the fight, and in a way half miraculous
one full meal was served to the army. On the
morning of the 1st of July the gates of Anti-
och were thrown open and the Crusaders went
forth to stake all on a single hazard. Godfrey
and the other leaders arranged their forces in
twelve divisions in honor of the twelve apos-
tles. The Duke of Lorraine himself led the
right wing, supported by his brother Eustace
and his kinsman Baldwin of Bourg. The left
was under command of the Short Hose, and
the Count of Flanders. The reserves, inclu-
ding the Anglo-Norman knights, under the
690
VNIVERSAL HISTORY.— TEE MODERN WORLD.
Earl of Albewnarle, were held by Boemund
of Tarento. In the van of the ragged host
Marched a company of priests bearing aloft
the speai^head which Barthelemy had found
under the altar of the Chm-ch of St. Peter.
Notwithstanding their desjjerate condition,
the Crusaders were confident of victory. De-
lirious with the superstitions of the age, they
urged their way towards the Turkish camp,
(iilly pei-suaded that heaven would make good
the promise of triumph.
The Moslems lay undisturbed in their en-
campment. Even when the Crusading army
came in sight the sultan of JIossoul, himself
an experienced wai'rior, refused to believe
that the Christians had come forth to fight.
" Doubtless," said he, " they come to implore
my clemency." The peculiar "clemency"
which they sought, however, was soon revealed
in their conduct. Hardly had the Saracen
trumpets sounded and the Moslem captains
marshaled their immense army for battle, be-
fore the Crusaders set up their shout of Dleii
le Vent, and rushed headlong to the charge.
Perhaps the leaders knew that the fate of the
First Crusade was staked upon the issue. The
onset of the Christians was so fierce that noth-
ing could stand before them. The Saracen
host was borne back by the shock, aud the
first charge seemed to foretell the triumph of
the Cross.
In the beginning of the engagement, how-
ever, the sultan of Nice had not brought his
army into action. Seeing the Moslems driven
back along the river, he now made a detour
and fell upon the rear of the Crusaders. The
latter were thus pent between two hosts seem-
ingly innumerable. The Moslems set fire to
the grass and bushes which covered the plain,
and the stifling smoke was blown into the
faces of the Christians. Godfrey and Bcemund
had the mortification to see their followers be-
gin to waver, give way, and despair. For a
moment, as on the field of Poitiers, three hun-
'dred aud sixty-six years before, the fate of the
two continents and the two great Semitic re-
ligions seemed to hang in the balance. In the
crisis of the fight, the Crusaders cried out to the
priests and demanded to know where was the
promised succor from heaven. The undaunted
Adhemar, bishop of Puy, pointed calmly
through the clouds of smoke and exclaimed :
"There, they are come at last ! Behold those
white horsemen ! They are the biessea mar-
tyrs, St. George, St. Demetrius, and St. The-
odore come to fight our battle!" Then the
cry of, " God wLUs it!" rose louder than ever.
The news was borne from rank to rank that
the heavenly host had come to the rescue.
Fiery enthusiasm was rekindled in every Cru-
sader's breast, and the Moslems suddenly felt
the battle renewed with impetuous fury. On
every side they fell back in disorder before the
irresistible assaults of the Christians. The
field was swept in all directions, and the blaring
bugles of Islam called in vain to the rally.
Terror succeeded defeat, and the flying Sara-
cens were hewed down by frenzied Crusaders,
who knew not to spare or pity. The heavy
masses of the sultan's army rolled away in
one of the most disastrous routs of the Middle
Ages. The victorious Crusaders mounted the
horses of the slain Moslems and pursued the
fugitives until wearied with the excess of
slaughter. The immense hosts of Kerboga
and Kilidge Arslan melted from sight forever.
As soon as the result of the great battle
was known in Antioch the citadel was surren-
dered to the Christians. Bcemund was now
complete master of his principality. A still
more important result of the decisive conflict
was the reopening of communication with th:
port of St. Simeon, and the capture of great
quantities of provisions and stores in the Sara-
cen camp. The whole aspect of the struggle
was changed, and the Cliristian warriors began
again to look forward with pleasing anticipa-
vion to the day when they should kneel as
humble victors on the recovered sepulcher of
Ciirist.
The position of the Crusaders in Antioch
was not unlike that of the Carthaginians at
Capua. It was evident that the Holy City
might now be easily wrested from the Infidels.
Tliose of the pilgrims who were actuated by
religious rather than political motives were
eager to advance at once into Palestine. There
lay the goal of their ambition. Not so, how-
ever with the leaders. The example of Bald-
vdn in seizing the Principality of Edessa, and
of Bcemund in gaining for himself the great
and opulent city of Antioch, had proved in-
fectious, and nearly every prominent chieftain
now cherished the secret hope that erelong
THE CRUSADES.— THE FIRST CRUSADE.
691j
be should possess a province of his owu. Just
in proportion as this ambitious sentiment was
warmed and nurtured among the knights their
horror of the atrocious Turk, sitting on the
Holy Sepulcher, was mitigated into a mild sort
of hatred which might well be postponed. But
the multitude clamored to be led on against
Jerusalem, and the princes were obliged to
frame excuses for spending the summer at An-
tioch. The horses taken from the Turks must
be trained to service under warriors of heavy
armor. The season was too hot for a campaign
through Syria — the autumn would be fitter for
the enterprise.
The stay in the city, however, proved un-
fortunate. Raymond of Toulouse, to whom
the citadel had been surrendered just after the
battle, quarreled with BcBmund, and the army
was distracted with their feud. The luxuri-
ous living of Antioch proved too much for
the rough men of the West. A contagion
broke out, and fifty thousand Christians were
carried ofl' before its ravages were stayed.
Among those who perished was Adhemar,
bishop of Puy and legate of the Pope, a
man scarcely less important in rank and in-
fluence than Godfrey and Bcemund. So the
summer of 1098 was wasted in enterprises of
personal ambition, little conducive to the rep-
utation of the Western princes.
What with battle, what with famine, what
with pestilence and desertion, the army of the
First Crusade was now reduced to fifty thou-
sand men. It was perceived by the warrior
pilgrims that their chiefs were busy with their
own affairs, and neglectful of the great object
for which the Holy War had been undertaken.
Their discontent at this state of affairs broke
into murmurs, and murmurs into threats. The
Crusaders declared that they would discard the
old and choose new leaders, who would bring
them to the city and tomb of Christ. This
ominous word broke the spell, and Godfrey
Raymond, Short Hose, and Tancred agreed to
march at once on Palestine. As for Stephen
of Blois and Hugh of Vermandois, they had
already given over the war and returned to
Europe.
It was evident on the march from Antioch
to Jerusalem that already the furious zeal with
which the Crusade had been begun had some-
what abated. Now a pettv expedition against
the Saracens of a neighboring province, and-
now a quarrel between Arnold de Robes, chap-
lain of Robert Short Hose, and Peter Barthe-
lemy, relative to the sacred spear-head found
in the church at Antioch, distracted the
attention of the warriors from the prime ob-
ject of the war. The whole winter was thus
consumed, and it was not until the 29th of
May, 1099, that the remnant of the great
army, ascending the Heights of Emaiis, came
at early morning in sight of the City of David.
Then followed a scene of indescribable emo-
tion. There lay the walls and towers of that
holy but now profaned place, where the Son
of Mary and the Carpenter had walked among
men. To the Crusaders, the thought wa.s over-
powering. They uncovered their heads. They
put off" their sandals. They fell upon their
faces. They wept. They threw up their hand^
and cried: "Jerusalem! Jerusalem!" Thei>
they seized their swords, and would fain rush
to an immediate assault. In a short time Tan.
cred secured possession of Bethlehem, and,
when a body of Saracen cavalry came forth
to stay the progress of the Christians, he
chased them furiously to and through the
gates of the city. The main army encamped
on the north side of Jerusalem — that part
of the rampart being most accessible to as-
sault. The leaders present to share in the
toil and glory of the siege were Godfrey of
Bouillon and his brother Eustace, Raymond
of Toulouse, Baldwin du Bourg, Robert of
Flanders, Robert Short Hose of Normandy,
and Edgar Atheling of England, who, after
settling the affairs of Scotland with the usur-
per Donold Bane, had led his Saxon Knights
to the East and joined the Christian army in
Laodicea.
While the preparations were making for
the siege an anchorite came out of the hermit-
age on Mount Olivet and harangued the
princes. He exhorted them to take the city by
storm, assuring them of the aid of heaven.
Great was the enthusiasm inspired by his pres-
ence in the camp. Soldiers and chiefs were
swayed by the appeal, and it was resolved to
make an immediate assault. Poorly as they
were supplied with the necessary implements
and machines for such an undertaking, the
Crusaders pressed their way to the outer wall
and broke an opening with hammers and
692
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MOVKRy WOKLV.
pikes. Through this they poured into the
space between the outer aud the inner rampart
and proceeded to storm the latter; but the
emir of Jerusalem had taken measures for a
successful defense. The wall proved to be too
strong to be broken. The garrisou poured
down every species of missile — arrows, stones,
blocks of wood, flaming torches, boiling pitch,
balls of Greek fire — upon the heads of the
Crusadei-s, who, unable to break the second
rampart, or to stand the storm of destruction,
were obliged to retreat to their camp. The
hermit of Mount Olivet had proved a bad
counselor aud worse prophet.
The siege was uow undertaken in a regular
way. But there was need that the Christians
should be expeditious in the work. The Sar-
acens, before retiring into the city, had swept
all the region round about of its provisions.
Every village was stripped of its supplies to
fill the store-houses of Jerusalem. The wells
were filled up and the fountains poisoned. The
brook Kedron had run dry and the remitting
spring of Siloah was altogether inadequate to
supply a sufiicieut quantity of water for an
army of fifty thousand men. It became neces-
sary to carry water in the skins of animals
and to seek it at a great distance from Jeru-
salem. To add to the embarrassment the sum-
mer came on with its burning sun of Syria,
and the Western pilgrims were unable to bear
the heat.
As had many times already happened since
the Crusade was undertaken, good news came
in time to save the enterprise. Messengers
arrived from Joppa, the seaport of Jerusalem,
forty miles distant, and brought the intelli-
gence that a Genoese fleet had arrived at that
place with provisions and stores and engineers
for the siege. With great joy the Crusaders
at once dispatched a troop of cavalry to con-
duct the supplies and reenforcements from the
coast to Jerusalem. But on arriving at Joppa
the forces sent out for protection discovered to
their chagrin that the Saracens had been there
before them and had destroyed the fleet. The
disaster, however, was not complete, for the
engineers had made their escape and had
saved a part of the stores so much needed by
the Crusaders. All that escaped the Infidels
were taken to Jerusalem.
The besiegers were thus considerably en-
couraged. One of the chief difliculties was to
procure timber for the construction of engines.
After much search a forest was foupd on a
mountain thirty miles distant, and the echo
of axes was soon heard felling the trees. The
logs were drawn to the city by oxen shod with
iron, and the enghieei-s rapidly constructed
such machines as were necessary for the demo-
lition of the walls. Before the astonished
Saracens could well understand what was done
towers were brought against the ramparts, and
the Crusaders were thus enabled to fight hand
to hand with their enemies.
While this encouraging work was going on
the hermit of Mount Olivet again appeared as
a leader. He persuaded the Christians to go
in a procession about the walls of the city
even as the Israelites of old encompassed the
walls of Jericho. A procession was formed,
headed by the priests, who clad themselves in
white, carried the sacred images, and sang
psalms as they marched. Trumpets were blown
and banners waved until the warriors reached
Olivet, where they halted, and from the height
viewed the city which they had come to rescue.
I'jey were harangued by Arnold de Rohes
and other priests, who pointed out the sacred
places trodden under the profane feet of the
Turks, and exhorted them to pause not in the
holy work until the Infidels had expiated with
their blood the sin and shame of their pres-
ence aud deeds in the sacred precincts of
Jerusalem. The zeal of the Crusaders was thus
rekindled, and they demanded to be led for-
ward to the assault.
By the 14th of July, 1099, every thing
was in readiness for a second general attack
on the city. The vigor with which the Cru-
saders had of late prosecuted the siege had
alarmed the Saracens and given the advantage
to the assailants. The huge towers which the
engineers had built were rolled down against
the walls and the Christians were thus enabled
to face the Moslems on the top of the rampart.
The defenders of the city, however, grew des-
perate, and fought with greater valor than at
any previous time. They resorted to every
means to beat back their foes. They poured
down Greek fire and boiling oil upon the
heads of those who attempted to scale the
walls. They hurled stones and beams and
blocks of wood upon the pilgrim warriors who
THE CRUSADES.— THE FIRST CRUSADE.
693
fbattered the ramparts. So resolute was the
■defense that after twelve hours of hard fight-
ing the Crusaders were obliged to fall back,
.amidst the taunts and insults of those who
manned the turrets.
With both Christians and Moslems the
•crisis had now come. With both it was con-
quer or perish. The former were peculiarly
pressed by the situation. A pigeon flying
'towards the city was intercepted with a letter
under its wings, and the Crusaders were made
.aware that armies of Saracens were gathering
for the relief of the city. It was therefore de-
termined to continue the assault on the mor-
row. With early morning the engines were
.-again advanced to the walls, and the Christians
rushed forward to the attack. For a long
time it could hardly be known whether the as-
sault or the defense was made with greater ob-
stinacy. In some parts the walls gave way
before the thundering blows of the machines
built by the Genoese engineers ; but the gar-
rison threw down straw and other yielding
'material to prevent the strokes of the battering
rams from taking effect. In one place, how-
-ever, a huge catapult played havoc with all
resistance, and a breach was about to be ef-
fected, when two Saracen witches were sent to
nnterpose their charms to the work of destruc-
tion. But the insensate monster hammered
■away with no regard to their spells and incan-
•tations. The Moslems saw their prophetesses
perish as though the unseen world had nothing
to do with war.
Still, for the time, the Crusaders could not
break into the city. The Saracens found that
•fire was more potent than witchcraft as a
means of resisting wooden engines. They
threw down burning materials upon the cata-
pults, and several of them were consumed.
On the afternoon of the second day it seemed
as if the Christians would again be driven
back. They were well-nigh exhausted with
heat and fatigue. They weltered and bled in
the dust outside the walls. Just as they were
wavering and about to retreat, Godfrey, who
throughout the siege and assault had more
than ever distinguished himself by his hero-
ism, resorted to the usual expedient to revive
the drooping courage of his followers. Looking
•up to Mount Olivet, he beheld there a
j^iiighty horseman waving on high a buckler.
" Behold !" cried the hero, " St. George comes
again to our aid and makes a signal for us to
enter the Holy City." Dieu le Veut ! responded
the Crusaders, springing forward with uncon-
querable purpose. As on the field before An-
tioch, when the celestial warriors came to the
rescue, so now the dust-covered, heat-oppressed
Christians became suddenly invincible. With
an irresistible impulse they rushed to the
wall and renewed the onset. The rampart
broke before them. Tradition recites that
Reimbault of Crete was the first to mount the
wall. Godfrey followed. Then came Eustace
with a host of warriors and knights. Clouds
of smoke mixed with dust and flame arose on
every hand as the victorious Crusaders broke
over all opposition and poured into the city.
The Saracens gave way before them. They
retreated through the streets, fighting at in-
tervals until they were driven into the pre-
cincts of the Mosque of Omar. Blood flowed
in the gutters, and horrid heaps of the dead
lay piled at every corner. None were spared
by the frenzied Christians, who saw in the
gore of the Infidels the white Way of Redemp-
tion. Ten thousand dead, scattered through
the city, gave token of the merciless spirit of
the men of the West. Another ten thousand
were heaped in the reeking courts of the great
mosque on Mount Moriah. " God wills it,"
said the pilgrims.
The indiscriminate butchery of the Sara«
cens was carried out by the rank and file of
the Crusading army. In this bloody work
they needed no incentive — no commander.
Each sword flamed with hatred until it was
cooled in the dripping life of the enemies of
Christ. As for Godfrey, he was missed from
the slaughter. Another sentiment had taken
possession of his breast. As soon as he saw
the city in the hands of his followers, he re-
membered the Holy Sepulcher. He stripped
himself of his armor and went barefoot to the
spot where the victim of Pilate and the Jews
had been laid eleven centuries ago. There op
his knees the great Crusader bowed and wor-
shiped for a season, while his followers com-
pleted the extermination of the Saracens.'
' The spirit of the massacre is well illustrated
in the letter which the Christian princes sent to
His Holiness the Pope. The devout writers say.
"If vou wish to know what we did to the ene-
694
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
As soon as the host heard of the act of
their pious leader, they too made a pause. A
sudden revulsion of feeling swept over them
and they made haste to follow his example.
They took off their bloody weapons, and bared
their heads and feet. They washed the gore
from their hands, and formed themselves into
a procession. Led by the priests and singing
penitential psalms, they then marched — many
of them upon their knees — to the Church of
the Resurrection, and there found that sacred
but long desecrated spot which had been the
object and end of their more than three years
of warfare — the sepulcher of Christ. There,
like their most distinguished leader, they knelt
and offered up such adoration as the heart of
the Middle Ages was able to render to its Lord.
One of the most interesting incidents of
the capture of the city was the emergence
from places of concealment of many Christians,
who came forth as if from prison to welcome
their deliverers. Great was the mutual joy of
these long-distressed wretches and the Crusaders.
There was weeping as if the lost were found.
In the midst of many frantic demonstrations,
the victorious multitude turned with an enthu-
siastic outburst to one who had almost passed
from sight during the siege — Peter the Her-
mit. The little fanatic monk was singled out
as the greatest of all the human agencies by
which the deliverance of Jerusalem had been
accomplished. Around him, clad in his woolen
garment and mounted on his mule, the me-
disBval zealots gathered in an enormous crowd,
and did obeisance as to a liberator and savior.
Thus, ever in the history of the world the real
brawn and valor, the true heroic virtue which
fights and bleeds and wins the battle, abases
itself at the last before some scrawny embodi-
ment of enfeebled bigotry.
The First Crusade had now reached its
climax. The Holy City was wrested from the
Turks. The blood of the Infidel iron-forgers
of the Altais had poured in thick streams down
the slopes of Mount Moriah. The Syrian sun
rising from the plains of Mesopotamia, flung
the shadow of the Cross from the summit of
Calvary to the distant Mediterranean. But
mies we found in the city, learn that in the portico
of Solomon and in the Temple our horses walked
up to the knees in the impure blood of the Sar-
acens."
what should the victors do with their tro-
phy? As for Baldwin, he had made himself
secure in the principality of Edessa. As for
Boemund, his selfish and ambitious nature had
satisfied itself among the palaces and fountains
of Antioch. As for the half million pilgrim
warriors who had set out for Constantinople
in the summer of 1096, nine out of every ten
had perished. The remnant, now numbering
fewer than fifty thousand, had reached the goal,
and had planted their banners on the holy
places in the City of the Great King. Could
they preserve the prize which they had won ?
A few days after the capture of Jerusalem
the Western princes met to consider the dis-
position to be made of Palestine. The almost
inevitable solution was the conversion of the
country into a Christian state. The form of
government was, of course, that feudal type
of monarchy which then prevailed throughout
Europe. It devolved upon the princes to
choose a king, and to this task they set them-
selves with alacrity. Of the leading Crusa-
ders, those who were eligible to the high office
were Robert Short Hose of Normandy, Rob-
ert of Flanders, Raymond of Toulouse, and
Godfrey of Bouillon. From the first the tide
set strongly in favor of the last named duke.
Short Hose and the Count of Flanders both
announced their intention of returning forth-
with to Europe, and as to Raymond, his
haughty bearing and impetuous temper made
him unpopular as a leader.
In order to settle the question, a commis-
sion of ten of the most discreet chieftains was
appointed, and they at once set about the duty
of election. Great care was exercised in re-
gard to the fitness of the candidates. Duke
Godfrey's servants were called and questioned
relative to the private life and manners of
their master. "The only fault we find with
him," said they, "is that, when matins are
over, he will stay so long in church, to learn
the name of every image and picture, that
dinner is often spoiled by his long tarr3'ing."
"What devotion!" exclaimed the pious elec-
tors. "Jerusalem could have no better king."
So he was chosen. The Kingdom of Jerusa-
lem was proclaimed in the city, and the nomi-
nation of Duke Godfrey was made known to
the eager and joyous multitude. Thus, on the
23d of Julv, in the last year of the eleventh
THE CRUSADES.— THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
695
century, the Holy Laud with its capital,
once the City of David and the Christ, now
wrenched from the dominion of the Turks by
a series of exploits of well-nigh inconceivable
audacity, was erected into a feudal monarchy
after the European fashion, and placed under
the suzerainty of Godfrey, duke of Lorraine,
destined for the present to suffer more ills in
defending than he had borne in conquering
Ms heritage, and hereafter immortalized by
the muse of Tasso as the hero of the Jerumlein
Delivered.
Chapter XCI.— The Kingdoiv/i ok Jerusalem.
UKE GODFREY ac-
cepted the office but re-
fused the title of king.
He declared to the elect-
ors that it would be un-
becoming in him to wear
a crown of gold in the
city where Christ had been crowned with
thorns. It was, therefore, decided that the
new ruler of Jerusalem should be entitled
" First Baron and Defender of the Holy
Sepulcher." His sovereignty, however, was
ample, and his right undisputed.
As soon as the monarchy was proclaimed,
the king-elect repaired with the pilgrim princes
to the Church of the Resurrection, and there
took an oath to reign according to the laws
of justice and honor. Hardly was this cere-
mony ended, when the startling intelligence
was borne to the city that a powerful Mos-
lem army, led by Afdhal, one of the most
valiant emirs of the East, had reached Asca-
lon, and was searching for a force of Cru-
saders sufficiently strong to offer battle. The
warlike emir had taken an oath in the pres-
ence of the Caliph to drive every European
out of Syria ; nor could it be denied that a
knowledge of his coming had spread terror
before him. In the city, the Christians were
in consternation. But King Godfrey had seen
too much of War to be any longer frightened
at the sound of his chariot. With unwaver-
ing courage he summoned his followers to
resume the weapons which they had so re-
cently laid aside, and go forth to victory. His
influence and authority secured the desired ob-
ject. Even Robert Short Hose and Raymond
consented to renew the struggle with the Infi-
dels. The Crusaders were marshaled forth,
and led out in the direction of the foe.
The march led into the plain between
Joppa and Ascalon. When the Christians-
were about encamping for the night — it was-
now the 11th of August — the whole horizon
seemed to be disturbed with some dark agita-
tion. Scouts were sent out to ascertain the
cause, and, returning, brought back the report
that immense herds of cattle and camels were-
driven along in the distance. This news fired
the cupidity of the Cru.saders, and they would
fain go forth to seize so rich a booty. God-
frey, however, scented a stratagem, and pru-
dently restrained his followers. No man was-
permitted to leave the ranks for the night.
Events soon showed the wisdom of the king.
For, before the break of day, news was-
brought to the camp that the Moslem army
was but a short distance away. With due
celerity Godfrey and his captains set their
forces in order of battle. Nine divisions were-
formed, and placed under command of leaders
true and tried. At dawn of day Arnold de
Robes, who had been elected Patriarch of
Jerusalem, went through the ranks, bearing
the cross and pronouncing blessings on the
soldiers. The army then knelt down, and
besought the favor of heaven preparatory
to the decisive struggle. As the march-
was resumed in the direction of the enemy,
the tempting droves of cattle were seen to-
pass around to the rear, as if to distract the
attention of the Crusaders from the great
game soon to be enacted in front.
While these movements were performed by
the Christians the Emir Afdhal had also pre-
pared for the conflict. He had posted himself
on the edge of the plain of Ascalon in a posi-
tion strongly defensible by nature. For the-
mountains and the sea conspired to protect,
the wings of the Moslem army, and in the
696
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
distance the towers of the city — one of the
strongest in Palestine — were seen as a refuge.
The Saracen army was drawn up in two
lines, and was terrible in its aspect and extent.
The disparity of numbers was so great that to
any other than a Crusader it would have ap-
peared the excess of madness to offer battle.
But to one who had seen the war-horse of
St. George and had touched the sacred spear
wherewith the side of Christ had been pierced
no task could appal, no numbers terrify.
On the other hand, where every rational
ground of confidence existed, the Saracens
shook at the sight of the Christian banners.
No exhortation of the Emir could suffice to
inspire the host under his command. At the
moment when battle was about to begin the
device which the Moslems had invented to
destroy their adversaries turned against them-
selves. The vast droves of cattle which had
been intended to decoy the Crusaders were
seen in the rear of Godfrey's army and were
mistaken by Afdhal's forces for a part of the
foe whom they had to face. The discourage-
ment of the Saracens was so great that in the
beginning of the engagement they fought but
feebly, while every furious blow of th'^ Chris-
tian knights fell with fatal effect upon the
Mohammedan ranks. As usual on such occa-
sions, Robert Short Hose fought like a lion.
With a body of cavalry he forced his way to
the Saracen center and captured the Emir's
standard. The infantry rushed after him and
the enemy's lines were broken and scattered.
For a while a division of Ethiopians,
after the peculiar tactics of their country, fell
on their knees to discharge their javelins and
then with a clubbed weapon resembling a flail,
armed with jagged balls of iron, sprang up
and assailed the Crusaders with the fury ^f
Huns; but even these fierce warriors were
soon routed by the resistless charges of God-
frey's knights. The whole Saracen army broke
*id fled in confusion. They rushed in the
direction of Ascalon, and were pursued with
havoc and slaughter. Thousands perished on
the field ; other thousands in the flight, and
still others at the drawbridge of the city, upon
which they were hopelessly crowded by the
Christian warriors. Ascalon itself, in which
Afdhal found refuge with the fugitives, might
have been easily taken but for a quarrel which
broke out between Godfrey and Saymond,
whose ungovernable temper was as dreadful
to his friends as his sword was fatal to his
enemies. As it was, the Christians vvithdrew
from the scene of their great victory laden
with spoil and driving before them the herds
of cattle which had already served them better
than the enemy. As for the defeated Emir,
believing himself unsafe in Ascalon, he took
ship for Egypt, and sought security under the
shadow of the Caliphate.
The battle of Ascalon was decisive of the
present fate of Palestine. For the time the
Turk was hurled from his seat. With the
accomplishment of this result the prime motive
of the Crusade was satisfied. Many of the
princes now made preparation to return to
Europe. The eccentric Eaymond, however,
had sworn never to see the West again. He
accordingly repaired to Constantinople, and
received from the Emperor as the portion due
his heroism the city of Laodicea. Eustace of
Bouillon and Robert of Flanders returned to
their respective countries, and resumed pos-
session of their estates. Here they passed the
remainder of their lives in prosperity and
honor. Robert Short Hose went back to Nor-
mandy, and when the five years expired,
during which he had leased his dukedom to
William Rufus, he recovered his inheritance.
His stormy life, however, was still agitated
and unfortunate. A few years after his return
his paternal dominions were invaded by his
brother Henry, king of England. A battle
was fought between the two princes at Tench-
ebray, and Robert was defeated and captured.
He was taken to Cardifl' Castle and there con
fined as a prisoner of state until the year 1148,
when his strange and romantic career waa
ended by death. Peter the Hermit likewise
left the Holy City and started on a homeward
voyage. In mid sea his ship was caught in a
storm and the terrified monk vowed, if he
should be spared to found an abbey in honor
of the tomb of Christ. The tempest passed
and Peter kept his vow by building a monas-
tery on the banks of the Mses. Here he spent
the remnant of his days in penitential works,
after the manner of his order. As for the
counts — Stephen and Hugh — they, as will
be remembered, had abandoned the Crusade
bffore Antioch, and without participating in
THE CRUSADES.— THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
697
the glory of capturing Jerusalem, had returned
to Europe. The age branded them, however,
as recreants, and under the whip of public
opinion they rallied their knights for a new
expedition.
Thus in a short time King Godfrey found
himself in the Holy City with only a few hun-
dred warriors to defend it. His courage, how-
■ever, was as great as the situation was peril-
ous. His reputation as a military chieftain
stood him well in hand, and the swollen stream
of pilgrims from the West, who might now be
expected to crowd towards Jerusalem, would
•doubtless be sufficient for defense.
But the valiant Godfrey was not destined
long to enjoy the fruits of his toil and warfare.
As Baron of the Holy Sepulcher he did as
much as man well might to give regular insti-
tutions to the country and people that he had
conquered. A code of laws, known as the
Assizes of Jerusalem, was drawn up under his
auspices, and Palestine was suitably divided
for purposes of administration. The military
arm was strengthened, and Tancred was sent
into Galilee, where he captured the town of
Tiberias. The whole province was taken from
the Turks and added to Godfrey's dominions.
The valorous Tancred carried the war still
further into the sultan's territories, where-
upon a Saracen army was sent out from Da-
mascus, and the adventurous Crusader was
about to be cut off. Godfrey hurried to his
assistance, and the Moslems were defeated in
battle. Returning to Jerusalem, the Defender
-of the Holy Sepulcher passed by way of Ces-
-area, and was met by the emir of that district,
who made him a seemingly courteous offer of
fruits. The unsuspecting Godfrey accepted
and ate an apple. Doubtless it had been
poisoned, for the prince immediately sickened.
He was taken in haste to Joppa, where he
•lingered until the 18th of July, 1100, when
he died. With thoughtful solicitude he com-
mitted his kingdom of Jerusalem to the pro-
tection of his companions, and directed that
his body should be buried near the tomb
of Christ. A few days after his death his
remains were Ijorne up the slope of Calvary,
and laid to rest not far from the Holy Sepul-
cher. All Christendom heard of the event
•with sorrow, and the mourning for the most
mnselfish and chivalrous of the great knights
who led the first Crusaders to victory and
death was long continued, and as sincere as
the age was capable of showing.
The decease of the king of Jerusalem
brought on a crisis. Scarcely was Godfrey
buried until the barons fell to quarreling about
the succession. The crown was claimed by
Arnold de Rohes, now patriarch of the city,
but his pretensions were vigorously resisted by
many of the pilgrim warriors. In order to find
support he sent an embassy to Boemund, prince
of Antioch, to come to his assistance, and to
aid in saving the Holy City from anarchy.
The opposition meanwhile dispatched messen-
gers to Baldwin of Edessa, brother of the late
king, to come to Jerusalem and take the crown
which now, according to feudal tenure, would
rightfully descend to him. The envoys sent
by Arnold to Antioch brought back the dole-
ful intelligence that Bcemund had been re-
cently taken prisoner by the Turks, and was
himself far more in need of assistance than
able to go to the rescue of another. Not so,
however, with Pi-ince Baldwin. Notwithstand-
ing the doubtful expediency of endangering
all by leaving his safe principality of Edessa
for the hazards attending the crown of Jeru-
salem, he gladly accepted the invitation of the
barons, and laid claim to the throne vacated
by the death of his brother. Putting all on
the cast of the die, he made over the princi-
pality of Edessa to his kinsman, Baldwin du
Bourg, and set out with fourteen hundred
horsemen to make good his claims in the Holy
City.
His reception was flattering. The inhab-
itants of Jerusalem came forth to meet their
new sovereign, and welcomed him with plau-
dits. So marked were the expressions of ap-
proval that the Patriarch Arnold, after a few
day.s of sullen discontent, gave in his adhe-
rence, and consented to officiate in the coro-
nation of his successful rival.
As soon as this ceremony was completed,
Baldwin set about the duties of his office with
great energy. His abilities were scarcely in-
ferior to those of his predecessor, and his au-
dacity greater. The Saracens soon learned
that the transfer of the crown was not likely
to inure to the benefit of the Crescent. King
Baldwin organized several expeditions against
the Infidels, and his successes werewcb as to
698
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
strike terror into the ranks of the foe. The
cities of Cesarea, Sidon, Tripoli, and Acre were
quick!}- taken, and the frontiers of the king-
dom widened and established on all sides.
The forces of the king were in the mean-
time augmented by almost constant arrivals
from Europe. Several bodies of warriors,
who were drawn in the wake of the First
Crusade, reached the Holy City in the first
years of the new century, and joined the vic-
torious standard of those who had preceded
them. Now it was that Stephen of Blois and
Hugh of Vermandois returned to the scenes
of former days, shame-faced for their aban-
donment of the cause, and eager to retrieve
their honor. The dukes of Aquitaine and
Bavaria, and the counts of Burgundy, Ven-
d6me, Nevers, and Parma, all envious of the
fame achieved bv their brethren in the East,
years later, when the armies of Baldwin
were engaged in the siege of Sidon, two
fleets, manned by Scandinavian Crusaders,
arrived from the Baltic, and rendered im-
portant service in the reduction of the city.
To this epoch belongs the last of the ex-
ploits of Kaymond of Toulouse. Before the
capture of the Phoenician cities, he had acted
as guide and leader to a band of French
knights on their way through Asia Elinor to
Jerusalem. Obtaining an ascendency over
them, he induced them to join him in the
conquest of Tortosa, ou the coast of Syria,
A new principality was thus founded, with
Raymond for its ruler. He employed hia
own knights from Provence in enlarging the
borders of his state, and presently undertook
the reduction of Tripoli; but, before thia
object could be reached, the veteran warrior
Duke of Bouillon.
L Godfrey, 1100.
DUKE OF BOUILLON.
2. Baldwin I., 1118.
Count of Bouillon.
I
3. Baldwin U., 1141.
Fulk of Anjou=Millicent.
4. Baldwin m., 1162.
5. Almeric 1170.
THE KINGS I ^1
ff 8. GrY OF LcsiGNAN, 1189=8. Sybilla, 1189— Marquis of Montferrat. 6. Baldwin IV., 1176.
JERUSALEM.
Sin{;s in small capitals, and numbrred.
7. Baldwin V., 117
assumed the cross and arrived with their
knights in Palestine. So long and full of
hardships was the march through Eastern
Europe and Asia Minor, that those who sur-
vived were already veterans before reaching
their destination, and the armies of Baldwin
•were thus replenished by a class of warriors
scarcely inferior to the war-hardened Cru-
saders of the first expedition.
Another source of strength to the king-
dom was the constant arrival on the Phoeni-
cian coast of fleets from Genoa and other
European ports. A readier communication
was thus maintained with the parent states.
These armaments cooperated with the land
forces in the subjugation of the maritime
districts of Syria. As early as 1104, Beyrut
and Serepta were conquered, partly through
the aid of the Genoese squadron. A few
of Toulouse died. The work of subjugation,
however, was continued by King Baldwin,
assisted by aU the Latin princes of the East.
Tripoli was taken, and became the capital
of a new dukedom, which was conferred on
Bertrand, son of Raymond. The state thus
formed was subject, after the feudal manner,
to the Kingdom of Jerusalem ; but its im-
portance, lying as it did midway between
the principality of Antioch and the Holy
Land, was such as to give to Tripoli a rank
of almost independent sovereignty.
At Antioch affairs had not gone prosper-
ously. Boemund, as already narrated, was
made prisoner by the Turks. Tancred there-
upon assumed the government during the mi-
nority of Boemund's son. While acting thus as
regent he continued his unending warfare with
the Saracens and was killed in battle. Bee-
THE CRUSADES.— THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
Qn
mund finally effected his escape and soon after-
wftids engaged in hostilities with the Eastern
Empire. Unsuccessful in this war he returned
CO Tarento, and there, in his old age, sat
brooding and despondent amid the scenes of
his boyhood. His restless nature, tormented
with the \ision of impossible activities, gave
way to gloom, and he died of despaii'.
Of the heroic companions of Godfrey,
there now remained in the East only King
Baldwin and Baldwin du Bourg, prince of
Edessa. The former was sonless, and reason
and preference both indicated the latter as his
successor to the crown of Jerusalem. In the
year 1118 the king died and Baldwin du Bourg
came to the throne with the title of Baldwin
II. On his accession he transferred the Prin-
cipality of Edessa to Joscelyn de Courtenay,
a noble knight of France, who had gone to
Asia Minor in the wake of the First Crusade.
In the mean time, Count Foulque, of Anjou,
father of that Geoffrey Plantagenet who gave
a race of kings to England, falling into pro-
found melancholy on account of the death of
his wife, would fain distract ais thoughts from
his grief by taking the cross and going on a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He accordingly left
his province to the care of his son and de-
parted for the East.' On reaching the Holy
City he became greatly admired for his quali-
ties of mind and person. Nor was it long till
he found a panacea for his sorrow in the ac-
quaintance of the Princess Millicent, daughter
of Baldwin H. Her he wooed and won, and
when her father died he received and wore the
crown rather as the husband of Millicent than
in his own right. His son was named for his
maternal grandfather, and afterwards reigned
with the title of Baldwin HI.
The principal event of the reign of Baldwin
du Bourg was the siege and capture of Tyre.
This great feat was accomplished in the year
li24, and chiefly by the aid of the Venetian
fleet sent out by the Doge Ordelafo Fajieri.
Before engaging in the enterprise, however,
this thrifty ruler stipulated that he should
receive the sovereignty of one-third of the city
as the price of his services. Already the Ital-
ian princes, especially those who held authority
in the maritime Republics, had learned the
value of their services to the Crusaders, and
were not slow to turn their advantage to a
profitable account. Henceforth — though not
less zealous than others in proclaiming the dis-
interested motives by which they were actu-
ated in sending out their fleets against the
Moslems — they ever took care to extort from
those whom they aided exorbitant pay for
their service. The squadron of Falieri arrived
on the Phoenician coast, and the city of Tyre
was obliged, after a five months' siege, to car
pitulate. The new conquest was erected into
an archbishopric and added to the patriarchate
of Jerusalem. Thus, in the last year of the
first quarter of the twelfth century the most
opulent city on the Syrian coast, being also
the last stronghold 'of the Moslems in Palestine,
was w.on by the Crusaders and annexed to
their dominions.
This is the date of the greatest power and
influence of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The
Holy Land was now all recovered from the
Infidels. Neither the Turks from the direction
of Baghdad, nor the Fatimites from the side
of Egypt, were able for the time to shake the
foundations of the Christian state. From the
Mediterranean to the desert of Arabia, and
from Beyrut to the Gulf of Sinai, the country
acknowledged the sway of Baldwin II. Besides
the large territory thus defined the County of
Tripoli under Bertrand, and the Principalities
of Edessa and Antioch were as distinctly
Christian states as was Jerusalem itself, and
throughout the whole of these countries the
feudal institutions of Western Europe were
established on what appeared to be an endur-
ing basis.
The Christian kingdom of Palestine was
divided into the four great fiefs of Jaffa,
Galilee, Cesarea, and Tripoli, and over each
was set a baron who was the vassal of the
king. The one fatal weakness of the situation
lay in the fact that while a constant stream
of pilgrim warriors was setting towards Jeru-
salem, another stream fully as copious was
flowing back into Europe. Even at the time
of greatest solidity and peace the number of
knights and .soldiers resident in Palestine was
never sufllcient to defend the country in the
event of a formidable invasion by the Mo.slems.
It was estimated that the regular force of
knights whom as his vassals Baldwin II. might
call into the field did not exceed two thousand
five hundred ; and the feudal militia, consist-
700
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
ms, for the most part of archers on foot, only
numbered twelve thousand.
Another circumstance tending to undermine
the foundation of the kingdom was the rapid
deterioration of the people of the West under
the conditions of life in Syria. The resident
Crusaders were brought into communion and
fellowship with the native Christians of the
country — Syrians, Greeks, Armenians, — a
nerveless race of Orientals, destitute of the
warlike vigor of the AVestern pilgrims. Besides,
the Mussulman peasantry remained in the vil-
lages and continued to cultivate the soil. After
the lapse of a few years these diverse races
began to commingle, and a new type of popu-
lation was produced, iiiheritiug but little vir-
tue from either line of parentage. These
hybrid inhabitants were known by the name
of Pullani or Poulains — a degenerate stock
deduced from a bad cross under the influence
of a baleful climate and diseased society.
One of the principal events belonging to
the interval between the First and Second Cru-
sades was the institution of the two principal
Orders of Knighthood. The prime motives
of the origin of these celebrated societies are
to be found in the martial spirit and religious
enthusiasm of the age. The condition of soci-
ety was such as to suggest the conservation of
the chivalrous and benevolent sentiments by
means of organization. As soon as the orders
were established they rose to celebrity, and it
was not long until the highest honors of secu-
lar society would have been freely exchanged
for the distinction conferred by the badges of
knighthood.
The fundamental principle on which the
new Orders were founded was the union of mona-
diism and chivalry. Hitherto the devotion of
man to religion had made him a monk ; his
devotion to truth denied and innocence dis-
tressed, had made him a secular warrior. It
now happened that the warlike vow and the
vow of religion were united in the single con-
secration of knighthood. The condition of
affairs in Palestine — unfavorable to monasti-
cism from the insecurity of society, and unfa-
vorable to secular chivalry on account of the
absence of lofty sentiments among the lay
.population of the country — was peculiarly fa-
vorable to the development of organizations
based on the cross militant. Such organiza-
tions contemplated the sword under the cowl-
warfare in the name of Christ. The sam^"
ideas which had brought-about the Crusade de-
manded preservation under the sanction of
secrecy and brotherhood.
The oldest of the religio-chivalric orders
was the Knights of Saint John of Jerusa-
lem, known also as Knights Hospitallers,
and subsequently as Knights of Rhodes and
Knights of Malta. The circumstances of the
origin of this celebrated Order date back to
the middle of the eleventh century. In the
year 1048 some benevolent merchants of the
Italian city of Amalfi obtained permission of
the Fatimite rulers of Jerusalem to build in
the Holy City a chapel for the use of Latin
pilgrims. The establishment took the name
of Saint Mary, and was for a while used in
common by both men and women. Soon after-
wards two hospitals were built in connection
with the chapel ; and then a second chapel,
called after Saint Marj^ Magdalen, was erected
adjacent to the woman's hospital. The man's
hospital took the name of Saint John the Al-
moner, an Alexandrian patriarch of the sev-
enth century. This saint had left a sweet
memory in the City of David by sending
thither in the year 614, after the destructive
siege and capture by Chosroes H., a plentiful
supply of money and provisions to the sufier-
ing people. Such was the origin of the hos-
pitals or hostelries of Jerusalem.
To the whole establishment thus founded
was given the name of Saint John, who be-
came the recognized patron of the Order. The
services in the hospitals were performed by a
brotherhood — and sisterhood — of pilgrims un-
under the direction of Pierre Gerard le Bien-
heureux, or Gerard the Blessed. It was this
Order of the Hospital that came forth on the
occasion of the capture of the city by the Cru-
saders, and rendered so great service to hu-
manity by caring for the wounded amd dying.
So heroic were the efforts of the brotherhood,
that Eaymond du Puy joined the Order, and
Godfrey himself bestowed on them their first
foreign posses-sion, namely, the estate of Mont-
baire in Brabant. His example was imitated
by other princes, and it was not long until the
brothers of the Hospital found themselves in
posse.ssion of abundant means.
Now it was that the Order took on a per-
THE CRUSADES.— THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
701
(uanent character. After the establishment of
the Kingdom of Jerusalem the brothers bound
themselves by a vow to labor forever in the
hospitals. They were to become henceforth
the "servants of Christ and his poor." Their
vows embraced the trinity of mediaeval vir-
tues— obedience, chastity, and poverty. As a
garb they chose the black robe of the Augus-
tinian monks, and to this was added a white
linen cross of eight points, worn on the left
breast. On the 15th of February, 1113, the
Order was approved by Pope Paschal II., un-
der the name of the ' ' Brothers Hospitallers
of Saint John in Jerusalem."
In the organization which was thus made
regular and permanent, Pierre Gerard was
chosen Guardian and Provost of the Order.
Gifts poured in upon the fraternity. A splen-
did church was built on the traditional site of
the abode of the parents of Saint John the
Baptist, and hospitals for the accommodation
of pilgrims were founded in the principal sea-
port towns of Western Europe.
After five years of service as Guardian,
Gerard died, and was succeeded by Raymond
du Pay. He it was who, in order to protect
the Christians of Palestine from injury or in-
sult at the hands of the Moslems, armed him-
self and former companion knights, and thus
gave to the Order its first military cast. The
movement was applauded by the age. Both
in the Holy Land and in the West the broth-
ers in arms became more popular than ever.
The chivalric sentiment was thus added to the
charitable vows of the fraternity, and persons
of distinction and high rank began eagerly to
seek admission into the Order. The vow to bear
arms in defense of Christ and hLs cause, and
to defend from insult and wrong the Christians
of all lands and languages, was taken with
even more enthusiasm than the vow o£ mo-
nasticism and charity.
From the accession of Raymond to the
guardianship of the Order, three degrees were
recognized in the hospital; knights, priests,
and brothers-servants. To these a fourth
grade, called sergeants or half-knights, was
presently added ; and to these intermediates
certain duties in both the field and the in-
firmary were assigned.
Under the auspices of Raymond, a code
was drawn up for the government of the
Order. The Augustinian rule was made the
basis of the statute adopted foj the Brothers
of the Hospital. The name of the chief
officer was changed from Guardian to Master,
and Saint John the Baptist wa-s substituted
for Saint John the Almoner, as the patron
of the brotherhood. In 1120 the new con-
stitution was submitted to Pope Calixtus II.,
and by him cordially approved.
So rapidly did the Hospitallers extend
their establishments and membership that it
was presently found desirable to make — ac-
cording to the nationality and language of
the members — a nine-fold division of the
Order. The commanderies were thenceforth
classified as those of Provence, Auvergne,
France, Italy, Aragon, Germany, England,
Castile, and Portugal.
Before the middle of the twelfth century,
the Hospitallers had become a powerful
military factor in the affairs of the East.
Their membership embraced the most pu-
issant knights of Christendom. During the
siege of Tyre, they contributed powerfully to
the capture of the city, and the final expul-
sion of the Moslems from Palestine. In 1153
they aided in the taking of Ascalon, their
valorous actions being the pride of the Chris-
tians and the terror of the Saracens. After
these successful victories for the Crass, the
wealth of the Order accumulated with great
rapidity. Nor was it long until the moral
and chivalric grandeur of the brotherhood
began to be undermined by the invidious in-
fluences of luxury and corruption. As early
as 1168, the Master Gilbert d'Assalit, suc-
cessor to Raymond du Puy, was seduced with
bribes, together with the larger part of the
Order, to violate a treaty with Egypt, and to
make an invasion of that country. In 1187
the Hospitallers of Palestine were almost ex-
terminated in the disastrous battle of Tiberias,
where Saladin so signally overthrew the Chris-
tians. When possession of Jerusalem was
finally regained by the Saracens, the Order
made its head-quarters for a while at the
Castle of Margat, and at the same time the
woman's hospitals in the East were aban-
doned. At this epoch, the knights suffered
much from their disputes and rivalries with
the Templars; but in times of danger both
brotherhoods gave their best blood in defense
}02.
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
oi the common cause. In the great battle of
Gaza, A. D. 1244, the losses of both Hos-
pitallers and Templars were so great that the
two Orders came nigh suffering a common ex-
at this time that the Order of Saint JoLl
became a maritime power, having its own
fleets and winning its own victories in the
eastern Mediterranean. Early in the four'
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF RHODES, TIME OF THE CRUSADES.
tiuction. Finally, when, in 1291, the city of
Acre was taken by the Moslems, the knights
retired to Cyprus, where they made a stand
and recruited their wasted ranks for the over-
flowing commanderies of the West. It was
teenth century, they seized the island of
Rhodes, where they established their power,
and defied the Turks for more than two hun-
dred years. In 1522 they were driven from
their stronghold, and obliged to seek a new
THE CRUSADES.— THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
70S
tooting further west. They sought a refuge
first in Crete, then in Messina, then in the
main-land of Italy, and, finally, in 1530, were
given the island of Malta by the Emperor,
Charles V. This sea-born possession they
converted into a fortress, which, in spite of
the most strenuous efforts of the Turks, was
held by the knights until 1798, when it was
taken by Bonaparte.
The second of the great orders of knight-
hood was originally known as the Knights
OF THE Temple of Solomon, and afterwards
as Knights Templars, or Knights of the
Red Cross. Under these various designa-
tions they ran a briefer but more glorious
career than the Hospitallers, by whom they
were at first generously aided and afterwards
bitterly opposed. The founding of the Order
of the Temple dates to the year 1117. Two
French knights, Hugues des Paiens and Geof-
frey of Saint-Omer, perceiving the hardships
to which Christian travelers were exposed in
and about the Holy City, took upon them-
selves the duty of conducting the pilgrims
who journeyed between Jerusalem and the
Jordan. This charitable office soon gained a
reputation for the humble warrior-guides, and
they were joined by seven others, like-minded
with themselves. An organization was effected
under the benevolent patronage of the patri-
arch of the city. The members bound them-
selves by the usual monastic vows of obedi-
ence, chastity, and poverty ; and to these two
others were added, to defend the Holy Sepul-
cher and to protect the way-faring pilgrims
in Palestine. — Such was the humble beginning
of the Order.
At the first the Knights of Saint John,
now in the flush of their heroic virtues, lent
aid and encouragement to the new society of
brothers. Nothing was to be feared from a
humble fraternity known by the name of the
"Poor Soldiers of the Holy City." Nothing
could exceed the lowliness of the meek knights
who founded the brotherhood. Hugues and
Geoflrey had one horse between them, and him
they rode together on their first missions of
benevolence.' The first members were given
a lodging by Baldwin H., who assigned them
' The great seal of the Templars still perpetu-
ates the story of the lowly origin of the Order in
the figure of the steed with two riders.
K — Vol. 2 — 4J
quarters in his palace on the site of the ancient
temple. Their first armory was established in
a church near by, and here were stored their
first knightly weapons. The first chapter was
limited to nine members ; but this limitation
was removed by the council of Troyes in 1127.
At this assembly St. Bernard, of Clairvaux,
was commissioned to draw up a suitable code
for the government of the body, and to devise
an appropriate garb. The dress chosen was in
strong contrast with that of the Hospitallers,
consisting of a white tunic and mantle, with a
red cross on the left breast. The rule of con-
duct and discipline was approved in 1128 by
Pope Honorius U. The principal articles were
these: The
Knights were
bound to re-
cite vocal
prayers at cer-
tain hours ; to
abstain from
meats four
days in the
week ; to re-
frain from
hunting and
hawking ; to
defend with
their lives the
mysteries of
the Christian
faith ; to ob-
serve and
maintain the
Seven Sacra-
ments of the
Church, the fourteen articles of faith, the
creeds of the apostles and of Athanasius ; to
uphold the doctrines of the Two Testaments,
including the interpretations of the Fathers,
the unity of God and the trinity of his per-
sons, and the virginity of Mary both before
and after the birth of her Son ; to go beyond
the seas when called to do so in defense of the
cause ; to fly not from the foe unless assailed
by more than three Infidels at once.
Such was the nucleus of the Order. Hu-
mility was one of the first principles of the
membership. The helmet of the Templar should
have no crest — his beard should not be cut —
his demeanor should be that of a servant of
COSTUME OF A KNIGHT TEMPLAH.
704
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERJS WORLLf.
his fellows. Each member on assuming the
garb of a Knight must be girt with a linen
cord in token that he was henceforth bound
to service.
The organization of the Templars embraced
four classes of members — knights, squires, serv-
itors, and priests. Each had their peculiar
duties and obligations. The presiding officer
of the Order was called the Ma.'rter — afterwards
the Grand Master — and he had as his assist-
ants a lieutenant, a seneschal, a marshal, and
a treasurer, all of whom were elected by the
chapter. The states of Christendom were di-
vided into provinces, and over each was set a
provincial master. The Grand Master of Je-
rusalem was regarded as the head of the entire
be affiliated with the brotherhood in ordo" to-
share its benefits. Every thing conspired to^
make the Knights the favorites of the cent-
ury. They had the prestige of Crusaders.
They had St. Bernard for their Master. They
had the blessing of the Pope. They had the-
applause and gratitude of those whom they
had relieved and protected. They had estates-
and castles and churches. They had the pat-
ronage of the great and the benediction of
the Church.
It was the peculiarity of mediseval institu-
tions that beginning in virtuous poverty they
ended in luxury and crime. As early as the-
middle of the twelfth century the membership
of the Templars was recruited largely fronk
DEFEAT OF THE TURKS BY CRUSADERS.— Drawn by A. de -Neuville.
brotherhood, which soon grew in numbers, in-
fluence, and wealth to be one of the most pow-
erful organizations in the world. Counts, dukes,
princes, and even kings, eagerly sought the
honor which was everywhere conceded to the
red cross and white mantle of the Templar.
In course of time the Knights of the Temple
became a sovereign body, owing no allegiance
to any secular potentate. In spiritual mat-
ters the Pope was still regarded as supreme,
but in all other affairs the Grand Master
•was as independent as the greatest sovereign
of Europe. The houses of the Knights could
not be invaded by any civil officer. Their
churches and cemeteries were exempt from in-
terdicts; their properties and revenues from
taxation. So great were the immunities thus
enjoyed that thousands of persons sought to
the class of adventurers and outlaws -witlb
whom Europe so greatly abounded. St. Ber
nard himself declared in a series of exhorta-
tions addressed to the Order that the greats)
number of the nobles who had joined the sol
diers of the Temple had been men staineti
with every species of crime, the oppressors
and scourges of Europe.
In the division of the Christian states intc
provinces by the Order of the Red Cross, thre<
were formed in the Ea.«t — Jerusalem, Antioch,
and Tripoli. In the West the provinces num-
bered sixteen — France, Auvergne, Normandy,
Aquitaine, Poitou, Provence, England, Ger-
many, Upper and Lower Italy, Apulia, Sicily,
Portugal, Castile, Leon, and Aragon. Of all
these the most important by far was France;.
A majority of all the Templars were French^
lOOO
llOO
* 73. Contentions with Hildebr
24 Conrad II. 39. Henrylll.,THEBLACK; hedeposesand bishops begins.
1 Otho defeats the Saracens in Italy, creates three popes in succession. 76. Excommunicnted, depri
2. St. Henry, great-grandson to Henry I., elected. ^ ^^^^ ,„ {rctabsofut™"and af
victim of papal vengea
GERMANY.
56. Henry IV.,
aged six years.
24. HOUSE OF FRANCONIA.
73. A series of bloody wars with
RobertJI:, son of Hugh Capet. 31. Henry I. 60. Philip I. Invasion of William
The pope annuls his marriage 32. He defeats his brother Robert, whom his the Conqueror,
with his cousin Bertha, and puts mother, ( 'onstantia, has endeavored to
his kingdom under au interdict. raLse to the throne.
The feudal system still gains strength, and the power of the monarch declines. Private wan are con-
tinually carrkd on beiiceai the barojis.
In the next century Louis VI. and his successors have many struggles with their vassals. Under them
the power of the crown begins to revive and society to consohdate.
40. The Truce of God. Introduced by the clergy, which forbids private
CD A M /^ C warfarefromWednesdayevenin;; till Moiiihiyiiioniing, rht-rks
r" r»/\lN l-»C. civil contests, and the rise of free and chartered towns under
Louis VI. weakens feudal oppre.s.sion, sireiigthLiis ili>- power of
CAPETIAN RACE. the monarch and leads gradually to the formation of a middle
Dreadful hnassacre of all the 35, jHarold I.
Danes ;in England.
166, Harold II. elected.
Sweyn, k,;of Denmark, invades Enlgland the second time, |
ilo. Becomes king. |5'J, Canute I i., oppressive,;
!l6, Edmund IL.Ikosside,;
son of Ethelred II,;
ENGLAND.
•16, DANISH KINGS,
;66. William I., the Cosqceror,
oppressive,' from Normandy, defeats and slays
son of Canute the! Harold at ifos/inas. William intro-
Great, 1 duces the Feudal System.
! Norman French used in all legal
I proceedings.
41. Edward the Confessor .'.son of Ethelred II., mild, partial to th
44. 1'nitesallthelawsjof England into one body, called the
Common Law.!
! 87. Invading Fra
SAXON restored. ; 87. William Rutus,
Canute the Greiat, a Dane, and the
most powerful ;.sovercign in Europe.
;66. NORMAN KINGS.
4. IMalcolm II.; he publishes a new code of Laws.
SCOTLAND. ^ ""'"='""
Malcolm III., lUNMURE.
'Ji. Donald
92.
40. Macbeth usurps after murdering Duncan.
Sl.flTkaymen. caliph at Bagdad. ''" 97. G
The Saracens introduce the Arabic numeral 55. Bagdad tal<en by the Turks.
ciphers into Europe. From tliis time tlie caliphs are only the su-
Ferdusl. po., the Persian Homer. preme poiuiB's of the Mohammedan faith.
Avicenna, ph. and phys., d. 36, a, 66. te. The Turlts take Jerusalem
from the ^aracL-ns.
Christian pilgrims insulted and robbed — one cause of the Crusades
and relative to the investiture of
38.
Conrad
pose
aide
Guel
of th
andi
ved of his dominions, and his sub-
allegiance, he goes to Italy to so-
ter various struggles he falls the
nee, 25, Lothaire II. elected.
6. Henry V. He takes Pascal II. prisoner, ami
does not release him until he restorer
the investitures.
Marries Matilda of England,
the Saracens begins. 3g. HOUSE
8. Louis VI., THE Fat; he is an able and
37. Louis VII., THE Y
42. He qu
9. W. Eng. Henry defeated and noni
forced to retire. civil
chui
19. iJrranei'iHf— Louis de- 47. L
feated by the English.
24. The emperor Henry V.
CRUSADING.
class of Society.
Abelard, scholastic y
Henry I., the Scholar, usurps the throne while
his elder brother. Robert, is absent on a cru-
sade; proves an able but liceniious king.
6. Henrj' defeats Robert, takes him prisoner,
causes his eyes to be burned out. and con-
fines him for life(28years)inai;istle in \Va
35, Stephen, gni
ing the cla
e Normans,
40, Lincoln-
Glouces
nee, is injured and dies. 42. The ear
tyrannical and cruel. takei
Anarchy a
Henry marries Matilda, great-grand daughter of 1
issue. Matilda or Maud : she marries Geoffrey
ear! of .\njou — issue. Henry II.
(VII,) the Bane.
Anarchy,
Edgar.
24. David the Saint.
MOHAMMEDAN
EMPIRE.
Seljuk, a Turkish officer of the khan of Tartai7, becomes
a Mohammedan. Togrul Beg. his grandson, aiter some
conquests in 1037, takes the title of sultan ; 42. he con-
quers Persia; 55. takes Bagdad, where he establishes
his capital. Between lu.55and 1080 three more Turkish
sultanries are erected under different conquerors.
Ducas establishes his capital at Damascus, Melech at
Aleppo, and Cutiu Muses and his son at Iconium.
99.
odfreyof Bouillon, duke of Lorraine: Hugh, brothen
Robert, son of \\'illiam the Conqueror; and otln
head of 600,00u warriors, joined by Peter the He
remnant of his host, besiege Nice.
Solyman. at the head of the Turks, is defe4ited. an
X second time victorious, the Crusaders capture
sieged in Antioch by Solyman and the Persian
ilsca^on— Godfrey defeats the Moslems (100,000 hi ■
Mustali. 46. Coi
They assault Jerusalem, and obtain the object of
the deliverance of the Holy City from the ii
Godfrey is elected king.
47
41. Michael V. 59. Constantino X.
28. Romanus III. 42. Constantine IX.
34. Michael IV.
78. Nicephorus.
EASTERN OR GREEK EMPIRE.
M. Theodora, the last of the Macedonians.
57. Isaac Comnenus ri^igns. 81, Alexius I. Comne
54. Schism of the East completed (a separation of the
Eastern or Greek Church, from the Church of
Rome) after two centuries of contentions.
Learning and commerce some-
68. Romanus IV. Diogenes, uliat reviec.
18. John I. CoMNEKUS, a great and
4:;. Mai
By the talents and bravery nf the COMNENI "^
Bolesiaus I., the first king, defeats the Germans, Russians, and Boliemians. and governs with wisdom.
Pni ANn 25. Micisiaus II. 41. Casimir. .08. Bolesiaus II. 79. Ladislaus I., theCaheli^^s
rULHUUi M-n. Anarchy. Previous to low .V. li. Poland was governed liv dukes.
. Bolesiaus III.
:','j. Ladislau
41,
Ollir nril Christianity supposed to have been introduced into Sweden about 830, and into Den-
The history of Sweden previous to the fourteenth century is confused and uncertain.
The Erics and Swerk
Sweyn comiuers England. 36. Canute III.
__„,,._,, ,.„ . ,, J5. Magnus the Good, of Norway, k,
nFNMARIf liJ. Canute II.. THE Great, be- Civil war, 64, Peace,
ULI1IIIHn^■ conies king of England,
19, Conquers Norway.
74, Harold VII, .S7, Glaus, 95 Eric.
76, St, Canute IV.
Vnhappi/ times for nmr a
century ; of nine kings^ five
are assassinated.
. Nicholas. 35. Erci IV.
5. The clergy and nobility ob-
tain the chief power. 39. Eric V.
6HR0N0L0GIGAL 6HART
No. V.
Europe DURING THE Crdsades,
From 1000 to 1330 A. D.
Prepared by John Clark Bidpath, LL. D.
COPYRIGHTED 1S85.
PORTUGAL
95.
Henry, a grandson of Robert of France, (fSsists Al pi
a reward of his braver)-, gives him hisdaughtcr i
12. Alphonso I. .■». Proclaim
35. Ferdinand I. in 37 obtains
Leon by marriage,
CASTILE AND LEON.
65. Alphonso VI. of Leon in
bet {^ines king of Castile,
lion Koderigo. a knight
errant, surnamed the
CId, cfmquers New Cas-
tile for his sovereign.
9. Urraca marries Raymond <»f Fraiicho-ini
She makes warw'ith bersister There.si.
countess of Portugal.
26. Alphonso VIII, defcat-s the :
divides his dominions bei
his two sous.
35. Ramirez i. 63. Sancho Ramirez.
ADA PniJ 76. Unites Navarre to his domin
AnAUUn. 80. W.Moors. 94. Peter I.
'4. Alphonso I., THE Warrior, W. Moors,
ions. M.Ramlrezll.,THEMoNK.
6. 3IUan revolts and erects il.self into a rci ;
2. Williamlll., k of Sicily. 30. Rodger II.. k. of Si.
19-30. War between Pisa and i.,
Henry V., emperor and king of Italy.
ses mutual hatred. Study of the Civil Law revived :
ITAI Y 41. Normans conquer Apulia : William created duke.
1 1 nL 1 1 57. Robert Guiscard, duke.
Dreadful civil broils till 39 respecting faiilnl tenures.
The Free cities, VEMCE,"i;KNO,\, and PISA, rise in power and wealth. The foundations of
these little republics were laid soon after 900 ; they are greatly enriched by the Crusades.
3 Ardoln. A German party invites Henry ; Ardoin loses most of Italy ; soon after resigns,
4. Henry comes to Italy ; in a quarrel between his troops and the people Pavia is burnt, which cau
1200
trramison of Henry IV., elected by the states: op-
Henry the Proud" of the family of the Guelphs,
the pope. This gives rise to the factions of the
pjirti.sans of the pope) and Ghibelines (partisans
iperor), which for three centuries desolate Italy
any.
79. Philip excommunicat
-'. Frederic I., Baebaeossa, great-great-grandso
invades Italy, has contests with the pope, a
( SUABIA. W Henry VI.
ed, assassinated.
n of Henry IV.,
nd engages in the Third Crusade.
y il sovereign.
80. Philip II., AuGu
. with the pope about the 82. Banishes the J
on of an archbishop. A fiscates their
follows ; Louis burns the 90. Goes on
I \'itry, filled with rebels,
goes on a crusade to atone for his crime.
0 had joined England, defeated and forced to re
. 43
.63.
;s. 26. St. Louis IX., upright and honest, but living 85. Philip IV., theFaib,
in superstitious times. perfidious and cruaL
ews and con- France consolidated, 42. Saintes— Louts defeats Henry of England,
property. and the power of the crown 48. Goes to the Holy Land and defeats the Saracens.
Third Crusade. greatly increased. 50. Taken prisoner in Eg>'pt. purchases his pardon,
and returns.
16. Louis, son of Philip, accepts the offer of the barons, goes to London, and is there
crowned, but John dying soon after, he is forced to retire,
tire. 70. Dies besieging Tunis on his
23. Louis VIII. .theLios. He seizes all the English second crusade.
piisscssions on the Continent as far as the
liaroiiiie. 7(1. Philip III., the Hardy.
8. Otho IV. (marries the daughter of Philipi.
12. Frederic II.; he keeps up the opposi-
tion against three successive popes.
50. Conrad, IV. '. „ . , . ,
54. Poisoned. ^3. Rodolph I. restores order
From the death; in his distracted empire,
of Conrad to tho| 78. Conquers Austria,
election of Roil|olph. ^fte 91. AdolphUS
most <ln'<t<ij'iil a>itan-hlj. elected,
41. League of the Hanse Towns iK(win n umber eighty) for the pro-
tection of commerce and llor withstanding the exactldlS
of the nobles. ;
•73.H0USE0FHAPSBUR6.
lenry II., (grandson to Henry I.), Plantagenet,
stu-ceeds according to agreement, and proves the
greatest monarch of the age.
Opposed by Thomas a Becltet, archbishop of
Canterbury.
of William the Conqueror, usurps, notwithstand-
)f Matilda and her son Henrv.
70. Becket killed.
'hen taken prisoner by the earl of 89. Richard
Matilda's brother. 73."Hissonsrebel. 90. Goes on
eated, 74. Does penance at Becket's
oner. tomb.
'"7?/ 71. Ireland conquered ; given by
iiid II. — the pope to Henry II. in. 56.
(Uagenet. ^Q[i^^ OF PLANTAGENET
HEROIC.
15. John l'orce<i to submit to his in-
di^iiuitt biirons, and to sig:n the
Magna Charta, or Great Charter,
which secures important rights
to all classes.
16. Henry III., a weak king, governed by
foreign favorites.
I., THE Lion.
a crusade, defeats Saladin ; returning, is detained a prisoner in Germany.
John Lackland, a weak tyrant, son of Henry 11. In 13 he resigns his crown
to the pope's legate', and receives it back as a vassal of the Holy See.
OR ANJOU.
R. Bacon, ph., d. 94, a. so.
NotwUhsianding her intestine troubles, in tltis century- Eng-
land improves greatly in civilization, commerce, and power.
58. The Statutes of Oxford drawn up by the barons,
which ihc kin^' swcnrs U> observe.
64. 7.f'(vs— Hi-iiry III. defeated and made
prisoner by iloiitfurt.earl of Leicestar,
supi^orted by the barons.
65. Evenhmn — Prince Edward defeats and
slays Montfort, and frees his father.
72. Edward I., Longshanks, a
great warrior and states-
man, but cruel.
2. Wales conquered ; its
king, UeweMyn, slain in
battle: from this time
" Priuce of Wales" is
the title of tlie king's
eldest son.
William the Lion.
49. Alexander III., aged eight years, marries Margaret.
Malcolm IV.
65. William I., the Lion.
!>' reach king;
ictiains, at the ^
with" the small VL Saladin, sultan of Egypt, a
He conquers Syria, Assyria,
city taken.
loch ; are themselves be-
r, but are again victorious.
,nid 4no,000 foot)under
s ai-my destroyed by the
1 of Iconium.
war in
Is, and
14. Alexander II., active and wise ; his attempts 63. The \Vestern Islands conquered from
to civilize the ('elts (Highlanders) occa- Denmark. So. Baliol and Bruce.
sion civil contentions, 93. Baliol king.
wise and upright prince.
Mesopotamia, and Aratjia.
87. He defeats the
91. Acre taken
Philip A
91. Richard de
93. Saladin d
are div
army of Louis destroyed in Laodicea.
The po^ver of the Crusaders declines.
The second Crusade cost Europe 200,000 men.
_ _ . . _ Crusaders and
takes Jcrusu lem. J
by Richard and
ugustus.
feats Saladin.
ies and his dominions
ided.
30. Batu Khan, nephew of Ougtai. invades Europe at the head of
1,500,000 Moguls; ravages Russia, Poland. Hungary, and advances
to the Danube ; establishes himself as first khan of Kipchak.
Ougtai Khan completes the conquest of Northern China. 91. Mamelukes
■ _ I . „, capture Acre.
;iS. Genghis Khan, sovereign of the Moguls, after having subdued End of the king-
I mostnf the Tartars in the North and East and Northern China, dom of Jerusa-
J enters Pcr.sia, and in six years subdues that country. lem.
;25. Marches for (_:hina; dies upon the expedition; his empire divided among
• his four sons.
The empire of the Moguls included all Asia, except AralJia. Turkey, the
southern part of Hindostan, Chin-India, the south-eastern part of China,
and the northern part of Siberia. It also embraced the eastern part (one-
third) of Russia in Europe.
1250-1382. Mamelukes rule in Egypt. They were originally Turkish
slaves. 68 They take Antioch from the Christians.
le prince.
Comnenus.
ars with the Turks and
tians.
80. Alexius II. Comnenus.
83. Andronicus I. Comne
85. Isaac Angelus.
oirc becomes an object of respect or 0/ terror to the
icand Asia.
16. Peter de Courtenay.
3. Alexius IV., the Younger. 19. Robert de Courtenay.
Nus. 4. Baldwin I. crowned. 2.s. Baldwin II.
4. French or Latin emperors at Constantinople.
6. Henry.
61. The Greek eiuperors recover Constan-
tinople from the French.
61. Michael Paleologus. 81. The Turks take
Cutahi.
82. Andronicus If.
Paleolouus.
,ars.
:laus IV.
73. Micislaus III.
78. Casimir the Just ; he
restores peace.
. Lesko restored. 20, Conrad of Masovia.
27. Boleslaus V., 41. Lignitz— the Poles defeat,
aged 6. till nine sacks uilli ilir
79. Lesko the Black.
il hy the Mogul.'^, who
iulil r;ii's of the sliiin.
ontend for dominion.
10. Eric X.
16. John I. 22. Eric XI.
50. Waldemar. 70. Magnus Ladislaus. 90. Birgercon-
CJiivalry-and tourna- quered.
ments introduced. Lapland
^Wisby becomes one of the Hanse towns. conquered.
weyn IV. 57. Waldemar I., the Victorious, defeats
the Slavonic pirates.
Canute V. 70. Destroys Jomsberg, the grea
Europe, and the stronghol
82- Canute VI.
3. Waldemar II. makesgreatcouquests, butis 42. Eric VI. 5:2. Christopher I
taken prisoner, and loses most of his acquisitions. 50. Abel. 59. Eric VII. SO. County deputies of
test city in 40. Laws of Waldemar. the peasantry to
d of paganism. 43. Copenhagen captured by the Parliament.
Hanse Towns. 86. Eric VIII,
king of Castile, against the Moors. Alphonso, as
irriage, and creates h im conn t of a part or Portugal,
ing by his troops. BURGUNDY. 85. Sancho I.
11. Alphonso II.. THE Fat. 45. Deposed by the pope.
Si Sancho II., Capellus. 46. Alphonso III.
79. Dionysius or Dennis
the Just.
xfterwards Alphonso I. of Aragon, but is divorced.
'7. Sancho II., king of Castile, and
Ferdinand II., king of Leon.
58. Alphonso IX., king of Castile, has a long
and prosperous reign.
86. Alphonso IX., king.
12. Alphonso, king of Castile defeats the Moors. 52. Alphonso X.. the Wise. 71. Elected Emperor
14. Heni7 I., king of Castile. of liermany by a faction: in 82 deposed,
17. St. Ferdinand III., king of Castile. and attempts to recover his throne by the
30. Unites Castile and Leon. aid of the Moors.
36. St. Ferdinand takes Cordova, The Alphonsine Tables formed.
etc., from the Moors. 84. Sancho IV.
'■'2. Alphonso II. conquers Provence. 96. Peter
tronilla is married to Raymond, conn I of Barcelona.
67. League of the Italian cities to preserve
II. renders his kingdom tribul^iry to the Pope ; for this he receives the title of Catholic. 91. James II.
13. James I. In 29 he takes Majorca from the Moors; afterwards, Minorca. I\ica,
their independence. Valencia, and Murcia. 76. Peter III. 85. Alphonso Ml.
.Williamlll..THEBAD. 97.
57. Bank of Venice established.
60 Freden<- takes Crana. 67. He tflkes Rome.
62 Fred. Tic takes Milan. 8S. Peace of Con
66. William IV.. the Good, king of Sicily.
74. Frederic's fourth expedition into Italy.
is said, by the discovery of a copy of the Pandects.
Frederic II., kiie.; nf sicily. 12. (iocs to
Germany and becomes emperor.
50. Conrad, k. of the Sicilies. 6s. Manfred.
65. Charles of Anjou. brother of St. Louis, is
king iif the Sicilies ; he acquires great
stance, which re-esta>)lishes the independence power, and aims at the sovereignty of Italy.
of the Italian republics. 58. Dreadful naval war between Veniceand Genoa.
10-12. First war between Venice and Genoa. Thomas Aquinas, div., d. 74. a 50.
82. Sicilian Vespers.
THE CRUSADES. — THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
709
and their possessions on French soil exceeded
the aggregate of all others together. It was
estimated that by the middle of the thirteenth
century as many as nine thousand manors were
held by the Templars of France. It naturally
came to pass that all the other elements of
society were alarmed and excited on account of
the bloated development of this monopoly of
the wealth and honors of the kingdom. The
protection of pilgrims was meanwhile forgotten
in the rivalry for power and the lust of gain.
In the course of the subsequent Crusades the
Knights not infrequently acted in bad faith
towards those whom they pretended to serve.
When the Christian kingdom in the Eas^ tot-
tered to its downfall, the Templars, with a
strange depravity of principle, attempted to
secure their own interests by separate treaties
with the Moslems ; but their fortunes were in-
volved with those of the Western powers, and
all went down together.
The chief seat of the Templars remained at
Jerusalem from the foundation in 1118 to the
year 1187, and was then transferred to Anti-
och. Here the Grand Master had his head-
quarters for four years, removing thence, in
1191, to Acre. This stronghold of Knighthood
continued to be the head-quarters of the Order
until 1217, when a third removal was made
to the Pilgrim's Castle near Cesarea. With
the capture of Acre, in 1291, and the conse-
quent overthrow of the Christian kingdom, the
Templars retired to Cyprus, which they pur-
chased from Richard the Lion Heart for thirty-
five thousand marks.
About this time the Order fell under the
ban in several parts of the West. Especially
in France were the suspicions and jealousies of
the government aroused against the Knights.
Their exemption from all the burdens of the
state, their arrogance, their pride and licen-
tiousness all con.spired to excite against them
the dread and hatred of the people and the
king. Nor is it to be doubted that the great
wealth amassed by the Order in the course of
nearly two centuries had aroused the cupidity
of those who, unscrupulous as the Knights
themselves, were ready to seize the first pre-
text of violence. Especially was the hostility
of Philip the Fair of France awakened against
a power which he conceived to be a menace
to the perpetuity of his kingdom. He accord-
ingly determined to free the realm of the pres-
ence of the dangerous and ambitious brother-
hood. He took counsel with Pope Clement
V. how the Order might be exterminated. A
judicial inquiry was instituted, the Knights
being charged with heresy and immorality.
In 1306 Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of
the Templars, was induced to come to Paris,
and in October of the following year he and
aU the members of the brotherhood in France
were seized. Their property was taken to
await the issue of the proceedings. In the
course of the trial many grave accusations,
some of them contradictory of others, were
brought forward, and the brothers were made
to answer. They were charged with infidelity,
Mohammedanism, atheism, heresy, profanation
of holy things, and unclean ne.ss. The prose-
cution was greatly troubled to produce evi-
dence, but balked in the usual methods, a
resort was had to torture, and many of the
prisoners made confession. The Pope was loth
to give his sanction to a measure of extermi-
nation, but Philip was determined, and the
archbishop of Sens lent his countenance to the
proceedings.
A grand council was called in Paris on the
10th of May, 1310, and three days afterwards
fifty-four of the Temjalars being condemned
were led into the field behind the alley of
St. Antoine and burned at the stake. This
example of vindictive fury was imitated in
other parts of the kingdom. The reign of
violence provoked action from the Pope, who
two years later convened the Council of Venice
to consider the question of the fate of the
Templars. It was decided that the Order should
be abolished and its property confiscated ; but
at the same time the Pope reserved his judg-
ment as to whether the Knights were guilty of
the heinous charges brought against them.
The landed possessions of the famous brother-
hood were transferred to the Hospitallers, and
their movable property went to the sover-
eigns of the various states. Everywhere in
Christendom, except in the kingdom of Por-
tugal, where the brotherhood assumed the
name of the Knights of Christ, the Templars
as an organization were suppressed. De Molay
himself and Guy of Auvergne were burned
at Paris.
The third of the great chivalric bodies.
710
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
taking its rise in the time of the Crusades was
the TEUTONIC KJxiGHTS, or Knights of Saint
Mary of Jerusalem. Like its two predecessors
the 'new Order was based on a union of mo-
nastic and military service. A few years after
the capture of Jerusalem by the Christians, a
German merchant and his wife, dwelling in
the city, threw open their house for the enter-
tainment of the sick and distressed of their
own nation. The attention of the Patriarch
was called to this benevolent act, and a chapel
near by was attached to the humble hospital,
which received the name of Saint Mary. The
founder of the institution devoted all his own
means to the work, and it was not long until
alms began to pour in in aid of the enterprise.
Several distinguished Germans contributed
their property to the support of the work be-
gun by their countrymen. A service and rit-
ual were established, and in the year 1119,
only one year after the founding of the Tem-
plars, the new Order received the sanction of
Pope Calixtus II. Religious and martial vows
were taken by the brothers, who made the
work of charity and the relief of the dis-
tressed the prominent feature of their dicipline.
In the choice of a dress and regalia, the
Teutonic Knights distinguished themselves as
much as possible from the Hospitallers and the
Templars. The gown was black with a white
mantle, and on this was a black cross with a
silver edging. The Order soon achieved an
enviable fame, and its members became the
recipients of the same fovors and honors which
were showered upon the other two brother-
Uoods. The second establishment of the Teu-
tonic Knights was founded in 1189 by the
burghers of Bremen and Liibeck, who, during
the siege of Acre, were moved to build a hos-
pital for the relief of their countrymen. The
two chajiters were presently combined into one
order by Duke Frederick of Suabia, who in
1192 obtained for the union the sanction of
Pope Celestine III. The rule of the body was
amplified and the discipline of the Augustin-
ians adopted for its government.
At the origin of the Teutonic Order none
but Germans of noble birth were admitted to
membership. Not until 1221 were sergeants
and priests added to the fraternity. The chief
officer was called the Grand INIaster. At the
first, he had his residence in Jerusalem. Aftjer
the fall of Acre in 1291 he removed to Venic«
and shortly afterward to Marburg.
The Teutonic knights first appeared as a
powerful military factor in the aflairs of Eu-
rope about the beginning of the thirteenth
century. In 1226 they were called out by
the Grand Master, Hermann of Salza, to
aid Conrad, duke of Masovia, in repelling
the Prussian and Lithuanian pagans from
his borders. Their valor and religious zeal
attracted the attention of all the European
states ; and Conrad gave them, in reward for
their services, the province of Culm on the
Vistula. Establishing themselves in this ter-
ritory, they extended their authority over
Prussia, Courland, and Livonia. In their
wars in these dark regions, they carried the
sword in one hand and the Gospel in the
other, and the pagans were given their
choice. In the year 1309, the residence of
the Grand Master was transferred to ]\Iarien-
burg, from which, as a center, the Order
became almost as dominant in the North as
the Templars in the South. The territory
under their rule extended from the Gulf of
Finland to the river Oder, and the annual
revenues of the fraternity were estimated at
800,000 marks. The highest dignitaries of
Northern Europe eagerly sought membership,
and the Church smiled her fairest approval.
As in the case of the Hospitallers and the
Templars, the Teutonic Order felt the disas-
trous effects of luxury and power. The hum-
ble professions and practices of the founders
were forgotten by the haughty German barona
who now controlled the destinies of the brother-
hood. Oppression followed in the wake of
opulence and authority, and violent dissensions
arose as the precursors of decline. By the
beginning of the fifteenth century, the Order
had reached its climax. At that epoch, a
series of conflicts began with the kings of
Poland which hastened the downfall of the
fraternity. In 1410 the kuights fought the
great battle of Griinwald, in which they were
disastrously defeated by Ladislaus Yagellon;
and, in a subsequent struggle with Casimir
IV., West Prussia was wrested from them
and annexed to the Polish dominions. Even
in East Prussia they were reduced to the rank
of vassals.
At 2ength the proud Knights, galled bv their
THE CRUSADES.— THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
711
subjugation, made an eflbrt to regain their in-
dependence. In 1525 they revolted and went
to war, but the conflict resulted in a still
further eclipse of their fortunes. East Prus-
sia was reduced to a duchy, and bestowed by
Sigismund I. on the Grand Master, Albert of
Brandenburg. The Order became the shadow
of its former glory, and, after a precarious
existence of three centuries, was finally abol-
ished by Napoleon in 1809.
Let us, then, return to the course of po-
litical events in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
When, in 1118, Baldwin du Bourg succeeded
his cousin, Baldwin I., on the throne, he was
indebted for his elevation to the influence of
his powerful kinsman, Joscelyn de Courte-
nay. This distinguished nobleman had gone
to Asia Minor with the Count of Chartres in
the wake of the First Crusade, and had set-
tled at Edessa. Afterwards he was taken
prisoner by the Turks, but, after five years,
he escaped from his captors, and received
from Baldwin a province within the limits
of Edessa. In the course of time he and
his patron quarreled, and Joscelyn, being
grievously maltreated, retired to Jerusalem.
Here he lived at the time of the death of
Baldwin I. He and Baldwin du Bourg now
made up their quarrel, and, when the latter
became a candidate for the throne, Joscelyn
favored his election, with a view of securing
for himself the Principality of Edessa. The
arrangement was carried out, and, when Bald-
win II. came to the throne of Jerusalem, De
Courtenay was rewarded with his kinsman's
duchy.
Edessa proved to be a stormy inheritance.
From the first, Prince Joscelyn had to fight
for the maintenance of his authority. The
8aracens on the side of the Euphrates were
full of audacious enterprises, and the utmost
efforts of the Christians were necessary to
keep them at bay. Such, however, were the
warlike energies of the veteran De Courte-
nay, that, during his lifetime, the Moslems
were unable to break into his dominions.
At the last he met his fate in a manner
becoming the hero of the church militant.
While laying siege to a fortress near the
city of Aleppo, the aged warrior was crushed
beneath the ruins of a wall ; and, when re-
covered from the debris, was found to be
fatally injured. He was, however, conveyed
to Edessa, and there awaited the hour of
doom. His son, who also bore the honored
name of Joscelyn, was named as his suc-
cessor, and to him the dying governor looked
for the defense of the realm. But the youth
was lacking in the soldierly vigor of the father;
and, when the latter summoned him to go on
the instant to the defense of a stronghold which
had been attacked by the Saracens, the younger
De Courtenay replied that he feared his forces
were insufficient. Indignant at hearing such
a word as fear from the lips of his son, the
bruised and mutilated old Crusader ordered
himself to be carried on a litter to where the
Saracens were besieging his town. Learning
of his approach, the enemy broke up their
camp and fled. Whereupon, looking up into
heaven from his couch, the chivalrous De
Courtenay expired in unclouded content.
Events soon showed that the date of his
death was a dark day for the Principality of
Edessa. The younger Jo.scelyn was a me-
dieval roue. Without regard to the inter-
ests of the government or the glory of war,
he gave himself up to a life of sensual pleas-
ure. Seeking a luxurious retreat on the banks
of the Euphrates, he surrounded his court
with others like-minded with himself, and
gave free reign to appetite. Such measures
as were essential for the safety and welfare
of the Principality were drowned in the pleas-
ures of abandonment.
At the same time, when the government
of Edessa was thus falling into incompetent
hands, a great prince appeared among the
Moslems. This was the warrior Sanguin, sul-
tan of Mossul. By successful campaigns, he
had already added Aleppo and other Syrian
cities to his dominions. After thus strength-
ening his borders, he turned his attention to
Edessa, and eagerly longed for an opportunity
to measure swords with that degenerate city.
As soon as he learned of the character and apt-
itudes of the young De Courtenay, he lost no
time in setting out on a campaign against the
almost defenseless capital of the Christian duchy.
While Joscelyn was holding high carnival on
the Euphrates, the sobering intelligence was
borne to his ears that a powerfvil Saracen army
had already encamped before Edessa. It is the
first impulse of an alarmed drunkard to call
712
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
on some one soberer than himself for aid.
The terrified De Courtenay sent immediately
to MUliceut, queen-regent of Jerusalem, and
to the prince of Antioch, to implore their
assistance in his hour of peril. But neither
the queen nor the prince was able to go to
his rescue. Edessa was left to her fate ; and,
after a siege of a month's duration, the vic-
torious Saracens entered the city, and put the
inhabitants to the sword.
Ever}^ thoughtful reader of history must
have been astonished at the many sudden re-
vulsions of fortune presented for his contem-
plation. The career of the warlike Sanguia
furnishes such an example. Just as his do-
minion seemed to be firmly established by his
conquest of Edessa, he was assassinated by his
slaves ; and just as Joscelyn de Courtenay was
reduced to the rank of an adventurer without
a province, without a city, he suddenly roused
himself from his stupor, drew his sword, and
putting himself at the head of his troops, retook
his capital from the ^loslems. His spasmodic
heroism, however, was not sufficient to wrest
the citadel of Edessa from the hands of the foe.
Meanwhile, Noureddin, son and successor of
Sanguin, came to the rescue of the beleaguered
garrison ; and the Christians found themselves
pressed desperately between two armies of Sar-
acens, the one within and the other without the
city. Finding his situation hopeless, Joscelyn
determined to save himself and his army by
flight. In the silence of midnight, the gates of
the city were opened, and the Christians un-
dertook to make their exit. But the garrison
in the citadel discovering the movement made
a signal to the Moslems outside the walls and
the escaping army was suddenly arrested in its
flight. Only a few succeeded in breaking
through the Saracen camp and making their
way to the friendly settlements on the Eu-
phrates. All the rest were slaughtered. Fully
thirty thousand victims were hewed down in
an indiscriminate massacre by the relentless
Islamites. On the morrow the Crescent was
raised above the blood-smeared city, and the
Christian principality of Edessa was no more.
This great disaster occurred in the year
1145. The news of the fall of the city was
spread throughout Christendom, and the na-
tions were profoundly stirred. The kingdom
of Jerusalem was shaken to its center. It was
evident that unless a rally of the Western
Christians should be made in defense of their
provinces in the East, the whole fabric so pain-
fully reared by the victories of the first Cru-
saders, would be swept away by the reflux tide
of Mohammedan invasion. It was this condi-
tion of afl'airs that led to the preaching of the
Second Crusade in Europe. The principal
agent in the work of arousing the people for
the succor of the holy places of the East waa
Saint Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux.
Many circumstances, however, now con-
duced to a second uprising of the European
Christians. The half-century which had elapsed
since the CouncU of Clermont had planted in
several of the Western states the conditions
of another movement on Asia similar to the
first. In France, King Philip I. died in the
year 1106, and was succeeded by his son Louis
the Fat. The latter from the age of eighteen
had been associated with his father in the gov-
ernment. The intellect of the new sovereign
was comparatively a blank, but his moral qual-
ities were of a higher order than was com-
mon in his age. He had a sincere regard for
justice, and his temper had something of that
gayety and enthusiasm for which the subjects
of his remote descendants became so noted
among the more somber peoples of Europe.
The better energies of Louis's reign were ex-
pended in a laudable eflbrt to protect the peas-
antry of France from the exactions of the
feudal nobility. The larger part of his time
Was consumed in petty wars, with his barons,
whom he endeavored in vain to repress and
force into obedience. This task, however,
was beyond the limits of his power. The time
had not yet arrived when the arrogance of
the French nobility was to be broken on the
wheel of royal prerogative.
In the thirteenth year of his reign, Louis
was involved in a war with Henry I, king of
England. It will be remembered that that
ambitious prince had succeeded his brother
William Rufus when the latter was killed in
the forest; also that the duchy of Normandy
had, during the absence of Robert Short Hose
in the East, been held as an appanage of the
English crown. On the return of Robert from
Palestine, he repossessed himself of his estates,
but was presently assailed by his brother,
driven from his castles, captured and con-
THE CRUSADES. — THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
713
•demned to perpetual imprisonmeut in the
fortress of Cardiff. William, tlie son of Duke
Robert, fled for his life and sought refuge
with the king of France. It was the protec-
tion of this fugitive prince by Louis the Fat
that brought on a war between that monarch
•and King Henry. A battle was fought between
their armies at Brenneville, in which the
English were victorious, but the victory was
•neither bloody nor decisive. Indeed, it was
the peculiarity of the feudal wars in the West
not to kill but to capture, for the ransom of
■distinguished captives was more profitable to
the victor than the brief exhibition of dead
bodies on the battle-field. Only three Knights
are said to have been slain in the battle of
Brenneville. It happened that at the time of
the conflict Pope Calixtus II. , who had escaped
from the disturbances of Italy, was sojourning
in France. The potentate was greatly grieved
at the war which had broken out between his
subjects on the two sides of the Channel. He
accordingly mediated between them, and the
two kings agreed to be at peace.
In the year 1124 hostilities broke out a
.second time between the two kingdoms. The
Emperor, Henry V., of Germany, had in the
mean time married the Princess Matilda,
daughter of Henry I., and the English king
now called upon his powerful father-in-law to
«.id him in his war with Louis the Fat. The
Emperor gladly accepted the invitation, for he
'had many causes of enmity against King Louis.
The latter raised a powerful army of two hun-
dred thousand men, but before actual hostilities
began Henry V. died, and the v.'ar was thus
a i^erted. As to Prince William, Louis bestowed
on him the earldom of Flanders as a recom-
pense for the loss of Normandy, but the young
earl presently died from the effects of a neg-
lected wound.
In 1129 King Louis had his eldest son
Philip, who was the pride and expectancy of
the state, crowned with himself as heir appar-
ent to the throne. Two years afterwards,
however, the prince died, and such was the
■effect of the loss upon his father that the king
was inconsolable and refrained for a long time
from public duties.'
' The manner of the death of the Dauphin well
illustrates the existing conditions of life in Paris.
While the prince was riding tlirough the filth and
In the following year the succession was
established to Prince Louis, the king's second
son, then but twelve years of age. Two years
afterwards, borne down with excessive corpu-
lency, the monarch was attacked with a mal-
ady, and, believing his end at hand, he sought
diligently to be reconciled with all his foes.
Destiny, however, had appointed him three
additional years of life. He died in 1137,
and was sincerely lamented by his subjects.
In accordance with the previous settlement,
the crown passed peaceably to Prince Louis,
who took the title of Louis VII. It was his
good fortune to have for his minister the Abbe
Segur, one of the ablest and most scholarly
men of the kingdom. AVith such a support the
young king found opportunity in the early
years of his reign to indulge his natural love
for chivalrous amusements, to which he de-
voted most of his time. His first serious busi-
ness was in 1142, when he became involved in
a quarrel with the Pope respecting the right
of investiture in the French church. He also
alienated from himself Earl Tliibaud of Cham-
pagne, whose sister had been married to the
Count of Vermandois. . Him the king induced
to divorce his wife, and to wed a sister of
Queen Eleanor. Thibaud was so greatly in-
censed that he took up arms, and the king, in
order to suppress the insurrection, marched a
large force into Champagne, and laid siege to
the castle of Vitry. Meeting with a stubborn
resistance, he set fire to the fortress, and by
an unexpected spread of the conflagration the
town was wrapped in flames. A church in
which thirteen hundred human beings had
taken refuge was a part of the holocaust. The
king, who had not intended that the fire should
do so horrible a work, was near enough to hear
the shrieks of the dying, and was seized with
remorse and terror. Never afterwards did he
recover from the shock, and the work of paci-
fying his conscience became henceforth his
chief concern. It was while he was brooding
rubbish-encumbered streets a swine ran against
his horse, threw him, and fatally crushed the
rider. The king thereupon issued an edict that
swine should not be allowed to run at large in the
streets ; hut the proclamation -n'as so seriously re-
sisted by the monks of St. Antoine that the order
was so modified as to give their sacred pigs the
freedom of the city, on condition that said pigs
sliould wear bells! Such was Paris!
714
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
over his crime that the news was borne to the
West of the fall of Edessa, and the project of
warding off the vengeance of heaven by un-
dertaking a Crusade was at once suggested to
Louis's mind as a means of expiation. An
assembly of barons and bishops was called,
and the wish of the king to undertake a cam-
paign against the Infidels of Asia was presented
for discussion. The measure was received with
much favor, and the Pope, on being consulted,
gave his approval of the enterprise.
In the mean time, the Empress Matilda, the
childless widow of Henry V. of Germany, had
been given by her father, Henry I. of England,
to Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of that Prince
Foulque who, by his marriage with the queen-
regent of Jerusalem, was acting so large a part
in the Christian kingdom of Palestine. It was
a project of the English king (for he now had
no son') to establish the succession to his
daughter, with Geoffrey for Prince Consort.
Very averse, however, to such a project were
the barons and squires of England, who pre-
ferred a man for their ruler. For this reason
they took sides with the Prince Stephen, son
of Adela, daughter of the Conqueror, and vig-
orously supported his claims against those of
Matilda. In the year 1127, the English king
went abroad and resided with his daughter,
the Empress Matilda, whose three sons by
Plantagenet cheered their grandfather with
the prospect of the future. In 11-35, Henry
I. died at St. Denis, but was brought home to
England for burial.
Events soon showed that the precautions
taken by the late king, respecting the succes-
sion, were of no avail. His nephew, Stephen,
upon whom he had bestowed many favors, in-
cluding a large estate in Normandy, immedi-
ately appeared on the scene to dispute the
claims of Matilda. Every thing went in his
favor, and he was crowned in Westminster, in
1135. Before the friends and supporters of
the wife of Plantagenet were well aware of
the usurper's proceedings, the whole affair was
Buccessfully concluded ; and Stephen found
time to fortify himself in popular esteem. So
'Prince William, the only son of Henry I., was
drowned at sea wliile returning from Normandy,
whittier he tiad been taken by his father to receive
the homage of the barons of that duchy, in the
year 1120.
when David, king of Scotland, took up arms
agaiust him, the English monarch was able to
meet him on equal terms ; and David was in-
duced, by the cession of a part of the four
northern counties of England, to desist from
hostilities. The Earl of Gloucester, a natural
son of the late King Henry, was disposed to
fight for the rights of his father's family; but
the other barons of the realm refused to join
the enterprise, and the earl was obliged to
submit.
It soon happened, however, that the sever-
ity of Stephen towards his nobles disturbed
their loyalty; and after the manner of the
men of their age, they went over to the oppo-
sition. Hostilities broke out between the rival
parties, but the war was conducted in the des-
ultory and indecisive manner peculiar to the
feudal times. It was not until February of
1141 that the Earl of Gloucester, who com-
manded the army of ^latihla, succeeded in
bringing his enemy to battle before the town
of Lincoln. Here a terrible conflict ensued,
in which King Stephen was defeated, cap-
tured, and imjjrisoned in the castle of Bristol.
Matilda entered London in triumph and was
acknowledged as queen. Before her corona-
tion, however, she behaved in so imperious a
manner towards the people of the city as to
alienate the affections even of her best sup-
porters. Within a mouth she was obliged to
fly to Winchester for safety. From this place
she was quickly driven to Devizes, and the
Earl of Gloucester, in attempting to follow her
thither, was in his turn captured and shut up
in the castle of Kochester.
The rival parties were now in a position to
exchange their noble prisoners. The Earl of
Gloucester was given up for Stephan. The
former immediately repaired for Normandy to
bring over Matilda's eldest son, the Prince
Henry Plantagenet,' to whom the people al-
ready began to look for a solution of their
' The name Plantagenet has been the subject of
much dispute. The best etymology, perhaps, ia
that which derives the word from Low Latin plan-
tagenistse, meaning "broom twigs." It appears
that Foulque, Count of Anjou, who first bore the
name of Plantagenet, had conuiiitted some crime
for which, on going on a |)ilgrimage to Rome h*
was scourged with broom , and accepted the title
which was given in commemoration of his pun-
ishment.
THE CRUa^DES.—THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
715
difficulties. Stephen resumed the exercise of
the royal prerogatives, and besieged the em-
press in the castle of Oxford. After a season
she made her escape and fled to Abingdon,
where she was presently joined by Gloucester
and her son. The warfare between her and
Stephen continued until 1147, when the Earl
of Gloucester died, and Matilda resigning her
claim to her son, retired with that prince into
Normandy. For sis years there was a lull, but
in 1153 young Henry, now grown to man's
estate, raised an army, and returning to Eng-
land renewed the struggle for the crown. The
rival princes came face to face at the town of
Wallingford, but the barons on neither side
were disposed to begin a battle in which they
had nothing to gain and every thing to lose.
Stephen and Henry were thus obliged to sub-
mit to their arbitration, and it was decided
that the former, whose only son, Eustace, had
recently died, should continue king of Eng-
land during his life, and that the crown should
then descend to Henry.
Such, then, was the condition of affairs in
England, when the voice of St. Bernard was
heard afar announcing the capture of Edessa
by the Turks, and calling on Christendom to
rally to the rescue of the imperiled Cross.
Meanwhile, in Germany, in 1106, the great
but unfortunate Emperor, Henry IV., died,
and was succeeded by his unfilial son, Henry
V. The accession of the latter was accom-
plished by the influence of the papal or anti-
German party ; but, no sooner was the young
monarch seated on the throne than he went
over to the policy of his father, and set him-
self against the assumptions of the Church.
In a short time he and Pope Paschal II. were
embroiled in the same way as Henry IV. and
Gregory had been in the preceding century.
The general result of the long struggle was
the gradual decline of Imperial influence, until
the shadow of the Carlovingian reality was
hardly any longer seen outside of the borders
of Germany, and even here the spirit of feu-
dalism, cooperating with the destruction of
civil wars, had reduced the Empire to a fic-
tion. Nor was the character of Henry V. of
a sort to revive the reality of three centuries
ago. He was a cold, stern, and heartless
prince, whose chief motive of action was a
certain rational selfishness, and whose prin-
cipal virtue was force of will. The latter
quality was in constant and salutary exercise
in repressing the arrogance of the German
feudal lords, who were robbers or geutlemea
just as the sword of authority was drawn or
sheathed by their master.
The first foreign enterprise undertaken by
Henry was the invasion of Italy. In 1110
he raised an army of thirty thousand knights,
and crossed into Lombardy. The cities of
that realm acknowledged his authority, as-
did also Matilda of Tuscany. Even the-
Pope deemed it expedient to yield to his
powerful antagonist, and, going forth, met
him as a friend. His Holiness agreed ta
officiate at the coronation of Henry, but
still claimed the right of investing the bish-
ops. To this the Emperor would not assent,,
and the Pope then made the radical proposi-
tion that there should be a complete "sepa-
ration of Church and State" — that is, that
the bi.shops, abbots, and priests should give
up their secular power, and become simply
officials of the Church. This, of course, in-
volved the reversion to the crown of the
lands belonging to the ecclesiastics. The-
measure was assented to by Henry, and the
long and bitter quarrel between the Popea
and the Emperors seemed at an end.
Not so, however, in reality. When Henry
advanced to Rome, he was met by a great
procession headed by the Pope. The two
potentates walked hand in hand into the
city. But, when the agreement was read
in the presence of the bishops assembled in
St. Peter's, there was an angry tumult, and
the ecclesiastics refused to ratify the compact.
The ceremony of coronation was brought to a
standstill, the Pope refusing to proceed ; but
he was at once seized by the German knights,
and the scene became one of a bloody riot.
After two months the Imperial party was tri-
umphant. Pascal was obliged to }iut the
crown of empire on the head of Heiuy, and
the supporters of the papal prerogative were
for the time forced into submission.
On his return into Germany, the Emperor
made a successful campaign against the Thu-
ringians and Saxons; and, in 1114, married
the Princess Matilda, daughter of Henry I.
of England. Presently afterwards there was-
a general revolt in the North of Germany,
716
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Friesland, Cologne, Thuringia, and Saxony
all renounced the Imperial authority, and
took up arms to maintain their iudepend-
•ence. Before this difficulty could be set-
tled, the Emperor was called into Italy, on
account of the death of the Countess of
Tuscany, who bequeathed her realm to the
Church, instead of to the empire, as had been
previously agreed. Henry succeeded in secur-
ing Tuscany, and also in installing a new
Pope of his own appointment in place of
Pascal, who had died. The French and
Italian bishops, however, now made common
cause, aud elected another pontiff, by whom
Henry was excommunicated. But the ful-
mination of such a ban had already become
less terrible than of old, and the act was ig-
nored both by Henry himself and Calixtus,
who came to the papal chair in 1118.
Four years later a great diet was convened
at AVorms for the final settlement of the dis-
pute between the Popes and the German Em-
perors. The question was laid before the body
and a decision was reached to the effect that
henceforth the investiture of bishops with the
ring and crosier should remain with the Pope ;
but all nominations to the episcopal office
should be made in the Emperor's presence,
and the candidates should receive their tem-
poral authority from him. Such was the cel-
€brated Concordat of Worms, by which the
■quarrel between the papal and imperial parties
was settled for a period of fifty years.
In 1125 Henry V. died at Utrecht, in
Holland. According to popular belief, the
judgment of Heaven was upon him for his
unnatural conduct towards his father. He
went down to the grave without an heir, and
there were few to mourn for his untimely
■death. His haughtiness and cold temper had
alienated even his personal following, and the
church was little disposed to hallow the sepul-
cher of one who had endeavored with all his
might to force her into submission.
Henry V. was the last of the Hohenstaufen
princes. The national diet which was sum-
moned after his election was more favorable to
the papal jiarty than any which for a long
time had been convened in Germany. After
a stormy session the choice of the electors fell
upon LoTHAiRE, Duke of Saxony, who at once
•evinced his servility to the church by begging
for a coronation at the hands of the Pope, and
by giving up that provision of the Concordat
of Worms which required the bishops to be
nominated in the presence of the Emperor.
To compensate for this loss of prerogative he
undertook to obtain of Frederick of Hohen-
staufen the estates which had been bequeathed
to that prince by Henry V. But in the war
which followed the Emperor was defeated and
obliged to give up the contest. In 1133 he
went to Rome aud was crowned by Pope Inno-
cent II. Such was his humility that he agreed
to pay to the church an annual tribute of
four hundred pounds for the possession of
Tuscany — an act by which he virtually ac-
nowledged himself a vassal of the Romish See.
It was at this epoch that the violent and
disgraceful feud broke out between the rival
Popes Innocent and Anaclete. Lothaire waa
in duty bound to take sides with the former,
while the latttr was supported by Roger H.,
the Norman king of Sicily. In 1137 the Em-
peror conducted an army into Southern Italy,
and gained some successes over the opposition.
But before the campaign could be brought to
an end Lothaire found it necessary to return
to Germany. On his way thither he was
attacked with a fatal malady, and died in the
Brenner Pass of the Alps.
Wlien the national diet was convened for
the choice of a successor, the most prominent
candidate for the throne was Henry the Proud,
duke of Bavaria. In addition to his hered-
itary claims to the throne, he had greatly
strengthened his cause by marrying Gertrude,
the only daughter of Lothaire. The great
prominence of Henry, however, acted against
him in the diet ; for the electors were jealous
beforehand of one who seemed likely to prove
an emperor in fact as well as in name. They
accordingly turned from the able and haughty
Prince of Bavaria, aud in violation of the pre-
vious settlement elected CoNitiD of Hohenstau-
fen. To this action Henry, who was himself
a member of the diet, would not assent ; and
when the Emperor elect undertook to force
him into submission, he raised an army of
Saxons and went to war. Before any decisive
result could be reached, however, Henry the
Proud died, and the claims of the Guelphic
House descended to his nephew, afterwards
known as Henry the Lion. The brother of
THE CRUSADES. — THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
Ill
the late duke coutiuued the war with Conrad
of Hoheustaufen, aud iu the course of time
the cause of the Bavarian princes became iden-
tified with that of the paj)al party, while that
of Conrad was espoused by the imperialists
throughout Germany. From this time forth
the name of Guelph was used to designate
the former, and Ghibelline to denote the
latter party in the long and violent struggle
which ensued.
The conflict between the Guelphs and Ghib-
bellines broke out with the year 1139, and
■continued for centuries together, being the
most obdurate and persistent contest known in
the history of the Middle Ages. It was in
the sixth year of the reign of this Conrad of
Hoheustaufen that the Christian principality
of Edessa was, as already narrated, captured
by Noureddin and his Turks. Let us then
after these Long digressions — necessary to an
understanding of the condition of affairs of
the leading states of Western Europe, during
the first half of the twelfth century as well as
to a proper appreciation of the origin and
character of the three great Orders of Knight-
hood, destined hereafter to take so prominent
a part in the conduct of the Crusades — re-
sume the story of the second uprising of the
European Christians under the inspiration of
the preaching of St. Bernard.
This distinguished abbot began his wosk in
the spring of 1146. A great assembly was
called at Vezalay, and Bernard, clad in the
garb of an anchorite, stood on the hillside out-
side the walls and harangued the multitude.
Among those present were the king and queen
of France, together with all the most distin-
guished barons of the kingdom. Not even
Peter the Hermit was more successful in kind-
ling the enthusiasm of the throng at Clermont
than was the great preacher of Clairvaux of
rousing the assembly of Vezalay. When his
oration was concluded the liost was in the
white heat of passion and raised the wild cry
of Dien le Veut ! with all the ardor of the first
Crusaders. King Louis flung himself on his
knees before the orator and received the badge
of the cross. Queen Eleanor also gladly ac-
cepted the token, and the barons and knights
crowded and surged around the speaker until
he was obliged to tear up his own vestments to
supply the sacred emblem for their shoulders.
In other places the scene was repeated.
Every province and city was roused from its
slumbers. France was on fire, but when St,
Bernard went to Spires and besought the Em
peror Conrad to join the enterprise the latter
who was naturally of a lukewarm disposition
was hard to rouse from his German immobil
ity. Not until the eloquent abbot paused in
the midst of mass and expatiated on the guilt
of those who refused to fly to the rescue of
the imperiled cross did the apathy of Conrad
give place to emotion. His eyes brought forth
the witness of tears, and he meekly and cour-
ageously assumed the cross. The German
barons followed the example of their sover-
eign, and the warmth of the glow which had
been kindled at Vezalay was felt in the som-
ber castles of the North. Even the women of
Germany armed themselves with sword and
lance and took the vow of the cross.
Thus were the king of France and the ruler
of the German Empire brought into an alliance
against the distant but hated Infidel. It was
agreed that their armies, setting forth in the
spring of 1147, should rendezvous at Constan-
tinople.
With the break of winter all the roads of
France and Germauy were thronged with pil-
grim warriors, on their way to the various
camps. The upheaval surpassed, if possible,
the outpouring of the First Crusade, in so
much that St. Bernard found occasion to write
to the Pope, saying: "Villages and castles
are deserted, and there are none left but wid-
ows and orphans, whose husbands and parents
are still alive." Everywhere men were .seen
wending their way to the places appointed by
their leaders. Shepherds left their flocks in
the field. Peasants abandoned their oxen still
harnessed to their carts. Tradesmen quitted
their places of barter. Lords were seen i.ssu-
ing from their castles. Priests left the village
church, and monks the monastery. Every
class of society contributed a full quota of its
best men for the recovery of Edessa and the
rescue of the Holy Sepulcher.
Nor did France and Germany only send
forth their hosts with the sacred badges of red
on their shoulders. England, though rent
with the strife between the usurping Stephen
and the aspiring Plantagenets, and Italy, dis-
tracted with the quarrel between the papal
116
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERX WORLD.
and imperial parties, both alike sent forth
their bauds of warrior knights to join the
armies of Capet and HoheusUiufeu.
The Emperor established his head-quarters
at Ratisbou. Here were gathered his dukes
and barons, armed for the distont fray. Hither
came Bishop Otho, of Frisigen; Duke Fred-
erick Barbarossa, of Suabia, nephew of Con-
rad ; the Marquis of Montferrat ; the Duke of
Bohemia, and many other dukes and barons,
brave and notable. A hundred thousand war-
KKIGHTS GOING FORTH TO THE SECOND CRUSADE.
riors were here collected, and, putting himself
at the head, the Emperor began his march to
the East.
Emperor Emanuel Comnenus, grandson of
AlexiuS; was now ruler of the Greeks of By-
zantium, and to him ambassadors were sent
by the crusading chiefs, announcing their ap-
proach to Constantinople. Many were the
professions of friendship made by the wily
Emperor of the Greeks to the hardy warriors
of Europe, and many were the secret messa-
ges which he at the same time sent to the
Asiatic sultans, apprising them of the move-
ments of their foes. It became the policy of
Comnenus, as it had been of his grandsire, to
play double with the Christian and the Sara-
cen, to the end that his own interests might
in any event be subserved.
When the Crusaders at last reached Con-
stantinople, they were received with outward
blandishments and inward hostility. Conrad
and his chiefs had discernment enough to per-
ceive the actual sentiments with which they
were entertained ; and, although it had
been agreed that the German army should
await the approach of the French at the
Eastern capital, so keen was the resent-
ment of the leaders that they hastened
their departure, and crossed the Bosj)horus
into Asia.
No sooner were the Crusadei-s beyond
the sea than the hostility of the Greeks,
which had been hidden under their du-
plicity until now, began to show itself in
a manner not to be mistaken. All the
towns were shut and barred against the
army of Conrad, and the Crusaders began
to suffer for provisions. Greek hucksters
from the top of the walls bargained with
the hungry knights outside, to whom they
let down baskets in which to receive the
silver paid for their meal — and the meal
was found to be adulterated with an equal
part of lime ; nor did the impudent
traders, from whom the German chiefs
were obliged to secure their sujjplies, for-
^ bear to utter against their customers such
taunts and insults as plentiful arrogance
behind a wall might safely discharge at
hungry valor on the outside.
Worse than this was the perfidy of the
Greek guides, whom Comnenus sent out
to lead the Crusaders to — destruction. Know-
ino- well the lines of march, these supple,
faith-breaking rascals conveyed to the Sara-
cen scouts full information of the course to
be taken by the German army. So, in addi-
tion to misguiding the forces of Conrad, the
Greeks purpo.«ely led them into dangerous
places, where ambuscades had been carefully
laid by the enemy. At last, however, the
river Meander was reached, and there, on
the opposite bank, the Moslems had gathered
in great force to resist the passage. And now
TBE CRUSADES.— THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
719
followed one of the most extraordinary episodes
of the Holy Wars.
The Meander was barely fordable, if ford-
able at all, by infantry. Conrad, however,
eager to reach the foe, and believing that his
men could swim or struggle through the
deeper part of the current, drew up the Cru-
saders on the hither bank, exhorted them to
heroic battle, and gave the order to plunge
into the stream. The command was obeyed
with alacrity, and so great a number of wai^
riors rushed into the river that the current
was broken above and the waters ran away
from below, leaving the bed almost as dry as
the banks. Great was the amazement of the
Moslems at this, to them, miraculous phe-
nomenon. Believing that their enemies were
aided by supernatural powers, they made but
a feeble resistance, and then fled in a route.
The Germans pursued the flying foe, and
idaughtered them by thousands. Years after-
wards their bones might be seen bleaching in
heaps along the bank of the Meander.
The efl^ect of the victory was very inspir-
iting to the Crusaders, who began to draw the
fallacious inference that they were invincible.
From the Meander, Conrad took his way in
the direction of Iconium. Still at the mercy
of his Greek guides, he was led into the
defiles near that city, where the sultan had
collected an immense army to oppose his
further 'progress. AVhile the Germans were
making their way through a narrow pass,
they beheld above the hill-crests the spear-
heads and turbans of what seemed an innu-
merable host of Moslems. Great was the
disadvantage at which the Crusaders were
placed in the battle which ensued. Encum-
bered with heavy armor, it seemed impossible
for them to reach and smite the light-armed
Saracens, who swooped down on them from
above. It was not long until the line of
march was blocked up with the dead liodies
of German warriors. Thousands upon thou-
sands were slain ; and Conrad had the infinite
-chagrin of seeing his army melting away under
the blows of an anemy who, from his inacces-
sible position, suffered scarcely any losses.
After struggling vainly and courageously
against the fate of his situation, the Emperor
perceived that his only hope lay in a retreat.
He according withdrew the remnant of his
forces from the defiles, and began to fall
back in the direction by which he had come.
It was with the greatest difficulty that anj
portion of the German army was saved from
destruction. The Turkish cavalry hung on
flank and rear, and every straggler from the
compact column of the ever-decreasing and
weary remnant was cut down without mercy.
Slowly and de-sperately, Conrad made his way
back across Asia Minor, and finally reached
Constantinople. Nine-tenths of his warrior
knights had perished under the javelins and
swords of the Moslems.
Doubtless the fatal folly of the Second Cru-
sade consisted in the failure of the French and
German armies to form the intended junction
at the Eastern capital. Nothing could have
been more disastrous than the premature ad-
vance of Conrad before the arrival of his allies
on the Bosphorus. In the mean time King
Louis of France, repairing to the abbey of
St. Denis, took from above the altar that cel-
ebrated liauner called the Oriflamme, and bore
it with him as his standard.' Together with
Queen Eleanor, he obtained permission to de-
part from the kingdom — a fact illustrative of
the strong ascendency of the French church
over civil authority in the twelfth century.
The queen, who, before her marriage to Louis,
had as Princess of Aquitaine been thoroughly
imbued with the culture of the South, took
with her the refined ladies of her court, and
a band of troubadours to enliven the tedium
of the expedition. The first point of rendez-
vous was the frontier city of Metz, and here
were gathered by hundreds and thousands the
barons, knights, and warriors of the kingdom.
The early autumn was occupied with the ad-
vance to Constantinople, where Louis arrived
with his army about the beginning of October.
On reaching the Eastern capital the French
were received with all the fictitious ardor
which Comnenus was able to assume. His
professions of friendship were unbounded, and
for a while Louis and his knights believed them-
selves to be the most cordially entertained of
any soldiery in Christendom. By and by, how-
ever, the king learned that Comnenus was of
' The old national banner of the Capetian kings
was called the Oriflamme, from having its edges
shaped like flames of fire, and being attached to a
staff' of gold.
720
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
a certainty in secret alliance with the Turks,
and that his covert intent was to compass the
destruction of the Western armies. Such was
the indignation of the French knights that
they were fain to fall upon the Eastern capital
and snatch the scepter from the hands of the
treacherous Greek. A council was held and
prudence and moderation hardly prevailed to
hold back the wrathful barons from their
purpose.
Comnenus soon perceived the change in the
sentiments and demeanor of his guests, and
fearing their presence in the city, sought a
means of securing their dej^arture. He ac-
cordingly spread abroad the report — known to
himself to be false — that Conrad and Lis Ger-
mans were gaining great victories over the Sar-
acens in the regions of Icouium. The French
were thus fired with emulation, and the leaders
fearing lest the honors of the Crusade should
be gathered by Conrad and his barons, urged
an immediate departure. Comnenus .soon had
the gratification of seeing King Louis and his
army on the other side of the Bosphorus.
Not far had the French advanced into Asia
Minor until intelligence came of the over-
whelming disaster which had befallen the Ger-
mans in the defiles of Iconium. The news, how-
ever— for such was the spirit of the age — damp-
ened not the ardor of the warlike French. Not
only did they press forward to meet the enemy,
but they became over-confident, and took but
little precaution either in camp or marching.
They made their way through Laodicea with-
out encountering the Moslems ; but beyond the
limits of this province lay a mountainous re-
gion, peculiarly favorable to the tactics of the
Turks — and here the latter had gathered to
oppose the Christians.
It was now the fate of King Louis to be
overtaken and entrapped in precisely the same
manner as Conrad had been at Iconium. In
the defiles beyond Laodicea the careless French
encamped in a position especially favorable to
their own destruction. While the Crusaders
were in the usual confusion of the camp, the
Saracens suddenly appeared by thousands on
the heights and rushed down with yells and
trumpet and drum upon the astounded French.
The surprise was complete. The main body
of Louis's army was in a position where ad-
vance, retreat, and battle were all alike well-
I nigh impossible. The horror of the scene that
ensued was greater even than that which had
been witnessed in the pass of Iconium. Tlie
gorges were soon fiUed with the mangled bodies'
of the chivalry of France ; and upon this bleed-
ing mass of humanity huge rocks came crash-
ing down from the precipice above.
The king behaved with the greatest valor.
Collecting a body of his best knights he charged
the enemy, and secured a position from which
after nightfall he made his escape and rejoined
aU his soldiers who had succeeded in extricat-
ing themselves from the defiles. Reorganizing^
his forces as best he could he then made hia
way to the Greek city of Attalia, where he
was received with the usual treacherous civil-
ity. The French encamped without the walla,
and negotiations were opened between the
king and the governor of the city. The latter
offered to furnish a fleet and convey the French
to a place of safety; and although the squad-
ron was only sufficient to receive the king,
his nobles and cavalry, he accepted the pi"o-
posal and embarked for Antioch. As to the
foot-soldiers of his army, they were left ta
their fate before the walls of Attalia. The
Greeks would not receive them into the city.
The Saracens spared none who fell within their
power. Gradually the French were reduced
to a handful. Some turned Mohammedan,
others died in despair. The rest were dispersed
or slain. With the exception of those who
accompanied the king to Aptioch none were
left to tell the story.
In the early spring of 1148, Louis and
Eleanor with their Knights reached the city
of Antioch. This old capital of Syria wa»
now governed by Raymond of Poitiers, uncle
of the queen and grandson by marriage of
Boemund of Tarento. This relationship secured
to the French a cordial reception. Amid the
plenty and sunshine of the palaces, and under
the branching trees of Antioch, the horrors of
the expedition were forgotten, and Queer
Eleanor's troubadours tuned their harps and
sang the songs of the South. She who was
herself the center of this romantic revival gave
way to the admiration with which she was
oppressed, rnd lulled by the soft airs of Syria,
behaved not after the manner of a queen, for-
got her espousals, provoked the king's jealousy,.
and was by him carried off to Jerusalem.
QUEEN ELEANOR AND HER THi uBAUOURS. — Drawn by Gustave Dore.
722
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Here Louis was received with great enthu-
■siasm. In the city he met Conrad, who, after
his retreat to Constantinople, had put on the
fiandal-shoon, taken the scallop-shell and gone
as a pilgrim to the Holy City. Baldwin IH.,
the young ruler of Jerusalem, was thus en-
abled .to entertain on Mt. Zion the king of
France and the German Emperor. It was not
to be presumed that the younger of the three
princes would allow such an opportunity to
pass without improvement. He called a coun-
•cil of the great Christians of the East to
assemble at Acre for the consideration of the
interests of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Louis
and Conrad both attended the assembly. ISIany
projects for the further establishment of the
cross in the East were debated before the coun-
cil, and it was finally determined that an ex-
pedition should be undertaken by the combined
armies of Syria against the city of Damascus.
The German Emperor and the kings of
France and Jerusalem were appointed as lead-
«rs. The campaign was begun with alacrity
and zeal, and the patriarch of the Holy City,
walking before the army, carried the cross as
the source of inspiration and the earnest of
victory. On arriving at Damascus the Cru-
saders encamped in the orchards and gardens
•outside the walls, and immediately began a
siege of the city. For a while the investment
was pressed with great vigor and every pi'os-
pect of success. It seemed certain that the
old capital of the Caliphate would be wrested
from the followers of the Prophet, and added
to the Christian dominions in the East.
But as the hour of capture drew near, the
richness of the prize, seemingly within the grasp
of the allied armies, proved the ruin of the
enterprise. For who should have the Queen
■City of the desert when the capture should be
■effected? Conrad and Louis decided that Da-
mascus should be given to Thierry, Count of
Flanders ; but the barons of Syria, unwilling
that the Western leaders should gain such a
complete influence over the Christian states of
the East, refused their assent, and demanded
the city for one of their own number. In the
hour of possible victory, violent discord broke
out in the camp of the besiegers. Ayoub,
governor of Damascus, learning of the quarrel,
made haste to avail himself of the folly of his
foes. He so managed an intrigue with the
Syrian party in the Cnisaders' camp that the
grip of the investment was presently broken,
and the whole enterprise was quickly brought
to nothing.
For a brief season the minds of the Chris-
tian warrioi-s were now occupied with the pro-
ject of an expedition against Ascalon. But
both Conrad and Louis were in reality anx-
ious to return to Europe, and the second ex-
pedition was abandoned. With the coming of
autumn 1149, the king of France took ship at
Acre, and returned to his own realm. He
was accompanied by a small fragment of his
once splendid army, and was received with lit-
tle honor by his subjects. His bearing ever
afterwards was rather that of a monk than
that of a king. Queen Eleanor little appre-
ciated the alleged heroism of her husband, and
stUl less his monastic manners and behavior.
Tired out with his conduct and ill success, she
separated herself from him, procured a divorce,
and retired to her own province of Aquitaine,
which now reverted to her as a dowry.
Very little was the king affected by this
infelicity. He satisfied himself with circulat-
ing the report that while at Antioch the queen
had fallen in love with a horrid Turk, named
Saladin, and that even then she had been dis-
loyal to the royal bed. By this means he
hoped to be revenged, and to destroy the pos-
sibility of a future marriage between Eleanor
and any Christian prince. Not so, however,
the result. The charms of the queen had lost
none of their power. Scarcely had she left
Paris on her way to Aquitaine wheij the Count
of Blois, through whose province she was pass-
ing, arrested her progress, and attempted to
wed her by force. She managed, however, to
escape from the snare, and made her way to
Tours, where almost the same scene was en-
acted by the wife-seeking Count of Anjou.
Again she withdrew from the ambush, and
proceeded to Poitiers. Here a third lover
awaited her coming. Young Henry Plautage-
net of England, handsome, accomplished, and
royal in his bearing, proved a better wooer
than his fellow-princes of the continent. Nor
did the fact that he was several years the
junior of the queen militate against his suc-
cess in winning her hand and with it the
duchy of Aquitaine.
As to the Emperor Conrad, he tarried in
THE CRUSADES.— THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
723
bis pUgrim garb a year longer in Palestine,
and then returned with a small body of his
followers to Germany. The Second Crusade,
undertaken with so much enthusiasm and
eclat, preached by a saint and commanded by
an Emperor and a king, had proved to be
among the most abortive of all the pi-ojects of
fanatical ambition. Not a single permanent
advantage had been gained by the quarter of
a million of French and German warriors who
flung themselves into the mountain j)asses of
Asia Minor as if Europe had no graves.
Notwithstanding the collapse of the Second
Crusade, the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem,
under the rule of Baldwin III., for a while
held its own against the assaults of the Mos-
lems. The king was at all times able to call
to his aid the feudal lords and warriors of his
own dominion ; and beside these the Knights
of the Hospital and the Templars were ever
ready to rally at his summons. He was thus
able to make a fair defense of his own king-
dom, and at the same time to strike an occa-
sional blow at some stronghold of the enemy.
The capture of Ascalon, which had been pro-
posed by the German Empror and King Louis
after their failure before Damascus, was un-
dertaken and successfully accomplished in 1153
by Baldwin and his warriors. After a success-
ful reign of eighteen years, he died from the
effects of poison administered by a Syrian
physician, in 1162, and left his crown to his
brother Almeric, a prince who was unfortunate
in having an ambition greater than his genius.
On coming to the throne, the new king of
Jerusalem at once projected an expedition into
Egypt. In that country the government of
the Fatimites had become a thing of contempt.
The Caliphs themselves had little influence,
and the actual power was disputed by ambi-
tious viziers, reckless of all interests save their
own. At the time of the death of Baldwin
m., two rival viziers named Dargan and Sa-
nor, contended for the supremacy in Cairo ;
while their master, El Hadac, was passing his
time in the voluptuous indulgences of the ha-
rem. When the quarrel between the viziers
was at its height, Sanor appealed for aid to
Noureddin, who, after wresting the principal-
ity of Edessa from the younger De Courtenay,
had become sultan of Damascus. Not unwill-
ingly did this distinguished Moslem hear the
N.— Vol. 2—44
appeal from Egypt. With a keen regard for
his own interest, he sent thitherward a power-
ful army, and though at the first the allied
force of Syrians and Egyptians was defeated
by the troojis of Dargan, the latter was pres-
ently slain, and Sanor established in authority.
As soon, however, as success was achieved,
Syracon, commander of the army of Noured-
din, instead of withdrawing to Damascus, be-
gan to behave like a conqueror, and Sanor
discovered in his late friend a foeman more to
be dreaded than his former rival. Alarmed at
the situation and tendency of afiairs, the vi-
zier bethought him of those terrible Crusaders
who had conquered Palestine. With all haste
he dispatched messengers to Jerusalem and ap-
pealed to Almeric to send an army into Egypt
and aid him in expelling {he Syrian':. The
Christian king was not slow to avail himself
of the fatal opportunity. A force of Crusa-
ders was at once dispatched to the assistance
of Sanor, and Syracon was driven from the
country.
The defeated Syrian general at once re-
paired to Damascus and reported to Noured-
din. The sultan hereupon sent word to the
Caliph of Baghdad inviting him to join in a
formidable expedition against Egypt, with a
view to the extermination of the Fatimite dy-
nasty and the transfer of the Egyptian Cali-
phate to the Abbassides. The rumor of the
proposed invasion was carried to Sanor, who,
in great alarm, sent the intelligence to the
king of Jerusalem, imploring him in the name
of a common cause to face the armies which
were coming hither for their destruction, and
offering him forty thousand ducats as the price
of an alliance. To make assurance doubly
sure, Almeric insisted that a personal inter-
view must be had with the Caliph of Cairo ; for
Sanor was only a subordinate and might not
be able to fulfill his agreement. Hugh, earl
of Cesarea, accompanied by a Knight Tem-
plar, was sent on an embassy to Egypt, and
was conducted into the palace of El Hadac —
a place where no Christian had ever set foot
before. Here the eyes of the Christians were
greeted with such a spectacle of splendor as
they had previously beheld only in dreams.
With much hesitation the Caliph permitted the
warriors to look upon him seated on his thi-one
of gold, and then ratified the conditions made by
724
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
the vizier with the king. Almeiic was already
on his march towards Egypt, and on coming
near Cairo, was joined by the army of the
■viceroy. Syracon was met and defeated in
battle by the allied forces of the Christians
and the Fatimite Moslems. The enemy retired
from the country and Almeric's army returned
to Jerusalem laden with gold and presents.
Had the Christian king been content with
what he had now achieved, all would have
still been well. But the sight of Egypt with
her storied treasures, and the knowledge of
the condition of imbecility into which the
government of that country had fallen, in-
flamed the mind of Almeric with the pas-
sion of conquest. He resolved, in the very
face of his recent treaty with the Caliph, to
make an invasion of Egypt; but, before un-
dertakuig so important and perilous an enter-
prise, he had the prudence to seek and obtain
an alliance with Comnenus, Emperor of the
East, whose daughter he had taken in mar-
riage. Fortified with the promise of assist-
ance from his father-in-law, he deliberately
broke his promise with El Hadac, and began
an expedition into the country of his recent
allies. This perfidious proceeding, however,
was by no means heartOy ratified by the
knights and warriors of Palestine. The Grand
Master of the Templars entered his protest
against the dishonor of causelessly violating
a treaty; but the Hospitallers, less sensitive
to the point of honor, and actuated by rivalry
of the opposing Order, cordially supported the
king. Almeric was by no means to be turned
from his purpose. At the head of his army
he marched into Lower Egypt, took the city
of Belbeis, and burned it to the ground.
In the mean time, however, the sultan of
Damascus was himself planning an invasion
of Egypt. Perceiving the effeteness of the
Fatimite dynasty, he was thoroughly con-
vinced that the times were ripe for the
annexation of the land of the Pharaohs to
the Eastern Caliphate. While cogitating his
schemes, the ambitious Noureddin was amazed
on receiving from the Egyptian Caliph an
earnest message to come to his aid against
the enemies of the Prophet, who were already
in the country with an army. Quickly as
possible the sultan, rejoicing at the news,
dispatched an army across the desert to se-
cure whatever was to be gained by war or
diplomacy in the African Calipnate.
Before the arrival of this army, which was
led by Syracon, the vizier Sanor had beaten
the king of Jerusalem at his own game of
duplicity. The crafty Egyptian sent to Al-
meric an eiyb^ssy, oflering to give him two-
millions of crowns if he would abandon the
invasion. Dazzled with the splendid prospect,
the king stood waiting while the Egyptians-
fortified their cities, and otherwise prepared
for defense. When he awoke from his reve-
rie, he heard on one side the derisive laugh-
ter of the FatLmites, and on the other the-
blasts of Syracon's trumpets coming up from
the desert.
Almeric, perceiving his condition, turned
about, not without a show of valor, and
offered battle to the Syrians. But Syracon
was wary of the Christian warriors, and de-
clined to fight until what time he had effected
a junction with the Egyptians. The king of
Jerusalem, finding himself unable to cope with
the united armies of his foes, withdrew from
the isthmus and returned to the Holy City.
It would have been supposed that his late
experiences were of a sort to cure the folly of
Almeric and lead him to a wiser policy; but
not so with the ambitious prince. Instead of
falling back upon defensive measures he at
once repaired to Constantinople and besought
the Emperor Comnenus to join him in the
magnificent project of the conquest of Egypt.
If the fulfillment had been equal to the prom-
ises made by the wily Greek to his ardent
son-in-law, then indeed not only Egypt, but
the world, might have been subdued. Com-
nenus, however, had no thought of hazarding
aught in the interest of the kingdom of Jeru-
salem. He therefore, after the manner of his
race, promi-sed and promised and did nothing.
The disappointed Almeric returned to Jerusa-
lem still haunted with the vision of the gold
and treasures which his embas.«adors had seen
in the palace of El Hadac.
Very soon after the withdrawal of the
Christian army from Egypt the ambitious and
successful Sanor met an inglorious end at the
hands of SjTacon, who had him seized and put
to death. The office of vizier was transferred
to the Syrian, who, however, survived his
success for the brief space of but two months.
THE CRUSADES.— THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM.
725
On his death he was succeeded by his nephew,
named Sallah-u-deeu or Saladin, destined ere-
long to become the most famous of all the
leaders in the later annals of Islam. This
young jNIoslem chief was by birth a native of
Kurdistan, who had drifted westward out of
obscurity and joined his uncle's army in the
two invasions of Egypt. His military genius
first revealed itself in the defense of Alexan-
dria, which he conducted in so able a manner
as to win the applause of the Moslem leaders.
This episode, together with the influence of
Syracon, procured for the ambitious young
Kurd the viziership at his uncle's death, nor
was it long until, by his abilities, his intelli-
gence and far-reaching plans, he had made
himself the real, though not the nominal,
master of Egypt.
Even at this early period he had conceived
the design of uniting in one all the dominions
of Islam in the East. As a measure inaugur-
ative of so bold a plan he presently caused
one of his followers — a priest — to go into the
principal pulpit of Cairo and offer prayers,
substituting the name of the Caliph of Baghdad
for that of the Fatimite. Such was the auda-
city of the business that it succeeded. The
people were either dumb or indifferent. As
for the Egyptian Caliph himself, he was secluded
in his palace and knew not what was done.
A few days afterwards he died a natural death,
and one troublesome obstacle to the success of
Saladin's schemes was removed. He then
caused the green emblems of the Fatimites to
be removed from the mosques and palace of
Cairo and to be replaced with the black badges
of the Abbassides. Thus silently, and as if
by magic, the descendants of Ali, who for two
centuries had held sway over Egypt, were
overwhelmed, and their dynasty extinguished
by a parvenu Kurdish chieftain blown up from
the desert.
Saladin, now emir of Egypt under the sul-
tanate of Noureddin of Damascus, abided his
time. While his master lived he deemed
it prudent to remain in loyal subordination.
But when in 1173 Noureddin — one of the
greatest and best Moslems of his times — died,
Saladin threw away all concealment of his de-
signs, and putting aside the minor sons of the
late .sultan, usurped the government for him-
self Such was the brilliancy of his coup de
viain that all stood paralyzed until the work
was accomplished, and then applauded the
thing done. In a short time Saladin had
united in one all the Moslem states between
the Nile and the Tigris. He it was who was
now in a position to look with a malevolent
and angry eye upon the figure of the Cross
seen above the walls of Jerusalem.
In the mean time, while Saladin remained
in Egypt waiting for the death of Noureddin
to open the way before him, the king of Je-
rusalem died, and bequeathed his crown to his
son, Baldwin IV. This young prince was
afflicted with leprosy, to the extent of being
wholly incapacitated for the duties of govern-
ment. He accordingly, without himself re«
signing the crown, committed the kingdom to
the regency of his sister, Sybilla, and her hus-
band, Guy of Lusignan. This event hap-
pened in the same year in which Saladin, by
his stroke of policy, had made himself master
of Islam— 1173.
The consort of Sybilla soon showed his in-
ability to bear the cares of state. His con-
duct was so little worthy of his position that
the barons of Palestine turned from him with
contempt. Their hostility was increased by
the machinations of Raymond II., of Tripoli,
whose misfortune it was to be no more virtu-
ous than he whom he opposed. The lords and
knights of the kingdom were thus divided into
factions, whose partisan selfishness boded no
good to the Christian cause in the East. At
length the leprous Baldwin IV. was obliged
by his vassals to make a new settlement of
the kingdom, which he effected by abolishing
the regency of Sybilla and her husband, and
bestowing the crown upon her son by her
former husband, the Count of Montferrat. This
prince, who, by his uncle's abdication, took the
name of Baldwin V., was himself a minor,
and was for the time committed to the guardian-
ship of Joscelyn de Coui-tenay, son of that
unheroic son of a hero, from whom Noured-
din had snatched the Principality of Edessa.
At the same time of the settlement of the
crown of Jerusalem upon Baldwin V. the cus-
tody of the fortresses of tlie Holy Land was
intrusted to the Hospitallers and the Tem-
plars, and the general regency of the kingdom
to Count Raymond of Tripoli.
Soon after this adjustment of affairs Bald-
726
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
win IV. died, and his deatli was quickly fol-
lowed by the probably unnatural takiug-olf of
Baldwin V. The settlement was thus brought
to naught, partly by the order of nature and
partly by the crime of the regent Raymond.
Sybilla hereupon reappeared from obscurity,
and, supported by the Patriarch of the city,
procured the coronation of herself and Guy
of Lusignan as King and Queen of Jerusalem,
This piocedure led to civil war. Many of the
barons refused to acknowledge the new sover-
eigns, and took up arms under the lead of
Raymond, and with the ostensible object of
raising Isabella, a sister of Sybilla, to the
throne of Palestine. Such was the bitterness
of the strife that, although the "'leen oy bet
prudent and conciliatory measures succeeded
in winning over most of the insurgent nobles,
the remainder in their implacable distemper
allied themselves with Saladiu ! Thus when
the storm of Moslem fnry was already about
to break upon the kingdom won from the
Infidels by the swords of Short Hose, Tancred,
and Godfrey, the day of wrath was hastened
by the treason of those who wore the sacred
badge on their shoulders.
CHAPTER ^CCII.— FALL OK THE CROSS.
IJHOM the Supernals would
destroy they first make
ma<l. So it was with the
Christians of Palestine.
At the very crisis when
Saladin, after settling the
affairs of Egypt and Sy-
ria, was ready to fall upon the kingdom of
Jerusalem, that disaster was precipitated by
the rashness of a conscienceless baron of the
Holy Land.
In the year llcS6 a certain Reginald de
Chatillon, an adventurer more fit to be called
a robber than a knight, fell upon a Moham-
medan castle on the borders ^f the Arabian
desert, and having captured the place made it
his head-quarters, from which he sallied forth
to plunder the caravans passing back and
forth between Egypt and Iviecca. Hearing of
this lawless work the sultan, Saladin, with
due regard to the existing treaty, sent a mes-
sage to the king of Jerusalem demanding
redress for the outrages committed by his
vassal. Guy of Lusignan, who had lately
received the crown, was either unable or un-
willing to punish Reginald for his crimes, and
Saladin was left to pursue his own course.
He immediately put himself at the head of
an array of eighty thousand men and began
an invasion of Palestine.
The march of the Moslems was first directed
against the fortress of Tiberias, the most im-
portant stronghold '^f the Christians in the
northern part of their kingdom. It was all-
important that King Guy should save this
outpost from falling into the hands of the
Turcomans. He accordingly mustered his
forces for the conflict and proceeded in the
direction of Tiberias. His whole army num-
bered no more than twelve hundred knights
and twenty thousand infantry, and even this
small force was shaken with quarrels and ani-
mosities. Raymond of Tripoli was accounted
a traitor, and the king himself was considered
a coward. Yet upon such a force under such
a commander was now to be staked the fate
of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem.
It was midsummer of 1187. The two armies
met in the plain of Tiberias. Events soon
showed that Saladin was as superior in skill
as he was in numbers. During the first day's
battle he succeeded in forcing the Christians
into a position where they could procure no
water. He then fired the neighboring woods
and almost suffocated his enemies with smoke
and heat. On the following morning he re-
newed the battle with great fury, and although
the Templars and Hospitals, as well as the
foot, fought with their old-time bravery, they
were surrounded, hewed down, piled in heaps,
exterminated. All the principal leaders of
the Christian army were either slain or taken.
The Grand Master of the Hospitallers was
mortally wounded. He of the Templars, the
Marquis of Montferrat, Reginald de Chatillon,
King Guy himself, and a host of nobles and
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
727
knights were made prisoners. The scene that
ensued well illustrates the spirit and temper
of the crusading epoch and the character of
war and victory in the twelfth century.
Hardly had the dust and noise of the bat-
tle passed when the captives were led into the
presence of Saladin. With a smile the great
Islamite received the trembling king, and after
the mannev of the East tendered him a cup
of cold water. Moved either by fear of poison
or by the desire to include another with himself
in the friendly act, he of Lusignan accepted
the cup, but passed it to Chatillon. There-
upon the rage of Saladin shot up like a flame.
He declared that so far from Reginald's shar-
ing his clemency he should then and there
embrace Mohammedanism or die like a dog^
It was the Christian robber's time to show his
mettle. He haughtily spurned the condition
of escape by apostasy. Thereupon the sultan
drew his cimeter and with one blow struck off
his head.
It appears that Saladin rightly appreciated
the character of the Templars and Hospitallers.
While he was all courtesy to the king — pol-
troon as he was — he was all severity towards
the Knights. To them he now presented the
same alternative which he had put before the
9,udacious Reginald. Not a man of them
blanched in the presence of his fate. They
could die, but apostatize never. Their vows
of knighthood and loyalty to the Cross were
stronger than all the bonds of kindred, all the
ties of affection, all the hopes of mortality.
To them the Prophet was Antichrist, and his
religion the gateway to hell. The two hun-
dred and thirty captive Knights stood fast in
their integrity, and were all beheaded.
The battle of Tiberias shook the kingdom
to its center. Nearly all the fortresses had
been emptied of their garrisons to make up
the inadequate army which had met its fate
in the North. Saladin was in no wise disposea
to rest on a single victory. Tiberias itself fell
into his hands and then Cesarea. Acre, Jaffa,
and Beyrut went down in succession. Tyre
was for the present saved from capture by the
heroic defense made by her inhabitants, led by
the son of the captive Marquis of Montferrat.
Finding himself delayed by the obstinacy
of the Tyrians, Saladin abandoned the siege
and pressed on to Jerusalem. Sad was the
plight of the city. Fugitives from all parts
of Palestine had gathered within the walls,
but there was no sense of safety. The queen
was unable to conceal her own trepidation, to
say nothing of the defense of her capital ; and
when the enemy encamped before the walls
there were already moaniugs of despair within.
None the less, there was a show of defense.
The summons of the sultan to surrender was
met with a defiant refusal. The garrison made
several furious sallies, and fourteen days
elapsed before the Turks could bring their en-
gines against the ramparts. Then, however,
the courage of the besieged gave way and
they sought to capitulate. But Saladin was
now enraged, and swore by the Prophet that
the stains of that atrocious butchery of the
Faithful, done by the ancestors of the then
Christian dogs in the City of David should
now be washed out with their own impure
blood. At first he seemed as relentless as a
pagan in his rage ; but with the subsidence of
his passion he fell into a more humane mood,
and when the Christians humbly put them-
selves at his mercy, he dictated terms less sav-
age than his conquered foes had reason to ex-
pect. None of the inhabitants of Jerusalem
should be slaughtered. The queen, with her
household, nobles, and knights should be con-
veyed in safety to Tyre. The common people
of the city should become slaves, but might
be ransomed at the rate of ten crowns of gold
for each man ; five, for each woman ; one, for
each child. Eagerly did the vanquished sub-
mit, and the Crescent was raised above the
Holy City.
Thus, in 1187, fell Jerusalem. The fierce
nature of Saladin relaxed under the influence
of his victory, and he began more fully than
before to manifest that magnanimity of which
he was capable. By the concurrent testimony
of the Christian and Mohammedan writers, his
conduct was such as to merit the eulogies
which posterity has so freely bestowed. It
appears that no drop of blood was shed after
the capitulation. Instead of butchering ten
thousand of the inhabitants within the pre-
cincts of the Temple as the Cru.saders had
done in 1099, he spared all who submitted.
The frightened queen was treated with con-
sideration. As she and her train withdrew
through the gates of the city, weeping after
728
UNWERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
the manner of women over their misfortunes,
he forbore not, touched as he was with the
spectacle of their misery, to shed tears of sym-
pathy. He endeavored to soothe the princesses
with manly and chivalrous words of condo-
lence. Nor was his conduct towards the cap-
tured city less worthy of praise. The ransom
of the common people was enforced with little
rigor, or else not enforced at all. Finding a
group of Hospitallers still plying their merci-
ful vocation about the Church of St. John the
Baptist — though at first he was enraged at the
sight of their hateful badges — he left them un-
molested in their good work of healing the
sick and succoring the distressed.
As soon as the captive queen and her com-
pany had withdrawn in the direction of Tyre,
Saladin made a triumphal entry into Jerusa-
lem. The golden cross which stood above the
dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was
pulled down and dragged through the streets
of the city. The great Mosque of Omar, which
now for eighty-eight years had been consecrated
to the worship of God and Christ, was reded-
icated to the worship of God and Mohammed.
In order to remove all stains of defilement
from the sacred edifice, the walls and courts
and portals were carefully washed with rose-
water of Damascus.
The other towns of Palestine quickly sub-
mitted to the victor. Nazareth, Bethlehem,
Ascalon, and Sidon were successfully taken
by the Moslems. Of all the Christian pos-
sessions in the Holy Laud only Tyre re-
mained as a refuge for the scattered fol-
lowers of Christ. To that city the garrisons
of the other towns and fortresses were per-
mitted to retire, and its walls were soon
crowded with the chivalry of fhe East.
Here, moreover. Prince Conrad, son of the
captive Marquis of Montferrat, was still dis-
tinguishing himself by his courageous defense
against the enemy. Now strongly reenforced
by the gathering of the Christians into Tyre,
he was still more able to keep the Moslems
at bay. So great was his popularity, that
the inhabitants voted him the sovereignty of
the city ; and when the captive king of Jeru-
salem, who, on condition of perpetual renun-
ciation of the crown, had been set at liberty
by Saladin, attempted to enter Tyre, the peo-
pi« rejected him with contempt, and would
not even permit him to come within theii
walls. Meanwhile the victorious sultan, well
satisfied with the results of his conquests, re-
turned to Damascus, and there, amid the
delights of his palace and the cool shadow
of the palms, found time to meditate, after
the manner of a true Saracen, upon the
vicissitudes of human affairs and the glori-
ous rewards of war. Here he remained at
peace until the winds of the Mediterranean
wafted across the Syrian desert the news of
belligerent and angry Europe preparing her
armor and mustering her warriors for the
Third Crusade.
For great was the consternation, the grief,
the resentment of all Christendom when the
intelligence came that the Holy City had been
retaken by the Turks. The fact that the In-
fidel was again rampant in all the places once
hallowed by the feet of Christ acted like a
fire-brand on the inflammable passions of the
West. It was not to be conjectured that the
Christian states of Europe would patiently
bear such an o^ +rage done to their traditions
and sentiments. The first days of gloom and
sullen despair wl ich followed the news of the
great disaster quiikly gave place to other days
of angry excitement and eager preparation for
the renewal of the conflict.
By this time the crusading agitation, which
had begun in the very sea-bottom of Europe
a century before, and, after stirring up first of
all the filthiest dregs of European society, had
risen into the higher ranks untU nobles and
princes fell under the sway of the popular
fanaticism, now swept on its tide the greatest
kings and potentates west of the Bosphorus.
Of all the leading sovereigns of Europe, only
the Christian rulers south of the Pyrenees —
who were themselves sufiiciently occupied with
the Mohammedans at home— failed to coope-
rate in the great movement which was now
organized for the recovery of the Holy Land
from the Infidels. Henry Plantagenet of Eng-
land, Philip n. of France, Frederick Barba-
rossa of Germany, and Popes Gregory and
Clement, all alike vied with each other in pro-
moting the common cause.
Nor had the people lost while the kings
had caught the enthusiasm of war. The pop-
ular impatience could not await the slower
preparations of prudent royalty making readj
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CEOSS.
729
for the struggle. Thousands upon thousands
of pilgrim warriors, unable to restrain their
ardor, hurried to the seaports of the Mediter-
ranean, and embarked at their own expense
to imperiled Palestine. The maritime Repub-
lics of Italy, more than ever before, came to
■the front as the carriers of the numerous bands
that now urged their way to the East. Not
•only the ports of Italy, Southern France, and
Greece furnish an outlet for this tumultuous
jnovemeut, but those of the Baltic, the North
Sea, and the British Channel in like manner
-sent forth their hosts of warriors.
So rapid was the accumulation of the Cru-
.■fladers at Tyre that, by the beginning of 1189,
the alleged King Guy found himself at the
head of more than a hundred thousand men.
^uch was the zeal of the host that the leaders
were urged on to undertake the siege of Acre.
It was this movement which roused Saladin
'from his dreams at Damascus, and sounded
the tocsin for the renewal of war. With a
-great army, the sultan set out for the relief
•of his beleaguered stronghold, and it was not
long until the Christians were in their turn
"besieged. With great diligence, however, they
-fortified their position, and, while on one side
they continued to press hard upon the walla
■of Acre, on the other they kept Saladin and
his host at bay.
Meanwhile a Christian and a Mohammedan
-fleet gathered to participate in the struggle.
While the -Moslem ships brought relief and
supplies to the garrison of Acre, the Christian
.-ships did the same for the Crusaders. For the
reenforcement of the latter, Europe continued
■to pour out her tens of thousands, while be-
hind the Moslem army were the measureless re-
•sources of the desert and the East. So numer-
ous became the Christian host that supplies
failed, and the terrors of famine were added
to the horrors of disease. In like manner,
though in a less degree, the Mohammedans be-
came sufferers from their excess of numbers ;
and in both armies abused nature cooperated
with the destructive energies of war to re-
duce the battling multitudes. Nor is it likely
that in any other of the great struggles of
human history so terrible a waste of life was
•ever witnessed as before the walls of Acre.
It was estimated that the Christian losses
.'reached the enormous aggregate of three hun-
dred thousand men, while those of the Mos-
lems were but little inferior, and then the siege
was indecisive. Such was the afterpiece of
the struggle between Isaac and Ishmaell
Even this awful conflict and carnage was but
premonitory of the real battle which was to come.
For in the mean time the great potentates of
the West were preparing for the struggle. First
of all in the work was the aged but still fiery
and warlike Frederick Barbarossa, Emperor
of Germany. Already for forty years a vet-
eran, he flung himself into the breach with
all the enthusiasm of youth, moderated by the
prudence of manhood. A great national ftte
was held at Mayence, and the valiant young
knights of Germauy bowed before their Em-
peror and vowed the vow of the cross.
Of all who had preceded him, not one was
Barbarossa's equal in genius and generalship.
He carefully weighed the perils of the great
undertaking, and provided against its hazards.
In musteriug his forces he would accept no vol-
unteer who could not furnish the means of his
own subsistence for a whole year. A German
of the Germans, he would not intrust himself
and his army to the mercies and rapacity of
the Pisan and Venetian ship-masters, but de-
termined to take the old land route by way
of Constantinople and Asia Minor. His army
in the aggregate, exclusive of unarmed pil-
grims, numbered over a hundred thousand
men. Of these, sixty thousand were cavalry,
and of these fifteen thousand were Knights,
the flower of the Teutonic Order. The Em-
peror had with him as a leader, his son, the
Duke of Suabia, together with the dukes of Aus-
tria and Moravia, and more than sixty other
distinguished princes and barons. The great
army was thoroughly disciplined and supplied,
and the host moved forward with a regularity
and military subordination which would have
been creditable to a modern commander.
In traversing the Greek Empire, Fred-
erick met with the same double-dealing and
treachery which had marked the course of
the Byzantines from the first. At times the
fury of the German warriors was ready to
break forth and consume the perfidious Con-
stantinopolitans, but Barbarossa, with a firm
hand, restrained them from violence. Shar-
ing their indignation, however, he refused to
accept the invitation of the reigning Csesar.
730
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
JJAKBAROSSA AT THE NATIONAL FETE OF MAYE.N(.E.
Drawn by H. Vogel.
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
731
Isaac Angelus, to visit him in his capital.
With an eye single to the work in hand, he
crossed into Asia Minor, and began the her-
culean task of making his way towards An-
tioch. In this movement he was opposed, as
his predecessor had been, by every inimical
force in man and nature. He was obliged
to make hi.s way through heated deserts and
dangerous passes with the Turcoman hordes
darkening every horizon and circling around
every encampment. But they were never
able to take the old hero off his guard. He
overcame every obstacle, fought his way
through every peril, and came without seri-
ous disaster to Iconium. Here he was con-
fronted by the sultan, whom he defeated
in battle, and whose capital he took by storm.
By this time the name of Frederick had be-
come a terror, and the Moslems began to stand
aloof from the invincible German army.
Here, however, was the end of Barba-
rossa's warlike pilgrimage. While moving for-
ward steadily, he came, in CUicia, to the
little river Calycadnus, where, on the 10th
of June, 1190, he met his death. But Tra-
dition, with her usual painstaking obscurity,
has not decided whether he died of a fall
from his horse, or from carelessly bathing,
when overheated, in the ice-cold waters of
the stream.'
Evil was the day when Frederick died.
It was soon discovered to what a great de-
gree the success of the German invasion had
been due to his genius. The Moslems had
properly judged that the leader was the soul
of the Christian army, and, learning of his
death, they returned to the charge with im-
petuous audacity. Disease and famine began
to make terrible havoc among the German
soldiers. The command devolved upon the
son of Barbarossa, who was in many respects
worthy of his father's fame. Slowly the Cru-
saders toiled on, harassed by the almost daily
■Frederick Barbarossa, the Red Beard, is the
national hero of Germany. Tlie folk-lore of that
etory-telling land has preserved a tradition that
he did not die, but, returning to Europe, en-
tered a cave at Salzburg, where he went to sleep.
There he sits nodding until to-day. But whenever
Fatherland is endangered, he wakes from his
slumber, comes forth in armor, and is seen on
the battle-field where Germans are fighting, terri-
ble as of old.
onsets of the Saracens, whom to repel was but
to embolden for another charge.
At last the worn-out warriors reached An-
tioch. Nine-tenths of their number had per-
ished, but the remnant had in them all the-
courage and steadfastness of their race. The
Principality of Antioch was at this time held
by the forces of Saladin, and their numbers-
far exceeded those of the Crusaders. Neverthe-
less the German Knights, disregarding their
numerical inferiority, fell boldly upon the
Moslems and scattered all before them. Anti-
och was taken, and the Saracens retreated io
the direction of Damascus.
Having achieved this marked, albeit unex-
pected, success, the Crusaders pressed forward
to Acre. They w?re received with great joy
by the Christian army, but the force was so-
wasted by sickness and continuous fighting^
that the addition to the numbers of the besieg-
ers was scarcely noticeable. In a short time-
the gallant Duke of Suabia died, and the mag-
nificent army of Barbarossa was reduced to a
handful. The leader, however, did not perish
until he had had the honor of incorporating
into a regularly organized body the Order of
Teutonic Knights, which had hitherto held a
precarious and uncertain course since the date
of its founding, as already narrated in the
preceding chapter. A papal edict followed,
putting the new brotherhood on the same level
with the Hospitallers and Templars, under the
sanction and encouragement of the Church.
At this juncture a new .figure rose on the
horizon — a warrior armed cap-a-pie, riding a
powerful war-horse, brandishing a ponderous
battle-axe, without the sense of fear, stalwart,
and audacious, a Crusader of the Crusaders,
greatest of all the mediaeval heroes — young-
Richard Plantagenet the Lion Heart, king of
England. In that country Henry II., foun-
der of the Plantagenet dynasty, had died in
July of 1189. The siege of Acre was then in
progress, and Frederick Barbarossa was on his-
march to the Holy Land. King Henry him-
self had desired to share in the glory of deliv-
ering Jerusalem from the Turks, but the
troubles of his own kingdom absoit)ed his
attention. Greatly was he afflicted, or at
least angered, by the conduct of his sons,
Richard and John. The former was head-
strong, the latter cunning, and both disloyal
732
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
to their father and king. Richard had con-
ceived a romantic aflection for Philip Au-
gustus of France — a prince of his own age,
and with something of his own audacity.
In vain did the English king endeavor to
break the attachment between his heir and the
French monarch. They continued to vow
■eternal friendship and to resolve that they
would fight the Infidels together. Even when
Henry went to war with Philip, he had the
mortification and horror of finding his sons
«5;5§t 5S^-^S^X;^, sXOVXNk \ ^^v\ , \
ready for his expedition to the East. It had
been arranged that he and Philip should join
their forces at Vazelay, and thither Ln thb
summer of 1190 both kings repaired with
their armies.' England was left to the care
of Bishop Hugh of Durham and Bishop Long-
champ of Ely, while the guardianship of the
French Kingdom was intrusted to Philip's
queen and ministers.
Arriving at their rendezvous, the French
and English kings renewed their vow» of
DEATH OF KREDEKKK BARBAROSSA IN THE L ALYl AL>.Nl S.
Drawn by H. Vogel.
arrayed against him. So in the summer of
1189 he came to his end, and died cursing both
of his heirs. The dutiful Richard, however,
attended his father's funeral, was greatly and
perhaps sincerely affected, was acknowledged
as king, and crowned on the 3d of Septem-
ber in that year. But it was the least part of
his intention to waste his energies in the insig-
nificant business of governing the English and
the Normans. Having released his mother El-
eanor from prison, and raised a large sum of
money by the sale of castles and estates he made
friendship, reviewed their army of more than
a hundred thousand men, and set out on a
march to Lyons. Arriving at that city, they
separated then- forces, intending to unite them
again at the port of Messina in Sicily. Philip
led his army from Lyons to Genoa, which was
his port of debarkation, while Richard pro-
' Before departing from England, Richard'e
vices, of which he made little or no concealment,
became the occasion of a famous incident and cut-
ting repartee. A certain Foulque of Neuilly, a zeal-
ous preacher of the Crusade, upbraided him for his
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
735
ceeded to Marseilles, to await the arrival of
his fleet from England. The short delay which
here occurred proved intolerable to his impet-
uous spirit, and, hiring a few ships, he em-
barked with his immediate following, and sailed
for Italy. In the mean time, the English
squadron made its way iuto the Mediterranean,
reached Marseilles, took on board the army,
and arrived at Messina ahead of both Philip
and Richard.
In Sicily the French and English armies
were maintained during the winter. It was
not long until the island was in a ferment
of excitement. Tancred, the reigning king,
had imprisoned Joan, widow of his predeces-
sor and sister of Richard. The English king
not only enforced her liberation, but seized a
-oastle and gave it to her as a residence. He
permitted his soldiers to help themselves to the
best which the island aftbrded. When hostili-
ties broke out between his forces and
the inhabitants of Messina, and the lat-
ter were defeated, he allowed the city to
be sacked as though it were a stronghold
■of the Turks. These proceedings greatly
-offended King Philip, for Tancred was
his vassal ; but Richard enforced his will,
and then, in order to placate the French
king, sent him a present of twenty thou-
sand ounces of gold, which he had ex-
torted from Tancred as the price of peace.
He also gave a splendid Christmas festi-
val to the knights and warriors of both
armies, thus greatly increasing his influ-
ence and popularity.
Soon afterwards a more serious diffi-
culty arose between the friendly kings.
For some time Richard had been under
engagement with PhOip to marry hLs sister, the
Princess Adelia ; but for some rea.son the ardor
of the lover cooled. Forsooth, his former pas-
sion for the princess had been one of the chief
causes of estrangement between himself and
his father Henry. Perhaps the appearance
of another royal maiden on the horizon of
■conduct, particularizing his pride, his avarice, and
his voluptuousness which he designated as the
king's three (laughters. " Your counsel is excellent,"
said Richard, " and I here and now part with my
three dansthters forever. I give the first to the
Knights Templars; the second, to the monks ot St.
Benedict ; and the third to my priests and bish-
ops." ioulque was one of them.
Richard's dreams had something to do with
the change in his affections. For at this
juncture the Princess Berengaria, daughter of
King Sancho of Navarre, arrived in Sicily,
escorted by the queen-mother, Eleanor of
England. With her Plantagenet fell deeply
in love, and Philip was as deeply offended.
Nothing, however, could stay the tide of
THE LION HEART AT ACRE, — Drawii by A. de Neuville.
Rfchard's purpose when once it began to
flow. He discarded Adelia. He and the
French king thereupon had a scandalous
quarrel, which was only smoothed over when
the capricious lover agreed to pay the re-
jected princess ten thousand marks and to
restore to her all the castles which had been
assigned as her dowry.
With the opening of spring, the two kings
made ready to set out for the East. Philip
departed first. After an auspicious voyage,
he arrived in safety in Palestine, and joined
his forces to the army before Acre. Richard,
on the other hand, had ill-fortune. Off the
734
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.—THE MODERN WORLD.
coast of Crete, his squadron was shattered by
a storm. Two of his vessels were wrecked on
the shores of Cyprus; and, although he him-
<ielf had reached Rhodes when the news over-
took him that the stranded crews had beea
robbed and detained as prisoners by the Cy-
priots, he turned about to avenge the injury.
Disembarking his troops, he took the capital
RICHARD PLANTAGiiNET TAKING DOWN THE BANNER OF LEOPOLD.
Drawn by L. P. Leyendecker.
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
735
of the island by storm, and put the governor
in chains. And, to add insult to ignominy,
the chains were made of silver. The inhabi-
tants of Cyprus were made to pay dearly for
their aggression, for the king levied upon
them a tribute as heavy as their offense had
been rank.
Satisfied with his vengeance, Richard now
celebrated his nuptials with Berengaria, whom
he had hitherto forborne to wed, the season
being Lent. When the festivities were over,
he sailed for Acre. His squadron at this
time consisted of fifty war-galleys, thirteen
store-ships, and more than a hundred trans-
ports. On his way to the eastern coast, he
had the good fortune to overhaul a large ship
of the enemy carrying fifteen hundred men
and stored with Greek fire. So terrible was
the defense made by the Moslem sailors that
the vessel, shattered by the conflict, went to
the bottom with all her stores. Only thirty
five of her defenders were take alive from the
foaming sea.
Arriving at Acre, the English king was re-
ceived with great enthusiasm. His astonish-
ing audacity and prowess were precisely the
qualities needed in the Christian camp before
the fortress. On his appearance, notwithstand-
ing the serious illness with which he was pros-
trated, new life flashed through the dispirited
ranks. His battering engines seemed to work
with the vigor of his own will. He became
the Achilles of the host, whom nothing could
I'esist or divert from his [jurpose. The re-
peated and unwearied efforts of Saladin to
relieve and reenforce the beleaguered garrison
1/ere repulsed as fast as made. The inhabi-
tants of Acre found themselves in the grip of
a giant. The walls were broken on every side.
The garrison was reduced in numbers and
driven to despair. Saladin at last gave a re-
luctant assent, and Acre, hitherto impregnable,
surrendered to the Crusaders.
In the hour of victory the character of Coeur
de Lion revealed itself in full force. Without
the show of courtesy to Philip, he took posses-
sion of the palace for himself. He would not
brook even a protest against his arbitrary and
high-handed proceedings. Perceiving that Leo-
pold, duke of Austria, had planted his banner
on the wall, Richard seized the standard and
hurling it into the ditch, set up the banner
of St. George in its stead; nor did Leopold
dare to express by other sign than silent rage
his burning resentment.
The sultan was obliged to make terms most
favorable to the Christians. Fifteen hundred
captives held by him were to be given up.
Acre was to be surrendered, and the garrison
ransomed by the payment of two hundred
thousand crowns of gold. The victorious kings
agreed on their part to spare the lives of the
j)risouers. The Moslem camp before Acre was
broken up and the army withdrawn in the di-
rection of Damascus. The Lion Heart having
detained about five thousand hostages, permit-
ted the remaining inhabitants of the captured
city to depart in peace. And now followed a
scene terribly characteristic of the bloody an-
nals, ferocious spirit, and vindictive methods
of the age.
Saladin failed either through negligence or
inability to pay to the victors within the pre-
scribed time the stipulated ransom for the cap-
tives of Acre. Thereupon Richard fell into a
furious passion, and the Moslem hostages to
the number of five thousand were led out from
the walls to the camps of the French and
English and there beheaded in cold blood, and
so little was the humanity of the great Crusa-
der shocked, that he complacently beheld the
end of the horrid tragedy, and then wrote a
letter in which his deed was boasted as a ser-
vice most acceptable to heaven.
The massacre of his subjects provoked Sal-
adin to retaliation. He revenged himself by
butchering the Christian captives in his hands
and seizing others for a similar fate. One
massacre followed another until the lineaments
of civilized warfare were no longer discover*
able in the struggle. Nor could it well be de-
cided whether the Cross or the Crescent was
more smeared with the blood of the helpless
in these ferocious butcheries.
The news of the recapture of Acre was re-
ceived with great joy by the Christians of both
Asia and Europe. The success of the En-
glish and French kings seemed the well-omened
harbinger of the recovery of Jerusalem and
all the East. Great, therefore, was the vexa-
tion that followed when it was known that
Philip Augustus had abandoned the conflict
and left the Holy War to others. To this
course he was actuated by a severe illness with
736
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— TEE MODERN WORLD.
which he was prostrated, and more particularly
by his envy and jealousy of Richai'd. The
two monarchs were unlike. As a ruler, pru-
dent and politic, Philip was greatly superior to
his rival, but as a hero he was in no wise to
be compared with the Plantagenet. The latter
was as reckless as he was brave, prodigal of
gifts, generous by nature, personally grand.
RlCHAiiX) COEUR DE LION HA VING THE SAKACENS BEHEADED,
^—wn by » flc NeuvUle.
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
•oS/
The iormer was shrewd, cautious, wise, a king
rather than a warrior. Such qualities as his
were disprized by the age, while those of the
Lion Heart were the ideals of the times in
which he lived. But Philip could not bear
the praise and enthusiasm with which Richard
was everywhere greeted, much less his arro-
gance and caprice, of which the one was intol-
erable and the other past aj)prehension. Per-
haps it was well after all that the French
king withdrew at the time he did from an al-
liance which must soon have resulted in an
open and jDrobably fatal rupture. He left
the scene which had brought him little per-
sonal glory, repaired to his own dominions, and
presently exhibited a perfidious disposition by
attacking the dominions of his recent ally.
By the retirement of Philip from the con-
test Richard was left in the sole leadership of
Christian affairs in Syria. All of the French
forces retired with their king except a division
of ten thousand men under the Duke of Bur-
gundy. Finding himself deserted by his old-
time boon-companion, the English king pre-
pared to renew the war. With an army of
about thirty thousand warriors he left Acre
and proceeded along the coast in the direction
of Jaffa. The English fleet, laden with sup-
plies, accompanied the march, but the progress
of the expedition was by no means unchecked
by adverse forces. The enemy gathered in
great numbers and hovered with sleepless vigi-
lance on flank and rear. For fifteen days the
Christians advanced under an almost constant
shower of arrows from an enemy who durst
not come to battle. At last, however, the
sultan resolved (for his army was now increased
to great proportions) to hazard a general en-
gagement. When on the 7th of September,
1191, the Crusaders had come near the town
of Azotus he ordered a charge of his whole
host upon their position. The conflict that
ensued was one of the most remarkable of the
Middle Ages. The mere weight of the Mos-
lem myriads pressed the Christians into a small
space, and here from all directions, except
from the side of the sea, a shower of arrows
that darkened the air rained upon them.
Smarting under these missiles the restless
but undaunted Knights eagerly desired to return
the charge of the foe, but the genius of Rich-
ard shone out starlike. With a courage and
calmness that would have done credit to Napo-
leon he ordered his warriors to stand fast until
the Turks had emptied their quivers and then
to make the charge. So, when Saladin's hosts
had exhausted their missiles upon the well-nigh
impenetrable armor of the Crusaders, the
Christian ranks were suddenly opened and the
Knights burst forth like- a thunderbolt upon
the impacted masses of the Moslems. Fearful
was the revenge which those steel-clad warri-
ors now took upon the insolent foe. Sevea
thousand of the noblest of the Turkish cavalry
were hewn down on the field. The Saracens-
fled in all directions, and only the speed of
their horses saved them from the swords and
battle-axes of the Crusaders.
After this signal victory, Richard contin-
ued his march to Jafla, which city was aban-
doned by Saladin at his ap])roach. Cesarea.
was also retaken by the Christians; nor is it
improbable that if the king's wish to advance-
at once on Jerusalem had been seconded by
his subordinates the Holy Sepulcher might
have been wrested again from its defilers. The
French barons, however, insisted that the bet-
ter policy was to tarry on the coast, rebuild
the ruined fortresses, and reserve the recapture
of Jerusalem for the next campaign. The
golden opportunity was thus allowed to pae»
without improvement, and the Christians fool-
ishly rested on their laurels.
With the opening of the spring of 1192 the
Crusaders were again rallied around the ban-
ner of Plantagenet for the great original pur-
pose of retaking the Holy City. All the
Knights took a solemn oath that they would
not abandon the cause until the tomb of Christ
should be recovered. The army proceeded
from the coast as far as the valley of Hebron,
and it seemed to the Moslems that the day of
fate had again arrived. Many fled from Jeru-
salem, and Saladin himself gave up all for
lost. Strange and inexplicable, therefore, wa*
the event. The Christians, already in sight
of the city, halted. Was it the treachery of
the Duke of Burgundy ? Was it the whim of
the king? Had he and Saladin come tc a
secret understanding? or did the military
genius of Richard warn him of the insuffi-
ciency of his resources for such an undertaking
as the siege of the city ? Did the news from
England, telling him of the intrigues of hi£
COUER DE LION IN THE BATTLE OF AZOTD8. — Ura-wa bj umiuivt j<ore
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
739
treacherous brother John, who was endeavor-
ing in his absence to deprive him of the king-
dom, prevail to reverse his plans and destroy
his hopes? or was it one of those unaccount-
able failures of will which, in the supreme
hours of the lives of the greatest, have so
many times supervened to break the knees of
the demigod ou the threshold of his highest
ambition ? None can answer.
Here in the valley of Hebron, with the
towers of Jerusalem in view, the Lion Heart
called a council ! Ten of the leading barons
were called upon to decide whether the siege
of the city should be undertaken or deferred.
It was decided that the present prosecution of
the enterprise was inexpedient, and should be
given up. Great was the chagrin of the army
when this decision was promulgated ; and if
appearances might be trusted, Richard was
himself as much mortified as any of his chiefs.
With slow aud discontented footsteps the Eng-
lish warriors and their Syrian allies made their
■way back to the coast, and Jerusalem was left
to the perpetual profanation of the Turks.
The supposition that Saladin was in collu-
sion with Richard in the abandonment of his
enterprise against the Holy City seems to be
contradicted by the conduct of the sultan after
the fact. He eagerly followed the retreating
Christians, and sought every opportunity to
strike them a fatal blow. While the Crusaders
were on their way from Jaffa to Acre, a host
of Moslems assailed the former city and gained
posse.ssion of all but the fortresses. Many of
the inhabitants and garrison were cut down
in the streets. Richard was already at Acre,
and busy with his preparations to sail for
Europe, when the news came of what the Turks
had done at Jaffa. Enraged at the sultan for
this aggression, he at once took ship with a
mere handful of Knights, and returned to
Jaffa. Here he found the Christians still in
possession of the citadel, and doing their best
to keep the Moslems at bay. With the very
•excess of reckless daring the king, on coming
into the shoal-water, jumped out of his boat
and waded to the shore, followed by his war-
riors. There was no standing against such
valor. The Sara( ens who lined the beach were
amazed, and gave way before the brandished
battle-axe of Plantagenet as though he were
the Evil Genius of Islam. In a short time
N. — Vol. 2 — 45
the assailants of Jaffa escaped from the envi-
ronments of the town, and fled to the hills for
safety. The entire force of Richard, includ-
ing the defenders of the city, amounted to
fifty-five Knights and two thousand infantry;
and yet with this mere handful he defiantly
pitched his camp outside of the walk, as if to
taunt all the hosts of Saladin with the implied
charge of cowardice.
This was more than the Turks could stand.
On the next day, perceiving the insignificance
of the force from which they had fled, they
returned with overpowering numbers and re-
newed the battle. From the fury of their on-
set it seemed that they had determined to de-
stroy Richard at whatever cost to themselves;
but the English hero grew more terrible with
the crisis. He fought up and down the shore
like Castor on the field of Troy. Neither
numbers nor courage prevailed to stay his
fury. He charged a whole squadron as though
it were composed of boys and women. Hia
pathway was strewn with cleft skulls and head-
less trunks. He was in the height of his
glory. Appalled at the flash of his death-
dealing weapon, the greatest warriors of Islam
fell back from the circle of destruction. They
lowered upon him from a distance, but durst
not give him battle. Not until the shadows
of the Syrian twilight gathered over the scene
did Richard and his Knights abate their furi-
ous onsets. The Moslems had had enough ; they
retreated from before the city, and the siege
was abandoned.'
We have now come to the close of the
Third Crusade. The exploits of the Lion
Heart in Palestine were at an end. His tre-,
mendous exertions in the battle of ,'^affa brought
on a fever of which he was for son t time pros-
trated. His eagerness to return to En-rope was
' Perhaps no other warrior ever excited so gioat
personal terror in battle as did Richard Coeur de
Lion. His prodigious deeds in fight might well
be regarded as wholly fictitious were it not for the
concurrent testimony of both Christian and Mo-
hammedan writers. Tradition ever afterwards
preserved a memory of his dread name and fame
in the East. Syrian mothers were accustomed for
centuries (if not to the present day) to frighten
their refractory children with the mention of his
name ; and the Islamite traveler, when his horse
would suddenly start by the way, was wont to say,
Cuirles tu que ce soil le Roi Rkharlf That is,
"Think'st thou that it is King Richard?"
BATTLE BEFORE ACiiit.— Drawn by Gustave Dore.
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
i41
increased by every additional item of news
which he received from his own kingdom. A
conspiracy had been formed by tlie faithless
Prince John and Philip Augustus to rob him
of his crown ; and the Emjjeror Henry VI. of
Germany was not without a guilty knowledge
of the plot. Moreover, his recent triumphant
defense of Jaffa had so increased his influ-
ence in the East that the aged Saladin, whose
Bands of life were almost run, was more than
willing to'come to an understanding with the
Crusaders. A treaty, or rather a truce for
three years and three months, was accordingly
concluded between him and Plantagenet, which,
if both had lived, might have had in it the
elements of permanency. It was agreed that
Richard should dismantle the fortress of Asca-
lon, the same being while held by the Chris-
tians a constant menace to the peace of
Egypt. On the other hand, Tyre, Acre, and
Jafl^a, with all the_ sea-coasts between them,
should remain to the Crusaders. Antioch and
Tripoli should not be molested by the Turks,
and all Christian pilgrims who came unarmed
should have free ingress and egress in visiting
the holy places of Palestine, especially those
in Jerusalem. Having concluded this settle-
ment, King Richard embarked from Acre in
the autumn of 1192, and started on his home-
ward voyage.
The great Crusader was now destined to
rough sailing and hard treatment. His fame had
filled all Europe, and nearly all the raonarchs
of Christendom were in a league of common
jealousy against him. After making his way
through many storms at sea into the Adriatic,
his vessel was wrecked near the head of that
water, and he was cast ashore in the neighbor-
hood of the coast-town of Aquileia, in the do-
minions of Leopold, duke of Austria. That
personage had been among the German princes
engaged in the siege of Acre when Richard
Hi-st arrived in Palestine. On a certain occa-
sion the English king had torn down the duke's
banner, and had struck him an insulting blow
which he durst not resent. It now happened
that Plantagenet, disguised as a pilgrim — for
in that guise he hoped to make his way in
safety to his own dominions — was brought into
the presence of the offended duke, who recog-
nized him by a mark which no disguise could
iide — his kingly bearing and profuseness.
Here, then, was an opportunity for revenge.
But avarice prevailed over malice, and hop-
ing to share in the large ransom which was
sure to follow the imprisonment of Richard,
the Duke of Austria sent him under guard to
the Emperor Henry VI.
Of all the people of England, Prince John
was most rejoiced at the news of his brother's
capture. Otherwise there was great grief
throughout the kingdom. John sent abroad
the lying report that the Lion Heart was dead,
and his confederate, the king of France, made
an invat J" 3* Normandy. The English bar-
ons, ho'yevei, •emaiued Ijyai to Fi.hard, and
defended his rights during his absence.
At the hands of the Emperor Henry,
Richard received every indignity. He was
put in chains and thrown into a dungeon.
Nothing but his abundance of animal .spirits
saved him from despair. But the prisoner
was a man of so great distinction and fame
that the Emperor durst not destroy him, or
even continue to persecute. A diet of the
Empire was presently held at Worms, and
the princes, showing a disposition to demand
of Henry a reason for his course, he had
Richard conveyed to Worms to be disposed
of. As a justification for his own conduct, he
accused the English king of having driven
Philip Augustus out of Palestine and mal-
treated the Duke of Austria. He also charged
him with having concluded with Saladin a
peace wholly favorable to the Moslems and
against the interests and wishes of Christen-
dom. The defense of Richard against these
calumniations was in every way triumjihant,
insomuch that some of his judges were ex-
cited to tears by the eloquence and pathos
of his story. It was impossible to convict
such a prisoner in such a presence. Never-
theless, the spirit of the age permitted the
Emperor to exact of his royal prisoner a
ransom of a hundred thousand marks as the
price of his liberation. Richard was also
obliged to give hostages as security for the
payment of sixty thousand marks additional
on his return to his own country.
On hearing the news that Richard was
again at liberty, his brother John and Philip
of France were in the frame of mind pecul-
iar to a wolf and a fox when a lion is turned
into their keep. The king of France at once
?42
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Bent word to his ally to take care of himself
as best he could. The confederates next at-
tempted to bribe Henry VI. to detain Richard
for another year, and that money-making sov-
ereign would have gladly accepted the bait
but for the interference of the Pope, who
threatened him with excommunication shoidd
he dare further to molest the greatest cham-
pion of the Cross.
Richard's friends in England were mean-
while exerting themselves to raise the re-
quired ransom. In order to secure the
amount a general tax was levied, and, the
sum thus raised being insufficient, the nobles
contributed a fourth of their yearly income,
while many of the chui'ches gave up their
silver-service to be coined for the king's re-
demption. When the sum was secured,
Queen Eleanor herself took the money to
Germany, and her great son was liberated.
In March of 1194, the king arrived in
England. He had been absent from the
kingdom for four jears, the last fifteen
months of which he had been held as a
prisoner. Great was the joy of the English
people, not only in London, but throughout
the realm, on again beholding their sover-
eign. There was a burst of loyal devotion
on every hand, and the king in the midst of
acclamations might well forget the perils and
hardships to which he had been exposed. As
for Prince John, who was as timid as he was
treacherous, he availed himself of the first
opportunity to rush into the apartment of
his famoiis brother, and, flinging himself
down at his feet, anxiously pleaded for for-
giveness. It was not in Richard's nature to
withhold a pardon from his abject brother;
but he accompanied the act with the laconic
remark to some of his friends that he hoped
to forget the injuries done to himself as soon
as John would forget his pardon !
Richard took the precaution to have him-
self recrowned ; for he had been a prisoner.
As soon as the affairs of the kingdom could
be satisfactorily settled, he crossed over into
Normandy to defend that province against the'
aggressions of Philip. For the remaining four
years of the king's life he was almost con-
stantly occupied in preparations for war, or
making truces with the French, who had neither
the good faith to keep a treaty or the courage
to fight. In the year 1199 the report wa*
spread abroad that a treasure had been dis-
covered on the estate of the Viscount of Li-
moges. He beiag Richard's vassal, the king
claimed the treasure, but the viscount would
yield only a jjart. Thereupon Plantagenet
went with a baud of warriors to take the
castle of his refractory subject. One day,
while sur\-eyiug the defenses preparatory to
an attack, he incautiously walked too near the
wall and was wounded by an arrow. Though
the injury was slight, a gangrene came on, and
the king was brought to his death. Before
that event, however, the castle was taken and
all of its defenders hanged except Bertrame de
Gourdon, who discharged the fatal arrow. He
was taken and brought into Richard's presence
to receive sentence of his doom. "What
harm have I done you," said the king, " that
you should thus have attempted my death?"
" You killed my father and brother with your
own hands," said the prisoner, "and you in-
tended to kdl me. I am ready to suffer with
joy any torments you can invent, since I have
been so happy as to destroy one who has
brought so many miseries on mankind." Rich-
ard was so impressed with the boldness and
truth of this answer that he ordered Bertrame
to be set at liberty. His soldiers, however,
were less merciful, and as soon as the king
was dead, his slayer was executed.
Before he expired Richard changed his will,
and being childless, bequeathed his kingdom
to his brother John. Hitherto he had made a
provision that the crown should descend to hi»
nephew, Prince Arthur of Brittany, son of
Geoffrey Plantagenet. On the 6th of April,
1199, Richard breathed his last, and in his
death was greatly lamented by the English
nation, whose name he had made a terror a*
far as the comers of Asia.
At the epoch of the Third Crusade it was
the misfortune of the Christians of Palestine
to be rent by faction. One party embraced
the adherents of Guy of Lusignan, and the
other the followers of the valiant Conrad,
count of Montfen-at. When Richard and
Philip were at Acre the former espoused the
cause of Guy, and the latter that of Conrad.
After the departure of the French king, how-
ever, Richard, finding the country on the verge
of civil war, and perhaps discovering tho
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
743
worthlessness of Lusignan, concluded to recog-
nize Conrad as king of Jerusalem. Guy was
reconciled, or at least conciliated, by the be-
stowal of the crown of Cyprus. But this set-
tlement was of short duration. Conrad was
murdered in the streets of Tyre by two of the
Assassins, a new sect of fanatic Moslems,
whose leading tenet was to destroy theii- ene-
mies by secret murder. The destruction of
Conrad, however, was charged to the old
enmity of Richard, and the factional bitterness
of the Christians was increased by this false
accusation.
After the death of Conrad his widow was
married to Count Henry, of Champagne, who
in virtue of the uuion was by common consent
made titular king of Jerusalem. This settle-
ment tended to allay the malignant party
strife which had prevailed in Palestine, and,
together with the successes of the Crusaders at
Acre and Jafia, gave promise of an actual
restoration of the kingdom.
This favorable turn in the tide of affairs
was promoted by the death of Saladin. This
most distinguished of the later Moslems died a
few months after the conclusion of his truce
with Richard, and left his Empire to his
three sons, who soon established three distinct
thrones at Cairo, Damascus, and Aleppo. The
solidarity of the Caliphate was thus broken,
and the Christian kingdom, or rather the pros-
pect of its reestablishment, gained greatly by
the division. The bad tendency of Moslem
affairs was still further increased by the con-
duct of the great Caliph's brother, Saphadin,
who, stronger than his nephews, wrested from
them a large part of Syria, and in 1193 organ-
ized it into a government of his own.
It was with some impatience that the Chris-
tians of Palestine awaited the expu-ation of
the three years' truce concluded by Coeur de
Jjion with Saladin. The dissensions among
(he Moslems gave good ground of hope that
the kingdom established by Godfrey might be
restored, and the Holy City recovered from
the Turks. This feeling was especially potent
among the Templars and Hospitallers, whose
profession of arms had little glory in the
" weak, piping time of peace " which fol-
lowed the Third Crusade. It became the pol-
icy of the two Orders te promote every move-
Jient in Western Europe which looked to a
renewal of the holy war. In 1194 they induced
Pope Celestine HI. to proclaim another Cru-
sade, and the same was preached in Germany,
France, and England. At this juncture, how-
ever, there was no such exciting cause of an
uprising as had existed on previous occasions,
and the French and English refused to agitate.
In Germany a cause was found in the personal
ambition of the Emperor, Henry VI. With-
out great breadth of mind, he was nevertheless
capable of that sort of avarice which could
look with eager and covetous eye upon the
treasures of the East. It was one of the curses
of the Middle Ages that the rulers of Chris-
tendom generally preferred to replenish their
coffers by robbery rather than by the encour-
agement of industry and frugality among their
subjects.
Henry VI. brought the whole Imperial in-
fluence to bear in favor of the new Crusade.
The German clergy assisted in the work, and
a suflScient agitation was produced to draw
together a large army of volunteers. Three
formidable bodies of warriors were fitted out
and were dispatched in succession to Acre.
On arriving at this stronghold of Syrian Chris-
tianity the spirits of the Europeans, especially
of the Knights, revived, and a momentary
enthusiasm was kindled which perhaps under
great direction might have led to great results.
When it was known to the Moslems that
new armies of Christians were arriving in the
East they quickly made common cause to repel
the invasion. Saphadin was chosen as the
leader most likely to succeed in driving the
German Crusaders out of Palestine. On the
other hand, the chiefs who commanded the
Christian host quarreled and divided their
forces. During the years 1195-96 a series of
indecisive conflicts ensued, in which, though
the Germans were sometimes victorious, no
permanent results were reached in the way of
reconquering the country. As a general rule
the Turks were unable to confront the Knights
in battle, but the former were for the most
part a light-armed cavalry, that fought or fled
as the exigency seemed to demand, and which
it was almost impossible for the mailed war-
riors of the North to beat to the ground.
After two years of this desidtory warfare
the Emperor died, and the princes and prelates
who had commanded his armies in Palestine
744
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
returned to Europe. The movement had af-
fected but slightly the destinies of the conflict
in the East, and the most critical authors have
not dignified the expedition by numbering it
among the Crusades. Perhaps a slight solidity
was given to the alleged " kingdom," which
now, under the rule of the nominal king,
Henry of Champagne, included within its lim-
its the better part of the coast of Palestine.
In 1196 Henry died, and soon afterwards his
accommodating queen, for the third time a
widow, was married to Almeric of Lusignan,
successor of Guy in the kingdom of the Cypriots.
A union was thus effected between the two
sovereignties, and the joint rulers were desig-
nated as the King and Queen of Jerusalem
and Cyprus.
In the year 1198 the papal crown passed from
Celestine to Innocent HI. The latter was one
of the most able and ambitious Pontiffs recently
regnant over Christendom. Soon after his ac-
cession he determined, if possible, to rekindle
the expiring fires of religious zeal by proclaim-
ing a new Crusade. He became more largely
instrumental in the movement that followed
than any of his predecessors since the days of
Urban had been in arousing the Christians of
Europe to concurrent action against the Infi-
dels. He wrote to all the Christian rulers of
the West, urging them to rally to the Cross
and to assist the holy work he had in hand,
either by themselves enlisting for the war, or
by contributing a part of their means for the
glorious enterprise. As to the Church, he ex-
acted of aU the ecclesiastics in Europe a tithe
of one-fortieth part of their revenues, and at
the same time, by his messengers, he urged
the laity to give in like manner a liberal per
centum of their incomes.
So effective were the measures thus origi-
nated that the papal coffers were soon filled
to overflowing. At this juncture a popular
preacher appeared who, like Peter the Her-
mit and St. Bernard, was destined to enforce
and energize the will of the Pope by an ap-
peal to the masses. Pretending to have reve-
lations from heaven, this fanatic priest, whose
name was Foulque of Neuilly, went abroad
loudly and vehemently preaching to the people
and calling upon them in the name of all things
sacred, to enlist in the holy war. To convince
them of his mission he performed miracles, '
and as a finishing touch to the spectacular, he
exhibited himself as an example of devotion
and sacrifice ; for he had formerly been a dis-
tinguished libertine.' The flame of excite-
ment rose high under the appeals of this dra-
matic orator, and thousands in France and
Flanders rushed forward to take the cross.
Now it was that the gallant Count Thibaut
of Champagne, and his cousin. Earl Louis of
BloLs, fired the French chivalry by their ex-
ample. At a great tournament held in tha
count's province in the year 1200, these two
nobles publicly renounced tiie mimic deeds of
the knightly ring for the actual glories of war.
They assumed the cross, and vowed the vow
of service against the Infidels. Great was the
enthusiasm created by their devotion, and
hundreds of the assembled knights and nobles
emulated their deeds by putting on the red
badge of Christian warfare. Among the most
distinguished of the number was Simon de
Montfort, baron of Mante. The excitement
spread into Flanders, and Count Baldwin, a
brother-in-law of Thiliaut, enlisted with a
great company of chivalry. Other famous
leaders also appeared : from Italy the Marquis
Boniface of Montferrat ; from Germany, the
bishop of Halberstadt ; from Hungary, the
king. Such was the beginning of the Fouhth
Crusade.
As a means of promoting the cause two
great councils were held, the one at Soissons
and the other at Compeigne. At these meet-
ings it was resolved to avoid the hardships
and disasters which the former Crusaders
had undergone, by taking the sea — instead of
the land — route to Palestine. It was also de-
termined as a necessary part of this policy to
employ the fleets of the maritime Republics
of Italy as the best means of transportation to
the East. Especially did the princes turn to
the Venetians, whose navy was by far the lar-
gest and most efficient in Europe. The lead-
ers accordingly sent ambassadors to the veteran
Venetian doge, Henrico Dandolo, now ninety-
three years of age and blind as a stone, but
still fired with the zeal and spirit of youth.
The councils of state were convened, and aft-
' It was this Foulque whom Richard Plantagenet
horrified with the proposition to give his three
daughters, Pride, Avarice, and Voluptuousness, to
the Templars, the Benedictines, and (he priests !
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
745
erwards the citizens were called together in
the great square of St. Mark. Here in the
presence of the assembled state of Venice the
French barons knelt before the majesty of the
people, and besought with all the fervor of el-
oquence the aid of the Republic in the recov-
■ery of the holy places of the East.
The Venetians heard the petitions with
favor, and agreed to furnish a navy for the
required service for the sum of eighty-five
thousand silver marks. For this sum it was
stipulated that Venice should transport to
uny designated coast of the East four thou-
sand five hundred knights, nine thousand
esquires and men-at-arms, twenty thousand
infantry with horses and accouterments, and
provisions for nine months. The fleet set
apart for this service numbered fifty galleys,
being perhaps the best vessels then afloat in
the Mediterranean.
Great was the joy of the gathering Cru-
saders of France on learning that the Vene-
tians had agreed to transport them to Pal-
estine. Soon, however, the ardor of the
■chivalry was cooled by the untoward circum-
stance of the death of their chosen leader,
Count Thibaut, of Champagne. This posi-
tive loss, moreover, was greatly aggravated
by the jealousy and heart-burnings of the
French barons, whose mutual rivalries pre-
vented a choice of any one of their own
number to the command of the expedition.
It thus happened that a foreign prince, the
Marquis Boniface of Moiitferrat, was chosen
as leader of the Fourth Crusade ; and thus
it happened, also, that what with the em-
bassy to Venice, and what with the delays
incident to the bickerings and disputes of
the barons, the space of two years elapsed
from the tournament of Champagne to the
gathering of the Crusaders at Venice, pre-
paratory to their departure for Syria.
When at last, in the year 1202, the war-
riors of the Cross were mustered in the Place
of St. Mark, it was found tliat many, through
the abatement of zeal, had remained at home,
and that others were less willing, or, perhaps,
less able, than in the first glow of their enthu-
■siasm, to pay the subscriptions which they
had made to meet the Venetian indebtedness.
Less than fifty thousand marks of the whole
eum could now be secured. The doge and
citizens of the Republic refused to permit the
departure of the fleet until the entire amount
should he paid.
At length, however, the dead-lock was
broken in a manner which radica!'y changed
the whole character of the enterprise. When
it became apparent that the Crusade, even
after two years of preparation, must be aban-
doned because of non-compliance with the
contract made by the French embassadors,
the doge himself came forward with a meas-
ure of relief He proposed that instead of
the present payment of the remaining thirty
thousand marks, the Crusaders should assist
him in reducing the revolted city of Zara,
on the coast of Dalmatia. If they would do
so, the residue of their indebtedness might
remain unpaid until the close of the Cru.sade;
and, in that event, he would himself assume
the cross, become a soldier of Christ, and con-
duct the Venetian fleet against the seaports
of the Syrian Infidels.
This advantageous proposition, though it
seemed to divert the Crusaders from their
original purpose, was gladly accepted by
them. Indeed, such was the situation of
affairs that they had no alternative. At this
juncture, however, a new complication arose
which threatened to annul the whole com-
pact. The inhabitants of Zara had, after
their revolt, made haste to put themselves
under the protection of the Hungarians. The
king of Hungary was himself one of the pre
raoters of the Crusade, and had taken the
cross. Pope Innocent HI. now interfered,
and forbade the Crusaders to turn their arms
against a people who were under the pro-
tection of a Christian king, engaged in war
with Infidels. But the Venetian republicans
stood less in awe of the papal authority than
did the feudal barons from beyond the Alps.
Not caring whether their action was pleasing
or displeasing to His Holiness, they went
ahead with the enterprise, and prevailed with
most of the leaders to join them in the ex-
pedition. The Marquis of Moutferrat, how-
ever, would not, on account of conscientious
scruples, accompany the expedition. The fleet
of Venetians and Crusaders departed under
command of the blind old doge, who, though
seeing not with his eyes, perceived with the
inner sight the exigencies of the campaign,
T46
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
and directed his forces with success. Zara,
though one of the strongest fortresses in
Europe, was besieged and taken after a five
Great was the anger of the Pope when he
learned of the thing done by his disobedient
children. He excommunicated both Vene-
days' investment. The lives of the rebellious
inhabitants were spared, but the fortifications
were thrown down, and the city itself given
up to pillage.
tians and Crusaders; but, when the Fremb
barons went humbly to Rome and declared
to Innocent their penitence for their evil
deed, he granted them a pardon on the con-
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
747
ditions that they should restore to the peo-
ple of Zara the booty of which they had
been robbed, and that the alliance with the
refractory and perverse Venetians should be
at once broken off'. It was, however, in a
manner impossible for the barons to comply
with these conditions. They were so entan-
gled with the Republic, that to break the
league was to give up the Crusade and vio-
late their knightly vows. Simon de Mont-
fort, however, more fanatic than the rest,
heeded and obeyed the papal injunction. As
for the other Crusaders, they went into winter
quarters with their allies at Venice and Zara.
During the interval between the capture
of the Dalmatian fortress and the opening
of the spring of 1203, circumstances oc-
curred which led to a complete change of
the original purpose of the Crusade. A new
condition of affairs had supervened in the
Eastern Empire which excited the hostility
of the Western Christians to the extent of
making war on Constantinople instead of the
cities of Syria. The Comnenian empei'ors
were now represented in the person of Alex-
ius, who had conspired against his brother
Isaac, whom he had deposed from the throne,
deprived of his eyes, aud thrust into a dun-
geon. The sou of Isaac, who also bore the
name of Alexius, was but twelve years of
age, and was spared by his victorious uncle.
This young prince made his escape and
fled to Italy, and, when the Crusaders gathered
at Venice, he had sufficient penetration to
see in the host there mustered the possible
means of his own or his father's restoration
to the throne of the Eastern Empire. He
accordingly laid his cause before the Chris-
tian princes, aud besought their aid. His
petitions were strongly backed by the influ-
ence of his brother-in-law, the Duke of Sua-
bia. During the interval, when the barons
of the West were lying inactive at Zara,
the negotiations were continued, and both
Crusaders and Venetians were won over to
the idea of a campaign against Constantino-
ple. Indeed, so far as the subjects of the
doge were concerned, not much was wanting
to inflame the motives already existing for
war. For a quarter of a century a rivalry
had existed between Venice and the capital
of the East. At one time, the Enij)eror
Manuel had confiscated all the property of
the Venetians in the ports of the Empire,
At another, the ships of the Venetian mer-
chants had made a descent upon several of
the Byzantine islands and laid them waste.
By and by the Emperor adopted the policy
of encouraging the Pisans, the rivals of the
Venetians, by conferring on them the carry-
ing-trade of the East. This act was worm-
wood to Venice, and she awaited an oppor-
tunity of revenge.
The aged but ambitious Dandolo now per-
ceived that by espousing tlie cause of the-
young Alexius against the u.■^urping uncle of
the same name the wrongs of the Republic-
might be avenged and her commercial advan-
tages restored in the Eastern Mediterranean.
It thus happened that the prayers of the-
Prince Alexius were supported not only hy
the Duke of Suabia, but also by the still more
powerful voice of the doge.
Such was the temper of the age, that though
the attention of both the Crusaders and Vene-
tians was thus diverted to the enterprise of a
campaign against Constantinople, neither party
of the confederates was disposed to do so with-
out first extorting every possible advantage
from the young prince in whose interest the
expedition was to be ostensibly undertaken.
The Imperial lad was led on under the stimu-
lus of hope to make the most flattering prom-
ises. He agreed to })ay the Crusaders two
hundred thousand murks for the restoration
of his imprisoned and sightless father to the
throne of Constantinople. He also promised to
heal the fatal schism of the Greek and Latin
Churches, to the end that spiritual unity might
be attained throughout Christendom under the
Pope of Rome. He would, moreover, when
the affaii-s of the Emjjire should be satisfacto-
rily settled, either himself become a Crusader
or else send out a division of ten thousand
men at his own expense to aid in the recovery
of Palestine. Furthermoi-e, he would main-
tain during his life a body of five hundred
Knights in the Holy Land, to the end that the
Turks might not again regain their ascendency.
Meanwhile the usurper, Alexius, had been
on the alert to prevent the impending inva-
sion of his dominions. He at once set about
the work of arraying the Pope against the
scheme of his enemies. The pajial sanctioa
748
UNH^ERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
was an impoilant factor in all the conflicts of
the Middle Ages, and to obtain this the secu-
lar princes were Avout to bid against each other
as in a market. It now appeared that the
elder as well as the younger Alexius was will-
ing to sell out the independency of the Greek
Church for the support of Rome. The East-
ern Emperor accordingly sent ambassadors to
Pope Innocent and tendered the submission of
the Byzantine Christians as the price of papal
interference. Innocent was already angered
with the Venetians, and the Crusaders them-
selves had shown so refractory a spirit as to
incur his displeasure. Since, therefore, in
either case the solidarity of the church was to
be attained by the submission of the schismatic
Greeks, the Pope readily, even eagerly, es-
poused the cause of the Emperor against the
prince. The Crusaders were forbidden to dis-
turb the peace of a Christian dominion. The
tyrant of Constantinople was promised the
protection of Rome. She, and not the barons
and knights, would heal the schism of long-
suffering Christendom. If any would disobey
her mandate, let them remember the terrors
wherewith she was wont to afflict those who
set at naught her wishes. Legates were sent
to Zara to acquaint the tempted army with the
will and purpose of the Holy Father.
Little were the Venetians terrified by these
premonitory mutteriugs from the Vatican.
They openly disregarded the interdict and
proceeded with their preparations for the ex-
pedition. The Crusadei-s proper heard the
papal voice with more respect, but with them
there was a division of sentiment. The more
scrupulous were disposed to heed and obey the
command of the Pope, but the greater num-
ber, either regarding themselves as hopelessly
involved and compromised with the Venetians,
or else influenced by the lustful hope of repair-
ing theli- fortunes out of the treasures of Con-
stantinople, chose to stop their ears and follow
their inclinations.
When the papal envoys perceived that their
mission was fruitless they left Zara, took ship
and sailed for Syria. In doing so they bade
all follfiw who would fight for the Cross and
obey the voice of the Church. Not a few of
the barons and knights accepted this opportu-
nity of escaping from all entanglements and
going on board witli tlie legates, departed for
Palestine. The remaining and more adventur-
ous portion of the Crusaders sUently defied
the Pope, cast in their lot with the Venetians,
and made ready for the campaign against the
Byzantine capital. Chief among those who
thus joined their fortunes with republican
Venice in preference to papal Rome were the
Marquis of Montferrat, the counts of Flanders,
Blois, and St. Paul, eight others of the lead-
ing French barons, and a majority of the war-
riors who had originally embarked in the
Crusade.
The expedition which was now set on foot
against Constantinople was the most formidable
armament which had been seen in the Mediter-
ranean since the days of Pompey the Great.
The squadron included fifty galleys of war,
one hundred and twenty horse-transports, two
hundred and forty vessels for the conveyance
of the troops and military engines, and seventy
store-ships for the supplies. The force of
Crusaders on board consisted of six thousand
cavalry and ten thousand foot, and the Vene-
tian soldiers numbered about twenty thousand.
It now appeared that Alexius Comnenus
was much more of a diplomatist and intriguer
than warrior. During the whole progress of
the expedition which was openly directed
against his capital he made no attempt to stay
its course or prevent its entrance to the Bos-
phorus. The harbor of Constantinople wa?
found to be defended by only twenty galleys ;
for the Greek admiral, Michael Struphnos,
brother-in-law of the Emperor, had broken up
the vessels of his master's fleet in order that
he might sell for his own profit the masts, rig-
ging, and iron which they contained. When
in the immediate face of the peril the propo-
sition was made to build a new navy, the
eunuchs of the Imperial palace to whom tlie
keeping of the parks and hunting-grounds had
been intrusted refused to have the timber cuti
Such has ever been the folly of those effete des-
potisms wliicli have survived their usefulness.
Nor did the people of the city of Constan-
tine show much interest in the crisis which
was evidently upon them. Lilce voluptuous
idlei-s floating in the Bay of Biscay, they recked
not of the gathering storm. What to them
was a change of masters? The tyrant Alex-
ius was in a measure deserted to his fate.
Great, however, was the strength of the
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
749
city before whose walls the men of the West
were now come with hostile purpose. There
rose the massive ramparts of stone ; there the
lofty turrets of palaces aud basilica — a splen-
did show of beauty, magnificence, and strength,
such as the Crusaders had never before beheld.
At first the fleet was brought to anchor on
the Asiatic side of the channel. For a few
days after the landing the forces of the doge
and the Marquis of Moutferrat, who may be
regarded as the commanders of the army, were
allowed to rest in Scutari, and whUe they were
here reposing, negotiations were opened by the
Einperor. He offered to expedite the march
of the Crusaders into Asia Minor ! They were
not going in that direction. He warned them
against any disturbance iu his dominions.
It was for the express purpose of disturbing
his dominions that they had come. He threat-
ened them with the Pope. The Pope had al-
ready done his worst. On the other hand, the
doge and barons warned him to come down
from the throne which he had usurped under
penalty of such punishment as the soldiers of
the Cross were wont to visit upon the op-
posers of the will and cause of offended
heaven.
After these mutual fulminations the Cru-
saders prepared to cross to the other side of
the strait. They ranged themselves in six di-
visions, and, passing across the channel, scat-
tered the Byzantine forces which were drawn
up to resist their landing, and captured the
euburb Galata. The great chain which had
been stretched across the mouth of the harbor
was broken, and the few ships remaining to
the Greeks captured and destroyed.
The assailants now found themselves before
the huge walls of the city. Constantinople
was at this time the most strongly fortified
metropolis in the world. The act of the Cru-
saders in undertaking the siege of such a place
is perhaps without a parallel in the annals of
audacity. Their forces were only sufficient to
hived one side of the ramparts. Their provis-
ions were regarded as good for three weeks'
subsistence. If onlv the physical conditions
of the situation .should be considered, then in-
deed might Alexius and his oflScers well look
down with indifference and contempt u]>on the
puny preparations outside the walls. But the
mental conditions were different.
To the Crusaders delay would be fatal.
They accordingly exerted themselves to the
utmost to bring on the crisis of an assault. In
this work the Venetians vied with their allies
in the prodigious activity which they dis-
played. It was determined to assail the walls
from the side of the sea and in the parts ad-
jacent. With herculean endeavor the Cru-
saders succeeded iu filling up the ditch and
tlius were enabled to bring their engines to
bear upon the fortifications. In a few days
the walls had been sufficiently injured to war-
rant the hazard of an assault. The blind old
doge of Venice took his station on the raised
deck of his vessel, and with the banner of
St. Mark above his head, directed his men in
the attack by sea. The Venetian galleys were
brought to the beach immediately under the
walls. Drawbridges were thrown from the
masts to the tops of the ramparts, and for the
foot-soldiers scaling-ladders were planted, and
then with a rush and a shout the battlements
were surmounted. Twenty-five towers were
carried by the marines of Venice, and the
bauuer of the Republic was planted on the
summit.
The Crusaders in making the attack from
the land-side had met with poor suocess. The
breaches made by their engines proved to be
less complete than had been thought, and
those who had been set to defend this part of
the walls were (if the history may be credited),
a body of Anglo-Saxon and Danish guards
whom the Emperor had taken into his service.
Very different were these brave and stalwart
warriors of tlie North from the supple and de-
generate Greeks, who had inherited all the
vices without any of the virtues of their ances-
tors. The Crusaders were confronted in their
impetuous charge by these resolute and pow-
erful soldiers, and were unable to break into
the city.
As soon, however, as the doge was victori-
ous from the side of the sea, he made haste to
fire the i)art of the city which was in his
power, and then hurried to the succor of hi^
allies. On the appeaj-ance of the Venetians,
the guards and Greek cavalry who, by sheer
force of numbers, had almost surrounded the
chivalry, and were a.ssaiHng the hard pressed
Crusaders in front and on both flanks, fell
back quickly and sought safety within the
750
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
walls. Night came on and the allies anxiously
awaited the morning to renew the struggle.
But Alexius was not more tyrant than pol-
troon. In the darkness of midnight he robbed
the Imperial treasure-house, gathered together
his terrified followers and fled from Constanti-
nople. With the coming of dawn the Crusa-
ders were amazed to see issuing from the city
an embassy which, making its way to the
camp, informed the barons and the doge that
Alexius had fled, that the blind Isaac had
come from his dungeon and was on the throne,
and that he desired the immediate presence of
his sou and deliverers in the city. In answer
to this message, two barous and two Venetians
were sent to congratulate Isaac on his restora-
tion, and to notify him of the conditions which
his son had made, in accordance with which
they had come to effect his deliverance and
restoration.
Great was the shock to Isaac when he
learned of the hard, almost intolerable terms
which his rash but loyal boy had made with
the mercenary soldiers of the Cross. But he
was in the grip of an appalling necessity, and
there was no alternative but to ratify the con-
ditions imposed by his masters. All was agreed
to. The young Alexius made a triumphant
entry into the city and was jointly crowned
with his father. For the moment there seemed
to be an end of the struggle and the beginning
of a lasting peace.
The character of the Latins and Greeks,
however, forbade any permanent concord be-
tween them. The coarse vigor of the one,
and the pusillanimous spirit of the other,
made it impossible for them to harmonize
in interest or purpose. For the time, the
Greeks were obliged to yield in all things
to their conquerors. The Patriarch of Con-
stantinople was constrained by the compact
and the presence of the Crusaders to do his
part by proclaiming from the Church of St.
Sophia the submission of Eastern Christen-
dom to the Komish See« This was, perhaps,
the most intolerable exaction of all to which
the people of the city were subjected. Their
hatred of the heretical faith and ritual, which
they were obliged to accept, was transferred
to the voung Emperor Alexius, in whose in-
terest the revolution had been accomplished.
Nor was his own conduct such as to allay
the antipathy which was thus aroused. During
his two years' sojourn in the camp of the
Crusaders, he had become thoroughly im-
bued with their manners and spirit. Their
carousals and debaucheries were now a part
of his life as much as of their own. He
would not, perhaps could not, shake off" the
rude and intemperate habits which he had
thus acquired by contact with the boisterous
soldiers of the West. Under the force of a
disposition which had now become a second
nature, he continued to prefer the license and
uproar of the Crusaders' camp to the refine-
ments and ceremony of the palace and court.
It was not long until the respect and es-
teem of his own countrymen had been so com-
pletely forfeited by Alexius that he found it
necessary to retain the Latin warriors in his
capital as a means of support. Nor did they
appear reluctant — so greatly had their ferocioHS
morality been corrupted — to postpone the ful^
fiUment of their vows in order to enjoy the
winter in Constantinople. Meanwhile their
self-confidence was In a great measure restored
by the pardon received from the Pope. Both
they and the Venetians, after their capture of
the city, had made such penitential professions
to the Holy Father that he gladly extended
full absolution to his wayward and refractory
children.
During the winter the time was occupied
by a portion of the Crusaders with an expedi-
tion into Thrace. Alexius himself accompa-
nied the barons on this campaign, and his
absence from the city, together with that of
the iSIarquis of Montferrat, was made the oc-
casion of a disastrous outbreak. The Latin
warriors, tired of inaction, fell upon and
almost exterminated a colony of Moslem
merchants, who had long enjoyed the protec-
tion of the city. The Mohammedans made a
brave defense, and the Greeks came in larg*
numbers to the rescue. In like manner th*
Latin party in the city rallied to the support
of the Crurjaders, and the battle became a
slaughter. In the midst of the conflict a
fire broke out which continued to rage for
eight days. One-third of the beautiful city
was reduced to ashes. The multitude of
Greeks thus dispossessed of their homes were
exasperated to the la.«t degree ; and, falling
upon tlie Latin residents of the citv, whom
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
751
they regarded as having instigated the out-
rage, they obliged them to seek shelter in
the camp of the Crusaders.
The circumstances of the deposition and
murder of^Isaac and his son Alexius in a
conspiracy headed by Augelus Ducas, sur-
named Mourzoufle, and the assumption of
the crown by the latter; the wrath of the
Crusaders on learning of what was done ;
the second siege of Constantinople ; the cap-
ture and pillage of that city ; the desecration
of the churches; the overthrow of the Greek
Empire, and the establishment of a Latin dy-
nasty in the capital of the Eastern Csesars, —
have already been narrated in the Ninth
Book of the preceding Volume.' As soon
as this work was accomplished, the Western
revolutionists set about the partition of the
spoils of an empire. As to the vacant throne
of Constantinople, the same was conferred on
Baldwin, count of Flanders. The new em-
peror-elect was raised on a buckler by the
barons and knights and borne on their shoul-
ders to the Church of St. Sophia, where he
was clothed with imperial purple. The Mar-
quis of Montferrat was rewarded with Mace-
donia and Greece and the title of king. The
various provinces of the Empire in Europe
and Asia were divided among the barons
who commanded the Crusaders, but not until
three-eighths of the whole, including Crete
and most of the archipelago, had been set
aside for the Republic of Venice.
As soon as the division of the territorial
and other spoils had been effected, the barons
and knights departed with their respective
followers to occupy their provinces. As to
the two fugitives, Alexius Angelus and Du-
cas Mourzoufle, both usurpers and both claim-
ing the Imperial dignity, the former soon fell
into the power of the latter, and was deprived
of his eyes; while Mourzoufle himself was
seized by the Latins, tried and condemned,
and car^t headlong from the lofty summit of
the Pillar of Theodosius. A new claimant
hereupon arose in the person of Theodore
Lascaris, who, possessing more of the quali-
ties of heroism than any of his predecessors
of the preceding century, obtained the lead
of the anti-Latin parties in the East, and
became a formidable obstacle to the progress
■See Book Tenth, ante pp. 375, 376.
and permanency of the Latin Empire. Thus,
in a marvelous manner, unforeseen alike by
Christians and Moslems, the original purpose
of the Fourth Crusade was utterly abandoned
and forgotten. The impulse of the movement
expired west of the Bosphorus ; and the blows
of the chivalrous barons and knights of France
and Italy fell upon the heads of the Byzantine
Greeks instead of the crests of the warriors of
Islam.
The interval between the Fourth and Fifth
Crusades was noted for the extraordinary spec-
tacle of an uprising among the boys and
children of France and Germany. In the
spring of 1212 a French peasant boy by the
name of Stephen began to preach a Crusade
to those of his own age. The appeal was di-
rected to both sexes. Heaven had ordained
the weak things of this world to confound the
mighty. The children of Christendom were
to take the Holy Sei)ulcher from the Infidels!
Another peasant boy named Nicholas took up
the refrain in Germany and mustered an army
of innocents at Cologne. Around the fanati-
cal standards of these two striplings was gath-
ered a great multitude of boys and girls who,
in rustic attire, and with no armor more for-
midable than shepherd's crooks, set out under
the sanction of a royal edict to battle with the
Moslems of Syria. Embarking from Mar-
seilles under the lead of a few pious fools,
older but no wiser than themselves, they came
to a miserable end by shipwreck on the island
of San Pietro. Such was the so-called Chei>
deen's Crusade — one of the strangest and
most absurd spectacles recorded in history.
There stiU remain to be recounted the an-
nals of the last four movements of Christen-
dom against the Turks. The conquest of the
Greek Empire was effected in the year 1204.
Never was there to all human seeming a more
unfortunate diversion of an enterprise than
that which turned the Fourth Crusade against
Constantinople instead of Jerusalem. The
condition of the Islamite dominion in the East
was at this juncture precisely such as to invite
a renewal of the efforts of the Christians for
the recovery of the Holy City. Egypt was
dreadfully scourged with pestilence and fam-
ine. Syria was rent with the disputes and
. turmoils of the successors of Saladin. Every
circumstance seemed favorable to the restora-
THE CHILDRKN'S CRUSADE. Drawn by Gustave Dor
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
753
don of Christian supremacy, not only in Pal-
estine but in all the priucipalities which they
had formerly held. And yet of all the advan-
tages afforded by the general condition of
affairs, the Syrian Christians secured no more
than this: a six years' truce with Saphadin.
Meanwhile, Almeric and Isabella, titular
king and queen of Jerusalem, both died ; and
the shadowy crown of that alleged " kingdom ''
descended to the Princess Maky, daughter of
Isabella by her former marriage with Conrad
of Tyre. It was, however, deemed essential
by the barons and knights of the West that
the young Queen Mary should be strengthened
by the arm of a husband, and the choice be-
ing left to Philip Augustus of France, that
monarch selected the Prince John, son of the
Count of Bi-ienne, as most worthy of the
honor. Accordingly, in 1210, the prince de-
parted for Palestine, claimed the hand of Mary,
and with her was jointly crowned.
AVhen the truce with Saphadin expired, the
Christians refused to renew the treaty, and hos-
tilities were presently resumed. It .soon ap-
peared that King John, with the handful of
knights whom he had brought with him from
Europe, was unable to repel the encroachments
of the Turks. In his distress he wrote a pa-
thetic appeal to Pope Innocent III., beseech-
ing him for the love of the fallen Cross again
to rally the Christians of the West for the sal-
vation of Palestine. His Holiness was most
ready to undertake the enterprise. Although
he was at present profoundly engaged in the
work of suppressing the heretical Albigenses
in the south of France, he sent a favorable
answer to King John's appeal, and issued a
letter to the Christian rulers of Europe, pro-
claiming a new Crusade. He also directed the
clergy of all Christendom to urge forward the
laity, should the latter lag in renewing the
Holy War. The fourth council of the Lateran
was called, and a resolution was adopted by
the august body to undertake once more the
great work of subjugating the Infidels of Syria.
Such was the origin of the Fifth Crusade.
The leaders of the new expedition to the
East were King Andrew of Hungary and the
Emperor Frederick II. Besides the armies
led by these two princes a third was organized,
consisting of a mixed multitude of Germans,
French, Italians, and English. King Andrew
set out with his forces in the year 1216, and
was joined on his route by the dukes of Aus-
tria and Bavaria. On reaching Palestine the
Hungarian monarch made some desultory in-
cursions into the Moslem territories, but besides
ravaging undefended districts accomplished
nothing honorable to himself or his country.
He soon abandoned the enterprise, gathered
his forces on the coast, and reembarked for
Europe. The Germans, however, who had
accompanied the expedition, refused to return,
and joined themselves with the knights of
Palestine to aid them in defending whatever
remained of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Other
bands of warriors like-minded with themselves
arrived from Germany, and the forces of the
Christians were so augmented that it was re-
solved to make a campaign against Egypt.
That country had been reduced to such a
state by misrule, famine, and pestilence as to
have ^become an especially inviting field for
foreign invasion. There only wanted the addi-
tional fact of storied wealth and treasure to
inflame to the highest pitch the cupidity of
the rhercenary chivalry of the West. Nor
could it be denied that even from a military
point of view the conquest of Egypt was an
important, if not a necessary antecedent, to
that of Syria.
In the year 1218 an armament fitted out
at Acre left the Syrian coast and proceeded
against Damietta, at the mouth of the Nile.
The Christian forces were landed before the
city, and the place was at once besieged. An
assault was made upon a castle in the river,
and though the assailants were beaten back,
so furious was their onset that the defenders
of the castle were terrified into a capitulation.
A short time afterwards the news was borne
to the Christian camp that their great enemy,
Saphadin, was dead, and the dread which they
had hitherto felt of Syrian assistance to the
Egyptians was dismissed. Another circum-
stance favorable to the Crusaders was the
almost constant arrival of other bands from
Europe. Some of these were headed by the
chief barons of Italy, France, and England,
such as the counts of Nevers and La Marche^
and the noted earls of Salisbury, Arundel, and
Chester.
While, however, the forces of the besieg-
ers of Damietta were thus augmented, an
754
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
eleiaent of discord and danger was introduced
in the jealousies and intrigues which at once
«prang up among so many eminent leaders.
Within the city were the ravages of disease
■«nd famine, yet the residue of the courageous
people held out for seventeen months. When
^t last neither passive endurance nor actual
bravery availed any longer to keep the Cru-
saders at bay, the latter burst into the city
and found themselves in a metropolis of death.
The other cities of Egypt were greatly
alarmed by the capture of Damietta. The
sure the conquest of Palestine. Both the sul-
tans were anxious for peace. He of Damascus
demolished the fortifications of Jerusalem and
joined with his brother in offering to cede that
city and all Palestine to the Christians on the
single condition that they should withdraw
from Egypt. Thus at last, upon the camp of
the Crusaders, pitched on the sands of Lower
Egypt, arose out of the Syrian desert the
glorious sun of success, flashing his full beams
on the spires and Necropolis of Cairo.
The more conscientious soldiers of the Cross
^'£c'KoPiJLI.S OF CAIRO.
After the painting of P. Marilhat.
consternation spread throughout all Syria, and
for once the Christians were completely mas-
ters of the situation. For the time they might
have dictated to the terrified Moslems what-
ever terms they chose to offer. !Meanwlule,
•Coradinus and Camel, two sons of Saphadiu,
both weaklings, had been seated on the respec-
tive thrynes of Damascus and Cairo. It were
hard to say which of these two princes was
now more seriously distressed. Camel .saw his
;stronghold wrested from his grasp, while Cor-
.adinus remembered that the Crusaders were
-only warring in Egj'pt with a view to making
were anxious to accept the terms which were
offered by the brother sultans. Why should
they war any longer since the sepulcher of
Christ and aU the sacred places of the Holy
Land were now freely, almost abjectly, offered
by the cowering representatives of Islam? The
king of Jerusalem, the French and English
barons, and the Teutonic knights, eagerly fa-
vored the conclusion of a treaty. But the
Templars and Hospitallers, together with the
Italian leaders, influenced partly by their in-
sane lust for the treasure-houses of Eg}-pt and
partly by the stupid bigotry of Cardinal Pe-
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
755
(agius, the legate of the Pope, vehemently op-
posed the conclusion of a peace, and over-
rode the wishes and wise counsels of the allied
chieftains. Whenever the latter would urge
the immense and definitive advantages of the
proposed cession of Palestine with the conse-
quent recovery of the Holy Sepulcher and
every thing for which the blood and treasure
of Europe had been poured out like water for
a hundred and twenty-five years, the blatant
Pelagius would bawl out with imperious incon-
sistency that the soldiers of the Cross should
never compromise with Infidels. The result
was that the auspicious opportunity of ending
the Holy War on terms most satisfactory to
every sincere knight in Christendom, went by
unimproved, and instead of withdrawing from
Egypt the Crusaders passed an inglorious win-
ter in the captured city of Damietta.
Perceiving that their enemies were inexor-
able, the Moslems rallied from their despair
and employed the interval in recruiting their
armies and planning campaigns for- the ensu-
ing year. With the beginning of 1220, the
army of Coradinus came out of Syria and was
joined to that of Camel at Cairo. The in-
competency of Pelagius, and the outrageous
folly of his course, were now fully manifested.
While hesitating to attack the Islamite armies,
he permitted his own forces to remain in the
vicinity of Damietta until with the rise of the
Nile the Egyptians deliberately cut the canals
on the side next the Isthmus, and inundated
the country. On a sudden the Christians
found themselves in a world of waters, swell-
ing higher and higher. The crisis was over-
whelming. The bigots who were responsible
for it were obliged to send a humble embassy
to the sultan, and to offer him the city of Da-
mietta for the privUege of retiring from Egypt.
The sultan accepted the offer, but took care to
detain as a hostage the king of Jerusalem un-
til what time the embarkation should be ef-
fected. The miserable and crestfallen Crusaders
took ship as quickly as possible and sailed to
Acre. So completely was the host dispirited
that great numbers of the warriors abandoned
the enterprise and returned to Europe. .
The broils which had so many times dis-
tracted the counsels and defeated the plans of
the Christian princes in the East were now
transferred to the West. Great was the mor-
N.— Vol. 2—46
tification of Christendom when it was known
what might have been, and what was, accom-
plished in Egypt. It seemed necessary to find
a scapegoat, on whose head might be laid the
sin and ignominy of the failure. Popular in-
dignation with a due apprehension of the facts
pointed to Pelagius, and great odium was set
against his name. But Honorius III., who
had now come to the papal throne, defended
his legate from the aspersions of his enemies;
and, in order that the blame might rest upon
some one sufticiently eminent to bear the dis-
grace, His Holiness laid the charge of failure
at the feet of Frederick II. That distinguished
and obstinate ruler had promised, but had not
fulfilled. In 1220 he had gone to Rome in a
triumphal fashion and had been crowned by
the Pope, who had every hope that the eccen-
tric Emperor would become an obedient son
of the Church. Now it was said by the papal
adherents that the Emperor, after taking the
vow of the Cross, had failed to keep his cove-
nant, and had left the suffering Crusaders to
their fate among the floods of Lower Egypt.
It soon appeared, however, that Frederick
was not to be moved by such imputations of
dishonor. The Pope accordingly changed hb
tone, and undertook to accomplish by policy
what he could not effect by upbraiding the
imperial Crusader. He managed to bring it
about that Herman de Saltza, Grand Master
of the Teutonic Knights, should bring to the
Emjseror from the East a proposal from King
Jo'hn of Jerusalem that his daughter lolanta
should be given to Frederick in marriage.
The scheme amounted to this, that the king-
dom of Jerusalem should become an appanage
of the German Empire. John of Brienne was
most willing to give up the shadowy distinc-
tion with which he had been honored and to
escape from the perils of Syrian warfare, and
Frederick was equally willing to accept a trust
made palatable by such a gift as the Princess
lolanta. Accordingly, in the year 122.5, the
project was completed, and the Emperor sol-
emnly bound himself to lead an army to tht
Holy Land for the reestablLshment of the
kingdom planted by Godfrey in the City of
Zion.
The event showed, however, that Frederick
was slow to fulfill what he had so readily
promised. A period of five years elapsed and
756
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
still he was not ready to depart for the East.
Pope Honorius died and was succeeded by
Gregory IX., who espoused with zeal the en-
His Holiness excommunicated him, and finali-
forbade him to do the very thing which he
had so long refused to undertake. This last
c >
S a
o
o
z
■«!
M
E-i
terprise which liis predecessor had not lived to
see accomplished. Unable to urge the Em-
peror to go forward by any milder persuasion.
measure seems to have aroused the perverse
Frederick by the law of contradiction, for set-
ting at naught both the threats and the inter-
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
757
diets of the Pope, he collected a small squad-
ron and departed for Palestine.
The armament with which the Emperor,
still under the ban, set out on his mission con-
sisted of only twenty galleys. Those w ho had
had experience in the long-continued wars with
the Infidels were excited to contempt on wit-
nessing the departure of the ruler of the Ger-
man Empire with such a force on such au ex-
pedition. It was not long, however, until
their contempt was turned into wonder at the
extraordinary success which attended the arms
of Frederick. Notwithstanding the anathemas
of the Pope, and the unwearied efforts of that
potentate to defeat his plans and cover him
with disgrace, the Emperor made all speed to
Acre, and there with his handful of soldiers
prepared for the reconquest of Palestine. Both
the Hospitallers and the Templars, acting un-
der the commands of the Pope, withheld their
support, and Frederick was left with only his
own troops and the Teutonic knights. Such,
however, was the vigor of his movements that
many of the Syrian chivalry were impelled by
a sense of shame, even against the papal in-
terdict, to join their German brethren in their
struggle with the Infidels.
Having made every thing secure at Acre,
Frederick courageously set his forces in mo-
tion toward Jaffa. Contrary to expectation,
this stronghold was taken from the Turks, re-
fortified, and garrisoned. It appears that
Frederick, more wise than his predecessors in
the Holy War, had conceived the project of
playing oflT the sultan of Damascus against
his brother of Cairo, and of gaining through
their conflict of interests and ambitions what
tlie other Crusaders had failed to reach^the
rijcovery of Jerusalem. But before he was
able to achieve any results by this shrewd
policy, Coradinus died and Camel was left
without a rival to contend with the German
invaders. Frederick, however, was not to be
put from his purpose. He pressed forward
from Jaffa in the direction of the Holy City,
and the Infidels fell back before him. Bethle-
hem, Nazareth, and other important places were
taken without a battle, and so great was the
alarm both in Jerusalem and in Damascus that
the sultan made overtures for peace. Thus,
against all expectation (unless it were his own),
Frederick found himself in a position to dic-
tate terms almost as favorable as might have
been obtained by the conquerors of Damietta.
Nor has any one ever been able to discover
the nature of the motives which he was able
to bring to bear on the sultan to secure so fa-
vorable a settlement. It was stipulated that
henceforth all Christians should have free ac-
cess to the Holy City ; that the Mohammedans
should approach the temple on Moriah only
in the garb of pilgrims ; that Bethlehem, Naz-
areth, and other recent conquests should re-
main to the Christians ; that the peace should
not be broken for a period of ten years.
Great was the wrath of the Pope on hear-
ing of the victory of the excommunicated
prince. The whole power of the Church
was rallied to deny and explain away the
signal success and good fortune of Fred-
erick. The latter, however, was now in a
position to laugh at, if not despise, his ene-
mies. Preferring to consider himself unde'*
the ban, he determined to celebrate his coro-
nation in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Nor durst the Moslems offer any opposition
to the ceremony. The Emperor accordingly
entered the city with his train of Teutonic
Knights and soldiers, and, repairing to the
altar, took therefrom the crown and placed
it on his head; for the patriarch of Jerusa-
lem, fearing the Pope, refused to perform
the crowning, nor would the Templars and
Hospitallers be present at the ceremony.
Thus, in the year 1229, the Fifth and least
pretentious of all the Crusades terminated
with complete success. The victorious Em-
peror returned to Acre, and then set sail
for Europe, followed by the plaudits of his
own countrymen, but jeered at and scandal-
ized by the papal party throughout Palestine.
It had already come to jsass that Rome looked
with greater aversion and hatred upon a hereti-
cal and disobedient Christian than upon the
worst of the Infidel Turks.
Such was the anger of the papal party
against him by whom the restoration of
Christian influence in the Holy Land had
been achieved, that no eflT:)rts were made to
conserve the fruits of his conquests. Not
satisfied with this negative policy, the ad-
herents of Gregory began a series of active
aggressions against Frederick, looking to the
undoing of his Imperial title, and the sap-
758
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
ping of the loyalty of his subjects. Bitter
were the persecutions which were directed
against him. When the Empress lolauta
died at the birth of her son, the anti-
German party insisted that the child should
be discarded along with its father, and that
the crown of Jerusalem should be given to
Alice, daughter of Isabella and Henry of
Champagne. The latter claimant went over
from Cyprus to Syria to set up her preten-
sions, whereupon, in 1230, a civil war en-
sued between her adherents and the sup-
porters of Frederick. The party of Alice
had greatest numerical strength, but the
Teutonic Knights remained loyal to their
Emperor, and more than counterbalanced
the advantage of his enemies.
After the strife had continued for a sea-
son, a reconciliation was effected between
Frederick and the Pope. The settlement
was without any sincere foundation on either
side, but was sufficiently meritorious to bring
about a peace in Syria. But in that coun-
try the mischief had already been accom-
plished. More than half of the time of the
truce concluded by the Emperor with Sul-
tan Camel had already run to waste, and
nothing had been done towards securing the
conquests made by the Germans in Palestine.
Perceiving their opportunity in the quar-
rels and turmoils of the Christians, the Sar-
acen emirs of Syria disclaimed the compact
which had been made by their sovereign,
and renewed hostilities. They fell upon the
outpostj which had been established by Fred-
erick, and drove away the defenders. Pur-
suing their successes, they attacked and mas-
sacred a large body of Christian Pilgrims on
their way from Acre to Jerusalem. Less
atrocious, but more serious in its consequences,
was the defeat of the Templars, who had
undertaken an expedition against Aleppo.
So terrible was the loss inflicted upon the
Knights, that a considerable period elapsed
before they could rally from their overthrow.
One disaster followed another, and it soon
became apparent that, unless a new Crusade
should be speedily undertaken, the Holy Land
would be entirely regained by the Infidels.
The same Church which had so recently, by
neglect and positive opposition, thwarted the
eflrarts '«f Frederick for the restoration of the
Christian kingdom, now exerted itself to the
utmost to organize a new expedition against
the Turks. A great council was called at
Spoleto, where it was resolved to renew the
Holy War, and the two orders of Francis-
can and Dominican friars were commissioned
to preach the Crusade. It appeared, however,
that the monks were lukewarm in the cause,
and it was soon known that the moneys which
they procured for the equipment of armies
were finding a lodgment in their own cofl'ers
and the papal treasury at Rome.
In this way seven years of precious time
were squandered, and still no relief was brought
to the suffering Christians of Palestine. In
the interval their fortunes had constantly run
from bad to worse. At last the sultan of
Egypt, incited thereto partly by the news of
the preparations made in Europe for renewing
the war, and partly by the hope of restoring
his own influence throughout the Moslem do-
minions, raised an army, marched against
Jerusalem, ejected the Christians, and shut
the gates of the city against them.
W^hen the news of this proceeding was car-
ried to Europe the people were everywhere
aroused from their apathy. Not even the self-
ish and sordid policy of the Pope and the
monks could any longer avail to check or
divert popular indignation from its purpose.
The barons of France and England assumed
the Cross, and in spite of papal opposition and
interdict, the Sixth Crusade was organized.
In order to make sure that their object should
in no wise be thwarted the English nobles
met at Northampton and solemnly recorded
their vows that within a year they would in
person lead their forces into Palestine.
Nor w^ere the French barons of highest
rank less active and zealous in the cause.
Count Thibaut — now king of Navarre — the
Duke of Burgundy, the counts of Brittany and
Montfort were the most noble of the leaders
who sprang forward to rally their countrymen
and arm them for the expedition. They even
outran the English lords in the work of prep-
aration, and before the latter were well on
their way the French were already at Acre
preparing a campaign against the Moslems at
Ascalon. The latter were driven back, and
the French, grown confident, divided their
forces. The Count of Brittany plunged into
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
759
the enemy's country, made his way victoriously
to the very walls of Damascus, aud returned
laden with booty. The effect of this success,
however, was presently worse than a reverse.
The counts of Bar and Moutfort, emulating
the fame gained by the Lord of Brittauy, led
their forces in the direction of Gaza, aud were
disastrously routed by the Moslems. De Bar
was slain and Montfort taken ])risoner. The
king of Navarre was constrained to gather up
the remnants of the French army and retreat
to Acre.
In these expeditions led by the barons of
France the Hospitallers and Templars took
little part. It was evident that the Knights
had no sympathy with any movement by
which glory might accrue to others than them-
selves. Finding in this defection of the two
military orders a good excuse for such a course,
the French nobles collected their followers,
and taking ship from Acre returned to Europe.
In the mean time the more tardy but more
resolute English came upon the scene which the
continental lords had just abandoned. They
were led by one well calculated to achieve
great victories, even by the terror of his
name — Richard, earl of Cornwall, brother to
Henry III. of England, and nephew to the
Lion Heart. Such was the fame of the Plan-
tagenet that on his arrival at Acre he was al-
most immediately placed in control of the
affairs of the kiugdom, and as the hopes of
the Christians rose, the fears of the Moslems
were excited.
Nor was the great Earl Richard slow to
avail himself of the various conditions favora-
ble to success. It happened that on his arri-
val in Palestine, the sultans of Cairo and Da-
mascus had fallen into dissensions, and were
pursuing different policies with respect to the
Christians. Richard, emboldened by a knowl-
edge of this fact, at once demanded of the
emir of Karac the restoration of the prisoners
taken by that high Turk in the battle of Gaza.
When the emir refused or neglected to release
his captives, the English forces set out towards
Jaffa to enforce compliance, but the Moslems
durst not resist one who carried the terrible
sword of Plantagenet. The prisoners were
liberated before the Christians struck a blow.
One success quickly followed another, until
with little bloodshed all that the Crusaders had
contended for since the capture of the Holy
City by Saladin was accomplished. The hum-
ble sultans made haste to renew their offers of
peace. Richard acceded to their proposals,
for these were all that he or the most sanguine
of the Western princes could have desired. It
was solemnly agreed by the Moslems that Je-
rusalem, with the greater part of the territory
which had belonged to the kingdom in the
times of Baldwin I., should be absolutely
given up to the Christians. In addition to this
prime concession it was stipulated that all cap-
tives held by the Turks should be liberated
without ransom. Thus by a single and almost
bloodless campaign, headed by the English
prince, wgs the reconquest of the Holy Land
at last effected. The Crescent was replaced by
the Cross in the city of David, aud Richard
and his barons, well satisfied with the result,
departed for their homes. The immediate care
of Jerusalem was left to the Patriarch of that
sacred metropolis and to the Hospitallers, who
undertook the rebuilding of the walls. As to
the crown of the kingdom, the same was de-
creed to Frederick II., who had previously
assumed the somewhat dubious honor in the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
For the moment, it now appeared that the
epoch of the Crusades was closed with the
complete triumph of the Christians. The es-
sential question at issue had been decided
in their favor. It happened, however, that
just as this ausjjicious state succeeded the
century and a half of war, a new element was
introduced into the Syrian problem. The
story of the great invasion of Genghis Khan
and his Monguls has already been recited in
the preceding volume of this work.' It is
only necessary in this connection to note the
fact that in the overthrow of the Persian Em-
pire by the Monguls, the Corasmins of that
region were driven from their seats of power
to make room for the conquerors. These Co-
rassmins made their way to the west at the
very time when the victorious Earl of Corn-
wall was reestablishing the kingdom of Je-
rusalem. Within two years after that event,
the Persian brigands, acting under the advice
and guidance of the Emir of Egyjit, himself
justly offended by some hostilities of the Tem-
plars, broke into Palestine twenty thousand
' See Vol. II., Book Tenth, pp. 378, 379.
760
UNIVEESAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
strong, and under the leadership of their chief
Barbacan, set at naught all rules of war and
peace. The Hospitallers had not yet suc-
ceeded in restoring the walls of Jerusalem,
and the invaders immediately directed their
march against that city. Unprepared for de-
fense, the Knights abandoned Zion to her fate.
In the year 1242 the Corasmins appeared
before the ruined ramparts and entered without
No other such desperate barbarfans had
been seen in Palestine since the dawn of his-
tory. In order to stay their course, the Knights
of Syria and the Moslems joined their forces ;
but the Emir of Egypt made common cause
with the Corassmins. Even a casual glance
at the composition of the two confederate ar-
mies could not fail to show the complete and
utter demoralization of the conflict between the
FORTRESS OF THE EMIR OF K.\RAC.
resistance. Then followed a scene of butchery
hardly equaled by the massacre of the Mos-
lems by the army of Godfrey. In this in-
stance Christian and Mohammedan were treated
with no discrimination. Nor did the savages
desist from their work with the destruction of
human life. The churches were robbed and
desecrated ; the tombs, broken open and rifled ;
the sacred places, profaned. Jerusalem, al-
ready desolate, was converted into a waste.
Christ and the Prophet. The original antip-
athies of Christian and Moslem had given
place to other conditions of hostility in which
the old-time antagonism of Cross and Cres-
cent were forgotten.
The confederate army of Knights and Syr-
ian Moslems was presently induced by the pa-
triarch of Jerusalem and other zealots to risk
a battle with the combined forces of Coras-
mins and Egyptians. Never was there a more
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
761
■complete and ruinous overthrow tluin that to
which the Christians were now doomed. Their
entire forces were either killed or scattered.
The Grand Masters of the Hospitallers and
Knights Templars were both slain. Only
"twenty-six Knights of the Hospital, thirty-
three of the Temple, and three of the Teu-
tonic Order were left alive of the whole Chris-
tian chivalry of Palestine. The blood-smeared
and ferocious victors made haste to seize the
fortress of Tiberias and Ascalon, and every
■other stronghold of Eastern Christendom, with
the exception of Acre. Here were gathered
the fugitives from all parts of the Holy Land,
as to a last rock of refuge. Nor is it likely that
•even this mediaeval Gibraltar of the East would
have been able to escape the general fate but
ftr the fortunate quarrels which broke out be-
tween the Corasmins and their Egyptian allies.
But this unnatural league came to a natu-
ral end. The Emir of Egypt sought a more
•congenial combination of his forces with his
fellow Moslems of Syria. Meanwhile the bar-
barous Corasmins continued to devastate the
•country as far as Damascus, which city they
■captured and pillaged. The effect of this ter-
rible devastation was to arouse the half apa-
thetic Moslems from their stupor. With a
•heroic effort they rallied a large army, con-
■fronted the Corasmin hordes in the Desert near
Damascus, and routed them with tremendous
slaughter. The invaders were driven entirely
•out of Palestine, and Syria was relieved of
her peril.
To the Christians, however, the destruction
of the Corasmins brought no advantage. The
Moslems had not reconquered the Holy Land
to deliver it gratis to the followers of Christ.
The sway of Islam was restored in Jerusalem,
and the Christian kingdom continued to be
bounded by the fortifications of Acre.
As soon as this deplorable condition of
-affairs was known in Europe the same scene
which had been already six time's witnessed in
the Western states was again enacted. In 124.5
Pope Innocent IV. convened a general council
of the church at Lyons, and it was resolved
to undertake another crusade to restore the
"Cross to the waste places of Palestine. To
this end it was decreed that all wars among
the secular princes of the West should be sus-
pended for a period of four years, so that the
combined energies of all might be devoted to
a great expedition against the Infidels. Again
the preachers went forth proclaiming a renewal
of the conflict, and from Norway to Spain
the country resounded with the outcry of the
monks.
In Germany the old bitterness between the
Emperor Frederick II. and the papal party
had broken out afresh, and the efforts of the
zealots to rekindle the fires of a holy war were
not of much avail. Time and again the Im-
perial forces and papal troops were engaged in
battles in which the animosity of the German
Knights, beating with battle-axe and sword
around the standard - wagons of the Italian
zealots, was not less fierce than were the sim-
ilar conflicts of the Christians and Islamites in
Syria. In France and England the flame of
crusading enthusiasm burst forth with brighter
flame, and many of the greatest nobles of the
two kingdoms ardently espoused the cause.
Thus did William Long Sword, the Bishop
of Salisbury, the Earl of Leicester, Sir Walter
de Lacy, and many other English Knights,
who armed themselves and their followers for
the conflict, Haco, king of Norway, also
took the Cross, and became an ardent pro-
moter of the enterprise, but before the expe-
dition could depart for Syria he was induced
by reasons best known to himself to abandon
the cause. Most of all, however, was the cru-
sading spirit revived in France, in which realm
King Louis IX., most .saintly of all the mediae-
val rulers, spread among all ranks of his ad-
miring subjects the fire of enthusiasm. It was
under his devoted leadership that the Seventh
Crusade was now undertaken.
The island of Cyprus was a])pointed as the
place of rendezvous. Thithei-, in the year
1248, repaired the barons, knights, and sol-
diery of the West. King Louis, leaving his
government in charge of his mother, Blanche
of Castile, departed with his warriors .and
became the soul of the enterprise. As in the
case of the Fifth Crusade, it was resolved to
make a descent on Egy])t, and to conquer
that country as the gateway of Syria. Nothing
could more clearly illustrate the blind folly,
recklessness, and infatuation of the military
methods of the Middle Ages than the course
now pursued by St. Louis and his army. With
a singular disregard of the lesson of the recent
762
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
past, the Crusaders proceeded against Dami-
etta, there to repeat in almost every particular
the blundering disasters of the fifth expedition.
The force with which the French king set
out from Cyprus was one of the most formid-
BATTLE OF GERMAN KNIGHTS ANLl
Drawn by N. Sanesi.
able ever seen in the East. The fleet contained
eighteen hundred vessels, and the army num-
bered two thousand eight hundred Knights,
seven thousand men-at-arms, and about sev-
enty-five thousand infantry. But never was
an expedition attended with worse fortune
The squadron was caught in a storm and scat
tered. On arriving before Damietta the king
was accompanied by only seven hundred
of his Knights, and his other forces were
correspondingly re-
duced. Ontheshore
the sultan had gath-
ered an immense
army to oppose the
landing of his ene-
mies. Such was the
array and such the
warlike braying of
the trumpets of Is-
lam that the lead-
ers admonished
Louis not to at-
tempt debarkation
until his strength
should be increased
by the arrival of
his dispersed ships.
But he was by no
means to be deterred
from his purpose.
With a courage that
would have done
credit to the Lion
Heart he ordered
his vessels to ap-
proach the shore,
sprang into the
waters with the ori-
flamme of Franc*
above his head,
waded with his res^
olute Knights
through the surf,
and attacked the
Egyptian army.
Such was the hero-
ism of the onset that
the Moslems gave
way in dismay be-
fore the incredible
charge and fled, first
to and then from Damietta. That city, which
since its previous capture by the Christians
had been converted into a stronghold, was
taken without serious resistance, but the Infi-
dels, before retreating, set fire to the commer-
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
re?
cial portion of the emporium, and the flames
destroyed all that was most valuable to the
captors.
It was the peculiarity of the military tem-
per of the Islamites of the thirteenth century
that they sometimes fled from shadows and
sometimes fought like the lions of the desert.
There was still in them a residue of that fiery
valor which they had displayed in the days of
Omar the Great. At the present juncture,
after flying from a fortress which they might
Christians found themselves closely invested-
and in danger of extermination. It was well
for them that their scattered fleet, most of
which had been driven into Acre, now ar-
rived with reinforcements. At ihe same time
William Long Sword and his English chivalry
reached Damietta, and joined themselves to-
the forces of King Louis. The French, thu's
strengthened, might have sallied forth with a
strong prospect of raising the siege and scat
tering the Moslem array.
LANDING OF SAINT LOUIS IN EGYPT.
easily have defended, they suddenly turned
about in great force, and the Christian army
in Damietta was in its turn besieged. The
Sultan Nejmeddin, great-nephew of Saladin,
now occupied the throne of Egypt; nor did
he fail to exhibit those sterling qualities as a
soldier which might have been expected in
one of so heroic a lineage. Himself suffering
from disease, he hastened to Damietta, put
to death fifty of his oflicers for having in so
cowardly a manner given up the city to the
invaders, took command in person, and .soon
reversed the fortunes of the campaign. The
Much valuable time was wasted in inaC'
tion. At length it was resolved by the Chris-
tians to make their exit up that branch of the
Nile on which Damietta was located, and force
their way to Cairo. As soon as the Mo.slems-
discovered the movement, they threw their
forces along the river, and strenuously op-
posed the progress of King Louis's army.
After much hard fighting, the Christians,
reached Mansoura. Here a terrible conflict
ensued. Before the city could be taken, it
was necessary that the Crusaders should cross
the Ashmoun canal, and this was held bv the-
764
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
best of the Islamite warriors. At last, however,
the Count of Artois, brother of the French
king, gathering around him the bravest of
the Knights of England and France, suc-
ceeded in forcing his way across the canal in
the very face of the enemy, who turned and
fled into Mausoura. If the count had now
acted with discretion, all might have been
well ; but, instead of yielding to the prudent
counsels of William Long Sword and other
cool-headed leaders, he rashly and impetu-
ously pursued the flying foe into the town.
The other Knights, not to be shamed by his
valor, pressed after him, and the whole disor-
ganized mass of mingled Moslems and Chris-
tians rolled through the gates of Mansoura.
In a short time the Infidels perceived the
follv of their pursuers, and made a rally in
overwhelming numbers. He of Artois and his
rash followers found themselves surrounded.
Valor availed not. The count himself, Long
Sword, and the Grand Master of the Templars,
were all either killed outright, or hewed down in
blood. The Grand Master of the Hospitallers
was taken prisoner ; nor would any of the force
have escaped but for the opportune arrival of
the king with the main army. The Christians
succeeded in holding Mansoura, but the vic-
tory was comparatively fruitless.
At this juncture Nejmeddin died, and the
sultanate passed to his sou ; but, before the
latter was well seated on the throne, the pow-
erful Bibars, general of the Mamelukes, ob-
tained the direction of affairs, aud presently
took the crown for himself. Under his direc-
tion, the Egyptians now took up their galleys
from the Nile above the Christian camp, and
drew the same overland to a position between
the Crusaders and Damietta. In this wise, the
army of King Louis was left in precisely the
same predicament as the Knights of the Fifth
Crusade had been aforetime. In a brief period
famine was added to the horrors of disease in
the French camp, and it became evident that,
unless a retreat could be effected to Damietta,
the whole force would be destroyed. Daily
the audacious Infidels, emboldened by the near
prospect of success, narrowed their lines and
renewed their assaults on the failing Chris-
tians. When the latter began their retreat,
the victorious Mo.slems captured the cam]),
and murdered the sick and wounded. All
the stragglers were cut oflT, and the main
body was thrown into confusion, overwhelmed,
annihilated. King Louis and his two re-
maining brothers, the counts of Anjou and
Poitiers, together with a few other nobles,
were taken prisoners, but the remainder, to
the number of at least thirty thousand, were
massacred w'ithout mercy.
The son and succes.sor of Nejmeddin was
named Touran Shah. By him King Louis
and his fellow captives were treated with
some consideration, and negotiations were
opened with a view to securing the ransom
of the prisoners. But, before the terms of
liberation could be carried into effect, a revo-
lution broke out in Egypt by which the lives
of the captives were brought into imminent
peril. The Mamelukes, that fierce band of
Turcoman horsemen, revolted against the
government, and Touran Shah was slain.
His death was the extinction of that Kur-
dish dynasty which had been established by
Saladin, in place of which was substituted a
Mameluke dynasty, beginning in 1250 with
the chieftain Bibars.
At length avarice prevailed over the thirst
for blood, and Louis should be liberated for
the fortress of Damietta, which was still held
by the Christians, and that all his living fol-
lowers .should be redeemed for four hundred
thousand livres in gold. In order to obtain
the first installment of the ransom, the sor-
rowing but still saintly warrior-king was
obliged to borrow the requisite sum from
the Knights Templars. Damietta was sur
rendered to the Moslems, and Louis, with the
shattered remnant of his forces, took ship foi
Acre.
Most of the French barons and knights,
however, considering their vows fairly ful-
filled by their sufferings in Egypt, sought
the first opportunity to return ..home. As to
the king, no such course was to be thought
of. His pride and religious zeal both for-
bade his retirement from the lands of the
Turk until he had done something to re-
quite the Infidels for the destruction of his
army. Entering Acre, the pious monarch
at once set about the work of reorganizing
the small band of warriors who still adhered
to his fallen fortunes. Of those who had
survived the ill-starred expedition, and of resi-
THE COUNT OF ARTOIS IN THE BATTLE OF MANSOURI. — Drawn by Gustave Dor6.
766
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
dent Christian soldiers iu Palestine, he col-
lected an army of nearlj- four thousand men,
but with this handful he was unable to under-
take any important campaign. Nevertheless,
bis enero-ies were successfully directed to the
scarcely less essential work of repairing the
fortifications of the few places over which
the Christians could still claim authority.
The walls and fortress of Acre were greatly
strengthened, and Cesarea, Jaffa, and Sidon
put in a state of tolerable defense. In this
way the king succeeded, in the course of four
years, in making more secure the little that
was left of the Latin kingdom in the East.
The hopes of Louis grew with the occa-
sion. The Egyptian and Syrian Moslems
quarreled and went to war. So bitter was
the feud between the new ^Mameluke dynasty
and the adherents of the Kurdish House at
Damascus, that the French king was able to
obtain from the former the release of all his
prisoners still remaining unransomed with the
sultan of Cairo. More hopeful still was the
promise which he secured from that potentate
of a recession of Jerusalem to the Christians.
Nor is it to be doubted that, if the war be-
tween Egypt and Syria had continued, the
king would have accomplished a great part of
what all Christendom had fought and prayed
for for more than a hundred and fifty years.
But the early reconciliation of the warring
Moslems served to blast all expectation of so
happy a result. The sultans not only made
peace but combined their forces to crush the
rising hopes of the Syrian Christians. The
latter were so feeble in numbers that no suc-
cessful stand could be made against the Infi-
del hosts that had gathered on every hand.
All the fortresses, except that of Acre, were
again given up to the Moslems, and even the
gates of that stronghold were threatened by
the triumphant soldiers of the Crescent. At
length, however, the Islamites withdrew with-
out seriously attempting the reduction of Acre,
•and this movement on their part, together
with the news which was now borne to Syria
of the death of the king's mother gave him
good excuse for retiring from the unequal con-
quest. In 1254 he took ship at Acre, and the
Seventh Crusade was at an end.
Though in a manner barren of positive re-
sults, the expedition of Saint Louis to Pales-
tine had done much to shore up the tottering
fabric of the Christian kingdom. Perhaps, if
he had in his turn been well supported by the
states of the West and by the three great Or-
ders of Knights, a more permanent result might
have been achieved. But the Templars and
Hospitallers had now forgotten their vows and
given themselves up to the mercenary and self-
ish spirit of the times, to the extent that the
Cross was shamed rather than honored by their
support. ^Moreover, a state of affairs had su-
pervened in the West unfavorable to the main-
tenance of the Christian cause. The Venetians,
Genoese, and Pisans had fallen into such bit-
ter rivalries as to preclude any possibility of
a united effort in any enterprise. These peo-
ples had grown wealthy and cosmopolitan, and
had ceased to care about the different religions
of the world. It was enough that those with
whom they held intercourse should desire mer-
chandise and possess the means of purchase.
For these and many other rea.sous the discour-
agement to the cause of Eastern Christianity
was extreme, and all who were at once thought-
ful and not blinded by religious fanaticism
could but see in the near future the probable
and final expulsion of the Christians from the
remaining fortresses still held by them in Svria.
As soon as the new Mameluke sultan Bibars
was firmly seated on the throne of Egypt, he
began a career of conquest. He made expe-
ditions into the Moslem states of Syria, and
compelled them to submit to his sway. He
then carried his ravages into the territories
still nominally belonging to the kingdom of
Jerusalem. This movement served the good
purpose of hushing for the moment the dis-
sensions of the Templars and Hospitallers who
had recently been breathing out threats of
mutual destruction. They now united their
hostile forces, and did as much as valor might
to resist the overwhelming forces of the sultan.
As a general rule the Knights fought to the
last, refusing to apostatize, dying rather than
abandon the faith. In 1265 a body of ninety
of these invincible warriors defended the fort-
ress of Azotus until the last man was killed.
The Templars acted with as much bravery as
they of the Hospital. In the j-ear following
the capture of Azotus, the prior of the Order
of the Temple made a courageous defense of
Saphoury. and finallv capitulated on a promise
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
767
of honorable treatment. Sultan Bibars, how-
ever, violated his pledge, and gave his prison-
ers their option of death or the acceptance of
Islam. All chose death, and gave up their
lives as a seal to their fidelity. Before the
year 1270, all the inland castles belonging to
the Orders, including the fortresses of Cesarea,
Laodicea, and Jaffa, had been taken by the In-
fidels. At last, in 1268, the city of Antioch
was captured by the Mamelukes. Many thou-
sands of the Christians were massacred, and
no fewer than a hundred thousand sold into
slavery. For a while it seemed that Acre it-
self would share the fate of the Syrian cap-
ital ; but the opportune arrival_ of the king of
Cyprus, and the still more opportune preva-
lence of the tempest in which the Egyptian
fleet was well-nigh destroyed, postponed for a
season the final catastrophe.
Such was the imminent doom now impend-
ing over the Christian power in the East that
the Romish See was at Last awakened from its
slumbers. The news of the capture of Anti-
och produced something of the same shock in
Western Christendom which had been felt on
so many previous occasions. The zeal of Pope
Clement IV. cooperated with the devotion of
Saint Louis to revive the flagging cause. Nev-
ertheless so completely had the impulses of
fanaticism abated that three years were con-
sumed in preparation before the now aged
French king was able to gather the armies of
the Eighth Crusade, and set out for the
East. On the 4th of July, 1270, the expedi-
tion departed from the port of Aignes-Mortes,
and came to Sardinia. Here it was deter-
mined— such being the king's own wish in the
premises — to make a descent on the coast of
Africa with a view to the conquest of Tunis.
For it was believed that both the king of this
country and his subjects might be converted
to Christianity.
Such was the extraordinary nature of this
enterprise that many of King Louis's barons
tried to dissuade him from the project. But
the piety of the king, backed as it was by
the interested motives of his brother Charles
of Anjou, now king of Naples and Sicily,
proved superior to all objections, and on the
24th of July the squadron was brought to an-
chor in the harbor of ancient Carthage.
At this epoch the kingdom of Tunis was
torn by faction. The royal or Saracenic party
was opposed by the Berbers. It appears that
King Louis had hoped to profit by this dissen-
sion and by espousing the cause of the Sar-
acen ruler to bring him and his countrymen
to Christianity. The presence of the French
army, however, had the efl^ect to heal the
breach in the African kingdom, and both par-
ties made common cause against the invaders.
The king of Tunis raised a powerful army to
drive his officious friends into the sea. He
desired neither them nor their religion. For
the time no general battle was fought. Both
parties avoided it. The Moors knew, and the
Christians soon came to know that the climate
of that sun-scorched region would avail more
than the sword in the destruction of a Euro-
pean army.
Pestilences broke out in the camp of the
Crusaders. The soldiers died by hundreds and
then by thousands. The air became laden
with poisonous vapors. The dead lay unbur-
ied, for the living were sick. Many of the
noblest of France yielded to the blight. The
counts of Vendome, La Marche, Gaultier, and
Nemours, and the barons of Montmorency,
Pienne, and Bressac, sickened and died. The
king's favorite son, the Duke of Nevers, fol-
lowed them to the land of shadows, and then
Saint Louis himself fell before the destroyer.
The few who remained alive eagerly sought
to save themselves by flying from the horrid
situation and returning to France.
In the mean time, however, another train
of circumstances had been laid which led to a
continuance of the Crusade after the death of
King Louis and the ruin of his army. The
barons of England, also, hearing of the fall of
Antioch, had felt a generous pang and taken
the cross for the rescue. Prince Edward Plan-
tagenet, son of Henry III., and heir of the
English crown, rallied his no'oles to aid the
French in the salvation of the Christian states
of the East. He was supported in tlie work
by five of the great earls of England, and a
force of lords and knights numbering about a
thousand. With this small but spirited army
Edward set out from the kingdom which he
was soon to inherit, and landing on the Afri-
can coast joined himself and his brave follow-
ers with the army of King Louis to aid in the
conquest of Tunis. The French forces, how*
768
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
ever, were already in the pangs of dissolution ;
and when, after the death and funeral of
Saint Louis, Edward and his earls tried to
persuade the sick and dying soldiers of France
to continue the Crusade by embarking for the
East, they refused to proceed. Not so, how-
ever, the English. With a steady perseverance
peculiar to their race they resolved to go alone
DKATH OF SAl.NT LOUiS.
■prawn bv A. de Neuville
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
r6»
to Palestine and thus redeem the Eighth Cru-
sade from failure.
In the autumn of 1270 Edward and his
warriors arrived at Acre. The Christians of
that forlorn outpost of the Cross were greatly
inspirited by the coming of their English
friends, led by one who bore the terrible name
of Plantagenet. The Moslems conceived a
wholesome dread of the Knights, who had just
arrived from the West. The Sultan Bibars,
who was already before the gates of Acre,
retired in haste when he learned that Edward
Plantagetiet was in the fortress. The scattered
Christian warriors of Palestine sought shelter
and a renewal of confidence by gathering
around the English standard. Prince Edward
thus succeeded in rallying a force of about
seven thousand warriors, and with this small
army went boldly forth to encounter the hosts
of Islam.
Marching in the direction of Nazareth the
Crusaders soon fell in with a division of the
Moslems, whom they defeated and dispersed.
Proceeding to the boyhood home of Christ
they took the town by storm and slaughtered
the inhabitants with an excess of ferocity
which might well have signalized the deeds of
the first Crusaders. The Christians took up
their station in Nazareth, but were almost im-
mediately attacked with dreadful diseases, more
fatal than the swords of the Moslems. Hun-
dreds of the small army fell victims to the
pestilence. The prince himself fell sick, and
while confined to his couch was assailed by
one of the Assassins. The wretch, under pre-
tense of giving Edward important information,
gained access to his tent, and while the latter
was reading the pretended credentials attacked
him with a poisoned dagger. Plantagenet,
however, was not to be extinguished by a mur-
derer. Springing from the couch he seized
his assailant, threw him to the earth, and
transfixed him with his own weapon. The
prince's physician then excised the poisoned
wounds of the prince and his vigorous consti-
tution prevailed over both his injuries and the
pestilence. So greatl)', however, were his
scanty forces wasted that a further continuance
of the conflict seemed out of the question.
The news now came from England that
King Henry III. was sick unto death, and
the prince's presence was necessary to the
peace of the realm. He accordingly deter-
mined to avail himself of the overtures made
by the sultan, who perhaps not knowing the
condition of Edward and his handful of war-
riors, and entertaining for them a salutary
respect had proposed a truce for a period of
ten years. A settlement was accordingly made
on this basis, and after a residence of fourteen
mouths Prince Edward retired from Palestine.
The success of his campaign had been such as
to secure another respite to the tottering fabric
of Christianity in Syria.
In the year 1274 the Pope's legate in Pal-
estine, the Count Thibaut, was elected to the
papal throne with the title of Gregory X.
Himself familiar by long and painful obser-
vation with the deplorable condition of Chris-
tian afl^airs in the Holy Land, he at once re-
solved to do as much as lay in the power of
the pontiff to rouse the states of Europe from
their lethargy. He aceoTdingly, in the year
of his elevation, to the papacy, convoked the
second council of Lyons, and there exerted him-
self to the utmost to induce another uprising
of the people. The efibrt was in vain. Though
several of the secular princes promised lO lend
their aid in a new movement to the East, their
pledges remained unfulfilled, and with the
death of the Pope two years afterwards the
whole enterprise came to naught.
For eight years the Syrian Christians re-
mained unmolested. This observance by the
Moslems of the treaty made with Prince
Edward was due, however, rather to the dis-
sensions of the Islamites than to any considera-
tion of a compact which they knew the Chris-
tians to be unable to enforce. After the death
of Frederick II., in the year 1250, the crown
of Jerusalem had been conferred on Hugh of
Lusignan, king of Cyprus, though his claim
to the mythical dignity was controverted by
Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily. The latter
by his recent victory over Count Manfred of
Naples, whom he defeated and slew in the
decisive battle of Benevento, had become the
leading actor in the affairs of Italy. The new
sovereign was, however, so far as his Syrian
dominions were concerned, a mere phantom.
No attempt was made by him to recover the
Holy City or any other of the lost possessions of
Christendom in Asia. Indeed, the Latin power
on the coast existed only by sufferance. lo
770
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
1280, two years before the expiration of the
truce, some Moslem traders plying their voca-
tion in the coast towns and villages of Pales-
tme were attacked and robbed by bands of
ilEATH OF MANKREI> IN THE BATTLE OF BENEVENTO.
aarauding Christians. After demanding re-
dress and obtaining none, the sultan of Egypt
cut short the existing order by raising an
army and renewing the conflict. The Latin
I'ltposts were cut oft' one by one until Tripoli,
itte last remaining fief of the crown of Jeru-
salem, was taken and garrisoned by the Mos-
lems. From year to year he continued hiis
aggressions until the mere foothold in the for'
tress of Acre was all that remained under the
shadow of the Cross
in Syria.
It was a strange
spectacle even in
these strange times
of lawlessness and
rapine, to behold
the Christians thus
pent up in a single
town, still display-
ing the spirit of
aggression. It is
the duty of History
to record that the
last Crusaders in
Palestine were as
brave and reckless
as the first. Not-
withstanding their
feebleness, these
strange warriors of
the ^liddle Ages
availed themselves
of every opportu-
nity to sally forth
and attack the Mos-
lem merchants
whom chance or ip-
terest drew into the
vicinity of Acre.
This policy was con-
tinued until the Sul-
tan Khatil, then
reigning in Cairo,
enraged at the au-
dacity, not to say
perfidy, of these re-
niaiuiug soldiers of
the Cross, swore by
the name of Allah
and his Prophet
that he would ex-
terminate the last Christian dog within the
limits of his dominions. He accordingly drew
out an immense army of two hundred thou-
sand men, and in 1291 pitched his camp before
the walls of Acre.
Perhaps at this time there was gatherea
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
Ill
within the defenses of the last stronghold of
Christendom in Palestine such ame/awjreof people
as never before or since was congregated in a
city. Almost every nation of Europe was
represented in the multitudes that thronged
the streets. So great was the diversity of
tongues, races, and religions that seventeen
indei^endent tribunals were instituted in the
alleged administration of justice. It was Gog
and Magog with the immense throng between
whom and the swords of Khatil's Mamelukes
only the walls and towers of Acre interposed.
Such was the distraction of counsels prev-
alent in the city, that no adequate measures
of defense could be carried into effect. The
ramparts were imperfectly defended, and the
crowds of non-combatants soon came to under-
stand that safety lay in the direction of escape.
In a short time the ships in the harbor were
crowded with those who were fortunate enough
first to perceive the situation and avail them-
selves of the opportunity. This process of
debarkation went on steadily until it appeared
that Acre would be left without an inhabitant.
But the knights of the three military orders
and a few other warriors, to the number of
about twelve thousand in all, showed a differ-
ent mettle.
Perhaps nothing more heroic has been wit-
nessed in the annals of warfare than the reso-
lute and unwavering courage displayed by this
band of European and Syrian chivalry in de-
fending the last fortress of Eastern Christen-
dom. For thirty-three days they manned the
ramparts against Khatil and his twenty myri-
ads of Mamelukes. With ever increasing ve-
hemence the Moslems leveled their destroying
engines against the tottering walls and towers.
At last an important defense, known by the
name of the Cursed Tower, yielded to the as-
sailants, and went down with a crash. The
breach thus effected in the defenses opened into
the heart of the city. Then it was that Hugh
of Lusignan, whom the folly of the times still
designated as king of Jerusalem, gathering
together a band of friends and favorites, fled
in the darkness, went on shipboard, and left
the city to its fate. But the Teutonic Knights,
scorning the conduct of the royal poltroon, ral-
lied in the breach w'ith an energy born of hero-
ism rather than despair, and beat back the Mos-
lems with terrible slaughter. The latter rallied
N.— Vol. 2—47
again and again to the charge, and at ^ast the
bleeding Knights, reduced to a handful, were
overborne by the Infidel host, and hurled back-
wards from their post of glory. In poured the
savage tides of victorious Islam, hungry for
blood and revenge. The few inhabitants who
remained in the city were quickly butchered or
seized as slaves. In the last hours, the surviv-
ing Knights of the Hospital and the Temple
shared the dying glory of the Teutonic chiv-
alry. Sallying forth from the parts of the
defenses which had been assigned to their
keeping, they charged upon the Moslems, and
fought till only seven of the gallant band re-
mained to tell the tale of de.struction. This
remnant of an Order which it is impossible
not to admire for its stubborn exhibition of
mediseval virtues gained the coast, and, with
good reason, considering that their monastic
vows had been fulfilled, saved themselves by
embarkation.
For three days after the assault and capture
of the city, the surviving Templars defended
themselves in their monastery. Here their
Grand Master, Pierre de Beaujeu, one of the
bravest of the brave, was killed by a poisoned
arrow. His companions continued the defense
until the sultan, not unappreciative of such
heroism, granted them honorable terms of ca-
pitulation. No sooner, however, had they sur-
rendered than they were assailed with jeers
and insults by the infuriated Mamelukes, who
could hardly be restrained. Enraged at this
treatment, the Knights attacked their enemies
with redoubled fury, and fought until they
were exterminated almost to a man. A few,
escaping into the interior, continued to smite
every Moslem whom they met, until finally, re-
turning to the coast, they took ship and sailed
for Cyprus.
Such was the last act of the drama. The
few Christians still clinging to the coast towns
of Syria made their escape as soon as possible,
and left the savage Mamelukes in complete pos-
session of the country. After a continuance
of a hundred and ninety-one years, the con-
test between the Cross and the Crescent had
ended in a complete restoration of the ancient
regime throughout Syria and Asia Minor. The
semilune of Islam was again in the ascendent.
The hardy virtues of the races of Western and
Northern Europe had not been, perhaps could
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
not be, transplanted to the birthplace of that
religious system under the iufluence of which
the Crusaders had flung themselves upon the
East. The collapse was fatal. The spirit, which
had so many times inflamed the zeal and pas-
sion of Europe, had expired, and could be no
more evoked from the shadows. Spasmodic-
ally, at intervals, for a period of more than
fifty years after the fall of Acre, the voice of
the Popes was heard, calling on lethargic Chris-
tendom to lift again the standard of the Cross
in Palestine. But the cry fell on deaf ears.
The nations would agitate no more ; and the
picture, drawn with such vivid effect in the
preceding century, of the profane and tur-
baned Turk performing his orgies on the tomb
of Christ, kindled no more forever the insane
fanaticism of the Christians of the West.
It is appropriate in this connection to add
a few paragraphs on the efiects which followed
the Crusades as their antecedent and cause. It
is a difliciilt question on which to express such
a judgment as will fairly reconcile the conflict-
ing views of those writers who have essayed the
discussion. It is natural, in the first place, to
look at the relative position and strength of
-the combatants "after the conflict was ended.
In general, it may be said that neither Islam
nor Christianity was much retarded or pro-
moted by the issue of the almost two centu-
ries of war. The prospects of the Crescent in
Syria and Asia Minor were nearly the same
after the faU of Acre as they had been before
the Council of Clermont The Crusades failed
to alter the established condition of Asia ; and
it is to be doubted whether, taken all in all, the
downfall of Constantinople was either greatly
delayed or promoted by the Holy Wars.
The same may be said of the religious con-
dition of Europe. The Mohammedans fought
to maintain a status; and to that extent they
were successful. But they seem never to have
contemplated the invasion of the Christian
continent as a measure of retaliation. It was
sufficient that the soldiers of the Cross were
expelled from Palestine, and limited to such
intestine strifes as were native to their own
dominions.
As to religious opinions, a larger change
was effected. At the beginning of the con-
flict, both Christians and Mohammedans en-
tertained iuc each other's beliefs and practices
an indescribable abhorrence. A mutual hatred
more profound than that with which the first
Crusaders and the Infidels were inflamed can
hardly be imagined. The fanaticism and
bigotry of the Christians was more intense in
proportion as they were more ignorant than
the Islamites. They believed that Moham-
med was the Devil, or, at least, that Anti-
christ whom to exterminate was the first duty
and highest privilege of Christian warriors.
By degrees, however, this insane frenzy passed
away, and was replaced with a certain respect
for an enemy whom they found more intelli-
gent and less bloody-minded than themselves.
From the time of the Third and Fourth Cru-
sades it was easy to perceive a change of sen-
timent affecting the conduct of the combat*
ants. Their battles were no longer mere
massacres of the vanquished by the victora
Saladin himself, though still in a measur&
under the influence of savage Islam, set the
example of a more humane and tolerant
spirit. In some degree his conduct was emu-
lated by the Christians, and the later years
of the war were marked by less atrocity and
fewer butcheries.
The altered sentiments of the Crusaders
and the Moslems are easily discoverable in the
tone assumed by the earlier aud later writers
who followed the Christian armies. In the
older chronicles there is difltused on every page
the intense hatred of the author. It is mani-
fest that they write of peoples whom they had
not yet seen, of beliefs which they did not
understand, of institutions and practices which
they had not witnessed. They detest the Mo-
hammedans as if they were monsters, dogs,
devils. But in the later annals of the Crusades
there is a change of tone aud opinion. The
Moslems are no longer the savage and inhuman
beasts which they had been represented to be
by the earlier historians. The Christians had
come to understand and to a certain degree to
appreciate the ideas and social customs of the
Islamites. Friendly relations sprang up in the
intervals between the successive Crusades, and
it is doubtless true that the Christian dwellers
in the Holy Land frequently heard with regret
and grief the premonitory mutterings of an-
other outbreak, by which their moiety of peace
was to be swept away. Besides this, the later
Christian chroniclers have words of praise nut
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
773
few or stinted for the great Mohammedau lead-
ers with whom they had become acquainted.
Bernard le Tresorier pronounces a glowing
eulogium on the character of Saladiu, and
William of Tyre praises Noureddin in a strain
of equal commendation. It is evident that by
the close of the thirteenth century the opinions
of that part of Christendom which had come
into actual contact with Islam had undergone
a radical change. There are not wanting Chris-
tian writers of the epoch who go to the length
of drawing unfavorable comparisons between
the manners, customs, and institutions of their
own people in the West and those of the more
refined Mohammedans. The historical treatises
And letters of the later Crusaders are thus
"ound to express sentiments and opinions which
would have been horrifying in the last de-
gree to the contemporaries of Godfrey and
Baldwin.'
It will be seen, then, that the general ten-
dency of the Crusade was, so far as ideas and
beliefs were concerned, in the direction of the
emancipation of the human mind. Though
the Holy Wars were begun under the impulse
of religious fanaticism, ihough they were con-
tinued for the express purpose of making re-
ligious zeal the criterion of human character
and conduct, yet year by year the despotic
sway of that fanaticism and zeal was loosened
and the mind set fi-ee in wider fields of activ-
ity. The change of place and scene had a
marvelous effect upon the rude imaginations
and confined beliefs of the Crusaders. They
saw Rome, the mother of mysteries. They saw
Constantinople, the wonder of two continents.
' The following paragraphs from Sir John Man-
deville will illustrate the altered tone of the later
Christian writers relative to manners and merits
of the Moslems. Sir John thus, in 1356, narrates
the story of his interview with the sultan, and of
the sentiments whicli they interchanged:
"And therefore sliall I tell you what the sul-
. tan told me one day in his chamber. He sent out
of the room all manner of men, both lords and
others, for he would speak with me in private :
And there he asked me in what manner the Chris-
tian folk govern themselves in our rountry. And
[ answered him, ' Right well ; thanks to God.'
And he replied, ' Indeed not so ; for the Christian
people do not know how to serve God rightly.
You should give example to the lewd folk to do
well, but you give them example to do evil. For
your people upon festival days when they should
go to church to serve God, then go they to taverns,
They saw Jerusalem, and found it only a Syrian
town hallowed by nothing save its associations.
They observed the riches and elegant manners
of the Moslems, and thus by degrees were
weaned from the domination of those ideas
which had impelled them to take the Cross.
As to the Papal Church, the influence of
the Crusades was more baleful than beneficial.
There is no doubt that the ambition of Greg-
ory was sincere ; nor are we at liberty to sup-
pose that Urban II. was actuated by other
than a true zeal for the honor of the Cross.
But the Holy Wars had not long continued
until the Popes discovered in the situation a
vast source of profit to themselves and the
Church. The principle of a monetary equiv-
alent for military service was admitted, and it
became the custom with the Crusaders to pay
into the papal treasury large sums as a satis-
faction for unfulfilled vows. This usage, if
not the actual beginning, was at least the pow-
erful excitant and auxiliary of the sale of in-
dulgences by the Church. The principal of
buying exemption from military service was
extended to other classes of service and duty ;
and the plan of purchasing the removal of
penalties, both past and prospective, became
almost universally prevalent.
Another fatal consequence flowing to the
Church from the Crusades was the subsequent
misdirection of the zeal and fanaticism which
she had evoked against the Infidels. When
papal Europe ceased to agitate against the
Moslems, it became a question with the Popes
to what end the forces which had been ex-
pending themselves in warfare with the Turks
and remain there in gluttony all day and all night,
eating and drinking as beasts that have no reason,
and wit not when they have enough.' ....
And then he called in all the lords whom he had
sent out of his chamber and there he showed me
four that were grandees in that country ; and
these told me of my country and of many othe»
Christian countries as truly as if they had been
there themselves. And they spake French right
well ; and the sultan also, whereof I had great
marvel. Alas! it is a great scandal to our faith
and our law when they that are witliout the law
do thus reprove and underrate us on account of
our sins. And truly they have good reason. For
the Saracens are good and faithful. For they keep
perfectly the commandment of the Holy Book
Al-Koran, which God sent them by his messenger
IMohammed, to whom, as they say, God often re-
vealed his will by the angel Gabriel."
774
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Bhould uow be turned. To the endless misfor-
tune of Rome, the remaining energy of the
Christian states — the residue of fanaticism
which two centuries of war had not wholly
consumed — was turned into the two channels
of open persecution for unbelief and private
inquisitorial tortures for the heretical. The
Church which liad foiled to overthrow the
Crescent in Asia, undertook the extirpation
of heresy in her own dominions. And the
means by which she would accomplish this re-
Bult were far less honorable to her judgment
and conscience than were the measures adopted
to destroy the supremacy of the False Prophet
in the East. The horrid cruelties to which
for several centuries Europe was to be sub-
jected for opinion's sake, were referable in a
large measure to the unexpired and malignant
energies of the Crusading epoch, misdirected
against the clearing judgment and rising con-
science of the age.
Among the political effects of the Cru-
sades, the most marked and important was
the stimulus given to monarchy at the ex-
pense of feudalism. At the outbreak of the
Holy Wars, Europe was feudal ; at their close,
she had become monarchic. Not that feudal-
ism was extinct; not that monarchy was com-
pletely triumphant ; but the beginning of the
new order of things had been securely laid,
and the extinction of the old system was only
a question of time. The events which led to
this result are easily apprehended. The Cru-
sades were the very wheel under which feu-
dalism might be most effectually crushed.
The movement at the first was headed by
feudal barons, but there was a survival of
the fittest. The fittest became kings. The
rest sank out of sight. While the Crusades
were thus bringing princes to the front, a
process of transformation was going on in
the home states, out of which the pilgrim
warriors had been recruited. Here the smaller
fiefs were rapidly absorbed in the larger. The
great and powerful barons grew towards the
kingly estate, and the feeble lords lost their
importance with their lands. At the close of
the Crusades, the kings of the Western states
found themselves opposed by a less numerous
nobility ; and many of the surviving grandees
were barons of low degree, or knights of
shreds and patches. In the contest that pres-
ently ensued, every circumstance favored the
cause of aspiring royalty as against that of
the feudal nobles.
Still more striking, however, was the influ-
ence of the Crusades in promoting the growth
and development of the free municipalities of
Europe. First of all did the maritime Repub-
lics of Italy feel the impetus of prosperity and
greatness under the agitation of the Northern
states. It is in the nature of war that it makes
heavy drafts upon commerce and manufac-
tures. The latter produce and the former
conveys to the destined field the arms, muni-
tions, and enginery necessary to the success of
the expedition. Before the Council of Cler-
mont the Italian Republics had already grown
to such a stature that they were ready to avail
themselves of every opportunity to get gain.
During the progress of the Holy Wars these
sturdy maritime states sprang forward with
rapid strides and took their place among the
leading powers of the West. The general up-
heaval of European society contributed won-
derfully to the prosperity and influence of the
seafaring republicans who, caring but little for
the principles involved between the Christian
barons and the Moslems, were ready with ships
and merchandise to serve whoever woidd pay
for the use of their wharves and fleets. Dur-
ing the latter half of the thirteenth century
nearly all the pilgrimages and expeditious to
the East were conducted in Venetian vessels,
though the ships of Pisa and Genoa competed
with their more prosperous rivals for the car-
rying trade with the ports of Syria, Egypt,
and Asia Elinor. The squandered wealth lifted
by religious fanaticism from the products of
the peasant labor of France, England, and
Germany found its way to the Venetian mer-
chants, and into the swollen coflTers of the Ro-
mish See.
Not only did the crusading expeditions
inure to the benefit of the Italian Republics,
but also to the genera) commerce of the West-
ern states. The naval enterprises were con-
ducted with so great success by the merchant
sailors of Italy that trading-ports were estab-
lished in the Levant, into which were poured
and out of which were exported the tiches of
the Orient. Merchandising became the most
profitable of all pursuits. Not only the cities
of Italy, but those of Germany, of England,
THE CRUSADES.— FALL OF THE CROSS.
t 10
and of the North of Europe, felt the life-giving
impulses of the new commerce established with
the East. No other circumstance between the
time of the downfall of the Roman Empire of
the AVest and the double discovery of the New
World and an all-water route to India, did so
much to revive the dormant commercial spirit
of Europe as did the Holy Wars of the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries.
Perhaps the influence of the Crusades, as
it respects the diflusion of the learning of the
East, has been overestimated. It has been
the custom of writers to draw an analogy be-
tween the effects of the conquests of Alexan-
der the Great and those which followed the
establishment of the Latin kingdom in the
East. A closer examination of the facts de-
stroys the parallel. The comparative barbar-
ity of the Crusaders, their want of learning
aiid complete depravity of literary taste, for-
bade the absorption by them of the intellectual
wealth of the peoples whom they conquered.
Even in Constantinople the French barons and
knights appear not to have been affected by
the culture and refinement of the city. Only
their cupidity was excited by the splendor and
literary treasures of the Eastern metropolis.
It does not appear that the Crusaders, even
the most enlightened of the leaders, were suf-
ficiently interested in the possibilities of the
situation to learn the language of the Greeks.
The literary imagination of the invaders and
conquerors of Palestine seem not to have been
excited in the midst of scenes which might
have been sujDposed to be the native sources
of inspiration. Poetry followed not in the
wake of those devastating excursions. Art
came not as the fruit of war-like agitation, or
to commemorate the exploits of medi:eval
heroes.
Perhaps the greatest single advantage flow-
ing from the Crusades was the establishment
of intercourse between the Asiatic and the
European nations. Hitherto the peoples of
the East and the West had lived in almost
complete ignorance of each other's manners,
customs, and national character. Traveling
became common, and the minds of men began
to be emancipated from the fetters of locality.
Many Europeans settled in the East, and be-
coming acquainted with the Asiatics, diffused
a. knowledge of the Orient among their own
couiltrymen. Relations were established be-
tween the Moslem and the Christian states.
Embassies were sent back and forth between
the Mongol emperors and the kings of the
Western nations. More than once it was pro-
posed that the Christians and the Mongols
should enter into an alliance, and that the
Crusades should be continued by them against
the common enemy, the Turks. The impress
made upon the mind and destinies of Europe
by these relations of the Christians and the
Mohammedans, is thus described by the distin-
guished historian, Abel Remusat:
"Many men of religious orders, Italians,
French, and Flemings, were charged with dip-
lomatic missions to the court of the Great
Khan. Mongoio of distinction came to Rome,
Barcelona, Valetia, Lyons, Paris, London, and
Northampton, and a Franciscan of the king^
dom of Naples was archbishop of Pekin. His
successor was a professor of theology in the
University of Paris. But how many other
people followed in the train of these person-
ages, either as slaves, or attracted by the desire
of profit, or led by curiosity into regions hith-
erto unknown ! Chance has preserved the
names of some of these ; the first envoj' who
visited the king of Hungary on the jiart of
the Tartars was an Englishman, who had been
banislied from his country for certain crimes,
and who, after having wandered over Asia,
at last eutereid into the service of the Mongols.
A Flemish Cordelier, in the heart of Tartary,
fell in with a woman of Metz called Faquette,
who had been carried off' into Hungary ; also
a Parisian goldsmith, and a young man from
the neighborhood of Rouen, who had been at
the taking of Belgrade. In the same country
he fell in also with Russians, Hungarians, and
Flemings. A singer, called Robert, after hav-
ing traveled through Eastern Asia, returned
to end his days in the cathedral of Chartres.
A Tartar was a furnisher of helmets in the
armies of Philip the Fair. Jean de Plancar-
pin fell in, near Gayouk, with a Russian gen-
tleman whom he calls Temer, and who actedf
as interpreter; and many merchants of Bres-
lau, Poland, and Austria, accompanied him
in his journey into Tartary. Others returned
with him through Russia ; they were Genoese,
Pisans, and Venetians. Two Venetians, mer-
chants, whom chance had brought to Bokhara,
776
UNIVERSAL HTSTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
followed a Mongol ambassador, sent by Houl-
agou to KhoubilaV. They remained many
years in China and Tartary, returned with let-
ters from the Great Khan to the Pope, and
afterwards went back to the Khan, taking
with them the son of one of their number, the
celebrated Marco Polo, and once more left the
court of Khoubilaito return to Venice. Trav-
els of this nature were not less frequent in
the following century. Of this number are
those of John Mandeville, an English physi-
cian; Oderic de Fricul, Pegoletti, Guilleaume
de Bouldeselle, and several others.
"It may well be supposed, that thosetravels
of which the memory is preserved, form but a
MABCO POLO.
small part of those which were undertaken,
and there were in those days many more people
who were able to perform those long journeys
thantowriteaccountsofthem. Manj- of those
adventurers must have remained and died in
the countries they went to visit. Others re-
turned home, as obscure as before, but having
their imagination full of the things they had
seen, relating them to their families, with
much exaggeration, nodoubt, but leaving be-
hind them, among many ridiculous fables,
useful recollections and traditions capable of
bearing fruit. Thus, in Germany, Italy and
France, in the monasteries, among the no-
bility and even down to the lowest classes of
society, there were deposited many preciou.«
seeds destined to bud at a somewhat later
period. All these unknown travelers, carry-
ing the arts of their own country into distant
regions, brought back other pieces of know-
ledge not less precious, and, without being
aware of it, made exchanges more advantage-
ousthan those of commerce. Bythesemeans,
not only the traffic in the silks, porcelain and
other commodities of Hindostan,becamemore
extensiveand practicable, and new paths were
opened to commerci al industry and enterprise
but, what was more valuable still, foreign
manners, unknown nations, extraordinary
productions, presented themselves in abund-
ance to the minds of the Europeans, which,
since the fall of the Koman empire, had been
confined within too narrow a circle. Men be-
gan to attach some importance to the most
beautiful, the most populous, and the most
anciently civilized, of the four cjuartersof the
world. They began to study the arts, the re-
ligions, the languages, of the nations by
whom it was inhabited; and there was ever
an intention of establishing a professorship
of the Tartar language in the university of
Paris. The accounts of travelers, strangeand
exaggerated, indeed, but soon discussed and
cleared up, diffused more correct and varied
notions of those distant regions. The world
seemed to open, as it were, towards the East,'
geography made an immense stride ; and ar-
dor for discovery became the new form as-
sumed by European spirit of adventure. The
idea of another hemisphere, when our own
came to bebetter known, no longerseemedaD
improbable paradox ; and it was when in search
of the Zipangri of Marco Polo that Christo-
pher Columbus discovered the New World.''
Many disputes have occurred relative to the
discoveries and inventions alleged to have
been brought into Europe by the returning
Crusaders. It stands to reason that things
knowninAsiaandunkownintheWest,would
be revealed to the pilgrim warriors, and by
them reported to their country men. It should
be remembered, however, that the bigotry of
the Crusaders knew no bounds. They went to
Asia as destroyers. They beat to the earth, with
undiscriminating hatred, both man and his
works. It was their theory and belief that all
thingsMohammedan were of the Devil. Act-
ing under thisbUndand superstitious fanati-
THE CRUSADES.— ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE 13 TH CENTURY. 77T
eism, they were little disposed to admit the
merit, much less to cojiy the advantages, of
Asiatic discoveries in art and science. It has
been said that those great factors of civiliza-
tion— gunpowder, the art of printing, and the
mariner's compass — were known in Asia before
the epoch of the Crusades, and there is little
reason to doubt that such was actually the
case ; but it would perhaps be difficult to prove
that a knowledge of these sterling inventions
was obtained in Europe from the Christian
warriors returning from Palestine. It was in
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that
Europeans began to employ the compas.s, to
manufixfture explosives for the purposes of
war, and to print from movable types. Per-
haps the rumor and general fame of such arts
may have preceded, by a considerable period,
their actual introduction among the nations of
the West.
Chaf'Ter XCIII.— Enoland and France; in the
Thirteenth Century.
HE present Book may be
ap])ropriately closed with
a brief sketch of the his-
tory of England and
France in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. In
the former country, be-
ginning with the accession of the House of
Plantagenet, we come, in 1154, to the reign
of Henry II. This distinguished prince was
the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet and Matilda,
daughter of Henry I. Though no Crusader
himself, he gave to the Holy Wars the great-
est of all Crusaders in the person of his son,
the Lion Heart. The reign of Henry ex-
tended to the year 1189, and was on the whole
a time of distress and trouble.
The middle of this period was noted for a
violent outbreak between the civil and ecclesi-
astical authorities of the kingdom, the former
headed by the king, and the latter by the cel-
ebrated Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Can-
terbury. On the one side were arrayed most
of the barons and lords, and not a few of the
clergy, including at one time the Archbishop
of York ; while on the other were marshaled
most of the bishops and priests, backed by the
whole power of Rome. From the peculiar
structure of English society it happened that
the common people, who were grievously op-
pressed by the barons, were all on the side of
the church as against the king. By them the
Archbishop of Canterbury was regarded as a
friend, champion, and protector, and they
looked to him as to one able to deliver them
from the woes of secular desi)otism. Becket
himself had been a soldier, and besides the
reputation which he had igained in the field,
he bore the name of one of the ripest scholars
of the age. He had been the bosom friend
of Henry Plantagenet, and by the influence
of that sovereign had been raised through suc-
cessive grades of ecclesiastical preferment to
the archbishopric of Canterbury. His break
with the king may be dated from the year
1164, when, by setting hini-self in antagonism
to a series of royal measures known as the
"Constitution of Clarendon," he incurred the
monarch's undying enmity. The great prel-
ate's opposition was without doubt based upon
a sincere devotion to the cause of the English
commons, no less than on the purpose to
maintain the independence of ecclesiastical
authority.
In the beginning of the quarrel. King
Henry withdrew his son from the tutorship of
Becket, and placed him with the Archbishop
of York. By and by the Pope interfered, and
Becket was at tbe first ordered to cease from
his opposition to the measures of the king.
Henry procured the archbishop's trial by the
parliament of Northampton, and he was
obliged to fly from the kingdom. More than
four hundred of his relatives were driven into
exile ; but Becket, having surrendered his au-
thority into the hands of the Pope, was rein-
stated by him in all his former and several
additional dignities. The measure was openly
canvassed in the Romish See of excommuni-
cating King Henry from the communion of
778
UXIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODER]^ WORLD.
the chui-ch. The latter, however, was as ob-
Btinate as his enemies. He had the coronation
of his son Henry remanded to the Archbishop
of York, thus openly denying the primacy of
Canterbury. In the early part of 1170, a stk.
perfieial reconciliation was patched up between
the king and the prelate ; but Henry gave>
some of his less scrupulous barons to under.
MURDER OF THOMAS A BECKET.
Drawn by L. P. Lejendecker.
THE CRUSADES.— ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE 13TH CENTURY. 779
stand that Thomas a Becket's exit from the
world would be a fact most pleasing to him-
self Hereupon Reginald Fitzurse, William
de Tracy, Hugh de Moreville, and Richard
Brito made a conspiracy against the archbish-
op's life. On the 28th of December, 1170,
they met at the castle of Ranulph de Broc,
near Canterbury, and were there joined by a
body of armed men ready for any business,
however desperate. On the following day the
leaders, who appear to have desired to stop
short of taking the prelate's life, had an in-
terview with him. and tried to frighten him
out of the rea/m. But the soldier priest was
not to be terrified, and on the evening of that
day, the conspirators forced their way into the
cathedral, where Becket was conducting ves-
pers. They first attempted to drag him from
the church, but -the bishop tore himself from
their clutches and knelt down at the altar,
already bleeding with a sword gash in his
head. His assailants now fell uptm him with
fury, and dashed out his brains on the floor.
Though the king's party had thus freed
themselves from the presence of their powerful
«nemy, the spirit which be represented was
oot so easily extinguished. The people of
Knaresborough rose in their wrath, and the
slayers of Becket were obliged to fly from the
kingdom. Everywhere throughout England
the tide rose so high against Henry that he
and his dynasty were threatened with over-
throw. The king of France took up arms
and the Pope threatened excommunication.
The king, however, escaped from the danger-
ous situation by taking a solemn oath that he
had not been privy to the murder of Becket;
but even after this he deemed it necessary to
make a further atonement at the altars of the
frate church. He accordingly made a pilgrim-
age to the tomb of Thomas a Becket, and after
fasting and praying at the shrine of that mar-
tyr received a flagellation on his naked back
at the hands of the monks. After this public
mark of his submission and penitence the ex-
citement subsided, and Henry forbore to give
further cause of ofiense to the ecclesiastical
party.
The king now found time to resist an inva-
sion of the Scots. The latter proved to be
unequal to the enterprise which they had
undertaken. Henry defeated them, compelled
the king of Scotland to surrender a part of
his dominions and himself and his sons to do
homage for the remainder.
On the death of King Henry, in 1189, the
crown descended to his eccentric and famous
son, Richard the Lion Heart. On the oc-
casion of his coronation an insurrection broke
out in Loudon, and the hated Jews became
the objects of a popular vengeance which could
not be easily appeased. At the first the new
king sought to stay the fury of his subjects,
and afibrded some protection to the hunted
Israelites. But when Richard, by nature large-
hearted and generous, departed on the great
Crusade, the persecutions broke out afresh,
and extended into various parts of the king-
dom. It was the peculiarity of the times that
the brutal religious fanaticism of the people
of Western Europe burst forth with indiscrim-
inate madness against all those who were, or
had ever been, the enemies of Christ. The
Jews were as much hated in various parts of
the West as were the Mohammedans in the
East. England was the scene of several butch-
eries hardly surpassed in any age of barbarism.
Three years after the crowning of the Lion
Heart the city of i'ork witnessed a massacre
of unusual atrocity. Hundreds of the Jews
were slaughtered without mercy. Their dis-
tinguished and kiud-sj)irited rabbi, with a large
number of his people, was driven into the cas-
tle of York, where, attem])ting to save them-
selves from destruction, and despairing of help
or compassion, they slew their wives and chil-
dren, fired the edifice, and peri.shed in the
flames.
The earlier years of tlie twelfth century
were a stormy and agitated epoch — a kind of
March-month of English liberty. In the clos-
ing year of the preceding centennium King
Richard Coeur de Lion died, bequeathing his>
crown and kingdom to his unhcroic and con-
temptilile brother John, surnamed Sansterre,
or Lackland. The latter came to the throne
with all of the vices and none of the virtues
of the Plantagenets. The Lion Heart had
been induced in the last hours of his life to
discard his nephew Arthur, of Brittany, in
favor of the unprincipled John, who was already
intriguing against the interests of England.
Philip, who had been the protector of Prince
Arthur, abandoned bim on the accession of
780
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
John to the throne, and a treaty was made
between the French and English kings by
which it was agreed that the niece of the lat-
ter, Blanche of Castile, should be married t<
Louis, the Dauphin of France. Arthur wai
to be given up to the tender mercies of hii
DEATH OF THE RABBI AND THE JEWS I.N VORK.
Drawn by H. Leutemann.
THE CRUSADES.— ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE 13 TH CENTURY. 781
uncle. This settlement, however, never reached
a fulfillment. Prince Arthur married the
daughter of Philip, and his father-in-law es-
poused his cause and aided him in the hostil-
ities which ensued.
Shortly after this change of policy on the
part of the French king, Arthur was taken
prisoner by his uncle John, and was shut up
in the castle of Bristol. The English king,
with his usual perfidy, gave orders to Hubert
de Burgh, governor of Falaise, to which place
Arthur had been transferred, to put the prisoner
to death ; but the heart of Hubert failed him
In the execution of the order, and King John
was deceived with a false report of the prince's
execution and funeral. The people of Brit-
tany also believing that Arthur had been mur-
dered, rose in revolt, and Hubert, in order to
save himself from odium and probable de-
struction, was obliged to divulge the truth.
Great was the wrath thus enkindled against
the unnatural king. The barons of England
refused to join his standard, and Philip, mak-
ing war upon him in the French provinces
belonging to the English crown overthrew his
authority and drove him out of Novmandy.
That great duchy, after having belonged to
England for more than three centuries, ■v^as
torn away and united to France. So great an
offense and injury to the English crown had
not been known since the days of Rollo the
Dane.
In the ninth year of his reign. King John
fell into a violent quarrel with Pope Innocent
III. The matter at issue was the choice of a
new archbishop for the see of Canterbury.
The choice of the Pope was the distinguished
Stephen Langton, already a cardinal of the
Church. The appointment, however, was vio-
lently opposed by John, and, in 1208, Innocent
laid the kingdom under an interdict. But the
punishment was insufficient to bring the mon-
arch to his senses. He continued his career of
injustice and folly, making war on the people
of Wales and Ireland, and filling his cofl^ers by
confiscation and cruel extortion. On one oc-
easion he called together all the abbots and
abbesses of the religious houses in London,
and then deliberately informed them that they
were his prisoners until what time they should
pay him a large sum of money. So flagrant
was the outrage thus perpetrated against the
honor and dignity of the church, that the
Pope proceeded to excommunicate King John,
and to absolve his subjects from their oath of
allegiance. The Holy Father, in his wrath,,
went to the extreme of inviting the Christian-
princes of Europe to unite in a crusade against
the audacious and disobedient king of England.
Philip of France, as the secular head of West-
ern Christendom, was especially besought to
undertake a war; and he was by no means
loth to seize the opportunity of increasing his-
own power at the expen-se of his fellow prince.
This movement, however, aroused the ire of
the English barons, who, though they heartily-
detested their king and his policy, were not at
all disposed to yield to the settlement of their
national affairs by the French. Philip pro-
ceeded with his preparations for the invasion ;
and King John, taking advantage of the re-
action among his subjects, collected a lirg©'
army at Dover. Just before his departure,
the French monarch received from the Pope,,
by the hands of the legate Pandulf, a mes-
sage to abandon the undertaking! For, in.
the mean time. His Holiness had made an
offer to the refractory John that, if the lattei
would accept Langton as archbishop of Caa-
terbury, and resign the crown of England'
into the papal hands, the Pope would restore
the same to him, and would forbid the inva-
sion of his realm by the French. These-
terms were accepted by the base Plantagenet,
who laid down his crown at the feet of Pan-
dulf. This haughty cardinal is said to have
kicked contemptuously the diadem which had
once been worn by William the Conqueror.
Satisfied with this act of abasement, Le then
replaced the dishonored crown on the head of
the alleged king.
Great was the rage of Philip on receiving-
the message of the Pope. Fearing to disobey,
and unwilling that his military preparations-
should come to naught, he diverted the expe-
dition against the territories of Earl Ferrand
of Flanders. The latter immediately applied'
to King John for help; and that monarch,
responding with an unusual show of alacrity,
sent a large squadron to aid the Flemish earl in
maintaining his independence. A battle was
fought between the English and French fleets,
in which the armament of PhUip was either-
destroyed or dispersed. So signal was the di»-
782
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
aster, that the land forces of the French broke
up in disorder, and returned in haste to their
own provinces.
It appears that John was crazed by his vic-
tory. Eager to follow up his advantage, he
purposed an invasion of France ; but his bar-
ons, though having no affection for the French,
and very willing to go to war to maintain the
honor of England, were in no wise disposed
to follow the banner of an unpopular king on
a foreign expedition. John was therefore
obliged to forego his project. But though
In a short time, however, the English king
received intelligence that his ally, the German
Emperor, had, in 1214, been decisively de-
feated by the French in the great battle of
Bouvines. Seeing that Philip would now be
able to concentrate all his forces against the
English, John made haste to conclude with
that monarch a five years' truce, and quickly
made his way back to England.
The Island during the king's absence had
become the scene of a great commotion. The
barons, thoroughly disgusted with John's vacil-
B.\TTLE OF liOUVlNtS.
unsupported by his nobles and by the temper
of his kingdom, he still sought to carry out
his retaliatory purpose against the French
king. He accordingly sought an alliance with
Frederick II., Emperor of Germany, with
■v?hom it was arranged to make an invasion of
France on the east, while John would do the
«ame in the provinces adjacent to the Channel.
An English army, made up in large measure
\>f the refuse of the kingdom, was accord-
ingly landed at Poitou, and an expedition was
begun into Anjou and Brittany.
lating conduct and unkingly bearing, had
made a conspiracy against him, and the move-
ment had gained such headway that he quailed
before his powerful but disloyal subjects.
Archbishop Langton lent the sanction of the
Church to the insurrection and proved him-
self to be an able and far-seeing leader. Hav-
ing discovered a long-concealed copy of an old
charter signed by Henry I., wherein were set
forth and guaranteed by the royal seal the
rights and privileges of Englishmen, he made
it the basis of a new Bill of Rights, which he
THE CRUSADES.— ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE I3TH CENTURY. 78»
drew up and which the barons determined to
maintain with their swords. Such was the
famous document known as Magna Charta —
the Great Charter of English Liberty.
When the king returned from France the
demand was made of him by the barous that
he should sign their instrument. This he re-
fused to do, and endeavored to oppose force
with force; but finding his banner almost de-
serted, he came to his senses and consented to
hold a conference which had been proposed
by the Earl of Pembroke. On the 15th of
June, 1215, a meeting was accordingly held
at a place called Runnymede, between Wind-
sor and Staines, and there the king was obliged
to sign the Charter.
In general terms Magna Charta was intended
by its authors to prevent the exercise of arbi-
trary authority over his subjects by an En-
glish king. The royal prerogatives were lim-
ited in several important particulars, so that
the despotism which had been so freely prac-
ticed during the feudal ascendency, became
impossible in England, save in violation of
tha chartered rights of the people. The great
document thus wrenched from the pusillani-
mous John consisted of sixty-three articles,
most of them being negative, defining what
the kings of England might not do as it re-
spected their subjects. Of positive rights con-
ceded and guaranteed in the Charter, the two
greatest were the Habeas Corpus and the Right
of Trial by Jury. The first was that salutary
provision of the English Common Law by
which every free subject of the kingdom was
exempted from arbitrary arrest and detention ;
and the second, that every person accused of
crime or misdemeanor, should be entitled to a
trial by his peers in accordance with the law
of the land. The right of disposing of prop-
erty by will was also conceded, and in case no
will should be made, it was provided that the
goods and estate of the father should descend
to his children by the law of inheritance. On
the negative sicie there were intenlicts against
outlawry and banishment, and against the
seizure of the property of freemen.
It should not be supposed, however, that
popular liberty, in the modern sense, was se-
cured or even contemplated in Magna Charta.
True it is that many invaluable principles and
maxims were assumed by the barons, and that
the restrictions of the royal prerogative were
of the most salutary character. But the feu-
dal classes of society were stiU recognized, and
the people, as a factor in the state, were ig-
nored. Although it was provided that no
freeman should be seized or distresssed in his
person or property, but little was said respect-
ing the rights and immunities of the laboring
classes of Englishmen. Only a single clause
of Magna Charta was intended to secure to the
peasant those immunities and privileges which
in every civilized country are now regarded as
his birthright. It was enacted that even a rustic
should not be deprived of his carts, plows, and
implements of husbandry. So great was the
difference between the spirit of the thirteenth
and that of the nineteenth century !
Notwithstanding the humiliation of King
John at Runnymede, he immediately sought
opportunity of avenging himself on his bar-
ons. Great was his wrath on account of the
Charter, and at those who had compelled him
to sign it. The barons were little alarmed at
his preparations and oaths of vengeance ; but
with an army of foreign mercenaries he re-
duced them to such extremity that they in
their folly invited Prince Louis, the heir of
France, to come to their aid, and promised to
reward him with the crown of England. The
fortune of war was turned against the king
and he was obliged to shut himself up in the
castle of Dover. In the mean time the bar-
ons grew tired of their French protector, and
many of them rejoined the standard of John.
The latter again entered the field and marched
into Lincolnshire, where he was attacked of a
fever, and died on the 19th of October, 1216.
It was during the reign of King John, who-
has the bad reputation of being the worst sov-
ereign that ever reigned over England, that
the great outlaw Robin Hood began his careei
as a bandit. It appears that the true name
of this generous brigand who, until the year
1247, set the laws at defiance and measured
swords with England, was Robert, earl o
Huntingdon. The legend recites that in his
youth he attended a great tournament in
archery, where by his skill he excited the
envy of some rival noblemen, who had the
rashness to upbraid him on account of his
Saxon blood and uncourtly manners. Falling
into a passion under their insults, he turned
784
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
upon them and shot down several of their
number. He then made his escape into Sher-
wood forest, where he became the head of a
band of outlaws like himself. Their practice
-was to pilla^ the estates of the rich, to rob
the wealthy and titled personages, distributing
the proceeds of their lawlessness to the poor
and needy. So persistently was this policy
JOHN SWEARING VENGEANCE AGAINST THE BAKONS.
Drawn by A. Maillard.
pursued by the merry Robin and his men that
they gained a great reputation among the
peasants, insomuch that ballads commemora-
tive of his exploits and chivalry became the
most popular literature of the times, and have
ever since remained as a witness of the esteem
in which even a lawless benefactor is held by
an oppressed people.
On the death of the king the crown de-
scended to his eldest son, Henrv of Winches-
ter, who took the title of Henry the Third.
Being only eight years of age at the time of
his father's death, the management of the
kingdom was intrusted to the Earl of Pem-
broke. The latter had the wisdom during his
administration to confirm the articles of Magna
Charta, and by this means those English bar
ons who had still adhered to the fortunes of
Prince Louis of France were won back
to the royal cause. Louis, though his
forces were greatly reduced, ventured
on a battle in 1217, in which he was so
disastrously defeated that he was glad
to escape with the remnant of his fol-
lowers from the kingdom. Two years
afterward the Earl of Pembroke died,
and his oflnce of protector was given to
Hubert de Burgh.
When King Henry reached the age
of sixteen he was declared capable of
conducting the government. In the
following year, 1224, Philip of Fraace
died and was succeeded by his son
Louis, but the latter soon after passed
away and the crown descended to his
son Louis IX. , who being a mere child
was left to the guardianship of his
mother, Blanche of Castile. Perceiv-
ing the exposed condition of the French
kingdom on account of the minority of
Louis, King Henry determined to in-
vade France and attempt the recovery
of Normandy. He accordingly raised
a large army, and in 1230 undertook
an expedition against the French. But
he soon showed himself to be of little
competency for such an undertaking.
One disaster followed another until in
the course of a few months the king
was glad to give up the enterprise and
return to England. In his matrimo-
nial adventure he was scarcely more
fortunate than in war. In his search for a
queen he chose Eleanor, daughter of the Earl
of Provence, who brought with her into Eng-
land a retinue of friends, for whom impor-
tant places in the government were provided.
A great offense was thus given to the English
barons, who would not quietly brook the eleva-
tion of strangers and foreigners to the chief
offices of England.
While the king was thus exhibiting his foUy
THE CR USADES. —ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE 13 TH CENTUR Y. 7 86
he also showed his weakness. Nearly all his
administrative acts were marked by a spirit of
narrowness and bigoted imprudence. Popes
Innocent IV. and Alexander IV. were not slow
to perceive the advantages which might be
gained for the Church by au interference with
Euglish affairs. Italian ecclesiastics were ac-
cordingly insinuated into the principal religious
offices of the kingdom, and these became the
agents to carry out the papal will and pleas-
ure respecting questions which were purely
Euglish. In 1255 the Pope conferred on the
king's son Edmund the title of King of Sicily,
hoping by this means to induce the English
nation to espouse his own cause in a quarrel
which he had had with Maiufroy, the Sicilian
monarch. But the English barons, more wise
than their sovereign, refused to be inveigled
into the Pope's scheme, and the enterprise was
about to come to nought. Henry, however,
finding that no inducement could avail with
his refractory subjects, undertook to raise the
money for the Sicilian expedition by a means
as novel as it was outrageous. He caused to
be drawn bills of exchange against the prelates
of England, and gave these bills to Italian
merchants for money pretendedly advanced by
them for the war. The prelates at first re-
fused payment of these forged accounts, but
since the ecclesiastics were not supported by
either the king or the Pope, who made com-
mon cause in support of the fraud, they were
obliged to give up the contest and pay the
Italian bills.
The effect of these measures was to revive
the antipathies of the Euglish nobles against
the king. A new rebellion broke out in 1258.
Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, who had
himself been one of the king's favorites, headed
the insurrection. The insurgents gathered in
such strength at Oxford that Henry and his son
were obliged to sign a treaty, by which it was
agreed that twenty-four of the barons, includ-
ing the Earl of Leicester, should be constituted
a sort of commission to reform the abuses of
the kingdom. The legitimate work of reform,
however, was soon abandoned for the assump-
tion of the right of government by the barons.
The nation was thrown into a state of turmoil,
which continued with unabated violence for
about six years. The struggle is known in
history as the Wars of the Barons, and
constituted one of the most disastrous epochs
in the annals of England. Louis IX. of
France, actuated by nobler motives than were
common in the princes of his times, made un-
availing efforts to bring about a peace between
Henry and his nobles; but neither would the
one yield to reason or the other to patriotism.
Not until the year 1264 did events assume
such form as to ])r()mise a settlement. At
that time Prince Edward, heir to the En-
glish crown, born to greater candor than hia
grandfather and greater ability than his father,
came forward as a leader of the royal forces,
and for a season it appeared that the insur-
gent nobles had met their match. Many of
the barons, seeing with pride the spirit and
valor displayed by their prince, went over to
his standard. At length a battle was hazarded
with the forces of De Montfort, but the result
was exceedingly disastrous to the royal cause.
Edward's army was defeated and himself cap-
tured, and sent with his cousin. Prince Henry,
a prisoner to the Castle of Dover.
The Earl of Leicester was now master of
ithe field. He at once conceived the ambition
of making himself king of England. To this
end he seized the royal castles not a few, and
presently allowed his ambition to reveal his
purposes. At this juncture, the Earl of Glouces-
ter appeared as a rival of De Montfort, and
began to plan his overthrow. Leicester per-
ceived that the heart of the nobles was turned
against him, and began to bid for a renewal
and continuance of their support. All his
acts were done in the king's name. As a sop
to Cerberus, he set Prince Edward at liberty.
Gloucester established himself on the confines
of Wales, and De Montfort, having proclaimed
his rival a traitor, and assuming the office of
protector to Henry and Edward, set out to
overthrow the insurgents. When nearing the
camp of Gloucester, the latter managed to
open communications with Edward, and the
prince made good his escape, and went over
to the barons. Many of the nobles followed
his example, and Leicester was obliged to send
in all haste to London for an army of rein-
forcements commanded by his son, Simon de
Montforl, the younger. The latter was inter-
cepted on the way to join his father, and was
decisively defeated by Prince Edward in the
battle of Kenilworth. A general engagement
786
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
followed at Evesham, in which the Earl of
Leicester was routed, aud his forces dispersed.
King Henry, who was unwillingly detained
among the defeated forces, was about to be
cut down by a soldier, but declared his iden-
tity in time to save his life. Both Leicester
PEATH OF SIMON DE MONTFORT
Drflwn by A. de Neuvilie.
THE CRUSADES.— ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE 13 TH CENTURY. 787
and his son, the younger Montfort, were slaiu
in the battle.
The story of Prince Edward's departure for
the Holy Land, to take part in the Eighth
Crusade, has already been narrated in the pre-
ceding pages.' This event happened in 1270.
Henry IH. had now occupied the throne of
England for fifty-four years. His government
■was as feeble as himself was decrepit. The
land was full of violence and distress. His
nephew. Prince Henry, son of Richard, the
king's brother, was assassinated by the exiled
sons of Leicester, who had survived the battle
of Evesham. Richard died of grief. The
barons despised their sovereign, and looked
forward with pleasant anticipations to the day
«f his death. Riots and violence prevailed in
man)' parts of the kingdom. At last, in No-
vember of 1272, the aged and despised Henry
died, being then in the fifty-seventh year of
his reign.
Prince Edward, on hearing the news of
his father's death, set out fi'om Palestine, and
arrived in England in 1274. His presence —
even the knowledge of his coming — tended to
restore confidence and order. He began liis
reign with the enactment of many salutary
regulations relating to the police of the king-
dom, and other measures of public safety.
He was greatly distressed on the score of
means with which to administer the govern-
ment, and, in his embarrassment, adopted a
measure which came near producing a civil
war. He appointed a commission to examine
into the titles by which the barons of the king-
dom were^holding their estates, with a view to
the confiscation of any which might prove to
be illegally held. The commissioners had not
proceeded far, however, until they came upon
the Earl of Warrenne, who, when summoned
to produce his titles, deliberately drew his
sword from its scabbard, and, laying his hand
■significantly on the hilt, replied: " This is the
instrument by which my ancestors gained their
•estate, and by which I will keep it as long as
I live." This answer reported to the king had
the effect of putting an end to the project of
■fine and confiscation.
In the year 1282 an insurrection broke out
in Wales. The people of that country had
illy brooked the conditions of peace which
'See ante, p. V"*?
•=n«.— Vol. 2—48
Edward had imposed upon them after the bat-
tle of Evesham. Llewellyn, the king, led his
countrymen in the insurrection, which came to
a climax in a great battle in which the Welsh
were totally defeated. Llewellyn was killed,
and his brother David, the only remaining
heir to the throne of Wales, was taken and
beheaded. A good excuse was thus aflxirded
to King Edward for claiming the crown for
himself In settling the terms of peace he
promjsed to give the people of Wales a prince
of their own country, and when the condition
was accepted he presented them with his own
son, who had been born a few days before in
the Welsh castle of Caernarvon. To this babe
was given thc^ title of Prince of Wales, which ,
has ever since been borne by the eldest sons
of the kings of England.
While Wales was thus acquired by con-
quest a plan, partly the product of natural
events and partly the work of Edward's ambi-
tion, was brought forth with a view of adding
the crown of Scotland to that of England. In
that country King Alexander III. had chosen
for his queen the sister of the English mon-
arch, and of this union the only issufe was the
Princess Margaret, who was married to the
king of Norway; and of ihU union only a little
daughter survived, who became the heiress of
Scotland. In 1286 Alexander died, and the
Norwegian princess inherited her grandfather's
dominions. Edward now proposed that his
new-born son and the infant queen of Scotland
should be betrothed, and the proposition was
accepted by both the king of Norway and the
Scottish parliament. It thus appeared that
the union of the crowns of England and Scot-
land was about to be efl^ected. But destiny
had prepared the event otherw'ise. The Nor-
wegian princess on her way from the country
of ber birth to the kiiip-dom which she had
inherited was taken ill on shipboard and died
at the Orkney Islands. This unfortunate occur-
rence produced great grief throughout the three
kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Norway.
The union of the former two realms was post-
poned for three hundred years, and such was
the dis*?action of the Scottish councils that no
fewer than thirteen claimants of the crown
appeared in the field. While feuds and tur-
moils prevailed on all sides it was agreed to
refer the settlement of the succession toKing
f88
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
Edward, who, after weighing the relative rights
of Robert Bruce and John Baliol, decided in
favor of the latter. The English king, with
an eye to hb own interest, required that the
Scottish castles should be put into his hands
before rendering his decision. The result was
that Baiiol, who had little of the nature and
'qualities of a king, became a mere puppet in
the hands of the English monarch, who pro-
ceeded to settle the aflairs of the Northern
kingdom according to his will and purpose.
Hereupon an insurrection broke out, and Ed-
ward, marching across the border, defeated
Guienne under this fiction of doing homage for
it than Philip refused to make the promised
restitution. So deeply at this time was Edward
involved in the comi)lications relating to the
crown of Scotland that he was unable to re*
cover by force what he had lost by the craft
and subtlety of Philip the Fair. Such was the
condition of affairs in England from the begin'
ning of the thirteenth century up to the tim«
when, by the capture of Acre, the Christian
kingdom in the East was finally overthrown.
Let us then refer briefly to the course of
events in France in the later epochs of the
CAERNARVON CASTLE.
the Scots in the great battle of Dunbar. Baliol
surrendered himself to the victorious king and
was detained in captivity for three years, after
which he was permitted to retire into France.
It was at this epoch that the province of
Guienne, which liad descended to the English
crown from the old Queen Eleanor, who had
possessed that realm on her marriage to Henry
H., was regained by the king of France. Gui-
enne owed fealty to the French crown, and
Philip the Fair persuaded Edward to perform
the act of homage as a recognition of that
relation, at the same time promising to restore
the province as soon as the formal act was
done. But no sooner had Edward resigned
Crusades. In 1180 Philip H., sumamed Au-
gustus, inherited the French crown. Sucb
were his talents and ambitions, and such his
impatience under the restraints imposed on his
kingdom by Feudalism, that he set himself to
work after the manner of a politician and
statesman to overthrow the feudal princes and
to build upon the ruins of their privileges and
liberties the structure of regular monarchy.
What might have been his success but for the
condition of aflairs in Syria it were perhaps
useless to conjecture. It will be remembered
that Philip, before coming to the throne of
France, had formed an attachment to Princa
Richard Plantagenet, and that the two princes.
THE CRUSADES.— ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE 13TH CENTURY. 789
in order to vex and distract the mind of King
Henry 11., of England, had made a great
parade of their alleged friendship. After the
two royal youths acceded to the thrones of
their respective kingdoms their attachment
continued and led to an agreement between
them to undertake that
great Crusade of which
an account has already
been given in the pre-
ceding pages.'
After Philip's return
from Palestine, in which
country the breach be-
tween him and his old-
time friend had become
irreparable, he made
haste to attempt the de-
struction of the interests
and rights of the Lion
Heart in Western Eu-
rope. To this end he
made an attack on Nor-
mandy and incited the
unworthy John Lack-
land to seize on Eng-
land, though both of
these schemes were de-
feated and brought to
nought. But not until
the foundation of infinite
mischief had been laid
between the kingdoms
of France and England.
Philip continued his
machinations against
CcBur de Lion until the
'atter, having obtained
a tardy. liberation at the
hands of the German
Emperor, made his way
as rapidly as possible in
the direction of his own
kingdom. Hearing that
his friend had been set
at liberty, Philip sent a nasty message to John
of England to take care of himself as best he
could, for the devil was unchained !
As soon as Richard lad reestablished his
authority in the kingdom, he sought to avenge
himself on the perfidious Philip. War broke
' See ant^, p. 732
out, and continued without abatement almost
to the end of the century. In 1194 a deci-
sive battle was fought at Vendome, in which
Philip was disastrously defeated. His money,
camp equipage, and the records of the king-
dom were captured by the victorious English.'
BATTLE or VKSWMB.
In the mean time the French monarch h^
came involved in a quarrel with the Pope, whict
plunged the kingdom into still deeper distress.
The king's first wife, Isabella of Hainault, had
' It is noteworthy of the character of the times
that up to the battle of Vendome it had been tl>e
custom of the feudal kings of Fiance to bear about
m
UXIVEJiSAL HIHTOEY.—THE MODERN WORLD.
died in 1191, and two years afterwards Philip
had taken as a second queen the Princess In-
geberge of Denmark. But the Danish lady
soon fell under the displeasure of her lord and
was divorced. The suspicion was not wanting
that the king had already turned a longing
eye upon Maria, the daughter of the Duke of
Dalmatia, and that the discarding of Jnge-
berge was attributable to that circumstance.
These proceedings were highly displeasing to
Pope Innocent UI., and he ordered the abro-
gation of the marriage with Maria, and the
restitution of that with the divorced Ingeberge.
crown after the death of his uncle, Richard
Plantagenet. King John, refusing to obey
the summons, was declared guilty of murder
and felony, and his province of Normandy
was said to be forfeited. Philip lost no time
in asserting his claim to the countries of which
he hoped to deprive his rival. Laying siege
to the Chateau Gaillard, he succeeded, after t>
rigorous investment of many months' duration,
in reducing the place to submission. The rest
of Normandy was easUy subdued. The whole
duchy was wrested from the imbecile John and
hi> .-uciv».'r> I' rtver. For two hundred and
MURDER OP PRINCE ARTHTJB.
Philip refused obedience, and His Holiness
laid the kingdom under an interdict for the
space of three yeai-s. At last the French mon-
arch was obliged to yield, and the discarded
queen was brought back to Paris.
In the early part of the following century,
FhUip summoned King John of England to
come to the French capital and answer to the
charge of having murdered Prince Arthur of
Brittany, the rightful heir to the English
with them from place to place the royal archives.
It now penetrated the thick skull of the age that
a permanent depository of siicli records was a ne-
cessity of the situation. Philip Augustus accord-
ingly directed the construction of a suitable build-
ing in Paris for that puroo.->i;.
ninety -three years Normandy had been a part
of the English dominions, and would doubtr
less have so remained but for the pusillanimous
character of the king, whose duty it was to de-
fend his continental possessions.
Philip now went on from conquering to con-
quest. The provinces of Maine, Touraine, and
Anjou were successively taken, and added to
the French domains. In 1213 the king, sup-
ported by Pope Innocent IH., undertook the
invasion of England. The miscarriage of this
expedition, and the diversion of the campaign
into Flanders, have already been recounted in
the preceding narrative.' The battle of Bou-
» —
'See anle, p. Jtl,
THE CRUSADES.— ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE 13 TH CENTURY. 791
vines resulted in a complete overthrow of the
Flemish aud German auxiliaries. The counts
of Flanders and Boulogne were taken prisoners,
and were confined, the one in the tower of the
Louvre, and the other in the castle Pirou.
It was at this epoch that the religio-civil
war with the Albigenses broke out in the south
of France. From the year 120iJ to 1218, the
best portions of the kingdom were ravaged with
a ferocity that would have done credit to the
Mamelukes. The harmless fathers of French
protestantism were made to feel how cruel a
thing the sword is when backed by religious in-
tolerance. It ought not to be denied, however,
that in the outbreak of the war the papal party
ha'' a just cause of complaint. In 1208 the
son. In 1223 Philip II. died, aud was suc-
ceeded by Louis VIII., who, acting under
the instigatioi;! of the Pope, renewed the wai
against the Albigenses; but his short reign
was terminated Hy his death in 1226.
After a three years' continuance of the
struggle Raymond VII. was induced by the
distresses to which his people were subjected
to purchase exemption from further persecu-
tion and relief from the penalties of excommu-
nication by the cession of a jiortiou of his ter-
ritories to the king of France and by adopting
as his heir to the remainder the brother-in-law
of Saint Louis. The Albigenses were thus
deprived of the protection of the counts of
Toulouse, and to fill up the cup of bitterness
PERSECUTION OF THE ALBIGENSES.
Pope's legate, Peter of Castelnau, was mur-
dered under circumstances which gave Inno-
cent III. good ground for believing that the
heretical nobles of Southern France were re-
sponsible for the crime. Suspicion was di-
rected against Raymond VI. of Toulouse, and
a crusade was preached against him and his
people. By making a humiliating submission,
the Count of Toulouse saved himself from the
impending blow ; and the crusading army was
turned against the viscounts Roger of Albi,
Beziers, Carcassonne, and Rasez, whose lands
were laid waste aud confiscated by Simon de
Montfort. Raymond thus gained time to re-
new the conflict, which was continued until
1218, when Simon was killed in the siege of
Toulouse. Most of the conquests made by
Montfort were recovered by Raymond and his
which the pajial party now mixed for the here-
tics to driuk, the Inquisition, with its Chamber
of Horror, was organized to complete their ex-
termination. Notwithstanding the fierce perse-
cutions to which these early protcstants were
subjected, the name of the Albigensian sect
survived to the close of the thirteenth century,
and even after the beginning of the fourteenth,
adherents of the party were still found, not
only in Southern France, but also in secluded
parts of Italy and Spain.
The course of French history during the
reign of Saint Louis has been incidentally
sketched in the account already given of the
Seventh Crusade. After an absence of six
years the king returned to his own realm in
July of 1254, and without laying aside the
cross, began an administration which was
792
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— THE MODERN WORLD.
marked by much pomp and ceremony- He
became a reformer of abuses in the kingdom,
abrogating oppressive taxes, regulating the
French municipalities, and framing new codes
of laws. Until a late date the shade-tree was
still standing in the Bois de \'inceuues under
which Saint Louis was wont to sit, hearing
'One of Saint Louis's masims may well be re-
peated: "It is good policy to be just; inasmuch
as a reputation for probity and disinterestedness
gives a prince more real authority and power than
«ny accession ol territories."
the complaints of the poor, and redressing
the grievances of those who had suffered
wrong.
As it respected integrity of character and
sincerity of purpose, Louis LX. enjoyed the
best reputation of all the monarchs oi' his age.
So great was his fame for justice and probity,
that neighboring princes, when involved in
difficulties among themselves, were accustomed
to refer the
matters in
dispute to
the calm
temper and
im partial
judgment of
Louis."
To this
epoch be-
longs the
establish-
ment of a
French dy-
nasty in Sic-
ily and Na-
ples. The
crown of this
kingdom
had fallen
into the hands of the imperial family of Ger-
many by the marriage of the daughter of the
last Norman king of the Two Sicilies to the
father of Frederick II., and when this Emperor
died the kingdom was seized by his illegitimate
son Manfred. Pope Urban IV., regarding the
accession of this jiseudo prince as a scandal to
Christendom, and offended at the additional
power thus gained by the Ghibelliues, set up
Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX., as
king of the Two Sicilies, and in 1265 the
CBAHBEB OF HORROKS— THE INQUISITION.
claims of the latter were successfully asserted
by the defeat of Manfred in battle. Charles,
however, was a man very different in charac-
ter from his brother, the king of France. His
life and reign were marked by pereoual ambi-
tion, selfishness, and cruelty. His name and
that of his country became forever afterwards
odious in the kingdom which he ruled. Two
years after his accession to the throne the Ger-
man princes, under the lead of Couradin, son
of Conrad IV., and last representative of the
House of Hohenstaufen, made an attempt to
expel the French from Italy, but they were
decisively defeated. Conradin was taken pris-
oner, carried to Naples, and put to death by
order of King Charles. AVheu about to be
executed, he threw down his glove from the
scaffold, appealing to the crowd to convey it
to any of his kinsmen in token that whoever
received it was invested with his rights, and
charged with the duty of avenging his death.
In the year 1258 Philip, eldest son of Saint
Louis, received in marriage the Princess Isa-
bella, daughter of the king of Aragon. When
this union was affected, it was agreed by the
kings of France and Spain that the latter
should surrender to the former the towns which
he held in the south of France, and that Louis
should give in exchange to the king of Ara-
gon those districts of Spain which had bees
wrested _ by Charlemagne from the Moham
medans. About the same time the French
monarch secured a large portion of the prov-
ince of Champagne by purchase from Count
Thibault, who in virtue of his mother's right
had acceded to the throne of Navarre.
Having completed the disposition of affairs
in his kingdom, Louis IX. at last found him-
self in readiness to renew the war with the
Turks and Mamelukes. How the expedition
with which he left France in the year 1270
was diverted into a campaign against Tunis,
hoW' the plague broke out in the French army
encamped on that sun-scorched shore, how
many thousands perished in anguish and de-
spair, and how the aged king himself sickened
and died, have already been recounted in a
preceding chapter.'
Saint Louis left as his successor his son
Philip by ilargaret of Provence. This prince
was with his father in the siege of Tunis, and
' See ante, p. 767.
THE CRUSADES.— ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE 13TH CENTURY. 793
jiKe him was attacked with the plague. Re-
covering from the malady he embarked for
home and reached Sicily in the latter part of
the year 1270. Here his queen died, as did
also King Thibault of Navarre. Many other
distinguished personages connected with the ex-
pedition, including Alfonso^the king's uncle —
and the Countess of Provence, fell victims to
the pestilence. In the
beginning of the fol-
lowing year Philip
reached his own do-
minions, bearing with
him in sad procession
the dead bodies of his
queen and his father.
The new sovereign
ascended the throne
with the title of Philip
III., and received the
surname of the Bold.
In his policy, he imi-
tated the methods of
his father. Two years
after his return to
France, he took in
marriage the Princess
Maria of Brabant. In
the mean time, he had
raised to the position
of chief minister of
the kingdom a certain
parvenu named Pierrp
de la Brosse, whosi
former vocation of
barber had little rec-
ommended him for
affairs of state. Not
long after the king's
marriage, De Brosse
conceived a violent
hatred for the queen,
and resolved to com-
pass her downfall.
In 1276, Prince Louis, the king's eldest son,
died, and the circumstances were such as to
favor the false accusation that Queen Maria
had caused his death by poison. For the
time it appeared that her cause was hope-
less, but a valiant brother came forward, and,
after the manner of the age, challenged the
accuser to a mortal combat. The cowardly
De Brosse, thus confronted, durst not accept
the gage of battle, and was himself executed
on a gibbet.
Meanwhile, Charles of Anjou, now king of
the Two Sicilies, was pursuing his schemes of
personal ambition. Desiring to be regarded
as the head of Eastern Christendom, he pur*
chased from the granddaughter of Guy of
SAINT LOUIS SITTING IN JUDGMENT.
Lusignan the title of king of Jerusalem'
The effect of this and other measures of selfi
aggrandizement was to raise up around Charles
a host of enemies, who made a conspiracy to
expel him from the kingdom. A general mas-
sacre of all the French in Naples and Sicily
was planned to take place at the ringing of
the vesper bell on the eve of Easter 1282,
794
UNIVERSAL mSTORY.—THE MODERN WORLD.
"With fatal precision, though the plot had beeu
in preparation for the space of two years, the
diabolical plot was carried out. The massacre
began in Palermo, and spread from town to
the Sicilian Vespers — a fitting prelude to the
massacre of St. Bartholomew.
In the year 1285 Philip the Third found it
necessary to undertake a war with Pedro, king
DEATH OF THK LAS I (il' rilK IIOHENSTAUFEN.
Drawn by H. Plueddemann.
town, wherever the French had made settle-
ments, until at least eight thousand innocent
people had been butchered. This infamous out-
rage against human life is known in history as
of Aragon. That ruler had presumed to set
at naught the settlement sanctioned by the
Pope, by which the crown of Aragon was to
be conferred an Prince Charles, son of the
THE CRUSADES.— ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE 13 TH CENTURY. 793
French king. The expedition undertaken by
Philip was, however, attended with disaster.
A fleet which had been sent out with provis-
ions for his army was captured by the Ara-
gonese commander, De Lauria, and the French
troops were left without supplies. It now
appeared, moreover, that the health of King
Philip had been ruined in the African cam-
paign of his father. Despairing of success, he
attempted to withdraw into France, but, on
arriving at Perpignan, he found it impossible
into Aragon. For a while, he wa.s withheld
from his purpose by the mediation of King
Edward of England, whose daughter had been
married to Alfonso of Aragon. But the good
offices of the English monarch could not per-
manently avail to prevent hostilities. A war
broke out between the French and Aragonese,
and continued for some years without decisive
results. At the last, the contest was ended
by the independence of Aragon, which was
attained without material loss of territory.
FUNERAL OF SAINT LOUIS.
jo proceed, and died at that place iu October
of 1286. The crown descended, without dis-
pute, to his son Philip, surnamed the Fair,
who ascended the throne with the title of
Philip IV. In him the mild temper and pru-
dent behavior, which had of late characterized
the kings of France, disappeared, and was re-
placed with violence, avarice, and excess, iu»
somuch that a strange contrast was presented
between the beauty of the royal person and
the moral deformity of the king.
At the first, Philip IV. undertook to re-
trieve the misfortunes of the late expedition
It was during the contiiiuance of this petty
and disgraceful conflict that the news of the
downfall of Acre, and the consequent subver-
sion of the kingdom of Jerusalem, was car-
ried to Western Europe. That event has
already been fixed upon as a proper limit for
the present Book. Here, then, on the high
dividing ridge from which, looking to the
past, we behold the wild and extravagant
drama of the Crusades, and, turning to the
future, discover the colossal form of Mon-
archy rising above the ruins of Mediaeval
Europe, — the free cities growing great and
796
UNIVERSAL HISTORY.— TEE MODERN WORLD.
poTrerful as the conservators of public lib-
erty, and the convex rim of the New World
seen afar in the watery horizon of the West, —
we pause, intending to resume, in the begin-
ning of the following Book, the aunais of
Germany, Italy, France, and England, from
the close of the thirteenth century to tlie dis-
covery of America by Columbus.
V-
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